#lightshesaid

[ comfort ]  one character pulling the other into a reassuring hug .

Non-sexual Acts of Dominance Meme | still accepting

~*~

"I'mafraid to die."

Keith'squiet admission startles Shiro. It isn't as if Shiro thinks Keithcan't be frightened, but admitting his fears is a little like gettingLance to admit his pickup lines are lame. It's just not somethingthat happens, especially not since they've been out in space. Sure,there have been times when they've both been vulnerable enough thatthey didn't have to say the words, but both of them knew. Shiroreaches out for Keith's hand, and it's shaking.

Shirounderstands. Every day he spent in Galra captivity, he had beenscared that a guard would get careless, someone would sneak in whenhe dared to sleep, or thought his next arena fight would be his last.Even at times when he's been afforded the luxury of safety within thewalls of the castle, he's worried for his life. More importantly, forthe lives of the people who've become so very important to him.

"Ishouldn't be. I mean, I'm the one who pushed so hard to let Kolivantrain me," Keith rambles on, unaware of how tightly he's grippedShiro's hand in return. "But I guess I just didn't think aboutwhat we'd be doing, what kind of risks we'd be taking. And withoutthe Lions, I just..."

Keith'sfree hand drops down to his ribcage, a pensive frown matching hisknotted brows. Shiro doesn't remember seeing an injury there, but heknows Keith is seeing a memory he can't. He wishes he could.

"Keith..."Shiro uses his grasp to pull Keith against his chest. The movement isso familiar by now, the feel of their clasped hands between them realand affirming. "It's all right to be afraid. I should tell youthat the fear is normal and should keep you from doing somethingreckless, but we both know better."

Inspite of himself, there's a soft smile in Keith's tone. "Yeah,sorry about that."

Shirosettles him so that Keith's head tucks up under his chin, and heslides his other hand into his hair. Reflexively, it comes to rest atthe back of his neck, stroking gently. "It's who you are, Keith.There's so much going on in you, and you always listen to yourinstincts. Just because you're trying to do the right thing doesn'tmean it won't scare the hell out of you. In fact, doing the rightthing probably scares you more."

"Wasit the right thing, though?" The doubts are coming through soclearly now, and Shiro wonders what's happened to set it off. Theirvictory over Naxzella has been their highest point in this war, andyet Keith has never sounded so unsure of it all. "It wasn't thatlong ago that everyone thought I was abandoning the team and Voltron.And then we almost lost it all. I almost..."

Hebreaks off and Shiro holds him tighter. Keith aches so very much forthe reassurance Shiro can give him. He knows he can be honest here,just the two of them. He squeezes Keith's nape gently. "None ofus will ever make all the right choices, but as long as they keepcoming from the good parts of us, we'll make them work, and we'lllearn from them. The Blade of Marmora is a big part of who you are,and we all understand that. They're also doing great things for therebellion and slowly making it known that there are good Galra in theuniverse. Something you've been telling us for a long time."Shiro rests his cheek against Keith's hair, closing his eyes. "It'sall right to be afraid, but you're safe with me now. It isn't much,but it's something you can always count on. I'm proud of you Keith,and you should be too."

Thetension threading through Keith's shoulders eases within Shiro'sembrace. The words are the permission Keith needs to release some ofthe burdens he's been carrying. It soothes the empty spaces he feelsmost prominently when he's on missions halfway across the universe.

"Thankyou," he murmurs into Shiro's chest. "I really don't wantto die. I want to see this through to the end. With you."

Gladly :)

Lance finds Keith in the Black Lion’s sleeping compartment, exactly as expected. Shiro’s asleep on the cot, though unconscious might be a better word for it.

MY BOYS. I love my good soft boys. Yes thank you wonderful. 

Who said “I love you” first

Lance says it regularly, honestly, but when he REALLY meant it Hunk kind of missed it? Mostly because he got so used to Lance saying it that the urgency of the telling just bypassed him completely. Lance definitely caught Hunk by the face and said it again, more earnestly, kind of pleadingly, and Hunk was like OH. OH THAT MAKES SENSE. And then they smooched. 

Who would have the other’s picture as their phone background

Listen. Listen. We know Lance has like. A fucking slideshow of Hunk pictures that he always shows off. One time he caught Pidge and asked if she could make it so his phone ACTUALLY just paraded through a slideshow of Hunk’s. Pidge rigged it up for him and he’s been insufferable ever since. Hunk has an adorable picture of Lance sleeping on a textbook that he’s had as his background since they met at the Garrison and it’s the fucking sweetest thing in the world and his favourite picture. 

Who initiated the first kiss

Hunk and it was because Lance was talking really excitedly about how he was able to fly Blue in loops around this series of small asteroids they were near and he was getting so into it, just smiling and swooping and Hunk had to lean over and taste that smile. It was adorable believe you me

Who starts tickle fights

Hunk, always. Lance never wins. Hunk just isn’t ticklish. Who kills/takes out the spiders

Hunk is terrified of spiders so Lance has to swallow his mild fear and scoop them up and toss them in the bathtub. Usually if a spider is nearby, Hunk will be behind Lance or out the door immediately. 

“Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers.”

Tagged by @distracteddream!

1.) Psychopomp (Space Australians)

For a really new fandom (micro-fandom, maybe, only time will tell). I really like this work, and it was fun to write something for a fandom that’s still so new there’s very few canonical characters.

2) Justified King (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

One thing I’ve found intriguing is standing at the end of canon and writing about its very beginnings. Hindsight almost always brings up new points of view, and it’s 20/20 in a way that reveals more crucial nuances than writing events as they happen. Yugi is, as always, one of my favourite characters to write because of that - and I love the unique speculation of knowing the ending and figuring out what happened to get to that ending.

3.) My Name (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

A self-prompted work. Though it’s short (meant more for the tumblr medium on which I originally wrote it than AO3), I liked the subversive nature of it - which character am I writing, really? It’s a challenge to the fandom, as most of my works are, about what truly defines a character, and where the edges blur.

4.) Baku-Ra (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

It’s such a silly title - and punny, an entertaining combination. The work, however, is not so silly, even if it gets a little tongue-in-cheek at times. In this one I dabbled some more in Slice of Life themes with the little details, and attempted to use it as both backdrop and a means to spur the plot on. The results were admittedly a bit mixed, but it’s a topic I had been wanting to write for a while.

5.) Riddling for Mettle (The Hobbit)

What if what if what if. It’s a common theme for me to puzzle over, and a hallmark in the fanfiction genre at large. I picked this one over Primroses because- well, why didn’t Bilbo do this? The gaining of the One Ring is such a momentous occasion that it hangs on a knife-edge balance. Literally anything could have happened, and it made me wonder why Tolkien wrote it the way he did. Certainly Bilbo could have gotten the Ring one way or another, but what are the other ways? As it is, I also enjoyed the opportunity to explore the social dynamics of the Company, and how Bilbo in particular fits into it.

hmu w a word and I’ll share a sentence/piece from a wip i’m working on

(Grin)

“What do you want?” He growls.

“I want… you,” she whispers meekly, and the robes slip invitingly off her shoulders.

“Get out,” Shiro snaps, and decides to close his door. She didn't need it to get in, and if he's imagining this then he doesn't want anyone to hear him talking to himself.

“But I am a desirable human female. Don't I inspire your primitive needs for intimacy?” Malch grins, and it's too feral for such a pretty face. Shiro makes a point to put his back to her in order to change shirts. He's not afraid of her.

4. what are some themes you love writing about?

Hooo boy, if it’s not clear to everyone yet, I love people turning into monsters both literal and figurative. It explains my obsession with almost every character I love to write from Harvey Dent to Londo Mollari to Thorin to Bucky Barnes to Kyo Sohma.  There’s something about the theme of self loathing that arises when someone looks back on their past actions vs. their current reality and sees either how they’ve been forced willingly or unwillingly to become something they despise. 

For romance, I tend to love themes of devotion and people who complete each other’s inner desires. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I would only write healthy relationships! For example if someone’s inner desire is to be a serial killer and they fall in love with someone who wants to help them be a serial killer I’d probably be just as enthusiastic about that as I would be, say, the dwarf who desperately wants to reclaim his right to his ancestral home and kingship and the hobbit who desperately wants to help him reclaim that home and right. My romance/plot sweetspot tends to land squarely where these two stories intersect, the proverbial Beauty and the Beast where you have someone’s transformation into something they despise in the pursuit of their more pure goals, and the person who witnesses and either sticks with them through it or tries to rescue them from it (and perhaps risks falling to their own darkness in the process?). It’s a special sort of story crack for me.

5. what inspires you to write?

AASOIDJASD I don’t really know? Reading a lot, eventually deciding that I wanted to write, getting vaguely good at it with a lot of practice and perseverance? I’d be lying if I said feedback wasn’t a big part of it lol. But there are some stories that just demand to be told, see the question above, when I stumble onto a story that has shades of those themes or the potential for those themes, I tend to be inevitably drawn in and “need” to write a fanfic in that space.