Us Again (Jaith)

Chapter Three: You and James WHAT?!?!

"but it would have been fun. if you would have been the one"

(Taylor Swift, the 1)

Here it was. The paladins were already back in action. With all the office and test work out of the way, Voltron was again permitted into the field. Keith, having dreaded a majority of the previous day's tests, was eager to get back in the fight. Keith however forgot to factor in a key detail: James Griffin. Keith couldn't decide which was worse, having to take orders from James or co-leading a team with James. Today he was testing out the latter.

Voltron and Griffin's elite fighter squad was sent on their first mission together. What was supposed to be a simple recon mission, gathering information about galran base locations, had turned into an all out ambush. The paladins in their lions and the squad in their garrison jets. The two teams mixed just as well as oil and water would. In other words: they were a mess. Their attacks were scattered as two separate courses of action took place. They were constantly cutting each other off in the air, dodging each other's missed attacks, swerving to avoid collisions.

"Griffin! Tell your guys to get out of the way!", Keith yelled.

"I was gonna tell you to do the same thing!", James replied.

"We can handle this. You should retreat, go back to the garrison. We don't need your help!"

"Unfortunately that's not our call to-AGH!", James is cut off when the tail of his ship was shot with a blast from the blue lion, Allura had shot him by accident, "shit!"

Shiro pipes up over the coms, "Griffin's been hit. We need to just go with what we have and abort!"

Though Griffin's ship was damaged it flew enough to make a rough landing near the Garrison. The rest of the team quickly evacuated the area and struck down any galran fighters that tried to follow. The mission was largely unsuccessful.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? I WOULD HAVE SUGGESTED YOU ABORT AT THE FIRST SIGN OF TROUBLE IF I KNEW YOU TWO WERE GOING TO FIGHT LIKE STUBBORN TODDLERS!", Iverson yelled, furious.

"We apologize sir. Our teams just don't seem to mesh well. We have two entirely different ways of operating", James said, head down in shame, his voice clear but small.

"I GRANTED YOU TWO THIS POSITION BECAUSE I CONSIDER YOU TO BE THE BEST! AND I EXPECT MY BEST TO BE ABLE TO FIGURE IT OUT," Iverson took a deep breath, trying to compose himself for a moment, "Are you hurt, Captain?"

"No, commander," James shook his head 'no'

"Good," Iverson replied.

"Good," Keith thought to himself.

"This of course won't go without consequence. You two are suspended from the next mission. Maybe some mindless busy work can help you get your heads out of your asses. Sorting archives will do," Iverson paused and turned to Shiro and the rest of the group standing awkwardly by, "Shiro will be the head of the next mission". Iverson looked back at Keith and James, still stood like sticks, avoiding eye contact, "Don't. Disappoint me. Again."

With that they were dismissed. James and his group retreated to their section of the commons while the paladins went to theirs.

"Wow, anyone wanna say 'awkward'? Like seriously, I thought Iverson was gonna eat you guys alive. If not that then I thought he was gonna take off his belt and whoop you like mi mama would. Like you literally just got grounded!" Lance rambled as he flopped onto the yellow bean bag chair in their common area.

"Yes, wow, thank you Lance. That is really helping me feel better about the whole situation," Keith grumbled, lowering himself onto the couch opposite the bean bag.

"Fine then! Let's talk about something that will boost your bitter mood" Pidge replied, joining Keith on the couch. Behind them Hunk followed, claiming a spot in a normal chair next to Lance. Allura and Shiro stood on the far side of the room, inattentive of whatever Pidge was about to say.

"Which is?" Keith inquired, hiding his minimal amusement.

"Um. Are you kidding? You and James Griffin!"

Keith was taken aback, "And why do you assume that will 'boost my mood'?"

"Keith, we've only been here two days and can already tell there's something going on between you two. Everyone can. I might need glasses but I'm not that blind"

"I don't know what you're talking about"

"Oh come on spill! You're amongst family, Keith. Besides, you can't just expect us to ignore everything that's happened," Lance piped up again.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Keith reemphasized, sharpening his tone.

"Oh you know, the staring, the straddling when you fought, the bickering like an old married couple, the flirting, the straddling when you fought, the teasing, the banter, did I mention you straddled him when you fought, the tension-" Hunk recalled.

"Please stop," Keith said in a low voice.

"Thank you, we get it, Hunk. All that. Come on, there is clearly something happening between you two! Is it an old school crush coming back to the surface or-or maybe an enemies-to-lovers sort of thing? High school rivals turned military sweethearts. OH! Or is just purely. . . sexual?", Pidge raved.

"I said stop," Keith almost growled. Very uncomfortable.

"Keith, we're just saying, whatever gay shit you got going on with Griffin, we'll help you out! Be you wingmen, you know!?", Pidge exclaimed.

"I said stop, fuck, please just stop!," Keith fumed, slamming his fists against his lap. The room fell into an awkward silence. Keith took a moment to compose himself. "Sorry, I just-" Keith sighed, "If I tell you, will you just drop it and never mention it again?"

The 3 other paladins exchanged looks and nodded in agreement to Keith's request.

Keith took another deep breath, "We dated. For almost a year. Our last month together he grew distant. I tried to ignore it but during a fight one evening and things just got rockier and rockier. I told him to leave and he did. I was a wreck. A week and three days later, we were whisked off into space by the blue lion. We hadn't spoken to or even seen each other since that night. That's why it's tense. Any signs or fantasies to picture in your head aren't real and never will be. He hates me and I can't stand being anywhere near him".

There was a long pause as Lance, Pidge, and Hunk processed, each at their own level of bewilderment.

"Keith I-" Pidge started. Keith gave them a quick look, reminding them about the agreement they made prior to Keith's confession. Pidge fell quiet again, pressing their lips into a thin line on their face.

It wasn't long before Keith broke the silence as he got up from the couch and stated, "I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed." And Keith retreated into his room for the night.

". . . Shit," Pidge exclaimed dryly.

"Damn," Lance sighed.

"Wow," Hunk coughed.

Erm. Hello. Sorry, It's been a minute. Don't say I didn't warn you. This chapter is significantly shorter than the previous one but not to worry, the next few should be fun. They will be out sooner than this one was. Like always lmk what you think in the comments. Have a lovely rest of your day! <3 <3 <3