Work Text:
Keith is awoken by a knock on his bedroom door. He props himself up on his elbows, his eyes bleary with sleep.
“What?” he calls.
“It’s me,” Shiro calls back. “Can I come in? I need to talk to you about something.”
Keith sighs and hauls himself upright. “All right, then.”
The door slides open, and Keith looks up. And then his eyes widen.
His six teammates are stood in the doorway, carrying an assortment of presents and balloons and what looks like a cake.
A grin spreads across his face. “What’s going on?”
“Happy birthday, Keith,” Shiro says, and everyone bursts into a rendition of Happy Birthday.
Allura is the only one who can actually sing, but what the others lack in singing ability they more than make up for in enthusiasm. Lance is singing the loudest, a huge grin on his face as he cradles a hug wrapped gift in his arms. He can’t hear Pidge’s voice, but she is definitely singing, smiling bashfully as she tries to hide behind Hunk. Hunk is beaming, holding a large cake covered in candles as he sings. Coran has a party hat on his head and has his arm around Hunk, and his singing is the worst of all. But they all look so happy.
And Keith is happy too. When the song is over, his team all stand around his bed, holding out presents. Coran sticks a paper hat on his head and Lance thrusts the huge present at him, whilst Hunk and Pidge prance around the room sticking banners that read Happy 18th Birthday Keith all over the walls. And Allura hands him an envelope and then Shiro holds the cake out to him.
It’s a beautiful cake, the icing depicting Voltron stood with its sword pointing up to the sky, with the Castle in the background. And Keith laughs when he notices that Voltron is wearing Red Lion slippers just like the blue ones Lance wears.
“Do you like it?” Hunk says.
“I love it,” Keith says. “That’s amazing icing, man. You could be an artist.”
Hunk’s eyes fill with tears and he hugs him, but Keith knows he’s happy rather than upset.
“Blow you your candles, Paladin,” Coran says. “You need to follow the tradition that the Princess and I don’t really understand but find fascinating regardless.”
“Yeah, blow them out and make a wish,” Shiro says, and Keith does just that.
The smell of candle smoke wafts up his nose, and Keith closes his eyes. He doesn’t know what he really wants to wish for, so he chooses defeating Zarkon as his wish. He knows these wishes aren’t real, but he still hopes it comes true.
“What did you wish for?” Pidge asks when he opens his eyes.
“He can’t tell you that!” Lance and Coran cry at the same time.
“Otherwise it won’t come true,” Allura says, smiling.
“Open your presents,” Hunk says, and Keith suddenly finds several wrapped gifts being thrust into his arms.
And he’s soon wearing Red Lion slippers (apparently Coran made them for him; he didn’t know Coran could sew) and eating cake at seven in the morning with the others all sat on his bed, and Keith can’t remember a time he felt this happy.