Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron Defender of the Universe. I do own Ruby though.
Summary: Keith, Ruby, Lance, Rachel, CJ, and Allura get de-aged to three-years-old.
Author Note: This is Keith/Ruby, Lance/Rachel, and Allura/CJ. Rachel belongs to QueenScene2, and CJ belongs to 80sGayTrashGoblin.
It was a quiet night on Planet Arus. The castle's inhabitants weren't expecting six of their number to be affected by the previous day's experiment. However, morning's light showed yesterday's experiment had unusual consequences.
Ruby could feel Keith's arms still around her. She was happy that he hadn't been called away to defend Arus. She adored waking up in his arms, but there was something a little off. She had fallen asleep wearing an old faded Garrison t-shirt of Keith's that wasn't too baggy, but now, it felt really baggy.
She hesitantly opened her eyes and was very confused, because there was a little boy who looked like Keith and was wearing his pale blue pajama top sleeping with his arms around her. She looked down at herself and saw she was a little girl again. She whimpered, inadvertantly waking Keith up. He rubbed one eye. "Ruby, what's wrong, darling?"
It was then that it registered to Keith that his girlfriend was much younger than when they went to sleep, but she still had her heart necklace and rose earrings on. He looked down and saw that he was a little boy again. They didn't get to say anything else, before they heard crying from the next room over.
Rachel and Lance were already awake and had discovered what happened, but Rachel was determined to put her make-up on. Rachel, wearing Lance's shirt, stood on Lance's shoulders to see the mirror in order to put on her make-up. She couldn't do it well enough, because she didn't possess fine motor skills anymore, so she asked Lance, who is wearing his pajama top, for help.
"Don't call me that, doll. Not when I can't do anything about it."
"All right. Come down." She slid off his shoulders. "Now, hold still."
He tried to put on her eyeliner but ended up accidentally poking her in the eye with eyeliner pencil. Rachel bursted into tears, and Lance dropped the eyeliner pencil and kissed her on the lips to get her to stop crying, but it didn't work and made Lance cry because he hurt his girlfriend. Their crying was what attracted Keith and Ruby.
Ruby immediately went over to her best friend's side and held her, rocking her in order to soothe her. Keith followed his girlfriend's lead and went over to Lance's side.
"I-I h-hurt, R-Rach," Lance sobbed.
"She seems okay aside from being three."
"All four of us are little kids, sweetheart," Ruby stated.
Rachel had heard Lance's sobbed confession and lifted her head. It was obvious what had happened. Her eye was still red and not just from crying, which did help with clearing the eyeliner out. "I'll be okay, Lancey."
"Rach?" Lance locked eyes with his girlfriend and held his arms open for a hug. Rachel flung herself into his arms, knocking them both over in the process. Keith and Ruby giggled, Keith putting his arms around his girlfriend.
"Voltron Force, report to the control room!"
Keith and Lance looked at each other, Keith nodding. The two de-aged pilots dashed out of the room, their girlfriends in tow. When they arrived in the control room, they were the last ones, Hunk and Pidge arriving before them.
"What's the matter, Coran?" Keith asked, momentarily forgetting he was currently three-years-old.
Coran, Nanny, Hunk, and Pidge all turned to face the de-aged quartet. "I originally called you here, because Allura is missing, but what happened to you four?"
"We don't know," Keith admitted. "We woke up like this."
"So, that's two mysteries to figure out. Where Allura is, and what happened to those four," Hunk stated.
"Hey! I'm not the youngest anymore!" Pidge pointed out.
"We need to do something! You two, find the princess!" Nanny pointed at Hunk and Pidge. "You two, find something better to wear!" She pointed at Keith and Lance. "And you two, get to work!" She pointed at Ruby and Rachel last.
"But we can't work like this!" Ruby insisted.
Nanny went to grab Ruby to put her over her knee, but Keith pushed Ruby behind him. "Don't touch her!"
Nanny paused for a moment but turned to Rachel. Lance didn't even give her a chance to yell at his girlfriend. "They can't work!"
Nanny ignored him, grabbing him by the ear to move him out of the way.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Lance yelped, cupping his ear after Nanny released him.
Hunk finally intervened. "Nanny, you honestly can't expect two three-year-olds to clean the castle and do laundry. They can't reach most of the places."
Nanny looked from Ruby, who was being held by Keith, to Rachel, who was kneeling by Lance and trying to help Lance feel better. She sighed. "I suppose, but then, they should help find the princess."
"Calm down, Nanny. I'm sure she's still in the castle," Coran said.
Meanwhile, CJ and Allura were on their way to CJ's lab, which was just the room next to Allura's room. They had woken up de-aged but had realized what happened. The experiment CJ conducted the previous day had blown up in her face. It had affected Allura, Ruby, Rachel, Lance, and Keith, because she called them there to witness her brilliance.
The reason they were headed /back/ towards CJ's lab was because they had stopped by the kitchens for snacks. No one had seen them since they used the vents, which was a little hard since they were wearing old dresses of Allura's (back when she was originally three-years-old). CJ didn't really like the dress but it was better than the old t-shirt she had fallen asleep in. When they had gotten to the kitchen, the two found themselves with an armful of snacks each. CJ thought it was because the kitchen maids were delighted to give them sweets, but in truth, the maids couldn't deny the sweetie that was a tiny princess.
Since their arms were full of snacks, using the vents were out of the question, so they were walking down the corridor when they were spotted by the four other children.
"There they are!" Ruby exclaimed.
CJ and Allura looked up and saw Hunk, Pidge, Keith, Lance, Rachel, and Ruby heading their way. CJ looked at the two de-aged maids before she turned towards Allura. "Why did I have to wear a dress, when they get to wear oversized shirts?"
"We're only wearing these because we didn't have anything else," Rachel pointed out.
"I have more dresses you can borrow! Follow me!" Allura headed for her room.
Keith looked at the two currently eldest pilots. "Tell Coran and Nanny that we found Allura."
Hunk and Pidge nodded and made their way back to castle control. Keith, Lance, Ruby, and Rachel hurried after Allura and CJ. They entered Allura's room and were surprised to see it slightly messy. There were several, fancy, child sized dresses flung over the bed.
Ruby and Rachel rushed over to the selection, wanting to get dressed in proper clothes.
While the girls were choosing their dresses, Keith asked, "Do either of you know how this happened?"
"Of course, I know! It was my experiment yesterday! It wasn't supposed to do this, but it's fine."
"Fine? We're three-years-old!"
"Relax, Keith. It'll wear off by morning." CJ muttered under her breath, which Keith didn't hear, "I think."
"I'm wearing this!" Ruby pulled out a white dress that had what looked like cherry blossom petals swirling around the full skirt.
Rachel pulled out a dark blue dress that looked out of place in the collection of light colors. It was sleeveless and had a slightly shorter skirt, ending at her knees, when she held it up to herself. "I like this one!"
The girls hurried to the en suite bathroom and changed into the dresses. They came out, carrying the shirts they had been wearing. The boys were so mesmerized by the sight of their girlfriends in such pretty dresses that they missed the looks the girls were giving each other.
Rachel whispered into Ruby's ear, making the other girl giggle. The two girls dug through the pile again and pull out another two dresses, heading for their boyfriends. They pulled them into the bathroom and had them face away from each other.
"You two need better clothes. You should wear these!" Rachel giggled as she and Ruby held out the dresses they had just picked up.
"I'd rather just stay in my pajama top, darling."
"But, sweetheart, Lance is doing it."
Keith briefly glanced over to see his best friend unbuttoning his pajama top, adverting his gaze back to his girlfriend, who was still holding out the red dress she had found. He sighed. "Fine."
Once the boys had their pajama tops off, the girls helped them into the dresses. Keith's dress was short sleeved and down to his ankles. Lance's was also short sleeved but the front ended at his knees while the back ended lower (at his ankles). While Keith looked like he was pouting at having to wear the dress, Lance was wearing it with confidence, giving everyone the idea that he may have worn a dress before.
Allura clapped her hands as the four exited the bathroom. "Oh! You all look so pretty! We should do your hair, Keith!"
Keith's hands immediately buried themselves in his still long hair. "Nuh-uh. No way, princess." He eyed CJ. "How sure are you that this is ending tomorrow morning."
"Pretty sure. Maybe 95%...85% sure. Well, maybe make that 75% sure."
Author Note 2: To CJ's credit, it did wear off the next morning.
@queenscene2 @80sgaytrashgoblin @lion-time @breadstickcat @toastess-with-the-mostess
