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#Lance after Keith returned from the Quantum Abyss 2 years older
paladudley · 28 days
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Lance: I really just keep getting prettier. It’s kind of alarming.
Keith: …
Lance: In a couple of years it will be impossible to look directly at me, I’ll be so pretty.
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Red Petals
Part 1, Ao3
Part 2:
As he walked up the stairs and heard coughing from one of the closed doors. Namely Lance’s. The coughing sounded so wet and serious that his own chest vibrated with each one. He moved closer to the door, leaning to listen more clearly.
“Stupid Hanahaki’s disease. Stupid Lance. Dios, Por favor I don’t want to die.”
Hanahaki’s? Unrequited Love?
Keith knew he didn’t have a chance with Lance, but he didn’t know to what extent he was out-matched. The Cuban made it very clear he didn’t take him seriously, let alone romantically. And now it was bluntly clear he was in love with someone else. In love so much that he might die. Who could it be? Allura? He knew the Red Paladin liked her, but that much?
He knocked at the door once. No reply. Twice. Still no reply. Lance probably couldn’t hear him over the sound of his own coughing. He opened the door and braced himself for the sight. Blood was everywhere. He must’ve moved while coughing and got it across the room. Lance was extremely pale, hunched over the pillow at his lap trying to suppress his coughs. Keith looked for petals, the only indication beside Lance’s word to who Lance loves this much.
“I’m fine.”
“And I am bugs bunny.” Keith ran to get towels as the pillow seemed to be soaked through. He gently removed the pillow and threw it on the floor, which was also soaked, replacing it with the new cloth. “Don’t lie to me, Lance. I heard you.”
“I can explain.” Lance said, sounding desperate. Why would he sound desperate? The whole universe knew he was in love with Allura. Heck Allura knew…
Why someone would get Hanahaki’s if the diagnosed’s feelings were known by the recipient. Shouldn’t he have died a while ago then? Didn’t the disease kill if the feelings were known and not reciprocated?
“Hey it’s okay… Just try to focus on taking deep non-life threatening breaths first.” Keith tried. “There should be petals… Pink, right?”
“Pink?” Lance said hoarsely.
“Yeah… it’s the colour I associate with Allura. I assumed everyone did.”
“Allura?”
“Yes, Lance. Allura. Oh my god… Are you starting to forget? I thought this happened after you did the surgery. We have to do the surgery, I ha-“
“Hey! Calm down!” More wet coughs followed. He paused for a few minutes until it passed. “I know who Allura is. I remember her. It’s… it’s not her, okay. I am not getting the surgery.”
“You are going to die.” Keith internally winced at his own bluntness. “I’m sorry.”
He almost didn’t register the sound until he looked at Lance and realised he was chuckling.
“Always trust Keith Kogane to be honest. If I get the surgery, I might as well have died.”
“But if it’s not All-“
Keith was about to ask who it was that caused Lance so much when the door almost broke in half right before their eyes with Shiro and Hunk on the other side. They were both panting with red faces and sweat dripping to oblivion.
“Lance. Are you okay?!”
“Holy shit, this looks like a crime scene.”
“Keith what the hell did you do?”
“God I should’ve stayed longer.”
“Lance?!”
Questions were thrown for the next few minutes till they calmed themselves to even listen to the Black and Red Paladins, who looked at the two males like they grew a second head.
“It’s Hana-.”
“It was a nosebleed.”
Keith looked at Lance, confused to how easy it was for him to lie to their faces. Keith already knew, why shouldn’t the rest of the team know? Especially since it wasn’t Allura.
“A nosebleed did all this?” Shiro exclaimed, raising an eyebrow. “Lance… you shouldn’t be ashamed of anything with your team.”
“Seriously… Just a nosebleed. Why did you guys run here like that?”
“You were coughing horribly. The whole house heard. Mrs. Sierro went to get your father, who I think might call the ambulance.”
“What… Ambulance?!”
Keith looked around the room and understood the panic.
“Keith… Tell them it’s nothing serious. I am fine!” Lance’s eyes pleaded for him to take his side. He contemplated doing so but his pale face and blood stained floor, towels, sheets and pillows held him back. Lance needed help. He couldn’t fathom a life where he could’ve saved Lance from… dying.
“Keith?” Hunk looked at him. His entire demeanour terrified for his best friend. Hunk’s eyes kept moving between Lance and Keith as if he knew something but didn’t know how to articulate it.
“He’s sick.”
“Sick?”
“Shiro… It’s Hanahaki’s.”
Many emotions passed on Shiro’s face: Confusion, shock, despair and horror.
“Who is it!?” Shiro ran and knelt at Lance’s bed. “You have to tell me who it is, Lance. This could kill. I don’t know if you know much about this but this is very dangerous and not a laughing matter.”
Lance stared at Shiro for a few minutes before he anger flared on his face. He pushed Shiro and stood. He almost lost his footing, if it wasn’t for the bed’s headboard. His pale face was a huge contrast from his usual tanned complexion.
“Lance…” Hunk started before getting cut off by Lance.
“I am not an idiot. Contrary to popular belief.” He looked at his leaders. “I have been going through this for the past few months, okay? I’ve read about this before and I know people who personally went through this too. So don’t treat me like I am the dumb one.”
The last statement was directed to Keith. Memories of the game show flashed in his mind.  Guilt and rage ran his blood cold. Was that the impression he gave Lance? That he thought he was the dumb one?
I wouldn’t want to spend an eternity with Lance.
Yes. He didn’t want to spend an eternity with Lance because a few months with him, light-years away from earth, were enough for Keith to completely lose his goddamn mind. The ex-Blue Paladin was… extraordinary, to say the least.  He caught his eye from back at Garrison and he didn’t know how to go about with it, not that he had any guidance on this matter. He saw how free Shiro was with Adam and how happy it made him feel to be out. But those two were bigger awkward idiots than Keith.
“You are not the dumb one, Lance. No one thinks that of you.”
“Coulda fooled me.” Lance glared at Shiro. Keith had a feeling this was long overdue.
“Lance. No one thinks you’re dumb, man. You are a jack of all trades. Yes, you don’t have one particular skill, even though your shooting is superb, but you can adapt. Allura told me about how quick you were able to train with your sword when you got it. Add on that the fact that you are a people smart person. You can comfort anyone regardless of who they are. Don’t deny it; I’ve seen you with children and other alien victims after our missions.”
Lance’s blue eyes were wide looking at Keith. He internally yelled at himself… he might as well confess at this point. Jesus. Lance took a step towards Keith, everyone held their breath. He subconsciously braced himself to be hit. You don’t tell someone all that when you know they are so deeply in love with someone else and they are basically dying because of it and it’s too late.
“Keith, I-“ A wet fit of coughs takes over Lance. He shakes and falls onto his knees. Blood spills on his already stained shirt and floor. He tries to say something but his chest-shattering coughs make everything nonsensical.
When his sharp coughs didn’t stop for a couple of minutes, Hunk ran out of the door to call someone. Shiro and Keith each took a side and held him upright to prevent pressure on his lungs.
“Shiro, he’s choking. What the hell do we do?”
“I don’t know, I am thinking.”
“We can’t lose him, not like Diane.” Shiro looked at him with sad eyes. Diane was a friend that went to Keith’s old school. They stayed in touch even after he went to Garrison. She fell in love with a girl in her class, someone she couldn’t have. Unrequited. And when she confessed, the girl she fell in love with, didn’t reciprocate her feelings. Not in that way.
This whole situation was why Keith was terrified of Love, of falling for someone he couldn’t have. Of falling for someone who wouldn’t think of him in the same why he did. Bringing into light… Lance. He was straight and so obviously in love with girls that it was painfully clear Keith didn’t stand a chance. So sue him if he didn’t want to spend an eternity with Lance.
“The ambulance is here!” Hunk declared with two paramedics trailing behind him. Lance was starting to lose consciousness from the lack of air and the exhaustion due to the strain on his lungs. He could barely keep his head up without help.
The paramedics took Lance from the Paladins and lay him on a gurney. Keith watched in awe as the female paramedic took a syringe and pierced the space between the rib bones, under his arm, and how the blood filled in his lungs was drained into the tube. They lifted the gurney up and began to take him to the ambulance.
“Shiro, I have to go. Please.” Shiro looked at Keith’s desperate face and “Go. I’ll meet you there.” was all he needed to hear before he walked into the ambulance with Mrs. Sierro to get to the hospital.
Mrs. Sierro held her son’s hand, her thumb massaging his knuckles. At this moment, she looked way older than she did when she was teaching Shiro tips in the kitchen. Her lost son returned from war, beaten and scarred, to get sick and be taken to the hospital. Hadn’t this boy suffered enough?
Lance woke to the white florescent lights of the hospital. He really hated this place.
When everything came to focus, he looked around the room and noticed he was alone. He stayed completely still, taking in everything at once. He collapsed at his house after Keith made that speech. What he said was everything Lance had ever wanted to be told. He always felt like he was either a nuisance or invisible to the Black Paladin. Especially after he came back from the two-year getaway with his mother at the quantum abyss. Keith simply didn’t have time for him anymore and he didn’t take him seriously, not that he did in the first place.
A young doctor walked in with a clipboard, no doubt containing his condition’s details, and stood in front of his fluid bags to note down the levels of the medicines injected into him.
“What time is it?” His voice sounded as hoarse as it felt. It was like rubbing sandpaper against the walls of his throat.
“6 pm.” She replied. Lance smiled, tried to, at her. She had a lovely accent. “You’ve been out for about three hours now.”
Oh.
“My parents?” Keith?
“Are waiting for you outside.” She looked at him and hesitated for a second before continuing. “Before we bring them in, I wanted to tell you that we removed as much of the petals as we could without removing the actual cause. We need your consent for that. The petals are stored in a safe place and can be retrieved if you want to.”
“Did anyone see them?”
She smiled sadly at him. He hated the pity.
“No. We have a strict protocol in case of Hanahaki’s disease here. We hide the petals in case the identity could be known to someone without your consent. They demanded though.”
If the others were out there, then he thought they might. They are the only ones who might figure out its Keith. But they were just petals.
“Identified?” He questioned. How could someone know from petals?
“The colour of the petals is related to the person. If you identify someone with a specific colour in your mind, that’s the colour of the petals.”
So because Keith was the original Red Paladin and he kept thinking of him as the original paladin for Red. He was met with Red petals.
“Oh okay.”
“Do you want me to send for a specific person or your parents?”
“My parents.”
“You should tell him, you know. He might actually feel the same way.”
He turned to the doctor faster than his head could handle. Was this Allura in a shape-shifted form?
“What?”
“The boy with the hoodie and the long black hair. He’s been sitting on the floor outside your room the whole time. He didn’t move once. He was shaking and saying he should have noticed you were suffering for months. Poor boy blames himself for something out of his control.”
He thought more about what Keith said. He complimented him better than his mother had ever done. He noticed things about him, the things he didn’t talk about. He noticed his real self instead of the persona he made everyone believe he was.
“Can you send in just Keith, please?”
She hummed and left the room. He was about to break a promise he made to himself. But hey! He was dying anyways, right? He chuckled self-deprecatingly.
“God… They cut off part of your brain and now you completely lost your mind.” Keith said nervously as he walked into the room. Without knocking, he thought.
“Heard you were worried about me, Mullet.”
“I am.” He said earnestly. “And it’s not a mullet anymore, you know.”
He coughed slightly before continuing.
“Right… Now you fit your emo brooding persona with that hair.”
“Ha. Ha.”
They both fell silent as words hung between them. There was so much that they both wanted to say but neither knew how.
“Listen, Keith.”
Violet eyes met blue.
And for the first time, he thought he might actually have a chance at this.
“I am going off the words of the doctor that I literally met five minutes ago. So if I read into this wrong, please blame her and not me.”
“What are you trying to say?” Keith low voice sent shivers down Lance’s spine.
“Fuck… I am dying anyways, right? What have I got to lose? My dignity? Yeah screw that… Anyways, I care about you okay? I care about you a lot. I might even love you. This stupid Hanahaki’s Bullshit wasn’t how I wanted you to find out. In fact I didn’t want you to find out. I was so disgusted and angry that I fell for someone I couldn’t have… not because you are a guy, but because why would you love me? I am this screw up that doesn’t seem to get his head out of his ass most of the times. I am not a genius in the things that matter. You said I was people smart, well people smart doesn’t come up with an upgrade that saves our asses, book smart does. People smart doesn’t help in planning a strategy for a battle formation, book smart people do. So why would you fall for me? Not when you deserve so much more.”
Lance wanted to say so much more but his throat clogged up and his lungs decided to seize. He took a breath, granted it felt like breathing through a straw, but still a breath nonetheless. Keith’s face was unreadable. He seemed to be a melting pot of emotions and he couldn’t figure out a single one.
“You fucking idiot. How dare you decide what you think I deserve and what I don’t. Here I am, scolding myself and beating myself up for falling for this arrogant, sweet, careful, straight Cuban guy when you were literally dying and I didn’t know. Do you have any idea how terrified I’ve been those past few hours? They felt like the longest hours of my life, not knowing whether you will make it or not. I have listened to every joke, every comment you have ever made. Every pickup line you have every said and wished with every fibre of my being that you would once use them on me. You kept throwing yourself at these girls who didn’t know how precious you are and how sensitive you are and how incredible talented you are when I was right there, waiting, hoping, wanting. God, Lance, I love you. I have been since the beginning.”
Lance let out a sob. He and Keith held each other’s hands, shaking with relief and exhaustion. He was so tired, mentally and physically from everything. He almost forgot where they were when he felt a sharp pain in his lungs. The pain continued to spread until it was overtaking his entire chest area. He let out a gasp and then a pained cry. He couldn’t hold it in anymore, it was getting too much.
Keith stood and ran to the door and yelled in the hallway.
“Someone HELP!!! WE NEED HELP HERE PLEASE!”
It didn’t take two seconds for the doctors to rush in and everything went black.
Watching the doctors move quickly to see what the hell happened to Lance, for the second time that day, was more than his own heart could handle.
He still didn’t believe half of what Lance said but kept thinking that this is all some twisted dream and that he was going to wake up at Lance’s place, on the couch with Shiro drooling on the opposite couch and everything would be exactly the same.
But the lingering feeling of Lance holding his hand was real. It grounded him, reminding him that he was real, that this was real. And that what’s happening to Lance right now was, also, very much real.
The rest of paladins were all piled outside, on the chairs and floor, surrounding Lance’s family. Veronica and Marco were holding their mother’s hand absolutely terrified while their father gently spoke to his wife trying to calm her down.
He stood outside the room a second time for what felt like hours, but was actually ten minutes. The doctor that called him into Lance’s room once again came out.
“I’m here to calm you all down, what just happened was a reaction from his body against the bud to try and expel it out after it had served its purpose. Usually if it wasn’t so advanced, the host would simply cough it out. But in this case, the thorns were too embedded into his organs that any harsh removal would’ve made the situation worse. Lance is an incredibly lucky guy and is set to make a full recovery.”
Keith stood next to Shiro and slid down to his level where he was sitting on the floor.
“Keith.” Shiro called out to him gently. “Are you okay?”
“It was me.” He felt numb. “It was actually me.”
Shiro wrapped his arms around Keith. He melted into the warmth of his friend. For once things felt like it might actually have a silver lining.
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microkumo · 6 years
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You know I’ve seen a lot of people try to frame Shiro and Keith’s relationship in a bad light. I think it’s about time I put my two cents into this. Season 7 Spoilers included
If you’re just going to ignore everything written here then don’t bother commenting, that goes for people who have the reading comprehension of a walnut as well. If you want to talk about my stance on anything here feel free to DM me I’m happy to discuss this with you regardless of what you ship.
I spend a lot of time reading both sides of the arguments shippers and antis make. I think that’s the best way to really understand the point of view each side is coming from. After all, you can’t argue against something you don’t understand.
I started off on the fence, not really caring too much about ships themselves, but focusing more on the what-ifs and the mystery behind character relationships. Some of these things leaned towards Klance and some of them leaned towards Sheith. Both are valid and had interesting hints at connections yet to unfold. However, the discourse started with not knowing the ages of the characters. Shiro was given a tentative “25″ nothing really cemented and the others were late teens which can mean anything between 17-19. I decided that until we had confirmed ages, I wouldn’t consider Shiro to be in a romantic relationship with any of the paladins but things have changed since then.
Moving on to the series and the misinformation people are spreading.
1) Unless you are ignoring Shiro’s relationship with Adam and shipping pre-Kerberos Shiro and Keith in a sexual manner, Sheith is not pedophilia. 
I’ve seen a lot of this kind of argument against their relationship and it honestly does such a disservice to Shiro’s character. I’m sure there’s some people out there who are into that kind of thing, but to tack it onto the whole fandom and character is over generalizing and pretty awful.
Sure, people can think Keith could have had a crush on Shiro, but its clear that Shiro’s intentions were not there. He was in a committed relationship with someone else that he knew for a long time but that further cements the fact that Shiro was not viewing Keith sexually pre-Kerberos and therefor had zero pedophilic intentions.
2) Cherry-picking scenes where Keith hasn’t hit his growth spurt to frame Shiro as someone significantly older and then further imply that people are shipping them sexually at this age is a huge fallacy people use.
In the Garrison flashbacks from S7, Keith is around fifteen. I base that on the fact that he’s one year older than Lance and Hunk, and yet you have to be at least 14 to be a part of the Garrison. This is backed up by Pidge’s backstory.
However, though Keith is older than some of the other kids, he’s extremely small. Almost half a foot shorter than the other boys in his class. He’s grown up in an orphanage and like it or not, that kind of thing does affect children. Even as an adult and twenty-one years old, Keith is still much shorter than both of his parents. He’s much shorter than Krolia, and his dad was even taller than her. He’s incredibly small, but he’s always been small, and comparing him to someone that has finished all of his growth spurts is unfair and again implying that Shiro (22) saw him sexually at this time which is not true.
3) Highlighting his age gap with Shiro as bad when Keith’s age gap is not that severe.
Keith was (18) at the start of the show with a 7 year difference between him and Shiro (25).
Keith aged faster than the rest of the paladins due to his time in the Quantum Abyss.
After all the events and adding that bit, that puts Keith at (21) and Shiro at (26) which is not a huge age gap at all when you’re both mature adults.
4) Shiro does not have a boyfriend/fiance waiting for him back on Earth.
Saying that really ignores the single scene of them interacting together which was a break-up scene. I’m not saying that the two have zero chance of reconciling their relationship, but to say that there’s no way Shiro would date Keith as an adult because he had an old flame back on Earth is... transparent.
The two ended their relationship on a bad note over two years ago during a crucial moment in Shiro’s life. He knew Kerberos was probably his last chance to make his mark on the world- he’s battled with his illness and now he’s aware that he has very little time left to achieve the things he’s wanted in life. For him, this was an opportunity he didn’t want to sacrifice, and he didn’t in the end.
Adam’s reaction was reasonable- he was tired of Shiro running himself into the ground over living the safer alternative where they could have been together longer. It was implied that they had this conversation often and Shiro did not want to hear it. He offered an ultimatum, and when Shiro didn’t give into it, he left. Officially breaking off the relationship when Shiro didn’t stop him.
I’m not saying their relationship was the worst- but there was definitely some areas that they didn’t agree on which ultimately led to them breaking up. Even if Shiro returns to Earth, he’s in a much different state than he was when they were together. It would take a huge discussion and even then I don’t think it would work between them because they have different priorities in life that result in conflict in their relationship.
5) Shiro being Keith’s support in life is not “grooming” or even supporting it.
Again, this goes back to people trying to make Shiro’s relationship with Keith sexual even if it was never meant to be in pre-kerberos while also horribly abusing terminology again.
Sexual Grooming is what it sounds like. It’s about teaching a child through various techniques that it’s normal to have a sexual relationship with an adult. Pedophiles will often use being a ‘friendly helper’ to the child as a way to do this but to frame Shiro in this light is a huge disservice to his character.
Shiro does not see Keith in any sexual way pre-kerberos. Keith relies on him as someone who he trusts, but in no way is it ever implied that there were sexual intentions behind Shiro’s presence in his life. 
Unless Shiro was making passes at Keith or teaching him questionable things under the guise of being his mentor, this is just not accurate and a horrible way to paint the relationship of a child that has already gone through boy’s homes (which have a high rate for sexual abuse as it is).
6) People need to stop equating Keith’s fourteen year old self with his current twenty-one year old self when bringing up the power imbalance.
A lot of time has passed for Keith. He’s matured a lot, he’s grown passed needing Shiro as his support in his life, a lot of his insecurities in general are behind him especially with his mother in his life.
Yes, Shiro was higher ranking and older than Keith at the Garrison, however Shiro never abused his power to force Keith to do anything. His presence was always supportive and never demanding or threatening.
In the current timeline of the show, saying this especially does not make sense. Keith and Shiro have a mutual trust and respect for each other and never do they ever have a relationship that’s painted as a leader and a lowly subordinate that has no power in any situation. Keith and Shiro have traded leadership positions multiple times and arguably stand on equal grounds compared to each other.
7) Keith and Shiro are not related. Not by blood or by law. It’s not incest and Shiro never adopted Keith into his family.
The staff of Voltron have shot down the two of them being related multiple times but even from outside of that we have a lot to consider.
Shiro was only (21) when he met Keith. That’s not very old, like it or not, and adoption is a very long and difficult process. Now we don’t know how adoption works in the Voltron universe but if its anything like ours, an unmarried and terminally ill man is not going to be able to adopt a child when he himself is young and unrelated to the child.
What Shiro did do is give Keith an opportunity to attend the Galaxy Garrison under his recommendation. This isn’t the same as adoption. He merely got Keith a chance to attend a school he normally wouldn’t have been able to given that he was an orphan and a problem child.
It’s a military school with dorms. Keith definitely wasn’t staying with Shiro, he would have had his own room to share with someone of similar ranking.
8) “Keith only thinks of Shiro as an older brother” ignores his personality and history.
I’m not against Keith only viewing Shiro in a platonic light. However, I think it’s rather naive to think that because you view someone in a certain light that they’re not subject to changing or evolving. I see a lot of people use this to stagnate the relationship they have and to ignore his character.
Keith is a very passionate person. However, he’s a person that hasn’t had many opportunities to love or to be loved. He has grown up not knowing why his mother left him and that not only made him fear getting close to people, but also getting rejected. His biggest fear is Shiro walking out of his life. as expressed in the Blade of Marmora episode.
For someone that’s never loved before, to know that you could be rejected if you voice your true feelings is extremely terrifying. Tack on the fact that you know the person you love might still have feelings for someone else and there is definitely going to be some safety nets involved when expressing your feelings.
This is common for people to do in general but especially so for LGBT+ individuals. There’s a lot of confusion, a lot of hesitation, a lot of trying to convince yourself that this isn’t what you think it is especially when its your first time falling in love with someone who’s romantically unavailable. We hide it behind things like “You’re my best friend of course I love you” or sometimes even “You’re like a brother to me”. Keith has every reason to add these safety nets when he’s worried about damaging his relationship with Shiro. After all, why potentially push away Shiro and make him uncomfortable, when he can play it safe and continue to have him in his life?
9) Shiro’s and Keith’s relationship is far from abusive.
They have one of the longest lasting and uplifting relationships in the series. Shiro provides stability and companionship to Keith, and Keith provides reassurance and companionship. 
They support each other in ways that other people cannot and have not provided to them and are stronger because of it.
Shiro was held on a pedestal of expectations where he’s not usually able to be treated like the average person. He feels he has to hide his weaknesses, but with Keith he doesn’t have to. We’ve seen multiple times that they’re able to rely on each other and to open up about insecurities.
They are loyal to each other and unwilling to leave the other behind no matter the cost, because they’re incredibly important to each other. However, despite this, they’re still protective over other people and not overly reliant on just each other. 
They have a good relationship built on years of trust and support.
10) “I had a bad experience and so this ship is terrible” is extremely biased and not helping your argument.
Shiro and Keith  ≠ Your relationship/Experiences
It’s fine to not like the ship for that, but to spread misinformation because you tie it to your own experience is... not a good way to go about it. To say “I met a person who shipped Sheith and they were awful so now everyone who ships it is awful” is overgeneralizing a huge margin for the one or two bad people, especially when the fandom has a problem with people purposefully posing as “Bad Shippers” for the sake of making the fandom look bad. 
Again, it’s fine to not ship something out of personal experience. But to force your trauma onto a healthy relationship and to spread negativity around something that isn’t even present in the show is unhealthy and prevents you from moving on.
In short, there’s been a lot of biases thrown around and a lot of just completely incorrect statements for the sake of tearing down the ship.
I hope that by reading this people will learn that it’s not what people are framing it to be when it’s actually such a sweet story if it does go down a romantic path.
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