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eastofthemoon · 6 years

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Wrote a fic for @platonicvldweek for today’s theme of Lion/Lamb. Hope you all like this!

Title: A Roaring Good Time

Rating: G

Series: Voltron Legendary Defender

Summary: Turns out, in other realities, the paladins use a different kind of robot from the lions.

“So your robots...are giant sheep?”

Lance saw the other him twitch an eye. “They’re not sheep! They’re rams! RAMS!” He pointed rather hotly at the head of his robot. “See the horns!”

“That’s still a sheep, dude,” Lance commented dryly.

This was turning into a weird day. Granted, at least this reality didn’t have evil Alteans out to conquer the universe. Plus, these other versions of him and his team seem to be nice and sane. Frankly, as far as Lance could tell, there were no glaring differences between themselves and their doubles. Lance had began to wonder what exactly made this reality so different from their own...until he set his eyes upon the five giant robot sheep that now sat before them.

Lance would still take this over the brainwashing Alteans though.

The other Lance crossed his arms. “Yeah, well, would you take a ram on in a fight?” He smirked with an all knowing smile. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“I also wouldn’t pick a fight with a swan,” Lance said as he crossed his arms, “that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be goofy looking to have a giant robot swan.”

Keith sucked the air between his teeth. “Yeah..I actually agree with Lance on this one.”

The other Keith looked tempted to argue, but then shrugged. “He’s not wrong.”

“Hey!” the other Lance snapped. “You’re supposed to be on my side here!”

“Alright, alright,” Shiro stated as he raised his hand. “There’s no need to fight.”

“Agreed,” said the other Shiro as he crossed his arms. “Even if our robots are different, I’m sure they work the same way.”

Hunk seemed doubtful as he glanced to the other Hunk. “Just curious, but...can you use your robot ram to headbutt?”

The other Hunk blinked and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah...wait,” he pointed to the Yellow Lion. “Do you use yours to headbutt?!”

“Dude, all the time,” Hunk stated rather proudly.

“But yours doesn’t even have horns?” the other Hunk said in a curious tone. “How much damage can it cause?”

“Quite a bit,” Hunk rambled as he eyed the Yellow Ram, “but I am wondering if the horns let you do more when you attack.”

Both of the Hunks exchanged a silent look.

“Clearly, we need to test this theory,” said the other Hunk.

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” Hunk said as he raised a hand. “For science!”

Lance and his double swiftly forgot their annoyance and grinned madly. “Yes! Robot headbutting contest!” they cheered in unison.

“This should be fun,” Pidge said.

“Although,” said the other Pidge as she grasped her chin, “we’re going to need to find a good spot big enough for this.”

Keith looked to his double and smiled. “Bet our Hunk beats yours.”

The other Keith smirked back. “No way, it’ll be our Hunk and his ram-”

“We’re not testing out which robot can headbutt better,” both of the Shiros said in unison and then paused as they blinked at each other.

“Whoa,” Pidge said as she blew out a whistle, “that’s a bit freaky.”

The other Pidge nodded and poked Pidge’s arm. “So, who buys the soda in this case?”

Hunk seemed to ignore the question as he looked to the Shiros. “Why?” Hunk said and grinned to his double like he was reading his mind. “Because it would be a baa idea?”

Silence followed and was briskly broken by a series of groans and moans.

“Ow!” exclaimed Lance as he held his head like it was in pain.

“That was bad!” yelled the double Pidge.

“Hey, come on,” said the other Hunk, “it’s not like we pulled the wool over your eyes!”

“Stop,” Keith pleaded as he rubbed his eyes, “please, stop.”

“We can’t help it,” said Hunk as he snickered, “We’re just ramming into these jokes.”

“Oooh!” the second Hunk exclaimed as he raised his hand for a high five and Hunk obliged. “Good one!”

“I take it back,” Lance said sourly, “this is the worst reality ever..of all time.”

#platonicvldweek #voltron #vld #lance #keith #hunk #pidge #shiro #my writing #fanfic #sorry for the weird symbols #it's fine if you go to keep reading #and other reblogs seem to be fine #tumblr is being dumb

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swordandquill · 6 years

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Platonic VLD Week: AU

Notes: Something slightly fluffier for day 6 (also really late). From the A Wing and a Prayer, wing au. The rest of platonic week is here.

“So you’re who’s been pilfering all the pillows.”

Lance yelped, his wings flaring out for balance and his armload of pillows and blankets falling to the floor.

“Don’t scare me like that,” Lance put a hand to his chest, all his feathers puffed out like a dandelion in seed.

“I was wondering where all the linens were going,” Coran reached down to help him start picking up pillows, “I thought for sure it was the mice again.”

“No,” Lance shook his head, wings fluttering nervously, “just me. Well, maybe not just me. The others might be taking some for their nests too. Well, probably not Hunk, since he’s mostly happy with whatever I do with our nest, and Pidge barely sleeps, and who knows what Keith does; he probably sleeps in his clothes like a weirdo, but…”

“Nesting,” Coran said thoughtfully, as he folded the blankets that had fallen “fascinating. We once had a delegation from Cunicularia. Lovely feathers, but they didn’t fly. Instead, they burrowed. We had to rearrange an entire wing of the castle and add three meters of soil.”

“That sounds dusty,” Lance accepted the blankets back.

“Quite,” Coran gathered up the pillows, piling a few of them on the pile of blankets in Lance’s arms, “we were cleaning dirt out of the air filters for phoebs. Do you want some help carrying these?”

“Is that okay?” Lance asked tentatively.

“I’m not so old that I can’t carry a few pillows,” Coran huffed.

“Not that,” Lance grinned at him, “is it okay that I’m taking so much stuff?”

“Of course,” Coran turned on his heels, leading the way to Lance’s room, “the Castle is more than capable of providing for upward of a thousand people. Surely we have enough pillows and blankets for five.”

“You have enough pillows for a thousand people,” Lance murmured in awe, “how big would it be if we piled them all together?”

“Too big to fit in your room, I would think,” Coran’s mustache twitched slightly in amusement.

“I have to tell Hunk,” Lance murmured to himself.

Coran stepped into Lance’s room, careful not to step on any of the blankets or pillows already scattered around the room. He couldn’t make out any pattern to their placement, but he knew some species were quite particular about their space.

“Where would you like these?” Coran asked.

“Anywhere,” Lance dropped his arm load onto the two mattresses pushed together on the floor, “thanks for the help.”

Coran set his armload on the empty bed platform and looked around the room thoughtfully. With the two mattresses on the floor it was rather cramped, but the pictures stuck to the wall and the scattered odds and ends on the floor gave the room a homey feel.

“There’s a species in the the Parmilium system that creates marvelous hanging nests from nothing but reeds and their own spit,” Coran cocked his head to the side.

“Ew,” Lance sat down in the middle of the mattresses, stretching his wings, then folding them neatly along his back.

“A bit smelly,” Coran sat down on the bed platform, “impressive though. They were only seven or eight centimeters big, and they built structures large enough for visiting Altean dignitaries without the need to shape-shift.”

“Can you grow wings?” Lance looked up from tossing pillows down towards one end of the mattresses and blankets to the other.

“No,” Coran laughed, “but wouldn’t that be something. I supposed a really talented shifter could sprout feathers. I should make Allura practice that; it would be a good exercise for her, but she’s already has so many things she’s trying to learn…”

Coran trailed off, feeling a twinge of sadness. At Allura’s age, she should have been just starting to take on court responsibilities, not leading a guerrilla war against a 10,000 year old evil empire.

“Coran?”

Coran blinked and found Lance had scooted across the mattress to sit at his feet and was looking up at him with concern.

“Well, we all must adapt,” Coran reached down and patted Lance’s shoulder, “you paladins are doing so splendidly.”

“It doesn’t feel that way most of the time,” Lance slumped against his leg, resting his head on his knee.

Coran studied him for a moment, then began running his fingers through Lance’s hair. Lance rested contently against him for a few minutes before suddenly blinking and straightening.

“Sorry,” Lance’s wings shifted, his feathers fluffing out a bit before settling, “you and Allura have had to deal with way more than us. We all wanted to go to space after all.”

Coran huffed and rumbled Lance’s hair hard enough to make him duck.

“Perspective is a valuable thing, but hardship isn’t a competition,” Coran flicked his nose, “I doubt any of you were expecting to be embroiled in an ancient intergalactic war.”

“Not so much,” Lance rubbed his nose .

“Nor did we, and I can tell you it was quite a shock,” Coran folded his arms grumpily, “but there’s nothing to be done about it now. We just have to keep moving forward and do our best to make sure the end of our world isn’t the end of everyone elses.”

“We’ll help,” Lance leaned his head back against Coran’s knee, “or at least, we’ll try.”

“You’re doing wonderfully,” Coran went back to running his fingers through Lance’s hair.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Lance’s wings relaxing and puffing up slightly as they did when someone was preening them. Coran would have liked to have learned how to properly preen the paladins’ wings, but he was still feeling out how intimate an action it was, and how appropriate it would be for him to ask. Lance seemed content enough for now to have his hair stroked though.

“Coran?” Lance tentatively broke the calm.

Coran hummed in response.

“If we did want to pile up a thousand people worth of pillows…?”

“Oh, the ballroom for sure,” Coran grinned cheerfully, “and the back wall is excellent for projecting movies onto, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

“Coran, you’re amazing,” Lance sighed happily.

#platonicvldweek #Wing AU #Voltron #Isabeau's writing #vldgen

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vld-space-bbys · 6 years

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Help me Lotor, you're my only ho(mie)

(basically a season 5 preview brought to you by Neo Yokio)

#vld lotor #vld keith #voltron keith #prince lotor #platonicvldweek #neo yokio #mine #myvid

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banditywrites · 6 years

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If You Can Hold On

Fic for day 4 of platonic vld week

Words: ~2,440

Prompt: Day 4 Individual / Group

Notes: Will probably edit and maybe add a bit to this before I post it on ao3. Please excuse mistakes, I wanted to get this posted on the day.

If You Can Hold On

Shiro's phone rang. It was something generic that had come as the device’s default setting. Shiro never bothered to customize anything; it drove Pidge and Matt nuts. Keith wasn’t much better, which meant their apartment was mostly bare. They had the bare necessities and it hadn’t seemed necessary to crowd things with knickknacks. Keith had never been one to own much and some part of Shiro seemed to be waiting to wake up and find out that their life after the war was some kind of dream or hallucination. Some days, he had a hard time grasping reality. Keith understood that.

Shiro glanced down at the phone and dropped his spoon into his cereal. After a deep breath, he picked it up and put it to his ear. Keith noticed the change in his demeanor and he narrowed his eyes, letting his own spoon lower into the bowl.

"Lance?" Shiro's tone had that forced calm about it. Lance texted all the time, but he never called. Shiro was met with silence.

"Lance?" he repeated. Keith tapped the table, shooting a questioning look when Shiro met his eyes, but Shiro only shook his head in response.

"Lance, are you there?"

There was a loud, ragged exhale on the other line and Shiro felt his stomach sink. He knew what it sounded like when each of the paladins cried. Lance's breathing always got pretty choppy.

“S-sorry.”

“It's alright. What's going on?"

"I don't know," Lance's breathing hitched. "I don't know."

"Alright, take a breath."

"He okay?" Keith asked quietly. Shiro shook his head again.

"I don't think so," he whispered. "Lance, where are you? Are you at home?" Shiro was pushing his bowl out of the way so that he could tap his fingers on the table.

Lance and Hunk shared an apartment across town. It was only a few minutes away, but they still all talked about renting something altogether in the future. For now, they were at least trying to pretend they could be apart from each other. Shiro was trying to make it seem like he was okay with not inhabiting the same living space as them. He tried to ignore the worry that always plagued him. They weren't at war anymore. He needed to let them live their lives as normally as possible.

"I'm not home. I'm not- I'm in the parking lot," Lance finally forced out, panic evident in his voice.

"Which parking lot?"

"Grocery store off Lanning St." Lance took a huge gulp of air.

"Yeah, you want to tell me what happened?"

"I don't know. I just couldn't do it."

"Couldn't do what?"

"Groceries."

"Groceries?" Shiro’s brow had furrowed. Keith stood up and walked to the other side of the room.

"I was in there. I was in there and, Hunk's visiting his family, I was alone. It wasn't a big deal. But there were all these people. These strangers. I don't know what happened." Lance was talking too fast and he choked on the last word.

"Okay, just keep breathing."

Lance let out a sob. Shiro barely caught the fragile reply. "I can't."

"Yes, you can."

Keith returned and slid Shiro's car keys towards him across the table. Shiro nodded his thanks.

"Alright, I'm coming to you." Shiro stood from his chair.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's okay. I'll be there in five minutes. Keep breathing." Shiro was heading towards the door, but he stopped to look back at Keith. "Are you coming?"

"Is it okay?"

"Yeah, you can talk to him while I drive."

Keith didn't look too sure, but he eventually nodded and followed Shiro out.

0-0-0

During the drive over, Keith held the phone to his ear and occasionally stated, 'It's okay.' Sometimes, he would repeat something that Lance said, keeping Shiro informed of the situation. It was mostly apologies.

Shiro pulled his faded silver car into the parking lot. It wasn't hard to find Lance. There weren't many cars there in the middle of the week. Shiro parked one space over from him and quickly got out of the vehicle.

Keith followed slowly behind. "Look up. We're here,” Keith mumbled into the phone before ending the call.

Lance popped his door open, but didn't move out of the vehicle. Shiro was there in an instant, leaning in close.

"You're alright." Shiro knelt down on the pavement right outside the car.

Lance looked a mess. His face was blotchy and streaked with tears. He had obviously been crying pretty hard. His hair was sticking up from where he had been pulling at it.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Shiro placed a hand gently on Lance’s shoulder.

"I don't know!" Lance bit out in frustration. "I was trying to figure out whether or not we needed eggs and I looked over to ask Hunk, but Hunk's visiting family. That was it. I just couldn't breathe after that."

Shiro was nodding.

"That's alright. Stuff like that can happen. It's the worst when it surprises you."

"I knew Hunk wasn't there and it’s not like he’s not coming back. I don't know why I freaked out so bad." Lance buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry, Shiro."

"It’s okay. I wouldn't want you alone or trying to drive like this, I'm glad you called.”

"Shiro, people are looking." Keith was leaning against the car, partially blocking Shiro from the rest of the parking lot.

Shiro peered around Keith to see a woman standing frozen. She had been in the middle of putting groceries away.

They got recognized a lot, but most people left them alone. However, there were a few that would always stare. Saving the universe had its drawbacks. Lance had loved the attention at first, but even he grew weary of cameras being shoved in his face after the first few weeks.

Keith hated it. He'd flipped a reporter off early on and the media hadn't been incredibly kind to him after that.

"Hey Lance, do you think you can scoot over and I'll drive you back to our place?"

Lance gave a slow nod.

"Great. Keith can you drive my car back?" Shiro was already handing the keys over and Keith took them quickly.

The woman had pulled her phone out.

Keith was glaring as he stomped back to Shiro's car, drawing the stranger’s attention away from Shiro and Lance.

Lance clambered over the gear shift and settled into the passenger seat. Shiro got in quickly and turned the engine on.

He tried to turn the car so that the woman wouldn't get a shot of Lance crying. That was the last thing Lance needed to go public.

They were soon driving in silence, the only sound was Lance's forced breathing.

"Sorry, Shiro," Lance choked out.

"It's alright. It happens."

"Not in a grocery store. Not for no reason."

"Hey, no. It can happen like that. You're okay."

Lance was pulling at his shirt collar, drumming his fingers along the exposed skin near his neck. He made a noise in the back of his throat.

"You're alright. It's going to be fine."

Fresh tears slipped down Lance's cheeks. He didn't want to cry anymore. There certainly wasn't a reason too. He had just been suddenly so frightened. Standing alone trying to do something mundane as shopping. He didn't know why it had hit him so hard. He had felt like despair had just found him in a moment and, before he could do anything about it, it had swallowed him up.

His fight or flight had kicked in and he had hurried from the store, leaving his cart in the middle of some aisle. But even after he surrendered to the fear and escaped, he felt like his lungs were still being crushed. He started crying and he really couldn't stop it. He was so embarrassed and scared.

He was so alone.

With shaking fingers he had dialed Hunk, only to hang up on the first ring. Hunk was with his family. He shouldn't have to talk Lance through a breakdown.

Without really meaning to, he'd called Shiro. And even after Shiro had shown up, he couldn't stop crying.

It was so stupid.

Lance still hadn't managed to pull it together, by the time they pulled up to Shiro and Keith’s apartment.

"We can sit here for a while if you want." Shiro suggested, but Lance shook his head. He'd already made Shiro drive him, he wasn't going to make him pointlessly sit in the car with him.

They made it into the apartment with no problem. Keith had arrived just ahead of them and left the door hanging open.

Lance saw the half eaten bowls of cereal on their dining table.

"I'm sorry," he muttered again.

"You're fine. Sit down, okay?" Shiro motioned to the couch.

Lance sank into the cushions. His heart was settling in his chest and his breathing had slowed. He was left with a feeling of humiliation and exhaustion.

He was so tired.

"You can lay down, if you want." Shiro's voice startled him into alertness; he hadn’t realized that he had shut his eyes.

Lance flopped over onto the couch. He brought his knees up and curled up as best he could. As soon as he stopped feeling like this, he would really apologize properly to Shiro and Keith.

He let out a shaky breath, tried to ignore the sting in his eyes and the wetness on his eyelashes.

He felt a blanket draped carefully over him and he swallowed down more of his embarrassment.

"Just breathe. It's okay."

Lance tried to pretend he wasn't quietly crying into the couch cushion.

"It's alright. It's alright."

Lance felt the slight weight as Shiro sat on the floor and leaned back, pressing his back into the couch cushions.

They stayed like that for a long time. Shiro was talking quietly about nothing important. He was just filling up the emptiness with words.

"Hunk, always has to check the lock on the door at our apartment."

"What?" Shiro asked, startled by Lance's voice.

"He checks it like eight times. The stove too. He has to be sure. He wasn't like that before we got back."

"People deal with things in their own way,” Shiro said slowly.

Lance shut his eyes. He needed to explain and apologize again.

"He's only gone for a week. I was trying to stock the kitchen for him before he gets back tomorrow." Lance's voice caught, but he forced his next words out. "I couldn't even do that. I'm so s-sorry."

"Hey, I don't mind." Shiro turned to look at Lance more directly. "I'm glad you called me. Okay?"

"Okay." Lance scrubbed at his eyes harshly.

Shiro nodded. "Good. It's going to be alright."

Lance took a deep breath.

0-0-0

He didn't really think he had slept, instead it was more like his mind drifted. He thought about home, he thought about his family. He thought about space and Voltron and Coran and Allura and all the little moments that they spent together.

It wasn't that he wished for the time of war, but nothing seemed right, Earth wasn't the same anymore. Home wasn't the same.

Lance's eyes fluttered open when he realized someone was messing with his hair. Pulling it all to the center and making it stand straight up.

He was struck by the familiarity of it.

"Pidge," he murmured.

"Hey," she whispered. "How are you?"

"Okay... How-why are you here?"

"Keith texted me. He wanted me to go to the store with him."

"You drove all the way out here, just to go to the store?"

Pidge lived with her family in the next city over. It wasn't a long drive, but it wasn't convenient.

"Well, Matt dropped me off. Besides, I haven't seen any of you in a few weeks. It's weird."

"Weird," Lance repeated.

"Anyway, Keith and I picked up bread and eggs and some other basic stuff. I don't know what else you were trying to get at the store, but we got those chips that Hunk likes too." Pidge was smoothing Lance's hair back down now. "We got some candy and stuff too. You up for a movie night? We thought we could do a sleepover."

"Yeah, okay." Lance shut his eyes. Maybe it was okay to pretend to be alright.

0-0-0

They spent the night watching bad horror films and eating junk food. It was so normal, Lance could almost forget that his breakdown was the cause for the gathering. He tried to apologize again, but Pidge knocked him sharply on the head. “Don’t. We’ve always helped each other out. You would have done the same.”

Lance went quiet for a long time after that. Pidge was nestled next to him and they were both on the verge of falling asleep, when he spoke again.

“Thank you,” he mumbled.

“You’re welcome,” Keith mumbled from his spot, stretched out on the floor. Pidge grinned. Keith was drifting off to sleep as well and he didn’t look like he was aware of his own response.

“Love you, guys,” Pidge whispered with a smirk.

“Uh-huh,” Keith shifted and let out a snore. Lance let out a soft laugh.

“Love you too, Pidge,” Lance said with a smile as he drifted off.

Shiro turned the TV off when it was obvious that they had all finally fallen asleep. He placed a blanket over Keith and moved to the dining table where he could keep an eye on all of them. Unable to sleep, Shiro kept watch late into the night.

0-0-0

Hunk showed up in the morning at the apartment in a state of confusion. He had been picked up from the airport by Matt (which was a surprise on its own) and had been informed that everyone was over at Shiro and Keith’s place.

When they showed up, it was obvious that Shiro hadn’t slept and Hunk and Matt only got him to leave to go to bed because they promised to keep an eye on everyone. Hunk also promised to make breakfast, which was an added bonus.

Soon everyone was waking up to the sounds and smells of bacon, eggs and fresh pancakes cooking.

Hunk hugged Lance tightly and he didn’t really understand why Lance was apologizing to him.

“Hey, you’re okay. I’m glad to be back.” Hunk motioned to the plates he had set out. “Help yourself.”

Soon they were all talking and laughing together. Shiro could hear them from his room. His team was together again. This was the closest he had felt to peace in a long, long time.

With a smile, he drifted back to sleep.

#platonicvldweek #tw: panic attacks #tw:anxiety attacks #insomnia #I'm so tired #team as family #fic writing

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platonicvldweek · 6 years

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New Year, New Week, Same Idea!

Welcome back to #PlatonicVLDWeek, 2018 edition! A time to celebrate all the friendships and other non-romantic relationships in Voltron

The next week is coming up, April 1st - 7th, and this time we’re shaking things up a little by introducing an overarching theme for the whole week: SPRING 💐☀️🌱

What does this new theme mean??

Having an overarching theme doesn’t change much in terms of how the week will run, it simply gives a common idea to link together all the prompts if people wish! People are welcome to base all their works for the week around the concept of springtime, just as they are welcome to disregard that and do their own thing

What are the prompts for Spring Week?

Good question! Here they are

Day 1 (Apr 01): Pranks / Tricks

Day 2 (Apr 02): Lion / Lamb

Day 3 (Apr 03): Colour / Darkness

Day 4 (Apr 04): Individual / Group

Day 5 (Apr 05): Rain / Sun

Day 6 (Apr 06): AU / Free / Recycle

Day 7 (Apr 07): Bloom / Decay

What are the rules?

The same as they’ve always been, namely

All types of posts are accepted (fanart, fanfiction, headcanons, gifsets, moodboards, edits, videos, playlists, etc.)

You are not obligated to use the prompts listed if you don’t want, nor do you have to make content for every day of the week. Do as much or as little as you want! Late submissions will also be accepted

Tag everything with #platonicvldweek within the first 5 tags so I’ll see it! If you do not wish to post your work on your own blog you may submit it directly to this blog using the submit button on the left of the screen

It is also suggested (though not critical) to tag which day you’re posting for

Please no NSFW as this is an all ages welcome event. Things like partial nudity and some blood/injuries and such are ok, but no porn or heavy gore will be reblogged here even if it’s tagged. If you’re unsure what falls under the NSFW umbrella don’t hesitate to shoot me an ask! Thank you for your cooperation

If anything is unclear or you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

And most importantly, HAVE FUN!! :D

#platonicvldweek #platonic voltron #voltron legendary defender #team voltron #allura #shiro #keith #lance #hunk #pidge #coran #lotor #acxa #ezor #zethrid #narti #haggar #zarkon #honerva #vld #matt

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this-book-has-been-loved · 6 years

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Blood and Water

For @platonicvldweek Day 4: Individual/Group

Keith, unsure what to do regarding the sudden appearance of his mother, turns to the only family he's ever really known

Read it on Ao3 | Read it on FFN

Keith piloted the Galran fighter back to the Blade of Marmora base with ease. He’d gotten used to navigating between the black holes and the blue star, until he could do it with almost no trouble.

That didn’t help ease the tension of the flight this time around.

After Krolia—his mom—had dropped her bombshell, the flight back had been quiet, uncomfortably so. His head had been swimming with questions that he’d wanted to know the answers to, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask even a single one.

Krolia seemed to respect his decision not to talk, and didn’t push him.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

Landing back at the Marmora HQ was a relief. Watching as the last chances of private conversation left, as other Blade members filed into the hangar, Keith sighed. “Alright,” he said flatly, standing up forcefully. “We’re here.”

“Keith—” Krolia started.

“Don’t,” he cut her off. “Not now.” And with that, he strode off the aircraft to meet Kolivan’s cold gaze.

The Marmoran commander was waiting for them just beyond the exit ramp, his hands clasped firmly behind his back. A masked Blade stood behind him at each shoulder.

“Keith,” Kolivan barked. “Report.”

Keith stood up a bit straighter, his military training from the Garrison kicking in. “Operative located and retrieved, as ordered.”

“And the weapon? Were you able to destroy it?”

Keith looked down at his feet. “No, sir.”

“No? And why’s that?”

“I’m afraid that’s my fault, sir,” Krolia interjected. She glanced quickly at Keith, but he kept his gaze stubbornly fixated on the ground. “Perhaps if we could debrief in a more private setting—”

But Kolivan’s attention was fixated firmly on the smaller Blade before him. “This was a high stakes mission, Keith,” Kolivan reprimanded. “I told you not to let your emotions get the best of you.”

“Then maybe I wasn’t the right person to send,” Keith muttered, pushing past him.

“Keith!”

But no one made a move to stop him, and he stormed from the hangar without pause.

Would Krolia stand up for him? He pushed the thought from his head. He didn’t know, and he wasn’t sure if he even cared.

He went straight to his room—barrack, really—closing the door behind him and slumping heavily onto his bed. He leaned forward, resting his head in his hands, trying to steady his breathing.

His mom.

He’d just met his mom.

The Mom who he’d never really known, who’d left him and his dad earlier than he can remember, who he had always distantly wondered about—why did she leave? Didn’t she love me? Didn’t she care at all?

Once he’d learned he was Galra, that had opened a whole new wave of questions. Knowledge or death, they’d said. But he came out of those trials with more questions than answers.

The silence was too loud.

Normally, he liked the quiet. But now, alone with his thoughts, he needed some noise, needed some distraction, needed to talk to someone, needed—

He needed Shiro.

Keith had a private communicator. He didn’t use it very much, but he did have one. There were a lot of times since leaving Team Voltron that he’d held it in his hands, barely resisting the urge to call.

But tonight, he gave in.

It took maybe ten ticks for Shiro to answer. Not long, but long enough that Keith considered canceling the call before it even went through.

“Keith?” Shiro’s face filled the screen, immediately on guard. “Is everything okay?”

Keith paused. No, not really. But he couldn’t just say that, couldn’t bring himself to admit it. “Yeah,” he forced. “Just wanted to talk.”

“Ah, Keith!” another voice shouted, and Coran popped into the viewscreen. “It’s good to hear from you!”

Shiro adjusted the angle of the transmission feed so it could better capture both him and Coran, and Keith was greeted with a view of their surroundings. Sleek gray walls, harsh purple lighting, what looked like a computer console in the back, displaying a bright pink screen—

“Where are you guys?”

“Galra high command!” Coran chirped back. “Quite the exciting excursion.”

“Lotor invited us as a show of diplomacy,” Shiro explained. “Coran and I wanted to take a look at their records room, cross-reference current fleet movement with our own charts.

“Everyone else is on the base too,” Coran added. “Should we tell them you’re on the line? I’m sure they’d all love to talk to you.”

“No, that’s fine,” Keith stammered. “I just….”

Shiro furrowed his brow. “Are you sure everything’s alright?”

“Takashi, I….”

It was the use of his first name that got to Shiro. His face tightened, and he turned over his shoulder to address the other person in the room. “Coran, I’m going to take the rest of this call in the other room, okay?”

“Sounds good, number one,” Coran replied. “And Keith?” The Altean gazed at him through the comms screen with a gentle smile. “You let me know if you need anything, alright?”

Keith relaxed ever-so-slightly. “Thanks, Coran.”

The angle of the vidfeed changed as Shiro left the room he was in, stepping through a door into one that seemed much smaller and emptier.

When the door slid closed, Shiro looked intently at Keith, frowning ever-so-slightly. “What’s wrong?” he asked, gentle yet firm. When Keith didn’t respond, Shiro pressed further. “Keith, it’s clear there’s something on your mind,” he said. “I know that things have been rough these past few...well, months. But you know you can talk to me, right?”

“Yeah,” Keith whispered. “I know.” There was a long pause, then he took a deep breath. “I just got back from a mission, and….”

“Did something happen? Like what happened with Regris? Keith, I’m sor—”

“It was a solo mission,” Keith responded absently. “Nothing like that. I was just sent to meet another operative, and she—” His voice broke off, and he took a shuddering breath. “Shiro, I just met my mom.”

He was met by silence.

“Your mom?” Shiro eventually echoed, his eyes wide in shock.

“Yeah,” Keith rasped, closing his eyes tight.

Shiro was quiet for a long moment, mulling that over. “And how do you feel about that?”

“I—I don’t know,” Keith said, running a hand through his hair. “Anxious, mostly? I mean, I’ve always wanted to know who my mom is, but now that I actually found her….” He sighed, his hand moving from his hair to cover his face. “I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s understandable,” Shiro assured him. “This is an stressful situation that just popped up; it makes sense to not know how you feel about it. Let me ask this: how do you want to feel about it?”

“I—” He fumbled for words. “I mean, I guess I want to be happy that I finally met my mom. But…I’m angry. I’m angry that it took this long.” He clenched his fists. “She left me.”

“Maybe she had a good reason.”

Keith looked up sharply. “What reason could be ‘good’ enough to warrant this?” he demanded. “Abandoning your own child—”

Shiro held up his hand in surrender. “I don’t know, Keith. That seems like something you would need to ask her.”

Another long silence.

“Have you talked to her at all?” Shiro asked. “About this?”

“Not really,” Keith confessed.

“Do you want to?”

He shrugged listlessly.

“Okay. What’s stopping you?”

“I don’t know how to be a family!” Keith exclaimed. “I didn’t get to grow up in a loving family like I was supposed to. I had a mom I couldn’t remember, and a dad who disappeared when I was barely old enough for grade school.” He choked back a sob. “Shiro, you’re the closest thing to a family I’ve ever really known, and—” He broke off.

“Keith,” Shiro said gently. “Keith, you’re like a brother to me.” Keith looked up, his breath catching at the familiarity of those words. “And if it’s any consolation, I think you’re the best little brother I could have asked for. There’s no one I’d rather have by my side.”

The boy took a shuddering breath, his voice hitching. “Shiro—”

“You want my advice?” Wordlessly, Keith nodded. “I think you should talk to your mom.”

“Krolia,” he said numbly. “Her name is Krolia.”

“Krolia,” Shiro repeated. “I think you should talk to Krolia.” Keith was silent, and Shiro pursed his lips. “Or I could try talking to her, if you’d prefer,” he offered.

Keith managed a strained laugh. “Somehow, I can only imagine that ending in disaster,” he said. “But thanks.”

“I’ll keep my distance, then,” he said, eyes twinkling. “Though I would like to meet her at some point, if that’s alright with you.”

“Yeah,” Keith said. “I’m sure you’ll get the chance sooner or later.”

Shiro opened his mouth to say something else when the door behind him slid open. “Ah, Shiro?” Coran called, popping his head into the room. “Sentry arrived with a message for you.”

Shiro frowned, turning towards the doorway. “What happened?”

“Apparently, Lance and Pidge and Hunk caused a bit of a disturbance. Something about the robeast coffin?”

“What did those three…?” He broke off, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, I’ll be right there.” When Coran ducked back out of the room, he sighed heavily. “Keith, I’m gonna have to go, I need to track down our wayward paladins.”

Despite everything, Keith cracked a smile. “Right,” he said. “Good luck with that.”

“And you’re always welcome to come back to the castle at any point,” Shiro reminded him. “Coran wasn’t kidding when he said that everyone would be happy to see you. We miss you.”

“I miss you guys too,” Keith said with a smile.

“It’s okay to break sometimes,” Shiro continued. “God knows I definitely have. You don’t need to be the stoic lone wolf. We’re always here if you need us.”

“I know,” Keith said. “Thanks, Shiro.”

“Of course,” Shiro replied. “Anytime.”

“Oh, and Shiro?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t tell the rest of the team yet,” he requested, eyes pleading. “I want to tell them myself.”

Shiro smiled warmly. “Of course. Whenever you’re ready.”

And with that, the call ended.

Keith took a deep breath, focusing his thoughts, then exhaled in a long rush of air. “Okay,” he told himself. “Okay. Here we go.”

He stood up and went over to the door, pressing his palm against the handpad to open it. The door slid open with a hiss, and he nearly ran smack into Krolia.

She stood with one hand raised as though about to knock, and their startled eyes locked onto each other. “Keith,” she said, a bit taken aback, slowly lowering her hand. “I don’t mean to intrude….”

“No, I was just about to go try and find you,” he admitted. Her expression morphed into one of shock, and Keith steeled himself. He stepped aside, leaving the threshold empty. “Do...do you want to come inside?”

#platonicvldweek #platonic vld week #Voltron: Legendary Defender #Voltron Legendary Defender #Voltron #Voltron fanfiction #vld fanfiction #fanfiction #Keith Kogane #Takashi Shirogane #Krolia #Coran #Kolivan #my writing #mine

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ursae-minoris-world · 6 years

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Color-coded, of course !

So, this is a little fic I wrote for @platonicvldweek for the prompt Colour / Darkness !

It’s also Pidge’s Birthday, so that fits too ! Happy birthday, Pidge ! :)

Read it here on AO3 !

Summary : Matt and Pidge have inside jokes and Hunk is curious about them.

---

Hunk looked up from the little shower he was creating for the space mice to watch Pidge and Matt. They were working together on improving the galra finder, because that was the sort of things those two did on their down time. They had their backs on him and were talking in hushed voices. Matt whispered something, and they both giggled.

"Hey !" called Hunk, "what’s with the color coding joke, anyway ?"

They both turned, surprised.

"What do you mean ?" asked Pidge.

"You two seem to have some kind of private joke ? About color coding stuff ? You both mentioned it ?"

They exchanged a look. "Oh."

Matt seemed a bit hesitant. "Pidge… ?"

"It’s fine, Matt. We can talk about it."

She moved to face Hunk.

" See, in middle school, I used to get bullied. The other kids made fun of me for being a nerd and stole my desert, that kind of things. "

The frown on Matt’s face when she mentioned it told enough about how angry he still was about it.

"People bullied… you ?" Hunk had a hard time imagining Pidge being harassed. She wasn’t one to let other people step on her toes. "I bet they regretted it."

Pidge sighed.

"Actually, no. At the time, I was a lot shyer. Anyway, one day, our maths teacher called me to the board to solve an equation. A really easy one, at least for me. I was supposed to show the steps I had used to solve it, you know ?"

She paused, looking suddenly distressed.

"Hu, yeah, I see what you mean.", tried Hunk, as encouragingly as he could.

"… And I couldn’t do it ! Because I hadn’t used any steps, because it was just so easy ?! But no one would believe me ! Everyone was laughing and the teacher almost implied I had cheated somehow ! So I got nervous and said I had just used the color code ! People made fun of me for years because of that ! "

She was getting animated and frustrated, and Matt put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

" Hunk, have you ever heard of synesthesia ?"

" Humm, isn’t that the thing where people see sounds ?"

Matt nodded. "Well, it can be that. It’s when the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to an automatic associated experience in another sensory or cognitive pathway. So yeah, some people can see sounds. Or some, like us, see the letters and numbers with some specific associated colors."

Hunk tilted his head a bit while considering it.

"Oh, I think I’ve heard of that one too."

"It’s called Grapheme-color synesthesia." elaborated Pidge. "Like, A is obviously red, and six is teal blue, I is bright yellow..."

"I is pale green, in fact !" teased Matt, elbowing her. "And I’m sorry, but 0 is white. I know you like it fancy, but it is clearly white."

Pidge huffed. " If you can’t appreciate the beauty of the silver 0, that’s on you Matt. I know what I see."

"Wow, wow, wow ! " interrupted Hunk. "You mean, you both have it ? Isn’t it supposed to be rare ?"

"Well, yeah" admitted Matt. "But scientists also believe that the origins could be genetic, so I guess it makes sense. Our mom has a form of synesthesia too, only hers is that she sees numbers linked as a map."

"It’s called number form synesthesia", supplied Pidge. "Anyway…. At the time, I didn’t know I had it. I just assumed that everyone saw the same things as I did. So I was pretty upset when my classmates all treated me like a weirdo." She sighed. "I mean, even worse than usually."

There was a short silence, before Matt continued the story :

" So, when she came home and told me, I understood what the matter was. I wish I had realized earlier that she didn’t know that not everyone could see things that way."

" Well," explained Pidge " it was treated as completely normal in our family ! Matt and I even used to have a secret code where we used the colors associated with the letters and numbers. Our parents had even taken us to art supply stores, so that we could choose our color pencils one by one, because we were very specific about the colors we wanted."

" We see most letters the same colors, but not all, so we had to make compromises. Anyway, I realized I was synesthetic in middle school after talking about it with some friends, and I supposed Pidge had done the same."

" Well, the few friends I had in ground school got bored every time I mentioned maths or that sort of things and didn’t listen to me. So I thought everyone saw it, but no one was as interested in it as I was. And I stopped talking about it, except at home."

" So when she came home heartbroken about how those stupid kids laughed at her for that color-coded line, I felt like I had failed her as a big brother." added Matt solemnly.

Pidge snorted and pushed him playfully. "You idiot !"

Hunk tried to wait patiently until they were done shoving each other, but he ended up interrupting them anyway : "Yeeaaah. That still doesn’t really explain why you like to color-code stuff ?"

Pidge was the first one to regain her composure.

"Well, that day Matt explained to me how synesthesia was actually pretty cool and useful. I mean, I knew that already, but it was a good reminder. And he showed me all these ways it could help me ! And one of them was color coding."

"You can use colors to help you remember things, or to add a layer of information on something." explained Matt. "For instance, if I want something to be associated with the number 7, I will color it this dark shade of pink."

"Oh, so when you see colors, you see numbers, too ?"

Pidge shook her head. "No, it only works one way. But we remember which color is associated with which grapheme. So it can be used as a mnemonic technique. For instance, if I want to remember the disposition of objects in a map, it will help to use colors that I associate with numbers. And I have a good memory for numbers. Better than for random shapes anyway. I even can use colors that mean something, like hinting at the spacial coordinates. Or using the color for the first letter of what the shape is representing."

Hunk thought about it for a while. "Sooo… what happens if someone uses a color code that doesn’t match yours ?"

Pidge and Matt both grimaced.

"It’s… ugly. And sometimes confusing."

"But that’s only if you… color graphemes the wrong colors or something. If you use color coding for something else, it can help. If you give me a colored map I will still be able to use numbers and letters to help me memorize at least parts of it."

Matt nodded. "Colors just helps in general. Even without using mnemonic techniques."

Hunk was starting to understand, but he still felt he hadn’t the full story. "So, what about the animals ?"

They both looked confused. Hunk chuckled.

"No, I mean, you say it this way : Color coded of course, because what are we ? Animals ? And I was wondering where the second part came from."

They were grinning now. "Oh, that ! " exclaimed Pidge. "Once, Matt was presenting scientific results for a symposium, and I was sitting in the public with Mom and Dad. At one point, he presented a color coded chart and he said that while looking straight at me ! And the color code spelled "FARTS". I completely lost it ! Everyone was looking at us !"

"It was really hard to keep a straight face ! But it was a very serious conference, so I had to !" admitted Matt, snickering. "So, yeah, it has become a little joke between us."

Hunk sighed. "Oh, wow, that sounds so cool. I wish I could learn your color code, so I could understand that kind of jokes !"

"Well, we could teach you, if you want !" offered Pidge.

"Really ?!"

"We can’t teach you synesthesia, of course." admitted Pidge. "But we can tell you which color we associate with which grapheme. I mean, I had to learn that Matt sees zero just in plain boring white instead of the pretty silver it actually is !"

"You can brag, with your grey eights !" retorted Matt, ruffling her hair. They burst out laughing.

Hunk smiled. Somehow, he felt honored that they were willing to share this with him.

#platonicvldweek #Vldgen #voltron #hunk #pidge #matt #holt siblings #fanfiction #my fics #long post #my stuff

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singlesockdrawer · 6 years

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Platonic vld week day 2: Lion

#the white lion isn't even an actual physical lion so idk if it even counts #but I guess it /could/ be the blue lion too if u do some stretching #so yknow its whatever #platonicvldweek #voltron #fanart

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eastofthemoon · 6 years

Text

Spells and Trust Chapter 1

Author’s Note: Wrote this for @platonicvldweek with today’s theme of Rain/Sun. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow.

Summary: When Shiro brought Keith home to heal, Keith had no intention of staying. However, as he got to know everyone he ended up changing his plans.

Shiro’s heart didn’t even start to calm down until Keith had been cleaned, wrapped in bandages, and then bundled in a blanket as he was placed into Allura’s lap. She then poured one of her potions onto Keith’s wounds and the bandages glow the second she started to chant.

Shiro sat next to her, never removing his hand from Keith’s head. It felt like an eternity until finally Allura finished the spell and the light from the glowing bandages dimmed with it. Keith’s eyes were still shut, but his ears twitched and he seemed to relax as Allura stroked his back.

“He should be fine,” Allura said as she looked up, “but, Shiro, how do you know him?”

Shiro ran a hand through his hair. “He’s a friend of mine. I first met him not long after I become your familiar, and I just kept bumping into him.” He gave a shrug. “Eventually we became friends.”

“This is news to us,” Lance said as he crossed his arms and slumped into a chair. “How come you’ve never mentioned him before?”

Shiro gave a sheepish smile. “Keith likes keeping to himself and he’s rather distrustful of new people especially witches.”

#platonicvldweek #voltron legendary defender #vld #keith #shiro #my writing #fanfiction #witch allura au #rain/sun

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swordandquill · 6 years

Text

Platonic VLD Week: Rain / Sun

Notes: This one actually follows the prompt! Continuing the loose theme of Lance is sad, but very loved.

“Lance, we need to get going,” Allura called.

Lance looked back at her, fingers flexing with agitation, then looked back at the dark rolling clouds.

They looked rather ominous to Allura, particularly in the isolated area they had landed the castle. This planet certainly seemed to have a strange water cycle, and Allura would have thought Lance would be glad to get inside before they gained first hand knowledge of it.

She missed the fiery showers of Altea. They could be a bit inconvenient, and she had complained long and loud to her parents about them when they had prevented her from going outside to play, but she would have given anything to see another one now.

“Lance,” she repeated, raising her voice just a bit to make sure it carried.

“Can I… just a few more minutes, please?” Lance begged, hands wringing in the edge of his jacket.

Allura cocked her head to the side, equal parts concerned and curious about what might have upset him, and walked across the grassy field to stand with him.

“What’s wrong?” she stepped up beside him, their shoulders barely brushing, and followed his gaze up to the rolling clouds.

“Nothing,” Lance hunkered into himself, “I was just hoping.. I mean, I thought it might… it doesn’t matter. We should get going.”

“Hang on,” Allura caught his arm before he could turn away, tugging his to stand closer to her.

She was learning that when Lance flailed like this, there was something he didn’t want to admit was important to him.

“I feel like a complete sentence might be helpful here,” Allura prompted, settling her arm more comfortably through his.

“I thought we might get to see rain,” Lance admitted quietly, “I read the brief on this planet, and they get real water rain, and when I saw how dark the clouds were getting, I just thought… maybe…”

He trailed off again.

“You have water rain on earth, correct?” Allura asked thoughtfully.

Lance nodded, eyes downcast, “I know we have to get going though.”

“It won’t hurt to wait a bit longer,” Allura gave his arm a squeeze, “the Castle’s only completed 75% of it’s refresh cycle. We have time to let it run a bit more.”

“Okay,” Lance said in a small voice.

They both looked back up at the dark clouds, and Allura thought she might have felts something wet hit her face.

They were cackling like children and leaving puddles in their wake by the time they stumbled into the main entryway of the Castle. Who knew stomping in water puddles was as satisfying as kicking up ash clouds after a fire storm. About as messy too.

“I won,” Lance said in a sing song voice as he shook water from his hair, showering her with droplets.

“I think you made the whole thing up,” Allura rung her hair out, trusting the cleaning droids to deal with any mess they left behind, “the rules were nonsense and the point system was completely arbitrary.”

“You may never know,” Lance grinned at her widey, then his expression softened, “thank you for that.”

“You’re very welcome,” Allura smiled at him, “I found that quite enjoyable.”

She grabbed his hood, dragging him to her and keeping him there with an arm around his shoulders.

“We need a self picture,” Allura pulled her comm out of her pocket.

“Selfie,” Lance laughed.

She snapped the picture while he was laughing and let him go.

“Perfect,” she grinned, “your hair looks terrible.”

“Hey!” Lance tried to grab the comm from her, but she ran, and he chased after her.

They left puddles all the way down the hall.

#platonicvldweek #Voltron #Isabeau's writing #vldgen

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