Keith/Voltron Stories ✔

Dad Jokes

"Okay, okay, my turn. This one's dead funny." said Lance as he cleared his throat dramatically.

"Let's hear it then." Pidge challenged. "Mine will be way better."

"Okay. What do you call someone else's cheese?"

"Um, I don't know." said Hunk as he tried to think of the answer.

"What do you call it?" asked Shiro, taking a sip of his drink.

"Nacho cheese!" exclaimed Lance before laughing loudly, repeating his answer and pointing at Hunk for effect.

"Oh, I get it! Good one Lance." Hunk said, smiling as he understood the punchline.

Keith managed to his his smile as he listened to the joke and ate, only the corners of his mouth twitching up a little.

"What do you think mullet? Pretty good right?" Lance asked.

"It was alright." said Keith with a shrug. "You do one Pidge."

"Okay, how do you organise an astronomer's party? You planet!"

It was silent for a second until small laughs appeared from the seats on the table, a little louder than Lance's reaction. Allura and Coran looked on with amusement at the funny things the paladins were saying, not understanding the specifics but getting the general idea. Coran remembered a funny joke from his youth but could not remember the answer.

Keith looked at the speckled kid with a smile before continuing his meal, knowing their joke would be better. At least they didn't have to repeat the punchline to get it.  He wasn't great at jokes himself, neither was Hunk, so they just spectated and enjoyed the show.

"Space dad, you give us one." Lance said.

Shiro sighed at the term and put down his drink, knowing he wouldn't be getting out of this. He thought for a moment for a joke and frowned as he recalled the whole thing. He looked up with bright eyes when he had one and spoke.

"I have the world's worst thesaurus." he said, waiting for a moment for the paladins to grow confused; he grinned before speaking when he saw the confused faces looking back at him.

"Not only is it terrible, it's also terrible."

Silence. Not a single noise was made as the paladins sat there with blank faces at the punchline.

 Then, suddenly, Keith burst out laughing and spat the juice that he was drinking back into his cup, bowing his head to try and contain his laughter. The group all looked at his smiling face as laughed, one hand holding his stomach at the small stitch he was getting. Slowly, the paladins understood the joke and let out small laughs that grew louder as they were fuelled by Keith's laughter. Shiro looked happily at him, happy he got him to laugh.

"That joke was terrible. It was so bad!" Keith managed to say once his laughter died down.

"But you laughed." Shiro replied with pride.

"It was that bad it was actually quite good." said Pidge, nodding in approval.

"Exactly." Keith said as he ate some more, occasionally laughing once as he recalled the joke and almost choking on his food.

"You know, you should laugh more often." said Lance.

"Why?" Keith asked, raising a brow at the random comment to the paladin across from him.

"I dunno, it just makes you look happier. Smiling too, it suits you."

"Thanks, I guess." Keith replied, looking down at his food to hide his small smile.

Maybe he would try to smile more often.