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dammitadolfnomorecake · 6 years

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WAD LIAO 19

Lance wasn't completely sure of his disguise. He knew some male omegas dressed more feminine than he normally did, but here he was, dressed a girl. Looking at himself in the mirror, he really didn't think it was fair that both he and Keith had to dress up just to go on a date, but both Coran and Allura had insisted that after their last trip to the Space Mall, it was safer for everyone. Shaking his head once again at his appearance, he supposed he should probably get a move on as Keith was already waiting outside his quarters for him. Stepping outside his quarters, Lance gaped at his boyfriend. With his hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, Keith was dressed in a practically skin tight black ensemble that had him slicking. His boyfriend was hot... while he just looked like an idiot "Lance?" "How come you don't have to dress like a girl?!" "Because this is what Allura gave me to wear..." Allura had given him a pair of her dressier shoes, with a dress she'd altered to be more fun. To him it was just a dress, but to Allura, it was probably something she'd always wanted to wear. A peasant styled sun dress. After all, there had to be times the princess wanted nothing more than to be a normal person. Lance really didn't envy the weight Allura carried on her shoulders "You look nice" Wrinkling his nose Lance shook his head "I look stupid. I don't know how girls can wear their hair long" The wig was Coran's, and Lance was certain he really didn't want to know why Coran had it to begin with "You don't look stupid" "Wait until you see me walk. I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll ever get the hang of being graceful" "It's fine, I like you just the way you are" Feeling his face redden, he told himself it was from the embarrassment of what he was wearing and not Keith's cheesy line. Letting the alpha take his hand, his boyfriend pulled him close, before pressing a kiss to his cheek "Shall we go?" "Yeah..." Insisting he should fly the pod, Lance lost any feminine graces he might have acquired on their walk down to the pod bay. Forgetting he was in a dress, he tried to kick his boyfriend out of the pilot seat, only for Keith to tease him about how he could see his underwear. There was no way he was going to be able to pull off being a girl, but he'd give it his best shot purely because he was so excited and nervous about this date. They'd already had to push it back a whole movement thanks to Pidge finding her brother Matt. So he'd had all that time to build up quite the collection of "what-ifs" in his mind. Pouting as he leaned against Keith, he tried to give his boyfriend the best puppy dog eyes he could, but the alpha barely blinked. Stupid alpha's. He was a perfectly good pilot, and why shouldn't he be the one contributing something to the date? Allura had already entrusted Keith with the money, and with a few small tasks she needed done at the mall after their date. He was just as a reliable as his boyfriend "Lance, I know you want to fly, but I'm taking you on a date. I couldn't really pick you up and drop you off, so let me at least make sure you arrive safely" "I can pilot a pod you know" "I do, but it's probably safer if I do" "What's that supposed to mean?" "It means I've seen how you land. I want to make it there in one piece" "That's such an alpha thing to say" "No, it's a concerned boyfriend thing to say" Stupid Keith. How dare he pull the boyfriend card on him! Huffing softly, Lance quietened his objections for the rest of the trip, though he was definitely going to pilot on he way back, even if he had to actually kick his boyfriend for it. * Lance looked cute. A little weird because he'd never pictured the omega dressing as a girl, but none the less, his boyfriend looked cute. Taking the omega's hand, he was sure that anyone who happened to Lance would think the same and he'd really have to thank Allura and Coran when try returned home. His own outfit didn't do much to hide his identity, but he hadn't caused as much trouble as Lance had on their previous trip here, so he kind of hoped they'd just slide under the radar "So, where do you want to go first?" "I'm supposed to ask you that" "Why? Because I'm the girl?" "Something like that" Stomping on his right foot, Lance glared at him "I'm not a girl. I'm your boyfriend" "I know you're not. I was only joking" "You were?" "Yes" Easing his foot off of Keith's, Lance sighed "Alright, but I reserve the right to stomp on your foot again if you treat me like a girl again" "Yes honey" Lance didn't even think twice about stomping on his foot again. Huffing at him, Lance turned away and began to walk... very stiffly away. He knew he shouldn't laugh, but the heels on the omega's borrowed shoes were tiny. Surely Lance couldn't have that much trouble with them? Easily catching Lance, this time Keith snaked his right arm around his boyfriend's waist "I was thinking we could do some personal shopping before we have lunch, and save the errands for after" "Will you buy me something shiny?" Resisting the urge to tease Lance about being girly for wanting shiny things, Keith nodded slowly "Within limits. I don't have a whole lot of money" "It's fine. I'm happy enough being here with you as it is" "So you're not going to step on my foot again?" "I might..." Shaking his head, Lance then brushed the wig back so he could look at him properly "No. That was quiznak of me. I just feel so stupid. I feel like everyone's going to look at me and laugh" "I promise you no ones laughing. You look really cute, and while I would love to go on a date with you while you're dressed like normal, I would rather go on a date knowing that you're safe" "Don't you ever get tired of those cheesy lines?" "Leave my cheesy lines alone. There's only one person in this whole universe who's heard them, so I don't know what's cheesy or not until it comes out my mouth" "You've been using your lines on someone else?" Groaning at his boyfriend, Keith shook his head "One person. If I'm using them on you and only one person has heard them..." Lance let out a small "oh" before blushing "Yeah" Laying his head against Keith's shoulder, his omega let out a small sigh "I'm really bad at this whole boyfriend thing" "Not really bad. As a whole, I'd give you a 9 out of 10" "Why not a 10?" "Because you stomped on my foot" "Fair enough" Rubbing his boyfriend's hip, Keith cast a look around. He didn't know the Mall layout, so he had no idea where he was going to find Lance his "shiny" "Should we just keep walking this way, or do you want to start up on the top levels and make our way back?" "Definitely up the top. I mean, that's where all the really nice stuff has to be, right?" "I don't think we can afford really nice" "Probably not, be we can look... don't tell me you've never been window shopping before?" "Honestly? No" Laughing lightly, Lance pulled away before catching his hand at the last moment "We used to go window shopping all the time back home. We made stories up with the mannequins in the windows, but nothing we ever made up came close to being like this" "Sounds fun" "It was until the store owners would come out and chase us away" "So even from a young age, you were causing trouble" "I wasn't causing it. It just had a habit of finding me. Anyway, what about you?" "What about me?" "I bet you were a wild child?" "I don't really remember much of my childhood. It was me and dad, mum was gone by the time I could really remember" Lance frowned at words. He hadn't meant to upset his boyfriend but then again, this was Lance "Lance, I..." "Never mind. I mean, that was then and now you're going to find your mum soon, right? So let's just have fun having no responsibilities for a change" "When do you ever take your responsibilities seriously?" "Hey, I can totally be serious" "When was the last time that happened?" Lance hummed as if seriously thinking, before flashing him a bright smile "I don't know, but I do know that we have this huuuuuge space to explore, and it's not going to explore its self" "First one to the top floor gets to pilot the trip home" "You're so on!" Kicking off his shoes, Lance took off, while Keith was left to collect them. He'd been so nervous about this date that he'd needed to pilot the trip out so he wouldn't freak out over it all, and he'd always fully intended to let Lance pilot the trip back anyway. Though his boyfriend's initial piloting skills had left much to be desired, his omega had come along in leaps in bounds since then. He wanted Lance to know he didn't seem him just as an omega but as his partner and an equal. With his head start, Lance won easily and the omega was all smiles as they walked through the maze of small stores. It was crazy just how many vendors there were, let alone their different specialities. If the people back on Earth could see everything they did, they'd realise just how out touch with the rest of the universe they really were. Pulling away from him, something seemed to have caught Lance's eye "Lance?" "Come take a look at this" Crossing over to the stall his omega was standing in front of, Keith found himself staring down at the weirdest selection of baby goods he'd ever seen. Some were relatively normal, onesies with two arm and leg holes, but then the next lot over had three. Picking up a onesie with some kind of alien bird motif printed across it, Lance smiled sadly down at the tiny item "Lance?" "Sorry. I guess I'm feeling a little clucky. I never thought we'd find onesies like this here" "Neither did I. Do you like it?" "Yeah. It's cute" "We can buy a few things like this if you want to..." "No. It's too soon to be thinking about pups..." Sniffling, tears began to fall onto the tiny onesie. Carefully taking it from Lance's hands, Keith gathered his boyfriend again him. With all the baby things in front of him, there was no way his omega couldn't be thinking of the two pups he'd passed "It's ok. I'm here" "I know... I'm sorry" "You have nothing to be sorry for, and I'm serious. If you like something, we can buy it now" Lance sniffled and shook his head "No. When the time comes, I'm going to make you buy me everything I want... I want the pups to have everything they could ever need" "Deal... but don't forget, there's still a lot to do before then" "Yeah. I know. God. Everything's so cute, it's got my omega screaming over it all" "Our pups will have the best of everything" "Of course they will, they'll have the best dad in the whole universe" Feeling his stomach drop, Keith wasn't completely sure how to reply. It was a given he'd be there for his pups, but how was he supposed to be a dad when he didn't even know who he really was? Not wanting to upset Lance, he pressed a kiss to the top of Lance's head before remembering the wig was in the way "Let's keep looking?" "Y-yeah... thanks, Keith" "What for?" "For everything" When he'd said "Let's keep looking?", he had been hoping that Lance would move away from the baby clothes, instead, the omega picked up the same onesie as before. Holding the small item, his boyfriend slowly made his way through the rest of the items for sale, including some very scary looking pacifiers. What baby needed a red and black pacifier that seemed to come with some kind of bug attached. Reaching the end of the small shop, Lance looked from him to the onesie "It's fine. I'll pay for it" "You don't have to" "Lance, I know you like it. You don't have to hide that from me" Taking the onesie from his boyfriend, Keith backtracked to negotiate the price with the trader. He ended up paying a little more than he wanted to, but the onesie seemed to mean something to Lance, so it was fine. Rejoining his boyfriend, he passed Lance the small bag the onesie was now in "Just so you know, that doesn't count as the shiny thing you wanted" "What? No, you don't have to buy me something else" "I know I don't have to" Rolling his eyes, Lance reached for his hand "I don't know what I'm going to do with you" "That makes two of us" Looking at him blankly, his omega seemed truly stumped by his reply "Never mind, let's keep going" Making their way down the tiers of the mall, Lance found heaps of things he liked, but Keith wasn't allowed to buy him any of it, not until they found a jewellery shop on the ground floor of the mall. Walking into the store, the jewellery on display clearly wasn't of the highest quality, but Lance didn't even pause to look. Walking across to the display counter, the omega immediately squatted down to look on the second shelf "I'll take the one in the middle please" Confused over how his boyfriend could know what he wanted so fast, Keith strode over to Lance's side "What did you find?" "A cross. I know this is going to sound really crazy, but when Hunk and I were hanging out here, I bought this cross and just now I found the same one again" Scratching the back of his head, Keith cast Lance a sceptical look "I know it's crazy" "How did you even know about it being here?" "I don't know. I must have seen it when we came here before and not remembered it. There's no other way I could have known" "I suppose you're right. Is this the shiny you wanted?" "Maybe. I didn't want to tell you in case it didn't exist" Paying full price for the cross, Lance took it from the woman? behind the counter and immediately slipped it on over his head. The gold chain hung low enough that the cross was lost beneath the sundress Lance was wearing "My grandmother never lost her faith. It reminds me of her" Right. That made sense. Lance was definitely the most homesick out of all of them, though Hunk was right on his heels. Kissing Lance lightly, Keith smiled at his boyfriend "I think it's lunchtime" At the word "lunch", Lance's stomach gave a huge growl. Embarrassed by it, Lance darted around him. Yeah. His boyfriend was adorable. * The burger in his memories had definitely been better than the one he was all but inhaling right now, but it was still really good. Especially given how bad the food court was the last time they'd been there. Though he mightn't have gotten to sample the cuisine, he had Hunk's word for it. Suddenly feeling selfish, Lance lowered his burger "Keith... it's really alright that we're here right?" "Of course it is. Allura wouldn't have given us permission to go if it wasn't" "But they're down two Paladins" "Lance, we talked about this before. If anything happens, Allura will call" "But you know her. She might try and do everything by herself and I don't like the way Matt has been hanging off her" Keith groaned at his words "Allura is a very beautiful woman and he's been in an underground bunker for phoebs" "So you're just saying it's a temporary thing?" "I'm sure it is. Besides, he and Allura are both grown adults, it's up to them if they choose to pursue a relationship" Nope. He didn't want to talk about Allura and anything like that... "I'm just saying, Allura deserves someone as wonderful as she is" "That she does. So, how's your burger?" "It's alright. I would kill for a real one though" "I don't think that's happening unless something happens to Kaltenecker" "Kaltenecker isn't being turned into burgers, she's too beautiful for that" "I'm just saying, she won't live forever" "When she dies, she's getting a proper burial. Did I ever tell you that Coran and Allura both tried to talk to her? They asked her for milkshakes" Choking on the mouthful of food he had, Keith was both coughing and laughing at the same time "Are you ok?" Nodding his head, his boyfriend picked up his drink and downed a large gulp, before lowering the glass with a smile on his face "Yeah. I was just picturing Allura being all very formal and using her manners as she asked" "I don't think they knew you had to milk a cow. They looked at me like I was crazy" "Wait. You can actually milk a cow?" "And I can ride a horse. Is it really that surprising?" "No... kind of. Society would say they're not very omegary things to do" "I don't know. Running a household and birthing pups is pretty much an omega's job" Despite his attempt, he couldn't keep the bitterness out his voice "Lance, you know I don't think like that, right? You're braver than most alpha's I know" "I don't feel very brave" "I'd trust you to back me up and watch my back any day" Feeling a warm blossoming in his stomach, Lance ducked his head "Did I say something wrong?" "No. You're just being cheesy again" "That's alright then. Hey, how many pups do you want to have?" Confused by the sudden topic change, Lance stammered out his answer "F-f-four..." "You want four?" "Y-yeah. 2 girls and two boys, but girls are a lot of work... and I don't know if I'd even be a good mum, so however many you want I'm ok with" "And what if I said I wanted a whole brood?" "I... I'd..." "Lance, I'm just teasing" Hanging his head, Lance shook it slowly "I'm sorry. I never really thought about having pups before... before everything happened, but now, I honestly don't know. When we were looking at the baby thing earlier, all I could think of was how badly I wanted to have a pup... and then I felt like I didn't deserve it after what happened with the first two" Reaching across the table, Keith took his hand and interlaced their fingers. The alpha than began rubbing the back of his hand with his thumb "Lance, you deserve to be happy. I promise you that" "But you don't understand. I feel so guilty. They were so tiny" "They were also infected with a violent organism. I know it wasn't fair, but what you did was the right choice" The mood between them had been so good, why did he have to open his mouth and ruin things again? Why couldn't his brain just shut up and let him have this? He loved Keith, and it wasn't like they got downtime like this all the time. Forcing a smile, he nodded at his boyfriend "You're right" "Of course I am. Did you want to maybe try the ice cream looking stuff over there?" "No, I'm kind of full. Maybe next time?" That was if Keith ever took him on another date. If only he could go back in time and start things over with his alpha. He wouldn't have stomped on Keith's foot or made a mockery of himself by running around in a dress all day. There Keith was, looking like sex on legs, while he just paled in the background. Did he really deserve to be the alpha's omega? * It might have just been Keith's imagination, but since talking about how many pups he wanted, Lance had started trying too hard. The smile on his boyfriend's lips didn't reach his eyes, and each time he asked Lance something, the omega would jump as if pulled out of his thoughts. With their date fizzling out, it sort of merged into them running all the errands for everyone else. It was a disappointing way to end the day, and Lance seemed to agree, or at least the small sighs his boyfriend kept giving said so. He hated that it hadn't gone completely to plan, and hated that Lance looked so deflated as they climbed back into the pod. His omega didn't even try to climb into the pilot's seat. Waiting until they were a safe distance from the Space Mall, Lance had nowhere to run. Pushing the chair back, Keith turned to look at Lance "What's going on with you?" Lance had been staring out the side window since they left the Space Mall, letting out another sigh, Lance slowly turned to look at him "What do you mean?" "Lance, I know you didn't enjoy yourself today" Opening his mouth, Lance closed it before shaking his head "Come here" Taking Lance's hand, he tugged gently until the omega rose and climbed into his lap. Pushing the wig back, Keith wanted his omega to be at least comfortable in his lap "Better?" "It would have been better if I hadn't had to wear it" "Were you still upset over being dressed like a girl?" "I... I was wondering if you weren't embarrassed by me being your boyfriend" Wrapping his arms around Lance's waist, Keith rested his forehead against Lance's arm "Of course I'm not" "But I looked so stupid today and I said all the wrong things" "You did not say all the wrong things" "I did. I had all these things I wanted to ask you, but I just got caught up in myself" "Then ask me now" "I can't..." "You can, besides, I want to know more about you too" Nuzzling Lance's arm, his boyfriend slowly began to relax in his hold. Pressing a kiss to Lance's smooth skin, he then pulled down the dress shoulder strap with his teeth "Keith?" "It's just us. If you're not comfortable wearing a dress than take it off for now" "But then I'll be in my underwear" "So? There's nothing wrong with that. I want you to be comfortable" "And you won't laugh?" Keith was genuinely confused as to why he'd laugh over his beautiful boyfriend being nearly naked in his lap, but Lance didn't want him to question what he meant, he wanted a promise he wouldn't "I promise I won't" Wriggling in his lap, Lance had soon stripped off his dress and shoes. Straddling his lap, the omega buried his face against his neck "Better?" "You have no idea. Those shoes were horrible" "Do you want me to rub your feet for you?" Laughing lightly, Lance leant back, finally smiling at him properly "It's alright. Hey, next time we go on a date, can we just do something like this?" "We could take Red out, and just spend a few hours away from the castle" "That'd be nice. I know you don't know when the Blade of Marmora will contact you, but we could make it like a semi-regular thing" "Yeah" Running his fingers down Lance's side, his boyfriend's skin erupted in goosebumps "Keith... stop" "Why?" "It tickles" "You didn't tell me you were ticklish" "I thought you would have figured it out by now" Curious over just how ticklish Lance was, Keith, tickled the omega's sides "No! Stop!" Laughing and giggling, Lance tried to escape his hold taking his boyfriend by the hips, he held Lance firmly as he slowly stopped laughing. Red-faced and watery-eyed, Lance pouted at him. So beautiful. Lance was so beautiful. Leaning in, Keith pressed a hard kiss to Lance's lips, and after initially resisting, his boyfriend slowly deepened the kiss. Moaning into his mouth as he did. After several long deep kisses, Lance finally pulled back, before looking away from him. Using his left hand, Keith cupped the omega's face, forcing Lance to look back at him again "Lance?" He could smell Lance's arousal, and no doubt the omega could feel his rising erection "I'm sorry... I slicked..." "You don't need to look so sad. It means your feeling good, right?" "It's embarrassing" "Really? I think it's kind of hot" Rocking his hips lightly, he drew a mew from Lance "Keeeeeeith" "It's ok, I've got you" Flipping their position, Keith pulled Lance's boxers down. The omega's sweet slick melding perfectly with Lance's musky smell. Nuzzling Lance's soft brown pubes, his boyfriend's hands went to his head "K-Keith" "Do you want me to stop?" "N-no" "If you do, all you have to do is tell me. I don't want to hurt you" Lance nodded silently, his eyes wide and his bottom lip firmly trapped under his teeth. Pulling Lance down, Keith lifted Lance's legs onto his shoulders. Moaning at sight before him, he almost shyly ran his tongue over the omega's twitching opening "Keith!" Lance's voice shot up as he lapped at the spilling slick, but it wasn't long before Lance was mewing. He'd never tasted anything like the honied slick pouring freely from Lance. Delving deeply, he lapped and drank down as much as he could, while Lance mewed and moaned openly beneath him. Quiznak. He wanted to be buried in his boyfriend so badly, and his erection was throbbing painfully in its confines. Pulling back, he looked up to see Lance staring down at him, his boyfriend already looking completely wrecked "Lance?" "Don't stop" Smirking, Keith lowered his face again, this time he took Lance's erection in his hand, jerking his boyfriend awkwardly as he resumed eating his boyfriend out. Beginning to rock harder against his face, Lance didn't take long to cum, and warm semen ran down Keith's hand. Pulling back, the alpha drew every drop from the omega before finally realising him "Fuuuuuck... that was hot..." Snorting at Lance's panted out words, Keith locked eyes with him as he started to lick Lance's cum from his fingers "Keith, stop. You don't have to do that" "I want to. You have no idea how good you taste" Closing his eyes, Lance began to curl into himself. Grabbing his boyfriends wrists, he forced them away from his face. Lance had literally just been smiling, but now tears had begun to fall "Hey. Hey, what's wrong?" "I... I'm sorry. I can't... I can't do more than this!" Keith's arousal fell away almost instantly. Gathering his boyfriend into his arms, he hushed and rocked Lance as he cried "It's alright. I understand" "You shouldn't have to understand! You're my alpha and I want to do these things with you! But I'm so scared! Shiro used to tell me how good I tasted, but then he'd hit me!" "Shit. I didn't know" "I know you didn't! I hate this! I hate being scared! I hate my stupid heat! I'm so fucking scared of Shiro all over again! I wanted today to go well! I wanted to forget!" "I know. I know you do. You've been doing so well, and I'm so proud of you" "I don't want to do well! I want to be good!" Keith wondered if Lance had any idea that that sentence didn't make much sense "I just want to be happy" "We don't have to have sex to be happy" "But sex with you feels good" Lance's sad tone was almost whiny enough to make him smile. At least his boyfriend hadn't seemed to realise just how much of an inexperienced virgin he'd been. Holding Lance until he stopped shaking, his boyfriend slowly uncurled "If you want to go jerk off, I'll understand" Blinking in surprise, Keith couldn't help the laugh that then fell from his lips "No, I'm good. How about you? Would you like me to help you clean up?" Lance shook his head "Sorry... I don't think I can..." Letting his sentence runoff, the omega looked so sad that it hurt "Lance, this is probably really shitty timing, but I want you to know I-love-you" The end of his sentence came out in a jumbled rush, and it took Lance a few very long moments to reply "You love me?" "Yeah. You don't have to say it back, but I just want you to know" "You're right. You could have picked a better time... but I love you too"

#Voltron #Lance #Keith #Klance #omega lance #alpha keith

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topmixtrends · 6 years

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A. G. LOMBARDO’S searing novel Graffiti Palace revels in an abundance of language. I take pleasure in that approach, and so welcomed the play of sounds and images. Consider this description of shipping containers at the Los Angeles Harbor: “A city of iron cubicles latticed along the harbor, piled like a giant’s stairway in gravity-suspended steps rising toward the burnished sunset, or skewed in angles and intersecting layers; some pitched, half-toppled by long-ago extracted cranes and ship’s booms.” It resembles the scene it describes, dense with shapes, colors, and history; there’s rhythm to it, restlessness, and it modifies and complicates itself as it goes. It builds from concrete imagery, rises into abstraction, then topples back down into the real. Like Icarus, we might say — but here, the fall is intentional.

Graffiti Palace is set during the Watts riots, and concerns, mostly, a journey across Los Angeles by Americo Monk, an “urban graphologist and graffiti semiotician” who records the city’s illicit signs in a notebook he carries everywhere. As the novel opens, he’s at 112th and San Pedro studying a traffic signal. His pregnant girlfriend, Karmann Ghia (yes, like the car), is hosting a rent party at the Los Angeles Harbor, where the two of them live in a maze-like assemblage of shipping containers. In Watts, police use unnecessary force during a traffic stop, sparking civil unrest and sending the city into a spiral of destruction fueled by long-simmering racial tension. Buildings burn, news crews report on the “senseless violence that rules the night,” and the police respond with brutality, roadblocks, and curfews. Monk, trying to get home, makes his way south through a landscape of fire, ash, and smoke. But the riots — of which Monk is, mainly, a neutral though sympathetic observer — make progress difficult.

Monk’s travels are picaresque, zig-zagging through southern Los Angeles and throwing him into the company of gang members and cops, musicians and exterminators, seers and novitiates, artists and radicals. He traces a tricky line: he’s neither wholly black nor wholly white, and can appear, depending on the light and time of day, Mediterranean or African, Caucasian or Arabian — “a walking Rorschach mirror that perhaps reflects more of the beholder than the subject,” as Lombardo puts it. Monk’s notebook of graffiti makes him of interest to gangs and police alike. At various points, he is held hostage, given food and drink, interrogated, and offered various drugs, though he mostly refuses to partake. Meanwhile, Karmann grows increasingly worried. The party rages around her. Night passes into day, day back into night. She chases people away from her phone, hoping to hear from Monk, and fends off the approaches of multiple suitors.

Karmann is a latter-day Penelope, a baby Telemachus in her belly, and Monk is Odysseus, making his way back to the harbor while Los Angeles writhes in agony. Buttoning the story to the spine of the Odyssey serves the novel well. Without that structure, the story might collapse under its own weight, too many characters, too many details, too many vectors of movement. Instead, it is improbably resilient, deriving narrative energy from the series of trials Monk undergoes, many of which have clear links to Homer’s epic: lotus-eaters in Chinatown, a cyclops in the tunnels under Los Angeles, a fortune teller near the Harbor Freeway. These connections work best when they’re dense and layered, operating as conversations and arguments with the source; when they’re on the surface, or treated as jokes, they’re less effective, pinging the reader with the thrill of noticing them without doing the harder work of expanding the range of Homeric tropes. At one point, Monk is in the back of a Corvair when he hears angelic singing coming from a nightclub, “a soul aria that seems out of this world.” He tries to get out, but he’s strapped down by the unfamiliar mechanism of a seat belt, still somewhat new in 1965 — Odysseus lashed to the mast as his ships sails past the island of Sirens. “Honey, you don’t want to go in there,” the driver says to him. “Them girls are so hot you’ll never leave.” It’s funny, but feels a little gratuitous. Then again, the episode of the Sirens is among the most recognizable moments in the Odyssey, and treating it in an offhand manner is perhaps the best way of paying homage.

The interpretative framework of the book coalesces in Monk. He’s a guide to the city as much as he is a traveler of its streets, and his explications of graffiti illuminate the meanings hidden in the gang signs, murals, stencils, and culture-jamming stickers stuck over advertisements. But Monk is also aware that this world is unstable, precarious: “He knows that sometimes signs are like the new physics, that the rules break down; the semiotician struggles in the twilight of uncertainty: message, sender, receiver, meaning can shift, change in time and space.” Communication is always contextual, always contingent, and the discrete order of the system that makes interpretation possible can disintegrate at any moment. Recording the signs and stories is, therefore, also an attempt at preservation:

This city is always changing, shedding its skin of underground signs and languages in paroxysms of destruction and rebirth, seething in a secret war between the dispossessed, who write its street histories, and the cops and power structures, who destroy unsanctioned communication through anti-graffiti paint crews and incarceration and intimidation: he will be their historian.

Along with his catalog of graffiti, Monk collects stories, preserving the city’s counter-narratives. In Chinatown, Monk hears the story of the invention of the fortune cookie from a man named Shen Shen. On 127th Street, Monk runs into Miss Iva Toguri, who, once upon a time, was accused of being a “Tokyo Rose,” the name given by GIs to the English-speaking women who broadcasted propaganda over Japanese airwaves in World War II. In an alley off Athens Way, he stumbles into the home of a woman who calls herself Queen Mab (“I’m not Mercutio, am I?” Monk jokes). She spins a story of slavery and emancipation laced with magic, runes, and secret societies. These stories, as related in Graffiti Palace, cannot be taken at face value. It’s true the fortune cookie was invented in San Francisco; it’s true a woman named Iva Toguri was put on trial for treason, though her trial was a travesty of justice and she was later pardoned; Queen Mab, for her part, is Circe (maybe) by way of Shakespeare. But Lombardo’s versions of these stories are, like graffiti, exaggerated and colorful. His rendition of the history of fortune cookies mixes in haiku and the dozens. Miss Toguri’s story is supplemented by invented details. As for Queen Mab’s version of history, who knows? Even Monk is skeptical.

It would be satire — the exaggerated characters, the wild stories — if it were not so clear that the book’s empathy is with the disaffected. During the riots, Monk is accosted by a white newscaster, Brey King (the pun in her name — “breaking news” — is characteristic of the writing), who wants to know why people are rioting. Monk’s response:

“Ah, social inequalities, I guess,” softly. “The inherent racism of a police force that’s trapped in a Jim Crow past.” Monk, realizing that being interviewed about the cops on TV is probably light-years from cool, slinks away. He scowls back at the white woman: What’s the use talking to white people? He knows he shouldn’t think like that, boxing her into some kind of simple racial equation, but she and her kind, aren’t they doing the same thing to him? Most of the time the only communication between whites and blacks seems to be self-conscious, patronizing chatter about race … spoken words are signs too, and these feeble attempts at communication from the White Power Structure — the WhiPS graffiti copied in his notebook — are really miscommunication, static that walls in ignorance instead of tearing it down. Monk frowns: perhaps there is a limit to empathy, a gulf that can never truly be bridged between others.

The satirical impulse, however, sometimes wins out, and takes the writing too far in the direction of caricature, like when a Chinese character’s speech is rendered with l’s replacing r’s. This feature of speech is so charged, so coded, that presenting it in this manner seems unnecessarily provocative. Many other characters in the novel, who are of a vast rainbow of ethnicities and backgrounds, also have their speech rendered phonetically (and use slang and nonstandard diction to boot), and other Chinese characters in the novel do not have their speech written in the same way — so the impulse is both universal to all and particular to each, and, it would seem, not derisive or scornful. But this, in particular, could have been handled better.

Lombardo’s style is a heightened one: it’s noticeable, draws attention to itself, revels in synonyms, metaphors, and exaggeration. The idea is, I think, not to show off the writer’s skill, any more than other artists who work in styles that are insistently present. Instead, it’s staking an aesthetic and philosophical claim that fiction can represent the lushness, diversity, and overflowing-ness of life — the abundance of both good and bad, large and small. In this, of course, Graffiti Palace is not alone. It’s in a tradition that includes Thomas Pynchon, Toni Morrison, and the Herman Melville of Moby-Dick (the Melville of “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” less so), writers who otherwise have very different concerns and approaches. And that is only to name a few writers, and only American ones. But this aesthetic of linguistic plenitude runs counter to a significant strain of American thinking about fiction, which emphasizes clarity, compactness, and terseness, the Protestant ethic made manifest not just in stories but in the very way they are told. It is therefore refreshing to encounter a writer going against that minimalist grain, making an argument for an aesthetic based in something other than cold hard gems of closely observed fact, written sparingly — which is not to dismiss that style of writing, but to say fiction is large, it can (and should) contain multitudes.

This style is not a simple celebration of life’s variety and richness. It’s the plenitude of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme: there’s a lot going on, often teetering on the edge of cacophony, threatening to plunge headlong into the abyss, with only a few stray lines of melody as a guide through the chaos. Lombardo’s most obvious literary forebear in this regard is Pynchon, and his text bears traces of Pynchon’s influence. Characters sport absurd, quasi-synedochical names; ellipses dot the text like pepper; and there are insinuations of unseen and unknowable forces at work. And, like Pynchon, Lombardo often elides dialogue attribution or replaces it with a participle: “‘Look, Officer Trench, you know me,’ Monk trying to control the fear in his voice, ‘it’s just graffiti, art stuff, a hobby.’”

The attention to the surface of the text echoes the book’s use of graffiti, which here becomes a multi-headed metaphor, a palace of possible meaning, and a method of subverting overarching narratives. Around halfway into Graffiti Palace, Monk comes across Jax GK — short for “Giant Killer” — and his partner, Sofia. Under cover of night, they attack billboards with spray cans, stencils, and stickers, transforming messages of domestic bliss and unthinking consumerism into indictments of the same. Out on a run with them, listening to the radio, Monk is perplexed by a white talk-show host’s anger: “What the fuck do they have to be angry at? People driving in their cars, isolated, through all these streets and freeways, listening to these fools … no wonder everyone’s pissed off and insane, afraid of everyone else.” Sofia’s response: “They clog all our senses with their propaganda. […] Eyes, ears … they’d inject their lies or wire our brains if they could figure out how, but we’ll take it back, one street at a time.”

Ultimately, Graffiti Palace itself is a performative resistance to authority, channeling the multiple contrasting voices and stories of Los Angeles into a mural exploding with color and contradictions. Or, perhaps, a building covered in illicit signs and arcane symbols:

Too many dots to connect … it’s vertigo, any patterns that seem to coalesce only fade like shadows: sometimes he’s sure the city is one giant graffito, a sprawling, urban uber-text that one day, with enough notebooks, he might unlock to reveal all its hidden codes. Sometimes the graffiti in his thoughts and notebook blur into the city’s spray-painted icons, until his mind and the streets seem like one vast network of rainbow messages, the convolutions of his brain and the corridors of the city fused into one myriad, fantastic structure, like a palace of graffiti.

John Flynn-York writes fiction, essays, and book reviews. He is a co-founder and editor of Automata Review, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside–Palm Desert.

The post Subversive Surfaces: “Graffiti Palace” by A. G. Lombardo appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 6 years

Text

Stepping outside his quarters, Lance gaped at his boyfriend. With his hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, Keith was dressed in a practically skin tight black ensemble that had him slicking. His boyfriend was hot... while he just looked like an idiot

"Lance?"

"How come you don't have to dress like a girl?!"

"Because this is what Allura gave me to wear..."

Allura had given him a pair of her dressier shoes, with a dress she'd altered to be more fun. To him it was just a dress, but to Allura, it was probably something she'd always wanted to wear. A peasant styled sun dress. After all, there had to be times the princess wanted nothing more than to be a normal person. Lance really didn't envy the weight Allura carried on her shoulders

"You look nice"

Wrinkling his nose Lance shook his head

"I look stupid. I don't know how girls can wear their hair long"

The wig was Coran's, and Lance was certain he really didn't want to know why Coran had it to begin with

"You don't look stupid"

"Wait until you see me walk. I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll ever get the hang of being graceful"

"It's fine, I like you just the way you are"

Feeling his face redden, he told himself it was from the embarrassment of what he was wearing and not Keith's cheesy line. Letting the alpha take his hand, his boyfriend pulled him close, before pressing a kiss to his cheek

"Shall we go?"

"Yeah..."

Insisting he should fly the pod, Lance lost any feminine graces he might have acquired on their walk down to the pod bay. Forgetting he was in a dress, he tried to kick his boyfriend out of the pilot seat, only for Keith to tease him about how he could see his underwear. There was no way he was going to be able to pull off being a girl, but he'd give it his best shot purely because he was so excited and nervous about this date. They'd already had to push it back a whole movement thanks to Pidge finding her brother Matt. So he'd had all that time to build up quite the collection of "what-ifs" in his mind. Pouting as he leaned against Keith, he tried to give his boyfriend the best puppy dog eyes he could, but the alpha barely blinked. Stupid alpha's. He was a perfectly good pilot, and why shouldn't he be the one contributing something to the date? Allura had already entrusted Keith with the money, and with a few small tasks she needed done at the mall after their date. He was just as a reliable as his boyfriend

"Lance, I know you want to fly, but I'm taking you on a date. I couldn't really pick you up and drop you off, so let me at least make sure you arrive safely"

"I can pilot a pod you know"

"I do, but it's probably safer if I do"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I've seen how you land. I want to make it there in one piece"

"That's such an alpha thing to say"

"No, it's a concerned boyfriend thing to say"

Stupid Keith. How dare he pull the boyfriend card on him! Huffing softly, Lance quietened his objections for the rest of the trip, though he was definitely going to pilot on he way back, even if he had to actually kick his boyfriend for it.

Lance looked cute. A little weird because he'd never pictured the omega dressing as a girl, but none the less, his boyfriend looked cute. Taking the omega's hand, he was sure that anyone who happened to Lance would think the same and he'd really have to thank Allura and Coran when try returned home. His own outfit didn't do much to hide his identity, but he hadn't caused as much trouble as Lance had on their previous trip here, so he kind of hoped they'd just slide under the radar

"So, where do you want to go first?"

"I'm supposed to ask you that"

"Why? Because I'm the girl?"

"Something like that"

Stomping on his right foot, Lance glared at him

"I'm not a girl. I'm your boyfriend"

"I know you're not. I was only joking"

"You were?"

"Yes"

Easing his foot off of Keith's, Lance sighed

"Alright, but I reserve the right to stomp on your foot again if you treat me like a girl again"

"Yes honey"

Lance didn't even think twice about stomping on his foot again. Huffing at him, Lance turned away and began to walk... very stiffly away. He knew he shouldn't laugh, but the heels on the omega's borrowed shoes were tiny. Surely Lance couldn't have that much trouble with them?

Easily catching Lance, this time Keith snaked his right arm around his boyfriend's waist

"I was thinking we could do some personal shopping before we have lunch, and save the errands for after"

"Will you buy me something shiny?"

Resisting the urge to tease Lance about being girly for wanting shiny things, Keith nodded slowly

"Within limits. I don't have a whole lot of money"

"It's fine. I'm happy enough being here with you as it is"

"So you're not going to step on my foot again?"

"I might..."

Shaking his head, Lance then brushed the wig back so he could look at him properly

"No. That was quiznak of me. I just feel so stupid. I feel like everyone's going to look at me and laugh"

"I promise you no ones laughing. You look really cute, and while I would love to go on a date with you while you're dressed like normal, I would rather go on a date knowing that you're safe"

"Don't you ever get tired of those cheesy lines?"

"Leave my cheesy lines alone. There's only one person in this whole universe who's heard them, so I don't know what's cheesy or not until it comes out my mouth"

"You've been using your lines on someone else?"

Groaning at his boyfriend, Keith shook his head

"One person. If I'm using them on you and only one person has heard them..."

Lance let out a small "oh" before blushing

"Yeah"

Laying his head against Keith's shoulder, his omega let out a small sigh

"I'm really bad at this whole boyfriend thing"

"Not really bad. As a whole, I'd give you a 9 out of 10"

"Why not a 10?"

"Because you stomped on my foot"

"Fair enough"

Rubbing his boyfriend's hip, Keith cast a look around. He didn't know the Mall layout, so he had no idea where he was going to find Lance his "shiny"

"Should we just keep walking this way, or do you want to start up on the top levels and make our way back?"

"Definitely up the top. I mean, that's where all the really nice stuff has to be, right?"

"I don't think we can afford really nice"

"Probably not, be we can look... don't tell me you've never been window shopping before?"

"Honestly? No"

Laughing lightly, Lance pulled away before catching his hand at the last moment

"We used to go window shopping all the time back home. We made stories up with the mannequins in the windows, but nothing we ever made up came close to being like this"

"Sounds fun"

"It was until the store owners would come out and chase us away"

"So even from a young age you were causing trouble"

"I wasn't causing it. It just had a habit of finding me. Anyway, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"I bet you were a wild child?"

"I don't really remember much of my childhood. It was me and dad, mum was gone by the time I could really remember"

Lance frowned at words. He hadn't meant to upset his boyfriend but then again, this was Lance

"Lance, I..."

"Never mind. I mean, that was then and now you're going to find your mum soon, right? So let's just have fun having no responsibilities for a change"

"When do you ever take your responsibilities seriously?"

"Hey, I can totally be serious"

"When was the last time that happened?"

Lance hummed as if seriously thinking, before flashing him a bright smile

"I don't know, but I do know that we have this huuuuuge space to explore, and it's not going to explore its self"

"First one to the top floor gets to pilot the trip home"

"You're so on"

Kicking off his shoes, Lance took off, while Keith was left to collect them. He'd been so nervous about this date he'd needed to pilot the trip out so he wouldn't freak out over it all, and he'd always fully intended to let Lance pilot the trip back anyway. Though his boyfriends initial piloting skills had left much to be desired, his omega had come along in leaps in bounds since then. He wanted Lance to know he didn't seem him just as an omega, but as his partner and an equal.

With his head start, Lance won easily and the omega was all smiles as they walked through the maze of small stores. It was crazy just how many vendors there were, let alone there different specialties. If the people back on Earth could see everything they did, they'd realise just how out touch with the rest of the universe they really were. Pulling away from him, something seemed to have caught Lance's eye

"Lance?"

"Come take a look at this"

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 6 years

Text

"Lance?"

"How come you don't have to dress like a girl?!"

"Because this is what Allura gave me to wear..."

"You look nice"

Wrinkling his nose Lance shook his head

"I look stupid. I don't know how girls can wear their hair long"

The wig was Coran's, and Lance was certain he really didn't want to know why Coran had it to begin with

"You don't look stupid"

"Wait until you see me walk. I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll ever get the hang of being graceful"

"It's fine, I like you just the way you are"

"Shall we go?"

"Yeah..."

"Lance, I know you want to fly, but I'm taking you on a date. I couldn't really pick you up and drop you off, so let me at least make sure you arrive safely"

"I can pilot a pod you know"

"I do, but it's probably safer if I do"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I've seen how you land. I want to make it there in one piece"

"That's such an alpha thing to say"

"No, it's a concerned boyfriend thing to say"

"So, where do you want to go first?"

"I'm supposed to ask you that"

"Why? Because I'm the girl?"

"Something like that"

Stomping on his right foot, Lance glared at him

"I'm not a girl. I'm your boyfriend"

"I know you're not. I was only joking"

"You were?"

"Yes"

Easing his foot off of Keith's, Lance sighed

"Alright, but I reserve the right to stomp on your foot again if you treat me like a girl again"

"Yes honey"

Easily catching Lance, this time Keith snaked his right arm around his boyfriend's waist

"I was thinking we could do some personal shopping before we have lunch, and save the errands for after"

"Will you buy me something shiny?"

Resisting the urge to tease Lance about being girly for wanting shiny things, Keith nodded slowly

"Within limits. I don't have a whole lot of money"

"It's fine. I'm happy enough being here with you as it is"

"So you're not going to step on my foot again?"

"I might..."

Shaking his head, Lance then brushed the wig back so he could look at him properly

"No. That was quiznak of me. I just feel so stupid. I feel like everyone's going to look at me and laugh"

"I promise you no ones laughing. You look really cute, and while I would love to go on a date with you while you're dressed like normal, I would rather go on a date knowing that you're safe"

"Don't you ever get tired of those cheesy lines?"

"Leave my cheesy lines alone. There's only one person in this whole universe who's heard them, so I don't know what's cheesy or not until it comes out my mouth"

"You've been using your lines on someone else?"

Groaning at his boyfriend, Keith shook his head

"One person. If I'm using them on you and only one person has heard them..."

Lance let out a small "oh" before blushing

"Yeah"

Laying his head against Keith's shoulder, his omega let out a small sigh

"I'm really bad at this whole boyfriend thing"

"Not really bad. As a whole, I'd give you a 9 out of 10"

"Why not a 10?"

"Because you stomped on my foot"

"Fair enough"

Rubbing his boyfriend's hip, Keith cast a look around. He didn't know the Mall layout, so he had no idea where he was going to find Lance his "shiny"

"Should we just keep walking this way, or do you want to start up on the top levels and make our way back?"

"Definitely up the top. I mean, that's where all the really nice stuff has to be, right?"

"I don't think we can afford really nice"

"Probably not, be we can look... don't tell me you've never been window shopping before?"

"Honestly? No"

Laughing lightly, Lance pulled away before catching his hand at the last moment

"We used to go window shopping all the time back home. We made stories up with the mannequins in the windows, but nothing we ever made up came close to being like this"

"Sounds fun"

"It was until the store owners would come out and chase us away"

"So even from a young age you were causing trouble"

"I wasn't causing it. It just had a habit of finding me. Anyway, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"I bet you were a wild child?"

"I don't really remember much of my childhood. It was me and dad, mum was gone by the time I could really remember"

Lance frowned at words. He hadn't meant to upset his boyfriend but then again, this was Lance

"Lance, I..."

"Never mind. I mean, that was then and now you're going to find your mum soon, right? So let's just have fun having no responsibilities for a change"

"When do you ever take your responsibilities seriously?"

"Hey, I can totally be serious"

"When was the last time that happened?"

Lance hummed as if seriously thinking, before flashing him a bright smile

"I don't know, but I do know that we have this huuuuuge space to explore, and it's not going to explore its self"

"First one to the top floor gets to pilot the trip home"

"You're so on"

"Lance?"

"Come take a look at this"

Crossing over to the stall his omega was standing in front of, Keith found himself staring down at the weirdest selection of baby goods he'd ever seen. Some were relatively normal, onesies with two arm and leg holes, but then the next lot over had three. Picking up a onesie with some kind of alien bird motif printed across it, Lance smiled sadly down at the tiny item

"Lance?"

"Sorry. I guess I'm feeling a little clucky. I never thought we'd find onesies like this here"

"Neither did I. Do you like it?"

"Yeah. It's cute"

"We can buy a few things like this if you want to..."

"No. It's too soon to be thinking about pups..."

Sniffling, tears began to fall onto the tiny onesie. Carefully taking it from Lance's hands, Keith gathered his boyfriend again him

"It's ok. I'm here"

"I know... I'm sorry"

"You have nothing to be sorry for, and I'm serious. If you like something, we can buy it now"

Lance sniffled and shook his head

"No. When the time comes, I'm going to make you buy me everything I want"

"Deal... There's still a lot to do before then"

"Yeah. I know. God. Everything's so cute, it's got my omega screaming over it all"

"Our pups will have the best of everything"

"Of course they will, they'll have the best dad in the whole universe"

Feeling his stomach drop, Keith wasn't completely sure how to reply. I was a given he'd be there for his pups, but how was he supposed to be a dad when he didn't even know who he really was? Not wanting to upset Lance, he pressed a kiss to the top of Lance's head before remembering the wig was in the way

"Let's keep looking?"

"Y-yeah... thanks, Keith"

"What for?"

"For everything"

When he'd said "Let's keep looking?", he had been hoping that Lance would move away from the baby clothes, instead the omega picked up the same onesie as before. Holding the small item, his boyfriend slowly made his way through the rest of the items for sale, including some very scary looking pacifiers. What baby needed a red and black pacifier that seemed to come with some kind of bug attached. Reaching the end of the small shop, Lance looked from him to the onesies

"It's fine. I'll pay for it"

"You don't have to"

"Lance, I know you like it. You don't have to hide that from me"

Taking the onesie from his boyfriend, Keith backtracked to negotiate the price with the trader. He ended up paying a little more than he wanted to, but the onesie seemed to mean something to Lance, so it was fine. Rejoining his boyfriend, he passed Lance the small bag the onesie was now in

"Just so you know, that doesn't count as the shiny thing you wanted"

"What? No, you don't have to buy me something else"

"I know I don't have to"

Rolling his eyes, Lance reached for his hand

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you?"

"That's make two of us"

Looking at him blankly, his omega seemed truly stumped by his reply

"Never mind, let's keep going"

Making their way down the tiers of the mall, Lance found heaps of things he liked, but Keith wasn't allowed to buy him any of it, not until they found a jewellery shop on the ground floor of the mall. Walking into the store, the jewellery on display clearly wasn't of the highest quality, but Lance didn't even pause to look. Walking across to the display counter, the omega immediately squatted down to look on the second shelf

"I'll take the one in the middle please"

Confused over how his boyfriend could know what he wanted so fast, Keith strode over to Lance's side

"What did you find?"

"A cross. I know this is going to sound really crazy, but when Hunk and I were hanging out here, I brought this cross and just now, I found the same one again"

Scratching the back of his head, Keith cast Lance a skeptical look

"I know it's crazy"

"How did you even know about it being here?"

"I don't know. I must have seen it when we came here before and not remembered it. There's no other way I could have known"

"I suppose you're right. Is this the shiny you wanted?"

"Maybe. I didn't want to tell you in case it didn't exist"

Paying full price for the cross, Lance took it from the woman? behind the counter and immediately slid it over his head. The gold chain hung low enough that the cross was lost beneath the sundress Lance was wearing

"My grandmother never lost her faith"

Right. That made sense. Lance was definitely the most homesick out of all of them, though Hunk was right on his heels. Kissing Lance lightly, Keith smiled at his boyfriend

"I think it's lunch time"

At the word "lunch", Lance's stomach gave a huge growl. Embarrassed by it, Lance darted around him. Yeah. His boyfriend was adorable.

The burger in his memories had definitely been better than the one he was all but inhaling right now, but it was still really good. Especially given how bad the food court was the last time they'd been there. Though he mightn't have gotten to sample the cuisine, he had Hunk's word for it. Suddenly feeling selfish, Lance lowered his burger

"Keith... it's really alright that we're here right?"

"Of course it is. Allura wouldn't have given us permission to go if it wasn't"

"But they're down two Paladins"

"Lance, we talked about this before. If anything happens, Allura will call"

"But you know her. She might try and do everything by herself and I don't like the way Matt has been hanging off her"

Keith groaned at his words

"Allura is a very beautiful woman and he's been in an underground bunker for phoebs"

"So you're just saying it's a temporary thing?"

"I'm sure it is. Besides, he and Allura are both growl adults"

Nope. He didn't want to talk about Allura and anything like that...

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