#shiro somehow convinced keith to match with him

[echodrops]

Home and a Half Pidge Headcanons

An ask I got yesterday reminded me that I never posted the HaaH headcanons for Pidge like I promised, so here they are! (I’ll answer the actual ask as soon as I can with some new material instead of headcanons I already had written... oops...)

Anyway, without further ado, some headcanons for Pidge related to my fic Home and a Half!

Pidge:

- Grew up in the picture of the nuclear family: mom, dad, two kids, dog, nice upper-middle-class house in a quiet neighborhood, dinner on the table at 7:30pm on the dot… Of all the paladins, Pidge had the most stable and “average” childhood… at least on paper.

 - In reality, there is not a single person in the Holt family who isn’t eccentric as fuck. Grandma Holt? May or may not still be an active intelligence agent for MI6. The dog? Woofs in Morse code. Auntie Ariana? Has actually seen the Jersey Devil. Colleen Holt? Has killed a man. If you ask Pidge, she’ll say that her upbringing was perfectly normal and she’ll genuinely mean it, but this is a consequence Pidge having no idea what “normal” even means.

 Rest under the read more to save your dash:

- Not actually a girly-girl when she was young. Although they’re eight years apart and thus unlikely to be mistaken for one another, very early on Pidge got frustrated by how similar she and Matt look, and she definitely did not want to wear his tacky hand-me-down clothes, so she pitched a royal fit and insisted on wearing dresses and hairbands so that her family would have to buy Pidge all her own things. (They probably would have bought them anyway if she’d just asked calmly, but Pidge was three at the time, and they were all very impressed by her grasp of cause and effect.)

 - Of course, when Matt disappeared on the ill-fated Kerberos trip, those tacky hand-me-downs ended up being some of the most important items in Pidge’s life. Even outside of infiltrating Garrison, wearing Matt’s old clothes was one of the few comforts Pidge would allow herself—when she cut her hair and put on his baggy shirts, for a second, looking in a mirror, she could almost convince herself he was still there—

 - Pidge has no intention of changing the way she dresses or styles her appearance until she’s reunited with Matt and her father. After that? Well, they may not be the coolest looking things ever, but Matt does have a point that baggy t-shirts are very comfy…

 - And okay, because I’m sure everyone expected this headcanon first: Pidge and gender is a surprisingly uncomplicated subject. Side note before I go further: I’m sure everyone has their own headcanons for this and none of what I say here should be taken as rejecting or invalidating any other fan’s views on Pidge. The only thing invalid in the Voltron fandom is canon. Anyway, I personally like to imagine that Pidge is very ambivalent on gender. There is so much else going on—the war, Sam and Matt being missing, freaking giant robot space cats—that sitting down and sorting out the question of “Do I identify as male, female, nonbinary, or anything else?” is just really, really low on Pidge’s to do list. Pidge thinks of Pidge as “Pidge” and even that’s rare because Pidge doesn’t sit around thinking about herself or what other people think of her.

 - In fact, what strangers think is, in general, extremely low on Pidge’s radar. Although she used to be more self-conscious due to bullying from both classmates and her teachers, the combination of her parents’ consistent support and Matt’s… extreme tactics (“I’m telling you Pigeon, nanobots in their lunches will solve all your problems.” “That’s illegal, Matt.” “Nothing is illegal until you get caught.”) Pidge (mostly) overcame the phase of being affected by other people’s opinions. Who cares what strangers think? Absolutely none of them will ever be even close to as smart and talented as her family anyway. (My IQ is three times yours, your argument about my gender is literally invalid.)

 - By the way, I’m using “her” simply because that’s what I’m used to seeing in the fandom and to keep the fic and headcanons consistent, but in the functional world of HaaH, Pidge answers to any pronouns and doesn’t have a preference for any set in particular over others. In fact, Pidge is used to going by different sets of pronouns coming from different people, and might be “he” to one person, “she” to another, and “they” to yet someone else. Pidge is just… Pidge.

 - Again, with the war and Voltron and missing family and literally everything else going on--and the fact Pidge is far more practical than all of the rest of her fellow Team Voltron members combined--she isn’t wasting time and energy doing something as troublesome as falling in love with an alien. (“Keith, can’t your melodrama wait until after we win the war?” “My drama waits for no man.” “Then please explain how you and Lance manage to engage in synchronized dumb-fuckery at least three times a week.”) Eventually, after life has settled down and Pidge has had some time to think about it, she’ll realize that the reason she somehow managed to avoid any romantic entanglements in space isn’t because she’s just much more mature than her teammates (although this might be true)—it’s that she’s just not really interested in romantic engagements with anybody, period. 

 - Pidge’s one true love is discovery; she feels far more passionate about knowledge and learning new things, encountering new puzzles, and grasping new concepts than she does about anything else. In between all her creations and codes and experiments and observations, it just doesn’t feel like there’s room—or that there needs to be room—for a romantic relationship with a real person.

 - Pidge will make room for friends though, if and when they insist on worming their ways into her life. She tends to be a fairly private person who has never really had a large friend group (back on Earth, before Garrison, there wasn’t anyone but Matt and her parents who really understood her, and she didn’t have much in common to discuss with children her own age), but once someone earns Pidge’s trust, she does open up and form close bonds and she will give her all to help and be there for her few, but close, friends.

 - Meeting Hunk at Garrison was a huge revelation. Up to that point in Pidge’s life she had never really met any young person outside her own family with a soaring genius-level IQ that was a match for her own. Although she and Hunk bicker frequently because their approaches to science are extremely different, she’s still over-the-moon to have someone who doesn’t stare at her like she’s talking gibberish whenever she goes off on one of her tangents.

 - If you ask Pidge, she will violently swear up and down that Lance never and in. no. way. reminds her of Matt, fills in for Matt in the lame-older-brother role, or helps her miss her brother just a little bit less. That did not happen, never had a chance of happening, what are you even talking about—

 - But if you ask about Shiro, she will be flat-out honest and admit she totally thinks of him as Space Dad. It’s not her fault. Shiro literally hero worships Sam Holt (still to this day!!) and may or may not have taken on more of his mentor’s mannerisms in order to fill the leadership role for Team Voltron. Sometimes Shiro will say or do something and Pidge will be absolutely dumb-struck because he got that from my dad is an actual thing she has to deal with.

- “Pidge” is actually a derivative of “Pigeon.” Everyone in the Holt family has a bird-based code name. Mr. Holt is Eagle Two.

 - People often get the impression that Pidge is scatterbrained because she can talk about ten different things at once and pounces on leaps in her own logic that other people just can’t follow, but her thoughts and speech are very organized. It’s not her fault you couldn’t understand her system of organization if you tried.

 - Put Pidge on the spot on a subject she doesn’t know, though, and watch the awkward jump right out. (“Oh, you meant the pop band Galileo, not the person. You know, that’s really an easy mistake to make. You can hardly blame me when you stop to consider all the similarities between modern chord progression and the trajectory of supermassive objects like—”)

 - And if it’s not awkward, it’s defensive. Pidge may be hyper-intelligent, but she’s still very, very young, and it’s hard not to get snappish when challenged by people whose opinions she really does care about. She has a far quicker temper than Matt (who is a “revenge is a dish best served cold” champion), a trait she shares with their mother. Colleen, in turn, blames it on her having been born in New Jersey. Pidge has flipped so many tables on the Castleship that Coran and Lance eventually went around and bolted them all down.

 - Do not even so much as hint that Sam and Matt Holt might be dead instead of just missing in space. Keith is still scared after his last attempt at reasoning with Pidge about her family’s fate.

 - Has a bad hoarding habit. Back on Earth she had her parents there to insist she clean her room at least once a week, but in space, things are getting a bit crazy. The Castleship closets and cabinets can hyper-condense their contents and she’s STILL running out of room for all the neat doodads and parts and scientific wonders she finds on their adventures across the galaxy. Is definitely in the “Look, there’s still a mostly clear path to the door; it’s fineee” category. It’s not like she finds it hard to let things go once she’s gotten attached to them or anything. Nope. Definitely not.

 - Pidge’s mess is absolutely of the “everything has a proper place” type though. Move anything with her name on it and you will feel her wrath.

- As the only one of the Earth paladins to have technology on her when they were unexpectedly swept off to war, everyone on the ship relies on Pidge’s laptop for their monthly dose of Earth nostalgia. Good thing for them Pidge and Matt’s pirating skills put Pirate Bay to shame, and she’s got basically every Earth movie from 1980 to the present. She even has every episode of the timeless classic F.R.I.E.N.D.S. (Keith hates that show with a burning passion that even he cannot explain.)

 - Speaking of technology Pidge had on Earth—every single person in the Holt family is (and has been for decades) aware of the existence of aliens. Pidge’s family tree has been involved in communications, radio wave technology, and interpreting space observations since those fields were first invented. When Earth first identified patterns of waves that obviously corresponded to alien communications going on outside Earth’s galaxy, Pidge’s great- great- grandfather was there. When world governments covered up the discovery, he was the loudest voice of dissent. Since then, the Holt family has been deeply involved in military and space operations across several countries, operating from within an oppressive system they fundamentally disagree with, using their positions of authority to monitor the Milky Way and beyond, keeping tabs on what the aliens might be saying—and what messages Earth might be inadvertently sending back.

 - Of course this is top secret work—secret even from the Garrison and government where the Holts were employed. Other kids learn how to play piano and soccer; Pidge and Matt learned how to hack virtually impenetrable military databases and hide their data behind uncrackable ciphers instead.

 - But the Kerberos Mission was supposed to be safe. They’d all monitored the chatter so closely—there hadn’t been anything hostile anywhere even near Earth’s galaxy, no sign at all of any technologically advanced race like the Galra in years and nothing about one little Earth mission that would disturb any other intergalactic travelers anyway… Why would they...

 - Pidge is surprisingly athletic for a self-professed nerd. With youthful energy to burn and a family to save, Pidge took to Allura and Coran’s intense Altean training like a duck to water, and while she’s not quite Shiro or Keith when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, she can definitely holds up better than Hunk or Lance.

 - Favorite color is actually yellow, and if Green wasn’t totally The Coolest™ lion, she’d be sort of salty about Hunk getting the Yellow Lion instead.

 - Absolutely capable of cursing up a blue storm, and hasn’t been friends with Hunk quite long enough yet to remember to censor herself around him all the time like Lance does with his “Holy crow!”s. She’s trying, dammit!

 - Big on pets. Gets attached to pet-shaped creatures (whether living or robotic) very easily. 110% kept the space caterpillars, who live happily free-roaming the piles of space junk in her bedroom. The space caterpillars and the space mice do not get along, however, as the space mice do not take well to having their status as the favored fuzzy team mascot squad threatened. In their micro-Cold War, which is occurring without any of the ship’s humanoid occupants being aware, the space caterpillars are currently winning.

 - The caterpillars’ names are Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton.

 - Remember that one post about Lance drawing angry brows on the space caterpillar and siccing it on Keith? I very much accept that as canon. Pidge was Not Happy™ when she found out what Lance had done and she is NOT letting anyone else near her caterpillars again any time soon. Is very, very careful not to let Niresh see the space caterpillars so that they don’t end up stolen right from under her nose.

 - Speaking of the kids, Pidge is super awkward with them and skedaddles at the first sign of tears. Next to Allura, there is probably not any member of the team worse suited to babysitting duty. That said, as someone who has lost members of her family in the war, Pidge is probably the member of the team who most directly understands Dulsara’s anger and the children’s loss. That doesn’t mean she’s really ready to let herself sympathize with the Galra though, at least not until she finds her own family first.

- Pulls all the most bullshit moves in Monsters and Mana. Whenever the team reminiscences on the truly legendary moments from their campaigns, somehow Pidge is the star in all of them.

And that’s all I’ve got for now!

[todororororokiy]

Voltron is trending so here’s how I’d remake Voltron: Legendary Defender

I’d like to preface this with a few things 1) I loved season 1 and 2, I was a die hard Voltron fan from the second I started watching, and while I had issue with season 3-6 I was ok with them 2) I never watched season 8 and I only watched half of 7. From what I hear, this was a good decision 3) I spent six hours straight working on this, so I apologise for any spelling mistakes or errors 4) None of this belongs to me.

Ok, basic setup is the same except for one thing, Shiro is aged down. It never made sense to me to have Shiro be 25, and the rest of them be 15-18, it seemed like a very big gap, and as we can see from Fandom it caused a lot of discourse. So every bodies aged as such, just for reference:

Shiro: 20

Allura: 22

Keith: 18

Lance & Hunk: 17

Pidge: 16

One more note, all seasons would be about 11-13 episodes long. It has never made sense to me why four of the eight season were 6-7 episodes and the rest were a normal length.

Season 1 & 2

Both of these seasons were great. Voltron was a really good show for these first seasons. There’s nothing to change here.

Season 3

Plot Changes

Nonoe at the moment. There would be more scenes added and obviously some scenes would be altered but over all the plot is intact.

Shiro’s Disappearance

In this version everyone has a different opinion on Shiro's disappearance, I never felt like they did in the show.

Keith, obviously, thinks he’s alive and so does Pidge.

Hunk and Coran remain doubtful, though they each have a little hope, Coran more so than Hunk

Allura and Lance both think the worst. Side note: this is where we see Lance and Allura properly transition from slightly awkward coworkers to friends. Their shared grief and angst helps them bond and open up a route for them to start communicating. They kind of got over him being a creep reallysuddenly, and that doesn’t happen, even if he had stopped the behaviour, I think she’d take some time before she allowed him to be her friend.

Pidge and Her Family

Pidge is super isolated in the original show. While her arc, I felt, was about trusting the team and leaning on them more for support. To come out of her shell, and be defined by something greater than her family and love for technology.

In this version everyone wants to help find Matt and Dr. Holt. Having her connect with the team by them wanting to help, and especially them wanting to help in the wake of Shiro’s disappearance feels like a logical move. Everyone’s devastated about Shiro one way or another, and they want to see Pidge get her family back. It brings the team members hope for Shiro.

Lion Swapping and My Many Issues with it

the lion swap should have been temporary. Something they had to do but would try to avoid as much as possible.

Originally everyone wants Allura to pilot Black. She’s their commander and so should take up the mantle of leader. But black refuses her entry.

In this version everyone in the team says that they’re making do with what they have. That Allura is their commander of their operation, Shiro their leader. We see in this episode there’s almost a bit more of an understanding between the paladins, we seen that each has grown to see one another for the person they are rather than the person they initially thought they were.

We see struggle both in the team as they can’t make voltron, and having no real commander as Allura’s been forced to pilot the Blue lion. We also see a major issue arise because Allura CANNOT connect with blue. Keith, Allura and Lance can fly in them, but they can’t unlock any of their elemental powers. It’s impossible. We see through this season moment where ice or fire or teleportation might be useful but the paladins have to find ways around it because of this handicap. The emphasise that the lion swap isn’t something to be taken lightly and is a real issue.

Lance and Feelings of being Inferior

Lance feels like he’s he’ll never match up to Keith throughout this season as Keith has started to prove that he’s more of a leader than Lance has.

Because lance’s friendships with everyone have deepened, they start to  encourage him a bit more, be more supportive towards him.

We see Lance stand up for himself as well when Hunk and Pidge make comments about his intelligence that actually really hurt him, we see them being surprised, but then they profusely apologise and say they were joking, we see an absence of said jokes after this point. This helps build Lance’s self esteem a little

Keith and Lance’s friendship also has room to breath as Keith is y’know, around, and not off with the blade. Through this friendship Lance comes to realise Keith isn’t all perfect and that he might be holding himself up to unrealistic expectations, though he still doubts himself a lot

The Clone Plot Line/The Lance and Shiro Plot Line

The clone plot line? Loved that soooooo much, it could’ve been so good, we could’ve had so much interesting stuff, and we did, The Black Paladins is fantastic, but they did nothing else, and I feel like even in that episode the clones were set dressing.

There was also the issue of Lance breaking down into tears in season six. What was that? He didn’t have the emotional connection to Shiro I felt the show was implying he did. We’re gonna fix that.

We see Lance and Shiro become closer friends while he’s a clone.

Clone Shiro is a lot more vulnerable and less guarded with his emotions than original Shiro was, and a little more willing to joke and be more lenient, even if this can also back fire when he explodes into fits of rage.

This allows everyone to get closer to him, but especially Lance, who I feel up until this point was just always at a weird point in his relationship with Shiro where they were friends, but Lance got the impression Shiro didn’t like him a whole lot and Shiro got the impression Lance found him very intimidating and scary, and had zero idea how to deal with this.

Keith and Leadership

Keith’s time as a leader helps teach him some things and really gets the ball rolling on showing the audience that he can be a leader even if he initially struggles  

season 4

Plot Changes

Keith floats between the Blade and Voltron for maybe an episode of two.

Everyone is convinced that once Shiro can fly black, things can go back to normal.

After returning from a mission the castle ship gets attacked and everyone runs to their lions. Allura and Lance pipe up over the comms on their helmets that they can’t access Blue or red. Lance runs to see if he can convince Blue to stop being like this

Meanwhile Keith has a talk with Coran and comes to the realisation that he wants to be apart of the team while Pidge, Hunk and Shiro try to deal with the threat themselves. He gets the message from Allura who comes running into the room saying they can’t access red. Lance was able to get into blue however. Keith rushes off with his mind decided, he hears red in his mind. They form voltron for the first time since shiro’s disappearance.

Everyone’s helping Pidge look for her father and brother and at the start of an episode we get a scene of them all discussing some potential clue while they train.

The episode where Pidge finds her brother follows the same outline, but everyone’s there helping her. However the really emotional scenes ie the graveyard scene and later on when they’re reunited, take place with only Pidge and Matt so the moment isn’t ruined

Instead of Keith discovering the trap at the end of the season, it’s Allura as Keith is with the Voltron team on the planet, trapped.

Shiro gives some “this isn’t the end of the line” speech and talks about how they’ve all connect more over the past few months, and they’ve become a real family and nothing can change, even if it all ends here. That causes the others to all connect with their lions on a deeper level, and it helps them raise out of the field, but only a little. Then Shiro asks black to trust him, to put her faith in him once again. He tells her he knows somethings wrong with him, that he doesn’t know how to fix it. That what they did to him was terrible- and she flashes something in his mind telling him off for such negative thoughts and they connect. Voltron rises.

Keith, Conflict, and Starting to become a Leader

The season begins with Keith still struggling to decide how to spend him time. We see more of this struggle, that starts in this episode. He’s trying to spend as much time with Voltron and as much time with The blade as he can.

He feels connected to the blade due to his heritage and believes somehow he’ll be able to find some sense of family. But he’s more connected to his team and Voltron. We, as an audience, know that he’s already found his family in Voltron at this point.

We also see everyone deeply worrying and missing him. With frequent calls and messages exchanged back and forth between everyone and Keith. He feels this worry and doesn’t know what to do, because for the first time in his life he has a family that cares about him.

As the season goes on we see Keith prove himself as a leader without being the leader of Voltron. When Shiro’s incapacitated we see him take charge and guide everyone.

One particular moment would be Keith having to command a group of alien soldiers, and get them all to follow him and help fight off some Galra from their planet. In this we see Keith struggle slightly to control everyone, before he gets the hang of it and leads everyone to victory and safety.

The Clone Plot Line

Because Shiro is a clone he cannot access the black lion. This is sort of implied to be because she knows he’s a clone and refuses to let him in because his quintessence is screwed up.

Lance and Shiro are seen to confide in each other a lot, and Shiro tells Lance things he feel he can’t tell anyone else, even Keith, for fear they’ll worry too much.

We see the start of Shiro’s headaches in this season, and Lance helps soothe them.  

Shiro does eventually access the black lion, but only because of some hard core begging and Keith being back

When we see Haggar we realise she’s spying on the paladins through Shiro. Some way or another we also learn that they were able to make this clone using DNA samples from Shiro amputated arm that they preserved.

The audience can also come to the conclusion that the reason Shiro gets a headache’s is because of Haggar looking through his eyes.

Pidge’s Family

Pidge gets a lot of clues about her family and the team helps her track down Matt and Dr. Holt.

We see a lot of team bonding over this as they try to break down clues and discover where they are, and how to get to them.

The whole arc surrounding her brother and father is a little more in depth.

As this arc goes on in this season we also see Pidge being to come to see the other paladins as her family. Pidge is the last one to have this realisation and it really solidifies them as a family unit

The team all have a really sweet moment where Pidge announces that she’s glad she had the help of her family to help find her brother.

Lotors motivation: what are they?

Before we get into the next four season, I’d like to specify Lotor’s motivations, and the reasons behind why he does what he does.

Lotor is troubled. He was abused as a child. His parents were corrupted and evil, and there was nothing he could do about. He suffered greatly emotionally and physically when they raised him. He was desperate to please them.

As he grew and tried to both find a balance between acquiring large supplies of quintessence and keeping the local people of the planets they were mining happy, he was punished for these digressions. He became angry, and started to hate the Galra. Blaming them for everything wrong in the universe. Believing that without them his parents would not be like this.

Lotor wants to bring back Altea, he comes to believe that they’re absence in the universe has caused the Galra to take over. He thinks they’ll be able to undo, and fix everything bad in the universe. The problem is, there aren’t a lot left of them. There are a few, scattered, and hunted down by the empire and eventually all will be caught. It scares him and when Altea was destroyed, along with millions of Alteans so easily.

Lotor realises he can no longer try to convince his father and mother that what they’re doing in wrong. He decides to make the colony to protect the remaining Alteans. To hide them away in a far, far off planet in an odd section of space the Galra don’t have interest in.

He comes to learn of alternate realities and ways to reach through and get to them. He believes, and in his mind he knows, that what he has to do is find some reality where Alteans are the ruling class, and not any Alteans, these Alteans, the version that existed just before Altea was destroyed. He won’t bring all of them over, just some, slowly and efficiently until there’s enough to defeat the Galra empire and bring back peace to the galaxy.

Lotor comes to realise the sheer amount of power this will require however, and comes to a dark realisation. He harvests some of the Alteans for their quintessence. Because the ends justify the means. He will bring peace and harmony to the universe if it’s the last thing he does. Even if it means a few sacrifices.

Back to our scheduled programming

season 5

Plot Changes

Keith is still with the team.

Zarkon doesn’t die in the second episode of the season. Cause what was that. Like seriously.

Allura and Keith are the first to like and trust Lotor for different reasons

Everyone else is far more sceptical. They still don’t trust Lotor. He seems sketchy.

The team have more direct encounters with Zarkon and a lot of different fractions of the Galra empire this season due to Lotor. While the Galra all unquestionably follow Zarkon.

Many Galra say that Lotor “has all the thirst for power that Zarkon does, all the thirst for quintessence but none of the courage to stand up and take it” which paints him in a better light as they all interpret this to mean he’s not anywhere near as cruel as Zarkon.

We see in a sort of one off shot of them post saving a planet that Shiro still cannot figure out what’s wrong with him, while Lance tells him that there isn’t anything wrong with him. A shallow comfort as they both at this point don’t believe that.

The blade offer Keith a mission right before the battle where Zarkon dies, a mission to do with something important, and is too take place after their current mission. Keith believes it may be his mother, and Lotor and the team pushes Keith to take the chance. He doesn’t want to leave the team but Lotors words about seeing his mother for what she truely is. Lotor means this in a really sinister way we later find out. Keith asks Red to once again give her command to Lance and both Blue lion and red accept the changes.

Zarkon dies at the end of this season, a fight between Lotor and him, we see a lot of emotion, and tense fighting. Zarkon dies to his son.

Pidge’s Family

The whole thing with Pidge’s father remains, and so does going back to earth. It’ll take a long time, but Pidge’s father feels he doesn’t belong here the same way his children do. He’ll be back, they’ll see each other again some day soon.

Alongside this we get the confirmation that Pidge really does feel that the team is her family just as much as Matt, and her parents are.

The Clone

On the Shiro front, he feels terrible, things have only gotten worse for him, he feels completely unlike himself.

Because of the severity of his headaches, the team puts him in the healing pods a few times, but they do nothing, everyone is worried.

Lance especially had a few fears as he hears more and more worrying information from Shiro about nightmares he keeps suffering. Shiro asks him not to tell anyone.

While Shiro doesn’t tell even Lance, we the audience learn of his illness and his ex boyfriend and the issues that arose because he wanted to go to space.

Keith, Galra Heritage and Leadership

Keith warms to Lotor surprisingly quickly. He finds comfort in talking with someone like Lotor about his Galra heritage. Lotor is half Galra, and while the rest of the paladins are supportive. They don’t understand it in the way Keith believes Lotor understands it

While Keith does hear some worrying comments from Lotor, he ignores them, as he doesn’t want to lose this connection.

We see Keith act more as a leader this season as well, with him again leading planets of aliens, and at a few points, Voltron when Shiro’s headaches incapacitate him

Lance and Self Esteem

Through this season we see Lance come into himself a little more. As per the last season he’s been more honest with everyone and it’s made him happier

We also see Lance realise he doesn’t really want to be a big leader like Shiro and Keith. That while he can, he doesn’t want to. He prefers taking a step back. In this realisation he becomes a lot more confident in himself as the teams sharpshooter, something everyones been calling him since season one. His gun transforms into a sniper rifle with this realisations and he and the team are amazed.

being back in blue also helps reaffirm this as he and blue continue to power up together.

Allura and Lotor’s Developing Relationship

Allura warms to Lotor after some initial hesitation, as she comes to believe he wants the same thing as her, the return of a peaceful time, and harmony in the universe. He wants desperately to find some way to restore the universe and they bond and develop genuine romantic feelings.

Allura and Lotor start sorta dating in this season towards the ending, before everything goes to shit, and he slowly begins to want to reveal his true plan to her.

We also see Lotor’s many conflicting emotions surrounding his father. Him killing Zarkon at the end of the season serves to cement Lotor as a good guy to everyone, and a symbolic way of freeing him from his past.

Side note: the monsters and mana episode takes place in this season before Keith leaves and things take a nose dive into serious business

Season 6.

Plot Changes

This season begins with Voltron fighting a small army of Galra fighters.

Many Galra, in preparation for the Kral Zera, have started to prepare their armies and followers so they can take over the Galra empires at the kralzera

Lotor, with the help of Voltron takes his “rightful” place as ruler, this is because, while Shiro and Lance are still a little skeptical all the other have at least become friendly.

This season follows the paladins as they attempt to be Voltron while Keith is out on a long mission. They miss him, and just like at the beginning of season 3, we see a litany of messages and texts, and voicemails and a few videos sent to him. Even though they don’t get a response. The blade informs the team that Keith will not be able to contact them for some time. The team continues to message him in spite of this.

Lance dies. Lance fucking dies and everyone has a major freak out and there is visible grief and horro among the paladins. Allura brings him back much to everyone’s relief.

we see a lot of angry aliens in this, both over the fact they’re siding with Lotor and over the fact they’re not doing anything immediate

After they come out of the quintessence field, Lotor reveals his true plans to her. She’s horrified and disgusted, much to his chagrin and takes off in one of the Sincline ship.

At the same time as Allura is having this moment, so too are the paladins. Keith has returned with his mother, and an Altean to back up his story Shiro starts having a progressively major headache as time goes on, Lance tries to comfort him.

Allura does manage to get back to the castle of lions. In tears she tells everyone what they already know and they all share a moment of shock before Allura frantically says that Lotor was right behind her.

Shiro’s programming activates and he knocks everyone out and takes Lotor.

The black paladins is a great episode. It’s the same episode in this version. Everything else after this episode stays the same too. It’s pretty good. I’d like to note, Voltron didn’t fail because it couldn’t hit these big emotional beats. It failed because it could never hit the small ones.

The Clone  

While dead, Lance sees Shiro.

Not for the first time, he worries that maybe the Shiro on his team has a point about feeling different.

Shiro and Lance have a moment where Lance is telling him as Shiro is breaking down to “look at me,” to try and give him a grounding spot, and then in this moment Shiro looks away and Honerva’s programming comes through. He knocks out everyone and we get a shot of Lance looking crushed by the realisation, he starts to cry.

Keith, Galra Heritage and Leadership

We see, just as we do in the original show, a lot of time with Keith’s mother

Keith is incredibly conflicted on her return. For one, he wants answers and she seems incredibly unwilling to provide any at all, but on the other hand he’s so great full to have her in his life.

Keith and his mother eventually talk

Keith finds himself feeling guilty about missing his team. Worried and concerned for them, and how they’re coping in the power vacuum caused by Zarkon death.

We again see Keith be a leader with far less effort now. Instead of struggling where he had before, we see Keith take being a leader in stride. Even on one of the smaller planets they pass, helping organise so that food can be brought more easily, and aiding with fending off a particularly nasty creature that has been pestering them.

Keith over this trip gets many lessons about the Galra, and finds comfort in the knowledge, event he parts he can’t stomach. It brings him some closure on this part of his life he’s been yearning to understand for years.

Lance and the Red lion

Throughout the season, we see being in the red lion, and Keith’s absence chip away at Lance a little.

He begins to once again doubt himself and compare himself to Keith.

We also see Shiro help Lance the same way Lance has been helping him for the past couple of season. With support and guidance and helping Lance once again realise he’s his own person

before Lance can truely again be confident in himself, the whole thing with the clone blows up in his face and he’s forced to suffer the consequences.

Conflict in the team

Throughout this season we see the dilemma of what they should be doing versus what they are doing. To many it seems that they are doing nothing, while behind the scenes there’s a lot of stuff going on, coordinating between multiple governments, and a lot of smaller battles occurring that few see or hear of as they don’t require Voltron.

The paladins mostly believe they should be striking a balance, but Allura and Lotor keep attempting to convince them that what they’re doing is sufficient. It frustrates the team to no end.

We see how Lotor manipulates each of them through this season too, more obviously as the audience has at this point been let on that he’s doing something bad.

However we also see Lotor very pointedly not talk about anything hinting at his real plans in front of Shiro, letting the audience know that Lotor knows something is wrong with him.

Allura and Lotor

Lotor and Allura are very close at this point. They have shared their relationship with the team, and  Lotor believes she will side with him if he tells her.

Instead Allura is disgusted by what he’s been doing and tries to get away from him. She fundamentally disagrees with what he’s been doing.

Season 7

Plot Changes

Shiro’s new body doesn’t reject him

the lions are depleted of power. They’re recharging slowly according to Allura, thanks to the strong bonds the paladins share, but it’s unlikely they’ll be fully charged any time soon.

Eveyrone’s depressed and having a lot of feelings of betrayal about Lotor and mixed feelings about the fact they’ve been living with a clone for a long, long time and they had no idea.

Shiros death does a singular good thing. Shiro is more connected with Black then ever. He can now teleport

The whole scene where Keith fights Macidus is with Shiro and it shows them being back insync after being a little lost with each other.

They all find out it’s been three years. In that time Lotor has ruled fiercely, demanding the quintessence mines across the galaxy be drained as quickly as possible. Why? Because of the stunt Voltron pulled three years ago, he can no longer access the quintessence field.

Hunk off Handedly remarks that Keith could be the new ruler of the Galra empire. Keith scoffs.

The flight home takes about half the season.

Through this half season they find a few things out. One is that the rebels have splintered and lost a lot of communication between groups since Voltron disappeared. Two they learn that Lotor found the location of earth. Three Lotor has a high, high price on their heads, far higher than even Zarkon has put upon them.

The paladins eventually all come together as a team, and become even further connected and that charges the lions enough that Shiro can create a wormhole far closer to earth.

They find nothing

This horrifying realisation comes accompanied by a signal from Matt Holt who has a specific bot designed to responds only to Voltron. Lance helps Pidge get it.

The next episode is going to find Matt.

There’s a teary reunion between the two of them and they find a massive colony of those who fled earth when they realised it was to be destroyed when Lotor was attempting to find Voltron, and flew into a rage when they were not there.

Everyone’s family is safe as they were some of the first taken from earth. They have a reunion.

Shiro gets parents, and an older brother (because I did notice the show gave him any biological family) and also gets to see Adam. While it’s still Cleary over, both men get closure, and are happy to see one another alive.

The season from now focuses on Voltron sorting out the coalition and trying to organise everything.

They contact the blade and begin preparing on how to defeat Lotor.

They find some of the blade, but as previously mentioned in the series many were killed in the three years they were away. However they do find a lot of very disempowered Galra soldiers who have been treated awfully by Lotor.

Lotor discovers their alive, and makes a very public announcement that anyone supporting Voltron will be destroyed.

The season ends in a semi big battle between Lotor and the paladins, one on one in a large mech only he pilots.

Both parties are wounded.

The Clone

Everyone feels awful and has no idea what to do

Shiro too feels pained. He has all the memories of the clone in his mind, and he doesn’t know what to do with them. How to sort through them

Lance out of all of them feels the worst as he was the closet to Shiro out of all of them. He believes should’ve seen something and starts to beat himself up over it.

Hunk and Pidge both feel they should’ve done something, or noticed, though Pidge is much more torn up about it. With Hunk knowing that none of them realised and it’s unreasonable that he would’ve any sooner than this.

Keith is shocked and hurt, and worried about Shiro first and foremost. He reassures Shiro that while it may not have been him, the clone acted like Shiro for the most part, a little more personable, but the real Shiro.

Lance and Self esteem

Due to his failure to pick up that Shiro was a clone, Lance begins questioning everything that Shiro ever told him as a clone.

He questions his whole self worth and no one can seem to help him out of the whole he’s emotionally digging for himself.

While recovering Shiro notices this, however, they keep getting interrupt before Shiro and Lance can have a proper talk

Keith kicks a little sense into him and they have a pretty heartfelt conversation which helps Lance a little, but he still can’t shake the feeling someone else would’ve seen it and sorted out the issue sooner.

Lance gets the blue lion back and she talks some sense into him, and tells him he shouldn’t be so hard on himself, it kicks a little sense into him, but again, he still feels terrible and he feels like Shiro’s been avoiding him.

Keith and Leadership

Shiro tells Keith, while still recovering that he’ll be able to take over pretty soon and fly the black lion.

Keith is actually disappointed this time round and feels instantly ashamed because it is Shiro’s lion and they have a great bond.

We come to learn that Keith quite enjoyed the small amount of time her led the team and found he wanted to keep being a leader.

Keith through this season connects to many Galra soldiers and people. He comes to find understanding with them now that he knows about his culture. Many joking comments he should be running the empire.

Season 8

Plot Changs

This season is filled with small battles, and lots of talks with previous allies.

Allura becomes the commander of the Atlas and enlists several humans and other aliens alike to help her command the ship side by side with Voltron. They become a formidable force.

They begin to fight Lotor’s forces in an attempt to bring him down by weakening his army thought they quickly discover he’s dug up enormous amounts of quintessence somehow.

Lotor should become more enraged and mounts larger attacks upon them, yet he doesn’t worrying everyone.

We then discover with the team that with their return so too had the return of the alternate universes, and Lotor was planning on using all the energy he harvested.

No one knows what happened to the Altean colony, and Allura and Coran, unsurprisingly, seem most torn up about. They both hope that it’s safe, and Lotor was more obsessed with his need to preserve the few Alteans he did have if he could never get more.

The team comforts both of their friends through this best they can but they start to realise it’ll be hard to stop Lotor.

Lotor does end up ripping huge holes in the space time continuum.

The last two episode are a battle between team Voltron, Atlas, and crew coalition all battling Lotor and the formidable amount of crafts he’s able to fuel thanks to the insane amounts of quintessence he’s mined over the past three years.

Eventually he starts universe hoping and team Voltron and Atlas all rush in to stop him. We follow them through trying to communicate with Lotor and get him to stop.

Allura pleads with Lotor and says she loves him, he stops and says he loves her too but he must finish his mission. Atlas has to go back because switching universes is ultimately destroying the ship and they’ll die if they stay any longer.

Eventually after wading through a million battle fields, and see a million alternate version of themselves, they end up somewhere quiet. Lotor’s shop is destroyed. This seems like the end of the road.

Keith makes a plead to Lotor, one last stand. Lotor Denys him and tries to jump one last time. When they follow him, he isn’t on the other side.

The go back.

Unfortunately when they do, the forces have stopped fighting and time seems to have slowed greatly. Voltron is badly damaged and they all split apart.

The team lands together. Harsh winds battle ahead thankfully the lions somewhat stop this.

They’re all scared.

The battle above is at a standstill, shots caught in mid air, shuttles paused mid explosion. The faces of both friend and foe paused in a climatic battle.

The large, white wholes keep getting bigger.

Shiro looks to them all.

They all agree that they feel the same thing. The silently look around at their lions and at one another.

They hold one another tight as their lions are sacrificed to stop this.

A second later there’s no wind.

They look over.

In the vastness of space, the fighting has stopped, everyone shocked by what just happened.

Voltron is no more.

They get picked up by the Atlas

We see a planet that everyone lands on.

Somehow despite all this, at least for a second, the world is at peace as soldiers care for one another and count the wounded.

Team Voltron, now joined by Allura and Coran stand alone

There’s talk of what could be done, and what is now down.

They all smile and reminiscence

Someone calls for them. Team Voltron

They don’t need to have the lions to still be a team.

The universe doesn’t need them anymore. .

Lance and self esteem

Shiro and Lance finally have that talk at some point in mid season 8.

Shiro points out to Lance that everyone lived with Shiro every day. That they spent practically every waking moment, that they shared almost everything

Lance feels a little better and with this talk with Shiro it properly solidifies Lance’s faith in himself. He feel confident in his ability as a paladin, and as his own person. He’s the blue paladin. The sharpshooter. He doesn’t need to be anyone else.

Shiro and Lance have a hug, and Shiro thanks Lance for being there for him when he really didn’t have to be. They stay like that for longer than they really need to.  

Allura the commander

Allura feels useless coming along with the paladins and Coran, he also laments that he doesn’t have the faintest clue what to do with himself.

Thus presented to them, early in this season a mech from one of the few people who are willingly to support them at the beginning.

Allura has been a commander the whole way through but in this season we see her, independent of Voltron, become that commander.

Allura’s people are alive, a few hundred of them. But alive. She becomes their ruler, and takes her rightful place as their queen, helping guide them through an unsteady time.

Keith and Leadership

Through this season we see the meeting place of Keith’s search to be a leader, and his search to learn about his Galra heritage.

Many Galra begin looking to him, despite his less than Galra apperance. He builds more connections with many Galra through his season, and with the help of his mother converts a lot of Galra to seperate from the empire and Lotor and join the coalition

With Lotor dead. We see Keith at the Kral Zera and he becomes the leader

[ephemelody]

everyone knows my love is you

commission for @/interstelklance on twitter! the prompt was: no one believes keith & lance are dating until their engagement, gasp!

“Pidge, look.” Lance wiggles into a seating position on Keith’s lap, settling in as Keith loops his arms around his waist. “You’ve spent the whole morning with us at our apartment today, watching us do the laundry together and feed each other waffles and cuddle on this couch. I’m wearing Keith’s shirt right now, too, if you haven’t noticed. Do you really think I would do all that if I wasn’t head over heels in love with him?”

“I could kiss him if that helps.”

Keith sounds entirely too hopeful voicing that suggestion. Lance shoots him an admonishing — yet disgustingly giddy — look.

“Holy quiznak,” is all Pidge can push out in the end, realization crashing into her like two terabytes of code. “You guys are engaged.”

They tell Pidge first, because for all her brains and computer smarts, she couldn’t figure out the most obvious answer.

“Hey Lance, when did your photoshop skills get so good?” Pidge asks, staring at a picture of Lance holding his left hand up to the camera, Keith hugging him from behind. They’re on one of the beaches of Cuba, the setting sun casting a golden-pink glow behind their backs, and it’s honestly the perfect picture, with their smiles so broad and bright. “You almost got me!”

“Got what?”

Lance is sprawled on the couch on the other side of the coffee table, his stomach cushioned over Keith’s thighs. He’s working on a stack of Garrison reports, feet kicking up and down as he types away at his tablet. Keith, sitting comfortably beneath his weight, is quietly reading a book.

“This, your Instastory.” Pidge waves her phone in the air. Lance tilts his head sideways to take a look. “That ring almost looks real.”

“Oh, you mean this?”

Lance flicks out his wrist, and resting on his finger is the exact same ring in the picture, red jewel bright as a flame against the band of gold.

Pidge gapes. Lance gloats.  

For several long moments, no one says a word.

Then, Pidge hollers — “Since when?!” Her brain furiously processes through the last several months, wondering how a literal engagement sprung out of nowhere. “When did you guys even start dating?!”

“Since June?” Now Lance looks affronted. “Pidget, I literally announced it everywhere, even on Facebook!”

“But— that? Was a joke?” Pidge feels like a wire in her brain has fried up, gone kaput. Only snatches of memories fizz weakly in the wreckage now: Lance and Keith holding hands, kissing each other good morning at breakfast, hugging each other intimately beneath the soft glow of street lamps. Those had all been for show, as she and the other paladins had collectively believed. “This whole time everyone thought you guys were just messing around! Both of you told us you were better off as friends last year when we tried to set you two up!”

“That was before we got together,” Lance clarifies matter-of-factly. “We’re very much happy boyfriends, partners, future hubby and husband now, thank you very much! I can’t believe that hasn’t been obvious from the start.”

Pidge continues gawping like a fish. Lance flops onto his back, giggling when Keith runs a hand across his stomach.

“Pidge, look.” He wiggles into a seating position on Keith’s lap, settling in as Keith loops his arms around his waist. “You’ve spent the whole morning with us at our apartment today, watching us do the laundry together and feed each other waffles and cuddle on this couch. I’m wearing Keith’s shirt right now, too, if you haven’t noticed. Do you really think I would do all that if I wasn’t head over heels in love with him?” 

“I could kiss him if that helps.”

Keith sounds entirely too hopeful voicing that suggestion. Lance shoots him an admonishing — yet disgustingly giddy — look.

“Holy quiznak,” is all Pidge can push out in the end, realization crashing into her like two terabytes of code. “You guys are engaged.”

Everything made so much more sense now. The way Keith and Lance would always disappear together in the middle of Garrison meetings. The nonstop flirting, touching, gag-inducing nickname calling—

They were meant for each other, in all the best ways.

“Awww, is the little pigeon crying for us?”

Lance makes his way around the coffee table to sit down next to her, bundling her into his arms. Pidge doesn’t dignify him with an answer, but she hugs him fiercely back, wrapping her other arm around Keith when he joins them, a gentle palm patting her head.

These two became her closest friends in the lonely infinity of space; her most trusted comrades on the battlefield, and now the brothers she loves so dearly as they grow older and wiser together. 

She couldn’t be more happy for them.  

❦

Hunk comes next, with his culinary and engineering skills in dire need for the planning of the wedding. Lance and Keith visit him during his restaurant off-hours, walking through the backdoor into a tidy, well-lit kitchen. They find Hunk elbows deep in a line of bakery orders.

“Hunk, will you make us a cake for our wedding?”

“Uh-huh, sure Lance,” Hunk agrees absentmindedly. His brows are deeply furrowed, jaw clenched in perfect concentration as he shapes the loveliest blossom of icing with a nozzle tip. “Who’s wedding?”

“Mine and Keith’s.”

A row of buttercream piping veers jaggedly to the side, streaking the otherwise faultless cake. Hunk lifts his head slowly and blinks at them, as if emerging from a dream.

“You… and Keith?”

Lance nods excitedly as Keith pilfers some of the icing. “Yeah! We were thinking maybe chocolate and peanut brittle, or red velvet in case anyone has allergies. Oh, and a mini rollercoaster going in and out of the cake, with the Lions as the rides!”

“But—” Hunk struggles for words, utterly flummoxed by this sudden turn of events. “You guys aren’t even dating?”

At that, Lance visibly deflates. Hunk grasps for an apology, struck by the distraught on his friend’s face, but the younger man quickly smooths his expression over. “Hunk, I’ve been calling Keith my boyfriend for over a year now.”

“You call me your baby daddy,” Hunk rejoins.  

Keith chokes. Lance scrambles. “Food baby daddy. And there’s a difference Hunk! Have I ever kissed you?”

“Well— no, but—”

“Fondled your pecs?”

“Uhhh—”

“Sucked your dick—?”

“Okay no! I get it now, I get it!”

Lance huffs, satisfied with Hunk’s admission. Meanwhile, Hunk is reshaping the last one and a half years of his life, based on the belief that this entire time, his two best friends had only been messing around with each other, acting overly affectionate just for jokes. Somehow, he and all the other paladins had convinced themselves of that, after watching these two dance around each other for years and years, before announcing that they were perfectly fine staying friends.

But maybe things had changed after that.

Understanding dawns on him, like a giant vat of batter pouring over his head. On instinct, Hunk grabs the nearest loaf of brioche and cuts two slices from it, slapping them over his ears.

“I,” he says gravely, “am an idiot sandwich.”

A beat of perfect silence. 

And then Keith doubles over with laughter, clutching his stomach and the edge of the counter, nearly kneeling on the flour-dusted tiles. Meanwhile, Lance gently takes away the slices of bread from Hunk’s hands, eyes twinkling with fondness and mirth.

“You,” he says very seriously, “are the most delicious sandwich to ever exist. And I know you’re gonna make the best cake Keith and I could ever dream of for the wedding.”

An hour later, after Lance and Keith had left, Romelle walks in, inspecting the state of the kitchen with eyes round as marbles.

“Hunk, what happened?” she asks, staring baffled at the war zone of icing, the lopsided, teetering cake, and the random loaf of brioche sitting on top.

“Started making it, had a break down.” Hunk dusts his hands off on his apron, his shock gradually morphing to a shimmering excitement and happiness for his newly engaged friends. “Bon appétit.”

❦

In retrospect, announcing the news at dinner to the family probably wasn’t the best idea. Shiro’s reaction to it certainly wasn’t expected.

“Don’t you think you’re taking this joke a little too far?” the retired space veteran asks, ladling a plate of bolognese as Keith and Lance regard him with matching bewildered expressions. Next to his side, Adam shifts in his seat, taking a long sip of wine without coming up for air.

Keith manages to answer first. “Joke?” Against the table, his hand wraps tight around Lance’s, the gold bands on their ring fingers twinkling beneath the light, one red star to link the blue. “We’re engaged, Shiro. As my mentor and my brother, I’m asking you to be my best man at the wedding.”

Shiro sets the plate of food down and falters on filling up the next, a waver in the train of his thoughts. True — it wouldn’t be like Keith to joke about something like that. He had been Shiro’s best man at his own wedding after all, and Shiro had promised Keith to return the gesture once it was the younger man’s time. But everyone knows he and Lance haven’t been dating these past few years. Shiro knows he would’ve realized it.

Or…

Had he?

“Shiro, we’ve been dating for over year now,” Lance says, cheerful and tinged with a breath of laughter. “Man, and I thought Keith was the dense one in the family. When we got together I literally had to take off all my clothes before he—”

“Lance,” comes the fond, exasperated rasp of Keith’s voice, just as Adam chokes on his second glass of wine.

“We tried setting you guys up last year, though,” Shiro says, sitting down as his mind swirls with confusion. “You guys came home from the date and said that you’d rather remain friends.”

A wry smile crosses Keith’s lips. “I was scared,” he admits, in a moment of vulnerability, “of ruining what I already had with Lance. Loving him in whatever way I could was better than not being able to love him at all.”

Lance’s heart squeezes at the open honesty of his words. He lifts the back of Keith’s hand to press a kiss there, pouring the breadth of his emotions into that light, warm touch. Shiro stares at them, unable to believe that he hadn’t seen it before, the utter love and devotion between them.

“But— but I’m your brother.” How could he not have realized? “I would’ve—”

“There, there, Takashi,” Adam soothes, setting down his wine glass.

“Did you know?”

Adam doesn’t even hesitate. “I did,” he says, and Shiro lets out an anguished, betrayed gasp, burying his head into his arm. “It was obvious, dear.” He gently runs his fingers through the nape of Shiro’s hair, smiling fondly at his husband before turning his gaze to the couple across the table.

“Congratulations, Keith, Lance. Takashi and I will look forward to your wedding.”

❦

Later that night, Lance is oddly quiet as they go to bed.

They had just gotten off the phone with Allura, who was currently staying in Altea with Coran. She had taken the news of their engagement with grace and excitement, though she too had been surprised at first as well.

Keith turns around to take Lance’s hand before shutting off the light.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” he asks, noting the spider-line crease between Lance’s brows and his soft, pursed frown. His blue eyes seem to glisten like a lake beneath sunset, rippling with a sheen of tears.

“Do you know why none of them realized we were dating this whole time? All their combined brain cells, and yet no one connected the dots.” Lance pauses, the frown folding deeper. “Is it because I don’t show my love for you enough?”

Keith’s heart eases from its worry, settling into a familiar, gentle affection. He pulls Lance into his arms, dropping a kiss to the corner of the younger man’s brow.

“Pretty sure all of them combined equals one braincell,” he says, smiling when he hears Lance’s aborted laugh, breath feathering hot across his collarbone. Lance nuzzles into him, nosing the curve of his throat. “We literally made out in front of them for ten minutes during the New Year’s Eve party, remember?”

A leg is thrown over his hip, and Lance tilts his head back just a little to gaze up at him, eyes now twinkling with a brighter, easier light. “I think they were all too drunk to pay any attention to us ravishing each other.”

Keith cocks a brow. “We fucked in the shower when they were all having breakfast the next morning, and you weren’t exactly quiet.” He thinks of the memory fondly, while Lance’s face colors crimson with heat.

“Allura’s walls are soundproof, just so you know. And I can’t believe you kiss me with that filthy mouth, yeesh.”

“You’re marrying this mouth,” Keith counters childishly, boldly, because it’s the truth, and it fills with him joy like none other. In the low light of their bedroom, Lance’s engagement ring shines next to his.

“I know,” Lance whispers, soft and adoring. “I love this mouth,” he presses a finger to Keith’s lips, “I love you, more than anything in the universe.”

And they would have the rest of their lives, sharing that love, together. 

[vcepsis]

I+9 with Klance, pleeeasse?

Thanks so much for the request! Sorry it took so long!

Taken from this ask meme (fever + camping). Since I’ve done one similar to this, I hope you forgive me for doing something a little different this time. Shout out as always to @feverflushed​ for the lovely beta work

—–

Lance groaned softly, his face buried in his pillow as he tried in vain to pull the blanket around himself tighter. He was absolutely freezing, even though he knew it was the fever talking. Another shiver ran through him, making his bones almost ache. He was tired and cold and completely miserable.

But most of all, he was lonely. God, he was so lonely. Growing up with all his siblings and cousins living practically on top of each other had its downsides, for sure, like never fully understanding the definition of privacy. But after living with them for so long, it just meant he was never alone.

For someone like Lance, being surrounded by people he loved was the best thing he could have asked for. And when he would get sick, his baby cousins would pile his bed with their favourite stuffed animals and blankets. His mom would make him soup that would clear his head and warm him up from his inside. His father would move their portable heater from the living room into his bedroom. It never failed to lift his spirits, no matter what awful plague he’d contract.

Now, living who knows how many lightyears away from them, Lance had never felt so alone.

He’d come down with this whatever-it-was alien virus a few days before, and at first, he was scared. Scratch that: he’d been terrified. It was the first time any of them had fallen ill since their impromptu recruitment into a ten thousand year space war, and Lance had been sure he’d picked up some deadly alien sickness that would kill him. But as the days passed, it mostly resembled an Earth-like flu.

Lance sniffled pathetically, burrowing as deep as he could get into the soft Altean blankets on his bed. Shiro and Coran had swiftly sequestered him in his room once they confirmed he wasn’t in any real danger, and since the pods weren’t designed to deal with illness, he was left to tough it out the old fashioned way. And while the others were around to get him whatever he needed, they mostly left him alone to wallow in his misery.

Maybe he was supposed to be more appreciative. Coran had thrown around words like quarantine and isolation until Shiro had convinced him that having Lance in his room would be equally effective. But still, Lance couldn’t help the immense wave of sadness being alone caused. Especially being alone and sick. He’d do anything for his brother’s stuffed alpaca, or the smell of his mother’s cooking. He missed them all so much…

Just as the tears started building, there was a soft, tentative knock on his door.

The noise jolted Lance out of his downward spiral, and he turned on his side to wait for whoever it was to come in. There was a beat of silence before they knocked again, a little louder this time.

“Yeah?” Lance called, clearing his throat when the sound came out rough and scratchy.

“Um…” The voice on the other side was hesitant. “It’s Keith.”

Keith?

Lance’s eyes widened in surprise. What the hell did Keith want?

Slowly, Lance sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He pulled the blanket with him as he stood, wrapping it securely around his shoulders and stumbling his way to the door. It opened with a swoosh.

Keith was standing on the other side, dressed in his usual attire, but without the jacket. He frowned as he looked Lance over. “Hey, uh…are you ok?”

Lance blinked, and belatedly realized there were still tears stuck to his eyelashes. He wiped them away quickly, flushing from embarrassment. This was just great. It was bad enough that Keith saw him looking like a mess, but he had to see him cry too…?

But Keith didn’t comment on it any further. “How are you feeling?” he asked instead. “You’ve been pretty quiet.”

Rolling his eyes, Lance scoffed, only to turn away and muffle the subsequent coughing fit into the blanket still around his shoulders. His chest burned in the aftermath.

“Ah, sorry,” Keith said quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Lance looked back over to see Keith fidgeting with the end of his shirt. It was a small thing, but it was something so distinctly un-Keith that Lance couldn’t help but notice.

Was he…..nervous?

He sighed, looking back up at Lance. “Look, I….I know you’re probably feeling like shit, and tired, but I wanted to do….something.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Something?” he repeated hoarsely, his voice cracking halfway through the single word.

“Yeah….something.” Keith sighed, frustrated. “Look, I don’t want it to be weird or anything, but I don’t know how to describe it without showing you.”

“I hate to break it to you, buddy,” Lance rasped, “but it’s already weird.”

Keith shoved his hands into his pocket. “I know, I know,” he sighed again, defeated. “Are you up for coming with me to the rec room? It’ll be easier to show you.”

Lance frowned. What the hell was Keith up to? Lance’s first instinct was suspicion, but he was so desperate for some kind of contact, so he nodded. Keith slumped in relief.

“I’m keeping the blanket, though,” Lance said as he stepped out of his room, the door closing automatically behind him. Keith shrugged in acceptance.

It was quiet in the castle as they made their way to the rec room. “Where is everyone?” Lance asked, absently rubbing his aching throat.

“We stopped outside a planet yesterday. Distress call, pretty standard.” Keith had slowed his pace to match Lance’s, who was wobbling slightly as he walked. Staying upright was harder than he expected. “Apparently they’re just wrapping things up now. Getting supplies and medicine.”

“Medicine?” Lance repeated dumbly.

Keith frowned. “Well….yeah? You’re sick. They’re hoping the people on the planet can help, since we helped them.”

Lance couldn’t help the way his breath hitched at Keith’s words, stopping suddenly. The others wanted to help. He might be a burden on the team, but they wanted to help. The tears from earlier suddenly returned, the fever making his emotions run wild, and he had to blink quickly to keep them at bay.

“Hey….” Keith had stopped when Lance did, and he put a gentle hand on his arm. “Lance? What’s wrong? Do you need to sit down or something?”

“I….” The hand on his arm was so warm, and Lance felt the ice inside him thaw a bit. “I thought….I mean, everyone left me alone….and Coran wanted to quarantine me…I thought…”

“What?” Keith’s tone was genuinely confused. “We left you alone because we didn’t want to bother you. Shiro had to keep telling Hunk and Pidge to let you sleep.” 

“Oh….” Lance pulled the blanket around himself tighter, shivering from emotion and the freezing ice that was still in his veins. 

Keith sighed, but it didn’t sound annoyed. “Let’s just…keep going, alright? We’re almost there, and then you can rest again.”

Lance nodded silently, trailing after Keith, trying to make sense of what he was feeling.

Before he knew it, though, they had made their way to the rec room.

Or at least, what Lance thought was the rec room.

The room had been transformed into a giant, ridiculously elaborate blanket fort.

Lance gasped as he took it all in, and the memory of building blanket forts with his siblings flashed through his mind. They would steal all the pillows and blankets from all around the house to make a giant enclosure that would get more and more complicated every time they built it. Then they would all sit with the lights off, using flashlights to play cards or board games and telling dumb, scary stories.

And now he was staring at a blanket fort easily three times the size of anything they’d ever managed to make, yet it still had a cozy, inviting feel to it. The number of pillows and blankets here must have been easily five times the amount they’d ever used back home. The blankets were strung up along the walls and just below the ceiling, with more pillows than Lance could count lining the floors. The blankets in the center drooped slightly, and that slight imperfection made it feel like home.

Keith cleared his throat softly next to him. Lance turned to him, still in shock.

“Coran helped me build it,” he said slowly, trying to gauge Lance’s reaction. “Pidge and Hunk mentioned doing this with their families…..and I know you have a big family at home, so….”

There was a distinctly red flush across Keith’s cheeks, and he refused to meet Lance’s eyes. “Did you…did you do this for me?” Lance asked softly.

The flush deepened, and Keith crossed his arms tightly. “Um….I mean…I know you’re probably not feeling very good, so if you don’t like it or you wanna go back to your room, just tell me, it’s fine.”

The tears made another return, except this time one or two escaped and trailed down Lance’s cheeks. 

Finally looking up, Keith’s eyes widened when he saw the tears. Lance shook his head quickly, smiling softly. 

“Keith….” How could he even begin to describe how he felt? How the loneliness had been eating him from the inside, how he desperately yearned for something from home? And somehow, Keith had known. 

So he settled for smiling at Keith, emotions still running wild. “Thank you.”

The flush was back, and Keith ducked his head. “Y-yeah….don’t worry about it.”

Lance grinned. The obvious embarrassment on Keith’s face was almost cute.

Shuffling over to the fort, he eased himself down onto one of the many mounds of pillows strewn inside it, groaning in relief as he rested his aching joints. Seeming to shake himself out of his trance, Keith joined him, sitting stiff and cross-legged on his own mountain of pillows.

“The others will be here when they’re done,” Keith said, pulling out even more blankets that were buried somewhere in the sea of pillows, making sure they were within reach. “Hopefully they’ll have something for your fever, too.”

“Does Allura know about this?” Lance asked.

“Uh,” Keith said hesitantly, “she will when she gets back.”

Lance barked a laugh, happiness surging through him even though it made him cough. “You gonna convince Shiro to get in on the fun too?”

Keith grinned. “Absolutely. Hunk will make us soup. Pidge will probably have some games we can play. It’ll be great.”

“Like a sleepover,” Lance remarked, nestling into the pillows.

Keith shrugged. “I guess?”

“Have you never had a sleepover before?” Lance asked, incredulous.

Shaking his head, Keith looked away. “Never really had the chance.”

“Well then,” Lance said, tossing one of the blankets toward Keith. “That’s something we’ll have to fix, huh?”

Keith took the blanket and wrapped it around himself. He looked up, giving Lance a soft smile. Lance returned it without thinking.

[nexthecryptid]

This is Home Ch. 2

Summary: 

A pack called the Galra are up to something, and it's somehow tied to the disappearances of creatures, and the increase of demonic activity. Keith had somehow stumbled into the danger when he found his mother, making the choice to stay away from his friends to keep them safe. But in the end it didn't even matter. They've got targets on their heads, and the Galra are slowly closing in on his home town Arus. He isn't sure how to face his friends... Two years was a long time to be gone. ... There are rumors that are floating around VLD University, crazy ones. While some of them Lance could tell was him or his friends, there are others that were... inexplicable. To make matters worse, he's having dreams again, dreams about someone who just vanished. It felt like he was being haunted. Lance didn't know he was going to have other things to worry about until the ghost revealed himself.

Prefer to read it on A03?  Read it Here!

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The chime was what caught his attention each time, pulling him away from his thoughts as he glanced towards the door.  His chest filled with warmth that he wasn’t all that prepared for, the sight bringing him emotions that he had once tried to shove away.  But he let it linger, watching as the group walked in with smiles on their faces.

Hunk and Pidge lead the group into the cafe, talking about something with such excitement that Pidge was practically bouncing as they made their way in.  Shiro and Lance were close behind them, his chest tightening for a moment.  He was watching them talk with such pride, Lance saying something that quickly made the group erupt in laughter.  Allura, who had been behind them with Adam, said something that only made the group laugh more, their smiles bright and laughter warming the already cozy cafe.  It seemed less lonely, less quiet.   

He didn’t mean to stare, didn’t mean to watch as long as he did, but the pain in his chest compelled him to.  He watched as the group ordered their drinks, Shiro and Adam walking away to grab them a large table.  Something ugly twisted in his gut as he watched Lance confidently flirt with the man behind the counter, successfully making the barista flush with embarrassment.  It didn’t seem to go anywhere as Allura shoved Lance along, quickly apologizing for his antics when Pidge piped in with something.  It soon morphed into the two of them bickering playfully, taking jabs at one another as Hunk tried to get the two of them to settle down.

He couldn’t help but smile at them, the familiarity of the group almost too much for him to handle.  He was about to look at his phone when he caught eyes with Lance, the tightness in his chest worsening when it wasn’t a bright blue sparkling at him, but rather a beautiful rich chocolate, looking as if they came straight from a Lindt commercial.  Warm, and inviting.  They were beautiful.  

But they weren’t the eyes he had come to miss when he became restless at night.  They weren’t the eyes he had known for years.  Ones that could strip every wall he had ever built up and see right through.  Eyes that used to bring him such comfort when he felt like the world was falling apart.  Eyes that would only shatter and swirl with emotion when they were alone with one another.  Eyes that were as bright and welcoming as the person they belonged to.  

“You’re thinking about them again, aren’t you?” The voice was soft, reminding him that he wasn’t here alone.  Reminding him that he had been staring. 

Keith blinked a bit before giving a polite wave to the man he had been looking at, trying to play it off that he had recognized him from somewhere.  It had worked at the other smile politely before joining his friends, friends that he had imagined were his own.  He looked to Krolia, waiting for her to sit down with their drinks before responding.  They had settled in the corner, their view of the cafe comforting as they waited.  

“I am.” He admitted quietly, taking a glance around the cafe.  Krolia hummed a bit, handing him his coffee before taking a sip of her tea.

“You miss them.”  A statement, not a question.  

“I do.  They’re going to be starting their Senior year at the University next week.” 

“You should be with them.” He frowned.

“I want to be but…  But I can’t.  Not yet.” He sighed, staring down into his coffee to avoid any look she may try to throw at him.  

They were quiet for a moment, Keith thinking that it was over when he heard his mother sigh.  He took a chance and looked at her, relieved that she was busy scanning the area.

“Tell me more about him?” She asked softly, the question taking him by surprise.  It felt like there was something to it, like she had expected something to happen other than getting an answer.  He wasn’t sure though, confident that he told her pretty much the gist of everything, including his friends.

“Who?” He asked.  

“The human boy.  Lawrence I believe?” She clarified.  He couldn’t hold the small snort at the mistake she made, doing his best to hold in the rest of his laughter when she frowned.  “Am I wrong?” 

“His name is Lance.” He corrected, coughing into his fist to cover his amusement.

“I told you.  I am very bad at remembering names.  But yes.  I was referring to Lance.” 

“I’ve told you about him.” He argued, raising a brow.

“Yes.  But I know less of him then I do of your other friends.” She argued back, and he could definitely tell where his stubbornness came from as they only stared at one another for a moment.  

“I’m sure that’s not true.” 

“Hank-” 

“Hunk.” He interrupted to correct, motioning her to continue when she nodded.

“Hunk is an engineering student.  He is also called a ‘teddy bear’ a lot and arguably the one who gives the best hugs out of your friends.  You won’t admit it though because you’ll never hear the end of it.  He is a phenomenal cook, and an even better spar partner.  Despite his appearance, he is very strong and can be very protective when it comes to your friends.  He is a human.  Peggy-” 

“Pidge.” He snorted, deciding to remember that.

“Pidge is the small one, but can also be intimidating.  They match the characteristics of a cartoon mad scientist in your opinion.  They are also often called a gremlin despite the fact that they are human.  They are snarky and sarcastic, but ever the loyal one.  They are also the video game champion, and you are constantly impressed by their ability to code and invent despite the fact that you have no idea how it is done.  Alice-”

“Allura.” 

“Goodness!” She huffed, clearly frustrated that she couldn’t remember their names.  

“It’s okay.” He reassured, chuckling a bit.

“Allura,” She sighed before continuing, “is the one you all consider the ‘mom’ friend.  She is the most intimidating out of your group, as well as the most knowledgeable in a variety of fighting techniques.  She is full of wise advice, and she is also a very powerful witch who has provided assistance on many occasions.  She wants to work internationally.  She is also the one who helped you feel more comfortable with who you have romantic interest in.  And then…  Shiro.” A pause.

“That’s right.” He said warmly.

“Shiro is the ‘dad’ friend and arguably the most responsible out of your group.  He likes to make puns in almost every scenario and everyone finds them funny but will never admit it to his face.  He and his family took you in after your father passed, and is someone that you look up to.  He is working on becoming a teacher, and he works well with kids.  He has taken a liking to an artist that is also trying to become a teacher, in which you used to relentlessly tease him about.  He is also like us, fond of taking the form of a lion.” 

“Wow.” He couldn’t help but smile at how much details Krolia remembered.

“The only thing I can recall of Lance is that he is human, and also a part of your group.” She said with finality.  

She proved her point when he tried to think of a time where he had told her about him.  But all he could remember was him avoiding the questions, or just mentioning small bits in pieces in the stories he had shared.  Truth was, it was hard to talk about him.  It was hard just saying his name on most days.  

“Were you two not very close?” She asked, sounding like she was trying to be careful.   He blinked a few times before snorting, shaking his head a bit.  

“Close?  He was my best friend.” He admitted.  He took a sip of his coffee, taking a moment to think of what he would say.  The better question was where to start?

“Oh?”

“We met when we were kids, but we weren’t really friends until middle school.  He tried to befriend me earlier, but I was just too damn stubborn, too angry.  But it never stopped him because he was stubborn too.  He would challenge me in everything we did, sports, academics, even eating lunch!  He would call me his rival, declaring it to the world as if it had that much of effect.  It was his way of trying to be my friend, even when I kept telling him that I didn’t need any, didn’t want any.  He was so damn persistent, and eventually…  I gave in.  We stuck together ever since.” He said, knowing he had some dumb smile on his face.

“He sounds like a good person.” Krolia hummed, smiling warmly as she listened.  Lance just had that type of effect on people.  Making them smile, even when he wasn’t around, even when a person hadn’t actually met him.  

“He was.  He was stupidly selfless when it came to others, caring about them, sometimes more than he cared about himself.  He would help in any way he could, make them smile, laugh, motivate them when they were struggling, even if he wasn’t feeling all too good himself.  He just…  has this ability to know what exactly to say or do when it counted the most.  He was just the type of person that could make the room brighter, just by walking in!  And his smile…  I never knew a smile could be so warm, so contagious until I met him.” He said fondly.  

“You speak as if he wasn’t alive.” 

“I used to try to convince myself that he wasn’t.” 

Krolia did something that he wasn’t entirely expecting, eyes widening as he watched her laugh into her tea.

“The more we speak, the more I see myself in you.” She mused, reaching out and gently taking his hand.  

“Yeah?” 

“Yes.  I’ve been in the exact same position that you are in right now.  In love, but away.” She said softly, Keith’s hand tightening around hers.  She gave a comforting squeeze.

“When I left you and your father, I had left to fight a battle to keep you two safe.  It was painful, and there wasn’t a day where I didn’t think of the family I had left behind.  But it only served to encourage me to continue fighting.  I decided that the best thing to do was stay away, that it was needed to keep you safe.  Like you, there were times where I tried to convince myself that you two didn’t exist, moments where I tried to forget.  It was impossible though.  In the end, I was so desperate to see you two, to be with your father again.  When I made it back to our city…” She took a moment, her eyes growing sad and distant, “It was already too late.  Your father had passed away and you were gone.” 

“You did it to protect us.  You didn’t know.” He reasoned.  Keith had to come to a full understanding as to why Krolia left, as to why she never came back.  He was angry, sure, but he understood and forgave her.  He’d be a hypocrite if he told her she should have done differently.  

“No, but I still regret my decision.  Even if I had done it out of protecting the two of you, I still had chances to come back, still could have made a better effort.  I’m sure if I had, we could have found a way to protect you.  Together.  Your father was strong, but I stayed away out of fear.  I…  Keith, don’t make the same mistakes I did.” She sounded like she was begging, her eyes shining with unshed tears.  

His jaw tightened as he squeezed her hand, letting her words fully sink in.  He didn’t leave with the intention of never coming back, in fact, his plan was to come home early for a variety of reasons.  But he had become a part of a large and dangerous situation after finding his mother, deciding that returning wasn’t an option, not wanting to drag his friends, his family, into something they were completely unaware of.  He didn’t want to lose them.  

But…  wouldn’t he end up losing them in the end anyway?  He had practically abandoned them, disappearing off the face of the earth as if he had never existed at all.  At least when Krolia left, she told her father the reason.  He hadn’t.

The thought made guilt crash over him like a wave, violently tossing him around despite his body never moving a muscle.  It made him nauseous, drowning him in memories and choices he had made; in future scenarios and reactions that were impossible to predict.  He could feel the anxiety lapping at the back of his neck and washing over his shoulders, tensing with discomfort as he bit the inside of his cheek.  

He opened his mouth to respond, unsure of what he was going to say, when Krolia looked away from him, the chime of the door distracting them both from their conversation.  

“They’re here.” She said softly, sitting back and letting go of his hand. They shared a look, one that told him that it wasn’t over.  

Keith nodded and sat up, sipping his coffee as he shoved all thoughts of his friends away.  He gave himself a mental shake, quickly reminding himself as to why they were there in the first place.  

A large group of creatures had been causing trouble for creatures and humans alike.  They called themselves the Galra, and they had been dabbling into things they shouldn’t have through experimenting.  To make matters worse, a large amount of humans and creatures were going missing, and they were the ones responsible.  Ever since Keith had found his mom, he had been doing his best to help her not only protect her own pack, but to stop the Galra before they were a threat to his friends back home.  It had been going as well as you expected, but the Marmora pack wasn’t one to back down from a challenge Keith had learned.  

“Krolia!  Keith!  It’s nice to see you again!!” Thace greeted, smiling warmly.  Krolia stood and shared a tight hug, repeating the action with Ulaz who only smiled and nodded in greeting.  Keith awkwardly waved, getting up to shake hands with them.  He couldn’t help but notice the computer bag Ulaz was carrying, noting that he had placed himself the furthest away from the crowd.

“It’s lovely to see that the two of you are in good health!  How did your trip go?” Krolia asked, all of them taking their seats.  This was where their conversation was coded.  Where a passerby simply assumed they were friends or relatives getting together to talk about a trip or to catch up, they were really talking about a recon mission the two of them had just returned from.  

“It went well!  We were able to study and discover some new information on the old civilizations we had been interested in.  They were hidden in the back of the library we visited and we were fortunate to come across it.  The librarians were a little weary at first, but we were able to convince them to show us the records when we told them that we were studying about the Galran civilization.” He sounded satisfied as he said that.  Keith and Krolia shared a look.   

We were able to find new information on the groups the Galra had been targeting.  It had been buried deep, but we were able to access the files.  The Galran that we had been with had been suspicious but we were able to convince them that we were loyal to the pack.  

“Did you learn where some of these civilizations may have originated from?” Keith asked.  

Was there information as to where to locate some of these groups?

“We did.” Ulaz said, pulling his bag onto his lap and pulling a laptop out, plugging a USB drive in before logging on.  

“We also learned of other civilizations that we weren’t aware of.” Thace added.  

There are a lot more groups then we had initially suspected.  

That made Keith frown a bit, the concern clear on Thace’s and Ulaz’s face as they pulled their information up.   

When they pushed the laptop to him to look at, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting.  The files that were on the USB drive were folders labeled as the ‘civilizations’ they had been talking about.  He didn’t look at the names thoroughly, simply scrolling to see just how many files there had been before looking to the first one.  

Altean

Arusian

Balmeran

Mer

Olkari

His heart dropped.  

“Tell me about the Altean civilization.” He demanded.  

“Keith?” Krolia asked, frowning a bit.

“Why is the Altean civilization under your research?” He asked.  Why was he looking at Allura’s last name?  

“Well…” Thace hesitated, probably confused, before gently pulling the computer and clicking on what he assumed was the folder.  After a moment, one that felt like hours to Keith as he began to bounce his knee, Thace cleared his throat.  

“The Alteans are known to have practiced witchcraft.  They were around for ages before suddenly disappearing without a trace.  Finding an artifact has proven nearly impossible until recently.  We found that there are photos that have been connected to the artifact, so it may actually help us.  Each civilization has similar information, some more than others.  This one in particular only gave us images to work off of.” He explained, turning the laptop around again.  

A coven that called themselves Alteans.  They are of old magic and very rare to come by, but they have somehow found one of the witches recently.  There are pictures that show us information that will help us locate them.  The other groups have similar information.  This coven has the least information as of now.  

Keith gripped the table harshly, his nails digging into the wood as he looked at each image.  

In a bout of cruel irony, on the screen were files on every single one of his friends, the one on Allura having the most information.  He swallowed hard, the guilt from earlier returning.  He had taken into account that there was always a chance that they would somehow be dragged into it, but he had always tried to keep an eye out on any information regarding Arus.  

He sat back and ran a hand through his hair, his knee bouncing more as he stared at the information before him. 

“Have you researched the Alteans?” Ulaz asked, seemingly picking up on his distress as he tried to play it off.  

Have you met an Altean?

“My friend back at school had done a project on them.  I’m the one who helped take these pictures.” He said, hoping they would understand.  When their eyes widened, he figured they had.  

My friend is an Altean.  And all of them are our friends.  

…

Keith could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he headed towards Krolia’s car, waving to Thace and Ulaz as they walked in a separate direction.  He kept quiet as he got in the car, still processing the information that had been shared with them.  If he hadn’t already been frustrated with his conflicting thoughts before, he was certainly frustrated now.

Chaotic…  

That was the best word to describe the amount of emotions swirling inside of him.  All he could really focus on was the thought of it already being too late, thinking back to what Krolia had said.  Sure the information they had was very limited, but that isn’t to say that they hadn’t sent someone, or even a team, to search for his friends already.  

He pulled his phone out and quickly pulled up the news website that focused on his hometown.  He clicked onto the page that mainly focused on missing persons, looking through the list.  To his relief, there weren’t any names that he recognized, going back to the main page.  He scrolled through some of their recent articles, looking for any signs that an accident could have been faked, covering for a death, or even a story on a freak accident.  Again, to his relief, he didn’t find anything that stuck out.  They were all pretty ‘normal’, a fire at a restaurant that was on the other side of town and a car accident due to a drunk student.  No deaths, no tragedies.

He did come across an article that was puzzling though.  

Weird Sightings in Empty Forest.  

He frowned and clicked on it, checking the date before reading on.  

...The claims from students about weird sightings in the town’s forest have become more frequent and strange as we get closer to the new year.  Rumors are spreading through the campus that is keeping both students and staff on edge.  

Some of the more popular claims include sightings of water seemingly floating through the air, producing a small glow before it suddenly flees or falls to the ground.  Others include the sightings of wild life, such as a bear, lion, and on occasion wolves.  Some students also claim to hear voices in certain areas of the forest, singing, screams or even laughter.  

Authorities are puzzled by these claims, but have not moved forward with an investigation.  

“No one has been harmed by any of these claims.” Chief Iverson says when asked why he hadn’t sent a team to investigate.  He believes the claims of wildlife, but the ones of voices and floating water he does not.  

“I’m sure it’s just students pranking one another.  Or even students being under the influence.  But no matter.  We must take the claims of wildlife seriously and order that one is to go into the forest for their own safety.” 

What do you think of the rumors?  

“Did you find something?” Krolia asked, concern evident as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder.  

“There’s been weird activity in the forest back home.  After we make sure they’re safe, we should check it out.” Keith said, showing the article title to Krolia.  

“Okay.” She agreed, pulling away from the curb and heading towards the highway ramp.  

He took a deep breath, setting his phone down and running a hand through his hair for the nth time that day.  

He only hoped that everyone was okay.  

[whatarubberchicken]

The Bodyguard’s Tale -Chapter 3

<<Previous - Ao3 or ff.net - Next>>

Chapter 3

Lance’s next excursion wasn’t any better; he somehow got it into his head that he wanted to try hunting ducat. Whatever that was. Apparently, some guy named Coran told him all about them and where to find them. However, after a full day of tromping through the Altean jungle, he and Keith didn’t find anything. And when a tired, muddy, bedraggled Keith asked Shiro about it later, the man had laughed and suggested snipe hunting instead.

He was fairly certain they were being played. So was Lance.

In retaliation, Lance convinced him to help with a little prank. Somehow, the Altean prince had gotten ahold of a couple-dozen half-feral klanmüirls. Keith, openly shaking his head and secretly snickering for the sheer brilliance of it, had the task of putting a collar on each one that clearly stated that the beast was one of 25. There were only 24 klanmüirls. Then they set them loose in the Grand Hall, just before the High Council was called into session.

Keith had never seen such mayhem.

It was glorious.

Uptight lords ran around, panicking, yelling, and trying to catch the stray animals; women were screaming shrilly as several beasts mistook their shiny jewelry for a snack—Lotor had a huge one chasing him that was sure his hair was something edible—even Shiro’s calmer efforts to corral them was hilarious in its own way.

Keith and Lance were literally unable to stand, they were laughing so hard.

Unfortunately, their fun came to an end when Allura caught them hiding behind some draperies. Keith thought for sure they were doomed, but in exchange for her silence, the princess decided to have a bit of her own fun instead.

The next day, Lance and Keith looked at each other miserably as they were forced to try on dress after dress for the princess’s amusement. (She did not, as a small mercy, make them leave her quarters in the dresses, which Keith was eternally grateful for.)

“Does this one make my butt look big?” Lance asked, looking in the mirror while his sister was off trying to find accessories for them. The apparent reasoning behind this whole fiasco was that she wanted to see how different outfits looked side-by-side.

Why she couldn’t use her own ladies….

“I don’t think you have the hips for it,” a voice by the door laughed before Keith could reply. They both whirled around to see Shiro standing there, snickering. “Or the chest!”

“What are you doing here?!” Keith hissed, attempting to cover himself with another dress. Embarrassing himself in front of his best friend was not in the job description!

“Ah, Shiro! You have those documents I needed signed?” Allura said, handing her brother some jewelry as she crossed the room to the ambassador. Keith narrowed his eyes at her. So, she’d arranged this, the scheming little—

“Right here, princess,” Shiro said cheerfully, handing her some forms. “And I—uh, love your new models.”

Keith growled and Lance freed a hand long enough to give Shiro a rude hand gesture.

“Aww, did Lotor not come with you?” Allura pouted, looking behind the ambassador. Keith gaped at her in horror. His brother? Seeing him like this?! She was EVIL!!

“Unfortunately, Prince Lotor had some pressing business to take care of,” Shiro said, grimacing. Keith snorted. Undoubtedly, his brother simply hadn’t seen how a visit to see his betrothed would benefit him and had brushed off Allura’s invitation. “He swears he’ll make it up to you later.” Shiro glanced at the two boys again, and barely hid his laughter behind his hand.

“Of course, if he’d known what was waiting for him, I’m sure he’d have come,” he added, grinning at Keith.

“Don’t you dare tell him!” Keith hissed, trying to wiggle out of his dress to go threaten Shiro properly.

“And now, Princess, I have some pressing business of my own… That’s a good color on you, Keith!”

“Shiro! Get back here!!” Keith yelled, struggling harder. He ended up stumbling around and crashing into Lance, who yelped when they went down in a pile of limbs.

“Ow, mullet-head!”

“Shut up and get off me!”

“Excuse you! You’re the one on me!” Lance shouted.

“Move your leg!”

“Hey, watch the heel! Watch the heel!!”

“WHY are you wearing heels, Lance?” Keith asked, completely exasperated and still tangled up on the floor in what could be considered a very compromising position.

“Hey, if I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do it right!” The Altean prince had the nerve to pose.

“Ugh, you idiot!”

“Oh yeah? I’m not the one who—OOF!” Lance groaned. Keith winced. He’d accidently kneed the other boy in the stomach.

“Sorry.”

“You Galra, always so violent!” Lance cried dramatically, throwing a hand over his eyes for effect. “Sister-dear, did you see how he brutalized me?!”

“My poor brother,” Allura gushed, joining in the drama effortlessly. “You must be traumatized! Facial masks for both of you!!”

Lance cheered. Keith suppressed his urge to bang his head on the floor. The royal siblings were two of a kind, and a royal pain in his—

“C’mon, Keith, let’s get you exfoliated!!”

Quiznak.

………..

The next few weeks were more of the same. Lance got into more bar fights (which Keith had to step in and defend him for, even if the prince had a pretty good right hook himself) and attempted to learn how to play some sort of wind instrument (Keith chucked it out the window after the third day and claimed it must be in Lance’s messy room somewhere. Win-win for him; Lance had to clean his room, finally, and Keith was no longer subjected to the sound of a dying cat).

The best times were when Lance decided to hang out with Allura, usually studying spellcasting or playing Monsters and Mana. (Keith decided to forgive her for the dress debacle, since those few hours were the most peace he had these days. Still, he swore Lance cheated at that game, there was no way anyone could roll that many Nat 20s.)

Lance also attempted to learn how to use a sword, which Keith had to help him with. The prince was surprisingly light on his feet, but he was no match for Keith’s strength, even if he was Altean. Still, he was stubborn, and those practice matches were very enjoyable for Keith. Especially the way Lance’s eyes would sparkle every time he learned a new move or managed to land a hit….

NOPE! Nope. That was just the adrenaline talking. Keith loved the adrenaline rush. That was all.

Finally, the king and queen deemed Lance worthy of representing Altea on another world. Keith was apprehensive until he found out the mission wasn’t going to take long; it was just a festival that the locals called Clear Day. Shiro even offered to accompany them and make sure Lance didn’t get into too much trouble.

Keith regretted it the moment they touched down. So many lights and noises and smells—

“It’s a carnival,” Shiro exclaimed softly, his eyes wide. “We used to have them on Earth all the time!”

“Really?” Keith asked, interested in learning more about that part of himself. And honestly, watching Shiro was easier on his eyes than all these flashing lights….

“Hey, where’d Lance go?” Shiro suddenly asked.

Keith spun around, looking for the prince who had just been at his side.

“QUIZNAK!”

They searched for nearly an hour before they found him at the shooting games, entertaining several females with his ability to get them some cheap little stuffed animals.

“Lance!” Keith roared. “You know you’re not supposed to go off on your own!!”

Lance took one look at the rage on his face and, to Keith’s astonishment, he ran. What the quiznak?! Where did he think—?

“Get back here!” he yelled after the wayward prince, only vaguely aware of Shiro laughing behind him as he chased the other boy. Shiro could laugh, but it was going to be Keith’s ass if something happened to the prince!

Lance was darting left and right, trying to lose him in the crowd, but Keith was quicker. He tackled Lance right into a line of people. Keith pulled them both to their feet, and was about to start laying into the Altean when—

“Fine, fine, you can go first,” a bored, nasally voice said. The next thing they knew, they had been strapped into a ride and told to have a “blissfully burrowful time.”

All Keith could do was glare at Lance, which intensified when the animatronics all around them began to sing. Lance looked interested (for all of two tiks) and then he chanced a glance at his bodyguard.

“Just remember, if you kill me, you fail your mission,” he sang, grinning sheepishly.

“I remind myself that every day.”

The ride broke, right when they were in the middle of it. Keith groaned in despair and buried his face in his hands.

It took him less than five minutes to get fed up with the idiotic song and slash his way to freedom, dragging a laughing Lance behind him. The prince promised to pay for damages to the irate carny, but also pointed out that the ride had already been broken. Then Keith chimed in about how it could’ve been a trap to harm Lance’s royal person, blah-de-blah, and the worker quickly let them go with hasty apology for their troubles.

They were never coming back to Clear Day. Keith would beg Lance’s other bodyguards on his knees if he had to.

Now, they couldn’t find Shiro.

Some of the locals said something about a human being in the arm-wrestling tournament, but to get there, they had to pass the shooting games again. And of course, Lance wheedled and whined until Keith finally gave in and stopped to let him play for awhile.

It wasn’t like he was actually going to win anything… those things were totally rigged.

So, when Lance presented him with a stuffed red lion, Keith took it out of sheer disbelief—and ignored his flaming cheeks.

It was just to say sorry for that whole ride debacle. It’s not like it meant anything. Besides, they were both quickly distracted by the fact that Shiro was now the center of a cheering crowd of fans.

[spiftynifty]

Hey there! I’m the same anon that sent that confusion ask to jojo. I saw your reply and Read your post about LGBT in kids shows and how (at the time) it seemed probable for a m|m canon. I wanted to ask what your thoughts are now? I personally think it seems most likely that Keith will end in a het. Relationship (despite it seeming a little rushed and lm and jds saying they wouldn’t) Keith ending with no one when such a strong relationship with shiro was built up just doesn’t seem likely either..

To be honest, I was worried about Kacxa at first too. Many, many other hetero romances have started with less than that and seeing underdeveloped relationships just happen because “he was a boy, she was a girl, can I make it any more obvious” is something we are extremely accustomed to. Heck the show kind of plays right into this with Hunk/Shay.

But Keith is different, he is a far more developed and story-focused character than Hunk is, and thus if he’s to be given a romantic partner then it needs to match that flow and level of development. One of the “rules” that we often get in media is that “romance is a higher level on the relationship chart than friendship”. And at this point, and even after 13 more episodes, there’s just no context this show could offer me where I could honestly believe that Keith could regard Acxa with a similar level of affection to how he regards Shiro, let alone higher. This was the biggest reason I stopped worrying; to be blunt, Kacxa doesn’t make sense on a narrative or character level. Keith aside, Acxa deserves to have a story told that doesn’t involve her following dudes around.

Also, revisiting the show I’m quite convinced that Keith is canonically in love with Shiro, that his feelings for him were intended to be read as so many of us do. There’s a reason so many people in and outside the fandom have written about their relationship with optimism and curiosity about where the show is taking it. It’s there, even for those who have never been looking for it. I know a lot of straight guys who have picked up on it despite never realizing Korrasami was a thing. 

But we definitely do a lot of speculating here in the Sheith fandom and I’ve seen some pretty elaborate meta for scenes that didn’t particularly resonate as shippy for me. So stepping back, shipping goggles off, speaking as a viewer and as someone who works in animation, there are really… 3.5 sequences that give me pause, that are so heavily coded and so… interestingly storyboarded and animated that I find it increasingly impossible to believe the showrunners and directors never intended for their relationship to be read romantically. They are:

Because there is something inherently romantic about the slow zoom on their smiles before the slow drift of them towards each other, the castle forgotten

Because this is blatantly highlighting how beautiful Shiro is and Keith staring at him in awe before he closes his eyes for the last time, resigned to their joint fate

Because I have run all the permutations and scenarios in my mind and there is literally no reason for Keith to stop mid lean, with his eye direction shifting lower than Shiro’s eyeline. It would have been faster and way less work to show him just hugging him without the pause.

And then this is the 0.5:

Because while the canon tempers this moment with “you’re my brother”, I am beyond convinced that that line was added because the scene was too romantically coded without it. And if you don’t believe me, check out this edit someone made of what the scene sounds like without the brother line. It’s incredible. 

But will we SEE canon Sheith? that’s… a little more complicated. 

My post ages ago about LGBT in cartoons was pretty optimistic but where I failed was considering the differences in studios. Some companies are a lot more chill about LGBT content in their shows. But they also aren’t the Big Two: Disney and Dreamworks, whose records of LGBT characters are utterly abysmal. Here are the two they had prior to July 2018: LeFou from live action Beauty and the Beast, and Gobber from HTTYD2 in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it line that was ad-libbed by the actor and left in. Arguments could also be made for the Sheriffs in Gravity Falls (that had to be Dumbledore’d after the fact by the show creator who alluded to there being a fight over it).

NOT great, especially when you consider Disney is not just Disney: none, NONE of the 19 Marvel movies feature an LGBT character, nor do ANY of the Star Wars movies. It’s utterly inexcusable. Shareholders in these companies make things more complicated because they help dictate the direction a company will take and if a large portion of their major shareholders are say, more conservative, we’re going to notice that there is one area on the diversity checklist that is repeatedly getting passed over. The bigger the company, the more complicated the relationship is with shareholders. That’s why it’s difficult to compare Korra’s achievement, through Nickelodeon, to the potential of an LGBT relationship on Dreamworks. We should absolutely hold them to the same standards regardless of company size but we can’t expect to get an endgame LGBT relationship just because Korra did, or because of the giant 20-gayteen celebration going on for two wlw ships at Cartoon Network.

But we also got THIS on Voltron.  

And it’s a start. I think it outlines pretty clearly where the limits are for Dreamworks at this time, especially since many casual viewers seemed to miss the romantic implications of Zethrid/Ezor, and a more alarming number somehow walked away from Adam/Shiro’s fight completely unaware they were a couple. Which honestly, was certainly Dreamworks’ goal. Keep it vague enough to fool the shareholders, but implicative enough to pat themselves on the back for their achievement. Even though it only exists because JDS and LM fought tooth and nail for it. But at the end of the day, we still have Shiro, Shiro our canonically gay rep, and that’s so huge. I don’t think people realize how huge that is, and I wish his coming out party hadn’t been so marred by toxic antis and even non-antis who decided to take a really big moment in cartoon history and make it all about themselves and their own pain over the “more” that they didn’t get. 

It’s incredible that we are getting LGBT in cartoons finally, properly. 2018 celebrated three massive historical achievement in kid’s animation: A strong, muscular, leader hero was revealed to be gay and have had a boyfriends, and two wlw couples kissed–one of them got married, onscreen. 

This is HUGE. Prior to 2018 the biggest LGBT cartoon moment we had was Korra and Asami four years ago. 

It was like for four years everyone fought and fought and fought and 2018 was the breaking point and we got this glorious explosion of LGBT romance as a result. Audience reception to these couples has been immensely supportive, which is something the companies are definitely noting if it’s translating into dollar signs. It’s something that makes me much more optimistic for the future of cartoons in years to come. 

But I’m just going to come out and say it: the road to mlm is just a little bit harder. There are a ton of reasons for this but I’d say the biggest two boil down to: classic, gendered homophobia (the white conservative straight dudes with money supporting the studios have an easier time with the idea of two women making out, cuz that’s “hot” than two men, cuz that’s “weird”), and also because it is easier for people to accept that two overly-touchy women are “just good friends” than it is for them to accept that two male characters doing the same thing are. Guys Don’t Get Affectionate With Each Other, after all, because that’s not the Masculine Way. Or something. Tons of people watched the end of Korra and assumed they were just friends. Replace those characters with Shiro and Keith and it raises eyebrows. 

So where does that leave Shiro and Keith? It’s really hard to say and at this point it’s anyone’s guess. I truly believe Sheith was intentionally coded as romantic, but getting the green light is another matter entirely. In addition to the DW shareholders, JDS/LM have to deal with the Voltron ones and since that would include conservative-minded folk along with some Japanese shareholders and Japan has complicated rules about LGBT content… it’s a hot mess. Realistically speaking if you were hoping to see Shiro and Keith kiss onscreen, it’s time to come to terms with the fact that there is a 0.0002% likelihood of it happening. I think the best outcome we can expect at this point is that they both end up single, with bonus points if they’re still alive and on the same planet by the series’ end. I firmly believe that this IS something the showrunners are and have fought for and will continue to fight for until the last retakes are done and the show has been approved and shipped off to Netflix for distribution. 

My tinhat theory is that there is one, single scene/shot, that is blatantly canon, that JDS/LM and KR animated on the sly, and have at the ready that they are totally prepared to replace another more platonic scene with– should DW give the go ahead. But I doubt that go-ahead will ever come. At the end of the day the shareholders are the rulemakers and unless they’re convinced it’s worth the financial gain, Sheith is forever bound to be the “will they won’t they” friends we have seen for the last 7 seasons. And I don’t think that potential financial gain of the kids’ animation world’s first mlm couple is big enough to convince them. But god do I ever hope I’m wrong. 

[technoplaguearchive]

Sensory prompts!! #47 :DDD

Sensory Prompt #47: Singing badly as Loud As You CanSo I chose Shiro/Keith for the pairing, because I’ve never worked with them before and they’re my current obsession. I hope that’s okay!

*What in the actual fuck is that god awful noise?* is Keith’s first thought upon waking up with what he would classify as a five-star hangover. *What unholy abomination has come to disrupt me sleeping this shit off?* is the immediate second thought.

The noise in question is just loud enough to be a nuisance, but not so loud that he feels like his roommates are going to wake up. Keith, despite hangovers or illness, is a notoriously light sleeper. The slightest disruption to his usual at-home sleeping arrangement is enough to either wake him up or cause a horrible fitful sleep that usually ended with a headache. His roommates liked to say he was just a finicky sleeper, Keith knew he had always been this way.

When the noise continues, much to his displeasure, he decides staring at the ceiling trying to figure out what it was isn’t going to solve anything. He was honestly going to pinch whoever had left the music on- Oh, which, might have been him if his fuzzy memories were serving correctly.

He had been the one in charge of the music last night for the party. One of his roommates, Lance, had begged him to be the “DJ” since Keith was so music obsessed and Lance didn’t know reggae from rock. An exaggeration, but Lance’s music taste was dreadful and Keith was not going to spend an entire party grimacing and fielding complaints from friends that someone needed to do something. Not again. Especially since Shiro was supposed to be coming (if Pidge was right, and she usually was), and maybe subconsciously Keith was hoping to impress him with his music taste. He had no clue what Shiro was into, but he hoped it matched up with his own tastes. So Keith had agreed and had set up a playlist on Lance’s laptop. They weren’t all danceable songs, but most of the crowd coming just wanted to drink and play games so he hadn’t been too worried about it.

How to explain Shiro, though? His reaction when he showed up (Keith owed Pidge ten bucks for being right) upon hearing the rather odd music choice had been shock, and then a grimace, but then his chiseled features had softened. It had been too late, though, as Keith had seen the myriad of emotions on the older, taller man’s face and his heart had sunk. The scar across the bridge of Shiro’s nose had wrinkled adorably but Keith hadn’t had it in him to swoon over it tonight, not when Shiro’s distaste was a reaction to Keith’s own choices. Keith has spent the remainder of the night brooding and taking every shot that was offered and hiding in the corner by the ridiculous palm tree that inhabited the living room (who the hell bought that thing? He certainly didn’t remember purchasing it.)

But now morning was here, and Keith was now certain he had left the playlist going. He can feel his mood souring as he struggles to get out of bed to turn the blasted thing off. He is once again mad at himself for his own music tastes and he can’t tell if the nausea is due to being hungover or because Shiro’s disgusted face flashed through his mind. The heart-squishing feeling in his throat is definitely because he now knows Shiro will never like him, they’re fundamentally incompatible if Shiro doesn’t like his music. Music is everything to Keith, it’s what keeps him going and helps him get out of bed every morning.

“Fuck, okay, let’s get this shit off,” he grumbles to himself as he swings his long legs from under the covers, feet planting into the plush rug beside his bed. His toes curl into it momentarily in his usual morning wake-up ritual and he stretches his arms up, spine cracking along with one shoulder. Ugh, he’d slept wrong. He was going to pay for it with more than a hangover later. He casts his violet gaze to the clothes in the corner of the room and disregards them quickly; no use getting dressed just to turn a laptop off then crawl back into bed. So off he goes to the living room, in his Voltron boxer-briefs; they had been a joke gift from Lance since Voltron was Keith’s favorite band, but joke was on Lance because Keith wore them all the time and ‘offended Lance’s delicate sensibilities’ by walking around the apartment in them.

Once he exits his room the music is louder but still not too much. He doubts anyone else will be disturbed by it but it’s enough to keep him up and he should deal with it now so Lance doesn’t complain later. But his hungover/not-quite-awake mind doesn’t register that the music isn’t coming from the living room- where Lance’s laptop is closed and tucked away in the TV stand. So, where the fuck is it coming from? Keith stands there with his head cocked, eyes squinting at the offending laptop like it’s somehow lying to him by being shit down. It had to be that, where else would it be coming from? And who else would play Voltron but him?

The music suddenly gets louder and Keith can now tell it’s terribly off key the more he wakes up as he tries to puzzle out the morning mystery. Okay, so someone was awake and signing. That had to be it. He was going to kill Lance for butchering his favorite band’s music, it was a cardinal sin in this house and everyone knew it.

With a growl, and a wince because now his head pounds from the self-inflicted stress of someone butchering the music, he turns to the kitchen to confront the heathen that would dare defile the greatest pop-punk band in existence. The awful excuse for music just gets louder as he enters the kitchen, and he knows he’s found the culprit.

The culprit, however, is not his gangly Cuban roommate like he had assumed. The culprit is, shockingly, a tall Japanese man with shoulders as wide as a house and a back so sculpted Keith can already feel his mouth watering. And said man is dancing, as terribly as his singing, around the kitchen as he hunts down plates and pops bread into the shitty Star Wars toaster (it didn’t toast for shit but Keith is enamored with it because it looks like the Death Star). Any argument Keith has to the noise dies in his throat as he watches Shiro move around the kitchen singing the song he had walked in on last night. The song Keith has swore he hated because of the face. But a song that Shiro seemed to know the words to.

Shell-shocked and still not awake enough to be convinced he isn’t dreaming, he stands and watches the taller man move around the kitchen making breakfast. Multiple breakfasts, if the two plates were anything to judge by. Keith didn’t even know Shiro knew his way around their kitchen, but he shouldn’t have been surprised since Pidge was so close with the man. Shiro butters the toast and plates eggs with ease, oblivious to Keith’s presence and still singing horribly off-key. He’s onto a different Voltron song now and Keith isn’t sure he can take much more of this, dream or not. It’s cruel in several ways, one of which being he’s watching his crush dance around his kitchen in sweats singing his favorite band badly and Keith isn’t sure who that breakfast is for and why had Shiro stayed the night and how hadn’t Keith known this? Oh, yeah- he’d been pouting all night.

But by the end of Shiro’s third song-butchering, Keith has decided he actually, positively, can’t deal with any of this nonsense this early in the morning. So he does the only thing his awkward mind can come up with, and that’s start singing with Shiro but way more in-tune and with accurate lyrics. And Shiro, apparently as awkward as Keith, drops the butter knife to the floor and spins to face the intruder. Both men stare at each other, music dying off as they take in the situation.

Shiro breaks first, his eyes flitting down Keith’s torso to take in his undressed appearance then his face turning as red as the kitchen walls. Keith, now aware he’s nearly naked in front of the man he’s pretty sure he’s in love with, makes a most undignified squeak and makes a break for his bedroom, completely ignoring Shiro’s distressed cry of his name.

He slams the door harder than necessary and dives for the pile of clothes in his room, coming up with an oversized NASA shirt and pants he’s sure would qualify as leggings if a girl wore them (screw whoever thought tight jeans with his long legs looked bad, he liked them). Quickly, he pulls it all on and is managing to tug his head through the shirt as his door opens. He lets out another squeak and yanks the shirt down, staring wide-eyed at Shiro who looks like he’s seen heaven. His cheeks are flushed an adorable pink and the scar across his nose stands out in contrast. Those gray eyes are wide and starry, pools Keith can get lost in if he doesn’t look away. Shiro’s eyes have always drawn Keith in and he can’t get distracted right now. So he clears his throat to break the tension…or add to it, knowing his awful luck.

Shiro seems to snap out of his daze and meets Keith’s eyes, cheeks darkening before he shakes his head and starts looking anywhere else.

“You’re in my room,” Keith blurts, unhelpfully. *Duh, Kogane. He knows he’s in your room.*

Shiro, however, must not realize this. His eyes widen a fraction before he jumps backwards, putting distance between himself and the doorway. Keith snickers at the action and, clothed and feeling marginally less embarrassed, steps out of the room, closing the door behind him. The hallway is tight, tighter now with Shiro’s inhuman bulk taking up half of it, and he ends up pressed almost chest to chest with the man. He looks up as Shiro looks down, and both look away quickly. Keith slides past back to the living room, hearing the soft patter of Shiro’s bare feet on the wood behind him signifying he was following him. When he feels he’s in an open enough area, he turns to see Shiro standing far enough away that they can both breathe.

Keith chooses to speak first, breaking the awkward silence. “Didn’t know you spent the night.”

Shiro grimaces and rubs his neck, the flex making his skin move deliciously across his chest and arm. Keith steadfastly keeps his eyes locked on Shiro’s forehead so he doesn’t start drooling. “Yeah, uh… Pidge recommended I stay cause I guess I drank more than she was comfortable with?” His voice is a little rough, but still sweet. He looks up to meet Keith’s stare then looks away. “I hope that’s okay?” He sounds so unsure if his presence is welcome, and why wouldn’t it be? Pidge can have whoever she wants over.

Keith voices as much and Shiro squints at him, trying to decipher the waver at the end of Keith’s sentence. “It seems like it bothers you that I’m here.”

Keith’s head snaps away and he does his best not to pout as he crosses his arms over his chest. Deciding he’s being a child, he glances back to Shiro but keeps his face turned away to hide his expression. Maybe it would help his nerves if he didn’t look directly at the man before him. “Nope. Doesn’t bother me one bit.” A snort from the taller man has Keith openly glaring directly at him now. “What the fuck does that mean, Shirogane?”

Shiro’s eyes widen a fraction before he breaks into a loud laugh, doubling over and mirth predominantly displayed. “You look like an angry cat right now! And you cursed! I know Pidge has a swear jar around here for you, you owe a dollar!”

Keith visibly bristles and stalks forward, shoving at Shiro’s shoulder as he keeps laughing. “Fuck you! You’re laughing at me,” he yells. There’s a hint of frustration in his voice that Shiro seems to catch, and the man composes himself. Keith watches him stand up straight, fingers flexing on his hands as he seems to fight with something internally. So Keith steps back to give him space.

Something flashes quickly across Shiro’s face but it’s gone before Keith can place it. “I wasn’t trying to laugh at you, I’m sorry.” He stuffs his fidgety hands into the pockets of his sweats, and then takes them out just as quickly, rubbing at his arms. Keith wonders where the pants came from, but it’s not a big concern. Shiro probably kept gym clothes in his car with as much as he worked out… not that Keith knew how much Shiro worked out. Not at all. “I really wasn’t, Keith. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings,” he looks towards the kitchen then back at Keith with a large smile. “I made you breakfast? I figured you weren’t feeling well so I wanted to make you something to help you get the day started.”

The breakfast… was for Keith? No. Shiro must have made it for Pidge but because he’d made Keith feel bad he was offering it to him as a peace offering. Keith snorts and rolls his eyes, smirking internally at the shock on Shiro’s face at the gesture. “I don’t want to take Pidge’s breakfast. She’ll eat me in retaliation. No thanks.”

Shiro schools his features into normalcy and pegs Keith with a sincere stare. “I didn’t make it for Pidge, though? I made it for you.” He sounds both sure and I sure, as if he can’t fathom why Keith doesn’t believe him but desperately wants him to.

It’s Keith’s turn to look shocked. “Why?” *What the fuck, Keith? Use real words!*

“I uh… I wanted to apologize? Pidge said I made a weird face when I came in last night and that Voltron is your favorite band and she said you saw and that you got, and I quote, pouty about it.” He’s rambling, and it’s cute. Keith isn’t even mad that Pidge spilled the beans. Shiro’s embarrassed rambling is too adorable for Keith to even process anything else. “So yeah, I knew you were probably hungover and I wanted to make breakfast and apologize and then-“ he stutters to a stop and his cheeks flame up again, Keith’s heating as well because he knows he’s staring at Shiro but can’t help it. Shiro clears his throat. “I wanted to ask you on a date today?”

Keith’s brain screeches to a halt then starts up again, jumbling all his thoughts together like a deadly train crash. Date? With Shiro? Was he dreaming again? But Shiro’s open expression tells him he isn’t, and fuck this is everything he wanted. But there’s just one thing… “Okay, yeah.” Shiro’s eyes light up. “I’ll go out with you. Not like I haven’t wanted to for months now.” He smirks when Shiro chokes and decides to twist the knife in a little. “On one condition.”

Shiro nods eagerly, already bouncing on the balls of his feet like an overexcited child. “Anything! Of course! Oh! But breakfast is getting cold, we should-“

Keith holds a hand up and Shiro stops, staring at him expectantly. “You’re not allowed to butcher any more Voltron songs. I can’t fucking take it. I can’t date a guy who is going to destroy every song from my favorite band. And how do you even know the fucking lyrics? Your face last night was like you hated them!” Keith is rambling now.

Shiro grins at this. “Oh, no I don’t hate them! I was just surprised someone else likes them! I wouldn’t have guessed badass Keith Kogane was into a pop-punk band, so I was kind of beating myself up about making a bad assumption about you? I always thought you wouldn’t like me because I liked them.”

The silence afterward stretches then snaps as both men laugh at the absurdity. Shiro smiles that 100-watt grin and Keith is lost to it. “But no deal, I’m not gonna stop singing Voltron songs. So you either date the most time-deaf guy around or you don’t like me as much as you imply you do.” He has the audacity to wink and Keith knows he’s lost. He can’t give up on Shiro just because he can’t sing.

“Fine,” Keith huffs. “But I’m gonna teach you the right lyrics and hopefully teach you to sing at least slightly less off key. I honestly thought someone was dying in my kitchen this morning.”

[curiosity-killed]

backstage

pure self-indulgent ballet AU fluff

Warnings: none Pairing: Shallura Word count: 3367

After the accident, he stayed away for so long because he thought it would hurt too much to see how much he’d lost. The moment he steps back into the studio, though, Shiro knows his fear was for nothing. It’s been years, and he is out of practice. His developpés aren’t as high, his leaps as long. When he gets done with class, his whole body is sore. But the joy that bubbles up in his chest like champagne – that is still exactly the same. Life is a little more vivid when he’s dancing, like everything is a little more real, a little more felt. His very soul sings. So when Allura asks him to help with the soloists, he’s happy to agree. He’s grown to like teaching, and it’s nice to give back to the academy. It’s also a good excuse to spend more time in the studio – and with Allura.

Lance and Pidge have grown so much since he danced with them that it’s a little disorienting to work with them. They’ve both become beautiful dancers, skilled beyond what he could have guessed when they were in middle school. Some things, though, haven’t changed.

“Shiro! Look!” He turns from his phone and blanches. Both Pidge and Lance wear blinding grins – it’s just that the former is upside down. Pidge hangs from Lance’s flexed arm by her knee, beaming. Shiro’s heart jolts. One wrong move and their Sugarplum Fairy is going to be in the hospital with a concussion. It’s his job to tell them to knock it off. On the other hand, though, it’s an impressive lift. Part of Shiro wants to try it out himself, and the other part is already thinking of how it could be incorporated into choreography. He’s seen something similar before on Instagram but never considered it an option in their studio. He settles on a compromise. “Lance, set her down – carefully!” he says. “We’re working on Nutcracker right now, not contemporary.” They give matching pouts but do as told, just in time for Allura to walk in. She catches the moment Pidge’s feet touch the ground and shoots Shiro a questioning look. He shakes his head slightly and mouths ‘later.’ She’s smiling as she turns to set her notebook down on the bench and start rehearsal. After one of the evening rehearsals, they wind up sitting on the floor together, sharing scars. Shiro’s is the more obvious, of course, but he can’t help wincing in shared pain as Allura tells him about her hip.

“It’s okay,” she says when she catches his expression. She stops herself and shakes her head slightly. “I mean, it’s not – it was awful when it happened. It felt like my whole body had betrayed me. But now, I don’t mind as much. I still get to dance, even if it’s not the way I once did. And I’ve grown stronger in ways I didn’t know I was weak. I don’t mind it so much anymore.” She says it with a gentle smile, as if she knows what Shiro was thinking. They’ve known each other for so long, she probably does. He can’t imagine her without dance. For years, she’d been the shining star of their studio, and she’d had such plans beyond their little city. Just thinking of the agony she had to feel at having her dreams brought down around her by some ice and an unlucky fall is nearly unbearable. It had to have been so much worse for her. “And now I get to dance with you again,” she adds. “It could have been much worse, in all.” It’s hard to believe he could ever make up for her loss, but the softness in her eyes when she looks at him almost makes Shiro believe it. Tech week comes before he’s ready, and the week itself is chaos. After it’s over, tech week always seem to be glazed in a golden highlight, and he’s surprised by how insane the week is. Neither Lance nor Pidge is the fussy type, and Shiro finds himself pleasantly surprised by how well they behave. He knows they’re more mature than they act when they’re allowed to let loose, but it’s still heartwarming to see them take on roles as leaders within the studio. More than once, he finds Pidge helping out with costumes backstage, and he even catches Keith and Lance working together to corral some of the younger kids. Keith spots him and rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling as he turns back to their task. If Allura rests, it’s only in blinks. After receiving a text from her at two A.M. about the show, Shiro resolves to talk to her, but it’s hard to get a word in edgewise during rehearsal. There’s a lot of pressure on her, he knows; it’s the first winter since she took over the studio from Alfor, and the Nutcracker is a holiday tradition. Expectations are high, and if it doesn’t live up to them, the studio will suffer. Unlike a new show, people have a set image when it comes to this one. As Shiro’s mom used to say, people are a lot quicker to pick up on mistakes when it’s something they’ve seen a hundred times before. For Allura’s sake, the show needs to go perfectly. He picks up extra hours to help relieve some of Allura’s workload. He can’t do it all, he knows, but he can take care of things like paperwork and expense reports so she can focus on the show itself. If he winds up getting less sleep than he did in college – well, it’s only one week. He’ll manage. It works until Allura catches him on the Friday of tech, dark shadows under his eyes and double-shot in hand. She cocks an eyebrow, glancing between him and the coffee. “I’m fine,” he protests preemptively. “You need to sleep, Shiro,” she scolds. “If you run yourself down like this, you’ll get sick.” It’s a pretty obvious pot and kettle situation, and when he looks pointedly at the thermos in her hand, she flushes. “Fine!” she relents. “But only this time.” He grins and salutes with his travel mug, as if either of them actually believe that. Allura suppresses her smile only poorly. On the morning of the Saturday shows, Shiro finds himself crouched in the crossover reassuring Hunk. Their Snow King, it appears, has gotten cold feet. “What if I mistime it? What if I go too late and Shay gets hurt or go too early and she’s not ready,” he says. “Or if my grip isn’t right and she falls or – or –“ “Hunk.” He meets Shiro’s eyes with a startled look, as if he had forgotten Shiro was even there. Given how quickly Hunk’s mind works even when it isn’t fueled by anxious energy, Shiro wouldn’t be surprised if that were true. “Take a deep breath,” he instructs. “And listen. You’ve practiced this for months. You and Shay have done every step in this pas a hundred times over. Today, tonight – it’s no different. Your body knows the steps, knows how to do all the lifts and turns. You could do this in your sleep.” Hunk’s expression doesn’t look totally convinced; he side-eyes Shiro a little worriedly. Still, he exhales and gives a shaky little nod. With a sniff, he wipes at the tears under his eyes and gives another nod. “Yeah,” he says. “You’re right. Sorry, I – I just–” Shiro wraps his arm around Hunk’s shoulders and pulls him in for a partial hug. “Don’t worry about it, Hunk,” he soothes. “Everybody gets nervous. The fact that you keep going even when you’re scared just makes you brave.” There’s another sniff, and Hunk dunks his head. Shiro shifts his arm to gently rub circles into Hunk’s back. He’s always been the most anxious of the students, but he’s always pushed through, too. Shiro really does admire that about him. “Thanks Shiro,” he mumbles. “Of course, buddy,” he says. He gives Hunk’s shoulder one more squeeze. “Now come on, don’t want frozen toes out there.” Hunk laughs at that, a startled bubble of noise, and Shiro smiles in triumph. He helps Hunk up and leaves him to finish warming up. Backstage, it’s a madhouse of snowflakes and dolls in the middle of warming up. The matching tutus are interspersed with bright colored shrugs and striped legwarmers, and Keith stands out like a scarlet stoplight. From what Shiro can see, he appears to be in the middle of some sort of contest with one of the students that Shiro doesn’t know very well – James, by the name emblazoned on the back of his jacket. For a moment, Shiro debates breaking them up. They really don’t need any raised tensions on show day, and they definitely don’t need someone pulling a hamstring because they were forcing a heel-in-hand stretch. “You know, if we planned ahead, we could have quite a pas de deux with those two next semester.” He hadn’t heard Allura step up beside him, but he’d felt the warmth of her proximity. He looks over with a raised eyebrow, trying to see if she’s serious. She meets his gaze and gives a little shrug. “Think Violente but less peppy,” she offers. Her hair’s pulled up in a bun, the kind of sleek look that she’d do in two minutes flat before class back when they danced together. There’s no hairspray this time, though, and little wisps curl like frost against her cheeks. With the house lights backlighting her, she is luminous. “Or War, from Coppelia,” Shiro muses, turning back to the teenagers. In the time he was looking away, some conclusion must have come between the two; their legs have both returned to the ground, and James turns away from Keith with a dismissive hand gesture. Behind him, Keith looks a little smug. When he catches Shiro watching, though, a flush turns his cheeks pink and he quickly looks away. “I’ll go check on James,” Allura says. “Why don’t you check on Keith?” He gives a little salute, already headed over. Keith sees him coming and wrinkles his nose, as if expecting a lecture. Instead, Shiro reaches over to ruffle Keith’s hair; he has the entire first act to hairspray it back into place. “Shiro,” Keith whines, knocking his hand away. “You ready?” Shiro asks. Keith shrugs, nonchalant. He’s always been small, and that doesn’t seem likely to change, but he’s grown a lot in the last three years. It’s like all that anger and fear had somehow condensed him, pulled into something tightly wound and ready to spring. Now, though, it’s relaxed to let him settle and fill out into a confident young man and leader. “Sure,” he says. “Romelle and I’ve done it a hundred times.” The contrast with Hunk makes Shiro smile a little. He ignores that in favor of giving his best friend a little grief. “You two do make a good couple,” he remarks. “Lot of chemistry there.” “The height helps,” Keith says, oblivious. “Couple years ago, I would’ve been too short for her.” “But now you’re a perfect match,” Shiro continues. He can see the moment Keith catches on; he straightens slightly and his eyes narrow just-so. Grinning, Shiro presses a little further. “You know Arabian has a history of getting couples together,” he points out. “Zethrid and Ezor, Colleen and Sam, even Zarkon and Haggar…” “You and Allura,” Keith chimes in. Shiro stammers, caught off-guard. He should’ve known better, but he wasn’t prepared for Keith to retaliate. Now, his fumbling just makes it more embarrassing; he can feel his cheeks heating up scarlet. “Well, it doesn’t always work that way,” he finishes lamely. “Mhm,” Keith says, a little smug. “Sounds like it’s not the role after all.” In lieu of a better response, Shiro knocks their shoulders together and lets it go. Keith grins. They’re quiet together for a few moments, watching the little kids file up from the dressing rooms in their satin dresses and little suits. The adults are already up in the wings, coupled up, and Shiro catches sight of Sam and Colleen Holt across the way. He lifts his hand in a wave, and they both beam as they wave back. “You know, you could’ve done it this year,” Keith says. Shiro looks over, a little startled by the non sequitor. Keith isn’t looking at him; he’s shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and popped one foot forward in a half-hearted calf stretch. “Even if you didn’t want to do Cavalier or whatever, you could’ve done Snow or Arabian still,” Keith continues. “Russian, even.” Shiro cants his head, considering. Keith’s not wrong; though Shiro’s out of practice, he could have pushed himself enough to do one of the variations at least. He’s done all of them enough times that he can still mark the choreography in his dreams. “Maybe,” he agrees. “But I’d rather ease back in than stress myself out trying to get up to that level so soon. Anyway, you guys deserve the roles you got. I wouldn’t want to take one of them away from you out of some weird seniority.” There’s also a part of him that would feel wrong about dancing any of the duets while Allura was forced to watch from the wings. He’s danced with others before, and he loves ballet for more than his partners. But Allura is special. If he were to come back to his home studio to perform now, after everything, he would want to share it with her. He opts not to tell Keith that. “I should go check in with Ro,” Keith says, straightening up. “She wanted to go over opening again.” Beyond them, past the bright lights of the stage, Shiro can hear the overture start. The audience is hushed and the wings filled only with whispers. Excitement prickles across his nerves like little drops of light. “If I don’t see you before, I know you’ll do great,” he says. “Just remember to breathe and not rush.” “Yeah, yeah, patience,” Keith interjects, teasing. He’s smiling, though, and Shiro knows he isn’t actually annoyed. Reaching out, he gives Keith’s shoulder a quick squeeze. “Merde,” he says. Keith replies with his hand on Shiro’s arm and a smile, and then they separate. Now that it’s showtime, Shiro doesn’t have an official station. The volunteers and parents have commandeered the quick change area, and the wings are cleared of everyone but crew and dancers. He helps where he’s needed backstage and watches Arabian from the wings, cheering when Keith and Romelle finish the grueling dance. Keith grins as he enters the wing, and Shiro tugs him into a big hug, sweat and all. For the rest of the show, though, he finds himself watching the TV in the crossover. It’s quiet and still, and he’s out of the way of the people who are actually working here. They’re in the middle of Waltz of the Flowers when Allura finds him. “Are you hiding?” she asks. He turns to her with a laugh, a little startled. He hadn’t heard her enter. "Just trying to stay out of the way," he admits. "I'm not used to not having a job." Allura breathes out a laugh and walks over to join him. She bumps her shoulder into his arm gently and smiles. "It does leave you at a bit of a loss for what to do," she agrees. On the TV screen, Dewdrop twirls across stage in a series of pique turns that culminates in a back-breaking arabesque as the corps re-enters. "She's grown so much this last year," Allura remarks. "They all have, really. I'm so proud of how they've stepped up this year." "They've had a great role model to lead them," Shiro says, resting his hand on her shoulder. She looks up at him with a smile that's soft and intimate and sets something warm unfurling in his chest. If he leans a little more into where their arms touch, there's no one here to tell. Onscreen, the waltz comes to an end in a flurry of swirling pink tutus and the crowd erupts in applause as they dance offstage. It grows quiet, then, anticipation hushing the audience both in the seats and in the wings. Pidge and Lance step from the shadows in graceful unison, as if they were formed of the very same essence. The smiles they wear aren't the giddy grins of the younger dancers but something a little subtler, almost regal. Beside him, Allura lets out a little sigh. It’s half contentment and half something like wist. Looking up at the TV, there’s no envy in her expression but perhaps something like nostalgia. Remembering the last time she danced it, perhaps, or maybe the last time she walked across that stage as something other than a teacher. On a whim, Shiro offers out his hand. Allura looks up, surprised. He smiles. “C’mon,” he offers. “It’s been ages,” Allura protests. “I probably can’t even do most of it.” Shiro shrugs but doesn’t drop his hand. “So it’ll just be for us,” he says. “There’s no audience here.” For a moment longer, it seems she really will say no. Then, she relents with a little smile as she sets her hand delicately over his and steps into a sous-sus to match Pidge’s on the TV. Her leg unfolds to ninety degrees instead of the high developpé onscreen, and her tennis shoes squeak against the floor as he turns her in a promenade. When she goes to pirouette, the sole sticks against the marleyed floor, and they both have to stifle laughter. It’s no performance for the history books or even for the stage. It was never meant to be. It’s only for the two of them. The old familiar steps look a little different now than they did six years ago when they last performed them. The way their bodies move through them has changed, but they meet each other in the middle and gently reacquaint themselves. They’ve each grown while apart, but it seems they grew in the same directions; moving together comes as easily as if they were born to it. The last lift turns into more of a hug than any real step, and Allura is laughing softly as Shiro spins her around with her arms extended and face tilted toward the light. Her delight sets a smile over his lips, enchanted. As the music softens to a close, he lets her slip carefully down through his arms till her feet touch the ground. Her arms follow, settling around his shoulders. One hand just barely brushes through the short hair at the nape of his neck. There’s a flush warming her cheeks, and her eyes are lit with the blue of the crossover lights. Curls have escaped her bun and fall gently against her cheeks. Neither one of them makes a move to separate. Allura’s hand slides forward to cup his jaw, her head tilting slightly. She glances up at him just once, as if to ask permission. He gives it freely. It’s a gentle kiss, nearly chaste. Her lips are soft and he can feel the bite of her chapstick on his own – mint and beeswax, the kind she’s always worn. His hand spreads against the low of her back, pulling her closer to him, and hers curls in his hair. Her thumbtip brushes against the edge of his scar, sending a little shiver through his skin. They separate just briefly and only so far as to let them both catch their breath. “Thank you, Takashi,” she murmurs. “You never have to thank me for anything,” he answers, leaning back in. The music of Lance’s solo starts, and Shiro knows they should watch. He’s been working hard for this, and they should be there to cheer both him and Pidge on in their moment in the spotlight. They will – in a moment. For right now, Shiro lets himself ignore the TV and the stage and the audience far beyond. The only star he needs is right here in his arms.

[brittysaucefanfic]

Teachings of the Heart

Part 5

@shattbigbang @pastellipastels

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Matt skips along the almost empty hallways of the school building with a smile.

Keith had caught him after mini golf a few days ago to ask a favor, which is very unlike Keith. Usually when Keith has a problem, he either stews in his frustration for days, or somehow Lance convinces him to get help. Probably using ways Matt wishes he never has to think about again.

Matt steps one foot out of the school building before hissing and going right back inside. The winter chill is harsh right now, and the wind surely isn’t making matters any better. And he still has to go to the athletics hall to help Keith with some of his paperwork. Apparently he’s trying to set up a field trip for his history class, but he’s confused with all the paperwork involved. Matt could have declined the offer to help him, but Keith pulled out his best puppy eyes he had ever seen and Matt caved.

Keith needs to stop being friends with Pidge.

Matt taps his foot in thought as he tries to find a way to the athletics hall without being frozen to death. Why couldn’t they just do this in one of their classrooms? Guess Keith is too embarrassed to admit he’s getting help from someone who isn’t Lance. Geez, those two are almost comically disgusting together.

Matt sighs and looks around the empty hallway for some semblance of an idea. Then, as he passes his eyes over the door to the teacher’s lounge, a brilliant idea smacks him in the face. He’ll just use Shiro’s coat. The man is busy doing something else, which is why he cancelled their after school paperwork date.

Wait, no, not a date.

The thought sends Matt’s face burning, and his mind starts trailing off into dangerous places. Imagining what a date with Shiro would be like, how it would go down. Maybe something classic like dinner and a movie? Or would he do something spontaneous? No, Shiro would probably do something classic first before getting more spontaneous as the dates continue. Maybe they’d hold hands during a movie, snuggle a bit. Maybe they would reach for the popcorn at the same time like some lame chick flick.

Would Shiro kiss him goodnight?

God, what would it be like to kiss Shiro for real? Perhaps his lips would be just as soft as they look. Maybe Shiro would pull him in close, hands on Matt’s hips. He can just imagine it, vividly. Smoke colored eyes lidded and dark with lust, that smile Shiro does that drives Matt wild on his lips. The one where only one corner of his mouth lifts up, and only that small tease of teeth flashing in the moonlight. Strong hands burning through Matt’s clothing, his thumbs rubbing his skin just beneath his shirt.

Matt nearly smacks himself in the face to escape those dangerous thoughts.

Cheeks flushed, he heads to the lounge and snags up Shiro’s thick winter coat and slips it on. He may or may not have buried his nose in the fabric, the smell of Shiro’s cologne fogging his mind just a little bit more than should be normal. Man, this crush is getting out of hand.

Matt makes his way to the athletics hall with his eyes plastered to his feet.

If anyone asks, he’ll say the redness on his face is from the chill, and maybe they’ll believe him. Matt slips into Keith’s office quietly, mind still running over the imagined kiss like it had really happened. Keith is already there, his head lowered, but he raises his eyes when the door clicks shut. Keith smiles, and Matt can’t help but think it’s a little more devious than he prefers.

Like Pidge, Keith is scary when he’s devious.

If he recognizes whose coat Matt is wearing, he says nothing of it. Keith straightens in his chair and gestures to the one beside him, on the other side of the desk. Not what Matt would expect, but okay. If Keith is giving him the go ahead to be in his personal space, who is Matt to deny the honor? Only Lance and Shiro ever get to sit this close so casually next to Keith, and sometimes Pidge when Keith’s over binging conspiracy films with his baby sibling.

Matt slips off the coat reluctantly and takes a seat.

“Thanks for this Matt, I appreciate it.” Keith says with a quiet smile. And while it does sound genuine, Matt feels like there’s something hidden in his voice. He decides to ignore it, there’s no telling what could be going through Keith’s mind. He and Keith start going over the paperwork for the field trip, which is supposed to be overnight, which will be hard to make happen.

At first Matt sees nothing wrong, but then he realizes, that Keith is getting the hang of it really quick.

Just when Matt goes to interrogate on the real reason Keith asked for his help when he seems to have everything under control, there’s a commotion in the top of his peripheral. Matt, of course, by sheer instinct and not by choice, looks up at the movement. Then he can’t look away.

Because standing right there in front of him, wearing nothing but a tight swimsuit, is Shiro.

It seems like Shiro has just gotten out of the water, and his back is to Matt, but oh, he is not complaining. Not in the slightest. Shiro’s almost unnaturally fit, with sheets of muscle across his body. With every movement, and every gesture, the muscles in Shiro’s back twitch and move. They practically hypnotize Matt, twitching along the planes of Shiro’s body like it’s a sensual dance.

Matt swallows as he tries to remove his eyes.

This his best friend, Matt shouldn’t be looking at Shiro’s body like all he wants to do is push him on a bed and have some wicked, forbidden fun. Oh, now that’s a dangerous thought. Sweat glistening on Shiro’s skin like the dripping water on him now, muscles twitching with every movement. Strong, powerful arms tensing, flexing, picking up Matt’s weight like it’s nothing. Incredible thighs bracketing Matt’s hips like they’re in a friendly wrestling match and Shiro has just pinned him to the floor.

Oh, and those abs.

Shiro turns his body, just enough to give Matt a teasing glimpse of those delicious abs. Matt swallows again, but it’s dry, his mouth having taken a trip to the Sahara. Shiro smiles, bright and blinding and spreading across his face. Eyes crinkling at the corners, teeth gleaming in the bright lights of the pool. He’s talking to Lance, and Matt doesn’t even care. Because he’s still looking at Shiro and he’s leaning forward, and oh god, Keith don’t look down.

There’s a small whimpering noise in his ears, and it takes a moment for him to realize it was his own lips to utter such a demeaning sound.

“Did you say something?” Keith says, and Matt promptly snaps the fuck out of it and looks away. Keith is looking at him now, dead in the face, and please god, don’t let Matt be blushing. Matt swallows and licks his lips to rid himself of the dryness.

“Nope,” Matt says back, his tone a little high, and his voice a little loud. “I didn’t say anything, what else do we have to do?”

His voice. Fucking. Breaks. This can’t be any more humiliating. Caught spying on Shiro’s naked- nearly naked, nearly naked!- body by his little brother, who is looking at Matt a little too sharply. Matt squirms in his seat, and flushes as he crosses his legs to hide a certain problem down below. Keith purses his lips, but his eyes are dancing. That mischievous glint is back and Matt trembles in fear of what Keith could do next.

Matt looks up and sees Keith look across the office at Lance and Shiro.

“Oh hey,” Keith says, and Matt wants to die a little at the devious tone in his voice. “It’s Shiro and Lance. I forgot today is swim practice, let’s go say hi.”

Keith stands and pushes his chair back, easing around his side of the desk and heading to the door. He looks back, violet eyes narrowed but smile genuine and bright. Matt tenses in his seat as his breath hitches in his chest. God, not now. He can’t talk to Shiro when he’s half naked, he would have a heart attack. He can see it now.

Here lies Matthew Holt, who died from overexposure to extreme sexiness. May he rest in peace.

Yeah, like he wants to go out like that. Matt’s supposed to die in some big explosion from one his experiments at home, and go out like a boss. Not like this pathetic, lovestruck, lust filled mess he is now.

“Well?” Keith says, eyebrow raised and amusement pricking at his lips. “Are you coming or not?”

“Well, uh,” Matt fumbles, reaching out and straightening the mess of papers before him with no method to the madness. As per usual. “I mean, we want to get these forms filled out and stuff right?”

Keith rolls his eyes.

“The paperwork can wait nerd, come on.” Keith says, and there’s no room for argument in his tone so Matt stands up slowly, quickly grabbing the coat to hold in his arms. At least now his problem is covered. He follows Keith across the hall and into the pool area.

This is it, this is the end. Goodbye Matt, hello death.

The boys turn at the sound of the doors opening, and both Shiro and Lance smile brightly. Lance bounds over almost dangerously quick on the slick floors and pecks Keith on the cheek. Keith scrunches his nose and moves away, too slow to really escape it, and Lance giggles. Keith has this policy for no PDA in front of their students.

Which is ironic, seeing as Keith literally shoved Lance against a wall mid class when he realized his feelings.

“Hey Keith, Matt, what’s up?” Shiro asks, coming over to draw Keith into a quick side hug. Matt is both relieved and disappointed that Shiro didn’t hug him too. Relieved, because his heart probably couldn’t take the overload of a mostly naked and wet Shiro. Disappointed because it’s a mostly naked and wet Shiro who would have hugged him.

“Matt’s helping me with some paperwork, what about you?” Keith says, and he casually leans into Lance as he talks. Apparently the students behind Shiro took this opportunity to grab a few cell phone minutes, because there’s a flash of a camera in the corner of Matt’s eye. He won’t admonish the kids for getting a picture of the half naked football coach. He would do it too, just without the flash for discretion.

No one else seems to notice it.

“Lance asked me to guest star for one of our students to learn from. He’s bigger than your usual swimmer, so lance needed someone of similar build to teach him.” Shiro says. He turns behind him and looks over the students on their phones before smiling as he spots the one he wants. The kid isn’t one of Matt’s, but he gets why Lance would ask Shiro for help. The student, a boy, is built with muscles similar to Shiro’s.

“Hey Cody, c’mere for a sec!” Shiro shouts, and the kid, Cody, looks up and walks over to them. He shifts uncomfortably next to Shiro when he gets close.

“Hello misters.” Cody mumbles, and Lance and Shiro both soften in the face. It’s a good look on Shiro, that whole soft pride in his student. Matt bites back his dreamy sigh. Shiro is too good for this world.

“Well,” Keith says. “I guess we should leave you guys to it.”

He turns to the kid and overs his fist for a fist bump. Cody reluctantly responds.

“You’ll be great kid, you have the best swim coach in the world showing you the ropes.” Cody smiles softly and with that Keith takes his leave, Matt following behind with one last look back. Shiro’s watching him too, but they both look away. Matt just heads to his car in a daze with the coat still folded in his arms. The chill is helping him break out of the haze so he doesn’t mind as much as he did before.

He never did finish that paperwork though.

******

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[kcwcommentary]

VLD3x06 – “Tailing a Comet”

3x06 – “Tailing a Comet”

This episode is a mess. 

This commentary is long because I have a lot to critique.

Lance is in some Galra base. He’s looking through the scope of his bayard-turned-rifle. The red of the bayard and the blue of his armor looks so dissonant. I don’t know how the visual of the colors not matching resulting from the lion switch plot ever felt right to the EPs. It might match for whatever nostalgia they have of the old 80s Voltron, but it looks like an animation error.

Keith rushes in, taking out sentries. All the Paladins are there, including Allura, whose bayard is manifesting as a whip. A very inconsistent whip. Sometimes it acts solid, like a normal whip, wrapping around sentries. Other times, without anything to suggest a change, it acts like a blade, cutting sentries apart. Purposeful inconsistencies like the nature and behavior of her bayard make it difficult to track and anticipate how anything works in this show. It’s disorienting to watch. Just another absurdity of this show’s production.

Pidge does something to a computer and all the sentries shut down and fall over. That is a serious security vulnerability that one would think the Galra, with their 10,000-year old universe-wide empire, would have figured out and built their systems so that every sentry didn’t have a singular, unified off-switch.

Given what Pidge and Keith say at the end of the scene, the Paladins must be going around taking down various Galra bases before turning them over to the Blade of Marmora.

The sequence ends, revealing itself to be just an action set-piece. There was no narrative relevance to the scene, no reason for the scene to be in the story. It was solely there as pointless spectacle.

Back on the Castle Ship, Keith is talking to Shiro. Shiro remembers the battle with Zarkon, he remembers the Black Lion telling him to use the black bayard, and the next thing he remembers is waking up on a Galra ship. While Shiro could use a haircut, him in his white tank top is nice. Initially, I was just going to write that as a side-note in parentheses, but looking at Shiro’s bare arms, seeing precisely how the prosthetic connects to his arm is important. This won’t be relevant to some of my criticism for several seasons, but I want to point it out very specifically now so that I can come back to it when Shiro gets his new arm in season seven. It’s something I suspected, but I couldn’t remember any absolute textual evidence for what I have long thought. Seeing him in this tank top now, I know for certain, I’m right. This makes the new arm he gets in season seven even more abhorrent. I’ll wait until I get to those episodes to point out specifically why.

Keith points out that Shiro had “just unlocked the Black Lion’s ability to teleport.” He suggests maybe Black was trying to save Shiro by teleporting him or that maybe Zarkon somehow made Black teleport Shiro into Galra hands. This would have at least explained what happened to Shiro’s body. But since we know from future episodes that this isn’t Shiro, and that Black did not teleport Shiro to the Galra, the show leaves us with no explanation for what happened to Shiro’s body or how he died.

“Hey Keith, how many times are you going to have to save me before this is over?” Shiro asks. “As many times as it takes,” Keith answers. I love that they care about each other. And that makes the fact that they don’t talk to each other in season eight, acting as if they barely know each other, more infuriating.

Hair cut and face shaven, Shiro joins the others on the bridge. The first thing he says to them is to congratulate them on the work they’ve done in his absence in fighting against the Galra. Pidge interrupts with information she’s gotten from data she’s analyzed about Lotor, saying his most recent sightings have been in a particular “quadrant.” Shiro comments about the quadrant being huge. As I complained about the use of the word in 3x02 “Red Paladin,” I really don’t like that “quadrant” has become some go-to word for miscellaneous area divisions of space. The show remembers that Hunk is an engineer and intelligent, so they have him and Pidge go back and forth discussing a way to try to track the “comet.”

Lance actually comes to Keith’s room to talk to him. “You’re the leader now, right?” Lance says to Keith. This is an unnecessary, uncomfortable situation the show chose to put itself in. Lance talks about how they have “one Paladin too many.” Lance doesn’t want to take Blue away from Allura, so if Shiro resumes as Black Paladin and Keith goes back to Red, Lance thinks he should step aside. If the EPs of the show didn’t want to contort this show to fit their nostalgia of the old 80s Voltron, then this wouldn’t need to be an issue. There was nothing whatsoever wrong with having Allura as an admiral-level commander stationed on the Castle Ship. There she could be written as a leader, but as the Blue Paladin, she’s just kind of there, following orders instead of giving them.

Keith tries to convince Lance to just focus on the missions instead of worrying about it. To a small degree, Lance talking to Keith about this is Lance revealing some of his significant insecurities. With the unexplained rivalry between these two characters, character growth for them could have been built around Keith helping Lance learn to deal with his insecurities. This scene would be a step in such development, so Keith not recognizing here how severe Lance’s insecurities are makes sense. But the character development would need to continue in the future, and I think the show thinks that they do keep working on this character development, but they don’t ever really resolve the arc. It just sort of fizzles. At least, I don’t remember the show explaining how Lance deals with his insecurities.

Once again, the mice are shown having gone into the same (or similar) area of the ship’s systems with the two small crystals that they went into in 1x03 “Defenders of the Universe.” Like then, I don’t understand why the system was designed so that a technician couldn’t access it, thus necessitating using the mice to do so. Hunk promising the mice a “mouse shower” is cute though.

Hunk hitting the panel to make the ship send out whatever energy ring that is shown beaming out from the Castle is cliché, and, given the command input interface of this system, not really sensical. They detect the “comet” and begin pursuit. Their system locates the “comet” on a standard Galra ship, not Lotor’s, at a planet. Once again, the planet does not look like a planet.

Both Keith and Shiro simultaneously go to give the team commands. Keith defers to Shiro. I guess it makes sense that a readjustment like this moment might be realistic given the plot as it’s been this season, but I can’t watch it and not think about how the EPs wanted Keith as Black Paladin and wanted Shiro dead. Shiro thinks that the Galra must be transferring the “comet” to the base, but the ship ends up blasting the base. Shiro says they need more information, and Keith tells Shiro to take the Black Lion, that he’ll stay on the Castle with Coran and help provide support.

This suggests something that bothers me throughout the show. The Castle is a large ship and must have been designed with the intention of a larger crew than what Team Voltron has. They never do staff the Castle with such a crew though. Despite the show telling us about people joining the Voltron Coalition, none of those who join work on the Castle. The Olkari are a culture significantly made up of engineers, yet none join the crew. Slav supposedly helps on the Castle Ship at the end of season two, but he’s nowhere to be seen now. That the crew is never realistically staffed annoys me.

The Black Lion won’t respond to Shiro, so he tells Keith he’ll have to lead the mission. “It looks like you’re its true paladin now,” Shiro says. Ugh. Contextualizing this with the clone storyline, this is supposed to be a hint that this Shiro isn’t the real Shiro. The problem with that is that just last episode, Black specifically reacted to this clone, detected him, roared for him. There is literally no explanation for why Black would be interested in directing Keith to this clone last episode only to reject him now. Black wanted the clone last episode, but for Black now to not want the clone: the show is just ridiculously inconsistent. It’s like those in charge of the story cannot make up their minds about what the story is from one episode to the next.

The show expects us to think that somehow Black has bonded with Keith more than Shiro? That Shiro’s right in saying that Keith is Black’s “true paladin now.” That attempt by the show to make Keith Black Paladin is an act to delegitimize Shiro’s character entirely, including to degrade him from seasons one and two. The only explanation the show ever gives for Black choosing Keith over Shiro is that this is not really Shiro but a clone. But then, even once the real Shiro is put in the clone’s body, the show still has Black choose Keith over Shiro. That’s still the show delegitimizing Shiro in seasons one and two.

I can’t help but to feel insulted and offended by this storytelling decision. It’s like the show is ridiculing me for having thought the unified story of Shiro and Black in seasons one and two was good. This is the show calling me a fool for thinking Shiro and Black’s joint story in the first two seasons of the show meant something.

Shiro still tries to give leadership from the Castle Ship (there’s no narrative reason this couldn’t be Allura like it had been in the past).

Lotor’s generals bust in the base. (I still think Ezor’s sock head is an absurd design.) The Galra commander of the base shouts, “Lotor sent you to finish what he started!?” The episode doesn’t explain what the Galra commander meant by this.

The Paladins board the Galra ship, but there’s no crew. Even if Lotor is trying to act outside of the knowledge of the other Galra of the Empire, why wouldn’t there be sentries on the ship? They’re just robots, which means their allegiances should be programable.

Narti takes psychic control of the Galra base commander. She makes him shut down base security, which again makes all the sentries turn off. This again emphasizes what a severe security risk it is for the Galra to have all the sentries effectively have a singular off-button. Narti has him open the base’s roof, and inside is part of the teludav Team Voltron used to transport Zarkon’s ship in 2x12 “Best Laid Plans.”

The Paladins track down the “comet” to find instead a ship that’s been made from the “comet.” Wow, Lotor was fast. (So fast that it doesn’t feel realistic.) Episode 3x04 “Hole in the Sky,” wherein Lotor steals the “comet,” takes place between when Voltron fights him at Thayserix, seen in both 3x03 “The Hunted” and 3x05 “The Journey,” and when they find Shiro. Shiro loses consciousness during his pursuit of Voltron in “The Journey” seven days after Thayserix. Assuming a day or two of recovery on board the Castle before Keith and Shiro’s conversation at the start of this episode, that would mean Lotor would have had the “comet” processed and the ship constructed start-to-finish within maybe a week-and-a-half?? That is an unrealistic manufacturing timetable, especially if he’s doing all this relatively covertly.

Allura thinks that the Galra would never be able to operate the teludav without an Altean, and then she remembers that Haggar is Altean. This is written like Allura had forgotten and only just now remembered. The way she reacted upon seeing that Haggar is Altean at the end of season two, there’s no way that that would not have been something that was at the forefront of Allura’s mind. That’s why it’s weird that the show never made that revelation about Haggar a topic of discussion among Team Voltron before now.

Keith and Shiro have a disagreement. Keith thinks they should find and attack Lotor directly, thinking that stopping him will stop everything. Shiro thinks the most important problem to deal with is to prevent Lotor from having this ship he’s built and the Paladins should return to the Lions. Allura argues that Shiro has a point, Keith doesn’t exactly disagree, and says everyone else should return to their Lions while he looks for Lotor. Shiro tells Keith they all need to stick together. The rest of the Paladins concur. Keith gives in to the group.

As they move to leave, Lotor’s generals return and attack.

Keith and Axca fight, and for some unknown reason, it makes Keith think of the helmeted, unidentified Galra he ran into in the Weblum in 2x09 “The Belly of the Weblum.” There is literally nothing the episode presents about this moment of combat between Keith and Axca, nor about the Weblum meeting revisited in a quick set of flashbacks, to explain why Keith connected the two here and now. This moment of recognition is absolutely contrived.

Allura uses her bayard whip and wraps it around Zethrid’s rifle. Why she doesn’t use the whip to cut through the rifle, as we’ve seen her clearly cut through sentries with it, I don’t know. I know this is a show for a younger audience, so they can’t have Allura cut through Zethrid herself, but she could destroy the gun. Also, Hunk could have used his big gun to lay down a lot of suppression fire, but he never does. This fight does not feel well crafted.

The Paladins regroup and flee. Zethrid wants to pursue, but Axca orders her not to.

The Paladins discuss everything as they make their way back to the Lions. Keith confirms he knows Axca from the Weblum, but again, there is nothing about this fight now that would explain his realization. There’s worry about Haggar using the teludav to create wormholes, but honestly, I don’t see how this is an increase in Galra ability. Despite the Castle Ship’s having used wormholes in trying to distance themselves from Zarkon, Zarkon’s ship was able to traverse the same distance easily and quickly during his pursuit of them in season two. The distances traveled in this show are huge. We’re not talking from one star to another, we’re talking across the universe. Galra ships would have to have some form of travel comparable to wormholes to be able to do so, even if they don’t have teludavs specifically. Allura’s more concerned with Lotor having a ship made from the “comet.”

Pidge finally brings up something that’s at the core of this episode’s conflict: if Lotor has taken over for Zarkon, then why is he attacking a Galra base. I honestly would have expected this question to have been asked way earlier in the episode, like as soon as they detected the Galra cruiser firing on the base.

As Shiro and Coran bring the Castle Ship toward the planet to try to stop the Galra cruiser, Lotor’s “comet” ship attacks them.

A few words about the visual design of Lotor’s “comet” ship: to me, it looks silly. It looks clearly like a pair of legs. While I know that it eventually combines with other ships to form Sincline, and this ship is Sincline’s legs, it would have been nice if this ship didn’t look so obviously like legs.

When Voltron shows up, the “comet” ship takes off. Keith orders Voltron to form sword, and he uses the black bayard to do so. This doesn’t make any sense since in the past it was the red bayard in the Red Lion that formed the sword. This demonstrates another problem with the Paladins switching Lions: inconsistency of how Voltron is operated. We learn that Axca and Narti are piloting the “comet” ship, not Lotor. He’s off somewhere else, communicating with his generals here.

Shiro, Keith, and Allura kind of argue about attack priorities: The “comet” ship or the Galra cruiser with the teludav. “I thought taking down the ship made from the comet was the most important thing,” Keith aggressively says. It’s within character for Keith to become narrowly focused on something, so it’s not that it is unreasonable that Keith would find the need to deal with two targets in this situation difficult to think about. It does feel though like the show is purposefully trying to put Keith and Shiro at odds with one another in team leadership. Shiro yells to Keith that the Galra ship with the teludav is getting away.

Here’s another problem with this moment that reveals the whole dilemma to be contrived: While Voltron is fighting the “comet” ship, and Shiro is calling for Voltron to stop the ship with the teludav, the Castle Ship is doing nothing. The Castle Ship has been shown to be able to take out Galra ships many times before on this show. So why doesn’t it go after the ship with the teludav? Because the narrative is being forced to artificially manufacture contention between Shiro and Keith.

Shiro tells Keith to “lower your shield, shoot the cargo ship, and deal with the consequences.” Keith still thinks they can deal with the “comet” ship first before the other. Shiro yells, “There’s not enough time. You need to make a decision.” This is even writing Shiro’s character badly. If the decision is up to Keith to be made, then it’s clear what Keith’s decision is, so then Shiro shouldn’t be arguing otherwise. Again, this whole dilemma is totally contrived because the writers think that they’re making some big statement about how you can’t have two leaders. It feels like such a false, unnatural conflict between Shiro and Keith.

Keith eventually orders the team to execute Shiro’s plan: lower the shield and shoot the ship with the teludav. Given Lotor’s communication with the “comet” ship, he somehow knows that Voltron is going to do Shiro’s plan of lowering the shield to shoot the cargo ship. There is no reason that Lotor should know this.

Voltron drops its shield, brings up the shoulder canon, and Lotor orders the “comet” ship to “Fire, now!” Where is he that he can see this battle in such precise detail to order a ship to fire at such a specific moment? With the Paladins having said the cruiser was empty when they were on the planet, and with the way Lotor has been talking during this fight, he’s not here, so he wouldn’t be able to make such precise orders.

Keith seems to sense the “comet” ship firing, so he maneuvers Voltron out of the way, and the “comet” ship’s blast hits the teludav. That is a very precise angle that Voltron would have had to create in order to ensure that the “comet” ship’s blast would hit the teludav, so Voltron’s maneuver being purposeful to result in this outcome is highly unrealistic.

Voltron, now out of the way, just sits there, giving the “comet” ship time to re-aim and fire on them, this time hitting Voltron. The “comet” ship goes over to the cruiser so Zethrid and Ezor can board the “comet” ship. They then flee. Keith wants to pursue, but Shiro tells them to return to the Castle, that they need to figure out what is actually going on with Lotor’s actions/plans.

Shiro talks to Keith alone, apologizing for “stepping in.” Keith says he “thought he had it under control.” Shiro tells him, “You need to learn to pick your battles. Sometimes you have to make hard choices.” But Keith’s problem wasn’t that he wasn’t picking a battle or making a choice, so I don’t understand this supposed wisdom from Shiro. Shiro says that it was Keith’s “quick thinking that prevented Lotor from getting away with the teludav.” This confirms that we’re supposed to read the moment earlier when Keith maneuvers Voltron out of the way of the “comet” ship’s blast and the blast hits the teludav as being intentional, but setting up the necessary angle for that to happen is not something that could have happened as quickly as it did and in as stressful of a situation as it did, so again, that moment was highly unrealistic.

Shiro then again says, “The Black Lion has chosen you.” Ugh. It’s one thing for Black to chose Keith when Shiro’s unavailable, but it’s another for Black to choose Keith over Shiro. At this point, we’re supposed to think this is the real Shiro, so that’s explicitly what this scene is saying: that Black has chosen Keith over Shiro. Setting aside that this is a clone, the episode gives no explanation for why Black would choose Keith over Shiro. Shiro did the work of freeing Black from Zarkon’s influence. Shiro did the work to acquire the black bayard. And here the show is telling us that that strong bond Black had with Shiro that was necessary for it to be freed from Zarkon is now meaningless? Recontextualizing to view this as Black rejecting the clone, then the show needs to explain why Black was so connected to the clone last episode that it sensed the clone and directed Keith to go get him.

The Galra base commander is being interrogated by Haggar. He says he can’t remember anything other than whoever came had the correct landing codes. Narti must then be able to erase memories with her psychic powers. I’m still surprised that she’s not seen as a threat to Haggar. Haggar says she believes the commander, “but [he] still must pay for his failure” and she uses some miscellaneous purple energy to make him scream. Standing a short distance from her is Lotor, looking smug. For the commander to be there now, this scene has to have been some notable amount of time after the battle at the base.

And the episode ends.

So much of this episode is unexplained and contrived. Keith knowing Axca was the Galra he met in the Weblum. Lotor’s real-time awareness of the battle despite not being there to observe it, and his knowing precisely what Shiro’s attack plan is to relay that information to his generals. Shiro and Keith butting heads. The Castle Ship completely dropping out of the fight instead of attacking the one ship so that Voltron can attack the other. While there are a couple of good, yet brief moments in this episode, the vast majority of the episode is contrived or incoherent or disrespectful of past story.

[mermaider00]

Hello! What about a lotura moment during the moment they were building sicline, something like eating something together or a fluffy moment, like Allura finding some silly things Lotor did like singing an old altean song, or getting stresed or her finding him playing with the mouses???? (sorry, my english is awful :c

(I choose… singing an old Altean song as they build the Sincline. Enjoy the sweetness before season 7 drops tomorrow, and some made up Altean folklore) 

————————————————-

Allura enjoyed working with Lotor. It was quickly becoming one of the better parts of her day, if not the best, as of late. 

She didn’t have to listen very carefully to him or try to dissect strange genius family sayings like she had to with Pidge and Matt. She didn’t have to constantly put him back on the topic at hand, like with Hunk when her yellow Paladin would get distracted. And she didn’t have to remind him she was still in the room and they were partners, like with loner Keith when he would go quiet. Working with Lotor was like working with Shiro. They were usually on the same page. 

So when it came time to meet him at the Sincline ships, she happily went with a slight skip in her step. 

Once she arrived, they took a whole varga to reassess their last updates, to make a plan on what they would do in today’s session with the third and last of the ships. Now that they were settled, another varga went by as they worked, sitting on top of the ship after climbing up from a nearby platform. It was quiet as she handled the alchemic side of their work and he the mechanical, the only sounds the hum of the engines of the command ship and the metal footsteps of patrolling sentries as they guarded their Emperor. Every now and then there would be a spark and a buzzing noise as Lotor fiddled with a few wires inside an opened control panel. 

The other sound, one she wished would either stop or wander off, was Lance’s foot as he impatiently tapped it from the platform below them. 

Allura sighed with a roll of her eyes and glanced down at the blue Paladin. Lotor didn’t seem to acknowledge Lance’s existence or slightly annoying noises. He continued on building his ship, eyes intense and focused on his work. 

After a while her own mind started to wander. Not because she was bored, she told herself, but because being here with Lotor in the quiet had a strange way of making her remember Altea. It was never a topic he didn’t wish to discuss, and had quickly become a natural thing to think of her home world when around him. Her gaze studied his hands, either deep in the panel or scrolling away on a screen. The quiet and his presence was nice when she could block out the other small noises. She was comfortable, relaxed. 

It felt like there was nothing else she needed to fight. 

Lost in contentment, Allura continued watching his hands as her throat began to hum. Just a soft sound, just a little tune, one that hadn’t been on her mind when she’d started, but now consumed her as she kept on. With her eyes on the metal of the ship now, she placed one finger on the shiny surface, started tracing Altean symbols with a glowing blue fingertip, infusing more magic into the Sincline. 

Lotor didn’t mind. She would hum sometimes when they worked, but usually it was something quick and meaningless. He kept working; hands and gaze focused as he listened to her with half an ear, a prettier sound than simple quiet or the everyday racket of the Empire. It was nice, dreamy and calming. When her voice picked up and the tune of her hum more pronounced, Lotor listened carefully. Allura then started to sing properly, using words instead of a simple melody. He recognized them 

He knew the song she was singing, and smiled. 

Minutes later, Lance’s ears perked up and he was snapped out of his thoughts and back to reality. Singing, he realized. But there were only two other people… His head jerked up from his spot on the raised platform next to the ship. He stared and blinked, mouth set firmly. 

Lotor and Allura were softly singing a song as they continued working, something he guessed to be in the Altean language, since it was the only one that would connect them. The song was slow, something wistful and otherworldly, almost haunting with both of their smooth voices giving it sound. A sad song, a romantic one if he was picking up the correct vibe. They sang it together almost perfectly, Lotor able to pronounce and enunciate the dead alien language just as well as the full blood princess. He knew every word, like she did. He knew when to stop, when to hold the note, when to deepen his voice to accommodate hers. They were in harmony. 

The entire scene, two royal Alteans singing an old song of their people as her energy and his work shined on their grinning faces, was almost hypnotic. Even to Lance. 

But he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit because he was unable to relate in any way, and would never be able to. Careful not to damage the ship, he hastily climbed it to meet them. 

When the song ended, Allura laughed softly, her eyes bright and cheery. “I can’t believe you know that song.” 

Lotor lifted a shoulder casually. “When I tell you my studies on Altea have been going on for as long as I’ve been able to read, I’m not putting it lightly. I know the song and the story behind it quite well.” 

Allura sighed dreamily. “It is one of my very favorite tales.” 

“What tale?” Lance said suddenly, groaning some as he lifted himself further onto the ship to get to them. “What’s that song you guys were singing? Sounded kinda sad.” 

Neither seemed to be bothered by the human’s sudden appearance. Any chance to educate on Altea - even something so small like a song - was always swiftly taken by them both in the right setting. Allura waited for Lance to grab a spot next to her without almost sliding off. 

“It’s an old Altean song inspired by an even older Altean myth,” she told him. “There’s a happier way of singing it meant for children, usually little girls, but the true version is not for them, and the lyrics are more romantic and sexual, and changed for the young ones. It’s a song that somehow survived many generations. Back on Altea, everyone knew it. It was a small part of our history, that song.” 

“So it’s like London Bridges?” Lance asked with a tilt of his head. 

“Um… I suppose. I’m not familiar…” 

“How does it translate to English? Or do you only sing it in Altean?” 

“Hmm.” Allura glanced over at Lotor with a questioning lift of her brow. 

“The lyrics were written in a more ancient form of the language than what they spoke during Alfor’s reign as the last king of Altea,” Lotor explained, taking a moment from his work to give them both his attention. He brushed a few stray locks of long white hair from his face as he sat up straighter. “As Allura said, the song is very old. I’ve read there were countless debates through time by various historians on whether the tale the song sings of was only a bewitching fable, or actual mystical Altean history. No one ever knew for sure, and now all attempt to find out is lost, obviously.” 

Lance had never been one for a history lesson, but stories were always fun, and he was intrigued. His family back home were all storytellers. “So what’s the tale?” 

Allura settled in and brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. “Generations ago, before Alteans traveled the stars, the planet, though always prosperous, was not a magical one, and Alteans were not a magical race. The former Royal Family’s crest and name was lost with time, save for only one, for whom the song was written. Princess Sarvi, the mother of Altean magic.” 

“Princess Sarvi,” Lance repeated, squinting some. “She sounds hot. Was she hot?” 

She looked to Lotor and saw him confused. “Earthlings sometimes use hot when they want to say attractive.” 

The Emperor gave a nod. “Princess Sarvi, whether she is a historic figure or only myth, was described as one of the most beautiful Alteans to ever breathe. The most reoccurring descriptions of her tell of pale skin and extremely black hair that matched her equally black eyes, an unusual hue for Alteans of any generation. She is said to be the first Altean born with the markings that we see on Allura and Coran everyday. The marks under her eyes and scattered along her body were gold, a deep, true gold that made her quite literally shine. The song has a lyric of her gliding in brightest white, my deep desire for the night. The color of the Royals was said to white in the ancient times, before proper documentation.” 

Lance tried to picture her. Of course an ancient princess would be exquisitely beautiful; they always were. And it seemed to be a trait for all Alteans. He narrowed his eyes some at Lotor. Even half Alteans too. Bastard. “So I’m guessing there’s a long lost love thrown in there somewhere? That’s the trend, I guess.” 

“A little of yes and no,” Allura answered. “Princess Sarvi didn’t relate well to her own people. She cared more for the planet itself. She had no interest in friends or suitors or her own royal duties, and her subjects thought her to be cold and even insane. But really, knowing what we know now, she was just extremely introverted, and felt more connected to Altea than the Alteans. She was a ghost to her people. A mythical creature only few laid eyes on. A man who led one of Altea’s Royal Houses at the time, Commander Rainer, fell in desperate love with her when he spotted her late one night in a field surrounded by juniberries. From then on, he worked tirelessly to somehow convince her to marry him.” 

“Commander Rainer is the poet, the one who wrote the song as a love letter to the Princess,” Lotor continued. His eyes were bright with knowledge as he stared at Lance. “Rainer was highly respected, a great warrior for Altea and beloved by all for his immense courage and generosity. It made sense that he would be the one to take her hand in marriage. But Sarvi was a master at evasion, and only ever spotted at night in different regions. When he would find her, his nerves got the best of him. He kept his distance, and wrote the song on the nights he would watch her as she glorified Altea with creatures surrounding her.” 

Altean Snow White, was what came to Lance’s mind. But no dwarves or evil queens or poisonous apples. “How does the song go?” 

They were both quiet as they thought it over, each one trying to translate the lyrics to the Paladin’s spoken language. This was nice, Allura decided. It was nice to share her culture with her friend, to go back to her time with a curious and longing emperor who never got to truly experience it. 

“You drift, you sing, you rival the moon. The sun creates dawn and you’re gone far too soon,” Allura began, not singing a handful of the lyrics, simply speaking them like a poem instead. Song was for Altean. “The solar sea is in your gaze, I can see locks like black fire on the shore ablaze. Oh, my love, the Ancients have stitched you, I want you, I need you. I can see the gold under your eyes, it makes me feel alive.” 

Lance grinned at her. “Who wouldn’t fall for that?” 

“Sarvi,” Lotor answered plainly, not realizing he’d killed the dreamy mood. “At night, her markings would glow, turning her into a beacon for him to find. As time went on, Altea began to change, slowly transforming into what it ultimately became. But the planet was not alone in the change. Rainer discovered that the Princess was deteriorating more with each moon cycle. Fearing for her life, he finally approached her in the night, to confess his love and marry her. But Sarvi’s skin, once dewy and lively, was almost completely translucent. Her dark hair had turned white, black eyes a pale gray. Her beaming gold markings was the only color she had left, shining brighter than he’d ever seen before. He told her he adored her, asked her to accept him as hers. Begged her when she didn’t answer. It wasn’t long until she lost her solid form right before his eyes. But before she became nothing, she held out her hand to him,” Lotor continued, mimicking the gesture by showing Lance his hand as if he wanted the boy to take it. 

“And she said,” Lotor went on, eyes focused on Lance’s, “if you love me, brave commander, sing me your sweet song forever. Rainer reached for her in haste, unable to live without her. Markings of metallic silver appeared on his face and body, glowing as hers did, before Sarvi and the Commander became light and were absorbed into the planet.” 

“Man,” Lance whispered. 

“All babies born after that night were given the markings, and the abilities,” Allura told him. “Altea became magical, and soon it was discovered by astronomers that our home world suddenly possessed two rings around the planet. It was also decided that Sarvi didn’t keep herself from her people out of hate or discomfort, but because she knew her work and her sacrifice would better all the Alteans to come after her.” 

“Princess Sarvi had a deep connection to Altea, one that has never been replicated since,” Lotor added quietly. Moments like these were now the closest he would ever come to experiencing his own connection. It filled him with more regret. “She gave her entire being and all of her inner magic gifted to her to the planet, and the Commander followed. All that is left of him is his song.” 

Allura smiled up at the Emperor. He may have never known Altea, but his incredible interest in her home delighted her. And why shouldn’t he be interested? she asked herself. He was just as much a part of Altea as she was. She could see it now. 

Lance had enjoyed the story, but as the two reminisced silently in a way he couldn’t and practically glowing around each other, his face dropped and his brow shot up. 

“You two are a couple of nerds,” he told them. 

[operation-firecobraclaw]

keith/shiro soulmate marks (of your choice) au?

A Sheith soulmate AU where people with matching marks are soulmates (ugh, I know, it’s not terribly creative but dis be my first soulmate AU, please forgive!).  Keith doesn’t have a soul mark, and everyone knows it.  

Keith didn’t belong at the Galaxy Garrison.  At least, that’s what everyone made it seem like.  It wasn’t because he was an orphan, although that may be part of it – being labeled as a parentless delinquent with a severe lack of guidance certainly didn’t help.  He wasn’t a lazy student, either; in fact, he was on his way to becoming one of the best pilots the garrison had ever seen.  No –  it was because he didn’t have a soulmark.

He often wondered what people would do if they knew that he was an alien.

Well, half.  The only reason Keith knew about his own heritage was because his father was careless enough to leave his journal locked away in his desk.  As if Keith wouldn’t learn how to pick a lock by the age of six.  Apparently, his mother was galra and a part of some secret organization in the far reaches of space.  She hadn’t died giving birth to him; she was alive somewhere, among the stars.

They were right, though.  He really didn’t belong here, not on Earth and certainly not at the garrison.  But it was his one and only chance to find his mother somehow.  He didn’t even care that the Kerberos mission would only bring him as far as Pluto; he would be closer to his mother than he’d ever been, and away from these people who didn’t give a damn about him.

Maybe then, he’d be far enough away from the thought that he was probably the only person on this planet who didn’t have soul mate.

Keith knew better than to be alone in the training room in the early hours of the day, but he couldn’t muster up the will to care.  He was too busy trying not to think about how he was spending yet another birthday alone.  No parents, no soulmate, and the one friend that he managed to make in this place was off-base with his family.

He was pummeling a punching bag when Iverson’s jackass of a son and his little posse had cornered him. While he got a few good hits in of his own, he was surprised he came out of the ordeal with nothing broken.  Keith did know better than to be there so early when the commander’s son typically used the training room, but maybe he was just looking for a fight today.  And maybe he would have been in worse shape if Takashi Shirogane hadn’t intervened.

He had never seen the senior officer so furious.  “I don’t care who your father is, Iverson,” Shiro growled, closing the distance between him and the commander’s son so they were less than an arm’s’ length apart.  “You’re still a cadet, and you will mind my orders.  If Commander Iverson has a problem with that, he can come speak to me.  Now, get the hell out of here.”

As soon as they were alone, Shiro turned to Keith who was just picking himself up off of the floor, barely able to stay on his feet.  One of those bastards had gotten him hard in the ribs, and he could only imagine what the bruise was going to look like in the morning.

“Hey, easy now, Kogane,” he urged, the edge now gone from his voice and replaced with something much gentler.  

Keith’s head was still swimming, and he felt himself bend and sway on his feet, but a careful hand took hold of his arm at the crook of his elbow to steady him.  He blinked, glancing up at Shiro with a furrowed brow.  There was real concern in his eyes, and Keith remembered that Shiro had always been kind to him, almost like a friend.  For reasons he couldn’t explain, he always felt like Shiro understood his loneliness. 

“Come on, Keith.”  He slung the cadet’s arm over his shoulders and hoisted him up so he could walk.  “I’m taking you to the infirmary.  You’re not looking too hot.”

Keith tried to ignore the fact that he was shirtless from training and pressed up against Shiro’s torso, their faces only a few inches apart.  He wasn’t convinced that the heat he felt around his ears was entirely from the pain and was suddenly glad Matt wasn’t here; he’d never let Keith live it down.

As they walked down the corridors to the infirmary, Keith snuck a glance at Shiro’s soulmark – a soft, white feather cradling the corner of his left eye.  It was a beautiful mark.  Angel, he thought, still feeling a little disoriented from the fight.  Like a guardian of the sky…  something like that.  He could have fallen asleep like this if he wanted to, but he forced himself to stay awake, saving himself the embarrassment.  

Soon enough, they came upon a door with a metal plate that read INFIRMARY fixed onto it.  

“Alright, Keith,” Shiro muttered, gingerly ducking out from under Keith’s arm but keeping a light grip on his wrist to make sure he wasn’t going to fall.  “Here’s your stop.  Tell the doctor exactly what happened.  I’ll come by to check on you after I talk to–”

The sudden silence of Shiro’s voice yanked at Keith’s focus, and the cadet looked up to see bewilderment riddled across the senior officer’s face, eyes wide and lips slightly parted.  He started to feel a little self-conscious as Shiro’s gaze seemed to dart across his face.  “What?” he finally asked, his voice coming out harsher than he intended.

Shiro seemed unaffected by the insubordination and shook his head to bring himself out of his stupor.  “I… no, it’s nothing.  Can you stand?”

“Er… yeah, I’m fine.  What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.  I-I should go.  Get well.”

Without another word, he was gone, and Keith was left dumbfounded by the exchanged.  He was still in a lot of pain and wasn’t sure if he was seeing straight, but he could have sworn there was a small smile on Shiro’s face as he left.  Before he could even consider what could possibly turn Takashi Shirogane into a stuttering mess, he caught his reflection in the infirmary window, his heart jumping into his throat and his breath sucked right out of his lungs.  On the left side of his face, right beside his eye was a feather, pale and delicate – and exactly like Shiro’s.  

Okay, what the hell.  Where did THAT come from?

The door to the infirmary opened and the doctor peered out into the hall at him.  “Cadet, come in.  You’re not going to get patched up just standing there.  Oh boy, you look to be in shock.” 

Keith’s heart was racing, caught in a whirlwind of awe and.. and relief.  There was warmth and hope and a yearning that had always been there but was stronger than ever before.

“Yeah,” he whispered, still feeling breathless.  “You could say that.”

[bosstoaster]

Darkest Before the Dawn

A @shaladinsecretsanta fic for @sashencat!  Hope you enjoy

Pairing: Sheith Rating: T

Summary:  That paladins are invited to be part of security for a masked ball.  Shiro and Keith have a bet going, and Shiro gets introspective.

Shiro glanced around the room, taking a deep breath.  He let it out slowly as he turned in a slow circle, taking in the crowd.

Guests milled around the expansive ballroom, forming into small groups to chat then splitting up again.  The snack table was overflowing with goodies, and constantly had a small crowd around it.  The clothing reminded Shiro of period pieces on Earth, with huge dresses and fancy robes, all overflowing with gems and embroidery.  It was a clear this yearly celebration was a reason to splurge - a way to show status.  And they were among the world's most powerful, so the costumes were elaborate and brilliantly covered.

All in all, it wouldn't be that different from many parties the paladins had been invited to.  There were just two crucial differences.

The first was that Shiro wasn't dressed in his armor.  It was considered the height of uncouth to be seen in anything other than ridiculous finery at this event, and so everyone had been corralled into appropriate clothing.  Some more easily than others.

The second was that everyone was wearing masks.

Shiro reached up, idly tracing silver beak jutting out from his face.  Cloth covered the back of his head, with hair-fine chains looping around and around like a circlet.  He knew from putting it on that the detailing on the mask was amazing, down to the sharp tip of the beak and the beady, intimidating eyes.

Maybe Shiro wasn't making himself easy to approach, but that was the point.  The paladins weren't just there for the brownie points with the locals.  They were also security, if need be.  

Which was why Shiro had a small device in his pocket that would immediately identify every single one of the team if need be.  Not that it was too difficult to find some of them - he'd long since spotted Lance in a delicate looking mask nearly glowing with gems.  He had been telling a story with elaborate hand gestures, bejeweled gloves flashing through the air as he worked the crowd.

Pidge had been another easy target to find.  She was settled in her usual spot, hovering near the snack tables.  Even without the robotic-looking mask, Shiro would have known her instantly from the way she darted in for one food at a time, trying each of them slowly and individually.  While she'd had a few conversations while Shiro watched, she'd mostly kept to herself.

The rest of the team was proving a little more difficult.  Shiro had eventually spotted Hunk dancing with a local with brilliant blue plumage, splayed out like a peacock.  In the end, Shiro had only been able to tell from his voice, getting louder and faster as he explained the finer points of some machine or another.  From the way Hunk's partner had nodded dazedly, they probably weren't following at all.  Instead they kept trying to duck their head in intimately, but Hunk either didn't notice or was purposefully blocking them.  It was hard to say, and until Hunk seemed actually uncomfortable, Shiro wasn't inclined to interrupt.

Allura and Coran were still a mystery.  They blended in seamlessly with the rest of the crowd, chatting comfortably.  Shiro had narrowed it down to a handful of pairs he saw making rounds through the room.  Until Shiro got close enough to listen in on their conversations, or they did something to make them stand out from any other officials, he could only make a guess, especially since he couldn't track Allura by her voluminous hair or height - he couldn't trust them to be the same, tonight.

Then there was Keith.

Keith, who should have been the easiest to spot, or at least easier than Shiro.

Keith, who was the reason Shiro didn't already know exactly where his team was at all times.

No, that wasn't fair.  It had been Shiro who had joked that he could find Keith in five minutes during the party.  He hadn't expected Keith to take it as a dare, and then to convince Shiro to actually go along with it.

It was silly.  Mind, the Galra were desperately unlikely to actually attack tonight, so it didn't actually matter if Shiro knew where everyone was.  They were smart and capable, and if something went down, they'd be fine.

But it had been almost an hour, and Shiro had no idea where Keith was.  He kept looking for beings on their own with the right build.  But it seemed that coming to these events without a visible date was quite common, and the locals were almost all on the short side.  

That, or Keith was actually going around and socializing to throw Shiro off the scent.  Which Shiro doubted, but he'd seen Keith do stranger to win a bet.

"Looking for someone?"

Starting, Shiro turned around.  The person before him was wearing a canine-esque mask, with piercing black eyes and designs all over like foreign constellations.  They were Keith's build, but the voice was off.  Deeper than Keith's, but also somehow softer.  Without the bluntness that characterized so much of what Keith said.

That could be faked, but would Keith think to do it?  Would he mess up his own bet by walking up to Shiro and talking to him?

Maybe.  Hard to say.

"I might be," Shiro replied, pitching his own voice up slightly.  He did his best to imitate the slight accent the translators gave the locals.

He could have not bothered.  But there was something fun about the deception.  A hint of mischief.  There was an anonymity in this room that Shiro hadn't experienced in years.  At the Garrison he was the Golden Boy' in the arena he'd been the Champion, since then he was the Black Paladin.  All his titles came with preconceptions that Shiro felt pressure to match, or risk disappointing those around him.

Now?  Now he was someone else.  Someone who wouldn't even have a name.

And if it helped Shiro win a bet, he was all for that.

"Not sure?" Dog Mask asked, head tilted to the side.  "Is there some way I could help you figure it out?"

Shiro smiled, despite the fact that they couldn't see it.  "Maybe.  I could use company while I decide.  Would you like to dance?"

That was a trap, really.  Shiro loved dancing - he'd taken classes for years, of whatever style was offered after school when he had the chance.  When he'd gone to the Garrison, he hadn't had an opportunity to practice.  Befriending Keith had been a chance for someone to at least hold onto while he practice footwork, just so he wouldn't forget.  But Keith had never agreed to dance with him, less because he didn't enjoy it and more because Shiro's constant requests annoyed him.

There was a hint of hesitation from the other person, before then extended their hand.  "I'd love to."

It was hard to tell through the slight echo from the mask, but the person sounded honest.

Maybe not Keith, then.  But Shiro wasn't going to miss the opportunity to dance.

Shiro took the offered hand and let himself be pulled onto the dance floor.  There was a huge variety of dances going on, thankfully, so Shiro wouldn't give away his lack of knowledge of the local steps.  Instead, he copied what he saw around them: both his hands on his partner's hips, keeping a slight distance between them as they began to sway.  It was, he quickly found, less out of propriety and more to keep their voluminous robes of out the way.

"So who is it that you're looking for?"  Dog Mask asked, their hands settled casually on Shiro's chest.  Despite that Dog Mask was wearing gloves, and Shiro was wearing multiple layers, he swore he could feel the heat.

Shiro tilted his head.  "A friend," he offered carefully.  "I thought it'd be easy to spot him, but it turned out I was wrong."

Dog Mask laughed.  "I've had a similar experience today.  I thought my group would be obvious in the crowd."

Humming his agreement, Shiro focused on the dance for a moment, just enjoying the easy, slow spiral they were making.  Nothing complex, not with how easy it'd be to trip over these clothes.  But actual dancing.  It had been far too long.  "What about you?  Looking for someone?"

"In so many words."  Dog Mask stepped a little closer.  "Company for the night, mostly.  Someone to talk with.  Or less talking."  Their fingers spread, taking up more of Shiro's chest.

He wondered if they could feel his heart pounding.

Maybe.  

This was almost certainly not Keith, now.  Or could this be a bluff to throw him off the scent?

It was-

It was nice, really.  Shiro didn't get flirted with nearly as much as he used to.  Once, he'd enjoyed the attention, the back-and-forth with a witty conversationalist.  But since the arena, Shiro didn't have many opportunities.  When he was at events, it was near always officially.  Usually he hovered by Allura's elbow, offering both the status of a body guard and diplomacy when he could.

Shiro leaned forward into the touch, and tugged Dog Mask just a bit closer.  If this was Keith, Shiro was going to call his bluff.  If it wasn't-

Well, Keith could find him, or Shiro could take a quick break to have some fun.

He just didn't want to walk away from the chance to feel normal for a little while.  To be judged on his conversation and body language, not his appearance.  Multiple times, Shiro had pulled off his helmet, just to watch whatever alien flinch from the twisted scar over his face.  Here, that wasn't a worry.

It was like a weight lifted off his shoulders, if only for a little while.  

Shiro wasn't anyone.  He wasn't even Shiro.  He was just a man in a bird mask.

Maybe this was why Keith had wanted to play this game in the first place.

"I don't mind talking," Shiro replied, tightening his grip on his partner's hips.  Trying to move closer would tangle their robes, so instead he just let the weight of his hands settle.  "It seems like we have a lot in common."

Dog Mask tilted his head, and Shiro got the impression of a smile, even without any hint of an expression.  "Like what?"

"Well, neither of us are as observant as we thought we were."

There was a pause, like Dog Mask was absorbing that.  Then they threw their head back, laughing.  Shiro automatically looked down at their neck, trying to see skin.  But the high color and loose fabric covered them, leaving him without any clues.  

"True," Dog Mask replied, still choked with laughter.  "And we're both here alone, which is a shame."

"It is," Shiro agreed easily.  "So we're both a little lonely, maybe."

Dog Mask stilled.  "I wouldn't say I'm lonely now.  Before you, I was."

Shiro's chest tightened, heart pounding under the stranger's hand.  

Before Keith, Shiro had been so very lonely.

This probably wasn't Keith, which meant they were just someone looking for a fun evening.  So if Shiro let something slip, let himself vent just a little in this strange moment, there was no harm done.  He was already pretending to be nobody, he could always claim he was lying.

So Shiro reached up and cupped the jaw of the canine mask.  "I was too.  Thank you for saving me from that."

Dog Mask paused again, like they weren't sure what to do with the contact.  Then, slowly, gently, they leaned into the hand.  "You're welcome.  I'd do it again."

As many times as it takes.

Shiro swallowed hard against the knot in his throat.

Whoever this was, Shiro wished it was Keith.  He wished he could say the things he didn't dare to, not with their past and their friendship on the line.  Not with Voltron needing them working together as a team.  Not without ruining everything.

"Maybe next time I'll save you.  I'd like that.  Next time we're apart, I'll come to you instead."

There was an audible catch in Dog Mask's breath.  "You already saved me, just by being here."  They reached up and settled their hands on either side of Shiro's shoulders, thumbs tracing idle circles through the fabric.  Shiro felt each movement like a brand.  

Slowly, almost inevitably, they drifted to the edges of the dance floor.  Other couples moved past, dancing more enthusiastically in time with the chipper beat.  The two of them continued to sway to their own quiet, intimate song.  Everyone else seemed to give them wide berth, as if they were just as afraid to break the moment as Shiro was.

"I'm glad.  And I think we're both risk takers, maybe.  Taking a chance, playing a game, trying to find someone who might not want to be found."  Shiro tilted his head.  "Am I wrong?"

Dog Mask gave another soft laugh, this one huskier, higher, like something had changed.  "I can be.  But not about the important things, it seems like.  Looking for company in a mask sounds like something a coward would do."

Ouch.  Direct hit.  Shiro took a deep breath.  "Being scared isn't the same thing as being a coward."

"True," Dog Mask replied, voice barely a whisper.  "That's something different about us.  You seem wiser than me."

"Seeming isn't the same as being," Shiro said.  "Maybe you're right.  Maybe I'm a coward and I don't want to admit it."

But Dog Mask shook their head.  "No, I don't think you are."  They reached up, thumbs tracing the lines of Shiro's jaw on either side.  "There's one more very big difference that I've noticed."

"About half a foot?"

Dog Mask snorted and kicked out.  Their boot impacted Shiro's shin without any real force.  "Besides that.  You're a gentleman, because I've been putting my hands all over you, and you've barely touched back."

Well, that was a challenge if Shiro had ever heard one.

Another mark against this being Keith.  Why would he egg someone on to feel him up?  Keith kept his walls up, even around the team.  Even around Shiro.  He rarely initiated contact, and while he accepted affection, it was usually on a temporary basis.  A hug that went on a hair too long made him tense.

But, well, Shiro was in this mess because he was bad at dares.  And whoever this was, Shiro already wanted to give them what they asked for, as much as he was able.

So he placed a hand on the small of their back and shoved Dog Mask forward, until they were pressed together.  The edges of their robes smacked against their shins, and Shiro could hear Dog Mask's panting breath echoing in the snout.

"It was just touching, but if you insist."  Shiro tilted his head, the edged tip of his beak nearly brushing the other mask.  It wasn't a move he hadn't tried on anyone in years, not while he knew his scar would be ugly and red up close.  But right now, there was no reason not to.

Right now, Shiro wanted to see if he could make Dog Mask's breath catch again.  He wanted to have that effect on someone, like he hadn't since before training for the Kerberos mission.

Dog Mask's breathing stopped altogether.  Then they shifted their grip, one hand grabbing onto the fabric and chains on the back of Shiro's head.  They used it like a backwards leash, pushing him down until their masks tapped each cheek.  The other settled over Shiro's back, just barely above his ass.

This time, it was Shiro's breath that stopped.

"Don't make promises you don't plan on keeping," Dog Mask said, pure challenge in their voice.

"I never do," Shiro replied immediately.

There was a huff, not quite laughter.  "Never?  Even if you thought it was for my own good?"

This close, there was still an echo, still that metallic edge to Dog Mask's voice.  But despite that, it was achingly familiar.

Shiro's heart stopped.

"I want-"

The machine in the front of the room clanged.  Once.  Twice.  Three times.

When it hit 15, it would be this planet's version of midnight, and the masks would be revealed.

Shiro started to pull away.  Dog Mask held on, then let him go.  

"Please," Dog Mask said, still familiar.  No longer pretending.  "Tell me the truth."

Five times.  Six times.

Shiro closed his eyes and swallowed hard.  "I have been.  All night."

Eight.  Nine.

"I have been too.  And I think we have one more thing in common."

Ten.  Eleven.

Smile sickly under his mask, Shiro dropped his hands by his sides.  "Maybe.  I think there's one important difference."

Twelve.  Thirteen.

"No, there isn't."

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

There was cheers and cries around the room as masks were pulled off.  Shiro sighed and pulled his off as well.  He had to be a mess - hair sweat mused, cheeks flush from heat, eyes just beginning to go red.  "I think they gave us mixed up masks."

Keith pulled his off as well and shook his hair.  Just like every time he'd worn a helmet at the Garrison, it fanned out and managed to look mussed and touchable rather than messy.  The absolute bastard.  Before, Shiro had just been envious.  Now he had to physically stilled his hands.  "Maybe," Keith replied.  "Shiro-"

Closing his eyes, Shiro tilted his head down toward his feet.  "I- don't worry about any of it.  It was just playing."

There was a long pause, until Shiro finally looked up at Keith.  He stared back, as if he'd been waiting for it the whole time.

Then Keith stepped forward, gaze steady.  "You said we weren't being cowards, just scared.  What's the difference?"

Shiro gave a thin smile.  "Doing what scares you anyway.  That's the difference.  Keith-"

Two hands cupped Shiro's jaw, then pulled him down into a kiss.

The mask dropped out of Shiro's hands, clattering on the floor between them.  For a long moment, he stayed still.  His heart pounded he stared at the stark contrast of Keith's eyelashes against his skin.

Then, Shiro grabbed onto Keith's robes and pulled him in tighter, kissing back.

It was time to stop being a coward and stop making excuses.

It was time to unmask.

When they pulled back, Shiro pressed this sweat-sticky forehead to Keith's and panted, smiling.  "Hi."

"Hello."  Keith smiled back, confused but amused.  "That's it?  That's all you're going to say?"

Shiro tilted his head.  "Yeah, I think so.  Do we need words?"

Slowly, Keith's smile widened.  "Not right now.  You'll probably want them later. You usually do."

"Later, then."  Shiro leaned in for another kiss, more passionate this time.

Unsurprisingly, Keith matched him perfectly.

The party continued around them, laughter and music and chatter blurring into distant, hazy background noise.  Vaguely, Shiro thought he heard the team talking, thought he heard their names, but no one spoke to them directly, so Shiro ignored it.

This moment, this final minute after the strike of the clock, this blur of anonymity and truth -

This was for them.

Everything else could wait.

[queenangst]

these old bones

by: achieving elysium summary: He’s always been fascinated with dinosaurs. Keith isn’t entirely sure why—maybe it’s because their footprints are still here, even after so long. Maybe he’s hearing the echoes of history calling for him. Maybe, just maybe, it’s because he sees himself in those old bones.

A Keith character study told in three parts. Originally written for the Aphelion zine. (@aphelionzine)

other notes: this is a fic near and dear to my heart. it was what made me really love keith as a character. also, shiro & keith in this fic is completely platonic, as that relationship is v important to me. you may ship them if you wish, but keep in mind my original intent. i hope you love this. read it on: AO3 | ffnet

i.

Keith is told he's born an autumn child on the cusp of winter, when frost creeps around the corner but the leaves are still painted red.

As he sits outside the principal's office, kicking his legs back and forth, the light on the floor is a fire-orange. Keith rubs his knuckles, picking at the dino-covered band-aid, and listens.

Voices drift through the closed door.

"—don't think this is the right place for him. And Keith has behavioral issues—"

"Keith needs an environment where—"

"This is not where he belongs. Do you see him? That boy is a forest fire. He's burning everything in his path."

He stares at his knuckles, and his mouth tastes suddenly like ash.

This is not where he belongs. There's no place for him here, and the thought makes his blood burn. His knuckles itch; it's the same prickling that causes him to pick fights.

Three months later, someone hands him a letter from the Garrison, a thousand miles away from where he lives.

Dear cadet,

We are pleased to accept you amongst our ranks at the Garrison Academy for Future Explorers. You and your family—

—At this, Keith laughs—

— should take immense pride in your achievements. The Garrison faculty, students, administration, and mission teams welcome you into our community. Our establishment has been built on a strong foundation, following in the paths paved by those before us.

You are invited to join the upcoming year's class, a diverse and well-rounded group of individuals. They will become not only your classmates, but future team members in space-bound explorations.

On behalf of those at the Garrison, I extend my congratulations—

Keith doesn't need to read more. He scans the letter one more time, just to make sure it's real, and then folds it up again with shaking hands.

"I'm going to the Garrison," he says, and his voice sounds strange to his own ears. Keith swallows, then says it louder. "I'm going to the Garrison."

It is everything he expects and more. None of it seems real — taking train after train from Texas all the way to Nevada, sitting with his knees pressed against his chest as the world passes by, and then arriving in the middle of the desert, duffel bag by his side.

The air tastes like dust.

It tastes like dust, and distant rain, and the vague promise of a different life. Keith licks his lips, picks up his duffle bag, and walks in.

It's different at the Garrison. Keith rooms with another kid for a while, some guy he can't quite remember the face of. He doesn't last long. They never do.

So the Garrison figures something else out.

Keith manages to convince them to let him sleep in a dorm alone. He doesn't have to stare at the ceiling at night and listen to a roommate breathe, doesn't have to worry about making small talk, doesn't have to know that there's a what-if sharing his space. He doesn't know exactly how, but he pulls a few strings. Orphan. Behavioral issues. Asks, and asks, and asks, until they let him have it.

The scholarship is only as good as Keith.

Piloting comes to him naturally. He imagines being in space. Loves it. Soars far, far above the people who want to leave him behind and the things that chain him to the ground.

The rest doesn't go well.

Like every other place, Keith gets into fights. It doesn't matter with who or what about, but he carries an anger in him that refuses to go away. From his bones and lungs and blood.

"Look, kid," Iverson tells him. "I don't care how good you are at flying. You're here because we want you here. Don't stop making us want you."

He bites his lip, rubbing at the bruises he's sure are forming under the thick uniform.

"Okay," he says, but he wants to tell Iverson about the way people look at him. The way he looks at people.

"You have to work hard to belong here," Iverson tells him as a closing statement and shuts the door in his face.

Keith turns and stalks back towards his room. He's not brave enough to say that belonging isn't a word he knows well.

It's Shiro who changes things.

Takashi Shirogane, the Garrison legend. Keith knows him, and envies him, and strives to be like him.

He's a star — a sun of sorts — and people seem to be caught in his orbit, circling around him. Keith signs up for the mentoring program, designed for students and staff – not particularly because he wants to, but because there's a thirst to be at the top – and winds up with Shiro as his mentor.

When he sees Shiro, he calls it a coincidence, then a mistake, then a blessing.

"Hey," Shiro says, standing up and extending his hand. "You must be Keith."

Keith takes his hand warily, and they shake.

"It's nice to meet you," he mumbles.

"Shiro."

"Shiro," Keith repeats, tilting his head so their eyes meet. In Shiro's, he thinks he can see himself. Older — and maybe a bit different, but there's a spark of the flame that Keith carries.

It's the start of a friendship, even if Keith doesn't know it yet.

The first time Shiro calls him brother, it's on the roof of the Garrison late at night long after curfew. They both know it, and Keith is surprised to find Shiro breaking the rules.

"You're my brother," Shiro says, still staring at his sky. His hand finds Keith's, somehow, and their pinkies twist together in a promise. "I'm not leaving you behind. I'm going to come back to you."

"Shiro," Keith whispers, because he doesn't know what else to say. "Shiro."

This is what family feels like, he realizes. This warmth, their hands, the way Shiro looks at him from the corner of his eyes. This, the brightness he seems to carry in his chest after meeting Shiro; this, the promise; this, knowing they will find each other again, no matter how much space separates them.

"Here," Shiro says, rolling onto his side and propping himself up with his arm. With the other, he rummages around in the pocket of his uniform, searching. "I got you something."

His brows furrow.

"For what?"

"I… need you to keep it for me," Shiro tells him.

"Really," Keith says, because there's something in Shiro's voice that tells him it's more than that.

"You can give it back when we return from Kerberos," Shiro says. He finally finds what he's looking for and holds his hand out in a closed fist.

Keith opens his hand, and Shiro presses something into his palm. It's cold, and Keith can tell it's metal by the feeling of it on his skin.

"A charm," Keith says, dangling it from his fingers so he can look at it. It's a small thing, probably a little bigger than a quarter. At first, Keith thinks it's a 'V' until he looks closer and finds the curving lines that dance across the surface.

Wings. A pair of wings spread in flight, reminiscent of the pin over Shiro's heart and a silvery-gold in color. In the center is a circle — Earth, he realizes.

Shiro holds up a matching one and smiles.

"I'll think of you up there," he says, tilting his head towards the sky, moonlight tracing his features.

Keith wraps his hand around it and clutches it to his chest.

"Thank you," he says, and Shiro meets his eyes. "For the charm, and for teaching me how to fly."

Shiro smiles again, and this one is softer at the edges — almost sad, though Keith doesn't know why.

"You already knew how," he says softly, and Keith believes him.

And then Shiro disappears.

He doesn't come back like he promised. He's not dead. Keith knows it, knows it, and it leads to fight after fight, black eyes and bruises that are nothing against the rawness in his chest.

Flight is different, now. He finds himself faltering more times than he can count, and his grades plummet after him. Before they can kick him out, before he can be sent off to a family that won't fit together right, he leaves.

Keith spends the year exploring. Healing. He finds an abandoned shack and fills it with his things, pieces of his past that look more like a museum exhibit than a home.

The desert is quiet. He likes it.

On the quietest nights, Keith tacks up sticky notes, the same way Shiro used to about Kerberos. They aren't about piloting or the view of Earth from so far away. Instead, Keith writes sort-of letters to Shiro.

Wherever you are, I hope you're not too disappointed in me.

Went to the Garrison today for a supply run. Snuck through the halls and thought of you the entire time.

Where are you?

I wouldn't have let you go if I'd known it meant I'd lose you.

… It's killing me when you're away.

There's no one to talk to but himself, so Keith spins himself stories that are half-buried in truth. He makes up histories for the caves he explores, the things he finds: a broken spearhead, a piece of a clay pot, the strange markings on a cave wall. Keith throws himself into studying them. There's something otherworldly about the caves, a spark of something ethereal.

It's the same feeling he used to get as a kid, back when his dad was around. They'd explore together, Dad telling him stories of digs and peculiar finds, little pockets of history.

When he was younger, he'd marveled at the way light fell through the caverns, at how the ghosts of the past seemed to come to life when he was there. The pounding of feet against rock mirrored his heartbeat.

The lion markings make him feel like he's wading through time.

There's a thread that seems to connect everything: Kerberos' crash, the caves, Keith.

He's fitting the pieces together slowly, but he's still missing a few of the puzzle. Keith can't quite make out the bigger picture, and it frustrates him to no end.

Even a year after Shiro's disappearance, he can't figure it out. He's reading through his notes one night when a shift in the light from his window makes him go outside.

Something stirs in him.

Look, the ground whispers, and dust billows about his ankles. It teaches him to listen, tells him to stand still, so Keith does.

The earth hesitates, and Keith sinks into it. He becomes dirt and wind and star, tastes the storm on the horizon, and that's when he knows something's coming.

Keith stands on the old, creaky porch of his little shack and shields his eyes with his hand. The hoverbike keys dangle by his face, metal cool against his cheek, and out of the corner of his eye, Keith sees the little charm Shiro gave him.

I'm going to come back to you.

And then something falls from the sky.

He doesn't hesitate. Keith swings onto his hoverbike and chases after the falling star, his blood calling for him to follow it.

It burns in the sky, a deep red that reminds him, strangely enough, of lions. Curiosity sparks and scorches his chest, and he pushes his hoverbike as fast as it will go.

Keith tears up the cliff, climbing higher and higher so they'll meet in the sky. There's the flight and the fall; he's not sure who is doing what.

The engine rumbles when he slows, absentmindedly stopping it and stumbling off, eyes fixed on the meteor. Around him, the walls of stone sing. Their song is cautious and thready, and Keith weaves it between his fingers as he reaches for the sky.

There's a warning in the air.

The comet is beautiful. He imagines himself falling beside it, caught in the tail of flame. Imagines wrapping his body around it, imagines what it must feel like to hold a star, to hold a piece of the future and call it history. Imagines a burning in his chest, imagines a hole forming where his heart is.

Keith lifts his head higher, and his bones sigh.

Maybe they know something he doesn't. His body is a thousand years old, made of the same cosmic dust as the dinosaurs from long ago.

"What do you know?" he whispers, following the ridges of his knuckles and leveling them so they line up with the mountainous shapes around him. "What do you see?"

The dinosaurs.

History, his bones say. History, history. History repeats itself.

Keith swallows ash and tastes it in his lungs every time he breathes.

History, he thinks, and he wonders if this is how the dinosaurs felt. If they looked at the sky, at the falling comet, unaware of what would come next. If they felt wonder and fear, anticipation and dread. All of them make his heart pound; they are all too similar in their effects, and Keith revels in it all.

He watches the comet fall and fall and fall. When he closes his eyes, the light burns against his eyelids.

This, he thinks. This is an end, perhaps, and it is a beginning.

ii.

If Keith is being honest, there isn't much he misses about Earth.

There's not much to his name— and he doesn't have much, either. If Keith closes his eyes, he can picture the desert shack he'd only just begun to call home when they'd left.

The creaking floors. The caved-in couch, worn from use. The makeshift coffee table, the cracked walls, a few plastic, glow-in-the-dark stars he'd stuck on the ceiling.

Keith sticks his hands in his pockets and tries to bring himself down to Earth; his lips twist in a sort-of smile. What irony.

The door is silent as it slides out of his way, and Keith passes through without much thought. The cool air is a relief from the stuffy Castle, and he walks out. Farther and farther, until the bridge under his feet gives way to dirt and grass.

Not Earth, he thinks.

Keith isn't sure why he feels so torn about it. Being out here amongst the stars, being a part of Voltron — all of it feels so right, somehow. And it's a place where he can belong. And Shiro's here.

"I'm… happy here," he says to no one. The words sound empty.

There's nothing for him on Earth—

Well.

He's only kept a handful of things from his childhood. A drawerful of miscellaneous bits and pieces: a picture of his father; a skateboard key-chain; some stickers. On the shelf is a book he's read a thousand times. Draped over his shoulders is a jacket that doesn't fit quite right but one he still wears anyway.

He doesn't miss any of them.

Keith turns his thoughts to summers spent hiking, to dust-covered hands and the little, broken fossils he'd dig up and keep like treasures.

He's always been fascinated with dinosaurs. Keith isn't entirely sure why — maybe it's because their footprints are still here, even after so long, or maybe he's hearing the echoes of history calling for him, or maybe it's because he sees himself in those old bones.

It's still not the same, of course. He doesn't miss Earth the same way Lance misses Earth: longing for his family, for a big house by the sea he calls home, for rainstorms and thunder. He doesn't miss Earth the same way Shiro does, through a string of distant memories and imaginings. He's not like Hunk, burning in his desire to create something that will remind him of home, a mother's loving hugs, always humming a song under his breath Keith will never be able to understand. Pidge, the way she longs for her mom in a way that Allura cannot replicate, the security of family, the promise of sunrise and sundown and tomorrow.

There's a rumbling sound; a shadow crawls over him, and Red lowers her head to the ground. He strides forward without a thought, and she opens her maw, letting him climb into the cockpit.

"Hello, Red," he says quietly.

She doesn't speak in words, not really, but he feels the welcome.

"Want to go for a late night flight?" he asks, and she purrs her agreement. Keith smiles. He's meant for her; they fit together easily.

Though Keith usually likes to test his skills and soar between the different obstacles Arus has to offer, he takes it slow today. He doesn't know why, but he thinks it might be because of the thoughts that brought him outside in the first place. Red indulges him, bending to his will.

She almost makes him forget Earth. Almost.

It's hard not to, with Red flying with the stars he'd always longed to be with. But there's still the lingering feeling that he's missing something, even if that something isn't what he'd call home.

"I don't know why," he says aloud as they descend, pressing as close to the ground as they dare. Keith stares at the mountainous forms, and a want grips his insides.

Red hums.

Her words trickle through slowly, like sand through a sieve, leaving only the important parts behind. Pottery shards, and precious stones, and little bits he stuffs in his pockets.

You belong here.

Keith worries at his lip.

"Yeah," he agrees. "I guess."

Her mind brushes against his, vast as the sky. It's a questioning thought, and Keith shrugs.

"I feel like there's something I'm missing," he says. "Something that you can't give me."

He soothes her with his love for flight, but underneath is a roiling kaleidoscope of emotions.

They pass an outcropping that looks exactly like his view from the window of his shack, and Keith banks upward, twisting away from it and climbing into the sky.

"Fly," he tells himself, and they go higher and higher to leave the ground behind. "Fly."

"Voltron," he murmurs when they've reached the clouds. "I like it here. I have a purpose now, don't I? And a team to stand with. And—"

And what? What else is there for him?

Keith doesn't know.

There's a sudden burning from his eyes, and Keith presses his trembling lips together. The tears don't stop, though, so Keith rubs at them furiously with a hand. The rough fabric of his gloves chafe against his skin, but he appreciates the feeling.

Red circles around him, and he swallows against the lump in his throat.

"Please," he whispers, but he doesn't know what he's pleading for.

A sob builds in him, forces his shoulders to shudder under its weight and a soft sound from his mouth.

He feels like he's running his hands down his ribs, counting them until one of them goes missing. Like he's missing something vital that he's never noticed before, a strange gap he wants filled.

Is this how Shiro feels? Does he reach for his arm the way Keith hunts for a home that doesn't exist?

Shiro will never get his arm back. It's been replaced by something other, maybe for better, maybe for worse.

Maybe Keith's thought of home is the same.

Keith pins his jacket sleeve under his fingers and uses it to wipe the last of his tears from his eyes. His face feels hot and sticky, and his glove and sleeve are both damp, but he feels better.

Red purrs comfortingly in his mind. He absentminded pats the chair arm, and then sinks back, letting loose a long breath.

"Okay," he croaks. "Okay."

Okay.

When she senses he's ready, Red begins a slow ascent again.

They dance in the clouds above Arus. These ones don't speak to him like Earth's do, but Keith brings in the storm, thunder crackling in his ears.

From so high, Arus has patches of land and water that look exactly like the satellite photos of Earth they'd been shown at the Garrison. He ghosts his fingers along the window's glass and traces continents and oceans, calls them names they're not.

Suddenly, Keith wants desperately to go back to Earth, if only for a moment. It calls to him, tugging with a thread he hadn't known existed.

Maybe he does miss Earth after all. iii.

He doesn't know what to do.

Keith splits his life into two parts. There's the before Voltron, and then there's after. He is human; he is Galra. He has his feet planted on Earth, but his roots float in space.

His life is a terrible, beautiful mess, and Keith returns to Earth a hero. Tragedy follows in his footsteps, hiding in his shadows, and bleeds red.

The ground under his feet crunches as he climbs, the dirt clinging to his boots both familiar and foreign at the same time. He doesn't know where he belongs anymore, and he's almost forgotten what Earth looks like.

Keith.

The dry wind carries his name, steals it from his lips and sings it to anyone who will listen.

"Keith," he says, because that's all he has left. There are no aliens he has to defend, no armor left to don, and no place to protect except here.

Earth. Here. His chest has been replaced with the spinning needle of a compass, turning in circle after circle as he searches for home.

Rock crumbles underneath him, and Keith yells, sliding until he hits ground again. He groans, half-expecting to look up to see the Galra waiting for him, friends behind him, but there's nothing in sight.

Keith clambers to his feet, dusting off his jacket and sighing.

He wants Red here. There's almost nothing he wants more than for his Lion to appear, gleaming in the midday sun from the skies. She'd land in front of him, bold and beautiful, and she'd say hello.

"Hello, Red," he says to the skies, and he wonders if she can hear him through what's left of their connection.

Team Voltron's time is over — well, his team, anyway. The five of them chose to return to Earth, to shed their armor like snakeskin and step back into their old lives.

It's strange.

Back then, when they'd been saying their goodbyes, Keith hadn't thought of where he'd end up. None of them had. Slipping back into a normal life wasn't something any of them could do — and for Keith, he found himself lost.

He's come back someone far different than he was before. This Keith is harder around the edges. This Keith still has bloodstains on his hands, has nightmares that keep him up in the soft early light, has seen places Earth's scientists had only dreamed of.

This Keith... this Keith has a family, now.

He feels his lips turn upwards into a grin. Strange, indeed.

The trek to his shack is shorter than he remembers. His route is a little different, but he makes it, chest tight from exertion.

It's still there, even after all this time. Untouched by others, left here for him to come back to.

Keith almost doesn't want to go in. He feels like the shack is from a different era completely.

Like so many other parts of his life, it has become a memory, a relic, the ruins of something that Keith once found solace in. It almost feels sacred.

The floorboards creak when he steps up to the front, pulling out his keys, and he unlocks the door with shaky hands. It swings in silently, and the inside beckons.

Keith swallows. On his things is a thin layer of grey dust, and now, Keith is sure he shouldn't be here. He's disturbed an old place that doesn't want to be touched.

When did his life change?

Keith squints at his little room and then crosses to the windows so he can pull down the drapes. Dust flies everywhere in thick, billowing clouds, and he covers his face with his sleeve and coughs.

"Ugh," he says when everything's settled and his lungs feel clear again.

Even in the light, things look different. Keith crosses his arms, but he can't seem to chase away the feeling that every part of the life he was so used to is gone now.

He crosses to the drawer and pulls it out. There's the picture frame of his father. Keith picks it up and observes it.

His father is grinning at the camera. There's a streak of dirt across his forehead, but he doesn't seem to care. In his arms is a younger Keith, so small and much more innocent; he is laughing, eyes bright as he looks up at the man holding him.

Keith wonders where his father is now.

Does he think of this picture? Does he remember this bright fragment of time, a brief moment captured forever to be kept long after he's left?

Keith sets it down on the tabletop. There's no anger in his heart, only a pain that has been eased by those who love him.

"Hey, Dad," Keith says, and he pauses, thinking of the trial that led him to his heritage. "Uh. It's been a while, I guess."

He runs over all the things in his head he wants to say. That he misses his father, but not much. That he's found a family not bound by blood, that he's carved a life for himself with the knife he'd been given, that he's back on Earth and left, again, with nothing.

"I missed it here," he says instead, and Keith draws the dagger from his side to hold up in the light. "On Earth, I mean. I didn't think I ever would, but I did."

He smiles wryly. Keith runs a finger along the sharp edge of the blade, and there's a slight sting as he's cut. He watches the blood pool under the knife and then looks at his reflection.

Dark eyes stare back at him — his mother's.

This blade belongs to you by blood.

"I'm Galra," Keith says, then adds, "well, half-Galra. You probably knew that, but…"

He taps the knife against the glass of the picture frame.

"I've always been human," he finally says, but those aren't quite the right words.

He never has enough words for what he wants to say. Instead, Keith picks out his hoverbike keys from the drawer and tucks the picture back where it belongs.

The drawer closes with a soft click. He looks at it for a moment, and then he leaves it behind.

The hoverbike is still shut away in the little storage space next to the shack. Keith shoves the doors open and tugs it out, his arms burning.

His keys clink together, and Keith's attention is drawn to the little charm on his keys. He can't help the smile that spreads across his face when he sees the wings; Keith pulls his phone from his pocket, checks for service, and then texts Shiro.

I have something of yours.

Then he climbs onto his hoverbike and flies.

It's not the same as flying in Red — there will never be anything like the Lions.

It will be a long time before he will hear a Lion's purr again, a long time before he will be brave enough to fly in a ship he knows cannot measure up to Red.

But this is different. Keith tears across the desert, heading for the one place he'd promised he wouldn't ever go back to.

The Garrison looms in the distance, the straight lines of the buildings clean against its surroundings. Keith stops a while away from it.

It's fitting, he thinks, looking at the place where the Galran escape pod had landed. The ship is gone, of course, but his memories are still there.

His younger self would have disagreed, but Keith feels right to come back here. He perches on the seat of his hoverbike, letting the wind tousle his hair like a fond hand.

"This is where it all started," he says, and in his mind's eye, he sees Voltron.

He sees Shiro, their head, the brave and fearless leader; Pidge, his fellow arm, defiant and brighter than any star; Lance, the right leg, selfless and funny, even if Keith will never admit it out loud; Hunk, the left leg, their support, full of warmth and a touch of steel.

They've parted and gone their separate ways, but Keith knows they haven't really left each other.

He's tempted to show his face at the Garrison and see what Iverson will think of him, but he turns his hoverbike and heads east instead. Keith follows a route he now knows by heart, deep into the caves where the Blue Lion waited patiently for her paladin.

The markings are still the same. Unlike with Lance, they don't respond to Keith's touch. He presses his palm against the rough rock and follows them deeper and deeper, using the small flashlight on his key ring to light up his path.

There's a steady dripping sound, and Keith steps into a pool of water. The sound echoes through the cave, and he stops.

Peace settles in him slowly, a thick blanket to keep out the cold. Keith savors the warmth of it, the honeyed sweetness, the light.

The compass in his chest spins. Slows. Hesitates before it stops to face true north.

Maybe he will never be able to find himself the way he found Voltron. Maybe he, too, will be forgotten by time, and his bones will rest beneath the earth. Maybe, if he closes his eyes, he already has.

Here, at last, Keith belongs.

Here, he thinks he might be home.

[pratktcven]

I've been following this account for a while and never have I loved something as much as your kuron x Lance fic! Could you do one where kuron and Shiro get into a quarrel over Lance? Love you!

thank you anon! and yes! sorry this is a little late, but i hope you like it anyway!

.

Shiro has gotten into many different fights over the course of his life. Brief tussles when he was a boy. Half-hearted shoves as he grew into adolescence. Teenage shows of dominance. Routine spars at the Garrison. Combat in the Galra gladiatorial ring.

But this—

This is not a silly argument on the playground.This is not the fist fight he ended when he was fifteen. This is not being carefully thrown to the mat by his aikido instructor. This is not the numbing challenge of being the Champion.This is not the necessary violence of intergalactic war.

This… This is something Shiro has not encountered before.

“I’m sorry,” Shiro apologizes, his tone careful despite the rage rattling between his ribs. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

“I think you did,” his clone replies with a smirk. It’s odd to see such sharp arrogance on a mirror image of himself, to have first hand knowledge of what that expression feels like. “But it does bear repeating, doesn’t it?”

Shiro does not move as Kuron takes a step forward into his personal space, leaving no more than a bare inch between their bodies. Shiro can smell Kuron’s training induced sweat as Kuron lowers his voice to a purr and reiterates,

“Stay away from Lance. I fucked him first, so he’s mine.”

The thread holding Shiro’s aggression back cannot take the added strain of jealousy. It snaps and—with the roar of blood making static in his ears—Shiro shifts his weight forward, and swings his fist at his clone’s smug face.

Normally, Shiro wouldn’t rise to such obvious bait, but since his return, he’s been painfully aware of how close Lance and Kuron are. While Lance had been as surprised as the others when Kuron’s identity had been revealed, it was him who frequented Kuron’s cell the most; who shouted and cried and forgave; who discovered Kuron’s true motivations, as strange and nihilistic as they were; and who convinced the team that Kuron could be trusted.

It was also Lance who sat next to Kuron, during meals and during downtime in the common, and Lance whose touch lingered on Kuron’s shoulder—on Kuron’s chest—on Kuron’s hip. The others said nothing about this odd familiarity. Perhaps it was because Lance was a tactile person. Perhaps it was because they had become used to it. Or perhaps it was because they weren’t Shiro, who knew every one of Lance’s touches like a greedy dragon knew every piece of treasure in its hoard.

Not that it matters. Whatever the cause is, the effect is this:

When Kuron says he was intimate with Lance—a desire that has grown secretly in Shiro since the nebulous beginning—Shiro knows the words are much more truth than taunt.

“Ah,” Kuron laughs as he dodges Shiro’s undercut. “Someone’s jealous.”

The fight begins sloppily and devolves further within seconds. Shiro and Kuron are matched in height and weight, strength and skill, and every offense is blocked immediately by a mirrored defense. The only difference between them is that Shiro’s anger is Kuron’s amusement. It is an advantage that allows Shiro to tackle Kuron to the unforgiving floor of the training room and land one solid hit.

Kuron grunts with pain as Shiro’s knuckles crack against his jaw. The tender inside of his cheek   gets cut against his teeth and blood immediately stains the white enamel bright red. Then Kuron laughs, low and dark, as though being punched were a victory.

“Think that’s funny?” Shiro snaps.

“Yeah,” Kuron admits. “I think it’s hilarious.”

Shiro has wanted to kill before. It is not an unfamiliar feeling. It feels ugly and primal, yet somehow just, as if it were Shiro’s indisputable right to decide death for another. The same sensation fills him now as he lifts his clenched hand, and—

A pair of strong arms wrap around Shiro from behind in an immobilizing hold. He is hauled off Kuron’s prone form and—still filled with the unmet desire to see his clone’s brain and bone spattered across the pale ground—Shiro struggles.

“Come on, man!” Hunk protests, his voice right next to Shiro’s ear. “Don’t do this!”

Shiro barely hears him. He also barely hears Keith, who physically steps between him and Kuron, and half-shouts, “Shiro, what the hell?” He is too focused on Kuron—

And Lance.

Shiro watches as Lance kneels by Kuron’s side. Watches as Lance tentatively touches the tender skin of Kuron’s jaw. Watches as Kuron sits up and wraps his prosthetic hand gently around Lance’s thin wrist. It is a reassuring gesture—one that Shiro recognizes immediately as something he does for the people he cares about—and at the sight, all of Shiro’s rage disappears.

Shiro breathes out hard through his nose and slumps back into Hunk’s solid body, limp with realization and defeat.

This is a fight Shiro has already lost.

.