Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron, just the story.


Keith's eyes are closed as he listens to the waves. He feels the warm waters caressing the skin on his arms and legs as he rests against the red and white surfboard. He dares not open them in fear of seeing what he saw last time. The sky was beautiful - half day and half night, one half littered with sparkling stars and the other full of cloudy wisps. The stars have always been great to look at, but Keith favored the clouds in the sky. There was just a problem with the side that resembles day.

That figure swimming towards him from before hasn't appeared yet. He wonders why only to think it's possibly because he's not looking around like he was last time he had this dream. He's unsure as to how he got control of this dream so suddenly but knows why it probably came back. Just last week he was at the beach with his friends. Being in the water where he knows this dream originates from might have triggered it.

A splash in the distance makes his ear twitch. So much for his theory of not looking around. He keeps his eyes closed, deciding to ignore it this time. He doesn't want to react only to be taken under by a gigantic wave filled with sharks. When Keith hears the splash again, it's closer than before. He feels the urge to look, to see what it really is that's coming from the day side of this ocean.

Nothing happens after that second splash for a long while. He waits, expectant of something, anything to happen. No third splash comes. Instead, he hears something emerge from the water beside him as it grasps his hand. The webbed fingers cause him to flinch but he keeps his eyes closed. He desperately wants to glance at the thing beside him, the creature holding his hand in the water.

Keith hears garbled speech next to his ear. He shivers at the warm breath cascading over his skin, flushing as he feels watery lips press against his temple. The creature speaks again, its voice static but with enough enunciation to discern some common words.

"…the…ease…reful…not…worthy…on't…en…him."

The raven-haired man can only make out certain words or parts of words. He finally opens his eyes, staring up at the sky, realizing that he's closer to day in this one instead of night. It was half and half before, now the day at least over takes 90% of the sky. He doesn't turn his head towards the being beside him, merely staring at the clouds above him. The clouds form different kinds of shapes and he takes note of them. A boat. A fish. A hook. Lance.

Keith shoots up from the surfboard, making sure not to tip over into the water as he sees the cloud formation of Lance's face. He blinks a few times, disregarding the sensation of him losing the touch of the creature in the water. When he refocuses on the cloud, it now looks like Lotor. He furrows his brows up in confusion. Why was he seeing those two in his dream? Do they connect together with the other cloud formations?

He finally gazes down at where the creature was next to him only to find it no longer there. He feels himself become swallowed up in confusion until he notices where his surfboard his heading. Keith's eyes widen as a whirlpool appears in front of him. He lies across the board and tries to fight the current but it's too late. He gets thrown off his surfboard and submerges in the water. He feels himself being thrashed around in a repetitive motion until he's thrown out of the current. He doesn't know how far down he is now but tries to swim up in whatever direction he can.

When the familiar webbed hands wrap around his waist and pull him close, he feels relief come over him. Keith knows his lungs are about to expend their time limit for holding air but with the help of this creature he might make it in time for some air. He feels the being propel them upwards in the right direction. Muffled sounds of it trying to speak to him are harder to discern in the water. Keith tries to stay awake in this dream for as long as he can be, but it's difficult. He releases the air in his lungs, taking in water instead of air.

It's too late for him now.

An Unexpected Tail

Keith finds himself in front of an extravagant apartment building in the business district of the city he lives in. He glances down at the note in his hand, one with a ten digit number and underneath it a hurriedly scratched address that he added, and sighs. He's surprised that he even called Lotor but this bill in his pocket has been giving him enough anxiety to the point he's dreaming about the guy.

The raven-haired man tries not to remember the entire dream that he woke up from just this morning. Half of it was still blurry to him but he remembers that figure from the day side speaking to him. He remembers being swallowed up in a whirlpool and being saved. He remembers seeing Lotor's face in the clouds after seeing…

He shakes his head and presses the button next to the name Montchal. It rings a few times after a buzz. After some seconds tick by, the speaker pops on. "Who is it?"

Lotor's voice causes Keith to shiver for some unknown reason. He breathes in to harden his resolve of being here. "It's Keith."

"Ah, the lovely waiter boy. Do come in."

Keith flushes as he scowls while the buzzer unlocks the door. He sighs, shaking his head as he goes in and towards the stairs. The corporate son told him he lives on the fifth floor, apartment D. At first it surprised the raven-haired man that he didn't live in a top floor suite but he shrugged it off as a reason he'll never know. He reaches the fifth floor and searches for the door with a fancy gold D screwed to it. When he spots it, he walks over and brings a hand to knock on it.

This is when he pauses. What is he really doing here? He could have just sent the bill back in an envelope with a small note stating, "Thanks but I don't need this right now." That would have been rude, even for Keith's standards of rudeness. Shiro would have been appalled if he found out Keith did something like that. Even if Lotor is working in a rival company, Shiro would say that Keith should have thought more about it and apologize the next time he sees the tall white-haired man.

Then there could have been just a phone conversation. Instead of asking for the address to come over in person, he could have told Lotor his thoughts. "Hey, remember when you left me that 100 dollar tip? Yeah, I called to ask if you accidentally gave me the wrong bill? Were you grabbing for a ten, or…? I can return it if that's so." That would have been better but too informal and uncomfortable for Keith. Keith prefers face-to-face interactions more times than not, so this meeting in person deal is better.

The problem is that Keith can't help feeling that Lotor gave his number out for something other than a friendly chat. With the way Lotor's yellow eyes checked him out, it's obvious that the man finds Keith appealing to him. That causes several more knots to tie in the raven-haired student's stomach. It's bad enough that he gets teased about Lance from Shiro – which the man has promised to stop doing now after seeing how great they are as just friends, so the CEO said – he doesn't want any misunderstandings when it comes to the Galra, Inc. heir. He stands there, hand raised still, thinking over what everyone would possibly assume and nearly turning on his heel to run.

Lotor's door opens before he can even twitch back into his senses of doing just that. "Were you planning to knock today or tomorrow?" The man raises an eyebrow as he grins down at Keith. "You've been standing there for how long with your hand raised?"

Keith flushes, letting his fist drop as he fidgets in his spot. "I, uh, yeah. Today, of course. Planning to knock today." He curses his stupidity and his horribly planned visit.

The thin man chuckles deeply in his chest. "Let's just say you knocked then." He moves and opens the door further, extending and arm inside his apartment. "Come in. I'll go grab us a drink. Do you like wine?"

Lotor walks from the door and heads into an elaborate kitchen, pristine and made with marble counter tops and floor tiles to match. Keith enters the apartment and closes the door behind him, silently gulping down his saliva as he compares his own home to this one. It's not as small as he thought it would be, the inside being large enough to fit his own apartment plus half of another. It's spacious with a living room just in front of him, a step down to reach it. To his right is the kitchen with an island that shapes an L formation to separate it from the carpet portion of the apartment. To his left is a short spiral staircase that goes to a loft, most likely where Lotor's bed is. Under the loft is a mini office set up with bookshelves full of company property and maybe other leisure readings. The wall directly behind the living room is literally just tall windows, and at this point Keith is wondering if he's truly not in a top floor suite.

"This is really the fifth floor?"

Lotor approaches him, wine glasses partially filled in each hand. "Yes. Our floors in this building are slightly taller in height just for the purposes of a loft bedroom being in them. Is it such a surprise that I'm not on the top floor?"

Keith takes the offered wine glass, staring at the red color as he holds it with both hands. "Kind of. I mean, you're the heir to Galra, Inc. and filthy stinking rich." His eyes glance up at the taller man. "A person would obviously think you'd use your money to get the best of the best."

The white-haired man smiles with a low chuckle. "My dear Keith, that may be the story when I'm in the same building as my parents, but when I'm alone, I'd like to think I'm a shred more humble than them." He sips his wine, gazing out towards the windows where he sees half of another building and then the streets below that extend out further into the city. "Not all glorious views can be seen from the very top."

Keith stares at the man, not expecting words like that from him. His eyes fall down onto his own glass of wine and he decides to taste it. He's never tried wine before as he hardly drinks at all, so he's not ready for the slightly bitter liquid. He cringes as he swallows the portion he sipped. Clenching his eyes shut as he wills the taste away, he hears Lotor chuckle while his free hand lightly takes the glass from Keith. The black-haired man tries not to think about how their fingers brush and how soft Lotor's skin is.

"It's all right if you're not a fan. It's an acquired taste."

The purple irises Keith have open back up and watch the man down the wine from his glass. He flushes. "Sorry. I've never really tried drinking alcohol so much. I'm still in the odd area of being underage, so…" he trails off as his hands go to his sides, thumbs hooking through the loops of his jeans so they have something to hold onto.

"Like I said, it's quite all right." Lotor steps towards the island and sets the empty glass down before heading into the living room. "Come, sit."

As the seemingly easy-going man takes a seat on the couch, Keith has a mental battle of whether he should or not. He didn't really want to stay long. He just wanted to give back the Benjamin with a "thanks but no thanks" that he's putting together in a polite form. He missed his usual morning routine because of these plans – which Lance was okay with but seemed slightly down about Keith cancelling their usual workout session – so he'd like to make up for it as quickly as possible. Which means he should do what he wants and go.

Then why is he sitting down on the couch with Lotor? Keith is mentally scolding himself since he can't get out of this now. He's going to be spending more time with this handsome man that he's wary of. Breathing in and dashing away all his worrying feuds, Keith glances at Lotor.

"I, uh, didn't really plan to stay long."

"Oh?" Lotor presses his lips to the ring of his glass, pausing before he takes a sip. He eyes Keith, causing the man to go rigid with nervousness. "Is that so." The taller man hums as he sips his wine again, arm moving up so it can rest against the back of the couch. "Why did you really call for a meeting, then?"

The half American glances at Lotor's long fingers that are nearly touching his shoulder. "I wanted to return- uh, ask about that tip you left me that day."

"Was it too little a tip?" The lithe man turns his head towards the other, shame taking over his facial features. "Of course it was too little. You probably receive more than that from other customers. How foolish of me to think not." He lurches up, making to stand from the couch. "I shall solve this problem now."

"No!" Keith stands up with the other, blocking Lotor from heading anywhere near his wallet. He flushes, hairs on his neck standing as his words fumble out. "It was actually too much. People don't usually tip me a hundred dollars. If I'm lucky, I'll get a fifty, but I generally get tens or twenties when serving. I, uh, didn't- don't feel comfortable with the hundred you gave me and…wanted to return it, or trade it for a lower amount."

Usually Keith can stand his ground and not be a wimp concerning situations like these. If he feels it's right, it's right, so he'll do it. Majority of the time he acts more than thinking, but lately he's been trying to think more before acting. This whole scene is an uncomfortable happenstance that he got himself into, so he's kind of a nervous wreck while trying not to look like he's trembling from uncertainty. He's probably failing since he's in the presence of a man who can read people from business experiences.

Lotor raises his eyebrows up as he eyes the shorter male. "Really? That's a surprise. Even with your fake smile you still deserve a good tip." He smiles kindly, trying to reassure Keith he's not offended in the slightest. "I'm sorry to say that I won't accept the note back." He pats Keith's shoulder, hand slipping to the top part of his arm. "Consider it a gift of good service. No need to worry over it, all right?"

Keith's senses implode where Lotor's hand is on his arm before completely going numb on him. His body is completely tense but he forces himself to smile back and nod. "If that's okay with you, then yeah." His reply doesn't match up with what the other said and he instantly feels a shroud of idiocy come over him. He really needs to leave before he makes himself look more of a fool in front of a rich, hot guy.

The white-haired man snorts, laughing as he pulls his hand off Keith's arm to cover the lower part of his face. "Do forgive me, but you are quite adorable when you're uncomfortable. Did you think I was expecting more from this visit?"

"Well I- It's probably- Were you?" His face slowly turns red as he tries to process the conversation correctly.

"I will admit I was but I'm not disappointed." The man hums with a crooked grin, finishing off his wine before letting his arm relax as he holds the glass by the top inch with his fingers. "You're entertaining."

If Lotor had reached out and caressed Keith's cheek, the college student probably would have mentally shut down. Keith breathes in, clenches his eyes shut, and makes himself scowl. "I am not here just to entertain you. I was here for a reason and now that it's all settled, I'll just leave."

As he turns on his heel towards the door, he hears Lotor chuckle. "There's that spitfire. You're more appealing when angered or irritated."

Keith's ears turn red as he makes sure he doesn't turn around. He reaches the door and holds the doorknob. "Thanks for having me over. Hope I didn't mess up your daily schedule or anything."

"Far from it." The raven-haired male jumps as Lotor is suddenly behind him, lightly resting his hand on Keith's before opening the door for him. He grins. "You've made my morning fun." He watches as Keith's eyes widen before the younger man looks away and steps out of the apartment. "Do call whenever you'd like to visit. Whether it be for talking or other reasons, I don't mind. Your company is well worth the time to spend."

The young college student hunches down as he bolts away from the door and down the stairs. He doesn't reply, knowing he'd regret any unplanned words that would form and spill out of him if he did. His body shivers after he reaches the ground floor and heads out towards the gym he goes to. The patches of skin where Lotor touched him have a phantom feeling of coldness and he wishes to get rid of the sensation by swimming in the inside heated pool.

There is no way that he will call or visit that man again.


Note: I actually had a lot of fun with this chapter. Lotor is definitely something. I have so many scenes and plans set up in my head that I can't wait to do them. I just need the motivation to write them. *sighs*

This is not beta-ed so there might be mistakes.

Ciao: I hope you enjoyed the update, dearies! Thank you for reading! R&R.