#applecherry108

[xxinkys-ocsxx]

MERRY BIRTHMAS

Adding merry birthmas to my vocabulary now

[ardenrabbit]

(k)lance - as a hello

This is for the “I love you” prompts! My friend @applecherry108 asked specifically for “Lance can’t use greetings, and for Reasons™️ his mouth auto corrects any greeting to “I love you.” Ensue shenanigans.” Here’s the fluff, apple

Allura really was trying not to laugh. It was a nice effort from her, but Lance's face was red, and he was sitting across from her at the breakfast table with his arms crossed high on his chest.

"Lance, it's alright," she assured him, fighting her smile. "It does happen on occasion. The painkillers aboard the castle have been known to have… unfortunate side effects. It's temporary."

"But it's only affecting my language?" Lance huffed. "This is kind of specific for a side effect."

"Yes. It appears that whenever you try to greet someone verbally, the words are replaced with…"

"Yeah." Lance groaned and pressed his hands over his face. "I'm sorry, Allura. That was really awkward."

"It's quite alright," Allura said kindly. "It will wear off after a day or so. In the meantime, try to avoid explicitly greeting anyone. Instead, cut straight to the conversation at hand."

The kitchen door opened, and Hunk stepped in and made for the coffee press, wearing his yellow pajamas.

"Hey, morning, guys," he greeted the two of them.

"Love you, Hunk," Lance said with the tone of a simple, hey.

Hunk looked past the kitchen to him and grinned.

"Hey, I love you too, dude."

Lance groaned and dropped his forehead onto the table. "No-- I mean. I love you too, man. But I can't say 'I love you'-- fuck. I can't say 'h--love you'--"

"He can't say 'hello,'" Allura translated before Hunk could get too worried. "He's ingested an Altean analgesic and it's disagreeing with him. It can cause some temporary linguistic conflicts."

"Wow, seriously?" Hunk didn't even seem surprised anymore. They attracted weird shit like this. "So, is it just 'hello,' or…?"

"It seems to be any greeting," Allura replied on Lance's behalf.

"Really?" Hunk took a seat next to Lance with his coffee and asked, "Can you say 'what's up?'"

Lance tried and said, "Love ya."

"What about 'good morning?'" Allura suggested.

"I love you, sunshine." Lance nearly bit his tongue.

"'It's good to see you,'" Hunk prompted him.

"Marry me."

Lance buried his face in his arms and kicked his feet under the table, groaning in dismay. Above him, Allura and Hunk made varying sounds of sympathy.

"Okay, not that one," Hunk noted.

"Good morning," Coran’s voice said from the doorway.

"Love you," Lance said into the table, and then, "Shit."

.

Of course he had to pass Shiro in the hallway, and Shiro had to smile at him.

"Hey, Lance."

"I love you," Lance said at a pitch that approached a squeak. He should really glue his mouth shut until this thing wore off.

Shiro stopped short and, bless him, his brow crumpled in utter confusion. Lance couldn't just walk away without explaining, either, so he had to push through the awkwardness.

"I have a condition," were the unfortunate words he landed on.

"What?" Shiro stepped in close and took Lance gently by the shoulders. "Lance, are you sick?"

"No," Lance stammered. "No, I--I ate something stupid and now my language centers are fucked and-- I mean, not that I-- You're a great guy, super handsome--"

"Lance, slow down," Shiro pleaded. “You look flushed. Do you want to sit down?”

“No.” Lance swallowed to keep back a flustered laugh. “No, I mean, I guess that sounded like a dying confession or something, but I’m okay.”

It took a careful minute of explanation, but by the end of it, Shiro let out an exasperated sigh and patted Lance on the arm.

"You scared me.” Shiro offered him a sympathetic smile. “What if you just wave?”

“Yeah. That’s a good idea.” Lance gave it a try and waved. “Love you, Shiro.”

Shiro was polite enough to try not to laugh.

.

Perhaps at the top of Lance’s Bad Decision List was going to hide in the training deck. All he wanted was some peace and quiet and rifle training--anything, as long as he didn’t have to talk to anyone. He hoped that Allura would explain his situation to everyone and that they would be gracious enough to leave him alone. He turned to his next target and tried to mumble under his breath: Hey. Hello. Hi there. It didn’t work.

"Oh, hey, Lance," Keith said from the doorway.

Oh no.

Okay. He could do this. Just cut to the conversation.

What was he supposed to say?

The background static of Lance's mind was a cacophony of what he wasn't supposed to say. Lance was left frozen and mute. It went against his grain to give the cold shoulder and leave someone hanging, but he bit his tongue and adjusted a setting on his rifle while the training targets rearranged themselves.

Keith cleared his throat softly behind him. Lance tried to ignore his shuffling sounds as he readied himself for training, and he kept his eyes forward. He did his best until Keith stepped into his view.

"Hey," Keith said again. "I don't usually see you in here this early."

Lance looked up. Met his eyes.

Ask him how he slept. Invite him to train. Tell him his hair--

"I love you, Keith," Lance blurted out.

He couldn't explain himself right then. His scripted explanation crumbled as soon as he needed it. And Keith was staring right at him, looking like Lance had punched the breath right out of his chest.

Keith took a step closer, crossing the threshold of Lance's personal space. His eyes were wide and serious. Lance's tongue was cotton.

"Lance?" Keith asked, so quiet and careful, the edge of a whisper.

That was way more tender than Lance had bargained for. His rifle dematerialized and he dropped the bayard.

A halting "I" was all Lance could verbalize.

Keith reached up. His thumb brushed across Lance's cheek to his ear. Lance's vision filled with dark spots, and he felt that his knees were about to give. Keith's eyes were on his mouth, and holy fuck, not like this.

"I have a speech thing," Lance stammered.

Keith's eyes darted back up. "What?"

"Temporary side effects from meds. I can't say greetings. It comes out as 'I love you' instead."

Keith's hand lifted away from Lance's face. Abruptly, he was standing ten feet back with his face bright crimson. Lance was astonished that he didn't die instantly from humiliation.

"Oh," Keith said.

"Yeah." Lance cleared his throat. “What was…?”

“What was what?”

“That. The…” Lance touched his own cheek where it was still tingling.

“Nothing. You had a bug on your face.”

“There aren’t any bugs in the castle,” Lance said, raising an eyebrow.

“You look sick,” Keith snapped. “Just checking to see if you have a fever. Never mind.”

Lance was too dumbfounded to ask anything but, “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Nope. See you.” Keith kept his head low and took quick steps off of the training deck.

.

It wore off by the end of the day. When dinner came around, Lance knew what he had to do. He stood up at his place at the table, lips pursed, demanding everyone’s attention. Hunk stopped halfway through serving the plates.

“Yes, Lance?” Allura asked patiently. Lance took in a theatrically deep breath.

“Hello,” he proclaimed.

There was a round of polite applause. Allura and Coran clapped, and Hunk offered up a, “Hey, you did it!” Pidge shook her head, and Shiro laughed silently into his palm. Keith sat with his arms crossed and his eyes down.

“And,” Lance declared, “I love you guys.”

He was rewarded with more applause, a coo, and a fond, “We love you too, Lance.” Hunk put down the serving plates and walked around the table to him.

“Okay, everyone in,” Hunk ordered.

The table shuffled as everyone stood, and Lance was pulled into a hug from four different directions. He laughed and tried to hug back as many of them as he could at once.

Keith was the last to stand up, and he only stood at the periphery of the group to make it look like he was just involved enough. That wasn’t enough for Lance. He reached out and yanked Keith in, and Keith grumbled under his breath when Lance squeezed him in his arms.

.

After dinner, Lance hurried to catch up with Keith before he could vanish into his room. He had to shout a, “Keith, wait,” to make him stop outside the door. Keith stood there, arms crossed, eyes downcast and cheek worried by his teeth, and he didn’t look up when Lance stopped a few yards away from him.

“What’s up?” Keith asked. His voice was stiff and awkward, and Lance couldn’t wait for that to stop. He took a deep breath and said what he had to say:

“Hi, Keith.”

Keith finally looked at him, eyes marred with confusion. He waited for Lance to say something else. Then, as soon as he saw a flicker of recognition on Keith’s face, Lance cleared his throat and turned on his heel toward his own room.

“Well, goodnight,” he called. Behind him, Keith had some lightness in his voice again.

“Goodnight, Lance.”

[mjminart]

I was bored in class and I’ve been thinking about Save The Last Dance For Me by @applecherry108 all week!! so!! It’s messy but who knows maybe I’ll make more skjdkj

[ardenrabbit]

Iverson: “the youngest person to ever fly into deep space. Barely 4, can hardly walk, but he can fly.” Shiro: sir.... (Adam, in the distance, losing his shit)

I’M C RY ING??? Shiro finally turns twenty and his surprise party has a cake with plastic dinosaurs and “happy 5th birthday” on it. iverson got him a tricycle

[Send me headcanons! Whoever sends my favorite one by the end of the night gets a short fic!]

[ardenrabbit]

Ok ok, here’s a hc: Shiro is lances hero bc during his first week at the garrison, he was super homesick, never been away from his family more than a day before. Shiro found him crying in a restroom and ended up taking him to the mess hall, getting ice cream, and sitting with him for a few hours, asking about his family and just listening to lance gush about everyone and anything. At the end of the day, Shiro hugs lance and tells him he’s proud for being brave and his family probs is too.

H E Y FRIEND WOW ;____; Shiro is the?? MOST SUPPORTIVE??? ENCOURAGING MAN??? I think Lance would have needed that pep talk, especially when he first gets to the Garrison. bless you

[Send me headcanons! Whoever sends my favorite by Friday gets a short fic!]

[ardenrabbit]

A follow up: Allura finds the whole thing hilarious and torments the boys by changing her height constantly.

hHDSJLFJS ALLURA, THEY’RE TOO EASY TO TORMENT. Gradually gets taller every time they stop looking at her until they’re all sweating

[ardenrabbit]

In the style of toph/sokka/suki, once upon a time, Pidge had a big ol crush on lance. During battle one time, she gets pinned down and saved. Thinking it’s lance, she smooches the helmet of her savior. It is, in fact, Keith.

hhHFKLDSJ REST IN PIECES PIDGE. but also how well can keith handle crippling secondhand embarrassment

[Send me headcanons! Whoever sends me my favorite by Friday gets a short fic!]

[ardenrabbit]

No more sick Pidge!! Instead, Pidge has actually been older this entire time. She’s just so, so smol. When the boys find out she’s actually, let’s say, 19, older than the rest of the garrison students, they demand to know why she lied. She sheepishly tells them that after a while it was too awkward to correct them, and “we’re missing the big picture here, shiros the youngest!!” The boys spend that afternoon having an existential crisis that the lorgest is the youngest and the smolest is oldest.

HGHIDLSJF BLESS YOU

Pidge is older, just Tiny. And i always laugh about Shiro’s leap year birthday, HE’S ONLY SIX. For real though, how young was Shiro to be the youngest pilot to fly deep space missions??

also. pidge making “when you get to be my age” jokes to shiro, who screams.

[Send me headcanons! Whoever sends my favorite one by the end of the night gets a short fic!]