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psychicscavenger · 5 years

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Sea Witch (Shance MerMay 2019)

another drabble for my series Making Waves and Turning Tides. Series was inspired by @justshance‘s Mermay prompts for 2019, written for @shancemermay and fellow shance and mermaid fans in general.

Tags: Tooth-Rotting Fluff, some plot, conspiracy, pining, fairy tale elements, little mermaid elements, AU

After having to watch that disgusting display of emotions, Lotor sank into the depths of the abyss, welcoming the feeling of darkness as well as the increasing pressure allowing his gills to breathe in and out gently. The wonderful air flowing through and cleaning out the salty air from above surface left him feeling more relaxed but he was still on edge hoping his plan would work.

Lotor continued to swim down, the light from the surface fading away until he was swallowed up by the void, circling around him with only his senses to guide him past other mers who lingered around the abyss, usually nowhere to go with other unsavory creatures who liked to lurk in the deep. Lotor located his cave quickly, quietly slipping into the vast cavern, easily avoiding the fluttering cuttlefish his mother liked to experiment on. He cool called out a greeting towards the witch, sliding against a rock and parking himself there, unfurling his tentacles to stretch as the witch, his mother Honerva, approached.

"Lotor have you spoken with the fish noble's son?" A raspy voice called from behind the seaweed curtain. Lotor hummed, meticulously cleaning a tentacle sucker, making sure no remnants of fish scales were stuck underneath before casually replying, "Yes I have. The silly little brat took the deal and he's now off frolicking on the dry lands with the king. We'll be ruling this pathetic ocean soon Mother. That damned Queen Allura was a fool to reject me as a potential mate and to cast you from her palace with your talents! A true disgrace for a monarch in my opinion." Lotor huffed as his mother oozed from the shadows, pulling back the weeds to expose her curling tentacles floating around her as she glided over to her son.

"Just remember the plan. Once that noble gets a taste of what he wants, you'll draw him back and make him hold up his part of the deal. We need that trident if we want to take over the ocean." She spoke, every word punctuated harshly through the murky water Lotor would twitch every time she spoke.

"And what happens if he refuses or doesn't get a hold of it? Lance is divine looks wise but he's not all that brilliant upstairs." Lotor mocked snickering at the image of the mer earlier, acting all flustered and squeamish when the two humans approached him.

"That I'll leave to you dear son. Consider it a gift for helping me this far. It's taken years to find the right someone to help take down the queen but now I have high hopes that we'll be taking over not one but two kingdoms if all goes well." Honerva spoke heading over to a cavern rock that held some valuable objects to her. It was piled with bones, some mers, some regular fish. She even had a collection of shark teeth in a jar as well las several jars of glowing substances, Lotor would rather not ask what those were about.

Honerva pulled out a dusty broken mirror, so old it was rotted in the handle area, bits of algae and mold growing on the reflective portion which Honerva wiped away, repeating a few mumbled phrases unintelligible until the mirror glowed and soon Lotor was watching Lance in the mirror.

"This way we'll keep an eye on the boy, measure his progress with the humans." Honerva stated watching as Lance was currently having a battle with a few humans over the proper way to wear what the humans called pants. Lotor furrowed his brows watching the spectacle as he leaned back, crossing his arms with impatience.

"How long will this take do you think?" He asked getting annoyed upon seeing the human king enter the room and calmly remediating the situation, hands lingering upon Lance's waist with Lance flushing immediately.

"Not long, humans are easily predictable and are often like the very fish they hunt and eat. Place something shiny and new in front of them, and they'll snatch up the bait pretty easily." Honerva explained smirking upon seeing the matching blushing expressions between Lance and the human king.

"Sometimes too easily." She grinned.

****

Lance wasn't normally materialistic, sure he was a mermaid, he hoarded a fair bit of treasure that many humans have dropped into the ocean, and he liked to keep his scales cleaner and shinier than his family or friends in the shoal, but compared to having a big, fluffy cushion all to himself, not having to share with his sisters, brothers, niece and nephew, he knew he could never go back to his old life.

"It's so big and bouncy! Beds are so cool!" He moaned, spreading his arms and legs over and over on the vast space, the long sleep shirt he was given rising up just a tad bit, exposing more and more of his upper thighs that had Shiro coughing and glancing away out of respect for his guest, and to keep himself in check.

"Yeah they are..also I just want you to know that you are welcome to stay here as long as you like even if you're finished recovering, I'm afraid to admit, but living on the far coast we don't see too many visitors." Shiro explained a small smile appearing on his face as Lance sat up tilting his head just so in that adorable curious way he's done all day.

"Do I get to use the bed still?" Lance asked which had Shiro chuckling. "Yes, you can use the bed as long as you want." Lance sighed happily flopping back over much to Shiro's amusement as Lance flipped over and snuggled into the sheets.

"Thank Goddess, I never want to leave ever again. You are my treasure now." Lance reached up patting a pillow as Shiro held back a giggle about to head out into the hall.

"If you need anything, I'm sure any of the kind people working here can attend to your needs, I'll be up as well as I'm not much of a sleeper, my rooms not too far down the hall. If you can't find someone, just come find me." Shiro stated turning to head out when Lance shot up, shouting "Wait!"

Shiro froze, unsure what was wrong until he suddenly found a sturdy presence pressing into his front side, arms wrapped around his middle and nearly hanging off of him(Lance still hadn't been able to get his legs to work properly like the humans, Shiro was currently in the process of finding the man a wheelchair to use in the meantime), his face pressed into Shiro's shirt, inhaling deeply as he spoke.

"Goodnight Shiro. I'm glad I met you, you were definetly worth it." Lance sighed happily unaware of the blushing flustered mess Shiro had become.

At first he wasn't sure what to say to something like that. It was definetly a little odd for a goodnight even if the man was very obviously appreciative of Shiro's hospitality, although it was expressed in such a strange way it had Shiro wanting to seek out answers to this puzzle.

But first, bed time.

Eventually, Shiro hugged him back, a little less tighter than Lance's but happy to return the affection in some way, whispering goodnight to Lance before gently coaxing him back to bed, maybe spending a bit too much time tucking him in but he reminded himself, or rather, tried to convince, that he was simply being extra cautious since the man was injured. They still haven't been able to get any solid information such as who he was or where he came from, but he was ultimately deemed not a threat and welcomed by the castle staff and guards alike.

All except for Keith that is.

Keith was friendly, in his own strange way. He obviously cared for others who mattered to him and Shiro's second-in-command for a reason.

His people skills..need work on the other hand.

Since Lance has been invited to the castle, Shiro had found the two bickering several times and Lance had only been there for four hours. Keith didn't trust strangers so easily and was incredibly suspicious of Lance, Shiro didn't really blame him either because Lance did some..very weird things. Like tonight's dinner fiasco.

As Shiro slipped away from Lance's bedroom, trying to get Lance's soft sleepy smile out of his head, he almost groaned at the memory of Lance's first dinner experience in the castle and how..not great it turned out. Apparently salad was too confusing of a dish to explain to Lance so he didn't eat it. The main course, some kind of lobster bisque, had insulted Lance, and in the end the only thing he liked was bread that he referred to as a beige sea sponge. Then Keith got involved...

"Shiro I need to talk to you." Shiro flinched, finding himself suddenly face to face with the very angry person he was thinking off.

"Good because I think we need to sign you up for more etiquette lessons." Shiro teased amused as Keith's face bloomed in embarrassment before he turned away huffing, with Shiro following.

"Lance started it, he was acting so weird! All I simply said was, the fork isn't to comb your hair and he yelled at me! He got mad because I wouldn't let him comb his hair with a fork Shiro, a fork, thats weird." Shiro sighed in response, understanding somewhat.

"Keith what you said was and I quote; 'Hey idiot, that's not how a fork works,' and glared at him until he stopped. I don't blame him for getting upset to be honest." Shiro shrugged it off, turning away towards his room when Keith jumped in front of him again.

"Still, how does someone his age not know how to use a fork? He looked like he had never seen one before Shiro! He's been looking at everything like that He got excited sitting in a chair Shiro. A chair. Don't you think that's a little suspicious at all? What if he's planning something?" Keith asked urgently to which Shiro sighed, aware that Keith tended to think towards the negative and conspiratorial side of things.

"Well, it's strange but I'm actually starting to guess the poor guy hit his head so hard he may have amnesia. It explain's why he can't remember how to use the most basic of human tasks. That or something really bad happened to him, we'll just have to find out and by doing that, he'll have to stay here, got it?" Shiro asked gently to which Keith nodded, obviously disgruntled with the idea.

"Fine but I don't like this." He griped trodding behind Shiro heading off towards his own room as Shiro just about closed his door, a few guards posted outside in case of any emergency.

"Okay MOM. Goodnight." Shiro held back a giggle when Keith made a face, waving him off as his version of 'goodnight' before Shiro shut his door getting ready for bed and a small part of him excited and intrigued to get to know his blue eyed guest.

#shance #shance mermay 2019 #lance is in love with beds #partcularly big beds he doesnt have to share #unless he wa ssharing with shiro of course

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sp4c3-0ddity · 5 years

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2018 Year-in-Fic

so following @rueitae‘s example (because i’m curious about what i’ve been up to this year too) and building off my 2017 list, a Summary of Fic: 2018 Edition:

(For convenience, you can also find my fic master list here and ao3 account here)

STATS:

Gen/non-plance fics: 15

All right, let’s start with the fic that is not plance from oldest to most recent. An asterisk* denotes if it’s tumblr exclusive

Assassins (3109 words) - Allura tries to go about business as usual, despite their “guest” - Gen, mild Allura/Lotor, canon compliant through season four

Marathon (1081) - Pidge just wants Lance to get off her back about team bonding. / (She has fun anyway.) - Gen, Garrison Trio, pre-canon

Imprinting (540) - A flock of baby "ducks" adopts Hunk as their mother - Gen, canon compliant

Fanfiction (884) - Pidge has a skeleton in her closet, but she made the mistake of saving it to her hard drive - Gen, canon compliant

Everywhere Cats (7363) - A mysterious mishap transforms the Lions of Voltron into...cats, who are more troublesome for their Paladins than for Zarkon's Empire - Gen, canon compliant crack

A Rational Fear (3786) - Alteans aren't as fragile as humans, but they aren't invincible. / Or, Allura's injuries demand a stint in a healing pod; her reluctance can be easily explained - Gen, very mild Allura/Lance, canon compliant

Adrift (1621) - Krolia's translator breaks, but that's not why her sadness is so hard to bear - Gen, pre-canon

Displaced (1318) - Keith confuses his target for someone else. / Neither of them are happy about that - Gen, Keith/Matt, time travel AU

Seek Water’s Run* (~2300) - Gen, Garrison Trio, Abhorsen (Fantasy/Zombie) AU

Crushed* (~900) - Allura/Lance, canon compliant whump

Knowledge or Death, Gun or Blade* (~2000) - Acxa and her Blade trials - Gen, canon divergent/speculative

Pigeon Bait* (~1200) - Hunk rescues a pigeon - Gen, modern/college AU

Price of Pride* (~550) - Matt talks to the Green Lion - Gen, canon compliant

Trickle* (~1000) - Keith wanders a death-scape - Allura/Keith, canon divergent (probably)

Viable Pets* (~2000) - Hunk adopts a space chicken - Gen, dubiously canon compliant

Okay, this is where it might get a little confusing because i’m a dumbass sometimes...

plance fics (not collected): 32 wtf

Ordered from oldest to most recent; does not include anything posted (or to be posted) in this collection; anything exclusive to tumblr is denoted with an asterisk*

Growth (14042) - Lance finds his soulmate; Pidge does not - soulmate AU in canon

Misdirection (5328) - Lance pays attention, and Pidge just may come to enjoy a camping trip - modern AU

Fakeout (7840) - Shenanigans turn dangerous when Lance and Pidge overhear what they should not - canon compliant

A Promise Broken, a Promise Made (5294) - Pidge getting caught up in a project is nothing new, so why, exactly, is Lance so upset this time? - canon compliant

Facing Reality (14182) - Lance skips Fourth of July weekend with his family to spend it with his girlfriend's family instead... / ...only Pidge isn't his girlfriend. And her family is missing. In a completely different reality - modern/roommates AU...of a sort

Spill Your Thoughts (24962) - Mom bought me this notebook hoping I’d “organize my thoughts” or “find therapeutic value in it” or something like that. Personally, I think she’s just hoping I’ll leave it lying around somewhere so she can snoop into what’s going on in my life when I don’t want to tell her. / Mom, if you’re reading this, it’s not going to work because I do not need to keep a journal. So what if I don’t have any friends to vent to? / aka an AU where Pidge's journal is just that and nothing more - modern/high school AU in journal format

Infatuation, Actually (10418) - Pidge never learned basic gun safety. Lance suffers the nonfatal consequences - love spell AU in canon

Fatalistic Daydream (27873) - Being a low-ranking Galra soldier stationed in a virtual backwater isn’t stopping Pidge from finding out what happened to her family. But the secrets she’s keeping from her friend Keith on top of the unwanted attention of an Altean prisoner-of-war are definitely...slowing her down - somewhat Gen, everyone’s an alien AU

Living Nightmare (1892) - Lance's isolation doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon, even if he's out of solitary confinement - outtake of Fatalistic Daydream, technically gen

Frog Pond* (~3000) - Lance kisses a frog on a dare - modern/fantasy AU

Water Rescue (19229) - They start as strangers, but one day they may grow to be something more...familiar - fantasy AU inspired by @rueitae‘s Seasons of Magic

Dip* (~400) - They dance - canon compliant (?)

Sleep Cute* (~450) - Sleepy cuddles - canon compliant (?)

Tidal Lockdown (20937) - An ex-rebel enlists Pidge and Lance to find her missing grandson, but on a planet populated by criminals and where the sun never sets, they can only trust each other... - canon compliant (?)

Double Life (2312) - By day, they’re a secretive criminal-entrapping hacker and her minion; by night, they’re a flashy magician - excuse me, escape artist - and his ‘brilliant’ assistant - modern AU

Spellbound* (~3500) - urban fantasy AU

scaled to size (14747) - Lance returns to Altea triumphant, claiming to have slain a fearsome dragon and intent on collecting his reward from Prince Lotor. But not all is what it seems... / Or: The tale of how Lance survived a dragon despite leaving his heart behind - fantasy AU featuring dragon!Pidge

a prince, missing* (~7000) - Lance is a kidnapped prince and Pidge is his reluctant bodyguard - fantasy AU

a small step and a giant leap (47005, WIP) - Lance wakes when he shouldn’t to an angel of death standing over him. / It’s a first, but it won’t be the last - vague fantasy/modern AU

Full Circle (10275) - “I’m happy to be back, but I kind of don’t want to be.” / Lance, surprised, stared at Pidge. “What do you mean?” / “It feels like the end, doesn’t it? We’re back on Earth - back where we started - and it feels like we’ve come full circle.” / “Yeah, but circles just keep going, don’t they?” / Or, Lance and Pidge return to where they started, but it will never be the same again - canon divergent

Breakfast Date* (~600) - post-canon

(don’t) call an ambulance* (~3700) - modern/mafia AU

Final Lifeline (14466) - Pidge always plays to win, but this time the odds are not in her favor. / And if she loses, Lance may get worse than being fed to the Snick... - canon divergent

Misfortune Favors the Brave (26492, WIP) - Foreknowledge of a death doesn't make it any easier to prevent, but Lance is determined to try. / Even if it means breaking Pidge's heart. - canon divergent

Found and Lost* (~4800) - post-apocalyptic AU featuring android!Pidge

why not?* (~100) - drabble

Dueling Hearts (36213) - The king of a planet that Voltron is attempting to sway to the Coalition misinterprets the nature of Lance’s relationship with Pidge…and promptly challenges him to a duel for her hand in marriage. Lance accepts immediately, much to his teammates’ (especially Pidge’s) mortification. The only problem? Lance still hasn’t figured out how to unlock his bayard’s broadsword form at will - canon divergent

And Everything Was Fine (6416) - Pidge finds the reality where everything turned out fine; needless to say, she’s pissed - mostly Gen, mild post-canon fix-it

No Sky Like Home (6808) - Pidge hesitates to say yes when Lance asks her on a date - post-canon

plance fics in collaboration: 3

And now the fics i did in collaboration

Smack, Kiss, Fall in Love (19589 / 2) - Pidge was only at the Garrison to find her family, not her soulmate. Lance had always had a picture of a his 'perfect' soulmate in mind. / ...until reality smacks them both - soulmate AU in canon done round robin-style with @hailqiqi

To Sail, To Break, To Earn (10268 / 3, WIP) - Cursed by the witch Haggar, Lance, with the crew of the Blade of Marmora, sails the sea and preys on Zarkon's fleet. They are confined to the waves and forbidden from dropping anchor at port. But the deadline draws nearer, when they'll become the soulless servants of the same emperor they forswore, unless they rejoin Zarkon willingly...or earn the heart of a mermaid - in collaboration with @rueitae

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like A Christmas Carol (14384 / 3, WIP) - Lance is no Scrooge, but when he gives up a family vacation and declines an invitation to his friends' holiday gathering, he finds himself the target of a ghostly intervention. / It's a tale as old as time...or as old as the nineteenth century, and if Lance doesn't learn his lesson, he just might be forgotten - post-canon, in collaboration with @hailqiqi and @rueitae

plance fics, collected:

I’m cheating on this one. Referring to my collection Strangeness and Charm, from about Chapter 48 onward are the 2018 chapters. Last year’s word count was 73407 and this year’s word count is (with the exception of some fic saved as chapters not yet posted) 200794. here are the longer/more notable (in my opinion at least) samples that probably should’ve been posted separately:

Future (~6000) - prompted historical/arranged marriage AU

Captive (~5200) - moderately gen AU where Pidge, Lance, and Hunk are captured by pirates

Another Time (~3700) - reincarnation AU in conjunction with canon

Masquerade* (~1300) - super tease-y fantasy AU and if you don’t have the song from Phantom of the Opera stuck in your head from just reading that title i envy you

Tease (~800) - “If you love it so much then why don’t you marry it?” - canon compliant

A Pirate’s Life for Me (~4000) - Pidge is captured by space pirates - canon compliant

Absence Makes the Heart Grow (Fonder) (~7200) - Pidge finds Lance on Earth - canon divergent AU that was hilariously accurate in retrospect

like a masochistic moth to dragonflame (~3200) - the aftermath of the battle against the Coranic Dragon - piklavar, Monsters & Mana AU

Steal to Save (~800) - Pidge “loses” her glasses - canon compliant

to trust a thief (~3800) - followup to other piklavar fic

Deadline (~1000) - Stressful countdown to Lance confessing - canon compliant

Glint of Silver (~5200) - Pidge’s double life just might endanger her werewolf roommate - roommates/urban fantasy AU

masks for two* (1500) - Lady Katie learns she and her fiance have more in common than expected - historical/thieves AU

Bad Press* (~1500) - It’s not easy pretending to date your celebrity friend - fake dating AU

a personal mission* (~780) - Lance is on a mission - canon compliant (?)

the eve of it all* (~1800) - Lance stands Pidge up on game night - season eight fix-it, canon divergent

okay that ended up being way longer than i expected...

BREAKDOWN:

Ship breakdown:

plance wins so easily it’s not even funny. oddly enough considering my current feelings on the pairing Allura/Lance takes second place (though only by very weak implication in one case and...by a very wide margin). and then there are the other mostly implied (Allura/Lotor, Keith/Matt) that occur once each plus an Allura/Keith fic and a gen fic that’s also technically Krolia/Keith’s dad

and then there’s my apparent thing for Hunk bonding with birds

Character breakdown:

Pidge and Lance because *jazz hands* plance. i suppose Hunk and Allura may be split for third place

Characters that had the main focus:

*sweats* hilariously i think it might be...Lance?? i feel like many of my longer fics (whether one-shots or multichapter) end up in his point of view, notably a small step and Misfortune. Pidge is an easy second place though, and which of the two i favor changes. Pidge is, in a sense, a little easier to write but Lance, depending on the tone i’m going for, can be wild fun because he’s so ridiculous sometimes

SPECIFICS:

Best title?

uh...i’m capable of having decent titles?? thing is, my titles tend to be on the nose or else something i forget i need till the point i’m posting a fic, but i like Everywhere Cats partly because it was very much inspired by a simple children’s song i remember my sister playing when she first started learning piano. i also like Facing Reality as a title because of the word play i can be clever

...okay i’m going to stop here because i keep looking back and realizing i like more of those than i thought i did

Worst title?

many of them are so...plain that i’m not sure i can pick just one. sure, they tell you what the story is about, but there’s nothing hidden in them...they’re so bland. throw a dart at a board with all my one-word titles and you’ll probably hit something

Best first line?

let’s go with a masochistic moth to dragonflame:

Pike is smitten the moment he sees her, and it only grows worse when the words family heirloom cross her lips.

Worst first line?

i think my first lines in general are...decent?? nothing spectacular, just meant to convey what’s going on and why it’s important (or that’s what i try to do at least), but out of laziness i’m going with the one from Everywhere Cats:

Hunk settled his helmet onto his head as he walked into the Yellow Lion’s hangar, feeling wonderfully light at the prospect of this mission.

Best last line?

Adrift made me so emotional when i was writing it that i have to use this one:

“Love,” [Krolia] said, “can you turn off the lights? I’m showing Keith the stars.”

Worst last line?

i tend to end my fics rather abruptly (i really really hate unnecessary bits tacked on when everything is pretty much resolved) and/or on dialogue and i’m usually thoughtful of how i end it so i’m not even gonna skim through the rest of my fics because this one from Assassins is just so boring:

She followed General Sahr inside, and this time both Coran and Lotor came with her.

GENERAL:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

yes, yes i did. also looking back at last year’s list i didn’t even get any of the goals i set accomplished...whoops??

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

uh...Keith/Matt i guess?? maybe Allura/Lance too because i really don’t like that pairing now (though i used to be indifferent or else somewhat like it) so it’s like a retrospective “well i can’t believe i managed to write them as a romantic pairing”

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

always will i answer this question with scaled to size because it actually does make me happy, especially thinking of all the pain and suffering i’m only somewhat exaggerating i went through while conceiving of it thanks to a computer mishap (and, tbh, my own neglect), and ultimately all it took to revive it was a timely prompt from the Pidgance Positivity Discord and dare i say it ended up far better than planned??

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

on ao3 by kudos and excluding my collection that’s Smack, Kiss, Fall in Love (i can’t tell if it’s the magic of collaborating with someone like @hailqiqi or the allure of a soulmate AU or a fic with that many chapters). most by comments/bookmarks and second most by kudos is Dueling Hearts.

by notes on tumblr would be Sleep Cute

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

oh gosh i don’t know. throw a dart at my gen fics and you’ll probably hit one?? or else To Sail, To Break, To Earn, my collaboration with @rueitae, could use lots more love i thought you guys liked mermaids

Story that could have been better?

all of them??

Sexiest story?

uh well i’ve never posted anything more explicit than simple foreplay so i suppose that would be Final Lifeline but i also want to make note of like a masochistic moth to dragonflame because i think i did well with a touch of Unresolved Sexual Tension and Bad Press was almost candid about that sort of thing and Lance almost propositioned Pidge by accident

Saddest story?

it’s probably a toss-up between Final Lifeline (major character death on top of a possible awful future), Misfortune (predicted character death), and a small step (they can’t really be together)

Most fun?

Bad Press was a riot while i was working on it. Everywhere Cats was a lot of fun too, as was scaled to size (though tbh i have fun writing a vast majority of my fics...)

Story with single sweetest moment?

nothing really stands out to me at the moment so this is mostly a cop-out (and Pidge and Lance are at their best when they’re teasing each other anyway) from scaled to size:

“Is there…any room for the brave and dashing knight that rescued you in that future?” Lance whispered.

“Maybe, if you find him.”

“Hey!” Lance exclaimed, pulling away from him slightly.

Pidge snickered and wrapped her arms around his neck. “But there’s room for the brave boy that grew into his too-big britches.”

“Yes, but I’m a knight now too,” Lance pointed out.

“Should I call you Sir Lance now?” Pidge raised an eyebrow while one of her hands wandered into his hair and pulled his head down. “But I think I like Lance better…”

Their noses brushed, and Pidge’s warm breath caressed his face.

Lance’s eyes slid shut when he kissed her.

Hardest story to write?

most likely Displaced because i’m not really into Keith/Matt as a romantic pairing (and it ended up more gen anyway) and i wasn’t really enamored by the idea so i was mostly just trying to wrap up what i had without getting into the concept too much

Easiest/most fun story to write?

the night i bolted out of bed possessed by a spark of inspiration thanks to this art to hammer out Masquerade will forever live in infamy

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

i don’t think so??

Most overdue story?

scaled to size if only because of the frustration i associate with its inception ;_;

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

collaborations, for one, not that it’s especially risky, but i’d never done one so that was fun!! Smack, Kiss, Fall in Love oddly enough validated by typical “write on impulse” style though...

for another, i published a fic in a zine!! also i participated in a Bang and a gift exchange, neither of which i’d done before

also posting the start of a multichapter fic not yet finished is a risk that hasn’t quite payed off yet *sweats*

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

no idea. i’m decidedly not a very goal-oriented person, but for now i think i’ll keep it simple and finish my four dubiously active WIPs, write something amazing for the Plance Mini Bang (which i’m also mod-ing oh boy), and outline as often as possible to ease the writing

#qna #reem writes fic #...yikes this is long #and i got really lazy at the end and put less thought into those last questions

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thepackwantsthed · 6 years

Note

OMG PLEASE please do a part 4 of Lance and James meeting again! Your story is amazing (///▽///)

I’m glad you’re enjoying!!!

You ended up being like the third person to ask for part four, so what about part six instead? The end of part five technically happens…during this one? But we’ll ignore that.

Also this kinda ignores that the Paladins appear to attack Sendak like…immediately? But honestly, they GAVE SHIRO AN ARM? There had to be days/hours before Pidge set up things with Sendak’s memories, time for them to interrogate the memories, they had to set up the surgery, days of planning for the mission for Hunks parents, the actual day of the surgery, an admittedly short adjustment time for Shiro, and then time to do more than just say “the plan is for you all to fucking astral project into your lions.”

ALSO SLIGHTLY NSFW. It’s vague and NOT explicit, but it’s there. Hence the read more

Part Five | AO3 Link

They get back to the Garrison and Griffin watches as Lance collapses in front of his family, watches as they fold him into their arms. It brings a smile to his face, because he knows how desperate he was to see Lance and he knows his family is feeling that but ten times more intense.

Still, Lance’s mother looks up from her son’s body after a moment and finds him. She gives him a look, one that he knows is telling him to join them.

Griffin appreciates the offer, but he shakes his head and gestures to his cruiser which the Princess and Shiro are stepping out of. He still has work to do. He can’t stop just to join in a reunion. If he did, he’d probably get thrown off any mission relating to the Paladins for the rest of the war and that was the last thing he needed.

Things are not perfect. The Paladins are soldiers, but it becomes rapidly apparently that they aren’t Garrison cadets anymore, not Garrison soldiers. There are clashes in their chains of command. The Paladins defer to Princess Allura and Shiro for their plans, but Keith in the field and ultimately it’s Lance responsible for making sure that the plans are carried through. Hunk and Pidge seem to be the only ones that are really followers, but even then the two of them step into the foreground when it comes to their areas of expertise.

They have little respect or patience for the Garrison’s way of doing things.

It causes some tension.

But Griffin and Lance do their best not to let it effect them outside of command meetings or the missions they end up on.

Instead they spend their free time trying to relearn how to be together, trying to remember what it’s like to be with each other instead of galaxies apart.

Lance tells stories of space, of Arusians trying to sacrifice themselves to the Altean Princess and mermaids and castles trying to kill him, and Griffin tells him about senior year at the garrison, about flying Altean tech, about life on Earth now that the Galra have taken over. Lance tells Griffin about the year he’d spent flirting with anything and anyone he saw because thinking about Griffin hurt so much, about the three years of time he’s missed, about the year and a half they spent trying to get back to Earth and how Lance thought about him each day. Griffin tells Lance about waiting for him for five years, about the moments when his friends encouraged him to move on and the moments when everything seemed so distant that Griffin almost gave in to blind days and hook-ups before remembering nothing would be the same if it wasn’t with Lance.

They begin to learn the new things about each other and remember the little things they forgot. Griffin remembers Lance’s love of garlic knots when he whines about their not being any in the Garrison and how he desperately wants one, remembers how lazy and touch-y Lance gets when he’s sleepy, remembers how much Lance likes the small difference in their heights and how he loves tucking Griffin up against him. He learns how Lance has learned to focus over the years, learns how Lance now speaks in a bizarre mixture of English and Spanish and Altean, learns how Lance has come to treasure every bit of shampoo and conditioner and lotion that he gets his hand on and how he’ll make it last as long as possible.

Griffin relearns the feeling of Lance’s hand in his, the same warmth but with more callouses on his fingers from triggers that he’d pulled. Griffin relearns the feeling of Lance’s arms wrapping around him, the same positions as always but his arms broader and his hold a little tighter now. Griffin relearns the feeling of Lance’s lips against his, soft and chapped like they were as teenagers but the kisses growing more confident as they remember that they’ve waited years for each other and there’s no reason to hesitate the way they did before.

They’d had a sex life at the Garrison, but not much of one considering they both roomed with two other people. It was harder to manage to get two people out of a room than just one. So when that starts up again, rather quickly after their reunion if Griffin’s being honest, it’s less about the old and more about the new. Things are slow and awkward going, because they’re both essentially seventeen year olds when it comes to sex, but eventually they grow more comfortable. Griffin learns how Lance’s hip bones feel under his fingertips, held in one place. He learns how Lance’s forehead feels pressed between his shoulder blades, his breath ghosting against Griffin’s skin as he presses in to him. He learns how Lance’s thighs feel under his fingers as Griffin’s nails dig into his skin, trying to deal with the slow tease of Lance sliding down. He learns how it feels when they collapse together, sweaty and messy but content to spend a few minutes in each other’s arms.

It’s not the same as it was when they were seventeen. They aren’t the boys that they were back then, they’ve both changed too much for their relationship to be the way it was then. Griffin misses those days sometimes, misses how much easier things were, but he loves the way things are now and he knows that their relationship is better now than it was before.

In the minutes before they all leave to destroy the Zaiforge cannons, Griffin makes his way to Lance and Veronica.

“Lance,” he calls out, catching Lance’s attention before his boyfriend can get into the vehicle. Lance turns. When he sees Griffin coming towards him, he hops back down and meets Griffin halfway.

“Hey,” Lance greets when they’ve reached each other. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to say bye, since I didn’t get to say it last time.”

“I’m not disappearing like I did last time,” Lance points out. Griffin knows that Lance’s word isn’t enough to ensure that something won’t happen to him, but it still soothes something in his soul. “I’m going to go to base one, get Red, and destroy my cannon. You’ll drop Keith off at his base, meet up with your team, and destroy your cannon. Then we’ll meet back here.”

“I hope so,” Griffin said. And then he leaned forward, bringing them closer together so that he could brush their lips together. He stayed close to Lance for a moment after the kiss, murmured, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Lance returned, leaning in for another kiss.

They rested their foreheads together afterwards, sharing a quiet moment.

After a few seconds, Griffin took a deep breath and leaned backwards.

“Alright,” he said. “Time to save the god damn world.”

Lance let out a laugh, nodding in agreement.

Predictably, things don’t go the way they plan.

Part Seven

#voltron #lance mcclain #james griffin #lance x griffin #griffance #jance #i've seen?#i dunno i tend to refer to him as griffin instead of james so i dont use that one #there's probably going to be one more part after this if people want it?? maybe an eighth #there's definitely a 1.5 since i have a request for something #asks #anonymous

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feathersnow · 6 years

Text

Who is Katie Holt?

This was inspired by this post by @pixiesstolemyapples and all the comments in the notes. Also special thanks to @wolfie-dragon-rider for coming up with the a specific idea. Summary: Takes place in The Feud episode. What happens when Lance gets a picture of a girl with long brown hair in a purple dress. Does he remember her name? (A03 link) A/N: Prepare for lots of laughter.

Lance thought that the game of guessing the faces of the past on the Garfel Warfel Snick was going to be easy as pie. But boy, he was so wrong.

“Alright Lance, here’s your next mystery face of the past,”

The pictures of faces flashed on the screen. As the music slowed, so did the pictures. Kolivan… Blaytz….. Salv….Shay……

Olia….

a Galran….

A cute mermaid girl..

Sal….

A robot

Laika

“Wait Pidge?” the paladin blurted out in confusion seeing his green teammate on on the board. “Why would she be on…. Oh,”

At the last second , the picture quickly changed to a human girl with long brown hair. She had matching hazel eyes as well. The girl was donned in a purple dress , a purple hairband in her hair, and had a beautiful smile on her face.

And Lance was speechless.

“Alright Lance, do you think you know her?” asked Bob breaking his thoughts.

“Ooh I know her,” said Lance shutting his eyes tight in concentrate. “She looks very familiar,”

“Yes, you have met her,” said Bob.

“I should know her from somewhere…”

“You know her very well,” the host of the show stressed

Lance tried to wreck his brain and ground his teeth with concentration. There were so many ladies he had met. This girl was human like him. He must have met her before Voltron and before they went into space. He must’ve met her in the Garrison.

“She was probably in my class,” he mumbled filtering every female classmate in his brain.

If not in his class, maybe before the Garrison.

The was so wrapped up in his thoughts he failed to see his teammates pointing to a particular person in the group.

But Bob had said he knows her very well..Is she close to him?

If she was close to him, why can’t he remember her name?

The boy broke out int a cold sweat.

“Annnnd times up,” Bob announced. The crowd let out a disappointed groan. “Her name is Katie Holt,”

Lance blinked and turned to Pidge and then to the host of the game.

And then to the picture of the girl on the screen.

“Wait, does Matt have another sister or something?”

Back in space, the sleepy paladins were woken up by an alarm clock blaring loudly.

Hunk was the first one to wake up. He looked around and let out a sigh of relief “Hey guys I just kinda dozed off for a second and had this craziest dream,” he announced.

“Garfel Warfel and Snick?” asked Pidge. Hunk gasped “No way…”

“You guys saw that too?” asked Keith “So does that mean Bob is real?”

“Bob,” Coran’s voice piped up in the intercom, “did you just meet Bob?’

“Coran, do you know him?” Allura asked.

“I’ve never met him myself,” said the Altean “but I’ve heard tales. He’s all powerful all knowing interdimentional being who judges the greatness of warriors.”

“Wait, wait, if we all had the same dream, I need to ask you all something,” Lance said. “Does anyone know who the heck is Katie Holt?”

There was dead silence greeting him back. It was as silent as the vacuum of space outside their lions.

“Um, guys?”

Hunk was the first to break the silence. By bursting out laughing. His laughter echoed thoughout the five lions.

“Uh… Lance?” That was Shiro’s voice filled with concern.

“Lance, are you serious?” Keith asked.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Allura.

“Oh boy this is too good,” the Yellow Paladin bellowed. “Oh my gosh, I think I’m crying,” “Guys! Knock it off ! Seriously!” Lance growled “I need help. Pidge! Do you have another sibling or family member I don’t know of?”

Everyone waited patiently for the Green Paladin’s answer.

“Maybe,” she said, her voice filled with amusement.

“Lance I can’t believe you,” Allura scolded.

“Wait how do you know her Allura? Have you met her?”

“Lance, we all know her,” Keith said, stressing his voice.

“Oh yeah, Matt talks about her all the time,” Hunk chuckled. “Pidge should we tell him?”

“Nah, let him figure it out by himself,”

“Why are you guys so mean?” The Cuban boy screeched.

“You’re the one who can’t remember,” Keith countered back.

The princess sighed. “Lance I’m very disappointed with you,”

“Please help me jog my memory guys,” he pleaded. “How long have I known her? Pidge, when did I meet her?”

The Green Paladin hummed as she thought. This caused Lance to be anxious. Because the longer she hums, the more he felt judged.

“I can say you had met her at the Garrison,” said Shiro helpfully, “She was in your class,”

“Yeah, and she is like super smart,” Hunk added.

Lance looked up at the ceiling, “If I did know her, why didn’t I recognise her in that weird dream?”

“Lance, you’re overthinking it,” Shiro advised gently. Pidge chuckled.

“Maybe..,” the Blue Paladin sighed. “It might take a while to jog my memory. She does look pretty and I wouldn’t mind going out with her,”

“OH wow,” Hunk said loudly. “I-I mean wow, you would ask her out?”

“Totally.” Lance smiled “Pidge when we get back to home, you got to introduce me to her,”

“Hey Pidge…Hello? You there?”

Pidge groaned and tossed to the other side of her make shift bed. She squeezed her eyes shup and opened them.

“Pidge, are you awake?”

“I am now,” she mumbled getting up. “What’s up Lance?”

“I ,uh, need to talk to you,” his voice sounded small. Pidge got worried.

“Give me a sec,” she replied, as she put on her glasses and walked out to the control room.

Once she was there, she turned on the camera to see an upset Lance in his pyjamas. He was looking anywhere except directly into the camera.

“Lance, is something wrong?”

He looked up for a second before breaking eye contact and casting his gaze to the floor.

“Lance?”

“I can’t believe I’m such an idiot,” he groaned bending forward and placing both of his hands on his head.

The girl’s mouth parted and she smiled.

“Aww, you did remember,”

“I am so sorry Katie,” he apologized looking at her “ I mean, I knew Pidge wasn’t your real name, and Matt had spoke about you many times-“

The Green Paladin chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. It’s all fine. I guess it’s because I’m just used to be referring to Pidge all the time. And, you haven’t seen me in my long hair before since I had cut it before the Garrison,”

“But there was a photo of you with your brother,” he mumbled.

“I think you’ve only seen it once or twice,” Pidge said reassuringly.

“Were you … disaapointed?”

Pidge’s heart stopped. “What to you mean?”

“Were you disappointed that I couldn’t have guessed you?”

Pidge pulled up her legs onto her seat, sitting cross legged. “A little,” she admitted. “But it was much more amusing to see you trying to figure it out,”

Lance groaned, burying his head into his hands, “I feel so humiliated,”

“Are you disappointed?”

Lance lifted his head “What?”

Pidge hugged her knees and looked away. “Are you disappointed that I’m the Katie Holt instead of some other famiy member?”

“What? No!!” he blurted “I wouldn’t have anyone else but you,”

The girls’ eyes widened.

“You’re amazing, intelligent and such a brave person. You pretended to be a boy to find your family. And now you are flying out in space and a paladin of Voltron with us and saving the universe. You’re the first and only human to go to travel the whole universe, battled aliens and spaceships.I mean, you’re an amazing girl.”

Her cheeks flushed with warmth and colour.

Lance realized what he had said and ducked his head. “Plus,”he added sounding a little more quieter. He raised a hand to his neck “ Katie is a beautiful name and it really suites you,”

Beautiful. He said her name was beautiful.

“You should really grow out your hair,”

Pidge’s touched her short frizzy hair. “I’ll try,”

The boy took a deep breath and looked at hair. “So, Katie Holt. Once we return to Earth, would you like to go grab coffee with me or something?”

Her heart was filled with warmth. She smiled.

“Totally,”

#plance #pidge gunderson #pidgance #katie holt #lance mcclain #voltron #my fic

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grigsby-writes · 6 years

Text

Silver Lining: Chapter 3

"So..." Lance broke the silence over the radios, curling into Kaltenecker's warm body.

"Go to sleep, Lance." Pidge groaned from her own lion. Matt was asleep in the corner of the cockpit, while she slumped in her chair.

Lance quieted down for the fifth time that night. The other paladins tried to close their eyes and sleep, hoping to at least get something out of their delay. Unfortunately, it was futile. Shiro could only stare at the dark ceiling of his former lion, trying to sort his thoughts. Krolia had retreated to one of the storage areas in the lion to sleep, while Keith sat upright, completely awake, in his pilot's seat. The other lions had a similar situation. The world was was quiet except for the soft breathing of sleeping people.

"Are you guys also having trouble sleeping?"

"Lance!" The paladins whisper-screamed in unison.

A few more seconds of silence before another voice breaks it.

"Yeah... I can't sleep either." Hunk says quietly, trying to be more considerate than Lance.

"You guys wanna do something?" Lance asks in response.

"What exactly do you propose? We're in completely different ships." Pidge points out as she spread her legs out onto the armrest of her seat.

"Okay, now you've got me up. What's happening?" Allura yawns.

Shiro listens in on their sleepy exchange, Keith doesn't do much more than lazily gaze into the dark screen of his lion.

Lance sits up straight, pounding his fist into his palm in thought, "20 questions!"

"Oh, god, no," Keith groans, "That's going to take forever to finish."

"Well, hello, Leader Keith," Lance teases the black paladin. "Will you be joining us?"

"Make it five questions and I'll play along."

"Deal."

"Who's even awake?" Pidge asks, yawning. "Say your name or something, I'm too tired to figure out voices."

"Allura."

"Hunk."

"The most gorgeous and bes-"

"Keith," He paused and looked back at Shiro, "You playing Shiro?"

"Yeah, sure." He answered, a bit loud considering there were sleeping people around him.

"First question! Everyone answers, least favorite thing about space?" Lance starts off, cheerfully perking up and waiting for answers.

"The food goo,"Hunk answer quickly, if not a bit sheepishly.

"Unreliable internet."

"But Pidge, the lions and castle both have internet connection and web access."

"Yeah, but not every quadrant or planet has a steady connection..."

Allura rolled her eyes, "I don't like how only Coran, and now Romelle, are the only alteans."

There was a shocked silence.

"You okay, Allura?" Lance asked tentatively.

"I'm fine."

"Moving on... I don't like that it all looks the same."

Pidge was quick to respond to Lance's answer. "But every star system is different. New constellations, planets, gas and rock formations. Color burst and asteroid fields, Lance space is constatly changing. It does not all look the same."

"Fine, be all scientific about it," He crossed his arms, "Just saying..."

"I hate that there's a war going on." Keith stated bluntly. The paladins were silent for another moment , realizing the point in awe.

"Yeah... I have to go with Keith on this one." Shiro said, finally contributing.

The paladins nodded along in silent agreement.

Hunk gave the next question, "Favorite alien we've met?"

"If you guys don't say me..." Allura growled.

"Aside from Allura and Coran and Romelle, who are obviously our favorites." Hunk was quick to right his mistake. "Mine's Shay."

"My mom, Krolia."

"That was a no-brainer," Pidge pondered their own choice, "Rover."

"Rover's not an alien, Pidge." Lance argued, "And he's not even worki-"

"Lance..." Shiro warned, like the true dad he was, "Lay off."

"Fine. I liked the mermaids, they were fun."

"Fun?" Pidge inquired.

"Fuck off, Pidge."

"I quite like all of you, and to me you guys count as aliens." Allura said, voice quiet, as if to remind Pidge and Lance that their loud voices were going to wake up their companions.

"Aww, thanks Allura," Lance's voice was a suave, flirting tone, though it was good natured.

Allura groaned, "I already regret saying that."

"What about you, Shiro?"

"There's too many to choose."

"That's not an answer!" Lance exclaimed, "You have to pick."

"The majority of aliens I've met have been trying to kill me, and the remaining were either chosen by you guys already, or were annoying." Shiro paused, "So there."

"Whatever." He grumbled. "Favorite out of all of the ones awake, like who do like best?" Lance continued, his voice peaking with arrogance, obviously fishing for a compliment.

No one raced to answer.

"That's like asking a parent to choose their favorite kid." Shiro stated simply, "You can't ask that and get an answer."

"Spoken like a true father." Pidge said in exaggerated wisdom.

"Do you really think of us as your kids?" Hunk awwed, "We're like a big space family."

"I wouldn't say that... I'm not a father..."

"C'mon, you're like that most father figure-y person we know." Hunk continued, his voice a joking tone. "We've said this before."

Keith turned around in his chair to look at Shiro, "You kind of are."

Shiro gave a wholehearted dad laugh, "I'm not that much older than you guys."

"Denial is the first stage." Allura joined in, "Soon you'll be joining Coran in the elderly person club."

"What about Krolia?" He asked, "Doesn't she count for anything?"

"Psh," Pidge scoffed, "Have you seen Krolia? She's too hot to be a mom, she could be like seventeen and I wouldn't be surprised- no offense Keith."

A faint blush of embarrassment crosses Keith's face, barely visible in the darkness. "Do a different question, please."

"Hunk's my favorite," Pidge ignores Keith, "He make us food, that bumpps him ahead of all ofthe rest of you."

"What are you humans excited, or nervous about going back to Earth?" Allura answered Keith wishes and asked a new question. It was met with a stony silence.

The paladins thought.

Shiro's mind buzzed with surfacing emotions and memories that had been knotting his stomach for this entire journey. he hadn't been on Earth for nearly two years, not including the day he had returned for. It scared him to think of what could've changed, and what change was yet to come. When he returned- when all of them returned -no longer would they be students at the Garrison. No longer would they be normal people. The paladins had traveled deeper in space than any other human. The paladins brought news of war and pain that Earth would otherwise be oblivious to. But what about Adam?

Shiro sucked in a s harp breath at the idea of seeing him again. Anxiety and excitement. Their fighting before he had left was petty, not something they normally did. And just the prospect of being able to see him again made Shiro's heart swell. But fear tugged at him. Because what if Adam had moved on and really not waited for him? What if when Adam saw him again, Shiro would be a different person, one that Adam decided he no longer loved? What if they were too late and the Galra had already come and destroy Ear-

Lance spoke, interrupting Shiro's panicked thoughts. "I want to see my family again. My mom, and dad, and siblings, cousins, and- and all of them." Shiro noticed how Lance's voice broke slightly, dragged down by homesickness.

"My mom," Pidge said quickly, "She lost all of us, and I just want to give her a hug."

Another silence, one where the radio simply buzzed with static. It allowed Shiro to try and collect his thoughts.

"I can't wait to eat my parents' cooking again. And to feel the sun, even if it's the flaming desert sun." Hunk's tone was warm and forced , like he was keeping himself thinking about all of it in a good light. Like it was the future instead of the past.

And they waited. Shiro looked at Keith, who faced him now, though Keith only stared at the floor. Shiro could tell that Keith was thinking about his dad. He knew the boy well enough to recognize the pained glint in his eyes. Mournful and reflecting. As if Keith could only think of how horrible it was that his dad was gone. As if that was the only thing he could think about. Shiro could also see that Keith could only think about his dad when he thought about Earth. That Keith thought that he had nothing else to look forward to besides seeing his dad's grave again.

Shiro answered before Keith, hoping to give him a chance to think about something besides the negative. "My fiance, and the garrison."

A pause before Lance yelled, "You have a fiance, and you never told us!!"

"I mean, it's not like it was a secret..." Pidge pointed out. "Keith and I knew, plus Hunk sort of caught on."

"Sorry, what's a fiance exactly?" Allura asked.

"Like a stage between being married, you know what human marriage is right, and just being romantic partners. It's kind of unnecessary to call it something different."

"Why am I the only one to never pick up on these things?" Lance complained, a bit too loudly.

"Lance, it's not that big a deal..." Shiro said awkwardly.

"I didn't notice that Pidge was a girl, I didn't notice that Keith had tried to be not a jerk, I didn't notice when Hunk's cookies were burning, and now this. How oblivious am I?"

"Pretty oblivious," Hunk answered the rhetorical question lightly.

"What about you Keith?" Allura moved the conversation along.

"Oh, uh..." He looked surprised, not quite expecting to be noticed. "I want to see my knife collection again."

"Why am I even surprised?" Lance groaned.

{First}

[Last] <<~~>> [Next]

_____

Cross published on Wattpad

#adashi #shadam #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #fanfiction #fanfic #voltron fanfiction #shiro #takashi shirogane #adam #adam (voltron)#shiro vld #adam vld #drabble #borderline shit post

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somegoodsheith · 6 years

Text

Out of Breath (sheith fic)

Summary: AU. Keith and his friends go to the beach, despite Keith’s rather sour mood. However, he finds his mood turning to a sweeter direction, when he sets his eyes upon a very handsome lifeguard.

Ship: Shiro/Keith

Rating: M for swearing, just to be safe.

So here it is! The very first fic I’m publishing in my life as a never-publishing kind of writer (it’s still nerve-wrecking... :o ).

I hope you guys’d like it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Likes and comments would be appreciated (pretty please)~ ♥ :>

The second I answer my phone, I regret it.

It’s Sunday morning. I should have kept on sleeping. I should have ignored my phone completely or just hung up on whoever that is.

But no. I had to answer it.

And you know what’s even more irritating? Having Lance’s voice screaming into my ear at fucking nine on a fucking Sunday morning.

“Keith! Get up! We’re already outside in the car!” Lance’s voice is practically screeching through the phone. “Did you get your bag ready?! We gotta go! There’s a long ride before us.”

I curse under my breath. “Fine! Fine. I’m up. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“You better be!” With that, Lance hangs up.

I groan loudly and finally get up to quickly brush my teeth and take the only few things I need in a simple bag.

A towel. Sunscreen. A bottle of water. First aid kit. My wallet. A book.

My phone - I put in the swimming trunks’ pocket. The headphones go around my neck, like I always put them.

I put my sunglasses on and lock my apartment behind me. Why the hell is it so bright today?

“Look who decided to finally show up!” Lance shouts at me once again after he rolls the window down. “Good morning, sleepy-face. Or should I say - sleepy hair. You look like a hurricane got you out of bed, man.”

“Seriously? Sleepy hair? That's the best you can do?”

“Shut up. Get in the car, bro, we wanna go.”

Hunk is sitting beside him, in the driver’s seat, waving at me with a friendly apologetic smile.

I hate them both at the moment.

I put my bag in the trunk and get in the backseat. The only good thing about this trip is that I have this entire space just for myself.

“Remind me again why I agreed to go with you to the fucking beach,” I huff. I make sure they both hear how annoyed I am.

“Because we’re your awesome friends who take you out to have fun instead of letting you stay in bed all day like a sociopath?” Lance smiles at me through the front mirror. “Besides, it's summer break now! And we all passed our tests! What better way there is to celebrate it than going to the beach, getting some tan done and getting all the hot babes?”

“I don’t get tanned. I get burnt,” I groan again. I completely ignore the “babes” part.

“Well, too bad, because I do get tanned!” Lance says cheekily. “It’s gonna be perfect for my skin.”

“Well, I don’t give a shit.”

“Okay, okay, guys,” Hunk chuckles nervously. “Can we go now? Keith, put your seatbelt please.”

I roll my eyes and buckle up.

With that, and another excited, annoying yelp from Lance, we start the ride. Lance makes sure to connect his phone to the car with the AUX cable, and put his music in full volume.

After a short while of driving, I pull the seat belt away and lie down in the backseat, with my feet against the window and my head on one of Hunk’s bags. I put my headphones on and put my own music loud enough to overcome any other noise, and close my eyes.

Now I can catch up with the sleep they made me miss.

I wake up to the feeling of my legs drop on the seat.

“Keith. Keith, wake up. We’re here.”

I realize that voice is much softer - it must be Hunk. He stands right in front of my feet, after pulling the door open, with the sun on his back and a smile on his face. I pout nonetheless.

After stretching myself and yawning, I put my flip-flops back on my feet and pull myself up. Good thing I still have my sunglasses on, since Hunk decided to move just a moment ago and reveal the huge beam of sunlight right into my eyes.

I lazily get out of the car and stretch again. Hunk and Lance already take their bags out of the truck, and I wait for them to finish - Hunk brought way too much stuff - until I can finally take mine. I can see Lance in the corner of my eye and I only now notice his weird star shaped sunglasses and his Hawaiian flower necklace and I have a feeling he's up to something. It’s just turned eleven in the morning, and it’s a hot, hot summer day. If I was in a better mood, I might’ve enjoyed it. I’m not, so I pout even more.

“Oh, come on, Keith! Stop being such a pain in the butt. Live a little!” Lance puts his arm around my shoulders and I fight myself not to kick his stomach. “You’re already here. You might as well enjoy yourself.” I roll my eyes again and get his arm off of me.

“We'll see about that,” is all I say.

The three of us enter the beach together. Hunk and Lance continue to walk without a care, I stop and sigh with annoyance.

I like the beach, usually. No, actually - “like” isn't the right word. I appreciate it. I think it can be beautiful at times, and the quieter it is, the better.

That's not how the beach is today. It's filled with too many people, who have too many parasols, children and garbage. I can hear loud music and shouts in a farther part of the beach, and I immediately know exactly why Lance was so eager this morning, and why he looks so festive.

I find myself hesitating in going any further, but Hunk is putting his hand on my shoulder and flashes one of his it's gonna be okay smiles. “Sorry we didn't tell you that there's a party here, man. Lance was afraid you'd refuse to come.”

“Well. He wasn't wrong,” I sigh.

“But hey, c’mon, you don't have to go to that party, you know. I'm not going either. Pidge and her brother are here too, we can hang out with them. We can play cards and I brought a ball, and we can go for a swim too. What do you say?”

“And, most importantly - we can bury Lance in sand and make a mermaid outta him,” says a young, female voice on my other side - it's Pidge, who is walking towards us and waves. We wave back, and I can't help but smile, and while Hunk hugs her like he hasn’t seen her in years, I just wrap my free arm around her small shoulders and tap. She does the same.

“Knowing Lance, he wouldn't say no to that,” Hunk chuckles. “What's up, Pidge? Are you here for long?”

“Nah, we got here about thirty minutes ago. We're lucky to have found somewhere to sit.” She says. “But hey, speaking of Lance - where is he?”

“He went on to find us a spot and probably watch some pretty girls on the way.” Hunk shrugs. Like on cue, Lance whistles at us and waves to make us follow him. Behind him we can see Matt, Pidge’s brother, and we already know the spot he “found” is most likely where the Holts are. None of us is surprised.

We all make our way together. I look at the hot sand burst on my feet, until I hear Matt talking to someone. I stop walking and look at them, just out of curiosity, and even though I have my sunglasses on, I move them down a bit.

“Hey, Shiro!” He calls, looking at the lifeguard’s high stand to our left. At first, I can’t clearly see the man he’s talking to since he sits in the shade, and everything else is too bright around him. Then, he gets up and comes into the light.

Suddenly, he’s the one that’s too bright for everything else.

“You’re on duty today, huh? What a shame! The bunch of us ‘re gonna have tons of fun and you’re stuck up there!”

That Shiro guy laughs cynically. “Well at least I’m getting paid for being here!” He calls back with a beautiful smile. “Tell Pidge and your folks I said hi!”

“Our parents aren't here today, but I'll text them! See ya later!” They finally wave at each other, and I can’t help but keep on watching the lifeguard for a few more seconds. He keeps on looking at our direction as well, and suddenly I realize he’s waving at me.

Damn. I must be staring.

I manage to wave back somehow, and practically run away. My face feels so hot and I know it’s not because of the sun. I curse myself for not bringing a hat today either, because now I can't hide how embarrassed I am.

Fuck. I hate me so much.

The day goes much better than I originally expected. I spend most of it with Hunk, Pidge and Matt, if it’s by swimming, building sand castles (and ruining them violently - that’s the best part), or just playing cards. After Lance comes back from the party he was in on the other side of the beach, I kick his ass in a quick volleyball match. His punishment is, of course, to become a sand mermaid. Pidge doesn’t miss the chance to take pictures of everyone and everything around, including me, despite my desperate attempts to avoid her camera.

When I get tired of being with the others, I sit underneath the Holts’ parasol and read the book I brought along with me. At some point Hunk sees me and asks me if I drank some water today, and I automatically say yes.

After a while, I see Matt sitting by the point where the water hits the sand. I think about it for a bit, and then I decide to go and join him. I'm thankful that Pidge, who was with him before, is walking to another direction - now I can talk to him privately.

“Hey…” I stutter. He looks up at me and smiles.

“Hey, Keith! If you're looking for Pidge, she went that other way to look for more seashells.”

“Oh, um… thanks, but I… I wasn't looking for her. I uh… I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Oh?” He asks and blinks a few times. We don't talk too much in private usually, but we do get along. “Okay. Go ahead.”

I sit beside him and pull my knees to my chest. I can feel my heart beating so fast. Fuck. “Um… that… That lifeguard… You know him, right?”

“Who, Shiro? Yeah. We go to the same classes,” Matt smiles. It means he's going to the same college as us. That’s cool. “Why are you asking?”

“Ah - no - no reason. I just, um, saw you talking when we got here and ah… I was just wondering.” I want to punch myself because my cover sounds so weak.

Matt hums. His suggestive smile is both irritating and giving me hope.

My face can't get any redder as I think about what more I can ask. I can't even face Matt now. I just look down like an idiot and do my best not to just shout at him for that stupid smile. “What is he like?...” I finally ask again.

I can hear him hum in thought. “Mmm… Well, he's a really fun guy to be around. There's always stuff to talk about with him and he's always good for laughs. He's very smart, and really nice to others…” he pauses and I'm certain that he's looking right at me. “... and he's both perfectly single and into men.”

My heart skips a beat. I open my mouth, but not much comes out. “Oh. Th-that’s, uh… I mean…”

He laughs at me and taps my back. “Dude, don't be so nervous. I'm sure he's gonna like you, if you try to approach him.”

“R-really?” I whisper.

“Yeah, of course! I'm sure of it. I can even ask him for you, if you want. Or maybe - introduce you?”

“No! No. Don't introduce me. And don't… Don't ask him. I… I'll think about it.” I pause, and finally have the courage to look at Matt again. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” He says. I can see Pidge coming back with her hands filled with seashells, and as much as I like those, I don't want this issue to be spread around. I get up, ask him to keep this talk between us, and after he agrees, I say bye and leave.

From time to time, I look at the Shiro’s stand, which isn’t too far away from us. When I get lucky, I can see his back when he stands and talks to people with his megaphone. I smile whenever I hear him, and then I feel stupid and curse myself for paying a stranger so much attention.

The luckiest I get to be today is when Hunk and I go to buy some ice cream. We pass the lifeguard right in front of his stand, and I almost automatically glance up to look at him. I watch his white bangs blow in the wind, and it's completely pale in comparison to the black undercut he has on the rest of his head; I watch his chest radiating in the sun, and his right arm that's made of metal - and though I know the story of why he has a prosthetic must be hard, I can't help but think how cool it looks on him. I swear I can see something on his nose - a scar maybe? - but his sunglasses are covering most of it. Hunk says something that I can't hear, because at that very moment, the lifeguard is smiling and I swear to God he looks directly at me.

I don't even notice that I smile too, and that my hand is half the way up for a small wave, when suddenly Hunk puts his hand on my shoulder. “Earth to Keith!” he says, and I jump and turn to him. “I know you're busy staring at your new crush, and even though I admit that's adorable ‘cause that never happens, we're still on an important mission here. I want my ice cream!”

“What? I - I don't have a crush!” I say a bit too loudly. I can see by the face that he's making that he doesn't believe me. I pout and cross my arms. “Are we getting ice cream or not?”

“Yes!” Hunk practically drags me away from our spot and on to the little kiosk behind the shopping center.

I still feel warm inside, thinking about what just happened.

I take a nap for a while in the warm side of Pidge and Matt’s parasol, where the sun hits just above me, and the shade is far behind. I do my best to sleep off the slight pain I feel in my head.

I don't dream about anything. It's better that way, I think.

I put the sunscreen on myself again when the afternoon turns into evening. We're here since the morning, but this entire day is actually pretty nice.

When the guys and I go again for a final swim, I go to Lance and poke him with my elbow. “Thanks for… making me come today.” I mumble. I don't look at him directly.

Even without watching, I know Lance's smile is bigger than ever. He's so proud of himself at the moment, his eyes must be screaming I told you so. “That's what friends are for, buddy! I knew you'd thank me in the end.”

“Don't overdo it,” I tell him. “You won't hear me saying it again.”

I do my best to ignore that hellish headache that attacks me.

The water is warm. Too warm for my taste, but I get used to it. The waves aren't peaceful either, but we all have our fun. We splash around and we swim and laugh. We barely notice that we're getting farther away from shore, but we can hear the lifeguard's voice echoing through his megaphone. “The ocean is not quiet. Please come out of the water. I repeat, the water is getting dangerous. Please come back to shore.”

I know I need to go back like the others do, but I see something in the corner of my eye. I turn and see a little girl, who doesn't look older than six, on a surfboard alone a bit further away from me.

Despite the high waves and the tiredness that makes my body hurt, I swim to her and get my hands on her surfboard. “Hey. What’re you doing here? Where‘re your parents?” I ask breathlessly.

She looks at me with those big blue eyes of hers. I can see she does her best not to cry.

“Okay. C’mon. Let's get you to shore, okay? Then we'll look for your parents?”

She nods and I start to swim with her surfboard in front of me. I keep her above the waves as much as I can, but it's getting harder the more we go.

My breaths are too deep. I know it. I feel like puking, too, and my throat is so dry it's hard to swallow. I blink hard - my eyes feel so heavy.

Did I even drink today? I told Hunk I did, but now that I think about it -

I hear someone calling the girl's name - it looks like it's her dad. He takes her to him and thanks me, and us three try to swim back to the beach. But before we know it, the waves are getting stronger, enough to pull me away from that man and his daughter.

The man shouts to me, but I can't really hear what he says.

After that, they’re both gone.

All I hear now are the waves and my breaths - they turned to gasps by now. My head's killing me. I try my best to move, to do something, anything, but I'm too exhausted and distracted from the pain and dizziness and before I know it - the water that hits me takes me down. I somehow manage to swim up to the surface but I can barely draw my breath when another wave comes for me again, and again I'm under the water.

I can't reach the surface anymore.

I can't breathe.

Oh no. Nononononono - ! I don't wanna die I don't wanna die I don't wanna die I don't wanna die I don't want to die like this - I can't die like this, I can't, I can't, I CAN'T -

I C A N ‘ T B R E A - -

My lungs burn with salty water.

Suddenly, my entire body is going numb and heavy. My mouth is open, but I can't make a sound. I can't scream or move. I don't even know what's happening. It's like everything is so… So fucking calm. Like I'm dreaming. Like I'm frozen and my body won't listen to me. And I can somehow acknowledge that my head is lifting up, but I don't know why.

Why is everything so still?

A fragment of one last thought is going through my head:

I didn't even get to talk to Sh -

Then suddenly, everything starts to fade away. Darkness is taking over me, and even the pain is drifting away. My eyes were squeezed shut because of the salty water, but now, I can feel them getting… Soft.

I don't even know when I started sinking, but I can't even think about it now. I can't think about anything…

I'm… I…

The first thing I can feel is something pressed to my mouth. It's… Warm. And it's giving me air.

Then I realize something soft is pinching my nose, and something cold is pressing under my chin.

The breeze is cold, but something is blocking some of it.

I try to think about what's going on but instead I find myself coughing. Water is spilling out of me and my lungs are burning. I try to open my eyes but I'm too tired, and everything is too damn bright.

The warmth on my nose and mouth is gone, and instead, something hard - I think it's made of plastic - is covering them now. It's giving me air, too.

I blink when a voice is talking. Then I notice there's a shadow above me. It's getting clearer a bit, and then more, and then I can see it.

It's Shiro’s face.

He's talking, and I can't really understand what he's saying at first.

“... Keith.”

Oh.

He holds one of his metal fingers in front of my face. “Follow my finger with your eyes, Keith.” His voice is finally clear enough for me to understand and do as he asks. It makes him smile, and I feel a bit proud of that.

He's looking up and talks to someone else, so I get the chance to look at the sky that he was blocking before. It's… Purple and red… Must be evening already. I move my fingers to feel the sand underneath me, but other than that, it's hard to move.

His hand is pressing the oxygen mask on my mouth and nose this entire time. It gives me a bit of comfort.

He leans above me again. His face is so close to mine, I think I’m gonna explode.

His eyes are so beautiful, though, and his scar is, too - it really is a scar, like I thought before.

“Keith. The ambulance is almost here. You must be very confused, but please don't panic. You're safe now.”

I don't understand what it is that I'm safe from because I can't really think properly… But I do know he says my name a lot, and that sounds so good in his voice. I focus on him, or at least I try. I can hear the others - Lance, Hunk and Pidge - somewhere near me, but I can't really turn to them or speak without feeling nauseous or too tired.

I hear a distant sound of sirens. Must be the ambulance Shiro was talking about… I want it to stop making so much noise. My head hurts. My body hurts. Shiro's prosthetic hand is on my mask, and he's so close to me, still speaking to me, but as much as I wanna listen to him all day… I wanna sleep…

Let me sleep… just for a minute...

When I wake up again, I'm lying on something so soft - a bed. I take a deep breath when I open my eyes, but it's hard to see - everything is too bright again. When I can finally open my eyes without feeling any pain, I realize I'm in a hospital. There are a few cables and small tubes connected to me, but the oxygen mask is gone.

I turn my head to see Hunk, Lance, Pidge and Matt sitting beside me.

Hunk notices first. “Hey! Guys, he's awake!” He calls, and everyone is looking at me. They get up and surround me, and I can't help but feel a bit embarrassed.

“Keith, man, how do you feel?” Lance asks, but his voice is too high and strong for me. Pidge notices and nudges him. “Ah. Sorry.” He says, softly this time. “How are you?”

“I'm… ah… A bit thirsty, actually.” I mumble. Matt is going out of the room after that. “Um… I don't really… remember what happened.” I confess.

“Dude. You don't remember? You almost died today!” Lance says loudly again, and I blink at him. “We were all swimming back but you weren't with us. Luckily the awesome lifeguard was there to help you.”

I blink slowly again, trying to think about what he just said, and suddenly it all comes back to me. “Wait. What about the girl?” I ask. “There was a girl on a surfboard with her dad, too… and the water was so strong that it separated us… Are they okay? Did you find them?”

They all look at me like I'm high.

“What are you talking about?” Pidge asks. Her brother comes back into the room with a glass of water and puts it beside me, and I look at him gratefully. “There was no one with us when we swam, and no one came to shore from your direction. It was just us.”

“And what do you mean, the water was strong? It was pretty chill,” Lance adds.

I look at them all confusedly. “B… But… it didn't feel… Chill. It felt like a storm.”

“Well, the one that saw you in time was the lifeguard,” Hunk says, and I can see he tries to hide a smile. I feel my heart jump because of that. “So maybe he can tell us what happened.”

At that moment, there's a knock on the door. I hope for a moment that it's gonna be Shiro and my heart beats so fast I'm sure I'm gonna have a heart attack - but it's just a nurse. I ignore everyone's stare at the heart monitor and thankfully they don't say anything. When she sees I'm awake, she comes to check me up and says she'll call a doctor. She tells the others to get out so the doctor can test me properly, and after they tell me they'll be out in some coffee shop until the doctor finishes, I’m left alone.

When the doctor comes, I ask him what exactly happened to me. “Well,” he says, “you suffered from a heat stroke and as a result, you almost drowned. Luckily for you, the lifeguard managed to notice you just in time. You were actually less than a minute away from irreversible brain damage.”

I gulp hard and look down - I can’t face this half-disappointed half-pitiful expression. “Is… Is that why I thought the water was storming?” My voice is so quiet I can barely hear myself, but I can’t talk more loudly than that. I just can’t. “I mean… my friends told me the water was totally fine and that there was no one there with us… even though I thought I saw someone, so…”

“A powerful enough heat stroke can cause hallucinations, yes. In your case, your heat stroke wasn’t the severest one there can be, but it was strong enough to cause such disorientation, weakness and lightheadedness to make you see or hear things that didn’t happen, or that you thought were one thing when they actually were something entirely different.” He continues with the examination and tells me what to do and what to avoid for the next few days. “I’ll come to check on you again later. Once I see the results, I’ll be able to determine when to release you. I believe it would be best for you to stay the night here for observation, but we’ll see what the tests will bring. In the meantime, have some rest, alright?”

I nod and thank him quietly before he leaves. I feel like such a moron - how did I let this all happen?

After a few moments, I hear a knock on the door. I can barely feel annoyed by the disturbance, when I hear a voice from the other side.

“Um… Keith? This is Shiro, the lifeguard from the beach… may I come in?”

I freeze. Sh… Shiro? Why is he here? Is he here for… For me?

He's calling my name again, and my chest fills up with butterflies.

“Ah - - yeah! Yes, you can come in.” I tell him, and I give everything I have for my voice to sound normal and not too emotional. When he opens the door and steps in, I can't help but stare.

He looks at me and smiles widely. I can't understand if it's from embarrassment or kindness or something else. “Um… Hi.” He mumbles. “I, ah… I have your bag.” He lifts it up with his prosthetic arm and shows it to me. “I found it on the beach. Your friends must have forgotten about it after you were evacuated.”

Typical.

He brings me the bag and I nod gratefully. “I hope you don't mind that I looked inside,” he says, “I just checked who that belongs to at first… And then I wanted to make sure that everything important is in there.”

I can't help but think how sweet he is. He looks so embarrassed that he had to invade my privacy, so to speak, by looking through my stuff, when he was actually being so kind to make sure to return it properly.

“Thank you. Everything is here.” I smile. “And, of course, more importantly… Thank you for saving my life. Without you… I would've… Never made it.”

I swear to God his cheeks look redder than before.

“O-of course! You're welcome. I'm only glad I was able to help and that you're all better now.”

A small moment of silence is awkwardly falling between us. Despite that, I see that he doesn't hurry to go. I tell him to take a sit beside me, and he does.

I lick my lips and clutch my bag closer to my chest. “How… How did you notice? That - that I was drowning?”

He looks stunned for a moment. I have no idea why. “Well, it's - I'm trained to something like this, of course, and it was the end of my shift and I had to make sure everyone comes to shore before I -”

“Wait -” I interrupt, “that's what you said?”

“... What do you mean?”

“I mean… I know I heard you back then, but I was certain you said… That the water was dangerous and… that's why you wanted everyone to go back.”

He watches me for a moment and then, he smiles again. Such a kind, soft smile. I can't get enough of it. “It must be because of the heat stroke you suffered from.” He confirms what the doctor told me earlier. “I… I noticed when you went to swim, so… I knew where to look, I guess…”

Now it's my turn to look at him with wide eyes. He… Noticed me?

He chuckles and keeps on looking at me. “What?”

I feel my cheeks burn.

Fuck, fuck. I… I never felt like this before. My heart is racing, like… like…

The machine beside me beeps like crazy because of that, and I feel even more self-aware now. Shit. I'm caught right on the spot, aren't I?

He gets up and leans towards me. His expression is somehow a combination of shyness, worry and… Is that… A smile I see on his face again…?

He puts his hand on my cheek and looks right into my eyes. I notice that he uses his human hand, even though he's clearly right handed. “Keith,” he says so softly, I think I'm melting. Somehow, even though he's so close… I suddenly feel much more relaxed. “It's alright. You're safe now. You've got nothing to worry about.”

Licking my dry lips, I'm about to say something in return, but he opens his mouth again to speak. He takes his time, like he's thinking about what to say or how to say it. As I stare at his lips, I suddenly realize that when we were on the beach after he rescued me… he was the one who did the CPR on me. His lips were actually on mine for that. Just thinking about it makes my face go entirely red.

“Keith…” his voice is cutting through my thoughts, and I concentrate on him again. “I didn't come here only to bring you your bag back.”

I can't get my eyes off of him. Not for a single second. “Then… What is it?” I whisper.

His smile is getting bigger, and so is mine. “I like you.”

My breath is stopping in my throat for a moment. He… Likes me? “I… really?” I mumble.

“Yeah… I really do.”

“Even if we talked only for a few minutes?”

“Yeah.” He whispers. “And… I noticed how you looked at me today, and… I… I wanted to say that… I looked at you, too. When I had the chance.”

No one has ever told me anything like that before.

“I want to get to know you, Keith. If you'll let me… I'll be happy to.” He continues, and I know I smile as widely as my face lets me. I nod fiercely, and then I take his hand and hold it in mine. I mostly feel like crying.

“I… I'd love that.” I can barely say. “I like you, too.”

“Then…” He starts again, looking at our hands together. He squeezes my palm and then lets it go. I look at him curiously, and he looks back at me. “We should introduce ourselves properly. We didn't do that until now, so. We should do it right.”

I laugh like an idiot and nod again. “Alright. Go ahead then, stranger.”

“I'm Takashi Shirogane, but everyone calls me Shiro. It's nice to meet you.” He holds his hand out towards me, and without hesitation, I shake it.

“My name is Keith. Keith Kogane.” I tell him. Neither one of us is letting go, even when the handshake is over. “It's very nice to meet you,too… Takashi.”

We end up talking for hours, about everything, and about nothing. I feel like I've known him for years, even though we only met today.

Eventually he really does have to go, though, much to my disappointment. I don't even notice how late it is, at first, but when he shows me the hour on his phone’s screen, I sigh in defeat. He keeps on doing something on his phone and suddenly gives it to me. I look at the screen and feel my cheeks heat up again.

I smile when I put my number in his contact list.

“I'll call you tomorrow,” he promises, and I nod, still smiling like a moron.

“I'll look forward to it,” I manage to say. I give him back his phone and our hands touch, and some part of me hopes he won't let go. When he does, I feel the warmth still tingling on my fingers for a second.

He says goodnight and finally, I'm alone in the room. I lean my head back against the pillow and try to settle the butterflies in my stomach by breathing deeply. It doesn't really work, but I don't care.

My phone vibrates in my bag. I take it out and see a text from Shiro - it hasn't even been two minutes since he left, and yet here he is, sending me an adorable message.

I don't regret going out of bed today anymore.

#sheith #i'm only looking at you #my fic #ahhhhh god i'm excited #sorry if it's a bit long bros #i tried my best #au

18 notes · View notes

swordandquill · 7 years

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Voltron Master Fic List

Here’s all the Voltron fics I’ve written so far. I thought it might be nice to group them all together (and also because I’ve been having fun making banners to post them on my pillowfort).

Allowed to Be

Summary: He’s not Shiro, and they all know it. He is someone though, and he gets a say in that.

*Screencap came from Kissthemgoodbye's gallery. Really great resource for screencaps.

Can't Take the Sky From Me

Summary: Shiro was just trying to escape the ever expanding Galra Empire. He hadn't planned on picking up any passengers along the way.

Love Makes her a Home

Summary: Hunk has a very important question for Shiro.

The One with a Blanket Fort

Summary: The children build a fortification to keep Keith's bad day out.

Everything's shiny, Cap'n

Summary: Lance teaches everyone how to make flower crowns, except Pidge, who mostly wants to eat the flowers.

Cat in the Sun

Summary: Shiro was just out for a jog. He hadn't planned on buying a restaurant.

Lance and the Guitar

Summary: Music is a universal language, even in space. (Ch 1: Moon River with Allura, Ch 2: Haven’t You Noticed with everyone, but particularly Keith)

Love at First Sight

Summary: Lance and Hunk get lost in the basement of the marine biology building and find a little treasure in need of saving.

Mermaid Rescue and Rehab Inc.

Summary: Sadly, this isn’t the strangest phone call Pidge has ever gotten from Lance. The mermaid is new though.

Fish Out of Water

Summary: Keith is going to get Shiro back, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop him. (I bumped the rating a little because Shiro is little, and Honerva wasn't gentle with him, but nothing is described, and nothing will be.)

No Wheels

Summary: In the wake of Shiro's disappearance, the team struggles to get their feet back under them, and Lance tries to be whatever the team needs him to be, even if that means being separated from his beloved Blue. (Written before Season 3 came out.)

Blaze of Glory

Summary: Keith gets a new friend, or Keith has a soft spot for small animals in need.

How Much is that Doggy in the Window

Summary: Keith finds Shiro's birthday present and the rest of the team makes sure it will work out the way he thinks it will.

What Every Little Kid Wants

Summary: It's Shiro's birthday, and the team has a surprise for him.

Room with a View

Summary: Lance manages to carve out a space for himself in a hidden part of the castle. The rest of the team find their way there eventually.

Squash

Summary: Shiro is very sleepy, and his team is full of squash.

Searching for the Supernatural in All the Wrong Places

Summary: Keith, Pidge, and Hunk are sure ghosts exist. They just have to prove it. Their campus librarian may or may not be helpful to that end.

Final Suspicions

Summary: Finals week is tough on teachers and students alike. The head librarian is mostly amused by this.

Not a Feather Out of Place

Summary: Shiro needs some help preening his wings, but it’s often times easier said then done.

Nesting

Summary: Keith takes a chance on building a permanent nest. The rest of the team approves.

#Voltron #fanfiction #Isabeau's writing #vldgen

62 notes · View notes

voltronficrec · 7 years

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Fantasy AU

Source : bandenlily

Watercast by Fishwrites Rated M - Keith/Lance - ~83K - WIP Summary : “Shiro has been a Galra prisoner for over a year; with his flight feathers clipped and unable to fly. Desperate to escape, he jumps overboard while being transported to the capitol on a Galran ship. Lance is a merman who saves him from drowning. Keith thinks Shiro is about to become mermaid dinner. Hunk just wants Lance to stop going to the surface all the time, dammit!(AU where Avians (winged folk), Galra, humans and merfolk cohabit earth. Shiro and Keith are avian soldiers, Lance is the youngest son of a Queen, Hunk is also a merman and Pidge is still looking for her family.)”

The Hurricane In His Veins by magisterpavus Explicit - Shiro/Keith/Lance - ~187K - COMPLETE Summary : “It’s the summer after high school graduation, and Lance, Hunk, and Pidge are spending three months together in Pidge’s sleepy California hometown, Rosewood, before they all go their separate ways in life. It’s supposed to be fun and relaxing, filled with long days at the beach and even longer nights playing video games; a last hurrah with Lance’s best friends.But when one of Pidge’s ridiculous cryptid searches leads the trio to a mysterious pair of vampires in the woods and the web of magic and murder that they’re entangled in, the summer gets a lot more complicated…and more dangerous than they could’ve imagined.”

First Steps by buttered_onions Rated G - No pairing - ~10K - COMPLETE Summary : “The one thing Lance has wanted his entire life is to be a Jedi.Crossover/Fusion with Star Wars.”

Disturbance by buttered_onions Rated G - No pairing - ~19K - COMPLETE Summary : “Shiro is missing. Lance is determined to find him, but first he has to figure out how to work with Keith.Direct sequel to First Steps.“

He Who Fights Monsters by magisterpavus Rated M - Keith/Lance - ~65K - COMPLETE Summary : “In a world where monstrous dragons terrorize humanity daily, the Garrison trains valiant Knights to slay the evil beasts and defend Earth. But when Knight cadet Lance Espinosa is kidnapped by a strange red dragon who kills its own kind, certain truths are revealed...and so are the true monsters.” Elements of War by Luna_Vulpes Rated T - Keith/Lance, Shiro/Allura - ~5K - WIP Summary : “Based on Witch AU - The Civil War between the Altean Kingdom and the Galra Empire has reached its breaking point with he assassination of King Alfor and his Altean royal court.Regardless, Lance - a water witch - wants no part in fighting the war until his mother, a healer, becomes ill and the only way to save her is to join the war effort in order to find a cure for her deadly disease, He joins the Garrison Academy for Military Witches and meets a prodigy fire witch named Keith. Not all at the Academy goes as planned as Lance struggles to find his magical strength as he watches his comrades surpass him.Then one day he unlocks magic he didn't know he had and would lead him on a journey he never intended to join - Lance is a healer.”

Deep Sea Sinning by AllennellA Rated E - Keith/Lance - ~47K - WIP Summary : “When it came to attracting mates, Lance's fins had no rival.However, Lance himself did, and he was currently trying to beat the siren in his own game.”

Forest and Stone by Quiddity Rated T - Shiro/Lance - ~13K - COMPLETE Summary : “Lance, being half fae and half human, always takes advantage of the last few weeks of winter. The other fae are still hibernating and no one's there to stop him from creeping onto the human's hunting grounds and admiring them from afar. But when he's injured in a case of mistaken identity, a handsome knight named Shiro comes to help him and Lance suddenly finds himself whisked into the middle of a society he's never encountered up close before.”

A Blade of Grass by Lycoria Rated T - Shiro/Keith - ~14K - COMPLETE Summary : “On the day that it happened, Keith was 103 or so, the counting had finally become tedious, and the days and nights were blending together. There, deep in the forest, was a human child choking on his last breath, dying under the weight of a Great Oak tree.Elf!Keith and Human!Shiro (Based on Aprilflame's Tolkien Sheith AU)”

Your Cat Is Lit by SeaBreezy Rated G - Keith/Lance - ~7K - COMPLETE Summary : “By happy chance or mysterious accident, Lance finds himself entering the unappealing shop labeled with a rotting sign in the window that reads "Enchanted".What he sees is messily packed bookshelves filled with aging literature, the lights dimmed low, and the air filled with dust particles like fallen snow.What he finds is something far more magical.”

#voltron fic rec #voltron fanfic rec #klance #shklance #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #fic rec #fanfic rec #fantasy au #vampire au

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kellbellsparkles · 7 years

Text

Spiraling

A Klangst and Lance sick fic one-shot I spent days working on and I’m so glad it’s finished! I hope you all enjoy it! ^^

“Lance. Laaaaaaaance.”

My head pounded. I must've hit my limit. The last thing I remember was barely making it into the training room. Ever since we got Shiro back and reunited Pidge with her brother, Matt, it'd been one heck of a party in the castle. Allura and Coran had all sorts of questions for Matt wanting to learn any information he had that could help us win the war. Shiro and Matt bonded over what their capture had done to them and were constantly shoulder to shoulder together. Pidge and Matt were catching up on precious family time missed. I wanted to feel happy for them; reuniting with family is everything I could ever dream of. That's exactly why I could hardly stand looking at them.

Matt showed Hunk how to build these little dino-like drones that blow up when they touch an enemy, their cute exterior masking their demonic motive. He also brought with him new recipes for Hunk to start crafting himself. I'd never seen his eyes flash that excitingly since he discovered how to make whipped cream with the space goo. Meanwhile, Keith showed interest in Matt's unique combat style. Even though they weren't in the same class back in the Garrison, Matt immediately recognized him from being the best pilot besides Shiro and was more than happy to take him under his wing. Of course.

I could grieve over how I was now the eighth wheel, but every single moment, every single day, my thoughts traveled back to Keith. He just had to attract another fan to walk right past me and remind everyone how superior he was in every way. I approached Matt with classic beauty tips to restore the shine in his skin and hair that he had to have lost during his time fighting Galra with the rebellion, which he quietly nodded to as expected, but really, I couldn't handle reliving those cargo pilot years again.

I thought, what would Keith do? Heavily ironic, I know. But I was desperate to escape from the suffocating black hole I kept being pulled into. For two weeks, I waited until I heard Keith finally go to bed to take my turn in the training room; having to be checked up on by him would've been the greatest humiliation of all. I clocked in for two hours of hand-to-hand combat exercises, steadily increasing the difficulty day after day. I'd be lying if I said I made any progress. The training bots had me on my back faster than I could even make an effort to touch them. My body was littered with cuts, bruises, and scrapes and cried for relief. However, my older brother, Craig, always said, “What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.” And I would eventually learn something from this, right?

“Wake up, sleepy-head.”

I opened my eyes finally. I saw blue space ships and shooting stars circling around the ceiling light.

Wait a minute, I thought. I rubbed my eyes to do a double-take. They were the exact same shape, exact same colors as the ones in my bedroom back home. I sat up and looked down at my bedsheets: space with the galaxy swirls and the Canis Major, Cygnus, Gemini, and all the constellations that could visibly fit into the print. My eyes wandered frantically; my shelf with all my soccer ribbons and trophies, my poster of Shiro, my stuffed starter water Pokemon, my Little Mermaid wall clock, everything was the same.

“How are you feeling?”

That voice; that sweet, soothing, gentle, motherly voice. I couldn't believe it.

“Tina?” I said. “Is that really you?”

My older sister, Tina, was right there standing in front of me. There was no mistaking her long, luscious, curly brown hair and grassy green eyes. If I were a girl, I'd be looking directly in a mirror.

“Of course it's me, silly,” she said sweetly.

“B-But--” I stammered. “Me and Hunk and Pidge-- We found Shiro-- Busted him out of the Garrison-- Blue Lion-- Took us out to Kerberos-- Then through a wormhole-- Then the Galra-- Then Voltron-- Then we-- Then we--”

“Please settle down, Lance,” Tina said. “Take a deep breath.”

A lump rose in my throat; my hands were shaking madly. Was it all just a dream then? Tina patted my head. It should've calmed me right then and there, but I couldn't breathe still.

“You've been pushing yourself way too hard,” she told me. “Everyone's worried.”

“Wh-Who's we?” I asked shakily.

“Your friends,” she replied. “They've been waiting to hear what's been bothering you so they can help ensure this never happens again.”

“I don't understand-- Oww,” I held my head in my hands. It felt like Keith had thrust his knife in there after finally having had enough of me. Tina's hand lowered to my forehead, so soft and cool.

“You're really burning up,” Tina said sorrowfully. She took my shoulders gently and laid me back down. “Here. Now stay and rest until you're feeling one hundred percent better.”

“But there's so much I have to tell you!” I cried. After what felt like years, I was finally with my sister. I wanted to reach up and hug her and never let go and never leave again, but I didn't have the strength to.

“Shhshh,” she whispered. “Everything will be fine when you wake up.”

“GOOOOD MOOORNING, MCCLAAAIN FAMILYYYYY!!”

Out of nowhere, Craig, oh Craig, appeared in aviator attire, and my room morphed into the inside of a passenger airplane. Tina was still with me, holding my hand.

“And how are we today?” Craig cheered. “We've got clear skies ahead on our flight this morning accompanied with skittled dolphins mounted by duckling warriors and a guaranteed guest performance of the Woofs!”

“AIRPLANES!!”

Then little Diego, or widely known in our family and his friends as Deets, sprung in my face, flailing his arms. At that moment, whether I was aboard the castle or back home, I knew I had to be dreaming. I looked up and discovered the plane had no ceiling and indeed, there were a multitude of dolphins, dual and tri-colored making up the colors of the rainbow, being ridden by little ducklings wearing gladiator helmets. Suddenly, heavy jazz music launched its assault on my ears. I leaped from my seat, turned around, and found a pug on a drum set playing a slow, smooth rhythm, a yellow labrador on the piano, a German shepherd on the bass, and a corgi on the saxophone. They all wore black sunglasses and fedoras with the signature paw sign on them.

“Lance, look! I'm flying!!”

And to top it all off, my little sister, Luz, was giggling her butt off as she soared and spun in the sky in close proximity of the dragons.

“Luz?!” I shouted. “How did you even-- Get down from there!!”

“AIRPLANES!” Deets exclaimed again.

“And if you look down to your right,” Craig announced. “We're just passing over Bread Town, and they've graciously supplied us with all the bread fair sculptures to jolly our appetites through this plane wreck.” He presented me with the two miniature fair and ferris wheel creations, all in working order.

“Wheat or rye?” He asked me.

“Enough!” I cried, slapping the luscious-looking bread our mom could make away from me. I had some crazy dreams, but never had I felt so scared, so panicked, my heart racing faster than when I had to get a 3-D sculpture of the face of the warden of Beta Traz without getting caught. “Who's even flying the plane??”

I hauled out of my seat and ran for the cockpit. When I opened the door, it tore from the hinges and blew out into the sky, hitting one of the dolphins. It exploded into a puff of glitter and skittles. I clung onto the metal before I could meet the same fate.

“This is why you need a seat belt,” the pilot said. He emerged from the top of the seat, directly facing me.

“Slav??” I groaned. Of all people to appear next…. “What are you doing here??”

“In the fourty-seven point four percent of realities where seat belts have never been invented,” he said. “It's time to make your own with the seat belt creation kit.”

“What even is that??”

“Not that it matters now, for soon in this reality, we're going to dive deep into the mustard of sorrow.”

The plane jerked down and flung me back into my seat. We were descending faster and at a greater angle than any roller coaster I dared to board, and into mustard; so bitter and sour.

“Pull up!!” I screeched. “Somebody!!”

“Control's beyond our reach,” Craig said, suddenly floating above me. “Such has been our lives.”

“Come fly with me, big brother!” Luz sang, now riding a dolphin herself.

“AIRPLANES!!” Deets howled in harmony with the Woofs.

I turned to my sister about to plea for help in ending this madness, but she was just sitting still, smiling at me like nothing was wrong. I curled up in a ball and covered my ears. I prayed and I pleaded for it all to end, for someone to come swoop me from the chaos, but who? Who that wasn't my nonchalant siblings?

Hunk.

Pidge.

It was all coming back to me now.

Shiro.

Allura.

Coran.

Keith.

Keith….

A great force choked my heart. I lurched forward and clutched my chest. Whatever it was, my body didn't like it and made attempts to force it out my throat.

Keith?

Without thinking, I burst from my seat and reached for the sky.

“KEEEEEITH!!”

I flailed and wailed with all my might, only to be grabbed by both sides and pushed down. The action sent a shock wave of pain and spasms through my body, a sensation absent from when I was aboard the crashing plane. Could it be I was back in the real world? If so, which one? Was I back home like I had hoped for or in the castle? I tried to open my eyes, but my body went on full auto-pilot, thinking I was still trying to escape from the descent mustard of sorrow. The muffled voices writhed and scratched against me. I felt a great pressure on my legs next; I was completely immobilized. Before I could react, I felt a slight pinch in my right arm. A wave of relief flowed through my body and allowed it to sink into wherever I laid. I could finally open my eyes without panic holding them down.

There they were: from the front down, Hunk and Coran to my left and Shiro and Keith to my right. Sweat dropped from each of their bangs as they looked down at me with great worry. I never thought it'd be possible for them to be that concerned about me. Just how bad did I look to cause them such distress? I opened my mouth to speak, but a heavy spell started to force my eyes shut again. I fought it for as long as I could; there was something I needed to do first. I needed to get a good look at Keith to understand why I called out to him out of everyone else on the ship. His eyes were so focused, so gleaming, so purple.

So his Galra side was visible after all.

When feeling came back to my body next, I wondered if I had opened my eyes at all. My surroundings were almost pitch black. I felt something encircle and tickle my mouth. I reached my hand around it to feel what I thought was Allura's hair; the beautiful maiden coming around to give me mouth to mouth, but alas. It was a respirator mask. I sat up and ripped it off my face, sighing in disappointment. However, the action invoked a violent coughing fit. As I gasped for air, I discovered my voice had been tainted by an ugly rasp. I caught colds and the flu before, but out in space, we didn't know what vile specs of bacteria could contaminate our bodies and what effect they would have on humans.

Soon, the respirator was slapped back on my face and a pair of firm, half-gloved hands promptly took me by the shoulders.

“Lance!”

It was Keith. He rubbed my back as I let out a few more painful coughs. When the ordeal was over, he carefully laid me back down. I thought I had to have been dreaming still because the Keith I knew would never be careful let alone gentle.

“Don't move,” he instructed. “Or talk. Just rest.”

I had seen him pretty banged up, for instance, when he came back from the Blade of Marmora base with Shiro, but he looked like he had been flung into a violent vortex and struck by its quintessence. I squinted when I looked at his hair, not even a mullet, just a shaggy, spiky shrub that had too many radioactive fertilizers, and he had the darkest circles under his eyes I had ever seen on anyone.

“Whoa, Keith,” I said. “What big battle did I miss?”

“Nothing,” Keith growled. “Now shut it.”

“But you look horrible,” I remarked. “You should get suited up for a healing pod or something.”

“The only one here who needs a healing pod is you,” Keith snapped. “But there was a bug that kept them from working when Coran and Pidge made an attempt to update the castle technology to this time period.”

“Really?” I chuckled. “Does this mean we have space wi-fi now?”

“I don't know what that is,” Keith said, frustrated. “But you better shut your quiznak before I shut it for you.”

Man, Keith was really out of it.

“I don't think you're using that word correctly,” I teased.

“You don't understand!!” Keith yelled. “You never do!! Do I have to spell it out for you??”

If I had the energy to move my arms, I'd clap them over my ears; Keith's fiery voice had the power to make them bleed.

“Ow,” I grunted. “You're not the only one who's tired here.”

“Yeah, I'm tired! I'm tired of you thinking of yourself and not seeing how much I care about you! You didn't think I'd notice something was wrong?? You could barely stand without wobbling and your pants looked like they were going to fall down at any given time! You and your cheeky laugh when you said you were fine! I wish I could just rip out your vocal cords and strangle you with them!”

He had me by the shoulders again. I really did it this time, I thought. I closed my eyes waiting for the classic Kogane punch or choke-hold. A good ten ticks went by. Nothing. I opened my eyes to see what was taking him so long. What I saw was even worse than any glare or blow he could ever land on me.

“We almost lost you,” he sobbed grossly. “Your fever was so high and your heart rate broke the monitor. If we hadn't put you under in time….”

His tears dripped onto my chest. Crying was never good, especially if I was the one who caused it, and Keith's face was as red as the Red Lion and his shoulders quaked and heaved with each sob.

“Hey,” I said. “It's okay. It's not really worth crying over.”

“How?” Keith choked. “How can you say that? Didn't you hear what I just said?”

“Yeah,” I said. “But you? Crying over me? It's the dumbest idea for a soap opera in this whole universe. It's a worse and more unrealistic plot line than a man in his mid-twenties owning his own company. Now if it were Hunk, Pidge, Shiro, Allura, Coran, or even Matt, then it would work better.”

A few ticks went by without a word; Keith's face appeared to have softened. I smiled, thinking my lecture had worked.

“See?” I said. “I knew you'd come to your senses--”

However, the universe had a queer idea for a prank: taking Keith's hands against my cheeks and leaning in so his forehead brushed against mine.

“Just shut up,” he whispered. “And don't ever speak that nonsense again.”

I gulped. Even though I wore a respirator, my lungs stopped functioning. My heart dropped to my stomach than bounced up to my throat. Then, I felt Keith's pants brush over my legs, and there he was, smack dab on my body. He pushed himself downward and laid his head on my chest.

“Uh,” I muttered. “Keith?”

He snored lightly in response. Just great. What if I had to use the bathroom? Surely he'd kill me for getting his clothes wet or waking up to the smell of the other thing. I shook him lightly.

“Keeeeith,” I whined. But my efforts were in vain. Just how long had I been out with this hot-headed idiot watching over me? I sighed in defeat. I would've liked it more if it had been Allura or another lovely looking space lady, but for some strange reason, I'd come to like this just as much. He laid there completely still with his arms spanned over me. I used the opportunity to flatten and straighten the blaring distraction on his head. I paused; I never imagined his hair would feel so smooth and soft. I rested and intertwined my fingers in his raven locks. If that didn't wake him up, then surely my drumming heart would, but he didn't stir an inch.

I didn't know what was coming over me. I thought maybe I had a fever still. Once I got better, everything would go back to normal. However, I had a feeling that Keith would never let this go, literally, and my hunch was right. Until I was on my two feet again, he trapped me to keep me from recklessly escaping. He didn't even care if anyone was watching or if Pidge was snapping pictures of us in an obviously intimate position. I was surprised that Shiro was enabling this behavior, but after he told me that I had contracted a space version of the flu called Phlegia, I stopped protesting. I remembered he and Keith have a history and must know the reason Keith is clinging to me like a kitten.

I panicked at the thought of Keith with little kitten ears and a tail. So cute! In fact, Galra resembled cats in a way. I found myself hoping that his Galra genes would surface and give him the same features. Suddenly, I discovered that I had never thought so intensely about an individual before despite having flirted infinitely with girls for a number of years. Why Keith, a guy, of all people? I didn't know why, but if there was one thing I was sure of, I didn't want to make him cry ever again.

#Voltron #Klance #Klangst #Langst

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ao3feed-klance · 7 years

Text

Fin Tales

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2mVDdW7

by KnightNuraStar

This is an art dump for short one-shots I made, but don't really want to give each an individual post. So everything small that has to do with mer aus will be posted here. So you'll see little snippets.

First up: What a Nice Day!

Lance just wants to sleep in the sand all day, but hunts and play times must happen first before sleepy times.

Words: 1364, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Pidge (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Matt Holt

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: One-Shots, mermaid au, Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, One-shot dump

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2mVDdW7

#klance #voltron #voltron legendary defenders #ao3feed

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ao3feed-safeklance · 7 years

Text

Fin Tales

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2mVDdW7

by KnightNuraStar

This is an art dump for short one-shots I made, but don’t really want to give each an individual post. So everything small that has to do with mer aus will be posted here. So you’ll see little snippets.

First up: What a Nice Day!

Lance just wants to sleep in the sand all day, but hunts and play times must happen first before sleepy times.

Words: 1364, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Pidge (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Matt Holt

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: One-Shots, mermaid au, Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, One-shot dump

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2mVDdW7

#ao3feed #fanfic #voltron #klance

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ao3feed-voltronlegendarydefender · 7 years

Text

Fin Tales

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2mVDdW7

by KnightNuraStar

First up: What a Nice Day!

Lance just wants to sleep in the sand all day, but hunts and play times must happen first before sleepy times.

Words: 1364, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Pidge (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Matt Holt

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: One-Shots, mermaid au, Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, One-shot dump

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2mVDdW7

#ao3feed #fanfic #voltron #voltron: legendary defender #ao3feed-voltronlegendarydefender

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sp4c3-0ddity · 5 years

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To Sail, To Break, To Earn - Chapter One

hello, and welcome to another round of “Bet You Forgot All about this AU @rueitae and I Are Writing”!! today i bring to you...mermaid!Pidge, in her own words

If you need a refresher, read Rue’s Lance flashback Prologue first oh God it’s from over a month ago. but now without further ado, please enjoy!!

Edit: now read Chapter One on ao3!!

Word count: ~2200

The scent of dark magic burns her nose as Katie swims, her tail driving her past her limits. She has to push on, keep going, can't succumb to the exhaustion in her muscles telling her it’s all right to falter, she can rest now and continue later.

But the longer Katie stalls, the further her father's captors draw away.

The higher she pushes herself, the more the world around her changes. Colors shift from blues and grays to shades more vibrant as more sunlight filters through the sea. The water passing over her gills grows warmer, filling her with an energy she’s unaccustomed to. It helps to dissipate her sleepiness but does little for the ache in her arms and tail.

"Come on," she hisses to herself, wishing, not for the first time, that she’s more inclined to the same athleticism as her peers.

All the while, closer to the surface, closer to an unknown plane of existence, one she only ever dreamed of without daring to touch.

Until now.

Katie breaches the surface with a splash, raising a hand to shield her eyes from a glaring sun shining in a blue sky.

The sky! But she resists the temptation to pause, to examine a wonder she’s never seen for herself. There will be time for that later once she frees her father.

It would be like him to get caught in a human fishing net for science…not that Katie can fault him for it.

The acrid scent of a dark spell isn’t so sharp at the surface. When she can’t pinpoint it, she thrashes around, careful to keep low so the seawater still washes over her gills, and scans the open ocean.

A wide and endless expanse of blue greets her sights, unbroken and rippled. A breeze rustles the hair at the top of her head, already drying in intense sunlight, and white…clouds cluster just above the distant horizon. But when Katie turns, she catches her first glimpse of land.

Jagged, ridged rocks rising from the sea, foamy waves breaking against them, and beyond them a stretch of sand.

Suddenly the kelp forest she was raised in feels fathoms deep.

Katie searches this new world for the kidnappers that stole her father until her eyes alight on a—

“A ship!” she gasps, her heart skipping a beat in nervous excitement. She’s never seen one sailing, none aside from the wrecks broken far beneath the surface.

This one bobs with the current between the rocky ridge and the beach, sails hanging loose. A chain flecked with red dust trails from its deck, and when Katie ducks her head under the surface she follows it to the shallow bottom.

She’s rarely felt anything like metal, except for the large, hooked objects attached to the shipwrecks she explored in deeper water. Smooth to the touch as the saltwater ate it away…but never reeking of evil, the sort that attracts even worse evil, like this one.

The ship is her target, she realizes as she returns to the surface. She whips through the water around it, gazing up towards the deck, her heart racing and her head growing light.

“Katie!” a familiar voice bursts out as she approaches the ship’s front. “What’re you doing here?”

Katie’s heart leaps when she spots her father, trussed up in a net that dangles in the water. It keeps him confined, the woven rope digging into his cheek and his arm trapped against his chest, his dark orange tail, the scales glittering in the sun, twisted in an odd angle.

“Father!” Katie reaches for her satchel and digs through her meager belongings - all keepsakes from her and her brother’s unsupervised adventures, and from her father’s unsanctioned ones. Her fingers close around the hilt of a knife taken from a shipwreck, the weave of the net so thick she doubts her teeth will suffice. Her brow furrows, and she says, “I’m going to cut you out.”

Voices drift down from the ship’s deck towards them, but she pays them no mind as she grasps the rope and slides the knife into place underneath.

She stills when her father’s hand nudges the blade, pushing it back to her. He protests, “Leave me.”

“Why would I do that?” Katie demands. “We don’t know what these humans—”

“Captain!” a shout rings out. “There’s another!”

The knife slips from Katie’s grasp, her eyes wide as she tilts her head back and stares up at a human peering over the railing. Others join him, crowding around him, and before she can so much as splash away, a net descends.

Katie dives away, thrashing at it with her tail in a pathetic attempt to push it away, but that only helps it snag her. The net wraps around her tail and traps her arms to her sides, something hard in her satchel digging into her flesh. Her stomach flips at a sudden jerk, and she’s lifted back to the surface beside the ship.

Beside her trussed up father.

Underwater “up” and “down” are meaningless, but hanging upside down from a rope leaves her head spinning.

Dry air touches her gills, and the dizziness only grows worse.

“Lower her into the water!” her father yells. “She needs it like I do!”

Katie sighs in relief when water washes over her gills, but she refuses to - and can’t while tangled in a net - relax, not even when a human stutters, “My a-apologies!”

Her temper flares, and she snaps, “If you’re so apologetic, then let us go!”

“I’m afraid we cannot,” a different human says, tone grave and deep. His eyes gleam an eerie yellow as they narrow down at her, a distinct scar slashing vertically through one.

“We only need one, Captain,” the first human, far shorter than the other and with shoulder-length black hair, comments.

The captain continues to appraise Katie and her father almost thoughtfully. “You’re right; Keith, free the younger—”

“No!” Katie protests. She clutches at the net and shakes. Her heart races with fear, but she seizes on the anger that still grips her and glares up at the human sailors above her. “Free my father a-and keep me instead!”

“Katie—”

“Take me!” she pleads. “H-he has a family that loves him and studies to pursue and far more friends than I do!” Her mind quests for more excuses, for everything she knows of humans that she can use to her advantage here. “I-I know some of what stories humans tell of merfolk, and I know I suit them better than he does! I c-can sing—”

“That won’t be necessary,” the captain assures her. He turns to the young black-haired sailor standing beside him and says, “The mermaid is acceptable; free the merman.”

“Don’t you—”

A snick rings above, and the rope tethering her father to the ship slackens. The net falls away as he pushes it off with a few strokes of his orange-scaled tail, and a heartbeat later he swims towards Katie, seeking her rescue where moments ago she sought his.

“I’ll free you,” he promises, his hand finding hers.

Katie blinks, a tear falling from the corner of her eye, but says, “N-no, this is fine. I-I’ll see the world of humans like I’ve always wanted, m-more than you did just like you promised.”

“Not like this, Katie,” her father says.

But Katie is tugged from the waves, jerked about and away from the warmth and security of the sea. Air hits her gills, drying them, and she smacks at them, frantically trying to wet them with the little water that adheres to her palms.

The humans heave her onto the ship, and she lands in a thrashing heap. On deck the scent of dark magic nearly overwhelms her - do they not fear the monsters that prowl the seas and have a taste for human blood? - but she musters what little strength remains to her.

A snarl twists her lips when the sailors surround her, leveling pointed weapons at her, smaller and less vicious than the harpoons Queen Luxia confiscates from human shipwrecks.

A woman with untidy hair to her chin and markings across her cheeks shoves her way through the crowd. “Why are you all aiming arrows at her?” she demands. “She’s defenseless out of water and soon won’t even be able to breathe.”

Tough words, Katie thinks, scowling at the knife sitting in the woman’s hand. She bares her pointed teeth and says with far more confidence than she feels, “Come any closer and I’ll tear you to shreds.”

“Easy,” the sailor says, raising her hands. “I’m only cutting you out of the net.”

Katie glares at her but stills enough for the woman to slash her blade through the rope. Her arms spring out with nothing trapping them, and she rubs at them, trying to get her blood to flow through her aching, stiff muscles. They tremble when she pushes herself up into a more defensible position, and perhaps she can drag herself to the edge and clamber over the railing…

The sailor grabs the satchel strapped to her back. “I’ll be taking this too,” she says, cutting the shoulder strap before Katie can react.

She hands it off to a young man that seems to hang away from the rest. His wide eyes - blue where every other sailor Katie spies has eyes that glow yellow despite the sunshine - land on her face as he slings the bag across his back.

“I never thought we’d actually capture one…” he murmurs with something like wonder in his voice.

The woman ignores him as she calls, “Thace, you have the barrel ready?”

“Wait, Krolia,” the blue-eyed man says, shaking his head and stepping forward, “if the merman we caught first is her father, shouldn’t she be given the chance to say goodbye to him?”

Katie’s eyes widen, her heart squeezing in her chest as what she’s done by taking her father’s place finally hits her:

She may never see him - or her mother or brother - ever again, not with her fate so uncertain.

But a wild hope that she might just have this - an opportunity to apologize, to tell him she loves him and to ask him to pass her love to Matt and her mother - shoves the ache away.

The woman’s - Krolia’s - gaze flicks to the man, an eyebrow raised. “Is he even lingering?” she wonders. “Keith, please check.”

The black-haired man so much shorter than most of the rest springs into action, sheathing the weapon at his waist and bounding to the railing to lean over. “He’s still here, Mother,” he says.

Katie can’t fight the smile pushing at her lips, can’t fight how her dorsal fin stands at attention in her eagerness. If her father’s still here, maybe she can even escape!

Krolia crosses her arms and sighs, but the blue-eyed sailor’s jaw sets. She frowns before her eyes pinch shut and she says, “Very—”

“No.” The captain’s heavy footsteps approach, the deck trembling under Katie’s hands and rapidly drying tail. “We need a mermaid, not a happy one.”

“I doubt just saying goodbye to her father will make her happy,” the blue-eyed man retorts, a scowl turning onto the captain.

“Nevertheless,” the captain insists with little more than a glance around at the gathering of jumpy sailors, “we will not give them the opportunity to conspire for her escape.”

Katie’s heart drops into her stomach. Her hands curl into loose fists, knuckles pressing into the hard wood of the deck, as she blinks hot tears from her eyes. “No…”

The captain towers over the young man, but he lifts his chin in a sad attempt to look him in the eye. “It gives her something that I didn’t have, Captain,” he presses, the cold anger in his tone sending a shiver down Katie’s spine.

Why is the blue-eyed sailor fighting his captain for her?

“Lance, stand down,” Krolia says, gaze steely as it falls on her younger crew mate. “You heard Captain Kolivan, and I haven’t had to discipline you for insubordination for so long you’ve set a record.”

The sailor with the blue eyes turns from the captain to Krolia, a scowl twisting his lips. “I thought you of all people would understand.”

She rests a hand on his shoulder, but her eyes drift down when he shrugs it off. “I do,” she says, “but we need to be pragmatic.”

“Lance,” the black-haired sailor - Keith - cuts in. He grabs his arm and tugs him away, muttering something into his ear beyond Katie’s hearing.

Katie stares after them while tears - the first hint of damp since the sun started drying her scales - slide down her face. Her shoulders and arms shake with the effort of keeping herself upright, her chest aching as her hope dwindles again.

She doesn’t know what these sailors wanted with her father, what they want with her, but deep in her soul, so far from the kelp forests and thermal vents of her home, she knows it doesn’t matter.

By the time the sailors lift anchor and unfurl the sails, grief grips Katie so powerfully that she can’t bring herself to do much more than sob, glad for her limited privacy curled up inside a barrel filled with seawater.

#plance #pidgance #lidge #flirtyrobot #blade of marmora #also high key a dads of marmora au #not even kidding #but krolia's there!!#pidge is a mermaid and lance is a pirate #i know mer plance has been done #but has it been done like THIS??#(...has it??)#anyway #rueitae #voltron #reem writes fic #to sail to break to earn

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