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Hunk stands at a podium, clicking a couple keys on his laptop. He looks out into a smiling crowd, eyes lingering on his besotted best friend and his boyfriend — well, husband, now. He grins.
“I’m no Shiro,” he starts. “And as amusing as it was to hear him spend fifteen minutes teasing the happy couple about their humiliating enemies-to-lovers romance novel story,” he pauses, grinning at the chuckling crowd and the red coming over Keith’s face as he directs a playful glare at his brother, “I’m here to tell a different story.” He turns on a projector, and clicks a couple buttons, and a paused video is displayed: ‘Keith and Lance: The Cheesiest Courting Of All Time’. There are hollers and cheers from the crowd, and Lance and Keith took at each other with matching looks of dawning horror. Hunk smirks. Shiro’s speech may have been lightly embarrassing — their rivalry was the most homoerotic relationship to ever occur and they know it — but the two-year phase where these two acknowledged their feelings and refused to do anything about it? Oh, boy. Hunk clicks ‘play’ on the video, grinning, and steps off to the side to watch the whole thing play out.
The opening strings of an upbeat pop song start, and the first video begins to play.
—
I don't know, it's just something about ya
Got me feeling like I can't be without ya
The camera angle is bad. It’s low, as if the person filling is crouching, and the camera keeps shaking. There’s a quick whispered argument, too fast to make out, and then the camera settles, focusing on a dancing figure in a kitchen.
“Why are we filming this?” comes Pidge’s whispered voice from behind the camera.
“Lance is humming Showers ,” responds an equally quiet Hunk.
There’s a moment of confused silence, except for Lance’s faint humming.
“The Becky G song?”
“Yeah!”
“…So what , Hunk?”
There’s an exasperated huff, and the camera shakes again as Hunk (who must be the one filming) shifts slightly.
“I’ve known Lance our whole lives, okay? The whole time. And every single time he has a crush, without fail, he gets this song stuck in his head. He has no idea he does it.”
Pidge gasps. “Oh, I think I see,” she says, and the grin is audible in her voice.
“Exactly! He has finally acknowledged his thing for Keith. And,” the camera flips, focusing on the two conniving paladins. Both are smirking. “It’s Keith’s and Lance’s turn for dinner tonight. Lance always comes early, but Keith should be in any minute now. If Lance has finally admitted it to himself…”
“Then this dinner prep is about to be so embarrassing,” Pidge finishes with glee. The camera flips back around, facing the swaying Red Paladin. Seconds later, the Black Paladin enters the room.
“There’s Keith!” exclaims Pidge quietly.
“Sh!” hisses Hunk. The camera zooms in, focusing on the two co-leaders of Voltron.
Lance still hasn’t looked up, humming and smiling softly to himself. Keith just watched for a moment, and the look on his face is so absolutely smitten that it’s actually kind of sickening to look at.
“Hey, Lance,” he calls after a moment. Lance pauses from where he’s mincing some veggies, turning towards the sound. His face lights up.
“Keith!” The two stare at each other for a moment, just smiling softly at each other.
“Sorry I’m late,” Keith says after a moment. Neither of them seem to notice the staring.
Lance grins. “Trying to avoid chores, Samurai?” he teases. Keith huffs a laugh, walking over to the fridge to pull out some protein.
“I wouldn’t leave you alone, Sharpshooter,” he replies.
God above. Sickening.
The two start working in tandem, talking and laughing. They stand pressed close, barely a centimetre of space between them, even though there’s a whole kitchen and it would honestly probably be easier to spread out. They find every excuse to touch each other; brushing hands as they work, nudging each other to the side to grab something.
The camera flips again, showing Pidge and Hunk shaking their heads, pretending to be disgusted.
“God, they’re so gross,” Pidge complains.
“They’re gonna be flirting but pretending they’re ‘just being friendly’ for the next several hours,” Hunk agrees. The two pause for a moment, then look at each other and grin.
“Wanna go snoop in their rooms and see if they’ve written any humiliating love letters?” Hunk suggests. Pidge nods, and the camera shuts off.
—
Anytime someone mention your name
I be feeling as if I'm around ya
The next video is short clips of Keith and Lance, maybe ten or fifteen seconds each.
The first is Keith to Lance in the kitchen, after the Sendak fiasco: “We had a bonding moment! I cradled you in my arms!”
The second is Lance and Laika: “And Keith is always doing cool things like flying into asteroid fields and black holes and cool junk like that —”
The third is a stubbornly begrudging Keith to a knowing Allura: “He’s fine, I guess. He’s a brilliant tactician. You know it was him who came up with —”
The fourth, Lance and Keith grinning at each other as they launch food goo at the others.
Lance and Keith laughing as they chase each other around the pool.
Keith and Lance sitting next to each other calmly, watching the stars.
The two of them talking after Keith’s discovery of his heritage: “Keith, your mom’s ethnicity doesn’t change you you are. We like you for you . Your DNA doesn’t change that. Well, unless you’re not lying and your hair really does grow naturally like that. We might have a problem then.”
Keith to Lance on after a rough training session: “You know, you’ve really improved since you got here. No, Lance, I’m so serious. It’s impressive. I mean it.”
And finally, Lance with his hand on Keith’s shoulder right after he’s chosen by Black: “I’ll follow you where you lead, man. I trust you.”
—
You light me up inside
Like the fourth of July
Whenever you're around
I always seem to smile
The next video is clearly from one of the Castle’s cameras, judging from the border and time stamp. It’s centred in the common room, where everyone but Lance and Coran are gathered. A movie is playing. Everyone else looks content, if a little bored, except for Keith, who is scowling heavily.
“What pissed in your cornflakes?” asks Pidge.
“Nothing,” Keith grumps.
Shiro raises an eyebrow. “It’s clearly something,” he hedges. “This movie might not be excellent, but I don’t think it’s that bad. What’s up?”
Allura sits up suddenly, and there’s a very evil smile on her face. “I think he’d like the movie if Lance was in it,” she teases. Keith goes bright red, confirming that’s exactly what he’s cheesed about.
“That’s not — Lance has nothing to do with it!” Allura and Pidge are cackling, pausing every few seconds to make kissy faces at Keith that seem to piss him off more. Shiro is grinning to himself, shaking his head.
Hunk has a particularly mischievous look on his face. “Are you sure?” he asks slyly. “You we’re pretty enraptured when Lance was doing that show for the Coalition!”
Allura and Pidge let out twin screams of laughter, pointing and laughing at Keith like they’re bullies in a coming of age movie. Shiro is not far behind them, collapsed back on the couch with an arm over his eyes, laughing himself hoarse. Keith himself is so bright red that it wouldn’t be shocking if steam starts to come out of his ears.
“I was admiring his skill! That’s it!” he defends adamantly.
“If that’s the case,” Hunk asks, “then why are you so red? His skill level got you all hot and bothered?”
Keith suddenly turns back to the movie. He clears his throat, several times. Everyone’s laughter starts to peter out, with a giggle bubbling up every now and then. Keith is still sulking. After a moment, Shiro takes pity in his little brother.
“You don’t have to sulk. Lance and Coran will be back from their mission any time now, and your raison d’être will be in your sights again.”
Keith huffs, but doesn’t deny it. “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he grouches. “You can’t tell Lance, though, okay —“
“Tell Lance what?”
Keith whips around, laughing delightedly as soon as he sees the Red Paladin.
“Lance!” he exclaims, and scrambled up to hug him. The rest of Voltron exchanges looks, from knowing to exasperated.
Lance hugs back just as tightly, grinning.
“I was only gone for two days, Samurai,” he said, pulling away a little.
Keith smiles wider, soft and shy. “I dunno, I guess it felt like longer. Everything always feels a little duller when you’re not around.”
—
I'm dancing in the mirror and singing in the shower
Singing in the shower
This video opens in a vlog-style, taken on a comm device. The first thing to come into focus is an absolutely grinning Allura. She is so excited she is shaking.
“Okay, oh my stars, it’s happening,” she says. “Hunk told me that Lance has been singing romance songs in the shower, instead of his usual rap and such. I didn’t believe him at first —“ she rolls her eyes —“he has a tendency to exaggerate.” She laughs, bright and excited. “But it’s true! He’s singing love songs! Listen!” She turns the camera to a doorway, quieting, and after a moment the muffled notes of Falling For Ya from the Teen Beach Movie are audible over the sound of rushing water.
The camera flips once more, Allura’s grinning face taking up the screen. She giggles. “Stars, it’s so funny. Lance is singing in the shower, him and Keith can barely look at each other without blushing —“
“Allura!”
Allura startles, dropping the camera so it’s aimed at the ceiling from the floor. She stands, and Pidge comes bounding into frame, panting. After she catches her breath, a slew of words spill out of her mouth.
“Keithisdancingaroundinthetrainingroommirrors,” she rushes out.
Allura blinks. “Pardon?”
“Keith,” Pidge repeats, eyes wide and delighted, “is dancing around in the training room. The studio part, that we built for Lance. He’s playing love songs and dancing around.”
Allura gasps, then grabs the comm, and the only thing visible for a few moments is the blurry video of an unfocused camera moving very quickly. They stop right in front of the door.
“We have to sneak in,” comes Pidge’s voice. “Shiro’s already in there, quietly losing his shit.”
The video slowly makes its way into the room, pointed at the studio as soon as it’s in sight. Pidge is right! Keith is dancing around the room with a moony smile on his face, with no apparent skill or rhythm. Just an expression of joy, of excitement.
The camera faces Allura for the final time, flanked by Shiro and Pidge. All three of them are grinning. “I think we should show them this when they finally get hitched,” Pidge comments.
Shiro snorts. “If they ever get to that point. They’ve been flirting for a year, now. I don’t know if this torture will ever end!”
Allura grins. “I have faith in them. You don’t dance that dorkily —“ she flips the camera, showing Keith again — “unless your feelings are permanent.”
—
If I got you, I'm straight
You bring my heart to life
Another video from the Castle’s camera shows the team in the MedBay, all quietly watching Keith in stasis in one the pods. The video has been edited to focus on Lance, who sits with his knees pressed to his chest, staring sadly at Keith.
“He’s gonna make a full recovery, my boy,” Coran says, patting him gently on the head as he walks by.
Lance shoots him a tense smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “I know,” he whispers. “I’m just worried. He, uh, he took a hit for me. I know that’s what we do, but it’s always hard to see. Especially,” he looks down to the floor, a tear dripping down his face. “Especially when it’s him .”
Hunk makes his way over, pulling Lance up to stand next to him. He puts his big arms around his friend, squeezing tightly. The rest of the team joins quickly.
“He’ll soon be back, and you guys can continue looking lovingly in each other’s eyes,” Pidge jabs.
Lance snorts, wiping his eyes. “Asshole,” he responds. The team moves a few steps away, gathering around Keith’s pod.
Allura leans over to check the stats. “He should be out any second now!” she exclaims. Before the words are fully out of her mouth, there’s a beeping noise and Keith sways forward, right into Lance’s open arms. He blinks, and smiles when he sees who he’s looking at.
“Hey, Sharpshooter,” he rasps. Lance’s beam lights up his face, all previous pain erased his expression.
“Hey, Samurai. Missed ya.”
—
And people ask me how
Well, you're the reason why
The next video has a strangely dream-like quality that marks it as a recording from one of the mind-meld helmets.
Bob stands before the Paladins, going over each of their choices for the one to escape. Pidge, Hunk, and Allura had already given their answers, and Bob is standing in front of Lance.
“And you, dum-dum?” he asks. Ignoring the insult, Lance speaks clearly.
“I choose Keith.” There’s a sharp inhale from the boy beside him, but Lance looks resolutely forward, staring straight at Bob.
The alien raises a judgemental eyebrow. “Keith? Why?”
Lance’s staunch attitude wavers, and he flushes, looking down. “I, uh, I think Keith should be the one to — well, I think Keith is the future,” he says finally. “Yeah. Keith should be the one to go.” Keith is staring unabashedly at Lance, something like awe on his face. He doesn’t even glance over at Bob when the alien calls on him.
“I choose Lance,” he says breathlessly. Lance’s head shoots up, and he turns to stare, open mouthed, at Keith.
“And why is that?” Bob asks, patronizing. Keith doesn’t even blink.
“Lance got all of us to follow him to a whole new world with a couple sentences,” he says, smiling softly at the Red Paladin. His right-hand man. “If any of us were able to build Voltron anew, to convince the whole universe to trust them? It’s Lance. I’d follow him anywhere.”
—
The final notes of the song play, and video fades out. Hunk steps back to the podium, smiling at the laughter and tears alike throughout the crowd. He looks towards the happy couple. Lance has his head leaned on Keith’s shoulder, and Keith has his head on top of Lance’s. They’re holding hands tightly, as wrapped up in each other as they can be.
“Congratulations, lovebirds,” Hunk says. “There’s no one who deserves this more than you.”