An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 12/12
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Krolia (Voltron), Kolivan (Voltron)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gay Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, POV Keith (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Pining, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith/Lance (Voltron), Slow Burn, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, Sharing a Bed, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Alien Planet, Alien Cultural Differences, Author Goes Ham With Their Linguistics Degree Just A Little Bit, Crushes, Secret Crush, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Slow Dancing, Don't copy to another site
Summary:
An unexpected collision en route to a Coalition conference leaves Keith and Lance stranded on an unknown alien planet, with no communication to the outside universe. As they work together on patching up the Red Lion, they’re left to ponder an unexplained series of disasters plaguing the locals, all while Keith tries to balance a secret mission entrusted to him by Kolivan and his resurfacing feelings for the Red Paladin.
Courtesy of yours truly, an actual person with ADHD (who’s just slightly sick of bad ADHD characterisations)
We don’t ramble randomly, we infodump. I see a lot of writers writing ADHD characters as speaking these enormous, unbroken paragraphs on essentially whatever topic happens to be current, which isn’t how ADHD works. We might be long-winded at times (though really, not any more than non-ADHDers are,) but when it comes to those signature rambles, it’s about a topic we’ve hyperfixated on. Often, these topics seem random to NTs, but for us it’s very specific and topical. Often times, I’ll have only a handful of functioning hyperfixations at a time, and it’s usually something you can put under a specific header (cold war history/biology/etc., a particular band/genre, a specific show, and so forth.) My advice? Get a sense of your character’s hyperfixations before you write it in; Rick Riordan does a fantastic, albeit slightly heavy-handed, job of doing this with Leo Valdez in Heroes of Olympus. (another VERY IMPORTANT tip: just don’t write big unbroken paragraphs of rambling if you’re expecting me to actually read that shit. As an ADHDer it’s like physically painful for me to try and sift through that lmao)
We experience a wide range of emotions, and we experience them very strongly (AKA we’re not just balls of hyperactivity and joy.) Intense emotions are a hallmark of ADHD, which is why a lot of the time we seem super happy and energetic all the time to non-ADHDers. It’s a L O T more socially acceptable for us to express the intense happiness we feel, not so much the other emotions we feel just as intensely. Particularly for impulsive-type ADHDers, the main emotions we struggle to regulate are excitability, irritability, frustration, and dysphoria, all of which are emotions we’re taught from a very young age to be ashamed of and hide (which happens, in my experience, like this: you exhibit the strong emotion, you act in a way that is seen as unreasonably intense to non-ADHDers, and rather than learn to cope with the intensity of the emotion we’re taught to turn it inwards.) When we experience these intense negative emotions, we internalise it like we’re taught to, and our emotions appear more subdued to the people around us, though we still experience them intensely. We’ll typically close off and downplay our state if pressed, but in my experience we open up to people who we know to be ADHD/ND. That being said, we’re not always able to internalise it–especially (honestly, almost exclusively) when stressors pile up/when we’ve dealt with it for so long–and that’s when we explode. Because we experience emotion a lot more intensely than non-ADHDers, we almost always cry when this happens. I’m talkin’ ugly cry people. I’ve got hella information on the subtleties of a good ol’ fashioned ADHD-brand meltdown, which would make this post even longer than it’s already doomed to be, so if you’re interested in some tips on that feel free to shoot me an ask!
Our thought process is not random; we have highly-associative brains. Please. For the love of GOD. Stop fucking characterising us along that “OOH SQUIRREL” line of bullshit. I’ll come directly to your house and curse your shins to bump against every coffee table you encounter. Don’t fucking test me.
Our thought process is highly-associative, which essentially means our brain makes more connexions between memories and thoughts when they’re being solidified, which results in memories triggering thoughts that wouldn’t occur to non-ADHDers. These links might seem tenuous when you don’t have a highly-associative brain, but they’re there, and they’re fairly evident on the part of the person with ADHD. And as a writer nota bene, don’t retroactively make these associations–in other words, don’t try to justify the link after it’s made just because a subject change is plot convenient for you. Try your best to make these transitions organic if you’re gonna include them. A good example of this is Jake Peralta in Brooklyn Nine Nine: he makes pretty sizeable leaps in topic, but the transitions always make sense.
ADHD is highly comorbid with other neurodivergencies. I’ve not met a single person with ADHD who is *only* ADHD; I personally have almost ten other neurodivergencies I’ve been diagnosed with. The most common comorbidities are: anxiety/depression (every ADHDer I know has at least one if not both of them,) autism spectrum disorder, and dyslexia. ADHD is a developmental disorder, which means our brains are fundamentally structurally different from NT brains, and this lends itself to the presence and development of other conditions. Don’t be afraid of including those other conditions/symptoms in your character’s story for realism! That being said, for the most of us, our ADHD is the most prominent condition we have, so we identify with it the most. The way we often see it, ADHD is the *main* condition, and the others feel like tag-alongs (this isn’t always the case and it isn’t always true, but that’s how we tend to interpret it.)
Our symptoms get worse when we get tired or stressed, but especially tired. When we’re stressed but reasonably rested/fed, we typically have the mental faculties to perform pseudo-neurotypically (we do decently well with controlling our symptoms,) though they might become slightly more pronounced. Lack of sleep/mental rest amplifies our symptoms and inhibits our ability to control them, most noticeably in our working memory (remembering/following instructions, immediate task completion, concentration, etc.) Just as NT/non-ADHDers become scatter-brained as they get increasingly stressed, so do ADHDers. The two main differences are that 1) it’s more pronounced and has a lower threshold, and 2) we (conveniently for you!) have a set list of symptoms that are going to react predictably to this.
We are very aware of our symptoms, thank you very much. While there will be times where my symptoms slip out and I’m not paying attention to them, nine times out of ten I’m very painfully aware of how non-NT I’m acting. When I simply can’t slow down my speech for the life of me, when I feel myself rambling about a hyperfixation, when I get stressed over something little and have an emotional outburst, I know. A lot of authors miss this, but ADHDers are very early made aware of why we’re perceived as different, and often times that’s done so at the expense of our self-esteem. Our ADHD doesn’t exist in a vacuum in our minds, and we’re very often self-conscious about how we’re socially read because of it. If you’re trying to get into the mind of a character with ADHD, that’s an important dimension to keep in mind. The self-consciousness factor is usually diminished when we’re around ppl who know that we’re ADHD, but when they show up around people we haven’t told we’re ADHD, we’re not usually quite so keen to share it. While this probably isn’t the same for all people with ADHD, it’s been my experience at the very least.
Anyhow this has been sitting in my drafts for God knows how long, so I’ll just release it into the wild. ADHDers, if you have any other tips, or want to share your experience, please feel free to add on!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron)
Additional Tags: klance, Laith, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Weddings, POV Keith (Voltron), Sex, Anal Sex, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Bottom Keith (Voltron), Top Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Mutual Pining, Making Out, Anal Fingering, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions
Series: Part 3 of Squelette's Klance Smut Oneshots
Summary:
“Alright.” Lance says. And they pull away. He swipes the key card in the door and pulls it open, insisting Keith go in first. They get changed, they brush their teeth, and they go to bed.
That’s what should’ve happened. Instead, what happened was this.
~
Keith and Lance’s fake relationship has run its course, served its purpose and would serve them no further. Keith suggests, to mark the occasion, that they share just one more kiss.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron)
Additional Tags: klance, Laith, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Roommates, Keith & Lance (Voltron) are Roommates, POV Lance (Voltron), Anal Sex, Anal, Riding, Top Lance (Voltron), Bottom Keith (Voltron), Making Out, Kissing, Nipple Play, Walking In On Someone, Sex, Smut, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, yes I managed to squeeze that hc into a smutfic, the devil works hard but my self-projection works harder
Series: Part 2 of Squelette's Klance Smut Oneshots
Summary:
Another moan rang off the walls, and Lance stilled, his sneaker dropping to the floor, because he couldn’t have, there’s no way he just heard—
“Lance,” Keith begged, “oh god, Lance—fuck.”
~
All Lance intended to do was return to his apartment for thirty seconds to retrieve a forgotten essay. He gets a little more than he bargained for when he realises his roommate—who was supposed to be asleep—was undoubtedly awake.
I'm a sucker for number 12 if you fancy giving it a go?
bro honestly me too? It’s kinda funny bc the next chapter of Left as in Gone has this trope too! So part of me was like “do I even gotta write another thing?” but then of COURSE the answer was “absolutely u do” so yes here have a this thing.
Thanks for your patience; I hope you enjoy!
Preview: “So you’re not going to tell him?”
“I…” Lance’s voice lowered to a murmur. “You’re sure he’s asleep?”
Pidge hummed assent. “He could sleep through the apocalypse, honest.”
“So?” Hunk prompted.
Send me a ship with one of these and I’ll write a mini fic
Full disclosure, Keith had actually woken up about fifteen minutes ago. B-list action movies were the worst genre of film, as far as falling asleep in the middle of them went, and all it had taken was one (of several, he’d gleaned over the last quarter hour) car explosion too many to jolt him begrudgingly out of his slumber.
Still, he’d learned many years ago that if you fell asleep at the end of a movie, people usually didn’t expect you to help clean up after. And though the trick no longer worked with movie nights at home—not since Adam had moved in—it had worked like a charm with his new friends over the past few months. As the end credits rolled before his closed eyelids, the couch beneath him creaked under someone standing up with a yawn.
“Let’s draw a dick on his face,” Pidge muttered.
Never mind, Keith groaned internally, lamenting the loss of his sloth for the sake of his pride. He drew in a breath—
“Don’t.”
And let it go. It was almost a task to keep his slack expression from adopting a furrowed brow, because that was definitely—
“Just let him be.” The scrape of a plastic bowl on a wooden coffee table played harmony to Lance’s continued argument, the creak of the floorboards his percussion. “He deals with enough torture from us already.”
Hunk scoffed from his place on the recliner, the silence of a nonverbal communication hanging in the air before Lance’s footfalls echoed back into the room.
Lance clicked his tongue. “The things I do for him—and he’s never going to know,” he muttered.
“Probably ‘cause of how you act when he’s awake,” Hunk pointed out, the sharp click of the recliner locking back upright following suit.
“Yeah, well—” another wordless gesture, probably “—okay? I’m dealing with it the best I can.”
Keith almost rolled his eyes, figuring the vaguery was about as much reasoning as Lance could have for the continued tension between the two of them, despite Lance denouncing their purported (A.K.A. fabricated) rivalry some few weeks ago.
Until Pidge’s response, that is.
“So you’re not going to tell him?”
“I…” Lance’s voice lowered to a murmur. “You’re sure he’s asleep?”
He felt a scrutinous gaze against his skin, and he did his best to sell the slump in his body (the tension it gave him likely not helping his case, but it must’ve been enough for Pidge.)
She hummed assent. “He could sleep through the apocalypse, honest.”
“So?” Hunk prompted.
Lance sighed. “‘Course not.”
Keith bit his tongue. Could these assholes start being more specific? Or at least have the decency to leave the room so he could pretend to wake up without embroiling himself in this secret that he can’t even understand anyway?
Hunk gave a low whistle. “Never thought I’d live to see the day.”
“Does this mean loverboy Lance has hung up his bow and arrow?”
Keith’s heart kicked in his chest. Wait, loverboy? Did she mean…
“You said it yourself: it’d only freak him out if he knew—and I’m not going to do that to the group. ‘Sides, Keith needs us: his only other friends are his dog and brother-in-law, and Adam only counts on good days.” He laughed, but the others didn’t seem as eager to join in.
Hunk gave an uneasy sound. “I don’t know if Keith—”
“He would. Trust me—Pidge?”
“I…” She sighed. “I won’t say I’ve run the numbers, but it’s not exactly promising.”
“It’s not worth it,” Lance concluded. “Even if he’d stay, what’s the point? It’s not like I have a chance anyway.”
“Lance—”
“You’re going to tell me I’m a catch?” Lance interrupted, then laughed. “Please do; I need to hear it.”
Hunk joined in with a chuckle of his own. “If I didn’t have a girlfriend, I’d date you in a heartbeat.”
Lance’s hand thumped against his chest. “A man after my own heart. Pidge?”
She scoffed. “If I had to date anyone, I think you’d be one of the least offensive options out there.”
Empty beer bottles clinked against each other. “Oh, it’s an honour just to be nominated!”
“Y’need any help, bud?” Hunk called out after his retreating steps.
“Nah, you guys can head home; I got the rest of it.”
Hunk lowered his voice, clearly addressing Pidge. “Draw straws on who’s got to wake him up?”
“Just let him sleep,” Lance answered, his voice floating over the back of the couch now. “I’ll drive him home when he wakes up.”
“Ooh,” Pidge cooed, “want him all to yourself, do you?”
“Don’t want us to know how long you’re going to watch him sleep?”
“You—” Lance groaned. “I thought we were being nice to Lance tonight!”
“We were,” Pidge argued. “Hunk, we were nice, weren’t we?”
“Super nice,” Hunk agreed, “so now we get to be mean.”
“Ugh, you guys are the worst.” The couch complained as he pushed off, their voices echoing towards the front door. “Why do I tell you anything, again?”
“‘Cause we already know all of your other secrets,” Pidge replied. “You’re forced to trust us now.”
Lance sucked on his teeth. “Yeah, can’t have that shit leaked to the press.” The front door was wrenched open. “Love you, assholes.”
Hunk and Pidge’s goodbyes were a bit too quiet for Keith to discern, but soon after they were spoken, the front door slid shut, and Keith was insulated in the soft bubble of silence of Lance’s living room. He held his breath for Lance to step out of sightline long enough so he could feign rousing, practically celebrating when Lance’s footsteps led him back to the living room, hoping they’d keep on going to the kitchen.
The echo stilled, just as he reached the foot of the couch.
“Of course, you have to look adorable when you sleep, too,” he practically spat under his breath. Then he heaved a sigh, and continued to the kitchen.
The moment the sound transferred from hardwood to tile, Keith pushed himself up to sit. His stiff muscles complained, and he rolled out his shoulders as his eyes cracked open, taking in the gentle lamplight and distant kitchen light with squinted eyes. He yawned, elbows resting on his knees as he rubbed his fingers into his eyelids.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
Keith drew in his first full breath, turning to look over his shoulder as Lance walked back in from the kitchen. “Mm.” He cleared his throat, his voice still heavy with the sleep he hadn’t feigned earlier. He scanned the living room then as Lance passed the couch, picking up a couple empty soda cans from the coffee table. He remembered himself a little, and decided to ask, “Where’s Hunk and Pidge?”
He swore he saw Lance freeze for a split-second when he asked it, saw a tension in his shoulders dissipate when he looked Keith in the eye again. He gave an apologetic smile. “Yeah, Pidge didn’t want to wait ‘til you got up to drive you home.”
Keith almost felt uneasy under Lance’s gaze—his attention undivided in the low light, his expression soft and open, dare Keith even say fond. He had no business looking at him like that, not when Keith had just woken up, and probably had bedhead or—shit, did he? He ducked and smoothed his hair down with his hands, hoping it looked as casual as he’d envisioned it in his mind’s eye.
“Well, shit.”
“I know,” Lance laughed, leaning a hip against the far armrest, “typical Pidge, am I right? But I can drive you home, if you want.”
Keith chewed on his tongue. Should I tell him?
“Lance, listen.”
It would be easy. Keith wasn’t a good actor, anyway—and Shiro always said honesty was the best policy, especially with people you cared about.
“I heard what you guys were talking about before, and…”
And what? Keith didn’t have a good answer for him—he’d hardly believed Lance tolerated him as a friend, let alone adding the prospect of… other feelings.
“Keith?” He blinked, eyes refocusing and lifting back up to match Lance’s. Lance chuckled. “Thought you fell asleep on me again.”
“No, I…” He was far too tired to think this over properly, right now. And a ride home sounded much nicer than a half-hour walk in the cold. “Thanks.”
Lance gave him a smile that made his insides flip. “Cool. I’ll just—” He pushed off the couch. “—Let me chuck these in the kitchen, and we can go.”
“Sure.”
“Don’t fall asleep on me again, ‘kay?” He called back from the other room.
Keith rolled his eyes, pushing up to stand. “I can manage.”
Lance hummed uncertainly. “You sure? You were completely out of it during the movie—snoring and the whole bit.”
Keith froze mid-stretch, dropping his hands with an indignant pout. “I did not snore.”
“Did too.”
“I don’t snore!”
Lance rounded back into sight, waving his keys in front of him. “And somehow I heard it with my own ears. Funny how that works.”
He winked at Keith in passing, and Keith’s stomach flipped. He gave a quiet groan, hoping that reaction wouldn’t become the norm, in the wake of this unfortunate revelation—Lance was the one with the crush, after all.
Right?
He twisted his neck until it gave a satisfying pop, then smirked when Lance inevitably vocalised his disgust at it.
Chapter eleven and the epilogue of Left (as in Gone) are now up! Which means Left (as in Gone) is now Left (as in DONE)!!!!!
Thanks so much to all of y’all for being part of this story with me--the final link will be posted shortly, and it’d mean so much to me if y’all could show it some love!
