"Why must this be so mortifying? Oh, that's right. Because its my life."
― Tessa Dare, Romancing the Duke
Chapter 11
"Aww, aren't they cute?"
Someone snorted. "I'll say, now move so I can take a picture before they wake up."
"Pidge," a weary voice said, "You're not going to use this to blackmail them right?"
A pause. "No."
"That pause is not reassuring in the least."
"If you're going to take a picture, would you mind sending me a copy?" A voice with an accent said.
"Ah same here, I'm making a scrap book and Keith here always bolts in the opposite direction when I try to take a picture of him. This will be nice to embarrass him with-err I mean it'll look nice on the scrapbook."
Somebody snickered. "Right…I'll get those sent to you by this afternoon."
"Umm," a hesitant voice mumbled, "I'd like a picture too, if that's okay."
"Sure thing," there were a few more clicks and Keith stirred in his seat before nuzzling more into the warmth that was radiating below him.
"Aww," five voices cooed.
"Keep it up Keith! These shots are gold!"
"Is he sucking his thumb?" an amused voice said.
"He hasn't done that in years!" a voice exclaimed, "Pidge! Send me a picture of this!"
An amused chuckled answered him, "Looks like you're finally onboard with this Shiro."
"W-what? I just didn't want to be left out!"
"Ah young love," a chipper voice said, "Why, I remember when I was young and would often fall asleep with my lover," a nostalgic sigh, "Those were the days."
"By the way," a voice interrupted, "Is that a cow?"
Silence.
"No one said anything so I was wondering if I was seeing things but dude, that's definitely a cow!"
"Is that what that creature is?" a chipper voice said, "What does it do?"
"It produces milk," an amused voice said.
"Astounding," a voice with an accent said.
"Anyone else get the feeling the cows giving them the finger or is it just me?"
There were a few chuckles after the statement and the person who spoke before whined.
"Too loud," Keith mumbled in his sleep.
"Everyone shut up!"
A yawn, "Five more minutes mom," a sleepy voice mumbled under him, "I'll clean my room later."
There was movement underneath him as the person below him began to shift and Keith whined and pulled them closer, "Don't go," he whined, "It's cold."
Someone started cackling in the background before there were a few more clicks and Keith scowled as he began to open his eyes.
"Shh! Everyone act cool, he's waking up!"
Keith blearily opened his eyes and squinted at the sudden light and rapidly blinked as his eyes began to adjust to his surroundings. Sudden movement made him turn his head to see the rest of his teammates doing a pose?
Shiro was standing with an arm on his hip and pointing at an imaginary friend? Had to be because Keith couldn't see anyone in front of his friend. Hunk seemed to be frozen with his hands in the air. Maybe he was doing the Y.M.C.A?
Pidge was tapping away at her tablet with Allura and Coran hovering over her and rubbing their chins and nodding their heads like they were agreeing to something the green paladin said. That tablet wasn't even on though… And the four mice on Allura's head were juggling something between them.
"What are you guys doing?" he asked with a raised brow.
At his voice, his friends jumped and turned to him as if they just noticed him, "Keith!" they all exclaimed.
Keith gave them a suspicious look and repeated his previous question, "What are you guys doing?"
"Umm, exercising?" Hunk mumbled when it looked like no one was going to answer.
Everyone gave the yellow paladin a look of disbelief and Hunk threw his hands in the air, "Well you guys didn't say anything!" he hissed.
Pidge snorted. "Well I wasn't." the look she gave Keith had him on edge, "I was taking pictures," she grinned impishly, "You guys are adorable! I have so much blackmail material!"
For a moment Keith looked confused before the body curled up next to his shifted and he immediately understood.
"I-it's not what you think!" he stammered out, Lance whined and Keith immediately put a hand on her head and stroked her hair until she settled down. Noticing what he'd done, his face turned red and he cast worried eyes at his friends who looked like they were trying very hard not to laugh. Everyone but Pidge, she started cackling as soon as he made eye contact with her.
As soon as she did, everyone else joined her and Keith felt like hiding in a hole and never coming out. Unfortunately, all the noise must have been too much because Lance yawned and slowly sat up as she looked at the rest of their friends with sleep-deprived eyes.
Lance narrowed her eyes at the funny faces she received in returned and pouted petulantly, "What are you guys doing?"
"Enjoying the weather?" Hunk offered sheepishly. At the scowls he received in return the yellow paladins put his hands on his hips and cast them all a glare, "Well if you guys aren't going to come up with anything don't be mad at me for at least trying!"
"We were coming to wake you up?" Shiro offered as he ran a hand through his white bangs and looked around the rest of his teammates for support.
At their leaders look all five of them nodded their heads vigorously. Lance looked at them with unconvinced eyes.
"You're all liars, I heard clicking." Lance mumbled as she stretched her arms out and began to step out of the cruiser.
Pidge scoffed and averted her eyes. "You must have been dreaming."
"There's a camera in your hands…"
"Doesn't mean I was using it."
"The lights green and you're pointing it at us…"
Pidge stared blankly at Lance before she wiggled her fingers at the Amazon and did her ghost voice, "This is all a dream," Hunk muffled his chuckles by covering his mouth, "You're so sleepy, go back to bed."
"Pidge." Shiro said in amusement.
"A t the sound of my voice your eyelids will begin to droop." Pidge continued.
Allura and Coran watched with wide smiles. Keith's lips were twitching upward and Hunk was doubled over muffling his laughter. Lance was staring at Pidge with a grin as she shook her head in disbelief.
"Pidge."
"Ooooo,"
"Pidge, stop. It's not working." Shiro said between chuckles.
Pidge dropped her hands to her side, "Aww man. That usually works."
"Yeah," Hunk snorted beside her, "In movies."
Lance lifted her hand and the camera flew from Pidge's hands to Lance who took it gingerly in her hands. "Hey!" Pidge scowled.
As Lance began to scroll through the pictures, Keith leaned down to take a look at them and blanched. There were dozens of pictures of him and Lance huddled together. His head was resting on Lance's head while his other hand wrapped an arm around her waist. There was a picture of Keith sucking his thumb that he bowed would meet its end soon. A picture with Kaltenecker chewing on Keith's hair, as he lay oblivious in his seat. And another picture with Kaltenecker the cow laying her head on top of Lance's head where Keith swore it was grinning at the camera.
"Aww," Lance cooed beside him, "These are adorable! Send them to me!"
Pidge blinked her brown eyes in surprise. "Really?"
Keith cast his friend a worried look, "Really?"
Lance nodded with a wide grin and did a provocative pose that had them all groaning, "If you wanted to take pictures of me," Lance said with a husky voice and winked, "All you had to do was ask."
Hunk pinched his nose, "Buddy, I love you I really do, but please stop doing that pose."
Lance pouted beside Keith and handed Pidge her camera before Keith had a chance to delete that god damn photo.
"By the way," Shiro asked as he cast a suspicious look over the red and blue paladin, "Where were you guys?"
"Yeah," Pidge said beside him, "You guys missed Shiro's annoying wake up call with his new favorite whistle."
Shiro looked offended, he thought the paladins loved the daily breakfast announcement. Hunk put a comforting hand on his leaders shoulder and shook his head at him. "Dude, no one likes it."
Shiro looked quite miffed at the news and crossed his arms over his chest.
Allura giggled beside Coran and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, "I quite enjoy it, don't worry."
"Oh, I bet you do," Lance mumbled underneath her breath.
Shiro seemed to be appeased for the moment if the wide smile he sent the Altean princess was any indication. Pidge rolled her eyes at the two and cast a suspicious look over Keith and Lance. "So? Where were you two?"
Lance and Keith shared a look silently having a conversation in their heads.
'Well?' Lance asked in her head. 'What do we tell them?'
Keith chewed on his lip and cast a worried look over their friends who were waiting for a response.
"Keith?" Shiro asked firmly.
Lance cast panicked eyes to her friend. 'Crap, that's his dad voice! Think of something quick!'
Keith's mind was a total blank though.
Noticing this, Lance inwardly sighed and turned weary blue eyes to Shiro. "Tampons," she blurted out. "We went to buy tampons."
Shiro and Keith blanched as Pidge burst out laughing. Hunk made a face and Allura and Coran looked confused.
"What's a tampon?" Allura whispered to Hunk.
Hunk looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here as Allura repeated her question to Shiro who was avoiding eye contact.
After a while the black paladin cleared his throat and cast a weary glance over his two paladins, "In the middle of the night?"
"It was an emergency," Lance smoothly replied, "So much blood. Rivers of it really," Shiro looked green and Pidge doubled over holding her stomach as she continued to laugh, "And Keith was wondering around the hallways so I took him with me."
Keith shot Lance an annoyed glare but quickly cleared his face of any emotion as Shiro and Pidge turned to regard him suspiciously. "It's true," he croaked out before clearing his throat, "It was an emergency."
"Oh yeah?" Pidge asked him as she got to her feet, "Where are they then?"
Lance and Keith blanched and cast a weary eye over the items they'd bought at the swap moon. Lance put both hands on her cheeks and gasped so loudly anyone could tell it was fake, "Oh my god." She said in a surprisingly shocked voice, "Keith! We forgot the tampons."
"Oh no," Keith deadpanned. "Whatever shall we do?"
Lance clicked her tongue, "Oh well. On the bright side, we got a cow!"
Shiro looked unconvinced, "Lance," he said warningly, "The truth."
Lance huffed, "But dad!" Shiro did not appear to like his new nickname and made a face, "It's the truth."
The black paladin made a face as he stared down the blue paladin whose will was beginning to crumble by the second. Keith sighed and decided to address his friend, "The truth is I wanted a change of scenery and Lance decided to come with me."
The others looked at him in surprise as Shiro rubbed his chin thoughtfully as Keith continued; "I haven't exactly been in a good mood if you haven't noticed."
Pidge snorted and rolled her eyes, "Oh we noticed."
Keith cast the green paladin a glare before turning his blue-gray eyes to his longtime friend, "I needed to cool my head and Lance was just helping me out. So don't be mad at her, she was just trying to be nice and take my mind off things."
Shiro cast worried eyes to his friend, as he looked him over. "And are you okay now?"
Keith let out a whoosh of breath and nodded, a small smile on his features, "Yeah. I'm okay. And," he looked over the rest of his team and bowed slightly to them, "I'm sorry for my recent behavior, you guys were just trying to help and I brushed you off. Can you guys ever forgive me?"
Hunk let out big fat tears and rushed forward to engulf Keith in a big hug. The others rushed in and Hunk opened his arms to let them all in the group hug.
"Of course we forgive you dude! We're just glad you're back to your moody self." Hunk cried as he swung the whole group around.
"Moody Keith is better than angry Keith any day." Pidge muffled out where she was squished between Shiro and Allura.
Shiro ruffled Keith's hair in affection as Hunk put them down on their feet, "I hope you know that you can come to any of use if you ever need to talk Keith. We're a team, we'll always have your back."
Keith nodded absently.
"Now then," Coran said with a clap of his hands, "How about some breakfast to celebrate?"
"Oh! I've just the thing!" Lance said excitably as she ran back to the cruiser and rummaged around the bags until she found what she was looking for. Kaltenecker and the rest watched in confusion except for Keith who had a pretty good idea on what his friend was looking for. Lance hid something behind her back and walked up to Shiro with a huge grin.
The black paladin for his part was looking more and more tense the closer Lance got. Last time the blue paladin had given him a gift; he'd opened the box to reveal a small orange and blue venomous snake with two heads. The thing had launched itself at him before the Amazon princess deftly snatched it from the air and cradled it to her chest.
Pidge had shouted in excitement, Hunk had yelped and hid behind Coran who looked quite interested in the creature, Allura backed away and cuddled her four mice who were freaking out, Keith actually went to pet the thing and Shiro had transformed his arm into a sword.
Safe to say, Shiro had kindly asked Lance not to give him any more gifts for quite a while.
"Someone told me that you absolutely adore this," Lance cast her eyes to Keith who rolled his eyes at her, "So here you go!"
Lance shoved a medium size box in front of Shiro's face that had him stumbling backwards before he deftly took the box in his hands and let out a gasp. "Is this?" he stammered out. Were those tears in the corner of his eyes or was Lance seeing things?
The others crowded around him to see what had their leader so teary while Lance stood to the side looking damn proud of herself.
"Mac and Cheese?" Pidge snorted. "Really?"
Shiro cast offended eyes to the green paladin who took a step back and raised her arms in defense. Allura and Coran looked confused, Hunk looked like he was already thinking of ways to make the mac and cheese fabulous, and Keith was casting worried eyes at Shiro who had started trembling.
"Shiro?" Keith asked as he waved a hand in front of the black paladins face, "You doing okay?"
"Hunk," Shiro hoarsely whispered, "Can you make this for today?"
Hunk beamed and took the box from his leaders hands and gave him a two finger salute, "Don't worry buddy, I got this!" the yellow paladin stated and began making his way to the kitchen before shouting over his shoulder, "Lance, come help me out!"
Lance stood up straight and gave him a salute as she marched to her friend. "You got it!"
Kaltenecker followed after her with a few bags in her mouth, she cast a glare at Keith who looked ready to get down and dirty right then and there, and left the room.
Coran clapped in delight and followed after them, "Paladins! I'll help out too!"
Allura and Pidge followed after them, the green paladin explaining what mac and cheese was to the Altean princess until only Shiro and Keith remained.
"You sure you're okay now?" Shiro asked him when they were the only ones left in the hanger. "I know its been a slow week with hardly any Galra attacks and you tend to get restless with nothing to do, but I'd really like you to tell me what's been going on with you." Shiro put his arm on Keith's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. "I'd like to help with whatever you're going through."
Keith turned to look at his friend and leader, the concern in his eyes making him feel guilty.
Keith sighed and felt the urge to fidget as Shiro stood patiently by his side and waited for him to answer. Lance's comforting presence invaded his mind in concern.
'Are you okay?"
Keith got fleeting images of what Lance was seeing through her own eyes, mostly her talking with Coran and Hunk as the yellow paladin handed them both some aprons as he started giving out directions.
'Yeah, I'm fine. Go back to cooking.' He thought back to Lance.
Lance made a humming noise in his head before she focused her attention on her current task and left his thoughts. Her presence still lingered at the back of his head though, always there if he ever needed her.
"Shiro," he began, swallowing thickly as Shiro turned to look at him. "There is something going on." He paused and looked down at his arms, the lack of claws and purple skin making him want to smile as he remembered how Lance had accepted him without fail even as he was beginning to turn Galra right in front of her. Lance sent him an image of himself with purple fluffy Galra ears and her petting them before Keith shooed her away and Lance left his mind again, her laughter echoing in his mind. "There is something going," he said again, his heart hammering in his chest as Shiro regarded him in concern, "But it's not something I'm comfortable talking about." Shiro opened his mouth and Keith rushed ahead, "Not yet at least." He turned pleading eyes to his long time friend and willed him to listen, "But when I am, I'll make sure to tell you. I promise. I just need some time."
Shiro was silent for a while as his intense gaze roamed over him but Keith stood straight and stared him in the eye. After a while Shiro nodded slowly and smiled, Keith felt the tension in his shoulders lessen at the look, "All right then. Whenever you're ready, I'll be here to listen."
Keith smiled and nodded as he released a sigh of relief, "Now let's go before we start hugging each other."
Shiro laughed and followed after him to the kitchen where the others could be heard even from all the way to the hangers, "So," Shiro began as he cast teasing eyes to his friend, "Did you enjoy your date with lance?"
Keith tripped on his feet and stammered, "W-what, it wasn't a date Shiro!"
"Right."
"Shiro!"
"I'm just saying, you guys looked awfully comfortable in each others arms."
"That was an accident!"
"And you did leave in the middle of the night, I saw the logs, you two left around two in the morning. Awfully long time for a walk."
Keith spluttered incoherently beside him and Shiro laughed so hard he almost missed Keith's mumbled words, "Although I did confess to her."
This time it was Shiro who tripped on his own feet as Keith hurried past him.
"Keith! Wait, what did you say? You did what? Keith!"
The red paladin just chuckled and left his friend stumbling behind him.
"Keith!"
When they got to the kitchen Hunk was stirring something in a pod as Coran and Lance took out another pot and started filling it with water. Pidge was typing away in her laptop while Allura was clapping to whatever her mice were doing.
It seems Kaltenecker had left the bags of gifts for the rest of the team on the table before disappearing to who knows where. Hopefully not his room Keith thought with a grimace.
Just as Keith and Shiro sat themselves on the table, Hunk began to sing.
"I want to be the very best, like no one ever was dun dun dun-"
The paladins looked up with a grin as Hunk whipped around, took of the spoon he was using to stir the mac and cheese and pointed at Lance who was dancing on her feet.
"To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause!"
Lance twirled around and pointed at Pidge who grinned and shot to her feet, "I will travel across the land, searching far and wide-" she pointed to Shiro who put both hands on his hips and continued with a surprisingly good singing voice, where she left off.
"Teach Pokémon to understand, the power that's inside," Shiro pointed at Keith who looked uncertain.
"Pokémon?" he said with a shrug.
"Boo!" his teammates yelled.
"You were suppose to shout it out Keith!" Lance said with a pout.
"Keith," Shiro mumbled with a shake of his head.
"At least he knew the words," Hunk mumbled sheepishly.
Pidge pushed up her glasses and cast Keith a look, "Yeah, that's true. Its something."
Keith crossed his arms, "Standing right here you know."
"We know," the paladins said dismissively.
"I'm so confused," Allura mumbled as Coran applaud and called for an encore.
When the Hunk declared that the mac and cheese was done, Shiro was the first one out of his seat to get a bowl and pour its contents onto his bowl before sitting down on the table and practically scarfing down the food like a starved man.
The others cast him worried looks but when it looked like he was in no danger of choking on his food they left him alone to get their own food.
Allura and Coran seemed to like the mac and cheese and asked for seconds. Hunk and Lance were debating on how they could have made it better as Pidge voiced her own input every now and then when she looked up from her laptop.
Keith looked around at his family and smiled to himself. This had been nice. It had been a while since he'd made time to hang out with his friends, what with the whole turning-into-Galra fiasco that had him freaking out.
When he was ready he'll make sure to tell them all about him being a half Galra but for now at least he had Lance to share his secret with.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Frowning, Keith turned to Pidge who was grinning and typing away in her laptop as Shiro and the others turned to see what that noise had been about.
"Pidge, is it done?" Shiro asked with a hopeful look.
Keith and Lance shared a look. "What's done?"
Hunk turned to answer them as he swiveled in his seat, "Well, apparently Shiro remembered something about how he escaped when the Galra took him prisoner when he was sleeping. According to him, a Galra helped him escape!" he said with wide eyes.
Allura scoffed in her seat and crossed her arms, "Lies. All Galra are evil, Shiro must have remembered wrong."
Coran put a comforting hand on the princess and tried to settle her down.
Keith flinched at her tone and Lance gave his hand a slight squeeze as she tried her best not to glare at Allura.
Pidge was looking over the data as she typed a few more things before glancing at the red and blue paladin, "Shiro said the Galra who helped him inputted coordinates in his Galra arm, we weren't sure so he had me do a scan just in case."
"And?" Shiro asked eagerly as he pushed his empty plate away.
Pidge nodded, "Looks like you were right Shiro. These are coordinates, which means," she cast wide eyes at the group, "We may have Galra allies."
For a moment there was absolute silence as they all took that in.
Allura was the first to voice her opinion on the matter. Galra were not to be trusted, but then Hunk reminded them that Zarkon used to be the Black Paladin before he turned evil. The black lion wouldn't have chosen someone who they didn't trust.
Shiro argued that the Galra who had helped him escape was another prime example that not all Galra were bad. Ulaz, the Galra who had helped him escape, had plenty of opportunities to kill him in his weakened state but chose to help him instead.
Keith agreed that not all Galra should be trusted immediately but they should at least check it out and get proof.
Lance and Hunk agreed that they should check the place out just in case. Pidge and Coran also agreed to Allura's dismay.
After what felt like forever, Allura finally agreed to check out where the coordinates led but urged them to put on their armor and be ready for anything.
"If I sense anything wrong," she stated with cold eyes, "I'll turn our weapons against them immediately. No arguments."
Shiro sighed but nodded his consent.
Allura cast them all a firm nod before declaring she was going to put on her own armor in case they got into a fight and left in a huff, Coran following after.
The five paladins split up and went to their respected rooms to change into their battle gear before heading up to the deck where Allura and Coran were already waiting. Coran shot them a little wave while Allura said nothing. She'd put on her pink and white body suit armor, attached her whip to her belt, and pulled her long silver hair into a tight bun as they all made their way to her.
"Ready?" the Altean princess asked them as she cast her blue eyes on them.
Everyone nodded back and Allura sighed before she left her position of leaning on the wall to make her way to the center. "All right, brace yourselves for a wormhole."
There was a blinding light that had them all shielding their eyes before a giant wormhole opened up in front of them and Allura and Coran steered the ship towards it.
"Here we go," Lance mumbled beside him. "You ready?"
Keith moved closer to her and nodded back, his face set in determination, "As ready as I'll ever be."
And then they made it to the other side and they all gasped as the wormhole closed behind them.
By the way, there were a few changes to chapter 10 so make sure to check it out! Just added a few more things and fixed a few things becuase gosh it was 3 in the morning and i did not re-check it when i posted it .
And for those of you who reviewed, thanks! I'd write a sentence for you guys but i'm in a hurry!
Make sure to leave a review, I love them!
