Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Keith was not happy he had been found. If he hadn’t been found he wouldn’t be subjugated to this ridiculous humiliation. The Blades decided that he was to be present when they gathered more supplies for him. So off he went with Thace and Antok to more baby stuff and other things for the pack.

Keith watched as they got more blankets and pillows telling him they need to make the nest bigger after everyone has returned and when he was back to his normal size. They even placed Keith in a giant pile of pillows and had him pick a few out. The bin was huge! He managed to find two that he liked. One was blue and larger than him. It was foamy and squishy, like memory foam. The other one was bright green and a bit smaller but had a feathery texture and was just as soft.

Keith held up both pillows “Ah!” he shouted. He tried to explain to the other’s that he wanted them.

“So these are the ones you want?” Thace said as he leaned forward, grabbing them from Keith.

“Ah!” Keith repeated in confirmation.

Thace added them to the cart and Antok slid Keith back into the sling he had on the front.

Galra apparently didn’t use anything but slings and stuff attached to the body to hold their young. Keith had barely touched the ground the entire time he had been in their care.

The three continued to walk down the aisles as they check things off their list.

Thace, reciting everything as they double-check, “Diapers, blankets, pillows, whips, powder, extra bottle, some more clothes-

“Red paladin themed of course,” Antok chimed in with a smile as he held up a red lion onesie.

As they walked they passed by a blanket display. Antok’s eye caught on a large fuzzy red blanket that could easily cover Thace or Ulaz. He picked it up and Keith was curious about it too. Keith reached for it. The instant he touched it he pulled it closed and had an intense urge to rub his face in it. He did not fight the urge. A high pitch purr erupted from him then. It stilled his two minders.

He felt Antok chuckle, commenting, “I guess we will be getting this one as well.”

“We only have so much Gak,” Thace commented as he seemed to mentally tally up the price, “but I guess we will still have more than enough.”

“Good, cause it made the kit purr,” Antok said happily as he kept it close to Keith, who was happily nuzzling it.

Once they were assured that everything they came for was in the cart they made their way to pay for it.  And passed a Voltron display filled with different sized stuffed animals. Thace smiled as he noticed Keith had been drawn to the giant red lion. He had been so interested in it that he even dropped the portion of the blanket that he had been holding. Thace plucked the giant thing from the display and handed it to Keith, who was drastically dwarfed by it.

“Eh?” Keith questioned.

“You wanted it too right?” Thace asked. He wiggled it in front of the babe.

“AH!” Keith confirmed as he reached for it. He managed to grip his fists in the soft fur. He didn’t know why these men were being so nice to him. He liked the positive attention though. The lion was pulled away from him suddenly. Keith let out a whine as he gripped the stuffed animal tighter, almost leaving Antok’s grasp.

“Wow, Kit, you can have it back when we get to the nest.” Thace chuckled as he released Keith’s grasp and placed it in the lion.

“Hopefully we have enough for this too,” Antok commented.

“If we have enough for the extra blanket, we have enough for the stuffed animal.” Thace retorts stubbornly.

Keith was just happy to be done with the shopping.

The three left with the many bags and made their way back to the ship. They were passing a water fountain when the three heard a weird sound.

‘That sounds like a dolphin’, Keith thought.

The next thing they know Keith and Antok had been knocked into by a brown-haired idiot. Antok gave a warning growl as he swished his tail angrily.

“What were you’re going! You almost squished the kit.” He growled

The short man, by Galra standards, backed up quickly.

Keith looked gobsmacked, ‘Lance!’ he shouted in his head. ‘How is he here?’

The three watched as the teen righted himself and dusted himself off. “I’m so sorry.”

He started to apologies as he looked up. He had his own gobsmacked expression as he stared at the two male Galra and the tiny kit that was half-hidden by the sling.

“LA!” Keith tried to shout.

“Oh my goodness! Is that a baby Galra?!” he shouts. He then looked back up at Antok and Thace. I am so sorry. Did I hurt him?”

The two looked down at Keith. They noticed his odd reaction and how he seemed shocked at the odd man that ran into them.

The teen suddenly leaned in close to the kit and started exclaiming, “Aren’t you just the cutest! You have just the fluffiest ears and tail! Yes, you do!”

“Ah… thank you for the compliments towards our kit….” Thace manages to say. He then watched in a stupor as an even smaller person of the same species ran up to him.

 “Come on Lance! We got to get that game! Coran wants us to meet back with him soon!” the small one shouted as they began pulling the boy away.

The taller of the two waved at them as he was dragged away. “Sorry again!” he shouted as he disappeared into the crowd.

“La!!” the kit shouted as he reached for the disappearing man.

The two adult Galra looked down in curiosity at their charge. “He seems to want to go after them….”

Thace looked Keith in the eyes, “Do you know them Keith?” he questioned.

The small kit nodded hurriedly at them. “La n’ pi!” he tried to say.

“I’m not sure what you are trying to say, little one,” Thace explains. Antok was looking around for the two and found them on back of a creature in a hoverboard with a female Galra running after them. Antok noticed a flash of magenta at the end of the Galran’s hair.

“Krolia?” he whispered in disbelief.

He watched her get on the beast and turned. She locked eyes with him for a second and he knew it was her…. So the two were definitely the other paladins then.

“Do you see where they went Antok?” Thace asked.

“They just left.” He said looking back at Thace, “And Krolia was definitely with them. I think the one we ran into was a paladin.”

Keith let out a sound in confirmation.

As they were loading the ship up Thace halted and looked back at Keith, “Wait… the tiny human had called the one we ran into Lance… didn’t Ulaz say that Lance was the one that our kit had a crush on?” he noticed that Keith then flushed bright red again.

Antok just nodded in agreement. “Hopefully we find them again soon.”

Krolia was surrounded by children. She knew how old the paladins were, but she thought that being paladins would cause them a little more maturity then normal for their age. She was wrong… even the Alteans acted like children… even the only other adult on this ship. She stared in annoyance at the Altean advisor. He wanted her to wear that? To go to the mall? He was an idiot.

She quickly had to pull a stop this insane plane the man obviously had no idea with what had changed since he and the princess had been asleep.

“This is a ridiculous idea.” The announced to the group, “The swap moons are no longer like that. What the paladins are wearing now will be more than fine.”

“But I had made costumes!” Coran complained dishearted.

“I’m sure they are lovely. But dressing up as pirates will just cause the exact opposite of what we want. The mall has changed a lot since you’ve been asleep.” Krolia consoled.

“Yeah… I’m sure it’s a good idea…. But I think our normal clothes should be fine.” Hunk added.

Krolia seemed to size up all of them and what they currently wore. She nodded in approval, “It will work well enough.”

Shiro stayed behind to strengthen his ties with the black lion and Coran refused to let Allura come. So Krolia, Coran, and the remaining paladins left to find the scultrite disks.

Krolia thought that the humans were at least old enough to handle being on there own I a mall….. She had been wrong. She had grabbed some Gak that she had left and hoped to find some new clothes. The purple Altean clothes she had were okay but severely dated, and she did not like how she stuck out because of them. She had been trained to always blend in. sticking out like she did with this dated fashion just made her skin crawl with anxiety. As she wandered around, Krolia quickly lost track of the others. She heard Hunk mention something about a food court. She doubted he could get into any trouble there. Though the other two, she had her concerns.

Krolia found herself standing in front of an earth themed store of all things. Krolia smiled to herself as she browsed through the store. She was surprised to see some clothes similar to those she wore with Akira. She quickly snagged what she remembered was her size and paused as she passed the toy section. There was a bin of Beanie Babies. Specifically, one that sat buried under a few others. It was a pale lavender hippo. It looked just like the one she had left with her kit all those years ago. Smiling, she swiped it up and added it to her pile.

As she approached the register she blinked in shock at the fact that Lance and Pidge were there. They seemed to be buying a game system of some sorts. The green one seemed way too eager. Krolia was concerned with how they managed to find the cash. 

“And here is you free Katlenecker with every purchase!” the sales associate exclaimed as he handed the two a cow on the hoverboard.

“You two can wait for me, and we can meet up with Coran and the others,” Krolia said directly behind the two teens.

Both of them jump sky high.

“Krolia!”

“What the crow!”

The Unuloo then began pushing another cow in her direction.

“Ah. That’s okay.” Krolia states hesitantly, hoping not to offend.

“A free Katlenecker with every purchase!” he exclaimed. “I insist!”

Krolia just smiled forcefully as she handed the Unuloo her Gak, “I don’t need the free … Katlenecker. But thank you.”

“That’s fine then” the shop keeper replied with a shrug.

As she walked out of the store with her purchases and the young paladins she was bombarded with questions.

“How did you manage to do that?” Pidge exclaimed.

“She’s Galra, they are like super spies, at least the blade people seem to be,” Lance commented as he tugged his cow along.

“Why did you even keep that thing?” Pidge asked.

“Uh!?” Lance exclaimed dramatically, “she is not a thing!” he then turns to the cow and soothingly pets her as if to calm her down, “don’t you listen to the mean Pidgeotto! You are not a thing”

Krolia looked curiously at the beast, “why did you not refuse… her?”

Lance shrugged, “didn’t know I could. Thought it would offend them or something. We tried to refuse a gift from one species and they almost killed themselves because of that. Besides, we have milk now! Just think of the things Hunk can now make!”

Pidge’s eyes light up eagerly, “You’re right!!”

“I thought humans stopped drinking milk after infancy?” Krolia asked.

“Yeah, breast milk, not cow milk,” Pidge explained. “Cow’s milk can actually be beneficial for us, it has a lot of a certain mineral that is really good for our bodies.”

Lance caught a glance at one of the clocks then, “Holy quiznack! We’re late!” he hopped on the cow suddenly and then throwing Pidge on with him and moving the hoverboard faster. Krolia rushes to catch up with them and manages to jump onto the bovine as well. She turns herself around in doing so and catches a fleeting glance at two familiar-looking Galra…. Though Antok was holding an infant… when did he find a mate, let alone get a kit? Or did Thace and Ulaz finally have one?” she hoped she would get to meet the kit and the rest of her pack soon.