AN (pre-chapter) - I'm back with the next chapter! We're almost to the point of them finding out! Guys, this chapter is over 3,000 words long! So, I needed another filler chapter, and this was birthed. the next one will be out shortly, and then I have one more planned so far for Christmas Eve. Also, thank you Trapped in a Shadow for the favorite and like. I'm so glad you guys are liking this. I don't know what to plan after Christmas Eve, so please give me ideas, I would love to get your guys' input and maybe bring in some of the ideas you guys have! I'm always open to them, but that's not a gaurantee I'll use the idea.

I do not own Voltron or the characters.

ENJOY!

Thursday December 18 - Last day of school before winter break (Lance's POV)

"Uggggg. I wish my mom would've let me stay home. It's the last day before winter break" I groan into my arms as we wait for the bell to ring for the beginning of class. I'm sitting at my desk, head buried in my arms. Hunk sits to my left, reading a cookbook, and Pidge is to my right, messing with some gadget. "Were you up talking to Raven all night?" Hunk asks, not bothering to look up from his reading.

"No, actually, I wasn't. I was working on his Christmas present for that stupid party tomorrow." I lift my head up, noticing most of the room is filled, and judging by the clock over the board at the front of the room, there's on a few minutes left until class starts, and a certain Mullet is nowhere to be seen.

"Wait… you weren't done with it?" Pidge glances over to me, casting me a glare that said 'You waited until last minute?'

"No, I had to figure out how to wrap the damn thing." I huffed, leaning back into my chair, "Thankfully Rosa was home, and showed me how she wrapped the one for me all those years ago." Blue jumps off of me and lands on my desk, shrinking to a pocket sized cat so she can lay there without being in the way.

"Well that's good, right?" Hunk asks, putting away his book as the warning bell rings.

"Definitely." my eyes sweep the room, and notice there's a Mullet still missing, "Where the hell is Mullet?"

"Why do you care?" Pidge asks, still messing with her gadget, but under the desk now.

"I don't, it just wouldn't be fair if he got to stay home and I didn't."

The final start of class bell rings, and as it does, Keith bursts through the door. "Kogane," Coran starts, "You're lucky I'm feeling generous. Take your seat." Keith nods before making his way up the aisle and sitting in his seat, right in front of me. I notice the paint on his hands and he has a streak of paint on his cheek leading to his ear; his hair is pulled up into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck. "Class, pass up all the homework you were suppose to turn in today, for all your teachers." 'Why is there paint on his face?' "Remember, you saw him and Red at the store that one day. He was getting paint supplies." Blue reminds me as class starts. I pull out my homework and pass it up. 'Oh, that's right. I forgot about that.' "Alright class," Coran begins once he has all the homework, "You may go home." 'Wait, what?' Most of the class exclaims the same opinion. Keith just stands up and walks towards the door, I gather my bag and Blue and chase after him. "Mullet, wait up!"

"What, McClain?" he turns to look at me, and I stop just a few feet from him.

"Could you give me a ride to the dance studio?"

"Where's your truck?" he looks at me like he detests me, but there's something in his eyes that throws the look off.

"I need to replace the battery."

"Well that sucks." He turns and starts walking away.

"So is that a yes?"

"You can walk."

"But it's like, 10 degrees outside! And it's still snowing!" He stops walking. Surprisingly, no one else has come out here yet.

"Fine. Hurry up." He continues walking and I jog to catch up, and then match his strides. As we get to the doors to outside, other classroom doors open, and excited chatter courses through the air. I notice Pidge and Hunk are already standing at their lockers, watching us.

I follow Keith outside, pulling my hood up. He makes a beeline for the furthest spot in existence. "Oh hell no, I'm not walking that far." I stop on the last step of the school building. "Then you can find another ride." I barely hear Keith yell over the wind. I groan before running to catch up with him. By the time we get into his truck, I'm shivering, and Blue is too. "H-how are you n-not c-cold?" I ask Keith, rubbing my arms through my coat. "Well, one, I'm wearing a thermal shirt with a sweater over it, and then 2 hoodies, and finally a winter coat. And a scarf." he responds, turning on the truck and cranking up the heat. "It doesn't look like you're wearing that much." "Because they're specially designed thin, but warm." he unwraps his scarf from around his neck, and I have o restrain myself from grabbing it for warmth."Okay, well what's number 2?" "Red." I look at him confused, "Red?" "Yes, Red." Keith replies, pointing at the dashboard where his cat, Red, is curled up. She must have come out when I wasn't paying attention. "Don't you remember what Allura said our freshman year?" He puts the truck in gear and pulls out of the parking lot. "Oh yeah… 'when Red lion is cold, find her on the stove, heater vent, or in front of the fireplace' or some shit like that, right?" I settle into my seat, noticing he's driving a little slower than I've seen in the past, probably because we can barely see 10 feet in front of us. There's a bit of a nipping feeling, and I unwrap my own scarf to let Blue come out from hiding. She immediately goes and curls up to Red, and I feel Blue instantly start to warm up. "What Allura failed to mention, is that Red is a personal heater if you keep her warm enough." Keith says capturing my attention again. "Oh. Lucky you." "I thought you liked the cold." "Normally I do, but I think I'm getting sick or something. I've been feeling off the past couple weeks." I stare out the windshield, and notice the blizzard is getting worse. "Uh… Keith…" "Yeah, I've noticed." He pulls off to the side of the road, and turns on the emergency flashers, and turns off the engine. "What are you doing?" I ask, noticing he left the heat running. "Do you want me to kill us? I can barely see 5 feet in front of me now."

"I meant, why'd you turn off the engine."

"I'll run out of gas if I leave it running."

"But you're battery will die without the engine."

"I'll turn on the engine periodically to charge it."

"Whatever." I reply, not wanting to argue right now. He pulls out his phone,and I can see him scrolling Instagram. I pull out mine as well, and scroll Twitter. After awhile I fall asleep due to warmth and the sound of purring cats.

After a couple hours, I assume, I wake up and notice the heat's off. 'Damn it's cold.' "Keith…" I mumble turning to look at him, and he's passed out. 'Shit.' "Keith!" I reach over and shake his shoulder. He jerks awake and looks around, before remembrance flashes across his face. "Shit!" he tries to turn over the engine, but nothing happens. "No, no, no, no!" He tries a couple more times, before sitting back and groaning. "The battery died didn't it?" He nods. I look out the window, and I can barely see the hood of the truck. "How long do you think we'll be stuck?" "I don't know. Shiro said that the weather says everyone should stay indoors." "Great….just… great." I sigh, and curl up in my seat. "We… uh… we could… uhmm…" "What, Mullet?" I look up at him, and see the tip of his ears are red. "Nothing. Forget it." he mumbles, staring at the cats still on the dashboard. "No. You started to say something, but then stopped. Tell me what you were going to say."

"Forget it. It was stupid." he replies, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Come on. It can't be that stupid. I mean, we're sitting in a truck, with no warmth, and we don-"

"We could cuddle." he cuts me off of my rambling.

"What?" I swear it feels like my heart sped up.
"Like, to conserve warmth. We could cuddle, or… umm… huddle?" he repeats, and stammers additional options.

"What, huddle like penguins do?" I snort, "Cuddling is much more viable term." He just nods. "So what if we, like, lay down?" I suggest.

"That sounds like it'd make the warmth most evenly spread of our bodies. Should we lay like we did a few years ago?"

"What do you mean?" I look at him sharply.

"Y-you don't remember? Our Freshman year? Y-you found me out in the cold. You basically carried me to my apartment. You helped undress me until I was wearing the minimum that was appropriate. You… you patched up my arms…" he looks down at his arms, "You let me lay on top of you and we layed on the couch in front of the fireplace. Then Shiro found us a few hours later, and you deemed me safe with him after you explain why we were like that..." He trails off, not looking up from his arms. "Oh… that. I… uh… I was hoping you would forget that… because of everything else on your mind." I scratch the back of my neck absently, 'He left out the part where he called me 'mi amor'. Was it on purpose?' "So, you do remember?" I nod, "Yeah. Let's lay like that again." 'Truth is, I liked the feeling of him laying on me like that. The way we layed together… we fit perfectly.' "Although the truck is kind small to stretch out." I glance at Keith, and he's already shed his winter coat and hoodies, "Yeah," he replies, shoving his jackets against the door, "I can't even stretch out all the way. But if we scoot this seat a bit further forward, it lays leans back a bit more so it's not just upright." I nod, "Why are you shoving your jackets there? Aren't you cold?" "It's so you have something to lay your head on. And once we're laying down, I'll be plenty warm." I just nod, and shed my outer jacket. We start maneuvering how we're sitting until we can scoot the seat forward and lean it back a little bit more. After we get that done, I lay down and Keith carefully lays himself on top on me. After a little bit more shuffling, a little bit of elbowing, and initial awkwardness, we finally get into a position that is most comfortable. Keith had revealed he had a couple of blankets under the seat, I was just in the way of getting to them earlier. Blue and Red join us, deciding that they were too cold since Red didn't have much more heat coming from her. I watch as Red transforms into a pair of earrings and fit into Keith's ear piercings, "I see you took my advice." He hums in thought before responding, "Didn't you tell me that during that same winter of freshman year?" I chuckle, "It was right before you passed out from exhaustion that day I saved you." I feel him shake with laughter, "Oh, yeah. It must have slipped my mind that it was that day." I just smile before sighing and looking up at the top of the truck cab.

A couple hours later, according to my phone sitting on the dashboard, just within reach, I'm lost in thought. 'He fits perfectly, as if this is where he's meant to be. Could Keith be my Soulmate? Hmmm. He has the same initials, he likes red, he also doesn't have any parents. But I think I'd have to see his handwriting to be sure… maybe I should ask him? But he's also been put off by my teasing of Soulmates…' "Hey, Lance? Are you asleep?"

"No, why?"

He tilts his head up so he's looking at me, "What happened between us?"

"What do you mean?"

He carefully props himself up so he doesn't hurt me, 'He's always been like that though, careful to not hurt others.' "Like… we've always grown up around each other, like since we've been toddlers… But we've never gotten along completely. Around others you're mean to me, and I just let it happen. But then when we're alone, like we are now, you're nice, and caring and… just… perfect." I snort, "I am not perfect. And.. I don't know… I guess I was just raised to be nice to others, but something happened and I was put off by you. And then we didn't have diversity in the school until 4th grade, so I didn't want to be singled out because I was a different skin color. And I didn't like it, so while trying to be friends with everyone else, I was rude to you because you had been labeled as a loner, so no one wanted to talk to you. But there was something that intrigued me about you."

"Reason you were put off was because I rejected your friendship in Kindergarten." he refuses to meet my eyes, "Wait, you remember that?" He nods and laughs a little, "Yeah, but you were persistent. I… uh… I actually kept a box of a bunch of stuff you gave me." His ears are tinged with red, and so is what I can see of his face. "Seriously? Do you… do you still have it?" He nods, "It's stuffed under my bed. Hasn't been touched in years." I nod, "I… I wouldn't have expected that." He puts his head back down, "So, what point are we now?" he mumbles the question; I can barely hear it over the howling wind outside, "Friends with a rough past?" I can feel his his cheekbones move up into a smirk, "That sounds great."

Within an hour, we're both passed out. A little while later, we're woken by pounding on the driver door behind our heads, "Keith? Lance? Boys, are you alright?"

"Shiro?" Keith responds groggily, but loud enough he could definitely hear him. 'Damn. His sleepy voice will probably kill me, and make my Soulmate jealous.'

"Is Lance there?"

"Yeah, I'm here." I respond. There's a sound of scraping on the window, and Shiro appears in the scraped hole. "Oh, thank god. Your mom's been worried sick." Keith lifts himself up, and I can see a blush dusting his cheek. Then I realize that Shiro found us lying together, again. The blood rushes to my face and I can feel a blush forming. "What time is it?" Keith asks, sounding a little more awake.

"Almost 9 o'clock. The storm's been over for a little while. When I couldn't track your phone, I found Pidge and she told me where it last was. Then checked Lance's and saw both last pinged around here." Keith nods, "I need a jumpstart." Shiro also nods before running off. Keith carefully lifts himself off of me and we rearranged the seat, blankets, and jackets. We get the truck kicked over and head to the apartments. When we get there, Shiro waved and headed inside. We get out of the truck, and shiver. As we walk inside, the silence is suffocating.

"So… friends with a rough past, right?" Keith asks before we head in separate directions. I smile brightly, "Yeah. See ya, Mullet." I reply, heading towards the elevator. When I get inside, I am immediately engulfed in hugs. "¡Mi hijo, estábamos tan preocupados por ti! La tormenta terminó hace un par de horas, pero no pudimos contactarnos contigo. ¿Estás bien?" (My son, we were so worried about you! The storm ended a couple hours ago, but we couldn't get in contact with you. Are you okay?) My mom speaks really fast, "Mamá, baja la velocidad. Estaba atrapado con Keith en su camioneta. Estoy bien, de verdad." (Mom, slow down. I was stuck with Keith in his truck. I'm alright, really.)

"Keith?"

"Yeah, he agreed to give me a ride to the dance studio, and we were about halfway there when the storm became too much to drive in, so we pulled over to wait it out. My phone died after about 3 hours."

"Why did you get a ride? Is there something wrong with your truck?"

"No, I was just too tired to drive this morning, so I hitched a ride with Hunk and Pidge this morning."

"Oh, okay. I glad you're alright, mi hijo. Head on upstairs and go to bed." she pulls my head down, and presses a kiss to my, head before smiling at me.

"Thanks, mama." I give her a hug before I head upstairs to my room. I pull my jackets, sweater, pants and shoes off so I'm only wearing a t-shirt and boxers. As I'm about to turn out the lights, I feel the tingle of the Soulmate pen. I look at my leg, and see his neat cursive.

Hey, so I talked to my number one bully, and I don't think I have to worry about him anymore.

I walk over to where my pants lay and pull out my pen.

Oh yeah? Want to tell me who you are?

I make my way back to my bed and sit down on it.

Mmmm. I think I'm gonna make you wait since we'll find out tomorrow anyways. Which, btw, what do you want me to write on your present? I know you're writing DJ Raven on yours to me.

Hmmmm. Golden boy.

Seriously?

Yes.

Alright.

So, why the leg?

I… uh… stripped out of my clothes when I got home. Had been stuck in the snowstorm almost all day. And I just wrote on the first surface my eyes landed on.

Which happen to be your leg instead of you arm?

Yeah…

"Lance! You have 60 seconds to turn out that light, or so help me, boy!" I hear my mom yell up the stairs.

I gotta go. My mom's yelling at me to go to bed, despite the fact I've been sleeping most of the day.

Yeah, my brother is too. :) I'll see ya tomorrow. Goodnight, love.

Goodnight, mi amor.

I set my pen down on my nightstand, and get up and turn out the lights before flopping back onto my bed and passing out.

AN (post-chapter) - Thank you for reading! Please give me some ideas for future chapters, as I only have the next 2 planned!