Voltron || ShiKeiLan || Voltron || The Lion's Pride || Voltron || ShiKeiLan || Voltron
Title: The Lion's Pride – The Kitten's Needs
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Disclaimer: All rights to the remake reserved to DreamWorks, Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos, and for the original to Toei Animation. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Warnings: shounen-ai, moresome, aliens, ABO-verse, explicit intercourse, anal, oral, knotting, past abuse, hurt/comfort
Main Pairing: Shiro/Keith/Lance
Voltron Characters: Lance, Azul | Blue Lion, Keith, Krasnaya | Red Lion, Takashi 'Shiro' Shirogane, Kuro | Black Lion, Pidge Gunderson | Katie Holt, Grønn | Green Lion, Hunk, Melemele | Yellow Lion, Princess Allura, Coran
Summary: When Pidge confesses to the team that she's a female alpha and explains why she hid her true gender, the team catches on that Pidge isn't the only one covering up her status – they realize Lance is a male omega. They don't want to confront him, because they want him to be comfortable enough to tell them on his own, so the team makes an extra-effort to make Lance feel cherished. What they don't know is that being an omega isn't the only secret he has...
The Lion's Pride
The Kitten's Needs
Chapter 2: Presents
For the first time did they got to dock at a space-harbor. Getting more supplies, some actual medical supplies just in case they'd need first aid when out with their lions and too far away from the healing pots in the castle, as well as food – not green goo, but actual proper food. All the Paladins insisted on that one. And they were also all very excited about this. They decided to split up and explore the harbor, considering this was the very first space-harbor the Paladins were visiting. Allura stayed behind on the castle-ship, just to make sure. They had enough experience with people trying to hijack it or destroy it whenever they let their guard down. Pidge and Hunk went with Coran to make sure the Altean would actually get real proper food. Both humans also wanted to get supplies for repair works. Keith and Shiro went on to get medical supplies and agreed to babysit Lance, who had screamed the loudest that he wanted to explore. Neither Pidge nor Hunk commented on it, both just exchanged knowing grins. Shiro had the dreadful hunch that the two knew what kind of interest Keith and Shiro had in the omega. Not that there would be any talking about that though; Lance still hadn't admitted to being an omega and Keith and Shiro were still trying to keep a low profile on their relationship. Even though Keith had told Shiro what Lance had said last week. That Lance, Pidge and Hunk knew. So one could say their relationship was an open secret. And even though there was no verbal confirmation from Shiro and Keith, the two of them started to hold hands or lean against each other even when they were among the team. It was an unspoken confirmation. So the two of them were also holding hands as they trailed after Lance at the harbor.
"He's so... cute", whispered Keith, saying the word with such distaste.
Shiro grinned amused, laying his metal arm around Keith's shoulders. "Don't always say that like it's something bad. The way I learned it, omegas are supposed to be cute."
"Yes, but it... it irritates me", huffed Keith. "It makes it harder to fight my instincts. Makes me want to... scoop him up and just hold him. It's irritating, Shiro. I don't do cuddling."
Shiro tried to keep from laughing at the downright whine that escaped Keith's throat at that. Keith was not the most affectionate person Shiro had ever met; he guessed that came with being a lone wolf for so long, living in a hut in the middle of nowhere. Even before that, he hadn't really integrated well into the Garrison, which had led to him being kicked out. It was also part of why Keith and Shiro had gotten together, because omegas required a lot of coddling and cuddling and physical affections, something Keith wasn't good at. He thought being with an alpha would be easier. He had not taken Lance into account though, because the omega had hit him like a train – and it wasn't even his scent since that was still blocked and suppressed. Shiro found himself carefully curious to see how Keith would react once Lance was off his suppressants and would actually smell like sweet, protection-worthy omega. On the other hand, Shiro was terrified of how much his own control would slip once he'd actually be hit by Lance's scent...
"Look", growled Keith, nudging Shiro.
Shaking his head, Shiro focused back on the present. Lance was a couple shops ahead, marveling at the merchandise presented outside the little shop. His blue eyes were bright and sparkling, cheeks just a tint of pink and mouth forming a beautiful smile as he looked at a plush toy. A round blue ball? No, stepping just a little closer, Shiro could see that it had a tail that was curled at the tip and two triangular ears as well as a kind of cute face stitched on. It was a cat. A fluffy, blue cat and Lance looked ridiculously happy as he ran his fingers through the apparently soft fur of the toy. Then something must have happened, some thought-process in Lance's mind, because the smile died down and he cast his eyes down as he pulled his hand away from the toy and continued on his way without another glance spared at the toy. Shiro frowned displeased. He didn't like seeing any of his team and pack-mates sad, but considering Lance was his chosen omega, it hurt his alpha-pride even more to see him upset. Not to mention, it drove him insane not to know what had caused the very sudden mood-change. There was something Lance was hiding from them. Something dark and sad that hurt the omega deep inside and Shiro wanted to take the hurt away and make it better. That was his job as the Alpha and it was the job he wanted as Lance's alpha. Determination swelled in his chest as he made a decision and turned toward Keith to discuss it with his mate. Just to find Keith missing, no longer standing next to Shiro. Panic flashed through Shiro's eyes, thinking he had lost his mate, but one quick look around found Keith at the shop where Lance had been just moments ago, with the same blue cat-thing in his hand and handing his Galaxy Credits Card to the shop-keeper. Shiro snorted and shook his head. Of course Keith would get the same idea as Shiro.
"You're pretty cute yourself", stated Shiro in a teasing way as he stepped up to Keith. "Buying Lance a stuffed toy because Lance looked at it longingly, mh?"
"Call me cute again, you'll lose the other arm too", warned Keith with a hiss.
Shiro smirked knowingly and refrained from commenting any further. All of them had gotten fancy plexiglass-like credit cards from Allura, telling them to buy whatever they wished for or deemed necessary. Apparently, there was still the royal fortune in the dungeons of the castle and money? Money was the last thing they needed to worry about for a long while. Which was nice, considering getting jobs was sort of not a possibility what with saving the world and all.
/break\
By the time they got back from the space-harbor, Lance was feeling pretty shitty. He sat in front of his bed, on the floor, with his arms folded on his knees and his head resting on them. He took deep, calming breaths. He hated those urges. Those omega-urges. He saw something cute and fluffy and he wanted to have it. Wanted to cuddle it. Omegas were known to gather pillows and soft blankets and soft clothes because they preferred the feeling of soft materials. Normally, an omega could keep from behaving as embarrassing as Lance had today though; going starry-eyed at a stupid stuffed toy like it was some precious treasure. Heck, Lance could normally control himself better. But it had been just too long since he left home for the Garrison, since he last indulged in cuddles and snuggles and building nests of soft, comfy things to hide in.
"If you deny your instincts too long, pequeño, they will come for you with a vengeance. Rather indulge a little in them every now and again than allow it to become overwhelming."
Ah, abuela's wisdom. If only Lance would listen to her more often. He smiled, a small and bitter expression, as he thought of his family. Before he had a chance to let the memory drag him down into a dark swirl of missing his family and his home and the beach and the sun and everything that meant Earth, there was a knocking on his door that startled him. Taking another deep breath to calm his racing heart, he got up and opened the door with a fake cheerful smile plastered over his face.
"Shiro! Shitty hair! Whatever can I do for you? Thought you'd use the downtime for some one-on-one action", grinned Lance, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows, relishing in Keith's flushed face.
"Shiro, I changed my mind", growled Keith displeased, making to turn around.
Shiro huffed and grabbed his mate by the neck and turned him back around. Growling irritated, Keith reluctantly thrust the plastic bag in his hand out at Lance, glaring pointedly at the omega. Lance blinked confused before he carefully took the bag as though it might just explode. When he opened it to look inside, he had to keep from squeaking. There was the blue stuffed plush toy inside. The very same he had been eying at the harbor! That meant... they had seen that embarrassing display of omega-neediness, as Lance liked to call it. His eyes widened panicked.
"We saw you pick that out earlier", stated Shiro with a kind smile. "But... you must have forgotten to buy it, so we figured we could get it for you."
"Knowing you, you probably just got distracted by something shiny", snorted Keith.
Lance frowned confused by that. They didn't push for an explanation. If they saw him look at the toy, they saw that he didn't get distracted by something shiny. But instead of asking for an explanation – or demanding one, considering Shiro was the pack Alpha – they even offered him an excuse. An easy way out, to just take the toy and not explain anything. He had no idea why they'd do that – well, Shiro because he was probably the kindest sweetest person in the universe, but Keith hated Lance's guts. Right? The normally witty, cheeky reply he usually had for Keith was dead on his tongue as he just stared at the stuffed toy, trying to understand what it meant.
"...Thanks", grunted Lance, unsure what else to say.
"No problem, Lance", smiled Shiro, patting Lance's head.
/break\
The next morning, Keith had the doubtful honor to wake Lance up. The other slept like a stone, so the team took turns waking him up in the morning. Knocking didn't help, so Keith sneaked into the room. He sputtered at what he saw. Lance was curled together in the middle of what could only be described as a nest made of his blanket and pillows. He was curled together, but he was also hugging something. Something blue. When Keith stepped closer, he saw that Lance was curled around the stuffed toy, hugging it close to his chest as he snored peacefully. That snoring though. It really did sound like a kitten's purring, making Keith grin even broader as he sat down on the bed.
"Lance. La—ance. Time to wake up", called Keith out, flipping Lance's nose.
"No—o", groaned Lance, burying his face in his blanket.
"But then Hunk will eat all the space-bacon we bought at the harbor", argued Keith.
"...No...", grumbled Lance displeased by that. "Take the bacon away from Hunk!"
Keith snorted amused as Lance quite clearly still tried to fight off the sleepiness. "C'mon kotik, it's time to wake up. Because if I don't get my bacon, I will blame you."
"Kot-what-now?", grunted Lance confused as he sat up and glared at Keith. "Did you just insult me in Russian?! Just you wait, you jerk-"
"I didn't insult you, moron", sighed Keith and rolled his eyes, though there was the faintest trace of pink on his pale cheeks. "Kotik means... kitten. I called you a kitten."
"...Why in the world would you do that?", asked Lance, panicked confusion in his eyes.
"Because you snore. But it sounds like a cat purring", shrugged Keith, trying to act casual. "Also, you sleep cuddling a plush-kitten like a cat protecting her kit, so yeah..."
Lance's face was tomato-red and that reaction was even worth the embarrassment of admitting what the nickname meant. It may even be worth using the name more frequently. Honestly, it had just slipped, because he was still tired and his omega made cute kitten-sounds.
"Shut up, jerk!", hissed Lance, throwing his pillow at Keith's face. "Not my fault AJ is so soft!"
"...You... you named the toy?", asked Keith before bursting into laughter.
The red intensified and Lance threw a second pillow. "Azul Junior! It's not like super-creative! Also, shut up, shut up, shut up, shitty hair! And get outta my room so I can get changed!"
Keith fled the scene before he'd get hit by something harder than a pillow. But damn, the omega was making all of Keith's embarrassment totally worth it. He had been awkward about giving Lance the plush toy, but seeing Lance so obviously cherish the gift he had gotten from Keith and Shiro? It made his chest swell with pride and his inner alpha preen proudly. He made a mental note of buying Lance more cute things to surround (and embarrass) the cute omega with.
/break\
Lance sat in the middle of his bed, looking around a bit bewildered. He had no idea how this had happened. But ever since their first stop at a space-harbor three weeks ago, his pack had... they had started to buy him stuff. With Pidge and Hunk, it were just blankets, claiming they were to 'shut him up because he kept complaining that he had cold feet' (or at least Pidge had said so, Hunk just smiled at him broadly in that charming way of his). But with Shiro and Keith it were fluffy pillows or socks (because yeah, the cold feet thing was the truth) or even soft hoodies and by now a total of five stuffed toys. 'So AJ isn't so alone', Keith had teased.
Shaking himself, he straightened his back and got out of bed. It was still way early. Far earlier than he normally got up. Or at least earlier than he used to get up. He had started getting up earlier and making breakfast for the pack. He had also started... tending to his pack, in lack of a better word. They had bought him so many blankets by now that he had put a couple of them on the common-room couches for when the team would curl together and watch ridiculous alien-movies with bad English sub-titles. Pidge had ripped her favorite turtleneck – the one she had been wearing when the group had gotten into this mess – and Lance had taken it secretly and stitched it back together. At first she had been surprised to find the fixed piece of clothing on the couch, but then they saw Lance's fingers wrapped in band-aids and put two and two together. He had been defensive about it, claimed he was the only one who at least knew how to stitch, even if it had been a while (hence the band-aids). He cooked, even though he wasn't the best cook in the world, he was apparently better than Hunk, which made the tall alpha nearly drop on his knees and kiss Lance's feet (the poor guy was really missing normal human food). But in a big family such as Lance's, one needed to learn how to cook to survive – because between all the mouths that needed to be fed, everyone had to put in some effort and provide something for the dining table. Granted, cooking with the weird alien-meats and alien-spices was more guess-work half of the time, but he was slowly getting the hang of it. He kept the spices labeled as 'something like salt', 'tastes sugar-y' and 'can be used as garlic'. And then, during the last mission, Shiro had gotten hurt and... well...
/flashback\
They had landed their lions on the asteroid as soon as the Galra were chased off. Shiro had taken a couple physical hits when they went to free the prisoners, because always the Alpha, he had to take charge and send his team into safety with the prisoners. His four team-mates staggered out of their lions to rush over to Shiro's, Keith and Lance in the lead. Shiro was slow on foot, one hand clutching onto his own side and the other supporting him as he climbed out of Kuro.
"I'm... f—fine, guys", grunted Shiro with a reassuring but very fake smile.
Keith openly growled at his mate, glaring at him as he sneaked beneath Shiro's arm to support him and help him sit down. Lance gritted his teeth as he knelt down in front of Shiro. The Alpha froze up when Lance pried Shiro's uniform off of him with nimble fingers. He had brought his first-aid kit from Azul with him and was now opening it up to get the cotton and disinfectant out to clean the wound. Shiro hissed and hunched over, grasping Keith's hand tightly.
"A warning would have been nice", groaned Shiro, pain written all over his face.
"Oh? Oh?", grunted Lance sarcastically as he looked up to glare at him viciously. "Know what would have been nice? If you hadn't gotten yourself hurt! That would have been nice! How about, instead of playing the knight in shining armor on your own, you ditch danger together with us the next time, or allow one of us to stay as your backup? I get that you have some complex about being the champion, but you're not. Not anymore. You have a team. Use your team."
All four of his teammates were staring at him while he kept ranting. Ranting and berating their Alpha. No one, absolutely no one aside from the Alpha-mate, could normally take those kind of liberties. But Lance just kept going, chastising Shiro for getting hurt while taking care of his wound.
/flashback|end\
Lance knew exactly what was happening. He knew it and it frightened him. One stuffed toy had started it all. Keith and Shiro had pushed him into embracing something he had tried to push down, tried to ignore. But now he started to embrace it. That omega-side of his. He knew it had been triggered by him running out of suppressants. His body was slowly ridding itself of the chemicals and trying to balance it out back to normal. He still had enough running through his system to last him another week before it would show – before they'd be able to smell him. But his body was slowly adjusting again and he was triggered into agreeing with his body by the behavior of his team. He knew it would only be days before they'd piece things together on their own. If they hadn't already. He may be oblivious, but he was aware that he had started behaving like the pack Omega by tending to their injuries, cooking, seeking them out more often to simply sit very close to them – he was not yet desperate enough to actively try and cuddle any of his teammates. But he was close. Oh, he was so close. Two nights ago, when they had pack movie nights, he had kept staring longingly at Shiro's lap. Not out of horniness, not at his crotch, but at how broad and nice it was. How comfortable it looked. There was enough space there for Lance to curl up on it.
So Lance had made a decision. He couldn't let them know like that. By smelling his real scent. Or by him instinctively climbing Shiro's lap and curling up on it. That was too much. It was already too much that he had lied to them. No. The very least they deserved was to hear it from him.
"That... That is one festive meal", gasped Hunk as he entered the kitchen. "Damn. I thought we ran out of space-bacon a week ago? Oh, delicious, purple space-bacon, how I love you!"
It really was a festive meal. Lance had made everything. The orange eggs that taste kinda like eggs on Earth did. The strange tentacles that actually tasted like real wieners. The purple space-bacon. He had even made his own version of waffles – granted, they were a weird mixture of green and blue, but they really nearly tasted like real, proper waffles (even though it had been a trial and error phase to get them this close to the real thing). The rest of the pack poured in and took their seats.
"My, this looks lovely, Lance", smiled Allura kindly. "Is there a special occasion?"
"Yes! Humans like to do such things for birthdays, right? Is it someone's birthday?", asked Coran.
"No. Well, not as far as I know at least", replied Lance with a frown, looking at the others just to make sure and receiving four head-shakes. "No one's birthday then."
"Then... what is the occasion?", asked Shiro carefully as he took from the waffles.
Lance took a shaky breath. Now or never. Like a band-aid. He needed to just rip it off in one go and be done with it. But he had lied to them for months. Even if they'd accept him as an omega, would they still accept him as a liar? What if they couldn't forgive him for it?
"There's... There's something... I... I need to tell you", whispered Lance, voice annoyingly shaky.
"So you're trying to butter us up beforehand?", asked Keith teasingly.
Lance squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that maybe not seeing his pack would help him get it off his chest. His hands were shaky. Damn traitors. He laid them on his knees and clawed his fingers into the material of his jeans. It had gotten eerily silent, not even Keith was chuckling anymore.
"Lance?", asked Shiro gently. "Whatever it is, you can tell us. We're your pack."
But would they still be after he said it...? Suddenly, there was a sharp intake of breaths. And then there were bodies, pressing against him. Frowning very confused, he opened his eyes to find himself hugged tightly by Hunk and Pidge, while Keith and Shiro just stared at him so... sadly. Crap. Had he said that out loud? That was so not supposed to be said aloud.
"We'll always be your pack. As long as you'll have us", frowned Shiro concerned. "You... should know that, Lance. We're pack. We save the universe together. We trust each other with our lives. If you can trust us to have your back during battle, you should trust us not to abandon you."
"I'm an omega", blurted Lance out, because what else was he supposed to say.
Author's note: Lance getting coddled by the team is essentially my favorite thing about this fandom :3
Next chapter is going to elaborate on that blurted-out statement! How much will Lance reveal? How will his team handle it? Lance may or may not break Shiro by accident, but those things happen, don't they? Oh, and there'll be cuddles! Lots of cuddles! ^o^
And if you haven't seen it on my updating schedule; I'm going to post a three-parter Christmas story, a crossover between "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" and "Voltron: Legendary Defender", where our little Paladins are demigods based on the elements the show assigned them, because who doesn't want to see Lance controlling water and Keith burst into flames? (Seriously, I want to SEE that. In season 2. Please. That is something that needs to happen on the show, or else there's little point to even assigning them elements!)
Lots of family-fluff - because our Paladins get adopted by the Heroes of Olympus and personally I really need to see Nico/Percy raising Lance as their adopted son! End game, of course, Shiro/Keith/Lance! ;)
