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listen to the song here
The mission was simple: get in, set off the Galra’s self-destruct system, and get out before the ship blew up. But of course, nothing could ever go smoothly for the Voltron Paladins, especially when the blue and red Paladins are paired together, and especially when that mission takes place on an underwater planet.
Alarms blared as the two paladins crashed through one of the corridors in Prince Lotor’s submarine, yelling and screaming. Sentry drones were right on their heels, firing their blasters and chasing after them.
“Keith,” the Blue Paladin cried out as he grabbed his bayard, “Please tell me you have a plan!”
“Patience yields focus, Lance!” the Red Paladin yelled back.
“You don’t have a plan?!” Lance shrieked, beginning to return fire.
“PATIENCE. YIELDS. FOCUS!” Keith drew his bayard and used his shield to protect him and Lance from the white-hot bullets of the Galra.
Lance groaned as they ran, “I should’ve known coming back here with you was a bad idea!”
“What,” Keith huffed, “Don’t think I can handle the pressure of having a mermaid-planet saver as my teammate?”
“Dude, you’re literally the fire guy in a submarine, it’s like the definition of terrible ideas!”
“Just shut up and let’s get out of here and back to our lions before this whole thing blows to bits and we drown.”
Suddenly there was a loud crash from somewhere in the center of the ship, and both Paladins knew they were out of time. The submarine pitched to the right, and they could both hear the sound of crashing water as it rushed in through the ship’s hull.
Lance spotted a door up ahead, “In here!” he yelled and flung himself through the doorway, Keith right behind him. With a shove Lance pushed the door closed and locked it right as the water flooded the main corridor. The submarine slowly sank further into the depths of the ocean, and the two paladins panted, trying to catch their breath.
“That was close,” Lance gasped.
“Too close,” Keith agreed.
“Let’s try and radio the others,” Lance stood and turned on the com in his helmet, “Hey, guys?”
The helmet responded with static.
“Guys? Can you hear me?” Lance tried again.
More static.
Keith groaned, “I guess we’ll just have to sit and wait until the others find us.” he sunk down to the ground, taking off his helmet to wipe his sweaty forehead.
“Yeah,” Lance said uncertainly, also removing his helmet. He looked around at their surroundings, realizing that where they had taken refuge was akin to that of a broom closet, with various cleaning supplies and effects. It was small, but the ceiling was very tall, as most Galra ships were built.
Keith took a deep breath to speak when a high-pitched squeal came from the ship, and in a rush water began to rain from the high ceiling.
Both paladins scrambled backward and stared up at the ceiling in horror, “No,” Keith whispered and pulled his helmet back on, “Can anyone hear me? Hello? Lance and I need immediate evac, now!”
This time the helmet responded with momentary static, then a fizzle and low whine.
“What the―?” Keith ripped off the helmet again and saw that it had stopped glowing. He turned to Lance, “I thought you said the helmets were waterproof!”
“They are!” Lance yelled back, “You must’ve just run down your batteries or something.” he shoved on his own helmet, “Hunk? Pidge? Coran? Anyone, can you read me?”
The helmet responded with nothing.
In shock Lance pulled off his helmet and inspected it. Nothing on it gave any impression of being in working condition. The ship groaned again, and the water began to trickle in more rapidly.
The paladins looked at each other, mixed expressions of fear and shock on their faces.
“Maybe we could open the door and swim out?” Keith suggested flatly.
Lance shook his head, “The pressure would kill us on impact, even with these suits.”
“Then maybe…” Keith trailed off, desperately trying to think of something to say, a way out, a solution, “We could―I―” but his mind was blank. Nothing could enter into his mind other than the sound of rushing water all around them.
“So,” Lance said finally, “this is it.”
Keith took a deep breath, “Yeah, I guess it is.”
The two of them said nothing for a moment, letting the water rise.
“I just want you to know,” Lance finally spoke up, “I never actually hated you. In fact I kinda admire you, but I guess I just said you were my rival because I was jealous.”
Keith shook his head and looked at him, “What?”
“You're effortlessly good at everything, and not afraid to rush headlong into danger. Everyone loves you for it too, and even if you're hot-headed and don't think before you act, you always end up doing the right thing and saving us all.”
The Red Paladin wasn’t sure what to say, “Why would you be jealous of me? If anything, I've always been jealous of you!” he floundered.
“Huh?” Lance’s eyebrows arched at him.
“Lance,” Keith sighed, “you're the most caring person I know. From the moment you meet someone, you take care of them. Remember how you saved Coran from that bomb; you nearly got yourself killed to protect him! And that time you got stuck in the airlock because you were trying to save someone in danger? And when you wanted to knit that Arusian warrior a sweater the second you saw him?”
“You remember that?” Lance asked, eyes wide.
“I think about it a lot, actually.” Keith admitted.
There was a pause as the two boys let the words sink in. The water began to pool at their ankles.
“The point is, Lance, because you care so much about people, you’re able to do so much and bring so much light and life into the empty void of space. And I guess I’m sorta jealous of that.”
“But―” Lance frowned, trying to process this.
“Also,” Keith interrupted, “You have a family back home, which isn't really something the rest of us have. You could have left Voltron forever ago for that reason, but you decided to stay here and be a Defender of the Universe to keep them safe, even though you're more homesick than the rest of us combined. And—” Keith ducked his head for a moment, then looked back up to meet the Blue Paladin’s eyes with flushed cheeks, “I'm pretty sure I've had a crush on you since that first day of paladin training.”
Lance stared at Keith for a long moment, a blush starting to crawl up his neck and ears, “Really?”
Keith nodded.
Lance cleared his throat, “Wow. It took you that long to fall for me? I must've really changed over the past year if it took you a whole two days to fall for me—”
Keith felt his face burn and he stomped, splashing water all around him, “Oh....forget it! Even when we're literally about to die you can't stop being an arrogant—”
Without warning Lance splashed forward, grabbed Keith’s face, and kissed him.
“You're not the only one who's thought about our bonding moments a lot.” Lance murmured as he pulled back from the pale boy’s face.
Keith looked shocked, “Oh.”
The two of them smiled and laughed nervously as Lance brushed Keith’s wet hair from his face. They barely noticed the water steadily rising past their thighs and up to their waists.
“Did I ever tell you that I don't hate the mullet so much on you?”
Keith frowned, “What?”
Lance smiled, “Yeah, I mean at first I thought it was ridiculous, but the more I saw you rocking it, the more I came to like it. In fact, I think I might love it, at least on you.”
Keith paused and then grinned, “I love you too, Lance.”
“Now, hold on, I—”
But he never got to finish that sentence, as Keith cut him off with a kiss. The water had risen now to their chests, and neither of them could’ve cared and less. What better way to die than to drown in the lips of your rival, your friend, your lover?
...
The answer of course was Blue being able to track her paladin in the deep waters and rescue the two of them before they could actually drown together, but I digress.
artwork for this piece here!