Keith Sweat is playing for keeps. The legendary R&B crooner has announced his 13th studio album is due out October 26. In advance of the release, Sweat has dropped the brand new duet, “Boomerang” featuring up-and-coming singer Candace Price. The sexy bedside heater finds Price admitting she is feenin’ for his love and asking for Continue reading New Music: Keith Sweat feat.
Legendary Keith Sweat hooked up with one of Holland’s most respected r&b/hiphop djs and this resulted in The Sweat Hotel: A mixtape filled with Keith Sweat’s swingbeat classics, his trademark slowjams and also some recent work. ***update - 14 February 2013*** For a limited time only the download option is now enabled!
- Genre
- Oldskool R&B
Comment by Kyž’Šavv ♾??
pleaasseeee some lovely body help me need the song name ?
Comment by samanthabrace
dammmmm some nice song mixes
Comment by Teddy
Nobody feat Athena Cage.
Comment by Teddy
Come and Get With Me feat Snoop Dogg
Comment by Maicon DJ
SHOWWWWWWWWWWW
Comment by BYLELECODJ
THE BEST
Comment by Faye West
Loving it!!
Comment by Faye West
Organic Lover of R/B
Comment by Faye West
Rock it Keith
Comment by Faye West
Sounds so nice u ought to do it twice!!
Comment by Faye West
Nice!!
Comment by user636773886
Love this
Comment by StonedFox
loving this so far!
Comment by Melanie C
great mix, thanks :)
Comment by jason1972
dayummmmm
Comment by Carlos A Malagon
Another Great One
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Pica o set
Comment by Jeffrey Rosado
niceeee
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zo ontspannen
Comment by Ily Jamarie Deonne
this shit goo I love keith sweat
Comment by Walid So High
Dont stop your Love *****
Comment by onefitmom
Oooooooohhhhh daaaaayum!
Comment by Shawnyetta Alexander
![Legendary Legendary](/uploads/1/2/6/5/126525706/374118661.jpg)
something just ain't rite
Comment by Dot Cirroc Hunter
This was my shit....18 back then 1st car too YES
Comment by c.m.banks
That's it right there...
Comment by uloco62
nice
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This song
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i like this
Comment by user625091170
Comment by user625091170
The best slow songs from keith sweat
Part Six
Lunch was... a quiet affair. Shiro had been absent the entire morning – hadn't checked in on anyone, and none of the other Paladins quite knew what that meant. It was even more worrisome when they realized that Coran, too, was nowhere to be seen. That meant whatever 'project' Shiro had absorbed himself in needed the older Altean, and that it probably had something to do with the ships systems in some way. Hunk and Pidge speculated on what it could all mean, happy to talk since they hadn't really seen each other for two days, but Keith's worried look kept Pidge quiet, and Hunk realized that at least one partnership was getting something out of this weird bondage bonding. Having said that, Keith all but yanked Pidge back to training, leaving Lance and Hunk by themselves. The Gold Paladin wasn't entirely sure what to do next – four hours target practice had helped a lot but he wasn't exactly looking forward to more of the same. First all day in his lab (at least that was fun), then all day in the vents - twice – and Hunk decided he liked the idea of variety.
Lance was happy to do nothing, and the two of them were blatantly stalling on getting back to work when they heard an odd... was that a hum?
Allura arrived – Hunk said arrived because she didn't walk in. No, the alien princess was in some kind of futuristic hover chair, yawning as the mice chittered on her lap. She looked at them for a moment, and they at her, before she clapped her hands together in delight.
'Excellent! I was hopping to find the two of you!'
Lance was of course thrilled at the idea and started making poses, but Allura instead backed out of the dining room.
'Come with me,' she ordered. 'I have an assignment for you.'
And that was how the two of them ended up in one of the training rooms, Allura sitting in her space chair and studying them side by side.
'It's not perfect of course,' she said, blue eyes narrow. 'Neither of you have the perfect build for this, but I can see why Shiro suggested it.'
Hunk knew whatever was going to happen next would be terrible.
'Right,' she said firmly. 'I am going to teach the two of you to dance!'
'You what?'
'Shiro explained what this exercise was for,' she said, gesturing to the bound ankles. 'To be the legs of Voltron you must understand how to synchronize yourself and move in conjunction with one another – to coordinate yourself as you never have before. Dancing is the perfect way to learn this. Now, Lance, you will be the boy, and Hunk, you the girl.'
Hunk didn't eve have time to fully register the delineation before Lance burst out laughing, a high pitched yelping giggle that made Hunk very seriously consider lying to Keith about Lance insulting him. (Well, it wouldn't be a lie, Lance always found a way to rag on the Red Paladin, but Hunk was seriously considering deliberately inciting a fight – a very un-Hunk-like thing to do but sometimes Lance brought it out in everybody) Instead he did his best impression of Keith's flat glare, silently hoping he was even half as intimidating.
Allura, meanwhile, took it all in stride and didn't even seem to notice Lance's reaction, because her next words were:
'That of course means that Hunk is the lead.'
Lance's obnoxious giggle was cut short immediately. Hunk was still trying to play catch up.
'Uh, what?'
'What? I'm the guy! I take the lead!'
'In what galaxy?' Allura demanded, offended. 'Dancing is a noble and skillful profession of the women of Altea, it would be an insult if leading wasn't done by those who were the best equipped.'
Hunk allowed himself to grin. 'Yeah, Lance, best equipped.' He ribbed his friend. Ah, that made him feel good.
'Are we going to argue over the obvious or are we going to get to work?' Allura asked. 'Now, show me how an earth dance starting position.'
Hunk and Lance of course couldn't perfectly face each other because of the bound ankles, and Lance was making several faces as he put his hand on Hunk's hip. The Gold Paladin was kind of passed embarrassment at his point, and regardless Hunk had barely put his hand on Lance's shoulder before Allura was making a very feminine version of a snort of indignation.
'Facing each other? At the beginning of a dance? How scandalous! Obviously we have a long way to go.'
Dancing, Hunk learned, was complicated in Altean culture. It was a story above all else – done at festivals and holidays to commemorate events, passing them down through motion as well as oral tradition. Hunk thought of his own dances, the Maulu'ulu and the Fa'ataupati, what they meant and how important they were. Nodding, he listened at Allura. First they had to stand side by side – that was easy, but then Hunk had to perform very specific moves – acting as lead for Lance to follow. That... didn't work out as well – Hunk was many things but graceful wasn't one of them. Allura was very patient at first, but her voice grew tighter and tighter. She never yelled – a point in her favor, but Hunk could tell that she was a little frustrated.
'Princess, it's a little hard to learn a dance you've never done before,' he said carefully.
Allura frowned, taking the suggestion with some thought. 'Is there a dance the both of you know?' she asked.
Hunk knew for a fact Lance didn't know any of his dances, and he frowned as he listed the non-Samoan dances he did know.
Lance was thinking, too. 'Salsa?'
'No.'
'Tango?'
'Holy crow, no.'
'Merengue?'
'The what?'
'Don't you know how to dance?'
'Yes! Do you know how to do the Fa'ataupati?'
'That's not even English!'
'Neither is meren-whatever you said!'
Lance grimaced and rubbed his forehead. 'Rumba? Bomba? Plena? Samba?'
'Just how many dances do you know?'
Lance struck a pose, teeth gleaming. 'I was the life of every party I went to!' he said proudly. 'What about the bachata?'
'Ah! That one I know!'
'Excellent,' Allura said. 'Now remember, Hunk leads.'
Lance rolled his eyes. 'Hunk, I mean this in the best way possible, but I don't see how you could do the bachata any kind of justice.'
Hunk smiled, a little blithe. 'And you wouldn't last three seconds doing one of my dances, so I guess we're even!'
'Oh, it's on!'
Allura started clapping a beat – too slow at first, but Hunk corrected her and then he started counting. 'One-two-three step; one-two-three step; one-two-three step!' Lance was, perhaps of course, a natural, and Hunk didn't really need to do much in order to lead. The bachata was an easy dance to do, which was the only reason Hunk was so good at it. Lance's hips swayed to the beat – something Hunk had no hope of doing, and they moved from side to side and back again. The front and back was a bit harder – with their ankles bound one was certainly doomed to step on the foot of another. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad, either, and with Hunk watching his feet and counting, Lance was easy to keep pace with.
'No, Hunk! You're supposed to be the lead!'
Hunk looked up and missed his cue, making Lance step on his foot. He tried to yank the appendage away from the pain, pulling Lance off balance and the pair swayed dangerously before tipping over. They had fallen so much over the last few days Hunk didn't even register the pain.
Allura was non plussed, arms crossed and looking down on them even though she was in a space-wheelchair.
'What,' she demanded. 'Was that?'
'That was the bachata,' Lance mumbled, rubbing his chin.
'What the dance was is irrelevant. Why were you leading when Hunk is the girl in this role?'
'Because I'm the one that knows the dance?' Lance asked.
'No!' Allura said. 'That shouldn't matter. Hunk knows the dance and Hunk is supposed to lead. Why did you fail in your duty, Paladin?'
'Whoa, whoa, whoa,' Hunk said quickly, waving his hands in defense. 'I wasn't failing – I mean I don't think I was; I was dancing – I was, I was doing the dance – and I was keeping time, you know, like I have been; and everything was going great! That was leading, right?'
Allura frowned, eyes narrow as she studied the pair. 'I begin to see why Shiro wanted you to perform this exercise...' she said slowly. 'Very well, let us try again. An Altean dance that neither of you know. Begin standing shoulder to shoulder...'
Allura was more forgiving of form this time, she was more focused on watching the two Paladins of Voltron interact with each other. Shiro had expressed his desire to make the Paladins more cognizant of their roles as the limbs of Voltron, and wanted to better understand how each pair worked together and how to improve what did exist or supplement what didn't. Keith he knew very well and, after a fashion, Pidge, but these two he had no prior connection to. They were already connected, but the synchronicity was not yet consistent, and he had yet to determine why. Now embroiled with setting up an interrogation with Sendak, it was up to Allura to determine the best course of action.
'Again,' she said. 'From the second movement.'
Lance, who was already an experienced dancer, pointed out to Hunk where to go and the two moved into the forms (Allura tried not to cringe at the absolute lack of elegance and vision), and Hunk followed suit. Lance's motions were more graceful, and on beat, but Hunk clearly had the better memory for sequence – to be expected of an engineer. The Gold Paladin gently nudged when necessary, and the two were adequate in terms of teamwork. Before, doing Lance's ba... chaba... doing Lance's dance the Blue Paladin was firmly in control, dragging Hunk as necessary as the Gold Paladin kept the beat. That, also, made sense because the dance was specific to Lance's quadrant of his planet. Allura was hard pressed to see why Shiro had insisted that Hunk be the lead, but she wasn't going to dismiss the observations of the head of Voltron out of hand either.
A mouse was on each shoulder, and the other two on the Paladins, squeaking their thoughts to her as she leaned back in her chair and watched.
'Let's try something different,' she said. 'Hunk, you said your quadrant of your planet had its own dances? Try to teach Lance one of them.'
'Uh... what now?'
Allura straightened. 'For someone assigned to be the lead, I have yet to see you do so.' Hunk squirmed. 'Perhaps giving you a dance you are more familiar with will make you more comfortable.'
'Well...' Hunk drew out, fingering a cheek and looking at Lance nervously. 'We technically need coconut oil if we want to do a Fa'ataupati, but we are in more clothes so we should be able to get away with it... It's a little weird just doing it with two people but...'
Lance was skeptical. 'There's only one kind of dance I'm thinking of that needs less clothes, and I don't think that's what you mean...'
Hunk made a derisive face; Allura wasn't sure what either were talking about, but she waited patiently for Hunk to begin teaching. The silence, instead, drew out, and Allura knew she would not stay awake long enough if she simply waited for them. She crossed her arms and looked disapprovingly, making a polite noise. Hunk stammered, as was his wont, and got right to work.
'Okay, so, the Fa'ataupati is kind of like Western steps, right? You're making noise and rhythm with your body by slapping and stomping, and it's all done together to make it better. The sets differ a lot from island to island, but it's kind of like swatting at mosquitos. You had mosquitos in Cuba, right? So let's start like this...'
It was like watching a different person.
Allura marveled as she watched Hunk take Lance through the steps. The Gold Paladin, normally so timid and retiring, always the first to raise a hand and suggest safety over daring, was now assertive. He broke down the steps slowly, assuming Lance knew nothing of the dance, then adjusted speed accordingly as he saw the other Paladin pick up the material. Hunk was dynamic, attentive, sensitive to Lance's speed, strong as a lead. Allura blinked, as did her mice, the revelation utterly remarkable. At last she saw what Shiro saw: Hunk could be a gifted lead in the right circumstances.
After several minutes Allura switched again, asking Lance to teach Hunk another of his long list of dances, and now that she knew what she was looking for the princess saw the difference immediately. Lance was adaptable, certainly, and loyal and unable to leave a teammate behind, but as a leader he was not always conscious of the needs of those around him, and that was why the legs of Voltron sometimes tripped or took a misstep. Lance loved his dances and wanted to share all of it with Hunk, and he did not take into account how foreign the movements were to Hunk and how timid his friend was with new things. They were opposites, but in just the right way to make them a dangerous pair if one learned to speak up and the other learned to listen.
Allura clapped her hands twice, getting their attention.
'Tonight,' she said, 'The two of you will dance for us.'
'Aw, crud.'
'All right!'
'The dance will be the fa... the fata... the dance will be Hunk's dance.'
'Oh!'
'Aw, no! The salsa is so much better!'
Allura shot Lance a withering gaze. 'The two of you fail to realize the purpose of this exercise, but Shiro was wise to teach the two of you dancing.' Her eyes darted to the Gold Paladin.
'Hunk, as appropriate of the Yellow Lion, you work best when you are grounded, when you feel safe. You bear the weight of the entire team – even Lance – and must learn to let others know when the weight needs to be shared. You must speak up for yourself and realize that others will listen. Lance,' she added looking hard at the Blue Paladin, 'Your sense of adventure manifests as enthusiasm and the desire to dive into things headfirst. There is merit in that but you must learn to listen to those around you, to understand when they are trying to help you instead of holding you back. Doing Hunk's dance will make you listen, and perhaps then you will realize to value the opinion of your partner. It is only through doing so that you will learn to work together, and through that, better support Voltron as he fights to save the universe.'
And then, all at once, the energy left her, and she gave a great yawn.
'Meanwhile, I shall endeavor to be at full strength in order to witness the performance.'
'Wait, you're going to be there?' Lance demanded, his tanned skin suddenly pink.
The princess gave him a withering look, knowing what he was thinking. 'We will all be there.'
Hunk suddenly smiled and turned to his friend. 'Yeah, Lance. Even Keith.'
'What?!'
Allura nodded to the mice, and they left her shoulders to supervise the dance rehearsal. It was time to go back to bed. Another nap would restore much of her lost quintessense.
Keith frowned, and barked, 'Again!' as he and Pidge struggled with one of the castle's training gladiators. Keith, himself, had been training hard, and was up to a level three, but without knowing where Pidge was on her training, and assuming she hadn't been as dedicated to this as he and Shiro were, and their bound arms, it was back to basics.
'I'm trying,' she barked back, twisting around in a kick. Keith followed easily, adding his own kick to hers, sending the mechanical program staggering back, right into the looped grapple Pidge left out as a trap.
And, sure enough, Pidge stiffened and froze.
'End training program,' Keith huffed. This wasn't working.
The plan had been simple. Now that Pidge had some basics for her edge work, the idea had been to do some sparring with a gladiator, doing specific moves to reinforce. If they could both think similarly in fighting situations, then they could flow together more smoothly for Voltron. It was a method for team building. One where Keith wasn't the one who had to do much sharing and was easier for him. He'd done enough of that touchy-feely stuff already.
Pidge was clearly making the effort. She preformed the moves, but she was freezing up more and more.
That wouldn't do.
So Keith leaned back and used his right hand to wipe some of the sweat from his face.
It seemed it was more touchy-feely time.
Keith turned away. 'Pidge... Is everything... I mean... are you...'
'I'm fine,' she replied firmly. 'Let's go through the simulation again.'
'Are you sure-'
'Yes.'
Keith looked to her, and his frown deepened. Her eyes were narrowed and focused, but there was a wildness to her eyes. Desperation. 'Computer, resume program.'
The gladiator's engines and gears started whirling, the eyes coming alight in the same teal blue that their armor had. It advanced slowly, the lower level giving them a chance to prepare. The move they were trying to do involved a double kick. One coming first from Pidge, then Keith, and then, with the distance, Pidge would use the grapple part of her bayard to tie up the legs and pull the gladiator off balance. She was doing fine with the kicks, and could shoot off the grapple, but there was always a hesitation. She stopped from pulling to trip, and the gladiator would step out of the trap.
And, sure enough, it happened again.
'End training program,' Keith growled again. 'Pidge, what is going on?'
'Nothing!' she snapped back.
That actually made Keith pause. He only heard that type of voice on the rarest of occasions. From other fosters who had just come from something bad.
Quiznak, this was going to require touchy-feely.
'Look,' he sighed, running his free hand through his sweaty hair, 'if... something's bothering you...'
'I'm fine.'
Keith had had enough. 'Wake up, Pidge, you're not fine! We've been doing that routine for an hour and it's the first routine that you've had any trouble with! And not in the sense that you just need practice! That would take, what, two or three tries to get over with that big brain of yours. We've done this a bunch of times and there's no improvement!'
'I know,' she shouted back. 'I know it's all in my head! I'm trying to get over... I just... Look I'll get it next time, okay? Start up the simulation.'
His eyes involuntarily narrowed and he leaned back to take a deep sigh. Feelings required a delicate touch that he decidedly did not have. Shiro would be so much better at this.
So would Hunk.
Probably Lance as well, and Keith really didn't want to admit that.
He took another deep breath. 'What do you think is going to change between now and the five minutes it will take to do that sequence again?'
'I'll do it this time!'
'What's going to change?'
'I promise, I can-'
'What is going to change?'
'Nothing!' Pidge shouted back, 'I just-' she fell back to sit on the ground and Keith was forced to join her with their bonded arm. 'I just keep seeing...' she trailed off and rubbed her face with her free left hand.
Keith studied the floor, feeling ten kinds of awkward as the silence settled over them. Shiro by now would have surely intuited what was wrong and would be starting to offer advice. Hunk would probably bring up some project the two were working on as a distraction. Lance would just keep talking. Keith couldn't do any of those things. So he just sat there, mind whirling, trying to think of something to do that wouldn't completely stomp over something that Pidge was clearly being sensitive over.
They stayed like that for a while, just sitting there, before Pidge finally let out a long sigh. 'I don't even know his name,' she said softly.
Keith looked at her, not knowing what she was referencing.
'Sendak's lieutenant,' she clarified, still not looking up. 'The guy I...'
Oh. Keith remembered the debriefing they had as Lance was recovering in his pod. Pidge had talked about facing down Sendak's lieutenant and the sacrifice Rover had done to finish him off. But to hear what had happened, Keith didn't think Pidge had really killed anyone. Not on purpose. Not with cold efficiency or anything of that sort.
Keith sat some more trying to think of anything that might mean anything. He did edge closer to her, since Lance and Hunk seemed to always do physical touch to help people. Shiro had no problem mussing Keith's hair or putting a hand on the shoulder. So he bumped shoulders with Pidge and leaned a little in to her to be there. She gave a warbling sound and settled into his side as he kept trying to figure out what to say.
'We've all killed at this point,' he said softly.
'Wh-what?' Pidge looked up to him, eyes shining more than Keith wanted to see.
'All of us,' he said, decidedly not looking at her. 'We've taken down a Galra battleship on Arusia. There were hoards of fighters on the Balmera. We've already killed hundreds, if not thousands, of Galra soldiers.'
Pidge reached up and adjusted her glasses, then rubbed wetness from her eyes. 'You're probably right,' she acknowledged. 'It 's just... different.'
It didn't take Pidge's genius to see why. 'You actually saw his face,' he said.
'Yeah.' She leaned back, looking up to the ceiling. 'We exchanged words. Insults mostly, he wasn't happy that I was a child, you know the drill.'
'It wasn't abstract anymore,' Keith said softly. 'It was a person.'
'Every time we go to trip that program, I... remember.'
What was Keith supposed to say to that? When he was punching or causing damage when he was growing up, after his father had died, he hadn't really been looking or seeing. He'd just been angry and letting that rage out. He didn't remember much of who he fought or why, just that something had bugged him so bad and he'd needed an outlet. How was he supposed to offer something meaningful for that? It wasn't like with Shiro. Shiro was suffering PTSD, a whole year of living in fight-or-flight mode and the dangers therein. Pidge wasn't flashing back and sinking into memories. She was remembering and overthinking.
In other words, she needed instinct.
He glanced down at their bound wrists and hands.
Keith let out a sigh and looked up to the ceiling. 'The easy part is going through the motions again,' he said softly. 'That's just a lot of sparring until everything is second nature. If you have someone coming at you hard enough, you'll eventually have to trip them to give yourself breathing space and it will be instinct, not strategy.' He hesitated. 'If you want... After this...' he gently nudged their shared arm, 'I can help with that. Push you.'
Pidge gave a watery breath. 'Not looking forward to that,' she grumbled. 'But I probably need it.'
Keith looked away again. 'Look, you need some time before we start that. I don't know, a month maybe? Some distance. Then we can come back to this.' Assuming a fight with the Galra didn't require a repeat. If it did, he would have to talk to her afterward, probably. Keith grimaced. Shiro would be soooo much better at this.
'Thanks,' she said quietly. 'You don't have to.'
He kept looking away. 'No problem.'
The moment hung there and Keith decided he'd had enough awkwardness for one day. In fact, waaaay too much awkwardness for one day. Time to switch things up. He gave a signal with their bound hands and they both stood. 'Okay,' he said, 'we need to change this up.'
'New routine? Sure, I'll definitely take that,' Pidge gave a small smile. 'What have you got in mind?'
Keith frowned, running scenarios through his head, before the corner of his mouth kicked into a smirk. 'Voltron has a sword and a shield,' he said slowly, watching recognition and understanding bloom on Pidge's face. 'I have a sword.'
Pidge lifted her arm. 'And I have a shield.'
'This would be a clear benefit to Voltron.'
'No way for Shiro to nit pick about that.'
Both bore gleeful smiles and set about programming the computer.
Shiro was... better wasn't the right word. Good wasn't the right word either. He would feel good Sendak was off the ship. He would be simply better when the technology to transport his consciousness somewhere safe to interrogate. He would be absolutely great he he could sleep a good four hours before a nightmare woke him up. But Coran was now focused on purging, reinstalling, and upgrading the systems that transported consciousness and Shiro felt... A muscle in the back of his neck was more relaxed. He had better control of himself; he could breathe better.
He had spent the day learning more about how King Alfor had been copied into the castle than he had any hope of understanding, but watching Coran do his work and hand him tools as necessary helped, and when they trucked the equipment down to the cryopod Shiro could look at the puffy-eared Glara and feel something other than acute stress. He even cracked a smile, darkly anticipating the list of questions and the sensation of knowing he would be in complete control.
As Coran wrapped up for the day Shiro broke away, thinking loosely of some training since he had skipped out on all day. The exercise would help him focus and make him tired enough to have a light diner and go to bed. Then three hours sleep before the next nightmare, three hours after that, and then it would be morning and time to talk with-
With the team.
Quiznak, in his rush to keep himself sane he had completely skipped out on looking after his team. All self-worth carefully built up during the day spiraled away like wisps of smoke, and he sucked in a breath and held it to get himself back under control. Shiro rubbed his chin and mentally listed all the ways he was a capable leader and doing his best, forcing himself to ignore his (long to the point of unending) litany of failures and focus on being what he needed to be: strong, capable, supportive, understanding. He needed to apologize to the rest, explain what he was doing and let them decide how to react.
He exhaled and then took another breath. Repeating the process two or three (or five) times to get his head in the game.
Pretending to feel better, his steps were more deliberate as he walked to the training deck. He could make out the sounds of training: grunts, cries, swishes of movement. He opened the door and saw Keith and Pidge dancing around an Altean drone. Keith had his sword out, bouncing on his feet as Pidge held a shield, eyes darting everywhere. The drone fired its weapon and Keith turned away, allowing Pidge to come in and block the shot. Keith spun around and swung his sword, landing a hit on the drone and making it disappear in holographic light.
'Better,' he said, taking a breath.
Pidge wiggled her wrist, the motion more visible because of the shield. 'We should have thought of this much sooner. This is exactly what we need to get better when we form Voltron.'
'Do you know what to do next?'
'Keep my arc around you tighter and angle the shield to cover more of you – which by the way, is quiznak hard when you're spinning around behind me. Can you make a noise or something so I can track your movement?'
'That's... actually a good idea,' Keith said after a pause. 'What else should I do?'
Pidge frowned. 'Once the cuffs are off you'll have to show me the actual routine you're doing. Like I said I can't see it when you're behind me. Maybe if we did this without the bonds we could watch each other's form, but for now I want to do it again in slow motion, see if we can't break our necks looking over our shoulders at what the other one is doing. Unless,' she added, mischievous grin on her face, 'You want the tether again.'
But Keith was already looking away as Shiro walked towards them. 'Shiro!' he said, lifting his hand a few centimeters in her version of a wave. Pidge stiffened and turned around.
Shiro looked between them, not quite sure what to make of what he was watching. He looked to Keith. 'From the top,' he said simply.
Keith snapped his head up and down in a nod, looked at Pidge, and she nodded as well, the two of them moving back to the center of the room. Shiro blinked as he realized they were walking in synch for several steps before the lengths of their gates broke it apart. Keith restarted the simulation, and all Shiro could do was watch as the two arms of Voltron played their parts: Keith swinging around the training deck with his sword and Pidge dancing around him with her shield. It wasn't a perfect balance, Shiro could tell; Keith was leading too much and Pidge was struggling to keep up and cover him but it was miles and away better than when they were fighting on Arusia, or on the Balmera. Keith called out moves and Pidge gave short one word orders, and as one they fought the holographic drones. Shiro was in awe – he'd never seen anything like this in the arena, no two-on-one match ups, and he marveled that the two had gotten this far in only a few days time.
The simulation ended and all he could do was blankly clap his hands to express how impressed he was. Pidge was smirking in satisfaction, her face an open book, and she elbowed Keith in the ribs as he looked down and fought the smile Shiro could see behind his eyes.
'Not bad, huh?' Pidge said, walking up and tugging lightly at her partner to follow. 'Well, not technically great; we only just started this and there's probably a world of ways we could improve that felt really good!'
Shiro smiled. 'And it looked really good, too,' he said. 'I wasn't expecting that.'
Pidge beamed and Shiro turned his gaze to Keith. 'You did well. Both of you.'
Keith flushed at the praise, quick to look away and hide the tell. 'Did you finish your project?' he asked instead.
The self-doubt washed over Shiro again, and he held his breath for a beat to settle is heart rate. 'We'll talk about it more tomorrow,' he said instead, reaching out instead and unlocking the binders. 'For now I'd say the lesson has been learned.'
'Yes! No more insanity! I can go back to studying the Galra crystal! Oh, I am so going to rub this in Lance and Hunk's faces!'
Shiro closed his eyes and nodded sagely, letting Pidge have her moment before pasting on a sly grin. 'You can do that by showing them this routine you just worked out.'
Both faces fell, but only briefly as they exchanged a glance and smirked at each other. Shiro gestured off the training deck, and the two moved out to have some diner. Shiro followed, slowing briefly to look back out over the expansive room, mentally replaying what he had just witnessed. It had been a thing of beauty – better than what he had hoped for, and it had happened when he – literally – wasn't looking. Oh, he understood that that was to be expected, that that was the whole point of the lesson, and Pidge and Keith in particular would take an assignment like this and excel. But...
He shook his head.
The next training deck had Hunk and Lance sitting across from each other.
'And then what comes after?' Hunk demanded.
'Chest, chest, stomach cross-arms.'
'Good. What's the footwork?'
'Kind of like the meringue – side-step, side-step, side-step, then turn – but, like, with a leg up.'
'Good. Let's try the next phase.'
The two stood, and Hunk started counting, and as one the two of them started... slapping parts of their body? With the clothes on the rhythm wasn't as strong as it could be, but what impressed Shiro was the footwork. Even with their ankles bound together and risking elbowing each other at every turn, neither one of them lost balance and stomped their feet near perfectly. Again, the two of them had improved greatly, and Shiro had no idea how that even happened. He clapped his hands lightly, causing both boys to look up.
'Interesting dance,' he called out.
'It's one of Hunk's,' Lance said, happy to volunteer the information. 'We're going to do it before the princess at diner and score some major respect points – and totally outclass that slacker Keith in how amazing we are!'
'Well then,' Shiro said lightly, 'I think it would be easier if you didn't have this in the way:' and he knelt down and undid the binders.
The two shared a jubilant look, grins bursting into smiles and then a fierce high-five. They were whooping and hollering as they dashed off the deck, jumping and giving each other as wide a berth as possible now that they could. Shiro smiled as they toddled off, shaking his head at their antics, and as the noise dispersed and his mind quieted, dark thoughts started to curl into his mind:
Was he really necessary? The team improved at an amazing rate – when he had finally stopped paying attention. All of them were far better adjusted than he – none of them had nightmares that woke them, none of them had been kidnapped and experimented on, none of them suffered PTSD – and really, who was he to lead the team when his psyche was so badly damaged? He was healthy enough to know he needed help, and he was healthy enough to recognize his triggers, but he wasn't better yet. The trauma he had suffered wasn't going to go away overnight, but he was also in the middle of fighting a war, and soldiers needed to have their act together and he was as far as humanly possible from together and-
Shiro shook his head. This was a bad day.
Thoughts like this always troubled him but he understood where they came from and with sufficient enough distraction he could turn them off. Today he couldn't, and if this kept up he would be up all night agonizing over his place on the team and the others didn't deserve that. He was their leader, and he just had to be as good as he possibly could.
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes in the empty training deck and forcibly rewiring his head, making himself list off all of his accomplishments:
With no prior training they had formed Voltron.
They had defeated two robot-beasts, one little more than assembled laser ports.
He had encouraged Pidge to get her Lion.
His bond with Black was strong enough to save them on Arusia when the first robot-beast attacked.
He kept his team focused when they were fighting.
He... defended the Castle of Lions... Faced off Sendak...
… newer model move and your friend dies destroy that child...
Shiro sucked in a breath, suddenly desperate for air. He shook his head again, more violently this time. Diner. Diner would help. Food, company, distraction. He needed noise. And then tonight he would help Pidge on her project, whatever it was.
He was a little pale when he finally sat down to eat, but Allura was there talking with Pidge as Lance and Keith ganged up against Coran shouting over something while Hunk stumbled around trying to hand out the plates.
Heaven, this was heaven.
He engaged the princess in conversation, noted how alert and functioning she was as one of the mice twittered on his shoulder. Pidge was babbling about her experiment with Keith and somehow connecting it to the Galra Crystal project she was working on – the logical jumps were a little thin – as she kicked Lance under the table right when he was drinking something, making him choke and blame Keith who simply glared at him. Hunk was trying to describe his latest creation to an audience who wasn't listening – save Shiro who thanked him gratefully for something that tasted so good as Coran regaled all of them with tales of his younger days in bootcamp and eating with the lads in the galley like they were now, followed by some kind of Altean analogy that no one understood. As the plates cleared and Hunk and Lance patted their full stomachs in unison Keith stood and offered to show them what he and Pidge had been working on that afternoon.
Everyone shifted to a different room, some kind of gala or ballroom, and the two pulled out their bayard and shield respectively and started moving through their forms. Keith grunted when he was behind Pidge and Pidge did a significantly better job keeping pace with him.
Allura clapped the loudest of all, expressing her gratitude that the arms of Voltron had begun to learn how to act in harmony and marveling that they had come so far so fast.
After that Lance and Hunk stepped up to show off their Pacific Islander dance. Hunk was obviously in his element and proud to show off his heritage, and Lance was a natural dancer, moving through the different slaps of sound effortlessly and keeping perfect time with Hunk. Everyone clapped and soon Coran was guiding the princess up to show them an Altean dance, the story of how the planet was first created and done every year on the solstice to give thanks for the light the sun gave their planet in nurturing life. Allura made it through the entire dance though she nearly collapsed into her... her space hover chair, and she soon retired after that, Coran of course following her and the mouse on Shiro's shoulder following suit.
The other four were quieter now, happy to be free of their bondage bonding exercise and so... so much healthier than he.
'You all did really well,' he said, a smile on his lips. 'This exercise wasn't pretty, but you all rose to the challenge and you learned a lot – about each other and about yourselves – and we'll all do that much better for the next battle.'
Everyone showed different levels of pride, Pidge adjusting her glasses while glancing at the ever-stoic Keith, Hunk smiling brightly, Lance beaming in pride.
Yes, Shiro thought. He may not be perfect, or worthy of the team he had been given, but together, they made things better. For him. For the universe. The least he could do was make himself better.
The interrogation of Sendak tomorrow would help with that, but for now, thinks were good.
End
Author's Notes: And then Sendak's ghost haunts the ship and everything goes to hooey. Keep trying Shiro, we love you for trying.
Despite Shiro's ever-dubious mental health, this was a nice wrap up of the fic. Everyone learned one or more things about each other and because of that were able to perform in front of the others, Shiro has his project for the next episode, Allura continues to recover and it's like the next episode is ready to start or something. Not much to say, really, the fic ties up very neatly and there isn't all that much to add.
Again, the fic is going up unbeta'ed. I caught a lot of mistakes before we posted it but if anything was missed let us know and we'll fix it next week!
Hope you enjoyed!