#this was the first thing i thought when matt said the garrison 'fixed his eyes'

[angst-in-space]

garrison: ok matt your laser eye surgery is complete

matt: sweet how do i fire them

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid 188

188

   Keith woke feeling the best he had in days. Coffee in the air and Lance had moved him to rest his head on his upper leg. He didn’t like face masks. Having his eyebrows waxed brought tears to his eyes. His nails had some kind of clear nail polish on them... but Lance had sent him into a whole other kind of bliss by playing with his hair. He’d found himself rambling, and making weird grunting kind of noises as Lance untangled his hair then started brushing it. After that he was very much a sook. Dazed and dopey, he’d been bopped on the head when he’d missed Lance asking him to help pack his go bag, his boyfriend comparing him to his coffee deprived morning zombie state, giving up asking anything from him other than his shirt to scent the things in his go bag.

  Wanting Lance to feel as blissed as he did, he tried his very hardest as he massaged Lance’s back, legs and feet. He’d failed to really notice how Lance’s feet seemed swollen. His ego felt he’d let Lance down by not noticing how painful it must be for his lover. Lance only mentioned the pain in his back and hips, then his breasts as his milk came in. Oiling Lance up was not without its issues. Lance insisted on wearing a towel around his groin to cover his bits during the massage. Keith didn’t see the point. Lance had a cute arse, which he wasn’t supposed to point out. Watching his boyfriend, he wanted to touch him, yet with his belly on display he felt awful about the nursery and shooting Lance down as he had. Going for an apology blow job, Lance pushing him back with a foot to his shoulder, declaring no touching until he’d had the rest of his pampering.

  His boyfriend was a shit.

  Using the same face mask as Lance, it made Keith’s skin tingle. Lance explaining face masks should be a sometimes treat and all these weird things about toners being bad for skin and coconut oil being even worse. After face masks came a bubble bath, where Keith was forced between Lance’s legs and Lance played with his hair again. The whole thing felt like they were following some kind of unfun torture manual. Self care seemed too much like hard work. After that came a short break, then the wax went on... then the nails were trimmed and painted, then the wax came off and it was not fun. Keith wasn’t sure the what exactly about it brought tears to his eyes, yet he would have preferred to keep his budding monobrow and hairy toe tops. How Lance could possibly seem fine with waxing other places was weird. For a day of pampering, Keith definitely felt he’d feel better about facing a half starved vampire than he would about facing all of this again. Huffy, Lance laughed at his grumbling, rewarding him with head pats, and a braid that Matt pouted over when he came home.

  Whatever his personal thoughts on the matter where, his ego had responded. He felt almost constantly cocky over looking good for their mate. He didn’t think he looked that different. Maybe a few less eyebrow hairs... Noticing he was awake, Lance moved his hand to stroke his hair

“I made you coffee”

Mmm... He was loved. Wriggling closer to Lance, he nosed at his boyfriend’s leg. Lance should have woken him up when he’d gotten up

“You hate the smell”

“Eh, I was throwing up anyway”

He could smell his coffee. It was so close. If he could reach around Lance, he’d have his coffee... but that meant giving up pats

“I thought that’d settled”

“It’s a bit better but yeah, no, this morning I went to have some toast and blargh. I decided to get a few things organised. We’re going to Platt today”

  The idea of pats disappeared with the need for coffee. When Lance got in a mood, he knew better than to try and stop him. Dragging himself up to sit, Lance passed him his coffee, phone in his left hand as his thumb hovered over the screen. With the coffee cool enough to drink, he swallowed it down, grateful for the caffeine and that his boyfriend would withstand the scent for him. Passing the mug back, Lance chose to throw his phone down with a sigh where it landed next to the mug

“Should I ask?”

“I’ve been up since 5”

“What’s the time now?”

“Nearly 8”

  That’s three hours of rest Lance could have been having. Keith groaned at the idea, pulling the blanket up as he curled into Lance

“You should have been resting”

“I had things to do”

No. In Keith’s world it was far too early for those things. Lance should have switched his brain off and accepted cuddles

“Sleep is better”

“Says the lazy werewolf. I’ve booked the accomodation, and talked to Coran. He said he’d see me today and if it’s all good, we can go”

  Keith blinked, his eyes feeling gritty with sleep. He needed more time for the caffeine to kick in

“Babe?”

Humming, Keith couldn’t quite word what he wanted to word, since he didn’t know what he wanted to word. Too many words were coming at him

“I know. I’m terrible. I couldn’t get back to sleep, my head wouldn’t shut up”

“Ugh”

Yep. That summed up his current intelligence

“Pretty much”

  On the table Lance’s phone vibrated. Lance ignoring the device though Keith felt him tense

“Babe?”

“It’s alright. You know how Matt fixed my laptop, I had him figure out how to send those photos to Veronica and now she’s trying to talk to me”

Ah. That explained why Lance couldn’t get back to sleep

“You don’t have to talk to her”

“I know. I want to get a lot done in Platt today, so you’re going to have to get up”

   Lance got another coffee into him, while Keith had forced his boyfriend to drink some blood before they left for Platt. Lance not letting him drive as he’d drank from him, his boyfriend uncomfortable behind the steering wheel. Closing his eyes for the drive, car sickness was apparently not cured by turning into a werewolf. Lance asked him once or twice if he needed to pull over, Keith humming it off. His ego seemed to be like “What the heck is this?”. With Lance wanting to get things done, Keith hoped those things didn’t involve seeing people, not after how his last shopping trip had gone.

  It turned out Lance had that covered. He’d been as busy as he’d said he’d been. First stop was VOLTRON... which was funnily enough Keith’s only stop. He didn’t know why Lance had brought him, only that he was mad as heck when Lance explained, after his scan, that he and Curtis were going shopping, leaving Keith with Shiro and Krolia for the time being. He knew he was useless, yet he couldn’t help feeling lied to. Lance had made it seem as if he wanted to do whatever it was together. That he wanted him around. And that getting whatever it was done, would finally result in them getting to leave Garrison . Instead, his boyfriend had gone off with his friend, leaving him to the mercy of Shiro and his mother, when all he wanted to do was sleep of his nausea.

   *

Lance had snapped. He’d officially snapped. He’d called Coran up, crying for reasons he wasn’t exactly sure of outside of him feeling very done with being pregnant. Keith had really settled in the last two days. He’d hated being pampered, and though Lance had laughed at his grumbling, he couldn’t deny being slightly hurt that Keith had enjoyed their time together. He’d tried his best to make it enjoyable for Keith, only for Keith to hate all of it.

  The worst bit was that his ego felt insulted. He wanted to get things ready for giving birth. The closer to surgery, the less he’d be able to do. He’d planned to have this done already, and now it hurt to look at the nursery each time he came up the stairs. For an old house, he’d realised how much he’d changed the floor plan, leaving certain spaces and gaps between walls for better aesthetics. If he were to knock down two of the upstairs walls, or at least move them, there’d be enough space for another small bedroom. When he’d gotten things the way he liked, and wanted, he’d become set that that was how they should stay. Now he had the urge to make a second bedroom from that lost space and maybe replan his bathroom.

  Coran copped the full version of his rambling. The fae assured him that many, many people felt the need to ensure things were perfect before giving birth. Lance only crying harder as none of his friends got it and he wanted his Mami. Then Veronica had replied to the photos, asking how his life was, and he’d felt lost all over again. Right now he felt like he needed someone to hold his hand, yet Keith couldn’t do crowds and he couldn’t fight the feelings of need to get things done any longer.

    Parking in front of the hardware store, Curtis let out a sigh. They’d barely talked since Coran had volunteered Curtis to go with him on his errands. Lance too preoccupied in his wallowing as he drove. Cutting the ignition and looking to Curtis, Lance let out a sigh of his own

“I know”

“He seemed pretty upset”

“Yep”

Then again, Lance had been too. He’d wished Keith was there to rub his stomach as he threw up, yet his stupid ego was all bent out of shape over their werewolf not seeming to care about how much stress he was under not having the nursery done

“Should I ask?”

  Without the curse Curtis had free reign to ask as he pleased in his own words. Lance almost missed him blurting things out

“It’s ego stuff. Like I’m all panicked over the nursery and right now I need to settle my ego before I can calm down”

“Ah”

“Pretty much. I know he’s going to be pissed, but I can’t keep waiting for things to fall into line. It scares me. The idea of the nursery not being ready in time”

“I’m sorry...”

Lance shook his head. He shouldn’t have worded it that way. He didn’t blame Curtis. He blamed life

“You have nothing to apologise for. That was the demon acting out. I could have fixed it ages ago, but everything’s been so busy. I did a click and collect order, so all we have to do is the collect bit”

“Are you going to come in?”

  What else was he going to do? He knew he upset Keith by leaving him with Shiro and Krolia, especially on the back of dragging his boyfriend out of bed, but today was a day for errands and Keith couldn’t handle crowds. No. He didn’t particularly want to go in, yet he didn’t have much choice if he wanted to get things done

“I know we’re close in looks, but I can handle this much”

Curtis sighed, Lance knowing he deserved it

“Should I ask why you haven’t talked to Keith about this?”

“Dude, if you want to ask me stuff, you don’t need to ask my permission first. As for Keith, it’s a bit... yeah. He’s still going through a lot, but he just doesn’t seem to get how much I need to get this done”

“I’m being a pain, aren’t I?”

  Today seemed to be his day for upsetting people. He couldn’t cope with that on top of everything on his list. Better to nip it in the bud before it went further

“No. You’re not. I’m grateful you agreed to helping me out, even if I hijacked your plan. I’m just being impatient”

“I didn’t have any plans. Shiro keeps making me rest. If it’s not therapy with Coran, then it’s home at the apartment. He got upset when I dared to bring paperwork home so I’d have something to do”

  Curtis had mentioned before that he wasn’t really coping. Lance could see why Shiro wouldn’t want him pushing himself, still, he knew how annoying it was to be left with your thoughts

“He had a huge scare. The whole floor was filled with energy from the demon. He’s probably trying to overcompensate seeing how long it took for you to recover from the summoning”

“It’s nothing compared to what Keith went through”

  Curtis sounded hurt at the memory. Lance was going to have to drive it into his brain that he wasn’t to blame even if it killed him

“What Keith went through isn’t your fault. With how many times he’s hit his head, no one could have predicted that happening. He’s getting there. He’s been super clingy lately, you should have seen him the other day, give him head pats and everything is forgiven. I suppose Shiro would have told you he had a freak out, but even then, he was mainly scared for Hunk than for himself. I did kind of tell him we had errands, and didn’t exactly tell him I was leaving him at VOLTRON... besides, he needs to socialise. He can’t stay at home forever. VOLTRON was the safest and best option, and it gives me a bit of a breather”

Curtis arched an eyebrow, tone teasing as he replied

“So you left him at werewolf day care. Not even a parent yet and you’re sending your kids away”

  Rolling his eyes at Curtis, Lance then punch him lightly on the arm

“It’s not “day care”. It’s “werewolf care”. Besides, Keith will tell you himself that he’s not a kid”

“Yes. I heard about that. Shiro was lamenting over how much Keith has grown. Don’t tell Keith, but I think Shiro misses being the cooler older brother”

Shiro was cool in his own head. Lance wasn’t about to start bagging Shiro over things, he would have preferred not to be talking about Shiro yet he’d been the one to go there

“Shiro’s still his brother, but I don’t know about the cool bit. I have a sneaking suspicion he’s just as lame as I am. And if you think about it, Keith’s going to slow down aging now he’s turned. He’s always going to be the older brother, even when he’s all old and wrinkly”

“He still misses Keith”

  Well there was nothing Lance could do about that. Keith was free to go to Shiro if he wanted to. Heck, he’d even free up space for Curtis and Shiro if they needed brother time that badly

“You guys still welcome any time. I know we’re leaving before you are, but that’s because we need some us time”

“I know. It’s hard being in the middle”

“That’s like the last thing I wanted. It really is. I know Shiro is important to Keith, and I don’t want Shiro to feel like he can’t reach out to Keith. Keith just... he really thinks he’s not improving fast enough. I know everyone leapt to my side and I hate that. I’m kind of hoping the four of us can reconnect while we’re away, without the outside interference of the others”

“I’m honestly looking forward to that too. It’s been so long since I was human that even the simple things seem way more interesting than they were”

“I wish I could say I got that. All I’ve got is death. Anyway, I’ve booked your room next to ours. The towns so small they only have one hotel, so there wasn’t a whole lot of options”

Curtis nodded, finally undoing his seatbelt

“Want to make a bet about which one is going to be clingier when we get back?”

Lance wasn’t taking money that easily from a friend

“Oh, no. I already know that’s going to be Keith. You should see him. I feel like he tolerated me playing with his hair before, but now he can’t get enough of it. I caught him drooling the other day when I was playing with his hair”

“I kind of want to see that”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get the chance. Ugh. Now to go people”

“If you want me to go...”

Lance shook his head firmly

“No. It’s okay, but don’t think I’m not treating you to lunch for coming out with me”

“I’m down for that”

    What Keith didn’t know, other than the fact he’d seemed to zone out while Lance was telling him about the errands, was that the vampire had ordered new clothes while he was shopping. As well as a little something he was pretty confident that Keith would like, though that surprise had nothing to do with the reason he’d left Keith behind. He’d prepared himself for most of their time alone together to be in the hotel room, and with the amount of stress he was putting himself through, he didn’t feel as sexy as Keith seemed to find him. He wanted to look good for Keith. He wanted to feel good about his body, though it was hard when he felt like a fat lump every time he’d sit down after a shower and stare down at all this extra “him” that hadn’t been there before. So aside from the hardware store, they also made two other stops, then a third unplanned stop when his ego wouldn’t shut up. At their third stop he’d tried to call Keith, only for the call to go unanswered... as did the next two calls.

  Everything in the nursery was supposed to be chosen by the pair of them, but Lance couldn’t let go of wanting a chair for the nursery, as Curtis had been subjected too in the form of deep signs whenever they passed a furniture store. He couldn’t let go of the desire to have it organised. The chair was almost as important to him as the cots they’d chosen. He wanted a chair for feeding the twins, and a chair where he’d be able to sit and read bedtime stories to the pair of them. The kind of chair where they’d be able to sit on his lap, for snuggles and turning the pages of the pictures books with him. Keith might not get how much that meant to him, but as the youngest of the family, stray furniture had seemed to end up in his room. He could remember in Cuba the chair his Mami would use for the same reason, and god knew how much he wished he knew what had happened to it. So far none of the chairs they’d passed were that chair, though that might be him putting too much thought into picking one. He’d kind of been a bit vocal about the ones he didn’t like, with his tastes clashing against Curtis’s suggestions. This whole mess was why he needed Keith to see. To choose with him. That his boyfriend wouldn’t answer his calls left him with silent tears over his own stupidity.

  Seeing how dejected he was that Keith hadn’t answered, Curtis took Lance’s hand in his, drawing more than a few stares over the sudden seemingly intimacy between the pair. He’d heard the sales staff sighing the moment they laid eyes on him. The weather was warm and sunny, he must have looked like some kind of addict with the way he’d bundled up. Lance had dressed with getting things done in mind. His beanie covered his short hair. The scarf around his neck his his Adam’s apple, he’d chosen a long sleeve black shirt that made his tiny tits annoyingly obvious under a heavy winter jacket that had long passed the point of being able to button, and anything he had to say he kept clipped. If he couldn’t hide being pregnant he could only go with the flow. Even if going with the flow led to very curious looks. Curtis had been by his side, but with their looks people wrongly assumed them family rather than potential lovers, now they seemed to be going off script.

  “Babe, what do you think of this one?”

Asking loudly, Lance didn’t know what to make of this sudden change in his friend. Especially in the face of the absolutely hideous chair in front of them

“You can’t be serious”

“Why not?”

It was pink with gold trim, the fabric fake leather and horrendous. The shape was all wrong for cuddling in. Plus, it was a massage chair and he didn’t want something they’d have to plug in. It was absolutely not what he wanted

“It’s awful”

Placing his hand over Lance’s arm, Curtis smiled creepily at him

“Why don’t we test it out?”

“What? Okay. What are you doing?”

Curtis leaned in to whisper

“There’s two sales people of there who haven’t stopped staring at us. Keith’s not here, so why not have a little fun”

  What the heck was he supposed to do with that? They were staring and now seemed almost scandalised to hear Curtis call him “babe” loudly. Neither of them seemed keen on approaching, and the signs clearly said not to sit on the chairs. Even if they were snooty, he didn’t really want to pick a fight

“I don’t know...”

“Here, come sit down”

Sitting down as he was told, Lance was sceptical over things. Curtis moving to place his hands on the top of the chair, the thing started moving beneath him, despite not being plugged in

“What the hell?!”

Curtis laughed, Lance tilting his head back to look up at him

“Are you doing this?!”

Curtis gave a wink and a shrug

“It seems the electrical thing kind of stuck. I reckon there’s at least half an hour’s worth of power in here now”

  Him sitting seemed to work as a magical beacon to summon one of the workers over. Lance wasn’t particularly in a shit stirring mood, yet the scowl on their face annoyed him. They probably had to deal with the same thing over and over

“Ma’am, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you not to sit in the chairs. We have plastic slips if you’d like to try the feel of them”

His ego flared at “ma’am”. He wasn’t a “ma’am”. He didn’t look old enough for a starters and the plumbing situation was all wrong. The way she spoke...

“Oh, we’re so sorry. You see, my darling honey here is heavily pregnant with twins. I suggested it”

The worker turned their scowl to Curtis. Curtis had managed to sound apologetic enough, but there was just something in the way the woman set her lips that pissed him off

“I’m afraid I can’t bend the rules, sir. Not even for... pregnant customers. Street clothes carry many contaminants that may ruin the fabric, and there’s your condition to think of”

Lance found that instantly rude. Pregnancy wasn’t a disease to be caught. Sugar sweet he batted his eyelashes at Curtis

“Honey, we best do as the woman says”

“Are you sure? You had your heart set on getting a chair today”

“This one gives such a horrible massage. Will you please help me up”

Lance added a pout for good measure, Curtis “hurrying” around to take his hand and help him stand

“We obviously can’t buy a chair that hurts your back. You need to be careful with your body, you know what the doctor said”

  Watching the pair of them, Lance schooled his face as he stared at the sales woman who was now staring at him as if he were dumb

“This particular model isn’t currently plugged in. We do have similar models if you’d...”

Letting Curtis tug him slightly sideways, the movements of the massage chair stalled the sales woman’s words. The cord neatly wound around the lever to turn the chair into a recliner, very clearly not plugged in, despite the fact the chair was currently moving. Turning his head, Lance widened his eyes in fake alarm

“It’s not plugged in!”

The sales woman had no words. Lance didn’t particularly like picking on retail staff, yet he had to bite his lip from laughing at the expression on her face. Utter disbelief

“I don’t think I can shop at a store where the staff don’t know their products. This obviously dangerous. I’m so sorry. If anything were to happen to you, I’d never be able to explain to your boyfriend”

“Oh hush, you. He never has to know.”

“I know, but we can’t allow him to get too suspicious. I shudder to think if he knew I was here with you now”

“He certain is the jealous type. Perhaps we can find a chair that’s easier to clean”

  The woman’s face seemed to go through a range of expression before the colour drained. The way she twitched, she seemed ready to run to her colleagues and spill the scandal she’d been exposed to. That was until her eyes focused on the moving chair again

“Excuse me, ma’am. We’re looking for a chair suitable for a nursery. Do you happen to have something like that there”

God. The way Curtis said “ma’am” seemed to sum up all Lance’s feelings over being called “ma’am”

“Let’s go. I don’t know if I can trust haunted chairs in my house”

Plus the prices were killer. The only reason they’d come to the store was because it was across from where there’d gotten lunch. He liked his usual furniture store better

“It must be possessed by the ghost of customer service past. I guess we won’t be needing your help today. Come on, honey, we should get you home soon”

  Leading Lance away, Curtis kept his hand in his, giving the staff a little wave as the woman called out for some person named “Greg”. He felt a little shitty, until he was outside and found himself laughing far so hard he was nearly peeing himself in public. He’d never thought Curtis had that in him. He’d been so down that Keith hadn’t answered, and then Curtis went and did this

“Oh my god. You’re horrible”

“I saw them looking as we walked in”

“God. How long do you think they’re going to be puzzling over this?”

“No clue. Maybe next time they won’t be so judgmental?”

“Or maybe they’re going to be even scareder of pregnant people?”

Scareder wasn’t a word, yet he couldn’t English out the right word

“I wonder if I do a drive by later tonight, if that chair’s going to be out the back by the dumpsters?”

“It deserves to be. It’s horrendous”

  Curtis nodded, tugging on his arm to lead him further from the door. Inside the staff were kind of freaking out over the chair, seemingly trying to explain things by blaming it on some kind of short

“Come on, we should go before they pull out the priests and pitchforks”

“I’m terrified. Maybe we should go to church?”

“I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been in a church since having the demon summoned out. Can you imagine if we both burst into flame? We’d be posted back to our boyfriends in match boxes”

  There was no reason to find that hilarious. Lance wheezing now, legs pressed together. Being with Curtis was dangerous to health of his bladder.

  On the back of the fit of laughter, Lance surrendered his keys. Curtis forced to find the first fast food restaurant so he could go clean up in the bathroom. This peeing this was rough. He felt as if something as simple as swallowing saliva seemed to mean he had to pee it back out moments later. Still, he’d needed that laugh so damn badly. They’d never be able to show their faces in that store as long as they both lived, but it was kind of worth it. His ego stopped him feeling guilty for his and Curtis’s juvenile behaviour. They hadn’t actually physically harmed anyone, only given them a slight scare, a new work rumour to gossip over, and hopefully made them think twice over being so judgmental... even if it meant no chair. That thought sobering his lingering laughter completely. He... really... couldn’t chose a chair without Keith, no matter how kind Curtis was being. They’d have to go pick him up, and hope like heck they’d find something soon, or Keith would be forced to take home a very cranky vampire on top of having been forced to spend the day in “werewolf care”.

[swervestrickland]

Have u seen bte yet??? We want to know your thoughts when you do:)

omg omg omg omg omg it’s 5:42am and i have finally watched the BTE episode from this week:

- first of all, i was really worried last week because the episode was so long and i dont feel like i was entertained the whole time??? but this one blew it COMPLETELY out of the water. it was so fucking funny. like. im so excited to get more of these.

- all of the dark order bits are hilarious and i love them and they’re growing on me soooo much and i hope that translates to more tv time!

- santana and ortiz with the spanglish bits just make me THRIVE bc there’s so much i can relate to there. im so fucking happy they found something fun to do and i get to see them every week no matter what!!! you can never run out of spanglish to learn!!!

- best friends and orange sidkjfhskdjhfdhsjhsh gonna kill brandon omg and the fact that brandon knows it.....how are they gonna pull this off???

- private party and the bucks with the whole deadass thing is super funny but i wish there was a little more to it?? maybe im getting a teeny bit bored of it by now

- im DYING to know how kenny’s whole murderous heelish temper is going to fit in with everyone telling colt not to fuck with him. like? is kenny being like this Because of colt’s earlier bullshit? is it Solely because of FTR? is it because everyone’s kind of sidelined the tag champs in their own division??? like WHAT IS IT i wanna know. i wanna know what happens when colt finally ends up in kenny’s face and kenny’s fixing to go BUCKWILD bro like im READY. god he was such a prick and honestly this is the one, Valid time that im glad the Bucks have called out such negative behavior. because. he’s being a fucking prick. which is Unlike when they first called out Hangman for his behavior bc. he wasnt being a dick until he got tired of them asking why he was being dick and sidelining the fuck out of him

- griff garrison NEW BREAKOUT STAR like. i know he was in a dark order bit last week??? but he didnt say much. but he said a few things to colt this time and it felt so FLOWY and REALISTIC bottom line is he feels like a fantastic actor to me already and i cant wait to have him in more BTEs because he’s got SO MUCH POTENTIAL with this ‘who the fuck is griff garrison’ bit and im so happy. where the fuck is the t-shirt mrs. matt????

- slkdjfhskdjhf ok i was about to say ‘now down to brass tacks here bc i need to talk about hangman’ and then that reminded me of NYLA AND THE DARK ORDER omg nyla’s silly straw she’s so fuckign funny i wanna die

- and brodie and john silver and all the other cult members are truly, ima say this again, truly a highlight im so happy about the fact that theyre growing on me because i WANTED this gimmick to work so badly and now it is and im fuckgign hyped ok

- okay. okay hangy now. im. not Ready. for the inevitable break up now. please. please i dont want kenny and hangman to break up. but ALSO  :eyes: FTR, though......hangy really said ‘us carolina boys’ first off sir ur from virginia but also secondly, the idea of hangy and FTR is so fuckign enticing to me like imagine all that Cake in one faction...just....imagine it

[13-reasons-ideas]

Finding Peace In Another Part 19

A/N: T/W: Discussion of drug addiction and dating violence. This chapter is coming out a few days early and I’m sorry for the delay, I've been really busy with school. I hope everyone is coping well with the virus and isn't going to stir crazy. Also note that this is a work of free fiction and as such I’m not sticking to exact US immigration protocol. Much love!

A few weeks after my dinner with Scott, things were going well. His suspicions were quelled, Monty and I were good and there were no lingering issues with me hanging out with Scott. Since things had calmed down some, I decided to partake in my new favourite pastime. Recently I started surprising Justin at Monet’s after his shifts.

“Hey Justin, can I get peach tea and a raspberry scone please?”

“Coming right up. Usual table?”

“Depends, do you have leftovers?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see. I’m beginning to think you’re only using me for a baked good fix.”

“Maybe. I do bake as a hobby though, so its definitely more that I like you.”

He laughed as I took my drink and wandered over to the table. I people watched while he finished his shift.

“So, how are things with you?” I asked, casually after he sat down.

“You know, things are going. Clay is kind of oblivious to things, mom and dad are trying to judge what they should and shouldn’t push me on. The usual stuff. You?”

“Yeah. Things are going with me too. Dad still occasionally pops in town for a few days before going to wherever he needs to again. Still acts like I don’t essentially live on my own. I think he’s going to be in town for like two weeks sometime soon so that will be interesting.”

“Oh?” He asked, surprised. “Interesting how?”

I had to be careful how I answered. Man, this hiding our relationship thing is getting hard. “Well, he could decide to actually parent me. I’m an adult though so that could cause problems. May end up being a very silent couple of weeks.”

“Sounds like a trip.” He said, laughing.

“Justin. The last time he was home for any length of time, he told me to go look for a job.”

“Uh, why?”

“I have no idea. I can’t even legally work here. Dad’s work did something with the paperwork or something because I am still in high school. I literally can’t work, even if I wanted to.”

“I know. That makes no sense. Could tell him to send you home really.” He said, jokingly. There was a skepticalness to his tone that seemed to indicate he was nervous for my answer.

“What? No. I have finally finished settling in and have begun to think of Evergreen County as my second home. Alberta will always be my home, but that doesn’t mean I want to move back. I still don’t understand your reluctance for universal healthcare but that’s fine. Technically it hasn’t been long enough to be removed from Alberta Healthcare, but I’m not about to go to the trouble of going all the way home to deal with something that can be dealt with here. Dad haggled and made them give him really good insurance to move here and give up the free healthcare.”

“Okay good. Because we like you and don’t want you to leave.”

We talked about some school stuff for a while before I noticed him start to seem a little restless. I knew about his addiction issues and we talked about it often. “Hey, you still with me Justin?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Sorry what were we talking about?”

“Math test, but that’s not important. How are you doing right now?” I asked, subtly referencing the possible cause of his restlessness.

He sighed before answering, “I’m doing okay I guess.”

“Do you want to talk about it? We can go for a walk if you’re not comfortable talking here.”

After a moment he nodded. I got up and went to order us two coffees to go while he waited, trying to organize his thoughts.

“You ready to go?”

“Yeah, let’s go. Your usual?”

I rolled my eyes at him. Obviously.

We left the shop and wandered around a bit before he broke the silence. “It’s just harder than I expected it to be. Even with going to meetings, it’s hard to manage sometimes.”

“I get it. Have you talked to your sponsor at all?”

“I call him every afternoon to check in but that doesn’t mean it’s not hard. And I want to talk to Jess about it, but I don’t want to scare her or push her away. And I want to talk to mom and dad about it but I don’t want them to be mad or….”

“Or what Justin?”

“Or kick me out or something? I don’t know.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t happen, but I hear you and I understand what you mean.” We sat on a park bench and people watched for a while. “You should tell Jess. Trust me when I tell you she is probably going to figure something out sooner or later.”

He looked at me in surprise, “You…?”

“No, not me. My ex-boyfriend was a prescription drug addict. Percocet was his drug of choice. He was in quasi-recovery, still drank and smoked weed so not actually trying stay sober, when we started dating. It wasn’t pills though so I wasn’t going to push the issue. But as time went on, he started using again and tried to hide it from me. It wasn’t that hard to figure it out. Things got… bad towards the end. Not that you would ever… just. I knew.”

“Oh. I-I didn’t know. Are you like, okay?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t that bad. If we stayed together it would have been worse, but thankfully we ended up breaking up after he went on a bender and I said enough was enough. But we aren’t talking about me, we are talking about you.”

“Do you think she would understand?”

“I think so. It might be hard at first, but I think she will. And she needs to hear it from you, not figure it out on her own like I did or be told by someone else. That will make it easier.”

“And my parents?”

“If you want, I can go with you to talk to them.”

“I think that would be good, yeah.”

“What do you want to do Justin?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what do you need? Do you need to go to more meetings? Do you need someone to take you to meetings? Do you need to consider going to rehab? What do you need?”

“I don’t know. I know I need help. I just don’t know where to start. Why?”

“Because I want to help you. You’re my friend. And your parents will ask, so maybe thinking about it before you talk to them would be helpful. If not though, I understand. And if you need anything, just call me. Okay? Day or night.”

“Okay, I will. Thanks Becca.”

We chatted randomly for a while again before calling it a night and parting ways.

The next day went smoothly as well. At least until lunch that is. The guys were goofing off as usual and since Scott had seemed to quell his suspicions at least for now, Monty and I didn’t have to walk on eggshells as much around him anymore. Bailey called me about halfway through lunch. It wasn’t unusual for him to call me in the middle of the day, given he had a spare after lunch, but he didn’t usually call and then text and then call again. Odd. I hope everything is okay….

“Someone’s popular? Hot date you forgot about tonight Becca?” Garrison joked. I wasn’t looking at Monty but I knew his eye twitched ever so slightly, as it did whenever someone made a comment like that.

“Uh, yeah sure. Whatever Garrison.” I said, distracted as my phone began to ring again. Something is going on. I answered it at the table rude I know, but I don’t think a bunch of teenage boys care much about table etiquette. “Hey Bailey, what’s up?” I asked.

“Hey so I didn’t want to get involved or get you involved since you aren’t here to defend yourself, but I feel like you need to know. And it’s my problem because you’re my best friend.”

“Need to know what?” I put my hand up to quiet the boys down a bit.

“James has been… saying stuff. About you. And your relationship.”

“Uh okay? Why is that a problem?”

“Because of what he has been saying and what it involves regarding your relationship.”

“What has he been saying Bailey?” I felt my cheeks begin to warm and Monty and Zach’s eyes on me.

“He’s been telling our friends uh… intimate details about your erm… private relationship.”

I laughed in disbelief. That little prick. I took a deep breath to centre myself, though it did little to quell my growing anger. The table grew silent as I started to vibrate, “well Bailey. You tell James that if he keeps running his damn mouth, I will get on the next plane home, find him, and shove my foot so far up his ass he will taste it.” I heard Bryce let out a laugh and glared at him threateningly.

“Okay. Is it wrong that I would pay to watch that? Because that would be great.”

“Bailey.”

“Sorry, just trying to break the tension.”

“Has the little slime ball been saying anything else?”

“I mean, he complains about the end of your relationship, which I don’t like but that’s not unusual.”

“Remind him that I kept my mouth shut about a lot of shit he did, to protect him. And remind him about the little agreement we made when we broke up. I may not live there anymore, but my phone plan has international calling and I am on very good terms with the school resource officer.”

“What agreement Rebecca?”

“The agreement that keeps his dumb ass out of jail for various things that I cannot talk about right now. And certainly not with you.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t have money to bail you out of jail and the exchange rate is terrible right now. That’s why.”

“O-okay then. Talk later?”

“Yeah, I might call tonight but if not, later this week. Depends on my plans for the evening.” I heard a bell on the other end of the line.

“Gotta run, love you Becky.”

“Love you too Bear.”

When I looked up, the table was staring at me, slack jawed. Scott looked the least surprised out of the group, considering he had a little more insight than everyone else regarding my last relationship. “What?”

“What the fuck was that?” Matt asked.

“My ex was talking about shit he shouldn’t have been talking about.”

“Okay we got that much but… what was that?” Zach asked.

“You’re so small. How can such a small person have that kind of anger in them?” Garrison added.

“Could have something to do with people not watching where the hell they walk and stepping on me, or it could have something to do with my tolerance for bullshit getting lower and lower the older I get.”

“But you hang out with us. So, I don’t see how that is possible? That was kind of hot though.” Scott asked.

“No offence, but I’ve met second graders who exude more bullshit than you guys do all put together. Well if I knew that’s all it would take to turn you on Scott, I would have told Bailey to call me during lunch a long time ago.”

“Okay, that’s fair. Hurtful but fair. What can I say, it’s the simple things. Are you going to eat your apple?”

“Depends Scotty. Are you going to take it anyway?”

“I plead the fifth.”

“Uh huh. Since I don’t get a choice anymore, knock yourself out.” I chucked my apple at him, half hoping he would miss. He never did.

Zach and Monty shared a look. Still haven’t grasped subtlety yet I see. “Do you want my carrot sticks Monty? I’m not very hungry.”

“Why?”

“Big breakfast.”

“Right. Sure, not one to say no to free food. Even if they are someone’s leftovers.”

“They aren’t leftovers you meatball. I cut them this morning. I had green beans last night.”

“Do you eat other vegetables Becks?” Monty asked, teasingly, taking a bite of the stick.

“Dude, chew your fucking food.” Bryce chided.

“Why? What is this? Interrogate Rebecca day or something? Eat your damn carrot sticks.”

There was a beat of silence, where the boys sat with perplexed looks on their faces. Zach, bless him, jumped in with some game related question that I tuned out as it went over my head. I’m dating a sports player. I never said I understood any of it. The heat seemed to be off of us again, though I could feel Scott glancing my way every now and then while I tried to brush up on some geometry before math class.

I had full intentions to lessen Scott’s once again raised suspicions, so instead of waiting for Montgomery a minute or two after the lunch bell as usual, I merely waived goodbye to my friends and ran to math. I was the first one there so I pulled out the book I was reading between classes.

“Good book?” Cyrus asked, startling me as he sat down.

“God! You scared me. Yeah, I have read it a few times though.”

“Cool. Did you want to come hang out tonight? Mack is going to Chad’s place to talk boys or something.”

“Maybe, I’ll have to check my schedule.”

“Dad is making baked ziti for dinner. You can have a corner piece.” He bribed.

“A corner piece of ziti you say? Well in that case, my schedule is clear as day.”

“It’s a plan.”

Mr. Daniels started class a few minutes later. Will geometry ever get easier?

I met Cyrus at my locker after school and yelled a goodbye to my friends, who were having an animated discussion about who would in a fight, someone I had never heard of or some other guy I’ve never heard of. There was a chorus of ‘byes’ and grunts of acknowledgement. We parted ways and met again at his house.

“Hey Andrew.” I greeted his dad.

“Hey kids. How was school?”

“It was school dad. The establishment and crap.”

“I see you had a good day Cyrus.”

“At Liberty? Sure.”

“I had a pretty good day. I told my friend at home to tell my ex where he can stick his opinion. Do you need help with anything?”

“No, that’s okay thanks though Becca.”

“Oh this I need to hear.” Cyrus said, grabbing a Coke from the fridge.

“Pass me a Diet and I’ll tell you.” After opening my drink, I told the father and son the story of the lunch phone call.

His dad raised his brow and muttered something about punk ass little shits who don’t know their cocks from their feet.

“That is awesome dude. You should have told him to Facetime you when he told this James dickwad.”

“That would require me seeing the asshat’s stupid face. So no sadly.”

“Fair point. We are going to my room to do some homework Dad. Call when dinner is ready? I bribed her with a corner piece so save one for her.”

“For sure kids. Have fun.”

With that, we ran off to his room, but we didn’t work on the non-existent homework. Instead, we went through his records and Spotify account and argued about which to play. “Just go to a radio if it’s going to be an issue Cyrus.”

“No no. You’re my guest, you choose.”

“I already chose and you said no.”

“Fine. Defy it is. You’re lucky I like you.”

“Mhmm. Just play the damn album Cy.”

He laughed as he hit play and the sounds of Of Mice & Men filled the room.

“You better not have been lying about the corner piece man.”

“Lie to you about dad’s cooking? I would never.”

“Right. And I’m the Queen of England.”

We joked around for a while before dinner. Andrew called us down later and as promised, I had my crispy corner slice of ziti.

“Thank God it’s Friday. I want this week to be over. Thank you for dinner again.”

“Everything okay Becca? It’s no problem.” Andrew asked.

“Yeah, it’s just been busy. Lots of assignments and stuff.” Too much work and not enough boyfriend time.

“Well you have the weekend to relax at least.” Cyrus pointed out, waving his fork.

“If you don’t stop that, you’ll poke your eye out one of these days. Are you going to the game next Saturday, Cyrus?” “Maybe. Not really my scene.”

“Oh come on, it’ll be fun. We can not care about the sport together. It’s high school. You only go once.”

“Fine, but you are buying me popcorn.”

“Deal.” I said and shook his hand.

Andrew made sure to send me home with leftovers and a standing invitation to come for dinner any time at the end of the night.

[madeofstardust17]

Whumptober prompt 21. Hallucinations

Rating: G

Tw: none

Team as family

Oh boy is this angsty. There's a special bonus at the end bc it's my baby boy's bday.

...

The paladins of Voltron looked like scared teenagers.

They were teenagers, so young Shiro sometimes felt angry that they had to fight in a war, that he was leading a team of child soldiers. 

But today they looked like teens. Today, they weren’t the paladins of Voltron, they were lonely kids away from home. 

He scanned the room.

Lance was looking at the floor, hunched over with a sober look on his face. From time to time, his face would crumble as tears would spring to his eyes. He would shake his head and continue like nothing had happened. 

Hunk wasn’t moving at all, and was just covering his face with his hands.

Pidge’s face was blotchy and her eyes were bloodshot, but had stopped crying. 

And Keith just sat there, leaning into the sofa with his eyes closed, almost as if he were sleeping. 

Shiro ran a hand through his hair

“Guys” he called, they all looked at him “we have to talk about what happened”

Lance smiled humorlessly “there’s nothing to talk about” he said “we were captured and led to believe we were home, and then you woke us up and reality punched us in the face”

His voice shook slightly at the end.

No one spoke. 

And as Shiro opened his mouth to say something, Pidge scoffed and rubbed her eyes 

“Look at us, the mighty paladins of Voltron, falling to pieces because of some hallucinations” she barked out a laugh “We’re pathetic”

Shiro sprang up from his eat so fast everyone looked at him in shock.

“No” his voice was hard and even “I want you to listen to me very carefully” he lowered his tone, making it sound almost threatening. Lance and Hunk looked a bit scared but he didn’t care, he needed them to understand. 

He met everyone’s eyes one by one before speaking. 

“What happened today, those hallucinations, they’re psychological torture” he ran a hand through his hair again, suddenly nervous “I’ve seen it before, when I was a prisoner. I don’t know how they do it, but they make you see the people you want to see the most. Then those people ask you questions, regarding the information the galra want from you. If you still don’t answer them, the hallucination changes, and you see the people getting tortured” his expression darkened “I’ve seen the toughest aliens crying and pleading as they ‘see’ their loved ones tortured”

Silence filled the room. Finally, Pidge broke it 

“Have they ever used it on you? Is that why you were able to wake up?”

Shiro shook his head with a wry smile 

“No. They made me see my grandfather... and Adam” Keith, who was looking at the ground again, looked at him briefly, but quickly looked away when Shiro caught his eye.

“My grandfather was the one who raised me. He died shortly after I graduated from the Garrison”

Pidge looked down at her lap

“Oh”

More silence as they all lost themselves in their thoughts.

Shiro allowed this for a few minutes before he spoke again.

“We need to talk about it”

“Why?” He wasn’t surprised when he saw Keith tense up, already defensive. Shiro glared right back

“Because it’s important. Because we have been tortured today and I’d be one shitty leader if I let you walk out of here without talking about it” he looked around the room “now… who’s going to start?”

Silence again. Until…

“You all saw my reaction” Pidge huffed. Shiro was surprised, he had expected Pidge to be second-to-last, Keith being the obvious last. 

“I was crying until we reached the lions. I saw Matt, and my dad, and mom” she didn’t say anything for a few moments “is it wrong that I wanted to stay there? That I wanted to believe it was real?”

“No” Lance told her. He looked like he wanted to reach out and hug her, but looked scared about the reaction. He met Shiro’s eye, asking, and Shiro nodded subtly. Lance put an arm around Pidge. She leaned into him.

“I left my mom alone” she said, and her voice sounded unusually high “she doesn’t know if I’m alive. I told myself that I was doing the right thing when I ran away, but-“ her voice broke

“You feel guilty” Lance finished. She nodded, a few tears running down her cheeks.

“Katie” Pidge looked up, looking at Shiro with big honey eyes, which seemed amplified by the tears.

“We’re going to find your family. And when we do, because we will, you’re going to get them home, and you’re going to give your mom the biggest hug and apologize. And you’ll probably be grounded for the rest of your life” he said the last phrase quickly, and smiled when it made her laugh.

“Yeah” she agreed, rubbing her eye.

It wasn’t a perfect fix, Shiro told himself, but at least she had gotten it out of her chest. 

When she didn’t speak anymore, Shiro looked at the three boys.

And this time it was Hunk who spoke up.

He looked pale, and his eyes were widened with horror.

“I was telling my parents about voltron” he said, and Shiro’s heart sank.

“How much?” 

“I was telling them about you when you woke me up”

Shiro nodded, exhaling slowly 

“They already know a lot about me, I doubt the learnt much”

“I’m so sorry” 

His eyes were filled with tears, and he looked like he was going to be sick.

“It’s okay, Hunk” Shiro smiled at him “you didn’t do any harm”

“I knew there was something off, I could feel it” His voice was unusually husky now, and he was staring at the floor, as if transfixed.

“Hunk. Look at me”

He did, and a few tears escaped his red eyes. 

“You have great instincts, Hunk. Listen to them. Something doesn’t feel right? You come tell me, or whoever you are with at the moment. Your gut hasn’t failed us yet” 

Hunk nodded, sending his way a small but truthful smile. 

Shiro gave Hunk a few moments to add something, and when he didn’t, he turned to the youngest of the boys

“Lance?”

Shiro had been surprised when Lance hadn’t been first to share, as he usually was. Now he looked more like Keith, defensive and closed off.

“I’ve already told” he said, crossing his arms “I thought I was home, and reality punched me in the face”

“You miss your home” 

Lance nodded curtly, and then flicked away a tear like it was a pesky fly.

“It doesn’t matter” 

“It does matter, Lance”

“It doesn’t. Being homesick won’t defeat Zarkon, and I’ve already bothered you all with this before-“

“You’re not a bother, Lance” Shiro cut him off. Lance hung his head but didn’t respond. 

There was silence for a few moments.

“The thing about leaving a home…” Shiro looked at Keith, eyes wide. Keith continued, not looking away from Lance “is that the only way to quell homesickness is to find people that become home”

Lance went to speak, looking doubtful

“Take it from a kid who’s been in the system since he was eight”

The smirk that he sent Lance was gentle, not at all like he’s usual ones. 

“Does it ever stop?” His voice was hoarse 

“Not completely” Keith didn’t hesitate. 

Lance seemed thankful Keith had told the truth, and smiled at him. 

“I saw my dad” Keith said, leaning back and closing his eyes “big surprise there, he’s the only one I miss”

“Hey, Keith?” Pidge seemed hesitant. Keith hummed in question 

“Do you ever miss earth?” 

Keith opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, thinking about it

“Sometimes. I miss sunsets, and my hoverbike, and my shack” he glanced at Pidge and smiled “but like I said, you guys are my home” 

Everyone smiled, and Shiro felt pride rising in his chest. 

He remembered the lonely, angry kid he had met, and marveled at the young man that sat in front of him. 

“Shiro?” 

Shiro jumped a bit, looking at Pidge 

“What?”

“You need to say something too” Shiro frowned

“I already said” 

“That didn’t count”

Shiro thought about it. 

He couldn’t deny seeing Adam had made his heart ache, like an old wound in bad weather. 

“I made peace with my grandfather’s death a long time ago, but I guess it hurt seeing Adam again, so happy to see me”

It was Lance who spoke this time 

“Do you still love him?”

“I… Yeah” he said softly “I do” he scoffed “but I doubt he would take me back even if he hadn’t found someone else. I messed up”

“Yeah you did” 

Shiro turned to look at Keith.

“When you disappeared, we stuck together for a while” he huffed out a laugh “we either cursed you to oblivion or we’d praise you”

He smiled, and then it faltered 

“God, we were so hurt” 

He looked at shiro, his eyes hard

“I don’t know if he’ll take you back, but I can promise you, he loved you even when you left”

Shiro smiled at him, a little sadly, but a little hopeful too.

“Thank you, Keith”

He looked around at his team.

The guilty, the sorry, the hurt and the mourning.

But he also saw something else in their expressions, the strange sort of peace that you get when you’re surrounded by loved ones.

By family.

And shiro knew he had done well today.

…

A bonus for Keith’s b-day:

They all lingered in the lounge room that night after dinner, instead of going to their bedrooms as usual. 

Every time Shiro brought up going to bed, they would all try to ignore the comments. 

Finally, the conversation drifted off, leaving a tense silence. 

Shiro sighed. Teenagers 

“Alright” he called “who wants to stay here tonight”

They all raised their hands.

10 minutes later, they were all laying down in the middle of the circle the couched formed. 

They lay in their usual places: Shiro sandwiched between Keith and Pidge, Hunk in pidges other side, and Lance next to Keith, although this particular combination usually ended in bickering, and the two boys sulking as they were hit with multiple pillows. 

Not tonight though.

Tonight they were all pleasantly dozing, maybe a little closer than they usually were, but no one pointed it out.

Pidge’s clocked bipped, signaling midnight. 

Shiro turned to his side

“Hey, Keith?”

“Yeah?” He mumbled 

“Happy birthday kiddo” he muttered, dropping a kiss on his head. 

Keith's eyes opened

“Oh. Right”

They looked at each other before Keith huffed out a laugh 

“I can’t believe you remembered”

“I can’t believe you forgot”

“Shut uuuupppp” Pidge moaned 

“It’s Keith’s birthday” Shiro said. Keith groaned and buried his face on his pillow.

Pidge immediately sat up, wide awake. 

“Whoa, really?”

“Why didn’t you tell, Mullet?” Lance whacked Keith’s shoulder 

“I forgot” he mumbled, still buried underneath his pillow.

“Tomorrow- or later today I suppose- I’ll make those cookies you like so much” Hunk said.

That got Keith to abandon his hiding place. 

He looked at Hunk hopefully

“Really?”

Hunk was weak to those big indigo eyes 

“Of course” 

He beamed at him, his whole face lighting up. 

“We should all go raid Coran’s alcohol stash” Lance said “I know for a fact that he has more than nunvill in there”

“Absolutely not” Shiro spoke up, voice hard 

“You’re no fun” Lance pouted. Keith snickered, feeling warm inside.

Silence followed, only broken by

“Happy birthday, Keith”

“Happy birthday, man”

“Happy b-day, buddy” 

Keith grinned

“Thanks guys”

…

“You know, tomorrow I could cut your mullet, it’d be my birthday present to-“

“GOOD NIGHT LANCE”

...

Would you look at that? Not a cheesy ending. Comments give me life :)

[toocool2btrue]

Distance 2/2

Lance currently lay in his bed his brows furrowed as thousand thoughts swarmed in his mind, the Garrison was going to announce the result of the pilot exam on Monday and the mere thought of it gave him the goose bumps, he shook his head, trying to push those thoughts at the back of his mind and instead eyed the clock wondering when will Katie will come back. Although it was Saturday, she had been called in for an emergency at work and she had yet to come back home. To keep his anxious mind busy, Lance had spent the whole day doing small chores but now there was nothing left to do. He hoped that Katie would come home soon and hopefully they could play video games together.

If she actually gets the time that is, he wouldn’t be surprised if Eric had already something planned beforehand. Lance grumpily sighed, he felt guilty for getting jealous of her boyfriend like that after all she had every right to prioritize Eric over him but still…

The memory of Katie holding onto his hand was still fresh in his mind, just thinking about it made a chill run down his spine and he knew for sure that Katie had felt something too but at the same time she had made it clear in her own way that she didn’t want to or wasn’t ready to have this conversation.

His trail of thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang on his door, ”Hey Lance, Can I come in?” Katie called out from the other side. Lance gave himself a moment to recover his breath, Katie made her entrances like a serial killer. 

“Yeah!” he called back and true to his earlier statement the door was kicked open almost out of hinges by a frantic looking Katie but instead of holding a knife or a chainsaw she had held up two dresses in each hand.

“I just got back from work and I need to attend a formal party soon. So help me decide. Black or Green?” she questioned holding them up better for Lance to see. His eyes flitted from the black one to the emerald green one. He always considered green to be more of her color so he immediately replied, “The Green one”

Katie inspected the two dresses again and then nodded in agreement, “Yeah I don’t think I am in a mood for a backless dress. It’s gonna be freezing there. I’ll wear the green one and tie my hair in a high ponytail and call it a day” she grumbled exhaustively.

Lance frowned at her idea and spoke up “Katie, I think a side bun will suit the dress more than a high ponytail” he suggested helpfully.

Katie groaned rubbing her temple, “I know you are right but I am too tired to even attempt something like that right now. I spent the whole day trying to fix the stupid malfunction in the prototype. My hands are numb” she sighed dramatically, displaying her hands to him. 

Lance mentally awed, they still looked so small as compared to his. “Well if you want. I can help you with that. You’d be surprised to see how skilled I have become” he declared proudly and Katie raised a brow in amusement, it had been a longtime since she had a glimpse of his old cocky personality.

“I hope you’re a better hairstylist than you were a tailor”

Sometime later

“Lance, please tell me that you know what you are doing” Katie asked as Lance took hold of her hair, “Will you just relax? It’s going to look amazing!” he assured.

“Although you could have at least brushed it before. It’s all tangled up” he reprimanded, picking up a brush. Katie scoffed in an offended manner, “When I gave you the responsibility of my hair, this was included in it. You can’t back off now buddy”

Lance chuckled as he gently brushed her auburn locks, “Don’t worry I am not backing off. This is my Everest and I will succeed!” he declared. Lance watched in the mirror as Katie rolled her eyes, “Stop being so over dramatic,“ she scoffed again but there was telltale hint of a smile on her face.

“I like to give you a warning. My hair has a mind of its own, so we are gonna need a lot of bobby pins” she informed opening the top drawer of her dresser. Lance blinked in disbelief at the mountain of bobby pins in the drawer, “How do you still have so many of them. Don’t they disappear?” he wondered, after all that’s what years of living with his mother and sisters taught him.

“I buy them twice a month just in case. There was a time Matt used to steal mine to try all these crazy hairstyles. Thankfully he has got a normal haircut now” she replied. 

“I see what you mean” he mumbled as a small curl popped out from the half done bun and Katie laughed handing him a handful of bobby pins.

“Anyway what have you got planned for the night?” she asked. “Uh.. nothing, Veronica has to attend a friend’s bridal shower and you have that party so I’ll be at home and probably order pizza” he replied trying to sound upbeat.

“I see..” she mumbled falling silent as Lance continued to work on her hair. After the bun was complete. Lance frowned unsatisfied, it looked perfect from the back but as he glanced at her reflection in the mirror, something was still missing.

So he walked over to the front and gently pulled out a stray curl that framed her face. Katie beamed at him in response as she inspected her reflection. “Thank you, Lance. It looks beautiful”

Lance wanted to correct her and tell that it was she who actually looked beautiful. More beautiful than anyone he had ever seen before but instead he softly smiled in response and accepted the compliment.

He glanced at his watch, there was still half an hour but Katie probably would want to get there earlier. “Well its almost time for you to go. Have fun” he smiled getting up to leave her room.

“Wait!’ she called out suddenly. “I am pretty sure that I am allowed to bring one person so why don’t you come with me?” she offered. Lance blinked in surprise before shaking his head. “Thanks but-”

“Oh come on, It would be better than you staying here. Shiro got back from his intergalactic trip yesterday so you will even get to meet him. Also the food is going to be amazing” She informed gleefully and Lance laughed.

“As much tempting that all sounds. It’s a formal event and I don’t even have a suit” He reminded. “You and Matt are about the same size. So you can wear one of his and dad has this blue tie that would really suit you” she supplied instantly.

Lance grinned, “You really thought this through?” to which Katie nodded proudly.

"There is a reason I am considered a genius. So will you please come” she asked tugging at his arm and Lance finally nodded after it was the same girl he had robbed a water fountain for. He didn’t have much resistance against her. 

______________________

“I feel dizzy seeing you like this ” Lance exclaimed holding his head and Shiro chuckled, “I think your being a tad bit melodramatic. I just dyed my hair black”

“It’s been a longtime since I saw them like that. What made you dye them black again?” Lance wondered.

“It started when I coincidentally met Matt during my intergalactic trip. We were just hanging out when he dared me to dye my hair black again. I was kinda hesitant and then he suggested that we could use temporary dye. Unfortunately none of us had any experience in hair dyeing and by the time we were done, we had blackened half the bathroom” Shiro chuckled and Lance joined in.

“Next morning when I woke up and looked in the mirror, I felt so young again and then I realized that I was only in my thirties I didn’t need to have a head full of white hair like some grandpa” he laughed in a thoughtful manner.

 Shiro glanced down at his drink before taking a sip, “I realized something important that morning. No matter how glorious or terrible your past is. Dwelling on it too long will destroy your hope for the future. That’s why I erased that part of me”

“What if there is something you can’t erase?” Lance questioned, touching his cheek. Lance knew Shiro would understand, after all he was the first one to get scarred by the war.

“Don’t let it” Shiro firmly replied, “Anything that is stopping you from being happy. Don’t give it that power. Lance, you need to understand something. After what we have gone through, we all deserve to be happy. I know it seems difficult at times but search and go after whatever makes you happy” Shiro stated.

Lance nodded taking in his words, by no coincidence his eyes fell to the figure standing at the opposite side of the room.Katie stood with Eric,chatting excitedly to a group of scientists.

Shiro knowingly smiled to himself witnessing the whole scenario, it was probably the fifth time he had seen Lance look back at Katie ever since she had gone to talk to the other group. 

He couldn’t believe that perhaps his years long suspicion might actually be coming true. “So things look better between you and Katie again” he mentioned casually, Shiro’s curiosity turned into glee when Lance’s face slightly flushed.

 “Oh yeah, she is the one who actually dragged me here” Lance mumbled shyly.

“I knew you two would eventually figure things out again. True friends always eventually come back to one another”

“You think we could be as good friends as before?” he questioned hopefully. Shiro shrugged in response, “Who knows maybe you two might actually be closer than before. It just depends on how much effort you put in your relationship”

Lance smiled to himself, “Thanks Shiro”

Shiro nodded slyly taking another sip of his drink, Keith and Hunk were in for some news.

“Takashi can you come here. We need to introduce you to the Emperor of Besaiv!!” someone called out from the crowd.       

Shiro rolled his eyes in an annoyed manner “To think they might spare me for one night. I’ll be right back ” he said patting Lance’s shoulder and then disappearing in a sea of people.

Lance nodded refilling his drink, he leaned against the wall next to the food table. In order to keep himself amused he looked around the large room despite it being more of a private event the place was still packed with Garrison employees and various alien delegates. There were even paparazzi spying from the windows avoiding security and trying to get a good shot of the event.

Lance considered joining Katie but he didn’t think her ‘boyfriend’ would be very pleased. After all his face looked like he had swallowed a bug when he saw Lance tonight but still managed to amiably greet him for Katie’s sake.

Speaking of the devil, Lance’s eyes widened in surprise when he noticed that Eric was no longer in his previous place. Instead he was seen again moving through the crowd and heading right towards him. Well to be fair, Lance was standing next to the less occupied food’s table so that was more likely why he was coming here.

Eric finally reached the table and filled his plate with few appetizers. “Hey there Lance. Having a good time?” he asked good naturally to which Lance nodded.

Instead of going back with his plate, Eric decided to join him next to the wall. They stood there quietly as Eric ate the appetizers which frankly wouldn’t take much time since they were a bite size only, the silence wasn’t a comfortable one and Lance really hoped that Eric would finish his tiny food quickly and leave.

“So Katie told me that your exam went well” Eric mentioned offhandedly. Finally something they could talk about, Lance sighed in relief. “Yeah I was really worried but thanks to-”

“That’s good to hear” Eric remarked cutting him off, by this time the plate was empty and before Lance could suggest the stuffed cheese chicken in a vain attempt to keep the conversation going, Eric spoke again.

“Lance” Eric cleared his throat, his eyes raced through the crowd before turning back to Lance. “There is something I need to ask” he said opting for a stern tone. Lance nodded uncertainly placing his glass back on the table, "Ok..”

“I need your honest answer to this. Is there something going on between you and Katie? Do you two have any history that I should know about?” he asked, much to Lance’s horror.

“What?! No!” Lance blurted out, his face turning bright red. “We are just close friends. Nothing else!” he replied hurriedly.

Eric frowned in disbelief, “Look, I am not an idiot who is just jumping to conclusions. It’s not like I haven’t met the other paladins, Katie is close with them as well but with you-”

“I already told you that there is nothing going on. How can you not trust her?!” Lance hissed as fury danced in his cool blue eyes.

“Of course I trust her!” Eric replied getting agitated “It’s you that I don’t. After all, it’s pretty obvious that you have feelings for her” Eric pointed out.

Lance stood there tongue-tied as Eric continued, “Oh come on, it’s not like I haven’t noticed that the entire time you have been here you haven’t been able to take your eyes off her nor did I miss the forlorn look in your eyes when I came to pick her up a few days back. So.. can you deny it now?” he questioned harshly.

Lance’s eyes fell to the floor, his face burning with embarrassment and anger but Eric still wasn’t done, “I am surprised to be very honest. Everyone knows how hopelessly devoted you are to the late princess. You even carry her marks on your cheeks so what happened now? Finally got tired of playing the sad lover?”

Lance looked up and glared daggers at him, “That is none of your concern!”

Eric simply gestured towards the auburn haired girl and then eyed Lance dangerously. “You have made it my concern”

Katie laughed forcefully, as Dr Frank cracked what felt like the thousandth joke of the evening. Despite the cool atmosphere, the nervousness was starting to make her hands sweat. Although from afar, it looked like two men just having a serious discussion but she doubted they shared any common interest to have this long of a conversation.

She glanced around her group, it didn’t look like Dr Franks story was going to end anytime soon but she really needed to come up with to escape soon or else tonight’s party would be remembered for very different reasons.

“ I am feeling a bit thirsty. Let me just get a drink” she informed trying to get out of the conversation. Just then a waiter arrived carrying a tray full of drinks, Dr Frank picked up a glass and handed it to Katie.

“Oh would you look at that. Lucky you” He commented joyfully and Katie had to refrain from rolling her eyes, lucky her indeed. Dr Frank’s eyes lit up and Katie prayed that he hadn’t remembered another one of his dreadfully long and supposedly funny stories yet to her dismay.

“You know this reminds me of the time..” he started and Katie internally screamed. She glanced back at the two men. Their postures looked more stiff than before and it looked like the discussion had now turned into a full blown argument.

She wanted to slip away from the group but Dr Zenia had a good grip on her forearm. Just as she was planning her next move, Shiro came to her rescue.

“Uh..sorry to interrupt but there is this urgent matter that needs Katie’s attention” He stated politely, tugging her away from the group of disappointed scientists.

“Thanks Shiro” she mumbled as the two friends swiftly navigated through the crowd. Shiro nervously glanced at the two arguing figures, luckily they hadn’t grabbed a lot of attention, aside from a few waiters who decided to stay clear of them and handful of Besavis who simply blinked their multiple eyes in confusion at the scene.

“Maybe thank me after this gets solved” He replied worriedly. Katie didn’t reply for her eyes were trained right where Shiro’s were a moment ago. Her mind buzzed with various solutions at the same time her heart twisted with worry.

What could have possibly lead to this? She anxiously thought. She hadn’t even brought up the idea of break up by now but then Eric despite his cool nature did have an irrational streak to him and it made her worry about what exactly was he assuming and excusing Lance off.

“Fine, so what do you expect me to do? What is the point of this conversation?” Lance questioned irritability.

“I think the point is clear enough. I want you to stay away from Katie! ” Eric snapped.

Lance sneered in response to Eric’s annoyance,  “Katie and I have known each other even before the discovery of Voltron. Since then, we have faced things together that you can’t even imagine in your worst nightmares. She is one of the most important people in my life so if you think that you can actually try and scare me away. You need to get your head checked for loose screws”

Thankfully before the fight could have further escalate,Katie arrived. She cleared her throat grabbing attention of the two men and at the sight of her both of them paled. 

“Katie..” Eric was the first one to speak up much to his misfortune, Katie acknowledged him for a brief moment before turning back to Lance and Shiro. 

“Excuse us” she stated politely before turning back to her boyfriend. “Eric follow me, we need to talk” she stated firmly and he complied silently.

Lance watched as the two of them disappeared yet again in the crowd. He and Shiro stood silently for the remainder of the time till Katie finally arrived again. Eric was nowhere near to be found and Katie’s earlier strict demeanor looked crumbled as well, it was obvious what had happened.

Shiro and Lance shared a worried look and Shiro stepped forward to comfort her but Katie wasn’t currently in the mood for sweet words and decided to call it a night, “Good night, Shiro. I’ll see you on Monday” she simply mumbled to the older man who nodded understandably.

She then turned to Lance and he gulped wondering if she had some choice words prepared for him as well but she only sighed softly and said, “Lets go home”

______________________________

Katie slammed the door of her car shut with bang, Lance expectantly glanced at her to say something. He didn’t even care if she would start shouting at him, it would be less scary than this silent Katie.

Katie started slowly making her way towards the house as Lance followed but instead of going inside. She slumped down on the front steps of the house, “Ugh!” she groaned in frustration , covering her face with her hands.

Lance took a hesitant seat beside her, “I am sorry” he mumbled causing Katie to look at him and to his surprise,her eyebrows were cocked up in an amused manner.

“What are you apologizing for?” she asked. Lance looked at her in disbelief, he had thought that Katie would be somewhat furious with him as well. “Because of me. You and Eric got into a fight and you guys broke up” he tried to reason, still feeling confused.

Katie let out a short giggle to his horror, “It was going to happen soon anyway you just catalyzed the whole thing. So don’t feel guilty” she tried to assure.

“Why?” he asked confused, last time he checked Eric looked like he was ready to challenge him to a duel for Katie.This question brought back the earlier gloominess, Katie hugged herself before explaining “It wasn’t gonna work out. I know that eventually he wanted something serious for us but I am not in the same place. I tried to bring myself to that place but I can’t” she cried out helplessly.

“And do you know why?” she added softly, the vulnerable look in her eyes was back, the pale moonlight added a silvery glow to her amber eyes. Lance’s throat felt dry so he only nodded to hear her answer.

“It’s because I am an Idiot!” she declared, “You were right. I can’t do these easy going relationships, it will always be the case of all or nothing for me but I was still stupid enough to do it” she stated miserably. 

“You are not stupid. In fact, that’s the exact opposite of what you are” he comforted jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. Unfortunately Katie didn’t seem much amused, “I am stupid at this whole relationship stuff and because of my indecisiveness he is the one who actually got hurt and he deserved better” she whispered.

“Pidge..” Lance called out, wrapping his arm around her, Katie welcomed the comforting embrace and she moved closer to him. She softly sighed, as she placed her head on his shoulder. The two friends remained quiet for a moment, enjoying the tranquility of the night had to offer.

“I shouldn’t be allowed to talk to people” Katie mumbled, her voice slightly muffled by Lance’s jacket. Lance chuckled, “The world would then be a very boring place”

Katie playfully scoffed at his cheesy praise tragically the light atmosphere didn’t last long after all Lance had his own burdens of the heart.

“Since it’s the night of failed relationships. I have a confession too” he declared. Katie lifted her head from his shoulder and eyed her friend with a mixture of surprise and curiosity.

“What are you talking about?” she questioned, pulling away from him.

“Allura and I. Our relationship” he started nervously with his eyes trained to the ground.

“It was a mistake”

“A mistake?” Katie repeated. Lance winced, it felt more painful hearing it out in words. “Yes it was mistake. Don’t get me wrong. Allura was a great person and I still love her but now that I think about it, I only ever loved her as a friend and I am pretty sure she never thought more of me either”

Katie looked at him as if he had grown a second head, “Are you sure?” she questioned and to be fair she did have the right to be suspicious, after all he had spent some good years tending those juniberries and avoiding his friends.

“Yes I am sure” he stated. “To be honest there was always something off about our relationship. Sure we were there to comfort and be there for one another but none of us were actually ..happy" 

"I used to think that maybe I had exaggerated the idea of love in my head thanks to those stupid writers and poets and this is what it actually felt like” Lance mumbled, glancing at Katie. 

He had always found her fascinating, even long before he had known she was a girl. There was this pull and connection he had felt that compelled him to know her better and he feels disappointed that only now he knows what that truly meant.

“But now I know better. Love was never exaggerated by those poets or writers. In fact, it’s such a strong feeling that I don’t think anyone can ever properly describe it” he breathed in amazement, he could feel the warm glow on his cheeks.

“Lance. Your marks are glowing” Katie whispered, reaching out to touch them. Lance laughed heartily, “They are?” his heart wildly danced in his chest as he felt her soft hand against his cheek.

A moment later, the glowing stopped. Katie retracted her hand and beckoned Lance to continue. He cleared his throat, trying to remember his words,“Truth is that we never felt this way about each other and probably if she had lived on. We might have broken up but then she sacrificed herself and gave me the Altean marks and at that time, I was really confused about the whole thing but when I got the Altean marks. I somehow convinced myself that maybe we had been truly in love and now it was my destiny to keep her memory alive”

“And then you know it got out of hand” he mumbled, feeling embarrassed. “I felt confused, lost and trapped. The only goal that made sense to me at that time was keeping her memories alive and then when you guys tried to help me move on. I couldn’t do it. It felt like too much pressure” He confessed as Katie rubbed his back in comfort.

“But hey look at yourself now. You have come so far, you actually are moving on and you know the best part is that you decided to do it on your own. That means you are ready for a new life” she pointed out to which Lance smiled.

“I am” he agreed, “and now when I think about it. I realize that Allura would never want me to keep my life on hold like that. I am pretty sure if she had the opportunity she would have kicked me back to the Garrison” he stated lightheartedly and Katie silently agreed.

"i realized something important today. Team Voltron sucks at romance” Katie declared glumly. Lance chuckled and nodded in agreement.

“What about Hunk though?” Lance asked suddenly remembering one of them was actually in a stable relationship.

“You’re forgetting that he chickened out three times before he finally asked Shay out for a proper date” Katie reminded.

“I don’t think you could add Keith to our group” Lance pointed out, “Mullet managed to seduce three princesses and almost caused war in a planet”

“Whoa! Who knew that Keith was the true lover boy but what can be said girls do love the broody artist type” she grinned. 

“The ponytail must have surely helped” Lance added and the two of them broke into fits of laughter.

After the laughter died down.They sat in amiable silence,enjoying the peace and security the other’s company provided.

“I missed this” he confessed breaking the silence, Katie smiled softly and nodded in response. Somehow that soft smile provided him the courage to say the words, he had kept off his lips the whole time. Although he had thought about this for a very long time, always wondering and worrying for the right time to say them and it seemed like the moment had finally arrived. 

“Katie, I am sorry” he whispered, taking hold of her hand. “I should never have pushed you away like that, it was the stupidest thing I have ever done and you should know that I really regret it. I regret driving you away to the point of ruining our friendship because Katie you mean so much to me” he confessed, tightening the grip on her hand.

“I felt miserable during the period we stopped talking and it made realize how important you are to me. I never ever want to lose you again” he declared.

Katie was grateful for the lack of light for she was sure her face was redder than a firetruck still her lips curved into a smile, “Never?” she questioned cheekily.

Lance grinned in response, “Even when we die. My ghost will find yours and since Keith is gonna live longer than us because of his galra genes. We will go haunt him”

“Lance..” she tried rolling her eyes at the ridiculous statement but truth was she couldn’t be happier so she finally decided to be honest. Honest with him but most importantly to herself.

“I am glad you are back. I missed you so much” she finally confessed. Lance’s heart practically jumped out of his chest when she pressed a kiss on his cheek and then pulled him into longing hug. He responded, holding onto her with equal desperation. 

“I am sorry too” she whispered in his ear. “I should have been more understanding and patient with you”.

“It’s alright. It doesn’t matter anymore. I am just glad to have you back” he replied, closing his eyes as two stray tears slid down his cheeks. As the tears made contact with the marks, they glowed for the last time before finally disappearing forever.

Epilogue 

Leon, come back here!!“ Lance called out running after his three year old son. Leon shrieked in excitement as his father finally caught him and then lifted him into the air.

"Leon is flying in space!” Lance declared, spinning his son in the air. “Papa higher!” Leon demanded, failing his arms.

 Katie smiled to herself as she watched the little scene. In a minute she had to go and remind Lance to stop messing around and put Leon to bed but for now her she let herself relax and be grateful. 

She was reminded of an interesting discussion they had at work, there existed multiple realities in the vast universe and each reality had a different conclusion to their story, in some they might have never even met and led their lives contently without the knowledge of other.

Probably in another, they fell in love at first sight and never parted or maybe they did meet but their feelings never surpassed the platonic line. She slightly frowned at the idea that perhaps in a few they did fall in love but the time hadn’t been right and they didn’t end up together. 

“Mama!” Leon called out, Lance had finally put their dizzy toddler down and now he was running with full speed towards her. Katie slightly toppled as Leon crashed into her legs and urged her to pick him up. 

She dutifully did so and then showered his face with kisses. Leon giggled with delight but the excitement didn’t last long for his eyes had now started to grow heavy and the familiar scent of his mother was lulling him to sleep, Leon wrapped his arms around his mother’s neck and a few moments later he was fast asleep.

Lance immediately came over to her side offering to take Leon from her. She softly smiled and shook her head assuring him that despite her exhaustion she could carry her boy. 

After tucking Leon into bed, the couple quietly walked out of the room. Lance reached out and engulfed his wife in a needy hug,“ I missed you so much. One month is too long ” he pouted referring to his recent mission from which he had just returned.

“I gotta say I am surprised that you didn’t immediately come over to my lab after landing maybe becoming the Head pilot changes people” she teased and Lance further pouted still holding her firmly in his arms.

“I was just coming over to your lab when Iverson stopped me and asked me to give report of the mission. I swear that man is plain evil, he purposely stopped me from seeing you!” Lance declared and Katie shook her head.

“You’re forgetting, it’s only because of Iverson we met in the first place. Who the heck is Pidge Gunderson?” she reminded and Lance softly smiled, kissing the top of her head.

His eyes fell on their wedding rings and he sighed in contentment for out of all the billions of possible realities that existed. They managed to exist in the one where despite the internal conflicts, mistakes and uncertainties they had to go through they had finally found true happiness.

“My wife” he proudly replied.

Thank you for everyone who read this! I hope you enjoyed it and please reblog if you did and tell me your favorite moment. Thank you @artemisarya for letting me borrow Leon for the ending.

[b-kitsune]

Many ways to say I love you: Day Three.

Kidge-a-palooza 2019 Day Three: Budding. Pairing: Kidge (VLD) Universe: Garrison AU Status: Part 1/4

The drops hit the asphalt with fury, wetting her boots on the surface when she walked with pause through the streets of the city, thanked internally that her mother insisted put them on before leaving in the morning to go to school, now they kept it adequately isolated from moisture. At least, having her feet dry while her body was soaking wet from the rain was a good thing, she thought.

It had been raining all week and it didn't seem to have any intention of stopping soon. Not at least while Katie was walking home, with her notebooks soaked in the backpack, her face wet, her hair a waste of how much it cost to fix it in the morning. And especially, with a pain in the heart that made her eyes sting in frustration.

She wasn't going to cry.

It is what had said herself before leaving school, after finding the umbrella that her father had given her completely shattered in the entrance, while distant laughter was heard around. But at that moment, where she was completely alone and destroyed, the vulnerability became palpable.

At least the water that ran down her face made the tears not be noticed.

Katie was so tired that they messed with her for being, practically who she was. She had never found a valid reason why they bothered her so much that she barely related to her classmates. And it couldn't end worse when her father told her that he couldn't pick her up because of an emergency at work, by half-telling what happened with her umbrella, and Matt was out of town to come and comfort her later.

Katie kicked a stone in his path and sucked hard, stopping her tears in the process.

Damn nature, I'd be lucky if she got sick with pneumonia that night, so at least she wouldn't have to go to class.

''Pidge?''

Katie listened from the side of the street, stopping her abruptly. When she looked up, she could see a familiar face that wouldn't expect to see so soon. She frowned when he came closer, covering it with a black umbrella, in which its interior had patches of colors that resembled the constellations. Katie's heart contracted with grief. It was the same design that her father had given to her.

''I already told you before, I don't like you call me like that, Keith.''

''Sorry.'' He answered dryly, without taking care of her annoyance. ''What are you doing here so late? You're soaked.''

''No shit, Sherlock.''

''You always have to be so nasty?'' Keith approached her, intimidating. Katie just looked away. ''Have I ever done anything to you?''

''Right now.''

''What did I do to make you behave like an asshole?''

''You're being intrusive, and I don't need you to cover me with that stupid umbrella!'' Katie hit it with her hand to get rid of her, scaring Keith for a moment.

''Be careful, it's a gift from my mother!''

''I don't care!''

''You fucking gremlin ...'' His fists pressed hard on the handle of his umbrella, biting his lip frustrated. ''Fine, go home alone! It's not like I have to put up with you when Shiro is not with you!''

Katie turned on her heels and walked with a hurried step toward her home, without looking back, where she had left Keith grumbling alone in the rain. It wasn't necessary anyway; she knew he wouldn't go on her quest after being rude with his gesture of help.

However, that wouldn't prevent guilt from growing inside her having rewarded her frustration with someone who didn't deserve it, he had no moral obligation to help her.

Keith wasn't her friend, it was just, coincidentally, the person who was near Shiro at opportune moments when she visited him in Garrison while waiting for her father. And who was accompanying him when her mother invited Shiro to dinner to celebrate some news.

Whenever she saw Shiro, Keith was by his side, accompanying him or conversing with Matt in his absence when he was busy, who seemed to have enough confidence to talk to him about anything.

Katie, for her part, didn't address him unless it was necessary, they had a difference of three years and there seemed to be no common ground between them when they were alone. So simply, they were accompanied in silence.

Katie had met him a couple of months ago, after a celebration in homage to the latest technological advances in Garrison with the help of the Daibazaal empire. Shiro, his personal hero and best friend of his brother, had presented him as one of the most promising pilots in recent generations.

But as quickly as they exchanged glances and a slight handshake, they had realized how different they were.

Keith loved the danger of training ships, caused fights inside and outside Garrison, and it was a headache for Shiro and Iverson most of the time because of their zero tolerance for frustration. When they were in the same room, Katie wasn't interested in anything that Keith was fond of, and he wasn't interested in understanding Katie's scientific interests.

The only thing that seemed to have been congenial was when both had heard a comment from her father that both seemed to have an implicit competence on which of the two would give his first cardiovascular attack to Iverson for his bad behavior.

Samuel had made them laugh out loud that day, being accompanied by a clash of fists between them to have an enemy in common, after that, things hadn't changed between them.

Katie didn't care too much about having nothing in common with him, Keith was like all the other boys of his age she knew, except that he at least didn't bother her, cause of her intellect.

Keith simply respected her and gave her space.

A strong current of wind settled on her bones despite the thick gabardine that gave her some warmth on her soaked body. It was already getting dark and the cold became more noticeable when the minutes passed outside. Katie sighed defeated, but slightly calmer before leaving school. The walk had made her think about her attitude. She would give Keith a well-deserved apology when she visited Garrison over the weekend, and about her umbrella in case, she accidentally broke it. Even though his intentions were honest, she had behaved like a bitch.

''Katie!''

She turned in dismay as soon as she heard her name, thinking she had imagined Keith's voice in the distance. However, she saw him running in the rain completely soaked. In less than five minutes there he was, next to her, with his umbrella closed and a slight blush at the trot he was carrying before finding her.

Katie waited for the air to return to his lungs before speaking.

''I ... I'm sorry.''

''Why?'' She whispered softly. Keith looked away to the side of the street, thinking carefully about his words.

''I didn't mean to be rude to you. When I saw you in the center, I really cared to see you in the rain with nothing to cover you ... You looked lost.''

''No, it's fine. I was just upset because my umbrella had broken...''

''Seriously? You were not upset with me?'' Keith was surprised, Katie nodded.

''Not really, you didn't do anything bad either, you just found me at a bad time. So thanks ... I mean, for trying to help me a while ago.''

They both smiled in relief, laughing slightly after a few seconds at the obvious awkwardness of their conversation. It was the first time; they had an exchange of more than three words. That reality had been evidenced by not knowing what to say after a few minutes. But soon Keith, with a light pat on the asphalt with the tip of his closed umbrella, buzzed in affirmation to accept Katie's apology.

''There's no need, but next time, hit me instead of my umbrella. It's something I really appreciate, you know?'' Katie huffed funny. Moving her hip to a more relaxed position and crossing the arms.

''Sure! Don't hesitate to say where you want to hit you the next time you find me angry.''

''I'd prefer on the shoulder if it doesn't bother you, it'll be hard from you to get there.'' Katie pretended to be offended, with one hand on her chest.

''Is that a joke on my height? You're shorter than Matt!''

They both laughed vividly for a few seconds. The atmosphere between them had turned to something more comfortable and safer. Keith opened his umbrella when he saw Katie remove some of the drops on her face.

Somewhere in Keith's mind, he saw Katie's face as something curiously lovely as the water fell on her cheeks, while small strands of her hair clung around her skin. It's not like he didn't think about it before while talking to Shiro. More than once, he had seen himself lost in those big eyes full of curiosity. It hadn't taken him long to understand why Shiro liked spending time with her.

Katie was someone interesting. But hardly accessible.

He stood for a few seconds contemplating how she arranged the hair to the side of her neck when he saw her raise her face with curiosity and her eyes met his.

''What?'' Keith realized that he had been watching her for too long. He cleared his throat briefly before covering her completely with his umbrella, approaching her to share his protection, smiling timidly.

''Do you want me to accompany you home? It's already dark, and I'd worry about thinking you're walking alone in the rain.'' He saw the indecision in her eyes, but after a moment, Katie nodded with a sweet smile. Keith's heart jumped abruptly.

''Of course, why not?''

The rain began to wane when they walked down the street in the suburbs, were only a couple of blocks from Katie's house, but even so, the protection of the umbrella was something that Katie greatly appreciated. The warm lights of the posts were the only thing that illuminated the path, the colors of the trees and shrubs around them felt clear and lived because of the rain.

It was a nice walk, and some nervousness appeared in Katie system when she was aware that was having time with Keith. He had kinder than she thought, and they had exchanged a couple of jokes naturally when they got over the anger of the moment.

When she turned her gaze away, Katie had to strain a little to see Keith's face. The difference in height wasn't much compared to Shiro or Matt, but even so, Katie was too low compared to anyone.

It took a few seconds for Keith to look her straight in his eyes when he realized that Katie was watching him. There, stopping simultaneously, as if he expected her to start talking, Katie saw violet, one that could be compared to the thousands of galaxies around her beyond the infinite universe, a single color, she thought. It was the first time she had seen him even though he had been by her side countless times. Although she had never been so close to Keith as at that moment.

Katie smiled embarrassedly looking away to the sidewalk, she felt ridiculously silly at that moment.

''Your umbrella.''

''What?'' Keith asked confused when he realized she had said something, her voice had been soft, almost inaudible.

''It's beautiful, I didn't want to hit it on purpose. It's the same umbrella that my dad gave me a couple of months ago. My classmates broke it before the rain because they thought it was ridiculous.''

''Still bothering you?'' Inquired severely, Katie only made a gesture with her hand, playing down the importance of the matter.

''It's not worth worrying about that, besides ... You saved me this day, right?''

Keith could agree with that, and he didn't want to spoil the mood by arguing about her classmates, they would have another day to talk about it. Keith knew what it was like to be discriminated against by his high school classmates, he had lived it even inside the Garrison before Shiro intervened directly.

When they arrived at the Holt house, he thought it was a good time to say goodbye. But before even taking a couple of steps away, Katie took his arm.

''Thanks for ... Everything, I suppose. It was good to spend time with you.''

Again, the heat in his heart burned when he saw that sweet smile directed at him, even with the rain around him it looked lovely through his eyes. There was something in Katie that had changed that day, perhaps the first time they had talked, the comfortable time in silence, or the fact that he could see her more closely than in the past. Whatever it was, it made his pulse quicken.

''No problem, Katie.''

''Pidge.'' She corrected, walking towards the entrance of her home. ''You can tell me Pidge.''

The bubbling sensation around his stomach increased when he saw her smile for the last time and open the door to take her dog into her arms as fast as she saw him escape.

The sound of the rain began to diminish gradually as Keith headed home and Katie dried the excess water and threw her wet clothes into the basket, it would soon stop raining. And with that, unknown feelings began to budding in the hearts of both teenagers.

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Break Through

Break Through - Kidge Month Day 8 Prompt Fill Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Kidge Summary: Third part that goes along with these: [One, Two]. With leads and intel running out, Keith and Pidge take a break from their Garrison investigations to grab a bite and maybe raise their spirits. Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more.

She dragged one hand through her hair and let out a loud, infuriated growl. "How are they doing this?" Her voice came out more as a screech than a shout, which caused her partner to wince a bit. A part of her said she should feel guilty, but the much larger part of her was just pissed. “There’s no way that they’ve upped their security this much in less than two months! I shouldn’t be running into this much trouble trying to track down files!”

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out. We’ve already had smaller breaks in this whole thing," He said, a bit of frustration starting to tinge the edge of his words. He pushed another pin into the cork board they used with more force than necessary, clearly trying to keep a handle on his own irritation.

She glared at him over her shoulder, reaching up to push her hair out of her face. "We've been at this for five weeks and we've gotten almost nowhere!"

He glared back at her before indicating her laptop with one hand. "We know there's a missing audio file; that's a huge step in the right direction!" He glanced back at the cork board to verify where they pin had been placed. It was covered in a maps and photos, with pieces of colored yarn attaching each map to its corresponding photo. She could see the familiar spark of determination in his dark eyes as he observed all they’d discovered so far. "It's only a matter of time before we find it."

She scoffed, feeling no where near as certain as he did. "Unless they completely wiped the hard drive. They wouldn't want potentially damning evidence like that just sitting pretty for someone with a little bit of hacking skill to find. It's a huge liability that they can't afford," She grumbled, closing her laptop and shoving it aside. For as much as she wanted to keep going, a part of her felt so tired. She’d been working tirelessly since two and a half weeks ago, when she’d first found the clue in some confidential emails that there was a final audio log picked up from the Kerberos mission. “The Garrison is run by a bunch of assholes, but they’re clever assholes, Keith.”

Keith stared at her before sighing, setting his hands on his hips and looking down at his boots. "Maybe we need a break to help clear our heads. We can get some food or something,"He suggested, lifting his gaze again to look at her. She didn’t look over at him, though, and instead decided to focus on the tiny hole starting to appear in the old socks she was wearing. "Wanna go to the new Denny's they opened up?"

"Whatever," She sighed, stretching her legs out and getting up.

She toed her sneakers on while she pulled her hair back in a messy ponytail, wanting to just get it over with. Her stomach roiled quietly, clearly thrilled at the idea of food, but she didn’t want to yet. She wanted to stay and work more, try to find an answer. If it was there, surely she could find it with a little more time! But no, just because she was feeling a little frustrated, Keith decided they needed to stop any progress! Did he just not care about the fact that the Garrison was spitting outright lies about what had happened to Shiro, Matt and her Dad? She’d noticed he seemed more interested in whatever strange energy reading he’d been tracing through the desert.

She was silent the whole ride to Denny’s staring at the window, stewing in her resentment at Keith for dragging her out.

Despite it being well after midnight, there was a modest crowd at the restaurant. Not enough people that it looked like they’d need to worry about waiting long for service, but certainly more than she’d been anticipating. Normally when they felt the need for post-dinner-pre-breakfast pancakes, they were the only diners in the place. They had to wait a moment while the server dropped some drinks off at one table before being greeted properly.

He offered them a small smile. He seemed a bit tired, but the smile was still genuine. "Good evening. Just two for you?" He asked as he reached to grab two menus.

"Yes, please. Thanks," Keith said gently. They were led to the dining room and were given a corner booth, with an empty booth between them and another pair of dinners. Pidge immediately scooted in as far over she could, glaring out the window again. While she did that, Keith ordered their drinks and opened his own menu. "You know, sitting there and pouting won't accomplish anything, Katie."

She looked over and glared harder, miffed to find he hadn’t even lifted his eyes from the page to address her. "Maybe if I was at my computer I'd be able to do something,"

"Patience yields focus, you know," He commented casually, tilting his head a bit as he looked over an item. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at his words and how completely cliche they were. Where had he heard that from, she wondered. The server returned with their drinks and then headed off again at Keith saying they needed more time. She pulled her own drink over and took a sip, unsurprised at the taste of Dr. Pepper. He knew her so well. "Hmm. If I order some mozzarella sticks, would you have some?"

"Where did you hear the hoakey nonsense?" She asked as she stirred her ice with the straw.

He looked confused, finally tearing his gaze from the menu to look at her. "Well, I'm not hungry enough to eat a full meal and a whole order of mozzarella sticks on my own. Plus, I know you like them, too, so it just made sense to ask,"

"What? No, not about the mozzarella sticks," She said, taking another sip before opening her own menu. She may as well figure out what she wanted for herself, too. "That thing you said just now, about patience and what not?"

"Patience yields focus?" He repeated, clearly confused.

"Yeah, that. Where did you hear that from?"

"Oh, Shiro used to say it all the time, when I'd get pissy about stuff with the Garrison. It... It's helped me a lot through this whole situation, remembering what he said back then," He admitted, suddenly seeming uncomfortable. He tore his gaze down, swiped up his water, and started chugging it, as if trying to wash the taste out of his mouth.

"Oh," She trailed off, looking away for a moment before looking back over at him. And, this time, she really looked at him. She had enough time of knowing him to be able to read his subtle gestures. One hand was gripping his water like he was trying to shatter it, the other drumming along the table. His eyes had returned to fix on the menu, but they weren’t registering the words on the page, cloudy with pain. Her own heart lurched, knowing that look and that pain all too well. She looked back down at her drink as shame swallowed her whole. "I'm sorry."

He perked up in surprise and looked at her, blinking rapidly to recompose himself. "For what?"

"You're going through all of this junk, too, and sometimes I forget that. I need to be more aware that I'm not going through this all alone, that you’re trying just as hard as I am,” She admitted, peeking up at him as she spoke.

"It's okay; it's not like I don't occasionally forget myself," He said, offering her a small half-smile in return. Some of the shame wiped away and she squared her shoulders a little bit more as he returned his attention to the menu, turning the page and looking at the dinner options. "When we get back to the house, we should watch a movie or something. Oh, or we could listen to music and just veg out."

“You mean like we used to do on the Garrison roof?” She laughed.

“Yeah, only way better, because we can play the music as loud as we want,” He said with a sly smirk.

“Yeah, but can you even get your stereo up there? Since, you know, you don’t just use streaming sites like the rest of modern society,” She teased, peering over the different breakfast options. She wanted the mozzarella sticks, but pancakes also sounded really good.

He laughed back and took another, smaller sip from his water. “Oh, please! Your streaming sites are only good when you have internet connection. Having a physical copy of the album to use is a great approach; especially with bands or albums that are particularly great,” He retorted.

She opened her mouth to respond before a thought occurred to her, causing her to gasp. “Keith, you genius!” She squealed, reaching across the table to grab his face and pull him closer.

He looked stunned and stared back at her, blinking slowly, before chuckling. “Ah, made you see the light of day?”

“No, what you just said! That it’s good to have a physical copy of something, in case you can’t access it otherwise! That would also be a great approach when dealing with sensitive materials, such as classified files from a computer? Burning a physical copy to keep tucked away somewhere safe, so that you still have a record of it, to maybe assure that people snooping around on your computer can’t find it?” She pressed further, lowering her voice as she spoke her last few words, not wanting to risk being overheard. They hadn’t encountered anyone from the Garrison in their time off base, but she was still a fan of being safe rather than sorry.

He sucked in a quiet breath, eyes widening. “It’s a huge liability they can’t afford, but they also can’t risk not having it, in case of the higher ups wanting it,” He breathed out.

“Exactly,” She hummed, letting go of his face and slumping back in her seat. Her lips turned up in a grin. “Celebratory mozzarella sticks?”

“Fuck it, let’s go all out. Celebratory mozzarella sticks and celebratory milkshakes,” He said with a smirk of his own.

[avidbeader]

Season 8 Fix-it (Twitter Fic)

This is the story I’ve been posting on Twitter in more-or-less real time as I finished scenes. It takes the S8 epilogue and tosses it out on its ear where it belongs. I decided to make a fresh post because the reblogged one was getting messier and messier as I added stuff.

I also don’t think I’ll do a Twitter fic like that again unless it’s under 1000 words. It was a royal pain dividing paragraphs & dialogue into 280-character chunks and I didn’t like my method of keeping things organized. But I have handed the whole thing over to @latart so she can work her beta magic and then this will get posted to AO3.

**********************

It’s not until he’s hurtling toward the jagged portal, the pod’s right turbine still refusing to come back online after passing through a wave of unknown radiation, that Keith thinks this might have been a bad idea.

The wolf is pressed tight against him, whining softly, but Keith can’t spare a hand to soothe him. It’s taking everything he has to try and pull the craft up and away from the viridian-rimmed tear in space while also not letting them be pulled into the atom-smashing currents of the quantum abyss.

Then the left turbine fails as well and they’re spinning. At this point there’s no choice - Keith goes for the devil he doesn’t know and yanks the steering column with all his strength to direct them away from the abyss’ gravitational wells...and into the portal.

He spares one last thought for his friends. For Shiro, praying that he truly enjoys the happily-ever-after he bought into.

**********************

Going through the portal produces an intense wave of energy that runs through Keith like electricity, jolting and painful. He shakes his head, trying to clear it, and realizes that the engines are still offline.

Which wouldn’t be a problem if they hadn’t materialized inside a planet’s atmosphere, rushing toward the ground at terminal velocity.

The wolf growls, shoving his head under Keith’s arm, and he gets it as clearly as if the wolf had said, “Come on!” He gets out of the chair, grabs the emergency pack and his one bag out of the storage bin, and brings up his mask before throwing his arms around the wolf.

They wink out of existence and reappear several hundred meters away as the pod crashes into the planet’s surface.

Keith is kneeling next to the wolf, holding still as he lets his Blade armor feed him the necessary information. The atmosphere is compatible for both of them and he lets his mask drop to look around. It’s a meadow, grassy and green and pretty, with a forest not far off to his right and some hills in the distance to his left. It’s empty and quiet other than the ticking sounds of cooling metal. Smoke drifts up from the twisted wreck into the slightly orange sky. He doesn’t need to get any closer to see that scavenging for the extra rations and supplies is a lost cause.

Keith shoulders the bag carrying his personal effects and takes the emergency kit by the handle. Assuming that, like the deserts of his childhood, trees mean water, he leads the wolf toward the forest.

They’re about halfway to the treeline when the wolf stops and looks up. A moment later Keith can hear it as well: the whine of an engine. There’s no cover to speak of other than the tall grass and Keith drops to a crouch as the noise gets louder. The wolf huddles next to him as a flyer passes over them and lands near the wreckage. A pair of tallish thin figures get out and start poking around. Keith lifts his head just enough to get a better look at them and gasps in recognition.

Olkari.

Keith stands and waves. “Hey, over here! We’re okay!”

The Olkari look at one another and approach him slowly. Keith moves forward, smiling, and they stop and stare. Finally one starts speaking.

“Survivor? Part of ship? More that are part of ship?”

Keith frowns, wondering what’s happened to the translation circuit in his uniform. “Yes, I was on the ship. No one else was aboard. We got flung through a portal of some sort that took us here to New Olkarion. Sorry about the crash.”

The two look at one another, and the second one repeats, “New Olkarion?”

“Yes, isn’t this where you resettled after the Galra destroyed your homeworld?”

They shake their heads and the first one speaks in that strange garbled language. “In X-9-Y Sector as refugees. Now only choosing planet of relocation.”

Keith frowns. That’s not right. The Olkari quickly found a new planet to occupy, thanks to the scouting efforts of the Blade and the rebels. And what is wrong with his translator?

“Identity? You?” The second Olkari points to him.

“I’m Keith. Red Paladin of Voltron? Piloted the Black Lion?”

That sets them to babbling so fast in a communicator that he can’t keep up.

**********************

They take him and the wolf in the flyer, back to a large camp near the first signs of a permanent settlement being built. It’s mostly Olkari, doing their genius engineering thing, but there’s a smattering of other races as well. The pilot explains that they are establishing the first base of what will eventually be the new home for the Olkari, but Keith is only half listening, grateful that whatever was wrong with his translator seems to be working itself out. The pilot’s syntax is getting clearer with every sentence.

The wolf leaps out first and Keith follows him, only to hear his name being shouted. He turns to see someone sprinting across the tarmac to him, honey-colored ponytail flapping behind him.

He lets out a grunt as the other barrels into him, wrapping him in a tight hug. “I can’t believe it! Keith! Oh, my god, man!”

He pulls back and yes, this is Matt. But something’s wrong. It takes him a second to realize...it’s the hair. Matt had cut his hair back to military length once he rejoined the Garrison.

“Hey, Matt. Did I go through a time jump or something? Have I been missing? I’m sorry I worried everyone, but it was either get smashed to bits in the quantum abyss or go through that rip in space.”

Matt frowns, then his eyes widen. “Oh? OH. I think I know what happened, but come on. You need to hear it from Pidge.”

“Pidge is here? Why? She was at the Garrison, working on some kind of fleet to replace the lions after they left…” Keith trails off as they round a corner of one of the taller buildings and stops to stare.

Green is there, lying in a sphinx pose. A low growl of greeting rumbles through the ground and in his chest. And there’s a tiny touch to his mind, as if from a great distance, that he hasn’t felt in years...

Matt tugs gently at his elbow. “Come on. Pidge will try to explain.”

**********************

Explanations are delayed momentarily, because the instant Pidge sees Keith, she plows into him and hangs on like he’s a lifeline. She’s crying into his chest while Matt pats her back, her sobs too strong to let words out.

As she finally starts to breathe more and gasp less, Keith tries to apologize. “Hey, I’m sorry I made you all worry so much. How long was the time skip this time?”

Pidge snaps her head up to glare at him. “Keith, you died. The minute whatever Allura and Honerva did started taking effect, it caused a quintessence backlash. You were screaming in agony as it ripped you apart. We all saw it.” She pauses, making the effort to moderate her tone, and leans in to hug him again. “Allura explained it after she got back.”

“Wait…” Keith tries to work through what Pidge just said. “What do you mean, I died? Allura’s the one that died! She never came back from joining with Honerva to save the last reality.”

Matt takes up the thread, rubbing Pidge’s shoulder. “We think the minute that one reality was preserved, nature took over and different actions began causing different outcomes again. Something as small as intending to step right but stepping left instead...two outcomes and two realities. In your reality Allura died, but in ours… you did.”

The wolf rubs against them and Pidge automatically reaches to pet him. Keith tries again. “So we’re in a different reality? Can I get back to mine?”

Pidge’s grip on him tightens, and Keith mentally kicks himself. The instinct to try and return home is the automatic first reaction. But then he realizes he can see Allura again and the sudden longing to speak to her, to know that there’s an Allura that’s still with them, surges through him and he starts trembling.

Matt comes around Pidge and holds him up. “We got you, buddy. Come on. Let’s get inside, get you checked over, contact the others. Allura or Shiro can arrange wormholes for everyone.”

“Shiro?” Now Keith’s grateful for the shakes, because his suddenly hammering heart goes unnoticed. He hopes.

Pidge nods. “Yeah, that crystal in his arm is enough for him to operate teludavs. Hell, the minute he hears he’ll probably just bring the whole Atlas in. Dad and Iverson will fuss, but it’s just for show. They’ll be glad to see you again, too.”

“Shiro’s still captain of the Atlas?”

Matt and Pidge both pause at that, looking at one another and considering the implications. Matt replies as Pidge darts forward to start opening doors.

“Of course he is. He’s connected to it, just like you all are connected to the lions. After...what happened, Shiro tried to wake Black up but it just wasn’t happening. That caused a lot of worry, even though everything’s been peaceful other than a few spread-out pockets of Galra holdouts and some squabbles breaking out, but we’ve managed so far.”

Keith loses the thread of conversation, suddenly overwhelmed by two thoughts.

If Shiro’s still in command of the Atlas, does that mean he isn’t married?

Could I fly Black again?

That distant spark flares in his head once more.

**********************

Pidge insists on running him through a pod, just to make sure there are no surprises left from going through an inter-reality gateway. When Keith emerges, Matt is there to catch him and shoo him into a side room to change back into his Blade uniform. He leads Keith to sit on an infirmary bed. throwing a blanket around his shoulders, and the wolf winks into existence behind him. Pidge comes forward, looking over a datapad in her hand.

“Good news! While the pod shows that your base cellular structures are definitely just the slightest bit different from the rest of us, everything is stable and you shouldn’t be adversely affected by being here.”

“Um, yeah, that’s good.”

“And more good news! We were able to get messages through fast and everyone is on their way! Allura’s going to get your mom, Lance and Hunk are flying their lions in, and Shiro should be here any minute! He was calling for a wormhole jump before we ended the call!”

Again, Keith can’t control the start that Shiro’s name causes. His mind won’t absorb the fact that this Shiro is apparently eager to see him.

One of the Olkari gets Pidge’s attention and she turns away to answer his question. Matt leans in and murmurs into his ear, “Okay, what is it about Shiro?”

Keith pulls the blanket tighter around himself, exaggerating the shivers from the cryo-pod. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Keith. What happened to Shiro in your reality? Did he get killed? Did his disease advance enough to ground him?”

“No, no, nothing like that. He just...decided to retire and get married.”

Matt gives him a flat stare. “Shiro. Retired.”

Keith nods.

“And got married.”

Keith nods again.

“But not to you.”

Keith can feel his expression crumpling, on the verge of tears. Matt’s arms are already around him, pulling him close, when they hear a commotion in the hallway outside.

The doors slide open and Shiro bursts through, the neck of his uniform jacket flapping open. He stops and stares at Keith, almost panting from running. Pidge is beaming as she gently encourages the Olkari to leave.

Shiro approaches, his eyes full of reverence. He gets close enough and reaches out to lay his flesh hand on Keith’s shoulder. Matt moves to the side, giving Shiro a pat on the shoulder port for his Altean arm.

“Keith,” Shiro breathes his name like a prayer. His hand slides up to Keith’s neck, his thumb tracing Keith’s scar. Every touch is tentative, delicate, as if Shiro is expecting Keith to dissolve like a mirage. His expression is almost stunned, and Keith remembers what it was like, when Allura was able to pull Shiro’s soul out of the Black Lion and restore him to a body. That disbelief, that fear that it would all be a dream and he would wake with Shiro still gone.

He reaches up and lays a hand on Shiro’s cheek, trying to reassure. He feels the tremors as Shiro holds himself back, the wetness on his fingertips as Shiro’s own tears spill over.

Keith can’t take it any more and pulls him in. And for the first time in far too long, he’s enfolded in Shiro’s arms, his ears drinking in the sound of Shiro whispering his name over and over.

And it’s perfect.

*************

Of course, perfection doesn’t last very long. Shiro pulls back, his hands still cradling Keith’s face, and turns to Pidge. “Are there any signs of ill effects? Any chance that being here is going to hurt him?”

Pidge reassures Shiro, showing him the results of the cryo-pod scan, and Keith just looks, admiring the sight of Shiro’s natural leadership asserting itself, the tone of command in his voice, after far too long of the occasional glimpses of him at a desk, dealing with stacks of paperwork. There’s a new scar, a thin line running just under his jaw and up toward his ear. It wouldn’t be that visible if Keith didn’t have a full view of Shiro’s profile. He wonders briefly what happened - Matt had been firm in his assertion that things are relatively peaceful here.

And it reminds him of the entire mixed-up situation. This isn’t his Shiro, or his Pidge. These are people who lost their Keith, watched him die in a brutal and painful way. He’s a simulacrum, a vagary. He can offer them the illusion of talking with their friend and maybe give them a sense of closure that was denied them, but he isn’t the one they mourn.

And in a demonstration of that point, Shiro lifts his hand and traces the scar that’s mostly hidden in Keith’s right eyebrow. “What happened here?”

Keith ducks his head slightly. “I made the mistake of agreeing to help Griffin learn how to use a sword.”

Shiro and Pidge crack smiles and Matt throws his head back in a loud laugh. “Oh, I would have paid to see that.”

Without thinking, Keith replies, “I’m pretty sure Kinkade recorded it—” He breaks off when the other three freeze. “Oh, what happened?”

Shiro’s thumbs caress his cheeks, making Keith hyper-aware that Shiro has not let him go yet.

“Our closest call was about a month ago. The Atlas ran into one of the former generals turned petty warlord, who still had a small fleet of battlecruisers. Kinkade got caught in a crossfire. He survived, but suffered a severe spinal injury. The pods repaired the damage, but he’ll need another few months of therapy before he’s active again.”

At that point, that spark in his psyche flares again, reminding Keith to ask. “Where’s Black?”

“Stationed on Altea,” Shiro replies. “After he chose not to respond to me, it seemed the best place. Why?”

“I… I’d like the chance to fly him again, just once more.”

Pidge frowns at that. “What do you mean? What happened in your reality?”

“The lions took off, a year after Allura died. It felt like they were going to bring her back, but it’s been almost two years since then and there’s been no sign.”

“Damn,” Pidge breathes out. “So how are they keeping the peace there without Voltron? The Atlas?”

Keith shakes his head. “The Coalition, mostly repurposing and upgrading the rebel fleet. But it’s been really quiet for us. The Blades are shifting their focus to aid and assistance.”

Shiro frowns. “Shouldn’t that be the prime purpose of the Atlas?”

Matt grips Keith’s shoulder, clearly worried about how this Shiro would take the news of his counterpart quitting to get married to some random person. But before Keith can decide how to respond, the doors open again to allow Allura and Krolia to enter.

Krolia’s approach is much like Shiro’s was, slow and tentative, disbelief in her expression. Keith has a moment to absorb the differences in this woman, one who has lost both husband and son. This Krolia seems older, worn down, with gray threads in her hair and a few wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. A notch mars the line of one ear.

Keith reaches out instinctively to trace it and Krolia freezes. She looks him over again, seeing the new scar, the longer hair, the Blade suit identifying his rank as a leader.

The words Mom and Krolia are battling it out, keeping his throat locked up. He holds out a hand to her, offering, and finally she takes it. She closes her eyes and draws him into an embrace, burying her nose in his hair. Keith puts his arms around her and holds still, letting her take what she needs from him.

When she pulls back, her eyes are wet like Shiro’s. Unlike Shiro, her expression is one of resignation and regret. Unlike Shiro, she sees the simulacrum first and her son second.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.

She nods and takes one more hug as she murmurs back, “Your scent. It’s close, but just different enough.” She straightens and asks in a normal voice, “Is your mother still alive?” Keith nods and now she looks comforted. “That’s good.”

Pidge interrupts, bouncing in anticipation. “Lance and Hunk? How far out are they?”

Allura smiles. “They should be here in a varga or two. Or I can get them with the teludav if we can’t wait.” She steps forward for her turn, her smile almost sparkling with happiness as she tosses her thick braid of hair over her shoulder. “Keith, it’s so good to see you.”

Keith’s spirits rise in response to her uncomplicated joy and he welcomes her without hesitation.

The second they touch, a searing pain rips through Keith. Dimly he can hear Allura’s scream and the cries of alarm from the others as they collapse to the floor, writhing in agony. He can feel Shiro and Matt trying to pull them apart, but Allura’s voice echoes in his head, pleading with him to hold on, and he clings harder.

When Pidge lets out a shriek that sounds like panic, Keith forces his eyes open.

A patch of light has blossomed on Allura’s chest, a hand reaching out of it. A hand covered in a black glove and a pink-and-white vambrace.

Keith instinctively grabs the hand.

Yes! Hold on, Keith! Don’t let me go! Please don’t let go!

The pain is ebbing for him, though it feels like his skin is the only thing holding in a building explosion. He tries to channel that feeling into his arms and hands, to pull.

Allura wails in anguish, the sound echoing through the room, and Keith redoubles his efforts. He hauls on the arm, grabbing the elbow with his other hand as it emerges. He squeezes his eyes shut in concentration. Just as he thinks he’s reached his limit, that he can’t control the force anymore, he feels the wolf circling around him. Teeth close gently on the joined hands and there’s the familiar jolt of teleportation. But it lasts longer, milliseconds stretching out. Just before Keith can panic, he tumbles back into existence, a body landing on top of him.

The pressure is gone and there is stunned silence all around the room. The person lying on him stirs, inhaling deeply, and pushes up.

“Keith. You did it.”

Keith opens his eyes to see Allura’s sweat-covered face hovering over him, her hair coming down from its bun and her Altean markings glowing white.

*************

Allura is alive. His Allura is alive.

Keith can feel the difference immediately. Touching the others from this reality isn’t exactly uncomfortable, but when he takes Allura’s hand as they get to their feet, he can tell. Her presence meshes with his in a perfect harmony that isn’t there with the others.

Both Alluras are shaking and Keith puts his arms around his Allura to keep her on her feet while Krolia and Pidge help their Allura. The braid gets tossed over her shoulder once more and she takes a few deep breaths before speaking.

“Well, this was not how I expected my day to go.”

Everyone laughs at that, grateful for the breaking of tension, and Keith and his Allura look at one another, smiling. Keith brushes her hair back from her face. “What happened? How are you here?”

“Honerva’s been looking for a way to send me back for a while, ever since the realities began multiplying naturally again. We managed to call the lions to us, but once there, they weren’t strong enough to return. Then we realized that you might be strong enough, Keith, but we needed a way to concentrate your quintessence so it could be fully drawn upon. It was Honerva’s idea to send you to a different reality.”

“Of course!” the other Allura exclaims. “By isolating his quintessence, you’d be drawn to one another like magnets!”

“Exactly. I do apologize for your discomfort; Honerva wasn’t sure what would happen.”

The other Allura waves a hand. “The pain was temporary, though I think a rest is in order. What about you, Keith? Are you all right?”

Keith feels sore, battered from the inside out, but he can walk and he can think clearly. There’s no need to worry the others. “I’m fine.”

He doesn’t expect the penetrating look from Shiro, who steps forward and holds out a hand. “I can take you two to guest quarters.” His Allura nods. “I think that would be wise. Sleep, then food, then we can talk about how to get Keith and me back to our reality.”

*************

Keith is reluctant to leave Allura alone. He feels paranoia creeping in, that if he lets her out of his sight she might disappear on him.

The wolf head-butts him, then follows Allura into her room. She gives him a stern look. “No chewing on anything, understood?”

The wolf curls up at the foot of the bed since he’s too large to lie in it and leave room for Allura. He thumps his tail against the floor.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She starts pulling off her vambraces and Shiro gives Keith’s arm a tug.

Keith pulls away and steps forward, kneeling to give the wolf one more pat and whisper in his ear, “Come get me if she needs me.”

Shiro leads him to a room a couple of doors down and ushers him inside. Before Keith can glance around, Shiro takes him by the shoulders and turns him so they’re facing each other.

“Are you sure you’re all right? She didn’t hurt you?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” It’s on the tip of Keith’s tongue to tell Shiro to stop hovering, but he can’t. This Shiro lost his Keith. This Shiro has had months, maybe years of living with the grief, the what-might-have-beens. Given the chance to touch, to interact, it’s no wonder he’s seeking Keith’s attention.

And it’s taking everything Keith has not to just fall into it and let it happen. He hasn’t seen these looks from Shiro for a very long time. He remembers his own reaction, finding the clone of Shiro in that dead fighter and trying to be there for him as he recovered.

He has to leave here, Keith reminds himself. He can’t stay, can’t replace their Keith. He has his own mother, his own friends, his own life.

Shiro’s grip on his shoulders tightens and the slight dissonance from his touch increases, made much more noticeable after contact with Allura. Their quintessences don’t match up.

But judging from his actions, this Shiro either can’t feel the difference or doesn’t care. He moves in, pulling Keith into yet another tight hug. There’s dampness at the neck of his uniform as Shiro lets out more tears.

Keith holds him for a moment, long enough for Shiro to pull himself together, draw back, and wipe his eyes. He looks Keith up and down. “It’s so strange seeing you like that. You stopped wearing a Blade suit after you came back to us. After you found me again.”

Keith nods. That part checks out. He rejoined the Blades a few months after the final confrontation with Honerva, realizing that there was no comfortable place at the Garrison for him. They wanted him teaching others to fly instead of leading a squad himself. And while Pidge and Shiro were still there, they were both deeply involved in their own roles and visits grew few and far between.

And then Krolia had asked for his help as the Blades worked with the former rebels to clear out a particularly well-defended nest of pirates. Flying with a first-strike team to take out the pirates’ big guns had brought Keith to life in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. The target had been clear, the teammates competent fellow-soldiers rather than cherished friends. And when Kolivan observed that Keith’s help would always be welcome, it had been an easy choice to make.

“Why… Can you tell me why? You said the Atlas isn’t helping with recovery efforts? Why are you back with the Blades?”

Keith swallows, trying to find his way out of this maze. “It’s where I can do the most good right now. But I wasn’t on a mission or anything when I went through that portal. I was just exploring the quantum abyss again.” He glances away, in the direction of Allura’s room. “I wanted to see if I could find more space wolves.”

Shiro laughs at that a little. “You thought Kosmo needed a mate?”

Keith scowls a little. Some things never change.

“His name’s not Kosmo.”

“Has he told you his name, then?” Shiro challenges with a smile.

“No, but he will when he’s ready,” Keith snaps back, then pauses as the thought hits him. “Where...where’s the wolf now? In this reality? Do you know?”

Shiro’s good humor fades. “He… He stayed with Krolia a while. And then she reported that he teleported away one day and just didn’t come back.”

That hits Keith like a gut punch. It must show on his face, because Shiro steps forward and pulls Keith to him. “Hey, it’s okay. Kos—your wolf is here. And who knows? Maybe our wolf will sense what’s happened and come back and you can convince him to stay this time.”

Keith nods into his shoulder. “Maybe.” He takes a deep, steadying breath and pulls away. “We’ve got a lot to try and do tomorrow. We should sleep.”

Shiro looks disappointed, running his hands up and down Keith’s arms. “I was hoping…but okay. I’ll see you in the morning?”

Keith nods and Shiro snatches one more hug before letting him go and moving to the door. He looks back. “I know. I know it’s not the same. But I never got the chance to tell him… I love you, Keith. No matter what reality we’re in.”

Keith holds it together long enough for Shiro to leave before the sobs tear up from his throat.

If only that were true…

*************

A pounding on the door wakes Keith the next morning. He groans and rolls over, burying his aching head under the pillow. It occurs to him that the last time he ate anything was nearly two days ago and in another reality.

The door slides open and several bodies tumble in. Keith barely has time to sit up before Lance is on him, tackling him back into the bed as he whoops in delight. Then Hunk yanks them both up and into a tight group hug.

“Dude!” Hunk exclaims. “We missed you! You gotta tell us everything about your reality! Matt said you guys lost the lions? But everything’s settled down for you?”

Before Keith can reply, Romelle has joined them, worming her way in to wrap her arms around him and smacking kisses on his cheek. Lance has started babbling along with Hunk and Pidge is shouting encouragement from the door while Shiro looks on, beaming at the sight.

The subtle discomfort Keith felt yesterday when touching someone else is growing, multiplying exponentially as he’s surrounded by all of these people who are his friends, but aren’t. The headache spikes and his stomach is churning and he needs them to back off...he needs to breathe...he needs out…

The two Alluras come into the room, and the sensation of their double image pulls everyone’s attention away from him. Keith backs away as they take in the sight: his Allura back in her armor with her hair in its heavy bun, while their Allura is in an Altean divided skirt with her hair loose.

Pidge breaks the spell. “Okay, we’ve got a lot to do today! Let’s all get breakfast and then it’s off to the lab.”

*************

Between both Alluras, both Holts, Hunk, and a team of Olkari, it takes a remarkably short time to construct an arch that will, in theory, detect the proper reality through Keith and Allura’s quintessences and open a doorway to it. Pidge and Matt are going back and forth explaining their theories while those who are trying to pay attention just nod along. They are positioned on the border of the Olkari camp, with the four available lions arranged on four sides, drawing on the transreality comet that created them.

As the Alluras prepare to activate the device, Pidge cautions everyone. “Don’t get too close. We’re going to do a test run, try to isolate the correct reality, make sure it’s a stable connection, make sure the other side of the portal doesn’t open anywhere disastrously bad. Once we’re sure it works, we’ll get you guys home.” She glances up at Keith, her voice wavering just a little.

He’s been avoiding touching anyone other than his Allura since getting overwhelmed earlier, but the hint of grief in Pidge’s words gets to him. He resolves to speak to each of them privately, give each of them a chance for the closure they need even though it’s going to hurt.

The wolf whines as Pidge counts down. On her mark, both Alluras reach out a hand and send a pulse of light toward the arch. It starts to glow. But Pidge’s crow of triumph turns into a panicked howl when the light leaps from the construct to envelop Keith.

“No! NO! NOT AGAIN!”

The pain engulfs him so quickly he can’t even scream.

****************

He’s in the stolen Galra ship, hurtling toward the shields surrounding Haggar’s weapon. Matt is shouting at him through the comms, but he has to do this. There’s no other way to save the team.

There’s no other way to save Shiro.

The agony of the impact only lasts for an instant.

~~~~the universe twitches~~~~

Matt is yelling again, but his voice is hopeful. “Break off, Keith! Everyone, go for the stabilizers! If the ship loses its nav control, it can’t aim!”

Keith swerves, missing the shields by scant meters, and corkscrews to the rear of the ship, firing in continuous bursts at the hull. The rebel ships converge and explosions bloom in the wake of their strikes.

The ship tilts and Matt’s ship fires at its belly, sending it into a spin. “Keep firing!”

“Rebel fleet, you did it! Naxzela has powered down! We’re out of its range!” The relief in Shiro’s voice is palpable.

“Zaiforge Cannon Senfama is back online!” Kolivan calls out through the comms.

“Rebel fleet, scatter! Let them take the ship out!” Shiro orders.

Keith responds instantly, weaving through the slower rebel fighters. When the blast from the Zaiforge cannon disintegrates the front of the Galra ship, he allows himself to relax.

“Who is that?” Lance’s voice is hostile and Keith’s heart rate skyrockets again.

“Attention Voltron! I am Lotor, crown prince of the Galra Empire. I come in peace. I think we should talk.”

***************

“You’re turning the room into a bomb!” Keith gasps, impressed at Thace’s technical ability but worried because the only entrance is blocked, with a squad of Galra soldiers on the other side.

“Yes. It’s not as elegant as the virus, but it will take down all power just the same.” Thace points to the well below them. “Your way out is below. There's an exit through the main power conduit. It leads to the second deck. Go, now.”

“You mean our way out,” Keith snaps. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

Thace breaks into a wry smile. “I stand corrected. A new fellow Blade. Kolivan hasn’t had the time to indoctrinate you with the ‘mission first’ message. You have to go—you’re a paladin of Voltron. You are needed.”

“So are you!” Keith darts forward to grab Thace by the shoulder and try and pull him along.

Thace is much stronger than Keith, but it still takes him a fraction too long to loosen Keith’s grip. There’s a blast as the slab blocking the door cracks apart.

Keith’s awareness lasts long enough to feel the laser blasts that rip into him and the initial shockwave as the bomb detonates.

~~~~the universe twitches~~~~

“Go, now!”

Keith shakes his head at that. “What? No, I'm not gonna leave you!”

“You must. I will shut down the system. Paladin, this is where my journey ends, but, as a member of Voltron, you have a bigger mission. You must understand that.”

“What’s the issue? Timing? If you rigged the detonator, speed it up and come on!”

Thace looks at him briefly, then smiles. As he bends over the console and makes the adjustment, he tells Keith, “I look forward to the day Kolivan tries to instruct you in the code of ‘mission first’.”

Keith rolls his eyes, but loops his arms under Thace’s shoulders as soon as he rises. They vault off the edge and Keith pushes his jetpack to the limit as he flies them both down to the escape route.

***************

“Regris, no!” Keith feels Kolivan’s fingers just graze his back as he darts forward to try and pull his teammate to safety. He’s not even aware of Kolivan turning and running, leaving them both behind.

The explosion rips them apart before Keith can lay a hand on him.

~~~~the universe twitches~~~~

“It’s a trap!” Kolivan shouts as he lunges toward the doors that have just closed them in. Regris runs to the controls to try and override whatever self-destruct has probably been activated.

Keith looks around and spies a panel in the wall. Mentally crossing his fingers, he darts over to put a hand on the control. It slides open, showing a rack of plasma rifles. He calls out, “Here!”

Both Kolivan and Regris catch as he tosses guns at them, then Kolivan shouts, “Now!” They all fire at the center glass and it shatters, sucking them out into open space mere seconds before the ship explodes.

It takes a little doing to get back to their ship, especially since Keith has a rip in his suit, but they manage.

***************

Keith can’t breathe. His lungs are aching with the effort to find the oxygen in this thin atmosphere.

And there’s the small matter of Zethrid’s arm around Keith’s throat.

She’s screaming about revenge, about making Keith suffer as much as she has and he tries to get free because Shiro and Axca are approaching and Zethrid has raised her gun in Shiro’s direction.

Keith writhes desperately, throwing all of his weight back against Zethrid. Her shot goes high, missing Shiro, but she loses her balance and falls back, over the edge, dragging Keith with her.

~~~~the universe twitches~~~~

He can’t breathe. He’s dizzy from the lack of oxygen and Zethrid’s grip across his throat is like iron. Keith tries to break free anyway as he sees Shiro and Axca approaching slowly, the weak light reflecting off Shiro’s shoulder port…

...and only the shoulder port.

Shiro locks eyes with him and Keith plants his feet, dropping his center as much as he can.

And Shiro’s arm flies up from below the ledge to punch Zethrid across the face, then snap back toward Shiro, the fingers grabbing her gun and yanking it from her hand.

A sniper’s shot sends Zethrid backwards, stunned, and Keith twists, barely catching her by one wrist before she can fall to her death.

Shiro is there immediately to help him.

***************

“Come on, come on!” Keith yanks Red’s controls frantically but the lion is completely unresponsive. He looks up to see Zarkon shift his weapon into an enormous ax and lift it.

He’s got to move. If Zarkon takes him down, he’ll go after the Black Lion again and he’ll kill Shiro in the process.

Keith thinks he hears the screams of the others as the ax cleaves into the cockpit, bringing the ceiling down on him. He stays conscious just long enough to see the cracks in his visor and feel the cold as the vacuum of space draws his last breath from him.

~~~~the universe twitches~~~~

“Come on, come on!” Keith looks up to see Zarkon descending and tries once more to reach his lion—

There’s a jolt that feels like his soul leaving his body, then the briefest flash of a midnight landscape, purple terrain and diamond stars. And suddenly he and Red are on the far side of Zarkon’s command ship, held in Black’s jaws like a mother cat carrying her kitten.

“I got you, buddy!” Shiro sounds winded, but he’s alive. He’s alive and he’s back in Black’s pilot seat.

Keith leans into his own chair, heaving air into his lungs as Shiro takes them back to Black’s hangar in the castle.

***************

Keith stumbles as he lands on his feet, looking around for the threat. But it’s an apartment, a very familiar one. He spins around and sees Shiro in his captain’s uniform. He stands in front of the mirror bolted to the wall, holding a small navy velvet box in his hand as he talks to his reflection.

“I know we haven’t been dating very long…”

“I want to take us to the next level…”

“I think we’re good together…”

With a groan of frustration, Shiro tosses the box onto the table below the mirror and crosses the room to collapse on the sofa. He leans forward to put his head in his hands. “Why is this so hard?”

Keith can’t contain himself anymore. “Shiro!”

Shiro looks up sharply, but his eyes pass right over Keith.

“Shiro, don’t! Please don’t! I’ll come back, I promise! I’m sorry I didn’t stay, but I’ll come back!”

Shiro continues to look around. “Keith?” He rubs his flesh hand over his face and stands. “I’m hearing things now. Great.” He goes back to the mirror and picks up the box again.

Keith’s heart is tearing into pieces. “Shiro, please! I love you!”

~~~~the universe twitches~~~~

Keith watches, invisible, as Shiro checks himself in the mirror. He’s wearing jeans with a leather jacket and has driving goggles hanging around his neck. He reaches into one pocket and pulls out a red velvet box with black edging before taking a long look at himself and speaking.

“I know it’s hard to believe how far we’ve come from that day at your school. At the time I only wanted to help you, because I could see your potential. You said once that your life would have been a lot different without me. But I wouldn’t be standing here right now if it weren’t for you. You supported me when I chose my dream. You saved me...so many times. And you never once stopped believing in me. I’m honestly so humbled; you’ve seen me at my worst and yet you love me without hesitation. It took me a little while, but I know now. I love you. I’m in love with you. And I want to spend the rest of my life telling you and showing you just how much I love you.”

He pauses and takes a deep breath. “Keith, will you marry me?”

Keith wants to shout, but can only manage a whisper. “Yes!”

Shiro looks around anyway, but pain rips through Keith as a clamor of screams and shouts crashes over him in a wave.

*************

The pain evaporates as Black morphs into existence around Keith in a blaze of purple light. He grabs the controls. Black shifts back into real space and he recognizes the Olkari camp from the air. The other lions are looking up and roaring a welcome.

There’s a groan beside him and he whips around.

To see a red-and-white-clad body sprawled on the floor of the cockpit, trying to push himself up.

Frantic voices are pouring through the comms and Keith reaches for the panel automatically to answer. “I’m all right! We’re all right!”

“We?” One of the Alluras replies, her tone sharp and anxious.

The figure on the floor looks up at him. His eyes widen for a moment, then he asks weakly, “Did we do it? Did we save them all?”

Keith feels Black send assent and the other’s expression relaxes.

“Thanks, Black.” His strength gives out and Keith leaps out of the pilot’s seat to help him sit up.

The person with his own face looks up with a gleam of humor in his eyes. “So, which one of us is in the wrong place?”

*************

The others are rushing to Black, all shouting at once, as the lion lowers his head to open his jaws. Keith helps his counterpart down the ramp and they all skid to a halt, bumping into one another as they stare.

The other Keith sweeps them all with a look, a growing smile on his face. He falters twice, his eyebrows creeping together as he takes in the two Alluras, then again when he sees Krolia and Shiro.

Shiro gestures at Krolia, indicating that she should go first, but she shakes her head and pushes him toward the lion. With the amount of weight he’s bearing, Keith can’t step back yet and holds his double up. Shiro approaches with that same expression he’d shown the day before, equal parts hope and fear as he reaches out.

The other Keith doesn’t hesitate. He shrugs off the support and stumbles into Shiro, throwing his arms around his neck. Keith gets a full view of Shiro’s face, the tearful gratitude as he murmurs “Keith,” over and over. Suddenly it’s too much and Keith backs away.

Most of the others are surrounding them, looking to welcome their Keith back, but Matt breaks off and approaches him, the wolf bounding beside him. “You scared the hell out of us. Are you okay?”

Keith shakes his head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what happened.”

Matt looks down at a datapad. “Pidge was recording everything. It looked like you flew apart, the way she described it before when he died. But when our Allura was about to drop the connection, your Allura told her to keep it going. Then the readings showed energy coalescing instead of dispersing. And then the Black Lion just appeared out of nowhere and landed with both of you.”

“I saw… I don’t know how to describe it. I lost count of how many realities I saw, but in each one something bad was about to happen and then it’s like something tilted and it changed. In most of them I was dying, and the universe glitched and I lived instead.” He feels satisfaction coming from Black; it’s almost like a mental purr.

His Allura peels off as the group is sweeping their Keith toward the camp. She runs a soothing hand up and down his arm. “Are you all right?”

Keith pauses and takes stock. “I think so. I’m feeling sore from all those injuries and deaths, like echoes?”

She puts her fingers to his temples and concentrates a moment. A cool and soothing sensation fills Keith from head to toe and when she steps back, he feels much lighter. He can still remember so many of the other realities, but the physical sensations that lingered are almost gone.

She leans forward, touching her forehead to his. “I saw some of what you did. We need to try again as soon as possible. With the Black Lion here, I think we’ll have much more control this time.”

Keith nods as the wolf head-butts into his hip and Matt claps him on the shoulder. They follow the others back to the camp.

*************

If there were any doubt that the Keith who materialized out of thin air is the right Keith, it’s squashed when the wolf from this reality pops into the room where everyone is debriefing. He immediately goes to their Keith, who falls to his knees and buries his face in the thick fur.

Keith stays at the edges of the room, scratching his wolf’s ears, while everyone gets a chance to welcome their Keith home, including a comms call to the reformed Altea where Coran is stationed.

His Allura joins him when she hears the happy booming voice. Her eyes are shiny with unshed tears and Keith puts an arm around her. “We’ll be back soon and you can see him again.”

She turns into his shoulder. “I didn’t get to say goodbye to him.”

Keith pulls her closer. “Just think about getting to say hello to him again.”

Allura giggles at that even as a few tears spill over. She’s about to reply, but Shiro and the other Keith are approaching. Shiro says, “Princess, Pidge needs you. She thinks she’s got a fix on your reality but she wants to confirm it before we try again. I don’t think we’re ready to see any Keith disappear a third time.” His hand tightens around his Keith’s shoulder.

She nods and heads over to the crowd around the readout screens. The others remain. Keith takes the opportunity to look over his counterpart closely. The hair that is not quite enough for a ponytail. The absence of the scar in his eyebrow. The slightly smaller stature; Keith has grown a couple more inches in the three years since Allura left.

The confidence in his gaze. This Keith knows his Shiro loves him.

Shiro reaches over and puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I don’t know what happened to push you two so far apart, but you’ve got the chance to fix it.”

The other Keith nods. “I’m pretty sure that last reality we saw was yours.”

Keith swallows hard. He still remembers the complete shock at getting the wedding invitation. Standing to the side with the others, his arms folded and trying not to glare at them, because they’d decided to stand together with no best man or maid of honor.

He definitely doesn’t remember his Shiro proposing to him.

His uncertainty must show in his face. Shiro glances at his Keith, who smiles and moves to one side.

Shiro steps forward and lays a hand on either side of Keith’s face. “Go to him as soon as you can. Find him and tell him. If he’s anything like me, he remembers you saying it before, but he talked himself into believing it was desperation more than truth.

“I had to lose my Keith before I realized how I felt. Don’t make your Shiro wait any longer.” He pulls Keith close, smoothing his bangs back with one hand, and places a kiss on his forehead. “I know you can do it.”

*************

They’re ready to go within two vargas. Pidge has tested the arch multiple times and every time it has materialized on a planet with a breathable atmosphere. But they have a helmet for Allura anyway and Keith summons his mask. He’s never quite figured out just how many different atmospheres the wolf can breathe, but he’s confident that of the three of them, the wolf can get to safety the quickest.

The last round of goodbyes has been said, everyone getting hugs or backslaps, and Allura has whispered something into her counterpart’s ear that makes the other Allura blush and pointedly not look at Lance. Keith gets one final nod of encouragement from Shiro and the other Keith as the portal opens once more.

“See you on the other side,” Pidge shouts over the whine of the machines and they plunge through…

And land, instinctively tumbling into rolls across soft grass. Keith gets to his feet and looks around. The terrain is familiar.

Then he looks up and curses in three different languages.

“What is it? Where are we?” Allura asks.

Keith stares into the sky, watching as dozens of celestial bodies are pulled together, stretched out and collapsing.

“We’re in the quantum abyss.”

*************

Pidge should have tested the gate once more. Ten more times. A hundred more times.

Keith is doing his best to channel his frustrations on the long branches he’s snapping into kindling length so he and Allura can have a fire. He tries to focus on the small blessings. They landed on a space whale, which means they’re not going to get drawn into oblivion. Keith kept the emergency kit from his pod, which means they have a plasma firestarter and some other vital provisions to sustain them in the short term.

And, irony of ironies, they stumbled across an entire pack of more space wolves. The whole reason Keith was here in the first place.

Keith’s wolf got in front of them as the largest of the half-dozen wolves edged forward, growling at them. He couldn’t get more than a sense of negotiations happening, but his wolf apparently convinced the pack that they were not a threat. They vanished with a string of sizzling lights. Keith’s wolf looked back at him, then disappeared as well.

That had been around a varga ago.

Allura comes up to Keith and bends to gather the sticks. “He’s been gone a while,” she observes.

Keith’s lips quirk up a little. She’s stopped calling the wolf that silly name the others forced onto him. “He’ll come back when he’s ready.”

“And if he decides to stay?”

Keith glances away so Allura can’t read the pain that digs into his chest at that thought. “Then he stays. It’s his choice. I won’t take that away from him.”

Allura stands with the load of kindling in one arm. She reaches over to cradle his chin with her free hand, making him look back at her. “Is that what happened with Shiro?”

Keith jerks out of her grasp, stung. “What are you talking about?”

“Matt told me.” She grabs his arm and tugs, trying to lead him back to their makeshift camp.

He can resist, but it will only make things more difficult. It’s just the two of them, stranded together, and he can’t avoid her forever. He lets her pull him back to the clearing.

They start the fire and Allura draws him down to sit beside her. “What happened?”

He tells her. He tells her all of it, not just the bits and pieces he let slip to Matt or his mother. How he’d gotten involved in the rebuilding of the Galra as a society thanks to his connection to both Voltron and the Blades. How even as admirals Shiro and Sam Holt couldn’t fight a slow drag toward isolationism from the military bureaucrats who had suffered the invasion of Earth but had not been on the front lines to witness Sendak’s defeat. A standoff was coming, because Shiro was still the only one capable of transforming the Atlas.

Keith had suggested that Shiro take any willing crew members and bring the Atlas to Altea. Between the original plans and the crystal that had once been the castle, Coran certainly had some claim to the ship and plenty of resources on the restored planet to compensate the Garrison for the materials they contributed. But Shiro saw that as mutiny; it had turned into one of the most serious arguments they’d ever had. They’d ended on angry words, Keith warning Shiro against trusting the Earth bureaucrats and Shiro insisting that he could bring them around.

He’d been wrong. The armchair generals grounded the Atlas.

At that point the only thing Keith wanted to do was go back to Earth with a fleet and take Shiro and everyone who wanted to come with them back to space. But one of the things he had learned in his life was that choice was paramount. Keith had been given very few choices between his father’s death and meeting Shiro. He’d seen the lesson again, as Shiro rejected Adam’s ultimatum in favor of Kerberos.

So Keith had stayed back and let Shiro choose, no matter how much it hurt.

And it hurt very much indeed when Shiro chose to retire from the Garrison, followed by marrying a fellow crew member so quickly that Keith hadn’t even heard that Shiro was seeing someone.

By the end of it, Keith is crying on Allura’s shoulder as she rubs his back to soothe him. When the tears finally trail off, she sits back, taking his hands.

“Keith, you are one of the most honorable people I’ve ever known. It’s an incredibly generous trait to not push the one you hold most dear.” She reaches up and brushes his bangs to the side. “But you do have the right to tell him what you want as well.”

Keith shakes his head. “I can’t. I’d lose him, just like Adam lost him.”

The hand still holding his tightens. “No, not like that. Not a demand, not telling him he has to do it your way. But letting him know what you want? Talk together, see if there’s a way to meet in the middle? Isn’t that the cornerstone for a solid relationship?”

He looks off into the distance. He can’t argue with Allura’s logic, but doing anything that even hints that he’s trying to control Shiro’s decision paralyzes his heart with fear. It had hurt to watch Shiro go to Kerberos. It had hurt more to walk away in order for Shiro to reclaim his place with Voltron. And it had been crushing to watch Shiro tie himself to another person and settle for an ordinary life.

Keith’s not sure he can survive the pain if Shiro walks away again. He’s long since forgotten how to not care.

*************

Hours later, Keith wakes from where they’ve fallen asleep together at the fire. He’s no longer chilly and realizes there’s a very large and furry something draped over him. He smiles a little and strokes the wolf’s fur.

He sees movement out of the corner of his eye and looks.

A second wolf  is curled up next to Allura.

*************

They spend the next day searching for a good place to camp. Keith comes across an honest-to-goodness cave, deeper than the one where he had lived with his mother, and he and Allura spend the rest of the day clearing it of rocks and debris. The wolves bring a carcass that looks like a cross between a deer and a llama and Keith gets to teach Allura the fine art of butchering.

The memory waves begin that night. Keith had almost forgotten about them when he’s suddenly dropped into a vision of Allura and Honerva. Faint outlines of their bodies glow against dark clouds as they face one another and concentrate. Allura gasps out Lance’s name, then the lions roar in the distance as the vision fades.

Over the next several days, they share memories. Keith gets to see Allura’s past, including surprisingly painful views of Lotor as a child. Allura sees Keith with Shiro at the Garrison and gushes over how young they were.

Keith tenses every time a wave hits, wondering when he will have to relive Shiro’s wedding, waiting for that ax to fall.

It doesn’t happen.

Eleven days later by the series of scratches Keith made on the cave wall, they feel their surroundings shake and look to one another. Allura gets to her feet when the wolves trot to the mouth of the cave. “Was that a tremor? Did that happen to you before?”

Keith shakes his head as he rises. “No, that’s new.”

It happens again, and now that he’s upright, Keith realizes that the rumble is coming from within, a growl rising from his gut into his chest and filling his heart…

Allura gasps just before twin roars echo outside their shelter. Keith grabs her hand and they break into a run out of the cave.

Across the valley, two lions crouch, heads down and jaws open wide in invitation.

**********************

After a quick discussion, they decide to start with Coran on Altea and then get in touch with everyone else. They gather their sparse belongings and Allura races to Blue, radiating joy. Keith starts up the ramp into Black, savoring the warm mental welcome, then pauses to look back.

His wolf is at the foot of the ramp, ready to board. The second wolf, smaller and with more gray in her markings, has paused several meters away. She’s been happy to stay with them so far, joining in the hunting and engaging in play with his wolf.

Keith takes a deep breath and comes back to crouch by his wolf. He scratches behind an ear and presses his face into soft fur.

“You’re one of the best friends I have. If you want to stay, I’ll try to come back and visit when I can.” He sits up and turns to the she-wolf. “But if you’d like to come with us, you’re welcome. I can promise it’s never dull.”

His wolf whines, stretching his neck out and toward the other. She takes one more look around the valley, then lopes forward to bowl Keith over, licking his face.

Allura’s voice booms from the Blue Lion. “Get your pets and come on, Keith!”

Laughing, Keith leads the two wolves up into Black’s cockpit. Black’s approval flows through him as he takes his seat and plots the course to thread them out of the abyss and to Altea.

****************

As they approach Altea’s atmosphere, Keith hails the new Castle of Lions. The comms officer on duty doesn’t get even a full sentence out before Coran’s voice fills their ears.

“Keith? Oh, thank the ancients! Where have you been?”

He pauses at that. “Um, the quantum abyss? I let everyone know I was taking a little time to explore it again.”

“My boy, you’ve been missing for nearly four phoebs! We were worried sick!”

“Oh, I...I didn’t realize. It was a couple of weeks—movements—for me. I’m sorry about that.” “You need to stop going into regions that warp space-time itself! Now, are you landing your pod here and staying for a bit or do you want a teludav somewhere? You need to let your mother and the other paladins know you’re all right.”

“Stopping here, but we’ll land out in the memorial park. Can you meet us there?”

“In the park? Why there?”

With Keith’s encouragement, Black roars as he and Blue finish breaking through the atmosphere and descend toward the castle’s grounds.

Keith knows Coran has seen their approach when the words come quietly through the comms. “Oh my.”

***************************************

Keith lands first but watches from the pilot’s seat as Blue lands and lowers her head. Allura jumps to the ground before the ramp is fully extended, staggering briefly before taking off toward the castle. There are people on the grounds, staring at the sight of two Voltron lions. They start looking at one another and calling out when they realize just who it is they’re seeing. As it turns into a crowd that looks like it might overwhelm her, Keith grabs a handful of his wolf’s fur.

They’re beside Allura in a flash and Keith draws his blade. “Back off! Don’t mob her!”

The surrounding group, mostly Alteans, are surprised enough to pause, and the wolf threads himself between them before teleporting them out of there.

The wolf deposits them back in the Black Lion’s cockpit. Allura protests, “Wait—”

And the she-wolf appears and dumps Coran into her arms.

Allura squeaks. Coran is speechless, staring at her with his mouth open. Finally he draws a shaky breath and whispers, “Princess?”

She beams, even as tears spring to her eyes. “Oh, Coran! I missed you so much!” She tightens her embrace and Coran flings his arms around her.

“Allura! How? When? What happened?”

As she starts trying to explain Honerva’s plan, Keith kneels down between the wolves. He strokes the she-wolf’s head and murmurs, “That was a good move. You’re just as smart as he is, aren’t you, girl?”

She chuffs and head-butts him as his wolf gives a mildly affronted growl. The conversation catches his attention again.

“—quintessence to draw me through. Then it was just a matter of getting to our reality from that one, although Keith gave us quite the scare. The first time the other Pidge tried the gate, there was a surge of energy, not just quintessence, that appeared to blast Keith apart. But I could still feel a connection to him somehow, and when I realized it was Black I pushed to keep the gate open. Then the energy started coming together and suddenly Black phased in, and he not only had our Keith but the Keith from that reality, who had disappeared during the final confrontation with Honerva.

“After that, we tested the gate multiple times and it worked. But it dropped us on a space whale in the quantum abyss and it took the lions eleven quintants to get to us.”

“Incredible,” Coran sighs. He turns to Keith and pulls him into a hug. “Thank you. You brought Allura back to us. Thank you.” He makes a show of producing a large handkerchief from his sleeve and blowing his nose. “Now, we need to—”

A voice bursts through the comms. “Pidge! Lance! Are you there? Did they find you yet? Yellow’s back! I’m in the Yellow Lion! Come on, guys, answer!”

“I’m here! I’m here! Green’s here!” Pidge’s joy easily matches Hunk’s.

“Holy quiznak, I can’t believe it! Lance, are you there?”

“You keep trying! I’m going to get Shiro! If the lions are coming back, then there’s a chance we can find Keith! Maybe he can get Coran to commandeer the Atlas in the Coalition’s name! They can’t say no then!”

Keith’s spirits rise, just before he remembers the bridge officer that Shiro married. If the quantum abyss has screwed up his timeline again, he wonders how long ago the wedding was.

He notices Allura giving him a look and mentally shakes himself. He steps over to the console and taps the appropriate screen while Allura signals Coran to stay quiet. “I’m here, guys. No need to summon the cavalry.”

Twin shrieks of “KEITH!” make the wolves flatten their ears.

“I’m okay! Black’s here, too. Sorry about the whole missing thing; Coran just told me how long I’ve been gone. It was only a couple of weeks for me.”

Hunk replies first. “Okay, I’ll forgive you because I’m just so glad to hear your voice again. But maybe stop going to that abyss?”

Keith laughs. “Yeah, maybe. I’m on Altea. Coran can wormhole you guys in and I can try and raise Lance.”

“And Shiro! He’s been going nuts trying to find a lead on you!” Pidge retorts.

“He has? But what about—”

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

“Lance!” Hunk’s gleeful shout echoes in Black’s cockpit. “Lance, did Red find you?”

“Yeah, yeah, she did.”

“So did Yellow! And Green and Black are back! Keith’s safe, he’s on Altea! Can you meet us there?”

“Sure, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Lance’s tone is quiet and Allura covers her mouth, drawing Keith and Coran’s attention. She gulps once, then touches the marks below her eyes.

Keith gets it. “Lance, are you okay?”

“Yeah...I think so. I think we need to find Blue. My marks...my marks are glowing. I think they’re finally trying to bring Allura home.” Lance’s voice breaks at Allura’s name.

***************************

Pidge tells Coran to wait until she’s corralled Shiro, so he arranges wormholes for Hunk and Lance. They land their lions in the park, now filled with people gawking and sharing rumors. Keith sends the wolves to retrieve them, depositing them in Coran’s sitting room where he and Allura are waiting.

Keith grabs Hunk’s arm and pulls him into a hug, clearing the way for Allura to fling herself onto Lance. As Hunk squeezes his ribs to the breaking point, Keith watches Allura alternate between peppering Lance’s stunned face with kisses and wiping away his tears. Finally she slows down and reaches over to grab Keith’s arm. “Here, trade for a tick. I need a hug from Hunk.”

Lance looks him over for a moment, then holds out a hand. When Keith takes it, Lance tugs him forward and throws his other arm around Keith’s neck. “You did this, didn’t you? You found a way to bring her back.”

“It was more like she had a way back but needed me to do it.”

“Still. Thank you.” Lance draws back and cuffs him on the shoulder. “Man, is Shiro gonna be glad to see you.”

“I don’t know why. He’s been busy with everything Earthside, hasn’t he?”

Lance gives him a look. “Seriously? I thought you’d gotten over this by now.”

Keith stares, bewildered. “Gotten over what?”

“Oh my GOD,” Lance starts, sounding so much like his old self that Hunk does a double-take. “Hunk, we’ve got to do it all over again.”

Hunk groans dramatically. But before Keith can ask just what they’re talking about, Coran’s voice sounds through the comms. “Pidge and Shiro are on their way!”

****************************

Keith retreats while they wait. He lets the others talk with Allura while he takes a low seat away from them and learns how the she-wolf likes her ears scratched.

Both wolves perk up, seconds before Pidge’s voice comes through the comm. “I see you guys left a parking spot! But how the heck are we gonna get through that mob to the castle? And what’s Blue doing here?”

The she-wolf disappears and reappears almost immediately with Pidge. She shrieks Allura’s name as Shiro’s voice sounds over the comm, “Wait, that wasn’t Kos—”

Keith’s wolf zaps him into Green’s cockpit before Shiro can finish his question, then shoulders him at Shiro before vanishing.

He stumbles forward, but Shiro catches him in a tight embrace. His hand is on the back of Keith’s head, fingers tangled in his hair, while his Altean arm pins Keith close.

His approach is completely different than the Shiro in the other reality. The other Shiro hesitated to hug Keith at first despite his need for comfort and closure; this Shiro is holding on to Keith with desperate strength, radiating relief.

It’s a one-eighty from Shiro’s attitude the last time Keith saw him, wrapped up in the gaze of his new husband.

Finally Shiro’s grip loosens. “God, Keith… You scared us so much.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t planning to go through an inter-reality portal and get sent back to land on a space whale again.”

“Is that what made you vanish for four months?” Shiro brings his hand forward, cradling Keith’s face.

Keith reaches up to remove Shiro’s hand. He doesn’t understand why Shiro is acting like this, but it’s painfully close to everything Keith ever wanted and he needs to separate them before he simply melts into Shiro’s arms.

His fingers brush across Shiro’s knuckles and pause, seeking something that he knows ought to be there. Then it hits him.

Shiro isn’t wearing his ring.

Keith had hated the ring. Not only for what it represented, but because it was so not Shiro. Big and gold with a chunky raised setting, it was designed to be flashy, to grab attention. To stake a claim. Shiro would never have chosen it for himself.

Of course Shiro might have left it behind. It’s hardly a practical thing to wear if one is going off on a mission, even one with known parameters.

Keith takes Shiro’s hand to draw it away from his face, but Shiro immediately twines their fingers together and pulls their hands to his chest. Keith can feel his heart pounding. He responds instinctively, feeling guilty for causing so much worry.

“I guess. It was just a couple of weeks for us.”

“Us?”

Keith can’t stop the smile that lights up his face. “Yeah, us.” He reaches mentally, asking the wolf to come back. There’s an ozone-filled flash and the wolf appears, sitting with his head cocked to one side in an inquiring manner.

“Don’t give me that look. You’re the one that did this.”

The wolf rises and circles them, shoving Keith up against Shiro once more. Shiro laughs and wraps his arms around Keith as they teleport.

They land in the room with the others. A voice scolds, “You’re still a menace, even if you have learned not to chew things.”

Shiro’s head snaps up from Keith’s shoulder. “Allura?”

Keith disentangles himself from Shiro’s embrace and pushes him toward Allura. As the two of them hold one another and laugh through tears, Pidge crosses to tuck herself into Keith’s side.

“Missed you. Glad you’re back.”

Keith squeezes her, lifting her up from the floor. “Glad to be back. Sorry, again.”

“Can we please stay away from places that are prone to time-travel shenanigans for a while?”

Keith laughs and sets her down. “We can try.”

“On the bright side, I think this has convinced Shiro that we need to move the Atlas to Coalition jurisdiction, like you suggested.”

Keith freezes.

Pidge continues to talk, not noticing his reaction. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that angry, when the top brass flat-out said they weren’t going to re-activate the Atlas just to look for one person, even if said person had been one of the heroes who saved the planet. He and Dad and Iverson were ready to just take all willing crew members and go, but the comms officer threatened to report them. It took weeks of maneuvering, but Dad got him reassigned and put Matt on comms instead. By then, your mom had gotten in touch and was able to talk Shiro down from just taking off with the Atlas—oh, quiznak! Your mom!” Pidge whirls out of Keith’s arms. “Coran! We need to let Krolia know Keith’s back!”

Everyone flocks around Coran as he pulls up a comms screen and Keith is drawn to the front. He looks for the timestamp on the screen, in the corner. It lists the date on Altea, New Olkarion, Daizabaal, and Earth.

He feels eyes on him and glances around. Allura is looking at him, her eyebrows up in inquiry. He nods.

The date is nearly six months before Keith originally took off to explore the quantum abyss.

****************************

Keith has no time to consider the implications. The screen winks into life, showing his mother. Her expression is calm, but Keith can see the relief in her eyes.

“Well, little star, you gave us quite a scare. I am very glad to see you safe and sound.”

“I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t plan for an inter-reality portal springing up in my path.”

“Aha,” she replies. “So that’s what happened. Did you meet interesting versions of anyone? Was there a Sven?”

Those who experienced the first crossing to an alternate reality laugh at that. Keith shakes his head. “No, no Svens. It wasn’t all that different from here...except at the final battle, instead of Allura leaving with Honerva… I died.”

That gets cries of protest from the others. Keith draws breath to explain that it had all worked out, but almost chokes in surprise when Shiro’s arms clasp him from behind.

Krolia’s mouth curves up into a knowing smile. “No more letting him out of your sight, Captain. Understood?”

Shiro leans down and props his chin on Keith’s shoulder. “Loud and clear, ma’am.”

She nods, satisfied. “Are you all staying on Altea for now?”

Shiro straightens but doesn’t let go of Keith. “I think so. We need to come up with a plan to get the Atlas off Earth.”

“Kolivan and I can make arrangements and leave in the morning, if a wormhole can be managed?” Krolia looks over at Coran.

“Absolutely, Krolia! Just signal when you’re ready!”

“Thank you, Coran.” She focuses on Keith once more. “I’ll see you then.”

“See you then, Mom.” The call disconnects and Keith stands awkwardly, unsure of how to deal with Shiro still clinging to him.

Hunk solves the problem by coming forward and throwing his arms around both of them. “Okay, Keith, no dying! You hear me? You don’t get to die just because the you in another reality did!”

“Oh, it’s all right. We managed to bring the other Keith back before we left.” But Allura’s actions belie her words as she steps up to join the group hug. Pidge, Lance, and Coran follow her and everyone’s combined presence helps Keith to shake his hyperfocus on Shiro’s behavior.

As they finally separate, Pidge’s eyes gleam with enthusiasm. “I want to hear everything! What you and Honerva did, the other reality, all of it!”

Allura laughs. “All right, but first I’d really like the chance for a shower. Keith and I had to make do on the space whale and I’m sure we could both use one.”

There’s a glint in Coran’s eye that makes Keith nervous. “Lance, show Allura to the royal wing. She can take any suite there. Shiro, do you remember the way to the ambassadorial hall?”

Keith groans. “Coran, I remember the way.”

“Perhaps, but you have a recently developed habit of disappearing and I’d feel better if Shiro stayed with you. We need to prevent a repeat occurrence.”

Shiro shifts but keeps his left arm around Keith. “Coran’s right. And your mother did tell me not to let you out of my sight…”

The others don’t even try to hold in their laughter as Shiro leads Keith away.

****************************

Shiro doesn’t let go of Keith the entire way and it’s about to drive him mad. His head is bursting with questions and it’s like he’s got half the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and no box with the full image. He doesn’t know what to do with the possibility that he’s got a do-over, that he’s landed back in time before he and Shiro drifted apart to the point that Shiro married someone else without even telling Keith he was dating.

He knows Shiro can feel the tension in his shoulders as they enter the room that has been Keith’s whenever he visits the new castle. Shiro’s response is to turn him and pull him into yet another hug, pressing his lips into Keith’s hair.

He can’t take it anymore. Keith pulls back and holds his hands up. “Look, I need to clean up, I need some rest, and I need to think. It’s been a really weird couple of weeks. I need some time to process it all.”

The hurt in Shiro’s eyes feels like a knife penetrating Keith’s chest, but he has to do this. He has to get some space between him and everyone else, be alone and sort everything out.

Despite his pain, Shiro does what he’s always done ever since the day he walked into Keith’s classroom door and immediately gives him support. He takes a couple of steps back.

“I don’t know the full story of what happened to you out there, Keith. And I won’t ask until you’re ready to share it. If you need time alone, you’ll have it. But I have to tell you this.”

Keith looks up at the conviction in Shiro’s tone. He has no idea what Shiro is about to say, but he’s suddenly terrified.

“You were gone for months. We were starting to think you were dead, that we’d lost you forever. And the last time you and I talked, we argued over the Atlas and left angry at each other. I’m not risking one more minute leaving this unsaid.” He steps forward and gently lays his human hand along Keith’s jaw, the thumb stroking his cheek above his scar.

“I love you, Keith. I’m in love with you. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, you’ve been my defender and brother-in-arms, you’ve been my rock and you’ve been my savior. I don’t know exactly when I started to realize it, but you being gone made it crystal clear for me. And I understand you may not feel the same way, but after the last few months of not knowing if I’d ever see you again, I had to tell you.”

Keith can’t speak. Fuck, he can’t breathe. What is he supposed to do, how is he supposed to handle it, when the one thing he’s wanted more than anything from the universe is suddenly dropped into his lap?

He has no idea what his face is showing, but Shiro’s determination melts into fear and concern. His Altean hand comes up and he’s wiping at Keith’s face—shit, is he crying?

“Keith! I’m sorry! You don’t—you don’t have to—” Shiro’s words fall over themselves as he grows frantic.

Keith’s throat starts working, just enough for him to gasp out, “Shiro!” before he thrusts forward and up to crush his mouth against Shiro’s.

He can feel the surprise and joy from Shiro as his hands slide back to cradle Keith’s head, tilting it just enough so their lips mesh perfectly, tongues already meeting. The joy sings through Keith as he pours everything he has into the kiss.

The need to pause and breathe is what convinces Keith that he’s not dreaming. They pull apart just enough to gulp in air. Shiro keeps his hands in Keith’s hair and leans forward to touch foreheads. Keith’s fingers dig into Shiro’s uniform jacket.

“Still need me to go?” Shiro asks, his voice soft and gentle.

Keith shakes his head. “Don’t leave.”

Shiro chuckles and bumps noses with Keith before taking one more quick kiss. “Never.”

****************************

Keith emerges from the shower, an Altean-style robe pulled over his head and towelling his hair dry. Shiro is still there, changed into casual clothes and lounging on Keith’s bed, petting the she-wolf. Her head is draped over his lap and her eyes are closed. Keith’s wolf is stretched out on the floor. He lifts his head and gives Keith an exasperated look.

Keith crouches down and gets his fingers into the thick fur behind his wolf’s ears. “Feeling left out?”

The wolf licks Keith’s face and he laughs. The she-wolf watches as Keith moves in for more scratches, then sits up and looks at Shiro.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Shiro protests as she sits up and goes for his face. “You don’t need to slobber all over me if you want your ears scratched!” He ruffles her fur and she leans into his touch with a blissful expression.

Keith hides a smile when he sees the gleam of humor in her eyes, just before she surges forward and laps against his cheek anyway.

Keith breaks into laughter again as Shiro sputters. The she-wolf jumps down to rub noses with Keith’s wolf and Shiro sits up, wiping his face.

“They’re going to be a pair of troublemakers. And they really do need names now that there’s two of them. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer?”

“Those are cats!”

“Bonnie and Clyde?”

“They were criminals!”

Shiro holds up his hands. “All right, all right, I’ll stop. But everyone else is going to try and come up with something that goes with Kosmo.”

“They can try. I’m not forcing names on them like they’re just dogs.”

Keith’s wolf butts his head against his shoulder gently and Shiro softens, clearly seeing the gesture of gratitude. He gets up and crosses to Keith, holding out a hand to pull him to his feet.

“That’s just one of the hundreds of things I love about you. You’ve never once tried to dictate anyone else’s choices to them.”

Keith grins. “Hundreds of things? Come on.”

Shiro gets a don’t-challenge-me look in his eyes, then smiles. “I love how loyal you are. I love your daring. I love your fire. I love how your eyes are the color of a starlit night sky. I love how soft your hair is. I love how this is a guaranteed way to get you to blush—”

Keith plants a kiss on Shiro’s mouth to get him to stop. Shiro’s shoulders shake with suppressed laughter as he wraps his arms around Keith and parts his lips, eagerly picking up where they had left off earlier.

There’s a beep as a comm screen appears, then a flustered “Oh dear!”

They pause and turn to see a chagrined Coran.

“I’m sorry for interrupting...yes, interrupting...that. Shiro, we’re getting hit with incoming messages from Earth. Admiral Holt, Admiral Iverson, Veronica, Axca, two of the MFE pilots, an Admiral McConnell, a Lieutenant Curtis…”

Shiro straightens, suddenly on the alert. “Can you put Admiral Holt through?”

The screen blinks, showing Sam on the Atlas bridge. He calls out, “I’ve got him!” As Shiro frowns, several others gather behind Sam. Keith makes eye contact with Matt, who gives him a relieved grin as the rest break into gasps and exclamations.

“Keith!” Sam bursts out. “It’s so good to see you! You had us worried.”

Keith nods. “Sorry about that.” He pauses to let Shiro take over.

“Sam, what’s going on?”

“It’s the Atlas. It—she...I think she’s going rogue.”

****************************

Shiro insists on getting back into uniform and convening everyone in the control center, where the bridge was on the original castle. In the time it takes to gather the others, Coran reports that Admiral McConnell has tried to contact them three more times. Shiro continues to ignore him in favor of Sam’s report, summarizing the experience of the around three hundred people currently aboard the Atlas. Which is currently passing Alpha Centauri and helpfully displaying a flight pattern to the crew that will eventually take it to Altea.

Sam describes how every single person on board was woken by an alarm and most received a texted message to board the Atlas and report to Sam immediately. While Sam himself was trying to sort out what had happened, the ship had closed all entryways, including closing the MFEs in their hangars, and taken off on her own.

Sam falters as he describes the bridge crew’s fruitless attempts to get control of the ship, and Iverson clears his throat. “We think the Atlas is coming to find you, Shiro.”

Coran lets out a hiss of breath. “Astonishing. Just like how Red used to go after Keith if he needed her.”

Shiro chews on his lower lip a moment. “Does anyone have a roster of who’s on board?”

Veronica has a tablet in her hand, skimming its display. “Yes, and yes, everyone on board is part of the group we considered trustworthy when we talked about ways to get the Atlas out of Garrison control. Including families. My parents got here before I did.”

Coran and Allura look at one another and she nods. He turns to the comm screen. “Admiral Holt, as a founding member of the Galactic Coalition, planet Altea officially offers your ship and crew sanctuary. We will begin preparing a formal request that the Atlas be moved to Coalition jurisdiction to present to the Garrison. In the meantime, we can arrange a wormhole, if you can convince the Atlas to fly through it.”

“Better idea,” Pidge pipes up. “Keith can take Shiro in Black through a wormhole to their location, and once they’re on board Shiro can direct the Atlas back through a return one.”

Shiro glances over at Keith a little shyly. Keith smiles back and can’t even bring himself to mind when Matt’s whoop of “Finally!” sparks a wave of babble and congratulatory cheers from both sides of the transmission.

****************************

It’s a messy transition.

The armchair admirals, led by McConnell, try to demand the return of the Atlas in front of the Galactic Coalition’s judicial body. Coran represents the Coalition and delivers an incredibly impassioned speech about how the Atlas may have begun by helping to save the Earth from the Galra but ended by helping to save all realities everywhere. It doesn’t help when another admiral makes a not-so-vague threat to the crew members who might want to return long enough to visit friends or put their affairs in order for a permanent move to space.

McConnell can’t silence him fast enough. The judges’ decision is a foregone conclusion after that.

****************************

Keith is leading a joint paladin/MFE  training session when the text comes through: How about a hoverbike ride before it gets too dark?

Keith grins. The training session is supposed to go for another half-varga, but they’ve done particularly well today and deserve a bit of a break. He texts back an affirmative to Shiro and gets everyone’s attention to dismiss them.

James looks put out at the deviation from their schedule. Lance trades a high-five with Nadia before going over to grab Allura’s hand. Pidge and Ina immediately put their heads together—they’ve been spending all their free time trying to incorporate Balmera crystals into the MFE jet engines so they don’t have to charge as often. Keith pulls Hunk aside for a quick consultation on putting a picnic together and Hunk promises to have a hamper delivered to the hangar that holds personal vehicles.

Even with that and stopping to change into casual clothes, Keith arrives first. He loads the hamper onto his hoverbike and opens the hangar door to the afternoon sunshine. They’re currently stationed on Tympaysia, a new member of the Coalition, and the Atlas is parked in an arid region that is remarkably like the Arizona desert except with sands of blue and purple instead of red and brown.

Shiro enters and heads straight for Keith, giving him a light kiss in greeting. Keith admires him for a moment in his black leather jacket—Keith has appropriated his old one from their Garrison days—and takes the set of driving goggles that Shiro holds out to him.

“So, are we riding or racing?” Shiro asks.

Keith grins. “Riding. We don’t know the terrain and I’d hate to make you lose.”

“Brat.”

“Seriously, I don’t want to shake up our dinner too much.” Shiro brightens. “Dinner?”

“Yeah, I got Hunk to put something together for us.” Keith puts on his goggles and mounts his bike. “Shall we?”

They ride for a varga or so, traveling up the hills around the valley where the Atlas is docked, and find a spot high enough for a nice view. They eat and chat about random things, like Veronica and Axca dancing around one another or Ryan’s next film project. The conversation fades and they relax in comfortable silence on a spread-out blanket, watching as the sun begins to sink below the horizon.

Keith is trying to judge how much longer they might stay before it gets too dark when Shiro takes his hand.

“So, I had a reason for this. I’ve been trying to find a chance for us to be alone and away from everyone else for a while now.” He threads his fingers with Keith’s and Keith is suddenly on the alert. He doesn’t know what Shiro is leading up to, but the very air around them suddenly seems heavy with anticipation.

“I know it’s hard to believe how far we’ve come from that day, when I came to your school. At the time I only wanted to help you, because you had so much potential. You said once that your life would have been a lot different without me. But I wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for you. You supported me when I chose my dream over everything else. You saved me...so many times. And you never stopped believing in me. Not once. I’m honestly so humble; you’ve seen the worst of me and yet you love me without hesitation. It was so hard to make myself believe I could deserve someone like you. It took believing you might be dead to make me realize that I was focusing on what might go wrong, that I was missing the chance to have something great.

“You are that something great, Keith. I love you. I’m in love with you. And I want to spend the rest of my life embracing greatness with you.”

It’s not the same as the memory Keith has from the reality-hopping, now some six phoebs in the past. But the rhythm is there, the sincere emotion in Shiro’s words as they flow from him.

And the red velvet box is there, in Shiro’s Altean hand. He lets go of Keith long enough to open it, revealing the black cushion that cradles a startling ring. The slim metal band is a bright fiery red, smooth and polished, set with a black cabochon stone.

“Keith, will you do me the honor of becoming my husband?”

He drags his gaze up from the ring to Shiro’s face, alight with love and hope and a little fear.

Keith launches himself into Shiro’s arms, knocking him flat onto the blanket as he kisses Shiro ferociously. He’ll eradicate that fear, that doubt, from Shiro if it’s the last thing he ever does.

As the need to breathe asserts itself, Shiro takes Keith’s head in his hands and lifts him enough to look him in the eye. “So that’s a ‘yes’, I take it?”

Keith huffs. “Of course it’s a ‘yes’. What made you think I’d ever say anything other than ‘yes’?”

Shiro looks just a little abashed. He takes a lock of Keith’s hair, escaped from his braid, and tucks it behind his ear. “Well, you know how Slav would never admit anything could be a one hundred percent certainty…”

“How dare you bring Slav into my marriage proposal!” Keith tries to look angry, but can’t contain the joy he’s feeling. He beams at his fiancé.

“I promise it will never happen again.” Shiro pulls him close and sits up so that Keith is in his lap. He uses his left arm to keep Keith in place, sending the Altean arm to retrieve the ring box from where it had fallen.

Keith tugs his glove off so Shiro can slide the ring onto his finger. They both admire it for a moment as the rich light from the setting sun plays over it.

“It’s beautiful,” Keith says.

“Just like you,” Shiro replies, and he has to put fingers under Keith’s chin to get him to look up. Because Keith knows he’s blushing hard at those words.

“So beautiful,” Shiro whispers as he draws Keith in, opening his mouth as their lips touch to deepen the kiss.

Keith savors the moment, enjoying the perfection without fear of it ending. Because, in this rebuilt reality, he is certain that perfection will return often and be enjoyed for the rest of their lives.

[crimson-mage-02]

One Miracle, One Life

A/N: Hope you all will like this one-shot i have made. Took me a while to do this. and I managed to finish it! Enjoy reading! Comment and feedback are much appreciated. 

@spacelion-loveshermulletson @whatusernamex3000 

Summary: After getting married, Keith and Luka are living a peaceful married life just the way they like it. Then one day, Luka has wonderful news to tell Keith.

Bang! Crash! Smash! There was countless vases being thrown on the floor and the walls. Hunk and Lance hugged each other tightly in fear and they heard a shrilling pained screams from the other side of the room. They also heard encouraging shouting and cheers from the girls and Keith as they shouted “Push! Push!”

Inside the room, there was pained screams and cries as Keith held on to his wife, Luka. “It’s okay, Luka. It’s okay! You are almost there!” Keith encouraged his wife. Luka nodded and whimpered in pain as she screamed in pain again.

Few months ago….

Luka woke up to a very bright and early morning turning to see Keith behind her and had his arms wrapped around her waist. She smiled warmly as she turned slowly towards him and kissed him on the cheek. Keith groaned moaned lightly as he woke up, seeing his beautiful wife watching him waking up. “Well, morning beautiful.” Keith smirked as Luka giggled and then threw a pillow at him.

“Good morning to you too.” Luka grinned.

“Hmm! Well, why don’t we go out somewhere where your uncle won’t find us.” Keith suggested as he got up and stretched.

“That’s sweet, love. But you know I have to help him with the prepares of the next event of Altea. He needs my help. I will be very busy all day with meetings. And Romelle had asked me to help her out, too.” Luka reminded him as she went in the bathroom to change into her clothes.

Keith slumped down and laid down on the bed again, groaning. Wanting to spend more time with his wife. “Ugh, and I have nothing to do expect to lay down on the bed all day.”

Luka huffed and walked out of the bathroom with arms on her hip and huffed as she saw Keith laying on the bed. She then walked to the bed and then used her Altean super strength to pull the quilt away from him.

“Hey, Luka!” Keith whined looking at Luka with a pout.

“I am not going to let you rest all day long. Hang out with one of your friends. Or take Kosmo on a walk. Be more effective in your spare time, love.” Luka kissed him on the cheek.

“See you later, love!” Luka called out to him.

“See you later, babe.” Keith replied as he turned to Kosmo who wagged his tail happily and panting. He sighed and decided to listen to what his wife had suggested for him to do. He then got dressed in his everyday clothes and decided to take a walk around Altea.

He smiled as he felt the wind blowing gently and seeing the juniberry petals being blown in the wind as it went past Allura’s statue. Keith smiled at the statue and then moved on walking along the path and saw an Altean child with their parents, playing in the fields. He wondered if he had kids on his own, he’ll be a good father and husband.

He admired his Pop, when he was younger. Always a hero in his eyes. He wished his dad was here to see his wedding, Luka and maybe his children. Then he heard Kosmo barking happily as he was licking an Altean child on the face. The child was laughing with joy.

“He is cute! What’s his name?” asked the child.

“He’s name is Kosmo.” Keith replied with a smile and pets Kosmo’s head.

“Cool!” The child exclaimed in awe as his parents called out to him and he waved goodbye. Keith waved back as he moved on with his walk.

In the kitchen, Luka was helping Romelle with fixing up meals with Merla. There was some visitors coming from other planets to visit. Luka was feeling fine until she felt a bit nausea. Maybe because of the food? Or was she just hungry? No, she was definitely going to throw up! Luka gagged and covered her mouth and went to the trash can in the corner and threw up!

“Luka!” Romelle exclaimed worriedly.

“Lu!” Merla came to her side and put her hair back while Romelle rubbed her back.

Luka then wiped her mouth and panted, breathing in and out until she threw up again. Romelle and Merla winced from smelling the horrifying smell. “Ugh, sorry girls.” Luka apologised.

“It is quite alright. We can take it from here and see the doctor.” Romelle smiled gently at her as Luka nodded and then walked out of the kitchen and Hunk came pass by and she sweats nervously as she began to walk away, not wanting to hear the wrath from the former Yellow Paladin.

“WHAT THE QUIZNACK IS THAT SMELL?!” Hunk bellowed. Luka winced when she heard him shouting in the kitchen and heard her friends trying to calm him down.

After visiting the doctor, she went to her room and paced back and forth. Breathing steadily as she looked at her wedding band on her finger and smiled, remembering her wedding with Keith. They promised to be there for each other, even in desperate and happy times in the future.

Luka then went to her closet, opening it and looked at the big box. Before she opened it, she looked to see if anyone was going in and saw no one is going to go in the room. She opened the box and took out a picture frame of her mother, father, uncle and herself as a baby girl. She smiled as she brushed her finger over the image of her parents.

She then placed a hand on her stomach. She is pregnant! She is really pregnant! She smiled brightly and squealed happily. Then she went out to see her friends.

“Oh, Lu-Lu!” Merla came hugging her tightly.

“Whoa, Merla! Oh, Merla, Romelle I have wonderful news to share with you.” Luka smiled brightly.

“What is it?” Romelle asked in confusion seeing she was looking sick and the next thing she saw Luka all ecstatic.

“Ok. I am expecting!” Luka said. Merla and Romelle froze, taking it all in as Luka saw beaming smiles and squealed loudly as Hunk came in.

“What’s with all the racket?” Hunk asked.

“Oh, Hunk, Luka’s pregnant!” Romelle exclaimed excitedly.

Hunk smiled and then began to make some cooing noises in front of her stomach. “Oh, Hunk, there is no bump just yet.” Luka giggled and then gasped realising something. “How am I going to tell Keith?” Everyone in the kitchen gasped. Also not thinking of how Keith will react.

Later that night, Keith came back to the Castle with Lance. “You know, Katie and I were still looking for a house to live in. You have any ideas?” Lance asked, looking at his tablets and the options of different houses on Earth.

“You are really serious about this.” Keith commented as he looked at the houses. He saw all different sizes of the houses. How big it is and how small it is. “Are you sure you don’t want to live near Pidge���s place?”

“Uh, and have Matt always staring at me all the time? No way!” Lance exclaimed. “Besides, I promised Katie to have a peaceful life after you-know-what.” Keith nodded in understanding and he also wanted that with Luka after they got married.

Lance’s phone then rang and he lit up as he smiled at Keith apologetically. “Hey, Katie, what’s up?”

Keith smiled and let him take the call. “Oh? Ok, I’ll see you later then. Bye.” Lance said as he ended the call.

“What’s up?” Keith asked.

“She’s been doing some projects for the Garrison with Shiro and her Dad. Tonight, she’ll be at her parents house for a bit.” Lance replied, wanting to spend more time with his wife. “She’s been busy and we haven’t spent time together.”

“Well, you are more than welcome to stay here.” Keith offered.

“Thanks man, so, where’s Hunk anyways?” Lance asked as they walked down the hallway and stopped when they saw Luka.

“Oh, Keith! Lance! Hello.” Luka smiled and hid something behind her back.

“We were just looking for Hunk. What’s wrong, babe?” Keith asked, seeing her nervous and worried about something.

“Oh, nothing is wrong. But I have an urgent matter to talk to you about, Keith. It is really important. I thought we could talk about it over dinner.” Luka suggested.

“Yeah, we could do that.” Keith says, kissing her on the temple.

“Well, you two have fun with that. I’ll just spend time with Hunk.” Lance says as he left to go to the kitchen. Leaving the married couple alone. Keith and Luka smiled at each other as they went to their room. Luka had fixed up dinner and Keith was sitting down waiting for the food to get ready.

Luka then came in with food for them to eat. “Dinner is served, darling.” Luka said as Keith smiled and smelt the delicious aroma.

“These look great, Lu.” Keith grinned as he started to eat but saw Luka was already eating, munching on the food. Seeing her craving for more food than usual for the past few days. He thought she must’ve been hungry.

Luka wiped her mouth sheepishly, “Sorry, I was uh, very hungry all day.”

“That’s understandable. So, what is it you want to tell me about?” Keith asked as Luka put down the spoon and fiddles with her hands.

“Well, what I was I going to say might surprise you. And um, well, this morning I had heard the most wonderful news.” Luka says with a glowing smile.

“What is it?” Keith asked, wondering what is the great news that makes her happy. He then saw Luka smiling at her. She was glowing.

“Keith, you are about to become a father.” Luka said smiling as she held his hand.

Keith’s face changed from concern to shock or unreadable to Luka, which worries her until Keith got out his chair and grabbed Luka by the waist and spun her around. “Really? Our first baby?!”

“Oh yes, darling. Our first child.” Luka giggled as Keith rubbed her stomach with a big smile on his face.

In the next few months, everyone were very delighted to see that they were going to have their first child. A Galran-Altean child. Keith has been doing his Blade of Marmora duties less and his mom has been taking over his role for a while and looked after Luka. Luka has been having cramps, mood swings then cramps again.

Keith has been looking after her as he stayed at home with her to keep her company and Coran sometimes came by and watch over his niece.

Luka, now with a big swollen stomach with a baby growing inside of her, is reading a book to her child with a smile as Kosmo slept next to her. Luka was reading a book on naming babies. She was having a difficulties on what to call her son or daughter. She then looked over at Keith who was at the dining table, looking at his work from the blades.

“Darling? Do you have any suggestion in naming our child?” Luka asked as she closed her book.

Keith looked at his wife and hummed, “I haven’t thought of one.”

“Hmm, me either. But was thinking of naming our own daughter after my mother. Ariella.” Luka says.

Keith smiled, “That’s a nice name.”

“Hmm, thanks. For a boy, Lucius?” Luka asked. Keith thought of it and shook his head.

“Ok, we’ll work on that.” Luka sighed and then gasped.

“You ok?” Keith asked as he jumped off the chair.

“I am fine. Another kick from our child. Mostly have your strength.” Luka chuckled.

“And your beautiful looks.” Keith smirked as Luka blushed deep red but still laughed then she felt another kick. She rubbed her tummy and breathed out. Luka then gasped and froze.

“Luka? Lu? Babe, what’s wrong?” Keith asked as he came to her side.

“I think you should take me to the infirmary. Because my water just broke.” Luka says grabbing Keith’s shirt.

Keith’s eyes widen and looked for the tablet and then called Merla and Romelle to come down. Keith carried Luka to their room and lay her down carefully with Keith muttering words of encouragement. Coran, Merla and Romelle came in just in time for the delivery.

Lance came in with hot water and some towels and saw Merla delivering the baby, hearing Luka straining. “Ok, that’s all! Now what?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, the doctors aren’t even here yet!” Hunk exclaimed.

“I am a nurse also! Tavo is busy right now!” Merla says as Romelle held Luka’s hand.

Everyone was shouting out words that was overlapping the shouting and screams. Luka then grabbed a vase that was next to her. Bang! Crash! Smash! There was countless vases being thrown on the floor and the walls. Luka was throwing vases at the two former paladins. Hunk has been screaming and shouting, overlapping with Lance shrieking in panic.

This makes Luka annoyed so she grabbed the vase on her bedside table and threw it at them. Making hem go out of the room.

Hunk and Lance hugged each other tightly in fear and they heard a shrilling pained screams from the other side of the room. They also heard encouraging shouting and cheers from the girls and Keith as they shouted “Push! Push!”

Inside the room, there was pained screams and cries as Keith held on to his wife, Luka. “It’s okay, Luka. It’s okay! You are almost there!” Keith encouraged his wife. Luka nodded and whimpered in pain as she screamed in pain again.

“Oh! I can’t do this!” Luka cried in pain.

“Almost there, Lu.” Keith said as he held her hand tightly.

Luka breathed in and out as Keith put her hair out of the way and kissed her on the head. Lance and Hunk waited outside of the room. Waiting and waiting. Pidge came and went inside the room to help.  They heard pained screams and cries again, making Lance pray for Keith and Luka.

After long hours, they heard a baby cries in the room. Keith was looking at his own child. He smiled and looked at their baby. “It’s a baby girl!” Merla announced and let Luka hold her daughter in her arms and smiled at her with love.

“Oh, Keith, she’s beautiful.” Luka says as tears rolled down.

“What are we going to name her?” Keith asked holding his daughter’s little hand.

“How about Cora? After Uncle Coran?” Luka asked. The two turned to see Coran having tears rolling down with a proud smile.

“Oh, that’s sounds like a wonderful name.” Coran says as he picked up his great-niece in his arms. He cooed at the baby girl in his arms and heard Luka yawning in exhaustion. “I will let you take a rest, my dear. I will take care of my great-niece.”

“Thanks, Coran.” Keith smiled.

Everyone left the couple in their quarters with Coran giving back Cora. Luka slept away with Keith rocking in his chair holding his daughter. He could see that she inherited her mother’s hair and her father’s eyes. Perfect combination from them. He smiled and kissed Cora on the head and let her sleep in the crib. Kosmo sniffed the baby and wagged his tail happily and then slept down on the ground next to the crib.

Keith turned to see Luka sleeping peacefully. He then laid down on the bed beside his lovely wife and wrapped his arms securely around her waist. Luka smiled and held his hands, prompting Keith to kissing her on the cheek and the new parents went to sleep, now entering a new chapter of their lives with their new daughter, Cora.

[scatterthoughted]

Where There’s A Will...

At the ripe old age of fifteen, Pidge has finalized her will- and Lance is the first to find it (Pre-season  6)

Not a lot happened when Lance was left alone.

Time stopped and took a stretch, granting itself a rest from moving forward just so Lance could lose his mind in boredom. As his Abuela had always said, he was a ‘people’s person,’ an outgoing extrovert who just enjoyed the company (and attention) of others.

He liked to think she meant he was charming and bold- but left to his own devices on a drifting ship where the second closest life form was a cow (no offense to Kaltenecker), he realized it could just as well mean he got lonely easily. And bored. Really, really bored.

Today was one of those days where Lance was put to the test in the most torturous and brutal of manners, risking his mental state for the good of his crew and the universe. Other days he would fight for his life against a tyrannical empire dictator, but today was just as bad.

He was house-sitting. Or, well more accurately, spaceship-sitting. Castle-sitting? All of team Voltron had found some kind of mission within the span of a few days, all close enough that there was no need for the Teleduv. Coran and Allura were free to visit a planet holding trace elements of a long-extinct Altean flower, Shiro and Hunk were due for another diplomatic dinner within the same solar system, Keith had been busy with the Blades for the past few weeks doing missions who-knows-where, and Pidge went out to collect some rare metal stuff surrounding a star for her newest project. That left Lance to man the ship. 

Not that he was actually manning it- apparently the mice were more trusted than him, an actual pilot- but he did get the run of the castle. Which was fun for a whole five minutes after Pidge left.

Lance sat slumped on the couch, finishing up his second solo Monsters and Mana game (which was just as bad of an idea as it sounded) surrounded by empty containers that still held residue of Hunk’s gourmet creations. The space mice had made a bed out of his hoodie, cuddled up in a way that was very cute, but also very uncomfortable for him.

If only Pidge had fixed up their ‘playbox’ (what Pidge liked to call the hodgepodge of wiring and reactors she built to support Killbot Phantasm with Altean technology), he’d be beating their high score right now. 

But didn’t Pidge take it into her room to fix up a week ago? By Pidge-speed, she would have had it done ages ago- maybe it was functional already, and he could do something other than just sitting around and waiting for his team to return. Which was kind of pathetic.

“Oh, time practically flew- I barely noticed you guys were missing at all!” He shook his hands at the imaginary paladins in front of him. “In fact, I did tons-”

He sat up, having forgotten about the mice dozing behind him. They reminded him a moment later, scratching up the back of his neck with startled squeaks after being so rudely awakened. Lance shrieked and jumped around, knocking containers to the floor and encouraging the mice to run all the way down his body on their path to the stable floor. Not a pleasant feeling.

After a glaring stand-off with four rodents, Lance marched over to Pidge’s room. It was a mess as always, strewn with clothes, pictures, miscellaneous robot things, and other stuff she collected. She had certainly made herself at home in the castle. 

Even through all the mess and general stuff she had in her room, it was easy to spot the large console. The wiring was frayed and tangled, sticking out of the top like some sort of monster from an old sci-fi novel. Lance stopped in his tracks and frowned. Not finished then. He scratched his head, finding it odd that Pidge hadn’t finished in the time frame that she usually did when committing to a project- at most, it only took a handful of Vargas for something she already knew how to fix. Lance shrugged, deciding to add it to the end of the list of unexplained Pidge tendencies- right after her hoarding habits and distaste for peanuts (but not peanut butter cookies).

With a huff and decision to maybe try out the pool again, Lance started picking  his way through the maze of laundry and metal. He made a mistake the moment he glanced up to check his progress- Lance’s ankle swung right into something sticking out of the wall. He let out a howl at the instant pain flooding his ankle, instinctively clutching it in his hands and and hobbling around on his one good foot. Too far he jumped back, right onto a sweater- one that slipped out from under him, but not before pitching him forward onto the hard ground. There wasn’t even a well-placed tool-kit to break his fall.

He opened his eyes with a groan of pain- today was just not his day. To his surprise, Lance come face-to-face with what looked like an orange hard drive melded to the wall. Lance’s pain was quickly forgotten in pursuit of his curiosity, and he pushed himself up to get a better look at the strange device.

Hidden just under the lip of a low-lying shelf (terrible placement- his ankle still throbbed), it was a rectangle split in two; the upper half a lit-up orange light, and the lower half was what looked like a screen containing a pass-code pad. "Nothing like that in my room...” He murmured in confusion. “...what’re you hiding, Pidgey?”

As the respectful, non-nosy friend that he was, Lance instantly tried every pass-code he could think of. Her birthday, her brother’s birthday, what he was pretty sure was her father’s birthday... it occurred to him after a few Dobashes to be more creative. A super-hacker genius like Pidge obviously had an 80-digit code that was inverse Pi or something; maybe it was the entire Declaration of Independence in Binary or... Oh.

1-2-3-4 worked. Definitely suspicious.

The orange light blinked a few times, and words appeared on the screen that had previously been covered by the pass-code. Lance realized the device looked familiar, like the one they’d used to record their vlogs for ‘team-bonding’ reasons, except more compact. It opened to reveal only one file.

11/233/77645- Will

Will? Who was Will? Did Pidge have another brother he didn’t know about? Lance eagerly clicked on the file, and the orange light suddenly changed colour and concentration to project an image onto the opposite wall. He turned and stepped back to see Pidge, or at least a recording of her.

She was staring into the camera, looking uncomfortable. Her hair less unruly than it usually was (did she actually brush it back?) and she was wearing nicer, non I-needed-to-pretend-to-be-a-boy-to-sneak-into-the-Garrison-so-I-grabbed-my-older-brother’s-turtleneck clothes. Lance sat on the same bed she was perched on in the video, confused and curious about what was going on.

“Well, if you’re watching this, that probably means I’m dead. That I died... somehow.” 

Lance’s heart stopped. What was this?

Pidge’s eyes stared straight into his. “I knew from the moment I chose to stay and fight as a Paladin that the missions would be difficult. And, uh, deadly.” She swallowed, but then straightened. “I just want to say now that I knew the risks involved, and chose to help anyway. That no one should blame themselves for how I died, because I was ultimately the one who chose this fate.” Pidge looked down for a moment and the tiniest bit of regret shone through her determination. Her voice wavered so quietly that Lance had to strain for it. “Sorry, Mom.” 

Lance stood up with eyes wide, moving towards the projection with an incredulous mind and a pounding heart. She... expected to die by the end of this? That was nonsense, he and the other Paladins would never let that happen to her. They were a team, and teams stuck together. They wouldn’t lose each other.

“I never would have seen life going this way a couple years ago. But then Matt and Dad disappeared, and... I had to do something.” Pidge made fists in her mussed sheets. “Two years ago, I thought that by now I’d be exploring the world of tech in Matt’s footsteps at the Garrison. In the future, I saw myself growing old with my Nobel Prizes. Crazy how plans can change once an alien dictator and five flying cats enter your life, huh?” Pidge had drawn up her knee and rested her head on it, looking to the left of the camera in contemplation.

Lance’s heart sunk. Was she really that unhappy with being a Paladin? Sure, he got home-sick too and the job was dangerous, but it wasn’t all bad. They’d all met each each other and accomplished so much good in the universe because of their five flying cats.

“I’d be so bored with that life now.” She said with a scoff, clearing away Lance’s uncertainty. “Albert Einstein and Marie Curie would have gladly traded in their Prizes for paladin gear. I get to experience the universe’s wonders first hand.” She smiled. “With my friends. Who feel more like family every day.”

Lance was a little stunned. Pidge was the last to admit to gushy feelings to the entire crew- yet there she was, admitting to her closeness to the Paladins she had been prepared to leave mere months ago. Lance felt like a fool for not knowing better- that of course Pidge felt the same way towards the Paladins as they did towards her. Words weren’t always necessary to understand that.

Pidge cleared her throat. “I, uh, guess I don’t say it enough but... I really love you guys.” she looked right into the camera, and the honesty on her face reminded Lance of just how young she was. 

Not even old enough to drive yet.

“You won’t catch me saying that to your faces, probably ever. But I don’t mean it any less.”

Yet she had finished a video in preparation for her death.

“Mom, if you’re watching this... which I really hope you are if I never return... know that I don’t regret what I did. Even if I paid for it in the end, I will never regret finding Matt and saving Dad. You know it would have killed me in the end if I did nothing when I knew I could. That just isn’t me.” Pidge’s expression was fierce, pouring out the explanation she never had the chance to say in person. 

It was the most difficult thing Lance ever had to watch- but he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. His horror and shock rooted him to the spot, along with a pinch of painful curiosity- he’d never seen Pidge so open and up front with her feelings.

“I don’t regret it... but I do regret abandoning you, taking off without a backward glance.” Pidge’s face crumpled. “Their disappearances tore us apart when we needed each other most. I knew I was distancing myself, but I couldn’t accept their death and couldn’t stand being around so much grief...” Tears began to gather and her voice sped up. “I’m so so sorry Mom, I was all you had left and then I just left without a goodbye-” a sob broke through her words “Goodbye’s aren’t even that difficult when you know you’re coming back. I was so sure I would be coming back then, and now things are different which is why this goodbye is so much harder-”

The longer Lance watched, the more his heart broke. 

“Sometimes, I-I just want to go home s-so badly-”

He had no idea Pidge held this much grief and regret inside her every day- Lance had never lost someone he loved. He didn’t know she never expected to return home or see her mother again. 

The clip suddenly cut off and a new one began, with a calmer but puffy eyed Pidge. “If the Paladins ever make it back to Earth... I want you to have the digital photo album I’ve kept on my mini-projector. It’s got stills and videos of all kinds of things I’ve seen and done across the universe- the planets I’ve visited, the aliens I met. I can’t wait for you to see Beezer, he’s incredible. It’ll be our way of catching up, I guess.” She allowed herself a small smile. “My time in space wasn’t all galactic wars and hyper-drive, and I’ve always thought about how much you would’ve loved it out here. The variety and scope of vegetation alone would have had you drooling.” Pidge’s mouth quirked up at the edges.

The entire ship stood silent in the cold vacuum of space, holding its breath as Pidge ran through the family she fought so hard for, telling them not to miss her too much (but I’d be nice if someone named their kids after her or something) and listing what she wanted them to take- assuming they ever got access to it. 

And then she started talking to him.

“Lance...” His head snapped up and he leaned forward, desperate to know what Pidge wanted him to know if she never got around to it. With every other person, she had drilled straight through what she wanted to say, with cuts here and there for when she became too emotional. But here she paused.

And then a new clip began, skipping over what Pidge had been about to say.

“Take care of Kaltenecker for me- you know she needs a strong role model in her life. Also, you get my copy of Killbot Phantasm. Be careful though- since I just made the playbox out of spares and my own convoluted process, if you break it again, there won’t really be anyone to fix it...” 

There wouldn’t be anyone to play it with him at all, so what would be the point?

“I have something else I want to tell you Lance... but, uh, not as part of something I know everyone else will be watching. I’ll still probably be able to feel the embarrassment from beyond the grave.”

Pidge wanted her her last words to him to be something embarrassing? Why?

“It’ll be on the second file of this device.” She pointed at the camera accusingly. “Matt is forbidden to touch it.”

Lance frowned. There had only been the one file on the projection device.

She moved on, letting Allura know how much she admired her, telling Hunk that she’d always been jealous of how easily he connected to people.

“Never stop cooking, Hunk- you have a gift. I’m still shocked that you made me like the taste of Werfan Worms.” 

To Coran she expressed how appreciative she was of his father-like acceptance and to Shiro she thanked him for being a leader in the moments she was most lost. Even to Keith, she told him how much she respected him and his quiet but fierce loyalty. 

“I know you care more than you let on, Keith- I’m the same. But don’t distance yourself when you’re scared. It just hurts more.” 

Lance was the only one to get an extra file- but that wasn’t what he was thinking about by the end of the video.

“Life will go on without me, and I need you guys to as well. I know firsthand how difficult it is to lose somebody, and made this because I would’ve traded anything to hear their voices one last time...”

Another cut.

“I guess I’ll be waiting wherever Rover is. Don’t stop living if I do- someone needs to kick Zarkon’s ass if I’m not able to see it through. Also, make sure the next Green Paladin’s good to Green- let them know that I’ll come back to haunt them if they don’t.”

She looked so small in the frame. Her socks weren’t matching. 

“As Shiro likes to say, it’s been an honour flying with you all. Someday, I hope we get to fly together again.” 

The projection abruptly shut off, and it left a blank Lance staring at a blanker wall. The sudden silence built to a point he couldn’t stand, and Lance began to pace (as much as he could in the cramped obstacle course that was Pidge’s floor) just to keep his thoughts moving.

The possibility of Pidge’s death suddenly seemed all too real. Lance had long ago taken everything the smartest Paladin said as truth- if she thought she had no chance of surviving this war... was she right? What did that mean for the rest of them? 

Lance found it nearly impossible to imagine their team continuing on without Pidge. Who was going to hack Galran information right out from under their noses? Who would go along with his goofy charades and suggest jumping into a fountain when they couldn’t afford their favourite game? Who would finish a whole batch of peanut butter cookies overnight?

His hands were shaking and his face was wet. 

Lance couldn’t lose her- but watching her will felt like a sealing of her fate. How much time did any of them have left before they had to make the ultimate sacrifice?

“Lance?” The silence was finally broken by the room’s loudspeaker.

Lance yelped and jumped off of Pidge’s bed, heart racing a mile a minute. After hearing her voice ramble on for the past twenty minutes, it took a moment to convince himself that the projection hadn’t just turned back on. 

Pidge was back from her mission, alive and well.

Lance came back to himself, wiping away the moisture on his cheeks and in his eyes while frantically tripping over clothing piled in the way to the room’s comm.

“Lance? I’ve been circling the castle for the better part of five Dobashes- you better not be in the shower right now.” Pidge didn’t bother hiding her annoyance. 

Lance didn’t need anymore encouragement in his rushing. He held down the comm button.

“Yea-” His voice came out pathetically shaken and he quickly cleared his throat. “I mean, uh yeah, I’m here.”

“I’d be better if you were at the hangar’s instead, unlocking it so that my lion can get in. Honestly, I don’t see the point in the hangar‘s locking safety precaution; if the lion’s quintessence can be replicated, I’d say we have bigger problems on our hands-” 

“Maybe you can take it up with Allura when she gets back.” For the characteristically dramatic and upbeat Paladin, his words were oddly subdued.

There was a long pause. “Lance, is everything alright?”

He clenched his teeth against the sudden swell of emotions her words brought on. No, it wasn’t. It was definitely was not alright when the youngest, smartest, and bravest Paladin of them all was prepared to say goodbye. Indefinitely.

“Peachy.” His words were curt. “I’ll get to the hangar now.” Another pause. “Alright, if you say so.” Everything about her tone made it obvious she didn’t believe him.

The eerie silence in the castle did nothing to ease his tense mood, and he’d almost stomped over the space mice on his way down. Indignant squeaks brought him back to himself, and Lance let out a deep sigh when he stooped down to pick them up. Their calming chattering at his shoulder did nothing to quell the battle taking place in his stomach, and every step grew quicker and more frantic. It felt like awhile since he’d heard her voice- could something have happened to her because he took too long to get to her?

Lance reached the Green hanger’s doors at a run, newfound fear (the fear of losing her) making the steady hands of a sharpshooter shake. A pass-code and hand-scan later (ever since Kuron, Allura’s been a tad obsessed with castle security), the doors of the hangar slid open.

From his place behind air-tight doors, he watched as Green made her landing and the doors shut. Lance stepped into the hangar the same moment Pidge did, exiting from her lion’s mouth.

She removed her helmet and replaced them with the glasses she didn’t really need, but not before cleaning the smudges off on her shirt first. Pidge looked up then, and paused. Lance was staring at her as if she were about to disappear forever.

“Alright, something’s definitely wrong. What happened?”

(Part 2 coming soon!)

[justheretobreakthings]

The Least of These - Chapter 2

(Previous Chapter) (Next Chapter)

Word Count: 2,709 (Total Word Count: 7,801) Read on AO3

Story Summary:

There have been plenty of people throughout the universe who weren't exactly keen on the idea of a half-Galra being a paladin of Voltron. Why should things be any different on Earth?

Chapter Preview:

“I don’t figure you watched any of the broadcast last night, did you?”

Keith scratched the back of his neck. “No, I uh… my mom and I took Kosmo for a walk. A long walk.”

Pidge nodded. “Well, I don’t blame you. And to be honest, it was pretty damn boring. Plus the stage lights were really hot and I was, like drenched in sweat by the end of it. But more importantly, guess you didn’t get to hear Shiro’s speech.”

“His speech?” Keith asked, raising a brow.

Keith was woken the next morning by the sound of knocking at his door. The knocks were muffled by the way his head was nestled in Kosmo’s fur, and when first he peeled his eyes open, he wasn’t sure whether he’d heard it at all, but then the knocking started again.

He groaned softly and rolled an inch further into Kosmo, shutting his eyes from the morning light - already high in the sky, indicating that he’d slept much later into the day than usual. He couldn’t help that. He had been exhausted the night before, but had stayed up late anyway, pacing in his room even after a long walk with Kosmo and then staring up at the ceiling for hours on end unable to fall asleep when he actually tried.

He ignored the continuing knocks, and although Kosmo sniffed at him and at a couple of points nudged him with his nose and let out a small grunt, the wolf didn’t give away his presence. Keith was relieved, at the moment, he really wasn’t in the mood for talking to anyone. Eventually, the knocks subsided.

Though he left his eyes shut and Kosmo fell back to sleep beside him, Keith slowly found that now that he was awake, he couldn’t return. Still, he held out as long as possible before his growling stomach finally forced him to actually get up. With a sigh, he slowly dragged himself out of bed, got dressed, and started down toward the Garrison’s cafeteria.

It was as he walked there, though, that he started noticing that distinct, spine-prickling sensation of being watched, and glances onto the edge of periphery confirmed it. People he passed in the halls were casting him stares that bore into his back as he walked past them.

He folded his arms tightly over his chest and hunched forward while he walked, as if it would somehow make him less visible. It wasn’t that occasionally being stared at was an unusual thing for him at the Garrison - he was, after all, a paladin - but it had been growing gradually less common as the Garrison got used to Voltron’s presence, and even when they had first arrived back on Earth, it hadn’t been this bad.

The noise of the cafeteria lowered momentarily when he entered, and as Keith sat at a table in a far corner to quietly eat his meal, he kept picking up on people either watching him, or deliberately avoiding looking in his direction even when they passed right by him. And there were people whispering, far too soft to be typical cafeteria chatter.

By the time he finished eating, he was just about ready to burst from the awkwardness of it all. He needed to duck into someplace quiet, and he selected the Garrison’s central library. It was just down the hall from the cafeteria, making it a quick walk, and besides, it had been so long since he’d had time to read anything. Maybe it was just the sort of quiet distraction he needed for himself right now.

He hadn’t been browsing the shelves long before he passed by a bay of computer desks, and noticed a familiar head of cinnamon-brown hair poking out from behind the monitor of one of them. “Hey, Pidge” he asked as he approached, deciding he wouldn’t say no to the chance for some quiet company. “What are you up to?”

“Playing Solitaire,” Pidge answered.

Keith snorted. “No, really, what are you - ?” He stopped as Pidge tilted the monitor toward him, displaying an in-progress Solitaire game. “Oh.”

“Came in here with Matt to get a book,” she said. “Noticed that someone had a game open without finishing, so I had to fix that. Then I noticed that this computer’s Solitaire stats were pretty terrible, so I had to fix that too. Matt got bored like half an hour ago.” She turned to Keith. “What about you?”

“Just needed some quiet,” Keith answered. “And my room’s too cramped for now. Hey, have, uh… have people been acting weird around you at all today?”

“Weird how?”

“Like - like a lot of staring, and, um, whispers, and stuff.”

Pidge shook her head. “Not toward me.”

Keith groaned. “God, they’re probably wondering why I wasn’t at that ceremony last night. Probably have come up with all sorts of rumors about it…”

“Mm, wouldn’t put my money on that,” Pidge said slowly. “I don’t figure you watched any of the broadcast last night, did you?”

Keith scratched the back of his neck. “No, I uh… my mom and I took Kosmo for a walk. A long walk.”

Pidge nodded. “Well, I don’t blame you. And to be honest, it was pretty damn boring. Plus the stage lights were really hot and I was, like drenched in sweat by the end of it. But more importantly, guess you didn’t get to hear Shiro’s speech.”

“His speech?” Keith asked, raising a brow.

“Yeah. Don’t suppose anyone told you what he did with it?” Keith shook his head. “Here, I’ll show you,” Pidge said, scooting to the side and gesturing toward a nearby chair. Keith took the chair and pulled it up to take a seat beside Pidge as she opened a search engine and typed “takashi shirogane speech” into the search bar. The results appeared, and Pidge clicked on the first video on the page, the timestamp indicating it had been posted nine hours ago, with a thumbnail image of Shiro in the same gray dress shirt he’d had on the previous night, at the microphone on a blue-curtained stage.

Pidge silently reached into her bag and passed Keith her headphones, which he took and placed over his ears as Pidge plugged them into the jack, and then she pressed play. The video started with Officer Hannegan at the microphone halfway through introducing Shiro, who sat at the back of the stage in a row with the other paladins and MFE pilots, half of whom had made it into the video frame.

He stepped aside and let Shiro take the microphone amid the polite applause of the crowd gathered in the assembly room, and he launched immediately into his speech. The topics were similar to the ones Allura had written for Keith back when they’d thought he’d be speaking as well: a thank you to all the humans who had lent their strength and skills to fighting back against the Galra, a solemn remembrance for those who had been lost, an encouragement to rally together to rebuild and recover, and praise for the paladins and pilots he’d fought alongside.

Shiro paused for several seconds during this part, looking down at the note card in his hand - an action that surprised Keith. Shiro had always been a marvelous public speaker, Keith had seen him give plenty of speeches before, and on those occasions when he had notes with him, he hardly ever so much as glanced down at them. But here he was, leaving seconds of peculiar silence as he frowned at the card in his hand.

He broke the silence by clearing his throat, and he folded the card in half and tucked it into his pocket before leaning into the microphone and continuing, “One of these honored paladins was unable to join us for tonight’s ceremony. Keith Kogane, the black paladin of Voltron, as well as my close friend and mentee, has sat out of this evening’s event.”

He paused again, and the silence was thick, uncomfortable. “As I’m sure many of you who are in attendance here tonight are aware, seeing that plenty of coverage has been given to this fact, a fact that has apparently become an ‘issue’, Keith Kogane is half-Galra.” There were a few soft reactions in the crowd, and someone sitting close to whoever was running the camera murmured something unintelligible that nearly drowned Shiro’s voice out for a moment, so Keith had to strain to hear it. “He was asked to refrain from attending this ceremony, due to the fact that there are some who were worried about people’s reaction to his presence.

“It saddens me greatly that this is something that has even had to be taken into consideration, but I suppose I cannot completely discount the fears of the populace at large. I understand that it was a member of the Galra race that was responsible for leading the forces that caused destruction across our planet, and that it was Galra soldiers who enforced a regime that has caused you so much harm. I understand that, and I sympathize. If anyone would be able to, it would be me. At the hand of Galra soldiers, I lost my mission, my arm, and, in more sense than one, my life.”

Keith could feel how little blood remained in his face, and he was beginning to feel a distinct sense of nausea in his gut. He reached up a hand to remove his headphones, but Pidge halted him by putting her hand on his arm and mouthing, ‘Wait.’

“However,” Shiro continued, “The Galra who did so much to harm me are not the only Galra with whom I have come into contact during my time with Voltron. While imprisoned, I met Galra who were working from within the ranks of the army to sabotage their work and, eventually, to help me escape. I met Galra who gave their lives in battle to ensure the safety of myself, my fellow paladins, and countless innocents. I met Galra who dedicated themselves to taking down the same empire we fought against here on Earth.

“I met Galra soldiers who did their duty out of loyalty to the Empire, but were willing to listen and to change. I met Galra who were never involved in the Empire’s regime, but simply wanted to live their lives, because like any human, these Galra had jobs and dreams and families and hobbies and pets. And I was able to put aside the terrifying ordeal I’d had at the hands of some Galra, and realize whether a person, a person from any planet, is good or evil, enemy or ally, is determined by actions and choices, not blood.

“It was a Galra who postponed the threat against Earth and fought to keep its inhabitants a secret from the Empire for years, and when a Galra did seek to do humanity such harm, it was a Galra who led the lions of Voltron into the battle that finally rid us of this terrifying threat.

“This ceremony tonight was set to honor those who helped bring planet Earth safety and who will be helping in our efforts to rebuild our civilization to what it once was. Many, if not all, of you out there have already had the opportunity to meet and work with allies from other galaxies, gathered here on Earth on behalf of the Voltron coalition to assist in reconstruction and to help us reach out our lines of communication to new corners of the universe.

“These efforts will not be possible without our open-mindedness, respect, and willingness to welcome new beings with histories and innovations and ideas that planet Earth has never yet so much as fathomed, and for the most part, we have accepted these allies with open arms. I only hope that our fears and reservations can be put aside enough that we can do the same for all who have done so much for the universe and for Earth, regardless of whether they be human, Altean, Olkari, Balmeran… or Galra.

“And I hope that the next time the paladins of Voltron are asked to be honored before the entire world at large, there will be room on the stage for all of them.”

He stepped back from the microphone, and there was a stiff smattering of applause before the video cut itself off, and an autoplay of the next video in the queue, this one of Sam Holt speaking at the same event, began to load. Pidge exited out of the video player before it could start, and slowly Keith lowered the headphones from his ears.

“So,” Pidge said, “What did you think?”

“... How pissed off were Hannegan and Gadhavi?” Keith asked.

“Very. But I think that’s at least partly due to the fact that Shiro went a full two minutes over his time allotment. Mega irresponsible of him.”

“But like, were - were people upset? Did they like what he said, or, um, or were they mad?”

“Hard to say,” Pidge said with a shrug. “It was a real formal ceremony, not like they were gonna start a riot then and there if they didn’t like the speech.”

“Should we at least see what - ” Keith started, taking the mouse and starting to scroll down, but Pidge snatched his hand away.

“Number one rule of the internet, man,” she said. “Never read the comments.” She yawned and scooted back in her chair. “There’s probably, like, a hundred thousand think-pieces out there about it already, and maybe a dozen of them are coherent.” She raised a brow at Keith. “I’m not gonna try and stop you from looking at them or anything, I’m not in charge of you, but, well… there’s a whole subgenre of videos out there of dogs being placed on trampolines, and they’re probably way more entertaining, and better for your health.”

“Hm. I’ll keep that in mind,” Keith said.

“All righty. Well, I’m off,” Pidge said, getting up from her chair. “Need to take a look at that book Matt needed. Oh, by the way, you’re probably gonna end up talking with Shiro anyway today, on account of - ” She gestured toward the computer screen. “ - but he told us that if any of us see you around, to tell you to go one over to him. Apparently he was trying to visit you in your room this morning, but you wouldn’t come out?”

“Ah. Right,” Keith said, remembering the knocking that had woken him. “I overslept.”

“Never thought I’d hear Keith Kogane, King of the Early Risers say that. Don’t stare at the computer screen too long, you’ll melt your eyes out.” And with that and a quick wave of her hand, she left.

Keith pushed his chair all the way into the computer desk and backed out of the webpage hosting the video and back to search engine. As he was halfway through erasing the search, he glanced at the auto-complete options that the search bar gave him.

takashi shirogane takashi shirogane atlas takashi shirogane voltron takashi shirogane interview takashi shirogane galaxy garrison takashi shirogane kerberos takashi shirogane news is takashi shirogane single

Keith couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at that last search term. It was amusing, almost comforting, to see that, despite everything that had happened over the last few years, the population at large seemed to still have the same priorities they always did, inane though those priorities may be.

He backspaced the rest of the search, then paused as he stared at the text cursor blinking invitingly at him in the blank search bar.

Taking a deep breath, he typed in his own name. He didn’t bother hitting ‘enter’, just stared at the auto-complete results that popped up.

keith kogane keith kogane galra

Something in his gut hardened at the fact that the very first result, besides his name on its own, was about his heritage. He read the rest of the results.

keith kogane keith kogane galra keith kogane voltron keith kogane human keith kogane mother keith kogane alien is keith kogane galra keith kogane mutation keith kogane history is keith kogane human

A sick curiosity had him hovering his cursor over the ‘Search’ button on the screen, but he couldn’t bring himself to click on it. Instead, he simply let the list of auto-complete options burn themselves into his vision for several minutes before he finally exited out of the browser.

And after another long few minutes of staring at the desktop, taking deep breaths in and deep breaths out, he opened the browser back up, pulled up the search engine, and, per Pidge’s recommendation, typed in “dogs on trampolines.”

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 136

136

It was getting harder and harder to talk to Keith. He didn’t hate or blame his boyfriend. Lance just missed him so much. Nothing felt the same. He should be happy. None of his family here knew he was a vampire, none of them knew he was the same Lance that left, only that they remembered “his father when he was a little boy”. The family was loud. Loud and loving, and religious. His Mami spent so much time with them that he regretted them not coming back sooner.

With Mami busy, it should have been easy to find a moment alone to talk to Keith. His mum spent more time with the family than at hotel now, meaning he’d scored one or two private conversations. He’d scored some serious alone time too, for a very... graphic call. Then... then everything started going wrong again. Keith wouldn’t be home for Christmas. He wouldn’t be home for New Years. He wouldn’t be home for a while now and Lance’s heart broke on the spot. Keith was so apologetic. So sad to tell him. Lance had called him to show him the beach down from the hotel, where dozens of tourists had flocked during their vacations. He’d “splurged”. Got a nice umbrella, a really nice big red towel, a good book, and called up Keith. He couldn’t blame Keith. Zarkon was pissed at Lotor. Lotor dropped contact when he’d gone home to face his father. Keith roped into the mission to find out what was going on. He’d promised to call when he could, but it wasn’t the same. Keith was always so tired. They barely talked a handful of minutes at a time, then he had to go completely silent.

Lance had gone back to the hotel room and cried. He couldn’t do much else. He’d put on a brave wobbly smile for Keith, but Keith was supposed to be back the next week. The conversation playing on loop in his mind like a torturous reminder of how far apart they were and that they seemed to be drifting apart further by the day. He was supposed to come back then come down to Cuba. Now he didn’t know where the fuck his boyfriend was, or when he’d be home again. He’d cried and cried so much that Mami had to get a lift back to the hotel from one the cousins. Holding him against her, she kissed his hair and hushed him until he was calm enough to talk to her.

He really shouldn’t be saying Mami spent all her time with the family. Not more than what was expected, and they’d had a lot of fun playing tourists and doing all the things tourists did that Mami was up for. A few people tried to fleece them, thinking them dumb tourists until Mami put them in their places. No one messed with his Mami, not when she was Cuban born and bread. They’d gone dancing. Picked the most expensive place they could for dinner. Eaten ice cream by the beach, as she told him about the first time his Papi taught Luis to surf on a long board. She’d told him so much of the stories about her and his dad. They’d gone driving, Mami talking about the trouble they used to get up to, visiting the farms where Jorge had worked and the family farm that was still being run by cousins. He loved how happy she was. It was like 50 years had been knocked off her life. He’d heard too much... like his father being good in bed, but seeing all these places again after so much time was amazing. And that Mami would remember something from so long ago... He took back wanting Coran to take them back home.

Seeing Keith couldn’t come back in time, Lance decided against going back for Christmas. His Mami had told the family that he was expecting his first children, and boy did the aunts fuss. They wanted to know everything about “Lance’s son”. Lance didn’t know if he lived up to all the hype, but he did remember to bring flowers and accept kisses... and weird hugs where they couldn’t feel his extending belly. They were touched he’d followed his father into law, leading to him being too smart more than once. Lies about a sun allergy and a bunch of allergies covered up when he was feeling ill. Mami had forced enough home remedies for morning sickness down his throat he literally feared what she’d come up with next. He missed his boyfriend with all his heart. And every day away without proper word, or any word, weighed on him so heavily he wasn’t sure how he’d ever lived without Keith. But spending this time with Mami and no fear felt good.

*

Parking in front of Lance’s house, Keith eyes the lights on the living room with fear and excitement... and a whole lot of happiness to be home again. Two months he’d been away from Lance. Two fucking bullshit months. He hadn’t been able to get hold of Lance for the last few weeks, after breaking his boyfriend’s heart it felt strained every time they talked face to face. Lance knew he couldn’t answer his phone, so he’d expected a flurry of messages and missed calls, like normal, when he’d come back from the ridiculousness. There’d been nothing. Well, not nothing, his boyfriend had texted a couple of times to say he loved him, but overall, he’d kind of been out of full contact from the 28th of December. He tried Lance’s phone as soon as the shit storm finally settled. He’d tried messaging him. He’d tried Lance’s personal phone and work phone. He’d tried his home phone. Shiro and Curtis were coming back next week. His idiot brother went and broke his arm. Matt and Rieva had already come back earlier... but their car wasn’t in the drive. He knew he’d hurt Lance by not being there, but it felt like a kick to the gut that his boyfriend hadn’t tried to reach out at all.

Taking an earlier, public, flight. He’d rented a car, then headed straight up to Garrison. He hadn’t even had a “Merry Christmas” in the slightest. Mami had to explain that Lance was resting, and not doing too well. His boyfriend barely got to talk to him the following day, pale and sleepy, while assuring him it was from mami’s latest idea on how to help with this morning sickness. He hated that he’d only been able to find 5 minutes of alone time to be with Lance.

Climbing out the car, Keith fixed his jacket up, hoping he didn’t look like he’d spent hours stuck on a place that had far too many people on it. He hoped Lance was there, and that nothing had gone wrong in his absence. Jogging up to the front door, Keith knocked. Hunk’s car was in the drive, but Lance’s wasn’t. He hoped that meant Lance’s car was being serviced. He was going crazy. He’d tried to think of what he’d said or done that could have driven Lance from him. He never wanted to be away that long. February had started just as he finally arrived back in Rome. He hadn’t seen Lance what felt like two years. No. Every day felt like two years. Matt delighted at teasing him over it. Fucking werewolves didn’t age like normal people. He wasn’t stupid. Two and half years human years was like one years worth of again for werewolves. It wasn’t fair.

Opening the door, Hunk stared at him. His friend looked like he’d seen better days too. He’d missed them. He hadn’t heard from them either in the last two weeks. Shuffling forward, Hunk wrapped his arms around Keith. It should have been a happy hug, yet Keith could feel there was more to it. Hugging Hunk back, he didn’t force him to tell him where Lance was. The sick feelings of fear and dread so damn heavy that he feared he’d throw up if he opened his mouth. Breaking the hug, Hunk let out a long breath

“Oh, man. It’s so good to see you back. Does Lance know you’re back? Does this means he’ll be coming back again?”

Again? He was missing something...

“Hun.-.. Holy Shit!”

Pidge came running from the living room, Keith catching her as she launched herself at him for a hug

“I can’t believe you’re back! When you missed the funeral I wasn’t sure you’d ever be coming back. Is Lance with you?”

Funeral? What funeral? And where was Lance? His confusion showed. Hunk looking pained

“You’d better come in, man. You’ve missed a lot”

A fine layer of dust covered most things in the house. There was evidence that Hunk and Pidge had tried to keep on top of the housework, but it was far cry from Lance’s standards. The house felt cold. Empty. Painfully abandoned as he followed Hunk into the kitchen. He had to know what was happening here. Lance’s house was warm and bright. Happy and safe. Not like this

“What’s going on? And what’s this about a funeral?”

Hunk sighed heavily as he went about getting the coffee pod into the machine. Pidge sitting herself on the kitchen counter, looking sad as she did

“You didn’t hear?”

Keith shook his head

“I’ve been trying to reach Lance but he hasn’t replied. I thought he’d be back here by now”

Pidge bit her lip, eyes getting wet behind her glasses. Hunk turning to him

“His mum died. They had the funeral three ago”

Keith staggered because he didn’t see that coming. Hunk came to his aid, taking him by the arm and pulling out Lance’s usual seat to sit him in

“What? When?”

“I think I was the...”

“On the sixth... Coran speed tracked things, helped get her home. He... went with him to the funeral. It was a nice service... His siblings tried to bar him from attending. We recorded it for him. We tried to go with him, but Coran took him away again. I guess because you guys still weren’t safe or something”

Did his mother know about Mami? She’d joined the mission at a different stage to him. Meeting with them when they were closer to Zarkon’s territory

“H-how?”

“In her sleep. Lance was with her, he still wouldn’t tell us where they went. They’d slept over, and she passed away in her sleep”

He couldn’t process it at all. Mami was amazing. She always, always bounced back. Hunk hugged him

“I know, man. I know you two were tight. I hoped Lance had gone to be with you, but I guess that wasn’t the case”

“Do... do you know where he is?”

Hunk shook his head

“He apologised and said he had some things he needed to do. Didn’t you see Coran?”

“Lance didn’t reply to my messages so I got the first flight back I could get on”

Pidge nodded at him

“We asked Coran if we could talk to him, but Lance said he needed space. We didn’t know if you’d broken up or not because he was back and you weren’t. I didn’t think you wouldn’t know”

“I... had no idea...”

Did this mean it was over? That Lance no longer wanted to be with him? How could Mami have passed away nearly... how... he couldn’t process not knowing. He had to go back to Platt. Coran had to tell him what the fuck was going on. There hadn’t even been a message left at headquarters. He didn’t get it

“We tried to figure out how to contact you, but my messages wouldn’t go through to your phone. I guess you must have been busy... Matt and Rieva came back home, but they went back up to Platt. I know Coran couldn’t tell us if Lance had left again, but I get the feeling he’s gone back where he’d been hiding out. He probably doesn’t know you’re back”

Keith pushed his chair back, Hunk stepped back

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll go talk to Coran. I’ll make him tell me where Lance is”

Lance... Keith hoped Lance was waiting for him wherever he was. He hoped his boyfriend still believed he was coming back to him. He’d seen how hurt all the near misses Mami gave him left him. He couldn’t believed he’d missed this... He never should have gone to fucking Rome. He felt wrong about doing it before he left and worse after

“Can we come?”

“I don’t think I’ll be very good company. I can’t... Mami... it’s not fair”

Pidge shook her head at him

“I don’t care. I’m sick of not knowing what’s going on. Lance really needs you right now and Coran has to talk to us properly if you’re back, that has to mean it’s safe”

Driving back to Platt, Keith couldn’t stop thinking about Lance. He didn’t call ahead because he didn’t want Coran to fob him off, or even worse, tell him that Lance didn’t want to see him. His mind was firmly on Lance every single moment until the elevator doors were opening and he had his arms full of Coran

“Oh, my boy. You are a sight for sore eyes”

Yay. Good for him

“Where the fuck is Lance?”

Direct. To the point. His words summed up the only thing that mattered

“Ah. Come with me”

Led to Coran’s office, Keith leaned against the door cutting off Coran’s means of escape. Coran sighing as he moved the papers on his desk away from Pidge and Hunk

“Sorry, about that. Sensitive data...”

“Coran!”

Okay. He was being rude and bossy, Coran wincing at his name

“Lance is Cuba”

Cuba. Keith could have punched himself in the face for not picking it. Mami wanted to go Cuba again, Lance had been talking about going with her. It made so much sense. The sand and the beach. The feel of the hotel room. The different rooms in the background and voices. Why Mami looked so happy. She’d looked younger too. Like she was free of a great burden... If she was going to pass away anywhere, she did where she had so much of her family. But he just... he couldn’t get his head around it

“What happened?”

Coran sighed again, rubbing at his face as he did

“I think it’s better if we discuss that alone...”

“Fuck off, he’s our best friend. He’s basically our family and you wouldn’t tell us anything”

Pidge was right. The gremlin cranky as heck. Hunk bold enough to add

“We barely got to see him at the funeral. We’ve tried talking to him but he hasn’t answered us”

“Yeah. You said we couldn’t know until it was safer. Keith’s home now. Why can’t you tell us what’s happening?!”

“Lance asked I talk to Keith when he came. He asked me to keep you both safe. I sincerely hated not being able to tell you Lance’s whereabouts. I can tell you he is safe. I did talk to him this morning. He decided to remain in Cuba until Keith returned”

Pidge crossed her arms

“You could have let us see him after the funeral”

“He was in no fit state. He was recovering. I did ask him stay, but he insisted that he needed to be in Cuba”

“Wait. You said he was “recovering” did something happen?”

“A small bleed. The loss of Miriam hit him hard. Stress and exhaustion coupled with the loss of his mother. He tried to brave it alone, but the poor boy wanted to go to Rome to be with you. I did try to contact you through the Blades, but was informed that you were currently on a mission and not accepting messages or calls”

Keith could murder. He could murder all day. He could murder all the people who thought he didn’t need to know this. Thank fuck he’d never set foot in there. He’d officially resigned. He’d only ever been back thanks to Lotor. He was officially retired from their registry and now out of the loop, outside of his mother, completely. Krolia understood. Then decided during all the shit happening that she had to go develop feelings for Kolivan which he’d never seen coming until he thought about how happier his mother had been in Platt, and wondered if she’d held everything inside of herself so “he wouldn’t have a reason to hate her”. Adults were complicated. His mum and Kolivan triply so. Okay. Maybe he liked his mother a whole lot more to the point where he was accepting he loved her. But Kolivan... he didn’t want to think about them... that... “doing the do”.

Sendak was dead, which was a good thing. The trouble was that they had different statements. Lance had admitted to killing Sendak, and asked for leniency towards Lotor as he was only trying to protect him. Mountains of briefings were had. Secret squirrel meetings behind closed door. Lotor left then they had to go find him...

“I quit. Them... again. Permanently this time. They asked me to resume my duties in Rome and I declined. Petty wankers”

“Yes, well. I was told about what eventuated. I can’t say I’m too happy over the method”

That was a conversation to have with Lance first. Then with Pidge and Hunk, if Matt and Rieva hadn’t first. Which reminded him

“Where are Matt and Rieva?”

“They wished to see Lance. As I couldn’t send them to see him, as per Lance’s request. I sent them down there on “holiday””

Great. They could have him know

“Did you tell him?”

“No. In all honesty I believe he only stayed in Cuba because he wanted to wait in a safe place until your return. He has missed you very much. He did leave you a letter here”

“When can I see him?”

“I’m on relatively good terms with save. A wonderful vampire runs it as a safe haven for those down there...”

Pidge held her hand up, telling Coran to stop

“What the heck is “Save”?”

“South American Vampire Enterprises”. We all know how the world perceives some countries, they look past this, and honestly the media is terrible at painting them in a bad light when they’re filled with such wonderful people. I’ve put them in contact with Lance. He’d been very cooperative and we talk each morning. I actually know her...”

Not another sex story. Keith couldn’t do it

“That’s not what I asked about. I asked when I can see my boyfriend”

“I was getting there. We used special permission with Miriam and Lance. There is only so much aid they can provide, however, I did inform her that you would be joining Lance once your work was completed. It may take a few hours to get things settled and permission. That’s why I was not able to send Matt and Rieva privately. I barely managed to get their tickets and visas processed. Your Blade status did allow access into most countries, but I went ahead with processing what I could of your visa when Matt and Rieva returned. I was most sad that you hadn’t contacted me”

He didn’t think about it. He was too busy trying to talk to Lance, and ignoring the fact he’d accidentally made friends with the werewolves. They still thought Lance was a bad arse killing machine fighting for good and some other bullshit like that. They hadn’t seen his damn nightmares

“Coran, when I can see Lance?”

“Tonight. I’ll make plans right away, tonight is the earliest I can do. Unfortunately for you, Pidge and Hunk, I can only send Keith as you two are not VOLTRON hunters. However, you are free to wait here until they return, though that will be up to Lance and Keith. Rieva and Matt will return next Monday”

Hunk looked to Pidge, Pidge then looked to Keith and nodded. Keith felt bad that they couldn’t come, Pidge seemed to read his mind

“He really needs you more than he needs us right now. When you find him, you have to swear you’ll call us and let us know that he’s okay. And you have to tell him we miss him and want him to come home already”

“I... I’m not going to rush him”

“You don’t need to. We just want him to know where not mad and we miss him. If he gets hurt on your watch, we will kick your arse”

“I feel like you guys should be there as much as I should”

“We already got to see him since you did. He loves us, but he’s waiting for you”

Keith looked to Coran, Coran smiling at him. Keith didn’t particularly feel this was a time to be smiling. He was still worried about this bleed, on top of if Matt and Rieva had helped Lance or simply upset him

“I’ll get right onto it. Here, this is from Lance, perhaps you should read it before you see him? He took the loss of Miriam very hard. I’m sorry we couldn’t contact you sooner about it. We would have pulled you out of your mission if you’d been here. I’m sorry for your loss”

Being stuck waiting for permission, the trio went up to the bookshop. Keith had never sat down in the bookshop before. The three of them sitting near the front window, Lance’s letter in Keith’s hands. He wanted to know what Lance was thinking, but he also wanted to hear everything from his boyfriend himself. Was there some goodbye in the letter? Had Lance not thought he’d ever return? How many times had he checked his phone for news, only to find nothing. He wanted to call him, but with Lance not answering his calls... and only his calls it seemed. Matt and Rieva were there. That was good. They could have fucking contacted him though. They knew the mission was wrapping up. God. He hoped they’d told Lance he was okay.

“Keith?”

Keith blinked, realising he was crying. Teardrops on the envelope of the letter

“Sorry... I was thinking about what Lance must have been going through”

Hunk nodded at him

“He’s all we’ve been thinking about too. Do you want us to go so you can read the letter alone?”

“No... I... should I read it?”

“Lance wrote it for you. He must have had a lot to say”

“I want to hear that from him. What if... what if he thought it was over?”

“Even if he did, he still waited for you... Did... did you guys have a fight?”

A fight would have been easier. They could have made up if they had. He would have pestered Lance into talking to him...

“No. It just got harder and harder to call... I’m sorry, I want to explain things to him first. So much happened that I don’t know where to begin... I haven’t... talked to him since the end of December... when I got back, he didn’t answer any of my calls or messages”

“I’m sure he just needed time, Bud. I think you should read what Lance wrote”

Pidge nodded her agreement

“Even if it’s hard or something you don’t want to read, he still wrote whatever it was that he was feeling and thinking...”

Keith looked at the envelope again

“I think... I think I’m going to wait until I see him. He can tell me off then”

“Are you sure? He did write it for you”

“Yeah. I’m not going to believe it’s over until he tells me himself”

“We’ve got hours by the seems of things, what do you want to now you’re back?”

He wanted to get up and pace. Start yelling. Demand Coran hurry up. If he could have driven to Cuba he probably would have

“Maybe you can fill me in on everything else I’ve missed?”

Pidge snorted

“Let’s go get coffee then. You’ve like, missed nothing”

[keijiwrites]

some things are meant to be

this is a birthday present for @nblance happy birthday my dude 💙

Pairing: klance

Word count: 2242

Rating: general

It was officially the big day. The day they were to marry. Nerves and anticipation filled the room and Lance was ready to burst. It was - finally - the day he and Keith were going to marry. Lance felt a flutter of nerves in his stomach as he looked at himself in the mirror, fixing his ceremonial uniform from the Garrison, showing off the medals he’d earned throughout the years. He toyed with his hair a little, hands shaking.

“Lance.”

He jumped at the voice of his mother. “Hey, ma.”

“Ready?” She asked kindly, warm smile on her face for her youngest son. She walked closer and brushed his shoulder with her hands. “Mijo, I’m so happy for you.” She grinned, eyes already watery.

Lance grinned and hugged her tightly. “Thanks, ma.” He murmured and squeezed a little harder before letting her go.

“You ready?”

He nodded, exhaling deeply. “Yeah.”

Laura led him downstairs, the ceremony and reception being held in the same place where Keith and Lance were staying for the night. Lance saw Veronica talking with Rachel, both in short dresses because of course Lance would want his wedding to be held in the great outdoors and of course Keith was one to concede to whatever Lance wanted.

He and Laura walked towards them, butterflies in his stomach. The fact that he was to marry Keith was sinking in and fast. The nerves were cranked up and he seriously wanted to drown the butterflies in his stomach.

His irrational thoughts were surfacing and he wanted to step on them as hard as he could.

“Hey, little bro” Rachel grinned, throwing her arms around Lance for a quick hug. “You ready?”

Lance nodded, swallowing thickly.

What if they were rushing? What if Keith didn’t want to get married so early on? What if-

He shook his head a little to get rid of those nasty thoughts. They weren’t rushing anything. They had been dating for six years for fucks sake. Twenty-eight was a good age to get married.

Rachel and Veronica guided Lance to his place, while his mother took a seat next to his father at the front row where his most important people sat. He could see everyone from there, Pidge and Romelle were sitting together, along with Matt and his girlfriend. Krolia was next to Laura, looking stoic in her ceremonial Blade suit. Everyone tried to get her to wear a dress, but they all agreed she looked awkward in them. And she confessed she wasn’t comfortable in dresses.

Lance felt a rush of relief when he saw Hunk and Allura approaching. “Five more minutes for the guests to get comfortable and we start.” Allura announced.

“Is it normal to feel so nervous?” Lance asked to no one in particular. He could feel the nervous sweat rolling down his back and hands shaking as he tightened his fists.

Hunk grinned at him sympathetically. “Definitely. But don’t be nervous, man. Keith is as cool as a cucumber.”

Earlier

“Holy, shit, Shiro.” Keith breathed as he paced in front of his brother and Adam. “What if he doesn’t want to marry me? What if-”

“Christ, Keith. Calm down.” Adam chuckled. “I’m sure Lance does want to marry you. He was pining after your ass for like a solid two years. Now, calm down. You’re going to mess up your hair,” He huffed and fixed the stray hair that had fallen from Keith’s bun. He patted Keith’s shoulders, flattening the wrinkles on his ceremonial uniform.

Keith took a deep breath, calming down his nerves. “I’m fine. I’m cool. It’s all good.”

“Your face is drenched in sweat.”

“Fuck!”

Lance was impatiently waiting at the end of the isle for Keith. He was supposed to arrive five minutes ago and the black paladin was nowhere to be found. He was nervous, he felt like his heart was in his throat and every second that passed he felt like his stomach would drop out of his feet.

“Lance!”

Lance turned at the sound of Keith’s voice. His breath hitched when he saw Keith in his ceremonial uniform, his own badges on display. Lance noticed Keith’s hair was tied up in a bun at the crown of his head instead of his usual ponytail.

“Hi.” He breathed out, unsubtle raking his eyes over Keith.

“Hey.” Keith stared at him for a solid five seconds before giggling.

Lance blinked at him because that was knew. Keith had never giggled before. And Lance knew all about Keith’s laughing fits but this was a new sound.

“You look amazing, babe.” Keith took Lance’s hands in his own, smiling softly.

Lance returned the smile and just as he was about to say the same to Keith, Rachel interrupted them.

“Just because you’re defenders of the universe, doesn’t mean you can be late.” She scowled at Keith without any heat. “You ready?”

The paladins looked at each other before nodding at her. She was gone in the blink of an eye and not even a minute later, the music started to play. Keith let go of one of Lance’s hand and smiled at his soon to be husband. Lance had butterflies in his stomach because in a matter of minutes they would officially be husbands.

Not even halfway down the aisle Lance already had tears in his eyes and Keith was a giggling mess next to Lance. Once they arrived at the podium Coran initiated the wedding, talking about how he remembered when he would officiate weddings at the castle and making a joke here and there. Lance knew he was only doing that to calm their nerves and Lance was grateful for him.

Once they hand exchanged their vows and had their rings on their fingers, Coran announced they could kiss. Lance didn’t spare a second, grabbing Keith by the cheeks and kissing the living daylights out of him. Laughter bubbled out of both of their mouths, gleeful they were finally husbands.

Their families were the first people to hug them tightly and pepper kisses on their faces.

They made it to the reception area that wasn't so far from the ceremony. Lance had asked Kinkade to be their photographer and the pilot had promise they would get the best pictures. After a small photographic session and everyone was inside the reception area, the couple took a few minutes to themselves.

“You look amazing, Keith.” Lance murmured, thumb rubbing Keith's cheek softly.

“You don’t looks so bad yourself.” Keith was blushing as he fiddled with one of the badges on Lance’s uniform, silver ring glinting under the lights.

Lance took Keith’s hand in his and kissed his knuckles followed by the ring, the matal cold against his lips. “I’m so happy, you have no idea.”

Keith smiled at him, features soft before he leaned forward and pressed their lips together in a soft kiss. “You ready?”

Lance let out a breathy chuckle. “Why do you sound nervous? Not even half of the Garrison is here, dude.”

“You’re seriously calling me dude?”

“Would you prefer dude or mullet? Maybe even man.”

“Oh, my god. Shut up and let’s go.”

Lance was chuckling as they entered, Hunk, being the mic man, announcing them as they entered. Everyone was cheering for them as they did. They made it to the dance floor and Can’t Help Falling In Love started to play. They stood closer, forehead pressed together and arms around each other.

“Your song choice was corny as hell, babe.” Lance snorted, but it wasn’t malicious. The soft look on his face screamed he was touched by the sentiment of the song.

Lance shut his eyes, smile ghosting his lips. Keith did the same, getting lost in Lance’s presence and blocking out everyone else. It was their day, finally, after so many tries of making the wedding possible, they finally did.

The song ended, but they didn’t move away from each other, instead Keith wrapped his arms tighter around Lance, wanting to enjoy the moment a little more.

“Okay, you two, move it. We have speeches to give.” Pidge said into the mic, Hunk being heard protesting faintly in the background.

Lance and Keith chuckled but turned their attention to them. Keith snorted at their two friends fighting over the mic. Finally, it was Allura who snatched the mic.

“I’m not sure how these speeches really work but I just wanted to say that I’m very happy for you two. You finally get to officiate your love for one another. Keith, I know we started out a little rough but I’m very glad you finally came out of your shell and, what was it that Pidge said? ‘Grew the balls to ask out Lance?’” She looked back at Pidge who gave Allura a thumbs up while everyone else laughed. “Lance, you’re an amazing friend and I’m sure you’ll be an even better husband. To Lance and Keith.”

“To Lance and Keith!”

Shiro was up and when he took the mic from Allura, he not so subtly wiped his eyes with a tissue. “Hi everyone.” He smiled sort of sheepishly.

“Seven years as a commanding officer and he still gets nervous talking in front of crowds. Wimp.” Keith murmured, making Lance snort behind the champagne glass Adam had handed them.

“It’ll be quick, I promise. These two had been pining for each other for too long, let’s start with that.” Shiro started, making the newlyweds groan. “But I think it was worth it. The love you two have for one another is amazing and I know many would do anything to have what you do. It’s amazing how far you two have come and I hope it doesn’t stop now.” He was starting to tear up, clearing his throat every few words. “I’m proud of both you and happy to see this day finally happen. Keep doing great, boys. To Lance and Keith.”

“To Lance and Keith!”

Pidge and Hunk were next, but instead of speaking, a video began to play on the wall behind the two engineers. Lance started to tear up at the pictures and videos that began to show up. There were pictures of their Garrison days, to videos of when they were training together in the castle. Lance wanted to die when an audio feed that he wanted to erase from his memory was brought up.

“We had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!”

The words “Lance, in fact, does remember” popped up on the screen.

“You remembered?!” Keith asked incredulously.

“I was having a bi crisis, okay?!”

Keith huffed out a laugh, turning back to the screen. Silly pictures of them as a group and a couple came up in chronological order. The video of the proposal came up.

Lance had asked Keith to marry him in a rather inconvenient situation.

They were in the middle of infiltrating a Galra base when Lance had turned to Keith and asked, “When all of this is over, will you marry me?”

Keith had frozen in his tracks and turned to Lance. “Are you shitting me? We’re in the middle of a mission, Lance!”

“Okay, but is that a yes or a no?”

Keith glared at him before pressing a bruising kiss on Lance’s mouth. “Of course, dumbass. But if you try to ask me another important question like that I swear I’ll maim you.”

“Roger that, team leader.”

No one could see the look on Lance’s face as the feed was coming from his helmet cam but everyone knew there was a smirk in his face.

Other pictures and videos of them on Earth showed up. Dates, hang outs and pictures of how they came to be being most of them. Lance thought the video was corny, but it was the sentiment that counted. Besides, he loved corny things even if he wouldn’t admit it.

Once the slideshow finished Lance rushed to his friends and hugged them tightly, thanking them for it. “It was amazing. How did you get so many vids from the castle.”

“We had a little help.” Hunk grinned and looked at Coran.

Lance owed that man his life.

A few minutes later, the party was in full swing. Almost everyone was dancing and having a good time. Lance stood a little to the side, drink in hand and taking it all in. He felt like his heart would burst out of his chest by how happy he was. Keith looked stunning dancing with Lance’s niece and nephew, cheeks flushed and laughing loudly. As if sensing him, Keith looked at him and locked eyes. He watched as Keith bent down and whispered something to them. The two kids turned to Lance and hurried towards him.

“Tío! Come dance with us!” Victoria took his free hand and started to tug on it. “Pretty please!”

Lance chuckled at their puppy eyes and set his drink down. “Alright, I’ll dance with you.”

He let them tug him along to the dance floor where he was immediately swallowed in by his family. There was laughter and jokes going around about their dance moves going around. Keith was laughing just as loud as everyone else, and Lance really felt like his heart was going to burst any second.

He didn’t regret his things happened between them. He thought if they were any different, they wouldn’t be where they are right now and that was something Lance would never change.

[multiifangirl]

Kacxa Week Day 4: Scars

The Paladins had just finished a battle with the Galra and when they returned to their base, They found that it was their loved ones that got hurt and Keith took it harder then the others. (Mostly Keith)

“I think we should be good for now.” Keith spoke into the comms so all the paladins could hear him.

“I don’t see any more fighters.” He added and waited for a response.

“Yea I’m with Keith, let’s head back.” Hunk replied after he heard his leader. “Yes, I agree. The headquarters could still be under attack.” Allura responded worried.

“Are you sure the Lions have enough powder to get back?” Lance asked through the intercom although mostly to Pidge.

“The battle took a lot of energy but if we go at a slower speed we can make it.” Pidge answered.

“Then it’s settled, Let’s go Paladins.” Keith announced and started to head back to the Lions’ headquarters. A new place that was built a short while after the war ended on earth. The paladins had decided to leave the Galaxy Garrison and move to a different planet along with the Coalition just until the war with the Galra ended for good.

The group had just finished a very intense battle with Haggar and her.. experiments of an army. Several warriors had been injured already when Voltron had taken most of them up to space to fight. What they failed to know was that several people that were crucial to team Voltron but also to them had been hurt.

It took the Paladins an hour to get back at the speed they were going, but they soon landed and only then did they realize how much damage had been caused.

“Guys..” Hunk started but he was speechless. The Lions opened their mouth and let the Paladins out. All of them ran inside the base and found Coran. Each of the five asked different questions at the same time only to be stopped mid sentence by Coran.

“One at a time please Paladins.” Coran stated. Silence appeared in the group to see which one would ask first, Pidge was that one. “Is Matt alright?!” She asked frantically. “Matt has a few cuts and bruises but should be fine.” Coran stated while Pidge let out a breath of relief. Hunk was next. “Romelle and Shay?” He asked with his hands folded together waiting for an answer. “Romelle has a sprain as you earthlings call it, and Shay is in tip top shape.” Hunk only nodded and left the team to find out where Romelle was.

Allura just asked what she could do to assist and Lance being the type that he is.. asked the same thing but more so, he could impress Allura. Keith was the only one left. Coran knew who he was concerned about but didn’t want to ask. “Krolia took a few hits and is recovering Keith, She’s in the room next to yours.” Keith didn’t respond to Coran as he started to make his way to his mother’s room.

Keith knocked on the door and heard Kroila’s voice. He opened the door and found her laying in a bed with a few bandages over her shoulder and arms.

“What happened out there?” Keith asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Chaos. When you and the other Paladins left, not all the ships followed. The rebel and I fought hard against them but the Glara had more people to spare, we didn’t. We fought them back the best we could but we lost more and more warriors as it went on. We were prepared to die but soon the fleet backed down and went away. We didn’t know why but we were grateful it did. We couldn’t have survived much longer.” Krolia explained looking down. She didn’t know how to tell Keith the next part. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.” Keith whispered feeling guilty.

“No Keith, I’m sorry.” Krolia spoke and Keith looked confused. “Why are you sorry?” He asked. Krolia didn’t answer him for awhile but she needed to be the one to tell him.

“Keith.. I had my back turned while fighting a Galra Officer, I did all I could..” She started.

“What are you talking about?” Keith asked wanting to know.

“She was stabbed Keith, in the chest. I heard a scream and turned around and saw her lying on the ground. I called Matt over and he took Acxa inside.” Krolia explained and Keith felt his heart stop.

“Are.. Are you saying she’s gone?” Keith croaked out feeling the tears roll down his face. Krolia shook her head. “She looked very bad Keith, I haven’t heard anything but don’t expect good news.” Krolia told her son. Keith stood up abruptly and left to find out what happened to Acxa.

He asked every person he saw walking down the corridors to see if they knew anything but after no success, he met up with Coran. “How’s your mom Keith?” He asked but Keith wasn’t interested in telling him. “Where’s Acxa?!” He asked. His heart felt heavy as he waited for Coran’s response. “Acxa? I haven’t seen her.” Now Keith was panicking, he needed to know.

“Where is Matt?!” He asked again. “With Pidge why do you ask?” “Where’s Pidge, Coran!” Keith shouted. “On the deck.” He gulped.

Keith ran upstairs to where the deck was, he opened the door and saw Pidge and Matt embraced in a sibling hug staring out to the mess that was outside.

“Matt!” Keith shouted and he turned around. “Where’s Acxa?” He asked. Keith watched as Matt and Pidge’s expression turned to sorrow even more. “I brought her in from the battle and Shrio appeared and said he would take her.” He answered. Keith was about to loose it. No one seemed to know where she was. Now he had to find Shiro. But this time he had an idea of where he would be. Keith ran back downstairs to where all the fallen warriors were. There he found a member of the blade.

“Do you have a list of the fallen?” Keith asked and the member nodded. “Is the name Acxa on there?” He asked and held his breath. The galra scrolled through a list he had and nodded. Keith’s whole world stopped. No, No, Acxa couldn’t be gone. She wouldn’t leave him like that... Keith stepped away from the Galra and walked back to his own room and sat down still in shock.

He.. he didn’t even get to tell her what she meant to him.... He closed his eyes in pain. Acxa was not coming back, he wouldn’t see her in a few months or years. The more he thought about it the more he felt worse. He didnt even get to say goodbye. Actually the last word he did tell her was “We are under attack.” Some goodbye that was.

His thoughts were interrupted when a knock sounded on his door. “Keith? You in there?”

“Go away Shiro.” Keith yelled, he knew his voice sounded hoarse but he didn’t care. Shiro opened the door despite Keith’s wishes. “Hey, I know you’re tired but I need you to come with me.” Shiro told him. “I don’t need to do anything.” He replied bitterly. “It’s for your own good Keith.” Shiro responded but he stayed where he was. “Keith I know you are hurting but-“ “No shiro! You don’t know! I just lost one of my best friends, The only one who got what it was like to be me! I lost her. And you let her die.” Keith stated angry. “I lost one

of those too Keith, I understand but you-“ Shiro tried to explained. “Whatever shiro.” Keith interrupted and left the room.

Keith wanted nothing more then to just be alone, but of course that didn’t happen. Allura appeared by his side and dragged him into a room to be looked at for injuries against his will again. Keith wasn’t hurting on the outside, it was the inside that felt like dying and there was nothing that could fix it. Keith left after getting examined and again, slowly walked down the corridor. He wasn’t thinking anything, just silence in his head so maybe that’s why he heard what he heard. Keith suddenly froze and listened closely at what two people were discussing.

“Her injuries are worse then I feared, but she’s a fighter. She will make it.” Keith heard a deep voice say. “Will she wake soon?” A female voice asked. Keith listened more and what he heard next made his heart stop. “Acxa should be awake in a few minutes.”

Acxa was alive?! She wasn’t dead?! Keith had to take a moment to process this all over again. He didn’t loose her after all! He went into the room and saw the two people who were talking a few seconds ago. He looked past them and saw Acxa with bandages around her mid section. His heart ached knowing he didn’t protect her. He slowly made his way to her side.

“You’re alive.” He whispered as a tear rolled down. Acxa’s eyes opened and a slight smile appeared on her lips. “You’re ok.” She mumbled. Keith nodded, He couldn’t let this opportunity go by, Acxa was alive and he was going to tell her what she meant to him, from this day forward.

[froldgapp]

I so wanted to write today but a combination of wrist + tonnes of band stuff = almost nada.

But!

Idea is roughly:

Keith’s small touches to the waist, the shoulder, the hip, guided Shiro down the long ramp of Black’s maw towards the steaming asphalt of the garrison airstrip. Though some of his strength had returned, Shiro still had bouts of dizziness; strongest when he was tired or anxious. With the sun – Earth’s sun, finally – beating down from above, Shiro was far from steady on his feet. The mass of orange and grey uniforms below swarmed, cheering, then suddenly amongst them, a face appeared.

‘Adam,’ Shiro gasped, and stumbled.

Keith caught him immediately by the crook of the elbow, hissing his name. Uchu bumped her head against his other leg, issuing a small mruff of concern. He tapped her head with the fingers of his left hand. ‘It’s okay,’ he said. Neither Keith nor the wolf seemed very convinced. For her part, Krolia said nothing; only slid her sharp eyes towards her son then off again towards the horizon.

Blah blah things and bits

Shiro waved off the group of jeeps carrying Hunk and Lance towards the waiting jets that would take them to their families. Pidge and Matt had already been whisked off by an ecstatic Colleen and Sam Holt. Allura, Coran and Krolia were somewhere in the desert, paying their respects to the cave that had housed the blue lion for lifetimes.

Alone save the staff clearing up the last of the shining confetti, Keith, Shiro and Adam were kicking up dust waiting for their convoy. Uchu hadn’t been shy with the spectacled garrison officer on meeting him, almost knocking him over in an attempt to get a few good kisses in. ‘She’s... spirited,’ Adam had said. ‘Takes after him,’ Shiro had answered, throwing a thumb at Keith who was otherwise occupied prying pebbles from his boot with his blade.

At last, their jeep arrived, stony-faced driver at the wheel. Adam helped Shiro in, mostly managing to work around a fussing Uchu. Shiro, exhausted and barely able to keep his eyes open, slumped against the far window. Adam called his off-barracks address to the driver then turned to Keith.

‘Where are you headed, Keith?’

Emotions chased their way across the younger man’s face; quick as the pages of a wind-blown book. He halted by the car door, right in front of Adam. ‘I...’ His eyes canted to Shiro over Adam’s shoulder, then to Uchu whose yellow eyes were fixed squarely on the driver’s sandwich lying half-exposed on the dashboard.

‘You have a place near here, right?’ prompted Adam, face open, polite.

‘I eh...’ Keith pulled in a breath and mustered something like a smile. ‘I’m going to hang back here. Check on the lions.’

Adam smiled. ‘The lions. Right.’ He reached to give Uchu a final pet, but she ducked from his hand and continued to eye up the sandwich. The driver followed her unnerving gaze and the window began sliding up. The wolf, not to be deterred, began to charge up, blue light dancing along her fur.

‘Uchu!’ Keith squawked, grabbing her by her ruff. ‘S-sorry. She eh... she’s very wilful. We’ll go getting.’ A cough. ‘Get going.’

‘Sure,’ said Adam lightly. ‘We’ll see you tomorrow, Keith. After Shiro’s had some rest.’

Keith nodded, mouth pinched. ‘Sure.’ He pulled Uchu towards him, placing his hand across her eyes. She mruffed her displeasure, but otherwise behaved as Adam climbed into the jeep and pulled the door shut with a loud bang. ‘Keith,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll look after him. We’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Right,’ Keith said. ‘Tomorrow.’

Things and stuff

Lying in the cramped, familiar space of Black’s cockpit, Keith could almost believe he was still in space; lost in those long, lonely nights before he found his mother. Uchu finished lapping up some water and trotted back to Keith’s sad nest of emergency blankets and a jacket for a pillow. She dropped herself down in front of him with an explosive sigh.

‘Just me and you, girl,’ said Keith, sad for himself, for what he thought those first few moments back on Earth might be, and how quickly it seemed the past stole them away.