Work Text:
"hurry up now, i need a miracle"
the chainsmokers ft. daya
[don't let me down]
The messages had always been there; Keith couldn’t remember a time when they weren’t. He’d grown up with the little phrases littered across his skin and poking fun at his curiosity with their cryptic and almost teasing words.
Little nonsensical things inked onto the soft skin of his right forearm that always seemed to make waking up early worth the trouble.
He hadn’t always been an early bird, but when his dad had told him what the messages meant, back when he was 8 or so, he’d woken up every morning to the sun peeking through the window and lighting up the words on his skin. The words that meant that somewhere, that day, your soulmate would find joy in something simple that you and others might never notice, but they would, and you got to share in that joy.
Now that he was in space, even though the sun no longer eased him into consciousness, he still woke up early, but instead to the soft glow of Altean light fixtures glancing upon the delicate lettering on his arm.
‘ He’ll get into a fight. ’
Keith frowned at the words he woke up to today. Of all the things, why would his soulmate treasure a fight?
He woke to a beating heart against bruised ribs.
The paladins had had an intense training session the previous day and Lance had delivered a particularly nasty kick to Keith’s side, leaving the area throbbing and sensitive.
‘ He’ll fall in love. ’
Briefly the pain was gone and all he could feel was his heart falling from his chest and wrenching the air from his lungs with it.
And then it all came back and it was as if everything that was supposed to feel comforting, like the caress of cool bed sheets in the morning hours or the drowsy observations of a lethargic mind, hurt in all the ways that they shouldn’t and he found himself trusting his own perception of the world a little less.
And maybe it was that distrust of everything that he thought he knew that made him a little more accepting of his Galra heritage, a little more understanding of Allura’s prejudices, and a little more tolerating of Lance’s jokes and flirting.
(And he might’ve even thrown some jokes back.)
He went to sleep that night with the knowledge that maybe heartache had made him a better person, and that maybe he was supposed to be alone.
Keith wasn’t sure if the bruises or the message hurt more.
‘ He’ll laugh with his family. ’
Maybe it was the last message he received that broke his heart, or maybe it was this one, he wasn’t sure. Keith knew he didn’t have any right to hurt over someone he’d never met, but it still hurt all the same. It hurt being reminded that Keith would probably never meet his supposed soulmate, never make him laugh, and never be considered the other’s family.
(It hurt being reminded that he was all alone.)
And maybe it was today’s message that pushed him to open up a little bit more with the others at dinner, even cracking a joke that had the entire table staring at him in shocked silence before everyone burst into laughter— Lance slapping Keith’s back through his tears and hysterics as Hunk and Pidge abandoned any attempts at keeping straight faces, leaving Shiro, Allura, and Coran a little confused but chuckling nonetheless.
(And maybe it was today’s message that reminded him that he wasn’t all alone.)
‘ He’ll kick the others’ asses at family game night. ’
Today’s made Keith laugh, doing more to brighten his mood than an entire all you can eat buffet of Hunk’s cooking ever could (and that’s saying something).
He left his room in the best mood he’d been in all week, and was nearly trampled by Lance running down the hall, yelling something about getting revenge on Pidge by stealing up all of the green and blue side and “upgrading that shit so fast that not even your creepy genius brain can stop me!”
Keith just shook his head, grinning before following the blue paladin as he considered (maybe) joining in on the monopoly escapades.
‘ He’ll finally seduce his nemesis ’
Keith just rolled his eyes, because from what he’d seen of his soulmate the other person, the guy was a complete and utter dork.
Speaking of dorks: Lance.
The blue paladin was leaning against the wall opposite Keith’s bedroom door, grinning fiendishly in his pjs and blue lion slippers.
Keith just stared at him, slightly confused and slightly concerned about the growing smirk on the other's face that only seemed to widen when Lance finally spoke, “I’d love to be your lion for the night.”
Keith felt his face going red with irritation at the thought of Lance taking his role as the red paladin, “Red’s mine, you’ve got Blue, go hang out with her instead”.
Lance just grinned (impossibly) wider, “Yeah but you’ve got something she doesn’t”
“Good taste?” Keith deadpanned.
“Well obviously that’s not it ‘cause you love me and I’m the best thing you’ll ever taste.” Lance’s last few words were accompanied by a raised eyebrow and a (still impossibly) wide smirk.
Keith sighed and walked past Lance, making his way down the hall to the elevator, “I’ve got things to do.”
“I’m things!” was the last thing he heard from Lance before the doors slid shut.
‘ He’ll see a beautiful sunset with his favorite emo nerd ’
Today they were visiting a friendly Galra-free planet called Ytlania in the hopes of reestablishing the old alliance between the alien creatures and the Alteans from ten millennia ago.
According to Allura, the sunsets on that planet were supposed to be stunning,
It comforted Keith to know that the other person would also be experiencing something amazing with someone they cared about.
He could only hope that he enjoyed his own sunset with the Voltron Crew as much as the other person would enjoy theirs.
He woke up late, and maybe that was his first mistake.
‘ He’ll die. ’
The message somehow caught in his throat and robbed him of oxygen, rendering him gasping and reaching for something, anything, to try to stop what was coming.
His second mistake was accepting the task of infiltration.
Lance and him were supposed to enter the Galra ship and steal some critical information to help them track down Haggar. It was supposed to be easy.
His third mistake was not noticing the Xanthorium bombs or the two Druids lurking in the upper wings.
Lance pushed him behind one of the huge purple columns, himself flying several feet when the explosion shook the ship. When Keith finally registered what happened he flew into a frenzy, taking out the two Druids and injuring his leg in the fight.
He hobbled over to his fallen friend, features warped with concern over the blood smeared across the ground and walls as he made his way over to where Lance had collapsed with harsh breathing and an arm still pressed up against the wall in a useless attempt to stabilize himself.
The blue paladin was a mess of charred clothing and red streaks dripping from singed, boiled skin accompanied by falling masks to hide the pain and something in his faded eyes that looked a little too close to the end.
Lance was covered in all the colors that Keith had never wanted to see on him.
He spoke quickly into the comms unit, his heart breaking, “There were bombs, Lance’s hurt, send backup. Now.”
“Hey, Keith…” Lance was fading fast, his words blurring into each other, “you’re not alone.”
Keith looked at him, puzzled as he tried to ease Lance into a less painful position, “What?”
“There was once… a message… ‘He doesn’t believe he’s alone anymore’... that one made me smile…”
When Keith realized what Lance had said he looked at him, stricken; all the words he’d read in the morning sunlight catching up with his thoughts and getting lodged in his throat and stealing his voice of all the things he wanted to say.
“Do you wanna see... what it says today?”
Lance pulled off the glove of his right hand, pushing the sleeve of his undershirt up to his elbow to reveal the words etched into his skin and slowly etching themselves into Keith’s memories:
‘ You’ll save his life. ’
And maybe that was when Keith knew that while the messages had always been there, there would be a time when they weren’t there at all.
"but now there’s nobody by my side"
the chainsmokers ft. daya
[don't let me down]