#shitty flirting

[intriq]

𓆩♡𓆪 dumbass [in denial]

content warnings: blood, injuries, mentions of knives, stabbing, violence, swearing, my shitty attempt at writing flirting

once again i am so fucking sorry if this is so non canon following that it pains you to look at

anyways im hoping i did jason justice and that this wasn't stupid or cringey at all, without majorly breaking jason's character.

song wrote to: GMFU - odetari & 6arelyhuman

theme: hurt/comfort, fluff [mayb]

Request by Apollo!

‎‎‎‎‎ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ‎‎‎╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮

‎‎‎‎‎ㅤ‎‎‎‎‎ㅤ‎‎‎‎‎You and Jason often worked together.

Quite often, really. Ever since your start as a vigilante, you somehow had just found each other and started working together.

Jason was an ass, yes, but he was probably only tolerable because of his shitty personality because he was not shitty in appearance. Would you ever tell him you found him attractive, or had a thing for him?

No goddamn way.

You two often bickered and fought, hurling insult after insult after each other. But you two were still friends.

People often made remarks about how your interactions with Jason seemed to be borderline flirting, but you always scoffed at that. Jason? Flirting?

In what universe?

There was no way in hell that Jason would ever see you in that light. Much less flirt with you. He didn't seem to have a bone in his body that could stand being even just the tiniest bit nice to people.

However, today was one such day that you and Jason just so happened to not be working together. A rare occurrence, but sometimes you preferred the silence instead of Jason's incessant need to argue all the time.

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So far your patrol had gone smoothly, with Gotham being just a little more quiet than it usually was. But that was fine, it just meant you had to sit in silence for the next few hours you were patrolling.

You push yourself off the ledge of the building with one foot, leaping over the gap that marked an alley below you. And you land on the other rooftop with ease, landing with as much grace as you could muster. You did wobble, of course, but nothing too bad.

You continue this routine, leaping and landing between rooftops of various buildings. Sometimes you jump into the balconies of some poor fellow when you didn't quite time your jump correctly, but it was nothing more than startling some poor sleeping person in the middle of the night.

But after a few minutes, right as you were thinking of ending your patrol, you were surprised.

Well, surprised wasn't quite the right word to describe what happened. Ambushed was.

You'd been mid-leap when the attack came, colliding with the back of your knee just as you were pushing yourself off the ledge of another building.

The force of the impact had caused your knee to crumple, which sends you plummeting downward. And when you land, you don't land right.

You land face-first into the pavement, instantly knocking all the air from your lungs as pain instantly blooms across your entire body.

Your stunned for a moment, vision swimming from just the force of the fall before you attempt to push yourself up by your palms.

Only for the sound of someone landing behind you to resound with a dull thud, and when the footsteps stop just at your side, you don't get a moment to prepare yourself.

Because in that same moment your being hit over and over again. On your back, your legs, everywhere. You manage to roll over onto your back at some point, manage to land a kick right on your attackers knee to make them grunt in pain.

Your body is burning, muscles in agony as you force yourself to your feet. You force your body to respond to what you want it to do as you start fighting back, and your opponent just decides to say "fuck it" with the weapon because it was only slowing them down.

Slowing them down as in because it seemed to be just some metal pipe that took a lot of force to even hit you as hard as it did.

So suddenly your in a fist fight with some criminal who you recognize to be some sort of low level thug for this new criminal organization trying to form in Gotham.

You dodge some hits, but you wind up taking more hits than your dodging because the pain has your mind reeling, even as you try to focus.

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You weren't even sure just how long it took for that dumb fight to be over, because at one point more of the guy's buddies showed up. One had a knife, which cut you up pretty bad. You'd been stabbed a few times too, and were definitely in bad shape.

But you couldn't exactly go to a hospital, because it doesn't matter if there's laws for patient-doctor confidentiality, your identity would still get leaked to the press, and you wouldn't be able to have a normal life outside of being a vigilante.

So as your hand clutches at your side, growing warm with your blood that pools out of the deep gash there. Something that you were pretty sure was going to need stitches.

Your muttering curses under your breath, words that none would probably even dare to speak around their mother with as much confidence or attitude as you were. Your trying to think of just somewhere you can go to, because you definitely would not last long enough to get back to your apartment.

And the only person who is close by is Jason.

So you just say fuck it, he'll be a douchebag about you getting hurt on patrol, but he'd still patch you up. You hope.

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You practically stumble and hurt yourself worse when you land on Jason's apartment balcony, causing you to get winded as that burning pain shoots up your spine from the gash in your side being stretched with your movements.

The light turns on from behind the curtain of the sliding glass door in front of you, signaling that Jason had heard your painful landing on his balcony.

Somehow your still standing upright, until he opens his sliding glass door.

"The fu⎯ baby? The fuck happened to you?" Jason's eyes go wide the moment he sees the way your standing. Notices the way your clutching at your side, and how your costume is ripped and torn.

He takes special notice that the fact there's blood dripping from the side your clutching desperately at, because his eyes linger there.

"Nice to see you too, dumbass." You manage to get out, before pretty much just losing all strength you had to stand.

Jason does catch you⎯ for once.

"How the hell did this happen?" Jason asks, practically dragging your body inside his apartment. He rests you in the first seat closest to his balcony, which is his couch.

You let out a hiss of pain from the movement, and Jason just mutters something. You don't quite make it out, though.

"Got ambushed on patrol. Fuckers from that new group of wanna-be hotshot villains." You manage to groan out, chest practically heaving as you nearly pant from the pain that leaves a white-hot sting in every muscle of your body.

Jason's swearing under his breath, a string of curses that you can't quite make out either as he disappears for a few minutes before coming back. You didn't know whether to be surprised or honored he brought his entire first-aid kit to you.

Your eyes flutter, tempted to close them in just hopes it'd ease the pain. But you quickly open them again after a moment.

Jason's back in front of you again, and if you weren't in pain you'd make some smart-ass comment about him kneeling on the floor in front of you.

For once, Jason is weirdly quiet. Super quiet, as he's got some sort of wet towel in one of his hands to wipe some of the smeared blood off you. And in normal Jason fashion, he's not being gentle at all as he wipes the blood off.

Which only makes you wince, body jolting away. "For once in your fucking life, Jason, be a little gentle."

"Simply get a higher pain tolerance, fuckwad." Jason quips back, continuing to wipe the blood away, mostly from around the gash in your side that your still desperately holding. But he does take the hint and isn't as rough.

Now that most of your blood was wiped away from the cuts and bruises on your skin, Jason had a clearer view of the damage.

And boy, was there a lot of damage.

Jason sets the blood-soaked towel down somewhere to his side on the floor, still on his knees in front of the couch he'd just unceremoniously dumped you on.

The expression on his face isn't one you've seen before, so you don't really know what he could be thinking, nor what he's feeling. You just know his brows are furrowed, same way they get when he's frustrated or angry.

You don't even realize Jason had started cleaning the gash in your side until you feel the sting from the betadine Jason was using to clean the wound. Yea, it stung. But you didn't have the greatest tolerance for pain, especially not when you were exhausted.

So you writhe in pain, one hand practically gripping the couch cushions for dear life as you clench your jaw. Jason pauses for a moment when you do this, glancing up at your face with that same emotionless expression.

You weren't even sure just when that gash had stopped bleeding, though. Not that you could remember for just how long you'd been bleeding before you'd managed to get to Jason's apartment.

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Eventually most of your worser wounds were cleaned and stitched up, which just meant wrapping a bandage around the ones that needed it.

Of course, you had a bit of your energy back. Enough to be the smartass you usually were, but still just downright exhausted.

Jason was in the middle of wrapping up your stomach, shirt lifted just high enough to allow him to-do so, his hands brushing against the bruises on your stomach every now and then. Which didn't really feel pleasant, but that wouldn't stop the words that immediately fell from your lips. "If I didn't know better, Jason, I'd say you'd just want a really bad excuse to touch me." Once again, the smartass you returns. In all your flirty and teasing glory.

Jason's eyes narrow as he glares at you. He'd never been a fan of your remarks, as flirty and teasing as they were. It was what sparked most of your arguments, anyway.

"Shut the fuck up before I make you,"

That's all you get out of Jason in reply just moments later.

Before you can make a snarky remark back, Jason's already finished wrapping the bandage around your stomach, quickly gathering the supplies from his first-aid kit and bustling away. Leaving you alone for a few minutes before he returns empty handed.

"You were an idiot. Do you not keep track of your surroundings anymore?"

You roll your eyes at Jason's remark. "Oh, please. Don't scold me like your Bruce or something. You don't got the right to."

Jason forces himself to take a deep breath when you say that. You always knew how easily to push his buttons by simply just the mention of Bruce.

"Still. I could have been finding your dead body on my damn balcony, you idiot."

You only let out a tired laugh, though for only a moment as your laughter causes your side to ache. "I'm breathing right now, aren't I? Stop worrying so much."

Jason just clenches his jaw and remains silent, instead opting to just drop the subject. How else was he to convey that he was, for lack of a better word, worried about the sight of your bloody and bruised body suddenly slumping into his arms, on the one night he wasn't on patrol with you?

He didn't really quite understand why he was like that. Why he reacted like so. Maybe it was because you were his close friend, someone he didn't think was quite as intolerable as the others.

Perhaps that was it.

It was definitely just that reason, right?

‎‎‎‎‎ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ‎‎‎╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

#jason todd x reader #jason todd #jason todd x you #jason todd x gn!reader #gender neutral reader #hurt/comfort #fluff #vigilante!reader #shitty flirting #i suck at flirting #how do you even flirt #how do i even tag this #how do you tag #jason todd fanfiction #jason todd imagine #oblivious

[trannytibbies]

I'll usually be at the bottom ;)

#shitty flirting #:) #submisive and breedable

[f4nd0mlife]

I spat out my coffee

#sheesh logan this isnt your bedroom #stop flirting with scott in front of his son #(actually no don't stop) #where are you my fellow scogan fans?? #i need a better quality version #someone tell me how to make good quality gifs on this shitty phone #im tired as hell but i have work to do ughhh #scott summers #cyclops #logan #wolverine #scogan #x men '97

[mimizficsz]

Hi could I request a JD x female reader flirting headcanons (before and after they start dating). All his bad pick lines and ways to try and impress her, but they never work lol

Y was this so goddamn short

My brain got stuck in the middle of writing this and I had to pause for 2 days just for it to turn out this short.

JD x reader headcanons : flirting

Warnings: Sexual/Nsfw flirting , Nothing physical tbh. DNI if you’re uncomfortable with this type of stuff, Minors DNI.

-At first he'd probably be all showy when he saw you. You know, trying to get you to see him do cool stuff but he obviously fails...

-After several embarrassing attempts, he got your number somehow (Or however they communicate but I’m pretty sure they have the internet in trolls in some shorts)

-When you get to know him, as in chatting with him more, hanging out with him, randomly in conversations he'd drop stupid pick up lines and either you'd brush it off and ccompletely ignore it, flirt back, or laugh (Maybe don’t do the last option, the first time you did he felt so embarrassed he locked himself in rhonda for 2 days without ever coming out)

-The flirty “jokes” would eventually get more and more meaningful… As in stupid poetry type of flirting. Except he accidentally offends and insults you most of the time while trying to do it.

“..Your voice is so deafening”

“Excuse you?”

Most of the time he won’t even realize it until he’s laying in his bed

-Now when you start flirting back or even flirting with him first, he’s just all… “Huh”, “Am I tweaking right now” , “WHAHRHFHEHFHHS” , and “Oh shit” basically he’d start malfunctioning and have passed out on several occasions.

-Somehow he actually caught you off guard once after trying to make his own pick up lines from what Branch taught him (he forced Branch to help him get better with flirting respectfully)

“I can stay here forever and get lost in your eyes..”

You just stare at him all like “Is this really John Dory?”

Turns into awkward silence once he notices himself staring way too long until one of you changes the subject.

Flirting but you’re dating now :]

-Watch as the flirting becomes so much more fucking explicit

-It’s either you or JD that starts it. Either way, the other would just be in disbelief. “Did he/they really just say that?”

-Overtime the explicit flirting becomes normalized :p but I think that you’d occasionally catch JD off guard.

John was sipping on coffee and you brought up a random topic while brewing your own

“Which name do you like to be called by more? JD, John, John dory, Dory??”

“I honestly don’t know babe.”

“I think John is the best. It’s the most moanable out of all of them”

“PFHFGT— WHAT?”

“What??”

Now he has to clean his shorts because he spat coffee on them.

Or something like,

“I actually hate you so much.”

“Doesn’t seem like it based on what you kept saying last night.”

“JOHN DORY”

#brozone x reader #trolls band together #john dory x reader #john dory #john dory trolls #mimizficsz #mdni #flirting headcanons #this is so shitty I’M SO SORRYIRHFE

[yamsgarden]

flirt flirt oh it hurts

#my art #melone #ghiaccio #meloghia #idk why i never get tired of drawing ghia flirting with melone who's gotta resist his shitty charms ahhahaa #cant stop loving their dynamic #la squadra di esecuzione

[happypeachsludgeflower]

Bbc Merlin but the entire series is a dnd campaign played by Arthur, Merlin, and their friends.

#arther wants to strangle Merlin for rolling nat 20 on his persuasion #Merlin’s watching everyone suffer #uther’s a shitty npc #morgana’s just there to make chaos #and make popcorn as merthur flirts #Lancelot’s that friend that visited once and loved it but couldn’t make it to the next few meetings #kilgarrah is the dungeon master #merthur #arthur and merlin #merlin emrys #merlin and arthur #merlin bbc #merlin #merlin x arthur #bbc merlin #merlin fic #bbc merthur #arthur pendragon #king arthur #dungeons and dragons #au prompt #dnd fanfic

[jichanxo]

grown man calls you his kitten in front of your friends, what do you do? (aka what happens when @four-white-trees and I have been very bad influences on each other)

#kuwagami #yagami takayuki #kuwana jin #lost judgment #judgment #judge eyes #takayuki yagami #jin kuwana #sugiura fumiya #kaito masaharu #jichanart #inspired by discord shenanigans #again #the idea of kuwana calling yagami his kitten with his whole damn chest was just too funny to pass up on #ESPECIALLY with an audience #because you just know this is going to be held over yagami's head forever #as soon as he thinks everyone's forgotten kaito snorts and says “kitten” and yagami cannot wish death upon kuwana harder #kuwana's shitty flirting is so real to me #and yagami hates that he's still in love with him. embarrassing #tbh i was planning to use the “go fuck yourself” for something in a fic but i couldn't think of another set up for my shitty kitten joke #so if you see me use that again no you didn't #personally my favourite parts of this are the kuwana in the first panel (cute) and the reaction shots at the end lol #yagami's face truly says “kys” and i wouldnt have it any other way #i've gotta get more familiar with comics and csp's tools because it's a bit rough around the edges but fun to make #and i also gotta draw catboy yagami tbh #sorry. had a lot of thoughts making this. #hope you like it kuwagami friends :D

[laurelnose]

“Just what is it that runs in your veins, Jedao?”

“You’re welcome to cut me open to find out. Knife’s on my left hip if you forgot yours.”

“Oh, I intend to.”

spent most of my Sunday on @figuwhump day 12, which dovetailed really nicely with a couple of MoE thumbnails I was saving. ‘this looks like consensual kink, is this actually whump,’ you might be asking, and to that i say, with Kujen & Jedao it can be both

#nirai kujen #shuos jedao #machineries of empire #laurelnose art #figuwhump #Consensual But At What Cost #i was gonna do something different w/ the colors but while i was fucking about w/ my layer masks i did this by accident #instant contemporary romance novel color palette just add water. anyways that juxtapostion is hilarious to me so it stayed like this #p.s. i still can’t believe these lines are from their first meeting. #this is an insane thing to say to one of the space emperors who you KNOW is involved in human experimentation #and jedao?? meant it??? he actually lets kujen bring knives into the bedroom later?? #kisses jedao’s nose. you have shitty taste in men and you flirt like a man with a death wish and i love that about you #🦋🦊

[millipede-menace]

I’m pickin up good vibrations~

#lifeguard au #nfwtl #no flirting with the lifeguard #my art #surfer yuichi #trying out some texture brushes #not sure if i like it #yuichi is cody maverick #usagi yuichi #yuichi usagi #samurai rabbit #surfer rabbit #i am cringe but i am free #ao3 fanfic #rottmnt #rottmnt usagi #enjoy my shitty doodle

[ilostmymojo]

Hello, Pikmin community, please accept my humble offering.

#my art #pikmin 3 #alph pikmin #charlie pikmin #i only feel brave enough to post this bc it's a shitty redraw of a meme with a simple artstyle #im obsessed with the little blue dude #every time he cuts off charlie's flirting with brittany to insert himself fills me with glee #alph is gay #i played the first three games for the first time in the span of a month #i am sick in the head #dont follow me expecting more art youll be disappointed #update: thanks for all the notes #everyone who liked this is smart and hot

[idkaguyorsomething]

me tryna explain the shipping implications of the missy comic to anyone who’ll listen

#guys that comic was so so good #okay so of course you’ve got twissy #but also #a big part of the plot revolves around unit and the delgado master #and missy impersonating the doctor to gain delgado!master’s trust #so you have threegado going on #but also missy flirting with another one of her past selves again while she’s doing a shitty impersonation of her boyfriend #BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE #river song shows up out of nowhere to save the day while missy’s pretending to be the doctor #so of course they flirt #then missy and delgado!master hop around their timelines to look for the macguffin #so we get a highlight reel of some of the gayest thoschei moments #including the tensimm junkyard tantrum and spydoc kneeling power play #So that makes uhhh #twissy #threegado #tensimm #spydoc #thoschei #best enemies #doctor who #missy doctor who #delgado!master #gomez!master #doctor who comics #twelfth doctor #it was also just a really good comic too #great art fun writing solid characterization #if you’re a fan of missy or thoschei definitely give it a try

[momotonescreaming]

lowkey obsessed with the domestic college stommy au that lives in my head

#stommy #momo.txt #no upside down au established stommy they leave hawkins together #go to college and get a shitty tiny 3 bedroom apartment in the city #that they share with robin and carol #because they cant go anywhere without their girls #and Tommy's already had his redemption he's trying to be nicer and do better #but his sharp edges are softening even more in the city #he gets to wake up in the morning in his boyfriends arms he gets to explore this side of himself #they watch bastball games together and hug and kiss and cheer whenever their team scores #he can slap steves ass when he's making breakfast and tommy comes up behind him #because theyre both still jocks #carol makes a chore chart and sticks it to the fridge so they can rotate through all the chores in the shared spaces #gives everyone baskets to keep in the bathroom to keep all their products separate (this is mostly for carol and steve) #robin is dating vickie and she wants what stommy has she wants to wake up in the morning to her gf but she can't just ask her to move in!! #tommy says yes you can suck it up and fucking ask her to move in next semester already #steve is a little nicer and reminds rob that vickie loves her and she'd never be mean about it if she wasnt ready to move in #but she totally is so thats a non issue #they all go to parties at frat houses and steve and tommy drink and dance and use the alcohol as an excuse to get all touchy in public #carol flirts and goes home with some hottie of the week #she's having fun being single and exploring herself and the dating world #robin dances and has fun but eventually just goes home with vickie #they have fun they build up this lil friend group and its everything and theyre free #they made it out of hawkins theyre away from their parents #im just!!!!! #aaaaaaaa #theyre fun to think about i love them #if anyone is reading this i love u

[anachronistic-falsehood]

“omg adam face reveal 😳” “yo why adam kinda…” “who was gonna tell me adam is hot under that mask??? 👀” girl what are you talking about adam looks like dreamwastaken

#hazbin hotel #he looks like some generic white frat boy who would flirt with a sixteen year old #the most basic ass white ass man ever #cannot take any of the thirst posts seriously bc as soon as i saw his face i was like oh my fucking god that is dream. #that is just straight up shitty mc youtuber dreamwastaken in cartoon form #acts like dream too if i’m being fr— #(have to clarify i’m not judging anyone who thinks adam is hot lol he’s a fictional character love who u love <3) #(i just can’t take it seriously myself. the resemblance is too much)

[orangepanic]

Asami gets a drone.

#orange's shitty art #irosami #idk I love the idea of Asami flirting by mecha

[sukiluvvs]

I have lost 30 years of my life to these pick up lines jesus christ

#theyre from a zukka fic #its called 'Flirting 101: get Zuko a boyfriend' #by Odium333 #its on ao3 #zukka #fanfiction #fanfic #pick up lines #shitty pickup lines #pickup lines

[autisticlancemcclain]

“I think you’ve been holding out on me, Red.”

They’re the first words either of them have spoken in hours, but Keith doesn’t react much. He stays where he is, laying next to Lance on the floor of his room, staring at the ceiling, wasting time.

It’s nice.

“‘M not red anymore. You are.”

Lance hums. He reaches down to entangle his hand with Keith’s, never taking his eyes off the ceiling. Keith smiles.

“Meh. Semantics. Only one of us is an impulsive hothead, and it sure isn’t me, red paladin or no.”

Keith scoffs, cutting a glance to Lance only to find him pointedly looking away, teasing smirk on his face.

“Yeah, right. Which one of us was it to run out into a horde of Empire soldiers and scream distractions at them with shitty Dreamworks references during yesterday’s mission? I can’t remember.”

Lance’s smile grows. “I can’t remember either. Funny, that.”

Shaking his head in fond exasperation, Keith lifts their entwined hands so they’re no longer in between them, but resting on Keith’s chest, for no reason other than he feels like it. Lance doesn’t stop him.

“Funny, indeed. Goober.”

“Anyways, you changed the subject. You’ve been holding out on me.”

“There’s nothing about me that you don’t already know.”

It’s a little more than Keith meant to say. A little raw, a little bit too much of his chest spilling out into the minimal space between them. A little too honest.

“I know.” Lance’s voice is still teasing, but there’s an edge to it. A wordless acknowledgement that he heard what Keith really said. “That’s how I know I’m right.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll bite. How’ve I been holding out on ya?”

Long brown fingers wiggle out of his hold as Lance squirms into a new position, resting on his side with his head propped up on his elbow, in order to give Keith a Proper Look of Admonishment.

“You’ve got a set of pipes, and you never told me!”

As much as he tries, Keith can’t quite stop the corners of his mouth from flicking upwards. It does not escape Lance’s notice, if the flick to his ear is any indication.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about, Kogane, you walking mess. You can sing! And you never told me!”

“I can do no such thing. I sound like if a rotting egg could wail about its condition when I try to sing, believe me.”

He lets an extra amount of Southern twang bleed into his words as he rattles off the stupid idiom he heard his Pa say time after time when he grew up, even though he thinks it makes him sound dumb. Lance pauses, visibly holding back laughter, though, so it did what Keith meant it to.

“Stop trying to distract me,” Lance says, voice shaking. “Oh my God.”

Keith grins wide enough that his canines poke out. He can’t help it.

“Dunno what you’re talkin’ ‘bout. ‘M only talkin’.”

A hand shoots out to cover his mouth, not moving even when Keith bites it none-too-gently.

“Stop,” Lance says sternly, but his eyes dance with mirth. “I’m trying to chew you out and you’re making me laugh. That’s illegal.”

Keith raises his eyebrows, inclining his head.

Speak, then, you loser.

“Thank you.” Lance says primly. “Okay. Back to my point. You’re full of shit, Kogane. I know you can sing. I always thought so, but I heard you singing to yourself last night, when we were finishing the last of the reports. What have you to say in your defense?”

Lance’s hand is still very much pressed to Keith’s mouth. He crosses his eyes looking at it, then looking back up at Lance pointedly.

“If I take off my hand, are you going to answer honestly?”

Keith shrugs. He’s sure Lance can feel his grin.

“You’re insufferable,” Lance laments, but takes his hand away anyway.

Keith mourns the loss of Lance’s skin pressed so closely to his, and then pretends that he doesn’t.

“So what if I can carry a tune?” he says, instead of reaching out to bodily wrap Lance’s limbs around every inch of him, like he so desperately wants to. (But they have a deal. Not yet. One day, Keith will never have to hold back again, and he will never stop touching Lance as long as he lives.

But a deal’s a deal. They have a war to win.

Not yet.)

“Singing’s your thing.”

“Just because I’ve written a song or two –”

“– or forty –”

“– doesn’t mean I have monopoly on the music industry! I want to hear you sing for real, not just under your breath. Please?”

Keith can’t say no to Lance regularly. It’s honestly a problem. (Not that they don’t still argue – they definitely do – but once Lance became aware of the power he held over Keith, he didn’t hesitate to abuse it. He knows all he has to do is smile wide and tilt his head and make it sound like it’s not that big of a deal and boom. Keith folds. Every time.)

But this time, Lance doesn’t stop at a pleading grin and a bit of begging. Oh, no. He opens his already big brown eyes as wide as they’ll go, eyebrows pinched and sad, pupils dilated – how the hell he does that on command Keith will never know – and blinks slowly.

“Please, Keith? One song?”

“Goddamn it – fine, Lance, Jesus. Put those damn things away. Christ.”

Lance has him wrapped around his finger and he knows it, as evidenced in the mischief in his smile and smugness in his cheers. He scrambles to his feet and practically sprints to the other side of the room to get his guitar. By the time he’s back, Keith has pulled himself up and sits upright, back to the wall and legs crossed at the ankle. Lance grins, big and wide and excited, settling down beside him, mirroring his position, except instead of leaning on the wall he’s leaning on Keith. They’re the same height, like this, Lance’s ridiculously long legs no longer giving him an advantage.

“One song,” Lance promises, although Keith doubts he’s being honest. “You have one in mind?”

Keith nods, smile turning a little sad. “Yeah. One my Pa used to sing all the time.” He hums the first few lines, and Lance’s eyebrow raises.

“Really? Your Pa was a Miley fan?”

“How come that’s so surprising?”

Lance shrugs, grinning as he puts the capo on the third fret, adjusting the pots a tad. “Dunno. Just figured your rugged, rootin’-tootin’, horseback-ridin’, cowboy Pa would be blasting Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Maybe throwing Dolly Parton in the mix. Miley Cyrus is a bit of a surprise, is all.”

Keith sighs, letting the sadness that always wells up in his chest when he thinks of his Pa run down his veins. Lets it fill him up slowly, run its course.

It used to kill him, that sadness. He used to break his own aching heart into pieces with it, using the jagged edges to defend himself from anyone trying to get too close.

He glances over at Lance, absentmindedly strumming his guitar as he watches Keith attentively. Patiently waiting for him to gather himself, or maybe even just sitting with him in the silence.

He’s become much more fond of his sadness, his jagged pieces. He’s come to know that they’re parts of him, good parts of him, as much as they’re him at his most broken.

“I think this song reminded him of my mom,” he says quietly. “He always had one foot on Earth and one foot wherever she was. She – she took a part of him, I think, when she left. I never knew him before, obviously, but he always looked, to me, as if he was waiting. He taught me the names of the stars before he taught me my own name. I think everything he did ached for her.”

Lance hums. “That sounds like a lonely way to grow up.”

“I think it was. I think I forgive him, though. I think I forgive them both.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

Lance reaches over and squeezes his hand, once, twice, three times in quick succession, and then starts playing. The first few chord progressions play, hesitant and sad, and Keith takes a deep breath, voice cracking as he sings the first few lyrics.

Flowers in hand, waiting for me

Every word in poetry

Won't call me by name, only baby

The more that you give, the less that I need

As he sings, he wonders how much truth his father found in the lyrics. His Pa was never much for pomp and circumstance. He bought what they needed. Did what he could. He cared for Keith, surely, but Keith can’t imagine him waiting with flowers in hand, poems spilling from his lips. Can’t imagine him putting so much sweetness in his words, in his actions.

Everyone says I look happy

When it feels right

Did his mother ever plan to stay? Did she know in her heart that being with Pa was wrong – that Keith’s very existence was wrong – and that’s why she left? Couldn’t bear to stay and watch them grow? Couldn’t bear to live with her mistakes? Was Keith her greatest regret? Was Pa?

I know that you're wrong for me

Gonna wish we never met on the day I leave

I brought you down to your knees

'Cause they say that misery loves company

It's not your fault I ruin everything

And it's not your fault I can't be what you need

Baby, angels like you can't fly down hell with me

I'm everything they said I would be

When Keith was a kid, and he didn’t understand the lyrics, he’d sing along. He knew the song was sad, and that Pa was sad when he sang it, but that was as far as his little mind could reach. He didn’t know how to make his Pa feel better, but he knew that when he sang or hummed along Pa would put a fond hand on his head and keep singing, and he liked his Pa’s voice. When he got older, and the lyrics started to mean things, he grew wary. For a while, he even thought his Pa was the one to leave his mom, but that didn’t make sense. It didn’t line up with the way sometimes Pa would sit for hours by the door. Waiting. But he couldn’t wrap his head around the words – why would you ever do something you knew was wrong for you? That you knew would hurt you?

La-la-la

I'm everything they said I would be

It wasn’t until the fire that the song really started to make Keith afraid. He’d stopped singing by then – no Pa to cheer up – but Pa had sung it so often that it was almost constantly playing in Keith’s head. He started to worry, as he bounced from home to home – was he like his mother? Always the first to leave? Dragging people down to his miserable level? He already knew, by then, that he ruined everything, disappointed people, refused to be who they needed him to be. He couldn’t even pinpoint why he made such a mess of things, only that every time someone asked something of him, a hot bubble of rage would explode up from his stomach and he’d set his jaw and swear to do anything else. He heard what all the adults said about him – he was a menace, a mess, a problem, a demon child. Every muttered curse made him determined to be worse than whatever they gossiped about. He was everything they said he’d be, and he relished in it as much as he wallowed in the pain of it.

I'll put you down slow, love you goodbye

Before you let go, just one more time

Take off your clothes, pretend that it's fine

A little more hurt won't kill you

By the time that he made it to the Garrison, he’d been convinced he was unloveable. Even with Shiro, even with Adam, he’d been sure he was just going to end up a carbon copy of his mother, a faceless ghost who entered people’s lives only to leave, only to ruin them. He was angry and scared but would never admit to it, always prepared to grab his bag and run at the first sign of trouble.

Tonight, mother says, "You don't look happy"

Close your eyes

He falters, startling as Lance’s soft harmony suddenly mixes with his. He shoots Keith a small smile, tapping his foot to the beat, reminding Keith that he’s here, Keith’s not alone, they’re singing this song together, this time.

I know that you're wrong for me

Gonna wish we never met on the day I leave

I brought you down to your knees

'Cause they say that misery loves company

It's not your fault I ruin everything

And it's not your fault I can't be what you need

Baby, angels like you can't fly down hell with me

I'm everything they said I would be

The chorus doesn’t hurt so bad, the second time around. Every painful word is soothed by Lance’s voice, a step lower than his, singing right along. It’s a cooling reminder that Keith is not his mother. He is not his father. He is not a well of misery, dragging others down with him, he doesn’t ruin everything, he’s not a fallen angel. He’s just Keith. He’s rough around the edges and he gets mad easily and he pushes too hard and he often forgets he’s not alone anymore, but he is also good and kind and hardworking and, most of all, part of a family. He has people he loves and who love him, and he will do anything and everything to protect them, even if everything is really hard and the decisions he has to make sometimes break his own heart, and that will never change.

I know that you're wrong for me

Gonna wish we never met on the day I leave

I brought you down to your knees

'Cause they say that misery loves company

It's not your fault I ruin everything (everything)

And it's not your fault I can't be what you need

Baby, angels like you can't fly down hell with me, oh

He used to think that love was a fool’s game. Unattainable. He was so sure he’d end up aloof and uncaring – taking what people gave and needing less every time. So sure he’d grab an angel — someone whose smiles were endless and abundant, who gave every inch of himself for others and still dug around for more, who was self sacrificing, who doubted himself, who flirted and teased and loved with every part of his body and cared so, so much, someone with a roguish smile and playfully manipulative brown eyes – and drag them down to hell with him.

Angels like you can't fly down hell with me

But he forgot, in his fear, that there’s no such thing as angels. He’s not going to tarnish something perfect and untouchable. Perfect doesn’t exist. And his angel – not his, not yet, not while a war rages around them and makes everything hard and complicated and unfair, but the angel he’s waiting for at the end of the line and who’s waiting for him – his angel is just as much of a mess as he is. His angel argues even when he knows he’s wrong because he’d rather die than admit it, his angel runs into problems without half a thought for his own safety because he forgets his worth, his angel stumbles and flirts and causes intergalactic diplomacy crises with a thoughtless wink. His angel is already in hell, with him.

Keith’s everything they said he would be.

But so is Lance.

And as Lance plays the last chords, laying his head on Keith’s shoulder and letting his guitar slump in his lap, as Keith hears his whispered “thank you for indulging me”, as Keith squeezes his hand once, twice, three times in succession, he thinks –

He thinks he’s pretty satisfied with that.

———

part one

#i am obsessed with song fics it’s a genuinely problem #vld #voltron #keith #keith kogane #lance #lance mcclain #klance #established klance #but not really #tragic love #doomed love #pining keith #pining lance #whipped keith #whipped lance #keith angst #featuring keith’s shitty childhood #flirting #banter #black paladin keith #red paladin lance #i am so obsessed with them yall #emotional hurt/comfort #brown eyed lance #brown-eyed lance #my writing #fic fragment #longpost #songfic