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sasuhinasno1fan · 4 years

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Your wish is my command-Klance Month Week 3

So I was supposed to upload a fic yesterday for the end of week 2 but because my first fic couldn’t be reblogged (I didn’t realize that Shallura, even when they broke up before the story started, was considered controversial, but those are the rules so that was my fault) I decided to not force myself to write a story that wasn’t working. It just required a lot of back story that maybe if it had been in the first one, wouldn’t of been so hard to write. Anyway, this story is inspired by my klance BB from like 2018, which still isn’t technically finished so there are a few spoilers, but the main things: Lance had cancer and had a year left to live. The reason he could see his Shinigami Hunk and Pidge is reveled in this but how they find out will be told in the final chapter that will hopefully be released before the end of the year. Hunk gave Lance a bit of blood to help turn him into a healthy, slightly older Altean, posing under the name Isamu, Prince of Altea. Keith is also a singer, who went under the name Red (orginal) but later switches labels, also to be revealed in the story. Hunk and Pidge are given a chance to become humans again after Lance is saved by a surgery that removes the chance and doesn’t damage his vocal cords. Again, all to be revealed in the last chapter. It’s called Forgotten Prince’s Song by sasuhina_gal on AO3 if you want to check it out. Anyway, this is from after all that, enjoy! Also, if anyone cares, Keith’s song is TAEMIN’s ECLIPSE from his last Japanese CD release. I’ve got a TAEMIN problem. Meteor Shower/Promise

Keith watched his reflection as he went through his choreography. He was so focused on watching his moves, he didn’t see the door to the dance studio open, but he did hear the person calling his name.

“Keith! Keith, Keith, Keith!”

he turned in time to catch a hyperactive 21 year old jumping on him. Bright blue eyes and dyed white hair, similar to the kind he’d fallen for, but it wasn’t the looks that made Keith fall for Lance. It was that bright smile and his sunny personality. Even when Lance had to hide behind the mask of popular singer, Lance was still himself and that’s what Keith had fallen for.

Their story was an odd one, odd even for someone who was half Galra and happened to become a member of the universe biggest security group, while also being a J-pop star. Lance had grown up with sarcoma, a tumour that sat right on his vocal cords. Years before they met, a person Lance cared for a lot had died in a plane crash, but instead of moving on, he attached himself to Lance. That caused Lance to see the Shinigami that suddenly appeared in front of him one day. He asked them to help him achieve his one dream before they took his soul, to become a singer. That started his whole adventure of becoming Isamu, Prince of Altea; Altea Records’ most popular singer. Keith first meet Lance as Isamu, back when Lance had the Shinigami making him into an older Altean. he’d met Lance without the mask later and even though Keith spent most of his time around Isamu, other than his name and age, Lance never lied to Keith – other than the whole Shinigami thing, but he found that stuff out later. Of course those same Shinigami had become Lance’s closest friends and wouldn’t allow Lance to pass on, not when they wanted him to live for so much more. A surgery that could remove the cancer and save his vocal cords was found, Keith found out the truth and realised that even as the real Lance, his feelings were the same and in a turn of event, the Shinigami were given another chance at life.

Now 2 years later, healthy and able to sing without having to hide behind a persona, he and Lance were still together. Keith was sure that after all the things they’d been through together, their relationship was strong. He was yet to be proven wrong, and would not like to be.

“Yes Lance? How can I help you?” Keith asked, running a hand through Lance’s hair. It was wind swept, no doubt from his running. He could see the brown roots starting to show. While he first meet Lance while he had white hair, he liked Lance’s natural colour better.

“There’s gonna be a meteor shower this weekend!” Lance shouted.

“Indoor voices Lance.”

Now that he had the ability to be as loud as he wanted without coughing up a storm or feeling pain, Lance was constantly as loud as possible.

“Sorry, but meteor shower! We have to go. I rarely got the chance to go outside because of how sick I was all the time. And we won’t have to bother my grandmother since I moved back into my apartment.”

It killed Keith to destroy the utter excitement Lance had. “Um, Lance. We do have a performance this weekend at Music Core?”

Lance’s face dropped as he remembered. “Oh. I forgot. I don’t know how. I’m doing my new single then.”

“And it goes pretty late depending on the order.”

Lance sunk down more. “Right. Aww, I really wanted to go see this. It would have been perfect. I mean, we haven’t done a space wide tour yet and we talked about performing under the stars. Just sitting there watching all those shooting stars go by, it would have been so perfect.”

Keith pulled Lance closer, knocking his forehead against Lance’s gently, being sneakily happy just how much taller he was than Lance. It still gave him great glee, especially since Lance always got annoyed by it.

“I’m sorry. I know with our schedules, dates haven’t exactly been easy. But at least our schedules line up.”

“I guess.” Lance said still pouting.

“Hey, I bet you can’t do my choreo.”

That got Lance’s attention. “I so can. And I can do it better.”

“Really? Prove it.”

Keith let himself be playfully shoved away, letting Lance have full range of the floor as he restarted the music, grabbing his phone. He joined Lance in doing the choreo, ignoring how Lance overexaggerated some of the moves where Keith would be singing. Instead his focus was on his phone, texting Lance’s manager and practical sister Allura. he’d gladly admit it, he didn’t like seeing Lance sad and he’d do whatever possible to keep a smile on his face.

____

“My god I can’t believe we ever worried you wouldn’t like him as Lance. doesn’t matter if he’s Isamu or Lance, you fold like wet paper for him.” Pidge teased as the stylist fixed Keith’s clothes.

Ok so maybe he bugged Allura to see if she could convince the people in charge of the order to put Lance and Keith first, even though they had to technically stay to the end. And maybe he also bugged Thace to borrow the car for them to come in so he could take Lance to see the meteor shower. If they could finish in time. Things might be live but there were only so many things they could actually control.

Keith looked over at the former Shinigami. “Don’t you have a brother to go bother?”

“And not bother you? But it’s so fun?”

“Where’s Hunk when you need him?” Keith asked himself, wondering where the much older singer was. Probably shadowing Allura. He was learning to become a manager, though he’d love to see which person would be able to understand their odd family.

“Keith, 2 minutes.” a stage hand called.

Keith glanced over at the TV that showed the stage. Lance and his female backup dancers were reaching the climax of Lance’s song. Just had to get through a song.

“I take it you’d like me to inform Lance to change back into his regular clothes when he gets back into his dressing room.”

Pidge might love teasing Keith and Lance about their relationship, but she had put in a lot of work into trying to get them together.

“If you could.”

with a nod from the stylist, Keith headed out the door and got his mic put on before he passed Lance and Allura.

“Meet me in my room after.” Keith called as he took the stage.

“And now taking the stage. His popularity has yet to waver even after switching labels. Though with a boyfriend like Lance, who could blame him for switching. Please welcome Keith, with his song ECLIPSE.

____

“Keith, where are we going? We go back out on stage after the show is over to say goodbye to everyone.” Lance asked, letting his boyfriend pull him out the backdoor. After he performed on stage, Pidge shoved the clothes he came in at him and told him to change. Then she slapped a hat on him and gave him a face mask and shoved him in Keith’s dressing room.

“Stay here till lover boy comes to get you.” she ordered before going to find Matt.

Lance had learned that Pidge’s plans usually didn’t end up like she’d planned but he decided to humour her. She was telling him to wait for Keith, what was the worse that could happen?

Of course, now they were heading for the car they came in, dressed in non-descriptive clothes in hopes to not be noticed by the paparazzi or fans outside the broadcasting station. What had Pidge gotten him into?

“Whoa, there’s question I’m still asking today.” Lance muttered, climbing into the car.

“You’ll see, don’t worry.”

“Still can’t help but be worried.” Lance said, pulling his hat down as the pulled out of their spot and towards the exit. Doing this 3 years and he still couldn’t get used to the amount of fans and such who stood outside the broadcasting station just to get a glimpse of their favourite star. Even if he had been a healthy kid, Lance still couldn’t imagine doing this for hours.

Luck was on their side and they weren’t too noticed when they left. He wouldn’t be surprised though if they still got found out though.

“Are you really not going to tell me where we’re going?” Lance asked, as they started heading on the main roads, away from the city.

“You’ll see. Of course, I just hope we can get their quick. we’re cutting it a bit close.”

Lance for the life of him couldn’t figure out where Keith was taking him. They reached the famed park owned by the Altean Embassy, a place Lance knew well. Covered in juniberry flowers, Lance took pictures here for his Eternal Snow CD cover. But why would Keith bring him here?

Keith opened the sun roof and leaned their chairs back.

“Keith...” Lance started.

“Shh. Look up.”

Lance did and stared at the sky. Nothing was happening and Lance opened his mouth to ask something when he saw it. The streak across the sky and the ones that followed. He felt his eyes widen as he watched the shooting stars dart across the sky.

“Like it?” Keith asked, sounding teasing.

Lance shoved at Keith, who moved away and grabbed Lance’s hand to stop him from hitting him more. Lance laced their fingers together and pulled Keith’s hand closer.

“Yeah you asshole, I like it. Honestly though, I’m glad that we got to do this. The closest thing was sitting in the sun room with Akira to look at the stars.”

“He never took you watch one of these?” Keith asked.

Lance shook his head. “Both him and Rachel were too worried about me getting sick. I always wanted to make a wish on a shooting star.”

“What would you wish for?”

Lance shook his head, squeezing Keith’s hand. “Before it would have been to sing or to find Akira. But I don’t need to make a wish any more. I can sing, I’m healthy, I have all my friends and family. I know Akira cared for me. And I have you, the one thing I needed in the end. What else could I need? Well, other than the ability to write a new song. I swear Kolivan keeps poking me cause I wrote a hit single in 3 days. One time thing, I swear.”

Keith laughed, squeezing Lance’s hand in response. “Only thing I’ll wish for is for us to be happy.”

“Wish come true. With you, I already am.”

#monthlyklance #SINGER LANCE #singer keith #the forgotten prince's song

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iris-writes-things · 6 years

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Crazy, Millennial Love Story chapter 10

Read on AO3, FF.net or under the cut!

This chapter contains a lot of text messages, so for formatting reasons I recommend you read this chapter on AO3!

Keith's photography business is officially coming off the ground and things are finally looking up. But when a mysterious new client tells him about Allura's dark past, Keith gets second thoughts about setting Shiro up with her.

Chapter 10 of ? Ongoing 2362 words Modern/romance

Anonymous

Hello Keith! I recently came across your account, and I was wondering if I could hire you for a shoot in the financial district some time this week. I can pay you an hourly rate of 50 dollars, and an additional 500 for the photos. When would you be available?

(Received 9.53 AM)

Oops! Sorry for the late reply 😅 I think if we’d have to hurry too much if we go now. Limited daylight and all. How about tomorrow at noon? Where would you like to meet up?

(Sent 2.12 PM)

Tomorrow at noon sounds great! You’ve done a shoot for Allura before, right? Shall we meet in front of the Altea Infrastructure building?

(received 2.13 PM)

Yeah, that’s good for me. See you there!

(Sent 2.34 PM)

(Read 2.35 PM)

Keith tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his new client to show up, watching the hustle and bustle of men and women in suits rushing from their office buildings to quickly get lunch and return to their cubicle as fast as humanly possible. He’d made sure to show up half an hour early, in case they showed up early, but that was forty-five minutes ago! He let out a deep sigh. He didn’t even know their name… nor their gender… nor what they look like. Even their phone number was listed as anonymous!

His heart sank into his shoes. He had no idea who he was supposed to meet up with! What if it was some creep?! Come to think of it, Shiro had insisted he tag along to his very first job as a model, maybe Keith should have insisted his roommate return the favor, but you know, hindsight is always 20/20. He’d just have to deal with whomever the fuck showed up.

The buzzing of his phone snapped him out of his train of thought. He fumbled it out of his pocket with nervous, trembling fingers.

Allura

Look up.

(Received 12.13)

And so he did. Up five floors was Allura waving at him from the window. He chuckled and waved back.

“What are you doing here?!” She called down to him.

“Waiting for a new client! They’re probably gonna be here soon!” He shouted back up.

“Good luck! I have to go now, my board meeting is about to start, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for you!” She said, showing off her crossed fingers from the open window.

“Thanks!” Keith laughed out loud, looking back in front of him as Allura closed up the window she had just leaned out of.

“Sorry I’m late!”

Keith’s eyes darted to the source of the sound. Approaching him was a man, tall, tanned skin with his platinum blond hair tied in a messy, yet effortlessly beautiful bun. He was gorgeous in much the same way Allura was. Not Keith’s type, but conventionally very attractive.

“Friend of yours?” The stranger asked, pointing up at the widow of the board room.

Keith gazed up, barely processing what was going on. “Uh… Oh, yeah! Allura has pretty much kickstarted my career as a photographer. She’s pretty great.”

“If you say so.” The man shrugged. “Ah, I’m afraid I haven’t properly introduced myself yet.” He said, holding his hand out for Keith to shake. “I’m Lotor. I do much of the same thing Allura does as a social influencer, but I tend to lean more towards modeling.”

Lotor… The name rang a bell to Keith, but he wasn’t sure where to place it. Keith looked at his hand, tilting his head slightly as he pushed his doubts to the back of his mind, shaking the man’s hand. “Keith. Nice meeting you. So, where did you wanna get your pictures taken?”

“I was hoping to do something a little grittier than your last shoot. I know a nice abandoned warehouse near the harbor that hasn’t been turned into a trendy office building yet, so I was hoping we could take the pictures there?”

Abandoned warehouse? That didn’t sound suspicious at all. “I, uh, I’m not sure… I didn’t bring my lighting rig for that, and I don’t have a car to haul it all the way to the harbor… I don’t know if it’s gonna work.” Keith stammered, scratching his face as he pulled this weak excuse out of his ass.

“Oh, don’t worry! The roof has more holes than a wheel of swiss cheese. You should be good with the lighting.” Lotor reassured happily in a sing-song kind of tone.

Shit. “Okay, sure. If you wanna, why not.” Keith gave in, laughing nervously.

***

As it turned out, Lotor’s intent wasn’t nearly as malicious as Keith was afraid it would be. He would even go as far as to say that working with the was actually quite pleasant. He clearly had a vision of what he wanted the pictures to look like, and had no problems with being posed and directed.

"You know, I actually used to date Allura." Lotor spoke up as he sat down on a wooden pallet he had just used to pose on.

Keith lowered his camera, allowing it to hang around his neck. "Really? How'd that go?" He asked curiously.

Lotor bit his lip, glancing away. “You know… Dating someone like her isn’t all everyone makes it out to be… Her way of life can be demanding. Hell, she can be demanding. Pushy, even. And that’s keeping her work as a social influencer out of it! She’d take me on dates, and only afterwards I would find out she only took me out because she was getting paid to advertise the place! I’ve… I’ve done a lot of things that I’m not proud of… That I’m uncomfortable with… Just because she wanted those likes.”

“Yeah… That sounds pretty shitty.” Keith sighed as he sat down next to him. “But if you hated that lifestyle so much when she did it, why are you still doing it now?” He asked, maybe a little harshly. Sure, he felt for Lotor. Nothing is worse than a partner who pushes you too far. Keith knew that from his own experience. But why keep doing it after breaking up with them? Besides, Keith had seen the way Allura works. She didn’t seem to be anything like the way Lotor described her.

“Because I’m doing it on my own terms now. It’s different…” Lotor mumbled, hollow eyes staring at the dusty concrete floor, tracing one of the cracks with the point of his shoe in boredom. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t use the following I gained during my time with Allura to earn the money I needed get my own place, but those are the only ties to her I have left.”

“I’m sorry, man… I didn’t know.” Keith said, placing a hand on the man’s shoulder in an attempt to cheer him up.

“I can’t blame you. A lot of people don’t know.” He sighed. “The new guy that seems to be romancing her. This ‘Shiro’... You know him, right?” Lotor asked, turning to Keith.

“Yeah. He’s, uh, he’s my roommate. And, like, my best friend.” Keith admitted, feeling his shoulders slump.

“Oh… I’m so sorry you had to find out this way…” Lotor whispered, carefully wrapping his arm around Keith’s shoulders. “Just, you know, do me a favor and look after him, okay? I mean, it’s been years since I dated her, so it’s perfectly possible that she’s a changed woman, but there’s no way for me to know for sure. I’d hate for your friend to get hurt.”

“I will. I promise.”

***

It was 5 PM by the time Keith returned to his and Shiro’s studio apartment. “I’m home!” He called, tossing his keys to the kitchen table, only to be greeted by the sound of a running shower. Pouting, he walked up to the bathroom door and pounded on it with all his might. chuckling at the shrill shriek it earned him from Shiro. “I said I’m home!”

“I heard you the first time!” Shiro called back.

“Then answer me.” Keith told him sternly, even though there was nothing stern about the look on his face as he smiled fondly. “What are you washing your ass for anyway?”

“Allura got a press screener for a movie you and I have been stoked about for like half a year, so she invited me to come watch it tonight.” Shiro said through the door, shutting off the shower.

“Wait, hold on, Allura got a press screener for Revengers: Infinite Altercation?! You have to tell me all about it when you come back! Or could you, you know, borrow it from her?”

“Can’t. Technically, I’m not even supposed to be watching it with her, so I gotta be all hush-hush about it.”

“Okay, fine…” Keith said, rolling his eyes. “But you’re still coming to see it with me when it comes out in theaters.”

“That’s a promise I can keep.” Shiro said, smiling as he stepped out of the bathroom, towel around his waist.

There was no way Shiro would have just stepped out like this mere months ago, Keith thought to himself. Allura had done good things for both of them, but Shiro’s newfound confidence had to be at the very top of the list. It was hard to imagine that the Allura he knew could ever be like the Allura Lotor had apparently dated, but that didn’t stop Keith’s heart from sinking at the thought that the very same could happen to Shiro. It could be mirrors and smoke. It could be a slow descent that neither of them could see coming. He swallowed thickly around the lump in his throat, pushing the thought to the back of his mind and forced a smile. “You better.”

“What are you doing tonight?” Shiro asked curiously, disappearing into his bedroom to get dressed.

“Just editing the photos, I guess. Probably pigging out on potato chips and getting drunk when I’m done.”

“Sounds like a solid night.” Shiro chuckled as he emerged from his room, fully dressed. He gave Keith a firm pat on the back. “Don’t wait up for me, okay?”

“I won’t.” Keith smiled, but it wasn’t genuine. He watched Shiro like a hawk as he made a move to leave the apartment, panic creeping up on him. Finally, he snapped, taking hold of Shiro’s wrist. “Be… Be careful, okay? Call me if there’s anything wrong… Hell, if you’re uncomfortable, call me. Okay? Be safe.”

Shiro smiled and pulled the smaller man into a hug. “I will, I promise.” He whispered before pulling back. “I know it’s hard to see your little man grow up, but I’m not leaving the nest just yet.” Shiro joked, wearing the broadest, brightest smile on his face. A rare treat, even for Keith, even though it was becoming more and more common.

“Come on, man, can’t a bro be worried about a bro?” Keith asked, laughing nervously as he went along with the joke. Had he been that obvious?

“It’s okay, enough joking for now.” Shiro said before taking a deep breath, keeping himself from laughing any more. “I’ll be safe, I promise. I’ll be back in the morning, so seriously, don’t wait up for me, okay?” He said, squeezing Keith’s shoulder reassuringly.

“Okay…” Keith mumbled, breath hitching as he watched Shiro leave.

What if Allura really wasn’t who they thought she was?

***

When Lotor returned home, his apartment was completely shrouded in darkness. Nobody had apparently bothered to turn any of the lights on. He sighed as he turned on the lights in the hallway and made his way to his living room, which was completely dark as well, the only light in the room coming from his television and Ezor’s cell phone.

All three of his friends were sprawled over the couch, tangled up in each other, half watching whatever trashy tv show was on. They hissed, squinting when he turned on the light fixture that hung right above them. “Ladies.” Lotor greeted, a fond smile gracing his features.

They hummed in acknowledgement, boredom evident in every last bit of their being.

“So, how’d it go?” Ezor asked as she threw her phone to the salon table.

“It went well, thank you very much. The seeds of doubt are planted, and I got some very pretty pictures out of it, too. Double win for me.” Lotor smiled proudly, showing the already edited photos that had arrived in his inbox mere minutes ago. “If all goes according to plan, all we have to do is wait.”

“Man, I hate this. You could’ve just let me beat up the new guy and tell him to stay the fuck away from her. Much quicker, that way.” The largest of his friends, Zethrid, asked as she sat up, knocking the two other girls off of her with a yelp.

“Yes, it would be quicker, but I doubt it would be more effective. Besides, beating up a nerdy, gay photographer isn’t a good look for you. It would prompt immediate retaliation and I can’t risk that.” He said sternly, prompting the large woman to groan in frustration.

“Sorry to rain on your parade, Lotor, but the same plan didn’t work for the last three of Allura’s friends. What makes you think it will work this time?” Axca asked, leaning over the back of the couch.

“Because he has trust issues, and we have leverage.” Lotor smirked as he sat down on the couch between Ezor and Axca. “I didn’t tell him Allura would turn on him, I told him Allura would turn on his best friend. If I can get him to mistrust Allura and break their friendship from the inside, he might be able to convince his friend to no longer pursue Allura. Either that, or his relationship with his best friend will crumble along with his relationship with Allura, leaving him all alone. Whatever happens, the fallout will be interesting to watch.”

“That… Actually sounds like it might work.” Axca admitted.

He nodded in agreement. “Now all we have to do is sit back and relax.”

#fanfic #voltron: legendary defender #shallura #vld keith #vld lotor #okay I know those tags don't make a whole lot of sense but Keith and Lotor are the main CHARACTERS in this chapter #while Shallura is still the main FOCUS

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rueitae · 6 years

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2018 Fic Roundup

I did this last year and it was nice to do some self reflection and make some goals for 2019. I encourage all my writer friends to do this! No tagging necessary, just tell each other to do it. <3

It’s long, so putting the rest of the fic and reflection questions under the cut.

Stats:

Fics Posted (Gen): 6

Space Birthday (9,595 words): Hunk can feel it in his bones; it’s his birthday. He wants to have a nice one... and does... after accidentally raiding a Galra outpost with Lance and Pidge.

Pilot (4,340): Shiro finds himself in a different reality post s2. Here, the mechs are called Gundams. (Shiro in the Gundam Wing universe/reality)

Code (7,321): Pidge and the others keep fond memories of Earth through oldies musical trivia. It comes in handy on a mission.

Self Insert (6,357): Lance reads a story to his niece and nephew on the eve he leaves for school at the Galaxy Garrison. The kids have Opinions on how it should go.(i totally still need to change their names to the canon ones)

Too Soon and Not Soon Enough (1,796): Keith is 13 and is supposed to go to the Galaxy Garrison next year at Shiro’s encouragement. Until the Galra invade and plans change.

Welcome to the Neighborhood (2,237): Allura gets used to being not dead and that includes meeting her cosmic neighbors.

Fics Posted (Plance): 17

Wrong Diamond (2,384): Gentlemen thief AU. “At midnight, I will steal the heart of Voltron,” the note says. Pidge has a thief to catch.

Diamond in the Rough (8,045): prequel to Wrong Diamond. How they meet!

Road Trip (4,710): Lance and Pidge are back on Earth. Zarkon has the others and the two are on the run from a bureaucratic Galaxy Garrison that doesn’t want the world to know about aliens yet. Oh, and Lotor is with them.

Exsanguination (16,255): Pidge is a vampire hunter captured by Haggar. She finds some unlikely help in the vampire’s similarly undead servant.

Power Up! (3,500): Pidge is on the cusp of finding out where Zarkon is holding her father using less than legal methods. She’s caught in the act by her lab partner (Lance, a superhero in training).

Plance on Ice (2,300): A figure skating AU! Pidge and Lance are former competitive partners having a date free time on the ice

Being Plance (3,900): Pidge and Lance pull a personality switch prank over on the rest of the team. Canon verse.

Keeping Cool (3,098): Mermaid AU! Pidge is in trouble with pirates and gets some unexpected help from the sea.

The Cake (839): Canon verse, Lance gets a cake for his birthday and assumes it’s from Hunk.

Frostbite (6,109): Pidge is a renowned super villain. Lance is a hero in training with something to prove. Lance over uses his powers one day and Pidge has some soul searching to do.

Crystal Clear (5,516): Another superhero AU. Lance is captured by his arch nemesis. They have a heart-to-heart, taunt, and flirt.

The Secrets of Beasts (2,007): AU canon verse. Years down the road, Green keeps Pidge from going on a mission with the others. It takes Kosmo to find out why.

See You Yesterday (8,132): Lance works nervously as a bartender for a 1920s mafia when all he wanted to do was leave the farming life. One night he gets a strange patron who changes his life - and his perspective of the world. Time travel AU

Shot Through the Heart (1,087): post canon AU. Lance and Pidge keep Nadia and Sylvio entertained.

Seasons of Magic (11,744): Pidge is a mage. Lance is her dragon familiar. Series of domestic-ish one shots. Not in sequential order.

Between Rocks and A Hard Place (8,144): Canon verse. Pidge and Lance are trapped due to a caved-in mine, with pirates waiting for them on the other side. And Pidge is hurt.

Cow-parent Trapped (1,099): s8 canon continuation. Pidge visits Lance at the farm and does not expect Kaltenecker to make them talk to each other.

Lotura 1

Birthday Prompt #5 (5,500): Oh gosh I never named it. Fantasy AU in which Lotor is essentially Rapunzel and Allura is Aurora with a better (depending on who you ask) birth-prophesy. Tiny hint of Shallura in this as well.

Collaborations: 3

First Encounters for the (Altean Plance AU): Pidge is an independent noblewoman and Lance is her bodyguard. Writing done with @hushman and @pidge-suggestions

To Sail, To Break, To Earn (Plance - 10,268): Lance is a pirate and Pidge is a mermaid. There’s also a curse involved. With @sp4c3-0ddity

It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like A Christmas Carol (Plance- 14,384): post s8 canon verse with @hailqiqi and @sp4c3-0ddity. Exactly as the title says. Lance is the subject of a ghostly intervention. Crack treated seriously.

Fey AU (Plance): with @vivalachocolate this was @sp4c3-0ddity ‘s prompt to Viva but I was nosy and added a chapter and I’m so glad she wasn’t mad at me for it. 😅

Ship/Character breakdown:

Ship breakdown:

I guess the 17 Plance fics speak for themselves. I did write one Lotura fic as a special birthday prompt because @ritsykitty is such a good friend.

Character breakdown:

I have a gen fic for each Paladin, but then the Plance fics outnumber those, so Lance and Pidge would be my go to.

Characters that had the main focus:

So for character POV, each Paladin has one, then within Plance, Pidge has 12 and Lance has 7. Interesting, I thought it was more even. Hunk had a POV in a Plance fic too briefly!

Specifics:

Best/worst title?

Best title: Urgh I liked a lot of them. Too Soon and Not Soon Enough probably. I like how it summarizes the story without telling you how, but by the end you know.

Worst title: Seasons of Magic aka I tried to come up with a clever title when I realized I wasn’t done with it. It’s so bland to me. I’m also basically trying to rebrand from mage/familiar AU. I don’t think it’s working 😅 (not that I care I’m trying to make it easier to reference but I’m too late)

Best/worst last line?

Best: “I love you too, Pidge,” he [Lance] says, nestling her head to his chest and not bothering to correct her. “You’re the best nemesis a hero could ask for.” - I love that line so much, from Crystal Clear. Enemies to lovers is such a good trope.

Worst: Pidge groans. At this rate her double life is definitely doomed to unravel. - for how much I love Frostbite, I really hate how lame it ends. Like I totally could have said that better or continued the scene a bit but I am LAZY.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I wrote waaaaaaay more than expected. I figured I’d write something every few months. Now I can write a 2k fic in a setting if I’m on game.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

I was just doing gen fic last year, never would I have expected to be so taken by Plance that it became my main muse.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

Honestly? Probably Pilot. It was one of my earliest VLD fic ideas to do a Gundam Wing crossover and to actually finish a one shot early in the year (when I was still dipping my feet into fandom again) just made me so so happy. I still smile thinking about the continuation possibilities. One of my favorite parts of Shiro’s character is that he is the ace pilot. Because of Keith’s role that sometimes gets overshadowed. I was so pleased to get to highlight that.

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

On Ao3, that would be Exsanguination. No surprise there, it was my first posted Plance fic and I continued it.

On Tumblr it’s First Encounters, the first of the Altean Plance AU based on the art and headcanons. I was just struck with a clear opening image one afternoon and wrote it all right then and there. I had no idea it would be so well received.

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

Space Birthday. It may have been a bit of a mess since it was my very first VLD fic, but it has everything I love. Hunk bonding with an ‘enemy’ over cooking, Team Punk, Plance in distress, Hunk saves the day thanks to mechanics. Also heartfelt stuff with Keith. And he’s the only Paladin besides Lance to get an actual birthday themed fic from me.

Story that could have been better?

I really hate to say Wrong Diamond, but I totally could have done much better with it. It feels skimpy. Probably why I am still writing in the AU.

Sexiest story?

Ha. That would be a tie between Crystal Clear and Exsanguination. The first I actually tried and the second completely by accident. I’m not sure it worked though.

Saddest story?

All my sad fics have a bit of crack to them. Pilot is pretty melancholy. Crystal Clear has a good Plance argument that gets heated. Road Trip in general though might take the cake. It’s full of angst amid some humor due to the premise.

Most fun?

Shot Through the Heart in terms of tone.

Story with single sweetest moment? Space Birthday

"Uh, Keith, hold up a tic."

Confused, Keith turned back around. "What?"

Hunk rubbed the back of his neck. "So uh, you know we're friends right? Like, I meant what I said we're like brothers. We're tight. I mean, we share a mind inside of a giant robot."

Keith blinked, clearly surprised. "Yeah, I kinda got that from the hug you gave me back then. It was nice," he said with a smile. "And we work well together."

"Yeah so - wait what? No, I'm supposed to be giving you the pep talk here."

"It's fine, Hunk. I'm doing important work and so are you. I already had this talk with Allura."

"Oh. Well, what I'm trying to say is that we're friends. I care a lot about you and your feelings. So if I say something that's weird or you don't like, you gotta tell me. I'm a terrible and nosy person and I'm sorry."

Keith stood silent, processing the words, and then smiling. "I've accepted the side of me that's Galra," he said simply. "It's still a little weird, but I've always had this feeling that something didn't add up." He smiled a bit. "I don't mind a question or two, but I'm still learning myself."

"Deal, no Galra questions for a while then. Just as long as you come visit more often, okay? We all miss you.

"...hug it out?"

Keith snorted and obliged into Hunk's waiting arms. "Always."

Hardest story to write?

I struggled with the ending to Exsanguination. It took forever to come to me.

Easiest/most fun story to write?

I wrote The Secrets of Beasts in one setting and I still can’t believe how easily it came out. I blame the Plance discord folks for putting everyone on a baby craze.

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

Not particularly? I write based on my existing understanding of the characters and nothing really surprised to that note.

Most overdue story?

Welcome to the Neighborhood. I wanted to write that Allura gen fic all year (as I wanted one for all the Paladins) and I hoped s8 would give me the motivation. It was not worth the cost.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

Collaborations! And participating in a zine! And signing up for events (exchanges and bangs)! I learned that it’s not that scary. People are chill and so easy to get along with. Also the task isn’t as daunting as I think of it’s an idea I love.

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

This is hard because I’m already doing above and beyond what I ever expected to be doing writing wise. I suppose it will be to finish my gen fic since I’ve been writing a lot of plance lately.

#rueitae #my writing #end of year ask #goals #everyone go do it its time consuming but relaxing #and really fun to look back on everything #tag me if you do it because I want to see everyones!

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shiroallura · 6 years

Text

shiro, allura, & the black bayard/lion

I’ve talked about it before, how intricately Shiro and Allura’s histories with Zarkon are woven in the first episode of Voltron. At this point they are the two main characters shown to be displayed with having a direct conflict with the Galra (as we don’t know about Pidge’s family yet) and specifically, Zarkon. Allura’s flashback happens, she says his name, Shiro remembers him and says that he was Zarkon’s prisoner—not Haggar’s, another character that both Shiro and Allura have/develop a personal history with, despite the fact she was the one who experimented on Shiro and betrayed her own people—and although it takes until the end of the season to see exactly how deep it runs, the connection between Shiro, Allura, and Zarkon is clear.

Which takes me to the actual focus of this essay, which as the title says, is Shiro, Allura, and their relationship with the Black bayard and by extension, the Black Lion. While I still firmly believe it would have been for the benefit of the story to have Allura fill the role of Black Paladin in s3, I will not be discussing that here, but focusing on purely the relationship that has transpired and grown in canon for the purposes on this analysis.

So, without further ado, let’s look at the beginning of Shiro, Allura, and their relationship to each other, and the Black bayard. The first point to examine is that the Black Lion was sealed away with Allura and Coran in the castleship for 10,000 years—and as Allura is uniquely connected to the Lions, she had close contact with the Black Lion’s quintessence for all that time. She probably chooses Shiro first among the paladins, as she sees him demonstrate leadership and peacekeeping almost immediately, and while Shiro is the first assigned his Lion, he is the last to gain his.

And we get some fantastic side by side cut scenes of Shiro seeing Black for the first time, and Allura worriedly watching the Lion hologram to see if it’s all going to be a success —and we didn’t see her worry over any of the other Lions. They’re aligned through both framing and narrative—Allura cannot command nonexistent paladins, and Shiro cannot lead Voltron if Black, the only one who’s paladin is still alive, will not bond with him. And Allura is so relieved, look at her, with her hands over her heart when Shiro activates Black.

Then, we have the now infamous screencap of Shiro smiling all softly at Allura while Pidge watches on in the background, confused as heck. It’s the first time we see the two interact, and Shiro seeing that he’s with a leader who’s concerned for her followers, concerned for his safety—that he won’t just be a soldier to her, after a year he spent fighting as a prisoner—probably meant a whole lot to him. Knowing he was working and fighting for someone who was kindhearted and good. And Shiro seeks to reassure her, saying that he’ll make do without one. He says that he’ll handle it, independently, not putting it on her to find a substitute; he smiles, while she looks at him with concern etched over her face, knowing that as Zarkon’s prisoner he’s already been through so much. It also shows the stark contrast between Shiro and Allura’s shared maturity and leadership with one another, while the other paladins mostly goof off with their bayards in the background.

Then, in the s1 finale, Allura learns that the Black Lion has been brought in the effort to save her—and even though she’s just been rescued and knows Zarkon, with the Black bayard has the Lion within his reach, the second she hears Shiro in pain over her commlink she rushes off to save him without a moment’s notice. Shiro has become her priority, over the Black Lion and even over any power Zarkon may gain, the same way that Allura has become Shiro’s priority with him willing to risk everything to save her.

I’ve talked at length about everything shallura related in 2x03 here, so I won’t discuss much of it right now, but I think it’s important to reiterate just how important being the Black Paladin is to Shiro. It gives him purpose, a drive, a family, and reaffirms the possibility of him being more than a weapon of the Galra empire, that he’s not a monster, that he has self worth. And it’s a position, a purpose, a source of validation that Allura gave him, and one he’s earned with how dedicated he has always been to their mission and to her. And even while Shiro doubts himself, Allura never does—and given that Allura has been betrayed before, I think it has less to do with her faith in her judgement and more to do with her faith in him—and she spends 2x03 continually trusting him over and over despite everything that screams at her not to.

Their connection to the Black Lion and bayard continues in a much subtler way in 2x07, which I’ve touched on briefly here. Allura and Shiro are left back at the castle, Shiro to bond with his Lion and for Allura due to Coran’s overprotectiveness. But the fact they’re left alone is interesting, and it’s not the first time them being alone in the castle isn’t shown as a common occurrence (we all know the Hand Touch, people). And Allura looks legitimately annoyed when Shiro leaves, against her expectations, to go bond with his Lion despite it being absolutely vital to the team, so... you can take my belief she was disappointed at not spending time with him out of my cold dead hands.

The season two finale is also very important for both of them. The success of the planned mission hinges on Shiro and Allura both making individual sacrifices: Shiro luring in Zarkon and holding off his fleet all by himself, and Allura taking on the strain of powering the teladuv. Each of them also make unexpected sacrifices and obtain new abilities. Shiro finally vanquishes Zarkon by gaining the Black Bayard and the wings of the Black Lion; Allura vanquishes Haggar and discovers the her magic. (Like how Shiro was set up as a foil to Zarkon in 1x11, Haggar’s reveal of being Altean sets her up as a foil to Allura, but that’s an analysis for another day). Allura nearly sacrifices her life to keep team Voltron safe, Shiro calls out for her; Voltron takes a mighty hit, Allura calls out for him. Shiro uses Allura’s words to inspire the team when he still thinks she may be gone. We see Allura’s reaction once Shiro has disappeared. They’re in the opposite place of where they started, now with a bayard without a paladin instead of a paladin without a bayard, and we can see in s3 which one Allura would prefer to have.

She still supports Keith as the new Black Paladin, wanting to carry on the cause she believes Shiro has given his life to and wanting to honour him (“others are risking their lives in this fight and i...”) as much as she can. And nothing really of note happens within the relationship between Shiro, Allura and the black bayard/lion until s4, when the relationship extends crucially to Kuron.

It is Allura’s distress in battle that is the final straw for Kuron to try and bond with the Black Lion again, and just look at how happy Allura is, calling out Shiro alone when he’s joined the team again. Allura is confirmed to be the Heart of Voltron, just as she was with her and Shiro’s speeches inspiring the team to fight in 2x13, and Shiro—regardless of the iteration, clone or not—is reaffirmed as the Head of Voltron. Which takes us to season five, which is when things really get interesting.

It’s plain to see how Lotor and Allura’s scenes are layered with obvious romantic undertones (analysis comparing them to Shallura’s here, bc I can). The key component in Lotor and Allura’s relationship, however, is Kuron/Shiro. Kuron and Allura, both of whom think he’s Shiro, interrogate Lotor together, routinely and regularly. They disagree strongly about Lotor, twice, and the team more or less falls apart around them. Last but not least, Allura only trusts Lotor because of Kuron. After Lotor has killed his father using the Black Bayard, Allura states that for many of them it was proof of his intentions for peace (which isn’t true, as he wanted to kill his father regardless, but again, that’s an analysis for another day). Lotor is only responsive when he chooses to be, and doesn’t choose to be here, and the scene carries on as the rest of the team enters.

And despite Kuron’s actions of handing over the Black bayard to Lotor being the only reason Allura trusts Lotor—trusts him enough to form an alliance, to spend hours of one-on-one time together, use Altean alchemy and go on a mission together—she shows how quickly she’s willing to toss it away when she’s mad. I’ve talked at length about Kuron and Allura’s fight in 5x03 here, but yeah, they’re both pissed.

Kuron: I’m the leader of Voltron. I’m making this decision. Allura: Like when you armed Lotor with your bayard without consulting the rest of us?

Like I said, Kuron giving Lotor the tool to kill Zarkon is what wins Allura’s trust, but it is also an action that partially shatters her trust in Shiro. She feels like he, with his anger and rashness, his lack of communication with her (which has never happened before) even under a dire situation, is her enemy instead of Lotor, and she is beyond relieved when Lance reaffirms that he isn’t.

Where we leave off with Allura and Shiro/Kuron’s relationship, as well as the Black Lion/Bayard, is her immense concern when Kuron flies Lotor to Kral Zera with the Black Lion, and she immediately puts two and two together when Kuron isn’t on the ship, and look at how worried she is.

And unlike his father, who arguably brought Shiro and Allura apart, Lotor drives a wedge between them and squares off with the Altean alchemist, screw whoever gets hurt. He’s also the one who proposes taking the Black Lion to Kral Zera in the first place.

I’m really interested to see how this pattern of Shiro and Allura’s relationship, alongside their one with the Black Lion and Bayard, continues to evolve and grow in season six and the following seasons, because looking back on the five we’ve had so far, their connection to each other and to the head of Voltron is clear to see. And I would expect nothing less from two dedicated, decisive, and in love leaders.

#shallura #analysis series #mine #the black lion #analysis #this was so much longer than expected lmao #s1 #s2 #s5 #multi

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squirenonny · 7 years

Text

Child of the Night Sky

Ships: Established Shallura and Klance, vaguely implied Hunay Rating: G Warnings: Implied/Referenced Character Death

After a mysterious signal leads the paladins to an uninhabited moon, an intruder appears in the Black Lion's hangar.

Oddly, Black doesn't seem to mind.

[Read it on AO3!]

Commission fic for @confused-bird as part of their next gen AU. Find out more about the AU and the characters here!

Shiro stood on a barren ridge overlooking a sprawling valley dotted here and there with scraggly brown plants. The landscape had the feel of an old western, painted in sepia tones, the thin air tinged yellow near the horizon. The castle-ship sat a little over a mile behind him, gleaming silver spires unnaturally crisp against the backdrop.

“Where exactly did this signal come from?” Shiro asked, reaching out to steady Lance as a section of loose gravel crumbled underfoot. The weak sunlight reflected off his visor, which was sealed against the moon’s oxygen-poor atmosphere.

The clatter of keys echoed in Shiro’s ear. “Ten feet, maybe?” Pidge said. “Seriously, you guys are right on top of it.”

“Yeah...” Lance exchanged looks with Shiro, then spread his arms to encompass the barren valley. Nothing larger than coral-like plants lived on this moon; even the air remained stagnant around them. “I think there might be something wrong with your scanners, Pidge. There’s nothing here.”

“I’ll run the scan again, but I’m telling you, you’re there.”

“Nothing personal, Pidge,” Shiro said, placing a hand on Lance’s shoulder to quiet him. “We just want to be sure.”

They grunted, then fell silent as they worked. It was pure chance Green’s scanners had picked up the signal in the first place. A single burst of Quintessence, too weak to reach beyond the edge of the solar system and so quick the castle’s main scanners had flagged it as unremarkable.

“Don’t let your guard down,” Keith said, his voice clipped. “This could still be a trap.” Shiro didn’t have a visual on the bridge, where Keith, Pidge, and Coran were gathered to help direct Shiro and Lance, but he imagined Keith was wearing a hole in the floor pacing behind Pidge’s station. He’d wanted to bring the lions on this expedition, but Lance had draped himself over Keith’s shoulder and whispered something that made Keith flush and grudgingly agree to hold off on the heavy firepower, though he’d promised to come get them in Red the second things got sketchy.

Pidge’s frantic typing slowed. “You know we don’t actually know Lotor’s involved, right?”

Keith snorted. “Better to assume the worst,” he said. “Hunk, Allura, you still there?”

“Hear you loud and clear, buddy,” Hunk said. “Allura’s schmoozing up to the locals, but we’re two minutes from Yellow if you need us.”

“Good.”

Shiro’s eyes went to the dusty red crescent that dominated the sky. Hunk and Allura had remained on Dovrura while the others took the castle-ship to the larger of the two moons to investigate the anomaly. Allura had been concerned for their safety, but she trusted her team. She trusted Shiro. So as much as he wanted to ask her how the talks were going, he forced himself to focus on the task at hand.

“We don’t know what this is,” he said evenly. “That's why we're here. And we are being careful, I promise.”

Lance grinned in the direction of the castle-ship, as though Keith could see him out the window. “You heard the man, samurai. We’ll be fine—unless Lotor’s found a way to weaponize pebbles.”

Keith was quiet for a long moment, then laughed softly. “Fine,” he said. “But you owe me a massage when you get back.”

Shiro forced a smile for Lance, who remained at the alert, his bayard tapping against his thigh. The fact they’d encountered nothing overtly hostile on the trek out here wasn’t as reassuring as it should have been, when the anomaly looked so much like the dimensional rift the team had encountered while Shiro was gone and the energy signature of Lotor’s ship.

“Okay,” Pidge said after a time. “I double-checked the scans, and I was right. You’re standing literally on top of the origin point.”

Lance met Shiro’s eyes, then glanced pointedly at the dusty rock underfoot. “Secret bunker?”

“The castle’s not detecting any sizeable cavities in the area,” Coran said, “But if it’s small enough we might not be able to pick it up at this range.”

“Right,” said Pidge. “Shiro?”

“Way ahead of you.” Shiro took out the portable scanner Pidge had given him and set it on the ground. Three small legs immediately extended from the base and dug into the ground to stabilize the device. But five minutes later when the device finished its scans, it showed nothing new.

Pidge sighed. “Well, I guess that’s it, then. Lotor didn’t build anything here.”

“I still don’t like this,” Keith said.

Shiro smiled. “Noted. We’ll keep an eye on the scanners just in case the anomaly crops up again, all right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Good.” Shiro clapped Lance on the shoulder as the younger man dismissed his bayard. “In that case, we’re gonna head back. See you soon.”

The rough terrain made for slow going, but Shiro and Lance made it back to the castle without incident. Keith and Pidge were waiting in the entrance hall when they arrived, Pidge seated on the staircase with their computer, Keith pacing nearby. He stopped when he caught sight of Lance and made a beeline for him, tension melting away.

“So. Back to Dovrura?” Lance asked, lacing his fingers with Keith's.

Shiro nodded. “I’ve left Allura at the mercy of politicians for long enough, I think.”

Pidge snorted, not looking up from their work. “Please. She’s got the entire planet rallying behind Voltron by now, just watch.”

“Yeah...” Shiro bit down on a smile, ignoring the look Keith and Lance shared. As though they had room to talk, when it had taken less than fifteen seconds for Lance to coax Keith into leaning back against him—Keith’s arms crossed over his chest, one of Lance’s draped over Keith’s shoulder. Shiro met them pointed look for pointed look, then connected to the bridge comms. “Whenever you’re ready, Coran.”

“Roger that! Just another tick and--”

An insistent chime interrupted Coran, and Shiro tensed. Not for the alarm itself, but for the rumble that started in his feet, raced up his spine, and settled in beside his heart. The others didn’t hear it—but they wouldn’t have, any more than he would have heard the call of the other lions.

“What was that?” Pidge asked.

Shiro was off running before Coran had a chance to check what had triggered the alarm. Keith straightened, Lance called Shiro's name, and Pidge yelped, fumbling their laptop as they surged to their feet. Shiro didn’t slow for any of it, just raced for the elevator.

“There’s an intruder!” Coran cried. “Down in the Black Lion’s--”

Shiro silenced his comms with a thought as the elevator door slid open. The lights were at half power, but they flickered on at his arrival, illuminating Black, who crouched in her usual spot at the center of the hangar, her voice vibrating in the air in a mix of confusion and wariness. Her chin rested on the ground, and a figure stood before her, hand on her nose.

Another light turned on, hitting the stranger like a spotlight. They gave a start, snatching their hand back from the Black Lion’s nose, and spun to face Shiro. They wore an opaque mask that reminded Shiro vaguely of the Blades’ suits: it was molded to the stranger’s head, with a luminous slit at the level of the eyes and a slight bulge over the mouth that might have been an oxygen mask or voice modulator of some sort. The rest of their attire was similarly matched black, white, and gray armor; slim-fitting and flexible like Allura’s battle suit.

The stranger’s hand dropped to their hip, and Shiro moved on instinct, hand coming alight. He charged toward the intruder, low to the ground, as he’d learned to do in the Arena. Assume the enemy is stronger than they appear. Make them fight for every hit. Most importantly, strike hard and fast. The longer a fight went on, the more chances you had to die.

The stranger froze, just for an instant, as Shiro approached. It was impossible to gauge emotion with that mask of theirs, but their hand lifted away from their hip and their spine went stiff, as though they hadn’t expected a fight.

The moment passed, and the intruder dodged back, footwork light and quick as they led Shiro around the hangar, slapping his arm aside with a palm to the inside of his elbow when his strikes got too close. They were obviously used to close-quarters, and they showed a wariness for his arm that suggested they’d seen it in action—or at least heard tales of what it could do.

Yet for all their skill, the intruder made no move to strike back at Shiro. They made a sound once, like they wanted to say something, but the word stalled in their throat, and they had to retreat as Shiro came in for another pass.

Black rumbled a warning, and Shiro shot a glance her way. The intruder had come here for her, a fact that would have been concerning in its own right even without the fact that Black had dropped her shields. She hadn’t opened up, but would that have lasted? Could this person have hacked the lion somehow, implanted a line of code that made Black think of them as a friend?

Shiro shifted, careful to keep himself between the intruder and the Black Lion as they danced across the hangar floor.

“Wait!” the intruder said, holding up their hands as a space opened between them. “Please—I don’t want to fight you.”

“I’m sure you don’t.” Shiro feinted to the left, then spun around, reaching out with his cybernetic hand for a nob near the jaw of the stranger’s mask. Shiro’s touch melted the electronics inside the control node, causing the mask to flicker and vanish. The intruder gasped, eyes going wide, and stumbled backward, reaching up with one hand to check the controls. They snatched their hand back at once, wincing as sparks snapped at their fingertips.

Shiro himself stood frozen, searching the stranger’s face. For the space of one heartbeat, he thought he recognized them—their short, dark hair with pale bangs; the piercing eyes; the stark red line across the bridge of their nose that curled up toward the outer corners of their eyes.

They were… human?

No.

Shiro stopped breathing.

With a roar, Allura was there, her staff flashing in the hangar lights as she swung. It cracked against the intruder’s head. Shiro cried out in horror, lifting one hand toward them, but he was too late, and the intruder dropped to the floor.

Allura barely spared them a second glance before she crossed to Shiro, grabbing his chin and forcing him to meet her eyes.

“Shiro,” she said. “Shiro. Are you all right?”

Shiro blinked, his gaze drifting back to the fallen form behind Allura. “Fine,” he said. “Are they okay?”

Allura frowned at him, then at the intruder. Hunk had knelt beside them—Shiro hadn’t even noticed the Yellow Lion’s arrival in the commotion.

“Holy--” Hunk clapped a hand to his mouth. “Guys.” He squeaked as the elevator door opened. Keith charged out ahead of the others, sword in hand.

“Shiro! Are you okay? What happened?”

“Guys,” Hunk repeated, breathless.

“Fine,” Shiro said. “What is it, Hunk?” Shiro paused long enough to kiss Allura’s cheek, meeting her eyes and willing her to see that he was okay, then hurried over to Hunk and the stranger. One look at the crumpled form, and at Hunk’s pale face, told him he been right.

Hunk reached out as though to touch the stranger’s red facial markings—not just under their eyes, but a small vertical band on their lower lip, as well—but hesitated at the last minute as Coran joined them, his usual calm disrupted at the sight of the stranger.

“Quiznak!”

Allura turned, grip on her staff tightening as she did so. “What?” she demanded. “What’s wrong?”

“Not… wrong, exactly,” Hunk said slowly, staring at Coran like he expected the man to shatter at any moment. “It’s just… They’re Altean.”

What followed was ten minutes of chaos. Everyone crowded around the intruder, exclaiming with varying degrees of shock, suspicion, and excitement as Coran numbly confirmed Hunk’s assessment. The stranger’s ears were a bit shorter than Allura’s or Coran’s, their facial markings not quite so brightly colored—but the scanner in the med bay confirmed their Altean heritage.

Allura had insisted on restraints, though she’d seemed to be fighting herself on the matter, and Coran had put the stranger into a cryopod to clear up a minor concussion. That left them twenty dobashes to figure out how to approach the situation—and to theorize about their presence on the castle.

“Well, obviously they’re the source of that weird reading earlier,” Pidge said, pulling up the data from the med scan on their laptop. They’d all relocated to the rec room, though so far only Pidge, Hunk, and Lance had taken advantage of the couch. The others stood or paced the room, tension thick in the air.

Hunk leaned over Pidge’s shoulder, frowning. “I’m not seeing anything like the anomaly here.”

Pidge pursed their lips. “I know. Maybe they have some kind of magic. You know, like Haggar’s?”

“Yeah, or they could be working for Lotor,” Keith said. “I don’t trust them.”

“The first surviving Altean we’ve seen?” Allura asked. She had one arm wrapped around her midsection, the other hand hovering near her mouth so she could worry a hangnail. Shiro edged closer to her, placing his hand in the small of her back. She smiled weakly at him. “I suppose it’s possible, but… Lotor’s father destroyed our entire people. Why would they work for him?”

“They may not have a choice,” Keith said.

“I suppose...”

Lance kicked his feet up onto Hunk’s lap, crossing his arms behind his head. “Maybe they’re from the Mirror Universe.”

“Mirror Universe?” Shiro arched an eyebrow. “The other reality?”

Allura shivered, her eyes fluttering closed. “I hope not.”

“I doubt anyone could have made it over here without Voltron, anyway,” Pidge said.

Hunk glanced toward Coran, who stood at a computer terminal along the wall, monitoring the intruder’s status remotely. He seemed not to notice the conversation going on around him.

“I don’t know you guys,” Hunk said, tearing his eyes away from Coran. “You’re all assuming they’re an enemy. But Black was cool with them, right? Maybe we should give them a chance.”

There was muttered dissent at that, but Lance looked thoughtful and Shiro couldn’t help but think about Black’s distress when the stranger had gone down. It had been her prodding more than anything that got the intruder to the med bay for a scan.

Coran’s computer beeped, and the others immediately turned toward him, the same silent question etched into every face.

“They’re coming out of it.” Coran switched off the computer and turned, pasting on a smile. “If it’s all right with you, Princess, I’d like to speak with them first. Alone.”

Keith looked like he was going to argue, but a glare from Lance stopped him. Allura nodded, albeit reluctantly. “Alright, but if they try anything, we’re handing them over to the Blade.”

Keith nodded once, satisfied, and Coran’s smile turned strained. But he acquiesced and left without another word. Allura put up a feed from the med bay on one wall, and Shiro rubbed her back as Coran appeared there, catching the intruder as they fell from the pod.

“Easy now,” he said, steadying them with a hand under their elbow. The stranger reached for their head, but the handcuffs pulled tight. They froze, eyes flying open.

Allura stiffened.

“I don’t think they’re dangerous,” Shiro told her in a low voice. “They weren’t trying to hurt me earlier when we fought.”

Allura pursed her lips, still staring at the video feed, where the intruder had finally lifted their head, staring at Coran in shock.

“I’m terribly sorry for all this,” Coran said, guiding the stranger toward a seat against the wall. He crouched down like they were a frightened child rather than a grown adult. “I’m afraid you gave us a bit of a fright back there. We’ve got a number of enemies who would have reason to infiltrate this ship.”

The intruder dropped their eyes to their wrists, tugging half-heartedly at the restraints. “Believe me, I know.” They smiled wryly as Coran’s brow pinched in confusion, then leaned back in their chair until they were practically lounging. “So what do I need to do to convince you I’m a friend?”

“You could start with a name,” Coran said.

The smile twitched wider, and the stranger’s eyes drifted skyward. “My name? Aeron í Allura Altea.”

Allura jerked away from the screen so violently Shiro had to take her by the arm before she tripped over the step behind her. She’d gone ashen, her eyes wide with shock that quickly turned to outrage. She turned on her heel, wrenched out of Shiro’s grasp, and stalked toward the door.

“Allura…?” Lance asked, sitting upright on the couch as she passed. He shot a look at Keith, who in turn looked at Shiro, who frowned and followed after Allura, the other paladins falling into step behind him. A hundred questions crowded his mind, and he didn’t dare ask a single one as Allura jabbed the button for the elevator.

You trust this person, Shiro thought in the direction of his lion. Don’t you?

The Black Lion didn’t answer.

Aeron í Allura Altea.

The name echoed in Allura’s ears with each step, a mockery of all logic, a slap in the face for someone who had lost her entire people. They finally discovered the existence of another Altean and this was how they presented themself? With taunts and brazen lies? Claiming a name they could not possibly hold?

The elevator ride down two floors to the med bay was interminable, not least of all for the anxious silence of her friends. Allura crossed her arms and leaned away from Shiro’s tentative touch, and when the door slid open, she stormed out of the elevator, down the corridor, and into the med bay. Coran still knelt before “Aeron,” one hand on their arm in a paternal gesture that stoked Allura’s ire.

Aeron looked up, eyes darting to Shiro before returning to Allura and locking there. They began to rise, mouth open to spew further lies, but Allura jabbed a finger in their direction.

“You,” she said sharply, “are not Aeron í Allura Altea.”

Aeron’s gaping mouth snapped shut, and something flashed behind their eyes. “I am, though.”

“Impossible.” Allura crossed her arms. “Where did you come from?”

“The Castle of Lions.”

Allura’s shoulders hitched toward her shoulders, a shout building in her throat. Coran smoothly inserted himself between Aeron and Allura, his eyes sharp with suspicion though he maintained the same warm demeanor he’d had since Aeron awoke. “Funny,” he said lightly. “I haven’t seen you around before.”

“Well, no. I haven’t been born yet.”

Shouts of surprise and incredulous questions burst out of the gathered paladins, but Allura hardly heard. She took a single step backward, head spinning. Time travel. Time travel? It made no sense—and yet that name. Aeron í Allura Altea.

Aeron, child of Allura of Altea.

Her child.

“Impossible.”

Her voice was barely a whisper, indistinguishable in the roar of voices, but Aeron looked at her and smiled as though they’d heard. A moment later, they huffed at the continuing furor and raised their hands. “One at a time. One at a time!” The room slowly quieted, and Aeron settled back in their seat. “Thank you. Now, who wants to start?”

Pidge leaned forward, eyes shining, but Keith was faster.

“Do you really expect us to trust you?” he demanded. The lights on the thigh of his armor were glowing, an unspoken warning that he was ready to summon his bayard—and from Aeron’s grim expression, they knew it.

“It’s the truth.”

Keith’s face darkened. “You really expect us to believe you’re—what? A time traveler? Seriously? Lotor probably sent you to steal the lions.”

“Which is why I’m here,” they said dryly. “Lionless.”

“I never said you were a good thief.”

Aeron rolled their eyes. “There’s no need to be rude, Uncle Keith.”

Keith choked on air, his eyes going wide as Aeron grinned—a brief moment of devious glee, quickly smothered. It reminded Allura all too much of herself. Of having to grow up too quickly, of snatching joy when it came, of constant awareness of the face she presented to the world.

“No.” Allura shoved aside the questions and formless desires creeping into her mind and forced herself to think rationally. “Time travel isn’t possible.” She hesitated in the face of Aeron’s fathomless stare and glanced to Pidge and Hunk. “Is it?”

Pidge spread their hands helplessly. “You tell me. Our scientists theorized that it's possible with wormholes—we just can't create a stable one. Or travel through without getting ripped apart.”

Hunk nodded thoughtfully, tapping his chin. “Yeah, but you’ve obviously got that figured out. We use wormholes like, every day. And space-time is pretty flexible, guys. If we can travel across the universe in two seconds, there’s no theoretical reason you couldn’t also travel back in time.”

“Except for the issue of temporal navigation,” Coran said. He paused, smoothing his mustache. “Or vortex monsters.”

Lance’s eyebrows shot up. “Vortex monsters?”

“Urban legends,” Aeron said. “Early Altean experiments with time travel were universal failures. Nothing ever got to the point in time it was supposed to reach, regardless of which direction it was traveling. Some people said there were creatures that hunted the timestream and ate anything that ventured outside the normal current.” They lifted one shoulder. “But I made it, so I’m betting it was more an issue of the proto-time-travelers missing their marks by a few light years. Or a few millennia.”

“Right.” Shiro held up one hand and shook his head. “Sorry. Even assuming time travel is theoretically possible, what proof is there that you traveled back—how long?”

Aeron scanned the room, their gaze resting on Shiro for only a fraction of an instant before it continued on to Pidge and Hunk. “Judging by how young you all look? I’d say about thirty years.”

“Uh-huh,” Keith said. “Sure.”

Lance planted his palm on the side of Keith’s face and pushed him out of the way so he could sidle up to Aeron, flashing a smile. “So what’s future me like? Dashing? Famous? How big’s my fan club?”

“And how did you end up here?” Pidge added. “Does someone really invent time travel in the next thirty years?”

Aeron averted their eyes and scratched the back of their neck. “I don’t actually know how I got here. But I have pictures from my time if you...” They trailed off, glancing down at the plain white medsuit they wore. “Correction: I have pictures in my armor… Where is my armor?”

Coran retrieved the armor from a storage compartment, ignoring Keith’s protests. Aeron took the breastplate and fished out what looked like a white echo cube. A flick of the finger brought up a digital menu, and a holographic image appeared in the air above Aeron’s hands. For a moment, Allura thought it was an image of her mother—tall, stately, a glimmer of a smile hinting at political savvy.

A chill raced down Allura’s back as she realized it wasn’t her mother. It was Allura, aged by several decades, with lines at the corners of her eyes and strain weighing down her shoulders.

“Ohmygosh!” Pidge lunged forward, stars in their eyes. “Is that derived from the holoprojector on the bridge?”

“Augmented with Olkari tech?” Aeron asked. “Yeah. Pretty neat, huh?”

“The colors are so crisp!” Pidge bounced on their toes as Aeron twirled the cube between their fingers. The image of Allura flickered, replaced by one of a young girl, dark-haired and gap-toothed. She was sprawled across the Red Lion’s paw, beaming at the camera. Then she was gone, and the older Allura was back, this time with a young Altean man—her son?

Allura closed her eyes, seeking calm. “You could have faked those,” she said. “You could have--”

She broke off as Lance gasped. Allura opened her eyes and found herself looking at a wedding photo. Oh, the details were off, but she could still see the Altean traditions at the heart of it: the colored motes of light that gave the scene a soft aura, the clusters of crystals dotting the rafters of the old atrium at the heart of the castle.

“Is that…?” Hunk glanced from the smiling couple, dressed in dark suits of an unfamiliar cut, fingers interlaced and matching smiles on their faces, to Keith and Lance.

Lance’s hands covered his mouth, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, and he reached out blindly for Keith, who looked shell-shocked, his eyes riveted to what very much looked like a picture of their wedding day.

Keith licked his lips, tearing his eyes away from the holo with obvious effort. “Allura’s right. These prove nothing.”

“Okay.” Aeron tapped the holocube, and the image vanished. They tilted their head to the side, eyes sliding almost—but not quite—to Shiro. “There’s one more thing I can show you.”

“And what’s that?”

“The black bayard.” Aeron held out their hand, and a bayard appeared. The paladins stiffened, Keith automatically summoning his own bayard. Shiro held out his hand, pressing it against Keith’s chest.

After a moment’s pause, Shiro stepped forward, held out his hand, and summoned his bayard. “Pidge, can you tell if that’s the genuine article?”

“Sure,” they said. “Just give me a few minutes.”

Aeron’s bayard was real.

Shiro had to hear it twice—from both Pidge and Coran—before he could wrap his head around it. The bayards were ancient, complex devices inexorably linked to the lions. The thought of there being two black bayards was incomprehensible, and that along with Black’s reaction to Aeron cinched it. Aeron was, impossibly, telling the truth.

Hunk was the last to cling to his skepticism, rambling on about how someone might create a forgery that could fool all their resident tech wizards. He mentioned Quintessence modulation and pocket dimensions, but Shiro hardly heard him. Nor, it seemed, did Keith, who stormed forward and snatched Aeron’s bayard out of Pidge’s hands. A familiar sword appeared in a flash of light, indistinguishable from his usual weapon. Keith’s scowl deepened.

“It’s real,” Aeron said, sounding bored. They looked vaguely irritated by the debates, but had been remarkably patient, all things considered. They glanced now at Keith, gauging his reaction. “I promise, I’m not lying to you.”

“You’re from the future,” Shiro said, numb.

Aeron glanced at him, then quickly away. “Yes.”

“And Allura is…?”

“My mother? Yep.”

Shiro’s eyes lingered on Aeron’s facial markings, and the scar across his own nose prickled. “And...” Shiro cleared his throat as every eye in the room turned his way. Every eye, that was, but Aeron’s. “What about your father?”

Aeron stiffened, a scowl darkening their face. “I’ve probably said enough already. Spoilers, right? Don’t want to screw up the timeline.”

The flat dismissal felt like a slap to the face, and Shiro was too stunned to do anything but nod and say, “Sure.”

Was he… not Aeron’s father? He and Allura hadn’t talked much about the future, but the thought that they might not be together—might not even be on good terms—hurt more than Shiro would have thought possible.

Shiro didn’t have long to consider the possibility. As Coran removed Aeron’s restraints, Allura turned and stalked from the room. Aeron watched her go.

“You know...” Hunk pushed his fingertips together as he edged forward with Pidge. “I know we said no spoilers and all, but tech is an exception, right?”

“Yeah,” said Pidge. “We have to figure out how you got here if we’re going to send you home.”

Aeron blinked several times, then chuckled, but Shiro didn’t stay to hear their reply. Instead, he followed after Allura, following the soft, quick beat of her footsteps, which led him to the elevator. He caught the door as it began to close.

“Are you okay?” he asked, joining Allura inside.

She smiled, but it was strained. “I’m fine, Shiro,” she said, leaning into him. “It’s just a lot to take in.”

“I know.” Shiro wrapped his arms around Allura, a lump rising in his throat. “I know. But, hey! Looks like your kid ends up becoming the black paladin. That’s something to be proud of, right?”

Allura pulled back, a solemn expression on her face. Her kid. Not theirs. At least Shiro wasn't the only one upset by that. “Shiro…”

“This doesn’t change anything,” he said, stealing a kiss. “I’m here to stay. I promise.”

“So… exactly how many pictures can you fit on that cube thingy of yours?”

Lance tried not to fidget as Aeron looked at him, one eyebrow arched in near perfect imitation of Shiro’s Dad Face. Lance hadn’t yet pinned down what the deal was between them—Aeron had made a conspicuous effort not to be left alone in a room with Shiro, but still watched him across the room when the whole team was gathered together. Maybe Shiro wasn’t their dad, maybe, but Lance was positive Aeron had known him growing up.

So what had happened?

“Are you asking me because you’ve suddenly developed an interest in tech,” Aeron asked, “or because you want to know more about the future?”

Lance’s eyes widened. “What? Me? Pssh. I don’t care about the future.”

“Uh-huh…” Aeron glanced around the room, which was empty except for the two of them. Coran, Pidge, and Hunk were all busy working out theories for how to get Aeron home, Shiro and Allura were on the bridge, and Keith had spent most of the last two days on the training deck—for no particular reason, of course. Definitely not because he was freaked out by the wedding photo.

Wedding photo! Lance couldn’t believe it. He and Keith were married! At least… he thought they were. He was pretty sure, and as giddy as that made him, he couldn’t tell what Keith was feeling. He’d been trying to figure out how to broach the subject with Keith, but when he came up blank, he’d decided to go fishing for more information.

“Sorry.” Lance rubbed the back of his head. “I shouldn’t have--”

“Okay,” Aeron said.

Lance blinked. “What?”

“Okay. Just—don’t tell my mother.”

Lance snapped his mouth shut and nodded hastily, leaning forward. “My lips are sealed! You-- What--?”

Before Lance could formulate a question, Aeron had pulled out their projection cube. A hologram appeared in the air between the two of them. Lance and Keith, now middle-aged, smiled at the camera. Each had an arm around the woman in braids between them, who flashed a charming smile at the camera as she fired off finger guns. Lance held a much younger child on his hip, though she seemed to be trying her hardest to wriggle away. Her dark hair was escaping her pigtails, and she was missing a tooth.

“That’s Rose,” Aeron said, pointing to the woman in the center. “She’s a few years older than me, tough as nails. My brother’s only a year older than her, and he took it on himself to try to reign her in.” A smile tugged at Aeron’s lips, and they bit down on it. “Can’t say I made his life any easier, to be honest. At least I knew better than to try to imitate daddy before I had any training.”

“Oh, no.”

“Yeah… I’m pretty sure she would have taken the Trials at age six if Uncle Keith let her. Anyway, she’s my red paladin. Sometimes I want to strangle her, but I don’t know what I’d do without her.” Aeron flipped their hand, then pointed to the girl hanging off Lance in the picture. “This little cutie is Claudia. Now, look. We've all played The Floor is Lava, but Claudia raised it to an art form. Not sure how much longer she can persuade people to let her climb all over them, though.”

Lance laughed, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. He had a family. He had a husband and two beautiful daughters, and there they all were, smiling so bright their joy was infectious. “Hey, Aeron? Am I… Am I good dad?”

Aeron’s smile softened, and they flipped over to a different picture, one that showed Keith holding a tiny bundle. He seemed awestruck, handling the baby like she was made of glass, while Lance kissed the side of his head.

“You’re a great dad,” Aeron said. “Both of you. There’s been fights, sure. Lots of big personalities in your family, and Rose was the definition of a rebellious teen. But at the end of the day, Rose and Claudia both know you love them. Rose still calls home every day, you know. Don’t tell her I told you, but I think she’s a little homesick.”

Lance’s vision blurred, and he blinked furiously, trying to memorize the image of him and Keith with their daughter. “Thank you,” he whispered, smiling at Aeron. “Really.”

They switched off the projector, nodding. “It’s family,” they said, as though that explained everything. Lance frowned, but Aeron only shook their head and stared down at the cube in their palm, blinking back tears.

Things were awkward between Allura and Aeron for the first few days. Aeron spent most of their time with Coran—and often Hunk and Pidge—trying to work out the mechanics of time travel. Allura had hung around the fringes of these conversations enough to have heard all the theories: mineral deposits on Dovrura’s moon, Quintessence flows in the system, odd energy signals coming off the sun. The castle in Aeron’s time had been nowhere near Dovrura, so it was likely they’d been pulled to this system by the castle-ship itself.

The intervening days had done wonders for the awkwardness Allura had first felt around Aeron. It was still surreal, of course. Even when she was able to forget, for a moment, that they were a time traveler—and her child—they were still the first Altean she’d seen from this universe other than Coran and Haggar, and she found herself tearing up at the oddest moments.

Aeron was considerate, though, and they avoided talking about the future. They talked instead about Aeron, about Allura and Coran, about Altea of old. Aeron had grown up on stories of their people’s planet, and they were hungry for more, and Allura found it liberating to talk to someone who felt that same intangible connection to the past.

By the end of the first week, Aeron had settled into the castle routine. They theorized with Coran and Pidge and Hunk, they talked with Allura about the past, they snuck off with Lance—and both got cagey when asked what it was they did when they barricaded themselves in the rec room. Even Keith began to warm to the new arrival, though it was usually Lance who enticed him to be social. The mice found Aeron to be a particularly comfortable perch, and Allura was saddened, if not surprised, to realize Aeron had never met these mice—or if they had, they’d been too young to remember.

The only one Aeron hadn’t connected with was Shiro.

He poked his head into the bridge now, hesitating for a moment when he caught sight of Aeron. Pain flickered across his face, but he covered it up as Aeron turned toward him. Allura’s heart ached. Shiro didn’t want to push Aeron, and Allura understood that, but she’d seen the way Aeron looked at him when his back was turned. They’d all seen those looks. Even now, the quiet conversation between Hunk, Pidge, and Coran petered out as Aeron caught sight of Shiro and stiffened. They gaze dropped to the floor, and Shiro shied away.

“Sorry for interrupting,” he said, forcing levity. “I was looking for Allura.”

Aeron stood, rubbing the back of their neck. “That’s fine. I should probably go.”

“You don’t have to--” Shiro began, but Aeron waved him off.

“I’m meeting Lance soon anyway. It’s fine.”

Shiro watched them go, and Allura felt another pang. She stood, approaching Shiro and wrapping an arm around his waist. “You should talk to them.”

He frowned at her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” Hunk piped up from the other side of the room. Pidge eeped and ducked their head when Shiro and Allura turned. They clearly didn’t want to seem like they’d been eavesdropping. Hunk was less bashful. “Have you seen the way they look at you, dude? I don’t know what’s going on there, but they want to talk to you.”

“Who wants to talk to who now?” Lance asked, strolling in with Keith.

“Aeron wants to talk to Shiro,” Hunk said.

“Oh.” Lance chuckled. “Well, yeah. Is there such a thing as dad-pining? Cause holy quiznak, it’s worse than when you were trying to work up the courage to ask Allura out. Ow.” Lance’s smile vanished as Keith smacked the back of his head.

Shiro crossed his arms. “You’re imagining things,” he said flatly. “And what are you doing here, anyway? Aeron just left to look for you.”

“Me?” Lance asked.

Keith frowned. “I’m pretty sure they were heading for the training deck, actually.”

Shiro pursed his lips.

“Go,” Allura said, giving him a gentle nudge.

Shiro opened his mouth, then hesitated. “I don’t know...”

“Go. Trust me. You both need this.”

Shiro stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll give it a try.”

Shiro found Aeron on the training deck, sparring with a gladiator. Watching them fight was mesmerizing. Their grace and power reminded him of Allura, though at the moment Aeron was fighting unarmed. Shiro hadn’t yet seen the form the bayard took for them; he didn’t think anyone had. Aeron preferred to train in private.

When they executed a flawless takedown, stealing the gladiator's sword and running it through—the exact move Shiro had taught himself in the Arena—Shiro understood the wish for privacy.

“Not bad,” he said, entering the room as the castle reclaimed the damaged gladiator. Aeron stiffened, spinning around with a guarded look on their face. Shiro held up his hands. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to surprise you.”

Aeron turned away, wiping sweat from their brow. “It’s fine,” they said. “Someone looking for me?”

“Just me.” Shiro hesitated just inside the door, searching for tact. But he’d been tactful for the last week, always giving Aeron an out, always deferring to whatever wall it was dividing them. Suddenly Shiro found he just wanted answers. “Am I your father, Aeron?”

Aeron lifted their head, eyes wide and wild. “Are you…?” They licked their lips. “I told you, I shouldn’t say too much about the future.”

A flare of anger tightened Shiro’s jaw, and he forced himself to breathe through it. “Please, Aeron. I’m just trying to figure out what I did to make you hate me.”

That, finally, got a reaction out of them. They stared at him, lips parted, and pain crept into their expression. “You didn’t do anything.”

Shiro closed his eyes. “Clearly I did. I… I don’t know what. If I—if I left you and your mother, if I let the team down, if...” If the things I did in the Arena finally caught up to me, Shiro thought. “I don’t want to believe I would do that to you—to anyone. So, please, if Allura married someone else, it’s fine. I just need to know.”

Aeron was still staring at him, their lips pressed together so the stripe of red across their bottom lip stood out. “No,” they said. “She—you are my dad.”

Relief loosed the vice around Shiro’s heart, but cold dread flooded in soon after. “Then...”

“I’m sorry.” Aeron breathed out a ragged breath and made a break for the door, head ducked so Shiro couldn’t read their expression. “I can’t.”

“Wait!” Shiro lunged after them as they fled, catching their arm. “I don't understand, Aeron! If I'm supposed to be your father, why are you avoiding me?”

They whirled, and Shiro was stunned into silence by the tears tracing paths down their cheeks. “Because you died!”

“What?”

Aeron pulled out of Shiro’s grip, wrapping their arms around their midsection. “You died,” they repeated, softer now. Their breath hitched, and they swiped at their eyes. “The last time I saw you, you were dying in my arms, and there was nothing I could do to save you.”

Shiro’s mouth ran dry. He stumbled forward, off-kilter, and reached for Aeron before he had time to think that they might not want his comfort. The instant his hand came down on their shoulder, though, they fell into his arms and clung to him like—well, like he was all they had left of their father.

“I’m sorry, Aeron,” Shiro whispered, pulling them closer. He felt their knees give out and lowered them both to the floor, never giving up his hold on them. On his child. The child he’d left fatherless.

The knowledge left a sour taste on his tongue, and he couldn’t bring himself to ask for more details. A morbid part of him wanted to know everything—when it had happened, how, whether his death had meant anything. There was a thought of changing things, but it faded quickly into the rush of emotion. Who was to say the future could be changed?

So he said nothing, just held his child as they cried and told them everything was going to be okay.

Aeron breathed in the crisp, recycled air of the Black Lion’s cockpit. Her steady presence settled into a familiar place in their mind, and for a moment they could almost forget she wasn’t quite the Black they knew. Thirty years wasn’t much to a Voltron Lion, but the death of a pilot—the death of Aeron’s father, who had been so closely bonded to Black that his death had left deep scars—was not something that could be ignored.

Eight years had not dulled the ache of loss.

That day was burned into their memory. A diplomatic mission, one of the first Aeron had been allowed to participate in… Even now, they didn’t know what had gone wrong, whether deception on the part of the locals or a Galra plot. They just remembered the explosion. Coran had been caught up in the blast, and Aeron’s father had gone in to save him. Aeron followed, and only narrowly avoided being caught in the building’s collapse.

Funny, how being back here with Shiro could make them feel like a child again.

But he’d been there, as earnest as ever, every line of his body speaking to concern for their happiness, every word dripping with a desire to make things right. Aeron’s father had poured everything he had into his family.

They'd almost forgotten how much they'd missed him.

They felt lighter now that they'd told him, though slightly embarrassed by their breakdown.

Black rumbled reassurance, and Aeron smiled. It had been Shiro’s idea to take Black out for a spin, and Aeron had been afraid Black would refuse, as she’d refused to open for Aeron when they first arrived in this time. But she’d welcomed them, and the flight had loosened knots Aeron hadn’t even realized they’d been carrying. Their father was dead, and they dared not hope that would change, but if nothing else, they had at least found closure.

An alarm startled Aeron out of their thoughts. They spun the Black Lion around, scanning the stars, and spotted spotted it at the edge of the system: a Galra fleet. Heart pounding, they hailed the castle.

“Paladins, to your lions! Galra fleet incoming!”

It wasn’t until Keith jumped on the comms with a curse that Aeron remembered they weren’t in their own time. For a moment, they panicked. They’d never been into battle without Rose at their side, without their brother back on the castle-ship to provide support. They couldn’t—they couldn’t do this.

“Shiro.” Aeron faltered, bit their lip. “Dad. I’m going to hold them off until the others are out here, then I’ll trade places with you and you can--”

“No.”

Aeron hesitated. “What?”

“No,” Shiro repeated. “You’re already out there, and you’re just as much the black paladin as I am. You can do this, Aeron. I trust you.”

Mingled pride and grief stirred in Aeron’s chest, but they nodded, pulling out Black’s wing-blades as the Galra fleet formed up and headed toward Dovrura. Ships burned around them, and Black roared in Aeron’s head as they held the line. In moments, the Red Lion was there, arriving in a swirl of flame. The castle’s lasers joined the fray with pinpoint accuracy, knocking down ship after ship as the other paladins fell into formation.

Rose and Myhrin weren’t here. The rest of Aeron’s team wasn’t here. But their parents were, and these people were--or would be--Aeron's family. When they needed someone to take a shot, Lance was there; when they asked for scans of the battle cruiser, Pidge had them ready before the words were fully out of Aeron’s mouth. They flew in tandem with Keith, and Hunk caught a shot from their blind spot.

They cleared out the fleet quickly, Allura called out a warning as the battle cruiser began to charge its cannon, the barrel aimed directly at Dovrura.

“We can’t let them get that shot off,” Aeron called. “Everyone together now—form Voltron!”

They didn’t expect it to work. There were always hiccups when you added someone new to the formation. It took time, and it took a willingness to be open with each other—something Aeron just couldn’t bring themself to do, not when they knew so much about these people’s future.

But in a way, there was nothing new about this. Aeron knew Keith and Hunk and Lance and Pidge. They knew a version of them, anyway. And the other paladins knew Aeron’s parents. There were thirty years between them—but what was thirty years to Voltron?

The bond took root, and Aeron directed them toward the battle cruiser.

“Keith! Form sword!”

Power surged as the sword materialized. Hunk and Lance pivoted, and Keith sliced through the barrel of the ion cannon. Pidge latched onto the cruiser as Voltron drifted past, and they pivoted again, Keith reversing and bringing the sword up from below.

It sliced cleanly through the cruiser, leaving two halves drifting, the shredded shields flickering once, twice, before the power failed entirely.

Stillness returned to the system, and Aeron breathed a sigh of relief.

“That was some fine flying, everyone,” Shiro said warmly. “Good work. And Aeron—thank you. You’re team’s lucky to have you.”

By the following morning, they had the solution they'd been hunting for. However Aeron had ended up in the past, it had left an impression. A path they ought to be able to follow home. All they had to do was reopen the portal. To that end, Coran and Hunk had adapted the teludav technology, and Pidge had programmed it based on the energy spike from Aeron’s arrival.

“It’s going to take a lot of Quintessence to power this thing,” Pidge warned. The team had gathered at the point where Aeron had appeared, helmets sealed against the thin atmosphere. Aeron glanced at Allura.

“Well, what do you say, Mom? Together?”

Allura nodded and they stepped up to the device Hunk and Coran had built. It didn’t look like much; just a small silver cube with a single pedestal rising from the top. Allura laid one hand atop the pedestal, Aeron placed their hand over hers, and they both channeled their Quintessence into the device.

A ripple appeared in the air, then split into a milky blue portal tall enough to walk through.

“I guess this is it, then,” Aeron said, turning back to the paladins. Hunk sniffled, then surged forward, lifting Aeron off their feet. They wheezed, smiling despite themself. “Oh, come on, Uncle Hunk. I’m gonna be born in about seven years. That’s not so long.”

Hunk laughed, and as he pulled back, Pidge took his place. Keith and Lance were next, and Aeron pressed a small disk into Lance’s hand as they broke apart. Lance frowned, looking down at the device, and Aeron winked.

“A little memento,” they whispered, too quiet for even Keith to hear. “For when you’re homesick for something that hasn’t happened yet.”

Lance’s lip trembled, and he squeezed Aeron tight enough to force the air from their lungs. “Thank you.”

Aeron smiled, squeezing Lance back. By the time they parted, Coran was there, his smile sorrowful. Aeron’s breath quickened, and now the tears came. They remembered Coran as a pillar of their childhood, as good as a grandfather to all the paladins’ kids—right up until the day he died.

This version was virtually unchanged from the man Aeron had known. Not so many wrinkles, perhaps, and not yet any gray in his hair, but the same kind smile. The same ready hugs and gentle prodding that made Aeron spill everything.

He alone of anyone in this time had heard the full story of his death, and Shiro’s. Aeron hadn’t meant to say anything, and even now they told themself it wouldn’t change anything. But maybe…

Maybe.

Aeron clung to Coran, burying their face in the curve of his neck. “I’m going to miss you,” they whispered.

Coran sighed. “As will I. But we’ll see each other again, Aeron.”

“I hope so.”

Then all that remained was saying goodbye to their parents. Allura and Shiro stood together, radiant with pride and affection, and Aeron felt their tears spill over. Aeron focused on breathing and surged forward to hug them. Blinking against the tears, Aeron folded Shiro’s fingers over another projection disk, this one containing a picture of Aeron with their parents and brother.

“Don’t forget to have me, okay? And Myhrin, too.”

Allura laughed, then held out a necklace. Aeron recognized it as belonging to their grandmother; their mother wore it nearly every day. Their eyes widened. “I can’t--”

“Take it,” Allura said. “I want you to have a piece of me, whatever else happens.”

Aeron said nothing, just nodded, clutching the necklace to their chest, and stepped backward toward the portal. They got one last look at the team, happy and whole and hopeful, before they stepped out of time.

The castle was just the same as Aeron remembered it, albeit quieter. Med kits in every room—added after Rose’s... eventful childhood. Old finger paintings permanently emblazoned on the walls. The familiar sigh of the ventilation system, and the hum of Quintessence running through the conduits.

Aeron stepped out of the portal into the Black Lion’s hangar, unchanged down to the jacket Aeron had left draped over a chair. They went looking for their team, a corner of their mind irrationally convinced they’d come back ten thousand years too late, and everyone they’d know was long dead.

Voices in the distance led them to the rec room, where they found a crowd. Not just the other paladins, but many of their parents as well. Keith and Lance had claimed a corner of the couch; Hunk and Shay and the Holts were huddled by the wall, talking in low tones.

But it was Rose, pacing by the door and chewing on a fingernail, who noticed Aeron first. She stopped, mouth dropping open.

Then she shrieked, loud enough to shatter glass, and sprinted toward Aeron. “You big, stupid jerk!” she cried, slamming into them and spinning around. “Do you have any idea how worried we were?” Rose pulled back, punching Aeron in the shoulder. “You’re not allowed to do that again.”

Aeron chuckled, rubbing their arm. “Sorry,” they said, beaming as everyone else streamed forward to join in on the group hug. “I’m home now, though.”

A hand settled between Aeron’s shoulder blades, warm and heavy, and they began to turn, only to freeze when a familiar voice said, “You’re right.”

Aeron forgot how to breathe. It was only then that they spotted Coran across the room, smiling into his hand. There was gray in his hair, more than Aeron remembered, but his eyes sparkled mischievously as he came forward and put an arm around Allura’s shoulders.

Aeron turned.

“Dad?”

Their voice came out small, tears streaming down their face, but their father only smiled, pulling them against him. “Welcome home, kiddo.”

#voltron #vld #shallura #klance #next gen au #time travel au

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hailqiqi · 7 years

Text

End of Year Fic Meme

I wasn’t tagged, unless you count those ‘and anybody who wants to do it!’ tags. But I saw this and wanted to do it and I want to see what the people I tag reply with so god-damn-it I am doing it.

Under the cut ‘cause it’s long as heck.

Stats:

List of Fics Posted:

Smile

Shallura Drabble

The Good Type of Snitch

The Choices We Make, The Lives We Lead

Quiet Shimmers in the Snow

The Future in Snippets

Total number: 6 Total word count: 17,114

Ship/character breakdown: Smile – Kataang - Katara POV

Shallura – Allura POV

Snitch – Pidgance – Pidge POV

Choices – Pidgance – Lance POV

Shimmers – Pidgance – Lance/Pidge/Lance POV

Snippets – Pidgance – Pidge POV

Characters that had the main focus:

I think Pidge edges Lance out for POVs, but not by much.

Specifics:

Best/worst title? Best title: The Good Type of Snitch. Worst title: The Future in Snippets (by far. What was I thinking.)

Best/worst first line?

Best: “The market was beside one of the most spectacular ice rinks Lance had ever seen.”

Worst: Oooh, a toss up between “The ruckus of a hundred students finding and settling into seats reverberates throughout the hall and hits Katara like a shockwave, making her stop just inside the door.” (wordy much?) and “Pidge grumbled under her breath as she shuffled down the hall to her hanger.” (omg how did I miss a misspelling in the first line)

Best/worst last line?

Best: “The warmth in her chest had nothing to do with the jacket.” But I feel like “And the Ambassador certainly won’t notice they’re missing - at least not while he’s passed out underneath the canape table.” should come in second here.

Worst: So 4/6 fics end with some version of ‘he/she said ‘Okay’.’ Worst line goes to “C’mon then. Let’s go on a date!” which was written in purely to avoid him saying ‘Okay’.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted? Well, I intended to do 6 for Kataang Week and I did …only 1… but 5 others. So hmm. I definitely wasn’t expecting to write for anything else, I haven’t written fic for fun in about 15 years so it was a nice change!!! Big thanks to Morie @octaviainthewasteland for getting me back into this.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year? Pairing: Pidgance Genre: NSFW Fandom: Voltron, I suppose? What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest. The Choices We Make, The Lives We Lead. Which is ironically my least popular pidgance story by miles.

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

By Comments: The Future in Snippets By kudos: The Good Type of Snitch By hits: Quiet Shimmers in the Snow

(See? Choices gets no love!) Story most underappreciated by the universe? Choices! I dunno why, I really like the atmosphere of it. It draws me in every time I read it. Story that could have been better? Smile, definitely. That was the first thing I wrote this year after a year of writing nothing (I participated a bit in Kataang Week last year just because there needs to be more people in it) and you can definitely tell my writing needed polishing.

Quiet Shimmers in the Snow annoys me, tbh. When I sat down to write it I thought ‘fuck logic, let’s just have fun and be happy’ and created this big romantic world but the thought that ‘there isn’t really a story here to tell’ always niggles at me. It’s probably what makes it so hard to write. Sexiest story? Snippets. Though there’s really not enough sex considering it was meant to be NSFW practice. Saddest story? I don’t really do sad. Choices, maybe? Most fun? Shimmers. It’s a first date with alien ice skating, fairies and Christmas markets. C’mon. Story with single sweetest moment? Smile

“That means the pretty girl must be looking at him again.

He looks around, a grin already forming on his lips, expecting her to jump and duck her head like she always does. But this time bright blue eyes meet his gaze head-on and he feels the breath leave his lungs in a sudden woosh. Her hair tumbles over her shoulders and a deep red blush spreads over her dark complexion. How did he ever look away from her before?

He feels light-headed. The pretty girl isn’t pretty. She’s beautiful.

She lifts a hand and waves, a small smile spreading shyly across her lips. He smiles back, warmth filling his chest, and then the lecturer calls for everyone to pay attention and the moment is gone.”

Writing about The Sweeties means sweetness is always coming. I love it.

Hardest story to write? Both Smile and the Shallura drabble, I think. I was doing both more out of obligation than a real inspiration to write (unfortunately I only seem to obsess about one thing at a time). Quiet Shimmers in the Snow has been giving me a heap of trouble past the first chapter, too (really it was meant to be a one-shot, but Misty insisted that I needed to have them actually ice-skate so I thought I’d shoe-horn a few other tumblr prompts into it).

What I’m getting from this question is that anything I’m not writing specifically and solely because I want to write it is hard to write.

Easiest/most fun story to write? The Good Type of Snitch. That was a hell of a lot of fun.

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters? Nah, none of my writing’s that deep, fam. It’s all fluff and funsies.

Most overdue story? Uh, probably Quiet Shimmers in the Snow since it’s made up of tumblr prompts from like… 3 months ago??

Smile is also part 1 of 5? 6?. Part 2 is sitting finished, Part 3 is like half-way done. Kataang Week was back in July! ( @chel-burr do you still wanna tackle the rest of them?)

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? Starting writing again, just in general! Snitch was a huge risk because it was my first foray into writing again and also written as a birthday surprise for someone who’s writing I admire immensely ( @octaviainthewasteland , looking at you here!). I was actually a little nervous about that because Morie’s stuff is always so well-thought-out with expansive settings and twists and emotions and mine is like...fluff with two people talking. I suppose I learnt that I enjoy writing, people enjoy reading my rubbish, and that people always enjoy surprise birthday fics?

Snippets is another big risk – it wasn’t planned when I started, and I just kind of randomly decided that I needed to learn to write NSFW so…there we go. The plot came after the first chapter. I learnt that emotional context is what really makes a smut scene go, that people really like NSFW stuff and interact with it more (this is the only one of my fics that people interact with me on tumblr about), that I actually need to learn to write group dialogue, and that I really can’t stick to angst to save my fucking life because despite my careful planning my head keeps going YOU CAN MAKE THEM HAPPY NOW JUST DO THIS!!!! (I’m writing fanfictions of my own damn fanfiction in my mind because I want to them to just smile already jfc)

What are your fic writing goals for next year? So I’m in the Plance Zine and the Tiny Adventures Zine, the Pidge Big Bang and the Voltron Kink Bang …. So to complete all of those on time!!

I also want to work through that list of prompts from months ago, and my piece for the Voltron Kink Bang is going to be the first part to a gigantic soap opera epic that I’ve had planned in my head for months and never intended to write – I want to have at least half of that written and posted by December 2018. And hopefully that goal will stop me from chickening out of the Voltron Kink Bang because there’s still a part of me that wants to accidentally miss the check-in.

And, for funsies, I wanna have two completely new fics that aren’t planned at all right now done and dusted in these 12 months. What will they be? Who knows! Finding out is half the fun!

Tagging everyone who’s writing I want to know more about... Okay there’s a lot of you. @octaviainthewasteland @mistyhollowpro (pleeeeease tell me you’re actually writing that soulmates au) @sp4c3-0ddity @mindatworkk @dupreerose @purpleplatypusbear21 @s-n-arly @fanwright @fanart-rainbox （妳的同人文也算哦！） @bel-ina @polarishpd (I am still not over that last chapter of Robots and Love) @thisiswhereifall @amillionsmiles @radiantcerulean and I know there’s more but I’m meant to actually be working so...

#end of year fic meme #writing stuff #plance #pidgance #cause there's lots in there #i reallllllly hope everyone I tag does it cause I am nosy as heck

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sp4c3-0ddity · 7 years

Text

tagged by @hailkuvira and @amillionsmiles. thanks!! <3

tagging uhhhh who have i somewhat interacted with that writes and hasn’t been tagged already uh @magical-merlance, @cosmicdusttrails, @tiredgaykeith, @rueitae, @elby9001, @ anyone else that wrote fic this year and wants to take a stab at it??

STATS:

Fics posted: they’re all...VLD

Tumblr exclusives: my fic tag for your viewing pleasure. but here’s a list of everything (i think) that i didn’t also post on ao3 (with the exception of a few that will be posted probably within the next week):

Misnomer, a crack fic

a euphoric plance kiss that i just wrote on a text post i reblogged

a Cupid AU plance ficlet i also wrote based on a text post

ficlet about Acxa, Ezor, and Zethrid after Lotor escapes them

Pidge getting Love Advice from Lance, also an addition to someone else’s text post

How I think Hunk learned Pidge is a girl, with a teeny tiny bit of plance because it’s a section of a plance fic i meant to finish that i’ve since lost this is why you save/back up your work often

Outtakes from ‘Howl at the Moon’

A The Wizard of Oz AU (honestly bless the anon that prompted this)

A shallura hurt/comfort prompt fill

Whatever the hell this is, all i know is that it’s gen but still involves kissing and is kinda a crack fic

FF.Net: N/A

Archive of Our Own: i’ll just go with oldest first like i did in the last section

Give a Little (5859 words), fake dating, my first posted plance fic

Ship to Wreck (3544 words), gen (despite the title hehe), sailor/age of (western) exploration-type Pidge-centric AU

Spectrum (9562 words), gen, a Wheel of Time/fantasy AU

Winging It (2187 words), gen, fun canon-verse fic where they race paper airplanes

A Slip of the Thumb (18697 words), plance, wrong number/text modern AU

Break a Leg and Other Cliches (29293 words), plance, modern ballroom dance competition AU

Incompatible Schedules (1025 words), plance, canon-verse fluff

All’s Fair in Love and Gaming (653 words), plance, canon-verse fluff

Be Gentle (4881 words), plance, canon-verse body swap AU

If Wishes Were Fishes (1167 words), plance, canon-verse vaguely bittersweet beach fic

Lightning Round (3003 words), plance, canon-verse battle couple in training fic

Build on Shaky Ground (3337 words), gen/plance (platonic), kinda angsty Garrison era

Unknowable (562 words), plance, canon-verse philosophical fluff

Wisdom of Hindsight (1344 words), plance, canon-verse angst

Caught (2727 words), plance, canon-verse lovebug AU

In Time (724 words), pallura, canon-verse hurt/comfort

The Art of Seduction (2075 words), plance, canon-verse fluff

Falling’s Not the Problem (26179 words), plance, future canon angst with a happy ending sorta thing

Smuggle Your Heart (21931 words), plance, Star Wars-ish AU

Pocket of Space (6203 words), kallura, a Vorkosigan Saga-ish AU that’s kinda...languishing at the moment

Howl at the Moon (10271 words), plance, future canon undercover fake marriage thing

Failure to Launch (1740 words), gen, Sam & Coran hurt/comfort and feels in general

Specter (18325 words), plance, future canon AU, and, um, major character death fic

What Not to Do in Chemistry Lab (2458 words), gen, modern/college AU with my chemist Hunk headcanons

Search and Rescue (1684 words), gen, pre-canon baby Holts fluff

Shopping for Disaster (6108 words), gen, canon-verse Allura & Pidge bonding-gone-wrong fic

Ink on a Page (8807 words*), gen, Pidge-centric Inkheart AU

In the Making (8184 words), plance, canon-verse/future canon ~over the years~ kinda thing

Strangeness and Charm (73407 words*), plance, a collection of prompts cross-posted from tumblr so they’re really a bunch of individual fics but i’ll count them as one for now

*word count not entirely accurate because subsequent chapters are complete but not posted

Total number: 39 (counting S&C as one fic) Total word count: 288,132 part of me wishes i was making this up

Ship/Character breakdown: Ship breakdown: plance, undoubtedly, wins; gen stuff takes second place. then there’s the odd shallura/kallura/pallura stuff (i like all Allura ships so) Character breakdown: hmm. Pidge and Lance dominate, obviously. Pidge also tends to dominate by gen stuff, with Allura possibly coming in second. Poor Shiro and Keith (though i still love them) kinda......lose

Characters that had the main focus: Pidge in much of my plance and gen stuff, Lance in much of my plance stuff, Allura in a decent amount of my gen stuff as well as in that languishing kallura fic

Specifics:

Best/worst title? Best title: None really jump out at me, but I think‘Build on Shaky Ground’. Also before i suffer some serious post-posting (hehe) embarrassment, I’ve titled this brand-spanking new fic ‘The Start of Something New?’ (the question mark is compulsory) and i’m way too proud of myself for that reference to HSM at the moment. Honorable mention to ‘Search and Rescue’ for sounding more serious than the fic’s plot actually is

Worst title: I’m actually displeased with most, but only ‘Smuggle Your Heart’ makes me cringe every time I see it

Best/worst first line? Best: not sure but as i look now the first line from this fic gave me a good laugh:

Lance thought that after two years in space fighting furry purple aliens while flying a sentient robot lion that merged with four other sentient robot lions to form one large robot man nothing could possible surprise him.

Worst: if i actually took the time to look through all my fics, i’d probably find so many awful first lines, but i’m too lazy so this one is a weak first line from my one and only shallura fic:

Shiro had never seen Matt and Pidge happier.

Best/worst last line? Best: uh to be honest i think they’re all kinda bad but here are a couple funny ones (from this and this) that don’t require much work on my part sorry i’m lazy:

Lance watched him go for a tic, shrugged, and went off in search of someone else to bother, preferably someone he would not mind kissing.

“It was strange enough that I actually don’t want to forget, so listen closely, because I won’t tell it twice.”

Worst: point at any one of my fics. i’m never happy with the Last Line. but here from Shopping for Disaster (it makes sense in context):

He still wrote the ticket.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I wrote...way more

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

definitely VLD in general, because i was still...hesitant to get into it?? i didn’t watch it till spring of this year 2017 a few months after season 2 came out, i think What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

There’s this one (named ‘Siren Song’) that has yet to be posted into my collection on ao3 and it’s a concept i very much want to expand into a fully fledged long fic. and, to be honest, i thought it would get more notes than it did

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

By tumblr notes, this one ('A Sticky Situation’ on ao3) takes the cake with 168 notes

By kudos/bookmarks/comments on ao3, that would be A Slip of the Thumb with 225 kudos and 31 bookmarks

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

Me, constantly: I write gen fic too guys (in all seriousness, my Inkheart AU is going to be great)

Story that could have been better?

Can i say all of them?? No?? Okay, taking recent fic into account (because i do think i’ve improved overall even in the last few months), i wish i’d spent more time and put more effort into ‘Shopping for Disaster’, especially with making the action scenes more plausible, making the Druid scarier (because i want to get better at writing horror, believe it or not), etc. Pro tip though: don’t write while you have a headache

And actually now that i think of it, I would scrap all of ‘Wisdom of Hindsight’ because it’s awful and uses a trope i really hate

Sexiest story?

sex?? in my fanfic??

but anyway!! hmm...’The Art of Seduction’ probably had the most graphic (except also not really) makeout scene. ‘Propriety’ (part of the collection) was almost definitely the most suggestive. ‘Howl at the Moon’ had the double whammy of a fakeout makeout and a fake marriage along with the kiss at the very end of the fic. so i dunno, i guess it’s in the eye of the beholder??

as far as vibe is concerned though, i actually think ‘Smuggle Your Heart’ is kinda...sexy?? *shrugs* Saddest story?

‘Specter’ without a doubt. *cue evil laughter* Most fun?

‘Smuggle Your Heart’ was actually wildly fun to write. i was really into action scenes at the time

Story with single sweetest moment?

not sure, but in my humble opinion it would the majority of ‘Burnout’ (also from the collection), particularly this sizeable bit:

Pidge would never admit it to anyone - except to Lance himself, maybe - but she liked it when he clung to her like this, or when she latched herself onto him. There was just something soothing about having another human body pressed against hers, a balm for the mind and a relaxant for the muscles.

Some of the tension trickled out of her as she leaned back into Lance, and his arms tightened around her, sensing her need.

“Guess what?” Lance said, voice soft and close to her ear.

“…did Coran get his hand stuck in something weird again?”

Lance rubbed his nose - scratching, probably - against the side of her head, then chuckled, the vibration reverberating from his chest into her back. “No,” he said. “Try again.”

“Hunk figured out a way to imitate peanut butter?”

“All right, you get one more guess before I tell you.”

Pidge rolled her eyes but said, “Did you finally find out how to swim in the upside down pool?”

“Oh, ha ha, very funny, Pidge,” Lance grumbled.

For some reason, that made her giggle, if only because the image of Lance’s last pitiful attempt to swim laps in the Castle’s pool cheered her.

“So…what?” Pidge said, turning her head slightly so that Lance could see her frown. Of course he would dangle a mystery in front of her without giving her a chance to solve it…

“I love you,” he said, pressing a doting kiss to her forehead.

Pidge’s face flushed, pleased and embarrassed all at the same time, her worries dissolving as easily as sugar in hot tea. “So?” she said, trying to show him how unaffected she was. “I love you too, so it’s not that special.”

“But you are, Pidge,” Lance said. He buried his face in her hair. “You’re special, and smart, and confident, and we wouldn’t be able to function without you. And anytime you’re faced with a challenge, it bows down to you, its queen - wait, no, it’s empress.”

Pidge laughed and rubbed her face. “Oh my God, Lance,” she said. “That’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“But it’s true,” Lance insisted. “And I know for a fact you love being praised.”

“Well…”

Lance let go of her and moved away, and Pidge missed him instantly…at least until he knelt on the floor next to her, putting him at below eye level in relation to her. He cupped her face, gently, and made sure she met his eyes. “You’re amazing, Pidge, and when you crack this code, we’ll all sing your praises.”

Pidge rested her forehead against his, reaching behind him to bury her hands in his hair. “But especially you, right?”

He smirked. “I’ll be the loudest one.”

Lance then kissed her, so softly it wasn’t much more than a warm brush of lips, and he pulled back before her eyes even closed. “Also,” he added, with a slow, sly smile, “it wouldn’t hurt to take a break, right?”

Hardest story to write?

This borderline crack fic that had a shippy premise but the prompter challenged me to write gen for it. i succeeded (i think), but was it worth it?? probably

Easiest/most fun story to write?

They’re all fun to a certain degree, but this The Wizard of Oz AU was great fun once I hit my stride. also honorable mention to ‘Smuggle Your Heart’, of which i wrote about 17k words in one day in a hyperfocusing haze (i didn’t sleep till 3 AM that day and i would’ve skipped dinner if my parents hadn’t reminded me).

(i haven’t had a day so productive yet inefficient since)

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

I actually....disliked Lance until i started shipping plance, and then my love for him only grew the more i wrote him lol. even season 1 Lance can be fun to write now, if only because he’s so ridiculous

Most overdue story?

hmm, perhaps something like ‘Failure to Launch’ because there’s a lot to explore in the adultier adults important to Team Voltron, particularly what Sam - the dad - might feel about his pretty young children getting sucked into a fight like this. but *shrugs*

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

not really?? i...kinda played it safe?? perhaps ‘Ink on a Page’ is my riskiest venture to date because it’s a long fic and i have a poor track record with long fic that i start posting before finishing. hopefully i’m learning discipline and like actually finishing things

also i think ‘Specter’ was pretty risky, as would be writing anything i really have very little experience in feeling, plus people tend to feel very strongly about major character deaths and i was unsure how people (particularly people i interact with) would receive it. and i guess i learned that it’s okay to take risks?? i was pleased with the way the fic turned out (even if it broke my heart to write it), and it was sorta begging me to be written (you know that itch you get when a story wants out??). and ultimately i’m writing for myself...but it’s still nice when other people like your writing too

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Finish ‘Ink on a Page’

Finish and post my definitely unconventional The Holiday AU that’s currently languishing as a Word doc of about 20k words

Write something amazing for the plance zine

Expand/write my sailor AU (of which ‘Siren Song’ is the prelude)

Write a slow burn plance fic (to be fair, The Holiday AU and the sailor AU are looking to be slow burn, of sorts)

Maybe...not write so much by the seat of my pants, be less impulsive and more thoughtful, outline more but remain flexible, be more efficient so i don’t burnout, push myself to write even when i’m not feeling ‘inspired’

Not compare myself to other writers (sad but true)

write for a different fandom/pairing?? who even knows at this point

#this got really long whoops #qna #thank you for the tags though!!#this was so much fun #but God i'm still only just understanding how disorganized i am #and the fact that i forget so much of what i write is kinda sad #so answers may not be entirely accurate #reem writes fic #plance #because let's face it that's mostly what i write

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calligraphist-artemisia · 7 years

Text

Undefinable (Chapter 1)

Summary: High School AU. Lance likes Hunk. Hunk likes Lance. There should really be no problem there, except neither of them thinks the other knows they exist. Keith and Pidge just want their dumb friends to be happy but that won't happen unless they can get them to talk. Rating: T Pairings: Kidge, Hance, and a little Shallura

Also posted on fanfiction.net and archiveofourown

Chapter 1

Lance sighed dreamily for the fifth time since he sat down, his eyes focused on the back corner of the classroom. “How do you think he gets his hair to look so nice?”

His best friend, Katie “Pidge” Holt, arched an eyebrow as she raised her eyes to look at him. “Good conditioner? I don't know. Do you think you could focus on our assignment and not on how nice your boyfriend looks today?”

“He's not--! We're not--!” Lance moaned in despair and dropped his head onto the table they shared, never noticing the odd looks of their fellow classmates. “Piiiiiidge,” he whined, drawing out her name.

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Everyone's staring at you.”

“Is he looking too? NO! Don't look!”

Pidge had just started to twist around and look at the back corner, where the subject of Lance's affections sat, when her friend frantically grabbed at her arm a little more tightly than she liked. “Lance, seriously?” She pulled her arm away and ignored his whining as she turned to the desk behind her, where Allura and Shay were quietly chatting as they filled out their worksheets. “Save me.”

“I offered my input at the start of the year, but you ignored it,” Allura said, looking amused. Her lilting accent gave her words a more playful tone than she'd probably intended. “You could have partnered with Keith instead.”

“I can't imagine a situation that could go more wrong than that,” Pidge deadpanned.

“So you say,” Allura said lightly.

Under the guise of continuing their conversation, Pidge was able to look in the back corner without giving Lance a heart attack. There were two boys there, one of whom was Hunk, who sat with his back facing them. The other was Keith, who glanced up in time to notice her eyes on him. He winked at her before going back to his work.

Pidge swore if anyone else saw that, she was going to kill him.

Lucky for Keith, Mr. Coran picked that moment to re-enter the room and call the class back to attention. Chatter died down and everyone faced the front so they could review the worksheet together.

Pidge scrawled a quick note to Lance, and the moment Mr. Coran turned his back to the class, she tossed it forward over his shoulder and was pleased when it landed on his desk.

You're fine. Hunk wasn't looking.

She could see his sigh of relief.

Sometimes she really didn't understand Lance. A pretty girl could cross his path and he'd have no problem chatting her up, but the moment he laid eyes on Hunk it was like someone hit the 'off' switch in his brain. Maybe it was a mark of how strong his feelings were for the other boy. Still, it was unusual to see him trying to avoid attracting attention.

Pidge narrowed her eyes at the back of his head. She'd hoped he would figure it out on his own, but it was starting to look like she'd have to lend a helping hand after all.

“Are you sure you don't want a ride?” Lance asked her for the third time that day.

“It's fine,” Pidge replied. “Shiro's picking us up today. He and Matt got home from college last night.” She shut her locker door to reveal him staring at her with blatant disapproval. “What?”

“Dude, this is the last night I've got the car before my sister gets home and uses it all the time! It's our last day of freedom!” Lance exclaimed. “C'mon, Pidge, I know you've missed Shiro, but you don't really want to ride home with mullet-boy, do you?”

The pair began their walk down the hall towards the main doors, easily moving along with the crowd also heading in the same direction.

“Well, if I hurry I can get the passenger seat and watch him sulk the whole drive.” She could almost see the internal battle waging in his mind. “Besides that, tonight's the big welcome home dinner for them. I can't miss it.”

“Oh man, I forgot about that,” Lance groaned. “That's so lame. I can't believe you have to spend the whole evening with Keith.”

“Yeah. The things I do for family,” Pidge muttered as they stepped outside. She blinked her eyes against the brightness of the sun, but didn't stop moving or else get jostled by everyone behind her. It didn't take long before she was able to look around, and when she did she quickly spotted a familiar black SUV parked along the road. She smiled at the prospect of seeing her friend for the first time in five months.

Lance caught sight of her expression and grinned knowingly. “Oh, alright. I see. For 'family'. I think you mean for Shiro.”

“First of all, no,” Pidge said in her most no-nonsense tone. “Second of all, Allura can bench press, like, three of me, so no. Third of all, why are we having this conversation again?”

“Uh, cuz you've been smiling all day, duh,” Lance said, holding up one finger. “And then there's the way you say his name. 'Oh, Shiro!'” His voice went high in falsetto. Ignoring her heated glare, Lance continued ticking off each of his points using his fingers. “You don't care that you have to spend hours with mullet. Actually, you haven't insulted him once today. Then there's--!”

Pidge turned her back and started to walk away, giving him a single warning. “Lance, I'm leaving now.”

“So hi to your boyyyyfriend for me!”

“I will come back and punch you!”

“Love you too, Pigeon!” Lance blew her a kiss for good measure, laughing when she turned and flipped him off.

After that, she ignored him, hurrying to Shiro's SUV. She paused in her approach to the passenger door when she spotted an unexpected person sitting there, and then moved for the back door. She pulled open the door and slid into the backseat with a moody huff.

“Good day at school?” Shiro asked, sounding amused.

Pidge's response was to groan loudly and drop her head in her hands. Next to her, Keith chucked. Up in the front seat, Allura did her best to keep her composure and not laugh.

“Shut up, Keith,” Pidge mumbled.

“I haven't even said anything!”

“You don't need to. I know what you're thinking.”

Shiro cleared his throat, interrupting the impending argument. “Seat belts!” He didn't shift the car into drive until he heard several seat belts click into place and only then were they on their way.

For a few minutes, things were peaceful. Allura and Shiro subtly flirted their way through casual conversation. Keith and Pidge sat in relative silent in the back. And then...

“My best friend is dumber than your best friend.”

Pidge snorted. “Yeah right. Today, Lance spent all of Chemistry talking about how nice Hunk's hair looks.”

“Hunk nearly had a breakdown thinking about how blue Lance's eyes are,” Keith countered.

“Lance has started writing poetry detailing all of the finer qualities Hunk possesses. Which is a lot, apparently.”

“Oh, he's only now reached the poetry stage? Hunk was there two months ago. He's now in the stage of today's-the-day-I-tell-him-how-I-feel-oops-no-it-isn't.”

“That's nothing. Lance has been through that about six different times this year.” Some of Pidge's humor about the situation faded away. “This is crazy, Keith. We've got to come up with a plan, because I can't take much more of this.”

“Maybe we should just shove them in a room together and not let them out until they admit their feelings?” Keith suggested. “Or you could just tell Lance that Hunk likes him back.”

Shiro began to brake in preparation for stopping at a red light.

Pidge dismissed the idea with an audible scoff. “Just how do you propose I explain how I know that? Because Lance will be over the moon for about five seconds before he starts to doubt it, and then he'll ask: 'Pidge, how do you know that?' And you know what I'll have to tell him? 'Well, Lance, because I'm dating Keith and he told me.'”

Shiro hit the brakes a little too hard, making everyone in the car lurch forward. He twisted around to look at the two in the backseat, unsure if he'd really heard their conversation correctly. “Wait, what?”

“Oh, yeah, hey,” Pidge said in realization. “Shiro, I'm dating your brother.”

“We're together now,” Keith said at the same time.

Shiro looked between them as if trying to figure out a particularly tricky puzzle. He opened and shut his mouth several times, deliberating on what to say, and settled for: “Do our parents know?”

“Of course,” Pidge said, as if it was obvious. “They even got us a 'congrats on not killing each other' cake after our first date.”

Keith nodded. “It was good cake. You missed out.”

“Such good cake,” Pidge echoed.

Shiro looked to Allura for assistance, still not able to believe what he was hearing.

Allura giggled sweetly and patted his hand. “I know it's hard to believe, but they're telling the truth. Also, the light is green.”

Shiro quickly turned his attention back to the road, staunchly refusing to glance at the grinning duo in the backseat. After a few minutes passed, he dared to ask another question. “So what's going on with Hunk and Lance?”

Pidge and Keith groaned in unison.

“Hunk has a crush on Lance, and Lance has a crush on Hunk,” Allura filled him in.

“So what's the problem?” Shiro asked.

“They're morons,” Keith muttered.

Pidge gently nudged him with her elbow, a disapproving smile on her face. “Maybe we should start at the beginning?” (Keith shrugged and Pidge took that as the go-ahead to continue.) “Last year, the engineering and programming classes had a joint final project. Hunk was my assigned partner for it. I must have mentioned Lance a few times while we were working, and Lance eventually got curious about who I was talking to all the time. Long story short, a few months and I find out the cute boy Lance keeps talking about is actually Hunk.”

“It wouldn't be so bad if they'd just talk to each other, but Hunk gets quiet just at the thought of it,” Keith said.

“Lance is just as bad. I've seen him flirt his way through most of the female population at school, but the second Hunk's nearby? Dead quiet. They're both driving us crazy,” Pidge concluded.

Shiro frowned. “There has to be something you haven't tried yet. What about arranging a blind date? Or a double date?”

“We've tried that,” Pidge said. “Lance makes excuses to not go. Apparently no one could ever match up to Hunk.”

“Hunk worries himself sick and always has to cancel,” Keith said.

Pidge sighed. “I'm still hoping one of them gets over their nerves before prom. Maybe I should tell Lance we're dating and that I can't go with him. Then he'll have to find someone else to ask. Someone like Hu—why are you shaking your head?”

Keith hesitated, not wanting to be the one to break the bad news to Pidge. “Hunk may have already asked Shay to prom...”

Pidge gaped at him for a full five seconds. “What the fuck, Keith?!”

“Language,” Shiro said, unable to help himself.

Pidge cast an annoyed glance in his direction before refocusing her eyes on her boyfriend. “Sorry, Shiro. What I meant was: what the quiznak, Keith?!”

Allura couldn't stop herself from giggling at the word. It was one of Mr. Coran's substitution words for unsavory language, which he'd told the class was something he and his best friend had invented when they were young.

“Why would Hunk ask Shay? No, forget that. Why didn't you tell me sooner? We had a plan!” Pidge paused to rethink her words. “Okay, we had most of a plan.”

“We had an idea to write fake notes to drop in their lockers, which is just as drastic as our other idea to lock them in a small room together,” Keith said. “Anyway, I think it's more that Shay asked him. He's the only one her parents trust enough to take her. Look, I'll think of a new plan. I have an idea. I just need to work on it.”

Shiro slowed down and pulled off onto a side road without any issue from the driver trying to tailgate him.

Pidge wasn't at all convinced by Keith's explanation, but she was wiling to let it slide. It wasn't the first time one of their ideas didn't pan out, and it wouldn't be the last. Setting up their stubborn best friends was turning out to be a bigger challenge than either of them had anticipated.

Which reminded her...

She leaned over close to Keith and lowered her voice, well aware that Shiro and Allura were still listening to them. “So I found something interesting that might help with our summer plans. It looks way more legit than the last video we found.”

Keith leaned in as well, looking interested by the news. “Do they give the location? How far is it?”

“Maybe two hours from here,” Pidge responded.

“That close...”

Shiro cast a curious glance in the rear-view mirror and raised an eyebrow at how close they were. It was such a far cry from the last time he saw them only a few months before, when they could barely stand being in the same house together. Suddenly they were chatting as though they'd been friends for years and Shiro suspected if they weren't buckled in, they'd be sitting pressed against each other.

“Cute, aren't they?” Allura said. “I couldn't believe it when they told me. Actually, I thought they were trying to play some sort of prank. But here they are, planning out the best place to hunt—which one was it again? Bigfoot or the Yeti?”

Pidge looked up so fast she nearly collided foreheads with Keith. “Neither of them are even around here!”

“And they're the same thing,” Keith added.

There was a noticeable pause as Pidge slowly turned back to Keith, her brown eyes wide with disbelief. “I'm sorry, what? Did you just say Bigfoot and the Yeti are the same thing?”

Keith looked smug as he leaned back in his seat, meeting her gaze with ease. “Obviously it's the same creature. Its fur changes to white when it lives in colder climates or during winter.”

Pidge let out a strangled groan of frustration. “No. Just no. They're a completely different species! First, that's suggesting that it's migratory and there's no way a creature of that size could travel thousands of miles across open space without being seen, never mind across oceans!”

“It could if there's more than one,” Keith challenged. He grinned at the look of pure outrage on Pidge's face. “Katie, I'm joking.”

Pidge loudly exhaled, closing her eyes as she released the mixture of emotions she'd been building up. There was the click of a seat belt being released and then Keith scooted over and wrapped an arm around her.

“Jerk,” she mumbled, leaning into him.

“Sorry, I couldn't help it,” Keith said softly.

“And?” Pidge pressed.

“And you're the best genius girlfriend in the whole world?” Keith guessed.

Pidge tilted her head back to look up at him for a moment and then nodded, snuggling back up against him, where she remained for the rest of the drive.

Keith and Pidge ran upstairs the moment they entered the house, both laughing when they overheard Shiro confirm with their parents that they were dating.

“I'm sensing a distinct lack of trust in us,” Pidge joked as they entered her room.

“Can't really blame him,” Keith replied. “Five months ago, would you have believed it if someone told you we'd be together?”

“I would've called them crazy.” Pidge dropped her backpack on the floor near her desk and indicated for Keith to do the same before she sat down on the edge of her bed.

Once he put down his own bag, Keith joined her.

“So, we have ten minutes before my mom sends Allura and Shiro up to check on us. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” Pidge asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“Hell yeah,” Keith breathed. “Show me that footage.”

Pidge grinned and reached back to grab her laptop from where she'd left it on the bed. She pulled it onto her lap and booted it up, leaning into Keith while they waited. “I found it last night. I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd do a little more research into our mystery creature. It was posted around two last night and I managed to save it before it was taken down at two-seventeen. Which either means it's a hoax and whoever posted it is trying to get more attention, or someone had it removed because they don't want anyone to know about it. Either way, I didn't want to immediately dismiss this one after watching it.”

“Wait, is this the one the forums have been arguing about all day?” Keith asked.

Pidge shrugged as she logged on. “Maybe? I haven't been on since last night. I didn't want to deal with all of the drama.” She began to look through her folders, grinning triumphantly when she found what she was looking for. “I hope you're ready for this.”

It was as the two were leaning close together to get a clear look at the screen, that Matt walked by the room. He glanced in, curious about the voices he heard, and then doubled back and stopped as the scene before his eyes registered in his mind.

He stood there a moment, watching as his sister and Keith quietly talked, pointing to things on the laptop screen. There was no animosity. No yelling. No glaring. Just the two of them, looking remarkably cuddly.

Matt retreated downstairs, more than a little bewildered by what he'd seen. He entered the kitchen, where everyone else had gathered and cleared his throat. “Has anyone else noticed something weird going on with Katie and Keith?”

His mom, Colleen, looked up in alarm. “They're not fighting again, are they?”

“What? No,” Matt said with a frown. “That'd be normal, mom. They're both upstairs in Katie's room and they're... getting... along... You're smiling.” He looked around. “You're all smiling. What am I missing?”

“They're dating,” Shiro spoke up from the table, where he sat with Allura and his parents.

“You're joking.”

“He's not,” Allura said. “They've been together since the end of February.”

Matt was rendered speechless. Slowly, he moved toward an unoccupied chair and sat down.

Shiro reached over and patted him on the shoulder in a gesture of comfort. At least he wasn't the only one left in the dark in regards to their younger siblings.

#Voltron #fanfiction #kidge #hance #high school AU #with a little shallura on the side #i'm having too much fun with this dumb fic

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fullyrealisedlegend · 7 years

Text

We Are (Not) Monsters: Ch. 5

aaaand, in quick succession, Chapter 5!! I’m seriously considering breaking this up into smaller, separate stories, as part of the same collection, because while they’re all related, I follow a few different mini arcs within the main plot... hmm... I might cut it off where Lance finally returns to his family.... thoughts?

oh! quickly as well, I’m not sure on Allura’s age. I know there’s talk of her being a teen now but this started well before that and it’s too late to change it now. Not that’ll it will really come up, anyway.

Read on AO3, Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch4

Setting: Future AU - canon setting, but further in the future and with my signature ‘dark with psychological trauma’ twist on it.

Pairings: Klance is the focus - background mentions of Shallura

Rating: Mature - starts out reasonably tame with only mentions of past trauma, death, torture, abuse, etc. Will probably get a bit more explicit later on. Lots of swearing. Like, LOTS. This chapter has implied sexual content but nothing graphic.

Summary: Rumours of the Paladins of Voltron jump from planet to planet. Most are good. Freedom Fighters, they’re called. Heroes. Warriors of Peace. But some are darker. Merciless killers, some say. Brainwashed child soldiers say others. Monsters. They hear them all and ignore them all. They have their own reasons for fighting. But when they’re called back to Earth, they realise just how much they’ve changed. Not entirely for the better.

Lance sighs around the screwdriver in his mouth as he snaps a gleaming panel back into place on his leg. It’s still weird, and cold where it meets his real skin. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to missing a limb, but at least it kind of looks badass. He takes the tool out of his mouth and spins in absently in his hand with a sense of déja vu. It’s an odd mimicry of the day he realised he wanted to get to know Keith as more than friends. That was a good day, he thinks, so maybe this is a good omen. Or maybe not.

It’s definitely different from back then, he can’t deny that. It’s been maybe six months, give or take. He’s not entirely sure, time is so hard to track out in space. They barely even keep track of when it’s ‘day’ and ‘night’, simply trying to keep to some sort of rhythm in their lives. It rarely works - they can’t exactly predict when they have to assemble so they usually just catch sleep when they can. Anyway, things have changed both majorly and in more subtle ways. Lance’s leg is a more advanced model now; it looks sleeker, is generally sturdier, and he can make a blade extend from his heel. It doesn’t even need the maintenance he’s doing on it right now, it’s more like a nervous habit. Lance thinks it’s cool as fuck. That’s a subtle change. He kind of hopes the changes in his personality counts as subtle too. Or at least somewhat positive. It might be asking for too much, though, he knows he's developed a level of cynicism and a skill for manipulation. Death has become normal. He’s becoming numb. He doesn't entirely like it, but shit happens when you're an elite soldier.

Generally, and more obviously, the team has come a long way. They fight better, they know each other better, they are just… better. Except maybe their mental states. Those are probably… worse. Killing is easier than it should be. He reigns in that train of thought. He can’t allow himself to get too caught up on how damaged they all are, not this close to having present themselves as functional ambassadors for their cause.

The other major difference is that this time he can hear the sound of Keith running the sink tap in their bathroom. Because they share a room now. And a bed. And a life, really. Inseparable and totally in love. He wouldn’t have it any other way. Even if they can swing between passionate fucking and passionate arguing in a split second. Both of those have activities have increased in violence recently as well, if Lance is completely honest with himself. He tries not to be that honest though; it’s a sad reminder of how violence has become ingrained in their lives, normalised. He knows it’s the same for the rest of the team but, hey, whatever works. As long as they get the job done, make Allura proud, and support each other. And it's not like it's unwanted violence (Lance would be the first to admit his kinks got a bit messed up along the way), nor is it their entire relationship. There's a lot of gentleness too; a lot of love, a lot of cooperation, a lot of support. Support that his boyfriend really needs from him right now.

Keith’s thoughts are a constant buzzing in the back of his mind. All he needs to do is focus ever so slightly on it in order to hear what’s going on. They normally keep themselves reasonably detached, but that’s not going to help right now. It’s not even a privacy thing because they’ve talked about it and trust each other with their deepest thoughts at all times. It’s more for their own sanity, really. It’s only those highly charged, emotional occasions where they lose control of it and the barrier drops fully. During a desperate battle, or a bad argument, or when they’re having sex - it’s at these times that their minds bleed together and they can’t tell which consciousness is Lance and which is Keith - they become one and the same. The weightlessness, the overload of emotion, the void of their own minds. It’s disconcerting, but euphoric. It’s also dangerous. Early on, they nearly lost themselves and it took a lot of effort to be coaxed back into their separate bodies by the others, though they've gotten better since then.

Right now, however, he just wants to get a feel of Keith’s mental state, which has been a bit fragile since Allura’s announcement, so he tunes in. Keith is a mass of worry and fear, bordering on panic. His thoughts are a mess and it’s hard to make out a coherent thought, but Lance gets the gist. It’s about his appearance. The fact that he doesn’t look quite human anymore, and how people on Earth are going to react to that. Humans have never been great with ‘different’, Lance knows. If the reaction he and Keith both experienced to their sexualities was any indication, this was going to be painful. At best, Keith would be a novelty, like a freak at a fair. At worst? Well… He puts that thought aside with the other things he doesn’t want to examine.

Babe?

Lance sends a gentle question over their telepathic link, but Keith does panic then and drowns him out. He sighs again (he thinks he’s doing a lot of sighing today, and they only woke up a few hours ago) because now he knows for certain that something’s wrong. It’s not like the panic attacks are new. Hell, the entire team has had a few at varying points, and Keith has walked Lance through his own on more occasions than he’d like to admit. But Keith’s are rare, and the fact he’s had more than one in such a short amount of time is troubling. Especially because they can be very severe. He stands up smoothly and makes his way into the bathroom to offer comfort.

Keith is hunched over the sink, his hands bracing him as he stares into it, looking at nothing. He’s sucking in large breaths of air, pausing, then releasing, and Lance is honestly so proud because Keith is one of the strongest people he has ever known and trust him to be able to walk himself through his own breakdown. It still helps to have someone there for you though, so Lance quickly wraps his arms around Keith’s waist, pressing them chest to back, and letting his lips brush his neck.

“Ba-abe. Ke-eith.”

Lance draws out the words, wheedling, speaking them out loud at the same time as he says them directly into Keith’s mind. They don’t need to speak at all, technically, but they prefer to. It’s a good habit to keep; stops them from accidentally cutting others out of conversations, or forgetting how to talk at all. But when it’s just them, it’s easier to get their message across. It’s more intimate, more nuanced, more them . Lance nuzzles behind Keith’s ear as he tries to calm him, following the curve of it, nibbling on the small metal cuffs towards the top, and brushing over the soft fur that creeps up the base. His mouth follows it all the way to the pointed tip, which he tugs slightly with his mouth. Keith huffs, but Lance can feel him relax and drop his defenses.

You okay now? I know you’re scared, babe.

I’m not- I’m not…

There's a pause.

Scared?

I’m so fucking scared, Lance. Aren’t you?

Terrified.

Really?

Keith twists in his arms to look at his face, as if he has to search there to find out whether Lance is lying or not. Lance shrugs.

“What did you expect me to say?”

“I dunno. ‘Who, me? The great Lance? The dashing and charming blue paladin? Scared? Never!’”

“Do you want me to say that? If it’ll make you happy I’d tell you anything you wanted to here. Complete lies. ‘It’ll be fine, Keith, nothing will go wrong. Nobody will hate you’” He says it gently, nearly begging. He doesn’t want Keith to be scared, but he’s not going to lie to him. Not now, not like this. “Does it help at all?”

“No.” Keith mumbles back. And because he knows how much Lance is hurting alongside him, “I’m sorry.”

Lance just presses their lips together in response.

Don’t be.

How do you do it? How come you appear so brave?

And Lance nearly laughs because, him? Brave? He doesn’t think he’s been brave a day in his life, really. But that’s the point, isn’t it? People think he is. People think he’s so completely filled with confidence and self-assurance when the simple truth is he’s not. He’s a wreck. Keith knows this. That’s exactly why he asked.

“Because I have to be.” He says aloud, and wow, that’s a terrifying throw back in time. The memory flashes through his head and Keith gets it. Of course he gets it, he was the one that said it first over a year ago. And because Keith understands, he kisses Lance. It’s soft, innocent, comforting. It gives them an anchor as emotions, memories and thoughts flick between them, using the past to distract themselves from the future.

Lance can’t help but remember the events that unfolded. Things had happened in such quick succession that it had caught them all off guard. He and Keith had become a actual couple. Two days later an accident had occurred that had melded their minds together permanently. It was something to do with a wormhole and their link to their lions. Lance had never really understood and he didn't remember the actual event very well, but suddenly he could hear Keith's thoughts as if he was saying them out loud. Scary, dangerous, but not all bad, so they accepted and adapted. It had taken them five days to be sufficiently functional to perform missions again; and they had done so much more efficiently and smoothly than before. Thank you, two-way mind reading.

Two more days and it had all come crashing down around them.

The pair had gone on a routine check of some old ruins on a picturesque planet. It was supposed to be uninhabited. Of course it was supposed to be; weren't they always? They had let their guards down and been ambushed. The Galra, as always, had attacked. The Paladins had been outnumbered and unprepared.

Keith had been captured.

Lance hadn't been able to do anything on his own, and then they had flown away to Alfor knew where, taking his world with them. All he could do was scream. The team had found Lance later, near comatose with the emotional agony of stretching the mental link. It was an indescribable pain, felt deep within his heart; something was desperately, entirely wrong . They were searching for Keith before Lance had even awaken from his forced cryosleep in a more stable state and he'd never been more grateful.

A full four weeks later, they had finally tracked Keith down and it shaken them all. It was a scientific institution hidden away on the edges of an unwelcoming galaxy. The residents weren't Galra themselves, but it was clear they worked for Zarkon nonetheless. They had taken an interest in creating Galran chimeras, and Keith had become their favourite subject. Apparently humans were particularly compatible. He wasn't the only victim, but he was the only one they had been able to save. The anger from the whole team had been palpable, only getting worse as Lance had steeled himself and put a suffering experiment out of its misery. He hadn't even been able to tell what it had once been.

Lance had found Keith curled up in a filthy cell, shackles on his raw wrists, covered in dried blood and freshly bleeding from a cut on his head. Snarling, he'd shied away from Lance at first and long minutes passed before he finally recognised Lance and threw himself into his arms. It wasn't until they had him back at the castle, cleaned and healed, that they got a good look at the changes. Alien DNA had been spliced expertly with his own and had left Keith physically altered. Mostly Galran, but there seemed to be other bits and pieces to stabilise and specialise. His ears now swept up into a point, partially covered in fur, like that were stopped halfway into turning into cat ears (Lance suspected that Voltron had, in fact, interrupted the process). One of them had also been mauled at some point so it was now torn and ratty.

Keith's irises had become a bright gold that shone with an unnatural light when he was emotional or needed to see in the dark. His teeth they were sharper than they should have been, canines in particularly resembling very realistic vampire caps, and when Lance held Keith's hand he could feel the partially retractable claws that took the place of fingernails. Additionally, he had taken on a vague purple hue over his hair and skin, though with a bit of practice he learnt to suppress this enough that it barely showed unless he wanted it to.

Finally, there was an increase in Keith's physical abilities. Speed and strength, sight, hearing… The experiments had intended to turn him into an animal, a weapon. They had somewhat succeeded. The way he moved and held himself elicited images of a predator, like a panther stalking through a jungle. If he was known for his instincts before, they were even stronger now. Lance had felt Keith's hold on his sanity slip more than once, acting without thought, and needing to be calmed like one would sooth a wild animal.

Keith was dangerous and looked it. There was no doubt that everyone back on Earth was going to be scared of him. But Lance didn't think it mattered. Keith had them. He had the paladins, and the Alteans. He had Lance. Who honestly (and slightly guiltily) found it hot as hell. And more importantly Lance loved him, no matter what. Always would. Loved him for the danger he presented and his ferocity and sometimes for his feral nature. He loved his ears and teeth and eyes. It was all Keith, and it didn't matter what he looked like. It was because of Lance's dedication, that Keith loved him back just as much.

Back in the present, Lance pushed his lips harder against Keith's. The memories had flashed through their minds in mere seconds and now they had both been drawn back to the way the other feels pressed against them. Lance could drown in the heat of these kisses. He’s given his heart and soul to Keith, would follow him anywhere, trust his life to his hands. He would give Keith anything he ever asked for. But he doesn’t ask. Not really. He’s asked for Lance’s trust in the same way that he trusts Lance, and Lance gave it all. And that’s the core of their relationship. Even if they argue or tease or prank each other, they have complete and absolute trust in one another to have their backs. It means that on the battlefield they are a flawless team, in means that when they fight they always return. It means that Lance will still flirt shamelessly with nearly anyone they encounter and Keith doesn’t mind because at the end of the day, it’s his bed that Lance will be in.

Gods, Lance loves this boy.

Keith whines into his mouth, responding to his whirlwind of emotions; the overflowing affection and need to show it. Lance complies instantly, tilting his head and parting his lips, giving Keith access so his tongue can flick over Lance's teeth. Keith’s grip tightens on Lance’s shirt and then he’s pushing back, forcefully shoving Lance’s back into the bathroom wall. Air rushes out through Lance’s nose at the impact but he doesn’t break the kiss, instead wedging himself against the wall so he can wrap his legs around Keith’s waist. When they break apart, they’re both breathing heavily but Lance notices the smile dancing on Keith’s lips once more. Well, sometimes distraction is the best way to cope, and who is he to complain?

“So, how long do we have?”

Keith snorts, knowing exactly where Lance’s mind is taking him, but answers nonetheless.

“About five hours until we have to be back in the Control Room. Think that’s enough time for a nap?”

His tone is teasing and Lance just laughs. A nap honestly sounds great, but he also refuses to be led astray. He knows what he wants and no-one is going to tell him he can’t have both. He kisses Keith again before answering.

“Mm, yeah but maybe, like, fuck me first? Then nap?”

Keith’s smile turns into something darker, hungrier, and his eyes flash. Lance feels his blood boil and his pulse race. It doesn’t matter how often he sees this, he’s pretty sure he’ll always have the same reaction. He shudders slightly as Keith nuzzles into his neck and tilts his head for better access. Fingers run over the sensitive scarring on his thigh where prosthetic meets flesh, drawing a whine of need from him.

Bed?

The question flitters across his mind and he immediately sends back waves of agreement. They're about to go into a whole new situation with it’s own dangers, and they’re both scared, but for now they can have this. They can draw on each other for support and remind themselves that they’re still alive and together. Together, Lance is pretty sure they can do anything. And that includes the minefield of politics and bureaucracy. In a few hours they’ll be ready; standing behind Allura in their gleaming Paladin armour and back on Earth. Despite everything, he’s excited.

His back hits the bed, Keith’s warm lips meet his skin, and Lance’s brain stop running.

#my fics #by mia #WANM fic #klance #vld fanfic #voltron legendary defender #We Are (Not) Monsters #we are not monsters

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paladin-lynx · 7 years

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Let’s talk about Voltron ships for a few minutes

Hi there! You may or may not know me, but regardless, call me Sarah! I’m here to talk a bit about my feelings (and findings) about all the shipping discourse that’s been going on in the VLD fandom over the last couple of days, which seems to have started since people began posting screenshots of The Paladin’s Handbook. There’s been a lot of shipping discourse in general in this fandom, which I personally find unfortunate, but there seems to be a lot of people either wary to continue shipping their ship or being aggressive about shipping their ship ever since the ages of the Paladins were confirmed by the Handbook.

Fandoms are meant to bring people together, but they tend to have the opposite effect sometimes. People end up arguing and bashing each other’s opinions and, while some disagreements can definitely be valid, it should be done in a respectful way. We’re all fans; let’s just have a discussion instead of an argument! I have my NOTPs and such in multiple fandoms, but I usually just quietly scroll past people who support them and carry on with my day. It always makes me feel bad when I see people arguing so passionately about something from a piece of fiction. Shipping is a big victim of these disputes.

I don’t have the Handbook yet, but I will have it soon, so I may update/edit this post once I get more hands-on information, just in case there is something in the book I haven’t seen from screenshots that is relevant or clarifies something I didn’t know.

TL;DR: Please don’t bash other people’s ships. There are definitely instances where you can speak up and say “in this case, this is wrong”, but please do so in a respectful manner, and make sure you are using the correct terminology. My end-all-be-all is “it’s just a cartoon” (in the case of VLD), and it shouldn’t be something that people are hating on each other for. We all like the same thing, so why fight?

So on that note, let’s begin! More under the cut! Be warned, there may be some Season 3 spoilers! And this got long, so brace yourselves!

Please note: I am writing this with the assumption that if you are reading, you are reading the whole thing. My thoughts are a bit scrambled but I tried to make this flow as best I can, but I make a lot of references to earlier things as I write. My categories may also overlap or not include absolutely everything that should go into them.

Here is the post I got most of my screenshots from the Handbook from, in case I reference anything.

Prologue So we recently received confirmation of the ages and heritages of (most of) the Paladins, which are the following:

Shiro: age 25, Japanese heritage Keith: age 18, unknown heritage (part human and part Galra) Lance: age 17, Cuban heritage Hunk: age 17, Samoan heritage Pidge: age 15, Italian heritage

Such a diverse team! We can also add Allura into the mix, since she’s a Paladin now too, and around the age of the other Paladins. I believe the Handbook has said her age is “unknown”, since she pulled an Aang and didn’t age for a long time because she was frozen. Allura could be anywhere from 17 (since the creators said she’s “just as young as everyone else”) to 28 (since Kova is stated to be 28 deca-phoebs old a little while before Zarkon destroyed Altea, and the Handbook has said that a deca-phoeb is about a year). Or her age could be really anywhere, since Alteans may be like elves and age much slower and live much longer than humans. Physically and seemingly mentally, as well, I think we can agree Allura can be grouped in with how old the other Paladins are.

So what does this all mean for shipping?

Shiro Ships The main discourse I’ve seen in the world of VLD shipping is pairing Shiro with anyone else on the team, which is referred to as “Shaladin” (Shiro + Paladin) ships, so this is my main focus. The most popular Shaladin ship I’ve seen is Shiro and Keith, or “Sheith”. My close friend is an avid Sheith shipper, and two seconds on my blog will show you I’m an avid Klance shipper, and while we’ve had our occasional shipping spats or “this is why my ship is better” moments, it hasn’t ever caused a rift between us.

So, why are Shaladin ships such a problem to people? Shiro is 25, so an adult, while all of the other Paladins with the exception of Keith, who we now know is legally an adult, are minors. What’s honestly ticked me off is people calling ships like Shance (Shiro + Lance), Shunk (Shiro + Hunk), Shidge (Shiro + Pidge), and even Shallura (Shiro + Allura) pedophilia. Shidge is bordering the line for pedophilia, but for the others, these ships are not pedophilia. Pedophilia is defined in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD for short) as “a sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age”, which is why I say Shidge is in a gray area because Pidge is 15 and may still be considered “pubescent”. Allura may also be considered a gray area because we don’t know her exact age, but I’d think it’s safe to say she isn’t pubescent. She looks a lot like her mother did (who we see in the last episode of Season 3), who is an adult. So for the sake of this, I’m going to say Allura is probably physically 16-17, closer to Lance and Hunk’s age than Pidge’s, although there is also a chance she is closer to Shiro’s age, at 25.

None of the ships in VLD, regardless of which characters, should be called pedophilia. Pidge’s ships with the adults are iffy with this because she is so young, but other than that possible exception, none of the ships are pedophilia.

But Sarah – Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Allura (for right now) are minors! How is this not wrong?

Well, the main point I’m going to be making is it can be wrong, depending on who and where you are, and assuming these guys are doing the do, since there is legally nothing wrong with people with this big an age difference just dating, even if one partner is a minor. What the people who are going after these ships should be saying is simply that Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Allura may be too young to consent, so having sexual affairs with Shiro could be called statutory rape. This can overlap with pedophilia, yes, but given the ages, I don’t believe it should be called such, again with Pidge being the odd one out.

Let’s go into specifics, starting with Shallura.

Allura is an alien, from Altea. We don’t know how old she is, or what the age of consent was on Altea, or if the concept of “legally competent to consent” was even a thing there. So for the sake of looking into Shallura, let’s see what the age of consent rules are in Japan, where Shiro’s heritage comes from, since we don’t really know what Allura would say in terms of being able to consent.

The age of consent in Japan is actually 13! However, there are laws that define “local ‘corruption of minors’ or ‘obscenity statutes’ (淫行条例) which raise the de-facto age of consent to 16-18, unless they are in a ‘sincere romantic relationship’, usually determined by parental consent”. So clearly, we can’t have parental consent from either Shiro’s or Allura’s parents here. The best we have is Coran, Coran, the wisest man, who is technically Allura’s guardian and who she has said is like a father to her.

I’m getting a bit off-topic here. So, is Shallura a “legal” ship or not? Let’s put Allura at age 17 for now, for simplicity’s sake. By Japan’s rules, it may not be okay, although I think it’s safe to say that most fans shipping Shallura would say if they’re going to “thread the needle” together (I clearly like Lance too much, my apologies), they are in fact in a “sincere romantic relationship”. Also, depending on the area of Japan, Allura may in fact be old enough to consent.

So we know Japan’s rules. What about where the others are from? In Cuba, the age of consent is 16, so Shance is good. Samoa’s is also 16, so Shunk is good! In fact, the age of consent in Italy is 14, so even Shidge is good!

Why am I listing these off and saying the ships are “good”? Because if these are the countries the Paladins are from, these are the laws they’d be familiar with. If they know the age of consent to be X age, they’ll believe that someone at X age will be able to consent. So for Lance, he’d think 16, so he’d think it’s okay to be with someone who is 25. For Shiro, it may vary, so if he is from an area where the de-facto age is 18, he may not think it’s okay to be with Lance. For us, it may be whatever the age of consent in our respective homes are and what we’ve grown up learning!

Again, I may be rambling. That may happen a bit in this post, so again, my apologies.

Let’s look at the Galaxy Garrison. All of the Paladins, except Allura, went there. I think we can assume the Garrison is in America, since everyone is speaking English (at least in the original dub of VLD), and it clearly takes inspiration from sites NASA has had in the desert.

So Sarah – now the American consent laws apply, right?

Let’s say yes, for now! Since I think that’s where a lot of people are pulling their arguments, and it would make sense that the Paladins would all know these laws since they were living at the Garrison and at the very least have permission to be in America. The U.S., as always, while proud, tends to make things complicated. Because we don’t know where exactly the Garrison is, we can’t say what the state laws of consent are, so this will have to be a bit general.

The age of consent in the U.S. varies from state to state, but it’s always somewhere between 16 and 18. It seems like most states have it as 16-17 and not 18, so Lance and Hunk could be in a “legal” relationship with Shiro, while Pidge could not until she is at least a year or two older. If Shiro goes by American ages of consent, which he may considering he graduated the Garrison and may have spent quite a few years in the U.S. because of that, he would also believe that Allura is old enough to consent if she is around 17. If the age of consent they know is 18, then that could raise some issues if these guys decide to take their relationship to the bedroom.

Let’s take a break from Shiro…

Keith Ships Let’s start my pride and joy, the ship of Keith and Lance, better know as “Klance”. We know Keith is legally an adult at age 18, while Lance is still 17. Now, his birthday just passed, so he could be 18, but we don’t know if it actually passed in the show so let’s keep him at 17.

Like I said before, the age of consent in Cuba is 16. We don’t know Keith’s heritage, but we know at least Keith’s dad is Texan, and the age of consent in Texas is 17. So by those standards, Klance is good. However, I’ve seen a lot of people saying they were nervous to ship Klance now that we know Lance is still a minor.

What if the Garrison is in the state where the age of consent is 18? Then, my friend, a lot of states have something called a close-in-age exemption. This means that certain-aged minors can give consent to a partner who is older. It varies from state to state, but I believe Lance only being a year younger than Keith would allow him to consent, except for of course in states that don’t have the exemption. Texas does not have the exemption, but Keith could also go by the laws of whatever state the Garrison is in. Cuba does not have this exemption, but since Lance is above the age of consent there, then he shouldn’t have a problem or really consider this an issue.

What about Keith and Hunk, or “Heith”? With Heith, as with Klance, if the age of consent is 16 or 17 then they’re good, and if not then they could have the close-in-age exemption on their side. Hunk would not need to acknowledge that Samoa doesn’t have the exemption because he’s already above the age of consent.

Easy enough. Let’s move on!

Pidge Ships This is the tough one. I love my little green techie but Pidge is under the age of consent in the U.S. and in the countries of all the Paladins but her own, so too much love may be an issue. She may not see anything wrong with having sexual affairs with the other Paladins. However, the other Paladins may give the classic “but she’s like, twelve fifteen”, and may not feel like it’s okay for them to have sexual relations with her. In this case, there is yet again a gray area. Are these ships “legal” if Pidge thinks they can be? Maybe she’s crushing on one of the others, but they won’t express requited feelings until she’s old enough. Maybe she knows her laws well and will just hold off until she’s older.

What about the close-in-age exemption? In certain states in the U.S., it seems like Hunk and Lance and Keith and Allura (again assuming she’s 17) would be fine, since I’ve been seeing a decent amount of allowance if there is only a 2-4 year age difference. Some states consider it statutory rape, however, if both participants are under the age of consent, so we’d have to hope the age of consent is not 18, since then only Keith would be able to be in the picture here. However, as I said before, Texas does not have the exemption to begin with, so Keith may not want to get with Pidge unless he’s going by the laws of wherever the Garrison is, which may have the exemption.

I’ve seen people agreeing on that shipping Pidge is a little weird, but I’d say it’s safe to ship her with Hunk and Lance and Allura. Shiro and Keith, though, are a bit iffy.

What to do if you ship Pidge with Shiro or Keith, then? Well, to be nitpicky, if Pidge isn’t having sex with Shiro or Keith, then there isn’t technically anything wrong. The age gap between these guys may be frowned upon but there isn’t innately anything wrong with it. Different states in the U.S. and different countries have variations on what acts are considered “sexual”, but for the most part, age of consent seems to refer to full-on sex in whatever form.

You could also age Pidge up a year or two. That’s the glorious power of a fandom! If you like two characters together, but you know there’s something off about them being together, then in your own personal works you can alter things! I’m a member of the Hetalia fandom and I ship America and Canada, who I at first didn’t realize were blood-related since the nations are all technically distantly related somehow and it’s easy to kind of just brush that off, like in the Percy Jackson series, so most of the time when I make works with them, they aren’t related. That’s just a personal example.

Make sense? Let’s power forward.

Hunk Ships Let’s talk Hunk! Hunk is 17, so he is still a minor. As I said before, the age of consent in Samoa is 16, and I should mention that Samoa does not have a close-in-age exemption. This means that Hunk may not want to be with Pidge until she’s a year older.

What about Hance (Hunk + Lance)? Hunk and Lance are both minors, but if the age of consent is 16 or 17, then Hance is good. If the age of consent is 18, then them playing around under the covers could be considered statuary rape with both of them being the offenders.

I’ve already mentioned Heith, so that one’s dealt with.

Awesome! We’re going quick now!

Lance Ships I actually think I covered all of these, so moving right along…

Allura Ships Now, as I mentioned before, we don’t know what Allura’s thoughts on consent are, if any. This means ships with her would probably go by what the other party thinks. Let’s again place Allura at 17.

For Allurance (Allura + Lance) and Hallura (Hunk + Allura), both of their countries have an age of consent of 16. Similar to Hance, though, if they’re going by Garrison laws and the age of consent is 18, these ships may not legally work.

I mentioned Shallura above, so let’s skip that one.

Kallura (Keith + Allura) is like Klance and Heith, so if they’re going by Texas’s age of consent of 17, or the close-in age exemption, they’re good, but if they’re going by a state without the exemption, then it may cause a problem.

Pallura (Pidge + Allura) is similar to Pidgance (Pidge + Lance) and Hidge (Hunk + Pidge) in that Allura is the same age as Hunk and Lance in this case, but unlike the two of them, we don’t have an age of consent Allura would go by. Pidge’s age of consent from Italy is 14, and depending on where the Garrison is, her age of consent for the U.S. could be 16, 17, or 18, with or without a close-in-age exemption, so the legality varies.

Is that all? Nope, let’s bring in a new face.

Matt Ships Who? Matt is Pidge’s brother, and it’s become pretty obvious from some leaks and trailers that we’re going to meet him soon. Matt is already established to know at least Shiro, and he was a student at the Garrison, so naturally he’s going to get shipped.

The Handbook says that Matt graduated with Shiro, so we can assume him to be around the same age, and at the very least an adult. Therefore, most of the same “rules” apply to shipping Matt with the Paladins that apply to shipping Shiro with the Paladins. The only exception is Pidge, since her and Matt as as ship would be incestuous which has a whole other set of laws that I won’t go into, but in a lot of cases is considered a crime to some extent. However, I haven’t seen any people shipping those two together, so I’m not too concerned about going into that.

However…

Sheith Why am I going back to this ship? As I said before, Shiro and Keith are both adults and thus Sheith is legally alright. However, a lot of people speculate that Shiro and Keith may be related because of the resemblance between Shiro and Keith’s dad. We may get a reveal of this later, but a lot of fans speculate that Shiro and Keith are either half-brothers or cousins.

So, what does this mean for Sheith? As it stands right now, there is nothing wrong with Sheith. But as I mentioned above with Pidge and Matt, if Keith and Shiro are closely related somehow, their relationship could be incestuous.

Do not fret, though, if you ship Sheith! Right now, keep doing what you’re doing. If Shiro and Keith do end up being related, you can do as I said with Pidge and alter things to make the ship not incestuous. After all, we don’t know if it’s incest, even if there are speculations. And Shiro and Keith at this point wouldn’t know it, either. It could be like when I first shipped America and Canada but then realized they were brothers, so I altered my works with them.

Epilogue So what did I achieve with this post? Reading back on it, it’s a lot of rambling and “what-ifs” about ships in the VLD fandom.

But my main point, as I said at the very beginning, is that these ships can be considered right or wrong depending on who or where you are. And the point of the matter is, we don’t know where the characters are or what background they’re coming from. At least, not yet.

So that was a lot of text for one little point, huh?

Almost every ship I mentioned has at least one instance where the ship would be legal, going by what we currently know about the VLD characters. Again, the only iffy one is Pidge because of her age, so Kidge (Keith + Pidge) and Shidge shippers may want to err on the side of caution, and maybe even Pallura since Allura may be older than we think, even though for the sake of this post I made her a minor. My inspiration behind this post was seeing mainly the Shaladin discourse, so that was part of the reason I made Allura younger rather than older. If Allura is older, then the “rules” of her ships would be closer to Keith’s and Shiro’s, although like I said we don’t know what Allura’s thoughts on consent are.

I consider myself a rather “chill” member of the VLD fandom. Klance is my main ship, but I can appreciate other ships even if I don’t ship them myself. I’ve seen amazing works of all ships across the spectrum and support them all. I just think it’s good for all the shippers in this fandom to be aware of why there may be discourse over certain ships, and I think the people who are bashing other’s ships should be aware and more informed about how most of these ships would, in the real world, in some circumstance, be okay.

Like I said in my TL;DR, please be respectful, even if you don’t agree with something. If your personal beliefs or the laws of your home do in fact deem a ship as “wrong” in the real world, then you can of course point it out so that people know. However, I believe posts like that should be more “hey, in my home of X, this is considered statutory rape” rather than “this is f*cking disgusting, you piece of sh*t”.

So another TL;DR: We don’t know what laws the characters in this show are going by, and so we can only make assumptions, and with all this analysis it’s pretty clear that most of these ships would be deemed okay in the real world. Also, honestly, the Paladins are in space, so what laws are there anyway?

I can understand you taking my words with a grain of salt. After all, I’m just a fan who spent a few hours Googling laws, so I’m not an expert. If you know more about anything here, then please feel free to correct me or add on! All I ask is that you please keep me out of any further discourse or arguments about VLD ships that may come from this post.

Thank you, all! Let’s call a truce and instead support each other in the wait for Season 4!

-Sarah

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