AN (pre-chapter) - OH. MY. GOD. I am sooooooo sorry this is late. I had stuff happen and I ended up having writer's block. This is over 2K words, I hope it makes up for how late it is.

REVIEWS: Thank you SO much. I'm sorry I don't do personal shout outs on reviews, it'shard to remember what one's you've mentioned already.

FAVORITES: Thank you The Bi-Spy and XxVallirenxX!

FOLLOWS: Thank you XxVallirenxX!

Thank you guys for the Reviews, Favorites, and Likes.

I do not own Voltron or the characters. And on one of the scenes, there are stars, and the explanation as to where they came from!

ENJOY!

Wednesday December 24th - Dinner with the McClain's (Keith's POV)

"Shiro! Let's go!" I yell to Shiro, standing by the door.

"Keith, relax. It doesn't start for another 30 minutes. Are you that eager to see Lance?" Shiro comes out, holding a black Christmas sweater with a white lion silhouette wearing a santa hat on it.

"It's not that… I mean, that's partially it. But it's more of his mom scares me." I fidget with the bottom of my sweater; it's the one Lance made me. Before Shiro can reply, there's a knock on the door. I open it, revealing Allura and Coran. "Are we ready to go up?" Coran asks. I look to Shiro, who now has his sweater on over the white collared shirt he was wearing. I lead the way out to the elevator, and when we get to the floor with the McClain's household, I lead them to the door. Lance is waiting outside as we approach. "Hey, mi amor." He stands straight up and pulls me into a hug. When he pulls back, he keeps an arm around me and greets the rest. "So, there's been a slight change in plans." Lance starts pulling me back to the elevators, Shiro, Allura, and Coran following. "What do you mean?" I hear a snicker from behind us, and glance to see a big shit-eating grin on Coran's face.

"Well, this year, it's not only my family." We get onto the elevator, and as the doors close, he continues, "Hunk's family, which is almost as big as mine, and Pidge and her brother are also joining us. So, we asked Coran for permission to use the roof." The elevator stops at the top floor, and Lance punches a code in (the master code) and the elevator doors open to a ballroom sort of place.

"So there's the 30 of us from Thanksgiving, plus another 20 from my family. And then there's about 20 from Hunk's side."

"Keith!" I turn around to the sound of my name, and Mrs. McClain pulls me into a hug. "I'm so glad you made it, mi hijo. And Coran, good to see you. You must be Allura, who I've heard so much about, and I'm guessing you're Shiro!" Alicia releases her hold on me to give a quick hug to the other 3.

"I hope it's alright I brought them, Mrs. McClain."

"Of course! The more the merrier! And what did I tell you last time?" she give me a hardened stare; not glaring, but like, the motherly 'what did I tell you last time you asked that?' kind of stare.

"S-sorry, Alicia." she brightens, "You may also call me Mom if you'd like. I had my suspicion about you, and I was right." I feel my face drain of color, "S-suspicion?"

Lance laughs, and it vibrates through his arm, that's still around my waist, to me. "She suspected that we were soulmates because of how I rescued you from Rosa at Thanksgiving dinner." He explains as his laughter dies down.

"What happened at Thanksgiving?" Allura asks cautiously.

"Rosa started questioning why it was only me and Shiro with no parents in the picture. Like, if they accepted that I like guys." I look at my feet, and I see Shiro stiffen lightly. Before the silence can get awkward, Lance changes the subject, "Mama, what do you think of Keith's sweater?"

"Oh, mi hijo! Is that the one Lance made you?" I look up to see Alicia looking at me. "Y-yes." I stutter out, not expecting her to call me that. "It looks great! You all do!" her smile beams, just like Lance's. I'm wearing the garnet red sweater Lance made me, with a black collared shirt, black skinny jeans, and my black converse; pretty much the same as what I wore for Thanksgiving dinner. Allura is dressed in light blue skinny jeans, a loose but form fitting light pink sweater with the school logo knitted on it, a knock off brand of Ugg boots, and her silvery-white hair french braided down and over her shoulder, with a couple of holiday themed bracelets. Shiro is dressed similarly to me; except he's wearing black, form fitting slacks, black dress shoes, a white collared shirt, and the sweater he pulled on earlier. He also attempted to do something with the white bangs that hang in front of his forehead, but it was useless as soon as Allura noticed, who messed with them until they sat like normal. Coran is probably the one dressed in the most holiday. He's wearing blood red slacks, with a green Christmas sweater that says "Ho-e. Ho-e. Ho-e." Not exactly family appropriate, but what can you do? He also has brown dress shoes on.

Alicia smiles and leads the way to the sitting area that has a lot of wicker furniture set up, as this was also the roof if you remove the dome ceiling; kind of like a sports stadium can close to keep out the weather during a game. Most of the younger people are sitting on the floor. Lance takes a seat in front of Rosa and her wife. I sit down between Lance's legs so my back is pressed against his chest. As everyone settles, people start going around asking what everyone wants, because it's easier to have 10 people work of filling plates and passing them around, than 70+ people trying to get up. Hunk, Shay, Rover, and Pidge move and end up sitting by us, and the four of us talk about school, activities, hobbies, etc. Matt ended up over by Shiro, Allura, and Coran. We eventual moved on to stories from childhood, or feelings when we got our first message.

Hunk was happy it was someone who was planning on becoming fluent in multiple languages. And even happier when he found out Shay had actually spent 3 years in the Pacific Islands, so when they met, they could speak Hunk's native language fluently, and she was accepted into Hunk's family immediately, just like how I was accepted as a friend of Lance's at Thanksgiving.

Shay was happy she had one at all because it's known to happen for those who move a lot, as she did, that it's harder to pinpoint their soulmate until they're older, like mid 20s. Luckily, she happened to transfer to our high school freshman year, and her 1st period biology partner had his sleeves pushed up, and they had matching writing; them planning on meeting up at lunch.

Rover was happy that her's was female, although she had been confused why Pidge received her pen early. Pidge said it was because her parents travel a lot, and unfortunately would miss the birthday she should've received it on, so she got it a year early.

And Pidge was just happy she already knew the person because of tech lab after school, where she and Rover worked on a robot with a bunch of other geniuses.

The four of them turned to me and Lance, "What about you guys?" Shay asks. "Well, we only recently found out, despite you four knowing already." I narrow my eyes at them.

"Yeah. Rude much? I thought we were best friends!" Lance exclaims dramatically. Everyone laughs, including Lance.

"I do feel bad though." I mumbled, just loud enough for the 5 of them to hear.

Rover tilts her head questioningly, "How come?" Before I reply, we are brought food. As we dig in, I continue, "I wrote that I hated everything about him, not knowing the him I hated was my soulmate."

"Oh! I have a picture of that!" Lance exclaims, pulling out his phone and opening his gallery. He shows me the picture first, and then passes it around. "I hate his face. And his obnoxious laugh. I hate how soft his skin is. I hate the way his pants hang off his hips. And the way he acts so carefree. I hate how he makes me feel when he holds my hand, and we act like best friends when no one is around. But most of all, I hate that I'm falling in love with him." "You… took a picture of that?" I look up at him.

"Of course, mi amor! I wanted to know who it was, and I was going to ask you who it was when we met. Then I figured out it was an old crush, and now I know it was me." I feel the blood rush up, and feel my cheeks heat up. "I'm sorry, Lan-"

"Nope. It doesn't bother me. I was just worried about you."

"That's disgustingly sweet, guys." Pidge says, handing Lance's phone back.

"What was your first impression, Lance?" Shay asks, and Hunk laughs.

"Well, since we didn't talk much at first, I flirted with everyone."

"Including me." Rover sticks her tongue out.

Before we can continue, Lance's dad has everyone turn towards the center coffee tables that have been pushed together.

"Now, I know this is going to seem childish, but we're going to play Truth or Truth." he announces. I feel Lance's head drop onto my shoulder as he groans. His dad continues talking, "Now for those who don't know me, my name is Frances McClain, and this is something we do every Christmas. Let's get started."

After we start, a lot of questions are directed at me, especially from Lance's family. Questioning how we felt when we realized it was each other, how we met, how long we've known each other, etc. After what feels like the 15 millionth question, I'm to the point of hyperventilating, and I've been bouncing my knee. I feel Lance lean to my ear, "Stand up and follow me before you get worse." We stand and make our way to the elevator, where we step in, and go down to Lance's family apartment. I collapse on the couch, my breathing coming quicker; I can't stop the panic attack from happening. I put my head in my hands, bending forward to try and become as small as possible.

"Keith. I need you to listen to me." Lance sits down on the coffee table in front of me, our knees touching. He tugs my hand and puts my palm against his chest. "Keith, look at me." I look at him; purple meeting blue. "Breathe in for 4 seconds; hold your breath for 7 seconds; Now breathe out for 8 seconds."* I do ask Lance says, and I can feel myself start to calm, but everything's still running rampant in my head. "Ok. Now, I'm going to try and ground you." I look up at Lance, blinking quickly. "Tell me 5 things you can see."

"What? This is stupid. Why do I ne-"

"Don't start this. Now, 5 things you can see." Lance snaps softly.

"The TV..."

"Describe it."

"We're in your living room!"

"I'm not focused on that. Now describe it."

"It's huge, and turned off. There's multiple wires coming out of it and disappearing into some drawers."

"Good. 4 more."

I look around the room, "There's a bunch of family pictures. Looks like from before you were born, to this past Thanksgiving." I look around, but my eyes landon him, "I see you're hair, it looks soft; I see the worry lines on your face; and I see your ocean blue eyes."

"Good. Now 4 things you can touch. What do you feel?"

I sigh, "My hand on your chest, you're heartbeat is calm; I feel the vibration of the stereo next door; I feel the softness of your couch; and I can feel your knees touching mine."

"3 things you can hear."

"My thoughts..."

"Keith."

I sigh, "Well, I can hear said stereo next door. The song is muffled but it sounds like a really poppy love song. (Rude! by MAGIC was playing on YouTube when I wrote that part). I can hear the humming of the heater in the vents. I can hear a the sound of alarms out on the street." Sure enough, within seconds, a cop car goes racing by the building.

Lance nods, "2 things you can smell."

"I can smell Vanilla and... Strawberries?" Lance laughs, "That would be the 2 favorite scents of the household."

"I can smell your cologne." He smiles.

"1 thing you can taste."

"Dinner."

Lance leans forward and kisses me, "And what about now?" he asks as he pulls away.

"Is that strawberry kiwi?" I ask after licking my lips. He nods, "It was Jessica and Rosa's idea. Do you feel better? More calm?"** I nod as Lance's phone starts ringing.

"Hola mamá… Estamos en el departamento… No, estamos bien. Keith estaba abrumado porque había mucha gente haciendo preguntas una tras otra…. Sí. Se lo diré. Volveremos allí en cinco minutos." (Hey, mom… We're in the apartment… No, we're fine. Keith was just getting overwhelmed because there was a lot of people asking questions one after another… Yeah. I'll tell him. We'll be back up there in five minutes.) He hangs up, "She apologizes for the questions." I just nod. We get up and head back upwards. We get there and reclaim our spot in front of Rosa and Jessica. Shortly after we sit down, someone sets up a movie screen and we watch Christmas movies. Slowly the adults head to their respectful apartments, taking young ones with. Now everyone that is still watching the movie is between 15 and 18 years. About an hour into the 3rd movie, I feel my eyes drifting shut. Sometime during the second movie we had gotten blankets and pillows.

"Lance…" I whisper. He hums in response. "I'm tired. I should head home." In response Lance leans back and positions us how Shiro has found us in the past.

"Go to sleep, mi amor." I just nod.

"Lance… I love you. Thank you."

"I love you too, Keith. Goodnight, Mullet."

I smile at the nickname. I don't have any nightmares that night.

*Quick change to 3rd person*

Shortly after Keith falls asleep, Lance does too. Hunk and Shay fall asleep sometime between when Keith and Lance lied down and the end of the fourth movie. Pidge and Rover make sure everything is off and fall asleep as well after the 4th movie. Lance's siblings, David who is 15, and Sierra who is 16, make sure everyone is covered enough to be warm before heading down to the McClain apartment.

AN (post-chapter) - Thank you so much for reading!

*(ACCEPTING Anxiety, Part 2/2: Can Anxiety Be Good? | Thomas Sanders; 8:00 minutes into video; YouTube)

~I had been watching Thomas Sanders, Sanders Sides video, and I decided I wanted to use this quote from one of his videos, and made Keith have a panic attack. I hope I did alright.

**[Deep Inside the Mind (There's a Little Place I Sit); by - esompthin on both and Archive of Our Own]

~I had been reading this Prinxiety fanfic. It's a ship of 2 of the Sanders Sides. I decided it would tie in nicely with Lance calming Keith down. It is a great story, so I DEFINITELY am giving credit where it's due, because it could actually be really helpful.

Lastly, I eventually plan on post on Archive of Our Own, I just don't know when yet.

Remember, if you have ideas for future chapters, I would be willing to listen! you can either leave them in the comments, or send something on my Tumblr. Which, looking at the last chapter, it didn't post the name.

My name is theshyzombie on Tumblr. So, "theshyzombie . tumblr . com" without the spaces. The pic is of 2 females wearing similar hoodies; one female has green hair, the other has reddish-brown hair. I would love to see any drawings you've made. Any ideas you may have! Anything at all, I'd love to see it. The description on my profile is "I'm a socially awkward biromatic asexual that loves pasta and hates math, but wants to be an architect or mechanic. I listen to all music, but especially rock and country."