#vldsecretsanta2020

“Lance!” Pidge’s panicked shout directed his swimming vision towards the shore, helping him reorient himself.

He reached out to her and shouted back, “P-Pidge! Pidge! Toss me my baya—!”

The world turned upside down, then sideways, then cold and dark green as the kraken-like creature flung him deep into the water. He must have sunk to the seafloor because he glimpsed what he and Pidge had come to this planet for: a meadow of the seaweed Hunk had insisted he absolutely needed and begged them to procure for him.

For a moment, Lance considered grabbing a handful, but the tentacle shackling his ankle jerked him away. His mouth opened automatically in a surprised gasp.

A grave mistake.

Water flooded in, chasing out the breath he’d been preserving. Pain pushed into his chest as the water restricted its struggle to expand.

When the remaining air in his lungs abandoned him for the surface and his desperate grip on consciousness began to loosen, three final thoughts floated up like bubbles in his literally breathless mind.

First thought. He’d just given up his life for an ingredient of some experimental gourmet intergalactic sushi.

Second. He and Pidge had completely forgotten to take Coran’s information with a sack of salt.

And third…

Screw ten thousand years’ worth of evolution.

* * *

“—ance…”

“…amn it!”

“…teen. Seventeen. Eight…”

Muffled sounds stirred Lance from the murky depths of unconsciousness. Light penetrated his eyes despite his closed lids, and it seemed to be moving. Gradually, the sounds turned into clear, urgent words coming from somewhere close.

“…Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine. Thirty.”

Pressure he didn’t know was on his chest eased up. Air entered his lungs, but it wasn’t enough. He needed more.

So he gasped for more.

“Lance!”

His eyes flew open.

“Hey, stay with me.”

In the brief moment before he rolled to his side to cough out seawater, he caught sight of Pidge’s face hovering above his, hair drenched and face dripping with water. Or maybe tears? He was already too busy hacking and trying to stay alive to put much thought into it.

Once all the seawater had been cleared out of his system, he lay wearily down on his back with her assistance.

“So,” he breathed out. “Survived a war, died by seaweed, huh?” He smiled wryly, watching Pidge for her reaction.

He’d expected a fiery scolding, then a long in-depth explanation of why he was an idiot right after.

But what he got was… tears? Rolling down her cheeks, merging with the droplets from her bangs? She really was crying??

“You went into cardiopulmonary arrest, Lance. Your heart and breathing stopped.”

He could only stare, dumbfounded. “But you revived me anyway?”

She huffed. “That’s not the point, and you know it.”

“Actually, no, I don’t.”

Pidge’s nose scrunched up in frustration.

Lance shrugged in response. “I seriously don’t, Pi—”

The swift movement that put her out of focus in his vision cut him short. The realization that she’d leaned over and was currently hugging him swept away any further thought.

Instinct took over; one arm wrapped itself around her shoulders, while the other patted her gently on the head.

“Idiot,” she said into the crook of his neck, then proceeded to murmur something he didn’t quite catch.

“What?”

“Nothing.” After some time, Pidge got to her feet.

Lance slowly sat up, turning to the right to follow her with his gaze as she walked to the edge of the water. His eyes fell on the alien kraken, unmoving on the sand, bound up entirely in the electric green cord of Pidge’s bayard, and looking the slightest bit fried.

Something clicked in his mind.

He was looking at the consequences of getting his friend really, really angry.

Which meant she was probably—no, definitely—using just a minimal amount of power when she’d shocked him when he teased her for getting a cute little bayard.

A tiny chill scampered down his spine.

She hauled the humongous, limp creature back into its natural habitat. The others of its kind splashed away in fear.

“Attack Lance again, and the universe will be eating calamari on the next Victory Anniversary!”

Small but terribly powerful.

To think that such an amazing person fended off even death for his sake.

Just like a knight in shining armor, he thought in wonder.

Ever since he was a child, Lance had dreamed of living out a fairy tale. Or a scene straight out of one, at least. He’d be the Prince Charming or the knight in shining armor, swooping in to save a beautiful damsel in distress. Then they’d fall in love, share a sweet kiss, and go on to live happily ever after.

As a Paladin of Voltron, he’d done the saving-while-in-full-armor part countless times. He’d even saved the whole universe with his friends.

But it was only now, more than a year after the war ended, that his dream came true.

Only he was the dashing damsel in distress who needed saving.

And the Princess Charming who kissed him back to life was Pidge.

His fingertips unconsciously brushed his lips.

No, it was just basic life sup—

Pidge’s murmured words from earlier suddenly returned to him, fully processed by his brain, as if it had been biding its time to conveniently present them in the most dramatic way.

In a way that would trick his heart into reading more into things, finding something where there most certainly wasn’t.

“I almost lost you.”

Fire broke out in his face.

It was such a simple one. The main reason it caught his attention was because of how simple it was compared to the rest of the gifts he received. A handmade white and blue bracelet. There was no name, no flowery letter, no immediate cry to be noticed. It was a simple gift that he was meant to enjoy and he did. He wore it since the day he got it. He hoped by the end of the day, he might receive another, or even better, meet the person who just wanted to give him a gift. A really selfish part of him hoped it was that guy from the train. Since he started high school, there was a guy on the same train as him. He attended the private high schools, based on the uniform. He looked like he didn’t belong though. He had long hair, a mullet. It was usually pulled back into a ponytail, allowing the many earrings on his ears to be seen. In the warmer months where he was in his summer uniform, he had a very visible tattoo on his arm, an odd-looking symbol. He’d seen the older train riders turn their noses up at it, but something about it – who was he kidding, everything about him drew Lance’s attention. He wanted to talk to him but he was always so nervous. He might look like a rebel but he could easily be snobby and rude and Lance only had so much self confidence to deal with people like that. Maybe be could finally pluck up the courage to do it today.

He let out a yawn, feeling too slow to cover his mouth. Assuming he didn’t fall asleep on the train. He had stayed back at school late for practise and there was a good chance of that happening again. He was hoping that the captain having a girlfriend would keep him too busy to call for practise. He also had a headache. All these late nights were starting to catch up to him. It was fine though, all he had to do was get through today.

                                                   ____________

“Wow.” Rachel said as she watched Hunk help Lance bring in his White Day gifts. She also noticed her brother was pouting, but she knew it couldn’t be because of the gifts. He had gotten used to the large amount received on Valentine’s and White Day years ago. They would usually be regifted to family members. “is it bigger this year?”

“Does it matter?” Lance sulked, dropping the items in the living room and stomping off to his room.

Rachel raised an eyebrow at Hunk, who tugged at the orange ribbon tied around his wrist. At first, she was confused. He used the ribbon to push his bangs back if need be. Then she understood. It wasn’t the ribbon, but it being around his wrist, like the unnamed bracelet around Lance’s. if he was sulking, then…no unnamed gift came.

While her mother came in, greeting Hunk and offering him food, while marvelling over the gifts, she went up to Lance’s room. He’s unpacking his bag, putting books for homework in the middle and making sure he pulled out his swim stuff to get washed. She noticed he kept rubbing at his wrist. The bracelet is missing.

“So, where is it?”

“My bag. I didn’t get to put it back on after practise.” He pulled it out from the bottom of his bag and sets it on the desk. “Not that it matters. There was nothing new from them.”

“Can’t be the only reason.” He seemed even more upset for no gift giver to not show up.

“Remember that guy I talked to you about? The guy from the private school on the train? Guess what I was hoping to do today, if he was actually there?”

“He wasn’t there?” Rachel had heard more than enough about this guy, Lance talked enough about him, about the small things he noticed and how cute he looked. She was hoping to one day here he got up the courage to go talk to him but of course things couldn’t be that easy.

“And if that’s not enough, I’ve got a huge paper to finish, because our English teacher is horrible.”

“Hey, at least you can speak the language. I guess you also forgot about babysitting duty tonight?” any other time, she would have taken over for her younger brother, but she had a date with the guy from her college she’d been crushing on for weeks. She wasn’t about to give that up.

Lance groaned. “I’m going back downstairs. I saw macaroons, and I’m not letting Hunk eat them.”

“Hey, I know this sucks now, but think about it this way. If the person who gave you gift doesn’t think you’re worth it, that’s on them. and as for the guy on the train, if he’s really a rebel, he’ll realise how amazing you are, even if you take a bit more time to go talk to him.”

“Yeah, here’s hoping.”

                                                _______________

Lance was drained. The kids thankfully only had an hour of going insane before they calmed down and he was able to get them to bed, but with how tired he was, Japanese, Spanish and English were all messing around in his head. It took twice as long to finish his assignment, not to mention the text from the captain about practise in the morning. Lance didn’t love taking the train early, cause it was always packed. His usual time wasn’t as bad, but being chained off for a while so the platform wasn’t packed with people like it was the last train, was something he could do without. He yawned, ready to take a nap, even if it took 30 minutes to get to school, but it was either sleep on the train, or stay home and sleep and deal with annoyed and anger swim captain.

“Alright, this way please.” The barricade was moved and the station staff waved the group of people up the stairs, to take their places in the correct areas. Lance was able to get a spot near the front under his area. Usually he’d people watch, take note of the different groups, but his eyes kept slipping shut. And his sight was doubling and moving? Or was that him?

“Look out!” something grabbed his arm and yanked him, just as the sound of the train registered. He landed on a firm chest, that took him as he felt his legs give out. He blinked, to realise the train was pulling into the station and station staff were quickly approaching him. Had he been so tired he almost…? “Are you ok?”

He looked behind him and there he was. The private school student, the one he shared the train rides with. He noticed his eyes were dark, kinda like gems.

“Sir? Are you alright?” a staff member asked

“yeah. Yeah, sorry. I felt dizzy.”

He was helped up and the staff directed them to the station office. Lance felt his legs tingling, like he’d walked too much after being lazy for a while.

“Do you still feel dizzy?” the private school guy asked.

“A bit.”

He watched him stand up and dig into his pants pocket, pulling out a wallet. And something else.

“I can go get you some water.” But Lance wasn’t paying attention to that. He pulled the white and blue bracelet from the guy’s hand.

“This is…”

Like a light switch, the guys face went red and he looked embarrassed. He was kept from saying anything as another staff member came in with cups of water and a sugary snack for Lance. They wanted him to stay until he didn’t feel dizzy before letting them call his school to let them know what happened.

They were left alone and Lance sat waiting. The guy could have run off the moment he had a chance, but he sat there, sitting still.

“My name’s Keith. I’ve seen you on the train for almost 2 years now and I’ve wanted to talk to you. you’ve got quite a name for yourself. Even people in my school have heard of you. last year, I had a gift get taken to your school and when I saw you wearing it the next day, I almost went over and told you it was me, but I chickened out. So I said this year, I’d do like a big gesture to give it to you.”

“except you messed that up by pulling it out with your wallet.” Lance pointed out, laughing. Keith’s face got redder and he pouted. “So why a bracelet?”

“Well, you got so much stuff from what I understood and I don’t know. Something small and simple seemed to fit you. I mean, I can tell that bag is old. The mascot you have on it really faded, so you’ve had it for a long time.” He said, nodding to the dolphin plush he had on his bag. “the sleeves on the hoodie you wear in the winter months have frayed edges, but it’s not like you can’t afford to get a new one, you just wearing to death. I wanted to give you something you’d have for a long time. So, yeah.”

Lance felt happy to know that Keith seemed to notice things about him, like he’d done to Keith.

“Can you help me put it on?” Lance handed Keith the bracelet back and gave him his wrist, ready and waiting. His chest felt fluttery as Keith tied the bracelet around his wrist, right on top of the old one. “So, I might just end up walking home and sleeping for the next couple hours, but we have half day tomorrow for that national teacher training thing. What about you?”

“No school.”

“So, if you’re up for it, why don’t you come pick me up from school and we can go hang out? Maybe as a date?”

“Yeah, that sounds good to me. I’ll make sure to catch you again if you end up fainting.”