#keith would not make a dumb decision like that when he knew their lives were at stake | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

greenflamedwriter · 3 years

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Galra Lance

Lance is a galra, and Ex-Mamourian (He was kicked out because he was suicidal and kept getting attention to try to make Zarkon afraid which was the opposite of what mamoura wanted so Lance is a rebel doing his own thing, bounty hunting stealing, raiding and above all about to steal a red Lion on the ship hailed under Sendak and he’s going to get a boatloud of it. Then a cocky kid in a red suit slashes in claiming it’s his lion. Lance wonders if any of this was even worth it?

1 Flash to mind meld plus suspicion lances memories of him in water with mermaids and pre-galran.

2 Flash to “surprise, not a galra.” Lance is exposed and returned and nervous.

3 His father is Blatyz the previous blue Paladin and his other father the Galra whom Blatyz married. (Wait how were you born?) Pidge asked and Lance grinned his tail flickering back like a cats (I was a test tube baby)

4 Keiths initiation Lance returns to the Mamoura.

5 they take down Zarkon then realise his son appears and find out it was hagger when plot twist the whole family were puppets a chaotic energy anti quintescence gains a form and almost possesed the galra but some (Maourans) Resisted and the galra were so soft, so easily corruptable they fight that thing with Fusiontron. They save Honerva and Lotor and they find a planet and make it habitable and release everyone from enslavment but some planets are merged some want the Galra gone and some need their galra to remain so Allura and Lotor try to fix things. Lance goes to his planet which is hidden and Allura gasps to see Alteans, Mermainians and Galra there in hiding in a warped hole.

On a spacecraft floating on the edge of an arus solar system, an abandoned Galra named Lance, was taking a pit stop.

His ship consisted of junk, the pilot hanger cluttered making even hoarders feel disgusted open drinks and snack bars littered here and there and Lance had to squeeze in just to get to the pilots chair, the craft only had one room and a bathroom that stopped working. And his room was the only place that was clean it had an assortment of guns, rifles, snipers, you name it, along with a discarded blade that has seen no use in years with a strange symbol on the hilt.

Lance had music blasting from his speakers some album he bought from an alien shop, the album was called ‘Queen.’ And so far Lance was a fan.

He was flickering through a data pad as many reports scrolled past with anflick of his finger. Galra operations, cargo shipments, military vessels, open channels with radio chatter that Lance ignored. He was looking for something easy.

The life of a thief had its perks, steal medical supplies and weapons and give them to a rebellion and make a profit. Usually he sold to both sides just to live more dangerously. A recommendation opened up and Lance smirked behind his mask with the three circles on the front.

A vessel captioned by Sendek was hovering outside Arus, sliding the panel right and lots of data began to download at lighting speed , appeared and Lance’s smirk grew.

It had some precious cargo on it, a Lion of Voltron to be exact.

Lance was having the time of his life knocking out guards ninja style was just so easy, he had the red lion in his sights.

“Well hello gorgeous, mind dropping down that barrier and getting out of here?”

Suddenly he heard a nose and hid behind a pillar in the shadows, just as more galra guardsran into the hanger.

Lance turned and frowned to see a boy in red and white armour (like thats not inconspicuous) and took them down, Lance grew more suspicious this kid fought like a galra. But he didn’t wear mamorian armour or any rebel armour that he knew. Could be a threat.

Until the kid went to the barrier “Alright open up.”

…it did nothing, the boy growled in frustration “Ugh-we don’t have time for this! It’s me keith! You’re I AM YOUR PALADIN!”

Lance couldn’t help it he laughed, more like busted a gut.

The kid whipped around activating a weapon, a sword.

“Stay back!” Lance shook his head “No, wait,” he was still chuckling holding up his hands “I’m not-”

Suddenly more guards made themselves known and the two found themselves with their hands full.

Lance wasted no time shooting the Galra, even took care of the kids blindspots, this jlb was bigger than he thought maybe if he helped the kid out they can split the money fifty fifty.

That was until.

“You’re not getting this lion!”

Keith slammed his hand against the panel, and opened up the interlock, the vacum

Shot the galra forward and Keith was barely gripping onto the panel.

Lance cursed then used his grappling hooks to latch onto a structure beam.

Suddenly Keith’s slipped and he was pulled into space.

Lance acted on instinct he unlatched grapplings and shot out of space after the teen. He easily grabbed him stopping them both from slinning.

“Let go!”

“Shut up, I’m trying to save your life.” Until the kid screamed Lance turned in time to see big metal jaws clamp shut around them.

Both screamed as they tumbled along the inner corridors, Lance was usually could at improvising- but this was going so far out of left field!

He had no clue what was even going on anymore.

Both were on their hands and knees panting from the sudden death experience, until Lance heard a high pitched sound and turned his head slowly.

Keith held his red sword against his face. Lance could only stare- oh well, stare in his mask and ex-Mamourian armour as much as he could.

“Who are you?” Keith growled. Lance knew he could knock the kid out and take the lion. But he’d have no idea if it’ll even respond to him, and Keith is a fighter and wouldn’t let this thing go, heck heleaped out of an airlock for this thing.

A crash outside saved his interrogation. “A rebel, against the Galra,” he rushed out (which was sorta true)

“Honestly I would tell you more but we don't have time!”

….It turns out Lance got involved in something much bigger than him.

This...this was Voltron.

His childhood stories, the one his dad told him about. The universe’s last hope before Alfor hid them away.

They returned!

Kinda, with one blue lion shot, it just sat there with it’s barrier up. Useless. Not doing a thing….sounded like his type of girl. Chilling alone while the whole universe wasn’t in chaos.

But even with four lions they were able to take down a fighter craft, one with Sendek attached as it crashed onto the planet before him. Colour Lance impressed.

Keith wasn’t too bad either during the battle. He was an excellent pilot and a fighter, but he had a very bad habit.

“Green is wide open,” Lance said with a sigh as he watched how obvious it was that the green Lion had three fighters on their ass.

“Help them out.” Dumbass, he left unsaid.

Keith seemed to hear it.

“I know-” keith instantly covered them and Lance saw fighter ships approach from the main craft. “Your right-” Keith barely managed to dodge.

“Will you quit back seat driving!?”

Lance almost stopped until he saw the black paladin was in distress “The Black lion-”

Keith was moving before he even finished. Keith was good, just had to see the bigger picture.

Once they defended Arus and went planet side, Lance had already made a decision, as he left the red lion trailing behind Keith he saw the others landed beside them.

A woman appeared out of the castle looking relieved, until her eyes clocked his and Lance almost ran back up the mouth of the lion.

“Who is he?”

Allura demanded once all the pilots had landed.

Lance brightened behind his mask, his lilac tail flicking back and forth as he descended the mouth of the lion and held his hand out.

“Oh hello, I’m Lance.” He over exagirated his movements the more big and dumb he looked the more trusting, Allura took his hand tentively.

“You can’t tell with the mask, but I’m winking.”

Allura pulled her hand away still suspicious. “Keith!”

Keith glanced at him curiously. “He was with the red lion,”

With no warning, Lance felt Allura grab his arm and twist him around onto his knees, Lance yelped.

“Ow, ow ow- that hurts lady- ow!” His hand was trembling and clenching as Allura dug her palm into his shoulder.

“What were your intentions with the red lion?”

“I was planning on stealing it,”

Allura looked very alarmed, until Lance gasped on. “But now? wouldn’t dream of it!” Allura growled “Why should we trust you?”

“My dad told me about Voltron,” Lance wheezed god this lady was tough.

Allura let him go surprised and Lance fell over with a yelp just barely catching himself, he turned and pointed at her with a scowl (That she didn’t see)

“Look I know what this looks like but I know that, this,” he gestured at the lions as he stood up ”This isn’t some collectors item, this is VOLTRON! The people’s hope, if anyone found out I-” Here he slapped a hand to his chest “-was responsible for sabotaging Voltron I’ll be doing the Galra a favour, Which is the opposite of what I want to do.”

Allura and the others who looked defensive, straightened once Lance said his piece.

“Is there anyone out there fighting Zarkon?” She asked, Lance placed a hands on his hips “Still? Jeez Lady where have you been? There is no more fighting, Its just surviving at this point.” He flapped his hand lazily “I already gave up on that freedom pipedream long ago, but yes other rebels are trying. Chances are if you make a dent in Zarkons oppressive system the rebels will come flocking.” And if the Mamoura catched wind of Voltron Lance wanted to be out of there ASAP.

He waved at them taking a step back “Good luck to you,” He patted the barrier of the blue lion and continued to walk away, hoping he could get enough of a signal to his ship to get him as far away from this planet.

Until the barrier collapsed with a swish.

He stopped walking as the others gasped. No.

Lance turned to see the others gape at the lion (Now free) then their gazes turned towards him.

Coran came to himself before the others. “It seems we have found our blue paladin.”

Lance looked around then back at them, wait they meant him?

Oh Gaia, no.

#GL #Galra Lance

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 3 years

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Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 194

194

Lance knew better than to turn to sex for emotional comfort, he told himself he did, and he still let himself get swept away by Keith’s overwhelming desire to confirm he was loved... and loved a lot.

Cuddled together, the emotional exhaustion had Keith falling asleep in his arms. The position uncomfortable for Lance, but he didn’t have it in his heart to move Keith. He loved him. He loved the soft puffs of breath that tickled his stomach. He loved the long dark strands of hair that had escaped Keith’s ponytail. He loved his warmth. He loved that this ego and Keith’s seemed to understand that they were crazy about each other, despite the clash in their scents. He’d never ever thought a vampire could love a werewolf. Not with the long going open hostility... but he loved Keith. Heck. His stubbornness over a proposal so soon into dating had faded. Keith could propose with a piece of used dental floss and fluff from under the bed and he’d still be over the moon.

Tolerating the pain in his hips, and his need for the bathroom, as long as he could, Lance had to move Keith off of him. His boyfriend trying to grab him as Lance moved his hand away and kissed his forehead

“Bathroom break”

Keith huffed unhappy about it. So terribly cute. Being a werewolf was wasted on his boyfriend. Not when he was an octopus when it came to cuddles

“I’ll be back in a moment”

Huffing, Keith let his arm drop, Lance escaping and grabbing his phone as he went.

Calling Shiro was a spare of the moment decision. He didn’t want to alarm him in the middle of the night, but he also wanted to give him the heads up on what they were doing. Sending a text first, he was done in the bathroom by the time his phone started ringing. Anxiety sent his stomach dropping. He hated how things were between him and Shiro. He’d said some cruel things, Shiro had said some cruel things. They both messed up, yet he seemed to be stuck on fear mode when talking to Keith’s brother. Sliding his thumb across the screen, Lance took a deep breath before moving his phone to his ear

“Lance?”

Oh god. He couldn’t go back now

“H-hey... Shiro. Sorry if you were sleeping”

“It’s the middle of the night”

Shiro sounded like he’d definitely been sleeping

“Sorry. Keith’s asleep and I wanted to give you the heads up. We’re going to visit his dad’s grave today. I thought I’d let you know in case he didn’t want to talk, or didn’t answer in chat”

“I thought you would have gone yesterday”

There was a kind of blame in Shiro’s voice... Lance didn’t blame him

“We were both tired, so we had a lazy day to let Keith build up to it”

“Okay. I see”

Well. This was awkward

“Yeah. We actually met a man who knew Keith’s dad and it rattled him. We didn’t tell him that he was talking to Keith, but this town wants to forget that fire and it’s hard on him”

“Of course it’s hard on him”

Shit. There was no reason for tears and yet his eyes were getting watery

“I’m sorry for calling. I just wanted to let you know what was going on. I’ll leave you to go back to sleep”

Shiro sighed deeply. There was no way he could know he’d upset Lance

“Is he okay. Is he eating?”

“Yeah. Yeah. He’s been eating, he hasn’t gotten angry or stormed off. He was a bit emotional tonight. Oh, can you bring some of his camera equipment? I think it’ll be a good distraction. We’re going to get a copy of the council records on the fire... so I want him to have something else to think about”

A stupid sniffle escaped. He wanted happiness for Keith...

“Lance...”

Nope. He had to hang up. He was going to start crying if he stayed on the phone

“I’m sorry, Shiro. I... have to go... I’m sorry”

Cutting the call as Shiro tried to reply, Lance left his phone in the bathroom. He didn’t want to go into the day in a down mood. Then again, he’d thought the same thing the previously and... well, ugh. He’d had fun with Keith, acting like they were children again. With Blue, having a sandpit at home wouldn’t work, but his mind was already planning a future family holiday to the beach where he’d bully Keith into making sandcastles with him. He’d have someone twin sit so he and Keith could have a proper day being dumb at the beach, then come home slightly sunburnt, and regretting things, but at the same time not because they’d had a lot of fun. Keith was his whole future. As Coran would say, they were soulmates. He really would gift Keith his whole being just to be lucky enough to call him his.

Crawling back into bed, Keith instantly drew him close for snuggling. Their positions now switched with Keith laying on his back and Lance laying half on top of him where he could fit. Yeah. He wanted to marry this guy... One day he’d marry the heck out of him, and Keith would marry the heck out of his right back.

Keith didn’t try to hide his anxious mood as they got ready for the day ahead. He knew Lance was anxious as the vampire had tried to clean the hotel room, grumping that there was no vacuum cleaner to do the floors with. Sullen over breakfast, Lance covered for him. Smiling and thanking the waitress that brought their breakfast, smoothing things over while Keith sat slouched and glared at the world.

All too soon they were headed to the cemetery, Keith not really remembering the drive despite being the driver. Parking in the parking lot, his whole body shook. He wanted to flee. They were so close and he hated how much he wanted to flee. This was his dad. He shouldn’t have been as nervous as he was, but all of this left just as shaken as he’d been to learn to Lance was pregnant. His dad knew about the creatures of the night, and now he was turning up at his grave as one of those creatures.

Lance didn’t push him. He undid his belt, but waited until Keith was so cranky at himself for his cowardice and made a move of his own, before climbing out the bronco. The cemetery wasn’t like the one in Garrison. There were more weeds than grass. Sand skirted the edges of the area, with a few very old trees in place. It felt lonely. Not a place people would want to visit... and he’d left his dad laying there for all those years... Somehow it’d been easier to say goodbye to Mami than it was to face his dad. Mami being gone hadn’t been real until he’d seen her grave. There was no denying the proof thrust onto him. Moving to take his hand, Lance squeezed softly to tell him he was there for him. Keith wanted to pull his hand away, not feeling he deserved support after leaving his dad alone. Hearing the police officer from the previous night describe how much his father loved him had shaken him. Reminded him dangerous it was to fall in love. How freak accidents happened every day and the ones you loved were stolen away unfairly.

Wandering through the cemetery, it smelt... unnerving. Lance’s death scent was the kind of scent he wanted to roll in. The scent of the cemetery should have been the same. There was so much death there, which was logical, but this was a cold death. A fine layer of goosebumps covered his skin as he tried not to read the names of the people they passed. His dad should have been buried somewhere nice. Somewhere like in Platt with its rolling green lawns, or in Garrison where there was no chance of his resting place being disturbed. When Lance came to a stop, Keith didn’t get why until his eyes met the gravestone. His heart doing a flip as he realised just who they’d finally found.

“Jeong” “Joe” Steven Kogane”

The word seemed glaring almost on his senses. His dad was right there and he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to say. Under his birthday and date of death read “A hero taken back to heaven”. No “beloved father of Keith”. No mention of him at all. Erased from his father’s grave felt as if his whole existence had been erased. He was “beloved”. He’d loved Keith and Keith loved him.

“Babe”

“I’m not there”

Lance tugged him close, Keith shaking

“Hey. Hey, it’s okay”

“I’m not there...”

“As unpleasant as it is, babe, and this is going to sound hard, but with no money to pay for the grave, I’m sure his friends put in for it. Some places charge a hundred dollars for each lead letter”

Pushing Lance away, his boyfriend stumbled but saved himself. Keith was mad Lance could reduce this to money, even if he was right

“So it’s okay for me to not be in there! I’m his son! I’m his son and they don’t even care! They forgot me! And you don’t care!”

Lance shot him a wounded look, taking a few deep breaths as he rubbed his stomach. He’d scared him. He’d scared him and he knew it. Why had he pushed him? That behaviour wasn’t okay... He was such a moron

“It’s not that I don’t care... I care. I love you and I care. You dad loved and he cared. We don’t know what they were thinking, but they were hurting too. You had your dad torn away from you. They had their friend torn away from them. I think it’s nice that they gave him a proper stone when he was laid to rest. People these days are so self centred it’s not something you’d expect to see. Anyway, you haven’t even introduced yourself to your dad, babe”

Keith flicked his gaze from Lance back to his father’s grave. He was showing his dad the wrong side of him... but he felt stupid standing there. He wanted Lance to take the initiative and introduce both of them... yet... He couldn’t keep running away

“Uh... um... Hi... dad... it’s me, Keith. I don’t know what to say. He’s not here...”

Lance moved back to his side

“You don’t have to say what you want to say out loud. Jeong... Joe... I’m Lance. I’m a vampire and I have the honour of dating your son Keith. He’s a total handful, but he’s a good man. We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’re here. I wish I could have met you. You’re going to be a grandfather to twins. Krolia’s excited about it all. Yes, she and Keith found each other again... I know you didn’t want to leave him, but I promise to love him as long as we both live. To make him happy. And to stay by his side for the rest of our lives. You fathered an amazing man...”

See. Lance was a million times better at this than him. Keith’s heart going funny as Lance sounded like he was all but proposing in front of his father

“Babe, you don’t have to be afraid of your father. He may not be here in spirit, but he’s always a part of you. You should tell him about you. And next time we come, we’ll bring flowers and tidy his grave up properly. Fuck... I was going to bring him a photo of the twins... Shit... I swore in front of your dad”

Keith mentally rolled his eyes at Lance swearing in front of his father... twice. That was more something he would do. He guessed he could try something more... He couldn’t really disappoint his father any more than he already had by pushing Lance

“Uh... yeah... Um... Lance is my boyfriend and he’s carrying my twins... and I... I’m a werewolf. Shiro... uh, he’s like my adopted brother without the paperwork, he um, had to have me turned to save my life... um... Lance... makes me really happy. I know you’d be disappointed that I... um... pushed him. I’m disappointed in myself too... I... I’m no good at this”

“Babe, you’re doing fine. You’re doing more than fine. You’re doing good. Do you want me to give you a moment?”

Keith shook his head. He couldn’t face this alone. He felt dumb and left alone would only make him storm off angry at himself

“No. Stay... please”

“Sure. You can tell him anything you want to say, but don’t... don’t feel like you have to rush into telling him everything. Your dad would be so happy to see you. He loved you and he was proud of you. That’s the important thing. And now we know where he is, we can come back and visit. We’ll bring the twins, and I’ll tell them about him. And you’ll tell them about him. Just because they’re gone, doesn’t mean we don’t love our parents any less. I miss Mami every single day. Whenever I need advice, it’s still imprinted on me to turn to her. It’s okay to not be okay about seeing your dad again, especially when life was so mean as to take him away when you were so young. But, babe. You’re not alone. I’m here. I know how much you have to say. You’ve said it all to me. It’s okay to tell him you love him and miss him”

If only it was that simple. He felt so unbelievably stupid. His dad wasn’t there. He couldn’t tell him face to face. He didn’t even know if they’d recovered a body...

“I don’t... I’m...”

“Babe, hey. You’re not stupid”

Keith ducked his head. He hadn’t realised he’d been venting out loud

“It doesn’t feel like he’s here”

“I know. I think humans starting erecting grave markers not only to show that someone was once alive, but to give you somewhere to go to talk to that person you miss. It’s like looking at picture and asking them “What do you think I should do?”. The picture can’t reply, but you think about that person when you’re looking at it. I know you have very few memories of your father. I know and it sucks. I’m hoping we can learn more by looking at the council records. I want you to know him. He wants you to know him. The time you spent together wasn’t wasted... that’s... kind of why I questioned that cop. I want you to know whatever there’s to know about your dad... and it was clear to everyone around at the time that you and your dad were tight. That he loved you. That he’d done all he could to be happy and make you safe and loved”

Keith of old wouldn’t have been convinced. He still wasn’t sure he was convinced and Lance wasn’t simply telling him what he wanted to hear. Yet, this pregnancy had changed him. He adored the twins. He already knew he’d do absolutely everything and anything for them. He never wanted them to feel the pain he’d gone through. He didn’t want them to be scared to ask for the things they wanted or needed. He didn’t want them not knowing him... Lance would tell them all about him, should something ever happen to him. He knew that. He’d spent so long angry that his father had left him. So many years were wasted with nowhere to direct that anger into anything other than destruction. But... if his father felt as he did, then he had been loved. He’d been loved and wanted. The last thing his father would have wanted was to leave him behind. Somehow he’d managed to survive, to survive long enough to meet the best man he could hope for to spend the rest of his life with. He wasn’t the same man who’d pulled a gun on Lance. The idea of it still made him feel like a total douche canoe. His father might not have approved... but maybe... maybe he didn’t need his approval... because Lance made him happy. He made him grateful to be alive in this world.

“I really love you, babe. I’m sorry I pushed you away. That was really uncool of me. You didn’t deserve it”

Lance immediately shook his head

“No. I’m okay. You’re all messed up inside and that’s understandable”

“It might be understandable, but that doesn’t make it okay. I love you. I love being with you... I... don’t want to hurt you. I want... to be the kind of boyfriend you’re proud of”

“Babe, you always make me proud. Even on the days you can’t find it in you to like, or even love yourself, I love you. I’m proud to be your boyfriend, and I’m thankful that I’m here with you, to meet your dad. I think he truly would have been proud of you. You’re hot headed and reckless, and you’re still grieving everything, but you’re so strong. You’re a good man. And the man I want to spend every day with for the rest of my life. I want to make you happy. I want to be the one who makes you laugh and smile. I want to shout out to the whole damn world that you’re mine. I wanna have kids and grow old ... older... with you. I wanna be there for the good and the bad and be your family as long as we both shall live”

Keith blushed. Lance shouldn’t be so kind and quick with his praise, his ego was lapping it all up, and he could almost feel it swelling inside of him in the literal sense of the word.

“I’ll never get used to you praising me when I’ve done nothing”

“You don’t have to do anything. You being you is all I could ever want”

Again, what Lance was saying was sounding dangerously close to a proposal. Keith knew he was overthinking things. Lance wanted to date for a while before considering making it all official on paper. He could wait. His ego might not be happy, but their love wasn’t any less without a ring on Lance’s pretty little finger. With his boyfriend’s praise, he could stand before his dad... maybe finally feeling a little less stupid about trying to talk to a grave stone than he had before. Holding Lance’s hand, he shook his head, trying to shake off his earlier stupidity

“Dad, this is Lance. He’s a vampire and I love him. We’re a family... we might not be the perfect family, especially when you think about everything, but he’s perfect to me. He... he’s... really all sorts of amazing. Mum... uh, um... Krolia... I met her again. She’s... weird. But I guess that’s okay... I... um, didn’t have the best life before, but things are better than they’ve ever been. I used to be into photography, but... um... lately I’ve been into Lance. Um... my brother, Shiro... I think you’d like him... he and his partner Curtis are going to come meet you... mum had worked. She’s still with Blade. We didn’t really get along but that’s better now... next time we come, we’ll clean up your grave... I still... can’t believe you’re right in front of me”

Lance let out a hum as Keith mentioned cleaning his dad’s grave. Keith automatically jumping to conclusions, and that conclusion was that Lance was thinking something

“What is it?”

“Huh?”

Scrunching his brow, Lance cocked his head at him

“You hummed...”

“Oh. I was thinking we should ask the council if we’re allowed to put up a little fence and make it look nice”

Where was Lance building this fence? And what did that have to do with his father’s grave?

“You want to build a fence?”

“Not a “fence” fence. But like a little border and we could put in a couple of cacti to give it some colour. I was just thinking it would be nice to show his resting place some love”

You could take the vampire out of the... something witty and to do with handyman antics, but you couldn’t take them out of the vampire

“Babe, you don’t have to do that”

“I want to. I want to make it look nice, so everyone knows he’s loved. And when the twins come, they’ll know it’s their grandfather’s grave and that he would have loved them very much”

“Wait... this is too much”

“Sorry. Sometimes I go off in my own head, which you know. I don’t mean to sound like I’m pressuring you. I mean, it is making an assumption and stuff. I just thought it’d be nice to come back to”

“You... want to come back?”

“He’s your dad. I think I’m going to make it a thing... but only if it’s okay with you”

They’d only just found his father again. This was a bit too much for him right now

“Can I think about it?”

“Of course. Sorry, I’m being overbearing. Okay. In the future I think it’d be nice to put something here, but for now we’ll pick up some nice flowers to bring back”

“Yeah. That’d be nice... I don’t even know where to start...”

Lance wanted to track down as much about his father as he could. It still felt kind of weird that Lance cared and wanted him to know about his dad... then again, Mami had filled Lance with so much love that Lance probably couldn’t help himself

“Then we’ll figure things out together. I’m sorry, I’ve got to sit for a bit. Will you be okay with having a few moments alone?”

Keith blinked. Then realised Lance wasn’t simply blushing, he was getting sunburnt...

“Yeah. I... I feel better about talking to him”

“You take your time. I’ll be waiting in the car. Please don’t rush because of me”

“I won’t... I mean, maybe a little”

Lance bumped him with his elbow

“Don’t be mean to your dad. He’s waited all this time. Make sure you have a good talk with him. I mean, how am I supposed to tell Mami I made you fuss too much? She’d kick my arse”

“Yeah. She would. I won’t be too long... because we’re coming back... right?”

“Yeah, babe. We’ll be back so many times he’ll be sick of us. I love you”

“I love you, too”

Lance left him with a kiss on the cheek. Keith needing a few moments to steady himself, before deciding maybe he could start with the easy stuff then work up to the really painful parts of his past. His dad loved him... he loved him and he had so much to tell him.

#once bitten twice stupid #oncebittentwicestupid #ashratherose

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mckinlily · 4 years

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shalluraweek day 2: wings/bloom

Summary: wings/bloom The war is over, the paladins are back on Earth, but Shiro and Allura find adjusting to peace might be harder than expected.

read on ao3 here

Truth was, it took way too long for Allura to notice. The war was over, Zarkon and Hagar were safely (finally) dead, and the Paladins of Voltron had returned to Earth. Even negotiations with the Galaxy Garrison and Earth’s other ruling parties had, at long last, come to an end. (Earth’s pollical system was surprising complicated and rigid compared to what Allura would have expected from knowing her paladins. When she had told Shiro that, he had just laughed and laughed.) With the politics and negotiations over, the paladins were finally able to go home.

Keith was in the desert, soaking up the Earth sun and the quiet.

Pidge had reunited her family and was making up for lost time.

Hunk traveled to his grandparents's ranch to finally meet two of his youngest nieces.

Lance had gotten absorbed into the mass of parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, distance relatives, and possibly nearby neighbors and outright strangers who just got caught up in the fuss, showing him in the praise and attention deserved.

And Shiro was back at the Garrison, sharing his experience and knowledge with faculty and cadets both. Allura thought he looked very handsome in the sharp cut of his grey uniform, regal and commanding like he always should be. He was back as a hero, and already very well on his way to becoming a beloved instructor. Which to Allura made perfect sense. He had already fought for, inspired, charmed, and occasionally strong-armed the rest of the universe; it was time he received the same kind of recognition on his home planet. He belonged here.

(Allura wasn’t sure she belonged anywhere. With the war over and on a strange planet where the inhabitants felt just enough like Alteans to be continually unnerving, she could feel herself crumpling, like her core was turning into dust.)

(They had finally disposed of Zarkon, and what was Allura besides another ten thousand year old relic? Perhaps it was time for her to fade away as well.)

So Allura told herself all was well. The paladins were safe and happy, and they no longer needed her. She was just stretching out the inevitable when the end was in sight.

It was this line of thinking that almost made her miss the problem with Shiro.

Almost. But, thankfully, not quite.

Allura was used to seeing Shiro with bags under his eyes and stress lines on his face—as much as she might not like it, it was an inevitable part of the war—and it took her way too long to realize that he shouldn’t look like that now. That wasn’t Shiro’s default state. Oh, one might think that was if they only saw Shiro in Black Paladin mode or operating in strict professionalism, but Allura had long since learned how to get past that veneer Shiro held up like a shield. The real Shiro, the true Shiro underneath the stress and the trauma and the responsibility he felt towards everyone, was a very different creature.

And once Allura pulled herself out of her moping enough to realize, it was all very clear.

She hadn’t seen Shiro tease or pull tricks or use that deadpan delivery of his dry morbid humor that left everyone who didn’t know him questioning whether or not he was joking. Not in months. Though he attended all the meetings asked of him, his eyes had lost the light that Allura and the rest of team Voltron had depended on so often in their darkest moments. His involvement in the Garrison seemed more dutiful than engaged, and despite nearly every cadet (and quite a few of the instructors) wanting to know about and know better the incredible Takashi Shirogane, Shiro seemed to be pulling into himself more and more. He wasn’t even excited about mentoring, which was especially surprising given how he had immediately latched on to the other paladins when they were younger. Oh, he tried his best with them—Shiro’s kindness, at least, hadn’t diminished—but it was clear his heart was somewhere far away.

At first, Allura was confused. He seemed to have a great job, a home, a planet—But then Allura thought of what she knew of Shiro, what had made him happiest when they worked side by side, and her heart fell.

Shiro had been grounded. It was so wrong Allura was astonished she hadn’t seen it out before. Mentor, teacher, commander—none of that mattered when it meant he was stuck on the ground. The wings of the great Black Paladin clipped, and oh, Allura hurt at the thought. Shiro had always been happiest the rare times where neither the war nor diplomatic negotiations where pressing on him and he got the opportunity to simply be on whatever planet they had landed on. To learn, explore, try new things. And the Garrison had cut Shiro off from all of it.

Allura’s decision was made before she even had to think about it. She caught Shiro’s hand before he turned in for bed and twined her fingers between his.

“Let’s go,” she said, and Shiro had been working with her too long to question what she meant.

Shiro’s stress lines were etched deep into his face, highlighting the redness also growing there. He held his tablet close to his chest, looking uncertain. “I should…”

Allura shook her head. “Should nothing. You don’t owe them.”

"There’s—there’s paperwork. And schedules—”

“And you’re the Black Paladin. No planetary government can tell you what to do.”

Shiro still hesitated a moment. Then he brought the tablet down. “I’ll get my things.”

As it turned out, Shiro didn’t bring much. Just a few sets of clothes and a personal device with a few memories. Allura took his hand again and led them to the Castle. The other Lions were scattered throughout Earth with their paladins, but the Black Lion was in its hangar. Allura spotted its eyes flash as they walked past and smiled to know it, too, was grateful the Black Paladin had come home.

“You never did fly the Castle, did you?” said Allura as they approached the bridge.

Shiro raised his eyebrows, and he eyes finally filled with a bit of that light he had been missing. “Are you offering to teach me?”

Allura let Shiro walk up to what had been her station and put his hands on the pedestals. She then wrapped her arms around him from the back and pressed her face between his shoulder blades. “Hmm...no. Figure it out.”

Allura felt his laugh more than she heard it. But Shiro didn’t hesitate. He had been living in the Castle for three years and was a fast learner. Figure it out he did, and soon they were breaking through Earth’s atmosphere.

“Where to, Princess?”

Allura smiled against his back. “I don’t care. I just want to be with you.”

It was one of those unspoken things they’d kept hidden, back when the war seemed determined to take everything they loved from them. Shiro took one hand off the pedestals and squeezed her fingers, an acknowledgement. Then he leaned forward.

“There are still a few planets I haven’t been to.”

“Be careful on the gravitational assists. The Castle has its own field.”

Allura could feel Shiro’s grin, even if she couldn’t see it.

“Sounds like a challenge.”

That was her Black Paladin. Her rock and her best friend. Her Shiro. Allura hugged him tight and only laughed when Shiro complained he couldn’t breathe.

By the time they reached the Kepler belt, the tension had leaked out of Shiro’s muscles. He twisted around. “What to take a closer look?”

“Black Lion?” Allura asked.

“Black Lion,” confirmed Shiro.

The Castle might be an incredible feat of engineering, capable of delicate movements that should be impossible for its size, but it had nothing one the agility of a Lion—especially not the way the Black Lion could dance under the direction of Shiro. Together, they soared, darting between frozen clumps of methane and ammonia, going faster—faster—faster! as Allura urged and Shiro laughed in delight until their rumbling stomachs called them home.

(Home, Allura remembered now, had stopped being a place and long since become a person.)

They docked in the Castle and made their way to the kitchen—only to find they weren’t alone.

“Hey, next time give us some warning before we take off, yeah?” said Lance, sprawled out with his feet up on the table.

“I was quite lucky Lance found me before leaving—otherwise I might have been stuck on Earth forever!” said Coran.

“You idiots,” said Keith, stepping forward to shake Shiro. “You thought we wouldn’t want to come with you, didn’t you?”

“Hope you don’t mind I brought my entire family,” said Pidge. “I figured there was room, and they wouldn’t let me leave without them. Also Matt said Shiro required ‘adult supervision.’”

“Hey, he’s only—!” Matt paused and made a face. “How old is Shiro now? Ugh, stupid time dilation.”

“Just because the war is over, doesn’t mean the universe doesn’t still need Voltron,” said Hunk. “There’s still a lot of good we can do, right?”

Shiro looked at Allura, a wry smile on his face. “So maybe we were a little bit dumb.”

Allura finds herself smiling in response. “Maybe a very little bit,” she concedes.

But their family is back together, the war is over, and she’s taking off for adventure again, this time with Shiro’s hand in hers.

From this point forward, Allura knows where she belongs.

#shallura #shalluraweek2020 #mckinlily writes: vld fic #whoops I accidentally added gen #but its still shallura promise

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stardust-and-blades · 5 years

Text

Bloody Violets

A hanahaki story bc what writer hasn’t done one of these

as always, it’s klance :3 -------------------------

To most, it is slow. Painful. A long process of weighing the pros and cons of treatment, continuous nights of rolling around in the sheets plagued by insomnia and anxiety, a fine cocktail fit for one destined to be heartbroken to the point of death, to becoming a mindless zombie in the emotions department.

To most, it is an unfortunate occurrence, but one people usually extract from their lungs because they would rather fall in love with someone else than die for a person who may never love them back.

But Keith is not like most. Keith is his own person. That kid who kicked ass in the garrison despite being told otherwise. The mystery boy who blew the desert ground to bits in order to reach Shiro. The reluctant soul of the black lion, wishing to stay in the past but forced into the future.

The angry, frustrated, annoyed child of earth who was deemed to never love someone outside of a platonic setting.

Yet, here he was, doubled down a toilet coughing out bloody violets.

He did not think this would happen. Sure he had some feelings living inside him, but he never thought it would get this bad. This...life threatening. Who would have thought love--something covered in chocolate hearts and sweet embraces--would be tinged with crimson-stained thorns.

Keith rested his head against the porcelain, sweat coating his forehead and neck.

God. What is he going to do?

Yes, there is a procedure. A way of extracting the deadly vines and flowers from his suffocating lungs. But with it they would take his actual love. His feelings and memories, thrusting them into a fire and permanently extinguishing what gave him life. Even though it was physically harming him, even though it made breathing difficult and coughing agonizing, the worst pain Keith could imagine is a part of him being stripped away. A natural part of his life; the essence of what made him smile at the boy who goofily told many stories of his family back in Cuba. What caused his steely indigo eyes melt into adoration as the boy’s lanky arms fly up in a gesture of success over beating another level on his and Pidge’s video game.

What made him laugh full heartedly, bathing in the shock of the other for Keith’s easy-going attitude when, in the past, they butted heads almost every day.

He did not want that taken away from him. He did not want that yanked out of his grasp, his hands reaching out for what was destroyed.

Just like when the fires consumed the one parent who smothered him in parental love.

Just like the stars sucked in the brother he grew to trust and acknowledge, and the mother he never got the chance to meet until he was already carved out of stone.

He could tell him. Tell the man of his affection, but with his consistent hitting on Allura, Keith would rather not advance the progress of his affliction. It would give him away. Would expose what he is riddled with and no doubt be shoved onto a table for them to extract the seeds and vines.

No, this is his. His little secret. His treasure, for while it caused him great pain, dreaming of the boy he loved every night was worth the strenuous days of him jolting awake and running to his bathroom.

It may kill him. But at least he would die happy.

So he got up, wiped the blood from his lips, and put on his gloves. He is a soldier, and he will handle this like a soldier.

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

A month later, the disease has drastically progressed. And it did not help it acted up on a mission.

The alarm blared that morning, Keith being forced awake from his safe haven that eased the ache in his chest and the tickle in his throat, his limbs acting on impulse and shooting up to put on his armor. Everything hurt, but not to the point where he couldn’t function. He was able to plaster on a brave face, fly the black lion, and sneak into the base where they were to gather intel on some prisoners to free for the voltron coalition.

It wasn’t until Lance, Hunk, and him were facing off some sentries did it severely act up, Keith’s lungs taking on a new branch of pain. He tried to ignore it; tried to focus on the enemies and cut them down. But it only grew worse, never subsiding into a dull ache. It was as if someone cranked the pain meter to 100 rather than the normal 40.

He was breathing hard. Hard enough Hunk asked if he was okay.

“I’m...fine...” Keith pushed out. Was the room always this fuzzy?

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Purple met concerned blue, Lance’s brows furrowed deep enough Keith could make out his features through the dumb helmet.

“Hey man, you don’t look so good. We can handle the rest of the mission if you need to head back.” Lance said, gentle and kind.

Keith weakly shook his head. “No its oka--”

Just then he noticed a sentry pointing a gun at Lance’s head, the robot’s body shielded by the wall but his weapon in full view. If Keith weren’t standing where he was, no one would have seen the red light zoom in on the center of Lance’s clueless head.

“Look out!” Keith cried, tackling the new appointed red paladin to the ground. A shot is fired, hitting Keith’s shoulder but definitely missing its kill shot. With all his strength, Keith chucked his sword bayard at the sentry and hit him square in the head, its gun clattering to the ground with its body. It didn’t move again.

“Holy shit!” Lance yelled, looking behind him. “He came out of nowhere. Thanks Keith--buddy? Keith? Keith!?”

Keith was on his knees, coughing up a storm. His hands circled around his neck, as if he could staunch the coughing with sheer force. It is useless. He coughed and he coughed, bundles of flowers overflowing his helmet to the point where he couldn’t breathe past the petals. Violets covered his vision, tears swimming in his eyes. It hurts. It hurts so bad he doesn’t know what to do. He has been stabbed, crashed into a planet, broken bones, electrocuted, and beaten the shit out of by an altean robot. Yet here he was, being taken down by flowers.

He didn’t feel it, but his body collapsed on the floor, still clawing at his throat but also attempting to hide what is clearly shown in his helmet. Against his wishes, Hunk yanked it off and Lance bent to his level, moving Keith’s hair from his face to get a better view at what is causing Keith’s state.

No. No do not look. DO NOT--

“Oh my God.” Lance said, sounding as if the air left him. As soon as they got the helmet off, he was covered in violet petals, the blue and purple combination painting parts of Keith’s face and suit red. Knowing the jig was up, Keith gave into the coughing, not bothering to suppress it anymore.

Keith couldn’t see anything since his eyes were closed, but he felt Lance’s hands on him, Keith’s body being shifted onto what he assumed were someone’s lap. Lance’s lap most likely, since Hunk was standing in blatant horror a few seconds ago.

“Oh my God oh my--Hang in there buddy. We will get you back to the castle.” Lance said shakily. Keith peaked up at Lance to see his panicked expression move to Hunk. “Did you have any idea about this? Did the team?”

Hunk shook his head. “No, I’m just as shocked as you are. He-he seemed alright the past few nights, albite a little pale. But he is usually pale. He’s a pale guy--oh no oh no what are we going to do?”

Hunk also got on his knees to talk to Keith.

“Stay awake, Keith. Don’t die on us, we are going to help you.”

“He’s not going to die.” Lance said all too defensively. A hand moved to the comms, contacting the rest of the team. “Pidge. Allura. Do you copy?”

“Yeah, I’m almost done downloading the information we need. We stumbled into a few Galra but Allura handled it.” Pidge replied. “What’s up?”

“It’s Keith. He...” Lance opened and closed his mouth, the shock of what he was witnessing not settling well. “He...”

“Lance?” Allura said. “What’s wrong? Is Keith alright?”

“You...You know that disease that was plaguing the last planet we visited? The flower disease?”

There is a pause. Allura spoke slow, steady. As if she too were beside them and knew first hand what Lance is getting at. “Yes. Hanahaki disease. It drastically decreased their population in a matter of months.”

“I think...I think he has it.” Lance’s voice was a ghost of a whisper, his throat closing up at Keith’s body is wracked with incredibly violent and hoarse coughs. Blood leaked from his lips, the petals thinning out for the red tear drops. Keith wanted to talk, but the sensation was sharp needles against tender flesh. “Blue-ish purple flower petals. I don’t know for sure how long it has been going on, but Keith can’t breathe well. He can hardly move.”

Allura swore in Altean. She called for Pidge to wrap up, boots and metal echoing through the speakers. “He is in the final stage. If we don’t take out the seeds and thorns as soon as possible, there will be no saving him.”

Keith’s senses had been dulled, but the part about the surgery zapped him from his despondency.

“NO!” He screamed, the black paladin raising himself on his elbows before he collapsed again, he strength nonexistent.

“Don’t move!” Hunk ordered by Lance. “You’re going to hurt yourself further.”

“I don’t--I don’t care!” Keith said, glaring up at Hunk. “I’m not having the surgery. You cannot make me--”

“If you don’t you’ll die, you stupid mullet!” Lance seethed, forcing the other to look at him. If Keith wasn’t so weak, he would have jumped from Lance cupping his face just to make eye contact. There is cold fury in his eyes, the calming waves of the ocean swirling into a storm of wrecked ships and destroyed homes. “You’ve made some really shitty decisions, but this is by far the top of the list. No one is worth this outcome!”

“I. Said. No.” Keith enunciated the syllables to prove his point. Just as Lance’s storm thrashed and drowned its victims, Keith’s glare was all fire, burning everything in its wake. Covering the atmosphere with ash, leaving nothing behind for the birds to pick at.

And Keith was about to flick another match.

“As your leader, as your black paladin, I order you all to stand down.”

Once the words left his mouth, he succumbed to the darkness feathering him with temptation. He doesn’t hear anything else besides the intake of a sharp breath and Hunk calling his name.

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

Keith was out cold. No doubt from the stress of the mission and the fact a literal flower bush was growing inside him, piercing his lungs and destined the puncture his heart. Lance nearly threw his bayard at the wall, choosing instead to hit oncoming sentries from the distance. Hunk did not think he would have the strength to fling his paladin bayard so easily, especially when it turned into a sword. Lance was the sharpshooter, not the samurai. But then again, everyone has evolved through time.

They had to think fast. While they were conflicted on the choice Keith made abundantly clear, they had no time to mule over it where they stood. Hunk picked up Keith’s limp form and told Lance to cover him, the two dashing for their lions, as well as Allura and Pidge. Since Allura stated they had to act fast, Lance took Keith in the red lion to meet Coran in time.

Coran took him to the med bay, Lance carrying him to a bed as Coran hooked him up to altean machines and an oxygen mask. He injected some sort of serum Lance cannot pronounce, but it seemed to have taken the edge off of Keith’s groans of pain. His grimace smooths out after the liquid enters his bloodstream, Coran patting his head like a father and turning a grim expression to the team.

“I gave him a sedative that will stop the progress of the disease in its tracks temporarily. 72 hours I give it. But if he does not confess his feelings and continues to reject the procedure, there is no saving him.”

Allura hummed in thought, frowning. Her arms are crossed, shoulders tense and white hair in a loose, messy heap. “There has to be another way. It has been 10,000 years. Surely there has been progress in the treatment of the disease.”

Coran gave her a sad smile, but nevertheless, did not change his intel.

“I’ve scoured as many archives as I could on surrounding planets. Nothing. Not even the galra have a better cure.”

“There must.” She turned away from him, no doubt heading to the control room. “Coran, come. We have some research to do.”

“But princess--”

She stopped in the doorway, her hand resting on the cool exterior. She did not look at Coran, but he and everyone else could see her shoulders trembling. “Please, Coran. I cannot stand by and lose another friend.”

They left, hearts breaking in two, plastering a facade of hope and determination to counterattack the demand they wanted to dismiss, but were bound by honor. By respect. Though Keith’s wish and the team’s do not align, they were raised to honor a dying person’s last request. Even if that request is destructive in all senses. Hunk and Pidge watched them go, sincerely wishing Shiro were around to guide them. To tell them what to do about Keith. Maybe if he were around he would be able to speak reason to Keith.

But he isn’t. It is only them.

They felt so helpless.

“Where is Lance?” Pidge hesitantly asked. Hunk pulled out a chair to sit by Keith. Lance had ran off as soon as he laid Keith down, Hunk noticing him hold onto Keith’s hand seconds too long and, as if it physically hurt him to do so, ripping himself away and left.

Hunk couldn’t read him perfectly, yet a hunch told him he was the most emotionally affected by the turn of events and Keith’s choice. His face may have been blank, but his eyes screamed the opposite.

“He is doing what Allura is doing.”

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

Who would have thought Lance would be angry enough to break down a door.

Normally one to open at its owner’s command or handprint, Lance pried at the door until his fingernails bled, him ultimately giving into temptation and shooting the damn system with his bayard.

It worked. But Lance did not dally about and dance around at his success. Rather, he stormed in Keith’s too clean room. From a first glance, there really wasn’t much. A bed. A closet with his earth clothes. A bathroom with the bare essentials for a shower. a desk. A pouch thrown to the side, the only indication of Keith being some semblance of a slob.

“As your leader, as your black paladin, I order you to stand down.”

Lance clenched his teeth so hard, he was sure they would crack.

With a flick of his wrist he overturned the mattress, the blanket and sheets fluttering about. The soft cushion landed with a dull thud, Lance throwing the pillow next. Seeing nothing beside the floor, he moved to the pouch. He ripped it open, anger and frustration tearing at the zipper’s seems. He flipped through random scrawls of paper to earth receipts, nothing of vital information popping up on who Keith loves. On who Lance could track them and convince them to help Keith. Yeah Lance and him butted heads in the past, but that doesn’t mean he wants him dead.

He’s his friend.

He’s...He’s one of his close friends. Though he hasn’t said it out loud. He has a temper and can make terrible decisions, who doesn’t? They are kids, for crying out loud. They are just teenagers trying to get by. Trying to LIVE.

His eyes began to sting, Lance working to shake it off and focus on the objective. Nothing in the damn pouch. Desk, maybe? A journal of some kind? He wasn’t one to peak in on someone’s private thoughts but this is a legitimate emergency.

He lifted the top of the desk, the hinges creaking from the lack of use. There was stacks of papers with haphazard scribbles, many with only notes on what Keith needs to improve on in terms on combat and crumbled pieces of his search for Shiro. There was one slip with a doodle of the team members, yet as Lance sifted and threw them all around, he couldn’t find some type of entry elaborating on the mystery person.

Keith took the expression "take the secret to your grave” too literal.

Lance was practically pulling his hair out by this point. There is nothing. Nothing to indicate who it is. Nothing for him to do. Nothing for him to fucking act upon and save his friend’s life.

Was he really this goddamn useless? Was all he could do is stand by and watch as his leader--his teammate--be swallowed up and suffocated by unrequited love?

Would he have to stand by and watch as his heart monitor go straight, unleashing the monotonous, infinite screech of death’s timestamp?

“Come on...Give me something. Anything...” He said to himself. Begging the universe in some way. “Give me a clue. We already lost Shiro. We can’t lose anyone else. Please.”

His knees buckled, a hand flying to his eyes as he physically pushed the tears away. Shoved the heel of his palm against the onslaught of emotions, it gushing out in slow currents. He wasn’t sobbing--wasn’t wracked with grief, but stressed. Stressed and upset enough to start crying, remembering the last time he did it was when he failed to become a fighter pilot the first time.

At the time, he lost something so trivial. Now, he was about to lose someone he considered family.

He was surrounded by Keith’s few belongings, but Keith left nothing for the team to find. Similar to how he disappeared from the garrison, talk of a legend, absence of a fact. It was like the desert whisked him away into a far away land, never to be heard from again like his mother.

If nothing is done, this will be what remains of him.

Lance sniffed, ready to get up and see with Allura if she had any luck when, form the corner of his eye, he saw a cylinder basket.

There was hardly anything in the trash can except a crumbled piece of paper.

Intrigued, Lanced wiped his eyes and walked over, gingerly picking up the wrinkled paper and unfurled it.

To the boy I love, was written in small cursive letters at the top. The rest of the page was a drawing. A sketch not old enough to be withered with time; the fine paper crisp and new. There was no color, but that didn’t matter. The drawing itself was a masterpiece in of itself, Lance having no idea Keith was an inner artist.

That isn’t what causes his mouth to hang open. What does is who the boy is.

It was Lance. Lance with his signature, happy-go-lucky grin, his eyes crinkled in glee and eyes lit up by a faint blue pencil. It was as if he were peering into a photograph, not a flaw in sight. Lance is speechless. Absolutely speechless. He never--when did he--what--

As he he mulled over the sudden realization he was the object of Keith’s affections, he noticed another feature. Something he would have missed if he wasn’t staring for so long.

It was dated a couple days ago. Judging from how the paper was the one thing in the trash, Keith most likely chucked it yesterday. But why--

It hits him like a truck.

“Another mission tomorrow?”

“Yes. Word from the blade there is intel at this facility detrimental to taking down Zarkon’s empire and finding Pidge’s family.” Allura said. “Keith, Lance, you will be partnering up.”

“Ugh, really?” Lance griped. “I have to work with our crappy leader again? I hate this.”

Keith stopped drawing what he had in his hand, his whole body covering the sketch book. He stilled, glanced at Lance with a blank stare, got up and left. As he did, a hand went up to his chest, Lance noting how he rubbed the area as if to alleviate it.

Keith wasn’t seen until the next day, skipped dinner from the night before and late to breakfast.

Moving with break neck speed, Lance long legs scampered to the bathroom and shoved the shower curtain aside.

Lance let go of the drawing as he slid to the floor.

It was covered in copious amounts of dried blood and shriveled violet petals.

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

Allura slammed her hands against the monitor, the screen floating above her head glitching from the assault.

“By the goddess, how is there no advancement after the fall of Altea? We awaken thousands of years later, yet we might as well still be in the pods.”

“There are a couple more planets who were afflicted by the disease we can look at, but princess,” Coran said, a tone of fatherhood and concern for her well being. “You can only do so much. I do not like Keith’s decision either, but we must honor him as a soldier and a friend.”

Allura whipped around, ice fury meeting reserved orange. “Honor? There is no honor in this. There is nothing honorable about throwing your life away for something so...so...”

“Heartbreaking?”

Allura didn’t reply. She moved her attention back on the screen, rapidly typing and deleting pieces of her research, analyzing every detail until she was out of clues and had to move on to the next. Coran watched, reflecting on the time long in the depths of time where a similar person was doing the same for a friend, searching countless of galaxies before he shut down the operation upon their death.

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

Keith didn’t wake up until the 24 hour mark, his consciousness gradually rising to the surface. There was still an ache in his chest. Like a snake constricting his chest until it was bound to break. But it wasn’t so bad he couldn’t stay awake.

His eyes glazed over his surroundings. He couldn’t get up, he was at that stage in his disease. Moving would make it worse. The tickling in his throat subsided, save for the couple of petals slipping through his lips every few minutes. His eyes are tired and foggy, seeing nothing but white walls and white sheets.

He spat out another flower and debated on going back to sleep. Sleep was nice. Sleep was endless and tolerable. The sheets over him were usually scratchy and uncomfortable, yet at the moment they were fluffy clouds tempting him into closing his eyes once more.

“Hey, bud.” A voice said beside him, quiet. Keith looked over and saw Lance sitting on a stool, mirroring Keith’s exhaustion. When was the last time he rested?

“Hey.” Keith said. His throat was torn apart, his speech shattered glass and loose gravel.

“How are you feeling?”

Keith shrugged. Kind of. “like shit.”

Lance’s mouth twitched. “Yeah. Coran had to give you a sedative to help. It’s temporary, though.”

“Mmm.”

Lance poked his cheek. “Hey, no falling asleep. I’m talking.”

“I’m tired.”

“That’s because you have been coughing your lungs out.”

“That’s what happens when you have a literal flower bush growing in your body.” Keith commented, not fully aware of the impact they had.

It went quiet, Keith closing his eyes and taking slow, even breathes, ignoring the thorn really digging into his left side and listening to the beeping drone of his heart monitor. His heart rate was slower than a normal beat, most likely due to the branches at the point where they are wrapping around his heart. Keith should care more. Should be freaking out. But he was so tired.

“Keith.”

“...”

“Keith.”

“What?”

Lance fiddled with a folded up paper, eyes in any other world but this one. “Why don’t you want the surgery?”

“Reasons.”

“Can you elaborate?”

Nothing.

Lance set his head in his hands. “Keith, please tell me why. Explain to me why you would rather refuse both methods of helping you. I know this may sound hard to believe, but we care about you. Including me. Allura is running herself ragged on finding a different cure, Pidge and Hunk are breaking into galra tech, and I...I’m trying to work with you. It’s hard to do that when you keep shutting me out.”

“It’s...It’s complicated.” Keith rasped, hesitating on his answer. He doesn’t want to die, but to Lance he might as well be signing his death wish in ink right in front of him.

“Try me.”

Keith let out a pained sigh. He fought down the cough scratching at his mangled throat, choosing his words carefully.

“It’s not because I want to die, it’s actually the opposite.” He said, soft. “You know how when they do the surgery, you come out of it...different?”

“Yeah. Most of the time you lose your feelings for the person, but in rare cases you can lose all your emotions.”

He did know. Good. “Well, to me I’d be killing what I value in myself. I know you see me as nothing but a hotheaded idiot who runs us head first into trouble. And you’re right, that is me. It’s the reason I didn’t want to be the leader of voltron. To be honest, Allura should have been the leader. Or you.”

“You’re not that bad...” Lance said. “I mean, we are still alive.” Lance made to joke, but it fell flat. Strangely though, Keith chuckled.

“Thanks.” He had a coughing fit for a couple of minutes, Lance running to grab water and giving it to him straight away. As he finished, he settled back down and picked up where he left off.

“Anyway...That spark in me, the part of me making me human, those are my emotions. Not just my love for the person, but the thing known to make me laugh, cry, scream, fight, hope. All those pieces come together to form a picture. To create someone who is real and genuine, and if those pieces are taken away, the puzzle defining me falls apart. I lose what I value the most: my humanity. my soul. I lose what makes me, me. Yes, it sucks knowing the person you love doesn’t love you back, but what is worse is losing yourself just for the sake of survival. The surgery is not a means of going back to how things were in my mind, but a way of keeping a broken being in commission.”

Keith turned his shining eyes to Lance, the indigo irises wet with either sadness or acceptance of his fate. “Lance, I don’t want to be a husk of who I was. I want to be me. If that means dying to stay true to who I am, then it’s okay. I know the team took a blow when Shiro disappeared, and I know this is no different. But you guys will manage.”

Lance understood, yet at the same time the mention of Shiro and the fact they would be left with four paladins rather than five awakened the storm brewing in his belly. Manage? MANAGE? They did not just lose a black paladin, but a hero on earth. Lance’s hero and a mentor they all cherished close to their hearts. And Keith wanted them to simply “manage” his death, throwing care to the wind and go out scouring for another black paladin. As if it were some sort of job title they could advertise on a newspaper. As if he were as disposable as the broken castle parts Coran threw in a random bin. As if he had no effect on the team whatsoever, assumed to be hated when really, really he--

“How can we manage when we are seeing a friend kill himself and there is nothing we can do?” Lance snapped, casting away the tears for white hot anger. “Do you not realize how important you are to the team? We would be crippled; feeding fodder to Zarkon and his army. Play toys for Lotor and his generals. I know I have said some pretty shitty things in the past, but please believe me when I say we cannot lose another paladin. We can’t...we can’t lose another team member.”

“Lance...”

“Allura and Coran lost their family and species. Pidge lost her father and brother. Hunk never wanted to be a pilot, and I--” His head bent down low, his body losing its stance as he slumped and breathed a sigh. “I lost earth. Now I’m about to lose more.”

Keith took a few seconds to respond, coughing into his fist but suppressing it when he wanted to talk. He wondered how much time he has left.

“What do you mean by that?”

“By what?”

“You...losing more. You hate me, don’t you?”

Lance felt as if he had been electrocuted. “W-Hate? I don’t hate you! What gave you that idea?”

Keith gave him a look.

Lance scratched his neck. “Okay, so I haven’t been good with our relationship. I just...I do this thing where I get jealous of someone cooler than me and find reasons to see them in a negative light. I keep doing it. But...I don’t want to anymore. Not as I realize your as normal as the rest of us. Minus the whole galra part.”

“Being galra threw me for a loop too.”

“No shit.”

The two laughed, their inner walls crumbling to bits as they came to a mutual understanding. It was nice. Sweet even. Something Keith didn’t think he would be able to experience, and Lance relieved to see Keith isn’t a God or a demon. He is a boy. A regular boy thrown into a random war as much as Lance and the others. If Lance could pick a moment and stay there for an indefinite amount of time, it would be this. Because it is where they meet each other half way, extending their hands to conjoin an alliance Lance had been throwing away. One Keith kept working to ignore.

But as the distance closed, Keith’s outstretched palm turned to stone and crumbled. For Keith’s serene expression twisted into agony. Coming out of nowhere, the branches and thorns and flowers shot up through his ribcage, his heart monitor going off the charts as he is flung into a violent coughing fit. Specks of blood turned into puddles, crimson flushing away the clean white sheets. Keith held his hands against his mouth, as if it could ward away the blood and pain. It spewed from the cracks, his fingers dripping with purple and red.

Lance stood to go run and grab Allura and Coran. Keith stretched out and seized Lance’s wrist, a gesture expressing he desired not to be alone. Lance stayed, rubbing soothing circles on his back and gathering some Altean paper towels to capture the blood. For a good moment Lance thought he was going to die right there, but Keith’s coughing eventually stopped. When it did, he leaned back against the bed, aging a couple of years by the exhausting action.

“Keith--”

“Lance?” Keith said through a raw throat. He looked so tired, it twisted Lance’s chest. “Will you...will you tell me a story? About your family in Cuba?”

Lance blinked. “Why?”

Keith smiled weakly at him. “Because it makes you happy. And I always wanted to hear one of your stories. You make earth sound so...loving.”

Lance didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, because not only did he sound so quiet and fleeting, but he was asking something from the person who put him here in the first place.

“But--”

“Please? You are sad. I want you to smile at least once before I fall asleep.”

Lance bit down on his wobbling lip. Why did it hurt so much to see Keith smile like that? Why did his heart skip a beat, bleeding for someone he didn’t expect to effect him in his life? Why did he stare at the bloody bathtub for hours on end, telling himself he could fix this. Why does he care so fucking much if he has another day with the person he deemed his rival; his enemy.

Why did he feel his own thorns grow inside him?

Shoving his feelings aside, he hung a mask of happy and opened up a time in his life where he smiled the most.

“Okay. So it was my first trip the Varadero beach, and my cousins were scared of water...”

By the end, Keith had fallen asleep peacefully. Lance rested his arms on top of the small slip of the bed Keith did not take up and joined him in slumber, knowing he wouldn’t be able to be content in his room. For if he stayed by Keith, maybe he won’t wake up to the sheets being empty and a lion asking for another paladin.

By morning, it clicked.

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

Lance was awakened by harsh whispers and ragged breathing.

He stretched out, his back and neck aching from the position he allowed himself to sleep in. He was pretty sure he heard a few pops and wondered if he snapped his back. It didn’t help he took the brunt of an explosion in the past.

“The serum isn’t working as well as it should. It’s growing at a rapid rate.”

“Can’t you give him another dose? Twenty-four hours should be enough for it to leave his system.”

“Not this kind of medicine. If we give it before 72 hours he could go into cardiac arrest. It affects the heart as much as the disease.”

“Lets say fuck it to his stupid fucking order and give him the surgery. He’s too stubborn to be convinced otherwise!”

“Pidge!” Hunk admonished. “What would we do once he wakes up from the surgery? He will be angry. That’s if he still has any emotions left.”

“So he throws a temper tantrum.” Pidge cracked back. “Better than finding a grave sight.”

“This isn’s about you, Pidge!”

“And this isn’t about doing what he wants, but what is right!”

“For the love of--”

Lance was still trying to distinguish the developing voices as he wiped sleep from his eyes when there is a sudden crack and a high pitched scream. Lance jumped up, fully awake and looking at the source.

Pidge, Hunk, and Coran went silent as they followed Allura, who ran to Keith’s side. Keith was writhing and squirming, his arms surrounding his middle as worked to turn himself into a ball. Screams and howls of pain ripped through his throat, more blood bursting from his lips as full flowers followed one after the other. Allura grappled with Keith’s arms, snatching the restraints connected to the bed so he would stop flailing. If he moved too much he could puncture and collapse a lung.

But Keith rivaled Allura’s strength, Altean and Galra blood near similar in combat and physical force. She managed to seal the restraints around his ankles and wrists, but it did little to ease his wails.

Lance, finally processing everything, picked himself up and worked to make Keith look at him.

“Keith, Keith I need you to look at me. I need you to open your eyes and stop moving, you’re going to worsen your condition.”

Barely hearing him through his screams, Keith made his body still little by little, his eyes squeezing shut as tears leaked from the corners of his eyes and his hands balled into fists. He moved his head away from Lance’s grasp, needing to vomit out more flowers and blood on the floor. The branches coursed past his ribs and up his throat, tearing open new wounds. Beautiful flowers withered into deformity, blood and fragile petals breaking as soon as they reached the surface, sapped of its water and aged from grief. They were no longer a vibrant color, but dried brown mixed with blue.

Lance angled his head to the side so he doesn’t choke from his own blood.

“Keith, please look at me. I need you to see how serious I am.” Now was not the time to have a breakdown. Now was the time to get through to Keith and fix this.

Keith, fighting the impossible, opened his eyes, trying to keep somewhat still as the dead flowers built on one another.

“I know about the picture. I know the person you love is me. I know this and I need you to hear me out when I say I feel the same.”

There are gasps from the others, but Lance paid them no mind.

“I know you were hiding it because you thought I hated you. Let’s face it, I wasn’t aware myself on how I felt about you. All I could comprehend is it was passionate and fiery. I thought it was jealousy, and for a time it was. But now I’m sure of how I feel.”

Keith pulled away from his grasp, violently heaving out worse dead flowers on the other side, the hue a light brown and the stems breaking off into dust.

“You...Lie. You love...Allura.” Keith said, gruff and waves of flowers wracking his body as the branches around his heart tightened.

Lance followed Keith’s gaze, Keith unable to turn away because of the pain rendering him immobile. His eyes began to take up a sheen of dullness, Lance fearing he was reaching his breaking point.

I know, I thought so too. I told myself it was Allura I loved, told myself she was the one. But I love Allura like I love the others: as a friend.”

A lung was punctured.

Keith gasped, his movement ceasing all together. His heartbeat monitor went from crazy beeping to a slowing pulse, the lines taking longer to show a spike. Lance glanced at it, panicked, and turned back to Keith. He was so pale. He was fighting to breathe and keep their eyes interlocked, but the shine in his eyes seemed to be flickering out by the seconds.

Why wasn’t it working? If the feelings were mutual, shouldn’t the flowers and branches dissipate and go away on their own? Wasn’t the third option actually loving the person back, ending the nightmare both parties were experiencing?

Can’t Keith see Lance is genuine?

Lance grabbed his hand, attempting to tether Keith back to him. It was limp; clammy, his skin cold to the touch.

He brushed the bangs out of Keith’s eyes, wanting to at least see those dark eyes one last time if it meant his wish was not met. This as the least he can do.

“Hey samurai,” Lance spoke, gentle as droplets of tears kissed his cheeks. “Remember the first time you jumped from the cliff as we were being chased down by the garrison? Remember when you fought Zarkon by yourself, despite Coran advising you not to do it? Remember when we scoured the galaxy for Shiro, you never giving up even when you were tired and dehydrated? Remember how determined you were to find out about your mother and who you are? You made countless leaps of faith. So many I thought you were invincible, regardless of the moment you returned from the blades with a concussion and many bruises. You took those leaps of faith and whether you succeeded or not, you never backed down. And you didn’t back down from trusting me when you realized you messed up with the Lotor mission. Now I need you to make one last leap of faith and please, please for the love of all you hold dear, believe me when I say I am just as in love with you as you are with me.”

Lance rested his forehead against Keith’s. “I love you. Now, come back to me. Come back to me so we can look at the stars together. So I can take you to Varadero beach when we return to Earth. Come back.”

The monitor flatlined.

But in mere moments after Lance bore his heart and soul to Keith in the last seconds of his life, and as Lance began to take in the continuous screech of the machine, it stopped. stopped, then a beep happened. A second beep. A third. A fourth and a fifth and a sixth and--

Keith gasped for air, gulping down oxygen as if it were water and he had been left on a desert without any for days. The branches and flowers subsided, the grip on his heart loosening and the remaining lung freed from its prison. They grew smaller and smaller, going back in time to when they were seeds, and soon enough those too were gone.

Keith stared back up at Lance in awe. He didn’t pull away, but neither did he lean in, waiting for the illusion to shatter. Waiting for him to wake up and find himself back to square one, still coughing up petals.

But it didn’t happen.

“You...Love me?”

Lance, after what seemed like a lifetime of stress and misery, smiled big, his cheeks pink and his eyes flooding with relieved tears.

“Yes. Wholly and unconditionally.”

Everyone cheered in the background, Hunk lifting Pidge up and spinning her around while she screamed for him to put her down. Allura sniffed and dried up her tears, happy to see her newfound family not to be consumed by grief a second time. And Coran, being Coran, whipped out a bottle of nunvill to celebrate.

Allura used her Altean powers to heal the puncture in Keith’s other lung, and after he was discharged from the bed, took a shower to wash off all the blood (as well as the room he was stuck in), and everyone retreated to their bedrooms for a well earned nap, Lance and Keith gathered some blankets and pillows and set up in one of the vast rooms overlooking the stars.

All night they stayed up, pointing out constellations and making up stories, sometimes talking about home.

When they had nothing else to say after long hours of talking and Lance keeping Keith close a to make sure he really was there, they leaned on each other. For the first time they were alone together, happy and content.

And for the first time, the two kissed, sweet and soft. Glad to be in a reality where all was well, glad to know the universe had blessed them in the end.

“Oh, about that picture. You can throw it away. It really...It isn’t exactly done.”

“Are you kidding? It’s a masterpiece. And mine now, no take backs!”

Keith laughed. “Alright, goofball.”

Lance rested his head on Keith’s, the picture in his pocket, the boy planning to frame it when he is able.

It’s important to him. Just like the dark haired boy beside him.

#shania writes #klance #klangst #keith kogane #lance mcclain #hanahaki disease #VLD #voltron #im back on my bullshit #wow this is longgg #oops

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reigensarataka · 6 years

Note

Have you ever made a fic rec list you could link me to?? If not what are ur fave fics???

what’s are ur fave klance fics overall?

do you have some nice fluffy klance fic recommendations? pls i need sustenance

ive been putting this off for so long now bcs i never save/bookmark the fics i read nd i can never remember the titles BUT i managed to dig some of them up so!!!!!!! under the cut bcs its kinda long wuwhwuhw

Cut to the Feeling by usernicole

“Let’s do it again,” Keith says breathlessly. “Here and on every planet we come across. Let’s get married on every planet we can.”“Are you joking?” Lance asks, incredulous. “You really want to get married to me on every planet we land on?”“Yes,” Keith says, voice high pitched and shaky with residual adrenaline. “Yes. Every planet. If it feels like this every time, let’s get married ten, twenty, a hundred times.”

“Let’s break records. I want the universe to see us and be jealous.”

Or: Five times Keith and Lance get married, and one time they don’t.

my good bitch. my dude. if u havent read this then PLEASE do urself a favor nd read it asap…. like i shit u not this is probs my all time fave and its just them getting married on every planet nd. its just. idk just rly gives u that warm feeling in ur heart u know……

call me, beep me by orphan_account

(00:31) Do you think she gave me the wrong number on purpose?(00:31) Or was it a genuine mistake?(00:32) Like maybe she writes funny and I misread it?(00:32) Some of the numbers do look a little dodgy…(00:33) Cause, you know, her threes could very easily be poorly formed eights? And maybe she writes her sevens like her ones?(00:45) What(00:46) The(00:46) Fuck???(00:47) Oh good, you are awake!

where lance messages the wrong number and things kind of snowball from there

a classic from the early fandom days, rly popular so yall probs read it already but text fic nd just. yah its cute…..

A Light In The Dark by usernicole

Far away from his friends at the castle, Keith’s only way of communicating with them is a battered old phone. This is maybe going to be harder than he thought.

A long-distance, friends-to-lovers fic, set during season four.

u might not know of this but i am one huge slut for these kind of fics nd all i gtta say is this shit rly changed my goddamn life (i think there r two parts but im not sure if i read the second one so!!)

blue notes by mothpoem

This laughter, here and now, is hushed, and soft as rain, and Lance can feel it against his face, in warm puffs of air. It’s a laugh reminiscent of a furtive secret, like something only Lance is allowed to see. He watches it run its course in the near-pitch black of the observatory, with starlight gleaming weakly against Keith’s pale face, and that’s right about when Lance’s heart gives a few foreboding throbs, heavy on the bass, as if to say, they’re here (they being romantic feelings for Keith Kogane, Lance’s former mortal enemy and current friend).

Oh, he thinks to himself, with sudden and startling clarity. I’m Fucked, capital F.

its not finished nd i havent even read chap 2 yet but its a rly good take on lances pov from all the moments from s1 (also the garrison *eye emoji*) with keith nd. yeah.. its good……

and we dream of home by mothpoem

“Then come see me,” Lance murmurs, and it makes Keith’s heart pound behind his breastbone. “Us, I mean. Once a week or something? Like mental health check-ins. We can just hang out, or…or go on low-priority, low-stress missions? Scouting, or flower-picking for Coran, or supply runs. Dumb stuff. Just…so we know how you are. I don’t want…I mean, we all miss you. And I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but…it feels like you’re not…not okay, Keith.”

Well, Keith thinks, a little weakly. He never really stood a chance, did he?

“Okay,” he says, right away. No fight. No refusal.

His life is a hell of a lot easier when he lets himself cave under all the ways he wants Lance’s luminous attention, and company, and friendship. All the ways he wants Lance, full stop.

another one of those fics set during s4……… once again nothing to add just. please read it…… i loved this…….. sm………………

Moonset Deep by MilkTeaMiku

All his life he’d been told to make sure he was never seen – it was what all the children were taught from the moment they were born. Never let a human see you, never fall in love with a human, and most importantly, never kiss one.

For Lance, humans were a mystery. He’d lived beneath the surface of the ocean with his shoal his entire life, and had intended to remain there. He knew the danger humans posed to his kind, and what would happen if he came close to one. That’s why, when he found one drowning, his first instinct was to save him.

He’d never been good at following the rules anyway.

mer au!! i started reading this a rly long time ago and im on chap 27 i think…. but this ones good…….

can we burn it slow by saltylances/stereostars on tumblr

“Sweet dreams, pilot.” A wink. “Make sure not to drool over me too much.”

Keith thrusts his middle finger over his shoulder as he steps out of the room, but he can’t hold back the smile that kicks up the side of his mouth. When he dares a look back, just before the doors are about to slide shut, he sees Lance kiss his fingertips and blow air over his palms at Keith.

It makes Keith wonder if it’s possible to fall any harder.

In which alternating snapshots between Keith and Lance lead to their eventual relationship.

WUH i love anything saaj writes….. a masterpiece…. also please read ‘so what are you waiting for’ too………..

under your feet the dirt turns to gold by laallomri

“I like you,” Lance says in a rush.

Keith blinks.

“That is—” Lance clears his throat, shifting his weight uncomfortably. His hands are still in his pockets, his shoulders still hunched. “I like you—I like-like you. Like, in a more-than-friends-way like you.”

For a long moment Keith can only stare at him, astonishment and disbelief and cautious delight warring for dominance. And then, because he’s an idiot, because he spent a whole goddamn year in a goddamn shack in the middle of the goddamn desert and has no idea how to be a socially competent person, because he’s Keith, he says, “That was a lot of the word ‘like’ in one sentence.”

In which Keith has about a dozen chances at happiness, and sabotages (nearly) all of them.

yummy……….. this one rly hit the spot my dudes……… i think there r 2 parts too!!

Sweet Quiznak by CheckeredCloth

“You’re really into him,” Hunk mutters, and wow, Lance’s face is on fire. Hunk is killing him.

“Look, read into how you like, Freud, just make sure that if I die Keith knows I totally would’ve mowed his ass like grass. That way, I can laugh hysterically at his emotionally-constipated expression from the afterlife.”

Or: Lance is badly injured and has a few skeletons in his closet. Or maybe just the one.

a classic…. one of the first fics i read so i dont rmmbr much but yeah……

Stormchasing by sinelanguage

This isn’t how Lance intended to spend his vacation, chasing after Keith’s premonitions. But here he is, and he’s one hundred percent blaming Keith for all the trouble they’re about to get into. Keith makes bad decision, Lance makes mistakes, and both of them are stuck together on a space pirate adventure neither of them asked for.

if im not wrong i think this is one of those handcuffed together fics… also rly cute……

we’ll make it, you and me by asexualrey

“Keith, if we make it out of this alive, I’m going to kiss you.“

the description gives it away….. yall know what tf goin on……..

Public Displays of Affection by VaraderoBeach

Lance held his breath. He knew, at this rate, they’d have two options: fight with what they had (which was Keith’s knife and team spirit) and hope they can skirt by with the help of the locals, or submit and become prisoners to the Galra. Neither situation was ideal. Lance looked to Keith, at his eyes and his eye lashes, the curve of his nose and the pink in his lips. He knew it was bad timing, but he really wanted to kiss Keith before whatever happened, happened.

But when Keith turned his body to face him and said, “Kiss me.” With the same amount of emotion one would say, “Hand me that stapler,” it threw Lance completely off guard.

ft that scene from the winter soldier (i think??) yeah…… good food………

something as true as this by astrolesbian

“You better fucking call me,” Lance says, and reaches out to rest a hand on his shoulder, and smiles, sad and bright all at once. “I’m not taking no for an answer on this one. Okay?”

“Okay,” Keith says.

and lastly yall shld know since this is the THIRD TIME im putting a fic like this on this list that i love this shit nd just….. yeah……….. op snapped

#this is long but YAH #also at third anon not all of these r fluff centric so whwjw sorry #Nessa replies #Anonymous #fics #klance

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starforged · 5 years

Text

MERRY CHRISTMAS @ignitesthestars

more soft soft fic

They had both come to a decision that they definitely wouldn’t be putting up a Christmas tree in their first apartment together. It felt - too domestic, Keith had said. Like it was expected of them. Shiro didn’t actually understand what that meant, too domestic. As if trees and holiday merriment were a thing that was a negative vibe. But he agreed. Keith was… jumpy. Jumpy was a good word to describe his boyfriend, but also it didn’t quite encompass the reality of their them.

War did that.

So no Christmas trees. And no Christmas decorations, like little snowmen all around the house or garland or flashing lights. It was annoying.

Keith did, reluctantly Shiro remembered, relent on them making gingerbread houses together. It wasn’t even something that Shiro had wanted to do (and it looked like hot garbage that had been set on fire) but it was something Keith said could be fun.

And it had been, garbage fire aside. Icing and licking and the crushed remains of the poor ginger paladin that Keith shattered with his knee.

They had agreed on presents. One each.

Why one?

Because Keith had a feeling that Shiro would go overboard, and Shiro couldn’t quite deny that fact. It burned every time he stepped into a store and saw something that he wanted to buy. It was torture, he tried to tell Keith. Absolute torture. Let me spoil you, was what he wanted to say.

But then the edges of Keith’s mouth would curl when Shiro decided to swallow down words, and he knew that Keith knew what it did to him. Like present denial was a form of foreplay, and for all his strengths and his leadership and his stubborn nature, Shiro was a pushover when it came to the bits of love that didn’t involve sacrificing himself for.

That was something he knew wouldn’t be asked of him. Not celebrating Christmas to the fullest extent was a sacrifice that didn’t seem harsh in comparison to: leave for your dream and I’ll be gone for good.

An unfair comparison, an inaccurate comparison, but even he was not immune to the foils of humanity.

He was a dumb dumb man in love.

A pressure at his hips, on his chest, woke him up to the very dim light of what was apparently early morning. He blinked, closed his eyes, and then opened them to bleary slits. Keith sat on top of him, thighs straddled on each side.

“Morning,” he grumbled.

A smile slid across Shiro’s face. “You’re not allowed to sound tired when I’m the one being woken up.”

Over the past couple of years, Keith had let his hair grow out. Usually it was tucked into a streamlined, neat ponytail. Right now in the early morning, it was loose and wild. Shiro remembered the night before, his hand in that thick hair, wrapping it around his fingers. It fell into Shiro’s face when Keith leaned down, skin to skin, as he kissed him.

“I haven’t gone to sleep yet,” Keith whispered against his lips.

He glanced to his right, where the clock sat. It wasn’t even 6am yet, and Shiro had definitely gone to sleep.

“Why?”

“I was setting your present up. Merry Christmas.”

Shiro rested his hands on Keith’s thighs, squeezing them gently. “This isn’t the gift?”

“No.” Keith climbed off of him, much to his disappointment, and stood next to the bed. “We agreed on one gift.”

“That - I don’t think that’s fair,” Shiro pointed out.

His boyfriend stared down at him, naked chest, naked waist, a hot flicker that raked across him. Well, if he was going to be denied an early morning wake up call, he would appreciate not being teased about it. He closed his eyes and took a deep, settling breath to try and control himself. He was a grown man, a captain of one of the most advanced ships on Earth, a spacefarer.

He could control whether or not his boyfriend turned him on.

When he opened his eyes again, Keith was in his face, too close, too blurry. The edges of him melded together. “It’s either your present I spent all night setting up or sex.”

“I wouldn’t want your hard work to go to- Hey!” His pants were thrown at him, the legs wrapping around his face.

“Pants. Living room. Let’s go.”

He looked excited. Shiro knew Keith well enough to pick up those signs, the light in his eyes sparking up, the impatient arch of his eyebrows, the way he just couldn’t figure out what to do with his arms as he waited for Shiro to slip his pajama pants on. It was adorable. It lit something inside of Shiro that warmed him.

“I’m up, I’m dressed. I’m ready.”

Keith stepped to the side to allow Shiro to go first. An odd arrangement, considering who was presenting their gift this early on Christmas morning, but he would allow it. Until Keith’s hands folded over Shiro’s eyes. A surprise.

Well, obviously.

Gifts were meant to be a surprise, and he had spent the entire night awake.

“What exactly were you putting together?” Shiro asked him as he fumbled for the bedroom door’s knob. He finally found it in his presently blind state, hit himself in the stomach with the door, which produced a chuckle from the demon behind him, and started walking clumsily into the hallway.

“It’ll ruin the surprise if I tell you.”

“Right. Of course.”

Keith guided him with his hands until he was told to stop. He placed his hands over top of Keith’s. He started to peel at his fingers, one by one, until they all fell away.

And he opened his eyes.

Blinding, blinking lights stared back at him, bright round balls that flashed red and green and blue in a hypnotizing pattern. They lay haphazardly laced around a very sad, very small green tree. A simple red skirt sat lumpy underneath, and ornaments were placed without care to filling the tree out or hiding holes. And on top of the world’s most thrown together Christmas tree, a little black lion whose eyes lit up.

Shiro took a deep breath and found that he didn’t have words. Words were his thing. Lance had told him that once, and he had smiled gently at the thought. He just thought he had spoken what he felt was his truths from the heart, and people liked listening to that. But right now? Right now, he was speechless. He didn’t know what the words were for such a messily presented miracle.

Keith had his arms crossed over his chest, watching Shiro from the corner of his eye with a frown firmly planted on his face. As if he were trying to gauge the reaction. As if he were trying to pretend that it didn’t affect him either way how Shiro felt.

“I knew this was a stupid idea,” Keith muttered.

Shiro rested his hand on Keith’s bare arm, pulling him closer until they found each other wrapped in the other’s embrace. “I love it. It looks better than my gingerbread.”

Keith sniffed, glancing away for a moment before looking him in the eye. “I knew that you wanted this.”

“We agreed.”

“We agreed because you’re too nice.”

Shiro smiled, kissing Keith softly, warmly. “We agreed because you’re too much of a grouch.”

Keith let himself fall against Shiro, resting his head on his shoulder, and forcing Shiro to keep him held up. “I’m tired,” was all he said.

#voltron #voltron legendary defender #vld #vld keith #vld shiro #sheith #vld fic #i am enjoying these dumb happy ship fics i've been writing lately #like wow #im totally capable of not stabbing people in the chest when i write things #voltron fic #happy endings #post series

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verilyvoltron · 5 years

Text

So many fics are about Keith’s harem, but what about Lance’s harem?

I get it, everyone loves Keith. He’s the main character in a majority of the storylines. He’s broody, mysterious, pretty, etc. etc. But I wanna read about everyone falling in love with the heart of Voltron, Lance. People already ship him with everyone. I mean, he’s good looking, suave, personable, and 100% oblivious

Just imagine they’re back on earth and

He’s the only one Kinkade will really talk to. Of course they start off only talking about sniping and tech and stuff, but eventually they start getting closer and talking about their interests before the war.

Lance is now one of the few who are allowed to call Kinkade by his first name. He’ll actively look for and get right up next to Ryan at all times. One time they even got in trouble for laughing too much during a stealth mission.

Kinkade is 100% smitten

He thinks this boy is so smart and sweet and talented

It seems like lance is the only one who can get Ryan to let loose and open up.

Now I bet you that boy is smooth

He’s flirty

Knows the best place to get flowers in a post war wasteland

Of course lance is like “wow thanks for the friendship flowers! :)”

Of course this attracts the attention of one (1) James Griffin

Now, James knew Lance before the war. He’s the first to admit that while he never had a full fight with lance, he wasn’t exactly the nicest.

Wasn’t anything much but just sneers every time lance talked to him

In reality he was just trying the bully the gay feelings he had for post puberty peanut boy out

In other words, he was crushing hard on lance before the war and didn’t know how to get close to him

Now lance is back and looking even more like a Snack™

So he starts pulling all his moves now that he’s more Emotionally Mature

Starts inviting him to lunch all the time

Uses his sources to find out where lance hangs out so he can “coincidentally” bump into him

Invites him to the secret garrison parties

Let’s him tour the MFE planes etc etc.

Turns out Lance is even cuter in person and James is absolutely swooning

His roommate is tired of hearing about his crush

He tries to ask out Lance on a proper date one day and lance just Does Not get the message

And of course Keith happens to be nearby when he asks

Keith is a little,,, Emotionally Constipated™ when it comes to romantic feelings

His first love was a boy back at the garrison named Taylor but he never got the courage to talk to him

He wasn’t the best looking but he was cute and kind

When Shiro kept hearing about this “Taylor” kid he assumed that Keith had made a friend and suggested that Keith invites him over sometime

“I cant just do that Shiro!1!”

turns out they had only shared one class together and rarely spoke to each other

Once, Taylor complimented him and he was pretty sure that was when he peaked

But then Keith dropped out and assumed he would never see him again

Imagine his surprise when he realizes that the reason why he didn’t know Lance at first was because he thought Lance was named Taylor at the garrison (”They call me the Tailor because of how I thread the needle”)

Also because puberty hit “Taylor” like a truck and wow was he not expecting that

Slowly but surely over their adventure his massive crush is solidified

Now he didnt want to or even expect to fall in love with Lance again yet here they are

But when they get back to Earth he realizes that Lance is popular with some good looking guys, even one who decked him at some point

They seem to be hanging out a lot

Keith is immediately jealous and tries to keep his man, even if Lance isn’t quite his man

100% brings up their bonding moment all the time

Suddenly they’re all on their A game

Trying to one up each other

The McClain siblings have all chosen sides and try to help their selected fighter

They’re all jealous of each other even though sweet lance is just trying to make sure everyone is friends and good allies

But theyre trying to duke it out without lance noticing

Now I said Lance is oblivious but he aint dumb

He’s hella smart, specially with people. He just kinda assumes no one would like him in that way

But hes starting to notice something is fishy with everyone

“Why is Keith always glaring at James? I thought they were over that.”

“Huh Ryan has been more affectionate lately how sweet.”

“Every time I’m out with keith or ryan it seems like james just happens to be there... That’s weird, right?”

He sees the clues but not their value

Eventually they all just confess their love one after another and he gets it

But Lance has to choose. He may have 2 hands but that boy has one heart

(If you poly ship him thats cool too I just Live For Drama)

Now mama may have not raised a quitter but she did raise a fool

Specifically a fool who cannot make decisions

This boy is well and truly fucked.

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jarmes · 5 years

Text

The Man In The Attic

From the attic of a suburban family’s home, a mysterious stranger fixes their problems...

The walls in this house are thin. I hear every footstep, every word, every rage-filled fight with crystal clarity. At 6:00, I hear Keith’s alarm go off. Five minutes later I hear him stumble out of bed and into the shower. At 6:30, I hear the sound of Karen knocking on Kim’s door and the sound of Kim chucking a pillow at her. At 6:45, I hear the front door opening as Keith leaves for work. At 7:15, I hear Karen wake Kevin up. Five minutes later I hear the sound of a sizzling griddle as she makes breakfast for her children. At 7:45 I hear Kim leave the house, dragging her younger brother with her. Five minutes later, I hear Karen pouring herself a cup of coffee. At 8:05 Karen finally leaves. Five minutes later, I descend from the attic.

I open the refrigerator door and pull out a Tupperware container full of pasta, leftovers from the previous night. I only take a few bites, small enough that no one will notice that I’ve touched anything. Karen has left half a pot of coffee sitting on the counter; I finish it off. As I sip my lukewarm coffee, I make my way to the living room and turn on the TV.

The morning news is playing some sensationalist story about a string of recent break-ins. I roll my eyes and flip through the channels, looking for something interesting to watch. After finding nothing but reruns and game shows, I open up the DVR recordings.

I pop on a new episode of a sitcom I like, one about a happy family that Keith recorded the previous night. While I watch it I check the recording schedule, making sure that my shows are set to tape. I notice that the Karen forgot to tape this afternoon’s episode of one of her soap operas.

I imagine the fight that’ll break out when Karen comes home and realizes that her stories weren’t taped. Presumably, she’ll accuse Keith of deleting them for the sole purpose of angering her and refuse to acknowledge the possibility that she made a mistake. Keith will bring up the fact that he’s had a hard day at work, which will only make Karen angrier. Kevin will try to drown out the fight by watching TV and Kim will storm out of the house.

I set the soap opera to record and pat myself on the back for a job well done. I can’t imagine how these people got by before I started living here. I’m the glue that holds this family together. My job is thankless, primarily because the Brattons don’t know I exist.

I’ve been living in the Bratton family’s attic for nine months now. Hiding in the attic of a suburban middle-class family was never the plan. My stepfather kicked me out and I didn’t have anywhere to stay, so I started squatting in an unsold house on their street. After three days of squatting, a new family moved in without any warning.

I probably should have run away. But, I knew finding a new squatting location would be a hassle, so I just started hiding in the attic. When the Brattons are all gone, I sneak down to grab food from their fridge. When they come back, I return to my hiding place. It was hard, at first, avoiding detection. I almost got caught a dozen times. But, before long, I managed to learn the family’s schedules. Nowadays the odds of me getting caught are minuscule.

My hearing has gotten pretty good over the past few months, so I was able to hear the unmistakable sound of a door opening at 8:30. This surprises me, because I know for a fact that no one should be home until 3:45. As soon as the door opens I dash to the pantry; it would take to long to return to the attic.

I hear the sound of footsteps. Judging by their sound, they belong to Kim. I realize that she must be skipping school. I hear, through the thin door of the pantry, Kim walk to the living room. Sneaking past her to return to the attic is risky. If she doesn’t move until her family comes home, I’ll definitely get caught. I reach into my pocket and grab my cell phone. I text Karen, informing her of her daughter’s truancy. I smile when the Read tag appears beneath my message. I wait for Karen to come storming home.

I’ve learned a lot about the Brattons since I started living with them. Karen and Keith were high school sweethearts, him the local high school’s star quarterback and her the head of the cheer squad. I honestly think that the two of them would have gone their separate ways if it wasn’t for an unplanned pregnancy. Nine months and one shotgun wedding later, Keith and Karen came home with a baby girl named Kim.

If Karen’s weekly phone calls to her sister are to be believed, Kim used to be a sweet kid. But, with high school came new problems. One day Kim came home with black hair, piercings, and a new foul attitude. Keith and Karen came to the conclusion that they were the only parents in the history of mankind to have a rebellious teenager and responded by doubling down on punishments in an attempt to “fix” their daughter, something that has only made her rebel more.

Karen rips open the front door and marches into the living. “What’s up, mom?” Kim says.

“Why aren’t you at school?” Karen asks.

“Didn’t feel like going,” Kim replies.

Karen sighs. “Kim, you need to go to school,” she says. “Otherwise, you won’t be able-”

“I won’t be able to get into college and then I won’t be able to get a good job and I’ll have to marry a loser,” Kim interjects. “I’ve heard the speech before, mom.”

“Then why do you keep doing things like this?”

“Chill.”

“I had to leave my nursing class to come and get you, you know.”

“That was a dumb decision.”

I hear the sound of a struggle, presumably created by Karen grabbing Kim by the ear and dragging her to the front door. “How’d you even find out I skipped school?” Kim asks.

“You principal texted me,” Karen replies.

I chuckle from the darkened pantry. I inputted my number into Karen’s phone number under the principal’s name two months prior, knowing that a situation like this might occur. After making sure that Karen and Kim are gone, I return to the living room to watch TV.

At 3:00, I grab some snacks from the cupboard and return to the attack. At 3:45, right on schedule, I hear Karen’s car pull into the driveway.

I hear Kevin dash for his bedroom as soon as Karen opens the front door. “No video games until you’re done with your homework!” Karen shouts.

A few minutes later I hear the sound of Kevin turning on a game console. I don’t know if Karen doesn’t know or is just too busy to care. If I were to guess, I would say that she’s working on her classwork. Fortunately, I don’t have to guess.

I grab a small tablet sitting atop a pile of boxes and turn it on. Camera feeds showing various rooms spread throughout the house appear on the screen. The feed from the kitchen shows Karen surrounded by a pile of books, jotting down notes in a notebook. The feed from Kevin’s room shows him sitting on a beanbag chair, blasting heads off an army of zombies. There isn’t a feed from the attic; if there were, it would show me lazily lying on the old couch I claimed as my bed.

The security system was already installed when the Brattons moved in. The realtor neglected to tell them about the countless cameras spread throughout the house, designed to help stop an intruder. Ironically, nothing has contributed to my continued residence in this house more.

When I’m up in my attic, I do a variety of things to keep myself busy. I read, I browse the internet, I play games on my phone. But, the main thing I do is observe the Brattons over the cameras. At first, I did this so I could learn their schedules and figure out how to stay hidden. Over time, I started watching them for my own enjoyment. The Brattons are better than any soap opera. Their fights, their wants, their struggles, all of these things feature an authenticity television could never reproduce.

I don’t pay for the food, shelter, and entertainment I take from these people, but I do make up for the things I take. I provide this family with something that money could never buy: stability. When I first met the Bratton’s, Keith and Karen’s marriage was hanging on by a thread. I knew that, if the two of them were to split up, they might leave this house and sell it to more observant residents. So I took it upon myself to keep the two of them together.

The main thing I do is clean up the minor creators of stress spread around the house. I make sure Keith’s work clothes are clean, I take out the trash when it gets too full, I make sure the toilet seat is down, I write things on the grocery list when we run out, that kind of thing.

I never do too much, because that would reveal my existence. Just enough to make sure Keith and Karen are happy. Occasionally, I do something big, like sending Karen flowers using Keith’s credit card or hiding tickets to a concert in the family’s mailbox. I honestly think that, if it wasn’t for me, Keith and Karen would have broken up months ago.

At 5:30, Karen moves her moves her books from the table to the living room. She isn’t done studying, but needs to start in on dinner if she’s going to have it done by the time Keith arrives at home. She pulls up a recipe on her phone and beings cooking fish.

I don’t think Karen ever wanted to be a housewife. She mentioned once, while talking to her sister on the phone, that she wanted to be a doctor when she was a kid. She’s never mentioned what changed, but I’m guessing that she put those dreams on hold when Kim came along.

She’s started taking nursing classes recently, a decision that has led to no shortage of stress in the Bratton family. No one has been impacted by this stress more than Karen herself, who has struggled to balance her studies and her family.

At 6:30, Keith comes home from work. He trudges through the front door and collapses onto the sofa. “How was your day?” Karen asks, seemingly oblivious.

“Tiring,” Keith replies.

Keith spends eleven hours each day in a cubicle. Since Karen started going back to school, things have been lean around the Bratton household. Keith volunteered to pick up extra responsibilities at work to help pad his salary, something he has regretted more and more with each passing moment.

Judging by the framed newspaper articles that hang in his study, Keith was a damn good football player in his youth, one good enough to get quite a few scholarships. He never accepted them, though. I’m not sure why.

“Keith, we need to talk about our daughter,” Karen says.

“What did she do this time?” Keith asks, eyes closed.

“She skipped school!”

“And?”

Karen scowls at Keith. “I can’t believe that you aren’t taking this seriously,” she says.

“Karen, she’s sixteen,” Keith says, rubbing his temples. “She’s going to make mistakes.”

“Skipping school is more than a mistake, Keith.”

“Fine, I’ll go talk to her,” Keith says while getting off the sofa.

“She isn’t here right now,” Karen says, “I drug her back to school but she hasn’t come back yet.”

Keith sighs. “Did you try calling her phone?” he asks.

“No Keith, I didn’t try calling my missing daughter,” Karen snaps. “Of course I tried calling her. She didn’t pick up.”

“Maybe that means she needs space.”

“She could be at the bottom of a ditch for all we know!”

Karen is proven wrong ten seconds later, when Kim walks through the front door. “Where on earth have you been for the past three hours?” Karen asks.

“Out,” Kim replies.

Keith chuckles and Karen shoots him an angry look. “I was hanging out with friends, I didn’t think it was a big deal,” Kim says.

“I was worried,” Karen says. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“It died,” Kim says.

“Bullshit,” Karen says.

“Easy,” Keith says as he pushes Karen and Kim apart. “Let’s all calm down.”

“I am perfectly calm, Keith,” Karen says. “I am just sick and tired of the fact that my daughter doesn’t respect me.”

“Okay,” Kim says while rolling her eyes.

Around this time, Kevin wanders downstairs, drawn by the fighting. He notices something that the others haven’t. “Mom?” he says.

“What is it, honey?” Karen asks, temporarily shifting her attention away from Kim.

“I smell smoke,” Kevin says.

Karen curses before running into the kitchen, ripping open the oven, and grabbing a glass pan containing charred fish with her bare hands. She screams and Keith runs over to her. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“I feel fucking phenomenal, Keith,” Karen says.

“Do you want to go to the hospital?”

“No,” Karen says, as blunt as a boulder.

She reaches into a drawer, grabs a pair of oven mitts, and picks the pan full of burnt fish off the floor. “I have had a long day and would like nothing more than to have a nice meal with my family,” she says.

The Brattons eat the burnt fish in silence. Up in the attic, I munch on a bag of chips, enthralled by the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Kevin doesn’t touch his food. “What’s wrong, honey?” Karen asks.

“I don’t like fish,” he replies.

“It’s what we’re having for dinner tonight,” Karen says.

“It’s burnt,” Kim says.

“Maybe it would be better if I was able to focus on making dinner instead of worrying about you,” Karen snaps.

The doorbell rings and Keith answers it. A pimply pizza delivery boy stands on the front porch, holding a large stack of pies. “Pizza delivery for Keith Bratton,” he says.

“We didn’t order any pizza,” Karen says as she walks over to the door.

“Is this 432 East Meadow Street?” the pizza boy asks.

“Yes,” Keith replies. “And I’m Keith Bratton.”

“I have a delivery for you,” the pizza boy says.

“We didn’t order any pizza,” Karen says as she slams the door in the pizza boy’s face.

To be fair, Karen is right that she didn’t order any pizza. I did, hoping to stop the eventual fight over dinner by replacing the burnt fish with fresh pizza. “What did you do that for?” Keith asks.

“We didn’t order pizza,” Karen replies.

“I know, but we could have just paid for the pizza and ate it for dinner.”

“I worked really hard on dinner and we are going to eat it as a family.”

Karen walks back to her chair. “So, how was school? she asks.”

“Good,” Kevin replies.

“Did anything interesting happen?”

“My teacher talked to me about football tryouts.”

“Football tryouts?” Keith asks, suddenly interested.

“The answer is no,” Karen says.

“Now, let’s not be rash,” Keith interjects.

“I said no,” Karen says. “Football is dangerous and I don’t want my son getting involved.”

“Karen, it’s just flag football,” Keith says. “He’ll be fine.”

“I said no, Keith,” Karen says. “That’s final.”

Kevin gets out of his chair and storms off to his room. “Nice going mom, you made another child hate you,” Kim says before following her brother.

Kevin is the youngest of the Brattons, born a measly seven years prior. As much as I hate to say it, I think Keith and Karen decided to have him to rekindle their long dead marriage. This plan failed as a second child only added to their stresses.

I think Kevin would have it a lot worse if I wasn’t around to keep his parents happy. I’ve seen children who grow up in broken homes and the problems they face. I’ve been keeping Keith and Karen together for Kevin’s sake as much as my own.

After dinner, Keith brings his laptop to the table and starts typing away. Karen scrubs away at the pan, rubbing off the charred fish and dumping it into the sink. “How was dinner?” she asks.

“It was fine,” Keith says.

It’s a lie, of course, and a poor one at that. Karen can easily see through her husband’s deception, but chooses to play along. “Just fine?” she asks.

Keith sighs. “Can we do this some other time?” he says. “I’m drowning in work right now.”

“You hated it, didn’t you?”

“I said it was fine, dammit. Why does it always have to be mind games with you?”

Karen leaves the pan to soak and begins cleaning one of the plates. “I’m just trying to make conversations, she says. “How was work?”

“Busy,” Keith says while typing on his computer.

“You know, I’d appreciate it if you put the laptop away while we’re talking.”

“Well, dear, I’d appreciate it if you acknowledged that my job pays for the roof over your head.”

“Here we go again,” Karen says, bitterness flowing through her words.

“What?”

“You act like you’re the only one who works hard in this family!” Karen shouts.

The plate slips from her fingers and falls to the ground, shattering. She reaches down to pick it up and slices open her finger. “Are you okay?” Keith asks.

“I’m fine,” Karen says as blood drips from her hand.

On my screen, I notice that Kevin is watching his parents from the living room. I sigh. No child should have to see their parents fight like this. Using a remote I stole from the living room I turn on the living room TV. Kevin stops watching his parents fight and starts watching my favorite sitcom, the one about a happy family.

#writing #short story #fiction

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vivalatoons · 6 years

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My Talk: TMNT 2012

Today, 6 years ago, a new TMNT series came into our lives again. Grab a slice of pizza and take a walk down memory lane in a TMNT 2012 reflection. Booyakasha!

During this time, I had finished watching all TMNT series (not including the live action one) and movies. There was one more series that I had to watch.

I admit, I was one of those people when I saw TMNT 2012. Yes, I complain that there was another TMNT reboot. I trashed and bashed it and stated this reboot is going to bomb hard. Understand this. I didn’t hear anything about TMNT 2012 till the year 2015. During that time, I saw bad reboots and Nickelodeon’s “great” cartoons. Seeing that this is a reboot on Nick, this was a recipe for disaster. People were saying that this reboot is better than Teen Titans Go, so I knew this version of TMNT wasn’t going to be horrible. What made me begin to watch the show was the cast of the Turtles and my Turtle nostalgia. I’ll get to that later, but I start to watch the CGI 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

January 11, 2016. I tried not to get attract to the show. I was excited to see these new Turtles, yet I had my doubts. After watching The Rise of the Turtles Part 1 and 2, I was instantly hook on these turtles. I hated myself for being against the reboot. These episodes were brilliant, and my Ninja Turtles love grow three sizes that day.

Flaws. Not every show is perfect, but there were some things that I didn’t enjoy in TMNT 2012. I didn’t like that some of the characters didn’t get their moment to shine at times. Some episodes were a waste of time, and could have been used to answer things TMNT hasn’t address. I also hate how the shippers would go full crazy when they see littlest of things when the ship does something. It got pretty annoying. My leader in blue would fall to the cliché of self sacrifice and going on crazy one man missions. I hated how Nickelodeon kept making random scheduling changes in season 5. This was a bad move in Nickelodeon, because fans missed something because of those random schedule changes and it was a marketing plan for PlayMates to sell those damn toys. Half of the season was pointless and the other half was awesome. Those flaws didn’t stop me from enjoying the series.

Characters. I don’t need to mention characters, but I’ll repeat myself again. Each TMNT series has the basic set of characters. There’s the Turtles, April, Casey, Splinter, Shredder, etc. Some characters are brought back from past TMNT series like Karai, Rocksteady, Bebop, Bishop, etc. In this series, there are some new characters like Tiger Claw, Fishface, Shinigami, and more. I love how the 2012 series have the Turtles be more like teenagers from other TMNT series. Some of the characters I find to be the best in this show.

Animation. 2012 TMNT uses CGI and a bit of 2D animation when it comes to flashbacks and storytelling. It’s weird at first. After awhile, it’s interesting to see. The CGI is incredible when the characters show emotions and action sequences. I’m impressed with the crew and their talents.

Voice cast. Oh yeah, my favorite part of this show. I said the voice cast is what made me decide to watch the show, and here’s why. The voice cast is outstanding and their voice director is Andrea Romano. This woman was a voice director for Batman: TAS, Teen Titans, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Voltron: Legendary Defender, etc. She’s a legend! Jason Biggs voiced Leo till season 2 episode 19, then Dominic Catrambone voiced Leo till the finale. Seth Green voiced Leonardo from season 3 till the end. Rob Paulsen, Sean Astin, and Greg Cipes voiced Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Hoon Lee voiced Splinter. Kevin Michael Richardson voiced Shredder. Mae Whitman and Josh Peck voiced April and Casey. Kelly Hu and Gwendoline Yeo voiced Karai and Shinigami. There’s a ton of great voice actors including Eric Bauza, Nolan North, Clancy Brown, Phil LaMarr, Fred Tatasciore, J.B Smoove, David Tennant, Keith David, Corey Feldman, Tom Kenny, Roger Smith Craig, Charlie Murphy, Ashely Johnson, Minae Noji, Mark Hamill, Zelda Williams, and the list goes on and on. I adore the voice cast so much. All of them did a spectacular job.

How is it different from other TMNT series. The CGI is what tells them apart. Hamato Yoshi once lived in Japan with his wife and daughter. Tragedy stuck, and Yoshi goes to New York. One day, he gets four baby turtles. He bumped into someone, following him. Yoshi witness the men meeting, and decided to attack him. Yoshi defeats them, but a canister of mutagen splashes on Yoshi and the Turtles. Yoshi become a rat, and the turtles grew into little turtle tots. April, Casey, and Karai are teenagers in this reboot. The Kraang are a species of talking brain like creatures. Some references from the 1987 and 2003 series show up in this show from characters to arcs. It manages to be silly and dark at times, it’s a nice blend.

Ciro Nieli, Joshua Sternin, and J. R. Ventimilia. These wonderful people helped developed this remake. I thank them for being the right people to be in charge of this project. With great people running a reboot, it leads to the following.

TMNT 2012 is a great remake and best example of doing a reboot right. People can argue all they want about this version of TMNT, but you have to admit this…there was a lot effort put into this show. This show proves to that not all reboots are terrible. This series didn’t dumb down for kids. It manages to be a show for all ages to enjoy. Animation isn’t lazy, same for voice acting and writing. Ok, the writing had dip down at times, but most of the time it’s good. There is some heavy stuff in the show like violence, death, and more death. I enjoy how this show broke some boundaries at times, that makes the show more interesting and groundbreaking.

I’m always impressed about how this series turned out. It has a unique spin in animation, wonderful voice cast, and a perfect example of a good reboot. It really makes me happy that this series will be a part of TMNT universe. I praise the 2012 Turtles for making a few changes and still holds. It’s still the Turtles we all know and love. I still miss TMNT 2012. What I will remember about this version of Turtles is the character growth that the Turtles have. I saw Leonardo from being a nervous leader who doesn’t want to let his team down. He would make decisions and be the best leader ever. Donatello would have fail at times from his creations or inventions. He improves to himself and it helps others. Raphael is still our hothead turtle, but he learns not to his anger consumes him. Michelangelo was seen as a dumb turtle who cared about pizza and made jokes. In the end, he shows the bad guys what’s he made of and he’s not a turtle you don’t want to mess with. These turtles has wowed me and they are the best ninjas in the city of New York.

#my talk #long post #tmnt 2012

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selfiealien-moved · 6 years

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You’re My Family

READ IT ON AO3

Summary: With every decision made a parallel universe is made. A world that is completely different just because of one single decision.

This time everything changes, when instead of just mentoring Keith, Shiro takes him in and fosters him.

This time Adam is there for Keith when Shiro is not. And this time he is there when he rescues Shiro. This time he’s there through every crazy space adventure.

Everything changes.

Or: The Multiple One Shot Rewrite No One Asked For But You’re Getting Anyway

This time:

"No matter how you see me, you're my family, and family looks out for each other."

Keith seems down after Lance denies the bonding moment, Adam decides to risk talking to him about it. After all, what is family for?

Words: 1,259

A/N: This is part of my Together This Time verse! You don't need to read the first one to read this one but it will probably make more sense tbh. Sorry for any mistakes my sleep has been so messed up lately lmao I hope you guys like it anyhow!!

Alright so, strictly speaking Adam knew this was probably- definitely none of his business. Thing is, when Keith looks like a kicked puppy, Adam feels like a kicked puppy. He’s known the kid a long time, and thinks of him as some strange mix of a brother and a son. He would do anything for him. Even brave possible snapping (read: a stabbing) to make sure he’s alright.

Which is exactly why after they welcomed Lance back to the land of the living after the castle was invaded (he cringes at his internal monologue for the turn of phrase) Adam decides to do something risky. Ask Keith about his feelings.

It’s not that Keith particularly hates emotion, as many might assume, its more that he’s so used to pushing it down, sometimes it’s hard for him to talk, which either results in an outpouring of emotion, or snapping at whoever showed concern.

Well here goes anyhow.

“Keith, can we talk?”

“I guess. Whats up?” Keith asks carefully.

Adam took a deep breath and let it out, deciding to through caution to the wind. “Well I’m not good at this like Takashi is so I’m just gonna out and say it. You look like a kicked puppy and I want to know why. Is this because of Lance forgetting the bonding moment? Keith-” Adam cut himself off with a small sigh, frustrated with himself for it being so difficult to find the right words to say.

He had never been very good at subtle, and neither had Keith, but Keith needed a mix of both when it came to emotion, as Adam had found. Takashi was far better at that part.

“Why would it matter? Look we’re rivals just like we’re supposed to be. Leave it alone.” Keith said, polishing his knife again.

“Keith, I saw you when you carried him back to the pod. I saw you as you waited for him to heal. You care about him- we all do.” Some a little more than others, but Adam had a feeling he wasn’t ready to hear that just yet.

“Of course. He’s a teammate and a part of Voltron. We need him.”

“Keith you know that’s not what I mean.”

“Why does it matter? Look just leave it, you don’t always have to fix everything Adam.” Keith snapped.

“I’ll let that one go just this once because I know you’re frustrated.” Adam sighed. “It matters because I care about you Keith. Because no matter how you see me, you’re my family. Family looks out for each other.”

Adam back toward the door, deciding to leave him to brood for the moment, but paused as he heard Keith sigh, he knew that sound well. He was finally ready to talk.

“I don’t know why I’m so upset.” Keith admits reluctantly. “I wish I did but I don’t. I just know it hurt when he was hurt. I was- I was scared. And when he said he couldn’t remember and brushed me off? It hurt. A lot. I don’t let myself get attached to many people, but I think I let myself get attached to him, and he brushed it off like it was nothing.” He growled in frustration. “I don’t know it’s dumb! This is dumb!” Keith buried his face in his hands with a groan.

Adam sat beside Keith on his bed, and wrapped an arm around him in a half-hug. “You’re not dumb for feeling things Keith. You’re just human. You’ll figure out these feelings when you’re ready, I can’t tell you why you feel the way you do, only you can. But maybe you should think about why you like to antagonize him so much.”

“I don’t. He starts it.” Keith mumbles, taking his hands off his face and leaning into Adam slightly.

“And you feed it. Maybe he starts it because he thinks its what you expect or want from him.”

Keith paused at Adam’s words for a moment. He had never thought of it like that. What if he denied the bonding moment because he was afraid Keith would make fun of him? A preemptive strike of sorts?

“I’m not saying you should just ignore your feelings completely or anything but try to not let him get under your skin so quickly. You know what Takashi would say, patience yields focus.” They both chuckled.

“And look I’m not saying that is what it is, I just thought I’d point out a possibility.” And because Adam can’t leave well enough alone, he sees a perfect way to tease Keith. “I mean that’s what happened with Takashi and I.”

Keith pinks a little, and pushes Adam away, which tells Adam he’s succeeded in pushing his buttons. “We are not you and Shiro. We aren’t best friends or flight partners, and we definitely aren’t dating.”

Adam snickered, getting off of Keith’s bed. “Maybe not, but we had our moments... Like the time I didn’t speak to Shiro for a week because I thought he spilled mac n cheese on my flight suit on purpose.”

“Why would you think he did it on purpose?”

“Because he handed it to me and said ‘I not so accidentally spilled mac n cheese on your flight suit’ though I kind of deserved it since I shrunk his flight suit... It took us a long time and many prank wars to get our heads out of our asses. Takashi is about as good with emotions as you are.”

Keith laughed. “You got engaged to the man. What does it say about you?”

“That I’m very patient.” Adam joked with a chuckle, but sobered quickly. “And that I love him a lot... I can see why he wanted to foster you so bad. You both feel so much, but its like you don’t know what to do with those feelings or where to put them so you bottle them.”

Keith’s smile faded slightly. “I don’t think I ever properly thanked you. For looking after me when Shiro...” Keith trailed off.

Adam frowned and shook his head, leaning down so he was at Keith’s level on the bed, and putting his arms on Keith’s shoulders.. “You don’t have to thank me. It’s like I said, you’re family. You look out for family.”

“But you were hurting too. Nobody would have blamed you if you had sent me back to the home, but you didn’t. So just- accept the thank you alright?”

Adam smiled softly, standing back up. “Thanks accepted. Thank you too by the way. You gave me something to focus on other than-” Adam paused for a moment and cleared his throat. “Other than the fact that Takashi wasn’t coming back.”

Keith didn’t know what to say, so he simply smiled and nodded, then got up and wrapped Adam in a hug.

As happy as they were Shiro was back, sometimes it was almost like a phantom pain. They knew logically he was back, but they had also accepted his death, they had mourned him together, until he came crashing back into their lives. Literally.

As hard as it was to let Shiro go then, it was almost as hard to accept his return.

“I better go before Takashi tries to track me down.” Adam ruffled Keith’s hair. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

“See you Adam.”

He was almost at the door when Keith called. “And Adam?”

“Yeah Keith?” Adam paused, turning to see a small smile on Keith’s face. The one he wore when he was particularly pleased.

“You’re my family too.”

#safe vld #vld #adam vld #keith kogane #voltron legendary defender #my writing #mine #idk if i like how this turned out but here

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jarcinda · 5 years

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Important

!Please beware!: English isn’t my first language so this one-shot won’t be perfect. Still I tried my best so pls be nice to me xD (Helpful and nice critic is always welcome)

It’s a short little one shot of Luna being with the other paladins. Also it’s the start of the Family Shirogane :D

It felt like a strong hit into her stomach, making her feeling really bad. And yet the day was really good. Allura got a distress signal from this planet called Zuna. Voltron and Luna with Hawk came to save the day. They defeat the Galra soldier and freed the Kingdome. The King threw a party for them and afterwards there should be a meeting to talk about an alliance. But the king didn’t seem to like Luna.

“Your presence won’t be necessary at the meeting. I’m sorry but this isn’t a place for a little girl! And after all … you aren’t a part of Voltron, aren’t you?”

The words were spoken so softly, like a father would talk to his child, which made Luna feeling even worse. Of course, the others stood up for her. Shiro opened his mouth to defend the girl, but Luna stopped him. She would show how hurt she was. Not in front of the Alien King.

“You’re right. I wouldn’t understand much anyways. And I would love to take a look around your amazing place. If I’m allowed to of course.” Luna showed her respect with a bow.

“Make yourself a home. May the other paladins and the princess follow me please!” The Alien made an inviting gesture with his hands. The entire team stared guilty at the purple paladin. Even when she gets insulted, she managed it to smile and being a charming person.

“But Luna …” – “All good, Shiro. I will have a look around. See ya later, guys!” Luna waved smiling and turned away. Shiro could tell that she was mad, but he had to attend the meeting. He hated this planet already.

The meeting went surprisingly very well, beside the death glares from the whole team towards the king. Thanks to Allura’s charming way the alliance was settled. But the princess was also upset about the incident before, so she decided to speak up for Luna.

“I’m really glad about you joining us in our fight against Zarkon. But you have to beware about your behaviour towards the paladin! I won’t tolerate any insult against my soldiers ever again!” Allura spoke with a calm but dangerous tone. Shiro was glad, that Allura lectured the king. The little girl didn’t deserve to be threaten like that. Luna was an important member of Voltron. She and Hawk saved their asses couple of times.

“Excuse me?” The king looked confused. “When did I insulted one of your paladins?” Shiro gasped. More anger was polling up in the team.

“Are you fuc …” – “Keith!” Shiro interrupted the red paladin. Allura gave them a gesture to shut up.

“King Belfa, you may not see it, but Luna, the girl you sent away before, is our purple paladin and an important part of our team. To suspend her from the meeting and insulting her can’t be accepted! She may not pilot one of the lions, but she is a very good fighter and she is the pilot of Hawk. They are a good team and saved our live more than once. She also saved your life! So, treat her with more respect or this alliance might break!”, Allura said harshly, giving the King an uncomfortable feeling.

“I-I’m sorry, princess. I didn’t want to disrespect any of your paladins. I apologize.”

“It’s not me you own an apologise. Luna is!”

“Sure …”

As soon as the meeting ends the team started looking out for Luna, still feeling sorry for her. It was Shiro who found her outside, near the castle of lions together with Coran and Mascha. They were sitting in a flower field chatting. Shiro took a moment to look at them. Coran, Luna and Mascha all three of them had a flower crown on their heads and it seems like Coran braided Luna’s hair with some flower in it, making her look like a princess. Mascha was curled up like a ball in Luna’s lap, while Luna was laughing about something Coran said. It was a peaceful image to watch and Shiro hated to interrupt it, but he had to talk to Luna. He cleared his throat, while stepping closer to them, catching their attention.

“Oh, hi Shiro! Meeting over? I made some flower crowns for all of you!” Luna smiled at him. The black paladin set down next to Luna.

“Coran, could you give us a moment?”, Shiro asked. Luna frowned at him. She knew exactly what he was up to, but didn’t feel like talking about it. Didn’t want to think about it. She just wanted to forget. Forget that she wasn’t a part of Voltron in the eyes of the universe. She was nothing, like always.

“Of course. Well, I enjoyed chatting with you, young lady, but I should heat back to the castle.” Coran stood up and left them alone. Luna focused on stroking Mascha. Didn’t want to hear, what Shiro had to say.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t attend to the meeting. You also should have been there.” Shiro apologized.

“Nah, don’t worry, I’m actually really glad I could skip it. Don’t be mad at me, but they are really boring”, Luna had to admit with a grin. Shiro looked surprised.

“You didn’t want to be a part of the meeting?”, Shiro asked confused.

“Of course not! God damn, the most of the time I don’t understand anything. I’m ten years old, Shiro! Alliance, planning a strategy, policy … this isn’t interesting me at all. I really enjoyed walking around with Coran and Mascha today. And I loved to make this flower crown for ya all. Just relaxing after a fight!”, Luna explained.

“Yeah … the meetings mostly are boring … but still … he insulted you! And I can see something is bothering you!” Luna’s smile dropped and she looked away.

“It’s … nothing …”, she mumbled.

“According to your reaction it’s not ‘nothing’!” Luna rolled her eyes.

“Shiro please! It’s dumb, it doesn’t matter! I don’t want to talk about it!” So, something was really bothering her. Luna completely turned away, avoiding his worried expression. It hurt Shiro a little bit. He wished she would open up more to him, so he could comfort her. But Luna always tried to deal with her problems all alone by herself.

“Sh-Should I get the others, so you can give them the flowers?”

For the rest of the day no one’s talked about the incident anymore. They preferred to comfort Luna everyone with their own way. They wanted to make sure, that Luna got a lot of attention and love, after being hurt. Luna was really thankful to them.

Midnight already passed, when Shiro woke up from a loud knocking sound on his door. Confused he rubbed his eyes and turned the lamp above his bed on, lit the room with a dim light.

“Someone out there?”, he asked sleepily. His door opened and Luna entered the room with a pillow in her hands and Mascha on her shoulder. Avoiding Shiro’s gaze she stared on the floor as if it would be lava.

“Luna?” Shiro asked more confused. The girl didn’t respond. She set down on the edge of Shiro’s bed still looking at the floor. Was she sleepwalking? Shiro set up in bed and stretched his hand out to reach Luna. He wanted to grab her on the shoulder to check if she was awake, but suddenly she started talking. Shiro flinched.

“It brought back memories.” Luna’s voice was really low, but thanks to the silence of the night Shiro could hear her.

“Huh?” The black paladin didn’t know what she was talking about.

“The words of the king about me … not being part of Voltron reminded me of my old days back at the orphan home, when I was invisible for the world … unimportant … now I see … I’m not just invisible for the world … I’m invisible for the whole universe …”, Luna explained. Even in this dim light Shiro could see the trail of tears on her cheeks and more tears were about to upcoming. Shiro wrapped his arms around the little girl and pulled her gently on his lap, before he started drawing circles on her back.

“That’s not true. If you would be invisible, I couldn’t see you, I couldn’t talk to you. You are important! Remember the day we met you? You and Hawk took out two Galra cruiser at once! You saved your lives. Without you Voltron possible wouldn’t exist anymore! Don’t listen to this stupid king! You are part of the team! Okay?” Shiro looked down at Luna. She buried her face into her pillow, sobbing. Shiro’s heart broke hearing her crying.

“Hey, everything is alright. We need you. As a teammate and as a friend. No one else except you could fly Hawk. He chose you because he knows you are worth it being a paladin”, Shiro continued.

“Thanks …” Luna looked up sniffling. Shiro gently wiped away the rest of tears on her cheeks.

“You’re feeling better?”

“Yeah a lot. Thank you, Shiro … Sorry for woke you up”, Luna apologized.

“Don’t worry, everything’s fine. You can bother me anytime. I don’t mind.” Shiro gave her a caring smile. Luna smiled in return and wrapped her arms around Shiro’s neck, giving him a hug. In the end Luna decided to stay in Shiro’s room, because he gave her the feeling of being safe and protected. The team leader didn’t mind. He was glad he could help her and that Luna slowly opens up to him. He wanted to protect her, giving her all the love, her parents couldn’t. He wanted to be the father Luna never had, be the family she never had. So Shiro made a decision on his own. When they get back on earth and peace is brought back to the universe … he will be adopted Luna.

#voltron #voltron legendary defender #vld #au!purple paladin #Family Shirogane #Takashi Shirogane #shiro #keith #Lance #Allura #Coran #Hunk #Pidge #fluff #keith kogane #lance mcclain

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 3 years

Text

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 211

211

Feeling Lance getting out of bed, Keith felt for his lover, Lance’s hand finding his after he’d half slapped him on the lower back

“Babe?”

“Getting a drink”

“Dun’ be too long”

“I won’t”

Coran was a bad loser. Pidge had annihilated him in Mario. Keith and Lance coming downstairs just as Coran started accusing Pidge of cheating. Five rematches later and Matt had taken the controller off Coran who started on a tangent about everything wrong with the game. To soothe the piece, Hunk suggested they do the cake now that Lance was awake to enjoy it.

Hunk had outdone himself with the cake. Keith had no words for how nicely decorated it was, nor did he have words for how big it was. As they were choosing not to know the sex of their twins, Hunk had used soft pastels to bring colour to the cake with fancy twirly things and edging that he didn’t know the name for. Comprised of three tiers, the top tier had two foot pints made from edible chocolate, coloured purple, circled by “Kogane-McClain Twins”. The second layer read congratulations. The third being just cute pastel icing. Had he not been embarrassed over his lack of baking knowledge, he probably would have asked Lance what all the decorations were properly called. The inside of the cake matched the outside. Pink, purple, blue, green, and yellow, comprising the layers with buttercream frosting between them.

Apparently their Sunshine Hunk couldn’t help himself, Lance crying on Hunk’s shoulder as he thanked him. Hunk crying on Lance’s shoulder as he assured him he knew he was grateful. Taking the top tier for themselves, they shared a plate, knowing there was no way there would be anything left once Matt and Rieva started. Having never eaten a “foot” before, Keith was impressed Hunk had managed to mould white chocolate so well. The man had skills. If he were to open a bakery, Keith’s bank balance wouldn’t be staying in the black very long.

After the cake came the presents. Their twins had to have a set a record for the most blankets and onesies. Lance kept saying they didn’t need anything else, everything making him cry... except for Shiro who would forever be the lamest big brother in history. Someone out there made custom onesies. Keith would like to meet them and strangle them. Four bloody onesies. Four bloody supernatural themed onesies that had passed Curtis’s tick of approval. Two vampire print and two werewolf print. Why did everything Shiro touched always have to come back to that? Curtis earned some point back with him by gifting them a box set of documentaries that he and Lance had watched half of when Curtis lived there.

Coran, now over his loss and perked up with sugar, gifted them herbal teas with a long lecture on which teas were best for which moods. Being tea, it all went through one ear and out the other. Allura’s gift of coffee made it clear she knew what a werewolf needed in his life, especially with the sleepless nights to come.

Krolia... Krolia’s gift was a set of tiny little blades for their twins. Keith confiscating them before his mother could get any ideas about training the twins to be hunters. That wasn’t the life they wanted for their kids. They wanted to watch them grow and explore the world, finding their own passions to chase. Lance politely thanked Krolia, but the look on his face said those blades were to disappear somewhere where their twins would never find them.

Shay had found “emo” baby blankets. Lance found them funny, as they reminded him of Keith. Keith couldn’t deny that they weren’t his favourite gift because they were kind of nifty with their black and white skull patterns and the green one had a really cool dragon pattern on it.

From Matt and Rieva, almost entirely most definitely Rieva’s idea, they were gifted a set of second hand Berenstain Bears books. She’d started secretly collecting when she’d found out Lance was pregnant. Mami gave a little help with the gift choice. Matt’s gift to them was taking Pidge home and spending a couple of days in Platt so they could have more alone time before the birth. Keith had a new favourite present.

Pidge drunkenly praising her skills over “suping up” the pram she’d gifted them. The thing now sporting wheels that “would make Lance’s dumb bronco cry in jealous”. Lance wasn’t sure about it all, but Pidge wouldn’t be dissuaded that the pram wasn’t now at its absolute best. Though no one argued with her directly about it, she was mid-rant when she threw up rather violently onto the rug. Krolia taking her to the bathroom, while Lance excused himself to throw up in the kitchen sink. Now there was two vomiting people, it was a mutual decision to start winding things up. Matt and Rieva in charge of getting a drunk Pidge home. Shay and Hunk also deciding maybe it was best to head off before Pidge came out the bathroom again. Their gremlin very loving and loud about it between throwing up and being soothed by Krolia. Coran and Allura were catching a ride back to Platt with Krolia, and with how green Shiro was looking, Keith sending them home.

Keith didn’t realise until everyone had left, that they’d been left with the mammoth task of cleaning everything up. Still, for all it’s ups and downs, it’d been a good party, though the pair of them did breathe a sigh of relief when silence descended over their home. Chores were done. Dishes washed. The rug scrubbed. Everything else outside could wait for another day as they climbed into bed together, both too sleepy for the night of promised passion. Lance still had moisturiser on his nose as kissed Keith goodnight. Keith smearing it out for him, thinking how lucky he was to have Lance... and how their friends had spent way too much money on them. He didn’t think he’d ever be used to such thoughtful gifts without waiting for a catch.

Dozing off, Lance’s spot was still empty when he woke up again. There were some nights was more out of their bed than in, but Keith couldn’t hear him in the bathroom. Trying not to panic, the werewolf climbed out from the mound of blankets on their bed. Most nights he’d find he’d kicked them off, too hot and too sweaty to sleep peacefully, like Lance did. Jogging over to the bathroom, he found it empty. Vaguely he remembered Lance saying he was his thirsty. If his fiancé’s insomnia had kicked in, then Lance was most probably sitting in the living room watching the TV on mute so Keith could get some sleep.

Sleepy and stumbly, Keith missed the bottom step of the stairs, hand flying out and denting the wall as he felt himself fall. Had the overwhelming scent of blood not been in the air, he might have paused to examine the damage he’d just done to the same spot Lance had repaired at least a dozen times since moving into his house

“Lance?! Babe?!”

Getting no answer from his fiancé, Keith’s heart started to race as his mind went to the worst possible situation. Lance could have slipped. He could be bleeding out. There was so much blood in the air, the werewolf’s stomach felt queasy.

Checking the rooms along the way, Kosmo had made himself at home in Matt’s and Rieva’s room, an interesting fact, though useless because Lance was on his mind. Reaching Lance’s office, the door was slightly open, the space illuminated by his computer screen. Flicking the light on, Lance hissed at him. Keith’s eyes widened in shock at the sight in front of him. Lance covered in blood. His fiancé hadn’t been kidding about being thirsty. Blood ran down his chin, and from his hands down his arms, not caring about how much of a mess he’d made feeding on blood bags he’d torn apart rather popping the cap on them. A quick count came to 8 bags scattered around Lance’s feet.

Watching Lance throw down the blood bag he’d just finished, the vampire tore into the next one, literally. His hands trying to push as much blood from the ripped bag down his throat as he could

“Babe? Babe, you feeling okay?”

Raising his head, Lance’s eyes were blank. That warm spark that always seemed to sparkly that just little bit bright for him was dull

“Babe?”

This couldn’t be good. Lance said he was thirsty. Not that he hadn’t fed in a year and was now making up for it. Keith felt revolted, and guilty for being revolted. His ego shocked into shutting up as they stared

“Baby, I think you’ve had enough blood. Here, let’s go back to bed? How does that sound?”

Lance didn’t reply. Keith forcing himself to slowly edge towards Lance. This was his Lance. His Lance wouldn’t savage him as he’d done with the blood bags. Nope. No. He was totally safe. Yep. Just a normal day in a vampire pregnancy. Nothing to see here

“Babe, come on, you’ve had enough for now”

Lance threw away the bag he’d drained, Keith using his speed to grab the bag he’d been going for out of reach. Watching the bag, Lance bared his bloodied fangs

“Baby, please. I know you’re in there. It’s me. It’s Keith. Come on, babe. Don’t let your ego push you aside”

Oh... oh. He was crying now. Keith didn’t know when that started. Had Lance not eating this much contributed to him feeling so ill? Was this how much blood a pregnant vampire needed in their final weeks of pregnancy? Placing the bag on the desk, Keith shifted the bags on the floor away with his foot, making it to crouching in front of Lance safely.

With shaking hands the werewolf reached out. His left hand going to Lance’s forehead as his right hand cupped his fiancé’s face. Blinking at him, Keith’s touch seemed to “wake” his lover. Warmth and confusion filling Lance’s eyes

“K-Keith?”

Looking down at his bloodied front, Lance’s gaze flicked back up, eyes welling with tears

“Wha... what happened?”

“You got a bit thirsty”

“But... h-how? The... party...?”

“The party ended hours ago, baby. You’re okay. You didn’t hurt anyone”

“I... I don’t remember”

The pain in Lance’s eyes was crushing

“Pidge started throwing up. Matt and Rieva took her home. Are you okay? You don’t feel warm”

“I don’t feel very good...”

“Okay. That’s okay. Do you think you can stand up?”

Lance went to look down his chest again, Keith holding his head up so he forced to look him in the eye

“You’re okay. It’s a just a bit of blood”

“I don’t remember”

“That’s okay. We were both exhausted when we went to bed. Just focus on me, baby. You can do that right?”

“I always focus on you”

Moving a stray lock of hair back, Keith gave Lance the best smile he could manage around his internal freak out

“Yeah, you do. You’re so good to me, babe. Let’s get you cleaned up and back into bed”

Lance nuzzled into his palm

“I’m sleepy”

Normally that much blood would turn Lance into an ego driven wanker

“I bet you are. You had a huge day and our friends are idiots. Let’s wash up, then we’ll snuggle”

Lance closed his eyes, sniffing sadly

“I’m sorry... I’m sorry I don’t remember coming down here...”

“That’s okay, baby. That’s okay. You’re okay”

Putting Lance to bed, Keith couldn’t sleep. Lance passed right out, but Keith was worried. Once the scent of blood had finally been cleaned away, a strange scent cling to Lance that left him feeling on edge. He didn’t like. The scent had him all muddled up inside, almost as if it’d given him a dose of adrenaline and he simply couldn’t sit still. Leaving his fiancé sleeping, Keith first headed to the bathroom to fetch Lance’s bloodied shirt and underwear, before heading downstairs. The one night he could have done with someone else there to tell him what to do, their house stood uselessly empty. Cleaning. That was about all he could do.

Crying as he scrubbed at the blood split in Lance’s office, he wondered how the heck he was supposed to deal with this. Lance had climbed into bed without prompting, even skipping getting in one last apology before zonking out. His fiancé needed his sleep, but should he have been waking him and taking him to Coran? Was he overreacting? It wasn’t like Lance had had a bleed, he’d checked when he’d towelled him down. Now that he was back to being himself, he’d been affectionate... but he couldn’t get the image of all that blood out of his head.

The torn bags thrown in the trash with Lance’s clothes, and the clothes from cleaning, the bin then dragged out to the road at Lance’s gateway for collection. Coming back to the house, Keith could hear Lance snoring, yet found himself unable to head upstairs with so much in his head. He needed coffee... and he really needed a fucking hug... Coffee at least was home and never failed at settling him, if he didn’t think about the times it had.

Settling himself on the edge of the sofa, Keith didn’t remember grabbing his phone when he’d left Lance sleeping. Kosmo coming quietly padding into the room, dropping himself to sit beside Keith’s legs with a soft whine

“I know. I’m worried about him too. Should I call Coran? Or am I thinking about this too much?”

He was so damn good at that. At his mind jumping to the worst case scenario. He’d always hate that about himself. He needed Shiro. They’d talked a little over lunch, but right now, Shiro was the only one he felt would understand his stupid fears. He loved Garrison, but the house felt so isolated that he felt truly alone. If the world outside had been destroyed, he’d be the last to know. God. He wanted his brother.

Resting his elbows on his knees, his right palm dug into his right eye as he held his phone with his left. The ringing continuing so long that he thought it’d ring out. It must have been the last ring when the call finally connected, Shiro’s voice groggy

“Keith?”

A fresh wave of tears hit. He’d woken his brother up...

“I’m sorry...”

In the background was the rustling of sheets, he picked up on the sound of the switch on Shiro’s lamp flicking on

“Hey, kiddo. What’s going on?”

What wasn’t going on...

“Keith? Hey... What happened? Is it Lance?”

“Shiro... I don’t know what to do”

Kosmo whined softly at his distress. Keith’s right hand moving to hug his best boy close

“I’m sure it’ll be okay. What happened?”

“I... I walked on him feeding... and there was so much blood. He was covered in blood. He wasn’t even... even aware of it. He didn’t remember coming down. I don’t know if he even remembers the party... I put him back to bed, but I don’t know what to do...”

In the background Curtis asked it was Keith, Shiro covering the bottom of his phone as he replied it was. Now he’d gone and disturbed Curtis too

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called...”

“Hey, no. No. You’re my little brother. I want you to rely on me. When you say you walked in on Lance, was he acting differently?”

“It was like he wasn’t even there. No. It was like I wasn’t there... He was so hungry...”

“Did he hurt you?”

“No. The moment he realised I was there he started panicking because he was covered in blood”

“How much blood are we talking about?”

“I threw out 10 bags... well, the remains of 10 bags. He tore into them as if he hadn’t eaten for ages”

In the background he heard Curtis asking for him to put Keith on speaker phone. He wanted to talk to his brother, not so much Curtis

“Hey, Keith. Does Lance have any other symptoms? Any bleeding? Changes in temperature?”

“No. No, I checked...”

“Okay. That’s a really good sign. Let him sleep for now. If his temperature drops or if he develops a fever, then call Coran”

Right. Curtis had originally been Lance’s babysitter. He didn’t doubt Curtis was lying to soothe him, but the curse would have handy right now

“Okay”

“Good. I know you’re worried about him, but he’s honestly better when you’re with him. I’ll let you get back to talking to Shiro, you don’t need me eavesdropping”

Keith instantly felt bad all over again. Shiro the one to the leave the bedroom, instead of Curtis as he told him to go back to sleep. A few moments passed before Keith heard the sounds of Shiro sitting on the sofa

“Sorry, kiddo. You know how much he likes Lance”

“I’m the one who’s sorry... I woke you up”

“Keith, you’re my brother. I’m glad I can here for you. What are you thinking?”

“That I could really use a hug right now”

“Oh, kiddo. This is Lance, he’ll be okay”

“But what if he’s not? He hasn’t been feeling well”

“I’m sure if it was serious he would have gone to Coran...”

“This him, he doesn’t want a fuss...”

Lance was so stupidly pigheaded about his desires not to be fussed over. He’d been so strong... now he was weakened

“Stop letting your head get the better of you”

“I didn’t say anything”

“I know you, kiddo. If he’s not better by the morning, bring him to Garrison. I know you’re going to worry yourself sick, but being there is the best thing you can do for him and your twins”

“Is... am I enough?”

“Keith, you’ll always be enough. He adores you. I might not have approved to begin with, but Lance has proven time and time again that he loves you. I know it’s tough, kiddo, but soon you’ll be father to your twins. You and Lance are going to get through this”

“God, I hope so...”

“You will. Now, get some rest. Lance is going to worry about you if look shitty in the morning”

“Lance always worries”

“Maybe we should get him a trophy for that?”

Keith gave a wet snort. If they were to do that, they’d constantly be trading the damn thing back and forth..

“Let’s not. Shiro... I’m worried for him”

“I know, kiddo. But this is Lance. He’s stronger than he looks. If he’s not better by morning, follow your gut instincts”

“I don’t know what my instincts are saying”

“They’re saying you’ll make the right call. Try to get some sleep”

“Yeah. I will... thanks, Shiro”

“Anytime, kiddo. Let me know it goes?”

“Yeah. I will”

Ending his call with Shiro, Keith tossed his phone to the other end of the sofa. Kosmo patiently sitting, still hugged close

“What do you think I should do?”

Trying to lick at his face, Kosmo wanted pats, not to be giving out life advice

“Yeah. I guess I’ll try get some sleep. The last two days have been a lot”

Training with Lotor. His talk with his mother. Seeing his father again. His talk with Lance. The party. Lance covered in blood. Yeah. He really should go to bed. If anything happened, he’d be there for Lance... hopefully making the right call in waiting until the morning.

#once bitten twice stupid #oncebittentwicestupid #ashratherose

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strangeroseart · 6 years

Text

Home Video

After Krolia left to continue her mission in space, Nathan started taking pictures and videos to document all the things he knew Krolia would be crushed to miss.

At 10 months Keith’s first word was the same as thousands of other children on Earth, but his father was still thrown into a quasar when he heard it. Anxiously getting out his camera, he tried getting Keith’s attention.

“Hey Keith, look over here. Can you tell daddy what you just said?” With a deep belly laugh, that he learned about a week before, he flails his pudgy hands and slaps them down on the soft baby blanket in front of him.

“Ma ma!”

For a moment all Nathan could manage was a sharp intake of breath, but his sons antics soon drew a smile on his face.

“What’s that, firefly?” he said. Keith’s response is to giggle and and slap his hands again. He chuckles, a little sad, but he keeps that out of his voice. “Nooo, that’s your blanky.”

It’s then that the baby boy screws up his face in an unpracticed look of consternation, grabs fists full of the blanket, and brings it up to his chest.

“Ma Ma!” He yells

“Keith that’s....” That’s his blanket, his purple baby blanket. He didn’t even realize the color when he bought it, just that it was soft and Keith seemed to like it. With a shaky voice he continued his one sided conversation.

“Do you remember your mama?” He slowly comes down to the floor on his knees, leaving the camera forgotten on a side table; father and son off center in its view finder. His voice now strained from holding back his sadness and the thought of his son recognizing the color of his mother’s skin.

“I miss her too, firefly.” He says while gently hugging his son on the floor.

It’s Keith’s first birthday and his father sprung for one of those small infant cakes instead of a simple cupcake. Close up, the one year old looks confused yet mesmerized by the singular lit candle on the cake.

“You have to blow it out like this,” Nathan says and proceeds to lightly blow on the candle making sure not to blow it out himself. Keith picks up on the example quickly and tries to mimic his father by blowing raspberries.

“That’s not going to work kiddo” he says with a chuckle. The boy tries two more times and his father decides maybe he should do it for him. Suddenly with the biggest intake of breath his little lungs could muster he leans dangerously close to the flame and blows the biggest raspberry he can. Just enough air and spit hit the wick to snuff out the flame.

“Well that’s one way to do it.” Removing the candle, he gestures toward the cake.

“Ok there spitfire, dig in.”

His son just stares down at the cake mesmerized by the designs in the frosting. With a chuckle, Nathan swipes some frosting onto his finger. Making sure he has the attention of his son, he pops the sugary substance into his mouth. Taking another swipe he brings his finger to Keith’s mouth and with curious eyes he opens his mouth and sucks on the finger. His eyes immediately go wide with elation. Licking his lips he stares in excitement at the rest of the cake and his father takes a step back in preparation of the decimation of the cake, and decimated it is. Keith grabs a chunk of the sweet and presses it to his mouth, smearing icing on his face in the process. He wiggles in his high chair unable to contain himself before continuing his destruction of his birthday cake; his father chuckling all the while.

Nathan is in the kitchen humming a melody he can’t quite remember while grabbing a snack for him and his now three year old son. Just as he finishes plating the food he hears the most alarming sound. A high pitched scream that borders on a young growl and a loud thump of something thrown against the wall. Briskly walking into the living room he sees his son in the center of the space, clenched fists on either side of his head covering his ears. A small turn toward the left wall reveals a group of blocks and a booklet on the floor; the wall sporting red and blue marks from the impact of the toys. Any other time he would have been angry at such destructive behavior, but it was more than clear that his son was distressed.

Quickly going over to the small boy, Nathan crouches down to Keith’s level looking him over for any injuries. Taking in the boy’s face, he notes the gnashed teeth and eyes screwed tight; his breathing erratic and on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Keith, hey, what’s wrong? What happened?” he said while gently, ever so gently, grabbing his son’s hands and bringing them down from his head. The boy gasped as his eyes shot open wide, pupils and irises shrunken to near slits surrounded by yellowed sclera. His eyes dart around his father’s face unable to find a point of focus. With a wail, he closes them again becoming inconsolable.

“Oh, this is what the daycare lady was talking about.” Nathan murmurs to himself. Releasing Keith’s hands, he lightly places his larger ones on his son’s small shoulders. “Sssh, firefly, it’s ok. Take a deep breath.” he says providing an example and Keith follows with a kind of shuddering breath that only children can do. “Ok, now can you tell what’s wrong? I can’t help if you don’t say.”

Through dry sobs and clenching teeth the small boy says in a near whisper, “It’s too big.”

“What is?”

“I..I don’t know!” Keith responds becoming more distressed again.

“Ok, ok we can just..”

What was he suppose to do? His heart ached; his son was experiencing something that definitely stemmed from his mother’s heritage. Without her here he was at a lose of what to do. How was he to care for Keith when he couldn’t even begin to understand what his son was going through?

Taking a calming breath of his own and shoving down his thoughts he made a decision.

“We can just sit here until you start to feel better. How does that sound?” he says while leaning to fully sit on the floor. Keith responds with a small nod and Nathan turns him around to pull him into his lap. They sit there through long, tension filled minutes until Keith finally sighs and leans back against his father’s chest.

“Feeling better now?”

Keith nods and asks “Can I have my snack now?”

“S-sure you can, firefly.” he says, hesitating before running his fingers through Keith’s soft hair and then continuing his initial task in the kitchen.

Nathan is filling out some forms for work at the kitchen table when he hears thumps of fast moving feet coming down the hall.

“Daddy, Daddy I got something to show you!” the soon to be five year old boy says hopping up and down using his father’s chair to steady himself in his excitement.

“Oh yeah, kiddo? What you got?” He says instantly forgetting the papers on the table as he pulls out the camera from his pocket, that has become permanently attached to his person by now.

“My tooth is loose! Look!” Keith says as he proceeds to tuck in his top lip and blow air in and out through his bottom teeth. One tooth in the front wiggles back and forth in time with each breath, and his eyes cross in concentration.

With laughter in his voice Nathan says, “Well look at that; it sure is. You know what this means don’t you?”

“No, what?” he asks with bright eyes.

“Means the tooth fairy will be comin’, soon as that baby comes out.” he says bending just a little closer to his son like he’s telling a secret.

“Tooth fairy?” Keith asks with a look of incredulity.

“Yup, when your tooth comes out. We’ll put it under your pillow and then the tooth fairy will come and take it and give you some money.”

Looking grossed out and confused the boy shoots off question after question. “Why would they give me money for my teeth? Why do they want my teeth?”

Nathan is taken aback by his son’s rapid fire questioning. Keith is definitely his mother’s son. “Well it’s their job and they give you money because you’re bein’ nice enough to give it to them,” he says

“That’s dumb,” he says matter of fact as he puts all his weight on his heels, and leans back using the chair to prevent himself from falling.

“Well, what were you going to do with it?” Nathan replies.

Shrugging his small shoulders he says, “I don’t know. Eat it, I guess.”

“What?! Why would you eat it?” His father questions, truly surprised at his son’s words.

Standing flat on his feet, he cocks out his hip, rests his hand on it, tilts his head to the side, and like it’s the most logical thing in the world replies, “It’s already in my mouth. Why wouldn’t I?”

The older man can’t help but to completely lose it and just laughs until there are tears in his eyes. Keith smiles, happy that he made his father laugh though not knowing why. When Nathan calms down, he says through lingering giggles. “Well, we don’t eat our teeth so let’s be nice and let the tooth fairy do their job. Want me to show you how to take it out?”

Keith nods hoping to make his father happy again while his father gets up to grab a tissue. The man then gets down on one knee to be at his son’s level. “Ok open up.” Keith follows the order and Nathan using the tissue pinches the loose tooth between his fingers. “Alright, kiddo, on the count of three I’m going to pull it out.”

“Uh huh,” is all the boy can manage to give the go ahead.

“One..” and he pulls it out with a quick jerking motion never intending to count the other numbers. “There we go.” Keith is in shock of the now vacant space in his gums as his father shows him the now removed tooth. He takes the offered tissue from his father looking at it with curiosity.

“So what do we do with this?” Nathan leadingly asks.

“I’m going to put it under my pillow, right now.” Keith says becoming excited and quickly runs to his room. Once he’s out of sight, his father plops down into his chair and chuckles while running a hand through his hair.

“He was going to eat it... God that kid says some crazy shit.” He says to himself, turns off the camera, and resumes filling out his work papers.

The kitchen table is covered in the rainbow colors of construction paper and crayons. The boy with a mop of dark brown hair falling into his eyes is sitting in a chair next to his father while they both are making masterpieces of similar caliber. When done they show off to each other the drawings of blue skies and hover bikes. Keith can’t help but giggle at his father’s attempt of drawing birds in his sky. He then grabs a blank piece of paper and starts something new. After a few minutes, Keith suddenly stops with a frown. He turns to his father interrupting the man’s drawing.

“Daddy, how come I don’t have a mom?”

“What? Who told you that?” says Nathan , preparing to fight any number of kids’ parents.

“There’s this girl at school who says we should be friends because she doesn’t have a mom neither.” Keith replies going back to adding details in his drawing. His father follows the motion and notices the drawing his son has done of their house, him and his father, but there’s an obvious space where another person should be. Somehow that empty space reflects rather perfectly the aching space that has grown in him over the past five years. In this moment it hurts just like the day she left.

He takes a long look at the camera on the table remembering why he bought it; to share these memories with her when she.. if she comes back. He turns in his chair to fully face Keith for once not attempting to keep his complicated emotions off his face. He knew this question would come up sooner or later, but he never figured out how to explain all the Whys and the Hows. Keith is still a bit too young to know the whole truth now, but he can’t even think of lying to him.

“You have a mom.” Nathan finally answers pulling Keith into his lap and grabbing a new piece of paper to start drawing. “She’s tall, smart as a whip, and strong, but the most beautiful thing about her was when she smiled. I think she smiled the biggest when she had you.”

“If she smiled so much, then why isn’t she here with us?”

“Because she had to leave...” He chokes up unable to finish the thought. “I’m sorry, firefly.” With a tear rolling down his face he looks away from his son and murmurs to himself. “I promised myself I wouldn’t cry.”

“Daddy! I’m sorry.... I’m sorry.” The boy pleads to his father, beginning to tear up himself. He hugs him tight around the neck and Nathan can’t help but reciprocate by wrapping his arms tight around the small body in his lap. They stay that way for a while, rocking back and forth as the tears run their course. Keith’s breathing evens out as he’s apparently cried himself to sleep. Having calmed, he notes his son’s sleeping face and brushes back the over grown bangs. Then he gets up carrying young boy out of frame to put him down for a nap. Left on the table, is a rudimentary drawing or a woman lined in purple.

He’s washing dishes when his soon to be eight years old son calls for him from up stairs. “Pa.”

Pausing to wonder when Keith stop calling him Daddy, he calls back, “Yeah?”

“Pa!” Now said with fear and definite urgency. Nathan throws the dish towel on his shoulder and drops the dish in the sink to immediately turn and run up the stairs. Is it another of his episodes? It’s been so long he thought Keith had grown out of them. He stops when he reaches the top and calls out.

“Keith, where are you?”

“Pa! In here.” His voice carrying the short distance from his father’s bedroom. Nathan quickly enters and is shocked into stillness at the scene before him. Keith is practically swimming in his work vest with one foot in a far too big boot, and he’s cradling a hand that’s freely bleeding down his arm. His scans the room frantically to find the cause only to spot the luxite knife on the floor out of its sheath, and an edge of its wrapping undone. He’ll deal with that later; first, is to fix his son’s hand.

He takes the towel from his shoulder and presses it firmly against the cut in Keith’s palm while instructing to hold it the same way. He then grabs the boy’s shoulder and leads him to the bathroom. He sits him down on the toilet lid and gets out First Aid Kit #2, he’s got four of these around the house. Nathan holds out his hand waiting for Keith to offer his wounded one for inspection. Thankfully, the cut isn’t too deep and he can get away with not sewing in stitches. Keith has gone silent refusing to look in his father’s direction while he cleans and wraps the wound. While raising the hand above Keith’s heart, he lets slip some of his worry and anger.

"Keith, what were thinking?”

Panicking, Keith tries to explain, “I was just playing when it fell out of the closet. I didn’t know it was that sharp.”

“How many times have I told you, that knife is not a toy.” Nathan says in a stern voice.

“I wasn’t playing with it! I was just looking at it,” says the kid; going on the defensive.

“Then how did you hurt your hand?” Nathan asks.

“I just... wanted to see what was under the wrapping.” Keith says, again avoiding eye contact.

“It’s there for the same reason I keep it in a sheath, because it’s dangerous. You’re lucky you didn’t lose a finger.” He sighs “You about gave me a heart attack.”

Keith pouts saying, “I’m sorry... I won’t do it again.”

“Good, now go to your room,” he orders letting go of the injured hand.

“But-”

“No buts. You’re staying in your room for the rest of the evening.”

Keith slowly rises from his seat on the toilet lid and slips passed his father to his room. He shuts the door louder than usual, but not enough to be considered a slam lest his father start yelling at him. Meanwhile, Nathan walks back to the bedroom and cleans up the few scattered clothes and shoes in front of the closet. He lingers on the knife just a moment before expelling a long sigh of frustration and putting it away.

It’s a week day, and he’s driving Keith to school for his fifth week of fourth grade.The early morning is beginning to warm with the ever rising sun despite it being early autumn and with the promise of another warm day Nathan glances at his son, taking in his bored expression.

“Your birthday’s coming up soon. You ready to finally be in the double digits?” He asks.

“You mean so I can start aging in decades like you?” He replies with a wry grin.

“Hey! You don’t do that at ten.. You start at forty, and then it’s down hill from there.” He replies with a smile, making his son laugh. They fall into a comfortable silence as he rounds a street corner; the school becoming visible in the distance.

“So, you got anything you just been dying to have for your birthday?” he asks as he pulls into the designated drop off area of the school.

“Can I get my own hover bike?!” Keith quickly and with much enthusiasm replies, his eyes shining with hope.

“Well, I don’t know about a hover bike.” He says trying to avoid eye contact.

“Then, can we at least get a store bought cake?” Keith offers.

“What’s wrong with the cakes I make?” Nathan asks in indignation.

“Nothing, except the last two were more like moosh than cake.” He says as he makes a the most sour face at the memory.

“Ok, ok, you have a point. I’ll get store bought. Now, you better get moving before the lady behind us starts popping a vain.” Keith then gets out and rounds the front of the vehicle, but before he makes his way to the front doors of the building his father calls out. “Oh Keith, I’ll try and get off early today ok?”

“Ok! See you later.” He replies.

“Ok, love you, firefly.” His father says emphasizing the ‘love you.’ Keith just rolls his eyes and makes a sound of exasperation before failing to resist smiling and turns to walk into school.

For the next ten minutes Nathan drives to work quietly singing along to the radio and sometimes making comment on the commercials. After pulling into the station, he makes the usual rounds of morning greetings and stops at his locker to get changed. Only when he removes his shirt does he remember the camera that’s been recording most of the morning drive. He’s about to turn it off when a thought occurs to him and he flips it back around to place himself in frame, revealing a large scar on his right shoulder. Not for the first time, he directly addresses the camera.

“He’s turning ten soon, can you believe it? It’s been almost ten years.” He pauses with a look of contemplation before continuing. “Maybe it’s time I tell him about the knife.. and about you.” He smiles at the thought of Keith’s mother before getting distracted by the sudden alarm. The last frame of the video is a look of determination on Nathan’s face before it blurs and goes black.

#strangeroseart #vld keith #vld texas #vld krolia #keith's dad #writing #vld fanfic #angst #fluff #i don't usually write but this really wouldn't leave me alone until i got it out #this came from the fact that i and everyone i know has box of all our childhood photos i figured Keith would be similar

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stardust-and-blades · 5 years

Text

Lost Future AU pt.5

I honestly should just make this an AO3 story, what is with me and tragedy

(EDIT): Dumb bitch don’t even know what parts these are but I think I fixed it

----------

Beep...Beep...Beep...

Lance does not remember falling asleep. His body doesn’t recognize the bed underneath him, his bones slowly awakening from paralysis and gliding across rough, white sheets. Lance blinks away the sleep, his hand moving to rub away the flecks dusting his eyelashes. But when he does it is heavy; held down by an unknown force. When he tried to bend it, a sharp pain shoots up his arm, Lance grunting in response. Why did his arm hurt so much, and why is it heavy?

“Shh, lay down, mijo.” A woman says, placing a hand on his shoulder and gently pushing him back down. Lance’s vision is blurry, but he can make out the wild, fluffy curls and kind blue eyes he has been raised with. His mother brushes his hair back, ignoring the slick coating her palm and fixing the blankets around Lance.

“Mama?” Lance says groggily. “What...Where am I?”

“You’re at the hospital, dear. You were in a very bad accident.” She says all too gently. “They called me as soon as they brought you in.”

“An...accident.”

Yes, he is starting to remember now. The semi, the slick roads, his inability to control the car at 30 miles an hour in a 50 zone--

The flash of red cloth engulfing his vision before he was surrounded by darkness.

Him coming into consciousness briefly, calling out a name... a name dear to him. A name he spoke many times in the past four years. A name he yelled when irritated or bursting with excitement, a name he called out to in the heat of passion, bruised lips and hot skin invading his senses. The name he uttered in the darkest corner of the room, his face wet from a horrible day. The name he giggled when he surprised the person on their birthday, the one dripping with adoration and honeyed pet-names, despite the other blushing red and hiding in the hood of his jacket.

The name he took a knee for and wrapped metal and a diamond around his finger, twirling him around in their small apartment at the happiness they were bestowed.

The name drenched in his own blood as they hung from their seats, dark hair covering his face while being caked in his own rivers of crimson.

The name he shouted to the officers for them to save when he was semi-conscious, losing his grip on situation as he was pulled yet again into a dark embrace.

He suddenly tries to sit up, letting out a small howl of pain as the wrapping around his ribcage pierces into him. He is fully awake now, and he needs to know what happened.

His mother pushes him down again as his head whips around, scanning his room for a second bed. For a second comatose body with Shiro at the side, fallen asleep from the long night of “what ifs” and shuffling doctors.

“Keith--where is Keith?” He asks, wild. “He was with me in the car. Is he okay? Where is he? Where is him and Shiro?”

“Lance, Lance my boy,” she hushes. “Please lay down, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

He stops, his worried irises meeting sad, avoiding twins. His mother didn’t answer his question. Why is her jaw clenched shut, her eyes swimming with unshed tears? Why did she wince when Lance set his attention on her, his desire for an answer growing bigger than him. Why did her hand tighten around his uninjured one, covering the engagement ring his wore with pride?

“Lance...About...About Keith...”

“What? What about him? Mama, please tell me he is okay. “

She closes her eyes, a tear falling out. “My dear boy...I am so sorry.” She closes her mouth, covering it with a fist as she breathed in, her core shaking. Breaking for her youngest. Cursing the fates for turning their backs on them. Lance sat there, frozen in place as his mother cried, not connecting two and two together. She must be crying because he is in critical condition. It must be. That would explain Lance in a stable unit. Keith is in the ICU, being monitored by doctors and nurses alike, Shiro anxiously waiting for Keith to wake up from the injuries. Afterall, he couldn’t be--he couldn’t be--

“Lance, he passed away. When the paramedics arrived on the scene, it was already too late.”

The ice keeping him at bay shattered. It plunged him into a sea of deadly waters and stabbing icicles. It seized his veins and altered them into brittle snowflakes, melting with the antarctic. The iceberg, carefully concealed by the frosted fog and endless depths, hit him as hard as the titanic. He can feel himself breaking--his mind unravelling as the realization hits him.

Keith is no longer in the world.

Lance does not immediately react. He is completely still in his mother’s arms, eyes unseeing as they stare at his itchy blanket. He isn’t even sure if he is breathing. All he can process is the ring on his finger will never become a wedding ring. That its partner is not hooked up to IV’s and held by its adopted family, but cold and wrapped around a finger with no pulse; the red stone living in a crevice now surrounded by its owner’s blood.

No, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. This isn’t right. This has to be a joke. A cruel, cruel joke. Keith was just right next to him. He was holding Lance’s hand at a stop light. Joking about the decor being too fancy. The two betting against the other on who is going to cry first at the reception.

But now it is like he is drowning. Like he is running to Keith; reaching out to him. Begging him to come back. But Keith can’t hear him. Lance can’t touch him. His back is to Lance, facing a light Lance cannot follow. Deaf to his love’s screams. Blind to what the light represents.

Don’t go. Please don’t leave me. You promised. You promised we would be happy.

It isn’t until his mother’s arms tightens and whispering his favorite song that he realizes he is crying. She only sang the song when he was upset. And he is upset, but it does not bring him relief. It just makes him cry harder, Lance burying his face in her arms as she joins him in his sadness. She loved his fiance as if he were her own son. She can recall the moment Lance introduced him to her, a nervous young man who hid behind his gloves and striking, defensive indigo eyes. How he stiffened when she welcomed him with warmth, yet embraced her with as much care. He wasn’t as enthusiastic, but she knew his reciprocation spoke louder than words. He didn’t hug often, but when he did he made it count.

And he made it count to love her son. When she heard the news and saw Shiro outside of the room they tried to revive him in one last time, she was hit with a wave of pain in her chest, it bleeding for her son and the loss of the boy she desperately wanted to call son-in-law.

She doesn’t leave Lance’s side. Not when he exhausts himself of tears, and not when he requests to see the body. He is on crutches, yet he does not let that stop him.

She held his hand like when he was a little boy--scared of the new world and gripping his mother’s dress as the kindergarten teacher aided in prying him off of her.

Now it is her prying at him, wishing him to not look at the dead body. Asking him if he is sure in his decision. Internally wanting to cover his eyes and lead him back to bed.

But she lets him go and watches as he moves the dark hair away from the pale, scarred face, Keith’s expression looking to be more asleep than dead. Lance gazes down, ignoring the shivers coursing through his bones from the temperature.

He bends down and kisses Keith’s far too cold forehead. As he does, she can see a small tear land on Keith’s cheek, as if he too is crying for the happiness stolen from their fingertips.

#shania writes #klance #klangst #keith kogane #lance mcclain #VLD #voltron #lost future au #oOPS #I need to write fluff rather than angst wrow

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omggiogiothings · 6 years

Text

Newborn & Disneyland

Here’s the Disneyland Au with word building I shouldn’t be putting into a drabble series but WhaTEVER.

Here’s the other drabble where baby Fumiko is older LINK

Here’s the link to ao3!

“Lance, I dunno.” Keith dried off his hands, coming into the living room to fix his friend with a harsh stare. Fumiko was curled up in Lance’s arms, reaching out with her chubby hands to occasionally bat at his face. He only replied by playing with her fingers and cooing at her.

Lance jostled her with a grin as Keith joined him. He had washed out a few bottles that were piling up and while Shiro was at work, dealing with some Galaxy Garrison stuff, Lance came to keep him company. Shiro was somehow making it work for them by taking up Keith’s shifts if he could. Keith was on paternity leave, recovering from birth and taking care of their newborn.

“Come on! We have to check out Disney, I’m surprised we haven’t! Plus, it’s a thing parents do to their kids!” Lance held Fumi in the crook of his arm, cooing at her, “Yes we do, yes.”

“What? Take her to Disney? She won’t remember it.” Keith smiled as Fumi wiggled and managed to jab Lance in the eye when he wandered too close. Lance took it in stride, merely wincing and embracing his fate.

“That’s the point! So when she’s older and complains you never took her. Blam! Slam those pictures down!”

Keith shook his head, “I don’t think this would be a problem, like. Ever. Especially with us.”

“Keith,” He drawled out. “Have you ever been to Disney?”

Keith snapped his mouth shut, annoyed instantly.

Lance grinned, “Good. We can take you both for your first trip to Disney then!”

“It’s expensive.” Keith complained. “I’m out of work, until my leave is completely done with.”

“Keith, have you been without Fumi ever since you had her?” Lance asked, giving him a side look that meant he was about to open a problem and tell Keith how it was. Keith hated it.

He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. His one-month leave had just finished and Shiro had pushed it for another two weeks just because they needed to find a sitter. But Keith was unsure how he could leave Fumiko with someone he didn’t trust. Fumiko was his baby, just seeing her unhappy made him upset.

“Look, I don’t wanna pry in your business, but you have to remember you got your life to live too. And I told you, if you ever need a sitter I could ask my mom, maybe even my sisters.”

Keith pursed his lips, watching Fumiko stare around at them, snuggling back near Lance. “I know, but. Ughhh.”

He held his arms out and Lance sighed, handing over his bundle of joy. The first time Shiro had to go into work after they brought Fumiko home was a wreck. Shiro cried, Fumiko cried, Keith cried. Everyone was crying.

He cradled her close, smiling at her hazel eyes as she stared around at him. She sucked on her pacifier, almost completely oblivious. She was perfect. “I don’t think I’m ready.” He mumbled.

“You can't take her to work strapped to your chest.” Lance pointed out casually. “Look, I get why you’re hesitant about dropping her off at daycares. She has glowy eyes. My family can keep it under wraps, just gotta make out the longer drive. Let us help out with the baby and get this alliance with the universe on the road.”

Keith sighed, nestling his baby close as she closed her eyes. The glowing eyes had come as a surprise. She looked human enough but there were small things here and there that gave away to her Galra heritage (Shiro had kissed his shoulder when they noticed, whispering “Well, at least we know it skips a generation.”). Keith didn’t even have himself to base it on. All records of him as a baby didn’t even exist. By all research and studies into biology, Keith shouldn’t exist, Fumiko should exist even less but here she was, in his arms.

The thought of someone noticing her alien differences made them especially cautious. The last thing they needed to do was tell the U.N that Keith had parentage from aliens.

Keith had met Lance’s mother. The woman had demanded to meet them once Lance got in contact with them when they first arrived. She had hugged them all and invited them to thanksgiving and Christmas every year. She had also knitted beanies and dresses and a bundle of store bought clothes for Fumiko too. When Keith first announced his pregnancy, Lance had passed on the news and apparently his mother had screamed.

Lance’s family would take care of Fumiko. He had no doubt about it. But his nervousness of releasing his baby to other people still struck him. He was sure there was a handbook that said what he was feeling was normal for an Omega but he wanted to shove that book up some pretentious person’s ass (All the baby books were about the joys of reproduction and the happiness of being an Omega. The only good part of it was letting him know what was gonna happen and if it was good or bad depending on how sugar coated the words were).

“I’ll think about it.” He decided, and Lance figured that was as far as he was going to push today so he got up and picked up some stuff on the coffee table.

“Good, now about Disneyland.”

“Ughhhhhhhh.”

By the time Fumiko was two months Keith and Shiro had a long discussion on taking her to Lance’s mothers place.

Keith couldn’t push leave longer, so he embraced the fact he’d have to return and let someone watch his baby.

He also spent hours on the phone with Laura (Lance’s mother) who reassured him constantly on the wellbeing of his child. She also confirmed his weird instincts and his disgruntled voice made her laugh. She let him ask question over question and didn’t care when they were about how she’d take care of Fumiko.

Lance had given him a knowing grin afterwards and Keith tossed a bottle at his stupid face.

Getting back into the swing of work was hard too. He was mostly Shiro’s second hand, overseeing decisions and adding input when he could (Lance had filled in his role well when he was on leave, but Lance had his own sector on earth overseeing a completely different mission, allowing the immigration of alien life on earth). But Shiro was the driving force in getting some sort of treaty with laws in policies in trading between earth and other galaxies. Keith quickly took place in paperwork and getting things clear between parties. He was also the scary face that could get politicians sweating with a single look. They had been hailed as heroes for saving the earth (that battle had been broadcasted worldwide with their identities kept a secret). But now that they were here, they worked to advocate on helping Earth progress. The United Nation hated them but only because they learned how to work the system in their favor after doing so for thousands of different planets. Allura was also a major force around the world and the galaxy. They all were working hard to get her on earth. She deserved to have a family with Lance. She deserved to meet the McClain family.

It was worse staying still when he knew his baby was somewhere without him. But it got easier as she got older and he got used to Laura taking care of her.

He watched her reach milestone after milestone and his phone filled up with photos of her that he shared with the others when he could. Allura seemed to love the ones he took with her wearing lion and Voltron related pun shirts (I’m not lion, I'm the mane attraction). Coran was delighted in the ones where she wore tiny costumes. His typing was outrageous, but they appreciated it.

Disneyland came back when she was five months, bigger and starting to make more noise. Lance brought it up, roping Hunk and Pidge into it, and then Shiro betrayed him the moment he learned Keith had never gone.

“It’s fun.” Shiro tried, smiling despite the glare on Keith’s face. “Everyone’s gone to Disney, at least once. I promise it will be totally worth it.”

It took a few months before Keith caved.

Lance bought Fumiko a princess dress (there was a lot of fighting on who it would be and Keith was ready to call it off before everyone called a truce) with matching earrings and pacifier. Keith had taken bibs because he knew with the way she drooled when she was teething it would ruin the dress in an instant.

He spent days deciding what to take and even longer finally realizing he was going. The night before Shiro had taken apart the diaper bag when they couldn’t find Fumi’s favorite teething ring before realizing it had been thrown into the corner of her crib.

“We’re a little bad at this.” Shiro admitted, the next morning with Fumiko strapped to his chest with a baby carrier. Keith fastened the buckles, throwing a blanket over the slumbering baby and making sure Shiro was set. He paused, seeing the look on Shiro’s face.

“Shiro, weren’t you the one who told me no one was perfect with parenting?”

Shiro frowned, looking down at Keith. “Yeah. Guess I did. I’m just a little worried I guess. Which is a little dumb after the mess we went through getting you to go.”

Keith gently patted his cheek, curling his hand when Shiro leaned into it with a sigh. “We can always back out. We’re new to this. But I think she’s perfect and she has a bunch of uncles and one tiny aunt looking after her. Not to mention her fathers.”

Shiro opened his eyes, smiling and kissing the palm of Keith’s hand. “Of course she’s perfect. She’s your daughter.”

Keith rolled his eyes darting up to kiss him gently. “So, what’s the call?”

Shiro hummed, licking his lips. “Let’s go.”

“Good. Now let me take the carrier off you and we can get all this stuff in the car.”

“I can’t believe we decided to check if it fit the day we were going.”

“Didn’t we just say we weren't perfect? That isn't changing anytime soon.”

Shiro laughed.

They picked up Pidge and Hunk with Lance meeting them there with the tickets. Lance was trying to win over Fumiko for favorite uncle (a spot Hunk and he were fighting each other for) and wanted to make sure everything was set for her.

Shiro drove, sticking his tongue out at Keith in the rearview mirror when Keith caught his eye. Leaning over the car seat to feed Fumiko, he grinned and flipped him off, making Shiro bark out a laugh.

Arriving in the parking lot they took their time getting everything out. Pidge took first baby carrying watch as Keith fitted the carrier to her smaller form. Fumiko chewed on Pidge’s shirt without rest, pretty grey eyes staring at the freckles on Pidge’s chest (the color had darkened, quickly changing to match Shiro’s eyes). They saddled themselves with their packs stuffed into Fumiko’s stroller and got ready to meet with Lance.

It was packed, as they all had expected, and it was surreal to think they were galactic warriors going to Disneyland of all places. There was no threat of the world on the balance. Only an eight-month-old baby covered in spit.

Lance greeted them, giving them all tickets and leaning around Shiro with a wide grin as he mapped out their trip. Keith would begrudgingly give spot of favorite uncle to Lance if it didn’t mean Hunk would cut them off of his famous cookie supply (a god send when Keith was pregnant).

Keith had to admit, as the day went on that Disney was great. It was flamboyant and over the top. Everything was decorated the best it could have been. They took cheesy pictures in front of the castle and rode basic rides that Fumiko was able to go on. Keith stayed out with the baby when they went on rides not meant for her. Mainly because Fumiko was anxious at first, being around people she couldn’t recognize by smell. Having her close to his heartbeat made her relax. Eventually he was able to put her in the stroller where she played with her toys and made noises at everybody that passed.

She was adorable. She was really the best of them both.

“Wanna go on space mountain?” Lance asked them, kneeled in front of Fumiko’s stroller and playing with her as Shiro and Keith looked over a map together.

Keith hummed, frowning at the ride on the corner of the map. “Who will sit out with Fumiko?”

“Actually.” Lance grinned. “I was thinking we can take her to the nemo ride and you two can try out space mountain?”

Both turned to him insanely fast.

Lance held out his hands in a surrender fashion. He held it for a second before Fumi’s outraged cry for the toy wrapped on one of his fingers made him put them back into her reach. “Hear me out. You two haven’t gone a ride together yet without her. She will be fine. You have all three of us watching her.”

Keith frowned, already feeling nervous but knowing it would be nice to have just Shiro to himself. He shared a look with Shiro who was frowning, considering. Shiro gave a small shrug, “It would be nice for a bit. But promise you’ll only take her to Nemo and you won’t let her out of your sight.”

Shiro’s commanding voice made them all straighten up. If anything happened to her there was no doubt in all their minds they’d have to face Shiro’s wrath.

Keith, glaring from behind him reminded them they’d have hell to pay from him too.

“Got it. I promise.”

With that settled they headed their separate ways with Keith kissing Fumiko goodbye.

In line together, Keith took the chance to appreciate his husband and mate. Shiro was wearing a jacket over a tank top (that had a mickey face on it, a gift from Pidge that said I’m his) and a pair of mickey mouse sunglasses pushed up his forehead, white bangs peeled away from his face. He was handsome and Keith wasn’t the only one appreciating the view if the shy looks he saw from teenage and older women and men.

Keith grinned, linking their hands together. Shiro had the idea to throw on some gloves, only to hide the prosthetic (was it cheating if the material his arm was made out of technically not metal? He didn’t get signaled out by the metal detector and it was a weapon technically made by the Alteans. Not that anyone knew that last part). But still looked endearing.

Shiro’s slim figure did make him just a bit jealous. They had been a fit couple for a very long time, but Keith was still carrying some baby weight from Fumiko. It wasn’t as easy to shed but Shiro had never made him feel like it mattered. Only Keith thought it was gross when he saw the stretch marks and thought of what his body used to be. But then, thinking about Fumiko and the absolute elation they both had when she had come into the world made it worth it. He could lose the weight, but Fumiko wasn’t something he would ever think about losing.

They chatted about easy things. They made fun of the ducks fighting around them and then talked about the day itself. The line was taking forever but Keith enjoyed being tucked under Shiro’s arm, flicking through his phone to pull up images from the day and decide which ones to send Coran and Allura.

Shiro sighed, squeezing Keith close. “Sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve all this.”

Keith looked up at him, finger stilling over the screen. “What do you mean?”

Shiro smiled softly as he looked at the flashing lights of the ride. “You. I feel like I don’t deserve you or what you’ve given to me. Fumiko and you are the center of my world. And family outings like this is something I had never considered. I guess I’m kind of sappy right now.”

Keith gently nudged him. “You deserve it. Sometimes… I feel like I don’t deserve you.” He grinned at the look Shiro shot him. “Can’t blame me. Having a family seemed like such an insane possibility. I’m really glad I got to share one with you.”

Shiro held his gaze before they leaned in for a kiss, a soft brush of lips that still melted Keith’s heart every time.

“God, Fumiko is gonna hate us when she gets older. Having two saps for dads.”

Keith laughed, gently shoving Shiro back.

Lance was going to die.

Not a good death either. Maybe Shiro will spare him and make it quick.

Hunk and Pidge had left for a second and Lance had parked the stroller to give Fumiko some juice but the bottle had slipped, rolling down the pathway. He quickly moved to grab it, glancing back to the stroller and then grabbing it. He was momentarily hit by a crowd but found the stroller and leaned over to give Fumiko her drink only to freeze.

Blue eyes stared back at him. He gazed at the baby in the stroller, older then Fumiko and not Fumiko.

“Oh my god.” He whispered, pulling back and looking around. The other strollers were empty and none the same brand as the one he was holding and the one that had his darling niece in it.

Oh my god, Shiro was going to kill him.

He looked back at the baby and realized he wasn’t the only one who fucked up.

But also, who the fuck would take the wrong stroller?!

“Hey man, do you wanna wait by the-what’s wrong?” Hunk held a water bottle only stopping when Lance didn’t look up.

“I’m gonna die.”

Pidge popped up and looked down before freezing too. “Who is that?”

“I don’t know! I dropped the bottle and went to grab it really quick! I came back, and this kid is here!”

“What do you mean?!” She shrieked. She quickly scaled Hunk, making him yelp but Hunk didn’t care, only holstering her up on his shoulders for her to look. “Someone just came in and stole her?”

“Yes! Who the fuck does that?!”

He ignored the dirty looks parents shot him. It’s their fault, they just let some random ass family take his niece!

“Oh my god, Shiro is going to kill us.” Hunk whispered and they both swallowed. Shiro was terrifying, they knew from experience.

Pidge scowled, ripping open her purse and pulling out a pair of binoculars she had stolen from Coran ages ago. She looked around, scanning the crowd and then gasping. “I’m so stupid! This thing is a Galra scanner!”

They had never in their lives been so happy that Fumiko had that strand of DNA in her.

She clicked and looked around, before freezing and screeching. “THEY’RE HEADED FOR THE STAR WARS RIDE! GO, GO, GO!”

Hunk ran in an instant, holding onto Pidge. Lance grabbed their bags and put them onto the stroller and took the little boy with him. This kid was in for a ride because Lance was booking it.

Thinking back on it, jumping the mother holding Fumiko’s stroller wasn’t Pidge’s greatest idea but Lance had followed her lead and taken down the other adult with her. Hunk had screeched and tried to separate them while stopping to smile at Fumiko and the other kid in the stroller to keep them calm.

They were making a scene and the possibility of being escorted out by security was becoming very probable.

Until Keith said, “What the hell is going on?”

Lance and Pidge froze, Hunk almost sobbing while the other mother stretched out his shirt collar.

Shiro and Keith stared at them, holding hands and confused.

“She took Fumiko!” Hunk screamed, always the first to cave under pressure.

“Who are you?! You jumped on me!”

“Nice try lady! I left to pick up a bottle and you snatched her up!” Lance looked like he was going to bite her again and she growled.

But then she saw the stroller to the side with her son in it and paled. “Oh my god we took the wrong stroller.”

Shiro and Keith stared for the longest moment before Keith let go of Shiro and ripped everyone apart.

“Get the bags Lance.”

Lance did as told, making no quips even as the lady went to fuss with her son. “There was no reason to jump on me.”

Keith cut her off quickly. “If you were better at looking at who was in the stroller, we wouldn’t be in this mess. So buzz off before I kick your ass. I don’t care if I’m kicked out of disney or not.”

She hightailed it out there at the sight of his glare.

Keith sighed, undoing Fumiko from her stroller and glaring at the three guilty ex-paladins. “Not a word.”

Keith and Shiro ripped into them the moment they all had their ice cream cups and Fumiko was being fed by Shiro. Keith held her close, refusing to let go of her. Shiro refused to let either of them wander too far.

Getting scolded by Shiro was one thing. When Keith did it, it was like disappointing two parents.

“I’m sorry.” Lance admitted, not even budging on starting his ice cream like Pidge and Hunk. “I promised you we’d look after her and fucked up. I swear it was just a second. I didn’t think it would be long enough to lose her. If anything had happened to her. I would have never forgiven myself. I’m so sorry.”

Keith stared at Lance for a long moment and sighed. He knew the others cared about Funiko deeply. They had all loved her when she hadn’t been born yet just because she was Keith and Shiro’s baby. Lance had slaved for their tickets and had been the best friend Keith could have asked for. Lance was a dick, there was no doubt about that and it may have taken years, but Keith wasn’t scared to tear him down when he was being a jerk to him. And Lance learned from his mistakes. He knows when he fucks up and he knows when to make it better. When Keith finally told him off when they were younger, Lance didn’t make an excuse. He understood, and he made amends.

That’s why Keith knows Lance would have done everything he could if something serious had happened to Fumiko.

Well, biting on the ankle of an innocent civilian was endearing when you think about it.

Shiro looked like he was still stewing over it, but Keith knew it was just the fear that she could have been lost and they weren’t even there to stop it.

He leaned and took Shiro’s hand, making him look up. Shiro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I know. I know you this was an accident. I am still really disappointed, but I’m also scared. I trust you guys with my family because you are my family. But Fumiko’s safety is always my top priority. You guys have to understand nothing matters more.”

“We know.” Pidge whispered, looking up with shinning eyes. “We know that because she’s our priority too. We love her, Shiro. We’d fight another war for her. We’d never do this intentionally.”

Shiro softened, looking aytall of them hunched over like sad puppies. He caved and shared a look with Keith.

Keith took a second and instantly knew what to do.

“Here’s how you guys can make it up to us.”

They went home with a stuffed Stitch nearly 3 times Fumiko’s size.

Pidge, Hunk’s and Lance’s wallet would bleed for the next month.

#sheith #shiro x keith #i love sheith family au #vld #voltron #Voltron legendary defender #minor allurance #only mentioned #they have a baby!#so yay!#here's the second piece of this nonsense rip me #baby fumiko #omggiogiothings #sheith family au

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