Mistimed Charges

Mistimed Charges

Voltron

Keith & the Blade of Marmora

Keith gets buried in a collapsing building. The Blades do not handle this well, emotionally.

A curse echoed down the hallway as he stumbled, another rumble shaking the base and ratcheting up his worry that he would not get out in time. The detonations were going off before they had been timed to and his ship was further away than he was comfortable with. It had been necessary to stash it so far away, but he was regretting it in the moment. The base was going to come down around his ears.

He grit his teeth and powered on, muscles burning and breath rasping, trying to get as close to the edge as he was able. Hopefully less would fall on him and he would be easier to find if anyone came looking. If not, maybe he could free himself and return to the Blades without assistance.

The structure began shaking around him even as he approached an exit, the set charges catching up with him quickly. He was not going to make it out. Even as he stayed on track, he reached up to tap the communicator built into his mask despite the mission having meant to be radio silent. They should be able to triangulate his position from the frequency and, even if the Blade could not, Pidge would be on hand and able to accomplish the feat.

“Keith? Status?”

“About to be buried!”

He watched as the exit collapsed and the roof began following until his head was hit by a piece of debris. That was the last he knew other than the fact that there had been shouting in his ear the last few seconds.

-

“Keith! Respond!”

Thace frowned as he fingered his own blade. “Those charges should have been fine. We all use them and the timer has never failed before.” He snapped his gaze to Ulaz, who had finally given up trying to get through to the kit. “We’ll need to lead an investigation into that. Kolivan, permission to retrieve the kit?”

“Granted.”

The information was passed over quickly and he was soon on his way with Antok and Regris in tow as backup. He fidgeted impatiently with his knife as they approached the area Keith’s signal put him. He hoped Ulaz was not harrying Kolivan too much in his worry.

-

“What was the damage?” Antok asked quietly as they stood by the healing pod they had been able to steal from the Empire recently. With this having happened, they were all relieved that they had gone through the trouble. Antok had been tasked with navigating the ship and, as such, knew little about the kit’s condition other than that he had been bleeding and Thace, who had picked up some medical knowledge from Ulaz, was extremely concerned.

Instead of answering verbally, Kolivan brought up the information Ulaz had sent him and passed the data pad over to him. He did not need to see it again. His guilt was hitting him hard enough. As it was, Keith would have to spend, mostly likely, more than a movement in the pod. Numerous broken bones were the least of his injuries and he had been close to dying before they had been able to get him back to their base.

“Ulaz and Thace are going to want to stay with him.”

“Already cleared.”

Antok sighed, handing the data pad back to the leader of the Blades. “I want to stay with the kit.”

“Everyone does.”

Comforter Comfort

Voltron

Keith & Voltron Paladins

Bonding with the other paladins, blanket included.

Also posted on AO3.

Shiro was the first person he ever allowed himself to get close enough to for him to feel comfortable curling up near on the couch. It was during the spring break at the Garrison his first year there. With his father gone and his foster family not having planned for him to join them on their vacation, he had thought he would have to stay in the dorms. However, when Shiro found out about that, he had insisted that Keith spend the week with him. That was how they ended up on a ratty, but comfortable, couch with the TV playing an ancient episode of some documentary on an ancient civilization. He guessed it was interesting enough.

He slowly scooted down a bit further and stretched his legs out of the curl he normally preferred. They were going to be there a while considering what his mentor had said about the channel holding a marathon on that particular civilization. Maybe he could catch up on some of the sleep he had missed while studying for midterms. Those had been more difficult than he had expected, but also easier in some ways.

Just as he was on the verge of dozing off, a weight fell lightly against his thigh and he startled slightly. A glance showed that Shiro had beat him to sleep by just a few short minutes. He was not about to wake him just to get him to move. The man had to be even more exhausted than he himself was.

He looked around for a moment before his eyes settled on the blanket on the back of the couch. That was the only thing missing and he slowly grabbed it and shook it out over them. It settled over them and he hurried to uncover Shiro’s head but kept his own knees covered. Once that was finished, he turned his attention back to the documentary. This was such a new development that he would need a bit of time to acclimate, but he would sleep soon enough.

-

He had been co opted by Pidge not that long before when he had stopped to check on them. They were sifting through the data, both scrolling on their laptop and the data pad they had handed him, looking for anything that could indicate that their family was being held somewhere or transported. He could tell that the files he was skimming were death records. Understandable. While they were not giving up hope, the records still needed to be checked for thoroughness.

A bump against his shoulder dragged his attention from the data scrolling before him. Pidge’s arm was outstretched with the blanket they were curled up in, a wordless invitation to join them underneath. He obligingly scooted over and pulled the free edge up over his shoulder, knee to hip pressed up against them and he curled an arm around their shoulders, knocking his temple against their’s comfortingly. They returned to their tasks, both more comforted by the contact.

-

A frown pulled at his mouth as he watched Lance stare out of the window with a rather devastated expression. He turned on his heel and made for his room, returning quickly with his comforter in hand. To announce his presence, he dropped the blanket on the blue paladin’s head, causing him to sputter in indignation while he sank down to sit near him.

“What was that for?”

Keith shrugged in response, settling his chin on drawn up knees. “I miss sundaes.”

Lance quirked a disbelieving eyebrow in his direction even as he curled the comforter over his shoulders, hands fisted in the material even as he rested elbows on knees and propped his chin up.

“There’s got to be some kind of ice cream up here in space. Or maybe we can get Hunk to try making it?” he tried again. When he got no response, he continued as if Lance had answered. “You’re right. Hunk would be the better option. At least we know most of what we’re getting into there. And how do we know that ice cream won’t murderously offend someone up here? Maybe it’s like insulting their mother and not in the funny ‘yo momma’ jokes way either.”

That brought a light chuckle from the cocoon next to him.

“You know ‘yo momma’ jokes?”

“I mean, I went to public school.”

-

Hunk was surprised when Keith wandered into the lounge, blanket wrapped around his shoulders and dragging like an extra long cloak or one of those extremely fancy veils or dresses behind him. If that was not weird enough, he then proceeded to flop on the couch and butt his head up against Hunk’s arm like a cat demanding pets. He was just going to go with it and not think too hard. If he did that, he was only liable to freak himself out.

Eventually, he needed his hand back to continue with the calculations he was working on just to hear a whine from Keith before he was scrambling to perch, sprawled out really, on the back of the couch he was lounging on and resting his forehead against the yellow paladin’s neck, draping the edge of the comforter over Hunk’s other shoulder. Apparently that was how the rest of the evening was going to go. He shrugged, settling Keith in a slightly more comfortable position. At least it was warm.

i swear to god, men raising their voice is the most terrifying thing in the whole world. they dont understand, like its an immediate panic response, game over

the best analogy for bisexuals i've ever heard

werewolf: i’m a werewolf person: ok so when you’re in human form you’re a human, and when you’re in wolf form you’re a wolf though. werewolf: no. i’m a werewolf. human form = werewolf. wolf form = werewolf. always a werewolf. no matter the circumstance or appearance, I AM ALWAYS A WEREWOLF

more ridiculous things i’ve done for writing:

- weighted a grapefruit in my hands to see if i could justifiably describe something as “weighing as much as a grapefruit” - done jumping jacks for 5 minutes straight so the memory of how exertion feels would be fresh in my mind - googled images of butterscotch to see if “butterscotch” could be a hair colour - casually stared at people at bus stops trying to figure out how i would hypothetically recreate their image in words - written 7 different beginnings for a story to see which one i liked best - gone to venice - enthusiastically spoken dialogue aloud to myself to see how it sounds - tried to read 3 books in one day - experienced terrible things, reacting with “i can write about this” - screamed incoherently at someone for turning on the tv while i was in the room, writing - sat there perfectly still staring into space trying to imagine what getting a boner feels like - “hey re-enact this scene with me” - sat upside-down for ten minutes trying to get my brain to work - squandered schoolwork and free time alike for years - written

Lazy Morning

    He was dozing comfortably, happily, and warmly until the warmth pressed all along his front moved, pulling away and taking all that delicious heat with it. He grumbled in complaint and wrapped his arms tight around it, successfully keeping it from leaving him. At another wriggle, he pulled the warmth in even closer, or at least tried to. It was impossible with how close he already was to the other man, not that he realized it right then being more asleep than awake. For him, it was an unnatural state of being.

    His frame shook lightly as the warmth he was holding moved with a light laugh before something tried prying his fingers and arms away. He grumbled deeper than before and squeezed his arms, rubbing his face across the nice warm surface it was leaning against. That only spurred the light shaking into something a little more forceful and that had his eyes slowly blinking open, still unfocused for a little bit before they finally cleared and allowed him to see that he was not allowing his lover to get up.

    He grumbled again before deliberately rubbing the side of his face against the pale skin it had been resting on. It was retaliation for having woke him up. Shortly after, he let go and his arms rose above his head in a good, long morning stretch that woke him up further and also allowed his lover to get out of bed. He blearily blinked up at the taller man and made a short questioning sound, non-verbal before he was on his second cup of coffee for the day. It seemed like it was going to be a lazy morning as FRIDAY began reading him the weather report for the day.

    It’s going to be a bit chilly today, boss. High of forty-two. It’s fall though, so it’s kind of expected. But, bright side! It’s supposed to be sunny, no clouds!

    Listening to his girl was always amusing as she had decided that her commentary was always needed, even on the little things such as the weather. It also never failed to bring a small, indulgent smile to his lips. Her developing personality was wonderful to watch in action, especially when she was using it on people that he did not care for.

    He had no idea how long he had laid there after propping himself up on the stack of pillows at the head of the bed. FRIDAY could keep him entertained for hours if she put her processors to it, so she could have been talking about anything, though he was sure that she kept to light topics that he only needed to listen to and not participate in until after he had gotten his coffee. And was his lover not a beautiful, wonderful, amazing, genius man? He had just come back into the bedroom and was holding out a mug of his morning coffee brew that was eagerly accepted and the first sip enjoyed with an almost pornographic moan.

    It was silent for a few moments until he had finished that first mug and accepted the second from his lover. The tea that he preferred always took a little longer to brew to his specifications, for whatever reason, so he had gotten into the habit of bringing two mugs of coffee in and then taking the first mug back into the kitchen, cleaning it, and then pouring his tea into that same mug before doctoring it the way he preferred, which he did and then returned to sit on the edge of the bed, one knee drawn up and laid to the side so that he could keep one foot on the floor and still be facing the shorter man that had stayed in bed.

    “Good morning, Tony.”

    “Debatable,” he responded, looking over at the taller man with a fond expression written all over his face.

    Stephen smirked, raising his mug for a sip of his own beverage before he responded. “Oh, it’s a good morning. You know it, I know it, the people two blocks down know it.”

    Tony grinned helplessly in return. It was definitely true and he knew he would be feeling it for, at least, the rest of the day. He finally moved, folding his legs under him and scooting over so that he could lean forward, braced with one arm, and press a soft kiss against the sorcerer’s slightly chapped lips. Apparently he lost his chapstick again in some dimension.

    “Well, I guess we have to get it started,” he stated with a heavy sigh. “I have to go to a few meetings today and also swing through R&D to check on them. Tomorrow I’ll have to just hang out with them though. They’re probably feeling neglected with how little I’ve been able to just be there recently with all of the Accords stuff.”

    Stephen just smiled, sipping his tea as he listened to the inventor ramble about his schedule for the day. It was a great start to the day even if they both knew it would not last very long into it. Something was liable to pop up for either of them, sometimes literally. But the quiet moments that they could share were something to be treasured.