The Klance Lives of Christmas Chapter 1, a voltron: legendary defender fanfic

Keith groaned as he made his way to class. He already had had a cup of coffee, but it hadn't kicked in yet to his dismay. Shiro, his close friend, co-worker, and classmate, easily noted this.

"You could just go to bed earlier you know?"

"Shut up Shiro. I don't need the dad talk from you."

The older male with black hair and a strip of white covering most of the front, merely chuckled at his response as he took a sip of his own coffee with his metal prosthetic arm. Although the campus was fairly small, walking to their class always took a while, since the parking lot was nowhere near it. Keith, already not a morning person, suffered only more so with making the effort.

"Tell me why again I'm not dead yet?" he muttered as the door to the lab approached their view. "No. Wait don't. My brain's still dead from studying."

Shiro replied anyway. "Because your sister and I make an effort to keep you alive. Besides, you've loved animals since you were a kid and you never back down from a challenge."

Keith groaned because he couldn't argue with that.

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The flash went off for the nth time, but that didn't seem to bother Lance as he posed in front of the camera.

"Dude, you're not the only who's gonna show up on the calendar," piped in Hunk jokingly as he stood on the side with the rest of the group that were waiting for their turn.

"Mate, y're gonna eat up the mem'ry of that SD card before we get our photos taken."

"You're just jealous," he declared in a sing song voice as he posed again with a shit eating grin. Shay, the photographer, giggled at how ridiculous he was behaving, but then again this was Lance they were dealing with.

"Come on son. It's Coran's turn now," jumped in Alfor, the father figure of the group, as he snatched the showy boy by the collar and dragged him out of the view. Obviously Lance wasn't content with how he crossed his arms and pouted.

Shay worked with the quirky Australian as he made some very exaggerated expressions at the camera that had the gang chuckling at how hard he was trying. Hunk complimented her skills as she succeeded in getting some good natural looking shots of Coran. She blushed at the praise and was about to continue when—

The fire alarm went off.

"Alright men! Let's go! Let's Go!" shouted Alfor as he clapped his hands together to hurry them up. They immediately suited up for whatever the emergency was this time. Shay watched them prepare without getting in the way before waving them off. "Good luck guys!"

Shiro sighed as he noticed Keith having fallen asleep yet again with a hand holding the side of his face and his elbow resting on the table. The coffee hadn't helped at all he realized and continued taking notes as professor Iverson spoke, "Feline dilated cardiomyopathy and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are both common in many species. Your pussycat patient may present with...Mr. Kogane? Can you tell us what symptoms a cat with cardiomyopathy might present with?"

Aw crap.

He couldn't waste time. Shiro knocked away Keith's elbow to make his hand release the hold on the side of his face and snap him awake. It wasn't fast enough since the raven haired boy found himself blinking his eyes open to a professor Iverson with a sarcastic grin.

"Mr. Kogane? Feline heart disease. Care to explain to the class—"

"Low pitch cough, breathing difficulties, possible weight loss or gain, reduced mobility, swelling of the abdomen-"

"That's enough-"

"Heart disease typically causes the heart to enlarge and the enlargement causes the loss of efficiency-"

"Kogane!"

He froze as the professor made a facepalm of defeat at failing to humiliate him. "Just go back to sleep."

Shiro finally released the laughter he was holding the instant they were in the parking lot. "I can't believe you just destroyed Iverson! He was fuming and ready to rain hell on you."

"I don't even remember half of it since I fell back asleep..." replied Keith as he yawned and finally felt a little less dead after the small nap in class.

"Seriously though Keith," started his close friend as he finally caught his breath, "you should balance out stuff in your life more."

At this Keith huffed, blowing a few strands of his hair away from his face. "I don't need to do anything. I just gotta get through school and work, and I'll be fine."

"Come on. There's nothing wrong with relaxing a little. When's the last time you went on a date?"

"I don't need this."

"Keith. It's Christmas."

"NO! Don't you dare go dad on me!"

Shiro was giving him a deadpan stare at this point. He sighed at his best friend's stubbornness. "Just think about it will ya?"

Keith rolled his eyes, but sighed, "After I graduate then, sure."

"Well, I tried," admitted the dad figure with a shrug as they approached Keith's car. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Bye" he replied with a small smile to his close friend and opened the door to the driver's side. He had just gotten in and was putting in his messenger bag when the sound of siren caught him off guard and made him knock his head against the door frame. He cursed as he rubbed at the place of impact before hearing the damn sound again as the truck passed. He looked up and made eye contact with one of the firefighters who sent a cocky grin and some finger guns his way. Keith was really unsure of what to make of the situation, but shrugged it off and went to work.

"Seriously. You're gonna make me depressed the more you read out loud these symptoms for all sorts of diseases cats don't deserve."

Keith smirked as he looked up from restocking some canned cat food. "You've got headphones to block me out you know?"

"Don't you dare turn this on me! I'm trying to be responsible!"

"Uhuh."

"Besides, all the symptoms you just read match me to a T today. I think you'll be a great doctor."

"Pidge...I'm sorry, but you may have feline kidney failure," he says pitifully at her.

"Or I pulled another insane all nighter?" she added with a sheepish smile and a shrug as Keith shook his head in disbelief.

The bell at the door of Altea's Pet Supply Store jingled to signal that another customer had entered and Pidge turned to see who it was before sighing exhaustedly, "They're back."

At the entrance stood a chubby elderly man, talking to one of the workers and asking for assistance as they held a barking yorky in one arm. The store owner Rolo with his purple dyed hair, popped up by where Keith and Pidge were. "Any volunteers to help Mr. Arusian guys?"

"Just send Pidge in and hope for a miracle."

"You realize you're asking for a disaster right? Not even his dog likes me. It only likes Keith."

"Looks like we got a winner," added Rolo with a small smirk towards him.

The raven haired male merely rolled his eyes. "Fiiiine Pidge, but you owe me a coffee."

She grinned. "You got a deal."

Lance was fumbling for the keys to his door, but he dropped them in the midst of finding the right one. "Seriously?" he murmured as he bent down to pick it up.

In the same instant two things happened:

He heard a barking dog approach the porch-

and a cat jumped onto his back to rest on on his shoulder as he stood up.

"What the quiznak-" he started, caught off guard by the event before he regained his composure and proceeded to shoo the dog away. He sighed as he carefully removed the cat from it's perch and placed it on the ground. "Next time, be a little careful where you go bud."

The firefighter figured the cat would scurry and turned away to open the door to his house. He then quickly made his way to the kitchen to find something to snack on when he nearly jumped in hearing a meow come from behind him.

"Really?" he rhetorically asked as he went over to the island to take a closer look at the grey furred feline.

"What's your name anyway?" he probed before looking at the collar. "Hm...Blue," he murmured and took note that it was probably due to the eyes it had. Same said cat then approached his hand in asking to be petted and purred when Lance relented by scratching behind one of his ears. "Huh," he said affably. "You're pretty cute," he mentioned as the cat looked at him curiously, "but I work a 24 hour shift."

"Plus, staying this gorgeous is like a second job," mentioned the tall male as he gave Blue a cocky grin and finger guns.

The feline became very excited and with grace quickly climbed his arm to perch on his shoulder again with the addition of rubbing happily against his neck.

Lance had to admit it. This kitty was way too adorable and he knew it'd be the death of him, but...

"Fine," he surrendered as he made a facepalm at himself. "Only one night though. Then in the morning we're looking for your owner."

Blue simply kept purring.

Keith was recounting some vocabulary terms from one of his other subjects as he approached the stairwell to his door when someone popped out from behind one of the walls. "Keith!"

"HOLY QUIZNAK!" he yelped as he jumped back, ready to fight, and stopped when he heard a familiar cackle that could only belong to his landlord. "Oh...Haggar. Um...good evening?" He honestly never understood how someone so old enjoyed giving people mini heart attacks on a daily basis. In that this wasn't the first time she'd surprised him.

"Evening to you too boy. I have question for you," she said, suddenly serious.

"Sure. Ask away," he replied nonchalantly and not curious as to what she'd ask about. Typically, it would be random like if he knew any places that sold weird plants or crystals. One time she even asked if he knew where they sold a variety of candles.

"Rax said they heard a cat this morning during his daily jog. Have you heard anything?"

The raven haired boy froze. "Oh really? I mean there's always cats wandering the area-"

"He distinctly heard it coming from your apartment building."

He blinked a few times before he finally found something to say after fighting off the desire to gawk in a panic. "I'm not sure what to tell you ma'm, but I'll keep a lookout for anything. Having no pets is the first rule here."

She nodded a little too happily. "Yes. Yes. It would mean immediate eviction."

Keith smiled back warily before she headed off to do whatever she did in her free time. Once out of sight, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and proceeded to enter his apartment. Momentarily he basked in the warmth of the room before checking to see if Haggar was still lurking around. There were times that he'd spot her walking around with a candle right after talking to her and it added to list how he couldn't understand how she even knew how to manage being a landlord, much less pay bills.

Once he was done checking and removed his jacket, he quietly called out, "I'm home Red."

The excited meowing that increased in loudness as it approached him was something Keith could never get over, especially with how adorable it sounded. It never stopped either until Red hopped from the ground into his arms to be held like a baby. He laughed and cradled her as he took a seat by the small dining table in the kitchen. Keith briefly went over his day as Red purred happily or would make comments through some more cute meows.

"Ready to have some dinner-"

"Meerow," she replied happily as she climbed up shoulders to observe him cook.

"-before I dive into another murderous session of studying?"

Her next response was grimmer than her first one.

"Yeaaaaah," he sighed. "I don't look forward to it either."

Lance was again caught deep in reading another fanfiction.

He hadn't intended to read all of it, but the plot and character development had been so good that he couldn't help but welcome the fact that it was long. So consumed he was that he didn't notice when Blue had jumped onto the bed to rest by the warmth of his long shaven legs.

"Oh no. No. Off the bed."

Blue looked at him as if hoping the cuteness would win him over again. The firefighter made the wise decision to not look him in the eye as he got up and swooped up the feline to drop him off outside. "Sorry cutie, but I gotta draw the line somewhere. Beauty sleep is a priority for me."

He swung the door closed as he yawned, careful to not ruin the face mask he was wearing for his skin. Nevertheless, he failed to checked if the lock had clicked into place as he dozed off the sleep wearing headphones playing Crystallize by Lindsey Stirling.

The feline pushed at the door with his paw, hoping to get the firefighter's attention, but received a better response when it opened silently and slowly. He crept towards the bed and hopped on before taking the opportunity to curl up on his chest, happily basking in the warmth Lance provided.