#klance2017secretsanta

[bleusarcellewrites]

Courting Your Pants Off

Alright, so, this is my gift for my klance secret santa @beautiful-brilliant-muskox from @klance2017secretsanta aaaaaaaaaand well, it’s a Royal Au with Prince Keith and Baker Lance mixed with childhood friends Au, and yeh ok.

I hope you like it!! It’s pretty simple and most fluffy than anything, so, yeah! Hope you enjoy it :)

Ps. Read more under the cut or here in Ao3 

Disclaimer: Voltron doesn’t belong to me.

It’s not hide and seek, per se.

It’s more like “Let’s see how long it takes Shiro to drag his princey’s ass back to the Castle”.

Twenty-three minutes and seven seconds, Keith registers in his mind as his bodyguard drags him through town. A few villagers turn their head towards them and Keith waves at them sheepishly, a few of the older villagers shaking their head in amusement.

“Ah, caught yet again, I see, Prince Keith?” one of them says casually as the pair pass by, the old man taking out his hat and swiping the sweat from his forehead with his forearm. Keith shrugs back at him nonchalantly.

“Well, it’s not like it’s a record; he’s getting old.”

The villager barks a laugh and Keith’s lips twitch into a smile that is wiped when Shiro shoves him by the shoulder.

“I am hurt by these statements, young Prince.” Shiro mumbles but Keith can easily see the playful edge on his grin. Keith takes it he’s not getting into that much trouble for today’s sneak out.

It’s not a long walk back to the Castle, barely a total of fifteen minutes but damn, do they feel longer. It feels like a walk of shame. It’s not as if he sneaks out that regularly, maybe twice or thrice a week, or even that he’s forbidden to leave the castle’s ground. He’s twenty, of course he can come and go as he pleases, but it’s fun to sneak away under Shiro’s oh so watchful sight and even more so to avoid Professor Honerva’s lessons.

Scared of Professor Honerva and her science knowledge? Hardly, more like bored to death and back - though that thing she did with her eye last week did freak him out.

So, maybe he’s scared of her a little but no one needs to know that.

Besides, he also misses Professor Holt’s lessons from time to time. Sometimes, when the man goes on and on about pea recipes instead of, you know: space, stars and astrology in general.

See? Nothing personal.

Keith looks around him, looking for a way out of this. It’s not even midday, he can’t be back to the castle already! He didn’t even make it to the town’s bakery and he has to.

Keith purses his lips, eyes looking around for a way to escape Shiro’s watchful eye and then he catches it. He sees her from the corner of his eye, just in time as always, outside her own flower shop. Allura leans down to place some of her newest flowers on display, born from the new season and Keith would love to high five her right now.

He waits for the opportunity, whistling lowly under his breath innocently and it might not have been his best move because it makes Shiro to eye him suspiciously but then Keith sees Allura stand up and it’s show time.

“Shiro, look! It’s Allura!”

That sure got his attention.

Keith snorts, hand covering his mouth as Shiro visually stumbles on his own two feet at the words and his cheeks turn red, mouth open as he stares at the young woman across them. Allura blinks at the call of her name but she quickly beams as she catches their eye.

Keith waves quickly at Allura, who winks at him, acknowledging his plan, before she focuses on Shiro, smile bright and happy and Keith would love to stay and see Shiro stumble over his own words but he has somewhere to be.

Keith takes two steps back slowly from the pair, three steps just to be sure, before he nods to himself and takes off running to the opposite way of the Castle’s entrance.

He waves at a few villagers, some of them bowing as he passes and some other waving back happily. Keith grins, content that his people are in a good mood despite the cold upon them; usually he would make quick and shortstops in between places, talking with a few people and getting the newest gossip along with the village’s requests for the royal family for their businesses.

It’s Keith’s favorite way to find out instead of waiting for Duke Regris’s morning report. It gives him the opportunity to see the town for himself and hear the people’s voice. If he also gets extra time to be with his best friend by doing this, well, now that’s just a bonus.

But right now, he’s on a mission and he needs to do this today before he chickens out and loses his opportunity.

Keith makes it to the bakery in seven minutes, heart beating hard against his chest but he shakes it off as a result from all the running. He’s not a fool though, not really, he knows that’s a lie but he can pretend maybe for just a moment, to ease his nerves.

He opens the door and the familiar air of sweet and fresh bread makes him sigh contently, a fond smile growing on his lips as the smell takes him back to his childhood adventures with a certain baker boy.

“Well, well, well, his Royal Mulletness finally decided to come, huh?”

Talking about bakers.

Keith’s head turns to the right, eyes meeting a soft blue pair and Keith’s heart skips a beat at the sight. This time he allows himself to admit the truth for at least two seconds.

See? He’s no fool.

Lance smirks, eyes narrowed in a teasing manner as he leans down to place the fresh batch of pastries in his hands near the window display and Keith’s mouth waters as he recognizes them.

“Ah and I see that his Noble Baker’s Ass finally decided to make the Prince’s favorite pastry,” Keith shots back, arching a playful grin towards him, “Despite being told to do so weeks ago by said Prince.”

“It wasn’t even winter back then and they are made only during the season,” Lance groans in mock exasperation before he picks up one of the pastries and holds it high on the palm of his hand towards Keith, “But aren’t they worth it? Look at this precious smol white square, come on!”

Keith purses his lips for show, leaning closer to eye the blondie closer before he nods. “Ah, well, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t it? I mean, it’s my duty as a Prince to make sure my town’s bakery is keeping up with the quality.”

Keith almost breaks character at Lance’s flat expression before the brunet snorts and nods. “Please do, my oh so fair and graceful Prince.”

Keith doesn’t look amused at the title but he still nods back, reaching for the small square but before he can pick it up, Lance grabs it and shoves it on Keith’s mouth, his laughter ringing around the small bakery as Keith splutters in surprise.

“Lance, you ass!” Keith shouts, shoving the brunet back before he looks sadly down at the remains of the pastry on the floor, “You ruined my first taste of my winter blondie.”

“Poor poor Prince Keith.” Lance mocks playfully and raises his arms in surrender when Keith shoves him again, “Alright, alright, here, just don’t kill me.”

Keith huffs, mouth turned into a frown but it softens as the brunet picks up another blondie from the batch and drops it carefully on Keith’s hands. Keith eyes it almost suspiciously before he smiles and mumbles a small ‘thanks’.

The blondies are not even something that would catch someone’s eye at a simple view; small white square with a soft cape of creamy frosting on top with small drawn stars on one of the top corners, but they are special to Keith, ever since he was six years old and Lance introduced them to him.

Keith can still hear Lance’s shouting and rambling from back then, as he told him over and over again how they were his first creation he did by himself, with the supervision of his parents of course, and that he did them just for Keith.

After that, they became a must do every winter in the McClain’s Bakery, by the requests and pleads of the young prince and his best friend.

Keith takes a bite of the pastry and melts under the taste, eyes closed in pleasure as he chews. Being childhood friends with the town’s baker is not bizarre, if Keith has a say on it, especially when he gets these kinds of bonuses.

“Amazing, right?” Lance says, a small smug grin on his lips as he wiggles his eyebrows playfully before he laughs and the grin turns into a soft happy smile, eyes softening as they stare right at Keith and Keith might choke on his favorite pastry if Lance doesn’t look away the next two seconds.

Being in love with the town’s baker, though? Now, that’s tricky in Keith’s opinion.

‘Calm, calm yourself, man.’ Keith scolds himself in his head, eyes following Lance’s figure as the brunet heads towards the kitchen on the back of the store and Keith follows quietly, ‘You came here for a reason and a reason only, you can do this.’

The light weight on his jacket’s pocket suddenly feels a lot heavier.

“Where’s Hunk, by the way?” Keith asks, looking around the kitchen for said baker as he leans on the counter behind him.

“At breakfast with Shay,” Lance answers aimlessly, kneeling down in front of the oven across from Keith to watch the pastries inside before he nods pleased and stands up, looking back at his friend, “He told me that it won’t be long now for him to ask her to marry him! He already talked with the Balmera family and got their approval.”

“That’s awesome! About time too, how long has it been since their started their courtship?”

“Almost two years now, actually; it’s amazing to see how far they have come from it, right?” Lance says fondly before walking towards the prince and hopping over the counter next to him, “What about you, though?” he asks and Keith blinks.

“What about me?”

Lance shrugs, hands moving to make emphasis. “You know, what about you? Have anyone in mind for your future courtship? Isn’t your Uncle already asking you about it?”

Asking? More like poking at every second of the day. If it was up to Uncle Kolivan, he would have dragged Keith’s royal ass to the town’s bakery years ago just to get it over with.

“Uncle Kolivan just wants me to already get a consort to make my coronation process smoother,” Keith rolls his eyes but still chuckles, shaking his head in amusement, “He’s almost bouncing in excitement at the mere thought of finally stepping down from the throne.”

“He can’t wait to be a ‘just’ Prince again, huh?” Lance jokes and Keith snorts.

“I don’t know why, though? He’s done such a good job so far ruling the kingdom,” Keith says, eyebrows furrowed a little, “I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t been here when Mom and Dad…”

He trails off, memories of his parents sneaking their way into his mind and while they bring him a ghost feeling of warmth, they also come with a bitter taste. It’s almost as if he’s reliving the event inside his head, the hollow feeling he had felt back then when Thace announced the death of the Queen and her King Consort with a choked-up voice in the throne room.

He had been only ten years old, the very same age when kids usually go around saying they are too old to cry. Keith hadn’t given a damn about it as he cried that entire night and the ones that followed in his Uncle’s chest, scared and beyond sad but taking comfort in his Uncle’s arms and his quiet promises.

Now, ten years later and his Uncle had kept his word and had taken the role of ruling the entire kingdom, with the well-known condition of stepping down as soon as Keith turns to age to take his rightful place on the throne. One more year and Keith’s world would change for the second time in his life.

He just hopes he can hold on to Lance for when that moment comes.

“Hey now, don’t think like that.” Lance says softly, nudging him by the shoulder, “He was here and that’s what matters.”

Keith nods, offering a small thankful smile that Lance returns gently.

“That’s actually one of the reasons why I’m here.” Keith confesses quietly to avoid any nervous stutter, “To tell you, personally, that I’m ready to start a courtship.”

Lance’s breath visually hitches and Keith holds his breath, waiting for a reaction but Lance only stares wide eyed at him, mouth half open in surprise and confusion.

“You...you’re courting someone?” He whispers quietly, his Adam’s apple wobbling uneasy and Keith takes a deep breath.

“Not, not ‘someone’. Not any person out there, no.” Keith shakes his head and sneaks his hand into his pocket, twirling the silver ring in between his fingers nervously, “I’m courting my best friend, if he will have me.”

Lance gasps loudly, hands flying to his mouth and his eyes follow Keith’s frame as the Prince takes one of his tanned hands with his own free one and pulls him forward, making him hop off the counter to stand.

“You, uh, you going to court Shiro?” Lance stutters quietly, voice soft and wobbly, eyes falling to their intertwined hands and swallowing hard at the lovely contrast of their skin.

Keith snorts softly. “No, no, I’m not. I’m going to court my best friend, the very same one who I meet when I was five. The best friend who found me when I was lost in my own town after my very first escapade from the Castle and the same best friend that offered me a hand and held it tight until my parents came for me.”

“Keith,” Lance shudders, his free hand presses against his chest as he bites down his lower lip. Keith smiles softly back at him, tenderly rubbing small circles on Lance’s hand as he continues.

“My best friend who shared his cookies with me that day and taught me later on how to make sugar cookies for my mom. He who wasn’t afraid to treat me like a kid and more importantly, a human instead of a prince. He who pushed me to be and do better.”

Keith laughs wetly, shaking his head in amusement and excitement as Lance gives up the fight and lets his tears to fall down his cheeks quietly. “Hey, hey, don’t do that, you’re going to make me cry.”

“I’m sorry, I just, Keith, does this mean, I mean -” Lance babbles, sniffling loudly as he wipes his cheeks stubbornly and gasps softly when Keith does it for him, raising their intertwined hands up until his own is resting against Lance’s right cheek.

Lance hums and presses his own hand on top of Keith’s, thumb rubbing fondly against the pale skin.

“It means that I want the chance to court you; to prove to you that I can be someone worth of being by your side,” Keith confesses quietly, wetting his lips before he sighs softly and continues, “and if the universe is on our side, make you my Prince Consort in a near future where I rule the kingdom I love as I much as I love you.”

“You chose me?” Lance whispers in awe, voice choked up as he smiles wetly, “You really chose me?”

“In this life and in any other I may ever have again.” Keith replies without hesitation, eyes shining with promise and love.

That’s the any reassurance Lance needs.

“So, Lance McClain,” Keith takes a deep breath, hand rising from his pocket and presenting the small ring band in front of Lance, “By accepting this gift, you would’ve given me the chance to court you and hopefully, if the universe allows it, build a future together.”

His hand shakes the slightest, mouth opening and closing anxiously as he tries to get the rest of his words out but then Lance squeezes his hand, still on his cheek, and offers him a reassuring smile.

Keith swallows the lump in his throat before he tries again. “Do you accept this? Accept me?”

Lance sniffles softly, small giggles leaving his mouth in between as he shakes before he wipes some tears off his cheek and he looks directly at Keith. “Do you come with the mullet?”

Keith blinks before he laughs, entire frame shaking as he giggles and leans forward, holding on Lance to avoid falling on the ground.

“You ass, I’m confessing here!” Keith whines, punching Lance on the shoulder half-heartedly but Lance catches his wrist and pulls him even closer, pressing his forehead against Keith’s and nuzzling gently.

“Yes,” Lance whispers, smile growing by the second when Keith’s eyes widen, “Yes, yes, yes! Keith!”

Keith beams and quickly slips the ring into Lance’s finger, the simple silver band representing a promise between them that he hopes he can fulfill when the time comes.

“I can’t believe you confessed to me in my parents’ old kitchen.” Lance says, shaking his head when Keith shrugs nonchalantly.

“This is a good place as any?”

Lance snorts, a fond smile creeping up his lips right after. “I can’t really complain; that speech as really romantic and sweet. Did Shiro help you?”

Keith gasps in offense. “Excuse me but I can do my own speeches.” He pauses before, “And actually, it was Pidge. She’s good with words as well with technology when she’s not laughing her ass off at me and -”

“Keith, hey, buddy? That’s amazing and all but I’m really in love with you and my heart is about to exit this kitchen if you don’t kiss me right now.”

There’s a shudder, a small shiver running down his spine but Lance’s is patient despite this words. He’s quiet as he allows Keith a moment to process, beating heart threating to explode before Keith sighs softly, breathe gracing the brunet’s lips before he closes the gap.

Shyness it’s not a word he would link with Lance and yet it’s there as Lance waits, slowly and timidly moving against Keith’s lips. It’s warm and it fills them both with desire to explore and know more but hesitant to know how.

Sighing against the kiss, Keith throws himself into the unknown and catches Lance’s lower lip between his teeth, gently sucking before licking away any pain it could have brought.

That’s enough to ignite Lance’s spark. The kiss turns vivid and alive with emotion, every hidden desire inside them finally on the surface and leaving them shaky to the toes.

“Lance.” Keith breathes out, nose nuzzling against Lance’s briefly, his hand around the brunet’s waist tightening when a light shiver runs down his back.

Keith smiles, gently and softly as Lance pushes forward, chasing Keith’s lips for a second time, eyes closed and stuck on the sensation Keith left inside him. It squeezes the prince’s heart and he dives in a third time, lips pressed against Lance’s lips chastely before moving towards his cheek, nose, eyelid, every corner he can get reach.

Lance laughs quietly at each kiss, giggles getting cut off as Keith keeps dropping chaste kisses against his lips a few more times.

“You’re not going to regret this, I promise you.” Keith whispers against his mouth, sneaking one of his hand to hold Lance’s before bringing them up and dropping a kiss on top of Lance’s hand.

“Aren’t I supposed to woo you too?” Lance tilts his head, his bright big smile turning knowingly, “This is like tango, Mister, it takes two.”

Keith hums, his fingers never leaving Lance’s as he continues to play with them. “Yeah, that’s true and fair.”

Lance pats Keith’s cheek with his free hand, a small cocky grin on the corner of his mouth. “Oh, it is on; I’m going to woo your pants off, Princey.”

“I like where this is going already.”

“Oh my god, Keith.”

The snow it’s a surprise.

A pleasant one but still a surprise.

It gives a natural aesthetic to the windows around the ballroom as it piles up against them from the outside. The lighting of the room provides a warm atmosphere and the soft golden glow of the pillar making it cozier as the night goes on.

The Christmas tree on the far corner shines brightly with the ornaments on it, slowly growing on number as more and more children add their own creation to decorate the royal Christmas tree.

Kolivan eyes every detail of the decoration as he walks silently, nodding in approval every few seconds with a smile and sighs contently at the reason behind the especial and extravagant decoration the Castle’s staff decided to go with for their Annual Christmas Ball after their Prince announced the start of his courtship with Lance McClain.

The old royal finally makes a stop, picking one of the offered champagne glasses before he turns and faces the dancefloor. His gaze is mainly focused on the pair in the middle of it, dancing as if they were the only people on the room and oblivious to the happy murmuring around them.

Both Lance and Keith are smiling, big and wide as they twirl around the dance floor with Lance constantly dipping Keith at random moments, earning a surprised yelp and a playful shove every single time from Keith’s part.

Kolivan sighs, gaze turning fond as he watches them. Even a blind man could see the beaming smile in his nephew’s face but only Kolivan can see the way Keith's smile has a tilt on the corner of it, a resemble that made him look just like his late mother.

It’s a nice sight, seeing a part of his sister outside the paintings all over the castle and actually catching a glimpse of her in her own son. Keith smiles as bright as Mya had done so whenever she looked at her husband, Keith’s father, all those years ago.

Now Keith wears that very same smile as he watches his own lover laugh in his arms.

[itswhatimreallythinking]

My boyfriend can't be this cute (guidelines to dating Lance McClain)

My gift to @tamaraneankori. Merry Christmas to you girl (hope it’s still christmas at you place). You ask for a fluffy fic and this is the sweetest thing I ever written. It came out longer than I expected (happens to all my fic actually) but I had so much fun writing this. Hope it lives up to your expectation.  

@klance2017secretsanta

AO3

Summary: Keith have a cute boyfriend

A.K.A Keith’s constant dilemma of battling his raging hormones while his boyfriend remain oblivious

A.K.A Keith is doomed

From the first moment, he laid eyes on the blue-eyed boy across the campus ground Keith knows he was doomed. From tantalizing caramel skin to a dazzling smile, and sparkling eyes that he wants to keep looking into for the rest of his life, Keith had fallen hard.

 And the worst part is the boy, Lance McClain, have no freaking idea.

 Despite his flirty words and affectionate behavior, Lance is actually very dense when it comes to people’s affection towards himself.

 Many times, Keith just want to forgo all the courting (that all went unnoticed) and kiss the Cuban till he gets the memo. If Hunk didn’t constantly remind him that Lance like romantic gesture he might do just that. It’s not easy though. From the number of times Pidge came close to ripping her hair off, he guessed that she too is close to saying fuck it and shove both of them into a locked room.

 So, it’s understandable when he believes that Hunk is sent from heaven to be his impulse control and the best wingman ever. Without him Keith would have bombed this a long time ago.

 But he didn’t.

 After months of pining and extreme courting, (he once brave a snowstorm to get Lance McDonald’s because he happens to mention in the group text that he have a sudden craving, even Pidge was impressed) Lance finally get the message and reciprocate his feelings.

 It was the best day of his life.

 Yes, Shiro, it’s better than the day the papers finally went through and they really became a real family. Stop looking at him like that. Go complain to someone who cares. Who? Oh, he don’t know, Allura maybe? Of course, he’s still mad. His ‘brother’ decide to ditched his birthday party because he rather ‘Netflix and chill’ with his girlfriend for god sake. DON’T TOUCH ME!

 Anyway, that day was the best day of his life, but also the start of his unending dilemma. He’s not sure he’s going to live past 50 if this continues. Not with the constant spike in blood pressure and head trauma.

 Being friends allow Keith to spent time with the Cuban, while this is good it’s not enough. Keith always wants more. They said to be careful of what you wish for and only now did he come to fully understands that saying. Because, if he thought Lance was cute while being his friend he is so not ready for the level that is of the boyfriend.

 He can’t count how many times he bangs his head against hard surface just to keep his emotions under control.

 Thus to save himself from early demise he constructs up a list of guidelines that will (somewhat) make his life as Lance’s boyfriend (and to be the best boyfriend ever) a little easier.

 #1 Be more open-minded

He had said this many times. Lance is gorgeous. Anyone who disagrees can fight him on that. Even Pidge once admit it to them in secret (and also threaten them with a lifetime of suffering if anyone as much as hint it to the Cuban). So it’s quite understandable when someone tries to make a move on his boyfriend.

 More than once that Lance’s friendliness got taken out of context as an invitation to sweep the Cuban off his feet. Now that will not do. Sweeping Lance off his feet, literally and figuratively, is Keith’s job.

 He’d hold his tongue when they were still friends but now he’s not going to let it slide. Many times it became a fist fight (if they’re a guy and of course he always wins) because talking doesn’t work with these people.

 Lance always gave him an earful while tending to the cuts and bruises, asking why he feels the need to start a fight, that he was never like this before. He keeps mum during all of it but after months of coaxing and disappointed looks, he cracked.

 “Because you’re you and I’m me that’s why.” The answer rendered the brunette speechless and Keith to gather himself for a bit to soldier on.

 “Lance do you realized how amazing you are? You… you’re beautiful and smart and friendly and hundreds of other positive traits. I’m unsocial and hot-headed and…and I still don’t understand why you agreed to go out with me.” Lance stared at him with a blank look on his face, Keith turned his head away. “When I saw those guys, with their slick hair and perfect teeth…and money to spoil you the way you deserved. I just felt so threatened, so scared, that you would suddenly realize that you can do a lot better than me and-”

 “Leave?”

 Even if that what he’s about to say hearing it coming from Lance’s mouth made his heart dropped to his feet. He heard the brunette heave a tired sigh and he grinds his teeth. He really shouldn’t say all that, now Lance will know what a loser he is. A sharp flick to his forehead made him yelp in surprise. Looking up he was met with a murderous glare. Lance is furious.

 “I could not believe what you just said,” the words were drawn out in a snarl that reminds Keith of a predator. The Cuban got right up in his face, their nose touching, “you see me that shallow? That a pocket full of money and a few nice words could lure me away?”

 “NO! I would never. It’s just that…”

 Lance pinched the bridge of his nose, muttered a few words in Spanish, and if Keith has ears they’d be drooping right now.

 He didn’t hear Lance take a huge calming breath but he did feel it when two warm hands cradled his face and then he’s looking into a pair of deep azure eyes.

 “Now you listen to me Keith,” gone were the terrifying snarl replace with a voice so soft his heart shuddered in his chest. “To me, you’re the most passionate and loyal person I’ve ever met. You’re kind-hearted and so strong, and may God have mercy on those who dared lay a finger on any of us because I know you will do whatever it takes to protect us. You have no idea how happy I am when I know you love me too.” Keith’s breath hitched when Lance lay his forehead against his, looking at him so adoringly it makes him want to cry.

 “I love you so much, Keith. I want us to be together for the rest of my life and I hope you feel the same way.”

 Instead of a verbal answer, Keith pulled Lance in for a kiss, desperate and sweet and full of promises. When they part Lance give him a soft smile before gaining a serious look. “I don’t know where you get those silly notions about yourself from. So, I need you to write down all the names of every person who ever made you feel that way so that I can have a private chat with each of them.”

 Keith burst out laughing.

 After that, whenever he saw someone flirting with his boyfriend he would step up beside the brunette and laced their fingers together. If that is not enough to drive them away the kiss (tongue included) usually does.

 #2 Accept that you will always come after Hunk

Halfway through the second year of college, they decide to move in together. By moving in he means moving into the recently available room across from Lance’s old one that he shared with Hunk. Shay is replacing Lance next semester when her contract expires.

 They were in the middle of unpacking (mostly his stuff since Lance just has to carry his from across the hall) when the Cuban's phone rang. He was not paying attention but after hearing the sound of the phone hitting the floor and seeing Lance’s devastated face, Keith wished he did.

 Hunk was involved in a hit and run case. Thank god the other party was a motorcycle. The Hawaiian got a concussion, twisted ankle, a broken arm and dozens of cuts and bruises. But he was fine. The smile he gave them the moment Lance burst into the room is proof enough. Lance has to refrain from jumping from sheer relief.

 Hunk has to stay in the hospital for another 3-4 days to make sure that nothing is critical. Lance demand he be allowed to stay with him. Hunk also begs the doctor to let him stay.

 He shared a look with Shay then. The large Samoan girl had known them longer than he does and was the one who constantly assured him that there is absolutely nothing going on between Hunk and Lance. They’re just really really close.

 He looks at Lance smoothing down Hunk’s hair who’s giving a sweet smile and have to bite his tongue. Shay has been doing this far longer than him. If she can then he can too.

 After Lance grabbed his stuff and leave for the hospital again, Keith is left alone to looked around at the messy room. More than half of the boxes were still unopened and he couldn’t be bothered to continue. It’s not moving in together if he’s the only one unpacking.

 He has a quick late dinner and went to bed. Before he can drift off his phone rang.

 “Hey, mi amore, you’re asleep yet?” Lance's face is illuminated by the light of the screen while Hunk snores softly in the background. Keith smile tiredly and they spent their first night together apart, talking till he fell asleep at the phone.

 Lance called 5-7 time a day, once in the morning, once before going to bed and anytime in between. Whenever his thought drifted to the messy room (boxes still at the same place where he left them) his phone will be blowing up with messages from Lance saying how much he missed him. With the hospital visits, constant phone calls and text, Keith didn’t have the time to be lonely.

 The day Hunk was released Keith came home to a candlelit room and homemade dinner. Seeing the brunette standing in their room again made everything right with the world. After dinner, Lance took him by the hand and led him to their bedroom.

 The sight of caramel skin scantily clad in delicate white lace undergarment made it suddenly hard to breathe.

 “How about we start breaking in the bed,” voice dripping like honey with kisses just as sweet, Keith lost himself in Lance.

 Yes, he thought, that is an excellent idea.

 #3 Ignore the morning complaints

With his sunny personality, one would think Lance is a morning person. Oh, how wrong they were. A morning Lance is a cranky Lance and you don’t want to approach him before he has his morning coffee.

 Keith untangles himself from the bundle of blankets and clinging long limbs. He drowsily stretches out his body and drops a kiss on his still sleeping boyfriend’s cheek before making his way to the bathroom.

 Lance was just stumbling into the bathroom when he got out of the shower. The other was wearing the same pair of sweatpants he was wearing yesterday. Well, he was wearing it before Keith decide that he look better without it. Bite and kiss marks littered tanned body, couple that with tousled hair and a slight limp in his steps, Lance looked thoroughly fucked.

 “Wipe that smug look off your face Kogane”, Lance spit out venomously, “this is all because of you.”

 If this was half a year ago Keith would have been hurt. Now, he took it in stride.

 “You weren’t complaining last night”, he invaded Lance personal space, “or do I have to remind you.” He blew teasingly into the Cuban’s ear and quickly move away to avoid the other’s hand from swatting him like a fly.

 “Get away from me!” The Korean barked out a laugh and walk out of the bathroom. He searched around in the closet with Lane still going on in the background.

 “Look at all these marks, and after I told you to go lightly on the neck because I have a presentation today. I can’t cover all these with make-up. Now I have to wear a turtleneck, in summer. Who wears a freaking turtleneck in the summer? A douche that’s who. I’m going to look like Steve fucking Jobs trying to sell an iPhone.”

 Keith laughs at the last comment. Pulling a shirt over his head he realized that Lance had gone quiet. He moved to a blind spot the mirror can’t reflect and peek inside.

 Lance is staring at himself in the mirror with a soft smile on his lips. Fingers lightly tracing the marks Keith left behind from one to the other with a look of utter fondness in his eyes.

 Is someone screaming? He’s definitely hearing screaming. Oh never mind, that’s just him. Screaming. Internally. BECAUSE HIS BOYFRIEND IS FUCKING ADORABLE!

 Keith felt the blood rushing to his face…and the lower region.

 Maybe if they’re real quick? No no no nope. Lance would kill him if his perfect attendance is ruined because Keith can’t keep it in his pants. He took a couple of calming breaths and announce that he’ll be outside making breakfast.

 “Bacon and sunny side up for me, please. Love you.”

 DAMMIT LANCE! YOU’RE MAKING THIS REALLY HARD.

 #4 Always have an extra set of contacts at hand

“Aww, I’ve run out of contacts.”

 That was the comment that turned Keith’s normal weekend into a nightmare. He poked his head into their bedroom to see Lance rummaging in his side of the bed nightstand drawer. He walked closer to see if there’s anything he could do to help.

 “AH HAH!” Keith's mouth went dry when Lance plopped a pair of glasses on his nose. Of course, Lance has a pair of emergency glasses, anyone who wears contacts does, it’s only common sense. But, damn, why is it getting hot in here?

 Since they planned to stay in and study for the upcoming exam week, they postponed the contact lens shopping to this evening when they go out for dinner instead of now. Sitting on opposite end of the dining table, books and pens scattered messily on the surface, they lost themselves in their reading.

 Actually, it’s only Lance who’s reading.

 Keith is busy gawking at his boyfriend.

 The more he stared the wilder his imagination became.

 Lance is an honored student who got roped into tutoring the delinquent Keith after class. They’re going over everything Keith learned that day. Lance was patient while Keith kept getting angrier at his own failure.

 “This is useless. I’m never going to get it, you should stop wasting your time with me.” Keith sulked in his seat while Lance looks at him calculatingly. The honored student’s glasses flash as he got up and got right in Keith’s face. The Cuban’s arm was on either side of his chair caging him in. The sharp glint that Keith had never seen in the good-natured boy’s eyes before sent a jolt of electric down his spine.

 “How about we try a different method,” Lance whispered against his lips before closing the distance. The kiss was hot and wild and ended quicker than he would have like. Chasing after the departing lips a finger stopped him in his track.

 “Ah, ah,” the Cuban said in a sing-song voice, “only if you get the next question right.”

 Lance sneezed and Keith snapped out of his daydream. Lance smile sheepishly at him and he quickly looks down not wanting him to see the blush on his face. Keith can only get a paragraph in when he turns the page and saw a picture of a team of doctors on the other side.

 Lance is a doctor and the owner of a small clinic. Keith is a police officer who often comes in to have Lance take care of his wounds of the day.

 It was after midnight when Keith stumble into the facility with blood down his arms. Lance's face paled and he orders the officer to sit down on the bed while he rushed around gathering supplies, mouth complaining all the while.

 “He was holding a knife to the woman’s throat. What do you suggest me do then?”

 “Not offering yourself as a substitute would be the first step.” The doctor bites out harshly and Keith let it slide because he knows Lance was only worried about him. He took off his shirt as instructed and shiver when the cold air made contact with his skin. He bites down the hiss at each pierced of the needle just to keep the doctor from frowning any deeper.

 When the cut was stitched and wrapped up nicely Lance dip down to kiss tenderly at the bandages. Keith’s heart melts at the sight. His breath hitched when those lips glided up to mouthed at the old scar on his collarbone as he's pushed down onto the bed.

 “That one and this too. All because you have to be a hero. Coming here with blood all over yourself, always threatening to kill me with a heart attack.”

 “Sorry,” his take in a shuddering breath when the brunettes bite at his neck.

 Lance climb on top on him and settle himself on his stomach, pants gone leaving him in only his briefs. Keith wants nothing more than to run his hands down those smooth thighs.

 “Nope. It won’t heal if you keep moving it.” Lance hold down his wrist gently as he looks down at Keith. Hooded eyes from behind the glasses met his own hungry ones.

 “Now be a good boy and lay still while I punished you for scaring me.”

 The doctor grinds down on his crotch and Keith shiver in anticipation.

 A sharp cold against his cheek abruptly ended his fantasy. Lance smiled at him cheekily eyes dancing with mirth from behind those damned glasses.

 “Here”, the brunette hand him a can of soda before popping his own. Tanned fingers caressed his shirt, looking him up and down appreciatively. Lance did buy it for him after all.

 “It suits you.”

 Suits

 Lance and Keith are high profile lawyers working for a different firm who often handle the same case. This time Keith is the defender while Lance is the prosecutor, both going neck-to-neck, not backing down an inch.

 Keith can’t remember how he ends up sprawl on the bed underneath Lance but he’s not complaining.

 The Cuban looks downright sexy in that form-fitting deep navy suits that accentuate his eyes behind those clear frames. One tanned hand combing through soft brown strands while another slowly pulled off the tie. Keith swallowed thickly. His eyes follow as pink tongue dart out to lick their owner’s lips seductively.

 Lance give him a vicious grin promising one hell of a good time, “you’ve been a very naughty boy, Keith.”

 Keith slammed his head on the table making Lance leaped away in surprised.

 Shit

 This is serious

 Also, why the hell is he always the bad one in those scenarios? Is he developing a new kink? Fuck, he is, isn’t he?

 “What the hell Keith!? Are you alright?” Lance is frantically checking his forehead (ow that hurts, he shouldn’t have done that). The close proximity with Glasses Lance makes him take a sharp breath. Before his brain can conjure up another fantasy he quickly dragged Lance towards the door.

 “Hey! What-where are we going? Keith!”

 “Contacts shopping. NOW!”

 #5 Endure the scratches

Lance is a scratcher. Whenever the Cuban is on the receiving end Keith will come out looking like he’s been in a fight with a vicious cat. Long thin red lines will adorn his back for days stinging irritatingly whenever he got sweaty.

 So, for the sake of trying out new stuff, Lance suggests they use handcuffs.

 Keith didn’t know he has a bondage kink until he saw his boyfriend naked and cuffed to the bedpost. The sight of the brunette writhing on the bed stir up something primal within him. That night he couldn’t get enough on Lance. Not that he ever had enough but that night was on a whole other level.

 Keith went to sleep thoroughly satisfied not noticing that Lance was less vocal than normal.

 He was eager to go again the next day. The thought of his restraint boyfriend plaguing him throughout the day. They barely made it to the bed before Keith was ripping off his clothes and Lance’s.

 He let out a blissful groan when he finally gets to enter the Cuban, but somehow he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was missing. A sniffle pulled him out of his thought and his heart dropped when he saw tears running down Lance’s face.

 “No”, the brunette whimpered and fear grip at his heart.

 He hurt Lance

 He wants to die right now

 Keith quickly gets off him and tears spring to his eyes when he sees Lance weakly tugging at the restraint.

 “Lance,” he choked out past the lump in his throat, “baby, I’m so sorry.” He unlocked the cuffs and the brunette throw himself into Keith’s arms holding on tightly. Keith hugged back just as fierce, head burying in the crook of Lance’s shoulder, “I’m sorry I hurt you, Lance.”

 He felt the brunette shook his head, “no, you didn’t hurt me. It just…” Lance pushed away from him but Keith holds on tight not allowing the brunette to go far. “When I have that thing on, I can’t touch you.” He nuzzled Keith’s nose, “you’re right there but I feel so far away. I don’t like that.”

 “Then we’ll stop using it.” He kisses at the red mark on the brunette’s wrist apologetically.

 “But you like those handcuffs.”

 “Not enough to make you cry.” He lay the hand on his cheek nuzzling into it, “nothing is worth making you cry for.”

 Lance’s tears come back anew and his heart clenched, “I’m sorry Lance, please stop crying.” He kissed away the tears at the corner of those blue eyes he loves so much, “I never know what to do when you cry.”

 Their lips meet in a soft kiss, so sweet and loving and everything Keith wanted. When they joined together again as one, with Lance’s arms clinging to him, he finally understands what was missing. This is what missing. This connection, this intimacy, they always have when making love.

 His back is full of scratches again, but with Lance laying soft kisses on each one as an apology, Keith realized he don’t mind.

 #6 –

 “KEITH!” The owner of the name came back to his senses and look at the boy sitting beside him. Oh, they’re on a date right now, aren’t they? Keith kicked himself mentally. Before he could apologize Lance was already resting his forehead against his, looking at him with worried eyes. His heart hammered in his chest.

 “You’re a bit warm and you look kind of dazed. Let’s go home, we can do this another day.” The brunette tugged at his hand for him to stand up. Keith wants to protest, but after a bit of contemplation, decide against it. Who is he to say no to having Lance fuzzing over him. Also, if he plays his card right he’ll get to monopolized his boyfriend for the whole weekend. Now isn’t that a thought.

 Making their way home Keith lift up their joint and to lay a kiss on the back of Lance’s. The Cuban looked back at him with a fond smile, soft red splayed across his face.

 Keith fell in love all over again.

 He understands long ago that Lance is dangerous. Deadly so. He’s a lethal weapon tailored to bring Keith to his knees with only a smile. Trapping Keith within his blue eyes with no means of escape and he loves it. Lance could ask him for the moon and he swears he’ll find a way to give it to the brunette.

 Keith smiles happily as he watches his boyfriend flitted around the room, gathering blankets and pillows and piling it around him creating a comfortable nest on the sofa. He took hold of the bronzed wrist before its owner can disappear into the kitchen. He tugged lightly and Lance yelp as he falls into Keith’s waiting arms.

 Their lips gravitate towards each other. Languid and soft, he carefully pours his feelings into the kiss, and the next, and the one after that as well. He scoots closer to the backrest and Lance climb in beside him without protest. Smiling exasperatedly the brunette open up his arms and Keith tuck himself into them. He breathes the smell of Lance in deeply into his lungs and felt himself relax.

 “You’re spoilt. I’m spoiling you.” The Cuban lament half-heartedly as he lay soft kisses along the milky temple. Keith agreed by trailing kisses along the column of bronzed-colored throat, making pearls of laughter spill forth from Lance’s mouth.

 Listening to that wonderful sound while being encased in Lance’s arms Keith wondered if this is what happiness feels like.

 Yes

 It definitely is

[movedtocrystallineklance]

@klance2017secretsanta Here’s my secret Santa Gift for @breeceesall

I hope you like it!!

Art by @xxkitty-rosexx

[san-bika]

The Good Night

Rating: General 

Pairings: Klance

Length: 2,208 words

Tags: S4 Continuation, pining!Keith, world-building, hurt-comfort, Langst, Cuban Christmas traditions, soulmates, soul marks

Notes: Merry Christmas @why-this10 @klance2017secretsanta !!! I had fun thinking up ways to meet your wishlist and put a fun Christmassy twist on it. In this universe, people have a naturally occurring tattoo that matches their soulmate and gives them some clue via a picture or text who it is. When you find your soulmate the marks become permanent and more intricate and colored in. But in this universe soul marks can fade over time, meaning the chances of finding your soulmate have gotten lower due to distance, death, missed opportunities, or mysterious circumstances. If your mark fades completely the odds of finding your soulmate are pretty low. Enjoy!

————-

Keith had passed enough time with the Blade that he felt distinctly awkward wandering the halls of the Castleship. He kept pausing as he assessed the creaks and rattles trying to figure out if he had found his target, hoping he didn’t look too creepy as he stood in the shadows in his Marmora uniform and mask.

You’re not creeping, you’re looking for something, he thought grumpily.

Not something… he thought in a snarky, familiar voice. Keith gritted his teeth and kept walking.

It would have been more awkward to admit that he was looking for someone. Or you could’ve just asked where Lance was at the beginning of the meeting, like any other person would’ve.

Lance being absent was strange and hadn’t been explained. If he had been injured Keith would’ve heard about it… right?

A nervous thrill shot through him as he crept along. He kept picturing Lance, trembling and bruised and voice weak as he clutched his hand ages ago. Maybe they won’t tell you what’s going on. Maybe that’s what happens when you resign from Voltron. You don’t need to know these things anymore.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he almost didn’t catch the squeak behind him and whirled around suddenly, hand reaching for his sword as he met Pidge’s thoroughly unimpressed gaze.

“Gee, I wonder who you could possibly be looking for?” She said in a deadpan tone, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

Keith flushed before dissolving the faceplate of his Marmora helmet. "Why would you think that?” He said lamely, attempting a neutral expression.

Pidge’s lip curled up as she took him in and he knew she didn’t buy it. She groaned dragging her hand down her face. "Look, I’ll take pity on you but if I tell you where Lance is, you need to promise not to bother him.”

Keith bit his lip trying to fight off the concern that was wrinkling his face. He managed to offer a tight smile and hoped Pidge would believe it.

She had cast her gaze at the floor looking oddly somber. "Lance went on leave, kind of, he’ll be back later tonight if you wanted to wait up for him. That is if your team will let-”

“Leave? What for?” Keith would normally wait to learn more but it felt like he couldn’t control his mouth or his body as he rushed forward.

She peeked up from under her bangs and he couldn’t catch his breath. She looked so sad. “Look Shiro asked us to be discreet but I still think you’re part of the team and if anyone knows it should be you.”

Pidge straightened and Keith was surprised to see she’d grown a few inches since he’d left with the Blade.

Did you think time would just stand still after you left?

“Lance is on leave because of his soul mark… it started to fade-”

Keith was sprinting away before she could finish her sentence.

That didn’t stop her from shouting down the hall. “Dammit Keith, he just wants some space!!”

He jogged to the hangers and tried to find the little spark in his chest that he’d felt when he first connected with Red.

————

Keith was standing in front of Red watching Lance’s prone form draped over her paw. The other paladin hadn’t moved and clearly had no idea that he wasn’t alone.

All right maybe this is a little creepy.

Keith was big enough to admit that spying on a friend unawares on a uninhabitable moon might be considered extreme.

But even though Blade craft were designed to be nearly undetectable, Lance’s situational awareness was piss poor. He was doing him a favor.

Whatever helps you sleep at night Kogane.

He decided to break the silence by scaring the daylights out of the paladin.

“Hey cargo pilot!”

It was so satisfying to hear an ear-splitting shriek.

"Are you going to sit there moping or put your big boy pants on and deal with your problems?”

Lance sat up with a disgruntled expression, blue eyes cold. Even so Keith’s heart started to race.

"I’ll have you know sitting here with Red questioning my destiny is cathartic and not moping,” the paladin sniped as he jumped down and landed hard on his rear.

He muttered a low curse and sheepishly turned his head up to Keith. “I must’ve been gone a long time if they sent you after me. I’ll go back! I just needed a moment.”

Keith smiled before realizing all Lance could see was the cold Marmora mask.

“Pidge told me what was going on and I wanted to see how you’re doing. Let’s take this conversation inside Red so I can see the damage.”

Lance groaned, “Of course she did.” He made a big show of getting up and rubbing his back but Keith had caught the genuine sadness in his eyes.

Red lowered her jaw suddenly and her eyes flashed in approval. Keith knew she was missing him but there wasn’t much to do about it so he’d shuffled the guilt he’d been carrying to the back of his mind.

“You like that Red? It’s good to see you, girl. Has Lance been taking care of you?”

Red thrummed with delight as the two walked up.

——–

Keith was growing antsy, almost wishing he had his mask on to hide his nerves.

He’d never really relied on his soul mark. His dad hadn’t had one so when he got one he just shrugged it off. He didn’t like the idea of some unknown force telling him his fate.

And since his mark was on the back of his neck, out of sight and out of mind, he could just move through life by instinct without the weight of it influencing his decisions.

But here he stood trying to comfort someone he cared for about something he didn’t even believe in.

And he was failing pretty badly.

He and Lance had played catch-up and had talked about literally every angle of all of the intel the Blade and Voltron had.

What they hadn’t done was talk about Lance’s soul mark fading or why Keith of all people had shown up out of the blue.

He knew he was blowing it. They’d been there a while at this point and had fallen into an uneasy silence.

But he could tell Lance was freaking out. His gaze was stony even as he fake laughed and his shoulders were tight and high.

He turned to Lance and met his gaze straight on. He couldn’t really get enough of those cornflower blue eyes. But he ignored them and held out a hand.

“Show me your mark.”

Keith grimaced at his own stupidity.

Soul marks were generally a private matter. They weren’t usually shown unless to a family member. They had some special meaning or clue to help you figure out your soulmate but it was essentially like asking someone to take off their clothes.

Lance was stunned, mouth open and eyes the size of dinner plates. He gaped and kept trying to say something but gave up the attempt before shaking his head and taking off his helmet and upper body armor.

His voice squeaked before evening out.

“I mean, it’s not that big of a deal, I’ve heard of others who found their soulmates even after they lost their mark. It’s not unheard of…”

Keith interrupted with an eye roll.

“Yeah but for a big softie like you it is a big deal. You’re a romantic and you always have been.”

Keith had hoped to prod Lance into a better mood by playing around but instead the younger man seemed to deflate.

He started to unzip the back of his black suit and Keith’s pulse jumped. He turned away to hide his blush. “Uh it isn’t in like… a private area, is it?”

Finally Lance sneered at him with an annoyed glare. “Even if it was you were the one who asked to see it mullet. It’s on the back of my arm is all.”

Keith coughed feeling nervous and excited all at once.

Lance managed to roll the Altean fabric down and turned the inside of his bicep sheepishly outwards.

Two fairly large numerals, 24, in black ink curved perpendicular to his inner arm, dark lines stark against his golden skin.

Inside the numbers was a dark starscape with a nebula just like the one they had flown past to get to this moon. The lines looked faint around the edges, just as marks looked before disappearing.

It was beautiful still. Keith could barely speak, his heart was pounding so loudly.

Lance looked at the floor. “I mean this is everything you need to know about me. I always wanted to do something amazing, even as a dumb kid, but when this showed up on my 12th birthday I knew I had to go to space, I knew I’d find my soulmate there. So I worked really hard. And I made it here and now it’s fading so apparently,” his voice shook a little, “I did something wrong.”

Keith put his hand on the back of his neck, forcing himself to focus. His nerves were shot after seeing the mark.

“What does 24 mean? Is that the age you’re supposed to meet them? Is that their age?”

Lance sighed rubbing at his mark dejectedly.

“That’s what my sisters said. My mom. But I knew it was for Nochebuena, December 24.” At Keith’s questioning look Lance just sad, “Yes that’s today.”

"But growing up, that day is my family’s Christmas. It’s my favorite day. There’s like a hundred people at the house. My dad and Abuelo and his brothers roast an entire pig all day. My Mom and aunties and Abuela and us kids we just make dessert and food and eat. Then we played games and took pictures. We went to Mass at midnight and if you wanted your presents you had to stay awake until then. It’s a great day.”

He grew quiet for a minute, his face solemn and still. He looked as if he was wrestling with something.

Keith was scared he’d start crying and hovered his hand behind Lance’s back.

“I was so happy to see that number because it meant that my soulmate was someone who would… get me and my family. Someone who would join in those memories. And it meant my family would be a part of my future. I didn’t think I’d have to give it up to be a part of Voltron, that I would have to give up my future to save the universe.”

Lance’s voice broke with the strain of holding back tears. His fingers were shaking as he traced the fading edges.

Keith let out a sudden breath that sounded like a chuckle only to be met with Lance’s red-rimmed stare.

“Are you seriously laughing at me mullet as I’m pouring my heart out to you?”

Keith shook his head trying to find a way out of the hole he was rapidly digging.

“No I, I wanted to show you my soul mark but my hair is, uh, stuck. I need your help to get it off the uniform.”

Lance lifted his eyebrow and frowned but moved behind Keith to lift his hair. “Whatever man.”

Keith’s heart was beating far too fast to be healthy as he felt long fingers gently tugging and pulling his hair into a makeshift bun.

Lance had to see it. The 24 on the back of his neck. The nebula. The soul mark he’d neglected for as long as he could remember. The matching mark that linked them forever as soulmates.

Keith heard Lance gasp sharply as they both felt the mark seal and color itself on their skin. He felt a hot droplet hit his mark and the way Lance’s hands had started tremble. “Mullet” the red paladin managed in a watery voice as his fingers started to trace the mark. “What is this? Is this-?”

Keith swallowed nervously. “It is,” he said, “but I swear I didn’t know until I saw yours. I’ve never cared about it.. until now I mean.” The more Lance talked the less he could say in between muffled sobs. “Y-you mean you’re m-my, and, and I’m yours…”

Keith couldn’t stand it anymore and turned around pulling Lance tightly against him by his upper back and cradling his head against his shoulder. Lance collapsed into the hug, heart pounding rabbit-fast, crying openly and somehow laughing in between tears. “I thought I’d l-lost you.”

Keith caressed the tousled hair and rubbed Lance’s back. His voice was tight and choked with happiness. “Never.” I would never let you lose me, Lance.

They stayed wound around each other for a long while, Keith silent and thankful for the Christmas Eve luck. It really had been a good night. The best.

[auspiciousagape]

Some failed bake-off themed Klance for @bleusarcelle! <3 °˖✧◝(^▿^)◜✧˖°

They were aiming to make something like this, buuut that didn’t exactly work out. x’) I like to think Keith was 95% responsible for their resulting abomination because he: 1) didn’t take care to securely cover the blender before turning it on because it was “only halfway full”, so a good portion of the mix ended up on their clothes instead of the baking tin,  2) thought it would be a good idea to raise the heat to cook the cake faster when Lance wasn’t looking, 3) ate 3/4 of the whipped cream frosting behind Lance’s back while waiting for the cake to bake, so they ended up not having enough of it to decorate the whole cake, and 4) shook the sprinkle bottle too hard, causing the sift to pop off and all of the sprinkles to dump out everywhere but on the cake.  :’D

Lance gets the remaining 5% of the blame because can’t remember if he added oil to the mix. (He didn’t.)

I hope you enjoy this! <3 ;v; This was actually my first attempt at drawing these two, and it was so much fun to draw them in the scenario you requested! All of your ideas were so sweet. >v<

(( A big thank you to the awesome peep(s) over at @klance2017secretsanta for organizing the event as well!! <3 ))

[searching-for-mercury]

This Christmas Needs More Minty Hot Cocoa -- Klance

As part of the Klance Secret Santa Event (@klance2017secretsanta) for Sam (@koganelovesmcclain)! I hope you like it!!

Summary: Keith and Lance have been both so busy with work and school, they've hardly had any time to really enjoy the holidays. A single free day lines up for both of them, so what do they do? Put up the tree, of course!

(ao3)

 ---

After weeks of scrutinizing each other's school and work schedules, the day both Keith and Lance had free finally arrived. December was a busy month anyways, with all the school papers being due, the final projects that were worth more than most of the semester, and the rush of customers searching out last minute gifts. But they'd finally found a day that worked for them both and it had arrived with cold winds and no snow.

              "I was really hoping it'd snow," Lance said, peering through the curtains. He worked retail and not only had he gotten them out of the clearance bin, but he got his 20% discount slapped on top of it. Sure, they were a bit shimmery and a dull sort of gold, but they made the apartment look a little more put together.

              That was sort of what that day was about. Their first Christmas together in their first apartment. They'd been dating for nearly their entire college career, but it was the first time it felt really real. They were adults -- they'd gotten goddamn curtains together. Well, sort of. Lance had called Keith to ask and Keith had been a little too fussy about the details until Lance reassured him they could work with the color. But still.

              "Why would you want it to snow?" Keith asked. Lance didn't have to look at him to know he was making a face.

              "To set the mood!" Lance said, turning back to his boyfriend. He didn't really need the snow, though. He'd been excited since he went to bed the night before.

              Keith only made some sort of 'hmph' noise that got partly swallowed by his mug of tea. Normally he slept in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms, but the living room was "too damn cold" so he'd donned a large sweater. Lance suspected it was his, but he didn't want Keith pulling it off while rolling his eyes. He didn't mind the clothes trading -- they both wore the exact same size.

              "You know," Lance started singing. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"

              Keith groaned. "Don't make me regret this," he said.

              "Everywhere you go," Lance continued, getting steadily closer and a grin growing wider.

              "I will divorce you."

              "We aren't even married!"

              "I mean this for later," Keith replied, very matter-of-fact like. "We will get married and several years later I will demand a divorce. You will ask me why. And I'll tell you, you know why."

              Lance narrowed his eyes. Did he keep singing or take his boyfriend, with his black hair still mussed up from sleep, seriously? But Keith's lips wobbled a little, like he was trying to keep a straight face and failing, so Lance decided to aim for those instead.

              "Gross," Keith said.

              "You're gross," Lance shot back before settling on the couch beside him and kissed him again.

              "You fight like a kid."

              "You fight like a baby."

              "Like a second-grade kid," Keith insisted.

              "I would be the champion amongst second-graders," Lance replied.

              "You'd be the kid who runs away when things actually get serious," Keith said, as if to say, "Let's be real here, now."

              Lance was most definitely the kind of person to talk big and get in serious trouble fast without realizing it, but would he run away? Maybe. He liked to think it wouldn't be his first reaction, though. Maybe as a second-grader he'd run, but as an adult, he would at least survive a bit by dodging. And throwing. His aim was fairly good.

              "Are we going to do this?" Keith asked. "Or are we going to end up discussing the fighting capabilities of our second-grade selves? Because I'm down for either."

              "No!" Lance shouted while springing to his feet. "We are going to do this! There's no way we lugged that thing up here last night for nothing."

              They didn't have a very large living room -- there was enough space for a couch, coffee table, and a sort of dresser they'd found on the side of the road one day for the TV to stand on. They'd painted it over with a simple dark brown color, like coffee with only a drop of milk mixed in. Some of the drawers didn't like sliding out quite as smoothly as they wanted, but it hadn't collapsed yet. Lance had been in charge of hanging up picture frames, full of their friends and animals, of family members. Them too, of course. Keith didn't like getting his picture taken if it wasn't for something with purpose, like his driver's license, but Lance could be sneaky.

              Late last night, Keith called him after coming back from work. He was downstairs, he'd said. Lance ought to come down. When he did, Keith was standing there, with a hat pulled down over his ears and a scarf covering most of his face, beside his tiny red car. Their very first Christmas tree was strapped to the roof, bundled up tight in netting.

              It now stood as proudly as it could, being only an inch or two taller than them, right next to the TV. Some of the branches were up against and on the coffee table, but Lance didn't want to cut them; it would look too weird. Mutilation, he'd said, but he'd never admit to being so dramatic.

              After they both took showers and Keith made the bed while Lance did the dishes, the boxes of ornaments were taken out of the closet they'd been in since Thanksgiving. Most of them were new, but a couple boxes had been given to them by Keith's parents. Lance's grandparents lived too far away -- any bulbs sent their way would probably arrive in pieces.              

              "First go on the lights," Keith said and handed the box over for Lance to open.

              "You think one box is going to be enough?" Lance asked, picking at the tape.

              Keith waved another box at him. "Just in case," he said.

              "We should have gotten the one that played music," Lance said as he pulled out the bundle of tiny lights. According to the package, the ones they bought could only do two things: blink or not blink.

              "No." Keith said it with such conviction, Lance could imagine himself waking up one day to find the plastic pieces of the switch controlling the music scattered on the floor. Maybe there'd even be the hammer used to smash it with.

              The lights were strung up with only one major incident: getting stuck behind the tree.

              "Don't push on it," Keith said. Lance wasn't sure what he was doing, because he had a bunch of pine needles trying to poke into his eyeballs, but it didn't seem like he was helping. "You'll ruin it!"

              "Well I don't see any other way!"

              "Cut it out! I'm thinking!"

              "Think faster!"

              Then the tree moved, just not in the direction Lance wanted it to.

              "Pine trees don't taste good, you know."

              "I'll keep that in mind," Keith grunted, his voice coming from somewhere below, "the next time I consider eating a pine tree."

              Suddenly the tree was gone and Lance could breathe. He darted out from the corner, as if staying would mean making it his permanent new home. Pine needles were everywhere and Keith was already eyeing them the same way he eyed his sweaters full of cat hair.

              "Okay," Lance said, straightening his shirt. "Lights are on and plugged in."

              "I pulled it out a little, so we'll just push it back when we're done decorating," Keith said. He reached up to brush some pine needles out of Lance's hair.

              "After you, sir," Lance said with a sweeping gesture towards the boxes of ornaments.

              It was a simple task, decorating the tree. It would have been done in silence had Lance not turned on the radio. Hanging shiny red bulbs onto branches to the various melodies of classic rock didn't exactly feel like Christmas, but Keith threatened him in a very serious "til death do us part" sort of way if Lance put on anything relating to the holidays; he'd gotten out his pocket knife and everything.

              "I hear enough of that at work," Keith had said.

              It was true -- stores were putting on Christmas music earlier with each year. Lance was lucky: the clothing department he worked at had ten different songs with each song having two or three different renditions throughout the whole track. Keith's just had five.

              Lance could've gone on about the evils of corporations sucking the fun out of literally everything, but that would mean letting them win. Pidge and her brother, Matt, had explained it to him before, when he'd voiced his complaints.

              When it was finally done, they stood back and watched as the lights twinkled off the shiny glass ornaments. It was a masterpiece. Lance went and grabbed his phone, taking pictures from every angle (except from the corner, he was not going back), and Keith watched as he started preparing hot chocolate from the kitchen.

              "Send those to me when you're done," he said.

              "As always," Lance said. He swiped around on his phone until he'd sent them not only to Keith, but to his own extended family as well. A couple he fiddled with on Instagram until he decided on a filter. He was always taking pictures, though, and Keith was always asking for them. Keith blamed it on his phone ("It's old. Yours takes better pictures."), but Lance knew he just didn't want to bother.

              Netflix was pulled up and a couple DVDs were pulled out of their collection. Keith ended up deciding for them both, though, when he said no to all of them except one.  It wasn't an exact yes, though -- he made a kind of shrug and an "eh" to Nightmare Before Christmas.

              "Did you get candy canes?" Lance asked as Keith handed him his mug.

              "Oh right."

              Lance popped in the DVD and waited for the chance to skip to the main menu. A pack of the leftover candy canes they'd used to hang on the tree was dropped down next to the tin of cookies Keith had also brought over. They'd both baked them, at some point or another. Only one set was done together, due to their conflicting schedules. Another was given to them by Keith's dad.

              All the lights were turned off except the tree. Lance swirled a candy cane in his hot chocolate, watching it melt as the movie started. Keith had burrowed himself under a blanket, so Lance stole a piece of it so he could be at least a little burrowed under as well. The tree really did look good. It didn't look like the super fake magazine pictures of trees or the ones in model houses or in store windows. It had personality -- their personalities, scrambled up into one. And it would look just as good on actual Christmas morning, with presents tucked underneath it.

Yes, a very good tree indeed.

[miintprince]

This is my drawing for the Klance Secret Santa event 2017 featuring galra Keith and altean Lance!!

I hope you like it @nickyawesome !!

Thank you for organising this event @klance2017secretsanta !!

[Characters: Lance and Keith from Voltron Legendary Defender]

[ao3feed-klance]

My boyfriend can't be this cute (guidelines to dating Lance McClain)

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2BBP9Eh

by Sarara

Keith have a cute boyfriend

A.K.A Keith’s constant dilemma of battling his raging hormones while his boyfriend remain oblivious

A.K.A Keith is doomed

-----------

My gift for tumblr event Klance2017secretsanta

Words: 4203, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Shay (Voltron)

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt

Additional Tags: Pining Keith (Voltron), Smitten Keith, Established Relationship, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Dorks in Love, Keith is so in love you have no idea, mild kangst, Keith have fantasies about Lance, He's a young healthy boy yall

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2BBP9Eh

[ki-sanna]

MERRY CHRISTMAS @roshxm!

For the @klance2017secretsanta event this year

I hope youl like it!

[koganelovesmcclain]

Word Count: 11330 This is my @klance2017secretsanta​ gift fic for @redyarns​!

I’m sorry I’m cutting it close. But time got away from me. Please forgive me for making you wait. Merry whatever! :3

[detective-rowan]

Cryptid: Santa

(In participation of @klance2017secretsanta​ and for @ka-gayama​, I really hope you like this.)

WC: 2425 Summary: Lance is stuck in the dorms for Christmas and is surprised to find Keith there as well, trying to execute a strange plan.

The floor was unusually quiet.  Lance moved between the kitchen and his dorm, bringing various ingredients he had forgotten as the meat cooked on the stove.  While it was nothing close to what his roommate Hunk could make, it was a recipe he got from his mom.  Giving him a taste of home while he was stuck at Garrison Academy.  

He had been on the phone throughout the day talking with various family members, or constantly receiving pictures from his family of the things he was missing.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be home for Christmas, luck just hadn’t been on his side this year.  The guilt of missing the last ride home weighed heavily on him as he rewatched a video of his nieces tackling the family dog in excitement.  Despite their loud squeals the dog did not stir.  

The smell of the food hit him, calling his attention back to what he was doing.  

He had lingered on campus to turn in a final paper as his professor had offered to let him turn it in a little late.  It was a kind gesture, but now the roads were too dangerous and a plane was too expensive, especially if he wanted to avoid the snow storms.  

He shook his head, trying to chase away the fuzzy feeling like he was going cry.  Christmas meant making the best of it, enjoying the day and thinking about loved ones no matter how far away they were.  Plugging his phone into the wall Lance found some of his mother’s favorite songs to play while cooking.  

In no time he had plated the dish and slowly realized the mound he had created.  Too much for one person.  If Hunk was still in the dorms, it would be perfect.  Most of the floor was in fact empty, except for- “Allura?”  He leaned out into the hall and called out to the door at the end of the hallway.  She had been a little sad lately, while she didn’t celebrate Christmas, she had been sharing a few memories and stories of her parents lately.  Maybe she could use the company.  

Allura was their RA and was spending winter break in the dorms as well.  Despite that, there was no answer at her door.  Putting some of the food on a second plate Lance approached her door carefully.  It had been a rocky start between the two of them, but he liked to think they were friends at this point.  

He took a few calming breaths before knocking, “Allura~  Hey are you home?”  There was the muffled sound of things being moved before the door cracked opened a little.  “So I made way too much food and I was wondering if you’d-” the face that peered out at him was not the angelic face he had been expecting.  “Keith?!”  Lance’s chest tightened at the exhausted, drawn out face that narrowed its eyes at him.  

“Lance?  What are you…”

“No better question, what are you doing in Allura’s room?” The mental image of Keith with Allura wrapped in his arms sent a nauseating chill through him.  

“She’s with Shiro and lending me her room.  It’s not ideal but there’s less room for someone to make an escape.”  Keith yawned, stating as matter of factly as if that should make enough sense.  

“That” he paused, “sounds weird.”  Lance leaned against the door trying to look in.  “What do you mean, escape?”  

Moving out of the way and letting the door open, Keith held his arm out to show the spectacle that laid before him.  The chill of the room hit Lance as he gazed at a large pine tree took up most of the actual floor space in the dorm, nearly every branch was covered in tinsel, lights, and ornaments.  Most of them paper, or fabric, a few busted ceramic ones were also visible.  The room was covered in garland as well with a large plate of cookies along with a tall glass of milk sat next to an open window.  Somewhere there was a low hum of ‘Jingle Bell rock’ being played.  

“What is this?  Allura doesn’t-”

“I brought them in.  I promised to clean up after tonight. I just needed a good place to set up, and after I spent last year on the roof Shiro said I couldn’t do it at home this year.”

“Do what exactly?”  Lance casually pinched off a bite of food with his fingers, his stomach demanding something to eat if he was going to keep standing there.  

Seemingly to take his cue from Lance, Keith also reached in and took a bit of food and ate a little while explaining, “I’m going to catch him this year and prove he’s real.”

“Who- oh you can’t possibly mean…”

Lance jerked a little at the sudden need to chuckle at the seriousness on Keith’s face when he nodded, “Santa Claus.”

“Okay, I know you’re old enough to know he’s not real.”

“He is!  I’m going to stop him, get proof, and get some answers.  If there is anyone who could answer my questions it would be the man who is always watching.”

“Yeah okay man,”  Lance smirked before thrusting the plate at Keith, “so anyway, I made too much, I was dropping this off for Allura.  See she gets some tonight when she comes back?”  

“She’s not coming back tonight?”

“Explain.”

“Shiro and her are hanging out watching movies tonight at our place.  So I’m staying here tonight.”

“You mean you live with Shiro?” It was hard to image that the guy who just disappeared one day from the dorms living with the guy Lance’s professors still gush about to this day.  The guy who sometimes gave visitor lectures.  It was like night and day between the two of them.  The thought of them living together had his legs feeling a little jittery like he needed to get out of there.

“He’s my brother.”  Keith raised an eyebrow at Lance’s question.

Lance nodded, that would make sense, oddly enough this fact had him relaxing.  “Okay, well, I guess you can have it instead, but don’t come begging me for more!  Just bring the plate back to my room when you’re done, it’s three doors down on the left hand side that way.”

“Thanks.”  Keith glanced at the food and away towards the floor, Lance couldn’t help staring at the way his bottom lip stuck out in almost a pout at that word.  The door shut with a soft click in his face without Keith saying a word of goodbye.  

Lance muttered as he made his way back to the kitchen to enjoy his own food and clean up.  

-

Hours had passed as Lance finished cleaning up and found himself distracted by various videos on his phone.  With the warm food in his belly and the late night, he found himself slowing down.  Gathering up his stuff he made his way to his dorm and was a little surprised to not see a plate sitting in front of his door.  ‘Maybe Keith is still eating it?’  

After putting his cookery away he made his way back to Allura’s room.  “Keith?”  He knocked, but there was no answer.  “Keith?”  His hand tested the doorknob and it turned, unlocked.  He took a breath before announcing that he was going in.  The room was dark except for the Christmas tree lights, there was no sight of Keith.  He opened the door wider, “where did-” Lance jumped at the sudden sound of many things clattering.  

“Got you!”  Suddenly something warm slammed against him, tackling him to the ground in the hallway.  “Ha!”  Lance felt the heat raise to his cheeks as he gazed up at a glorious look of triumph that clashed with the dark bags under Keith’s eyes.  Keith’s weight kept them to the door as he pinned Lance’s hands above his head.

“Y-yeah,” Lance stammered for a moment as they both blinked at each other.  From that proximity the dusting of pink that crept up Keith’s neck to his cheeks, and even tipping the tops of his ears, was all visible.  “I mean- what the hell Keith?!”  Lance squirmed under him, nearly bucking him off as Keith scrambled backwards to get off.

“Sorry I just thought you were-” Keith offered Lance a hand in standing up.

“You thought I was Santa Claus?  Jeez, you really need to get some sleep man, I don’t even sound like an old guy.”

“You don’t know what Santa sounds like.”  

Lance sighed, “whatever.”  He looked into the room, behind the door a few emptied cans of various energy drinks were scattered in various directions.  “That can’t be good for you.”

“I got to stay up so he doesn’t get the drop on me.”  Keith shrugged, “oh, here’s your plate.  Now I gotta set this back up.”

“Seriously though man, you look exhausted.  When was the last time you slept?”  Lance eyed  Keith as he missed while trying to pick up one of the cans.  

“Oh I’ve been up for… a while.  Took some time to get everything over here and set up.”  Keith waved his hand towards the room behind him, almost knocking a standing lamp over that he apparently forgot was there.  

“You’re going to destroy Allura’s room at this rate.  Just get some sleep.”

“I’ll sleep tomorrow.”

“No.”  Lance pressed his hands on Keith’s shoulders.  “How about you sleep and I wake you up in a little bit?  How can you hope to catch Santa in this state?”  He hoped that feeding into Keith’s plan would help him see reason.  The way Keith narrowed his eyes and seemed to brood with thought, slowly, looking more like a pout as his sleepiness took over; Lance thought he had won.

“Okay but you gotta hide with me then.”  He shut the door behind Lance and went to work setting up the ‘alarm’ system again.  

“What do you mean hide?”  As a response Keith pointed over to the lower part of Allura’s bunked bed.  She had it set up where her bed was lofted and she had a futon sofa set up underneath.  A pile of blankets laid before him.  

“Alright come here.”  Once Keith was satisfied with the cans he motioned for Lance to sit next to him.  Shrugging Lance agreed, only to be buried in so many warm blankets that smelled a lot like Keith.  A mix of sweat, some warm spice he couldn’t put his finger on, and a little bit of the food he had made earlier that night.  His nose wrinkled.  Though it was surprisingly comforting in comparison to the chill that permeated the room from the open window.  

“Okay so… you sleep, and I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”

“You’ll wake me up if Santa tries to come in through the door or window, right?”  Keith demanded, glaring at Lance while behind huddled under the blankets.  

Lance suppressed the urge to chuckle, again.  “Yep.”  

It was only moments before Keith leaned into Lance’s side, nearly knocking him over.  His breathing suddenly becoming very heavy.  Sleep had to have been just around the corner for Keith, Lance gazed in wonder, questioning how he was able to stay away so long if he had been that tired.  A sharp pain increased in his back at the angle however.  Slowly he tried to maneuver the two of them into a more comfortable position, only to find himself slowly leaning backwards with Keith laying on top of him.  The mess of blankets entangled between and around them making it nearly impossible to move.  

“Hey Keith?”  Lance poked, and prodded, trying to stir him enough to get him to move.  Keith seemed to snore even louder as an answer.  Laying there, feeling Keith curled up against him, Lance tried to listen for the Christmas music, something to keep his thoughts occupied.  But whatever had been playing had gone silent.  He started weighing his options, he could roughly wake Keith up and get them resituated, maybe Keith would go back to sleep quickly.  As he wondered about it, there was a slight tug at his shirt.  Keith grumbled a little in his sleep, he furrowed his brow while he clutched at Lance’s shirt.  

Lance sighed, wiggling to get an arm around him, holding him as best as he could.  Slowly Keith’s expression softened, but still he didn’t let go.  “Night Keith.”  Accepting the situation and relaxing into the futon Lance felt the lull of sleep coming onto him.

-

Something shifted and light hit Lance’s face, slowly he blinked his eyes open, trying to figure out what was going on, he always closed his blinds at night.  The surprised, sleepy, and almost endearing expression on someone elses face peering so close to him had him smiling.  In the daze it was vaguely familiar, calming his concern almost immediately.  “Hi there.”  He reached out and pressed his hand to their cheek, letting the warmth sink in.  Though as he did, slowly he started to remember, and recognize that face.  Especially as it started to glower at him.  

“You said you’d wake me up after a few hours.  We missed our opportunity.”  Keith grumbled, his cheeks turning a little red as he pulled away from Lance.  He continued with strangled noises as he shifted the blankets, freeing them both.

“It’s not that big of a deal, besides Santa doesn’t-”  His words were lost as he sat up, surprised to see a few presents placed under the tree.  “But…”  Keith slid off of the futon and scooted closer to the tree and pulled out the gifts.  

“Here.”  He casually tossed three boxes in Lance’s direction.  “Those are for you.”  

“But…”  He blinked in confusion as Keith tore into one of his presents.  

It was a strange, and thrilling experience.  Lance tried to figure out what had happened, settling on the idea that it had probably been Shiro or Allura. He had barely noticed what the presents were or what Keith was doing until he plopped back down next to him.  

“Next year maybe…”  Keith nodded assuredly to himself, before turning to Lance, his eyes darting everywhere but at directly at Lance. “So ummm…thank you.  For staying last night.”  He reached out giving Lance’s hand a squeeze.

“Yeah of course… Merry Christmas Keith.”  Keith stilled at Lance’s words, he tilted his head looking at Lance out of the corner of his eye.

Slowly his shoulders relaxed before he mumbled with a smile, “yeah, Merry Christmas.”

[nickyawesome]

My @klance2017secretsanta gift for @hidinginapillowfort

I hope this is fluffy enough for you~

(sorry with the delay! My life has been a bit all over the place lately :) )

[watachan]

Warm and cosy

@klance2017secretsanta

My Secret Santa is @searching-for-mercury. I wish you a very happy holidays, and I hope you’ll enjoy your present.

Also on AO3

The tree was decorated with a million colors. The house had lights and Christmas wreaths on every window and possible surface. The air smelled of cinnamon, biscuits and hot chocolate. And just now, the presents were put under the Christmas tree.

Lance looked over his shoulder while getting up from the floor. Keith was in the kitchen, putting biscuits of every shape and color on a plate to savor with the hot chocolate in the two mugs beside him. His violet eyes turned to Lance, he smiled at him then took the mugs and plate to the couch. It was late and they should be in their bed right now, but neither wanted to sleep. Not right now.

Lance eyed the sweater Keith was wearing. An ugly sweater to be precise. It was a lovely dark green, and that was the only nice thing about it. On the back, it was nothing special, just blank dark green, but once Keith turned, the front revealed itself. And boy was Lance happy of finding this horror. The front was a knitted picture of the Grinch smiling this very creepy smile, from the cartoon How the Grinch stole Christmas. Above it was written in red : 'You're a mean one' and under was written 'Mr Grinch', like the start of the song. Keith had looked at him with the most outraged and betrayed look once he had unwrapped the package three years ago. And he almost burned the poor sweater, until Lance told him to find one for him, that would out weight the ugliness.

He wasn't sure if Keith understood the concept of ugly sweater though. Because the one he had found, and that Lance was currently wearing, was a nice royal blue, with the 'forever alone' face horribly knitted in the middle of the front. If one thing was for sure, it was that Lance had almost had a panic attack because of it. Because Keith had dumped the paper package on Lance's knees while saying it reminded him of his boyfriend. Then Lance saw the sweater and a horrible feeling of this being a break-up scene crept in his mind. He almost cried because of it. But Keith had promised it was just to get him back on the horrible sweater and that he loved him with all his heart.

And he wasn't sure if Keith wanted to prove it to him, but for New Year just after the incident, he proposed to Lance. Of course, the young cuban man was not an idiot and accepted. They married in spring, after a lot of stress to prepare their wedding in such a short time. But they were so happy since then, it was sooo worth it.

They were on the couch, listening to a soft Christmas song in the background, enjoying the biscuits and hot chocolate while talking about this and that. It was close to midnight, and the world outside was quiet. There was no snow falling, although the snow from last night was still there, even if a little melted from the warmer afternoon.

« Do you think it's gonna snow later in the night ? » asked Keith.

« Maybe. Forecast said it could if the temperature is low enough. »

« I hope so. »

« Why ? I thought you didn't like the cold. »

Keith took a sip of chocolate from his mug and smiled at his husband.

« I wanna make a snowman. Even if it's a small one. »

Lance snaked an arm on the shoulders of his black haired lover, pulling him gently to him. Keith let him, snuggling closer, putting his head on Lance's shoulder. This cosy feeling was almost constant ever since they started dating. Keith dated barely anyone before Lance, and he could feel it ever since their first date. Lance was the one for him. Sure, they could argue a lot, but they realized a long while ago that it was better to voice what was wrong instead of keeping quiet and letting the matter slowly rot. They almost broke up because of that, for something so little and insignificant that neither of them remembered.

No, they were good like that. Talking things out, because it was what kept them so in love.

Lance kissed the pale neck close to his mouth, tickling Keith, making him laugh softly. Lance put his mug on the little round table beside them, and took Keith's after a moment. He looked at his husband with this spark, the one Keith really liked to see.

« Right now ? » he teased, his index stroking Lance's neck delicately.

« Just cause it's Christmas doesn't mean we can't have some private time. »

Keith let him kiss his lips, feeling Lance's arms snake around his waist. The kiss was tender, just their lips caressing softly. Of course, it was not to last. Lance tilted his head a little to the side and let his thumb go under the ugly sweater, stroking softly the pale skin of his lover.

But the sound of little footsteps on the floor stopped them immediately. They both looked behind Lance in one movement. Standing there, in her little purple cat one-piece pajamas and holding a lion plush in her little arms, stood the second love of their life after each other.

« Papa ! I'm scared ! »

Without thinking, Keith was up in a second and already taking their little girl in his arms. Their precious 3 years old, Ellie, was shaking a little. Lance came right after them, kissing his baby girl on the head while Keith stroked her back. She had the same chocolate brown hair as Lance, her golden skin showing her hispanic origins, and her amethyst eyes were full of tears ready to be shed.

« What's wrong, sweetie ? » asked Keith in this soft voice that was only for her.

« Thez a monster in ma room ! » she said in her little voice.

While Keith rocked her in his arms, Lance kissed her forehead. For the past few weeks, Ellie was seeing monsters in the shadows of her room. It had been almost 5 days since the last time she bursts out of her room at full speed to 'escape the monsters' during the night.

« Alright then ! Time to chase the monsters ! » said Lance while putting his hands on his hips.

« Let me do it. »

Keith gave the precious child to his husband, then he went to the room under the cautious look of the little girl. He retrieved the little spray bottle they had filled with water and some edible dye to make it look more effective. He washed it while Lance came in the kitchen with her, then Keith looked at her with a wide smile.

« You know what ? I think the potion wasn't strong enough. Let's add something else this time. »

Ellie's eyes sparkled while Keith opened a drawer over his head and took a little jar with some ginger colored spice in it.

« We'll add cinnamon this time. Monsters don't like it because it's so tasty. »

Ellie looked so impressed with her papa, Lance felt a little jealous, just for a few seconds. Then Keith prepared the next 'potion' to spray in the bedroom. 'Bravely', he entered the room under the watchful eyes of Ellie and Lance. He looked under the bed and sprayed some while noting they needed to clean in there in a few days, with all those little sheep of dust collecting. He then went for the closet, making a show of putting his hand on the handle before looking at them. Ellie closed her eyes with her hands while Lance rolled his eyes before smiling at his husband. Keith opened the closet, and no monster was in sight. He sprayed for good measure then looked with a smirk at his two loved ones.

« Done ! No more monsters in your room, my darling. »

« Papa's the best ! »

Lance whined loudly at this and looked down at his daughter.

« So papí is no good ? »

At this, she looked shocked and almost dropped her plush to put her little arms around his neck.

« No ! Papí is best too ! »

« Thank you, mi cariña. »

Keith rolled his eyes with a smile. Lance had these little moments of jealousy, because Ellie was currently closer to her papa. Keith didn't know why. Maybe because he was so protective of her. Lance sometimes joked it was like he had carried her instead of her biological mom. Without parents around him while he was a kid, Keith was still learning a lot about being a parent, but thankfully, Lance was there to help him. He had taken care of his niece and nephew while he was barely a teenager after all.

« Papa ? Papí ? »

Keith came closer, putting his front to Ellie's back in a protective stance while hugging her. Lance didn't mind at all.

« Yes, mi princesa ? »

« Wanna shleep wif papa and papí. »

Lance and Keith exchanged a look, the kind that meant their private time was for another night, then they nodded together.

« Yes, of course, sweetie. »

At that, she smiled widely, yawned and put her head under Lance's chin, getting comfy, like she always did since she was a baby. They exchanged another look, both knowing how lucky they were to have Ellie in their life.

They had been talking about having kids even before getting married. Lance couldn't see their future without at least a child with them. Keith was a little more reserved, with being an orphan for most of his life and not knowing what a parent was supposed to do. But of course, like most of the time, Lance managed to convince him that they could do it. And Keith was impatient by nature, even more when it came to Lance. So the day after their wedding, he asked Lance if he wanted them to adopt. Then, it had been Lance who was a little reserved, but knowing they'll need years before getting their child, he accepted. Surprisingly, they welcomed Ellie into their life in February of the next year, thanks to Lance's favorite cousin, Allura, who pulled some strings to speed up the process. She was barely 9 months old when they officially became her parents, and the ultimate surprise was that she was born the same week they got married. They loved her with all their heart.

Keith hated to cry with a passion, due to all his childhood spent in foster care, but the moment she smiled at him for the first time, he couldn't stop his tears. He also cried the day she called him 'papa' for the first time. His whole being trembled at his baby calling him 'papa', remembering how he thought for years his own dad would come back for him. His tears of happiness turned into tears of sadness when he thought it could happen to her as well. But Lance had promised, she wouldn't be alone to go into the broken system. She had her godparents, Allura and Shiro, Keith's adoptive brother. They had promised, their Ellie wouldn't be alone. It was comforting, so much.

While Lance went slowly into their bedroom, rocking slowly the little girl in his arms, Keith made sure to turn off any light and electronics that wasn't supposed to be on for the night. Once done, he joined his two loves, watching adoringly how Lance put their precious girl in the middle of the bed, like they always did when she wasn't feeling alright. She was fast asleep, her so little chest rising and falling almost imperceptibly, her lion plush secured into her left arm. Lance looked up at Keith, the black haired crawling quietly into the bed to press a quick kiss on his husband's lips.

« Merry Christmas, love. » said Keith.

« Merry Christmas, babe. » answered Lance with a sweet kiss in return.

They each took their side of the bed, joining in the middle to watch over their baby girl for a little longer, their hands joined over the cover on top of Ellie. It was a soft feeling, being this happy and at peace. And just before Keith fell asleep, his eyes caught something by the window. He smiled.

« It's snowing. » he said in a hushed voice.

Lance looked over his shoulder. Indeed, soft little snowflakes were falling silently in the night. Lance smiled as well.

« Guess you'll have your snowman tomorrow. » he said while squeezing his husband's hand a little.

Keith closed his eyes in a happy sigh, then Lance knew he was asleep. The brown haired closed his eyes as well, quickly joining his two loved ones into the arms of Morpheus.

[discountprophet]

klance moodboard with florist lance and them getting a big fluffy dog

heres my gift for rini for the @klance2017secretsanta

i hope you have a great holiday season!

[searching-for-mercury]

Slapped in the Face with Romance -- Klance

As part of the Klance Secret Santa Event (@klance2017secretsanta) for Sarara (@itswhatimreallythinking ) I hope you like it!!

Summary: Keith is fed up with hearing about Lance's bad breakups. Why? Because he knows why the relationships don't last and also he just might have the tiniest bit of a crush on his stupid best friend. And one day he gets so tired of it, he decides to take initiative! The only downside being...it's hard to get your message across when the other person doesn't consider anything you do to be romantic.

(ao3)

----

              If Keith had to hear one more story where Lance bemoaned the loss of yet another girlfriend, Keith was going to throw either himself or Lance in the goddamn river. She really hurt me bad, Keith. He didn't care anymore. Or he did, but he wasn't happy about it. She fell out of love. How do you even do that? And Keith could have told him it was because Lance bolstered up a persona he held up to everyone around him, hoping no one would notice the real him, behind the bragging words and false bravado. He could have said it was because he never let anyone get too close, otherwise they'd see the chips in his personality.

              But he didn't say any of that. Keith drank his words down with his coffee and came up with something else, something stitched together real fast to make Lance feel better. And it always worked -- Lance always got back on up, back to his confident self, real or not, and would inevitably swoon over some other pretty face.

              And Keith wanted nothing else in the world other than to be that next pretty face.

              His wasn't very remarkable, no matter how often he caught himself looking in the mirror, at different angles, in different lighting. He'd outgrown his mullet, though that was mostly because Lance wanted to try out his new hair-styling techniques and Keith had been drawn in with the words "free haircut." His jaw was a little too defined, maybe, or his eyebrows a little too heavy.

              Lance, on the other hand, had a face that sparked interest, a smile that pulled people in, and a laugh that cemented that feeling of 'like' in place. He made jokes, both good and bad, and Keith wanted to punch him for some of them, and smile at him in a melt-y, stupid kind of way for others.

               Yes, he was in pretty deep. Too deep. Much deeper than he ever actually wanted, like he was groping around in a dark room for a light switch that didn't exist. There was no way he could complain to anyone about it, though, and not because they wouldn't approve. Hunk already knew about it -- he'd known since Keith knew, which was pretty impressive because sometimes it took a while for Keith himself to figure out his emotions.

              He couldn't really complain because he'd never done anything to try and win Lance over. The most he did was fight with the guy, which, in pretty much every book he knew about, was the exact opposite of what to do in order to capture anyone's heart.

              So, with some wild determination that came (like most of his ideas and motivation) in the middle of the night, Keith made it his New Year's resolution to get up off his stagnant ass and actually do something for once.

              It was only when morning came did he realized he should have been a little more specific.

 ***

                There was a lot of waiting involved in the first grand idea that came to Keith's mind. He was in his car, fiddling with the radio stations with the belief that every single one of them conspired together against listeners so they went on commercial break at the exact same time. No, he did not need new tires and he was never going to sign up for a gym membership -- why pay money for something he could do at home?

              It was a pretty gusty evening, as far as evenings went; he could hear the wind pushing through all the cracks and seams in his car. The sun would be setting in a bit, but hopefully Lance would be striding out of the salon before it did. Keith already felt like the world's biggest weirdo for camping out in the front and even creepier for knowing Lance's schedule. He'd been given it, in a text, about a week ago. There was nothing really creepy about it except, maybe, for the fact Keith used the information to pick him up.

              And when Lance did come walking out, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder, Keith's conscious was eased by the way Lance's face lit up when he saw him. A little more with the way he jogged over and pulled open the passenger-side door.

              "What're you doing here?" Lance asked, smiling like an excited dog.

              "Picking you up," Keith replied. Was his voice shaking? He sure as fuck hoped it wasn't shaking. His face was on fire, but there was barely anymore light in the sky to show it off. "I thought I'd surprise you."

              Lance immediately threw his bag to the backseat and slid in, bringing a whirl of fancy shampoo smells. "Well, you achieved that," he said. "If this were a cartoon, I'm pretty sure my jaw would have hit the pavement. Are we going anywhere? Or are you just giving me a lift?"

              Keith shrugged. To say he hadn't thought that far would be a lie -- he had, he just hadn't come up with a solid plan. "You want to catch a movie? Or are you too tired from work?"

              Lance rolled his eyes. "Dude, I've been standing all day. The movies sound amazing right now," he said. "I usually go home and watch TV right after work anyways."

              Keith nodded and pulled out of the parking lot. Movies it was then. Would they get dinner afterwards? Probably. Maybe he should have suggested it first, but Keith wasn't hungry and hadn't thought to ask Lance until after he'd already suggested the movies. And without realizing it, a whole ten minutes passed where nobody said anything.

              Lance was on his phone, the glow of the screen reflected on his face.

              Keith focused on the road again, but his mind was already churning out the possibilities. Had he already found a new love interest? Was he updating his blog? He definitely owned one. Not like Keith checked it lots. Nope.

              "So," Lance said, startling Keith out of whatever thought train his brain decided to take. "I've been looking up movies and unless you want to see a kids movie, there's a typical action type thing showing, I don't recognize the name, the new Avengers movie, or a questionable romance flick. There are a few more but they've already started, so we'll have to wait an hour."

              Keith knew exactly which movie they'd be seeing. "Have you seen the new Avengers movie?" he asked.

              "Nope."

              "I see."

              "Have you?"

              "No."

              Keith didn't even look at him and knew Lance was grinning his stupid open-mouthed, "hey-eyyyy," kind of grin. It was a very punch-able grin.

              "I hate you," he said.

              "Oh come on, you know you want to see it too," Lance said. He'd put away his phone.

              "Maybe," Keith said. "Or maybe I wanted to see that romance one."

              "Yeah right, Keith going to see a rom-com," Lance replied. Keith could hear the eye-roll.

              "I like comedies," Keith argued.

              "And the romance?"

              Keith hesitated. They'd arrived at the theater, he just needed to find a parking spot. "Maybe." Found one.

              "I'll believe that when I see it," Lance muttered.

              "Oh yeah? Well be prepared to see it, buddy."

              "What, we're seeing it?" Lance had unbuckled and was ready to get out of the car.

              Keith thought about what he'd just declared. "One day!" he announced. "Not today, today is The Avengers."

              Lance snorted.

              "Hey. How about this, you come to my place one day and we will rent the most god-awful romance movie out there," Keith said. "And we will watch it in all seriousness."

              "Is that even possible? You watching it seriously."

              Keith shrugged and gave him a grin. "We'll just have to wait and find out."

 ***

                Anger and annoyance, which usually led right back to anger, was not unfamiliar territory. Keith felt it brewing inside him, wanting to come out in a fit of bitter words or several beat up pillows, but he managed to only throw his backpack as far as he could across the room, where it hit the wall and fell down in a sad heap.

              A good friend. That's what he'd been told he was, a good friend.

              And a little part of him glowed a bit. He wanted to be a good friend, yes. That was important and he often wondered if he was doing enough for his friends, to let them know they were appreciated. He knew he was kind of bad at showing that kind of affection. Well, any affection, really, he was kind of like a tightly wound ball of emotions he didn't know what to do with, so he kept it all contained.

              But. But. He wanted to be a little something more than a good friend to one person in particular. The friend box? Sure, checked, all good. But he wanted that to develop into something a little more rosy in hue.

              He'd been picking up Lance from work, texting to see if he wanted to hang out on free days, and eating out to places Keith normally wouldn't have gone. Sure, that just meant places like Applebee's or the mall, but he wanted Lance to notice.

              And he technically had. It just wasn't quite what Keith had been hoping for.

              Keith needed something with more pizzazz, that would really catch Lance's attention and force him to wonder why Keith was doing what he was doing.

              "You could lick the sidewalk and I'm pretty sure that would do the trick," Hunk said when Keith went to him for help.

              Keith scowled. "You know what I mean."

              Hunk looked at him without really looking at him. "Huh. Well. This is gonna be hard, I have to admit. Lance is kind of dense when it comes to other people liking him. I think you're going to have to literally march up to him and slap him in the face with a confession. As straightforward as it can be. Just bam! Confess," he said.

              This wasn't at all what Keith had been hoping for. Straightforward emotions, aside from rage, given willingly was not his thing. He was a sudden outburst kind of guy, not a 'plan it 'til it's perfect' one. "Okay, but how," he asked. "I'm having a really hard time imagining a situation where it can just come up naturally."

              "Good point, good point," Hunk said with a finger curled under his mouth. "Maybe it has to be unnatural, though. Like, you come flying out of nowhere with a banner that says 'I LOVE YOU LANCE AND HAVE LOVED YOU EVER SINCE YOU KICKED MY ASS AT PAINTBALL.'"

              Keith shot him a scandalized look. "I have not."

              "Ohhhh but you have," Hunk said, giving him a little mournful pat on the shoulder. "You so have. That was the only time I saw you enjoying something with other people."

              Keith wanted to argue, to say he's most definitely enjoyed doing things with other people -- his friends, for example, that's why they were called his friends -- but he swallowed it down, knowing it would lead them both off track. "Anyways, I'm not going to burst out of the bushes waving some big-ass sign."

              "I feel like I should point out that you came up with the detail about the bushes. All you."

              "I'm not writing down any shit confession," Keith persisted.

              "Then tell him to his face! Just waltz up to him, wherever he's at, though maybe not at work, and declare your intentions! Tell him you want to date him and ask if that's cool. I bet it'd be cool. Lance is a cool guy."

              Keith wanted to know what part, exactly, of Lance was cool, but shook his head as if to throw out the thought. Lance was dorky and earnest, charming and comforting to be around, but not cool. "Okay, so tell him. To his face. Just as myself?"

              "I sure hope so."

              "I mean, do I get dressed up? Bring something? Invite him out somewhere?" Keith asked.

              And then Hunk's face lit up like the goddamn Griswold family house in Christmas Vacation. Whatever made it do that, Keith was almost entirely sure he did not want to know.

              "I've got it," he said. "I've figured it out. And we've got to go right now to get a few things because I am pretty sure you do not own a single thing that isn't black or some variation thereof."

              Keith looked down at his shirt. "I've got a red jacket," he protested. It was dark, kind of muted, and he didn't wear it as often anymore, but it existed.

              "Yeah, no. Not for what I've got planned," Hunk said.

              So Keith asked him what he did have planned. And he didn't entirely hate it, which made it better than most plans he could come up with. With a whole lot of reluctance, he followed Hunk out the door, to the car, where he'd be taken on the most boring, scathing shopping trip the world had ever seen.

 ***

 His stomach felt like it was full of Pop Rocks candy. Every inch of his body was telling him to run, to chicken out and continue living without experiencing awful, acid-burning embarrassment and rejection, but he put one wobbly leg in front of the other until he was standing in front of Lance's apartment.

It was dark out, but the streetlights enabled him to see Hunk sitting in his car, giving him a double thumbs up when Keith turned to look back.

He really didn't want to do any of it. The plastic around the flowers he held crinkled in his hand and a breeze rustled his recently combed hair. Hunk had even spritzed him with some very nice smelling cologne before he got out of the car -- unfortunately, nice or not, he wouldn't ever want to smell it again if things went sour.

And it pretty much did.

He went to ring the doorbell and fidgeted with his new apparel as he waited. Really, the only thing that wasn't black was his sweater. It was red, which Hunk was pretty impressed with, and much brighter than the jacket that still hung in his closet, with an argyle pattern stitched into it in black and white. The jacket had a texture similar to leather -- there was no way Hunk was going to let him buy the real stuff, even if Keith wanted to. It was a pretty comfortable jacket, though he couldn't say the same about the dark, fitted jeans.

When the door swung open, it was not Lance who answered, but Allura. Her fluffy hair was loose around her shoulders and she had a fading smile when she answered the door, like she'd been laughing right before.

"Uh," he said, dropping his arm even so he knew she'd already seen the flowers. "I'll just. Come back."

"Nonsense," she said in that pretty and posh British accent of hers.

But Keith was already backing away. "No, really," he said and then his feet finally took control and he was practically running away. Far away. Except not really far enough because Hunk caught up with him within seconds and rolled down his window to talk to him.

"Dude! What happened?" he asked. He was driving right next to him.

"You saw who opened the door," Keith said. The stems from the flowers were probably all snapped from the way he'd clenched his fists.

"Well, yeah, I saw Allura. Not a great start I admit, but no reason to run off like that! Also, get in the car, this is kind of weird," he said.

So Keith did, but he did it without thinking because his mind was a mess. The flowers were a mess and so was pretty much everything. Everything was awful and a mess and he just wanted to collapse in front of his TV and forget it all existed. For a couple hours, then it would pop back up like an overly friendly neighbor.

"It was Allura," Keith said. He didn't know how to properly convey the things he was feeling or thinking, because they were blending up inside him. "Allura."

Lance and Allura had dated years ago. She's found him annoying at first, and persistent, then later kind of endearing and not at all what he built himself up to be. It hadn't lasted too long, maybe a year, but it was much longer than any of his other relationships and they were still friends. Lance was always on good terms with everyone he dated -- it felt kind of inevitable, really, with Lance's personality -- but they were never as close as he was with Allura.

Thankfully, Hunk pretty much knew what was going on inside Keith's head. "I don't think they're getting back together," he said.

"That doesn't mean they won't," Keith muttered. He'd fixed his gaze out at the dark sky.

"True," Hunk said. "But. I've heard from particular sources that the lady in question has a mighty big crush on a certain mister Shiro. Just saying. You know. In case that changes anything."

And it did. In a really stupid way, it did. If Allura liked someone else, it meant she and Lance wouldn't get together, even if Lance wanted to. And even so Lance's motives were still in the dark, they had been since the very beginning. It put everything back to how it had been.

"Should I turn the car around?" Hunk asked.

"...Yeah."

 ***

 The second time Keith rang the doorbell, his stomach had settled into something more like an Alka-Seltzer sort of fizz and his heart was performing Cirque du Soleil in his chest. He was so focused on breathing that when Lance opened the door, he didn't react for what felt like a whole minute.

"Hey there," Lance said. He was wearing sweatpants and an old v-neck long sleeve covered in what looked like flour. Keith would've felt overdressed if his clothing wasn't giving him the tiniest bit of confidence right then. "Allura told me you performed what sounded like a delayed ding-dong-ditch."

"Yeah," Keith managed to breath out. "Uh."

Lance made room for Keith to come in and if he was being honest with himself, Keith hadn't really expected it to happen. He'd kind of figured he'd blurt out something at the door so he could run back to Hunk if things didn't work out. But he walked in with a little glance over his shoulder; he couldn't see Hunk, but he imagined he was giving him the most supportive smile he could muster.

"We're making cookies," Lance said. "I finally got Allura to give me her dad's ancient recipe."

"My dad's not ancient," Allura called out from what was presumably the kitchen.

"He went white at 35," Lance said back.

"I could very well sprinkle something insidious in the dough. I am a chemist in a room full of chemicals," she returned.

Lance rolled his eyes, but he didn't say anything snarky in response. "Do you want to help?" he asked. "Or did you--" His eyes had finally found the slightly crushed flowers and they narrowed a bit. "Did you know Allura was here?"

"Huh? No!" Keith said, though even to his ears it came out sounding rushed. "No, these are. These are for, for you." He shoved them at Lance, crushing them some more against his chest. One day, plants would get their revenge for the way he apparently was intent on treating them.

Lance's eyebrows went way, way up, but he held the flowers. He looked at them like he wasn't sure what to say, what he ought to think, or what the bouquet could possibly mean. Or he could have just been wondering if Keith bought them looking so beat up.

"I wasn't sure you'd like them," Keith began to babble. "I know you've talked about flowers before and I probably should have brought a plant, now, thinking about it. The point is, I don't really know where or how to begin and I've thought about it a lot, but everything sounded so stupid and all I want is to convey stupid feelings, so I guess everything is just...stupid."

Unfortunately, Lance was staring at him with a very blank face.

"Did anything I just say make sense?"

"Not a thing."

Keith huffed a little. All noises from the kitchen has ceased and he really didn't like the thought of Allura listening in. So he reached up and pulled Lance a little closer by grabbing the back of his neck and drawing him near. He really only intended to tell him, softly, that he liked him. That he's liked him for a long time now. But his face was really near and his skin was so smooth, his hair smelled like he'd just come from a salon -- which he had, probably, or at least used their products -- and everything just sort of felt right.

Which was how Keith ended up kissing Lance full on the mouth, longer than he should have and with much more pressure than he ever thought a first kiss with Lance would ever contain. And when he realized this, he pulled away, ignoring the way his face was probably as red as his sweater, and tried gauging how upset Lance was.

Except Lance's face was as blank as it had been pre-kiss. Perhaps a little more surprise mixed in, maybe a bit more color to his already dark cheeks, but Keith had no idea what was going on in Lance's head.

"Sorry," Keith said, backing up. "I'll go. Sorry."

But Lance grabbed him by the shoulders. "Was that. Are you. Can I take that like I think I should?" he asked.

Keith narrowed his eyes, suddenly unsure. Was Lance really that dense? No, nobody was that clueless. "And how do you think you should take that," he asked, slowly.

And then Lance looked unsure. "How did you mean it?" he countered.

Keith felt his shoulder sag a little -- why had he been so nervous? "How do you think I meant it?" he asked, anger coloring his tone.

"I don't know, man! You suddenly kissed me!"

Something fell in the kitchen.

Keith had never in his life been more envious of ostriches before. He wanted to bury himself in blankets, behind locked doors, and never come out.

"Hey," Lance said, a little softer that time. "Can I kiss you again?"

Keith almost couldn't respond. "Technically," he started. "Technically I kissed you, so you never actually kissed me. So what's all this about 'again?'"

Lance did the slowest eye-roll he'd ever seen anyone do and Keith was pretty sure it was on purpose, for emphasis. "Then let's make the score even," he said and swooped in for another kiss.

It was still stiff, at first, but a lot more gentle and eventually melted into something Keith would never forget. Their first two kisses. But as what? Was he safe in assuming Lance felt the same way? And since when? He seriously hadn't a clue.

When Lance pulled away, his pretty blue eyes were focused entirely on him in a way Keith had always wanted, but never thought he'd get. There was always a little bit of humor mixed in all his expressions, like he was always laughing with his eyes, no matter the situation.

"Finally."

They both turned to see Allura leaning against the wall, arms crossed. She'd put her hair up in a bun.

"Now I can get my 15 bucks from Pidge," she said.

Lance's jaw dropped. "Excuse me?" he said.

Allura shrugged, pulling out her phone. "It's been pretty obvious for a while now," she said. "So Pidge and I made a little bet. Who would be the first to tell the other how they felt."

It took a while for Lance to figure it out, but when he did, Keith almost laughed. "You betted against me?!"

Allura gave one of her rare, evil-ish grins. "I understand you more than you think," she said. "You weren't going to be the one to say anything, you're far too self-conscious. And you over-analyze your own relationships to the point it gets worrying. You weren't about to risk breaking something you held dear. So of course I betted against you."

Lance opened his mouth, then shut it and narrowed his eyes.

"Now, I'm going to take a trip to the supermarket," she said and picked up her purse from Lance's sofa. "We need more flour. Also, don't enter the kitchen until I return, I may have dropped all what we'd had."

Lance gave a little huff and crossed his arms. "I don't know if I want you to come back," he said. "Traitors aren't really welcome, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," was all that Allura said before she left the apartment. Would she see Hunk sitting in his car nearby?

It seemed suddenly a little too quiet. Only a little while ago, Keith's head had been full of questions. Now, he felt like he was trying to catch a runaway balloon.

"We baked some cookies already," Lance said. "If you want to eat some."

"What kind?" That was definitely not one of them.

"Peanut butter."

"Pass."

Lance looked scandalized for a second time that night. "A peanut butter hater?" he asked incredulously. "In my house?"

"It's more likely than you think," Keith replied, biting back a smile.

Lance grinned, and then it softened into something that made Keith look away.

"Hey." Lance was using the same tone when he'd been asking to kiss him.

"Hm?"

"If I like you and you like me--"

Keith snorted. "That sounds like the ending to that stupid Barney song," he said.

Lance hit his arm. "I'm trying to be serious here!" he said.

"Well, don't! It doesn't suit you," Keith said.

"If I like you and you like me, if the feelings there are mutual and all," Lance continued, though Keith was pretty sure his face was a little darker. "Is it safe to assume we're dating?"

"No," Keith replied. "It's never safe to assume anything." He was trying so hard not to smile, not to give himself away.

But Lance knew exactly what he was up to. "Do I have to ask, then?" Lance said, nudging him softly in the shoulder.

"Yes."

Lance cleared his throat as dramatically as he could. "Keith Kogane, you absolute jerk." Keith smacked him. "Will you do me the honor of becoming my boyfriend?"

"I don't know anymore," Keith said.

Lance faked a shocked face.

"I don't know!" Keith threw his hands in the air. "You're making me question all the decisions I made tonight! And I--"

Lance had taken Keith's face between his hands and squished his face so he couldn't talk anymore.

"Just say yes," Lance said.

"Yes," Keith managed to say, though it sounded more like 'yosh.'

"Good." And he kissed him again. And again.

And there was a little glow of comfort in knowing there would be more in the days to come.

[idanchou]

Klance Secret Santa Time (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

I was a part of the @klance2017secretsanta this year! This present is for @the-fandom-dork

I really hope you like it! I had a lot of time drawing it, especially playing with the lighting :D 

Please do NOT use/repost anywhere or remove the caption!