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callmewishful · 3 years

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Power and Grace

“Well, I…I have to go.”

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“Oh, thank the Goddess.” Sylvain muttered to Ashe as they walked into class.

Ashe looked confused at his walking partner. The classroom appeared normal; most people having arrived already. He turned to look out the door they’d came in. The sun was shining brightly in the morning sky, “I mean…it is a nice day….”

“Not that.” Sylvain shook his head, “That.” He gestured to Felix and Evyanna deep in conversation at their desks. Evy was drawing out something on a piece of paper and explaining it to Felix, who seemed rather impressed by whatever she was saying.

“Oh,” Ashe nodded in understanding, “Yeah, they really hadn’t talked for a while there, hadn’t they?”

“What can I say, Ashe? Felix is a stubborn man.”

“So, I think we start with the Black Eagles, because then we can take out the ballista-“

“How do you know the Eagles will have the ballista?” Felix interrupted her. “How do you know Claude or Ignatz won’t take it?”

Evy snorted, “Over Edelgard? Please. Edelgard will break Claude’s nose for the ballista.”

“Touché.”

“So anyway, we want Ashe on the ballista, so I think you or I should take out the Eagles archer…who is…shoot.”

“Bernadetta.” Felix supplied, taking the quill from Evy’s hand and writing the girls name on the paper where the Ballista was. Despite his dedication to sword training over book training, he had fairly nice handwriting. “She’s meek and shy and squeals in fear just by looking at me. She’ll be easy to take down.”

Evy giggled, “That scary are you?”

“I think it’s the eyes.”

Evy could concede to that. He did have unusual eyes. She didn’t find them scary though, more intriguing than anything. “Okay, so we take out Bernadetta first to have control of the ballista. If you rush ahead to take her out, I can have Ashe stay behind me to get him to the spot. The Eagles and the Deer will be close together so if we want that prize we’ll have to be fast in taking them out before they cut each other down.”

“The Eagles have a lot of magic users if I remember right. Ashe can focus on them once they’re in range. Maybe we should go for them first to get them out of the way?”

“What do the Eagles focus on?”

“Bernie’s the archer, Edelgard uses an axe, I think Hubert is a magic user, dark magic if I remember right, because he’s a sketchy ass man. Petra uses the sword, Dorothea is a magic user, Caspar uses an axe I think, don’t quote me on that. Linhardt is a magic user, Ferdinand uses a lance?”

“So, we have three magic users for the Eagles and four weapon users? What about the Deer again?”

“Claude is a bow, Ignatz is a bow, Leonie is a bow but sometimes a sword user. Lysithea and Marianne are magic users. Maybe Lorenz too? Hilda uses a lance and I think Raphael uses an axe or his fists.”

“The Deer have fewer magic users then. Maybe we should go for them first? Let the Eagle’s magic users come to the center of the field and be picked off by Ashe?” Evy drew arrows from her, Felix, and Ashe to the center of the map. Then she drew arrows showing Dimitri, Dedue, and Sylvain going up close and personal for the Deer. “If we want, Ingrid could fly ahead and get personal with the Eagle weapon users. Once Ashe is secure on the ballista you and I can go for the Eagles too so she’s not alone. You’re a good dodger.”

“I wouldn’t mind going for Hubert, actually. I’ve wanted to test my skill against his anyway.”

“He’ll be parked up Edelgard’s ass though. So, if you go for him you’ll have to fight her off too.”

“Come with me, then. You can take her.”

“I can go with you guys too. Help ward off some of the magic users.” Annette piped up. Felix and Evyanna looked up from their work to see the entire class surrounding their desks viewing Evy’s drawing as well. Evy’s face turned a light pink and she immediately cast her eyes back down to the paper.

Felix took the quill and drew an arrow from Annette to the Black Eagles side, seemingly unbothered by the class listening in. “That’ll make us more even too.”

“I think it’s a good strategy.” The Professor praised, “does anyone have anything they’d like to add or change?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“I yield! I yield!” Bernadetta squealed, cowering in fear.

“I didn’t even touch you.” Felix muttered, but lowered his training sword. “Ashe, get up there.”

Ashe rushed past Evy and took Bernadetta’s spot on the ballista making quick work of loading it with the training arrows. Evy watched Dimitri and Sylvain engaging with Lorenz and Hilda in the distance. She smiled proudly while her boys fought. So far, their plan was working quite nicely.

“Annette, let’s go.” Felix instructed, taking no time to admire the fight before them. Over to the east, Ingrid swooped in and began engaging Ferdinand. The three took off towards the Eagles to help their flier, Evy being pulled from her observance. She rushed in to stop Linhardt from using magic against Ingrid, forcing him to yield. Felix and Annette were tackling Dorothea together. Evy was often impressed by Dorothea. So confident and talented, both musically and magically.

“ARGH!” Evy barely dodged Petra’s swinging blade after beating Lorenz, stumbling backwards and nearly losing her footing. Petra noticed how off-balance she was and came in ferociously swinging with speed Evy could barely match with how caught off guard she’d been.

Petra was about to go in for the final blow, Evy barely holding on, “You will yield!”

“No,” Felix interrupted her with his training sword in her back, “You will yield.”

Petra slowly lowered her blade, turning to look at Felix, “I must yield?”

“I don’t see a training sword in my back.”

She nodded in agreement and sighed, “I must yield. I worked hard. You are lucky to have your sword man boyfriend to save you, Zelshire Princess.”

Evy fixed her grip on her sword and sputtered, “Oh, I-I mean…we-”

Felix’s face was bright red, not from the exertion of battle, and he quickly turned away to go back to the fight. Evy could feel her face was just as hot as Felix’s looked and she stopped trying to explain seeing as she couldn’t get words out of her mouth.

“You have the oddest of relationships with the sword man boyfriend, Zelshire Princess.” Petra looked between the two before exiting the battlefield.

Evyanna didn’t even try. She was so flustered between the conversation and Petra’s relentless attacks that she gave up. After a quick deep breath, she had to get back into the battle. Annette and Felix were coming up on Hubert and Edelgard and they’d need help.

She rushed back into the action, trying to clear her head as much as she could. One thing kept sticking out to her though: Felix didn’t deny it.

Of course, they weren’t dating, but he didn’t deny Petra’s assumption of a romantic relationship. Maybe he thought he didn’t have time for such nonsense, seeing as he’d left Annette to save Evy. Maybe he thought he had to go back to save Annette. Maybe he saw Evy was already making an attempt to clear up the confusion and didn’t see the point in him doing so also. Or…maybe he didn’t deny it because he wanted a romantic relationship.

Evyanna nearly laughed out loud at herself. Felix? Dating? She really could be quite funny.

So funny, that she mentioned the story to Ingrid on their victory walk back. Ingrid thought it was funny too that Petra would say that. Anyone who knew Felix knew he was basically emotionally empty. As far as Evy knew, the only emotion Felix had was anger.

Still, she couldn’t help the hopeful feeling in her chest when she thought about him. She knew better, really. Mother always told her to never expect a man to change. ‘If you don’t like him now, you won’t like him ever.’ Though it wasn’t that she didn’t like Felix…she just wished he wanted the same thing.

It was stupid really. Felix was clearly not interested in a relationship. He told her that his only focus was getting stronger and working on his skills with the blade. If she wanted a relationship she should focus on someone else. Dimitri perhaps….

After the mock battle, all the students had a feast together in the dining hall at Claude’s insistence, celebrating the enjoyment of the fight and the Blue Lions win. The night was a lot of fun.

Claude dropped two bags of marshmallows on the table after dinner with a smirk on his face. Evy gasped, “Are we playing Chubby Bunny?!”

“What’s that?” Claude asked, even though he brought the marshmallows.

“It’s a contest to see how many marshmallows you can fit in your mouth.” She explained, opening up one of the bags.

“That sounds ridiculous.” Felix muttered from his spot next to her.

Sylvain rolled his eyes, “You’re just mad that you’re a little man with a small mouth and can’t fit that many marshmallows in.”

“Give me one of those damn bags.” Felix snapped, reaching for the bag of the sticky confection in Evy’s hands.

“Now, now, now! Wait! We gotta go at the same time to keep track. Who’s in? Me, Felix, anyone else?” Claude gestured marshmallows to people.

All in all, Claude, Felix, Evy, Dimitri, Edelgard (after much chiding from Claude about being the only house lead who wasn’t playing), Sylvain, Ferdinand, Annette, Petra, Caspar, Leonie, and Raphael joined the contest. It was easy until around 6-7 marshmallows. Then people’s cheeks looked puffy and people started giggling. If you giggled, you were basically done for.

Annette was out first at 9 marshmallows, followed by Petra and Edelgard at 11. Evy and Leonie only got 12, while Ferdinand, to Evy’s surprise, fit 14. Evy was really only surprised because he didn’t seem like one to try during these games. He was Ferdinand von Aegir…so she heard.

Dimitri and Caspar were out next with 15 marshmallows – Dimitri awkwardly laughing about his puffy cheeks the entire time. Raphael was out at 16 because he was trying to cheat by eating them.

“Wahh Wou.” Felix tried to talk to Sylvain with 17 marshmallows in his mouth.

“Ah?” Sylvain, naturally, had zero idea what the hell Felix was saying.

“Wuak Wou.”

“Wah?”

Felix rolled his eyes and flipped Sylvain off, “Wak Wou.” Evy snickered.

Claude was trying his very best not to laugh so none of his marshmallows fell out and was failing. He was out at 17.

“Alright! Who has 18? Is it Sylvain or Felix?” Ingrid had easily taken on the role of announcer for the contest.

Felix put the marshmallow at the entrance of his mouth and used the palm of his fist to mash it in. Sylvain was trying to pry one side of his mouth open to make his marshmallow fit.

“It’s gotta be more than 50% in!” Ingrid chided Sylvain when he tried to claim victory by barely holding onto the marshmallow with the edge of his mouth.

“He’s got it! He’s got it!” Evy shouted, pointing at Felix, who had the marshmallow wedged in along with the other 17.

“Felix has it Sylvain!” Annette teased. Sylvain’s inability was not for lack of trying, he was pushing the marshmallow and prying his mouth, but it was not working. He looked hopefully at Ingrid.

“What do we think guys? Does he have it?” She asked the rest of the classes.

Evy shook her head, along with most. People erupted in their opinions. The little marshmallow was barely hanging on.

“Waa wou.” Felix grabbed one more for good measure and tried shoving it in his mouth. The class laughed hysterically as Sylvain mock-groaned with a chuckle of his own.

“You can’t laugh! Laughing is the bane of Chubby Bunny.” Evy giggled at him, handing him another marshmallow. Sylvain waved the marshmallow off. He barely made 18, there was no way he was making 19.

“Are you tapping out?” Claude asked in disbelief, “Get that marshmallow in there, son!” Claude took the marshmallow from Evy, trying to help Sylvain get it in his mouth. They both were laughing too hard to accomplish the feat. Felix barely had his 19th in but was determined to go for 20 when he saw Sylvain going for 19.

Before Sylvain could get 19 he laugh/coughed most of his marshmallows out. Felix slammed both of his hands on the table and flipped Sylvain off with both middle fingers. He spit out his marshmallows onto a plate, “Fuck off! Who’s little now?!”

“Damn! What the hell, Felix?” Sylvain chuckled rubbing his sore cheeks. Apparently one could never underestimate Felix when he was trying to prove someone wrong.

The table erupted into excited chatter about how Felix was able to beat everyone, despite thinking the game was ridiculous AND not even liking sweets (which Mercedes and Lysithea found an absolute crime).

The rest of the night was spent laughing, joking, and drinking, thanks to Claude and Sylvain. Turned out that Sylvain was a master drink mixer, raiding the Monastery cupboards and his own room stash for booze. They started the party in the dining hall, Dimitri reluctantly joining in on the drinking, though “not too much as it wouldn’t be very becoming for a King.” Once the party in the dining hall ended, the Blue Lions took their party back to the dorm rooms. Well, Sylvain’s dorm room so as not to disturb Claude, who had already been exclaiming he would be having a massive headache the next day.

The Blue Lion house shoved themselves into the boy’s room: crowding on the bed, his desk, and any spare chairs they could fit in the room. They drank, except for Dimitri, Dedue, and Mercedes, who mother-henned the group instead – forcing water on them and food as the night went on. Evy had never felt so apart of the group, wedged between Ingrid and Felix and laughing along with the rest of class. It was quite humorous to see the intoxicated side of some of their classmates.

“Evy! Remember when Lea broke his ankle, and I broke my arm that summer?” Sylvain shouted. Evy was not far enough away for him to need to shout, but he thought it was appropriate.

“How did you break your arm that summer? You refused to tell us the story.” Dimitri was sitting properly in Sylvain’s desk chair. He’d refused to sit on the desk itself like Sylvain was, because ‘that was not how desks were meant to be used.’ He did however, let Annette sit in front of his legs and use them as her back rest.

Sylvain broke out in more laughter. He jumped off his desk to dig around his dresser. Dimitri cringed, “Please tell me this story is appropriate.”

“Shh. I’m getting the demonstration ready.” Sylvain chided, pulling out an extra blanket.

“I’ll break your arm for you.” Felix volunteered, earning a jab in the ribs from Evy. Felix looked to her with a frown, “What? I would.”

Sylvain waved Felix off and grabbed all four corners of the blanket. “So, you know how when you fall, you feel all the wind blowing from the ground up at you? Well, we were like, dude, what if when you jump, you had something to catch the wind and then you could use the wind to make you fly instead of falling?! So, we got blankets like this, and grabbed all the corners and then we went up on top of the training hall and jumped off to see if it works!” Sylvain frowned at the memory, finally getting to the ending, “Turns out, you lose your grip and fall down anyway. Or if you don’t lose your grip, like Lea, you still don’t fly. Was really a bummer actually. I think I made out better though because I only broke my arm. Lea couldn’t walk for weeks.”

Dimitri sighed, rubbing his face, “Oh dear Goddess. If I’d known you were going to be so much trouble I wouldn’t have left you alone.”

Sylvain scoffed, “Please. We were conducting science. That’s hardly trouble.”

“You broke the Prince’s ankle.”

“I didn’t do it. Air did…well technically the ground when he landed.” Sylvain shrugged, tossing the blanket down to Annette who had been reaching for it.

Mercedes giggled, covering her mouth with her hand, “How did you spend that summer Your Highness? If not with Sylvain and this Lea.”

Dimitri smiled, fondly recalling the memories of that summer. He looked at his summer-mate as he answered, “I spent it with Evyanna, actually. While Sylvain and her younger brother, Lea got into massive amounts of mischief, we spent the summer exploring.”

“Exploring…” Sylvain winked, giving Dimitri a suggestive look.

The Prince’s face turned bright red, “N-not like that!” That was a slight lie. “There’s lots of beautiful sights in Zelshire.”

“Oh, I know it.” Sylvain continued to give Dimitri a shit-eating grin. While the rest of the class laughed at Dimitri’s expense, except Felix. Felix narrowed his eyes at the Prince.

Dimitri became increasingly flustered under Sylvain’s gaze and the Lion’s laughter, “I-I didn’t mean…I mean, not that the Princess isn’t…I-that’s not-“ Dimitri took a breath, “we just explored the nature trails and-“

“A happy trail, eh?”

“Sylvain!” Dimitri scolded, “We were far too young for such things.”

“Yeah, that’s fair. I’m not even sure you got a good beard coming in now.”

Evy couldn’t help the round of giggles that came through, leaning on Felix’s shoulder to help stifle them. It wasn’t really working.

“Okay, okay. You guys it is getting late!” Dimitri chided. This had to stop before things got worse. “This has been a fantastic night, but we should all be getting to be bed.”

“Fuck off, Boar Prince.” Felix, who’d lost what little filter he had during the night especially after the prior conversation, rolled his eyes at him.

Evy put a finger to Felix’s surprisingly soft lips, “Shhh, Fe. Be polite.”

“Oh, fucking kiss already.” Sylvain muttered to himself and Ashe, who he’d leaned into. He chugged the last of his drink quickly.

“Dimitri is right, Felix.” Mercedes stepped in, hoping that Felix would be nicer if she was the one to dictate, “It’s getting late and you need your rest so you can train tomorrow.”

The promise of training caught Felix’s attention and he stopped arguing. Reluctantly, and with some more mothering from Dimitri and Mercedes, they all started packing up. Mercedes took Annette and Ingrid down to the girls’ side of the dorms while Dimitri walked Ashe back down to the first floor. Evy lingered around Felix and Sylvain. Sylvain’s bed was too comfy to get up quite yet.

“Come on, we gotta train tomorrow.” Felix held out his hands to help her up. She groaned slightly but took them. Being an adult sucked sometimes.

“I just wanna take a nap.” She whined, leaning against his chest for a brief moment. Her legs lumbered her out the door and down the familiar hall. She’d give almost anything to be able to close her eyes and sleep with how tired she felt. Now that the high of victory and the buzz of her friends had worn off she was beat.

She heard Felix tell Sylvain to shut up behind her and she giggled. He was quite the character. Unlike any noble she’d ever met. He’d be an interesting heir. Part of her was really bummed that she wouldn’t get to see much of him once she left the monastery.

“Hey, Leighton.” His slightly slurred voice sounded behind her, along with slightly rushing footsteps.

Her bright leafy green eyes looked back at him, “Felix, you passed your ro-” Evy was cut off by his body crashing into hers, his hungry lips devouring her. She eagerly returned his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck to bring him closer to her. Felix picked her up under her legs and pressed her back against the wall, deepening their impromptu make-out session.

Dimitri skipped back up the steps from ensuring Ashe made it to his room safely but stopped dead when he saw the amorous display in the hallway. He let out a small gasp as his eyes widened, but the sound did nothing to deter the apparent lovers. Sylvain was behind the pair, standing in his own doorway, giving Dimitri a thumbs up and a big grin. Dimitri wondered if Sylvain had decided to challenge Felix again and now this was the result.

The prince awkwardly walked by the couple, politely avoiding them with his eyes.

“Liquid courage strikes again.” Sylvain chuckled when Dimitri was in earshot.

“I didn’t realize Felix had feelings for Evyanna that way.” Dimitri admitted, his own heart conflicted at the sight of them together. But perhaps that was just their previous betrothment talking.

Sylvain scoffed, “Please, that’s why he avoided her for two months. He was trying to get over his little crush. I finally convinced him to man up tonight.” Sylvain grinned at the couple, proud of his handywork.

Dimitri reluctantly looked back at them. They’d stopped kissing, though Felix still had Evy pressed against the wall. Their foreheads were connected as they shared a smile between each other. Both of them looked rather happy. If his friends were happy, then he could be happy for them.

“You aren’t going to watch them all night, are you?” Dimitri was just as reluctant to ask Sylvain the question, more because he feared the answer.

“Nah. I just wanted to make sure he’d actually kiss her.”

Dimitri exhaled in relief, “Well, it appears you got your wish.” And with that, he went to try and sleep.

Evyanna and Felix did quite the opposite – kissing, grinding, and teasing until they were both left tired and panting. It was too soon for sex; they were buzzed and had only just expressed romantic interest in one another. Sex could wait. Besides, Evyanna found herself dizzy just from Felix’s lips. Well, alcohol might have offered some help too.

Felix was a bit surprised to find Evyanna curled up against his chest in the morning until the memories of the night before came flooding back…Sylvain telling him that Dimitri was going to confess feelings for Evy…him being…well, pissed at the thought…stopping her in the hallway…shoving her against the wall…attacking each other with hot kisses…her breath against his skin…shit.

He ran a hand through his messy hair and sighed. Fucking alcohol, making him act on his feelings.

Evyanna shifted on top of him, hugging him tighter. The two of them on the bed was a bit of a tight squeeze. Felix supposed it could’ve been worse – at least he got to be with her, and she didn’t reject him.

“Good morning.” She whispered rubbing her face against his tunic, nuzzling against him.

“Morning.” He rubbed her arm with another sigh. Part of him wanted himself to stop ruining this moment, but the other part was irritated at himself for letting it happen. What happened to trying to forget his feelings for her?

Evy peered up at him with shy eyes, as if she could tell exactly what he was thinking. This possibility made Felix even more uncomfortable, “Are you upset?”

That was a loaded question. Of course, he was upset – he acted on emotions he had been trying for months to get rid of . But, in reality…he did like it…fuck. “No.” He muttered, trying to avoid her eyes. How pathetic would it be to bother her with his internal conflict the first night they spent together? What was he, the Boar?

“You don’t sound sure.” Evy was having none of his avoidance and propped herself up on her arm so she could look him in the face. She was so beautiful, her bright green eyes so sweet and gentle, just like her soft features, in the morning. Her hair was a mess, but Felix was 100% certain that was partially his fault as well. Even still, she was everything Felix was not: gentle, loving, open…how the hell did such a soft person have feelings for a rough-around-the-edges swordsman? Perhaps he should take her feelings while she had them; before she wisened up and ditched him.

“I-I am.” He decided. “It’s just…different.” That part wasn’t a lie. Felix had never been interested in the relationship aspect of people before. Not until she skipped her way into his life.

She smiled softly at him, rubbing his cheek with her thumb in a gentle way that made him blush. “It is different, but I think it’s a good different.”

“Good different.” Felix agreed quietly. Anything more and he’d start stumbling over his words due to her touch. She kissed his other cheek and gave him one more quick cuddle before they had to get ready. He felt cold as she left the bed and mentally he hated himself. No way he could start this lovey shit…fuck.

“Good morning, Evy, Felix. How did- oh Goddess.” Dimitri’s face burned at breakfast as he realized that he didn’t want to know the answer to the question he almost asked.

Next to him, Sylvain snickered, but the new couple couldn’t figure out why.

“How did what?” Evy asked, encouraging him to keep going while not understanding why he paused in the first place. Dimitri seemed embarrassed about something. Perhaps the fact that he’d been drinking with them the night before? Evy didn’t remember him doing anything embarrassing. He only had one mixed drink before he cut himself off. Sylvain, Felix, and Annette had been much heavier drinkers.

“Um, how did…I mean, how was…good morning.” Dimitri’s face was positively red with embarrassment. He really didn’t want to ask the question but could figure out no good way out of it.

Felix narrowed his eyes at the boy, “What’s wrong with you? You’re even more incompetent than normal.”

“Well, I…I have to go.” Dimitri blurted out, getting up and rushing out of the dining hall. Evy and Felix shared a confused look. Sylvain burst out laughing, his face red for an entirely different reason than Dimitri’s had been.

“What’s his problem?” Felix demanded, “Why are you laughing?”

“He-...” Sylvain let out another bout of hysteria, “He saw you!”

“What?” Evy prayed to the Goddess that Sylvain did not mean what she thought he meant. She could feel her own cheeks starting to tinge with heat.

“In…the…hall.” Sylvain spit out between gasps of air.

Oh, dear Goddess.

Felix jumped up from his seat and sprinted out of the dining hall before Sylvain could get out another word. He ran up the retreating blonde and shoved him against the nearest pillar, “You tell ANYONE what you saw and I-I’ll-“

“No! No! I-I would never!” Dimitri stammered out, holding his hands up in surrender. Felix’s actions were starting to draw a crowd and Dimitri was getting even redder.

“Good! Because if you do, I’ll commit treason right here in front of everyone!” Felix threatened. He released the man after another good glare and pushed his raven hair out of his face.

“Right, yes. Understood.” Dimitri straightened himself out as well, looking anywhere but at Felix. “So,” he questioned after a few moments, “does this mean you guys aren’t-“ “No, we are.” Felix muttered, also not meeting Dimitri’s eyes. Fuck, did he just admit to Dimitri that he had a girlfriend?

“Oh. Okay…?”

“Just because we are doesn’t mean you get to talk about my love life.”

Dimitri nodded in understanding, “Right, of course not.”

“Good.”

From that point on Felix and Evy considered themselves “dating” but nothing much changed about their relationship from what anyone could tell. Most people in the monastery didn’t even know they were dating aside from Sylvain and Dimitri (and Ingrid because Sylvain could hardly keep a secret until Ingrid threatened him about telling anyone else). Felix and Evy still trained daily, talked during meals and class, and hung out at night. Nothing about their daily routine had changed. No displays of affection were shared. Not since the drunken night in her dorm room.

The only noticeable difference was that Evy appeared to tell Felix anytime she went anywhere. It was never a long conversation, instead going something simple like:

“Hey, you, I’m going to get dinner with the girls.”

“Ok.”

Or:

“Hi Felix, I’m going to the market with Ashe.”

“Ok.”

The first few times were moot. Felix was indifferent about the new development in their relationship. But it became constant, Evy seemingly interrupting his training at all hours just to tell him a stupid, trivial fact. He had hoped his evident irritation would ward her off, but she seemed oblivious to his frustrations as the days went on. It was hard to train when someone was constantly yammering at him.

“Hey, Felix. I’m going-“

“I don’t care!” He finally snapped, dropping his sword and turning to face her, “I don’t care where you go. Just go and get out of my face!”

Evy’s cheerful face fell, hurt by his sudden anger towards her. She didn’t understand what she’d done to upset him so much, “Oh. I-I’m sorry.”

“Look, this really isn’t working out.” He continued fuming at her, well past the point of no return.

“Wh-what?” Evy was completely thrown off guard. She thought things had been going really well. Slow, but well.

“You keep interrupting my training and you’re getting in my way, just like I thought a relationship would. If I want to keep getting better I can’t have you bugging me every 10 seconds with stupid information. I was right all along, okay: relationships aren’t for me. This was just a stupid mistake.”

Evy felt like the wind was completely knocked out of her chest. She struggled to get the words out at a volume he could hear, “Oh…ok.”

Trying to save a shred of her dignity, she turned and walked out. She’d had plans to have dinner with Sylvain and Dimitri, but her brain could barely function let alone sit through a dinner. She walked back to her dorm room on autopilot, still trying to register what the hell happened. She thought things were going very decently. A little slow on the emotional end, but she was trying to be patient with him since this was presumably his first relationship.

Dimitri was concerned when Evy didn’t show up for dinner. Even more concerned when she hadn’t just been caught up training with Felix. Even more concerned when she was completely silent and barely functional during class the next week. He was not the most observant creature, but between her sadness, Ingrid’s glares, and Felix’s rolling waves of frustration, Dimitri pieced it together: They’d been fighting.

He was not one to pry so he tried to be supportive from a casual distance, asking her to dinner and training more than normal. In the beginning she occasionally accepted his offers, but as time went on she was more and more willing to spend time with him again. He was glad that her and Felix were slowly working things out. He knew Felix could be quite stubborn.

He thought things were much better, so he was surprised to find her crying on his doorstep in the middle of the night with a few bags packed.

“Ah...Evyanna! What’s the matter?”

“I-I have to go!” She sobbed, shoving a letter in his hands with her shaky ones.

“You’re leaving the monastery?” Dimitri panicked. How bad had things with Felix gotten if she was leaving in the middle of the night?

Evy nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks, “I-I have to go home. Just read the letter. Tell the Professor I-I’m sorry I couldn’t tell her in person.”

Dimitri caught her arm as she turned to leave, pulling her into a quick hug, “Please be safe, Evyanna. And please reconsider when you have had some time. I’m sure Felix will come around.”

“What?”

Dimitri paused, “Y-you’re leaving because Felix…”

“No, Goddess, Dimitri, Felix and I broke up almost two weeks ago? I-I dunno. J-just read the letter. I really have to g-go!” She hiccupped through her tears and waved before rushing down the hall. Her and Felix had broken up that long ago? What? Here he thought things were better. Yet here he was just as clueless as he usually was.

He opened up the tear-stained letter and read, his jaw dropping as he did.

The heir to the throne: Quentin Augustus Leighton...was dead….

#felix x oc #felix hugo fraldarius #felix fraldarius #powerandgrace #chapter four #also on ao3

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alounuitte · 4 years

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an interpersonal demonstration of newton's third law

(3. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.) Lance is just trying to bond when he jokes around with his new teammates. Making fun of each other is just what buddies do, right? He's not TRYING to go straight after anyone's weak spots, after all, and it's not his fault he doesn't know what Pidge is sensitive about. Not that Pidge is taking that into account at the time.

(cw for (accidental/unknowing) misgendering/transphobia in this.)

also on AO3 under LovelyLessie!

“That doesn’t look right,” Hunk says, leaning over the couch to peer over Pidge’s shoulder as he works. “Are you sure that goes there?”

“Well, it didn’t, to begin with,” Pidge replies without looking up from the half-assembled machinery in front of him. “But I thought if I moved it over here I could use it to connect the fragmentation buffer to the thrust mechanism -“

“Ohh,” Hunk says, his eyes going wide, before he frowns. “Wait. What does that do?”

“Something nerdy,” Lance calls, leaning back to rest his feet on the table as he shakes his head at them. “What are you guys even doing, anyways?” Whatever it is, they’ve been at it since they all got back from training, but he doesn’t see what’s so exciting about some busted up junk they salvaged from who even knows where, and he’s getting bored of sitting here waiting for Hunk to be finished geeking out.

“Shut up, Lance,” Pidge says, still not looking up. “I’m trying to use the thrust mechanism to boost the power for the buffer and amplify its effect. If it works we might be able to adapt it to the lions -“

“Right, right,” Hunk agrees. “But what good is a fragmentation buffer for our lions? Isn’t that for processing data?”

“Do you think the lions don’t process data?” Pidge asks, sitting back and pushing his glasses up his nose as he glances over his shoulder at Hunk. “From each other, from the ship, from our heads when we’re piloting them! The buffer could help streamline that input…”

“And improve our connection!” Hunk says eagerly, his face breaking into a grin.

“Exactly,” Pidge agrees.

“Well, that’s good for you guys, I guess,” Lance interjects. “Me, I’ve got a great connection with my lion. Blue and me understand each other just fine, so my girl doesn’t need any new modifications, thanks.” Besides, if he wants to get closer to the Blue Lion, he can do it without anybody else’s help. So what if he still hasn’t figured out the trick to seeing through her eyes? Neither has anyone else here, just Shiro, who’s on the bridge talking to Allura about something, and that’s different. Shiro’s the leader.

“Great,” Pidge says, looking back at the machinery. “Good thing I’m not talking to you about it.”

“Hey!” he protests, sitting upright. “What, you want to offer your genius improvements to everyone else?” Not that he needs it, he tells himself, it’s the principle of it.

“That’s so not what I said,” Pidge groans, rolling his eyes.

“Didn’t you just say you didn’t need it, anyways?” Hunk points out, frowning. “If it even works -“

“It’s gonna work!” Pidge says. “I just gotta figure out - how to -“

There’s a clicking sound and a crackle in the air, and a blue spark jumps from the metal to his arm.

“Ow, quiznak!” he yelps, jumping back and holding his hand to his chest. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Don’t get yourself killed,” Keith says from the other side of the lounge, his eyes still closed.

“Aw, no one asked you,” Lance points out, scowling. He’d almost forgotten Keith was still sitting there, since he’s the only one in the room being even more boring than the nerd squad here. “You okay, Pidge?”

“Let me have a try,” Hunk suggests before Pidge can answer, and clambers over the back of the couch to sit on the floor next to him. “I know you’re the computer whiz here, but maybe you should leave the reconstruction to a mechanic.”

“Yeah, that’s my man,” Lance says, grinning. Maybe if Hunk can figure out whatever dumb thing Pidge wants to do with this, he’ll be satisfied, and then they can go do something fun. There’s an awful lot of this castle they still haven’t had much chance to explore.

“Sure, have at it,” Pidge says.

Hunk frowns into the internals of the machine, rubbing his chin with one hand. “Huh. Might need to replace the wires, actually, I think you might’ve fried them -“

“It wasn’t me!” Pidge protests.

“Oh, yes, it was,” Hunk says, tilting the pile of junk so he can see better. “You’ve got residual power in the antethermal capacitor, so if you connect it directly -“

“Ugh,” Pidge groans, slapping his forehead with one hand. “Of course.”

Lance laughs. “Guess you’re not such a genius after all!”

“Lance, shut up,” he says again, casting a glare across the lounge.

“But if we route the wiring through the kineticule first,” Hunk says, fiddling with something inside the machine, “that should channel the energy more cleanly, so you can hook up to the thrust mechanism without getting zapped, just… like…that!”

“Yeah!” Pidge cries, jumping up with a smile. “Way to go!”

Lance yawns loudly and heaves a dramatic sigh, hoping that’ll get Hunk’s attention now that he’s done with his lame science project. “Boring,” he tells them both, and jumps to his feet. “Who wants to find Shiro and see if he has anything actually cool for us to do?”

“Oh, my God, shut up!” Pidge tells him again, his voice rising to a squeak and cracking. He quickly covers his mouth with both hands, cheeks flushing red.

Lance tries not to laugh, really, he does, but he can’t help it. “Aw,” he manages, “Pidge, you finally hit puberty!”

“What?” Pidge demands, dropping the screwdriver he’s holding to the floor.

“C’mon, don’t be like that,” Lance says, still laughing. “It happens to everyone, just ‘cause you’re a late bloomer—“

“It’s not funny,” Pidge says, his voice rising to a shout.

“Don’t worry about it,” Lance continues, ignoring him. “You’ll be a real man like the rest of us soon enou—oof—“

He doesn’t see Pidge move in time to react, barely processes him jumping over the table before a fist connects with his jaw and sends him staggering backwards.

“Ow!” he yelps, holding his face with both hands. “What the quiznak, dude?”

“Asshole!” Pidge shouts, glowering at him, fists still raised and ready to throw another punch. “What the hell is your problem?”

“My problem?” Lance asks, dumbfounded. “What’s your problem? I was just joking, you didn’t have to hit me!”

“Well, your jokes - aren’t - funny!” Pidge yells again. Before Lance can even begin to reply, he spins on his heel and bolting out of the room, footsteps pounding down the corridor until they fade into the distance.

“What the fuck was that?” Lance asks, forgetting to censor himself in his shock. His jaw and cheek are throbbing, and he can taste blood in his mouth. For a kid that small, Pidge can sure throw a punch. He looks between Hunk and Keith for any kind of answer, but they’re both staring down the corridor after Pidge in open-mouthed silence, and neither of them seems to even remember he’s there.

—

The sound of shouting gets Shiro’s attention, and he jumps to his feet, shoulders tensing, heart pounding against his ribs. Something must be wrong.

He takes off towards the common room at a run, listening for the commotion to continue, but everything seems to be quiet again, and he doubts it's a good sign. Maybe it’s not the most positive outlook on life, but in their current circumstances, it’s better to assume a disaster is ongoing until he sees it resolved with his own eyes.

As he nears the common room he drops his pace back to a quick walk, standing upright and ready to take control of the situation. His eyes dart around the room as he enters, taking it in. Hunk is sitting on the floor in front of some kind of dismantled machinery, Keith in a chair with one leg drawn up to his chest, Lance standing in the middle of the room clutching his face, and Katie - where’s Katie?

“What’s going on?” he demands, looking between the three other paladins. “Where’s Pidge? Lance, what’s the matter with your face?”

“He hit me,” Lance whines, and lowers his hands to reveal the side of his face, red and slightly swollen.

“Hit you?” Shiro asks, frowning, and looks to the others for confirmation. “Pidge?”

“He kind of deserved it,” Keith says quietly, looking away.

Hunk shrugs awkwardly. “I mean, I wasn’t gonna say it, but…”

“Come on, guys!” Lance says, pouting. “I was just teasing him! I thought we were bonding, or something!”

“Is that how you bond with people?” Keith asks under his breath. Lance shoots him a sullen look.

“Looks like he got you pretty good,” Shiro says, folding his arms.

“I didn’t even know he could hit that hard,” Lance says. “I mean, what’s he weigh, a hundred pounds?”

“Hm,” Shiro says. “Why don’t you come to the kitchen with me and we’ll get some ice for that.”

“Uh, I mean, I can go get it myself,” Lance says, his brows drawing together in confusion. “You don’t have to come with me.”

“I’m sure you can,” Shiro agrees, resting a hand on his shoulder and steering him towards the hall. “But I’d like to go along, just to be safe.”

Lance wilts slightly, dropping his gaze to the ground. “Okay,” he mumbles, and shuffles into the hallway with Shiro at his side.

When they’re around the corner, far enough not to be overheard, Shiro finally asks, “So, what exactly did you say to Pidge that made him angry enough to punch you?”

“It was just a joke,” Lance says again. “His voice cracked while he was talking, so I said he must be hitting puberty, but I didn’t mean to make him mad!”

“I know you didn’t,” Shiro says, keeping his voice careful and level. “But he just came up and hit you for that?”

“I mean, he got all surprised, and I told him I was just joking,” Lance says. “Only he still seemed all bent out of shape about it! So I said don’t take it so hard, he’ll be a man soon, and that’s when he hit me.”

Shiro takes a deep breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth in a heavy sigh. He knows Lance doesn’t know just how cruel his comments must have felt to Katie, but he still can’t let it slide entirely. “So, he was clearly upset by your joke, and you made another one?”

“I just…” Lance says, his shoulders slumping. “Wanted to diffuse the tension, ya know?”

They reach the kitchen, and Shiro ushers Lance to a chair while he goes to find ice, or something like it. “I understand,” he says. “I’ll talk to Pidge about it. But in the future, if a member of your team is upset by something you said, perhaps you should apologize instead.”

Lance hunches his shoulders, looking downcast. “I was just teasing,” he mumbles.

Shiro pulls some kind of cryopack out of the freezer, cold to the touch and faintly glowing. He’s not sure exactly what’s in this, but it’s safe enough to cool food, at least for Alteans; he hopes that’s not different for humans, not just for his purposes now but because they’ve all eaten food out of that freezer.

Wrapping it in a cloth, he hands it over to Lance and rests a hand on his shoulder again. “Thanks,” Lance says, still staring at the floor.

“I know you didn’t mean any harm,” Shiro tells him. “But not everyone takes well to being teased, and you can’t always know what someone might be sensitive about.”

“Sorry, Shiro,” Lance mutters, cradling the cold pack to the side of his face.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” he says firmly. “But if you want to make it up to me, you can do it by paying more attention to how the others are feeling, and treating them accordingly. These are your teammates, Lance, remember. You’ll work better together - and have an easier time forming Voltron - if you try to be aware of how your words and actions affect them.”

“Yes, sir,” Lance agrees, and nods. “I’ll try to pay more attention.”

“Good,” Shiro says, patting his shoulder, and gives him an encouraging smile. “You might want to give Pidge some time to cool off before you apologize, though. Maybe you could do it later this evening.”

“I guess so,” Lance says, looking a little put-out.

Shiro nods and turns away. “I’m going to go talk to him, as well,” he says. “Even if you did upset him, I don’t want my team resorting to violence like that.”

—

Pidge stares up at the ceiling above her bunk, her hands still curled into fists even laying at her sides. Her chest is so tight she feels like she can barely breathe, and tears are burning in her eyes, but they won’t seem to spill over even now that she’s stopped trying to fight them back.

Crying sucks, but not as much as not being able to cry.

She bites her lip, willing the tears to either fall or just go away already, but it doesn’t help. There’s a lump in her throat the size of her fist, and swallowing won’t make it go away, or make the knot in her stomach loosen.

Hearing her voice get all squeaky like that was bad enough. It’s not like she didn’t know it would happen, eventually, after her last injection wore off, but it doesn’t make it easier. The last thing she needs on top of it all is Lance taunting her for it.

A knock at the door brings her out of her thoughts, and she turns over to face the wall. “Go away,” she calls back, wrapping her arms around herself. “I don’t wanna talk.”

“Pidge,” says a voice from outside. Oh, quiznak. It’s Shiro. “Can I come in for just a few minutes?”

“I said go away!” she yells, her throat going tight as her voice strains, and she swallows hard again, her jaw trembling.

There’s a pause before Shiro speaks again. “I don’t want to give you orders, and I’d rather talk to you as your friend than as your commander, but this is important.”

She considers refusing again, but she knows it’s not Shiro she’s angry at. “Okay,” she says with a sigh. “I guess you can come in.”

The door hisses open, and then shut, and Shiro’s footsteps approach her bunk. After a long moment, he says, “I talked to Lance about what happened.”

“You didn’t hear what he said,” she snaps back without turning to look at him. “If you were there—“

“I would have told you both to take it easy,” Shiro tells her firmly. “I got the gist of it, between him and the others, and I already told him he was out of line. But I can’t have my crew coming to blows over a hurtful joke.”

She hunches her shoulders, wishing she could make herself small enough to just disappear. “Sorry, Shiro,” she mumbles to the wall.

He sighs. “You don’t need to apologize to me. Just try to do better.” He pauses for a moment again, and she can almost hear him thinking before he adds, quietly, “Would your father approve of that?”

She’d seen it coming, but it still feels like a blow to the gut. “You tell me,” she says, her voice trembling a little, her vision blurring.

“Katie…” Shiro says behind her.

She swallows hard, screwing her eyes shut. “Dad always hated violence,” she says. “But he also always said there are some people you can’t reason with.”

When Shiro doesn’t answer she turns to look at him, drawing her legs up to her chest as she sits up. He’s crouched a few feet away so he has to look up at her, his arms folded and resting on his knees, a serious look on his face.

“When I came out,” she continues after a moment, “he told me, ‘Katie, there are people out there who might try to hurt you for who you are. I’m going to do my best to protect you from them, but if I’m not there, you do anything you need to to protect yourself.’”

She sniffles and looks away.

“I know I shouldn’t have hit Lance,” she mumbles after a moment. “Even if he knew, I don’t think he’d hurt me. Not the way Dad meant, anyways. It’s just -“

Her throat goes tight and she tries to steady herself, taking a deep, careful breath.

“I was due for my next shot six months ago,” she says in a rush, “and Mom and I were talking before I ran away about how next year I could probably start hormones, and now I’m not gonna and everyone thinks I’m a boy now and - and - it sucks, is all.”

Shiro nods seriously, brows drawing together. “That’s got to be hard on you,” he agrees.

She chokes back a sob, the tears she’s been trying so hard to fight suddenly spilling over her cheeks. “I know I overreacted,” she manages thickly, “I should’ve kept my head, I’ve just been - so - so -“

“You’re going through a lot right now,” he says, and finally gives her a faint smile. “Trust me, I’ve been there.”

“You have?” she asks, unsure.

He nods again. “Once or twice. I know it’s easy to lose your temper when you’re under so much stress.”

Pidge laughs shakily, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I guess so,” she says. “Sorry for, um - all of...this.”

“You don’t have to be,” he assures her, and stands, crossing the room to rest a hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright, Pidge. It’s a leader’s job to be there for his team, no matter what they need.”

“Sounds like something my dad would say,” she replies, grinning up at him, and climbs to her feet to give him a hug.

—

Lance sighs as he heads down the hall towards Pidge’s room, his hands shoved in his pockets. Maybe the past two hours have given Pidge time to chill out, but he’s never been great at figuring out what to say to anyone ahead of time, so all Lance has to show for waiting is a bunch of nerves he doesn’t know what to do with and only the vaguest idea of what he’s going to talk about, despite Hunk’s attempts to offer advice.

Outside the door, he stops, rocks back and forth on his heels with a frown. Okay, come on, he tells himself, closing his eyes. All he’s gotta do is go in there and say he’s sorry and he won’t do it again. That’s not hard.

He takes a deep breath and knocks.

It’s a few seconds before the door opens, Pidge glaring up at him on the other side. “What?” he asks flatly, folding his arms.

“Uh,” Lance says, his mouth suddenly going dry. He must look pretty stupid, he realizes, standing here in the hallway gaping at Pidge. “Look, I,” he begins, shifting his weight uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, about earlier. For saying that stuff. I guess I was being kind of a jerk.”

“Oh, you think?” Pidge mutters, his voice all acid, and looks away.

“Okay, okay, I was definitely being a jerk,” he says, hunching his shoulders. “I shouldn’t’ve made fun of you. I guess--” He makes a face. “I guess maybe Keith’s right, that’s not how you bond with people. I mean, my brothers teased me for stuff all the time when I was younger, and my sisters too for that matter, but that’s kinda different, right?”

“Yeah,” Pidge sighs, and his skinny shoulders slouch.

“I guess I just thought, joking around and stuff usually makes people like you, you know?” Lance continues in a hurry. “But it’s not really - I mean, making people laugh isn’t the same as getting to know them, and since we’re, like, a team now, I guess we should… try to…”

He trails off, shaking his head. What the fuck is he even saying? This talk is getting into dangerous territory real fast, and anyways, he’s not here to talk about his feelings. Pull it together, he tells himself, trying to refocus.

“Anyways,” he says, “I just wanted to say sorry. I won’t - uh, I’ll try not to… make fun of you like that anymore.”

“Thanks,” Pidge says, and rubs the back of his neck. “Um… I’m sorry, too. For punching you, I mean. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Thanks,” he says. “Man, to be honest? I’m kind of impressed! I didn’t think you could hit that hard.”

Pidge laughs at that, and Lance sighs, relieved that the tension seems to have passed. “Well,” Pidge says, “I guess I’m full of surprises.”

“So,” Lance says, offering his hand. “Are we cool?”

Pidge frowns again, looking him up and down. “You better not do it again,” he says after a moment. “I won’t deck you next time, but I will tell Shiro.”

“I won’t,” Lance says quickly. “I mean, not about that. I’m still gonna make fun of you for being a nerd, though.”

“That’s fair,” Pidge replies, and gives him a crooked smile. “Yeah, I guess we’re cool.”

Pidge is surprised by another knock at the door as she’s getting ready for bed, and she quickly pulls on her pajama top before calling, “Yeah?”

“Hey,” Shiro says as the door opens, peering inside. “Can I come in?”

“Sure,” she says, flopping down on her bed.

“How are you doing?” he asks, leaning against the wall as the door slides closed behind him. “Lance said he talked to you.”

“Yeah,” she replies, drawing her knees up to her chest. “He was actually pretty nice about it.” She laughs sheepishly and rubs the back of her neck, giving Shiro a rueful grin. “I mean, at least he admitted he screwed up, which was more than I expected.”

“I’m glad,” Shiro replies, smiling back faintly. “You seem like you’re feeling better, too.”

She nods. “Um,” she adds after a moment, “sorry for overreacting like that.”

“Come talk to me next time, alright?” he says, and takes a step closer to put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m happy to help sort out an argument, but I’d rather do it before it comes to blows.”

“Yes, sir,” she says, and looks down. “But, um… I don’t think there will be a next time, actually.”

“Oh?” he replies, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m...gonna tell the others,” she says. “That I’m a girl. Maybe - maybe not tomorrow, but… soon.”

His slight smile breaks into a grin. “That’s great,” he says, patting her shoulder firmly. “I’m proud of you, Katie. And I know your family would be, too.”

She laughs, taking off her glasses and setting them aside on the shelf above her bed. “Thanks,” she tells him. “And, you know - I’m actually pretty okay with Pidge.”

#pidge gunderson #katie holt #lance mcclain #vld pidge #vld lance #voltron legendary defender #vldfic #willwrites #katie holt is trans and there's nothing you can do about it.#belong to the sky verse

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angels17324 · 5 years

Text

The Violet Paladin Ch. 9 (Keith x Reader)

Word Count: 1322 Update Schedule: Every Monday [Masterlist] [Prev]

We stared at it, without knowing what was it in making its presences all the more menacing. Zarkon had sent yet another monster to fight us. At least that's what we assumed it was... expect Hunk, who was very optimistic about what could possibly be in there.

"If it's the same monster from Arus we already know how to beat it," Keith spoke.

"I highly doubt they'd send the same monster if we beat it once already it just doesn't seem like something they'd do," I chimed in. We formed the sword and the shield and watched as the chamber depressurized to release its monster, It was quite different, I didn't have time to think as it began firing on us and attacking.

We weren't able to counter attack at all, so Shiro decided it was time to split up... this didn't help either apparently, it's many lasers were able to follow all of us. The attacks weren't letting up until Allura fired at it with the castle but was quickly attacked as well.

"Keith, draw its fire, I'm coming in from above," Shiro ordered as we all flew around, I was mostly trying not to get hit while also keeping it aiming away from the Balmera.

"Roger that!" Keith announced. Keith fired at it successfully drawing it's fire, however as Shiro went for the attack the beast fired at him. "We need to find its blind spot,"

"I don't think this thing has a blind spot," Pidge said as she flew.

"We've gotta take out the laser eyes," I said.

"We will cover you from up here," Allura shot at the beast before drawing all its fire.

"Princess pull back to get out of its range now," Shiro ordered.

"We will not abandon you," Allura told him.

"You're not, we're about to pull back too," Shiro reassured her. "Lion's to the mine shafts, it's the only place it can get us," Shiro ordered, I flew into the same tunnel as Lance and Pidge, while the others went into the other tunnel and Allura returned into orbit.

We got out of our lions, and I ran towards Lance and Pidge. I glared at the taller male.

"What?" he feigned innocence.

"You know exactly what and when this is all over we're having a talk," I jabbed at his chest. Pidge looked quite confused at the conversation but chose to ignore it as we opened up communications with the others. Allura sent us a diagram of the Balmera dying. It was painful to watch. Coran told us what would happen to the Balmera.

"We need to get all the Balmeran's to the castle of lions before the planet implodes," Allura told us. We quickly came up with our plan of action to provoke and evade, while Allura convinces the Balmerans to come to the castle of lions.

The six of us returned to the surface and got the beast to start attacking us again, this was both a little fun with all the maneuvering we're getting to practice but terrifying not knowing what's happening on Allura's side of it. After a short while, we saw the castle land meaning Allura had successfully convinced the Balmerans to come to the castle. However, the small bit of happiness from that was soon cut short as the Balmeran's got trapped. We needed a new plan and quick.

"Hey guys, something's happening over here," Hunk told us.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Remember how Keith's Bayard formed the sword well I think there's a way to take down those eyes."

"Well, whatever it is, we need to try."

"Form thingy!" Hunk shouted... "It didn't work,"

"We haven't formed Voltron yet Hunk!" I told him. The beast turned its sight on the castle where Allura and the others were performing what they had called a rejuvenation ceremony

"Everyone follow me! Form Voltron!" Shiro shouted, as we flew together and formed the giant robot. Keith fired his laser as we stood in front of the castle. Hunk was able to form a laser cannon which we used to blast the beast. The beast fired another blast at us, which we met with our own trying to hold strong from the powerful waves coming from the two blasts meeting, We redirected the blast away from the castle.

The beast got ready for yet another blast, this beast just doesn't give up. We flew away from the castle its blast following us. Suddenly a screen appeared showing all the spots we needed to hit.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Hunk asked.

"Let's see what this can do," Shiro said as the shoulder cannon was reformed and set out several blasts hitting each of the beasts then right before our eyes the entire Balmera radiated with a beautiful blue glow, before disappearing.

The beast stood up and began to fire at us yet again, this time we flew head-on Keith getting a direct hit to the beast's chest sending it flying back. Which seemed to have finally defeated it hopefully as it has yet to get up. We disbanded Voltron and landed running towards Allura and Shay. When the ground started shaking, we looked up to see the beast was getting back up yet again.

"Oh no..." I silently whispered. It charged but another blast, but crystals began to form around it sealing the beast.

"No way," Hunk breathed. We all stared in shock and amazement as the Balmera had just saved us. We looked around as small crystals formed on the ground. "Oh, who's a good Balmera," Hunk scratched the surface of the Balmera treating it like a dog.

"What are you doing?" Keith asked.

"What? It's alive, and wovs my scwatches," Hunk cooed and scratched the surface some more, Keith facepalmed at this. I couldn't help but laugh at this, because of how adorable yet normal this seemed to be for all of us now. Allura decided we were staying for at least the night to recharge the castle.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a certain teen I needed to have a talk with attempting to sneak away.

"Oh no you don't Lance," I glared at the boy who stopped right in his tracks.

"Yes, (Y/n)?" He asked I dragged him away from the group.

"You heard my conversation with Allura didn't you," I said.

"What makes you say that?" He asked.

"Because Allura was the only person I told and if she would have told anybody it most likely would have been the mice,"

"Fine, I did hear a small bit of your conversation but might I also add as a younger brother to two sisters I know what they act like," He said.

"Is it that obvious?" I buried my face in my hands.

"To a trained eye," Lance proudly smiled. "Don't worry big brother Lance will help you out!" He cheered.

"Yeah one problem with that, I'm older than you Lance." I stared at him.

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Considering your track record, I'm good." I laughed and walked away remembering just the other day with Nyma and before that with Allura and honestly who knows who else.

"Hey!" He called after. I ran away towards the castle laughing more. I'm really starting to love hanging out with everyone and becoming a team. If only I had known what would happen in the following days.

[Next]

Tag List~ @somebodytouchedmysaeran @ittie-bittie-tittie @izabellah816

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raywritesthings · 5 years

Text

Wrong Road to the Right Place 17/?

My Writing Fandom: Arrow Characters: Oliver Queen, Laurel Lance, John Diggle, Ted Grant, Thea Queen, Moira Queen, Alexi Leonev, Raisa, Tommy Merlyn Pairings: Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen Summary: Laurel finds herself curious about the marks Oliver showed her that night in his bedroom - and the tattoo on his left shoulder stands out in particular. When she discovers its meaning, she finds herself questioning everything she knows about the man she doesn’t want to admit she still loves. Additional Note: Lightly Sexual Content *Can also be read on my AO3 page*

When Laurel made it down to the base, John could tell something had happened. “What’s wrong?”

Oliver looked up from the file he was studying of yet another one-percenter as well.

“It’s the Bratva,” Laurel answered. She told them everything about the short phone call with Leonev.

“Did he threaten you?” Was Oliver’s first question.

“Not exactly. I kind of hung up.”

John let out a breath. Not that he had much experience, but he wasn’t sure he would have just hung up on the Bratva.

“I’ll have to talk to Alexi,” Oliver determined. “He’s overstepping, probably wants to know how far my loyalties go.” He leaned his weight on a table and looked down. “This is all my fault.”

“Not exactly. I went to the warehouse and let them see my face,” Laurel reminded him. She stepped up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “If I hadn’t been following you, they would have no idea I was involved in any of this.”

“It’s only because you followed me that you are,” Oliver pointed out. “And I- I’m glad about that, but I didn’t want something like this happening to someone I love. You and my family, that was never supposed to mix with the Bratva. You were supposed to be safe.”

“Well, even without the Bratva, that has proven to be difficult.”

They both shared a bittersweet smile at that.

“And who else are they gonna want to borrow, Oliver?” John asked, only a little sorry to break the moment. “You never said that could happen when I walked in there with you.”

He was worried about Laurel, but he also had himself and Carly and AJ to think about. What if the Bratva decided they needed an army man, a driver, anything that require his position or skill set?

“I didn’t think it would.” He could tell Oliver was as angry at himself as John was at him. “The Bratva doesn’t go after family, not usually. They must really need something done, or something a client of theirs needs done. I don’t know.” His hands were twitching at his sides, probably wishing for someone or something to hit.

“Okay, let’s start with some things we can manage,” Laurel suggested. “I think we need to be more careful about our identities. All three of us.” She spun on the balls of her feet to face John. “That means masks in the field.”

He could feel himself shaking his head. “I’m not the vigilante.”

“No, but I agree, John,” said Oliver. “If somebody out there recognizes you because you came to help me, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “Look, man, a mask doesn’t work the same for me the same it does for you. If I get spotted in a mask, they’ll see a bank robber. A thug. Or some kind of criminal. They see someone they need to shoot first, ask questions later.”

Both Oliver and Laurel looked down. He knew they probably didn’t like facing that reality, but he was the one living it.

“What if you covered up completely? I know you went out as the Hood once,” Laurel pointed out. “No one noticed he was black instead of white. What if you wore something more like that? It shouldn’t have to be that way, but we all want you to be safe, John.”

He knew that, but he still wasn’t sure he was comfortable taking on the title of vigilante full time the way Oliver did. It was something he’d have to give thought. “What are some of the other things?”

“We shouldn’t use our real names on the comms. Especially you, Ollie. ‘John’ is one thing, but if a criminal heard you say my name…”

“It’s not the most common,” Oliver acknowledged. “So a codename. Did you have something in mind.”

Laurel shrugged, but John smirked as a thought came to him.

“Well, the Russians have one already, don’t they? Pretty Bird.”

“No. I am not going by that,” Laurel protested immediately.

“I’ll start looking at masks,” he offered in deadpan. Laurel crossed her arms, no doubt ready to start arguing why he should be doing that anyway.

What caught them both off guard was Oliver stifling a laugh. “Sorry,” he said the moment they looked at him. John almost wished they hadn’t; it had been a while since he’d seen Oliver laughing.

When he glanced at Laurel, he could tell she was thinking the same thing.

“Fine,” Laurel said with extra emphasis after a pause. “It’s a working title.”

He and Oliver shared a grin. As crazy as their lives were, at least maybe they could have this.

John accompanied Oliver the next morning out to the warehouse ostensibly posing as a garage. They were shown right in.

“Welcome, Captain,” Leonev greeted. “What business do you have today?”

“Personal,” Oliver said with a clipped tone. “You’ve disappointed me, Alexi. This is a brotherhood. We do not go after our family.”

“I would not normally, but these are special circumstances.” The mob man didn’t seem in the least surprised that they were here to discuss it. “As I explained, Carnahan’s execution makes things difficult for us.”

“What, was he on your payroll?” John couldn’t help asking. He cursed himself mentally for it; he wasn’t trying to draw attention to himself here. But the thought that the Assistant District Attorney has been Bratva was a little too shocking to process silently.

Leonev made a face. “Not as such. But he knew when best to leave things alone.”

Probably why he’d gotten killed by the Savior in the first place, John noted to himself.

“And you should know to leave my family alone,” Oliver pressed.

“I apologize. But you do not understand pressure we are under. This is below your grade, as they say.”

Oliver exchanged a look with him, and John gave an imperceptible nod. It was better that they hear out Leonev’s information before saying anything else.

“What kind of pressure?” Oliver asked.

“With Hood operating in Starling, many people are angry. They are worried about their interests, and whether he plans to interfere with them.”

“Which people?”

“There is only one name. Tempest. I know nothing else.”

Tempest. John frowned, trying to remember if he’d ever heard of such an organization in Starling City. He could tell from Oliver’s expression that he was coming up empty as well.

“What would Tempest want with a lawyer from a nonprofit?” John decided to ask.

“There is man, named Rasmus. He is having trouble with a family who claim he stole from them.”

Which meant the man probably had, was what went unsaid.

“Should they pursue legal action with the City Necessary Resources Initiative, your woman is to refuse. Make something up, make the case disappear.” Leonev shrugged. “That is all.”

John had a feeling that wasn’t the whole story, considering this Rasmus had an in with the mob, but he could tell asking for more information wouldn’t help them in the least.

“So, we are agreed?” Asked Leonev.

Oliver was staring at the ground, and John realized his friend had gone tense. But he looked up after a moment with a tense smile. “I’ll have my answer for you shortly.” Then he turned and left the warehouse, and John wasn’t interested in sticking around without him.

“What’s wrong, Oliver?” He said in an undertone once they were halfway to the car.

His friend didn’t ask for specifics on what he meant. “Edward Rasmus is on the list.”

“Oh.”

“That family deserves every penny he took from them. But,” Oliver’s frown deepened as he continued, “if the Hood goes after him now, the Bratva will realize there’s a leak.”

“And that the leak is you.”

Oliver nodded.

It was one hell of a choice. Continue to stay on the Bratva’s good side and leave a family to suffer, or do the right thing and put targets on all of their backs.

“Laurel hasn’t been approached by this family yet,” he pointed out. “We’ve still got some time to figure out a plan.”

Oliver glanced at him over the roof of the car as they split up to get in on either side. “Yeah. But how much?”

—-

Ted frowned as he easily side-stepped another quick punch. “Time-out.”

Laurel Lance kept her fists raised but held her position as he’d requested.

“Where’s your head? I can tell it’s a million miles away. You’re stiff as a brick.”

“Sorry,” she sighed.

“We’ll take a break till you’re ready to do this.”

“Ted, I am ready.” She followed him a couple steps when he turned away. “I have to be.”

“Because you’re in some kind of trouble?” He turned back around when she froze. “If I’m gonna help you, teach you, I gotta know what’s going on, Laurel. And don’t think I missed the way your boyfriend came in here casing the place with his eyes when he dropped you off tonight. Who was he checking for?”

Laurel chewed at her lip for a moment or so before she said to her toes, “Bratva.”

“Well, that is a problem.”

“It’s complicated.”

“I don’t doubt it.” He set aside his gloves. “Alright, you help me close up and we’ll talk.”

She eyed him suspiciously but finally nodded, accepting his help out of the ring.

They made quick work of things, and soon enough Ted was getting out a pair of folding chairs that he set a few feet apart facing each other. He gestured Laurel to one and took the other.

“So what is a nice girl like you getting mixed up in the Bratva for? Not to mention those tough guys you already hang around with.”

Laurel stared at him. “You think Oliver Queen is a tough guy.”

“Who said anything about Oliver Queen?”

“My boyfriend? That’s him,” she told him. “You really didn’t recognize him?”

“Should I have?” Ted shrugged. “What’s he ever done for me?” He was glad to see it got her smiling, even if a little grudgingly. “Alright, then. But what’s going on?”

She leaned forward in her chair. “You can’t tell anyone. Especially not the police.”

“I don’t exactly got a client confidentiality clause, but I don’t talk if it’s not necessary.”

Laurel nodded. “When he was shipwrecked, Oliver had to do a lot of things to survive. Not all of them were good. One of those things...got him involved with the Bratva.”

Ted raised his eyebrows but made no comment.

“I was trying to figure out what was going on with him when he got back and walked in on something I shouldn’t have. They now know who I am, and they’re asking me to compromise myself at my job for them. I’m a lawyer at CNRI.”

Somehow that didn’t surprise him. “What have they asked you?”

“There’s a client of theirs, a businessman they’re connected to. He’s done something illegal to steal money from people, and he’s worried about a family seeking legal help,” Laurel explained in the broadest sense possible. Probably to get around legal red tape. “I’m supposed to turn them down when they do.”

“But you’re not gonna do that.”

Laurel didn’t have to answer. He could see it in her eyes.

“Your boyfriend doesn’t want this?”

“No,” Laurel said with a quick shake of the head. “He was furious, but there’s not much he can do without bringing them down on both our heads.”

“So why are you with a guy in the mob?”

“He’s not — I mean, he asked them for information about something. That was what I walked in on. I really can’t say anymore.”

Ted weighed that for a while, gathering everything he knew about his student with everything that had been going on in this city lately. It didn’t make sense for Laurel to be wasting her time on some two-bit cheat with the mob unless…

Ted drew in a breath. “I’ll be damned. He really is the Hood.”

Laurel looked absolutely miserable, but didn’t deny it.

“And I suppose that’s what’s got you in here? You don’t want him out there alone.”

“No.”

Ted nodded to himself. Then he stood. “Come with me.”

He led her back to the office and took out the old folder again. He’d been catching himself flipping through it more often of late, and he watched as her eyes scanned over everything once he passed it to her.

“This was you? You were a vigilante?”

“Something like that. I gave it up a long time ago. Not sure if that was for the best or not, considering what we’ve been seeing lately. But I know what it takes.”

She looked up at him, eyes searching his face.

“I train you, you do it by my rules. That means no killing.”

He was glad to see a ready nod to that. “I’ve been talking to Oliver. Trying...it’s hard for him. On the island, survival of the fittest was the only rule.”

Ted thought he could understand that at least a little. “He needs to start learning he’s not on that island. And that’s what we’re getting you ready for.”

“Alright.” Laurel turned and left the office. When he followed after, he found her already climbing back into the ring. “Let’s get started.”

Ted grinned.

—-

Just as quickly as she’d arrived, Laurel was no longer staying at the Manor. And she’d taken Ollie with her.

Thea was more confused than ever. Her brother had talked to her a couple times since, only saying that he and Laurel had decided it was time to start living on their own like they’d once planned — or Laurel had planned, anyway. But he didn’t give Thea the address. She knew they weren’t at Laurel’s apartment because she’d stopped by there late and no one had answered.

She’d gotten away with being out late because she was once again being left with little to no supervision.

Their mom had taken to working late nights at the company, making the big house seem all the more empty. Thea was half-tempted to see if Roy wanted a roommate, but even she knew it was way too early for her to be moving in with her new boyfriend.

Everything just seemed really tense ever since the attack at Mr. Merlyn’s award ceremony. Ollie and her mom weren’t really talking, Tommy hadn’t been over in forever, and Laurel changed the subject whenever she tried to ask during her community service at CNRI.

Neither Laurel or Oliver attended Mr. Chen’s memorial service, though that wasn’t surprising considering what had come out about his Triad connections. It had been very quick, and his daughter had also been conspicuously absent. Thea wondered what could have kept her overseas for something like this. As weird as her loved ones were being right now, Thea still wanted to be there for them, if they’d let her. Which no one seemed inclined to do at the moment.

Thea left her room and took the long way round towards the kitchen to see if there was anything to snack on. Raisa had been stress-baking lately; even she could tell something wasn’t quite right.

But Thea’s walk slowed as she came up on the door to her mother’s office. There was a bit of light shining out from under the door. She hadn’t heard her mom come in.

Cautiously, she approached and turned the handle silently. She’d taught herself the trick over the years for whenever she wanted to check in on her mom without her knowing. But it wasn’t her mother sitting at the desk.

There was a man in a suit standing behind the desk, peering intently at the computer. His head was down and he wore a hat with a brim so she couldn’t see his hair.

Tea must have let out a gasp, because he looked up — only she couldn’t make out his features. Everything was sort of opaque.

“Please don’t hurt me!” She blurted.

He jerked back, the lamp he’d been reading by falling off the desk and smashing on the floor. Only the strip of light from the hallway illuminated the room, and it didn’t prepare her for when he approached from the side and knocked her out of the way, racing down the hall.

“Hey!”

Thea hurried after, but in her flip flops wasn’t quite fast enough. She heard the front door open and slam.

“Miss Thea?” Raisa called a few minutes later.

Thea met her at the bottom of the steps. “There was a guy, I saw. He- he must’ve broken in!”

Raisa’s eyes widened. “Was it the vigilante?”

“No. I mean, I don’t think so.” Thea didn’t know who that had been. “I- I should call the cops, right?”

The front door opened again and they both grabbed at each other in fright.

“Thea? Raisa?” Her mother blinked at them in surprise. “What seems to be the commotion?”

“Mom!” Thea raced forward and buried her head in her mother’s shoulder, squeezing her tight. “You’re okay.”

“Of course I am, sweetheart.” She felt her mom rub her shoulder blades.

“But you- you didn’t see him?”

“See who?”

“Miss Thea claims she saw an intruder,” Raisa said.

Her mom pulled back to look at her in surprise. “An intruder?”

“I swear it happened, mom. He knocked over your desk lamp on the way out. I caught him looking at your computer.” Thea didn’t miss the way she paled at that. “It wasn’t the Hood or anybody the news or police have talked about. But we should call them, right?”

“No,” her mother said with a sharpness in her voice. Thea drew back and watched as she closed her eyes and collected herself. “I mean that, I would like to assess any damage first to see if police involvement is necessary.”

“Mom, he broke in,” Thea began as she followed her mother up the stairs.

“As I’m aware, sweetheart. I’ll have the security informed to be on a more careful lookout.” She paused in the doorway and looked back at her. “I know you’re worried, Thea, but there are other things we have to consider. The company is only just coming back from a vulnerable position after Walter’s disappearance. As we are the face of that company, we have to present a strong, united front. Do you understand?”

“I guess.”

Her mother’s smile was strained. “Thank you, sweetheart. Oh, and don’t mention this to Oliver if you see him? He has enough of his own worries.”

“Okay,” Thea agreed slowly. Her mother nodded and disappeared into her office.

Thea turned back towards her room, her appetite forgotten. The more time went on, the more she really was starting to think there was something more going on with her family, and the city at large.

She just had no idea how to figure out what.

—-

Tommy ran blindly through the trees. Literally blindly. He could hardly see where he was going with this thing over his face. How did Ollie do it?

His breathing was slightly impaired as well. This was not going how he’d wanted it to at all. But he’d wanted even less to be caught by one of the servants of Queen Manor downloading Mrs. Queen’s files onto a flash drive. That’s why he’d taken the precautions with his identity.

He hadn’t been expecting Thea. Why wasn’t she listening to music in her room or out partying, something normal teenagers did? He couldn't believe what she'd said, that she'd thought he might hurt her. A part of him was disgusted with himself that he'd caused her that fear. Why did this have to be necessary?

He finally made it out to the old narrow lane he’d parked his car in, where he’d used to drop Oliver off after a long night and they didn’t want his parents to know. God, he wished that’s what he was doing right now.

Tommy wrenched the door open and climbed inside, tossing the hat he’d bought cheap with cash onto the seat beside him and ripping the pantyhose stocking off his head.

It had been the closest thing to a mask he’d been able to find, probably left behind by one of his rendezvous in the last couple months. All his old ski stuff, like the all-too-critical mask, were at his dad’s house, and Tommy definitely hadn’t wanted to let him know he was sneaking into his good friend’s house to steal files. Even if he was dying with curiosity about his dad’s unexpected convalescence.

If the files he’d found on the Merlyn Global server were to be believed, whatever his father was doing with this Undertaking had something to do with a project being developed by Unidac Industries. Since Unidac had recently been bought by Queen Consolidated, his best bet at learning more was now on this flash drive. He was one step closer to discovering whatever his father was planning in honor of his mother’s legacy.

The trouble was, what did he do when he found it out? He’d set up contact with McKenna at the SCPD, partly inspired by Oliver’s infrequent alliance with Detective Lance. Tommy wasn’t confident enough in his sneaking around to contact an old pro like Lance, though, so he’d picked McKenna for her rookie status. Maybe his hint to her about the Glades would be enough to stop this whole thing. Merlyn Global would be dined for using shell companies to get a monopoly on real estate in the Glades, and life would continue on.

And if it wasn’t? What if he had to reveal what he knew about the Gambit? What if he had to send his own father to jail? And Mrs. Queen along with him, perhaps.

There was one other option, Tommy knew, that wouldn’t involve the police at all. He could take what he’d gathered to Oliver and the others. But what then? Would he be signing his father’s death warrant? Was it wrong of him to care about that when he’d only just sat at Frank Chen’s memorial knowing just who was responsible for putting him there?

He couldn’t decide what to do until he read the information on this flash drive. That would decide everything. Grimly, Tommy put the car in reverse and began the long drive back to his apartment, relieved to run into no police cars on the way.

—-

Laurel shifted around on the mattress, trying to get comfortable. She didn’t need a downy soft bed, but the firmness of this one wasn’t quite to her liking. Only the knowledge that Oliver had to be used to sleeping on hard surfaces kept her from voicing the complaint.

He reached out an arm and pulled her closer to him, offering himself up as a cushion. So maybe he could guess her feelings anyway.

“Did I wake you?” She whispered. It was only them tucked away in this corner of the base, but she still felt the need to be quiet.

“Can’t sleep until you do,” he muttered back, smoothing some of her hair back from her forehead. “What about you?”

She shrugged. “There’s a lot on my mind.” The tips of her fingers tapped the star tattoo on his chest. “Ollie; there’s something I have to tell you.”

His eyes opened and he looked down at her. “Yeah?”

“It’s Ted. He knows the truth.”

She felt him tense up underneath her, and Laurel sat up, pulling the sleeve of her tank top back into place.

“Laurel—”

“He guessed, and he’s not going to tell. In fact, he told me his own secret. He used to be a vigilante, too.”

Oliver’s eyebrows rose. “When?”

“A few years ago. He mostly handled small crime in the Glades and he didn’t have the kind of fancy tech you do, so there wasn’t much media coverage,” she explained. “He wouldn’t tell me why he stopped, but I gather something happened in the field.”

Oliver pushed himself up on one elbow. “Why did he tell you any of it?”

“Because he’s training me. And not just in self-defense.” She fixed him with a look. “We’ve talked around this, Ollie, but someday when I’m ready, I’m going to be out there with you.”

She could see the pain and fear creeping into his eyes, but to his credit he held his tongue.

“I know you’re afraid for me, but I refuse to live like this forever.” Laurel gestured around them. “Hiding in bunkers and constantly looking over my shoulder. This is our fight, together, and we’re going to take it to them.”

“I understand that’s how you feel,” he said carefully. Oliver reached out for her hands, and she let him. “I just worry what this life would do to you. It’s not something I ever would have chosen for myself.”

“I know. And the fact that you took it on anyway shows how much you’ve changed. And that’s not for the worse, Ollie. You are a good person. And I want to help you to be even better.”

“As capable as you are, I’m not sure that’s possible,” he remarked with chagrin. She could tell he still didn’t quite believe her when she said he was good.

Laurel took one of her hands from his grasp and cupped his cheek so he would look at her. “Well, it starts with trust. Here and in the field. A year ago, the idea that I could ever trust you again would’ve sounded crazy to me, Ollie. But I’m ready to take that leap again.” She wondered for a single moment if her mother would be just as understanding with we for following her heart, but she let the residual anger and grief go, stroking at Oliver’s stubble with her thumb. “Are you?”

He swallowed and nodded.

Laurel leaned over and kissed him again, softly and sweetly. “Then it’s not so impossible, is it?”

They left words behind for the rest of the night.

#lauriver #laurel x oliver #laurel lance #oliver queen #arrow #john diggle #alexi leonev #ted grant #thea queen #moira queen #raisa #tommy merlyn #green arrow #black canary #my writing

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imreallyhereforplance · 6 years

Text

Why No One Addressed Pidge’s Well-Being or Lance’s Outburst (+ S8 Plance Theory)

So I see that there are some posts where people are expressing an understandable amount of disappointment that the torture scene wasn’t expanded upon. That we didn’t see Pidge thank Lance or anyone ask Pidge if she was alright.

I was also confused, so I did some thinking, and came to a conclusion that’s actually pretty comforting to me: The writers did this to preserve atmosphere, and this scene will be addressed and/or paralleled in a future episode. Not just because we ship plance and we’re hoping for more scenes, but because it would help the writers reel the audience (or anyone who cares about Lance’s well-being) in during this future episode.

I COULD BE WRONG, but I’m actually pretty optimistic, and this post explains my thought process. It’s long, but if I can write it, then I believe that you have the strength to read it (if you want). Good luck.

@lancemccutie, this is dedicated to you ;)

As I mentioned, people have been disappointed at seeing NOBODY ask Pidge if she’s okay. And us plance shippers really wanted Pidge to thank Lance or something sweet like that.

But I feel like that’s just not the writers’ style. In a calmer situation where everyone is together, they might brush upon romantic subplots or, more commonly, illustrate the power of friendship/teamwork in general. In a more intense scene, though, they focus on events, like “Torture. Cut to Acxa. Hacking. Sentries.” That kind of thing. Because it’s all about ATMOSPHERE. So let’s talk about it. (I promise this is relevant.)

The torture scene. Wow, that was an emotional rollercoaster. Personally, I WAS surprised that no one said anything to Pidge, and I too was disappointed when we didn’t see her react to Lance. But remember that it was an intense portion of the episode, and an intense episode in general. There were multiple events going on, back-and-forthing between Coran, Acxa, the mice, the prisoners, and Ezor and Zethrid. The creators clearly outline this as an eventful episode, and they work hard to build up an atmosphere. This episode especially, since it’s the first time our heroes have actually been apprehended.

So in order to build this atmosphere, this dread, and make you really hope and really root for these characters, including Axca of all people, who might be their only hope, the writers cannot include anything that might subtract from what’s happening, even if it “makes sense.” (Like I get that there was some humor sprinkled in this episode, but it was mostly Coran giving away their location, which was a BAD thing.)

It makes sense that someone would ask Pidge if she’s okay. Which is why I am CERTAIN that someone did, we just didn’t see it because we had flashed to another character perspective. And why did we need to miss it? Because that would give us too big of a relief, we would have the subconscious feeling that it was over, things were better now. And of course we feel relief when they stop messing with Pidge, that’s unavoidable, but the creators realize that, and don’t want that. Or at least, too much of it. Because it’d be like spoiling their work.

Remember why the creators chose that she would be tortured in the first place – To BUILD atmosphere. To make you DREAD what’s happening. Like the popsicle post said, it “will make you gasp.” It tells the audience how bad the situation is. And it was remarkably effective. However, once she was released, they knew the audience was going to feel slightly better, and they didn’t want that. They wanted the audience to remain anxious. They wanted to minimize the feeling of relief so as not to take away too much from the dread that they’ve built up in their audience – the same dread they just created by including the scene.

So once Ezor stopped, the writers don’t bring any more attention to how Pidge is doing. Asking “Are you okay,” and Pidge saying “Yeah...I’m fine” would make us feel pity or concern at her particular well-being rather than concern at the situation as a whole. Instead, they want us to remember that the situation is still SUPER bad, so it’s treated like a “Nope, moving on. We gotta go – now!” kinda thing where they aren’t going to address this, and we the viewers are taken along for the ride. Having her tell us that she’s okay SUBSTRACTS from the atmosphere they’ve made from her being threatened, and instead draws our attention to Pidge particularly for a little too long for the writers’ liking. It would be a pause in what’s going on. Yes, it’d be a brief pause, but still there.

With this in mind, I guess you could say that Pidge is thereby used as a means to an end, but isn’t that true for everything that happens to these characters? Cuz the point is to tell a story, and you tell a story using those characters. You build an atmosphere using those characters.

(Also, real quick, this logic potentially means that Pidge really could have thanked Lance as well and we missed it because the writers wanted the general audience to get the most excitement/emotionally out of this episode. Which I respect and, as you’ll soon see, doesn’t bother me, because the scene as a whole MAY STILL BE ADDRESSED LATER ON IN THE SERIES.)

So, THAT IS MY REASONING FOR WHY WE NEVER SEE THE TORTURE SCENE BEING ADDRESSED AGAIN. (For that episode at least.)

HOWEVER, even if we didn’t see it as the viewers, there is NO WAY IN CANON THAT THEY DIDN’T ASK HER IF SHE WAS ALRIGHT. It doesn’t fit their characters at ALL.

Moving on from that specific episode, we all know that Voltron is not just a bunch of events. There are lots of beautiful relationships and lots of character development. But there are certain times for that, and they work better than in such an intense, action-packed, back-and-forthing episode. (And sometimes a juxtaposition of emotion and action are intentionally put together, like when Keith fights Kuron. Intense, but also deliberately emotional.)

Usually when the story focus on relationships, whether platonic or romantic, it tends to have a particular atmosphere that’s different from “In the Way Forward”. When the Paladins built their trust in one another and talked things out when they were stranded in space, almost the ENTIRE EPISODE was dedicated to it. Because it was important to the story that they worked things out and built Hunk at this time in the season. (And the hallucinations and sense of the unknown alone built an atmosphere imo)

The creators work out when a good time to focus on these relationships is, such as the aforementioned episode, and in “The Feud!” Notice that at these times, the atmospheres are a bit calmer, everyone the story is focused on for that episode’s plot is together, there’s no back-and-forthing between characters.

So what about the A//urance scenes? The creators included it because they felt it was important for whatever direction their relationship was going to take, and they included it at a relatively appropriate time. Not in the heat of battle, but before the battle. They let the audience know where these two characters stand, and they do it briefly because it’s not the main focus of the episode, but apparently needs to be addressed. (Interesting….)

Now that all this ATMOSPHERE stuff has been established, let’s move on to PARALLELS. Particularly, between Pidge and Lance. This is when I start specifically talking about future plance goodness along with Pidge and the torture scene.

SO. You know what I think would be veeery appropriate?

A reverse “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER” scene.

Let me explain. If you think about it, Pidge and Lance have sooo many parallels. And sometimes these parallels occur over multiple seasons.

And because this particular scene stands out to all viewers, whether you ship plance or not, I feel that it’s likely, based on the pattern we keep seeing, that something reversed and similar will eventually occur.

Such as, someone ridiculing Lance, and Pidge saying “Back off.”

Or – and this is what I think will happen – an enemy approaching Lance and Pidge saying “Get away from him!” or “Get off him!”

At first glance, these scenarios seem a lot more subtle than “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER,” and the receiver of Pidge’s outbursts may very well not even acknowledge her if she tells them to get tf back, but I think these hypothetical scenes fit with what we’ve been seeing for a while now.

You know why these would work? Because like “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER,” it’s not lovey-dovey. It’s not superficial. It’s not OUT OF CHARACTER IN ANY WAY. No matter what happens in season 8, whether Pidge has a crush on Lance or not (I believe she does), whether she confesses or not, NO ONE can reasonably say that these lines are OOC. They’re not lovey-dovey, but they still speak volumes.

WHICH IS WHY IT WOULD MAKE THE PERFECT PARALLEL TO “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER”.

It supports my rant on atmosphere because, in the case where Lance is about to be hurt by some enemy, Pidge screaming “Get away from him!” DOES NOT SUBTRACT from the atmosphere. It actually BUILDS the atmosphere. It makes you MORE scared for Lance. It makes you MORE desperate. Like, “oh shi-“ kinda desperate. A “Get away from him!” is more telling in the story than a “thank you, Lance.”

And this is why a parallel to “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER” is not only possible, but probable because it would accomplish a job that the creators want accomplished – atmosphere. (I told you atmosphere was important :D ) And for those of you who read my other post, Plance: A Ramble, (https://imreallyhereforplance.tumblr.com/post/177048118646/plance-a-ramble-im-just-going-to-warn-you-this) this could possibly fit in with the fight where the broadsword appears or the optional fight afterwards where Pidge expresses great emotion towards others.

I think that this can also be applied to @artemisarya‘s wonderful theories as well. I did say “no matter what happens in s8” this parallel would work, but I honestly do think that plance has a remarkably good chance anyways.

Also, just for the fun of it:

Remember how in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which we’ve been comparing plance and “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER” to for a little while now (looking at @truegryffindorforever2), the dialogue was:

Ron: GET OFF HER

Then there was some scuffling.

Hermione: No! Leave him alone!

So I feel like, while it’s not INEVITABLE and the creators could choose not to parallel this special scene, I think there’s a lot of potential for it in season 8, one that would even benefit the writers.

And, who knows? Maybe they will address the torture scene, but at a more suitable time plot-wise. Like, when Pidge and Lance are having a heart-to-heart? Pidge could thank Lance THEN, during an undistractedly emotional moment, filled with feels and nothing else demanding their attention. Instead of thanking Lance super quickly in front of all the other characters (including people like Krolia and Romelle) when the audience is supposed to be focusing on the direness of the situation. Personally, I think the former is an AWESOME time to have them discuss the torture scene.

The purpose of this post is not to tell anyone that their disappointment is unjustified or invalid. Rather, the point is to share my personal thoughts and to give you hope that something that, to me, seems more like the writers’ style might come into play in S8. They might see a “thank you” during an intense scene as a SUBTRACTION from that episode’s suspenseful atmosphere, and will instead have a “Get AWAY from him!” moment to ADD to the atmosphere in a future episode. They’re saving it up to remold it in a way that’s noticeably beneficial to the story! (Again, it builds up atmosphere before something happens / almost happens to Lance.)

Also, despite how positive I might sound, I am obviously not a creator / writer / producer / anything-other-than-big-fan-of-Voltron. I could be completely wrong, I might make no sense, I might be overanalyzing, I may be missing the point. But this is what I think, and I hope it helps some of you <3

Sorry it’s so long. If you have any patience left, tell me your thoughts!

Edit: I am aware that the "Lance! No!" scene can be interpreted as a parallel to "Don't you touch her!" and I agree with that perspective. To clarify, the parallel I am suggesting above does not only have similar energy, but a similar tone. The "Dont you touch her" scene was a much darker, slower, and more intense moment where Lance is not in a position where he can do much to help Pidge. This is what I envision for season 8 - where Pidge is prevented from coming to Lance's aid (whether it be because she is bound, hurt, or physically blocked) and the audience is aware that Lance is in grave danger. Hence the importance of atmosphere building as I've been discussing.

Once again, thank you for reading 💚💙

#plance #pidgance #flirtyrobot #seasalt #rainforest #this took me hours #i have to work #why cant i put this much effort into school #the fact that i could be totally wrong #has not escaped my attention #but i felt the need to do something #because people seem disappointed #so here's an explanation i guess

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shouyouer · 5 years

Text

you are my muse, may pain and my chemistry

READ ON AO3

Pairing: Keith/Lance

Words: 1985

Rating: Gen

Warnings: None

Tags: Fluff, Future Fic, Fix-It, Sickfic

“Lance?” Keith asks in a small voice, the effort it takes him to turn over in bed in the direction of the door seemingly enough to drain him of what little energy he had left. Lance’s heart clenches at the sight of his boyfriend so obviously unwell from sickness. Shiro did tell him on his way upstairs that Keith’s been running a fever for the past three days and now it’s apparent to Lance that Keith had considerably played down the extent of his condition over their recent phone conversations, no doubt avoiding video-calls for this exact same reason. The reason, of course, being not wanting to worry his boyfriend.

Well, too bad, Lance thinks haughtily as he makes his way swiftly inside and closes the door behind him, because I’m mighty worried now anyway.

He masks his nerves behind a gentle smile, crossing to the bed and helping Keith sit up when he sees him struggling.

“Yeah.” Lance breathes, voice equally low. Keith rubs tiredly at his eyes, still disgruntled from his slumber, and Lance suspects possibly fever, as his cheeks still possess a glossy red sheen. “I’m here, baby. How are you feeling?”

“M’fine.” Keith says, an easy smile parting his lips as he scoots closer to snuggle into Lance’s side. “I meant to get up before your arrival, but I must have fallen asleep...”

“Of course you did. You’re crazy if you think I’m letting you go anywhere like this.” Lance mutters, holding the back of his hand against Keith’s forehead, Keith fluttering his eyelashes in response and leaning into the touch. Smiling slightly, Lance pulls his hand away and drops a quick kiss onto the same spot, before saying, “You’re not burning up, which is good, but we still should check your temperature. And you need to take some of this medicine – Shiro’s orders.”

Keith makes a face, and Lance barely has enough time to wonder if Shiro’s already tried to have him take some medication, to no avail, before Keith sighs with resignation and mumbles, “Whatever you say.”

Before Keith can change his mind, Lance helps him up into a more comfortable position, and retreats briefly to pour an approximate amount of the medicine into a spoon. Turning back towards the bed, he motions for Keith to lean forward, and the latter obeys without protest, opening his mouth and accepting the medication. The taste must be bitter on his tongue, because Keith almost recoils, face twisting with disgust, but Lance holds firm, making sure he swallows all of it.

“Good.” Lance praises, putting the bottle and spoon away, and no sooner does he turn back around than he’s being dragged down into the bed.

With a surprised yelp, Lance lets himself be pulled into the most tender embrace he’s ever received in his life, face immediately flushing from the close proximity and the feel of Keith’s soft breaths against his neck from where he’s tucked his head into. Struggling to regain some of his composure, Lance nearly misses the words Keith mumbles next, “I’m sorry.”

Lance frowns in confusion, pulling away reluctantly despite Keith’s noise of displeasure, to be able to look at the other better.

“What do you mean?” Lance asks blankly, searching Keith’s face.

Keith’s relaxed expression from before falters.

“Sorry for getting sick like this.” Keith says finally, retrieving his hands from where he’s holding onto Lance and placing one against his forehead, a gesture of distress. He carries on, eyes blinking rapidly but straying away from Lance’s direction, “I completely ruined our first date. We’ve been looking forward to this for so long and I –“

Lance’s eyes widen a fraction as he attempts to catch Keith’s hands with his own, sputtering. “Woah, woah, woah hold on there. What on Earth are you apologizing for? The fever must have messed with your mullet brain more than I thought.”

“Lance.” Keith interrupts, trying hard not to smile. “I’m serious.”

“So am I! Apologizing for being sick is like – I dunno, apologizing for being a living human being? Life happens, and it’s not the end of the world. It’s just one date. Was planning on taking you out at least twice a week to make up for all the time we wasted anyway.”

Keith cannot contain the dopey smile that breaks across his face at that. “You wanna go on dates with me?”

Lance looks at him with narrowed eyes.

“There he goes talking nonsense again.” Lance mutters, aligning his cheek with Keith’s, trying to determine his temperature. “Your fever must be acting up again. Should I call Shiro?”

“I’m fine.” Keith says, rolling his eyes, “I even took that disgusting medicine Shiro bribed you into giving me and you didn’t hear me complaining.”

“Good. Keep it up, sunshine, and you’ll be good in no time.”

Keith doesn’t dignify that with a response, but neither does he seem to be too bothered by the pet name, and Lance meticulously files the information away, just as he’s careful to remember everything new that he discovers about his boyfriend. His attention is brought back from his musings as Keith suddenly asks, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Do you ever think back on everything that it took for us to get together? And everything that could’ve gone wrong?”

Taken aback, Lance shifts away a little on the bed so he can look at Keith, searching for words to say. He covers Keith’s hand with his own, squeezing comfortingly. “I guess. Where is this coming from?”

Keith is silent for a moment, thoughtful, before he continues, voice even more pained than before.

“I don’t think I’ve regretted anything more than pushing you away back then. And not noticing your pain.” Keith sighs, shrinking away from Lance, gazing up at him with a look that is a mixture of both adoration and deep sorrow. “It wasn’t fair to you and I’ll spend however long it takes making it up to you-”

“Keith.” Lance interrupts, dumbfounded and more than a little disconcerted at the turn of their conversation. He leans forward, seeking Keith’s hand. “Can I have a say in this, too?”

Keith meets his eyes at last, hesitant and apprehensive, before nodding slowly and grasping Lance’s fingers in return. “Okay.”

“I forgave you a long time ago.” Lance says earnestly, wanting nothing more than to wipe that despondent look from his boyfriend’s face, because this is obviously something that must’ve been bothering him for a while now. “I would not be dating you had I not. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry, too. For pushing you away first and not catching on sooner.” Lance draws him closer, a hand on his waist, and Keith comes willingly “You know you gotta spell it out for me when it comes to feelings.”

“Right. Cause I’m so good at that.” Keith snorts. “I was so mad with jealousy and frustrated over not knowing how to approach you after being away for so long and I just kept lashing out at you with no good reason until one day you’ve just had it and cornered me and said –“

“Why are you being mean to me?” Lance repeats his own words from months prior, the corners of his mouth curling upwards at the similarly flustered look on present Keith’s face.

“And I said I don’t know.” Keith shakes his head, closing his eyes briefly. “God it all seems so ridiculous now, when back then I didn’t even know how to cope with any of it.”

“Yeah. But if memory serves right,” Lance says pausing meaningfully for emphasis and Keith opens his eyes to peer suspiciously up at him. Lance smiles coyly and pulls Keith closer. “then we started making out right in Red’s hanger so let it be known that you are not half as bad at getting your point across as you might think.”

“Oh my God!” Keith groans loudly, collapsing sideways, away from Lance, and burying his face into the pillows. He tries to squirm out of reach but Lance seems to be unrelenting with his tight grip as he moves right after Keith with barely contained giggles and insistent kisses that fall on every inch of Keith’s face he can reach. “I cannot believe the stuff you say sometimes!”

“It’s the truth! I’m just being honest!”

“You’re insufferable!” Keith retorts, though there’s absolutely no heat behind his words as he relents into Lance’s grip, his head falling to rest against Lance’s chest. He feels lightheaded, breathless with laughter and possibly the aftermath of his fever, but his boyfriend’s presence seems to be more than enough to soothe him as they fall into a comfortable silence.

“Keith?” Lance says after a while, mouth pressed atop Keith’s head intimately.

The serious tone in Lance’s voice perks Keith right up, a wave of mild concern washing over him, but he doesn’t hesitate this time when he covers Lance’s hand with his own and answers, “Yeah?”

“We have been through a lot, haven’t we? We deserve to be happy now more than anything.” Lance says and in that moment Keith can swear all of the pain and hardship and exhaustion of the years spent in space can be distinguished on Lance’s face. When Lance turns to face him, though, he still finds it in himself to smile that soft fond smile he reserves for Keith alone, and Keith’s heart aches at the sight. “And I love you and I’d like to think that I know you, Keith. I know how that lovely brain of yours works and I don’t want my boyfriend to keep beating himself up over things that could’ve gone differently in the past. Trust me, I’ve spent more than enough time thinking about that myself. It doesn’t change a thing, only hurts you.”

“Lance.” Keith barely chokes out, blinking away sudden tears.

“Keith.” Lance echoes, smiling kindly as he brings the other’s knuckles to his lips in a gentle kiss. “Let’s promise each other to try and forgive ourselves for everything we could’ve done differently, alright? Let’s not think of the past. I want us to focus on the future. Our future. What do you say?”

Lance lets out a noise of surprise as he’s suddenly met with an armful of boyfriend, Keith having all but flung himself at Lance once he’s finished talking and well, Lance isn’t going to say no to a loving embrace or the feel of warm lips trailing across his jaw and cheeks.

Keith pulls away a little, just enough to press another tender kiss to Lance’s lips. “You know, there are days I feel that I don’t deserve you.”

“Idiot.” Lance huffs, swallowing around the lump in his throat. He leans forward, cupping Keith’s face in his hands gently and swiping at the dampness of his cheeks with his thumbs. “You’ve got me whether you think you deserve me or not.”

“I love you. So much.” Keith says with feeling. He pauses, biting his bottom lip. “Do I tell you that enough?”

Lance smiles, shaking his head in disbelief. This guy, honestly..

“Of course you do. You have nothing to worry about.” Lance says, and can’t resist remarking with a tinge of playfulness in his voice, “Though it is always nice to hear you say it.”

“Good. I’m glad.” Keith says ever stubborn, and Lance chokes back a laugh when he notices that Keith’s barely keeping his eyes open at this point. “I’ll make sure to say it more often then.”

With that Keith sinks further into Lance’s embrace, and drifts into sleep moments later, exhaustion finally claiming him. Lance watches him with a fond look on his face, huffing an amused breath and leaning down to smooth dark hair from Keith’s forehead, his touch as light as a feather as he bends down to kiss the warm skin.

“You don’t have to do anything, Keith. Just get better soon.”

#klance #klance fic #safeklance #voltron fic #keith kogane #lance mcclain #mine

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mysheithheart · 6 years

Text

This is my first Sheith quick prompt and I didn’t beta it so sorry for any errors!

The Art student! Shiro/ Sheith fic no one asked for.

——

After Shiro’s third attempt to putting together his painting still life, Shiro realized he wasn’t going to get anything done that October night. He figured with his roommate Matt visiting his sister he would have some quiet time to get some work done. But every time he tried to arrange the now chaotic still life in their dorm room common area, he ended up hating it when beginning to sketch it out. Deciding to take a mental break, Shiro took off outside to breath in the fresh air.

It was about 2 am (usually Shiro’s favorite time to work on his art portfolio) and some students were still relaxing outside at the picnic tables smoking cigarettes. Although Shiro didn’t smoke himself he always did enjoy this spot especially late at night with all the other junior collage students. Conversations would either get really deep or really funny.

Tonight it seemed that the only two other students were doing more making out than smoking, so he took up his favorite perch further away from them to sit on top of the picnic bench with his feet resting on the bench seat.

The University was in a great location on top of a very steep hill overlooking the city. Although the city looked completely different from the his hometown, it still gave him a warm feeling that he could be apart of it. He sat in the quiet for a few minutes just letting his mind go blank. This way maybe getting a small break from his final painting will give him the motivation he needed to go back up to his dorm to finish it.

The calm was broken when a group of four students came out of the dorms, clearly drunk from their loud explanations as soon as they hit the night air. Shiro got off the picnic bench and decided to take a walk around campus instead. It wasn’t that he wasn’t social, but sometimes the drunk students were pretty easily offended and were ready to fight anyone. He learned that from experience.

The pathway around campus was bumpy as the roads were still the old brick in the 1800s, but Shiro had taken this walk enough times to know where the tree roots were taking over the brick path and the deep man hole that the campus didn’t intend to fix until the next century.

What Shiro didn’t expect was to find a young man who appeared to be sleeping in said man hole. He didn’t look homeless so maybe he was a drunk college student. With jet black hair that almost looked violet in the night, the boy was pretty breath taking for a passed out drunk.

Deciding to finally do something besides standing there like an idiot, (god, Shiro what if he had a medical problem? He berated himself) he knelt down to feel for the guy’s pulse. It was pretty strong, thank goodness. He tapped the stranger on the cheek a few times to see if he would wake up. Thankfully this seemed to do the trick. Dark blue, almost violet looking eyes snapped open to stare into his own, and Shiro felt his breath catch a bit. Damn, this was definitely a sign that he needed to get laid if that’s all it took for him to go weak in the knees. Matt would be cackling if he ever found out.

“Hey, are you able to stand?” Shiro asked, backing up a little bit so the man could stretch and blink the sleep out of his eyes.

“Oh my goddd Jamie Lee Curtis is that you??” The guy slurred. Shiro couldn’t help the snort that came out of him at that and was surprised with himself that he found the comment more funny than offensive from a total stranger. Was it because of his white hair? Most likely. Matt had made a similar joke when he had first dyed it.

“Nope, just a broke college student.” Shiro chuckled as the stranger went to sit up, if not a bit shakily. “Can you stand up?”

“Are we at your house?” The guy asked instead, moving to stand but having a hard time getting his footing right. Shiro immediately went to help him to get on the vertical plane again. Now they were both just chilling in a man hole with Shiro trying to help this guy stay standing. He wondered how he was going to get them out of this one.

“This is definitely not my house. I’m not that broke.” Shiro kept his tone light. He pulled himself out of the man hole and gave the stranger a pull up. “Do you live around here?”

“Uhh.. yeah??” Shiro sighed inwardly. This guy was clearly too drunk to even remember his own name. How was he supposed to get this guy back to his house safely?

“Do you have someone you can call to pick you up?” He asked instead. The young man’s nose crinkled up in thought and Shiro couldn’t help thinking that it was the cutest shit he’d probably ever seen.

“Yeah you can call the blue chicken nugget.” The guy grumbled, literally throwing his phone at Shiro before stumbling over to a mail box to lean on it heavily. “Have we met before?” He seemed to be talking to the mailbox, so Shiro was left clueless.

“Blue... chicken nugget?” He unlocked the guys phone and decided to just look at his recent calls. Surprisingly, “the blue chicken nugget” was a contact name he had called multiple times that day including 2 hours ago.

“I’m going to give them a call then.” He said to the younger man, but he seemed to be too preoccupied trying to strattle the mailbox. He decided to just do it. The guy on the other end was thankfully not drunk and went by the name of Lance. He apologized several times before asking for their location and told Shiro he would be there in 5. Shiro ended the call and looked over to the drunk stranger, who had successfully made it on top of the mailbox but looking strikingly like Humpty Dumpty. Shiro thankfully had great reflexes so when the drunk fell off the mailbox he was quick to catch him in his arms.

“Jamie Lee how did you get so buff? What’s your secret?” The guy giggled, and he seemed to be comfortable hanging off Shiro’s arm. It didn’t look comfortable to him.

“Actually, the name’s Shiro. And Lance will be here soon, so let’s get you back on your feet.” Shiro felt like he was moving an American girl doll back to standing position, if an American girl doll was squirmy and had great abs.

“Shiro, that’s a great name. You’re a great guy. So great. So helpful.” He giggled before Shiro finally led him to a nearby bench so they could wait.

“Thanks.” Shiro chuckled. “Do you go to school around here?”

“Nah, I work. Gotta pay for the bear traps somehow.” Shiro was so surprised at the response he didn’t even get to ask what the drunk man was talking about before the guy changed the subject. “Do ever just think about the fact that we just like exist? Like bro, we’re alive.” Shiro smiled at his drunken rambling, deciding to stay relatively quiet as the guy then continued to give him facts about wolf hounds.

“Geez, man. I can’t leave you alone for two seconds!” Shiro turned to see a Cuban young man with the University jacket on and a white baseball cap that read: ‘FBI: Female Body Inspector.’

“You must be Lance?” Shiro smiled patiently. The Lance guy helped the drunk man to his feet and thanked him too many times to count before the two went stumbling in the direction of East campus.

“Thank you so much Jamie Lee! I loved you in Scream Queens!” Shiro just threw his head back and laughed as he heard Lance scolding the drunk man for insulting his savior.

After watching the two stumble off into the night, Shiro decided to head back to his dorm. He had a sudden spark of motivation after meeting the interesting stranger. He now realized that asking for the guys name would have been a good idea. Better not to mention this to Allura or Matt. The two would badger him about finally being interested in someone after his breakup with Adam and not even having the balls to get his name.

To conclude, Shiro finally found his muse for for his still life. Getting back to his dorm and grabbing a mouse trap from under the sink, he set it to the far right of the still life. It wasn’t a bear trap, but it was close enough, he thought amusingly deciding to endulge himself. It somehow pulled the whole composition together. He laughed for a good two minutes straight by himself in his dorm at 3 am at the relavation.

——

The next week, Shiro’s Painting professor had given him so much praise on his still life (Matt thought the guy was just trying to sleep with him. “Not everyone is trying to sleep with me, Matt.” “You’re to close to the truth to see it!” Matt argued back.) that he suggested Shiro try broading his portfolio by step in on a few of the advanced figure drawing classes. Shiro never was a big fan of drawing the figure, but if he wanted to be a well rounded artist, he had to make the attempt. That’s how he found himself sitting in the back of a small figure drawing class that was held later at night than his normal classes. He felt nervous that he didn’t belong there, but the other students were all nice and welcoming. One girl named Nadia assured him that they all felt what he felt when it came to drawing the figure. “I screw up constantly and they still let me back in!” She smirked.

The professor walked in right on time and then class began with a quick critique of the homework. Shiro just balked as Nadia pulled out a nude figure that was depicted perfectly in his eyes to be critiqued. Several minutes later and many ideas and inputs that gave Shiro inspiration for his own work, the class began to get their supplies while they waited for the University hired nude model to arrive.

“Yes, we got Kogane!” Shiro heard Nadia almost sing quietly while he rummaged his portfolio bag for the third time looking for his tube of aquamarine blue. “The Professor doesn’t like him because he says that it’s easier to draw the figure with thicker bodies, but the guy has the same body type as my boyfriend, so it’s easier for me.” That must have been the skinny but very muscle toned man that was in her homework assignment. She was so lucky to have a boyfriend who would pose for her. Shiro finally made a small noise of triumph when he found the oil paint tube. But when he looked up he choked on his own spit. In the front of the studio arguing with the Professor was the handsome drunk he found in the man hole last week. He was going to be seeing this guy nude??

Lord, give me strength. Shiro thought when the guys eyes scanned the room and locked onto his.

#sheith #sheithfanfiction #art student au #vld #shiro #takashi shirogane #voltron #keith kogane #my fic #fic prompt #let me know if i should write more

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beautifulspacegays · 6 years

Text

marketplace au (cont.): part 2 y’all I’m sorry this prompt is a MESS. I’ll post to ao3 when it’s all said and done. Still need to finish writing part 3, but for now, welcome Keith!!!!!

The first time Shiro brought him a cinnamon bagel from Lance’s bakery, Keith was lying on the floor of their new apartment surrounded by unpacked boxes and crumpled newspaper.

He continued to lay motionless as he heard Shiro’s footsteps approaching their unit from the outside hallway. He didn’t stir when he heard the click of the door unlocking, or when Shiro walked inside. It was only when Shiro nonchalantly tossed a warm package across the room, landing on top of his stomach and square above his bellybutton, that Keith turned his head to look at his brother.

“Breakfast.” Shiro shrugged, responding to Keith’s raised brow. “I also brought you some tea.” He watched as Shiro weaved through the maze of piled boxes the movers had carelessly placed, easily reaching the kitchen counter and setting down the steaming cup. Being a firefighter had its perks, one of them being the ability to move and coordinate a large, muscled body with inhuman grace. “You’re lucky that I remember to feed you, or else you’d starve.”

Keith huffed, sitting up slowly with a long, drawn out breath. He stretched his arms up high above his head, letting the paper bag roll down his stomach and fall into his lap as he straightened. He flinched as a strip of unexpected morning sunlight caught his eye, vision turning spotty. They’d both spent the entire night unpacking, but only Shiro had managed to keep track of the time. How Shiro was always able to remain awake and aware was beyond Keith, and he’d stopped trying to understand his brother’s innate and God-like ability to completely Have His Shit Together™ long ago. Which is why he didn’t question him any further as he reached for the package in his lap, heavy lidded and in a sleep deprived haze. He shivered as he took the paper bag in his hands, its absence leaving his lap feeling empty and cold. With clumsy fingers he unwrapped his breakfast, and without pausing to question what it might be, took his first bite. Immediately, his eyes fluttered wide. A warm flush of pleasure crept up his neck and warmed his cheeks as he began to chew.

“Oho,” Shiro cooed from across the room “Looks like Mr. Picky actually likes his breakfast.” Keith scoffed, crumpling up the bagel wrappings and launching them across the room. His aim was perfect, but so was his brother’s ability to dodge. Shiro side stepped the throw and caught the empty package with ease, shooting Keith a cocky grin that he returned with a scowl. Shiro answered with a light-hearted laugh, grabbing Keith’s tea and heading over to join him at his makeshift newspaper picnic.

The second time Shiro brought him a bagel, he set it down next to him without a word. The small action startled him, tearing him away from his work and bringing him sharply back to reality. It took Keith a moment to adjust, vision blurry from staring for too long at his laptop.

“You haven’t eaten yet today.” Shiro stated, matter of fact.

“I…what?” Half of Keith’s focus was still swimming in the colours and swirls on his computer screen, hands still poised to draw. He’d spent the entirety of the day working on overdue art commissions, completely sinking into his work and losing track of time. He leaned back in his chair, taking a moment to adjust to his surroundings. The sun, which had been high above the horizon when Keith had started work, was now setting, painting the room with vibrant pinks and reds. He slowly came back into his body, the hunger that was once distant now clawing at his stomach, desperate in its chance to finally be heard. Keith turned his attention to his desk, eyes travelling to where Shiro had set down a small, familiar brown package and peppermint tea. “Oh,” he stammered, the full reality of the situation finally hitting him “Thanks man.” They let the silence grow for a few moments, Keith taking the opportunity to unwrap his food.

“His name is Lance.” Shiro finally spoke, leaning against the side of Keith’s desk as he did. Keith paused, bagel in hand, mouth gaping around the ghost of what was going to be his first bite.

“What?” He spoke after a few moments, drawing out the silence. He must have looked completely bewildered, as his expression had Shiro laughing within seconds.

“The owner of the bakery.” He said, smile still etching his features. Keith blinked twice, utterly lost. Shiro held in his laugh this time, eyes travelling to the bagel and back to meet Keith’s. “Where I keep getting the bagels, Keith. Jesus.” Keith’s expression quickly turned skeptical, questioning. He let his eyes linger on his brother for as long as his hunger let him, but it was only a matter of moments before he shifted his gaze and took his first bite. He was immediately contented as the warm pastry settled on his tongue. He could feel Shiro’s eyes on him as he chewed. “First man I know who’s been able to win over your taste buds on the first go.”

“I’m not that bad!” Keith snapped, forgetting that his mouth was full, words cascading out sharp and messy. A blush quickly spread from his neck to the tips of his ears and he shot up a hand to cover his mouth. He refused to look at Shiro, who kept his eyes trained on him and watched in quiet amusement. Mouth still covered, he took a few moments to chew and swallow properly. Afterwards, blush still bright and patchy, he cleared his throat. “I mean… I’m not that picky.”

“Whatever you say.” Shiro straightened, deciding to let Keith eat and resume work in peace. “All I know is that I’m grateful to the man, he’s making my life a lot easier.”

This time, the crumpled bagel package caught Shiro on the side of the head as he turned to leave the room.

Every time Shiro brought him a bagel thereafter, it came with new information about Lance.

The third time, after Shiro had placed the bagel directly on top of Keith’s keyboard, he’d said: “Lance looks like he’s about your age.” When Keith responded with a gruff “What does that have to do with anything?” he’d simply shrugged, turning out of the room with a casual “Oh nothing, just an observation.”

The fourth time, he learned about Lance’s business. “He took the business over from his father, isn’t that interesting?” Shiro spoke from where he sat next to him on the couch. He’d just returned from picking Keith up his now go to meal, and was binging on some Chinese takeout himself.

“Mhm,” Keith hummed, mouth full and attention glued to the TV in front of them, buzzing with the evening’s news. He felt an elbow dig into his side, quick and abrupt, causing him to choke on a piece of bagel.

“Runs the whole place by himself. Seems like he’s doing pretty well.” Shiro continued a little too casually, prodding the contents of his takeout container with his chopsticks as though he hadn’t just elbowed Keith in the ribs.

“Shiro, why do you keep telling me all of this stuff about that baker? Last time I checked, you and Allura were in a long-distance relationship.” He drew out the last word for emphasis, knitting his eyebrows in frustration as he looked over at his brother.

“Yes, and a happy one at that.” Shiro continued to prod at his food, withholding eye contact. “Also, his name is Lance.”

“Alright. Why do you keep telling me all of this stuff about Lance, then?” He huffed in frustration, the conversation beginning to feel like pulling teeth. Shiro looked up at the mention of Lance’s name, a coy smile playing at his lips as he popped a piece of broccoli into his mouth. Keith stared, utterly lost.

“Just seems like an interesting guy is all.” He ate with a cheeriness Keith couldn’t place, like he was up to something. But for the life of him Keith couldn’t figure out what it was, and he had his upcoming commissions to focus on, so he let it go and continued to eat. If he had to listen about Lance in order to keep eating his bagels, he resigned, it was a small price to pay.

Keith leaned back in his chair, locking his fingers and stretching his arms far behind his head. He proceeded to rub his eyes, which were, again, overworked and tired from the strain of looking at a computer screen all day. He’d finally finished his work, and as usual, was having trouble adjusting to the reality that now surrounded him. The sun was almost below the horizon, the only light that remained in the sky burning like an ember about to go out. He didn’t know exactly how long he’d been working, but he did know that when he sat down to start, it was just after lunch. He put a palm to the back of his neck, stretching his muscles and cracking his tired bones. Now that his focus was shifted away from his work, his stomach had turned indignant, nagging and nagging to be obliged. He sighed, reaching into his pocket to grab his phone.

Keith: Where are you? 6:47p.m.

Shiro: Still at work, what’s up? 6:51p.m.

Keith: Can you bring your favourite brother a bagel on your way home? Haven’t eaten since lunch… 6:52p.m.

Shiro: Won’t be home for another hour or two, you’re on your own kid 7:00p.m.

Shiro: Also… you gotta start taking better care of yourself 7:00p.m.

Keith: I know I know 7:02p.m.

Keith: I don’t know where the place is tho… 7:03p.m.

Shiro: It’s in the indoor marketplace about a block away on 5th, fourth store to the right. Can’t miss it – but hurry, he closes at 8 7:05p.m.

Keith: I can’t believe you’re making me go outside 7:06:p.m.

Shiro: Tell Lance I said hi ;) 7:14p.m.

Keith had been in an art haze for days. He’d been able to take complete advantage of it, as Shiro was usually home early, but they were starting to trust him more at his new job, which incidentally meant more work and longer hours. He shuffled around his room in the dark, spying a bright red hoodie among the wreckage that was his bedroom floor. He sniffed it quickly, deemed it okay, and threw it on over his t-shirt. He tied his hair into a messy bun, swapped his pajama pants for a pair of dark jeans, and grabbed his leather jacket, keys, and wallet before heading out the door. He was a bit of a mess, the bun being a necessity to contain his second day hair, and his clothes wrinkled and disheveled after having spent God knows how long crumpled on his floor. His skin was pale from lack of sunlight and his eyes were heavy lidded and tired, but, he thought casually, swinging his keys on one finger and walking out onto the street, it’s not like he had anyone to impress around here anyway.

Part 2/3. Previous | Next

#klance #keith #lance #shiro #vld #voltron #shallura #broganes #text #pea writes #prompt #artist!keith #baker!lance #marketplace au #part 2 #oh keith #you poor oblivious soul #peawrites

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quirklessbunny · 6 years

Text

Every Time I Pause

Rating: M

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death

Pairing(s): Prompto/Noctis

Tags: Sparring, Accidents, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, MT Prompto Argentum

Chapters: 1/?

Summary: Prompto's hands are getting stiff, and sometimes they hurt terribly to move. Is this insignificant? or the start of something much worse?

Chapter 1 below the cut! Or you can follow the link to my ao3 here!

Prompto loads the rubber bullets into his gun for their sparring match, looking up at the others stretching. Their weapons have rubber guards along the sharp edges, but they know from experience that any of these weapons can still hurt someone pretty badly if they don't move fast enough. It heightens the danger and helps their agility. The person swinging the blade has to stay just as diligent as the person evading the strikes. It's dangerous. It's Prompto's favourite.

He is paired with Ignis, as he usually is. They're both quicker on their feet and tend to have a faster paced battle. Gun v daggers quickly shifts to katana v lance as the fight becomes even faster. Prompto falters on a flip backwards, his arm going stiff under his body, distracting him from landing properly. A wooden shaft impacts his ribs, drawing an annoyed grunt from his body, and the match pauses as he takes a few breaths to make up for the one knocked out of him. He shakes out his stiff arm and stands up again, gun at the ready.

It resumes, with Prompto keeping his distance while Ignis does his best to get close and land hits. At the critical moment in the practice, Prompto's trigger finger goes stiff. He can't pull the trigger no matter how many times he sends the signal, and it's enough of a distraction that he doesn't move when Ignis slashes at him with his dagger. The rubber guard slides off upon contact with his skin, and the actual blade slashes into him further down.

Everyone freezes in surprise when blood gushes from the gunner's side before Prompto collapses, a scream tearing from him. His body is tense with pain. Three faces suddenly enter his field of vision, before it blurs and he passes out.

Potions are used, but the ride to the hospital is quiet. Prompto doesn't need surgery, just some stitches to make sure the wound closes the rest of the way. When he opens his eyes he is a little shocked to see the white ceiling of the ER. “Ugh...What happened?” he asks, sitting up slowly. He cradles his head in his hands, groaning a little at the sharp pain in his side. He lays back heavily, huffing at the pain. “Fuck, dammit.”

Noctis notices him moving around and leaves Ignis to finish the conversation with the doctor to talk with him. “Hey sleeping beauty, you gave us a scare. Igs said that you suddenly stopped in the middle of sparring, but he didn't have time to stop. The rubber guard caught on your skin and slid off the dagger, and he accidentally gave you a nasty cut. No big deal, the potions healed it almost all the way. Just gotta go easy on those stitches for a bit, alright?” Noctis sits down next to him and grabs his hand, kissing his knuckles lightly.

“You know what this means? Getting a hotel with real beds, and playing video games,” Noctis says definitively. Prompto cracks a smile at that, and nods excitedly.

“Oh hell yeah. If I knew that playing video games is what hurt boys in hospitals get, then I would have done it a long time ago, haha,” he responds, grinning now. The stiffness in his hands is gone now, so he doesn't bother bringing it up to them. “Yeah, I don't know what it was. I got a little distracted I guess.” He shrugs and pushes himself into a sitting position again. This time, Noctis is there to help him stay upright. “So when can we leave?”

Noctis looks over at Ignis. “They're just finishing up with paying, and then we can leave. If you didn't wake up soon, they were going to ask us to admit you for a bit, but you're gonna be alright,” he assures, holding his hand a little tighter.

Prompto smiles at him and nods, happy more than anything else that he can get out of the hospital soon. He sees the guilty look on Ignis' face as he comes over to them, and he stops him before he can even start to apologize. “It could have happened to any of us, dude, no worries. I got a little distracted. Gun wasn't going off, I probably didn't cock it all the way. No biggie.” Prompto stands up and steadies himself with Ignis' and Noctis' help.

Ignis sets the papers to sign on the table next to him so that he can sign that he's ready to leave, then takes them back to the nurse when they're finished. In the car, he instructs Noctis to sit in and let Prompto lie across the back seat so he will be more comfortable. The ride back to camp is a quick one, and they're packed and headed back towards a hotel before Prompto knows it. He ends up dozing off on the way, exhausted by the events of the day.

The hotel is cheap, but no one really cares. Noctis and Prompto stay up half the night excitedly chattering while playing video games, and only head to bed when Prompto says he's getting tired. Prompto lays beside Noctis and waits for him to go to sleep before bending his fingers over and over, trying to figure out why they've been getting so stiff. While they were playing, he noticed his fingers wouldn't hit the buttons they were meant to hit, either, but he doesn't find it important enough to tell anyone else. Not yet. Maybe if it keeps happening, he'll say something.

The next morning his vision is a little blurrier than he's used to, and even putting in his contacts doesn't completely clear it up. He huffs a little, rubbing away the sleepy haze irritatedly before showering and getting ready for the day. It's slow, and he couldn't be happier. Instead of stiffness, he finds his hand twitching during everyday activities. It led to him dropping his controller more than once, as well as his gun when he was cleaning it, and in a terrifying moment, his camera also hit the ground.

As the week wears on, he notices it more and more. His fingers go between completely stiff to twitching uncontrollably, but he tries to hide it to the best of his abilities. He rationalizes that there's no reason to make them worry over something that's probably nothing. Prompto doesn't even realize that he's staring at his hand like that until Noctis blinks awake beside him and looks at him in confusion.

“Prom it's like, 4 am. What are you doing awake? Is something wrong?” he whispers, gently taking his boyfriend's hand in his own. Prompto smiles and gives a small squeeze, though his hand barely responds to it.

“Nah. Just couldn't sleep. I think I'm gonna get up and go on a run or something, see if I can get tired.” He leans forward and kisses Noctis lightly before climbing from the bed. He pulls on a sweater and heads outside, climbing to the roof of the motel. Prompto lights a cigarette and takes a deep puff, wishing that he could talk to his friends about this, but he just doesn't feel right asking them to worry about him. It's not their problem, anyway, it's his own. He needs to deal with it on his own.

Prompto looks up the symptoms in his phone, but can't find anything outside of lore for some video game where the clones suddenly started to lose functionality after they've been around for too long. He doesn't think that applies to humans, so he just locks his phone and sits back to enjoy the rest of the cigarette. Flicking the ashes away is almost painful on his joints, and he decides that if this doesn't let up in another week, that he might be forced to tell someone. It's not right to endanger the others in battle just because he doesn't want them to know he's hurting.

By the time he comes back to the room, Gladio is rising for his morning run. He's almost surprised to see Prompto was out already, but he just high fives him on the way out of the room, and Prompto has no energy left to hold him up. He flops into bed with Noctis and goes back to sleep shortly thereafter, not waking up even into the late afternoon.

Noctis tries to stay quiet as he plays video games by himself, but he does have to admit that it's concerning that Prompto would sleep so much. Noctis slowly snuggles up to his side and touches his cheeks, kissing Prompto lightly on the lips until his beautiful eyes slide open to meet Noctis' gaze. He smiles a little, and then presses another soft kiss to him. “You sure you're feeling okay, babe? We're going back to get your stitches removed soon, they can look you over if you think you're not. Is the wound infected or something?”

“I'm okay, Noct. Just sleepy, haha.” He yawns and sits up, looking around the room in confusion for a moment before remembering where they are. “It's okay, Noct, seriously. No worries, alright? I'm just tired.” He climbs out of bed and heads for the bathroom, sending a flirtatious look in Noctis' direction. “Wanna join me?”

Noctis chuckles and gets up. “Of course. What kind of question is that?”

#my writing #promptis #prompto #noctis #angst

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crytill5am-blog · 7 years

Text

Ballet Lance Part 2

Here’s the last part of the ballet!lance fic! Hope you all enjoy it!

Preview:

Lance paused before snorting indelicately, rubbing his eyes in an effort to hide his amused grin, “Uh, Keith, buddy, if you wanna stand like a werewolf, maybe ballet isn’t for you.”

“Come on guys, it’s just stretching!”

“Shut the fuck up Lance, you’re like, made out of taffy and shit okay!”

Lance chuckled, resting his head in his hands, elbows on the floor between his split legs. He eyed the rest of the Paladins, all of whom were in various states on spread legs. He had decided to wear something comfortable today, the stretchy material of his leggings allowing him to stretch properly while he led his team through a warm up and stretches. His tank top hung loosely from his shoulders as he watched the other paladins try to spread their legs as far out as they could go.

Shiro let out a pained grunt as he finally met the floor, legs spread out to the sides in not a split, but still wide enough that it must be uncomfortable. Keith was cursing up a storm and Hunk was groaning, the only one out the the rest of them actually able to perform a perfect split, though it seemed to tax his legs. Pidge was in the same situation as Shiro.

“Keith, seriously dude, if you can’t do a split it’s cool. Just do the same as Shiro and Pidge, you’re drawing out our stretching unnecessarily,” Lance huffed, frowning when Keith was still trying to get down into a split, “Seriously, it’s not good to push your legs too hard, you could really damage them if you’re not careful. We’ll work up to it.”

Keith glared at Lance, before flopping into an easier position with a sigh, grumbling under his breath. Lance allowed the others a brief breather before lifting himself up and shooting them a brilliant smile, “Alright, now we just gotta finish up with some last side stretches and then we can get into the actual ballet part!”

“What?” Shiro let out something that sounded distinctly like a squeak, a panicked look flashing over his face, “You mean all of this was just a warm up stretch?”

Lance laughed at the incredulous look on Shiro’s face and nodded, turning his torso to grab at his right leg. The others groaned and followed into the stretch, Pidge cursing up a storm, “Yeah. You’ve gotta stretch out properly if you wanna do the ballet moves properly, or you could end up pulling a muscle.”

Hunk groaned again, soft born hair sticking messily to his forehead. His headband was drenched in sweat, but there was a look of determination on his face that made Lance beam brightly. Hunk breathed deeply, stretching over to his left side when Lance did the same.

After a few more moments of intense stretching, Keith and Pidge muttering complaints under their breath all the while, Lance stood up and smiled at his team, clapping his hands together, “Alright! We’ll have a quick water break and then I’ll teach you guys some of the basics!” He said cheerfully, the team letting out a collective sigh of relief.

Lance sipped on his water, watching the others gulp down water packets as if they were dying of thirst. Lance hummed softly, looking down at his feet, eyeing his pointe shoes dubiously. There was noticeable wear and tear on the toes and along the bottom of the shoes, bringing the blue paladin to the awareness that he would have to get new ones sometime soon. He frowned lightly, setting his drink aside with a sigh; it was going to be a long time before he’d be able to find proper pointe shoes, considering how far out in space they were. Lance wasn’t sure if there were other alien cultures with dances similar to ballet where he could possibly get new shoes either.

“So what are you going to teach us, Lance?” Pidge asked curiously, tapping their glasses back up the bridge of their nose, where they’d begun to fall off their face due to the amount of sweat slicking their skin.

Lance snapped back to the present, pulling a grin to his face as he walked back to the center of the room, facing away from the wall of mirrors-he was lucky that the ballroom seemed to be equipped with full length mirrors, it made practicing so much easier when he could clearly see what he was doing-and facing his team. The blue paladin narrowed his eyes, back straight as he stared at the for a few moments before clicking his fingers, “I’ll be starting you guys off by teaching you the positions. It’ll take awhile to get them perfect, especially with how bad everyone’s posture is.”

Standing a few feet in front of everyone, Lance assumed first position, legs and posture straight, feet facing away from one another with his heels together. His arms were bent comfortably in front of him. He stood there for a few moments, smiling at his team, “This is what we refer to as first position. I want you all to assume this position before I show you the second one.”

Everyone shuffled, trying to copy Lance’s stance as the blue paladin watched with a critical eyes. He frowned lightly, clucking his tongue and shaking his head, walking over to them. He headed for Shiro first, “Shiro, your postures great, but your legs have to be placed more together, and your arms need to be more lax-less ninety degree angle and more 150,” He muttered, tapping his leader’s legs together and moving his feet out into the correct directions. He moved Shiro’s arms lastly, standing back to look over Shiro before nodding in satisfaction, turning to Hunk.

“Looking pretty good, bud!” Lance praised, giving the other man a wide smile, before touching his back lightly so that he was more balanced and less shaky, “You just need to make sure your back is in the right placement for proper balance, okay? It’ll help a lot when you have to move into second position...” glancing to the side, Lance frowned, seeing Shiro about to relax out of position and snapped his fingers, “Ah, ah, ah, big guy, keep position! No moving unless I tell you to!”

Shiro snapped back into first position, fumbling with his legs and arms before assuming it again properly. His cheeks flushed when hearing Pidge’s snicker, before they were cut off by Lance tutting. The blue paladin moved behind Pidge and pressed between their shoulder blades, forcing their shoulders back so that they were less hunched over, “There. Less cave man, more naiad,” He muttered, ignoring the look Pidge shot him over their shoulder, already moving over to Keith.

Lance paused before snorting indelicately, rubbing his eyes in an effort to hide his amused grin, “Uh, Keith, buddy, if you wanna stand like a werewolf, maybe ballet isn’t for you.”

“Hey!” Keith snapped, standing a little more straight with a frown. Lance grimaced, coming to stand next to Keith and forcing his back into a straight line, moving his arms at the same time and forcing his legs tightly together.

“You have to stand in the proper position or you’ll fall over when you change position,” Lance explained, bending down to tap Keith’s feet, unaware of how stiff Keith had become as Lance moved the red paladin around like a doll, trying to correct his-frankly awful-posture and straighten out his legs, “You need to tighten up your legs so they’re straight. Have you ever seen a tightrope walker? Imagine you’re standing sideways on a tightrope and this is the only way to make sure you don’t fall to a grisly death.”

He didn’t notice everyone’s disturbed looks as he finished fixing Keith’s first position, moving back in front of them and nodding shortly. Assuming first position once again, he lifted up into the air to stand on his tip toes, the pointe shoes making him even taller and keeping his feet straight. Spreading his arms, he stood back on his feet, still straight, but apart now, directed away from one another still, “This is second position. There are various ways to switch between positions, but I’m gonna ask you guys to copy how I did it because it’s the easiest way.”

“We don’t have pointy shoes though,” Keith huffed, awkwardly lifting up onto the front of his feet before moving into second position. It was sloppy and awkward, but he at least managed to keep relatively well to the second position, remembering to stand with his back straight, copying Lance’s arms as well.

Lance snorted and shook his head, “Pointe. It’s pointe shoes. And none of you guys are gonna wear them-only professional level ballerinas who have completed their full training can use them without damaging the bones, muscles and tendons in their legs,” He explained breezily, looking over his team mates and nodding in satisfaction, ignoring all their horrified looks.

Shiro eyed Lance’s pointe shoes and wondered how hard the blue paladin had worked to be able to wear those without doing any sort of harm to his feet. He’d heard stories about how ballerinas often damaged their feet, leading to changing muscles structure and bone density so they could actually use pointe shoes in their craft. He was highly impressed that Lance had managed to get into such a high level with ballet, wondering incredulously why the blue paladin had bothered to go to the garrison when he was obviously very talented in dance.

Lance clapped his hands together, breaking Shiro out of his thoughts. The blue paladin had moved and changed his stance while Shiro wasn’t paying attention, so the black paladin awkwardly shuffled into the next stance as Lance spoke, “This is third position. Take note of my feet; they probably look similar to how they were when we stood in first position, but make sure that your dominant leg-right if you’re right handed and left if the opposite-is the one in front of your other leg. Since I’m right handed, my right leg is in front of my left.”

Hunk shuffled a little more, making sure to put his left leg in front of his right leg from how he’d been standing in first position. Pidge wobbled briefly as they stood uncomfortably, knees bent beneath them, only for them to be held together to force them straight by Lance. Keith swayed for a second, rotating his arms in an effort to balance himself and even Shiro looked a little shaky. Lance winced and helped move them around so they were more balanced than before, giving them tips to remember when they moved into the different positions.

“Now we’ll move into fourth-” Lance said, moving his legs so there was space between his right and left feet, lifting one arm up above his head and the other to be directly off to the side, waiting for the paladins to follow his instructions, “-and then the fifth position!” He called out cheerfully, lifting his other arm to join the other as his legs came back together against one another, holding the position before relaxing out of it, eyeing the other paladins as they struggled to hold it.

“Don’t hold your head up to look at your arms, Keith and Pidge! Keep looking straight forward! Hunk, Shiro, move your feet in more so that there’s a bit of a diamond shape between them-yes, that’s it! Well done!” Lance cheered, walking around the shaking forms of his friends before nodding and standing in front of them again, “Okay, you can move out of fifth position. Great work guys! How about we try going through the movements again to make them more smooth and get the positions more ingrained in your memory?”

The others groaned, but followed Lance’s direction. They must have been practicing for the better part of an hour before Lance was truly and fully satisfied with how fluid each and everyone of them moved through the positions. The blue paladin clapped his hands together loudly, a light sheen of sweat on his skin after teaching the others, “Alright, let’s break for fifteen minutes guys, then I’ll show you how to do some plies and pirouettes!”

“Lance, bud,” Hunk panted, placing tired arms on shaking knees as he looked up at his best friend, “I don’t think any of us can really go anymore. I feel muscles burning I didn’t even know I had.”

“Same,” Pidge piped up, flopping to lie down on the ground as they panted heavily, weakly accepting the water pack that Shiro handed them. Keith sat cross legged next to them, sucking on his own water packet tiredly, eyeing Lance judgingly as he tried to rub his sore back muscles. Shiro walked up at Lance and handed him a water packet, envious of how Lance didn’t even seem to be all that tired while the black paladin felt like he’d been trampled by sixteen bulls.

Lance hummed, drinking from his water packet and eyeing the other paladins quietly. He felt a soft wave of guilt come over him and frowned. Maybe he’d pushed them too hard on their first lesson; they’d never done ballet, unlike Lance, who’d been enrolled in classes as soon as he could walk. He let out a sigh and came to sit with them, elegantly flopping into a cross legged position in front of them, “Sorry... I guess I pushed you guys a bit too hard, huh?”

Shiro shook his head and smiled softly, dissuading Lance’s guilt slightly as he motioned to the blue paladin, “No, you pushed us just past what we would have done ourselves. It’s just that you’ve got more stamina for this ballet stuff than we do.”

“Yeah,” Keith huffed, finishing his water packet and tossing it off to the side, eyes roving over Lance, impressed with the other’s ability to still keep going when he felt dead tired, as if he’d spent three hours in the training room killing bots than one and a half hours in ballet hell with Lance, “It’s pretty cool. I don’t think my legs have felt this achey in years.”

Lance smiled brightly, laughing at Keith’s statement as he finished his own drink, “Yeah, I remember how that felt. God, it’s been years since I’ve ever pushed my leg muscles like I did when I first started out,” his smile became softer, more fond, “I remember practicing for hours when I first started. I didn’t wanna disappoint my instructor.”

The paladins were silent for a few moments, before Pidge asked curiously, “How old were you when you first started ballet?”

Lance mulled the question over, leaning back to rest on his arms with a shrug, “I dunno. I think I was around three, four years old? Everyone in my family has at least done some ballet as a kid, and I was no exception. I thought I’d hate it when I first started out,” he admitted, grinning widely, “I kicked up a huge fuss, had a tantrum and everything. I almost refused to join in with the class. Man, my instructor was brutal, I remember her telling me: ‘If you are not ready and willing to put in work or effort into this, than you can leave. I have no time for little crying babies when I could be training Primeurs.’ I was so pissed that I wanted to prove her wrong.”

“Why’d you go to the garrison?” Shiro asked, putting word to his thoughts now that they had a moment to relax, “I mean... you look and sound like you’re highly skilled and that you worked hard to get to such a high level, so why did you...?”

“Why did I give up the glorious life of a prima ballerina to go to a space piloting program?” Lance chuckled, waving off Shiro’s slightly guilty look easily, “It’s cool, not like I haven’t been asked the same thing before...” he hummed, thinking it over for a bit before shrugging again, “I just really, really wanted to go to space. Don’t get me wrong, I love ballet, but I never really wanted to become a world famous ballerina. I wanted to go to space and explore the universe, find life on other planets and communicate with other species...” he trailed off for a bit, a wistful smile crossing his face, “I wanted to touch the stars. The real ones, out here, instead of the stardom that I could have gotten on earth.”

The others were silent, drinking in this information. They understood the feeling themselves, even if they had all gotten to the garrison for other reasons-Pidge, to find their family, Hunk to become an aeronautics engineer, Keith to follow Shiro into space and Shiro, Shiro for the adventure of a lifetime. They’d all had some reason to leave the earth. To hear it put so easily into words by Lance made all of their hearts clench, and they smiled softly, contentment and peace filling the atmosphere between the team mates.

Keith was the first to break the comfortable silence, shooting Lance a smirk that he knew the other would rise up to meet, “Why don’t you show us these high level ballet skills of yours, huh, Lance?”

Lance stared at Keith for a moment, before standing with a grin, moving away from their little group to turn on some music in the sound deck a few feet away, “Sure thing, mullet brain. Maybe you could learn a thing or two.”

#Lance #Lance VLD #Shiro #Shiro VLD #Keith #Keith VLD #Hunk #Hunk VLD #Pidge #Pidge VLD #vld #Voltron: Legendary Defender #Ballet Lance

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yellowmechanicalcat · 5 years

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fic: true in time and place

Happy Wednesday, have some fix-it fic for Shiro and Kuron with a heavy side of angst, because I like trying to make canon make sense. Takes place between Seasons 5-7. Read it on AO3 or below the cut.

True in Time and Place (part 1 of 4)

Summary: When Lance sacrificed himself for Allura, he saw someone familiar before she brought him back to life.

"You see there may be stories, apparently not consistent with each other, yet all of them true in their time and place, and so far as each actor is concerned." - Joshua Chamberlain

“This is all my fault,” Lance sobs over Shiro’s lifeless body, slamming his fist into the ground. It’s not a side of Lance any of them have seen before. He’s always been one to hide his deeper feelings, using jokes and sarcasm to deflect away from what’s really bothering him. It took over a year for him to trust his team enough to show even a hint of a tear at the mention of his family, even though they all knew he was homesick, because how could you not be?

It’s heartbreaking to watch Lance break down like this, but at least Shiro isn’t around to hear him. Because if he was, he’d probably feel kind of bad.

Because– well. The thing is, Lance isn’t exactly wrong.

Lance sacrifices himself on a mission to repair a Galra labor colony’s heat shield, throwing the Red Lion in front of a blast that would have taken out two of his (okay, fine, Red! their) favorite ladies, Blue and Princess Allura alike, and that’s the moment two realities diverge:

In one reality, he dies. This is the end of the Tale of Lance, the brave Earthborn paladin who gave himself wholeheartedly to the cause. The people will build statues that never get his nose or chin quite right. Some will tell tales of Lance the Lover while others warble ballads of Lance the Loveless, but either way he lives on as one of the most remembered martyrs of a long, long war.

In another reality, Lance closes his eyes against the bright light of an explosion and opens them to the vast, empty darkness of Space. Instead of seeing metal lion debris and oxygen leaking from a broken helmet in a cinematic disaster movie scenario kind of way, which is sort of what he’d expected, he feels something like gravity holding his feet to the ground. When he turns around, he finds the Red Lion is behind him.

“Red! Are you okay?” Lance asks.

No response, but also no particle barrier, which is good. Maybe. Red is seated with its head held high and mouth closed, its eyes dark and empty. As far as he can tell, the Lion’s offline. Getting back into the cockpit won’t be easy, but that’s a problem for Future Lance to deal with. Present Lance just has to find a way up there.

He tries his jetpacks but they’re unresponsive, so he figures he must have taken a hit. What’s weird is that the rest of his armor looks fine. Actually, as far as he can tell, there’s not a scratch on him.

He taps his helmet to activate the comms and doesn’t even get static on the line. It’s just–

Quiet.

“Guys?” Lance calls, and his voice echoes strangely through the comms, coming back to him in waves. He does his best to squash his rising panic and ends up cramming it all into a hacky sack-sized lump in the pit of his stomach. “Can you read me? Is anyone there?”

No one is there.

He breathes: in, out, repeat. It’s just him and the Red Lion, alone in this strange space with whole galaxies wheeling above his head and a pale light coming from somewhere that makes his armor glow faintly and gives him familiar vibes (quintessence? his mind whispers) and his thoughts drift to Allura’s magic; finding the Blue Lion; connecting with the others and calling for Shiro to join them, watching his silhouette flicker into view and straining to hear him saying—

“Lance?” “Shiro,” Lance murmurs, lost in memory. A beat. Then: “What are you doing here?” Lance’s breath catches. That’s not how it went. Jeez, he’s only been lost in space for, what, five minutes? and he’s already losing his mind.

He jerks his head up and is startled to see Shiro himself standing right in front of him in full armor, except that he’s missing his helmet. Shiro looks just as startled and kind of pale in the weird glowing light, although maybe startled isn’t the right word because it’s more like someone’s just walked over Shiro’s grave.

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?!” Lance demands shrilly. “I thought you were with Pidge!”

Shiro doesn’t respond. Instead, he turns to face the Red Lion, reaching up to put his left hand on its metal paw. The Lions are big enough that it should be like watching a tourist pose with the Sphinx but instead it’s kind of like he’s petting a cat. A really, really big cat. There’s something else about him that’s just seems kind of off, but Lance can’t place it.

Eventually, Shiro says, “No, I’ve been here.”

Something about the way he says it makes it sound almost like an apology, but that doesn’t make any sense, either. Impatiently, Lance waits for him to explain, but all Shiro does is ask more questions, still focusing on the Red Lion.

“What happened, Lance? How did you get here?” “I don’t know!” Lance snaps. “Last thing I remember was knocking Allura out of the way when the shield blew. But we’ve gotta get out of here, Shiro! Too many people are counting on us, we can’t just go and disappear on them now.”

Shiro finally looks over at him.

“I’m not going to let you disappear, Lance. I’ll get you back, I promise.”

Is there something wrong with his ears? “Me?” Lance says incredulously. “Why are you saying that like we aren’t both getting out of here? I’m not just gonna leave you here. That’s not how we roll, you know that!”

Shiro doesn’t say anything. He just looks weirdly sad, and Lance can’t shake the feeling that there’s something incredibly wrong about this whole situation.

That’s when he realizes why Shiro doesn’t look right. His hair’s different. It’s styled the way it used to be, with the shaved undercut and the narrow fringe over his forehead. When did Shiro have time to cut his hair? Lance wonders, as his stomach kicks up the hacky sack of panic again. And where is his helmet?

His gut tells him he needs some answers, so Lance asks, “Hey, Shiro? When was the last time you saw me?”

Part of him expects Shiro to make a short-tempered comment about having no time for stupid questions, Lance, you know this is a serious situation, because that’s the kind of thing Shiro does these days, but that isn’t what happens.

“The last time I saw all of you,” Shiro says easily. Lance relaxes a hair because at least that makes sense, but Shiro’s not done yet. “Voltron was trapped, and you were all working to free him. You hung around longer than the others and I tried calling to you, but…”

Lance nods and does his best to ignore the fact that his stomach’s playing hacky sack for real. “And, uh, before that?”

“… a while ago,” Shiro says.

I thought you were with Pidge!

No, I’ve been here.

“After we fought Zarkon, the Black Lion tried to save me by bringing me to the astral plane, but my body… well, it didn’t make it. So I’m still connected to Black, but that’s about it,” Shiro says.

I’ve been here.

“I don’t know how long it’s been. This place can really mess with your head, and time passes differently here,” Shiro says.

I’ve been–

“But I’m pretty sure I’m dead,” Shiro says.

He gives Lance a small smile, then pats Red with a quick double tap, and pulls his hand away as the Lion’s eyes abruptly light up a brilliant gold.

Lance gapes at them both.

“You, on the other hand, aren’t dead yet,” Shiro says just a little too cheerfully. “Neither is your Lion, looks like. Just needed a little energy boost is all, and that much I can do for you.”

That’s when the not-quite ground below their feet rumbles and Red roars deafeningly. Behind Shiro, there’s a light on the horizon that’s slowly getting brighter, and he feels the familiar rush of quintessence coming towards him. Lance! calls Allura’s voice, and she sounds– afraid? Worried? Something must be going wrong back there for her to sound like that. It’d be the easiest thing in the world to run to her now and he can feel Red urging him on.

Lance digs in his heels and stays put.

“But we found you,” he insists. “It took a while, sure, but you’ve been back for months. You’ve been flying the Black Lion. Why would you– This is crazy, I mean, I just saw you! You can’t be–”

He chokes on the word. Dead. It’s so– permanent.

Shiro tightens his jaw, and Lance can’t help noticing he looks even paler than he did before. “We look the same, but he isn’t me. That’s what I was trying to tell you last time. I think Haggar’s using him for something, but I don’t know what. I can only see him when he’s in the Black Lion, and it takes a lot out of me.”

The light’s getting brighter. Lance can barely even see Shiro anymore, just an outline of broad shoulders, the faint glow of Paladin armor. He can hear Allura calling his name again as Red growls insistently, already lumbering to its feet, and vaguely registers that Shiro’s still trying to tell him something with increasing urgency.

“–go now! Don’t– don’t worry about all that stuff I said. Just look after the team. Keep them safe. Will you do that for me?”

“But you’re part of the team too,” Lance tries to say, but he can feel himself slipping away and he’s not sure the words make it out. It’s hard to resist the familiar pull of Allura’s magic, warm and bright, just like her, but all he needs is just a little more time as he tries to draw in another breath–

“Hang on, Shiro!” Lance shouts into the void. “I’ll talk to Allura, there’s gotta be something she can do. I’ll fix this, I promise, and you won’t be alone here anymore–” and he’s babbling but he can’t help it, he doesn’t even know if Shiro can hear him, “I’ll bring you home! You’ve gotta believe me–”

That’s the moment another two realities diverge:

In one reality, Lance wakes up and immediately tells Allura about what happened on the astral plane, how she and Shiro saved him, how they need to get him back. It takes some time, but they manage to rescue Shiro’s soul and free the clone from Haggar’s control, setting into motion a chain of events where everything turns out fine.

But in this reality, Lance forgets. When he opens his eyes, he’s so overwhelmed by the way Allura is looking at him that he ends up saying something very obvious (and, he later laments, not smooth at all): “You saved me.” There’s something else he wants to say and it’s right on the tip of his tongue, but he’s still kind of fuzzy-headed from almost dying, so he decides that whatever it is can probably wait. It’ll be fine.

“I believe you, Lance,” Shiro says.

#sarah forms voltron things #shiro #lance #operation kuron #vld gen #voltron fic #vld fix it #my last queue roundup featured a lot of vld crit because it’s honestly hard to talk about Kuron (or Shiro) without being critical #but a n y w a y !!! it's high time to move on #I've had this baby kicking around my drafts for a while and figured now was as good a time as any to share #i pretty much never write angst because it is a Bummer so this little series will eventually have something close to a happy ending #inasmuch as canon allows #justice for kuron

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hotarubi-e · 7 years

Text

Make me a promise I know you’ll keep

prompt: Then some Keith of course!! He gets injured, like bad, I wouldn't say really bad bc I don't know how much you're comfortable with, but him with his lance? I'm sorry I'm too excited to request now lol btw my writing blog where I do injury and sickfic is godhelpthesickies ;)

Summary: When Lance and Keith get sent on a mission to a dead planet, a landslide that buries them in rubble threatens Keith’s life. With only Lance there to get his boyfriend out, it’s down to him to figure out how to pull the metal pillar from his side and get him back to the lions before he bleeds out on the ground.

Lance didn’t know where he was. He was lying down, he knew that much, but.. why? He couldn’t remember lying down on the floor, and couldn’t quite understand why everything was spinning. He shifted his arm, pulling it back instantly as it drew a gasp, sharp and filled with pain through his lips. This wasn’t right. There was something seriously wrong with the fact that he couldn’t remember, and the pain pulsating down his arm had him significantly unnerved.

Cracking his eyes open against the sliver of light barely reaching his face, Lance edged around until he could see the sky.

Well, at least it should have been the sky. But in its place was a crumbling mass of pillars and rock, tumbled down from the structure above him. It looked, to his hazy eyes, like it had once been a building, stood high on the brink of a cliff - the same cliff he now lay at the bottom of.

Right. Of course. He and Keith had been sent on a diplomatic pilgrimage of sorts to honour (and simultaneously woo into forming an allegiance) the resident species of the planet Balah. But any and all point had been rendered moot immediately upon landing, as it became painfully clear to the paladins that the planet was long dead. All signs of life had vanished into the ether, leaving a planet crumbled and rotting in the wake of a civilisation Allura had hailed as the pinnacle of societal beauty.

They had been on their way back to the lions when an earthquake had struck, triggered by the destabilised crust of the withering planet. They must have been caught beneath the rubble as it came thundering down -

Lance’s brain cut off as quickly as it had previously managed to reboot. Keith. Where the hell was Keith?

Fighting against the pain in his arm, Lance managed to push himself into a crouch, testing the comms unit hidden away in his helmet. He would have to thank Allura and Coran later for the durability of the armour - he didn’t even want to consider how terrible the landslide might have been had his head not been so thoroughly guarded.

‘K-‘ he made it no further through Keith’s name before he was cut off by a cough, dust vacating his lungs in vicious spurts. ‘Keith! Keith, buddy, you there?’

No answer but a static-y crack ominous enough to raise the tempo of his heart.

‘Keith, babe! Come in! Answer me, goddamnit!’

‘La-…’

‘Keith! Oh my god, is that you? Tell me that’s you!’

Another crackle punctuated the brief sound of Keith’s voice, and Lance felt the growing urge to shove his face into the dirt. Maybe he wouldn’t be thanking Allura and Coran after all - what was the point of a protected brain when you lost your other paladins because of feedback?

‘La-nce.. I-I’m.. I’m here.. do you - do you read me..?’

‘Keith, fuck, thank god,’ he sighed, burying his fingertips into the soft of his eyes. Perhaps he had been rash to condemn the armour after all. ‘Wait - why do you sound all weird? Are you alright?’

‘Lance, you.. ugnn.. y-you gotta come quick, I’m - I’m stuck. There’s..’

‘Keith? There’s what, babe?’ His face blanched and he was on his feet before his brain was even aware of sending the request to his legs. ‘I swear to god, if you say the word ‘blood’, I’m divorcing your ass..’

There was silence for a moment before a small pained huff made its way over the comms. ‘..O-okay, I, uh.. won’t say it, then..’

‘Oh God, Keith..! Okay - where are you?! I’m on my way!’

He shoved a low lying pile of rocks to the side, not waiting for them to hit the floor before he was climbing over them, scrambling desperately against the rough, broken terrain as he waited for Keith to respond. It took an agonisingly long time, but eventually his voice crackled back into being within Lance’s helmet.

‘I-I think.. I hear you.. I can - fuck.. I can see the cliff, it’s.. I’m close to the bottom..’

Now that Lance considered it, he thought he too could hear Keith’s voice drifting over from his right, lending the strange reverberation of a ghost voice to the feed in his comms.

‘I think I’m close -‘ as soon as the words left his mouth he rounded the side of an upright metal pillar and screeched to a halt, all but falling over the Red Paladin, who lay prostrate on the ground. ‘Oh..- oh my God.. Keith!’

The pillar, which Lance had at first thought punctured the ground by the Paladin’s side, in actual fact broke through it, piercing his abdomen on its way through to the dirt below. Pools of blood stained the metal, coating it a slick shade of red which glistened in the distant light filtering down from above.

A gurgling cough broke from Keith’s lips, drawing Lance’s mind back down to Balah, away from the shock he had been spiralling, frantically into.

‘L-Lance…’ Keith stared up into his eyes, face drawn and crumpled in pain as his hands flittered around the wound. No, not flittered, Lance realised. They were shaking. Keith was shaking so terribly that his hands waved like leaves caught in the wind. ‘I c-can’t.. I tried to move it.. made it worse..’

‘O-okay.. okay buddy, just stay still, alright? I-I’ll get you out of here, I promise.’ He crouched down on his knees, hands weaving deftly around the pillar to explore the wound, examine how far into Keith’s side it cut. Only a few inches, but enough to have spilled so much blood he was painting the world his own unique shade of red.

Keith coughed again, wincing against the pull of his flesh as it moved against the metal. ‘H-hurry up on that g-getting me out of here, Lance.. f-fuck.. it.. it hurts..’

‘I know, baby, I-I know, but.. I gotta figure out how safe it is to move you right now. If I move you too quickly, I could just cause more damage and I don’t wanna do that,’

‘Just-! Hgnn… L-Lance, it hurts, it hurts..!’

Lance dropped further down into Keith’s side, desperately trying to see the depths of the wound, where the pillar ended and Keith began. But with so much blood clouding his view it was nearly impossible to find the edges of a wound that seemed to make up the entirety of Keith’s body. ‘I know it hurts, God, I know, but baby I swear, you’re gonna be just fine,’ he almost amazed himself at his own optimism, mentally reminding himself to dive off the cliff above them if it turned out to be a lie.

Keith’s breaths were coming fast and shallow, his chest hiccupping in tandem with the beat set out by his tiny gasps. When Lance caught his eyes close from the corner of his vision, his hand shot out of its own accord, startling Keith awake with a too-hard slap. His eyes blinked blankly, empty of all shine or life until a small, stuttered breath came from his chest.

‘…D-didn’t you ever hear, i-it’s not.. not nice to slap sleeping people..’ Keith’s words slurred together, tongue warring for dominance over teeth in his mouth. Blue lips pulled themselves tight into a line.

‘And didn’t you ever hear it’s not good to sleep when you’ve donated half your blood to a pile of dirt?’ Lance countered, pushing the panic Keith’s daze drew from his gut down into his feet. He could deal with it later when the love of his life wasn't bleeding out on the ground.

Digging into his utility belt, he pulled the knife he had stowed there free and slipped it into the thick material of his own armour’s under-suit. It wasn’t perfect, and left him exposed, but the bleeding needed to be staunched and all other available options amounted to none. He tore the fabric lose, and put the knife back, hands hovering momentarily above the cut. He didn’t want to do this, but in lieu of all else, he knew it was his only choice.

‘Keith? Keith, I need you to listen to me, okay? This.. I’m not even gonna lie, this is gonna hurt so much, babe. Like, next level shit, alright? But I gotta do it - I gotta get you out of here and I don’t think it can wait anymore, not with the way you’re looking right now,’

A slow hand shook free from the blood covering Keith’s chest and slid itself like the weakest vice around Lance’s own, stuttering low and hard as it fought to grip his fingers tight. Lance breathed sharply, scared eyes meeting Keith’s own hazy ones.

‘’s’okay, Lance.. ’s’okay, I-.. trust you. Promise.. promise me something..’

‘Oh, no, no we are not doing that, Keith. I am not sitting here listening to you tell me your dying wish - that is not happening, no way!’

Keith’s head shook languidly side to side, each movement seeming to eat into the already waning strength he had stored. ‘..Not a d-dying wish, Lance. I- you gotta cradle me, okay?’

‘..Huh?’ Of all the times for Keith to decide to try and be cute, it just had to be then. Why couldn’t he save the sweet talk for when they were in bed like a normal person, not when he was half dead buried in rubble on an alien planet with little chance of getting out with all his organs intact?

‘C-cradle me in y-your arms.. dumbass.. I-I can - I can pretend not to.. remember..’

‘Oh. My God. Yep, definitely divorcing you.’ But it bought a smile to his face, reminding him just for a moment that if he had survived so terrible a wound then Keith could too. ‘Alright, if you can bear this next bit, then I promise I’ll give you all the cradling you want after we get back to the lions, okay?’

Keith’s weak nod signalled the start of what Lance knew he could no longer deny - he was going to have to pull Keith free from the pillar. And leave what part of him it had taken out behind.

With a small smile of warning, Lance placed the cut material around the edge of the wound, pressing tight to halt the flow of blood as best he could. Keith cried out so sharp and loud that Lance wished he could cover his ears, but he fought the urge, instead stepping over him to crouch on his other side, across from where the pillar impaled both him and the ground. One hand still occupied by the cloth, he used the other to slip beneath Keith’s shoulders, gritting his teeth against the onslaught of pain Keith let loose from his lips as he got as good a hold as possible around him.

After just a moment to collect himself, Lance braced for the worst thing he thought he would ever have to do: he pulled. He pulled Keith’s body, tense and convulsing as it was, away from the pillar as fast as he could, fighting down bile at the sounds of tearing flesh and screams so loud they echoed off rock.

Keith’s reaction had been instantaneous. As soon as Lance’s hands had pulled him, his body had jerked, head thrown back in abject pain, fear perilous as it bounced around his vocal chords, distorting his sounds into wails. But as soon as he was free, Lance was catching him, hands wrapping tight around his waist, still holding the torn suit close to his side as more blood than before gushed out of him.

The wails turned to sighs, gasps lilting from his throat, his body no longer capable of producing real sound. Lance tightened his hold, feeling Keith’s limbs drape like lead weights down around him. The blood was seeping through the cloth, and so he pushed harder into Keith’s ribs, trying with all his might to at least slow the pouring red rain. It earned him a weak, barely vocal moan from Keith for his efforts.

‘I got you, Keith,’ he whispered, hoisting Keith’s body into his arms, careful to maintain as much pressure on the wound as he could. ‘I got you, I got you. You’re gonna be okay, now, baby.. we’re gonna go back to the ship. There’ll be a pod waiting for you, and when you get out, I’ll have your favourite blanket, and I’ll smother you up in it and never let go, even if you still refuse the fact that you love that thing,’

He looked down into Keith’s face, willing the Red Paladin to reply, but met with silence, he whimpered as he put one foot in front of the other, making his way slowly back to where he knew the lions were waiting for them.

Blood coated his hands, slick on the metal of his armour, running red and vibrant down Keith’s side, but at least he was free. He was free and breathing, and even with his eyes so stubbornly closed, Lance knew that he going to make it. How could he not, when he was pressed so warmly into Lance’s chest?

‘Hey, Keith,’ he smiled, as the Red and Blue lions came mercifully into view. ‘seeing as I’m cradling you in my arms, I think I deserve a word or two from you - don’t you?’

A small grumble from the pained, sickly white bundle in his arms acted as acknowledgement that his desperate prayer had been heard.

‘…S-shut up… ‘m not gonna ‘member this… I s-swear..’ it was weak, but it was there, Keith’s voice drifting over the ruined world, mouth smiling in spite of itself at his own terrible joke.

#voltron #major injury #injury #landslide #keith kogane #keith (voltron)#lance mcclain #voltron lance #blood #voltron legendary defender #klance #whump #like so much whump it makes me happy #lance cradles keith in his arms #irony

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greenflamedwriter · 3 years

Text

First Draft. Part One

Thinking back on it now, lance has never made any good decisions in all of his life. Falling from heaven, was not on his to do list.

He fumbled around like a newly born deer, unable to walk unable to communicate, and there were so many rules he needed to know to survive, he thought other fallen angels would help him.

But they cast him aside.

Lance didn’t understand it at first, the sneers and glances they gave him. Until he heard others gossip thinking he couldn’t hear them.

“He choose this! No one wanted to fall for something as stupid as he did.”

Oh.

He began to ignore them and kept to himself at first it was fine.

That was until the hunger started.

The raw hunger was new, it burned him from the inside out, he had no idea how to stop it. He knew he craved something, anything !

Eating human food helped for a while but it didn’t take away the pain.

Then one day he saw a demon, and he was...handsome. Not that Lance cared about that sort of thing, but he was someone that made Lance breath stutter and freeze in his tracks.

His human side that was.

Lance could tell he was a demon, just by his scent, his mannerisms, but what he truly looked like Lance figured he would never know. His every instinct told Lance not to get involved to go the other way and avoid him.

Then Lance’s eyes trailed to the woman hanging of the demons arm, tugging him playfully towards somewhere.

Lance’s feet moved on their own, curiosity dragged him from heaven before, why not follow it further?

The demon took her home and Lance watched from the rooftop of another street, perched on the edge like a gargoyle.

He saw the two going into her room he presumed, he waited for the demon to pounce and wondered if he’d be witnessing a murder.

What happened...was not what he was expecting.

The demons warm smile, that even gave Lance butterflies, changed and even the hungry look in his eye was indescribable.

Both the demon and human started taking of their clothes, Lance gasped and covered his eyes. An Angel- no wait, ex-angel- Couldn’t watch this, he’s never seen this before. He’s heard of it, it was the main reason why most angels fell in the first place.

But he’d never, oh my god- he was going to hell! Lance’s heart beat thumped against his chest like a twittering bird.

He peeked through his fingers feeling his heart sky rocket as he saw in full detail what this demon was doing. Oh god he could still see his face, until the demon looked up their eyes locked.

Lance gasped and fell backwards, falling off of the ledge and onto the rooftop. He groaned more than winded until he realised what happened and crawled over the wall covering his mouth.

He saw him! Now Lance was full out panicking, what the hell was he going to do?

“What are you doing here!?”

A voice growled behind him, Lance all but screamed and whipped around, his white wings fluttering behind him. The demon flew above him with a beat of his bat like wings he landed before the angel.

His yellow eyes scrunched into a snarl, his horns haphazard and broken, unlike Lance’s halo that was still intact.

Lance was petrified.

“Kid, I don’t actually enjoy voyeurism so you tell me what was…” The demon paused as it took in Lance’s wings, still white and halo still intact except for that tell tale hairline fracture at the centre.

Shiro reached out and grabbed his wing, Lance panicked trying to move back and his other wing spasmed his body reacting at the danger, his thoughts only screaming red-alarms.

He’s going to rip my wings off!

“Keep still.” Lance stopped instantly, biting his cheek to stop himself from crying.

The demons eyes dragged from his wings, as some feathers molted to the floor, to his face.

“When did you fall?” The demon asked, Lance was unsure of answering until he saw the flex of fingers on his wing and gasped out “A-A few months ago.”

The demon drew back, slowly letting for of his wings, the angel gave a sigh of relief. Until the other spoke.

“And how long have you been starving yourself?”

Lance eyes flickered, starving?

He asked those sentiments himself, the demon only growled and lunged forward. Lance cried out about to fall over the side of the rooftop, about to eat concrete-

- Then his whole world snapped to a stop.

As lips crashed onto his, Lance was too stunned to move. Until he felt a tongue probe forwards and slip into his mouth he gasped, and the demon slotted forward keeping him still by gripping his wings.

Lance buckled trying to shift, until he felt something warm travel down his throat and he gasped, as that long simmering burn he once felt in his stomach diminished like a cold bucket of water.

The demon pulled back “That, is what you need to feed. The essence of humans, make them pray for you, believe in you- fear you or...the most simplest way is to have carnal relations with them and draw out their essence.”

Lance was too busy being shocked that he was just kissed...by a demon.

“Why did no one tell you this?”

Lance looked up at the demon still processing, until he realised what he said “I....maybe it’s because I didn’t really fall, like….like they did.”

The demon crossed his arms “Really? I doubt it’s that different to the others, let me guess you missed your old life and wished to return.” Lance shook his head.

“You had tempting sinful thoughts-”

“God no!”

Lance didn’t have to tell him, but the demon felt less...horrible than the others, and this was the first time anyone had talked to him. Lance was going out of his mind being unseen by the others and ignored. Call him a little desperate.

“I fell in love, okay? I know it’s stupid as soon as I fell down here she died. I’m stuck and she’s gone and it’s pathetic. The others wanted nothing to do with me, that I actively choose this while they feel cheated.”

The demon said nothing and Lance started playing with his wings, the demon gave a tut and grabbed his arm.

“Wh- What are you-”

“Shut up, you should be grateful that I’m taking you under my wing.” Lance gaped and tried to look at him properly “And I’m supposed to follow you?I don’t even know who you are-”

The demon looked back with a smirk “My name is Kuro, there. Not strangers...”

.....Years Later....

Lance was on his own, looking seriously at a poster chart for a space program.

He might as well right? He was practically immortal, better to start now than never.

He glanced at the poster and gaped “That son of a bitch.”

Right there looking like a ray of sunshine was Kuro, he was a senior cadet and already had missions in space already.

Lance grit his teeth together. he thought he was done with that demon. But no matter what Lance did he couldn't escape him!

He was calling himself Shiro now (White? HAH!) He was acting like some goody two shoe poster boy and Lance saw through that act like clear glass.

He knew why the demon was doing it though, Shiro was looking for alternate ways to feed, humans weren’t stupid. They were becoming more aware of them, demons and fallen angels. Although they did call their kind vampires, some sort of superstition at least.

Still better safe than sorry, not to mention the surplus population the ratio of humans to their kind was not enough.

It was better to look for alternate food sources while they could.

Lance though, he wanted to return back to the stars. He knew heaven wouldn't take him back but…just a touch of his outstretched fingers would be enough.

Although knowing Shiro was here made him almost reconsider.

But… being on earth...alone. He fell for a reason to stay on Earth with the one he loved. But now he would do anything to get away from the reminder.

Then Shiro got lost in space, and Lance well- he cackled like an idiot. He didn't mean to it was just, Kuro finally goes in space ister big bad I'm going to fix the food shortage problem and ends up vanishing like a fucking idiot.

Lance laughed, then got punched by Keith Kogane.

He wasn't laughing now, at least he took Keiths spot as a fighter pilot. But it didn't feel earned even the flight instructors got in his face about it.

Lance held back on so many choice words, he was an angel for crying out loud he could suck everyone in this room dry till they were crumpled corpses.

But if he said that outloud you gotta believe everyone would take that wrong.

Later that night, feeling antsy and starving he convinced Hunk to go to the next town other to meet some girls.

Then he spotted Pidge.

And curiosity got the best of him yet again, he needed to stop following that thing but what was the worst that could happen?

He followed Pidge onto the roof where a meteor landed right outside of their base. Weird coincidence but whatever.

Then Pidge hacked into their video feeds.

“Is it the aliens? Oh God they came here so quick.”

It turned out to be Shiro strapped to a table.

God why couldn’t he escape him!?

They all agree to save Shiro not until another player joins the field, and it happens to be Keith.

Could this day get any more better?

He followed Keith into the make shift tent and watched as the kid pulled down his mask and tilt Shiro's face.

"Shiro?"

Then Lance saw it, Keith's devotion- and understand why he punched Lance before.

And something ugly twisted inside of Lance's chest.

"Uh-uh, Oh no. I'm saving Shiro!" Lance said forcefully pushing the table out of the way and grabbing Shiro's...robotic arm?

The fuck did this guy even do in space?

"Who are you?"

Lance raised an eyebrow, was this guy serious?

Well guess you can't remember everyone you punch.

"Uh, Guys?" Hunk called out worried "I think we have company."

"Ah shit."

They managed to avoid the garrison, and death from Keith's reckless driving and made it to his shack in one piece.

Lance collapsed onto his couch, welp there goes the space program. He could probably try again in a couple of years when the garrison forget all about him.

Keith growled "Help me!" Lance flinched and saw Keith drag Shiro towards a door, maybe the bedroom?

"You look like you have it covered buddy."

"Get the fucking door!" Keith yelled his voice pitching, Shiro must be heavier than he thought.

Lance took his time in opening the door and Keith huffed, there was a bed that Keith placed him on once Shiro was settled did Keith go towards the closet and grab some clothes.

Lance glanced at Shiro and frowned, the white streak in his hair was new, and the scar across his nose....

did Lance feel bad for him...?

Nah! Of course not, Shiro was unkillable. He was like Samuel Jackson in hitmans body guard.

Still it was taking a while so Lance took a step back "I'll leave you to it, he'll probably get spooked if there's more than one person in here."

Keith just grunted and Lance just sighed and left the room, shutting the door with a slam, after walking out into the hallway he heard Pidge and Hunk.

"The Anaesthetic should be wearing off soon." Pidge said, still typing on her computer.

"I know but it's taking so long- the garrison is going to kill us Pidge, and the aliens? Are they here, I'm freaking out."

Lance grimaced and stepped inside "Hunk, it'll be fine. Once Shiro wakes up everything will be all sorted out. All we have to do is wait."

Waiting turned into an hour....then a few more minutes. In that time Hunk was looking at Keiths wall and announced he could find Voltron with a geiter meter. He has just now finished it.

Having nothing left to do, Lance walked towards the bedroom to tell Keith the good news.

They should at least prepare until Shiro wakes up.

Lance opened the door “Hey Keith-” He stopped to see both Shiro and Keith making out, Lance should’ve figured, Shiro was starving for...who knows how long. It still pissed him off though.

The two stopped startled and looked at him in surprise, Lance beamed.

"Lance get out!" Keith squeaked, Lance couldn’t help it his smile spread further.

"Oho! I'm sorry," He dodged a flying shoe still smiling like a chesire cat "But Hunk has that geiter meter finished,"

Keith's paused "Wait, really- Shiro C'mon!"

Keith ran past them grabbing his shoe along the way, Lance leaned against the door frame with a smirk.

Shiro scowled, and grabbed his shirt pulling on the sleeves and doing up his jacket.

"You did that on purpose," he prowled forward making Lance look up.

“So what if I did?”

Shiro took a breath then exhaled resigned, "Lance, about where we left things off...." He was going to apologise, Lance couldn't believe it. There was no way.

"I wish I had left sooner."

Lance gave a slow blink "What?"

Shiro shrugged, still blissfully unaware "I think taking you under my wing,"

Taking? More like grooming.

"Was okay, but I think just knowing me instead of branching of to the others is why we resent each other."

wrong, so so wrong.

"Thanks for saving me, but Keith and I can handle this, so you could just go back to the garrison-”

"Fuck you Kuro."

Shiro stopped talking and finally looked at Lance who was visibly shaking "When they said you vanished you know what I thought? Thank god."

Sure he wished Shiro was lost in space he didn't want the guy dead though, he didn't have to know that.

"I saved you since you helped me back there, so you have nothing to hold over me. But don't start acting like a guardian now especially with how much you fawn over your god damn precious golden boy-"

"Lance-"

"Save it. We're finding this Voltron and reporting back to the garrison and then I am done with you." Lance turned around then whipped back around pointing at Shiro.

"I wanted to leave Earth to get rid of my demons."

Shiro's eyes widened in hurt, Lance walked back towards the sitting room where Hunk and Pidge were suspiciously quiet he glanced at Keith and almost flinched when the others eyes flashed at his.

What was his problem?

Shiro came out of the room looking sour and drained, oh yeah he was hungry and was about to use Keith as a meal. Lance's smirk grew, serves him right.

End of Chapter one

_____________________________________________________________

Angel Dialouge.

_Kuro opened the door to his (now shared) apartment and paused when he looked up. He still wasn't used to the sight.

Lance likes heights to remind himself how he had never fallen."

"Admiring the view?"

"I like the height, it's almost like I..."

"Oh, how was your day?"

"Better,"

-Kisses Lance This wasn't a permanent arrangment, once Lance figured it out himself he'll leave. And Kuro can continue on like normal.

"Scoot over."

"T-thank you

"You're welcome

"Do you want to fly with me?

You do still remember?" He asked.

"Well duh, You do realise you're looking at the fastest flyer in Celestia?" "Uh I mean-"

"Well if you're that good, you're going to have to prove it."

"I don't have to prove anything- You'll be so shocked you'll fly into a billboard."

“Hey Lance, mind if we talk a minute?”

“Lance, I can’t keep talking care of you like a mama bird that feeds her chick.”

“Lance, do you want to come with me, and see how I feed?” Lance blinked then flushed “H-How you feed?”

“No. No- I’m not ready.” Kuro’s face fell and Lance stood up walking away.

“I can’t-”

“Would others help?” Kuro asked and Lance blinked “Others?”

“I mean other fallen angels, to show you how it’s done.” Lance stared and Kuro waited a beat then held his hands up “Lance, I don’t see any other way-”

“I will- I’ll watch...I do want to learn.” And Kuro smiled and Lance had to beam at him as well.

“Kuro? Hey I’m sorry for-”

There was no one there.

“Kuro?”

He opened the door and froze eyes wide as he inhaled sharply.

“Lance,”

“I can’t do this.”

He had to leave. Now.

“Lance? Lance wait-” He felt his arm being grabbed and let himself be pulled.

“Lance? You said you wanted to learn-”

“Yeah to watch- as in you had no part in it and now you’re- you’re having...intercourse with angels something that doesn’t benefit you.”

“Lance, it’s okay for angels and demons to have sex,”

“Yeah but I- nevermind. Look thanks Kuro, but I’m still not ready for this world yet.”

“You can’t just,”

“Apparate towards heaven?”

“It’s not called Heaven- it’s Celestia.”

“And I can’t go back, I know that I’ll figure something out.”

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes. Thank you Kuro for everything, once I figure everything out-”

“No.” Lance flailed at the sudden dark tone from Kuro.

“N-No?”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

-Lance thought it was impossible to fall further into this abyss called hell-

They said hell was an internal flame with burned wretched souls, but Lance never believed in that Hell, no this was stone cold, ice glaziers striking his heart and wearing him down with the weight.

Kuro brought another angel over. Kinkade.

“Out for a flight.”

“Maybe Kinkade could join us?”

He was enraptured with Kuro’s flying. How strong it was, powerful and beautiful, like a shark coming to sweep you up from below.

Lance had no ides he’d been engulphed long ago.

But then Kinkade flew towards Kuro and Lance felt his heart clench.

None of the other angels fell into Kuro’s trap, it was as if they were all playing a game, and Lance was too stupid to know how to play it.

(At least they got closer) a traitorous voice told him (They get to touch him, have him in a way you’ll never have.)

Lance let his wings beat one final time before he plummeted his eyes slipping shut.

Falling brought him into this mess, maybe the second time might kill him.

All Lance did was fall in love, why was this punishment?

Before he could hit the ground the sound escaping his ears he felt something tug against him harshly and he cried out as he went the other way shooting into the sky, he cried out scrambling against the thing that had him and was flying higher into the sky. Lance almost stopped breathing he didn’t have to as they shot upwards breaking past the smoky clouds.

Lance blinked as they escaped the clouds and reached higher as he looked down to see Earth's atmosphere.

The line between the blue of the earth glowing and almost swallowed by the black of space.

Lance eyes widened tears springing to his eyes.

His hand outstretched as if he could touch it, the earth the clouds the stars in the sky and further and further.

What he used to see at Celestials gates.

He looked up and saw Kuro holding him in his arms with a murderous look on his face. Lance blanched leaning further away.

“Want to go back to Celestial so badly?” He asked his words scaching and almost blending in with the vast space behind him.

Kuro was like a black hole that was sucking Lance in and if he got too close, he’ll rip him apart.

“Then fly there yourself.”

His hands slowly let go and Lance gasped as he plummeted. Too weak to even beat his wings never mind trying to fly back to that place that unreachable place that is not only closed off by the length of space but by physical limitations too.

Lance screamed as he fell flashes to the first time, he was as scared as he was now.

His wings beating uselessly against him and Lance turned to see the Earth greeting him, welcoming him in with it’s gravitational embrace.

It wasn’t comforting.

Lance was screaming so much he couldn’t breathe.

He stopped just as quickly still panting, gulping in large gasps of air and heard Kinkade laugh.

“Did you see his face, Kuro?” Lance’s face scrunched in confusion. Until he heard the beat of the bat like wings attached to a chuckling demon.

Lance pushed Kinkade away, that was it. He’d had enough.

Watching the angels getting closer to Kuro while he could barely get a finger's breadth, he felt Kuro fly towards him his hand reaching out.

“Lance?”

He touched his shoulder then screamed as he ripped his arm back as if he’d been burned.

Lance skin was smoldering with smoke as if he was burning, he turned face scrunched into a snarl his eyes glowing bright light with an angelic scorn.

Kuro forgot, Lance fell recently and unlike him who was surviving from humans or Kinkade who barely had any left. They forgot the remaining Grace that Lance had.

And he looked like an avenging Angel smiting those that disobeyed his beliefs.

They forgot for a moment and felt fear as Lance screamed a shockwave bellowed out, the clouds rolling grey and a thunderous roar bringing down the rain.

Kuro and Kinkade fell back crashing to the earth their wings ripped from the sheer impact, Lance collapsed onto the pavement his feet barely holding him up as smoke waved of his body and his own wings ripped from the impact.

His still looked Murderous.

“If you try to find me again, Kuro. I’ll kill you.” Lance slowly stood straighter the light dimming from his eyes. “Consider that a warning.”

Kuro was barely able to hold his conscious as he watched Lance turn around in the rain his wings dragging behind him, Kuro blacked out.

And once he awoke, Lance was gone. Missing, and Kuro frantically searched for him everywhere in the city but he couldn’t find him either because Lance knew how to hide from him or worse….Lance was dead.

-He will never fly again, the ripped out crystals won’t affect his flight after food he’ll be as good as new…wait..-

“Um, excuse me?”

“Um, are you okay?”

“No, I...I was kicked out of my home, as you do.”

“Kicked out in this rain? That just won’t do, come on. Let’s get you out of this freezing cold.”

“Fine.”

_Guy lunges and kisses lance and lance accidently sucks out his soul-

“I did it- I didn’t even have to go the whole way!”

“Hey! What’s going on over there!”

"Oh, he tried to hassle me then he just collapsed.”

“I’ll call an ambulance,”

“You may need to give a statement.”

-Gives Lance his jacket in the rain-

“Sorry, you look cold.”

“Do you have a place to stay?”

“Um, no...my friend uh, kicked me out.”

“What? That douche, I uh, I know this is creepy but I do need a roommate, I work full day shifts and my dog is always alone.”

“If it’s no bother-”

“No bother at all, oh I didn’t get your name.”

“The names Lance.”

The man chuckled “I’m Ryou,”

If Kuro was an angel, he guessed this is what he would look like, Lance figured. There was loads of differences with the two, the whole lack of demon aura for one was comforting. Lance drew the coat closer to himself and smiled. He just hoped he wasn’t another creep like Kuro, or the other stranger on the floor but at least.

Lance smiled slow and cunning, he could take care of himself.

-Pods open to reveal Allura falling out.-

“Who are you?”

“I-I uh,”

-Lance overloaded on altean energy-

“Who are you, how did you get into the castle!”

“Whoa- let him go we are not the enemies here!”

-Lance wobbles away-

“Are you okay?”

“Back off.”

-Allura give her hologram lions to each of them.

“What, a handsome gifted pilot that's ever existed? I get it."

“Ahem, the black lion requires a leader someone who is focused where everyone will follow them.”

“Shiro, You will be the Black Paladin.”

“Oh fuck off.”

-Others stare-

“What? Why is Shiro the leader? He was taken by the galra he could be brainwashed for all we know.”

-fight sentry and misses shot-

“You were too slow.”

-Fumes when Allura agree's with him-

-Mind meld-

“Visualise in your mind your most important memory.”

“Pidge stop thinking of your girlfriend!”

“I’m not it’s Lance!”

“Hey I wasn’t thinking of my-”

“Plus it wasn’t me it was Pidge!"

“I’m just- I’m just tired

“Okay, we’ll take a break.”

“So, who was she anyway. You never mentioned a girlfriend at the garrison and I pegged you for the bragging type, she looked cute.”

“Hunk, not now.”

“Well we’re taking a break I mean, she looked latino, a sister I don’t know-”

“Hunk- Back off !”

“I’m sorry Hunk,” “I’m just uh, going to look for Coran.”

“What was his problem?”

“I don’t know, did I say something wrong?”

“He was probably stressed from the training, but still that doesn’t mean he takes it out on you.”

“Her name was Penolope.”

“She died. Before Lance could even tell her how he felt, he fell for her and she died. I know you meant well Hunk but Penelope is a bit of a sore spot for him.”

“I...I didn’t know.” Shiro nodded “He’s not open about it,”

“Was this when…?”

-Lance wasn’t talking to Hunk. Hunk wasn’t talking to Lance.-

“Look, I’m sorry to snap at you if you’re mad at me I get it-”

“Whoa whoa- What?” Hunk cried out looking alarmed and even Lance flinched surprised.

“Wait- I thought you were mad at me !”

“What? Why would I be mad at you? I was the one who was being an inconsiderate jerk.”

“You were avoiding me?”

“What no- I tried to give you some room I thought you hated me!”

“Of course I don’t hate you-you're Hunk. You’re like the nicest person here! I would never hate you.”

-They make up-

“If you guys are treating me like glass because of what you know I’ll stop speaking to all of you.”

“Look, I’m sorry.”

“I know it’s my fault that we can’t form Voltron I hadn’t been honest about myself,”

“Nonsense, trusting each other is the key not knowing each other’s secrets. Just trust each other blind faith! That’ll get it done!.”

“Which we can’t do when someone is purposely being an ass.” (Keith)

“And that’s not the reason why we can’t form Voltron. You hate Shiro and that’s why we’re not moving. We’re on a planet like sitting ducks out here waiting to be killed by the Galra all because you can’t just man up and get over this stupid fight with Shiro.”

“I hate Shiro. There happy now, And I doubt those feelings would change. Even if you guys tell me that I have to man up to work with you all but honestly? There’s nothing keeping me here.”

“I can leave if I damn near want to. If it’s that or make nice with Shiro I know where I’m going.”

“Lance! You can’t just abandon this fight! You have an obligation as the Blue Paladin-”

“You can do it then, if you’re that interested.”

“Believe me, all I’ve ever wanted was to be a pilot to Voltron. To make Zarkon pay for everything he’s done and I won’t let a human destroy the last hope to save the universe.”

“Oh, you won’t let me? so you’re going to force me to be a paladin then what’s next? force Voltron to save the world, Force it to make the Galra pay for what they did to you and the alteans and put them through what they went through?”

“That sounds like dictatorship and you’ll be just as bad as the Galra.”

“Lance!”

-others flinch at Shiro's tone-

“I’ve been in the arena, I had to fight other prisoners to the death to survive and when they had enough they made us fight their champion a monster that was too strong for any of us and they died . Civilians that did not ask for this and imagine that they learn we could've saved them but didn’t because one member was too selfish and cowardly to do anything about it.”

“This is bigger than you or me, lives are on the line here and you can take that hate you feel for me and cram it. Use it to help us to form Voltron and think of it this way. The quicker we form Voltron the quicker you and I can be on different sides of the galaxy as far away from each other.”

“And plus

“You still owe me from all those years ago, I didn’t have to take you under my wing.”

“You can leave if you want Lance, but that doesn’t mean we’ll hold it lightly."

“Look, my feelings aren’t going to magically disappear overnight. And not only do I have the right to have second thoughts, I’m allowed. We were on earth and now your asking us to risk our lives for a cause we have no part in?”

“No, here me out first. None of us have spoke about this, I bet Pidge had ideas of coming out here in the first place."

“Don’t drag me into this.”

“But it’s true, and you Hunk, do you want to die in space, never seeing your family again?”

“Enough!”

“They are allowed to know! We’re just kids! And believe me I’m not running away. I’ve honestly got nothing better to do. But none of you asked us if we’re okay with this.”

“He has a point.”

“Hunk!”

“I get what you’re saying but I miss my family and I want to go home like is that an option?”

-hits grenade-

“Lance just- dived in front of Rover, like steve rogers on the grenade in captain America!”

“Hunk,”

“Oh god what’s happening.”

“it’s the Galra, that’s what happens when we stay planet side for so long.”

“And our crystal was destroyed. We can’t power the ship, we’re defencless princess.”

“We need another crystal, luckily Corans grandfather made a back-up chamber.”

“But with no power to activate it, that chamber is radioactive.”

“How else can we get it out then?”

“The Paladin suits were upgraded to withstand any environment, space and radiation you’ll have to go to a decontamination chamber but you will have to remain there until the ship is up and running.”

“Why do I feel like your asking me to do it.”

“Hunk that is final. Pidge Keith, you have to stop any intruders to getting to this point, it is the main control panel and the galra would take over the ship and take the lions with them.”

“And Shiro, we need to take Lance to the medical bay."

“Medical bay?”

“It has it’s own solar crystal. It hasn’t been affected by the blackout, come we don’t have time.”

“In here.”

“Quickly, we don’t have time, remove his clothes.”

“uh what-”

“No everything , the pod will place him in medical suiting without disturbing the wound.”

“He’s going to be okay, two days in the pod and he’ll make a full recovery.” Shiro wished he could believe that especially at the blood seeping through the white suit the Pod put him in.

“How? He was exposed to a grenade. That would’ve killed him.”

“Not with Altean technology, we can treat anything. Shiro this is why I brought you here, with the Galra threat we need someone to watch over Lance.”

“Of Course I’ll stay here, what are you and Coran going to do.”

“We’re going to help Hunk hook up the crystal and re-activate the castle. I’ll assisted Coran. Keep your cons on and don’t for any circumstance abandon this room until we give the all clear.”

“Are you an idiot or something!?”

“No wonder you hate me, any normal person would let go.”

“But I’m selfish,”

“I wish we could start over, I wish I knew what to fix this. But I don’t know…”

“Champion, I know Zarkon will be pleased to have all the lions and his champion back in his empire.”

“As if I’ll roll over for you.”

“The galra gave me an upgrade as well.”

“Want to see what it does?”

“What!?”

“Yes-”

“Lance?”

“Shiro!”

Only to freeze as Lance fired a warning shot taking a step back against Shiro.

“Stay right there!”

“Lance?”

“Kuro- What the hell is even going on, and who the heck are those guys...what’s with the weird outfits?”

“Lance, what was the last thing you remembered?”

“He was let out the pod too early, his memories must have been affected.”

“My memories?”

“Lance, we’re friends all of us.”

“So how much am I forgetting?”

“Well the fact that you’re glued to Shiro right now? That’s alot.”

“What? Why would me being next to...wait Shiro?”

“When did that happen?”

Lance reached out his finger almost about to touch the bridge of Shiro’s nose until he paused.

“Sorry, I- Sorry,”

“Everything was fuzzy there for a second.”

“It’s fine, why you were let out early is- oh my Altea you should get back in, you’re wounds a probably…”

“The Galra let me out but I think I’m okay? Maybe it works differently on humans.”

“Lance, if you want to leave Voltron it’s okay.”

“Shiro!”

“I don’t want you to go, but it’s your choice. The others won’t give you a hard time I just,"

“I don’t want to force you to stay with me this time. I know I screwed up and if there’s anything to make up for it I will.”

“W-well fine. God if I left you guys all of you would be in pieces all over the control room."

"..."

"Too soon?"

“Dude I’m a leg!”

“That’s awesome man!”

“Alright team,”

“Time for some battle formations.”

“Shiro?”

He was starving. Lance stood on wobbly legs, his door opened with a silent whoosh he walked towards Allura's room one hand on the door, the neon lights reflected his shadow and in turn the hidden wings.

Lance eyes caught the reflection and his breath hitched. Instead of the transparent crystal like wings he grew up with- he saw leathery bat like wings in his silouette.

Lance fell backwards scrubbing at his eyes to see his shadow the same. Just him, wingless.

Before he could even think of stepping inside the alarms began to blare overhead, Lance scowled. Just typical, he began to run towards the hanger then backtracked once he saw Shiro leaving Keiths room.

Both looked haggard while running towards the doors while pulling on their armour.

Lance almost ran into the wall.

Oh- So that’s why he couldn’t find Shiro last night. Lance scowled and began to walk towards his room grabbing his armour. That was just typical.

“If the Galra attacked we would be dead!”

“Been there, done that.”

“And you should be even more vigilant!”

“I almost died which makes me even more tired. I think I’m allowed a small break?”

“Fine.”

“Seriously, you okay?”

“Uh yeah- I’m fine,”

“Uh, are you okay?”

“Not really, I wish I had more time to mentally prepare.”

“Well I guess you can’t ever prepare yourself, I mean your the type that over thinks things and freaks out.”

“Yeah,”

“But honestly, you’ve been doing fine so far, I mean out of everyone you looked like you adjusted well.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, the first mind meld you were thinking about food,”

“Yeah well when I’m nervous I think about food, or stressed it’s uh my comfort.”

“Remember the time we pranked Iverson at the garrison?”

“With clarity.”

“You were freaking out so much, we were almost caught you know.”

“What Prank with iverson?”

“Remember that time Iverson was locked inside the classroom and no one opened the door for him- not even the teachers?”

“That was you?”

“I heard a student hacked into the system and unearthed lots of dirt on Iverson and uploaded it on youtube.” Lance fist pumped “Kudo’s to that guy- he’s our hero!”

“It’s a distress signal.”

“What if it’s a trap?”

“There are thousands of distress signals caused by the galra, if we start saving them maybe we’ll gain allies.”

“I think it’s worth a shot, if it falls down to a fight we can handle it.”

“Is there any objections?” Allura asked at last and Lance felt himself grow irritated, too late we’re already there!

“We came as soon as we heard your distress signal,”

“Distress signal- oh that- that was a trap?”

“For the Galra! We always trap the Galra and integrate them to tell other rebellions what to look out for.”

“This whole planet is actually a ship-”

“Rolo, how should we even trust them.”

“We’re the paladins of Voltron,” Nyma raised an eyebrow.

“Isn’t that supposed to be a myth?”

“We’re as real as they come.”

“This ship is just the entrance,”

“No way you can control the whole planet!”

“Yep, wouldn’t it be suspicious for Galra to go missing all the time? They’d have to investigate the same coordinates they were located, it’s a shame that the planet disappeared though.”

“That’s a cool trick.”

“Well if the Galra are dumb enough not to catch on the better for us,”

“What exactly do you guys even do?”

“So what do you do around here?”

“I run maintenance, Beezer navigations and Rolo is the pilot,”

“Oh that sounds like my team, Hunk is our maintenance guy and Pidge is our navigations and I’m the pilot.”

“Oh I could tell, you act so confident

“Yep, you have to be to lead a team on a dangerous exhibition-”

“Hey, you’re a paladin of Voltron, right?”

“Uh yeah,”

“So you have a lion, right?”

“Right what was not to get- oh.”

“We’re going for a flight!”

“Lance wait-”

“Oh let them go. Nyma has been cooped up in here for a while.”

“Hey You said this planet was used as a trap to lure people inside and then gruel them for information.”

“Since we’re inside the planet right now, how do we know you’re not tricking us the same way?”

“What? There’s more of you than of us,”

“These camera’s should be recording what is happening on the planet right?”

“Hunk- there’s no need for these accusations.”

“No he’s right, Lance just left- but...he’s not on the screen.”

“What?”

“Someone’s sabotaged the camera’s- Beezer!”

Hunk flushed “Oh my god dude I’m so sorry-”

“It’s fine, Nyma must of changed the screens for some privacy, now I’m embarrassed.”

“Hey, want to try something?”

“Uh sure-”

“What-”

“Sorry Lance, The Galra promised me if I gave them a lion they would let my team go, you understand right?”

“It’s a shame I really liked you-”

“What did you do to her!”

“She tied me up and was about to take the blue lion, she made a deal with the galra."

“What- you’d really think we’d do that?”

“The cameras were faulty and you even said Nyma must have done it. That was the perfect chance to take the blue lion.”

“Nyma could be dead for all I know, how do I know you’re Paladin didn’t kill her!?”

“She’ll be fine, once she wakes up we’ll ask what happened.”

“How can we even trust them after what just happened,”

“How can we trust you!?”

“It was true I was trying to steal the blue lion.”

“What?”

“Nyma- Voltron is our last hope, the only thing that could stop the Galra and you almost sabotaged that?”

“They gave me a deal, the Galra’s technology are advancing you have noticed that they can find us much quicker than usual, they’re catching on to us Rolo, I don’t think we can last long.”

“But we can help,”

“If we have your trust, then trust that we can help you. We’ll stop the Galra from their rein if other Rebellions like you can help us.”

“But if you betray us, the Galra will be the worst of your concerns

“Wow that makes us sound just as bad- no she meant we’ll just leave you alone, because you know it takes two to tango and trust isn’t a one way street.”

“Listen, we don’t necessarily trust you, how can we? You might not even be voltron.”

“Really? Did you miss the memo with the freakin space lions out side?”

“Don’t patronise me.”

“Fine, we have connections to other Rebellions, the Gaia clan and Orion and the Bulmarans.” he shook Allura’s hand.

“I hope we can become allies.”

“Likewise.”

“Careful-”

“Get off, I can walk okay by myself.”

“Your welcome?”

“Lance- did I...do something to offend you in some way?”

“Oh no we are not doing this!”

“Now would be the best time, just us two. You can tell me if I did anything- I said sorry for keeping you, I should’ve let you go- be your own person and learn things on your own-”

“Kuro.”

“I wanted to stay with you, I- I was alone and no one even looked at me...except you.”

“The other demons and angels ,” Lance’s eyes narrowed “Didn’t like me, you know why?”

“You fell in love and choose to go to earth to be with Penelope...Why?”

“The angels hated me, Shiro. They would tease me, shove me off buildings to fall a second time and the worst one was Adam

“Adam- no, Adam was really nice he agreed to help you remember? To learn how to-”

“Have sex.”

“Thought it was odd, how much Adam liked helping you- like all the time, especially when I was involved. He loved to rub it in because he knew- all the angels knew so I thought you were all conspiring against one another or something.”

“Lance- what are you talking about.”

“Lance- we should go and find the lions. Now .”

“I hate Coran.”

“Me too...What’re you laughing at?”

“Nothing...Grandpa.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re looking a little grey and wrinkly there.” Shiro squinted at him then looked offended “That’s my scar you ass!”

“Is it? I just think it’s one big ass wrinkle that’s what it is.”

“You fucking show off..."

“Don’t-"

"Wha?"

“Please don’t do that- we’re okay one minute and then you just, shut off. I know you do it, and I said I was sorry- and I do mean it Lance to whatever I did that made you upset I apologise.”

“Shiro I can’t forgive you, I might not ever forgive you.”

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t get along right?”

“Let’s go, we must be further away from the lions.”

“Alright.”

“Wait-”

________________________________________________________________________________

Shiro tensed waiting for the other shoe to drop, Lance followed the smell, it….it strangely smelled like a barbeque?

He pushed back the vines as he neared closer and outright gaped as he pulled back a large leaf.

It was the village.

“Are you freakin kidding me?”

Pidge was there, and they were stroking a raptor- an honest to god raptor turned with a smile “Lance, Shiro you made it!” Did they walk into another dimension or something?

Hunk even appeared and yep- he was holding the barbeque ribs Lance was smelling.

“You guys took so long, so Coran sent us down to see if you were okay?”

They heard Coran before they saw him “Ah so you were taking the scenic route? I’m not surprised this planet is beautiful.”

Lance could only stare at them “We lived jurassic park Coran, we almost died three times !”

Coran waved them off as he was stroking a raptor that had a blue streak and flickering eyes “You must of scared them.”

“ We scared them !?” Lance loved Coran at the best of time, but there were moments (Like this one) When Lance just wanted to strangle the guy.

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