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 6: Courting

Lance was kind of confused when he entered the kitchen the next morning. Coran, Allura, Hunk and Pidge looked somewhere between fond, amused and frustrated as they sat in front of space-goo. The kitchen looked kind of singed? Keith and Shiro definitely looked singed. And whatever it was they had on that plate between them was burned beyond recognition.

"Why... Why didn't you wait? I would have made breakfast?", asked Lance a little panicky.

The mated alphas had never made food before. In the past few weeks, Lance had taken over making breakfast. But now Shiro and Keith had gone through the trouble of making it, before Lance was awake. Did they not want him to provide for the pack anymore? Did they not... not want him as the pack Omega anymore, now that they knew what he was? Were they trying to carefully cut him out, instead of flat-out telling him? Would they kick him out of the pack too? Was it because he was an alien, or did they just not want a pack Omega who had abandoned and turned his back on his intended alpha? That was one of the worst things an omega could do. They didn't want someone disloyal. He knew he was a bad omega. Omegas should never turn against their alphas. Were they afraid he would turn on them too? Lance's heart clenched at those thoughts.

"They were already making breakfast when I woke up. I asked them why they were 'cooking' too, but they said they needed it to be done before you woke up", laughed Hunk with a grin.

"Lance? Are you okay?", asked Pidge worried, grabbing his arm.

"I—I... yes?", tried Lance confused, blinking away the tears that were building up at the muddled thoughts in his head. "I just... I just... Why are you taking my pack Omega duty away from me?"

He looked at Shiro and Keith with such large, heartbroken eyes, it confused everyone present. Keith blinked stunned as he brushed his still slightly smoking hair back, while looking up at Shiro.

"I... uh... what?", was all Shiro could string together, maybe because of the smoke-inhalation.

Lance hunched his shoulders a little, feeling very small as his insecurities ate away on him. They had been doing so since the team had left Horus Kappa, if he was being honest. His past had been haunting him, nightmares and darkness and self-blame. All the things his mother had said, as Lance had pleaded with her to not mate him off to Kon'Seth. A good omega stayed loyal to their pack and even more so to their alpha. Lance had turned his back on both and decided to run away. He wasn't a good omega. Why would they want an omega like him on their pack...? That nasty little voice that sounded far too much like his mother whispering that he wasn't good enough for them and that everything he had told them yesterday would just be too much after all.

"I've been making breakfast", whispered Lance nearly timidly. "Was it too much what I said yesterday? Don't... you want me to be pack Omega anymore...?"

"Well, that literally couldn't have taken a worse turn even if Shiro and Keith actively tried", stated Pidge as she blinked surprised at Lance. "Like the food isn't bad enough as it is, but this?"

Hunk had been the only one to ever cook, and only out of necessity and lack of omega too, so if Shiro and Keith hurried so much to get the cooking done before the pack Omega could, why else would they do that if not to tell the omega that he wasn't wanted or needed as the pack Omega.

"No, no, no", groaned Keith frustrated, clawing his fingers into his hair.

"Lance... do you truly believe we would take that away from you because you were abused as a child?", asked Shiro concerned as he stepped up to Lance slowly.

Lance shrugged and shook his head slowly. "I... I don't know. I still don't really understand how Earth packs work, the only pack I had been in so far is my Earth family. But on Bast Beta Tau, we... Turning your back on your alpha is the most shameful thing an omega can do. And abandoning your pack... I know I'm not a good omega. I'm a bad omega. Why would you want me in the pack?"

Lance grunted as the air got knocked out of him by the sheer force of Shiro's hug. "You're a wonderful omega. You're a perfect omega. You did not abandon your pack, your pack abandoned you when they chose not to help you. You did not turn your back on your alpha, he was not your alpha and he was never meant to be your alpha because he did not deserve you."

"Yeah, bro, you're awesome!", agreed Hunk, sobbing big tears of bro-pain as he joined the hug.

Within moments, Lance found himself in the center of a pack puppy-pile, with humans and Alteans piling up on top of him, trying to hug him close and reassure him that he was part of their pack. It warmed his heart and reminded him of the kind of things he wouldn't have had at home.

"Then... Then why would the alphas who never-ever touched anything in this kitchen, unless for actually eating, go through the trouble of cooking?", asked Lance very confused.

"Yes, Keith and Shiro, why is that? Please, please explain!", drawled Pidge with a smug grin.

It only confused Lance even further, especially when he saw the alphas blush. He had never seen either of them blush before, but both? What in the world was wrong here this morning? Everyone slowly settled back down into their chairs, only the alphas kept shifting around in front of the plate with what must have been their attempt at making breakfast.

"We... weren't making food for everyone. Just for... you", started Shiro slowly.

"...So you don't want to kick me off the pack, you want to flat-out poison and murder me?"

Pidge choked on her laughter. "Please, explain it to him, Alpha. Go on."

She was definitely having a lot of fun, so it couldn't be bad. Coran looked sort of fond, while Allura smiled in mild amusement and Hunk was eying Keith and Shiro in a sort of skeptical way...?

"We... want to court you", started Shiro gently, tilting Lance's face up to look him in the eyes. "We meant to have breakfast done before you woke up, because we were cooking for you. To show you that we can provide for you and take care of you."

"We kind of forgot that neither of us can cook", grunted Keith a bit constipated.

"...I don't understand", admitted Lance, eyebrows furrowed deeply.

"We want to court you. We want for you to become our omega. Our mate", elaborated Keith patiently as he looked deep into those very confused azure-blue eyes. "But only if that is something you want too. If the idea of being with us romantically goes completely against what you want, then we will never bring it up again. But if it's something you could imagine, then please allow us to court you so we can prove that it's more than just imaginable but that it's a perfect idea."

"...Hunk?", asked Lance lost, turning to his best friend. "Help?"

"Bro, those two are so deep in love with you, there's figurative chubby angels flying around them, shooting heart-shaped arrows every time they look at you", supplied Hunk gently.

"Pidge?", asked Lance next, voice a little high.

It took Pidge a moment before she answered with a sigh. "Is it really that hard to believe that they love you, Lance? Because they do. Hunk and I totally vouch for that."

Shiro and Keith stood in front of Lance patiently, giving him all the time to make his mind up and ask the others for help. The two alphas were holding onto each other as they waited.

"What... What does courting mean?", asked Lance in a small, confused voice. "I know it's a thing humans do. Gareth did it when he met a nice omega girl he liked. But I don't really understand what it means... What... What do you expect from me?"

"We don't expect anything", assured Shiro softly. "We're going to prove ourselves to you. We'll provide food for you – maybe not self-cooked anymore – and gifts and safety. Dates. We'll show you that we would be good and worthy alphas who deserve to be called yours."

"...Because you're giving me a choice", tried Lance slowly, looking from Keith to Shiro.

"Absolutely", nodded Keith, looking serious. "We mean it. If you don't want us, then we will forget about this and things will just stay the same, Lance. Don't feel pressured into agreeing, not because you're an omega or because Shiro's the pack Alpha. There won't be any consequences if you don't want us. But we want you and we'd be the luckiest alphas in the universe if you'd want us too."

Lance's eyes softened as he watched them. How they made sure to phrase everything in the least offensive ways possible. Not saying that they wanted him as theirs, but that they would be lucky to be his, just so he wouldn't feel like property. Making sure that he knew he'd have a choice, that he wouldn't be forced to do anything. And they looked at him so pleadingly as though the fate of the world laid in his hands and with one word, he could end it all. But could it really be? Could those two perfect, amazing, kind, strong, gentle alphas really truly want him? Despite everything he had revealed about himself in the past weeks now? Could they really love him?

"I... I'd love that", whispered Lance unsure, fidgeting with his hands.

"Are you sure? You're not just saying it?", asked Keith, eager but also reluctant.

"Seriously. You three deserve each other", grunted Pidge pointedly. "Yes, Keith, he is sure. Because he loves you just as much as you two idiots love him. How are you so bad at reading each other?"

"Pidge, that's enough", warned Shiro seriously before turning to Keith and Lance again. "Lance?"

The omega was walking up to the plate sitting on the counter between Shiro and Keith. He grinned a little as he poked the burned parts out of the way until he found something that looked edible. The alphas watched wide-eyed as Lance hastily picked it up and pushed it into his mouth.

"Lance, no, you don't have to eat that", exclaimed Hunk wide-eyed and green around the nose.

"I'm not going to eat it all", huffed Lance and rolled his eyes, his cheeks a little red. "I just..." Lance paused for a moment and stared down at the plate. "The reason it freaked me out so much that you two cooked is that on Bast... an alpha would never cook for an omega, normally not at all... Household duties are those of the alpha's omega, or of the beta staff. So... that... that you'd cook for me... I had to at least try it." Lance's blush lit up a little more as he smiled brightly up at them. "But I think we'll leave the cooking to Hunk and me before you do poison anyone."

Shiro and Keith flushed in embarrassment, but both were also a tiny bit happy and pleased that their omega had at least tried it and not scoffed at it and dismissed them. Now the hard part was about to begin. They needed to find out how to properly prove themselves to Lance.

/break\

Azul buzzed warm and comforting in the back of Lance's mind as he decorated her cockpit. His alphas had been piling so many presents on him over the past week of courting that he didn't even know where to put them anymore. Little trinkets, jewelry, clothes, stuffed toys, food.

A week ago, they had asked him if they could court him. They had still been on the planet where they had finished their repairs. Lance could only guess that while him and Coran had gone to restock their food supplies and Pidge and Hunk had gone to get more medical and technical supplies, Shiro and Keith must have bought a ton of gifts for Lance. Because every morning, noon and evening, Lance would find something in front of his door. So many silly little gifts and he cherished them all, because they were signs of affection from his alphas.

Aside from the gifts, absolutely nothing had changed. And Lance was grateful for it. His pack still treated him like a human, like a cherished pack-member, like the pack Omega. Lance also still posed as a human though, because he didn't know how comfortable he really was with his real body just yet, even though he had expressed the desire to stop hiding his true nature. For now, Lance still needed some time to adjust to it all. To them knowing the truth, to Shiro and Keith courting him.

"What do you think, Azul? I'm still convinced this is too good to be true, girl", whispered Lance.

A buzzing in the back of his mind made him wince. It felt like being internally chided by his lioness. He smiled a little at that, tilting his head. Of course she would disagree. She thought he was worth loving and should be showered and bathed in all the love possible. She purred in agreement.

"Okay. Let's go and see what my alphas are up to", declared Lance in a chipper voice.

He poked the blue bell he had just fastened to the cockpit, letting it chime before he left the Blue Lion and made his way to the training room, knowing he was going to find at least one or two of his alphas right there. And it seemed he was right. His alphas were in the middle of tossing each other around, both covered in sweat, panting hard, delicious muscles bulging as each tried to best the other. Lance started purring as he went to sit down in a corner and just watch.

"Lance! You should train too, instead of watching!", called Allura through the coms.

Lance jumped a little and blushed as the alphas stopped and turned to look at him. Pidge and Hunk, who were sparring with each other, snorted amused as they noticed him. Lance ducked his head and ruffled his short brown hair. Shiro frowned at him displeased as he approached.

"Lance, you can't just sit out on training", chided the Alpha.

"I didn't... mean to?", offered Lance, his blush taking a turn for the ridiculous. "I just got... distracted. By, uh, you two? Do you have any idea how hot you two look when you spar?!"

That melted the frown right off Shiro's face and flustered the Alpha a dark cherry-red, while Keith made a slight squeaking sound in surprise, staring at the omega stunned. Pidge did her best not to choke on her laughter (she failed), while Hunk looked mildly uncomfortable by the thought.

"So if you're done enjoying the show, would you like to spar?", asked Pidge teasingly.

"Yes", hummed Lance before locking eyes with Keith. "You up for it, mullet-head?"

"I... uh... yeah", nodded Keith a bit surprised before getting in position.

It was rarer for the omega to spar with Keith or Shiro. Lance frowned thoughtfully for a moment before he blinked. The team was a little startled as Lance shifted before their eyes, for the first time since revealing his Bastet heritage to them. Keith was so busy gaping at how truly beautiful and gorgeous the light-blue fur with the different dark patterns was that he missed how Lance moved. Swift and precise, knocking Keith off his feet before the Red Paladin could even register any movement at all. Suddenly, he had a broadly grinning blue catboy sitting on top of him.

"Hah. I win", grinned Lance pleased.

"That... was cheating", grunted Keith irritated as he rolled them over.

"Why? Because the Galra will wait until you pay attention?", teased Lance.

"...That one goes to Lance, Keith", agreed Shiro bemused and very proud of his omega.

"I think you have to do better if you want to prove to Lance that you're an alpha capable of protecting him, if he knocks you off your feet because you're too distracted by getting lost in his eyes to pay any attention to the fight", snickered Pidge.

The Green Paladin yelped as she suddenly had to dodge Shiro, the Alpha raising one eyebrow. "If you can tease him, how about you show me how much you have improved?"

For the next two hours did the team just roll around, fluently changing their sparring partners. It was an all out brawl between the five of them and it was pure, simple fun. Lance felt like a cub again, playing around with his new-found Earth siblings. By the time they had all exhausted themselves, they came to curl around each other in a pile. Lance purred softly as he found himself between Keith and Hunk, head resting on his best friend's chest while Keith had a gentle arm around his waist. Lance's tail was wrapped around the other two members of their pack for safety.

/break\

"I want cubs."

Keith gaped stunned and Shiro downright choked on his food. Both alphas stared dumbfounded and surprised up at the omega opposite them. The three of them were on a date, using every opportunity of saving a planet or stoking up on their supplies to take Lance out on dates. While the rest of their team was nice enough to take over the shopping for supplies, Shiro and Keith had found a beautiful little restaurant that sold food that actually looked edible. The three had been eating in silence so far, a comfortable kind of silence because all three were still exhausted from the fight against the Galra that they had to go through to land on this planet. Saving the people of this planet, going through the big celebration ended at one point, everyone went to sleep for the night and the next day they decided to refill their stocks before leaving again. Still, a long hard fight and then a big celebration, they had been quite draining on all of them. They had been comfortable just sitting in silence, enjoying each other's company and being alone with each other. At least until that outburst.

"W—What?", squeaked Keith once he regained some sense.

Lance blinked a couple of times before he realized what he had said might have come off as a bit random. "Not right away. I don't want you to knock me up the first heat I go into, obviously. But it's something I do want. At one point. When... this mess is over and we get to return home. I want a family. I just, I feel like since you're courting me and we kinda... want to become mates, we should also talk about stuff like that. I want a family, a big family, because I love the siblings I found on Earth and I want my cubs to have... have that sense of family too. This... warmth."

"Okay", nodded Shiro slowly, putting his fork down. "You're right. Those are things we need to talk about. To be honest, Keith and I never really talked about that before, what with both of us being alphas and... neither of us really having much of a family as children. But..." Shiro paused and searched for Keith's eyes before he continued speaking. "I think that's something we'd want too."

"Yeah", agreed Keith slowly, cheeks a bit flushed. "I mean, tiny blue kittens? Heh. Yeah."

"Not all Bastet are blue", pointed Lance out. "They might turn out... purple, or pink, or something."

"We are definitely going to make a red cub at one point", declared Keith with a wicked grin.

Lance snorted, but there was genuine laughter in his eyes. He was relieved. He had already guessed that the alphas had never given cubs much thought before, considering that two alphas alone couldn't procreate. But it was something very important to Lance, especially since he got to experience what an Earth family is like. He wanted that for his own cubs, he wanted it so much.

"So... Lance...", started Shiro just a little awkwardly. "We're happy you're more comfortable about showing your... Bastet form. You didn't once for the whole first week after we... After. But now you're showing your fur far more often. That's... a relief. Because you said you wanted to, but then you didn't and we were a little worried."

"You're rambling", noted Lance with a fond smile. "Yes. I was... After you said you wanted to court me, I didn't really... I mean, I literally have fur and a tail. I thought that would chase you off so after you said you wanted to court me, I kind of thought looking human would be... better." Lance paused for a little moment, pointy ear twitching. "But then I realized you only asked to court me after you learned the full truth, so it most likely didn't bother you and I figured, if you want me as your mate, you better want all of me, not just my human side. So. Yeah."

"I'm glad you realized that on your own", grunted Keith with a bit of a glare. "Of course do we want all of you and not just some part of you. Besides, your... kitten-looks are kind of hot."

Lance blushed and grinned broadly. "Keith is a furry."

"Oh, shut up, kotik", huffed Keith embarrassed, bright blush on his cheeks.

Shiro chuckled fondly as he watched his mate and his mate-to-be. They were so gorgeous together. He loved them both so ridiculously much. And truly, he had been so relieved to see Lance growing more and more comfortable with himself. It felt as though their pack had never been closer. There was a lot of cuddling happening these days and especially Keith and Shiro got all the kitten-cuddles they could want, which was just so perfect. Shiro loved having their omega curled together on his lap during movie night, while Keith gently caressed the soft fur of their kitten.

"One day, this all will be over and we will be getting home", whispered Shiro absentmindedly, more so to himself than to his two partners. "And then, we will have... happiness."

"We're going to have that out here in space too", dismissed Lance with a broad grin. "But we'll have a family there, together. Oh, and you can meet my abuela and my family! They'll love you!"

Shiro and Keith flushed at the thought of meeting their in-laws and being a part of an actual family.


Author's note: Ah, look at our boys, finally figuring shit out! Momma's so proud of you! ;^;

Ah. So, yeah, next chapter, they're gonna seal the matebond. But since... stuff has to happen between courting and matebond, I decided to include season 2 after all. So, season 2, hurt/comfort, fluff, feels and smut - you can expect all of that in the next chapter ;)