TW SA

"Hey, Shiro, when do we get massages?" Lance asked. Shiro was massaging Kassy's back again, and he looked up.

"When you carry a child. It's no easy feat, you know?"

"I know what pregnancy entails. I have a niece and a nephew already."

"Thats true." Kassy said. "What did your sister do about the back pain?"

"I think she usually just whined."

"Great, thanks, Lance."

"Well, you can ask her next time you see her." Lance said. "My mom will be giving you all the advice too, won't she?"

Kassy nodded. "Yeah. Having 4 kids would make her an expert. Ugh, it was never this bad with Ulaz."

At that moment, the door opened, and Jasper walked in. Ulaz looked up from his toy trains, which he was making argue aggressively, and jumped up.

"Uncle Jasper!"

Jasper smiled, and waved at Kassy. "Hey, Kass."

"Hey, JJ." she smiled. "You okay? You eating enough?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Ginger cunt!" Ulaz yelled.

"Ulaz, what have we told you about that word? Oh, God." Kassy sighed.

"Wait, JJ?" Lance asked.

"Yeah. Jasper John Gail. JJG." Kassy said.

"You have different surnames?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, we have different dads. That's why he's white and I'm not."

"Huh. Never would have guessed. So, your dad was a Blackwood?"

"I don't know what he was. Our mom was Sara Blackwood, she had a child with Mike Brown, and had Maeve Brown, then she had a child with Kevin Gail and had Jasper Gail."

"Okay." Lance shrugged.

"Anyway." Kassy said. "To what do I owe this visit?"

"I just missed you. I haven't seen you in a while, so I wanted to come see you and everyone else. Speaking of everyone else, where's Romelle and Allura?"

Kassy raised an eyebrow. "Romelle and Allura? Uh, their house. Why?"

"Just wondering. Are they busy? Can I go say hi?"

As if by magic, Romelle let herself in at that point, in the bikini she seemed to live in. "This is not normal! The bruise on my ass is still there! Oh, Jasper, hi! Have you seen my ass bruise?"

"Romelle, nobody wants to see your ass bruise." Shiro said.

"I bet Jasper does." Kassy muttered.

"Hm? Well, look at it!" she turned and bent slightly, showing the ass bruise in all it's glory.

"Wow, uh, how did that happen?" Jasper asked.

"I fell in a massive hole. It's Matthew Holt's fault."

Kassy shook her head. "Sit down, Romelle."

Romelle sat with Lance, as Allura also entered. "Romelle, you can't just walk into people's houses without knocking."

"Ironic considering that's what you just did." Kassy said.

"Oh, hi, Jasper, you okay?" Allura smiled, placing a hand on his arm as she went to sit.

"Hi, Allura." he smiled, blushing slightly.

"Okay, why are we having a meet up in our house?" Kassy asked. She stood up, sitting next to Romelle on the couch, who turned, placing a hand on her bump.

"Oh! Another girly tip. I came up with it last night. Never, ever, ever do anything for a man. Do everything for yourself. Everything you do is to progress you, little girl, not some random guy who doesn't need you. Listen, in this world, men play on easy mode. Make it hard."

Kassy nodded. "That's true."

Romelle shrugged. "People seem to think I'm an idiot. I'm just picky with what I let people know I know. People look at me, make the assumption, and I let them hold onto it. Because I know they don't see me as a threat. And that's the biggest piece of advice I could give any woman."

Romelle flipped her hair, and went off somewhere.

"I love her." Kassy smiled. Allura nodded, slightly wistfully.

A few hours later, the whole group was in Kassy and Shiro's garden, and were chatting idly, with them sharing random stories.

"Okay, okay, I've got an idea. Let's go around and everyone has to share at least one thing they've been holding to their chest that they need to get off." Matt said. "Pidge, when I was a kid, I broke one of mom's cups, and I told her you did it. Then, when you got into trouble, I told you Rora had done it and blamed you. And I wanted to admit it was actually me because the guilt over that has eaten me up."

"You mean when I was 5? Bro, I don't care about that." Pidge said. "Well, I don't have anything to get off my chest. Like, no life altering things I wanted to tell you all about."

"I actually have something I'd like to say." Shiro said. "I, uh... I really like McDonald's and if I have a panic attack or a nightmare or a flashback in the night I get one on uber eats."

The group clapped. "Well done, Shiro." Coran said.

"I assumed it was Kassy with her cravings when I saw the uber man outside your house." Lance said.

Kassy shrugged. "Eh. The smell of it makes me feel kinda sick. He has to eat it downstairs when that happens and use an air freshener."

Shiro nodded. "It's true."

"I'll go next!" Lance said. "I have crippling self esteem issues, really hate myself, kinda wanted to die for a while, and think I don't deserve any of this at all!" he laughed, before he teared up. "Like, any of it. The house, the free stuff. But most of all, a family like you guys. I'm convinced it was a mistake."

There was silence, and then everyone crowded around him, giving him hugs.

"Lance, you are valued as equally as every other member of Team Voltron." Shiro said. "You are every bit as important to us as everyone else, and we wouldn't exchange you for anyone in world."

"We need someone like you. You never fail to cheer us up when we're down, and if we've made you feel like you can't come to us when you're down, then that's our mistake. We love you, Lance, and you're an inspiration to so many people." Hunk added.

A tear fell down Lance's face, and he smiled. "Thanks, man."

The group shared a massive group hug, before returning to their seats.

"I'll go next." Kassy said. "So, uh... oh, this has eaten me alive for the last 6 years. So, uh, I was desperate to be on the Kerberos mission, right? Only just 22, wanting to escape. So, I was promised a place on the mission... so long as I sucked the guy who was organising it's dick." she paused, not looking up. "So I did it. And once wasn't enough, apparently, because I was called to his office so many times in the weeks leading up to it. Every time I tried to refuse, he threatened to get me kicked from the Garrison and off the mission, so I just did it. Other stuff, too, because I was desperate."

"Oh, Kassy..." Matt mumbled.

"And anyway, he knew he had this hanging above my head, and the night before he told me to spend the night at his instead of at home. So I told my siblings I needed to be there a night early, and I just let him fuck me all night, hating every second of it, but most of all hating myself. Because I knew the only reason I was on the mission was because he found me attractive and weak."

The group was completely silent. Lance cleared his throat.

"Is he still alive?"

She shook her head. "Died in the war."

"Good, cos he wouldn't like what was coming to him if he was alive."

Shiro looked at her. "You should never have been violated like that. Especially for the Kerberos mission and how much pain that brought anyway."

"It's just kinda left me completely guilt ridden. Like, I brought it upon myself. I could have said no."

"You were clearly coerced into it, no?" Coran said gently.  "That's not real consent."

"Plus, he was in a much higher position of power than you." Pidge said. "He brought it upon you. You said yes out of fear, not because you actually wanted any of it."

Romelle nodded. "This is exactly what I was talking about! Men have it on easy mode, nobody expects men to suck dicks to get on a mission. He was just a little creepy crawly bug with no real life who the only way he could ever see a real woman was by being a little prick. It says infinitely more about that little dick than it does about you."

She threw her arms around Kassy, as did Shiro.

"Hey. You know you can talk to me." Shiro murmured. "Love you."

Kassy nodded.

The group was quiet. "I don't think any of us can follow that." Keith said.

Kassy smiled awkwardly. "Sorry. I just... I never told anyone about this before."

Lance shook his head. "It's okay. You've kept that bottled up for 6 years? You can tell us anything."

Hunk nodded. "Sometimes it's nice to get things off your chest. Especially things as traumatic as that."

Kassy nodded. "Thanks, guys. I appreciate it."

The group enclosed her in another group hug.