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Keith awoke extremely disoriented, slowly blinking away his grogginess as he tried to place his surroundings. Above him lingered Lance’s dirty foot, and he is suddenly reminded of cuddling the boy close to him as they both drifted off, and how surprisingly pleasant that was, at least until he woke up on the floor.
He sat himself up, pushing Lance’s foot out of his way. Lance stirred slightly, rolling to face the wall. Keith let out a quiet sigh of relief, grabbing the blanket that must have tumbled off alongside him. He draped it over Lance, intent not to wake him, although doubting it possible. Somehow, he had managed to spin himself around entirely, his head now resting opposite the pillows, which were now propping his feet.
This was only the second time the pair had attempted to sleep in the same bed, and Keith could only hope waking up on the floor wasn’t something he would have to grow accustomed to. In that short span of time he had already learned a few things about Lance: he slept like death, tossed and turned like wild, and didn’t like wearing a shirt to bed. In this, the aftermath of his sleeping wrath, he actually looked quite peaceful. Keith wondered if he were at all aware of the absence of his arms wrapped around him, and gave serious thought to climbing back in bed to remedy that.
Keith hunted for some sort of clock around Lance’s room, impressed at the lack of clutter. It wasn’t too difficult a feat to maintain a clean room while housed in the Castle of Lions, since everyone’s possessions had been left on Earth. And yet, part of Keith still expected a mountain of garbage every time Lance invited him in. He chalked that up to just being stubborn.
He found what he was looking for, finally, after a faint beeping caught his attention. A small box of a clock was being smothered by Lance’s pillows, and Keith fished it out just in time for the sleeping boy to jolt awake, yelling what Keith could only assume was some form of slurred battle cry, fists raised and all, not even giving Keith enough of a chance to figure out what increment of time the thing was even measuring.
“Good morning to you, too.” Keith teased, setting the clock on the ground beside the bed. He immediately began looking for his shoes, turning his head towards Lance every few moments to ensure the boy didn’t fall asleep again.
“Hey.” Lance almost purred , dragging out the last syllable way longer than necessary. He seemed extremely pleased waking up to the sight of Keith, which was a real one-eighty from how he would have reacted a month ago. That, paired with the slight rasp of Lance’s morning voice was enough to give Keith a couple butterflies, although he maintained an air of coolness and collection by being suddenly invested in something inside his left shoe.
“You kicked me off again.” Keith muttered, slipping his foot inside once he was thoroughly convinced nothing had crawled in the night before.
“Oh.” Lance sounded almost disappointed, but he forced himself to crack a joke. “Sorry, the last time I shared a bed was when I was a kid, and that was every man for himself.”
Keith noticed his change of mood, and realized he had caused it. Here Lance was, excited just to see him, and the first thing he does is bitch about waking up on the floor? He wanted to smack himself, but refrained since he really didn’t feel like stumbling through his explanation of that, too.
“That’s not what I meant to say, uh…” Keith paused, the flicker of a frown on his face. “I’m glad you’re awake. I missed your voice.” He spoke earnestly, placing an enormous amount of pressure on himself to say this right.
A smile returns to Lance’s face, but it quickly becomes one very familiar shit-eating grin. “How could you not? It’s just so silky and smooth…” He cocks his head to the side, suddenly so pleased to hear Keith miss a part of him. No matter how confident of an act Lance could put on, once he seriously realized his feelings for Keith, he quickly became very afraid of the possibility that Keith could change his mind about him.
“You know what? Never mind, go back to sleep.” The words are cold, but the delivery isn’t without a grin, one Keith desperately tries to hide. He makes his way to the door, having it open before him. “Put your shirt back on so we can go get breakfast.”
Lance whisks his shirt off the ground and pulls it back on after a swift smell check, and regardless of whether it passed or not, his hand is entangled with Keith’s in the next few moments, making it now impossible for him to care, or even remember the results.
Keith was bad with words. Terrible, actually, but he was wonderful at reaching for Lance’s hand at just the right moments. Keith was great with contact, be it spontaneous massages that could melt every ounce of tension in Lance’s body, or hooking an arm around Lance’s shoulder and pulling him closer, just to remind him he’s not alone. It was surprising to Keith just how quietly Lance tended to accept his affections, it was almost uncharacteristic of him. Perhaps Keith didn’t know the boy as well as he thought.
He intended to fix that.
The pair headed towards the dining hall, greeting the others (who weren’t the least bit surprised to see them together), in their own unique ways: Lance, with boisterous cheering that the two had finally arrived, bringing with them the party; Keith, with a quiet wave and a curt nod in Shiro’s direction, to answer the silent question about his well-being. The man was always trying to read him, and he both appreciated and despised it.
“Okay, they’re both still alive. Can we dig in now?” Hunk probed, swallowing his nerves at the mildly irritated brow raise of both Shiro and Allura, who had both been rather adamant that the entire team should be here, since having a single member of the team lag behind due to missing breakfast could have catastrophic consequences. Hunk had to admit they had a point, but his stomach tended not to listen to reason.
“By all means.” Allura answers, shifting her attention to the tardy paladins as they seated themselves. “One of you not feeling well this morning?” Somewhere in those words should have been a poke about why Keith’s room had been found empty this morning, perhaps a raised and knowing eyebrow paired with a devious smirk; yet Keith knew Allura wasn’t the type and was only genuinely worried about them both.
There was that word again: genuine. Keith was beginning to despise it. Everywhere he looked these days there was some expression of concern, love, or merriment from his fellow paladins, or from Allura and Coran. It wasn’t that Keith was emotionless by any means, because he felt these things all the time, yet he felt as though he was stumbling through them all clumsily, while the rest of his friends glided through them with grace. It was embarrassing. He couldn’t even tell Lance how god damn special he was without botching the words or sounding vaguely pissed off.
He felt like a shitty boyfriend; maybe a shitty person in general.
“We’re A+ here, Princess.” Lance answered, nearly making himself choke on the food he was currently shoveling in his mouth. Keith was relieved at not having to speak, slumping down further into his chair with a sigh. Perhaps they would all forget he was here and give him some private time to think. He knew of course that was wishing for a miracle.
Pidge noticed pretty quickly and narrowed her eyes at the ever-shrinking Keith. She turned to her left, trying hard to tune into whatever discussion Hunk and Coran were having out of respect for him; He seemed like he really needed anything but prying eyes right about now.
Lance nudged him gently with his elbow, a sparkle in his eyes that made Keith’s stomach drop. “Something the matter? Did I do something?” He just seemed so concerned, and his first instinct was that he was at fault, and that was just so wrong and so unfair it made Keith want to scream. He wanted to open his mouth, utter no as many times as his breath would allow, with as many different inflections possible.
“No, of course it’s not--” It’s not you, it’s me. Damn, could he say anything more cliched than that? A moment of panic set in, since that phrase usually accompanied break ups and that was the last thing Keith could want right now. “Can we have this talk later? I promise I’ll spill my guts and everything, but later.”
Lance seemed satisfied enough with that, at least that’s the message Keith got from the hand that mingled with his beneath the table. Lance rubbed in slow circles with his thumb, remembering the action to usually put Keith at ease.
It was working. Although, it made the rest of breakfast rather awkward, Keith having to eat with his non-dominant left hand. At the very least he managed to not make a mess, and since he had succeeded in not driving his boyfriend away just yet, he attempted to stay out of his own head by focusing intently on the conversation fluttering around him.
“Coran, no one is saying you’re a lousy chef, we’re just…” Shiro bit his tongue, his eyes darting to meet Keith’s in a silent plea for help.
“Accustomed to different tastes.” Keith finished, and he almost chuckled as Shiro put his hands up in prayer and mouthed a silent thanks.
“I didn’t say you were a lousy chef, I implied it.” Hunk cut in, causing any previous relief on Shiro’s face to be replaced with mild panic. Pidge and Allura bit back their laughter.
“Well! I challenge you to a…” Coran hunted for his words, eyes darting around the room as if he expected to literally read them somewhere. “Chef… off!”
“You mean a cook off?” Hunk corrected, interest rapidly growing on his face.
Keith had to admit, the drama in the room was fantastic for ignoring his own problems, and Lance got a small giggle out of him by whispering bets into his ear. Lance’s money was on Hunk, and Keith had to agree.
“Now, now! Let’s not get hasty!” Allura’s hands hit the table with a loud smack as she stands. The paladins are startled by the sudden noise.
“Yes, please. Just stay calm. Hunk,” Shiro has clearly switched into assertive team captain mode, which is either a blessing or a curse in any situation. “instead of trying to compete with Coran, why don’t you both learn from one another?”
Hunk thinks to himself, fully aware that everyone is hanging onto every word of this conflict and deciding to milk the attention for just a bit longer. He knows Lance would do the very same, and he locks eyes with him across the table for just a moment to see his amused grin. “Okay.” He concedes, standing to extend his hand over the table towards Coran, who is silently fuming beside Allura at the end of the table. “Truce?”
Coran grabs his hand and shakes without another thought, his anger from just a moment ago entirely disappeared. “Always room for forgiveness among friends!”
Allura isn’t thrown off one bit by his sudden change in mood, and Keith could only shake his head. Coran really was an alien. The entire table erupted in laughter shortly afterwards, perhaps finding some sense of enjoyment in there being so much seriousness about such a frivolous thing, when the seven of them dealt with life or death situations on a regular basis. That kind of contrast really could make just about anything hilarious.
Breakfast finally comes to a close. Keith and Lance were no longer the center of attention and the group managed to disband quietly to their own convictions without so much as another word directed at Keith about his current well-being. It really was the last thing he wanted to talk about right now, and whether knowing that or not, everyone respected it.
“So…” Lance seemed at a loss for words in what Keith could only guess was the first time in his life. He knew what he wanted to ask, but he wasn’t quite ready to talk just yet.
“You want to go do something?” Keith directed his eyes away from Lance, perhaps a tad embarrassed. “Alone?”
Lance gave him a devilish smirk, and Keith immediately regretted opening his mouth in the first place. Not that he wouldn’t probably enjoy whatever Lance was picturing right about now, but he wasn’t sure if his pounding heart was going to survive it. The pair made way to Keith’s room, which just happened to be closest at the moment. In one swift motion, Lance removed Keith’s jacket and gave him a playful shove to sit on the bed.
“We’re not going… too far, are we?” Keith broke the contact of their lips, pushing Lance just far enough away so he could catch his breath.
“I just wanna kiss you.” Lance answered, picking up on what Keith was nervous about. “Is that okay?”
Keith answered his question by pulling Lance closer, hands on either side of his face, kissing him as deeply as he could. He could feel Lance smile, and that set him on fire inside. Lance took control of the situation afterward, pushing Keith’s arms down to his side and putting a palm against his chest, encouraging him to lay back.
Lance put his knees on either side of Keith’s legs, bringing their lips back together and shuddering slightly as Keith’s hands trailed up and down his back. He craved the feel of Keith’s hands on his bare skin, but knew there was no point in rushing. That would be worth waiting for.
Keith felt like was drowning under Lance, in about the best way possible. Lance grew more and more daring with his touches, eventually growing to brush against Keith’s groin lightly with his knee and that just wasn’t fair.
Fortunately, (or unfortunately; Keith couldn’t quite tell) he didn’t get to see just how daring Lance was going to get since the sound of the door sliding open stirred such a panic inside that he shoved Lance off him in record time.
“I’m sorry!” Shiro apologized, turning his gaze to the outside hall but still directing his speech to the two embarrassed paladins. “I wanted to speak with Keith about something, but it can wait.” The black paladin whipped around, the door closing in his absence, leaving Lance and Keith in silence.
“Ow.” Lance whined, referring to the hard shove he had just received.
“Sorry, I panicked.”
“Oh, did you? I hadn’t noticed.”
Lance complained again at the punch to his shoulder, encouraging him to drop the subject.
“Anyway... That was real good.” Lance praised, flopping himself comfortably on Keith’s bed. Keith sat on the edge of the bed furthest from the door, Lance’s feet turning to tap against his back rhythmically, and annoyingly. “You’re getting a lot better at this.”
“Don’t talk like you’re some expert. You told me I was your first kiss.”
“Well, yeah, but I’m a natural.”
Keith exhaled through his nose. That response was just so Lance, and when his first instinct wasn’t to argue against it, he realized just how much the boy had grown on him. Damn, he really was in deep.
“Look, I’m gonna go apologize to Shiro for possibly scarring him for life. You can stay in here if you want, I don’t care.” Keith stood, and Lance frowned at the loss, rolling on his side towards him.
“Tell him I’m sorry, too. He’s probably jealous you got to me first.”
The Red Paladin squinted at him, a low growl in his throat. “Oh, right, who could have missed that Shiro had the hots for twig boy.” He smirked as he went out the door, hearing the thud of a pillow smacking against it as it closed behind him.
It thankfully didn’t take too long to find Shiro, who was in the middle of combat with the training bot, likely to take his mind off of what he had just witnessed. Keith entered the room and sat down by the nearest wall, and he saw Shiro glance at him in his peripheral. The bot unleashed another assault just at that moment, and Keith held his breath as the black paladin responded gracefully, tossing the dummy over his shoulder effortlessly before giving it a vocal command that their sparring was indeed finished.
He gave a weak wave to Keith, who had to admit that timidness didn’t work well for Shiro much at all.
“I just wanted to apologize that you had to see that… Lance isn’t too good with self-control.” Keith joked, and he was thankful when Shiro laughed with him.
“I noticed.” Shiro chuckled, taking a seat beside Keith. “The doors to our rooms certainly aren’t designed for privacy, and I’m sorry for intruding on yours.” The man scratched at his chin. “Maybe I should bring that up to Allura, although I’m not quite sure how that conversation would go…”
Keith tensed. “So long as you don’t use me and Lance for an example.” He laughed again, and Shiro gave him a playful shove.
“Of course.”
In that moment, Keith was content. He and Shiro were getting along well, a fact he was grateful for since there had definitely been a bit of an awkward rift between them recently. It seemed to coincide with his realization over his feelings about Lance, and he hoped it had nothing to do with Shiro being uncomfortable, disappointed, or in a worst case scenario: jealous.
“Keith, I just wanted to get something off my chest.” Shiro huffed, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder beside him. “I feel like I let you down about this whole Lance business. I knew you were struggling with something, and that he was involved, but I didn’t figure out what and I just wanted to apologize that you had to sort through it all alone.” He removed the hand from Keith’s shoulder, clenching it against his prosthetic one down at his thighs.
Keith’s mouth was agape, and it was only as Shiro turned to look him in the eye that he remembered he was going to have to give some form of response eventually. “Hey, Shiro, no… You did help me, quite a bit actually. I mean, you’re the one who encouraged me to talk to Lance and you also put us alone together long enough to talk it out…” Shiro relaxed against the wall as he started to continue. “I’m not too good at letting people in; I know that I have to work on that.”
“I just want you to know that I’m always here if you need or want to talk. I’m not just your captain, I’m your friend.”
Keith smiles at that, one that Shiro gladly returns as the two begin to stand. Keith is about to suggest that they spar together, something they hadn’t done in a while, when the door to the room slides open and Lance runs in.
“Knew I’d find you guys here!” Lance pants, doubling over to brace his knees, struggling to catch his breath. Perhaps he could stand to exercise a tad more than almost never.
“Lance? What’s wrong?” Shiro asks with worry, his stance wide and eager to defend his new home.
“No-Nothing’s wrong.” He huffs, standing tall once more. “I was just lookin’ for my boyfriend.”
Keith stiffens at that word, not entirely used to hearing it just yet. He smiles. “You got bored in my room with no one to annoy, huh?” He teases.
“I resent that, but you’re not wrong.” Lance laughs and moves forward to put his arm around Keith, and even Shiro has a smile on his face at the sight of them together. It’s a noticeable improvement to how they used to be around each other.
“I thought maybe we could go sightseeing in Blue. Y’know, just look at the stars and junk.” Lance proposes, snapping his head around at the sound of Shiro clearing his throat.
“You want to use one of the pieces of Voltron to go stargazing?”
Lance swallows harshly, and Keith feels a small pang of disappointment in his chest, since he was actually warming up to the idea rather quickly.
“Well then, have fun.” Shiro uncrosses his arms and starts toward the door, a smirk on his face at the utter stillness of the two boys, who have just barely processed that he actually just gave them permission to do something kinda reckless. “We’ve been doing recon missions for the past week, and it’s pretty clear that for the moment, at least, we’re perfectly safe. So go enjoy yourselves. If Allura or Coran have a problem with it then I will contact you and tell you to come back.”
Lance cheers and practically drags Keith out of the room by hand, who resists his advances just long enough to say a thanks to Shiro, who nods before the door swished shut.
They start to sneak over to their rooms to grab their armor before heading towards Blue’s hangar, which involves Lance making comically large strides and attempting to communicate to Keith silently through a variety of ridiculous hand signals, while Keith simply walked casually and quiet behind him. They argue briefly over who will ride the zip line and who will simply hang from the other person, an argument that is resolved through a game of rock paper scissors.
Keith wins. Lance hangs on for dear life.
“Y’know, this is just like that time I tried to impress that alien girl, Nyma.” Lance yells over the sound of the mechanism gliding. “Y’know, I wonder if I should look her up again…” He teases, and Keith starts to kick at him until he begins to lose his grip.
“I’M KIDDING!” Lance shouts, scrambling back up Keith and gripping him tighter.
“Good.” Keith has a smirk on his face as they both land inside the cockpit, Lance now on his lap and struggling to climb off while mumbling about how much of a jerk he is.
“Alright, stand up.” Lance says, and Keith is about to argue until he notices the bright smile on his face. He looks so impossibly excited just being here with Keith and it makes the boy entirely complacent as he relinquishes his chair.
“You know where we’re going?”
“Not exactly, but I know there are a few worthy sights out there. I was thinking about doing this when we landed here a week or two ago.”
Lance planned this that long ago? Keith was impressed, and the sincere smile on his face only faltered when Lance brought a finger up to poke his nose.
“You know, you’re super cute when you’re not scowling all the time.”
“I don’t scowl!” Keith growled, scowling.
“Of course you don’t.” Lance laughed, and Keith moved behind him to hug the back of his seat for support, looking forward through Blue’s various displays of the world around them.
Lance finally took grip of the controls, darting Blue forward at near-top speeds, making the two of them inside rattle around. They took to the skies, and Keith watched the castle and the planet it was on slowly shrinking in the corner of his eye.
It didn’t take long before they were just out in the cold abyss of space, and there were hues of black and purple swirled with brilliant patches of light just sprinkled throughout as far as the eye could see. Keith was so involved in the view he hadn’t realized Lance was staring at him.
“You’re so cute.” Lance cooed again, somehow distracted from one of the most beautiful sights imaginable by plain-old Keith.
Keith ruffled his hair. “You dork. You’re missing so much just looking at me.”
“I’m not missing anything.” Lance retorted, releasing the controls and turning in his chair, knees on the seat. He faced Keith with determination shining in his eyes. “Are you happy?”
The question caught him off guard, and Keith let go of the chair. “Yeah? I mean, it’s beautiful out here. Probably the best part of getting stuck with this whole Voltron business and having to leave home. Sights like this.”
Lance frowned, fidgeting slightly as he hunted for his words. “I mean, like… Happy with me? Are we happy?”
Keith blinked and inhaled sharply. “Man, of course! Did I make you think I wasn’t or something?” Keith’s hands balled up at his sides, angry with himself for apparently messing up in ways he hadn’t even realized.
“No!” Lance answered, pressing his forehead into the back of the chair to hide himself. “I guess I’m just worried about being a good boyfriend. I don’t really know how? Nobody else is around and it’s just you and me in here, so I thought this would be the best time for you to tell me I was the worst if you were going to.” Lance chuckled pitifully, and Keith’s heart seemed to get caught in his throat.
“Lance… You’re amazing.” Keith answered as honestly as he could, feeling like his words were never going to get it across well enough for Lance to believe him. He almost tasted bile at the back of his gullet. “If anyone’s a shitty boyfriend it’s me.”
Lance peeked over the seat and stared at him, and he really stared at him. Mouth open in the form of a small ‘o’ and his eyes wide. “Keith, you’re… You’re great, really. You’re beautiful, and funny, and strong, and talented, and--” His eyes filled with tears, and he did his best to blink them away. “You’re everything , okay? You’re everything, and I used to hate you, so it’s a weird thing to start now, but I can’t shake the feeling like you’re going to figure out that you’re dating me and not some great stand up guy.”
Keith circled around the chair and held out his hand, waiting for Lance to take it and stand. “C’mere.” Keith beckons, and he waits a moment or two for Lance to even realize what he’s asking. He pulls him into a hug, palms resting on his back and behind his head. He nuzzles into Lance’s shoulder, exhaling heavy before he rests his chin in the nook of his neck. He tightens his grip on the boy. “I’m sorry I’m no good at this talking thing. You’ve become so important to me, and that’s just so unfamiliar to me still, that even when I’m really happy inside because of you, I don’t know how to show it.”
A silent moment lingers between the two boys, both enjoying the warmth before Lance finally breaks the hug and gives Keith a quick peck on the cheek. “You’re trying. That’s all I could ask from you, man. You think I’m any better at this romantic stuff?” Keith looks like he’s about to actually answer that question, so Lance cuts him off. “No, I’m just… I’m winging it, dude! You make me feel things, a lot of things, so I just do whatever feels right, and I’m scared of trying too hard or trying too little...” Lance sighs, his hands wrapped around Keith’s as he squeezes tightly.
“Lance, what I want from you is just… You. I just want you to be that dork that pisses me off and makes me laugh and makes me try to be my best so I can keep you safe.” Keith is smiling now, fresh tears of his own rolling down his cheeks. “We don’t have to change, we just have to grow.”
They release each other, and Lance takes a step or two back, smearing tears off his face and chuckling at himself as he does. He gives Keith a smirk, showing some resemblance of getting back to normal. “Maybe ‘fuck you’ will be our always.” He says with a shrug of his shoulders, and a bright grin on his face.
Keith starts to laugh, and he doesn’t stop, not until he’s nearly doubled over into a heap of painful bliss, happy tears growing in his eyes, and the worst part is just how damn proud of himself Lance looks in that moment.
The two of them just sort of bask in comfortable silence, squeezing against each other in a desperate attempt to both fit in the chair. They gaze outward before them, just pointing out every impressive patch, trying to one-up one another by pointing more and more impressive sights. Blue is in auto-pilot at this point, so the view is constantly changing and Keith doesn’t think he’s ever laughed this hard in his life.
“Guys, it’s time to bring it in.”
Lance squirms out of the chair, squished slightly into the side against Keith but having adjusted to it from sitting there with him for so long. He picks up his helmet from the floor, putting it on reluctantly as his gives a disappointed frown to Keith.
“Shiro? That you?”
“Yeah. Sorry, but you two have been gone for one too many ticks and Allura is growing a bit restless.”
Lance can hear Allura objecting to that quietly in the background, and he bites back a grin. “Alright, we’ll swing back around. Oh, and Shiro?”
“Yes? ”
Lance turns to Keith and smiles. “Thanks.”
Lance is in no rush to return to the Castle of Lions, putting Blue into a low speed as it slowly retraces the route that they had pathed. Between talking, joking, and pressing their lips together for further practice, Keith barely notices that they’ve already made it back to the hangar, as Blue opens its jaws to release the two paladins, who are immediately greeted by their friends: among the bunch one very irritated Princess.