#klancetropemonth2k20

[demon-sushi]

Speechless

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month, Day 30, True Love’s Kiss

        Lance doesn’t think too much about it when he gets hit with some strange spray from a not-so-happy local, angry with Voltron for driving the Galra out of their planet. He gets hit and goes to the decontamination chamber on the castle, letting it power-wash the remains off his armor and face. Then it’s a stop to the medbay to make sure he’s not about to die from whatever it is. He’s figured out how to run a scan on himself from watching Coran do it multiple times and it chimes in a cheery tune which tells him he’s going to be fine.

        He walks back out to join the others and finish up the discussion with the leaders about the coalition and alliances. He doesn’t have to say much and just sits quietly while Shiro and Allura do the heavy lifting. He reaches under the table to hold Keith’s hand while they wait. Keith gives him a worried look but ultimately relaxes. 

        Walking back to the castle is a rather quiet affair as well. No one really spoke much after the leaders refused to join the alliance and found Voltron to be more of a nuisance than a help. It sucks when it happens, knowing there are races and planets out there who full-heartedly support the Galran Empire. The leaders are giving them time to restock and then leave, which is awfully nice of them.

        No one wants to stay long though. Moments after boarding the castle, Allura and Coran move to the helm and take it out of orbit and into the next system. Everyone stands in silence on the bridge. If Lance knows his team well enough, he knows they’re all putting some form of the blame on their shoulders. Frustration and guilt at not being able to save a planet and creating a new enemy. Which means Lance has to find a way to relieve the tension somehow.

 “The planet smelled like a cow’s ass anyway.” He jokes. It gets the reaction he’d expect. A scolding call of his name from Shiro and Allura, a groan from Keith and Pidge, a snicker from Hunk, and a confused noise from Coran.

 “What? It’s true! I be--” His voice cracks in a way it hasn’t since he came out of second puberty. His hand comes to his throat, while Pidge cackles. 

 “You okay?” Keith asks.

 “I’m fine.” He says, though his voice is strained. He rubs his throat and tries to clear it. Allura tilts her head curiously and looks to the others for an explanation. 

 “Are you sure?”

 “ ---- !” He tries to say something but nothing comes out. Keith is quickly by his side along with Hunk who both recognize the panic in Lance’s face. 

 “Maybe you have space flu? God, please don’t have space flu.” Hunk whines as he presses his hands to Lance’s face. 

 “Did you eat something planetside? Maybe it’s a reaction?” Keith seems just as stressed. “Let’s get you to the medbay.” He takes Lance by the hand and quickly guides him there. The rest of the crew follow right behind, tension back as they worry about the fate of one of their own.

        Coran has him stand still as he runs a quick scan over Lance. It makes the same happy chime from before, giving him an all-clear. Coran frowns as he looks it over, and then changes tools and steps over to Lance. He takes his face gently, holding it steady and instructs him to open his mouth. Lance does so, making sure his tongue rolls out to give him the best view of his throat. 

        The new tool scans the inside of his mouth and pings with a tone Lance hasn’t heard before. Coran hums, letting go of Lance’s face as he reads over the results. Lance finds himself anxiously shifting from foot to foot.

 “Is Lance going to die?” Hunk wrings his hands.

 “He’s not going to die. Right, Coran?” Shiro looks to the older Altean. 

 “Did you consume anything, solid or liquid, while on the planet?” Coran asks Lance. He shakes his head rapidly. He knows better than to do that, especially when he doesn’t have a scanner on him to make sure it’s even human-safe. 

        Coran swaps out tools again, this one is about the size of a ballpoint pen but has two prongs, and gently takes Lance’s face in his hand once more. He tilts Lance’s head back and puts the tip of the tool up his nose. 

 “Breathe.” Coran reminds him and he does, slow and steady breaths to help him stay calm himself. The tool pings another different melody and Coran examines it as he pulls the tool away from Lance. 

 “Well?” Pidge looks at the tool.

 “Ah! Scavoilan powder!” Coran moves to clean off the tools.

 “Scavoilan powder? They still make that?” Allura looks unamused.

 “What’s Scavoilan powder?” Keith crosses his arms.

 “Oh, it’s nothing to worry about really!” Coran assures him. “You see, it’s this old joke powder essentially. It temporarily disables your ability to speak, assuming you have a larynx or something similar. Otherwise, it just makes everything you eat taste like ash.” 

 “So he’ll be fine?” Keith asks.

 “He’ll be fine sure, but without knowing a human baseline, I can’t tell you how long it’d take to wear off.”

 “Can you estimate for us?” Shiro looks at Lance and then Coran. He hums as he twists the edge of his mustache.

 “Anywhere from a minimum of three quintants to about… how long is a human lifespan?” He asks. Lance can feel the edges of panic starting to creep in despite his best efforts. He runs his hand through his hair as his team explodes in a flurry of trying to find an antidote for the powder.

        But, they can’t make an antidote because Lance went through decontamination and the trace amounts still in his airways wouldn’t be enough for them to use. Keith takes Lance’s hand and holds it tightly. He doesn’t mind, it helps keep him grounded. 

 “There has to be something,” Keith says.

 “There’s very little we can do.” Coran frowns. “I’ve heard rumors that intense feelings can negate the effects of the powder, but I wouldn’t be too sure personally.”

 “Intense feelings?”

 “Like shoot him?” Pidge asks. Lance whips around to look at them and they shrug in response. 

 “We’re not shooting Lance,” Shiro tells them.

 “Oh! Maybe eating something really spicy?” Hunk suggests. 

 “That’s just going to give him heartburn.” Keith rolls his eyes. Lance sighs and walks out of the room. Keith follows him, still holding his hand. He’s silent for a few moments before squeezing Lance’s hand and pulling him to a stop.

 “We’re gonna figure this out, okay?” He says. Lance steps closer to his boyfriend, resting his head on his shoulder. He nods and Keith wraps his arms around Lance. 

 .o0o.

        Pidge doesn’t shoot him as much as they do zap him with their bayard when he least expected it. He gets them to stop by stealing one of the cables they’d need to play their game and hiding it in his room for a few days. They apologize and he hands the cable over. The two then sit side-by-side as they play a co-op on their game. 

        Hunk does offer him spicy food, which he eats on the sole principle of missing it from old earth snacks. It makes his eyes water and his throat burn, sending him into a coughing fit at one point. Keith tells him to stop when he spams his boyfriend with texts that are a bit TMI about the end result of the spice-scapade. 

        Allura tricks him into walking into an airlock. The second the door sealed shut he could feel panic hit him full force as he remembers when he was almost sucked out the last time. He pounds on the door as she threatens to eject him out to the cold void of space without his armor. But she lets him back in with tears in her eyes and apologies pouring out of her. 

        Shiro at least tries a tamer approach. He willingly offers up a movie marathon night. He, with the help of Coran, picks out tearjerker movies that have everyone bawling in some capacity. Language barriers and culture clashes be damned. While it doesn’t help Lance speak, it does make him feel better after crying. 

        Every night that passes, he spends it in Keith’s arms. Keith continues to reassure him that everything is going to work out. But after nearly two weeks, it’s hard for Lance. Speaking out loud has always helped him think and organize his chaotic mind. Without it, his brain gets muddled and flips back and forth between English and Spanish in a way he hates. 

        It feels like he’s on the edge of exploding, every thought and feeling he has echoing horribly loud in his mind. Keith tries his best, trying to take over talking for the two of them, but Lance can see it’s starting to take a strain on him. Tonight isn’t different, Keith talking about nearly anything his brain gives him, churning out only half-baked thoughts. 

        Lance reaches up and presses his fingers to Keith’s lips. It silences him instantly and he sighs as he pulls his hand away, resting it on Keith’s chest. 

 “I’m sorry. I just… I want to help.” He says. Lance nods, he knows how much it’s eating at Keith that the problem hasn’t been fixed yet. An unsolved puzzle he’s missing some piece to. Lance doesn’t want to reach and grab his datapad to text Keith so he lays there, tracing circles on his chest. 

 “I know, you know it. But there has to be something else you know?” He winces. “Okay, yeah, I’m terrible at doing the talking. I think that’s become very clear.” Lance huffs a soft laugh and Keith pouts at him. He shrugs a shoulder but smiles hoping Keith understands that he doesn’t mind it really.

        They fall into a natural silence, one Lance actually appreciates for the time being. He just presses his hand to Keith’s chest and feels the heartbeat under his palm. It’s soothing and when he closes his eyes he can find his matching the rhythm of Keith’s. Keith settles a hand on Lance’s shoulder before it slides and cups his jaw.

 “Lance?” Keith asks and he opens his eyes back up. “I know this probably isn’t the best time to ask and you’re allowed to say no but -- um. Can I kiss you?” 

        Lance tilts his head curiously, wondering what brought it on.

 “I just -- I’ve been wanting to but it hasn’t felt right after, well, everything. And I just…” He trails off. 

        Lance chuckles softly getting Keith’s attention again. He nods with a small smile. Honestly, he’d been dying to kiss Keith too. They’ve been dating for just over a month now and it was killing him. He was trying to go as slow as Keith wanted to, waiting for his cues and all. Knowing that Keith has been wanting to kiss him for a while now does something to his heart.

        Keith hesitantly leans forward, shy and a bit stiff. Lance lets him take his time and he presses their lips together. It’s soft and sweet and Keith retreats far too quickly. Lance leans back in and captures his lips in a similar kiss. It sparks something in Keith as he’s moving to steal one away, but this time it’s not as shy or soft. 

        This time he moves his lips eagerly against Lance’s and his head spins from the change. He doesn’t mind though, his tongue sliding against Keith’s. It becomes a bit heated after that. Unable to track who kissed who. Only knowing the feel of the person beside them and the heat of their mouth. He moans when Keith pulls back with his lip caught between Keith’s teeth. 

 “Fuck Keith.” He sighs and goes for another kiss when he pauses. Keith looks at him with wide eyes.

 “Did you just --?”

 “Oh my god.” Lance touches his throat and looks at Keith. “Well, it looks like your kiss broke the magic spell. We’re married by Disney standards.” He laughs. 

 “Hmm. Gross.” Keith rolls his eyes but smiles regardless.

 “Now come on, give me a kiss again.” Lance tugs on his shoulders.

 “As you wish.”

[demon-sushi]

Grizzled

@monthlyklance​‘s Klance Trope Month Day 5, Pining

        Keith is piloting the Altean pod and wonders what the odds are of it being ten-thousand years old like the other pods in the castleship. Krolia is talking with the Altean, Romelle if he remembers correctly, about what she had informed the pair about. His dog rests its head on his lap and looks up. He smiles, scratches behind its ear, and then focuses back on getting them out of the quantum abyss. 

        He blindly presses the buttons on the dashboard until he finds the one that’s willing to open a channel. Romelle gives him a pained look as she witnesses the mess Keith’s made. Keith shrugs at her and then puts in the Altean numbers he knows goes to the castleship itself and makes the call.

        Allura is standing at the helm along with the rest of his team. They look quite surprised to see him but they understand the gravity of the situation in the brief words he exchanges. 

 “So, which one of those was your mate?” Krolia asks when the call ends, leaning over Keith’s shoulder. 

 “Oh! You have a Chosen?” Romelle’s eyes widen, her hands clasping together. His ears burn and he looks over to his dog for assistance. It wags its tail excited to have attention for the moment.  Lucky.

 “We’re not together,” Keith says, picking up the castle on the long-range scanner. 

 “Aww.” Romelle deflates slightly.

 “Not yet,” Krolia tells her.

 “That’s true! Love finds its way to bring Chosen together.” 

 “Can we not talk about this?” His shoulders inch towards his ears.

 “Apparently humans are sensitive about it,” Krolia chuckles. “His father wasn’t.” 

        Keith sits and listens to Krolia sharing stories about his dad to a stranger. While he also appreciates hearing about them it feels weird to be sharing the moment. It doesn’t matter too much because soon enough he’s docking the pod inside the ship. 

 “Let me handle the introductions,” Keith tells the ladies as he stands. His team pours into the hangar sans one member and he swallows past his nerves.

 “We’ll be right behind you,” Krolia says and Romelle nods with her. He pushes open the hatch and swings himself out. Hunk and Pidge seem a tad on edge, as does Coran, but Shiro isn’t present. Lance steps in front of the group, bayard drawn.

        And maybe if Lance didn’t look so undeniably attractive like that, eyes serious and calculating, eyebrows drawn, a calm before the storm oozing from him, Keith would have been more concerned. 

 “How do we know you’re the  real  Keith and not his bigger, grizzled, older brother?” Lance’s eyes narrow dangerously and it sparks a thrill under his skin that probably shouldn’t be there. Not when Lance’s finger rested on the guard of his trigger.

 “I don’t have time for this, Lance.” Keith goes to step forward but Lance shifts, gun raising and at the ready now.

 “Answer me.” He says -- no demands. Who knew he’d be a mess seeing Lance again in years.

 “Okay, geniuses, tell me how I’m supposed to prove I’m me?” Keith crosses his arms. “Also if you were worried I wasn’t me, why are you  all  down here?”

 “You’re a good fighter, Keith. I think it’d take a few of us to get you down.” It’s a weak joke, strained, but Keith finds himself relaxing at seeing his  Lance under the paladin in front of him. 

 “Didn’t realize I was faster than a gun,” Keith says.

 “There’s no way of us knowing by anything he says, remember?” Pidge hisses to Lance. “We didn’t catch…” They trail off and Lance nods. 

 “You need to stay put. I won’t hesitate if you move, understand?” Lance tells him. 

 “Okay.” He holds his hands up in a placating manner. Lance nods and Hunk steps forward, hesitantly with a metal box in hand. While he’s doing that, Coran is stepping back, standing near the wall, and watching wearily.

 “What’s going on, Hunk?” He asks when the guy gets closer.

 “Can’t tell you yet. Not ‘till we’re sure you’re  you .” Hunk says, holding the box in front of Keith. He slowly scans him, head to toe in a circle around him. 

 “He’s clean,” Hunk says. Lance lowers his bayard with a sigh of relief.

 “Are all human greetings like this?” Romelle asks, leaning out of the pod. Lance jolts, bayard back up while Hunk yelps. 

 “Who the hell are you!?” Pidge shouts.

 “I’m Romelle.”

 “She’s Altean! She’s a good guy!” Keith quickly puts himself between his apparently trigger-happy team. 

 “An Altean?” Coran murmurs.

 “Who else is in there?” Lance asks.

 “A space dog and my… my mom.” Keith gestures for the crew in his pod to get out.

        Hunk scans them as well with the metal box and determines them to be clear as well. Of what, Keith isn’t sure. Romelle then relays her tale to those in the hangar and they all share a quick concerned look. 

 “Fuck.” Lance hisses.

 “Allura’s with Lotor right now.” Pidge clarifies as Lance takes off to the elevators. The team is quick to follow him, including Keith.

 “Where’s Shiro?” He asks Hunk as they run.

 “It’s complicated, man.” Hunk groans. “After we throw Lotor in the brig we can explain.”

 “Promise?”

 “Promise.”

.o.0.o.

        Allura is very much not happy with finding out Romelle’s story and knocks Lotor out herself. She hauls his unconscious form over her shoulder down to the brig and then tosses him into one of the cells. Keith glances over to Lance who still has yet to put his bayard away. 

 “You were right, Lance. We should’ve trusted you.” Allura frowns.

 “Lotor knew what he was doing. I don’t blame you.” He shrugs.

 “Can I please be informed about what’s going on? Why am I being asked if I’m real or not? Where’s Shiro?” Keith turns to the group. They all fall silent and look to Lance.

 “We know this Keith is real and I am. You guys can head back, I’ll fill him in.” Lance looks back at the team that nods and heads out.

 “Lance?”

 “Not here, not so close to the prisoners. Follow me.” Lance gestures and walks to a different elevator chute.

 “Prisoners?” Just what the hell happened?

.o.0.o.

        Lance tells him about Shiro’s strange behavior, his sudden pain flare-ups, and lost time, as well as his confession to Lance about not feeling right. There had apparently been an incident on board, leading Shiro to turn on them.

 “It was terrifying. We only survived because he was able to fight it back long enough for us to safely trap him.” Lance sighs, resting his back against the wall of the observatory, eyes on the door in front of them. “Hunk was in a cryopod for three days, Allura for one. Pidge and Coran both had to observe him when he’d be lucid enough to talk.”

 “And?”

 “He’s a clone. A  fucking clone. And none of us had a clue.” He hisses angrily.

 “That’s why you’re all on edge.”

 “We stay in pairs if we have to leave the group. One human, one Altean, just to be safe.” Lance looks over at him. “Leading sucks by the way. No wonder you didn’t want to be the Black Paladin.” There’s the hint of his smile there, a lightness to his eyes. Keith realizes how much he had missed it now that it’s there. 

 “Sounds like you have it under control though.” Keith points out.

 “Yeah.” Lance laughs,  god he missed that laugh. “If you count constant paranoia as under control.”

 “Have you had any clone drama since then?”

 “Not yet.” He admits. His eyes finally closing as he relaxes, bayard deactivating though he keeps a tight grip on it.

.o.0.o.

        Keith isn’t even too surprised that everyone doubles up in their rooms to sleep as well. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge play a quick game of rock-paper-scissors and Lance ends up victorious. He picks Keith for his roommate, Hunk chooses Romelle, Pidge picks Allura, leaving Coran with Krolia. Keith decides it best to not mention his dog teleports and removing him from the people he traveled with would be meaningless.

        But rooming with Lance means he gets to watch Lance operate as his most relaxed self. He pulls off the Paladin armor and Keith admires the sleek, second-skin quality that is the under armor. It’s been a few years and Keith still finds himself drawn to Lance, his mouth still going dry at the thought of being close to him for extended periods of time. He politely turns away as Lance peels off the under armor and rustles around his drawers for clothes. 

 “Does that even fit you anymore?” Lance asks and Keith risks a glance in his direction. He’s got pajama pants on at the least, clinging to hips. Keith’s eyes travel up the toned stomach and chest, to strong shoulders and Lance’s face.

 “What?” He remembers Lance asked a question but already forgot it, distracted by smooth looking skin.

 “Your Blade getup, does it fit you?” Lance gestures to it. Keith looks down at what he’s been wearing and then huffs a laugh.

 “Not really, but it was all I had on the back of a space whale.” He shrugs.

 “A space whale? Dude, how unfair. You get  all  the cool life-changing trips.” Lance whines.

 “I disagree.” 

 “Do you wanna check your room for clothes?” Lance asks, his fingers twitching as tension builds in those shoulders. Keith could write poetry about Lance’s body especially those shoulders. He shakes his head and looks back at his face.

 “No, it’s fine. I can sleep in this.” He can tell that going back out leaves Lance uneasy. 

 “You can’t just sleep in armor man. Especially if it doesn’t even fit you.” Lance crosses his arms and sighs. “Here, I’ll see if I have anything.” 

        He watches Lance dig around his closet and drawers, finding another pair of sleep pants for Keith to use and handing them over. Keith unhooks the chest plate, hood, and visor base going with it. He pulls his boots and leg armor off next and is aware of Lance watching him. He raises a brow even though his heart is anxiously thrumming through his veins. Lance averts his eyes and Keith is quick to get the last of his suit off and into the pants.

        They actually come up short on his legs, something he notes with piqued interest. He steps over to Lance, coming toe-to-toe and rolling his shoulders back properly. Lance looks over at him,  up at him.

 “You’re  taller than me now too!?” Lance whines.

 “...I -- I guess I am?” He’s not sure how to feel about it, he’s spent more of his time imagining Lance holding him in his arms and making him feel safe. Of Lance leaning down just a bit to press his lips to his forehead. Strange how he’d hit a growth spurt and didn’t notice it happen.

 “That’s so not fair.” Lance comes right under his chin and Keith wonders how much taller he’d get. Will it be like his mom, easily towering over Coran and maybe being on par with Kolivan? Or like his dad who he thinks was about Shiro’s height?

 “It’s not like I intentionally did it.” Keith shrugs, finding himself resuming his usual somewhat slouched posture. Lance just shakes his head and sits on the edge of his bed. 

 “I know that.” 

 “...Hey Lance?” He sits next to him.

 “Hmm?”

 “It’s probably a weird question but, how old are you right now?”

 “Yeah, that is odd. Why?”

 “I went through a strange place in space where time felt different. I wanted to know how long I was gone for you.”

 “By Hunk’s and Pidge’s accounts, I should be about twenty now. You?”

 “I guess… twenty-three then. We spent two years on that whale in the abyss.” He looks at his hands.

 “Explains the growth spurt.” Lance hums. Keith looks over at him, stares at Lance’s profile. It’s something he’d long since committed to memory, but now he looks for anything new.

        The edges of the scar on his back from the blast when they first started, peek over his shoulders as they did before. His chin is still sharp, the beauty mark still by the corner of his eye. The only thing new he sees is a strange burn around his bicep, it almost looks like… 

 “Keith?”

 “Shiro grabbed you?” He asks, his own hand reaching out and pressing against the mark. Lance looks down at Keith’s hand.

 “He didn’t mean to. He let go instantly when I…” He frowns and clears his throat. “After that we caught him, so it’s okay.”

 “Didn’t you go into the pod?”

 “After Allura came out. I wasn’t going to leave Coran and Pidge alone but ah -- he said some of the damage was done and couldn’t be fixed. Like my back.” 

 “I should’ve been here.”

 “It’s not like you would’ve been able to do much. Besides, it looks cool doesn’t it?” Lance moves his arm, flexing it for Keith to admire. At first, he tells himself not to fall for the diversion but c’mon. He does, in fact, look at his arm and very much admires how nice it looks. 

 “It’s cool enough, I guess.” He says. Lance rolls his eyes and playfully shoves Keith’s shoulders. He then frowns.

 “Oh my god, it’s like you’re made of stone, dude. What the hell’d you eat on that whale?”

 “I don’t know. And I kinda want to keep it that way.” He grimaces. Some of it was questionable after all. Lance groans and crosses his arms. 

 “Here, try it again.” Keith gestures. So Lance does and Keith grabs him, pulling him down as he falls back onto the bed. Lance laughs, surprised but amused and Keith’s heart flutters at the sight of Lance above him.

 “What?” Lance tilts his head as he looks down at Keith.

 “You’re still you.” He answers.

 “Vague, I like it.” Lance rolls his eyes and with it lays next to Keith. He tilts his head to look at him, watches Lance settle his hands over his stomach as he stares at his ceiling.

 “You okay?”

 “Yeah.” Lance’s eyes close with a smile. “I’m glad you’re back, honestly. Even if the situation could have been better.” He too turns his head to look at Keith.

 “Maybe this is fate.” 

 “You believe in fate?”

 “Why else would the five of us been magically chosen to be here? One thing happening would be a coincidence, multiple things? That  has  to be fate.” 

 “Hmm, I guess you could say that. But you seem convinced.” Lance rolls onto his side and Keith mimics him. “Did something happen on that whale?”

 “...I learned a lot about my parents.”

 “Like what? If I can ask, that is.” Lance gives him a sheepish smile.

 “They, the Galra, found the Blue Lion on Earth, but my mom had been part of the expedition. She took her team out but crash-landed near my dad’s place.”

 “Huh, okay, that does sound like… very big coincidences.”

 “Right? He pulled her from the wreckage, they found the Blue Lion out in the desert, like we did, and both decided to protect it.”

 “And then your dad banged your alien mom. Braver than any U.S. Marine.” Lance nods solemnly. 

 “Gross.” Keith scrunches up his nose.

 “I mean, it produced  you so.” He shrugs. 

 “Doesn’t make it less gross.” 

 “And then what happened?”

 “The Galra sent a retrieval team, found the Lion, and she had to leave for our safety.” 

 “Some safety she gave you. They still came around our solar system when they nabbed Shiro and again when  we  found the Blue Lion.”

 “It’s what she felt was best at the time,” Keith huffs, though he agrees with Lance. “Besides, if she hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have ended up at the Garrison with you all later on.” He points out.

 “You honestly think it’s fate?”

 “Why not?”

 “...Well like,” Lance trails off, glancing away. “When I think of fate, I think of it bringing two people together.”

 “Like… soulmates?” Keith raises a brow.

 “Sorta?” Lance looks over to him. 

 “Apparently the Galra have something similar.” He offers to help make the situation feel less awkward. Lance’s eyes light up.

 “Do they?”

 “Mom says they’re ‘destined mates’ and also I guess they mate for life?” Keith wishes his dog had chosen to stay with him instead of betraying him to be with his mom right now. It’d be comforting to run his fingers through the fur. 

 “Mate for life? Like Lovebirds?”

 “I guess? I don’t know anything about birds.” 

 “Do they like, leave claim bites or something?”

 “...You read weird shit online didn’t you?” Keith squints at him. 

 “Ah! You can only call me out on it because  you  know about it too!” Lance points out. Keith feels his face turn a tad red as he glances away.

 “Fair enough.”

 “So do they?”

 “I didn’t ask her.” Keith lies. He did ask and he was told by Krolia, he just doesn’t exactly want to repeat the space birds and bees talk again.  Especially not with the guy he wants to pollinate like a bee.

 “Aww come on. Allura and Coran won’t tell me about freaky Altean sex.” Lance shoves at his shoulder.

 “Why would you  want to know?” He gives him a skeptical look.

 “Because I was bored and Coran mentioned having gotten it on with this one alien we saw that was very… goo based.” 

 “Oh my god.”

 “Dude, they shapeshift! Maybe they can shapeshift in bed too!” 

 “Jesus Christ.” Keith groans.

 “I’m just saying!” 

 “Okay, yeah, we should sleep now.” Keith shifts on the bed, making sure to scoot close to the wall.

 “Come on Keith.” Lance whines, moving around until he’s facing Keith again. “Tell me all about the crazy space sex the Galra do that make them mates.” Keith finds Lance to be far too close to him for his mental health. They’re nearly pressed chest to chest and it's hard to focus on the appropriate things right now.

 “I swear, it’s like you’re trying to proposition me.” He points out.

 “...And if I was?”

 “Okay, no, not like this.” Keith’s hands come up to rest on Lance’s shoulders, which feel better under his hands than he thought. 

 “Like  this ?” Lance raises an eyebrow.

 “Like, out of the blue, sounding almost like a ‘hey let’s do it in case we end up sleep-murdered’.” His eyes wander down Lance though and he shakes himself out of it. 

 “Then like what?”

 “Huh?”

 “You’ve obviously thought about it.” Lance points out. “If not  ‘like this’  like how?” He asks as his hands rest themselves over Keith’s bare chest. It’s electrifying.

 “I…” How does he explain he’s thought about Lance in almost every way he could? Not just in the bedroom mind you, but in his life at large. How does he tell Lance he’s thought about his smile and laugh every day on the whale? Or how much he’s wanted to hold his hand back at the Garrison? Or how badly he wanted to kiss Lance after the bonding moment? How badly he wants to kiss Lance right this moment?

 “Well?” Lance prompts, trying to scoot closer as if to mold them together. Could he kiss him? Fulfill that simple wish he’d carried for a while now? 

 “I guess I’d want it to mean something.” He answers, eyes locked onto Lance’s lips.

 “In general?”

 “With you.” He admits.

 “Oh.” Lance squeaks softly as if he weren’t ready to hear the heat behind Keith’s words or the way he says it with such softness.

 “I’d want it to mean something from you.” He mumbles, one hand of his sliding down Lance’s side to settle at his waist. 

 “Like what?” Lance asks, voice no louder than the gentle hush they’ve both taken on now.

 “Do I have to say it?” Keith finally tears his eyes off of Lance’s soft-looking mouth to look into his eyes.

 “Maybe I need to hear it. Because I kinda don’t believe it without you saying it.” He looks on the edge of uncertainty and self-worth. He doesn’t believe it because why would Keith pick him?

 “I…” Keith needs to say it. He can. He knows he does it. He’s seen the future holding the two of them, married on a beach with two kids and holding hands, in the quantum abyss. Is this the moment that starts it all? He wants that future. He wants it with  Lance. He wants  Lance.

 “I like you, a lot, Lance.” He whispers in the space between them. “You could say I love you.”

 “Go out with me first. Then you can confess your undying love for me on like, the third date.” Lance chuckles a bit breathlessly. Keith can’t find the words he wants to say and settles for pressing his forehead against his.

 “So?”

 “Hmm?”

 “Are you going to go out with me or not, Keith!?” He swats him playfully against his chest.

 “If you let me kiss you.”

 “Deal. Pucker up Kogane, gonna give you the  best  damn kiss you’ve ever had.” Lance smirks. Keith laughs and they kiss, and while he’s never been kissed before, it really is the best damn welcome home kiss he’s ever had.  Yet. 

[demon-sushi]

Fort Blanket

@monthlyklance​‘s Klance Trope month Day 4. Touch Starved.

        If there’s one thing Lance misses the most about being in space, it’s his family. Now, that’s not saying he wishes his family were here with him on the castleship. He knows each person would get into far too much trouble, even without meaning to, with maybe  Veronica as the exception with her Garrison training. And that’s a big maybe. 

        Missing his family also doesn’t mean he wishes he was home either, though he often voices the contrary much to deaf ears. He’s serving as an important role in an intergalactic space war as an apparent ‘chosen one’. Going home means turning his back on a number of people so high he physically can’t comprehend. Going home means putting his family in danger because there’s no way the Galra wouldn’t attack the planet they call home if they didn’t keep luring them away with the liberation of other planets.

        Missing his family means he craves their presence, their laughter, their warmth, and hugs.  God  their hugs. No one on this ship hugs, except Hunk. But the guy has been busy lately. Busy cooking, busy baking, busy taking something apart for Pidge, busy putting stuff together because of Pidge. His hugs have become more fleeting than before, a quick bone-crushing squeeze that settles Lance’s skin before he’s gone.

        It’s not enough.

        He sits next to Pidge while they play their video games, wondering how they cope with the loss of their family. Occasionally Pidge will nudge him with their arm trying to push him out of the way when he’s winning, sometimes sitting close enough he can feel the warmth of their leg near his. They’re not touchy-feely, he respects that. It doesn’t stop him from reaching out and messing their hair up if it means they whine and bat at him like his niece and nephew. 

        It’s still not enough.

        Sometimes after a rough bout of training where he has to peel himself off the floor and hope he doesn’t have a concussion, Shiro will lend him a helping hand. It’s strong, it’s confident, and it trips Lance out how this guy is even real. This guy who he had posters of in his room, this guy who had records Lance would stare in awe over, this guy who was his inspiration, his hero, is actually here in the flesh. He’s here giving commands and orders, gentle talks, and encouraging speeches. He’s patting Lance’s back in reassurance, giving him a squeeze on his shoulder for a job well done, pulling him up off the ground when he falls. 

        But it’s still not enough.

        Coran and Allura don’t seem to understand why humans want to be so close. They don’t quite understand the hugs, the shoulder pats, the playful shoves, they find it all strange. They seem perfectly content to just be in one another’s space, seeing the other in the same room. Lance can’t tell if it’s an Altean thing or if it’s an Allura and Coran thing. Heck, maybe it’s an Allura, Coran, and  Keith thing because Keith doesn’t seem to get the closeness that Lance needs. He even flinches sometimes under the touches but lets them happen and waits for it to end, even from Shiro. 

        So it’s not enough.

        His skin crawls and his soul aches and he misses his family. Lance finds himself in quite a deep rut right now. He’s antsy, twitchy, wanting to be with his team and wanting his family and wanting, wanting, wanting. 

        Naturally, he steals everyone’s blankets. Their blankets, their pillows, their sheets, he takes them all and dumps them into his room while everyone is scattered about the castle doing who knows what. He has the urge to surround himself, to nest, to be buried under it all. He’s built himself a pretty decent pillow fort but he’s missing Keith’s things. So he slips out and raids Keith’s room. 

        He notices the spartan design of his room. Heck Shiro has more life in his than Keith does. You could tell Shiro attempts to sleep in there if nothing else. But Keith has nothing. Blank walls, perfectly made bed, empty floors. Lance briefly thinks he stepped into an unused room when he sees Keith’s red jacket folded and laid neatly at the foot of his bed.

 “Weirdo.” Lance murmurs like a hypocrite. He tucks the pillow under his arm, grabbing the blanket and sheets and making sure to leave Keith’s jacket behind. He slips out of Keith’s room and nearly runs into the guy.

 “Oh! Hey K--”

 “What are you doing in my room?” He asks, accusatory. 

 “Nothing, don’t worry.”

 “...Are those my sheets?”

 “...No.” Lance lies and tries to slowly back away towards his room.

 “What are you doing with my sheets, Lance?” Keith matches him, step for step. So Lance yelps and darts into his room. He’s not as fast with his arms full so Keith manages to slip in before Lance can close the door.

        Keith stares at the grand fort Lance has built. Lance is still holding Keith’s things in his arms and is trying to figure out what to do about this situation.

 “...Oh my god. Are you stealing everyone’s shit?” He looks at Lance.

 “No!” Lance denies. Keith gestures to the fort and then to his blankets in Lance’s arms. Lance at least has the decency to look away, somewhat ashamed by his actions. 

 “I was going to return it.” 

 “Were you?”

 “...Maybe.” Lance winces and dumps Keith’s stuff onto his floor. He groans but doesn’t move to get his stuff. Instead, he looks back at the fort and frowns, obviously thinking silently about something.

 “Look, I know it’s weird but --”

 “You need to fortify that side wall.” Keith cuts him off.

 “I -- What?”

 “That wall’s gonna collapse at any minute.” Keith points to the sagging portion of his fort.

 “You realize it’s blankets and pillows right? There’s only so much I can do.” Lance rolls his eyes.

 “...Wait here then.” Keith then slips out of the room, leaving Lance confused. When Keith returns he’s dragging chairs from the dining room behind him. He passes the two to Lance and starts retreating again.

 “Wait, what am I supposed to do with this!?” He calls out.

 “Put it in your room for now!” Keith replies, slipping around a corner. 

 “He finds my fort and then rebuilds it his way,” Lance mumbles and sets the chairs in his room. Keith comes back with another two chairs and a floating tray holding four bowls bouncing in front of him. 

 “Here.” He hands Lance the other chairs and pushes the tray inside.

 “Okay seriously, what are the chairs for?” Lance asks.

 “Taller walls. That way you can actually sit up in your damn fort.”

 “Who says I want taller walls?” He crosses his arms.

 “You stole my shit, I feel I should get a say in how it gets used.” Keith crosses his arms too. Lance groans but relents because he doesn’t want to start a fight.

        In the end, he takes the whole thing apart and Keith looks over the building materials. They end up both going to some of the unused rooms on this floor and stealing more pillows at Keith’s suggestion of a plush floor to sit on. Lance, wanting to know how the hell Keith plans to pull that off, goes ahead and nabs more pillows while Keith disappears for more chairs. 

        Keith lays the pillows out on the floor and takes one of the fitted sheets, he lays it upside down over the pillows, pinning the edges down with the chairs. He also carefully sets one of the chairs in the center of the plush floor, adjusting the seat to be taller than the others. The two of them strategically lay the blankets and pillows as they like around on the plush floor and Lance’s bed. Keith lets Lance toss the final blanket over the top of the chairs, a tent is formed. With the bowls Keith grabbed earlier, he places one bowl on every corner chair, pinning the blanket in place. 

        They both step back and admire their craftsmanship. It had been ages since Lance last built a pillow fort but it was never this fancy. He glances over to Keith who seems a bit lost in thought. Lance nudges his shoulder against Keith, jostling him out of his reverie.

 “You okay?”

 “I don’t think I’ve built a fort in years,” Keith says, looking at Lance. 

 “Wanna… join me in it?” Lance offers. Keith hesitates, the way he always does when he’s asked to do more intimate bonding with individuals that aren't fistfights. 

 “Sure.” He agrees eventually and Lance smiles. They crawl into the fort together, sitting side by side on the plush floor Keith made for them.

        It’s warm, it’s cozy, it might not be his family or his team surrounding him in a hug or anything of the like, but it’s nice. And while Keith can easily sit on the other end of the fort, he chooses to sit next to Lance, their arms pressing together from shoulder to elbow. Their hands are almost touching.

 “It smells like everyone,” Keith says, eyes falling shut.

 “I guess it does, kinda like a big group hug.” Lance agrees and he can’t help but stretch his fingers out, the tips brushing against Keith’s. To his surprise, Keith returns the gesture. 

 “I think the last time I built a fort, I was like ten? Veronica helped and we used it to check out her new projector that showed the constellations.” Lance smiles at the memory.

 “A girl at the group home I stayed at, she was seventeen I think? She showed me how to build them with the floors.” 

 “How old were you?” Lance asks.

 “Eleven.” Keith hums.

 “She sounds like she was nice.”

 “She ran away.” He shrugs. “No one looked for her.”

 “Why not?”

 “She turned eighteen, no one cared.”

 “I don’t think so. Didn’t the parents at the group home care?”

 “I took off the next day so, who knows.”

 “ You  ran away?” Lance looks over to Keith in shock. 

 “I did that.” Keith grunts. “I ran a lot.” 

 “Why?”

 “Why not?” Keith looks at him. “Most of the people who’d foster me would just give me back anyway. It’s easier to run. Easier to not get attached.” Keith looks away and stares up at the top of the fort.

 “I’d think that’d be lonely,” Lance says.

 “A little. But, you get used to it.”

 “Is that why you don’t talk to us? You don’t want to be attached?” He glances over at Keith who winces.  Bingo.

 “It’s okay to lean on us you know? We’re a team.” 

 “I… I know. I just don’t know how to.” Keith admits. “Hell, I’m talking to you about it and I don’t know what I’m doing and it’s weird.”

 “I think you’re doing a good job, even if it’s just me.” Lance smiles and nudges Keith again. “I appreciate it.”

 “Yeah well, I don’t think you should get  too  used to it.” Keith snorts and his hand comes down and lays over Lance’s. 

        They sit in the fort in silence, basking in each other’s company for a while. At some point, Lance rested his head against Keith’s shoulder, his own resting against Lance’s head. He’s fairly certain they took a nap like this because the next second there’s a knock on his door and his mind and body feel sluggish. 

 “Lance, come on man, it’s dinner time,” Hunk says from behind the door.

 “‘M coming.” Lance grunts and Keith stirs. They both sit up and look at each other, a small connection, a bond, forming. Lance feels settled, at ease, and they both crawl out of the fort with an understanding.

 “Hey, if you ever wanna just curl up in the fort again, let me know,” Lance says.

 “Figured I wouldn't get my stuff back.” Keith shakes his head and pauses by the door. “...And I’ll remember that.” With that Keith steps out of the room and goes down the hall. 

.o.0.o.

        After dinner, Lance retreats to his room. The fort is still up and he crawls into it. But the space feels so much more empty without Keith by his side and he feels more alone than he did before. His body aches and he rests his head back, wrapping his arms around himself to get rid of the feeling.

.o.0.o.

        Everyone is trying to figure out what happened to the bedding but Lance says nothing, and thankfully neither does Keith. Allura and Coran find it just as mysterious and make sure everyone gets new bedding.

        But Lance does feel guilty about the theft. He stares at the fort and moves to take it down when there’s a knock on his door. 

 “Who is it?” 

 “...Keith.” He says. Lance lets him in and Keith fidgets in his room, not quite looking at him. 

 “You okay?”

 “I dunno.” He shrugs and Lance takes him by the wrist, tugging him into the fort. Keith leans against his side heavily, and Lance finds the tightness in his chest loosening, his body relaxing at the feel of another against his. With a second of hesitance, he lifts his arm and Keith spills onto his chest. His arm then drapes itself around Keith. 

        Keith shudders once and then goes still under him like a house settling on its foundation. Lance doesn’t mind that Keith is warm almost burning in a fort that too is warm with no proper ventilation. His skin settles, his nerves settle, he settles. 

 “Better?” He asks.

 “Yeah,” Keith says.

 “What’s up?”

 “I just... “ He gestures vaguely. 

 “Needed to be cuddled?”

 “I don’t know. I’ve never…” 

 “It’s alright. I’m an amazing cuddle buddy, and you obviously couldn’t get enough of me.” Lance says. Keith moves to get up but Lance keeps him in place. He sighs.

 “Don’t tease me.”

 “I’m not.” Lance lets him move this time. Keith shifts, getting himself more comfortable against his chest. He watches and when Keith is done moving, he runs his fingers through his hair. 

        Lance thinks Keith’s fallen asleep with how quiet he is. He doesn’t mind, the white noise of his breathing is soothing and combing his fingers through Keith’s soft hair is relaxing. When Keith takes a deeper breath, Lance knows he’s going to speak.

 “What’s it like?”

 “What’s what like?”

 “You have a big family right? I saw them in the mind-meld training.”

 “I do.”

 “What’s it like to have a big family?” Keith tilts his head back and looks at Lance. He takes a moment to see  Keith, not just look. Because you can look at people, get an understanding of their basic mannerisms. But seeing people is looking deeper, looking at the why’s and how’s and their thoughts, their wants.

        What he sees in Keith is a startling amount of softness under the hard and spiked shell he wears. He sees that Keith never got used to being lonely. He sees how unsure Keith is about letting Lance in, about reaching out, and the fear that comes with being pushed away. He sees Keith and wonders if Keith sees him.

 “Well for starters, it’s loud.” Lance smiles and holds him close, telling Keith about the family he misses.

.o.0.o.

        He and Keith start regularly meeting in the fort in Lance’s room. They upgrade it with a small fan and a docking station for their tablets and a tiny projector. They spend one night curled up together, eating strange alien snacks and watching some movie they managed to find. It’s honestly the best night Lance has had in a while. 

        He also found himself unable to stop staring at Keith’s face lit by the projector’s light, taking in how handsome  Keith is. He traces the curve of Keith’s jaw, the slope of his nose, the shape of his lips. He counts at least two small beauty marks on this half of his face, one on the swell of his cheekbone and one on his jaw.

        Lance’s skin felt like it was burning where it touched Keith. But he’s never felt more alive.

.o.0.o.

        Their touches start to bleed into daily life around the castle. An arm around the shoulders, playful fighting and shoving, high-fives, and quick hugs. His team has noticed it, Hunk making kissy noises when Keith leaves while Pidge pretends to gag in a teasing nature. Shiro and Allura are just glad that the two are getting along while Coran gives Lance a wistful smile.

        He tries not to think about it too much. It’s only natural they’re orbiting each other with how much time they curl up in the fort. Lance finally has a sense of home on the castleship and it’s by Keith’s side and it’s not weird!

        ...Right?

.o.0.o.

        Keith’s head is in Lance’s lap as they talk about anything that comes to mind. He shares more about his childhood, Lance learning and understanding more about Keith than before. He finds another beauty mark, very light almost not even there, under his right eye. Lance is realizing why they’re called that now too. And when Keith closes his eyes in contentment, he gets to stare at the way his long dark lashes fan out over his cheeks. 

        Would it be too much if he leaned down and kissed him? He swallows at the thought, wondering if the teasing is messing with his head. 

.o.0.o.

        They don’t get to use the fort for the next two weeks, too busy with diplomatic issues after freeing another planet. They stay planetside in lovely rooms granted to them. But it makes him antsy, uneasy, twitchy. Keith seems just as on edge, though it’s hard to tell if it’s because of his distrust in strangers or the fort issue as well. Sometimes during the meetings with the leaders, who can’t seem to agree on anything, his hand reaches out and finds Keith’s. 

        Their fingers tangle together, holding on and giving them both their sense of stability back. Lance just wishes the thick fabric of their paladin uniforms weren’t in the way.

        After heavy discussions that ended nowhere, much to the paladins’ weaning patience, they all disbanded to their own rooms. Keith never lets go of Lance’s hand, and they end up in his room together. Lance pulls Keith into a hug and just holds him, waiting until everything that has been twisted around inside of him smooths back out. Keith does the same, grunting and mumbling about how the armor isn’t as nice as Lance’s shirt and jacket.

        They share the bed later too, falling asleep tangled up in one another. It’s the best damn sleep they’ve gotten since coming here.

.o.0.o.

        They’re back in the fort, Keith in Lance’s lap, and curled around him while Lance rubs at his back. Keith makes some sort of joke that has Lance laughing, the guy being genuinely funny when he finally lets you in. Keith leans back and laughs too and Lance realizes how much he wants to kiss Keith. 

        Oh. This is why Hunk and Pidge have upped their teasing. This is why Allura has relaxed more around him and Coran nudging the two together. This is why Shiro has been smirking at the pair.

        Oh no. He thinks, trying to look back and figure out when this stopped being holding each other for the sake of comfort, the sake of their mental health and became more charged with… with…

        He’s in love with Keith. He thinks as he watches Keith throwing his head back and laughing, as he finds another pair of beauty marks along his neck like a snake bite, as he finds Keith setting his hands on Lance’s shoulders and smiling back down at him. 

 “What?” Keith asks, nervously tucking his hair behind an ear. “Why are you staring at me like that?” 

 “You’re handsome.” Lance murmurs. Keith blinks, eyes wide, and then glances away.

 “Yeah, the training bot hit your head good.” He tries to get out of Lance’s lap but stays when he holds him in place.

 “I’m serious,” Lance says. And maybe Keith does see him because he stares at Lance, eyes boring deep into his own. Keith’s jaw flexes, hands sliding down his shoulders to his chest. He wonders if Keith can feel the way his heart is pounding against his palms.

 “...Can I kiss you?” He asks.

 “Why?” Keith asks back.

 “I want to, but I want you to want it,” Lance whispers.

 “I…” Keith hesitates.

 “You can say no.” 

 “Maybe… maybe not right now?” Keith answers. Lance nods. 

 “Okay.” He says, pulling Keith back down and hiding his face in his chest. “Okay.” He murmurs into the shirt.

.o.0.o.

        He wants to hold and kiss Keith.  God, he wants to kiss Keith. But Lance’s mama raised him properly so he doesn’t push Keith. He waits patiently. He continues to hold him in their fort even though it burns him up on the inside. He hugs him and holds his hand and wants to kiss him. He wonders if Marco felt this way towards his wife. If Raquel ever felt this way to a boy or Luis and Veronica to a girl. He wonders if his mama and dad feel like this.

        He’s supposed to be watching a movie right now with Keith, but he can’t focus on it. He’s hyper-aware of Keith’s body melded to his side, his arm over Keith’s shoulder. And when Keith takes a deep breath, it’s to speak. 

 “What are we?” He asks.

 “What do you mean?”

 “We cuddle, we have movie nights together, we hold hands.” Keith sits up a bit and Lance mourns the loss. “It feels like stuff couples do.”

 “Do you want to be a couple?” Lance looks at him. 

 “Is it that easy?”

 “Yes and no. Relationships still need work from both people, but I think loving you is easy.” He says and pauses. Oh. He really said that, didn’t he? Keith stares at him for a while. 

 “...I want you to be my boyfriend, Keith. But only if you want to. You can say no.” 

 “...And if I say yes?”

 “Then we’re a couple and that would answer your earlier question of what we are?”

 “Would we kiss?”

 “If you wanted to, I’d be willing.” Lance nods. Keith huffs a soft laugh.

 “Fine. Kiss me, ask me out, and then let’s restart this movie because I haven’t paid  any attention.”

        And Lance does. 

        He may still miss his family and their warmth, their noise, their hugs, but it’s better now. He has Keith to hold, to love, to kiss. He feels at home and feels complete. And maybe when this is all over he can finally show his family on Earth the family he’s made in space, with Keith by his side.

[demon-sushi]

Iridescent

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month, Day 11. Protective

        After they do their usual Voltron thing, saving a planet from Galra forces, the grateful leaders offer them a private reception from the upper class. Lance kind of wishes it’d be open to all the social classes. However, Allura accepts the invitation and starts going over a few do’s and don'ts with this culture. Coran even helps her demonstrate some of the interactions, but Lance pays it a grain of salt. Most of the time, the information they have is out of date. Besides, it’s not like he doesn’t know how to act at a formal event.

        He glances over at Keith who looks just as bored. He stretches his arm out under the table, his pinky hooking with Keith’s. He jolts and looks over to Lance. The two share a small and soft smile before watching Coran show off how to bow. He has Shiro come over to try it out and Shiro simply sighs.

 “Have you told him yet?” Lance whispers to Keith. 

 “...No. Not yet.” Keith frowns but he knows it’s directed at his actions not at him. It’s something Lance has learned rather quickly about Keith in the short month they’ve been dating. So far, he’s told Hunk about it, who was rather chill and excited about the whole ordeal. He’s been waiting for a good time to let Pidge know. 

 “It’s okay, you know?” Lance looks over to him. Keith was supposed to be in charge of telling Shiro about their new relationship, and with Shiro’s help inform Allura and Coran.

 “I know, I’m just worried. It’s kinda dumb too because I  know  he’d be okay with it.” Keith sighs. They both watch Shiro bow deeply in front of Allura, back straight and hands at his sides. Coran is quite surprised and Allura even congratulates him for getting it right on the first try.

        Shiro is trying so hard to play it off, but Keith ends up calling him out on it. In turn, Shiro has Keith come up to bow next and Lance watches him go. Allura, Coran, and Shiro then spend the next hour teaching everyone a proper bow. Then it’s food goo and bed. 

        Keith slips into his room after everyone is in bed. Lance shakes his head but smiles, letting him curl up under his blankets and hold him for the night sequence. In the morning, Lance makes sure to check the coast is clear before waving Keith to join him in leaving his room. As they walk the halls to the dining area their hands brush and Lance wants nothing more than to grab Keith’s hand. But until everyone knows, he can’t. 

        So he doesn’t.

        They eat, practice some more of what’s appropriate and what’s not, a few rounds of Paladin training, they eat again, clean up around the castle, and then it’s time to go planetside. Shiro, after a few minutes of polite bickering with Allura, pilots the pod down to the surface where they’re designated to meet. Lance looks at the pair in the front of the pod.

 “I’m still saying that  I  am fully capable of piloting this pod. More so than you, since I’ve flown them all my life.” Allura crosses her arms.

 “And I respect that. However, we wouldn’t want to give off the wrong impression of the hierarchy between us and you.”

 “So you admit I’m  more  qualified then?” She looks over at him.

 “I may not have flown Altean craft all my life, but I  am a trained pilot. I can handle it.” Shiro glances over to her.

 “I can’t believe Mom and Dad are fighting,” Lance says loud enough for the two to hear, a bit tired of the comments back and forth. It has the effect he wants when Shiro jumps and clears his throat while Allura looks back at him a bit confused.

 “We’re not --” Shiro starts but falls silent when Allura looks over at him. Lance snickers and a glance at Keith next to him shows him doing the same.

 “Oh my god, you’re right.” Hunk mumbles. 

 “Ugh, worse than mine.” Pidge agrees, leaning against Hunk’s side. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, in fact, he moves his arm so they can better settle against him and he lets his arm fall around their shoulders. Lance gives it a suspicious squint and looks back to Hunk who gives a curious twitch of his eyebrow at Lance’s silent question.

        He supposes he can let it slide for now. And considering they’re landing in their designated area, he’ll have to. 

        They meet with the leaders and Lance finally gets a better look at the people they’ve saved. The Terraline have a diversity similar to humans, the shortest one in the court being only a few inches taller than Pidge to the tallest a good two feet over Shiro and Hunk. Most have dark opalescent skin like the leaders do, but some are a bit more on the fair side. All seem to have four arms, four jewel-like eyes, and long hair. He can’t exactly tell the difference between a masculine form or a feminine form, not even the leaders themselves use a gendered title like King or Queen, preferring to simply be ‘Leader’. 

        The two Leaders inform the team that not only will they be celebrating their liberation but also be appointing their successor, a feat they had not thought would be possible in their lifetimes. Allura conveys the honor the team feels and thanks them for inviting Voltron to such a significant event in their history. The Leaders smile and say it is the least they could do to thank Voltron. 

        Guards come over and escort each paladin away individually, which Lance knows doesn’t sit well with Keith and Shiro. The Leaders tell them that it’s just so they can be dressed appropriately for the event. Allura also has to reassure everyone she would be fine, which is another reason why being singled out doesn’t sit well. Lance makes a big show out of going with the guard by his side, hoping it would encourage his team to do so as well. 

 “Your group is strange.” The guard comments to him. 

 “Are we?” Lance tilts his head.

 “I don’t mean it in a bad way.”

 “Well, we are different from you. Some strangeness is to be expected I suppose.” He points out and it seems to reassure his guard. They lead him to a room, opening the door where another Terraline is standing. The guard pauses for a moment and Lance can tell they have a question on their tongue.

 “Yes?”

 “Do forgive me if this seems too,  brash, but may I ask what happened to your other arms?” The guard finally caves.

 “Oh, humans only have two,” Lance answers easily. 

 “I see. How strange indeed.” They hum and then bow leaving Lance in the room with the other Terraline. 

 “Hi there, I’m Lance.” He smiles and greets. The room is octagonal shaped and lined with mirrors and Lance isn’t sure he wants to see this much of himself. The Terraline is standing a fair distance away next to a few clear storage cases.

 “Hello, Lance. I will be assisting you in getting dressed for tonight’s event.” They bow. 

 “Alright, thanks.” 

        They have Lance stand in the center of the room, their four hands touching different parts of him. Two on his shoulders, two on his waist. Then two on his biceps and two on his forearms. He wonders if this is their way of measuring him. 

 “Thank you.” The Terraline then steps away from him and opens one of the cases they have. They hum a soft tune to themself as they pull various pieces out of the containers and Lance wonders how the others are handling this. 

        Allura’s probably enjoying it, he thinks. Something to get her into a new set of clothes that are just for her. Pidge is probably hating it and he can’t tell if they’d be put into a dress or not. Considering the court he’s seen didn’t wear any, he’s not sure if they even have dresses. Hunk probably feels a little self-conscious because of the mirrors but is probably talking up a storm to the Terraline he’s with to keep his mind off it. Shiro, he’s not sure other than maybe not good.

        Keith though is definitely freaking out. That he’s fairly certain of. With the door behind him also having a mirror on it, it blends into the walls and makes it hard to tell where he came from. Meaning his boyfriend had probably spun himself around lost where the door was and might be getting claustrophobic and paranoid. He shakes his head with a small smile,  poor guy. 

 “Lance, right?” The Terraline looks over at him, one set of arms full of shimmering blue fabric.

 “Yeah?” He looks over at them. They hum as they debate on the question. 

 “Are you taken?” They ask. “Ah, forgive me if it’s too much.” They wave their second hands around.

 “Oh no, it’s fine.” He smiles. “I… I am, but we haven’t been together for very long and not everyone knows about it.” He rubs the back of his neck. 

 “So it is someone from your group?” They tilt their head.

 “Yeah.”

 “Is it the one in yellow?” They turn back to their cases. “No one would blame you if you were with the one in yellow.”

 “Nah, Hunk’s just a good friend of mine.” Lance smiles.

 “The green one then?”

 “Nope.”

 “I would ask if it’s the one in black but he seemed more concerned about your Princess.” They glance over their shoulder. 

 “It’s not Shiro either.”

 “So it  is  the one in red.” They smile knowingly and nod, going back to the cases. Lance feels a heat rise to his face.

 “Is it obvious?”

 “Perhaps to me.” They come over with their materials. “My unit is a bit more sensitive to the shapes and feelings of others. It’s what makes us good at what we do. If you may please remove your armor?”  Oh yeah, Keith is definitely freaking out.

        He pulls the pieces off and the Terraline takes them with their free arms. They then pass him the mass of fabric and put his armor in an empty case. Lance does his best to get dressed but in the end, the Terraline helps him out. It’s far too large on him though, and he gives them a questioning look. They tug on two of the loosest ends and the whole outfit shifts, clinging to his body like it was made for him. 

 “Oh!” He then looks himself over in the mirrors around him. It looks like ocean waves over his torso, shades of blue crashing and colliding with soft whites. There are shimmering crystals embedded into it showcasing the splashes and he whistles. The crystals even follow the shape of his arms on the mesh sleeves. It goes well with the dark navy pants that has him really checking every angle he can of them. 

 “One last piece.” The Terraline says, as they grasp the collar of the shirt and pull it out of their way. It leaves his neck open for a moment but they are quick to clip a cord around it, a bright red gem in its center, sitting at the hollow of his throat. They nod, put the collar back in place, and clasp all four hands together.

 “What do you think?” They ask.

 “It’s beautiful.” He tells them. They smile brightly.

 “Wonderful. Let’s take you out to your group then.”

        They take him by his hand and lead him out to the hallway before returning back to their room. He finds Pidge dressed in soft greens with darker green pants. It’s not nearly as sparkly as his but it really suits them. Hunk steps out moments later, decked out in yellow with golden bands around his wrists. He laughs a bit nervously when he sees the two.

 “It’s pretty fancy get up.” He says.

 “Tell me about it, I don’t mind it though.” Lance shows his outfit off. He has to make sure to hold his comments when Shiro comes out in blacks and purples that swirl together, arms exposed. He looks a bit uncomfortable especially when he notices who is still missing.

 “Keith?” He asks them all.

 “Not out yet.” Hunk shrugs. Lance worries too and tries to keep smiling despite the anxious swell building in his gut. 

        But Keith is stepping out soon enough and Lance tries to remember how to breathe and to keep it cool. If Lance’s outfit is like an ocean, Keith’s is a roaring fire. Golds and reds spark across his shoulders, down his chest, where it’s replaced with smokey grey mesh along his arms and sides, before turning to pitch black at his wrists and pants. And if it weren’t for the red gemstone at his neck, he would’ve missed the blue one that’s mirrored on Keith. 

 “Good, you’re all ready.” Comes Allura’s voice as she walks down the hall. A beautiful white and pink dress with a low cut. He thinks he catches sight of a few markings he hadn’t seen before on her, but she adjusts her baby blue shawl over her shoulders, hiding them from view once again. 

        He chooses not to mention anything about the purple jewels in her hair and clipped to her ears. He instead follows the princess with the rest of the team out of the hallway. Lance looks over at Keith, their hands brushing again. Keith licks his lips and falls back, making sure the team is in front of them before reaching his hand out and hooking his pinky with Lance’s. He chuckles softly but looks ahead. 

        They drop hands when they make it to the ballroom floor. The Leaders introduce them to the people who have congregated to the event. Lance makes sure to put his best foot forward as he walks around and chats with some of the people attending. He can see Hunk doing the same, Pidge and Keith finding a corner they can back themselves into, Allura dragging Shiro with her to keep him from joining them. He chuckles under his breath as Shiro lets Allura lead the conversations and chimes in when he’s asked. He looks more uncomfortable. 

        They pause the celebrations to introduce the Successor. Lance can admit they’re very pretty, dark opalescent skin like their parents, sharp blue eyes, and dressed in beautiful lilacs. The Leaders perform the ceremony, each dipping the fingers of one hand into a molten silver and tracing symbols that must hold high meaning to the Terraline people along the Successor’s arms and face. There’s a second of miscommunication between the humans and everyone else when they all bow, though Lance and the others are quick to join the collective bow. 

        The Successor has everyone rise up, holds a small speech in which they thank Voltron once again for the liberation of their home. With that, food is brought out and Lance knows Hunk’s going to be busy talking to the chefs now. Though he doesn’t get too far before the Successor takes him by the arm and leads him through a few dances. 

        He snickers as Hunk stumbles around a bit before finding the rhythm to the movements. They let him leave and nab Pidge from their corner next. Pidge is ungraceful through the whole thing, but the Successor doesn’t seem to mind all that much and is enjoying the dance regardless. Pidge is eventually spared when they swap to Allura. She keeps pace easily even though some of her moves look a little different. 

        She grabs Shiro who was trying to escape and passes him to the Successor next. He’s sadly as good as Pidge is which has them in a slight fit of giggles. Shiro politely declines another dance and returns to Allura’s side with a slightly annoyed look. She just shrugs innocently and Lance covers his laugh. Then the Successor comes and takes his hand. 

 “Good evening, Successor.” He smiles as they walk to the floor.

 “Good eve, Lance of the Blue Lion.” They smile back. They come up to his chin but stockier than he is. They get into a dancing position and lead him through a few steps.

        It’s not too hard he notes, keeping time with the music and following the lead. The Successor laughs softly.

 “Well, you’re already one of the better dancers tonight.” They say. “Some of your unit is not that great at it.” 

 “Unit?” He tilts his head curiously, he knows the Terraline who helped him get dressed used the word, but everyone else has referred to them as a group.

 “Oh, are you all unrelated?” They ask.

 “We’re not family, we don’t share blood.” He says, hoping that it will clear the air.

 “I see, my apologies then.” They smile. 

 “It’s alright. So I take it, ‘unit’ is for people who are family?”

 “Those in a unit are related to one another.” They nod.

 “And a group is unrelated people together?”

 “Yes. Though groups can easily make new units.” 

 “Makes sense.” Lance nods, ducking under their arm when they raise it for a twirl. 

        He chats with the Successor about a few other things before they’re done dancing with him for the time being. They lead him off the floor with a bright smile. 

 “Thank you for the dances.” They incline their head to him and he automatically repeats the gesture, a bit lower than they did.

 “The pleasure was all mine.”

 “May I ask you a favor?”

 “Of course!” He looks back at them. 

 “Can you retrieve Keith of the Red Lion for me?” They ask. 

 “Yeah! Might take me a bit but I’ll bring him over.” Lance promises with a wink and they chuckle softly. 

        He leaves them to go and track down his boyfriend. Keith is still pressed into his corner, arms crossed over his chest. Lance shakes his head as he walks over to him. 

 “Is this seriously what you do when Hunk or I don’t pull you away from the wall?” He asks. 

 “I just don’t like crowds that much.” Keith sighs, already relaxing his posture. 

 “Well, you’re going to hate me for this then.”

 “For what?”

 “The Successor wants to dance with you, man.”

 “I don’t know how to.” Keith curls in on himself. 

 “It’s fine if you don’t, they’re just having fun.” Lance takes him by the arm and leads him out to the floor. “Come on, I’ve seen you with your sword, you’re light on your feet and technically a bit graceful. Just treat the footwork like a swordfight if you have to.”

 “...I guess.” Keith rolls his eyes. “I have no choice in this manner do I?”

 “Not really.” Lance gives him an apologetic smile and then leads him over to the Successor. 

        They smile and thank Lance, taking Keith by his arm and dragging him to the floor. Keith gives him a longing look over his shoulder as he’s pulled away. He watches the Successor dance, or well, watches  Keith dance. He’s doing surprisingly well, staying on his toes almost and doing more of the leading. It looks good.  He looks good.

        He wishes he was the one holding him close and following the pulse and beat of the music. Lance steals a cup of liquid and wonders if it’s safe for human consumption before shrugging and sipping on it. It’s mostly a distraction after all from the burning feeling in his chest. The liquid just tastes like water and he’s thankful for it. 

        He eventually joins Hunk by the food, taking bites of things the guy thinks he’d like. True to his word he does enjoy them. Hunk also shares in his relief they’re being offered some form of water rather than something intoxicating. Pidge scares the shit out of him when they appear by his side commenting on how the culture doesn’t seem to care that much for non-sobriety. They then point to the Successor leading Keith off the floor, something like relief floods his veins when he glances over and sees it too.

        But they lead Keith over to their parents, the Leaders, and sudden anxiety spikes through him. He can tell from the taut line of Keith’s shoulders that he’s on edge. So Lance looks around for Shiro or Allura for help. He finds them talking with a group of people and he’s quick to move over there. He gets stopped several times by other Terraline who want to talk with him, and he does his best to be polite.

        He keeps glancing at Keith though, the guy hasn’t settled down one bit but at least they’re away from the Leaders. He’s not sure if he appreciates the way they fold themselves to his side though. The Successor has apparently chosen him to accompany them as they walk around. They rest their hand almost lovingly over his chest and give him warm smiles. Keith just smiles back, tight-lipped and awkward. Lance casually makes his way over to them instead, listening to the conversations the two are having. 

        It’s clear to him that the Successor has apparently found Keith to their liking, though he can’t blame them for it since he does too, it still bruises him. They say flowery sweet lines, complements pouring from the mouth like wine and holding him closer and closer with each word. Keith seems to be handling it well, nodding to the lines, thanking each compliment, trying not to pull away each time they inch closer. It’s good he’s being diplomatic, but god does it burn and bruise and break his heart. 

        He can barely hold Keith’s hand around his team, yet this person is allowed to press up against him? He hasn’t even kissed  Keith and the Successor won’t stop staring at Keith’s lips when he speaks. He hates it, incredibly so, that he has such a fit of jealousy in him over a small thing. 

        It’s not a small thing though, he reminds himself.  That’s your boyfriend after all. He eventually can’t take it anymore, cutting through the crowd and approaching the two. 

 “Excuse me, Successor.” He hopes his smile is polite as he greets them.

 “Yes?” They tilt their head.

 “I need to borrow Keith for a moment.” 

 “Oh, of course!” They pass him to Lance who bows politely and pulls his boyfriend to a quiet corner of the room. 

 “I was about to ask if everything’s okay, but I can see you’re clearly peeved,” Keith says. 

 “I’m just tired of them getting all up on you okay?” Lance crosses his arms. He laughs softly and Lance looks over at him.

 “This is no laughing matter, Keith!”

 “I’m not even interested in them, Lance.” He says. 

 “I -- I know that!” 

 “Are you sure?”

 “...Yes.” He looks away. Keith reaches out, takes Lance’s hand in his.

 “Well if you want to  protect  me from them, I guess you’ll have to stay next to me then.” He says looking at their hands and up to him. 

 “And hold hands?” Lance asks.

 “Obviously.” He smirks.

 “What about Shiro and them?”

 “It’s not like they’ll know unless you kiss me.” Keith points out. “Which, you know, doesn’t sound too bad of an idea now.”

 “Seriously!?  Now  is when you want to kiss?”

 “Yeah.” Keith nods. 

 “You’re the most ridiculous person I know, and that  includes  Slav and myself.” 

 “But you wouldn’t have it any other way would you?”

 “No,” He sighs. “I wouldn’t.” It’s the truth of it too. 

 “Also, they might be trying to get me to agree to marry them and I don’t know how to politely turn them down when they ignored my comment of  ‘I’m already spoken for’,” Keith admits. 

 “Ah, there it is.” Lance tilts his head back and groans. “That’s the chaotic neutral mess that I call my boyfriend.”

 “Chaotic neutral? Shouldn’t I at least be good?”

 “You’d sell me out for a corn chip, don’t lie.”

 “I wouldn’t!” Keith balks and Lance raises a brow. “You’re worth at  least  two.” 

 “Oh. My god. You’re the worst.” He laughs despite his words. It cuts off awkwardly when Keith squeezes his hand and Lance looks back down at them. He shifts their hands until their fingers are interlaced. It calms him down. 

        The Successor does seem to catch on that he won’t let go of Keith’s hand even when they come back around to try and take him. They then apologize with a blush on their face and state they hadn’t meant to come between the two.

 “I didn’t know that was what you had meant. I thought it was, someone else would speak for you.” They cover their face with two of their hands while the other two twist together.

 “It’s weird human phrasing, it’s not your fault.” Keith, bless his heart, tries to tell them. They do seem to be reassured by his words. 

        The rest of the night goes off without a hitch, the Successor eventually dancing with another Terraline and finding a new person to hold onto. 

 “I think this might be the last song of the night.” Lance hums as he watches everyone.

 “And?” Keith looks over at him. 

 “I want to dance with you.” He smiles.

 “...Okay.”

 “You sure?”

 “With you? Always.” He nods. Lance shakes his head and leads him to the dance floor. He takes the lead following the slow music and gently moves them around. 

 “People are staring,” Keith mumbles ducking his head into Lance's shoulder. 

 “Let them.” Lance chuckles. “It's probably because we’re doing different moves.” He says and Keith hums thoughtfully. He lifts his arm, Keith ducking under it for a small spin and gasping when Lance pulls him in close.

 “You have no idea how much I want to kiss you right now.”

 “Then do it, coward.” Keith challenges him. And Lance has never been one to back down from a challenge, especially from Keith. So he leans forward, presses their lips together as he continues to rock them to the beat. Keith sighs happily against his lips and changes his hold on Lance, bringing both his arms around his shoulders instead of one on his waist and one in his hand.

        Lance acknowledges the soft murmur of voices but is too busy focusing on the feel of Keith in his arms. It’s everything he wanted and when they pull back he can count the stars in his eyes. 

        Later they get quite a scolding from Allura and Shiro who both deem what they did not as appropriate for the situation they were in, while at the same time being congratulated for their new relationship. It’s a strange talk, but most are now that he’s with Keith he supposes. But he truly wouldn’t have it any other way.

[demon-sushi]

Greñudo

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month, Day 22. Pet Names

I.

        Keith is fourteen when he enters the Galaxy Garrison under the word of the Junior Officer, Shiro. He’s put in a placement exam with a few others, one of whom he recognizes but tries to ignore. They’re supposed to go through drills and formations but it bores him to death. He can tell the others are struggling and he rolls his eyes. 

        He can’t exactly explain it, but flying a ship just feels so natural. He can almost hear a whisper in the back of his mind. It’s curious about him and what he’s doing, but also gently pushes and pulls his hands. He likes to pretend it’s the ghost of his mother because anything else would be too weird. It doesn’t seem to mind.

        Unfortunately, testing the abilities of the simulator doesn’t sit well with the commander. He squints at Keith while Shiro gives him a weak smile from behind him. Commander Iverson then assigns everyone extra drills because of his actions which are met with soft groans. 

 “Thanks a lot, Keith.” James hisses next to him.

 “You’re welcome.” He stares straight ahead, at attention. The others needed practice after all, so it’s easy to ignore the snark. But then James pushes on his old wounds about his parents and Keith can only see red. 

        He remembers snapping and pinning the guy on the ground. He knows they threw punches and kicked at one another. He knows he bit James and that he was being pulled off the other boy fairly quickly. He remembers hissing, yelling, and trying to go back to the fight but the hands that had him were firm.

        As they were being hauled out he remembers hearing one of the boys whisper.

 “Jesus, greñudo.” 

 II.

        Keith is sixteen and he finds gym class still sucks no matter your grade, your age, or the school you go to. This is no different here at the Garrison. Their gym teacher wears them out to exhaustion in efforts to make sure they’re physically fit for space and the muscular atrophy that comes with zero gravity. 

        But it’s also to ensure they can withstand the G-forces from other forms of their flight maneuvers as well. Keith’s noticed a strange difference between him and the others though and isn’t sure what to make of it. In the centrifuge, he watches the others struggle as it ticks up to six Gs, having problems lifting their arms and even starting to lose focus at seven or passing out close to eight. 

        Keith barely registers the difference. He barely struggles through seven and is definitely still very much aware at eight. He doesn’t even feel it affecting his breathing but does as he’s told with quick and sharp ‘k’ sounds. He also finds out the machine maxes out at nine Gs and to the fear of his instructors he has no problem with it.

        Now, the other cadets don’t know about this strange quirk of his. One the medics can’t exactly explain. This means when James and Lance whisper about doing a team competition Keith knows it can’t end well. They figure whatever team can rack up the most points wins and are quick to get the class onboard without the instructors knowing. 

 “How are you going to track points?” Hunk, he thinks is the guy’s name, asks.

 “By the G-forces you can withstand.” James crosses his arms. “Three Gs, three points for example.”

 “Psh. Easy.” Lance says.

 “Fine, I pick Kinkade.” 

 “Well, I want Hunk.” Lance sets his hands on his hips.

 “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Hunk whines. 

 “Leifsdotter.”

 “Greñudo.” 

 “Shaybon.”

        Keith tunes them out and simply turns to the screens and watches everyone struggle and suffer. Hunk panics at two, Lance manages to get to seven, a girl he doesn’t know passes out at six, and James laughs. Keith rolls his eyes and steps in when it’s his turn.

        He follows his instructions to a ‘T’, breathing when they tell him to, clenching his legs and butt to keep the blood flow where it needs to be, and overall is bored out of his mind. His body barely feels heavy, he’s got full color vision, no dizziness, or the feel of fainting at the edges. He’s slowed down, told to grab a killswitch, and they go again. He holds it until they slow it down themselves.

        They ask him questions to test his cognitive abilities, make sure he’s okay, and then he gets to step out. Lance has the biggest grin on his face and James looks pale.

 “How’d I do?” He asks innocently.

 “Dude, you were at nine G’s for a solid fifteen seconds!” Lance claps his shoulder. “Looks like my team wins!”

III.

        At eighteen Keith finds himself in space with his legal guardian, a scaredy-cat, a ‘rival’, a cagey-nerd, and two aliens. It feels like a set up for a bad joke. Maybe things would be easier if it was one. Saving the entire known universe? How unlucky is he?

        It makes him wonder what he did in a past life to get this thrown onto his lap. Because Allura only talks about the known universe. Which, to him, implies there’s an unknown universe. He’s just not sure if they’re parts of each other or separate planes of existence. And that’s too much for him to think about. 

        Especially in the middle of training. He gets clipped in the shoulder by the pole the training bot is wielding. It knocks him off balance and he does his best to roll with it. When he pops up onto his feet he gets blasted forward by a shot to his back. He whips around and glares at Lance.

 “What the fuck, Lance!?”

 “You got in my shot, Greñudo!” He snaps back.

 “Maybe you should look before you shoot!”

 “No!  You should pay attention!”

 “Fuck you!”

 “Focus!” Shiro barks out over them. 

        The two get knocked out anyway. They sit in the dark for a moment under the training floor and then they’re both lunging for each other. He can’t bite, scratch, or pull hair when they're in their armor, but he sure puts up a better fight than Lance does. Shiro eventually comes looking for them and breaks them apart. 

 “I will handcuff you two together the next time you fight. You have to work together. Figure out what’s wrong between you two and fix it. Now. ” Shiro orders, giving them both a serious look and then walking away, done for the evening.

 IV.

        Keith… doesn’t know how old he is anymore. Not only are they having problems keeping track of time on the castleship, but he was also stuck in the Quantum Abyss and time just flows strangely there. So he honestly has no idea how old he’s supposed to be right now. Maybe in his twenties?

        It doesn’t really matter, he supposes. He’s trying to reconnect with his team after his long disappearance. He has to until Shiro has recovered from the mess that is possessing his clone. Because as it stands, Keith has to pilot the Black Lion. Against his will. Again.

        The person he’s having the hardest time reconnecting to is Lance. He doesn’t understand why though. They had finally been getting along before he left and now? There’s a gap, a misunderstanding, something that settles too awkwardly between them. And Keith isn’t sure how to bridge it.

        He opens a private channel up to the Red Lion, glancing back and making sure his other passengers are asleep. Lance accepts it, to his surprise. They both stare at each other for a moment. 

 “What’s up?” Lance asks eventually.

 “What’s wrong between us?” 

 “I don--”

 “We’re… not the same as we were before I left. I thought we were becoming, I dunno, friends I guess? But now it’s just --” Keith waves a hand and hopes it conveys his lack of words. Lance is silent for a few moments before he sighs.

 “We’re not even the same people, Keith. You were gone and you came back as a stranger I don’t know.”

 “I’m the same person.” Keith shakes his head.

 “Well, it doesn’t feel like it anymore. You’re bulkier, scruffier, silent as all hell, you don’t even glare at things anymore, just give them thousand-yard stares instead.”

 “No I don’t.”

 “Yeah, you do. Trust me. You just zone out Keith. I don’t know what happened to you when you were in the abyss thing but...it did something to you.”

 “...Honestly?”

 “Hmm?”

 “...I saw the future. Bits of it. Nothing makes sense really.”

 “Seriously?”

 “Yeah. So, I guess I keep looking and waiting for those parts to make sense.”

 “Has any?” Lance asks. Keith glances over his shoulder at Shiro’s sleeping form. 

 “I-- I saw Shiro and the cloning facility. He had a weird look to him and I was scared. I didn’t know what it meant until…” His hand comes up and skims the burn over his jaw.

 “...He didn’t mean to.”

 “I know.” Keith closes his eyes and lets out a slow breath. “I know he didn’t.”

 “...Are you okay?”

 “I’ll be fine.”

 “Keith, seriously.”

 “It’s fine.” He opens his eyes and looks at Lance.

 “...It scared the shit out of me.” He says. “He just -- God he looked so cold. For a moment I thought ‘he’s gonna kill me’.” Lance flexes his jaw 

 “...I did too.” Keith admits. 

 “I know he isn’t that. It was… It was Haggar who took control. But it was fucking terrifying. And I never want to go through that again.”

 “Agreed.” Keith snorts. They fall into silence and Keith checks on his passengers again. He knows Lance is doing the same. 

 “So you’re trying to put the future together?” Lance clears his throat.

 “I guess? It’s not intentional.”

 “Well, we need you here. I need you here. Okay, Greñudo?” 

 “Okay.” Keith nods and takes a deep breath. “I’ll try.”

 “Please. I’m tired of my teammates trying to kill me.” Lance whines. “First Pidge, then Hunk, and now Shiro. I’m 0 for 3.”

 “When did Pidge try to kill you?” Keith chuckles. 

 “Don’t you remember the sphinx?”

 “Oh yeah! The brain mushrooms.”

 “Eugh, yeah.”

 “I don’t think they were trying to kill you to be fair.”

 “Oh they totally were!”

 V.

        Keith is twenty-four and is trying to watch some weird Altean movie onboard the new castleship. Allura and Coran both claim it to be a horror film but it’s more funny than anything. He can tell his fellow humans feel the same about it. Shiro keeps trying hard to be polite and not laugh, but Pidge has long since thrown that to the wind and cackles whenever something ‘scary’ happens. Hunk has gotten up to get snacks and Keith heard him cracking up in the halls.

        Keith has his head in Lance’s lap. He mumbles quietly to Keith as he runs his fingers through his hair. They talk about nothing really. Their day, what a planet smelled like, the dinner Hunk made, when to go back to Earth, and the like. Keith finds his eyes becoming hazy as he feels himself starting to fall asleep to Lance braiding his hair. He jostles awake when he hears Lance’s soft laugh and he looks up at him. 

 “You’re all greñudo,” Lance says, untangling the braids he’d made.

 “You keep calling me that.” Keith murmurs. “Since we were like, kids. What’s it mean?”

 “It means ‘I love you’.”

 “I call bs.” He grunts. 

 “Oh really?”

 “I know ‘I love you’.”

 “Do you now?”

 “Te amo.” Keith still feels his accent is terrible but seeing Lance brighten up and smile widely at the words is worth it.

 “Te amo, mucho, Greñudo.”

 +1

        Keith is twenty-seven and he thinks he’s never going to get enough of seeing Lance above him. Even now, lying next to him, catching their breaths is something that stays burned into his mind. It’s never old. 

        They have to get up in an hour for some diplomatic thing. But neither can find it in them to let go of the other. Eventually, Shiro is tapping on their door, reminding the pair to get a move on. Lance groans and rolls out of the bed. Keith takes the moment to stare at Lance’s naked body. If he’s not careful, he’s going to want Lance back in bed with him. 

 “Where’s my -- found it.” Lance pulls on his shirt and turns to Keith. He gets out of bed and starts getting dressed alongside his boyfriend. Lance clicks his tongue before Keith can step out the door though, running his fingers through his hair.

 “Your hair is so messy. You’re always so greñudo.” 

 “...Wait, what?” Keith blinks.

 “Let me get you a brush.” Lance shakes his head and pats Keith’s chest.

 “Wait, no, hold on. Messy hair, really?” He asks.

 “Well, what else was I gonna call you? Mullet? ” Lance shrugs. 

 “But it’s not --”

 “I know that.” 

 “I can’t believe. This whole time.” Keith shakes his head with a laugh.

 “I know. Took you thirteen years to figure it out.” Lance laughs.

[demon-sushi]

Picture Perfect

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month Day 21. Playing with Hair

       Keith doesn’t bother to change out of his gym clothes after the third period. He’s too tired, too lazy, and no one really cares about it. He just pulls his greasy hair off the back of his neck and throws it into a messy bun and slings his bag over his shoulder. He pushes his way out of the boys' locker room which, he finds, to be rather crowded today for no real reason. He trudges down the halls and finds his locker beside Pidge.

“I will not stress out today. Every time I stress I get pimples!” They hiss, the locker door open and blocking his view.

“Did you use the green tea mask I told you to do?” Lance, his boyfriend of about a month now, asks.

“Yes. Moisturized all month and put the mask on last night. My face has never felt smoother.” They close their locker and jump when they see Keith.

“Hey.” He grunts, bag sliding off his shoulder and to the floor as he does the combination for his own locker.

“Dude. What happened to you?”

“Gym?” Keith looks over at the two and pauses as he takes in Pidge’s appearance. “Are you actually wearing non-Halloween makeup?” It’s not like it looks bad, just very strikingly different from their usual get-up. They nervously glance at Lance and back to Keith.

“It took a lot of convincing on my part but I had to help a fellow friend out. I think they look amazing.” Lance says.

“Well, yeah. It’s nice.” Keith shrugs and tells Pidge.

“Oh thank god.” They sigh, relaxing immediately.

“Why are you flipping out though?” He asks, pulling out his appropriate textbooks while swapping out the others.

“Keith… today is senior picture day.” Lance walls over to him. “And you’re an absolute mess.”

“It’s not like anyone is going to buy the picture packet thing.” Keith rolls his eyes.

“Uh, I will. I wanna put your picture in my wallet” Lance presses a hand to his chest.

“Why?” Keith raises a brow.

“I mean, I already have you in my heart.”

“So you need him in your ass too?” Pidge grunts.

“Wow. Rude.” Lance sticks his tongue out at them. “But seriously Keith, you can’t stay like this.”

“What do you expect me to do?” Keith asks.

“Dude, if I’m going through this much effort you know it’s important. Our teachers have been talking about it for a week now, how did you forget?” Pidge leans against their locker.

“It’s just… not that important?”

“Your face is going to be in the yearbook , Keith!” Lance whines.

“Yeah. As it has been since kinder.”

“But these are our last ones. They go all out for them. We get a special page and quotes and everything!”

“So?”

“Keith! Come on, it’s like the last known picture, it’s what they’ll use if you go missing or in Memorium.”

“Lance, shut the fuck up, your bad vibes are gonna stress me out and I refuse to have a break out on my last photos!” Pidge groans.

“Well, tell Keith he needs to change!” Lance crosses his arms.

“He’s your boyfriend, not mine.”

“Where would I even change, Lance?” Keith sighs, closing his locker back up.

“My place is across the street from campus, remember? We could just go over.” Lance points out.

“When?”

“During lunch.”

“The school is a closed campus, we can’t leave during lunch.” Keith scoops his bag up.

“I mean unless you sneak off campus.” Pidge points out. Keith can feel both his friend and boyfriend look at him.

“...Cameras are going to be off by the 200s classes from first lunch to the end of the day.” He admits. “It’s Tuesday after all.”

“What does Tuesday have to do with it?” Lance furrows his brows.

“Fuck if I know, it’s just what it is today.”

“I will no longer feel safe by the art class on Tuesday afternoons now.” Pidge mumbles. “You’re just stressing me out, why do I hang out with such stressful people. Hunk would never .”

“Lucky bastard got to take them in first too.” Lance whines.

       The warning bell chimes out and the three groan. Pidge adjusts the straps of their bag and waves as they rush to their next class. Keith glances for that one dick of a security guard before quickly pecking Lance’s cheek.

“Meet at our usual place.” He tells him and runs through the halls to get to his next class across campus.

        He crosses the threshold right as the tardy bell rings. His teacher gives him a disapproving look but he’s quick to slide into his seat before he can be sent away to tardy sweep. After an agonizing hour of English the bell rings and he packs his stuff up. He walks out to the courtyard and lingers around the statue of the mascot. Lance shows up not long after.

“So, how do we get off?” He asks.

“Well, I don’t know about you but, I use my hand.” Keith jokes.

“Oh my -- that’s not what I meant!”

“This way.” Keith takes his hand and tugs him toward the 200s. He peeks into the ceramics class, empty due to the lack of funding for an appropriate teacher.

“What are we doing?” Lance whispers.

“Trust me.” Keith pulls him into the empty classroom and presses his finger to his lips. Lance nods and they move quietly. He has them both pause at the small office connecting both the art room and this one. They dart past it and Keith quietly pushes an exit door open.

       Keith is quick to guide them behind the kiln and to the barred fence separating them from the outside. Keith kneels, locking his fingers together and Lance nods. He steps into Keith’s hand and uses the boost to get over the fence.

“What about you?” He hisses. Keith tosses his bag over and Lance catches it.

“Might wanna move,” Keith tells him, and Lance steps to the side. He wedges his fingers between the bars and grabs on. He pulls himself up and rolls over the top. He dusts himself off and takes Lance’s hand again, pulling them to the sidewalk.

“My house is this way,” Lance says, taking over.

“Are your folks home?” Keith asks.

“Everyone is either at work or at school.” Lance shakes his head. They slip into Lance’s neighborhood and over to his house. Lance grabs his keys and Keith glances at his phone for the time as they walk in the front door.

“We’re down a solid ten minutes.” He says. “Assuming it’ll take ten to get us back in, we have like forty minutes to do what you want.”

“Eugh, math.” Lance groans. “Well leave your shit at the door and make yourself at home.” He sets his bag down and kicks his shoes off. Keith copies him and follows Lance into the house.

“We’re gonna use my parents’ bathroom.”

“Why?” Keith asks.

“They have the movable shower head. We use it to wash the dog all the time.” Lance opens the door to his parents’ room and makes his way in.

       Keith takes a moment and looks around. There’s a wedding photo of the couple hanging on one wall, a large poster to a movie Keith isn’t familiar with on the opposite side. There’s a distinct difference to the bed sides as well. One has a flower vase and a small jewelry box on its nightstand, the other has a watch and a stained coffee mug. He looks up at the cross hanging above the headboard and his stomach twists anxiously.

       He’s met Lance’s parents before, knows them well, but hasn’t met them as Lance’s partner . He trails his hand along the foot of the bed and turns to stare at himself in the mirror on the dresser. More photos are decorating it and Keith wonders if one day his own picture will be alongside the others. Lance comes back out of the bathroom and gives Keith a curious look in the mirror.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Sorry.” Keith looks over at him.

“Good.” He tugs Keith into the bathroom. “Take your shirt off and kneel then.” Keith can’t help the gaze that slides down Lance’s body at the comment with a raised eyebrow.

“Sure, we could do that too.” He shrugs, pulling his shirt off over his head and setting it aside.

“Keith!” Lance turns him around by his shoulders so he’s facing the tub.

“Kinky.” He chuckles but kneels anyway, resting his forearms over the lip of it.

“The worst,” Lance grumbles, gently tugging the hair tie out of his hair. Keith watches him grab the shower head and pull it off, holding it in hand as he turns on the water. He closes his eyes as Lance lets it spray against his head.

       Water is briefly turned off in favor of Lance popping open a bottle of some sweet-smelling shampoo. Then Lance is working it into his hair. He clicks his tongue as he goes but Keith almost falls asleep with how gentle it is and soothing against his scalp.

“Shampoo goes on the roots, conditioner on the tips. But I bet you use that two-in-one junk, huh?” Lance comments.

“Five-in-one actually.” Keith mumbles.

“God, what’s wrong with you.” The water turns back on after a moment and Lance carefully rinses and then wrings his hair out. “It’s the worst,” Lance tells him and the water turns off again. Keith hears the click of another bottle and he’s working it in his strands of hair carefully.

“Could you imagine if Shiro knew we did this?”

“Speaking of Mr. Shiro, did you tell him about us?” Lance asks as he lets whatever’s in his hair sit.

“He was really happy to hear. He said he’s glad I have a positive influence in my life.” Keith glances up at Lance with a smirk.

“...Well, maybe we shouldn’t tell him about this then.”

“He probably already knows. He’s been my guidance counselor since freshman year. He’s got a sixth sense for when I’m misbehaving.”

“Okay, yeah.” Lance laughs and then he sits next to him. Keith goes to touch his hair but Lance knocks his hand aside. He pouts at his boyfriend who shakes his head.

“What are you going to say for your quote?” Lance asks him to keep him busy.

“Do I have to have one?”

“Yep.”

“...Patience yields focus.”

“That thing Mr. Shiro says all the time?”

“He’s good at his job for a reason.” Keith hums. “What about you? What’s your quote?”

“Oh easy. ‘El autoestima hasta arriba y el perreo hasta abajo’.”

“Sounds nice. What’s it mean?”

“It means my self-esteem be popin’.”

“Does it?”

“Oh yeah.” Lance grins and Keith gets a feeling he might be lying but doesn’t feel like calling him out on it. His boyfriend pushes his head down again and rinses the conditioner out, wringing his hair when he’s done. Keith goes to stand but stays in place with a firm hand against his shoulders.

“One sec,” Lance tells him and steps out. When he comes back there’s a towel being draped over him and Keith ties it around his head as he gets up.

“It’s cold in here.” Keith hums as he rubs his arms.

“Yeah, I know. I think I have a shirt of yours around here from when you last stayed over.” Lance says, walking to his room with Keith in tow.

“You do know you have to tell them eventually?” Keith asks.

“I know. But like, I can still have you over for sleepovers until they know, so.” Lance taps the side of his head.

“They’re gonna think we’ve been fucking the whole time.”

“Psh, no. I’m a good Catholic boy. The only scandalous thing we’re doing is cuddling and holding hands and like, kissing sometimes.” Lance opens his closet as Keith sits on his bed, unwrapping the towel and continuing to dry his off.

“If that’s scandalous I worry.” Keith chuckles.

“Aha!” Lance pulls out one of his black v-neck shirts and tosses it his way. “Be thankful they’re just gonna pin this stiff and overly starched thing over our outfits to make it look like we’re all in tuxes.” Keith snatches his shirt and lays the towel out over the back of Lance’s computer chair. His hair is mostly dry, but still annoyingly damp.

“Blow dry it first,” Lance says, stopping him from putting on his shirt. Lance tugs him into his parents' room again and opens one of the drawers. He pulls out the hairdryer and plugs it in. Keith closes his eyes as Lance goes all out with the hairdryer. When he clicks it off he has a brush in hand and Keith sighs.

“Where do I sit?” He asks.

“My bed’s fine,” Lance says. Keith returns to Lance’s bedroom and sits on his bed. Lance hops up right behind him, pulling all of his hair back.

       Keith finds himself relaxing once again as Lance starts to brush his hair from the bottom up. Then it’s all brushed out and Lance simply runs his fingers through it. Keith leans back against Lance’s chest and sighs softly.

“How much time is left?” Keith asks.

“We could totally ditch fifth. I mean, we’re doing our pictures in sixth.” Lance hums. Keith glances up at him with a raised brow.

“ Ditch class? Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?” Keith chuckles. Lance rolls his eyes, still combing his fingers through Keith’s hair.

“Well, maybe I want to enjoy being with my boyfriend in the privacy of my empty house for a few moments longer.”

“Then just go to my place.” Keith reminds him. “My folks are never home.”

“And my parents would flip.” Lance chuckles and Keith hums in response, getting up and grabbing his shirt. “Wait!” Lance reaches for him and Keith pauses in his actions. Lance makes a frame out of his fingers and looks Keith over. He shakes his head and pulls his shit on despite Lance’s protests.

       He does, however, settle in Lance’s lap and pulls out his phone. He’s quick to set an alarm and toss it off to the side. He then drapes his arms around Lance’s shoulders and hums. Lance reaches up and tangles his fingers in Keith’s hair.

“See, it’s so much nicer after you’ve washed it. Soft and everything.”

“Thanks, I had a hot guy take care of it today.” Keith chuckles.

“You think I’m hot?” Lance asks, fingers twisting strands of Keith’s hair around in a specific pattern.

“Why wouldn’t I?” He raises a brow and then registers the pattern. “Are you braiding my hair?”

“Maybe. It’s long enough I could probably be really fancy and french braid it, maybe dutch braid?”

“I know what those words individually mean, but not put together,” Keith says.

“Just a look thing really.” Lance shrugs, tugging on Keith’s hair.

“ Dangerous .” He hisses.

“Is it?” Lance asks.

“I’m fairly certain the last time you did that I left you covered in hickeys.”

“...Yeah best not to do that on picture day.”

“That’s what I thought.” Keith snorts.

       Lance braids his hair and then threads his fingers through it to free the strands. He does it a few times and Keith thinks he does fall asleep at one point. He goes from sitting in Lance’s lap to laying beside him with his alarm chiming.

“Time to head back?” Lance asks with a tired voice.

“Yeah.” Keith gets up and stretches his arms above his head. Lance wraps his arms around his waist and kisses his shoulder, cheek, forehead, and lips.

“Let’s get going then. I want to know how you plan on getting us back inside.” Lance chuckles. Keith nods and takes Lance’s hand in his.

“Oh, I know a few ways.”

[demon-sushi]

Carat

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month, Day 29. Battle Partners

        When Lance gets brought into Voltron, it’s in handcuffs and a black eye. He’s made to kneel in front of a woman, Allura he believes is her name, and she gives him an almost bored expression. She leans forward, arms resting on her knees as a spill of snow-white hair tumbles down her shoulder.

 “Hello, leoncito.” She smiles. “I think you know why you’re here.”

 “Because I didn’t shoot you?” Lance grunts.

 “Quite surprising actually. I know you had a clear shot.” She leans back. 

 “So why bring me here?” He gestures with his head to a rather fancy looking office, though with very little recollection of how he got here. 

 “I have a proposition for you.” 

 “I’m listening.” Lance looks her over.

 “How about, I buy you out of your current contract and you pledge loyalty to me. You will do as I ask, when I ask it, and how I ask it.”

 “And if I refuse?” 

 “Well, I’m sure you know that answer already.” She shrugs, lacing her fingers together in her lap. He’ll die.

 “I have personal rules, you know. Morals and shit like that.”

 “Surprising for a hitman.” She chuckles. “But please, do tell.”

 “I don’t kill kids.”

 “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

 “I don’t hunt down women.”

 “That explains why you hesitated on me. I do have a rebuttal to that though, what if the woman, in particular, is a stain on society, even a criminal perhaps?”

 “...Some exceptions could be made.” Lance has done it before, he doesn’t like it.

 “Any other requests?”

 “I don’t do knives. Give me poison or a gun but I’m not one for blood. Makes me queasy, you see.” He huffs a soft laugh. She nods in understanding. 

 “No worries about that then. Do we have a deal?” She asks. Lance thinks in silence a bit longer before he nods.

 “Deal.” He says, signing his life away. She smiles brightly and gestures to the two holding him down. They let him go, get the cuffs off of him and pull him to his feet as she stands. She extends her hand out and Lance shakes it. 

 “Sapphire is your new code name.” She tells him, turning on her heel and walking out. “You may call me Princess while we’re in the office but on the field during your missions, I am Diamond. At no point are you to address me by my name, do you understand?” She looks over at him. 

 “Yes ma’am.” He nods. 

 “Citrine? Amethyst?” She looks to the men by his sides.

 “Yes, Princess?”

 “Show Sapphire around for me will you?”

 “Yes, Princess.”

.o0o.

        He’s introduced to a ‘Carnelian’ who twitches his orange mustache as he gives Lance a rundown on the medical room and any other needs. Then he’s brought to ‘Peridot’ and ‘Emerald’, a technological duo who both excitedly talk to ‘Citrine’ about one of the programs they’d built. Citrine double-checks their math and helps them with a blueprint of something.

 “Why are we named after gemstones?” Lance asks ‘Amethyst’.

 “Well, a princess would have all kinds of sparkling gems, wouldn’t she?” He chuckles. “Once you’re off your probationary period you’ll get our real names.” He promises as he leaves Citrine behind to show him his new bedroom. 

 “This is where you’ll be staying, my room is two down from here if you need anything.” Amethyst smiles.

 “Okay.” He nods and steps into his room. He’d expect it to be rundown, but much like the state of the office, it’s extravagant. 

.o0o.

        Almost a year into his new employment under Voltron and Allura, he’s given permission to use his fellow team member’s names. 

        Citrine is Hunk, a loveable giant who appreciates both fine dining and engineering. He stress bakes, meaning there’s hardly a day without some form of cookies or fresh bread for them to eat. Hunk is easily his first friend and his genuine positivity is a skillful tool that is used to coerce businesses into contracts and deals with Allura. 

        And when it doesn’t work, well, he plants various bugs, taps, or worse onto the person for blackmailing materials to be gathered. He’s even held a few people in place for Amethyst to turn into a punching bag.

        Amethyst is Shiro, a man who has seen some shit apparently, and based on the scars Lance has seen on him, it wasn’t pretty. He doesn’t particularly like talking about it, and Lance knows how to respect the boundary there. He is Allura’s bodyguard first, muscle second. And with a metal fist, his punches do quite the amount of damage to a person alone.

        But he’s also a soft-spoken man, imparting wisdom and wisecracks at the same time. He reminds Lance of his dad if he’s being honest. Especially with the way he treats Emerald and Peridot.

        Emerald is Matt, Peridot is Pidge. They’re a sibling duo who get along better than Lance did with his siblings. Matt seems to have a master’s in Computer Science while Pidge is all self-taught. Pidge does most of the cracking of codes and monitoring cameras while Matt programs machines to be fabricated by Hunk and deployed by anyone here. Both relay information from the base of operations out to those in the field.

        Carnelian is Coran and is essentially Allura’s right hand for a lack of better words. He helps manage anything he can, knowing quite a lot about practically every topic brought up. Lance has also never seen him get his hands dirty before. Though it could be in part to him being up top with Allura most of the time. 

        Coran is also who found him in the first place, he found everyone, but the bringing of fresh blood is never his command. It’s Allura’s. 

        There’s a commotion amongst the group as they sit at a long table, Allura at the head. She announces there will be a new face and orders Citrine and Sapphire to capture the man in question. Though it surprises Lance, he complies with the request, following Carnelian out of the room for the dossier.

 .o0o.

        The guy they grab is not one he’s expecting if he’s being honest. He’s scrappy, mean, rude by all accounts. Citrine eventually groans and hits him with a tranquilizer before hefting the unconscious man over his shoulders.

 “...Did you do that to me?” Sapphire asks him as he opens the door of their inconspicuous car.

 “Do you really want to know?”

 “...Not really.”

 “Then I won’t tell you.” Citrine shrugs. They drive to the office and haul the guy upstairs, setting him in the office like Sapphire had been his first night.

        The conversation with him goes about as it had with Sapphire. An acknowledgment that the person has done something of note, that Allura will buy their contract, and he’ll follow her rules. He argues with her every step of the way, something that was warned about in their dossier. 

 “I don’t have all night or nearly enough patience to deal with you. Answer my question. Die or join?” She crosses her arms.

 “...I’ll join.” He submits.

 “Thank you,” She rolls her eyes and rises up. “Ruby will be your new code name.” Citrine undoes his handcuffs and pulls him to his feet. She turns on her heel and walks out. 

 “You may call me Princess while we’re in the office but on the field during your missions, I am Diamond. At no point are you to address me by my name, do you understand?” She looks over at him. 

 “Yes ma’am.” He nods. 

 “Citrine? Sapphire?” She looks to the men by his sides.

 “Yes, Princess?”

 “Show Ruby around for me will you?”

 “Yes, Princess.”

 .o0o.

        Ruby seems mostly indifferent to his introduction to Coran. He doesn’t seem to care about meeting Pidge or Matt. Lance thinks it’s rude, but everything very quickly comes to a screeching halt when Shiro enters the lab they're at. Ruby stiffens and Shiro gasps softly when they see each other. 

 “Ruby,” Lance emphasizes his name. “This is Amethyst.” 

 “You’re alive?” Ruby asks.

 “What are you doing here?” Shiro fires back. 

        Turns out the two are half-brothers, another sibling duo in the workplace. Though this one seems less functional than Matt and Pidge. The two but heads frequently, mostly due to Ruby’s inability to stay still and follow instructions. Lance finds Ruby quickly burns out the camaraderie the team initially hands him, finding him to be too difficult to work with. 

        Lance knows that it’s a life-or-death situation for Ruby to continue on like this and sets out trying to tear down the wall that Ruby hides behind. Even if he has to pull it apart brick by brick. 

 .o0o.

        Two months into Ruby joining the team Lance, or well, Sapphire is assigned on a mission with him, due to his ability to somehow make Ruby focus. And perhaps Ruby's ability to keep Sapphire motivated during icky missions too. Allura tells Sapphire privately it’s Ruby’s last chance, and if anything goes wrong, to terminate their contract with him. He’s not sure how to deal with the secondary mission given to him. 

        Maybe it’s a test of his wills too.

        The mission is simple enough and apparently plays on Ruby’s skillset. Get in, kidnap a man and his valuables, haul him to a warehouse, interrogate and potentially execute said kidnapped person. Kidnapping isn’t usually Sapphire’s thing if he’s honest. Much more of a distance person.

        He wonders what Ruby’s skills are then, to make Sapphire his reasonable partner in this. They arrive at the location at their designated time. A mole coming out of the back and passing the two of them blank IDs to get them through the checkpoints of the buildings. Immediately, Ruby tries to take off.

 “Woah, woah, woah, cool your jets, Ruby. We’re battle partners.” Sapphire hisses as he grabs his partner.

 “Battle partners?”

 “It means we do this at the same time and no one takes the lead.”

 “I just want this done as fast as possible.” 

 “Yeah well, there’s no timer on this mission, we take it as slow as we need to.” He lets him go and they both slip into the building as the mole disappears.

        Sapphire finds out that Ruby’s specialty involves taking people out quietly and picking old fashioned locks. While he heads the charge into the building Ruby dutifully stays behind him for once. At least until they get to the man in question. Then Ruby slides in before Sapphire can stop him. It works out in the end, he catches the guy off guard and knocks him out. 

        It results in a loud bang against the desk as the man falls on it and Sapphire winces. He’s quick to step forward, draping a burlap sack over his head and tying it off quickly. He plans on radioing in to Peridot and Emerald to find out how to get back down unnoticed when he catches Ruby opening a window. 

 “What are you doing?” He hisses.

 “Leads to the fire escape where the car’s parked.” Ruby shrugs and then drapes the man over his back fireman style. Sapphire at least gets confirmation the fire escape is safe before they go out. He shuts the window behind them and they’re quick to crawl down to the bottom. 

        They load him in the backseat and Sapphire learns of another skill of Ruby’s. He’s quick to hogtie their victim. Sapphire nods in approval and makes sure the child locks on the door are engaged before slipping into the front passenger seat. 

 “You really need to be more careful about what you’re doing on these missions. Someone could have been watching from the other buildings.” Sapphire tells him. 

 “I know what I’m doing. Especially on this side of town. Ain’t nobody saying shit here.” Ruby taps the steering wheel with an anxious finger.

 “Maybe not right away, but people will squeal if the right motivations are given.” Sapphire crosses his arms. They fall silent for a few moments, driving toward their destination.

 “...Why’d she get you?” Ruby asks him.

 “I was hired to take out Voltron’s mob boss and I agreed.” His head falls back against the headrest. “No one told me the person running it now was a woman, and I’m not a lady killer.”

 “What a weird thing to get hung up on.” Ruby hums.

 “What about you huh?” 

 “Stole a bunch of shit from Galra Security. Kinda raised all kinds of red flags.” He shrugs. “If Altea Corp didn’t find me first, no doubt I’d already been dead on the corner of Eighth Street and Ninth Ave.” Sapphire frowns and glances back at their passenger. 

 “I don’t…” He starts but hesitates. There’s nothing saying the car isn’t bugged and recording everything they’re saying or doing.

 “Hmm?”

 “I don’t want to be found again, you know?” He settles for, though Ruby gives him a confused look. 

        Their passenger wakes up and grunts before complaining in a panic about what’s going on. Sapphire sighs and reaches over to the radio, turning it on to drown him out. Ruby chuckles and sings along with it. It’s pleasant enough. Sapphire practically jumps out of his seat when his phone vibrates in his pocket and takes over the speakers.

 “Yes, Diamond?” Sapphire answers.

 “Turns out, we don’t need him anymore.”

 “Then what do we --”

 “Execute.” She says and the line goes dead. The radio comes back but Ruby turns it down. Sapphire looks to the backseat where the victim has gone quiet. 

 “Well, it’s your lucky day.” Sapphire chuckles. “Get out of torture free card.”

 “Same place?” Ruby asks him.

 “Nah, you’ll need to take a left here.”

        Sapphire guides him to the dumpsite and makes sure the coast is clear. Then he’s pulling his gloves on as he checks his handgun. 

 “Pull off right here,” Sapphire tells him and Ruby stops the car. They grab the man and haul him out of the back seat. They set him on the edge of the pier on damp concrete. Sapphire takes a deep breath as he cocks his gun.

 “Smell that?” He asks.

 “River funk?” Ruby raises a brow.

 “Didn’t always smell like that out here, huh?” Sapphire kicks his victim.  "You have something to say for yourself, mister? "

        Sapphire unties the sack around the man’s head and lets him see the world one last time. Ruby takes the sack from him and watches him intensely. 

 “Please, I’ll pay you double -- no triple!” 

 “Can’t be bought I’m afraid.” Sapphire hums. “Ruby, I need the foam from the trunk, you’ll know the one.” He waves his hand. Ruby goes to the trunk and comes back with a thin chunk of foam littered in bullet holes.

        The victim tries to struggle again and Sapphire kneels down over him. He presses the foam to the back of his head and mumbles a soft prayer.

 “God please, no.”

 “It’s just business,” Sapphire tells him and presses his gun against the foam. It’s a quick pull of the trigger and then it’s done.

        Sapphire gets up and flips the safety of his gun back on. He goes to hand them to Ruby but the guy is simply staring at him with hungry eyes.

 “Ruby?”

 “Well, thanks for the kink I guess?” 

 “...What?” Sapphire blinks.

 “I most certainly did not find guns attractive this morning. But now?” Ruby runs his hand through his hair. “I don’t even know what you did.” Sapphire is trying to catch up but shakes his head. 

 “Just take these, battle partner?” He wiggles the foam and gun at him. Ruby takes it and Sapphire is quick to untie the man and strip him down to his underwear before kicking his body into the river. He stuffs the clothes into a bag and they get in the car.

 .o0o.

        Sapphire is happy to report to Princess that Ruby did his job well, no mistakes this time had occurred. She’s impressed and makes a note of it, sending the two on their way. Lance breathes a sigh of relief as the doors to her office shut behind them. 

 “She’s not that scary.”

 “Then you’re a fool,” Lance tells him. This is usually where they part ways but Ruby reaches out to him, hand grabbing his arm. 

 “I want to tell you my name.” He says.

 “What good will it do me? I can’t give you mine for another ten months.” Lance tells him.

 “Then tell me yours in ten months.” He shrugs.

 “...Fine.”

 “Keith.” He sticks out his hand. “Something tells me princess is going to be putting us on a lot of missions together from now on.” Lance takes it and shakes his hand. 

 “Only because you can’t focus on doing your job right with the others.”

 “They’re assholes and won’t listen to me anyway.” He shrugs. 

 “Are you saying you’ll listen to me?” Lance asks. 

 “If you keep waving that gun of yours around, I will, battle partner,” Keith promises with a wink before walking down the hall to the training room. It leaves Lance feeling a bit astounded over the interaction but he shakes his head. 

        If all Keith needs to keep himself alive is Lance’s gun then he supposes he can keep Keith in his sights. 

[demon-sushi]

Right Circumstances

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month Day 6. Only One Bed

        Lance and his friends slowly file out of the stadium, following the mass crowd to the parking lot. Pidge is thirty-one shades of red and Hunk is trying his best to make sure no one bumps into them. Keith is charging the path the group walks, none wanting to cut in front of his harsh glare and grumpy demeanor. 

 “You’re just mad because your team lost,” Lance says, bumping Keith’s shoulder as they look for Hunk’s van.

 “Yeah well, you were wrong by how many points. I was right on that one.” He sticks his tongue out at Lance and crosses his arms.

 “Oh my god, will you both shut up about your dumb bet? You  both  won, okay?” Pidge growls.

 “Grouchy.” Lance rolls his eyes.

 “I’m sweaty.”

 “We’re all sweaty.” Hunk points out. “And tired. Let’s just find our hotel for the night before we kill each other? No blood in the van.”

 “Yeah, yeah, unless it’s an accident.” Pidge waves their hand.

 “Found it.” Keith grunts and heads off toward the van. 

 “You know, if Pidge is as red as a firetruck, I should be getting tanner today.” Lance points out. 

 “Fuck off with your non-sunburning genes.” Pidge glares.

 “You’re literally peeling, like, not even Keith is sunburnt.” 

 “Keith puts on sunscreen every hour.” Keith chimes in. 

 “And pees every hour.” Lance points out.

 “At least I’m not dehydrated.” He rolls his eyes and stops at the van. Pidge just shoves him aside, grabbing the side door and tugging uselessly on its handle. 

 “Hunk, I swear to god, unlock the car. Now.”

 “I’m going.” He unlocks the front passenger door, reaching back and popping the lock on the side door. Pidge slides it open and crawls to the back, laying face-first over the backseat and whining. Hunk frowns and looks at Keith and Lance. 

 “Can one of you two drive while I find the aloe in my bag?” 

 “Yeah.” They both say. 

 “Uh, I’m driving.” Lance looks at Keith who rolls his eyes.

 “Do you know where we’re going?”

 “Do  you ?”

 “Guys, please.” Hunk tilts his head back.

 “I know where the damn hotel is at.”

 “Yeah well, you’ll get us pulled over for speeding!” Lance spits back.

 “No, I won’t!”

 “LANCE IS DRIVING!” Pidge screeches from the backseat, ending the argument.

 “Whatever,” Keith mumbles, climbing into the front passenger seat. 

 “Wow, sold out by Pidge.” Lance teases. 

 “Lance, please.” Hunk whines and hands him the keys. Keith slams the door shut, not because he’s mad, but because the door only shuts that way for whatever reason. 

 “No sweat Hunk, I got this.” Lance smiles and walks around the van to drive. Hunk crawls in and slides the side door shut.

        Getting out of the parking lot is a mess and a half, but eventually, they’re on the town roads. Hunk finds the aloe with a sound of triumph. 

 “Do we stop for food?” Lance asks, glancing at the people in the back of the van.

 “Red.” Keith grunts. 

 “I mean, I’m hungry yeah,” Hunk says.

 “ Red .”

 “I just want to get to the hotel,” Pidge says. 

 “Red!”

 “That tells me nothing, you two.”

 “Lance! It’s red!” Keith shouts and Lance hits the breaks before anything can happen. Hunk and Pidge both yelp as they slide forward.

 “Sorry!” Lance apologizes.

 “Oh my god.” Keith covers his face. 

 “Hotel. My vote is on the hotel.” Pidge grunts, sitting up and buckling their seat belt, holding it away from their burnt chest.

 “Green,” Keith says.

 “Your vote Hunk?”

 “ Green. ”

 “That’s not an option Keith!” Lance looks over at him. Behind the van, a car honks and Lance looks at the light and then at Keith’s smug face before rolling his eyes and going.

.o.0.o.

        After some more bickering between Lance and Keith, which Pidge is having none of, they eventually find themselves making their way to the hotel. Pidge has tossed their phone to the front so Keith can make sure Lance can get them there. But even that leads to a few fights.

 “Left.”

 “I don’t think so.”

 “Lance, I swear to god.  Left .” 

 “Don’t be such a sourpuss.” Lance turns left regardless. 

 “Oh my god, look.” Keith gasps dramatically. “It’s our hotel, right  there .”

 “Can y’all like, stop for one minute?” Pidge groans. Keith hops out of the car when Lance pulls into the parking lot for the hotel, going to check them in. Lance looks back at his companions still in the car. Pidge is pressing their shirt to their chest while Hunk rubs the aloe onto their burnt back.

 “I’m so glad I’m rooming with Hunk.” They sigh.  Right. He’d forgotten they had won their match of rock-paper-scissors and picked Hunk as their roommate. Keith taps on the driver’s window, making Lance jump and yelp. He cranks the window down and leans out.

 “We’re on the second floor, room 205 and 206,” Keith says, pointing them out in the distance. 

 “At least we’re right by a snack machine.” Lance hums and then turns back to his friends. “Odds or evens?”

 “Even,” Hunk says before Pidge can. 

 “Cool,” He nods and looks over to Keith. “We get 205.”

 “Alright, I’ll see you over there.” He taps the car door gently and starts walking, hands tucked in his pockets.

        Lance moves the van as close as he can to the spots. Keith hands Hunk the card for room 206 when he steps out. 

 “What happened to your shirt?” Keith asks. 

 “Ah, Pidge has it now,” Hunk says. “It’s looser so, shouldn’t touch them too much.” 

 “Keith, help me carry our stuff to our room,” Lance says. 

 “I’m taking my stuff. You take yours.” Keith reaches into the back of the van and grabs his well-loved duffle bag. 

 “You are awful,” Lance whines and picks his suitcase up. Lance makes sure to pass Hunk the keys and then hauls his bag upstairs to where Keith has taken off to. 

        Keith is even tapping his foot as he waits for Lance to catch up and then he’s swiping them into the room. Lance groans when Keith pauses in the doorway.

 “Don’t just stop, keep moving.” Lance nudges him in. Keith grumbles but steps in and Lance sees what the problem had been.

        The place has one oddly green armchair, a set of dresser drawers where the tv sits, a red carpet he hasn’t seen anywhere but a theater, and of course, one bed. Because why wouldn’t there be one bed? He looks at Keith who turns to him. As if the same idea occurs to them at the exact same time, they both drop their bags and dart for the bed. 

 “Mine!” Lance shouts.

 “No, it’s mine!” Keith shoves at him. They don’t make it to the bed, wrestling on the floor instead. Keith gets him pinned down, but Lance has siblings. He gathers spit in his mouth and licks an extra wet line up Keith’s arm. 

 “Gross.” Keith recoils and it’s enough for Lance to squirm out and reach for the bed. Keith gets his legs and pulls him back down and away.

 “Oof.” The air rushes out of his lungs from the fall and he nearly bites his tongue off. He kicks his legs as Keith crawls over him trying to get the bed. Naturally, Lance twists, knocking Keith onto the floor and springing up to his feet. He jumps for it when Keith swipes at his legs again and lands on his stomach on the bed.

 “Victory!” He calls out, standing up on the bed. 

 “Not if I can help it!” Keith surges up and tries to push Lance off. 

        Lance learns that Keith is very grapply, a fact he should’ve already known from all the other times they’ve done this. In his efforts to avoid being pushed off by Lance, he’s wrapped himself around Lance’s waist and shoulders, locking his arms and legs in place. Lance tries whacking him with a pillow but it just makes him unbalanced. 

 “Ugh, you’re so  dumb .” Lance groans, a bit out of breath. 

 “I think I’m winning.” Keith hisses into his ear, and then copying Lance from earlier, licks a wet stripe along Lance’s shoulder and neck, up to his jaw and ear. Unlike Lance’s attack though, Keith doesn’t have the build-up of extra saliva so it’s more tongue than spit. Which makes him shiver. 

 “I’ll drop you,” Lance warns.

 “Bet,” Keith says. So he lets himself fall backward on the bed, landing entirely on Keith who grunts from the impact.

 “Look, just call the front desk and ask if they have a pull out for us to use.” Lance sighs and Keith finally lets go.

 “Fine. Get off me. You’re heavy.” Keith smacks Lance’s chest. 

 “Am not!  You’re  heavy.”

 “Get off.”

 “I mean, I can’t on command, man. Can you?” Lance jokes. He shoves him and gets out from under him. He goes and picks up the phone calling the front desk. While he’s doing that, Lance unpacks his toiletries and decides on a quick shower.

        He peels his sweaty shirt off and leans in close to the mirror. Oh yeah, he’s got tan lines starting to form. He kicks off his pants and underwear, cranking on the water while he plays his music off his phone. Showering is just better with jams on. 

        When he gets out, wrapped in his own towel because he doesn’t trust hotel towels, Keith is sitting on the bed, glaring at the ceiling, still on the phone.

 “Uh-huh.” He has such a flat voice, like a soda left out for two days. Lance passes in front of Keith, going through his suitcase for his pajamas. When he looks over his shoulder, he catches Keith quickly looking away.

 “I saw that,” Lance tells him.

 “Are you sure there’s nothing else you can do?” Keith ignores him and focuses back on the call. He’s silent as he listens to the office worker and Lance hopes he hasn’t given them a hard time. He pulls on his clean underwear, then wraps the towel over his head.

 “Okay, thank you… No, it’s fine… I understand… You too, good night.” Keith hangs the phone up with a sigh.

 “How’d it go?” Lance asks, pulling his pajama pants on.

 “They’re overbooked, so no pull-out beds. But they gave us a discount and free drinks.” He gestures to the mini-fridge.

 “Hunk and Pidge will like to hear that.” Lance laughs.

 “I’m just gonna shower now.” Keith gets up and rubs his temples. 

 “Want me to order food?”

 “That would be nice.” 

 “What do we get?” Lance brushes past Keith to get his phone from the bathroom. He then jumps onto the bed, laying out and scrolling through his phone.

 “I don’t even know what’s around here.” Keith leans against the wall, watching Lance. 

 “Italian?”

 “Who the  fuck delivers Italian food?” 

 “Dude, anyone with a car these days.” Lance points out. 

 “No way.”

 “Then what do  you  want?”

 “Steak.” Keith grunts.

 “Oh, and  Italian  is the crazy one.” He rolls his eyes.

 “I  really  don’t want to fight again.” Keith sighs. “Pick what you want.” He pushes himself off the wall and goes into the bathroom.

 “Ugh! Keith!” Lance doesn’t get a response, only the sound of the water turning on greets him. 

        Lance considers saying,  fuck Keith, but instead works out a compromise. He orders them Chinese food, greasy noodles for Lance, meat for Keith. It’s perfect. It also helps he simply knows  Keith’s general order and what the guy likes. Then he’s fishing out his wallet for cash. He gets a text from Hunk, letting him know the guy is hitting up a store to get Pidge more after-burn care and snacks.

 “Keith?” Lance rolls off the bed and knocks on the door. He hears the water turn off for a second.

 “What?”

 “Do you want anything from the store? Hunk’s going.”

 “An inflatable mattress.” 

 “Yeah, no. Not happening. Not at a strictly grocery store.”

 “A dog bed.”

 “Did you not hear me about  grocery  store?” Lance rolls his eyes. Keith grunts and turns the water back on. Lance huffs and texts Hunk that the two of them are fine. He lays out on the bed again and when Keith gets out of the shower, dripping wet in a hotel towel there’s a knock on the door.

 “Can you get that?” Lance looks at Keith.

 “I want you to look at me and ask that again.” Keith gestures to himself. 

 “I mean, you’ve got dripping good looks.” Lance leans forward with a smirk. 

 “You can’t seduce me to answer the door without pants,” Keith tells him and the knock on the door becomes a bit impatient. 

 “Here’s the money, plus tip.” Lance wiggles the money in front of him. 

 “Don’t you wave your money at me.”

 “Come on, Keith. The guy will leave without us getting  food .” Lance wiggles the money again. Keith rolls his eyes, takes the money, and gets the door. The delivery guy is a bit surprised to see the state Keith is in but the transaction goes smoothly enough.

 “I don’t see why you couldn’t have gotten the food,” Keith says, setting the takeout bags on the bed with Lance. He grabs his clothes from his duffle bag and puts them on, not caring if Lance gets an eyeful of him. 

        Which, Lance doesn’t! Thank you very much! He’s busy organizing the food and spreading it all out. Keith looks at the meal and he gestures for Keith to join him on the bed to eat.

 “Am I forgiven?”

 “You have given me egg drop soup. I currently forgive you for calling my team a disgrace to the game.” Keith says. 

 “There’s pork fried rice.”

 “I forgive you, for the car stuff.”

 “Crab rangoon.” 

 “Bed fight.”

 “Kung. Pao. Chicken.”

 “Fine. You drive a hard bargain.” Keith glances away. “All is forgiven.”

 “I thought so.” Lance smiles and nudges Keith’s shoulder.

        Dinner is relatively quiet, Lance making small comments here and there about the game and the trip they had on the way here. They make bets on if Hunk and Pidge will get up to no good or if the sunburn Pidge has will prevent them from having fun.

 “Knowing Hunk, he probably has them covered in vanilla extract.”

 “Sounds yummy.” Lance laughs around a rangoon.

 “How… How are we going to sleep?”

 “Hmm?” Lance tilts his head as he finishes his food. 

 “Am I being tossed onto the armchair or are we sharing the bed?” Keith asks.

 “We can share the bed. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to.” Lance shrugs. 

 “Okay, do we sleep like, head to foot?”

 “Ew no, I don’t want your smelly-ass feet near my nose all night.” 

 “I’m just asking!” Keith rolls his eyes.

 “Just sleep next to me, the way  normal people do!”

 “Okay!” Keith gets up and collects the empty food containers, tossing them into the trash. Lance hands him the ones that still have food and he puts them in the mini-fridge. 

        Lance slides himself under the covers of the bed and then watches Keith for a moment. He’s staring at the hotel door in a way that has  Lance on edge.

 “What? Do you hear something with your super hearing?” 

 “People are being rowdy in the hall.” He mentions as he grabs the armchair. “And it’s not super hearing. Pidge might think I’m part alien or something but I swear I’m not.” He pushes the chair up against the door and makes sure it’s fully locked.

 “Aliens aren’t real anyway.” Lance rolls his eyes.

 “They’re real, I’m just not one.” Keith walks back over.

 “I figured you were like, maybe partially a demon?” 

 “What pick-up line goes to that? My hellish good looks? Please, tell me it’s not that.”

 “First of all,  no. ” Lance rolls his eyes. 

 “Oh thank god.”

 “It’s ‘if kissing you were a  sin, I’d walk happily through  hell  for you’.” 

 “That’s…" Keith shakes his head. “I don’t have words, good or bad, to respond with.”

 “Get me my charger since you’re up then?” Lance points to his suitcase. Keith groans but gets it for him anyway, passing it to Lance.

 “Here.”

 “Thanks, love.” He winks.

 “Of course, darlin’.” Keith leans forward, teasing him with the slight drawl to his words. It makes Lance’s face light up red and he knows Keith has won this round. So instead of making a deeper grave, he plugs his phone in.

 “Aww, nuttin’ t’say t’me?” Keith lays it on thicker this time.

 “Other than stop butchering English like that?” Lance looks at him. Keith laughs.

 “Low hanging fruit.” He says dropping the accent for good this time. Lance is thankful. 

 “Just go to sleep.”

 “I’m not tired.”

 “Weirdo night-owl.” Lance rolls his eyes.

 “Weirdo morning-bird,” Keith responds, nabbing the tv remote and joining Lance on the bed again. “You want to see anything or are you just going to sleep?” 

 “Put on whatever.” Lance shrugs. He grabs his hairdryer and nightly skin routine from his suitcase and finishes getting himself ready for bed. He can hear Keith flicking through the channels, never staying on one for longer than a minute. 

 “Make sure you brush your teeth, stinky.” Lance nudges Keith’s shoulder as he slips back under the covers.

 “I will,  mom .” Keith finds a channel he apparently likes, leaving it as he gets up to brush his teeth.

 “Didn’t know you had an Oedipus Complex.” 

 “That implies I want to fuck you  and  call you  mommy .” Keith leans out of the bathroom and points his toothbrush at Lance. “I don’t.”

 “To which part? Fucking me or calling me  mommy ?”

 “You didn’t birth me, nor raised me. I ain’t calling you jack.” He rolls his eyes and goes fully into the bathroom. Lance snickers and then pauses as the information finishes processing.

 “Wait, you want to fuck me?” Lance gets out of the bed and goes over to the bathroom to look at Keith. He gives him a flat look as he brushes his teeth, mouth full of foam as he grunts questioningly.

 “You want to fuck me?” Lance repeats his question. Keith spits out his foam and looks back over at Lance.

 “You’re attractive enough that I’d consider it.” Keith shrugs, resuming his brushing.

 “Okay, that’s not fair to use that to not talk!” Lance points at him. 

 “Let me brush my teeth.” He says carefully around his toothbrush.

 “Ugh!” Lance stomps away from the bathroom and lays down on the bed. He glances at the tv, wondering what Keith put on and catches blood gushing out of some poor girl’s neck. He grimaces and looks away. 

        When Keith finally emerges from the bathroom Lance looks back up at him. He’s staring at the tv, leaning against the wall.

 “Aw man, they cut out one of the best murders.” He clicks his tongue. 

 “I’m surprised you can tell with the amount of -- Hey no! We were talking about something else!”  Lance shakes his head. “I won’t let you distract me with gratuitous violence.”

 “It doesn’t have to  mean  anything.” Keith looks over at him. 

 “But you think I’m attractive.”

 “Most people do.” Keith shrugs.

 “You  think I’m attractive.”

 “So?”

 “And you  want  to sex me up.”

 “Please, don’t  ever  phrase it that way again.”

 “But you do?”

 “In the right circumstances, sure. I’d be willing. And before you ask,  this,” He gestures to the space between them then the hotel itself. “This is not those circumstances. And no, I’m not about to tell you the  right  circumstances.” 

 “...Fine.” Lance pouts. Keith snorts softly, amused, and shakes his head. 

 “Called you out on it didn’t I?”

 “Psh. No.”

 “Of course not.” He rolls his eyes and looks back at the tv. Someone on it screams in a way that has Lance unsettled but he refuses to look since he knows it’ll just give him nightmare fuel. He watches Keith tap his fingers against his arms as he looks at the movie.

 “Sorry.” He ends up saying.

 “For what?”

 “If… If I just made things weird between us.” His taps get a bit more agitated.

 “Dude, Keith, don’t wigg out about it. I’d be down for a dickening with you.”

 “Why do you call it such weird shit?” He groans and pushes himself off the wall.

 “What do you call it?”

 “Fuck, sex.” He shrugs.

 “Aw, not even a ‘making love’?”

 “I’ll call it that when it actually feels like that.” He flops on the bed next to Lance.

 “So you’ve never slept with someone and it felt like love?” He asks, rolling onto his side to look at Keith.

 “No. It’s been to get off.”

 “Even with your like, boyfriends?”

 “Essentially.”

 “All work and no play.” Lance sighs. “You wanna fuck me  and  you’re boring.” 

 “I -- What?” Keith looks over at him. 

 “Sleeping with someone just to get off sounds boring.” He says, grabbing the remote and turning the volume down after another scream. 

 “I -- I’m not boring.” 

 “Are you sure?”

 “...Yes.”

 “What’s the strangest thing that turns you on?” Lance asks. 

 “I’m not having this conversation.” Keith groans and looks back at the movie, frowning when Lance turns it down farther.

 “Come on Keith, tell me.”

 “No.”

 “Please.”

 “No.”

 “Keeeeeith.”

 “No.”

 “Pleeeeease.” He starts poking Keith with the tv remote. Keith ignores him, staring very pointedly at the movie. Lance pouts and then turns the sound all the way down.

 “Lance.” Keith sighs, head falling back against the headrest.

 “Are you going to tell me?”

 “No.” He looks over at him.

 “Are you shy?” 

 “I don’t want to tell you.”

 “Is it  too  weird, like completely and socially unacceptable and illegally weird?” 

 “No, it’s not.” He says sharply.

 “Just wanted to make sure, since you weren’t telling me.”

 “Again, I don’t want to tell you.” He turns back to the movie. Naturally, Lance turns it off. Keith takes a deep breath and then looks over at Lance.

 “Fine.”

 “You’ll tell me?”

 “Sure.” Keith gets up and turns the lights off.

 “So what’s the strangest thing that gets your motor running, Keith?” Lance asks. Keith slips back into the bed after a moment of blindly waving his arms around.

 “The strangest thing,” He looks over to Lance. “Is you. Now go to sleep.” Keith rolls onto his side. Lance feels both offended and gooey at the same time, a glob of oobleck. 

 “What happened to not being tired?”

 “You hijacked my entertainment.” 

 “So if I’m the strangest thing you’re into which, rude backhanded compliment, what’s the most basic thing you’re into?”

 “Good night, Lance.”

 “I’m serious!”

 “Ugh, biting. Can we please go to sleep?”

 “Biting? Huh. Like you biting or someone biting you? There’s a big difference.”

 “You’re not going to go to sleep any time soon are you?”

 “Answer the question, Keith!”

 “I don’t see you answering these questions.”

 “You haven’t asked.” Lance points out.

 “Because I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

 “Then when?” Lance gasps. “During one of those  right  circumstances?”

 “Yeah, maybe.” Keith sighs.

 “Wouldn’t it be better to know beforehand though?”

 “No.”

 “See, boring.” Lance pokes his shoulder.

 “Fine. How about this, I tell you something that I find so  incredibly  hot and we stop talking about this?”

 “Deal.” Lance sticks his hand out and Keith takes and shakes it after rolling over to face Lance.

 “Alright.” He then pushes himself up and straddles Lance’s waist. He gulps and stares up at Keith’s face in the darkness. Keith takes his wrists and pins them in place above his head and he leans in close.

 “You really want to know what turns me on? More than anything?” He asks.

 “Yeah.” Lance’s voice cracks nervously on the word. Keith chuckles, Lance can practically feel the rumble of it in his chest, especially as he leans down. His breath ghosts against Lance’s ear and it makes him shiver under Keith and he’s made aware of how encompassing he is right now.

 “What gets me so  good?” He croons into Lance’s ear, nearly moaning.

 “Yeah?” Lance tries to focus on getting an answer rather than the very slight rock of Keith’s hips against his.

 “You.”

 “Me?” Lance repeats.

 “Asleep,” Keith says and then he’s immediately off of Lance, laying down on his side next to him. It takes him far too long to fully come to terms with what just happened, and when he does you bet he’s got a wisecrack for it.

 “Somniphilla. Got it.” He smirks.

 “That’s it, I’m smothering you with the pillow.” Keith threatens.

 “Smother me, Keith.”

 “I’m sleeping with Hunk and Pidge.” 

 “Ooo, a threesome.”

 “...I’m sleeping in the van.” Keith amends. 

 “By why the cold van when you have  me  up here?” Lance laughs. Keith sighs.

 “This is going to be a long night isn’t it?” He groans.

 “Maybe.” Lance finds himself scooting close to Keith regardless, wrapping his arm around his waist and pressing his face to Keith’s shoulder. His hand comes down and hesitantly threads his fingers with Lance’s.

 “Just go to sleep.” He says. 

 “Will you talk with me in the morning?” Lance asks.

 “Of course.” Keith tilts his head back and it nudges against him.

 “Promise?”

 “I promise.” It’s the softest thing Keith’s said this whole trip and it gives Lance a warm feeling in his gut and chest. 

 “Good night, Keith.”

 “Good night, Lance.”

.o.0.o.

 “Did they mess your room up too?” Hunk asks, guiding a still burnt but recovering Pidge into the van.

 “Mess it up how?” Lance asks.

 “I booked one room with a one-bed, one with two beds.” Pidge rubs their tired eyes and crawls into the back of the van with Keith who has gone back to sleep. He looks almost adorable with his bed head and drool.

 “Wait, Keith and I were supposed to have separate beds?” He looks at Hunk and Pidge.

 “...You had one?” Hunk asks.

“Yeah.”

 “Why did the office lady say you had two then?” He mumbles.

 “We did call to see if they could send up a pull out bed?” Lance offers.

 “Sounds convenient.” Pidge grunts.

 “...How about we don’t mention it to sleeping beauty back there?” Lance looks at Pidge. They glance between the two.

 “I won’t even ask.”

[demon-sushi]

Certified Cuddler

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month day 19, Hurt/Comfort

        Keith is awake before Lance’s alarm goes off. He didn’t plan on it, not by a long shot, but here he is. He’s rolling out of bed a solid hour before Lance is supposed to wake up. It’s fine though. He checks on his dog and makes sure he’s got food and water before stepping back inside. Keith rolls his shoulders as he stares at the stove. 

 “Breakfast. I can make breakfast.” He gets out some bacon and eggs, grabs the toaster, and a packet of oatmeal. He sets it all down on the counter, makes a quick detour to the living room to grab one of his hair ties off the coffee table, and pull his hair back.

        He goes back to the fridge and pulls the milk and butter out, setting them with the other ingredients and digging in the cupboard for peanut butter. He nods at his handiwork and gets started. He cracks a couple of eggs into a hot pan, puts the bacon down on the griddle for the stove, and he pops two slices of bread into the toaster. Keith puts a lid over the eggs and bacon to keep them warm while he places a cup of milk into the microwave. 

        He pours the oatmeal into a small bowl, and when the milk is done, he pours it over the dry oats, mixing them up. The toaster pops and he butters both of them, but one slice he slaps some peanut butter on top. He sets the peanut buttered one on a plate, putting some of the eggs and bacon on it and setting the plate with the finished oatmeal. Keith nibbles on the buttered slice of toast while he cleans up.

        Lance comes out not long after and kisses Keith’s shoulder when he sees the breakfast. He sits at the kitchen’s island with his food and Keith is more than happy to bring him a glass of OJ and presses a kiss to his forehead.

 “Aww thanks, babe.” Lance chuckles. “Didn’t know you’d do this for me.”

 “You would if it was me.” Keith points out as he gets his own plate of eggs and bacon. He sits down beside his boyfriend and they eat quietly. Keith glances over at Lance and watches his leg bouncing furiously. 

 “You’re going to be fine.” 

 “I don’t know.”

 “Lance, you studied for the past six months for this exam. You’re gonna do great.” 

 “Yeah.” Lance nods, though he doesn’t seem to agree just yet.

 “You got this,” Keith tells him and takes their empty plates to the sink. 

        Lance gets dressed, packs his stuff up, and triple checks he has everything he needs. He pulls the address up on his phone and looks over the route for what’s the fifth time this week. Keith kisses his cheek, his forehead, and his lips.

 “Good luck on your certification exam.” He whispers.

 “I got this.” Lance nods, sounding a bit more like he believes in himself.

 “You got this.” Keith agrees. He watches Lance get in his car and drive away. 

        Keith turns the volume for his phone on high. He sets it on the table next to him as he studies the blueprints in front of him. He shakes his head and corrects his mistakes and recalculates the building cost over for his model. He ends up deeming it a catastrophic failure and pulls it off his drafting table. 

 “Repurpose.” He mumbles, tucking it into one of his large folios with other scrapped ideas. He checks his phone for alerts. He’s got one from Pidge but it can wait. If they needed him badly they’d ping him relentlessly across all his platforms until he responded.

        He finally relaxes when he gets the message from Lance that lets him know he’s made it to the place in one piece. Keith sends him another good luck message. He grabs a new sheet of paper and pins it to his table. He loses himself in drafting a new project, designing the layout, researching the materials, and budgeting it all out.

        Keith remembers to eat little snacks here and there, even a half-assed lunch while he works. Eventually, though he gets a ping on his phone. Lance is on his way home and Keith makes sure the house is still in good order.

        Lance comes in, a shell-shocked look on his face and he sits heavily on the couch. Keith sits next to him, hand resting on his leg. Lance just stares dead ahead and says nothing.

 “Love?” Keith prompts. “Are you okay?”

 “No.”  

 “What happened?” He asks.

 “God.” Lance covers his face.

 “Did someone die? Did your phone go off? Bring a number three pencil?” 

 “I just… Fuck Keith. It’s like I studied for algebra and was given a test on quantum physics!” He runs his hand through his hair. “It was like a huge joke. No one else looked confused.”

 “Hey, relax. Do you know your score?”

 “No, but I bet I failed.”

 “How do you know?”

 “I just know I did.” He drags his hand down his face as he stares at the wall ahead of him. Keith knows this look, he’s been with Lance for three years now and has seen it plenty of times. It’s his ‘I’m going to be depressed for a week or more’ face. Only early intervention can reduce how long it’s for.

 “Hey, how about you go take a bath or a shower and get the funk off?” Keith suggests. 

 “Yeah. That sounds nice.” He sighs and gets up. Keith follows right behind him, making sure he gets to the bathroom. 

Lance pulls off his clothes while Keith runs the water, waiting for it to be what his boyfriend deems suitable.

 “Shower or bath?” Keith asks.

 “Bath.” Lance grunts. He nods, flipping the lever and letting the water fill the tub. He dries his hand off and pulls out one of the plastic containers from under the sink. He brings it over to Lance and pops it open. Lance glances over it and plucks one of the bath bombs out of it and Keith nods, closing the container and setting it back in place. 

        He turns off the water and gets out the second container under the sink, taking the lid off and balancing it on his hip. Lance shuffles over, finally naked and steps in. He holds the bath bomb in his hands under the water and Keith watches as it changes colors. He then sets the second container on the edge of the tub, carefully balancing it out.

        He steps out, grabs a portable speaker, and Lance’s phone. He sets the speaker on the bathroom sink, tapping in Lance’s code and scrolling through his music until he finds the appropriate playlist. He hits play and Lance slides further into the water.

 “I’ll check on you in twenty, okay?” Keith sets Lance’s phone aside. He nods his head in response and Keith leans down to press a kiss to his forehead.

        When he steps out of the bathroom, he sets a timer on his phone for nineteen minutes and then moves to the living room. He grabs one end of the couch and swings it around, opening up the floor for use. He grabs a few blankets from the hall closet, nabs the pillows from the guest bedroom, and tosses them on the floor. He arranges a simple pillow fort and then he digs around in the guest closet. 

        He pulls out an ancient VCR from when he was a kid, blowing the dust off it and hauling it to the living room. Plugging it into the TV is simple enough and he’s never been more thankful for his distrust in those smart TVs that no longer have the ports he needs. It’s another trip to the guest's closet to find his box of old tapes which he pulls out and sets next to the player.

        He checks on Lance when his timer goes off. Lance’s eyes are closed and he’s got a mask on his face. Keith leans against the doorframe and smiles fondly at the sight. 

 “How you holding up?” He asks.

 “Good.” Lance sighs softly.

 “I’m gonna order something to eat, anything you want in particular?”

 “...Greasy,” He pauses. “And crunch.”

 “Alright, I’ll be back after I order,” Keith tells him and steps back out. He grabs the menu from one of their local places that Lance loves and calls it in. When he goes to the bathroom Lance is peeling the mask off his face.

        He sits on the floor next to Lance, watching as he slowly works through the plastic container’s contents. Keith kisses his cheek when he gets back up. 

 “I’m going to go pick it up, I’ll be right back.” 

 “Okay.” Lance hums, rubbing a sweet-smelling lotion along his legs.

        Keith makes his trip as fast as legally possible and sets the takeout boxes on the counter. He peeks into the bedroom and finds Lance face-first and butt naked on their bed. He shakes his head and steps in. A check in the bathroom shows he’d drained and rinsed the tub out. 

 “I’m back.” He announces and pats Lance’s hip and thighs. “Come on, get up. Food isn’t allowed in here.” 

 “Ugh.” Lance looks up at him and pouts. 

 “Nope, we promised we wouldn’t after the ants remember?”

 “I know.” He sighs and pushes himself up. Keith is moving before he does, picking up a soft bathrobe from where it hangs in the closet and wrapping it around Lance. He takes his boyfriend by the hand and guides him out to the living room. 

        Lance gasps softly when he sees the pillow fort, immediately crawling into it. Keith brings him the food and dishes out some onto smaller plates the two eat off of. Maybe it’s more dishes for him to do later, but he knows Lance will appreciate it more than eating the whole carton.

 “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I think you’re giving yourself a hard time,” Keith says, nibbling on pork fried rice.

 “I’m telling you I hella failed that test.” 

 “And I think you should give yourself more credit. You have a brilliant mind and you know how to use it.”

 “If you think so.” Lance sighs.

 “I know so. I’ve never seen someone work as hard as you do and get so much done. I think it’s admirable that you’re going for your dream job regardless of how difficult everyone thinks it will be.”

 “I most definitely failed though.” 

 “And if you did? How many more shots do you get at it?”

 “...Two.” Lance admits.

 “Okay, you’ve already seen it once. If you really did fail, then you already know what the test is going to look like and what you need to study more of, right?” Keith nudges him.

 “Yeah. I just… I wanted to get it on the first try.” Lance chuckles.

 “Do I need to remind you how  I  didn’t even get my license the first try?”

 “Took you, what, three times I think you said?”

 “Exactly. And now I’m where I want to be.” He holds his arms out, careful of the pork he has pinched between his chopsticks. “You will be too, I  know  it.”

 “Yeah, huh?” Lance smiles fondly at him.

 “Definitely.” He gets up and packs away the leftovers and nudges the tape box over to Lance. 

 “Ooo, from the vault itself.” He chuckles. “Oh my god, I forget you have the OG Little Mermaid box. The penis always gets me.”

 “I only have it cause my dad was a sucker for them.”

 “Dicks?”

 “No!” Keith laughs and he’s glad to see a warm smile on Lance’s face. “Pick one already.” He gets them a drink from the fridge and sits with Lance. 

        He holds Lance through Treasure Planet and the Little Mermaid. 

 “Hey, thanks for all this, hun,” Lance tells him. “I know I get weird when I get in a funk.”

 “If nothing else, I’ve learned that as long as you keep moving you’re going to come out alright. It’s  me  who gets weird.”

 “Oh my god, yeah. I’ll find you glaring at your fucking ruler like it’s drowned your goldfish and then lit your house on fire while maxing out your credit cards.”

 “That’s… very specific?” Keith snickers.

 “Well, it’s true! And then I can’t touch you for at  least an hour before you’re okay again.”

 “I just don’t want you to be what I’m glaring at next,” Keith admits, holding Lance a little tighter.

 “I know, I know.” He pecks his cheek. “Just like I know that I should  probably  wait for my results to come in before I freak out over them.” He rests his head on Keith’s shoulder.

 “When do they come in?”

 “Two weeks from now.”

 “Guess it’s a good thing we have plenty of VHS tapes then.” 

[demon-sushi]

Percussion

@monthlyklance​‘s Klance Trope Month, day 14 Jock x Punk

        Keith first sees Lance in the middle of a game. He’d been pulled off the field to swap a fresh player in. He had been catching his breath and glanced over at the band kids. And that’s when he saw him. Lance stood on the railing of the bleachers, leaned over it to talk to Hunk and Pidge, and the breath Keith had caught left him right after he’d thrown his head back and laughed. 

        After that game, Lance was no longer near the band, gone. 

        The first time he learns the guy’s name, it’s during practice. He recalls Pidge screeched at the top of their lungs a loud:

 “Lance McClain, you’re a dead man!” And then he saw Lance book it across the field something clutched in his hand.

        Now, Lance isn’t a bad guy. He’s a bit loud, a bit boisterous, but he has a good heart. He had looked fairly average back then. His laugh always catches Keith’s attention and holds it, making him wish he knew the joke too. He simply watches him interact with Hunk and Pidge while they practice on the field, lazily leaning against the railing for the bleachers.

        But somewhere between games two and three, Lance changes. He shaves the sides of his hair and lets the rest grow out, dying it a striking neon green. His clothes gain more rips and tears, brought back together with bright colored thread or safety pins. His jacket gains more and more spikes, buttons, and patches. He watches as the bottom set of his double ear piercings get filled with a gauge, dark eyeliner carefully smudged over his eyes.

        It’s a  look. And Keith is horribly distracted by it. It’s no longer just Lance’s laugh that gets him, it’s the glint of the sun off those spiked shoulders or wrists. It’s seeing as Lance slowly replaces one color in his hair with another, bright green swallowed by blinding blue. It’s him helping carry Pidge’s tuba to Hunk’s car after a hot day of practice and catching him leaning against the chain-link fence with a smirk.

        He knew he was fucked when he caught Lance’s tongue curl around a sucker, pulling it into his mouth behind his teeth, making his head get woozy. He didn’t realize how fucked he was until he fumbled in game five, having frozen with the ball tucked in his arm because he heard Lance shout his name.  His name. No one else’s. And then he was tackled. 

        After that game, he had managed to walk over to the band busy packing up. Lance was still there, leaning against the railing of the bleachers, back to the field. Keith jumped over the small fence separating spectators from the athletes and walked to the space below him.

 “McClain, right?” He had called out. Lance turned around and looked down at him.

 “Yeah?”

 “I…” He hadn’t planned what he was going to tell him. “I like your jacket.” He settled for.

 “Thanks! It was my dad’s. I just gave it a touch of Lance.” He smirked and Keith waved his helmet in Lance’s direction.

 “Looks cool.” He said and winced. He was saved when the coach called for him and he awkwardly left.

        He wouldn’t speak to Lance again until the start of the sixth game. He was in his varsity jacket, right arm in a sling, and walked over to him. Lance hissed at the sight of him.

 “Dude, what happened to you?”

 “Sprained wrist, took a nasty fall during practice.”

 “You out for the season?”

 “Nah, just this game and the next probably. It wasn’t too bad.” But Keith had to watch his team fail miserably without his help on offense. He is the best wide-receiver after all.

 “Well, I hope you get back in there, otherwise the band won’t have any team to play for.” Lance laughed and patted Keith’s shoulder. He pushed himself off the railing, walked off the bleachers, and left Keith standing there.

        His doctor advised him against playing the seventh game and his coach took it seriously, having him sit it out as well. He cheered for his teammates from the bleachers and after the game, he hovered over by the band for Hunk and Pidge. Lance chatted with them and he wasn’t able to convince himself to go thank his friends for their time as he often would. But he wasn’t able to run away before Hunk was able to grab him and invite him to their traditional post-game hangout.

        Dinner at Sal’s Pizzas could have been more awkward. Pidge and Hunk managed to make sure Keith was never left out of their conversations with Lance and vice-versa. In the end, Keith paused on his way to his car.

 “McClain?”

 “Yeah?” Lance turned around.

 “I like your hair.”

 “Thanks! Grew it myself.” He laughed, climbing into Hunk’s car

        Game eight he was back on the field. He was still distracted by Lance. His team had come to the conclusion as well. 

 “At least win for him.” James rolled his eyes during a huddle, out of breath.

 “It’s not --”

 “Sure it’s not.”

        The team won, but barely. 

        Practice leading to game nine, his team was now using it to tease him. They’d joke that Lance would be in the stands when he wouldn’t be. Tell him that he needed to up his game if he wanted Lance to be impressed. Things of that nature.

        And now, game nine, he finds himself looking in the stands before they’re called to the field, for Lance. He almost misses their cue, but he’s jostled by the other players and runs out on the field with them. He doesn’t see Lance. Coach has him in the game for the first quarter and then sits him out for the second. He takes off his helmet, shakes his head, and grimaces at the sweat.

 “Hey, Kogane!” He hears from the stands behind him. He jumps and turns around. Lance is standing there, leaning against the fence between him and the track, sucker in his mouth and a dangerous smirk on his face.

 “Yeah?”

 “Better win this game man, I think the band is getting tired.” He jerks his thumb over to where the band is seated. He gets up and walks over to Lance.

 “There’s only so much I can do.” He shrugs as he leans on the fence as well, arms crossed and helmet dangling between his fingers from the faceguard.

 “Better do something then.” Lance chuckles. He can feel the eyes of his fellow teammates on the bench watching them. 

 “Can I ask you something?”

 “What’s up?”

 “Kogane! You’re in!” He hears Coach calling for him.

 “Will you go out with me?” He asks in a rush.

 “I barely know you.” Lance points out.

 “That’s the point isn’t it?” 

 “Kogane!”

 “Your coach is calling you.” He gestures with a wave of his hand.

 “I know. But will you?”

 “...Win the game, then we’ll talk.” Lance tells him.

 “I  will  bench you, Kogane!”

 “Okay,” He pulls on his helmet and starts to walk away, eyes on Lance. “After we win!”

        He rushes out to the field and gets back in it. He can pick Lance’s voice out of the crowd cheering, specifically for him. Only this time he doesn’t let it trip him up. He doesn’t swap out after the third quarter, and the game is still evenly matched. Perhaps it’s fate, or sheer determination, or maybe just because he feels a bit luckier, but he scores the winning goal.

        He doesn’t celebrate with his team for long, pulling his helmet off and running over to the band where he can already see Lance standing with. He perks up when he sees him.

 “Congrats, man. Didn’t actually think you’d do it.” Lance chuckles.

 “So, will you?” He asks again.

 “What’s going on?” Pidge looks just as sweaty as he is, tuba still wrapped around them.

 “He’s asking me out,” Lance tells them.

 “Finally!” Hunk groans as he carefully packs up his flute.

 “Wh-What’s that supposed to mean?” Keith looks over at his friends, betrayed.

 “Nothing, please, continue like we’re not here.” Pidge waves him off and they follow Hunk to the band room.

 “Um.” Keith looks back and sees his team is waiting for him, all eagerly watching from the endzone. 

 “So, a date?” Lance asks.

 “With you.” Keith nods.

 “I’d assume so, you  did  ask me.” He snickers and when he licks his lips Keith sees a flash of silver on his tongue that he didn’t know of before. “You know, you’re lucky you’re cute.”

 “Am I?” He raises a brow.

 “Yeah.”

 “So…?” Keith asks and watches as Lance pulls a sharpie from his pocket, passing it to Keith with his hand.

 “Give me your number?” 

 “Yeah.” He drops his helmet to the ground in his haste but doesn’t worry about it. He simply writes down his cell number on the back of Lance’s hand and hands him the sharpie.

 “I’ll text you and let you know when I’m free this weekend?” He looks at the number then to Keith.

 “Yeah.” He nods.

 “Cool.” He smiles, holding his hand close to him.

 “So...it’s a yes then?”

 “Oh my god,” He laughs and Keith smiles. “Of course it’s a yes!” Lance shoves at his shoulders.

 “Just wanted to make sure.”

 “Fair. Now go, you’re all sweaty and smelly.” Lance shoos him. Keith scoops up his helmet and waves it at Lance jogging back over to his team. They whoop and holler loudly when they realize that he’d said yes. 

        And when he helps his team win the end of the season they practically congratulate Lance for getting Keith to focus, and Keith finds Lance looks just as distracting in his varsity jacket as he does in his spikes. 

[demon-sushi]

Eight Days a Week

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month, Day 17. Stranded Together

        Lance digs through the supplies on their downed Altean pod while Keith does fuck knows what. He has no desire to wander amongst the trees that are too perfectly lined up with one another. He makes sure their distress beacon is still on, counts the limited rations on board, and slumps against the cool metal as he plays with a piece of tech he’d found. 

        It has a flat bottom, allowing it to stand, but the rest of it is curved. It’s silver but the dome itself is a light blue color. He can’t tell what it does off the back of his hand and there are only five buttons so it’s obviously limited. Four of the buttons blend in with the base easily, and tapping them does nothing. The fifth button sticks out a bit from the base and is a soft baby pink. When he taps it the dome lights up and he jolts. 

 “What the fuck?” He whispers as he examines it further. The other four buttons seem to be disabled now that the pink one is pushed in. He clicks the pink one again and the other four buttons click softly as the dome turns off.

 “Seriously?” He presses one of them and the device hums before stopping with a soft beep. He presses the one next to that and gets the same response. The third button does nothing. The fourth button lights the dome back up and a projection pops out of the top. It’s his face, then his voice murmuring before it’s moved around and clicks off.

 “Space voice recorder.” Lance grins. He figures out what button reverses, which one fast-forwards, the stop, the play, and finally the pink record button. He nods to himself deciding to leave his little blunder in, mainly because he doesn’t know the effects of recording over things on this gizmo. He takes a deep breath and hits record.

 |☉➖☉|

 “Hey there, I’m Lance. I found this neat little thing on an Altean pod that’s like super old. I’m surprised it works if I’m being honest. Keith and I are on Foursyir. I have no idea what’s on this planet, what’s friendly, and what wants to kill me.” He sighs, head falling back.

 “We wouldn’t be in this mess if Keith had just listened to me really. I told him that we needed to avoid the giant fucking rock floating around this planet, but nooo. He wanted to fly in between the two. Do you know what happened when he did that?” He leans closer to the machine.

 “It fucked with the ship's navigation system, it’s power system, and everything else useful!” He sighs and leans back.

 “At least he didn’t kill us with the crash landing. But hey, at least I have this thing. That way when I get eaten by alien predators at least there will be something left of me. Sounds like some horror movie bs.” He laughs and falls silent.

 “Keith should be heading back soon. So until next time.” He winks at the camera and clicks the pink button.

☽*☆*☾

        Lance tries hailing the castle for the fifteenth time today. Keith steps into the cockpit and rolls his eyes. He drops a net that he’d been carrying over his shoulder onto the floor. Lance squints at it, nose wrinkling at the smell it’s brought in.

 “What is that?” He asks.

 “Food.”

 “You found food?”

 “I found an animal, therefore, we have food.” Keith shrugs.

 “Do you even know if it’s safe to eat?” Lance puts his hands on his hips.

 “The scanner Hunk and Pidge modified says yes.”

 “Well do you have to bring it in here? It smells like  ass .”

 “I can’t leave it outside and risk it drawing scavengers.” Keith rolls his eyes.

 “Just turn  them  into food.” Lance crosses his arms. 

 “There’s a river not far from here, I’m gonna check it out and see if it’s potable and if there’s fish out there.”

 “You’re gonna leave me with the smelly carcass?” Lance gestures to the net on the ground.

 “You can always come with.” Keith starts making his way off the ship.

 “I’m not going  out there.”

 “Then you stay with the smelly carcass.” Keith shrugs and hops out. 

 “Ugh!” Lance grabs the net and tries to lift it. He’s no small fry, but damn this thing is heavy. He grunts and ends up half dragging it to the cargo hold of the pod and glares at it.

 “Fuck Keith and his stupid half-alien strength,” Lance grumbles going back to the cockpit and finding his little gizmo. He sits in the pilot chair and hits record.

 |☉➖☉|

 “It’s day two. Keith says the trees go out for more than a hundred yards around us. That’s more than like a soccer field or football field! And the trees are all in straight lines, that’s so fucking weird isn’t it?” He sighs. 

 “But Keith doesn’t seem to think so. He just says it’s an alien thing. I get that he lived in the middle of the desert and probably doesn’t know how trees work, but trees aren’t naturally in perfect rows. They just aren’t!” He glares over his shoulder.

 “He also brought in some creature he ganked and it smells worse than Pidge does post-chili lunch day. I had to be in the sim-craft with them! For months I thought it was Hunk!” He laughs and faces the camera again. 

 “The guy cleared his name because he refuses to actually eat Garrison’s chili. He ate it once and said it was god-awful.” His smile fades a bit. 

 “I hope the castle finds us soon. I really do.” He gets up and takes the recorder with him. 

 “Let’s take a peek at what I’m dealing with, yeah?” He asks as he makes his way out. He turns himself around, showing off the world they’d landed on.

 “Look at these trees! Massive things. Bet they’re taller than the Lions. Maybe taller than Voltron itself. And they’re blue? It’s so weird. Plus the ground is like, purple?” He stops spinning.

 “At least with the straight lines of trees, I can see things in the distance. But there’s nothing to see. No major buildings or landmarks.” He heads back into the pod.

 “And if I can see to the horizon, something else can see me. This is the only safe place.” He taps the side of the pod.

 “Keith wants to be a fucking madman and go spelunking in the river he found and get eaten by a river monster then so be it!” He huffs and plops down in the pilot’s chair. He frowns and sighs.

 “But not really. I don’t want him dead. It’d be worse to be alone.”

 |☉➖☉|

 “Day three. Keith brought back river water yesterday and now it’s covered in bugs. I don’t want to drink it at all but he’s all like,” He furrows his brows and mimics Keith’s voice. “It’s no worse than those seeds you put in your drinks. At least it has protein.” He huffs.

 “And I’m all like Chia seeds have protein you dingus! Also, I haven’t done that since we left home, so how does he know about it, huh?” He glares at the camera. 

 “Right now he’s out trying to climb a tree or something and I told him not to. If he falls and gets hurt, I don’t know how to help him. But as usual, he just does what he wants.” He jumps when he hears a sound outside.

 “I think Keith’s back. I really hope that was Keith.” He clicks the camera off.

 ☽*☆*☾

        It is, in fact, Keith. He’s throwing rocks down on the ground in a small circle. Lance hops out of the pod and watches him. Then he’s kneeling and arranging sticks he’d apparently gathered from the trees.

 “Dude, what are you doing?”

 “What’s it look like?” Keith looks up at him. “I’m building a fire.”

 “Why?”

 “So I can boil the water and cook us food.”

 “Sorry I didn’t want to eat raw meat.” Lance crosses his arms. 

 “The scanner said it was fine.” Keith grunts.

 “Yeah, you know what else is fine? Chicken! But only when cooked! Raw chicken is very not good.” Lance walks over to Keith. “How are you going to start the fire anyway?”

 “Honestly? I was going to ask you to set your blaster to its lowest setting and just shoot it.” Keith looks back at his handiwork and arranges some of the other branches he’d brought into a tent shape.

 “Yeah, no, not happening. That’s just gonna put a hole in the ground.” Lance says. 

 “Figured.” Keith nods.

 “Then what are you going to do now?”

 “Well, I found a decent rock and I have my blades.” Keith goes back to his pile and picks up a shimmering green stone. 

 “I’m scared.” Lance watches him go back to the fire pit he’d made. He pulls his Marmora blade out, striking it against the stone, and Lance gasps when it makes a bright spark. Keith smirks up at him, doing it a few more times before it catches onto the tinder he’d made. He gently blows on the embers, bringing the fire to life.

 “I… I’ve only seen that in like, movies, I didn’t think that’d actually work,” Lance says. 

 “I was bored alone in the desert. Grabbed a lot of survival books and read them.” Keith tells him. He carefully makes two spokes and places them on the sides of the fire and then dangles the metal container full of the river water over it. 

 “How long do we have to wait?” Lance asks.

        In four minutes, he’s sipping hesitantly on the water as Keith cooks a chunk of meat over the fire. He’s noticed the smoke from the fire smells a little strange, even bringing it up to Keith who grunted and shrugged it off, citing alien plants.

        In about ten minutes, he can’t tell really, he’s busy giggling at everything against Keith’s side as they try to eat the meat. Keith has a pretty laugh even though he tries to smother it with his hand. Lance thinks he’s just handsome. Pretty laugh, pretty eyes, pretty smile. He’s got a jawline that makes him a little weak, strong shoulders and arms that he can’t stop staring at, and a body he wants to run his hands over. He thinks he might be attracted to Keith and doesn’t know why he’s never acted on it before. 

 “Keith, fuck,” He snickers. “I think something was wrong with your firewood.” 

 “God, yeah I think so too.” Keith looks over at him. Lance sees his eyes do something wild. 

 “Your eyes.” Lance unsticks his tongue from the roof of his mouth.

 “Huh?”

 “They’re beautiful.” His hand cups Keith’s jaw to hold him steady as he looks into them. They’re different than normal, he knows this but doesn’t know how to really explain it. They’re almost a glowing gold, pupils blown wide open and reflecting back light in a way that should be eerie. It’s somehow the most comfortable thing he’s seen today.

 “They’re like,” Lance waves his hand around, trying to convey this all to him. 

 “Yeah.” Keith nods. “I get you. Yours are like,” He makes a sound. It starts a new giggle fit from them both and Lance tucks his head into Keith’s neck.

 “God.” Lance sighs.

 “Shiro is gonna kill us when he finds out we accidentally did space weed,” Keith says.

 “Space weed, space daddio.”

 |☉➖☉|

 “Day four. I’m mad at Keith. We both slept outside because his stupid fire got us high off our rockers.” Lance rubs his face and grimaces. 

 “I  need a shower. I’m greasy and my skin hates it. Also, Keith got tree sap in his hair and I haven’t told him yet. I had this like… revelation last night, though it slips my mind, and I have a feeling if I tell him about the sap he’d cut his hair.” Lance rests his head back against the ship.

 “I think I might die if he does that? I don’t know why. Fuck.  Now is not the time to be having this crisis.” Lance runs his hand through his hair. 

 “Keith’s now been trying to find alternatives to food we can eat without cooking. Otherwise, we might be kinda screwed? Because of  course,  our Paladin armor considers the smoke to be safe enough to breathe.” He sighs.

 “I think Keith’s coming back from the river now. Catch ya’ later.”

 ☽*☆*☾

        Keith convinces him to go out into the trees today. Lance agrees but is still not fully comfortable with the idea of leaving the ship behind. He follows Keith’s lead, staring at the tree sap still stuck in his hair and frowning. 

 “Keith?”

 “Hmm?”

 “You uh…” He pauses, and Keith turns to face him. 

 “Yes?”

 “You’ve got something in your hair.” He admits.

 “I do?” Keith’s hand runs through his bangs. Lance reaches out and tugs at the strands near the back of his head that have the sap. He was not expecting the soft sound that Keith made, but apparently, neither was he. His face turns bright red and he coughs, looking away.

 “You…”

 “So back here?” Keith’s fingers find it. 

 “Yeah.” Lance shakes his head. Keith tries to force the strands apart but the sap is like concrete, unwilling to budge. 

 “Fuck.” He sighs and leaves it. “I’ll deal with it later.” 

 “Are you sure?”

 “Unless you want to cut it. And I’d rather we be in the pod for that. Wouldn’t want to be tracked because my hair is here.”

 “I… I could try.” 

 “Cool. Now see this tree?”

 ☽*☆*☾

        He does cut Keith’s hair after they successfully get a few fruits from the tree they’d found. Keith passes him the Marmora knife and sits stiffly.

 “You okay?” Lance asks, hair in one hand knife in the other. Keith is breathing very slow measured breaths and Lance is worried.

 “It’s just weird shit, cut it already.” 

 “How short?”

 “I don’t know.”

 “Keith?” He watches him tap his thigh anxiously. 

 “You have the sharpest knife I own and you're at my back.” Keith finally says. “I  know  you’re not going to hurt me, but some part of me is just going haywire about it okay?”

 “Do you want me to  not cut it?”

 “Just do it.”

 “How much?”

 “All of it, I don’t care.” Keith hisses. 

        With a frown, he cuts out the sticky sap with Keith’s blade. It slices through his hair like butter and he totally gets Keith’s paranoia about it. He carefully cuts the rest of his hair to match, moving in front of him and taking a bit off the sides and bangs. Keith relaxes when he stands in front of him and relaxes further when Lance passes him back his knife. 

        He runs his hand through what remains of it, it’s a bit longer than his maybe more like Hunk’s but overall the look is very different. Lance can feel his chest tighten as he stares at Keith.

 “Look at that, you have a face under all that hair.” 

 “It’s weird.” He hums and looks up at Lance. 

 “At least it’ll grow back out, right?” 

 “Yeah.” Keith gets up and frowns at the pile of hair around him. “So glad we’re in the pod.”

 “I bet.” Lance’s eyes trail along him. 

 “I’m… gonna go check the traps in the river. I’ll be back,” Keith says as he quickly leaves. 

        Lance grabs his recorder. 

 |☉➖☉|

 “Day five. We found fruit and it tastes bomb as hell. Also, Keith cut his hair. Or well,  I  cut his hair. And I think he was either really scared about it or got turned on by it and I surprisingly don’t know which I’d prefer.” Lance starts, setting the camera down and sweeping the black hair into a pile to collect them. 

 “I think… I think I might like him? My sisters always said that if you liked someone, even after they get a whack ass haircut, it’s true love. And like,” He pauses and looks at the camera. “I still think he’s kinda attractive? Um. Anyway. Not thinking about that.” He shakes his head. 

 “We talked about stuff last night. I talked to him about the last time my family and I went out on vacation. It was so much fun. And it made Keith smile and laugh and  god  I miss them so much.” He covers his face with his hand for a moment, at least until he’s sure he’s not going to cry. 

 “Then Keith was telling me about his dad and how one time they were at a beach and built this sandcastle right? He said his dad was like a pro at it, made it so detailed and such. But then the tide came in and took it all away and he’d been so heartbroken, the way kids are.” Lance shakes his head.

 “His dad told him not to be, that the point was to build something together more so than the finished thing.” Lance smiles. “He doesn’t usually talk about his dad a lot, or his past, so it was nice to hear him open up to me. Even over something as small as family vacations.”

 |☉➖☉|

 “It’s day six and I’m realizing I missed a huge opportunity to call this ‘Captain’s Log’.” Lance laughs as he walks about the cockpit. 

 “So it turns out, Keith did have a mild freak out about the hair thing, but he’s okay now. We uh… We built a sandcastle together. He wanted to make it tall but I kept telling him it was better for it to be wider for its defenses. So we ended up building this like, big slope?” Lance smiles as he sits in the pilot’s chair and presses a few buttons. 

 “Also, washing off in the river is a terrible idea. I did it and now Keith and I both smell like fish. And not even in a good way, because none of it is dish, as they say in the Garrison.” He closes his eyes. 

 “And, don’t tell anyone this. But… I think I have a crush.”

 ☽*☆*☾

        Keith is sitting beside him on top of the pod. They’re watching the sunset between the trees in the distance, though they both know that it will only rise again in twenty minutes. He looks over at Keith, staring at his face in profile. The gentle slope of his nose, the curve of his cheek, his soft lips, and dark eyelashes. Keith turns to him, maybe feeling the way Lance stared at him.

 “What’s up?” 

 “Nothing really.” He shrugs. Keith told him that the castle finally found their distress beacon and sent a shortwave signal to the pod. They’d be picked up any moment now. He should be excited but he’s not. He’s not because once they go back Keith’s going to reattach himself to Shiro’s side and Lance will be left floating around the castle, bouncing around until he’s needed again.

        This really wasn’t the time to find out about a crush he’d been harboring for who knows how long now.

 “I think I’m going to head back in.” Lance sighs, getting up once the sun sets. 

 “Lance.” Keith reaches for him. He pauses looking at Keith and there’s something unspoken lingering in his eyes and caught behind those perfect and sharp teeth. 

 “Yeah?”

 “...Let me know if you hear anything.” He finishes and Lance knows it’s not what he wanted to say. 

 “Yeah.” He nods. He slips back in, picking up his recorder.

 |☉➖☉|

 “Day seven and the castle should finally be back for us any day now. Is it selfish to hope it passes us?”

 ☽*☆*☾

        He makes sure to pocket his recorder as the Yellow Lion comes down. Hunk scoops the pod up and then goes to hug the pair. He pauses and wrinkles his nose.

 “You both stink.” He says.

 “I’m aware.” Lance sighs.

 “You cut your hair?” He looks at Keith.

 “Can we go home?” 

 “Right! Sorry.” Hunk pats their shoulders and gets them airborne.

        They are allowed to shower and then they get real food. Or as real as food goo is. Hunk gives them both proper hugs now and the team is glad to see them. Shiro teases Keith about his new hair cut and he flips him off. Lance meanwhile tells Hunk and Pidge to update the catalogue on the tree they’d found.

 “Why?” Pidge asks.

 “It’s smoke kinda… did things.” Lance says.

 “Like what?” Is Shiro’s concerned voice. Keith and Lance share a look between each other.

 “You tell him.”

 “Nu-uh you brought it up.” Keith shakes his head.

 “What happened?” Shiro watches the two.

 “...So uh. Remember how I said I’d never get high again?” Keith starts.

 “ Again?” Lance looks over at him. “I told you it smelled weird and you knew?”

 “Trust me, it doesn’t smell like that.” Keith looks away. Shiro rubs his forehead.

 “Oh my god, did you do space weed?” Pidge gasps.

 “It was an accident! We needed a fire to cook food!” 

 ☽*☆*☾

        Shiro doesn’t hold it against them entirely but does give them quite a stern talking to. Allura mentions that the tree, in particular, would have never affected Alteans in that manner, and it has her confused as to what makes it bad. It led to another discussion that Keith and Lance were able to slip out of. They both snickered as they jogged out of the halls. But soon enough Lance’s face falls and Keith notices it. 

 “Okay, seriously, what’s up? You’ve been off since the castle found us.” Keith asks. “We had a bonding moment, again, and now you’re…” Keith waves his hand.

 “I just... everything was different out there, just the two of us, and now it’s going to go back to how it was.” Lance rubs his arm.

 “Lance, we’re still the same people.”

 “But we were like, closer, than usual.” Lance looks at him. “Did… Did you feel that way too?” He asks. Keith chews his lip as he looks at Lance. His eyes flick around his face and finally, he sighs. 

 “It did. I… I liked it. A lot.” Keith admits.

 “You did?”

 “Of course I did.” Keith hesitantly smiles.

 “Oh.”

 “...Could we -- um, Could we still be like that?”

 “What about Shiro?”

 “I care about my brother, sure,” He shrugs. “But I want to try… being close to you.” He admits, hand reaching out and taking Lance’s.

 “Okay. Yeah.” He nods. 

 “Yeah?”

 “I wanna be closer to you too,” Lance admits. Keith snorts softly kissing his knuckles.

 “Good.” He says.

 |☉➖☉|

 “Day eight. I’m back on the Castle ship as you can see,” He shows his room behind him. “Keith and I are gonna figure some things out between us, but I have a good feeling about it. I think this is going to be the last log for now. Until next time I get stranded, I guess,” He laughs. “Good night!”

[demon-sushi]

Trial Run

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope month, Day 3. Fake dating.

       When the invite showed up in Keith’s mail, he originally tossed it onto his counter where it sat for about a week before he had the wherewithal to actually open it. It was a wedding invite for an old ex of his, James Griffin. He spent another few days debating on going or not. He then looked over at his current partner and marked down plus one. He mailed it out the next day.

       It wasn’t the only thing he did. After he had put in his request for time off, and thankfully had  actually  gotten it approved in record time, he had looked at places around the area. Keith will admit, he’d noticed the relationship had been under pressure and figured this would be a good time to get back in the rhythm of things. He had booked a nice hotel near the venue, gotten decent plane tickets and a rental car,  hell he even had gotten reservations at a nice restaurant in the area as well. 

       That had been a month ago. Since then he had caught his partner fucking some other person in  Keith’s  bed. Needless to say, he kicked his partner to the curb and had given the confused person caught in the middle a pitiful look as they took off. Now, with a week until the wedding, he still hasn’t found someone to fill the plus one. He needs someone to be his fake date because that’s the sad and sorry state Keith is in. Fake. Dates.

       There’s the very obvious choice he could go with. Lance McClain, true ride-or-die as he likes to put it. The guy would have the easiest time with getting the days off and be the most willing of Keith’s few friends to go along with his plan. However, there’s…  complications . Complications in the form of years old feelings that keep popping back up no matter how hard he tries or how deep he buries it. 

       It’s as if his feelings for Lance have long since become a part of his DNA, a part of who he is at his very  core  . And yeah, it’s what causes ninety percent of his relationship problems. His partners can just tell he’s not  that  into them, regardless of what he does or tries. Some get upset, some deeply hurt, and some strangely understand. It’s hard to love a boy like Lance, a boy who’s been his closest friend since sophomore year in high school. It’s hard and nobody understands.

       But if you were to ask Keith why he avoids picking Lance first, he’d tell you a different story, paint you a different picture. He’d say something along the lines of Lance’s penchant for overdramatics or his lack of maturity or seriousness to handle the situation as it should be. It’d be a  lie , sure, but it’s what he would say and then pray Lance doesn’t hear.

       So yeah, Keith considers his other friends first. For starters there’s Hunk. Hunk’s well, a guy for one thing, so already in the running for a fake date. The guy has a great set of arms, a loveable personality, social, won’t let Keith accidentally start a fight, all in all he’s got some really good qualities to him. Sadly, there are some very important drawbacks as well. Hunk cannot lie to save his life, he  essentially  has two jobs, and when he gets nervous he starts talking about some very convoluted stuff that most people have difficulty following and makes him  more  nervous.

       Hunk’s a no go. As is Shiro, because that’s his brother, and Allura, for obvious reasons.

       Next on his list is Pidge. They at least work part-time on the college campus and could probably get the days off very easily. And heck, if they wore a suit and felt like wearing a binder they’d very easily look more masc. The drawback is that neither he nor Pidge have any form of impulse control and would probably be more likely to set the place on fire because of a half-baked ‘what-if’. 

       So Pidge is out.

       Keith sighs. He didn’t want to have to ask Lance. Fates, however, don’t care. They want to see him suffer. And suffer he shall. 

Samurai: Alright.

Samurai: I have 

Samurai: No, I *need* you

Sharpshooter: aww keith

Sharpshooter: //wipes away tears

Sharpshooter: i have waited all my life to hear u say that

Samurai: Focus.

Sharpshooter: im listening

Samurai: I need a favor.

Sharpshooter: say no more

Sharpshooter: lets talk in person

Sharpshooter: WYA?

Samurai: WYA?

Sharpshooter: OMG keith, where u at

Samurai: My place.

Sharpshooter: ill be there in 5

Samurai: Five what?

Samurai: Lance!

Samurai: Ugh.

        It could be worse, he tells himself, though it feels like a lie. Sure enough, in five minutes, there’s a knock on his door. He opens it and Lance walks in with his big shit-eating grin on his face as he throws himself over the couch and makes himself home in the studio apartment.

 “Sooo,” He draws out. “What does big,  bad , Keith Kogane need from wittle ol’ me?” He presses his hand to his chest and bats his eyelashes. Okay, maybe the overdramatics part wasn’t a lie. With a deep breath, he closes the door and goes to lean against his bed, glancing over at Lance who looks far too nice against his couch like that.

 “I have a wedding I’m going to and I need a date.” 

 “Why?”

 “I already wrote down a plus one when I RSVP’d a month ago.”

 “Were you expecting to get a date for this thing before the wedding?” Lance raises an eyebrow.

 “I… had a partner at the time.”

 “... No, you didn’t.”

 “Yes, I did.”

 “No, because you would have told us about him.” Lance sits up.

 “I did, but I didn’t say anything this time.” Keith shrugs.

 “Are you still together?”

 “No, we  broke up.”

 “You broke up?”

 “He was fucking someone else on my bed, Lance.”

 “Okay! No. Start over. From the beginning.  When  did you meet this guy?”

 “The one having the wedding or the most recent ex?”

 “The ex!” Lance groans.

 “Like three months ago.” Keith shrugs.

 “And you didn’t say anything? To us?” He looks hurt.

 “I… I didn’t want to cause troubles between everyone.”

 “Oh my god, Keith. That’s what people say when they’ve got a toxic relationship.”

 “So the guy was a  bit  possessive.”

 “A  bit ?” 

 “He… Well, y’know how I get around… around my dad’s…” Keith can’t find himself able to say the word  death . 

 “Yeah.” Lance’s face is somber. “You were really fucked up this year with it.”

 “I graduated and he didn’t get to see m-- Ugh no, I’m not going to --” He tilts his head back and closes his eyes. 

 “Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Lance is over by his side. 

 “I hate this.”

 “I know.” He hums and rubs Keith’s arm. He takes a moment to compose himself again and continues.

 “Anyway, I was moping around and I visited you guys remember?”

 “Yeah, I remember. Pidge had shown off their new game you two did co-op on, Hunk baked your favorite cookies, and I let you pick the movie.” Lance smiles fondly.

 “Yeah. He um-- He didn’t like that I stayed with you.  All  of you.” He adds on quickly. Because while his recent ex was mostly against Lance himself, he doesn’t need to know.

 “What a prick. This  always  happens. Some people just don’t seem to understand our friendship runs deep.”

 “We weren’t doing too good and I thought maybe going to this wedding was going to be fun and stuff. Even planned to stay like two more days there just for the sightseeing.”

 “Rock collecting, you mean.” Lance teases.

 “Same shit.” Keith rolls his eyes.

 “Nah. Some people actually do this thing where they,” He gasps. “Take  pictures .”

 “Shocking.”

 “Very.”

 “Can’t believe people are out there stealing souls and shit.”

 “Look man, gingers have it hard okay? They need help sometimes.” 

 “Oh my god, you’re awful.” Keith shoves his friend away.

 “You started it.” Lance laughs.

 “Anyway --”

 “Please continue.” He cuts him off.

 “Anyway,” Keith says louder. “Last month I caught him banging some twink on  my  bed.”

 “Not a  twink .”

 “Yes, Lance. A poor, confused as hell, twink. I broke it off with him already.”

 “And then waited a month before getting a replacement date to this wedding?”

 “...I have limited options. Plus it doesn’t seem like the place you’d take some stranger to.”

 “Probably not, no.” Lance agrees. “Why not tell the guy you can’t make it, drop your name and your plus one?”

 “...Because he’s  also  an ex of mine.”

 “Dear Jesus.”

 “Look, I think it’s his way of being like ‘We’re cool now right?’ so I want him to know we’re cool. I  want  to put this particular part of my life to an end and know that we will  not  be a thing again.”

 “Were you hoping to be?”

 “Not particularly.”

 “Oh?”

 “...It’s James.”

 “Wait. Like. Griffin? From high school?”

 “Yeah.”

 “Wow.” Lance whistles. “I’m surprised he remembers you.”

 “We dated on and off for three  years , Lance.” 

 “Still.” He shrugs.

 “But uh, that’s the situation. I have  no  date for this thing, and I  want  to go.” 

 “Does sound like you’re S.O.L.”

 “Thanks. Very astute.”

 “Is this where I come in?”

 “Yeah. How do you feel like going to Colorado Springs in a week and can you get the time off?”

 “Hmm.” Lance taps his chin thoughtfully and Keith prays he agrees. He has no plan other than to be a gravedigger and ask Coran to accompany him. He’d rather not do that though.

 “Alright, I’ll do it.”

 “Oh thank God.” Keith sighs with relief.

 “But!”

 “But?”

 “We need to establish our dating life together.” Lance points out.

 “What do you mean?”

 “For example, how long have we been together? When is our anniversary? Have you met my parents? Have I met your pack of wolves?”

 “Hey, only  I  get to call them wolves.” Keith snickers. 

 “Well, have I met them?”

 “Do we have to do this?”

 “Yeah, because people ask this stuff. We might not be straight, but our stories need to be.”

 “You’re terrible.” He groans at the bad joke.

 “I try.” Lance smiles.

 “Fine, let’s ask questions and answer them?”

 “Who’s the big spoon and who’s the little spoon?” Lance asks with a serious face. Keith’s palm finds his head. This will be a  long  week.

*****

       Sadly, he had been right. In a single week, Lance had spent nearly every waking moment with him. They both went over every little detail so meticulously. Each ‘fact’ is engraved into Keith’s mind and it has been crafted carefully. All the way down to social media posts being altered. And now, here they are, a week later on their plane and flying out of the state. 

       There’s a baby in the seat in front of them that won’t stop staring at him but is being wonderfully quiet. Someone keeps on kicking his seat and the hostess gave him peanuts when he politely declined. So it’s going great.

 “Where did we meet?” Lance asks him.

 “High school. Obviously.” Keith rolls his eyes.

 “Who’s my favorite sister?” 

 “Raquel, because she stays out of your business. But if your mom asks, you tell her Veronica because she’s closer to your age.” He guesses they could play this game of twenty questions to see if everything is watertight.

 “Good, good. Have I met your mom?”

 “Yeah, she loved you.”

 “That’s it?” Lance raises a brow.

 “She  loved  you so much, she took you on her bike out to the cliffs and then threatened to push you off and leave you for the buzzards if you broke my heart.” He turns to look at Lance.

 “...Would she really?” 

 “Lance,  I  don’t know.” Keith huffs, a bit frustrated and tired. Getting up early just to be on a plane is not his favorite activity. Getting up early, in general, isn’t his favorite.

 “Okay, okay, sorry.” Lance holds his hands up. 

 “...Who confessed first?” He asks as an apology. It’s not Lance’s fault for wanting to be prepared for anything after all.

 “I did.  Obvio.  Because  you .” He pokes Keith’s shoulder. “Have the emotional depth of a walnut.”

 “Walnut? Why a walnut?”

 “Have you  seen  walnuts?”

 “Yeah, they look like brains.”

 “... That’s not what I was going to say.” Lance snickers.

 “You are  disgusting . Why am I friends with you?” Keith scrunches up his nose.

 “Because you couldn’t get rid of me in high school when I was at my weakest. Now, I’m far stronger. This? This isn’t even my final form,” He sticks his tongue out and gestures with a hand to himself. “Plus, we’re ‘dating’ now, remember?”

 “Fuck me.” Keith groans and lets his head fall against the headrest.

 “Didn’t know you’d want to join the mile-high club.” Lance teases.

 “Just one more hour.  One more hour.” He reminds himself. One more hour of being trapped on a plane, thirty-two thousand feet in the air with Lance as his sole companion.

*****

       Keith is ever so thankful for the woman behind the rental counter who hands him his keys with minimal hassle. He walks over to where Lance has finally fished out his suitcase. The guy doesn’t know how to pack light but Keith is grateful for the larger suitcase. His own suit is packed with Lance’s after the guy nearly flipped at Keith’s attempt to stuff it into his duffle bag.

 “Ready?” He asks.

 “Yes, sir!” Lance grins and hooks his arm with Keith. “You and I are boyfriends from this second on.” He whispers with a wink.

 “Why now? It’s just for the wedding after all.”

 “I need to get into my role, Keith! I need to be in the zone.” 

 “...I think you’ll be fine.”

 “Let me practice okay? It’ll make me feel better.” Lance pouts and Keith nods. He’s in need of actual food, maybe coffee injected straight into his bloodstream. He leads Lance outside who whistles.

 “There’s  snow  on that mountain out there Keith! Oh my god, does this place  actually  have all four seasons?” He gasps and looks over to him.

 “Compared to?”

 “We only get winter and summer remember?” Lance snickers.

 “No, no, we do get four.”

 “Oh really?”

 “Winter, wet, summer, wind.” Keith points out and unlocks the car they’ll be using during their stay.

 “Can I offer: winter, warm winter, summer, cool summer?”

 “Ah, but wet and wind, Lance.” Keith laughs as he sets his bag in the back. 

 “But ‘cool summer’ just sounds, well,  cooler .”

 “Don’t make me put you in the backseat with the child locks engaged.” He gives him a warning look.

 “ Chill  out.” Lance grins. Keith very pointedly flips the switch for the child lock on the door in his hands. He then checks to make sure that his watch and phone both have the correct time on them after crossing into a different time zone.

 “I’m starving and we have two hours to kill before check-in. What do you want to eat?” Keith asks as he gets in the driver’s seat.

 “Something that we can’t have at home or anywhere else. It’s my rule of thumb usually if I’m traveling out of town.” Lance says, setting his bag in the back and then slipping into the front.

 “What do you mean?”

 “Like, McDonald's or Penny’s diner. They’re everywhere and I can have that experience at home.”

 “Alright, let’s drive around a bit and find something?”

 “Hell yeah.”

       They end up pulling into a Waffle House, a restaurant they most certainly don’t have in their tiny hometown. Keith is grateful for the greasiest diner food he’s had since his dad passed. Lance sits next to him in their small booth the entire time, leaning against his side and playing with his hand. He even fights Keith for paying the check and he eventually relents on this  one . They pile back into the car and find the hotel.

       Lance is looking around the lobby like a child at Willy Wonka’s before the OSHA corrections. Keith shakes his head, amused, and takes his hand from Lance’s, checking them in. They give him his keys, wifi access, tell him where the pool is and send him on his way. Keith nabs Lance from where he’d wandered off, looking at the chandelier and taking him to the elevator.

 “Keith, what the hell? This place is like,  super  posh.” 

 “It’s nice.” Keith shrugs. 

 “ Very. ”

 “Does it bother you?” 

 “I’ll adjust.” Lance smiles. Keith nods and when the elevator dings he walks them out. 

 “I’m just glad they were able to keep us under the seventh floor.” He says, looking for their room.

 “You got something against seven?”

 “Firetruck ladders can only reach as high as the seventh or eighth story.” He shrugs nonchalantly and puts the keycard in their door.

 “...You can’t just  say  things like  that  and act like it’s not scary!”

 “It’s not? They just have a different way of getting you down after that.”

 “Jesus. That’s gotta be stressful for them.”

 “Dad never said.” Keith pushes the door open and lets them both inside. 

       Off-white walls with wood paneling behind the queen-sized mattress and a small sitting area with two armchairs looking out the window are what greets the pair. Lance even points at a mini-chandelier hanging in the center of the room and makes a strange noise. Keith stares at the mattress, two lovingly crafted towel swans are resting their heads together. He runs his hand through his hair and groans at the sight.

 “Are those swans!?” Lance gently touches one. 

 “They look like it.”

 “There are mints on the pillows too!” He scoops up one of the swans and tucks it under his arm as he looks at them. “I bet this place has alcohol in their mini-fridge!”

 “Probably.” Keith’s fairly sure they would have it, all things considered. He sets the other swan on the desk freeing up space for him to set his bag down. 

 “They do!” Lance gasps from over by the mini-fridge.

 “Don’t drink it, it costs extra,” Keith warns him.

 “I know that! Just because I haven’t  stayed  in a hotel that has a big-ass chandelier in the lobby doesn’t mean I’m clueless” Lance pouts as he shuts the door, swan still tucked under his arm. Keith huffs a soft laugh as he fishes out his suit from Lance’s bag for tomorrow. Lance watches him with curious eyes. 

 “Y’know, I’ve never seen you in a suit. Did you even wear one for our graduation?”

 “I did, but it was Shiro’s so it didn’t fit me right,” Keith hangs his suit up. “Plus we were wearing caps and gowns.”

 “Yeah, true. I’m just asking cause like, I was wearing my Spiderman costume under mine.”

 “I remember. You hit me with its silly string after we tossed our caps.” Keith laughs. Lance sets his swan with the other and gets his suit out too, hanging it up with Keith’s. Keith moves the mints onto one of the nightstands, kicks his shoes off, and then lets himself flop face-first onto the bed.

 “So, one bed. Fancy hotel.” Lance starts.

 “And a reservation at a five-star restaurant.” Keith lifts his head from the sheets.

 “ Seriously ?”

 “Yep.”

 “You really had been hoping for that happy ending huh?” He teases

 “I already told you, I was hoping this would be able to fix us.” Keith crosses his arms under his chin. 

 “Yeah, I still don’t get him.” Lance joins him on the bed and kicks his shoes off as well. 

 “What do you mean?”

 “Who gets jealous over a partner’s friends?”

 “...Yeah.” Keith looks away from Lance.

 “Oh.” He says softly. “...It wasn’t our friends, it was me  again  wasn’t it?” 

 “Lance.” Of course, he’s caught on that several of his exes have ended things  because  of him. 

 “I don’t get it, why do your exes hate me?” 

 “They don’t hate you.” Keith pushes himself upright.

 “Then? What is it about me they don’t like?” He looks up at Keith. What’s he supposed to say? That they don’t like how he will drop practically everything for him just as Lance does? They don’t like how he smiles brighter, laughs louder, comes to life more around him? They don’t like how he stares longingly at Lance, talks about Lance, is more willing to touch Lance, and just goes to him first for any of his problems?

 “I don’t know,” Keith says instead. “The last guy just said I was emotionally cheating on him. That’s all.” It’s true and he feels like shit for it. Every time, every single  damn  time he thinks he’s moved on, Lance will do something and he will fall back in love with him. 

 “Is it because I’m so touchy-feely?” 

 “I don’t know, Lance. That’s all he had said.”

 “Well, that’s dumb. You weren’t.” Lance rolls his eyes. 

 “Yeah…” He runs his hands through his hair. “I’m gonna take a shower. Do you want to figure out what we’ll do for dinner?”

 “I’m guessing room service isn’t an option?” 

 “Maybe our last night,” Keith says snagging a non-swan towel and going to the bathroom. 

 “What are you in the mood for?” 

 “Anything.” 

*****

       After eating a whole pizza and then having a pillow fight for control of the tv, they both lay on the bed. Lance leans against Keith’s shoulder arguing with the contestants on some reality show he’d put on. Keith can feel his heart racing under his skin as it often does when he’s sitting this close to Lance. He knows, from past experiences, he can hold Lance’s hand like this and the guy would let it happen. 

       And if he holds his hand, closes his eyes, he can pretend just for a moment that they  are  together. 

*****

       The problem with pretending is that you have to stop at some point or reality itself delivers unto you a rude awakening. This awakening had been given to him years ago between the months of him meeting Lance for the first time and dating James. It’s one he holds close to his heart and refuses to talk about to anyone. 

       Keith doesn’t even know if Lance remembers the events of that homecoming with the same painful clarity as he does. 

       Neither of them went to the actual dance, but they went to one of the various afterparties being hosted by some upper-classman Keith no longer recalls the name of. But they went, Lance because he was genuinely invited, Keith as his plus-one when the others had declined. 

       They had played a few rounds of spin the bottle, with some  modifications  . The spinner was blindfolded and had to guess who the bottle landed on after the kiss. Keith had been a mess of nerves every time someone spun, praying it  wouldn’t be him. Lance had excitedly kissed some girl and she was able to guess correctly. They had blindfolded him and he spun.

       That had been when Keith’s luck ran out. The bottle landed on him, there had been the collective ‘ooo’ when they saw and he remembers wanting to die. He remembers with sweaty palms and shaking knees he crossed the circle of his peers and then kneeled in front of Lance. 

 “Hey.” Lance had smirked. Keith had said nothing, his heart going haywire. 

       He remembers kissing Lance. He remembers the second round of cheers. He remembers the smell of Lance’s aftershave, the feel of his lips against his, and the way Lance’s hands had settled on his waist. It was warm, electrifying, and soul-shattering. He remembers he leaned back, carefully prying Lance’s hands off of him. 

 “Jenny?” Lance had asked head tilting. Keith got to his feet as both Jennys laughed and told him no. He had locked himself in the bathroom and had spent a few minutes trying to figure out why it had felt like he’d been harpooned and gutted.

       But the night didn’t end there. No matter how much he had wished. No, Lance had wanted Keith to come play truth or dare with him. And they did, and they got Keith on truth because he refused dares with these hooligans. 

 “Are you gay?” They asked it made him uncomfortable to have to admit it in a room full of strangers. But Lance stood up for him, calling the question unreasonable and a party foul. 

 “Would you kiss Keith, Lance?” They asked him instead when it became obvious Keith wasn’t going to answer them.

 “What? No. Why would I?” He scrunched up his nose. “I don’t like him like that.”

       And yeah, Keith had found himself gutted once again. Found himself frozen and then he had pretended to get a call and had stepped out. Lance followed as Keith had quickly put in Shiro’s number while praying the guy wasn’t busy at his own homecoming at the college.

 “Keith?” Lance had grabbed his arm, right as Shiro answered.

 “Hey kiddo, what’s up?”

 “Are you sure you’re on your way?” Keith said and Shiro had known.

 “Where are you?”

 “Keith, what’s wrong?”

 “Yeah, yeah. I’ll go wait at the park for you.” 

 “Be there in five minutes.” 

 “Keith!” Lance tugged his arm. He simply jerked it away, closed his phone, and tucked it into his pocket.

 “Shiro’s being a downer and is getting me early, you can stay.” 

 “You’re lying. Why are you lying?” Because even then Lance had somehow been able to read him better than anyone else he’d ever met.

 “Lance, seriou--”

 “Is this because I won’t kiss you?” 

 “Drop it.” He had tried to walk away, walk to the park where Shiro would pick him up from school.

 “It is!”

 “It’s fine!”

 “Are you really being a baby over it?”

 “Would it really be the end of the world to kiss me!?” He had spun around and glared at Lance.

 “I don’t make out with friends, Keith!” Lance had thrown his arms out. “That’s how you fuck up friendships!” 

*****

       Keith’s buttoning his shirt up, getting into his suit while Lance showers. His fingers tremble slightly, remembering that night. He has to remember, has to remind himself. Lance had boundaries, drew a line, and it’s Keith’s responsibility to respect that. It doesn’t make it hurt less. 

       He still hasn’t finished when Lance steps out in his dress pants, shirt undone. But Keith can’t get a moment to appreciate the bare chest because of his plain undershirt.

 “Hey, you okay man?” Lance’s hands cut over his field of vision, covering his own. 

 “I’m fine.” He mumbles. 

 “No, you’re not.” 

 “...I’m nervous,” Keith says instead. Lance snorts softly, batting Keith’s hands away as he finishes the buttons on Keith’s shirt.

 “And you’re not the one getting married. Imagine how James must be doing.” 

 “Yeah.” He steps away to tuck his shirt into his pants as Lance buttons his shirt.

 “Relax man, everything will be fine.” 

 “Right.” Keith nods, stepping in front of the mirror and combing his hair back. He gathers it in one hand, picking up the hair tie from the counter he’d left it on and pulls his hair up.

 “I’m still saying I could have braided it,” Lance calls from where he’s doing his tie by the bed.

 “Maybe some other time.” Keith looks himself over in the mirror. 

 “You always say that.” He groans and nudges Keith away. 

 “One of these days it will be true.” He grabs his suit jacket, puts on his tie, and double-checks it’s straight and he has everything he needs.

 “How do I look?” Lance asks and Keith takes a deep breath before turning around. 

       Lance has his hair slicked back, his suit jacket in hand over his shoulder while the other is in his pocket. He’s got his weight on one leg, confidence in his eyes, and a toothy grin. Keith’s mouth feels incredibly dry. A fitted blue button-up, darker blue and grey tie, he looks like he was  made to wear that suit.

 “You. Great. Look. Wow.” Keith chokes out. Lance laughs loudly.

 “Alright caveman.” He walks over. “Ready to go?”

 “Please.” Keith winces and nods, grabbing his copy of the invite and leading them out.

 “Oh, by the way, Keith.” 

 “Yeah?”

 “You look great too.” Lance smiles and it disarms him. 

 “You too.” He says.

 “I know.” Lance hip checks him and then walks out to the elevator.

       The drive to the venue itself isn’t that bad. Lance sings along with the radio as he stares out the window. Keith just prays for the event to end already. As much as he wanted to go, now he’s realizing  another  issue with having Lance come with him.

       But he can’t chicken out without lance getting suspicious. So he parks in the designated place, links arms with Lance who then laughs and takes his hand instead. He shows the bouncer his invite and is allowed in with Lance. The party hasn’t started just yet so they’re quick to nab a seat at one of the various tables. 

 “This place reminds me of my cousin’s Quinceñera. The ballroom, the streamers, laser lights.” Lance whispers.

 “Is that bad?”

 “Not at all, but it does get hot in here.” He says. 

       The guests continue to file in. There’s a handful of familiar faces who approach the two. Every single time Lance, and consequently Keith, stands up to greet them. Some mention they haven’t seen the pair in years, others just say it’s good the two still have each other. Both Jennys giggle and show off their new engagement rings, blushing at one another. Lance congratulates them and in return, the Jennys congratulate Keith and Lance as well. 

       Lance, bless his heart, takes it in stride even when there’s a second of confusion on his face. The girls walk away, hand in hand, and Lance turns to Keith.

 “A lot of people don’t seem surprised we’re together.” He comments.

 “We  were  close back in high school.” Keith points out.

 “I suppose.”

       Eventually, the married couple walks in. Keith hasn’t seen James in years, but the guy certainly looks happier than when they were together. It soothes him to see James smile and duck his face a little while holding his husband’s hand. 

       The couple makes their way around the room, greeting everyone. They eventually get to Lance and Keith.

 “Wow, Keith. Hey!” James smiles.

 “Congratulations. You look good. Happy.” Keith says as he shakes his hand. James looks back at his husband.

 “What can I say, Ryan knows what he’s doing.” 

 “Yeah, congratulations! It’s good to see you again man, it’s been ages.” Lance offers a hug. He takes it and Lance makes sure to pat the guy’s back.

 “Good to see you too McClain,” James glances between Keith and Lance. “You came together?” 

 “Of course!” Lance wraps his arm around Keith who prays the panic isn’t on his face. “ We’re  a package deal now if you get me.”

 “You’re dating him?” James’ brows raise.

 “Yeah.” Keith nods. “We’re dating now.”

 “Holy shit,  finally .” 

 “Finally?” Lance tilts his head.

 “Do you know how much he talked about you back then  even  when we were together?” James laughs. “Dude was so obviously head-over-heels for you. It kinda sucked, but hey, I knew what I was getting into.”

 “What?” Lance blinks, off-guard and confused.

 “You never told him?” James looks over to Keith, causing Lance to look at him as well. He swallows,  god he’s sweaty .

 “I guess I forgot to mention it,” Keith says. James huffs a laugh and shakes his head. Lance stares at him strangely, like he’s trying to solve a puzzle without instructions.

 “Anyway, we have a lot more guests to greet. But it was nice seeing you two. Enjoy the night.” James pats Lance on the shoulder and Lance turns to him with a smile.

 “Yeah, man. And congrats again!”

 “Thanks. You too.” With that James waves and the married couple leave. 

       The rest of the night, Keith sits and stews in his own sweat and emotions. Lance has let the event roll off his back and continues on as nothing has happened. But Keith, he  knows  . James didn’t mean to cause any damage, no one here has, but Lance is smart. He’s smarter than others give him credit for and he  will  figure out that Keith has feelings for him. It was the realization he’d come to in the car and one he had hoped wouldn’t come to fruition. 

       Right now, Lance is chatting with him about the meal. Keith eats it because he’s hungry. He has no real comments on it besides it being warm and food. Lance frowns and nudges Keith. He does what he can to make him smile but it doesn’t work. Keith’s too busy being worried about Lance finding things out, about ruining his friendship and losing the best friend he has. All the while, Lance’s words from that night of the homecoming echo over and over in his head.

       Why would he agree to fake dating, when he didn’t want to ruin our friendship by kissing?

       When the married couple opens the dance floor with their first dance, something that in hindsight was lovely, Keith wants to leave. He’s wanted to leave since James said hi. Lance tries multiple times to get him to join him on the dance floor. Keith isn’t much of a dancer on his good days and most certainly isn’t one right now. Lance sighs and takes to the floor himself, having fun dancing with the people around him. 

       But it just feels like everyone is staring at him. Old paranoias creeping up along his back and sinking their teeth into his skin. His leg bounces restlessly under the table as he watches everyone. At some point Lance comes back, maybe having sensed something being wrong with Keith, and tries getting Keith to focus on him. 

       He doesn’t remember how well it worked. But he  does  remember Lance guiding him by the hand to say good night to James who thanks them for coming. Lance congratulates the couple again and they smile and nod. 

       They’re in the parking lot and Lance is patting his pockets, which Keith is somewhat fighting him for.

 “Keys.”

 “What?” Keith looks at him.

 “Where are the keys?” Lance grabs his face to make him stare at his baby blues. Keith pulls his head away and passes the keys to Lance who takes them. He then pushes Keith into the front passenger seat and slips into the driver’s side. 

       It’s only when they get to the hotel Keith remembers he’s the only one  supposed  to drive the rental car. But alas. Lance is a good and safe driver. 

       He deposits Keith on the bed, setting the keys on the nightstand and starts pulling the layers of his suit off. Keith manages to loosen his tie and pull his shoes off when Lance retreats into the bathroom. He stares blankly at the tv, no power on just his own reflection on its screen.  Lance knows. He knows. 

       He feels sick to his stomach having taken advantage of Lance’s friendship in a way and calling him his partner like he wants to so desperately. How sick. How rude. Awful. Scum. He’s just --

 “Come in space cadet.” Lance is waving his hands in front of Keith’s face and then yelping when Keith jolts. They both stare at one another for a few minutes. Lance’s hair is starting to curl up at its ends and he’s changed into pajamas.

 “Breathe.” Lance reminds him and Keith takes a shaky breath. “Take my hand, it’s going to be okay.” 

 “It’s not.” Keith chokes out.

 “Yeah, it will.”

 “No.” 

 “Keith, you’re panicking, okay? It’ll fade and it’ll be fine.” 

 “You don’t understand.”

 “Then explain it to me.” Lance reaches out and takes his hand. It burns. 

 “I…” 

 “You?”

 “I can’t.” He shakes his head, taking his hand away, and getting up. He paces around the room, trying to breathe. 

 “Yes, you can.”

 “No, I can’t!”

 “Keith.” Lance gets up and tries to stop him from moving. “What’s going on?”

 “Nothing.”

 “You’ve been weird since James talked to us. Do you miss him or something? Wish you could go back and be with him again?”

 “No! No, I don’t want to be with him.”

 “...Then it’s me.”

 “What?”

 “It’s me, it’s  always me.” Lance frowns.

 “What?” He repeats, mind blank.

 “Why is it me? You’re exes hate my guts, everyone was happy that  I  was with you, people  congratulated  us!”

 “It’s--”

 “And now you’re freaking out. You’re freaked out by the  idea  of us being a thing aren’t you?” Lance has tears building in his eyes and it kills him. 

 “That’s not true.” He says.

 “Bull shit. You’ve been hiding something from me for years, and I figured  ‘don’t worry about it, Keith will tell you when he’s ready like he does with everything else’  but you haven’t! You’re still hiding!”

 “I… I’m not --”

 “God do you even want to be  friends  with me?” Lance runs his hands through his hair. 

 “No,” Keith says so suddenly, so jarring, they both freeze once again. Lance stares at him, more hurt than ever. His whole face crumples and it takes out Keith’s knees. He knows he can’t leave it like this.

 “So that’s --”

 “I’m in love with you.” He cuts Lance off. 

 “...What?” He looks even more confused. And like a dam breaking open it all rushes out of him.

 “I don’t want to be your  friend  because you don’t date your friends. You don’t kiss your friends. You don’t want to destroy a friendship with someone and… and neither did I.” He shakes. “I didn’t want to lose you as my friend. But god, every year it just kept piling up and I kept looking for  you  in other people to make it work.”

 “You --”

 “My exes don’t hate you because you’re my best friend, they hate you because they know I’m still not over you. They hate you because they know I  won’t  get over you.” He runs his hands through his hair. 

 “How long?”

 “Since I kissed you at homecoming.” Keith laughs, hysterically. “But you didn’t know it was me.” Then Lance says something that guts him the way it did that night.

 “...I did. I knew it was you.”

 “...Then why?”

 “I panicked! I hadn’t even come out to myself yet at that point. I was trying to figure out if I wanted to  be  like you or if I wanted  you .” He sits down on the bed. “By the time I had it all figured out, you were dating James.” He looks at his hands.

 “I dated James to get my mind off you, and he knew.” 

 “Why didn’t you say it after you broke up with him?” 

 “You were with that one girl!”

 “After that!” He looks up at Keith.

 “I was dating someone!”

 “...Then you’d break up when I was with someone.”

 “And I’d throw myself at someone when you were single.” Keith sits on the floor, wanting to give Lance his space but also because his knees won’t make it a single step.

 “On purpose?”

 “Sometimes.”

 “...How long were you going to go without telling me?” 

 “Forever. Probably.” He shrugs.

 “Emotional depth of a walnut.” Lance covers his face. They sit in silence for a moment. The soft hum of the air conditioner their background song. Keith finishes pulling his tie off, pulling his hair down. 

 “Now you know,” Keith whispers. “That’s what I’ve been hiding from you.”

 “Now I know.”

 “...What do we -- What do you want to do?” 

 “I need to think,” Lance says. 

 “Okay. I can -- I can leave and you can text me when you’re ready for me to come back.” He offers.

 “And if I don’t?”

 “I’ll deal with it,” Keith says. Lance sighs, lays back against the bed, and stares up at the ceiling.

 “How about this, you let me think about it this whole weekend we’re here, and I’ll tell you my answer when we get home?”

 “Do you want me to go get a motel?” 

 “No, I want you here.” Lance rolls off the bed and sits in front of Keith.

 “I don’t understand, aren’t you pissed at me?”

 “I’m not. I’m mad because I  could’ve  been with you for  years  now and had so many experiences with you. But because I was scared to lose  your  friendship, that  you  didn’t like me back, I didn’t say anything.” He sighs and then holds his arms out, making grabby hands. Keith’s never been able to deny Lance much of anything and finds himself scooting closer to Lance. He scoops him up in his arms, holding him close. Keith rests his head on Lance’s shoulder.

 “So, I’m  technically  still dating you because you asked, we can consider it a trial run. When we get home, then we can see about  actually  being together.”

 “Okay.”

 “Can we do that?”

 “Yeah. We can.” Keith nods.

 “Good.” He rubs his back and then squeezes him, pushing him upright after. “First things first though.”

 “Hmm?” Keith tilts his head as Lance undoes the top two buttons on his shirt.

 “You need to shower. You’re greasy and smell like sweat. While you’re doing that I’ll order us something to eat, maybe we can crack open one of those mini-fridge drinks for the fuck of it, and talk.”

 “Why do you always want to talk?”

 “Communication is key to every relationship. You better get used to it.” Lance sticks his tongue out.

 “Lance, I would learn Spanish for you.”

 “I’ll hold you to it. Now go.  A bañar. ” Lance pushes Keith towards the bathroom.

       He eventually has the strength back in his legs to move and he pauses in the doorway, giving Lance one last look. He smiles, winks, blows him a kiss and then shoos at him. Keith feels lighter, more complete, and that Lance will  want  to stay with him. For once in such a long time, he looks forward to a relationship and knows that they will make it work.

[demon-sushi]

Lavender

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month, day 28, Nightmare/cuddling

        All Keith can see is a flat expanse of sand stretching out around him. The sun is bright and hot, bearing down on him with an intensity that makes him think about ants under a magnifying glass. He runs, sand shifting under his feet and slowing him down. His mom is out here somewhere, he just knows it. 

 “Mom!?” He shouts. Nothing changes. It’s hot, it’s bright, he’s sweaty and can hardly breathe. He uses his arm to block out the sun for the moment, spinning around slowly. But there’s nothing around him to use as a landmark. 

        There are no rolling sandy hills. There are no sun-bleached bones or remains of an unfortunate creature. No dying, twisted, plant ready to snap and tumble under the non-existent breeze. No bodies of water, mirage or real, in the distance. Hell, his footprints don’t even exist. 

        It’s only him in the flat sand and heat. He growls, his instincts are failing him and he can’t tell where he’d come from or where he should go. He picks a direction and runs again, shouting for a mother who had never been in his life before and trying desperately to find her. 

        He falls, sand burning his palms and legs. He screams in frustration. He’s tired. He lays on his back and stares up at the bright sky. After a moment he gets up and runs again. But no matter how much he runs, how loud he screams, he’s alone.

 .ooo.

        Keith wakes up breathing heavily and feeling like he’d run a mile or two. His body aches and when he kicks his blankets off he finds himself coated in sweat. He takes a few deep breaths, gets up, and showers. 

        He sits down in the dining area, rubbing his face as he looks at the questionable food Coran has prepared for breakfast this morning. Which tells him Coran woke before Hunk did today. Lance slides into the seat next to him and makes a strange noise when he looks at Keith.

 “You look awful, man.” He says.

 “I’m tired.” Keith grunts. 

 “Didn’t sleep well?”

 “No.” He grunts and powers through the weird texture of the food in front of him. Though honestly, each bite makes him want to gag, he just turns his mind off and swallows it with as minimal chewing as possible.

        The next few sleep cycles are like this. Chasing the ghost of his mother in a neverending expanse of sun, sand, and sweat. He wonders if learning about his new heritage has made the old ache rise up from his mind. A new piece to the puzzle that is his life, his mom, and why she’d left. 

        But the answer isn’t enough. She’s alive, an alien but specifically Galran in origin, a member of a rebellious group, and nothing else. No picture or name, just a knife. And it makes him wonder how much his dad knew. It makes him wonder about another old ache of his, if his dad really died.

.zzz.

        It’s dark this time. He can see the silhouettes of tall, nearly black, buildings surrounding him. Everything around him is hazy though, smoke filling his lungs and cutting his vision. It’s hot in its own way. No bright sun beating on him, but a fire surrounding him and slowly encroaching on where he stands. He coughs, trying to fan the smoke from his face as he looks for his dad.

        But, weren’t we looking for mom?

        No. No, he’s sure he’s been looking for his dad. He can’t get enough of a breath to shout for him though. He drops himself to his knees and crawls like he’d been taught before. It should have kept him out of the smoke a bit more, but all he can taste is the bitter flavor of it on the back of his tongue.

 “Dad!” He shouts, coughs, wheezes. The ground under him is burning. His head spins and he can feel the ache of tears at the back of his throat and stinging his eyes. He’s alone.

 .ooo.

        Waking up crying and mourning his dad is not new. It’s been quite a long time since it last happened though. He hates it, every piece of it. He runs his hands through his hair, shivers from the sweat cooling on his body, and showers.

        He can feel exhaustion tug at his bones but it’s ignorable. During a round of training as a team, he can feel himself get sloppy with his strikes and he gets knocked on his ass. He lays there for a few moments. The training comes to a halt as his team comes over to make sure he’s okay.

 “I’m fine.” He sighs, pushing himself up to his feet.

 “Are you sure?” Lance asks him. 

 “Yeah. Just tired.” 

 “Ugh, same.” Pidge groans. 

 “Can we be done now?” Hunk asks Shiro who relents. Training is called for the day and the team sigh with relief as they all make their way to the showers. 

 “Keith?” Shiro calls him before he can follow the rest.

 “Yeah?”

 “Are you sure you’re okay?”

 “I’m fine,” Keith reassures him. He can see the gears are turning behind Shiro’s eyes as he thinks silently and a small frown on his lips.

 “You’ll talk to me if that changes, right?”

 “Of course.” Keith nods. Shiro still looks like there’s more he wants to say, but doesn’t. He simply leaves his mentor behind in the training room.

 .zzz.

        He’s running through a maze of metal walls as red lights flash and emergency alarms blare over and over. His suit has already taken on extensive damage, meaning he’s aware of the steadily rising temperature on the ship and how thin the air feels in his lungs. He has to find Shiro.

        But we were looking for dad?

        No, it was mom?

        He shakes his head. They’re both gone, why would he be looking for them? He needs Shiro. The labyrinth just doesn’t seem to end. He can feel sweat starting to bead on his brow, drip down along his back as he tries desperately to breathe any air he can. He hits dead-end after dead-end, backtracking, and taking different routes. He’s horribly lost without a way to track where he’s been.

        It doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried. He’s used his bayard, his mom’s knife but the marks are gone the second he looks away. His head spins as the heat starts to get to him. He collapses in one of the halls, trying to breathe, boiling in his suit. He’s alone.

 .ooo.

        He wakes up and finds he’d ended up lying face down on his pillow and had been slowly smothering himself by accident. He’s woozy as he sits up, grimacing at the sweat on his body. 

 “Come on.” He hisses at no one, getting up and calling it morning now.

        His exhaustion level increases. He snaps a bit more at everyone around him. He’s finding the smallest things aggravating. He’s finding his mind fuzzing out at the edges as his brain tries forcing him to sleep at inopportune times. It’s a mess and he’s taking to pinching his arms and even biting at his knuckles to keep him focused. 

        It’s not exactly a healthy way to do it, he’s aware. But he’s also not expecting anyone to notice or call him out on it. However, things don’t always go as expected, especially not in a war zone with magical mecha-lions and the power of friendship.

 “Keith, seriously, what’s been up with you man?” Lance pulls him aside after a debrief about a recent mission. Keith has to give him credit for making this something private between the two of them when he could have done it in front of the others. 

 “What do you mean?” He asks. 

 “I’ve seen what you’ve been doing,” Lance tells him, his hand taking Keith’s. “You’re hurting yourself. And look, maybe it’s not my place, but that doesn’t seem like you. Or if it is, it’s clearly getting worse and you need help.” Keith finds himself pulling away from Lance entirely.

 “I don’t need help. I’m fine.” He turns his back to Lance who refuses to let it go. 

 “Keith, it’s obvious you’re struggling with something. I just want to help.” 

 “Take your help and shove it somewhere else. I’m going to the training room.” Keith snaps and heads off that way.

 .zzz.

        He’s out in the desert again and he’s looking for his mom. He’s running through the sand with the sun on his back. He trips on his own feet and lands -- on burning hot concrete, scuffing his knees and choking on the smoke. His dad should be here, where is he? He pushes himself back up and -- stands in a metal hallway with thin air and alarms. Where’s Shiro?

        He takes a turn and runs through smoke and fire. Stumbling into a building sends him spilling out against the sandy wastelands and bright sunlight. He screams louder than the alarms in frustration and it echoes off metal walls. Every blink the scenery shifts. 

        He’s looking for... 

        MDSAOAHLMDIORNOE

        MODASHALMDIRONOE

        MOMDADSHIROALONE

        MOM DAD SHIRO

        ALONE.

 .ooo.

        Keith is so fucking tired. He can’t make himself fall asleep without the sense of dread clawing at his dreams. Pinching his arm has evolved into tugging at his hair, biting his knuckles moves into biting his arm. It’s a struggle to stay awake now and it shows.

        He fumbles in simple training exercises, can’t hold a civil conversation anymore, desperately chugging anything that’s vaguely caffeinated. He lays in bed and stares up at his dark ceiling, feeling panic settle in his ribs before he’s even asleep. He gets up and paces around and ends up going through motions of boxing forms and stances.

        Muscle memory takes over for him, especially as he throws a few, non-regulation moves borrowed from other fighting styles. He’s a dirty fighter after all. But the motions do little to soothe the anxious bubble in his chest at the thought of sleeping. He’s simply sweaty, tired, and more anxious than before. 

 “Come on!” He growls, kicking at the wall for good measure before stepping out of his room. He drags his hands along his face as he leans against the wall.

 “Keith?” Lance steps out of his room with a small yawn. “What’re you doing up?”

 “...Nothing.” He pulls his hands away to look at Lance.

 “Mhmm. And I’m the queen of England.” He rolls his eyes.

 “It’s fine, Lance.”

 “Pardon my French, but I call bullshit.”

 “Lance.” He groans.

 “Look, at least go talk to Shiro if not me?” He crosses his arms as he leans against his doorway. But they both know it’s not going to happen. Because on the off-chance Shiro is asleep, the man will need it. He’s probably running on more fumes than Keith is but simply knows how to hide it better.

 “...I can’t sleep.” Keith admits. Lance nods then waves Keith over to him. When he’s close enough, Lance grabs him by the arm and pulls him into his room.

 “Come on, sleepover time.” He says in response to the sputter Keith produces. “My little cousins would do this all the time with me and I would do it all the time with my older siblings too. Sleeping next to someone helps, at least for me.” He lets go and sits on the edge of his bed. 

 “I don’t…” Keith hasn’t shared a bed with anyone since he was about six or seven, curled up with his dad, and dying of a fever.

 “I won’t make you sleep in the same bed as me, but sleeping in the same room could help?” Lance shrugs.

 “Where else would I sleep?” He rolls his eyes as he walks to Lance’s bed and flops back against it. 

 “Do you want the wall or the edge?” Lance asks.

 “Wall.” Keith scoots until his back is flushed with the wall. Lance nods and lays next to him. 

        He falls asleep far faster than he’d like to admit. 

        The best part was the lack of dreams.

        The big drawback, he’s tangled in Lance’s arms when he wakes up. He should feel embarrassed or something but his exhaustion still plagues him and he can’t bring himself to mind all that much about it. Neither of them really talk about it in the morning light either. 

        And when he sleeps in his own room the following night, only to be plagued by another messy dream, he finds himself knocking gently on Lance’s door. Lance opens it, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and looks at Keith standing there. 

 “Can I...um…”

 “Yeah.” Lance waves him in and they fall asleep in the same bed together.

        It becomes enough of a pattern that Lance tells him to skip the formalities and just come to his room after dinner. Keith really feels there was a better way of phrasing it but complies with the request anyway. He’s then subjected to Lance painting a mask over his face while pinning his hair back. They lay beside each other as they wait for it to dry.

 “It’s making my face itch,” Keith says.

 “That means it’s working,” Lance tells him. 

 “Awful.” He sighs. Lance falls silent as he thinks about something.

 “Hey, Keith?”

 “Hmm?”

 “What’s been keeping you awake?” He looks over at Keith.

 “Nothing really.” He lies, glancing away. Lance clicks his tongue but drops the subject.

 “You should talk to someone you know?”

 “I’ll be fine,” Keith tells him. It’s true too. The nights staying with Lance means he’s been able to sleep properly and recover from his self-destructive habits. It’s the most well-rested he’s ever been since the start of this whole thing. 

 .zzz.

        He’s running through the castleship but it’s become a twist of long hallways and corridors. Something is missing, he’s lost someone again. The halls are like ice, he can see his breath form a soft mist. He rubs his cold arms as he looks around, blue lights casting an eerie sensation over the empty corridors.

 “Hello?” His teeth chatter and he peers into every empty room. There’s no one here. Who is he looking for? The ground under him rumbles and water slowly oozes up. He shakes his head and starts running again. He knows who he’s looking for by the time the frigid water is at his mid-calf.

 “Lance!?” He calls out. There’s no answer. He has no idea where he is in the castle, if he’s even in it at this rate. The water is rushing in faster and soon he can’t run as he had before. He shuffles awkwardly through it all, teeth clattering hard as he looks around desperately for his fellow teammate.

 “Lance!” He finds himself falling to a standstill, body too tired, and too cold to keep moving. The water slowly covers his face. He’s going to drown. He’s alone. He struggles to hold his breath and then there’s a hand wrapping around his arm.

 “Keith?” 

 .ooo.

        He jolts upright, choking on his spit as someone rubs their hands along his back. He looks over at the source and sees Lance sitting there with concern written all over him.

 “Are you okay? You kept saying my name. It sounded like you were scared.” He says. Keith finds himself on the edge of something he can’t quite name as he stares at Lance. 

 “I…” He licks his lips as he shivers. The blankets are on the floor and he wonders who had kicked them off in the night, him or Lance. Lance doesn’t say anything, letting Keith gather the words he needs while his hands never stop their soothing circles along his body. Keith takes in a deep breath. 

 “I keep having nightmares.” He says and Lance nods. “I’m always looking for someone, my mom, my dad, or even Shiro. But I can’t find them. I’m just…” He falters on his words, as if speaking them would bring it into reality. 

 “Alone?” Lance whispers though as if reading Keith’s mind. He manages a small nod. 

 “I’m always alone.” 

 “And this one? Were you… looking for me?” Lance tilts his head. 

 “...I was.” He chews his lip. “It was the castle and it was so cold and just filling with water and I was going to drown, but you woke me up.”

 “Jesus,” Lance whispers, and he leans down to pick a blanket up off the floor. He wraps it around Keith’s shoulders and rubs his arms with the blanket. 

        Keith tips over the edge. His jaw wobbles as the sting of tears come to him. He lets himself fall forward and tucks his face into Lance’s neck. Lance pauses for a moment, shocked probably, but his arms fall around Keith and hold him close.

 “I’m so scared of being alone again.” He chokes on his sob. 

 “But you’re not alone.”

 “You don’t know that. All of you could just vanish into thin air or -- or die! And I’d have no one!” His hands reach out and cling to Lance’s shirt.

 “That’s not true. We aren’t going anywhere, Keith.”

 “I can’t -- I can’t do it again. I can’t lose the people I care about again.” 

 “And you won’t. We’re gonna be safe. I promise.” Lance rubs his back. He cries as Lance holds him. Cries for the mother who’d disappeared before he was even old enough to remember her. Cries for the dad who most likely gave his life to save another. Cries for the lost year between him and Shiro. Cries at the thought of Lance leaving him the way everyone else ever has in his life.

        Lance doesn’t say anything, but neither does he. He simply holds him, rocks them back and forth gently while rubbing his back. When the tears finally die out as he’s left with gaspy, wet, breaths and he leans back and looks at Lance.

 “Better?” He asks.

 “Not really,” Keith admits. 

 “Do you want to talk about it?” 

 “...You want my tragic backstory?” He wipes his face.

 “I want you to be okay. If talking about it helps, then let’s talk about it.” He shrugs.

        So he tells Lance everything. All of his fears of abandonment and rejection and the ugly barbed wires he’d long since wrapped himself in to protect his heart. The thing with barbed wire though, is that there isn’t exactly a safe place to be. The thing he’d used to protect himself as a kid only hurt him the older he got. 

        He’s too afraid to reach out and let people in, lest they see something of no worth and leave him behind. If he pushes them away with sharp actions and sharper words, he can’t get hurt when they disappear. It leads him to lack friends, family, forcing him into isolation where he suffers the most. 

        And Lance, he nods in understanding through it all. He interrupts for clarification about certain topics, but mostly is silent and listening. He doesn’t stop holding Keith, arms still looped around his shoulders and a hand rubbing his back. And as much as Keith didn’t think it would, it honestly helps to finally talk about this.

        Lance lays them both down on the bed when he gets it all out. He rubs his shoulder and side as he holds him close. Lance talks about his issues, the wavering self-confidence, the severe doubt in his abilities, and his place on the team, even his own low self-worth, and lower self-esteem. Keith listens just as Lance had for him, making small remarks and questions every now and then.

        The air feels lighter between them. Ugly weights they’ve held close to their chests finally settled somewhere else for the time being. It lets the two of them fall asleep in the other's arms between whispers of things they want, things they’d improve on.

        Keith finds he doesn’t have his nightmares as much anymore. Especially not when he’s with Lance.

[demon-sushi]

Sober Up

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month Day 20. Drunk Confessions

        Five years ago Lance was a Defender of the Universe, a Paladin of Voltron, and in one of the most awkward relationships, he’d ever had. Sure he’s still considered to be a Paladin, but what does that really mean when Pidge is off training the next generation? What does it really mean when the lions were now nothing but tall statues, empty and lifeless since they defeated Honerva. His mind has never been so quiet before. 

        Four years ago, he ended things with Allura. It was good for like, the first week, but then everything went to hell in a handbasket and there was just too much going on to build the foundation of a solid relationship. It began to be painfully clear to him the longer it went on that Allura was essentially using him. Not only as a rebound but also to satisfy her curiosities about humans in general. Though to be fair, you could say he was using her as well. He was wanting a relationship, and he had some feelings for her so it was good enough for him. Though once with her, he wasn’t sure if this was really what he’d been dreaming of.

        Four years ago was the last time he really had any time to see Keith. Keith made himself scarce after the end of it all. But somewhere between wondering if a proposal would make things work between him and Allura and breaking up with her two months after that thought, Keith had vanished. Not even Shiro knew how to get a hold of him.

        Well, at least for a year, because three years ago Shiro was married and Keith had been there as his best man. Hunk and Pidge cried the whole day, Coran watched everything with curious eyes, and Allura caught the boutonniere that Shiro tossed into the crowd. She held it carefully in her palms and glanced at Lance for an explanation of the jeers tossed her way. Keith stared at him as well and that was the last meaningful time he’d seen him. 

        Two years ago he moved off Earth. Being in space for as long as he had made the planet seem far too small. He was known everywhere he went and while it was fine at first, it wore on him. Now, less than a year later he’d finally gotten a place of his own secured. The planet’s residents are fairly humanoid, diurnal with one sun and twenty-six hour rotation, and they were kind enough to respect his privacy when he would ask for it. 

        They acknowledge he’d done something great but understood he was just a person as well. And once getting a place, a job working alongside Hunk even, he sent a line out to his fellow teammates. Shiro responded with an apology, citing he would be busy with his husband at the time and Lance understood. Hunk, of course, agreed to meet up and Pidge was quick to get themselves on a ship headed out that way. There was the usual radio silence from Keith.

        Pidge slides into the booth across from Lance at one of the local places that Hunk appreciates about a week later. Lance smiles brightly, though not as much as Hunk does. And when he makes a teasing comment, Hunk kicks him under the table.

 “What’s up, nerds.” Pidge greets. “Haven’t seen you in a while, Lance.” They get comfortable against Hunk’s side.

 “I think the last time I saw you, was on Hunk’s video call. Can’t believe he actually paused mid dough-kneading.”

 “I was letting it rest! Resting is an important part of making bread!” Hunk nudges him under the table again.

 “A real bun in the oven.” Lance snickers and yelps with Hunk’s third kick.

 “Wow.” Pidge rolls their eyes. “But I should have expected you to move out here.” 

 “What’s that supposed to mean?” Lance pouts. They wave their hand to Hunk and then to him and back again.

 “Hunk’s here.”

 “You make it sound like Hunk and I are together.” 

 “I know you’re not.” They shrug and lean a bit more against Hunk.

        Lance gets to tell the pair about his new place and how he’s happy where he is finally. It feels like old times back on the castle ship talking over food and teasing one another. Halfway through dinner Hunk’s eyes go wide at something over Lance’s shoulder. He turns and sees  Keith making his way over.

        Lance finds himself getting up out of the booth before he really processes it. One second he’s in the booth with Hunk and Pidge, the next he’s got his arms around Keith’s shoulders. There are a few things Lance notices. One, Keith’s hair has gotten very long, long enough to warrant him pulling it into a loose tail that drapes over his left shoulder. Two, he smells great, better than Lance could ever recall. And number three, Keith’s now much taller than the last time he saw him. 

        At Shiro’s wedding, Keith was probably a few inches taller than him, much to his displeasure. But now? He comes up to Keith’s shoulder and that makes his stomach flip around at the thought. He also catches the faintest lilac markings along his jaw and neck that remind him of Krolia’s. Though it’s so faint he isn’t sure if it’s a trick of the light.

        The clothes he’s wearing seem like a mix of different cultures. Human from the jacket he wears, Altean based on its shapes but Galran because of the color pallet. It's snug over his body and Lance wouldn’t hesitate to believe if there was some form of armor within them. 

 “Hey, Lance.” Keith gives him the smallest quirk of his lips. Lance drags him over to the booth they’re at. Keith looks hesitant.

 “You’re looking good.” He smiles and Keith snorts softly in response.

 “Dude, we haven’t seen you since Shiro’s wedding!” Hunk stares at him in awe.

 “Yeah, what the fuck?! You disappeared!” Pidge reaches over and slaps at his arm. 

 “I… I know.” Keith glances away. Lance pushes him into the booth and slides in next to him. 

 “Yeah man, you haven’t even messaged us back.” He frowns.

 “I was starting to think you were eaten or murdered or something,” Hunk admits.

 “I’ve just been busy with… other things.” 

 “Like?” Pidge crosses their arms. 

 “Mostly Galra stuff.” Keith glances out at the people in the restaurant at the mention. No one reacts, they were some of the few that had been on the fringes and mainly saw refugees during the Empire’s height.

 “You don’t  get to be vague.” 

 “Fair.” Keith chuckles. He looks tired beyond his years, lost in a way Lance has never seen before. 

 “You look like shit,” Pidge says. Keith looks over at them.

 “Thanks.” 

 “What’s up?” Lance asks with concern

 “Currently?” Keith raises a brow. “I think I just got divorced?” 

 “Div-Divorced!?” Hunk looks at him.

 “You have to be  married  first!” Pidge hisses.

 “You were married?” Lance whispers, his chest tightening strangely.

 “Technically?” 

 “How do you not know?”

 “I mean, we did everything we were supposed to, but I guess I don’t know how to properly forge a permanent bond or something.” Keith shrugs his shoulders as an explanation. “He got tired of it always being temporary, and we ended things.”

 “I don’t think I understand.” Pidge furrows their brows.

 “Essentially I was marrying him? Because Galra culture rules and such, but since it wouldn’t be a  lasting  mark it was kinda like an on again-off again situation.”

 “You were Galra married?” 

 “It’s… weird.” Keith sighs and then turns to Lance. “But this isn’t about me. I’m glad you’re getting your life together.” He smiles.

 “What’s that mean?” Lance raises a brow.

 “Nothing really.” He shrugs.

 “Are you going to stay here long?” Hunk asks.

 “I don’t know, really. Kinda’ve been looking for a place to go I guess. I was about to drop in on Shiro but I hear he’s touring space around with his husband and diplomacy with Allura or something?” 

 “Yeah, they’ve been checking to see if anyone needs additional assistance and providing it where they can.” Pidge nods.

 “Sounds like him.” Keith chuckles.

 “Well, if you need a place to crash,” Hunk looks over to Lance who tilts his head. “Lance does have a spare room.” 

 “You do?” Keith furrows his brows in confusion. Lance laughs nervously.

 “Well yeah. It was cheaper to get an extra room for some reason?”

 “That’s cool.” 

 “I’m staying at Hunk’s until I go back, which honestly I’ve been needing a break.” Pidge groans and tilts their head back. “The greenhorns are just  so  much.” 

 “Ooo, at Hunk’s place huh?” Lance teases. Keith yelps and Lance cackles as he realizes Hunk must’ve kicked his shin instead of Lance’s.

        Keith doesn’t order food, just sits there, and seemingly enjoys the talking. They pay for their food and Keith follows them out.

 “Wow, you’re taller than me now.” Hunk whistles. 

 “I think I’m six-eleven now?” Keith curls in on himself, hands tucked into his jacket pockets. 

 “That’s so unfair!” Pidge whines. 

 “I mean, I’m going through a whole second puberty because of it.” Keith sighs. “It sucks just as much the first time around.”

 “Tell me about it.” Lance rolls his eyes and nods.

 “Well, this is me.” Keith stops by a beaten hovercraft. It’s nothing at all like the one he had back on Earth and Lance wonders what became of it. 

 “Don’t lose touch with us again.” Hunk steps over and pulls Keith down into a hug, spinning them around until he can look at Lance around him. ‘Ask him’ He mouths and then pats Keith’s back. Pidge hugs him too barely at chest height for Keith.

 “Yeah man, I don’t wanna lose you to space.” 

 “I’ll try not to,” Keith promises. Pidge also looks expectantly at Lance who sighs softly. 

        It’s not like he doesn’t want Keith to be with him. Perhaps it’s a bit selfish of him, but he had wanted the place to himself a bit longer. Though the sight of Keith’s craft, the fact he can spot a duffle bag that he’s fairly sure the guy’s living out of, and the begging from his two friends get to him. He does care about Keith and he doesn’t want to lose him for another two to three years again.

 “Keith, come on. You can stay with me at my place.”

 “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

 “You’re not.”

 “I mean, I’m sure there’s like a hostel or something I can stay at.”

 “Oh my god. Keith. My place is free.”

 “So is a park bench, technically.” Keith points out.

 “No! You’re not sleeping on a park bench!” Lance crosses his arms.

        It takes an amazing amount of convincing from everyone to get Keith to agree to stay at Lance’s place. Then it’s a drive over and giving a tour to his guests. Pidge is impressed by the size, which means they’ll definitely be impressed by Hunk’s size. Which is a joke he makes only to be elbowed by a bright-red Hunk. Keith awkwardly thumbs the strap of his duffle bag and Lance shows off the mostly empty extra room he has.

        Keith promises to be gone as soon as he finds a place to call his own. But then one month passes. And one month becomes two. Two become three. Three starts to move into four and Lance gets the guy a damn mattress at this point. Sleeping bags on hard floors aren’t the nicest of things to do for extended periods of time after all. 

        He and Hunk slip it in on one of the rare occasions Keith’s out doing a random handyman job that’s really picked him back up. They’re quick to put the bed frame together and slam a mattress on that bitch. To be fair, it’s Lance’s old one since he’d been planning on getting something new for a while now, but at least it's in good condition and he knows for a fact there are no bugs on it.

        He even makes sure to roll out Keith’s sleeping bag on top of the mattress. Keith comes home smelling like gasoline and oil, fingers stained black. Lance pushes him into the bathroom before he touches anything making sure the guy showered first. Keith comes back out with clean hands and a towel.

        Lance finds his eyes following the dips and curves of Keith’s body. So instead of letting his mind continue to wander down the avenue of bad thoughts, he decides to counter it with a different bad thought. 

 “The place Hunk and I volunteer at gave us a bunch of fancy alien alcohol.” He leans against the doorframe to Keith’s room and watches the guy enter his room. He gasps softly when he sees his new bed and glances over to Lance. 

 “Wait, when did you --”

 “So wanna do shots of alien vodka?” He asks over him. Keith looks between his new bed and Lance before shaking his head with a small smile.

 “Sure. If you tell me how this bed got here.” Keith walks into his room and groans when he realizes Hunk and Lance had put his clothes away in the closet while they were at it. He gets his clean clothes off the hangers and looks at Lance expectantly.

 “I needed a new one and you looked like you were dying by sleeping on the floor every night.” Lance shrugs. Keith hums and accepts this answer. He pulls on fresh clothes and Lance rolls off the doorframe.

 “Where do you want to get wasted?”

 “Anywhere with you,” Keith responds so smoothly and it has him shivering. Lance grabs the bottles and hops onto Keith’s new bed with them. 

 “Then here, in case it knocks us out.” Lance offers. 

 “I’ll get the trash can from the bathroom then.” Keith chuckles, leaving and returning with it. 

 “Shit, I should have had you get the shot glasses.” He sighs. 

 “Weaksauce, we die like men.” Keith takes one of the bottles and opens it up.

 “You won’t.”

 “Bet.” Keith chuckles and takes a hearty swig from the bottle. He makes a face but hands it over to Lance.

 “How is it?” He asks. 

 “Well, I’ve tasted far worse.”

 “Like what?”

 “Gas for one.”

 “Gas? Like, from the 2000s? How even?”

 “It wasn’t Earth gas.” Keith laughs.

 “Then?” He asks and takes a smaller sip out of the bottle. It’s certainly…  something. He can’t tell if it’s unpleasant or not but it’s certainly bitter on his tongue and burns his throat. 

 “Nah, nah, nah, none of that pussyfoot shit.” 

 “Pus-- what?”

 “Big sips, big boy.” Keith nudges him.

 “Fine!” Lance growls and tilts his head back, taking at least two large swallows.

 “Impressive.” Keith chuckles. Lance coughs and sputters, passing it to Keith.

 “Ugh, that’s awful.”

 “How much do you think we need to drink to get buzzed?” Keith asks looking at the bottle and then takes a few more chugs.

 “I dunno but we got three bottles here, counting that one,” Lance tells him. 

        It turns out, it’s much stronger than either of them were anticipating. A quarter of the way through the first bottle they are very much drunk. Though it doesn’t exactly stop them from trying to finish it off.

 “Did you miss me?” Lance asks him, staring at the bottle. 

 “Of course I did. Missed all y'all.” Keith paces himself more now, sipping slowly from it. Lance shifts, resting his head on Keith’s shoulder.

 “What happened? The marriage thing.”

 “Galra form these mate bonds via like, neck biting during sex? I’d bite him and all, but it was more like a hickey than anything.” He hums, passing Lance the bottle. “So they’d fade and so would the little bond made. He hated it really.” 

 “Why didn’t you just bite him then?” Lance sips.

 “It didn’t… feel right? I liked him sure, but honestly? I think he was just more of a distraction than anything else.” 

 “I feel you. ‘Lura and I were the same. She wanted to know about humans, I just wanted to accomplish every young boy’s dream of being with a princess.” He pauses. “Or well, every boy’s dream if they liked girls at least.” 

 “I was gonna say, I was  way  more into the knights that’d come to save her.”

 “Oh totally.” Lance passes the bottle back.

 “So what happened?”

 “Hmm?”

 “With you two?”

 “Dude, we broke up ages ago.” Lance snickers.

 “I guess I just thought you’d get back together or something.”

 “Nah. She was nice and pretty, but wasn’t what I wanted.” Lance hums. Keith takes another draw from the bottle and hands it over.

 “What were you wanting then?”

 “Honestly?” 

 “Yeah.”

 “...You.” Lance looks up at him.

 “What?” Keith pulls away to look at Lance properly

 “I wanted you. For you to stop me from making that mistake of dating her. For you to tell me I was worth it. For you to choose me first.” Lance runs his hand through his hair. “But you did what you always do. You went quiet and let me fuck myself over and ran away.”

 “I -- I didn’t run away.” Keith shakes his head.

 “Keith, you fucked off the face of the universe for three years and we had no clue if you were even alive.”

 “That’s not --”

 “Was it worth it?”

 “I don’t under--”

 “You got on-again, off-again married to some rando we don’t know for who knows how long, and you never bothered to even read our damn messages?” Lance can feel the well of tears springing up to his eyes.

 “That’s --”

 “God my brain has never been so empty and quiet without Blue or Red poking in my head and you were gone and I had no one to talk to all over again!” He rubs his eyes.

 “Again?”

 “You ran away from us to the Blades and everyone was always busy doing their own thing but me!”

 “...I didn’t run away to the Blades, Lance.”

 “Then why the fuck did you leave?”

 “For you!”

 “For me!? ”

 “Six paladins, five lions, one paladin too many.” Keith reminds him.

 “So you just left.”

 “I made a choice. You deserved to stay.”

 “That wasn’t your choice to make!” Lance pokes his chest. 

 “I was the leader, it was my choice. I chose for you to stay where you were needed.”

 “And then nearly killed yourself after months of radio silence from you! Why do you think we were all so fucking scared when you disappeared?”

 “...I’m sorry.”

 “You ran away.”

 “...I did.”

 “Why?”

 “Because I --” Keith sighs, tugs on the end of his ponytail and groans. “I couldn’t stand the thought of you and Allura getting together! And in the Quantum Abyss I had seen things from the future, do you know what I saw?”

 “What?” Lance glares.

 “I saw you had a wonderful, little, happy fucking family with her! It tore me to pieces, Lance!” Keith growls. “It dug so far under my skin that it was all I could see.” 

 “Well fuck your future vision! It was wrong!” Lance crosses his arms. 

 “How do you know huh? Maybe you’ll get back with her again!”

 “Like hell, I would!”

 “Oh really?”

 “We’re… not compatible…” Lance’s anger suddenly deflates. Keith blinks, confused at the sudden shift in the atmosphere.

 “Not… compatible?”

 “Don’t make me say it.” Lance sighs, pulling his legs up and resting his chin on his knees. Keith looks him over and it’s easy to ignore for the most part. 

 “Oh right, sorry,” Keith says.

 “So whatever happy family you saw, it wasn’t ours. Probably won’t even  be  mine, to begin with.” He takes a breath, holds it for five seconds, and releases it slowly. “I’m dealing with that on my own right now though.” 

 “...Lance.”

 “Can we go back to yelling at each other? That felt better.” He rubs his eyes. Keith tilts his head back and it thunks against the wall.

 “I can’t have kids either.” He says, catching Lance off guard. 

 “What?” He looks over at Keith.

 “I was talking with Matt and some of the other rebels and, well to make a long story short, they figured it was a possibility I was sterile because I’m half-human.” Keith stares at the ceiling.

 “...And you are?”

 “Yeah.” He closes his eyes. “It’s fine though. I’d probably be a shitty dad anyway.”

 “I think you’d be a good dad.” Lance turns to face him properly. Keith looks over at him and they stare at each other in silence for a few moments. 

 “...I like you.” Keith whispers. 

 “Do you?”

 “A lot. ‘S why I hated you being with her.”

 “Then you should have stopped me sooner.”

 “I couldn’t. I wanted you to be happy. Even if it meant being with someone else.” 

 “...And if I didn’t want to be?”

 “What do you mean?”

 “God, I already said. I like you and I wanted you to do something. I wanted a sign of something to show you were interested in me, but you just came back colder than before.” Lance pouts. “I kept thinking I did something wrong.”

 “You didn’t,” Keith tells him. 

 “...Then? What do we do now?”

 “First, sober up.”

 “Obviously.” Lance nods.

 “Then we come back to the fact we both mutually like each other.” 

 “We’re gonna forget.” 

 “Nope.” Keith gets up and Lance whines. He digs around until he finds a pad of paper and a pen. 

 “What are you doing?”

 “Leaving us a note.” Keith hops back onto the bed and writes a quick letter down.

 “We should both sign it.” Lance decides. “That way we both agree to it.”

 “Yeah.” Keith nods, signing the bottom of the page and handing it to Lance. He does his best attempt at his name but it’s hard when everything is moving slightly.

 “Let me just,” Keith takes it back and sets it on the nightstand. “There.” He nods at it and then tosses the pen to the floor with a mumble. Lance copies him and kicks the empty bottle to the floor. They both laugh when it doesn’t break.

 “Hey, Keith?” Lance curls up against his side.

 “Yeah?”

 “I like you.” His eyes feel heavy.

 “I like you too.” Keith hums, shifting and holding Lance better.

[demon-sushi]

Better Latte Than Never

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Month Trope, Day 9. Flirting

        Lance has long since decided that the worst thing one can do in any class is to not have at least one friend. Preferably, a smart one or one that has good work ethics. It helped him a lot back in high school when he was goofing off. This is especially true in college courses, now that he’s giving it his actual academic all. He’s not even a biology major and yet here he is, a solid fifteen minutes early to his anatomy class for the science credit. His professor is a sweet lady, and she lets him in with some of the other early birds.

        He debates on what table he should take, eventually sliding into one of the ones near the back of the class. A pretty girl sits a table away from him to his right, he smiles and waves and she does the same. Most of the class seems to be present but someone pushes open the door in a loud bang due to the rush. They apologize to the professor who gives them a strained smile.

        Please, don’t sit next to me. Lance crosses his fingers under the desk, nothing says bad student like turning up late, he should know. Long black hair, black shirt, black pants, everything about them screams do not interact by the way they carry themselves and the fact at least two people flinch when they meet eyes with this person. 

 “Keith?” The professor asks.

 “Yeah.” Mystery guy says. 

 “Sit wherever you like.”

 “Thank you.” Keith nods and glances quickly around the room.  He’s kinda cute though, Lance hums to himself.

        And then Keith moves, drops himself in the seat directly on Lance’s left and he wants to scream. He sneaks a glance at Keith who’s busy digging through his bag, pulling his notebook out and a pen. He uncaps his pen with his teeth, scrawls an angry circle in one corner to make sure it works and then the date. 

        Lance pays dutiful attention, even if it’s just going over the syllabus. Keith though is head-bobbing and looks like he’s five seconds from crashing. Lance rolls his eyes and looks over at the pretty girl wondering how he’s going to get her name and talk with her.

.o.0.o.

        Keith hasn’t been late since the first day, Lance notices. He comes in on time, paper cup of coffee in hand. He takes all of his notes with his blue ballpoint pen, scribbling in something illegible whenever Lance glances over at it. He continues trying to make friends with the girl, Jenny.

.o.0.o.

        They are all instructed to pair up with the person at their table for the lab. Lance groans internally but turns to Keith. 

 “Ready to cut up a sheep brain?” He turns to Keith and his brain stumbles. Keith’s pulling his hair up to keep it contained and shifts his papers aside.

 “Sure.” He hums. “I’ll get the tools?” 

 “Yeah.” Lance nods. Keith gets the supplies they need and Lance is passed the brain. Lance watches as Keith carefully slices through it and Lance labels the indicated pieces. He glances over at Jenny and watches her stare at the brain, confused.

 “Lance?” 

 “Yes?” He jumps and looks to the voice. Keith is giving him a flat look. 

 “Are you writing this all down?”

 “Totally, can’t you see?” Lance gestures to his paper. Keith sighs and shakes his head. He looks back over to Jenny while Keith reviews his paper. She happens to glance over to him and he leans closer to her.

 “Can you fix my cerebellum?” He asks and she tilts her head curiously. “Because I can’t stop tripping over how beautiful you are.” He rests his chin in his palm. She gives him a small smile and then turns back to her work.  Strike one. Keith snorts next to him and he glances back to his lab partner.

 “That was bad,” Keith says, shaking his head and then gets up with the brain remains. “Clean up the tools?” 

 “Yeah.” Lance watches the guy toss the brain matter into a biohazard bag the professor passes around. He joins Lance by his side, washing his hands and then tugging his hair down. 

.o.0.o.

        It turns out the gibberish Keith writes in isn’t just strange alien handwriting. He finds out because he’s studying with him before a test and he can’t help but ask.

 “What even is that?”

 “Shorthand,” Keith tells him. 

 “Shorthand?” Lance looks at the scribbles and Keith then proceeds to teach him a bit on how to read it. He learns that Keith essentially has the entire lesson, word for word written out and that Keith rewrites what’s important when he gets home.

 “Seems like a lot of work,” Lance says and Keith shrugs. 

 “It’s what I’ve always done.” He sips from his coffee cup and then frowns.  Must be empty. Keith sighs and tilts his head back, staring at the ceiling. Lance turns to Jenny instead, she’s staring over in his direction so he waves. She startles and looks at him.

 “Are you a pulmonary embolism, because you take my breath away.” He smiles. She laughs but it sounds a bit forced. She looks away from him and he pouts again.  Strike two.

 “You’re awful at this, aren’t you?” Keith has his hand covering his face.

 “I’d like to see you try,” Lance says.

 “I think she’s had enough weirdos hit on her today.”

.o.0.o.

        When Jenny glances over at him today, he gives her another line. 

 “I sent your selfies to NASA because you’re a star.” He smirks. She gives him another strained smile.  Strike three. He guesses she’s just not interested in him, so he can drop it. However, he catches a stifled laugh next to him and he carefully looks over to Keith.

        The guy has his hand pressed to his face and his shoulders are shaking. It has Lance recount the other two previous failed lines. He realizes Keith laughed at them all, the way a girl like Jenny should have if she were interested. He only has one way of testing it and he waits for Keith to take more notes, exposing his face.

 “Even if there were no gravity on Earth, I'd still fall for you,” Lance says, watching Keith carefully and sees his smile and eye roll. It’s all combined with the smallest head shake.

        It’s a surprising turn of events, but he’s not about to complain at all. No, in fact, he’s going to have to amp it up the next few days. 

.o.0.o.

        Keith certainly warms up a bit more to him, especially after he catches on the lines are for him now. He uses the buttons on Keith’s bag and jacket as his guide to what the guy likes. Especially when he takes the time to swap some out and around. The ones he keeps on all the time are; one that’s a pink triangle with the words ‘silence equals death’, a simple rainbow button next to it, and a safety pin. Today includes an X-Wing fighter, a combadge from The Next Generation, and a simple UFO. 

 “I like your buttons,” Lance says during their break. Keith looks over at him.

 “Which ones?” He raises a brow and sips on his coffee.

 “Punks not dead, but Nazi’s should be,” He reads the one pinned to the chest pocket of Keith’s jacket today. “Feel it in my soul.” He catches sight of the smirk Keith has behind his cup.

 “Do you?”

 “Yeah, man. Also, my niece would go ballistic over the green one.” He taps the space it’d be on him, a simple ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’.

 “How old is she?” Keith tilts his head.

 “Like seven, but she’s really into it. Over spring break when we went back home, she wanted to just clean up the beach. And we weren’t going to stop her.” He smiles and shakes his head. “It was fun but I wouldn’t let her pick up the glass, even with her gloves on.”

 “I remember being like that too. My dad would take me out to these middle of nowhere places that teens would go to after holidays and we’d clean it up because I asked him if I could.” Keith chuckles. He taps his cup, thinking, maybe reminiscing, and the professor calls attention to the class again.

        At the end of class, as everyone is packing up Keith taps his shoulder before he can disappear off to lunch. He looks over at Keith curiously who rubs the back of his neck, looking away from him.

 “Here.” He holds his hand out. Curious Lance opens his hand and Keith places the green pin in his palm. He looks from it up to Keith a question on his lips.

 “For your niece.” He says. “Tell her I think she’s pretty cool.” He passes him to leave the room. 

        And when he does go home that day, finds his niece carefully taping two bottles together, he tells her about Keith. That he has a cool friend in college who wears spikes and all black, who’s cool and smart, and thinks that her clean up at the beach was really amazing of her. Her eyes get so wide and excited, even more so when he gives her the pin. She then proceeds to write him a letter he now has to give Keith.

.o.0.o.

        Now Lance could have just given him the letter, but he felt like getting him something as well. He gets the guy a thermos and awkwardly stuffs it into his school bag on his way to class. He finds himself getting nervous, heart fluttering in his chest as he waits at his desk for Keith to arrive. 

        When he does, coffee cup in hand, Lance’s brain blanks for a moment. Keith has pulled his hair up and Lance was not prepared for the new undercut. He also gets to see the industrial bar in his left ear, along with a few other piercings, that he hadn’t seen before.

 “You cut your hair?” Lance manages to ask as Keith sits with him. He groans and rolls his eyes.

 “Lost a bet with my roommate.” 

 “What was it?”

 “Who’d win last night’s UFC fight.” He huffs, pulling out his notebook. 

 “My tios do the same with like football and soccer.” Lance snickers. “One lost so badly, he had to dye his hair whatever color we agreed on, and he was this super machista guy, right? Naturally, us kids all went ‘pink’ and not like dusty rose pink but bright bougainvillea pink. He stopped betting for a few years.” 

 “I’ve done red before.” Keith hums. “It washed me out pretty bad, looked like a ghost.” He puts the date on the corner of his notes. Lance looks Keith over, trying to imagine it, but he just finds himself staring at Keith’s profile. From how he’s sitting, Lance can no longer see his decorated ear, but he now knows of its existence and even with the buzz cut in the back, he finds Keith to still be rather attractive.

        During the break time, he gives Keith the letter from his niece and the guy smiles fondly as he reads over it.

 “She has nicer handwriting than I did at her age.” He folds the letter back up carefully, pulling a binder out of his bag and tucking it into the clear panel on the cover. 

 “That’s not all,” Lance says and Keith looks over at him curiously.

 “What else is there?”

 “This.” Lance pulls the thermos out and hands it to Keith whose face turns red. “I always see you with your paper cup so I figured, maybe y’know, you’d want one.” He feels a little silly about it now but Keith ducks his head and looks away from him.

 “...I’ve been meaning to get one.” He admits.

 “Then I guess I beat you to it.” Lance smiles.

 “...Thank you.” Keith glances over at him and then away.  Aww, didn’t realize he was shy.

 “You’re welcome.”

.o.0.o.

        Keith comes in with the thermos now and Lance notices a subtle shift in their actions. Now when he throws a line out to Keith he gets a bit flustered, red in the face and looking away. Keith actually passes him silly doodles and they play games of tic-tac-toe on their papers. When their fingers brush near each other, Keith lets out a soft gasp every time. 

        Lance thinks he’s good at reading people, and from what he’s seeing, he believes Keith might be crushing on him. But he can’t blame the guy. He also has been falling for him, captivated by Keith’s smiles behind the lip of his thermos, the soft laugh from jokes, and the shy glances his way. Keith helps him study and lets him win every now and again at dots or tic-tac-toe and Lance is a fool who can’t help but like him. 

        So on the day of their final dissection, though not their final class day by far, he slips a gift card to the campus coffee shop into Keith’s notebook with his number in it, while he gets the tools. How he hadn’t given this guy his number yet is beyond him. 

 “Hi, little pig.” Lance murmurs as it’s set in front of him. It unsettles him a bit. Keith places a napkin over its face, feeling the same way apparently.

 “You know what?” Keith hums, carefully cutting the pig open.

 “What?”

 “I finally figured out what the smell reminds me of.”

 “The smell? Oh of the --” Lance gestures vaguely, hoping to convey the chemical smell associated with the things they’ve dissected.

 “Yeah.”

 “What’s it smell like?” Lance notes down on their worksheet some of the parts he sees.

 “You’re going to hate me for it.”

 “Oh god, tell me.”

 “Have you ever been to like, Dairy Queen after they’ve done some cleaning?”

 “Oh my god. No!” Lance snaps his head over to Keith.

 “It smells like this.”

 “No! No, it doesn’t!” 

 “It so does.”

 “It does and I hate it and I want to pretend you didn’t say that.” Lance whines. Keith laughs softly. 

 “Told you, you’d hate me.”

 “Awful, awful, awful.” Lance shakes his head. 

        He doesn’t get a text later that night, but it’s okay. Keith could be busy after all.

.o.0.o.

 “Did you leave me this?” Keith asks, showing Lance the gift card the next time they’re in class. 

 “I did.” He smiles. Keith plays with the edges of the card with a blush rising to his face. 

 “I’ve um -- I’ve never been to this place.” He says. 

 “Oh, it’s pretty good,” Lance tells him, but he can sense Keith has more to his statement. He waits patiently.

 “Would you --” He mutters something under his breath he doesn’t catch. “Would you like to go there with me, sometime?” And Lance finds it to be somewhat adorable that Keith doesn’t look at him the whole time.

 “Like, as a date?” Lance asks and Keith finally looks over at him. 

 “Yeah.” He taps the card anxiously.

 “Definitely.” Lance grins. “Can I get your number, because I like you a  latte .” He winks and Keith laughs with a head shake.

        He texts Lance during their break and they go to the coffee shop after Keith’s next class.

[demon-sushi]

High-Score

@monthlyklance‘s Klance Trope Month, Day 2. Rivals to Lovers

        It’s finally summer, a long-awaited season after the grueling spring semester at the local college. Lance is just as thankful as his friends are for the excuse to be more lazy, relaxed, and using this time to get their head in the game for the fall semester later. He saves up some of his money from working part-time at his family’s store and every other day he and his two best friends hit up the arcade. 

        There are a few cabinets they frequent. Pidge is a fan of Pac-Man and Hunk genuinely likes Centipede, but Lance is still yet to find his game. Sure he’s racked up a few high-scores on various other machines but he hasn’t found one that completely sucks the soul out of him like Pidge and Hunk have. 

        He’s in the middle of getting change when he hears about the new game here. Galaga it’s called. A spaceship shooting alien bugs in space. And yeah, Lance will admit it, he’s a total space nerd. Immediately he shoots off for the game and finds the machine wedged between Donkey Kong and Defender. There’s a small huddle around it and using his height to his advantage, Lance watches over their shoulders at the game. Oh yeah, this baby is all his. 

        No one has dibs on it next much to his surprise, so he quickly slaps down his quarter on the edge of the screen during the stage load-out. One of the people nods in approval. The guy playing gets nowhere near the high-score when he finally loses all his lives and with a click of his tongue and a hiss he relinquishes his control of the machine over to Lance. 

        Lance simply rolls his shoulders and slips his quarter in. The game starts up with a cheery tune and his little white ship. Watching the previous player helps his game immensely rather than flying in blind. At some point Hunk and Pidge come over and watch him, but he’s busy trying to keep his little ship alive. 

 “Woah, what that hell!” Lance gasps as the green -- well purple bug now that he shot it -- catches his ship in a tractor beam and sucks it up. How rude!

 “Fighter captured?” Hunk reads from the screen.

 “Dude it just ate you.” Pidge laughs. Lance pouts and waits for his second life to load. He aggressively takes out the purple bug that got him in the first place. 

 “Oh wow.” Hunk whispers as it returns his lost ship to him, hooking up with the active one. Lance fires an experimental shot and grins widely when both ships fire. 

 “Hell yeah.” He chuckles and goes to town. He too doesn’t get that close to the high-score but since no one is queued up, he just slips his quarter in for a second round.

        He does better this time around, making it to the fifth stage this time. Round three has him getting passed the first three challenging stages but dying on the twelfth stage. However, he succeeds in getting the high-score so it’s ultimately worth it. He’s quick to input his initials, ‘LMC’ into the machine, and pats it gently.

 “Time?” He turns to Pidge who rolls back their sleeves. They consult their three watches and then nod.

 “Six-thirty.” 

 “Ugh, okay. Figured it was getting late.” He groans.

 “Time to head out then?” Hunk asks.

 “Yeah, I have a shift in the morning.” Lance tucks his hands in his pockets and follows the wonder duo out to the parking lot. From there they all clamber into Hunk’s baby yellow Volkswagen bus and he takes them all home.

------

 “Wow, someone already topped your score dude.” Pidge points out on the Galaga machine. A ‘KAK’ at number one by a few thousand points. No matter, it’s easy enough for Lance to be able to reclaim. After a whole dollar and fifty cents, dying on stage seventeen, he successfully creamed whoever KAK was and placed himself back on the top.

        KAK beat him again. Punk was probably cheating or something. Lance huffs angrily and shakes his head. He stomps over to the counter to get change. The worker behind the register today is a new face, or well, new to the Friday night shift. 

 “How can I help you?” His voice is flat and the guy looks bored out of his mind. 

 “Change for a five please?” Lance hands it to him and really takes the new guy in. 

        Long hair, though who doesn’t have long hair these days? But whereas generally everyone has their hair down, if not poofed up to an insane degree, this guy has his pulled back into some bun. It’s strange sure, but it seems to suit him rather fine. Dark eyes, hard to tell what color in this lighting, pale skin maybe even giving Pidge a run for their money, and a thin scar cutting from his jaw and arcing up to his cheekbone.

        Handsome. 

 “Here you go.” Mysterious handsome cashier says, snapping Lance out of it. He takes his change and glances at the man’s name tag. Steven.

 “Thanks, Steven.” Lance smiles. He looks confused but nods regardless. Lance takes his change and goes to top KAK’s score. It takes a dollar this time, still dying on level seventeen, but his strategy is getting better.

------

        Lance’s mom would probably kill him if she knew he dipped on services today to hang out with his friends at the arcade. Perhaps it’s God’s punishment that KAK has beaten him again and that he can’t seem to top his score.

        Tuesday, he puts KAK back in second place seventy-five cents in and dying on stage twenty. He feels confident that LMC will stay at one for a bit and gives the machine a loving pat. He finds Pidge who groans and needs to go get more change to try and top someone else’s score themselves.

        Lance walks with Pidge to the counter where Steven is working. Wait - no - his name tag now reads Giles. Strange. He could have sworn it was Steven.

 “How can I help you?” Same flat tone, same bored look.

 “Change.” Pidge grunts slapping a five on the counter. Giles sighs and takes it, counting out the coins and passing them back to Pidge.

 “Here you go.” 

 “Thanks, uh, Giles?” Lance gives him an awkward wave as Pidge walks away.

 “Giles?” He thinks he hears the cashier mumble.

------

 “Man KAK is out there for your blood.” Hunk points out when Lance steps over to Galaga to check his rank. It’s true, everything under LMC is nothing but KAK. The closest score being one point away. 

        Naturally, Lance puts in a few more rounds to secure his lead. 

 “Take that KAK.” He laughs when he beats his own score.

 “Be careful man, karma’s gonna get you,” Hunk warns.

 “Someone needs to knock his ego down.” Pidge grunts. “Come on, you promised me two rounds on Frogger.” They tug on Lance’s arm and he goes willingly.

-----

        Now Lance knows that mister cashier’s name tag did not say Neil before. He’s starting to wonder who this guy is. His score has stayed in the number one spot for five days now, a new record. A part of him is almost disheartened that KAK hasn’t beaten him yet, another part is thrilled that he beat the guy. 

        With the thrill still running in his veins, he approaches the counter, leaning over it to give the mysterious man a smirk and a finger gun. Niel, as he’s apparently going by today, raises an eyebrow in response.

 “Can I help you?”

 “Yeah actually,” Lance says. Neil waits and Lance waits. And then Lance realizes that Neil is waiting for his request like some sort of android.

 “Oh, sorr--”

 “What ca--” The two of them both interrupt each other. Lance laughs it off while Neil clears his throat and looks away.

 “Um. I was wondering if you’re seeing anyone.”

 “I’m seeing you,” Neil responds. It takes Lance a moment before he’s smirking.

 “Not yet, you’re ahead of me on that one.”

 “I… What?”

 “I was going to just ask for your digits dude.” 

 “My... “ Neil starts glancing around. “Are you pranking me?” 

 “No man, I mean it. I’ll give you mine.” Lance says. Neil considers this for a few moments, chewing his lip as he thinks it over.

 “Fine,” He grabs a pen and takes Lance's hand. “I live with my brother so you’ll have to ask for me.” He says and Lance’s hand tingles where his skin touches Neil’s. He tries not to twitch too much as Neil writes every number down carefully, mumbling the number under his breath as he writes. 

 “Sick. Let me give you mine.” Lance does the same and caps the pen when he finishes his name. “I have a huge family too, so my name will get you to me.” 

 “Lance.” Neil hums as he looks it over. 

 “Don’t forget it.” Lance winks as he taps the counter and walks away.

-----

        He forgets to ask Neil for his name. Calling and asking for Niel, Giles, or Steven resulted in an immediate hanging up. Neil doesn’t call him either which bums Lance out. He ended up having to work nearly a full shift to cover for someone who didn’t show on his off day which sucked as well. In fact, by the time he finally gets off work and joins his friends at the arcade, he isn’t even in the mood for it anymore. 

        KAK has finally beaten his high score, and his cashier isn’t here today. He blows his whole five dollars he allows for the arcade and gets nowhere near KAK’s new score. Hunk simply whispers the word karma over and over again to Lance.

-----

 “Lance, phone for you.” Veronica taps on his door. 

 “Who is it?” He asks as he rolls out of his bed, setting his Spiderman comic to the side. He follows her down into the kitchen where the phone is laying on the countertop.

 “Some guy.” She says unhelpfully. Lance rolls his eyes and picks up the phone.

 “Hello? This is Lance.”

 “Oh thank god, I was wondering when they’d finally pass me to you.” The voice says.

 “...You’re the cashier at the arcade!” Lance smiles. 

 “Yeah, I am.” 

 “God, I’ve been trying to call you but I kept getting hung up on.” 

 “My brother was telling me about it. He thought you were a crank caller.” 

 “Okay, seriously, I need your name now.”

 “Oh really?” The guy sounds amused. 

 “Yeah come on, tell me.” Lance leans against the counter.

 “I’ll see what name tag they give me tomorrow.” He says instead. Lance pouts.

 “Come onnn.”

 “Okay, fine.” The guy laughs. That’s when Lance hears it, the soft click and feedback on the line.

 “Oh my god, hold on,” He tells the guy and then presses the phone to his chest as he leans around the wall to shout upstairs. “Veronica! Get off the phone!”

-------

        He beats KAK once again but gets no closer in learning the mystery cashier’s actual name. He’s starting to think maybe the guy doesn’t even have one. 

 “They’re apparently having issues making my tag.” The guy shrugs.

 “So you just take one at random out?”

 “They hand me one and write down who I was that day. That way if they get complaints they’ll know it was for me and not the actual people.” He says and Lance hums, leaning back against the counter. 

 “Do you like working here?”

 “It’s alright. I get access to the machines after closing time but don’t tell anyone.” He presses a finger to his lips with a wink.

 “What’s your favorite to play then?” Lance looks over at him.

 “Galaga.” He says quickly.

 “Dude me too.”

 “I got hooked on it when I found it. Used to play Galaxian back in my hometown, but they surprisingly don’t have it here. I was kinda bummed by it, but Galaga fills that void.” 

 “Galaxian?” He hasn’t heard of it before.

 “Yeah, I think it came out, what nearly two years ago now?” The guy shrugs. “It’s a bit harder in some aspects, but Galaga has more going for it really.”

 “Huh, weird.” It’s not like Lance to not hear of a game. Maybe if he bugs Pidge he’d get more information about it.

 “So are you going to stay at my counter all night?” He asks, raising his brow.

 “Actually, I did have something else in mind.” Lance leans over the counter.

 “Yes?”

 “When’s your next day off?” He asks. The guy blinks and then smiles.

--------

        Lance dips into his savings just a bit and takes the guy to dinner. The waitress gives them an odd look but says nothing. He takes him by the hand after paying and leads him to a theater.

 “Come on, pick one.” Lance nudges his date. 

 “Okay, okay, um.” He looks at the movies listed for today and chews his lip. 

 “I will literally watch anything.” Lance tries to assure him.

 “...Tron. Let’s see Tron.”

 “Tron?” Lance looks over at him.

 “My brother said it was good.” He shrugs. “The guy is a sci-fi nerd and I trust his judgment.”

 “Tron it is then.” Lance smiles and gets them two tickets. He fights his date on who gets to pay for a drink and popcorn and then they both settle down in the back row and watch their movie. About halfway through, somewhere between Bit screaming ‘No’ and Flynn wrecking their ship his date holds his hand and Lance’s heart is never quite the same.

--------

 “Will you please tell me your name?” Lance asks, trying to keep his voice hushed with his family asleep in the other rooms.

 “I think your guesses are fun.” His boyfriend, yes boyfriend says. They made it official a week ago.

 “Yeah, or you could be Ted Bundy for all I know.”

 “Ted Bundy is on death row, Lance. I can guarantee it’s not me.”

 “He escaped a few times!”

 “I’m not Ted Bundy, Lance.”

 “Oh my god.”

 “What do I have to do to prove it?”

 “Tell me your name.”

 “...Keith.” He says.

 “How do I know that’s your real name?”

 “I guess you’ll have to believe me on that one.” Keith laughs.

------

        Lance does believe him, but it’s better when Keith digs out his wallet and shows him his driver’s license. Keith does keep the rest of his name covered up but Lance is busy staring at the photo. In the last four years of having his license issued, Keith apparently decided to grow his hair out from the cropped almost military cut in his picture. 

 “You looked so different!” 

 “Yeah, being seventeen is like that.” Keith shrugs.

 “Wait, you got yours at seventeen?” 

 “Yeah. You?”

 “Ugh, I had to wait until I was nineteen.” Lance laments. 

 “Trust me, the extra years do nothing really.” Keith shrugs. 

------------

        He forgets to check on his high-score at the arcade. Mostly due to when he would get off work he’d be trying to get a hold of Keith and hanging out with him. There’s an intervention staged between Hunk and Pidge, who remind him he can’t put his whole life onto one boy. Not when he has plenty of other people in his life. 

        Lance finds his balance again. Time with family, time with work, time with friends, time with Keith. Right now, he’s with his friends. He does chat up Keith behind the counter who is finally wearing the appropriate name tag, though Keith does threaten to get a label maker and cover up his name.

        Pidge has to drag him away and force him into a few rounds before he gets his head back into friend time. At which point he bounces over to Galaga. A few new names are on the board but KAK has once again topped his score. Multiple times. Pidge cackles loudly and it only bruises Lance’s ego further. Hunk meanwhile shakes his head and reminds Lance he did stop playing for a while.

        Lance immediately dumps two dollars into it, getting his initials back over the board and eventually topping KAK once more. He turns to Hunk and Pidge, vowing he won’t let KAK beat him like that again. The duo shares a skeptical look but agrees to try and hold him to it.

--------------

        It goes back to that painful loop of KAK beating him, Lance struggling for a bit to top that score, only for KAK to beat him again. It’s really starting to annoy the hell out of him so he makes a plan. It always seems that KAK strikes on the days Lance isn’t there. What better way to catch him than to change up his schedule. 

        He doesn’t see anyone approach the Galaga machine that day, or the others, and he ends up getting shooed out by Keith who has to close up the place and a promise to call when he gets home after his chores. KAK then somehow crushes his score and leaves him bewildered as to when it happens.

        Lance brings up the potential of someone breaking into the arcade at night after Keith closes up but Pidge and Hunk easily debase it because nothing is stolen. Lance voices this concern to Keith who takes it a bit more seriously and goes into the back to check the cameras of the night before when KAK topped his score. When Keith comes back, confirming no one had been in the arcade between Keith's closing and Jenny's opening, Lance is only more confused.

 “It has to be a ghost then.” Lance determines. 

 “What does?” Keith asks, making sure someone covers for him while he takes his lunch break. 

 “Ugh, it’s going to sound dumb.” 

 “Alright, tell me.” He shrugs, leading Lance out of the arcade and into the main portion of the mall. 

 “Well, okay. Someone keeps topping my score in Galaga. We’ve been going back and forth on it for weeks now.” Lance vents. “It’s frustrating and I just wanna catch the guy already.”

 “You…” Keith pauses and gives Lance a strange look.

 “Hmm?”

 “Nothing. Just take me to the food court already, I’m starving.” Keith shakes his head with a secretive smile. Lance takes him by his hand and leads him to the food court and ignores the occasional odd look of a passerby.

------------

 “Anyway, how was your day at work, samurai?” Lance asks, the pet name being birthed from having gently tugged on Keith’s bun and called it a ‘top-knot, like those old samurais’ much to Keith’s instant displeasure. He refused to let Lance call him ‘Toppy’, ‘Knotty’, ‘Top-knot’, or any other derivative. He allows ‘samurai’, but barely. He’s hanging upside-down on his mother’s bed with the second house phone resting on his stomach. She went out to run errands and most of the family is elsewhere giving him some privacy.

 “Long.” Keith groans, though it echos strangely.

 “Are you hiding out in your kitchen pantry again?”

 “Yeah, my brother is being a tool and wants to keep eavesdropping,” He says very pointedly and loudly even with the phone pulled away from his face. “On my conversations with you.”

 “I feel you. At least you only have one phone and one brother.” Lance laughs. 

 “God bet he’s got a cup against the door and everything.” Keith murmurs.

 “He just wants to look out for you.”

 “I know. Kinda wished he would pick a less annoying way to do it.” Keith sighs and Lance shakes his head. He can see his mom and dad pulling up into the driveway and he groans, knowing his time on the phone with Keith is over.

 “Sorry I talked so much.” He apologizes.

 “Don’t apologize. I like listening to you.” Keith says with a honeyed fondness that has certainly grown after nearly six months. Six months filled with the stress from adding his fall semester into his juggling act as well as meeting Keith’s older brother Shiro during Thanksgiving, having Keith meet his family for Noche Bunea, and then sneaking off to be alone on New Year’s Eve with that extra lucky midnight kiss.

 “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

 “Yeah, sure. Whe--”

 “Uh!” Lance cuts him off as his mom walks into the room, a stern look on her face. “Gotta go, talk soon!” He hangs up and gives his mom a sheepish grin.

 “I thought you were sick mijo.” She crosses her arms.

 “I was! But I took my medicine and felt better!” He tries to assure her. She shakes her head with a slight smile. 

 “Go. Get to your room before your father sees.” She takes the phone from him and sets it where it belongs. “To be young and in love.” She chuckles as Lance scurries out the door.

------------

        Hunk and Pidge come along to the arcade with Lance. They’ve still yet to properly be introduced to his boyfriend yet and they are both pretty cheesed by it. Sure they’ve seen him working here, but it’s not ‘a good place for a shovel talk’ according to Pidge and ‘not the best way for a casual talk’ from Hunk. Lance is expecting to invite Keith to come hang out with them after his shift but Keith isn’t behind the counter. 

        It has him bummed if he’s honest since Keith had agreed to see Lance today on their phone call yesterday. Hunk pats his shoulder consoling him and Pidge grumbles about Keith needing to count his prayers. Lance shakes his head, slaps on a smile, and lets his friends drag him to different games for a bit. 

        But eventually, he drags the wonder duo over to Galaga where, much to his surprise, Keith is at. He breaks into a wild and manic grin as he rushes over and watches Keith go, waiting for the brief pause as the next stage loads before greeting him.

 “Hey!”

 “Hey, Lance.” He smiles, it’s crooked with a dimple on the right side and it always makes Lance’s heart go aflutter. Keith turns his attention back to the game and continues to try and kick serious alien bug-butt. He’s doing phenomenal and Lance bounces on the balls of his feet as he watches Keith go.

        In the end, though, he dies when one of the bugs fly into his ship before he can escape from it. Keith clicks his tongue and leans back as it tallies his score. He’s placed third, KAK having beaten Lance and pushed him into second again much to his chagrin. It awaits Keith’s initials.

 “Wow, you’re as good as Lance is.” Hunk points out.

 “Good as Lance, but not as good as KAK.” Pidge snickers.

 “Uh, I’m just as good as KAK is,” Lance says. 

 “Definitely are.”

 “See Keith agrees with me.”

 “As your boyfriend, I’m morally obligated to do so.” He smirks and Lance sputters as he looks over at him. 

 “You’re awful.” Lance pouts and turns to the machine. “Oh, it timed out.” Now AAA sits in third place. 

 “Eh, it’ll get knocked out eventually.” Keith shrugs, not concerned at all.

 “You going again?” He asks.

 “All yours.” Keith steps to the side of the machine and Lance gratefully takes over. On his one quarter, he manages to just barely beat out KAK’s score.

 “Take that.” Lance hisses, putting in his usual ‘LMC’. 

 “It really is you.” Keith murmurs.

 “Huh?”

 “My turn? Bet I can beat you.” Keith challenges.

 “Oooo. A bet.” Hunk stage whispers to Pidge.

 “What’s the terms?” Lance crosses his arm.

 “One quarter. If I beat you I win if I don’t you do.”

 “Okay.”

 “Loser buys dinner,” Keith says.

 “For everyone,” Pidge adds on.

 “Pidge, no, it’s their bet.” Hunk groans.

 “For everyone,” Lance repeats the demand.

 “For everyone.” Keith agrees, offering his hand. Lance takes it, shaking it and Keith smirks.

        He redoes his silly hair bun, slips in his quarter, and goes full force. Lance starts off confident enough, but it slowly drains the closer Keith gets to his score. Soon enough Keith is shoving Lance back down into second place and taking first for himself.

 “Told you,” Keith smirks over at him.

 “Ugh, fine. You win, fair and square.” Lance pouts. “Hey, don’t forget your initials this time.”

 “Oh, right.” Keith turns back to the machine and quickly puts in ‘KA’. There’s a brief moment of silence as Keith looks Lance dead in the eyes and places the final ‘K’. 

 “You’re…” Hunk gasps.

 “Oh my god.” Pidge groans.

 “KAK! You’re KAK!” Lance screeches. Keith throws his head back and laughs.

 “I’m Keith Austin Kogane. KAK.” He wipes the tears from his eyes. 

 “How!?”

 “I’d top your score after closing.” He shrugs.

 “Oh my god. This is your just desserts.” Pidge looks at Lance.

 “You got yourself a boyfriend who will kick your butt on your favorite game. How lucky.” Hunk teases.

 “Jesus.” Lance groans and hides his face. All the times he’s been mad and angry at KAK feels ridiculous now.

 “Hey. Don’t sweat it.” Keith nudges his shoulder.

 “Easy for you to say.”

 “Make it up to me.”

 “How?”

 “I believe you owe me dinner tonight.” He tucks his hands in his pockets.

 “And us!” Hunk points out. 

        And while Lance’s wallet weeps at the thought of Hunk’s richer pallet, he can’t stay mad. Not when he has Keith’s fingers laced with his and the mystery of KAK put to rest.

 “I’ll top your score tomorrow.” He promises.

 “I look forward to it.” Keith smiles.