#but then kerberos got thrown in and

[ettuleo]

I lied. I don’t like sex. Put your clothes back on. I’m gonna explain how releasing multiple seasons a year ruined voltron: legendary defenders

this was originally a twitter thread but it is truly how i feel about the entire series as a whole. all this to say these are my own thoughts and opinions.

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typically a show takes at least a year or so in production; making sure story lines make sense, characters are able to be developed instead of being flat (which happened to a lot of voltron characters ;-; but the characters are amazing) and to smooth out any wrinkle or hiccups. 

In doing 8 seasons in two years the writers were not given the ample amount of time to smooth out the wrinkles and to give us a fully fleshed out piece of work. Take for example Bojack Horseman. The show ran from 2014 to 2020 and it only had six seasons. in these six seasons tho the writers were able to tell an amply dark story but also giving us in depth backgrounds of the characters and we watched the characters grow and change (for better or for worse). the writers were given time to be able to tell that story and is why Bojack is highly praised. 

the voltron writers were not given the same treatment, instead they were rushed to give us 8 seasons in such a short time (this isnt taking account the poor animation team which was probably being worked to the bone bc its no joke animating tbh). 

Instead of characters that we see grow and change over the seasons, there was only like one person to have a charcter arc (pidge) and the character was hated on because of it. 

Like Lance got barely ANY character arc, he stayed the same throughout the entire show and we really never saw him grow and realize his own potential and no longer be insecure and feel like the seventh wheel of voltron. 

this can also explain why adam was introduced and killed off so quickly, there was just not enough time to even give shiro a proper backstory episode to show him making the decision to go to kerberos. 

Each of the seasons were also short and have little episodes because of the rush. I mean we saw lotor get a redemption arc and then it suddenly is thrown away so that haggar can be redeemed which made zero sense for her character.

if the writers and animators and the rest of the team were given rest time in between the seasons we would of seen an entirely different show (now that can also be false but im sticking to it could of been better) we could of seen each character grow and change and even get backstories for everyone.

i would of loved to see more garrison days of everyone and to see allura's life before Altea was destroyed (plus we could of gotten more fun filler episodes like monsters and mana where we see the characters personalities better).

people hated season eight and rightfully so, i cannot blame them. For lance to go back to farming with his family in cuba which has extremely racist undertones and for allura (the only black character) to be killed off does not also look good either.

allura didnt even have to die and for her to sacrifice herself just doesnt feel right. i understand fully that the show was EXTREMELY popular and the demand to get more episodes was at an all time high, but it was absolutely foolish and borderline amateur hour to rush production.

which is crazy because some of these show runners worked on amazing shows like avatar and korra. i know a lot of people who loved voltron feel betrayed by the eighth season and stopped participating in the fandom overall because of the betrayal they felt.

i feel like now a lot of times we as a fandom forget about this bc its been a few years since the finale and a lot of us rather use our own headcanons and fanon rather than the actual canon because it gave us nothing at all except for amazing characters.

okay to end this rant, the show feels half baked due to the way the production was rushed to get out these eight seasons in two years. if the writers were given the time (which honestly the show would probs still be going on now as we speak in the year of our gods 2022), the show could have lived up to its actual potential instead of being a dumpster fire (i use that lovingly but also not) we would of seen growth and change in characters and a lot of things we hated would of never of happened potentially. 

so yeah, thats my rant on the destruction of voltron. thanks for coming to my ted talk

#voltron #vld #this is my magnum opus of explanations #the whole production of voltron consumed me for months which is why i feel this way #i wish things were different #takashi shirogane #adam w #allura #pidge #lance mcclain

[fatherramiro]

I've been thinking a lot lately about the backstories we didn't see in 1899 season one, especially in the wake of Olek's postcard being translated. Obviously with an eight episode first season, you can't really get into everyone's backstories and some characters - like Sebastian - were always going to be held back for season two for Mystery Purposes. But there's still a deliberate choice in which backstories we see.

For the purpose of this post, a backstory is a flashback sequence featuring a character prior to the Kerberos, even if it isn't their story that's being told. It does not include discussion of backstories - because all these characters do is lie - or stepping into a memory if we don't see the full backstory. Ergo, the characters who see backstories for are Maura, Daniel, Eyk, Ling Yi, Yuk Je, Jérôme, Lucien, Tove, Krester, Iben, Anker, and Elliot.

That leaves us with several major players who we don't know the full story about, namely Olek, Ramiro, Ángel, Virginia, Clémence, and Sebastian. We know Sebastian is deeply tied to the Singleton family drama (and yet seems to posses a strong loyalty to Eyk). Everyone else is ostensibly as trapped as everyone else is. But I wonder if the reason these backstories were specifically selected to not be shown in season one is because these characters might be somehow more connected to the simulation plot/Singleton family drama than we previously anticipated.

Let's break it down under a cut.

The easiest character to apply this theory to is Sebastian. He's basically Noah from Dark in that we see him as an antagonist character in season one! He's betraying Eyk and the crew, he is the one that gets the mutineers to want to kill Elliot, he actively does murder Eyk, he kidnaps Elliot, he kidnaps Maura, he's working for our main antagonist (at the time of the season one finale, that is)... and yet what do we really know about him? Whatever his story is, there's a lot to be explored there, and it makes sense that he's got a larger narrative role to play beyond double agent. This is a Bo and Jantje show after all - they don't do anything simple.

Virginia is also a logical choice for mysterious backstory/potential connection. She practically screams "I'm going to play a huge role in the story" from the moment she walks on screen. She tells Maura within five seconds of knowing her that she needs to stop being a seeker ("aren't some better things left in the dark?") before she leads the room in picking up their cups at the same time. She knows more than what she seems to know, even if at the end it seems like she's dissolving into dust. It is her undermining Maura that leads to most of the survivors going through Spooky Memory Hell after they split up. And it's very telling that she's saved just in time from the calling. She's up to shit, and it would make sense for her to not only be a much bigger player in the story but for her backstory to be saved for season two.

Virginia also has a very strong, almost fearful reaction in episode two to the ship going back to England. There's a couple other characters who get equally as freaked out by the concept in episode one...

Olek's second scene is him panicking in the engine room because the ship is turning around. He grabs one of the other workers and asks "why turn ship?" We don't know much about Olek at this point, only that he doesn't want to return to England, but why? The postcard translation implies he's taken over the identity of someone else named Olek, and quite possibly murdered a priest and thrown him in an oil well (doesn't that sound familiar...). He also, unlike every other "ghost" that appears to the characters, seems to be physically able to interact with the world around him in episode eight. And finally, while I realize the answer is probably "the plot", he was randomly on the deck when Ling Yi needed help in episode three. Yes, plot contrivances, but also why has he left his post? Usually he just goes to the loading area, but he's suddenly on the first class deck? What sparked that.

There's also the fact that Maciej and Rosalie (the actors who play Olek and Virginia, respectively) share a title card. With the exception of Emily, Aneurin, and Andreas, who have their own solo credits, all the actors who share title cards in the opening credits play connected characters (Miguel and José, Yann and Mathilde and Jonas, Isabella and Gabby, etc.) I know contracts determine who gets billed when and where but also there was a choice, along the line, to not put Maciej with Isabella and Gabby. And I think that's interesting.

The characters who we see panicking immediately after Olek in episode one are, of course, Ramiro and Ángel. We know mostly why they'd be freaking out - they're on the run after murdering a priest! But of all the character backstories who were saved for season two, these two make the most logical choice to be shown in season one. Not only would it provide character depth for Ramiro, who's already showing himself to be developing across all eight episodes, but it would provide some much needed backstory for Ángel which in turn would not only contextualize his shitty behavior in the first few episodes but also maybe give the audience more reason to feel sorry for him. It would also make Ángel's sudden turn from smug douche to loyal boyfriend make even more sense. There's a lot we can assume from what we're told about both characters but there is also a lot left vague and that begs more questions.

Both characters also display fascinating behaviors throughout the show. Ramiro, even as the show's moral center, never talks about his past at all. We know he killed a man, and we know he's a servant, but unlike everyone else (except Olek and Virginia) we have no idea what his life was like prior to the Kerberos really. Everyone else will talk themselves silly about their home lives and their traumas, but Ramiro keeps his past under wraps, despite the narrative easily having space to give him a chance to monologue about it. Ángel, on the other hand, seems to have some precognition about the simulation. He draws the final scene in the engine room in his sketchbook. He's the only person on the ship who is affected by the calling but not to the extent that he'll jump. In episode eight, he is the only ghost who can be heard by everyone and not just the person he's most connected to. I also think that the strange shot of him looking up the ceiling in episode seven as the ship creaks is a sign that perhaps he knew that it would kill him. So, what does he truly know, and does he even realize he knows it?

Speaking of not talking about one's past, we end with Clémence. It is very interesting that besides Clémence talking about her sister and how the things she wanted changed with Tove, we know very little about Clémence. Lucien implies her parents arranged the marriage between them, but we never see any of that on-screen. We do, however, get that interesting beat of her reacting to Lucien storming out in episode one with a rather odd look on her face. There's a pyramid paperweight that looks exactly like the pyramid outside Henry's office in her and Lucien's cabin. Her costume practically drips with symbolism - her earrings and hairpin are both the triangle symbol and she has a beetle detail on her collar.

Strangely enough, she and Jérôme are the only ones who we don't see escape from the memory wells in episode eight. Tove and Virginia run through a door, Ling Yi follows Olek, Ramiro pursues Ángel. But we just see Jérôme and Clémence facing down a monstrous wave of the crystals and then they run around a corner perfectly fine. There's a reason we did not see their escape. Bo and Jantje do not fuck around. This wasn't a cut scene.

I think that these characters are the ones with a deeper tie to the overarching mythology, even if they are not aware of it in the simulation at the time. The question then becomes who knows what, and who has loyalty to who? Is Virginia the secret main antagonist of the series, and is Olek potentially connected to her? Do Ramiro and Ángel have varying levels of knowledge and differing loyalties which is why there is a tension between them in the beginning of the series? Clémence, girl, what do you know and was that really your envelope at the end of the show?

I don't think all of these characters were secret bad guys. I don't even necessarily think this theory is 100% the direction they were going in. But there was a choice made to hold these backstories back until season two (RIP) and it feels like, based on what little we know and what we can draw from season one, there was a specific reason to do so. So now, let's just bully netflix into changing their damn mind because I too would like to know for sure.

#1899 #virginia wilson #olek 1899 #ramiro 1899 #ángel 1899 #clémence 1899 #sebastian 1899 #where are the last names?????

[caemthe]

     Cú Chulainn should’ve known better than to poke too much as it wasn’t the first time Kerberos had shown him what happened when he chose to be a tease, but... Well, he didn’t really have a compelling argument. He just loved riling up his boyfriend, never stopping to think about what would occur once the breaking point was reached and they were alone. Living in the moment, arousing Kerberos just to slip away before things got more heated, giggling and feeling his heart jump at their visible frustration, that’s how the young model rolled.

     And that was exactly how he had spent the last couple of days but, in his defense, it was his way of dealing with a taxing week. He was cute at first, finding ways to surprise the other man with a kiss or snuggle whenever he had the chance, a bright smile always adorning his beautiful face. But as days passed, said cute smile acquired a mischievous glint to it and so did the various little things he did to get his partner’s attention. Slender arms would wrap around their waist and travel all the way up to caress and pinch their chest or trace their perfect V-line and toy with the brim of their pants for a short while before announcing he had to leave for a photoshoot. The little things escalated over the days without noticing, and then he was inviting them to his last photo session of the week.

     It wasn’t the first time he wore next to nothing before the cameras, but it was the first time he tried on lingerie. It was for a luxury brand that was captivating the scene with its mischievous sultriness behind an innocent front. Cú couldn’t have been more fitting as the face of the brand. And while he took his job seriously, ruby-like eyes would often find themselves meeting golden ones. He would momentarily disappear whenever he had a break, just to steal a few kisses from his partner. Sometimes the kisses were chaste and sweet. Other times, they were needy enough that he nearly forgot how delicate the strings of pearls of his lingerie set were.

     But, finally, the session was over and he was free to go. Perhaps because he was just as clingy as his boyfriend or because he wanted to tease them until the very end, he took the opportunity to sit on Kerberos’ lap on their way back. Playful kisses and small bites were left on his lover’s jaw and neck, shameless since the vehicle’s windows were dark. But, if Cú wasn’t so overjoyed with his little ‘victory’, he would’ve noticed the lack of response from his usually clingy boyfriend. That should’ve been his first warning that his teasing crossed the line and that there would be consequences once they were alone.

     The young model couldn’t remember how they exactly reached the penthouse, but that wasn’t relevant. He couldn’t stop himself from giggling when he was practically thrown onto their large bed. Clothes quickly ended on the floor and his soft laughter was interrupted by hungry kisses and low moans. Eventually, Cú pulled back and rested his arms on Kerberos’ shoulders, head tilting to the side to feign innocence. “Is everything okay, babe? You looked particularly restless today. Were you bored waiting for me?” He laughed again once he was pushed onto his back. Teasing Kerberos was the best.

     But laughter ceased and was soon replaced by small gasps once sharp teeth grazed over his chest. Cú tilted his head back and arched his back, face reddening, while Kerberos nipped and tasted his small breasts. He didn’t have to press down on their shoulders to make them move lower, already following the invisible path to his navel and pushing his legs open and up so he had no option but to expose all of himself. He covered his face with both of his hands, flustered by his current position and the intensity of his boyfriend’s gaze. And yet he was already dripping wet, his hole glistening with desire and begging to be stretched and filled. As much as he loved to tease Kerberos, they weren’t the only one who had been frustrated the last couple of days.

     A mewl abandoned his lips once his boyfriend flickered their tongue over his sex. He wanted, no, he needed them. Kerberos started licking more insistently, inching closer and closer to his clit, drawing mewls and moans from him. Forgetting about his momentary shame, Cú gripped the bed sheets with one hand and used the other one to caress his partner’s hair, gently moving their red bangs aside. His breathing quickened, moans turned into a soft whining, and his hole fluttered around nothing. He was eager to be filled and used for his lover’s pleasure but said lover was more interested in tasting him.

     But weak to pleasure and unable to even move and writhe as he wished, Cú could only whimper and mewl until his lover passed their tongue over his clit and sucked on it. It was then that his voice became louder, cries of pleasure filling the room as his lover focused solely on the place that made his toes curl. It was too much. It didn’t take long to make him scream and shudder through an orgasm that sparkled between his legs and ran like electricity to the rest of his body. Drawn out until he was whimpering from the overstimulation and weakly trying to push his lover aside. “W-wait, I’m-!” sensitive! Yet that only seemed to excite his stubborn boyfriend more, who wasn’t stopping even though pleasure laced with something that wasn’t painful but it was too much for him.

     The pleasure returned but all of the attention given to his core felt more intense now. But his lover wasn’t giving him time to rest and he could already feel a second orgasm being forcefully drawn out of him.

@nvrcmplt​ 

Kerb's jaw ached but he couldn't care less as he licked, sucked and growled against the heady wetness of his lover. Thigh fat between his fingers held his soul, his knees bruised on the carpet but he didn't need comfort as he held his beloved open. Folded on themselves as he gave them nothing but the pleasurable greeting he's been after for the last few days.

     Cú whimpered as his lover pushed him over the edge and lapped his opening dripping with slick and need. Despite the attention given to his sex, his hole still was empty and clenching around nothing. The need building in his body only became more desperate when his lover lightly pressed their thumb on his hole, teasing him even though he needed them to slam their cock inside and fuck him until his mind went blank. “P-please,” Cú sobbed even though he had already figured out that this was his punishment for all the teasing he had done during the week. “K-Kerberos, please.”

     When Kerberos finally released him, Cú was almost in a daze. He barely noticed when he was turned around so his head was at the edge of the bed, but his lips were quick to part open once his lover pressed their throbbing cock on his cheek. With eyes closed, Cú didn’t even have to be told what to do before he was leaving a trail of kisses on it until he reached the tip. He was far too gone to notice that he had moaned due to how large and heavy it felt in his mouth. Alright, he was going to be good and obedient now.

#nvrcmplt #cu. ° ( lancer. ) #au. º ( haute. ) #ns.fw. ° ( love & instinct. ) #ask. ° ( delivered. ) #/ bratty puppy learns actions have consequences. more news at 11 #drabble. ° ( my equal. ) #/ i GUESS!! once it hits 1k it counts as a drabble idk o(-( #𝚔𝚎𝚛𝚋 • 𝚌ú. º ( 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝙸 𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 • 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 )

[vldrarepairs]

Kidge ( Keith and pidge)

Thank you for the ask! I really enjoy Kidge, and I thought a rival hackers AU would be a lot of fun for them! I hope you enjoy! :)

The first time Keith heard the name Pidge Gunderson, he barely gave it a second thought. Like most things in life, it didn't affect him or anyone he cared about. Pidge Gunderson was just another new recruit looking to make a little money and a name for himself. Keith had been doing this for years, and he didn't exactly mesh well with many people outside of his core team, so the chances of him running into Pidge again after the initial welcome thread was slim to none.

Unfortunately, Pidge obviously had no idea how to stay in his own lane.

Keith had spent months working on the job Pidge finished overnight, which was frustrating enough, but Pidge's assurance that really, it hadn't been that hard only made it that much more infuriating. He vented to one of the few people in charge that he could stand, and thankfully Shiro agreed to talk to the new guy about it.

Pidge Gunderson had the nerve to come back with a simple, "I thought we could work on any job. There's no rules about claiming things."

Which was technically accurate, but also technically rude.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it," Keith sent in a private message to Shiro, despite about twelve messages urging him not to.

The next day, four jobs Pidge Gunderson had expressed interest in were done by none other than the Red Paladin.

Keith never was a fan of being subtle.

Katie was still somewhat new to the world of being a white hat. After years of dabbling on the less legal side of things, her brother had introduced her to a friend of his who ran a group that did things within the limits of the law. Matt assured her it would be a safer and more lucrative way to spend her time. Given how expensive colleges were, she couldn't exactly argue with that.

Shiro gave her a crash course in how to do the work, meeting her a couple times in person to help answer any questions and make sure she felt comfortable with the group.

Of course, that was all before the Red Paladin issue came up.

Honestly, it was Red’s own fault for not doing his homework and missing the obvious shortcut she found in about ten minutes of research. Besides, Shiro never told her any rules about people claiming jobs. It was first come, first served.

Red, however, seemed to have a different understanding of how the system worked, because finishing four jobs in a row just because she was interested was a pretty clear declaration of war.

"Listen, don't worry about it. I'll talk to him," Shiro assured her in a private message.

"It's fine. Really." She smirked as she responded. "Let me handle this."

Katie staked an unofficial claim on a job that she knew would take months before quietly working on at least twelve more that Red had commented on. If Red was trying to scare her off, he really had no idea who he was dealing with.

Keith was almost impressed. Pidge really knew his stuff, but so did Keith. Sure, misdirection worked in Pidge's favor once, but Keith only had to make sure it wouldn't happen again. After all, he had years of experience on his side, and Pidge was new to this.

He took to working on jobs in the hours he noticed Pidge was usually offline, even communicating through private messages with his fellow paladins to consult on some of the more difficult projects. Yellow Paladin was especially helpful, offering up suggestions and resources that often made the difference between rubbing another win in Pidge's face and losing to him again.

Red was smart, she'd give him that. He worked out her schedule and his was so erratic that she didn't have a chance to repay the favor and work during his off hours. So, she tried something decidedly sneakier.

She made friends with his inner circle.

As it turned out Blue Paladin had a bit of a grudge against Red, and he was happy to feed her some information about what Red was working on. Apparently, Red had a knack for making enemies, which really didn't surprise her at all.

With Blue helping her out, Katie started evening out the score, sniping a job or two minutes before Red was finished. One time, she managed to finish a second before Red did, and that victory was probably her favorite so far.

Keith had no idea how Pidge was doing it. Somehow, she was honing in on every job he started, including several he never even mentioned in public. Someone had to be telling her what he was sharing in private, which meant it had to be a fellow paladin.

Yellow Paladin would never help her undermine him, and neither would Shiro, which really only left one possibility.

Honestly, he should have realized it sooner, because Blue had always bragged about being his rival, always ranting about how they were always neck and neck. Really, he was barely in the same league as Keith, and they both knew it, but normally Keith could ignore him without a second thought.

Now, he could finally use Blue to his benefit.

Red must have figured out her source, because overnight, everything Blue told her turned out to be wrong. That put her back at square one, but luckily she had a few months of work under her belt now, so she was a little more familiar with the system. Even better, she was a little more familiar with Red now. She knew what kind of job he liked best, and she knew what he tried to avoid.

Katie waited a week, pretending to follow all of the bad advice Blue sent her way, letting Red get just a little too comfortable, letting him think he'd managed to trick her.

Then, she sniped a job from his favorite client right under his nose.

Pidge was clever, but he definitely wasn't smart. Keith hadn't exactly held back before, but after losing the perfect job, he was ready to break some rules.

He was halfway through the plan when Shiro called him. Shiro never called him.

"We need to meet."

"In person?"

Shiro was quiet for a moment. "Yeah."

Keith's stomach dropped, and he swallowed back a rush of anxiety. "Okay."

"What's Kerberos?"

Matt sighed. "It's a top secret project. Dad and I were both asked to join in. It's supposed to last a year."

"And you're going where?" Katie asked, frowning.

"That's confidential," her father answered, reaching over to squeeze her hand. "But, we'll check in whenever we can."

"This is a huge opportunity for us." Matt smiled. "Shiro's going, too."

"But..." Katie shook her head. "What are you doing?"

"Confidential. Sorry." Matt made a face. "I wish we could tell you."

"Can I go, too?"

Matt and their father shared a look. "No." Her father sat back. "I'm sorry."

"But, we'll tell you all about it when we come back!"

"That doesn't make any sense." Keith scowled, his grip on the lukewarm mug of coffee tightening the more he and Shiro talked. "You're going to a secret place to work on something secret for a year?"

"This is a once in a lifetime chance," Shiro explained, patient and gentle as ever. "I wish you could come with me, but-"

"Why did you say yes?" Keith snapped.

"Because I want to go."

Silence filled the space between them, and Keith could hardly breathe past the pain and pressure building in his chest. "Fine."

"Keith-"

"It's fine."

Shiro grabbed his hand. "Listen. I'll check in, okay?"

"You just said you can't communicate with anyone on the outside," Keith pointed out, perhaps a little harsher than he meant to.

"You think that's going to stop me?" Shiro's lips quirked into a familiar smile, and Keith finally relaxed.

"Okay. But, who's in charge of the paladins while you're gone?"

"I think we both know the answer to that." Shiro leaned forward. "Try to go easy on Pidge while I'm gone, though, okay?"

"No promises," Keith grumbled.

Matt checked in a few times a week, often with a quick text from an unknown number. Katie treasured every word, happy to hear from them, and relieved to hear that Matt was enjoying the work.

Red even seemed to have forgiven her for stealing his work. They stayed out of each other's way, which meant a steadier stream of work and less wasted time. Overall, things were going well.

Until the day she received a phone call from an unknown number.

Normally, she ignored calls she wasn't expecting, but she was hoping for some news from Matt, and maybe he found a way to call for once. So, she answered, "Hello?"

Matt's voice barely cut through a burst of static. "Katie?"

"Matt?"

"Katie!" His voice was rising with an undeniable note of panic. "Something's wrong. You have to send help. We're-"

The line cut out, and Katie frantically tried to call back, her fingers shaking and tears building in the corners of her eyes. Something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong. The line was out of service, and Matt wasn't answering on the device he'd been using to text her.

An hour later, her mother received a call, informing them that Matt and Sam Holt died in a tragic accident. The details were classified and they were so sorry for their loss.

Katie glared at them, puffy-eyed and shaking with rage. This wasn't an accident, and she had no intention of letting them get away with saying it was.

Keith woke up to over four hundred messages from Pidge Gunderson.

Most just consisted of his screen name, urgently asking him to reply, but when Keith reached the top, his heart stopped.

"My family was involved in a project called Kerberos and now people are saying they're dead. I need your help. This wasn't an accident."

The next message was a link to an article about an explosion at a government facility. Three men had been lost, and authorities were investigating the source...

No remains found...

The fire had destroyed everything...

His chest tightened more with each word he read, but he couldn’t look away. Finally, he skimmed through the rest of the messages before scrolling down to the most recent one, sent as soon as he’d logged in. "We need to talk." Then, there was an address. The same place Shiro had asked Keith to meet him, right before leaving for that stupid, top secret project.

Keith barely took the time to change before bolting out the door and heading to the coffee shop. If Pidge was telling the truth, Shiro was...

No.

Shiro couldn't be. Shiro had to be fine. This had to be a mistake. It had to be a different Kerberos project. Shiro had promised to come back.

Katie kept an eye on the door while she worked. She was on her fourth cup, and her fingers trembled when she reached for another sip. Still, she couldn't stop. Matt and her father needed her. Even if Red didn't show up, at least she could say she tried.

The door chimed, admitting a disheveled man with a red jacket and fingerless gloves. He scanned the shop, finally settling on her and pausing only briefly before looking elsewhere.

"Red?" she asked, just loud enough to catch his attention.

He frowned and approached. "Pidge?"

She nodded.

"I thought you were-"

"I know." She glanced back at the screen. "Shiro thought everyone would take me more seriously if I used a fake name and let people assume I was a guy."

He was quiet for a long moment before he took a seat across from her. "You knew Shiro?"

"He's my brother's friend." She blinked back another irritating wave of tears at the mention. "He introduced me. And they went to Kerberos together."

He flinched and stared down at the table. "So, Shiro's really..."

"Matt called me and said something was wrong." She swallowed, hoping it would help with rough, desperate edge in her voice. "He said he needed help. It wasn't an accident. And I don't believe they're dead."

Finally, Red let out a long breath. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t question her at all past that. He just relaxed and pulled out a laptop of his own that he set on the table in front of him. "What do you need?"

#voltron legendary defender #vld #kidge #sort of #au #rival hacker au #I honestly thought this would be funny #but then kerberos got thrown in and #well anyway #it's a fun concept #and I hope you enjoy! #sorry for the super long wait though #my writing #Anonymous

[jxsatlas]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍 ⇢ keith kogane, ch. 1

keith kogane x gn! reader – next

DISCLAIMER! this story does not originally belong to me, the author is @MaddieWolf37 on Wattpad. i have simply received permission to rewrite and continue her story. go and check out her profile for the original version!

SYNOPSIS! a story in which you are thrown into the middle of an intergalactic space war and have the undesirable weight of being a symbol of peace dropped on your shoulders. but maybe if you look past the constant danger and endless fighting, there's some good to being a paladin of voltron.

MATURE CONTENT! swearing, violence, gore, war, graphic descriptions, mentions of self-harm

"Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14," Lance announces, "Begin descent to Kerberos for a rescue mission."

He shoves the yoke forward and the aircraft takes a steep dive. You plant your feet to help fight against the inertia. You give him a sharp glare as the aircraft steadies out.

"Ugh, Lance, can you keep this thing straight?" Hunk whines from the back.

You look over your shoulder and recognise the nauseated expression on his face all too well. Last semester, there was a girl on your team that didn't do too well with excessive motion and often got sick.

Lance brushes him off. "Relax Hunk, I'm just getting a feel for the stick," he says with a lazy grin, which quickly turns mischievous. "It's not like I did this, or this!" Lance jerks the aircraft side to side, making Hunk feel worse.

"Knock it off, Lance," you warn from your chair next to him. You reach up above you and press a few buttons in hopes of stabilising the aircraft out after Lance's little joke.

"Yeah, listen to [y/n] unless you wanna wipe beef stroganoff out of all the little nooks and crannies of this thing," Hunk groans angrily.

"We've picked up a distress signal!" Pidge says from his seat in the back.

"Alright, time to quit our bickering and get serious," you say, doing your own little thing to accommodate for the lower altitude while Lance flies the aircraft.

"Pidge, track the coordinates," Lance says with a roll of his eyes at your comment.

Pidge does so, typing away on the computer. The aircraft gives a large rumble and Hunk groans again.

"Knock it off, Lance! Please!" he whines, his face all scrunched up in discomfort.

"Oh, that's on you buddy," Lance says sharply. "We got a hydraulic stabiliser out."

Hunk nods and goes to fix it, but when the aircraft shakes again he gags. "Oh no."

"Oh no, fix now, puke later," Lance growls.

So much bickering... you think to yourself with a sigh.

"I lost contact!" Pidge says. "The shaking is interfering with our sensors."

Lance looks over his shoulder at Hunk. "Come on, dude!"

"Sorry, it's not responding," Hunk says and unfastens his safety belt. He carefully gets up and makes his way over to the gearbox to see what's up.

"Coordinates are back," you say, seeing the blue dot on the dash.

"Nevermind Hunk," Lance says.

"No, he still needs to fix it," you say. "We can't properly fly this thing if a hydraulic stabiliser is out."

"Whatever," Lance rolls his eyes, "Preparing for approach on visual."

"I don't think that's advisable, given our current mechanical..." Pidge warns, trailing off when he hears Hunk gag again. "...and gastrointestinal issues..."

"Agreed!" Hunk says, not before quickly emptying his stomach into the gearbox with the unsavoury sounds of food chunks and liquid hitting the metal. You cringe, not liking the sound, and hope he's okay.

"Stop worrying," Lance says dismissively.

"No, they're right," you say firmly as you place your attention on Lance now. "We should wait before we do anything."

"Nah, this baby can take it! Can't ya champ?" Lance coos and pats the dash. The aircraft rumbles again and he retracts his hand with a sheepish look. "See? She was nodding!"

"That wasn't nodding Lance," you deadpan. "Now listen to us and wait."

"I'm the one flying this thing, aren't I?" Lance asks. "So I'm in charge, and that means what I say goes!"

"Excuse you, we're both flying this thing," you argue.

Ignoring you, Lance turns to Pidge. "Pidge, hail down on them and let them know their ride is here," he says.

Knowing that you're now doomed, you keep your mouth shut and wait for the inevitable failure of the simulation. You can already see it, the big, bold, red letters appearing on the dash.

And when Lance flies towards an overhang, tilting the plane as much as he can in a sad attempt to thread through the little hole rather than going over or around, you know this is where you fail.

Lance doesn't make it. The wing gets torn off, the alarms blare, and the aircraft pummels to the ground. The dash goes black and those red letters you were anticipating appear without hesitation.

Simulation Failed.

The first failure on your school record.

You toss your head back and sharply exhale, frustration building up in you. "Nice going," you grumble and look at Lance through the corner of your eye.

He catches your gaze and glares at you. "Oh, shut up," he growls.

The four of you sit in silence for a second, you and Lance glaring at each other, before an instructor opens the door and beckons you to come out.

Reluctantly, you all unfasten your safety belts and crawl out of the aircraft. You then mentally prepare yourselves for the lecture about how you are all failures to come.

You, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge line up before the Commander, avoiding his scowling gaze.

"Let's see if we can't use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you," Commander Iverson's voice booms angrily. He's not at all impressed with your behaviour. "Can anyone point out the mistakes these so-called cadets made during the simulator?"

"The engineer puked in the main gearbox!" a boy from the back of the group of students shouts out. Iverson nods and turns to Hunk.

"Yes. Everyone knows vomit is not an approved lubricant for engine systems," Iverson sharply criticises Hunk. He turns back to the students. "What else?"

"The comms-spec removed his safety harness," a girl points out.

"The pilot crashed!" another shouts.

Iverson nods, approving of all the answers given. "And worst of all, the whole jump they're arguing with each other," he growls and turns to the four of you once more.

You keep your gaze on the ground shamefully.

"The Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astro-explorers," Iverson lectures. His hands are on his hips as he looks down at you. "But these kinds of mental mistakes are exactly what caused the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission."

In your peripherals, you notice Pidge clench his fists at his sides and scrunch his nose up in anger. You fully turn your head to him when he takes a bold step towards the Commander.

"That's not true, sir!" he barks.

Iverson looks at him and glares. "What was that, young man?" he growls.

Lance quickly slaps a hand over Pidge's mouth and pulls him back in line. "Sorry, sir! He must've hit his head when he fell!" he says, smiling sheepishly in a sad attempt to cover up his fear. His hand gets tighter over Pidge's mouth, almost as if he's asking the ginger what the hell is wrong with him.

With Lance speaking up, Iverson's attention is now pinpointed on him. He takes a few steps closer to Lance, his intimidating figure making your brother cower back a bit.

"I hope I don't need to remind you that the only reason you're here," he growls, his tone of voice menacing and powerful, "is because the best pilot in your class had a disciplinary issue and flunked out."

Lance drops his gaze down to the floor, a look of dejection taking over his face.

"Don't follow in his footsteps," Iverson warns. He stares Lance down a bit before abruptly turning to you. "And you!" he barks.

Your entire body freezes up and your eyes wearily follow him as he stops in front of you now. Your heart sinks down to your gut.

"I expected better of you."

﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋

You returned to your dorm at the end of the day with a cloud over your head.

You grumble about the day's events as you aggressively tug your shirt over your head. You really wish you could pinpoint the source of your frustration. Are you mad at my brother? Your team? Or yourself?

You toss your clothes on the floor and pull out some track shorts and a hoodie from your dresser. Getting dressed in your pajamas for the rest of the night, you try to sort out your emotions.

"Stop mumbling to yourself," your roommate says from her bed.

You turn to her. "Ah, sorry," you say. "I didn't realise I was talking out loud..."

"If you're that mad at your brother why don't you just punch him?" she asks. You blink, surprised she actually heard you.

"I'm not violent like you," you say with a sigh. "Besides, I don't even know if I'm mad at him specifically."

"Eh, I would punch him either way," your roommate shrugs. "It's a good way to alleviate your stress."

You roll your eyes. "I alleviate my stress by sleeping."

Your roommate laughs. "Ain't that the truth?" she jests. "How many times have you taken a nap between classes this week?"

You stare at her with a blank expression for a moment before picking your clothes up and off of the ground. "I'm not answering that," you say and toss them into the hamper.

You and your roommate pause when there's a knock on the door. You look at her and she looks at you.

She raises her hands up. "And I'm not answering that," she says.

You roll your eyes and grab one of the dirty articles of clothing you tossed into the hamper and throw at her without any remorse. She yelps in fear and disgust as you walk to the door with a smirk on your face.

"Don't throw your nasty underwear at me!" she barks and she pinches the panties between her thumb and index finger, tossing them as far away from her as possible.

You cackle and open the door. Your laughter cuts short when you're suddenly face to face with your brother. Hunk stands behind him.

"What are you doing in the girls' dorm?" you ask, but then take the opportunity you just created for yourself to tease your dear elder brother. You think of it as a bit of revenge for crashing the simulator. "Visiting someone?"

Lance rolls his eyes. "Heh, I wish," he sighs. "But no. We're thinking about hitting the town tonight! You know, for some team bonding?"

"Who is it?" your roommate calls to you.

"Lance and Hunk," you say over your shoulder at her.

"Punch him!" she shouts back.

"No!" you hiss and turn back to your brother.

"I don't like your roommate," Lance comments under his breath.

"Neither do I," you joke.

"I heard that!" your roommate barks.

"No you didn't!" you ready. But getting the feeling that she's going to keep interrupting, you push Lance out of your way and step into the hall with him and Hunk. You then close the door and give the boys your full attention.

"So, you're gonna come with us?" Lance asks.

"I don't know," you say with uncertainty in your tone. You cross your arms. "It's past curfew and I don't really think you have off-campus privileges..."

"That doesn't matter," Lance waves his hand dismissively. "Iverson wants us to bond as a team, so why don't we listen to him for once?"

"I'm not feeling that adventurous," you say.

"What? Why not? It'll be fun!" Lance cajoles.

"Lance, your idea of fun always ends up with you and me in the principal's office," Hunk reminds. "Don't drag your little sibling into it."

"Hunk has a point," you say. "I don't want to get in trouble again. I had my filling for today."

"Since when were you a goodie-two-shoes?" Lance asks in a somewhat offended tone.

"Since I got a scholarship here?" you quirk an eyebrow at him.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sibling?" Lance says as he gives you a look of utter betrayal, as if you were some alien.

You roll your eyes. "I'm not too keen on losing something like that because I went along with your dumb shenanigans," you sigh.

"Please, the max punishment for something like this is just a weekend detention with old man Brechin," Lance says and a mischievous grin spreads on his face. "That is, if you get caught."

You bite your lip, looking away in thought. Team bonding sounds very appealing after what happened today, but are you willing to risk your scholarship? You don't know if you can lose it because of a simple detention. The Galaxy Garrison is a government program, which means they are pretty strict.

"Do you really need to think about it?" Lance asks with raised eyebrows. "Don't tell me you're scared!"

His words irk you immensely.

You snap your gaze up to him. Is he serious? You aren't scared. Why would you be scared of sneaking out?

You silently walk back into your dorm and quickly throw a bra on, some socks, and your shoes.

"Where are you going?" your roommate asks as she watches you scramble about the room with a sense of purpose all of a sudden.

"Team bonding," you say, now tying the laces of your shoes.

"This late? Are you sure?" she asks.

"All common sense in me left the moment Lance basically called me a scaredy-cat," you say bluntly.

"Well, have fun," your roommate says.

You give her a small salute as you walk out of the dorm. "I'll be back by morning."

"Alright, see ya!"

You close the door and turn to Lance and Hunk expectantly. "Well?"

Lance gives you a cocky grin, proud of his persuasion skills. You suddenly consider your roommate's suggestion for a second.

"We need to go grab Pidge," Lance says. "It won't be team bonding if someone's missing. You gotta have everybody."

You shrug, doubting Pidge will join.

Lance takes the liberty of leading the way to the boys' dorm, you and Hunk following closely behind. You expertly dodge the officers patrolling the halls making sure students are in their dorms like ninjas on a stealth mission.

As Lance rounds a corner, he suddenly stops and back peddles quickly. He peeks around the corner and watches whatever is on the other side. Curious, you and Hunk sneak up close to Lance and peek as well.

Pidge steps out of his room, a backpack swung over his shoulders. He checks his surroundings before closing the door and running off.

You, Lance, and Hunk share a look. You all then telepathically agree to follow the small boy. Once again, Lance takes the lead.

#voltron #wattpad #keith #voltron keith #keith kogane #x reader #keith x reader #gender neutral reader #vld #vld fanfic #fanfiction #vld keith

[rubymoon-snape]

Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron Legendary Defender.

Summary: Shiro wakes up to see Keith standing at the foot of his bed. The poor kid is sick and has thrown up.

Author Note: This is Pre-Kerberos Adashi and was suggested by Queenscene2. 

"Ailing Keith"

Shiro didn't know what woke him up at first. It couldn't be Adam snoring, which was a reason he couldn't get to sleep rather than something that would wake him up. So, what was it?

He twitched his right arm, glad it moved as it meant that a sleep paralysis demon wasn't perched at the end of his bed. He slowly opened one of his eyes, waiting for it to acclimate to the darkness. 

However, he saw softly glowing, yellow eyes. If he hadn't registered that he knew those eyes, he would have screamed. As it was, he smiled gently and opened his other eye. "Keith? What's wrong, bud?"

He heard a sniffle and a whisper, "I'm sorry, Shiro. I didn't mean to."

"Didn't mean to what? To wake me up? Don't worry about that."

Keith shook his head. "It's not that. I-"

Shiro was which  when he saw Keith run from the room to the adjoined bathroom. The tell tales sounds of someone throwing up into the toilet could be heard, which made Shiro wince. He didn't know exactly how Keith was going to take being taken care of, but he /had/ come to Shiro on his own accord, so he might be expecting it. Shiro didn't know if Keith wanted him to be in the bathroom with him, but when he heard Keith whine, he knew he had to go in.

The strange thing was there were noises Keith made that weren't human. Shiro and Adam had both heard it but never acted like he wasn't human. It had been something that Keith had confided in them about. Some of his previous Foster families heard the noises and punished him for making those noises. Shiro and Adam made sure to assure Keith that it was okay with them to make those noises when he wanted to. The whine was a noise that told them that he needed help and affection. 

Shiro got up from the bed and went over to Keith's side. He called out, "Keith?" to let the teen know he was coming in. He gently rubbed Keith's back. "It's okay, bud. I'm here. I've got ya."

Keith whined again but softer. Shiro scooted a little closer to him. "Do you want a hug?"

Keith looked at Shiro and gave a questioning noise. It was a noise that conveyed confusion. Shiro held his arms out. "You can come here, bud, if you want."

Keith moved slowly and leaned into Shiro's embrace. Shiro wrapped his arms around the teen and wasn't surprised to feel Keith nuzzle into his shoulder. Shiro raised a hand and stroked Keith's hair, which was something he knew that Keith found comforting.

"Let's move out of the bathroom. You can lay down in the living room, on the couch."

"Can I just stay in my nest?" The question was barely louder than a whisper. 

Shiro smiled. Keith didn't sleep in a bed but in an organized pile of pillows and blankets he called a nest. It gave him comfort and made him feel safe. "Of course."

Shiro carefully shifted his hold on the teen and lifted him up off the floor. "You feeling okay, bud?"

"Yeah. For now."

Shiro exited the bathroom but paused when he saw Adam sitting up in the bed, his hair mussed from sleeping. "Takashi?"

"It's okay, Adam. Keith is sick-"

"Sick? Does he need anything? Does he want to sleep here?"

"No. He wants to go back to his nest."

"Okay. If that's what he wants. Our bed is open to you whenever you want, kiddo."

Keith chirped, making Adam smile at the noise. It was a noise that meant one of two things, either excitement or agreement; it just depended on the situation.

"Let's get you to your nest, so you can rest."

Shiro carried Keith to his room and gently laid him into the nest. When he turned to leave, he heard a whimper. That was a new noise, and as such, it made Shiro pause and turn around to face Keith. "Keith?"

"C-can you stay...for a little while?"

"Of course." Shiro sat down next to the nest, and Keith repositioned himself so he could have a hand resting on Shiro's knee. Keith closed his eyes, wanting to get some rest.

Shiro pulled out his tablet  to get some work done, while Keith rested. He planned on slipping away once Keith feel asleep. However, he didn't plan on falling asleep, leaning against the nest.

%%%

Adam was waiting for Shiro to come back to bed, but after a couple of hours, he finally got up to see what was keeping his fiancée from returning. He quietly walked to Keith's room and heard a comforting noise. Keith was purring. He looked into the room and saw his fiancée and Keith both asleep. A smile appeared on his face, and he slipped back to the room he shared with Shiro, grabbing a couple of blankets before coming back to Keith's room. He draped a blanket over Shiro and settled down next to him under the other blanket. He closed his eyes and laid against Shiro's shoulder, lulled to sleep by Keith's purring.

Fin

@queenscene2

#voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #keith kogane #shirogane takashi #vld adam #vld keith #vld shiro #adashi #sick keith #pre- Kerberos #writing

[itsthegameilike]

Just some fic recs (part 2)...

It’s been a while since I’ve made a rec list and that seemed tragic to me as I’ve spent most of my quarantine surviving off fic. So here we go! The popular fics are hidden away for today and there is more Wangxian on here than I’d care to admit, but I Hyperfixated. Still, the ships are numerous and various.

Promises We Make -- Mayarene Rose; Wangxian Lan Zhan has taken to visiting the Yiling as often as he can, bringing as many rabbits as he can carry. It is not against the sect rules so there's no reason for him to feel guilty about it. And after all, he made a promise. Or the one where Lan Zhan sneakily moves into the Burial Mounds and this may or may not have helped stop a lot of bad things from happening. **If you’re feeling sad, this is the fic for you. It can take any bad day and make it better. Lan Zhan brings every goddamn rabbit in Cloud Recesses to the Burial Mounds a few rabbits at a time just as an excuse to visit Wei Ying. Then he kind of just stays? And everyone loves him? And Wei Ying is an absolute dumbass about the whole thing? Which tracks.

Screw Poetry, It’s You I Want -- intertwiningsouls; Pynch Adam tries to navigate a crush on his best friend, his first time having a group of friends during the holidays, and the mysterious notes that keep showing up in his locker. **Fair warning this fic is not finished and on hiatus, but I still think it is absolutely worth reading anyway. I reread it often and then get sad it’s not updated, but, you know, fic writer’s lives are hard. I know this deeply. Anyway, it’s soft, it’s cute, and Ronan is perfect.

apastron -- kissmesexybatman; Shatt "This was the mission: three people were set to travel half a year out to the edge of the solar system, traversing space no human eyes had ever seen, to explore the possibility of life in the most extreme of conditions." The first six months of the Kerberos Mission. **This fic is quiet and meditative and a little lonely, but it is so, so beautiful. I loved it the first time I read it and I love it now. There’s some very good ace representation and love just pours from this fic. Love for people and love for space.

How Fragile We Are, Between the Few Good Moments -- nineandthreequarterrs; Wolfstar By the time it’s dark, there’s a fire crackling before them. The tent is set up. There are two chairs propped up by the fire. They have cooked and eaten dinner, and they are sitting in silence. It reminds Sirius of the dinners at home after he got sorted into Gryffindor, or after his mother found the letters from his friends, or lately, whenever he dares to show his face around the house at all. What lives in that space isn’t actually silence. Silence is absence. This thing that hangs between him and his mother, now between him and Remus, is the presence of something suffocating and cutting. It doesn’t serve as a placeholder for noise, it serves as a punishment. It cleaves him to the bone, flays him until he wants to cry. The soft, knotting feeling in his chest he feels when he wants to let tears out but can’t is rising in him. Sirius doesn’t know how to kill except to hiss, “Well if you’re mad at me just fucking say so.” **This takes the moment where Sirius lures Snape to the Shrieking Shack and nearly gets him killed by Remus in his werewolf form-a scene that should be utilized like this more frequently-and creates something absolutely lovely with it. The fic is quiet and subtle and deals with the abuse Sirius suffers and Remus’ rightful anger in a delicate and true way. I adore it.

Likewise Variable -- ssstrychnine; Wolfstar James has plans, Peter is the nurse, Sirius keeps fake blood up his sleeves, and Remus just tries to stay alive. **One of those classic Marauders fics where everyone is batshit crazy except Remus, who ends up doing batshit crazy things because he loves his friends. And Sirius. Especially Sirius. He ends up playing Romeo and Sirius plays Juliet and the pining and angst is unreal. A trope I’m trash for and very well executed.

flowers boldly blossoming over withered grass -- LilyMaxwell; Wangxian It’s in the dawning years after Jin Guangyao’s death that Wei Wuxian learns what it’s like to live and love without a second thought. **The first fic I found in my endless search through pages and pages on ao3 where I saw a characterization of Lan Zhan that resonated with me in the same way he did in the show. I have a thing for soft and quiet fics and this one is no exception. Lovely and beautifully written. 

Like Knives -- All_My_Characters_Are_Dead; Bakushima Bakugou was disappointed in him. Bakugou thought he was weak, thought he was useless. Bakugou knew he’d broken, and Bakugou was mad at him for it. **I love this fic a lot. It takes Bakugou’s anger and uses it to full angst advantage. Kirishima overhears Bakugou and misinterprets Bakugou’s intense worry for anger. And then emotions happen.

Garden War -- Cibee; Drarry Harry and Draco are quarantined in their houses, a lake across from one another. What better ways to spend this time than to annoy each other with letters and attempts to prove that their garden is better? **I did my best to avoid quarantine fics, but you know, easier said than done. This one is super cute. Mostly epistolary, Harry and Draco just make fun of each other and garden and then get together. Like, what the hell else do you want?

light fires at night (to push back the void) -- inthesea; Andreil The first time Andrew realizes he wants to hear the words, Neil isn’t even doing anything. He’s just sitting there, staring at the horizon with that stupidly dramatic faraway expression of his, and letting the cigarette burn down between his fingers all the way to the filter — an outrageous waste of good nicotine, if you asked Andrew. (Or: 20+ times Andrew and Neil say I love you, and one time they say it out loud.) **One of the two truly popular fics that shows up on here. This fic changed my life. It killed me and then brought me back to life. It’s essentially a series of vignettes starring Andrew and Neil and like...it hurts and it heals and it loves. I would die for this fic to continue existing even when I don’t.

the hidden source is the watchful heart -- sombregods; Wangxian Wei Wuxian comes back to the Cloud Recesses for the winter months. He and Lan Wangji learn that emotional intimacy and physical intimacy are not (yet) quite synonymous.They have time to figure it out. **I have the biggest soft spot for relationships where sex and romance aren’t intrinsically intertwined and take some time to navigate. And in my mind, Lan Zhan and Wei Ying have exactly that kind of relationship, so this fic was all I ever needed. If that’s your thing, this is a must read.

A Heart’s a Heavy Burden -- idratherhaveyou; Wangxian There was fire and magic and death, screams and blood, but rage was Wei Ying's song at night, the beast he became taking control, protecting what it could and destroying those that did harm.Years ago, when Wei Ying had newly discovered this particular power of his, when he’d picked his side—to simply fight everyone who didn’t fight for those weaker than themselves—he’d remembered more.To him, this was better. Better to forget things best forgot. **A Howl’s Moving Castle AU **A shameless self-promotion, but I love this fic to pieces, so I thought it seemed fit to add. Not quite finished, but I promise it will be. I just take two of my favorite pieces of media and have a real good time. There’s magic, Lan Zhan and Wei Ying love each other a lot, and A-Yuan does god’s work.

Siren Song -- Becky_J_1022 When Damen is cursed by a Siren in exchange for the revenge his heart desperately desires, his life is thrown into chaos, and betrayal lurks around every corner. Despite his better judgment, he allows a beautiful young man to seek berth on his ship, not knowing that he has granted refuge to the one man who has every reason to want him dead. Laurent may be the key to breaking Damen's curse, and Damen could help restore Laurent to his throne—but if they have any hope of helping each other, they will have to untangle their bitter pasts first. **Listen, man, this fic is balls to the walls fun and also everyone should read Becky’s fics. Not enough people do. She makes sentences beautiful. Just so beautiful. And she loves to and you can tell.

#fic recs #the untamed #wangxian #andreil #tfc #wolfstar #drarry #harry potter #bnha #bakushima #trc #pynch #voltron #shatt #writers are wonderful creatures #i love and cherish you all #thanks for you work

[demenior]

first lines: fic-writers meme

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favourite authors!

Tagged by @curiosity-killed

I had 2 “just toss out the wips you’re never going to finish” fics that would have been included, but I’m skipping them and several of my smutty one-shots that were tumblr prompt fills bc I make the rules. Also this is going by “last 20 updated” because I got halfway thru and realized it probably means “last 20 posted” woops

From oldest to newest!

A Crisis In Your Eyes (Voltron) T:  Going on missions with Ulaz is fun. 

Lay To Waste (Voltron) T:  Hidden away in the recesses of the Kaskada System, deep in the thick jungles of an unoccupied moon, is a glimmer of hope.

Keep Them Galra Rollin (Rawhide) (Voltron) G: “Hurry up,” Shiro orders, “we only have a few hours to get to the rendezvous point.”

My Body’s Got You Pleading (Voltron) E:  Trees flash by in an instant, almost a blur except for what's in front of him.

To Be Alone (With You) (Voltron) G:  Ulaz exists in the dangerous crosshairs of fatigue and euphoria.

An Alignment to Cry (Voltron) T:  If the moon was a large step for mankind, the Galaxy Garrison’s mission to Kerberos is a flying leap into the future.

Take The Power Back (Voltron) T:  Prison absolutely, irrevocably, without-a-doubt sucks.

Sunset In Reverse (Voltron) T:  Champion waits dutifully while his handlers secure the area.

as the lion loves the lamb (Voltron) T: Lance is sitting with Hunk, sprawled over one another with their legs tangled, up in Hunk’s bed, and licking a spoon of what passes for ice cream, when he stops and says, “You can feel it too, right?”

Mr. Ulaz’s Monster Scaring Services (Voltron) G:  At 5:45am sharp the alarm goes off.

Watch You Unravel (Voltron) E:  “The trip will not be long,” Ulaz assures him when Keith asks if he can help, “I can handle the ship.”

Babel (Voltron) G:  “Again,” Ulaz orders.

Royal Treatment (Voltron) E:  Shiro’s toweling off his hair when his personal line rings.

From Eden (Black Sails) T:  John Silver oversees the goods as they’re unloaded from the ship.

Awake My Soul (The 100) T:  It started with a cough.

Let’s Go Steal a Snuggle (Leverage) T:  The kid is smart, Eliot will give him that.

A Whole Lotta Love (Critical Role) G:  Marion’s heart leaps into her throat, and Bluud leaps to his feet as the door to the Chateau is thrown open and a group of people stumble in.

Like The Air And Sea (The 100) T:  Clarke doesn’t so much wake up as she does become aware that she is not asleep.

Shelter (Critical Role) T:  Nicodranas is hot.

To Exist Again (Supernatural) T:  Sam considers his life a tragedy in slow motion.

It may not seem obvious, but a lot of these opening lines are (situationally or ironically) funny in nature! Overall it’s obvious that I like to start as close to in media res as possible. And I like my opening line to set a tone for the story! You can tell right off the bat that some of these are going to have a personalized narrator (#7, #5), some are a little more cinematic (#2, which also doubles as funny because reread it with cause every time we touch, i get this feeling) and sometimes with dialogue, and sometimes with a short impact statement (15, 19). Both 18 and 20 hint at/imply the sad tone of their stories, or at least that the narrator is Going Thru It. 

This was fun! And interesting!!  

Tagging anyone who would like to waste some time doing this <33

#hit me #uuhhh #writing is hard

[mckinlily]

shalluraweek day 4: horizon/beyond

Summary: horizon/ beyond  Shiro and his relationship with the beyond

read on ao3

“There just—there just has to be something beyond this, right?” Shiro gestures to the stars, lying on his back next to his boyfriend having snuck out of the Garrison once again.

Beside him, Adam snorts. “Sometimes it’s really unbelievable that you’re like this sober. Are you sure you didn’t sneak a sip, Takashi?”

Shiro huffs. “I have to fly us back, Adam.” He might not be totally sure of what it takes to be a good boyfriend, but he’s pretty sure not killing your significant other with drunk flying is bare minimum.

“Sure, sure. Be all responsible, Shirogane.”

“I’m the one who snuck us out,” Shiro reminds him. “You hadn’t figured out how to get around the security cameras.”

Adam just grumbles and settles himself more firmly against Shiro’s shoulder.

“I just…I want to find it. You know? I don’t know what it is, but it’s out there and I want to be the one to find it.”

Adam hums, and Shiro thinks that he understands.

Two years later, Shiro finds out that Adam really, really didn’t.

And then Shiro is being carried past row after row after row of alien prison cells on an alien ship that glows sickly purple and green, and he’s finally got a glimpse of what hides (fights, expands, destroys) beyond the stars, and he almost wishes he hadn’t.

* * * * *

Shiro’s in the head of a machine that is beautiful, marvelous—and semi-sentient. The last year of his memories of been scraped clean and replaced some gooey, dark mess. The Black Lion is powerful under his hands, though it is hard to tell if it’s good or bad. There is some part of the Lion that’s not quite…it's jagged and dark, it's…

(Traumatized, Shiro will realize someday. But that is not until much later.)

Whatever the Black Lion is, Shiro doesn’t have time to give it more than a passing thought because all he has been able to think about is the four teenagers he’s responsible for since they went through that wormhole and keeping them alive. The Lions and the alien princess and her advisor all come second to that. Shiro will work with the tools he’s given and process later.

But there might not be a later.

They have the Lions but no clue how to use them.

The tractor beam from the Galra ship is pulling them in.

They’re going to be captured. And Shiro doesn’t remember what happened to him, but he remembers how it felt and—

No! No no no no no. They’re going take him again. They’re going to take his TEAM—

They need something more. The impossible. They need Voltron. And Shiro shoves everything he has—his will, his determination, his fear—into his Lion and out toward his teammates that he barely knows but will already die for. He pushes until he finds some flicker of beyond and then he yanks it together into being—

(Later, much later, Shiro will learn Voltron isn’t supposed to work like this. Voltron works much better, is much more powerful, when its weight is distributed evenly among its parts, not held together solely by the will and spine of the Black Paladin. Later, Shiro will learn that what he has been doing is supposed to be impossible. Later, his team will step up and demand to do their parts.

But that is later, not now. Now his team is in danger. Now they need a paragon, so a paragon is what he will be. Possible doesn’t even factor into it.)

* * * * *

There are layers to Voltron beyond what even they’ve seen. Shiro catches a glimpse of this when he is thrown into the astral plane with Zarkon.

And then he gets far more than a glimpse when he is trapped in it indefinitely.

The stars and nebula and massive, glowing eclipse are beautiful but haunting. Shiro stands (sits? kneels? floats?) on a glass surface that seems to change without warning. The rules seem strange and different here. Constantly doing and undoing. Thoughts drift by as light flares or comets or ripples in the fabric of space, and they feel like they should be familiar but they’re off. Written in a code he doesn’t understand, unfolding in a plane he doesn’t have access to. Everything seems wrong, disconnected from anything he understands.

Shiro is losing himself. He can’t tell it it’s the astral plane that’s being made and unmade or if that’s him. Sometimes he looks to his right and sees part of himself miles away. Sometimes he looks down and sees nothing at all. He’s losing track of what he is.

The Black Lion appears on the plane with him, huge and consuming, it’s her thoughts that are the comets and ripples in this strange place. When that doesn't comfort him, she creates an avatar of a more familiar lioness—if lionesses were pitch black and three times the size he is. The Black Lion curls around Shiro when the plane starts to waver, and Shiro buries his face in her flank. She feels like the impression of fur, the idea of flesh and blood. Not quite the real thing, but all he has. When he closes his eyes, he sees pinpricks of light in her fur, like stars in a polluted sky. She wraps around and around him, holding him tight, the only thing keeping him together.

Time doesn't have meaning beyond too long in this place. Until it does. His hand glows first—his right hand, the one that was taken from him, that he shouldn’t even be able to feel—red and warm and tingly, like gentle flames licking up his palm and onto his forearm. And then there’s tickling of grass against his fingers, movement and flickering green and vines climbing up his bicep. In one leg, he feels blue, push and pull, and cool, refreshing adaptability of water while he feels the prickling of sand against his toes in the other and solid strength of rocks building on top of each other. The sensations grow until each of his limbs glow, circling his dark and empty torso.

Empty—for now. As Shiro looks down, he sees light spark and grow, like an exploding star around his heart. It burns brighter, expanding through his chest and then covering his whole body, filling him with light and life and feeling—

(Love. Five very different flavors but it’s all love.)

—and Shiro’s back in his body again. There are strong arms around him, moonlight hair brushing his face, and voices and hands brushing over him—“We found you”—“He’s back”—and his name—

“Shiro. Shiro, Shiro, Shiro…”

* * * * *

He’s back. And he’s scared. He was scared when he went to Kerberos (excited, nervous, anticipatory). Scared when they first formed Voltron (desperate, terrified, determined). Scared in the nights when the night terrors hit him and he couldn't sleep (terrified, self-hating, horrified, violated). But now he’s scared in a brittle way. Like the fear that used to come and go has hardened into jagged plastic. He feels like the dried up mudflats in the desert, rigid and fragile, like the smallest touch could crumple him. He holds himself together with pure will and the knowledge that he has to. There’s a war to be fought and he refuses to not be apart of it.

He just isn’t sure what there is for him beyond that now.

* * * * *

Allura finds him curled up against the view screen of the observation deck. Shiro isn’t entirely surprised someone has come looking for him or that she’s the one who was assigned to find him. He’s both grateful and embarrassed that she’s the one who has to see this.

She crosses her legs as she sits down—the diplomatic dress rarely makes an appearance in these days of constant battle—and settles down beside him.

“The others are worried about you. Apparently you said some things in Voltron that were… concerning.”

They’ve gotten better at utilizing Voltron in the passing months, which includes a greater amount of synchronicity between their minds. And, consequently, access to a level of Shiro’s thoughts that he’d rather they didn’t have access to.

“I’m not suicidal.”

“You are not?” Allura’s voice is carefully non-judgmental.

“I don’t want to die,” says Shiro fiercely. “I won’t if I don’t have to. I’ve just accepted the inevitable.”

Shiro’s made a deal with the universe: his life for the life and safety of his paladins. He’s aware the universe doesn’t work like that, so he will make it make good on that deal. He refuses to accept anything less.

“I understand,” says Allura. “Coran was worried about that in me as well.”

Shiro believes her. He wishes he didn’t because if Allura understands, that means she knows the pain and darkness he’s fighting against every day, and he doesn’t want anyone to have to know that, let alone someone he deeply cares about. But Allura does know and does understand, and Shiro suspects that’s why she’s the one who came here in the first place.

Allura cups his jaw. Shiro doesn’t flinch as she brushes her thumb over the stubble on his cheek. Her expression is filled with some kind of emotion that Shiro is scared to put a name to. But words aren’t necessary because she leans forward and presses her lips against his.

“Allura,” breathes Shiro as she pulls back, just a little. Her hand is still cradling his jaw.

“Coran told me I needed something to live for beyond the war,” she says. “That’s what it is for me.”

She says it simply, like she isn’t worried at all, but Shiro knows her too well to believe that completely.

“I…” Shiro reaches up and covers her hand with his. She’s so beautiful. And strong and brave and flawed but somehow that just makes him love her more.

(Shiro’s not sure when he decided he loved her, but it’s a truth that has beat in his heart for so long, it’s hard to imagine it was anything but a foregone conclusion.)

“I don’t think… Allura, my head’s still such a mess. I’m not—I don’t think I can.”

Shiro doesn’t think he could manage a relationship right now. Even if he wants to. There’s so much right now. So much stress and demands on his (their) time. And so much he needs to work through before he can open himself up to another person the way he knows he would need to.

“I know,” says Allura, still so calm. If he were anyone else, he might miss the water gathering in her eyes.

Shiro takes her hand, folds his fingers over hers, and presses it close to his heart. Then he leans forward and kisses her back, just as gently and lovingly as she did him. “It’s not you.”

When he pulls back, Allura’s lips are trembling. He wishes he could pull her into his arms, comfort her, brush all the sadness away, but there’s too much storming—inside him, outside them, in the universe.

“Maybe…” He hesitates, cognizant of promises he can’t keep.

But Allura reads him anyway. “...Later? After the war?”

Shiro swallows. He rubs his thumb over her knuckles, still holding her hand close.

Allura’s fingers dig into his shirt as she leans forward. “Then after,” she says, her intensity giving away her emotions. “You’re right—there’s too much going on right now. But after, when we have time. We can try then.”

Shiro wants—he aches with how much he wants. But he shakes his head. “I don’t think that either of us are capable of keeping that promise.”

“Then I protect you, and you protect me,” says Allura. “We keep each other safe.” She glances down, voice softer. “I never want to lose you again.”

Shiro’s heart falls. He squeezes her hand, assurance that he can’t guarantee. “I don’t want to lose you either.”

Allura looks up at him. “So…until then? Promise?”

They’re dancing around what they should say. And, Shiro realizes, on Allura’s end at least it’s deliberate.

Shiro will absolutely regret it if he dies before he can tell her he loves her. By setting this boundary, she’s saying he has to survive (they both do) until he can.

Shiro gently sets her hands back in her lap. And then he presses a lingering kiss to her forehead because even if he can’t say it, she has to know she’s loved. And by him.

“Okay. Promise.”

* * * * *

The war doesn’t end neatly in a final battle against Zarkon. Or Hagar. Or Lotor. There’s Sendak and other generals. And then there’s warlords. And unrest caused by the sudden power vacuum. And rebuilding an inter-galactic political system. There’s pockets of Galra control scattered across the universe that may take decades to eradicate completely.

But gradually…things slow down. They aren’t constantly watching their back anymore. There are other forces besides Voltron fighting for good. The universe isn’t on the brink of destruction, and Shiro makes the call it’s time to bring the paladins home.

(They’ll go back out there, they all know. There’s still so much work to be done, and Shiro knows his team too well to assume they’ll be satisfied letting someone else do it. But for the time being, they’ve earned a break.)

Emotions are high and bright and excited as they travel to Earth’s the solar system. Lance is chattering a million words a minute. Pidge has both her father and her brother around her, projecting a map tracking their distance to Earth. Hunk is excitedly listing the foods he missed, and even Keith looks excited, though he seems wary of Lance’s promise to introduce him to every single member of his family. Coran is practicing his “earthling slang” and almost certainly getting it wrong on purpose. Traveling will take at least a day, and they are all gathered together in the kitchen to wait it out. Shiro slips out and makes his way to the bridge.

Allura is there alone. She has charts up, monitoring the wormhole’s progress and documents listing out trade agreements. Useful stuff, but certainly not urgent.

“Hey,” says Shiro.

Allura jumps like she wasn’t expecting anyone to find her, and when she smiles, it’s small. “Hello.”

Shiro’s heart hurts. This is hard for her, he knows, even if she tries to hide it. He wishes he could make it better, but he doesn’t know how. He can’t keep his paladins from their families, and he knows Allura would never ask them to. But the fact of the matter is, they get to go home, and she never will. He doesn’t know how to make that not hurt.

But true to form, Allura quickly pulls herself together. She scrolls through one of her screens though Shiro would be surprised if she actually read any of it.

She offers Shiro a glance as he approaches her. “The war is over.”

“True,” says Shiro.

There’s awe and a little bit of shock coloring both their voices. Astonishment that it finished, and they’re both still here.

Allura smiles at him against, and it’s barely stronger than the first time. “You finally get to go back to Earth.”

“Yes,” says Shiro, stepping in front of her. “But that’s not what I’m looking forward to.”

“It’s not?” Allura finally dismisses her screens and gives him her full attention.

Shiro steps onto the dais with her. He feels nervous—it’s been so long since their conversation in the observatory—but he forces himself forward. There’s a lock of hair that’s fallen in front of Allura’s face. Shiro catches it and tucks it behind her ear, fingers lingering against her skin.

“No. It’s not.”

In hindsight, Allura’s reaction is exactly what he should have expected. For a moment, she’s frozen, staring at him mouth partly open. And then she explodes into him, arms wrapping around his neck, kissing him like she’s been waiting her entire life for this. Shiro holds her close and kisses her like the same is true for him. Maybe it is.

They still don’t know what the future holds or who they are beyond the war, but that’s okay because they have each other. They made it through.

And now they’ve got all the time in the universe to figure it out.

#shallura #shalluraweek 2020 #post s2 au #one true black paladin shiro #mckinlily writes: vld fic

[fangirlauthor]

A Rip in Time Chapter 2

Hello again! Like I said, there’s a link to this work on ao3 if you’d like to read it on there. Check the masterpost to find it. 

Assuming, that is, that future Matt Holt ever stopped eating. It didn’t seem like he would - he was currently shovelling an insane number of donuts into his mouth at high speeds; he was clearly one of two things: extremely hungry, or excited about donuts. The reality was both. Not only was (future) Matt Holt hungry, it had also been a long time since he’d seen a donut, much less had one. 

“Are ye done yet, kid? We’ve got questions.” Commander Iverson glared at the kid - well, at Matt; kid didn’t really fit anymore. 

“Almost,” said future Matt Holt through a mouthful of donuts. “And I’m sure I’ve got answers, Commander.” Swallowing, Matt added, “There’s a lot to go through, so I’m going to need the devices I brought with me.”

“You aren’t getting those until we figure out what they are.”

“They’re databases that I’ve stored visual aids on, Commander. Nothing dangerous, basically the alien equivalent of a stored powerpoint.” 

Iverson shook his head. “Still need to get them cleared first.”

“Then I guess I’ll be eating donuts until you do.”

Iverson practically growled at that. Other Matt, Sam, and Shiro - watching from behind a two-way mirror - glanced at each other and did their best to hold in their laughter. It wasn’t a joke, and if it had been it wouldn’t’ve been a funny one, but confusion has an interesting effect on one’s sense of humor. 

Two hours later, someone managed to stop by with the devices future Matt Holt had brought with him. At that point, Iverson escorted future Matt to the debriefing room where several people - including the members of the Kerberos mission (and Adam, Katie, and Colleen Holt) were already waiting. 

“Alright, kid. What’s this all about?” asked Iverson. “We’d like the short version, please.”

“Of course, Commander. That’s why I needed my trusty visual aids to keep me on track.”

Taking a deep breath, Matt tapped the Altean device, triggering a holographic image of Kerberos to appear. “Everything you think you know is about to change. There’s an entire universe out there - and there’s more to it than we could ever have imagined. Years ago - for me, anyway - Kerberos was the farthest a human had ever traveled. The mission was supposed to be an embodiment of everything we had achieved, of how far humanity had advanced. Instead, it turned into a showing of how little we really knew.” A breath as everyone in the room waited for him to continue. “The Kerberos mission was successful up until a single point - and it was a big one.” 

Matt tapped the device projecting an image of Kerberos, and a video feed began to play. It was the video recorded during the Kerberos mission, the one that had proved to Katie Holt that the Galaxy Garrison was lying to everyone about what had really happened on Kerberos. After it played, Matt had the transmission the Galaxy Garrison had picked up play as well. 

The room was full of shocked faces, Sam, Matt and Shiro most of all - Adam, standing slightly behind and away from Shiro, reached out as if to touch Shiro on the shoulder, stopping at the last moment. 

“What-” Iverson began, but (future) Matt cut him off with a wave of his hand. 

“I’m not quite finished yet, Commander.” He smiled, but it was thin and very clearly fake. Old memories are painful to remember at the best of times, and this most certainly could not be considered the best of times. 

“Once the Galaxy Garrison caught that video and transmission, they told the public a lie - they claimed the Kerberos mission had crashed due to pilot error, and left it at that. A military funeral - closed casket because there weren’t any bodies - was held, during which the,” - here his voice broke slightly - “family members and loved ones were allowed to say goodbye. For the next few years, the world believed that Takashi Shirogane, Matt Holt, and Sam Holt were dead. Some people had suspicions that the Galaxy Garrison wasn’t telling the truth, but most of them kept quiet. My sister was not one of them - in a sense, anyway. She illegally hacked into the Galaxy Garrison’s computers and managed to see that footage before she was caught and banned from the premises. An amount of time later, she ran away and - also illegally - enrolled in the Galaxy Garrison as Pidge Gunderson, and cut her hair to add to the illusion. 

“Another amount of time later - sorry for not knowing the specifics, I was busy trying not to die on an alien ship - Shiro escaped from the aliens that had captured us, the ones known as the Galra. He crashed on Earth, near the Galaxy Garrison. The Garrison wanted him sedated and quarantined, but he had an urgent message and begged them to listen to him. They didn’t but before they could completely sedate him, former Garrison cadet Keith Kogane broke into the Galaxy Garrison and, with help from a few other cadets - including my sister - got him out and safely away from pursuing Garrison forces. 

“There they discovered a secret cavern and an alien ship - the Blue Lion. Shiro, Pidge, Lance, Hunk, and Keith ended up leaving the planet on the ship once it activated for Lance. At that point, they accidentally traveled through a wormhole and discovered what Voltron was. I’m not going to go into specifics of how, exactly, they managed to get there, but know that they did. And the universe is in a much better place because of it. 

“Voltron is a superweapon, and the universe’s only hope. It is made of five mechanical lions, piloted by the five paladins. Because of some strange - we’ll call it magic - known as Altean Alchemy, the lions are practically sentient beings; they choose their paladins, and they activate only for those they choose to. Working as a team, the five paladins - and the lions they are in - can fight separately or form Voltron. The current paladins are as follows: in the black lion, Keith, in the red lion, Lance, in the green lion, Pidge, in the yellow lion, Hunk, and in the blue lion, Allura, who is an alien and not someone you’d know.” Here (future) Matt paused for another breath, ignoring the stunned faces around him. “Don’t worry, Commander, I’ll make this last part quick. 

“Together, the paladins have worked together to save the universe an impressive number of times. They’ve faced robeasts, fleets of starships, and have adapted at an incredible speed for people who were thrown into this world without warning. I’m not going to go into detail about each battle they’ve fought because there’s not enough time, but know this; each of the paladins has proven time and time again that they are willing to do whatever it takes - and I mean whatever it takes - to save the universe. They are heroes, and they are a symbol of hope to the entire universe. 

“Right now, a time slip is occurring - people from my time are going to start appearing here, where you are. This includes some less-than-friendly aliens, but also allies as well. Some chaotically accurate math informed us that I’d be the first here - so, as I have done, I was to inform you generally of what has occurred in the future. I’m also supposed to - and plan on - helping bolster the defenses on this planet so we’ll be a little more prepared when the bad guys start arriving. I’m going to need your full cooperation for this, though - can I expect that, or am I going to have to go rogue again?”

Everyone stared at him, shock coating their features. “I’ll, uh, give you a moment,” (future) Matt said awkwardly, deactivating the device still projecting photos of the five paladins (and Shiro). 

Several moments later, Sam said, “So the first time we encountered alien lifeforms, they were hostile?”

(Future) Matt nodded. “The Galra Empire goes through the universe and colonizes - or destroys - plants and their inhabitants are usually forced to work for the empire. There is a small group of galra known as the Blade of Marmora that the Voltron Coalition works closely with. They’re on our side. Heck, one of their members is a paladin.”

Iverson asked a more pragmatic question. “And there are hostile aliens coming here? Because of this time slip?”

(Future) Matt nodded. “They’re coming, but so are the paladins and the Atlas. There’s not a lot we’ll be able to do to prepare before they get here - assuming Slav’s math is correct - but we’ll do what we can. I’ll do what we can.”

“Alright,” said Iverson. “What do we need to do?”

#voltron #vld #tagging with spoilers again just in case #spoilers #vld spoilers #matt holt #shiro #commander iverson #voltron coalition #blade of marmora #pidge #katie holt #adam #adam w #allura #keith #keith kogane #is that name canon? #i don't know but i'm using it anyway #lance #lance mcclain #voltron time travel au

[hgthephoenix]

Do you think there’s more to Lance’s one-sided rivalry with Keith when they were at the Garrison ? Why do you think he started the rivalry ?

ooh, good question.

i definitely think there’s more to their rivalry xD here’s what i think:

first off, i don’t think it started right away. we’ve gotten flashbacks from their very early days at the garrison, all from Keith and Shiro’s perspectives, and based on those, it doesn’t really seem like Lance considered Keith his “rival” yet.

the one interaction we see between them in that scene is Lance warning Keith, in his own ridiculous way, about the consequences of his reckless actions.

both of them, at age ~13 or so, are MUCH less mature than they are now, but still, this is a huge reflection of where they ended up. Keith being impulsive, and Lance being the one to step in and (much more successfully) calm him down.

believe it or not in that interaction, which was probably one of their first, their dynamic was just a early version of their current relationship. they still had a LONG way to go, but Lance then was trying to help Keith out, just like he does now :’’)

Lance isn’t in any other part of those flashbacks. that episode was focused on Keith and Shiro, with a little Hunk/Keith interaction thrown in there, possibly to foreshadow the development they get later on in the season. we see Hunk’s scared reaction to Keith and James’s fight.

but we DON’T SEE LANCE’S.

Lance WAS there, he’s the one farthest over on the left:

but they chose NOT to include him in the fight scene. they included Hunk, but not Lance. 

to me, this means that we’re going to get moments of Lance at the garrison in s8, maybe even this scene again but from his perspective. i wouldn’t be surprised if this scene was not only a big moment in Keith’s character arc, but also in Lance’s.

in this scene, Lance definitely didn’t consider Keith his rival. they had yet to be sorted into groups based on their abilities, and were being evaluated by the staff, probably to see where all their individual strengths lay. but i do think that Lance was already a little jealous of Keith’s abilities here, albeit annoyed.

at some point after these flashbacks, Hunk was made an engineer, Keith a fighter pilot, and Lance a cargo pilot. and what was Lance’s biggest dream?

when Lance was made a cargo pilot, he must have been FURIOUS. 

but why pick on Keith? easy, he wanted to be just like Keith, the best pilot in their class. he admired him immensely, but obviously didn’t want to say that out loud, he couldn’t even admit it to himself, so he settled on creating their “rivalry.” and what exactly prompted this decision?

well, seeing how Lance was given Keith’s position as a fighter pilot after he got kicked out, i’m guessing that he was next in line for the spot. Keith and Lance may have been competing for the final fighter pilot spot. Keith, although he was the best flyer, had many discipline issues that obviously made the staff wary of making him a fighter pilot. Lance, on the other hand, had less skill, but was seemingly a good student (that we know of). 

and as we know, the staff ended up choosing Keith, probably causing Lance to single him out and make them “rivals.”

if this is true, i have no idea. to me that seems like the best explanation based on what we currently know, but i could be completely wrong of course lol.

i do really think that we’ll get the true answer in s8 though. why? because of what we got for everyone else’s flashbacks.

for Pidge, her arc is about family and perseverance. we got flashbacks about her efforts to sneak into the garrison to find Matt, and individual memories she had of him and her that were important to her.

with Hunk, his arc is about bravery and believing in himself. his flashbacks were with his family, and how he started believing in his engineering and mechanic abilities. we also got that one of a younger Hunk at he garrison, looking worried because James and Keith were causing trouble.

with Shiro, we saw how seemingly perfect his life was pre-Kerberos, and how he selflessly helped and mentored Keith. but we saw how even great leaders like him have flaws, and that even Shiro does not have a perfect life, what with Adam and his degenerative disease.

Allura, we haven’t gotten SPECIFIC flashbacks for, and i wouldn’t be surprised if we got more in s8. but we HAVE seen her interact with her father’s hologram in s1, and saw her as a baby, during Coran’s story of the paladins of old. her interactions with her father were about leadership, the premise of her arc.

Keith, we got flashbacks of his infancy with Krolia and his dad. then we learned how Shiro took him in and the influence he had on Keith. Shiro helped him learn to believe in himself, and became the brother he never had.

i guess i’m trying to say that they don’t just stick flashbacks in for no reason. everyone else’s flashbacks were important parts of their stories, and Lance’s will be too. and with Lance, the most important thing to him was being a fighter pilot. so we will definitely learn more about his journey at/leading up to him becoming a fighter pilot, which no doubt will include how Keith fits in and how he started the rivalry.

their stories are intertwined.

Lance’s flashbacks are going to include this, no doubt. there’s no way they would leave this huge plot hole: the storywriters are great, and they definitely haven’t overlooked this, especially since they included information about everyone else’s pasts in great detail.

holy shit i feel like i got so off topic…i tried to answer your question and of course it got more detailed. whoops. 🙄🙄🙄 anyway, i hope this post suffices. have a good day, and KICK. ; )

#idk who you are but you're so NICE #thank you for all the fun questions you send <3 #honestly i live for all questions #especially these bc they give me topics to write metas about #there's nothing specific i want to write about before s8 that i haven't touched on yet #so if anyone has questions or want to know my opinions or literally anything #don't hesitate to ask :))) #voltron #vld theory #klance meta #klance #fighter pilot theory #vld flashback #vld #keith #lance #500 #jes tag #asks #mercury.txt

[aro-aizawa]

anyways, since the idea won’t leave me alone here’s my pitch for a prince of the galra keith au where lotor doesn’t exist and canon is just a suggestion i guess. (under a cut part ways in bc uhhh it’s like 3.7k words. rip.)

for starters: krolia is human and zarkon’s his dad. a nightmare idea, i know bc uhhhh the same thing that occurs w thinking about how lotor exists is uhh “zarkon fucks?” yeah. yeah he does. which uhhhhh yeah. but bare w me here, bc he’s still an utter dick in this au and krolia is still a badass. 

in this au, krolia was married to mr shirogane and had shiro before leaving earth on a garrison solo mission to pluto. she collided with a stolen galra ship manned by a prisoner who was trying to flee the empire, though the galra ship wasn’t damaged her ship was completely destroyed but she managed to survive for the prisoner to bring her aboard. together they tried to escape the empire, but they got caught. the prisoner was executed and krolia was taken to the arena. 

(earth believes she crashed her ship in the rings of saturn, and honor her death. no solo manned missions to space anymore, and certainly not to places humans haven’t been before. it also delays plans to send more people up there, so the next manned mission isn’t until shiro’s mission to kerberos. mr shirogane dies a five years before that mission.)

there she fought viciously and won literally every single one of her fights with only a dagger she’d earned early on in her battles. even when they provided bigger weapons, she always came on top with just a knife which earned her high praise and approval. enough to gain zarkon’s attention. 

idk why but he forces her to marry him, and when shiro’s 9 years old and krolia’s been in space for 5 years, keith’s born. he doesn’t actually go by keith at this point though because i doubt zarkon would let krolia name him that. not quite sure on what he’d go by though i quite like kyix of discordiansamba’s burgundy. krolia wanted to name him keith, and so calls him that when they’re alone as a secret nickname. 

keith doesn’t look fully human. a la lotor style i guess, he looks human but has purple skin and yellow sclera. pointy zarkon-ish ears and fangs. he’s still tiny as fuck though and doesn’t grow, to which he’s furious about bc galra are big and he’s a shorty but no one mentions it to his face otherwise he’d stab them right where they stand. 

krolia tries her best to raise him w good morals and lessen zarkon’s influence on him but she doesn’t fully manage it. he’s willing to please zarkon even if he’s not cruel about it, and he does wish for the best for the empire but knowing that his father’s reigned for over ten thousand years, he knows he’s probably never going to sit on the throne himself. doesn’t prevent him from getting all the training a prince would need (including a lot of combat training). 

he’s never told much about earth because krolia finds it hard to talk about. she does tell him about humans as a species and teaches him the three earth languages she knows, korean (her native language), japanese (mr shirogane’s native language) and english. she especially doesn’t tell him about shiro, but she does say that she left a husband and her family behind on earth, that she misses them a lot. 

back on earth, shiro goes to kerberos when he’s 26 (two years older than canon) and they still get caught. most canonical events in the year time zone go almost exactly the same. shiro gets sent to the arena, matt and sam still get sent off to the camps before matt’s broken out by the resistance, katie goes undercover as pidge, and lance and hunk are just regular dudes, but lance is in fighter class straight off the bat. 

(to earth, shiro crashes the ship and dies just like his mother did. which is......all kinds of sad to think about.)

except when shiro lands on earth, the garrison trio decide to break shiro out on their own. they then steal a jeep and head out into the desert, finding a nice guy who owns a shack (canon keith’s father but not in this au, who im gonna call mr fireman bc he doesn’t have a canon name). he’s been doing some investigating some funky stuff (the lion), and lets the kids crash at his place bc kids shouldn’t be wandering the desert w/o any supplies at night it’s dangerous. 

anyways, the shack conversation all goes almost exactly the same w mr fireman taking keith’s place. he goes with the kids, but he doesn’t get in the blue lion, she doesn’t let him in. mr fireman parts ways with the kids friendly-like, and the four of them head off to arus. 

things.....largely? stay the same? when it comes to stealing the red lion off the ship, they actually have to get the lions to drag it out of the cargo bay because they don’t have a pilot for it but as long as the lion is out of the empire’s hands, that’s all that matters although allura does try to pilot it when sendak’s ship is destroyed. due to having no pilot, they can’t retrieve black for shiro. so they only have three active lions, but three lions are still pretty powerful. 

from there i haven’t exactly worked out all the kinks but somehow they get in contact with rebels from their steady liberation of galra-controlled planets. they do small targets, taking out the weakest on the fringe of the empire and build up footholds while building the coalition. shiro fights with them on the ground, and using the castle with coran and allura when it’s not possible. sometimes he rides along with the other paladins. 

sometime before they go the galactic hub, and skipping over crystal venom entirely, they join forces with the rebels and the coalition to pull off a mission to kill zarkon. they’d received intelligence to suggest that he’s visiting a less secure ship, to oversee a project for a few days. instead of taking the lions and just blasting the ship to pieces, they decide to infiltrate and take him out stealth like to guarantee his death. 

only the information is faulty because it’s keith there instead of zarkon. 

when they learn that keith is zarkon’s son.......they kidnap him. 

their goal was to hold him hostage and/or interrogate him for weak spots in the empire, but somehow they end up thinking “hm maybe he can be redeemed bc his dad is literally an asshole and ehhh he can’t help who his parents are?” so they give him a chance....tentatively. 

keith, seeing this huge opportunity to sabotage his father’s greatest opponents and eventually steal the lions back for his father, takes this absolutely for granted and fakes his redemption. he basically pulls a lotor, and ends up helping them in certain areas but sabotaging them in others. he’s unable to report back to his father for spying purposes, but he does leave clues and/or hints to weaknesses somehow. all the while, the real reason for these things going wrong isn’t thought of. 

all the while, the paladins are trying to bond with keith. trying to get him to redeem himself, and they end up really liking him even though he’s still rather a loner, doesn’t pretend to be nice and trains like every day. he particularly gets along with shiro, the two of them forming a close bond that keith had not planned or counted on. 

allura is the only one who’s still suspicious of keith. she’s not....hostile. not really, she pretty much acts like she does in canon when keith’s heritage gets out. though they do have a few moments where they could maybe see eye to eye. she’s still apprehensive and unwilling to think that zarkon’s son could be anything but evil. 

this pays off when she investigates a major hit to the castle that renders it unfit for battle for a time and finds that keith was responsible for it. 

at this point, keith has been seriously reconsidering his allegiances. thinking that maybe the right thing to do really was to redeem himself and help out voltron and coalition. he’s not completely blind to the shitty things zarkon did, he’s well aware but he figures that maybe getting his father’s approval isn’t worth all the suffering of others nor something to desire. 

allura attacks keith and calls him out in front of everyone. providing evidence of literally all the times that keith’s fucked them all over. the team feel betrayed, keith is super guilty, and allura’s just pissed. keith doesn’t get a chance to explain before he’s thrown into a prison cell on the castle to wait until voltron can contact the coalition and decide what to do with him because it’s clear that zarkon hasn’t exactly been hurrying to find him. 

but then zarkon attacks the castle of lions with a massive fleet headed by haggar, a force that’s way too much for just three lions to take on while the castle’s defenses are still down. the whole team is in trouble and it pretty much starts to seem like zarkon’s gonna win and the paladins are gonna get killed. 

until the red lion reaches out for keith. 

so he breaks out of prison (that he could have done within minutes of being confined there), and heads to the hangar. he jumps in and uses the element of surprise to disable the fleet enough to make them need to retreat. 

the paladins are freaking out because uhhhh who the hell is the pilot of the lion? they do a little sound off like “allura that’s not you? coran? shiro?” but then keith uses the lion to communicate and basically says “sorry i broke out jail”. 

when they get back to the castle keith awkwardly does a heartfelt explanation of his plans and how the paladins actually did sort of make him want to redeem himself and realise just how much zarkon needs to get murked and stuff. he apologises for fucking them over and he even offers to go with whatever punishment they decide to dish out with no retaliation. 

the team go off and talk for a while. debating if they could really trust him anymore. allura is adamantly against it, pissed off that he’d already betrayed her trust after all zarkon did and the fact he piloted her father’s lion. lance joins her, upset he trusted him at all. pidge and hunk are apprehensive, pointing out that the lion must have seen the good in him to choose him. shiro believes in what keith’s saying and has faith in the kid to actually redeem himself. 

they tell him he can stay but the only reason he’s not dead and/or serving time in prison is bc he’s the red paladin. they make a lot of rules about what he’s allowed to do and not to do though, which keith doesn’t enjoy but he doesn’t complain about them. one of them is that he’s only allowed to fight the empire in the red lion and no on the ground stuff. 

now that the team have the red lion’s paladin they awaken the black lion and they form voltron for the first time. it’s badass, and the liberating of planets goes even faster than before. 

the paladins start to bond again even slower than before bc they need to rebuild that trust. it goes....pretty rockily considering the fact that keith is still pretty prickly in personality, and the others aren’t entirely convinced he’s actually changed sides. but shiro is essentially the only one that actually makes any headway in rebuilding the trust/relationship. 

one night he asks about keith’s mom. bc human far out in space? as far as the team knew there should have only been them and the holts, so he’s definitely curious. keith tells him about a pilot who’d been picked up in their solar system after their ship got destroyed and took them as prisoner. he tells shiro all about his mom and what she taught him of earth. 

but shiro. he starts to wonder who on earth this pilot was. because, uh, only very few pilots have gone missing in space and one of them is important to him. so he asks her name. keith replies krolia. shiro asks “as in...krolia kogane?” and keith’s like yeah. 

shiro mentally freaks out, doing mental acrobats all over the place but his thoughts mostly boiling down to a mixture of “HOLY SHIT MY MOM’S ALIVE” and “HOLY SHIT I HAVE A HALF-BROTHER WHO’S AN ALIEN PRINCE”. he manages not to let keith know he’s freaking out, and excuses himself. 

they end up doing a covert blood test and yup keith is shiro’s half brother. this earns him points in “okay yeah he’s capable of change if we warm up to him”, so the team start to treat him more favorably, not that keith is aware of this new revelation. so it’s common knowledge to the ship minus keith. shiro tries even harder to bond w his little brother, bc uhhh yeah he’s never had a little brother and he definitely likes keith so far even though he was a little evil for a while. 

keith at some point expresses to shiro why he’s fine with not telling zarkon that keith’s on the paladins’ side. that his mother would most likely be killed for turning him against zarkon due to the fact that paladins are humans, and that she’s still at central command completely unable to get away. like a glorified prisoner because, well, she is. 

shiro suggests to the team that they pull off a rescue mission to free krolia, not only for keith’s sake but for shiro’s sake too. plus the fact that she’d been a prisoner for twenty three years. which then kicks of the finale of season 1. (yes we’re still in season 1. it should have been way longer than it actually was.)

things go largely the same, except that in allura’s place it’s krolia. when keith charges at zarkon his identity is revealed to him. they manage to rescue krolia, keith fights zarkon and thace destroys the shield holding them in place. they don’t go through a corrupted wormhole though. 

then there’s a cute heartfelt reunion between keith and krolia. during which keith emotes more than he ever has in front of the paladins, who have pretty much all accepted that yep keith’s a good guy now considering he almost fought to the death with zarkon. 

but then shiro steps up and calls krolia mom which confuses the fuck out of keith, the only one who doesn’t know. krolia shakily says “Kashi?” and they tearfully hug, krolia completely caught off guard that her other son wasn’t on earth where she left him. keith is confusion until krolia explains, and keith asks if that means shiro is his brother. they say yes and they have a big old threeway hug, to which lasts for like an hour because its big family bonding time. everyone is happy for them.

you’d think, huh is this the end of the au? this is pretty long already.....nope!! we’re just getting started!!! (this thing is a monster......hence why im never going to even attempt to write it out lmao)

we go into season 2 where krolia starts to talk to the others about the rebel galra group that she helped and kind of joined called the blade of marmora. she tells them that there was a galra named thace who kept her in the loop about keith, and the goings on of voltron. she tells them that they would be a very good ally in the fight against zarkon. 

shiro then backs this story up with his memory of how ulaz helped him escape jail, and says that they should trust them. the team tentatively agree, but decide not to immediately go to them and focus more on building the coalition. krolia pulls keith aside and gives them a knife that they had given her to protect herself as zarkon prohibited her to carry weapons. its keith’s marmora blade that she was unable to activate because of her lack of galra blood, but they gave it to her to protect herself anyways. 

canon largely stays the same for a while. zarkon still does the tracking thing, except when allura and keith go out in a pod, krolia comes with them. they have a little thing where they make clear with each other where they stand and end up having a little fun despite the tense atmosphere until the castle is attacked by zarkon.

when the team meet up with the blades, keith demands why they didn’t help krolia themselves. they’d already proved with shiro that they could free prisoners if they wanted to, and demands to know why they didn’t risk it for krolia. he wants to know why they never took a bigger part in taking down the empire and why they never stepped forwards to work with voltron themselves instead of letting the team come to them. 

kolivan says that he only gets the answers, an alliance between them and gets to keep the blade if he joins as a member of their order and take the trials. keith accepts. the rest of the blades however, don’t like the idea that the son of zarkon was joining up and taking the trials. but when keith passes and pretty much immediately tries to kill memory zarkon on sight, he proves himself to them. the blades ally with the coalition and voltron. 

again, season 2 goes quite a lot like canon. except!!! in the finale they actually do end up killing zarkon along with haggar and shiro doesn’t go missing! hurray!!! 

but. that means with no prince lotor, and a dead zarkon instead of comatose zarkon, there’s no one to lead the empire. hence a kral zera is called. 

(here is where i mention i have vague memories of s3 onwards and haven’t seen past s4. so i don’t...actually know how most canon events from here on out go in explicit detail. its all pretty vague.)

the plan from there is for keith to attend and win. if he gets crowned the new emperor, he could officially announce the end of the war, and significantly reduce the amount of fighting the resistance would have to do to bring peace to the known universe. the coalition & blades don’t fully trust keith however, thinking that once keith is on the throne he’ll just betray them. 

keith understands and explains he doesn’t actually want the throne. he suggests that they just kill everyone on the planet when the kral zera is called, with no more candidates, the empire will be severely fractured and would still be easier to defeat than having a leader. in the end, they go with the idea of having keith become emperor, but the coalition there in case people fight back against his orders. 

keith wins, some back down and obey and some don’t. the coalition and voltron take down those that fight back, and from there it’s a lot of “keith orders galra to release planets and those that don’t, get liberated by the resistance”. its a lot of politics where keith frees all the prisoners of the empire, lets them get back to their home planets and finds sam returning him to pidge and matt. 

he sets up a colony in an empty solar system for the civilian galra to live governed by the blades, while he sees to it that those that were soldiers are put on trial and punished for their various crimes. 

again, still not entirely sure what happens in late canon, but i guess from there it does the whole...sendak takes earth thing? but it’s actually a pretty easy mission considering they have the might of the entire coalition (which is almost the entire universe at that point) and the blades and voltron. but after the defeat of sendak there pretty much isn’t any opposing galra resistance to keith’s reign? so from then on it’s just the paladins, allura, coran and krolia back on earth experiencing things. 

krolia busts into the garrison like “hey guess who’s not dead! also meet my alien son who’s king of an entire race of people, and my other son who’s leader of the universe’s most powerful weapon also with a sick glowing arm”. the garrison sweats under the pure power and skill the three of them exude. especially when krolia utterly annihilates all records on their simulators/actual ships. and then keith and shiro join in on it too and they end up giving them all the awards and accolades bc no one is going to top that ever. 

the paladins go to disneyland. keith is still technically emperor but considering the blades have been overseeing all galra activity anyways, he’s not really needed. so he just bums around earth for a while, getting to know the other half of his heritage that he never really got to. 

krolia meets mr fireman and they end up getting together bc krolia deserves good things and a desert hermit who helped get shiro back into space and eventually to her with is a good thing. they still live out in the shack tho bc mr fireman is committed to it at that point, bc he ended up living there through sendak’s invasion pretty well. 

and then uh i think that’s pretty much it. keith is a normal teenager, allura and coran get puzzled by human shit, lance reconnects w his family, hunk does too and cooks a bunch of food and pidge works w the garrison in making it less shitty while also just tagging along with whatever dumb things they decide to experience. 

end of au!!!!

#shut up danni #voltron #long post #jesus this thing is long as fuck #now do i tag shit so that people will actually see this thing im really really proud of or do i just...not in an attempt to make it seem #like i don't really care about this au even tho i worked hard on it #bc i don't wanna try too hard but uhhhhhhhh #keith kogane #voltron legendary defenders #prince keith kogane #i guess i'll throw down a few tags #idk if they'll work but worth a shot i guess #hey #hey if you like voltron pls reblog this i worked hard for like an hour or two to write this out #idk my general writing tag

[hi-i-love-u-bitch]

Yo demons! It’s me, ya girl, back at it again with more of the epic gay disaster romance that is the Shiro/Kogane and McClain siblings!

Krolia is endlessly frustrated as to why her stupid kids won’t just be straight forward with their equally stupid crushes.

Keith: (half jokingly) We physically can’t.

Krolia: Listen here you little shits...

Meanwhile, Mama McClain keeps trying to invite them over for dinner so that she can properly meet her children’s significant others.

Repeatedly, Adam, Veronica, and Lance have to tell her that they aren’t together...yet.

Mama McClain: Well hurry up will you, I wanna meet my future children-in-laws

Lance, Veronica, & Adam: Mama! O///O

After the whole epic battle with the Galra it takes Adam and Shiro a whole two months to properly talk to each other.

Not that they haven’t before but it was usually all business in a room full of other people. And even when they were alone it was for no more then five minutes, either discussing their next plan of attack or sitting in awkward silence.

It was their siblings that kept pushing them to talk to each other because although it was funny to see them fumbling around it was much more painful to see their older brothers still in love but feel too guilty to ever think the other would forgive them.

They started off with small hellos at the coffee station in the cafeteria which slowly escalated into small talk in the halls, cracking jokes during meetings, then finally The Big Talk.

It was all very emotional but that does not mean it fixed everything immediately. It was a good foundation to start fixing thing and getting back to were they use to be. Sure it wouldn’t be the same as before but it would be stronger with a better understanding of each other.

Before Kerberos, when they were still cadets in training and would sometimes be sent to separate training camps, they would write letters to each other. Since, during the training camps no electronics would be aloud letter became a special sort of comfort for them even after they completed training.

After escaping Galra imprisonment and finding the Castle of Lions Shiro began writing letters to Adam everyday. Even though he couldn’t send them he kept them safe so that if one day they returned back to earth he’d be able to give them to Adam himself.

Meanwhile, back on earth, Adam did the same, writing since the day Shiro left to Kerberos until the day he came back.

Shiro gives Adam his first letter after their Talk and Adam almost breaks down crying then and their before rushing back to his dorm and bringing back a letter of his own.

Shiro does break down crying

From then on they start exchanging letters everyday, slowly learning more about each other during their time apart and how it impacts them now.

Obviously, with the whole timey wimey bullshit that happened Adam has more letters to give but that doesn’t mean Shiro’s letters were less treasured.

Shiro, reading Adam’s letter: But honestly if Veronica hadn’t kicked Sanda’s ass I probably would of thrown hands too.

Shiro: (dreamy sigh)

Acxa & Keith: ???

Adam, reading Shiro’s letter: Never did I think I’d become a dysfunctional single father of five plus Coran until after we got married but here we are.

Adam: (fond smile)

Veronica & Lance: wtf???

Allura helps build a new training room for the Galaxy Garison and of course the Shiro/Kogane siblings flock to it like moths to a flame.

Which of course attracts the McClain siblings who secretly drool over them by the sidelines.

And by secrete I mean everyone notices except Shiro, Acxa, and Keith.

And of course Lance, being the chaotic disaster bisexual that he is, has a brilliant plan...

Lance, bursting into the training room: Keith! I bet my sister can beat up your sister!

Veronica, with a death glare directed right at Lance letting him know he’s a dead man: Lance!

Keith, a disaster gay and also a little shit: You’re on!

Acxa, a confused space lesbian: Excuse me?!

So it turns out that all the McClains are proficient in long range shooting weapons which they can also perfectly use in close range combat.

Keith knew this, Acxa did not :)

So Acxa ends up on the floor with Veronica straddled over her, her legs pinning her arms down while she has her practice rifle aimed at Acxa’s face.

Veronica, laughing and breathless as she is still straddled over Acxa: Not bad, you’re actually a bit of a challenge unlike the rest of these losers here.

Adam & Lance: Hey!

Acxa: Acxa.exe has stopped working...

Shiro and Keith tease Acxa relentlessly afterward until she starts chasing them around the base with her spear.

Veronica kicked Lance is as in the training simulator repeatedly as pay back while Adam laughed at them from a safe distance.

Afterward, Acxa always asks Veronica to train with her under the context that: she’s trained under the guidance of elite Galra generals her whole life only to be easily taken down by a human. Clearly there was a flaw in their method so what better way to beat them then to learn from an expert.

Keith: *cough* Bullshit *cough*

And obviously Veronica accepts because since they’re allies maybe she could learn a thing or two about Galran combat which will help prepare them for another attack in the future.

Lance: *cough* Baloney *cough*

So they start meeting up twice a week to practice, even if Veronica is packed full with work she’ll MAKE time to go to practice. She usually skips out on all the useless boring meetings because fuCK YOU ADMIRAL SANDA! There’s a cute alien girl waiting for me to teach her how to do a triple flip while shooting a gun mid air and I am not about to waste my time here when I could be impressing her with my mad skills.

And yes, Acxa was very impressed (and very flustered).

So while all this is going on Keith and Lance are on the sidelines snickering to each other like “lol our siblings are so dorky and dumb pinning for each other like that. It’s so obvious that their into each other but are too dense to notice. Like how stupid is that!”

Hunk and Pidge: look into the camera like in The Office

To be continued.......maybe???

#voltron legendary defender #voltron #keith #lance #klance #shiro #adam #adam voltron #shadam #veronica voltron #veronica #acxa #veracxa #pidge #hunk #stupid gay romance #voltron headcanons #siblings au

[sol1056]

stop and un-remember this

Step away from the echo chambers of twitter and tumblr, and set aside the pockets of the internet where reviews live. Most of a show’s viewing audience -- hell, the vast majority of the US -- doesn’t reside in those places. 

For the casual viewers who make up the silent majority of almost every viewing audience, there’s minimal interest in any convention circuit, or interview, or much of anything outside Netflix’s selections. (This is one reason for having reviews and interviews showing up in a half-dozen venues, to try and grab as many low-engagement viewers as possible.) 

What that means is that, for the majority of viewers who are not as plugged-in as the core fandom, the story exists only as it’s shown on their screens. So let’s step back from JDS’ and LM’s ex-canonical explanations, and look at how the story appears when taken solely on its own merits. 

Behind the cut: five things the story doesn’t explain, and how the actual narrative might appear to a casual viewer. 

1. Shiro has a degenerative disease; while perhaps not terminal, it does sound inevitably debilitating. 

This is quite a bombshell, and it’s never mentioned again. Nothing in the story offsets or contradicts what Shiro -- or anyone else -- says in S7E1 about how much longer he’s got. 

SHIRO: I’ll only be able to maintain my peak condition for a couple more years.

This is underscored by the series’ use of timeframes (to a greater degree than any previous season). We know Shiro spent a year as a prisoner, and from Pidge’s later comment about ‘four years’, we can deduce it’s been another year since then, plus a magical three-year timeskip in the return to Earth. 

That means that for casual viewers, the season is shadowed by this assumption that Shiro has an expiration date -- and it’s not that far off in the future.

2.  Keith inexplicably stops pressuring Shiro to take position as Black Paladin.

Nothing is said anywhere as to why Shiro is no longer tied to Black nor the Black Paladin. The closest we get to even a nod in that direction is when all but the five current paladins are frozen, in S7E6.

ALLURA: Coran is frozen as well. Our paladin armor must have protected us from the shock.

The problem is Shiro’s wearing armor, too, and he’s also frozen. That single line (and his exclusion from the bulk of that episode) seems to stand in for the message that Shiro is no longer a paladin. 

At the same time, S7 had a complete absence of any protest from Keith. We’ve had 50+ episodes of Keith insisting -- even when all evidence pointed to Shiro’s death -- that Shiro remained the Black Paladin.

KEITH: Shiro is gone. He was the Black Lion.

A casual viewer might decide Keith’s silence in S7 meant Keith realized he’d been wrong all along. That in fact, the mantle of Black Paladin passed to Keith upon Shiro’s “death,” and the clone taking Black was another indication of the clone’s wrongness. That is, the clone stole Shiro’s memories and appearance, and Keith’s position as Black Paladin. 

3.  Shiro’s physical abilities are downgraded significantly.

Most of the fight scenes across S7, Shiro does little, if he’s even present at all. Krolia lampshades this by saying Shiro’s still recovering.

KROLIA: No, you’re still recovering. I’ll do it.

And in the last stretch of S7, Shiro’s contribution amounts to telling other people what to do; his previous physicality is reduced to acting as a conduit for Sam to hack his brain. And finally, Sendak defeats Shiro easily, compared to S1 where Shiro fought him to a draw. 

A casual viewer might thus assume Shiro himself chose (offscreen) to refuse Black’s position, between adjusting to a new body and the last stages of a genetic disease (since a clone with identical memories would reasonably also have identical physical aspects). 

4. Shiro has the clone’s body, but not the clone’s memories.

In S7E1, the high-drama element is whether his awareness can fix itself to an unfamiliar body. Shiro calls out the clone-situation only once. 

SHIRO: Well, I'm sorry, Lance, but I guess having my consciousness transplanted from the infinity of Voltron's inner quintessence into the dead body of an evil clone of myself has left me a little out of sorts for the past few weeks. 

Later, Shiro mentions his “disappearance,” and says dealing with the long dark passage alone required adopting routines. He never references any events that happened during his absence. The narrative is pretty clear, so it’d be reasonable to conclude the two had completely separate experiences, and Shiro has none of the clone’s memories. 

In short: Kuron was evil, is now dead, and has no further influence on events.  

5. While we’re at it, a casual viewer might be unaware of the intended subtext of Shiro’s relationship with Adam. 

Yes, yes, I’ve seen all the arguments that say it’s supposed to be coded as romantic, but it’s full of contradictions that create a certain ambiguity. For one, they’re in the officer’s club, with other people present. Second, although Adam asks what he means to Shiro, his next line could imply a long-term partnership of a military kind. 

ADAM: Every mission, every drill, I’ve been right there with you.

Although the EPs/writers seem to put family together to a frightening degree that a modern military would never condone --- Matt and Sam on the mission to Kerberos, Veronica going with Lance to the battlefield --- that’s just not the assumption the average person is going to make. 

In writing, you always put last what you want to stick in the reader’s mind. The order here leaves room for viewers to skip over any implications in the first line to linger on the second, which could be ambiguously platonic. A viewer not actively looking for queer representation could interpret this as Adam being afraid for his best friend, and possibly a bit jealous at being left behind. 

At no point -- in that first episode, or later, when Shiro learns of Adam’s death -- does anyone speak of their relationship. Nowhere does Shiro even put a word to it. If casual viewers had already coded them as best friends or near-brothers, Shiro’s grief is still comprehensible and relatable. In some ways, the platonic aspect of other pop-culture bromances (ie Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers) are just as strong, with mourning just as severe. 

Honestly, there was more in a few lines’ exchange between Ezor and Zethrid to indicate a romantic relationship than there was in all of the Shiro/Adam interactions or references. “I’ll always take care of you” and “that’s my girl” are pretty unambiguous, especially given the character designs (and previous interactions) make it pretty clear these two are not siblings. 

And --- unlike with Adam and Shiro --- they’re storyboarded with a certain intimacy. They’re alone, and Zethrid gets in close in Ezor’s personal space, with Ezor neither pushing her away nor recoiling. 

ZETHRID: Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.

If casual viewers had heard anything in passing about LGBT+ rep in VLD, it’s entirely possible they could’ve assumed this was the rep intended. Of course, both die in a fiery explosion not long after, but who’s counting. 

in the absence of in-story explanation

It seems to me that a casual viewer --- lacking the EPs’ explanations --- might have found S7 somewhat confounding. Is Shiro now unable (or not allowed) to pilot Black because he occupies someone else’s body? Is Keith’s tacit appropriation of the Black Paladin mantle meant to signal the S4 handoff was a mistake? By virtue of his disease or his victimhood in Haggar’s schemes, is Shiro no longer qualified to be a paladin? 

The season’s also full of characters framed as though we should care as deeply about them as we do about the core protagonists. Adam, Colleen, Iverson, Sam, and a dozen or more Garrison cadets and officers, all better trained, better disciplined, and better equipped than Voltron itself. They not only get two episodes of backstory (twice what Voltron itself got), they dominate most of the second half of the season.

Meanwhile, the protagonists struggle, needing Shiro to tell them what to do; they’re almost their own worst enemies more than Sendak is. Compared to the Earth forces who rally repeatedly, the Voltron team barely hangs in there. They need Shiro’s ultra-ugly oversized insta-mecha to intervene, before Voltron can get its act together long enough to strike the killing blow.   

Honestly, it’s no surprise the first flush of audience reaction is so unhappy, if the majority were unaware of the EPs’ explanations. Almost all contradict point-blank what we see in the story itself: 

Shiro’s disease was cured during his imprisonment or cured in the cloning process, but either way he’s fine, now

The clone was neither evil nor brainwashed, just basically Shiro doing his best until Haggar struck in late S6

Shiro and the clone are now merged consciousness, with Shiro retaining his memories plus that of the clone’s

Shiro’s link to Black has been permanently broken by Allura’s transfer; he’s no longer a paladin, full stop

Shiro and Adam were in a long-term relationship, either currently engaged or heading that direction, at the time of their breakup

None of that shows up in the narrative. None of it. 

Lacking that ex-canonical information, it had to have felt as though the story’s expected trajectory was just thrown out the nearest window. Coupled with the extreme emphasis on an entirely new set of characters, I wouldn’t be surprised if casual viewers got the impression that S7 existed solely as setup for Voltron to gain a new and better set of paladins.

#vld #voltron #analysis #vld spoilers #season 7 #come for the sugar stay for the salt

[some-cookie-crumbz]

A Lil’ Pep in it

A Lil’ Pep in it Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Shance Summary: Request fill for @shiranai-atsune featuring Lance realizing he’s got a crush on Shiro! This fic is set to take place somewhere between S1 and S2, simply because I thought that’d be a good point in the story for the scene I had in mind. Sorry this took me so long to get done with, but I hope you still enjoy it! :3 Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more.

Sometimes Lance just couldn’t believe his luck. After all, how many people got to work directly with THE Takashi Shirogane?

Shiro, as they had all been informed to address him since falling under his command, had a well-deserved reputation as the best pilot to ever be turned out by the Garrison. The guy was naturally gifted, sure, but there was more to it than that! He had taken the time to hone that natural skill, to give it the care and attention needed to improve to the point he was breaking record after record. There was something undeniably admirable about that kind of dedication and tenacity. Lance himself had always felt like a part him belonged to the sky and stars, almost as much as he felt at ease in the gentle lull of waves on the beach back home.

And watching Shiro’s progress from the outside had only inspired him to work that much harder himself. He’d always dreamed that maybe, someday, he’d get to meet the Garrison’s golden boy.

After leading the mission to break Shiro out of the Garrison base and going space-bound in the Blue Lion, however, he was given more than just the chance to meet Shiro. No, instead, he was working directly under the man that had a huge hand in guiding Lance’s path in life. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected when he first got the chance to be the other man, and had even less of an idea as events played out following Lance’s brilliant rescue mission.

Shiro had been sure to thank them all for their help back at Keith’s shack, which certainly showed that he had some manners and humility, but then they found the Blue Lion. Suddenly, the five of them were shooting through space with no real idea of what they were facing off against. It was Shiro’s judgment that led them to go through the wormhole, a decision that was equal parts impulsive and necessary. It led them to planet Arus, where they met Allura and Coran, found the rest of the Lions, and BAM! Then they’re in the middle of a giant intergalactic war!

Not the most ideal situation, but somehow it was easy to forget. Shiro simply had this air to him that made you feel like, as long as you listened to him, everything would turn out just fine. Even in the dire situation they found themselves in, there were still moments where they were able to laugh and enjoy each other’s company. And, even in battle, it never felt like they had need to fear. Sure, sometimes they had no idea what to do, but did that ever shake Shiro? The guy was always calm, composed, and concise in what they needed to do. Never once had his orders led them astray.

Which was what had left Lance cowering in the Blue Lion, feeling like a total knucklehead, because he had absolutely not done that.

The mission had been a rescue mission, and been going relatively smooth. The head of the rebellion for the planet they were on had been taken by the Galra and, in exchange for Voltron liberating her, her follows had vowed to join the coalition. Their planet had been used as a farming world, due to how several of the plant indigenous to their home world could be used to make potent chemical weapons, such as truth serums or hallucinogenic drugs. They were going more covert with this operation, so the Lions were supposed to be out of the question.

But then Blue had started to yowl into Lance’s head that Galran reinforcements had been on their way.

He’d left his post, barely managing to get out a quick, “Guys, incoming!” Shiro had called back at him to stay in the spot he’d been sniping from, as they’d been coming in hot with the rebel leader and the leader of the Galran base a few feet behind them. Lance had known, however, that they’d have more luck with at least one Lion to help. He’d gotten to Blue and then set to tearing about the roof of the prison, scooping up Hunk and the unconscious form of the rebel leader as he went. With the two of them safely in his Lion, he explained there was a fleet coming and rushed Hunk to get in Yellow.

As per usual, they formed Voltron, knocked the Galra around like a ball on a paddle, and then reveled in their victory.

It was as they headed back to the hanger, though, that Lance became aware of the situation.

“You’re gonna be in so much trouble, dude,” Pidge had sang, clearly amused, into the comms.

“Excuse me?” Lance snorted.

“You disregarded what Shiro said! You broke rank and went against your orders!” She answered. Shiro wasn’t in the Lions comms at that second, as he was coordinating their meet up with the rebel forces once they docked.

“Pidge does have a point. We nearly got caught because you weren’t in your sniping post,” Keith chimed in, just the slightest edge of irritation to his tone as he recalled them getting fired at by the Galran commander and his droids.

“Oh, please! It wasn’t that bad!” Lance said, waving one hand in the air dismissively.

“I nearly got shot in the leg,” Hunk added in flatly.

He winced and let out a small hiss. “Oh, geez. Sorry, bud,”

“So, yeah. Pretty big mess up there, pal-o,” Pidge said, her tone all amusement, Cheshire-esque grin tilted up on her lips. A part of Lance shrieked at him to ignore her, that she was just trying to tease him, but another part of him became panicked over the possibility that she was right. “I’m sure Shiro will have a whole lecture prepared for you the minute we settle down in the hanger.”

“He typically does,” Keith scoffed lightly.

“Speaking from experience there, Mullet?” He sneered, trying to keep up the bravado of apathy. It was hard when they were talking about his hero telling him off for disobeying orders. Hopefully a few light jabs would be enough to throw them off the trail.

“Absolutely,” Keith stated bluntly, enunciating each syllable to add a bit more push to his words. “Believe you me; when Shiro needs to have words with you, he has words with you.”

“Okay, now I’m curious. Exactly how many times did Shiro have to read you the riot act back before Kerberos?” Hunk asked.

Keith shrugged and made a small noise of disinterest. “I guess it really depends which subject we’re talking about,”

“How about you just give us a cumulative estimate,” Pidge said, her tone still steeped in amusement, though now her focus had shifted.

Even with the heat off of him, though Lance couldn’t shake the anxiety starting to bubble up inside at their prodding. He worried a lot about how Shiro saw him. He knew he had a tendency to be a bit of a light-hearted goof, using snark and commentary to try and help keep morale up. He knew the situation they were in was grave – after all, he wasn’t a complete moron and had been on the harsher receiving end of that lesson more times than he was keen to admit – and, sometimes, him making some ludacrious, dumb statement could help with that. But, he had also been giving scolding looks and warning tones from Shiro when he’d started up before. A part of him feared that the other man saw him as dead weight, as a liability, and only tolerated him for the sake of forming Voltron. He feared that his insubordination would only cause Shiro to berate him and hammer the point home, like Iverson and so many other Garrison officers had done before.

And that was why, upon landing in the hanger, he’d refused to leave Blue’s cockpit.

The rest of the team – sans Shiro, who was assisting Coran with the alien leader – tried to coerce him into coming out, but when they hadn’t backed down he’d shut his comms off. And Blue – beautiful, compassionate Blue – had thrown her particle barrier up upon sensing her Paladin’s distress. Hunk had vowed to return at some point in the near future with some food for Lance, but otherwise followed the others out of the hanger to meet with the rest of the rebellion for a full report on the mission. Lance appreciated that he was finally getting to have a bit of privacy to figure out how he intended to handle the situation.

A good fifteen minutes or so went by in which he decided he’d just wait it out. He’d hold off on showing up until things had settled down, and then he’d be guaranteed that Shiro should have calmed down. Then, if a conversation needed to be had, it would turn into a Lance Bashing Fest.

He slumped down lower into his chair, the soft, confused rumblings of Blue’s presence in the back of his mind.

“It’s nothing, girl. I’m just trying to wait until things slide on by, wait until things are a little bit more settled,” He mused, stroking the control panels in a way that he hoped communicated reassurance. It was always hard to say what sensations the Lion’s picked up on, or how they chose to interpret the gestures of their Paladins.

Blue pressed further, her urging this time a bit more reassuring, almost challenging.

He snorted and rolled his eyes affectionately at her. “I’m not going to have to fight Shiro for my honor; I just didn’t listen and I’m worried he’ll be mad about it. So, I’m just going to stay here with you until this whole mess blows over,” He explained.

Blue released yet another rumble of discontentment, this time seeming to be put-off by his approach.

“It’s not cowardice, okay? It’s just being tactical!” He insisted.

Blue didn’t believe him. Psh. Even giant robot cats were critics, these days.

He stewed for another ten minutes before Blue shifted suddenly, her head tipping this way and that. He tumbled gracelessly out and rolled along the floor, sputtering frantically. “B-Blue! What’s wrong, girl?” He called out before clipping his head on the bottom edge of his chair and yowling.

The world spun around him for a full two or three minutes, the clinking and creaking noise of the Lion moving echoing around him, before suddenly he was rolling away along the metal flooring of the hanger. He groaned, ending up face first one the ground, one arm turned awkwardly under him, the other sprawled just above his head, his rear sticking up in the air.

Well, at least the humiliation was one he suffered alone.

“Uh, Lance?”

His heart leapt to his throat at the familiar voice of the Black Paladin, far too close for comfort. He slowly lifted the arm above his head, tilting his head until he was able to take in the view of the other’s white boots, less than two feet ahead of him.

He flailed upright into a sitting position with an indignant squawk. “Shiro!” He blurted out.

The other blinked, cocking his head curiously. He was still adorned in his Paladin armor, but the helmet had been left somewhere else. A few strands of the snowy tuft above his forehead shifted when he’d cocked his head, calling to mind a dog with perked up ears, for some reason. “Lance,” He answered, though his tone was inquisitive and concerned rather than frantic and flustered.

“Uh-Hey! Sorry about that! I was just- You know,” He trailed nervously, turning to pin Blue Lion with a glare over his shoulder, “spending some quality time with my Lion.”

In the back of his mind, Blue purred in satisfaction and then dropped her particle barrier again. Filthy traitor cat.

Shiro looked from him to Blue, still seeming a bit confused, but merely shrugged and opted to drop it. “I see. Well, I’m glad you’re taking your duties as a Paladin seriously, but come on out,” He said, offering him a hand.

“Is something going on?” He asked, taking the other’s hand and being hoisted back up on to his feet with one smooth tug. He’d always known the other man was physically fit, but he’d never really noticed just how much so. He’d have to ask him about what his routine was, or if he could sit in sometime, so he could start catching up.

“Just a little celebration. The rebels wanted to show their gratitude for us saving Ganar for them, so they’re preparing a huge hot-pot of some sort,” He explained, releasing Lance’s hand once he was sure he was properly balanced.

“Are we even sure we’ll be able to eat it? Or is this going to be like that feast back on Hiluq?” He asked skeptically.

“Well, Hunk is helping them pick ingredients, so it should hopefully be something we can all enjoy,” He answered with a shrug, but there was an air of uncertainty to his tone.

Lance couldn’t blame him, though; even a culinary genius like Hunk could only do so much in cases like this.

“Well, that’s nice of them. It feels nice to occasionally get shown that we’re appreciated, you know?” He mused, shifting awkwardly on his feet. He knew he couldn’t hide with Blue’s help, but perhaps he could still find a way to get out of this. “Think you can save me a bowl? I think I’m gonna go get a shower and a nap. That mission was cuh-ray-zee.” He said, waving one hand in the air and using a sing-song tone on the last word.

The other frowned slightly. “You should really come participate. Hiluq and her troops really want to thank us for all we’ve done,” He said, indicating the exit with a slight nod of his head. Lance felt his shoulders slump, unable to keep his disappointment from showing. “Oh, come on. I’m sure the food won’t be that bad. It certainly can’t be worse than that strange goop Coran tried giving us earlier on in our training.”

“Nothing will ever be as awful as that,” He snorted, falling in line and letting Shiro lead him along. He had already disobeyed orders once for the day; the last thing he needed to do was give further reasons to be chastised. Shiro chuckled as well, nodding in agreement, and a silence slowly settled in between them. As they walked, Lance felt his stomach churning. What angle was the other playing at? They were alone and he could tear into him. Why wasn’t he? Did he want to wait until after the celebration, when he was riding high, and drag him back down to reality?

He took a deep breath, deciding to bite the bullet, and take the plunge. “I’m sorry about earlier!” He blurted out in a rush of breath.

The other looked over at him in surprise and cocked his head. “Oh, no need to apologize. Staying with Blue for a little longer to help with your bond is completely fine. The bond between the Lions and us on the team is significant in our efforts to-!”

“No, I mean during the mission! When I left my perch!”

“Oh,” He said, seeming completely baffled.

“Oh? Is that all you have to say?” Lance asked, skidding to a stop and throwing his hands up.

Shiro stopped a few paces ahead of him, turning to look at him. “Well, I’m not sure what else I should say,”

“I broke away from the group! I was supposed to stay at my post to snipe any incoming enemies while you retrieved Hiluq, but I didn’t! Hunk almost got shot!” He stared at Shiro, a bit incredulous. The other’s expression had shifted from confused to something Lance couldn’t quite read. Disappointment, maybe? He sighed and shook his head, letting his gaze flitter to the floor. “You should be yelling at me for almost compromising the mission.”

A small hum escaped the other before a hand settled on his shoulder, squeeze a bit and applying just a small amount of pressure to the space between the plates of his Paladin armor. He looked up cautiously to find a small smile on the other’s face, his eyes gleaming bright. “Lance, what you did was the right decision. If you hadn’t gone back to get Blue, we never would have made it out of the base,”

“But… But you said-!”

“I know what I said, but sometimes you need to rely on your own judgment,” He said, his tone a bit more firm. Lance blinked before cautiously nodded. “We’re a team, which means we all need to work together and do what’s best for all of us. If you think that a command I’ve given is detrimental, then I want you to say so or take initiative to fix it. If it’s something that needs to be, we can discuss it later, but this isn’t an instance like that. You going back to get Blue kept us all from being trapped in the base when the backup fleet arrived. We wouldn’t have been able to get back to our Lions and form Voltron if not for what you did.”

Blue eyes widened before skirting from Shiro’s gaze to the floor, scuffing the metal with the toe of his boots. “You’re… I’m not,” He started, trying to come up with any excuse to dissuade the implied praise, but let out a small sigh, unable to articulate it properly.

Shiro squeezed her shoulder again before reaching over and tilting his head up, forcing the younger man to look at him. “Hey,” He said, his voice soft and reassuring, “we’re a team of equals, Lance. Your judgments are just as valid as mine, or Keith’s, or Hunk’s or Pidge’s. It doesn’t matter who pilots which Lion. If we don’t work together as a team, nothing works. If we didn’t have you on the team - if you didn’t have the courage to make the decision you did today - we wouldn’t be able to succeed. Having you here only makes us stronger, Lance.”

He searched the other’s gleaming onyx eyes for any hint that he was being deceptive, but found only transparency there. It felt surreal, really, to think that this living legend was praising him. His heart rate picked up and he looked off to the side, a shy smile turning up on his lips. “You think so?”

“I know so,” Shiro asserted, a warm and inviting smile turning up on his lips. His hand slid away from Lance’s shoulder and, oddly enough, he could feel the loss of heat from the contact underneath the shoulder pads of his Paladin armor. “Now, let’s get going. We don’t want to miss out on the festivities.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” He laughed as he jogged along beside the other man. A small part of him realized that the other’s smile, when he was completely relaxed as opposed to the one he plastered on for Garrison recruitment events, was a breathtaking sight. In fact, everything about the other male was stunning. How confident he was in his own abilities, as well as those he worked with. How he managed to stay calm. How he knew exactly what to say to encourage the other, but it was never a lie. The man offered out compliments based solely on his own genuine, authentic opinions. There was something truly admiring and charming about that.

And then, a trill of panic coursed up his spine at the realization that this wasn’t simple admiration he was feeling; it was undoubtedly a crush.

#crumbles grumbles #Voltron legendary defender #Shance #Takashi Shirogane #Lance McClain #my fics #Man this was a lot of fun! #I really like getting to explore their dynamic more!