Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Keith was always good at keeping things to himself, keeping things secret, but this was getting hard to hide.

Every day was the same, the team called in to be briefed on their mission, and everyone sat together in one room. Keith and Lance as far away from each other as possible, Lance’s gaze flicking to Keith every so often. It was unnoticed by the rest of the team, but Keith always knew. He would quickly look up at Lance, but then turn his attention back to the mission. He couldn’t let himself indulge in things like that for more than a second.

Not here at least, not with everyone watching.

He knew the risks. They all did. The team wasn’t exactly the kind of group to be open about relationships—especially not one that involved the two of them. The consequences would be too big, too...complicated.
__________________________________________

After yet another mission, the paladins all sat down to debrief. Everyone but Keith. The others didn’t seem to notice, but Lance did. Sure, Keith had this whole lone wolf thing going, but it wasn’t like him to just walk off without a word.

Lance excused himself and headed to the training deck, assuming that’s where Keith went.

As he approached the door he could hear heavy punches being thrown.

“Don’t you think you’re pushing yourself a little hard?’ Lance said as he walked into the room.

Keith turns, sweat plastering his hair to his forehead. “What do you want, Lance?”

Lance smiles, but it’s a weak attempt at his usual bravado. “You just walked off. I figured I’d come check on you.”

Keith doesn’t respond, just grabs a towel and starts wiping his face. But there’s a tension in his movements, an unspoken acknowledgment of the weight between them.

“Keith,” Lance says softly, his voice losing its edge. “You have to take breaks sometimes. You’re gonna burn out otherwise.”

Keith finally looks at him, his eyes sharp but tired. “What else am I supposed to do? We don’t exactly get breaks, Lance. There’s no time for distractions.”

The word lingers heavily in the air.

Lance stepped closer to Keith. He cautiously turns to see if anyone else is around, not wanting anyone to hear this conversation.

“Is that what this is?” Lance asks, his voice barely above a whisper. “A distraction?”

Keith doesn’t answer for a moment. He looks down, his hands now gripping the towel so tightly his knuckles have turned white. “You know that’s not what I meant. It doesn’t matter what it is anyway. We can’t—”

“We can,” Lance interrupts, his voice stern but still quiet. “No one has to know, we don’t have to say anything. We can keep it—”

“Secret,” Keith finishes, finally meeting Lance’s eyes. “Because that’s what we do, right? Keep it a secret and pretend it’s not there when everyone else is around?”

Lance swallows hard, his chest aching. “I hate this just as much as you do, Keith,” he said, his words laced with frustration. “I hate having to act like nothing’s going on when I—when we—both know the truth.” He’s looking down at his feet now, afraid to look Keith in the eye. “If you want it to stop, it can. Is that what you want?”

Keith’s silence is answer enough. He doesn’t want to stop. But he doesn’t know how to keep going, either—not with the war, the team, the weight of all of it bearing down on them.

Keith reaches out for Lance’s hand before stepping closer to him. The two of them mere inches apart now, Lance looks up at him again.

“You know I don’t want to stop Lance, you know how I feel,” Keith says softly as he leans his forehead against Lance’s.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m just stressed. The team already constantly has their eyes on me because they think I’m too impulsive. Imagine how they’d be if they knew about us…” Keith trails off.

“I know, trust me I know,” Lance says as he brings a hand up to Keith’s face, cradling it. “But you can’t let it get to you this much. We might not get to be open about everything, but we still have each other. No matter what.”

Lance held Keith’s face as he planted a soft kiss on his lips.

“You should really take a break though.” He said as he pulled away. “Go take a shower and get some rest.”

Keith let out a small laugh

“Yeah, alright. I’ll see you in the morning.” Keith says as he squeezes Lance’s hand. As he walks out of the training deck, he turns back one more time. “Goodnight Lance.” he waves before slipping away to his room.
__________________________________________

The next morning, all the paladins were abruptly woken up by Allura’s voice coming from the comms. Something about an urgent distress call, another planet being attacked by Galra.

After suiting up, Lance headed to the hangar to meet up with his teammates. When he arrives, however, the only paladin there is Keith. For a fleeting moment, it’s just the two of them, waiting in a comfortable silence, their hands intertwined, both enjoying the time alone with the other.

But the moment shatters as the doors open. Keith and Lance step away from each other, the space between them now vast as the other paladins walk in. Shiro begins discussing the plan, everyone listening intently. Keith’s eyes flit up, seeing Lance already staring at him. For an instant, he feels like time is frozen, everything else in the room has disappeared and all he can see is the look in Lance’s eyes. A sympathetic look that he knows is saying I see you, a small, unspoken acknowledgment of the feelings they were both keeping hidden.

Keith forces himself to look away, focusing back on Shiro’s instruction. Lance did the same. Both could feel an ache in their chests.

With everybody watching them, every move they made under constant scrutiny, they would keep their secret. They would protect it, bury it deep where no one could reach—where no one could ruin it. For now, they would endure the silence, waiting for the moment the fate of the universe no longer stood in their way.

Chapter Text

Everything was fine before. They had followed the plan to a tee. No one knew how they missed the ambush of Galra fleets or how so much destruction happened in such little time. There was rubble and debris as far as Keith could see. Hundreds of buildings crumbled to pieces, and injured civilians were strewn across the ground.

With his ears still ringing from the blast that just hit, Keith whips his head around, eyes darting across the field, looking for any of the other Paladins.

His chest tightens when he realizes just how quickly everything had spiraled out of control. They were supposed to be here to help, to protect the innocent.

But now, it was all chaos.

“Shit...” Keith muttered, desperately scanning the wreckage. His heart hammered in his chest, and his breaths came fast as he began sprinting through the debris. His boots kicked up dust as he ran, but his mind was elsewhere—on his team, on his friends.

“Lance?” Keith’s voice cracked over the comms, a sudden wave of panic creeping in. “Shiro? Hunk? Pidge? Anybody?”

The comms crackled, distorted from the blast, but all he heard was static.

“Lance?” Keith tried again, louder this time, his voice rising in desperation. The air around him was thick with the scent of burnt metal and ash, making it hard to breathe, let alone focus.

The ringing finally stopped and he could hear voices in the distance. As the dust began to settle, he could see what commotion was in front of him.

The other paladins had all reconvened and were working to take down the last of the Galra soldiers. Shiro had been knocked down by one of them, Keith immediately ran to help him up. He let out a sigh of relief, thankful he found the rest of the team.

Before he could ask Shiro if he was alright, a shrill scream broke through the crowd. Both turned to look for the source of the cry, and that’s when he saw it.

Lance falling to the ground after throwing himself in front of one of the civilians, taking a shot straight to the chest.

__________________________________________
"Lance!" Keith shouted, running over without a second thought. His legs nearly buckled as he pushed through people and debris, but he didn’t stop, he couldn’t. Not until he reached him.

With his bayard in hand and at the ready, he pierced through the soldier’s armor with ease, killing him in an instant. As the body fell right at his feet, he turned to where Lance lay unconscious, collapsing to his knees in an instant.

He took off Lance’s helmet, searching for a pulse. After a second, he found a weak and shallow pulse. As Keith pulled back, he looked for any wounds, trying to gauge how bad the damage was.

“Lance…” Keith mumbled out with concern as he continued to search for injuries.

Lance’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of his name, a weak smile tugging at his lips, but it looked more like a grimace. “Keith… you’re here,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m right here,” Keith said urgently, trying to steady his hands as he pulled Lance up to a sitting position. He cringed slightly when he saw Lance’s face wince. His armor had protected him to an extent, but the injury was still deep—too deep. Blood seeped through his suit. Keith could feel his own pulse quicken as panic rose in his throat.

“We gotta get you out of here,” Keith muttered, swallowing hard. He glanced around, the Galra had been taken care of, the other paladins weren’t severely injured.

“Shiro!” Keith called out as he helped Lance to his feet. “You and the others stay out here and help in any way you can. I have to get Lance back to this castle!”

He turned away before Shiro could get the chance to disagree.

As Keith headed towards the ship, he noticed how Lance shook with every step, barely able to stay balanced.

Without a word, he lifted him up, into his arms. Keith decided carrying Lance would be the fastest and safest way to get back to the castle.

“Cradling me in your arms again? You’ve got it bad Samurai.” Lance said weekly.

“Don’t joke about this, Lance.” His voice was sharp, more forceful than he intended. He took a breath to steady himself. “You need to be back at the castle, in a healing pod as soon as possible.”

“I’m fine,” Lance said, though his voice trembled, and the blood on his side seemed to be spreading faster. “Just a scratch. No big deal.”

Keith clenched his jaw, trying not to lose his temper, but the fear that gnawed at him made it hard to control. “This is not just a scratch Lance! You jumped in front of someone and got shot!” he snapped.

“I’ll be fine Keith. I’m gonna be okay…” Lance trailed off as his eyelids fluttered, and his head drooped as if he were fighting to stay awake.

“No no c’mon, you gotta stay with me. Just a little longer and we’ll be there.” Keith said frantically. He pulled him in even closer, holding Lance’s body against his chest. He could feel the other Paladin’s heart rate, quick and shallow, and it made his stomach churn.

Lance managed a weak nod, his hand trembling as it reached for Keith’s face, his thumb rubbing against his cheek. He looked up at Keith with those tired eyes, and for a moment, it almost felt like they were back in the Castle of Lions—back before everything had gone wrong. Back when they had the luxury of joking and teasing and acting like things would be okay.

As Lance slowly let his arm fall back down, Keith could feel the warmth of his hand being replaced by the strange, cold feeling of Lance’s blood on his cheek.

They staggered through the broken streets, Keith’s arm tight around Lance. Every step felt like a battle, and the weight of the situation threatened to crush Keith’s resolve. He could see the castle up ahead, just within reach, and in the back of his mind, the thought of losing Lance made everything else seem like it would fall apart.

__________________________________________

The doors to the castle immediately opened as Keith approached, Allura waiting at the entrance to help him carry Lance in. They got him out of his armor and into a healing pod as quickly as they could. Keith didn’t bother to change out of his armor or even wipe the blood off of his face. He just sat there on the ground, staring up at Lance.
Allura sat down beside him, neither one of them said a word. She stayed with him until he eventually succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep right there. Before heading to bed herself, Allura gently tucked a pillow under his head and draped a blanket over him, knowing there was no point in trying to get him to leave that spot.

__________________________________________

When Keith woke up, he saw Allura walking over to him. She sat beside him again, handing him a plate of food and a glass of water.

“Eat. You need it after how hard you pushed yourself yesterday.” She said as she nudged the plate closer to him.

Keith said nothing in response. He picked up the fork and poked at the food for a minute before looking back at Lance in the cryo pod.

“He’s stable.” Allura added, “He lost a lot of blood out there, so I cannot guarantee when he’ll wake, but I know he wouldn’t have made it without you.”

Keith set the fork down and looked at her with pained, tired eyes. “Thank you. For the food and the bedding, I mean,” he said softly.

“Eat what you can, and then change out of your armor. Maybe wash up too.” Allura told him. “I’ll stay here and make sure he’s okay. Please take care of yourself, Keith.”

Before he had the chance to protest and list off all the reasons why he should just stay with Lance, Allura spoke up again.

“I understand you feel like you can’t leave him, but please it won’t help him to ignore your own needs-”

“But you don’t understand Allura, not fully at least.” Keith cut her off.

“I understand more than you think Keith.” She explained. “I see how the two of you care for each other and I can tell how important he is to you, but I also know that he would want you to take care of yourself.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, looking at him with worry.

Keith sighed and slowly stood up from his makeshift bed. “...Okay, but please promise that you’ll let me know if anything happens.” He pleaded.
“Of course. You’ll be the first to know.” Allura gave him a small smile before he walked out of the room.

__________________________________________

Days had turned into weeks, yet Lance still hadn’t woken up. Keith continued spending all of his time sitting and keeping an eye on the cryo pod, refusing to do almost anything else. He was barely eating or sleeping, and he stopped joining the team on missions, insisting it was more important that he stay with Lance.

Shiro excused it the first few times seeing as the missions were fairly simple, but it was becoming an increasing problem.

“Keith,” Shiro called out as he stepped through the doorway his voice stern.

“What…” Keith mumbled. He didn’t turn to face him, instead, he sat with his legs pulled up to his chest, his arms wrapped around them, eyes locked on Lance.

“We need you out in the field with us today. We got a distress call from a planet nearby, they’ve spotted Galra cruisers around and they’re worried about an attack. Having you out with us would be really helpful…” Shiro trailed off, hoping he’d be convincing enough.

“Just cruisers? You don’t need me for that. I have to stay here Shiro, I need to be here if he wakes up, you know that.” Keith argued back.

“Keith, these people called for our help. They called for Voltron, it’s our job to protect them-”

“They haven’t even been attacked yet, so why’d they even bother sending a distress signal? This isn’t something for Voltron, it’s not like we can form Voltron without Lance anyway. I’m sure three of the lions will be plenty.” Keith snapped.

“You’ve been in here, waiting, for weeks now Keith. I’ve let it slide for a while, but you can’t just drop everything for this. We have a job to do and a duty to uphold. Just because this planet hasn’t been attacked yet doesn’t mean they aren’t in danger. We’re called the ‘Defenders of the Universe’ for a reason, so stop all the sulking and get out there with us. It’s not like Lance is waking up anytime soon.”

The room was silent, Shiro’s words hung in the air, and the tension between the two was almost palpable at this point. Keith stood up and turned to face Shiro.

“I’m not going.” Keith retorted, his brows furrowed as he glared at Shiro.

“Keith look, I didn’t mean-”

“No. Right now there’s nothing that matters more than making sure Lance is okay. If I go back out on missions, if I’m not here and something happens to him, then it would all be for nothing. Without Lance, the universe isn’t worth defending. Don’t you get it? There’s nothing for me without him, so I’m going to stay here and do all I can to make sure he stays safe.” Keith realizes what he just said, what he just admitted, but it doesn’t matter anymore.

“Fine.” Shiro shot back as he turned to leave.

__________________________________________

The other paladins came back a short while later, after successfully clearing out any Galra ships nearby. As they all got settled, Allura went to check on Keith and after what seemed like an eternity of convincing, he agreed to join them for dinner.

Calling it awkward would be an understatement, the hostility between Keith and Shiro was still at a high. Allura and Hunk tried to ease the tension the best they could, but it wasn’t much help. Keith sat there, pushing his food around, giving one-word responses to everyone.

Just as he was about to excuse himself from the table, Keith heard the familiar hiss of a cryo pod opening come from down the hall. He immediately stood up, racing out and down the hallway. He stopped in the doorway, catching his breath.

As he looked up, he saw the walls of the pod lowering. In an instant, he was right there in front of it, catching Lance as he slumped out. Keith could feel him stirring as he finally woke up.

“Lance…” Keith called out softly. He felt a weight fall off his shoulder as Lance’s eyes fluttered open and he slowly stood up on his own.

“What’s this, like the third time you’ve ‘cradled’ me?” Lance said somewhat slurred, still not fully awake.

“Lance,” A small laugh escaped Keith’s lips “Are you alright?” he asked his voice filled with desperation.

“Never been better.” He said with his usual confidence. “You aren’t looking too great there Samurai…are you okay?” Lance asked.

“Oh, who cares?” Keith answered.

“I do!” Lance exclaimed, almost hurt Keith would say something like that.

Keith started laughing, the tears that were brimming his eyes, were now falling down his cheeks.

For a moment, they just stood there, holding each other. Keith still couldn’t quite believe this was real. He took one hand off Lance’s waist, slowly bringing it up to cup his face before pulling him into a soft, long-awaited kiss.

“Keith I-” Lance started, but then quickly stopped as he saw the rest of the team standing on the other side of the room. All of their faces were in different states of shock as they processed what they just walked in on.

“Keith everyone is in the room with us…they all just saw that…” Lance whispered.

Keith quickly turned his head, seeing his teammates standing there with their jaws on the ground. He turned back to Lance and started laughing again.

“You know what? I don’t care anymore. I’m tired of keeping this hidden anyway. I almost lost you, Lance, I’m not going to let another day go by without letting you know I love you.” Keith stops himself, realizing what he just said.

Though both of them knew it, neither one of them had actually said ‘I love you’ out loud.

Lance didn’t say anything, he just pulled Keith back in for another kiss, without a care in the world.

As he pulled away, Lance smiled softly, his forehead resting against Keith’s. “You know, I was starting to think I’d never hear you say that.”

Keith chuckled. “Yeah, well... better late than never, right?”

“You’ve got that right.” Lance let out a small laugh, still holding him close. “And for the record, I love you too.”

__________________________________________
Keith glanced over to see their teammates still frozen in shock. He raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at his lips. “You guys planning to join us, or are you just gonna keep staring?”

There was an awkward pause before Pidge, as straightforward as ever, blurted, “Well, I guess this answers a lot of questions…and some of you owe me money.”

Keith rolled his eyes, turning back to Lance only to see him pouting. “Yeah, well... not exactly the grand reveal I was hoping for.”

Keith laughed quietly, squeezing his hand. “Doesn’t matter. They’ll get over it.”

The room went quiet again, but this time, it was a comfortable silence, a silent understanding between all of them. After a long moment, Shiro cleared his throat, his voice more nervous than usual. “Look, Keith…I owe you an apology.”

Keith turned to him, surprised. “What?”

Shiro stepped forward, his expression genuine. “I’ve been hard on you, especially lately. I let my own issues get in the way of seeing what was really going on with you. I should’ve been there for you, instead of pushing you.” He glanced at Lance briefly, before meeting Keith’s eyes again. “And I know it’s a little late, but… I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

Keith felt a lump rise in his throat, but he nodded, not trusting himself to speak right away. After everything, after all the tension between them, hearing that felt like a weight lifting off his chest.

“I—” Keith started, but he stopped, swallowing down the lump in his throat. “Thanks, Shiro. It’s… it means a lot.”

Shiro gave a small, apologetic smile. “I’m just glad you’re both okay now.”

Keith gave a brief nod, before turning back to Lance, feeling a rush of warmth flood him. His heart wasn’t just lighter—it was full.

Lance reached out, his fingers brushing against Keith’s, and Keith turned to him with a soft smile.

The silence lingered for a moment, comfortable, but the team was still there, standing in the doorway.

“Well, I guess we should let you two... uh... have some privacy?” Shiro’s voice was awkward, but the sincerity in his words wasn’t lost on Keith.

Keith raised an eyebrow, glancing back at the team. “Yeah, I think we’ve had enough of an audience for one day.”

They took that as their cue to leave and slowly shuffled out of the room. Keith wrapped his arms around Lance again, pulling him close. The rest of the world seemed to fade away as he whispered, “I love you,” one more time.

Lance smiled against his lips, murmuring, “I love you too, Keith.”