I do not own any of these characters or the Voltron series.
The Red Paladin Hot Sauce
A/N: Hey readers. KnightofLight (who I wrote A Double Trouble Valentine and A Disconnected Link with,) a couple months ago got me into Voltron: Legendary Defender, and honestly have to say, it has become my favorite animated series, along with Miraculous of course. So the idea for this story came to mind when I tried something that was just so sweet I couldn't eat and then I thought, well at least it wasn't so hot I couldn't eat it, and that's when the light bulb moment happened on wouldn't it be funny if Keith (who is my favorite Voltron character/ Paladin) made a really hot, hot sauce, that was so hot only he and Shiro could eat it. Since Hunk is the chef at the Castle of Lions, I decided to set this time during the Galaxy Garrison days, and have Keith and Shiro cook together. Now before I think of anything else,
Let The Story Commence!
"Man, how much longer is Hunk going to take, I'm starving." Lance said, anxiously waiting for Hunk to come back with the food that he had been taking to long to prepare, in the Blue Paladin's opinion, at least.
"I know right, after that mission, I can't wait to eat either." Pidge voiced her opinion from where she was sitting in front of her computer device.
"I'm sure Hunk is hurrying as fast as he can. He knows how hungry everyone is." Shiro entered the conversation, and everyone let out a sigh knowing that he was probably right.
"Shiro is right, with the way Hunk can eat, I'm sure he can't wait to finish cooking for himself and…...us." Keith paused before continuing to speak as he caught a scent of peppers that filled the air.
Those peppers smell good.
"You smell the peppers don't you?" Shiro asked Keith, as he saw a smile come the red Paladin's face.
"I do, I haven't smelled or eaten peppers in a long time. I am really looking forward to trying Hunk's food today." In his past especially during his time with the Garrison, Keith was known for liking hot food, especially hot sauce. He was always picked for liking such foods, everyone always told him it matched his personality and while that may have been true and ironic, his more fiery personality had nothing to do with it. He just liked the taste of hot food, and he was hoping that his fellow Paladin's weren't going to pick on him for the same thing that so many others did. "I'm honestly hoping it is hot sauce."
"So Keith, Voltron's hothead likes hot sauce, that's hilarious!" Lance laughed but his laughter was put to a quick stop when he saw the glare that Keith was giving him from across the room.
"Why does everyone think I only like hot sauce and hot foods, because I'm a hot head?" Keith question to no one in particular, but it was very clear that Keith was annoyed by the comment from the blue Paladin.
"Okay, Okay. I just thought it was funny." Lance couldn't help but find humor in Keith's appetite for hot foods and hot sauce.
"You know guys, the best hot sauce I have ever eaten was made by Keith." Shiro stepped in, hoping that making the red paladin think about the recipe that he had considered his pride and joy, would help him settle down the tension that he could sense between him and Lance.
"Really?" Pidge and Lance said in unison. This caused a long sigh from Keith, who was now not only annoyed with Lance but Pidge as well.
"Just because I spend so much time combat training, doesn't mean I can't cook!"
"Why don't you prove, Keith? I'm sure we would all love to try hot sauce, made by the one member of Voltron that at least Pidge and I never expected to be a good cook." Lance looked towards Keith smugly, If looks could kill Lance would have a goner, Keith was really not in the mood for his jokes at this moment and he was thinking about taking his fellow paladin up on that challenge.
"Then after Hunk is done in the kitchen, I will make you some of that hot sauce, but don't come crying to me if you can't handle it." Keith replied sarcastically, leaving Lance and Pidge with silent wondering just how hot the sauce if Keith was telling them the truth, about the sauce.
"Did I look like I was kidding? This sauce is so hot when I cooked it for the Galaxy Garrison one time, Shiro was the only that could handle the heat of this sauce." Keith broke the awkward silence that had entered the room.
"You were the only one that could handle the heat from that sauce, Shiro?" Pidge couldn't believe that their leader was the only member out of the entire Galaxy Garrison, that could handle the heat of Keith's hot sauce.
"Yes, I was the only one. It's too bad no one else could handle it, it was the perfect condiment for my chicken dish." Shiro smiled at the memory, looking at Keith who was now starting to look a little happier.
"Hold on a minute, Shiro, you and Keith cooked together for the Galaxy Garrison?" Lance spoke up, his statement caused a laugh from Shiro and a smile from Keith. Both the red and black paladins were really fond of the memory where there each cooked together for the first and only time.
"We did, we had a lot of fun cooking that day, didn't we, Keith?" Shiro looked towards Keith, who was still thinking about the memory in his mind. Of course, he would never tell the other paladins that he was being sentimental.
"Yeah we did have a pretty good time, cooking that day, it was off on the most fun things er ever did together." Keith replied, still lost in thoughts, but not expressing it.
"Do you want to tell them the story, Keith?" Shiro asked, the red paladin. He and Keith had done so much talking about the sauce, he thought it was fitting that Pidge and Lance got to hear the story of the hot sauce, especially Keith was going to be making it for them at some point.
"You can tell the story, Shiro." Storytelling isn't really my thing." Keith passed telling the story on to Shiro, who was happy to tell the story about what became Keith's famous hot sauce.
"I can't wait to hear this story!" Pidge looked up from her computer, to focus on Shiro while he told about the event of he and Keith's first an only cooking experience.
"Yeah, start the story, Shiro, we are ready." Lance was also looking forward to hearing the story, about the sauce that was so hot that no one the garrison could handle it.
"Alright, I'll start it telling now.
"It started out as usual day until Keith and I were put in charge of cooking for the Garrison."
"Keith, I was hoping I would get a chance to see you again soon, but I wasn't expecting the next time, to be in the Galaxy Garrison kitchen, cooking a meal." Shiro looked at the young teenager who was also happy to see the friend that he hadn't seen in a while.
"It's great seeing you again too, even if it's in a kitchen." Keith said, looking towards Shiro then throughout the kitchen. The teenager's thoughts went from his friend to the fact that he didn't know what he should cook. Shiro was going to ask Keith what he wanted to cook, but Shiro could tell by the concerned look on Keith's face that the boy had no clue what he was going to do in the kitchen.
"I was thinking of making a chicken dish." Shiro was hoping by telling Keith what he was going to make, that the boy would be able to come up with a dish, by hearing what he was going to make. A chicken dish called for side dishes, and maybe even a dessert, so Shiro thought surely the boy could come up with something to make to go with his chicken dish and if Keith couldn't, then Shiro was just going to come up with a new dish.
"Chicken is always good, you can make that if you want to.." Keith's reply was straight but wasn't quite the answer that Shiro was hoping for, but he was glad that Keith at least liked chicken.
"What do you think would go well with chicken?" Shiro asked Keith, trying to help him along. Shiro couldn't help but smile when he saw Keith's face light up with a thought.
"I'm going to make my hot sauce recipe!" Keith said excitedly. Shiro couldn't help but laugh as he saw the teenager quickly start to go through the cupboards in search of ingredients for his hot sauce.
"Hot sauce? You like making hot sauce?" Shiro asked, watching as Keith put two pots on the stove.
"I love making hot sauce! It's just been so long since I had made it, I had forgotten about it, but when you said chicken, it came back to my mind. Oh, the Galaxy Garrison is going to love this!" Keith happily started putting his first ingredients in the pot.
"Wait wait wait, Mullet actually gets excited over stuff?!" Lance pointed towards Keith in shocked disbelief. Lance had known Keith since both of their time in the Galaxy Garrison and although a hot head, he was a really serious type and didn't seem to show much emotion over anything so to hear from their leader about Keith getting excited over food over all things was something the Blue Paladin was expecting to hear from Shiro's story.
"I was much younger than and not as mature as I am now, don't expect to see that kind of emotion from me, now." Keith's words caused Lance and Pidge to sigh. The now red Paladin shook his head, knowing the sigh was over the fact that his fellow Paladins were hoping to see him get him excited and let loose a little, but the Keith already made up in his mind that was not going to happen
"So what happens next, Shiro?" Pidge asked, anxiously awaiting to find out what could possibly happen next.
"Yeah Shiro, what else did Mullet do when he was younger that he would never do now?" Lance piped up before Keith gave him a fiery glare.
"I am starting to regret the idea of this story." Keith fidgeted with the knife in his pocket out of annoyance.
"I'm sorry, Keith. I'll try to not humiliate, anymore." Shiro told Keith, who was now leaning up against one of the castle walls with his arms crossed.
"Thanks, Shiro. You might want to continue, I don't think Lance can take the suspense anymore." Keith's observation of Lance, sitting up completely straight in his chair, with an anxious look on his face.
"What happened next is part of what leads to this story getting really interesting," Shiro told the team before continuing the story._
"I am looking forward to tasting that hot sauce of yours, Keith. It must be a great recipe if you are that excited to make it for the Garrison." Shiro had never seen Keith this excited over anything so if he was willing to show so emotion over the hot sauce it really must have been a great recipe.
"You should make chicken nuggets, so they can dunk your nuggets in my sauce." Keith looked away from his stirring spoon inside the pot, to look at Shiro to see what his older friend thought of the idea.
"That's a great idea, Keith. If they have a deep fryer, I will turn this chicken into nuggets." Shiro had begun his search for a deep fryer much to the delight of Keith who had begun to open the bags containing the peppers that he was going to add to both of his saucepans.
"Sounds like a plan." Keith continued to open all of the peppers and was happy that the Garrison had all of the peppers he would have needed, but they were lacking a certain pepper he wanted. A certain pepper that would really bring out a bold flavor that should really only be eaten by hot sauce enthusiasts.
"We are in luck Keith, they do have a deep fryer here." Shiro pulled the deep fryer out of the cupboard then set it on the counter to plug it into an outlet, while Keith was searching for another pepper.
"Awesome!" Keith said, over two matters. The first being Shiro found a deep fryer to cook the nuggets. The second thing he found was the pepper he had been searching for.
"Another pepper? Don't you have enough?" Shiro asked, as was cutting the chicken into nugget form. He saw the boy put 8 peppers into the one pan and 6 peppers into another. At first, he couldn't believe how many peppers he had put into the pan but then knowing Keith, it really didn't surprise him to much.
"I had enough for the one sauce." Keith started stirring the sauce containing the eight peppers, before opening the bag containing the pepper that he was so excited to find.
"I'm missing a Ghost pepper for the other one." Keith showed Shiro the ghost pepper. Who just stared at the bright red pepper that was in the hands of his cooking partner. Just the smell of the pepper alone was enough to almost enough to make Shiro take a step back, yet the boy standing in front of him was proudly holding the pepper in his hand.
"Now I have enough peppers," Keith said, walking away from Shiro to put the Ghost pepper in his pan. Once the Ghost pepper was in the pan he quickly ran over to the sink to wash his hands after handling all of the peppers, before going to back to watch his sauce.
"Keith, are you sure you know what you are doing with that Ghost pepper? Those are said to be some of the hottest peppers in the world. I'm honestly shocked they even have such a pepper in the Galaxy Garrison kitchen." Shiro asked Keith, as he cut his last chicken nugget
"Yes I'm sure I made it once before, for my school I was the only one of the students that could eat it, and only one of the teachers could eat it. The principle wasn't to happy that I brought such a sauce to a school picnic." Keith briefly explained the story about the first time he had made the hot sauce. Shiro couldn't help but laugh as he let the nuggets soak in a bowl with some milk before dunking them into the breadcrumbs.
"Only one teacher could eat it?!" Shiro could see why the students might have been able to eat it but surely he thought the teachers would have been able to handle the hot sauce's heat. "You've got to be kidding me, Keith."
"Since when do I kid, Shiro?" Keith asked, as he continued to stir his sauce, while Shiro started to dunk the bread crumbs into a bowl the final step before he put them in the fryer, to cook them.
"Keith, I haven't known you to kid around since I have known you, I just can't believe that it was so hot that only one of the teachers could eat it. Seriously how hot is this sauce?" Shiro asked as he saw Keith's jaw drop, from where he was standing in front of the stove.
"What happened, Keith?" Shiro knew Keith wasn't usually one to let his jaw drop, so for that to happen, Shiro knew that something that was not supposed to happen must have happened.
"This sauce is really hot… this didn't happen the first time, but this time it is hot enough to melt the spoon that I was stirring the sauce with." Keith answered both questions at once, leaving the stove to show Shiro the melted spoon. Keith laughed when his older friend's eyes get as big as golf balls, as he let out a slight gasp of shock. He had never heard of anyone melting a spoon when they cooked before. Keith started laughing over his friend's reaction.
"You should see your face, Shiro. You like you just saw a ghost!" Keith kept laughing as Shiro looked at the spoon shaking his head, hoping in his mind that the Galaxy Garrison wasn't going to be upset over the fact, that Keith had melted one of their cooking spoons.
"This isn't funny, Keith. Out of all of the people that have cooked in this kitchen, we to my knowledge are the first to ever break anything." Shiro's firmer tone of voice caught Keith's attention, he quickly stopped laughing and looked at Shiro who face expression matched his tone.
"Sorry, your right, this really isn't a matching matter. I'll buy the Garrison another one." Keith apologized, as got another spoon, to stir the hot sauce.
"Thank you for understanding, Keith, now go back and watch over that sauce. We don't want it to burn." Shiro said as he dropped his three nuggets in the fryer.
"It was hot enough to melt the spoon!" Pidge couldn't believe that Keith when we were younger, made a hot sauce so hot that it melted a spoon. Her statement was so loud, that it got the attention of Allura, who walked into the room.
"I heard something was hot enough to melt a spoon, what is Hunk doing in the kitchen?" Allura asked, after entering the room.
"Hunk didn't do it. Keith did it when he was younger." Lance laughed, an inquisitive look coming to face of the Altean princess as she looked from Lance to Keith, who wasn't looking to amused.
"I was telling them a story of when Keith and I cooked for the Galaxy Garrison and I got to the part when Keith's hot sauce was so hot that it melted the spoon he was stirring the sauce with." Shiro explained to the Allura, who was now also interested in hearing the story."
"Oh, this story sounds like great fun. I want to listen to you tell the story to." Allura decided, looking around the room for the place to sit.
"You could always sit next to me, princess." Lance suggested and everyone in the room sighed, except for Keith who was heading for the door.
"Where are you going, Keith?" Shiro asked before Keith walked ou the door.
"I'm going to get Princess Allura a chair. You can continue the story while I'm gone." Keith shut the door, not really caring if he heard any more of the story at the moment. He hadn't felt this humiliated in a long time and he certainly didn't care to hear the part of the story that he thought Shiro was going to tell next.
"Should someone tell him, there is a chair for Princess Allura to sit in, right there?" Pidge pointed to an empty chair that was in the room.
"No, let him be. He probably left because I embarrassed him and knowing what happened next I can understand why he didn't want to stay in here.
"Oooh, what kind of embarrassing things happened to Mullet, next?" Lance, rubbed in his together gleefully, taking way more pleasure in the red Paladin's humiliation than he should have.
"You will find out when those parts come, but after this story is finished, I do not want you all teasing Keith, about anything that he did in his younger days." Shiro firmly told Lance and Pidge, before looking to Allura to help back him up, in the matter.
"Yes Shiro is right, and if I hear any of you teasing Keith about this, myself or Shiro will talk to you." Allura said to the blue and green Paladin, before giving Shiro a nod to say continue.
"Once Keith's hot sauce was finished cooking he wrote caution hot on the milder hot sauce and then he wrote caution eat at your own risk on the Ghost pepper sauce, than after that we didn't have enough nuggets so he helped me make more and then we both made the side dishes, after the side dishes were made and we brought the food out for the Garrison, that's the part Keith didn't want to stick around for." Shiro said, thinking about what he was going to have to tell the two Paladins and Allura, about what Keith did. The black Paladin was really started to feel like he had overstepped his bounds, but at this moment there wasn't really anything he could, except make a mental in his own mind to apologize to Keith, later.
"Keith's not here right now Shiro, you could just quickly tell us." Lance pointed out that Keith was no longer in the room, so in the mind of the blue Paladin, now would be the perfect time for their leader to tell what happened.
"We promise we won't pick on him, Shiro." Pidge spoke up this time, wanting the black Paladin to know that she and Lance were not going to pick on Keith.
"Alright, since I have your word, and I believe you will keep it, I will continue quickly before Keith gets back.
"Shiro, Keith, this is a fine spread of food you made for us here. I'm sure all of the Garrison is looking forward to tasting such good looking food." Commander Iverson said as he looked towards his senior officer and Keith was fixing the sign in front of his ghost pepper sauce.
"You made hot sauce, Keith?" The commander asked as he looked into the saucepans. "These certainly smell hot, but I don't think you are going to need signs to warn everyone. We have tough people here, they should be able to handle some hot sauce." Commander Iverson removed the sign that Keith had placed in front of the hot sauce, then took a spoonful of sauce to add the plate of the nugget.
"That sauce you just put on your plate Commander, has a Ghost pepper and it is very hot so I put the signs in front of the saucepans to warn people, you included." Keith's sarcastic reply caused the commander to pull the chicken nugget out of the sauce that was on his plate.
"For now boy, I'm just letting you hang around here Keith since you have an interest in this fine space program that we have here, but if you actually want to get into the Galaxy Garrison someday, you are going to have to straighten up a little." The commander took a few steps towards Keith, who stayed standing right where he was. Iverson was expecting the boy that was now standing in front of him, to lose his composure and back up a little when he found out that Keith wasn't intimidated at such a young age, the commander didn't know if he should be annoyed or impressed.
"I don't think I've done anything wrong commander, so what I am supposed to straighten up over?" Keith asked, Iverson, wanting an answer before he put the nugget that was full of the ghost pepper hot sauce in his mouth.
"You need to learn how to have more respect for those that are your authority, and you also need to stop being such a smart alec. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to try this what you and Shiro, made for us." Commander Iverson told Keith, before putting the nugget in his mouth.
"Keith is right about that sauce, Commander Iverson." Shiro entered the conversation from where he was standing serving the meal to the Galaxy Garrison, members.
"It's not really hot until after you swallow it, Commander Iverson. Commander Iverson, are you okay?" Keith's warning quickly turned into a question of concern as the commander's face turned red. "This is the hottest hot sauce I ever have eaten. I can't believe you made this!" Iverson exclaimed, as he quickly walked back to the two saucepans and put up the two signs. "You are right Keith, these signs need to be here, to warn people. My mouth feels like it's on fire right now." The Commander said, before running out of the room in search of some milk to calm down the burn that was left in his throat over the Ghost pepper sauce.
"Wow, if it was hot enough to make Commander Iverson run, that has really got to be some hot, hot sauce!" Having spent time at the Galaxy Garrison, Pidge had a hard time believing that Keith's hot sauce had sent the commander running. Lance, however, thought it was funny.
"Just imagining Commander Iverson running out of the room over the hot sauce is a hoot!" Lance pictured the scene in his mind still laughing, having also spent time in the Galaxy Garrison, the blue Paladin took great humor picturing Commander Iverson running out of the room, was humorous to him.
"The Galaxy Garrison members didn't know what to think after Commander Iverson left. The room actually got pretty quiet after he ran out, but things got lively again fast when one of the younger cadets stepped up saying he wanted to try the Ghost pepper sauce if it made Commander Iverson run.
"If the commander couldn't handle the sauce, it surely must have been hard for the cadet to swallow." Allura said, looking at Shiro, waiting to hear what he was going to say.
"You are certainly right about that Princess. I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance for the cadet and Keith." Shiro's words caused both the blue and green Paladins jaws to drop.
"Why did you almost have to call an ambulance, Shiro? Was it because the hot sauce was so hot, it almost made someone pass out?" Lance asked, having eaten hot sauce before he, he had heard of some people coming close to passing out or having breathing trouble after such a sauce.
"Yes Lance, that is exactly what almost happened. The one that ate the sauce actually did pass and I thought Keith was going to have a panic attack because he was scared the cadet was going to die because he ate the sauce, and wasn't able to handle the heat." Shiro filled the everyone in, before continuing the story that he really wanted to finish before Keith came back in. The black Paladin was now thinking that Keith may have noticed that there was a chair for Allura in the room, but going to get the princess a chair, gave him an excuse to leave the room, so he didn't have to reminded of his past misfortune, but what he did not know was that Keith was on his way to lounge, with a chair in hand.
"Wow, if that hot sauce made Commander Iverson, run out of the room, I have to try it."
A cadet stepped forward, taking one of the bowls that were placed on the table.
"Just be careful, having one person look like they were going to pass out was enough." Keith told the cadet, as he started spooning the hot sauce into a bowl.
"Don't worry, back home I eat hot sauce and hot tacos a lot, even though I've never eaten hot sauce with a ghost pepper before, I should be able to handle this." The cadet said, dipping his nugget. I can't wait to tell my sister I ate hot sauce with a ghost pepper, she's going to tell I'm crazy." He said, before putting the nugget into his mouth.
"This isn't that hot. What was Commander Iverson, thinking?" The cadet continued chewing the nugget, that he had been eating.
"That's what everyone said, until after they have swallowed it." Keith said, right as the cadet swallowed the sauce covered chicken nugget.
Keith was about to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that the cadet was going to be okay, and that like Shiro was going to be able to eat the sauce completely unaffected. "Hey Shiro, someone other than you can eat my hottest… sauce." Keith's voice trailed off as he watched the pilot's face turn a bright shade red, followed by a cough and the cadet gasping for breath.
"Sir, are you alright?" Keith asked nervously, but as the coughing continued and the gasping for breath had continued, Shiro left the serving table and started walking over to where the cadet and Keith were standing.
"Shiro he can't breathe, he's going to die!" Keith fearfully voiced his concern, as the cadet dropped to the floor, still gasping for breath. Several of the Galaxy Garrison, attendants had come over to try and help, whereas others fled the room in fear, that there was going to witness a death over hot sauce.
"One of you call an ambulance right now!" Shiro told the crowd that was gathered around the gasping for air cadet, who was now passed out and the panicking Keith. Shiro let out a sigh of relief when heard someone dialing a phone.
"An ambulance? I'm going to kill him! This wasn't supposed to happen! I am never going to make the hot sauce again!" Keith shrieked, still in a state of panic and fear.
"Keith, you need to calm down. I don't want to have to call an ambulance for you to." Shiro tried to calm Keith while performing CPR on the cadet, who was still gasping.
"He needs an ambulance, not me. I'm fine!" Keith knelt beside the man, hoping that Shiro's CPR, was going to work. The thought of someone dying from his hot sauce was more than the what the younger teen could handle.
"Keith, back up a little. I need the room and if he happens to wake up, he's not going to want you hovering over him." Shiro looked at Keith, who like the cadet, wasn't looking to good either, his face covered in sweat, along with an unusual fearful expression on his face. Shiro was about to have someone continue CPR on the cadet, so he could calm down Keith.
"I'll back up but what can I do?" Keith asked, looking towards Shiro who was continuing the CPR. "If he dies it's my fault!" Keith continued to freak out. Shiro knew he had to do something to settle him down, but at the moment the best he could do was just talk to him, and hope his words would be enough.
"Keith, just calm down and-
"Calm down? Shiro, if he dies, I would have been the one to kill him!" Keith cried out, as the EMT 's came rushing through the door. Once the EMT's reached and started treating the cadet, Shiro wasted no time, in running over to Keith.
"Keith, listen to me for a minute." Shiro put his hand on Keith's shoulder, "It's alright now, the EMT's are here, they are treating him, he is going to be fine."
"I'm sorry for freaking out. I just got.. scared for once." Keith didn't want to admit to being scared but his actions proved otherwise. He was still feeling a little shaken up over the incident, but he was finally starting to settle down some.
"It's fine Keith, everyone gets scared sometimes, even I do, but this wasn't your fault, you didn't want to hurt him, it just unfortunately happened." Shiro words finally calmed done the young stressed teenager, but as he soon as he had calmed down, he started to tense up again as he and Shiro saw Commander Iverson walking towards them.
"It wasn't his fault?! He was the one that made that dreaded sauce!" Commander Iverson confronted both Shiro for what he said and Keith for making the sauce.
"Commander Iverson, Keith made the sauce, yes, but he didn't make or force that cadet to eat it" Shiro took his hand off Keith's shoulder to pull the boy closer to him, sensing how tense he was starting to get. Keith did warn him, but your cadet just simply took to much, at one time. Now answer me this Commander Iverson, how is that Keith's fault, besides the fact he made the sauce as you were just trying to say?" Shiro questioned the commander who seemed a little shocked over that Shiro had questioned him.
"That boy's hot sauce nearly costed the life of one of my men, I don't see how this is anyone else's fault, but his." Commander Iverson pointed to Keith, who was speaking, but Shiro stepped in for him, instead.
"And I was alright with him making it Commander Iverson, so it was just as much my fault as it was his." Even though Keith was the one to make the sauce, Shiro couldn't let him take the full blame for it in a good conscious, considering he thought it was great idea for the boy to make it He even took Keith's suggestion for the chicken nuggets because it was the perfect meal to go with the two hot sauces.
"I'm sorry Commander Iverson. I didn't want to hurt him, it just unfortunately happened." Keith stepped away from Shiro to stand in front of Iverson. Keith knew that facing him with an apology was the only thing that he could do, at the moment to smooth all of this over and he was hoping that he could use his words, to help settle down the angry Commander Iverson.
"You should be sorry, you could have killed him, but what is done is done, and there is nothing anyone can do about it now." Commander Iverson said, causing Keith to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Who was the cadet that passed out over the hot sauce, Shiro?" Pidge asked, curious on who it was if the man was used to hot food and sauce and still passed out from it, she was curious to find out if it was anyone she or even Lance may have known during their time at the Galaxy Garrison.
"It was your brother, Matt." Shiro told the green Paladin, whose jaw almost hit the floor in disbelief.
"WHAT?! I can't believe Matt passed out from Keith's hot sauce, he could eat the spiciest food out of my whole family! If I didn't know you so well Shiro, I would have thought you were kidding. That's unbelievable!" Pidge exclaimed not realizing that Keith was outside the door.
"I can't believe you told them all about that!" Keith stepped into the lounge setting down the chair down in complete humiliation and disgust. He couldn't believe that Shiro of all people could humiliate him so much.
"I'm sorry Keith, I didn't want to upset you." Shiro said, as he was telling the story, he was starting to feel bad about telling everyone about Keith's 'meltdown', but the black Paladin really wasn't expecting Keith to be quite this upset, he was only fourteen at the time after all.
"After I finally calmed down, I was embarrassed enough over that. I never lived it down and you told all of them!" Keith pointed in the direction of Pidge, Lance, and Allura. They had seen Keith upset before, but never to this extent with Shiro, the princess and Paladins decided it was best to remain silent until the red and black Paladin, resolved their current problem.
"Keith, I really-"
"And I can't believe you told Pidge, it was her own brother that I nearly killed that day!" Keith started to walk towards Shiro in a fury. The black Paladin was thinking about what to say, as Keith walked closer to him. He started to have doubts after Keith left the room on if he should even tell Pidge, Lance and Allura, about that happening he know wished he didn't, seeing how much it had upset Keith.
"You were just the last person I would have ever expected to ever talk about my most humiliating moments, Shiro!" Keith said, before leaving the lounge. Shiro was trying to decide if he should have followed the red Paladin, but Shiro knew it if he tried to talk to Keith now, he wouldn't get anywhere, so the black Paladin, thought it was best, to let the red Paladin blow off some steam first.
Shiro walked the hall that lead to Keith's room. The red paladin had been like a brother to him for years and knowing how much Keith had looked up to him, the black Paladin was feeling very saddened over how much he had humiliated Keith.
"Keith." Shiro knocked on the door.
Keith, if you are in there, please open this door." Shiro knocked on the door again. He knew Keith wasn't in the training room and Red was still in the castle, so the only place the Red Paladin could have been was his room.
"Go away, Shiro! I don't want to talk right now!" Keith's reply was sharp, showing how upset he truly was. Shiro sighed, trying to decide if he should leave the door and come back to try and talk to Keith later, or if he should keep knocking and hope the red Paladin would let him in/
"Keith, I really need to talk to you." Shiro practically pleaded. His tone was sincere, Keith got up from his bed and started to walk towards his door. Shiro not knowing this had started to walk away from the door, but he quickly turned around, when he heard the door open.
"Come in." Keith said straightly before Shiro entered the room.
"I'm sure you know, why I wanted to talk to you." Shiro looked towards Keith, who just crossed his arms, looking at Shiro, contemplating what he wanted to say.
"Shiro, if you have something to say, just say it." Keith said, arms still crossed, clearly annoyed.
"I'm sorry for humiliating you, Keith." Shiro laid out his apology. Keith could tell that the black Paladin, was sincere about his apology, the sincerity caused the anger of humiliation that was within the red Paladin to slowly melt away.
"Thanks, Shiro. I know you didn't mean or want to humiliate me." Keith accepted his apology. I was just... They were…" Keith tried to say more but just couldn't seem to get the words to come out right. Shiro was glad that Keith was willing to accept his apology, especially after how upset he was, over the whole ordeal, but the black Paladin could tell that Keith, was still feeling a little down and bothered by what had happened.
"I'm sorry Shiro, you were just trying to have a little fun with the team, and I…" Keith started to speak but was unsure of how he wanted to say that the words that were on his mind if he even wanted to say them at all.
"Keith, I appreciate the fact that you also apologized to me, but I understand what you are trying to say. I did not want to hurt or humiliate you, but I did, and I can understand why you would be angry about that." Shiro was always so understanding which was something that Keith, had grown to really appreciate about him. The red Paladin could think of so many times that Shiro had come to his rescue in the past with his understanding and caring demeanor. He also knew that Shiro didn't want to hurt him by telling the others about his break down after Matt passed out, but Keith had to admit though that having his new friends laugh over one of his life's most embarrassing moments did hurt him, even though he knew it wasn't completely Shiro's fault that they had laughed and found humor in it.
"I know you didn't. I'm not sure about Lance, Pidge, and Allura though." Keith let out a sigh picturing in his mind's eye, his three friends as they laughed and found humor, in his misfortunes, but what Keith didn't know, was that when Shiro told them about Matt passing out and Keith's 'breakdown' they actually felt sorry for him.
"Keith, yes they did find humor in a lot of what I told them, but they were not laughing when I told them about how Matt passed out, and once they found out how scared you got over when you thought he was to die, I could tell by the looks on their faces, they actually felt sorry for you."
"Good. Because we can't be a good team like you want us to be if we are going to be laughing at each other when we mess up." Keith uncrossed arms, feeling more relieved now, causing a smile to appear on Shiro's face.
"That's right, and I promise next time I tell stories, I'll be more considerate, of those that may have been involved." Shiro said, before letting out a small laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"You should have seen the look on Pidges face when she found out Matt was the cadet that passed out from your hot sauce," Shiro explained, as Keith let out another sigh.
"She is probably going to want to kill me later, for almost killing her brother." Keith knew how close Pidge was to her brother, Keith could picture his mind the green Paladin running after him with her bayard wanting to fight, for what he put her brother though.
"Pidge said Matt could eat the spiciest food, in their whole family, so she was more shocked than anything."
"So he was telling us the truth when he said that," Keith said, before snickering to himself. "He could have fooled me."
"Now who is the one laughing?" Shiro asked, causing Keith to quickly stop snickering.
"I wasn't laughing. I was just thinking about Pidge, even if she wanted to fight later, she wouldn't be a match for me anyway."
"I really don't think she is going to want to fight you, Keith. She said while we were eating, she wanted you to make some of that hot sauce so she could try, just so she could see if it was really as hot as I said it was."
"If Pidge wants to try my hot sauce, I will gladly make some of it for her and the rest of the team to try, but I'm going to put a warning sign on the sauce, just as a reminder that if it was hot enough to make someone like Matt pass out, it could have an even hotter impact on them. I don't want another person to pass over this sauce, one was bad enough." Keith said, finally feeling calmed down and back to his usual self. The red Paladin was actually looking forward to making his 'famous hot sauce' again, although he didn't want to admit it.
"That sounds like a plan Keith. I honestly thought the sauce was good enough for you to sell if you wanted you could something like, warning eat at your own risk." Shiro laughed at his joke, even though Keith didn't quite the humor in it. He was thinking of what he should call the hot sauce, and then the thought, and even he couldn't hold back smiling.
"I don't I'm going to put this sauce on the market, but I do know what I want to call it."
"You don't usually smile like that, Keith, so this must be a good idea you have," Shiro noted that fact before asking the question, that Keith was expecting him to ask. "What are you going to call this hot sauce of yours?"
"This as we have many times is a really hot, hot sauce, a lot of people are scared to even try it, as a Paladin of Voltron, I am the pilot of the red lion, whose element of fire, is just as fiery as my hot sauce, so I am going to call it... " Keith paused for a moment to give Shiro time to guess what he was going to call the sauce when Shiro didn't have an answer, Keith announced his title.
"I'm going to call it, the red Paladin hot sauce!" Keith exclaimed the title, causing Shiro to start laughing, the title for the hot sauce was truly perfect, and Keith the red Paladin couldn't have prouder of it.
A/N: With that my first Voltron comes to a close. I actually started writing this before season 6 even came out, but because to my move and everything that comes with a move, I was not able to finish this story until now, so I hope this was fun for everyone to read! I had fun writing it, especially One of my favorite scenes to write was the Shiro and Keith in the kitchen scene, and having Shiro stand up to Commander Iverson later in Keith's defense was just something I personally thought Shiro would do, and it was kind of cute to picture Shiro come to a younger Keith's defense. Or was I the only one? Haha! Although I did really enjoy incorporating Lance, Pidge and later Allura's reactions to Shiro's story. Who suspected Matt to be the cadet who passed out, when a sister was mentioned? Having that cadet being Matthew Holt was actually Knight's idea, she comes up with awesome ideas! Keith, melting the spoon, was actually inspired by a time when I melted a plastic cooking spoon while cooking the homemade hot sauce. LOL! I wish I could have gotten Hunk and Coran in this story, but since I wasn't able to find a way to, I will have to try and get them in my next Voltron fanfic, permitting the fact I can come up with another idea for our Paladins. If you all enjoyed the story, please continue, adding it to your favorites. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day or evening!