#keicxa

The fncking feels in this one were strong. :’( Anyways, hope you like it!

The ATLAS was eerily silent. It was partly due to some crew members sleeping after the stressful day, others out of respect of the loss of Princess Allura’s life. Acxa herself was trying to walk as silently as she could to not interrupt the people’s mourning nor their sleep. She just couldn’t find herself able to stay still after the fight with Honerva.

They were all assigned to scout the New Altea’s environment, but, according to Coran, it was just like the Old Altea and they boarded the ATLAS to go back to Earth. Even though she wasn’t close with Allura, she couldn’t help but feel her stomach drop when she heard the news. She was a strong woman and an amazing leader. She would have made an amazing Queen had she survived the battle and returned to the New Altea.

Her footsteps echoed through the halls as she wandered through the ATLAS. She passed by the labs, peering through the window to see Pidge typing away on her laptop, her eyes squinted and her face scrunched up as if she was trying to keep herself from crying. However, judging by the red swollenness around her eyes, she failed. She passed by the kitchen and heard the blender running at full force, almost opaquing the sound of Hunk’s cries. In the cafeteria, she saw Lance and Veronica eating their food silently, Veronica eventually hugging her brother and he broke down in silent sobs.

She was always taught to shut down her emotions and to never let them surface, but she couldn’t help but admit that there was a beauty to crying that made her breathless. She crossed her arms and sighed mournfully. She left the cafeteria hall once Lance’s cries grew louder and louder. She eventually made it to the residence hall and made way for her room. But as she passed Keith’s room, she thought she heard a muffled sob behind his door.

She stopped mid-step to listen harder and she heard it again. It was quiet and if the ship was as loud as it usually is, she probably wouldn’t heard it. However, with the eerie silence of the set, she heard it clearly. She paused by the door, wondering if she should go in the room. After being with the humans on Earth for a few months, she knew they were very emotional people. They embraced emotions and encouraged people to express themselves. That’s something she isn’t used to due to her Galran upbringing.

Yet, she felt more drawn towards Keith’s room with each passing second. Although she isn’t one who tends to get too emotionally involved, her budding friendship with Veronica and her observations on humans tell her that it’s important to grieve and to cry out your feelings.

So after some deep contemplation, she decided to help Keith. She approached the door and placed her hand on the security lock. It slid open quietly and she had to suppress a gasp when she saw Keith’s crying form on the bed. However, he froze when the door opened and the two were in silence.

Acxa saw his arm subtly lift up to his face and wipe his face before he slowly turned his head towards her. Acxa’s stomach dropped at the sight; he looked so broken. His eyes were red and swollen and his nose was red. His cheeks seemed damp and she was sure it was because of the tears he tried to dry earlier. He stood up from his knees and fixed his shirt before leaving his hands to his sides and briefly asking, “Do you need anything, Acxa?”

Acxa stood still and her eyes raked over the man standing before her; his eyes were already watering again despite his obvious attempts to stop it, his fists were clenching and unclenching, his breathing was ragged and his lips were quivering. He was so strong, but he didn’t need to be strong for this.

It surprised her when she felt herself moving towards him. It wasn’t like her to become so emotionally involved. However, she wasn’t her old self whenever it comes to Keith. She opened her arms and wrapped them around his neck, bringing his face down to the crook of her neck. He tensed up and his hands were frozen at her sides. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, nuzzling her own face in the crook of his neck, and whispered, “It’s okay to cry.”

That was what broke him. He immediately wrapped his hands around her waist and broke down. She felt his hot tears on her neck, his sobs racking his whole body, and his incoherent whimpers against her neck. She felt a foreign, wet feeling on her cheek and found herself crying along with him.

There was only one statement that came out of his mouth that she truly understood, “She’s gone.”

She sighed and ran her fingers through his hair and she gently spun them right and left in an effort to comfort him as he cried. He would loosen his hold on her sometimes only for him to tighten it again. At those times, she would cradle his head softly to reassure him that she was there.

After a while, he let go of her and the two were standing in a comfortable silence that would only be interrupted with a sniffle here and there. Eventually, she felt Keith gently lift his head from her neck and she pulled away, though not too far since his hands were still on her waist, and she looked up into Keith’s violet eyes. He looked back and forth between her blue eyes and they softened. Then he closed his eyes and placed his forehead on hers. She closed her eyes, too, and she sighed.

She felt Keith move his arm and felt warmth cradle her cheek. She opened her eyes only to feel a soft and chaste kiss on her lips and he cheek before he placed his head on her neck again. She froze in her spot, then eventually tightened her hold on him again and nuzzled against him.

He spoke again, this time his voice much clearer and softer, “Thank you for staying with me.”

She felt a smile pull on her lips and she whispered, “I’ll always be here when you want me to.”

Acxa: Yeah.

Keith: You know what else is beautiful?

Acxa: *blushes* What?

Keith: Knives. Knives are beautiful.

“If you lead, I will follow a thousand miles away

I will be your Apollo alone in outer space.”🖤

⚠️⚠️⚠️Ship hate will not be tolerated in any way, shape, or form.⚠️⚠️⚠️

⚠️⚠️⚠️Do not repost anywhere, edit, or use without my permission. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.⚠️⚠️⚠️

I can’t believe…..my time has finally come.

It’s a huge deal for Acxa to break from Lotor’s ranks, and after she and Keith come to an agreement that he and the rest of Voltron will help protect her in their fight against Lotor and the rest of the generals, she gets her own room in the castle

Her room is super secluded from everyone else because she acknowledges that she’s the outsider here and she can sense the unease from the rest of the paladins, Allura, and Coran at her presence

Keith is the only one who comes to visit her to ask questions about Lotor and how they should proceed, and while she knows it isn’t a personal call to come visit her, she doesn’t understand why he isn’t as afraid of her as the rest of them

When she asks him that very question, she’s startled when he gives her a genuine smile and says “because I’m an outsider too”

Acxa blushes which makes her cheeks go a darker shade of purple and Keith can’t help but notice

consider him shook

They start spending more and more time together and their discussions start to trail into Acxa’s heritage and how they’re both half Galra

Acxa is almost clinical in her retelling of her childhood and her hardships that she faced as a half-breed, and how she had been able to find focus and solace under Lotor’s reign

Keith is fascinated and just wants to learn more and more so he keeps coming back to her and they spend hours talking, first starting with her sitting on the edge of her bed and Keith leaning against the wall by the door until they both unconsciously become comfortable enough with one another that they start sitting next to each other on the bed

The first time Acxa laughs at some dumb thing Keith says in an off-topic rant, his throat kind of closes up and all he can do is stare and the way her eyes crinkle and how she lifts a hand to cover her mouth and wow she’s kind of unfairly beautiful

He immediately makes up some excuse about why he has to leave—“left the food goo machine on in the kitchen, it’ll be a whole thing, so I gotta just–yeah ok bye”—and then stands outside her door with his hand on his chest where his heart’s beating a little fast and has a moment of internal crisis

Acxa’s left confused and blinking at where the door just swished shut 

Acxa has zero (0) concept of understanding human interactions, mannerisms, and general social etiquette so Keith has to keep an eye on her 

Lance: [accidentally spills nunvil on Acxa when they bump shoulders in the hall]

Acxa: [spins around] YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME?

Keith: NO NO, THERE’S NO CHALLENGING HERE

Lance thought he was going to die that day

Despite instances like the one with Lance, Keith convinces Acxa to come out of her room more often to visit with the other paladins to start to make them feel comfortable around her too

Keith has a mini-heart attack when Acxa tilts her head and says “You understand me. Isn’t that enough?” and he just mumbles out something unintelligible and waves at the corridor towards the kitchen in an attempt to make her start walking so she won’t see his face turn red

but for real, once she starts integrating more with the paladins, Acxa makes some very interesting connections

She and Hunk bond immediately 

prob bc Hunk is the epitome of trustworthy and kind and she feels at ease around him and he makes her laugh with his constant food references and dramatic expressions and she always replies with “I do not understand what you’re saying but you are quite entertaining!”

Pidge also slowly eases into talking with Acxa and asking prying questions with that little glint in her eye that always pops up when she’s devastatingly curious and wants to learn more about something and Acxa finds her small stature intriguing

Okay but speaking of Keith blushing

The first time Keith blushes at something, Acxa smiles and comments on how odd it is that some humans have such transparent skin and she reaches forward to touch Keith’s cheek where it’s now bright pink and he sucks in a really sharp breath and freezes up

Acxa notices and says “Oh. Am I crossing a ‘boundary’?” and Keith can’t help but laugh lightly at the air quotes he can hear in her words and he croaks out “Kind of.” 

and Acxa nods once and starts to pull her hand away and Keith doesn’t know what possesses him but he grabs her wrist and Acxa stiffens because she’s used to violence following something like that but Keith’s grip is firm but gentle and she looks into his eyes just as he says “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

Neither of them really know what to do from there with the tension hanging between them so Keith lets her go and Acxa folds her hands in her lap and they both just stare at the floor until Keith bids her a goodnight

spoiler alert: Keith doesn’t sleep at all that night

spoiler alert #2: neither does Acxa

Keith and Acxa train together in the training room whenever there’s downtime

Keith is thrilled because he’s fighting another humanoid who pushes him to his limits and not the same robot over and over again

Acxa finds Keith’s intensity and his level of skill fascinating and their sparring sessions go from minutes into hours

Neither of them want to give in even when they’re both about to collapse from exhaustion, and Keith takes the high road and calls a draw so they can both slide down the wall on the far side of the training room and catch their breath

Both of them are satisfyingly sore and worn out and happy that they’ve found a decent opponent to spar with but neither of them say it

Their first kiss is after one of their countless sparring sessions

Acxa got the upper hand in the last half of their session and caught Keith off-guard, pushing him closer and closer to the side of the room until he was backed into a corner with no way out and she knocks his sword out of his hands

Keith trips backwards and falls on the ground with a surprised huff and feels the tip of Acxa’s training spear just under his chin, inches from his throat and their eyes hold for several moments

With a short laugh, Acxa withdraws and holds out her hand to pull Keith to his feet, which he grabs as he stands up, but Acxa pulled a little too hard and Keith was already feeling a little weak at the knees so he ends up stumbling a little closer to her than they’ve ever gotten before

They both just stand there, hands still clasped, lips parted in surprise, a little stunned at the lack of space between them, and that’s when Keith just leans forward and kisses her

Acxa panics and pushes away, covering her mouth with her hand as she says “What are you doing?” and Keith is kind of wrecked and doesn’t know how to reply so he just ducks his head and apologizes and moves past her to grab his bayard and leave the training room

Cue both of them in their rooms mulling it over; Keith, beating himself up and cursing himself for breaking the small bridge of trust he’d established with her. Acxa, with her fingers pressed to her mouth, brow furrowed as she tries to understand

Keith is sitting with his hands in his hair on the edge of his bed when his door swishes open and Acxa steps into his room 

She walks over to him and pulls him to his feet and she’s blushing but looks so vulnerable when she says really softly, “I don’t understand. Can you help me understand?” and Keith can’t really breathe but he cups her cheek and pulls her in to kiss her again

When they finally pull away, Acxa breathes out a little “Oh,” because she gets it now, and Keith can’t help but grin at that