Work Text
March 17: Friends to Lovers/Childhood Friends
When Matt first arrived on the Castle, Lance initially disliked the other for flirting with Allura, but over time (a week) Lance grew to enjoy Matt’s presence and the two quickly became close friends. It probably helped that Lance had a tiny crush on Matt from when they were back at the Garrison to sway his judgement on the other. Hunk knew this and teased Lance mercilessly until Lance gave in, saying: “Okay, so maybe I still have a teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy crush on Matt. So what? It’s not like I’m going to act on it, besides, I’m completely content with staying friends.”
That was almost a year ago.Lance’s crush hasn’t gone away, in fact it’s gotten bigger, but he covers up by playfully flirting with Allura. Lance has gotten over his crush on Allura by this point, especially after she mentions liking girls. Matt visits the Castle occasionally, bringing news from the Rebels of various missions and the successful liberating of planets.Whenever Matt does visit, Pidge tackles him in a hug as the others give their greetings. Shiro pats the older Holt on the back as Keith waves, on a temporary break from the Blade, Hunk then comes up and wraps everyone into a hug. After Pidge and Hunk let go, Lance walks over to Matt and the two execute a complicated handshake that took them a month to memorize. The team heads to the lounge after the handshake, to relax and hear the news that Matt has brought.Hunk brings out smoothies and settles on the couch, where he is immediately pinned by Lance when the Cuban stretches over him. “Comfy, buddy?” to which Lance hums before turning his head and focusing in Matt’s general direction. Hunk shakes his head with a fond and exasperated smile and looks over to Matt like the others.Hunk and Pidge have been quietly making bets with each other on when Lance is going to confess. Pidge was saying that Lance would do it in the next week, Hunk claiming it would be another month. Keith, ever observant of how Matt has been glancing at Lance, leans over and says that it wouldn’t even be Lance who confesses, that it would be Matt.“So, what have you been up to?” Shiro asks, Allura nods. “Yes, I am curious to what news you have brought from the Rebels,” she says, formal as ever. “Well, there’s nothing too interesting, just these,” Matt pulled a flash drive from his cloak and handed it to Coran, who was closest to him.“Thank you, m’boy,” The old Altean says and he leaves to go download the files. Allura and Shiro stand, Allura heading out in the direction Coran went. “We’re going to go look at those files, it’s nice to see you again Matt,” Shiro explains then he leaves to follow Allura, with the others calling out their ‘okay’s’ behind him.A small silence settles on the group, temporarily broken by Keith muttering something about training before heading to the training deck. “So Matt, what do you want to do while you’re here?” Lance pipes up from where he was sprawled across Hunk’s lap. Matt shrugs, before shooting up with an idea, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Oh, I know! How ‘bout we show the Alteans how humans have fun on Earth,” the Rebel suggests, Pidge adjusts their glasses and looks at their brother.“Yes, but how are we going to do that? There are tons of ways we do that,” They state. The glint in Matt’s eyes becomes more pronounced and Lance raises an eyebrow, “Why do I feel like you’re going to say something stupid that will most likely get us in trouble,” Hunk asks suspiciously, Matt flashes a troublemaker grin at the latter as Lance snorts, catching on to what the other was saying.Matt stops for a bit at the sound, taking time to save the memory before replying. “How about we start a prank war?” Hunk pales and Lance laughs, making Matt flush. It should not be legal to make a laugh that cute, he thought; Pidge noticed the look Matt was giving Lance and silently groaned, realizing that now they had to deal with two pining idiots.“No, you guys can do that, but I’m not. Last time I did that, Lance won by a landslide,” Hunk says and, moving Lance off of him, stands. “But I’ll go and ask Keith if he’d like to participate,” Hunk leaves the room, presumably to find the resident emo.A few minutes later, Keith sprints into the room.“Woah, what’s the rush, Gloom and Doom?” Lance questions, Keith ignores him. “Hunk mentioned a prank war. I’m in.”Matt grinned, “Awesome, now we can do partners. But first we need some ground rules.” Pidge threw their head back and groaned, “Do we have to have them?” Matt gave them a look. “Yes, Pidge, we do. Rule one, don’t prank your partner. Rule two, no permanent pranks like cutting hair or trashing/ruining clothes. Rule three, don’t prank people not participating. Four, Pidge and I are to be on separate teams,” This one earned a sigh of relief from Keith, and when noticing the confused look on Lance’s face, Keith mouthed ‘long story’. Lance nodded.“Five, DO NOT draw blood with your pranks. Six, know where the line is and don’t ever cross it. And lastly… have some fun.”As soon as the word left Matt’s mouth, Pidge loudly yelled “Dibs on Keith!” and the two ran from the room, commencing the war. Lance shrugged and went over to Matt, both trying not blush. “So,” Lance started, “You take Keith I take Pidge?” Matt smiled and shook his head, “Nah, I’ll deal with the gremlin, you handle Jack Sulkington.” Lance snorted at the name Matt gave to the swordsman, and Matt grinned with a sense of pride.“You’ve got yourself a deal, Rebel.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way, Sharpshooter.”Over the next couple of weeks, the prank war got more intense. When Coran and Allura found out, Shiro and Hunk had to explain, as the others were a bit too busy getting revenge and plotting pranks.Matt and Lance got closer and closer ‘as friends’, especially when Keith stole some restraints and handcuffed the two together, while Pidge jammed the lock holding it closed. They got the two back by hiding Keith’s jacket, and all the space peanut butter. Pidge dyed Lance’s hair orange, and Matt’s hair blue in retaliation.“Oh, they are so getting it,” Lance declared, a dangerous glint in his eye, after seeing his hair. Matt blinked, it was kind of hot, seeing Lance look so much like a bad boy troublemaker.The prank war ended when Keith stole Lance’s contacts and straightener after the former Blue Paladin stole every pair of Keith’s socks and gloves. Lance had walked into the dining room with curly hair and glasses; all previous activity stopped as everyone except Hunk stared at Lance, who was pink to the ears.A loud “Screw it!” is heard as Matt marches up to Lance and, grabbing the taller boy by the collar of his shirt, pulled Lance into a kiss. When they part, Lance is blushing furiously with a dopey smile and Matt is pink.“Lance I really, really, like you. As in, more than a friend. So, will you, Lance McClain, be the boyf to my riend?”
“Dios mío, yes!” With that Lance pulled Matt into another kiss.
"I told you, now fork over the GAC, you two.”Lance and Matt sprung apart, having forgotten the others were there. Hunk and Pidge were begrudgingly handing some GAC over to Keith, who looked extremely smug with himself.“You guys bet on if we were going to get together?!” Lance squeaked, face turning more red.“When you put it that way it sounds bad,” Pidge said, only to be interrupted by Hunk. “Yeah, we did. Pidge thought you’d confess in a week, so they were the first to lose. I thought that you’d confess in another month. Keith here was the only one who said that it would be Matt to confess.”“And I’m glad I did,” the half-blooded Galra said, seemingly very pleased with himself. Shiro didn’t look pleased with that statement but let it go, “I’m happy for you two, congrats. Y’know, this reminds me of when Adam and I got together.”Keith turned and stared at his surrogate brother in disbelief.“How? How can this remind you of when you got with Adam? You asked him out in a McDonald’s restroom.”
“He said yes though,” Shiro attempted to defend himself.
"Yeah, surprisingly. I’m still wondering why he said yes to your gay disaster of a self.”“C’mon,” Matt whispered, tugging on Lance’s arm, “let’s go somewhere else.” The new couple left the rest of the team and wandered through the halls. They ended up in the observatory, and after stealing some blankets and pillows from Keith and Pidge’s rooms, settled on the floor. They quietly spoke of what constellations the could make out in space as the cuddled, and before long, Lance drifted off to sleep. Matt smiled and, placing a kiss on Lance’s head, slipped into the realm of Hypnos.Stirring a bit, Matt slowly woke to a weight on his chest, and the sound of giggling before a flash went off. Opening his eyes, Matt saw that Lance had crawled on top of the former in his sleep. Looking over he was just in time to see another flash go off before hearing Pidge’s voice.“Oh shoot, we’ve been spotted, boys.”Shifting Lance off of him, Matt started chasing Keith, Hunk, and Pidge.“PIDGE DELETE THOSE RIGHT NOW!!”
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March 18: Royalty/Alien
(It's a little of both)
Leandro, or Lance as his few friends called him, was from a noble family on Altea. His family were close friends with King Alfor and his family, so Lance spent quite a bit of time at the Castle with Allura, the king's daughter. The two were almost like siblings in a way, sure, they acted prim and proper when in public, but behind closed doors they were expert pranksters.
When Alteans come of age, they get the first words their soulmate says to them printed onto some part of the body, the words only leaving once the soulmate was dead. Allura got hers first, the words “You're a lot prettier in person, your highness.” written on her stomach in silver. The day Lance came of age though, Zarkon attacked and Allura, Lance, and Coran were placed in cryopods for their safety.
When they awoke ten thousand years later, Lance and Allura were convinced that they missed their shot, until Allura looked at her stomach and saw that the soul-mark was still there. Lance checked his body and the words “Not as straight as I thought I was.” were on his forearm in a strange orange lettering (“It’s Comic Sans,” the green paladin, Pidge later called it.)
Lance grew closer to the paladins, and soon saw them as a second family. He and the green and yellow paladins grew close over their shared feelings of missing home and family.
He bonded with Keith over feeling left out, as Lance had been the youngest of his family, so when Keith was revealed a Galra, Lance backed him up. “My family and planet were killed by Zarkon and his followers, but you're a good guy Keith. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.”
Shiro and Lance bond over their sense of duty and their longing for a lover. Shiro told Lance about his soulmate Adam, whom was left on Earth when Shiro left for Kerberos.
After finding out that Alteans also had soulmates, Shiro showed Lance his soul-mark, light brown letters saying: “Man, I can't believe Dumbledore died.” and explained how he and Adam met to Lance.
Apparently the two had met after seeing
Half-Blood Prince
in a movie theater, and when Adam had said those words, Shiro had whipped around and yelled “You!”. After getting to know each other, Shiro asked Adam out… in a McDonald's restroom.
The two laughed about the incident after Shiro explained what exactly a movie theater and a McDonald's was to Lance.
Keith was a little guarded with his, but told everyone what his mark said, his face bright red. His mark was golden yellow, with the words “Sorry! Do you know where the bathrooms are by any chance?” written on his right shin.
Hunk's eyes widened “That's what I said when we met!” and rolled up his own pant leg, revealing “Uh, yeah, down the hall to the left. Why?” written in dark purple on his left shin. Hunk and Keith came together in an awkward yet relaxed hug (awkward on Keith's part, relaxed on Hunk’s part).
Pidge, Allura, and Lance had yet to find their soulmates, and the team reassured them constantly that the three would find their partner at some point.
Eventually, Pidge found their brother Matt and brought him back to the Castle. Keith, Shiro, Pidge, and Matt shared a reunion hug together, Keith went about introducing Matt to Hunk with the impertinent words of: “Matt this is my soulmate Hunk, if anything were to happen to him I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.”
Allura and Coran walked up to Matt. “Hello, I am Princess Allura of Altea, and this is my advisor Coran Smyth.” The orange-haired man nodded when Allura mentioned him. They shook hands with Coran telling Matt, “You can call me the Space Uncle, Number Five and Number Three do.”
Finally, Lance walked up and shook hands with Matt. “Hey there, I'm Leandro, or Lance, if you want to call me that. And you are?” Matt’s eyes widened and he whispered, loud enough for Lance to hear, “Not as straight as I thought I was,” before shaking his head, “Matthew Holt, and apparently you're my soulmate.”
Lance's jaw dropped, and he rolled up his right sleeve, Matt doing the same with his left. Matt's left forearm bore the words Lance had just spoken in royal blue in another of those strange letterings (“It's the Papyrus font,” Matt explained).
A few months after the two meet, Matt asks Lance out on a date. In the middle of a battle. Lance says yes but to ask again afterwards once they're done fighting. The second Lance steps out of Red, Matt is there, holding a bouquet of native flowers from the planet they had just saved. Lance rolls his eyes, a move he learned from Keith (“I'm going to regret showing you how to do that aren't I?” “
Nooooo
…”
*sigh*
) before the half-galra left on a Blade of Marmora mission.
The two leave the Castle with the approval of Allura and start to walk around the city, holding hands and, not-so-subtly, flirting with each other, when the two hear a gasp from behind them. There were a few aliens (“Omg, they look like Mothmen! Keith is gonna flip when he hears about this!) from the planet who were staring in awe and had some things held behind them. The aliens walked up and held out a pair of necklaces, before speaking a series of clicks and whistles which were translated into English for the two to understand.
“We had intended to give these to each other, but,”
“Anyone who can love another as they fight an evil such as Zarkon, deserve them more.”
“May you two live a long life together.”
With that, the two aliens put the necklaces on Matt and Lance, despite their protests that the two aliens should keep them. When it was done, the aliens looked pleased with themselves, well, as pleased as giant moth-like people can look, and left, while Lance and Matt were blushing like crazy. The couple finished their date without anymore aliens randomly gifting them things, although some would occasionally come up and, after thanking the rebel and paladin for saving their planet, congratulate the two on finding love during a war.
When the two arrived back at the Castle, Keith had returned unexpectedly. He introduced the Galra beside him as his mom, Krolia and the Altean behind him as Romelle. Allura walked to the trio, and after introducing herself to the newcomers, went up to Romelle.
“I have to say, it's nice to see another Altean my age beside Lance,” Romelle's eyes widened as she said, “You're a lot prettier in person, your highness,” Allura's eyes widened as a giddy smile broke out on the princess's face. Allura then took Romelle's hand “If I'm not mistaken, I believe us to be soulmates.”
When Romelle confirmed the statement and smiled at Allura, the princess turned to look at Lance. “Did you hear that, Leandro? That's the sound of a beautiful person!” Romelle blushed and Lance chuckled good-naturedly.
“Yeah,” he said, “now all we have to do is wait for Pidge to meet theirs, and Shiro to reunite with his soulmate.”
Pidge groaned. “Why am I the only one alone and without a soulmate now? It's not fair!”
Everyone laughed at the Green Paladin’s misfortune.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
March 19: Supernatural/Superheroes
For as long as Matt could remember, he wanted to be a hero. He had a quirk called ‘Ninja’ which allowed him to lower his body temperature, made him lighter on his feet and gave enabled him to blend into almost any environment instantaneously, so he seemed to disappear into thin air whenever he needed to hide. His quirk wasn't the flashiest, but as it was a stealth-based one, it helped him get into UA’s Hero Course alongside his childhood friends, Shiro, and Keith.Shiro’s quirk is ‘Sixth Sense’ and with it, Shiro is able to predict his opponent’s next move, and how to counter said move, and it made him almost unbeatable on the field. The catch was that Shiro had really bad PTSD from an incident a few months ago, in which he was forced to kill, or be killed himself.Keith's quirk is called ‘Samurai’ and it enabled Keith to materialize any kind of blade for any situation. But Keith was extremely impulsive and it normally went with him charging forward into the fray before the thought of using his quirk even crosses his mindWhen Matt, Shiro, and Keith got to UA, Shiro, and Keith by extension, headed to the office to get their schedules. Looking around, Matt quickly located his sister Katie, or Pidge, and her friends Lance (Matt's boyfriend) and Hunk, who were both around Matt's age, talking about something with UA's resident problem magnet, Midoriya Izuku and Midoriya's friend, Todoroki Shouto.Pidge got in with her quirk that she affectionately dubbed ‘Gremlin’ with it Pidge was able to hack into and access any electronic she touches in a matter of minutes. But it came with the drawback that Pidge could get overwhelmed with all the information flooding into her mind, which left her with a migraine.Lance had the quirk ‘Sharpshooter’ which was similar to Keith's in terms of how Lance could summon and use all sorts of pistols and guns. However the bigger and flashier the gun Lance summons, the faster he loses energy, so he sticks to pistols and snipers. Lance also had the uncanny ability to read a room like a book, and could diffuse almost any bad situation.Hunk’s quirk is called ‘Mechanic’ which enabled him to find his way around any piece of machinery, take it apart and put it back together in a way that benefits him. He doesn't do well with heights though, and would prefer to work from the ground.Heading over to Pidge, Matt threw an arm around his sister's neck and gave her a noogie, startling Midoriya, who yelped. “Heya gremlin, thought you saw the last of me, huh?”Pidge rolled her eyes, “Go away, Matt, and stop doing that,” she batted at Matt's arm halfheartedly. “Nope! As your brother, it's my job to annoy you,” Pidge groaned and asked Lance to help her.“Nah, consider this karma for stealing my face masks,” Lance chuckled, shaking his head at Pidge's misery. Matt faintly heard Midoriya asking Todoroki if all Americans were like this, and saw Todoroki shrug in response as the two walked off. Pidge then sent pleading eyes at Hunk, who sighed and got Matt off of Pidge. She immediately punched Matt for doing that, before grabbing Hunk and going to the office for their own schedules.Matt drew Lance into a hug, kissing him sweetly. “Hola amor,” Lance spoke softly, a smile gracing the Latino’s face, and Matt was weak, he was such a sucker for Lance speaking Spanish.“Hi,” Matt whispered back, “we should probably get our schedules now,” Lance made a face, to which Matt laughed at. Pulling out of the hug, Lance grabbed hold of Matt's hand and laced their fingers together, and they both headed to the principal's office.Afterward, the two met up with the others and compared schedules; Hunk, Pidge and Shiro were going to be taught by Yamada Hizashi (Pro Hero Present Mic), along with the rest of 1-B, and Matt, Lance and Keith were going to be taught by Aizawa Shouta (Underground Pro Hero Eraserhead) with class 1-A.Splitting up, the two groups went to their classes. On their way, Matt, Lance and Keith met Shinsou Hitoshi, who was transferring into the Hero Course from UA's General Studies. He had a quirk called Brainwashing, which allows him to mentally control people who verbally respond to him. The trio introduced themselves to Shinsou and shared their own quirks. Keith and Shinsou hit it off pretty well right out of the gate, and Shinsou asked if Matt and Lance were together.“Yeah, we are,” Matt answered brightly as Lance nodded just as eagerly.Shinsou smiled, “Nice, how long you been together?” Keith laughed, “Do you mean officially? Or how long they danced around each other?” The Texan asked coyly, earning himself a flustered glare from Lance.“Both, I guess.” “Samurai, don't dare to answer that.” “Officially, they've been together for about four months. But they've been dancing around each other for a year.” “Keith, you're dead to me.” “Oh wow.” “Yeah, and that's not counting the five years of pining. Yikes” “Keith! You said you wouldn't tell anyone!”“I said I wouldn't tell anyone the group, Lance, not all of them are here, so I'm good.”When Keith finished, they noticed they were outside classroom 1-A. Still holding Lance's hand, Matt knocked, and after hearing a very reluctant ‘Come in’, opened the door.Inside was a man in a yellow sleeping bag laying on the desk, Aizawa. The four walked inside and recognized Midoriya and Todoroki. Aizawa started to speak."Class this is Shinsou Hitoshi, Matthew Holt, Lance McClain-Sanchez, and Keith Kogane-Shirogane. Matthew, Lance, and Keith transferred in from the Galaxy Garrison Hero School in America, and Shinsou transferred from the Hero Course. Do introductions and catch them up on the current unit, but don't wake me up." With that, the four were surrounded by their new classmates.There was Kaminari Denki, who seemed to be the self-proclaimed class jokester, and had an electric quirk (“He's a human pikachu, Matt!” Keith had excitedly whispered).Uraraka Ochako with a gravity affecting quirk, was really kind and offered to show them around at some point.Bakugou Katsuki, as Uraraka said, had an explosion quirk, as he scoffed in their general direction.And that's how it went for the rest of the class, Lance and Matt quickly making friends with most of the class as Keith hung around in the corner with Shinsou, Kaminari and Kirishima talking with them.Matt and Lance exchanged a look, they had a feeling this year would be interesting.Facing off the League of Villains had definitely been an experience.When Shigaraki Tomura, the Leagues leader, had revealed himself, most of the class had been fearful. Then, confusing everyone, Lance sighed, and exchanged a look with Matt and Keith, who both nodded. Lance took a step forward, the other two quickly telling others to run and get the pros, with only Iida managing to get past the League.“Okay,” Lance started off, “I'm new here, so let me see if I have this right. You want to kill All Might.” Shigaraki nodded. “The biggest symbol of peace and hope.” “Yes.” Matt and Keith were sneaking behind Shigaraki, the class catching on to what they were doing. “Okay, and you're doing this to create a ‘Less complacent world’?” Lance was now smirking, ‘this guy has no idea!’ he thought. “That's correct.” The class split up, discreetly headed towards different League members, Kaminari eventually joining Matt and Keith. " Because you hate the justice system here in Japan?” Lance was trying to hold back a laugh. "What are you getting at, boy?”Matt, Kaminari, and Keith had now cornered Shigaraki, as the villain realized what was happening. The Pro Heroes, including All Might, had arrived and the League members were each facing off a few of the students and pros, he himself was surrounded.Lance started to laugh, an empty, scornful sound leaving his body which caught All Might's attention.“Why are you laughing?” Shigaraki started reaching for the Cuban to disintegrate him, when the blade of a sword stopped him. Keith leaned into the man's ear, “I wouldn't interrupt if I were you.” Keith threatened, Matt pulled out his bo-staff and Kaminari readied his quirk.“Because, dummy,” Rolling his eyes, Lance sneered. “If you think the Japanese justice system is bad, then you've clearly never been to the US. There's corruption almost everywhere, more than here. You have to be suspicious of everyone, you never know when someone might stab you in the back.”A loud boom startled the group, and Shigaraki slipped away, despite Kaminari trying to go after him, the League following soon after.Back in the dorms, Lance started laughing again. After getting questioning looks from everyone, Lance explained.“He's covered in hands! There's even one on his face! What's up with that? Is his villain name ‘Handyman’ or something? Because holy crow it's redonkulous,” Keith started laughing as well, and Matt's eyes widened. He got down, layed on the floor, and stared at the ceiling. “You're right,” he whispered, flabbergasted “This makes so much sense.”After a while, Lance dragged Matt to bed, complaining about how Matt was ignoring him, and leaving Keith to study. “Are you really contemplating life on me? I didn't break you that much, right?” he said throwing Matt onto the bed.Matt snapped out of it at the impact and, pulled Lance down next to him. “Nah, just warn a dude next time, kay?” Lance gave a nod before Matt pulled him into a short kiss before getting under the covers with Lance on his heels.“Night starfish. I'm in love with you.” "I'm in love with you too, night Mattie.”Matt sat up and looked at Lance. “I take it back, I hate you. And don't call me Mattie, McClain.” he deadpanned, clearly unamused.“Aww, c'mon Holt, I'm sorry-” “No you're not.” " True, but please?” “Fine, I forgive you, you jackass. Now got to sleep.” “Okay, okay! Night!... Mattie.”“LANCE I SWEAR TO GOD.”