Shklance

Shklance is the polyship between Shiro, Keith and Lance from the Voltron: Legendary Defender fandom.

Season 1
THE RISE OF VOLTRON

Lance, Pidge and Hunk discover it’s Shiro who crashed landed. The three of them begin thinking of ways to break into where Shiro’s being held. Soon, explosions go off in the distance. They spot a man far below as he runs towards the quarantine tent Shiro’s in. Lance realizes it’s Keith he’s seeing, saying how “he’s always trying to one-up me.” As soon as Keith has Shiro, Lance comes into the room exclaiming, ''“Nope. No, you- No, no, no. No, you don’t. I’m saving Shiro.”'' Keith and Lance go back and forth as Keith doesn’t recall Lance, though soon remembering he’s a cargo pilot. Lance quickly quips back he’s now a fighter pilot, and thanks to Keith for “washing out,” to which Keith “congratulates” him before they walk a drugged Shiro out to Keith’s hoverbike.

After escaping the Galaxy Garrison, finding the Blue Lion, flying to planet Arus and meeting Allura and Coran, a Galra battleship sends its tracker to them, alerting them to their whereabouts. Allura questions how they could have found them, to which Lance says, “I'm not sure, but I bet it’s Keith’s fault.” Keith tells him, ''“Say whatever you gotta say to make yourself feel better. ...After getting us stuck on the other side of a wormehole!” Lance turns to Keith threatening to stick him in a wormhole, as they continue, Shiro comes over, voicing sternly, “Stow it, cadets! This is no time to place blame. It’s time to work as a team.”''

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

During a team training exercise, following Hunk and Pidge’s elimination, Shiro, Keith and Lance are the only ones left who haven’t been shot by the bots. They close in tightly together as the bots begin to spin rapidly, throwing their shields up. Lance turns back to Keith, mocking him about “keeping up,” to which Keith simply tells him to “focus on keeping [him] save.” They begin to argue, which leads to Lance failing to protect Keith. Shiro and Lance left, Lance tries to protect Shiro, but ultimately fails at that as well, leaving Shiro alone and unprotected, who ultimately gets hit.

Season 2
SHIRO’S ESCAPE

Shiro spends time in a healing pod following the severe wound he sustained by Haggar during the team’s season one battle with the evil Galra emperor Zarkon/rescue of Allura. It’s while he’s in the pod dose he remember someone named Ulaz, who’s apart of a secret organization called the Blade of Marmora, freeing him, allowing him to go back to Earth. With the Blade of Marmora coordinates already in his metal prosthetic, given to him by Ulaz, the team make for the base’s location.

Shiro wants answers and wishes to engage with the still essentially unknown Ulaz. Keith tells Shiro he trusts him, but he doesn’t feel right about it, Lance agrees with Keith, even though he “hates agreeing with Keith.”

GREENING THE CUBE

The team is repairing the castleship when they’re hit by small squishy space balls. Lance throws one, hitting Shiro on the head. He apologizes to him saying he meant to hit Keith. Keith, in response, hits Lance, saying, “Heh, like that?” Shiro tries to be the responsible one, attempting to get back to the task at hand, but officially succumbs to Lance and Keith’s game, ultimately joining Keith (while Hunk joins Lance).

EYE OF THE STORM

The team is found by Zarkon and his massive fleet. As Allura tries to put some distance between them, Shiro, Lance and Keith take control of remote fighters from the castleship. Keith “steals” some of Lance’s kills. Lance is upset, so he hits his fighter against Keith’s, to which Keith hits back. Shiro sternly tells them, ''“Knock it off, you two. Stay in your zones.” Hearing this, Lance says, “Yeah, Keith!”''

THE BLADE OF MARMORA

The team travel to the Blade of Marmora’s base with the coordinates given by (former) Blade of Marmora member Ulaz. As they decide whether they should go in or not, Keith loses his stoic demeanor and shouts at everyone; Lance turns to him, saying, ''“Okay, geez. Calm down.”'' Shiro watches on silently. They contact the Blades, with them allowing only two people access. As Shiro walks over, Lance asks him who’s going on “this little mission,” as things might get hot, so he’ll need someone who can “stay cool.” Shiro agrees, and then turns his attention to Keith, saying, “Keith, you’re coming with me.” Lance is shocked, and he starts listing reasons why Keith wouldn’t be the right one for the mission, all while getting in Shiro’s face. Shiro places both hands on Lance’s shoulders and pushes him back, defending why Keith should go. With that, Shiro and Keith leave for the base.

Season 3
CHANGING OF THE GUARD

Following season two’s finale battle with the evil Galra emperor Zarkon, Shiro goes missing. Presumably Keith spends months searching for any trace of him. Keith lashes out at anyone who dares to speak about giving up on Shiro. During a diplomatic meeting does Keith exploded at the attending leaders wanting to see Voltron–as there’s no Shiro, there’s no Voltron–which leads to Keith storming out of the room. Later, once the tension has settled, the team is watching Keith stand in front of the Black Lion, clearly longing for Shiro. Everyone gestures for Lance to talk to him. Lance walks up to Keith, telling him how much a “thrill” is was to meet Shiro for the first time and carry him out of the Garrison hospital. Lance also says Shiro would be the first one to tell them they’d have to move on. Keith doesn’t answer him. As much as it hurts Keith, he knows he and others are right. Keith turns back to the Black Lion and says it’s time to figure out how to reform Voltron.

RED PALADIN

Knowing a new Black Paladin is needed, each member bares themselves to the Black Lion. Keith is last, and is chosen. As he walks out of the Lion, he tells the team he doesn’t accept this as he can’t replace Shiro. Lance walks up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, telling him, ''“Keith, no one can replace Shiro. But the Black Lion wouldn’t choose anyone it didn’t feel was worthy to lead Voltron.”''

Fanon
Shklance is the most popular polyship of the fandom. It’s made of the top two most popular ships within the fandom: Keith/Lance and Shiro/Keith. Given Keith and Lance’s competitive behavior with each other, works often feature them striving for Shiro’s attention and/or who can please Shiro the best/most.

On AO3, Shklance is the seventh most written ship for Shiro, the fifth most written for Keith and Lance.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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Variations

 * Klance refers to the ship between Keith and Lance
 * Shance refers to the ship between Shiro and Lance
 * Sheith refers to the ship between Shiro and Keith