#one true black paladin shiro

[mckinlily]

Voltron post-s2 AU

Voltron fix-it in year of our lord two thousand twenty three? More likely than you think! Or rather, if I were writing Voltron after season 2, here’s what I’d do:

First of all Shiro doesn’t die. There also isn’t a clone arc because I could never figure out a path that totally satisfied me but that’s a me issue. Shiro does disappear at the end of season 2, but he gets sent to an alternate reality like in this post. Short form is that reality’s Takashi Shirogane was the Blue Paladin and died died ten years age. The alternate!paladins (inclusive of alt!Allura who is the Blue Paladin) are much older than their canon counterparts and low-key having a crisis about this baby version of their long-dead teammate suddenly dropped into their mist. Especially when they realize how traumatized and young he is—and utterly lacking in self worth. These older paladins cannot stand letting another Takashi Shirogane get himself killed and will do anything to ensure that doesn’t happen.

(Just so long as everyone’s conflicting trauma doesn't get in the way)

But while Shiro’s stuck in reality universe getting a crash course on self worth and YES you matter, don’t you dare freaking die (and also getting some helpful Voltron tips from much more experienced paladins) back in our OG reality…

The canon team is struggling.

They’re trying. But Shiro is GONE, and no one knows what happened to him. The remaining paladins are four teenagers who were thrown into a war without warning, have essentially been on the run ever since, and now just lost the only remaining source of stability they had. They’re scared, overwhelmed, and fighting like cats and dogs. Allura’s trying to lead them, but the hole that Shiro left is gaping and almost too painful to touch. It doesn’t help that Allura feels the personal loss keenly but believes to be an effective leader she has to put on a strong face. This causes certain paladins (Keith, it’s obviously Keith) to be furious with her, thinking she doesn’t care, and everything deteriorates from there.

In addition to the interpersonal issues, the Black Lion is offline. It won’t turn on—not for Keith, not for Allura, not for anyone. And they’ve all tried in desperation, but it won’t even flicker. As long as the Black Lion is unresponsive, they try everything they can think of, but they can’t find a single hint of a clue of what happened to Shiro or where he might be. And still, the Black Lion does nothing. So in addition to the terror and uncertainty in missing Shiro, they are now down a Lion and completely unable to form Voltron.

Not good. Especially not good because while Zarkon is down (though for how long, they don’t know), there are still plenty of Galra commanders who are ready and gunning for blood. Vengeance is swift and the paladins are only escaping by the skin of their teeth. The stress is putting even more pressure on the already flaring tensions and tempers in the wake of Shiro’s absence, and Team Voltron is in serious danger, both from the outside and within.

Then Lotor shows up.

Now this Lotor doesn’t have his generals, and it’s not entirely clear where he came from. He says he’s here to help. And he just so happens to have Altean heritage, which obviously interests and intrigues Allura. (He just oh so conveniently forgets to mention the tiny little fact that Zarkon is his father.) Allura, who is alone and desperately aching for support without Shiro, obviously jumps at the opportunity to connect with another Altean. 

The paladins are less charmed. Hunk is immediately suspicious. Lance is jealous of his apparent interest to Allura. Pidge is barely speaking to her teammates these days. She doesn’t give a shit about some random purple guy. Keith hates him immediately. Then again, Keith seems to hate everyone since Shiro has disappeared, so maybe that doesn’t mean anything. 

And look, Allura isn’t stupid. She knows she should be cautious. And she is. But she also desperately needs a friend, and Lotor steps up while the other paladins have been failing her. 

Obviously, they can’t hide the massive Dead Black Lion issue for long, and Lotor is very interested. But he keeps it cool. He talks Allura into letting him try. The other paladins are deeply unhappy about it but not too worried because obviously it’s not going to work, right?

Expect then the Black Lion lights up.

It’s only for a moment and then the Black Lion goes dark again. But it’s the most reaction anyone has been able to get out the Lion. 

And they’re desperate.

Keith is BEYOND offended at the mere idea of anyone other than Shiro being the Black Paladin and nearly splits from the team over it. It’s only Lance going after him and, in a surprising show of maturity, overcoming his jealousy and practically begging Keith to stay that keeps him from vanishing completely. He’s still furious though. Hunk is beyond anxious, and even Pidge, who has been trying to check out from all emotion and people up until now, is becoming suspicious and anxious. 

But Allura… Look, she’s the sole leader right now. She sometimes feels like she’s the only one who still cares about saving the universe from the Galra anymore. But she also is very aware that she is now solely responsible for the remaining young paladins. If she owes Shiro anything in his absence, isn’t it to protect the team he gave his life for?

And to do that…they need Voltron. 

So when Lotor confesses to her that he had felt the Black Lion but suspects the Black Lion was damaged in the last fight against Zarkon, she listens. Lotor has access to some rare surviving records of Altean alchemy. He says he has a spell that, combined with Allura’s connection to the Lions, could fix the Black Lion. He says if Allura helps him strengthen his connection to the Black Lion, he’ll help them fight the Galra.

And Allura… it’s not that she doesn’t want Shiro back, of course she’d rather have Shiro! She can’t trust Lotor like she knew she could trust Shiro (even if he is Altean), and the other paladins clearly don’t like him. But she’s all alone. She has to keep Shiro’s team alive for him. They NEED Voltron.

So, at night, behind the other’s backs, she preforms the ritual with Lotor. 

And it works. 

Lotor is now the Black Paladin. No, it’s not ideal, and there other paladins are deeply unhappy, but all the Lions functional. It’s the best option they have available. 

… Right?

(to be continued)

#voltron #vld fic #vld fix it #post s2 au #alternate realities crossover au #mckinlily writes: vld fic #full disclosure: i'm not a lotor stan #this won't include a lotor redemption arc fyi #in case anyone was getting their hopes up #i am and remain a One True Black Paladin Shiro stan #i will use lotor for nefarious purposes though

[autisticlancemcclain]

From the goddamn moment he was born, Lance did not know peace.

Okay, yes, he’s being a little dramatic. But in his defense, he really hasn’t ever known peace — you try living with nine older sisters on a farm. That shit is hard. Lance didn’t experience silence until he was four years old, only a delicate child, and at the time it frightened him. He’s been surrounded by noise and chaos (and more noise, somehow) since his inception, basically.

So you can understand why the castle is kind of a nightmare for him.

Growing up, whenever he was annoyed by his family (which was frequently), he would stomp off the the barn and yell about how when he was grown, he was going to move out to a private beach house and never hear another soul again. He’d bitch and moan to the cattle about how he couldn’t wait to grow up and finally sleep in a room all his own, with no annoying sisters or nosy roommates or anything, really. He’d mutter about it every time Hunk read his journal, fume about it every time his sisters banged on the bathroom door and yelled at him to hurry up. He swore up and down to everyone that would listen that when he finally found peace there would not be a goddamn thing in the world and beyond that would stop him from protecting it.

Well, then he got his peace, in the form of a castle that doubled as a graveyard. His own room, for once in his life, and not a single person to bother him unless it was life threatening, basically.

And oh, how Lance hated it.

He tossed and turned like no one’s business on the first days, but brushed it off as getting used to a new space. And as he kept tossing and turning, night after night, getting maybe three hours of scattered sleep of he was lucky, he continued to blame it on a myriad of things: fear of a freaky haunted castle, weirdly stiff Altean beds, freezing cold castle temperatures, nightmares. All true things, of course, but eventually Lance had to concede — the castle was too goddamn quiet.

Tough pill to swallow, that one.

He’d tried to handle it himself. Stole Pidge’s headphones, hummed out loud to himself; hell, he even left the bathroom sink running for some white noise. None of it worked. None of it was the same as the constant sound of someone breathing right next to you, the grumbles of their snores and strange mutterings of their sleep-talk. The very thing Lance hated with a passion turned out to be the one thing that actually helped his insomniac ass actually sleep. Mother nature, you trick-ass bitch. You have a personal problem.

Now, of course there was an easy solution to this. He shared the castle with six other people — one of them his Garrison roommate! Surely, he could bunk with someone else.

But… no one else seemed to have trouble sleeping. At least, not for the same reason as Lance. And as much as Lance liked to play the obnoxious role, as much as nothing was funnier than pushing just the right buttons to make someone else explode… he couldn’t be that much of a nuisance. It was too much.

So Lance got real used to being sleep deprived.

Of course, he wasn’t stupid about it. He never went more than three days without sleep. On particularly rough nights, he’d crash Hunk or Pidge’s rooms raving about a sleepover, or convince the rest of the team that they should have a movie night, and then just happen to fall asleep right there on the couch. By circumstance, he and Shiro ended up helping each other out pretty often, too — the black paladin was kept up by nightmares about as often as Lance was by plain old insomnia. The man was usually too proud to accept Lance’s help, but every once in a while he allowed it, and they both slept soundly, for once.

Keith, though?

His help was a surprise.

Keith, as it turns out, has as much pent-up energy as the goddamn Energizer Bunny on steroids. On days they don’t have missions that will pump them full of so much adrenaline their hearts are at risk, he trains himself to exhaustion, else he’ll be up all night.

Training with him doesn’t do anything for Lance’s insomnia. It does, however, do wonders for their relationship.

Without Lance’s permission, angry, after-hour fights evolve into playfully competitive spars. Those spars evolve into genuine lessons, both of them teaching each other things neither ever considered learning before. (Turns out Lance’s flexibility comes in handy in swordfights, and Keith’s reflexes lead to excellent pistol work. Who knew?) And then, week by week, month by month, those late nights turn into a tension so thick that neither of them can bear it.

It may have been Keith to make the first move, but Lance thinks he deserves some credit. They wouldn’t be here without his complete inability to sleep like a normal person, after all.

The great thing about dating someone, though, is that eventually, bed-sharing comes into the mix. Eventually both parties start looking for excuses to stay in each other’s space just a little bit longer.

Lord above, is it ever a relief.

No longer does Lance need to desperately look for an excuse after seventy-two straight hours of prying his eyes open. Now he justs follows Keith to his room when the night cycle starts, wrapping around him like an octopus and stealing his warmth like a leech. Keith is the worst, most annoying sleeper in the world — he snores, he tosses and turns, and regularly talks and even yells in his sleep — and Lance fucking relishes it. It is a relief of biblical proportions to finally be able to have a good night’s rest, on a regular fucking basis.

It does, though, make nights when he has to sleep in his own room that much worse.

He doesn’t even have to, technically. Like, there’s no indication that Keith ever wants him to go back. In fact, the man always pouts when Lance stops at his own door, muttering petulantly to himself as he presses a kiss to Lance’s forehead and makes his way to his own room. Honestly, Keith would probably like it if Lance moved into his room, for good.

Lance bites his lip, considering.

Still. He doesn’t want to be annoying.

But there’s no way to know unless he goes for it, right?

“Hey, babe,” Lance tries, testing the waters. They’re both in the bathroom, getting ready for bed; Keith braiding his hair as Lance applies a myriad of skin products to his face. “Do you think you could make some room in your dresser for my socks? And, like, other clothes?”

Is it a coward’s way to voice what he’s really asking? Yeah. But Lance is nervous, okay? Cut him some slack. If this backfires then he’s back to sleeping twice a fuckin’ week.

Keith stills. He abandons his hair, turning slowly to face Lance. Lance looks away, fiddling with the hem of his pajama shirt.

“Lance,” Keith says, placing both hands on his shoulders. He’s quiet until Lance finally looks up at him.

“Yeah?”

Keith’s face is mission-level serious; eyebrows drawn together over dark indigo eyes, mouth set in a firm line.

“I would reach my hands into a live fire and swallow hot coals for you if you asked me to. Do you understand that?”

There’s a beat of silence. Keith’s expression remains unmoving, dead-serious, entirely unfazed by what he just said.

Lance bursts out laughing, shoulders shaking under Keith’s heavy hands, leaning forward to rest his forehead on Keith’s collarbones.

God. This is Keith. Why was he nervous, again?

“I just need a couple drawers, doofus. No need for theatrics.”

Keith presses a kiss to his hair. “Just want to make sure we’re on the same page. Yes, by the way. I cleared out half my shit weeks ago. I’ve been waiting for you to finally move all the way in.”

Lance smiles, hidden against Keith’s shirt.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

He never has to worry about sleep again.

———

based off this video

#i saw the video and was immediately like yeah that’s keith #vld #voltron #lance #lance mcclain #keith #keith kogane #klance #insomniac lance #autistic lance #adhd keith #supportive keith #devoted keith #keith as a person is just a really devoted guy. to his husband to his fam to his friends to the cause etc #fluff #hurt/comfort #langst #insecure lance #my writing #fic fragment #fic #longpost #tall keith #drama queen lance

[foolinafable]

｡･:*˚:✧ It's for the best .ೃ࿐

Keith Kogane x Fem!Reader Synopsis: locked in a cell, the white paladin remembers her happier times and hopes that she can make it back to a certain black paladin. Tags: slight angst, flashbacks, mentions of torture but not graphic, set tentatively around season 4 Word count: 3.7K Apparently, vld is having a resurgence so send in some requests!

You knew it was for the best. Sat cross-legged in the confines of your cell with a small smile on your lips, contented, knowing that you have done everything you could, that this wasn't in vain- rather it was what was supposed to happen. For the betterment of the entire universe, sometimes sacrifices need to be made. You remember telling Keith something similar during one of his many brooding moments. Now wishing that you could remember which conversation it was or maybe just that you had paid more attention to your time together, especially now you didn’t think you would ever see the boy with the mullet again. 

You were sat next to Hunk, the pair of you looking up giddily at Takashi Shirogane, the famed astro explorer. He was speaking to the class about his recent accomplishment as he had just broken the record for the fastest orbital velocity. Everyone had tried the flight simulator and despite not being able to get passed level 3- like the rest of the class you were still excited by the prospect of meeting the youngest pilot to ever lead a mission in space. Even more happy that you had done better than James Griffin in the simulator- as he never stopped going on about his good grades and how much better he is. So to wipe that smirk off his face made it all worth it. As you and Hunk were fangirling in the corner you heard Griffins whining causing your attention to go back to the simulator, where apparently one more person was having a go. The pair of you walked towards the commotion as the annoyed brunette sounded out “No way! Keith made it past level five?! Thing's got to be broken.” That was the first moment you saw him, well properly at least. The young boy with a mullet and a ‘disciplinary issue’ if you were to listen to what your teachers told you. He walked away from the training simulator with a grin on his face and you couldn’t help but smile too. Especially when he looked your way as he walked off. 

‘He doesn't even know you're gone’ you muse to yourself, and it’s true. The last you had heard from him was on the other side of a screen during a planning meeting with the Blade surrounded by your teammates, who similarly had yet to know the fate of the white paladin of Voltron. They would soon realise when you don't return through the wormhole and when they find your lion broken and alone. But then it will already be too late, as the galaran ship that held you prisoner was already galaxies away taking you towards inevitable doom. You think you're pathetic, as you are already giving up but what else can you do, your weapon is gone, lion missing,  and you are locked in a cell with only your body inside of it with nobody even knowing where you are- not even you. Worry roots deeply inside of yourself as you think of your friends, a lump in your throat growing at the thought of them discovering that you're gone- they have all lost enough already. You’re sure Lance would try to be enthusiastic, claiming that they found Shiro so they could find you. Still, even he would know the saddening truth that the galarans won’t make the same mistake twice as he tries to hide his tears from Pidge who would be clinging to Hunk, begging him to tell her it’s not true- she only just got her brother back and now she has lost her sister- blood related or not. You knew it would destroy the team if you couldn’t get back to them and what worries you is that you're struggling to see a way that you can.

It was nerve-wracking, waiting to find out who Iverson and the rest of the teachers decided to team you up with for the simulators. It was a big deal, as this was going to be your team for the rest of your time in the Garrison. Last year you couldn’t wait for this moment, but maybe that was because you were certain that the boy with the mullet would be by your side as you were as Shiro put it “the only person that can put up with him” but he left, dropped out without so much of a goodbye, and you could understand, the loss of Shiro, Matt and Sam was difficult for everyone but nobody took it worse than Keith and you suppose it made sense as Shiro was all the boy had. You shook the thoughts of him out of your mind when Iverson finally came into the room, twiddling the rings on your rings on your fingers as you stood near Hunk who looked ghostly pale and going on queasy as you both prayed that the older man would do you both a solid and put you two together. You listened as he called names into groups, feeling somewhat better when Griffin was put in a group that didn't include you. Then your name was called and you were told to stand next to a tall Cuban boy wearing blue, you smiled as you walked up to him and he smiled back seemingly just as nervous as you were, then a smaller boy with round glass and a green jumper joined the group, your eyes squinting when looking at him, almost as if you had seen him before but you couldn’t place where. But before you could question it Hunk's name fell out of Iverson’s lips, you looked up in alarm as you saw Hunk coming towards your group, shocked that your prayers had been answered. The fear that was eating away at you was dulled slightly as he came to stand next to you. Sure it wasn’t the team that you wanted but maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Being in space has always made your internal clock question how long has passed, but it seems to be worse when alone in this cell. You believe it has been a few days based on the number of trays of food delivered to your cell, the only interaction with another you’ve had this whole time. At least you think, as you find yourself waking up exhausted with pains and aches all over your body, but you have no memory of doing anything or even anyone coming into your cell in the first place. You thought you would've been face to face with Zarkon or his witch by now, but as time passes, you struggle to believe that would happen at all, which causes a pit to develop in your stomach as the unknown of your future begins to dawn on you.

You can still hear the conforming hum of your lion in the back of your head, trying to reassure you that all is well but as the days pass by you begin to believe it less and less simply repeating to yourself that it was for the best.

“Things could’ve been a lot worse” you theorised. Sat with Pidge in this trash heap with your lions completely shut down. At least you were together and there were (up to now) no enemies trying to kill you both. To be honest, you wouldn’t want to be stuck here with anyone else. After Pidge finally revealed to everyone that she was in fact a girl, something you had figured out back in your garrison days, not long after you had become a team and saw the photo of her and Matt taken prior to the Kerberos mission, but you only knew because he had shown it to you first, during one of his many tutoring sessions with you. You liked to think that while Shiro was Keith’s mentor, Matt was yours. A sentiment he very much enjoyed, so much that Pidge later told you that she had already known who you were when she met you. A fact that made your heart swell. Your friendship with Matt was one of the many reasons that Pidge thought of you like a sister and the main reason you looked after her so much- you wanted to look after her for him while he couldn’t and while this mindset got you into many arguments with Keith over putting her safety over your own you wouldn’t change a thing because you knew it was the right thing to do (Also Keith couldn’t really say anything as he constantly put himself in harms way for everyone on the team.) You couldn’t help but feel protective over her as she was the youngest out of your ragtag bunch and was annoyingly the only one you could baby as you were the second youngest of the group as Lance loved to remind you. While being here with Pidge definitely made you feel a little better, you couldn’t help but be relentlessly worried for the rest of the group, as they always found some way to get into trouble- especially Lance and Keith. It was like trouble sought them out, always getting into some sort of issue whether it be with aliens or with each other. So you couldn’t help but double over in laughter when Pidge using her junk-made paladins started an argument between the fake Lance and Keith.  Eventually, you both decided that you had waited around for help long enough and decided to try and find your own way back to the castle. Pidge made you gather together materials to make a home beacon signal in hopes that it could reach the castles of lions to allow them to find you two. No surprise to you Pidge’s brilliance worked its magic as the castle of lions appeared in the sky from a wormhole, the pair of you hugged each other happy knowing that you weren’t going to grow old on a trash pile as you had both dramatically claimed. You two were more than ready to return to the fight against Zarkon to save the universe and hopefully, find Pidge’s family.      

You dream of him, black hair, violet eyes and his grumpy temperament clouding your thoughts as you try to rest. But, when you wake cold and alone in that dark cell you are reminded of the present and how you need to try and stop yourself from dreaming of the past.

Thought it was “just goodbye for now” you bitterly mumbled as you awoke from another dream of him. This time the memory sticks with you- of the goodbye you shared as he left to find himself with the blades, those were the words he uttered to you as you blanketed him in your embrace. That it was temporary, that you two would come back together again and you remember how you smiled through your sadness nodding at his words, believing him truthfully- as you always did. But you are now struggling to believe it anymore and you don't know if you are more mad at him for uttering those words or yourself for trusting them to be true. Up to now, all attempts to contact your lion have failed miserably but you can still hear your lion if you concentrate enough- as though you two are connected to the same string and you pray that it never snaps, clinging onto it like a lifeline.

You were buzzing, tapping your hands against your legs as you bounced on the balls of your feet, waiting for Pidges Lion in the cockpit while the rest of the team looked at you, amused. Lance, clearly feeding off your joyous attitude, ruffled the hair on your head, messing it up slightly. You turned to the boy, pouting as he withdrew his hands, using your own to try to flatten whatever mess he had made as he giggled at your reaction. A smile quickly returned to your face when Pidge stepped out of her lion with a familiar boy following behind her, you ran towards the pair, wrapping your arms around Matt’s shoulders in welcome, your smile only increasing when he hugged back with just as much gusto, you could hear Lance muttering something about someone being jealous if they were here to Hunk and Shiro but you weren’t paying close enough attention to anything he said, instead, you were very happy that the man who you would call a brother was really okay and just like Shiro had survived the Kerberos mission. When the family reunion had ended Pidge introduced Matt to the rest of the group, except for Keith as he was yet again away on some mission with the Blades. You watched amused as Matt’s eyes landed on Allura and something similar to what you see in a romcom played out as he screamed “You are so beautiful!” you struggled to keep the giggles to yourself as you saw Coran turn red in anger, clearly seeing this as an inappropriate way to talk to the princess and finding humour in Lance’s clear jealousy as Hunk made the boy walk away from the group. You decided to do something similar telling Pidge to give Matt a tour of the castle ship as you walked away with Coran and Allura, pulling both the alteans away with your hands.

Calming down an angry altean was albeit harder than you expected, especially when Allura was of no help at all as she was just laughing at how worked up the older man had become, but you understood it was because he felt so protective over her especially since there was no Alfor to help him and she was like Coran’s little girl so nobody would ever be good enough, you whispered just as much to him as Allura was talking to her mice and that seemed to make him less annoyed, knowing that somebody else understood him. It wasn’t until later when gossiping with Allura about your lives before all this, that she mentioned that it wasn’t just Matt’s interaction with her that annoyed Coran but also his interaction with you, claiming that he always got annoyed when others in his eyes tried to “flirt” with you, her or Pidge. However, she quickly noted that he never got annoyed or got Lance and Hunk to intimidate Keith like he did anyone else when it comes to you a comment made your cheeks burn.   

You startle awake to the sound of your cell door being opened, eyes darting towards the light, confused when the door continues to open, eyes squinting from the light now surrounding you for the first time in weeks as you try to identify the body in front of you when a voice gasped out and a familiar voice spoke your name. All worry evaporated from your body as Matt Holt wrapped you in a hug and you knew for the first time in weeks that everything would be okay and that maybe Keith was right- it was just goodbye for now.

You now sat in the control room of the ship you had been captured in surrounded by freedom fighters. After hearing over hacked intercoms about it carrying ‘precious cargo’ for the emperor, they had infiltrated and taken control of the ship.

“And that was me was it?” you mused looking towards the Holt boy to which he cracked a smile sending you a simple nod in response. You had changed into your white and silver spacesuit and your bayard had been retrieved for you. Now more than ready to return home to the castle of lions, to the paladins and to him. 

The first thing you saw, unsurprisingly, as the ship came out of the wormhole was your lion, growling in happiness, bounding towards her paladin only stopping when she was at the front of the ship, eyes locked onto you. You smiled gleefully at your lion feeling your connection stronger than ever, as though the string that attached the you two was unwavering, unbreakable. As soon as the ship reached the castle of lions you were enveloped in the paladin’s embrace, you would’ve fallen over when Pidge launched herself into your arms, legs wrapped around your middle like a koala,  if weren’t for Lance keeping you balanced by surrounding you in a hug from behind. Hunk joined the misfit group of cadets finishing off the group hug similar to how they used to in the Garrison when they, for once, completed the training simulator much to Iverson’s shock. Thoughts of worry could be seen swimming through Shiro’s eyes as you caught them when looking up, he nodded at you, the tension flinging off him like water down a hill as you turned back to your family holding Pidge and Lance by the backs of their heads, smiling and reassuring them that this was real, that you were real as tears dropped from the twos eyes. You could feel Hunk’s laboured breaths, clearly trying to stay strong for the group as the rest were blubbering messes. Walking away from your embrace and towards the freedom fighters with Shiro shaking hands and thanking them for getting you back to them as the trio dropped towards the floor, holding onto each other like it was the last time. 

It was only later when you had changed into your everyday wear, speaking with Allura and Coran holding both of their hands, stroking them gently that the paladins noticed the new scars decorating your arms and some scorch marks adjourned your neck along with bruising that you wouldn’t comment on. Or rather that you couldn’t as you claimed to not remember anything except for the dark room you were kept in and then Matt saving you. Another change was your hair, which had a white streak in it, you simply chuckled at the development turning to Shiro claiming "We match now" causing everyone to laugh and they supposed it fit you well - “As she is the white paladin” Lance claimed.

It was only when Coran transferred your memories temporarily into a crystal that they all saw what you endured on the ship, you were beaten and tortured for answers, electrocuted, burned for sport and tested on by some druids. At that point, they stopped watching as Shiro was looking rather green, probably from remembering his own time with those vile creatures. But you mused that you were lucky as you still had all your limbs and according to Coran who looked at your scan results from the healing pod whatever they were trying on you didn’t work as you were the same as you were before, “except for a few scars and a new hair colour that is” He pondered twiddling his moustache. And he was right of course you didn’t feel any different, maybe a bit more anxious at night and a few more nightmares but who could blame you after being trapped in a dark room for weeks. Of course, the memory loss was slightly concerning but they all believed it to be a coping mechanism to keep you sane and you were glad that you could only properly remember the dark room, that it was all that really haunted you at night and that those things you saw on the screen projected from your mind didn’t and you hoped it stayed that way.

The entire universe that was apart of the coalition let out a sigh of relief when it was revealed by Allura on comms to the members of the alliance that the white paladin of Voltron had been found and returned mostly unharmed.  However, nobody’s relief could be felt greater than that of Keith Kogane who had been fighting with Kolivan for weeks when they received the information of your disappearance and probable capture, he remembers the way his legs nearly gave out from under him when during a meeting with Allura the altean claimed that Voltron couldn’t come to the rescue this time as they were missing a paladin- missing you. He Surprisingly didn’t even need to sneak out on a blade ship to try and find the castle of lions to see if it was true, rather Kolivan who was probably fed up with his moping simply turned to the boy and gave him ship and co-ordinates simply asking him to back in time for the next meeting. The older Galaran didn’t think he'd see the boy move so fast, mumbling annoyed about how much more work would get done if he did. 

You didn’t hear him on comms asking for Coran to allow him into the cockpit, too busy in the training deck with Shiro and Allura showing them that despite being out of action for a few weeks you were ready to get back out there because as you told them “the gala don’t wait for anyone” and that “this revolution wasn’t going to fight itself.” You didn’t even hear your teammates asking for you to come to the control room over comms, far too busy fighting the training dummies and your comms device left on the side. What you did notice was when you were lifted from behind, a pair of pale arms grabbing you by the waist causing a gasp to erupt from your throat, You spun around ready to attack until your eyes met his, and then your sword dropped to the floor as Keith held you in his arms, staring intensely at you as if you would disappear if he dared to look away for even a second. You quickly returned the embrace, arms circling his back as you threw your head onto his chest, almost unbelieving that he was there, his arms moved, crowding around your head pulling you impossibly closer to his body as he noticed the white strand of hair, his fingers pressed against it confused as he rested his nose atop your head, breathing you in, reminding himself that this was in fact, real and not just one of his sick dreams he has been having since finding out you were gone. 

Being held in his arms made everything real, and you thought that if you had to through everything all over again just to have this moment, in his arms, you would. It was all be for the best if you ended up in his arms at the end of it all.

#keith kogane x reader #keith x reader #keith kogane #vld keith #keith voltron #voltron #voltron x reader #voltron legendary defender #vld x reader #vld fic #keith kogane fanfic #keith kogane fic #Keith kogane imagine

[hidingoutbackstage]

Okay it’s no secret I was in the Voltron trenches. But it’s been a few years and most of my mutuals are people who don’t know jack about the show, only that it was bad. So ofc here’s a “which is wrong” poll, specifically about the show/official stuff related to the series, no fandom stuff cuz I don’t feel like it. If a question has a * then I’ve provided more info at the bottom

Asterisk explanations below the cut

*All of the characters of color, except for the black girl, were voiced by white people. Lance, who was Latino, Shiro, who was Japanese, Hunk, who was Samoan/African American, were all voiced by white people. The character voiced by Steven Yeun ended up having an aracial alien mother and a white American father

*There was an official “which paladin are you” quiz in like a magazine or online or smth and one question was “which animal from this list would you pick” and if you picked mostly B’s, which was letter option for the hippopotamus, you’d get Hunk, the fat character (guy was victim of a lot of fat jokes in the show too btw)

*The blind woman was shown to be cool and a capable fighter and we were supposed to like her, especially since she betrayed the bad guys she worked for, but a character the show later tried to frame as sympathetic (the homicidal maniac they pair with Allura, the black girl btw) murders her brutally

*There was a list of stats somewhere I can’t remember, probably a magazine, of how intelligent, strong, etc. certain characters were, and the black girl who’s an alien and shown to be INCREDIBLY strong had stats weaker than a normal human white guy. He was also smarter than her too

*The character Shiro wasn’t actually shown in the show to be gay (not until the finale where they make him marry a random guy they invented due to backlash) the creators just said he was and then the character poorly established as his “husband” is killed by being blown up. It was textbook queerbaiting

#sid rants #polls #voltron #voltron legendary defender

[skye-is-rambling-as-usual]

was scrolling on pinterest and found this thread and i want to add on to this thread, and add on my two cents

thread by @mustlovelance

i personally think you are 100% correct.

Keith isn't good with words. but he has his moments where he says the right things. although people always act like Keith is a badass or an asshole (he is at times lol), he is also extremely awkward and struggles with interaction.

he means well, a lot of the time, but he just sometimes tends to say things that are either unintentionally rude in context, like how you pointed out here

the pep-talk he gave Lance was inadequate because he didn't realize that Lance isn't as secure (in himself and his abilities) as he makes himself out to be. part of this falls on Lance too, as he should communicate that he is insecure, but while others might offer comforting words, Keith struggles with it.

transcript of the conversation between Lance and Keith in S3 Ep6 "Tailing a Comet"

Lance: Hey, man. I just wanted to talk with you because...well, because I've been worrying about something.

Keith: Must really be bothering you if you're coming to talk to me.

Lance: Well, I mean, you're the leader now, right?

Keith: I guess.

the most interesting thing to note here is that Keith tried to be light-hearted, and it made Lance seemingly more insecure. Keith is also dealing with his own insecurities in his position and that shows here too. he tries to hide it with aloofness, but you can just feel him hestating in his small confirmation to being leader.

Lance: I've been doing some math. With Shiro back, that makes six paladins, but there are only five lions. And if I'm right, that's one paladin too many.

Keith: Solid math.

Lance: Look, when Shiro takes over the Black Lion, you're going to want your Red Lion back. If I get a lion, I'd have to take Blue from Allura. But she's progressed a lot faster than any of us did. She might even be able to unlock powers we don't know of.

Keith: That's true.

Keith is being logical, and honest, but i don't blame Lance for him being upset at this. it is upsetting to hear someone agree with you when you're insecure already. that is basically what Keith did here, even if it wasn't his intention to.

Lance: So maybe the best thing I can do for the team is step aside.

Keith: What are you talking about?

Lance: This isn't a participation game. This is war. And you want your best soldiers on the front lines.

Keith: Stop worrying about who flies what and just focus on your missions. Things will work themselves out.

Keith, in this moment, is literally blind-sided by this statement from Lance. his expression shifted from neutral to shock. he was genuinely confused about the fact Lance even thought about stepping aside. even his reaction to Lance's comment "you want your best soldiers on the front lines" is logical, and therefore comes over as rude. he is telling Lance to stop worrying about wether he is good enough or not, because he thinks he shouldn't have to tell him that he is a valued member, as literally his right-hand.

Lance: Okay. Thanks.

Keith: And, Lance...leave the math to Pidge.

Lance thanks Keith but it isn't really sincere, mostly because Keith didn't really help. Lance needed validation and comfort, but instead he got logic and misplaced light-heartedness.

neither did anything wrong, but the communication didn't land. Keith didn't really realize Lance was feeling insecure and Lance went to the wrong person for this conversation lol.

feel free to share your opinions :D

#voltron #keith kogane #lance mcclain #voltron fandom #vld

[xjulixred45x]

The Paladins (+Lotor and Allura) x Komori!Reader.

reader: feminine

Genre: Headcannons

Warnings: nothing worrisome. fluff.

Shiro

And he knows you is like "PROTECT AT ALL COSTS"

chances are they saved you from some group of idiots with bad intentions. So Shiro is a good listener after that. you stay with them because well, there is not much choice.

Cleaning up the castle a bit, cooking with Hunk, making sure everyone is well fed and happy, you pretty much become a space mom.

And Shiro is the space father.

Try to help you reach things on the high shelves. Although he finds it cute, he himself will lower things from the high wings to avoid future accidents.

He is not very sweet but he will eat everything you cook.

Yui is about 1.58 and Shiro is more or less 1.80, HUGS WOULD BE FANTASTIC.

He is by far the most gentle of all. Understand that having that attitude all the time can be a great mental drain, so if you need a break or be the one to take care of for a while. Count on him.

Saying how he appreciates how you raise the morale of the group in your own way .

It's too cute, I can't-

Keith

It is the most difficult by far, but not impossible (especially with your attitude).

At first he saw you more as a victim, a poor soul in a way. I didn't expect you to be so...lively afterwards.

See how, despite everything, you continued to be happy, cheering everyone on-CHEERING HIM, taking care of him, worrying about everyone...

It made me see you more as a survivor than a victim.

It made him respect you for handling the situation like that. At the same time he began to show more interest, in a way.

Similar to Shiro, he shows his appreciation to you for acts of service. Not only helping with the heavy stuff, but also being the first to jump in front of you if there's an attack on the castle.

Again, he doesn't have a sweet tooth, but if you ask him to try something for dinner, he'll pretend to grudgingly if he does.

When they move into some sort of relationship, not much changes, except that it's more open and the protection kicks in.

If Keith gets mad at something or someone(coughcofLANCEcofcough) he will go straight to you to vent, this is especially true when he becomes the black lion pilot. You want to know if what you are saying is valid or if you are getting carried away.

You are by far the most trusted person on the ship (along with Shiro).

Lance

Lance is the one who falls the fastest, and falls HARD

Make it very clear to him when he wants something with you, but not in the same way as when he is casually flirting with someone. They are like a little more personal questions, you know if he can have something with you.

Lance misses life on earth a lot, it is a fact, that you want to take care of him, listen to his problems and assure him that he is not the "seventh wheel" of the group means A LOT to him.

Also since you don't invalidate his concerns and contrast them with real, positive facts about him, he doesn't have to be the clown of the group to be able to talk to you.

That's probably why he fell in love so quickly.

Chivalrous ASF, opening the doors, giving up the seat, helping with heavy things that he can barely carry, etc.

There's also a bit of insecurity about dating you, he's full of doubts about whether he's really enough for you, comparing himself to the other paladins in the party. Although you shut it up immediately because you know it's true.

Cuddly! Lots of hugs and kisses on the cheeks. Especially if you did something like cook for the WHOLE group or just walked a healthy line between helping everyone and helping yourself.

He definitely wants to introduce you to his family (especially if you don't have one of your own)! He assures you that they will receive you and love you just as much as they love you!

TOO CUTE I CAN'T-

Hunk

! kitchen companions!

Both can spend hours and hours exchanging recipes, telling cooking stories, experiences, etc. and never get bored.

They have something like a system to be able to make meals between the two of them so as not to overload the other with work. eg, you the desserts, the dinner, you the dinner, the desserts, miti miti, etc.

They taste each other's food 🥺

Hunk is also considered the most morale booster in a certain way, so under no circumstances will he let you feel bad or inferior to them just for not being a paladin! You help in many other ways!

Hunk is also considered the most morale booster in a certain way, so under no circumstances will he let you feel bad or inferior to them just for not being a paladin! You help in many other ways!

It's the best shoulder to cry on if things get too tense or if you just can't keep happy for once, that's okay.

similar to Lance, he wants to introduce you to his family, his parents more than anything, he knows that children naturally love you, but it is very IMPORTANT that their parents approve of you.

Needless to say, you have it around your finger ;).

Pidge(romantic/platonic)

She's used to being the one the group cares about most as the youngest, so your joining is a breath of fresh air.

Don't get her wrong, Paladins respect her, but not in the same way that YOU respect her. You still see her as a child, but you also recognize her brilliant mind and trust her to protect you.

You are very aware of her, whether it is for her to bathe, remember to eat, sleep long enough, etc. You remind him a lot of a mother hen.

She may seem upset about this at first, but it's really because you remind her of her own mother, which makes her nostalgic and somewhat sad.

But he quickly gets over it because he KNOWS you're doing it with their best interests in mind.

Love your food, really love it, especially if it tastes like peanuts.

If he gets in trouble with Lance or any of the Paladins, he goes and hides behind you, like a little kid with an evil grin.

Damn gremlin.

Allura

Girls' nights Girls' nights Girls' nights Girls' nights Girls' nights-

They become friends very quickly! She gets along very well with paladins, yes, but with you it's a whole new level.

I doubt Allura has ever been attracted to a woman, so when she starts to see you differently, she doesn't know what to do or whether to act "normal."

I'll probably even go to the other paladins for advice because lance and Koran don't help much.

I think she is the one who tries the most to hide this crush, more because she wants to give the image of a confident and determined leader, she wants to take the courage to say it.

And when she says it, she also gets nervous and somewhat clumsy. But adorable.

PROTECC will not hesitate to use brute force if you put yourself in danger.

Protective, even worse than Keith.

Afternoons of hair care with the space mice (seriously LOOK AT HER BEAUTIFUL HAIR).

Lotor

Let's be honest, you probably met him when he was held prisoner by the paladins and he had some degree of appreciation for you at first.

But then you started to worry about him (maybe because he reminded you of yourself when you were saved by the paladins) and you couldn't leave it like that.

So, for the sake of his mental health and your peace of mind, you made sure he was…comfortable in a way.

The Paladins+ Allura OBVIOUSLY didn't want you to do them, but there was little they could do to stop you.

You brought him food, water, things to entertain himself, blankets in case it was cold, you tried to make small talk, etc.

At first he just thought it was out of pity, so he rejected you the first few times.

But he realized pretty quickly that it was more like... empathy. you felt identified with him. So he wasn't so rude to you and started to appreciate that, you treated him like a living being regardless of his race. he likes you

When they let him walk through the castle of lions, he will most likely thank you for the good treatment compared to how the paladins saw him.

Try to "thank" you in other ways, mainly helping you out when the other paladins aren't around or can't handle it, learning a little more about human culture, and generally speaking more generally to pass the time.

If Allura and Keith were bad with overprotection, Lotor is that squared. Now that he appreciates you, there is no escaping affection.

Also, Lotor is TALL, even taller than Shiro, he could easily throw you over his shoulder and not even break a sweat.

He just can't help but find your human being too ADORABLE.

Sorry I couldn't think of much more for this part :')

#headcanons #voltron hunk #voltron lance #voltron keith #voltron allura #voltron legendary defender #voltron #voltron lotor #voltron x fem reader #fem reader #fluff

[icypantherwrites]

Fic Update: Found, Chapter Eight

Found Summary:

Lance is alive. He’s been alive this whole time as not just a prisoner of the Galra Empire… but as their assassin. Shiro’s head aches with his own press of memories as to what Lance must have suffered, how he’d been tortured, to become a cold-blooded killer that goes against every value Lance held dear. But while there’s nothing they can do to change the past they have a way to change the future and now it’s time to find Lance and bring him home.

—

Sniper is confused. He shouldn’t know those people, he doesn’t know those people and yet… yet there’s a whisper of familiarity that makes his chest ache and his hand pause on the trigger. But Mistress’ whispers are even louder and his screams as she forces him to forget them and replace them with only the faces and feelings of enemies are the loudest of them all.

Found, Chapter Eight Snippet:

Sniper had his target in sight.

Pink was in front on the stage and while she’d be the easiest one to hit, he wanted to take out Champion first.

His partner who had betrayed him.

Who had betrayed the Empire.

He needed to die.

Easy, Sniper Mistress crooned in his mind, do not let hate cloud your reason.

Sniper let out a slow breath and nodded.

He knew that.

And he had Mistress here to remind him as she and Sir had come with him on his mission — Sir had done so before but Mistress had never accompanied him and Sniper felt both comforted and nervous by her presence just a few feet away from him — while Sir was on the ground hidden in the crowd.

They would not interfere, Sir had said, as this was Sniper’s mission, but they would step in if the Paladins proved more difficult than anticipated, and given there were six of them including the sorcerer that could be the case.

But Sniper planned to shoot them all from here. Sniping was what he preferred, his true specialty, and, selfishly, it allowed him to avoid all of the blood.

He still didn’t like the blood.

Sir had warned it was highly likely his targets had shielding of some sort even if it wasn’t visible, but Sniper knew all shielding could be broken with enough direct hits.

And, his lips pulled up into the barest smirk, he was more than capable of making multiple direct hits.

His finger lighted on the trigger, lining up his sniper rifle to Champion’s head, aiming dead center at the man’s forehead where a thin black circlet that he would bet activated the shield was placed.

It was time to take the shot.

Read chapter 8 here

(posted up to chapter 6 on AO3)

#voltron #vld #lance #langst #assassin #brainwashing #whump #bamf lance #lance voltron #fanfiction #fanfic #icypanther #sniper #found #sniper Lance

[avidbeader]

So, I've been doing the Great Sheith Reblog for a while now, gradually reblogging almost everything I shared before that was tagged as Sheith. Lots of art, gifsets, fics and recs, old merch posts, and meta to go around with the occasional dash of salt because lord, dumbness about shipping brings out the salt sometimes. But most of the time it's a lovely nostalgia hit and a reminder of why I still love this ship with all my fandom heart. It's bittersweet sometimes, seeing the usernames that left with Tumblr's worst decision ever, the fellow fans who have moved on to other things, and yes, the hopes and dreams we had before Season 8.

Long blathering under the cut: musings about the persistence of anti-shippers and what queerbaiting actually means.

But occasionally what both amuses and frustrates me is how things line up because it's 2024 and we still have klantis/antis over on the former Twitter spreading the same lies about Shiro and Keith - about their ages, about how they met, about what their relationship is. Right now over there, arguing is happening again because someone put up a clout-chasing poll about which mlm ship was the most influential and included KL but not Sheith (KL beat Johnlock and then lost to Hualian, so I'm happy twice over). Side note - I think if we take "influence" as a completely neutral term, then yeah, KL has been a huge negative influence on fandoms as it was one of the places that allowed puriteen attitudes and anti behavior to grow unchecked for so long. That helped turn some ship fandoms into cults, in which you had to believe with utter certainty that your ship would be canon or you weren't a "true" fan of the ship. That put more emphasis on opposing a rival ship through wank and harassment instead of focusing on the joy and fun of creating for the ship you supposedly love.

And that poll prodded someone to create a Google Form for soliciting answers as to what the biggest examples of queerbaiting are in media. And of course people are saying KL and Adam/Shiro, among other things that are not at all queerbait. These are examples of people guessing wrong and getting mad about it. Queerbait requires that the producers/writers/etc. say outright that a ship is going to happen and then it doesn't, without any influences from the powers above them making changes. Not received fan "wisdom". Not marketing doing things without consulting the producers.

And I just reblogged someone's ask in which they said they felt queerbaited by Sheith solely because of the "brother" line in "The Black Paladins". The answer is excellent and worth a ready if you haven't seen it on my blog already.

Breaking it down:

KL is not queerbait. KL was never planned as a potential ship and LM/JDS said so multiple times. They said it never occurred to them as a possibility and by the time KL's popularity took off they were too far along in the writing to try and go back and make changes, because animators need time to draw. LM flat-out said she was surprised that it became a thing. If the producers are telling you over and over in no uncertain terms that a ship had never been on the table and couldn't be added to the table now, that's not a case of queerbait. And they spoke of Lance's love interests as female every single time. JDS/LM never said anything that would lead fans into thinking KL was a possibility without the deliberate and willful misinterpreting of their words.

Adam/Shiro is not queerbait. Adam is a minor character in a series with a large cast. He has two functions: to be evidence of Shiro's status as a queer man and to be a "face" for all the pilots that died in the first wave of Sendak's invasion. Some people try to claim that LM and JDS queerbaited with their answers at SDCC 2018, but they're wrong. The only thing LM said was that we would see more of Adam in S7. And we did. She did not promise we'd see more of him with Shiro. That was people inserting what they wanted to hear, just like them trying to elevate Adam's status to a fiancé when again, LM clearly stated that they were serious and considering getting engaged. Not engaged. Not married. Just a couple that was serious about each other but broke up.

I don't consider Sheith to be true queerbait. It might fall under the cryptoqueer situation explained at the end of the post linked above, but JDS and LM were mostly very careful to talk of Sheith in terms of deep friendship and devotion to one another, after the initial wave of support for fan content during S1, prior to the klanti movement taking off. The only thing that skirts the line for me is a quote, I think from JDS, saying that if Shiro had a new love interest it would be someone he has known a long time. Or maybe that was about the romances in general being developed over seasons and not Shiro-specific - I would need to research. (Yet more proof that the endcard "wedding" was not planned since we didn't see the unnamed groom until S7 and they never interacted.) And that was said before studio execs started meddling and caused the trainwreck of S8.

I do think we were supposed to have an open ending for Sheith. Klantis like to point out a storyboard artist claiming that "no one wins" this ship war as evidence that KL was supposed to happen and got changed, but that statement applies if Sheith is left open-ended and Allurance happens, even without the endcards.

When I have a chance, I'll try and dig up the links for the various quotes I mention above. Thank you for reading if you made it this far!

#voltron #sheith #why K/L and A/S are not actually queerbait despite anti claims

[tarantula-hawk-wasp]

yes s1 of voltron was 7 years ago, however i need to go on a very sincere rant that’s been fermenting inside me for those years

my brain is still bothered by all of the underaddressed Shiro stuff that was implied or started in season 1 but rewatching the haunted castle episode this line hit so hard again. Shiro’s reaction to his corrupted castle psychological torment asking him if he thinks a monster like him could be a voltron paladin is soooooo  brainworm inducing because 1. definitely suggests that Shiro thinks of himself as a monster on some level and is that because of the galra arm? a fear of it corrupting him? is that because of what he had to do as Champion? What he did as a gladiator? Is it because of what the Druids may have done to him??? woefully underexplored, both in canon bc Shiro seems to try very hard to not talk about his issues with teenagers he’s trying to be a strong leader for, and in fanon bc he often is a supporting character for klance and Keith is usually the one getting the “im a monster” angst treatment.   2. this HURTS because you know what the narrative ends up telling shiro? that he is not paladin material. Like i understand the whole clone thing and the extenuating circumstances etc and i think it slaps so hard that Allura gets to be a pilot, and tbh Shiro probably understands too bc he outwardly handles things in a very mature and supportive way but like he never got the black bayard like the true black paladin and instead had to use his galra arm which seems like it hurts him to use and then he gets replaced as the black lion’s pilot. Seems like its not much of a stretch for him to feel like the universe is expressing that he is unsuitable to be a voltron paladin. 

#shiro #Holly v*ltron tag #i simply cannot let go of season one of this show #and i cannot stop rotating shiro in my mind #im posting my serious thing about this scene now bc im about to make an its me boy im the ps5 speaking to you inside your brain edit

[inflammatoryfandomblog]

okay. so voltron’s second season (”seasons” 3-6) were. well.

i have to say that i sort of vastly preferred the first production block. i definitely think the show was more in its element with the episodic “defeat zarcon” stuff than with... to be honest, i have no idea what’s happening.

i mean it started off pretty good. could have gone in a lot of directions. i was interested in the idea of lotor, whose ideology seemed to be a very good contrast to zarcon’s but still seemed to be a good villain. a darker side to the alteans, the fact that the lions can bond to multiple paladins, etc etc etc.

like idk, i know there are people that would take issue with it but it would have been kinda cool if various characters could bond to the different lions sometimes, and the relationship with each one could reveal something about the character. like maybe it would have been a contrast to zarcon, who was hyperfixated on the black lion and thought that because it was the leader, it was the Important One or whatever.

anyways this is called “inflammatoryfandomblog” and it’s time for the griping.

-> the plot is about quintessence, which... the galra empire depends on for some reason, even though it was really the druids we’ve seen use it before, and they were destroying whole planets for the stuff and using it to power zarcon’s little ego “i’m going to get the lions trip.” it’s kind of unclear what else uses it. and i think that’s like my main issue with this season/production block? aside from the S1-like episodes, it feels very muddled and hard to really get into.

i just. am trying to make sense of lotor’s plan. or haggar’s plan. or what they each wanted. or what even what quintessence does. quintessence seems to be like, a... theme-thing... for being too entrenched in the past and what you’ve lost, and so being poisoned by it is losing sight of the present by trying to recreate it. at least that’s what makes the most sense. it’s not, uh, subtle--but it’s not used well enough to relieve it of the Magical Bullshit feeling. 

(this is something she-ra has over voltron; whatever plot magic BS happens is generally woven in better, thematically, with adora and glimmer and catra--but this just might be because there’s a lot less characters and she-ra very early on drops the pretense of being political in any way; it’s the type of series that’s very transparent with that--it says “yeah lmao our world doesn’t matter this is basically a basic family story with princess/scifantasy icing”, while voltron is very different in this regard, and so this approach does it no favors, because how it developed its world was a very good selling point for me in the first production block)

like “oh we just offer them more quintessence and they’ll listen to me” seems like a really bad justification for......... anything......... and idk if they even needed that plotline, i feel like lotor wanting to create an “inclusive/fair empire” is a pretty interesting oxymoron without the weird altean magic stuff. that haggar also unlocked. somehow. i wasn’t very invested in it i suppose; it failed to sort of convince me at any point of being true to the setting, which was a real strength of the first season.

-> i remember being miffed at the lack of shiro/lotor interactions (i mean, the lack of interactions sort of gave it away that this shiro was not worth investing into, especially since it was so telegraphed that druidlady was controlling him, but i was annoyed at the time) because i dunno, real!shiro and lotor could have built up an understanding re: being forced by zarcon to do bad stuff. generally the shiro clone plot is very meh, i feel it would have been better if a) the “real” shiro was actually taken to be some sort of trojan or he’s dead and the clone has to reckon with what it means and be an actual character or b) shiro’s spirit guided them and he was a mentor figure the entire way through, only getting back into a body at some point or another.

generally the entire clone plotline was just kind of worse than most possible alternatives to it, including having both shiros be alive and kicking. as it is now shiro is basically the same as the one from the first production block and can’t have changed.

-> for a second, since most of my predictions panned out in some way, that shiro *was* actually going to be zarcon all along. that would have been wild. similarly a very funny alternate universe is one where the gang splits the comet, gives half of it to the evil alteans and half of it to the galra and simply lets them fight.

-> i liked that the characters went off and had lives/missions outside of voltron (or at least, pidge/keith) and had a few episodes dedicated to those. those, aside from the early “season 3″ episodes and the fun one-shot ones were very enjoyable breaks from the mostly incoherent main plot. i had fun watching them instead of being like “hmm. so this is a Thing now” in the Main Story 

i really feel that ultra-dramatic storytelling is not these writers’ strong suit. which, fair, i mean, i’m not a writer, but i don’t think it’s a stretch to say that they’re a lot better with episodes with some implications as opposed to long, serialized, dramatic structures as a group. i think it might just be a matter of experience; most cartoons until the 2010s were very episodic, and longer stories just have more production/meddling complications which are non-trivial, whereas with episodes, if something doesn’t work... you can just dump it. but episode-episodes also don’t play well with streaming. just kind of an unfortunate media-landscape conundrum there.

(note that japanese animation for example, while it’s very serialized, most of the time has the benefit of having source material already laid out for it. really the equivalent of something like that are like, comic book shows i guess.)

-> animation is really stellar and action is very good. studio mir is great. they always stick the landing.

-> i guess i like that they tried to do something with the idea of “the evil emperor is dead/gone, now what?” which is kind of a difficult plot to write honestly, especially when the main cast are transformer-power-rangers, it’s not obvious how to make them relevant enough to have the focus on them. (and in classic fashion, i don’t really like making suggestions.)

-> lance is going to get with allura nooooooo. i was really invested in the idea that he defects because of a hot girl. instead he just gets jealous of lotor. the sad thing is i really think they could have been at least good friends (lance/allura). the scene where allura replicates trying to flirt with the blue lion is really funny, and lance bringing out everyone’s goofballness would have been a good variant on his general archetype. instead lance is mostly Annoying and gets a few disconnected Scenes. i can’t even really think of a good lance episode this season.

-> pidge baby though. she’s obviously flawed (esp with the prisoner exchange stuff like wth lady) and like. the main plot is dead to me at this point. but i really liked her side episodes. same with keith etc etc.

-> predictions for next season (if i get around to watching it):

-> 1. sendak (zendak?) invades earth. “YOU EARTHLINGS DEFEATED ME LIKE A CHUMP... LOOK WHO’S THE CHUMP NOW???” -> 2. allura and coran start a cow extermination policy -> 3. everyone gets sent to a mental institution and they have to break out -> 4. haggar does some quintessence bullshit and tries to revive lotor or whatever. zombie lotor is horribly mangled and rips a hole through reality again! -> 5. shiro binge-watches all the series he’s missed in the time he’s been dead. he likes kdramas or wuxia. not anime though. -> 6. ?????? lance becomes embroiled in cuban politics. just randomly. (he’s the one who likes anime.)

#vld #reactions #me.txt #begone thought #maybe #i feel like it's really not THAT bad. #i don't really understand the fans' hate for it. to me i sort of got more or less what i expected. #i mean there are worse series out there that promise more upfront #i didn't particularly expect this show to be very Deep and the plot is blockbuster movie basically. maybe b-movie. #i like the action. i like the ideas. the main plot kinda bad though #which is like. honestly. most action shows.

[mckinlily]

Um, okay this is a loaded question, and if you want to play it safe, you can answer me in DMs, but...I personally feel that there's something wrong about how VLD placed Keith in the lead. In a way, I can see him becoming Black Paladin, but Shiro...it feels more natural to me, it feels right that Shiro is Black Paladin. I'm not into VLD beyond Shiro, Keith's parents, and the Lions personally, but I know someone who loves it and makes good points about Keith as a leader, but something just isn't aligning for me. Maybe it's because Shiro and Keith are two radically different archetypes, and they got swapped when they shouldn't have, I don't know.

I came here because I saw one of your post S2 rewrites, and I appreciated it. So, again, feel free to answer me in DMs (if you have problems DM-ing me, let me know and I'll fix it for you) if you don't mind discussing this with me.

As a final note, I'm not trying to hate any particular character. They're all fine on their own, and I don't want to treat one as worse than the other. I just want to figure out this problem I'm having with Shiro and Keith.

Thank you for reading this, and take care.

You came to the right blog! Because I adore Keith and believe he certainly has qualities that could make him a good leader—and absolutely hate him as the Black Paladin.

The thing I never understood about Voltron fandom debates about who should be the Black Paladin is that they always seem based in the idea that because Shiro is a leader and the Black Paladin, that means the Black Paladin is the ONLY leader on the team.

It is worth noting that that premise was disproven in episode one. It was Allura who made the final call on whether the paladins should run or stay and fight Sendak, and Shiro explicitly bowed to her authority. From then on, Shiro and Allura both lead Team Voltron until the show decided to destroy their characters, accepting influence and trading responsibilities depending on which one of them fit the situation at hand. Typically, Allura functions more in a commander and diplomat role and Shiro is more of a field officer, but they both pick up the lead where needed.

I know you didn't bring up Allura, but I think it is vital she is included in any conversation about leadership in Voltron. She is introduced as THE princess of an entire planet, she has more knowledge and experience of the intergalactic landscape than any of the other characters, she's been set up to be a leader since birth, and she IS the leader of Team Voltron for two whole seasons. Shiro makes it VERY clear he considers her to outrank him.

So the question you have to ask any time you consider replacing Shiro as Black Paladin: why NOT Allura? If the Black Paladin is the "best leader", why are you skipping over the one character already established and thriving in a leadership role? (And then you have to ask yourself if that character being a Black woman has anything do with that.)

Now I do think there are ways narratively you could answer that question. For instance, if you keep the Lions as sentient beings, that means they can make choices—including wrong ones. For instance, for a time when I believed anything might be salvaged after season 3, my head canon for Black choosing Keith was that Keith was the one missing Shiro as intensely and desperately as Black in that moment. Therefore, the choice was not about Keith being "better" but rather them being at the same place emotionally and that allowing the bond. The major problem with the Lion swap in canon is that we're given NO reason for Keith to be Black Paladin besides "plot device said so". Especially when we have Allura right there. It's just bad writing.

(By the way, you don't have to be pro-Black Paladin Allura. There's nuance to be had, and I personally am actually more One True Black Paladin!Shiro. But you can't just dismiss her--a capable and proven leader--from the conversation. Erasing her character is not the answer.)

ANYWAY. Back to Keith. Or rather, leadership on Team Voltron. Thing is, there are many different WAYS to be a leader. We already touched on the differences between Allura and Shiro. Keith does a good job of making split second decisions in battle or calling shots if Shiro is incapacitated or somehow separated. If you're in the middle of a fight, the plan has gone to shit, and the team just got separated, Keith is great at telling people what to do and mobilizing because something needs to get done NOW.

But that's not the only way to lead. Keith, for instance, is terrible at pep talks. He misses a lot of the nuances going on between him and his teammates off the battlefield. He doesn't plan ahead, like, ever. Sure he's great at making up stuff on the fly, but sometimes you need a plan.

But it's not just Keith. For instance, when Shiro, Lance, and Pidge go on the mission to rescue Slav, it's Pidge who calls all the shots. Is that not leadership? Pidge is often the one telling people what they need to do to solve technical problems. She's a center for information, typically the one collecting it, organizing and interrupting it, and then instruction others based on her conclusions. We see her take point on a mission, give orders to her teammates, coordinate efforts, problem solve in real time and relay a new plan in order to navigate unexpected challenges. Why not argue PIDGE should be the leader?

And there's when they freed the Balmera and Hunk took the lead. That mission was more challenging, but I'd argue in that arc, Hunk's leadership mattered less in terms of orders and more in terms of determining what type of team they'd be. Hunk was ADAMANT they free the Balmerans and set a tone for the team where they didn't leave suffering people behind. Hunk set up a moral imperative for the team that they'd be lesser without.

And Lance! There's actually lots to say about Lance and his strengths and types of leadership. But it's easy to point out that Lance is the one initiating fun and team bonding outside of battle. And when you're operating a giant robot held together by emotion connection, that's pretty dang important!

Point is, they're ALL leaders. They all have the capability to take point when needed. We SEE them all take charge at different points of the show.

So what's the Black Paladin then? If Shiro's The Leader then what does that mean? And this is the cool part! Because you know what Shiro is really really good? Know who else to put in charge. He's the one who first acknowledges Allura as an authority because he sees she has knowledge and experience he and the others do not. He selects which paladins to go together on which missions based on their strengths and the situations. He steps back and lets Pidge or Lance or Hunk call the shots if they're in an area of their expertise. Shiro's job isn't to tell people what to do. It's to decide who to put in charge of what and place them in best position for success.

There's another aspect of Shiro's leadership that is supporting his teammates, offering comfort, teaching, and giving the kids something solid they can believe in so they don't have to care the full weight of the war. But like letting others take charge where they shine, Shiro's leadership is all about enabling those he leads. One of my favorite Shiro lines is "It's too dangerous—I'm coming with you." Shiro's goal is never control. He is support. He leads the paladins because he sees the best in them and helps them reach it.

Narratively, also, Shiro is just set up to be the Black Paladin. The parallels between himself and the Black Lion are too obvious. From both being controlled and abused by Zarkon to Shiro's missing arm and Black's mission bayard. It's a kid's show. The symbolism isn't all that subtle. And if that weren't enough, we literally get an entire episode A plot in Space Mall about it where Shiro literally fist fights Zarkon for the Black Lion and in the end, he wins because he makes it clear it's the Black Lion's choice and trust.

Remember when I said the problem with Keith in the Black Lion in canon is that we're never given an explanation beyond "because I said so"? We're shown repeatedly why the Black Lion chooses Shiro. Even before we meet most the Lions, the other paladins themselves choose Shiro as their leader when Lance asks him if they should go through the wormhole. We repeatedly see Shiro seek to understand the Black Lion better, and Black responding. We see the similarities between their situations and backstories. We see them bond.

And I think this is really important because when Shiro is in the Black Lion, it's not about him being "in charge." It's about his relationship with the Black Lion. Yeah, of course, the other paladins are leaders! And they should be! But none of them have Shiro's relationship with the Black Lion. In this narrative, the Black Lion isn't a prize to be won but a relationship to nurture, and Shiro has put in the work for that relationship.

Which is really important because it means the Lions aren't a hierarchy. The Black Paladin is one role, an important role in Voltron, but no more important than any of the others. "The Leader" is not the most important person in the room. Instead, Shiro is a facilitator who enables all the others to perform their roles better.

Also can I just remind everyone just how well the Red Lion fits Keith? The paladin who keeps throwing himself out airlocks get the Lion most likely to go AWOL and fly off to save him. Keith defends his friends and team by attacking first and asking questions later, and Red started destroying a planetary body to get to Keith. The kid with abandonment issues gets the Lion who doesn't hesitate a second to go after him. And even the way they're shown to bond—that it's so physical and based in action rather than words—it's so Keith. I freaking love Keith as the Red Paladin. He gets to be as chaotic and free as he was always meant to be and gets a Lion who meets him every step of the way.

But if you say, no, Keith should be the Black Paladin. Well. What about Red wasn't working? Why was that role not one Keith fit in? Because from my reading of canon, Keith was thriving in Red. He got a secure attachment to his favorite person in the world, he gets the freedom to fly while also being part of something bigger, and he's making friends. It's still in its beginning stages, but he's figuring out how to bond with Lance, Hunk, and Pidge and you get the sense these are a kind of friendships he's never experienced before. But you know what could kill that really fast? Making him The Leader, a position that inherently sets him apart from the rest.

This is actually a problem twice over for Keith because unlike Shiro, who is shown to be given his role voluntarily by everyone around him and repeatedly shows he's earned that trust and respect, Keith is basically thrown into the Plot Device Machine and gets a t-shirt that says YOU'RE THE LEADER NOW. And we never get a reason beyond that.

This is actually my biggest problem season 3 and the Lion Swap. Because as soon as they made that choice, the Lions became a hierarchy. But what other explanation do we have? Keith won Favorite Character status got "prompted" to Black Paladin. But as soon as Black Paladin is a promotion, that makes the other paladin roles inferior. Red becomes the "second in command". So Lance get prompted but can never be equal to Keith. Allura gets the "Training Wheels" Lion/Blue, and they didn't have to write that as a massive demotion, but they sure did anyway. Hunk and Pidge are no longer leaders because they aren't in the "Leader" Lions.

It makes me so mad. One of the things I loved first about Voltron was the message of equality and servant leadership. The idea that a leader (represented by Shiro) is someone who elevates and enables everyone else. A recognition for the more "feminine" types of leadership—nurturing, compassion, emotional support. Which support roles are seen as vital and just as if not more important than being the "boss."

But we only got two seasons of that before they pulled the rug out and said, "Nope. We're returning back to patriarchy." Suddenly the Lions were in a strict chain of command, one character was the boss and the rest were his subordinates. There was a top position and a bottom position, and the characters were all fighting over each other. Perhaps most damningly, the Lion lost all personality and agency and become trophies to symbolize a character's power. And I'm not saying they're an accidental representation of how women are treated in Western media but I MEAN. It's right there.

My response when anyone says "[X] character should be the Black Paladin!" is—Why? Is their connection with the Black Lion deeper than Shiro's? Do they have more in common with Black than Shiro does? What could they achieve or obtain as the Black Paladin that they couldn't where they currently are?

And, though I don't think most of us realize it, the answer to that last one is power. Because we're soaked in patriarchy and a certain portrayal of "leadership (derogatory)" that many fans automatically assumed the Black Paladin HAD to be in control of and have power over the other paladins. So of course you want your favorite character to be the Black Paladin! You don't want your self-insert to be inferior!

But that's all the patriarchy talking. The other paladins are NOT inferior. There is NOT a hierarchy of types of people. Keith doesn't have to have Shiro's role because he's already equal as Keith.

Keiths look different from Shiros, but they're all equal and valuable as they are. Same goes for Lances, Hunks, Pidges, and Alluras. The whole point is they're stronger together. Their differences make them BETTER.

So yeah. Of course, Keith has some good leadership qualities. There's plenty of situations where it only makes sense for him to take the lead. But why on earth does he need to be the Black Paladin to do that? He's already Keith!

#voltron: the legendary salt mine #thanks for the ask! #oh gosh this got so long #would you believe this is the SHORT version? #I have a LOT of feelings about leadership and patriarchy and how it shows up in voltron #i didn't even get to go into hunk and lance's roles #and how they deserve so much more respect and appreciation than they receive #hunk especially #if you're somehow not sick of me and want to chat more feel free to dm #or hit my inbox and i'll answer with another monster probably #mckinlily writes #long post #could i use a read more? yes #will i? unfortunately for everyone no

[autisticlancemcclain]

“That was bad,” Lance murmurs.

The last team member has just left the room, footsteps slowly fading down the hallway. Left is only the red and black paladins, sat at the head of the table, one with his elbows resting on the table, head in his hands, and the other tipped back in the chair, looking blankly up at the ceiling.

“Yeah,” Keith agrees, eyes crossed and unfocused. He sighs, tipping forward and straightening his neck. “It was.”

It’s not unusual for Voltron to fail. They’re fighting a force so huge and ancient and convoluted that they can’t possibly be truly, entirely victorious; the lions are powerful, and Voltron moreso, but they can only be in so many places at once. There is only so much information they can have. And they are all so young, besides, inexperienced and fumbling in their own confusion.

The fail frequently.

But rarely so ardently, and so congruently.

“I didn’t get all the details,” Lance says softly. He picks his head up; brown eyes still tired and downcast but pen prepped for notes. “The rest of them…this briefing didn’t get anywhere. I need the story from you.”

It’s true. The last half hour was almost completely silent. No one had looked up from their laps, faces streaked with tears or carefully neutral, defeat lining postures and pulling down frowns. Any questions Keith or Lance had asked to try and spark discussion, get notes for later improvements, went nowhere. No one could summon their voices to speak, to vocalize their disappointment and pain.

“Let’s not,” Keith begs. At Lance’s hesitant face, he bulldozes forward, pleading hand on Lance’s arm. “I can’t now, Lance. I honestly don’t think I could make myself go through it, not yet. I just want to — ignore it. Just for tonight.”

Lance scrutinizes him carefully, holding his gaze, trying to read right through him. It’s not like Keith to beg for a break, to insist on taking a breather. He’s usually the one to convince them to get up again and keep going.

But they’ve all been going for so long. They’re tired. The team’s tired. Keith’s tired. Lance is tired.

They can’t keep running on empty.

“Alright,” Lance whispers. He slides his arm back a tad, flipping his hand to grab Keith’s and squeeze. “Let’s take a breather.”

He pushes his chair back and stands, pulling Keith up with him. Keith doesn’t fight it, simply follows behind him. Lance leads him out of the briefing room and down the hall, ducking into the kitchen and flipping on the lights.

“Hang on,” he says. He squeezes Keith’s hand once, shooting him a small grin, and then makes his way to a largely unused set of shelves and cabinets on the back. He climbs up onto the counter, then opens the cabinets by his feet, using the doors as footholds.

Keith snorts to himself. Spider boy.

He finally manages to find what he’s looking for and scrambles back down to the floor, holding out a bottle of something.

“Shiro’s stash?” he asks, eyebrows raised.

“Coran’s,” Lance says with a grin. “The nastiest nunvil in the galaxy.”

Keith makes to grab a couple glasses, but then stills, getting an idea.

“Keith?”

“Come with me.”

Keith dashes out the hallway, not waiting for Lance — he’s got long legs, he’ll follow.

He speeds past their rooms, past the royal wing where Allura sleeps, past the rest of the paladin rooms. He slides his boots past the training room, Lance’s whooping laughter behind him. He dashes all the way to the very edge of the castle, the forgotten corner, with the giant windows showcasing beautiful and dark empty space — and the pool.

Lance grins at him. Some of the tiredness faces from his dark eyes, replaced with something alive, excited. “You know, sometimes your brain actually pumps out a decent thought or two, Kogane.”

“Oh, piss off.”

They duck into the room, walking up the side walls like Coran showed them all those years ago, feeling the swoop in their bellies as the gravity changes. Keith barely even pauses to strip down to his boxers before diving into the pool. The cool water is like a balm to his heated, sweaty skin and tired brain. He inhales deeply when he finally comes up for air, and the relief settles like heavy snow in his bones.

“God, that feels good.”

He keeps his eyes closed for a moment, waiting for the telltale signs of Lance cannonballing in, but all he hears is the sound of rustling fabric, then a soft grunt and gentle waves. He turns around to see Lance, down to his boxers like Keith, but sat in the edge of the pool, legs swishing in the water. He still holds the bottle of nunvil in one well-manicured hand.

“You’re not coming in?” Keith questions, swimming over to the side of the pool and hooking his arms over the ledge. Lance scoots back slightly, lifting one leg out from the pool and tucking it under the other so he can face Keith better. He pops the cork — narrowly missing Keith’s eye, which makes him laugh and Keith curse at him — and takes a deep swig, hacking up a lung when he comes up for air. He passes the bottle off the Keith as he wipes his mouth.

“God, that shit is disgusting.”

Keith coughs as the bitter taste coats his mouth. “Yep.”

He hands the bottle back to Lance, who takes only a sip before setting it resolutely down behind him. “Nasty.”

Keith hums. He pushes back slightly from the ledge, tipping his head back as he treads water. He says nothing for a while, sensing that Lance is sitting on something, turning it over in his mind.

“Was it really a total ambush?” Lance asks eventually. His voice is quiet; small almost.

Keith sighs, heavy and pained. “Yeah. Just —” he sighs again, tilting his head back in the water until it covers his ears and mutes all the ambient sound, softens the sound of Lance’s feet kicking slowly through the water. “Just a total ambush. No chance of our victory. Me and Hunk and Pidge, watching everything go to shit.”

He imagines he can hear Lance’s heartbeat, his even breaths. He matches them to the swish of the water, to his own steady heart pounding.

“I’m sorry,” Lance offers. Keith lifts his head so his voice doesn’t sound so far away, meets his soft brown eyes head-on.

“It happens,” Keith dismisses. They’ll have to talk about it later, the entire team, but the slight buzz of the nunvil makes everything soft and fuzzy and easier to handle, so for now he doesn’t worry about it. “How’d it fail with the diplomatic mission, though? You and Allura are usually do good at those.”

To his surprise, a light flush dusts Lance’s cheeks. Keith places his feet in the floor, leaning forward in intrigue.

“No particular reason,” Lance says, obviously lying. “Just a rough one. Happens.”

“Try again,” Keith says, smiling teasingly. “I know that look. Something embarrassing happened to you.”

Keith isn’t honestly expecting him to fess up. Keith probably wouldn’t, in his shoes. But for whatever reason, despite his obvious embarrassment, Lance averts his eyes slightly and mutters something.

“Huh?”

“She wanted to kiss me,” he repeats, way too loud. He clears his throat, flush deepening on his cheekbones. “The, uh, the president’s daughter? Said it was some sort of custom, and that I needed to kiss her to seal the contract. I wouldn’t do it and Allura wouldn’t let them force me, so they walked away.”

Keith frowns slightly at the tinge of self-doubt clouding the Cuban’s voice.

“Good for Allura,” he says emphatically. He holds Lance’s gaze until he’s sure his right hand understands, until he knows that he knows that they made the right choice, even if it was a hard one. “I’m a little surprised, though, Loverboy. Gone are the days where you would have jumped for a chance of that, huh?”

He’s only joking, playing at the way Lance used to brag about all the princes and princesses he’d score with his paladin status, but to his surprise Lance looks slightly uncomfortable, like he’s caught in a lie. Keith narrows his eyes.

“I’ve never actually kissed anyone,” Lance admits, so quietly Keith has to strain to hear, and it takes him a second to process. His eyes widen comically when he does, jaw dropping in shock. “No way. You? Loverboy Lance? You’ve never been kissed.”

Face flaming, Lance ignores him, reaching back for the bottle of nunvil and chugging until he literally can’t stand the taste anymore and gags.

“Hey, hey, slow down! Pass that over.”

Dutifully Lance does, still averting his gaze. Keith takes a quick swig — blegh — before swimming over to place the bottle on the other end of the pool, out of Lance’s reach.

“Cant believe you’ve never been kissed,” Keith mutters, half to himself. It really is a shock. He’s always known that Lance plays up his playboy status, that he plays a bit of a part, but he’s assumed that Lance had no shortage of suitors to sort through. There’s no way a boy walks around with legs that long and a face that pretty and isn’t at least a little aware that he’s gorgeous.

Lance shrugs slightly, eyes trained on a very specific area of the pool, pointedly away from Keith. “Just want it to be special, is all.”

For the briefest, barest second, Lance glances at Keith, before hastily looking back away. His fingers start tapping rapidly on his knee.

Something clicks in Keith’s head.

Oh.

He smirks, widely, tilting his head back and looking at his right hand with cocky, half-lidded eyes.

“Aw, you’ve never been kissed,” he teases, voice a touch condescending, making it clear that Keith had definitely been kissed, and it’s cute that Lance hasn’t.

Lance scowls, refusing to rise to the bait. Keith smiles wider, letting some of his blatant fondness bleed through the playfully. He lifts his arm from the water, splashing getting Lance attention, and crooks his finger, beckoning. His heart pounds, but he refuses to bow to any nerves.

“C’mere.”

His voice is so quiet that he’s almost convinced that Lance can’t hear him, but slowly he pushes off the ledge, sliding into the water and making his way to where Keith stands, water up to his chest. He comes all the way close, stopping only inches away. Keith reaches over, water dripping rapidly from his arm, and cups his hand around Lance’s cheek. It burns, but Lance doesn’t move, rigid in Keith’s hold, breaths stuttered and short.

Slowly, giving Lance time to move if he likes, he leans in. He keeps his eyes open as long as he can, so he can watch Lance’s flutter closed, watch him sigh, watch him lean close, watch his fingers curl around Keith’s arm, watch the freckles over his nose and the water droplets of the pool dotting his brown skin. He keeps his eyes open until his lips finally touch Lance’s, gently, softly, reverently.

This kiss is not long. Barely lasts two seconds. But Keith’s belly is flip flopping, and his heart is pounding, and when he pulls away he stays, for a moment, an inch from Lance’s face, just to watch his eyes flutter back open, hazy, dark.

“Hope that was special enough,” he murmurs, trailing his hand down Lance’s bare ribs, down his waist, resting on his hip for just a moment. Lance shudders.

“Yeah,” he whispers, glancing at Keith’s lips like he’s longing to press them to his again. “Yeah, it was.”

———

based on this post

#they are so mushy omg #vld #voltron #keith #keith kogane #klance #lance #lance mcclain #first kiss #s3 klance #red paladin lance #black paladin keith #keith has game #flirty keith #brown-eyed lance #hurt/comfort #angst #fluff #drinking #my writing #fic #longpost #team as family

[scattered-winter]

Say, what are some characters you feel like had a metric ton of potential that was completely scrapped by the writers?

i feel like it would be cheating if i said all of them so. ill try and be more specific lmao <3 i was gonna show restraint and only do a few but FUCK IT you're getting the entire essay

coran. i know he's meant to be the Comic Relief character but idk. its possible to have a comic relief character who also has gravity and emotion, ykw ??? like idk i feel like all the show/fandom ever talks about is how allura lost everything (which is TRUE. SHE DID. IM NOT TRYING TO MINIMIZE THAT AT ALL.) but idk. allura was young enough that she probably didn't really have an established life on altea yet but coran??? he was an adult. fully grown, probably had friends or coworkers, even a partner and family. idk idk he lost as much as if not more than allura did and the writers barely ever acknowledged it. he isn't allowed to connect with any of the characters or have any actual genuine moments because he's supposed to be The Funny One. idk if the writing actually aknowledged his grief and trauma more, but still made him so lighthearted and goofy, that would be FASCINATING. HE STILL HAS HOPE. HE CAN STILL LAUGH. ET CETERA. but noooo he's just Silly with nothing deeper to it. sigh

in that same vein, hunk. again, he's often comic relief (and that comic relief is usually a fat joke

lotor. ik a lot of ppl have mixed opinions on the guy (fair) but like. he had SO much potential to be so many different things but i think the writers just. had too many things they wanted him to be. so his writing was all over the place because they couldn't make up their minds

haggar......again. i had SUCH a hard time pinning down any of her motives or characterization when she was the Main Villain (which to be fair might have been due to the fact that i was Mentally Checked The Fuck Out by the time s7/s8 rolled around) but like ??? i still have no idea what she was trying to do as the main villain in s7/8. she was such a menacing villain in the first few seasons but then the writing got soo confusing and needlessly complicated and i completely lost interest in anything about her character

shiro. the fact that he went through So Much but still gave the blade of marmora enough hope to risk everything to rescue him and kickstart the events of s1 ??? the fact that he Continued to go through So Much but was still a rock for the team and was still goofy and fun and dorky and lovable ?????? and ALL THAT to not even be in the show for the next 5 or so seasons and then be permanently sidelined when he DOES come back. what the fuck. like they tried to have an atlas metaphor later on to try and bring him back into the narrative but it was MEANINGLESS. sooo much wasted potential. a narrative about healing....finding love + family + connection......ending the war that has caused so much pain for Him Personally......man. we could have had it ALL

keith. i legiterally don't even recognize keith after s3 like !!! who is this man !!!!! he had abandonment + anger issues from being alone his Whole Life and instead of finding a close-knit family in space, he was isolated again and again and again, and shoved into a role he didn't want and wasn't meant for, and by the end bro was UNRECOGNIZABLE. in theory i LOVE the concept of keith learning to rely on his team more and take more of a leadership role as he grows as a person + teammate, but they had the PERFECT opportunity to do that already with keith being red paladin!!!!!!!! the red paladin is voltron's right hand!!!!!!! if the black isn't there, then red steps up to take charge!!!!!! idk. it would have been so so so so cool if shiro was only missing Temporarily and keith had to work through his own grief/fear/etc and take up the mantle of red paladin to keep the team together just long enough until shiro got back because he would NOT want that shit long-term. idk. i know keith literally got most of the storylines and arcs in the show but i still think he had wasted potential because most of those arcs fundamentally misunderstood him as a character and turned him into something he wasn't. idk

allura. she lost her ENTIRE FAMILY her ENTIRE CULTURE her ENTIRE SPECIES and it doesn't stop there lol !!!! over the course of the show she lost LITERALLY EVERYTHING. the castle of lions (the last remnant of her home), her tiara thingie (last thing she had left of her family), AND her life. what the fuuuck what the fuck. EVEN WITH the other alteans w romelle's group, allura still got discarded. like idk. she grieved her whole people and tried so hard to lead this resistance and then after she's grown so much and become a powerful leader and warrior she becomes queen of new altea. that would have been SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

matt. he was alone in space for YEARS. like its unclear how long it was between shiro saving him from the arena and pidge finally finding him, but it was at LEAST a year, probably longer. he was a prisoner for most of that time, separated from the only two people he knew, and likely thinking they're both dead. no way to be rescued. no way to escape. and THEN when he IS rescued by the rebels, he's alone still because he's the only human!!! none of them can speak his language!!! he can't go home!!!! and ofc he fights the galra as part of the resistance and is this badass rebel leader but the show doesn't shed ANY light on how he got there. how he turned from nerdy little scientist to badass rebel leader in a space war. and just. idk. there was barely ANY matt screentime and there was so much wasted potential there

and i could keep going. i could have an essay for every single character. but alas i am sooo fucking sleepy so i must cap it here </3

#sigh. they really did every single character so so so so so so so dirty #i literally cant decide who got it worse because they all had it SO BAD. #anyway uh. there may or may not be some slight spoilers for quintenary stars in here. because that rewrite is fixing everything i hate #and much of what i hate is in this post godbless <3 #anyway TY TY i do love rambling about things i hate. i <3 being a hater #voltron #quintenary stars series #xpegasusuniverse

[theonetruepod]

Listen to this episode from The One True Podcast on Spotify! 

IT'S HERE, THE OTP YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!! Ro and Em discuss your favorite Black Lion paladins, Shiro and Keith from the hit TV series, Voltron: Legendary Defenders.

#sheith #the one true podcast #one true podcast #otp podcast #otp #otpcast #one true pod #onetruepodcast #onetruepod #one true pairing podcast #voltron #shiro x keith

[void-tiger]

Sorry this is late but you are so right in the tags (the memes for post se8 au one)!!! Like Kuron didnt deserve any of that shit both in canon and story wise. Like there is doomed by the narrative and then there is whatever this was, like freaking Haxus was given a moment of silence and Allura reminding Zarkon of his shit was treated as more morally wrong then this. And just half the reason i have this au is because i want Jiro to be angry about this like he deserves. Like he did nothing wrong but my good he should have, he deserves to bite people. He 100% deserve to be angry at Shiro and Allura (and Keith. Keith was the one most assertive that he was Shiro, Keith was the one that basically got him killed. Jiro is taping up Keith and Haggars and a bunch of other people's pictures on a dartboard and throws darts at it as stress relief as we speak)

Ohh I am SO angry at Keith.

“The Black Lion Roared! It claims Keith as BP!”

NO, fools. The Black Lion wants to save the damn clone who quite literally threw his bayard away—at Allura; if anyone was “next in line” it should’ve been her. We all know it. Mir practically animated it that way in addition to him wiping the floor with them but nobody actually got hurt. HELL even while possessed he gave them TIME to Get The Fuck OUT. And Allura had to blow up her castle to fix Lotor’s Major Fuckup, anyway. He could’ve easily crippled the paladins or Voltron by killing them Right Then or taking the bayard or Black Lion with him.

He didn’t. He’s literally playing 3D chess in a split second—while possessed—and he largely goes unsung, anyway.

He keeps the showdown against Keith largely in Keith’s Favor and deliberately missing shots and destroying the cloning facility (rip to the clones. They are innocents in this too.) and. Keith still nearly gets himself killed, anyway.

Black Lion’s the one to save Jiro when he’s finally close enough in-range for the Lion to sense him—despite them not having a true Lion-Paladin bond.

Black Lion saves Shiro (and Green Lion saves Pidge) VERY early on.

Black Lion saves Shiro again—while being the most damaged by that S1 Fight against Zarkon and Haggar—by teaming up with Keith very briefly (then has to go offline again; they need a Castle Pickup.)

Black Lion saves Shiro by uploading him—you mean to tell me a Teleporting Lion who clearly adores THIS Paladin and does not come back online until Every Single Character (save Coran) tries bonding with it would just Lose his body like that? NAH. That’s NOT how the scifi tropes for transporters or transporter delays/accidents even work.

As horrific as it is, if the issue was really Shiro needing a body verses Black Lion wanting to save a clone trying so hard and loving so much, too, um. [gestures at It’s Raining Men errr Shiro Clones.] Black Lion had options. I am not a fan of this particular fanon fix. Those clones deserve a chance to live, too. BUT it does point out the even more obvious flaw in what actually happened canonically.

Buuuuuut, Monsantos didn’t care about that. They just wanted their Officially Bastardized Version Of Keith to be their grimdark edgelord BP self insert. (Oh, and make Allura their Narrative Tool to do it.)

-

…soooo…yeah. Jiro deserves to be fucking pissed at Allura, Shiro, the paladins, and especially Keith.

Shiro has every right to be upset with Jiro. (Misdirected, sure. But, imo he’s allowed to be imperfect without getting villainized for it, y’know? Trauma and processing trauma and healing isn’t tidy whatsoever.)

(And Allura should NEVER have been used by the writers for what happened. Or framed as “just as bad as the galra! Teehee!!” in s8, apparently—I staunchly refuse to watch it.)

#askbox shenanigans #empty-blog-for-lurking #vld salt #anti monsantos #jiro shirogane #bp shiro #black pilot jiro #princess allura #keith critical #they’re all good shiros #black lion

[writing-protocol]

Familiar Faces

At some point, the movie ended and another began. Keith dozed through some of it, exhausted almost despite himself, and woke just in time to see Shiro fiddling with his phone. The storm still raged, no quieter now than when he’d crashed an hour prior, and the world outside the window was dark.

Sitting up, he glanced at the easily-visible screen. A group chat was open, the conversation moving at a steady pace. The nicknames were unfamiliar, but they were color-coded so he could take a few educated guesses.

“We — me, the paladins, a few others — have a shared channel,” Shiro explained, hands hovering over the tiny keyboard. “I’ve been ignoring it since leaving the Atlas, and my friends are chatty.”

Shiro wanted to reassure them, but words wouldn’t come. What could he possibly tell the team if not the truth, and that truth involved Keith? Keith, who had asked for more time to think, who clearly wanted to lay low.

A gentle hand touched his shoulder, and Shiro looked up into a pair of overwhelming eyes. They saw right through him, he was sure of it. Keith pointed at the small device, and Shiro handed it over.

A few taps later, Keith had the camera going and took a quick, rough selfie of the two of them. Shiro looked at the resulting picture and couldn’t help the warmth spreading across his face. Here was Shiro, expression pensive, looking over at Keith who made a silly face. The scars on his neck were partially obscured by the short beard, but not fully.

Keith handed the phone back to him. “You can tell them.”

“I know you don’t remember any of them, but the paladins… we think of you as a dear and precious friend. If I show them this picture, they’ll be here in the time it takes this storm to pass.” Shiro licked his chapped lips. “They can be a lot.”

The twisting, sinking feeling in Keith’s gut only worsened. “I’m not Keith from before. I’m just a person. With scars and missing memories. They need to understand.”

He ducked his head, hands curled into fists at his side.

After a momentary debate, Shiro reached out and touched the younger man’s nose.

“You’re still you, Keith. Memories or not. Still kind and selfless, still a tinkerer at heart, still in possession of your mother’s knife.” He nodded toward the sketchbook on the coffee table, open to a page filled with theoretical designs. “Please, no matter what you decide, don’t sell yourself short.”

Slowly the fists loosened, and stormy eyes looked up at this not-quite-stranger. Keith wanted to argue that Shiro had no right to upend his current life, but that didn’t ring true.

They’d just spent five hours on Keith’s lumpy couch, watching old movies and eating snacks while thunder roared overhead and lightning danced. Keith felt like a passing asteroid pulled into Shiro’s gravity well.

Did he want to escape?

Living this life meant reconciling his old one, whatever that ledger looked like.

“I’m willing to give whatever happens a chance.” He shrugged and pulled off his sweater.

Underneath he wore a black t-shirt, and Shiro got a good look at his friend’s body. It told its own story.

“I will tell them to take it easy.” Shiro knew a little something about surviving trauma, and a world turned suddenly busy and loud wasn’t his idea of a good time. “They mean well," he added.

Keith's lopsided smile didn't reach his eyes. “I knew I couldn’t hide forever.”

“But you wanted more time,” Shiro said.

“We all do.”

Shiro ended up settling for the facts.

Keith Kogane is alive and on Altea. He doesn’t remember us. There’s a lot to discuss, but not over chat.

[Picture]

The steady flow of conversation exploded into mayhem. He saw a message from Keith’s mother, whose name was the same bright-red color as Keith’s had been, and couldn’t even begin to imagine what she must be thinking.

She’d lost her son twice now.

Krolia: Can I speak with him?

“Would you be up for a video chat?” Shiro asked his silent companion and showed him the message. “You can say no. I’m sure she would understand.”

“Yes.”

A few taps later, the face of a strong, stoic Galra woman appeared on the screen. Tears marred Krolia’s eyes as she saw her son and couldn’t help either the grin or the sadness.

Two years… a lifetime of pain crammed into mere moments.

Keith looked back and felt a wave of warmth, unlike his feelings for Shiro. Different but similar enough to recognize. They looked alike, he reflected, like mother like son.

“I love you, child,” she said softly as a doggy-shaped face shoved itself into the picture. “The space wolf misses you, too.”

The creature vanished in a puff of haze and smoke as Keith watched. Confused, he glanced at Shiro. An incoming burst of ozone was all the warning Keith got before a two-hundred-pound creature rammed into him at full speed. The wolf knocked him over and went straight for his face.

A new mind touched Keith’s, slipped easily past his shields, and settled in its familiar spot. Something clicked as the wolf nuzzled him.

“Kosmo, down!” Shiro practically yelled, horrified.

Keith grinned and nodded, and the wolf got off him as if by magic. It slid off the couch to examine the empty popcorn bowl for any signs of remaining butter.

“Good boy,” Keith signed.

The creature nuzzled his hands, begging for treats.

“I don’t have any,” the dark-haired soldier told the wolf, unsure how he knew what it wanted. To Shiro, he signed desperately, “He teleports?”

“Oh yes, your space wolf definitely teleports. He can even take people with him assuming he knows where to go.”

“I have a teleporting wolf?” Keith reiterated.

Krolia chuckled and wiped at her eyes. “Would you mind translating, Shiro? I don’t know enough sign language.”

“Of course. Uh, Keith was making sure the wolf was real.”

The wolf found a wall inside Keith's mind that hadn’t been there before. It didn’t remember coming across it in the past, and the wall felt wrong. Keith was pack, and the strange obstacle stood in the way of that.

Confused, the wolf whined at the humans.

“Hey, buddy,” Keith mouthed and scratched behind an ear. “My wolf?” he signed with utter disbelief when the furry menace calmed down enough to go explore the studio.

“You raised him,” Shiro acknowledged. “More than once he saved our collective behinds. He’s a very good boy indeed.”

He had a… pet? Keith looked at the giant creature and couldn’t shake the strange feeling that it had taken up residence in his brain. It settled on the couch beside him, head in Keith’s lap where it could get occasional pets, and closed its eyes. It took up all of the remaining sofa space and then some.

“When we lost track of you on that mission, Kosmo was with your mom on a mission. One of my biggest regrets was not insisting that he come with you,” the admiral explained.

“Kosmo?” Keith finger-spelled the name.

“You told us that he would tell you his name one day, but then… you were gone and we can’t talk to him like you can. Could. So, we had to improvise. Lance wouldn’t stop calling him Kosmo and the name stuck, eventually. He likes ‘buddy’ too, occasionally. When treats are involved.”

Krolia added, “He looked for you, for months.”

“I don’t know how to take care of him,” Keith signed and then scratched behind one enormous ear.

“He eats pretty much anything you give him and will sleep on any warm body he trusts.” His mother smiled. “But I’m sure you’ll figure it out quick. You were amazing with him when you first met him.”

if you want to read more, click on the memories tag.

#memories #voltron #fanfiction #nopro writes #sheith #keith kogane #takashi shirogane