For all his life, Lance could talk to his soulmate. Not in person of course, but through the writing on his skin. He never learned his name, the magic or whatever it was didn’t work that way, but he knew plenty. Like how his soulmate was one of the smartest people he knew, how he had a little sister whom he called Pidge, how he was going to be a pilot (not that it inspired Lance or anything), and how he relieved his stress by doodling little figures all over his arms. Growing up with the ability to talk with his soulmate helped him so much during the hardships, like when his abuelito died when he was ten and he needed to unload his sadness, he talked to his soulmate for hours about him. In fact, his soulmate had played a key role in helping him learn English. Unfortunately not knowing the name caused some weird nicknames. He was referred to as Bluebird after saying how much he loved the creatures, and his soulmate was called Cherry after being told that he got sick after eating too many cherries once.
A year before he was to go into the Galaxy Garrison, a message was left on his left wrist reading, Bluebird, I won’t be able to talk to you for a long time because I’m finally going to space with a crew to Kerberos. He was quick to write back asking him can I still write you? He got a confirmation and a tiny doodle of a heart. Every day after, he always wrote tiny messages and picked up the habit of doodling, especially on his thighs so his mama wouldn’t yell at him. When he heard the news of the failed mission, no pain etched into his skin, all his messages still went through so he knew that his soulmate was still alive. He knew so many things going into Garrison, but he still played dumb to the fact Pidge was just passing for a guy. Meeting Shiro meant that his soulmate was out there, and he knew a name: Matt Holt.
“Oh you don’t want Lance, he’s not the brightest bulb here.” The comment wasn’t unexpected but it still hurt. The team was getting ready to send Pidge off on a mission and the Princess asked for help. Lance was quick to offer, wanting to be helpful, but Pidge shot him down very quickly. Hunk was taken to help and Pidge flew off to god knows where. He should really train more, but he was just so tired after stressing over this mission. His room felt nice, not as good as his bedroom at home, but it was livable. His bed was his home until Pidge came back. No one really bothered him, only the scurrying of the mice’s feet were heard in the vents next to him. It saddened him that the team didn’t even check up on him, but he knew they all had other duties.
Matt was stressing out. His soulmate stopped writing to him and went to doodling patterns all over his thighs and once on his stomach. Then, it all stopped. He couldn’t think of his soulmate often, not with fighting a war, but he couldn’t help his wandering mind. Was his Bluebird ok? Did he move on? He couldn’t have died, otherwise he would have felt it through the bond. He really hoped he stayed and completed his dreams of being an Olympian whether it was for swimming or gymnastics. A small green and white figure dropped into his base, pulling him out of his thoughts. He didn’t have time to think on how the enemy got in his base, he just needed to make his attack count.
Thankfully the intruder was Pidge, but also HOW WAS PIDGE IN SPACE!! She explained she was a paladin of Voltron which amazed him to no end. The lions, at least the green one, were works of art. He had never seen something like this, and knowing his sister flew it with such ease brought a smile to his face. The castle was an entirely different marvel too. The design was sleek and gorgeous, but still allowed fast travel. Matt couldn’t believe he was seeing Shiro again and meeting the rest of the paladins. The princess was gorgeous and he couldn’t help but flirt with her. The paladin that caught his eye was the one in the blue, hanging out near the back of the group. He disappeared quickly and no one seemed to notice.
“Who’s the blue paladin?” He asked Pidge during the tour of the castle.
“Well Allura flies the blue lion so technically her, but Lance wears the blue armor.” She explains nonchalantly, showing him the lounge area.
“Psh,” She laughed, “Lance is the most social of all of us.”
“He was standing near the back of the group though, wouldn’t social people be near the front?” This guy was confusing to him.
“He was probably moody.” The doors whooshed open and Hunk walked through the door giving milkshakes to them, but thoughts of Lance still ran around his head.
“Hey Pidge, have you seen Lance? I haven’t seen him at all after you left.” Hunk asked
“I’m sure he’ll be at dinner. He has to eat sometime” The conversation dropped like that, no more concern for him left it seemed.
Dinner came around and sure enough Lance came out too. He looked too thin and sad. “Nice of you to join us Lance” Allura was sarcastic to him, but he shrugged it off, sitting quietly and seemingly mechanically eating his food goo.
“Lance, I know you’re upset at Matt flirting with the princess but you could contribute to the conversation.” Shiro said halfway through the meal interrupting the conversation.
“What would he contribute? He’d probably just talk more about the alien girls.” Pidge and Hunk laughed it off going back to conversation.
“I’m not hungry anymore.” Lance got up and took his plate with him.
“Don’t be such a drama queen, Lance.”
“You said I couldn’t contribute to the conversation, so why should I burden you all with my stupidity anymore?” The question was asked so sadly, it broke Matt’s heart. The door closed behind him, but no one took notice of the boy.
“Is anyone going to comfort him?” Matt whispered to Pidge
“He’s just being dramatic, give him time.” That didn’t sit well with Matt, so immediately after the meal he went to look for him, under the guise of exploring the castle more.
Lance had had enough. Matt never looked him in the eye so he didn’t feel the rush of the bond connecting and sitting by him was torture itself. Again Pidge told him he was stupid and everyone laughed. He was sitting in the observatory staring at the vast expanse of space. Tears slowly rolled down his face as every emotion caught up with him. He heard the door behind him open, but he just pulled his hood up, ignoring them hoping they would leave him alone.
“Hey, um Lance right?” He heard Matt ask and heard his approaching footfalls. He only curled up tighter, staring still at space. “I’m going to take that as a yes.” Matt sat next to him so their shoulders were touching.
“Why are you here? Should you be with the others having fun?” He asked, voice thick.
“I don’t want to be with them right now.” He peeked at Matt who was looking out at space too. “What’s wrong? And don’t say nothing I can hear the sadness in your voice.” Lance wrapped his arms tighter around himself.
“They all treat me like the only thing I bring to the team is flirting with people, as if they can ignore everything else about me.” A hand went to his back rubbing soothingly and he tensed. His head whipped to look at Matt and their eyes met. A rush of comfort flooded his veins and he saw the same reaction in Matt.
“It’s you. You’re Bluebird” Arms wrapped tightly around his torso making him squeak.
“Cherry, I can’t breathe.” The arms loosened and they both laughed, happy to finally be in one another’s arms. For the next hour, they caught up with each other and if chaste kisses were shared, no one needed to know. Unfortunately, the doors opened as they were in the middle of (totally not) kissing. A loud clatter pulled them out of their lip lock staring at the fuming Pidge.
“What the fuck Lance?! He was waiting to find his soulmate and you just swoop in and kiss him?” She screamed at him
“Katie! One, read body langue maybe? And two he is your teammate, why would you keep pushing him away?” Matt stood up, hiding Lance behind him.
“Matt, its fine.” Lance desperately tried to diffuse the fight.
“No it isn’t fine. Someone who is supposedly clever can’t read that I wanted the kiss, and that it clearly takes two to kiss.”
“That still doesn’t resolve the fact that you haven’t found your soulmate.”
“Actually it does. And bluebird and I are going to leave now.” Lance was pulled up and dragged out of the room passed the shocked face of Pidge.
“Matt slow down, please” Lance tried tugging his arm out of Matt’s grip, or at least slow them down. His arm was let go, but Matt was still clearly upset.
“They can’t treat you that way.”
“They can and they do, but its fine most of the times it doesn’t affect me. Pidge was shocked and that’s okay. I would be too if I had found out I treated my brother’s soulmate like how she had.” Lance grew quiet near the end, hearing the scuttle of the mice’s feet. “If Allura is trying to spy on me, tell her to stop.” He spoke into the wall, hearing the rapid movement go in the opposite way. “Let’s go to my room, not many people bother me there.” He began to walk to his room, feeling Matt grab his hand and intertwine their fingers.
The room felt much homier when Matt was in it, looking at his face creams and hair masks. “So why did you become a pilot?” The question was casually asked as Matt sniffed one of the creams.
“Man, you sound like my Tia Cassandra,” He pitched his voice higher, “Oh Nino, why would you want to be a pilot when you could swim in the Olympics. Let’s focus on your ‘problems’ while I drink the rest of your Mama’s good wine and blame my ex-husband for everything.” Matt started laughing, sitting next to him. “And then my Tio Julio would come up like this,” He stood up and puffed out his chest, widening his stance, and lowering his voice as deep as possible, “Chamaco, You have McClain blood which means you will be the very best at everything, but forget your gymnastics or you’ll turn gay. Now let me smoke and drink until I pass out and explain to everyone how much of a sissy everyone is these days while they forget I was afraid of bumblebees and butterflies.” His natural accent slipped easily into mocking his family. “And my mama would slap both of them and tell me that I could do what I want with my life as long as I’m happy and Abuelita would scream ‘Except a stripper’” Matt was clutching his stomach with how hard he was laughing. Lance collapsed onto the bed smiling again. A loud banging interrupted the quiet where they just lay together. “What?” He called out, but the door was already opening showing a fuming Shiro. He scrambled to stand up.
“Lance this is just irresponsible of you and frankly its disgusting.” He stalked into the room, lording his size over Lance. “First you make the Princess uncomfortable with your flirting and possessiveness over her, and now you decided to be all buddy buddy with Matt?!” Hands pushed him back, making him stumble.
“This is why none of the other paladins trust you, you turn around at any second.” Matt was in silent shock, frozen to the bed. The hands moved to slam him against the wall, his head sounding with a sick thud. “You will stay away from both of them until you can control yourself around people.”
“Shiro, stop.” He begged but a metal hand closed around his throat holding tightly, stopping his sentence. Pidge burst into the room, out of breath, seeing Lance struggle against the choke hold and Matt frozen in fear.
“Shiro, put him down.” The command rattled through Shiro dropping Lance to the ground, gasping and choking on air. “You didn’t let me finish. Matt and Lance are soulmates, that’s why they were kissing.” A wave of understanding passed through the leader and he looked down to his hands then looking at Lance who tensed up and scooted away.
“I don’t know what happened. Once you mentioned how you were shocked because you thought Lance was taking advantage of Matt, I was transported back to the arena. Lance I’m so sorry.” Shiro collapsed to the floor. Slowly Matt got up from the bed, holding onto Lance’s shaking body. Pidge went to Shiro, resting her hand on his shoulder.
“Shiro it wasn’t you. I should have started with the fact they are soulmates.” Shiro glanced up at the pair across from him, seeing that they both looked complete with the other one.
“I’m so sorry Lance.” He whispered seeing the boy look over at him. He didn’t move as arms wrapped around him gently.
“It wasn’t you. I don’t hold it against you.” Lance gently soothed him along with Matt. The group fell into a quiet peacefulness until Shiro broke it.
“You two better not do any more than cuddling in this castle.” Matt and Lance both groaned, while Pidge laughed.
turnnoffyourmind
yousharknotpass
theartofmadeline
stormborns
