Klance - Beat Drop (Complete)

Chapter 26 Slow-Mo

The crowd was deafening. Keith didn't know how so many people could fit in such a small place, and they were jumping too, along with Lotor, who was onstage, vocals ripping through the venue. His voice was low and smooth, and they were singing original songs. His four other band members, all women, played the instruments, shredding the guitars as Lotor sauntered down the stage, wooing the crowd. Keith gulped. Was he supposed to do that? His mind went blank when he thought about being as brave and outgoing as Lotor.

The man had flirted with Lance backstage for a while, backing off jokingly when Lance suddenly grabbed an insanely jealous Keith by the front of his shirt, kissed him roughly, then quirked an eyebrow at Lotor, saying, "My babe's gonna crush your band, honey." Lotor had swept his hair up into a ponytail and, quite literally, swaggered away, band mates in tow. Lance had then rushed Keith back downstairs to fix their lipstick.

He had tried to pump Keith up, but failed: "I say 'Vol', you say 'tron'- VOL-," Lance said expectantly, but Keith's face was blank.

"Vol... tron?" He tried, confused. Lance let out a frustrated sigh.

"No, no, the instructions are in the beginning, 'I say 'vol', you say...?"

Keith shook his head, bewildered, "Voltron?" Lance had looked like he had wanted to bash his head against a wall. Keith had no idea what was going on.

Anyways, The Galra were good. They had a lot of 'oomph' and the crowd loved Lotor. They were also second to last on the list, so Voltron was playing next. The band stood backstage, and Keith's fingers twitched over the strings of his guitar, not touching but still practicing. He was sweating; it was hot. Lance and Allura were already down in the pit, but Keith couldn't see them from here, though he did have a good vantage point of the entire right side of the crowd. From what Keith could see, most of the patrons were his age and older, expanding into late thirties.

Before Keith knew it, The Galra were finishing their last song and Lotor was yelling, "Thank you, guys! We're The Galra, make sure to come to the lobby after for autographs!" The crowd cheered for Lotor and his band as they left the stage and stagehands rushed on to start setting up for Voltron. As Lotor came backstage, he leaned down and whispered in an intentionally sexy voice, "Your boyfriend was cheering for me." Keith wanted to punch him.

"Okay, men, we're on in five minutes after the sound check," Hunk said aloud to Voltron as he handed his bass to a stagehand to be hooked up to the sound system, "We're going to go out there and- and- try our best, no matter what happens, and crush all these other bands." Hunk's voice was shaky from nerves so Keith took over.

"Just... remember your chords, your rhythm, our harmonies. Work the crowd, especially you Pidge, your up front so put a smile on a couple times," Pidge grinned at him toothily, then scoffed, flicking his hair out of his face.

"We'll be fine," he supplied, then turned to Shiro, glasses glinting in the backstage lights. "Any words of wisdom, Grandpa?"

Shiro laughed, totally relaxed. Out of all of the band members, he seemed the most at ease in the environment. "Let's just be the band we are. We're the same Voltron we were in High School, even though Keith isn't smoking pot anymore and Pidge has good grades now." The group laughed, and Shiro sighed, looking up at the ceiling, looking like he was about to say something, but then smiled as if brushing it away.

"Voltron, on stage!" a stagehand said urgently and the four guys walked onstage, met by the booming crowd. Keith looked around, and quickly pasted a grin on his lips, his nerves twitching.

Shiro quickly jumped onto the raised platform where his red drum set sat gloriously, "VOLTRON" pasted in big, colorful letters on the bass drum. Hunk and Keith grabbed their guitars and strummed a few notes, looking back to Matt, who gave a thumbs-up, his headphones on. Keith walked up mock-confidently to the main microphone and looked back at Hunk as he took his place on Keith's right, Pidge on his giant synth on his left. Keith gripped the microphone and the crowd settled down, hushed whispers scattering through their sweaty forms.