Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Can you hand me that system reader over there?” Pidge asked, pointing over to her desk.

“Which one is it? You’ve got an entire mechanics shop over here Pidge.” Stated her leader Keith.

Pidge pulled her arm out of the machine that she was currently working on and walked over to the desk. She picked up a small box with three long wires coming out of it. She tapped a button on the side and the top screen of the box turned on.

“This one. These wires connect to the motherboard and tell you the diagnostics of your lions operating systems.” She gave him a smirk then walked back over to her lion and reached her hand back in to plug in the machine.

“Oh, right. I knew that..” Keith let out a sigh and moved over to the chair by her desk. How Pidge was able to work for hours on end on this stuff he will never know. Allaura had suggested that he, being the team leader, should try to learn more about how the lions operate on a mechanical level. Plus Allaura felt like he could use this opportunity to bond more with the other paladins. Pidge, having met both of those requirement, decided that she would take him on as her apprentice and teach him everything she knew about the lions. It seemed like a good idea at first, but it is now week three, and Keith is bored. As far as he can tell it is just a lot of fancy programing, and no matter how much Pidge explains it to him it just never makes sense. Numbers had never worked out well in his head.

The Lions Den, which is what they called their lion storage unit on earth, had become dark and quiet as everyone had gone home and the sun had gone down. It was nearly 1am and Keith had started zoning out about three hours ago. Pidge was still going strong though.

She finished attaching the last node into its place and turned the system reader on. “Okay. We will let that sit overnight and by morning we should know how those adjustments we made to the steering program went over. I think it’s time we get you to bed, seeing how you are basically half asleep.” She walked over and pushed Keith on his shoulder and he slumped over slightly before startling awake.

“Oh! Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to doze off like that. Really. I’m.. super into...whatever you just did. I promise.” Keith put on his interested face, only halfway achieving it since he was still half asleep.

“Come on, time for bed.” She grabbed his arm and helped him to stand up. They both walked into the dorms that had been assigned to them at the garrison. Pidge walked Keith to his room, since it was on the way to her room. “Good night. Tomorrow I will show you how to make the interface system of the garrison connect to the-”

“Sound good Pidge.” Keith waved goodbye as he walked into his room and closed the door behind him. His small room had two bunk beds on either side of the room. Lance was asleep on the top bunk, snoring like a bear. Hunk was below him curled up in a ball hugging his pillow.

Keith walked over to the right side of the room and hopped up to his top bunk above Shiro. He kicked off his shoes then swung his feet up to lay down.

“Ouch! Watch where you kick those things Keith!” Shiro whisper-yelled up at him.

“Sorry bro. Wasn’t trying to hit you. Just so tired.” Keith pulled his blanket up and pulled it around him.

Shiro stood up and stood next to the side of the bed, his eye level only a little higher than Keiths. “At least you are back before sunrise this time.” Shiro taunted with a chuckle.
“Yeah well she has to run some kind of check thingy that is going to take all night so she couldn’t do much else. Thank god.”

“Haha. And how is your learning coming along?”

“I don’t know what it is about all of this program stuff but it just doesn’t’ make sense to me man. Plus, I already know how to fly the lions, so why do I need to be able to program them too? I mean hanging out with Hunk and learning how to fix the actual machine made more sense than this!” He groaned in frustration and pulled the blankets over his head.

“Well then don’t think of it as learning the lions. Look at it as a way to get closer to Pidge. I mean, no offense but you two are probably the most alienated of all of the paladins in Voltron. You’ve never really connected.”

“We don’t really have much in common though. I mean, besides the rest of you being our friends and us both being paladins. But we don’t have any part of our personalities in common.Why don’t you go learn from her, lord knows that you would LOVE the extra time with Pidge… alone...” Keith gave him a sly look.

Shiro laughed and while Keith couldn’t see it in the darkness he knew that the tall man was blushing. “I am not the one who needs the training. You are. Why don’t you start by talking about the other paladins. Then start asking her questions about herself. You might be surprised by how much you two are alike.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Keith let out a yawn. “I will give it a try tomorrow morning. Goodnight bro.”

“Goodnight baby bro.” Shiro ran his fingers through his hair and gave him a kiss on the forehead before laying back down on his bunk. Both brothers were asleep within a few minutes.

***

Pidge walked down towards her dorm room. She opened the door and walked in to find Allura on the right side bed. Pidges brother Matt was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room facing her and they were looking at maps on a tablet in Matts hand. They both looked up when Pidge walked in, she had interrupted them mid conversation.

“Hey sis! How’s it going?” Matt straightened up. He closed out the map on his tablet and put it under his arm.

“Good, I was able to get the diagnostics running on the green lion to fix the steering. What is going on in here?” Her eyes shifted between the two.

Allura spoke up first, “We are just going over our routes for the supply run we are doing next week.”

“Oh right. Is our ship going to be ready for that by then?” Pidge asked. The Voltron paladins had been assigned to help take supplies all around earth to rebuild the societies that had fallen during the Voltron takeover six months ago. Most of the world had been able to bounce back but there was still help needed, and not many people were aware of the Voltron lions. So this was their opportunity to fix both of those problems.

“Our engineers are hoping that the new ship will be done within the next couple of days. The tour will just be the test run before you all take your new castle out to fight in space again. All of the information you’ve been able to give up from the lions was really helpful and Coran has had a hand in every part of the process.” Matt explained. “There will be some things that we don’t have here on earth that you guys will have to get later, like the Ballmera crystal, but we can give you enough resources till then.” He smiled at Allura and she smiled back.

“You have no idea how touched I am that the kind people of earth have decided to help me rebuild my castle. It means everything to me and it will help us to save the universe. I see earth as one of the Alteas strongest allies.” Allaura reached a hand out and touched Matts arm.

Matt turned bright red looking at her hand on his skin, then he quickly stood up off his chair and moved back towards the door.

“Right, well, no big deal, uh, princess. Anything we can do after everything you’ve done for earth. And for my sister and I.” Matt smiled at Pidge. “Anyways, it’s late and I should probably let you two ladies get some rest so I will see you in the morning.” He opened the door and walked out. Both girls yelled “Goodnight!” as he left.

Pidge turned and gave the princess a raised eyebrow.

“What is that look for?!” Allura asked.

“Nothing… you and Matt just seem to have been seeing a lot of each other these past few weeks.” Pidge sat on her bed and gave Allura a smug smile.

“Well I should think so since he is in charge of arranging the tour that we are about to go one and he is my only way to make sure that the castle has everything I need in it.” She then turned and gave a questioning look, “Why? What do you think is going on?”

“Oh nothing!” Pidge said smiling to herself.

“Uh hu. And how are things going with Keith?” Allura gave the same smug look back at Pidge.

“Ugh I don’t even want to think about it.” She flopped back on the bed. “It’s like trying to explain calculus to a wall. He just gives me a blank stare and then zones out. I know you want me to teach him Allura, but I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up.”

Allura moved over to her side of the room then sat on the bed next to her. “Just keep it up until we leave for the tour. One more week. You can do that no problem.”

“Sure but we don’t have anything in common! We never have been super close because we literally just don’t have anything to talk about that the other one is interested in. I mean, I can only ask about his knife so many times. Can’t I just trade you places and go on patrols with Lance and Shiro?”

“No,you know that you being around Shiro will only make you distracted.” Allura gave Pidge a wink. Pidge covered her face and blushed. “Plus you and Keith need to work this out and become closer as a team. How about this, you have the other paladins in common, why not talk about them?”

“That’s not going to teach him much about operating systems though.”

“Oh forget about that. If he hasn’t caught on by now, chances are he isn’t ever going to. So just try to create a stronger friendship with him and see where that goes.” Pidge just layed there, not answering. Allaura started shaking her, “COME ON ITS ONLY ONE MORE WEEK!”

“AH OK OK! Geez stop it!” Pidge laughed and rolled away from her.

“Good. Now please try to get some sleep tonight. Do not stay up on your tablet all night okay?”

“Yes mother…” Pidge droned out.

Allura turned off the lights on her way back to her bed. “Goodnight darling.”

“Goodnight.”

Chapter Text

“Alright! Looks like everything is working properly on the steering modules.” Pidge said. She and Keith were back in the lions cave. It was Sunday so most of the workshop was gone for the weekend break so it was just the two of them in there.

“Awesome! Sooo… what’s next?” Keith asked. He had tried to start a conversation but he wasn’t the best at coming up with conversation transitions from programing to, well, anything else.

“Well, I was thinking that I can sit here and start a program for a new design I worked up for the blue lion last night, don’t tell Allura, and while I do that we,” She picked up her laptop and sat in the desk chair giving Keith a gesture to sit in the other chair next to her, “are going to play the question game.”

“The question game?” Keith asked, taking the offered chair.

Pidge had already opened a new program page and started typing. “Yeah, have you ever played?”

“Uh, no I don’t think so…” He answered.

“Well it’s easy.” She kept typing while talking. “Basically I ask you a question and then you answer it. After you’ve answered, then I answer it. Then it is your turn to ask a question. And so on… Make sense?”

“Uh sure I guess? But why are we playing this game?”

“Well I just realized that I don’t know too much about you Keith Kogane. And this game is how I get people to tell me their deepest darkest secrets.” Pidge took a moment to look away from the screen to give and evil glare before chuckling and going back to her program. “I’m kidding dude. You look like I just slapped you in the face. You don’t have to play if you don’t want to.”

Keith took a second to wrap his head around the information that was just thrown at him before answering. “No, I’m in. Let's play.”

“Okay cool! I will ask the first question then.” Pidge thought for a second. “Alright, what is your favorite thing to do outside of being a paladin?”

“Uh,” Keith had to think really hard. It had been awhile since he had done anything outside of his paladin duties. “I guess I used to bird watch a lot. Ya know, at the ranch.”

“Woah! That is not the answer I was expecting.” Pidge giggled.

“Oh haha. Laugh all you want. It was very relaxing and I had a lot of free time.”

“I never said it was bad, it is just not what I would have guessed.”

“Well what do you do when you aren’t staring at a computer or fighting with Voltron?”

Pidge got a blush on her face. “I, uh, I used to do ballet…”

“Ballet?” Keith tried to imagine the small paladin in front of him as a dancer but found it hard. “I never would have guessed that. You don’t seem, uh, graceful enough for that sort of thing.” He snickered.

“Yeah says you bird stalker.”

“Watcher!”

“Whatever. I never said I was super good. I just enjoyed doing it. Even it I was never going to become a professional ballerina or anything, but i enjoyed it. I have actually found that I am better with pop music dancing lately. But I never do it in front of anyone. And you better not tell the others!” She glared at him. “Thing said in this game stay between us.”

“Yes. Definitely. Could you imagine the crap that I would get from Lance if he found out about the bird watching thing?” Keith laughed and smiled to himself.

Pidge noticed the small smile that Keith gave when he talked about Lance. She took note. “Okay, your turn.”

“Alright…” Keith couldn’t think of anything. Then he remembered that Shiro told him to talk about the other paladins. So he said the first thing that came to his mind. “Which of the Voltron guys do you think is the hottest?” He regretted it as soon as he said it.

“Woah, okay. Already getting into the embarrassing questions huh?” Pidge laughed. “Usually people like to ease into those. I like how you aren’t afraid to ask the hard questions though.”

Keith laughed. “You’re avoiding the question Pidge.” He leaned in on his elbows to look at her from across the desk. Pidge stayed quiet, still typing out code.

“What if I don’t think that any of you are hot?” She teased at him.

“Oh come on, you’ve gotta have at least a little bit of feelings for someone on the team. It’s almost impossible considering how much time we all spend together. So spit it out. Who is it?” Pidge stayed silent, face expressionless.

“Is it Lance?”

Nothing.

“Do you think Hunk is a hunk?”

Still nothing.

“It’s me then isn’t it?”

Pidge laughed and rolled her eyes but still said nothing.

“Allura is pretty cute huh?”

“Pretty sure Matt would physically fight me over her.” Pidge laughed.

“Hmm, so it’s Shiro then.” Keith stated.

Pidge tried her hardest to keep a straight face like she had with the others but Keith saw her falter slightly.

“Ah ha! It is Shrio! You have a crush on Shiro!” Keith yelled like he had just unearthed the mystery of the century.

“What! No, of course it’s not Shiro.” Pidge tried to hide the blush that was coming to her face.

“Don’t lie to me.I won’t tell anyone. That’s the rules of the game remember. These answers stay between us.” Keith smiled at Pidge. She just glared back at him.

“Yeah well you better not or else I will tell your crush.” Pidge shot him a glance over her computer, the same one she was giving Allura last night.

“W-wha- what are you talking about? I-I don’t ha-have a crush on anyone.” Keith stammered. He had never even talked about his crush out loud before so there was no way that she could know, right?

“Oh please. Don’t pretend like your cold, half-glara heart doesn’t beat faster whenever you think about a certain brown hair blue eyed paladin.”

Crap, okay so maybe she knows a little bit more than he had hoped…

“Who? Lance! You think I like Lance? That’s just ridiculous. Why would i ever-”

“Oh save it for someone who will believe it. I have been watching you two dance around each others feeling for years now and honestly it’s exhausting.”

“Dance…? Each other..? What are you talking about?” Keith asked.

“Look, unlike my unrequited crush on Shiro, you and Lance have something real going on there. You obviously have feelings for him and he obviously has feelings for you. But you are both too stubborn to see what is right in front of you. I mean come on. You spend almost every day together.” Pidge had stopped typing altogether and pushed her laptop to the side to make sure that her point was getting through to him.

Keith looked down at his gloves and played around with a string that was hanging out of it that he had been meaning to cut but hadn’t yet. “Well I will admit that maybe I have some type of feelings for Lance, but it doesn’t matter anyways. Lance doesn’t like me. He likes the princess.”

Pidge reached forward and grabbed the hand of the glove he was playing with. “He might think that he likes her more, but that’s not how he acts. Actions speak louder than words Keith. And all of Lance’s actions revolve around you. Lance just needs to have his eyes opened up a little bit. That’s all.” She gave his hand a squeeze.

Keith looked at Pidge's hand on his and felt a warmth coming from it. Pidge had never really come off as a super understanding person but he could really feel how much she cared in that small gesture.

He snapped out of it and took in a deep sigh and leaned back in his chair. “Whew, okay, what else do we have to do here?” Keith asked trying to change the subject to something more comfortable.

“Well, after a long week of working on a program sometimes I like to go pamper myself a bit. Like have a spa day. So I might do that later. You don’t have to come with me though. You can just take off the rest of the night if you want.” Podge said, back to typing on her laptop.

“I’ve never been to the spa before,” He gave a half-hearted laugh. “Would you mind if I tagged along?” He tried not to seem too interested but he was genuinely excited by the idea of just having a day to relax.

Pidge looked over her computer, she looked confused for a second before bursting out with excitement. “OF COURSE YOU CAN! Oh my god, I’ve been trying to get someone to go with me for weeks now and no one wants to. Here, let me save,” She clicked a few buttons on her computer then closed it. “Alright let’s go!”

She stood up and ran around the table and grabbed his hand dragging him out the door.

What in the world has be gotten himself into…

Chapter Text

Keith had never felt so relaxed.

He could feel the mud mask on his face hardening and he was loving the plush white robe that he had been given to lay in. He had already had a deep tissue massage, which took a long time because he has ‘one of the most knotted back we have ever seen’.

Pidge was laying beside him and they are both enjoying the heat lamps above them. Keith tried to remember why he hadn’t hung out with Pidge before. She was the perfect friend. He could talk to her about anything and she had absolutely no judgement, but she also didn’t mind just sitting in complete silence if he didn’t feel up to talking.

“We should hang out more often.” Pidge stated breaking the silence, apparently on the same mind track as Keith had just been.

“Yeah, we really should. I can’t believe I have never done this before.” Keith gave out a huge sigh and settled more into his reclined seat.

“I usually come over here every few weeks, at least I have been since we have been back. I would come more but I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to come with me. I tried bringing Allura once but she just wanted to talk and talk and talk…” Pidge groaned. “I mean I love her to death but does she ever shut up?”

“HA!” Keith laughed despite himself. “I’m glad I am not the only one who has noticed that. I haven’t spoken up about it though for fear of pissing everyone off.”

“Well you can’t piss me off. I’m already pissed off like seventy percent of the time.”

“Same.” Keith looked over and made eye contact with her, they both burst out laughing.

“So how did you find this place?” Keith asked. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a spa kind of girl. ”

Pidge leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. “My mom used to bring me here before I went to the Garrison. We would come every month on a mother daughter date. Afterwards we could go for ice cream and she would take me to buy one new outfit for school.”

“Wow, ballet and spas and shopping sprees. Who in the world are you Pidge? Where has this side of you been hiding this whole time?”

Pidge gave a sad laugh. “Well I guess it all went away when I went to the Garrison. I haven’t danced, worn a dress, or even gone by Katie ever since that happened.” Keith could hear the sadness in her voice, as if she was remembering a friend she knew long ago. “I just have too much going on to go back to it, plus it would seem irresponsible to take time out of working on the mission to go on a shopping spree. There is just so much to do. And it’s not that I don’t mind doing all of those other things, but sometimes I do miss the girl I used to be…”

“Well you know, I bet you could go back to doing all of that again. If you really wanted to…” Keith offered.

“No, everyone would freak out. I don’t want to make them to act differently around me just because I look pretty or anything like that.”

“How do you think that they would act differently?”

“They would treat me more like a child. Like a girl who has to be protected. I know it sounds stupid but I really just don’t want to strain the team at all right now. We are so close right now I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.”

Keith sat up and grabbed Pidges arm. Pidges eyes flew open and she also sat up to look him in the eyes. “Pidge. You are one of the strongest people I know. The guys will be fine if you want to be a girl more often. And if they aren’t then I personally will take care of them.” Pidge giggled and looked down at her feet. “And if you’re afraid that the team is too close to do this right now, I would argue that there is no better time to do something like this. They are just going to be that much more supportive and happy for you.”

Pidge looked up at Keith and gave him a smile, he could see tears welling up in her eyes. She flung herself towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you Keith.”

Keith wasn’t sure how to react. He wasn’t used to being hugged like this, especially when people were crying. After a few seconds he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back. “Hey, don’t go getting sappy on me no. You’re going to ruin your facemask.”

He could feel her laughter against his chest as she hugged him. She sniffled a few times then pulled away to sit back on her own seat. She wiped away a few tears and then ran her fingers through her hair.

Pidges hair had grown quite a bit since he had first met her. It was down past her shoulders but he wouldn’t quite call it long yet. She usually kept it back in a messy ponytail but today she had left it down after the massage.

“Sorry, I just haven’t had anyone to talk to about this sort of stuff before. No one else gets it.”

“Well I can’t say I understand completely but I’m here if you want to talk.” Keith gave her a warm smile. Pidge gave a smile back.

“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but it’s time to take off your masks.” The worker must have come in without Keith or Pidge noticing, which is rare because usually they notice everything.

“Coming.” Pidge said. She stood up and straightened her robe out. Then she turned and held out her hand to Keith to help him out of his seat.

***

“Where in the world have you two been?” Shiro stood in the front of the Garrison with his arms crossed. The look of disappointment could be felt from fifteen feet away where Pidge and Keith were walking up from. It was not too late but the sun had already gone down. This was a big no-no for them because everyone was supposed to be inside of the Garrison walls before dark for safety reason. But Pidge and Keith had gone for the extra long treatment at the spa and had lost track of time.

Keith gave Pidge a glance that said ‘let me handle this’. “We just went out to get some Mexican.” He said. Which wasn’t exactly wrong. They had ordered in Mexican at the spa. Pidge and Keith had decided on the walk home that it was probably best if they didn’t tell everyone that they spent their whole day at the spa while everyone else was working. So they came up with the Mexican food story.

“Which restaurant?” Shiro snapped.

“Cocalidos.” Pidge answered without hesitation, sticking to their story.

“What did you order?” Shiro pushed.

“I got the pork burrito and Pidge got the chicken enchilada.”

Shiro didn’t look happy but he did look satisfied with their answers. “Alright well you two know the rules. You have to be back before sundown.”

“Yeah we know, just lost track of time. We are so sorry Shiro.” Pidge gave a little hint of a puppy dog eye, something she had found out early worked on almost all of the paladins so that she can get what she wanted, Keith being the only exception.

Shiros face softened. Always works. Pidge thinks to herself. “Don’t let it happen again.” He states and turns to open the gates to the Garrison.

Keith and Pidge share a relieved look and then a small giggle. Too quiet for even Shiro to hear.

Did I just giggle? Keith had never giggled before in his life. What in the world was going on here? He had only been hanging out with Pidge for a few hours and he was already feeling different. Not a bad different. Almost like he had stopped holding his breath by trying to hide parts of himself. He felt completely honest and himself with Pidge and he had only been good friends with her for a few hours.

They walked in towards their dorms and came to Pidges door first. She opened a door and looked in on a dark room. “Allura must still be in meetings.”

“This late?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, lots of the progress on the castle is being done around the clock so they have lots of late night meetings to make sure that everything is going to be done right while the night crews are working. And then morning meetings for the day crews, etc. I swear she is hardly ever here anymore.” Pidge pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Thanks for today by the way.” She said over her shoulder.

“Anytime.” Keith gave a small wave as the door closed in front of him. He turned and walked down the hall to where his dorm was, took a deep breath and opened the door.

Hunk had his back on the floor and his mouth wide open. Lance was on the top bunk of the bed and was throwing mini marshmallows down, attempting to hit Hunks mouth. Usually Shrio stops this sort of thing but he must be in the same meetings as Allura because he was nowhere to be found. Keith is used to this sort of thing but there was one thing that bothered him.

“Lance what the hell are you doing on my bed?” Keith yelled.

Lanced looked over at him, marshmallow in mid throw position. He must not have realized that Keith had come in. “Oh… hey Keith. Where have you been?” He made no effort to move off the bed.

“Why are you on my bed Lance?” Keith walked over to glare at him. But with Lance being up on the bed he easily had a couple of feet on him.

“We are playing marshmallow mouth.” Lance was not intimidated even a little bit by Keith and his small stature.

“I can see that but why are you on MY bed? You have the other top bunk, so why aren’t you throwing from up there?”

Lances confidence shifted slightly as he looked for an accurate explanation. Then he sighed and looked down at the marshmallow bag on his crossed legs. “Honestly, the lighting is better from over here.”

Keith’s head tilted so hard he just about snapped it. “The lighting. You are telling me that you are getting marshmallow crumbs on my bed because the singular light in the middle of the room looks better from me bed rather than yours?”

“Yep. That’s exactly what I am saying.” Lance smirked then turned and threw a marshmallow. It landed perfectly in Hunks mouth. Both boys raised their fists in victory. “Goal! Sharpshooter strikes again!”

Keith was stuck between rage and laughter. But there was no way he could let Lance win so he let rage win. He grabbed the rails of the bed and flung himself up. “Get off my bed!” Keith screamed.

Lance had been prepared for this and he threw the blanket around Keith’s head as soon as he came up. He quickly wrapped the rest of it around Keith and effectively tied him up. Keith couldn’t see anything or move his arms at all. He felt himself be pushed around until all of his limbs were tied.

Keith then felt Lances full weight on his hips, and he tried not to get and wrong idea. But when Lance pulled back the part of the blanket over his eyes he could see that Lance was straddling him. His face was only inches away from Keith’s face and his bright blue eyes were stunning. Keith tried to keep his thoughts together as much as he could to give an insult to Lance, but his brain was wanting to focus more on Lances chest pressed against him and his chocolate brown eyes.

Lance leaned forward and brought his mouth to Keiths ear. “I win.” He whispered.

And then it was over.

“Let’s go find a midnight snack Hunk.” He got off Keith and hopped off the bed effortlessly and moved towards the door. Hunk followed quickly behind.

“Okay! I’ve got this great new recipes that I been wanting to try out..” The door closed behind them and Keith was left alone.

Keith let out a huge sigh. What the hell was that? Lance had always been playful with him, as he is with everyone, but he had never gotten to this level of play with him before.

It took Keith probably four minutes to finally untangle himself from the mess of blanket. One thing was for sure, that massage that had taken out all of the stress from his muscles had just been completely undone. How did Lance manage to tie him up that fast? It doesn’t make sense.

The paladin straightened his bed back up and then turned off the light. He was super tired, relaxing for the first time in his life had really shown him how exhausted he really was. Laying down in his bed he let himself sink into his pillow.

Keith took a deep breath in and then let out a big sigh. Wait, what is that smell? He pushed his face into his pillow and took another deep breath. Oh my God. Lance left his scent all over my damn bed. Now how was he supposed to get some sleep. Besides having The weird scene that just went down replaying in his head over and over now he has to smell Lance all night! He is never going to get any sleep.

Sitting up in bed he turned on his lamp. He looked around for something that he could do to pass the time, since he won’t be sleeping anytime soon anyways. Then the idea hit him.

“Oh hey Keith.” Pidge siad from behind a cracked door a few minutes later.

“Can I come in for a bit?” He asked.

Pidge opened the door the rest of the way and motioned for him to enter.

Chapter Text

“Why would he think that was a good idea?” Keith had been ranting to Pidge for the past ten minutes about his fight with Lance. His pace was quickening as he walked back and forth across the room. Pidge was laying on her bed with her head upside down and her feet against the wall watching him.

“I told you he liked you. And you didn’t believe me.” She taunted.

“He does NOT like me. People who like other people do not tied them up on their beds.” Pidge gave a sly look. “Oh God don’t even say what I think you are about to say.” He huffed.

Pidge swung her legs around so she could sit on the edge of the bed. “Sit down, you’re wearing a hole in the rug.” She patted the bed next to her.

Keith let out a long sign then we to sit next to the green paladin. “I just wish he would leave me alone. Everytime I see him it makes it harder and harder to get over him. And then he does things like this and it makes it even harder.”

“Why are you trying to get over him? Try to get with him instead!” Pidge shook his shoulder.

“He doesn’t want me Pidge! How many times do I have to tell you! He likes Allura. Like beautiful, princess, exotic alien Allura! There is no way that he has even considered me like that when she is around all of the time.” He fell back onto the bed and threw a pillow over his face.

Pidge couldn’t stop herself anymore. She bursted up laughing. In fact, she started laughing so hard that she fell off the bed. “OMG. I’m crying this is so freaking funny!”

Keith shot up and looked at her on the ground by his feet. “What the hell is so funny to you?”

“Y-you are such a teenage girl!” Pidge went into another round of laughs, slapping the floor below her.

He couldn’t help it. Her laughter was contagious. He started laughing too and within a few minutes they were both on the floor laughing.

“Oh god. Playing back everything I just said makes me sound like such a freaking cry baby!” Keith laughed.

Once they had both regained their composure they leaned back onto the bed and Keith let his head fall on Pidges shoulder. They sat there content for a few minutes before he broke the silence.

“What do I do now?” He asked.

“Well, while I still think you are wrong about Lance not liking you, I will help you to try to get over him.”

“And how do you plan to do this?”

“We will just have to find you someone new. Someone to take your mind off of Lance. Cause let’s face it, most of this is probably just sexual frustration and once you get it out of your system you’re going to be just fine.”

Keith laughed and sat up to look at her. “While I resent the idea that I am just sexually frustrated, I don’t think that the rest of it is that bad of an idea. I think that maybe meeting someone new will be good for me.”

“Great! Tomorrow then. Tomorrow starts operation…” Pidge thought for a second. “Gazelle.”

“Gazelle?”

“Yeah. Cause your a lion… and lions catch gazelles… we can change it if you want.”

“No! No. I love it.” They met eyes and held the gaze a few seconds longer than felt comfortable for them. Neither of them are good with this whole sentimental thing.

Keith broke the eye contact and went to stand up. He reached his hand down to help her up off of the floor. “Okay, well, I think that is enough mushy feeling stuff for tonight, so I think I am going to go to bed now. Thanks again for letting me talk out all of my stupid girly thoughts.” Keith laughed.

“That’s what I’m here for.” Pidge replied. Keith could see some apprehension behind her eyes. Then she suddenly lunged forward and hugged him. It was a nice hug. It took him a moment before he realized what was happening but then he hugged her back.

They heard the door open behind them. “Oh, hey.” Then, “Guys he is in here!” Allura had called out into the hallway. Lance, Hunk, and Shiro came up to the door.

“There you are man! We’ve been looking all over for you!” Lance said. Then he took in the situation in front of him. “Uh, are we interrupting something?” He asked.

Pidge and Keith hadn’t realized that they were still hugging until Lance pointed it out. They jumped away from each other and Pidge ran her hand through her hair as Keith said, “Nope. Nothing. I was actually just leaving so..” He pushed his way out of the room and into the hallway making a beeline towards his room.

Everyone looked very confused but the boys took their leave and followed him to bed and Allura came into the room with Pidge.

She put her tablet in it’s charger then turned to look at Pidge. “If you ever want to talk about-”

“Nothing to talk about. Nothing happened. So don’t worry about it. I’m tired. Going to sleep now. Goodnight Princess!” Pidge jumped into her bed and pulled the covers over her head and hoped that Allura would take the hint and leave her alone.

Thankfully she did.

***

“Okay! I’ve got this great new recipes that I been wanting to try out..” Hunk said as they exited the room. “It’s a chocolate cake in a cup!” He said excitedly. “I have been wanting to try it for weeks.”

Lance gave him a smile. “Sounds awesome dude.”

They walked into the shared living room and kitchen for the paladins. It was great that they had been able to get their own section of the garrison to themselves. It really helped them to be able to stay working together as a team, however sometimes the close proximity was too much for him.

“Hey Romelle, mind if we make a midnight snack?” Hunk asked. Romelle looked up from her tablet in her hand.

“Only if i get some too.” She smirked.

“Obviously.” Hunk winked at her. It was so obvious to Lance that Hunk was totally head over heels for this new Altean in their group. He couldn’t blame Hunk, she was cute. Just not quite his type.

Romelle had been sleeping on the couch currently. There wasn’t enough room in the girls dorm and she didn’t feel comfortable staying with other people anyways so she offered to stay on the couch until further arrangements could be made. And since she was coming with them on tour in a week, she wouldn’t be there much longer. Plus she loved Hunks midnight snacks.

Hunk pulled out some mugs and started putting ingredients in them. Lance took a seat across the island bar from Keith.

“So are we going to talk about what just happened between you and Keith in there?” Hunk asked, still not looking up from his cooking.

“What is there to talk about? Keith was being a jerk. I showed him that I am better than him, once again.” Lance reached over and stole a chocolate chip from where they were spilling out of the bag onto the counter. Hunk swatted at his hand but was too slow.

Hunk sighed. “I don’t know man. I have seen you two play around but this felt different. Didn’t you notice that he didn’t even fight back?”

Lance replayed the scene in his head. It was true that Keith had given up faster than usual. “Well, maybe he is just finally realizing who is the alpha.” Lance reached for another chip but Hunk was fast enough this time and swatted him.

“Ouch!”

“Stop doing that then.” Hunk put three mugs into the microwave and started the timer. He turned back towards Lance and leaned against the stove. “Just think you should be nicer to him is all.”

“Nicer? To Keith? What are you talking about? Keith and I have always had this kind of playful friendship.” Lance said.

“Well it doesn’t look like Keith is very happy with those sorts of things anymore. He has hardly even talked to you lately. Haven't you noticed that?”

Of course Lance had noticed that Keith had been pulling away from him a little bit. He just assumed it was because he was moody and busy with work now that they were back on earth. That is why Lance had been trying extra hard to be friendly to him and mess around with him, to try to cheer him up. But he hadn’t considered that he might be pushing Keith away in trying to cheer him up.

“Maybe you are right.” Lance said defeated. “But if he doesn’t want me to tease him then what does he want from me?”

“Why don’t you just try being nice to him?” Romelle asked, taking a seat next to Lance at the island bar.

“I am nice to him!”

“Nicer.” Hunk replied. “Just make him feel like he is not a nuisance to you and like he is an actual friend and teammate to you. Make him feel loved.”

Lance grabbed a few more chocolate chips and shoved them in his mouth. “I guesh I can guv it a try.” He said through the chips.

“Chew then speak Lance, come on!” Hunk laughed. He then turned his attention to Romelle. “So are you ready for tomorrow morning?”

“Ugh! No! I don’t understand why you think I need to help you cook Hunk this is such a bad idea!” She complained.

“Look, everyone here has their way that they help out the garrison. You have had enough time to adjust to earth that I feel like you are able to take on a job now. Helping me to cook for the other paladins is honestly not that hard of a job.” Hunk explained.

“But why do we have to wake up so early?”

“Because that way no one has to wait to eat once they wake up. They can eat their food and get started right away on their jobs. Then you and I get to chill until dinner comes around, since lunch is provided in the cafeteria.”

“Whatever. I still think it’s ridiculous.” She said.

Hunk put on oven mitts and pulled the mugs out of the microwave. They had a chocolate cake looking substance flowing over the top of them. He slid one in front of the two others and placed forks next to them. “Alright, tell me what you think.”

Lance and Romelle both tried their respective treats, blowing on the first to cool them off. As soon as the treat touched their tongues their eyes lit up.

“OMG! Hunk this is so amazing!” Romelle exclaimed.

“Seriously dude. This is bomb.” Lance agreed.

“Yes! New recipes for my eventual cookbook.” Fistpump.

They were all finished with their cake when Allura, Shiro, and Matt all walked in.

“Why does it smell like cake in here?” Shiro asked.

“Hunk made this amazing cake in a mag!” Romelle squealed with excitement.

“You guys want some?” Hunk offered.

“Maybe another day. I’m tired and if I eat sugar I will be up all night long. Allura said sitting next to Lance at the island. Matt and Shiro stood on either side of Hunk on the far side.

“Yeah me too.” Matt and Shiro both agreed.

Lance was very aware of how close the princess was sitting next to him. His crush on her had its ups and downs but right now it is on a major up. She is so pretty, even if she looks like she hasn’t sleep in a few years. Her white hair was down and flowing around her shoulders and Lance had to fight the urge to reach out and run his hand through it.

“So Shiro,” Lance said, shaking himself out of his Allura trance, “Where did you find Keith and Pidge today?”

Shiro sighed and leaded back. “They had gone out for Mexican apparently and lost track of time.”

“You believe that?” Matt asks.

“I don’t know. That doesn’t quite fit right to me but I can’t think of anything else that those two would be up to. It’s not like they have that much in common anyways.”

“I think they are telling the truth.” Allura piped in. “I know that I have been asking Pidge to try to get to know Keith better so maybe this is how she decided to do it.”

“I guess that makes sense. I have been trying to get Keith to do the same thing but he hasn’t really been able to pick up on the computer programming that she has been trying to teach him so maybe they decided to scrap that idea and just get dinner.” Shiro contemplated.

“You think they went out on a date?” Lance laughed. Everyone else also let out a small chuckle.

“Heh, could you imagine Keith and Pidge dating?” Hunk said. Another round of laughs.

“God that would be so weird!” Matt said.

More laughter. “Let’s just be happy that they are getting along.”

A chorus of “True”s rang out.

“Alright, well I hate to play mom but I think that it is time for us all to go to bed.” Allura said.

“Yeah I’ve got an early day tomorrow guys. I will see you in the morning meeting right Allura?” Matt asks.

“Yep I will be there.”

Everyone left to their own rooms. Lance reached the boys room first. He opened the door and looked to Keiths bed. He wanted to apologize for earlier. As he reached the side of the bed however, he noticed that it was empty.

“Hey guys, have you seen Keith?” He asked into the hallway. Everyone else just shrugged.

“I’m sure he will be back soon from wherever he is Lance, then you can apologize.” Hunk said passing him into the room. Shiro followed him in.

Lance looked down the hallway at Allura who was standing by her door. “Goodnight Princess.”

“Goodnight Lance.” She smiled sweetly at him and Lance felt his heart start racing a little bit faster.

Allura opened her door.  “Oh, hey.” She turned back to Lance. “Guys he is in here!”

Lance ran down the hall to her doorway and looked in. “There you are man! We’ve been looking all over for you!”

He isn’t sure what he was expecting to see, but Keith and Pidge in a hug was not it. It took him a second to process it.

“Uh, are we interrupting something?”

***

Chapter Text

“Romelle… Romelle… Come on you’ve got to get up.” Hunk had been trying to wake her up from probably five minutes now. She was sleeping like a rock.

He made his way over to the sink and filled a small glass of water, cold water. “Last chance Romelle. Get up now or I will pour this on you.”

No answer.

“Alright I tried.” Hunk let a small stream of water out of the cup and it landed right on the side of her head. It trickled down to her face and ran over her eyes and mouth.

She shot up right away and swatted at her face. “OH MY QUIZZNACK! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME!?!”

Hunk was bent over in laughed. “Good morning sleeping beauty!”

Romelle threw her pillow hard at him and it hit him right upside the head, ending his laughter. “What was that for?” He asked.

“You just poured water on me you idiot!”

“Yeah, only because you weren’t waking up. We have work to do, come on. The kitchen is just right there. You don’t even have to get dressed.”

Romelle grunted then looked out to the window. “The sun isn’t even up yet, so why do I have to be?”

“Keep complaining and I might have to wake you up like that tomorrow too.”

Romelle pouted at him but then got out of bed and went over to join him at the oven. She wiped the sleep out of her eyes then glared at Hunk. “What would you like me to do then?”

Hunk chuckled then handed her a flat metal spatula. “We are making breakfast sandwiches so all I need you to do it cook the bacon. And eggs. I will do everything else, okay?”

“Sure except for I have never made either of those things before.”

“Well I will teach you. First thing you have to do is get the bacon out of the fridge.”

Romelle rolled her eyes then walked over to the fridge. She opened the door and stared in for three seconds before yelling, “I don’t know what bacon looks like until after it’s been cooked.”

Hunk let out a sigh and stopped rolling out the dough he had been making and went over to the fridge. He was tall enough that he could reach over her shoulder and grab the package off the top shelf.

“It looks the same, just a little bit more white than brown.” He explained. Then he placed the bacon in her hands and turned back to the dough.

Romelle held the package with her index and thumb and held it away from her body. She gingerly placed it on the counter.

“How do I open it?” She whined.

“Knives are on the right hand side on the left top drawer.” Hunk explained.

Romelle got the knife and cut open the package. “Now what?”

“Seriously?” Hunk groaned.

“I told you! I have never cooked before!” She yelled back at him.

“You’ve never cooked anything? Like at all?” He asked.

“No, I have never needed to really.” She looked down at her feet as if lost in thought. Hunk felt his heart tighten a little bit. He knew he had hit a sore subject.

“Okay, well let me get these buns into the oven then I will show you how okay?”

Romelle looked up at him and smiled softly. “Okay.”

The sun was starting to light up the sky outside of the windows that faced east on the side of the living room. It hasn’t come over the peak out the mountain yet but it was still beautiful.

“Alright. It’s not too hard. All you have to do it take one piece of the bacon like this. And then you lay it down here on the grill so it is flat.” The bacon sizzled and Romelle squealed and hid behind Hunk.

“Is it mad at us?” She asked.

“Mad? No, no it is just the grease reacting to the heat. It is normal. I promise. And it won’t hurt you as long as you only touch it with this.” He grabbed her hand holding the spatula and lifted it up to show her.

Romelles eyes flickered between the spatula, to the bacon, then to Hunks eyes. She held his gaze and Hunk could see the nerves behind her eyes starting to fade. “I trust you.” She said.

Hunk had never noticed how beautiful her light purple eyes were. And the way that the blue altean marks under them complimented them so well. He never wanted to look away.

Romelle was the one to break eye contact, glancing down at the bacon. “It’s turning brown. What do I do now?”

Hunk had to pull himself back from her eyes for a second. “Uh, um, you… have to… flip it.” He took a few deep breaths.

“Flip it?”

“Use the spatula.”

Romelle took the spatula and moved towards the bacon right as it let out a loud pop. “AH!” She jumped backwards and bumped right into Hunk.

“Hey, it’s okay. See watch.” Hunk moved behind her and grabbed her right hand holding the spatula so his hand covered hers.

They both moved together towards the grill. Hunk slowly placed the spatula down and slid it under the bacon, then easily flipped it over.

He could feel Romelles back pressed up against his chest and he just hoped that she couldn’t feel his heart beating. His only thought was that he hoped his hand wasn’t super sweaty while he was holding hers. Her hair smelled so good too.

“See, easy.” He hesitated a moment then pulled away, wiping the sweat of his hand on his apron. Then he turned towards the island and busied himself with slicing tomatoes to try to hide the blush had taken over his face. He had always thought she was cute but he had never felt like this before.

He heard Romelle rusling in the bacon packaging followed by a sizzle sound. He went back to slicing tomatoes.

A few minutes later he was hit with Romelles full weight on his back. “Look! Look! I made one all by myself!” She held up a burnt piece of bacon up in his face. No way that would be edible, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.

“I told you that you could do it!” He turned around and gave her a hug. Her arms wrapped around his neck and her cheek was against his.

“Thank you for teaching me.” She said into his ear.

As Romelle pulled away Hunk kept his hand around her waist. The sun had just crested the desert mountains and the room was filled with golden light. Romelles yellow hair glowed in the light. It was still messy from when she woke up and part of it was matted down from where Hunk had poured water on her earlier. She was beautiful.

As if magnetized, Hunk moved closer to Romelle, their lips closing the distance until eventually there was nothing left between them. Her lips were soft.

Hunk started to pull away when Romelle wrapped her arms around his neck tighter and pulled him back in. Their lips fit together so well and he could smell her hair. His mind was practically swimming in joy. They stayed that way for a couple more seconds before Romelle released her hold around his neck and leaned back.

Her bright purple eyes looked up at him, and she smiled. “That was nice.”

Hunk was still trying to catch his breath from the kiss. “Yeah… really nice…”

Romelle leaned closer again and right as he was about to kiss her, she threw flour right in his face.

“Hey! What was that for!” Hunk yelled and walked to the sink to wash off.

“Pay back for the water stunt you pulled earlier.” She smirked at him. “Now please stop distracting me, I have some bacon I need to cook.” Romelle turned back to the packaging and placed another piece of bacon on the grill.

Hunk wiped the flour off of his face. God he loves this girl.

***

Chapter Text

Pidge entered the kitchen around 8am. Her hair was sticking up all different directions and she was still in her pjs. She had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep but her new program for blue was coming along well. 

Most everyone was already seated at the slabs and eating. Matt, Allura, and Shiro had already finished their meal and were off at their morning meeting. Keith wasn’t there yet though. He always joined them a few minutes late because of his morning run. 

Pidge grabbed her plate that Hunk had made her and sat down on the couch. Kicking her feet up on the coffee table and  turning on the tv she assumed her usual position for breakfast. 

Keith entered ten minutes later, freshly showered as he always was. Usually he grabs his plate and sits down next to Lance at the island but this time he came and sat down next to Pidge on the couch.

“Oh, good morning!” Pidge scooted over to give him more room, since she was taking up the whole couch. 

“Hey.” Keith wasn’t looking at her but instead tore into his breakfast sandwich. 

“You good?” Pidge asked. 

“I don’t know.” Is all he answered back. 

Pidge gave a big sigh then went back to her show. “Alright then.” 

“Lance is being weird.” He answered once his sandwich was gone, which wasn’t long. 

“Lance is always weird.” 

“No, weirder than usual.” 

“How so?” She shoved a bite into her mouth. 

Both of them had taken to pretending like they were watching the news but it is all the same thing that is has been for months. Things are getting better but they still aren’t great and the heroes of Voltron are on their way to give aid and meet the people.  They had it memorized. 

“He keeps shooting me weird looks. It started last night after he saw us hugging. He looks like he wants to talk to me but then he just turns away and talks to someone else. It happened last night as we were getting into bed and then again this morning at the gym.”

Apparently Lance goes to the gym in the mornings. Pidge made a mental note of that. 

“Allura gave me that’s same look last night after you guys left. She asked if there was anything that I wanted to talk about.”

“Think we freaked them out with the hug?” 

“Eh probably. But they can get over it. It was just a hug. What else would it be? It’s not like you and I are dating or anything.” 

They both chuckled at the idea. 

“What if that’s what they are thinking though?” Keith asked jokingly.

“Then let them! If they want to think that we are together then they can worry on their own time. I’ve got enough to do....” she hesitated, “however...”

“However what?” Keith asked. He had slid closer so now his shoulder was against hers. 

“Nothing... just that it would be fun to mess with them, ya know?” She winked at him. 

“Ha, yeah that would piss Lance off so much.” 

“Probably freak everyone out to be honest.”

“...”

“...” 

“We should do it.” Keith blurted. 

“Hell yeah we should. How though?” 

Keith scooted closer and put his arm around her shoulders. “I have a few ideas...”

***

“Training started 5 dobashes ago! Where in quiznak are they?” Coran yelled. The other paladins, including Romelle, Matt, and Shiro, circled him. They had just finished their warm up stretches. 

“Sorry! Sorry we are late!” Keith and Pidge ran in screaming. 

They are out of breath. And holding hands. 

Keith let go of her hand only once they reached the circle. He went to his place between Shiro and Lance. Pidge went to her spot by Hunk and Allura. 

Glances of confusion shot around the room. Keith and Pidge pretended not to notice them. 

Coran, being oblivious as ever, broke the tension. “You’re late.” 

Keith spoke up first. “Sorry Coran. Pidge and I were... uh... busy.” He shot a wink at her. 

Pidge faked a blush and turned away. Dang he was laying it on thick. 

“You are paladins of Voltron! This should be your main focus! What else could be so important?” Coran yelled. 

“Nothing Coran!” Pidge spoke this time. “We just got caught up in something else and lost track of time.” She tried so hard to keep her eyes focused on Coran but she slipped and they fell on Shiro for half a second. 

He looked pissed.  

“Don’t let it happen again.” Shiro scolded. His eyes shifted from Pidge to Keith. “We don’t have time for you two to be unfocused. We leave on tour in just a few days.” 

Keith was unfazed by his glare. “I promise we won’t be late again Shiro.” 

The two men had come into a silent stare off seeing who would back off first. And neither was backing down. 

“Alrighty then!” Coran clapped his hands together. “Let’s get started shall we? Everyone pick a partner to spar with.”

“I pick Pidge.” Keith said immediately. Still locked into a stare with Shiro. He kept his eyes on Shiro while he walked across the circle and grabbed Pidges hand again, looking away only after he had hold of her. 

They walked over to the corner of the mat and stretched a little before starting their spar. 

“What the hell just happened between you two?” Pidge whispered at Keith. 

“I don’t know honestly. I expected he would be annoyed but he jumped straight to pissed off.”

“Well you got pretty defensive too.”

They took their starting stances. 

“Someone’s got to stand up to him eventually. He can’t just boss us all around forever.” 

Coran blew the whistle and the sparing began. Pidge immediately lunged for Keith’s feet, he easily stepped out of the way. 

They danced around each other in the different formations that they had been taught, Pidge was usually the one who initiated though. 

“You’re too eager.” He commented. Pidge got back onto her feet and turned to face him. 

Keith then threw a left hook followed by a right uppercut. Pidge easily dodged the left and grabbed the right. She pulled it over her shoulder and turned, flipping Keith over her and throwing him on his back, knocking the wind out of him. 

Pidge straddled him and held both of his arms above his head. “And you are predictable.” She smirked.

“Well done Pidge!” Coran clapped. Everyone was watching them. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone beat Keith before! Besides Shiro of course.” Allura mused. 

Everyone looked very impressed. Everyone except Lance. 

“I’ve been trying to beat him for months now! And you get him after just one try!” He threw his hands up.

Pidge let out an awkward laugh then realized she was still straddling over Keith. He was still out of breath and he seemed to be in shock. No one had beaten him in months. 

“Well done green.” Keith wheezed. He managed out an approving smile. “I didn’t know you had that in you.”

“Neither did I honestly...” She smoked back. 

“If you two are done.” Shiro said sternly, arms crossed and glaring. 

Pidge slid off Keith and stood up. She held out a hand to help him up and he took it. 

“Again!” Coran yelled. And everyone took their spots. 

Pidge and Keith continued on a few more round. She was able to win one more time before Keith had changed up his movements to adapt. And she also started to recognize when she was being too eager and held back more, making the spars more interesting. 

By the end of training they were both a sweaty mess. 

“Everyone huddle up!” They all gathered around Coran in their circle again. The others were a little out of breath but not nearly at the level that they were. 

“Good work today! Especially you two.” He winked towards Pidge and Keith. “Just don’t be late next time. See you all tomorrow! Everyone go shower!” 

Keith headed towards the men’s room. He wiped his hand against his forehead. Dang he needs a shower. 

He had just gotten in the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey man, what happened today?” Lance asked. “I thought we were sparing partners.”

The others moved past them into the showers. Keith turned to face Lance. He was red over his gorgeous tan skin and a little sweaty in the face from sparing. Keith’s mind started to wonder if that is how he might look after...

“Sorry.” Is all he managed to get out. He turned to leave before he did something stupid. He only got a few feet before he was grabbed again though. 

“Hey! That’s all I get? Sorry? What’s been up with you dude?” Lance had pushed him up against the wall with his hands on either side of his shoulder. Keith could smell the sweat on him, and honestly, it smells good. 

“What else do you want?” Keith asked. “I’ve spared with you everyday for months now. Maybe I just thought that changing it up would be good for both of us! Plus Pidge is a great partner for me.” 

“No she isn’t! I’m your partner Keith! I have been for months! We both agreed that we push each other best remember?” 

Keith allowed his eyes to look into Lance’s bright blue ones. The usually kind and inviting eyes were angry, hurt, and even a little...

“Are.. are you jealous Lance?” 

Lance took a step back in surprise. “Jealous? No of course I’m not jealous! I just think it’s stupid that you would want a new sparing partner.”

Keith gave a smirk. “You are jealous. You’re jealous of me spending time with Pidge.” 

“I could care less who you spend your time with. I just want my sparing partner, who promised to be my partner, to honor his promise.” Lance looked furious. 

“Well I think it’s time for a change. Pidge sparing with me today has already helped me improve my technique.”

“You.. are you... are you breaking up with me as your sparing partner.” Lance asked, looking hurt.

Keith took a step towards him. “Yeah. I think I am.” He pushed past Lance and went into the shower stall behind him. 

Lance grabbed him one last time. “This conversation isn’t over.” He whispered right into Keith’s ear, sending an electric chill down his spine. God, his voice is so husky when he is mad. 

“Well we will have to see about that.” 

Keith shot one more look at him before closing the door. Lance is adorable when he is angry. Keith was loving this. 

***

Chapter Text

“That pretty much wraps up the tour schedule. Does anyone have any questions, concerns...?” Maggie asked.

Everyone shook their head no.

Maggie is the new Voltron PR lady. She made sure that the tour was going as planned and she was in charge of essentially making the team look good. Apparently she was very good at her job, despite being 53 years old. She had grey hair pulled up into a messy bun. Besides her hair however she could pass for 30. She was fun and spunky and everyone loved her... most of the time.

Between Maggie, Matt, and Coran working together to design the tour, and the additional input from Allura and the other paladins along the way, the tour was actually coming along rather nicely.

“Hunk, how are preparations for the dinner with the delegates coming along? I’m sure I don’t need to remind you how important this dinner will be to get the rest of the world on our side during the tour..” She was smiling at Hunk, but you could see a bit of worry behind her eyes.

“It’s going well!” Hunk snapped out of his daze that he had been in most of the meeting. “I have all of the food ordered and so now I just have to make it all. All fourteen dishes.. In two days… with no help…” His face fell with every added sentence. Everyone could tell that he had been stressing over this dinner for weeks now.

“Well I can help!” Romelle piped in.

Hunk gave her a warm smile. “Thanks. I can use all of the help I can get. In fact, Pidge?”

She looked up at him. He better not..

“Would you mind making that famous potato salad recipe that your mom has?” Oh he did. “It would really help me out.”

Pidge thought desperately of an excuse as to why she couldn’t do it, but everything she could think of fell away when she looked at Hunk. He was looking at her with so much hope, how is she supposed to say no to that.

“I can try..” She said with defeat.

“Yes!” Hunk pumped a fist and spun around in his chair.

“Okay, glad that is all settled.” Maggie took back control of the meeting. “There is one last thing to discuss before we adjourn for today and that is... your social media accounts.”

“Ugh!” Everyone groaned at the same time.

“I know! I know, you guys don’t have time for social media. But it doesn’t have to be a lot! Just a tweet here, and instagram there. Heck I’ll even take Facebook post at this point.”

“I just don’t understand how this is supposed to help.” Shiro complained. “Talking about ourselves online just seems self centered and stupid to me.”

“It may SEEM that way, but it’s actually a very crucial part of getting people invested in Voltron and your cause, which will help bring in investors and truthfully united everyone behind a cause. Much like the tour is supposed to be doing. By posting online you are making yourselves more relatable and friendly in the eyes of the public.

“But even though I spent days creating you all your own personalized accounts, Lance is the only person who has been posting regularly.”

Lance leaned back in his chair and beamed with pride. “Social media is one of my strong suits. The camera loves me.” He bragged.

“Yes it does.” Maggie smiled at him. “And I’m sure it might love the rest of you as well if you just tried. Can you just please try for me?” She gave the group the puppy dog eyes. Everyone groaned out their ‘yes’ back at her. They puppy dog eyes always worked on them.

“I think that is all of the time we have left for this meeting. If any of you have any more questions you can direct them to Maggie or I and we will be happy to answer them.” Matt said, standing.

Everyone else stood and got out of there as quickly as possible before Maggie could come up with something else to discuss.

As they left Pidge brushed Keith’s hand and left something in it. He looked down discretely and saw that she had written on a sticky note. ‘Need to talk, your room, five mins.” Keith glanced up and went to meet her eye, but she was gone.

Not paying attention to where he was going he ran into something hard. “Hey, watch where you are going!” It was Lance.

“Sorry, I was distracted.” Keith kept looking around, he had lost sight of Pidge.

Lance noticed him looking around. His eyes followed the direction he was looking. The direction that Pidge had gone. He felt a pang in his chest. Lance couldn’t understand why those two hanging out bothered him so much but it did.

“Looking for your girlfriend?” He asked jokingly.

“Yeah she got out of here quick.” Keith was still looking for her.

Lance felt his heart rate pick up. Keith hadn’t denied that she was his girlfriend.

“Well maybe she just isn’t that into you.” Lance jabbed. His heart was pounding out of...anger? It had to be anger. What else could it be?

“What do you want Lance?” Keith’s eyes snapped towards him and Lance was struck with how purple his usually grey eyes were. His breath caught for a second.

‘You.’ The thought ran through Lances mind before he could stop it. It was not a thought that Lance had ever had before and it caught him off guard. ‘What the hell?’ He thought.

“I just..uh..wanted to know if you wanted to go train for a little bit. Since you blew me off earlier for Pidge.” Good save Lance.

Keith felt his heart speed up. Of course he wanted to go train with Lance. He almost said yes before he remember the small piece of paper in his hand. Plus, how is he supposed to be getting over Lance if he keeps hanging out with him. “I can’t. Pidge needs me right now.”

Lances face fell. “What exactly does Pidge need you for?” Now he was getting angry.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

Lance studied Keiths face trying to get some kind of hint, but there was nothing there.

“Fine. Maybe I will just ask Allura to train with me then.” Lance knew how much Keith hated how Allura trained. So this would definitely get under his skin.

It did. Keith clenched his fist, trying to keep his composure. Lance likes Allura. Lance had always liked Allura. This shouldn’t come as a shock to Keith. But it got under his skin anyways. He could feel tears threatening to well up in his eyes.

“Yeah. You should.”

Lance gave a big huff then pushed past him and out of the room. Keith took a moment to regain his composure before leaving to go find Pidge in his room. They had a lot to talk about.

***

Chapter Text

“We need to call it off.” Pidge was pacing.

“I still don’t understand why?” Keith was sitting on Shiro’s bed. “Wasn’t the whole point of this to get a rise out of everyone? Because in my eyes everything is going according to plan.” He smirked.

“It is supposed to be a pran to make everyone laugh and maybe feel a little weirded out. But I didn’t realize that it would actually cause fights in the team!” Her arms crossed in front of her and she had a path between to two bunk beds carved out by her pacing.

“We aren’t fighting… More like loud disagreements?” Keith tried.

Pidge just glared at him.

“Look, I know that this isn’t the reactions that we wanted but I don’t think that means that we should stop. I mean in the past few hours alone I found out more about myself than I have in awhile.” Keith picked at his gloves once again, it had become a nervous tick.

Pidge stopped her pacing and sat next to Keith. “What are you talking about?”

“I didn’t realize how complacent I had become in the team…” He mumbled.

“Complacent?”

“Yeah. I’m supposed to be a leader and an example to the whole team but I keep following what everyone thinks I am supposed to be doing because I am afraid to make anyone mad. This is the first family I have ever had and since I got back from the blade I have been so afraid of making anyone upset with me because I missed you all so much. So I did what Shiro told me to, I went to meetings that I hate, I trained how Coran thought we should and with the same partner all the time. And everyone was happy with me because I have been doing what I am supposed to.” Keith let out a deep sigh. “But as soon as I make one decision that seems like it could be my own, everyone freaks out. Shiro yells at me, Lance gets pissed and just leaves to be with Allura, even the others have been walking on eggshells around me.

“I am not used to following rules like this Pidge. My style has always been my own and no one could change that about me, but I feel like I have lost that. And I didn’t realize that until this morning when Shiro and Lance make a big scene about it.

“Pidge, you can call it off if you want still but please help me. I need to find my own style again. I need to know that no one else can control me, and the only thing that I have complete control over right now is my love life. And sitting here pining over a boy who is in love with my teammate and a gorgeous alien princess is really not going to help with that. So please Pidge, help me move on…?”

His eyes glanced up to meet hers and she could see pools of tears growing.

“Keith.. I didn’t realize….” Pidge wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gave him a, slightly awkward, hug.

Keith awkwardly hugged her back. “Sorry for dropping all of that on you. It has just been boiling up in me all day.”

“Don’t feel bad Keith!” She pulled back and slapped her hands to his cheeks. “That's what friends are for!” Pidge gave the boy a comforting smile which he returned. “And, friends also help friends get over stupid boys.”

Keiths eyes lit up. “So we can still do plan Gazelle?”

“Of course!” She exclaimed throwing her hands up in the air. “But I think that us dating is not going to go over well anymore. We should call off that part.”

Keith nodded. “I agree.”

“Great! We will tell them tomorrow morning then!”

“Why tomorrow? Why don’t we just tell them tonight at dinner?”

“Because…” Pidge gave Keith a sly grin. “We are going on a date tonight.”

“A… a date?” Keith was confused.

“Yep.” She jumped up and headed towards the door. “Meet me in the kitchen at 6 pm. And wear something…” Pidge looked up and down his normal red jacket and black jeans. “Actually, just wear that. I can work with that.” Then the door was closed and Keith was alone.

What in the world is he in for with Pidge? He secretly hoped for another spa day.

Chapter Text

“I’m going home.” Keith’s arms were crossed and he turned to walk away from the bar that their ride had just dropped them off at.

“Uh no, no you aren’t. We are almost to the front!”

“Why are we even here?” He whined.

“Because, step one in operation gazelle: get Keith a new man. Where else to do that then to get out of that stuffy garrison.” Pidge gave him a mischievous smile.

“And you think that this bar is going to be where I meet my prince charming?”

“No, but it can’t hurt to kiss a few frogs while we are waiting.” Wink.

“Ugh! How are you even going to get in? Aren’t you like 18?”  

Pidge groaned and started to rummage through the pockets of her jacket. Keith waited for his gotcha moment, but it never came as Pidge pulled out her garrison ID badge.

“Nope. Physically I’m 18 but because we missed a few years in Earth’s star date, technically I was born 21 years ago.” She shoved the badge in his face to prove her point, sure enough it said that she is over 21 years old.

Well there goes my out. Pidge grabbed his arm and dragged him through the front doors. Keith took in the people around him. It was a dingy bar, mostly older people but there were a few people their age scattered throughout the place.

The band on the stage seemed to be about their age and was playing a song that Keith would think of as closer to alternative than pop or rock, but it was still pretty good. He and Pidge took two seats at the bar in the corner of the room so they could take a look around. There was a small dance floor in front of the stage where a few younger people were dancing. The rest of the bar was filled with older, grumpy gentlemen. All of whom’s eyes were on Keith and Pidge as they sat down.

“One tequila and…” Pidge looked to Keith for his order, he just shrugged. “Let’s go with a scotch for this one.” She poked a finger into his side. The boy jumped and pulled his eyes away from everyone else who was watching them.

“Why are they staring at us?” He was uncomfortable. His gloved hands wrapped around his jacket and pulled it closer to him as if he could disappear if he became small enough.

“Cause you’re hot and they all wanna bang you.” She said nonchalantly. “Oh god. I was kidding! Geez! You look like a scared little girl on her first day of school. Haven’t you ever been to a bar before?” Their drinks were set in front of them and Pidge wasted no time getting started on hers.

The scotch in front of Keith stayed in place, he was still trying to disappear into his jacket. “No actually.”

Her eyes went wide. “Seriously! This is totally your scene though! Dark, mysterious, etc…”

“Actually my scene is more like stay at home and tell everyone to leave me alone…” He still hadn’t touched his drink. “Seriously, they are still staring.”

Pidge slammed her drink down on the table and rolled her eyes. “Forget about them! They probably just recognize you from the team or maybe your bright red jacket is making them angry… you know, like bulls.” She laughed at her own joke. Apparently she is a lightweight.

“Well I don’t like it and I want to leave.” Keith pulled his jacket tighter.

Pidge considered her friend and then looked around. “I have an idea but you have to trust me okay?”

“Trusting you is how I ended up here!”

“Please! One more trust.” She gave him her best puppy dog eyes.

Damn those eyes. “Fine! What is it?”

“Hell yeah!” She stood up and walked to his back was to the bar as he was facing her. “First,” she reached around and grabbed his scotch, “chug this.”

“Do I really ha-”

“Trust!” She shouted.

Keith tentatively took the drink and threw it back. He had tasted alcohol before but it had been awhile and he had forgotten how much it burns going down your throat . He shook his head and stuck out his tongue to try to get the sensation to go away.

“Good boy!” She patronized. Keith just glared.

“Now what.”

“Jacket off.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Trust.”

“...fine.”

Keith shrugged off his jacket and placed it into her outstretched hands. She got the bartender's attention and gave it to him.

“I better get it back.”

“Oh don’t worry pouty boy, you will.” She fake pouted at him. Keith could only roll his eyes. She wasn’t exactly different drunk, just more exaggerated.

“What next? Gloves?”

“Nah, those can stay, they are kinda sexy.” She looked him up and down. Then she reached into her jacket pocket to pull something else out.

Keith had noticed that her hair was down and she had on eyeliner and some other makeup that Keith couldn’t name, but he hadn’t taken in her outfit until just now. She had on a lacy black tank top with a black leather jacket on over it. Her jeans were also black and had holes ripped in them. They were tight to fit her form and showed off her curves well. She had on bright green converse to finish off the look. Honestly, Keith thought, she looks pretty hot.

Pidge finally found what she had been digging for. “Okay, lean forward.” She had an elastic band.

He eyed it suspiciously. “Why?”

“Ugh! Just. Trust. ME! Okay? If you still hate it after this then you can take it out and we will leave okay? No lean down here so I can reach!”

Keith did as he was told and he felt his hair being pulled back and away from his neck and face. He had never had someone touch his hair before and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do so he stayed as still as possible until she was done.

Stepping back, she pulled out a few loose hairs from around his face. Then she held up her phone camera so that he could get a good look at the high pony that Pidge had just put in his hair. With the layers from his mullet and the pieces that she had pulled out it actually looked.. good?

“I don’t know why you have never done this before. It looks soooo good on you!” She clapped her hands and took back her phone. “Alright let’s go!”

Keith was pulled from his seat. As he moved he could feel the air of the bar on his arms and neck which were two sensations that he had never felt before. It wasn’t bad, even if the air was stale and warm, but he felt… free.

As Pidge pulled him towards the dance floor he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and saw his new look. His simple black tee and black pants hung off his figure enough to not be showy, but it showed enough. Between the shape of his waist free from the jacket and his hair pulled away from his neck he looked, well, sexy.

It caught him off guard and he was not able to take it in any longer because Pidge was still pulling him towards the dance floor. He felt a smile creep up on his face. He had never felt sexy before.

The couple joined the other dozen of people who were jumping up and down to the beat of the song. Pidge started jumping along as soon as they reached the front but it took a few seconds, and Pidge grabbing his elbow and pulling it up and down, before he started jumping too.

The energy of the crowd was so infectious and Keith quickly found himself getting lost in the ups and downs of the songs. They group moved as one as the songs went from jumping up and down to swaying side to side. He had never heard of the band before, Goose, but their songs were easy to catch on to and Keith found himself singing along before he could stop himself, apparently he is a lightweight as well. Pidge kept hold of his arm the whole time, whether to keep track of him or to keep her from getting swept away in a drunken tornado, he didn’t know.

The lead singer of the band hit his last final note of the song the the lights dimmed down to a soft red and blue glow. “Hey everyone, thank you so much for coming out. This is going to be our last song of the night but I first wanted to say thanks to my boys behind me: Preston on drums, Lyle on bass, and Jess on keys.” Each member played a little solo when their name was called out. “And my name is Todd, and this last song is a special one so I hope you enjoy it.”

The song started out soft and slow. As he started to sing Keith felt his eyes become glued to the man. His voice was smooth and beautiful and he hit notes with no problems at all. His eyes were closed as he got really into the feelings and rhythm of the song.

As the songs tempo sped up the singers eyes opened and met Keiths eyes. He gave a sweet smile and launched into the final chorus and last hurrah of their show. Todd was an amazing entertainer and Keith watched as he moved the crowd with his hand back and forth to the song. Every now and again his eyes would go back to Keith’s and he would give a smile.

The song ended with a bang and the lights dimmed and Keiths trance was broken.

“You should go talk to him.” Pidge elbowed his side.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” He played dumb.

“Go talk to the guy who you have been oogling for the past five minutes!”

“I was not oogling. He is the lead singer, you’re supposed to watch him.”

“You were oogling.” Pidge got up in his face and her voice raised pitch.

He let out a sigh. “So what if I was. He is an amazing singer and a great showman.”

“I’m glad you think that. Now tell him that. Cause he is walking over here right now.” He eyes fell behind him.

Keith whipped around and was face to face with bright blue eyes and gelled blonde hair. “Hey.” Todd gave him a bright white smile.

All of the breath that had been left after jumping around all night left Keiths body. Sure he had been gay for awhile now and he wasn’t ashamed of it, but he had never actually had to meet and flirt with a boy before. He kept his pining more… long distance and one sided.

“H-h-hi…” He finally got out. Todd just gave a little laugh.

“Did you enjoy the show?” God how is he so confident?

Keith could only nod. His face was stuck in a permanent shock.

Todd laughed a little again. Such a beautiful laugh… “Would you let me buy you a drink and pick you brain about it a little bit?”

Pidge nugged Keith forward and he took an accidental step into Todd, bumping their shoulders. “Oh, sorry” This broke Keith out of shock mode.

“It’s all good. How about that drink?” Todds hand reached down and took Keith’s gloved one. He pulled him over to the bar.

Keiths head was spinning. Either from the lights, the music, the alcohol, or the feeling of this cute boys fingers in between his.

Todd bought him another scotch and they started talking. Amazingly Keith was able to get by with mostly just nods and laughing at the right times until the second scotch had kicked in enough for him to be able to actually hold a conversation without stuttering over every word. They talked about the set list, the drinks, and the other people in the bar. After about an hour or two of talking, they hadn’t kept track of the time, the bartender started last call.

Todd looked down at his drink which was almost empty for the third time now. “Damn it, I wish we could stay here all night.”

“Yeah, me too.” Keith added. And he really did. Never had he felt this free, this himself, or this drunk. It was all new and exciting and Todd was so cute and easy to talk to. “Maybe we could do this again?” He was too drunk to care if he sounded desperate.

Todds eyes met his and he smiled. “Yes, we should.”

Keiths heart skipped in his chest.

“Oh god!” Keith yelled. “I can’t!”

“Why not?” Todd gave a disappointed look.

“Because we leave in a few days to go on tour…” Keith put his head down on the bar. Damn tour, worst timing ever.

“You tour?” Todd asked. That’s when Keith realized that he had never actually mentioned that he was a part of Voltron or any part of that life that he had. It wasn’t on purpose but Keith really wasn’t in the mood to explain everything.

“Yeah, but not like in a band. It’s more of a…. service project tour.”

“Wow…” Todd reached over and lifted Keith’s head off of the table with his finger under Keith’s chin and then glanced him up and down. “Sexy and sweet. That’s a rare combination Keith.”

Before Keith knew it their lips were against each others. Todds lips were soft and the kiss was brief but it left Keith wanting more. Just as he was about to lean in again he heard Pidge from across the bar.

“Keith! The Uber is outside!”

Keiths forehead fell against Todds and they both shared a laugh. “You should go, your little sister needs you.”

“Oh she’s not my… well I guess she is a little bit like my little sister.”

Pidge stepped right up to the two of them. “Sorry to break up the moment but Shiro is already going to have our asses and so we can’t be any later.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll meet you outside.” Keith then turned back to Todd who was holding his arm down and was calling the bartender over. “What are you doing?”

Todd just held up a finger to say ‘one sec’ as the bartenders came up to them. “Do you have a pen?”

The bartender grabbed a sharpie from behind the bar and held it up. “Perfect.” Todd uncapped in and started writing on his arm. Keith watched as a phone number was written on his arm. Even Todds handwriting was beautiful.

“My band is going on tour too. Text me and maybe we can see if we are in the same city or something. Or you can just text me cause you miss me.” He gave a flirty wink.

“I definitely will…” Keith stood up and Todd pulled him in again.

“One more for the road.” Todds hands snaked behind Keiths exposed necks and his lips pressed against Keiths once again and this kiss was longer, sweeter, but still not long enough. Todd pulled away and let his hands drag down the front of Keiths chest and arms, giving him goosebumps. “See you around Keith.” Then he walked away to join the rest of his band backstage.

“Keith!” He heard Pidge call out for him and he snapped back to reality.

“Coming!” They ran out of the door and into the pouring rain.

“The Uber is just around this corner.” Pidge pulled him beside her and the got into a car.

“To the garrison please.” She told the driver. “And step on it. We are way past curfew.”

“Pidge! Did you see that? He kissed me! Twice!” Keith was bouncing up and down. This was the most fun he had in a long time.

“I’m proud of you! Operation Gazelle is a success.” She let out a big yawn. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“I wish that I could keep reliving this night over and over.”

“Well that’s what pictures are for right?” Pidge pulled out her phone and opened the camera. Keith took it from her because she looked like she was about to pass out. They took quite a few selfies together in different poses. Peace signs, sexy face, tongue out, etc. and at one point Pidge even turned to kiss Keith on the cheek.

She took the phone out and quickly made a post on instagram. “There, now no more lectures on how terrible we are at social media. I even tagged you.” She slumped against his shoulder and started to fall asleep.

By the time they got to the garrison Pidge was completely knocked out. Thankfully Shiro wasn’t waiting at the gate again for them this time. Keith pulled Pidge out of the car and carried her bridal style into the barracks towards their room as quietly as he drunkenly could.

Just as Keith was almost positive they were in the clear he turned the last corner to find Shiro sitting in the hallway across from Pidges door. When he spotted them he stood up, he had been getting sleepy too from the way to stumbled around. He walked up to Keith and held out his arms. Getting the message Keith shifted Pidge from his chest to Shrio’s letting him take her.

Shiro turned and opened the door to her room and before entering only whispered, “We will talk about this in the morning.”

Keith was asleep before Shiro got back to their room that night.

Chapter Text

“We will talk about this in the morning.”

Shrio let the door swing closed behind him as he carried the drunken girl in his arms towards her bed. He could smell the alcohol coming off of her skin and wondered how much she had to drink.

“God, she is going to be so hungover in the morning…” He whispered to himself.

It was still dark, because he didn’t have a hand to turn the light on when he came in. The only light source coming from a desktop that was in sleep mode in the middle of the room that gave off a dull grey light. Walking slowly he tried to make out the shape of her bed against the right hand side of the rooms wall.

Shiro took one step… two steps… three- CRUNCH!

His foot landed on something metal and he felt it crack under his weight. Immediately he removed his foot but in doing to he lost his balance. Stumbling his way towards the bed he was able to twist his body so his back landed halfway onto the bed as to avoid falling on the ground and hurting himself or Pidge.

“Dammit!” He whisper yelled, then assessed the room trying to be able to see in the darkness what he had stepped on.

“A graceful ballerina you are Shiro…” A small giggle came from his arms. Shiro looked down to see two sleepy honey eyes looking up at him. “I think you might have a career in it if I’m being honest.” She giggled again and Shiro could feel her laughs against his chest.

His heart was racing, but from the near fall or her laughter, he couldn’t tell. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to wake you up.”

Pidge looked up and down their current position, Shiro’s back halfway on the bed with her still in his arms. “I can see that…” She let out another laugh. “Wanna… put me down?”

It took a moment for Shiro to realize what she was asking, her laugh was so adorable, before immediately letting go of her. Completely. Letting. Go.

Pidge rolled right off of him and fell onto the ground at his feet with a thud. “Ouch. That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“Oh, god! I’m so sorry.” He straightened himself on the bed so he was sitting on it then offered her a hand up.

Pidge was still very much drunk and it took her a few tries to get on her feet but she made it up without breaking any of the other things that had scattered on the floor. As she stood on her own two feet she was having trouble stabilizing herself. Shrio held out both of his hand to help hold her up and she greedily took them, leaning this way and that trying to remain balanced.

“You’re wasted.” Shiro couldn’t help but laugh at the small girl in front of him. It was like watching a horse try to stand for the first time.

“Eh, only a little…” She stumbled again. “Okay maybe a lot… but it was worth it.”

“Yeah well we will see if you still feel that way tomorrow once the hangover sets in.”

Pidge finally planted her feet firmly in front of him and got her balance from the side to side swaying. She still held onto his hand to keep from falling backwards. With him sitting she was at eye level with him. “I can handle a little hangover Shrio.”

“We will see about that. Have you ever been this drunk before?”

“No… but I’m a paladin of Voltron. I can handle anything…” She swayed back once again and Shiro pulled slightly on her hands to bring her back to balance.

“Well as a former paladin of Voltron and also a former ‘guy who gets way too drunk at bars’ I can promise you that we are not immune to this. You’re going to be in a world of pain tomorrow.”

Pidge gave a pout. “Boo… will you help make it hurt less then?”

God. How is she so adorable when she is this drunk. The lighting of the monitor on her eyes made them glow and she had on makeup instead of her glasses which is something that Shiro had never seen before. Her bottom lip sticking out caught Shiros eye and he felt himself leaning forward. No, wait, that isn’t him. Pidge was losing her balance again. This time towards him.

Thinking fast he let go of her hands and used his to slow her fall by grabbing her waist. He then shifted so her head fell on his shoulder. Once he was sure she was done falling he let his hands make their way around to the small of her back and he pulled her into him.

“Of course I will help you.” He whispered into her neck. Her wet hair smelled like strawberries and beer, an intriguing combination. It was longer than he last remembered it being. She doesn’t wear it down very often.

Pidge’s arms raised and hung over his neck and arms so that they were in a hug around him. Her clothes were still wet from the rain outside and she was shivering a little, so the heat coming off of Shiro enticed her in closer. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Pidge broke the silence.

“It wasn’t his idea you know… Keith and the bar I mean.” Her voice was quiet as she talked into the larger mans shoulder. Almost apologetic sounding.

“Yeah, well, he still should have said no.” He remembered that his new hand had a warm setting and he turned it on with a thought and ran it up and down her back to warm it. She fell into him more.

“He tried to. But I just wanted to make him happy.”

“And you think that getting drunk like this is going to make him happy?”

“Well it worked tonight. I haven’t seen him have fun like that in a long time. And the kiss really did wonders for his self esteem I think.”

Shrio tensed up and his hand stopped moving. “Y-you kissed him?” A whirl of emotions flew through Shiro’s head in an instant. From anger to sadness to… jealousy?

“No! No….no. I didn’t kiss him. Todd did.”

Shiro relaxed a little, the whirlwind having subsided. “Todd?”

“Yeah. Todd.” Guess that’s all he was going to get out of her about Todd.

“...would you have cared if I had kissed him?” She asked in her small voice again, almost like she was afraid to hear the answer.

Would I? Of course I would. But why would I? He wondered why he had such weird emotions around the idea of Pidge kissing Keith, or anyone for that matter. It made him angry and it made him want to keep a hold of her in that moment and never let her go. But he couldn’t tell her that. All he is to her is her former leader and her brothers friend. Maybe she even saw him as a brother. And so who was he to keep him all to himself when he knew that she could be happy with someone else.

“I… I would be happy for you if it is what makes you happy.” Not a lie, but also not the truth.

“You think that kissing Keith would make me happy?” She asked.

“I think that you should kiss the person who makes you happy, whether that is Keith or someone else. You deserve to be happy Pidge and I want to help make that happen.”

Her arms let go behind them and she dragged them to rest on his shoulders. With a clumsy push she lifted her head from his shoulder and leaned back so that she could look him in the eye.

“You really believe that?” Honey eyes stared longingly at him and he had to take a deep breath because he felt like his lungs were about to explode.

“Yes.” Is all that he was able to choke out.

The honey eyes then flicked down and her gaze rested on his lips and Shiro felt his heart beat start going a million miles a minute.

“Well then…” She whispered.

Her breath crossed his lips just moments before her lips were pressed against his, and he couldn’t move away. The lips pressed against his began to move slowly and he got lost in them. His prosthetic hand moved up and got tangled in her hair pulling her mouth into his and his other hand pressed her lower back bringing the rest of her.

As their lips molded to each other the kiss got more desperate, more needy, especially from Pidge. Her fingers laced into his white hair and she pressed into his body with hers. She needed more. Wanted more. Her tongue found its way out of her mouth and she licked along his bottom lip asking for entrance.

Shiro desperately allowed her in and wrapped his tongue with hers. She was her and she was kissing him and she tasted… she tasted like alcohol.

Coming to his sense Shiro quickly pulled back. He had to take a moment to catch his breath, but because he had forgotten to breath during the kiss. Pidge tried to catch hers too.

“Everything okay?” She asked, concern in her honey eyes.

“You’re… you’re drunk.” He took a few more deep breaths. “This shouldn’t be happening when you are this drunk. I don’t want this to be how this happens…”

Pidge leaned away more, but still keeping her distance as to not fall over. “I’m sorry.” It came out of her swollen lips as a whisper.

“Please don’t be sorry for kissing me, ever. Just understand that I can’t let this happen anymore.”

“This being just while I am drunk or this being… you and me?” Her eyes were almost filled with tears. He had never seen her this sad and vulnerable before and it was breaking her heart.

“This being… you’re too drunk to even stand up straight.” He pulled her hands so that she didn’t fall over once again. “Anything past that I think needs to be discussed while we are both sober. Is that fair?”

Her eyes fell to her hands in his. “Yes.”

He lifted his real hand to hold her chin up so her eyes could meet his. “Let’s get you into bed, okay? Sleep is going to be the first step in the hangover cure process.”

Pidge gave a small giggle as she met his eyes, then gave a small nod.

Shiro moved over so that she could climb under her covers, not bothering to mention that she is still in her clothes and not pajamas. Once she was in he pulled up the covers and sat down next to her.

“I’m going to get you some water and some pain meds and leave them here on the bedside table for you. Take them when you wake up in the morning and that will help with the hangover. After that I will be awake to help you out. Sound like a plan green?” He stroked back a piece of her hair that had fallen over her face.

“Sounds like a plan.” She gave him a sleepy smile, already drifting off.

He stood and was about to walk out when he felt her hand grab his. “Thank you.” Was all he heard, and when he turned around the tiny girl had her eyes closed.

***

Shiro snuck back out of the room, having adjusted night vision made it easier to avoid stepping on things this time. He made his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water for Pidge. Lost in thought he just walked in without looking and didn’t even realize that there were others there until the called his name.

“Hey Shiro!” It was Matt.

He turned to find Allura and Matt sitting on the couch, the plans for the tour pulled up on the screen in front of them.

“Hey…” Shiro responded. He tried to avoid looking at Matt as best he could. How in the world is he supposed to be cool and comfortable around him when he had just made out with Matts little sister just minutes before.

Thankfully, Matt was too focused on Allura to notice Shiros strange demeanor.

“Did Pidge and Keith make it back okay?” Allura asked.

“Wait! Pidge and Keith went out! Together!? Was it like a date?” Matts eyes bulged.

“Well that is how Pidge was making it sound earlier when she told me about it.” She gave Matt a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

Matts face turned from shock to disgust then to anger. “I swear if he laid a hand on my sister-”

“They made it back fine.” Shiro interrupted. Definitely shouldn’t tell Matt about the kiss… “She is just a little drunk so I am going to put some water by her bed.” He explained.

Matt’s expression changed quickly. “Oh, good. Thanks for looking out for her man.”

Shiro looked at the scene that he had walked in on. While the tours plans were on the tv, neither Matt nor Allura were facing them. In fact they were sitting shoulder to shoulder with a shared blanket over their legs. He quickly realized that he might be interrupting something that he shouldn’t have.

“Well I’ll just… get the water and… leave you two alone I guess?” He tried to send Matt questioning eyes.

Matt got the hint. “Well we aren’t really alone…” His eyes darted over to the couch across from them where Romelle was fast asleep in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position. Shiro could tell that this was probably the reason why Matt hadn’t been hinting for him to leave, because it is weird to try to make a move when there is someone else asleep five feet away.

“Hard to find a moment alone anywhere in this garrison isn’t it…” Allura joked but Shiro could see some sadness behind her eyes.

“Either way I should be getting to bed. Allura will you make sure that Pidge drinks her water and takes some pain meds when she wakes up? I will do the same for Keith, but tomorrow is going to be an interesting day for the two of them.”

Allura laughed. “Yeah I can do that. Good night Shiro!”

Shiro dropped off the water and pills by Pidge’s bedside, lingering a little bit longer than he had intended to. Then he went to his own bed. Keith was fast asleep already.

Getting into bed Shiro drifted off with thoughts of a green lion running through his mind.

Chapter Text

Screaming… Lots of screaming. And laughing. Loud laughing. Why are they so loud?

Keith lifted his head from his pillow and looked at his phone. 10:47 am. Crap. He had already missed their morning updates meeting and paladin training. Shiro and Allura were going to give him so much crap about this.

As he sung his legs around to the side of his bunk bad he hear a scream so loud it almost made him fall out of the bed. His head was pounding. Usually he would just hop off of the top bunk onto the floor but today might be the day he actually uses the provided ladder. The night stand by his and Shiro's bed had a note.

‘Take two of these and drink lots of water. Morning meetings and trainings have been moved to tonight at 6 and 7. I will be in meetings all morning but I still want to talk to you later. -Shiro’

He eagerly took the pain meds provided and downed the glass of water. Another set of giggles and screams came from outside of his bedroom door causing Keiths head to explode. He needed to shut this down. Now.

Keith flung open the door, ready to yell at whoever was making all of the noise, when he got kicked in the face by two flying feet. The blow took him straight to the floor. It had only hit the side of his head so it wasn’t going to leave a mark but on top of the headache he already had he felt like throwing up.

Three sets of feet ran up to him. “Oh my god! Keith! I’m so sorry man! Here let me see.” The one with the largest feet crouched down and took Keith’s head in his hands and moved so he could see where Keith was holding.

Once the pain had subsided enough he opened his eyes and found himself looking up at Lance. The look of concern on his face was sincere and he was moving his hands through Keith’s hair trying to see if there was any blood or bruising. Usually Keith didn’t let people touch his hair, even letting Pidge do it last night was a big step for him, but this was different entirely. Lances hands were gentle and he worked through the hair like it was second nature to him. That, plus the fact that he could barely think straight with Lance so close to him, meant that Keith let him finish his inspection without pulling away.

“Okay, no blood. You do have a goose egg that will be there for probably a day or two but other than that you should be fine. Except I am a little concerned that you might have a concussion. You’re looking at me weird….” Lance reported.

Realizing that Keith was in fact staring at Lance, which wasn’t because of any concussion, he quickly said, “No concussion. Just hungover.”

Lance gave a grin. “Oh. Well lets get you some water.” He held up his hand to help Keith up. “Sorry about that by the way. I guess we just get a little carried away when we are playing airplanes.” Lance gestured to the other two people that were behind him. “Say sorry girls.”

They were both little girls. Keith estimated about 7 years old and 10 years old by the looks of them. The taller one was in a Voltron shirt, featuring Lance, and the other in a pink sundress.

“Sorry!” They both said earnestly. They looked very embarrassed and were hiding behind Lance. Keith could tell they were nervous that he was mad at them.

“It’s okay.” The didn’t look convinced. “Seriously, I was the idiot who came storming out of my room. I should have looked both ways before trying to cross the hallway.” Keith didn’t know where the joke came from but it made both of the girls giggle and smile, though they stayed behind Lance.

“Keith, these are my cousins. The sassy one over there it Lily, and the little cutie pie next to her is Mari. I am watching them for a few hours while my aunt and uncle are at a meeting in the garrison.”

The two little girls gave Keith a small wave and then looked back up to Lance. Mari looked up at Lance and then pulled on his sleeve. Lance crouched down next to her and she whispered something in his ear.

Lance chuckled a little bit to himself and then whispered, “I will ask him.” Then he straightened up and look at Keith. “Sir Keith, you have been asked by the royal princess Mari if you will come and help us on our quest to find her prince.”

Keith was taken back, first of all by the name ‘Sir Keith’  and second from the sudden change in character from Lance. “What uh, what would then entail?” He asked, giving Lance a nervous look.

Lily was the one who spoke though. “Basically you are just going to have to hang out with us for a few hours and do whatever the little one tells you to do.”

Keith looked back at Lance and Lance gave a reassuring nod accompanied by a wink and a thumbs up.

“I will hang out- I mean join your quest. But only on one condition.” He got lower so he was to the girls levels. “No loud noises.”

“Deal!” Mari screeched, already breaking the deal. Then she flung her arms around his neck. “Carry me to my chambers servant!” She pointed to the kitchen down the hall and jumped at Keith, forcing him to awkwardly catch her bridal style.

Keith looked to Lance for help. Lance only shrugged. “You heard the princess. Onward.” His smug grin made Keith want to smack it right off of him.

***

“No! Only the princess gets her nails done by the royal advisor.” Mari declared.

“But that’s not fair! I want my nails done too! Lance tell her I get my nails done too.” Lily cried.

It had only been an hour and Keith was already exhausted. His hangover was starting to go away, mostly because Lance made sure that he was drinking a full glass of water every ten minutes. But taking care of these girls was a hand full.

Lance was a pro at it. He was quickly able to move from one story line to the next, creating fun characters and scenarios to go with each activity. When the girls had wanted their hair braided he was patient while he taught Keith step by step how to do it, because braiding hair was never a skill that Keith had needed in his life before. After braiding though the nail polish had come out.

“Mari, Lily needs her nails done too.” Lance explained carefully. He was giving the princess a bright and sparkly pink nail. It actually looked pretty good, who knew Lance was a hair stylist, and a nail stylist.

“But why?” The little girl complained.

“Because you don’t you want all of your subjects to look pretty? That way the princes will know that you are the best because you are kind and take care of your people.” Keith wasn’t as good a coming up with storylines like Lance was but he was starting to pick up on how Lance would use the story to make the girls agree to whatever he wanted them to do.

Mari thought about that for a second and just as Keith thought he had lost the battle she turned to Lance. “You need to paint Keith’s nails too.”

Lances eyes got big. “No I- uh- I can’t. I’m too busy painting your nails princess.” He gave Keith a look that said ‘don’t worry I will get you out of this’.

“I will paint Keiths nails!” Lily ran over and sat down right across the table from Keith and grabbed his hands.

“No! If Lance won’t do it then I want to!” Mari complained.

“You can paint Lances nails. I already called Keith.”

Realizing that there was no way out of this, Keith had an idea. He looked at Lance, who was looking rather embarrassed by the little girls. Taking a deep breath he said.  “Why don’t you both get to paint one hand?”

Lance looked up from his painting and he looked surprised. His face lit up and he gave Keith a warm smile. Keith had done the right thing.

“But who will paint Lances nails?” Mari asked.

Time to ruin the good thing. “You can each do one of his hands too!” Keith suggested. The warm smile that Lance was just giving him instantly fell into a glare as the girls rushed off to pick their colors.

Lance moved seats so that he was directly across the table from Keith. “Well played.” He smirked.

Keith threw his hands up in resign. “You are the one who decided that painting nails was a good idea!”

Lance laughed and his head fell forward. When he looked up and caught Keith’s eyes there was something in different about them. They weren’t looking at him as a rival, or even as a friend, there was something more behind them that Keith caught a glance of for only a second before the girls came rushing back with their choices. And the look was gone.

“I chose blue because Lance’s favorite color is blue.” Mari explained, holding up a sparkling dark blue color.

“And I chose red because it looks cool.” Lily held up a dark, blood like red color.

“Alright girls, make us beautiful.” Lance plopped both of his hands onto the table and Keith followed suit. “Well, make Keith beautiful. I’m already beautiful.” Lance gave Keith a teasing smirk.

‘Yes you are.’ Keith almost choked on the words trying to keep them from coming out. Thankfully he was able to play it off as a laugh. “You wish McClain.”

Mari took Lances hand and Lily took Keiths and both went to work.

“You don’t think I am beautiful?” Lance pouted.

“I don’t think you are as beautiful as me.” Keith clapped back.

Lances mouth fell into an O shape and his free hand came to his chest feigning offense. “How dare you! I think need an official ruling. Girls, who do you think is more beautiful?”

Both girls looked up from their painting, they were almost done with the first hand, and studied the boys faces.

“I don’t want to pick.” Mari finally decided going back to her work. “You are both pretty….”

Lily was still considering their faces. She even went as far as to grab Keiths face and mush it around little bit. “I have an answer but you aren’t going to like it.” She looked back at to Kaiths hand.

“Oh come on Lily! You can’t leave us hanging like that!” Lance argued.

The girls took a deep breath then began, “Well Lance has more traditionally handsome features which would make him more beautiful if you were looking for that but Keiths features are more appealing to the eye almost in a feminine pretty way. So technically you are both pretty but just in different ways.” She finished with another deep breath.

Keiths eyes went wide and he let out a little half laugh. “How old are you again?” Was all he could say.

“Eleven. But i am top of my class if that’s what you’re wondering.” She grinned smugly at him then dropped his finished hand and grabbed Lances free one.

“Lance, you’re sure she is related to you? She seems way too smart.” Keith said.

Lance could only laugh. “Honestly sometimes I wonder too.”

Mari finished up Lances hand and grabbed Keiths. “Wait, I have a question.” She said in a small voice.

“What’s your question Mari?” Lance said in a concerned voice.

“Well… if you are handsome and Keith is pretty then does that make you the prince and him your princess?”

Keith felt his face instantly go bright red. ‘Did she just call me Lances princess?’ His heart was racing and his headache threatened to resurface. He risked a glance up at Lance who was also bright red.

“Uh, Mari i don’t think that is how it works…” Lance tried to explain.

“Why not? Do you not want Keith to be your princess?” She was so innocent, she didn’t even realize the awkwardness surrounding the question.

Lance was at a loss for words, something Keith had hardly ever seen before. And his face was almost as red as the nail polish that Lily was applying to his hand. Keith figured it was his turn to say something.

“I think what Lance is trying to say is that princes and princesses have to choose to be together. You can’t just tell them to be together.”

“But why not? I am the queen!” Mari yelled.

Lily, who had been holding back her laughs this whole time, spoke. “I thought you were a princess too….” She had just finished up Lances nails and was leaning on her hands looking intrigued by the conversation.

“Well, queens have more power so and they can make the rules so I say that Keith is Lances princess and Lance is Keiths prince. Okay?” She looked back and forth between the two men on both sides of the table.

Keith had to use his free hand to hide his laugh. Lance looked absolutely humiliated. If he turned one shade redder he would literally explode. Keith decided he might as well see if that is true.

Pulling himself together, Keith looked up at the little girl who was painting his hand and gave her hand a kiss. “Yes, my queen.” Was all he said.

Lance didn’t explode, but he looked like a statue in shock instead.

The side door to the kitchen opened and a woman walked in. “Girls! We are back! Did you both have fun with Lance?”

Both girls jumped and Mari abandoned Keith’s half done hand. “Mommy!”

Lance stared at Keith even after the girls had left his side, but his look had shifted more to confusion now. As if he was looking at Keith for the first time and couldn’t tell what species he is.

“Lance! Thank you so much for watching the girls. They love you so much. Don’t you girls?”

“Yeah!” Both girls answered.

Lance snapped out of his trance and pulled his gaze away from Keith. “N-no problem Laura. We all had a great time. Honestly.” He smile and gave each of the girls hugs as he walked them out of the kitchen.

“Bye Keith!” The both yelled and gave him a wave. Keith waved back.

Once the girls were out the door Lance walked back over to the table and sat down in his seat across from Keith.

“They are cute.” Keith said, trying to change the subject from the previous awkward subject.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, they are adorable.” Lance was still giving Keith a weird look. Then he turned his attention to the mess that was around them. “Better clean this up.”

Keith helded as they picked up the mess that the whirlwind of little girls could make in only an hour or two, it was a lot. Once they were done Keith plopped down on the couch and Lance took the chair next to it. He examined his nails then started laughing.

“Haha, didn’t think you would be starting your day off like that did you? I mean free manicures from two little girls are very rare things to come across in this garrison.”

Keith chuckled back then looked at his own nails. The right hand with red nails actually looked pretty good, even though there were some spots where the polish got on his skin. The left hand however was only three fingers in blue and the other two were blank.

“I think Mari missed something…” He held up his hand to show Lance.

Lance threw his head back with laughter and then reached to the box where the nail polished were kept and pulled out the same blue that Mari had been using. He walked over to the couch and sat down facing Keith. He held out his hand. “Here, I can fix that.”

Keith turned so that he could face Lance on the couch and held out his hand which Lance took. Lance pulled his hand into himself to that he could get a better angle and Keiths body followed.

Their legs were touching, their hands were touching, and if Lance had been looking up their faces would have been touching. Keith had never been this close to him in any other setting than when they were in combat or training. He had to control his breathing so that Lance couldn’t tell what the proximity was doing to him.

“...like you…” Keith barely heard Lance say.

“What?!?” Keith jumped. Had Lance just said….?

Lance looked up from his finished painting job. “Said they like you. The girls.”

Oh. The girls. Of course.

Lance held Keiths hand up so Keith could see the finished product. “Ta-da! Now we match!” Lance held his hands up to his and their fingernails did match. Keiths left hand to Lances right were both blue and they others were red.

“Yeah I guess we do.” He could feel Lances gaze so he looked up, and that same look Lance had before was on his face. That look that Keith couldn’t tell what it meant but it made his heart beat faster and his face grow redder. Lances eyes were already beautiful but that look pieces Keith to his heart.

Lance broke their eye contact and looked back at their hands. Slowly he took the fingers of his hand and laced them into Keiths. Lance was holding Keiths hand, and Keiths breathing quickened despite his best efforts to control it.

“Keith… I have a question…” Lance whispered.

Oh god. He can tell I like him. Is he going to ask if I like him? What would I tell him? The truth? I should tell him the truth right?

“Y-yes?” He stuttered.

Lance looked up and met his eyes again. Then he turned Keiths right hand so that the forearm was facing out. “Who is Todd? And why do you have his number?”

Chapter Text

“Who is Todd and why do you have his number?”

Keiths heart dropped as he looked at his arm where the number was scribbled in permanent marker. Flashes of a boy on a stage and then the feeling of lips on his flew through his mind and everything that happened last night came rushing back.

“He… uh…. Well he is a guy…” The arm that wasn’t in Lances grip reached back to scratch at his neck.

“A guy…?” Lance prompted.

“Yep.” He yanked is arm away from Lances grasp and rubbed at the ink, eyes never leaving Lances face. “Just a guy I met last night at a bar with Pidge.” He reached to pull down the sleeve of his jacket to cover his arm but it wasn’t there. Where the hell did his jacket go?

“You took Pidge to a bar! Shiro and Matt are going to kill you!” Keith thanked the high heavens that Lance had chosen that detail to hang on to.

“Well she took me more than I took her honestly…” He mumbled to himself. Lances eyes were still scanning him trying to get any more information out when the door burst open.

Pidge stood in the doorway, hair and makeup a mess from the night before. “Keith! We have a problem!” She yelled. Her gaze landed on the two paladins sitting rather close on the couch. “Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt. But seriously Keith, we need to talk.”

The small girl walked over and yanked him off the couch before he could protest, leaving him feeling cold without the warmth of Lances legs pressed against his. But he was glad that the whole Todd conversation had been avoided.

Pidge led him down the hallway and into her room, slamming the door behind her and shoving him towards Alluras bed. She then tip toed over to her bed around the several pieces of machinery that were scattered around (hadn’t her room been clean just a few days ago? How is she able to make a mess so quickly?).

Sitting down next to Keith she opened her phone and shoved it into his face. “THIS is our problem.”

Keith took the phone from her so he could hold it farther than two inches from his face to see the post. It was from the night before and it looked like a couple of drunk friends in the back of an Uber. “I don’t see the problem.”

“Scroll through the pics.” She huffed at him.

Keith swiped through a few photos with different poses of them together, the last one ending with Pidge giving Keith a kiss on the cheek. The caption to the post read: “bestest boifreind ever!”. Dang Pidge needs to work on her ability to drunk text.

As he scrolled down to read the comments he found the problem. Everyone thought that they were dating. The picture had gained thousands of likes and comments all about how cute they were together. And more were coming in by the second.

“Okay, so you kiss me on the cheek and suck at spelling and spacing your words and all of the sudden the whole world thinks we are dating?” Keith tried to play off the panic in his voice.

“Yeah.” She took her phone back from his hands. “And it’s not just on instagram Keith. Media outlets are having a field day with this story! It’s on every website I check! Dammit I knew I never should have gotten sucked into this stupid social media bull cr-”

“Pidge!” Keith stopped her before she could go full rampage. “Getting mad won’t fix this.”

“Then what do we do?” She asked. They looked at each other for a moment then down at the floor, each trapped in their own thoughts.

As Pidge scanned the floor she noticed a broken piece of metal. She ran over and picked it up. “Crap! I must’ve stepped on this last night when I got into bed.” She frowned and tried to force the piece back into shape.

“I don’t think it was you…” Keith gave a small giggle.

Pidge looked up from the piece and glared at him. “What do you know that I don’t.”

“Oh… nothing…” He teased.

The green paladin dropped the piece and stomped over to him. She grabbed the front of his shirt and brought his face up to hers. “Spill it Kogane!”

“Woah! Hey! I just think that maybe you should be mad at the person who was literally waiting outside your door to get home and took you from my arms the second he saw you…” Keith gave her a knowing look.

Pidges grip on his shirt fell as a storm of memories came flooding back to her. Thoughts of Shiro falling and her calling him a ballerina, and how he held her hands to keep her upright. And his lips, so soft and warm and welcoming.

“Oh my God I kissed Shiro….” She whispered.

Keiths eyes went wide. “Wait really! I knew he tucked you in but I wasn’t expecting a good night kiss came with that package deal. I guess it makes sense though.”

She turned on him and regained her grip on his shirt. “What do you mean ‘that makes sense’?”

“Well he has only had a crush on you for about forever now.” He choked out.

“And you didn’t think that this might have been important information for me to know!” She screamed at him.

“I thought you knew!”

“KEITH! I have been telling you for a week now that I thought that I will never have a chance with Shiro and you are just now telling me that I do and you knew this whole time and didn’t even think to mention it!?” She dropped her grip and began pacing back and forth across the room. “UNBELIEVABLE!”

“Well why else did you think he was so mad at me for dating you the other day?”

“Because you… I don’t know… questioned his authority?” Pidge stopped pacing and chewed on her fingernail. “Dammit. How could I have been so stupid? He is never going to want me now that he has seen me like that...”

Keith stood up and grabbed her shoulders. “Listen to me. Shiro has seen us all at our worst, and he loves us all despite it. If he kissed you last night then that means that he does love you like that. And if he doesn’t then screw him. We will have our own operation gazelle for you. Okay?” His eyes met her honey ones and she gave him a small nod.

“Thanks Keith. I needed that. Also, I’m sorry about ruining your moment with Lance earlier. I was just freaked about the insta post.”

“What moment? L-lance and I weren’t… we weren’t having a moment.” He dropped his hands and turned away from her trying to hide the blush that was creeping up to his face.

“Oh realllllly….” Pidge turned him back towards her. “Well that’s NOT the vibe I was getting but if that is what you chose to believe then I will let you.” She gave him a smug look. “However I do think you should follow up on that little number there.” Pidge gestured towards the sharpie mark on his arm.

“I don’t know Pidge. I think that was more of a one night thing. I doubt he even remembers me anymore.”

“I seriously doubt that. And there is only one way to find out.” She glanced at the number again.

“ALL PALADINS OF VOLTRON ARE NEEDED IN CONFERENCE ROOM C2 IMMEDIATELY!” Corans voice echoed through the speakers of the room.

“Okay, we will handle the whole ‘everyone thinks we are dating’ thing later, right now we have other things to attend to.” Pidge decided and started towards the door.

“Oh wait! Do you know where my jacket ended up?” Keith asked.

“Hmm I don’t. But I bet your boy Todd might.” She gave him a wink and disappeared out of the room.

Keith looked down at his arm, pulled out his phone and put the number in. Now he just needed to be able to scrub it off between this room and conference room C2.

Chapter Text

The meeting was led by Maggie and it had the same boring energy that all the meetings before it had. Some stuff about the tour that didn’t apply to most of the people in the room, and a few other little details that had everyone bored to tears.

Keith continued rubbing at his arm in an attempt to take off the sharpie throughout most of the meeting and while the smudge wasn’t completely gone, it was no longer readable as a name or number. What he really wanted was his jacket back to that he could hide it until he could find a time to wash his arm. But he couldn’t remember where he had put it.

He suddenly remembered Pidge handing it to the bartender. Crap. No way would he be able to sneak out again to go get his jacket, especially after what had happened last night. But he really wanted his jacket. As stupid as it sounds, and not that he would admit this to ANYONE, his jacket had become a bit of a security blanket for him. The one thing that truly reminded him of home, aside from his blade that his mother had given him.

So he couldn’t get to the bar but maybe he could get someone to bring it to him. But who would he… oh no.

He tried to think of any other solution before finally pulling out his phone, making sure to hide it under the table so he wouldn’t get in trouble, and sending the text.

Keith:

Hey Todd, this is Keith.

From last night.

Not sure if you remember me or not but we kinda… kissed.

Um, sorry. I’m really bad at this.

---

Keith sent out the texts quickly and without thinking, trying very hard not to facepalm himself in the middle of the meeting. Thankfuly the reply came quickly.

Todd:

Of course I remember you hot stuff

And that kiss ;)

I’m glad you decided to use that number. I was getting scared you didn’t like me :( and I couldn’t even begin to think about what would happen if I never got to see your gorgeous eyes again...

---

Keith felt a blush rise to his face and he turned his chair slightly from the group to try to hide it. It wasn’t often that people were so forward with their feelings towards him and he wasn’t sure how to handle these new feelings.

K:

Yeah, I want to see you again too. In fact, I have an idea…

T:

Ooo I love a good idea. What are you thinking babe?

K:

Well, I seemed to have left my jacket at the bar last night (Its red and white, little worn down, leathery material). And I am not really in a position where I can leave to go get it.

But if someone (you) just happened to be able to bring it by then maybe they could stay and spend the day? ;)

---

Keith knew that he was laying it on thick but he was telling the truth. He did need his jacket and there was no way that they would let Todd into the garrison unless he had a valid reason to be there. Plus, despite whatever had happened between him and Lance this morning, operation Gazelle was still in effect and he wanted to give Todd a chance.

T:

I think I might be able to arrange that ;)

Send me your address and I can be there within the next hour

K:

Current location sent.

Just come in through the west gate. See you soon.

---

“Keith! I hope you are updating your twitter young man or I will be very disappointed.” Keith quickly hid his phone back into his jeans pocket. Maggie looked at him from the head of the table with a disapproving glare.

“No, uh, sorry ma’am.” He looked away from her burning eyes.

“Well I guess that brings us to our next order of business. Lance, your social media is looking great, as always.” She sent him a little wink and he responded with his own wink accompanied by finger guns. “Hunk, you seem to be getting a lot of traction with your new food porn instagram page. Your food truly is beautiful to look at.”

Hunk blushed and whispered a quick ‘thank you’.

“Allura, Shiro, and Keith, still NOTHING on your feeds! I gave you very specific orders and I expect you to follow them if you want to connect with the people of earth like you HIRED me to help you do. Okay?” The three gave a slight nod. “However, considering the post the Keith and Pidge put up yesterday, I guess I will let him off the hook. Especially with how much traction the post is getting in the media! Oh my goodness! Why didn’t you two tell me that you were dating sooner? We could have been capitalizing on this all along!”

Everyone’s eyes shot up to look at the two of them. The exchanged a panicked glance across the table before immediately waving their hands in the air, frantically trying to dismiss the idea.

“We actually aren’t-”

“It’s not like that-”

“Oh Quiznak that is why you two were paired together the other day in practice isn’t it?” Coran chimed in, cutting them off. “Well I must say I saw it coming the whole time. I’ve always thought you two would make an extraordinary pairing. It was only a matter of time.” He twirled his beard with a look of satisfaction.

Pidge turned her attention back to Maggie. “Look, that post was just supposed to be a-”

“An EXCELLENT way to announce your relationship to the public? Honestly Pidge, I knew you were brilliant but I never knew that you would be so amazing as a social media mogul.” Pidge crossed her arms and glared at the woman. “And think about how much attention you two will be getting when they find out you are going to the gala together tomorrow night!” Maggie squealed and jumped up and down in a fashion that is way out of character for someone her age.

“But we aren’t-” Keith tried to explain once again.

“Of course you are! I can see it now. You two will get us so much media attention and we will capture the hearts of millions and we will get funding and OMG THIS IS AMAZING!”

Pidge looked at Keith who just shrugged as if saying ‘I don’t think that we are going to get out of this’. Then she looked over at Shiro. He didn’t look like he believed Maggie but he also wasn’t exactly jumping at the chance to argue with her either. Maybe she had been wrong about what had happened last night? Was the kiss real or was it a dream?

Pidge let out a sigh before resigning. “Okay.” She said.

“Amazing! All of your outfits have been made and will be delivered to you tomorrow at noon, be ready no later than five pm and then meet in the green room. Anything I am missing Coran?”

“Nope. I think that is all miss Maggie. Paladin training tomorrow at six am sharp. You are all dismissed.”

Everyone got up from their chairs and headed out to the hallways, each scattering to their own stations. Pidge caught Keith before he could get too far though.

“I’m sorry. I panicked.” She explained.

“It’s fine. I didn’t know what to do either. She terrifies me to be quite honest.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “But it will be fine. Just one more day of pretending to be together won’t kill us right?”

“Yeah I guess not. And it’s not like I had anyone else to go with anyways…” She sighed.

“Well what about Shiro? Have you talked to him about last night yet?”

“No, and honestly I am beginning to doubt that it even happened. He didn’t seem to care at all that we are going to the gala together. Unlike Lance who looked like he was about to blow a fuse.”

This caught Keith’s attention. He hadn’t even thought about what Lance might have thought about the situation. “Well you and I will go together and we will be the hottest fake couple that the world has ever seen.” Keith placed his arm around her shoulder as they walked down the hall.

“KEITH KOGANE TO THE WEST ENTRANCE PLEASE! YOU HAVE A VISITOR!”

Pidge gave a sly look as she glanced at him. “A visitor…?”

Keith felt his blush coming back. “I wanted my jacket back and, well, I figured…”

Pidge threw her hands up. “Hey, no need to explain yourself to me.”

“Alright well… I should… go?”

Pidge chuckled. “Yeah probably.”

Keith turned towards the west entrance, and tried to keep his heart rate steady.