#sheithpositivity

I missed Wednesday and Thursday, so I thought I’d combine them together into the one rec post. Both days concerned sharing my fave sheith aus (as in ones I’ve written and ones I’ve read). AU to me just means canon divergent, really, just fyi.

My fave that I’ve written is my series “back to the future but voltron and absolutely nothing like back to the future because i've never seen it”, which is basically sheith au where their kid comes from the future to save them.

My fave aus to read are:

married at first sight by @flashedarrow Lance thinks Keith needs some romance in his life– but he knows Keith won’t go looking for it on his own so he signs Keith up for a unique experiment designed to determine if science can predict true love. The Holt siblings think Shiro works too hard and under that very capable façade lies a soft heart that just needs a bit of love. They’re skeptical of the experiment’s professed success rate but they encourage Shiro to apply – it's all in the name of science after all.

Day three: Share your favorite AU work that you’ve made

this was an easy call for me because, even though AUs are my jam, this is my only currently posted Sheith one!

got your number is full of fluff, mutual pining, reconnections and meddling Holts.

got your number  [ AO3 ]

Sheith AU || 6.1k || all ages

Shiro finds the phone number of the guy he had a crush on back in high school and decides to call it on a whim. He never expected Keith to still have the same number.

Share your favorite AU work someone else has made.

(Yes, still playing catch-up.)

There’s just too many possibilities in the realm of Sheith fanfic. Soulmate AUs. Hogwarts AUs. Superhero AUs. Modern AUs. So many and so many good ones. Just take a look at my bookmarks on AO3 sometime for some of the stories I enjoy. (Check the rating/tags - I do not fear NSFW.)

First favorite is the story that brought me to forever-and-ever Sheithdom, Strengths and Weaknesses by @latart. This is a pre-Kerb AU that will forever be known as the story that guessed right about Keith and Shiro meeting because Keith stole his vehicle. But from there it goes into a terrific depiction of the two of them getting closer as friends and then dealing with rampant UST before they come together. The Garrison backdrop is beautifully done and Latart surrounds our boys with a group of OCs strong enough to carry one of the series installments on their own.

I’m including a couple of these because they’re the kind of story that I normally wouldn’t try, but for whatever reason I did and am eternally glad that I did so. The first is Married at First Sight by @flashedarrow - I remember seeing some buzz on my dashboard about this story but also seeing that it was based on a reality TV show. I detest reality TV and have always avoided it, so I didn’t look for ages. I honestly don’t remember what made me click a link - maybe it was because of who recommended it, maybe it was noticing an uptick in excited chatter. But I started reading when it had ten chapters and it was just the kind of fluff I needed at the time. And now it’s one of my top favorite fics ever, 62 chapters and counting of fluff and angst and cheer and drama and joy, all peppered with some very hot smut. It’s the kind of story, like Latart’s, that holds me because the characters are so well done. Give me vivid characters with fleshed-out personalities and I’m happy to read about them sitting in a coffeeshop all day just bouncing off one another. But with both of these stories, there’s also levels of plot that keep things moving and add to my involvement as I anticipate, worry, and celebrate along with the characters.

So, the notion of a “catboy” was something I didn’t learn about until the VLD fandom - I’m assuming this is something that came out of anime or Japanese fandom in general, neither of which I’m very familiar with. So for a while there I would see “catboy (character)” in tags and keep scrolling. Again, I think it was a recommendation from a trusted Tumblr that made me try Maybe We’ll Find a Brand New Ending by @carbonbop. And this was a story that caught and held my attention to the point that I was imagining possible scenarios and what-ifs for it for days at a time. Kind of like MAFS, it’s a focus on characters first as Shiro seeks to help Keith recover from a situation of horrific abuse and Keith realizes slowly that Shiro has been battling his own past and Keith can do something about that. Also like MAFS, the other VLD characters have great roles and interactions to enrich the story.

And finally, in no particular order, favorite stories for various AU tropes that I love and/or am currently enjoying:

Soulmate AU: Fragile, Handle with Care by @echoresonance

Superpower/Extra Ability AU: Context by @lycoria

Faerie AU: Something Wicked (This Way Comes) by @mllecomtessedelafere

Today is for creators to share their favourite fluff fic that they’ve written! 

I don’t write a lot of fluff, so this is hard for me, however, waaaaay back at the beginning of my descent into VLD, @blacklionshiro prompted me for some and I wrote her what is probably the fluffiest thing I’ve ever managed to write. 

“I want to marry you.” 

“Marry me, Keith,” Shiro says, sitting up, blankets pooling around his waist. “Say yes, put the ring on and then come here and kiss me.”

Keith slides the ring over his finger. It fits perfectly, of course, because Shiro is Shiro, but he still can’t seem to get any words out or do anything with his mouth except open and close it like a dying fish.

Shiro takes pity on him, and reaches for Keith’s arm to tug him back down to the bed. “You’re ridiculous,” Shiro mutters.

“You’re ridiculous,” Keith retorts, and oh, it looks like his mouth does still work. Keith tugs his shirt the rest of the way on, and pushes his hair out of his eyes.

As a reminder - tomorrow I will be sharing my favourite fluffy fics that I have read, and trying valiantly to not share every single one. 

Wednesday is AU fic day! Since I've only got two AUs on my ao3, I thought it might be a little silly to plug one of those and instead I want to point you all in the direction of some Good Food™

Monday, Nov 5th: Creators, share your favorite fluff work you’ve made:

This is hard because I think almost everything Sheith I’ve written is kinda fluffy. Buuuut I’d probably go with this one:

Sun's Out, Guns Out (26K, Explicit) -  Keith is a loner who doesn't really want to be alone. Shiro’s a frat guy who isn't actually a douche. After a chance meeting at the college gym, Keith begins to question everything he thinks he knows about himself and the things he wants.

And I’ll share one more that’s not explicit.

#sheithpositivity Sunday: Free Day! Finish things off by posting something nice, sharing another fic or art, or your favorite Sheith moment!

Any time Keith takes care of Shiro = instant favourite.

“Shh,” Keith says, setting everything aside. “Let’s get you back into bed, okay?”

“I don’t… I don’t think I can—“

“I’ve got you,” Keith assures him, slipping arms under and around him to pull him to his feet. Bearing the bulk of Shiro’s weight, he brings him to his bed and helps him lie back down, adjusting the pillow under his neck and pulling the light blanket over him.

“Thank you,” Shiro says, voice heavy with exhaustion. He closes his eyes as Keith gently cups his warm, sticky cheek. “You’re so good to me. Always there to take care of me.”

“Of course,” Keith says.

Shiro’s eyes crack open again, just a sliver. “One of these days…”

“…Hm?”

“One of these days,” Shiro says, voice slurring on the brink of fever dreams to come, “I’m going to tell you.”

“Tell me what, Shiro?”

His eyelids flutter as he fights to keep them open, but it’s a lost battle. “Just how much I…”

Keith waits for him to continue with bated breath, but Shiro doesn’t say anything further, lost to the siren song of sleep.

“…Okay,” Keith says, trailing his knuckles down Shiro’s jawline. He sits down beside him and settles in; it will probably be a long night. “Take your time.”

Share your favorite AU work you’ve made

Now, y’all probably think you know what I’m gonna say here. And tbh, it wouldn’t be wrong. But there is an AU that I love just a wee bit more than the rest, and that’s Starboy and Sugartits: A Love Story.

I literally thought of the idea on a 11 hour drive from Dallas back home after four straight days of partying with my best friend at Pride, and three Monsters. That next day I cranked out what was then my third ever Sheith offering for the archive and to this day it is still one of my favorites.

Is it the most realistic one shot? No. I realize you can’t see someone making eyes at your from across a darkened bar, and I know no one is really out here dropping that kinda money on tips. 

But it was one of the best times I have had writing anything, which is what makes it my favorite AU I’ve done!

You’re a fine specimen looking for a job, and we’re looking for a hot, flaming bartender. Honestly, Shiro, my man. You were born to work at Voltron.

Lance’s words echoed through Shiro’s mind as he stood in front of the bar in the middle of the afternoon, wondering if he might be able to back out of the interview his best friend had setup for him. Sorry, not just any bar. Garrison strip’s number one gay bar where you come for cheap booze and expensive entertainment, Lance’s voice annoyingly corrected him.

He’d known the lanky 20-something since he’d moved to the neighborhood when he was four and his mothers had setup a playdate with Shiro’s mom. The first meeting had ended with Lance crying after the then seven-year-old Shiro had clamped a hand over the boy’s mouth in an attempt to get him to stop talking.

Now that he thought about it, not much had changed aside from the fact that now Lance would just lick his hand in retaliation and continue on whatever verbal tirade he’d been on. Shiro sighed loudly as he scrubbed the metal of his prosthetic hand down his face, enjoying the way the coolness of it felt against his sun-kissed skin. He’d only been standing outside for about 15 minutes waiting for his best friend, but in the heat of the desert, 15 minutes felt like an eternity as sweat had blossomed at the back of his neck. With a quick glance at his watch, Shiro decided Lance had approximately five minutes to get there before he would head back to his loft, strip back down to his boxers and continue binging the Real World.

“Only grandpas still wear watches,” the snarking voice that haunted his dreams called from behind him as if the universe had summoned him merely for having the thought.

Universe- 1, Shiro- 0.