Work Text:
It’s blinding.
Lasting less than a tick but it feels like a lifetime.
It’s there digging deep inside his own bones as the years come and go, unable to grasp sense into the scenery before him.
It changes every time; past and future presenting themselves before his eyes and he can’t even hold on to them enough to make sense before it's over and he gotta move on.
Move on so maybe, just maybe, he could be able of being part of the future he sees.
A future he aches for.
Keith follows Krolia, breath heavy against his mask as he tries to keep up. His feet hurt, every muscle is screaming at him to stop and rest but he can’t.
Not now, he can’t .
He keeps moving, bracing himself for another glimpse. There’s light surrounding his vision until it settles and all left behind is a dark room where two figures lie, soft quiet promises being whispered between each other until there’s a whimper.
Keith watches with a heavy heart as Krolia’s face lights up under the moonlight and moves to comfort his younger self, still a baby calling for his parents’ love and support.
She hushes him gently, caressing his cheek lovingly before sighing pleased once he settles down and Keith’s hand unconsciously raises up until it's against his own cheek, trying to mimic the action but feels nothing but a chill breeze.
He comes back to himself then, no air in his lungs until he reminds himself of where he is and then he takes a deep breath. Right, mission.
Put the mission first.
He nods at Krolia, silently letting her know he’s ok to continue. Krolia pauses before she nods back at him and turns, jumping towards the next rock.
It doesn’t take long before another vision takes him down but this time, it’s different. His vision is cropped and limited, not much to see around him except for the sight of his own hand hanging lonely next to his side.
He’s not sure how long he stared for before something comes from the edge of his vision and suddenly, there’s a hand wrapping itself around his own; he hears his own breath hitching at the touch, any hesitation left leaving his body before he’s squeezing back and he feels lighter.
Keith wants to hold on tighter, to keep this warm feeling inside him with him as long as he can. He wants to memorize the dark-skinned hand wrapped around his own into his memory and figure it out why it feels so right.
But he lets go. Because he has to.
It takes him a moment to gather his surroundings, faintly hearing his name being called behind him but its all muffled by the ringing in his ears. Was that his past? His future? Keith aches to know.
They move forward. More and more glimpses of his own life flash before him; he sees his parents looking down at him with every fiber of love he never dared to hope when he was a kid. He sees his dad, looking just as young and strong as he remembers him being, and the way he ruffles his hair fondly, nuzzling their cheeks together in an attempt to get a laugh out of his son and forget all about his broken skateboard.
Then he grows. He’s stronger and wiser. There’s an unknown heavy weight on his shoulders that comes after years of war and life itself; but somehow, he feels the unmistakable feeling of happiness inside him.
It’s there when he saw his team grown up but hearts still beating as wild as they did in their youth. It’s there was he hears laughter in a familiar lounge room but not exactly like the one back at the castle.
And it’s also there, surrounded by a faint shield of love and fondness, as he stares down an unfamiliar baby sleeping peacefully against a broad chest. Keith’s entranced by the innocence the human baby gives off by just sleeping, somewhat drooling over the clothed chest of the person holding him but Keith knows, he somehow knows.
“He sleeps like a rock; reminds me of someone.” Someone jokes near him, a deep husky chuckle ringing in his ears and Keith wants so bad to look up and meet this person. This person who holds his son like his own. This person who he can only get a small fraction of their smile from the corner of his vision.
He’s being yanked off the vision before he even realizes. Krolia looks down at him in concern, asking him if he’s okay or if he needs a break but Keith shakes his head and control his breathing.
Not now, he can’t .
He comes home.
“Did you ever see it coming?”
Keith blinks, eyes finally looking away from the team in the middle of the living room inside the Holts’ Residence. He turns his head, shifting slightly just to show that Lance has his whole attention now but he frowns in concern when his friend doesn’t look back at him.
“See what, exactly?” Keith asks quietly, uncrossing the arms over his chest as he pushes himself off the wall. Lance stays quiet for a few more seconds before he sighs and meets his gaze.
There’s a soft smile on Lance’s lips, one that it’s becoming more and more common to appear between their conversations and Keith’s insides twist pleasantly at the sight.
“You know; being a paladin, saving the universe, unlock every mystery in your past in your case.” Lance hums, raising one finger after another as he makes his list before he snorts and shakes his head. “Heck, just the fact that we’re alive and together; did you ever see any of it coming?”
Keith purses his lips but stays quiet otherwise. He didn’t, not really; one of his childhood memories is filled with unknown futures he had been so sure he would end up being part of. Futures without a purpose in life and no one by his side.
They were futures of a lonely troubled child who thought there was no hope for him.
Until Shiro. And then Voltron.
And he knows. Keith knows now exactly the kind of future he’s destined to have, still years and years away from the present but standing so strong in its own realm that it’s impossible to dismiss.
Did he ever see his life coming? No, he didn’t but he doesn’t tell Lance that much.
It’s late at night when the team finally calls it a day and go back to their assigned rooms. Keith stays in one of the guest rooms, with Krolia by his side and Cosmo sleeping by his feet.
It’s somewhere around two in the morning when he gives up on sleep.
He climbs down the stairs quietly, mind already set in taking his hoverbike they had taken on their way to Pidge’s home but the shadow leaning against the kitchen’s window catches his eye.
Lance doesn’t notice him at first and Keith takes the advantage to take in his teammate’s state. He knows Lance’s leaving in a few hours to see his family, barely having the time to greet them all properly a week ago when they landed.
Keith’s happy. He’s beyond happy that Lance can have this chance after so many nights being spent underneath a hologram image of earth.
He’s happy that his entire team can have a moment to breathe and see those they love the most. They have a moment to laugh and cry in their families’ arms, allowing themselves to take off the paladin’s title for a brief second and let themselves be teens.
Keith just hopes, that somewhere in their mind, they can consider him as family too, just like he already thinks of them as.
“Don’t you have an early flight tomorrow?” Keith speaks then, chuckling under his breath when Lance jumps on his spot.
“Oh, you know, I just can’t get enough of stars,” Lance says sarcastically, waving his hand at the outside beyond the window and Keith laughs, smiling sheepishly when Lance shushes him.
“Well, in that case,” Keith says slowly, picking up his hoverbike keys as he walks towards the brunet and then lets them dangle from his fingers in front of Lance’s face, “Wanna go for a ride? I know a good place to stargaze.”
Lance stares at the keys before he meets his gaze.
They share a quiet smile before they’re off.
There had been little to no time for them to step back and talk.
It took them several movements to even get close to earth’s solar system; between quick stops on Olkarion and other planets to get supplies and minimum rest, the team barely had time to talk about anything outside their next move on this war.
Their traveling arrangements only made it harder but not insufferable. Lance did once complain of Kaltnecker’s odor somewhere into the first movement and Pidge more than twice tried to connect her video game system in Green even though during the first try she accidentally K.O.’ed Yellow and with him Hunk.
If Keith’s being honest with himself, he’s glad he managed to have a conversation with at least one of his friends; outside war and diplomacy. He’s happy to be able to joke around and tease like all those months ago (or is it years for him? Time and space, man.) with Lance.
“Listen to me, man! I can guarantee you that by the end of the month, I will have the Garrison officiate that constellation as ‘Hot-dog Station’.” Lance says proudly, shoving Keith by the shoulder when he keeps on laughing.
“Okay, but that constellation is not even in this solar system, genius,” Keith says, punching the Cuban teen in the arm.
Lance snorts and waves a hand in the air. “Psh, details; who cares. ”
“The NASA cares,” Keith replies but chuckles when Lance shushes him.
They settle down, both of them leaning against the other by the shoulder on the hoverbike as they look up and see the stars.
It came to no one’s surprise when Keith’s unconsciously brought them back to where it all began. Keith’s heart weights with a bittersweet nostalgia as he looks to the side and sees his childhood home only a few feet away from them.
It looks like no soul has put a foot on it in his absence and Keith can almost pretend that at any given time his dad will come out the door and call him for dinner like all those years ago.
He doesn’t but Keith’s heart likes to fool itself.
“Ready for tomorrow?” Keith asks, looking away from the shack as he nudges Lance’s side playfully. The brunet huffs but smiles nonetheless, returning the action.
“Yeah, I really am,” Lance answers softly. “Mama has been counting down the days, honestly. Papa snitched.”
Keith grins. “I’m happy for you Lance; remember to take your time, yeah? There’s no rush since we got the ship planning covered with Pidge’s dad and the Garrison.”
Lance snorts, shaking his head. “As if I would be any help on building a castle anyways. Come on, if anything I would be cheering for them in the background. Ya know, just to be useful.”
“You helped on saving the universe, dumbass.” Keith chimes in, punching Lance awkwardly in the stomach. “That’s useful enough if you ask me.”
Lance scoffs as he looks away but Keith catches the blush in his friend’s ears at the words, easily noticing the nervous tic of Lance rubbing the back of his head when he feels sheepish.
Cute. Keith thinks with a smile. And dumb.
Keith wonders when will it come the time when Lance will realize his irreplaceable place in their team. How utterly needed he is.
Keith makes it his personal mission to remind him every chance he gets in the future.
“Hey,” he calls softly, waiting until Lance hums in question and turns to face him before speaking again, “I hope you have a good time and I will make sure that your room in the castle has its own bathroom. Not even God would want to hear your complains if there’s no space for your beauty regimen products.”
You gotta come back . Keith says silently, holding his breath as he stares at Lance’s dark eyes. Come back to me.
Lance smiles, kind and gentle and at the edge of his right cheek a dimple forms. It’s new and something Keith hasn't noticed before. It suits him.
“Oh, you better, mullet, because if Pidge has her own crazy laboratory but I don’t have a bathroom with a big bathtub, we’re going to have a talk.”
I’m coming back.
It’s not the same but it’s still home.
Keith caresses the walls with longing eyes. It feels surreal that he’s able to walk around down the halls he thought were destroyed and yet here he stands.
He still remembers the day they left earth once again. The take-off had been emotional, all of his team’s families being nearby the new castle as they said their farewells. Keith was able to meet them all properly; from Hunk’s moms patting his cheeks with affection and pinching his arms while complaining about how Hunk has not been feeding him right as if it that was his main duty and not being a paladin.
To Lance’s family, where he was met with stunned silence before he was surrounded by questions. Lance’s older siblings kept going on calling him ‘the Keith’ as if it was his main title, which Keith tried to explain multiple times that ‘no, I’m just Keith’.
The playful laughter and Lance’s miserable groaning made him think he was missing something, but no one really bothered on filling him in.
“You take care of him.” Lance’s mom had told him when she saved him from the McClain’s siblings pack and Lance was occupied with his niblings. “I know my son just like I know his mind has been already set on protecting you all with his life but please...”
Keith didn't need her to finish. It was a promise he had done way before they came back to earth and had no intention of breaking it ever.
Before he knows it, he’s in the common room. It’s smaller than the one of Castle of Lions but it’s more homey, with a more personal touch from everyone.
Keith finds Lance there. He can’t see his face but the way Lance’s cell phone is held up high in front of him and the call time length on the screen clues him in.
“How’s the family?” Keith asks quietly, not wanting to startle him. Lance hums as he puts his phone down and greets him with a smile.
“They’re good,” Lance says, following Keith’s movement until he’s sitting next to him. “Omar graduates from middle school next week.”
Keith whistles lowly. “What? He was just starting middle school last week!”
Lance barks a laugh. “I know, right! How did that happen?”
Keith chuckles, easing himself on the couch. Three years feels short despite belief but they had been real. They had been real with new adventures, new friends, and new feelings.
It surprises him sometimes, how far they have all come in the short years the team has been together. How much his own relationship with Lance developed from having a one-sided rivalry to have a close bond as leaders and partners.
It took them awhile, but slowly they found their balance in playful bickering and unconditional support. Keith hasn’t seen the changed between until one night Shiro pointed it out with a teasing smirk and it took half an hour for Keith’s blush to go down before he could go back to the dining room.
The news of Lance nephew’s graduation only reminds him that they’re due to another visit to earth soon, mainly on Coran’s request since their bacon supply is running low and the altean has dared to shut the ship down if he didn’t get his bacon soon.
He even dared to eat Kaltenecker, despite explaining the origin of bacon.
It had been a long talk.
“Hey, Keith?” Lance calls then, catching his attention. He waits until Keith hums as an answer before he continues. “When we go back to earth, would you like to come with me to my parents’?”
Keith blinks, tilting his head to the side in question. “Lance, I always come with you when we visit. Lydia even drew my name on the dining room table last time we went.”
Lance shakes his head, a small smile growing on his lips at the memory. “No, you knucklehead, I mean…I mean, with me.”
Keith stays quiet, trying to make sense of Lance’s words until the brunet sighs in mock exasperation and reaches out.
It’s secure and strong. It makes Keith look down and see for himself the odd but welcoming sight of their skin contrasting.
It’s merely a flash of something he had buried so long ago but now re-surfaces with purpose. He hears himself gasp quietly as he stares, his hand shakily squeezing back Lance’s own and his heart flipping excitedly when Lance snickers softly near his face.
“With me,” Lance repeats softly, eyes lingering a second too long in their intertwined hands before he looks up and meets Keith’s eyes. “What do you say?”
His answer leaves his lips before he even notices.
“I say yes.”
Keith knows he has an advantage here because he knows what his future holds. But that’s okay because it’s Lance who holds it for him.