I'm so sorry for taking so long to update! Which might not be terribly long for some of you when it comes to waiting on updates, but I usually write fast. I try to take only like 2-4 days to write a chapter. I typically write fast. I just struggled with this chapter. I've had an enormous amount of stress on my shoulders lately. So it's been a little hard to get my mind focused on writing. Then I finally made myself sit down and write the chapter, and I just could not get more than like two or three paragraphs a day for like a week. Then I adjusted to writing in the morning and it went by much faster. But I do apologize for the wait. There are a few details in this chapter from season 3 of Voltron, so just be warned.

Chapter 9

There were times that Keith was glad to be right. This was not one of those times. With a towel draped over his head, he stared dully in the mirror as "Spice Up Your Life" blared in the bathroom. Who was the perpetrator of this obscenely loud music? The guy in the shower just to the left of Keith, who currently has trouble remembering why he has an interest in him. Lance paid him no mind, dancing along to the music while washing off his body.

Not that it was entirely bad. Thanks to the clear shower curtain, Keith did get to watch Lance's perky butt move along to the music while he brushed his teeth. It was just a mystery how Lance could even have such energy this early in the morning. Shay had just arrived when Keith and Lance woke up. She was probably helping Hunk prepare breakfast and load things into the van that she borrowed from her parents for this trip.

"How do you have energy before coffee?" Keith grumbled as Lance stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Lance came up behind him, wrapped his arms around Keith's waist, and placed his chin on Keith's shoulder. "Don't pretend like you didn't enjoy the show." His smirk only grew as he stared at Keith in the mirror. "Don't worry, I'll do an encore tomorrow morning."

This was going to be a long weekend.

The two emerged from the bathroom fully clothed about five minutes later and they both made their way to the kitchen, where food was already being served. "Good morning to both of you," Shay greeted them, setting down two plates loaded with food. Lance wasted no time in stuffing his face.

Keith retrieved his life blood, which Pidge had loaded with a double shot of espresso. Bless her. She gave Keith a knowing smile as he sat down, already drinking deep from her own cup. There was no way Keith could make it through this early morning without this coffee. It was a blessing from above. Mainly it was to help with the car ride.

After breakfast, they all got their luggage and finished loading everything into the van. Then they were off. Keith, Lance, and Pidge sat in the back, while Hunk drove and Shay worked as navigator. Lance, thankfully, let Keith sit by the window. He wasn't extremely claustrophobic, but there were times that he felt uncomfortable in tight spaces. Lance did, however, sit right up against Keith with his head on Keith's shoulder and earbuds in his ears. Pidge passed out against the other window about fifteen minutes into the drive. Like Keith, she clearly wasn't a morning person. Keith rested his own head against the window, then shut his eyes and sighed. Right before he drifted off, he felt Lance lace their fingers together. Maybe things would work out fine this weekend after all.

By the time Keith woke up, it looked to be early afternoon. He rubbed his eyes and looked to the clock on the front dash. It was just a little before noon. He groaned and fell back against his seat. The others had woken up, deep in discussion.

"So," Hunk said with a grin in the mirror at Lance, "did you remember to bring your love letters?"

Lance's face went instantly flush as he peered over at the barely awake Keith. "They aren't love letters. It's just fan mail."

"What's going on?" Keith asked with a yawn.

Lance swatted at Hunk, who batted the hands away effortlessly. "Lance wrote the author of Voltron a few letters over the last few weeks. He's wrote a few in the past," Hunk explained. Keith's brow furrowed. He wondered if he had ever read any letters from Lance and just had not remembered them. Probably, considering his fan mail usually was piled in his studio room at Malmora. He really did try to read it all, but there was just so much! "Did you remember to kiss it before sealing it in an envelope?"

Crossing his arms over his chest, Lance let out a dramatic huff. "For the last time, they aren't love letters. Besides, it's not like I get to hand them to him in person. He never comes to conventions."

"You never know," Pidge chimed in, not even looking up from her phone, "there's always a first time for everything." Her eyes flicked across the car and Keith's body tensed on instinct. Did... Did Pidge know? It wasn't like he could ask. Could he?

Thankfully, Keith's phone buzzed and he used it as a distraction to take his attention away from the unnerving gaze of Pidge. The bad part was that it was from work. Thace got asked to ask Keith to host the trivia contest and give out an award. Keith sighed and quickly typed his reply back, letting Thace know that he still stood by his decision. He knew that he was essentially signing Thace up to do the contest himself, but Keith had no desire to come public under any circumstances. Maybe they could get Nyma to do it.

Keith glanced at Lance.

On second thought, he didn't want Nyma to do it. There was no way the idiot next to him in the car wouldn't sign up for that stupid trivia contest, and he didn't want Nyma able to get her nails into Lance. He knew she wouldn't rat him out, but it wouldn't stop her from trying to find a way to get Lance to talk about whatever it was that was going on between him and Keith.

Staring at his phone again, Keith groaned. They still had another hour and a half to get to their destination. He was going to go crazy. He didn't want to look at Pidge. He hadn't brought any homework, and he definitely couldn't do any work in the car. Thankfully, Lance offered him an earbud and they settled in to watch videos on Lance's phone.


"Let's get going!" Lance exclaimed with a fist in the air. The rest of the group stared at him dully.

"Lance," Pidge sighed, "we just got checked in to our hotel. Can we at least get our stuff up to the rooms first? Why are you in such a hurry?"

` Lance slipped an arm around Pidge's shoulders. "Because, my dearest Pidge, they are unveiling the new Voltron card game today, and I want to see if I can get any promo cards."

Pidge's eyes went wide. "No way!" she was now beaming with as much excitement as Lance. Shay and Keith both sighed as all three of the others rambled at such a fast rate that Keith couldn't even decipher the words for a while. Pidge took a step towards the door, finger pointed into the air. "To the convention."

Keith grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt. "Wait," Shay said calmly. "Rooms first, then we can all get going." She patted Hunk on the chest as she they began to walk to the car. "Plus, the two of us need to get changed."

Hunk sighed and mumbled to Lance, "I wanted to be the Yellow Paladin."

"I know you did, buddy," Lance whispered back.

As they got their stuff up to their rooms, Keith contemplated seeing that Lance got the entire Voltron card collection. Was that too much? Probably too much. Should he stop his friends from purchasing any of them? He hadn't had the chance to divulge the situation yet. Although, he currently had reason to believe that Pidge did not buy his story about being an artist at Malmora, but instead knew the truth. How much merchandise would be at the point of overwhelming, though? Maybe he could resort to all this if Lance responded in a way that Keith feared to the news.

Their rooms were a little nicer than the ones from the last convention. Definitely a nicer view. Lance wasted no time in cupping Keith's face and locking their lips together the second he kicked the door closed behind them. Lance was definitely the affectionate type. Not that Keith could really complain. It was just... new.

Unfortunately, the second they finished and Lance dropped his bags on the bed, he was already out the door before Keith could even attempt to get a word in. Keith sighed and followed after him. Maybe they could talk later tonight.


Amazing.

Everything was just simply amazing. There was even a giant replica of Voltron on display! Posters and artwork were up all over the place. And there was so much to buy! Lance, Pidge, and Hunk had already bought tons of packs of the new cards. Keith, the downer, suggested that they wait and maybe get them later, claiming they were probably inflated in price. Please. He just didn't understand the need to have them.

The convention also had a booth of Voltron art by the author himself, which Lance bought one or two drawings. He had ignored the groans from Keith. Why had he brought mullet again? Lance had already added about thirty new photos to his phone of him with several cosplayers. This place was heaven for Lance's nerd self.

Why couldn't this just be his home?

Well it was now. Lance was going to sign away his end of the lease and take up residence in this wonderful place now. He could die happy. Life had meaning. Nothing could ruin his mood.

"I worry that your face is going to stick like that," Keith mumbled as he stood beside Lance, who had been enthralled at all the Voltron merchandise before him at this booth. And Keith was loaded down with three full bags of stuff that Lance had already bought and had volunteered Keith to carry. Lance was just blessed that his parents had let him buy what he wanted, under the condition that it was both his birthday and Christmas presents. "How much more stuff do you need?"

Lance, without looking away from the treasure trove of glorious goods, said, "All of it, Keith. All of it."

"Okay, but you're going to have to start carrying your own shit."

Lance smirked and darted his eyes over to Keith. "I thought that was what boyfriends were for?" This brought a nice color to Keith's cheeks. He opened his mouth, but Lance waved him off with a smirk. "Yes, yes. I know. We aren't dating... yet."

"Yet."

"Yet."

Keith rolled his eyes, but smiled a little and let Lance go back to browsing.

The day was going well, at least until Lance and Keith managed to come across someone that they had met at the last convention. Among a small crowd of people, dressed like he was last time, was that dude that had hit on Lance. Larry? Lenny? Laurence? Something like that. Only this time he had a girl by his side that looked like she could be a linebacker. Lance came to a stop and stared. Damn. She could break him in half with only one arm.

But there the other guy was, trying to enthrall the group of people with his words. "And I was just lucky enough to be chosen to get these free tickets for me and my friend here," he said with a flip of his hair over his shoulder. Both Keith and Lance groaned. "I got to go inside Malmora Publishing and everything. The author himself handed me the tickets."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Bullshit," Keith coughed.

It was loud enough to be heard, and the giant woman behind... Louis? Whatever his name was. The giant woman behind the guy that tried to have as good of a hair game as Lance pushed forward and shoved a finger into Keith's chest.

"You calling Lotor here a liar, asshat?" she growled. Lotor right. That was the name.

The guy stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Now, now, Zethrid, it's fine if they don't want to believe me." He then turned his attention to Lance and Keith and squinted at them. "Haven't we met before?" Lotor tapped a finger to his chin and then snapped his fingers. "Yes, you were the cute guy at the other convention."

That was directed at Lance. Lance replied, "And my boyfriend." He motioned to Keith, who just flipped the guy off.

Lotor smirked. "I see both of our friends are a little aggressive." As he said this, Keith and Zethrid were glaring each other down. Lotor lifted his ticket and fanned himself. "But, as you can see, I clearly have an in with the author of Voltron and the people that publish him."

Keith snorted and said, "I don't think the author would like you very much."

"And how would you know?" Zethrid hissed, balling her fist. Keith ignored her the aggression.

But Keith did stay silent for a moment, almost contemplating something. Lance frowned at him. Then Keith just shrugged. "Just a hunch."

"Yes, well," Lotor began, "unless the author or someone is around that can say otherwise, I don't find any validity in your statement."

The guy was going to call that the end of it and walk off, gloating in his seeming victory, but Keith glanced around for a second and walked about thirty feet over to where Thace, the guy that had done a panel at the last convention and worked for Malmora, was talking on his phone. And Keith walked straight up to him, said a few words, and dragged him back over. The security guy next to Thace didn't even react.

"Hi. Yes," Keith said, motioning for Lotor to come back. Lotor blinked and raised a brow, but walked back over with Zethrid. "This guy works for Malmora. Why don't we ask him?"

Lotor eyed the guy up and Lance could practically see the color drain from his face beneath the paint. Thace freed his arm from Keith's grasp and cleared his throat. "Yes... I do," he said, eyeing Keith irritably, "random stranger." Keith rolled his eyes. "Why have I been dragged over here?"

Keith motioned to Lotor. "This guy says he has it in with Malmora Publishing and apparently is good friends with the author of Voltron."

Lotor raised a finger. "I didn't use the words 'good friend.'"

Thace's eyes roamed between Lotor and Keith. They finally settled on Keith, where he narrowed his gaze and the two stared each other down, almost like a silent conversation. Thace finally sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, sir, but it is common knowledge that no one outside of Malmora Publishing has met our esteemed... and at times annoying... author. I do recall you won the contest. And, while the author was at the facility that day..." he frowned at Keith, "he was not present with myself and our CEO." Then he turned to Keith and said, "Sir, it's not nice to come up to strangers and drag them over to settle a disagreement. Especially when that stranger is busy covering work that should be done by the person writing this graphic novel."

Keith nodded and said, "You're right. You should definitely tell them you deserve a raise."

Thace just rolled his eyes and lifted his phone back to his ear, walking back over to where Keith had dragged him from. Then the small crowd turned to face Lotor, who had his jaw locked and was glaring at Keith. Zethrid looked ready to fight. Lance half expected Lotor to let her do so, but he just turned away and said, "Come on, Zethrid. It's clear that we aren't wanted here right now."

"What a phony," Keith muttered as the guy walked off and the crowd dispersed.

Lance nudged him. "That was kind of hot, how you shut him down like that." Keith nudged him back with a roll of his eyes and a smile. "How did you remember that guy, though?"

"Who?"

"Thace. He works for Malmora and was at the last convention."

"Oh," Keith said slowly. "Uh, good memory, I guess."


By the end of the night, Keith felt dead on his feet. How were the others still going? Keith wanted to collapse. His feet hurt from walking, his arms hurt from carrying Lance's things, and his eyes just hurt from being open. But nobody could say his fans weren't dedicated to the fandom. They had briefly left to find food, but had returned super fast. Way before Keith had recuperated.

Keith had separated from the group for a moment to go to the bathroom, and he took some time to watch the people that supported his work. He appreciated them, but they felt a little crazy. Mostly in a good way. It was like watching a nature documentary as he watched fans buy their cards and tear open the packs to see what they got. He could only imagine what it was going to be like on Sunday when they handed out copies of the new issue. Because he really doubted there was enough for everyone here. He knew anyone that won one of the trivia contests or like had their fanart on display at the convention was getting a copy, but Keith was certain that the rest would probably be ruthless to get one of the limited free copies being given away. Especially with it being a day before the mass public got their hand on a copy of it.

Reaching into his pocket, Keith pulled out his phone to text Lance and find out where the group was. As he did, a hand reached out and touched his arm. "Well, well," said a familiar and cheerful voice, "I heard you were gonna be here, but I didn't want to believe it."

Keith looked up from his phone and smirked at Ezor, who had her long hair tied back like usual and that constant sunny smile on her face. How she kept it on all the time was beyond Keith. Even at four in the morning. Ezor was the artist of another graphic novel series that Malmora published, along with her writer Narti. Narti did not seem to be present, but she was more like Keith and didn't like being out around crowds of fans. But she was also someone that Keith greatly admired, because even though she was blind, Narti had now managed to create two great graphic novel series.

If Keith ever decided to take a step back from the art side, he probably would ask Ezor to draw for him. Her art was always a masterpiece. But Keith was a sadist that liked to do both by himself.

"What are you doing here?" Keith asked.

"Don't worry," Ezor replied with a wink, "I was given the talk. You're just a random stranger." She slipped an arm around Keith's shoulder. "You could play the part of my adoring fan, come to worship my very existence."

A dry look was shot in her direction by Keith. "I'm sure you get enough of that as it is."

She chuckled and then shrugged knowingly. "Got me there, I guess. To answer your question, though, I do read your series. And I get into these things for free because I work for Malmora." Her fingers played with the ends of her hair as she smiled at Keith. "Besides, it's great publicity for me and Narti."

"I'm guessing Narti is home with the cat."

"Always."

Narti had a seeing-eye cat named Kova. Keith never thought he could related to an animal more than that grumpy cat. The only people that could pet him were Narti, Keith, and Thace. And sometimes Ezor, but it was usually rare. She claimed Narti loved the cat more than her, which Narti never denied. Kolivan hated the cat, but still let Narti bring it into the building.

"You know," Ezor began to change the subject, "you should totally consider going public. Your fans would eat you up." She pinched Keith's cheek as she said the last part.

Keith knocked her hand away with a dull look. "Which is exactly why I don't. And I don't mean the fangirls thinking I'm cute. I mean that I don't want to have to watch everything I say and do because some fans might get offended by a different opinion or something I do." He frowned and crossed his arms, briefly checking his phone to see if he had a text from Lance. He did not. "I don't want my life dictated like that. Everything I do would be held under a microscope for scrutinizing."

"Eh, you get used to it."

"I'll take your word for it."

Ezor's eyes flickered down at Keith's phone. "So who are you here with? Your boyfriend?" Her smirk only widened as Keith grew red and frustrated. "Nyma likes to talk. So is he here?"

"Yes," Keigh mumbled, "but he's not my boyfriend. And you aren't meeting him."

Ezor pouted. "Don't be like that. Nyma says he's hot." She slugged Keith right in the arm. "Good for you. It's about time you got laid. Maybe you can stop being so uptight."

"I'm not uptight!"

"Of course you are." Keith had to cringe at Lance's voice behind him. "There you are. I thought you got lost in-" As Lance came up beside Keith and slung an arm around his waist, he took in the woman before them and his eyes went wide. "Y-You're... You... Keith!" With a step away from Keith, Lance began to flail his arms. "How did you bump into the artist for-" He instantly stood up straight and held out his hand for Ezra to shake, which she did with a giggle. "Hi. I'm Lance. Big fan. I'm sorry if my friend here insulted your work, he doesn't get out much or keep up with current events." He was already handing Keith his phone. "Can I get a picture with you?"

"Sure!" Ezor said cheerfully. Her and Lance stood together, while Keith pulled up the camera on Lance's phone.

He felt his eye twitch when he caught sight of the amused look Ezor was giving him, but Keith wasn't going to complain. Lance looked so happy. But it was clear what Ezor was thinking: If he only knew who you were, this would be a million times more funny. Maybe funny for her.

"Thank you so much." If possible, Lance shook her hand more enthusiastically the second time. "I'm a huge fan of your work. Your graphic novel and Voltron are my two favorite." His eyes seemed to realize something as he spoke and he took a deep breath. "When you see him, could you tell the author that I really appreciated the diversity change he made with Voltron. It means a lot."

Ezor's brows went up high and her mouth fell open a little, glancing over at Keith. Then a warm smile spread across her lips and she smiled at Lance fondly. "Of course I can." There might have been some color in Keith's cheeks. Ezor winked at him and then shook Lance's hand a final time. "Nice to meet you." With a quick analysis of looking Lance over, Ezor took a step back and held up a hand in a wave. "I better get going." The corner of her mouth raised in a sly smirk. "Keith, was it? Keep going with the art. I'm sure you'll make something of yourself one day."

If Keith didn't need his shoe, he would have tossed it at the back of her head.

There was a long moment, where Lance just watched her walk off, while seemingly bouncing with excitement. He took in a deep breath and turned to Keith, taking back his phone. "The others are ready to head back to the hotel. Are you ready?"

"God yes," Keith breathed out.

On the way back, Keith sat silently in the back and let the others ramble in excitement over the day. They compared cards and offered each other trades, went into detail about what merchandise they found, and shared other stories. Shay and Hunk had a lot of people ask them for pictures. Pidge and Lance had both acquired a lot of new art and decorations for their place. Keith was just tired. Conventions were exhausting.

Back at the hotel, everyone just went up to their rooms and prepared to pass out. Keith had already gotten ready for bed, but was waiting on Lance. He was mainly watching TV, but he watched Lance get ready for bed out of the corner of his eye. The guy did a lot of skin care.

Once done, Lance moved to his side of the bed and fell onto it. Keith rolled his eyes, reaching over to run his fingers through Lance's hair. Lance hummed in appreciation. Keith turned the TV off and stared down at Lance. They needed to talk. Keith could only hope that Lance didn't see him any different. He didn't want that. All he ever wanted was to stay as normal as possible, and he just needed any guy he dated to see him as such.

There was no way Keith could halt what was going on between him and Lance any longer. They were going to date. It seemed like every time that Keith caught Lance staring at him, he was mulling something over in his head. His lips would always purse and his eyebrows would knit together. But he had yet to ask, probably being as patient as he could be. The thing was that Keith didn't want to not be dating Lance anymore. It was beyond time. He had put it off for way too long. But he couldn't, in good conscious, date Lance without telling him the truth.

"Lance?" Keith quietly said as he ran his fingers through Lance's hair. Lance simply exhaled into his pillow and shuffled a little. "Can we talk for a moment?"

A tired groan was exhaled into the pillow and Lance cracked one eye open. "Is it important? Can it wait until morning?" He stretched his arms high above him, yawned, and rolled over. "I'm really tired."

"I-" Keith pursed his lips and paused. His next words were much quieter. "Yeah, it can wait."

"Good," Lance mumbled. His hand reached behind him and took hold of Keith's wrist before tugging him down into the bed. Lance sighed as Keith pulled them together. Tilting his head, they shared a quick kiss. "Good night! I promise we'll talk in the morning."


They did not get to talk in the morning, but not because Keith chickened out or because Lance got distracted. While they were in the shower making out, there was a lot of banging on their door. Lance made Keith go get it. So, after getting dried off and dressed, Keith went to open the door. It was the rest of the group.

"Come on," Pidge whined. "We have to get going. There's going to be a bunch of panels today and then the trivia contest. I still have a lot more browsing to do before then!"

"Just..." Keith let out a sigh, "just give us a minute."

Their talk would have to wait. Again.

"Flannel? Really?" Lance asked as they piled into the car. He eyed Keith with an arched brow.

Keith frowned down at himself before he elbowed Lance in the side. "Shut up. It's warm and it's cold outside."

"We'll be inside."

"It was cold in there."

"You're cold."

"What does that say about you, Lance?" Pidge piped up, trying to find some music. "You're the one trying to date him."

Pidge was right, as usual. They had maybe an hour to look around some more before panels started. And Lance and Pidge wanted to go to them all. Every. Single. One. Hunk and Shay did some more looking around, but sat in every now and then. Keith tried to go with them, but Lance said he needed the panel experience to learn more about the great franchise that was Voltron. Keith really wanted to tell him that he knew enough, but couldn't. He didn't want to have the talk in public.

The first panel was hosted by Nyma and Rolo, talking about the art and what it was like to work for a publishing company. Nyma was Keith's lead artist, who got handed all his work and tasked the other artists to recreate it and touch up anything that needed it. Then Rolo got to take over. It was his job to work with the printers and deal with getting extensions with them. It was a stressful job, according to him.

Nyma got asked which of the Malmora Publishing authors and artists that she like to work with best. She looked right at Keith and said Voltron. Although she could have just been saying that because it was a Voltron convention.

Next up was another Thace and Ulaz panel like from the last one. They got to answer a bunch of questions and gave a few hints about what to expect from this season of issues. The whole convention was more surreal for Keith than he thought it would be. He knew his graphic novel had turned out popular, it was just strange to see all of his fans so passionate about it with their questions, their facial expressions when listening to a panel speaker, or even all the cosplayers. He just didn't understand why people would put so much time in effort into something he had just originally wrote to keep him from being bored in class during high school.

During lunch, while he didn't get a chance to talk to Lance, he did get drafted to talk to Pidge. She pulled him down a small hallway that looked to go to a maintenance closet. "When are you going to tell him?" she whispered, staring up at him with the most intense stare.

"What?"

"The truth, Keith." Pidge gestured wildly to Keith. "About you. When are you going to tell him that you're the author." So she did know. Keith felt petrified and ill. Pidge just sighed and pushed her glasses up her nose. "Of course I know. Do you honestly believe I bought that story from Shiro and Allura?"

"Why..." Keith swallowed the massive lump in his throat that felt like his heart. "Why didn't you just say something?"

"You didn't seem like you wanted anyone to know."

So much for telling Lance first. "I've been trying to tell him. I just can't find the right time. I tried last night, but he was too tired. This morning you guys kind of blocked me. I'm just..." He let out a slow breath and then glanced back out the hall at all the passing people. "I'm just nervous. I don't want him to react badly. One way or another. He's probably going to be mad at me for not telling him, but I didn't want to date him without telling him. And I don't want him to see me any different after I tell him. That's all... That's all I've ever wanted since all this began."

"You and Lance?"

"No," Keith whispered, "just... this." He waved around them. "All this Voltron stuff. I just wanted to be normal." Rubbing at his arm, Keith's brows furrowed and his lips grew into a thin line. Why did normal seem so impossible to hold onto? "Normal just keeps slipping more and more away, and there's not much I can do about it." There was a weight on his chest, crushing him more and more. But it felt better to get a lot of this off his chest. "The whole reason I moved out of my dorm was to get an extension on my work. They just wanted me to be more accessible to them. I don't even know if I can keep up with college. I feel like I'm drowning half the time."

There was a moment that passed and it felt like the world stood still with it. If Keith's life was a building, he could see the cracks starting to deepen and parts of it coming down. If it was a ship, he could see the holes where it was starting to take on water. And did he ever feel like he was sinking into a deep ocean to drown.

"Keith," Pidge said more gently than he had probably ever heard her speak, "are you unhappy?"

Was he? "No."

He didn't think he was.

"Well," Pidge continued, "I don't think Lance will treat you very differently. Especially if you explain that to him. I mean, he might be a little bit of a fanboy afterwards, but I don't think he will treat you differently than he does now. He would probably just be extremely happy if you were to ever work in front of him."

"You know, half the reason I never dated was because I was afraid of being seen different. Well, that and that I have barely any time to date."

Pidge chuckled. "You'll be fine, Keith. Just talk to him." She gently punched his arm with a smirk. "I think it would mean the world to him to know the truth. You don't know how badly he's wanted to even breathe the same air as you. Well, you know, author you."

"I know what you meant," Keith chuckled. A sigh escaped him and Keith ran a hand through his hair. He felt like he was on a dead end street, going full force, with no breaks to stop him from crashing into the wall. He could only hope that it went as well as Pidge thought it would. But Pidge was very smart and she knew Lance very well. "I'll try to talk to him tonight. I did plan on it. I wanted to get it over with before we got home this weekend."

At least one of his friends had taken the news well. Hunk probably would be cool with it. He just really worried about Lance.

Pidge let him off the hook from any further interrogation, but Keith got the impression that they would return to all of this at a later date. Probably until Keith had divulged every last bit of information about his life and everything that was Voltron.

When they found the others, Lance had already signed himself up for the trivia contest. Literally just dropped his name in the box when Keith came up to him. "Do you really need to enter that?" Keith asked. Rolo was seated behind the table and arched his eyebrow at Keith, fiddling with the pen in his hands.

"Yes, because I need to prove I am the biggest Voltron nerd to ever breathe," Lance explained with his shoulders squared. He looked determined. "Plus I get guaranteed one of the new Voltron issues for us this way."

Rolo cleared his throat and gave Keith a knowing look that said: Or he could just ask you for one.

Keith shot him a glare and then turned back to Lance. "And if you lose?"

Hunk chuckled and clapped Keith on the back. "Believe me, Lance won't lose."

"Everything I've done in life has been for this single moment," Lance stated. Keith and Pidge both palmed their faces.

"Maybe the author will give you his blessing if you win," Rolo mumbled as he shuffled some papers. When everyone in line shot him a look, he froze. So did Keith. Fuck. "Uh, what I meant was-"

Lance slammed his palms down on the table. "Is the author here?" he shouted, much more loudly than necessary and managed to draw even more attention. Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose. Keith wanted to strangle Rolo. "Is he really?"

"Uh..." Rolo cursed under his breath, probably trying to think of an escape plan. "What I meant was-"

Too late, everyone was starting to whisper. Lance had grabbed Hunk. "Do you realize what this could mean? It could be anyone. Even the people that have done the panels, or maybe someone out here wandering around the convention. What if it's you?" Lance gasped dramatically. "How could you lie to me this whole time, buddy?"

"Lance," Pidge said dully. Hunk just chuckled and patted Lance on the back. This was a disaster.

Keith took in a breath. "Lance, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Shut down. Lance held up a hand, his eyes wide as they stared at Keith. "No time. I need to uncover the truth here before the trivia contest!"

"But that's what I need to talk to you..." And Lance was gone. Keith sighed. "About."

Why couldn't he have just done this before the convention? It made way more sense now that he thought about it. He couldn't hope to get Lance to calm down for a moment to talk in a place like this. For all he knew, Keith probably wouldn't even catch a glimpse of Lance again until the trivia contest.

Then again, he could have security tackle him. Tempting.


There was no more time. Not really. It seemed like it would have to wait until they left the convention before they could talk. Lance stood on stage with a handful of other contestants and Thace, who looked more than done with life. At least half of the contestants asked if the author was going to be doing the contest or handing out the award at the end, to which Thace could not really answer. Before the contest, Keith had received a series of all caps texts from him, asking why there were rumors that the author was in fact at the convention. To which Keith simply directed him to Rolo.

When Lance introduced himself, he had to go and tell everyone that all he really wanted was to meet the author, if only for a minute. That it would mean the to world to him to win the contest with the author there to give out the prize and see how much Lance loved Voltron. Because he couldn't make things easier on Keith. To make it worse, Pidge kept glancing at him every time Lance got a question correct.

Keith felt like he was suffocating. It was like the night before deadline and he barely had any of it done. It wasn't Lance's fault, though. He didn't understand that he was causing Keith stress. It was Keith's own fault for putting it off this long. He should have never waited until now. There had been so many opportunities. And he had been a coward each of those times. Well look where it had gotten him.

With every question that he got right or an opponent got taken out of the contest, Lance only grew more and more excited. He looked like he did whenever Keith finally agreed to go on a date with him. And he just wanted his wish. There Keith was, perfectly capable of fulfilling it, but bound to crush it. How could he crush Lance like that? Could he really do that to him? He cared for Lance, perhaps more than he should. Perhaps way more than he should. They weren't even dating yet, and Keith already wondered just how deep his feelings ran for Lance.

Now that everyone knew that the author was somewhere at the convention, how could Keith just let Lance stand up there if he won and slowly watch his dreams get crushed?

No, some part of his mind reasoned, Keith could just talk to Lance after. It wouldn't be a big deal. Right?

Right?

Keith didn't know the right answer.

Was there one?

Now it was just down to five contestants, and of course Lance was still one of them. Maybe if he lost, Keith could feel like he was off the hook. It was a horrible thought.

Three contestants. Keith could feel a tightness in his chest. Lance was on stage practically bouncing on his heels. Hunk slapped Keith on the bank. "Don't worry so much, Lance has got this in the bag," he assured Keith. That was exactly what Keith was worried about.

If it was anyone else, Keith could easily stay where he was and not feel guilty about not showing up to give out a prize. But Lance? He just didn't know what to do. Every part of him was locked in an internal war.

"What lion did Princess Farla's father pilot?" Thace asked Lance.

"The red one, of course," Lance said smugly. Keith sighed.

The next contestant failed to answer what food Hiroshi enjoyed the most. The next got an easy one with Ryou's nickname being Space Dad. Then it was just two. Lance could not have looked more confident.

"What nationality is Ryou?" Thace asked.

"Japanese," Lance replied with no hesitation.

"Correct. While a lot of the characters share Japanese names, most of them are not." That was mostly to spite Keith's half-Korean mother. Plus he had been learning Japanese at the time that he was making the characters.

Back and forth the two contestants went for about fifteen minutes, neither of them failing to answer the question presented to them. Lance didn't seem miffed at all, though, that someone was keeping up with him. If anything, he seemed to thrive on the competition. All the while, Keith struggled with his own questions. He just... What was he supposed to do?

This was all Rolo's fault. If he hadn't let anything slip, Keith wouldn't have to debate any of this. Now he was forced to choose between crushing Lance's dreams or giving up the thing he had clung onto the most: his anonymity.

It was impossible to even hear the contest anymore. All Keith heard was a ringing in his ears and the dull roar of the voices on stage. All of a sudden, the girl up there that was competing with Lance glumly walked off the stage and Thace held up Lance's hand, who looked like he might collapse from excitement at any given moment. And he was beaming at Keith. Beaming! How could Keith be heartless enough to crush that?

"Does this mean I get to meet the author? Can I have that as a prize?" Lance said quickly and before Thace could get a word out.

"Uh," Thace replied in shock. "I don't... know..." He glanced at Keith, which was a mistake. Warning bells went off as soon as he saw Lance perk up even more.

"H-He's here? In the crowd?" Lance stared wide-eyed out at the audience. Then said into his microphone, "It would mean the world to me to meet you."

Stop. Why Lance? Why Thace? Why was everyone doing this to Keith? He couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe? He just wanted Lance to stop looking around the crowd for someone to come up on stage. Why couldn't he understand that this was not what Keith wanted? Well Keith didn't have to do anything.

He would just stand right where he was.

Thace, still looking at Keith, sighed and went to reach for the new graphic novel issue that was meant for Lance. The issue that Lance wanted the author to give him. The author that was Keith. Keith the author that Lance dreamed of meeting right now.

And Keith was letting him down.

But he couldn't just give up everything he had worked to keep. Not for Lance, not for anybody.

No, he would stay right where he was. Lance and his stupid puppy dog eyes be damned.

Stay. Right. Where. He. Was.

"Keith?" Lance quietly asked in confusion.

Keith looked down. One foot was on the steps of the stage. Everyone around him froze. Pidge used the opportunity to take a picture of Lance's face. It was possible that Thace looked more surprised than Keith himself did. Honestly, though, Keith wasn't sure how he was even moving. He definitely was not telling his legs to move.

A chuckle came over Lance, slightly nervous. "Very funny, Keith. You shouldn't be up here on the stage."

Quietly, Keith reached out for the graphic novel and Thace silently handed it to him. The look that Thace gave him was clearly questioning this decision. Too late to go back now. People were whispering in the crowd now. And Keith? Keith was shaking as he held out the graphic novel for Lance, unable to meet Lance's eyes.

"Okay, joke's over, Keith," Lance chuckled. When Keith didn't move, his smile slowly fell off his face and shock overtook his expression. "You... No, you can't..." He looked at Thace, who nodded. "What?"

"Congratulations," Keith whispered as he handed the stunned Lance the new issue of Voltron.

Looking between Thace and Keith, Lance stood there. He shook his head and took a step back. Keith stepped forward and Lance took two more back. Then he bolted and jumped off the stage, running as fast as he could from the stage. Keith's arms dropped and turned back to Thace, who squeezed his shoulder in an attempt at support.

Leaning in, so only Keith heard him, Thace whispered, "I'm proud of you for what you just did. I know it wasn't easy."

"Yeah," Keith muttered, head bowed glumly.

The silence from the crowd ended and everyone began to roar with questions. Security quickly had to move in front of the stage to keep the crowd from jumping up there after Keith. Pidge was cringing, but gave him a thumbs up. Hunk looked frozen, but Shay elbowed him and he nodded before taking off after Lance. Shay looked up at Keith in awe, covering her mouth.

And all Keith could do was stand there, frozen, as everyone yelled at him with a million questions.


The next day felt like an eternity had passed, but at the same time had come far too quickly. Keith had not been able to sleep. He had spent most of the time trying to get Lance to talk to him. Lance had locked himself away in the other room, unwilling to talk to Keith. He told the others to let Lance have their room, he went and found his own.

Kolivan was more than happy with Keith's decision, and had already scheduled a last minute panel for him today. Keith was not sure how to exactly plan for that. He still was not sure why he had agreed to it, but Keith felt defeated and had just gone along with it.

Pidge and Shay came to talk to him before the panel. "Hey," Pidge greeted him. "Your security guy let us by. Thanks for the clearance."

"No problem," Keith sighed as he slouched in his seat.

Pidge pulled up a chair and sat across from Keith. "You look super glum, man. Cheer up, he'll come around." Looking to Shay, Pidge shrugged. "I'll admit that I didn't expect him to react that way."

"Lance is just in shock," Shay suggested. She rubbed Keith's back gently, which helped a little bit. "Keith, that was very big of you. I also wanted to thank you for everything you've said to me in the past. About my costume and stuff." Keith smiled weakly at her. "It meant a lot before, but having you be who you are takes it to a rather whole new level."

"I don't appreciate bullying," Keith mumbled. Standing up, Keith took to pacing. He just wanted to get Lance off his mind. He wanted Lance to be there for the panel, even though he was sure Lance wouldn't be. "And you looked amazing."

"Keith," Pidge began, "don't sweat it so much. Lance still likes you. He just needs time to process things. I promise that he will come around."

Thace popped his head in and signaled to Keith that they would be starting soon. Keith sighed and said, "I really hope so. I think I'll get a ride home with someone from Malmora, though. I don't want to make it awkward."

Neither Pidge or Shay seemed to like that very much, but they chose not to argue. Keith gave them a final nod and then walked over to where Thace was waiting for him. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Thace asked him, putting a hand to Keith's chest to stop him.

"No, but too late now."

Going onto the stage, Keith was greeted with a roar from the crowd. Thace came to a stop and fixed him with a look, clearing his throat. Keith sighed and raised his hand in a wave before moving to sit at the table with Thace. He hated this.

Lance was not in the crowd. At least not that Keith could see.

Before Thace could even start, everyone in the audience—which looked like it very well could have been the entire convention—shot their hands into the air for questions. Thace rolled his eyes and motioned for them to calm down.

"I know you are all excited to be here at the revelation of the author,"he began, "but we will get to questions in a bit." He cleared his throat again and turned to Keith, who was not really staring at anything in particular. "I think it best if we start by letting him introduce himself to all of you."

It took an elbow from Thace to get Keith to react. He frowed at Thace before scanning the crowd. Ezor was there with Rolo and Nyma, all three of them waiting anxiously for Keith to talk. They probably knew how nerve-racking this was for him.

"Keith?" Thace said quietly, covering the mic for only Keith to hear him. "Are you okay?"

Not really. It just hurt, having done it for Lance and Lance was not even here. Taking in a deep breath, Keith nodded and adjusted the mic. He leaned forward in his seat and began.

"Hello." Lots of screaming. "Um, my name is Keith Kogane. I am also the author and artist of Voltron." Water. He needed water. He quickly reached for a bottle that had been placed there for him, while the fans screamed more. "I started Voltron when I was ending my freshman year in high school, but it was mostly doodling back then. Then I got it published when I was... when I was in the eleventh grade. I am currently the youngest author or artist at Malmora Publishing, and I definitely was at the time of being picked up." Another deep breath. He could do this. "I go to college and have been trying to live a private and normal life prior to this. Um, but my... friend won the contest." That was all Lance was to him, right? Maybe now they never would be anything more, or maybe not even that. "I had not actually told him who I was yet, and I guess it was surprising for him... to say the least."

Keith leaned forward and covered his face for a moment. He was not shy, but this was definitely making him anxious. It was throwing away everything he had built to keep a normal life. All of that was gone now. What did this mean for his future?

"I just turned twenty last week," Keith continued. Everything had been so much easier back then. He had been happy with Lance and everything felt right. Now it was spiraling down like a plane with only one wing. Everyone screamed a happy birthday at him during his pause. He forced himself to smile. "This is the first Voltron convention that I've actually attended, and it..." he managed a real laugh this time, "it's definitely been an experience." Everyone laughed with him. "Thank you all so much for the support over the years, you know. I couldn't have gotten this far without any of you."

He looked to Thace and the man nodded at him. "I guess that's a good introduction as any." He motioned to Rolo, who grabbed a mic. "We will now be taking questions."

More than anything, Keith just wanted to tune it all out and retreat into his head, but he couldn't.

The first question came: "How long do you plan to continue to write Voltron?"

"Uh," Keith replied, "as long as I keep coming up with good ideas and get support, I guess."

The next was, "Are you single?" That one caught Keith a little off-guard.

He chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. He really didn't owe any of these people answers on his personal life. And he was about to respond that he didn't have a comment, but then he saw him. Lance was there. He didn't look too happy, but he was there. Keith sighed and let out a breath.

He said, "I am seeing someone. But that is all I'm going to say on the matter. Private life and all that." Glancing at Lance again, Keith stared for a moment. It was hard to read Lance right now, which was strange because Keith could always read Lance. The guy practically wore his emotions as a second layer of clothing to be on display for the world to see.

With the following question came the most controversial one. And Keith was not sure if it was a good idea to answer at all. Thace definitely seemed on edge, waiting for Keith's answer.

"Which ship do you plan on making canon?"

There was a lot of silence for that one. His fans were great, but it was like watching a battle royale of most dangerous predators fight to the death when it came to romance shipping. Was there really a right answer to this?

"Is it Ryou and Akira?"

"Akira and Isamu?" came another one.

"Akira and Farla?" Why were these all about Akira?

"Farla and Ryou?"

Keith pointed at that girl. "One that doesn't revolve around Akira, finally."

The crowd chuckled and the girl that had just spoken said, "I think everyone just wants him to be happy."

It hit Keith rather hard to hear that. Even though he never wanted to admit it, Shiro and everyone else always said that he put himself into Akira. Was he not happy? At least not before Lance maybe? Keith was not sure. Working on Voltron was all he had known for the past few years. Was that just not enough?

"It's Ryou and Akira, right?" a guy yelled out.

With that, Keith cringed and made a face. The crowd reacted in two ways. Some definitely seemed happy, and others seemed rather upset that Keith had just shut down their ship. He quickly held up a hand. "Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to step on toes. It's just that Ryou is inspired by my brother, and he always tells me I put a little of myself into Akira." He scratched the back of his head nervously, glancing at Thace for help. All he got was a nod. "So it is just a little weird for me to picture them together, given who they are technically based off of. And, yes, I guess I put myself into the story. Not completely. In my defense, though, I was a freshman in high school when I created Akira."

That got a few laughs from the audience and seemed to pacify the upset shippers. Keith breathed a sigh of relief and tried to relax. His shoulders felt far more stiff than when he had come onto the stage.

With a deep breath, he continued, "I honestly don't know yet what I'll do for a romance. Um, I guess I have been a little distracted with the rest of the plot." He just hoped that would do.

Probably telling them the truth would upset half and make the others uncontrollable. If he validated a ship, Keith was pretty sure the people that shipped it would use it as a weapon to attack the other ships. And Keith did not really want discourse in his fandom, even though he knew it went on anyways. They could just live without knowing that Isamu was now redesigned to look like the guy that Keith had feelings for.

With a glance at the time, Keith fought the urge to groan. It felt like an eternity had passed, but Keith still had another forty-five minutes of this. And a sea of questions still to be answered.

As he looked back up, Lance was leaving the panel. Keith's heart fell and he found himself rising to his feet. He wanted to say something, but Thace caught his arm. Keith had to watch Lance go. He sank back into his chair and let out a heavy sigh. This weekend had not gone as he had planned it. All of it was his fault. He shouldn't have waited. Now it might have been too late.

The only good thing that came out of the day was when he was signing autographs. While Lance didn't show up in line, Lotor did. And did he not want to look Keith directly in the eye for too long. There might have been a little smugness on Keith's face as he signed the copy of Voltron in front of him.

Zethrid still glared at him, but Lotor was all that Keith cared about.

"So," Keith said.

"So," Lotor repeated. He took the issue back from Keith. "I... need to... apologize."

A little too quiet for Keith's taste. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Lotor placed a hand in front of Zethrid before she could react. "I need to apologize for what I said earlier. I had no idea." He cleared his throat as he admired the newly signed copy. "I am still a fan of your work. I meant no disrespect." His gaze stared back at Keith with a curious look. "But you had not told your boyfriend who you are?"

"I had been meaning to," Keith mumbled as Lotor was ushered off down the line. Staring after the guy for a moment, Keith tapped his marker against the table before he went back to signing things.

He had hoped that Lance would show up at some point, but never did. Keith didn't care if he was in line or not, he had told security to give Lance clearance to come up and sit right beside him if he damn well pleased. Nyma had told him that she had given Lance the special tag for clearance and that Lance had accepted it, but said he didn't want to talk to Keith right now. It stung, to say the least.

The only thing that Keith could really do was hope. Hope that things worked out. Hope that he had made the right choice. Hope that Lance would forgive him. Hopefully soon.


It felt good to finally finish this chapter. So I had the idea for Keith running into a fellow author somehow in the story, but I didn't think about it until like two chapters ago and I felt it was a little too late to throw in at that point. Plus I thought nobody really knows who Keith is. Then a reader made the suggestion as well and I thought about it for a while. Of course it hit me that people in Keith's own publishing company would know, including other authors/artists. So I managed to get that in. I am shooting for two more chapters of this story. But I do have more stories planned. As I am finishing this one and finishing my other fic House of the Wicked, I still want to write fics while I work on getting a book out. So I am going to put out more Klance. When I created this one, I already had ideas for a second and possibly third fic. I'll be working on those after I finish this.

I do want to say how amazing you guys are. Really. I love how vocal you guys are after reading my chapters. It's very refreshing to hear your thoughts and support. This being my first Voltron fic, I just want to express how grateful I am for the love that you guys have sent my way on this fic. And also thank you to those that have been recommending my fic to others. It means a lot.

I'm going to go, though. I've been feeling a little like Keith this chapter, rather overwhelmed with my life. Just a lot going on and not exactly going how I need it to right now. Hopefully, the next update won't take too terribly long, but I can't make any promises as to when it will be out, as I am preparing to do major writing for my book over the next few weeks. Until next time, though, thank you all again for taking the time to read my story.