#protective keith
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part one
“Guys,” a soft voice interrupted, and Keith could’ve collapsed with relief. The castle has been flipped sideways during the fall, floor suddenly now 90 degrees, and standing at the side of the control board, now the very high top, was Lance. For whatever reason he had climbed it while they bickered, and now stood very still, gloved hand pressed to the glass of the windshield. Blood trickled from his temple, tracing a line down the side of his face, disappearing in the neckline of his armour. “We got company.”
Shifting gears – Keith was about to tear him a new one, when Shiro says sound off you sound off – but froze when he looked out the window, following Lance’s gaze.
Marching towards them, in numbers Keith couldn’t pretend to count, was an army.
— — —
“Well,” said Hunk, holding Allura in both arms, “that looks bad.”
Shiro snorted. “Thank you, Hunk.”
“Anytime.”
Keith wanted to snap at them both. What time was it to laugh? They were injured, mostly defenseless, castle crashed. The Lions still sat, unusable, in their hangers. Hopefully they were okay, but it wasn’t like anyone could go check. Keith could barely even feel Red’s presence in the back of his mind – that stupid new Empire toy had drained them. It was frightening. And Hunk and Shiro were making jokes?
But Keith couldn’t find the words to chew them out. Instead, his voice was caught in his throat as he looked on the slowly advancing army with wide eyes and tense shoulders.
The advancing army was…trees.
That’s what it looked like, anyways. Rows and rows of rough bark and quietly swaying leaves, advancing in formation. A large black bird flew, cawing, above them. Keith tried not to think about omens.
“Did a forest come to life?” Pidge muttered, squinting. Keith was relieved she was seeing the same thing. Keith has been in space a long time, at this point, but this was like nothing he had ever seen before. This didn’t look like a people in any way he understood. They were alive, surely, their movements organic in fluid in a way non-living things couldn’t quite manage, but his eyes were not deceiving him, and in front of him was a bunch of moving trees. As he watched, they advanced slightly further, stopped, and froze.
And then, slowly, they morphed.
Out of the bark, people seemed to…melt? Was that the right word? The trees planted themselves on the beach as if they’d always been there, as if the giant ocean was simply a lake beside a forest, and the bark of each plant seemed to shimmer, to shift. Humanoid figures took form, with skin like wood and hair like moss and leaves, eyes dark and old and knowing. Little saplings hid behind the sweeping dirt skirts of giant, older trees, giggling amongst themselves. Tiny droplets of water shined in dots on dozens of brown faces, glittering on brows and lips and noses like diamond piercings. Vines wreathed around torsos like tailored clothing.
Above them, Lance gasped. It was a quick, near-silent sound, one Keith only noticed because he was watching Lance from his peripherals anyway.
“Dryads,” he whispered, unmistakably excited, and before anyone could get so much as a word in he scrambled down the control board, careened down the bridge, and sprinted his way out the exit.
“No, what are you – Lance!” Hunk shouted, the first to react. He handed a still-unconscious Allura off to Coran, who took her with a wide-eyed, confused expression.
“Number Two, what is –”
“I am going to burn your Percy Jackson books,” Hunk seethed, already stomping out after Lance. He scooped up his blue helmet on his way and shook it at the door. “You hear me, Leandro? Burn them! Head outta the clouds, that’s an army!”
Keith was quick to follow. The rest of the team fell in step behind him, jogging after Lance.
Outside was…well, it startled him.
He’d seen it on the way down, of course. But he hadn’t been focused, really, hadn’t taken the time to map it past what the air currents felt like, past a safe (ish) place to land. The beauty of it now knocked the breath out of him. The ocean was almost crystalline, it was so clear and blue. Keith could smell it even through his helmet, the salt, the sea, and something Keith couldn’t recognise. Every rock on the seashore shone in the bright golden sun, glittering like encrusted jewellery. Down the beach, where the rocks gave way to beach, the sand was bright brilliant white; hard, actually, to look at. On Keith’s other side was a rolling, sage green meadow, peppered with wildflowers so familiar Keith almost felt he could name them. He saw dozens of fruit trees, all different kinds, so ripe and rich his mouth watered. He was nowhere near enough to smell them, but the fruits were so plump and colourful that every instinct curled up in every corner in his head begged him to gorge himself to coma. Even the army in front of him, the rows and rows of stern tree warriors – dryads, Lance had called them – couldn’t stir wariness in Keith’s heart. His shoulders relaxed without his say-so.
One of the warriors stepped forth. She was wide-set, tall, and the ground trembled with every step. Her eyes were dark as murky green pond depths. Deep gauges lined her face, most from the pattern of the bark that made up her skin, but many that disrupted the pattern; rough, torn scars, one right through her right eye.
“State your business,” she said, voice rough as sandpaper.
No one said anything. The awe Keith felt was reflected in his friends, wonder rendering them mute.
“You’re dryads,” said Lance softly. He stepped forward, Hunk’s hand falling from his shoulder. “Tree spirits.”
The tree-woman nodded. “If that’s what your people call us, child. Here, we’re Aegians, Last Guardians of Marmaro. And we ask again – name yourselves.”
Her army raised their weapons as she spoke. Sharp, pointed weapons, some of hardened stone, some of crystal and marble, some of the same wood that made up their flesh. One even had shards of metal attached to a complicated string of vine.
“We are Paladins of Voltron,” Shiro said, finally, hands held up in peace. He moved slowly up from next to Pidge, eyes never leaving the Aegian leader, until he finally stood in front of her, arm loosely circling Lance’s elbow, tugging him gently back. “We come in peace. Our ship was attacked by the Galran Empire, and we barely made it out intact. We apologise for any damage.”
“I’m not sure ‘intact’ is the right word,” murmured the Aegian leader, glancing quickly at their smoking ship, “but regardless. You are here now. I am Dryope, and I grant you asylum, as is my birthright.” She said the name like dry-oh-pay, but with a lilt to her vowels Keith couldn’t replicate even in his own head.
Dryope stood to her full height – which, ho-lee – and struck her staff twice on the rock on which she stood. Immediately, the army fell back, weapons sheathed, postures loosened.
“Aegians!” she called, and every single tree-warrior stood to attention. “The Paladins of Voltron have come to us. We shall extend our hospitality to them, as dictated in the Ancient Laws.” She turned to them for a moment, contemplating. “Seven households come forward. Our guests are to be fed, clothed, and cared for. Who shall claim the honour?”
Keith exchanged a look with Hunk, shifting uncomfortably. Seven households? They were in no position to complain, but on all the planets they’ve visited before, they’ve never been housed separately. To speak up would surely insult their hosts – but was it safe to split up? They were injured and exhausted – if their hosts proved malevolent, they would be almost powerless individually. Allura was still out, Lance for sure had a head injury, Keith was, now that he noticed, breathing laboriously. A quick glance beside him revealed an odd angle to Pidge’s wrist, probably sprained, and Hunk shifted every couple of seconds like he could not stand comfortably. Shiro favoured his left leg. Only Coran stood tall and strong, Allura held protectively in his arms – but Keith knew better. (He will never, as long as he lives, forget the way the man collapsed, ashen and unresponsive, right at his spot at the castle’s controls. The rest of them had just been deemed healthy enough to fight again after falling ill to Deadman’s Spots, fevered and covered in sores and wasting away. Only Coran had been spared – or so they thought. They had almost lost him.) Coran could have a shard of bone sticking out of his leg and none of them would know.
They could not afford to refuse the help.
The gathered army rippled and shifted as people answered Dryope’s call. One by one more Aegians pushed their way to the front, until seven stood just behind their leader, shoulder to shoulder, chins raised proudly.
“We have space for the injured girl,” spoke the first Aegian. She stepped forward, and she didn’t look like a warrior at all – the smile on her face was soft and welcoming. She was much stouter than Dryope, and and her eyes held the same maternal kindness that Shiro’s often did, deep and black and understanding. The lined pattern that made up her bark was softer, lining her face like smile lines. Thousands of branches twisted and grew out of her waist, resembling the tangled roots of the biggest tree in the forest. Clinging to her branch-skirt were at least four little saplings, young and reedy, peeking their wide eyes out behind their mama’s hips. She smiled wider, hands outstretched, and Keith had to stop himself from walking into them himself.
“Yes,” said Dryope, nodding at her. Her face went oddly soft, smiling at the maternal woman. When she turned back to face the team, her face morphed back into its impassive expression. “Paladins, Rhea and her family will house your injured girl. She will be well cared for – Rhea has nursed and watched many in her time.”
“Come,” beckoned Rhea, almost interrupting Dryope. The leader didn’t seem to mind. “Bring her to me, she must be laid comfortably.”
Coran walked forward, handing Allura to her gently. It spoke volumes to her character that Coran approached her at all, let alone that he pressed a quiet kiss to his charge’s forehead and stepped away.
“She is only tired,” he said softly. “Not injured. She needs rest, and perhaps food.”
“I will see to it. Come, children.” With a sweep of her skirts echoing like a bamboo broom, she walked back through the ranks, saplings clinging to her back like baby monkeys.
Next, an elderly man stepped forward. He was hunched, gnarled fingers curled around the haft of a sharp wooden trident that resembled Dryope’s staff. Despite his limp, he walked with dignity, and when he lifted his chin to face Coran, his eyes were bright.
“Have you space, Father?” murmured Dryope.
He nodded. “Always.”
Using his trident as a walking stick, he strode toward Coran, standing beside him. Coran, ever the diplomat, smiled slightly, and began speaking with him too quietly for Keith to hear. Both men, he noticed, seemed to stand the same way, although he couldn’t explain what that meant. It was just – vibes, he supposed. An energy.
“By the Sky, Mother, how long is this going to take?”
Startled by the abrupt change in tone, Keith jumped, turning towards the man who spoke. He was taller than anyone on the team, although shorter than most of the other Aegians, and covered himself with leaves that looked deliberately sewn rather than grown. His smile was wide and white and what Keith could only describe as shark-like.
But what was most striking was his skin. The dark lines of patterns that covered it had Keith thinking he was as Aegian as the rest of them, made of tree bark, but then he blinked and realised – they were merely marks, or tattoos. Unlike the rest of the Aegians, this man had skin, this man was –
Lance gasped. “You’re — human!”
“Half,” the man corrected, chuckling. He swept forward and delicately grabbed Lance’s hand in one of his, pressing a kiss just above his wrist. Lance blushed up to his hairline. “My name is Peitho. I was born here, on Aegis. My father was a lost human explorer. I have never been to earth. But human genes…” He looked Lance up and down, grinning charmingly. “I’ve always felt they’re very dominant.”
Lance, obviously pleased with the attention, warmed up quick. He walked over, reaching up to brush the hair out of Peitho’s eyes, touch lingering. Like they were friends or something. Keith ground his teeth so hard you could hear it from the ship’s smoking engine room.
“I thought…I‘ve never seen a human in space. I thought we were alone, up here.”
Peitho laughed, full-bodied and bright, like the sound of a smoothly rumbling engine. His handsome face creased lightly as he laughed, emphasizing newly-formed smile lines, which only made him more beautiful, not less. Lance smiled widely along with him. “Oh, my dear,” he said, turning that charming grin full blast on Lance, “you are never alone.”
Keith thought his jaw might crack. What a sleazeball. No wonder Lance liked him so much.
“The introductions need not drag on,” Peitho said grandly, sweeping his arm out like he was in charge or something. His other arm was around Lance’s shoulders. “Akeso, Dysnomia, Elatreus, meet with your paladins. They are hungry, and likely tired from travel. The sooner we have them rested, the sooner they can partake in our welcoming festivities. Right, Mother?”
Dryope nodded, looking a mix of annoyed and amused. “Yes, you embodiment of impertinence.”
As ordered by the embodiment of impertinence, three Aegians stepped forward. The first – who must be Akeso, a tall, reedy person with willowy locs falling to their shoulders, who held no weapon – approached Shiro, nodding tersely. Keith felt his brother match the terseness, stiffening.
(Internally, Keith winced – could his brother not get someone who smiled, maybe? Akeso was probably fine, but, yeesh. There was once a time when Shiro laughed more than anyone else Keith knew. Sometimes maniacally, on two hours of sleep. But he heard it so rarely now.)
The second Aegian, Dysnomia, approached Pidge. Like the Green Paladin, she was short as shit. Keith met his friends eyes and snickered at her. The murderous look he got would make him more nervous if he, as Lance so often liked to gripe, had a bone of impulse control in his body. (Rich coming from him, but. Whatever. It wasn’t like Keith could argue.) The third, Elatreus, was absolutely, one hundred percent, the coolest Aegian Keith had seen so far. Holding an intricately crafted crossbow and with a shoulder width approximately the size of a small mountain, he lumbered over to Hunk. He held out his fist. Hunk wasted no time bumping with his own. Keith would be jealous if Hunk didn’t deserve it so bad.
“Oh,” said Peitho, after a moment. “Of course, there is one more. Ares!” He gestured with half as much enthusiasm at Keith. “Your guest.”
Keith stilled. From behind Dryope, the last Aegian host stepped forward. His pale, papery bark was gnarled and scared, bulky, and – stained, it looked like, all the way up the arms. His face was more impassive that Dryope’s, expressionless, except for the slightest of sneers. Resting on one shoulder was a massive club, three times the size of Keith’s head at its tip. Like his host’s arms, it was stained.
Keith forced himself to meet his stare. His host had eyes red as pomegranates – well. Eye. The right side of his face, like the rest of the Aegians, was humanoid. The left side looked like it had – looked like someone had clawed out his eye, leaving a gaping, half-healed knot of a scar.
Ares.
Keith wasn’t familiar with a lot of myths. But he knew what namesake his Aegian host bore – Ares, god of war, god of pain, god of hardened warriors and battlefield and bloodshed.
Fitting, hissed a voice in his mind. Keith curled his fists and ignored it.
“Paladin,” nodded Ares, taking his place next to him.
Keith swallowed. “Ares.”
“That, I believe, is everyone,” said Dryope. “Paladins, please follow your hosts. They will bring you to their homes and ensure you have somewhere to rest. At sundown, we shall reconvene at the hearth, eat, and make merry. Please –” she spread her hands, “enjoy our island. I will see you all shortly.”
She cracked her staff once on the ground. Immediately, her army parted for her, following her in formation once she marched through. Many of them returned to their tree form. It was still strange to watch.
Keith jumped as a hand reached out and squeezed his shoulder. Shiro smiled slightly at him, squeezing again before letting go.
“See you soon, kiddo.”
He followed his host, leaving Keith to realise he was the last still gathered in the shadow of their crashed castle. The eyeless Aegian stood next to him, hands resting on his club, watching him curiously.
Keith cleared his throat. “Um, we can go.”
The Aegian continued to stare. Keith shifted uncomfortably, fighting the urge to draw his bayard. That would certainly not help. Things were precarious enough.
“You do not trust us,” his host observed. His one remaining eye was unblinking, holding Keith’s stare until his own eyes burned and he had to blink.
“No,” Keith admitted. It wasn’t that he was scared of the Aegians, per se, but he was wary of them in the same way he was wary of the Blades of Marmora. He recognised their strength, their power, and knew from the way Dryope stood that she was keeping a lot of information to herself. Any group that kept secrets was impossible to trust, at least by Keith’s standards. He suddenly wished he had been paying attention enough to watch Pidge, Lance, and Hunk leave with their hosts, to make sure they were armed.
His host shrugged. “Wise, probably. I would have no trust in your position.”
He started to walk over the rocks, and Keith followed. It was no accident that the Aegian kept Keith on a diagonal to him, visible from his right side. Keith did his best to keep himself in his line of sight.
“You wouldn’t?”
“Do I look like I would?”
“I don’t know how to answer that diplomatically.”
To Keith’s great surprise, his host huffed a laugh. A slight smile upturned Keith’s own lips.
“Fair.”
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Off the beach and across the meadow, in a deep, round valley, there was a sprawling village. Small, large-bricked buildings dotted hills and lay nestled at the edge of small farms. Dead centre of the valley was a giant fire pit, gently lit, and surrounding it in a perfect circle were several larger buildings in the same style. Keith recognised many of the buildings as temples.
“This way,” Keith’s host said, beckoning him forward. He turned off the main path and walked along the edge of the hill. Keith teetered after him, trying desperately to keep his balance. He was reminded how hard it was to breathe with bruising around his ribcage, how tired he was. But he kept his mouth clenched tightly closed, unwilling to look weak.
They walked far past the centre circle, past outer circles, past even the farthest of farmhouses. In crossing one of them, the man stopped, Keith nearly walking right into him, and waited for several moments. He bent over as a tiny little boar came galloping to the edge of the fence on runty little legs, smiling as he scratched the thing between its tusks. Keith couldn’t help but notice the blood covering the sharp, portraying bones, as if the animal had just recently hunted.
“Hey, Kyknos. Good to see you.”
He pet the boar for a few more minutes, then wordlessly started walking again. Keith had to jog to keep up, tired from the hike so far.
“That, uh, your pet?”
“No.”
Keith waited. No more information came forth.
“Oo-kay, then.”
There was a Lance in his head that was laughing at him, bringing up every one-word answer of Keith’s that had frustrated the Blue Paladin to twitching eyes. Keith scowled.
Finally, the host stopped at a house. Keith felt he would nearly faint with relief, beyond ready to lay down his head, wariness or not.
“This your place?” Keith asked, panting.
His host raised his eyebrow, pushing open the door.
“No,” he deadpanned, “this is my annoying neighbour’s house. He’s on holidays. I’m staying here and using all his things to take revenge for hours of small talk.”
“Oh,” Keith replied, impressed. “Cool.” He’ll have to do that next time Lance is on a solo mission.
“No, I’m – I’m kidding, Paladin.”
“Oh,” Keith repeated, disappointed. “Less cool.”
“Just – get in the house.”
Keith didn’t argue. He followed his host into the small building, nodded as he was pointed to a guest room, and passed out the second his head hit the straw-stuffed pillow.
— — —
part three
#I AM SO OBSESSED WITH THIS STORY YALL IVE BEEN RESEARCHING ALL DAY#i wrote CHARACTER SHEETS!!! I HAVE NEVER DONE THAT IN MY LIFE!!#vld#voltron#keith#keith kogane#klance#pre klance#pining keith#lance#lance mcclain#pining lance#mutual pining#rivals to lovers#canon divergence#blue paladin lance#red paladin keith#protective keith#team as family#original characters#longpost#my writing#fic#jealous keith#aegis au
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Thought that entered my head and refuses to leave me alone
When Keith is upset at night (maybe nightmares or his paranoia is acting up) he’ll go sit outside Shiro’s room and stand guard. Shiro has tripped over him at least three times because of this. He always tells Keith that he can wake him up if he needs comfort, but Keith never does. Cause he sees it as watching over his brother while he’s asleep and defenseless. So he just sits outside his door with his knife drawn until either Shiro wakes up or he falls asleep there.
#just… protective characters#vld#voltron#voltron legendary defender#keith kogane#keith voltron#keith headcanon#character headcanons#broganes#hcs#protective keith
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Omega Shield / Keith finds out Lance died while he was gone
How do i not have a dedicated little rec list for this this yet! wtf??? Also! I will not rec fics where lance stays dead / ( NO permanent major character death fics here, safe reading!) xoSee Also: Coda (Missing Scenes)
all my love for the sweetness of his laughter // he is the tear that hangs inside my soul forever by: KaterinaRiley, Word Count: 7,157, Rating: Mature, Summary: The story of how…
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#- Hurt Comfort#coda#confessions#emotionally hurt#episode tag#favorite#grizzled keith#lances death#Langst#near death experience#omega shield#physically hurt#protective keith#ptsd#quantum abyss#space whale#temporary character death
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New Fic: Last Breath
Warning: Major Character Death
Summary: Keith knows. Lance knows. The wound — metal punctured through Lance’s entire right side and emerging in jagged shards through his chest and stomach — is fatal. There’s nothing Keith can do. Nothing except be there and listen to Lance’s last words and his last breaths.
Story snippet:
“Lance,” Keith reached a hand up, pounding it against the door and straining to hear any return thunk, any moan or whimper or a word.
Nothing.
Keith pushed off and went around to the back of the shuttle where the cargo door was as he didn’t dare risk jamming his luxite in in the event Lance was slumped against the door.
The cargo door, just as dented, gave easily beneath his knife and Keith elongated it into a sword, slicing out a hole.
Darkness greeted him inside, the emergency lights out.
“Lance!” Keith shouted into the opening.
Lance! Lance! Lance! echoed back at him as his words reverberated around the storage hold.
Lance still didn’t answer.
Keith swallowed.
It was fine.
Lance was fine.
Just, just knocked unconscious.
He hauled himself up and into the cargo hold, hissing as his leg caught against the rough-hewn metal opening.
Keith ignored it and pushed forward, feet bumping into scattered boxes and crates that had escaped their holdings.
A loose bundle of oranges almost sent him flat on his face when he stepped atop one and Keith let out a sound between a sob and a laugh as he regained his feet he wondered what Lance would think when he heard that Keith had been taken out by fruit.
#voltron#vld#lance#langst#mcd#tw: death#major character death#death fic#keith#protective keith#platonic klance#fanfiction#fanfic#last breath#icypanther#icypantherwrites
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a keith haring inspired piece i did :]
id in alt text
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i love the idea of keith ranting to krolia on the space whale about the team but especially about lance and his laugh and his eyes and his smile- stop laughing, mom. so when krolia gets to meet the team she’s super excited to meet the chatty, energetic, funny sharpshooter who stole her sons heart. only to meet a quiet loner who rarely smiles and spends all of his time training. she glances over at keith to see him also watching lance in concern so the two of them are super quiet and just watching the way the team interacts with lance, or the way they don’t interact with lance. them just silently wondering wtf happened
#krolia adopting lance#please#he’s her son in law and she knows it#klance#krolia#keith kogane#lance mcclain#langst#vld#voltron#voltron legendary defenders#krolia and romelle and keith and kosmo being super protective of lance and lance just. doesn’t know what’s happening#he’s so fucking confused#he’s held like a conversation and a half with them and romelle was the one talking the most#what are they doing#but he doesn’t mind all that much bc it’s better than the treatment he’s been getting#lance my beloved <3
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Nah cuz just imagine him gobbling down a bunch of sweets with this face 😭
#i'll literally die for him#absolutely adorable#gentle keith needs to be protected at all cost#😭#ikepri#ikemen prince#ikemen series#ikeprince#keith howell
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Keith getting more affectionate the sleepier he is will be my favorite headcanon forever actually. Black cat boyfriend.
#he is just me#this applies to Reg as well#I'm just in KICK hell water rn#Lance gets more quiet and protective#however once he gets high on lack of sleep he gets loopy and crazy#Keith has to hold him in his lap to calm him down and to STAY STILL#Voltron#Klance#KICK
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Alright I need to write something 'bout Lance because I haven't yet, and that is not ok. (Though it still has Keith in it... oops.)
This is one of my favorite headcannons.
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When people are sad, Lance uses pet names.
Like full-on lovey nicknames.
A few weeks ago he found Hunk sitting in the corner of the kitchen with his head hidden in his knees. That absolutely COULD NOT stand.
"Aw baby, what's wrong? Do you need a hug, love?" he said, and immediately got crushed in Hunk's arms. (Cuz they're wholesome beans)
And it's not just him. He once accidentally yelled, "You good Darling?" from across the room to Shiro when he was thrown into a wall during training. Yeah, that took some explaining. (But it was kind of worth it to see the flaming blush across Shiro's cheeks.)
Anyway, the planet they are currently orbiting is a lot like Earth, and the homesickness is getting to everyone.
But Lance is still shocked when he hears soft sniffling coming from Keith's room. Keith of all people. Mr. Lone Wolf™!
He quickly puts in the door code that he knows for completely not-stalkerish reasons.
Keith looks up at him from his bed with teary eyes. He rubbed at them aggressively when he sees Lance.
"What are you doing here Lance? Does Allura need us?" His voice cracks terribly.
"Cariño! Are you okay? Never mind don't answer that, you're obviously not."
Without warning, Lance wraps his strong arms around Keith. His heart swells with adoration when Keith buries his head in Lance's shoulder. Of course, being the oblivious idiot he is, he does not notice Keith's flaming blush.
He gives in to the urge to touch Keith's hair and ends up rhythmically gliding his hand through it. They stay like that for a couple hours. (Keith may or may not have fallen asleep, and who was Lance to disturb him?)
They both silently agree to pretend the whole thing never happened.
A few months later and they are now on a diplomacy mission. The planet they are on is home to the Kragzots. They are giant neon-pink glow worms with faces. Lance has to do breathing exercises to keep his laughter from bursting out.
Their host, an alien named Vav'eol, is a... how can Lance say this nicely? He's a turd. Not literally of course, but he on everybody's nerves right now. Even Hunk has a grimace on his face whenever the pig-colored alien speaks.
Keith of course is absolutely shaking with anger.
1 hour into the stifling meeting and Vav'eol decides to comment on Shiro's arm. "Well I'm grateful and all that for you lot being here, but I'm not sure if you're trustworthy seeing as that one was reckless enough to lose an arm. How do you even manage to do that?" he scrutinizes.
Shiro opens his mouth to respond, but before he can the screeching of a chair interrupts him. They all turn to see Keith stand ramrod straight with fury etched into his face.
"Say that again you dirt-eating piggish son of a BI-"
He is interrupted (quite rudely) by warm arms wrapped around him.
"Come on babe, we're supposed to be peaceful right now. Calm down, hun."
Keith relaxes slightly, but still breathes heavily into Lance's neck.
"...Are they dating?" Vav'eol interrupts.
"I wish," both Shiro and Pidge sigh at the same time.
The hugging boys turn red as tomatoes.
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Ew. Dialogue. That was painful. But the vision had to be fulfilled.
#klance#keith kogane#lance mcclain#voltron legendary defender#voltron#vld#shiro ships#takashi shirogane#hunk vld#keef is a protective baby bro#tawny post
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part one
———
“You did what.”
Keith coughs. “We, uh, we got married.”
“Accidentally,” Lance pipes up, because he can see the Stress Muscle in Shiro’s eyebrow start to twitch, and doesn’t want him to start freaking out which will make Keith get defensive and put his foot in his mouth — he’s as bad as Lance, really — and then the whole thing will be more difficult to handle than it already is. “It’s a whole big thing.”
Shiro stares at them for several minutes, then sighs, sitting heavily onto the kitchen floor with his bowl of goo. He shovels a bite in his mouth, then reaches blindly for the intercom switch on the wall, slapping around until he finally manages to hit it.“Team,” he says tiredly as it crackles to life, “please make your way to the kitchen. Keith and Lance made something stupid again.” He drops his hand back down, returning his full attention to his goo, committing to pretending Keith and Lance aren’t in the room.
Which.
Fair.
“I resent that ‘again’,” Keith mutters petulantly. “We’ve been remarkably well-behaved lately.”
“No,” Shiro says, without a second of hesitation. He doesn’t bother arguing.
It doesn’t take the rest of the team long to get here — Hunk and Allura have appeared to have sprinted, drama loving bastards — and they join Shiro on the floor, turning expectant eyes to the Red and Black Paladins. After a look of deliberation, Keith and Lance sit down, too.
“Tell them what you just told me,” Shiro says, voice garbled through his food goo.
Here’s the thing.
Lance knows he should feel nervous. Or worried, or scared, or embarrassed, even, about getting literally magically bound to his self-proclaimed rival (once a rival always a rival) because he got brained by the jacket that he left unattended. It is, objectively, a sitcom-level ridiculous situation. He knows that he is going to be shamed, and possibly gently bullied.
However.
Keith’s hand still grips him tightly. Lance doubts the Black Paladin has noticed, but every so often he runs his thumb over his knuckles, and every time he does his lips twitch up in the slightest smile. Lance couldn’t feel anything but ludicrously happy if he tried.
Plus. He and Keith just, like, made out in the hallway a bunch. If Lance is being honest, his brain is still kind of fuzzy. He’s half focused on everyone else and half focused on replaying the feeling of Keith’s hands pressed to his cheeks, cupping his face, kissing him like he was drowning and Lance’s lungs were the only place he could get oxygen. He’s still kind of lightheaded, and keeps having to fight off giggles.
“We got married,” Lance says, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face.
As much as the team is used to their shit, that visibly shocks them. Coran squints at them and types something rapidly into his tablet. Pidge cusses and hands Allura a handful of GAC, which she pockets with a cackle. Hunk is the only outlier, the only one with a reaction Lance can’t place: he straightens up, looking between them with narrowed eyes, mouth flattened into a line.
“Explain yourselves.”
“It was an accident,” Keith assures, much like Lance did earlier. But instead of expressing is understanding, Hunk’s eyebrows only climb higher. Lance gets the same distinct feeling he gets when he knows he pressed the Wrong dialogue option in a video game.
“I hope you didn’t marry my best friend on accident, Kogane.”
Lance puts his head in his hands. He can physically feel the panic leeching from his husband’s (!!) body. He considers all the ways he can murder his best friend and make it look like an accident. He honestly doesn’t think he’s ever been this mortified in his life.
“No no no, I didn’t mean accident, well I guess I did —”
“Hunk,” Lance says through grit teeth. Hunk gives him a ‘what did I do’ look, stubborn set to his shoulders. Lance vows to take a seam ripper to his shirts.
“— like it was technically not a planned sequence of events, per se, if you want to look at things technically —”
Hunk continues to stare at Keith with his eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. Lance digs around in his pockets for something to chuck at his face.
“— if it went according to how I’d planned it in my head there would be more flowers involved, probably, and we’d be on Earth at least, but it kind of just happened, you know? It was so fast I swear I couldn’t have done anything —”
Lance tears his gaze away from Hunk and stares at his rambling mess of a husband. Any annoyance practically evaporates from his system as the implications of Keith’s words set in.
“You thought about marrying me?”
Keith flushes redder than he already is. “I’m not answering that.”
Lance barely manages to shove down the giddy laughter that bubbles up his throat. Keith, his crush, his rival, his husband, spent time daydreaming about marrying Lance. And kissing him, probably, and holding him and building a future with him. Keith maybe even got just as flustered as Lance did when they got too close, back off when sparing got a little too close, breathing heavy. The knowledge is exhilarating. Lance leans over, pressing his beaming smile to Keith’s lips. He softens immediately.
“I thought about marrying you, too.” He smirks. “Among other things.”
Keith’s gloved hand finds it’s way back up to his cheek, for the second time today, and the blood rushing in his ears downs out the sound of Pidge gagging.
“Gross. Can we force them to divorce? This is worse than the pining.”
“Physically impossible for me to divorce him,” Lance murmurs, distracted. “Since he technically owns me, now. Kind of.”
Keith makes a face. “I hate that a little.” He presses one last chaste kiss to Lance’s mouth before pulling away. It’s casual, and small, but the novelty of it is not lost on Lance.
He was not kissing Keith this morning, that was for certain.
It’s not until Lance manages to blink away his ga-ga eyes that he realizes that the rest of the team is looking at him in shocked confusion, and it clicks that his sentence would, sans context, be kind of horrifying to hear.
“Oh,” he blurts, without thinking, “I’m a Selkie.”
“You’re bad at this whole revelation thing,” Keith notices. “I think my Galra thing was somehow handled better.”
“Shut up.”
To his credit, Keith’s observation isn’t too far off. If anything everyone’s shock has only worsened, and it’s clear that Lance’s messy, half-explanations aren’t going to do much. The Alteans could probably do with some actual historical context, but for now, Lance thinks a demonstration is the wisest choice. And since he doesn’t have an ocean available to him, he decides to do the next best thing.
He slips his jacket carefully over his shoulders, spreading it out over his legs and gently running his fingertips over the rough canvas. Just as in his room, the fabric begins to blur, warp, change. He understands the change that is happening — it is his coat, after all; his own flesh — but he cannot find the words to describe it. There may not be. The coat simply changes in a way that is not comprehensible by non-Selkie eyes, as evidenced in the various strangled noises of bewilderment around him. Even Keith looks at the pelt in awe, unused to Earthen magic.
“How long have you been a seal person?” Pidge asks, hands twitching like she’s itching to touch.
“Two decades,” Lance says drily.
It doesn’t take long for the shock to melt away. That’s due in part to everyone’s curiosity, and the rest is because, as Lance suspected, their lives are just so goddamn weird — this Selkie thing just doesn’t even make top ten.
“So was that what the whole dramatic running out of the common room was about earlier?” Hunk clarifies.
Lance nods. “Yeah. I didn’t…I got too comfortable. Left my pelt out, Keith tossed it at me, boom, it’s not longer mine. Luckily I was wrong about how dangerous that is, ‘cause I didn’t lose my free will or anything, but I am essentially married to Keith now. So.” He turns to his husband and grins. “I don’t think he minds.”
Ignoring Pidge’s mutter of “here we go again,” Keith smiles back, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek.
“I don’t.”
“I’m sorry you weren’t comfortable before.”
Lance looks up at Shiro, startled by the seriousness in his voice. His tired look from earlier is gone, replaced with something narrow-eyed, serious.
“Huh?”
“You said you got too comfortable.” He gestures to Lance’s lap. “With your pelt. I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t tell us.”
“And I’m sorry for threatening you, Keith,” Hunk adds. “Well, it was barely a threat, but still.”
Keith reaches over to pat his shoulder. “All good, man. It was understandable. Lance probably warrants some threatening on his behalf.”
Lance narrows his eyes. He’s sure that’s an insult, somehow.
“Hunk, do not scare my husband away with your foolishness —”
“I know you’re just saying that to have an excuse to say ‘my husband’, you whipped simp —”
“Fuck off, no one asked you —”
“Pardon my interruption,” Coran says, holding up a hand. “But what is a Selkie?”
Allura raises her hand as well. “I would also like to know!”
“If I’ll be honest, I’m not that familiar with the legend either,” Pidge admits.
Lance pauses for a moment, considering. He knows that explaining everything would take a long time, and he knows he doesn’t have the energy for that. It’s something you learn over time, anyway, over years of stories at the right time. He can simplify some information, though. Get the point across.
“I’m not human,” he starts carefully. “I’m also not alien, not not-human. It’s complicated.” He runs his hand over the soft fur of his coat. “My pelt is like…a physical manifestation of my soul, I think. My quintessence? I’m not entirely sure. But when I wear it, I become another form of mine. Kind of like your shapeshifting, maybe? I turn into a seal, but I’m still very much me. And it’s not like I’m a seal with a human brain, or whatever. I’m a seal, I’m a human, I’m a Selkie. I’m never not those three things.”
Pidge cocks her head. “So you’re a seal right now?”
“Yeah. I’m a Selkie, I have to be. Unless my pelt were to be truly lost, I guess. If someone set it on fire I wouldn’t be a Selkie anymore. I’d lose my soul.”
“Jesus,” Pidge shudders.
Keith looks determinedly at him. “I won’t let that happen.”
“No shit,” Lance says, raising an amused eyebrow. “That’s your job now, Mullet. The pelt is yours to guard. You took it, it’s your responsibility.”
Keith’s determined expression does not change. Lance is just a little endeared but it. As unconventional as this has been, Keith genuinely seems to be excited to be with him. And if Lance trusts his word — which he does — then Keith has wanted to be with Lance for a while. With his space family’s approval, and the certainty that he will have the same from his Earth family when he makes it home, the weight he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying finally drops from his shoulders.
“God, I can’t wait to human marry you.”
Shiro sighs. This time, it sounds significantly more amused. He gets to his feet, dusting off his hands. “I guess that falls to me, huh,” he says, waving them over. “C’mere.”
Keith and Lance scramble up, running over to where Shiro stands, at the head of the table. He holds two twist-ties in his head that he has formed into rudimentary rings.
“I feel contractually obligated to remind you about Adam’s stance in elopement,” he says, looking pointedly at Keith. “And Lance, I don’t know your mother personally, but your sister and I were colleagues. You are also going to get into leagues or trouble when we get home.”
Lance grins brightly. “I am going to get in leagues of trouble anyway!”
Keith nods. “I left Earth against Adam’s specific instructions. I’m toast no matter what, so I might as well do the best thing I will ever do in my life before then.”
Lance’s ears burn. He glances down at his sneakers, embarrassed and pleased all at once.
He’s the best thing that Keith will ever do in his life. God.
“Well, that answers my first question, then.” Shiro turns to Lance. “Since Keith obviously does, do you, Lance, wish to take Keith as your lawfully wedded husband, so long as you shall live?”
Lance grins. “I would love nothing more.”
“Then by the power vested in me by the five dollar certificate I got online, I pronounce you wed. Congratulations. You may kiss the groom.”
Neither of them wait for Shiro to finish his sentence, surging forward immediately, colliding in the middle like magnets. Lance feels the weight of his pelt on his shoulders and Keith’s hands on his face in equal measures. It feels like swimming free.
#well!!!! pt 2 of the selkie au a year later!!!!#vld#voltron#lance#lance mcclain#keith#keith kogane#klance#established klance#married klance#selkie lance#brown eyed lance#whipped keith#my writing#longpost#team as family#protective hunk#hunk & lance#broganes#shiro is so done
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Unhinged and protective Keith Kogane my love. I want him to lose his absolute shit when someone he cares about is in danger. Like he’s not thinking critically anymore, he wants blood and his loved one wrapped safely in his arms.
#he’s just a bit protective#just a little#but seriously don’t fuck with his loved ones#it’s very likely you won’t live#he’s basically a trained assassin at this point thanks to the blade#vld#voltron#voltron legendary defender#keith kogane#keith voltron#keith headcanon#character headcanons#broganes#hcs#galra keith#protective keith
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insecure lance / protective keith
super niche but that’s my shit
suite on you by: adelfie, Word Count: 12,200, Rating: T+, Summary: Lance feels a little jarred when he sees nothing friendly in the suitemate’s eyes, and then foolish. He scrambles to find something to say.“Do you have any rules?”Keith’s eyes darken. “Yeah. Don’t bother me this semester. Or ever.”Accident-prone Lance McClain learns that his grumpy suitemate, Keith,…
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#- Hurt Comfort#adhd#au#College#emotionally hurt#flustered lance#homesick#lances adhd#Langst#neurodivergence#neurodivergent#protective keith#ptsd
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New Fanfic: The Real One
Summary: Keith knows he and Lance are both lucky to be alive after their ship crashes. Not so lucky is the fact Lance has a pretty nasty concussion and he’s being incredibly stubborn about letting Keith help him. But as his symptoms only grow worse Keith discovers that there’s a different side to Lance beneath the cockiness and stubbornness and this person… he seems far more real.
Story snippet:
“Keith,” Lance’s voice was barely a whisper and his voice was so small despite the fact the word was far clearer than anything else he’d said in the last few minutes and the shiver returned full force as Lance’s eyes fluttered closed again. “Don’t feel good,” Lance whispered.
And beneath the tan of his skin Keith could see that Lance was starting to not just look a little pale but…
But a little green and his lips were pressing together tightly as his face screwed up and—
“Oh fuck—”
Keith barely made it to Lance’s side and practically gave him whiplash as he grabbed the boy’s shoulders and turned him sideways before he vomited all over his lap.
Lance let out a sort of disgusting hrking sound but more than that there was the sound of a sob followed by a moan and Lance slumped completely against Keith’s hold, entire body shaking.
Keith fought to remain as still as possible to both not jar Lance any further and to not make this nearly impromptu hug any more awkward than he felt as Keith didn’t do hugs — only with Shiro and even then not like this — and if Lance made some comment about the cradling arms thing that he swore he didn’t recall at all…
But Lance said nothing, only whimpered and somehow dropped more of his weight down and Keith was forced to tighten his grip lest Lance try to put his face into his vomit puddle.
Read it here
#voltron#vld#lance#keith#lance whump#hurt lance#concussion#protective keith#fanfiction#fanfic#The Real One#icypanther#icypantherwrites#platonic klance#platonic#klance#angst#insecure Lance#comfort#hurt/comfort
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thinking about how Shiro never really knows for sure what Keith thinks about him. By the time they meet, Keith's already closed off his emotions. Shiro's not naive enough to think that Keith doesn't still have them, but he's suppressed them to the point where he might as well be emotionless. Nothing good has ever come from them, and they just get in the way of what the Garrison wants him to be- a weapon.
A weapon has no need for emotions. No need for attachments. All a weapon has to do is obey the orders its given.
But Shiro? Shiro cares about Keith. There's so much that he wishes he could give him that he can't. Until one day, suddenly he can. Aboard the Castle of Lions, they couldn't be father away from the Garrison if they tried. They're also in the middle of a war, which... isn't ideal for convincing a kid that they're not actually a weapon, but he'll make do. At least Allura and Coran are willing to help him.
The truth is... Keith doesn't know what to think about Shiro. Some tiny part of him that still recognizes his own emotions realizes that he thinks of Shiro differently from the other members of the Garrison's command. He tries to not dwell on it- he's his commanding officer, especially out here. He's glad It's a good thing he's here. He's not sure what he would do without him who he would take orders from. Allura? It's not like he can't think for himself, but he's not... used to it. There's always been someone to give him commands.
Except for Shiro.
It's not Shiro who commands him to take an Altean pod and use it to ram the black lion to keep it out of Zarkon's hands. It's not Shiro who commands him to face down Zarkon himself either, in a situation where he has the clear disadvantage. But Keith does that anyways. It's easy enough to rationalize- the black lion is critical to Voltron. To the universe. He is not a paladin, but Shiro is his commanding officer- therefore their mission is his mission.
He's not a paladin. This is the only thing he can do to protect Shiro the mission.
(The red lion quietly observes. Not yet, it decides. There's a spark, but it's quickly doused again.
But this time, it left cracks.)
#you are (not) a weapon#thankfully shiro still gets to the black lion in time and saves keith's ass before he can get himself killed#but he's really living that victory or death creed for a hot minute there!!!#zarkon is. admittedly impressed.#and yes. keith does go on to try and fight those massive lizard things. even though he's more injured than shiro is#shiro is human. he's trained to protect them above his own safety.#(that's all it is surely)
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Keith might have just taken hold of the blorbo seat. S2E8 was a great episode for him. And when he was hurt, his lion started raging and fucking shit up. Hell yeah! That's the type of devotion I liiive for! Let's go team red! Plus then Shiro intervened and was also about to throw down on Keith's behalf.
Shiro's dad behavior is raising him in the blorbo ranks as well because now I just want to read protective Shiro fics.
#*cough* also i only just realized at the end of season 1 that keith is mark grayson lmao. now when he talks i'm like oh hey mark#no but protective shiro is very sexy of him tbh#and keith whump is top-tier#especially bc it reminds me of mark alsdkja
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in the year of our lord 2024 i am reading klance fics and crying because i miss my mom
i need help
#jesus christ what is my life#klance#listen it was this rly amazing fic from krolias pov#it was her being protective of keith and being rly suspicious of lance#and like if kept switching from the past to the present where she’s giving her all to make sure lance gets back to keith#like i’m crying that’s so my mom coded#i swear i’m not always this sad
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