Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Ok paladins it's very clear we need to make a pit stop for supplies." Allura mumbled as alarms blared throughout the castle.

The paladins looked at Allura worried. They
never saw Allura this annoyed. It was almost stressing them out too.

Allura pulled up a hologram containing a planet floating in the centre, "We can't manage further space travel and this planet has resources that can provide us with it."

Every human looked at the planet in shock. The planet they were going to looked exactly like earth.

"Now paladins we have no data on Reath so this will be a stealth mission." Allura looks over to Keith and shiro, "You both will be going to get supplies. Red is the fastest, Keith has good agility and Shiro is a good shield. I trust you both to do it."

Lance tenses up. He never wanted to go on a mission more than he did with this particular planet (also the fact Keith was going) It looked JUST like earth he couldn't let this opportunity slip away.

Shiro then spoke as if on cue, "Don't worry princess, this will be a easy mission we'll be in and ou-"

"I wanna come too!" Lance blurts out. Everyone turns to look at him from his sudden outburst.

"If it's ok… Could I also go?"

"If Hunk and Lance are going I wanna come too!"

Allura and Shiro both looked at them, surprised at their sudden urge to want to be apart of a mission.

Shiro laughed, "Well that's a first! Allura, what do you think?"

Allura kept oozing at them, then looked at Shiro and looked back. Her eyes went bright, "Yes! I love how you all want to actually go on a mission for once!" She said excitedly and turned to both Shiro and Keith.

"That would be lovely, princess." Shiro sighs and turns to His younger brother, "Keith?"

Keith looks up from his desk area where he's been sitting and listening. He doesn't bother to look at them and just nods signifying he's okay with it.

"Alright!" Shiro claps his hands, "We leave in a Varga get all your gear ready."

The garrison trio all squealed like the teenagers they are and ran out the room for their armour and gear.

"How strange.. Why is it only now that they want to go on a mission?"

"That" Keith points at the hologram, "That looks like earth.”

All three members of voltron look at the hologram.

"Oh quiznack your right Keith."

"I have no idea what earth looks like but I'll take your word for it!" Allura said happily walking out the room, "Make sure to get ready."

○

"Uh Allura.." Hunk asked

Allura turns around to look at Hunk. She took a scan on hunks facial expression and she could see he was nervous, she looked at the other paladins and they all shared the same facial expressions. Keith was a bit paler than usual.

"Uhm.. Are you all ok?"

"Princess with all due respect, the one time we all rode in a single Lion together.. It didn't really go well"

Pidge looked at the floor face blank, "That horrible smell…"

Lance laughed, "OH COME ON IT WAS HILARIOUS-"

"I don't want Lance stinking up red!" Keith yelled, "I just cleaned her and I'VE BEEN taking care of her!"

"You're willing to take Shiro!" Lance said offended.

Keith turns to Lance going closer to him glaring at him, "I don't want this 'sharpshooter' to stink up MY Lion."

"BUT YOUR FINE WITH SHIR-"

"ENOUGH CADETS." Shiro yells. Both Lance and Keith and practically everyone else tenses up.

"Everyone get your assigned bag and load it in red we will all be in the cockpit. Pidge get ready to activate cloaking," He turned to the red paladin, "Keith make your way to the coordinates Coran sent you."

Without hesitation everyone went to do their tasks, of course Keith did his grumpily not wanting everyone in his Lion.

○

Keith starts flipping switches and turning on panels to ready his Lion for the stealth mission, "Ok ready."

"Almost ready We just need to-" Pidge gets cut off before everyone gets pushed to the back of the Lion by its thrusters.

"OW FUCKING HELL MATE. YOU ASKED IF WE WERE READY, I SAID NO."

Keith began speaking over the speakers again, "I said 'Ok ready' that wasn't a question."

Pidge grit their teeth at the half breeds statement.

"Keith buddy. Slow down, you know we just quiznacking ate!"

"Sure." Keith replies, accelerating the thrusters.

○

"Uh Shiro" Keith's voice goes over the speakers

"Yeah bud?"

"Are you sure this is the place Coran said had the materials?" Keith replied back by slowing down the Lion.

Shiro goes to his tablet and looks through it seeing the space mail Coran had set for the coordinates. 18639.266 USTX. Shiro goes up to the pilot area to see Keith's hand shaking on the controls

"Yes Keith these are the correct coordinates." Shiro replies looking up at the input Keith had dialled in, "Are you ok Keith? You're shaking again."

Keith gives no response. He just signals his head for Shiro to look down through the window space in front of them. Shiro looks down and goes wide eyed, the coordinates Coran had sent for them to get was from the garrison.

Shiro looks up and down from the coordinates. He starts to panic on how they could have possibly ended up back at earth, the others down at the cockpit couldn't know. This couldn't even be earth! This is planet Reath.

"Hold on. Keith, connect with Allura on the intercoms, there's no way we should be at earth, this isn't the correct galaxy." Shiro typed quickly on the tablet

Keith hastily put Red on auto pilot and started to contact Allura. She immediately picked up at the video call knowing Keith doesn't make calls like this.

"Paladins? Are you all ok, did something happen?"

"No princess, we're fine, it's just.." Shiro hesitated before continuing, "Are you sure this is Reath? Because the coordinates you sent us brought us back to the old school we all used to go to."

Allura went away from the screen with a concerned face and you could hear mumbling in the background signifying Allura was talking with Coran what species of a planet this is.

"Ok both of you." Allura said seriously, "It seems something has triggered an interdimensional hole that caused multiple planes throughout the universe to double. Which means most likely everything from your earth is on planet Reath, I ask you to be careful because we do not have enough information to specify what lives on this altar planet."

"Yes princess we will be." Shiro said back

"It seems this 'garrison' is a pilot school so it has all of the resources we're able to modify to fix the ship." She said pulling a hologram of the ship up, "I trust you all know where these materials would be held?"

Keith looks down at the list that had just been space mailed to him, "Yeah, this is all in the back storage room and some in the teacher common area." Keith points down at the garrison, "And there would be extra material and gas in classrooms, mainly the mechanics and science room."

Shiro looked at him questioningly, "Excuse me young man, how do you know all of this?"

Keith ignored that statement and kept looking at the screen.

"So it seems this stealth mission has turned into a heist!" She says excitedly, "Pidge taught me that word! Anyways, we're able to last about one of your earth weeks so if you could go undercover for a while and gather all the materials."

The 2 paladins on the other end of the line nod in unison knowing how hard this will really be.

"Great! Now I'll leave the rest up to you all! I wish you the best of luck, paladins." She said cheerfully before hanging up.

Silence fell over the 2 homosexuals before one of them decided to speak up, "Keith I want you to land on the upper left side of the roof, this planet if a reflection of earth and the last time I was there that area was out of order. I'll go tell the others about our situation, after you land, get ready with us." Shiro calmed down before leaving the room.

"This is going to be on quiznacking long week." Keith muttered to himself.

○

"Ancients! What took you so long to land mullet!" Lance asked, obviously excited.

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance but opened them wide once again when Lance shoved an empty bag to his chest unearned, "This is a stealth mission so we have to remove any armour that's sticking out so COME ON!"

Keith, still surprised by the gesture, took off his arm padding,shoulder padding and leg padding (leaving his knee covering on) so he looked similar to the rest of the paladins.

"Ok gang here's what we'll do." Shiro turned to them with all their attention, "We're here for materials not to make friends. I've concluded the species here ARE human. We just don't know if they were duplicated or this is a whole new civilization, so we're gonna first scope out the campus and once we're finished we go to the laundry room and get uniforms. I'll go to the staff laundry room to get a commanding officer uniform."

Everyone nodded in agreement to Shiro's plan

"Once we're all dressed up, meet back in the cafeteria at break period. Act like normal students but don't go to any classes?"

Pidge raises their hand as if in pre-school, "Could I be the one who goes and collects materials from the science room?"

Shiro agrees to both Hunk and Pidge going, "Lance and Keith, you're in charge of the back rooms and anything else on the east wing. I'll be in the restricted areas searching for the most fuel I can find."

Everyone nods once again before putting on their helmets and activating full mask mode with their one way mirror blacking out their faces. They make their way to the edge of the roof and Hunk starts to tie a rope on a pole while Lance and Pidge keep guard of any commanders or trainees flying. Once the rope is tied they all slowly make their way down into a side vent and crawl through into a janitor's closet.

"I'm really living out a childhood dream right now." Hunk whispers excitingly

"Hunk were In a intergalactic war with 5 magical lions that can form into 1 big robot against an alien species that's basically a furry population." Pidge says blandly.

"That weird furry alien species is me dumbass." Keith replies annoyed.

"Guys please." Shiro sighed, "Pidge I want you to take 2 lefts, 1 right, skip the first left and go on the 2d one, then there should be a vent that leads down. It leads to the laundry room." He says pulling out a hologram.

Pidge grunts annoyed and starts to climb back up into the vent before Shiro stops them.

"We're scoping out campus. Wait for us here until we get back.

"Roger that space dad."

"Alright boys." Shiro turns back at the 3 paladins, "Hunk I want you to go to the east classrooms, Lance, go to the South ones, Keith, go to the west, check all around. I'll do the rest."

They all give a sign of agreement before also heading up the vent not wanting to be caught by a random hall officer.

○

As the 4 other paladins finished their search around the garrison they all heard a radio crack through their helmets signifying someone is about to speak

"Guys, so problem." Pidge whispered, "Science room is closed till Wednesday, and they JUST emptied the storage room junk out so we will have to wait until Friday."

"Quiznack." The blue paladin said in an angry tone.

Shiro sighs, "Let's meet back in the janitor's closet. Looks like we will have to stay here for a while."

Everyone gave their hums of agreement over the intercoms and began their way back to where they all previously were.

○

"Do I have to wear THIS one! It smells like B.S" Lance yelled at Shiro.

The paladins made their way to the laundry room to take out spare uniforms.

"Even if we're on Reath, Language."

"It smells like a baloney sandwich Shiro!"

"Seriously can't we just break in?" Keith asked, checking himself in the mirror, "BE gay do crime."

"We're not doing crime Keith!" Hunk exclaimed. He turned to Shiro and looked at his nose, "Shiro maybe you want to try and cover the scar and. The arm.."

"If this planet is a replica of earth then we can go to Shiro's old room." Keith turned around, "He has some makeup in there which would easily cover the scar."

Lance snorted, "HAH! Why would Shiro have make-up in his room?"

"Keith don't your dare-"

"Shiro used to have a birthmark shaped like a penis on his right arm!" Keith exclaimed, interrupting shiro.

All the paladins started bursting out laughing while Shiro's face turned bright red. Once everything died down they all put their suits and armour in a bucket covering it with a towel.

"Great now when we're done we can just come ba-" Pidge was also interrupted by a school bell ringing, "Shit."

Students' voices started echoing through the hallways signifying it was now a free period. All the paladins ducked down for cover under the window trying to avoid being seen. In the distance the paladins could hear a familiar yet unknown laugh.
Lance's curiosity got the better of him and as he looked up to see who this mystery person he was he caught a glimpse. 1 Raven hair boy with a mullet and.. James Griffin? With his arm around his shoulder.

"Pfft- James stop!" The boy laughed again.

Lances eyes widen at the voice of the person. The paladins were just as confused with the voice not coming out of the red paladin's mouth. Lance runs his eyes to look again to see Keith with James arm wrapped around him, LAUGHING.

"Keith?!" Lance whisper yells

The different Keith and James both look at the window where Lance stood up quickly looking at the 2 in shock, the other boys looked at him confused from the blue paladin's outburst. The other paladins were signalling Him to sit back down.

“I- uh- I mean- Ahem ill sit down now.” Lance said nervously from just blowing their cover, he turned to look over at Pidge and Shiro beside him. Pidge was face palming and shiro was still shocked by the voices.

“Um ok..? So anyways then Nadia told me-” James' voice faded into the distance signifying they were both getting further.

Once they all realised they were gone everyone let out one heavy sigh, no one bothered to speak until Hunk couldn't contain himself.

“Ok are we really ignoring that dude sounded JUST like keith?”

“Hunk that WAS Keith!” Lance wirled his head to his direction. None of the paladins looked convinced with Keith ignoring them looking through a crack in the door. He could hear the paladin's muffled chatter arguing over Lance's imagination. Keith squinted to see in the distance to recognize a figure.

“James..?”

“No, I swear it was him!”

“Lance please we get it you fantasise about keith!”

“Pidge!”

Hunk laughs, “HAH OH MY ANCIENTS!”

While the bickering continues Keith stands up knowing the hall passing period has ended. He goes to the door to get a better look at his clone. Shiro was the first to notice the red paladin's movements and gets up after him, he goes up and puts his hand on his shoulder stopping him from leaving the room.

“Woah buddy you can't just go after them.”

“Shiro, that was literally me!”

“We don't know that for sure, we have to find out first. But in the meantime.” Shiro turns to look down at the argument going down on the floor, “We have to get some makeup to hide the scars if there are really duplicates of us we need to blend in.”

Pidge disconnects from the conversation dn immediately takes note of what Shiro had just said, “MAKEUP?”

“Yup and we're going to my dorm, let's go cadets.”

All the paladins groan (except Lance)

○

“Keith, hold still!” Shiro said, scampering a makeup brush around Keith's face.

“No, I don't want to put on makeup! I'm fine the way I am.”

“Well THIS EARTH you didn't have a scar!” Lance replied from across the bathroom fixing pidges scar on their cheek

“This is gonna take FOREVER!” Pidge groaned, snatching their face away from Lances.

“Ugh Katie, don't move!”

For the next 10 minutes Shiro Hunk and Lance spent time attempting to put makeup on Pidge and Keith, They all had multiple scars in revealing areas that would give them away so that made them lose more time.

“How the quiznack do I cover up an eyebrow scar?!” Lance whined putting foundation above his eyebrow.

“I don't know dude, maybe we should glue hair on it!” Hunk laughed again while painting over Lance's back scar leading up to his neck.

“Holy quiznack Reath is the name of the planet..” Pidge muttered to themselves.

“Uh yeah?”

“If you shuffle Reath letters around it spells earth.” Pidge replied looking up at the shocked paladin's faces.

Keith groaned, “Wow the universe got real creative with that one. NOW GET OFF ME IT QUIZNACKING TICKLES.”

“Keith it's not my fault your scar goes all the way down your neck!” Shiro huffed trying to get his brother in control on the counter.

Keith starts to slap Shiro away, Shiro snaps and starts to hold Keith down and get Lance to put the makeup on him.

“AGH- GET OFF YOU HOMOPHOBIC BASTARD.” Keith yells

“Bitch I'm Keith phobic, and you practically asked for this!”

After 5 minutes they had both finally got the makeup on Keith covering his facial scars and the one on his neck, now all the paladins looked like normal human beings that were not traumatised. They all walked out the dorm room in a passing lunch period so they all had time to talk about a plan

“So we’ll have to wait for the science room to open and the storage to get restocked.”

“Or we can steal!”

“Pidge. No” Hunk said concerned.

As all the paladins were walking in the hallway passed student by student, Lance couldn't help but notice Keith looking down at the floor, obviously uncomfortable and barely keeping up with the group. Lance looked up to see a bunch of looks from other students, not glares.. Intrigued looks.
When Lance looked back at Keith he decided to speak up

“Yo Keith, are you ok?”

Keith looked up at Lance's comment about to reply before someone bumped into him hitting his shoulder leading him to fall to the ground. The paladins stopped to look at the fallen paladin with worried looks. Before Lance or any of them could help him up the stranger immediately turned around.

“Oh my god im so sorry are you ok-?” James took another look, “Oh my god Keith! Are you ok? I swear you just went the other way to talk with iverson..” James puts out his hand

Before Keith was about to slap his hand away, he remembered This wasn't HIS james griffin. Reluctantly he took his hand to stand up. James ruffled his hair

“Sorry babe didnt mean to hit you!” James replied happily, kissing his cheek,”I'll see you after school!” James said, walking away. Keith was still in shock at the sudden gesture he didn't get the chance to turn around

James saluted, “Sorry about that commander!” He then walked away.

All the paladins looked back at James, Then to Keith with him holding his cheek face flushed with red.

“Ho-ly Shit.” Pidge said, shocked.

“I- what just-” Keith stuttered over his words

“HAHAHA GOOD ONE LETS GO TO THE CAFETERIA!” Lance fake laughed tugging Keith ahead.

The next 2 minutes walking to the cafeteria was surrounded by complete silence. Once they got there Shiro was the first one to speak

“As a commander I dont think it's very normal for me to sit here with you all. Let's meet back in the janitor's closet until the end of the school day, lay low until then.”

All their paladins nod and say their goodbyes to Shiro as he walks off into the teachers lounge.

“Next things we gotta figure out.” Pidge looks around at the tables, “Where the quiznack will we sit.”

“PIDGE,HUNK,LANCE,KEITH!” A British woman yelled from the middle of the room. All the paladins look to see who had just yelled their names, “YOU ALL BLIND? C’MERE!”

“Allura..?” Hunk whispered.

Allura looked the same but. Younger in a way? Hesitantly the paladins go over to the younger allura and the 4 others beside her at the table.

“Didn't know your guys' lunch schedules changed?.” the dark hair girl chuckled.

The paladins didn't reply to that, Lance decided to act casual and sit down. As so did the other paladins following his head, “Nah Keith just got yelled at by Iverson again, Punishment is knacking with his schedule”

The 5 teenagers at the table look surprised

“Keith? KEITH got yelled at by IVERSON?” The dark hair girl exclaimed again

“ ‘again’ HAH so this has happened before?” The white hair boy laughed at the comment.

The 4 outsiders looked at them confused before Keith got the memo, “Yup.. Just did something out of line didn't mean to. Iverson gave me a small warning after it happened.”

“Well I hope it wasn't much trouble that He had to call your parents! I would like you to come to my dorm sleepover tonight.” Allura said sipping her apple juice

Hunk gasped silently

Pidge choked on their own spit

Lance went wide eyed

Keith froze.

“Parents..?” Keith whispered.

“OOO oo! Guys a Pizzashed is opening up across the street, we HAVE to go there!” The blonde girl exclaimed.

“PAUSE I HAVE 20 DOLLARS ON ME!” Allura gasped excitedly.

The other paladins didn't know what to say after that, The others just kept talking not knowing they were not the right students.

“So does anyone have the homework answers?” Hunk asked.

The chattering stopped almost immediately, everyone stared at him.

“THERE WAS HOMEWORK?” The dark hair girl screamed

The conversation continued with the dark hair girl being calmed down by the brown hair boy soothing her.

“Ooo Keith there's your loverboy.” The white hair kid smirked with his hand over his mouth.

Keith immediately looked up from where he was first fiddling with his hands. The other 3 paladins knew who had just walked in, Lance was not having it this time.

“Hey guys sorry I was late I had to go get a book from the library!” He gasped for air as he sat down beside Keith on the end of the table, “So what happened?”

“Keith got yelled at by Iverson!” Allura exclaimed

“What?!” James looked at Keith, “How?”

Keith laughed, “I have my ways.”

Lance looked at him impressed. Keith knows how to act? GOOD? Wow that's a first. As Jame began to talk more and more the paladins payed attention. They just wanted to get back on the ship, though Keith was indulged in the conversation. Suddenly the bell rings

"Aw fuck class again." James groaned

Everyone stood up and started walking out of the mess hall with the paladins not far behind, Hunk walks up to Keith

"Psst Keith-" Hunk whispers. Keith turns around, "Where do we go now?"

Keith thinks for a moment. Our doubles will most likely be here today.. We need a place to hide

“Keith you coming?” James puts out his hand expecting Keith to take it.

Keith was unprepared again and didn't reply, Lance took it upon himself to take charge of the situation. Lance clutches his stomach in pain and crouches over signifying he's hurt

“Agghhh-” He groans, “That BS did some work on me! Keith help me to the washroom!” Lance says now putting out one of his hands

“Uh sure?” He takes his hand and starts to lead him to the washroom with James looking at them with a strange look. Hunk and Pidge follow behind them waving goodbye to the others.

They all go and end up in the males washroom with Lance dropping the act and starting leaning on one of the sinks. No one talks as they hear students walking past and teachers telling kids to get to class. Keith looks in the mirror with a disappointed look on his face. He stares at the garrison uniform he has on.

“Ok red what's the plan.” Pidge asked, sitting on the sink. Keith pauses for a moment still trying to think of Hunk's question earlier.

“Well we clearly can't stay here, they get someone to check all the washrooms every what? 30 minutes.”

“Hunk, where are we supposed to go? Class?” Lance huffed

“Actually- Yeah we go to class.” Keith replied to the blue paladin head up high. The paladins all looked at Keith as if he was a full alien to them

“I-im sorry Keith- Class as in stuff where we learn? Where our DOUBLES are?” Pidge said aggressively looking at Keith

Keith turned to the smallest paladin, “Obviously we can't end up in the same classes as them. We will have to go to different ones we can't stay in here we have a higher chance of getting caught. Pidge I want you to get access to the class list and find our doubles and see which classes we should go in.”

Hesitantly, Pidge nodded in agreement. Keith spoke again turning to the other 2, “Lets get access to the library there should be computers there Pidge could use. I remember you both from the garrison spent a lot of time there, thinking of a good way to sneak in?”

Hunk and Lance thought for a moment

“Wait. I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T REMEMBER ME FROM THE GARRISON?”

“NOT THE POINT.” Pidge screamed back

“There's a back entrance from the storage cabinets out back!” Hunk said turning to Lance, “Remember how we snuck into the library all the time to watch youtube? You always were able to climb over the fence to open the door!”

“Right!” Lance shoots finger guns at his friend, “I could just do that again except the door will be open this time!”

“Great let's go.”

○

“Help me out here guys!” Pidge grit their teeth.

“Pidge seriously, just jump, it's not that big.” Hunk replied calmly

“Oh quiznack.”

“What is it Lance?”

Lance gestured to the keyhole, “Turns out on this earth they lock it during the day. I only learned our earth's key placements. I don't even know what the key looks like!”

“AH-” Pidge yelps, falling down with hunk catching them. Pidge gets up as if nothing happened, “I know how to pick locks. Hunk give me a bobby pin.”

They put their hand out with hunk taking out a bobby pin from his head and putting it on Pidges hand. Pidge walks over with Lance stepping out of the way and proceeds to shape the bobby pin and move it throughout the lock.

Click

“Done.” The green paladin said proudly standing beside their work.

“Good job Pidge.” Keith put his arm on Pidges shoulder while walking inside keeping a low profile.

The others follow behind him looking at the kids who are having a study period. As they make their way across the library until spotting 6 computers laid out on a very long desk

Keith points, “There.”

Keith signals the group to keep going. They all follow Keith as he ducks under a table not to be seen by the ther students. As they make their way to the computers Lance can't help but giggle about hunks butt. The bigger one kicked him in the stomach

“Ow-” Lance yelped before hearing footsteps.

“What was that?” a student asked.

Silence for a moment. The paladins didn't dare even breathe in fear of being heard.

“Probably nothing.” Another turned away.

After a minute the paladin continued their crawl to freedom. Once they got there Pidge stood up and started typing characters on the screen.

“Pidge, how long would this take?” Keith looked up

Pidge typed faster, “Thi is a school computer so it has a safety search. It’ll take a minute for me to get access to the main server.”

Keith nodded unsure, also signalling the other 2 paladins to watch out for teachers. After a few minutes Pidge made a happy gasp. The paladins didn't want to bother the green paladins so they kept watching out for others while Pidge got the correct details, after another minute Pidge turned the computer off and ducked back down with the others.

“Got their schedules! Keith is in History with Hunk, Lance is studying in Library 2 about space, and I'm in P.E.”

“So what classes should we go to?” Hunk whispered

“There's only one class without attendance..” Keith said quietly

All the paladins looked at him, each one of them knowing which class he's talking about.

“Pilot class.” They all speak together.

Chapter Text

Shiro turns and leaves the paladins in hope they are able to handle themselves and stay on the down low, He knows they can handle themselves and since Keith is with them he can keep them in line! He wasn't looking as he was walking and ended up walking into someone's back.

“Ow- Cadet watch where you go-” The man says before turning around to face the black paladin, “Oh Takashi great let's go!”

Before Shiro could answer back he gets pulled by the man to a classroom in the next hallway over and they stop at the entrance.

“I didn't think you would be free today.” 

Shiro blinks to get a better look to see if he was really seeing the correct person

“A-Adam?”

Adam looks up from his notepad, “Uh yesss?”

Shiro takes a second to comprehend what just happened. Again he zones out before he clicks back to see His fiance fiddling with his hair, “Since when did you dye your hair? Iverson will be at your neck for that!” He laughed

“Uh heh yeah! Sorry what am I supposed to do again..?”

“This is a new first year class?” Adam asks questionably, “You're teaching them about pilot controls?”

Shiro starts nodding really quickly, “Yup yup! Gotcha! So I just go in or?”

Adam laughs at Shiro's attempt at acting, “You seem off today babe want me to take this for you?”

“Nope all good!” Shiro said flustered.

Adam shrugs and kisses his fiance's s cheek as a sign of goodbye, “Welp I’ll leave you with them remember they cant go in the simulator bye!” He said walking back down the hallway.

Shiro sighed. How was he supposed to teach new Cadets about pilot controls when he didn't even remember how to control them? He walked into the class nervous until he felt at ease looking at all the kids sitting face up clearly ready for the lesson.

“Hey class so today I’ll be teaching you all about pilot controls!”

At Least half the class raised their hands, Shiro had a shocked look until he knew what they were about to ask.

“And no you won't be in the simulation.” He laughed out

The class groaned while some laughed along with Shiro

“Let's get started shall we?”

All right, Shirogane as you tell everyone. Fake it till you make it!

○

The students walked out of class happier than before from shiro's lesson

“It was great right? I can't wait to do the real thing on the simulator!”

“Oh my Lord right?!” A student replied exiting the classroom.

Shiro sighed in relief. He leaves the class hoping what he taught to those kids was the right thing and didn't just screw up his clone earths self career. A raven haired boy came running up to him as he exited the classroom.

“Takashi! Takashi!” The boy asked

“Keith?”

“James said he would meet me in the common area! He's not there. I went to Adam and he said he was in the class you're assisting. Have you seen him?”

Keith seemed a lot more cheerful on this earth, more optimism and energy! The older man was quite surprised to see the boy this way. But he hadn't even noticed James griffin in the class

“It was great right? I can't wait to do the real thing on the simulator!”

That was James!

“He went that way Keith.” He pointed

All of a sudden the smaller boy hugged him tightly before running in the direction Shiro had pointed to, “Thanks Takashi! Tell mom and dad ill be a bit late today I have a committee meeting, tell them to just cancel my appointment please!"”

“What the quiznack..?”

“What's ‘what the quiznack’?” Someone asked behind him.

Shiro turns to see Iverson behind him, glaring into his soul. Immediately Shiro puts a salute on the higher ranking.

“Are you going to answer the question?”

“Its-Its something Keith says a lot around campus sir, I just picked up the phrase from him.

Iverson makes a hum letting Shiro know he can put down the salute. He walks away with his arms around his back walking in the middle of the hallway being avoided like a huge wall. Shiro lets out a breath before leaving the opposite direction heading to the teachers lounge. As Shiro enters he's reminded of all his coworkers faces and memories.

"Shiro, your back already?" Someone sitting at a table asked.

Shiro looked at him trying to remember his face, "Yeah. It was all good when I got there."

"Are you saying the CADETS can figure out the simulator by themselves?" They laughed 

Shiro remembered Adam was in a rush somewhere and his notepad, it read on it 'simulation controls' he knew what to say 

"Adam was there already, Just wanted some coffee."

Shiro went over to make himself some coffee Glad he's able to drink k some after months in the prison and space. As he tries to act normal he overhears people at a table.

"Have you hear about-"  

"Lance- Iverson-"

"Keith- Trouble with- Expulsion"

Shiro could barely hear them with all the explosions he's heard. He only manages to hear a few words and his eyes go wide. He quickly rushes out the room searching for the other paladins trying to guess where they would be.

"OH EM GOSH IS THAT MR.SHIROGANE?"

"MR.SHIROGANE!" 

Girls started flocking him asking questions, some very personal

"Oooo did you get your hair dyed?"

"Your arm is very hard.. You must work out!"

“I uh-” Shiro shoves his way through the girls, being careful to not run over one or injure them.

He runs down the hallway and turns the corner. He looks behind him to make sure they aren't following, girls could be heard from further down scrambling and trying to find the star pilot. He sighs in relief and starts walking down the corridor, continuously checking different areas and rooms if the paladins were in there. None of them contained the 4 teenagers.

“Ah quizknack..” He pinched his temple, “Where did they go.”

○

“So as you can see Cadets.” The commander opens the door hatch. Revealing 4 seats all in different areas, “This will be one of the few times this semester you will have access to the training simulator. This will be worth half of your grade.”

Hunk gulped in fear. Pidge looks up to the frightened boy with one eyebrow up in the air, questioning why, “Hunk why are you so scared? We've quite literally flown magical space lions around the universe?”

“We all know how the last simulator ended up for me!” He whispered yelled, making a gag action with his throat.

Lance puts his hand over his mouth to contain himself from bursting out laughing, the red paladin looked over at the 3 confused about their situation.

“So” She looks back at the students smiling, “Who would like to go first?”

All the kids put their heads down and step aside as a shield to not be picked. Once they all stepped to the side a pathway revealed the 4 paladins in the back of the group talking with Keith looking forward. They all looked in embarrassment as all eyes were on them.

“Ah Keith! Wonderful you would do great here!” She stepped towards the four, “Since you three think you know all about this simulation why don't you all go first?”

Lance cleared his throat, “Well you could say we know A BIT about flying!” He chuckled, elbowing hunk laughing.

Keith kicked the brunette on the shin angrily before turning back to the commander, “What he MEANS is we would love to wouldn't we?”

He turned his head to the right looking at the 3, glaring daggers into their eyes. They all turn their heads back to the commander and nod in unison before being guided to their seats. Pidge was in charge of coordinates, Hunk sat at the engineer desk with most controls, Lance and Keith were sat in front with the red paladin being pilot and blue being co-pilot.

“Good luck cadets!” The commander slid the door close with a big noise following after, startling the 4 paladins.

“Ok we're gonna be fine.” Pidge put on their seat belt, “We can fly big lions, what's so different with a little simulator?”

Lance and Keith looked around their control panel, trying to get the controls. Everything didn't look at all familiar to them, they were used to the lion controls and most of the time they controlled them with their minds! It's been almost a year since they left the garrison; they couldn't possibly know any controls at this point.

Hesitantly Keith put his hand down on the controls, hovering the aircraft they were all in. Reluctantly, Lance followed by grabbing his controls and flipping switches he guessed were the engines. Hunk started tapping the screen making sure everything stayed intact while Pidge set up their coordinates.

“Setting course for planet Kerberos.8790 GH.” Pidge tapped buttons revealing the coordinates to the two pilots in front, “Were ready to go.”

Keith thrusted the engines, the paladins showed no emotion for that is what would happen regularly on missions to them. Keith flew through space avoiding asteroids with Lance stepping in multiple times helping Keith avoid and manoeuvre through.

The whole class was astonished by their actions, no group had ever made it that far without having any technical difficulties. Even so. All four had remained calm when there was a close call with a meteor.

“We're approaching.”

“Engines and wings are clear, the bottom has been set out and ready to land.” Hunk spun his chair with a smirk on his face. Clearly proud of himself for not hurling a storm.

“Landing, in 10.” Lance flicks controls while Keith tries to keep the ship steady.

Keith accelerates the thrusters a bit, squinting to get a better view. Suddenly the door swings open. The 3 paladins turn around while Keith groans in annoyance.

"Mr. Shirogane is here for you."

"For us?" Hunk asks.

"For Keith, he has an appointment to go to." She steps aside revealing Shiro waving at them. With no signs of scaring hidden under his clothing.

He jingles his keys, "Cmon Keith, Mom is waiting in the car. We have your ortho appointment."

"Oh shit." They whisper, turning to the raven hair boy, "That's not our Shiro."

"Fuck.." Keith mumbles, sitting up from his chair and heading towards him, "Let's go." He groans.

"Wait Keith!" Lance sits up heading for the boy walking away.

The students crowd around him, asking them and praising how they all made it so far. Keith looked back at them, worried.

○

"Keith?" Krolia turns around, looking at the boy scramble in the back seat, "Weren't you in history? I called in and they said you were there? I also thought you said you wanted to cancel?"

“I-” His mind quickly raced to excuses, “I snuck in fighter pilot class again. And I- uh. Wanted to go to this appointment cause my friends want to hang out next week!”

“Again?!” Krolia snaps her head around, eyes fuming with anger, "Keith you have pilot class everyday! You have to stop this habit of yours."

Shiro stepped into the shotgun seat and started calming their mom down, Keith was just as surprised to see a parent in the driver's seat. He looks out the window at the drive out the garrison parking lot and sees the trees pass one by one. He looks around on the floor of the car, cards, screws, and crumbs were all over the place with a phone and ear buds on the seat next to him.

“Oh Keith!” She looks at him through the rear view window, “I know how much you hate waiting so I brought your music.”

He looks back down at the phone and picks it up hesitantly. He opens the screen and it automatically unlocks. 

Oh, face ID.

He starts to scroll through the phone. Looking at apps, text messages, and photos. Many notifications were in the top bar mostly filled with one person's dm’s.

Jam <3

Jam: Hey Keith! Gm <33

“Ew..” Keith made a disgusted face at the screen.

He taps his photos app, thinking nothing was going to be there. He was wrong. Loads of photos were there with him and others, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, James, and others he didn't know. Different videos were recorded from at night where all 4 teenagers hung out together. Others were just with him and James dancing together in the rain.

“What the..” He continues to scroll to find loads of selfies taken with him and Lance. Many at the beach where they both had ice cream cones and slushies, different photos or Lance riding a surfboard and videos of the boys making sand castles together, just for them to be destroyed within seconds of a random kid. Keith's eyes widened, seeing a picture of them kissing and hugging, “WHAT THE QUIZNACK?!” 

“Language.” Shiro looks through the mirror, “Wait what did you say?”

Krolia chuckled, “What's a ‘Quicknack?’ ”

“I- uh-” He drops his phone and scrambles to pick it up again, “It's a weird slang Lance made up! He got in trouble for using swear words once by iverson.”

“Again?” Shiro leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. Shaking his head disappointedly, “He always seems to get in trouble nowadays. He even got detention today!”

“Detention? He's such a sweet boy.”

Shiro laughs, “Not in iversons eyes!”

As the red paladin continued looking through the phone, he couldn't help but blush at the sight of him and Lance together being seen as a couple. Text messages, screenshots, photos at the garrison filled the boys gallery to the brim.

“Keith?” His mother turned around resting her shoulder on the divider in between her and Shiro. Taking a moment to talk while there at a red light, “You're wearing your invisalign right? What tray are you on?”

Shit. I forgot I had that! I haven't changed my tray ever since we left our actual earth!

“Oh my god, have you actually been wearing them?” Shiro also turns around.

Keith brings one hand up to his mouth checking if he did. A plastic feeling rubbed on his bare fingers exposed from his gloves. He sighs in relief hoping it will find him an excuse, “Yeah. I'm on tray-” He looks down at his phone opening the invisalign app.

Tray 15

“I'm on tray 15.”

Krolia turns back around, pressing down on the gas as she sees the light turn green, “That's good. Dr. C will just be giving you your new set.”

The raven haired boy puts down the phone and leans up to the front seat, “What time will I get back to the garrison mom?” He shutters at the last word he had just said.

“Oh I already called you in that you're not heading back to class anymore, I assumed you wouldn't want to go back.”

“No no! Can I go back to class?”

“You want to go back to class?” Shiro side eyed him suspiciously, “I thought you said yesterday you hated it and everyone there?”

“Opinions can change Shiro!”

Shiro looked at Keith strangely as if he had seen a ghost just then. He slumps back in his seat at the pair of eyes staring at him strangely before krolia interrupts the awkward moment.

"I'll get you both McDonald's after this if you both stop bickering." The car comes to a stop with the older woman unbuckling her seat belt.  

Shiro followed after he left Keith alone in the car, unbuckling his seat belt and preparing to make up excuses for his God awful teeth. He's in space for over a year now for God sakes, he couldn't go back to earth to change trays every week.

•

"That was a lot more boring than I remembered." Lance puts his hands at the back of his head, resting on it, walking in the middle of his two friends, "We didn't even get to do much other than fly to kerberos."

"Lance, we fight evil space aliens. What thrill do you expect from a teen pilot class?" The green paladin rolled their eyes at the brunette's comment.

Hunk sighs, "What are we going to do about Keith? God knows what he's doing right now and frankly, I don't think we had monthly check ups with dentists!" He puts his head in his hands in panic, "What are they gonna do once they find out Keith's teeth don't match his clones?! What if they think he's like some evil clone made by a witch?!"

"That my friend." Lance pats his friend on the back reassuringly, "Is a problem for us future paladins of voltron."

"What's voltron?" Allura asked behind the 3, scaring them.

"Probably some scenario Lance made up." Ryan typed on his phone not bothering to look up in the conversation.

James nudged him, "Ryan! Don't be mean!" He turns back to the 3 still in shock, "Should we go now? Or did you guys still want to go to burrito bell? I already told you if you did you had to get me something!"

"We wanted to go to burrito bell?!" Pidge whispered, still facing the group in front of them.

"Yes and we will act like we did." Lance whispers back, still smiling.

"So?"

"Yeah let's go!" He jumped and put his arms on his hips proudly. He takes a moment to think, "Where are we going?"

"It's a flex? Wait, are you guys skipping class right now?!"

"Pfft no!" Pidge swiped their hand trying to cover their face, "We had our schedules re-arranged, that's why we were with you guys earlier at lunch."

"Well then. Lance, want to work on our project? Keith finished his portion, we just need to finish the research and the board!"

"Yeah sure." The blue paladin said casually, "What's the project on again?"

James gives him a strange look as the other boy sweats in place. Hunk looks at his friend distraught in fear.

"WE can go to burrito bell!"

Allura jumps up and down, "Yes! Let's go, my dad gave me my allowance this week I'll pay!"

She starts to walk out the door motioning for the rest to follow her, the yellow and green paladin  back at the brunette wishing him good luck as they both leave out the door with the group.

"Traitors.." Lance mutters looking as the exit door closes.

"I mean we could totally go with them, Keith finishes his classes in about an hour. We can work on them after school."

"No no." Lance shakes his hands. If he were to wait after school, he would have to work with clone Keith. Not HIS Keith, "We can do it now. Keith might be busy after school since he has his dentist appointment."

"Didn't Keith say he was going to cancel the plans for today? Plus, I swear I just saw him in history-"

"AHHAH!" Lance laughs out loudly turning his heel and walking in the direction of the library, "Let's go work on this project shall we!"

James gives him a strange look before nodding and following the panicked boy to the library.

Chapter Text

The three of them walk out the door of the orthodontist, Shiro, in front next to the red paladins ‘mother’ trying to reassure her.

On the other hand, she's sighing heavily, clenching her temples.

“It's okay mom!” He waved his hands while trying to force a smile, “Keith can always just get new trays! He was probably just scared to tell you.”

She looked back at the boy as they were about to get to the car, “Keith, how long have you not been wearing your correct trays?! I'm paying good money for those and you promised me you would be responsible about it!”

Okay Keith just do the maths.

You were on tray 4 when you left for space, you haven't worn them since Shiro went missing. Tray 15 was your last one so just subtract.
Wait- how do I subtract again.

“Keith!” The sound of the woman's voice snaps him back out of his daze, “How long?!”

“A while…?” His eyebrows mesh together not knowing how to respond.

She turns back frustrated, gripping the wheel hard. Before letting out a sigh and puts her head down.

“Keith. We talked about this before. If you're not responsible with your invisalign I'm getting you braces, got it?” Her glare could be seen looking at him through the rear view mirror.

He nods quickly putting his head back down, a conversation quickly flares up between the two people in the front of the car. Leaving the boy to do more investigating on his own life.

he opens his phone again looking through more apps and text messages.

GARRISON 2.0

Llura !: Let’s go to burrito bell after school! 6:47 am

Ryan 💔: Were to break for that 6:47 am
Ryan 💔: *broke 6:48 am

Pigeon: LMAO seems like it’s your guys prob 💀 6:50 am

Jam <3: @Lanceh did you finish your part od the project yet ? 6:51 am

K3ith: yo BTW I finished my portion 6:52 am

hunkalicious: The duees still sleeping man 6:54am
hunkalicious: dudes 6:54am
hunkalicious: but i can tell you he is NOT done 6:54 am

Jam <3: LMAO OK GOOD Cause neither am I 6:55am

Ryan 💔: dumbass 6:55 am

Jam <3: crash an burn 6:55 am

~Nadia~: ITS 7 AM GO TO SLEEP. 6:57am

Pigeon: Actually get your facts straight it’s 6:57 am 🤓 6:57 am

~Nadia~: Leave. 6:58 am

“Who even are these people..” Keith mutters to himself, scrolling further.

“What was that Keith?”

His head jerked up looking at the much younger black paladin looking at him questionably. He chuckles to himself, turning off the phone.

“Oh it’s nothing Shiro, just my friends being stupid in our group chat.”

Shiro looks at him weirdly before turning back around and engaging in another conversation with their mother.

Maybe it’s better not to say things aloud now.. What else is there in here?

He scrolls through his contacts not recognizing any names, as he scrolls something catches his attention, the contact is listed as ‘L’

What? No profile picture either?

the red paladin clicks on it looking through the messages, trying to piece together who this mystery person could be. He scrolls up near the top where the conversation had begun.

L

L: Hey dude wanna eat lunch together?

K3ith: Sure let’s meet at your locker since it’s closer to the cafeteria

Femlukury 6

K3ith: Your staring makes me wanna hurl

L: Im sorry! 😭 I’ve just never seen you with your hair up it’s so pretty

K3ith: You think so?

L: No im lying to you and i have seen you with your hair up i stalk you 24/7
L: OFCOIPURSE I FUCKING THINK SO.

K3ith: you must have a good grade in english 🫶

L: My first language is spanish stfu

K3ith: gtfo

L: Send me a pic of your hair up dude
L: Dude im being dead as it’s really nice

K3ith just because you said that i’m never wearing it up again

L:NOOO I LOVE IT IM SORRY

K3ith: LMAO WHAT ARE YOU SORRY FOR

L: COMPLIMENTING YOU? IDK
L: TAKE A COMPLIMENT OMG

K3ith: I’m breaking up with you omg !!

L: ILL SEE YOU AT OUNCH ILYT

K3ith: *lunch

L:I don’t love you anymore

K3ith: fine with me

L: NOOO

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

The car stops suddenly pulling everyone forward then back harshly. Shiro turns around quickly looking at the boy with his eyebrows furrowed together, “LANGUAGE!”

“Sorry, Sorry!”

“Keith i’ve had it up to HERE with you today!“ she holds up two fingers both very close to eachother, “you say another curse word i swear to god i will knock you out of orbit.”

He scoffs looking out the window muttering, “Not like I've never been out of orbit.

•

Lance looks at the textbook with a blank look on his face, then back up to James. James looks at him awkwardly before looking back down at the book while readjusting his uniform.

They had both been sitting in silence for 10 minutes not knowing what to say to each other, Lance not even knowing what to do.

“So um Lance- I hope it’s not too weird between us since you know..”

He trails off looking at him while rubbing the back of his neck.

The blue paladin immediately jerks into action acting like he knows what he means, “Yeah yeah! No totally! We’re cool, don't worry!”

James lets out a sigh of relief as he relaxes fully on the table, “Phew! That’s good to hear! I just thought you were still kinda mad about the whole ‘dating you ex thing!’ haha!”

Silence fills the empty room again, Lance staring at him intensely. James stares back once more with the same gaze looking right back.

Wait what- ex?

This James is an asshole? Hold the fuck up.

James kissed Keith and they were walking together in a hallway. The white hair kid called James Keith's loverboy.. So if James is supposedly dating this Lances self…

WAIT IS KEITH MY-

James continues reading the textbook as he talks, “Keith didn't want this project to be awkward, neither did I!” He laughs, “So were cool right?”

“Uh.” He fiddles with his fingers, “Yup! This is not awkward at all! Man, i dont even know who Keith is.”

“That's a way of putting it.”

Lance chuckles before looking back down at the book.

What the hell. We never studied this back at the garrison.

Suddenly, a ringing noise comes from underneath the table, James bends over taking out his phone looking at text messages. The blue paladin peeks over trying to see what he was doing.

“Woah dude!” James looks over at him, “Aren't you like not supposed to have your phone on you? If Iverson catches you with that your dead.”

“Uh dude doesn't that sound kind of ironic for the person who gets caught with his phone all the time? I mean your the one who taught me and Hunk how to hide our phones, remember?”

Crap!

“Where is your phone anyways? Did it get taken away again?”

“Yup!” He nods aggressively rubbing his head, “Got caught with it while I was texting someone through the passing period!

James looks down underneath the table at the other brunette's pants. He squinted while looking at his pants pockets, “Then what's that item shaped phone in your pocket?”

A muffled buzz was heard from the pocket.

“And why is it glowing orange..?”

“UMM-”

A textbook crashes on the floor behind them, the boys jump slightly in surprise looking behind them.

James walks over picking it up, "That was loud wasn't it?"

"Haha yeah.."

"How could it have fallen?" The lighter brunette looks back at the bookshelf inspecting it, "This shelf is at a wall? Did you feel a slight earthquake Lance?"

"N..No..?" Lance replies questioningly, hesitating on his reply.

He places it back in the bookshelf. One big push making sure it stays in. He walks back to the table, opening another textbook.

Lance sighs in relief as he notices the other forgetting of the previous subject.

The textbook has mostly words, with little to no pictures. Only images in every other 10 pages. Things like that don't strike Lance's attention.

James side eyes the blue paladin, clearly sensing the tension between the two growing thicker by the second.

"Ok man, I'm kinda getting the vibe from you that you're not cool with the situation."

"Situation? What bro dude no! Uh.. What situation?"

Lance was never the best under pressure, that was the main thing that would screw up missions.

A small sweat leaks from his forehead, James wasn't buying it, "If you're not cool with me dating Keith I totally get if you're uncomfortable, but I really like him! And the fact is-"

"Hey idiots." Keith yelled at the two as he walked through the doors.

The librarian quickly shushes him after the remark with an irritated shushing noise.

He mouths sorry before looking back, "Hey idiots." He whispers going in between them.

"Keith? Thought you went to the dentists today?"

"YEAH KEITH." Lance says with a big smile, trying to pick up clues if it was his Keith, "Thought you were at the doctor?"

“Uh.. No.?” Keith looked at him strangely, “My mom didn't come to get me weirdly, and you know i was here you saw me?”

Crap.

Lance looked down at the textbook as if he didnt hear the boy next to him, Keith stared at Lance briefly before looking back at his partner smiling, “So did you finish your part of the project?”

“Nope!” He grinned at Keith resting his arm on the other shoulder, “Got busy with flight training. But i'll complete it today with Lance here, he hasn't even completed his part of the project.”

“Nope.” Keith says bluntly, shoving James' arm off his shoulder, “We're literally the same height now.”

“It gives me a wave of nostalgia from middle school when I used you as an armrest.” James laughs, paying attention back on his phone.

Lance looks around awkwardly. Third wheeling his friend and old 'bully' seemed weird, but James hadn't seemed bad.

I mean would he even be considered a bully off one interaction?

"Lance?" James asks, catching his attention, "You actually okay man? You don't have to do the project right now if you rent feeling good."

He looks at the two, a light bulb lighting up over his brain.

"Mhm! Yeah!" A fake cough goes into his elbow, "I am feeling so rootin bad. I'll go home and work on the project there, okay bye!" He smiles leaving quickly coughing more into his arm.

James and Keitb both look as he walks away. Keith raises his eyebrows in suspicion.

"Lance your stuff!" The brunette calls after him picking up his things as he rushes to the door.

The blue paladin's arms tense, he opens the door a faint noise heard when he opens it. He swooped through, his pocket folding in releasing the items from within his pocket to the ground.

Lance hadn't looked back in fear of still having to socialise with the two. Not noticing a light thump on the ground.

James looks as the door shuts. The bottom of it just missed the orange rectangle on the floor.

"What the?" James looked tilting his head.

It buzzes, shaking on the floor.

He picks it up looking through the window on the door, Lance was gone.

An empty hallway with no one in it. A bit uncomfortable for his liking so he walks back to his boyfriend.

"Did you get to give his stuff back?"

"No.. But he dropped this thing?" The orange phone shows the other side of his palm being translucent, "It's what he wouldn't show me earlier."

Keith takes it looking at it, "What the hell is this? I've never seen this brand of phone before."

No symbol, no words. Just 2 metal brackets on both ends with no home button.

"How could you even turn that on?"

"Who knows, maybe Ryan invented this for him." He states looking back to James, "You should just give it back to him when you see him again."

"Ofcourse." James chuckles.

Keith looks back down. His interests in his device hadn't gone away. Snooping through his ex boyfriends phone isn't the right thing to do since it was a casual split.

He couldn't care less.

"Hey do you think-" Keith mutters before being interrupted by the same buzz as before vibrating his hand.

It was a lot more intense than anyone else's phone.

He looks down, the notification pops up. He squints for a moment from the brightness that overwhelmed his eyes.

Blinking for a moment before getting full focus of the screen. It was a text message.

The fantastic 4 (not shiro)

Shirussy: Guy's where are you all?

"Shiro?" Keith says in shock.

He looks at the wallpaper. An even bigger shock of the picture.

Hunk, Pidge, Shiro, Lance, and himself. Lance's arm wrapped around him. A space-like area surrounding them in strange suits, armour maybe?

He doesn't remember taking this picture, does he?

Chapter Text

Hunk and Pidge lingered behind the group as chattered emerged from the large group. The brunette looked over to the taller man, his hands were fidgeting and it was painfully obvious how uncomfortable Hunk was. Pidge sighed as they crossed their arms looking up at Hunk.

“What Hunk?” They said bluntly trying to still keep quiet to the group in front of them.

Hunk rubbed the back of his head, “I feel a bit, ya know? Guilty? For leaving Lance behind like that. I mean we totally just threw him under the bus. A don’t you think it would’ve been better if we brought him along? For the mission and all.”

The green paladin shrugged as a reply as they pushed up their glasses, “I don’t know about you, but I trust Lance with this. He wouldn’t go as far as to screw up the whole mission.”

They could see the hesitation in the taller boys' eyes. What could they have said? If Pidge was being honest, they had no faith in Lance whatsoever. They were both aware of how strange Lance was acting since the group had arrived.

“Yeah no he’s totally gonna screw it up.”

“No shit Pidge.” Hunk sighed out rubbing his temples.

The duo looked up as the whole group stopped in front of them. Hunk looked up seeing that they were at the crosswalk. Currently, it was a green light facing them. He looked back down but didn’t see any movement from the group.

Suddenly, once the light turned red towards them the group started to walk across the crosswalk unbothered. Hunk and Pidge looked at each other nervously as they went across the street. To their surprise, no cars ran over them.

Pidge moved closer to Hunk as they got off the street, “We’re totally gonna get run over if we cross the street by ourselves next time.” They whispered.

“Oh absolutely.” Hunk nodded in agreement.

Soon, the group walked into the large store in front of them. A big sign saying ‘Burrito Bell’ Glowed in front of them. Familiar decorations of taco bell was replaced by burrito bell. Their guess, this place specialized in burritos.

The chattering soon made it way to a counter. The group all deciding where to sit at the start.

It really did seem like a nice friend group to be around.

Little by little they moved up the fairly small line.

Each group member had ordered, on of them recaught their attention by calling out their names, "Hunk, Pidge!" Allura said eagerly, "Come up and order your regulars!"

"Regulars?"

"Quiznack, I've literally never been to taco bell.." Hunk muttered to Pidge.

"Seriously Hunk?!" The light brunette turned to their left, "I don't know dude, just pick something randomly off the menu! Act like it's your regular."

"Guys?"

Reluctantly, the duo made their way up to the counter. Allura watched as the two stood awkwardly in their place. She tilted her head slightly in confusion. Pidge eyed the taller boy persuading him to order something.

Hunk stood confidently in front of the underpaid worker, “Give me the best shit here!”

Pidge looked to their side then back to the worker nodding along with him, “Me too please.”

The employee hesitated for a moment, shocked at their language, before typing in on the cash register equaling their bill. The two let out a slight chuckle together as they left the front and returned to the group. Allura staying back to pay for the food.

“What was that?!” Pidge laughed hysterically, “The best shit here? Taco Bell makes you shit no matter what!”

“Hey! We’re not paying so might as well get the best we can!”

The duo returned back to the large table where the group was sitting and sat down. Conversations overlapped each other as different topics floated around the table. Pidge and Hunk sat there stunned as they saw how much human interaction they were taking in. It had been just such a long time since they talked to other humans face to face. How could they know anything relevant for their generation at the moment?

“Hey guys.” Lotor grinned, catching everyone’s attention, “Did you notice any weird vibe coming from Mcclain earlier? I know damn well I wasn’t the only one who noticed.”

Nadia let out a loud laugh as he typed into her phone, “Nope! Just you man. Lance is always weird.”

“No, I mean he was awfully quiet today. He's a loud mouth. Not one insult today to Keith!”

Ina nodded along, “Yes, I honestly found it quite strange the way he’s been acting. He seems to have been more comfortable around Keith today. That’s out of the ordinary.” She turned over to Hunk and Pidge, catching their attention away from Lotor, “Would you two happen to know anything about it? I would likely guess you do, since you're so close with them, and you have been acting strangely too.”

The duo sat there in shock not knowing how to reply. Now, the whole table was silent, staring at them waiting for an answer. What could they say? The two glanced at each other quickly expecting the other to talk. Both were well aware of Keith and Lance's situation. What added to it is that they knew Lance was crushing on Keith, hard.

“No?” Hunk said questioningly rubbing his hands under the table nervously as he kept a confident face, “I hadn’t noticed anything off with the two honestly. Pidge, have you?” He said, turning to look at his friend.

Pidge hesitated before speaking again as they tried to keep the straightest face, “Nope! Nothing was strange to me. They're just acting like good ‘ol Keith and Lance. Why?” They leaned their shoulders on the table towards Lotor, “What do you think has been happening?” Pidge cocked an eyebrow.

Lotor eyes hardened their gaze on the smaller one in front of him as he was clearly growing frustrated, “I just think that it’s weird that suddenly their so buddy buddy with each other, don’t you? And you could obviously tell how Keith was acting differently towards James.”

Romelle let out a slight snicker before crossing her arms looking back over to Lotor with a large grin on her face, “What are you implying Lotor?”

“You know exactly what I'm implying.” He sighed out, closing his eyes recollecting himself.

Allura walked back to the table with a receipt in hand. She had just finished ordering for the group and took a seat next to Romelle at the table. She looked around expecting a conversation, onky to be met with silence as everyone glanced at each other.

“Uh.. Did someone die or something?”

“Do you think Lance or Keith would do that?” Hunk broke the silence with a blunt reply, “Seriously, do you think they’re the type of people to actually do that?”

Lotor let out another laugh as he heard Hunk speak. It’s as if the whole table were now only audience members to a rising debate between the two, “Anyone could do adultery Hunk. You’re only defending them because Lance is your best friend. Let’s be honest, if Lance was secretly with Keith again you wouldn’t tell us.”

“I’m an honest person, what can I say?” He rested his arms on the table as he put on a slight smile, “I haven’t noticed anything weird or out of the ordinary between them. If you ask me, I just think you’re trying to stir up some drama in the group.”

“Heh.. Okay guys! Maybe we should just chill out..?” Nadia chuckled nervously, setting down her phone.

Allura elbowed Romelle slightly on her shoulder whispering, “What’s even going on? What did I miss?”

You can see the fire burning in Lotor's eyes. He wouldn’t want to lose this argument. Lotor glanced around the table, everyone had their eyes on him waiting for his comeback to what Hunk had accused him of. A hard scoff came from him as he rolled his eyes.

“No need to get all defensive about it Hunk.” He spat out leaning back in his seat, “Can a dude not express his own opinion?”

“Well you do have a reputation about lying in the past don't you?” Hunk glared at the suspected galra prince.

Under the table, Pidge kicked Hunks leg lightly. He had brought up something they had experienced from space. No one else at the table could know what he was talking about, this could backfire on him with the implication he lied about Lotor.

He watched as Lotor didn’t say anything. The white haired boy's eyes widened once he heard that statement from Hunk. Eventually, he gave in, flipping his hair and pulling out his phone. Completely ignoring the conversation the two had just had.

“Whatever..” Lotor mumbled under his breath now scrolling through his phone.

After that, the air in the group was thick with tension. No one knew what to say after that. Hunk leaned back in his chair with victory spread all through his face as he watched Lotor uncomfortably shift in his chair. A small grin appeared on Pidges face as they chuckled a bit.

“Good job.” Pidge whispered to Hunk.

“Gotta have that bro code.” Hunk smiled back.

○

The raven haired boy jumped out the car onto the pavement below, his Mcdonalds smoothie rattling in hand. Keith quickly looked around then shoved his phone into his pocket as he looked back up at the garrison. It really was strange how he had been put back into the same place he had been expelled from.

Suddenly, he felt a hand reach for his shoulder grabbing onto it. Keith quickly turned around in a defensive position looking to the culprit with a stern look in his eyes. Shiro stepped back for a moment, taking a back from his brother's reaction to touch.

“Uh.. Keith, are you okay today..?” Shiro asked hesitantly as he saw his brother get out of his stance, “You seem a bit.. I don’t really know how to put this. Tense? Or just weird in general? Did something happen at school?”

“What? No? Nothing happened? Why would you think that?” Keith asked nervously, fidgeting with his sleeve.

The wind blew past them as their hair rattled in the wind. Shiro looked down at his brother with a sympathetic face. This was one of the many things he hated about Shiro, he always knew when something was wrong with Keith. He was even more angry that this trait got passed onto second Shiro.

“Is it because Iverson yelled at you today or something?” Shiro asked genuinely, crossing his arms, “Cause I know how much yelling can rattle you.”

“It’s nothing Shiro, drop it.” Keith said harshly turning away from the older man.

He continued to walk back to the campus slurping on his smoothie leaving Shiro behind. In the distance, the sound of a car driving away indicated Keith’s so-called ‘mom’ was getting off school grounds.

This was the perfect time so find the real Shiro.

Keith’s walking pace soon quickened as he entered the garrison. The halls were partially empty. Apart from the kids lingering around the halls with backpacks and papers. It was relatively quiet for the most part. A perfect search time.

Different chatters and voices slightly echoed through the halls as Keith wandered around. Trying to regain his memory of the campus map. Everything was messing him, the campus had seemed to be entirely flipped preventing Keith from actually going into the direction he wanted to.

“Keith!” A voice called out from down the hallway.

He turned quickly, his heart slowed down as he saw the blue paladin standing on the other end of the hall. Keith quickly walked over to him as he tried not catching the attention of other students around them.

“Lance!” Keith whispered, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him to the side of the hallway, “What are you doing?! You’re supposed to be in class right now! What happened to staying in fighter pilot class?”

The brunette rolled his eyes crossing his arms, “That class ended like, almost an hour ago! We didn’t know where else to go at that point, but that bug group offered to take us to a weirder version of taco bell, and Hunk and Pidge just left me here!”

“Left you here to do what?”

“With James!” Lance said in a slightly more irritated voice, “And your double came into the library to work on a group project I was apparently assigned with!”

Same old Lance. Complaining about everything. Keith then too rolled his own eyes dropping his smoothie into a garbage can close to them, “It’s just a stupid project you could’ve done for the whole block. We would’ve all found each other sooner or later. Now, we need to find Shiro. This earth's Shiro is catching onto me that something is off! He was always so god damn observant.” He sighed out,

“Yeah well James looks like he’s catching on too!”

“What?! How? What did you even say to him?”

Lance looked taken aback by that accusation, “You think I said something to him?! No! It's the way we’re acting man!” His voice came out more sincere yet irritated, “We need to act how we’re supposed to. Because apparently, we need to be meaner to each other than usual!”

“Why?!” Keith said frustrated.

“Because I’m in love with you!”

Chapter Text

“…Are you a fucking idiot?”

“What—“ Lance blubbered, his cheeks still tinted a rosy red on his tanned face while trying to recover from a sentence he never once thought he would admit to Keith’s face.

“Lance, this place is not ours! It’s a planet that’s basically an alternate dimension from ours, you wouldn’t think that maybe you should just go along with whatever these freaks are saying?!” Keith scolded the blue paladin with a sharp gaze, “We clearly found out James and my double were an item in the morning, you should have connected the dots!”

He winced slightly while speaking, still feeling the sharp pain in his gums from going to the dentist. The cold smoothie, in fact, was not helping.

“I’m at fault for freaking out over being ex-boyfriends?!”

“We never dated, Lance!”

Lance groaned, slumping against the cold metal wall of the hallway and putting his head in his hands. He could still feel how his face was hot over the— implications of what they had done…

“…I don’t swing that way, Keith.” Lance clarified like he was worrying what the other boys as thinking

“Lance, I don’t give a shit.”

He glanced back up to Keith, “James is a dick for dating my ex-boyfriend.”

“We’re not actually exes.” Keith clarified once more, tossing his smoothie in the nearest garbage can before going to lean against the same wall as Lance and stuffed his hand in his pockets.

“Did you know?”

“I’m more observant than you are.” He lied with faux nonchalance.

The feeling of the leather phone case on his hand increased as his grip grew stronger. Keith thought back to the images and text messages he had found on his doubles phone.

It was sickeningly sweet. How they were so happy and mushy together. The lack of scars on their bodies with a sense of vulnerability in their eyes, showing just how comfortable they might have been. The text messages that were so frequent, not at all similar to the ones they share together.

That maybe this is how it could have gone.

“We should find Shiro.” Keith said with a narrowed gaze as he avoided eye contact with Lance, “And get out of sight in case someone sees us.”

“We’re not just leaving Hunk and Pidge.” Lance frowned, “We should go find them first.”

“They’re with everyone else at Taco Bell, what if one of our doubles is there?”

“Yours is in the library with James and mine is probably in detention or something.” The brunette explained as he stood back up, “We should go get Hunk and Pidge so once we find Shiro, we can all just head back to the lions for the night.”

“How can you not know where your double is?!”

“I don’t know Keith, how could you know?”

Keith scoffed, crossing his arms and looking away once more. It was almost reminiscent of a middle schooler refusing to lead on a conversation where they will end up being wrong.

He began walking, “Let’s go.”

“You are the worst.” Lance spat, but followed behind him.

-

Shiro, albeit looking a bit pathetic, was now back in the janitors closet he and the paladins were in at the start of the day. It feels as if the only safe space in the academy considering the smallest appearance could throw everyone off.

He had just narrowly avoided himself and his Reath double being in the same room. And to say it was unsettling seeing someone who appeared and acted the same way as he did was an understatement. 

Pidge was right, it’s strange looking at him when he has 2 human arms.

The fantastic 4 (not shiro)

Shiro: Guy's, where are you all? 2:18 pm

Shiro: Answer or i’m calling this off. 2:25 pm

Hunk: answering! 2:25 pm

Hunk: we’re at Taco Bell, they call it Burrito Bell here for a strange a strange reason. sounds like a bad joke. 2:26 pm

Shiro: Come back when you can. We should get back to the castle to take back any of the supplies you guys found. How many did you get from the library back room? 2:26 pm

There were 3 dots consistently appearing and then reappearing after Shiro had sent that message. A familiar feel of mediocre disappointment fell over him

Shiro: Just come back to the ship. 2:28 pm

Hunk: we love you Shiro!! 🩷🙏 2:28 pm

Shiro sighed, rubbing his temples and setting down the bright orange phone in his hands. For still being in his early twenties, it’s almost as if the universe is telling him never to have children.

He jolted quickly seeing the door open, looking over to the light pouring into the dark room only to see the two familiar teenagers.

“Let me guess,” Shiro deadpanned, recovering from the sudden scare and crossing his arms, “You had another sweet run in with James?”

“Humorous coming from the guy who’s literally hiding in the closet.” Keith spat back and walked inside, “And no, Lance did.”

“You have a terrible attitude.”

“Can we just go back to the ship, please? I’m tired of his place.” Lance groaned, already going to take off the Garrison uniform they had stolen from the laundry room

“Nope.” The eldest man huffed, stopping Lance from taking off his shirt with a simple hand to the shoulder, “Because we don’t have the supplies.”

The red and blue paladin paused for a moment, glancing at each other before remembering their objective. Silent mutters of agreement and recalling back to their mission soon followed, earning yet another grey hair on Shiro's head.

“We’re not having a repeat of today.” Shiro said, wiping the makeup off his nose bridge revealing the scar carefully hidden underneath, “These lives our doubles have are too distracting. We just need fuel and supplies so we can get back out in the universe.”

“The junk in the storage is already thrown away.” A frown overcame Lances face, “And the science lab is closed.”

“A little breaking and entering never hurt anyone, Lance.”

“It’s infamously hurt lots of people.” Keith deadpanned, “Which is why it’s commonly considered a felony.”

“We have done far worse than felonies. You’ll live.” He said, matching Keith’s tone and shoving him with his shoulder, “We’re doing this quick and efficiently.”

The red paladin let out a small gruff, his glare still trained on their leader but with no real malice. He just sighed in annoyance once more before nodding and leaning against the wall along with Lance knowing they will have to be waiting for their other 2 teammates.

-

They both waved goodbye to their counterparts friends, insisting they walk a separate direction away from the group for reasons that were far too vague to honestly be acceptable. But the friends seemed pretty lenient on what their reasons are.

Hunk turned back around, already continuing to text in the phone Shiro and Lance that they were making their way back as soon as possible. 

He had almost forgotten how time can slip away when you’re talking with a large group of people.

“This is horrible.” The lighter brunette mumbled with an obvious taste of disgust, “Also the food. Burritos are for Chipotle, are they not?”

“Pidge, any sort of Taco Bell will never be good.” Hunk replied back in a plain manner, still texting back the paladins with apologetic emojis

Pidge looked to her friend, seeing how laser focused he was. She knew he had some strict moral code about never being late, even in an alternate earth where they really had no idea on how to navigate socially with the people around them.

She groaned before taking the phone out of his hand, stuffing it into her pocket, “Will you stop spamming apologies before you shit yourself? We're getting back, just take in everyone around you right now. We haven’t been on earth in years.”

“This isn’t earth, Pidge.”

“It’s been copied and sent to another part of the galaxy. Everything and everyone here is the same, they just made different choices in life.” Pidge explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “Our universal plane had doubled. This is an exact replica.”

“An unfamiliar place is still and unfamiliar place.” The yellow paladin defended himself, looking around the neighborhood they were in, “We shouldn’t be getting nostalgic over something… Artificial.”

“So you wouldn’t wanna peek into your artificial life?”

Hunks' eyes narrowed, about to protest again to talk about the ethical reasons as to why Pidge seemed to appreciate the area around them before the words caught in his throat. Now he suddenly remembered why he felt that nostalgic emotion deep in his gut.

The familiar roads, mail boxes, messy yards with various items in it to display whether or not residents had kids or not…

His neighbourhood. His home.

He had dreams about coming back here. Returning after the war.

Tears quickly began to cloud his eyes. Anyone would be emotional after seeing their childhood home after so many traumatic years away— but Hunk was also just an emotional guy.

“Ah, stop sobbing and let’s go!” Pidge huffed, tugging on her friends arm to pull Hunk closer so they could most likely go inside

“What-? Pidge, no. We can’t.” Hunk said, his voice was shaky and quiet as he wiped his face, “The other me is probably inside.”

“How could you know that?”

“Because I hear my family in the kitchen, Pidge.” He said, glancing at the kitchen window, “And I can smell the food.”

It was covered with a curtain, but there was clearly light from inside. Faintly, a person could make out silhouettes. There were many people there. Two prominent figures at the counters.

The smell flowed out the air vents. Something their kitchen always did whenever another window was left the tiniest bit open. He could feel a rush of familiarity wash over him just by the smell of the food. A recipe he and his mom would make together for family, one curated just by them.

“…Let’s just go, okay?” The paladin said weakly.

He wasn’t ready yet. No matter how much he wanted to be in his mom’s arms again.

Pidge stared for a moment, the same smell hitting her nose as well. Maybe it was her hunger after not being satisfied by the bland food at the fast food joint they had just eaten at, or the fact she herself hasn’t seen her family in a long while either. She wanted this for her friend.

“Fine.”