[fanfic: Voltron] Like diamonds in the sky (1/3) -- Shance
Title: Like diamonds in the sky
Fandom: Voltron Legendary Defender
Characters: Shiro, Lance, the rest of the paladins and the Alteans.
Pairing: Shance (Shiro/Lance)
Language: English (oh God)
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Romance. Fluff with dashes of drama.
N/A: For the Shance Week (2016). Day 1: Pining/Confession.
Summary:
Shiro liked to imagine Lance doing normal stuff in pretty normal scenarios.
Bear with him this one, okay?
Yes, sometimes those scenarios were a little more R rated than other but usually Shiro's imagination would create a whole story, with lots of context, of so much normalcy that Shiro's heart ached in confused longing.
You see, to Shiro, Lance was the most normal of them all. And, believe him, he said that with his most regards.
--
OR: Shiro tries hard to resist, but Lance is way too much.
Shiro was sure that something was very, very wrong with the team. And the first one to tipped him off was, surprisingly, Pidge.
Now, Shiro was aware that Pidge's drive was even more personal than the rest. Her focus and passion for finding her family was admirable if nothing else, they all knew she was doing her best to find her father and her brother. Hell, Shiro himself wanted to find them badly enough to understand that hard work was a must.
But that didn't mean that she shouldn't rest once in a while. It looked, nonetheless, like no one had told that to Pidge ever, and so Shiro couldn't do anything to make her stop, even if it was for a few hours. No matter who talked to her, she was always busy: plans to make, things to program, tons of data to pick apart. And she wasn't gonna stop.
Now, Shiro knew enough about life in space in general to recognize a distraction, a very convenient skill that was also a very convenient crouch, to avoid facing reality. Her family have been prisoners of the Galra way too long; anything could have happen in that period of time. Everything was uncertain and could fall apart at any given minute.
Plus, Pidge left her mother all alone on Earth and by now they all knew that was a detail that it was better left ignored.
Shiro had tried to at least give her a schedule that she could follow in which hours of full sleep were contemplated but no amount of authority or even friendship could put her on ease. So Shiro let her be, although he reminded her to rest a bit every few days.
Kieth, on his own way, was very much like Pidge.
He kept and kept practicing and fighting drones and picking fights with Lance. Shiro would be ok with it all if it wasn't because Keith was obviously bored. So much so that half of the time his heart wasn't in the confrontation at all; not even against Lance. Keith wasn't training just to get better, he was helping the time to pass faster.
Lance, on the other hand, was starting to get numb. And that was very alarming, if you asked Shiro.
Just as Hunk was the emotional strength of Voltron, Lance was the humor and the will of it; the force that balanced all the others, also. And although he could form Voltron with the team with no problem, Shiro had been wondering when the fact that Lance was still and looking at nothing more and more lately was going to become a problem.
Because Lance without energy? Lance with no running commentary about what Coran got him to do? Lance being quiet?
No. That was very, very wrong. Shiro was positive that some days ago Lance didn't laugh once. Talk about getting worried.
Ok, so, maybe Shiro's concerns were a bit biased. So what? That didn't mean they were less truth.
And that was the very scary part.
--
The tension was growing.
Or, in other words, the depressing feelings were increasing.
The day before, Shiro saw Keith helping Coran to fix something in one of the many rooms of the castle. Willingly. Keith had also reported to Shiro that there were 42 steps in the biggest ladder of the ballroom, just because. He'd also said that Lance's ass counted the last 10 but Keith went away before Shiro could've ask about Lance's ass wellbeing.
Which... Yeah. Thank you, Universe.
A few hours ago (or so), Shiro was sharing the common space, the one with all the couches, with Pidge who was doing God knows what in her computer and with Lance, who had been sitting there, just across Shiro, humming a song quietly.
“Hey,” Said Pigde stopping her work and looking at Lance with genuinely curiosity written all over her face. “What are you signing?”
“Mh?” Was Lance's response effectively stopping his humming.
“You were signing something. What was it? Sounds familiar.”
“I wasn't signing anything.”
“You were humming, Lance,” Shiro said with a small frown.
Lance looked really confused.
“No. No... I wasn't.”
A few ticks of silent and then:
“Whatever you said, buddy.” And Pidge had carried on working as if nothing important had just happened.
Lance's expression transformed into something neutral, totally void of anything alive yet again. The signing and humming stopped for good.
Shiro was worried, alright? Like, he was starting to feel down as well because his team was depressed in space with nothing else to do beside training and fighting.
No relaxing or off-duty days. And even if they have those kind of days... What would they do? More nothing?
But suddenly, one day, Hunk made clear the fact the they couldn't keep going on like that; and now they all knew it. Altean included.
Because Hunk was, by far, the better one at stress management. Hunk was the reason why Shiro still had hope that someday, somehow, all of them were going to be so accustomed to be in space that they won't be homesick anymore, Earth just a pleasant memory in the background. Hunk with his big heart and open disposition was the one carrying the team when they weren't fighting the Galra, if Shiro was honest.
And then, Hunk started crying, right in the kitchen, above his goo-food.
“This doesn't taste right. It just doesn't. I know it's dumb but the taste is so wrong. I-I'm sorry, guys. I'm just... I guess I'm just tired.”
“Bro,” said Keith with more sympathy than Shiro'd ever seen on him. Lance got up to hug Hunk. Pidge looked close to tear herself.
Shiro guessed that whoever said that the best things in life were hidden in the little things was right.
And so, Shiro stopped ignoring the awful taste of the goo in his tongue, stopped being the leader that was always trying to find a common ground between the personal life of everyone and the space war; stopped trying to find a balance in every situation and finally allowed himself to be the voice of his team's deepest desires.
Shiro let his cutlery fall to the table with a loud sound. He looked straight to Allura while getting to his feet.
“Princess. A word?”
They were his team, his priority. And he would be damned if he didn't do everything in his power to make them happy whenever he could.
--
“Wait, what?”, asked Keith while blinking.
Shiro smiled.
“You hear right, Keith.”
“One of you is going to Earth.” Allura patiently explained. Shiro knew that Allura wasn't entirely convinced about the plan and didn't particularly like the fact the Shiro didn't ask for permission rather than pointy emphasized that human psychology was particular and if she didn't give them a break, the outcome was going to make Zarkon pretty happy.
“No, really. What?” Hunk this time.
“Look that them tryin' to understand us. It can move anyone to tears,” Coran said while doing the exaggerated gesture of taking a tear out of his eye.
They all shared a distrustful and synchronized blink. Allura should be proud.
But no. In fact, Allura looked more serious and concerned than she had in a while.
“Pidge, I suggest you go to check and run a test on the duration of the invisible cloak on the Green Lion. You are going to need it for as long as you can hold it. The rest of you, go make sure your Lions are well and ready to face a fight on their own if needed to. Coran, Shiro and I are going to adjust the plan accordingly to yours reports.” she commanded.
Shiro was no surprised to see that non of them moved.
“Well?” Allura asked while raising an eyebrow. Everything in her screamed that she was not comfortable with any of the things she was saying but, nonetheless, no one should mess with her. “I gave you an order, Paladins!”
Instead of doing just that, of course that Hunk, Keith, Lance and Pidge exploded with questions, inquiries and very explicit phrases, all their voices trying to outshine the others.
Shiro sighed.
This is why we can't have nice things, he thought.
Or he believed he had thought it but a tick later Lance was staring at him with surprise and then he started laughing like Shiro's just said the best joke in the Universe.
Well, what a nice feeling. Shiro could get used to it.
“Oh, my man,” said Lance in such a joyful tone that effectible silenced everyone else. “I know you have been patiently waiting to use that one.”
Shiro, feeling oddly proud, didn't even try to fight the smile that was taking over his features.
“We're bringing a little bit of home to us, guys,” he say, feeling a lot better than a few hours ago.
--
The plan was simple enough for them to hope that everything went well.
Allura was going to open not two, not three but four wormholes, one for each Lion on the mission, all of them a shortcut to different and very distant parts of the Universe.
Keith, Lance, Pidge and Shiro himself were going to jump into their respective wormhole and then, try to find cover and lay low wherever the hell they could.
Pidge was the one going to Earth. She was supposed to arrive at the outside of the Solar System where she would take refuge in the nearest surface available. Only when she could be totally sure that the Galra wasn't around, and only then, she would activate the invisibility cloak and then fly as fast as the Green Lion could to Earth.
It was planned that she would stay on Earth no longer than 30 hours. She knew what to do.
Meanwhile, Hunk would stay on the Castle, not only monitoring the whole operation but also on protective duty. The Castle should be protected against any surprise attack from the Galra; especially when the the rest of the Lions depended on it to return home. Leaving Allura and Coran, hypothetically, to fight all by themselves was pretty idiotic, in Shiro's opinion.
With that in mind, and always trying to mislead any attempt of the Galra to sabotage their plan (if any), Keith was going to be the first one on them to go back to the Castle, at the 18 hours mark. With the Red Lion and the Yellow Lion as guardians of both the Castle and the rest of the Paladin's butts, Shiro and Coran hoped that they've got all their bases covered.
Lance was the next one, 23 hours later. Then, after 28 hours doing (hopefully) nothing on space, Shiro was going to get back. All of them on high alert, because if Pidge was intercepted in the last part of their plan, even with the invisibility cloak, all of them would fly to her and form Voltron at once. No questions asked.
Earth had been safe so far. They would be damned if they changed that just because they'd drove attention to it.
30 hours later, Pidge was suppose to be back in space, flying to the end of the system, to the planet or moon or asteroid or whatever that she first went to. Only when she was completely and absolutely sure that no Galra was praying on Earth, and only then, she was going to communicate with the Castle and come back.
And then... Victory for Team Voltron!
Oh, Universe, Shiro really wished everything went according to the plan. He wished no Galra was spying on them and tracking their movements. And he really, really wished no one attacked any of them when they were on their own, acting as decoys so Pidge didn't have all the (possible) attention.
When Allura was explaining the plan, Shiro was pleasantly surprised to find that no one of the other Paladins were offended or deeply hurt because only Pigde was going to Earth, even if it was a very short visit.
On the contrary, Hunk, Lance and Keith started to make a list with all the things they'd been needing all the time they had been out of Earth.
Apparently, certain kind of food was expected (chocolate and nachos and something called arequipe) but they all wanted seeds of a great variety of fruits and vegetables. “And soil, Pigde. You can find good soil on the same vivarium that you get the seeds. No worries, that comes in a bag. I bet Green is going to love to carry those!” Hunk pointed.
Lance and Keith discovered they had been watching the same retro TV shows before the whole Zarkon thing exploded, and they both asked Pigde to download so many TV shows and movies that Coran had been impressed about how the human kind had had time to make all those but hadn't contacted any alien life yet.
Shiro could admit that he'd put down some suggestions as well. He had always liked the Sons of Anarchy, now that he thought about it. He was down to watch it again, even with all the drama.
Hunk asked for a specific brand of toothpaste. Keith asked for a diary and a constellations map he left in his desert shack. Lance asked for a up-to-date family photo.
Shiro didn't know what to ask for beside entertainment. His family history if tragically short was a happy one. All the things that he might had missed while being a prisoner of the Galra were gone from his memory.
He'd tried not to feel nostalgic about his own younger self and wrote A kindle with all these books, followed by way too many titles on the list that Pidge was carrying to Earth.
It was a testament of how much they all missed their old lives that Pidge didn't complain once about all their requests. She was all focus, all empathy; already planning on a schedule so she could indulge them all.
“How are you going to pay for all the stuff that we are asking you for?” Shiro asked, genuinely concerned about the Holt's bank account.
“What do you mean by 'pay'?” Pigde replayed with her glasses glowing with malice.
Shiro decided then that he wouldn't question Pigde about her methods on this particular mission because, well, desperate measures and all that.
“Are you ready, paladins?” Asked Allura, wearing her full fighting gear, hair in a bun included. “Alright then. Go to your Lions and good luck.”
Shiro's wormhole was the first one to be created. When he leaped through it his hands were lightly shaking, half in worry, half in excitement. A look to the open screens with the faces of all his team, all in different places, showed him that they all were sharing the same feeling.
Lance's smile and wink was the last thing he saw before the wormhole magic cut all communication for the short duration of the trip.
--
The thing about having to spend 28 hours on space laying low on a desolated and pretty rocky moon was... Well, there was nothing to do. In fact, it was the mission to do nothing.
They were trying not to get any kind of attention so communication with the rest of the team was at minimum, only to be engaged to report every few hours and in case of an emergency. Allura was very clear with that order. “We have not way of knowing if a Galra Ship is near enough to pick in our transmission. If so, they'll know you are all alone and with no immediate back up.” She'd said. “And I'm being very serious, Lance: No unnecessary communication.”
Gosh. How was Lance coping with all the silence?
Keith, Shiro could imagining that would be practicing with his sword right in the little space that his cabin provided him. Or something like that. Shiro remembered how Keith had never been one of those kids who could stare at a wall and be entertained; Keith liked to move and to read weird but interesting stuff. That's why Shiro was willing to bet that he took all his weapons with him, either to clean them or practicing. But Keith was undoubtedly doing something.
Hunk was probably all stressed out over the coms, waiting patiently on the rest of them to report back. Most likely, Coran would keep him company all the while, trying to ease the anxious atmosphere around him.
Pigde was already approaching Earth, with nothing alarming to report. Shiro knew that because Allura had told him the last time they'd talked.
Now, Lance...
Lance was, maybe... Talking to Blue? ... For the 6 hours they had been on space so far?
Blue likes that, Black informed him in a quiet purr. She loves company.
Ah. So, yeah.
“Thanks, pal.”
At least non of them were truly alone in space. Their Lions kept them company. Shiro and Black were close enough to feel at ease with each other for hours, even without talking. They were mates. And Shiro was fairly sure Black knew all about his slight obsession with the Blue Paladin, so...
Ok, so, Shiro wasn't uncomfortable anymore. Black had never mocked him for it and Shiro was grateful. Even more grateful when Black shared little bits and pieces of information that could help him to understand Blue's personality, ergo, Lance's mind a little more.
It wasn't a invasion to Lance and Blue's privacy! It was just... You know... Random data. To... Be prepared in battle... and―and. And to help predict stuff, you know, useful stuff and―.
Fine. So Shiro had this hobby... That it wasn't a hobby at all. It was a coping mechanism that Shiro himself was pretty sure it was unhealthy. It was also a guilty pleasure.
He liked to imagine Lance doing normal stuff in pretty normal scenarios.
Bear with him this one, okay?
Yes, sometimes those scenarios were a little more R rated than other but usually Shiro's imagination would create a whole story, with lots of context, of so much normalcy that Shiro's heart ached in confused longing.
You see, to Shiro, Lance was the most normal of them all. And, believe him, he said that with his most regards.
Lance had insecurities and many flaws but all of them were expected at his age, they were acceptable and manageable. They were all human and raw and normal.
Lance was pretty easy-going, yes, but it was a constant explosion of emotion and intent, even when he was sitting still on the couch because it made his numb-depression even more obvious. Any other day, Lance would be shining in a way that made Shiro remember that Lance's family was a big one, and in a family with that much people, Shiro supposed, you learn to just be yourself; always accepted and always loved no matter what.
Lance didn't have the lay-back attitude that Hunk had, for example. Shiro didn't know much about Hunk's family but he kinda guessed that even when it wasn't as big as Lance's, there were issues and probably Hunk was given way more responsibility over his kin that it should be given to someone that young. Not for nothing Hunk default mood was to take care of them. Pretty much like someone accustomed to act like a mother would.
Even though, Shiro was sure that Hunk was the second most normal paladin. Because, well...
Lance didn't have (thank God) the awful experience of the foster-child system. Didn't have the memory of his heart been broken over the news that half of his family was dead. Didn't have a whole alien arm attached to himself, always a reminded that he wasn't completely human.
Shiro wasn't normal. He used to be, yes, a long time ago. Now he was anything but. And he really missed the stability that being normal could bring, the easy happiness, the way that your problems seems all encompassing for a while and then something happens and you're happy again.
Shiro found that normality in Lance, in his smile, in they way he was both intelligent and street smart. In how, sometimes, Shiro could hear Lance taking an awed breathe over a new galaxy that they were seeing for the first time.
Lance was normal. In a way so attractive and so great and full of dreams and kindness that Shiro wanted it.
Shiro wanted to hug Lance and then bask in the warmth of all his being.
Cue the weird coping mechanism/guilty pleasure that made him enjoy picturing Lance in very normal scenarios. All quite different, but all with Lance living a pretty ordinary life (but it was Lance; yes, ordinary but so, so beautiful) and all with a normal-Shiro included.
Oh yes, it was that fucked up.
The first time that Shiro had let his imagination run wild, it had been so innocent Shiro's consciousness hadn't suspect anything.
The first time it'd happened, Shiro pictured them all in the garrison, actually.
It had been a made-out story about how, through very possible ways, they would have all met each other even if they weren't destined to flight giant lions robots. It has been a pretty simple story: Shiro met Lance and Hunk through Keith, because that imaginary Keith had paid attention to his peers eventually, and then Shiro brought Matt and his little sister to a tutor session to help the boys because the Holt siblings were just that smart. They were all friends at the end and all was good.
Except that wasn't the end of his day-dream. Oh no.
Somehow, imaginary-Lance had gotten his individual attention when he asked for help in a particular simulation that was driving him nuts. “I'm against Keith, Shiro,” Imaginary-Lance said. “This is my last chance to get out of the cargo-pilot class”. So of course Shiro helped him. How could he not, knowing how much Lance wanted to explore space?
That's why imaginary-Shiro took imaginary-Lance to the simulator and run with him the whole scenario. Imaginary-Lance had a problem with the same maneuver that real-Lance had with his Lion, and so Shiro thought it was time to imaginary-teach Lance what to do.
Everything went to real-hell after that imaginary-decision.
Because imaginary-Shiro sat on the pilot seat, still in the simulator, and then moved imaginary-Lance to sit on his lap, taking Lance's hands between his, showing him through movement what to do and talking in smooth whispers. Then imaginary-Lance had turned his head around wearing a smile that Shiro had seen in real-Lance, a smile that normally was aimed at Allura or even Nyma that one time, and said in a very cocky-sure voice: “Oh Shiro, you sure can teach me anything, eh?”
Shiro didn't want to remember the almost asthma attack that he had gone through after imagining that. The shock had been that big. It was the worst wake up call that he had ever pulled on himself.
At the time, he had panicked because he thought he was just attracted to Lance. That wasn't exactly acceptable even when Shiro regrettable admitted that Lance fit his type pretty much all the way. He liked guys who were tall enough to look at Shiro's eyes easily, confident enough to share his thoughts, with an open disposition to adventure. The caramel skin and the blue eyes were a great, great bonus.
But still. He was the leader, for God sake.
Gosh. In retrospect, those weeks had been very awkward.
But then, after the equivalent of plenty of nights hours invested in understanding why he had imagined Lance that way, Shiro made the conclusion that he unconsciously pick Lance out of everyone else of the team because he was the one that reminded him the most of home, home in a abstract way that not even Keith or Pidge could evoke. A home were the Kerberos mission didn't change him so badly, home as a place that he could relax and just be. Home as somewhere safe and familiar. Where you were allowed to just be happy.
That and, well, of course, that Lance was pretty attractive.
After that, Shiro had tried with all his might to keep his day dreams, especially when he was about to fall asleep, to be all focused in normal things. Routines and familiar habits in different scenarios. Pretty ordinary days that somehow were never boring in his mind. Sometimes those fantasies were about their originals lives, other times it was an hypothetical universe.
All with Lance as focus. Because really, Shiro couldn't fight that many wars at the same time.
And if sometimes in those day dreams things got shifted a bit and Lance hugged him while pressing his lips on Shiro's neck, well...
Whatever. Let the record said that Shiro was tired enough in general that he didn't feel guilty about being self-indulgent in his most vulnerable hours.
Ok, sue him. He was attracted to Lance, so what? It wasn't like he was doing anything about it.
Except, you know, kinda imagining their life together in worlds that didn't exist. But that was it.
One of his favorites, was a universe where Lance was studying astronomy and Shiro was a space pilot, just like in his old life. Galra empire non existing.
Shiro liked to imaging Lance with a portable telescope, plus a quite big backpack full with books and notebooks and a few maps of the galaxy sticking out at the top of it. In that universe, Lance would be dressed as the total cliché of a nerd. Bowtie and suspenders included. And glasses. Thick, black glasses framing his blue eyes.
Eyes that would shine very bright when Shiro, both arms human, would present himself as the pilot of Lance's first space travel. Lance would look at him with an open expression of admiration (that may or may not had been taken straight out of their real-Voltron life) and would follow every word that Shiro said as he was as interesting as the stars that Lance would love to study up close.
Shiro didn't fool himself thinking that that Lance, the astronomer one, was real. He knew real-Lance and knew that he was merely exaggerating all the (few) shy and obedient parts of him. But man, it was fun to picturing him just being so purely innocent and cute; smiling pretty much all the time.
Until some weird space-sickness (but not a gross one) would get hold of Shiro and it was Lance's duty to take care of him. And that's when astronomer-Lance would start behaving a lot more like real-Lance, instinctively knowing what to do while asking question and talking his way out of an anxiety attack. Then, after Shiro would get better, Lance would proceed to behave half like astronomer-Lance, half real-Lance, and Shiro would offer a sexual reward for his help.
And that part was a lot of fun (because astronomer-Lance wouldn't have much experience but a lot of curiosity) but Shiro would be damned if he started to imagine that while he was in Black. Nop. The line had to be drawn somewhere.
He-he, Shiro felt from his lion but ignored it.
Yes. Astronomer-Lance was definitely a favorite. Shiro was fond of him almost as much as he was fond of marine biologist-Lance.
Oh, man, marine biologist-Lance. If astronomer-Lance was all about Lance being cute in a nerdy and shy way, biologist-Lance was all about passion and slyness and a blinding personality. Always caring a big, big, big smile. Again, real-Lance exaggerated.
Biologist-Lance would met chef-Shiro (because why not) in a sushi restaurant. Lance would enter the establishment, almost too tired after a whole afternoon of lobbing in favor of the sea turtles' rights, and would order the least expensive item of the menu. Shiro, sometimes just the chef on duty, sometime the owner of the restaurant, would take pity on the poor biologist and would give him an extra plate of something delicious, on the house.
Biologist-Lance would be so, so grateful, smiling just for him. After just a few questions, he would be telling chef-Shiro everything about his research and his favorite spots on the sea. All about his love for the sea, actually. All in a high-speed speech and with elaborated arms movements.
“Can you believe that the government spends waaaay too much money on space exploration, which has never been that successful or practical or useful, by the way, instead of exploring our own sea?! I mean, the one person who had been at the bottom of the Mariana's Trench is freaking James Cameron! He couldn't do much, grant you, but if it's already possible to go there, why are they wasting all our taxes money on fucking space?!” Biologist-Lance would say, just to Shiro's amusement.
Chef-Shiro would declare that he couldn't understand the government logic either. “What's the point to know what's hidden in the universe when you wouldn't even know how to deal with all the garbage that is endangering all the marine life, am I right?” Chef-Shiro would eloquently say.
Lance's face would be so happy at that. On which point, biologist-Lance would start flirting with him with everything he got: his blue eyes would somehow shine, his smile would be seductive, his hands would be sexily messing with his own hair.
“You made my day, Shiro” Marine biologist-Lance would say just before remarking that he lived close, would Shiro like to go to his place? He could make the day even better. He promised.
Ehrm... Yes. Right. That fantasy was better suspended for the day as well.
And while all those scenarios were fun and usually ended in a pretty sexy time, his ultimate most favorite fantasy was... Pretty tame. So much so, Shiro normally didn't think much about it because something felt hollow in his heart after, and space dust would fight its way inside his eyes.
He reserved that one for the especially tiresome days. For those hours that everything felt wrong or meaningless. For when he needed something he couldn't pinpoint.
Lance was a student in that one.
His imagination had never decided what was he studying but Shiro thought it was something to do with maths. Lance was also a surfer; expending all the free time he could spare riding waves on the ocean. Shiro would be a space pilot in that one as well. But a cargo-pilot one. Yes. He would took one shipment of required stuff, then he would fly it to one space-station in specific, almost in autopilot, and then repeat the process for the rest of the week.
Being a cargo-pilot was weirdly liberating. It also meant that he got to go home almost every night. Although, in this scenario, he had had a very long trip to make and hadn't been home for a week.
Lance would kill time surfing all the afternoon away. Then, he would stop and go to his jeep to put away all his beach stuff, his beautiful blue lion surfboard included.
“Hey, man, wanna hang tonight?” Someone, a faceless man, would ask him.
But Lance wouldn't even look at him that much, his joyful mood and excitement contained but clear.
“Sorry, bro. Shiro is getting home tonight!”
“Oooh. Gotta go to pick up the boyfriend?”
“You know it!”
And that's exactly what he would do. Shiro even imagined Lance driving the windowless jeep on the highway. A small smile adorning his features, sunglasses protecting his eyes. Lance would arrive to the space station, and his whole physical language would change to a relaxed and joyful one, waiting patiently for Shiro to come out.
Shiro and a couple more of cargo-pilot would be leaving the facilities to theirs awaiting cars. But Shiro knew without doubt, that no one was as happy as he was watching Lance removing his sunglasses to reveal blue eyes that were shining with mirth and a smile so full of love that Shiro's breathe got lost for a minute.
“Hey, gorgeous” Lance would greet while helping Shiro's luggage to the back of his jeep, just below his surfboard.
Later, Shiro would laugh out loud when Lance didn't even bother to try to mix all the different ingredients they like on pizza respectively, so he bought three pizzas to go: one for Shiro only, one for Lance only and one with just cheese on it to share and maybe even have as breakfast in the morning.
After that, they would go to their apartment. Shiro pictured as a not-that-big place, on the contrary, it would look really small with all the things that co-existed within its walls: Lance's posters and books and shoes, Shiro's magazines and DVDs and space maps. Nonetheless, it would feel very warm and cozy. It would smell like Lance's cologne and it would be home.
It would be the only place where Shiro would feel safe enough to remove his shirt and let his prosthetic arm on sight. A normal, robotic, not-alien, prosthetic arm.
Lance and him would take the pizzas to the sofa while telling each other the highlights of the days they were separated (Lance almost lost his surfboard after a particularly wild wave, Shiro saw that weird pyramid-like asteroid again). Then, they would turn on the TV (“Pacific Rim, Shiro!” “Again? Yancy dies every time, Lance. You need to accept that”) and just kinda cuddle but not quite on the sofa for the rest of the night.
Before going to sleep, Lance would hug him and in a very soft voice he would say: “I missed you so much. I was worried about you.”
Shiro would close his eyes and pull Lance even more close to his chest and reply: “I'm here.”
And that was it. Not weird accident along the way so the fantasy would have some kind of story, no prolonged speeches against the system, not even the slight indication that sexy times were ahead.
Nothing at all. Just that. Just a day in any ordinary life.
As usual, Shiro took a very deep breathe after that scenario. His chest felt compressed beneath the armor and half of his brain was calling him a masochistic.
Yes, well. Shiro didn't have an explanation to that one so he tried no to dwell much in it.
Black purred around him. A silent comfort.
“Shiro?” Allura's serious voice cut suddenly the silence on the cockpit submitting all of Shiro's focus to her.
“I'm here, princess.”
“Keith is already in the castle and everything is going well, it seems. Anything new to report? Has something changed over there?”
Shiro's eyes roamed through the cabin while he silently sighing. No, nothing had changed at all. Not Shiro's life, not anyone else's on the team, not their mission, not their destiny. Maybe all of that were good news but Shiro felt a little empty at the moment to be a good, optimistic Leader.
“Everything is well, princess,” se reported at last.
--
The mission was a total success.
To Shiro's complete astonishment, everything went according to plan. Everyone of them returned to the castle when they were supposed to. Pigde completed all her tasks in record time and then went back without raising any alarms. When the Green Lion entered her hangar, Allura finally let herself relax, smiling at everyone and everything.
The rest of the team was ecstatic. Coran included.
Shiro himself felt an almost uncontrollable kind of emotion that he couldn't describe. So he just smiled as wide as Pigde was smiling when she came out of her Lion declaring that there were too many stuff, that she already carried them in, so no way she was going to carry them out, you lazy asses, and just enjoyed the high spirit that was so present around them all.
Pigde wasn't kidding. There were a lot of stuff. Some of them in boxes, others in backpacks. And then there were the obviously heavy earthbags, full with soil that Hunk was going to cultivate so they could finally eat something nice in the future.
Shiro almost cried thinking about that. Lance did fake-cry, though. Dramatically hugging Pidge and everything.
“Yeah, yeah. I have your laptop and your face-creams, you big baby,” Pidge patting Lance's back a few hours later when another happy hug went her way and all their earthling things were scattered all over the common area waiting to be arranged. “Also,... I met your family. They are amazing.” Pidge tightened her arms around him and her voice went calm and almost watery. “That's from your mom. You have non idea how happy she was when I told her you are well and alive.”
That was the point that Lance actually cried, although he tried with all his might not to, separating himself from Pigde and blinking his eyes repeatedly while looking at the ceiling.
“Yours too, Hunk,” Pidge went to Hunk then and hugged him as well. “Your grandpa and your mom send you a lot of love... And some weird seeds that apparently are very important when you're flavoring up something.”
Hunk, opposed to Lance, didn't try to hide his tears or his deeply moved smile.
“Thanks, Pidge,” Hunk said while hugging her back.
Shiro knew he wouldn't have a message from his non-existing family. Sometimes weird things happened and all you had left of your real family was with you in space, piloting a robotic Red Lion. Shiro made a point of walking to Keith and put his left hand on his shoulder. Keith dedicated him a soft smile. A silent support for both of them.
It turned out, they were all reported missing. Even Keith, apparently. There were Have you seen me somewhere? posters with their pictures as cadets on the streets and everything. The description said that they were all last seen with a very suspicious and believed to be dangerous unknown-man that described the current Shiro perfectly, even without telling his name.
Pidge took upon herself to explain everything to Lance's and Hunk's families. And her own mom, of course. Their relief had been, in Pigde's words, palpable. Neither of the families wanted her to go, all the moms wanted to feed her and listen to all their adventures. Regrettably, Pigde hadn't had the time to do so; but they all understood the importance of her mission and was because of that that she could bring so many things, because every single person helped her out.
And man, Lance's family was huge.
At the end of her story, Lance was smiling again, his eyes suspiciously bright.
“Your mom has like an altar for us, Lance. I thought it was kinda weird but she said that they have been praying for all of us. She... She said that she will continuing praying until she can meet us all, that she wanted us to be fine. Plus, I'm pretty sure she is Hunk's mom best friend as well so I... I introduced them to my mom. And now... Well, now nobody is alone.”
Hunk started crying again.
“Oh, duuudee! I love you so much, Pidge!” Hunk exclaimed while hugging her. “Thank you soooo muuuch!”
“Sure, big guy. No problemo,” Pidge smiled. “Your mom said you looked so handsome in your paladin armor in the photo I gave her. I think she said something about a gigantography to put on the window...”
“Oh God.” Hunk's cheeks turned seriously red. “Yep. That's her alright.”
“Now, your mom Lance said that you need to eat more and that she couldn't believe you finally met your ultimate idol. You know? The one from the poster in your room...?” Pidge said while moving her eyebrows up and down and smirking mischievously. “The one that you wouldn't shut up when he graduated just before you entered the garrison...? You know,... Your hero...?”
Lance's face was incredible red, his eyes huge.
“WHAT?! You told her―Wait, she told you―What?!! What are you talking about? Haha, oh Pidge, you're... Hahahaha, who knew you'd have such sense of humor and vivid imagination?! Ppfffff! Pleh-ase. Ppppfffff. No idea what you're talking about, dude. Nada. No.”
Pigde continued, her voice tone practical and evil.
“Anyway, now Shiro's poster is on the altar with all of our pictures, it's what I wanted to say.”
“Nooooooo!” Lance screamed with enough feeling to make his body roll to the ground and disappear behind one of the boxes. All the while prolonging the 'oooooo’.
Shiro couldn't even fight the big smile that took over his mouth. He felt his cheeks warm so he immediately tried to hide his face from everyone but it was impossible. Shiro just couldn't keep from smiling, feeling a sharp wave of satisfaction and pleasure in his chest and spreading downwards with fury.
He already knew Lance looked up to him a bit but he never imagined (not even in any of his fictional universe) that Lance would have a poster of him in his room. Oh, the things that his printed self must had seen.
But, anyway, he might have been Lance's hero once. When he was a whole human and all. But now not only everything in him had changed but also Lance was getting to know him as Shiro. He could tell that he was no longer an idol in Lance's eyes. Yes, there was admiration but not that much awe anymore.
Shiro didn't want to analyze why that made him feel simultaneously happy and unhappy at the same time.
Right now he was smiling, though. Because Lance's embarrassment was funny in a very flattering way.
Keith's laughter was a great plus, as well.
Coran intervened at that point making Lance drop a bit his still prolonged vocal sound to a background voice.
“Ok. We are all happy with Lance's misfortune and all that but where are all these movies I keep hearing about?”
Lance finally stopped screaming and looked a Pidge curious for an answer from behind his box. Shiro saw Pidge's smile turn pleased. A tick later, she was revealing a whole backpack full with external memories, all of ridiculous capacity, that had been resting innocently at her left.
Keith sighed, relieved.
“Pidge. I love you so much.”
“And these are just the movies.” She kicked lightly another backpack at her right. “These're the TV shows and music.”
After that, Pidge, Keith, Lance and Hunk tried (all at the same damn time) to convince Coran to start his TV experience with “the best TV show ever”, in a very vocal way. Unspoken, they all agreed that the Altean should begin with a comedy.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Lance, who apparently 'shaped his all' from someone called Jake Peralta), Community (Hunk), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (surprisingly, Keith) and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Pidge, not as surprising with really worrisome) were the titles that keep coming up in loud and euphoric exclamations.
Shiro decided that was enough when Coran started to look panicked.
“Alright, alright! Everybody knock it off!” As he knew it would happen, all of them finally got quiet. But he didn't want to waste the opportunity so he concluded: “Plus, Coran should start with something somewhat familiar. So, Star Trek it is.” And because everybody was still watching him attentively, he added. “And the best comedy ever is 3rd Rock from The Sun and don't you forget it.”
They all started talking at the same time again. But Shiro smiled through the whole thing. Allura, who had been silently resting on the couch with her mice sleeping on her, throw him a tired but very pleased smile and recognized all his efforts an troubles with the whole plan so they could had this with a nod of her head.
Yes, thought Shiro. They'll be alright.
--
So now they all watched Star Trek: The Original Series in between missions, fights and training sessions, which was an excellent choice because, as it turns out, Allura and Coran found it incredible hilarious.
“They―They think that the dark matter―Hahahaha! Coran! Coran! Are you seeing this?”
“Oooh, princess! This is even funnier that that time they thought the Andorian looked like the Osshkics!”
All the paladins tried very hard to played it cool but Shiro gave both Lance and Keith two more nights of these kind of comments before they exploded on fanboy-ing rage.
Shiro was counting on it, actually. If he had to listen to another backhanded insult to Hikaru Sulu's pilot abilities he was going to scream. And he really didn't want that.
When it wasn't family-quality-time (Hunk insisted on the name), they all have things to do by themselves, at last. Shiro could easily see how happy and hopeful Allura was now that all the paladins were less inclined to depression, extreme moodiness and impossible boredom.
“You were right.” Allura told Shiro one day after a particularly well performed practice. “They are getting better faster now. And they look happier. Even you. It was a good call.”
She seemed so calm and pleased, even when she was irradiating power in that low-key way that royalty people could pull off. Shiro reasserted just how good of a great leader she was.
“Zarkon is not going to know what hit him!” Coran declared, full of energy.
Coran was right. Because the newfound happiness in familiar stuff and routines was paying off in both practice and real-time battle. In Voltron. They all could feel it.
As Allura pointed out, even Shiro himself was feeling better in a way that he didn't know he had been missing. All that time away from home, after all the things that had happened to him, he kinda thought it was going to be difficult to reconnect with the mundane stuff that he used to like. He was wrong. Re-reading a book that he knew he liked once brought him joy and relaxed him, just as usual.
To know that he hadn't changed that much was such a relieve.
On the other hand, watching movies with his team was a great bonding experience. Yes, Lance and Keith and Pidge and Hunk sometimes started a petty argument about the plot just in the middle of the movies (sometimes it was a two vs. two heated debate, instead of an all against all; and that was very interesting, even if it was Shiro who thought so) but it was fine because even Allura seemed to have a nice time out of it.
Shiro liked it. Loved the normality of it all, in fact.
(And that one time that he found Keith and Lance just silently watching a new TV show that Pidge and Hunk had recommended, both engrossed in the plot, looking comfortables even though their legs were touching and Shiro's breathing pattern got messed up because that was his brother and... And Lance. Getting along. Totally alright with each other despite their differences. And Shiro didn't play favorites, he really didn't―ok, maybe Pidge―, so he couldn't explain, not even to himself, why that felt so monstrously important.)
And then they were fighting an especially hard battle against three battleship of the Galra empire, all seven of them trying to save a small planet that had been crying for help in real time, and that was normality as well. Shiro's world was complicated like that.
Obviously, they had to form Voltron to beat them but it took a long while, lots of in-the-moment strategy and a surprise attack from Coran all the way from the Castle to defeat them. There had been anguish for a moment but then Hunk's bayard finally did the trick and they were victorious.
They all had been feeling pretty euphoric after that spectacular and well deserved victory. Nevertheless, the feeling was washing over quite quickly for they were starting to feel the toll of the battle in their own bodies. Even with the Lions separated once more, Shiro could feel just how tired everyone was.
“Ok, team.” He said, controlling his voice to a serious tone. “Let's go to the planet and see what else can we do. We might encounter more Galra once on land so be prepared.”
“Roger that!” Replied three voices.
Just three.
“Uhm. Lance?” Shiro asked, paying special attention to the Blue Lion's feed.
“I say I'll rule the world!” Suddenly sounded all around his cabin, like his cockpit had a stereo integrated and music was playing from it.
Exactly like his cockpit had a stereo integrated because music was playing from it. Inside his cabin.
But Lance's voice, half singing half yelling the song, was on the feed of his helmet as usual.
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
“Check out what Blue can do!” Lance said over the music that was still playing in the background. “She can broadcast live to all of you!”
“What are you doing?!” Keith asked. Shiro wasn't certain if his tone was exasperated or just surprised.
“Owh, Lance...”
“Again with this song?!”
“What's going on?!” Allura demanded.
Lance kept singing the song.
Hunk explained:
“This is one of Lance's favorite songs.”
“It was his ringtone for months!” Screamed Pidge.
“And he used to make us listen to it before going inside the simulator, remember Pidge?”
“I couldn't stop singing this in my head for hours after that.”
“Hey, cry-babies! How about you enjoy the infinite delight that this tune is, because it's absolutely awesome, and just embrace the fact that is perfect, just like this moment?” Lance spoke again, over the music.
“Well. It is a good song!” Hunk relented.
“They say no way, oh, I say I'll rule the world!” Keith started singing, half shouting.
Keith.
Shiro was speechless.
Lance was just as amazed.
“Holy shit. Keith knows this song!”
“Shut up, idiot. I'm enjoying the fucking moment.”
“Holy shit. Keith likes my song!”
“It's not your song!”
“It is to--”
“I say yeah yeah yeah, they say no no no!” Hunk started singing as well, effectively interrupting any kind of fight between Keith and Lance.
Even Pidge started singing after that.
“What kind of music is this?” Asked Allura again, her voice uncertain.
Well, at least Shiro wasn't the only one that didn't know the song. But he had to admit that not only it was quite catchy, it was also fitting for the occasion. And although the others obviously liked it (they were still shouting the lyrics on the feed), the song was so much like Lance.
“I don't know, Princess. But it is perfect indeed.” Shiro answered and then instantaneously felt the happiness that his words brought to Lance thanks to both the residual bond that Voltron always felt behind between them and the fact that Lance's blissful laughter made him stop his singing for a few seconds.
I materialize the feeling
To carry on, to carry on.
I know some will say I'm dreaming
But I carry on, I carry on.
At the end, even Shiro was singing/shouting with the rest of his team.
I say I'll rule the world!
They reached the planet's atmosphere and all their hearts were completely full of confidence once again.
“Good one, Lance.” Shiro took the time to say through the private video-cam they had, just a few minutes before they landed.
Lance's embarrassed and bright smile told him: “Naaah. It's nothing, my man! I mean... It was just a song.” His eyes were impossibly blue, all thanks to the lights from inside his own cabin, Shiro knew, but his cheeks were red and he looked incredible beautiful and entrancing.
Shiro dedicated him a smile and then hurried to close the communication. It wasn't the time for that. It was never going to be a time for that.
And that was ok.
Black half-growled in protest for some reason.
“Come on, girl.” He told his Lion searching for the perfect angle for their landing. “Let's save this planet.”
--
Here's the rest of the 1st Chapter.
Or A3O
Fandom: Voltron Legendary Defender
Characters: Shiro, Lance, the rest of the paladins and the Alteans.
Pairing: Shance (Shiro/Lance)
Language: English (oh God)
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Romance. Fluff with dashes of drama.
N/A: For the Shance Week (2016). Day 1: Pining/Confession.
Summary:
Shiro liked to imagine Lance doing normal stuff in pretty normal scenarios.
Bear with him this one, okay?
Yes, sometimes those scenarios were a little more R rated than other but usually Shiro's imagination would create a whole story, with lots of context, of so much normalcy that Shiro's heart ached in confused longing.
You see, to Shiro, Lance was the most normal of them all. And, believe him, he said that with his most regards.
--
OR: Shiro tries hard to resist, but Lance is way too much.
Shiro was sure that something was very, very wrong with the team. And the first one to tipped him off was, surprisingly, Pidge.
Now, Shiro was aware that Pidge's drive was even more personal than the rest. Her focus and passion for finding her family was admirable if nothing else, they all knew she was doing her best to find her father and her brother. Hell, Shiro himself wanted to find them badly enough to understand that hard work was a must.
But that didn't mean that she shouldn't rest once in a while. It looked, nonetheless, like no one had told that to Pidge ever, and so Shiro couldn't do anything to make her stop, even if it was for a few hours. No matter who talked to her, she was always busy: plans to make, things to program, tons of data to pick apart. And she wasn't gonna stop.
Now, Shiro knew enough about life in space in general to recognize a distraction, a very convenient skill that was also a very convenient crouch, to avoid facing reality. Her family have been prisoners of the Galra way too long; anything could have happen in that period of time. Everything was uncertain and could fall apart at any given minute.
Plus, Pidge left her mother all alone on Earth and by now they all knew that was a detail that it was better left ignored.
Shiro had tried to at least give her a schedule that she could follow in which hours of full sleep were contemplated but no amount of authority or even friendship could put her on ease. So Shiro let her be, although he reminded her to rest a bit every few days.
Kieth, on his own way, was very much like Pidge.
He kept and kept practicing and fighting drones and picking fights with Lance. Shiro would be ok with it all if it wasn't because Keith was obviously bored. So much so that half of the time his heart wasn't in the confrontation at all; not even against Lance. Keith wasn't training just to get better, he was helping the time to pass faster.
Lance, on the other hand, was starting to get numb. And that was very alarming, if you asked Shiro.
Just as Hunk was the emotional strength of Voltron, Lance was the humor and the will of it; the force that balanced all the others, also. And although he could form Voltron with the team with no problem, Shiro had been wondering when the fact that Lance was still and looking at nothing more and more lately was going to become a problem.
Because Lance without energy? Lance with no running commentary about what Coran got him to do? Lance being quiet?
No. That was very, very wrong. Shiro was positive that some days ago Lance didn't laugh once. Talk about getting worried.
Ok, so, maybe Shiro's concerns were a bit biased. So what? That didn't mean they were less truth.
And that was the very scary part.
--
The tension was growing.
Or, in other words, the depressing feelings were increasing.
The day before, Shiro saw Keith helping Coran to fix something in one of the many rooms of the castle. Willingly. Keith had also reported to Shiro that there were 42 steps in the biggest ladder of the ballroom, just because. He'd also said that Lance's ass counted the last 10 but Keith went away before Shiro could've ask about Lance's ass wellbeing.
Which... Yeah. Thank you, Universe.
A few hours ago (or so), Shiro was sharing the common space, the one with all the couches, with Pidge who was doing God knows what in her computer and with Lance, who had been sitting there, just across Shiro, humming a song quietly.
“Hey,” Said Pigde stopping her work and looking at Lance with genuinely curiosity written all over her face. “What are you signing?”
“Mh?” Was Lance's response effectively stopping his humming.
“You were signing something. What was it? Sounds familiar.”
“I wasn't signing anything.”
“You were humming, Lance,” Shiro said with a small frown.
Lance looked really confused.
“No. No... I wasn't.”
A few ticks of silent and then:
“Whatever you said, buddy.” And Pidge had carried on working as if nothing important had just happened.
Lance's expression transformed into something neutral, totally void of anything alive yet again. The signing and humming stopped for good.
Shiro was worried, alright? Like, he was starting to feel down as well because his team was depressed in space with nothing else to do beside training and fighting.
No relaxing or off-duty days. And even if they have those kind of days... What would they do? More nothing?
But suddenly, one day, Hunk made clear the fact the they couldn't keep going on like that; and now they all knew it. Altean included.
Because Hunk was, by far, the better one at stress management. Hunk was the reason why Shiro still had hope that someday, somehow, all of them were going to be so accustomed to be in space that they won't be homesick anymore, Earth just a pleasant memory in the background. Hunk with his big heart and open disposition was the one carrying the team when they weren't fighting the Galra, if Shiro was honest.
And then, Hunk started crying, right in the kitchen, above his goo-food.
“This doesn't taste right. It just doesn't. I know it's dumb but the taste is so wrong. I-I'm sorry, guys. I'm just... I guess I'm just tired.”
“Bro,” said Keith with more sympathy than Shiro'd ever seen on him. Lance got up to hug Hunk. Pidge looked close to tear herself.
Shiro guessed that whoever said that the best things in life were hidden in the little things was right.
And so, Shiro stopped ignoring the awful taste of the goo in his tongue, stopped being the leader that was always trying to find a common ground between the personal life of everyone and the space war; stopped trying to find a balance in every situation and finally allowed himself to be the voice of his team's deepest desires.
Shiro let his cutlery fall to the table with a loud sound. He looked straight to Allura while getting to his feet.
“Princess. A word?”
They were his team, his priority. And he would be damned if he didn't do everything in his power to make them happy whenever he could.
--
“Wait, what?”, asked Keith while blinking.
Shiro smiled.
“You hear right, Keith.”
“One of you is going to Earth.” Allura patiently explained. Shiro knew that Allura wasn't entirely convinced about the plan and didn't particularly like the fact the Shiro didn't ask for permission rather than pointy emphasized that human psychology was particular and if she didn't give them a break, the outcome was going to make Zarkon pretty happy.
“No, really. What?” Hunk this time.
“Look that them tryin' to understand us. It can move anyone to tears,” Coran said while doing the exaggerated gesture of taking a tear out of his eye.
They all shared a distrustful and synchronized blink. Allura should be proud.
But no. In fact, Allura looked more serious and concerned than she had in a while.
“Pidge, I suggest you go to check and run a test on the duration of the invisible cloak on the Green Lion. You are going to need it for as long as you can hold it. The rest of you, go make sure your Lions are well and ready to face a fight on their own if needed to. Coran, Shiro and I are going to adjust the plan accordingly to yours reports.” she commanded.
Shiro was no surprised to see that non of them moved.
“Well?” Allura asked while raising an eyebrow. Everything in her screamed that she was not comfortable with any of the things she was saying but, nonetheless, no one should mess with her. “I gave you an order, Paladins!”
Instead of doing just that, of course that Hunk, Keith, Lance and Pidge exploded with questions, inquiries and very explicit phrases, all their voices trying to outshine the others.
Shiro sighed.
This is why we can't have nice things, he thought.
Or he believed he had thought it but a tick later Lance was staring at him with surprise and then he started laughing like Shiro's just said the best joke in the Universe.
Well, what a nice feeling. Shiro could get used to it.
“Oh, my man,” said Lance in such a joyful tone that effectible silenced everyone else. “I know you have been patiently waiting to use that one.”
Shiro, feeling oddly proud, didn't even try to fight the smile that was taking over his features.
“We're bringing a little bit of home to us, guys,” he say, feeling a lot better than a few hours ago.
--
The plan was simple enough for them to hope that everything went well.
Allura was going to open not two, not three but four wormholes, one for each Lion on the mission, all of them a shortcut to different and very distant parts of the Universe.
Keith, Lance, Pidge and Shiro himself were going to jump into their respective wormhole and then, try to find cover and lay low wherever the hell they could.
Pidge was the one going to Earth. She was supposed to arrive at the outside of the Solar System where she would take refuge in the nearest surface available. Only when she could be totally sure that the Galra wasn't around, and only then, she would activate the invisibility cloak and then fly as fast as the Green Lion could to Earth.
It was planned that she would stay on Earth no longer than 30 hours. She knew what to do.
Meanwhile, Hunk would stay on the Castle, not only monitoring the whole operation but also on protective duty. The Castle should be protected against any surprise attack from the Galra; especially when the the rest of the Lions depended on it to return home. Leaving Allura and Coran, hypothetically, to fight all by themselves was pretty idiotic, in Shiro's opinion.
With that in mind, and always trying to mislead any attempt of the Galra to sabotage their plan (if any), Keith was going to be the first one on them to go back to the Castle, at the 18 hours mark. With the Red Lion and the Yellow Lion as guardians of both the Castle and the rest of the Paladin's butts, Shiro and Coran hoped that they've got all their bases covered.
Lance was the next one, 23 hours later. Then, after 28 hours doing (hopefully) nothing on space, Shiro was going to get back. All of them on high alert, because if Pidge was intercepted in the last part of their plan, even with the invisibility cloak, all of them would fly to her and form Voltron at once. No questions asked.
Earth had been safe so far. They would be damned if they changed that just because they'd drove attention to it.
30 hours later, Pidge was suppose to be back in space, flying to the end of the system, to the planet or moon or asteroid or whatever that she first went to. Only when she was completely and absolutely sure that no Galra was praying on Earth, and only then, she was going to communicate with the Castle and come back.
And then... Victory for Team Voltron!
Oh, Universe, Shiro really wished everything went according to the plan. He wished no Galra was spying on them and tracking their movements. And he really, really wished no one attacked any of them when they were on their own, acting as decoys so Pidge didn't have all the (possible) attention.
When Allura was explaining the plan, Shiro was pleasantly surprised to find that no one of the other Paladins were offended or deeply hurt because only Pigde was going to Earth, even if it was a very short visit.
On the contrary, Hunk, Lance and Keith started to make a list with all the things they'd been needing all the time they had been out of Earth.
Apparently, certain kind of food was expected (chocolate and nachos and something called arequipe) but they all wanted seeds of a great variety of fruits and vegetables. “And soil, Pigde. You can find good soil on the same vivarium that you get the seeds. No worries, that comes in a bag. I bet Green is going to love to carry those!” Hunk pointed.
Lance and Keith discovered they had been watching the same retro TV shows before the whole Zarkon thing exploded, and they both asked Pigde to download so many TV shows and movies that Coran had been impressed about how the human kind had had time to make all those but hadn't contacted any alien life yet.
Shiro could admit that he'd put down some suggestions as well. He had always liked the Sons of Anarchy, now that he thought about it. He was down to watch it again, even with all the drama.
Hunk asked for a specific brand of toothpaste. Keith asked for a diary and a constellations map he left in his desert shack. Lance asked for a up-to-date family photo.
Shiro didn't know what to ask for beside entertainment. His family history if tragically short was a happy one. All the things that he might had missed while being a prisoner of the Galra were gone from his memory.
He'd tried not to feel nostalgic about his own younger self and wrote A kindle with all these books, followed by way too many titles on the list that Pidge was carrying to Earth.
It was a testament of how much they all missed their old lives that Pidge didn't complain once about all their requests. She was all focus, all empathy; already planning on a schedule so she could indulge them all.
“How are you going to pay for all the stuff that we are asking you for?” Shiro asked, genuinely concerned about the Holt's bank account.
“What do you mean by 'pay'?” Pigde replayed with her glasses glowing with malice.
Shiro decided then that he wouldn't question Pigde about her methods on this particular mission because, well, desperate measures and all that.
“Are you ready, paladins?” Asked Allura, wearing her full fighting gear, hair in a bun included. “Alright then. Go to your Lions and good luck.”
Shiro's wormhole was the first one to be created. When he leaped through it his hands were lightly shaking, half in worry, half in excitement. A look to the open screens with the faces of all his team, all in different places, showed him that they all were sharing the same feeling.
Lance's smile and wink was the last thing he saw before the wormhole magic cut all communication for the short duration of the trip.
--
The thing about having to spend 28 hours on space laying low on a desolated and pretty rocky moon was... Well, there was nothing to do. In fact, it was the mission to do nothing.
They were trying not to get any kind of attention so communication with the rest of the team was at minimum, only to be engaged to report every few hours and in case of an emergency. Allura was very clear with that order. “We have not way of knowing if a Galra Ship is near enough to pick in our transmission. If so, they'll know you are all alone and with no immediate back up.” She'd said. “And I'm being very serious, Lance: No unnecessary communication.”
Gosh. How was Lance coping with all the silence?
Keith, Shiro could imagining that would be practicing with his sword right in the little space that his cabin provided him. Or something like that. Shiro remembered how Keith had never been one of those kids who could stare at a wall and be entertained; Keith liked to move and to read weird but interesting stuff. That's why Shiro was willing to bet that he took all his weapons with him, either to clean them or practicing. But Keith was undoubtedly doing something.
Hunk was probably all stressed out over the coms, waiting patiently on the rest of them to report back. Most likely, Coran would keep him company all the while, trying to ease the anxious atmosphere around him.
Pigde was already approaching Earth, with nothing alarming to report. Shiro knew that because Allura had told him the last time they'd talked.
Now, Lance...
Lance was, maybe... Talking to Blue? ... For the 6 hours they had been on space so far?
Blue likes that, Black informed him in a quiet purr. She loves company.
Ah. So, yeah.
“Thanks, pal.”
At least non of them were truly alone in space. Their Lions kept them company. Shiro and Black were close enough to feel at ease with each other for hours, even without talking. They were mates. And Shiro was fairly sure Black knew all about his slight obsession with the Blue Paladin, so...
Ok, so, Shiro wasn't uncomfortable anymore. Black had never mocked him for it and Shiro was grateful. Even more grateful when Black shared little bits and pieces of information that could help him to understand Blue's personality, ergo, Lance's mind a little more.
It wasn't a invasion to Lance and Blue's privacy! It was just... You know... Random data. To... Be prepared in battle... and―and. And to help predict stuff, you know, useful stuff and―.
Fine. So Shiro had this hobby... That it wasn't a hobby at all. It was a coping mechanism that Shiro himself was pretty sure it was unhealthy. It was also a guilty pleasure.
He liked to imagine Lance doing normal stuff in pretty normal scenarios.
Bear with him this one, okay?
Yes, sometimes those scenarios were a little more R rated than other but usually Shiro's imagination would create a whole story, with lots of context, of so much normalcy that Shiro's heart ached in confused longing.
You see, to Shiro, Lance was the most normal of them all. And, believe him, he said that with his most regards.
Lance had insecurities and many flaws but all of them were expected at his age, they were acceptable and manageable. They were all human and raw and normal.
Lance was pretty easy-going, yes, but it was a constant explosion of emotion and intent, even when he was sitting still on the couch because it made his numb-depression even more obvious. Any other day, Lance would be shining in a way that made Shiro remember that Lance's family was a big one, and in a family with that much people, Shiro supposed, you learn to just be yourself; always accepted and always loved no matter what.
Lance didn't have the lay-back attitude that Hunk had, for example. Shiro didn't know much about Hunk's family but he kinda guessed that even when it wasn't as big as Lance's, there were issues and probably Hunk was given way more responsibility over his kin that it should be given to someone that young. Not for nothing Hunk default mood was to take care of them. Pretty much like someone accustomed to act like a mother would.
Even though, Shiro was sure that Hunk was the second most normal paladin. Because, well...
Lance didn't have (thank God) the awful experience of the foster-child system. Didn't have the memory of his heart been broken over the news that half of his family was dead. Didn't have a whole alien arm attached to himself, always a reminded that he wasn't completely human.
Shiro wasn't normal. He used to be, yes, a long time ago. Now he was anything but. And he really missed the stability that being normal could bring, the easy happiness, the way that your problems seems all encompassing for a while and then something happens and you're happy again.
Shiro found that normality in Lance, in his smile, in they way he was both intelligent and street smart. In how, sometimes, Shiro could hear Lance taking an awed breathe over a new galaxy that they were seeing for the first time.
Lance was normal. In a way so attractive and so great and full of dreams and kindness that Shiro wanted it.
Shiro wanted to hug Lance and then bask in the warmth of all his being.
Cue the weird coping mechanism/guilty pleasure that made him enjoy picturing Lance in very normal scenarios. All quite different, but all with Lance living a pretty ordinary life (but it was Lance; yes, ordinary but so, so beautiful) and all with a normal-Shiro included.
Oh yes, it was that fucked up.
The first time that Shiro had let his imagination run wild, it had been so innocent Shiro's consciousness hadn't suspect anything.
The first time it'd happened, Shiro pictured them all in the garrison, actually.
It had been a made-out story about how, through very possible ways, they would have all met each other even if they weren't destined to flight giant lions robots. It has been a pretty simple story: Shiro met Lance and Hunk through Keith, because that imaginary Keith had paid attention to his peers eventually, and then Shiro brought Matt and his little sister to a tutor session to help the boys because the Holt siblings were just that smart. They were all friends at the end and all was good.
Except that wasn't the end of his day-dream. Oh no.
Somehow, imaginary-Lance had gotten his individual attention when he asked for help in a particular simulation that was driving him nuts. “I'm against Keith, Shiro,” Imaginary-Lance said. “This is my last chance to get out of the cargo-pilot class”. So of course Shiro helped him. How could he not, knowing how much Lance wanted to explore space?
That's why imaginary-Shiro took imaginary-Lance to the simulator and run with him the whole scenario. Imaginary-Lance had a problem with the same maneuver that real-Lance had with his Lion, and so Shiro thought it was time to imaginary-teach Lance what to do.
Everything went to real-hell after that imaginary-decision.
Because imaginary-Shiro sat on the pilot seat, still in the simulator, and then moved imaginary-Lance to sit on his lap, taking Lance's hands between his, showing him through movement what to do and talking in smooth whispers. Then imaginary-Lance had turned his head around wearing a smile that Shiro had seen in real-Lance, a smile that normally was aimed at Allura or even Nyma that one time, and said in a very cocky-sure voice: “Oh Shiro, you sure can teach me anything, eh?”
Shiro didn't want to remember the almost asthma attack that he had gone through after imagining that. The shock had been that big. It was the worst wake up call that he had ever pulled on himself.
At the time, he had panicked because he thought he was just attracted to Lance. That wasn't exactly acceptable even when Shiro regrettable admitted that Lance fit his type pretty much all the way. He liked guys who were tall enough to look at Shiro's eyes easily, confident enough to share his thoughts, with an open disposition to adventure. The caramel skin and the blue eyes were a great, great bonus.
But still. He was the leader, for God sake.
Gosh. In retrospect, those weeks had been very awkward.
But then, after the equivalent of plenty of nights hours invested in understanding why he had imagined Lance that way, Shiro made the conclusion that he unconsciously pick Lance out of everyone else of the team because he was the one that reminded him the most of home, home in a abstract way that not even Keith or Pidge could evoke. A home were the Kerberos mission didn't change him so badly, home as a place that he could relax and just be. Home as somewhere safe and familiar. Where you were allowed to just be happy.
That and, well, of course, that Lance was pretty attractive.
After that, Shiro had tried with all his might to keep his day dreams, especially when he was about to fall asleep, to be all focused in normal things. Routines and familiar habits in different scenarios. Pretty ordinary days that somehow were never boring in his mind. Sometimes those fantasies were about their originals lives, other times it was an hypothetical universe.
All with Lance as focus. Because really, Shiro couldn't fight that many wars at the same time.
And if sometimes in those day dreams things got shifted a bit and Lance hugged him while pressing his lips on Shiro's neck, well...
Whatever. Let the record said that Shiro was tired enough in general that he didn't feel guilty about being self-indulgent in his most vulnerable hours.
Ok, sue him. He was attracted to Lance, so what? It wasn't like he was doing anything about it.
Except, you know, kinda imagining their life together in worlds that didn't exist. But that was it.
One of his favorites, was a universe where Lance was studying astronomy and Shiro was a space pilot, just like in his old life. Galra empire non existing.
Shiro liked to imaging Lance with a portable telescope, plus a quite big backpack full with books and notebooks and a few maps of the galaxy sticking out at the top of it. In that universe, Lance would be dressed as the total cliché of a nerd. Bowtie and suspenders included. And glasses. Thick, black glasses framing his blue eyes.
Eyes that would shine very bright when Shiro, both arms human, would present himself as the pilot of Lance's first space travel. Lance would look at him with an open expression of admiration (that may or may not had been taken straight out of their real-Voltron life) and would follow every word that Shiro said as he was as interesting as the stars that Lance would love to study up close.
Shiro didn't fool himself thinking that that Lance, the astronomer one, was real. He knew real-Lance and knew that he was merely exaggerating all the (few) shy and obedient parts of him. But man, it was fun to picturing him just being so purely innocent and cute; smiling pretty much all the time.
Until some weird space-sickness (but not a gross one) would get hold of Shiro and it was Lance's duty to take care of him. And that's when astronomer-Lance would start behaving a lot more like real-Lance, instinctively knowing what to do while asking question and talking his way out of an anxiety attack. Then, after Shiro would get better, Lance would proceed to behave half like astronomer-Lance, half real-Lance, and Shiro would offer a sexual reward for his help.
And that part was a lot of fun (because astronomer-Lance wouldn't have much experience but a lot of curiosity) but Shiro would be damned if he started to imagine that while he was in Black. Nop. The line had to be drawn somewhere.
He-he, Shiro felt from his lion but ignored it.
Yes. Astronomer-Lance was definitely a favorite. Shiro was fond of him almost as much as he was fond of marine biologist-Lance.
Oh, man, marine biologist-Lance. If astronomer-Lance was all about Lance being cute in a nerdy and shy way, biologist-Lance was all about passion and slyness and a blinding personality. Always caring a big, big, big smile. Again, real-Lance exaggerated.
Biologist-Lance would met chef-Shiro (because why not) in a sushi restaurant. Lance would enter the establishment, almost too tired after a whole afternoon of lobbing in favor of the sea turtles' rights, and would order the least expensive item of the menu. Shiro, sometimes just the chef on duty, sometime the owner of the restaurant, would take pity on the poor biologist and would give him an extra plate of something delicious, on the house.
Biologist-Lance would be so, so grateful, smiling just for him. After just a few questions, he would be telling chef-Shiro everything about his research and his favorite spots on the sea. All about his love for the sea, actually. All in a high-speed speech and with elaborated arms movements.
“Can you believe that the government spends waaaay too much money on space exploration, which has never been that successful or practical or useful, by the way, instead of exploring our own sea?! I mean, the one person who had been at the bottom of the Mariana's Trench is freaking James Cameron! He couldn't do much, grant you, but if it's already possible to go there, why are they wasting all our taxes money on fucking space?!” Biologist-Lance would say, just to Shiro's amusement.
Chef-Shiro would declare that he couldn't understand the government logic either. “What's the point to know what's hidden in the universe when you wouldn't even know how to deal with all the garbage that is endangering all the marine life, am I right?” Chef-Shiro would eloquently say.
Lance's face would be so happy at that. On which point, biologist-Lance would start flirting with him with everything he got: his blue eyes would somehow shine, his smile would be seductive, his hands would be sexily messing with his own hair.
“You made my day, Shiro” Marine biologist-Lance would say just before remarking that he lived close, would Shiro like to go to his place? He could make the day even better. He promised.
Ehrm... Yes. Right. That fantasy was better suspended for the day as well.
And while all those scenarios were fun and usually ended in a pretty sexy time, his ultimate most favorite fantasy was... Pretty tame. So much so, Shiro normally didn't think much about it because something felt hollow in his heart after, and space dust would fight its way inside his eyes.
He reserved that one for the especially tiresome days. For those hours that everything felt wrong or meaningless. For when he needed something he couldn't pinpoint.
Lance was a student in that one.
His imagination had never decided what was he studying but Shiro thought it was something to do with maths. Lance was also a surfer; expending all the free time he could spare riding waves on the ocean. Shiro would be a space pilot in that one as well. But a cargo-pilot one. Yes. He would took one shipment of required stuff, then he would fly it to one space-station in specific, almost in autopilot, and then repeat the process for the rest of the week.
Being a cargo-pilot was weirdly liberating. It also meant that he got to go home almost every night. Although, in this scenario, he had had a very long trip to make and hadn't been home for a week.
Lance would kill time surfing all the afternoon away. Then, he would stop and go to his jeep to put away all his beach stuff, his beautiful blue lion surfboard included.
“Hey, man, wanna hang tonight?” Someone, a faceless man, would ask him.
But Lance wouldn't even look at him that much, his joyful mood and excitement contained but clear.
“Sorry, bro. Shiro is getting home tonight!”
“Oooh. Gotta go to pick up the boyfriend?”
“You know it!”
And that's exactly what he would do. Shiro even imagined Lance driving the windowless jeep on the highway. A small smile adorning his features, sunglasses protecting his eyes. Lance would arrive to the space station, and his whole physical language would change to a relaxed and joyful one, waiting patiently for Shiro to come out.
Shiro and a couple more of cargo-pilot would be leaving the facilities to theirs awaiting cars. But Shiro knew without doubt, that no one was as happy as he was watching Lance removing his sunglasses to reveal blue eyes that were shining with mirth and a smile so full of love that Shiro's breathe got lost for a minute.
“Hey, gorgeous” Lance would greet while helping Shiro's luggage to the back of his jeep, just below his surfboard.
Later, Shiro would laugh out loud when Lance didn't even bother to try to mix all the different ingredients they like on pizza respectively, so he bought three pizzas to go: one for Shiro only, one for Lance only and one with just cheese on it to share and maybe even have as breakfast in the morning.
After that, they would go to their apartment. Shiro pictured as a not-that-big place, on the contrary, it would look really small with all the things that co-existed within its walls: Lance's posters and books and shoes, Shiro's magazines and DVDs and space maps. Nonetheless, it would feel very warm and cozy. It would smell like Lance's cologne and it would be home.
It would be the only place where Shiro would feel safe enough to remove his shirt and let his prosthetic arm on sight. A normal, robotic, not-alien, prosthetic arm.
Lance and him would take the pizzas to the sofa while telling each other the highlights of the days they were separated (Lance almost lost his surfboard after a particularly wild wave, Shiro saw that weird pyramid-like asteroid again). Then, they would turn on the TV (“Pacific Rim, Shiro!” “Again? Yancy dies every time, Lance. You need to accept that”) and just kinda cuddle but not quite on the sofa for the rest of the night.
Before going to sleep, Lance would hug him and in a very soft voice he would say: “I missed you so much. I was worried about you.”
Shiro would close his eyes and pull Lance even more close to his chest and reply: “I'm here.”
And that was it. Not weird accident along the way so the fantasy would have some kind of story, no prolonged speeches against the system, not even the slight indication that sexy times were ahead.
Nothing at all. Just that. Just a day in any ordinary life.
As usual, Shiro took a very deep breathe after that scenario. His chest felt compressed beneath the armor and half of his brain was calling him a masochistic.
Yes, well. Shiro didn't have an explanation to that one so he tried no to dwell much in it.
Black purred around him. A silent comfort.
“Shiro?” Allura's serious voice cut suddenly the silence on the cockpit submitting all of Shiro's focus to her.
“I'm here, princess.”
“Keith is already in the castle and everything is going well, it seems. Anything new to report? Has something changed over there?”
Shiro's eyes roamed through the cabin while he silently sighing. No, nothing had changed at all. Not Shiro's life, not anyone else's on the team, not their mission, not their destiny. Maybe all of that were good news but Shiro felt a little empty at the moment to be a good, optimistic Leader.
“Everything is well, princess,” se reported at last.
--
The mission was a total success.
To Shiro's complete astonishment, everything went according to plan. Everyone of them returned to the castle when they were supposed to. Pigde completed all her tasks in record time and then went back without raising any alarms. When the Green Lion entered her hangar, Allura finally let herself relax, smiling at everyone and everything.
The rest of the team was ecstatic. Coran included.
Shiro himself felt an almost uncontrollable kind of emotion that he couldn't describe. So he just smiled as wide as Pigde was smiling when she came out of her Lion declaring that there were too many stuff, that she already carried them in, so no way she was going to carry them out, you lazy asses, and just enjoyed the high spirit that was so present around them all.
Pigde wasn't kidding. There were a lot of stuff. Some of them in boxes, others in backpacks. And then there were the obviously heavy earthbags, full with soil that Hunk was going to cultivate so they could finally eat something nice in the future.
Shiro almost cried thinking about that. Lance did fake-cry, though. Dramatically hugging Pidge and everything.
“Yeah, yeah. I have your laptop and your face-creams, you big baby,” Pidge patting Lance's back a few hours later when another happy hug went her way and all their earthling things were scattered all over the common area waiting to be arranged. “Also,... I met your family. They are amazing.” Pidge tightened her arms around him and her voice went calm and almost watery. “That's from your mom. You have non idea how happy she was when I told her you are well and alive.”
That was the point that Lance actually cried, although he tried with all his might not to, separating himself from Pigde and blinking his eyes repeatedly while looking at the ceiling.
“Yours too, Hunk,” Pidge went to Hunk then and hugged him as well. “Your grandpa and your mom send you a lot of love... And some weird seeds that apparently are very important when you're flavoring up something.”
Hunk, opposed to Lance, didn't try to hide his tears or his deeply moved smile.
“Thanks, Pidge,” Hunk said while hugging her back.
Shiro knew he wouldn't have a message from his non-existing family. Sometimes weird things happened and all you had left of your real family was with you in space, piloting a robotic Red Lion. Shiro made a point of walking to Keith and put his left hand on his shoulder. Keith dedicated him a soft smile. A silent support for both of them.
It turned out, they were all reported missing. Even Keith, apparently. There were Have you seen me somewhere? posters with their pictures as cadets on the streets and everything. The description said that they were all last seen with a very suspicious and believed to be dangerous unknown-man that described the current Shiro perfectly, even without telling his name.
Pidge took upon herself to explain everything to Lance's and Hunk's families. And her own mom, of course. Their relief had been, in Pigde's words, palpable. Neither of the families wanted her to go, all the moms wanted to feed her and listen to all their adventures. Regrettably, Pigde hadn't had the time to do so; but they all understood the importance of her mission and was because of that that she could bring so many things, because every single person helped her out.
And man, Lance's family was huge.
At the end of her story, Lance was smiling again, his eyes suspiciously bright.
“Your mom has like an altar for us, Lance. I thought it was kinda weird but she said that they have been praying for all of us. She... She said that she will continuing praying until she can meet us all, that she wanted us to be fine. Plus, I'm pretty sure she is Hunk's mom best friend as well so I... I introduced them to my mom. And now... Well, now nobody is alone.”
Hunk started crying again.
“Oh, duuudee! I love you so much, Pidge!” Hunk exclaimed while hugging her. “Thank you soooo muuuch!”
“Sure, big guy. No problemo,” Pidge smiled. “Your mom said you looked so handsome in your paladin armor in the photo I gave her. I think she said something about a gigantography to put on the window...”
“Oh God.” Hunk's cheeks turned seriously red. “Yep. That's her alright.”
“Now, your mom Lance said that you need to eat more and that she couldn't believe you finally met your ultimate idol. You know? The one from the poster in your room...?” Pidge said while moving her eyebrows up and down and smirking mischievously. “The one that you wouldn't shut up when he graduated just before you entered the garrison...? You know,... Your hero...?”
Lance's face was incredible red, his eyes huge.
“WHAT?! You told her―Wait, she told you―What?!! What are you talking about? Haha, oh Pidge, you're... Hahahaha, who knew you'd have such sense of humor and vivid imagination?! Ppfffff! Pleh-ase. Ppppfffff. No idea what you're talking about, dude. Nada. No.”
Pigde continued, her voice tone practical and evil.
“Anyway, now Shiro's poster is on the altar with all of our pictures, it's what I wanted to say.”
“Nooooooo!” Lance screamed with enough feeling to make his body roll to the ground and disappear behind one of the boxes. All the while prolonging the 'oooooo’.
Shiro couldn't even fight the big smile that took over his mouth. He felt his cheeks warm so he immediately tried to hide his face from everyone but it was impossible. Shiro just couldn't keep from smiling, feeling a sharp wave of satisfaction and pleasure in his chest and spreading downwards with fury.
He already knew Lance looked up to him a bit but he never imagined (not even in any of his fictional universe) that Lance would have a poster of him in his room. Oh, the things that his printed self must had seen.
But, anyway, he might have been Lance's hero once. When he was a whole human and all. But now not only everything in him had changed but also Lance was getting to know him as Shiro. He could tell that he was no longer an idol in Lance's eyes. Yes, there was admiration but not that much awe anymore.
Shiro didn't want to analyze why that made him feel simultaneously happy and unhappy at the same time.
Right now he was smiling, though. Because Lance's embarrassment was funny in a very flattering way.
Keith's laughter was a great plus, as well.
Coran intervened at that point making Lance drop a bit his still prolonged vocal sound to a background voice.
“Ok. We are all happy with Lance's misfortune and all that but where are all these movies I keep hearing about?”
Lance finally stopped screaming and looked a Pidge curious for an answer from behind his box. Shiro saw Pidge's smile turn pleased. A tick later, she was revealing a whole backpack full with external memories, all of ridiculous capacity, that had been resting innocently at her left.
Keith sighed, relieved.
“Pidge. I love you so much.”
“And these are just the movies.” She kicked lightly another backpack at her right. “These're the TV shows and music.”
After that, Pidge, Keith, Lance and Hunk tried (all at the same damn time) to convince Coran to start his TV experience with “the best TV show ever”, in a very vocal way. Unspoken, they all agreed that the Altean should begin with a comedy.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Lance, who apparently 'shaped his all' from someone called Jake Peralta), Community (Hunk), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (surprisingly, Keith) and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Pidge, not as surprising with really worrisome) were the titles that keep coming up in loud and euphoric exclamations.
Shiro decided that was enough when Coran started to look panicked.
“Alright, alright! Everybody knock it off!” As he knew it would happen, all of them finally got quiet. But he didn't want to waste the opportunity so he concluded: “Plus, Coran should start with something somewhat familiar. So, Star Trek it is.” And because everybody was still watching him attentively, he added. “And the best comedy ever is 3rd Rock from The Sun and don't you forget it.”
They all started talking at the same time again. But Shiro smiled through the whole thing. Allura, who had been silently resting on the couch with her mice sleeping on her, throw him a tired but very pleased smile and recognized all his efforts an troubles with the whole plan so they could had this with a nod of her head.
Yes, thought Shiro. They'll be alright.
--
So now they all watched Star Trek: The Original Series in between missions, fights and training sessions, which was an excellent choice because, as it turns out, Allura and Coran found it incredible hilarious.
“They―They think that the dark matter―Hahahaha! Coran! Coran! Are you seeing this?”
“Oooh, princess! This is even funnier that that time they thought the Andorian looked like the Osshkics!”
All the paladins tried very hard to played it cool but Shiro gave both Lance and Keith two more nights of these kind of comments before they exploded on fanboy-ing rage.
Shiro was counting on it, actually. If he had to listen to another backhanded insult to Hikaru Sulu's pilot abilities he was going to scream. And he really didn't want that.
When it wasn't family-quality-time (Hunk insisted on the name), they all have things to do by themselves, at last. Shiro could easily see how happy and hopeful Allura was now that all the paladins were less inclined to depression, extreme moodiness and impossible boredom.
“You were right.” Allura told Shiro one day after a particularly well performed practice. “They are getting better faster now. And they look happier. Even you. It was a good call.”
She seemed so calm and pleased, even when she was irradiating power in that low-key way that royalty people could pull off. Shiro reasserted just how good of a great leader she was.
“Zarkon is not going to know what hit him!” Coran declared, full of energy.
Coran was right. Because the newfound happiness in familiar stuff and routines was paying off in both practice and real-time battle. In Voltron. They all could feel it.
As Allura pointed out, even Shiro himself was feeling better in a way that he didn't know he had been missing. All that time away from home, after all the things that had happened to him, he kinda thought it was going to be difficult to reconnect with the mundane stuff that he used to like. He was wrong. Re-reading a book that he knew he liked once brought him joy and relaxed him, just as usual.
To know that he hadn't changed that much was such a relieve.
On the other hand, watching movies with his team was a great bonding experience. Yes, Lance and Keith and Pidge and Hunk sometimes started a petty argument about the plot just in the middle of the movies (sometimes it was a two vs. two heated debate, instead of an all against all; and that was very interesting, even if it was Shiro who thought so) but it was fine because even Allura seemed to have a nice time out of it.
Shiro liked it. Loved the normality of it all, in fact.
(And that one time that he found Keith and Lance just silently watching a new TV show that Pidge and Hunk had recommended, both engrossed in the plot, looking comfortables even though their legs were touching and Shiro's breathing pattern got messed up because that was his brother and... And Lance. Getting along. Totally alright with each other despite their differences. And Shiro didn't play favorites, he really didn't―ok, maybe Pidge―, so he couldn't explain, not even to himself, why that felt so monstrously important.)
And then they were fighting an especially hard battle against three battleship of the Galra empire, all seven of them trying to save a small planet that had been crying for help in real time, and that was normality as well. Shiro's world was complicated like that.
Obviously, they had to form Voltron to beat them but it took a long while, lots of in-the-moment strategy and a surprise attack from Coran all the way from the Castle to defeat them. There had been anguish for a moment but then Hunk's bayard finally did the trick and they were victorious.
They all had been feeling pretty euphoric after that spectacular and well deserved victory. Nevertheless, the feeling was washing over quite quickly for they were starting to feel the toll of the battle in their own bodies. Even with the Lions separated once more, Shiro could feel just how tired everyone was.
“Ok, team.” He said, controlling his voice to a serious tone. “Let's go to the planet and see what else can we do. We might encounter more Galra once on land so be prepared.”
“Roger that!” Replied three voices.
Just three.
“Uhm. Lance?” Shiro asked, paying special attention to the Blue Lion's feed.
“I say I'll rule the world!” Suddenly sounded all around his cabin, like his cockpit had a stereo integrated and music was playing from it.
Exactly like his cockpit had a stereo integrated because music was playing from it. Inside his cabin.
But Lance's voice, half singing half yelling the song, was on the feed of his helmet as usual.
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
“Check out what Blue can do!” Lance said over the music that was still playing in the background. “She can broadcast live to all of you!”
“What are you doing?!” Keith asked. Shiro wasn't certain if his tone was exasperated or just surprised.
“Owh, Lance...”
“Again with this song?!”
“What's going on?!” Allura demanded.
Lance kept singing the song.
Hunk explained:
“This is one of Lance's favorite songs.”
“It was his ringtone for months!” Screamed Pidge.
“And he used to make us listen to it before going inside the simulator, remember Pidge?”
“I couldn't stop singing this in my head for hours after that.”
“Hey, cry-babies! How about you enjoy the infinite delight that this tune is, because it's absolutely awesome, and just embrace the fact that is perfect, just like this moment?” Lance spoke again, over the music.
“Well. It is a good song!” Hunk relented.
“They say no way, oh, I say I'll rule the world!” Keith started singing, half shouting.
Keith.
Shiro was speechless.
Lance was just as amazed.
“Holy shit. Keith knows this song!”
“Shut up, idiot. I'm enjoying the fucking moment.”
“Holy shit. Keith likes my song!”
“It's not your song!”
“It is to--”
“I say yeah yeah yeah, they say no no no!” Hunk started singing as well, effectively interrupting any kind of fight between Keith and Lance.
Even Pidge started singing after that.
“What kind of music is this?” Asked Allura again, her voice uncertain.
Well, at least Shiro wasn't the only one that didn't know the song. But he had to admit that not only it was quite catchy, it was also fitting for the occasion. And although the others obviously liked it (they were still shouting the lyrics on the feed), the song was so much like Lance.
“I don't know, Princess. But it is perfect indeed.” Shiro answered and then instantaneously felt the happiness that his words brought to Lance thanks to both the residual bond that Voltron always felt behind between them and the fact that Lance's blissful laughter made him stop his singing for a few seconds.
I materialize the feeling
To carry on, to carry on.
I know some will say I'm dreaming
But I carry on, I carry on.
At the end, even Shiro was singing/shouting with the rest of his team.
I say I'll rule the world!
They reached the planet's atmosphere and all their hearts were completely full of confidence once again.
“Good one, Lance.” Shiro took the time to say through the private video-cam they had, just a few minutes before they landed.
Lance's embarrassed and bright smile told him: “Naaah. It's nothing, my man! I mean... It was just a song.” His eyes were impossibly blue, all thanks to the lights from inside his own cabin, Shiro knew, but his cheeks were red and he looked incredible beautiful and entrancing.
Shiro dedicated him a smile and then hurried to close the communication. It wasn't the time for that. It was never going to be a time for that.
And that was ok.
Black half-growled in protest for some reason.
“Come on, girl.” He told his Lion searching for the perfect angle for their landing. “Let's save this planet.”
--
Here's the rest of the 1st Chapter.
Or A3O