Keith: Good Morning

                                    

                                          
I woke up to the sound of chirping birds. That hadn't happened in...  A deca-phoeb. I have, of course, been awoken by various other things like Horned Karfunkles, and Copperhead Angius but nothing as sweet and melodic as birds. I sat up slowly, stretching my arms over my head and running one hand through my messy hair. I glanced around the room looking for a clock when I remembered that there wasn't one in here. Had Lance gone back on his word? I had told him I'd get up early to help with any chores he had to do in the morning and he and his parents immediately shut this proposition down by saying that I was a guest and they would handle all the work around the house. Later when I had talked to Lance alone though, I made him promise to wake me up. We even shook on it. 
                          
I took out my phone from my bag and glanced at the time on the screen. It was 6:30 which is a little later than when I normally get up.  Shaking out my hair, I push the sheets off and set my feet down on the hardwood floor. I smile a little. It's been a long time since I've touched a wood floor. I've gotten so used to tile and steel and concrete but nothing beats a nice wooden floor. I quickly changed out of my pajamas and rummaged around in my bag for something that was suitable for working outdoors. The thing was though, is that I didn't have that many clothes. I was constantly wearing jump suits and my armor up in space and not much else since we were always on missions or prepared for some outside threat or attack. Actually, all the clothes I had brought with me were old things of Shiro and Curtis. A lot of my old stuff I had grown out of and I hadn't exactly had time yet to buy clothes. This was going to be my first time being back on Earth for longer than a week and I was ill prepared. 
                          
Settling for a worn gray shirt and some loose fitting jeans, I headed out into the hallway, listening for sounds of activity. The house was deadly quiet though and as I made my way through, grabbing my shoes at the door, I knew that Lance had gone back on his word to wake me. I pushed open the screen door and breathed in deeply. The gentle breeze blowing over the farm brought with it a sweet smell. Out in the fields, I spotted Lance's father walking through the stalks of corn. By the sound of it, Lance's mother was in the barn, singing a song I could barely hear. I tried to think of where Lance would be when it hit me, just follow the smell of flowers. 
                          
I turned towards the garage and walked around to the back of the house where a large field of Juniberries were in full bloom. Their large purple petals were radiant under the sun, stems stretching out towards it. I smiled a little, walking out through the rows to get to Lance who was kneeling in font of a small patch, watering them delicately. As I drew closer, I realized that Lance was singing too but it wasn't a song I recognized and it was also in Spanish so I had no idea what he was saying. 
                          
He seemed calmer out here. He seemed more at peace, more like himself. For that first year, everyone had been really worried about how he might react to Allura being gone but aside from being sad and shut off every now and then, he seemed to be coping very well. Seeing Altea I think helped. He got to see the home planet of the girl he loved and brought her favorite flowers home with him so he could have a constant reminder of her presence. We had joked for a bit that his Altean markings should have been enough of a reminder but we all knew how much the flowers meant to him. The markings were actually something I wanted to talk to him about. After we had gained our bearings and processed everything that had happened, Coran had a good look at Lance but could never determine what the marks actually meant. Pidge said she would try to figure out what it was but I think eventually Lance just told her that it didn't matter what it meant. He had them and that's all that mattered.
                          
"Hey." I said, trying not to startle him as I drew closer. Lance straightened up, turned slightly and smiled, a dimple forming on his right cheek.
                          
"Good morning." He said. My heart thumped wildly in my chest. "Sleep well?" I nodded.
                          
"Yeah, despite how loud you snore." Lance rolled his eyes.
                          
"I don't snore. I'm an angel." He said, going back to watering the flowers. Well, he was right about one of those things. 
                          
"You didn't wake me up like you said you would." Lance shrugged as I followed him through the field.
                          
"I figured with your rigorous training and discipline, you'd get up early enough to help out around here." Lance said, giving me a half smile over his shoulder. 
                          
"You're not wrong, though I did sleep in a little." Lance checked the watch on his right wrist and gave Keith a funny look. 
                          
"You call this sleeping in Mullet?" I laughed as Lance shook his head, turning his attention back to the flowers. "Sleeping in is waking up in the middle of the afternoon."
                          
"I would classify that as a coma probably and I thought you were through calling me Mullet. I don't exactly have one anymore." Lance glanced back at me again. I don't know why I grew my hair out honestly. It did feel really nice but kids on literally every planet I've gone to, have the affinity for pulling it. 
                          
"You'll always be Mullet to me, whether you have one or not." I smiled a little and continued to follow him through the sweet smelling flowers.
                          
"I'm kind of surprised they grow here so well."
                          
"So was I." Lance admitted. "But I've spent enough time on Altea to know that their climate and soil quality is very similar to ours. The air is a bit thinner over there but that's not an issue."
                          
"How often do you go there, to Altea?" I asked. I hadn't actually been since our last group meeting over a year ago. 
                          
"Once a month. We make it a family trip sometimes. Coran lets us stay in the new castle, Romelle is usually there and.." Lance's voice trails off. I pursed my lips not wanting to push the subject of Allura or the sacrifice she made to save everyone in every reality. It still baffles me whenever I think about it honestly. 
                          
"I need to go there more often. It's one of the prettiest planets I've ever been on. The one I just came from was a gas giant.  The air was unbreathable, the water was toxic. I'm surprised we didn't melt our armor just by stepping onto it's surface." Lance laughed. 
                          
"Sounds more dangerous than any mission we've been on. A lot of the planets we went to had oxygen we could breathe." 
                          
"Yeah funny how that worked out. You'd think we would have encountered more planets whose air wasn't breathable." 
                          
"Well I mean, scientists have always said, for life to exit on a planet there needs to be the perfect atmosphere and if Earth's is the ideal version of that, then I guess it makes sense that most planets should have oxygen and nitrogen rich atmospheres." I stared at Lance in surprise.
                          
"Have you been reading science books?" Lance laughed. "When did you become so knowledgeable."
                          
"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not that dumb and I did pay attention in class at the Garrison. I just sucked at tests and always turned in my homework late." Lance shrugged.
                          
"Homework is for losers anyways." I said. Lance grinned.
                          
"Alright Mullet let's head back inside. I'm starving." Lance said, shaking out the last droplets of his watering can down onto the flowers. "When we finish eating you can help me out in the barn and then you'll be wishing you had stayed in bed and slept through the morning." Lance said patting my shoulder lightly as he walked past me towards the house.
                          
"Why what are we going to do?" Lance smirked.
                          
"We get to clean the stables." I laughed and honestly, I didn't care what we were going to do. It was just good to be back home. 
                          
A/N:
                          
On Voltron wikia it described Juniberry's as being purple?? but in the show they looked pink??? Idk. let's stick with purple because red and blue make.... lol 
                          
ALSO,  JUST IN CASE YALL DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW. One of my all time favorite bands is The Maine and they JUST came out with a new album a couple of days back and guess what..... THEY WROTE A SONG CALLED FOREVERMORE???? It's like they know me so well.
                          
 Sooooo the anthem for this story is Forevermore by The Maine and it is literally perfect for this story. So I'm going to be linking various videos of them singing it/other people singing it because it's beautiful and perfectly captures how Keith feels about Lance. Alright I'll go now. lol hope you enjoy the song. Pls go take a listen.