This story was originally posted on AO3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17778182

Original cover... just for funzies...

Bonus Author's Note:

Hello *waves*
I know nothing about writing author notes so here we go...

Personally, I have a bit of a bad history with writing, but I'm trying to get out of that and I needed to get this story out of my head. Klance is one of my favorite ships and many artists have inspired me so very much. I have a few WIPs from over the years, but this is the first Klance one I've finished so I decided to post it. This is minimally edited and I don't have a beta so yup...
But I'm still open to constructive feedback... just don't be an ass about it... (:

The idea for this was born a few months ago.... but then I really started to write it during klancemonth 2019... and I wanted to finish it in the month... but then midterms came around and I didn't... but here it is now :)

Corinne Bailey Rae is secretly one of my favorite singers (most people don't know I love her music). My favorite album is The Sea, which the song Paper Dolls is from. This story was born at 12 am and was mainly inspired by the chorus. I don't know why, but in the moment, it reminded me of myself and of Keith.
Here is the link to the song if you wanna listen to it:

Note: each 🎶 is a change in POV

Enjoy!

🎶

And all the boys would go wild for you

It was finally open mic night at Voltron cafe.

Keith walked the few snow covered blocks between his apartment and the cafe wrapped up in his favorite red scarf that his brother Shiro gave him for his birthday in October. He took one last chilly breath before pushing the first set of doors open and walking inside, the room's warmth making him smile. Keith loved Voltron's open mic nights. Ever since he transferred to Altea University and its honors astrophysics program, Thursday nights served as his little creative outlet. Although Keith didn't sing, and definitely didn't sing publicly, he still loved to take refuge in the back of the cafe and watch everyone perform while also bugging Shiro and his friend Allura as they worked behind the counter. Allura was the founder of open mic nights and the owner of the cafe, and in response to his teasing she constantly tried to convince him to work there. He always refused.

As he opened the second set of doors, he nearly stepped into Pidge, the genius behind the tech of each magical Thursday night. He knew she also went to Altea, but he never really saw her around so he didn't really know much about her. After she scurried past, not even looking up from the bundle of cords wrapped up in her arms, Keith walked to his usual seat in the corner while his eyes simultaneously scanned the crowd for the cute blue boy.

Although he would never admit it, despite Shiro's relentless teasing, mystery cute blue boy was another reason why Keith loved open mic nights. He didn't know the boy's name, but he always brought his big friend with the orange headband and his blue guitar. Headband guy never performed, but the cute guy did almost every Thursday night. Sometimes he would play his guitar, or sing, or both. And every single time, Keith forgot how to breath.

Keith wasn't the only one drawn in by the blue boy. He had a personality that captivated people, a presence onstage that commanded attention. Keith didn't know if it was the way he would scrunch his cute nose when he concentrated on a difficult guitar run, or the way his blue eyes shone brightly with emotion under the twinkling lights, or the way he smiled shyly to himself when the audience always applauded him.

But why the audience loved mystery boy didn't exactly matter to Keith. All he knew was that whenever he was there, Keith's heart would somehow simultaneously stop and speed up. And he was too chicken to approach the boy or even ask for his name. On top of all of that, the boy still felt just out of his reach. So Keith resigned to just appreciating him from afar, coming every Thursday to at least just watch him perform.

And that's how Keith found himself nestled in his seat in the back of the cafe with a warm cup of jasmine tea in his hands as he tried to decompress from the stress of finals week.

Music played softly in the background as Keith waited and steam rose to warm his face as notes floated through his head. Halfway through his first cup, he found himself humming his favorite song. Paper Dolls by Corinne Bailey Rae was sort of a guilty pleasure song for Keith, one he sang to himself in the shower or when he was alone at his apartment. He knew the song inside and out and even learned to sing it in different styles.

But he would never sing the song for anyone else.

Or so he once thought.

Everyone thought he was emo. They claimed he looked the part. And it was true that he actually enjoyed listening to both the classics of Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance along with other relatively unknown bands like the Blade of Marmora. But Keith also had a secret love of cross genre sounds and neo soul songs performed by artists like Rae. He had been introduced to genre by one of his foster mothers just before he went into high school and he had loved it ever since. Keith continued to hum the song to himself, trying out different keys and tempos. By time he was done with his first cup, the first performer walked up to the stage.

One of the unique things about Voltron's open mics was that people didn't have to introduce themselves. If they wanted to remain anonymous they could - it was all about making people feel comfortable to perform, and having people know who someone was seemed to be one of the biggest barriers. The first girl was a regular who went by the name Nyma. She had her blonde braids tied up in a high ponytail that swung as she pulled one of the tall stools to center stage and sat down.

By the end of her song, Keith had a new cup of tea and Paper Dolls still stuck in his head.

🎶

You have incredible eyes

Lance loved Voltron's open mic nights. It was a way for him to continue to play despite no longer being in his high school band. It also kept him from going crazy after long weeks of studying the endlessly stressful astrophysics major at Altea University. Lance had just transferred into the major's honors program, and he couldn't believe that it somehow got even harder. His nearly frozen blue painted nails clutched tightly around his guitar case while his other hand was buried inside his friend Hunk's warm winter coat. Despite Hunk's constant nagging about how much they should be studying, Lance was glad he was able to convince his big buddy to get out from behind his pile of books and see the light of day, or rather night, during the hell week that was finals.

As Lance pushed his way inside and drug Hunk behind him, his eyes searched the crowd for mystery mullet boy. Hunk often teased Lance saying that the only reason he really came to perform for open mics was so he could try to impress the boy he had a crush on. Lance denied all accusations, even though he secretly did find mystery boy to be pretty cute with the mullet and everything. He couldn't quite pinpoint why, but he always felt that there was something more about the stormy eyed boy that most people probably just glanced over due to his appearance. Lance knew the boy never performed, but he was always there in far back corner drinking a cup of steaming tea that smelled suspiciously liked jasmine. And despite what Hunk always said, he didn't stalk mystery boy, Lance was just a really observative guy.

Lance tugged his hand out of Hunk's pocket and patiently waited at the back of the cozy cafe while Nyma finished her cover of some barely known indie song. After she stepped off the small stage, Lance moved in the direction of mullet boy in search of a seat closer to the stage. As he passed, he nearly stopped after hearing a few notes that sounded suspiciously like his sister's favorite song Paper Dolls emerge under the boys breath. But Hunk directed his attention to three free seats near the stage, effectively stopping Lance from approaching the boy, and probably making a fool of himself.

🎶

You wore indelible smiles

The rest of the night continued on in much of the same way. Keith drank his tea, went back to the counter for refills and to chat with Allura or Shrio between performances, and hummed the song that had lodged itself in his head and refused to leave. As the night wore on, Keith became sleepy, but he refused to leave without seeing blue boy perform.

And just as if he read his mind, blue boy went to pull out a shorter stool onstage, setting off a hush that swept over the crowd. As he adjusted the old guitar in his hands, mystery boy scanned the crowd again before making eye contact with Keith. His breath caught in the blue boy's ocean gaze and Keith swore a part of his soul ascended to the stars when the boy sent a small smile his way before glancing down to adjust his fingers on his guitar. Keith was brought back to this reality when the notes of his favorite song off of the Blade of Marmora's most recent album floated acoustically through the air just before blue boy's voice blessed his ears.

Once again Keith was gone, oblivious to Shiro and Allura's knowing glances. As usual, Keith found himself hanging on every note from mystery boy, and if he applauded a little more enthusiastically than he did for anyone else, well sue him for having his favorites.

After mystery boy's performance, there was still some time left before the end of open mic night. Keith looked down at his still nearly full cup of tea and decided to stay until the end.

🎶

It gets to the point they expect it

Lance usually performed closer to the beginning of open mic nights. However this time he decided to wait until closer to the end of the night. He wasn't sure if it was a form of procrastination from his studies, his reluctance to travel back to his apartment in the fresh winter chill, or his desire to indirectly be in the mystery mullet boy's presence a little longer. He hoped Hunk hadn't noticed yet, but between performances Lance found himself looking at the back Voltron for a glimpse of pitch black hair, of deep space-purple eyes, of a crooked white canine poking out in a half smile (and no he hadn't been staring at the guy's lips, he just liked it when he smiled). Sometimes Lance saw him slouched in his chair with a steaming cup of tea covering his face and the too long sleeves of a Blade of Marmora sweatshirt covering his palms like (cute) sweater paws. Other times he caught him leaning against the counter talking to Shiro (Altea's legendary student - everyone wanted to be like him) or playfully arguing with his friend Allura. It was times like these where he nearly found himself halfway out of his seat before either being distracted by Hunk or chickening out.

Lance decided to play his favorite Blade of Marmora song that night.

And if the way the mullet boy's eyes lit up with recognition and a smile set butterflies free in his stomach - well sometimes those suckers needed a chance to spread their wings.

🎶

And who are you to disappoint them anyway?

After a few more performances, Keith was out of it - basically dead on his feet. At least, that's what he reasoned when he suddenly found himself less than three feet away from the stage. Next thing he knew, Keith was standing behind the mic with the room's complete attention on him.

Keith had no idea what he was doing.

As he looked of the crowd, he physically felt himself begin to clam up. All of a sudden the lights were too bright, the room was too quiet, and Keith couldn't pick one face out of the sea of others. It was just one mass staring right back at him with unwavering patience. They expected something and yet Keith didn't know what to give them or how to do so. His hands gripped the mic stand, white-knuckled and twisting nervously, growing sweatier by the second.

And Keith couldn't move, he couldn't breath, he couldn't open his mouth, and he began to spiral into the depths of his despair at being known forever as that one kid who got up onstage for no reason and couldn't doing anything and ended up just wasting everyone's time and he would never be able to show his face in Voltron again and he had just transferred to Altea but now he would have to move again and-

-then he heard the faintest of notes. The sound brought him out of his spiral enough for him to notice that someone had moved to the foot of the stage just out the light. As Keith gained more of his consciousness, he realized that said person was mystery blue boy playing his guitar. And he wasn't just playing any old song - he was playing the beginning of Paper Dolls over and over while looking up at Keith the beautiful blue eyes that were somehow both questioning and confident.

Keith briefly wondered if the boy knew that Paper Dolls was his favorite song before his brain began to short circuit again because oh man the cute boy was looking at him and smiling and oh he never thought that-.

Keith stopped himself before he could spiral again and smiled at the boy before chancing a glance back at a smiling Shiro who offered him a firm and encouraging nod. Keith couldn't look at the crowd so he closed his eyes before he let the music wash over him once more.

Then Keith opened his mouth and sang.

You have incredible eyes

And all the boys would go wild for you

But I was scared

In case you made me do those dares

Oh, would you

Oh, would you believe me

That I was your fool?

🎶

Something I could not dissolve

Lance was just getting ready to pack up for the night when he noticed mullet boy walk up to the stage. That action was enough to make him drop everything for he had never seen him perform before. As soon as mystery boy was up onstage, Lance realized something was very wrong. The boy appeared to be in a state of shock as he looked over the crowd with unseeing eyes. By the time his hands gripped the mic stand as if he was about to snap it in half, Lance already had a plan as to how he would help the nervous boy. He ignored Hunk's questioning glance and picked up his guitar walking toward the foot of the stage as he played the first notes he remembered from Paper Dolls. He hadn't played the song in months but as soon as he started, it all came flooding back to him. He played the beginning of the song a few more times as he patiently waited for the boy to notice him and hopefully give him some sort of sign that it was okay that he played along.

Lance had never expected to be on the receiving end of one of those snaggletooth smiles.

And when the boy began to sing, Lance nearly dropped the cords - actually nearly fell off his stool. Mullet boy's voice was obviously out of practice, especially for performance, but it was beautiful nonetheless. It was kinda smoky and raspy and cute and sexy all at the same time and had clearly sang this song millions of times without it becoming stale and loosing all notions of feeling.

Lance hadn't heard someone sing with such rawness and vulnerability in a long, long time.

The mystery boy's eyes remained closed, so Lance lowered his back to his guitar and listened.

'Cause I've been lying awake at night

Wondering where you are now

And if that mettle turned out right

"All my life

All my life", she said

"It's not right

Nobody told me I could do something

Nobody told me I could be something

I have tried

I have tried", she said

"It's alright, but

Nobody told me I could do something

Nobody told me I could be something"

🎶

Nobody told me I could do something

I this moment, nothing else mattered except for the music moving through his veins and the feelings that flowed through his voice as the words pushed themselves out of the depths of his soul.

Keith kept his eyes closed and sang.

You wore indelible smiles

You were divorced from inside, they said

But I was disturbed when I heard that it's not what you preferred

It gets to the point they expect it

And who are you to disappoint them anyway?

He sang of the emptiness that he once felt inside himself.

Of how no one cared about the poor abandoned boy with discipline issues.

Of how he fell into their mold - out of spite, out of survival, out of resignation.

Time will get you in the end

Just when you shook off that regret

Around the corner comes that memory, in a fur coat, to talk about it

"All my life

All my life", she said

"It's not right

Nobody told me I could do something

Nobody told me I could be something

I have tried

I have tried", she said

"It's alright, but

Nobody told me I could do something

Nobody told me I could be something"

He sang of the mother he had just met for the first time a few months before his transfer.

Of the struggles she went through, and although they were no more and no less than his own, they were struggles nonetheless.

Of how he finally had some answers to the questions that plagued his sleepless nights.

Many words that have been spoken cut me out like paper dolls

Made me into something different

Something I could not dissolve

It's over

Over

Don't let their words control you

He sang of his life growing up.

Of the people he tried to change himself for, but ended up disappointing anyway.

Of how he learned that the only person he could really live for was himself.

"All my life

All my life", she said

"It's not right

Nobody told me I could do something

Nobody told me I could be something

I have tried

I have tried", she said

"It's alright, but

Nobody told me I could do something

Nobody told me I could be something"

He sang of old experiences and new beginnings and how they have influenced each other.

Of all the people he has met in life and the ones he will meet in the future.

Of how they have changed him and of how he has changed them.

He sang until he couldn't anymore.

It took a moment for the sound outside of the blue boy's chords to come back to his awareness. And when it did, the applause almost sent him into another state of shock.

Keith finally allowed himself to open his eyes. The first thing he saw was the mystery blue boy's smiling eyes gazing up at him. Then he looked to Shiro's proud eyes and Allura's shocked ones. Then he looked into the daunting mass that applauded him.

Now that the moment was over, Keith was once again unsure of what to do. He gave a small bow to the crowd before rushing off the stage to return to his seat. He would do anything to be out of the spotlight.

He was the last performance of the night.

🎶

And if that mettle turned out right

As he moved to pack up his guitar, Lance kept his eye on the mystery mullet boy. He wanted to give him some space, but he also desperately wanted to talk to the boy who had eluded him for weeks. For Lance, a tiny part of him hoped that playing Paper Dolls provided enough of an opening to at least finally approach the boy, maybe strike up a conversation, and if luck was on his side, get his number. But Lance knew all too well that he tended to rush into things and that he could sometimes come across as overwhelming, and with one look at the mystery boys face after his performance, he knew that he needed to wait.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lance caught Hunk open his mouth to say something - probably confront him about his spontaneous accompaniment, but he promptly closed it into an all-too-knowing grin once he noticed Lance's line of sight.

Lance knew that he'd hear an earful from Hunk during their walk back, but in this moment, he could really care less.

Lance played with the strap of his guitar case as his eyes followed the mystery boy around the cafe. People stopped him left and right, most likely congratulating him all while being ignorant to his obvious aversion to the attention. When the boy settled near the counter, removed from the constant flow of people streaming out of the cafe, Lance finally saw his chance to approach without the possibility of being interrupted.

Lance shifted his guitar onto his back and slowly walked up to the boy. He stood a few feet away, not wanting to interrupt the boy's conversation with Shiro.

Just then, Shiro caught his eye and sent him a knowing grin.

"Looks like someone wants to talk to you" he said, sharing a pointed look with the boy before he finished cleaning up the counter.

When the boy turned around, Lance realized how unprepared he was to face those stormy eyes up close. After a moment, Lance's breath finally freed itself from his throat and he sent a small smile gripping the strap of his guitar case.

He was greeted with a small, nervous smile in return.

"Um- uh- hi?!" Lance's voice squeaked.

The boy continued to stare, as if Lance was a mysterious puzzle that he had to solve.

Lance cleared his throat, "You- you were really good up there man. I mean, like seriously talented. And just like- Why don't-"

The boy's stormy eyes became dangerously cold as he began to turn away from Lance, obviously looking for a way to escape the question he was about to ask.

Lance reached out, frantically trying to think of a way to keep the conversation from dying, "Um- the name's Lance by the way."

The boy glanced back at Lance through his messy hair, "Keith".

Lance one again found himself unprepared, momentarily shocked by the slightly husky smoothness of the mullet boy's- Keith's- voice.

For some reason, this only made Lance more nervous, "Um cool cool coooool... K- Keith. Um, I hope you don't mind me joining in a bit back there... I kind heard you humming Paper Dolls earlier- not- not that I was purposely listening to you that is... I kinda just overheard... and well, that is my sister's favorite song and I still remembered it and so I thought I'd play it and maybe it would help... because I've seen you around here before, but I've never seen you perform and, um, you looked kinda nervous man, and I just wanted to help and maybe talk to you a bit because... because yeah... but if you don't wanna talk to me, um that's fine too, but I just wanted to say that you were really good... so yeah..."

"Um, thanks" Keith said, his eyes shifting back down to the cup of tea still in his hands, "I was really nervous, I don't really know what came over me, but it was- it was probably sleep deprivation from finals or something else-"

"-Wait! Finals?!"

Keith looked back up at Lance, slightly confused by his unnecessarily loud reaction "Um.... yeah?"

"Do you happen to go to Altea University?" Lance asked, trying not to get his hopes up.

"Yeah, I just transferred there into the honors astro program."

Lance silently thanked any and all celestial beings for this perfect moment. "Cool, I just transferred into the honors astro program too- I can't believe we haven't had any classes together yet- but hey" he fished his phone out of his pocket and handed it over to Keith, "just put in your number and maybe we can do a study date- I mean a study group together sometime?"

Lance waited with baited breath as Keith's fingers hovered over the keyboard.

🎶

That I was your fool?

The blue boy - Lance he now knew - had just asked him for his number. And maybe on a study date or study group sometime.

Keith chanced another quick glance at Lance, letting his fingers hover over the boy's phone.

Did he not know that Keith could barely resist the urge to never deny him anything?

Keith quickly typed in his number, handing the phone back to Lance and actively ignoring the tiny voice in the back of his head telling him that he would eventually mess everything up and that early rejection would save Lance and his beauty from the unpolished edges of himself.

"See you next week?" Lance asked, effectively breaking Keith out of his internal self-deprecation.

Keith found that his smile came easily, "Yeah, see you around."

Closing Author's Note:

The ending is not my favorite... but I needed to stop procrastinating.... *shrugs*

Thanks for reading! <3

If you wanna chat, I love VLD, BNHA (MHA), TDP, and many other things. You can find me on AO3 and Discord with the same username ( atcagainstthecurrent ).