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autisticlancemcclain · 1 year

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fic rec friday 22

welcome to the twenty-second fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. you’re the one that never lets me roam by @littendeservesbetter

If any of his teammates were insulted—if Allura’s leadership was doubted, if Hunk was called too soft, if Pidge was underestimated, if Keith was attacked for his Galran heritage—Lance would defend them in a heartbeat. He knows his team and he loves his second family. He’d defend them to the universe and back.

So why wouldn’t they do the same for him?

season 7 episode 4: Lance's thoughts after the game show.

this fic is genuinely one of my favourite handlings of that piece of shit episode ever fr. its klance BUT also not a half-assed apology!! im not articulating this right but my point is that this is handled so well and god bless my fellow lance stans

2. xo by @thespacenico

keith confesses to lance hoping that the expected rejection will help him move on ASAP. it doesn't quite go according to plan.

darcy does not miss!! seriously her fics always make me smile. my two favourite parts of this fic were that a) when lance didn’t know who keith liked he assumed immediately and wholeheartedly it was hunk. that’s golden right there and b) shiro is a DRAMA LOVING BITCH

3. for you only by @paprbee

"Be mine," Keith mumbles, pleas, against Lance's lips, unwilling to pull away. "Yes," Lance whispers, smiling as Keith brushes their lips together again, pressing up and forward to kiss Keith properly. "You too... be mine, too." "I am," Keith tells him when they break apart reluctantly, their foreheads pressed together, tip of their noses touching, Keith's arms squeezing Lance gently in their hold around his waist and lower back. "I'm yours."

okay i cannot describe how much this fic makes me lose my mind in my own words i literally have to give you guys a snippet of the fic that made me actually cry real tears and struggle to breathe:

"Baby," Keith says softly and it sends a thrill through Lance, hearing pet names from Keith is so rare he always melts when he does hear them, specially when they're whispered against his lips this way. He presses a soft chaste kiss into Lance again before he continues to mutter softly. "My baby, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you."

its just. the devotion. the repetition. it always fucking gets me. from keith especially, bc hes such a devoted guy!! he is loyal to a goddamn fault and beyond like!!! thats how he loves!! with his whole heart his whole body his whole soul his own being!! he loves and loves and loves!!!

4. i’ll be your romeo by @jilliancares

In a world where Soul Marks show up only after your soulmate has fallen in love with you, it's rare for them to appear when you're not already in a relationship. It's even rarer for them to show up when you're standing on a chair in your favorite coffee shop, screeching at the sight of a spider. Lance becomes well-acquainted with this brand of "rare", and he gets the cute barista, Keith, to help him with the search for his soulmate.

first of all soulmate aus my beloved. second of all jillian fics my beloved. third of all this fic is SO dorky and i love it!! i was hooked by the first scene bc it was just so funny. the way keith falls for lance...hes such a goober i love him

5. finally, you’re mine by @nezueye

“I need you to do me a favor.”

“Okay. Anything,” Keith says easily.

[...]

“Okay so, I just need-“ Lance sighs. He pushes his hands through his hair and braces himself. “I need you to break my heart. Once and for all.”

Keith chokes on his next words. “Excuse me?”

“Break my heart.”

- or -

Does Lance finally get the guy?

this is another devotion fic bc i am fully and completely obsessed with them. i made a seperate rec for this fic a couple months ago bc it truly made my breath stop like i could not process. there were three scenes in particular that made me gasp out loud and make my heart pound. just the easy way they love each other...sobbing

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

#this is a really important one to me #devotion fics Get to me #vld #voltron #lance #lance mcclain #keith #keith kogane #klance #galtean klance #canon divergence #devoted keith #romantic keith #soft klance #modern au #soulmates au #fic rec #fic rec friday

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alkaemyy · 6 months

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YEIIII i can finally post my piece for sanbika's fic The Devil Between Us for the #klance mini-bang go follow the amazing author on twitter (@san_bika)

link for the fic on ao3 -> https://archiveofourown.org/works/51346204/chapters/129743791

#klance #klance mini-bang #vampire au #red and blue #vld lance #vld keith #vld #voltron legendary defender #keith kogane #lance mcclain #vampire keith #human lance #soulmate au #soulmates #RAH I LOVE THEMMM #FOR REALSSS #i had so much fun doing this #i love them

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haryuusart · 13 days

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✨ Fifth Universe: Soulmates ✨

This is part of my "Do you think we love each other in every universe?" Series ❤️

In this universe, I imagine Keith and Lance just found out they are destined to be together and are a bit unsure on what's next (because they spent a lot of their time pretending to hate each other, as always)

I'm so behind with posting these plus all your requests I'M SORRY I had such a shitty week I can't even begin to explain 🥲 but everything's kinda okay now soooo yeah

Thank you for your support!!!!

#klance #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #keith kogane #lance mcclain #art #digital art #voltron fan art #keith vld #lance vld #laith #keith x lance #lance x keith #klance voltron #klance zine #klance fanart #Klance soulmates #soulmate au

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azreadytodie · 2 years

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Soulmate Au where you can hear each others music but one of them really enjoys rick rolling the other and it drives them up the wall

#soulmate #steddie #klance #zukka #soulmate au #au prompt #bubbline #reddie #percabeth

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realgansey · 1 month

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I honestly don’t really fw soulmate aus. Not to yuck anyone’s yum or anything like that because please continue to enjoy them if you. It’s just that my personal favorite part of like. Every ship. Is that they CHOOSE each other. Like they really could have anyone else ever but they chose, against all odds, each other. They somehow found someone perfect for them and there wasn’t any greater force at play—they’re just that perfect for each other. To ME a soulmate au takes away from that a bit. However if it’s written well there’s nothing stopping me

#soulmate au #fanfic #ao3 #wolfstar #jegulus #andreil #jerejean #kevjerejean #marylily #dorlily #klance #pynch #bluesey

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shatterinseconds · 8 months

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I want more anti-soulmate klance aus. I want an au where keith and lance aren't soulmates (whether bc neither of them have one or they have other people). I want them to say 'fuck what fate thinks' and chose each other despite what's written (or not written) on their bodies

#klance #voltron #i want them to be each other's choice not each other's destiny #if that makes sense #i definitely go back and forth on soulmate aus all the time

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sugawara--san · 3 months

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another fav microtrope is soulmate au where one person is just a hopeless fucking romantic that fantasizes about the day they find their soulmate and the other is like fuck the universe and hates the idea of being bound to someone just because fate said so but without knowing they're soulmates they start falling in love and the first person is so conflicted because they've loved and waited for their soulmate their whole life and the second person finds out but doesn't tell the first person because they want the first person to love them for who they are and not just because the universe said they should

#the eventual miscommunication so juicy #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 #soulmates #soulmate au #microtrope #the blueprint: the marks we make #but also rereading sakuatsu fic w the same trope lol #voltron #klance #otp #the marks we make

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klanceficsthatmakemeripmyhairout · 6 months

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Hi!! Im looking for this klance soulmate fic on a03 where whatever they write on their skin it appears on the other and in this story keith tries avoiding writing on his skin and lance doesnt know about the soulmate thing so he does write on his skin (a grocery list i believe). Anyways, matt ends up drawing a d!ck on keith while he's asleep and lance ends up seeing it and gets mad at pidge (poor pidge it aint them) for drawing on him as he tries (and fails) to get it off. Until, he sees it blur off his skin and lance, hunk, n pidge end up freaking out bcuz they think its a ghost. Keith feels bad and writes im sorry on his skin as an apology and yeah. Theres also a scene where keith draws a pretty picture on his thigh with watercolor pencils for lance as a goodluck charm for his swim comp (this is later in the fic tho). I know its multiple chapters and its completed. Im an idiot and didnt bookmark it yrs ago and ive been trying for DAYS to find it again. Thank uuu if you DO end up finding it!! or thx anyways for trying haha !!

hii!! found it :) i remember reading this when it first came out so this was a THROWBACK i found it in the depths of my ao3 history hahah

written on your skin by trashness

rating: teens

published: 2017-12-12

completed: 2017-12-30

chapters as of november 5, 2023: [3/3]

summary: [ Keith is your typical troubled kid who's just trying to sort his life out. Things aren't perfect, but he's attending night school to get enough credits for university, he loves hanging out with Shiro and Matt on the weekends, and he's prepped to be the youngest member of his martial arts club to get his second Dan black belt. Things are looking up for Keith!

That is until strange notes start to appear on his arm.

They don't come off. At least, not when Keith tries to remove them. And they're written in handwriting that Keith knows isn't his.

So where are they coming from? ]

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klanceficatalogue · 7 months

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omg im so happy ur back!!!! i thought i was over klance but now that ur back ive been reading all the recs 💀 anyways..! can you share ur recent favs?

im so glad!! i would encourage everyone to leave nice comments on the fics they're reading too, even if they were published a long time ago :)

you can read through my favs tag here. here are some fics that have been in my marked for later for Literally 5/6 years LMAO. posting them here as an apology for never getting around to reading them before now.. - k

Soulmate Line by korns (3/3 | 23,523 | General)

Lance moves from a small town where everyone's soulmate lines branch outwards. He never expected his matchmaking abilities to work, especially with there being 7.5 billion people in the world, but moving to university has increased the chances of success more than he anticipated. With Pidge and Hunk's help, he starts a business pairing naïve college students together if their lines connect, and by the time Shiro's cousin, Keith, comes to tour the campus, he already has a reputation. So how can Lance explain who Keith's soulmate is when their lines connect, and yet they're total strangers to one another?

The Master of Disguise by NireYllek (6/6 | 33,569 | Mature)

“Wait, what that doesn’t make any sense.” Hunk protested. Pidge shook her head with a tsk. “It does if one of us is disguised as Allura.” Pidge flashed a smirk in Lance’s direction. “I’m sorry, why are you looking at me?” Lance protested. Something in Keith's brain clicked, he looked at Lance and then at the Princess. Put a little make up on him, a wig, and a dress and he could- OH my god.

//graphic violence //slavery mention

All That Still Matters by StoriesBeyondTheStars (12/12 | 49,274 | Teen and Up)

Everyone was born with a black mark on their wrist called a soulmark. Somewhere in the world, there was a person that had the exact same mark, and when the two people met, their marks would become coloured to show that they had found their missing half. That was how soulmates worked. To Lance, it was a pretty simple and straightforward thing. Until it wasn't.

(hunk/shay)

#asks #anon #klance #voltron #vld #klance fic #voltron fic #completed #30to40k #main squad #soulmate #au #modern setting #college

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art-ro-vert · 3 months

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Reblog for sample :)

#I personally don’t like non-canon #with exception of soulmates AUs maybe #I just like the hood angst #lokius #destiel #innefable husbands #spirk #sterek #klance #ao3 #ao3 poll #tumblr polls #community poll #poll #fandom writing

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atlas-accidental · 1 year

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New Light

a klance one-shot for @autisticlancemcclain! she asked for fic recs the other day and I offered to write one for her so here it is!

its a refurbishment of sorts of the first fic I ever put on ao3. I'll probably be putting this up there as well later today, with a bit more formatting.

(edit: finally edited and posted the fic to ao3. you can find it here)

2.2k words, soulmate au, no warnings. i hope you enjoy!

All humans are born colorblind, and with a soulmate. This pairing is meant to compliment each individual in the best possible way, romantically or otherwise. When someone meets their soulmate for the first time, they are granted the ability to see color. This experience is meant to signal to the soulmates that they have met their destined match.

When Lance's life finally did change, it wasn't what he'd expected. The first major change in Lance's life wasn't a soulmate, but an opportunity. Lance had been accepted into the Galaxy Garrison Flight Academy. He'd only been accepted as a cargo pilot, but you had to start somewhere, right?

Now, technically, he'd never officially met Keith. Or even talked to him, really. Only watched from afar as, because of him, Lance had only ever held silver at everything. He never quite could catch up to the flight prodigy. Keith’s scores were second only to the famous pilot Takashi Shirogane’s at the same age. Lance actually had tried to meet Keith on multiple occasions. Keith managed to slip away each and every time, without fail. Eventually, Lance stopped trying and accepted that Keith was unattainable. His last attempt was the closest he'd gotten to an actual introduction and Keith had waved him off with a "Yeah, whatever. Don't you have cargo to deliver or something?" Lance's smile had fallen immediately. He decided that he hated Keith.

"Lance, don't you think you might be overreacting? Just a bit?" Lance frowned.

"Of course not, Hunk! He literally said, and I quote, 'don't you have cargo to deliver or something?'" Hunk sighed at the mocking imitation of Keith, having heard the same thing from Lance dozens of times since it happened last week.

"Yeah, Lance. I know. 'Who says that,' right?" Lance rolled his eyes at Hunk, who chuckled under his breath.

"I'm serious, Hunk! He's a jerk!" Hunk assured him that he was aware, and insisted they go get lunch.

***

"I'd recognize that mullet anywhere!" Lance yelled, an aggravated tone to his voice as he let himself slide down the side of the hill three of them had perched themselves upon.

Lance heard Pidge wonder aloud who he was talking about and ignored him. By the time Lance had made his way into the facility, far ahead of Hunk and Pidge, Keith was already there slipping the man's arm around his shoulders.

"Nope! No, no-no-no, I'm saving Shiro," Lance announced. Keith frowned.

"Who are you?" he asked and Lance scowled at how bored he sounded.

"Uh, the name's Lance?" He blinked at Keith expectantly and received a blank look in return. "We were in the same class back at the Garrison! You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck!" Keith frowned even harder.

"Oh, I remember you,” Keith finally said. Lance perked up a bit. “You were a cargo pilot. " Hunk and Pidge appeared at the door. Lance opened his mouth, ready to come back with a biting response of his own when he paused.

"Mira, wait, do... do you see that?" Keith frowned. Did he ever stop frowning? Was it all just one continuous frown? Lance feared he may never know.

"See what?" Keith asked in that same bored tone. Lance's wandering eyes snapped back to Keith, his mouth slack.

"Everything." How could Keith not be seeing this? Keith, obviously not understanding, huffed a sigh.

"We don't have time for this. Let's go."

And so they went.

There was a bit of struggle involved in getting everyone on the two-seater hoverbike Keith had rode in on. Hunk ended up on the back holding onto the bike itself, Pidge sat in front of him holding Shiro on his lap. Lance swung up right behind Keith, hesitating only a moment until Keith jerked the bike in warning and Lance grabbed his hips tightly. As they sped up, Lance slowly shifted until his arms were wrapped in a tight grip around Keith’s waist. It would’ve been romantic if everyone but the driver weren’t screaming their heads off.

By the time they had gotten to Keith's desert hideout, Lance still wasn't over everything he was seeing. The world had once again shifted while Lance had been clinging to Keith with his eyes screwed tightly shut. At first, everything surrounding him had been different, but now it was just Keith. Of course, Lance had realized that Keith was attractive but that was before he'd made up his mind to hate him. Now, though… Now, Keith had something new, something different. It didn't just make him stand out– though God knows he already did– it made him beautiful. Lance didn't know what it was, just that it made him want to laugh and cry all at once. This, Lance decided, is what his mamá had told him about. It had to be.

But that meant Keith was his soulmate.

"I'm screwed."

***

They were in a lion. A giant, blue lion, though none of them knew it’s color but Lance. It was strange; as soon as he’d touched the surrounding forcefield, he saw images, in full color, of this lion and four others. He had a connection with the lion, not quite the same as with Keith but just as intimate, maybe more so. It had proven as much by being the only other thing in color in Lance’s world. The lion was spiraling through outer space faster than any human technology has ever been able to do. They passed Kerberos in minutes. The feat would’ve been amazing if everyone would just shut up. Instead, four pairs of hands grappled on any surface they could to keep their balance. Lance himself was apparently the only available surface for grappling. He glowered, staring straight forward and concentrating on…

“What is that?” The yelling stopped, all attention focused on the oncoming object. Gracia a Dios. The iron grips were incessant, though. Lance would have to take what he could get.

Lance would not take what he could get, mostly because what he was getting was an alien warship. The lion’s voice– was voice the right word? Lance wasn’t sure– rumbled in his mind, sending instructions to Lance. He smirked, the lion’s confidence burned like ice through his blood, and they knew exactly what to do. Lance dove at the battlecruiser hovering dangerously close to their home. Turning at the last second, he smashed the lion into the ship, dragging its claws along the length of it. The gashes along the sides of the ship lit up, minor explosions happening along each abrasion. The ship took little damage, but it also took the bait. Lance shot away with the enemy ship in tow. The lion growled in his mind again and a massive, intricate disk appeared before of them. A wormhole.

“I think the lion wants us to go through there.”

Lance frowned. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was afraid. Not enough to stop, but it was there. Maybe he was less afraid and more nervous. Anxious? He wasn’t sure. English had too many words. Whatever he felt, it was bad. He couldn’t help but focus on Keith in his peripheral. It was hard not to when he stood out so obviously. Not like a sore thumb, it wasn’t a bad thing, it was more like he stood out like an intricate painting in the center of a large, blank wall. Like he was there specifically to grab Lance’s attention, as though there was something Lance was supposed to do.

“What am I supposed to do?” He mumbled.

“Whatever this is, we all have to face it together,” said Shiro. Lance was sure he wasn’t alone in his relief at not having to decide. “Wherever we end up, we’ll face together, too. That being said, we’re a team now. We should all agree.”

Together, they went through the wormhole.

***

Between mind-numbing training and life-threatening battle, color bled into Lance's world over the next few weeks. Through an oddly-translated book, he learned the names of colors. It seemed like the book on soulmates had escaped Earth somehow and been translated into an alien language only to be translated back by the Castleship, leaving the words broken. The colors were spelled oddly and the sentences often made little sense. They were all words Lance knew, so that made parsing their meaning easier, he'd just never seen the concepts they described before. He learned that Alteans didn't have soulmates like humans. He learned that the Galra do.

Another new discovery was that the longer he spent around Keith, the more color he saw. It always began in his eyes, that first spark of violet. It quickly spread to the rest of him; his ivory skin, cropped red jacket, the way light played on his hair. He could've sworn it was tinted a shimmery purple, but he was new to the rainbow; it could be nothing. Best of all, Lance watched and the satisfying flush that crawled over Keith’s face and neck when he realized Lance would be performing his daily stare-down for longer than strictly necessary.

After he'd absorbed every shift in hue Keith had to display, the rest of the world faded in around them. Colors became more saturated (a word Lance only just learned the meaning of in reference to color) the longer Keith was around him. Lance wasn't sure what had to happen for the color to be permanent, but he'd heard it was supposed to eventually.

He still hadn't told Keith. If Lance had changed, Keith must have, right? But he never said anything, or even seem to see it. Could soulmates be one-sided? Lance's book didn't say anything about unrequited soul bonds, but Lance had never read any books about the crazy things he was living through, either, so he figured anything was possible. Maybe Keith was Lance's soulmate but Lance just… wasn't his. He'd heard about a theory once, that everyone had multiple potential soulmates, that the match was a biological skill humanity had for survival. Maybe Keith had a soulmate already and didn't need Lance.

The thought was a painful one and it made Lance scramble for Keith's attention in any way he could. Lance didn't know how to appeal to the things Keith liked. He could easily do the opposite, though. Keith wasn't hard to antagonize and when it happened, all of his attention was on Lance as if the universe faded away and he was all Keith could see. The feeling of being noticed, looked at, seen by Keith was intoxicating despite the sting of their arguments, so Lance kept doing it.

Maybe Keith wasn't Lance's soulmate in return, but he still noticed him. Even if it was a waste of time, it was time Keith wasted on him. That would have to be enough, especially as Lance battled the dichotomy of envy and adoration he felt for his soulmate. Keith was amazing, Keith was better than him, Keith was showing off, Keith was impressive, Keith was out of his league. Lance's thoughts were a mess, and the pressure exploded in the exact way to make it messier.

It became a cycle that Lance was trapped in.

***

Keith was trapped in a cycle. For his whole life, he'd been baffled by a mysterious birthmark; two patches of skin a few shades darker than the rest and both in the shape of perfect handprints, one on either hip. His father had said they were a sign, proof that he would be loved. The longer he spent being passed between homes and dismissed for "behavioral issues", the harder that story was to believe.

Now, though, these marks had begun that cycle he was stuck in. Every morning, Keith woke up, lifted his shirt to stare at them, rolled out of bed to prepare for the day, spent another few minutes staring at the marks, and left the room completely unprepared for his regular morning "encounter" with Lance.

The thing is, ever since the night they found Shiro, his marks have been different. Lance had swung up onto the bike with Keith and the rest, had grabbed him when he jerked the bike in a sharp warning, and the skin under Lance's hands had burned instantly. It ached where Lance touched him, a warm sting that faded into an strange tingle by the time Lance had shifted forward enough to press his chest to Keith's back and wrap his arms around his waist instead.

Later, Keith had pulled up his shirt to examine the marks. He found them irritated, or so he had assumed. They had bloomed into an odd swirl of colors; colors he had always been able to see. Blues and violets swirled and bled together like a watercolor painting within the crisp outline of hands on his body. It was alarming, but stunningly beautiful. They looked like outer space, the deep hues melding in a way that reminded him of unbroken skies, of nebulae and galaxies. As if these hands held the universe within them.

For the next few days, Keith's handprint markings itched nearly constantly. They would burn feverishly at odd times, especially during his spats with Lance. He chalked it up to an emotional response, his blood pumping in his irritation causing a warm sensation. The feeling gradually faded and stopped happening at all over the next few weeks, but Keith still hadn't stopped lifting his shirt to stare at the celestial-looking marks on his hips a few times a day.

That night, just like many before, Keith lay in his bed staring at his ceiling and traced the too-perfect hands branded onto him with gentle fingers and wondered what they truly meant.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #klance #soulmate au #soulmates #keith x lance #vld keith #vld lance #fanfic #2k words #mine

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corvus--rex · 1 year

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A Candidate for a Soulmate Bled (aka, Oops, My Hand Slipped)

Title is from Red Hot Chili Peppers' Otherside

A soulmate AU feat. pierced and tattooed musician Keith and bartender Lance (also they both smoke, sorry)

TW: mentions of past self-harm and a suicide attempt

Implied spicy times

☆・♪・☆

Lance tried not to look at the words on the inside of his left wrist. Ever since they first showed up on his thirteenth birthday he tried to look at them as little as possible. The first words he would hear from his soulmate, sitting there in their own handwriting in neat, sharp script: slittin’ my throat it’s all I ever.

He tried not to look, just like every day, as he settled the leather cuff in place. But something new about it caught his attention. Color had begun to creep in from the center behind the black letters. Red, swirling and spreading like a drop of ink in water. He refused to think of another possibility, given the words themselves, but he knew what that color meant – he’d be meeting his soulmate soon.

Making his way through Los Angeles traffic to his new job, Lance couldn’t help his eyes flicking to the black leather covering those words and the new color. He needed to get a handle on it. It was his first day as a bartender at The Lion Den, co-owned by two of the most unfairly beautiful women he’d ever met, Allura and Romelle, although he’d almost as quickly seen the soulmarks on them, bubbly print wrapped in periwinkle on Allura and elegant script on a bed of petal pink on Romelle. He knew they’d noticed how he kept his own mark covered, but neither of them said anything about it. Naturally, he’d charmed them immediately, and they declared him hired without hesitation after an hour behind the bar effortlessly making every cocktail they threw at him. Right then, however, he just wished LA traffic wasn’t such a bitch.

“Ah, excellent! Right on time!” Coran announced to Lance and the world in general as the heavy side door crashed shut.

Lance had met Coran when he came in for his interview and audition with Allura and Romelle, not noticing until after he’d finished with their barrage of cocktail orders that the older man was standing at the far end of the bar, leaning against the wall. He’d been just as impressed, if not more so given his decades of experience. Allura and Romelle may have had the official final say, but Lance could tell he wouldn’t have been hired if not for Coran’s approval.

“I’ve decided you’ll be here on the main bar tonight, along with myself, of course, Romelle, and Rizavi,” Coran said while leading Lance through to the floor.

Lance cocked his head toward the stage. He wasn’t expecting anyone to be there hours before the legendary celebrity hangout opened, but the stage was occupied by a single person, blood red electric guitar in his hands. The notes tickled something in the back of Lance’s mind, he knew the song but couldn’t quite place it. The song faded into the background as he let himself be distracted by the guitarist.

Even on stage Lance could tell he was tall, pale skin visible through a patchwork of tattoos covering his arms and sides. The faded band tee he wore had been altered at some point in its life, sleeves cut off, turning it into the muscle tank that showed off the ink that peeked through. Lance could see the edges of another tattoo over the neckline just below a black satin choker. A half-assed ponytail barely held silky black hair back, not that he seemed to notice the strands slipping free to frame his delicately angular face, partially obscuring the piercings scaling his ears, thick brows knit in concentration, he was far too focused on the music. It took Lance far longer than he’d like to admit to recognize this god in human form as Keith Kogane, guitarist and vocalist of Black Knight/Red Knight.

“Yeah, he likes to come in sometimes, if he’s playing that night. Says it’s quiet enough to think.” Coran looked between Lance and Keith. “Have you two met?”

Lance snapped back to where Coran was standing beside him. “Wha-no. Um, no, we haven’t.”

“Well, you’ll probably get to tonight. He’ll probably be here until closing. Usually is. Anyway, here’s where you’ll be tonight. Get familiar with the space, it’ll be your home for tonight and possibly longer if you can keep up.”

Lance shook his head, refocusing on his job. “Right.”

As promised, once The Lion Den opened for business, it was packed. The majority were actors and musicians, sliding in and out of booths and tables, talking and drinking. Having worked in the city for a few years, Lance was well aware of how much the entertainment industry could put away on a good night, and this was a good night. They’d only been open for two hours, and he’d already been hit on by several people, men and women both, and they tipped well if he played along, knowing full well they’d forget all about the cute bartender at the end of the night, which worked just fine for him. He might have intentionally dressed for it with his favorite mix of “classy” and slutty that would also keep him from overheating in the form of his favorite curve-hugging jeans and buttoned waistcoat, nothing underneath it, which also showed off his own extensive tattoo collection.

The sheer number of Jack & Cokes he’d made already meant that the bottle of Jack in his well had run out quickly, and their barback was nowhere to be seen, leaving Lance to refill the well himself. He had the bottle in hand and had just stepped back through the door from the store room and onto the floor when he heard a single note from a guitar and a smoky voice joining in.

“Slittin’ my throat, it’s all I ever…”

The rest of the song was instantly blocked out, although he recognized it instantly as Otherside, the same song Keith had been playing that afternoon. Had it not been for Rizavi beside him, he would have dropped the bottle when his soulmark erupted under his leather cuff with a burn so intense it made his skin tingle and itch. He ripped the cuff off, stiff leather hitting the floor. The ink drop from that morning had exploded, deep, bright, red licking out from the words like a mix of blood and flame. Keith fucking Kogane was his fucking soulmate.

“Lance. Lance, are you alright?” Coran asked.

Lance looked up, glancing at Coran before moving past him, watching where Keith continued to play onstage, completely oblivious to his soulmate staring at him from behind the bar.

“Yeah. I think I’m good,” he answered, breathless.

Coran finally noticed the lack of Lance’s cuff and what it had been hiding, looking up to the stage and back, an unfathomable expression on his face.

“Good,” he said, unusually subdued, “He usually gets a drink after playing and takes it outside for a smoke, just so you know.”

Lance immediately understood that there was far more to Keith than he’d ever imagined. “Thanks, Coran,” he said quietly before turning back to the crowd of half drunk actors and musicians in front of him.

Just like Coran had said, not long after Keith was finished he came down to the bar, heading directly for Romelle at the other end, making Lance almost miss him when he walked by again, heading for the back door, rocks glass of neat whiskey hanging from his fingertips. The bar was still busy, although not so busy that Lance would be greatly missed. Coran nodded toward the back door, giving Lance all the permission he needed to take off.

Keith was leaning against the wall, glass on the hip-high table while he lit the cigarette between his lips. Lance just stood there, watching as Keith slipped the lighter back in his pocket and tipped his head back, exhaling a stream of smoke into the night air. His ponytail was just as half-assed as it had been that afternoon, and he was still wearing the same muscle tank, but now Lance was closer, spotting the lip ring he hadn’t seen earlier, along with the daith and tragus piercings, and noticing that the satin choker had been replaced with studded leather. He watched while long fingers picked up the glass, cigarette caught between them, watched while Keith took a sip, not noticing until glass touched wood that he was being fixed with a deep violet stare.

Lance’s brain couldn’t catch up with his mouth before he spoke. “You’re beautiful.”

Keith stared at him, confused and disbelieving, for only a split second before his own soulmark exploded in color, deep, clear blue spilling out like rolling waves. There, in Lance’s flowing cursive, were the same two words he’d just spoken in awed, hushed tones. Keith stared at his wrist as the color finished filling out, then snapped up to Lance. In two long strides, he’d pinned Lance to the wall, caging him in.

“Do you – do have any idea? Any idea what those words have done to me?” Keith demanded, his voice strained.

“Do you have any idea what yours have done to me?” Lance countered, holding his own arm up, song lyric in full view.

Keith huffed, but there was a sadness to it. He reached behind his neck with his free hand, unclasping the choker, letting it fall into his hand. The scar it was hiding had faded, silvery now instead of pink, but it’s path was clear. The lyric permanently a part of Lance’s skin held more truth than he hoped, and just as much as he’d feared.

“Yeah, I think I do. But yours? They saved me. I hit my lowest point, but while I was recovering, I’d see those two words, and it reminded me that there was someone out there somewhere who’d see this broken mess and love me anyway. It’s been my constant reminder that maybe I’m not as worthless as I think.”

Lance saw every shred of pain in the violet gaze he held, every jagged edge of recovery, every crack held together by the weight of his words. He saw the despair and the hope, and was immediately determined to keep that hope alive. He grabbed the front of Keith’s top, yanking him closer, lips crashing together.

Keith tasted of smoke and whiskey and sweat and metal. Lance tugged gently on Keith’s lip ring, and whimpered, letting him in. A tongue piercing Lance didn’t know about grazed the roof of his mouth, the feeling familiar and foreign, this one not being his own. Keith found Lance’s and deepened their kiss further, abandoning his lit cigarette in the ashtray to lift Lance by his thighs, pushing him harder into the wall. Lance wrapped his legs around Keith’s waist, holding him there as he pulled away.

“You’re not, y’know,” Lance said, fingers running through loose black strands, “You’re worth everything.”

☆・* :·♪·: *・☆

“Y’know,” Lance said, flicking ash into the heavy glass ashtray beside him, “I really thought I’d quit. Guess not.”

Keith snorted beside him in bed. “That’s what you’re worried about? We literally just met tonight, I basically kidnapped you from work to bring you back to my place, and we just fucked, but the first coherent thing you say is that you guess you haven’t really quit smoking? Seriously?”

“Hey, it’s important. Might have to call out tomorrow, though. Not sure if I’ll be able to walk.”

Keith just shook his head with a silent laugh shaking his shoulders and stole the cigarette. He took one last drag, reaching across to put it out. “Want to make that a certainty?”

“Oh fuck yes.”

#my writing #ao3 #keith kogane #lance mcclain #keith x lance #klance #vld keith #vld lance #soulmate au #musician keith #bartender lance #vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender

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