ao3feed-klance:

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2qC0NLn

bywaitingforalienstokillme

two versions of their story, told in different perspectives

i. a story of an angel and an artist
ii. some people begin to heal. others begin to fall.

(or: keith sees lance as an angel that fell from heaven to him, and lance will never allow himself to fall in love)

Words: 6151, Chapters: 2/2, Language: English

• Fandoms:Voltron: Legendary Defender
• Rating:Not Rated
• Warnings:Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
• Categories:M/M
• Characters:Keith (Voltron),Lance (Voltron)
• Relationships:Keith/Lance (Voltron)
• Additional Tags: sorry - Freeform,I KEEP WRITING ANGST,this is a short story i wrote i just added their names,klance,Gay Keith (Voltron),Lance (Voltron) is a Mess,Pining Keith (Voltron),Hurt Keith (Voltron),Keith (Voltron) is a Mess,Angst,klangst,Langst,kangst,Keith smokes,lance is an angel,to keith,keith is an artist,and lance just isn’t in love with him,its… sad,christian lance,hmmm what else,Artist Keith (Voltron),don’t get mad at lance for how he is,He can’t help it,Keith (Voltron)-centric,POV Keith (Voltron),Lance (Voltron)-centric,Angel Lance (Voltron)

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2qC0NLn

Imagine Lance wondering why no one made a fuss when he died. He almost asks Allura if anyone else even knew– but he doesn’t want to be making a big deal if no one else is.

So he convinces himself it wasn’t a big deal. After himself and Shiro, he sees that death is curable, that it is merely an injury that could be healed.

And then he gets even more reckless.

Lance, when Allura shows up in a new outfit: Allura I Would Die For You

Allura: I know Lance… Please do not do that again

The rest of the team:What

Not Himself (Part 3)

Alright so I was busy with a lot (and to be honest, working on a Dear Evan Hansen fic on AO3) and sort of forgot about this for a while, but I couldn’t leave it where I did.

The next thing Lance knew, he was stumbling out of a cryopod.

“Lance!” Hunk yelled, hugging his friend.

“Careful, Hunk.” Allura said. “We’re still not sure what happened, if they’ve both been affected by something.”

“I can handle him. Besides, you guys would back me up, right?”

Allura gave a small smile. Hunk finally released Lance, who was still trying to get a grip on what was happening.

“Lance, are you alright?” Coran slowly approached.

Suddenly Lance’s eyes were wide open.

“The Castle! We have to move the Castle, Haggar’s probably on her way, how long was I out, we might not have much time to-”

“We moved it as soon as we got you in the pods.” Allura said. “I knew something wasn’t right with-” She stopped and took a breath, holding her eyes shut for a moment. “So Haggar is involved?”

“Princess, perhaps we should give the poor boy a little while to adjust before getting answers out of him?” Coran suggested.

Allura looked at the ground. “You’re right. But we need to keep an eye on him. We don’t know if-”

“Of course, princess. We won’t let him do anything rash.”

Allura nodded, then smiled at Lance. “How about you eat something? Hunk spent a lot of time cooking while you were in there. We can discuss things later.”

“What happened to Shiro?” He asked.

Her smile fell a little. “We managed to knock him out, and we were pretty sure that he was the one of you who caused this, so we put him in a pod and Coran set it so he won’t wake up until we are ready to deal with whatever happened to him.”

Lance nodded, then walked towards Hunk, who was beckoning him towards the kitchen. He was delayed when he was pulled into a hug from Pidge and Keith.

Wait, Keith?

“When did you get here?” He asked when the hug ended.

“Red called out to me. I couldn’t understand him but I could tell he was pretty freaked out. I rushed over here and barely made it before Allura moved the castle. I thought-” He scratched the back of his neck. “I kinda thought you were already dead.”

Lance’s first thought was of Red. He had called to Keith. Did that mean he left Lance for good? Lance internally shook his head to get rid of the thoughts. “Me? Dead? Come on, Keith, I’m not that bad at combat. You don’t have to worry about-” He stopped when he noticed Pidge leaving the room without a word. “Uhhhh…”

“Pidge is just a little shaken.” Hunk explained. “Don’t worry about it, come on.”

Lance had to take a step back when he saw the amount of food that was in the kitchen. “Geez, Hunk, how long was I out? Were you cooking the whole time?”

Hunk looked a little nervous. “Uh, you weren’t out for long, it was only like 3 hours? We were all just kind of stressed about- you know.”

Lance looked at the ground. “Yeah.” He shook his head. “So all this stuff looks delicious, I don’t even know where to start!” He grabbed a plate and started tossing things on it. He didn’t know what they were, he just wanted something to focus on besided what had happened.

Eventually the food was gone and he felt a hand rest gently on his shoulder. Allura. “Lance…” She paused. “I know you might not want to think about what happened, but we need to know so we can figure out what to do next.”

Lance looked up and realized the whole team was looking at him expectedly.

He sighed. “Well, you know how Shiro’s been off lately? I went down to the lions and they did this weird brain connection thing so Black could tell me what was going on. And so I learned that Haggar’s had control of Shiro since we got him back and- and when I woke up, Shiro was there, and he found out, and-” He paused for a moment. “And then he attacked me, so I went in my lion, and I would have warned you guys, but Haggar-Shiro held the bayard to his throat and threatened to kill him! So I- uh- well Red told me not to, and I didn’t listen, and he left me, so I guess- huh, guess I’m not a paladin anymore, or whatever.” He shrugged. “So I kneeled in front of him and closed my eyes but he just gave me my bayard and said-” He screwed his eyes shut. “He said I had to do it myself. And that’s when you guys came in.”

“Lance,” Allura started gently. “You-”

“What the hell, Lance?” Keith’s voice rang out. “You can’t just give yourself to an enemy who’s planning to kill you!”

Lance stood up. “It was me or Shiro!”

Keith stepped forward. “No, it was you or a possessed Shiro who could’ve gone on to help Haggar kill the rest of the team!”

“He’s still more help than-” He choked on the rest of the sentence as he saw Keith’s eyes widen in disbelief.

“I think we should all take a breather and-” Hunk was cut off.

“Finish the sentence, Lance.” Keith dared him, secretly hoping there was another way it could possibly end. “What were you going to say?”

“God, what do you want from me? You all know it too, my plans suck, I’m always screwing up, I’m annoying, I’m the goofball, and now I don’t even have a lion, so yeah, I’m a weak link and probably drag the team down more than any enemy. Sorry you’re all so shocked that I know it too.”

The room was in shocked silence until he heard loud sobbing. He looked over to see Pidge with her face in her hands and shoulders shaking.

Lance softened, moving towards her. “Hey, Pidgey, it’s alright, it’s okay, I’m sor-”

“No!” She sobbed. “It’s not alright and you shouldn’t be the one apologizing, and I’m sorry for- for calling you a goofball I- I didn’t know you were- you should have told me it bothered you! I was joking and I’m just- I’m sorry!” Pidge threw her arms around Lance and continued sobbing.

Lance didn’t know what to do. He had never seen Pidge like this, whenever there was a problem she’d just be all the more motivated to do something about it.

Oh.

There wasn’t some way to engineer or code her way out of this one.

Hunk was crying too, ad Keith was on the brink of tears.

“Lance,” He cleared his throat. “Losing Shiro would be awful, and we’d all be upset, but we’ve been there before and- we could pull through. You, you’re the only thing that held us together during that. If we lost you-” His voice cracked. “We’d be a disaster. When I rushed over here thinking you were gone, I- I didn’t know how we’d- I thought it was only a matter of time before all of Voltron came down, because we couldn’t recover from that. Not quickly.”

Hunk spoke up. “Yeah, I mean, I’d probably make so much food there wouldn’t be any room left in the castle, and then where would we be?”

Lance laughed, grateful for something at least partially light-hearted to repond to. “Of course, buddy.”

Allura cleared her throat, and Lance could see her fighting tears as well. “Lion or no lion, you are a part of this team, and I know Shiro wouldn’t want you to die for him. We can’t change what happened, and I will do my best to find a way to get Haggar out of Shiro’s head, but should this happen again- you shouldn’t choose yourself to die so easily.”

“Okay.” Lance didn’t know what else to say, but he smiled. Maybe he was a little important to the team. He thought back to how upset they looked when they were getting the issue under control. How the lion was saying that it would be better if he went after Shiro, that it was best for the team, that Lance could be a leader, that-

Wait. That was after Red left him. If it wasn’t Red, and it definitely wasn’t Blue because he knows her voice, then-

There was something akin to a chuckle in his mind. “That’s right, cub.”

Oh! Lance could have smacked himself for not realizing. “Uh guys? I think I’m the black paladin now.”

Nothing Left (Part 1)

Another one of those “Lance finds out his family was killed and he can’t hold himself together anymore” fics

For the record, if Lance’s family isn’t alive and well in the show I will be ready to fight someone but I had to do this fic.

I’m one of those idiots who took French so please correct my very very bad Spanish I tried to fit in.

WARNINGS: suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts

Lance could barely tell what was happening once he got to Earth, all he could think about was seeing his family again. He could see them discussing things with Pidge’s dad. It was busy at first, with greetings and explanations, until finally he and Coran were going to go over the blueprints together.

And the rest of the team didn’t have much they had to do.

“Hey guys, anyone wanna hop in Red with me and we can visit my family? If my abuela likes you, she might even give you some tamales, and trust me when I say she’s the best cook in the whole world, no offense Hunk.”

Hunk only shrugged. “Grandmothers have powers with food the rest of us can’t achieve. Plus, you know, years of experience. Hey, maybe she can teach me some recipes!”

Lance laughed. “You’ll have to really get on her good side for that, Hunk, she hasn’t even shown me.”

Hunk grinned. “Challenge accepted, Lance. You know, I’ve never met a grandma who didn’t love me.” He walked by Lance and got into the Red lion.

“We’ll see. Now who else is coming?” He stood in front of his lion and gestured to the entrance, welcoming anyone who might want to join.

The others looked at each other, as if unsure if they might still be needed where they are. Finally Keith shrugged and got on board, followed by Pidge, and finaly Shiro and Allura.

Lance followed them in and sat down, taking the controls. “Hey guys, feeling kinda cramped back there? This is just like old times, huh? Well, different lion and Allura wasn’t there, but remember-”

Keith cut him off. “Yes, Lance. Now are we going anywhere or what?”

“Geez, cool your jets.” He took off. The ride didn’t take long, but Lance babbled the whole time, mostly about his family. “And my little sister Ana, she’s about 15, or she was when we left, and she is the most brutally honest kid, I swear, once I tried writing a book, and she flat-out told me it was the worst thing she ever read. But when I wrote a letter to her about what Iverson was saying about how I was a complete waste of space at the Garrison and he’d sooner throw me off a cliff than trust me with a plane and she wrote back saying she was going to punch the guy and all that, talking about how I didn’t have as much time to train as a fighter pilot as the others and was just as good as the others and-”

Pidge put up a hand. “Hold on a second, I don’t remember Iverson saying that to you. He was an asshole, yeah, but-”

“Oh yeah, you guys weren’t there for that one. He’s nice when you two are around.”

“Yeah, I’m with your sister then. Someone’s gotta punch him.”

Keith smirked. “Already handled it.”

They looked at him and he shrugged. “But a few more wouldn’t hurt.”

Shiro seemed to just tune in to the conversation. “No punching anyone. We might need to cooperate with the Garrison.”

Pidge pouted as she leaned back.

Lance continued babbling as the others talked amongst themselves.

“And here’s Cuba, isn’t she beautiful? God, it’s been so long… We’re getting close to the house now, so-” He cut himself off. His voice was starting to be a constant so the absence of it alerted the others something was wrong. “No.” It seemed to drop 20 degrees in the lion. “No, nonono.”

Suddenly Lance jerked the lion to the ground.

“What is it?” Pidge asked.

“What’s happening?” Shiro grabbed the back of Lance’s chair.

“Lance?” Hunk looked out the front of the lion. He saw dozens of rooftops getting bigger, and then-

Where it seemed another rooftop would be, a large pike of darkened rubble. “Lance, that’s not-”

“This can’t be happening!” Within a few seconds, Red had touched down none too gracefully in the nearest space wide enough and Lance was leaping from his seat. “No, no, no, Dios, no.” He ran around the corner, towards what used to be his family home, but it seemed to be collapsed and burnt to a crisp. The homes surrounding it remained untouched.

His breathing picked up. “No, this can’t-” He saw someone leaving a house across the street. “Disculpe! Por favor! ¿Qué pasó? Mi familia! Por favor, mi familia vive aquí, era mi casa!”

The man he was speaking to sighed. “Sorry, kid. I’m American, we got sent here to investigate some irregular- well, we’re not supposed to share many details. But uh… no hablo español. So unless you know English-”

Lance restrained himself from leaping at the man. “My family lived here. Please- what happened to them?” He vaguely registered the others catching up behind him.

The man had the decency to look sorry as he responded. “I’m not supposed to talk about- screw it. Something weird hit that house, some laser or something, during a party, completely fried it. No one made it out, kid.”

“I- uh-” Lance was going numb, grasping at straws. “I- what kind of party?” Maybe some people weren’t at the house, maybe he could find the rest of the family, or at least his cousins-

“I think they said it was a wedding.”

Lance’s throat went dry. Right. Wedding. No one would miss that. Reality was starting to hit him. He brought himself to ask one more thing. “When?” His voice broke.

“Two days ago. Listen, I gotta go. Don’t tell anyone I told you this.”

Lance numbly nodded as the guy walked away. He turned his head to stare at the rubble. He felt far away from himself, he could barely feel the tears running down his cheeks.

“Lance? Lance, say something!”

“I know it’s hard, but you have to-”

The voices around him turned to nonsense as Lance’s feet gave out under him. He didn’t feel anything when he hit he ground. He couldn’t breathe.

Gone. They were gone. He’d never see his abuela, his sisters, his brothers, his mamá, his cousins, all dead. Two days. If he hadn’t insisted they stay on that one planet another day to party with the aliens, if they just moved a little faster-

And then the other part hit him. This attack was planned, it was for him. The Galra must hve found his family and killed them to upset him.

He was gasping for air between his gulping sobs. He felt two hands on his shoulders and heard Shiro speaking to him. “Lance, please, I need you to breathe with me.”

He wrenched himself away. “Why would I want to-” He frantically gasped for air- “Breathe when-” A gasp- “Everyone who ever cared about me is gone?”

The others shared a worried glance. Hunk and Allura both had tears in their eyes.

Allura stepped forward, crouching to speak to the other paladin. “Lance,” She said in a soft voice. “Lance, look at me.”

Miraculously, he complied.

“Breathe with me, Lance. In. Out. In. Out.” She repeated this until Lance seemed to listen. Shiro whispered something in her ear. She nodded.

“Can you tell me what 12 times 12 is?”

Lance looked confused by the question for a moment. “144.”

“8 times 7?”

He breathed in a few more times. “…56.”

“11 times-”

“Why am I doing times tables?”

“Shiro says it can helps to focus on something.”

Lance looked down. He was now sitting against a wall, hugging his knees.

Allura’s tone turned more hesitant. “Lance, when I lost Altea, there was a part of me that wanted to give up, that thought all hope was lost. I had lost my family, my friends, almost everyone I ever knew. But I didn’t give up, and now I’ve found some new friends, a new purpose. And-”

Lance gave a defeated sigh. “I’m not you, Allura.” He picked at his pants. “You’re this amazing space princess, and I’m just-” He choked back another sob. “I’m nothing now! You could come back because you’re- you! Everyone loves you, you’re talented and smart and important and you can do all these cool things– of course you’re meant to get back up! What am I? I’m a failure, I was never even meant to get to fighter class-” He started gasping for breath in the middle of his sentences again. “-I’ve been holding you back from the start, I’m no good at fighting, I’m lazy and stupid and- annoying, all I ever do is annoy you guys, and I couldn’t even see when Shiro asked me for help!”

Allura gently placed her hands on either side of Lance’s face, lifting his head. “None of us saw what was happening to Shiro, that is not your fault. None of the things you said about yourself are true. You’re part of the team, and we all care about you.”

Lance scoffed. “Yeah, sure. That’s why you all avoid me at all costs. That’s why you all hate it whenever I open my mouth. That’s why none of you even mentioned anything when I died. Because you just care so much.”

“Lance, I didn’t know-” Allura started.

“You shouldn’t have bothered bringing me back.” He mumbled, looking at the ground again.

Allura stepped back as if smacked. “Lance, that is something I would never regret. We need-”

“You died?” Hunk was unable to help himself. When Lance looked up, it looked as if the others had been holding themselves back from asking the same thing.

He laughed. “Why should I be surprised? No one even noticed, I didn’t even get a mention.” He laughed again, getting increasingly worried looks from the others. “See, this is the kind of thing where I usually say "Yeah, maybe you don’t matter so much to these guys, but at least you have your family back home!” His laughs became a cracking voice and sobs. “And I’d be able to handle it, but I don’t- I can’t-”

Allura looked to the others for help. Shiro tried crouching in front of Lance. “Listen to me, you’re going to get past this.”

“I don’t want to get past this.”

“But you will. Your family would want you to. And we’re going to help you, because we’re a team. We’re all paladins.”

“I’m a placeholder.”

“What?”

“Blue only took me in to get you guys out there to your real lions, and Red took me because Allura was better for Blue and we needed a full team. Now that everyone’s back, it’s- Allura is best for Blue, Keith is best for Red. I don’t really belong with any of the lions.” He sighed. “I was going to leave when we got here, but now I don’t even have a place to go.”

Shiro looked like he was about to say something, but was cut off by Keith punching the wall of a nearby house as hard as he could. He was breathing heavy, and he was crying by this point too. He directed a short “Sorry” to Lance before turning to Pidge and Hunk. “What the Hell happened when I was gone? How did you let Lance get like this without even noticing?”

“I didn’t think-” Pidge stammered, looking actually afraid.

“Oh, so you just didn’t think about your friend? Because that sounds-” He took a menacing step forward before he was interrupted.

“Stop!” Lance yelled. Keith immediately listened.

“It’s not their fault, they had to do so much engineering and tech work, and they just didn’t have a lot of time to hang out and I couldn’t keep up with them when they were doing work. And then I guess I felt bad about that and jealous that they were getting so close and I started to pull away from them during free time and then it just got worse, it’s ny fault, alright? It wasn’t them being assholes or because they don’t like me or-” Lance’s eyes flickered as he realized what he said. “Oh.”

Hunk took the opportunity to speak. “Yeah, we never meant to exclude you. We didn’t know you felt like that. If we had known- but even so, we shouldn’t have needed you to tell us this. It’s our faults, but it wasn’t because we don’t care.”

Lance took another look at the remains of the house he grew up in as more tears came. He wished there was something, anything left of it. He shook his head.

“Pidge, I want you to hack into the Galra communication logs. You dig up everyone involved in doing this. I want to destroy them all.” He stood, a dangerous look in his eye. “You guys might have some people you want to check on, I’ll head back so you can get in your own lions.”

“Wait, Lance-” Keith started.

“We can talk when we get back. I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t want to remember it like this. Please.”

There were no other complaints as they all piled back into the red lion, which thankfully took over most of the flying, as Lance couldn’t see past his tears. He was starting to get a headache from crying so hard. He looked around for a water bottle, but his eyes locked on his bayard.

He looked away moments later, not wanting to draw suspicion in case he decided to do it. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about it before, but now the thing that always stopped him was gone.

He glanced behind him. Too many worried glances being thrown his way. But he couldn’t bare to wait another moment. Maybe if he was quick enough-

Without glancing at it again his hand shot out and grabbed his bayard. He had it positioned below his neck before it had even fully formed into a gun. He saw the others lunge to stop him, heard their gasps of panic, even felt his lion swerve to jostle him, but he had pulled the trigger.

And nothing happened. His bayard was pulled from his hands by Keith, whose face was completely closed off. He closed his eyes for a few moments.

His voice shook. “Never do that again.”

Not A Big Deal - Part 2

@the-nerdy-fangirl@klance-or-die@black-and-white-eyes

I’m shocked by all the attention this story is getting, thank you all for reading! Part 1

Lance gets reckless because he thinks that since no one reacted to him dying, death must not mean anything anymore since Allura can bring them back.

A few Galnians followed the team, carrying the supplies they had promised to the lions. The team was tense, reluctantly silent, everyone keeping an eye on Lance.

As soon as they got to the lions and the aliens could leave, they turned on him. Keith didn’t even wait for them to be fully out of earshot.

“What the Hell was that, Lance?” Keith got in his face immediately.

Lance defensively laughed it off, and before he even opened his mouth to speak Keith was yelling again.

“You need to take this seriously! Dammit, are you actually on a mission to die?” And Lance was quieted by the look in Keith’s eye. He wasn’t just angry; he looked terrified.

Shiro put a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Keith’s right. What you did today was dangerous. You gambled your life for nothing!”

“It wasn’t nothing! I got us-”

“We could have made do with what we already had! What made you think that was okay?” Shiro was trying to walk the line of being calm and losing control enough to show Lance how serious the situation was.

“I-uh- I thought-” With all the eyes on him, Lance suddenly wasn’t so sure about things. He looked at the ground and mumbled. “I thought it wasn’t really a big deal.”

“Not a big deal? Lance, you could have died!” Pidge yelled.

“So? Allura could just-”

“Are you kidding me? You think that because Allura can sometimes bring people back, you’re invincible?” Keith was furious.

“Uh… yeah?” Lance sounded unsure.

Hunk had stayed back before, trying to give Lance the benefit of the doubt, but now he stepped forward. “Lance, you can’t act like this. Like you’re unstoppable, like you’re all-powerful. It’s-”

“Stupid and arrogant.” Keith finished.

“I was going to say dangerous, but alright.” Hunk shrugged.

“It’s not like that!” Tears were welling up in Lance’s eyes.

“What’s it like, then?” Keith countered.

Suddenly Lance felt a bit of anger. “Well what else was I supposed to think, huh? It’s either that death wasn’t a big deal for us anymore or that you all just didn’t care about mine specifically!”

Silence fell over the group. Lance saw Allura out her head in her hands.

“What are you talking about?” Pidge asked softly, cautiously.

Lance only looked at Allura. “You didn’t tell them. Are you serious, this whole time they just didn’t know?”

“Wait, wait, wait. Can someone please explain what’s going on?” Hunk asked.

Allura looked up. “When Lance saved me from that beam and he stopped responding, I went into Red to check on him and he- he was dead, I had to bring him back like I did with Shiro.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Hunk asked. “Don’t you think it would be a little importat for his best friend to know he died?”

“Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal.” Lance grumbled.

“That’s not what happened, Lance. You know I care very much for all of you, I just- When I first found you I had to focus on bringing you back as soon as possible. Then after I- well, at the moment I didn’t want to alarm anyone in the middle of the battle, but then I thought about it and I didn’t want to talk too much about what happened because if the team thought I could just revive anyone from death, you would all start taking less care of yourselves.” Allura grimaced. “I suppose that plan didn’t work too well.”

She cleared her throat and continued. “For the record, I got lucky bringing back the two of you. Conditions have to be specific, the body has to be mostly undamaged, and chance plays a part too. It is never something to rely on.”

“Got it, princess.” Lance whispered. He paused. “So if- uh- if no one else brought it up because they didn’t know, why didn’t you talk to me about me dying?”

“I avoided the subject because I thought you would be mad at me.”

“Mad at you? You saved my life!”

“I was also the reason you died!” She argued.

“Hey, I chose to take that hit for you!”

“You shouldn’t have had to. I was-”

“We all let our guard down sometimes. It’s fine, princess. I just really wish you at least told me you weren’t telling anyone about it. I just assumed everyone knew and didn’t care enough to have a reaction. So I came to my own conclusions.”

“You think we just wouldn’t mention you being dead?” Pidge tilted her head.

“I mean, there was a lot going on, and it was only for a few minutes, so-”

“Most people aren’t dead for any amount of time!” Hunk yelled.

“Well it’s not like it’s anywhere near how long Shiro was-”

“Stop.” Shiro stepped forward, putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Lance, we can’t ignore our own problems because we think someone has it worse. You all have been through more than you should have to, and you shouldn’t feel like you can’t be upset about it.”

“I- uh- okay?”

“And you need to be more careful on missions. Death isn’t something to be taken lightly. I understand why you started acting like this, but you need to stop. You have to value your own life, and trust your other paladins to not get killed when you aren’t jumping between them and danger.”

Lance winced. So they noticed he was taking blows for others more often. “But what if-”

Shiro sighed. “I know you want to protect the rest of the team, but none of them want you to get hurt for them. They can hold their own.”

“I know, it’s just- nevermind. I’ll try to stop doing that so much.”

Finally Keith spoke again. “So if you thought Allura told them, why didn’t you tell me? When you were telling me about what I missed when I was gone, you didn’t even-”

“What do you want me to say, Keith? I knew no one else thought much of it and I didn’t want to actually watch someone’s first reaction to my death and have it be brushing it off as an unimportant detail. I thought you especially wouldn’t care and I didn’t want to see that.”

Especially. The word hit Keith in the gut and he threw his arms around Lance before he knew what he was doing. Soon more joined in.

When the hug was finally over, Hunk put an arm over Lance’s shoulder. “How about we hang out for a while and you tell me all about the time you heroically saved Allura and came back from the dead?”

Not A Big Deal – Part 1

I decided to expand on my idea of Lance taking no one fussing over him dying to mean that it wasn’t that big of a deal- that death itself wasn’t a big deal, that Allura would just bring people back anyway. And so he starts risking his life for no good reason.

Lance wanted to ask so badly.

Why didn’t anyone make a big deal out of it?

He didn’t expect hours of fussing or people babying him, but he expected someone to mention it. Ask if he was okay. Reprimand him for being reckless. Say anything in response to him dying.

He almost convinced himself to ask Allura if the others even knew, but then he shook his head. Of course the others knew. He was probably making it into too big of a deal, he was alive now, after all.

He really didn’t want to be the only one to make a big deal out of it. They would roll their eyes, say he’s being dramatic. Say he wasn’t taking things seriously. Things are dangerous and they can’t worry about Lance chickening out because he couldn’t take being dead for five minutes.

He came to a conclusion. After seeing the reactions to his own death and then watching Allura restore life to Shiro, he learned something. Death wasn’t a big deal, Allura can fix it.

Which isn’t to say that no one was upset about Shiro dying, but that was because he suffered so long. Because he had watched as Lance and the others didn’t recognize the fraud. Because he asked Lance for help and he failed him.

In comparison, Lance had nothing to complain about.

And he shouldn’t fear it happening again, he convinced himself of this. Now that Allura could bring people back, dying was just another injury. It wasn’t pleasant, sure, but he would get over it.

He found himself biting back any lingering instincts of self-preservation. Mission first. He would dive into danger if it meant they would succeed.

And part of him still hoped that they’d notice, that they’d yell at him for being reckless. The most he’d get was a startled “Lance!” with no follow-up discussion after the fact. He figured these were just reactions that lingered from when death meant something, from when they could be in danger.

He found it was harder to ignore threats when they weren’t directed at him. He knew if one of the others died, Allura would be able to revive them, but what if she couldn’t? Besides, dying isn’t exactly painless, and he doesn’t want any harm coming to his friends.

And of course, the most important person to protect was Allura. If she was hurt, well, besides the obvious fact that she couldn’t revive herself and the team needed her leadership, Lance would be heartbroken.

He stopped counting his near death experiences. It used to be saving Coran from the bomb, the airlock, and dying for Allura, but they piled on quickly after that. He took a bullet to the side when he pushed Hunk out of the way. Got a concussion when he made Red take a hit meant for Green. The list went on, and they hadn’t even gotten to Earth yet. But they’d patch him up– he only needed Coran so far, not going as far as to die and need Allura to step in again yet.

He hadn’t noticed the worried glances everyone would toss his way. He didn’t know they noticed his behavior change.

Then he ran into danger without the excuse of protecting someone.

It was their final stop before Earth. They were meeting with another group of aliens who offered aid in the form of more supplies and troops.

But playing a simple game could give team Voltron double what they were promised. All you had to do was sit in one of 3 identical chairs. On the count of 3, a lethal amount of electricity would be sent through one of the chairs. If you live, you win. Like Russian Roulette.

“Thank you for the offer, but none of us are interested in that type of game.” Allura tried to stay diplomatic. She had to respect their traditions, no matter how needlessly dangerous they were.

“Actually, I’ll give it a go.” The entire table whipped their heads to face the source of the voice, not quite believing he would have said this. Sure enough, it was Lance, looking smug as ever.

“No, Lance, we can’t put you in danger for no reason.” Allura spoke through gritted teeth, both annoyed at Lance for thinking this would be funny to suggest and concerned that he meant it.

“You see, Princess Allura,” The large, hair-covered alien spoke, “Once you accept to play, any backing out will result in death.”

“Yes, but as we were not aware of that rule, I think you can make an exce-”

“We have been doing this game this way for 1000 years with no exceptions.”

The rest of the table was all talking at once.

“He was just joking!” Shiro argued.

“He doesn’t know what he’s saying!” Pidge.

“You can’t just force him to play your stupid game!” Keith.

“Please, can’t we find another way to do this?” Hunk.

Lance only stood up, rolling his eyes and smiling. He bit back his fear of death, this being the first time he had time to think about his decision. It would be silly to show fear, right?

“Ignore them, they’re a little cranky. Long drive here, you know?” Lance made himself laugh.

“Lance, what are you doing?” Keith demanded.

“Stop fooling around!” Pidge.

“Please, Lance.” Allura.

Lance smiled. “Relax, guys.” And he went up to the stage with 3 chairs.

Before he could choose one, the paladins started getting out their weapons. “I’m sorry, Galnians, we really need our paladin back.” Allura said as the others took a stance, ready to fight.

“He made a commitment. He must honor it.” The Galnian replied, an edge to his voice now.

“Look guys, let’s not start a war over here!” Lance asked of his team.

“Well we can’t let them- hey!” Pidge was interrupted as clear walls encased Lance, the Galnians in the room, and the 3 chairs.

Lance looked back at the alien, who shrugged. “This happens sometimes. People get upset, so we don’t let them interfere until it’s complete. Now pick a seat, blue paladin.” Lance would say that the alien was probably smiling under all that hair.

Lance sighed, then picked the seat all the way to the left, ignoring the team looking horrified on the other side of the glass. He gave them a wink right before the Galnian started the countdown.

“And 3… 2… 1…” Lance heard a button being pressed behind him, and he flinched as sparks began to fly from the chair next to his. Then he smiled in relief.

The alien was all too excited, helping him up. “Congratulations! Wasn’t it exhilarating?” he asked. Lance only nodded, staring at his friends, whose weapons had now been put away as they weren’t able to use them when it would have made a difference.

The wall was lowered. “See guys, nothing to worry about!” Lance grinned.

His face fell as he looked at the faces of the other paladins. They ranged from shocked to horrified to angry to worried.

Allura looked right past Lance. “My apologies to you and the other Galnians, I’m afraid we must be going. We appreciate what you have offered us.” Her voice was strained.

Lance caught a look from Shiro before they started walking and he winced. He could gather that he was in big trouble.

LOTOR GAVE NARTI KOVA TO HELP HER SEE!!!!

he must’ve actually loved his generals?? that was his cat who apparently was with him for almost his whole life??

i cant believe they had him kill her.

im so angry now you have no idea.

i DESERVED these two back.

Hey! So I posted the Langst survey results super early this morning and also it was fragmented into different posts so I thought it would be nice to make a post with all of the links to the results in one place!

So:

-Basic Demographics & TL;DR

-I Like Langst!

-I’m Indifferent to Langst!

-I Don’t Like Langst!

…And that’s it! Happy reading!

Third time’s the charm! Here’s another read-more!

Why not?

The answers to this question hit on a few major grievances with Langst, which will be summarized below:

OOC Lance: Lance’s character tends to become woobiefied in Langst, which then turns it into a “Break the Woobie”-fest and that isn’t very appealing. Also, this inaccurate characterization results in Lance turning into a one-dimensional person, with almost all of the canon qualities that make him interesting, like his optimism and humor, being erased in favor of him being a turning him into a “messed up caricature of whining and stupidity”. In addition, there exists Langst in which Lance struggles with certain things that his canon self may not have had the same issues with, which is another disservice to his canon strengths. Langst creators also manage to overwrite his existing flaws with new, less realistic ones. On another note, another characterization error that Langst makes has to do with the fact that a lot of Langst uses Lance as a self-insert type of character, ignoring his issues in order to depict the issues of the writer/artist/etc. While there isn’t anything inherently wrong with this, responders at the very least wanted Langst featuring Canon Lance, not a self-projection with Lance’s name.

OOC Paladins: In Langst, the paladins tend to exist for the sole purpose of either being the problem/causing Lance’s angst or to gush and fuss over Lance constantly. Both of these options mischaracterize them or neglects their characters completely. In terms of being the problem, often what happens is that the other paladins become mean to fit a (false) “"oh Lance is so misunderstood and everyone is mean to him"” narrative. However, Lance’s canon angst comes from his own personal insecurities, and not from the actions of others, which is a narrative that a lot of Langst pushes. Characters like Shiro, for instance, are painted in a bad light in order to intensify the Langst (i.e. Shiro is abusive to Lance), and Keith, in particular, is either abusive or Lance’s Trophy Wife (or otherwise only exists to help Lance and nothing else). Finally, as mentioned earlier, when the paladins are mischaracterized in this manner, their own personal issues and angst fall to the wayside in favor of Lance. For example, in certain Kerberos AUs, Lance goes to Kerberos in Shiro’s place and his resulting PTSD is explored and acknowledged, but Shiro, who canonically went to Kerberos and got PTSD, is dragged for being in the same exact circumstances.

Oversaturated, Overrated: Some responders have noted that it was a bit strange that Lance has an entirely separate word and subgenre for his angst. There is a lot of Langst out there, and some responders feel like this lessens the value of individual Langst pieces. In addition, it always seems to be Fanon Lance that is used in Langst, which weakens the appeal. Also, it’s been overdone and to some, it is now boring.

Over-exaggerated, Uncreative: Lance’s insecurities in the show are turned in to a full-blown angst-fest in a lot of Langst. Lance isn’t as insecure as people are making him out to be, his insecurities aren’t always everyone else’s problem to deal with, and a lot of it ends up overdramatic or badly written. Also, there are a lot of the same clichés, overused tropes, and repetitive/obvious arcs used in Langst that makes it look not very creative in terms of pulling heartstrings.

Neglects others’ angst: Several responders were irked that the angst of other characters was being ignored in favor of Lance’s perceived insecurities. Everything seems to revolve around Lance, probably due to his popularity in the fandom, but Lance isn’t the only homesick one or the only character who has angst. For people who prefer other angst, it can be disheartening to try to search for that angst and scrolling through pages and pages of Langst to find even one thing. Also, in ignoring the struggles of other characters, Lance himself is absolved of any crime, i.e. if he hurts others it’s mostly overlooked and he isn’t required to apologize or make it up to them, and sometimes other characters’ angst is reassigned to Lance (for example, Shiro’s struggles are Lance’s now).

Racist: When portraying Lance’s Cuban/Latino heritage, Langst can fall into some unfortunate stereotypes. As one responder put it, “A predominantly white fandom brutalizing the attractive, brown main character? No thanks…It makes fans who should be able to relate to Lance as a Cuban and latino teen fucking uncomfortable with even showing their content in fandom…He’s also an openly emotional boy, which you don’t see often, and yet people turn him into personal wank material and spread it as a popular, proudful idea. It’s not…”

There were also responders who don’t understand why people would intentionally hurt Lance, as they believe that he has already suffered enough in the show and that he deserves love and happiness. Conversely, other responders simply don’t like Lance, so Langst doesn’t appeal to them as a result. Still other responders disliked Langst due to specific prompts/tropes, i.e. they would rather there be less character death and more ship-free material (Klance likes to appear hand-in-hand with Langst, to their dismay).

Other issues responders had with Langst include:

• They portray Lance’s family as evil sometimes
  
• Not being a fan of angst
  
• The tendency to put Lance through continuous hell with little to no positive resolution
  
• It’s “unnecessary to constantly take lance’s anxieties and beat him over the head with them”
  
• Presenting elements of Langst as canon despite it all being based around headcanons
  
• Ignoring canon
  

Are there any good Langst prompts/topics/tropes that you like?

13 of the people who responded said that there weren’t any good prompts. Of the people who chose a prompt, the most popular ones were Homesick Lance (missing his home or family) and prompts in which different team members come to comfort him (e.g. Hunk or Coran).

People also liked prompts that included Lance’s insecurities – as long as they were handled in a satisfactory manner. For example, one responder didn’t want to include “Keith apologizing for Lance being jealous of him.” Other related prompts include scenarios that involve his insecurities coming to light, hiding insecurities to both take care of the team and their issues and not worry them, and Lance dealing with his insecurities about his place on the team. People also liked prompts that looked more into Lance’s character and how he doesn’t feel as useful and looked deeper into his canon psyche/insecurities (as long as, again, it’s done in moderation).

Miscellaneous good prompts include:

• Canon-based Langst
  
• Insecurities about his place on the team
  
• Lance worries he’s not enough
  
• Lance-centric hurt/comfort
  
• Paladins comforting each other as a family, and acting as a support group for each other
  
• The team tries to cheer Lance up but makes things worse
  
• Conflicts that aren’t completely resolved
  
• “Lance realizing that he shouldn’t lash out when he’s feeling insecure and thus damaging his relationships and going on a self-discovery making painful realizations that he doesn’t need to be the best and accepting he’s fine the way he is realizing validation while nice is not essential.”
  
• “I ship Lance x happiness”
  

What is your least favorite Langst prompt/topic/trope?

4 people don’t like most, if not all, Langst prompts.

Many people noted OOC Lance and/or the other Paladins as a least favorite Langst trope. For the paladins, responders disliked when they were demonized and turned into bullies. Subcategories of this include: Lance isn’t appreciated enough by the team, “Everyone hates Lances except Trophy Husband Keith”, “Keith blows up and tells Lance he’s worthless/will never be good enough/anything of the like”, Shiro neglects his needs, and Shiro is mean to Lance. For OOC Lance, as one responder aptly put it, they dislike prompts that go along the lines of “Keith is mean to meee, I cry myself to sleep and no one caresss, The team won’t listen to me even tho I’m righttt”.

Other unpopular prompts that multiple people mentioned are: Lance dies, Insecure Lance, and Lance feeling suicidal/cutting (suicidal ideation, being caught self-harming, etc.)

Other least favorite prompts include:

• Lance being “singled out for unending hell”
  
• It’s Keith’s fault that Lance is insecure/compares himself to Keith
  
• Lance feeling like he shouldn’t be a paladin (especially when the feelings are triggered by things the other paladins say)
  
• Lance is injured
  
• Violence, abuse, neglect
  
• Non-/Dub-Con
  
• Pining for Keith
  
• Kidnapped, tortured, brainwashed by Lotor
  
• “sex makes things better”
  
• Homesick Lance
  

If you could change anything about this microgenre, what would you change?

Firstly, one of the things responders wanted more of is a focus on angst for other characters besides Lance. Similarly, responders wanted more variety in Langst, giving Lance depth as to why he’s sad or depressed, instead of making it due to, say, pining for Keith. Related to that, people wanted less Langst (or any angst, for that matter) being used as a ploy for ships; this is mainly having less Langst be from a romantic standpoint, and also making it less “Klancey”, since in those scenarios Keith tends to lose a lot of personality in an effort to make Lance Happy™

Speaking of Keith losing his personality, the main thing that this set of responders wanted to change about Langst was to let everyone remain in character. Characters shouldn’t be thrown under the bus or reduced to something they’re not in order for Lance to achieve maximum angst. The other paladins value Lance as a member of the team and are supportive of him, and their characterization should reflect that. In addition, the team’s characterization should remain intact, allowing them to be fleshed out characters in their own right, rather than one-dimensional foils. Good angst can still be done with canon characterization. Furthermore, some responders singled out Keith and his characterization; he seems to be used as a prop to deepen Lance’s angst, and this may involve altering his canon personality.

In regards to Lance’s characterization, he also needs to be written better. He should be portrayed as a stronger, more confident character (some Langst portrays him as less intelligent or a “pushover woobie”, which irks responders). Moreover, Lance’s loud personality and sense of humor should be allowed to shine, even though he’s experiencing angst; liveliness and humor and angst are all able to coexist at once.

Of the people who responded to this question, 4 of them said that would change the entire subgenre, and/or its very existence.

Other things people would change are:

• Create Langst in moderation
  
• Normalize characters showing vulnerability (Don’t ignore their flaws)
  
• Let Lance be the cause of his own problems
  
• Let Lance be happy
  
• More believable scenarios
  
• More of other paladins reacting to Lance’s problems (i.e. Pidge)
  
• More team support (Team is part of the solution, not the problem)
  
• Less plotless/baseless angst; don’t simply suckerpunch Lance constantly
  
• Less horribly cliché/sappy
  
• Less association with Lantis/Klantis
  
• Don’t romanticize things like (internal) homophobia, depression, self-harm, abuse, non-con, etc.
  

Do you enjoy angst focused on other Voltron characters? Which ones?

Sorta wordy, so under a read-more it goes!

How do you engage with Langst?

• 27 voters (77.14%) read
  
• 8 voters (22.86%) headcanon
  
• 2 voters (5.71%) draw
  
• 3 voters (8.57%) write.
  
• 6 voters (2.63%) said “Other”; their responses included: not engaging at all, having “vague interest in others’ headcanons sometimes”, “I look at it when it comes up on my dash and I say “wow he’s sad in that"”, and “I witness”.
  

Any reasons for your indifference?

Some say that Langst isn’t done well and is too over the top. It can be entertaining, but more often than not they find it OOC and unnecessarily blown out of proportion; it can seem like the people involved just want to beat up Lance for no reason. One responder claims that people do so to Lance without a proper understanding of trauma. Langst is good when it explores Lance’s character and insecurities in interesting ways in conjunction with the team’s support, (and is balanced with fluff) but falls flat when other characters are made into villains or the angst goes too overboard. Also, the fact that it is often a vessel for Klance shippers detracts from the subgenre. Langst is believed to not be the best read of Lance’s character that the fandom has produced.

Also, indifferent responders said that they it too much of it to fully enjoy it. It’s been overwrought and overdone, its large prevalence in the fandom making it redundant. Thus, they would like a larger variety of angst; it felt unfair that Lance specifically has a word and subcategory for his own angst, when there are a wealth of other characters to “spread the suffering” to. One responder says that Lance doesn’t deserveall the focus on his angst in particular. Another reason for indifference is that they are indifferent to Lance in general, mostly due to discourse. Others pay more attention to angst featuring other characters, such as Keith.

Some responders are indifferent to Langst for personal reasons; for example, seeing their favorite character hurt bring their mood down, (but they’ll still read it if they’re in a slump), or Langst itself makes them anxious and depressed but they don’t want to get in the way of others’ enjoyment of it.

Preferred Langst prompts/topics/tropes

Preferred tropes that multiple people voted for were homesick Lanceandcanon-based Langst; this includes topic such as possible claustrophobia from being locked in the healing pod/airlock, or something similar to what happened in season 3, where Lance has insecurities, opens up about them, and people comfort him.

Miscellaneous preferred tropes include:

• Self-discovery
  
• Coming-of age stories
  
• Overcoming trauma that stunted social/emotional growth
  
• Lance doubting himself
  
• Lance talking about his issues with the team for the sake of team bonding
  
• Langst that is lighthearted/has a happy conclusion
  
• Hurt/Comfort (especially if paired with Hance or Klance)
  
• Extensive injuries (to a point)
  
• Injury/death
  
• “Long ship fics like Hance or Klance with Hunk or Keith dying at the end, letting you back with an empty feeling and wet clothes of your tears”
  

Less preferred Langst prompts/topics/tropes?

Lesser-preferred tropes include the paladins being mean to Lance because it’s OOC to canon. Also, people dislike when Klance is included, and they dislike character death.

Also, there is a “samey trope” of Lance being captured, the paladins feeling bad for not listening to/believing in him, etc. that is disliked. Other plots neutral responders were tired of included ones such as “Allura is too tough on the team”, “Keith is insensitive and stuck up”, and variants of “Lance sacrifices himself for the team and they realize they never appreciated him”

Miscellaneous less preferred tropes include:

•  Anything involving insecurities or homesickness
  
• “7^thwheel”
  
• Self-hatred
  
• “ADHD” is a shameful burden”
  
• Sickfics
  
• Anything that stems from popular headcanons that aren’t based on canon
  
• Lance losing everything he loves (he doesn’t deserve it)
  
• Characters suffering for no reason, bodily/mental harm for the sake of harm
  
• Langst for the sake of making other characters look bad (i.e. Team Voltron shunning Lance for his issues)
  
• “Overt use of the trope without the nuance needed to take it out of horror porn.”
  
• Over the top Langst, e.g. Lance passing out from fear because Keith locked him in an airlock
  
• Unrequited Shance ft. Sheith
• Especially if Lance is depressed or suicidal over it

If you could change anything about this microgenre, what would you change?

Many of the people who answered this question said that they would change Langst by making the characters act more in character. The team loves him in canon, so Langst should reflect that. Keith, in particular, shouldn’t be demonized in order to make Lance seem more tragic. Also, Lance, too, should remain in character.

One responder wanted less blaming Lance’s insecurities on other characters; the team doesn’t cause Langst, he has to find himself and realize his worth independently (though the team can help him sometimes). Another wanted people to stop acting as if Lance is the only one with mental issues while assuming the others are all neurotypical.

Other changes that multiple people called for include:

• More gen Langst
  
• Different/more dynamic circumstances
  
• Less of Lance always being the victim (e.g. through power imbalances with other paladins)
  
• Less Langst in general
  

Miscellaneous things people want more of:

• Diversity in AUs
  
• Expanding on the Langst
  
• “Long ship fics with character death”
  
• Happy endings
  
• Paladins comforting and supporting Lance
  

Miscellaneous things people want less of:

• Character death
  
• Self-hatred
  
• Shaladin drama
  
• Writing Langst to be edgy
  
• Suicidal stuff (it feels OOC)
  
• Projection/self-insert
  

Do you enjoy angst focused on other Voltron characters? Which ones?

I know I chunked it, but this is still kinda wordy, so I’ll put it under a cut:

How do you engage with Langst?

• 31 voters (81.58%) read Langst
  
• 12 voters (31.58%) create headcanons
  
• 6 voters (15.79%) draw
  
• 5 voters (13.16%) write
  
• 1 voter said that they “View other people’s comics/drawings”
  

Why do you like Langst?

There were a lot of different reasons people liked Langst. Here are the big ones:

One of the biggest reasons was that Lance was very relatable. In canon, he has his own insecurities and his own ways of displaying/hiding those insecurities, which many people could already relate to. Langst that capitalize on that part of his character in a well-written and satisfactory way and can expand on them are favored. Being relatable also allows readers to project onto his character, letting him have and work through insecurities that closely resemble one’s own can be therapeutic and let you feel represented in a positive way.

Langst also can be a vehicle for additional character development that doesn’t exist in canon. Lance, as a character, is dynamic, and Langst can take advantage of this and create a gateway for more character development. Putting a character such as Lance through conflict, bending and breaking him, and then allowing him to overcome the pain and adds complexity and deepens his character even further. These angsty new character arcs create a juxtaposition between a happy, sometimes silly character and his suffering that is appealing to some. Langst fics can also develop new and different relationships, both platonic and romantic, between different members of the cast.

Some read Langst simply because Lance is their favorite character. There are people who like to see him suffer and be in emotional pain. Others like to experience the heartbreak and cry. There is more of an emotional payoff when he overcomes hardships, and it’s very satisfying to see him get comforted and get the help he needs. As one responder stated, “Theres something about Lance that makes us all want to see him go through these many feelings”.

A few other people simply like angst and other darker storylines, and they like seeing Lance be the subject of it. Those people believe that it makes things more realistic and interesting, especially since the only people who get hurt are fictional.

Something that many people noted was that Langst was best when there is a successful conclusion. The “nonpermanent hurt” allows for many opportunities for hurt/comfort, in which characters can care for and support Lance in ways that, to some, are superior to how they treat him in canon.

Some other miscellaneous reasons for liking Langst include: it being a good inspiration for good art (including vent art), it being a cool concept in general, and liking how “It also tends to show how hard fighting in this universal war can be for all of the paladins, not just Lance.”.

What is your favorite Langst prompt/topic/trope?

Many people’s favorite Langst prompts are those that deal with his insecurities and the issues that arise from them. These insecurities include feeling like the “7^th wheel” - being insecure of his status of a paladin and his role on team Voltron -  having his own self-doubt - thinking lowly of himself and doubting the team’s love for him – or feeling otherwise left out or unimportant. Also, people’s favorite fics included ones where he overcompensates for his aforementioned insecurities, and someone seeing past the overcompensation, the team realizing that Lance feels worthless (perhaps through a mind link), and Lotor taking advantage of those insecurities.

Another popular prompt was Lance missing his home/his family.

Miscellaneous favored prompts include:

• Lance, feeling like the least valuable member of the team, is desperate to prove himself and goes on a dangerous mission; the team is worried about him, and validates him when he gets back.
  
• Lance has a secret about himself (i.e. he’s transgender, anorexic, suicidal) that is revealed against his will, and the other paladins help him by giving him healthy coping mechanisms, offering moral support, and generally being nice and accepting.
  
• Lance getting separated from team Voltron and having to find his own way by himself.
  
• Feeling ignored
  
• Team Voltron makes a callous joke that hurts Lance’s feelings
  
• Depression
  
• Unrequited Shance ft. Sheith
  
• Hanahaki AUs
  
• Sickfics
  
• Lance is gravely wounded (possibly due to self-sacrifice)
  
• Whump
  
• Lance leaving Voltron
  
• Rebel Leader Lance
  
• Death(Fun Fact: one person’s example of this particular trope was “Lance getting rejected and killed by Blue”)
  

What is your least favorite Langst prompt/topic/trope?

Overwhelmingly, one of the least favorite tropes in Langst fic is the team being OOC. Langst in which the team is mean to Lance, bully him, or are demonized in general are not appreciated; some see it as “lazy angst”. There were also multiple people who disliked character death, especially if Lance is the one who dies.

Miscellaneous disliked prompts and tropes include:

• OOC Lance
  
• Overdone uselessness
  
• Lance downright hates himself
  
• Lance being ignored or cast aside by the team
  
• Lance being made fun of
  
• Whump
  
• Anything involving rape, assault, abuse, or death
  
• Torture porn
  
• Lance’s legs are amputated
  
• Anything involving Lance’s family
  
• Lance becomes “strictly gay”
  
• A love confession from Keith instantly cures Lance of his angst
  
• Internal homophobia/biphobia/panphobia
  

What type of Langst prompt/topic/trope would you like to see more of?

There were a lot of different ideas, so I’ll just list them:

• Plot-driven Langst
  
• Lance’s feelings about being shut down by Blue, not being chosen by Black, and always seeming to be a second replacement for Keith
  
• Lance missing his family (especially his mom)
  
• Focusing on Lance’s insecurities
  
• Lance needing more assurance
  
• Lance figuring things out on his own
  
• Addressing how he overcompensates for his insecurities (by flirting with lots of people, etc.)
  
• Lance changes his personality, leading everyone to understand that the old one was better
  
• Angsty interactions with Pidge
  
• Team realizing how he feels
  
• Team caring for him
  
• Lance hiding how he feels for the sake of the team, but its revealed he doesn’t have to
  
• Lance realizing his skills and talents
  
• Biracial/bilingual Lance
  
• Langst that addresses his ADHD directly and accurately
  
• Lance is separated from the others (i.e. he thinks they forgot about him and slowly goes crazy he’s forced into life/death situations, etc.)
  
• Lance running away from the team (e.g. he “joins” the Galra to help Voltron, but he can’t tell Voltron)
  
• Rebel leader Lance
  
• Battle wounds (Before and after getting the wound)
  
• Lance does something self-sacrificing (but he survives)
  
• People believing that Lance is dead, but he isn’t
  
• Injured/dying lance
  
• Lance fails at something, leading to his death
  
• Dark!Lance
  
• Angry Lance
  
• Unrequited Shance
  

What type of Langst prompt/topic/trope would you like to see less of?

Most responders would like to see less of the rest of team Voltron being OOC and mean to Lance. People would also like to see less of Lance dying (e.g. Lance sacrificing himself for a teammate), character death,and Lance’s self-hatred.

Miscellaneous less desired prompts/topics/tropes include:

• Mary-sue Lance
  
• Lance is kidnapped
  
• Running away from the castle
  
• Anything involving suicide or self-harm
  
• Anything involving rape, assault, abuse, or death
  
• Permanent hurt
  
• A Quick Resolution of the problem
  
• Hanahaki disease
  
• Romance being a cure-all
  
• Klangst
  
• Keith is the first to notice Lance’s issues (This responder believes that it’s more realistic for Coran or Hunk to notice first)
  

If you could change anything about this microgenre, what would you change?

Many people want the characters in Langst fics to be more in character. Team Voltron should not be demonized or a bunch of assholes. Lance’s insecurities are based on how he views himself and how he compares himself to the rest of the team, not on how the team treats him, and many responders would like Langst fics to reflect that and give more realistic interactions between Lance and the rest of the team. Sometimes Lance is too OOC, and the Langst is taken too far.

To answer this question, many responders mentioned Keith. Some would like less Klance. Others like the Klance, but would like less of a seme/uke dynamic between them, or would like an in-character Keith – Keith’s character is often misinterpreted, turning him into either an unnecessarily mean jerk or Lance’s trophy boyfriend.

Some mentioned that in many Langst fics, Lance usually only goes to Keith for comfort. They would like to change this so that Lance goes to more people for support; Hunk is his best friend, and Pidge is close to him as well. Having Shiro, Lance’s idol, comfort Lance would make an interesting plot point, and Allura and Coran can empathize to Lance’s homesickness.

People also would like to include more happy endings in Langst fics.

Miscellaneous things people would include:

• More of a focus on Lance’s journey and character, instead of using him as a crutch for others’ development
  
• Separate canon from fanon
  
• Less Lance seeming excessively useless
  
• Less of lance being “the weakest link” or inadequate or always messing up (because he’s not)
  
• Less forgetting Lance’s ego
  
• Less Lance dying
  
• Less excessive torture porn
  
• Less of Langst in which he gets hurt/abused
  

Do you enjoy angst focused on other Voltron characters? Which ones?

Hi! Thanks to everyone for responding! Sorry this is a bit later than I wanted it to be ^_^; . But the results are here! I ended up with 12 pages of notes, which is a lot, so I’m posting the results in chunks so I won’t inconvenience anyone. This post is essentially the basic demographics and TL;DR of the results. More detailed results will be coming soon!

Basic Demographics

Regarding age, 52.98% of responders are 18-24 years old.37.5% of responders are 12-17 years old, and 8.93%are25-34 years old. Interestingly enough, 1 voter said that they were under 12 years old!

Regarding gender, 68.45% of responders are cisgender femalesand14.29% of responders are genderqueer or non-binary.5.95% of responders are transgender males, and 2 voters (1.19%) are cisgender males. 7 voters answered “Other”’ their responses included agender and female-aligned genderfluid.

Do you like Langst?

• 35.15% of voters said that they liked Langst.
  
• 32.73% said that they were indifferent towards Langst
  
• 32.12% said that they did not like Langst.
  

TL;DR

People who like Langst:

• Mostly read Langst
  
• Mostly like Langst because Lance is a very relatable character
  
• Like Langst that deals with his insecurities or homesickness
  
• Dislike Langst that features an OOC team or character death
  
• Want characters in Langst to be more in character
  
• Also like Keith, Shiro and Pidge angst
  

People who are indifferent to Langst:

• Mostly read Langst
  
• Feel that a lot of Langst isn’t done well and is too over the top to be enjoyable
  
• Like Langst featuring homesick Lance and canon-based Langst
  
• Dislike Langst featuring the paladins being mean to Lance (OOC) or character death
  
• Want characters in Langst to be more in character
  
• Also like Keith, Shiro, and Pidge angst
  

People who dislike Langst

• The abundance of OOC characters, oversaturation, over exaggeration, and the fact that it neglects the angst of other characters makes Langst unenjoyable
  
• Like Langst that deals with Lance’s homesickness and insecurities (handled in moderation) and Langst in which different members come to comfort Lance
  
• Dislike Langst that features OOC characters
  
• Want more of a focus on other characters’ angst, more variety in Langst, and for everyone to remain in character in Langst
  
• Enjoy Shiro and Keith angst, as well as angst for all characters.
  

On Altea, pink is the color of mourning.

So not complaining about S7 but…..

If season 8 doesn’t have a scene where Lance fights with a sword, I might actually implode because it feels like the producers are keeping tabs on all the unfinished arcs for Lance and if S8 doesn’t give me Klance, makes Lance a Prince, resolve all that Langst have a scene where he talks to blue again or at the bare minimum at least have him fights with his Gosh darn beautiful Sword then Voltron will have truly ripped out my heart and left me empty.

For Those Who Followed Me For Voltron Fanfic - I Have a Surprise for You ~~

It just occurred to me that I have two stories that were part of zine projects that I have never posted. One of those was for the In My Scope Kinkance zine and the other for the Victorian Shance Flower zine. 

I have to find the final version files but I should have them posted soon enough!!