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No one could accuse Keith of being an optimist, but things were going surprisingly okay. For now. After the latest Big Bad had been dealt with, thanks to Shiro’s natural inclination to be an overachiever who creates Giant Transforming Robots out of Spaceships, they all finally had time to just. Relax, sort of. Talk. Reconcile, gather information, organize their troops and allies, plot their next moves.
Visit his father’s grave.
Acxa showing up had been a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. She was a strong fighter, hard to kill, and had a moral code that could finally align with theirs now that she wasn’t be manipulated by Lotor’s twisted ideals. He’d kinda expected to her to show up, eventually, after the last time he’d tried to save her. Wouldn’t have been surprised if she hadn’t. Again.
She stuck close to Keith and Krolia, which was to be expected. Allura tried, but it was obvious that she’d been burned way too many times to accept another half-Galra ally. Keith didn’t blame her, he couldn’t, especially when all he had to defend Acxa was “a feeling”. He was sure Allura had had “a feeling” about Lotor, too, and Acxa had already proven how easily she could play a spy and how quickly she could change sides. She didn’t owe it to them to spill her whole life story and they wouldn’t let her wander unsupervised even if she had.
Kolivan would probably have better use for her than Voltron, anyway, once Keith could convince him to trust her. The Blades were few and far between and they needed as many troops on the ground as they could scrounge up. It killed Keith the he couldn’t go back to them, not this time, he’d learned from his time away and he was ready to be back with his friends, to be back in his lion, he was, even if the itch under his skin never truly went away. He could live with it, this time. Acxa would make a better Blade than him, anyway.
She spent most of her time curled up with old Earth books that some people had brought with them when they evacuated to the ship. All old, all dogeared favorites with notes in the margins and messages on the inside covers. Everyone was supposed to only bring essentials with them, but, well. It was hard to consider the Little Free Library that had sprouted up outside the canteen as anything but essential when so many people really just needed the escapism of good, old-fashioned literature when living in a world where aliens existed and tried to enslave humanity and destroy the world.
When she wasn’t reading, Acxa was training. Keith enjoyed sparring with her, enjoyed how they were evenly matched, enjoyed the small grins they exchanged when one of them finally seemed to get the drop on the other only to have their legs swept out from under them in the next instant. It was different than sparring with the other Paladins during their regular training, less structured, more like a real fight. Plus, it was just nice to have someone he could go all-out against who wasn’t Shiro or his mother. He already knew they were allies, now he felt like they were becoming friends.
So he wasn’t surprised when she asked him to meet her in one of the small meeting rooms located near the command center of the ship. He figured that maybe she wanted to discuss strategy or her place in the resistance. Maybe she wanted him to give her an assignment. It was good timing, he was sick of waiting for something to happen, it was time for them to go and start taking back the ground they’d lost when the Galra had gone after Earth. They were more prepared than they’d ever been in the fight against the Empire. It was time to kick the bureaucracy and do something.
What he wasn’t expecting was to walk into a room full of a confused looking Team Voltron with a mildly uncomfortable Acxa standing at parade rest at the front of the room.
“Uh.” Was how the fearless Black Paladin of Voltron greeted his friends and family when all eyes shifted to stare at him the moment he opened the door. “Guys? Acxa? What’s all this about?”
“An excellent question, Keith. Now that you’re here, perhaps we’ll hear the answer.” Allura spoke in controlled tones, leaving no doubt in Keith’s mind who’d invited her here, too, apparently.
He tried to hide his wince as he let the door whoosh shut behind him, walking over to Acxa to give her at least a little solidarity for whatever it was she wanted to say to all of Team Voltron. She seemed to visibly relax when he drew closer, which was encouraging. Whatever she had to say couldn’t be too bad, although he didn’t understand why she hadn’t just told him she wanted a meeting with all of them. She gave him a faint smile when he stopped a respectable distance away from her, which he returned with a slight nod, ready for business.
Acxa took that as her cue. Turning to address the room, she straightened her spine and held back her shoulders, all business. “I apologize for not telling you all why I called you here. To be honest, I didn’t think you’d all show up if I had. But, from my understanding, it’s customary to have a gathering of colleagues when arrangements like this are proposed. So this will have to do.”
“Keith.” He focused in on her when she said her name, having been caught looked around the room to see if anyone had any idea what the hell was going on here. Pidge just looked bored, Hunk curious, Lance suspicious, Coran intrigued, Allura trying not to be annoyed, and Shiro focused. No help there. Acxa caught his eyes and held them for a solid few seconds during which he began to get the feeling that something important was about to happen. He just wish he knew what. Finally, she started talking again.
“I am an exile of the Galra Empire. I have cut all ties with my past life and have no allies to bring to your cause. All I have to offer is myself.” Here, she began reaching for the blaster at her hip. It was unloaded, of course, couldn’t be shot even if she wanted to, but Keith could still feel the tension radiating off his team and coiling in his chest, ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation. It faded, somewhat, when she suddenly knelt in front of him, offering up her blaster with two hands, head slightly bowed. Confusion took its place.
“What I offer is my skill in the field, my resolve as a warrior, and my desire to bring about peace to the Galaxy. I promise to dedicate myself to your cause. If they will have me, I will join the Blades and begin gathering allies in the name of Voltron. I promise to be loyal, always, to you and Voltron. I will work tirelessly to be worthy of you when I can offer so little in return. It is my sincere hope that our chemistry in battle will grow and encompass the rest of our lives. This is my proposal to you.”
Here, she looked up, relief evident in the slight smile on her face. She was evidently done with her little speech, but Keith could swear that he heard screaming in the dead silent room.
What.
This wasn’t happening. Keith couldn’t have heard her right. He was misunderstanding something again. His gaze jumped around the room, trying to gauge his friends’ reactions to see if he was the only one hallucinating this nonsense.
Lance seemed frozen, his mouth dropped open, eyes the size of dinner places. Not helpful.
Pidge had her calculating face on, glasses pushed back to cover her eyes, the hints of a manic grin pulling at her lips. Bad sign.
Hunk sat in a daze, his hands up as if he were going to fend off something terrifying, his face halfway between concerned and amused. Also a bad sign.
Allura had her hand covering her mouth, shock written across her face, no sign of the budding mistrust that she’d been trying to hide around the former Galra General all this time. Worse sign.
Coran looked riveted watching the whole seen play out like a tennis match, eyes bouncing from player to player with rapt attention. Shit.
Shiro was also frozen, much like Lance, but after several seconds of budding silence something just… snapped.
Shiro let out a bark of laughter that was followed by a sharp slap when he tried to cover his mouth and pretend the noise had never happened. His eyes betrayed him, however, crinkling at the edges, his entire body was shaking with barely repressed glee. All eyes slowly shifted towards him and he glanced around at all of them, face growing red as even his chair began to tremble. The next thing Keith knew, his mentor, his brother, one of the most important people in his entire life, his utter shit of a friend was cackling so hard that he started to hunch forward, arms wrapped tightly over his belly, as unrestrained guffaws of laughter were ripped out of him.
It looked painful. Keith, through his mortification, couldn’t help the slight curl of happiness deep in his gut. He hadn’t seen Shiro laugh in days, if not months, nothing like this, nothing more that a snort and a sarcastic quip. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d just relaxed, but for fuck’s sake, did his breakdown have to finally happen at Keith’s expense? Shiro’s laughter started to take on a manic quality, his breaths wheezing out between cackles, his face was splotchy and red, and tears were streaming down his cheeks. This was getting out of hand.
“Shiro.”
If anything, saying his name made Shiro laugh even harder. Not louder. The sound was starting to die off, actually, since he wasn’t capable of getting in a deep enough breath. He started to tip even more forward in his chair, lungs struggling, until he finally fell straight down on the floor, reduced to what sounded like hacking giggles while his body shook and shook and shook.
“Shiro.” Keith sounded scandalized, enough so that a few eyes snapped up from Shiro’s breakdown and towards him again, incredulous giggles from around the room joining Shiro’s wheezing breaths from the floor as Hunk tried to diffuse some tension and Pidge decided to be evil. Even Allura seemed amused, her smile hidden politely behind a hand. Not that any of them knew what was going on.
It wasn’t even that funny.
“Shiro, shut up.” Keith hissed, giving in to the urge to rub a hand over his face, hiding his mortification and considering if he’d be able to cut a hole in the floor to just escape this entire situation. Probably not. The floor was metal, not as strong as his blade but strong enough that someone would stop him before he made a hole big enough to jump through. They’d just follow him, anyway, too nosey to let him escape this one unless he really made a scene. But he was past that.
Deep breaths. Patience yie-. Ugh, no good, that only reminded him of Shiro.
Keith dragged his hand down just enough to uncover his eyes so that he could properly glare at his brother, eyebrow twitching in flaring anger, only to find Shiro, still shaking with light chuckles, struggling to stand up so that he could walk over to Keith. He let him get closer, glare intensifying, until Shiro was close enough to clasp Keith’s shoulder with his prosthetic hand, an amused grin stretched across his face.
“Well.” Keith glared even harder when Shiro opened his damned mouth, resisting the urge to hide behind both his hands this time. He was past that. “You don’t have to tell her anything you aren’t comfortable with, Keith, but I think she deserves an answer.”
His glare softened as he looked away from Shiro’s still amused, but stupidly supportive and earnest expression. Keith forced his hand away from his face, finally, only to cross his arms to have some kind of barrier against the nervous confusion in Acxa’s eyes. She was still kneeling on the floor after all that bullshit. Still waiting for an answer. Fuck.
“No- I… It’s okay.” Keith glanced around the room, taking in the various states of curiosity and amusement of his teammates, before sighing and turning back to Acxa. “It’s not like it’s a secret. I don’t care if everyone knows.” He still had to pause again and gather himself before saying anything else. It didn’t matter. It really didn’t. No one would care, even if he’d never said it explicitly before. It had never been relevant to Voltron, to the Blades, to the mission. To saving the Universe. So it had never come up.
“I’m gay.” Keith stated plainly. He pointedly ignored the choking sound that might have come from where Lance or Hunk were sitting, keeping his attention on Acxa. She deserved that much after dealing with Shiro being a pest.
Unfortunately, she only seemed confused. Shit, did Galra have a different word for it? It had never been relevant he’d never asked. “Uuuh, I’m homosexual.” He winced, slightly, at the technical term. “I like men? I- I’m not attracted to woman? I’m flattered but, uh, it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t work out.”
Keith forcefully snapped his mouth shut before he could ramble even more. The confusion had cleared from Acxa’s face, replaced by a resigned smile. She didn’t look hurt or like she was going to cry or anything equally terrifying to think about. If Keith could just stop making an ass of himself at any time, that would be great, thanks. “Sorry?”
Acxa shook her head, raising one hand off her blaster to cut off anything more from spilling out of him, thank god. “It’s alright, I’m an adult. I can handle a rejection, Keith Kogane. However, even if you don’t want me as a life partner, I’d still like to pledge my skills to your cause, officially. I meant what I said, we work well together. It would be an honor to work with Voltron to eliminate the threat of the Galra Empire, once and for all.”
Keith could feel that Shiro was about to lose it again so he headed that off by slapping a hand over his own brother’s face as if that’ll stop the giggles from escaping. This was a serious moment damnit.
“Thank you, Acxa. We accept your pledge. You- you can get up now. Really.”
“Did I do something wrong?” She rose with a slight frown, as if she were the one puzzled by his behavior. Her blaster slid quietly back into place. “From what I read, it’s customary on Earth to kneel for pledges of fealty and proposals of marriage. I thought following a human custom would be easier than a Galra one.”
“Marriage!?!”
For one blessed moment, all eyes weren’t on Keith. Unfortunately, everyone was far too used to Lance’s outbursts for him to hold their attention for long. He’d unfrozen long enough to squeak out a few incredulous noises, apparently just now understanding what this whole damned mess had been about, before falling back into a state of utter shock.
“Um.” And the eyes were back on him. Perfect. “We don’t really do that. Anymore.”
“Yeah, pledges of fealty haven’t been popular since before the 20th century.” Thank god, someone finally rescued him. Pidge adjusted her glasses as she went into a miniature spiel about knowledge she’d no doubt acquired through a recent caffeine-fueled wikipedia binge. Coran asked a lot of questions about earth history and some people on the team were better equipped to handle not knowing things than others.
Anyway, while she was going off he cut his eyes over to watch a befuddled Hunk carefully pat a still frozen Lance on the shoulder, probably hoping that he’d break out of his shock sooner rather than later. Whatever. It was stupid, but he couldn’t help but wonder what the oblivious idiot was more shocked about. Was it the whole marriage thing or the-
“I mean, I don’t really know if Keith follows a religion, not that this has to be a religious thing, they don’t always have to be, but now that you’re Keith’s vassel you guys should probably draft up a written contract or something if you wanna make it Official official. Ooooh! I bet I could rig up-”
Oh shit, maybe he should be listening to this disaster after all.
“Alright, that’s enough.” He decisively cut through the nonsense before Pidge could get really worked up. “We’re done here. I’ve got a meeting I’m late to and I’m sure the rest of you have projects to get back to. Acxa, come see me later about the details. Privately.”
And without further consideration, Keith walked right out the damn door and away from all of the idiots he would be avoiding for as long as possible while stuck on this much-too-small ship for the foreseeable future. At least it was easier to ignore the devious grins, the (loud) inquiring voices eager for more earth history, the indignant shriek of Privately?!, and the return of traitorous snickering when there was a door between them and he was power-walking towards the closest place he’d be able to vent some nervous energy on some poor, hapless training bots.
He did not sign up for this. Black Paladin? Sure. Fine. He could do that. Getting proposed to in front of his team by an alien that half of them thought would end up betraying them? Not so much.