#ch: Keith Kogane

[autisticlancemcclain]

They all sort of… paired off, after the war. Not, like, exact pairs — maybe more like groups. Shiro reunited with Adam. The two of them bought a house far the fuck away from the Garrison and everything associated with it. Hunk and Pidge paired off, both pursuing their doctorates like the smartypants they were and are. Allura, Coran, and Romelle stayed on Earth for a bit, but all three of them ached for the comfort of home, and returned to New Altea eventually.

That left Lance and Keith.

Well, not really. Originally Lance assumed it meant he was left alone to try and reconnect with the family he’d grown away from — a family he loved and still loves with every fibre of his being, but the family that he couldn’t quite… click with, anymore. He’s changed, they’d changed, and he wasn’t sure where he fit. He’d been scared, although he wouldn’t admit it.

Keith had been the one to approach him, actually. Asked Lance if he’d want to move in with him.

“You’re not moving in with Shiro and Adam?”

Keith snorted. “Absolutely not. They have retired into a little home on the prairies, or whatever. I have some respect for my ears and so I will not be moving in to the constant background noise of my brother having regular honeymoon sex, or whatever.”

It was a joke. He’d meant for Lance to laugh. But the shock was still ringing through his head; laughter was the furthest thing from his mind.

“With the Alteans, then, to New Altea?”

“Nope.”

“The Blades, with your mother?”

“I’ve had enough of the Blade of Marmora, I think. I liked it there, but I don’t really want to do it for the rest of my life. Besides, I actually missed Earth. I didn’t realise how pretty it was here ‘til I left.”

“…Oh.”

And it has been fine, for the first few days. Awkward, but fine. It had been like having a roommate, really — not that Lance knew what that was like, but he could wager a guess. They made schedules, divvied up chores, occasionally hung out on the couch.

It came out of nowhere, Lance’s hurt. Well, not really nowhere. It had to come out sometime. But it had seemed so random, then. Lance had pushed the hurt down so far for so long it was almost unrecognisable, but then there it was: for the first time in as long as he could remember, Lance wanted everyone else to ache as badly as he did. To writhe, to suffer. He wanted Pidge to feel stupid. He wanted Hunk to feel abandoned. He wanted Shiro to feel small, for Allura to feel dismissed and second-rate. He wanted them to hurt for every pain they’d made him feel. He’d wanted Keith, especially, to feel hated. He’d wanted Keith to feel like he was lesser and a burden and unloved and forgotten.

Lance wanted to be cruel. But he couldn’t bring himself to say the words, so he went silent.

Keith noticed, because of course he did. They didn’t talk to many other people, the two of them. He’d left it, at first. Lance didn’t know what Keith assumed was going on, but he’d smiled at Lance more and left it at that. After a week of Lance’s silence, though, he’d started to get a little pushy.

“Hey, you okay? We haven’t talked in a while.”

Lance kept his eyes on the task in front of him, scrubbing the plate a little harder.

“Which is weird,” Keith continued, “because we literally live together. Super weird, actually. Unlikely, even.”

The plate cracked in Lance’s hand, porcelain shatters embedding themselves into his palm. The water turned pink.

“Jesus, Lance, what happened?” Keith rushed forward, grabbing a clean dishtowel and reaching for Lance’s arm.

Lance flinched.

Keith froze.

“…Lance?”

Lance swallowed. He drained the soiled water, carefully scooping out the broken pieces to discard, but a pale hand reached over again, slowly this time. Hesitantly. Lance forced himself to stay still, even as he felt bile rising up his throat. Forced himself to keep his fists from clenching, so the shards didn’t get any deeper. Forced himself to breath.

“Let me get it,” Keith said softly.

He didn’t want to. He didn’t want Keith’s help, Keith’s gentleness. He didn’t need it anymore. He had needed it, then, needed Keith’s gentleness and care and love and smile and embrace but he didn’t fucking get it, then, not when he needed it, not when he was gasping and drowning for it, so why the fuck would he take it now? Why would he take Keith’s offered hand, now, when his heart had moved on?

His jaw ached, strained with the need to yell the words. To spit them in Keith’s face.

Where were you? He wanted to yell. Where were you when I was suffering? When I was dying? When I was begging the sun to shine and it rained on me as I lay drowning? Where was your hand, then? Your saving grace?

But he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. So he dried his hands, swallowed the lump in his throat, and walked away.

———

It would have been one thing if he was declining calls. But it really ached that his phone was drier than the desert. Now that he wasn’t calling, wasn’t reaching out to the people that were supposed to be one with him, they’d dropped him. Were they even thinking of him? Was he even on their radar? Did they talk to each other, and was Lance the odd one out?

He hoped they still thought about him, even occasionally. It was too painful to think otherwise. It was stupid to feel the pain, anyway, to wish they called even though Lance knows damn well he wouldn’t answer. He’s still furious with each and every one of them, although the hurt is starting to overcome to anger.

Part of the ache is that he doesn’t really… do much. They’re not allowed to accept jobs, not for another four months. They had psych evals, after that final battle, all of ‘em. Apparently they each had PTSD, and until they were ‘appropriately settled into a civilian life’, it was ‘unfair to both them and their employer to expect regular labour’. Why they weren’t allowed to do some freelance stuff or whatever, Lance didn’t know, but it meant a lot of time wasting away in his room. He’d tried helping the relief effort, and he’d done that for a while, but he’d had a couple… episodes. Maybe he was a little affected by the war, the Omega Shield in particular. Whatever. What he does know is that he’d become very well-acquainted with the insides of his eyelids. He can’t remember the last time he was awake for longer than six consecutive hours.

There’s a knock at the door. Lance doesn’t even bother taking the pillow off his head.

“Lance?” Keith calls.

Lance doesn’t acknowledge him. Even if he had the energy, he hasn’t talked to Keith in five months. He hasn’t talked to anyone in five months, not even his mamá. He doubts his voice even works, anymore.

Keith sighs heavily. “I’m going to see your mother,” he says. “She invited us both for dinner again. She’s worried about you. So am I. You coming? She’s making garlic knots.” The last sentence is coaxing, singsong. Lance wonders when Keith’s patience is going to give out. He’s surprised he’s even lasted this long. He wonders what he’s gonna do when Keith finally quits. Breaks the lease, packs his bags. Leaves Lance again.

Maybe it’s not fair for Lance to be angry at Keith for something he’s not even done, yet. But Lance is tired. Too tired for nuance.

Keith leaves without him.

———

The most action Lance gets, any day of the week, is timing when Keith is out of the house, because then he can go eat. (Does he eat every day? Probably. Maybe. Honestly, he’s not sure. Time kind of blurs. He eats when he’s so hungry he can’t sleep, and showers when he convinces himself he should.) He’s gotten pretty good at it, actually. He’s so tuned in to Keith’s footsteps that they actually wake him up, because his body knows that it’s the only time it’s moving.

(Lance does know, objectively, that he’s killing himself. He knows it. He feels it in the frailty of his bones, the bags under his eyes even though he does nothing but sleep. In the way his mouth always feels gross because he rarely makes himself brush his teeth. In the way he’s running out of things he cares about, reasons to stay alive.)

That’s probably why he perks up now, hearing the footsteps approach his door. He’s a little angry at himself for the perking up in question, but whatever. Who cares. Keith is going to talk to him vaguely through the door and give up, and then Lance can go back to sleep, and then Lance can stop thinking about it.

Keith’s not talking to him through the door. He’s also not leaving. In fact, the only sound Lance hears is the jiggling of the handle.

Lance blinks. He sits up. Every joint cracks, because he hasn’t moved in a very long time.

Oh no.

The door swings open, revealing Keith in all his glory, holding a pillow and a blanket and looking very, very determined. He walks over to Lance’s bed and shoves him a little, albeit gently. Lance bites back an incredulous ‘what the fuck do you think you’re doing’. Keith either does not notice or care, throwing his pillow beside Lance’s and crawling on the bed. He fluffs the blanket over both of them, and Lance tells himself that he does not care.

“We’re watching a movie,” Keith says firmly, “like we did when we first moved in. And we are perhaps going to even chat, but no pressure. Mostly you’re going to do something that isn’t being unconscious, and we’re going to do it together.”

Lance takes a moment to process that. Mostly he feels nothing. Whatever. Keith can do what he wants. Lance will just wait until Keith gets bored and then go back to sleep.

But another part of him reminds him of the pain Keith caused. The hurt he felt.

Not now, Lance.

I just don’t want to spend eternity with Lance.

The rage lights the fire back into his heart. The molten lava of his pain spreads throughout his veins, and he tenses. The words crawl up his throat. He shoves them down.

“We’re watching Barbie Pegasus, because you love that movie.”

Lance shoves the words down.

“And then you’re going to call your mother.”

He shoves them down.

“And then we’re going to do a face mask.”

Down.

“I was gonna bring snacks, but we don’t have any of that pink-coated popcorn you like and I haven’t gone grocery shopping in a while, actually, so the fridge is kind of barren.”

Down.

“Uh, that’s it for plans. I’ll be honest, I kind of stormed in here with very little forethought.”

“Why do you care now?”

The words burst out of him. He can do nothing to stop them, nor can he stop the tears.

Keith startles. “You talked,” he breathes. He sounds awed. “Like, really. With your mouth and vocal chords.”

Lance ignores him. “You said you didn’t want me,” he says. He tastes salt and acid. “You said you wanted to be away from me eternity. You think I am annoying. You only want to live with me because you have no other options. You don’t love me. The rest of the team stopped loving me months ago. My family mourned me, they don’t need me anymore. I don’t — I don’t know why you’re here. Why are you still here? Why — I don’t know. I don’t understand! I want to hate you! You hurt me, you hurt every part of me! You broke my fucking heart, Keith, and you don’t seem sorry and I don’t know what to do with the pieces, now.”

Lance doesn’t look at Keith. He can’t. He clenches the blanket Keith brought in his fists, watching the grey of the fabric get blurrier and blurrier as the tears build and drop from his eyes.

“Lance.”

Lance swallows.

“Lance, look at me.”

Keith sounds like he’s begging. Lance sobs.

“I’m so lost, Keith. I’m so — lost.”

“Oh, Lance.” Keith reaches out for him. Lance doesn’t move. He doesn’t flinch, he doesn’t reach back. He sits there. Keith doesn’t seem to mind. He wraps a solid arm around Lance’s waist, dragging him closer. He turns Lance around once he’s close enough, pressing his face into his neck. This time, Lance goes willingly.

He’s still mad. He’s still hurt. His heart still aches and he doesn’t know how to feel.

But it’s been so long since he’s been held. Weeks. Months. (Years, really. It stopped in space, the affection. Everyone got busy, and then got tired. He doesn’t even remember if he hugged his sisters, when they got back, or if there was too much to worry about.)

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Keith whispers. His hands run gently through Lance’s probably gross hair. “I didn’t realize. I didn’t think about how much I was hurting you, how much you were already hurt. I was scared. Everything was changing for me, I was stressed, I was supposed to lead people I didn’t know had to lead.” He sighs. He presses a kiss to Lance’s head. “I failed you, Lance. I’m sorry.”

Lance sobs again. It’s been… so long, since someone apologized. Since someone cared about his pain. It’s — soothing. Cold water running over his skin, cooling the burns. He clutches Keith tighter.

Maybe things will be okay.

#yes this ends abruptly sorry #i wasn’t sure where to go next so (maybe i’ll write a ch 2??) #voltron #vld #lance #lance mcclain #keith #keith kogane #klance #langst #lance angst #post s8 divergence #post canon #depression #ptsd #loneliness #lance has a Hard Time #pining keith #my writing #fic #longpost

[corruptedplaylist]

ch 17 update

highlight reel includes: garrison trio grocery shopping, keith and krolia meet for the first time (lots of angst), the author projects very heavily onto this chapter, sweet moment in the end where keith realizes he's loved, that little fucker

excerpt:

“This is my order,” he says, dumbly. He looks at Lance because of course it’s Lance. “You remember my order? We’ve been to that place, like, twice.” 

“Um, duh. It’s like, weirdly specific. How could I not?” Lance makes a tsk sound and suddenly avoids his gaze, picking at his shoelaces.

#ao3 fanfic #voltron legendary defender #college au #klance #keith kogane #lance mcclain #takashi shirogane #pidge holt #hunk garrett #allura vld #adam voltron #found family #slow burn #angst #friends to lovers #getting bigger #this chapter in particular has mommy issues all over it sorry #i dedicate ch 17 to all the baddies who have identity crises

[starlightvelaris]

Yet another Sheith AU

(I'm calling myself out, my brain is an asshole)

So. I got the best AU idea ever. (Not true. But this is a new shiny idea and I needed to write it down before I forgot) It's going to be chock full of my fave tropes, bc hi! I'm a sucker for these tropes and I'm going to die on this hill.

Anyways. Keith and Shiro are childhood best friends and they keep in touch even when Keith's family moves, first with phonecalls, then with texts, on Facebook and WhatsApp. Fast forward to like 10 years later, when Keith is in college and Shiro is an A-list actor in Hollywood. They're def kinda flirting and Keith's friends know of Shiro. Kinda. They know of Takashi, Keith's BFF and kind-of bf, but don't make the connection with Takashi Shirogane, most beloved movie actor ever. (It's all Takashi is and Takashi that with Keith)

Life goes on normally until Keith says that he knows Shiro and well, nobody believes him. But hey, they pretend they believe Keith because it's Keith and he's a loner and they're his friends. Keith is very relieved they believe him so he invites Shiro because he knows he needs a break (The fact that they haven't seen each other in years and Keith desperately wants to see him again has nothing to do with it). Shiro says he'll think about it (It's a lie. Shiro would say yes to almost anything, as long it's Keith who asks) and two days later Keith gets a text saying 'fuck everything, I'm in'.

Keith tells everyone Takashi might visit the first week of summer break, the week all the squad is going on a camping trip before going home for the summer. And they're all 'finally we can meet the elusive Takashi' and low-key forget about Keith's claim that he knows Shiro the Hero, hottest actor ever.

The evening before they leave on the camping trip Keith and his friends are at the pub. Shiro told him he'd arrive the next morning, but Keith is Snapchatting him the evening's highlights anyway. And well, everyone is at least tipsy, it's almost midnight and a round of drinks show up at the gang's table. No one has a clue who ordered them, but hey, it's free alcohol.

The only clue that something is afoot is Keith's drink. The others get the exact thing they got the round before, but Keith gets some weird concoction named 'Space Paladinl or 'Black Lion' or something equally pretentious, and oh. Welp. He is dead. Takashi is somewhere at the pub and has ordered the only alcohol drink they have as an in-joke. His reaction is basically to stand up, vault over the fucking table without spilling anything and going straight to the bar, where he throws himself at the tall man who has a strong resemblance to Shiro.

The gang is still wtf-ing over Keith, and then he comes back and shit. Keith wasn't lying, he really knows Shiro the Hero. And then he introduces him as Takashi. Lance starts babbling excitedly, Pidge is saying 'no big deal', Hunk is almost crying and Allura is the only one who is functioning enough to introduce herself. (Not that she would've needed it, Keith has been very through when talking about his college friends)

The next morning everyone is hungover and they kind-of forgot that Takashi is Shiro (Sue them. They drank until 4am and they haven't had enough coffee to deal with this shit). That is, until Shiro shows up with a backpack and Keith. (They rode there on Keith's motorcycle.. Shiro may have had a #gaypanic moment).

Lance makes a spittake with his first (okay, third) cup of coffee and the cup of coffee ends on the ground. It's 10am and it finally sinks in for everyone that Keith actually knows Shiro. Thank god they get over the starstuck part very fast (it's hard to idolize your friend's dorky best friend, and it gets even harder when he and Keith are mooning over each other).

The trip is a success, Shiro gets invited to everything the squad organizes, the groupchat gets a new member (YOU SHOULD HAVE ADDED HIM YEARS AGO, texts Lance), Shiro and Keith get their shit together on the trip and start dating.This somehow flies right over everyone's head (they're convinced that both Shiro and Keith are pining over each other). It's the most hilarious thing ever (Shiro and Keith may have laughed for half an hour when they realized).

The gang tries to set them up and It doesn't work (how they miss that it didn't work because they're already together is just so, so funny for Keith and Shiro). A gossip rag publishes an article (that has rather solid proof) on how Shiro def has a secret boyfriend. Everyone is waiting for Keith's moping, but nope, no show. When asked Keith says that he's happy for Shiro if the article is true (it's true, and cue another half an hour of laughter).

College starts again,Shiro visits Keith for Thanksgiving. Time goes by too quickly when you’re busy and the whole gang finds Shiro and Keith making out on the ratty couch in Keith's flat. Everyone is shocked that Shiro would cheat on Curtis, his bf (that is really only a coworker).

Cue epic reveal: Thanksgiving is saved, Shiro meets again Keith's family and they live happily ever after

BONUS SCENE [Shiro and Keith's wedding] Lance, making his best man speech [long rambling story of how they found out Takashi is Shiro and how Shiro was Keith's boyfriend and somehow 50% of the info is missing] Allura is all: honey, no 

#sheith #sheith au #modern au #vld au #voltron: legendary defender #otp: your friend desperately wants to see you #my fic #my writing #fic idea #me @ my brain: curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal #the one in which shiro is an actor #ch: takashi shirogane #ch: keith kogane #takashi shirogane #shirogane takashi #keith kogane

[tortured-demigods-department]

Chapters: 5/? Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Allura & Keith (Voltron), Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Allura & Lance (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk (Voltron), Coran (Voltron) Additional Tags: oh boyyy here we go, Sexual Content, Implied Sexual Content, Explicit Sexual Content, Alien Biology, Half-Galra Keith (Voltron), Demisexual Keith (Voltron), Mpreg, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, Didn't Know I Could Get Pregnant, Ft: a Very Stressed Out Lance, and a Bizarrely Calm Keith, all things considered, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Lance (Voltron) is Stressed, How is that not a tag, it is now a tag, Supportive Lance (Voltron), Supportive Shiro (Voltron), Shiro is also Stressed, Shiro (Voltron) is a Good Sibling, Allura & Keith (Voltron) Friendship, more like, Allura & Keith (Voltron) are BESTIES, I will go down with this best friend ship, Team as Family, Slow Burn, Falling In Love, it's that when-you-accidentally-knock-up-your-teammate-then-fall-in-love trope, That's a trope right, why am i writing this, i cannot believe i'm writing this, No A/B/O Dynamics, let me disclose that i'm not sure if this constitutes as smut, like...there's sex??, but so far it's not very Sexy Times if you know what i mean, in fact it's pretty angsty, Mildly Dubious Consent, on both keith anD lance's parts, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, tag updates:, Vomiting, Morning Sickness, Crying, Emotional Conversations, Keith (Voltron) is Emotional, Lance (Voltron) is Emotional, Everyone (Voltron) is Probably Emotional, Author is emotional, Smut, this now definitely has smut, Sex, Friends With Benefits, i guess that applies lol, Enthusiastic Consent, Sexy Times, Fluff and Smut, Pregnant Keith (Voltron) Summary:

Things are grim. But they’ve been worse, he reminds himself. Keith is tougher than them all—tougher than Lance, definitely. Keith will be fine. Knowing him, he’s probably somewhere across the base blowing it up by now. He’ll probably bust himself and Lance out of here before the others can even get here.

“Yeah,” Lance nods to himself, trying to convince his heart of the same thing. “Yeah. Everything . . . It’s going to be fine.”

Things are grim, indeed—but they’ve been worse. Until he has a reason to panic, Lance decides, he’s going to keep his cool and not panic.

-

or,

A mission gone wrong lands Lance and Keith in a panic-worthy situation.

#klance #vld #vld lance #vld keith #klance fic #keith/lance #you've got me there ch. 5 #new chapter!! #voltron #voltron fic #keith kogane #lance mcclain

[starsdustzuko]

I’d Pray for Everything We Lost

Part 1! ((shoutout to @pining-keith for her excitement & ideas when I messaged her about this story at 4 am a few months ago))

--

“In return for saving me, I will grant you one wish,” Inexplicably Keith thought of Lance. All blue eyes and smiles. Lance, who was so beautiful and good. Who made Keith smile even when he didn’t want to. Who irritated Keith to no end. Who had somehow wormed his way into Keith’s heart like he fucking belonged there and Keith just sat there and let it happen. All because it was Lance.

There was a deep ache in his chest every time he thought about the boy and it hurt. Keith was so, so tired of it.

And Keith who was impulsive and never thought things through opened his mouth to tell the Vathindian exactly what he wanted.

“I wish I didn’t have feelings for Lance!”

Because that was what he wanted, right?

“When you wake, all shall be as wished,” the Vathindian replied.

Keith stared at the faceless alien for just a moment, it was impossible to tell if the Vathindian was fucking with him or not.

“Thank you,”

“You should be on your way, Red Paladin,”

Keith left without a second glance. He reached Red and saw that Blue was sitting next to her, Lance was at his lion’s feet.

“There you are mullet-head!”

Keith ran a hand over his hair.

“Everyone else is already back at the castle,”

“Why’d you stay?” Keith asked, ignoring the way his heart thumped painfully in his chest.

“Drew the short straw, and besides, someone had to make sure your hothead didn’t get in trouble with the Vathindians,” Lance replied with a smile and shrug.

Keith barked out a laugh and rolled his eyes. He tried to ignore the thrill that Lance had stayed behind because he was worried Keith.

“Then let’s get back before you flirt with one and almost cause an intergalactic scandal… again,”

Lance let out an undignified squawk and placed his hand over his heart.

“You swore you wouldn’t bring that up!”

Keith just laughed and climbed into Red. He waited until Blue stood up to take off, Lance followed closely.

When they got back to the castle Shiro had them clean up, get something to eat, and then go to bed. Keith found he couldn’t complain, it had been a long day.

Keith woke up before the rest of paladins, just like he always did. He trained with the Guardians for an hour before he took a shower and headed to the kitchen. To say he was anxious to see Lance was a bit of an understatement. What if the wish didn’t work? What if he still felt something for Lance? Keith shook his head to try and dispel the thoughts.

Then there was Lance. Keith waited for the fluttering in his stomach to start, but it never did. What the fuck? Lance caught sight of Keith and beamed as he gave a small wave of greeting. Keith had to force a smile onto his face in return. Lance turned back to Hunk, seemingly satisfied with Keith’s response.

“It worked,” Keith said to himself.

“Why are you blocking the doorway?”

Pidge shoved him to the side with surprising force. When he failed to retaliate Pidge looked at him, confusion written on their face.

“No witting comeback?”

“I knew it! The mullet has finally impaired his thinking!” Lance called.

Keith ran his hand over his hair.

“This is just how it grows,” he replied.

Keith was so relieved to be rid of the emotions that came with being in love that he didn’t notice how different everything was. He didn’t notice how little he cared about conversing with Lance. He was relieved he didn’t have to worry about saying something stupid and embarrassing himself. He didn’t notice that he forced himself to laugh at some of Lance’s jokes. He was relieved he wasn’t laughing too hard or too long at the jokes. He didn’t notice that he had to continuously remind himself to not actually try to kill Lance when they were sparring. He was relieved he wasn’t going easy on Lance like he used to.

He was too relieved to notice any of it until a mission went very wrong.

“Lance is really hurt!” Hunk yelled over the coms.

Keith continued his attack on the sentries, hardly giving Hunk’s words a second thought.

Lance is really hurt.

Something… something was very wrong. Lance was hurt. He should be worried. Why wasn’t he worried? Lance was his teammate! His friend! He was hurt and Keith couldn’t find it in himself to give a shit.

I wish I didn’t have feelings for Lance!

What had he done?

“Keith! We gotta go!” Shiro yelled.

Keith turned and headed back to Red. He could feel Red’s concern in his bones. He reached up and flicked the coms off before he spoke.

“What have I done?”

Red’s emotional response was essentially to tell him that he fucked up big time. She also tried to reassure him that it could be fixed.

“We’re millions of miles from Vathinda, girl, I can’t just ask Allura to wormhole me back,” Keith replied.

Red attempted to comfort him, tried to tell him that he would get a chance to fix this.

It was the first time in a long time Keith didn’t find comfort in Red’s words.

By the time Keith got back to the Castle, Lance was already in a cryopod. Keith stared at him for just a few moments. I wish I didn’t have feelings for Lance. How could he have been so careless?

“Keith?”

He turned to see Hunk.

“Hey,” Keith said.

“Coran says he won’t be out for a couple more quintants,”

“What happened?”

“Sentry got him from behind,”

“Oh,” Keith said.

“He was keeping an eye on the door. I was helping Pidge download the data from the bridge. I should have been paying more attention,” Hunk sounded defeated.

Keith stared up at Lance, trying to dredge up some kind of feeling. But there was nothing.

“Wasn’t your fault,” Keith said at last.

He was so tired of having to think and find the right thing to say in regards to Lance. Before he made that asinine wish it came so naturally.

“Feels like it,” Hunk said.

Keith was going to do whatever it took to get back to Vathinda and get the Vathindian to take back the wish.

It took a few quintants for Lance to get out of the cryopod. They were no closer to Vathinda than they had been when he went in.

By some miracle (and a lot of arguing on Keith’s part) the Paladins found themselves doing a recon missions on a planet that was just a varga or two away from Vathinda. Keith couldn’t let the opportunity slip through his fingers.

That night when everyone was sleeping he snuck out of his room and headed for Red’s hanger.

“Hey girl,” he said as he approached.

Her eyes lit up and she opened her mouth. He walked in and sat down. Red was excited for him.

“We need to get to Vathinda as fast as possible,” he said.

It took barely over a varga to reach the planet. Red landed in almost the same place she had that fateful day he wished away his emotions. He climbed out of her and slowly made his way back to the hut-house?- abode that the Vathindian dwelled in.

He stopped at the massive doorway and knocked.

“Red Paladin,” a voice from inside the abode said.

“Why have you returned?”

Keith peered into see the Vathindian. He wasn’t entirely certain it was the same one he had spoken to nearly a month ago, the aliens didn’t actually have faces.

“Can you take the wish back?” he asked.

The Vathindian tipped its head to the side.

“An unusual request,”

“Can you?” Keith pressed.

“I can, whether or not I will is a different matter,”

Something broke in Keith. He felt his knees hit the soft earth of the abode. He didn’t come all this way just to be turned away. He had to try.

“Please,” Keith gasped, he could feel the backs of his eyes stinging.

“Take it back. I was wrong. I don’t want this anymore,” he pleaded.

The Vathindian didn’t move.

“You wished to feel nothing for Lance,” they said at last.

Keith nodded.

“I have given you exactly what you have asked for,”

He hunched over, eyes dropping down to the floor, tears flooding his eyes.

“I was wrong,” he said again, his voice soft.

“I’ll do anything. I just want them back,”

There was a long moment of silence.

“Very well,”

Something washed over Keith, a soft wave of emotions.

“I have returned your feelings for Lance to you,”

Keith pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes.

“Thank you,” his voice was choked with emotions.

He was crying.

“Thank you,” he said again.

#Keith Kogane #Lance McClain #klance #keith x lance #voltron #fan fic #angst #I'M STILL WRITING PART TWO IN WHICH LANCE FOLLOWS KEITH OUT OF THE CASTLE AND OVERHEARS PART OF KEITH BEGGING THE VATHINDIAN TO END THE WISH #it's gonna cause a lot of hurt on Lance's part #anyway #ch: keith kogane #ch: lance mcclain #tv: voltron #gotta keep my tags in order #wow I hope it's ok I tagged u Alisha

[minigolden]

hey all here’s a new chapter for this one is for you, ch 8! it’s 13k :) 

fic info:

Lance is beyond excited for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. So, when Allura invites him to attend a viewing party, Lance decides to check it out. He ends up at the home of Keith Kogane— the striker for Marmora University’s futbol team. Lance’s rival. The bane of his existence. And, the one player Lance might have a thing for.

tags:

college au, 2018 FIFA World Cup, modern setting, enemies to friends to lovers, mutual pining, soccer player keith, futbol player lance,  slow burn + more. read more tags on AO3!

chapter 8 summary:

Mexico v. Brazil, Japan v. Belgium, Keith v. Lance.

Keith hears his phone chime from his bed, but he doesn’t go to check it until he’s finished brushing his teeth and washing his face. When he walks over, he correctly assumes its Lance.

Lance [7:21 a.m.]

>rise and shine sleeping beauty!!

>Are you ready for the big day?!?!

Keith [7:30 a.m.]

>yes

Lance [7:31 a.m.]

>so ima need some more enthusiasm

>take 2

>you ready for the big day?!?!

A smile tugs at his mouth. Lance’s enthusiasm is definitely noted.

Keith [7:31 a.m.]

>okay

>yes I’m ready 😤

Lance [7:32 a.m.]

> i-

> fine I’ll take it

> you almost ready ready?

Keith looks over at the jersey he has laid on his bed and the remaining articles of clothing he’s planning on wearing.

Keith [7:34 a.m.]

> just about

> don’t worry I’ll make up for it during the game

Lance [7:36 a.m.]

>sweet. I’ll come thru soon

> I look forward to seeing you

Keith’s eyes are glued to the blue message, his heart skipping at the promise it held. Sadly, his elation doesn’t last long before the rest of the message rolls in, but the damage was already done. Cool it, man.

> acting all excited but also its been a minute since we hung out

>kinda miss you :/

Keith takes a seat at the edge of his bed, cheeks flushed. His fingers twitch for a response but he’s not sure of what to really say that wouldn’t scream desperate. He ends up going with the tone of the conversation which always ends up being more joking than anything. He feels like it’s something Lance is more comfortable with but in all honesty, he doesn’t want to say anything too out there over text. Whenever he ends up telling Lance he has feelings for him, he wants to do it in person.

Keith [7:38 a.m.]

>scroll up and remember that you called me a rude bitch not even two days ago

> acting like you miss me sounds fake

Lance [7:36 a.m.]

> learns one meme and you’re already acting different

> also, you’re still hung up on that? lame 😪

Keith [7:37 a.m.]

>you know that I know more than one meme. You made sure of that

> and maybe I am

Lance [7:38 a.m.]

> uh so where’s the thank you?

> also you’re not even gonna say you miss me back????

>FAKE

I always miss being around you, idiot. Instead, Keith sighs and types out a response that won’t rock the boat.

Keith [7:39 a.m.]

>...you’re missable

Lance [7:40 a.m.]

> wow

>.... I’ll take it

Keith locks his phone and flops on his back, letting himself a few minutes to gather his thoughts. He wants to date Lance. He wants this to be serious, but he doesn’t want to scare him off by being too forward. He sighs and shuts his eyes wondering where the line was and how far away he was from it.

#keith kogane #lance mcclain #klance #klance fic #klance fanfic #klance fanfiction #klance au #voltron #voltron fic #lots of writing and editing later here is ch 8 which is freakin 13k words lord have mercy #i really did the most with reorganizing this #if you like it please hmu and let me know your thoughts!

[officialkrolia]

Keith is the type of person who will bite into an entire lemon, skin and all, and not once break eye contact with you.

#he c r o n ch #oof #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #keith #kogane

[squirenonny]

You Try Leaping a Canyon on Jupiter

A meta on the first episode of Season 2, “Across the Universe.” Thanks to @bentfire for providing such quality screenshots.

[Image: Shiro in S2E01, sitting against the canyon wall with a pained expression on his face and his hands pressed to the glowing wound in his side. The Black Lion is visible in the background. /end]

"It takes more than a glowing alien wound, a fall from the upper atmosphere, and crashing into a hardpan surface at what I'm guessing is about 25 meters per second squared to get rid of me. How are you?" --Takashi Shirogane, master of gallows humor

Okay, so this line has been on my mind since season 2 came out, and I’ve been meaning to do this meta ever since. Specifically, I’ve been meaning to do a meta in response to all the jokes about Keith’s, ah...

[image: series of four screenshots showing Keith using a geyser to blast out over the canon on a wedge of stone, the stone disintegrating beneath him, a close up of his panicked face, blurred with speed, and him free-falling into the canyon. /end]

Yeah. That.

Now, look, I’m not denying that there’s some innate humor in the way he just sort of... plunges into the abyss. The (literal) downsides to running on impulse, I suppose. BUT! There’s one big factor at play here I think most people aren’t aware of.

“...twenty-five meters per second squared...”

Shiro says this so off-handedly that you may not have even considered its significance, but it actually provides a bit of crucial context for the rest of Shiro and Keith’s portion of this episode. Why?

m/s2 is a unit of acceleration. We know the Lions were entirely offline when they came out of the corrupted wormhole--i.e. no engines running and either slowing or inadvertently accelerating their descent. The only force acting on her during the descent was gravity--thus any acceleration Shiro and his lion experience is due to gravity.

As a reference, Earth’s acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s2. That is, about 40% of the number Shiro cites.

“But wait!” you cry. “Couldn’t he be talking about the (upward) acceleration he experienced when he hit the ground and came to a stop?”

No. No, he couldn’t have. First of all, it’s really hard to calculate the acceleration at impact, because the time interval is so small. You could do it if you know exactly how far the falling object moved or rebounded from initial impact to complete stillness, or you could measure it with an accelerometer, but...

Yeah. I’m not going to try to calculate the G-forces Shiro experienced when he hit (not least of all because I have no clue what kind of crumple zones or other safety precautions the Lions possess) but as a frame of reference: If you’ve been on a big roller coaster, you’ve experienced anywhere from 3.5 to 6+ g. 2.5 g, the number Shiro gives, is about what you would experience on a Gravitron-style ride. (You know, the ones where you stand up against a padded wall and the ride spins around really fast? Yeah, that.) Humans can survive impacts that exert upward of 100 g, so no, an impact of 2.5 g isn’t in the same category as “glowing alien wound” and “fall from the upper atmosphere” on Shiro’s list of things that should have killed me but didn’t.

So what Shiro is actually saying is this planet’s gravity is 25 m/s2, or about 2.5 times Earth’s gravity.

I can easily believe he could estimate something like that. He’s an astronaut; he would have trained on how to handle himself on planets with different gravitational pulls. Granted, he was going to Kerberos, which would have a much lower gravity, but it’s not a stretch to assume they exposed the crew to a variety of g-forces so they’d know how to deal with problems during launch/reentry/at any point when they’re out there alone and vulnerable.

Speaking of which, you know what else is right in the 2.5-3 g range? The maximum g-force experienced inside a Space Shuttle during launch.

Shiro knows how to move under those kinds of forces. He’s a pilot. He knows what it feels like, how it affects him, how much more effort than usual it takes to move. If he says this planet has two-and-a-half times Earth’s gravity, I’m inclined to believe him.

This planet they landed on has roughly the same gravity as Jupiter (25.95  m/s2).

So Shiro and Keith are essentially carrying two other people (or, like... one plus Pidge) while doing all this:

[image: three images showing Keith running from geysers, falling off a cliff, and catching himself by driving his bayard into the chasm wall. /end]

[image: two screenshots of Keith hanging off the edge of a cliff, then using his jets to boost himself up. /end]

[image: four screenshots of Shiro fighting the lizard monsters, first getting grabbed by the leg and flung through the air, then dodging an attack, and finally pushing himself up off the ground, looking pained and exhausted. /end]

Keith, who isn’t used to working under different gravitational forces, misjudged the leap across the chasm, yes--but if they’d been on Earth, his plan probably would have worked. (At least, worked better than it did.)

Really, though? It’s no wonder Keith went to Black when he found Shiro. He knew there was no way he could fight four giant alien creatures under those conditions. And Shiro? I can’t blame him for looking like he just wants to collapse and let the creatures eat him.

[image: close-up on Shiro’s exhausted face, sweat dripping off his nose. /end.]

Just... think about that the next time you watch the episode.

#voltron #vld #voltron meta #takashi shirogane #keith kogane #science! #sorry i just #frick #can you imagine? #(it's no wonder shiro looks like shit throughout this episode) #(he's got a glowing hole in his side and he literally weighs about 500 pounds) #if i were a better artist i'd draw keith sailing across the chasm with a screaming pidge and lance clinging to him #just. for reference's sake #ch: i know who i am #ch: no one commands the black lion #long post

[autisticlancemcclain]

full fic masterlist

most of these are over 1000 words, stand on their own, and are posted to ao3. any major warnings will be stated.

here lies keith kogane -- felled by accidental innuendo [ao3]

it might be crazy but it aint no lie, baby (bi bi bi) [ao3]

spies, sneaking out, sobbing, and other such stressors [ao3]

the butterfly effect ch 1 ch 2 ch 3 ch 4 [ao3] [ongoing]

fuck bitches, get money (or something like that) [ao3]

panicked flirting is still flirting (shut up, pidge) [ao3]

you crazy-assed cosmonaut (remember your virtue) [ao3]

light pollution in my mind [ao3]

ten minutes on the clock (twenty years on my mind) [ao3]

take my tea with formaldehyde (for my feminine side) [ao3] 

monkey boy [ao3]

a mother’s love ch 1 ch 2  ch 3 [ao3] [ongoing]

i’m talking to a memory (calling can you hear me) [ao3]

we’re not broken (just bent) [ao3]

you can always find me (in our favourite little memories) [ao3] [MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH]

dancing in the mirror, singing in the shower [ao3]

baby, you’re my stability [ao3]

mr. snuggles [ao3]

the tarantula hawk wasp incident [ao3]

i’m just a holy fool (baby it’s so cruel) [ao3]

baby, you’re my lightning in a bottle [ao3]

land or sea, i’ve got the power (if i just believe) ch 1 ch 2 ch 3 ch 4 ch 5 ch 6 [ao3]

i hope some day i’ll make it out of here (even if it takes all day or a hundred years) [ao3] [GRAPHIC DECRIPTIONS OF A PANIC ATTACK]

if there’s something weird (and it don’t look good) [ao3]

blow (this place about to) [ao3]

hey baby (i think i wanna marry you) [ao3]

i’ll go get a ring (let the choir bells sing) [ao3]

is it the look in your eyes (or is it this dancing juice) [ao3]

gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss [ao3]

i can’t decide (whether you should live or die) [ao3]

patito [ao3]

smackdowns and fistfights (and other such forms of affection) [ao3]

sorry daddy (but i’m not that easy) [ao3]

i know you love me (wearing nothing but your boots) [ao3]

chocolate chip chivalry [ao3]

if you’re ready (like i’m ready) [ao3]

a night you won’t remember (i’ll be the one you won’t forget) [ao3]

how much is you paying (i don’t speak broke boy language) [ao3]

no one will know (oh come on) [ao3]

you’ll never be alone (i’ll be with you from dusk ‘till dawn) [ao3]

he might not look like he gets bitches (but honey that dick was 11 inches) [ao3]

cats and charms [ao3]

young love murdered (that is what this must be) [ao3]

love, gimme love, gimme love [ao3]

walk, walk, fashion, baby! [ao3]

eighteen (crazy) ch 1 ch 2 ch 3 ch 4 ch 5 ch 6 [ao3] [ongoing]

bug boy [ao3]

spendin’ my money (i’m outta control) [ao3]

hey, brother [ao3]

rhinestone top (tits peeking out) [ao3]

dumb dog (why aren’t you following me) [ao3]

save a horse (ride a cowboy) [ao3]

nails, hair, hips, heels [ao3]

what if i lose it all pt 2 pt 3 [ao3] [ongoing]

broken bones and stone-brick homes [ao3]

you turned around (and you stole my heart) [ao3]

i only got one thing on my mind (you) [ao3]

i’ve never been a natural (all i do is try try try) [ao3]

if you wanna be my lover (you gotta get with my friends) [ao3]

i’m sorry. i didn’t mean to. [ao3]

come here. let me fix it. [ao3]

i think you’re beautiful. [ao3]

do your worst (’cause nothing’s gonna stop me now) [ao3]

i can’t help falling in love with you (would it be a sin) [ao3]

you know i’m drunk on love (nothing can sober me up) [ao3]

is it so bad (if you don’t get what you wanted?) [ao3]

how long will i be with you? (as long as the sea is bound to wash upon the sand) [ao3]

give up your dream of going away (forget your sailors in galway) ch 2 [ao3]

when you get older your wild heart will live for younger days (think of me if every you’re afraid) ch 2  ch 3 ch 4 [ao3]

i know you get me (so i let my guard come down) [ao3]

how long will i hold you? (as long as your father told you) [ao3]

i’m in love (with a fairy tale) [ao3]

like you made it to 48 (and still made my birthday cake) [ao3]

i see your face (when i close my eyes) [ao3]

this is the part of me (that you’re never gonna ever take away) [ao3]

you’ve got me stuck where i’m sittin’ (lookin’ at your eyes) [ao3]

tell a hater kiss both cheeks (ciao, bella) [ao3]

he’s into superstitions (black cats and voodoo dolls) [ao3]

you look like you can handle what’s under my hood (you keep sayin’ that you will, boy, i wish you would) [ao3]

and with every step together (we just keep on getting better) [ao3]

i will grind you to sand (beneath my louboutin heel) [ao3] [MATURE & VIOLENT THEMES]

to the town of agua fria (rode a stranger one fine day) [ao3]

maybe something happened in a past life (didn’t make it over 25) [ao3]

you would not believe your eyes (if ten million fireflies) [ao3]

but i’ll know where several are (if my dreams get real bizarre) [ao3]

take my name out of your mouth (you don’t deserve to mourn) ch1 ch2 [ao3]

got the neighbours yellin’ (earthquake) [ao3]

such a shame (you don’t put up a fight) [ao3]

all i want is to fly with you (all i want is to fall with you) [ao3]

if it was raining you would yell at the sun (pick up the pieces when the damage is done) [ao3] [SUICIDE IDEATION & ATTEMPT]

i’ve been running with the wolves (to get to you) [ao3]

hey, hey, you, you (i know that you like me) [ao3]

i like shiny things (but i’d marry you with paper rings) [ao3]

on a neighbourhood street (where the little kids play) [ao3]

if you knew (what i still got in my closet) [ao3]

i’m everything (they said i would be) [ao3]

i’ll put you down slow (love you goodbye) [ao3]

i’ll make the choice to hear that voice (and do the next right thing) [ao3]

[akiradrabbles]

Hopeless Joy ch. 2

word count: 1463

Pidge dropped to the ground, a sob ripping through her lips and burning her chest. She could hear, faintly, Hunk yelling and pounding on the glass. She heard muffled voices of Keith, Shiro, Allura, and Coran. All begging to know what was going on, all begging to know what was happening to Lance. She felt pathetic when she couldn’t bring herself to tell them. With a muffled scream, she tore her helmet from her head and threw it forward, not looking up to see where it hit.

She gripped her head and cried, screaming with a forcefulness that made her throat burn. “Fuck!” She couldn’t shed her brain from the mental image that was Lance, staring at them with fear in his eyes; with blood dripping from his mouth. With a fucking sword in his gut. “Fuck!” The galra couldn’t take another brother from her, they just couldn’t.

She felt a hand lay on her shoulder, and she jumped. She looked up, staring into the eyes of Hunk. And if this was supposed to make her feel better, it wasn’t. Because…shit. Hunk was Lance’s best friend. From what she had gathered, they had known each other since sometime in middle school. As shitty as she felt, Pidge couldn’t imagine what Hunk as feeling. Watching your best friend in the world be impaled wasn’t something that you can just shake off.

But Hunk. Precious, amazing, selfless Hunk. He looked Pidge straight in the face, and although tears were streaming from his eyes, he put his hand on her shoulder and comforted her. “Pidge. We have to get out of here.” It looked like it hurt to say, “The galra. This was a trap. We fell for it and now we have to go.”

“We can’t!” She gasped, “Lance-”

Pidge watched as Hunk let a sob rip through him, then regained his composure, “I know. I know. I don’t want to leave him either. But we can’t…stay here. Shiro and Keith are in blue, but she won’t leave. She won’t leave Lance. She won’t-” he buried his head in the palms of his hand, a low whine rippling through his chest. “I don’t want to leave Lance.”

Pidge’s eyes softened, her head drooping slightly. She crawled across the pod, grabbing her helmet and pushing it onto her head. “Shiro…” she mumbled, listening to them yell at the lion that him and Keith were currently in.

“Pidge! Are you okay?” She almost wanted to laugh at the question. Because, no, she wasn’t okay. She was just about to leave her brother, cold and dying on the floor of a galra ship.

“Shiro.” She spoke, her voice shaking, “What are we going to do?”

“I don't…I don’t know.” He sounded so utterly defeated, and Pidge felt even more panic overcome her.

“Paladins!” Allura yelled, “You must get out of there. Now. There are sightings of seemingly hundreds of galra fleets on the way. We cannot wait much longer.”

And if Pidge was scared before, she was terrified when all she heard was silence. No one knew what to do, not even Shiro, who had always seemed to have a plan to pull out.

“We can’t get Blue to go, Allura.” Shiro’s voice was soft, scared.

“Where is Lance?” She questioned, and Pidge wasn’t sure how she would be able to muster up the courage to tell them.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to.

A low whine ruffled through the speakers in their helmet, and a deep gasp for air followed. The next few breaths were slow, rasping and desperately trying to regain their breath. A wet cough followed another gasp, and Pidge realized with a sob that Lance still had his helmet on. He was listening as they talked about leaving him, alone and scared in a galra ship.

“Blue…” he moaned, his words slurred and the back of his throat wet with blood.

“Lance!” Hunk screeched, and rest of the team inhaled sharply. Pidge swore she could hear Allura stifling a cry.

“Blue…” he repeated, “Blue…leave.”

“Lance, we’re coming back for you!” Pidge sobbed,

The comms were silent for a few moments, and the team worried that Lance was unable to speak, “No…” His voice, soft and almost incoherent, was laced with a thick layer of anxiety. “No, don’t.”

“Lance-!”

“Beautiful, please take them back…please, blue.” Lance coughed, “Please-”

“What happened?” Pidge demanded, “what…what happened?!”

“Communications seemed to have dropped.” Coran solemnly noted, his voice shaky in a way none of them had ever heard.

“Why? Why would they-”

“Blue is back online!” Shiro called, “She’s starting to move. Pidge, Hunk we’ll be there in just a few ticks.”

“But-”

“We have another battleship entering through a wormhole, Paladins. You must be quick!” Allura seemed panicked, which was one of the first times for the seemingly cool-headed female.

Nonetheless, Pidge wanted to scream. Scream at them. Scream at the galra. Scream at Lance. She rid the last thought from her mind. She couldn’t bear the feeling of anger towards Lance; hell, she couldn’t even make herself to be mad at Lance.

How could she? He didn’t choose to get stabbed in the stomach. Didn’t choose to have what happened happen to him.

He may not have been able to change what happened, but they sure as hell could. They could turn back, go back and save Lance. But her teammates, who supposedly cared for Lance and wished for his safety, were leaving him for who knows what. Pidge couldn’t understand.

Pidge’s heart was beating at a rapid pace, and she felt like she was about to vomit out her lungs. She startled when the escape pod shook, and she looked out the window to see the blue lion’s teeth clamped on to the top of the metal.

“Hunk…” she weakly called, turning blindly to her friend. She wanted to scream into the comms, but she found that her voice would no longer rise above a whisper.

Hunk sounded terrified and choked up, “Yeah, Pidgeon?”

Pidgeon? Pidgeon. Hunk called her Pidgeon?

Oh, she thought.

Lance had called her Pidgeon.

She stepped forward on shaky legs, collapsing into Hunk as he sat on the ground. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her small body. He held her as she sobbed, muttering “we have to go back” over and over again.

“I know…” he whispered, “I’m so sorry you had to see that.” She shook in his grasp, clenching his armor with her fist.

~~~

They landed in the castle, and Blue set the escape pod down gently. However, Pidge and Hunk didn’t move for what seemed like hours.

By the time Shiro was at the escape pod door, asking if they could open up, Pidge’s eyes were raw and dry from crying.

She untangled herself from Hunk, who seemed reluctant in letting her go, and stood on shaky legs. She caught a glance of the rest of the team outside of the pod window, but ignored them and shambled over to the control panel. She pressed a few buttons, waiting for the doors to open. When they did, however, she became startled as someone wrapped their large arms around her. Pidge didn’t realize that they sank to the ground until her knees hit the floor.

“Katie…are you okay?” Shiro. Pidge didn’t even think any more tears could flow at that point.

But they did.

“Lance…he…he-” she tried to get her words out, but couldn’t as the sobs once again resurfaced. She felt a hand lay on her shoulder and looked up to Allura. Coran and Keith were by Hunk, who had yet to move from his spot.

“Don’t push yourself, Pidge. You either, Hunk. When you’re ready, tell us what happened.” Allura smiled softly, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Pidge heard Hunk take a deep breath before he started speaking. “We got overrun…there were-were way too many, uh, galrans for us to take on.” He paused, closing his eyes, “And, uh, L-Lance…he got separated from us. We didn’t…god, we didn’t even notice. Pidge…she, um, activated the escape pod. And when we called for Lance…He couldn’t make it…he knew that he couldn’t and he s-sacrificed himself. He shot at the panel with his Bayard and that was it. We couldn't…we couldn’t have done anything at that point.” Hunk covered his face with his hands.

“How bad were…were his injuries at that point?” When Keith spoke, Pidge was startled at the fact that they never told them what had happened at that point.

“One of the galrans…” Pidge jumped at the sound of her own voice, “One of those…monsters.” She looked up at Allura and Shiro, “Pushed a sword through his fucking gut.”

#langst #lance mcclain #lance angst #hunk garrett #pidge gunderson #Allura #voltron coran #takashi shirogane #keith kogane #voltron #voltron fanfic #hopeless joy #hopeless joy ch. 2

[shima-draws]

Happy freaking birthday, Lance!! It’s AI Lance’s birthday, too!

(Next chapter of A World of Zeroes and Ones will be up tonight!)

#Voltron #Klance #Keith Kogane #Lance Mcclain #Voltron Legendary Defender #VLD #Voltron Lance #Voltron Keith #MAN I'VE MISSED THEM SM... #Also yeah ch 6 of AWZO has been done for months?? Idk why I never posted it but? It's ready lol #So yeah as celebration I'm gonna post it :3c #//blows a kiss to the sky For Lance #Shima's AUs #Sim AU #AI!Lance #Shima arts #AWZO #shima-draws

[demidiangelo]

@lanceville mentioned they loved keith with golden eyes and fangs so here’s edits i made, one with fangs and one without!!

(click for better quality!!) | my edits

#i really love how these turned out!! #myedit* #ch: keith kogane #keith kogane #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #vld keith #vld keith kogane #vld edit #voltron edits #vld edits #voltron keith #lanceville

[starry-allura]

So Keith gets a new special interest every couple weeks along with the set of permanent ones he already has, and surprisingly one of his permanent special interests is hippos.

When people ask Keith what his favorite animal is they tend to get confused because they expected something “cool” like panthers or lizards or wolves, but he’s just like “listen, hippos are badass, okay? who needs a wolf when you can have a hippopotamus?”

Don’t ever tell Keith hippos aren’t cool because he will absolutely infodump about why you’re wrong.

#voltron #keith #keith kogane #autistic keith #vld keith #headcanons #he loves hippos i can't believe this... i love him #ch: my awkward dorky space son #my space son who would sleep for 10k years with a hippo #star.txt

[starsdustzuko]

Au where Keith is in love with Lance and it’s fucking killing him

One day he saves a being “Oh for saving me you get one wish” Keith happens to look up and see Lance looking flawless and he //hurts// and he wants to //stop//. “I wish I didn’t have feelings for Lance!” Because he’s impulsive and reckless and //stupid//.

At first it’s great? Keith can finally be around Lance without hurting. But then it stops being so great bc Keith //wants// to feel something for Lance other than soul crippling indifference but he //can’t// and he hates all of it. Mostly that he and Lance aren't… him and Lance anymore

#keith kogane #Voltron #my writing #ch: keith kogane #tv: voltron #q

[jxsatlas]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍 ⇢ keith kogane, ch. 1

keith kogane x gn! reader – next

DISCLAIMER! this story does not originally belong to me, the author is @MaddieWolf37 on Wattpad. i have simply received permission to rewrite and continue her story. go and check out her profile for the original version!

SYNOPSIS! a story in which you are thrown into the middle of an intergalactic space war and have the undesirable weight of being a symbol of peace dropped on your shoulders. but maybe if you look past the constant danger and endless fighting, there's some good to being a paladin of voltron.

MATURE CONTENT! swearing, violence, gore, war, graphic descriptions, mentions of self-harm

"Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14," Lance announces, "Begin descent to Kerberos for a rescue mission."

He shoves the yoke forward and the aircraft takes a steep dive. You plant your feet to help fight against the inertia. You give him a sharp glare as the aircraft steadies out.

"Ugh, Lance, can you keep this thing straight?" Hunk whines from the back.

You look over your shoulder and recognise the nauseated expression on his face all too well. Last semester, there was a girl on your team that didn't do too well with excessive motion and often got sick.

Lance brushes him off. "Relax Hunk, I'm just getting a feel for the stick," he says with a lazy grin, which quickly turns mischievous. "It's not like I did this, or this!" Lance jerks the aircraft side to side, making Hunk feel worse.

"Knock it off, Lance," you warn from your chair next to him. You reach up above you and press a few buttons in hopes of stabilising the aircraft out after Lance's little joke.

"Yeah, listen to [y/n] unless you wanna wipe beef stroganoff out of all the little nooks and crannies of this thing," Hunk groans angrily.

"We've picked up a distress signal!" Pidge says from his seat in the back.

"Alright, time to quit our bickering and get serious," you say, doing your own little thing to accommodate for the lower altitude while Lance flies the aircraft.

"Pidge, track the coordinates," Lance says with a roll of his eyes at your comment.

Pidge does so, typing away on the computer. The aircraft gives a large rumble and Hunk groans again.

"Knock it off, Lance! Please!" he whines, his face all scrunched up in discomfort.

"Oh, that's on you buddy," Lance says sharply. "We got a hydraulic stabiliser out."

Hunk nods and goes to fix it, but when the aircraft shakes again he gags. "Oh no."

"Oh no, fix now, puke later," Lance growls.

So much bickering... you think to yourself with a sigh.

"I lost contact!" Pidge says. "The shaking is interfering with our sensors."

Lance looks over his shoulder at Hunk. "Come on, dude!"

"Sorry, it's not responding," Hunk says and unfastens his safety belt. He carefully gets up and makes his way over to the gearbox to see what's up.

"Coordinates are back," you say, seeing the blue dot on the dash.

"Nevermind Hunk," Lance says.

"No, he still needs to fix it," you say. "We can't properly fly this thing if a hydraulic stabiliser is out."

"Whatever," Lance rolls his eyes, "Preparing for approach on visual."

"I don't think that's advisable, given our current mechanical..." Pidge warns, trailing off when he hears Hunk gag again. "...and gastrointestinal issues..."

"Agreed!" Hunk says, not before quickly emptying his stomach into the gearbox with the unsavoury sounds of food chunks and liquid hitting the metal. You cringe, not liking the sound, and hope he's okay.

"Stop worrying," Lance says dismissively.

"No, they're right," you say firmly as you place your attention on Lance now. "We should wait before we do anything."

"Nah, this baby can take it! Can't ya champ?" Lance coos and pats the dash. The aircraft rumbles again and he retracts his hand with a sheepish look. "See? She was nodding!"

"That wasn't nodding Lance," you deadpan. "Now listen to us and wait."

"I'm the one flying this thing, aren't I?" Lance asks. "So I'm in charge, and that means what I say goes!"

"Excuse you, we're both flying this thing," you argue.

Ignoring you, Lance turns to Pidge. "Pidge, hail down on them and let them know their ride is here," he says.

Knowing that you're now doomed, you keep your mouth shut and wait for the inevitable failure of the simulation. You can already see it, the big, bold, red letters appearing on the dash.

And when Lance flies towards an overhang, tilting the plane as much as he can in a sad attempt to thread through the little hole rather than going over or around, you know this is where you fail.

Lance doesn't make it. The wing gets torn off, the alarms blare, and the aircraft pummels to the ground. The dash goes black and those red letters you were anticipating appear without hesitation.

Simulation Failed.

The first failure on your school record.

You toss your head back and sharply exhale, frustration building up in you. "Nice going," you grumble and look at Lance through the corner of your eye.

He catches your gaze and glares at you. "Oh, shut up," he growls.

The four of you sit in silence for a second, you and Lance glaring at each other, before an instructor opens the door and beckons you to come out.

Reluctantly, you all unfasten your safety belts and crawl out of the aircraft. You then mentally prepare yourselves for the lecture about how you are all failures to come.

You, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge line up before the Commander, avoiding his scowling gaze.

"Let's see if we can't use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you," Commander Iverson's voice booms angrily. He's not at all impressed with your behaviour. "Can anyone point out the mistakes these so-called cadets made during the simulator?"

"The engineer puked in the main gearbox!" a boy from the back of the group of students shouts out. Iverson nods and turns to Hunk.

"Yes. Everyone knows vomit is not an approved lubricant for engine systems," Iverson sharply criticises Hunk. He turns back to the students. "What else?"

"The comms-spec removed his safety harness," a girl points out.

"The pilot crashed!" another shouts.

Iverson nods, approving of all the answers given. "And worst of all, the whole jump they're arguing with each other," he growls and turns to the four of you once more.

You keep your gaze on the ground shamefully.

"The Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astro-explorers," Iverson lectures. His hands are on his hips as he looks down at you. "But these kinds of mental mistakes are exactly what caused the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission."

In your peripherals, you notice Pidge clench his fists at his sides and scrunch his nose up in anger. You fully turn your head to him when he takes a bold step towards the Commander.

"That's not true, sir!" he barks.

Iverson looks at him and glares. "What was that, young man?" he growls.

Lance quickly slaps a hand over Pidge's mouth and pulls him back in line. "Sorry, sir! He must've hit his head when he fell!" he says, smiling sheepishly in a sad attempt to cover up his fear. His hand gets tighter over Pidge's mouth, almost as if he's asking the ginger what the hell is wrong with him.

With Lance speaking up, Iverson's attention is now pinpointed on him. He takes a few steps closer to Lance, his intimidating figure making your brother cower back a bit.

"I hope I don't need to remind you that the only reason you're here," he growls, his tone of voice menacing and powerful, "is because the best pilot in your class had a disciplinary issue and flunked out."

Lance drops his gaze down to the floor, a look of dejection taking over his face.

"Don't follow in his footsteps," Iverson warns. He stares Lance down a bit before abruptly turning to you. "And you!" he barks.

Your entire body freezes up and your eyes wearily follow him as he stops in front of you now. Your heart sinks down to your gut.

"I expected better of you."

﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋

You returned to your dorm at the end of the day with a cloud over your head.

You grumble about the day's events as you aggressively tug your shirt over your head. You really wish you could pinpoint the source of your frustration. Are you mad at my brother? Your team? Or yourself?

You toss your clothes on the floor and pull out some track shorts and a hoodie from your dresser. Getting dressed in your pajamas for the rest of the night, you try to sort out your emotions.

"Stop mumbling to yourself," your roommate says from her bed.

You turn to her. "Ah, sorry," you say. "I didn't realise I was talking out loud..."

"If you're that mad at your brother why don't you just punch him?" she asks. You blink, surprised she actually heard you.

"I'm not violent like you," you say with a sigh. "Besides, I don't even know if I'm mad at him specifically."

"Eh, I would punch him either way," your roommate shrugs. "It's a good way to alleviate your stress."

You roll your eyes. "I alleviate my stress by sleeping."

Your roommate laughs. "Ain't that the truth?" she jests. "How many times have you taken a nap between classes this week?"

You stare at her with a blank expression for a moment before picking your clothes up and off of the ground. "I'm not answering that," you say and toss them into the hamper.

You and your roommate pause when there's a knock on the door. You look at her and she looks at you.

She raises her hands up. "And I'm not answering that," she says.

You roll your eyes and grab one of the dirty articles of clothing you tossed into the hamper and throw at her without any remorse. She yelps in fear and disgust as you walk to the door with a smirk on your face.

"Don't throw your nasty underwear at me!" she barks and she pinches the panties between her thumb and index finger, tossing them as far away from her as possible.

You cackle and open the door. Your laughter cuts short when you're suddenly face to face with your brother. Hunk stands behind him.

"What are you doing in the girls' dorm?" you ask, but then take the opportunity you just created for yourself to tease your dear elder brother. You think of it as a bit of revenge for crashing the simulator. "Visiting someone?"

Lance rolls his eyes. "Heh, I wish," he sighs. "But no. We're thinking about hitting the town tonight! You know, for some team bonding?"

"Who is it?" your roommate calls to you.

"Lance and Hunk," you say over your shoulder at her.

"Punch him!" she shouts back.

"No!" you hiss and turn back to your brother.

"I don't like your roommate," Lance comments under his breath.

"Neither do I," you joke.

"I heard that!" your roommate barks.

"No you didn't!" you ready. But getting the feeling that she's going to keep interrupting, you push Lance out of your way and step into the hall with him and Hunk. You then close the door and give the boys your full attention.

"So, you're gonna come with us?" Lance asks.

"I don't know," you say with uncertainty in your tone. You cross your arms. "It's past curfew and I don't really think you have off-campus privileges..."

"That doesn't matter," Lance waves his hand dismissively. "Iverson wants us to bond as a team, so why don't we listen to him for once?"

"I'm not feeling that adventurous," you say.

"What? Why not? It'll be fun!" Lance cajoles.

"Lance, your idea of fun always ends up with you and me in the principal's office," Hunk reminds. "Don't drag your little sibling into it."

"Hunk has a point," you say. "I don't want to get in trouble again. I had my filling for today."

"Since when were you a goodie-two-shoes?" Lance asks in a somewhat offended tone.

"Since I got a scholarship here?" you quirk an eyebrow at him.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sibling?" Lance says as he gives you a look of utter betrayal, as if you were some alien.

You roll your eyes. "I'm not too keen on losing something like that because I went along with your dumb shenanigans," you sigh.

"Please, the max punishment for something like this is just a weekend detention with old man Brechin," Lance says and a mischievous grin spreads on his face. "That is, if you get caught."

You bite your lip, looking away in thought. Team bonding sounds very appealing after what happened today, but are you willing to risk your scholarship? You don't know if you can lose it because of a simple detention. The Galaxy Garrison is a government program, which means they are pretty strict.

"Do you really need to think about it?" Lance asks with raised eyebrows. "Don't tell me you're scared!"

His words irk you immensely.

You snap your gaze up to him. Is he serious? You aren't scared. Why would you be scared of sneaking out?

You silently walk back into your dorm and quickly throw a bra on, some socks, and your shoes.

"Where are you going?" your roommate asks as she watches you scramble about the room with a sense of purpose all of a sudden.

"Team bonding," you say, now tying the laces of your shoes.

"This late? Are you sure?" she asks.

"All common sense in me left the moment Lance basically called me a scaredy-cat," you say bluntly.

"Well, have fun," your roommate says.

You give her a small salute as you walk out of the dorm. "I'll be back by morning."

"Alright, see ya!"

You close the door and turn to Lance and Hunk expectantly. "Well?"

Lance gives you a cocky grin, proud of his persuasion skills. You suddenly consider your roommate's suggestion for a second.

"We need to go grab Pidge," Lance says. "It won't be team bonding if someone's missing. You gotta have everybody."

You shrug, doubting Pidge will join.

Lance takes the liberty of leading the way to the boys' dorm, you and Hunk following closely behind. You expertly dodge the officers patrolling the halls making sure students are in their dorms like ninjas on a stealth mission.

As Lance rounds a corner, he suddenly stops and back peddles quickly. He peeks around the corner and watches whatever is on the other side. Curious, you and Hunk sneak up close to Lance and peek as well.

Pidge steps out of his room, a backpack swung over his shoulders. He checks his surroundings before closing the door and running off.

You, Lance, and Hunk share a look. You all then telepathically agree to follow the small boy. Once again, Lance takes the lead.

#voltron #wattpad #keith #voltron keith #keith kogane #x reader #keith x reader #gender neutral reader #vld #vld fanfic #fanfiction #vld keith

[squirenonny]

The Voltron Aftershow

[Commission info][Quick commissions on Ko-Fi]

Words: 3879 Parings: Gen (Keith & Team) Summary: [Spoilers through S4E4.]

“This is the sort of work Voltron does?” Kolivan asked, cocking his head to the side.

Keith hunched his shoulders, second-hand embarrassment making him want to curl up in a ball on the floor as his friends and teammates stuck cardboard boxes on their heads and… “formed” “Voltron.” “I swear we never did this when I was a paladin.”

OR

Keith gets to see the Voltron Show and has a little talk with the other paladins afterward.

Commission for KM (@kakunamatatoes)

[Read on AO3 or continue below.]

Keith tugged his hood lower as he pressed in among the crowd. He had his mask on, as usual, but he still felt as though everyone around him were watching him. And, well… they were.

Kind of.

“This is the sort of work Voltron does?” Kolivan asked, cocking his head to the side.

Keith hunched his shoulders, second-hand embarrassment making him want to curl up in a ball on the floor as his friends and teammates stuck cardboard boxes on their heads and… “formed” “Voltron.” “I swear we never did this when I was a paladin.” (And thank every god from here to the far end of the universe for that. Keith was having a hard enough time watching Allura shout cheesy catch-phrases and strike poses with the rest of the team, and she’d only briefly been introduced as him at the beginning of the show.)

Kolivan was silent for a long moment, his arms crossed. He, like Keith, wore his mask, but Keith didn’t need to see his face to know he was frowning. He usually was. The man reminded Keith of Shiro, in some ways, except that Shiro at least knew how to have fun. Hell, aside from Lance, Shiro was the only one who seemed to actually be getting into the weird-ass ice-show they were doing down there.

It was a grudging, self-conscious sort of enthusiasm, but he snapped into every dramatic action shot like his life depended on it, and he called the paladins to battle with as much passion as ever—and the crowd was eating it up.

Kolivan, in contrast, never smiled, he never lowered himself to playing make-believe in the name of winning allies, and he never deviated from the mission.

Except today.

“You are not a paladin now?” Kolivan asked. He had a way of speaking in a low rumble that was eaten up in the murmur of a crowd, and no one around them gave the two cloaked and hooded figures a second glance.

Keith wrapped his arms around himself, tearing his eyes away from the show unfolding on the ice below. The paladins had roped a couple of locals into playing Zarkon and Haggar, and the two villains-for-a-day were having great fun flinging ribbons and bursts of confetti around, tripping up the paladins with cringe-worthy “magic.”

“No,” he said. “Red chose Lance, and Shiro has always been the rightful pilot of the Black Lion. I’m a Blade now. End of story.”

Kolivan rumbled, the sound on the very edge of hearing. It was a vocalization Keith had heard from several of the Blades now, a thoughtful sound listing toward exasperation, and it rankled him now.

“What?” Keith demanded.

Kolivan turned his head just a fraction, the tap of his fingers against his arm communicating a quelling frown. The Blades spent so much time in uniform that they’d developed a system of hand gestures and head tilts that left Keith feeling every bit as lost as when someone expected him to navigate the minefield of human facial expression.

This particular finger-tap was one Keith was quite familiar with, though. It meant he was being stupid, and Kolivan wanted him to “reign in” and “think things through.”

Growling, Keith pressed forward through the last line of spectators and claimed a spot along the railing, where he could breathe easier. Coming here had been a last-minute decision, an impulse brought on by a colorful poster on the side of a building and an unexpected longing for--

For something. For the castle-ship, with all its lonely corridors. For the Red Lion’s exuberance as they charged into battle and her chiding rumble whenever she came to save him from danger. For the space mice, despite their tendency to latch onto a secret and ride it to the bitter end.

For the other paladins, whose hands he could still feel burning beneath his skin. He carried their last hug with him everywhere, and his Marmora suit pressed uncomfortably against those handprints.

“You should speak with them,” Kolivan said, appearing silently at Keith’s shoulder. “After the show.”

Keith looked up sharply at him, surprise battling with terror and a simmering hunger in his chest. “I thought we had to get back to work. You--” Keith stopped himself before he pointed out that Kolivan had almost forbidden Keith to come to this show. Keith still wasn’t sure what it was that had changed his mind.

Kolivan’s broad hand swallowed Keith’s shoulder from his neck halfway down his bicep. “This mission is over. We can spare a varga for this.”

“But--”

“They are your kin,” Kolivan said, and Keith wasn’t sure whether he imagined the weight placed on the word kin. “I know the look of one who is missing their family. As long as we are here, you should take the opportunity to speak with them.”

Speak with them.

Kolivan said it so matter-of-factly, as though it were as simple as calling out to the paladins as they left the ice. As if there weren’t weeks between them—weeks of no contact, of endless missions and a steadily growing list of dead allies, of ice skating, apparently. Keith couldn’t help wondering whether they’d just been waiting for him to leave to do something like this. It was no secret, after all, that Keith wasn’t a showman.

His heart was in his throat as he made his way down toward the dressing rooms under Kolivan’s watchful eye. He wanted nothing more than to wriggle away and fade into the shadows until the castle-ship was long gone and the chance of a confrontation was nothing but a might-have-been.

Kolivan didn’t give him that option.

They kept to the back corridors, avoiding the event security (paltry next to a Blade’s skill in infiltration, never mind Zarkon’s raw might), event staff, and anyone else who might question the well-armed strangers sneaking around backstage. Eventually they came to the dressing rooms, where Kolivan took up post outside, gesturing for Keith to continue on.

He stepped in, and the sight of the empty room left him feeling at once desperately relieved and horribly knotted up inside. Had the others already come and gone? Or was he early? He didn't know which would be worse.

Voices from outside interrupted Keith’s internal panic, and he froze, instinctively searching for somewhere to hide.

The door opened before he could disappear, and Lance sauntered in, waving his helmet around like a sword and laughing about some part of the finale that hadn’t gone to plan. He half turned, already flashing that smarmy smile of his he reserved for pretty alien girls, but he froze for an instant when his eyes fell on Keith, then yelped and leaped backward into Hunk’s arms. "Holy quiznak!"

“Sorry,” Keith said, biting down on a smile. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Keith!” Pidge’s shout drowned out Lance’s feeble protests, and Keith only had a second’s warning before she broke away from the others and tackled him in a hug, her arms locking tight around his waist. “What are you doing here? Did you see the show?”

“I—uh—yeah.” Keith placed a hand awkwardly atop her head. “It was really… something.”

“Pretty awesome, right?” Lance recovered quickly from his fright but took advantage of his position in Hunk’s arms to strike a pose, one leg stuck out so far it was threatening to smack Allura’s eye. “Who do you think was the best out there? Me, right? It’s okay, you can say it. The others will learn to live with the disappointment.”

Keith snorted, giving Pidge’s shoulders a quick squeeze. “I’m not answering that.”

As Pidge finally stepped back, Hunk tipped Lance to the side, forcing him to stand under his own power, then came forward and lifted Keith off his feet. “Man it’s good to see you. How’ve you been?”

Keith had to take a moment just to breathe through Hunk’s rib-cracking hug. (Good lord, had his hugs always been so intense?) “Good,” he wheezed when Hunk finally put him down. Lance was there in an instant, leaping onto Keith’s back and wrapping his legs around Keith’s waist. Keith stumbled, and Shiro hurried forward to save him with a hand on either elbow.

“You should’ve told us you were coming!” Lance said. “We could’ve upped the razzle-dazzle!”

“Oh god,” Pidge muttered, horrified. “Please, no.”

Keith chuckled, leaning a little more heavily on Shiro as Lance climbed higher to avoid Allura’s efforts to drag him off Keith. “It wasn’t planned,” Keith said. “We happened to be here checking out a local we think might be helping Lotor, and we saw your flier.” He paused, rubbing his shoulder as Allura finally grabbed Lance in a choke hold and pulled him down. “So… Voltron Ice Capades. Not how I expected our reunion to go but, uh, cool?”

Hunk snorted. “Cool. Good one, Keith.”

Allura sighed, her arms still looped under Lance’s shoulders as he went limp, pouting up at her for stealing him away from his Keith-shaped perch. “It’s been an… adventure for us, as well,” she said.

“So, should I be looking forward to any triple Salchows in your futures?” Keith asked, pulling away from Shiro to face the rest of the team.

Lance arched an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t have pegged you as the figure skating fan in the room,” he said.

Keith glanced sidelong at Shiro, smirking. “Yeah, well, someone wanted to watch the last winter Olympics with me, then spent every commercial break educating me on the technical nuances of the competition. I swear to God there was about a week where I was convinced he was going to quit piloting to become a figure skater.”

“Yeah, okay,” Shiro said, giving Keith’s shoulder a shove. “I didn’t see you complaining about ditching class to watch the competition.”

“Sure. I got to ditch class.” Keith ducked another shove, grinning. “Besides, I was too busy worrying about your unhealthy obsession with the sport to string together a coherent sentence. On the rare occasion you shut up long enough for me to try.”

Shiro’s mouth dropped open, a grin tugging at his lips. “Says the guy who begged me to teach him how to skate. Every day for three weeks.”

“Wait, you can skate?” Hunk asked, brightening. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go skate!”

Eyes widening, Keith held up his hands. “Now hold on. I don’t-”

“Hunk’s right,” Allura said, unceremoniously dropping Lance to take Keith by the arm. “You shouldn’t have to miss out on the fun just because Coran didn’t write you into the show.”

Keith craned his neck, searching for help. “Shiro. Come on. Tell them this is a bad idea.”

“Terrible,” Shiro said dryly. “You guys ever hear how he got himself banned from the Park Street Rink?”

“No,” Lance said at once, sounding entirely too eager.

Keith flushed. “That was one time.”

“So you’re not going to do it again?”

“I will if you go telling the story.”

Shiro beamed. “Okay, then. I see no reason why you shouldn’t skate with us.”

Keith glowered at Shiro as Hunk laughed in delight. “Sorry,” Hunk said when Keith’s glare turned his way. “You walked right into that one.”

Keith huffed, but Lance was quick to take his other arm, helping Allura drag him toward the door, and by the time Pidge joined in with a shove to the small of Keith’s back, there was simply no fighting his fate.

“Now strike a pose!”

“Yeah...” Keith crossed his arms, skating backwards away from Lance, who’d just nearly brained himself on Hunk’s helmet as both dabbed at the same moment. “That’s not happening.”

Pidge cackled as Lance looked up over the crook of his elbow, crestfallen. He held the pose a moment longer, then finally gave up, his hands flopping toward his ankles. “Come on, mullet! We’ve gotta at least do one show with you!”

Keith laughed once, incredulously, as Hunk patted Lance on the back. Shiro was skating a lazy loop around the rink, his expression more peaceful than Keith had seen it in a long time. A long time. The stadium was deserted aside from the six of them and a handful of janitors working their way down the bleachers, collecting empty cups and sweeping up discarded food. Kolivan would be up there somewhere, too, Keith was sure, but he hadn’t yet appeared to tell Keith it was time to go.

Keith was grateful. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed his team.

“We don’t even have a villain to fight,” he said. “How are we supposed to put on a show?”

“Ooh!” Allura turned her skates and came to a stop with a small spray of ice. “I’ll be the villain! Better than playing you again,” she added with a wink, elbowing Keith in the side.

Keith snorted. “That was supposed to be me? I thought you were playing a caffeinated mouse with an ego. No wait, sorry. That’s Lance. I get the two confused.”

Lance clapped a hand to his chest. “Hey, now. I...” He hesitated for a moment, apparently trying to come up with a retort. That failing, he put a hand on Hunk’s shoulder for balance, lifted one foot, and ran two fingers along the blade, wiping off the ice shavings, which he then flicked at Keith’s face. “So there.”

“Very eloquent, Lance,” Keith said, tugging his hood up to wipe the ice from his cheek. He gave Allura an appraising look. “You really want to play the villain?”

She shrugged. “I think it could be fun.”

“I’m not doing cheesy fake fights with ribbons and laser pointers,” he warned.

A dangerous smile lit her face. “Are you suggesting we spar? On ice skates?”

Keith reached behind him, drawing his Blade. He flipped it, caught it in a reverse grip, and dropped low. “Ready when you are, Princess.”

She summoned her bayard in an instant, whip snaking out in a graceful arc even as Shiro turned with a cry of dismay. "Guys. Don't--"

It was too late. Keith charged forward, catching Allura’s whip on his dagger. She reversed, forcing him to turn aside and put some more distance between them. His feet wobbled a bit—he wasn’t much more than competent at ice skating, really, having had only a couple of afternoons’ practice with Shiro before the Kerberos mission. But it was all about balance and momentum, and Keith had both in spades. How hard could this really be?

He came in for another pass, grinning as Lance and Pidge cheered him on. (Cheered them both on, really; Lance couldn’t seem to decide whether to tell Keith to go for it or Allura to take him down!) Hunk, meanwhile, seemed worried one of them was going to end up hurt, and Shiro just kept huffing loudly to make his irritation known.

“You know you’d rather do this than ‘razzle-dazzle,’ Shiro, come on!” Keith called, spreading his arms wide as he looped around behind Allura. Shiro rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips, and that was all the encouragement Keith needed. He pivoted, meeting Allura’s eyes. “I hope you’re ready.”

“You think you can defeat me?” she cried with a cartoonishly villainous swagger. “Ha! Do your worst, paladin!”

Her words stoked a fire in his chest, and he cast all his inhibitions aside as he charged forward. He kept his Blade low, his eyes following the path of Allura’s whip. It hissed as she scraped it along the ice, and then suddenly it was flying toward him, the wicked metal tip glinting in the stadium lights.

Roaring, Keith swung his dagger up to meet the strike, and a flick of his wrist entangled their weapons, preventing Allura from launching a counter-attack to drive him off again. Her eyes widened, and she yanked backward on her bayard, but Keith pulled back just as hard, the tension dragging him toward Allura at dizzying speed.

His weapon, of course, was caught as surely as Allura’s—but that was fine. As he drew near, he turned, lifting his right foot in a roundhouse kick, the blade of his skate slicing toward Allura’s breastplate. She yelped, flicked her whip--

And the next thing Keith knew, he was flat on his back, sliding to a stop at Allura’s feet. She peered down at him, sheepish.

“Sorry. I suppose I should have realized your footing would be precarious on the ice.”

Keith blinked, and then a laugh bubbled up out of him. He rolled over, accepting Allura’s hand up as Shiro slid into view, a reprimand written on his face.

“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to use your skates as knives again.”

“Again?” Pidge whispered, her hands clapped over her mouth to hide a grin. “Oh my god, Keith, what did you do?”

Keith scratched the back of his head. “I mean, what did you expect? You strap daggers to my shoes and of course I think about how to use them in a fight.”

Shiro spread his hand across his face, shoulders shaking with silent laughter as Hunk slammed into Keith from behind and grabbed his shoulders in a hug. Startled, Keith reached up with his free hand and latched onto Hunk's wrist.

“Come on, you guys,” Hunk said seriously—too seriously. Keith gave him a suspicious frown that Hunk, of course, ignored. “It’s only natural he would think like that. I mean, the guy went off to become a Blade. Of course he wants blade-shoes.”

A beat of silence followed this statement.

Keith burst out laughing again as Lance squawked in outrage, Pidge bending double as a giggle fit overtook her.

“Hunk!” Lance wailed. “That was terrible!”

“Keith thinks it’s funny,” Hunk said.

“Oh, and Keith is our pun-meter now?”

Hunk shrugged. “It can’t be any of the rest of you. Pidge thinks every pun is hilarious; you hate them all on principle, even when you secretly love them; Allura and Coran miss half the jokes because puns don’t really translate; and Shiro always has that same bland smile, like you could be literally stabbing him with a piece of broken glass and he’d just be happy you’re happy.”

“Hey!” Shiro protested. “I don’t do that.”

“You do,” Keith said, holding his stomach as he fought down another bout of laughter. “But only when you’re trying not to do your ugly laugh.”

Every head whipped around. “His what, now?” Lance asked, delighted.

Keith opened his mouth to elaborate, but just then he caught sight of Kolivan in the stands. He had his mask on, his arms loose at his side. There was nothing about his posture to indicate impatience, but Keith knew all the same—it was time to go.

Laughter fading, he nodded, then turned back to the others. Their gloomy expressions told him they'd noticed the change and guessed what it meant. Pidge sneaked a look at Kolivan, a hint of a pout reaching her lips.

“Sorry, guys,” Keith said, sheathing his knife. “Duty calls.”

Pidge bit her lip, then turned without a word and sprinted for the edge of the ice, hauling herself over the boards and disappearing from the stadium without even pausing to remove her skates. Keith felt a pang of guilt watching her go, and a heavy sense of disappointment. She could have at least stayed to say goodbye.

Forcing a smile, Keith turned back to the others. “Good luck with the, uh, show, I guess?”

Shiro was the first to come forward, wrapping Keith in an embrace. “It was good to see you, Keith.”

“You too,” Keith mumbled into Shiro’s shoulder. He allowed himself only a moment to linger in the hug, knowing if he dawdled he never be able to make himself leave.

“You’re coming back, right?” Hunk asked, wringing his hands. “I mean, okay, yeah. I know what you’re doing with the Blade is important and all, but after that? You’ll come back to the castle?”

Keith’s breath caught in his throat. Come back? “Hunk...” He trailed off, finding himself at a loss for words. He'd never let himself consider that this might be a temporary separation. (Five lions. Six paladins. The math would never work out.)

“It’s your choice, of course,” Allura said, laying a hand on his arm. “But you will always be a part of this team. And... Well, to be honest, the castle feels empty without you.”

Now there were tears gathering in Keith’s eyes, and he pulled away, laughing to cover his slip. “Yeah, okay,” he said, putting as much disdain into his voice as he could. He’d spent the last few weeks doing everything he could not to think of this ache in his chest as homesickness, but there was no other word that fit.

He didn’t think he’d ever been homesick before. He'd never stuck around long enough for that.

He turned, ready to run away to the soothing anonymity of the Blade, only to find Lance blocking his path. He had his gloves off and was chewing on his thumbnail, his eyes fixed on his skates and only occasionally darting up to Keith’s face. “I know you lived in a shack in the desert back on Earth,” he said dryly, “but you aren’t actually going to run off and become a space hermit, are you? Cause I’ll be honest. You can’t pull off the whole Obi-Wan schtick.”

Keith smiled weakly. “I’m not turning into a hermit,” he said, tasting the lie on his tongue. “I just—I really do have to go. Important Blade business and—and stuff.”

Lance stared at him for a long moment, then sighed and nodded and shuffled to the side. Keith squared his shoulders and skated past, staring at Kolivan so he didn’t have to see the disappointment on his friends’ faces. (Disappointment? Or just a facsimile of it? He didn’t know, and he was afraid to find out they were only putting on a show of being sad to see him leave.)

“Wait!”

Pidge’s voice rang in the rafters, pulling Keith up short. He turned, blinking as she skidded to a stop before him, grabbing onto his arm to keep from falling. She was out of breath, her face red and streaked with sweat.

“Pidge. What--?”

“Here.” She shoved something at him. A black rectangle with an orange screen sat in the palm of her hand like some sort of alien smartphone, and Keith took it reluctantly. “I’ll get another one from the rebels, in case I need to find you, but this one’s good luck. I mean, it did lead me to my brother.” She paused, laughing tearfully. “Just do me a favor and make sure it doesn’t lead me to another grave, would you?”

Keith looked up at her, heart in his throat. “Another grave?”

She waved her hand. “Not a real one. Matt’s just an ass who faked his own death to dodge the bounty on his head.”

“That sounds like quite the story.”

“It is.” Pidge grinned. “I’ll tell you next time you come home.”

Home.

The word reverberated in his chest, warming him through. He closed his fingers around the communicator, then tucked it into a hidden compartment near his heart. “Next time I’m home,” he said. “It’s a promise.”

#writing commissions #fic commissions #voltron #keith #keith kogane #voltron season 4 #voltron spoilers #god this was fun to write #thank you for commissioning me! #ch: i know who i am #this is OUR team