Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Hey Pidge," Lance tries to get her attention. "Have you noticed how weird Keith has been lately. Every time I try to talk to him, he mumbles something, and then leaves. He'll stay out until he knows I'll fall asleep to come to the dorm and is gone by morning!" He yells, throwing his hands up and frowns at Pidge's lack of an answer. He was really worried about Keith. While they haven't always been on the best terms, he really thought their relationship was starting to evolve. Last week, Keith let him borrow a pencil in class! Keith never lets anyone touch his stuff! Something about germs or whatever.

Pidge, who was getting annoyed by Lance's constant pacing, decided to give him some advice."If you're that worried, go ask Shiro if Keith has mentioned anything that's happened lately." That was a great idea. If there was something wrong with Keith, then Shiro would definitely know. He thanked Pidge, rushing out the door like his life depended on it. Pidge rolled her eyes. It was obvious to everyone on campus what was wrong with Keith, except Lance that is.

"King of Romance, he calls himself," She snorted, writing down a few notes on her paper." Dumbass can't even control his own love life."

Lance ran down the hall like a madman. He was finally going to figure what was wrong with Keith. If Shiro didn't have the answer to his problems than he was going to do something desperate. Like kidnap Keith and make him tell Lance what was wrong with. Lance just got a manicure that he didn't want to ruin and didn't want to get beat up, so he filed that plan way back in his mind.

Although, he could only imagine the angry blush on Keith's face while yelled out profanities as Lance dragged him along. Keith sure was pretty when he blushed. Now that Lance thought about it, he really loved Keith's blush. Not only that, he loved Keith's smile, his soft black hair that he sometimes tied up into a ponytail, and made Lance want to cry about the sheer beauty that is Keith Kogane. Lance was too busy daydreaming about Keith to notice that the real Keith was turning the corner. Until both of them slammed violently into each other that is.

"Shit!" Keith gasped out. He grabbed out for a source of support but was met with air. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain that was to come.

It never came.

Warm arms wrapped around him. He found himself buried into his Savior's chest. Whoever they were, they smelled heavenly. It was an odd mixture of the ocean and laundry detergent. How can someone manage to smell like the actual ocean? There weren't oceans nearby. An unusual smell but a surprisingly pleasant one.

"Wow Keith, first all you do is avoid me, now you look like you never want to let me go." Joked Lance. He may have looked calm on the outside but the inside he was having a panic attack. Keith was in his arms, Keith had sniffed him, and seemed to like the way he smelled. Bonus points for Lance. He's not sure what do now. Should continue to hold Keith and never let go or detangle himself. He liked the former option. Keith's body fits perfectly with his own. As if the universe knew they were made for each other and made Keith's body specifically to fit Lance's body like a puzzle piece. That analogy sounded complicated but that was Lance and Keith's relationship. Complicated.

Unfortunately, Keith had decided for both of them. He pushed himself out of Lance's arms, moving as far away from Lance as possible. A look of hurt crossed Lance's face. It reminded him of the reason he had crashed into Keith in the first place. He was running to find Shiro because Keith was avoiding him.

"Are you mad at me?" He whispered.

Keith, who all this time was trying to avoid eye contact, snapped his head to look Lance. "No!" He protested. The last thing he wanted was Lance to feel like he was mad at him. He grabbed Lance's hands into his. "No," He said again, this time more softly. Lance looked at their intertwined fingers, feeling his face start to heat up.
Keith cleared his throat. "It's just," He started, sounding frustrated. "When we got lost in the woods last week, at first I thought how unlucky I was that of all people, that it was you I got lost with." Lance felt his heart drop. Keith really hated him that much?

Keith dropped his hands to his lap. Lance missed the warmth."But then I got hurt, and you wouldn't leave me, not even to get help." He gave Lance pointed look. "Which was pretty stupid might I add."

"It's not like I could've anyway, we were lost." Lance pouted. He crossed his arms. "Where are you going with this?" He bet you people were staring at them, thinking they were a couple of weirdos. They were sitting in the middle of the floor. He's not sure when he even sat down!

"I don't like many people," Keith coughed. Lance laughed, now it was Keith's turn to blush. " It's especially frustrating, when this guy that you thought you knew, goes and messes up your emotions!"

"Is he talking about me?"

"From that one day, you went from a guy that I'd never be into." Here goes, Keith's heart was pounding, he was going to finally tell Lance how he felt. "To a guy that I kinda be into."

Lance is pretty sure his brain short-circuited right then and there. Maybe he had heard wrong because there's no way, Keith "I'm too cool for school" Kogane liked him. He glanced Keith. The same Keith that Lance fantasizes about every single day. The Keith who had just confessed. The Keith who was probably waiting for an answer. Lance opened up his mouth to tell the black haired boy that he very much returned his feelings.

"So, you avoided me because you couldn't handle the gay feelings for me. Keith, that's not how you get your feeling across." That's totally not what he meant to say. "That smooth, real smooth. Now, Keith was going to take back his confession." He thought. Keith was unimpressed with Lance's lack of brain-to-mouth filter. "Uh, what I meant to say was go on date with me."

Keith wasn't sure what to say. He honestly didn't think he was gonna get this far. He expected Lance to reject him gently, then for both them to spend the rest of their lives awkwardly avoiding each other. Shiro's advice didn't include anything about dates, neither did those self-help books dammit.
"Yeah, okay, let's go on date." He stuttered out.

"When you asked me on a date, I didn't think you meant now. I didn't even have time to grab my jacket." Keith mumbled. He hated the winter, it was cold, he constantly slipped on the ice, and overall, he much preferred the summer. Unlike his companion, Lance didn't mind winter at all. Sure, he liked spring more because it wasn't too cold or too hot.

"Oh come on Keith, don't be such a downer. It's our first official date." Lance said taking of his own jacket. He draped it on Keith's shoulders. He was wearing a sweater underneath, so he didn't need it. Plus, he kinda felt bad, seeing as it was his fault Keith was out here with out one. Keith let out a noise of appreciation. He'd forget his jacket a thousand times if it meant he could wear Lance's. It was big on Keith and basically swallowed him whole, but to Keith it was perfect.

"Now where do you wanna go first, the skating rink or maybe that new cafe," Lance paused to think. "Castle of Lions", I think that's what it's called. I don't know why it has a such a weird name, but I'm pretty sure Allura works there and she can give us a friend discount." Lance needed to start paying attention to his surroundings, because for the second time today, Lance smashed into something. Only this time, it was not a person. No, that would be too good for Lance. This time, Lance smashed into a fountain.

He was quickly engulfed in water colder than Pidge's glares when he steals the last of Hunk's cookies. He didn't know if he was glad that water had not frozen over or not. In the end deciding that cold water was better than hard, cold, ice. What had he done to deserve such a cruel fate as this? He was a model citizen, he helped old ladies across the street and most of the time turned in all his homework.

A sound broke his train of thought. This sound caused his chest to tighten. It wasn't like anything had ever heard in his life. His eyes scanned the courtyard to find where the majestic noise was coming from. They landed on Keith. It was coming from Keith. Keith was laughing at him. Not a little chuckle, but full blown laughter.

"I'm sorry," Keith apologized, trying to get his laughter under control and failing miserably. "It's just, how do you WALK into a fountain?!" Keith couldn't help it anymore, Lance looked silly with his long limbs spread in such a tiny fountain. He was now hunching over, amusement all over his face. Lance was sure he was going to fall over.

That moment, Lance made a vow. A vow to make Keith laugh every single day as long as he lived. The world could not go on being deprived of something so wonderful. Keith moved to go help Lance out of the fountain.

"Come on, let's go back to our dorm before you die of hypothermia. We'll drink hot chocolate and watch those trashy drama TV shows you like. " Lance shivered but nodded. He would follow Keith to the end of the Earth.

As they walked back to their room, Lance couldn't stop the grin that split across his face, despite not being able to feel his toes. He's not sure how this development in their relationship is going to pan out. It's going to be a long and weird process. They would figure it out together though because they were Lance and Keith.