Story bits

1
"Okay guys, be careful." Shiro warned over the comms. "We're always careful." James replies, stepping over a rock. "Yeah. Have a little faith Shiro." Keith teases. "Just be careful. We don't know what's out there. And we certainly don't want a repeat of what happened on the Balmera." Lance sighs. "You're never gonna let us live that down, are you?" "No." James and Ryan chuckle. "Hey, what's this?" Keith asks, stepping towards a strange looking flower. It was orange, with darker shades on the edges of the petals. "It's kinda pretty." James said, peeking around Keith's shoulder and causing him to blush a bit, which the other two noticed.

"Have you guys seen this before?" James asked. Keith and Lance shook their heads. "No. Shiro, Ronny, you guys seeing this?" Lance asked. "Yeah. Coran, do you know what it is?" Veronica's voice asked. "Um, let me see. It could be a Leyan flower, which is harmless, or, hmm, let's see. I forgot what the other was. Bring it back so that I may examine it. But try not to get any pollen on you. I may not remember exactly what it does if it's not Leyan, but we don't want to take any chances." "Roger that." Lance says. "So how do we get this out?" Ryan asks. "Pick it up? It looks like it's rooted to this rock." Keith says, reaching for it. "Wait." James says, grabbing his forearm. "Coran, if this is the wrong type, how would we move it without getting pollen on ourselves?" "In this situation, grabbing the rock it's on is probably the best move. Try to not to touch the petals. I think that's what sets it off." "See? The rock is fine." Keith said, taking his arm away. "Better safe than sorry." James says. Keith picks up the rock, carefully holding it so not to touch the petals. "Let's go." He says.

They make their way out of the cave, trading the rock at times to give the other person's arms a rest. They finally get back to the rover and sigh. "Finally. Alright, let's get back to the ship." Ryan says, sitting in the driver's seat. Keith sits shotgun. "That stupid rock is heavy." He complains. "You guys got it secured?" He asks Lance and James. "Yeah. Let's go." James says. They begin the drive there, careful to avoid bumps in the road. "How did we end up on retrieval missions? Why can't we be flying around with the girls and Hunk?" Lance grumbles, crossing his arms."Because they got the retrieval mission last time." Ryan answers. "And if we didn't let them fly, they're gonna get mad." James adds. "You don't want to deal with a mad Ina. It's kinda scary." Ryan says with a shiver.

"Ryan, there's a bump in the-" Keith starts. But it's too late. They go over the bump and the whole rover jumps. A "CRASH!" Is heard and James curses. "Fuck. Dammit Lance, I told you to hold the stupid rock." Lance coughed. "Fuck. That pollen smells. James sneezed. "Wait, did you say pollen?" Keith asks, whipping his head around. He lets out a string of Galra that sounds like cursing. Ryan coughs, and the rock bounces again, and a cloud of orange pollen spread throughout the rover.

"Lance! Keith! Ryan? James? Can you hear me?" Veronica's voice asks. No response. "Boys? What are you doing?" Shiro asks. Coran sighs. "They must be messing around. Let's go get them." The three adults headed out to the rover, and opened the door. Four children came jumping out, giggling and running around. "What the- who are you?" Shiro asks, picking up one of the kids. "Shiro! Put me down!" He whines. "Keith?" Shiro asks incredulously. The little kid is a spitting image of his brother. The same jet-black hair, violet eyes, pale skin, his scar was even in the same place. "Put me down! I have to catch Jamie!" "Jamie?" Veronica asks. "Ronny! Come play with us!" One of the kids says, pulling on her sleeve. She gasps. "James?" "What?" He asks. The other two come over. "Coran, look! We found a flower."
The kids are spitting images of the boys. James still has his bright purple eyes and light brown hair. Ryan has his hazel eyes and kind smile. Lance's blue eyes sparkle as he looks up at his sister. "Can you play tag with us?" Lance asks. They hear ships land, and their attention turns to them.
"Nadi! Ina! Lura! Pid!" James yells, running towards them. Nadia smiles and picks him up. "Well who's this?" She asks, smiling at him. "Nadi, it's me. James." He says. Her eyes widen. "James? Since when have you been so small?" She asked. "Hey! I'm not small." He whined. "James, come here." Ina says, taking him out of her girlfriend's arms. "How about we go inside and get you a snack? You must be hungry after your mission." James nods. "Yeah! Can Ryan and Keef and Lance come too?" He asks. The girls glance at the other children and Pidge's eyes look like they're about to burst out of her head. "Of course." Ina says, smiling at him. "Pidge, have you seen Kosmo?" Keith asks.

As if on cue, the dog appears next to him and starts licking his face. "Kosmo! There you are!" Keith giggles. He climbs on his back and pulls Lance with him. "Giddyup Kosmo!" The dog barks and runs into the ship. "Come on Ryan, let's make sure they don't get in trouble." Shiro says, leading him along. "Can Coran fix this soon? I don't want to be a little kid again." "You know you're a kid?" Shiro asks. "No, but I know I've been this height before. It's not fun. I can't even go on the big rides at Six Flags." Shiro laughs. "Don't worry. We're gonna get to the bottom of this."

2
An hour later, they had the boys in proper clothes for someone their size. Basketball shorts all around, with tennis shoes and different color shirts. Keith’s is red, Lance’s blue, Ryan’s was green, and James's was white. They sat at a table in the ATLAS, swinging their legs as they looked at the adults. "Okay, let me get this straight." Shiro says, massaging his brow. "You are Keith, you're Lance, you're Ryan, and you're James." He says, pointing to each of them in turn.
They nod.
"And the pollen from that flower, which wasn't a Leyan, turned you then into little kids?" He directs this last part at Coran, who nods. "Correct. Now, they could be like this for anywhere from a few hours to two months." He says, fiddling with his mustache. The others gape at him. "Two MONTHS? What are we supposed to do until then? Half of our team and two of the paladins are out of commission. How are we supposed to do our jobs?" Nadia asks. Coran shrugs. "It's impossible to tell. The pollen affects different people differently. But, I figured out how old they are! Ryan is seven, Lance is five, Keith is five, and James is four." He reports. "Why is James the youngest?" Ina asks. "Well, he is the youngest on the team. Also, he most likely got the most pollen on him. Ryan probably got the least, so that's why he's the oldest." "If me and Keith are the same age, why is he taller?" Lance whines. "Because I'm better than you." Keith says, smirking. "Are not!" "Are too!" They start yelling across the table at each other, and Lance even stands on the table. "Ha! Now I'm taller!" Keith climbs up there too. "No, I still am!"

“Both of you, get off the table now.” Ina snaps. They both flinch and jump down. “How are you so good with kids?” Pidge asks. “Ina has two little sisters. Crystal and Erica.” James answers. Ina nods. “Right. And they’re four years younger, so I’m used to working with children. Just not these children.” Allura sighs. “This is going to be an interesting experience, isn’t it?” “That’s one word for it.” Shiro mutters. “Okay, so we have to figure out how to take care of a six year old, two five year olds, and a four year old. This should be easy, right? If we can take on hostile alien warriors, we can-” “They left.” Pidge says, interrupting him. He sees James round the corner, giggling as he runs away. “Kids! Get back here!” He yells, running after them. Pidge activates the camera on Rover. “This is going to be hilarious.” She says, running after him, Rover following.

The boys are a ways down the hall, Ryan in the front, heading towards the training room. “James! Stop!” Shiro yells. The little boy skids to a stop. He turns around and faces Shiro. He waits for him to get a little closer, then turns around and runs again. “You didn’t say for how long!” he yells over his shoulder.
Shiro huffs and sprints, grabbing James and throwing him over his shoulder. James shrieks and giggles, bouncing as Shiro runs after Keith and Lance. Keith glances backwards and smiles, running faster. “Keith! Ryan! Slow down!” Lance pants. Shiro grabs him as well and he shrieks. “No! Shiro! Put me down!” He whines, hitting his back. “Hiro, I have to go to the bathroom.” James says. Shiro immediately sets him down, expecting to have to show him where it is. Instead, James bolts off after Keith and Ryan. “Sike!” He yells. Keith laughs and grabs his hand. “Come on Jamie! Ryan’s already there!” They go through the training room doors, which slide closed behind them. Pidge is cracking up behind a pouting Shiro. “Don’t worry, I’ll get them.” She says.

She heads in the room, Rover, Shiro and Nadia following. “Hi Katie!” James calls, running over to her. “Do you wanna play with us? We found little guns!” He exclaims, waving the little blaster in his hand as Keith and Ryan try to shoot each other behind him. “I have a better idea. How about we watch a movie?”
“What movie?” Keith asks, going over. James’s head only reaches an inch above his shoulder, and he stands almost protectively besides him. “What movie do you wanna watch?” Pidge asks. “Can we watch a funny movie?” Ryan asks, standing behind the two others. “Like what?” Pidge asks. “Scooby Doo!” James cries. “Can we watch a Scooby Doo movie?” He asks, jumping up and down excitedly. “Keith, Ryan? Do you want to watch a Scooby Doo movie?” Pidge asks. Keith shrugs. “Can we watch the witch one?” Ryan asks. “Which witch one?” Pidge asks, playfulness in her voice. “The witch one where the guy with the green wings and the big horns and the little glowing people.” he answers. Pidge puts a hand on her chin, thinking. “Hmm, I don’t know which one that is. You’ll have to show me. But the movies are all in the living room.” Ryan shrugs and grabs her arm. ”Then I’ll show you. Come on guys, we gotta find the movie.” Him and Pidge walk out, Keith and James following.

Hunk rounds a corner in the hall, and freezes when he sees Pidge and the three kids. “Um, Pidge? Who are they? We didn’t accidentally kidnap anyone, did we?” He asks. She laughs. “No Hunk, it’s Ryan, Keith and James. Them and Lance found a flower that turned them into little kids.” Hunk nodded, as if that all made sense. “We’re gonna watch a movie!” James says. Hunk smiles. “That’s great buddy. Which one?” “I dunno. But Ryan does. Him and Pid are gonna find it.” Keith grabbed James’s hand. “Come on Jamie, they’re gonna go without us.” James waved to Hunk as Keith led him away, gripping his hand tightly.
They pass numerous people in the halls, all of whom gape at them. Pidge, holding a little boy that looks suspiciously like Kinkade’s hand, two little kids who look like Kogane and Griffin holding hands and following, Shiro holding a kid who looks like McClain.
Pidge and Ryan comb through the movies on her laptop as the other three boys climb on the couch. Keith in the corner, then James, then Lance. “That one!” Ryan says, pointing to a movie. “That’s the one.” “Scooby Doo and the Goblin King? That’s the one?” Ryan nods. “Yes Pidge, I know the movie. Can we play it now?” She laughs. “Alright, alright. Go sit.” Ryan goes to the couch and sits next to Lance. “Lancito! ¿Ustedes quieren dulces?” Veronica asks, popping her head in.“Si!” Lance calls. “What’d she say?” Keith whispers. “She asked if we wanted candy.” Lance replies. “You said yes, right?” Lance rolled his eyes. “No, I said no. Stupid.” “Hey!” Keith whined. “Keef, be quiet. It’s starting.” James said, pulling on his arm. “Sorry Jamie.” He muttered. Ten minutes in, Veronica came in with little baggies of candy for them. “Whoa! Thanks Ronny!” Keith says, smiling up at her. She smiles and ruffles his hair. “Anytime.” The boys sit in silence, munching on their candy as they watch the movie.

“Okay, what are we gonna do?” Veronica asks Shiro. “I don’t know. Coran said it could take as much as two months for them to go back to normal. So we should probably prepare for that.” Pidge groaned. “Two months of tiny Keith and Lance? We’re gonna be breaking up fights left and right.” “Well, Ryan and James seem to be pretty well behaved.” Allura comments. “And since Ryan got the least amount of pollen on him, and is the oldest, maybe he could help? He already seems to have some sway over the others.” Veronica considers this. “Well, him and James should be the easiest. I may not remember much from when Lance was four, but I do know that even though they can go crazy at times and be bouncing off the walls, they crash hard. So we’ll have to deal with either very hyper or very tired James a lot.” “I don’t know. He seems pretty smart for a four year old. He tricked Shiro.” Allura says.
“In his defense, Shiro is only six.” Pidge adds.
“Shut up. But we do need to get them more stuff. It was hard just finding those clothes for them.” Shiro sighed. “We may have to go to the space mall.” “Did someone say space mall?” Coran asked, appearing next to them. The other four jumped. “Um, yes. We might need to go there to procure clothing for the little ones.” Allura says. “Could we not put them in some of your old clothing Princess? I recall Alfor keeping some of it in the Castle.” “Coran the Castle was destroyed. All of that stuff is gone.” Pidge says, voice soft. Coran frowns. “Quiznak. I forgot about that. Well then, to the space mall we go!” He declared. A chorus of “Shhh!”s came from the living room.

Ryan came over to them, tapping on Veronica’s arm. “Ronny, James fell asleep.” He reports. Veronica smiles. “See? What did I tell you?” She goes over to the couch, where a sleeping James is leaning on Keith’s shoulder. She gently picks him up and hugs him to her chest, walking back to the others. “He’s so cute.” Allura coos, clasping her hands together. “Do we put him in his room or…” Veronica trails off, readjusting her grip on the boy. “Yeah, probably. He doesn’t sleep with a knife under his pillow, does he?” Shiro asks. Veronica chuckles and shakes her head. “No. Well, I don’t think so. But he has a keycode to his room,, and I don’t know it.” “I can help with that. Just don’t ask me to carry him.” Pidge says, heading down the hall.
Veronica leads her to James’s room, where she plugs her wrist device into the keypad.

She taps a few buttons, and the doors open. Veronica takes a look around as she steps in with the sleeping James. “I’ve never been in here before.” “It looks so empty.” Pidge says. “James has always been a private person. It makes sense that he wouldn’t have a lot of stuff in here.” Veronica says. She lays James down on his bed, pulling the covers up over his shoulders. He hums and snuggles into his pillow, a small smile on his face. “Hey Ronny, do you know if James has any sisters?” Pidge asks, her back to Veronica. “No. Why?” Pidge shows her a framed picture. “Because I’ve seen these girls before.”

There’s five people in the picture, which looks like it was taken the year before the blue lion.
There James, with a wide smile and his arm around a girl who’s maybe an inch or two shorter than him. She has light blue eyes, contrasting greatly with James’s purple ones. There’s another girl next to them, several inches taller, with green eyes. All have the same skin tone and light brown hair. A man and woman stand besides them. The man has a small brown beard and green eyes, while the woman has blue-grey ones.
“James never talks about his family. They might be his sisters.” Veronica says. “Or one is his girlfriend.” Pidge suggests. “Please. James, with a girlfriend? No way.” Pidge raises an eyebrow. “Are you saying he’s gay?” “No, but I've never seen him express any interests in a relationship before.” Pidge sighs. “Okay, is there anything we know about him besides basic facts?” Veronica shrugs. “What can I say? There wasn’t a lot of time to do icebreakers when we were in the middle of a war.” “I thought you guys knew each other before then?” Pidge says, raising an eyebrow. “Oh no. Ina, Nadia and Ryan all transferred from other Garrison schools where they were the top pilots, and I didn’t meet them until a month or so before the war.” Pidge hums absentmindedly. “Interesting. Well, we should probably go. Don’t want to wake him up.” She says, grabbing the picture and heading for the door. “Pidge! Leave it there!” Veronica hisses as she follows. “I’m gonna find out who they are. This one looks like she’s older, and it might be good to have someone who’s dealt with little James before.” Veronica sighs. “Fine. But the second you’re done with it, you’re putting it back.” Pidge nods, and the two part ways. Pidge going to her lab, Veronica to check on the boys.

They’re all fast asleep, leaning on one another. She smiles and finds a blanket, covering the trio. She heads back to the bridge, where Shiro and Allura are. “Veronica! There you are!” Allura says, smiling at her. “We figured out what we’re going to do with the boys.” “Great. What is it?” “Well, you’re Lance’s older sister, and you’ve dealt with little him before, right?” Shiro says. “Yes. Why?” “Well, you’re going to be babysitting and taking care of him.” Veronica opened her mouth to protest, but Shiro held up his robotic one. “Wait. You’ll be the main caretaker. Me, Allura, Hunk and Pidge will help as well. I’ll be the primary caretaker for Keith, and Krolia and Kolivan are going to meet up with us at some point to help. Ina and Nadia are in charge of Ryan, and everyone will help a bit with James. Like you said, four year olds aren’t the easiest to take care of, so it would be unfair to make one person take care of him 24/7.” Shiro explains.

“Okay. And when me and Pidge went to drop him off in his room, we found what looks like a family picture. She took it to her lab and is looking up the people in it.” Shiro nodded. “Hmm. Does James have older siblings? They could help.” Veronica shrugged. “We won’t know until Pidge does.” Allura sighed. “Are all human children this difficult? Alteans are using swords by the time they can walk.” Veronica and Shiro laughed. “Princess, humans and Alteans have very different childhoods. For one, your equivalent of a four year old is 400 earth years.” Allura laughed. “That’s true. Well, then tomorrow morning, we’ll set off at 8, and then we’re going to the space mall!” Coran cheered, startling them all, once again with his appearance.

3
“James, time to wake up.” Nadia cooed. The little boy grumbled and rolled over, facing away from her. She turned to Ina and sighed. “Well, we tried it the easy way.” She reached forward and grabbed his waist, yanking him out of the blankets and propping him on her hip. He grumbled and leaned into her, slumped against her body. “Aw, he’s adorable.” Ina commented, brushing a stray hair out of his face. One of his eyes opened and he yawned, bringing a little fist up to rub it. “Hi Ina.” He mumbled. She smiled softly. “Hey James. You ready to get up?” “No.” He groaned. “That’s too bad, because the ship is about to take off. We were gonna let you watch it from the bridge, but if you’re too tired…” Nadia trailed off. “No! I’m not tired! I wanna see the ship launch!” He exclaimed. Nadia grinned. “I thought so. Come on, the others are already there.” She headed for the door, but James pulled on her shirt collar. “Can I- can I take my blanket? I’m cold.” He said. “Of course.” Ina went back to the bed and grabbed the blanket, covering James with it. His hands grabbed the corners, pulling it tight around himself.

They head to the bridge, getting odd looks along the way. James waved to a few crew members, who smiled and waved back, after briefly looking shocked. Neither Nadia or Ina recognized them, but assumed they were just being polite.
When they got to the bridge, the rest of the paladins, Rya, Veronica, Coran, Iverson and Sam were there. “So it’s true. They’re all children.” Iverson said. “Hi Mr.Iverson.” James said, waving. “Is that Griffin?” He asked, doing a double take. “Yes. Unless my last name changed while I was sleeping.” James retorts. Iverson blinks and then laughs. “Ah, I missed when he was so perky.” He says, ruffling the boy’s hair as he smiles. “Come here lil Griffin. The ship’s about to take off.”

James transferred arms, seeming to fit perfectly in Iverson’s. The ship rumbled, then the telltale sound of thrusters started. They started rising, and James let go of his blanket, it falling around his waist and on Iverson’s arm. They watched the planet’s surface fade from view, the sunlight shining in their eyes. James’s were blown wide with amazement, and his mouth was in an “O”. As they got higher in the atmosphere, the sunlight shone in James’s purple eyes, and Iverson smiled softly at the four year old. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” James could only nod. He seemed to be trying to soak it all in, looking like he’d never seen the stars before.
Pidge smiled to herself, ending the recording and putting her phone in her pocket. She'd gotten the entire exchange between the two.

It was oddly endearing.

“Mr.Iverson, where’s Ally?” He asked. “Somewhere on the ship.” “But where?” James asked, looking at the man. “I don’t know. How about you and Nadia look for her?” “Okay. Can you put me down now?” Iverson smiled and set the boy on the ground, handing him his blanket, which he wrapped around himself. He went to Nadia and pulled on her sleeve, beginning to lead her away.
“James, where are we going?” She asked. “To find Ally.” “Who’s Ally?” She asked, taking his hand in hers. “My big sister. Mr.Iverson says she’s on the ship.” Nadia freezes and looks at Ina. “You have a sister?” Ina asks. “I used to have two, but Cameron got her angels wings a few months ago.” James states, turning to her.
“James, is this Cameron?” Pidge asks, pulling out the picture and pointing to the smaller girl. James frowns at the picture. “Uh, yeah. But she’s gone. And that’s Ally.” He said, pointing to the taller girl. “And that’s Mom, and that’s Dad. And that little thing there-” He points to a little black line on the bottom. “Is Candy’s tail. She was too short to be in the picture.” “Who’s Candy?” Nadia asked. “She was Ally’s dog. Black, with brown eyes. Her hair was really soft. But it got everywhere. Mom got mad when she went on the couch.” “you had a dog?” Keith asks, appearing at James’s side. He smiles up at him. “Yeah! She wasn’t as cool as Kosmo though. She couldn't teleport.” “Hey, maybe Kosmo can help us find your sister!” Keith exclaimed. James thought about this for a moment before frowning. “No. Ally’s allerngic to dogs. Candy was special. Also-” He began to whisper badly to Keith. “She’s scared of them.” Keith giggled and a smile crossed James’s face.

“James, we only have a little while to look for her before me and Ina have to work.” Nadia said. “Okay. Bye Keef!” James said, waving to the other. Keith ruffled his hair. “Bye Jamie.” James, Nadia, and Ina departed down the hall, leaving Shiro, Allura and Corna, with Ryan, Lance and Keith. “Well, what do you little boyos wanna do?” Coran asked, twisting his mustache. “I wanna play a game!” Lance declared. “I wanna play with Kosmo.” Keith said.
“Game!” “Kosmo!” “Game!” “Kosmo!” Keith and Lace butted heads, shouting their choice at the other. Ryan sighed and parted them, keeping them arm length away from each other. “Why don’t we play a game with Kosmo? LIke fetch?” he suggests. The other two boys blink. Then Keith shrugs. “Sure.” “I guess.” Lance says.
“Well then, let’s go find Kosmo. I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.” Allura says. “We should look in teams! Allura is with me!” Lance exclaimed, grabbing her hand. She smiled down at him. “Where shall we look first?” “Training room!” He declared, beginning to march off.
Keith snickered as they left. “Silly. Kosmo!” He called. The wolf popped into existence next to him, licking his face.
He laughed and patted his head, scratching behind his ears. “Come on. We can play fetch in the training room.”

Shiro didn’t see any of the children until dinner that night. James came in with a crew member who he didn’t recognize. “There he is! Thanks Jordan.” The dark skinned man smiled at the boy. “Anytime. And I’ll tell Ally you were looking for her.” He set James down and ruffled his hair affectionately before walking out.
He went over to Shiro and climbed onto the bench next to him. “Hi Hiro. How was your day?”
Shiro’s heart warmed at James’s inability to say his name, and the new nickname he had. “My day was good. How about yours? Did you find your sister?”
“No. But I found Jordan and Mark, and they let me watch their drills and help with their work.” Shiro raised an eyebrow. “Did they now?” James smiled. “Yeah! But I had to wear these really big headphones when they went to the shooting range and sit behind the big glass wall. They’re good, but not as good as me and my team. They agree with me.” James’s legs swung, barely grazing the floor as he talked.
“How do you know them?” “I met them at the Garrison. They’re nice. They taught me a lot. Helped with my homework sometimes.” “What else did they teach you?” James thought for a moment before frowning. “I dunno. I forgot.” Then his eyes widened. “But don’t tell Ryan.” He whispered. “Don’t tell Ryan what?” Shiro whispered back. “That I forgot.” Shiro nodded gravely. “I won’t. I promise.” James nodded, face equally as serious. “Good.”

A tray slammed down next to James, and both of them jumped. “Shiro, why didn’t you get him any food?” Veronica asked. “James may be a little kid, but he still needs to eat.” “Ronny, I’m fine. I just got here.” James said. “But are you hungry?” She asked, looking down on him.
James shrugged. “Kinda.” “Well then.” Veronica said, standing and swooping James up, causing him to giggle as she placed him on her hip. “Let’s get you some food.”
They went to the line, stopping to say hello to some people on the way. James seemed to know everyone’s name, and made a point of looking at them when he greeted them. He brought countless smiles on people’s faces, and some put a hand on their hearts.
Sal even smiled at the child when they got to the front of the line, ruffling his hair. They had an unheard exchange, which had all three of them smiling. Sal gave them several little ice cream bars, winking at the little boy when he did.

When they got back to the table, They sat across from Shiro, and James pulled out his phone, which looked big in his hands. “James, what are you doing?” Shiro asked. “Ima call Nadia and Lura. Mr. Sal gave us extra ice cream and I know the others like it too.” The phone rang a few times, and a voice answered. “Hello?” “Keef?” James asked. “James? What?” “Mr. Sal gave us ice cream if you guys want any.” “Really? Is there strawberry?” James poked at the bars as Shiro chuckled.
He’d never understand his brother’s unending joy about strawberry ice cream.
“Maybe? Can you get Ryan and Lance too?” “Yeah sure. Save me the strawberry.” Then Keith hung up. James put his phone back in his pocket. “They're coming.” He held an ice cream out to Shiro. “Do you want one?” Shiro smiles and shakes his head. “No thanks. But you gotta eat something else besides ice cream.” “Do I?” James asks. “Yes.” “Says who?” “Me.” Shiro says, shooting him a serious stare, which James returns.
They hear laughing and Shiro sees Pidge walk up. “Shiro, why are you having a stare down with a four year old?” She asks through her laughing. “He’s only two years older. Not like he’s an adult.” James says, never once breaking eye contact.

Shiro gasps and reels back as the girls burst out laughing. “Okay James, you won that one. High five.” Pidge says. They slap hands and James gives Shiro a smug grin. Then he picks up the ice cream he had offered him and opens it slowly, taking a slow bite and yanking it away from his mouth while staring right at Shiro. Pidge laughs. “Why is this James so much sassier than the other?” Veronica shrugged, scooping up some food. “I don’t know, but I like it.” Pidge says as she sits next to Shiro.

They hear a “Pop!”, and the other boys show up, along with Allura. “Ice cream!” The three scream. Keith sits next to James and snatches the only pink wrapped one. “Thanks Jamie.” James smiles closed lippededly at him, crumbs on his lips. Ryan reached over the two to grab one, ruffling James’s hair. “Thanks.” Alura took one, examining it carefully. “What is this?” She asked. “It’s an ice cream sandwich. The top and bottom things are cookies, and the inside of your is vanilla. Mine is chocolate and Keith’s is strawberry. It’s good, trust me.” Lance answers.
Allura bites into the sandwich tentatively, and her eyes light up. “Oh, that is good!” The children giggle at her reaction. Blue eyes blow wide and shining. “Right?”
After dinner, the four boys crashed and had to be carried back to their rooms. Allura laid Lance in his bec, covering him with a blanket tenderly. “Goodnight Lance.” She cooed. “G’night Lura.” Lance mumbled. She headed for the door when Lance called out to her. “Lura, wait!” He said. “Yes?” “Can I have a goodnight kiss?” He asked, cheeks tinting pink. She smiles and goes over to him, kissing his forehead gently. “Goodnight Lance.” She repeats. He smiles and rolls over, nuzzling into his blankets. “Good night Allura.” She exits the room, a soft smile on her face.

4
The next day, all four children were up bright and early, hanging out with Iverson and Sam on the bridge.
James sat on Iverson’s desk, swinging his legs. “Mr.Iverson, did you find Ally?” He asked. “Yes. She’s going to meet us at the space mall today.” Ryan walked over to Ina, pulling on her sleeve. “Ina, I don’t feel good.” He says. “Why? What hurts?” She asks. “My stomach. And my head. They hurt.” She frowned and picked him up, looking him up and down. “Did you run into something? Or bump your head?” She asks, pushing his hair back to examine his head. “No. I just don’t feel good.” She frowned. “Then let’s get you back in bed. Maybe you need a nap.” He nodded and laid his head on Ina’s shoulder, letting her carry him out of the bridge.
“What’s wrong with Ryan?” Lance asked Nadia. “He doesn’t feel good.” Lance frowned. “He’s not sick, is he?”She sighed. “I don’t know. But if he is, he’ll get better soon.”
Ina came back in a few minutes later. “Where’s Coran? Maybe his sudden illness is a side effect of the pollen.”
“I can call him.” Sam offers, tapping a few buttons on his screen. The mustached man appeared on screen, eye in the camera. “Yess?” He sang. “Um, Coran, your face is in the camera.” Sam says. Coran backs up, and Sam nods. “Better. Now, uh, Ryan wasn’t feeling good. Ina put him back in his room.” “Hmmm.” Coran said, fiddling with the edges of his mustache. “What exactly was bothering him?” “His head and his stomach.” Ina answers. Coran smiled. “Oh! Then that means he’s going to turn back into an adult soon. Give it a few more minutes, and he should be fine.”
Coran ended the call, and the girls exchanged a look. “I’m not explaining what happened.” Ina says. “Shiro can do it.” Nadia blurts. “Why me?” He whines. “You’re the adult.” Ina answers. He frowns and goes back to his station.
About 20 minutes later, Ryan came walking in, rubbing his head. “Hey guys.” He greeted. Nadia smiled and rushed to hug him, picking him up off the ground. “You’re back!” “Where’d I go?” Ina looks pointedly at Shiro, who sighs. “Fine. So here’s what happened…”

Half an hour later, Shiro’s finished explaining, and Ryan is staring at him in disbelief. “Ok, wait. So the four of us got turned into fucking children and the others could stay like that for up to two months?” Shiro nods. “Yep.” “And now we have to take care of mini Keith, Lance and James?” he nods again. “Yep.” “And James has sisters? And we’re going to the infamous Space Mall to meet one of them?” “Yep.” Ryan lets out a breath. “Damn. That’s a lot.”
Shiro nods. “Yeah. So, you’re gonna be helping with James. Him and the others should be getting here in a few minutes.”

Said children came running through the bridge doors, Veronica and Hunk following. “Lance! Get back here!” Veronica scolded, running after him. ‘NO!” He spat. “Don’t wanna!” Veronica huffed and stopped. “Lance Charles McClain, if you don’t get over here right now, I’m going to take away your tablet and TV privileges.”
Keith and James giggled as Lance pouted and trudged over to his sister, who wrapped him in a blue jacket. “You keep complaining about being cold, and we don’t want you getting sick. Now, you’re going to wear this when you’re cold, got it?” Lance nodded. “Good. And you two-” She looked at Keith and James, who both snapped their heads up. “-Are going to stop hiding and teleporting away with Komso when we call you. Got it?” “Yes ma’am.” They chirped, and she nodded before sighing. “Just one of them is bad enough, but three? I’m going to need such a strong drink later.” She said, leaving the bridge.

“Ryan, will you play tag with us?” James asked, pulling on his sleeve. “I dunno buddy, I'm pretty tired.” Ryan tells him. “Later?” “I might still be tired later.” James frowned. “If you’re so tired, why don’t you just sleep instead of complaining about it?” He asked,

His team and Shiro balked at him before bursting out laughing. “Who are you and what have you done with James?” Nadia asked. “But Nadi, I am James. Unless someone changed my name while I was gone.”

Keith came over and put his hand on James’s shoulder, whispering something in his ear. James raised an eyebrow at him, a look of confusion on his face. Keith rolls his eyes and whispers to him again. “Takashit? What kind of name is that?” He asks the other boy, who starts laughing. “No no, it's Takashi. Ta-ka-SHI.” Keith said slowly. “Takashe.” “No, TakaSHI.” “Takis?” “Ta-ka-SHI.” “Takashi?” Keith smiled. “Yes! That’s it Jamie!” He said, hugging the other boy. “Now say Keith.” Shiro says, leaning forward. “Keef.” “KEIth.” “Keef.” “KEIth.” “Keef.” “KEIth.” “Keef.” Shiro sighed. “This is gonna take a while, isn’t it?”
Veronica shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe he’s doing it on purpose.” “K-EI-th.” “Keif.” Keith sighed. “No Jamie. Keith.” “‘S too hard!” James said, throwing his hands in the air. “You can say quintefence!” “It’s quintessence.” James corrected. “See? You can say that, but not Keith?”

“SO.” Ryan said. “What are we doing today?”

Extras

They brought the three boys to the medbay, helping them all sit on the big table. Sam came in, holding a silver box with a red cross on it. He went over to the kids. “Hello boys.” He said, smiling warmly. “Hi Mr.Sam!” James and Lance chorused. “Are we getting shots?” Keith asked, eyes wide. Sam frowned a bit. “Yeah buddy, you are.” Keith’s shoulders slumped. “But just one. And this way, you won’t get sick.” “But I don't like shots.” Keith muttered. “It’s not that bad. And it’s only one.” Lance says. “Yeah, and they don’t hurt either.” James adds. “But what if they do?” Keith asks. “They don’t. Watch. It doesn’t hurt.” Sam started cleaning James’s right bicep, and pulled out a needle, pressing it softly into the skin. He pulled it out and placed a bandaid on it. James smiled at Keith. “See? It doesn’t hurt.” Sam went towards Keith, who flinched a bit. “Come on Keith, it’ll be fine.”

Sam started cleaning that part of Keith’s arm, and he shivered. “It’s cold.” When Sam took out another needle, Keith took his arm away. “Do I have to?” He asked. “Yeah bud, you do. But the sooner I do it, the sooner it’s over.” James held a hand out to Keith. “You can hold my hand if it’ll make you feel better.” He offers. Keith grabs it and clutches it tightly as Sam presses the needle into his skin. He closes his eyes, grip on James’s hand tightening. Sam pulled the needle out and placed a bandaid on it. “There. All done.” And he moves on to Lance. “See? It wasn’t that bad.” James tells Keith.

Once Sam has gotten Lance, he hands each of the boys a lollipop. James gets cherry, Keith orange, Lance gets cotton candy. James and Keith take one look at each other and switch candies. “James, have you been doing the other thing I told you?” Sam asks. James nods. “Yeah. You said it could be worse if I didn’t.” Sam smiles and ruffles his hair. “That’s right, you boys behave. I don’t want to hear anything about you getting in trouble, you hear?” Sam playfully warns. The three boys nod. “Thanks Mr.Holt.” Ryan says. “Anytime.” Sam says, walking out.

“Ally!” James yells, running at her. Her eyes widen with sunrise and she bends down to pick the boy up, hugging him to her chest. “I missed you.” He says, nuzzling into her neck. “I missed you too Jamie.” He pulled her hair. “Don’t call me that.” She laughs. “Okay, I won’t. What’s up bud?” “It’s almost Keith’s birthday, so we’re looking for a present.” He whispers poorly. “Hmm, what kind of present?” She asks. “A knife!” He exclaims. Her eyes widened. “A what?!” Nadia chuckles and takes James from her arms. “Sorry. Yeah, um, Keith is supposed to be turning 23 in a few days. He’s a Blade of Marmora member, and blades of all sorts are his specialty.” Ally nods. “Huh. Interesting.” “Nadia, can me and Ally go get ice cream?” James asks, smiling widely. She looks at his sister. “I don’t know. Can you?” James turns his head to his sister, giving her puppy dog eyes. “Pleaseee Ally? Pretty pretty please?” He pleads. She chuckles and brushes his hair back. “Of course.” “Yay!” He says, clapping his hands. He transfers arms once again and waves to Nadia and the others as they leave. Ina sighs. “Finally. Some peace.” “Maybe we can get our own stuff now? We’ve been searching for presents all day.” Ryan suggests. “That’s the smartest thing you’ve said today.” Nadia agrees. “Let’s go shopping!”

Ally and James come back, James walking next to her. But there’s someone else too. A man, with a pointed jaw, dark brown eyes and dark brown hair. When James spots them he runs towards Ryan, who picks him up. James wraps his legs around his waist and his arms around his neck, lying his head on Ryan’s shoulder. “Hey James. How was the ice cream?” “Ok.” James says.

“You must be Ryan. I’m Steven.” The man says, reaching a hand out. Ryan smiles, shifting James to his hip. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ryan, and this is Ina and Nadia.” the two girls waved. “So, are you his cousin or something?” Ina asks, and he laughs. “Oh no. I’m Ally’s boyfriend.” James mutters something into Ryan’s shoulder, but he can’t make out any words. “Yeah. We started dating a little while before the war, and well, the rest is history.” Ally says, wrapping an arm around Steven’s waist. “Well good for you. Did James behave?” Nadia asks. “Yeah. Was a little pouty when he didn’t get the right kind of ice cream though.” “I asked for strawberry and you told them chocolate.” James says. “Hmm, might wanna get your ears checked little bud. Pretty sure I said strawberry.” He reaches out to ruffle James’s hair, but he leans away from the touch, frowning at the man.

“Looks like someone is a little grouchy.” Ina jokes, tickling James’s sides. He giggles and bats her hands away. “He might need a nap.” “No! Not a nap!” James whines. “Then turn that frown upside down.” Nadia jokes. Then she sighs. “Well, we better get back to the ship. It was nice meeting you.” She says to Ally and Steven. “You too!” Ally kisses James’s forehead. “Bye James.” “Bye Ally.” He says, waving as Ryan turns and they head away. “I don’t like him.” James declared. “Why not?” Ryan asked. “He’s mean. Doesn’t like me.” James mutters, putting his chin on Ryan’s shoulder. “What makes you say that?” “He told them the wrong ice cream then wouldn't let me get a different one, and he ate mine. Also, he keeps looking at the other girls."

James became like a shadow, almost always with someone. He’d follow Iverson and Sam into war meetings, offering surprisingly sound pieces of advice.
When they were discussing a way to attack a group of possibly hostile aliens when they entered their atmosphere, he said “Why don’t you just call and ask to go over? Dad used to do that sometimes.” And they’d all look at each other, wondering why they hadn’t thought of it before. Children were great at pointing out the obvious. Sometimes, if the comments proved especially useful, Sam gave him a lollipop.

James frowned and glared up at Shiro. “You’re a lollipop.” He spat. Shiro smiled. “And what kind of lollipop am I?” He asked, leaning down a bit. James pulled something out of his pocket, grabbing Shiro’s robotic hand and placing it in there before closing it, offering him a sweet smile and patting his hand before turning to walk away. Shiro stood back up and opened his hand.
“He gave me a Dum-Dum.” He said monotonously.
Pidge and Mr.Holt started cracking up which Iverson and Veronica stifled their laughter. Shiro looked at James’s retreating form, a look of confused shock on his face.

“Hi James.” Ally says, smiling at him. “Officer Griffin.” He says coldly, walking right past her. Her face falls, and her smile is replaced by a frown. “James-” She says, reaching for him. “You will address me as Lieutenant Griffin.” He says, yanking it out of her grip and turning to face her. She sighs. “Will you please talk to me?” “We don’t have anything to talk about.” She looks shocked and he walks away and down the hall.
“What just happened?” Pidge whispers to Ryan, who shrugs. “No idea. They seemed to like each other when he was little.”

“Come on, there has to be something. Why are all of these pictures so old?” Veronica grumbled.
“You can look, but you won’t find anything recent. My parents kicked me out when I was 16, and I’ve only talked to Ally twice since then.” James said, crossing his arms and leaning in the doorway.
“Why?” Pidge asked, looking up from the album. “Reasons. But I’ve put all that behind me, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t go through my stuff.” He said, snatching it from her hands. “And if you didn’t hotwire my control panel everytime you decide to break in. I have a passcode for a reason.” Pidge and Veronica shrugged and got up. “Can you at least tell us why you hate your sister?” Veronica asked. James scoffed. “I don’t hate her. She hates me. And she thinks being turned into a child is going to make me forget all the things she said to me.” With that, he had herded them out the door and pushed a button, it sliding closed in front of them.

Pidge sighed. “Well that got us nowhere. Now what?” Veronica stood up straight. “We talk to Ally. If that doesn’t work, we invite his parents.” Pidge gaped at her. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” “No, but it’s all I’ve got.”

James froze when he saw them. Then he turned on his heel and headed back out the door. “James, come back here.” His father demanded.
He kept walking.
“Lieutenant Griffin, we wish to speak to you.” his mother said. He froze and his shoulders sagged. Then he stood tall and turned, marching towards them.

“Yes Mrs.Griffin?” He said, voice cool. “Your father- Mr. Griffin and I wish to speak to you. Privately.” “I’m sorry ma’am, I’m a very busy person. I’m sure whatever it is won’t take long and can be dealt with right here.” He said, smiling politely. She sighed. “James, we’re sorry. For everything. Won’t you please come home? We miss you. We want our son to come home.” James raised an eyebrow. “Funny, I don’t remember their being a Griffin boy.” His father fumed. “That’s enough James. You are coming home with us right now. Enough of this. It’s time to come home.”

“No.” James said, raising his chin defiantly.

“I’m not going anywhere with you. And that place isn’t my home. It never was.” His mother sighed. “James, please. Just come with us. We’re your parents.”
“You said I didn’t have parents anymore. You said I didn’t have a place there anymore. That I wasn’t to speak to either of you, or Ally, or Cameron. Oh, by the way, thanks for telling me she was dead.”
His mother raised an eyebrow. “We didn’t tell you that.”
“Exactly. I found out through some random cadet who said they were sorry. The only person in our family who still talked to me, who actually cared about me, was dead, and you didn’t even tell me.”
His father bristled. “James, don’t raise your voice at your mother. We raised you better than that.”

“Raised me? You raised me? Yeah, with a tirade of nannies from whatever school you decided to ship me off to. I wasn’t asked what I was going to do, I was told. And I did everything you ever asked me to. But the second I stepped out of line, the lines you drew, you kicked me out. I was 16. Two years later, I’m in a war, and you don’t even think to reach out, see if I’m alive. And you said that I no longer had a family. You even filed the paperwork to disown me. So as far as I’m concerned, Mr. Griffin, I am home. I will not be leaving with you, nor will I ever be going anywhere with you. Do you understand?”
James’s voice was cold and hard, and his normally bright purple eyes were dark and grey. “I will not be disrespected like this.” Mr. Griffin said, stepping forward. “You get respect once you’ve earned it.” James said, stepping forward as well. “Or have you forgotten the one thing you taught me?”

They were eye to eye, staring at the other intently.

“I’ll politely ask you to leave the ship.” James said. “I will not ask again.”
“We came all the way out here-” His father started. “And I’m sure your daughter will appreciate a visit while you’re here. Now, as I said before, I am a very busy man, and I have other duties to attend to.” James gave him a look, a dismissive one.
The man sighed and turned, walking away, his wife following.

“Never do anything like that again.” James snapped, turning to glare at Veronica. “We were just-” “That is an order from your commanding officer. Never do that again. Do you understand?” Veronica gulped, swallowing some bile. “Yes sir.” Then James turned to Pidge. “And you stop putting your nose where it shouldn’t be. I would expect this sort of disrespect from young cadets, but not you. I would have thought a paladin of Voltron would know to mind their own business.”

The girls find the source of the yelling. It’s James’s room. They press the pad and the door slides open. James is standing in his room, in nothing but black boxers and a black tshirt, yelling at an only boxer clad Keith. “I tried! I did tell you! But you just ran away! You always ran away! You always left! You promised this time was going to be different. You promised. What even am I to you? Do you actually care about me, or am I just a way to get laid?” Keith opened his mouth to respond, but James kept going. “Have you ever cared about me? At all? Do you even listen when I talk to you, or are you just trying to find the quickest way to undress me? If I were to ask you something about me, would you be able to give me an answer? When I tell you I love you, do you only say it back because I said it or because you love me too?” Tears are dripping down his cheeks, staining them. His voice has gone hoarse from the yelling, and his chest is rising and falling rapidly.

“James, of course I care. And I always listen. And who you are to me? You’re you. You’re James. Pilot, fellow war hero, smartass, a beautiful idiot who thinks too little of himself, someone who cares about everyone so much, and would do anything to protect them. Someone who surprises everyone and is capable of so much more than anyone thinks, and who I care so much about. Someone who I trust with my life. I’ve told you things I’ve never told anyone else, and never will. And of course I listen. To every word you say. Every question, and every rant. When you tell me you don’t want to talk about your childhood because it was terrible, and then you tell me why, I listen. When you tell me how much you miss your sister and being part of a family, I listen. When you talk about how much you hate your scars, I listen. When you say how cool something is, or how interesting, and you get that little twinkle in your eyes that only shows when you smile, I listen.”
Keith had stepped closer to James as he talked, and now cupped his face gently, brushing away a tear.
“And of course I love you. I’d never say anything to you that wasn’t true. I love you, and I care about you, and it kills me to see you like this. Hiding yourself from the world. Hiding your feelings from those who care about you. You can always talk to me James. I’ll always be here for you.”
James covered his face with his hands as he wept. Keith frowned and pulled him into his chest, arms wrapped protectively around the other man.

The door slid closed as the girls backed away.
“I don’t think we were supposed to see that.” Nadia whispers. “No, probably not.” Pidge agrees.