#I haven't been scolded for using my laptop at work yet so I think I might be able to get art drawn faster let's gooooo

[steven-scribbleverse]

#is this anything #steven universe #su #steven universe the movie #spinel su #ft. not-steven #spinel #intermission #I was sketching out another piece for the June theme when this idea slam dunked me #and I HAD to do it #I haven't been scolded for using my laptop at work yet so I think I might be able to get art drawn faster let's gooooo

[landinoandco]

|Shutter speed|

Chapter one : A staring contest with an attractive stranger

{Lando Norris x Reader}

Summary: A photographer. A pair of F1 drivers. Triangles. A sticky situation of morals and fighting fate. What could go wrong?

Warnings: None :)

Rating: Teen and up

Word count: 1.5k

A/n: hey guys, welcome to Shutter Speed!! A love triangle between LN DR and reader (in this story reader is called Georgie.) This is my first f1 fanfiction so any feedback/suggestions are very welcome or if you just want to add comments, reactions - anything goes!! Thank you for reading and enjoy :)

Chapter one: A staring contest with an attractive stranger ...

It was raining in London. Not that that was out of the ordinary - even in the beginning days of July. Today the weather had decided to imitate that of mid-March, the rain crashing down like the heavens had opened up above and the wind cheekily chasing tourists and commuters indoors then proceeding to race eagerly through the streets, nipping at any ankles of those who were lagging behind the rest.

Lando Norris was out with his trainer when the rain started, enjoying the freedom of a 2 week break before the highly anticipated British Grand Prix. They rushed down the alleyway they had found themselves on; until they came across a little coffee shop tucked away in the corner - 'The Little London Stop.' Jon nodded to confirm to Lando that this would be just fine - as he opened the door, a small bell rang just above his head and instantly they were hit by a comforting warmth and the smell of freshly made coffee.

He quickly slid onto one of the benches, facing out onto the shop. It was typically London, designed with someone's Instagram feed in mind, plants hung precariously from the rafters along with many singular light bulbs that casted at atmospheric glow around the room.

Opposite him, on the other side of the room sat the only other person in the shop, she sat with her back to them. Her messy mousy brown hair tumbled in waves down her back, her gaze on the rain rushing down the alleyway - her chin resting on the heel of her hand.

Georgie had been sitting in that exact spot for longer than she would care to admit. Escaping the pestering grasp of her best friend and roommate Maisie; they were both photographers - partners in an online business they set up when they first left college as they prepared to take on the world. Pre-covid it had flourished and the pair had been travelling up and down the country, from events like weddings to festivals. Post-covid however - this was where their problems had started and why Georgie was currently hiding in a coffee shop. Work had become as dry as her love life, events had been cancelled for another year and wedding guest numbers had been limited. For weeks they had been sending their portfolios to any event organiser they could find and for weeks they kept being turned away.

She tore her eyes from the flooding streets and back to her open laptop - she was completely stuck, where to even start? Georgie nibbled on the on her bottom lip and sighed before rubbing her hands over her face - she was really looking for a miracle to happen.

Lando was completely intrigued by the girl. It wasn't until Jon snapped his fingers in front of Lando's face that he realised he had been staring.

"Right, sorry." Lando mumbled, a red flush creeping up his neck and he moved his gaze to the wooden table, wringing his fingers together. "What were you saying?"

Jon chuckled at his young boy antics and shook his head, "I wasn't, you were staring and it was weird. I picked you up this green smoothie - lots of vitamins and-" But Lando had switched off again, he couldn't help himself as his eyes locked back onto where they had been before. It was like something was drawing him to her - hell, he didn't even know what she looked like.

"Are you going to go and speak to her?" Jon's voice broke his trance yet again.

"Wha-what?" Lando looked up at his trainer, his innocent eyes widening at the thought. "I-I-"

Jon scoffed and rolled his eyes, "You are such a teenager."

"I'm not a teenager." Lando hit back, "I'm 21. I can drink in the US now, you know."

"Then start acting like it." Jon scolded but the corners of his mouth quirked up, he had known Lando for years and he had not changed once. A hopeless romantic at heart but acted like a deer caught in the headlights as soon as anyone of the opposite gender even glanced his way. Any girl would be lucky to have him but unfortunately for Lando he always found himself drawn to the type that would take his heart whole and would leave, shattering it into millions of pieces for Jon to find and piece back together again. It was through no fault of the girls in question, they would make their intentions very clear but Lando - being who he was - would always jump head first without looking ahead or the consequences of his actions.

On the plus side, Lando came back stronger each time but it left him with an even stronger longing for that care and affection that everyone around him seemed to have.

His heart raced as he looked over at Jon, a determined look was set on his face. "Fine. I'll do it." He stood up, legs wobbling slightly as the adrenaline flooded through his veins - he had cleared the table when reality decided to walk through the door. He turned on his heels and sat back down. "Nope. Maybe another day." His voice wavered slightly.

Jon looked at him with sympathy and slight second hand embarrassment - not that Lando needed to know that.

Georgie looked over her shoulder at the commotion happening behind her - there were two young men sitting across the room from her. One was clearly older than the other and was looking at him in utter bemusement - she followed his gaze...

Georgie inhaled sharply, she was met by a pair of crystal blue eyes - of which lit up when he realised that she had looked over. Georgie simply didn't know what to do with herself as she seemed to be stuck in a staring contest with an incredibly attractive stranger. She managed to tear her eyes away to look at him properly; a mop of dark brown curls sat dripping onto the table (still wet from the torrential downpour), an olive complexion and an innocent sparkle in his crystal blue eyes. She offered him a shy smile, a rose tinge coating her cheeks. He gave her a lopsided grin in response.

There was an overwhelming feeling that drew Georgie to this stranger, it wasnt anything she had experienced before - not even when she had been with him.

A cold chilling suddenly rushed down her spine, almost like she had been standing in the rain falling outside. A pang of guilt filled her stomach, she dropped her gaze and bit her lip. How could she ever think of him like that, compare him to a stranger she didnt even know the name of.

A ring broke her train of thought, her phone lit up with Maisie's name. She inhaled slowly to ground her feelings before answering, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Hey Maise -"

"I've done it." She heard Maisie shout down the phone, followed by a relieved laugh.

"Done what, sorry." Georgie prompted, rubbing her eyes. She could feel the boys' eyes on her, resisting the urge to turn around; she closed the lid of her laptop and placed it in her bag.

"I've only gone and gotten us an event to go to this weekend." Maisie replied as casually as she could muster. Georgie paused. A large grin that would challenge the Cheshire cats'.

"Where and how?" Georgie felt a weight lift from her shoulders, it didn't matter what Maisie had signed them up for, it was a start. A fresh start.

"Look, I have a call with them any minute so I'll have to explain when you get back. It's at the Goodwood festival of speed." Maisie paused.

"Goodwood Festival of speed." Georgie echoed - she could hear ringing in the background.

"Got to go, final things to sort out. I'll see you later." With that she hung up, leaving a delighted Georgie frozen in place, until she found her senses and packed up as fast as she could. All thoughts of the boy across the room - gone.

He sat, puzzled, as he watched her rush out the door and into the rain - calling out a muffled 'thank you' as the door swung shut behind her. His brows drew together as he looked into his lap, before saying quietly to Jon: "It was the Goodwood Festival of Speed she just said, didn't she?"

"Yes." Jon answered shortly, looking down at him in fascination.

"Isn't that where I am this weekend?" Lando looked up, hope swelled in his chest.

"Yes, it is."

Lando looked longingly out of the window, beaming. He knew it was silly to get so hopeful - there were going to be thousands upon thousands swarming around Goodwood. He stood up and turned to Jon - "Lets go."

"But you haven't drank your smoothie -"

Lando was already at the door, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Jon grabbed the smoothie and tittered, following after him.

You only live once, Lando thought. As it turns out he would get another chance this Saturday and this time he wasn't blowing it.

Chapter two: A new beginning

#f1 #daniel ricciardo #lando norris #carlos sainz jr #mclaren #charles leclerc #daniel ricciardo x reader #f1 imagine #f1 x reader #lando norris x reader #formula one #lando norris fanfiction #lando norris imagine #formula 1 x reader #f1 2021 #f1 fanfic #daniel ricciardo fanfic #fanfic #daniel ricciardo imagine #max verstappen #max verstappen x reader #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc imagine #pierre gasly #pierre gasly x reader

[yourmidnightlover]

ssa hotchner: chapter 1 - the blazer

TW: harrassment, talk about a case

WC : 5,920 

series masterlist

-----------------------------------

"aaron! hey," you answered the phone after hitting enter on the final file you had to upload to the computer.

"y/n! how are you?" your brother questioned kindly.

"um, i've been better," you started, trying to figure out how to tell him the bad news.

"what happened?" aaron asked as he finished filling out the final file he had before noon. "is it about that promotion?" he rolled his eyes, recalling the events of last time you were up for a promotion.

"yea... it is," you sorrowfully revealed. "i uh... i didn't get it. again," you sighed out as you closed your laptop and put it in your bag. "can you... what are you doing for lunch?"

"well the team and i were gonna go out to a local thai place right around the corner from the bau, you could join if you'd like," he replied, wanting to be there for his sister any chance he could. "you know how much they love you."

"i just don't really think my mood is relative to that of a person who's going out with a crowd of people, y'know?" you placed the device in your bag and closed it, pulling it over your shoulder after grabbing your keys from the bag. "besides, i haven't met all of your team yet. dr. reid wasn't there the last time i saw you at my birthday because he was visiting his mother, remember?" you brought up, hoping he wouldn't feel too bad for you.

"y/n, just come to lunch with us. the last case went well, and everyone's pretty excited about that. maybe that'll help put you in a better mood?" aaron suggested as he gathered his things to go out for lunch. "and reid will actually be there this time so you'll be able to meet him," arron smiled at the thought of you meeting the young genius.

"are you sure? i really don't want to impose on your post-case celebrations, aaron," you rebutted as you walked out of the doors of the office you've been working at for nearly 8 years.

"i'm positive. everyone would love to see you again," emily walked into the office, noticing the smile he was wearing that he only has when he's talking to you.

"is that y/n?" emily questioned with a bright smile as hotch nodded. "tell her i said hi! and that i really miss her! oh wait are you talking her into coming to lunch with us?" her eyes widened at the possibility of seeing you again.

"yea, i'm trying to get her to realize that she won't be imposing on us if she comes," the dark haired man sighed.

"here, give me the phone. you know she can't resist my charm," emily teased, you laughed from hearing the remark over the phone as hotch handed it to her. "y/n hotchner. you are going to go to lunch with us whether you like it or not," emily demanded with a smirk.

"oh, yes. there's that charm i know and love, em," you giggled as you put your keys in the ignition, realization setting in that you should probably just go to lunch with them since you have no other plans and are already in your car. "fine. i'll go. should i meet you there or at the office?"

"just meet us there. we're like five minutes away and with morgan's driving it'll be cut in half," emily scolded.

"okay. i'm on my way now. should be maybe 10 minutes," you announced. "i'll see you guys there," you said before hanging up the phone and beginning to drive.

you had been working at a law firm near the bau for nearly 8 years. in fact, next week would make it officially 8 years. the office was run by a few men, under the US district attorney, who you've come to find out are misogynistic pricks who don't like putting women in positions of authority.

you got hired on about 5 months out of law school, columbia law school to be exact. you have an associates in business and a masters criminology, law, psychology. your original dream was to work at the bau with your big brother, clearly, but those dreams changed since you graduated from columbia.

you pulled into the parking lot of 'thailand eatery,' a bau team favorite, and noticed aaron's car parked in the far corner. you smiled to yourself as you found a spot beside him and got out to make your way inside.

"hi, i'm here with aaron hotchner for lunch," you sweetly announced to the hostess before she nodded.

"right this way, ma'am," you followed her to the table full of fbi agents, noticing their laughter that erupted for some unknown reason.

one seat was open next to aaron and emily. you placed your blazer on your seat and a hand on both of their shoulders to announce your arrival. they looked at you in surprise before realizing who you were, big smiles crossing their faces.

"y/n!" arron excitedly announced before standing to give you a nice bear hug. "it's so good to see you," he whispered in your ear kindly.

"i know. it's been a while since we've been able to do this," you grinned widely as you wrapped your arms around his torso.

"okay, okay..." emily interrupted. "this is sweet and all, but i haven't been able to see you since your birthday last year," she announced before you traded your brother's arms for hers.

"it's good to see you, em" you laughed as she squeezed you tightly.

"where the hell have you been! i've missed you," she pouted as you both unwrapped your arms from each other.

"y'know, working for the usual pricks i do... and that's pretty much it," you shrugged as you made your way around the table to hug penelope.

"what have they been doing to you this time, my little sugar plum?" penelope asked sweetly as you gave her another hug.

"the usual, pen. just the usual," you sighed into her ear as you began to hug derek. "but let's not get into that know, yea? i heard you guys had a successful case the other day! that's exciting!" you announced as derek wrapped his arms around you, picking you up and swinging you around a bit.

if you're honest, derek is like a second big brother to you. he was there for you when your brother got stabbed in his own home and was in a coma. he comforted you in your home when you were sobbing on the floor because it wasn't safe for you to visit your own flesh and blood.

"hell yea it was," derek smiled into your ear before placing you down and giving you a chaste peck on the cheek. "but if i need to kick some ass at that work place of yours i won't even hesitate," he whispered into your ear as he rose from your cheek.

"now, now, derek," you tapped his chest playfully. "i don't need you kicking my bosses down like you would a door, as exhilarating as that sounds," you chuckled aimlessly.

"bella, care to indulge me in what they're doing at that office of yours?" rossi said as you made your way to hug him.

"it's not that big of a deal, dave. i'm sure i'm just overreacting again," you sighed as you released him from his hug.

"not a big deal?" aaron butted in. "y/n, you deserved that promotion and they looked you over, yet again," he sassed. "i don't think that's overreacting," he rolled his eyes.

"i know i deserved it, but..." you sighed, weighing all the possibilities. "actually there's no buts. i've worked there for 8 years and have gotten two promotions. i guess i'm just really disappointed," you reasoned, trying not to start crying from the anger bubbling up inside of you.

"two promotions in eight years?" rossi questioned, noticing the annoyed look on your face at the thought. "do those assclowns not realize what an amazing worker you are?" david asked in disbelief.

"i don't know... i guess?" you questioned. "i just don't want to think about that right now," you said as you hugged jj in return.

"are you kidding? we've been to a few of your cases," the blond added. "you're amazing, y/n." jj complimented. "rossi's right. they must be absolutely blind if they don't see what a great worker you are."

"thank you, jayge," you smiled at her before realizing there was one more person at the table.

you'd seen him in pictures, and had heard enough about him to remember a few key points. he's a genius with three phd's, three ba's, he has a thing with germs, he's a bit awkward, and absolutely handsome. the pictures you've seen didn't do him justice.

"i'm assuming you're the famous dr. spencer reid?" you asked, not bothering to reach for a hug or handshake.

"i uhm, yes i am. dr. sp-spencer reid. or you can call me spen-spencer," he cleared his throught. "or reid, or basically whatever you'd uh- whatever you'd prefer," he stuttered out, sitting awkwardly in his chair and barely maintaining eye contact.

"how about we just go with spencer?" you asked as you made your way to your seat beside your brother. "my name's-"

"y/n hotchner, yes," he smiled at you as your brother pushed your chair in for you, you muttering a small 'thank you' in return. "i've uhm... i've heard a lot about you," he stammered.

"oh dear, let me go ahead and apologize in that case," you joked, eliciting laughter from your friends at the table.

"actually, there's uhm - there's no need to apologize. everything i heard was," he sniffled, "really good. it was all good," his lips formed into a line as he nodded at his own words.

"well then i guess i have to mention how great everyone's made you out to be. i mean, a three phds and three ba's at only, what? 34? that's beyond incredible, spencer," you complimented the gorgeous man sitting beside your brother.

"oh uhm, th-thank you, y/n," he blushed. cute.

"it's no problem at all. i mean it's not everyday that you meet a genius that's as young and handsome as you are," you laughed, taking a sip of the water that your brother had ordered for you before you arrived, not even realizing the compliment you had payed to his looks. shit. now you realized. you cleared your thought before acting like you didn't even say anything.

"oh! uhm, th-thank you, again. you're uhm - you're very - you too. not that you're handsome, but that you're very..." he trailed off, biting his lower lip to refrain from humiliating himself even more.

"well then, pretty boy, you sure do have a way with words," morgan teased, eliciting a jab in the stomach from penelope.

"derek morgan, if you do not shut up," penelope scowled.

meanwhile, you turned your head to notice your brother staring oddly at 'pretty boy' who was looking sheepishly at you. you nudged your brother's arm playfully, capturing his attention.

"stare any harder at him and he might explode, aaron," you whispered in his ear, being sure not to look at spencer.

"maybe that needs to happen with the way he's looking at you, y/n," he rebutted.

it's true. if anyone else had been looking at you that way, arron probably would've mentioned that he's in the fbi and that he has more than two guns to scare them away. since it was spencer, everything was different.

"shush, it's just a little crush. what's the worst that could happen?" you rolled your eyes at his protectiveness. "he'll be over it by the end of lunch," you announced, not noticing the way aaron rolled his eyes at your assumption.

aaron had seen spencer around girls enough to know that when he got flustered around them it usually meant something more than just a little crush in spencer's mind. that also means that arron knows that spencer would never try to do anything with you because you're his sister.

"fine," he relished, not wanting to bother with the genius's sure infatuation with you when this is the first time he's gotten to see his own sister in a while. "so you wanted to talk to me about something?" he changed the subject.

"right," you twiddled with your thumbs and looked down into your lap. "ikindaputinmytwoweeksnoticeatthefirmoceifoundoutaboutthepromotion," you rambled out, casually taking a sip of your drink as if you didn't just say you quit your job of 8 years.

"you did what?" he asked in confusion, not understanding what you said.

"i put in my two weeks notice once i found out about the promotion," you slowed down so he could understand, his eyes going wide upon the understanding.

"that's... what you wanted to do, right?" he questioned, not wanting to give you the wrong reaction.

"yea, i think so," you started. "i was just so tired of getting looked over just because of my gender, y'know? i've had to prove myself in everything i've ever done. i think i've more than proved myself at the firm," you announced, still trying to find your own confidence.

:you have, y/n. you've more than proved yourself to be an amazing lawyer," he agreed. "sometimes i'm convinced you might work harder than we do," he scoffed.

"there's no way, a," you laughed at the ridiculous statement. "i've just put my all into the firm. all my time, attention, and hard work has gone into that place. the reason that place is where it is right now is because of me," you pouted.

"i remember. i brought the whole team to the case that put the firm on the map. even reid was there," he stated.

"spencer was at that case?" you asked, not remembering him saying hi afterwords.

"yea, he was. he just got pulled away because of troubles with his mom," you 'ohh'ed at the revelation. "but that case was the hardest one i've ever seen a lawyer handle, y/n."

"thank you," you smiled at the compliment.

"no, i mean it," he relished. "i don't even think i would've won that case. that's what brought everyone to the firm. it was a high profile case, one that the bau was on. of course there was going to be a big turnout. you handled the press, and the pressure amazingly."

it was a case the bau had worked on for nearly a week and a half, and they needed you to further convince the jury that who they caught was the right unsub because of the amount of circumstantial evidence. you were able to get the unsub flustered, and admit to his own crime on the stand with the press in the room.

it was possibly the best case you'd ever gotten because the amount of publicity you'd gotten. but with publicity there came quite a few complications that you hadn't told anyone about.

"that's just the big brother in you talking," you giggled, trying to brush the compliment off naturally.

"whatever you say, y/n. whatever you say," he brought his drink up to his mouth to take a sip.

"so, how was the last case you were on?" you asked, quite intrigued by all the cases he would tell you when he had the chance.

"well, how about we start from the beginning since you like hearing about them so much?" he asked with a grin, you nodded eagerly.

"so it started with the unsub taking abducting his victims..."

throughout the case, you found yourself starting to profiling the suspects yourself, something your brother noticed too. i mean, how could you not do that? you had a degree in psychology and criminology so it made since that profiling them would be natural for you.

everyone at the table interrupted at their parts in the story. when david and jj went to the m.e., when aaron, emily, and derek went to the crime scene, spencer and the geo profile. you were fascinated by their work and everything they were able to do.

when you were younger and your brother had first started at the bau, he really enjoyed calling you to tell you about them. he loved your reactions and how enthusiastic you would become when he was talking. that's really when you first started dreaming about being in the bau, with aaron.

"ugh, y'know i used to dream of going on cases with you guys," you admitted after they finished wrapping up the case in words, taking a sip of your drink to wash your food down.

"really?" spencer asked, not stammering while talking to you for the first time all afternoon.

"yea. aaron would always tell me about the cases when you got back, and i could practically just imagine myself working them with him and you guys," you relished, a smile on your face as you recalled the memories of your younger self.

"i think you'd do excellent on the team," spencer suggested. "it's clear that you already work well with everyone, plus you're more than qualified to work with us, other than the fact that you'd need to go through the fbi training."

"actually i've already been through it," you nonchalantly admitted with a shrug.

"you have?" he questioned as his eyebrows raised in shock. "why haven't you decided to work at the fbi then?" you shrugged at his question.

"i guess i just thought i wouldn't fit in enough?" you said, clearly realizing the contradiction to your earlier statement about imagining yourself on the team. "besides, i got a job at the firm as soon as i got out of the academy, so it all worked out fine."

"actually, reid, that's a good idea," aaron said as he turned his attention to you. "would you be interested in working at the bau with us?" he asked with a small grin, the thought of working with his sister already bringing a smile to his face.

"wh-don't-wouldn't you have to ask your boss about that? that's a big change, adding a new member to a team. you guys already work so well together..." you trailed off, trying to come up with an excuse.

"strauss?" derek asked in feigned disbelief. "she loves you, kid. which is kind of odd since it seems as though she doesn't like hotch as much," derek chuckled.

"oh my god! imagine it, y/n!" penny yelled in excitement. "you could see us everyday, and you wouldn't have to deal with those buttmunches you work for!" she announced.

"used to work for, two weeks from now," you laughed. "and it sounds amazing, but aaron already works there. i'm sure that's enough hotchner's for you guys," you shrugged with a smile.

"that's nonsense!" emily disagreed. "two of my favorite people working with me?! an absolute dream, i tell you," she grinned.

"i guess if you talk to erin about it and she's alright with it..." you trailed off with a huff. "how could i say no?" you smiled.

"oh my gosh this is so exciting!" penny announced, jumping up and rushing arounf the table to hug you. "i'm so ready to work with you!"

"let's not get too beyond ourselves, pen," you giggled. "she hasn't approved my addition yet."

"come on, she's gonna approve it, y/n," dave commented.

"whatever you guys say," you laughed.

you all finished eating, and received the check for lunch of which david insisted on paying. you went up to him afterwards and insisted on paying your part of the bill, but he said it was 'his treat for this wondrous occasion.'

you reluctantly made your way back to your office, the lingering stares from your bosses not going unnoticed. you couldn't wait for those two weeks to be over and for you to be able to leave that hell hole behind, whether you got the job at the bau or not.

you sat down in your chair and reached for your blazer only to realize you must've left it back at the restaurant. great. there goes that 50 bucks.

"hey, sweetcheeks," ron, one of your bosses, commented upon his entrance to your office.

"how many times do i have to tell you not to call me that?" you rolled your eyes, finishing up on the transcript you would need for the case you had tomorrow.

"oh, come on. you know you love it," he said, walking further into your office and sitting on the corner of your desk, ignoring the two chairs that remained across from you. you closed your computer and looked into his eyes, shooting daggers at him with your own.

"what do you want?" you spat at him, wanting to get him out of your hair as soon as possible.

"well, you won't be an employee in two weeks," he announced as if you hadn't already known.

"i'm well aware," you sassed back, trying not to slap him across the face at the fact that he was no longer looking at your eyes, rather further south from them. you snapped your fingers to bring his attention back to your face. "what. do. you. want?"

"well, honey pie, i was just wanting to take you out. y'know, after you're done here," he bit his lip, trying to be seductive but massively failing.

the terrible thing about this fool is, he doesn't know what the word 'no' means. he's always made passes at you, and commented on your appearance. it, of course, made you uncomfortable, but you couldn't really do anything about it. the hopes of getting a promotion was greater than your uncomfortability.

"i've seen the way you look at me, it's no secret," he said, getting off your desk and walking closer to you.

"you mean it's no secret that i find you absolutely repulsive?" you snapped. "shocker," you widened your eyes to feign surprise with your remark.

"are you serious?" he said, his 'seductive' smile now turning into a frown.

"are you serious?" you asked in disgust.

you placed your laptop in your bag, taking your keys out of the bag in the process and beginning to walk out of your office to avoid the man standing there. he grabbed your arm, forcing you to face him.

"don't walk away from me," he gritted, his face red with anger. his grip on your arm tightened, surely leaving a bruise in its wake.

"then don't fucking touch me," you said, attempting to yank your arm away from him, only failing to do so. "let go," you demanded.

"sorry, sweetcheeks, i didn't get that," he smirked. that fucker smirked at your struggle.

knock. knock. knock.

you turned to see whoever was at your door. it was none other than dr. spencer reid. holding your blazer in his hand. you furrowed your brows in confusion before ron decided to drop your arm.

"what the hell is going on?" spencer asked, his eyes not leaving ron's defensive stature as he placed the jacket on one of the chairs by your desk.

"nothing, right doll?" ron looked at you, a disgusting grin on his face.

"yea, right," you rolled your eyes.

spencer's eyes trailed back to you and your arm ron was once holding, right where the red mark is. you swore that if looks could kill, ron would've died the second spencer knocked on your door.

"then what's that on her arm?" he questioned, moving closer to you and pushing you behind him defensively. "you hurt her," he accused. you stepped to his side, noting the way he tried to take charge for you.

"spencer," you placed a hand on his arm, forgetting his thing about germs for a second in attempt to calm him down. "i can handle this," he turned to face you. "i've dealt with this asshole for nearly 8 years, isn't that right, ron?" you questioned with a sneaky grin.

"who the hell is this guy, sweetcheeks?" he questioned as if you had an obligation to tell him who he was.

"you don't get to know that. and you don't get to call me that, either," you reminded him, having to bite your lip to try not to explode on the guy.

"are you fucking this guy?" he accused you. you pushed spencer out of the way, and squinted your eyes at him in disbelief.

"you're seriously asking me that?" you asked. "if i was, it's still none of your fucking business, asshole!" you said getting closer to his face in order to make a point.

slap!

the asshole slapped you.

spencer quickly grabbed you and moved you out of the way before pushing the guy into the wall, knocking your fake plant over as well as a few books on the shelf on the wall. ron's face was smashed into the wall, one of his arms twisted behind his back as both were in spencer's grasp.

"don't you dare touch her. ever again," he demanded, twisting his arm even further, ron squirming to get out of his grip. "did you hear me?"

your hand cupped the side of your face, the sting from ron's wedding band hurting more than you would've thought.

"ahh! yes! yes, i heard you!" he squealed.  

"good. now you can apologize to her like a gentleman," he ordered, pushing his arm further up into his back to elicit another groan from the man, you had a hard time keeping a straight face from the scene in front of you.

"shit! ouch! okay! i'm sorry! i'm sorry!" he apologized in a high pitched tone, still trying to get out of spencer's grasp.

"good job," he released him from his grip, a sigh coming from ron at the freedom his arm received. "now go before i change my mind and cuff you right here," he ordered.

"cuff me?" he asked in disbelief. spencer pulled his fbi badge out, flashing it in ron's face, noticing the way his eyebrows shot up. "oh shit."

you moved your hand away from your face, looking at your hand and noticing the patch of blood that remained there. you wiped your cheek, trying to stop the blood flow.

"what did i just say?" spencer asked. "leave. now."

"right," ron said, walking back over towards the door, whispering to you on the way out. "don't bother coming to work tomorrow. or ever again."

"oh that'll be no problem, boss," you scoffed as he made his way out of the door, leaving you and spencer alone in your office.

"i'm uh, sorry about your plant," he pointed at the fake succulent that lay on the floor.

"it was fake anyway," you shrugged as you kneeled down to pick it up as spencer began picking the books up. "thank you, by the way," you smiled at the man.

"it's nothing, really," it was his turn to shrug. "hotch wouldn't have let me on the next case if i didn't intervene in whatever was going on."

oh. so that's why he helped you. of course it was. you were his superior's little sister, nothing else.

"so, what brings you here?" you asked as he offered you his hand to help you stand up, you gladly took it and rose to your feet. "oh sorry, you have a germ... my bad" you grimaced at the thought of making him uncomfortable.

"oh, don't worry about it. and i was actually here to bring you your blazer," he said, retrieving the jacket from the chair and giving it back to you. "i uhm, you forgot it at the restaurant."

"right, i noticed that once i got here. thank you," you thanked him, placing the jacket over your arm and picking up your bag. "you've already saved me twice today and we've only just met," you laughed.

"it seems that way," he smiled, walking with you out of the office. he gently grabbed your shoulder and turned you to face him once you were outside. "your face is bleeding, y/n."

"oh," you reached your hand up to notice the way the blood was still lightly flowing. "oops," you laughed.

"you should clean it up, you don't need to get that infected," he suggested, his hand tracing the outskirts of ron's handprint on your face.

"thanks for the recommendation, doc," you laughed. "i think i have some stuff back at my place that i could use."

"i'm so sorry that happened," he frowned slightly, his hand dropping to his side.

"ehh," you shrugged. "i'm sure you've seen worse. besides, i can handle myself," you said as he began walking with you in the direction of your car.

"let me see your arm?" he asked softly.

you brought it up closer to his eyesight. he gently grasped your arm, nothing like the way he had done to ron earlier in your office. his touch left goosebumps on your skin, the soft way his fingers traced your arm.

"it's already bruising, so i think it's only a subcutaneous bruise, luckily," he diagnosed.

"i'll bet you could pass as a medical doctor if you tried," you noted, nudging his arm gently with yours.

"many people make that mistake already! it's a frequent misconception by a lot of people i meet," he smiled.

"if i hadn't already known what kind of doctor you were, i'm sure i might've fallen into that misconception," you added with a grin as you approached your car. "so, this is me," you smiled and nodded at the tall man.

"oh! right! uhm..." he trailed off. "it was nice to meet you, y/n," he smiled kindly.

his smile's nice. warm. very home-like.

"it was nice to meet you too," you smiled. "thank you, again. for saving me back there."

"of course. anytime. i'm just glad i got there before anything got too bad..." he furrowed his brows at the not so distant memory.

"yea, you and me both, handsome," you joked, noticing the way his cheeks blushed at the compliment. "so where are you parked? the least i could do is give you a ride to your car," you suggested.

"oh, i was actually on my way to the metro. driving isn't really my thing..." he grimaced.

"then how about i drive you home?" you asked, wanting to figure out how to thank the perfect man that stood before you.

"i-i don't want you to be going out of your way..." he shook his head.

"look, spencer, i won't force you to do anything, but i want to do this," you placed a hand on his forearm. "at least as a thank you."

"um..." he looked at his watch, noticing the time. "okay, i guess that'd be nice. besides, i've missed the last ride to where i need to go," he shrugged with a small grin.

"great! just tell me where to, doc," you said as you both got into your car.

"capital plaza apartments," he announced with a grin.

"sounds great," you said as you turned the key in the ignition, backing out of your parking spot and starting the way towards his apartment. "so, you've worked at the bau for 12 years? right?"

"yea. i started when i was 22," he announced.

"right, i remember aaron telling me how you were the youngest member of the team when you got there," you encouraged him to continue.

"right again. they actually had to make an exception to let me into the field," he laughed softly. "they had to waiver basically every physical exam on account of my mental capabilities."

"i mean, whatever works. it's so intriguing that at such a young age you know so much, and your knowledge is only expanding," you shook your head in disbelief.

"well you've accomplished quite a lot and you're only 30. working at a firm for 8 years and being as successful as you are is remarkable," he remarked.

"thank you, spencer," you looked over at the man and smiled before stopping at the red light.

"do you have any tissues?" he asked, you furrowed your brows in question. "your cheek is still bleeding," he informed you.

"oh! there right there in the glovebox," you pointed across his lap as he grabbed the tissue from the compartment and reached across the console himself.

you leaned in across the console yourself, trying to make it easier for him to wipe it off. he cautiously used it to dab the little blood remaining on your cheek off, his hand lingering for a while.

you looked up to meet his eyes, the red from the stoplight illuminating his facial structure in a way that was otherworldly. you were entranced by each others' gaze, not even noticing the light turned green until the car behind you honked their horn, alerting you to step on the gas.

"oh! sorry," you apologized, biting the inside of your lip as you continued to drive him back to his apartment.

"don't be," he swallowed the lump in his throat.

sooner than later, you pulled into his apartment complex to drop him off.

"thank you so much, again, spencer," you placed a hand on his upper arm to emphasize your thanks.

"you don't need to thank me, y/n. i was happy to help," he placed one of his much larger hands on top of yours, squeezing it gently before he made his way out of your car. "goodbye."

"goodbye, spencer," you returned as you watched him walk up to his apartment building, practically gawking at the man that saved you.

you drove back to your house quickly, entering the code for the gate. you noticed yet another piece of paper taped to the front of the gate. you ripped it off the metal, and placed it inside your bag.

upon entering you placed your bag on the hook that remained on your wall after retrieving the sheet of paper from it. you kicked your shoes off beside the door neatly, walking into your kitchen to pour yourself a small glass of wine before tending to your wound.

you walked into your bathroom and gazed at the handprint on your face, noticing the small gash that remained on your cheekbone. after washing your face, you used an antibiotic on the cut, placing a small bandage overtop.

walking into your bedroom, you admired the view from the large window as you changed into your pajamas. you were too tired to eat anything, but you knew you needed to get something into your system.

you walked back into your kitchen and found a granola bar you could eat quickly. you grabbed the sheet of paper and walked back into your living room as you continued to eat.

underneath your sofas, there are storage bins that you keep extra things inside. what also happens to be inside of that bin is a small, old shoebox. inside of that shoebox you placed the note, along with all the others you've received, not bothering to read it this time.

you made your way back into the bathroom, brushed your teeth, and returned to your bedroom.

it was a long day, very eventful. you could only hope the letters would stop if you got the job at the bau. but for now... sleep.

#ssa hotchner #y/n #spencer x reader #spencer x you #spencer reid #spencer #y/n hotchner #series #criminal minds

[oh-for-fic-sake]

Trophy chapter three

Finally decided where im going with this been mulling it over for a few days toying with a few ideas. Trying to define Henry's character has been a bit difficult for me as i wasnt sure what angle i wanted to highlight more but from here out i think iv settled on Yandere/Daddy Dom/Care Giver so the relationship has taken a more ddlg turn its not going to dive in to ageplay (im not confident enough yet maybe one day) but the reader is slightly childish. I cant stress enough that as this is a yandere themed story its not going to be for everyone all my chapters will have appropriate warnings. If you have read it and think i have missed one out please let me know so i can apologize and correct it. Not much else to say other than i hope you like it

Warning:Adult themes, Dubcon,Controlling Behaviour, Swearing

Masterlist

You find out who it was who handed you over to Henry

Chapter one ,Chapter two Chapter four Chapter five

Trophy chapter three

Waking up the next morning was slow, absolutely exhausted you laid under the soft covers relaxing with your eyes closed ignorant to the world. Turning over trying to get comfy enough to fall asleep again.Frowning as your ears picked up an irritating tapping that moved back and forth. Groggily you identified it as a dog excitedly pacing on a wooden floor.Something that you hadn't heard since your childhood ,with out a thought -still not fully awake- you poked your hand out of the covers and over the side of the mattress to placate the animal,immediately being nudged into stroking a fluffy face and lathered with dog kisses.

"Amy ,stop, go lie down" Your eyes snapped open as the words left your mouth Amy -your German Shepherd from childhood- has been long gone and you haven't had a dog since. You snatched your hand back sitting up groaning as the pain in your ass forced you to flop face first back onto your side. There was a large snout in front of you, literally inches from your nose as the dog has rested its chin on the mattress in front of you letting out an impatient whine.You slowly inched back apprehensive of the large dog.

"H-hey there erm where did you come from boy? girl?" You spoke quietly the dog snorted in response then in one swoop jumped up onto the bed over you landing on the other side. Rolling on your back ignoring the ache in your ass more concerned with the very large canine beside you. Your not scared of dogs not in the slightest, but you didn't know this one.It laid down on the other side of the bed tail thumping away as it looked at you expectantly. Sitting up slowly you pulled yourself to the head board resting against it.Only now really recollecting yesterdays events and just where you were. The dog huffed again and slumping to lie on its side pawing at you.Pet me. The dog didn't seem aggressive actually the opposite, smiling lightly you began giving a belly rub.Male. You looked up as the bathroom door opened revealing a towel clad Henry fresh from the shower rubbing a smaller hand towel on his hair before letting the damp cloth drape around his neck. He smiled knowingly as your eyes trailed down from the towel at his neck drinking in his toned chest that had a complementarity dusting of dark curls across it.You sucked in a deep breath. It really wasn't fair, he knew very well how attractive he was, under different circemstances you might have flirted with him a little after drinking a few glasses of liquid courage. Not that you'd have thought you would have a chance. 

'To bad he's a nut job' you though wistfully. Just your luck that the only man to look your way was a fucking psychopath. You directed you attention to the fingers that were still absentmindedly scratching through the dogs thick fur. Henry approached the bed nodding his head at the dog.

"See you've met Kal" The dog twitched his ears at his name enjoying his belly rub to much to move.

"Kal. It suites him Akita right?" He grinned nodding as he sat on the edge of the bed patting the dogs barreled chest.

"Yep my boy, yours to now" You paused then pulled your hand off kal (to his disappointment) tucking them in your lap as it clicked who you were speaking to. Henry continued looking at you lovingly for a few seconds then his face fell sighing as he watched you pull back into yourself then looked towards the bathroom.

"Go get cleaned up, I have a visitor to take care of after breakfast shouldnt take long then we can spend the day together" He finished his sentence leaning in with a kiss on your cheek before lifting himself up to get ready for the day. You got up holding the bed momentarily to stabilize yourself before taking slow steps towards the bathroom wincing as you movements aggravated your sore backside.

"Theres some comfry cream on the sink bring that out when your finished" For some reason You could hear his grin swallowing Uneasy you nodded before shutting the Bathroom door behind you unsure why you heard him laugh through the heavy wood. Shuffling forward you relished in the warmth of the steam filled room. His bathroom was stylish and sleek, the type of room you'd expect in a five star hotel not that you'd ever stayed in one .Expensive looking black gold veined marble steps leading to a large sunken tub at the far end of the room, before that matching marble splash back on the 'his and hers' sink with a mirror hung above them. The large shower to your left was glass on one side it was big enough to fit four or five people comfortably and had a built in bench seat. The shelves either side of the mirror were fully stocked one side obviously had been pre-prepared for you with hair and make up products all in your preferred brands and colours.

'That cannot be a coincidence' you summarized as you pulled the foundation down inspecting the seal.Brand new as suspected.So he must have planned for your arrival. You shook the thoughts out of your head not wanting to think of how he knew so much about you. After using the loo and brushing your teeth with the new pink toothbrush that'd graciously been provided for you.The power shower was welcome easing your muscles your tension melted away under the powerful spray and also giving you time to think of where you went from here.

'Don't think he's gonna give me a chance to run anytime soon. Gotta find out why he's taken me .Its lot of trouble to go through for no reason, unless he's done it before. Maybe i could be nice to him, play along until his guard drops then scarper. Question was, what then?' If what they say is true it'd be useless going to the police you'd be back here in no time dread to think what he'd do to you then. If you left you'd have to leave town asap. Wouldn't be able to go home and pack a bag it'd be to obvious-or maybe soo obvious they wouldn't even look.' The door opened pulling you from your musings, it was only open enough for kal to slip in who dutifully sat by the shower door Henry didn't follow calling from behind it.

"Are you ok? you've been in here a while" You hadn't realized but he was right as you looked at your pruned fingers.

"Im fine" you heard a sigh of relief as you answered him 

"Good when you didn't answer my calls i was worried that you'd tried something very stupid" He paused contemplating his next words

"Time to get out now i think" You faltered at that stepping from under the spray towards the shower door. 

"But i haven't washed yet"

"Well who's fault is that little one? Besides the amount of time you've been in there the waters probably taken care of any dirt.Next time don't waste so much time." He scolded half hartedly

"Sorry i wasn't aware you were on a water meter" you snapped back at him in temper.

"Excuse me? would you like to try again?" His tone was so ominous you took a step back curseing silently.

"Sorry. I'll be right out"

"Sorry Who?" you didn't reply immediately

"...Sorry daddy" 

"Good don't let it happen again" Calling kal out of the room he shut the door.Defeated you hang your head deciding to try and pacify him at least until you could come up with a plan of action.Twisting off the water and exiting the shower wrapping a large bath sheet around your body uesing a smaller one to wring out your wet hair. Scurrying out of the bathroom finding him sitting up on the bed laptop in hand Kal was nowhere to be seen. Your captor was dressed in a caramel two piece suit with white shirt. He looked over the screen at you.

"Your clothes are here. Did you grab the cream?"

"I forgot, give me a sec." You quickly grabbed the small pot of cream handing it to him then preceded around the bed unfolding the clothes left out for you.

"Y/n come here" He said closing his laptop stopping sliding it off his lap peeking over at him you blinked holding up the sweater that was left out for you. 

"Cant i get dressed first?" A pleading look not trusting his expression or him in general really.

"Not until this has soaked in"

"What?" Nervously twiddling the soft knit fabric already dreading what ever he had in store for you now.Chuckling he waved the pot in the air.

"This is to ease your cute little bottom now come over here" Opening the pot and paced it within reach on the beside table. Fully expecting you to do as your told you covered your back side with one hand.

"M-my bottom is fine really i don't need it"

"Now you and i both know that if i turned you over my knee right now id find a sore red little bottom. Im going to take care of you now could you please come here."

"Please i can do it myself" Ignoring you he dipped his fingers into the thick balm smoothing it between his palms. You took a deep breath deciding that your best option was to grin and bear it. Dragging your feet until you stood in front of the amused man.

"Theres no need to sulk." Lifting you effortlessly to lie on the bed tugging the towel from around you he whistled low 

" Thats a well punished bottom if iv ever seen one" he anounced before running his lathered hands across it massaging in the pain reliefe thoughrly in smooth circles, you tensed under his hands, they felt cool in comparison to your heated flesh.

"Dosnt look like youll bruise which is good.Allmost done now"

You fhuffed letting him get on with it trying to imagine you were anywhere but here as his palms moved lower to graze over your thighs and back up again leaving behind a trail of tingles then he pulled away.

"Just lie there and let it work its magic ,you've been a very good girl." You hated feeling a twinge of pride at his praise quickly beating it down .He left you there for five mineuts or so then signaled to get dressed. Once down stairs you were greeted with an enthusiastic kal whilst being served a light breakfast of toast and juice. Not long after that you found yourself beside him watching the news on a sofa kal chilling out at your feet with an indestructible looking chew A large man clad in all black strolled in stating

"Got a visitor boss said he called last night?" Henry left instructing you to stay put. You strained your ears as you heard his foot steps stopping a few feet behind the door. Hearing a familiar voice from the other side. Getting up you tip toed across the room pressing your ear against it listening to the conversation.

"-Caught on cctv, thats evidence that could implicate me. What am i supposed to tell them? The others were already asking questions last night i told them it was a rota mistake not sure how long i can keep them quiet its out of character,  You said it would be subtle." It was henry who spoke next his voice was deep authoritative and menacing.

"Calm down I have it all taken care of, not my first rodeo.Trust me no one is going to go looking to deep, the paper trails already sorted out  application ,travel, accommodation the lot. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut and we're squared up.As agreed"

"I dont know how i feel about it now? I think i made a mistake" The other male frantically replied.

" Your mistake was not keeping up your end I told you to keep an eye on him. I told you what would happen if you cocked it up.Now I have to be the bad guy. You think I wanted to do it this way? Besides its already done you cant go back on your word now. If your having second thoughts thats tough fucking luck I dont do refunds. Now get the fuck out of my house and you best keep that mouth shut cos I can make you dissapear just as easy as her. Lads show Mr Fletcher out" You gasped stepping back quickly mind racing as you sat back down where you were originally. You sat in shock as you realized who it was Henry had been talking to and why theyd sounded familiar. Kyle fletcher owner of the small cafe you worked in your boss of four years.Putting two and two together ,that chat was about you. You felt sick it was kyle who'd asked you close later than usual to deep clean the coffee machine and recount the float , causing you to close up in the dark which was where youd been taken. For some reason he knew what was going to happen he'd been in on it a overcome by a wave of anger you decided come hell or high water you were going to find out exactly what your exboss had done.

#mob boss henry cavill #henry cavill fic #henry cavill imagine #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill #daddy henry cavill #yandere henry cavill

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

CSUAVS prt 26 update. Me. Ok. 26 we can do the engagement party... haven't hit the damn party yet

Lance didn't sleep well. His mind wouldn't let him rest, racing and supplying him with nightmares when he did finally fall asleep. Feeling flatter than a witch with a house on her, he let Keith fuss over him. Leaving all decisions to his not boyfriend, down to how much makeup they should use on his cheeks. Lance was happy with only a little, but Keith insisted he needed more to sell the lie, leaving small deposits to crumble on the edges were it dried unevenly. Normally Lance prided himself on his appearance, he tried to once again when the drugs had stabilised in his system, so it irritated him each time he caught the slightest glance of the caking. The compromise over the bad make up was that he was allowed to wear a body suit under his normal clothes. He felt better than way, safer, Keith insisted that he didn't need it, yet he felt too exposed without it on. Keith caving without a fight when it came to his mental health. It irritated him how easily Keith had gotten through to him once he'd explained what had happened... but Keith had a way about him. A stupid loved up stalkerish way that Lance secretly loved in his own way. Walking through the Atlas, things seemed peaceful. There was no clunk or hum of the engines. No one yelling at each other. No one fighting over the bathroom. It felt cold. Peaceful but cold. Yep. That was the only way Lance could describe it. Thankful that Keith was walking beside him, it made the grey walls all that more manageable. He really didn't need to have a panic attack over the colour of the walls before they even reached everyone else. His heart was already pounding like crazy as it was. Reaching the doorway to the dining area, his steps stalled, Keith's hand brushing against his "It's going to be ok" "I know. Nerves and all that" "If it counts, I'm pretty nervous too..." Lance wanted to tease him. He would have if Keith hadn't genuinely cared about him. He could smell it on Keith. This morning smelt so much clearer than the others, or maybe it was because the Atlas didn't smell like anything in particular. Not like the Telula did. Remembering in the tick of time, Lance stopped himself from kissing Keith's cheek. The Atlas had cameras everywhere. As it was, someone on staff might be able to read lips, which would complicate things if people started asking questions. They were friends. The others knew Lance as an intimate person, him touching Keith wouldn't be too odd. Lance wasn't in a good enough mental state to confidently tell Keith he was ready to announce it or make it official. Walking into the dining area, everyone had seemed to break off into their own little groups. MFE pilots at one. Pidge was having breakfast with her family. Shiro nursing his coffee as he talked with Coran and Curtis. Hunk's family was talking with Shay's. His family were huddled together on one table, and his team on the other. How was he supposed to chose? His team didn't know anyone, but at the same time, his family had come all this way "I'll grab us breakfast. Why don't you sit with the team? They all look a little lost" "Thanks. I hope everyone's been nice to them. We were only staying a few quintants... I don't want there to be a fight" "Yeah. Ok, go on" "Lance! I was worried" Sitting himself down beside Lucteal, Lance gave a strained smile at him and Daehra "Sorry guys. I had to stop by my girl this morning to get some clothes. Did you guys eat?" Leaning past her brother, Daehra nodded "Your Hunk insisted on cooking for us. His food is very nice" "Oh, so you met Hunk?" "We met him last night. He made us Earth pancakes with sureeep. I have never tried anything like them before" "Hunk is an amazing cook. You know those herbs you brought with you, Pidge's mother will be able to grow some for Hunk. To help make your pancakes and syrup. I know I let you guys down last night, but things are going to be better today" Daehra nodded quickly, a blush on her cheeks. This all had to be surreal for his team, meeting the famous Voltron and staying on the famous Atlas. Even if he was slightly scared, he was so damn proud of his team. Anyone who said they didn't belong here deserved to be punched in the face. It was thanks to the galactic war that they'd all been dishomed to begin with. They'd all fought and survived without the help of Voltron and the Lions "Deahra, do you want to meet her?" "What?!" Lucteal elbowed his sister at her loud cry. Lance nodding his head as he grew slightly more confident about his question. Everyone was in small groups, all doing their own thing. Just because he was chicken shit, didn't mean she should have to suffer "Right now. She's just there, and she's pretty nice" "But I..." "But nothing, Dae. You're amazing with herbs and you know... even if she doesn't have time, she'll know who you are" "Leandro..." "You're amazing Dae. I like trust you with my life. Come on" "But..." "Nope. I know I really dropped the ball yesterday. I should have checked you were alright last night, and I should have been here for you before breakfast. Please let me make it up to you" "Leandro..." "Good. It's settled. Lucteal, are you coming?" Lucteal shook his head, casting a glance over to the MFE pilots table "That one over there with the obnoxious hair. I want to hit him" Following Lucteal's lead, Lance snorted to himself "That's James. He always goes after Keith. But yes, he's obnoxious as hell" "Can I shoot him? He keeps looking this way" "You can't shoot him. Apparently Earth needs him... but I have another idea. Let me introduce Dae first, then we'll go from there" Slinging an arm around Daehra's shoulders, as Lance would have, he led Daehra over to the Holts. Flicking Pidge on the ear, the green gremlin had been too absorbed in her tech to hear him approaching "What the quiznak?! Oh... Hey, Lance" "Hey, Pigeon. What you working on?" "Your friend over there insinuated my coding wasn't up to scratch..." "That would be Zak. Not to brag, buuuut..." "Lance you better not finish that sentence, or I will fight you" "Ooooh. Someone needs her morning coffee" "No. I just need you to shut up" "Katie Holt! That is not how we talk to friends" Pouting at her mother, Pidge went back to her laptop "It is when it's Lance" Reaching over, Colleen took Pidge's laptop from her. Pidge trying to grab it back while her mother ignored her "It's nice to see you Lance. You look good" At least someone was happy to see him "Thanks. I know I'm interrupting your breakfast, but I have someone I really want you to meet. This is my girl Daehra. She's my team's medic, with a huge interest in plants and botany. When I told her of your research, she was in awe. Her medicinal herbs are the best in the sectors we work" Colleen looked Daehra up and down, her smile growing "I can never say no to a young botanist. Why don't you bring some of your herbs down to my lab and we'll go over them together" Daehra blushed hard "Thank you very much. I'm not very good..." "Dae, you're amazing. You should know that by now. Thank you so much. And Pidge his name is Zak. He's absolutely crazy about tech. You should talk to him about the AI he's building. He's instilled it with layer learning. I know you've been working on your own projects, but you never know..." "If he's friends with you, then he's probably a weird" Poking his tongue out, Lance reached out and ruffled Pidge's hair "Then you'll get on perfectly. We'll leave you to it. Thanks so much" Daehra gave a half bow "Thank you" Leading Daehra back to the table, Lucteal had moved down a seat so Lance could sit between him and Keith, with Daehra on Keith's other side. Placing down a plate of pancakes, Keith nudged him with his shoulder as Lance sat "What was that about?" "I wanted to introduce Daehra to Colleen" "How'd it go?" "She wants Dae to go by her lab with her herbs later" "Good job, Daehra. I'm sure you'll learn a lot from her" "Thank you... I was nervous when Pidge told Le-Lance to be quiet" Keith's expression turned hard. Lance didn't need Keith feeding his anxiety by being protective "She did?" "Don't go there. Its Pidge and you know how she is when she's on her laptop" "Ohhh... you disturbed the great Pigeon?" Keith's face relaxed, a smile on his lips as he teased him gently. Sighing exaggeratedly, Lance tried to look grave "I did. Her mother even scolded her" "Oh no" "Oh yes. It would seem that Zak wounded her pride last night" "Dammit Zak" "Eh, they're both nerds. Did you see Hunk?" Prying into Hunk's life through Keith was the best he could hope for right now "Oh. Yeah. We're going to have a Paladin lunch. To catch up and stuff. Man, he's so nervous. Shay knows something is going on, and he's sure she knows what" Lance's knife slipped as he went to slice through his pancake, syrup smearing on his fingers. It would just like him to klutz up right now "I wouldn't be surprised Shay is pretty smart" "I thought Shiro would be engaged to Curtis before Hunk got engaged to Shay" "Nah. Adam was Curtis's brother. It doesn't matter how long you know a person, there's still a difference between going from friends to lovers" Slumping down slightly in his seat, Keith rubbed his knee against Lance's. The half-Galra was a damn menace "That's true. Do you have any plans for today?" Plans? Not having a panic attack was his plan "Leandro said he may be able to arrange for me to hit that James" Choking on his pancake, Keith looked to him with watery eyes "What?" "James has been side eyeing my team this morning. I might not be up for sparring, but if he wants to try taking my team on, he's gotta be prepared to have his arse kicked" "Lance..." "Relax, Mullet. I was thinking of showing Lucteal to the training room, after helping Daehra with her herbs. Pidge is going to get curious over Zak, and the others... I'm not sure what they want to do" "Why don't I show Lucteal to the training room, while you help Daehra with her herbs?" After yesterday's stellar performance, Lance didn't really want to seperate from Keith's side. He still felt guilt that his family was over there having breakfast without him. Then again, they saw Veronica even less than they saw him. He was alive. That was all that mattered to them. Keith told him he was strong, so he had to be for him "Yeah. Divide and conquer?" "Mhmm. Oh quiznak... Mum's coming today" Lance deflated a little. He didn't know how to look Krolia in the eyes "Don't be like that. Mum knows what you mean to me" "You should be hanging out with your mum..." "I don't know what time she'll be arriving. I'll message her to meet us wherever we are... She's going to be happy to see you" "She might not be when you fill her in on everything" "Babe, she knows most of what happened. I mean... she knows I made my choice to be with you. And that I'm staying with you" "She's your mum..." "That has a whole planet to rule. Besides, if she arrived while we're trying, she's not likely to back down from a fight" Lance groaned. Lucteal wasn't ready for Krolia training "Make sure she goes easy on my team. I like them and would like for them to stay in one piece" "Mum won't be that bad" They both knew otherwise... Or at least Lance did. Krolia scared him, even when it came to light sparring "You say that now" "Oh shut up and eat your breakfast already" Sighing heavily, Lance stabbed at his pancakes with his fork. Lucteal was strong... hopefully with Keith watching, nothing would go wrong "Yes, Keith" * Dropping Daehra off at Colleen's lab, Lance was feeling pretty good about it. When Daehra hadn't known what to bring, he'd suggested samples of her pills and the herbs she used to make them. Promising to let him know when they were done, Lance half wanted to stay and watch, to protect Daehra if anything was to happen. Instead, he nodded at her promise, and wished her well as he started through the Atlas and up to the training room. Part of him was mentally laughing at the fact Shiro hadn't wanted anyone walking around his ship unescorted, and there he was doing just that. Walking into the training room, Lance wasn't expecting Keith and James to be sparring. Lucteal watching on, actually cheering for Keith. Jogging the few steps to Lucteal's side, Lance looked to his second in command "What's going on?" "That James. He implied that our team was unworthy. Keith stepped up to say he was part of our team. This happened" Great. James and Keith... they had a complicated history "Did you get to hit him?" "Not yet" Lucteal sounded bitter, but not as bitter as Lance was. James was a dick, and he couldn't understand why he kept going after Keith. Lucteal had his reasons... So did that mean James liked Keith? The thought was laughable. Keith could castrate James in the blink of an eye if he so chose. Sitting on the sidelines, Kinkade was filming everything as he provide a running commentary with Rizavi's assistance. Watching as the fight slowly grew towards becoming a brawl, Lance wasn't having it. Keith had a reputation to uphold, while Lance was a lowly bounty hunter "Keith, swap out with me" Catching James's fist, Keith stepped back with a scowl "I've got this" "If James has a problem with my team, it is up to me as their commander to step up. Provided he has the balls to throw down properly" Letting out a low whistle, Kinkade looked over his camera. Cupping her hands around her mouth, Rizavi called out "You going to let him talk to you like that, Griffin?!" Scoffing, James broke his stance to run a hand through his hair "Hey, if he wants a piece of this, I'm right here" Glaring, Keith strode towards Lance "What are you doing?" "He insulted my team" "I was handling it" "You looked as if you were about to murder him" "He had it coming" Patting Keith on the shoulder, the half-Galra still looked annoyed "You can beat him up as much as you want, after I do" Taking a few steps towards James, Lance rolled his neck. He hadn't thrown down for fun with Keith out of fear, but James was a dick and the Atlas had its own pod... squaring his shoulders, he was nearly at James when Keith called out to him "Lance, weapons?" Oh. Right. He forgot about that tiny detail... Kneeling down he took his knife from his right boot, and slipped out the blade hidden up his sleeve. Turning, he threw both to Keith with a wink "I forgot about that. Don't want to accidentally stab him" Keith's smirk said otherwise "Kick his arse" "You know it" * Keith was on edge as Lance stood in front of James. The MFE shit head had decided to mock his "life choices" over following some like Lance. Though not an active Paladin, the MFE pilots had all have basic hand to hand training, and they all had years of experience surviving after Earth had been invaded. Keith had made the mistake of saying "Let's how see how good you are at sparring", where as Lance had said they were going to "throw down". His fight with James was expected to be light, despite his anger at the man causing him to snap. Bouncing on the balls of his feet, Lance shook out his hands before balling them into fists. James laughing as he dropped into stance "From what I remember, you weren't that great at hand to hand" "I'm surprised you can remember anything with that ego of yours" Letting out a long "oooooh", Rizavi was seriously enjoying this. None of them realised how much of a transformation Lance had made while fighting for his life "Why'd you even come back? Weren't you enjoying your life as a simple farmer?" "Had to come back because dick's like you can't do their jobs" Lance was keeping his tone light, almost joking. Or it would have been if not for the look in his eyes "From what I hear, you called Keith in to clean up your mess" Lance shrugged, Keith enjoying this confident side to his not-boyfriend, even if it was all a show "Actually, he came to me. Seems your little crew wasn't going to cut it. Don't hold back" James was learning the hard way that there was more to Lance than met the eye. Lance openly laughing at James's attempts to bring him down. The angrier James got, the sloppier his moves were. Lance able to block and dodge, his movements a thousand times better than when he'd been a Paladin. Kicking out James's knee, the MFE pilot went down hard, the look in Lance's eye turning deadly as he pinned him in a head lock, and locked his leg with his. James had no idea he was ticks away from dying "What the hell is going on here?" Releasing James, Lance wiped his brow before holding his hands up to surrender to the fun police that was Shiro. Taking James by the arm, Rizavi began leading him away, Griffin jogging after the pair. The three of them smart enough to know when to run from a scolding Shiro "We're sparring" "Do I want to know how it started?" Lance opened his mouth, but Keith cut in "James was being dick. Went after me again, then insulted Lance. It was all in fun. You know if we wanted him dead, he would be" "It's funny, I'm looking at Lance and I'm hearing Keith's voice" Dropping his hands, Lance shook his head. His voice holding no confidence as he replied "Shiro, it was all fun and games. The only thing James got out of it was knocked down a few pegs" "I didn't think the pair of you were the type to bully someone to make yourselves feel better" Keith saw red, Shiro might have raised an eyebrow and intentionally baited him to see what his reply was, but when you love someone with PTSD and have started learning their triggers, the fear of them being hurt by a careless comment was always there. Lance wouldn't be able to hear the joke. And yeah, James was under Shiro's fucking command, but he knew the kid was a total jerk. Seething, he wanted to smack his stupid brother "That wasn't what happened at all. James was starting trouble, so I suggested we spar. We swapped out to Lance when Lance arrived from dropping Daehra off with Pidge's mum. This isn't the Garrison Shiro. We might have let things go, but even after he apologised, he still went out of his way to cause trouble. He has no right to bad mouth Lance or his team. They're your fucking guests" Coming up behind him, Lance put his hand on Keith's shoulder "Keith, calm down. Unlike James, I'm replaceable. He's a MFE pilot, and those ships cost a lot to build. I'm just a bounty hunter who can't even do that anymore" Shiro looked as if he was going to interject, but Keith really wasn't having it. Sure, Lance looked ready to kill James, but before Shiro interrupted, Keith was ready to step in "Goddamn it, Lance! You are not replaceable! And you didn't do anything wrong. James threw down as hard as he could. It's not your fault he's not that great" Shaking his head, Lance squeezed Keith's shoulder "Keith, it's not worth fighting over. Let's just train..." "Lance, I swear to quiznak..." Raising his hand, Keith shoved Lance's hand off his shoulder. Realising what he'd done, his hand hovered there "Lance" "Forget it" Pain filled Lance's blue eyes "Lance..." "Forget it Keith. I don't belong here. No matter what you say. Sorry Shiro, we'll be off your ship tomorrow. I promise to stay out of your way" Striding towards the door, Shiro called out to Lance as Lucteal moved to follow the Cuban "Lance. That's not what I meant..." Ignoring Shiro, Lance disappeared "... why can I never seem to say the right thing to him?" Shiro seemed genuinely troubled. Keith forcing down his anger at his brother "When you were tortured, did Lance ever treat you any differently?" Crossing his arms, Shiro went on the defensive "No. What does that have to do with anything?" "I've been watching everyone. Pidge this morning. Her parents. You now. You all look at him with pity. I know none of us knew what to do when Allura died. We all knew it was hard for him, but we were there. She's been gone for over a year now. It's time everyone treated Lance like he is Lance. He doesn't want our pity. He doesn't need our pity. He didn't treat you any differently after you were tortured, if anything he held more respect for you. For surviving everything you went through. Don't treat him any differently that you used to. He hasn't changed who he is inside" "I know that. I guess... I understand what you said when you first reached out to him. How he felt like a stranger. He's grown so much. When I saw him with James... I was sure he was going to hurt him" Even if Lance had, James would have deserved it. Though it would have torn Lance apart at a later date "He's still Lance. Like you have Allura's crystal in your arm to keep your body stable, Lance carries part of Allura quintessence to keep his body stable. Stop making excuses and talk to him like nothing happened" "I'll go find him" "Good. Make sure you apologise for being an arse. He was up all night with nightmares. His nerves are shot and he could really use someone who knows what he's been through to be there for him. If he won't talk to you, leave it and I'll talk to him" "You really understand him, don't you?" "Lance is easy to understand. All he wants it to forget the bad things in the past and move forward. Like we all do" * Sitting at the command table of the Telula, Lance wasn't sure what his next step was. He'd nearly lost control fighting James. He'd intentionally provoked him due to the fact his stupid brain started whispering that maybe there was some truth to him liking Keith... and he couldn't lose Keith to the likes of James. When he'd put him in the headlock, he'd made sure James could breathe, but couldn't move. Now all he felt was disgust at taking away someone ability to move like had been done to him. The circumstances might not have been the same, but none the less... He'd enjoyed taking James down a peg. It was as Shiro said, he was a bully. "Leandro?" Following him from the training room, Lucteal had hovered by his side quietly. He didn't need to be an empath to know that Lucteal wasn't happy over how things had played out. He hadn't got to hit James, and now that Shiro had scolded, Lucteal wanted to punch him too "What's up?" "That Shiro is standing in the hangar" Great. He felt sick to his stomach over what had happened. Being scolded by "Space Dad" was nearly as bad as being threatened with his mami pink slipper "Who does he think he is..." "Lucteal it's ok. Shiro's trying to protect his team. Like how I would protect any of you. I'll go talk to him" "He insulted you" "It wouldn't be the first time. You should probably stay up here, I don't know what he wants to talk about" Lance had nothing to say. He'd made a fool of himself and was now off licking his wounds "At least take a blaster" "I promise you it'll be ok. Now, try not to hit him if he comes onboard" "I make no promises" Walking down the loading ramp of the Telula, Lance eyed Shiro in confusion. Holding both hands up, Shiro was wearing a sad expression "I come in peace" "I told you that I'd be off the Atlas tomorrow. Lucteal is with. Keith's with the others and Daehra is with Pidge's mum. Don't ask me where my family is, you invited them" "I deserve that. Look, I didn't mean to run you off. I also didn't mean to make you feel like you weren't welcome here" "Really? You accuse my team of being untrustworthy. You look at me like I'm an insect. What do you want from Shiro?" "I want to say I'm sorry" Hell hath no fury like an angry Lance "Well, you said that. I promise my team isn't going to cause a scene. I'm sorry about what happened with James, but I won't stand for my team being insulted" "Lance, you know it's regulations that new visitors be escorted" "They're not just visitors. They're my family" "And what about mine. I have the lives of every single person on this ship to consider" "Don't you think I know that?! If it hadn't been for Keith, I probably wouldn't have even come for the party. It's not like my presence would have been missed!" "Of course we missed you..." "That's bullshit Shiro. Every time I reached out to any of you, I was ignored. I built my own life out here" "Keith told me what happened..." Lance let out a bitter laugh, he knew he was being spiteful, but all his anger at being rejected and pushed away from the team came flooding back "I bet you enjoyed that. Stupid Lance taken and tortured. Yeah. I bet you really enjoyed that" "No one deserves that. I know, remember. I know what it was like and what it was like to die... and what's it like to lose the one you love. Please Lance, I understand" "This isn't about Allura" "You cover your marks now..." "Don't..." "We thought you were happy on Earth" "Happy?! My whole family imploded when I came home! No one knew how to talk to me. No one knew how to treat me. Between the nightmares and the PTSD everything fell to pieces. No matter how many stupid juniper bushes I planted, she never came back. So no. You don't understand Shiro. Allura never loved me like I loved her, and every time you all look at me, all you show is pity. I'm done with that" Why was he tearing up? He was mad with Shiro. He didn't want to be crying in front of him "Lance..." "Don't! None of you ever wanted me around. I finally found people who want me for me. And we do good work. I'm proud of.. I was proud of the work we do... We help people. Not just those we want alliances with. We don't turn people away because they're "different". Daehra and Lucteal saved my life more than once. I won't go back to being made to feel like nothing" Shiro crying was a dick move. How was supposed to stay mad at crying Shiro? "Lance... I'm sorry we failed you" "You didn't fail me. You weren't supposed to know" "Why didn't you call? When it happened?" Call. He'd called and messaged "I tried reaching out. None of you answered my messages. We still had those stupid team calls. No one noticed if I didn't talk. I only took them because of Veronica" "And after? After you Keith went to that outpost? Why didn't you call then?" Hissing like an alley cat, Lance took a step back. Crossing his arms, Shiro could keep crying silently "Is that what this is about? Because I don't want Daibazaal or the Atlas involved? You don't actually care, do you" "Lance... That's not what I meant. I meant, why didn't you call us for back up? We would have come out to help you" "I don't need your help" "It's too late for that it's an intergalactic issue. People are dying" "I know they are, but you don't understand" "What's there to understand? I saw the pictures. All we want to do is help" Rolling his eyes, Lance was disgusted. The conversation was hurting his head, he could feel the tendrils of a headache coming on "Oh, you saw the pictures. Great. Now you know everything. The Atlas can't help" "What's that supposed to mean?" Why couldn't the great and famous Shiro understand? Why wasn't he looking at the bigger picture? When was Shiro going to finally treat him as a man, and not a snot nose punk "It means where I work, people hate Voltron. They have no time for people from Earth. They were all suffering and we helped none of them. People won't take aid from Lance of Voltron, but they will if they can't see my face. They'd rather starve or bleed out. We're not Galactic Heroes. I was tortured over the Red Lion. They wanted it for themselves to secure their power, because that whole fucking sector receives fuck all aid. The cops out there are as corrupt as hell. The people we fucking arrested, they're the people chopped to pieces. So tell me how the precious Atlas is going to fix all of that?! You can't bring back the dead. You can't sew them back together. How sending Galra ships out to people still scared shitless of the Galra, is going to make things better? You can't, can you Shiro. My friends were butchered because they know me. I have a 1.5 billion GAC bounty on my head, because I wanted to do the right thing. You guys can't help. I should never have listened to Keith..." "You don't know if we can help, unless you sit down and talk with us" Lance threw his hands in the air "I am talking to you" "Lance, I want to help. I want to help you. I've missed you. Hunk has missed you, Coran and Pidge have missed you. Every time we talked you said you were busy with work..." "Because everyone wants to hear my stupid struggles. Right. Sure. No. Yeah. I ruined everything" "Lance..." "You can't fix anything Shiro... you can't fix me" "I'm sorry. I don't know what else I can say. You didn't deserve what happened and I swear if I'd know I would have been there for you. It eats me alive to think of you like that. To think we don't care... I do care. You're a good man, and a good friend. No matter how busy you were, I should have remembered to answer. I shouldn't have... I should have done a lot of things better" Feeling his chest tighten, Lance wanted to curl into a ball and cover his ears. He didn't deserve such sincerity. He was taking all his anger out in Shiro and it wasn't fair. Shaking his head, he wished his tears would stop. He couldn't breathe. He didn't want Shiro to pity him. He didn't want Shiro to know the truth. He wanted to stand before him as an equal. He wanted him to accept him... "I... can't..." Swaying, Shiro rushed to his side. Wrapping his arms around him, Shiro guided him to the floor. Letting out a sob, the hug felt nothing like Keith's. Shiro smelt nothing like Keith. He smelt... like that horrible strawberry cough syrup his mother made him take whenever he had a cold. The aching in his head only growing worse as he cried harder "Shhhh... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... I didn't know how to talk to you. You grew up right before my eyes, and I missed it..." Choking and spluttering, Lance couldn't make his tongue move "You're having a panic attack. You need to slow your breathing for me" This didn't feel like his usual panic attacks. It felt more like being underwater and being unable to breathe. He didn't know how to come out of these attacks without Keith anymore. The scent was wrong... Keith's scent knew how to calm him, as weird as it sounded "S-orry... I...'m... sorry" Gasping out the words, they sounded distant to his ears "Lance, you need to breathe for me. Here, look at my face. You need to breathe with me... Hey, what are five things you can see?" Huh? Everything was too blurry from his tears "Ca...n't... K-Keith..." "You want me to call Keith?" That was close enough... "Ok. Hang on, just keep breathing for me. You're ok... You're safe..." * Running through the Atlas, Keith was annoyed that he hadn't stalked Shiro when he'd gone to talk to Lance. He didn't want to be stuck between the two of them. It was his brother and the man he loved. He wanted them to either yell at each other or hit each other... or whatever the quiznak it took for them to reconnect. When Shiro called him, he could hear Lance wheezing in the background, his feet already moving before his mind could comprehend where he was supposed to be going. Hangar five was in a crap position if anyone cared to ask Keith, not that they had or had any reason to. Set towards the back of the ship, it was little more than extra storage with everything else the Atlas had going on. Kosmo was no where in sight, so running through the ship was the only way he was going to get to Lance as fast as possible. Hitting the door to the hangar, he damn near killed himself trying to rush down to the Telula, not expecting to find Shiro cradling Lance in his arms "Keith..." Slowing down, he rather dramatically threw himself down in front of Lance, pulling him out of Shiro's hold and into his own. Holding Lance's face to his neck, Lance's hands gripped his shirt as Keith nuzzled into his hair "Shhh... I'm here, babe. Shhh... Breathe for me. I'm here..." Repositioning Lance so he was straddling his lap, Keith rubbed his back and rocked him gently "What happened?" "He told me about the outpost... and called me out on a few things. Half through he started crying, then collapsed" "This wasn't what I meant by talking to him" Shiro looked as distressed as Lance was, without the panic attack that was "We did. He even yelled at me. I can't say I didn't deserve it. I was apologising when he collapsed... He really thinks we don't want him here or care" "I told you that" Whimpering, Lance pulled on his shirt "I'm sorry, babe. I'm not mad. Shiro's not mad at you... I've got you. Shhhh... just keep breathing for me" Nodding, Keith smiled, kissing Lance's hair "Thank you..." Shiro watched on until Lance's breathing slowed. All of his weight falling in Keith's legs as he sat slumped forward "Is he...?" "He's exhausted..." "Are they usually like this?" "Would you believe this was one of the easier ones?" "Fuck" Fuck summed it up alright. At least Shiro hadn't copped a screaming and biting Lance. Keith was quietly jealous that Lance hadn't reacted badly to Shiro's touch, and immensely relieved. A sudden attack from Lance could have set Shiro off and he had no idea how to deal with two people having panic attacks "Did you try calming him?" Shiro nodded "5 things you can see. I tried to get him to focus on me and his breathing, but he wanted you" "Those 5 things thing doesn't work with him. Breathing works better, but he's really sensitive to touch and smell" "You're good with him, "babe"" Keith felt his face heat up "He's not ready for anything official. He wants to work through some more things, and... it's not official, but it is" He wasn't giving Lance up to anyone. The way he felt in his arms felt natural. He might not have any dating experience, yet highly doubted that anyone would ever feel as right as Lance did. Nuzzling slightly harder, Lance's breathing had dropped to something resembling a purr "Babe, do you want to go back to our room?" Nodding limply, Lance had enough brainpower to move his arms up to rest in Keith's shoulders. How much more adorable could Lance be? "Do you need help?" "No. We've got this down pact. You might as well come on board the Telula. She's Lance's pride and joy" "He won't mind?" "Lucteal might... did you see him?" "I know he was with Lance when he came down here" "Then maybe you can open the door or something. Alright, babe. Up we go" Carrying his sleepy Lance up into the Telula, Lucteal was standing near the top of the ramp looking thoroughly annoyed "What's he doing here?" "Lance ok'd it" "He's the one who upset him" "And they talked" Glaring at Shiro, Lucteal pointed at him "Upset him like that again, and I will shoot you. Should I call back Daehra?" "No. He needs to rest. I'm going to take him down to our room" "Fine. You are lucky he is forgiving. Lance means a great deal to our people. You would be executed for hurting him" Watching Lucteal mouth at Shiro was hilarious. Shiro had no idea about Lucteal's skills, or lack of skills. Shiro could totally take him. Nodding his head, Shiro gave the alien a diplomatic smile "Understood. Thank you for being there for him" "I don't need your thanks. Leandro has proven himself over and over again. It is you humans who do this to him" "Right. Sorry..." Ignoring Lucteal, Keith started on again. Lance was at his mumbly stage, needing Keith's voice to soothe him. Hushing softly seemed to work best. Telling Lance he was "doing good" or calling him a "good boy", was likely to remind him of the words whispered when he was raped. He'd accidentally figured that out, that Lance responded differently to different things being said depending on how his attack was going. Opening the door for them, Shiro was kind of useless. Carrying Lance over to their bed, Keith was grateful that Lance had let him get away without making their bed. The Cuban had other things on his mind. Laying him carefully in his usual spot, Keith stroke Lance's hair, whispering gently "Babe, what do you need?" "Headache" "You've got a headache? How bad?" "Three out of five" "Ok. I'll get your boots, you sleep for me" "Tell Shiro I'm sorry" "It's ok, babe. He knows" "Don't want to fight with him" "It's alright. He understands" "Mmm... k... sorry" "It's ok, babe. You sleep" Getting Lance's boots off, Keith had nothing to give him for his headache. Lance wouldn't want anything for it anyway. Pulling the blankets up, he looked to Shiro "Can you watch him for a tick? I need to get some water" "I can, if you want" Usually it was Daehra helping it out. Bossing Shiro around was strange "You haven't had the tour yet. I'll be right back" Shiro hadn't moved when Keith came back with a water pouch. Puncturing it, he sat beside Lance, stabbing him up the nose with the straw. Groaned at, Keith smiled affectionately "Sip some water for me, then I'll stop annoying you" "The straws' in my nose" Moving the straw to Lance's mouth, he did as he was asked. Keith pulling back before Lance could choke himself, sitting the pouch on Lance's bedside table "Is Lucteal still here?" "Yeah, babe" "Mmm. You should go see your mum" "It's ok" "No... I'm going to sleep... go see your mum and hang out with Shiro" "Did you two talk?" "Mmm... think we're ok..." "That's good, babe" Kissing Lance's forehead, he did feel warm, but that was most likely exhaustion "Keith, go. I'm sleepy" "Are you sure...?" He didn't want to leave a sleepy Lance... but now their Paladin lunch plans were kind of ruined. Plus, he needed to make sure Shiro was actually alright... and find his traitorous wolf so he could stay with Lance "Mhmm... thank you" "You're very welcome" Kissing Lance's forehead again, Keith fussed over his blankets until Lance finally fell asleep. Holding his pointer finger to his lips, Keith jerked his head towards the door, Shiro stepping out silently, before Keith followed him. Giving Shiro a quick tour of the Telula, Keith waited until they were outside the ship before finally letting Shiro ask his questions as they headed back towards the hangar exit on floor level "I can hear you thinking" "Lance gave me a lot to think about" "He said you two talked, and that he thinks you're ok now?" "I didn't have a problem with him to begin with. I also didn't realise how badly he was hurting. Are you sure you don't want to stay with him?" He would have loved nothing more than to snuggle up with Lance... "I do. But if I stay with him, he'll think he was getting in the way of us hanging out, or preventing me from doing something I want to do. Lucteal knows to call if Lance panics again" "And you trust him?" "No. He's still in love with Lance, but I trust Lance and Lance trusts him" "So I shouldn't trust him?" "He's fine. He's mostly harmless" "He said something about Lance being important on his planet" "You can say that. He saved their princess. She's the little sister of Daehra and Lucteal" "He's hanging out with royalty?" "It's complicated, but they do seem to like him. The princess adores him. You should have seen the amount of aid he took out there. They're also the ones who fixed up the Telula after Zak killed her engines" "Zak" "Annoying alien with purple hair. He's as bad as Pidge is. Lance saved his arse too" "And the rest of them?" "I'm not sure. Tobias... just seems to exist... and the others I haven't had much to do with. I've... uh, kind of been spending most of my time with Lance" Slinging his arm around Keith's shoulder, Shiro pulled him close "You did really well handling everything just then. You've gone and grown up without me" "You make it sound like I didn't see you a few phoebs ago" "I didn't see how you'd handle someone else having a panic attack" Leaning down on him, Keith ducked out from under his hold causing Shiro to stumble "It's not that hard. I learned it from you first" "Can't you let me be proud of you?" "No" "But you were so gently with Lance" "I am not afraid to stab you. He doesn't want people to know" "I'm not going to tell him. I think I upset him enough today" "Yes. Don't think I've forgotten about that. You did say he gave you a lot to think about" "About all those people we couldn't help. About his job. About the Atlas" "I know exactly what you're talking about. It's depressing, isn't it?" "It didn't feel great" "He's a stubborn idiot. But he does have some good points" "I never thought about the people who Voltron wasn't there for. We saved the universe and ended ten thousand years of Galra rule... Lance said they were after the Red Lion?" "Yeah. That Diplo-dick who hired him wanted it for himself. The king sold his own daughter to him for a slice of that power. Lance was already hunting him down with help from his friends in the Erathus police force... They put him through hell, Shiro. He's not even keen on swimming anymore, and this is Lance... you'd have to tackle him down to stop him before" "Has he talked to anyone?" "You mean profession help? I don't think he's ready for that" "Keith, it's not healthy to keep it all inside. It's not healthy for you to deal with it all alone" "I'm not alone. And it's not like it's one way..." "Alright. Let me worry about you for a little longer" "You're worse than Krolia, I hope you know this" "Are you two having sex?" Keith choked on thin air, never had he blushed as fast or as hard as he did in that moment. Even confessing to Shiro that he and Lance had fooled around wasn't as bad as Shiro deciding to ask that question right then "What the fuck?" "If I'm worse than Krolia..." "Nope. No. Not happening. We barely kiss... Is this revenge? Is that what this is? Revenge at me yelling at you? Or is this revenge for borrowing your air vents?" "Neither. But if you are thinking of being intimate, you should both get checked first" This was definitely revenge. Revenge for everything he'd put Shiro through since they'd met "I'm going to kill you in your sleep" "You'll have to go through Curtis first" "Hey, I'm not afraid. I got through your vents remember" "I know you did. I might not approve of your methods, but Lance has always been a romantic at heart" "There was nothing romantic about last night. He nearly sent himself into a panic attack and ended up crying in my arms" "You wouldn't know. He seemed like his old self this morning" "He was until you interrupted" "Hey, I know you don't like James. However, he is under my command" "And I respect that. Lance has so little self confidence left after what happened, that he doesn't handle joking very well. Besides, that was tame compared to the shit we pulled on the castle" "I don't want to think about it. Every single white hair I have was because of you two" "As if. At least you came back right..." Trailing off, Keith realised he put his foot in it the moment he heard his own words. He'd already told Shiro about it, yet it was hard to be having this conversation. It touched on so many things that still left him hurt and confused over. He wanted to respect Lance's privacy. He also wanted Shiro to understand what Lance had told him, without the others eavesdropping or Shiro bringing it up around them "Can we talk about something else? Lance deserves better than us talking about him" "For now. I still want to talk with him about the outpost. He said he intended on leaving tomorrow" "Hopefully he'll feel like staying after the party. I had hoped to have lunch with everyone, to show him he mattered..." "We can still have lunch" "It's not the same without him. Those attacks can take vargas for him to recover from. I'd rather he rest today and be recovered for tonight, than him push himself now and wind up feeling worse during the party" "Keith, Lance wanted you to socialise. He said so himself" "The whole point of lunch was for him to see everyone again" "And he will. Krolia should be arriving soon, why don't we head up to wait for her? And where's Kosmo?" "Did you only just notice he wasn't here?" "I had other things on my mind" "I don't know where he is. Probably with Hunk trying to get treats? I was hoping to find him on the way, I want to send him down to stay with Lance" "Keith..." "Don't say it. I know. Lance is an adult. He is capable of making his own choices and doesn't need a baby sitter. We've been by each other's side almost nonstop. It feels weird for me to leave him all alone down there" "He's a perfectly capable adult" "Who is on a ship where he thinks everyone hates him. I'm allowed to worry. You'd worry if you were in my shoes" "I'm older, I'm allowed to worry" "In that logic, my being older than Lance means I'm entitled to worry about him all I want" "Are you trying to take over my role as "Space Dad"?" "Nope. I don't want all those white hairs" "I'll give you white hairs" Reaching out to shove him, Keith ran on ahead, Shiro chasing after him, the pair acting like a pair of idiots as they ran through the ship.