HEADCANONS

A collection of our personal shared headcanons regarding Keith and Lance!

Lance McClain

Lance is autistic, and has NPD and ADHD! He's a stealth trans man, and is gay (closeted regarding both). He deals with compulsive heterosexuality, and struggles to connect with others, so he flirts with girls a lot. (We both recognize that bisexual Lance is popular fanon, but, as two bisexuals ourselves, we don't really like to lean into the 'flirty bisexual' trope.) He uses he/him pronouns!

Lance was in Keith's class pre-transition, and had a crush on him since the Garrison. Lance was one of the only people who could make Keith laugh (even though he tried to cover it up), and Lance thought of them as rivals. Over a school break, Lance began to socially transition; changing his name to Lance, cutting his hair and otherwise changing his appearance. Keith didn't realize that Lance and the person who he had interacted with before are the same person. So, when Lance began to poke at him as if they were already familiar rivals, they didn't get along.

Lance is Afro-Cuban with darker skin and hair than in canon. He also has curlier/wavier hair. His first language is Spanish, and his second is English. He self-taught himself English. He learned it so he could be a better pilot and attend the Garrison. When he's too mad, though, he has trouble formulating sentences in English, so he will sometimes burst into rants in Spanish.

Lance also calls Keith petnames in Spanish, and tells Keith that they're insults (which Keith believes).

Lance also has freckles which he used to show before transitioning, but after, he started covering them up with makeup, because they made him feel more feminine. He's insecure about any "blemishes" on his skin, as well, which also adds to why he hides them. (Keith loves them, though, so he eventually stops hiding them.) He has a freckle on his stomach that he's even more insecure over.

Lance's special interests are piloting and retro video games! He's also very interested in his own culture, which is somewhat a special interest, but more of a value of his and something that defines him as a person, because he is Cuban.

Lance is a huge family guy, and family is one of his biggest values. Something he needs in a relationship is knowing that they’re okay with being included in family activities and starting their own family. He wants to have a lot of kids!

A more random one, but Lance is a furry. This headcanon is mostly due to him acknowledging furries' existence in one of the official comics. We get a little silly with it sometimes.

When Lance learns that Keith is Galran, he finds it super interesting, and asks a lot of questions.

He likes to have someone hum or sing him to sleep, and he's a very deep sleeper.

Keith Kogane

Keith is autistic, and has BPD. He's a bisexual aroace (specifically demiromantic demisexual) MTNB and is transneutral. "Agender" is the best way to describe it, but he usually just opts for "nonbinary" to describe himself. He's more out as a queer person, but can hesitate to come out in group settings due to a possible change in dynamics. He uses he/she/they. (For the sake of simplicity, and not confusing people, we use he/him exclusively for Keith on this site, to match up with canon.)

Keith likes to paint his nails black and wear eye makeup when he's comfortable enough with the people around him. He gets dysphoria over his hands, which is why he wears his gloves all the time. He's Japanese-Chinese-American human and Galran, and is from Texas.

Keith had a crush on Lance pre-transition. He thought her name was "Taylor", because of the "they call me the tailor because of how I thread the needle" nonsense, and Keith not understanding nonliteral phrases. ("Taylor" isn't even Lance's deadname, to be clear. We think that makes it funnier.) Keith assumed that Taylor dropped out before the break and Lance took her place, as he has issues with face blindness and with paying attention.

Since the Garrison required you take a language class, Keith took Spanish to eventually try and impress 'Taylor', though not much stuck and he never got the chance to use any around her before she 'left'.

When Keith likes someone, he never says it towards them at all, and sometimes may give off the impression that he dislikes them due to how his autism manifests. However, he’ll spend time with them.

Knives and collecting knives are a special interest of Keith’s. He has dozens and dozens of them. He used them to fidget and stim in class, something Lance would secretly watch and be impressed and mesmerized by. He’d often get in trouble, but he’d continue to do so anyway.

Keith originally started collecting knives in order to help feel secure. As a kid, he was pretty scrawny and hardly trusted anyone besides Shiro. So, before he could learn to fight, he started hoarding weapons. He latched onto knives in particular, and still hardly goes anywhere without at least two. They're sort of like comfort objects. Except they're stabby.

He's able to turn into a "full" Galran form. This happens due to strong emotions, like anger or jealousy. He has fluffy, cat-like ears and turns fully purple. All of his body is fluffy. His hair turns more purple-ish than black. The whites of his eyes turn yellow, and the irises turn yellow too. His pupils change size, from thin in slits to large ovals, like a cat's. They’re larger when looking at Lance. He has sharp teeth and claws. Sometimes he turns partially into his form (like just his eyes or his teeth will change), and only for a few seconds.

Realizing he's Galran forces Keith to realize a lot of behaviors he’s always had. Throughout his life, they were always covered up, but much like learning a diagnosis you have in real life, it made it harder for him to "mask" it once he learned. Some Galra-specific behaviors of his are purring, growling, scenting, and other different biology.