#keithmonth2018

[crimsonzoroark]

Day 1: Guardian Spirit of Fire

For some, the pain that breaks them is the same pain that could make them.

[loveforkeith]

Keith Month Day 9: Pilot @keithmonth

Keith is confident in his ability as a pilot and so are those around him. Everyone knows they can count on and rely on Keith when it comes to flying. I believe he is both naturally gifted as well as having mastered his skills through training. 

Keith may have came across as arrogant when he was younger with his statement but I think he wasn’t too far from the truth and certainly would be able to out fly anyone there, at least in the future. And at the end of the day, he was a kid! But you can really see the difference in him when he is older, he knows what he is capable of, he knows his skills and he helps others out and is incredibly dependable to others because of his talents.

 I think it is good to be confident in yourself and your talents and to not let others make you think you are being boastful or prideful by using them. People should embrace their talents and use them and be dependable to others the way Keith is. 

[justheretobreakthings]

His Father’s Son

A Voltron: Legendary Defender fic Central Characters: Keith, Allura Genres: Angst, Hurt/Comfort Word Count: 2,281 Written for the “Loss” space for the @voltronbingo Keith card, and for Day 1 of @keithmonth: Guardian Spirit of Fire Read on AO3

Keith stiffened as he heard footsteps approaching the med bay. He did not want to see anyone right now. He had waited for the med bay to clear out before coming in to watch the cryopod specifically for that reason. After that disaster of a mission, he had simply gotten Lance to Coran as quickly as possible and taken off to his room to be alone.

No one had come after him for a while, and even then it was only Shiro knocking at his door, asking if he was doing all right and if he could come in. Keith hadn’t opened the door, though, and Shiro had given up eventually.

Keith couldn’t stand to be around the others now, not when he knew how upset they must be with him.

He braced himself and turned toward the doorway to see who the footsteps belonged to. Within moments, Allura had entered. “Ah, Keith, there you are.”

Great. Keith couldn’t read Allura’s expression. It didn’t look angry, which was a relief, but it didn’t look happy either. He sighed and turned back around to stare at the cryopod again. “He’s still stable,” he said flatly.

“I assumed as much,” Allura said. Keith heard her taking a seat on the steps next to him, but he didn’t turn to face her. “Coran said he should be perfectly fine by the time the others have finished their sleep cycles. And scarring should be minimal or non-existent.” She paused, and she fidgeted where she sat before adding, “I’m a bit surprised you’re still in here.”

“Didn’t think I’d be worried?”

“That’s not it. It’s simply that last time Lance was in a cryopod, you still got some sleep like the others did.”

Keith lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Yeah. Well. Last time wasn’t my fault.”

Silence reigned for several ticks in the med bay before Allura cleared her throat. “Keith,” she said. “I know that I was a little… harsh, at the time, when I saw what had happened, but – ”

“It’s okay,” Keith cut her off. “You – you were right to be.” With a sigh, he crossed his arms over his knees, leaning forward to rest them there. “I fucked up. In your shoes, I would have yelled at me too.”

“I didn’t ye– well, all right, perhaps I did. I hadn’t, er, I hadn’t meant to, though. I’m not angry at you, Keith.”

Keith raised a brow and finally turned to face her, to see Allura watching him with an expression he couldn’t quite read. “You’re not?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t angry at the time, either, not really. I was more… shocked. I’d never seen you freeze up that way before.” Keith looked away again, ducking his head in embarrassment as Allura continued, “And things were intense, and then when Lance got hurt – ”

“I’m sorry,” Keith interrupted again. “I – I just – I’m sorry. I know, I choked, and I didn’t get to Lance in time, and now he’s – ”

“And now he’s recovering admirably, and I’m sure he wouldn’t blame you for his getting hurt.”

“But it was my fault. Why wouldn’t he blame me? For that matter, why don’t you?”

Allura paused, for long enough that Keith turned to look at her again, to watch and wait for a response as she kept her lips pursed uncertainly, eyes on the ground, before she quietly said, “After we debriefed, Shiro told me about your father. And… what he did for a living.”

Oh.

“So… does that mean he told you about how he…?”

“How he died, yes.”

Keith took a deep breath. “That… that wasn’t for him to tell.”

“He was hesitant to do so. But he seemed to feel that, ultimately, it was necessary to ensure I understood the situation.” She cautiously leaned forward before saying, “In light of everything, it’s perfectly understandable why you would have frozen up the way you did.”

But Keith shook his head. “No, it’s – it’s not. I’m supposed to have gotten over it. I thought I had.”

Allura frowned. “What do you mean?”

It took a moment for Keith to reply, as he needed to find the words, and when he did, his voice was just above a mumble as he said, “After Dad died, for a long time I was, well, really scared of fire. Like, way beyond the point where it’s reasonable. Any fire freaked me out. Flames on gas stovetops, candles – anything. The first foster home I was put in, I couldn’t even set foot in the living room because they had an electric fireplace. They never even used it the whole time I was there, but just the fact that it was present was enough.”

His hands were in fists where they rested on his knees, and he began running his thumb over his index finger in agitation. He kept his eyes on that as he continued, “Obviously it, uh, it had to be dealt with. My social worker and the first couple sets of foster parents set up this, like, exposure therapy thing, where I was supposed to gradually get used to being around fire without panicking. Start small, with, like, watching candles and stuff. Slowly work my way up.

“I, um – I guess it worked. Sort of. After a while I wasn’t bothered by fire anymore, but instead I was sort of, like, fascinated by it. It was, uh – I guess some wires got crossed at some point along or something, ‘cause I sort of ended up going the opposite extreme. Being scared of fire was bad, so facing fire was good and brave. And I liked, um, you know, feeling like I was being… good… and brave… so if I just kept being around fires, then…”

He sighed. “Got some pretty nice little burn scars out of that philosophy. Things sorta came to a head when I, um, I stole one of my foster dads’ cigarette lighters when he wasn’t looking. I never did anything bad with lighters, just would make the flame and watch it, but – but I’d only ever used grill lighters before. So, I, uh, I went behind the backyard shed to hide while I tried to figure it out and… long story short, um, about half the shed burned down, I was pulled from the house, and I got ‘pyromania’ added to my profile.” His thumb went still and he laid his hand flat on his knee. “They buckled down on the counseling, and – and I thought it had worked. I thought I was over all of that.”

Swallowing the tightness that had started to form in his throat, he looked back up at Lance’s cryopod, his face forlorn. “I guess I was wrong.”

He stared at Lance’s unconscious face, mind making its way back to the mission from only vargas ago. To the settlement they were protecting against the sudden raiding Galra ships. To the buildings below becoming collateral damage. Him and Lance being directed to get down to the ground and help the citizens evacuate. Lance running into that building ahead of him as Keith stood rooted to the spot, staring after him. Lance on the comm saying he needed assistance.

The flames getting higher. Voices shouting his name over the comm. The wall collapsing in flame. Keith finally moving, but he had waited too long, had frozen for too long, it was too late –

Because Dad was in there, he was in there when it fell, and he couldn’t get out, and everything was so hot and so bright –

“Keith!”

Keith blinked. He refused to look at Allura, didn’t want to see her expression in response to him freezing up like that twice in the same day. Instead he just mumbled, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Allura said softly.

“How is it okay?” Keith asked, a sudden edge in his voice. “I can’t get over my own stupid personal issues, and someone winds up nearly burned alive because of it. It’s not okay. It’s – it’s – ” He sighed. “It’s ironic as fuck, is what it is. The ‘Guardian Spirit of Fire’ is scared of fire. What a joke.”

He propped his elbows onto his knees to rest his chin in his hands. “Allura,” he said, voice soft and just a little muffled by his hands’ placement, “I know you said the Lions would inherently know who to pick for their paladin, that there’s some magic bond they’d pick up on, but – ”

“If you are about to suggest that the Red Lion selecting you as her pilot was in error,” Allura cut him off, “Then I’m going to have to disagree. The Lions know what they are doing, far better than we do.”

“Yeah, but nothing is perfect. Nothing is completely infallible. There has to be a possibility that the Lions could be wrong, right?”

Allura paused, searching gaze locked onto Keith. “Is this just about today’s mission? I’d hardly think a single mistake would be enough to get you to doubt Red’s decision.”

Keith shrugged. “Well, I mean – it’s not like this is the first time I’ve screwed up. Just the first time another paladin nearly died because of it.”

“I see,” Allura said. She took a long breath and set her hands onto her knees, an imitation of Keith’s posture. “Keith, I fear that Coran and myself may have given you an unclear impression of what a paladin is meant to be.” Keith raised a brow, inviting Allura to continue. “I know I have touted them as being the universe’s greatest pilots, practically idols, but – but they were not perfect. They never were. Not even…” Another deep breath. “Not even Alfor. They made mistakes. They learned from them, and made fewer as they went on, but they were never without fault.

“Voltron was not created to showcase perfection, Keith. Valor and loyalty are its core, and overcoming errors is far more important than not making them at all. Yes, you froze today.” Keith winced, and Allura hastened to continue. “But you also un-froze. You brought yourself out of it and kept going.”

She touched Keith’s shoulder lightly to get him to turn to her. “The Lions know their pilots well. Red no doubt is aware of your… difficulties, with fire. But if she’s letting you pilot her all the same, then I assure you, it means she believes you can overcome them.

“And Keith,” she added, “This whole incident does not make you any less of a paladin. You are not the only one who has ever ‘choked’ in battle, as you phrased it.”

Keith shook his head. “Shiro’s only ever frozen up during training. He’s never screwed up during an actual mission.”

“I was not referring to Shiro.”

Keith furrowed his brow in confusion before realization hit. “Wait a minute, are you saying…?”

“You’re not the only one who’s lost a father in a terrible way.”

As much as Keith wanted to drop his gaze, he couldn’t bring himself to look away from Allura, not now. “I – I’m so sorry,” he said in choked voice. “I almost forgot you – God, I didn’t – ”

“It’s quite all right,” Allura said with a little wave of her hand. “You oughtn’t feel guilty for having your own grief to deal with. I only bring it up because I want you to know, I understand. I’ve lost loved ones to battles in this war, much like the ones we often fight as Voltron. When I find myself faced with a sudden and glaring and violent reminder of something I’ve lost, it can be nothing short of terrifying. Enough so that I sometimes freeze, sometimes can’t think. Fortunately Coran has proven himself quite adept at bringing me back down on those few occasions where it’s happened, although that doesn’t mean I haven’t found myself breaking down again after the fact.”

“I – I didn’t know,” Keith said. “That you – that you were – ”

“Well, it wasn’t really something worth sharing up until now,” Allura said. “Now let me ask you this: do you think that I’m any less worthy of piloting the Castle of Lions now that you know this?”

“Wha – no, of course not!”

Allura nodded. There was nothing more to be said on the matter.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, eyes on Lance’s cryopod, before Allura softly spoke up again: “I’m sorry about your father, Keith.”

“Thank you,” Keith mumbled.

“It sounds like he had a very frightening job. Very difficult. You must be quite proud of him.”

Keith nodded. “I am, yeah.”

“Your job is very difficult and frightening too, you know.”

Keith was silent, filling in the blank himself in his head. Beside him Allura stood up and cleared her throat. “Anyway, Keith. I didn’t know your father. And, admittedly… I still don’t know you all that well either. However, if ever this is something that you need to talk about, then, well, I hope you don’t feel that you can’t come to me. It could be therapeutic.”

“I’ll, uh… okay. I’ll keep it in mind. And, um, same goes for, uh, for you, with your dad,” he added hesitantly. God knows he probably wasn’t the greatest paladin to have a conversation with, but this was a common ground only they had.

Allura gave him a small smile as she nodded. “Thank you. Get some sleep, Keith. I assure you, Lance will be perfectly fine and ready to irritate you to his heart’s content by morning.”

Keith let out a little snort and stood up. “For once, I don’t think I’m dreading it,” he said, casting the cryopod one last glance before following Allura out.

[asianmc-aj]

@keithmonth Prompt 3: Space Wolf @fiery-mullet It’s a Kosmo Donut, a once in a lifetime deal. Reblog now for the Deluxe Deal: Krispy Kosmo

Credits go to this cat meme on google where a grumpy white cat’s head is sticking from the middle of a donut pillow.

[fiollaigean]

Keith Kogane Headcanons

It's the last day of Keith month my dudes. Here are some random Keith Thoughts I've been thinking that I didn't have the time/gumption to put into fics so idk. File under Keith Content: Miscellaneous:

Kosmo is one of those dogs that forgets he isn't a puppy. He'll dead ass just leap into Keith's arms or teleport into his lap when he wants cuddles and completely knocks the wind out of Keith but his human doesn't really mind. Frankly, it's adorable.

Keith's hair gets long enough that he starts tying it up into little ponytails out of necessity. Lance thinks this is really hot. Btw Keith always had nice forearms but with the elastic bands around his wrists they really 👌👌👌

It took Keith a long time to develop a healthy relationship with Krolia. There was a lot of pent up resentment and bitterness and anger from his childhood he had to work through but they did it and now they have more of a friendship than a mother/son relationship sometimes but Keith would be lying if he said he didn't love the motherly affection.

Lance's niece and nephew take quite a shine to Keith. He's still kind of awkward around kids but they think he's The Coolest.

His dad taught him how to play the guitar and Keith didn't get a lot of chances to practice while he was in the system. There were a few really chill music storeemployees sometimes who would let him practice and hang out. After the war when things settle down he picks it up again. He mostly plays classics like stuff by The Clash, The Eagles, Billy Joel, Bowie, Tom Petty, etc because that was his dad's favorite music. Incidentally, can be kind of a music snob sometimes.

PS, he can sing too but he doesn't know it.

He can curl his tongue, but can't roll his Rs for shit

He has nightmares. They used to be about his dad dying, but those faded with time. Then they were about Naxzela; he would always start awake right before the impact. Sometimes they're about the fight with Shiro and the burn on his face. And every once in a while he'll dream about Krolia leaving him again. He never tells her about those, but they bother him the most.

The Quiet Place made him cry.

Keith is a late bloomer as far as facial hair goes; he doesn't grow anything substantial until he's 28 (not that he's keeping track). Lance doesn't seem to have this issue, and this infuriates Keith because one, competitive nature, duh, and two, Lance really pulls off the 5 o'clock shadow thing and it's kind of hot but not that Keith's into it why would you think that

Despite what the fandom would have you think he knows what memes are thank you very much. He grew up in the foster system not under a rock.

Keith is on the autism spectrum. This made his life pretty challenging in general until he met Shiro who knew and understood and was willing to go the extra mile to connect with him anyway. The other paladins know too. You can't root around in someone's memories with magical psychic headbands without learning a few things. They never explicitly bring it up and Keith is grateful for that. They just love him unconditionally for who he is.

"So... what are you?" - every White™️ person to Keith ever. Someone save my ambiguously Asian son.

His favorite swears are son of a bitch, dammit, and the occasional vehement fuck

So yeah those are the Keith HCs that have brewing around for a bit.

might make a part two

[arwenride]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

For @keithmonth day 15, Prompt: Sweet Tooth. 

This is upload one of three for today. I hope y’all are ready. 

[awbrusty]

✒️IT WAS A HONOR TO MEET YOU✒️

@keithmonth Day Thirteen: “It Was A Honor To Meet You”

funny story behind this: as I went to upload it here I went “hey that doesn’t look right” and realized that it’s “a honor” not “an honor” which means I’ve been saying that wrong my whole life. so yeah. i do English good. that was ten minutes of my life I’ll never get back. oh also I used screenshots for their outlines, but freestyled the arms and poses for the handshake bec I wanted a handshake and never got one. anyways yeah

[hunterguyveriv]

Guyver vs Paladin/Blade: A match of fun.

Better late than never. I meant to post this sooner for a friend’s Keith Month, but I got side tracked on other projects due to having good days with my hands, and work. This is my Keith story for her crossover prompt for her Keith Month.

@fiery-mullet Sorry it’s late. I felt like I needed to exploit my good hand days before the bad hand days came back. I may do a sketch of the sparring partners later, but right now I am putting my thoughts together for a halloween story.

Keith Month Day 17 - Crossover

The sound of 2 exhausted people panting filled the training deck. One a metallic-panting and the other a normal human panting. Sho Fukamachi stood in his Guyver armor and Keith in his Paladin armor. Both had been in a sparring match against each other for nearly 2 hours. Sho in his Guyver armor had scrapes and shallow slash marks all over his body. Keith in his Paladin armor also had scrapes, slashes, impact scorch marks, and dents on it.

Both had decided that training robots were too boring, and decided to spar against each other. Keith smirked as he activated his black bayard and Blade of Marmora sword. Guyver-I smirked closing his hands to fists causing the blades on his forearms to extend. Both lunged at each other and swung their swords at one another.

It had been at least a couple weeks since the war for Earth had ended and hostilities had ceased. So two warriors needing to hone their skills decided to use each other as punching bags. Both had a lot of tension built up and needed a release. Not just physical tension but the emotional tension in ranting to the other.

What the two warriors didn't notice, they were being watched from the observation deck. Well, they knew that two women, ones they both trusted with their lives were watching them. There was the fiance of Sho’s at first when he first started fighting against the training drones. But as he started reaching a higher level in the training programs Sho had gotten Keith’s attention, and they started training together. Mizuki snapped her head hearing the observation deck doors open. She smiled as Keith’s “Jhuk’uhn’dac” as the Galra called female mates, walked in.

Both women initiated small talk talking about the mates they were watching not long after she sat down. Pretty soon they reached Training Level 36 in which caused a few Paladins to come to watch. Only when news of the leader of Voltron and Guyver was fighting did the last two Paladins arrive. With them were the MFE-Pilots, Coran, Romelle, some Blade members who were training under Krolia, Matt his fiance and a few key rebel leaders arrived.

Down in the training deck, Guyver-I thrust his right High-Frequency sword at Keith, which was surprisingly blocked by his Luxite sword. Keith thrust his bayard at Guyver-I who caught it before it had a chance of piercing the gap between his abdominal armor and oblique armor with his left hand. Both smirking at each other and grunting against each other’s strength. Guyver-I cocked his head a little.

His head sensor shifting back and forth locking into place pointing at the observation deck. Feeding the infrared images of nearly 30 people watching cheering, even eating snacks. Even taking bets on who would win the sparring match.

Smirking Guyver-I pushed his sword at Keith who responded with his own push, “It seems we have an audience, Keith.” Grunting and looking at the observation deck, “It seems so.” Guyver-I looked back at him, “Make it interesting?” Keith could tell Sho was amused with the development. Smirking under the transparent luminescing visor Keith nodded “Sure, why not!”

Guyver-I jumped backward landing in a crouching position before standing up. Keith had also done a jet-thrust jump backward landing in a crouching position with the bayard blade inches above his right bicep and his Luxite blade pointing to Guyver-I with the bottom of the hilt pointing to Keith’s chest. Guyver-I felt a stinging sensation in his left hand raised it up and looked at it.

Mizuki sat up looking at her mate looking at his hand. Half of the audience was excited that Keith got a good shot in. While others who had the rare occasion to see Sho in action had smug looks on their face. Mizuki was indifferent, she had seen him nearly die protecting her multiple times, and just grown accustomed to her love getting injured… A LOT!

Lance saw her sit back in her seat and continue watching, “You don’t seem too worried that Keith injured your man. You may want to stop them from continuing.” She looked at him with an inquisitive “yeah, so?” look. She saw out of the corner of her eye some of the other audience members just facepalm. Lance got a little uneasy under her gentle yet intense glare, “My Sho has faced hundreds of enemies at once, even destroyed entire enemy bases by himself, and received far more devastating wounds than a pathetic cut.” Lance returned her inquisitive look, “Wait, what?”

She turned her head back to watch him sparring with his new best friend with a loving look. “He has been incinerated by his own attack deflected back at him, been stabbed through the chest when he temporarily lost his ability to transform, had an arm bitten off, even his skull crushed fighting a... proto-type ‘Guyver-Killer’ Zoanoid... “ Everyone looked at her seeing a sad look on her face and the heavy somberness, sensing more to that fact. She sighed smiling again and looked back up at Lance “But he, like your leader, simply won't stop once he sets his mind to something.”

Lance turned to Keith’s mate “Are you going to let him continue fighting him?” His mate looked at Lance and gave him a “hm” shrug with her shoulders, “Let him have his fun.” She turned back to watch him and his new brother in arms.

Keith got in a position to attack, but Guyver-I held a hand up. His control medal flashed and seconds later all of his head armor with the exception of the Control Medal retracted. Keith taking the hint took his helmet off and tossed it aside. Guyver-I extended his right arm-blade and crouched into a position which was neither offensive or defensive.

Guyver-I and Keith continued the sparring match for another hour and a half. About 10 minutes in the Blade’s training under Krolia had to report to her. The MFE-Pilots and Shiro had to report for a mission and left approximately 6 minutes later. Hunk, Pidge, and Romelle went on to do their own thing. Rebel Leaders, Allura and Coran went to greet some Alien Dignitaries looking to join the Galaxy Alliance. Lance growing bored with the match followed the Alteans. Leaving just Mizuki and Keith’s mate. Mizuki held a bag of snacks up to her, without taking her eyes off of Sho “Pop-Goo?” Keith’s mate looked at the back the human girl was offering, “Sure, why not.” The yellow-one certainly knew how to take alien foods and add human twists to them.

Eventually, both Keith and Guyver-I started to feel the burn of their near 6-hour sparring. They stopped with Guyver-I’s sword mere inches away from Keith’s neck and Keith’s bayard inches from Sho’s head. Both men smiling withdrawing their weapons from each other’s heads. Keith stood back allowing his bayard to retract to his armor and luxite blade revert to knife-form before sheathing it. Guyver-I stood backward holding his arms out waist level. His control medal flashed and his armor sprung from his armor disappearing.

Keith watched wide-eyed as the armor disappeared into nothingness, “Whoa, I gotta get one of those.” Sho panted a few times with his reconstituted lungs before looking at Keith, “Maybe if we come across any Advents, I’ll get one for you.” Both men grasped each other’s arms at the elbows shaking.

They walked out of the Garrison Training deck greeted by their lovers coming into view from the observation deck, “I’d love to see the full extent on what you can do, Sho. Maybe next time don’t hold back?” Sho looked to Keith with a serious smile, “I can't guarantee anything,” he then winked at Keith, “BUT, if you ever go after that Super… Weapon… thing, if your team doesn't forget about me, I can assure you will get a full display of what I can do from what I hear about it.” Keith back-handedly tapped him in the stomach playfully, “Deal. I might even get Allura to open a wormhole to that planet just to see.”