So I was doing some reading on ao3 and found a series of fics (for a completely separate fandom mind you) with this cute soulmate idea: a red tally for everybody you’ve loved, a black for everybody you’ve loved who’s died, and a white when you meet your soulmate.
Obviously I can’t resist taking this back to Voltron. Imagine Keith, holding onto hope for Shiro because his tally hasn’t turned from red to black yet. Lance, his shoulder covered in red tallies, he gets them so quick, but nobody gets one for him. Hunk, with precious few tallies, and every one of them black. Shiro, just two tallies, a black and a red on his right arm. The galra take his arm though, and the part he hates most, is the fear of forgetting those he loved. Worse yet, he’ll never notice when he meets the one.
Flash forward, and Shiro is back and broken. The paladins gather and leave Earth. Lance meets the lovely Allura and knows he’s met his soulmate. He even has the white mark. Shiro absently notices a scratch on his metal arm one day. He thinks it’s nothing more than odd when it doesn’t come off. He realises too late what it means, his feelings buried for far too long. Lance loves Allura though.
Eventually, Lance notices something that worries him. He has another tally. A red one now. But he hasn’t loved anyone since Allura, so what could it mean? Pidge knows. Pidge always knows. An elaborate plot ensues, and results in Lance unceremoniously flailing about in the castle’s (right-way-up for convenience) pool. Shiro of course, dives in to save him, warms him, hugs him and lends him his jacket. Pidge quietly ushers everybody out, and Lance’s eyes twinkle at Shiro. They spend that night with Lance pouting and saying he’s cold, and Shiro ruefully smiling and lying with him to keep his blue paladin warm.
