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ambivalentangst · 7 years ago

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Our Blossoming Hearts

Another pinch hitter work for @voltron-ss for @mango-fangirl, coming in hot with a klance soulmate au that I’ve had as a WIP for a long time, that this event allowed me to finish! I really hope you enjoy it, this was a pleasure to make!

Keith knew the story behind why the flowers bloomed on his palms. He was one of the lucky few in the world who had a soulmate. Someone the universe had specially picked out, that would fit with Keith like no other possibly could. Some person that had the unfortunate luck of being stuck with him. If only he could tell whoever made the such beautiful blossoms that they didn’t know who they apparently loved so much. If they did, Keith was sure they wouldn’t care at all. Nobody else ever did.

Lance loved his soulmate fiercely. Ever since the buds opened on his collarbones with a small prick and a hesitant unfurling of red petals, he had been head over heels for somebody he’d never met. That was just the way it was. Lance always gave his love like that, simple and easy just because he had so much love to share. It was what drew people to him, but who Lance wanted more than anything was the soulmate that made his red flowers, unlike any in the world, grow so full and scarlet and in such abundance that they hung like a halo above his shoulders.

Keith ripped his flowers from his flesh, slicing them savagely off of his skin day after day. It became routine, the harsh cut of scissors on the stem just above the center of his palm. It stung, just a little since they weren’t really part of him. Still, his soulmate’s love made them grow in just as full the next day. Again, Keith severed them from himself day in and out, one for each hand. It was why he’d taken to wearing the gloves, to hide the crushed petals from the outside world. It was only late at night, just a few hours before the flowers met their demise, that he let them ghost across the skin of his face that he held in his own hands at one foster home or another. It was pathetic and his cheeks burned in shame as he did it, but oh how he adored the gentle tickle of them against his skin. Someone out there loved him, but Keith could not allow himself to hope. It would just hurt more in the end.

Lance let his flowers grow, drank lots of water and took care of his skin because if that was the fodder they needed to grow strong, then so be it. It never hurt to look good anyways. He wore his flowers like precious jewels draped over a king. Lance certainly felt like one with such treasure. They felt like a shield from the world, and even when tears slipped from his eyes and he cast his eyes down, he was always reminded by that ring of red that there was someone waiting for him. They loved him, and that was enough.

Keith smothered his flowers beneath leather gloves as he always had, tight and starving them of air that could kill the flowers on others. No matter what Keith tried, by the end of the day he always had full, azure blooms to show for his soulmate’s unending affections.

When Lance went to the Garrison he refused to trim them. Lance had long ago learned how to bring his most precious possessions back to life after a day crushed beneath clothes, even though the uniforms were tight and his flowers always left an awkward bump in the fabric. So be it. He would not cast off his soulmate’s love. Keith, on the other hand, was reluctantly permitted to wear the gloves.

His latest foster family, the Shiroganes, had their son and the kid who was essentially Keith’s big brother talk with the board and upon explanation they’d let it happen. So, while Lance garnered attention and stories throughout the school for his wreath he proudly wore, Keith hid his away. It was Lance’s flowers that drew his attention, that made him worthy of notice, not their stupid ‘rivalry’. Lance had his shirt off in the common room, preening and grooming his flowers while others pretended not to stare, when Keith walked in and was slammed with the realization that there was someone out there who had enough faith to keep their flowers, to let them grow so fully. Lance didn’t have to hide his for fear of being hurt. Deep within Keith something tore painfully at the sight, and he turned away. It did not even occur to him that his want for love, the love he felt for whoever it was that cared for him so generously is what made that circlet of red on Lance.

Lance continued his studies, working hard to keep up and even harder to keep his flowers in shape. It had always been something he took seriously. He couldn’t bear to part with his flowers, and every time a bud simply fell off with the passage of time, even when others took his place, he mourned. He had all of his fallen petals back home, kept in a jar of wilted love. He began another at the Garrison, though he never told anyone. It was something special, just for him. He was silent and while his flowers were common knowledge, his devotion to them was not as much so.

Keith studied, when he felt like it. He worked and kept an eye on the boy with the soulmate who loved him so. Lance was always in the back of his mind, every time he brought his blade with its glowing symbol down time and time again on his flowers, letting them fall into the trash to be later burned. He’d never kept a single one.

The Kerberos mission sent Keith away. Lance rose to fighter class, but he recognized that it was not his own work that got him there. That saddened him, but he remembered that he was still good, he was still worth love. That was why he had a soulmate, and so with a kiss pressed to the glass he kept old flowers in, he soldiered on.

It was not until Lance was shoved into space that he realized he’d left his soulmate, whoever they were, behind. He was crushed, but there was no time to grieve for love lost in space, He had a war to win, and so he fought.

Keith had never believed he truly had a chance. He’d accepted very early on that all the wonderful stories he’d heard of those who came from horrible lives, but met their soulmate and had everything turn around for them weren’t for him. He knew that all it took was a brushing of their petals. If two people were soulmates, the flowers were supposed to light up, glow with undeniable radiance. Still, it stung to know that he would never have that. Not anymore, if he ever had. Nobody wanted a freak of a soulmate, that wasn’t even human. As Lance took his shirt off to expose his broad shoulders crowned in flowers that bloomed so beautifully, Keith always felt the pain of such joy.

He was the one who found out first.

Lance had fallen asleep on one of the couches in the common room, like he had back at the Garrison. The castle was on the night cycle, and Keith was suddenly hyper aware of the idea that should he want to, he could reach out to touch him. His gloves were tight, strangling the life that wanted so desperately to thrive on his hands, but it wouldn’t be hard. It was irrational, yes. So improbable it was absurd, but yet Keith found his feet taking quick, light steps that brought him to Lance, sleeping so peacefully. He had to know if the one person he knew like him was his. Keith worked his glove off with surprising care for someone who wore them so religiously. The flower was there as always, full and overflowing the skin of his hand. Hesitantly, he reached forward, and let it touch Lance’s.

Keith clenched his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable disappointment when he opened them. As they cracked open again he let out a sigh of both relief and resigned acceptance. Of course not, Lance was the last person that could possibly be his soulmate. He hated him anyways, so it didn’t matter. Keith was ready to pull away, when he finally saw the glow.

It threaded through their petals in veiny lines, lit up in a purple light that made Keith’s breath catch in his throat. It was impossible, it couldn’t be, but there it was. Lance’s petals glowed the same violet, threaded through their normal scarlet. Keith stared at his flowers, the same ones that grew every day no matter how he tried to be rid of them.

Lance loved him. He made those flowers grow faster than the wind could blow, allowed his own to be voluminous and wild on the garden of his body. Keith had cut them day after day, even knowing they’d be back. Keith yanked his hands back. Lance couldn’t know. Lance would never know, because Lance would never want him.

The glow disappeared as Keith pulled away. After the incident he did not speak with, did not even look at Lance unless he absolutely had to. All he could think of when he did was the way his face had looked in sleep, lips parted peacefully while a violet shock overcame the petals he tended to so diligently. The experience added a special sort of pain to the way his blade severed the blooms, but Keith did not stop. He could never give in, because that would mean he was defeated. That would mean he allowed himself to hope.

Keith was not expecting his gloves to be destroyed. He had not planned for that, in any sense of the word. Still, he wasn’t exactly ready for a simple resource gathering mission to be on a planet with an acidic atmosphere. Neither had Coran, and therefore while Keith was otherwise fine his gloves were not. The pathetic scraps of not-even-cloth were nothing wearable, and they had no resources on hand to make a suitable replacement. Thus, Keith had a dilemma. He went to Shiro, explaining with buds already half grown at that point in the day, that he needed something to cover them. He did not explain why such matters were so important, but how could he? He knew Shiro would meddle, as big brothers were prone to do. Still, he had nothing for him, and Keith simply took to whittling down his flowers whenever he could. If he could just reduce them to stems, they were much less noticeable. Still, when he trained he didn’t always have time or the energy to stop every hour or so to cut his petals.

Why was Lance so persistent anyways? It was annoying. Or at least, Keith told himself it was annoying. Nobody needed to know how he laid awake at night, blushing in the dark of his room because suddenly he was hyperaware of everything and anything Lance did. The way he was thrumming with life and beauty, bursting at the seams with it when Keith seemed so dull in comparison. It made him incredibly happy in a clandestine, mortifying way that Keith had never really experienced before. He hated it. In response to that hatred, he trained.

Lance had noticed that Keith was avoiding him and that admittedly kind of stung because he’d thought they’d been doing better and of course he craved for those violet eyes to look to him with something more than a base tolerance, but he didn’t hold it against him. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, there was no need to be upset. Except of course, Lance was. He tried to stop watching his back fade from sight, always leaving the moment Lance’s foot hit the door. Had he done something wrong? It pained him not to know, especially after how many night he’d spent fantasizing and hoping that maybe, if he got lucky, Keith would be the one for him. Apparently, it wasn’t to be. One moment everything had been fine, and then overnight Keith decided that he wanted nothing to do with him. He knew Keith trained, had laser precision focus that he reverted to in battle, but he also knew that Keith was logging more hours than ever in the training deck. He knew it was because of him too. When he saw him in there, dodging and rolling with the lithe grace of a panther he could only sigh and turn away, flinching as he heard the tell tale sound of gladiator after gladiator falling to his blade.

At least he had his soulmate though, Lance reasoned. As far as he knew humans were the only one with such a phenomena and though he hated knowing that he’d left his soulmate behind on Earth, it was comforting to know they were safe. He would protect them along with the rest of the universe, and then he would return home. Just like always, Lance tended to his flowers. Somewhere out there someone loved him enough to swath him in scarlet, he only had to wait to find them.

Lance went to the training deck when he could, but it was getting increasingly harder to do so. Every time Lance poked his head through the doors, there was Keith hacking away at the robots and dutifully Lance would turn away. He didn’t want to be anywhere he wasn’t wanted. It was one of those times he tried and failed to have the room to himself, or at least without Keith, that he saw it. Wrapped tightly around Keith’s bayard in a sharp contrast to its red, were crushed, blue petals. Lance sucked in a sharp breath, and that drew Keith’s attention long enough to give the bot the advantage. It rammed its staff hard into Keith’s chest, sending him back a good couple meters and into the wall. Lance yelped, and called for an end to the training as he rushed over to him.

“Woah, I’m sorry man I didn’t mean to get you hurt,” he told him, fretting over Keith’s smaller body. It was packed with muscle, hard lines at every turn and Lance ignored the way his cheeks burned at that discovery. Keith lifted a hand to wave him off, Lance’s hand braced against his back to help him sit up.

“It’s fine,” he managed between coughs. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” Lance bit his lip, ignoring the sting from previous times he’d done such a thing.

“If you’re sure,” he ceded reluctantly, helping Keith to his feet. Now that the danger had passed, Lance was able to be properly enamored with the blossoms on Keith’s palms again. He grinned, taking his wrist to hold his hand face up.

“These are gorgeous. You didn’t tell me you had a soulmate,” he complained, gently tracing the outline of each individual petal. Keith stuttered in his response, his hand tense beneath Lance’s touch.

“I-It wasn’t important,” he protested while Lance hummed his surprise. He marveled at how soft they were under his touch, touching one to his cheek.

“They’re gorgeous!” he exclaimed, and Keith felt his heart melt at how soft Lance’s face looked against the blossoms he unknowingly brought to life. Keith laughed a little awkwardly, and did his best to remain calm.

“Thanks, I guess. Not my work, anyways,” he told him. Lance only laughed, and Keith felt his breath catch in his throat at the way he tossed his head back a little while his blue eyes sparkled. This was his soulmate, and Lance didn’t even know it.

“Yeah but they’re still so pretty. I’ve only ever seen a few people with them, and they’re so full.” Lance’s flowers were forming a bulge in his shirt, and though Keith could understand precisely why Lance much preferred not wearing a shirt, he was glad he had to to be decent, or Keith would’ve been a goner. His gaze fell on the flowers again.

“It’s too bad you always crush them beneath your gloves. Or, well, used to I guess. You don’t really get to do that anymore,” he mused, before his grip tightened on Keith and a smile lit up his face.

“We should do some skincare. I know you’re a little dry and I have just the thing for-” Keith shut down, and yanked his hand away quickly.

“No, none of that,” he snapped, and tried to ignore the guilt he felt at seeing Lance visibly deflate. It was far too risky to even allow himself to think on that, when they could so easily make contact and then Lance would know. Keith couldn’t have that. “I-I don’t like that, sorry. Just not in the mood, okay? Maybe some other time.” Lance nodded, his broad shoulders and the halo of red Keith knew to adorn them hunched together.

“Oh, okay. Have fun training, Keith,” he told him, and then he was brushing past him and he was gone. While Lance cried later in his room despite the love his flowers reminded him of, Keith felt guilt erupt from within him as he cut the growth off. Despite how he’d crushed him, it was as full as ever.

Then there was the mission, and Keith knew everything was truly over for him. He was done for, finished about the second Lance yanked him by the collar and shoved him in what appeared to be a utility closet to hide while masses of sentries crashed by. He could feel Lance’s hot breath against his neck, clamping a hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t cry out. He bit his fingers and with a hiss he was released.

“What was that for?” Lance growled, and Keith wished there was light so he could glare and Lance and have the message be received.

“For shoving me, you idiot,” he snapped, and Lance scoffed.

“I’m sorry, would you rather me have left you out there for the sentries?” Keith grumbled, but didn’t deny his point.

“It sounds like they’re gone, anyways. Let’s get out of here.” Keith reached forward to push on the door, but when he pressed, nothing happened. He pushed a few more times, palms slamming into the cold metal. It didn’t budge. Lance sighed.

“Let me try it, you’re not doing it right,” he told him. Keith was irritated, but he stepped away. Lance banged around and made as much noise as Keith had, but again, nothing happened.

“I’m not doing it right?” Keith mocked. Lance let out a huff of irritation.

“I had a fair chance, alright? Now how do we get out of here? I might be able to shoot the lock off, but I can’t see two feet in front of me, and you’ll be even more useless if I hit you by accident. Keith was indignant at that, but he fumed in silence. Fueling the argument would do him no good. Lance shifted around. At the very least there was enough room for that to be comfortable in wherever they were. He ran his hands along the wall looking for a lightswitch, but all remained dark. Lance cursed under his breath. Keith didn’t know how long they’d been locked away for, but he did know that it was long enough to have the team start to be worried. Their comms weren’t working for some reason, perhaps the signal was blocked in the closet. Keith didn’t know, but he did know he was going to have a problem if they didn’t get out soon. It was then, as Lance brushed past him in the dark, that he realized he had a solution.

Keith instantly shot down the idea. No, no, no. No, absolutely not. He was not going to throw out the fact that he and Lance were soulmates now just so that they could escape. That was irrational and wrong and such a horrible idea he could barely stand it. Still, what choice did they have? Their teammates were waiting on them, and they needed to go. With a resigned sigh and fear that climbed in his chest, Keith breathed out a command.

“Lance, I need to see your flowers.” Lance hummed, banging on something or other in the room. He was still in pursuit of a switch.

“Now’s not really the time, Keith. Besides, you can’t see shit in here. The lighting is absolutely awful, really. Later.” Keith had to resist the urge to reach over and strange him.

“Just get them out, Lance,” he snarled. Lance complained and still didn’t appear to understand, but he did as told. Keith rolled back his suit to expose his hands with a grimace. Lance already knew about the flowers, and Keith could feel them, crushed and sweaty on his palms. He fumbled in the darkness until he made contact, and like before, after a moment of pause the light that threaded through them was enough to illuminate both their faces. Keith heard a gasp from Lance, and he had to fight to keep his hands from balling into fists that would disguise the connection there.

“Just get us out of here,” he murmured lowly. He tried to fight the tears that threatened to rise. He never wanted Lance to know. He hated that he did, he hated that he knew because now he’d have to tell Keith that he didn’t want him. Even if Keith cut his own flowers off, he cherished them more than anything. He just wanted someone to love him, and Lance certainly wouldn’t. When Lance got his bearings, he tried to protest.

“Keith, I’m-” He cut him off again, louder this time and each word was carefully filed into a stinging point.

“Get. Us. Out.”

Lance did not argue.

Keith hurried away from Lance at the castle before he could even try to talk to him. He ran and hid in his room for hours, craning his ears for sound, or rather the lack of. He wanted to know if it was safe to go out. Still, eventually there came a knock at the door, and a tentative voice called out for him.

“Keith? Keith, are you in there?” Keith, of course, didn’t respond. He sunk deeper in the mound of covers he’d made for himself, as if by doing so he could block out the sound of his soulmate. As it was, he could feel his whole body tingling with Lance’s proximity. His bed also creaked, loudly, and gave him away. Outside, Keith could hear Lance’s sigh.

“Keith, we need to talk. How did you even know we were soulmates? It was a good strategy to get us out, but we can’t pretend that nothing happened.” Keith’s low, raspy voice that had been wrung out as he cried responded,

“Yes we can. Go away, Lance.”

There was silent, and then an unfamiliar sizzling sound and the door slid open. Keith poked his eyes up above his blankets, watching Lance stride in.

“How did you get in?” he demanded to know. Lance tossed him a little, strange gadget that he had gotten from god only knew where. By that, Keith assumed it was Pidge’s.

“Hunk was poking around in Pidge’s room and found this. I meant to give it back, but it’s kinda handy.” Keith scowled.

“Maybe for you.” Lance had the shame to at least blush at that.

“Yeah, sorry, but what was I supposed to do? You’ve been avoiding me for weeks, Keith. I thought we were doing okay, that we were getting closer. Is there something wrong with me? Do you,” he began, and Keith’s heart twisted painfully because his voice sounded so small and hurt and it was because of him, “Do you not want me as your soulmate?” Keith exploded, standing up quickly.

“No! No, not at all. I-” he cleared his throat, and looked away, embarrassed. “I thought you wouldn’t want me, so I didn’t want to burden you with that knowledge.” Lance blinked in surprise.

“You thought I wouldn’t want you?”

Keith looked down, a scarlet stain to his cheeks.

“I was skeptical, okay? Nobody ever has before. Are you saying you do?” Lance looked at him like he was the biggest idiot in the world, and he put his face in his hands in exasperation.

“I’ve only been pining after you since the Garrison,” he mumbled dejectedly, and Keith laughed. He hadn’t been expecting anything like that, and it made him beam.

“You’re not bad yourself,” he mumbled, and Lance grinned just as widely, displaying the smile that made Keith’s heart go all funny in his chest.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Lance reached out and took Keith’s hand, lacing their fingers together while his blue eyes gleamed happily.

“Good, because if I had to deal with your mood for any longer, I was gonna lose it,” he admitted. Keith laughed, and though Lance was pressing the petals on his palms messily against his skin, all was well. They’d gotten lost in the hedges, but they managed to find their way.

#klance #keith #lance #klangst #voltronss2k17 #pining #ambivalentlangst #ambi exchanges

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