Aftermath

Keith woke up first, the smell of breakfast wafting in the air.

He knew these smells —omelettes with cheese baked on top with blueberry muffins and some pumpkin chocolate chip bread with…chocolate tea? Immediately, Keith threw the sheets off his legs and sprang to bathroom. He brushed his teeth and within ten minutes, he emerged from the bathroom and bolted downstairs towards the kitchen. There, he saw the only person who could make such a breakfast.

Krolia Bailey. His mother.

"Mom!" Keith shrieked as he ran to her. He hugged her from behind, his face burying in her back. "I see you're cooking up a storm."

Krolia laughed. "Of course. Can't let my son and his friends eat a light breakfast after such a rough day yesterday now, can I?"

Keith released her and then bolted back up the stairs and screamed out, "Guys!" He bust open the door, frightening Pidge, Hunk and Shiro out of their sleep. The three sprang up and looked around in alarm. Seeing that Lance hadn't budged, Keith used a broomstick to jab the young man in his side. "Get the fuck up Lance!"

"Dude!" Lance shrieked out, twisting in the bed. "What the —!? What are you doing?!" He screamed as he scrambled to the other side of the bed, trying to escape Keith and the broomstick.

"Mom is making breakfast! Get up and let's go eat!" Keith's jabbing became faster, almost to the point of him swinging the broomstick wildly.

Shiro perked up, forgetting to be angry with Keith for waking him up. "Seriously?!" Without hitch, Shiro swivelled his legs to the edge of the bed and slipped on his slippers. He dashed to the adjoining bathroom and started to brush his teeth. "Keith! You should've said something!"

Keith huffed. "I did."

"Damn, you know I don't like when it gets cold! She made pumpkin chocolate chip bread?"

Keith grinned. "She brought out all the big guns, Shiro."

"Holy —!" This made Shiro move even faster, Pidge and Hunk wondering just what was going on. They've never seen Shiro act like this before, and it was…strange.

"So, Keith and Shiro's Mom is here cooking breakfast." Lance groaned out. "Yay." His voice was so lacklustre.

Shiro paused. "That's where you're mistaken." He spoke. "Keith's mother, not mine."

"Yeah, I'm adopted." Keith added. "When I was like what…? Eleven?"

Shiro roared with laughter. "You sure it wasn't waaayyyy before that?"

"Nope, your mom was my babysitter first, remember?"

"Oh, right."

It was the fastest sleep left the others. The conversation was like a slap in the face, and it showed just how little they knew each other. Sure, they knew each other's likes and dislikes, favourite colour and all that, but do they truly know each other? They didn't even know that Keith was adopted. He and Shiro don't look alike, but adoption never really crossed their minds.

Given some time and all of Voltron descended the stairs and into the kitchen. Keith and Shiro raced down the stairs, Pidge wondering how they didn't fall. Lance was still holding his sides, making a mental note to hide all broomsticks from now on. He never knew one could be so lethal once in Keith's hands.

Everyone finally made it to the kitchen, where the woman's back was still turned. She was quite tall, over six feet with tanned skin and dual coloured hair of dark blue and mauve.

"Mom!" Keith chirped as he slid onto the chair.

Krolia turned around to face the group and Lance's jaws slackened. Keith's mother was Krolia? The Krolia Bailey, frontwoman for the Blades of Mamora? His musical crush who he'd call his wife all the time? The woman who he had shouted at yesterday to have his babies? Lance felt the heat rise in his face.

"K-K-Kr-Krolia?!" He uttered out. "You're Keith's…" He couldn't even finish his sentence. He had screamed at her to have his babies with her son standing right next to him!

"Yeah, just so you know, I don't approve of her having your babies." Keith said as he pointed an index at Lance. His smug face said it all. As it was, Krolia and Shiro were at the top of the table, on the left were Lance and Hunk and across from them were Keith and Pidge.

Pidge guffawed. "Imagine Keith having to call Lance, dad!"

"It'll be the harbinger of the Apocalypse!" Hunk snickered.

Lance flushed red. "Guys!" He whined. "This is Krolia Bailey we're talking about here! You all knew my crush on her and you!" He looked at Shiro with narrowed eyes. "Knew all along that she was Keith's mother and said nothing?!"

Shiro shrugged. "Keith wanted to tell you guys; I couldn't ruin it."

"Ugh!" Lance covered his face with his palms. If only the Earth could swallow him whole.

Krolia laughed at their antics. They were no different from her own band, Ulaz and Regris often time pulling Thace's strings. It was even more chaotic when Kolivan and Antok were around. When breakfast was about to be served, Shiro and Keith assisted her, and with the others looking, they noticed it was something the two always did. Their movements were devoid of mistakes and hesitancy; it seemed like a well-polished routine.

"And breakfast is served!" Keith chirped, taking up his fork. "If you don't eat, I'll eat it for you!"

Keith dove into his food like a beast, Shiro warning him that he should chew his food. Pidge, Lance and Hunk gaped in shock at the guitarist, Keith was usually more controlled and calmer on his good days. On bad days, he'd be moody and snappish, but it was rarely seen. However, this Keith before them was totally different. And somehow, Pidge found it refreshing to see another side of their fierce Red Lion.

"Keith!" Krolia shrieked in fright. She gave him a hard slap in his back to stop his choking. Shiro had run gone to fetch some water.

"I told you to chew your food!" Shiro hissed, the others noticing that he seemed to be slightly frowning. "This happens every time Mom makes her breakfast specials! Come on, man! The food isn't gonna get up and run away!"

"At the rate at how Keith's behaving, I wouldn't be surprised." Pidge mumbled. Lance doubled his lips to not burst out in laughter.

"Did he just…?" Hunk asked in surprise. But maybe, he deduced, that Shiro and Keith were so close that somewhere along the line Shiro started to call Krolia 'mom' and it just stuck.

Breakfast continued with Shiro and Keith racing to see who could devour their food faster, Krolia not even flinching, seeming like it was a normal thing for her. Lance enjoyed the meal, and even started up a conversation with the frontwoman. He was a first a bit shy being that she was Keith's mother, but after that initial shock wore off, he opened up to her.

He asked her mostly about her life as a rockstar. He asked about her favourite performance, and her favourite place to perform. There were so many things that he was curious about, and luckily, Krolia willingly answered. The questions weren't personal, Lance wasn't the type to nosey into a person's private life, and then again, even if he was, Keith was sitting across the table from him. He knew that the redhead would inevitably kill him.

In the midst of it, Keith's phone sounded, a loud chime that was quite disturbing. It caused everyone at the table to pause, even Shiro let out an exasperated sigh.

"I told you to change that thing."

"As long as it doesn't go off in the middle of the night, you're cool right?" Keith asked with sass. Hunk and Lance paused and looked between Keith and Pidge. The girl must really be rubbing off on him, because that tone of voice was definitely Pidge-ish.

Krolia chuckled. "You are amusing."

Keith pulled out his phone and scrolled through his social media, and of course, the topics that were trending were "Battle of the Bands", "Blades of Marmora", and surprisingly, "Voltron" were in the mix. With a raised eyebrow, Keith checked out the posts that were tagged with the band's name and whistled.

"What is it, Yorak?" Krolia asked, giving a quick glance to her son before looking back to Lance. She had always called him such because the name she wanted to give him was "Yorak" and not "Keith". Luckily, none of the others heard.

"Voltron is one of the trending topics on Tweeter." He said it so casually, it almost seemed like no big deal. With a squeak, Lance whipped out his phone and noticed the notification badges on the app. Opening it, Lance screamed.

"Holy crow! It's true!"

"What? What's it say?!" Shiro asked eagerly. He leaned across the table to see Keith's phone screen.

"Well, there are various comments with our band's name in there so…"

Lady Ah_drienne drienne_ah
Voltron was the best band there! How could they have gotten third place!?
ノಠ益ಠノ彡┻━┻
[PICTURE OF VOLTRON ON STAGE COLLECTING THEIR PRIZE]
itsme itsmoi: I know right! These people have a screw loose! I just hope with Thace's connections they can get signed to Galra!
Siren bonsiren: I swear, I haven't heard a voice like Black Lion's. Like, it was so heavenly and powerful, I was weak in my seat! #BlackLionsVoiceIsSexy

Shiro shivered when he saw the last comment under the post. "Okay, I did not need to see that."

"Let's make #BlackLionsVoiceIsSexy trend for all the world to see." Keith snickered, leaning to his right to show Pidge the comment. With a mischievous look, she nodded and whipped out her phone and typed furiously.

"You little asshole." Shiro said between gritted teeth, fingers clenching and unclenching as he hesitantly reached for Keith's neck.

"I'm a little brother. Being an asshole is part of my job description." Keith snickered but continued his scrolling. He mostly saw comments and posts that were disagreeing with Voltron's placement, and funny enough, the band that won hadn't gotten this much traction. It was as if they didn't exist.

"Guys, look at this one." Lance said, he showed his screen to Hunk first.

Good Username theyrealltaken: Tbh, I don't even remember who came first. I only remember Voltron. And it's pretty bad for the winners to virtually be non-existent to everyone, right? #WhoCameFirstAtBattleoftheBands20XX
Ella Bella beautifulone: I agree. I really don't remember any of the songs they sang. #WhoCameFirstatBattleoftheBands20XX
Zander alexanderthegreat: Ha! I don't even remember their name! #WhoCameFirstAtBattleoftheBands20XX

"That is pretty bad." Hunk said, a frown on his face. "It's even a trending hashtag. I feel sad for them." He turned to Lance and asked, "What was their name again? I was so nervous I couldn't concentrate."

Lance roared with laughter. "How should I know?!"

"I think it was in another language." Shiro muttered out with a chuckle.

Keith and Pidge cracked up at the other side of the table, Krolia sipping on her chocolate tea with supreme nonchalance, watching them. She was glad that she was back in Plaht to see her son, but also, she was glad to see her son surrounded by people other than Shiro. It was cute.

"Good that you've made friends, Yorak." Krolia said, ruffling her son's hair.

"Mom! I told you not to call me that in front of people!"

It was like time froze.

"Yorak?" Lance asked, doubling his lips to force down his snicker. Hunk beside him pretended to choke in order to mask his laughter. Pidge looked at Keith with a raised brow.

"Yes, it's the Marmoran name that I wanted to give him." Krolia answered. "But his father decided otherwise."

"We-we-well," Lance snickered, unable to form his sentence. "it-it-it's a good thing, that-that, bwahahaha!" He erupted with laughter, slamming his fists on the table. Keith looked absolutely murderous.

"Shut the fuck up! My name is gorgeous! You just don't understand the language!" Keith's face was as red as a tomato, Pidge shifting slightly to catch this all on camera. She's never seen him so flustered and embarrassed before, and she was loving it. Who knew Keith could be this expressive?

It wasn't until some more teasing later that Krolia had gotten phone call from Kolivan, telling her of a meeting with the other Blades. Some minutes later, she had left, leaving Voltron alone with their chaotic selves.

"So, I think it's time we addressed the elephant in the room." Shiro started, Lance was still in a bit of daze after finding out that his celebrity crush was Keith's biological mother.

"Yeah, are we gonna take Allura's offer or not?" Keith asked. "I mean…it's Altea Entertainment."

Lance laughed and placed a hand on the back of the chair as he leaned back. All eyes looked to him, and without hitch, Lance said, "I'm actually surprised at this. Although we've known each other for what? A month? I'm pretty sure we all know the answer to this."

Hunk drummed on the table with his fingers, leaned forwards and said, "The fact that Shiro worked with them before makes them trustworthy, right?" He smiled. "So why are we hesitating? Opportunities like this don't come very often."

Pidge nodded, scrolling through her phone. "It's Sunday, so I guess we can visit Arus this weekend. Sad that we couldn't skip class tomorrow."

Shiro frowned. "You know I wouldn't allow it."

Pidge snorted. "That's why I suggested the weekend."

…

…

Outside the lecture theatre a set of students waited on the class to end. Among these students were James, Rizavi, Leifsdottir and Kinkade. They lounged under a gazebo, however, other students surrounded them, talking in an excited manner. It was due to them placing second in the Battle of the Bands over the weekend, but unlike James and Rizavi who were soaking up the attention, Leifsdottir was pretty annoyed. Kinkade didn't care, he tuned them out. While Leifsdottir was glad that all the attention when to James and Rizavi, she wanted a peace of mind. And sadly, the crowd seemed like they weren't leaving anytime soon.

Just then, she saw a redheaded young man, his hair was long —it fell in his back and somehow resembled a mullet. But the more Ina looked, the more she felt like she's seen that hair before today. But where?

She turned to Kinkade and asked, "Hey, have you seen that hairstyle before?"

Kinkade looked in the direction in which she pointed. With a raised brow, he asked, "Who?"

"That guy with the red mullet." She replied. "Over there. By the fountain."

Kinkade nodded. He looked at the young man for a while before he said, "He has the same hairdo as Voltron's Red Lion." He shrugged. "But, it's a mullet. It's a pretty common hairdo."

It clicked.

That was where she recognized that hair from. Battle of the Bands. She got up out of her seat—despite Kinkade calling out to her—and walked over to where the young man was. Reaching up to him, she tapped him on his shoulder, making him turn around.

"Uh, excuse me." She said.

When he turned around, a gasp escaped her lips.

"Yes?" The redhead asked. He seemed to recognize her face because then he greeted, "Leifsdottir? Is there something…?"

"Keith?"

"The last time I checked, that was my name." He laughed.

"You…you…" She started. "…nice hair. What inspired it?"

"Oh this?" Keith twirled a strand around his finger. "My hair was always like this, you forgot? It's just that I dyed it red. Nothing's changed but the colour, really."

"Oh. It looks familiar though."

"Yeah, people kept telling me that Voltron's Red Lion and I share the same hair." Keith said with an eye roll. "Like, so many people share hairdos every day, I dunno what's the big deal." He played along to know people's opinions about the band.

"Probably because Voltron left such an impact." She said with a shrug. "They were the best band, to be honest."

"You think so?" Keith asked.

"I know it. A fact."

Keith only nodded and hummed. "Your band came in second, right?" She nodded. "Congrats."

"Yeah, and we got scouted by Galaxy Music. I just hope Voltron caught the eye of a good company as well."

Keith's eyes widened. "You got scouted?! Holy shit! That's awesome!"

"Yeah," And for the first time since Keith knew her, she saw her with a small smile on her face. "We're going to rock the world."

Keith smirked. "Hoh? Is that so?"

…

…

Before Voltron knew it, the school week had ended, and it was now the weekend.

"Alright! Everyone lezzgo!" Lance chirped as he slid into the driver's seat. Hunk sat in the passenger side, while Shiro, Pidge and Keith were around the back in that order. Unfortunately, this weekend, Keith's car had to be serviced, Shiro's car was at the mechanic, so the only other one left was Lance. And although Keith never knew whether the taller male could drive, seeing him back the car up to the sidewalk of the Castle was enough.

"Ugh, just let us get to Arus in peace." Keith hissed out.

Lance turned and smirked, "What are you? Scared?"

"With you behind the wheel?" The redhead quipped. "Terrified."

"Enough guys, knock it off." Shiro intervened. "Lance, just focus on the road."

Pidge, who sat in-between Shiro and Keith, frowned. She knew what kind of driver Lance was, and even though she voiced her opinion to let Shiro or Keith drive, Lance refused. Well, she had to admit, he had all right since it was his car. Because they lived in dorms, Lance had left his car at his family house, so he'd never give up the chance to drive. And worse, they were heading to Arus City.

Besides, who would pass up driving to the most technologically advanced city?

"I call dibs on choosing the music, though." Pidge grinned. "Come on, put the radio on !"

"Pidge! No fair!" Keith almost shrieked. "Well, I call dibs on the return journey!"

Lance rolled his eyes. "Alright Samurai. Just no edgy, emo music. Which means no Your Chemical Romance or Drop Out Boy!"

"You asshole! You're discriminating against me!"

Shiro, who sat behind Hunk sighed. He videoed their antics and sent it to Krolia, the caption read: "When my cubs disagree. #stressed lion dad"

"Alright, Lions. Let's get to Arus peacefully. Allura is waiting and the journey takes two hours." Shiro rubbed his temples to calm himself. Lance and Keith were two walking headache-inducing males.

"Well, buckle your seat belts!" Lance grinned as he turned the keys in the ignition and sped off.

Next stop, Altea Entertainment in Arus City.

…

…

The drive to Arus City was eventful.

First, the radio shorted out, so now the five had to be doing it karaoke style, except without music. But here, Keith got to hear what Pidge could really do. In times past, he's heard her sing a few melodies and harmonies and backing vocals, but when she actually sang a full-on song, Keith stared at her, slack-jawed. Her voice was beautiful. When she had finished, Keith had looked at her with tears in his eyes, hands covering his mouth.

"Pidge, your voice…" He pretended to sob, using a red handkerchief to dab at the corner of his eyes. "…it's beautiful."

Shiro rolled his eyes at Keith's antics. Once more, he whipped out his phone and held it up at an angle, capturing half of his face, Pidge and Keith. He snapped the picture, and added a caption:

'Ah yes. Me. My Friend. And my drama queen of a little brother. Someone save me.'

Lance wasn't a terrible driver, but still, Shiro realized that he was still trying to prove something to Keith. The oldest male knew that Keith drove them all the time from school to the Castle, so he figured that Lance wanted to show off his skills as well.

Shiro didn't see the need. He only saw added stress. Lance and Keith were just like the elements they chose —Water and Fire. One was cool and collected, the other was fierce and wild. At one point, Keith took over the singing and it was now Pidge's turn to be surprised. His voice was so soft and mellow, and she couldn't help but join in the song and harmonize. And then soon after, Shiro and Lance joined in, filling the car with sweet sounding tunes.

Of course, Hunk, being the only non-singer, videoed their antics. I'm so gonna post this. The drummer grinned.

…

…

Arus City was quite the view.

Large skyscrapers pierce the skyline, sleek, pristine cars bustled on the streets. It was a stark difference to Plaht, wherein there were different types of vehicles bustling about, here in Arus, only the best of the best cars were on the streets.

"We're here." Lance said as he entered the parking lot and cut the engine. The building before them was a grand white corporate building with light blue accents, people in suits came and went. When they had all exited the car, headed to the receptionist's desk, Shiro doing most of the talking.

"Good day, we're here to see Ms. Allura Altea." Shiro said, the others behind him gawking in awe at the infrastructure. The receptionist then gave them their visitor's tags, after which someone came to lead them to their destination. He was a redheaded young man with bright eyes. His name tag read 'Bandor Wallin'.

"Follow me, Sirs and Mademoiselle." Bandor beckoned. The quintet trailed behind the young man; Shiro, having been here before kept his head straight while the others were still in awe. Clean grey tiles and white walls with blue accents everywhere and floating ornaments, the entire place seemed like something out of a fantasy book.

Rounding a corner, they reached a silver door with blue accents in the middle. Bandor pressed a button located on the wall next to it, before they heard a voice say, "It's open!"

The door slid open, and the group entered. "Miss Altea, Voltron is here to see you."

"Send them in."

Bandor exited the room, leaving the five with Allura. She was dressed semi-formally —a white blazer over a blue blouse with dark jeans and heels. However, when she noticed Shiro, a small smile appeared on her face.

"Mr. Shirogane…" She started, "…I never knew you were a part of Voltron."

Shiro chuckled. "Well…it's a long story."

"And let me guess, you're the Black Lion." She said, pointing to Shiro before her eyes swept across to the others, "you're the Yellow Lion," She said pointing to Hunk, "You're the Blue Lion," Lance gave her a cocky smile, "You're the Red Lion," Keith nodded, "And you're the Green Lioness."

"Wow, she figured us out." Pidge nodded. But she knew it was something easy to do. All Allura had to do was to look at their body structures and figure out who was who. Plus, Keith was decked out in red, so he was a dead giveaway.

"Well, Red Lion's hairstyle and you being the only female were the obvious ones." Allura said. "And other than that, your body structures."

"Oh." Hunk replied.

"But, have a seat, will you? We have much to discuss."

She beckoned them to the sofa in front of her desk, and the five sat. Well, they all couldn't fit, so Keith sat on the arm beside Pidge. Allura had then returned to her seat behind her desk, with a smile, she said, "Now that you're settled, let's begin, shall we?"

For what seemed like hours, the group was locked in a discussion with Allura, first informing her of their band set up, not just on stage, but in terms of songwriting, and producing. She made notes of this, learning more about the Lions individually. Then they delved into the contract, Allura making it clear that this was just a standard template and that it could be tweaked in a way in which both parties are in agreement.

And even though they were university students, Allura never once underestimated them nor treated them as children. When she first handed out the documents, the office was plunged into silence as no one spoke.

"So, let's take it bit by bit, right?" Hunk asked. "Just to make sure…"

"If you want, you could get outside legal advice as well." Allura said. "I don't expect you to sign this today."

"Right, so let's start with the Background?" Shiro asked, looking at the others. They nodded.

BACKGROUND:

The Artist is a professional entertainer and recording artist known as "Voltron."

The Company is in the business of producing Master Recordings, or causing such Master Recordings to be produced as well as manufacturing, distributing and selling records directly or through third parties.

The Artist wishes the Company to produce Master Recordings of the Artist's performances and market these Master Recordings.

The Company wishes to produce and market the Master Recordings subject to the following terms and conditions.

Term

The Term of this Agreement will consist of an initial period (the "Initial Contract Period") during which the Artist and the Company will cooperate to produce Master Recordings suitable for the production of one Album or LP and will continue for a further twelve months after the delivery of the Master Recording to allow the Company time to manufacture, market and distribute the product in the Territory.

The initial Contract Period and any extensions and suspensions will be referred to as the "Term".

"Well, this doesn't seem so bad." Lance started, "but what about C and D? How do the royalties for that work?"

"That is explained in another section, don't worry. We can go there and revisit here, if you want to." Allura said.

While Lance and Allura spoke, Keith skipped to the next section which dealt with production. He perked up.

Production

The Company agrees to produce Master Recordings consisting of songs written and performed by the Artist (the "Songs"). The resulting recording (the "Recording") will include music of not less than none minutes in playing duration and will consist of not less than five tracks, and will be of a quality which is at least equal to an industry standard normally produced for commercial distribution.

The Artist agrees to re-record each Composition until the recording meets an acceptable standard of technical and commercial quality, at the joint discretion of the Artist and the Company, for the manufacture and sale of records.

No Recording made under this Agreement will apply in reduction of the Artist's Recording Commitment to the Company if it is a Composition previously recorded by the Artist, or if it embodies a Composition which the Artist is legally prohibited from recording. A "best of" or "greatest hits" LP will not apply in reduction of the Artist's Recording Commitment.

A chuckle escaped Keith's lips after which he turned to his fellow members and said, "You all better get things right the first or third time because I'm not re-recording shit for weeks."

"Dude, where'd you see that?!" Hunk asked, but then he saw it. "Yeah, me neither. Vocalists, get your shit together."

Shiro looked taken aback. "Well!" He made an exaggerated gasp. "When we were recording for BotB, how long did it take? Hmm?"

"He makes a point there, guys." Pidge nodded as she read, not taking her eyes off the contract.

"Well, it's not just the vocalists, everyone has to get it together." Allura joined in. She was already liking them, their interactions with each other were never dull. They continued to go through the contract, Allura taking notes of minor changes, some of them were a back and forth between them and her, as some of the changes were best for Voltron but not entirely good for the company.

She knew it was going to happen anyway, artistes look out for their best interest.

The group continued to go through the contract bit by bit, and before they knew, evening had came upon them.

…

…

"Well, that went well." Lance started, folding his arms as he sat on the bench. There was an awkward tension in the air, and he tried to diffuse it. "I never knew that this is the starting process of signing with a company. I'm beat."

"Yeah, it is." Shiro said with a sigh. "While I've never seen an artistes' contract before, I knew it was this tedious. I mean, you're signing a legally binding document. Anything stipulated by the contract will be carried out, so you have to make sure you don't sign yourself into slavery."

Keith leaned back and gazed up into the mid-evening sky. "So far, the contract isn't half bad. Sure, there are a few clauses here and there that I'm not comfortable with, but, it seems reasonable so far."

"Well, we have thirty days to smooth out everything with Altea." Pidge sighed. She then looked across to Shiro before continuing. "So…since that's the case, when are we coming back here?"

Shiro make a quirky smile. "I see what you're trying to do, Pidge." He chuckled. "Is school really that bad that you want to skip a few days?"

"It is, sometimes." All four gave out. Shiro was taken aback.

"Shiro, you should know this." Keith said, looking like he was judging Shiro. "Oh wait, you're the Legend of our school, so you wouldn't know this."

"Yeah, the man who aced every damn thing he did." Hunk sighed. "You still haven't told us your secret!"

Shiro could only chuckle. These Lions will be death of him, he's sure.

About half-an-hour later the Lions were ready to leave, returning to their positions in Lance's car. And while radio was still useless, Shiro decided to put Keith to good use.

"Keith, why don't sing that song you wrote and see what the others think?" Shiro grinned.

Keith, flustered, stuttered out, "Wha…what?! No!"

"Come on man, it's an original song, right? What are you behaving all shy for?" Lance snickered. "We all know you're far from it."

Keith clicked his tongue and sighed. This was a two-hour journey; he wouldn't be able to escape.

"Fine." He succumbed. He took a deep breath before he started singing.

I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing
Just praying to a god that I don't believe in
'cause I got time while she got freedom
'cause when a heart breaks no it don't break even

Pidge stared at Keith, Hunk looked frozen, and Lance had long pulled over to the side to make sure he heard his teammate without distractions.

"Damn, Keith." Hunk breathed out. "That's a good one."

Keith, red from embarrassment replied, "Thanks."

"Is this gonna be a song for our album?" Lance asked, "It would be great if it was."

"How are we gonna do that? Shiro is the frontman, after all." Pidge said. "Although some bands do have dual vocalists…"

"Maybe Shiro can sing it then?" Hunk suggested.

"Never." Shiro rejected. "I've tried it, and some of the songs that Keith wrote, sound best when sung by him." He then added. "But we can't let these songs nor Keith's voice go to waste, now can we?"

Keith caught on Shiro's drift a little too quick, much to the older male's disappointment. "Oh hell no. I'm going to be the lead guitarist. We can always get someone —"

"Come on, Keith! Don't be like this!" Shiro urged. "You have the talent! Let the whole world hear you too!"

"Then…let the world hear Pidge too." Keith countered, Pidge looked like she was about to strangle Keith to death. "She has a wonderful voice that could be a perfect fit a song that I was writing the other day."

Shiro gasped. "You're talking about Both sides of the story?"

"Yeah, don't you think she'll fit it?"

"That's true. Her voice does —"

"Nice of you to consider me, but remember," Pidge deliberately cut off Shiro. The two were talking about her as though she wasn't sitting in-between them. "I'm a keyboardist. I don't time to be singing main vocals."

Lance laughed. "You fools! There are so many opportunities! Hidden tracks! Dual singers! Or just post these songs on Utube! Let our fans see the different sides of the Lions!"

"Right! I can see it now…" Hunk started. "…while the voice on our albums will be Shiro's, on our channel we can Keith, Pidge and even you too, Lance!"

Lance sparkled. "Naturally, I'd have to be there." He then looked to Keith, "Are we in accordance?"

Keith rolled his eyes, turned his face away to hide his blush. "Do whatever you want."

Shiro made a knowing grin. "You love it, don't you? Don't be shy now, I know you're far from it."

"You know what, let's get back to the Castle! We have things to do!" Keith shrieked.

"Alright, alright!" Lance laughed. He started the car and proceeded to drive down the street. "But rest assured, we will sort this out. I like that song, Keith."

"Yeah, what's the title?" Hunk asked.

"Breakeven." Keith replied.

"Is it completed?" Pidge then joined in.

"No, not really. I still need to work on some more things, especially the arrangements."

"Well then, we have work to do, Red."

Keith smirked. "Glad to have your assistance, Green."

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review to let me know what you think!

Songs mentioned - Both Sides of the Story:We Are The In Crowd, Breakeven: The Script.