Voltron Legendary Defender - Shining Like the Stars [80] [Shklance]

[scriveyner]

Title: shining like the stars [80]
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
AU: slts
Characters/Pairing: Shiro/Keith/Lance, Team Voltron
Rating: M
Length: 1470
Summary: In an impressive feat of something, Shiro made it to the bridge fully dressed in his paladin armor in under five minutes.



In an impressive feat of something, Shiro made it to the bridge fully dressed in his paladin armor in under five minutes. He stepped out of the lift with his helmet in hand, gaze sweeping the bridge. Illianya was standing beside Coran at the main console, schematics and a map up on the forward display while Hunk was seated on the stairs next to Princess Allura, who had a blanket over her shoulders and a cup held between her hands. "Princess," Shiro said, and both Allura and Hunk looked up.

"I'm fine," Allura said at the concerned expression on Shiro's face. "Coran made it out to be worse than it actually is-"

"You passed out!" Hunk said. "That's bad!" He looked up at Shiro. "She went down like a sack of bricks as we were coming out of the elevator, I've never seen Coran move so fast."

"What happened?" Shiro stopped behind them, and Coran glanced back at Shiro and nodded his head once, acknowledging his presence.

"Pidge and Matt are gone," Hunk said.

"What?"

"They took the Green Lion and left early this morning," Coran reported, gesturing to one of the images up on the screen, a surveillance of the Green Lion's bay showing it empty. "Without notifying anyone."

"I was attempting to locate the Green Lion," Allura said, hands tight around the steaming mug. "I'm not sure what happened after that." She took a sip of the liquid while Hunk fussed over her for a moment, and then looked Shiro up and down. "Did you take care of our ... issue?" she asked pointedly, and Shiro had the good grace to turn a little pink.

"Speaking of issues," Hunk said, effectively diverting their conversation, "the memory core is resonating."

"Resonating?" Shiro repeated, and then frowned. "Do you think it has anything to do with Pidge and Matt leaving?"

"Doubtful." Hunk shook his head, and then paused, glancing at Allura. "Unless you think otherwise?"

"The resonance didn't appear to start until well after they'd departed," Allura said. She didn't seem as concerned, and Shiro looked back to Hunk.

"Is it dangerous, what it's doing?"

Hunk shook his head again, then hesitated. "Well, I don't know," he said finally. "It's generating heat — although it's a small amount you can feel it if you get too close; and it also created a feedback loop that nearly burned out the computers that were attached before I broke all the connections."

"The memory core resonating isn't dangerous yet," Coran said. He turned to face them, as Illianya had taken over the console and was typing in something rapidly. "I rather suspect it has happened before."

"Happened before?" Hunk said, surprised. "When?"

"It's gone and done it a few times," Coran said. "I previously pulled the energy readings from the training room, it had some strange variances over the last few weeks but I didn't know what was causing it. Not sure why I didn't suspect the giant alien computer." He shrugged, then folded his arms, glancing back to Illianya as she said something quite virulent in what must have been Altean, then slammed her palm on the console. "Don't be so rough on it," Coran chided, as a somewhat static-filled communications line opened; audio only.

"Holt!" Illianya snarled, followed by a string of Altean. Allura stood up before Hunk could stop her.

"Don't speak to my paladin like that," Allura said sharply.

"I'm not speaking to your paladin like that, my lady," Illianya said without looking up from the console. "I'm speaking to a member of my squadron. I found the communications channel that we use on our flight suits." She said something else following that, and Coran snorted before he composed himself.

Hunk stood as well, the last one to his feet as Illianya smacked the open communications button and this time spoke completely in the common language. "Holt, do you copy? Respond."


#

Keith had one eye shut as Lance cleaned his face with a wash cloth. "We really don't have time for this," Keith said urgently, and Lance mostly ignored him.

"Yah, I know, I'm sure everyone would appreciate you waddling onto the bridge with a face full of Shiro's come," Lance said. Keith flushed a dark red under his hands. "If we have to scramble, we have to scramble, but Shiro's on the bridge now. He'll take care of it, whatever is going on." Satisfied that Keith's face was acceptably clean, Lance flung the spent wash cloth toward the pile of clothes kicked against the far wall. "Although I have to say watching you attempt to move quickly right now would be a comedic masterpiece in its own right."

"Shut up," Keith said, and batted Lance's hands away. "Whose fault is that, huh?" He flushed even darker when Lance smirked at him, and then he groaned. "God, shut up, Lance."

"I didn't say anything," Lance said, still grinning. "Yet."

"I could hear you thinking it," Keith muttered. He shifted gingerly on the edge of the mattress. "Where are my pants? We gotta go."

Lance went to the wall that hid a wardrobe, touching the panel that popped it free from its hidden-away state. The soft teal light spilled from the interior as the door opened, and Lance fetched a pair of Keith's pants and a fresh shirt. "Here," Lance said, and deposited them on Keith's lap. "Unless you want some help getting dressed...?"

"I can handle putting my pants back on," Keith said, and Lance shrugged. He did, mostly, handle it and even without wincing, standing upright and stretching his arms over his head once he'd buckled his belt back around his waist. Lance was already dressed, although once again he was wearing one of Keith's black tee shirts, which was just a little too short on him. "Why do you insist on stealing my clothes?" Keith asked. "Shiro has black shirts in his closet too, you know."

"Yeah, but they're baggy on me and that's depressing," Lance said. "I feel like I could Hulk out in your shirts, you know?" He flexed and grinned at Keith, who promptly rolled his eyes.

"You don't even have a hint of muscle definition, you look ridiculous," Keith said, and Lance deflated for a moment, pouted, and then followed Keith out the door.

Keith was definitely moving a bit slower than usual, his stride greatly exaggerated. Lance kept up with him easily, grinning in a self-satisfied way that made Keith's ears turn pink because he knew exactly what Lance was thinking and Lance was a goddamned actual pervert and that, apparently, was contagious. "Would you stop leering?" Keith asked finally, as they turned down the corridor toward the ready room where their armor was stored when not in use.

Keith stopped dead in the hallway, eyes on the entrance to the training room. "What is going on in there?" he asked, and Lance shrugged, intent on heading past it toward the ready room.

"Who knows?" Lance said, and Keith caught him by the shoulder and dragged him toward it, or at least enough steps forward to guarantee Lance wasn't going to wander off.

The soft violet-tinted light was coming from the memory core, set back against the far wall where it had been this entire time. However, standing directly in front of it was Rian, one hand on the side of the memory core, his back to them. The writing around his hand was glowing a soft white, but would occasionally tinge purple before fading back to white. "Hey," Keith yelled, startling Lance despite himself. "What the hell are you doing!?"

Rian half-turned, hand still on the memory core. He saw Keith and promptly lifted one finger in a very distinctly human display of vulgarity, before the memory core flashed a bright white, dazzling both of them. Lance threw up his arm to block the brightness, but Keith was still moving forward with determination. "You pointy-eared freak!" Keith yelled, but the white light faded and Rian was gone.

Lance realized what was about to happen maybe about two and a half seconds before Keith did anything. "Don't-" Lance moved forward quickly, intending to grab Keith by the back of his shirt and yank him away but he wasn't wearing his coat with the handy dandy handle built in by way of a collar so instead Lance's hand landed flat on Keith's back, shoving him forward. Both of Keith's hands hit the memory core, Lance's hand on the back of his shirt.

"Hey, it's warm," Keith said, clearly surprised.

Lance just groaned. "I really hate these things," he managed to get out, before the light enveloped them both.

The training room, now empty, returned to a regular level of light. The memory core was no longer resonating.