Arriving back on Earth had been an ordeal. Lotor hadn't been able to be there, much to Keith's disappointment. He had assured Keith that he would be there for meeting the people of Earth, he would just be a few days later than planned due to a particularly difficult Imperial colony.
Keith tried not to let his sour mood affect their goal of peaceful relations with Earth.
"It shouldn't be difficult," Lotor told him, "You all are, after all, from Earth. Surely they'll hear you out."
Keith laughed at that. "Lotor, Earthlings hate each other, remember?"
"I do remember you saying something about slavery and the American police system. But maybe things have gotten better since you've last been on Earth."
Keith shook his head, smiling fondly at Lotor's image. "When did you become such an optimist?"
"I've had a few thousand years to work on it. I need to go, Darling. I wish I could be there with you. I know how hard it must be for you to have to lead Voltron all on your own."
"Yeah, because you're not leading an Empire or anything."
"I'm not leading it alone. I have my Empress to help me out." Lotor winked, then added, "And several advisors."
"I mean," Keith said, "I have Shiro and Lance."
"Yet another point against you," Lotor responded.
"Just talking to you helped my nerves. Thanks, Lotor."
"Good luck, my love."
Watching Shiro and Adam reunite was incredibly sweet. It almost made Keith forget how sad he was that Lotor wasn't there, but ultimately just made him miss the Emperor more than ever. Then he had to put up with the asshole Garrison officials interrogating everyone, making sure no one had been cloned (what an awkward conversation that had been.)
Then came the inevitable conversation about 'how on Earth can we trust Lotor? He's Galra and obviously all Galra are as bad as the ones you just told us about! That's how it works, right?'
"And this 'Emperor Lotor'," Iverson asked, "Is trustworthy?"
"I sure hope so," Lance said, elbowing Keith in a way Keith very much did not appreciate.
"Emperor Lotor has helped us rebuild a peaceful democracy," Shiro explained.
"But how do we know?" Iverson asked, meaning 'how does the Garrison know' or more specifically, 'how do I know?'
Keith rolled his eyes. He had been tired of this question since the beginning. The only thing that had changed since then was his answer.
At first, it had been 'We can't,' meaning that Lotor was felt to be untrustworthy. Then, it had been 'We don't,' meaning that Keith wasn't sure how to know whether Lotor was trustworthy or not. This was followed by 'We have to,' meaning that they probably shouldn't, but had to for the sake of the Voltron coalition, then 'Because I do,' meaning that everyone should just shut and and respect Keith's decisions. After that it was 'Because he's earned it,' meaning that Lotor had proven himself to be worthy time after time and it was insulting that there were still those who found him to be untrustworthy. But Keith's current answer was by far his favorite;
"Because he's my husband, jackass." Keith said, glad to hear the gasps from the Garrison officials at his declaration.
"Yeah!" Lance said, "They're a power couple! Black paladin/Blade of Mamora and hot Galra king!"
"Please sit down, Lance." Allura requested.
"You and Emperor Lotor are married?" Ryan Kinkade asked from the side of the room.
"Not to be gross, but honestly, nice pull, sir." James Griffin said from beside him.
"Thanks?" Keith responded, "Yes, I am technically the Empress. But what's important now is that-"
"How does it feel knowing the kid you kicked out is the black paladin? And the Empress, and a Blade of Mamora?" Lance asked, kicking his feet up onto the table. "And how does does it feel knowing that Pidge snuck right by your noses with only one person on the inside helping them?"
"Who?"
"Doesn't matter," Adam blurted out. "They're a paladin and whoever helped them find the Holts and Takashi shouldn't be prosecuted for breaking the law by helping them. Let's move on!"
"And how oh how does it feel knowing that I, the kid you called a failure and constantly compared to kid number one is said former kid's right hand man now?"
"Doesn't feel great," James said despite the glares from officials, "I've grown a lot as a person and I'm still terrified."
"You don't have to be te-" Keith started.
"You should be," Lance interrupted, "Keith's gonna have you executed!"
"I absolutely am not!" Keith said, slapping his hand over Lance's mouth.
"You could if you wanted to, though." Pidge said.
"That's not important right now," Allura said, "Let's get back to the matter at hand."
"Exiled, then?"
"I'm not punishing anyone in any way."
"What about Lotor?" Lance asked as soon as Keith took his hand of his mouth, "In a kinky way."
Keith immediately regretted removing his hand. "What Lotor and I do with each other in our bedroom is absolutely none of anyone here's business."
"So when will we be meeting this supposedly trustworthy Emperor?" Iverson asked.
Keith was glad for the subject change, and wondered if he still had Iverson's eye somewhere. Maybe he could give it back to him as a show of their alliance. "He says he'll be here in a few days. He had to deal with this colony wanting to bring back the old ways from when Zarkon was in charge."
"Yikes," Nadia Rizavi unhelpfully chimed in.
"But he's solved the problem by reminding them that they have easily accessible healthcare now and they don't have to live in fear of Zarkon anymore. He should be here the day after tomorrow."
Lotor arrived precisely on schedule. Keith forced himself to be professional and not lunge into his arms. Lotor had no such concerns and began running toward Keith as soon as he saw him.
Keith buried his face in Lotor's shoulder. "How was the colony?"
"Not to sound dramatic, but it was suboptimal. How's Earth?"
"Suboptimal."
"He's way hotter than I thought he'd be," Keith heard Nadia Rizavi whisper to James Griffin, "Here I was thinking Keith was a furry."
"Are you saying you wouldn't marry an Emperor for the sake of power just because he looked like a cat?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
"That makes one of us."
Keith tuned out the whispered debate about what constituted a furry and breathed in the scent of Lotor's hair.
"I missed you, Lotor."
"I missed you too, my love."
