#hanbunno

His eyes had to have been deceiving him because James was sure that who he thought he saw couldn’t have possibly been who he thought it was. It’d been so quick- A MERE GLANCE- but he’d recognize that unruly mop of black hair anywhere.

Driven by his curiosity James picked up the pace of his run to catch up, sure enough finding the mysterious and yet WAY TOO FAMILIAR form ahead of him running next to-

Was that a dog? That was way too big to be a normal dog but that was off topic and irrelevant because KEITH WAS HERE.

That was Keith! Keith, who had moved out of their home town years ago and James thought he might never see the guy again. Keith, who James had a MASSIVE crush on in high school because he was all fiery passion and intense gaze before they’d parted ways and who still looked- well... really in shape from the back BUT AGAIN THAT WASN’T THE POINT.

God, James, get it together.

He just had to go for it right? The worst that could happen is that attractive back DIDN’T belong to Keith and he’d look like an idiot and that was pretty awful but it was probably still worth a shot anyway as he ran just a little faster and cupped his hands around his mouth as he called out his name.

❝ I don’t care what the seniors do I care about what I’M doing right now which is against every curfew rule in the books! ❞ James whisper yelled as loud as he would allow himself to ( which really wasn’t loud at all ). He still couldn’t believe he’d let himself be dragged into this but Keith just had a way of pushing his buttons- ALWAYS HAS- and one thing lead to another and now here he was nervously clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides as he kept glancing around waiting for one of their commanding officers to show up and yell at them. He was distracted enough with that he hadn’t even caught the nickname he usually hated hearing.

James had never done a bad thing in his life! Okay maybe one time he snuck an extra juice to his room from the commissary but that was ONE TIME and it was nowhere near as bad as breaking and entering- or breaking and LEAVING which was their current plan.

Needless to say James’ heart was racing, nervous sweat building on his forehead and on his rather quickly dampening palms. BUT as soon as the lock was open and Keith looked at him with that face and called him a chicken he remembered why he was here. HE HAD SOMETHING TO PROVE and what he was proving was that James Griffin was no coward and there wasn’t anything Keith could do that he couldn’t do, too.

...even if James’ anxiety was spiking higher than ever in his life at the thought of tarnishing his SPOTLESS record.

keith vc: no. no no no, i don't think so. nope.

❝ Finally decided to join the more permanent ranks? I’m Lotor and I’m sure you’ve heard of me as I’ve certainly heard plenty about YOU. ❞ One could say his appraising gaze was like a predator sizing up his prey as he circled the young human but there was nothing but AMUSEMENT in his eyes as he made the slow round about. It wasn’t like there weren’t other half Galra among the Blade of Marmora’s ranks but there were none quite so INTERESTING as Keith had always been from afar.

Lotor was curious by nature and loved solving riddles and puzzles and strategizing but this boy from a primitive planet who became a paladin and held Galra blood was truly SOMETHING ELSE; an enigma he could not quite figure out.

Golden eyes blinked in mild surprise as Lotor felt a slight weight fall against him. Last he had checked Keith was just as immersed in strategizing a way for the Blade to seamlessly infiltrate an empire supply vessel but it seemed he had started to nod off. If it were anyone else then perhaps Lotor would consider a SCOLDING but he knew just how hard the former paladin worked. This small Blade put every ounce of his being into the war effort, holding nothing back, and his rest was well-earned.

That, and, Lotor seemed to observe by now that human sleep cycles are VASTLY DIFFERENT from those of Galra and despite his half-blood lineage Keith did tend to lean more toward his human side on that front.

❝ Oh Keith… ❞ Lotor would sigh, pausing in his own work to simply watch where Keith had dozed off against his side. He was so peaceful like this- SO SMALL- but Lotor knew well just how much strength and tenacity hid behind this small frame. He knew well the INTENSITY with which violet eyes burned, daring anyone to doubt this this fiery young warrior or his abilities so that he may prove them wrong.

It was something Lotor had come to admire most about his fellow Blade and for that it would have Lotor wearing a fond smile as he gently reached to push mussed onyx bangs to the side with just the tip of a clawed finger.

There was a passing thought to move him and take Keith to his bunk where he could get the rest he certainly deserved but the mere risk attached that he may wake Keith was a deterrent enough for Lotor to remain exactly where he was now, content to be reduced to a pillow for the time being.

❝ There’s just ONE MORE, I can do it real quick. ❞ James tried, gesturing to his tablet which was still on and opened up to his files where there was definitely more than just one file meant for him to be looked over if the many ‘UNREAD’ notifications were anything to go by. Technically their due date was the end of the week and it was only Monday- or… what he was pretty sure was Monday-adjacent when time out in space was weird.

But deep down he knew Keith was right because KEITH WAS ALWAYS RIGHT. At least, he sure was when it came to this and noticing when James was in dire need of a break. So, ultimately his shoulders would slump and he’d let out a long sigh of defeat before letting Keith haul him away from his desk.

SENTENCES.

❝ I missed you too. SO MUCH. ❞ Because sure Keith had been back from his YEARS-LONG DISAPPEARANCE for a little while but they’d had to relearn each other and redraw the lines in their relationship and figure out what it was they each wanted from their reunion but once they decided they wanted MORE- they wanted to return to something they’d been what felt like both a lifetime ago and something they’d only left behind yesterday- they still had jobs to do and in a new relationship that time apart felt SO MUCH LONGER than it was in reality.

And it felt ridiculous. They weren’t lovesick teens, THEY WERE SOLDIERS. They knew what this would all entail including time apart as Voltron and the Blade had missions separate from the Atlas… but as James let his forehead gently press against Keith’s and he held Keith’s hands in his own maybe that wasn’t so far off.

Maybe they were still a little like the fumbling teenagers they used to be.

SENTENCES.

❝ Did you… not know? ❞ The dawning realization had Shiro holding his breath, eyes going wide and hand quickly slipping out of Keith’s ( where he had FINALLY found the courage to attempt to hold it ) as he thought back to where he could have miscommunicated this was anything BUT a date. Though when he did that he started to realize THE ENTIRE THING was probably a miscommunication on his part because even if he’d been awkward about it, using the words ‘would you like to go out to dinner with me’ could definitely be read as just another friendly dinner.

That and he already knew Keith wasn’t the great with social cues and their friendship wasn’t always the most CONVENTIONAL given everything they’d been through together.

Way to go, Takashi. You ruined it before it even started.

❝ That’s on me, I should’ve made it more obvious when I asked you out tonight. I should’ve thought about it because we have dinner together ALL THE TIME so how I’ve been acting all night probably made you uncomfortable and I’M SO SORRY, KEITH. ❞ Shiro backed up a step, running a hand through his hair and thoroughly mussing it up from where he had attempted to coiffe it nicely. His heart was racing a mile a minute, worrying about whether or not Keith wanted this even if a part of him was as confident about Keith returning his feelings the same way he was confident that the sky on Earth was blue.

But this was a new step. This was big, and sure they may have been skirting around SOMETHING for a while now but putting name to it- ACKNOWLEDGING IT- was something else entirely from just knowing it was there in their periphery.