Happy Julance!
Day 9: Star of the Show ⭐️
This is a part one of two. I wonder where part two will be this month... (hint, the word is within the chapter).
Ao3: [X]
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“Class, we have a very exciting guest for the end of the day.”
Ms. Montgomery’s voice called attention as she leaned in front of her desk with a sing-song, lilting excitement that teachers used when they were about to announce a surprise party, maybe some pizza, or maybe when they’re about to pull down the projector so the class could watch a movie.
Twenty-seven fourth-graders turned as one toward the door—some with a yawn, some out of curiosity. One kid tapped their pencil on their desk, and another scratched their face in boredom.
“He’s veeeery famous across the universe.”
The room filled with gasps and curious whispers. Eyes widened. Some kids sat up straighter, others whispering amongst each other in confusion.
That caught their attention.
“Who do you think it is?”
“Maybe it’s an actor, or a singer!”
“What if it’s Bi Boh Bii?! I love that show!”
She walked towards the door with a breath of laughter. “Okay, everyone. Let’s be nice.” Ms. Montgomery said, brimmed with anticipatory glee as she slid the door open.
“Now, say hello to…”
Lance McClain stepped in—tall, handsome, and relaxed with a familiar lopsided grin—looking only slightly out of place in his Blade of Marmora uniform amongst the paper stars with everyone’s names propped up against the wall, the whiteboard upon pristine, white walls, and the wooden desks lined up in rows in front of them.
“Lance McClain! Former Voltron paladin and leader of the newly reformed Blade of Marmora.”
He gave a casual wave with a coy, cat-like smile. “Hey there, room 4B.”
A bright collection of gasps and woah’s echo out through the classroom. The one kid that was tapping their pencil dropped it on the desk, mouth ajar in shock. It rolls to the ground in the brisk silence.
“Sorry if I look a little rusty, my hair is a mess , folks.” he jokes, some kids chuckling at his worn apology. “I’ve only returned from a restoration mission about an hour ago. My bad.”
“That’s Juni’s dad! Oh my gosh, he was in Voltron!” One kid whispered loudly, like it was a secret you only shouted across a lunch table.
Juniper, his lovely little cherub of joy, practically bounced out of her seat in pride with a big ‘ol smile.
Lance chuckled and sent her a wink before turning to the class. “It's true! I used to fly a giant robot lion in space. It's a... strange résumé builder, I can tell you that much.”
“What’s a resume?”
“I don’t know, but I want one if he’s got one!”
“He looks like an action figure–!!”
“Class,” Ms. Montgomery claps her hands together. Lance looks at her with crescent moon eyes and a glimpse of excitement, almost like a cheeky cat. “Mr. McClain is here today to tell us stories from his time in Voltron, and what he does now. Now, say, welcome, Lance, bright and loud—everybody ready?”
They all take a deep breath, pause, and then excitedly cheer: “Welcome, Lance!”
He blushed with laughter, bright and boisterous. “Hello, everyone! It’s nice to meet you all.”
The excitement quickly grew within the classroom. An eruption of children descend into the kind of chaos only adolescent children can generate; hands flailing in the air, overlapping questions, hands raised, and a chorus of questions such as,
“How do you keep your hair clean?!”
“Can you shoot lasers right now ?”
“Why was your lion red… ? Did they have purple?”
Lance laughed, hands raised in surrender. “One at a time! I promise, I’ll answer everything. But first, let me tell you a little bit about what we did as paladins, shall we?”
As he spoke, the class settled—entranced at his every word, movement, and gesture. He told them about Blue Lion, how it flew them out of space, how it felt like riding the wind inside the tornado that lifted the house in the Wizard of Oz . He told them about learning to work together as a team, his found family, the mind-melding, visiting new planets, and most importantly—becoming part of something much bigger and greater than he ever imagined.
He glossed over the scarier parts—the near-deaths, the quiet grief and losses along the way—these children didn’t need to know that. He softened the edges of every page in his storytelling and turned each story into an imaginative children’s book filled with wonder and delight.
Throughout the lesson, all of the kids were eating up every single word he spoke.
All but one.
Near the window sat a small boy, palm on his cheek with a mop of dark curls, not paying attention and detached from the world, staring out at the playground outside like it held some form of magic; one that could make him fly away from here, out into the ever growing galaxy instead of the classroom.
Lance’s gaze kept circling back to him. However, they curled away from the world, everyone and everything, and refused to look his way.
It intrigued him.
He pocketed that information for later.
When the questions started up again, he fielded them like a pro. He sends a mind full of thanks to Coran for his incredible, intergalactic PR training and diplomacy skills.
One kid chimed in: “Did you die…?!”
“I’m still here, aren’t I?” He jokes with him, shooting him with his classic finger guns.
Another raised their hand and shouted: “Have you met Bi Boh Bii, the famous actor?!”
“I have! In fact…” he grabbed his datapad out with a cocky grin and showed a photo of him and Bi Boh Bii together. “I have them on speed dial .”
The gasp he received elated him greatly.
“Why Lions?” Another kid promptly said before raising their hands, mouth responding before their little body could coordinate.
“Well… Princess Allura is the Lion Goddess.”
“But why?”
Ah, one of those kids. Why ? At every corner.
This question, however, he was not prepared for to be quite honest. He thinks about this one a lot, actually—why were Lions such prominent figures? Why were they chosen? Did Alfor know about Earth? Did they have Lions in Ancient Altea too?
Hm. Food for thought.
“That’s a really good question. I really wish I knew. What I can tell you is that when we found the cavern with carvings in the wall, there were Lions—that’s how we found Blue.” Looking around the room, he points at a little girl in the back with her hand politely raised. “Ah! You.”
A little girl with her hand raised, timid and listening intently, points at herself as if to question, “Me…?”
He smiles at her graciously. “You’ve been very well-mannered, honey. Thank you for waiting.”
“Oh.” She twiddled her fingers together and looked away.
“What was your question, sweetheart?”
She staggered in her speech, blushing a tinge at being noticed by her hero. “I… I, um.”
Ms. Montgomery leaned over to his ear, “She’s always been a little shy.”
He nodded, acknowledging her advice and taking it on board with stride. He walked over to her, the class eyeing his every move as he kneeled down in front of her, his ear out and ready to listen. “Did you want to whisper it instead?” He suggested, lowering his voice.
She nodded gratefully, almost frantically, before leaning into his ear to whisper: “H-How, how did you, how did you pilot two Lions?”
He nodded back, listening very intentionally before responding in kind. “Great question!” Lance leaned over, hand out to cover her little ear and let her in on a little secret:
“What if I told you… I also piloted black too?”
She softly gasps, covering her mouth, stunned and in shock while the class watches on in silence. She whispered back in his ear, hands both enclosed against his, ensuring they’re covered from anyone hearing on all fronts: “ Three ?”
He leaned away with a coy smile, winked at her, and extended his pinky. “I’m about to show you something very cool, okay? But you have to promise you won’t tell anyone what I just told you.” She nodded, extending her shaky pinky out in return.
“Now this?” He pointed to his pinky with his other hand. “ This is a paladin’s promise. Once you take my pinky, this is a sacred bond forged between paladins.”
She blinked at him in awe. “I-I can be a paladin…?”
“ Anyone can become a paladin. Being a paladin comes from the heart; not cool suits and flying Lions.” He laughed confidently, “If I can do it, anybody can, right? I was just a boy from Cuba!”
He linked their pinkies together—a symbol of forged comradery between a blade leader and a little girl in awe. “Once we meld these two fingers together and shake on it… you become a paladin too. Okay?”
“Like the TV show?”
“Even better—a real paladin.”
She excitedly nodded, but before they shake on it, he interrupts: “But, you have to promise you won’t tell a soul about what I just told you. It’s between you and I. Paladin’s promise. Okay?”
“P-Paladin’s promise.” She shakily said, pushing their pinkies down together. He smiled graciously and thanked her—eye to eye; not as shy anymore—as her confidence grew by the second.
He asked for her name. Spent another few minutes with her.
Rosie. She’s nine and her favourite animal is a Meerkat. She also likes seafood and loves her cat, Mr. Mittens, the third. It’s very important to remember the third part of their name, she noted explicitly. He laughs, agrees— extremely important , he repeated to her in the softest voice. She giggles too, coming out of her shell a little.
He stood up, clapped once to demand the attention of the room, and declared boldly, brightly to the class: “Your classmate Rosie just became a paladin, everyone!”
A mixture of ‘Huh?!’ ‘What!?’ and ‘No way!!’ all echo through the room.
One of her classmates almost blew a casket: “Why Rosie?!”
Rosie’s doe eyes grow two sizes too big, just as shocked by this earth shattering turn of events; almost as big as Lance’s heart felt talking to her.
“Because! Paladins, most importantly, have heart—and Miss Rosie over here, is a fine example of it.” He hummed to himself with mirth before he leaned against the front of the desk. “We had a little bonding moment.”
A young boy, perhaps three apples tall, raised his hand and impatiently yelled, “Oh! Oh! I have a question!”
“Marcus.” Ms. Montgomery glanced in his direction in disapproval. Lance laughed at his excitement, “It’s fine, what’s up, eager beaver?”
“What do you do now in the Blade? Are you a ninja space warrior like in the tv show?!”
Another kid gasps with the most dramatic “Oh my GOSH!” Lance has probably ever heard in his life.
“The Blades are SO cool!!”
He loves this class. They’re so much fun.
“And what if I told you, the answer was yes?” He chuckled, arms crossing over his chest with a cute smile. “I co-lead the Blade of Marmora, a humanitarian group that has recently been integrated alongside the coalition. We deliver relief supplies, plan and strategise team restoration missions, send doctors to underprivileged locations, and ensure the safety of many citizens across the universe.”
One kid in the middle—she has the coolest microbraids, beautiful ebony skin, and bright ruby eyes—raised her hand politely. He nodded in her direction and responded just as kindly. “What’s your name?”
“Jade.”
“What a pretty name! What’s your question?”
“Does that mean you help people?”
Oh right, he is talking with ten year olds. Maybe he went too technical with it.
A little embarrassed, he chuckled with mirth, eyes squinted and lifted like crescent moons in delight.
“I sure do, with the ever growing mullet that is my co-leader… Keith Kogane .”
Some of the class gasps. One girl blatantly whispers to her friend in front of him, “My mom has a poster of Mr. Kogane from the cologne ad!”
Juniper, in the back of the room, smiles so brightly. The pride she sends his way is enough to feed Lance for many years to come.
“He’s my space ranger partner—wherever he goes, I do too. We’ve been through a lifetime together in a few years…” he stated, more fondly than he intended to let out. He continued with a toothy grin, “…and yes, we are space ninja warriors. Just like the tv show.”
Marcus slammed his palms onto his desk in cheer. “I KNEW IT.”
He looked around the class, noticing he’s grabbed the attention from the inattentive kid from earlier. The kid noticed he was caught, blushed, and looked out the window again muttering to himself.
Lance decided to take the initiative and walked to him. He kneeled down, hands on his lap, and asked him a bold question: “What’s your name?”
“Nunya.”
“Nunya who?”
“Nunya business .”
His snarky response blows a laugh right out of his throat. The kid turned to him, curls bouncing along the way, and stared at him with a deadly glare.
Oh, this kid was funny .
“Wanna hear a joke?”
“No.”
“That’s fair. You seem funnier anyway, my jokes are terrible.”
His glare falters, and yet, his posture stiffened like a threatened cat.
“Did you know one time, Keith tried to fight an Arusian, because in quote, ‘he was their bravest warrior?’ ”
His posture goes from stiff to shrinking, lowered shoulders and a look of pure astonishment. His surprise and confusion gives up the fight to combat Lance entirely.
“…Aren’t Arusians the size of a peanut ?”
Oh, he likes this kid. He’s like a blend of angsty, baby Keith and Lance’s young quips combined.
“Yeah, but size doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things. You can be small and still have a mighty impact on the people who love you.”
Just as quickly, the kid’s face falls. He turned back to the window with a hot glare and an uninterested look once more.
Still, he did get a response, albeit a muffled one from behind the tiny hand covering his cheek and mouth. “Mhmm.”
He pocketed that for later, too.
He stood up and glanced around the room, commanding their attention from every corner. “The truth is, being a hero isn’t always about flying a lion or fighting in space. No, sometimes, it’s just about being yourself. You don’t need to be a paladin for that.”
A beat of silence. Then a small, chipmunk-like voice asked quietly, “...But flying a lion is really cool, right?”
Lance laughed. “Oh, absolutely.”
When the final bell rang, the class swarmed him—shouting thanks, hugging his legs, and asking if he could come back every week. Juniper beamed like her chest couldn’t hold her pride.
Lance caught the inattentive boy slipping out with the rest of them, and their eyes met just for a moment. The boy gave him a tiny wave. Lance returned it.
“So, Ms. Montgomery–”
“Please, call me Lauren.” She smiled, cleaning the whiteboard as the silence echoed throughout the near empty classroom.
“Lauren,” he politely corrected himself. “Who is that young boy that was staring out the window? He was a hoot.”
“Oh, I’m sorry about that. His name is Aaron. He’s had…” She paused, thinking about how to respond. “I can’t say much about it, but he’s had a rough life. He’s in foster care at the moment.”
…Interesting…
Once more, he pocketed that information for later.
Outside, Juniper waited patiently, scuffing her shoes on the ground as she slipped her backpack on. When her Papa came out of the classroom, she ran—skipped even—to him and extended her arms out in glee. “Papa!” He grabbed her, swung her around as she shrieked in delight, and held her in his arms.
“Junibear! Was I cool today?” Lance asked with a wide tooth grin.
“You’re always cool, Papa.” She said, muffled in his shoulder, hugging him so tight, while she reaffirmed his confidence with glee.
“D’awww.” He coo’ed, a warm blush filling his cheeks. “You got that right, Juni.”
He spun her around again before walking down the emptier hallways.
“Let’s go home, mi vida.”
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The kitchen was cozy, warm with the scent of spices and roasted vegetables. Lance sat at the table beside Juniper, twirling saucy pasta onto his fork. Across from him, Keith leaned back in his chair, sipping from a glass of water, watching the other two with mirth and quiet attention.
Juniper had been recounting her day in between bites of spaghetti, nearly bouncing in her seat.
“—and then Papa spun me twice in the hallway,” she giggled, holding up two fingers for dramatic effect, “and then, I almost dropped my backpack but I caught it, like this —” she mimed a dramatic swoop with her arms.
Keith grinned, warm under the reflections of purple in his sharp eyes. “Wow.”
“You proud of me, hubby man?” Lance asked, confident, and yet seeking that much needed assurance and validation he craves like no other.
Reading him like a storybook, Keith grinned wider at his eccentric husband.
“Of course. You were the star of the show.”
Juniper giggled. “He even got through to Aaron.”
Lance blinked at her, a little surprised. “...You think so?”
Juniper nodded seriously, twirling a piece of spaghetti around her fork with both hands, not quite getting the specific piece of spaghetti she wanted (but she still tried, bless her heart). “He was watching you a lot, Papa.”
“Who’s Aaron?” Keith queried.
“Aaron is my classmate.” Juniper finally grabbed the slippery piece, but it fell off of her fork just as quickly. Pouting in defeat, she continued casually with a tinge of sadness towards her classmate. “He doesn’t really talk very much.”
Keith leaned back in his chair, folding his arms, gaze shifting to Lance. “You really got to him, huh?”
Lance turned his gaze to him, moonlit eyes to wavering blues, and sighed, unsure of their reassuring words. “I don’t know. At least, I hope so. He was barely paying attention—kept looking out the window instead of the lesson, but I tried. According to Ms. Montgomery, he’s in foster care.”
“Oh,” A flash of memory popped into Keith’s mind—of him staring out the window back in school, trying not to pay attention to Shiro in the same way.
“It’s funny, he kind of reminds me of…” Lance paused in his own words, hesitant. Keith’s eyes sharpened at his pause, noticing his posture still instantly. Lance, still unsure, persisted anyway in his statement. “Well, kind of a mix of us, actually. He had your angst and some sharp wit to him when I carved through the cracks.”
Keith was quiet, listening, thoughtful when he hummed in acknowledgement. “You did good today,” he said. “You saw someone who needed to be seen. That probably really mattered to him.”
Lance’s mind drifted off, collapsing in his thoughts a little but masked over with a neutral expression.
Thankfully, Keith knows him all too well.
“You’re concerned.”
“God, when are you not sharp like a blade?”
Keith bursted out in laughter, warm and wondrous at his space ranger partner.
“Newsflash, Lance. I know you.” Keith reached across the table and gently laced his fingers through his, sending him a broad, lovesick smile as his ring glimmered in the dim light of the dining room. “Plus, we reformed the blade together. It’s stronger and sharper than ever. Like us, actually.”
Lance glanced up at Keith with puppy dog, heartworn eyes. “You think so?”
“I know so.” Keith smiled, and then prodded for more information. “What did you see in Aaron?”
Lance put down his fork, pulled back his hand, and crossed his arms. Low, almost like a faint whisper, he responded. “...Potential, I guess. He was a hoot and a half.”
Keith huffed with mirth, fondly reminded of a fragrant memory in the wind of his mind. He grinned, bright and wide, as he tried not to laugh. “Huh.”
Lance hummed at him to continue, one brow quirked up in curiosity.
“If you really saw potential in him, I have an idea.” Keith replied, steady as ever.
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