Chapter Text
Lance's morning is peaceful for all of three seconds. He wakes up and doesn't even startle at the warm body next to his! It feels earlier then when he'd normally get up, but its not too ba-
BRANG BRANG BRANG
The castle's alarm has him shooting straight up, and Keith all but jumps out of bed.
Bye bye peaceful morning Lance thinks woefully while he rushes to grab his paladin armour.
"Paladins!" Allura's voice crackles over the castle's speakers. "A Galra cruiser has found us, everyone assemble with you lions on the south-eastern side of the castle." She says urgently. Lance thinks he can hear Coran's frantic shouting in the background.
Suddenly, he stills. "Keith?" He calls out, his room having one less body than it did a minute ago.
Lance sighs in relief when Keith's voice calls back from across the hall.
"Yeah?" Keith sounds confused.
Oh thank you Lance thinks to whatever merciful god made it so Keith is still a functioning paladin.
Lance slips his legs into his armour. "Never mind!" He calls back, relief only slightly evident in his voice.
In two minutes flat, they're at the chutes that take them to their lions. Lance rushes towards his, only to be stopped by a hand around his wrist.
"It's dangerous," Keith pleads; that horrible, fearful look in his eyes. "Stay. Please." His grip around Lance's wrist tightens. It's not painful, but Lance almost wishes it was so he'd have an excuse to rip his hand away without feeling guilty.
He shoves his torn-to-peaces heart out of his throat and back into his chest before he tries to speak. Breathe in, out.
"They need, us, all of us, Keith!" He lets the desperation slip into his voice. If Keith doesn't let them go now, they'll putting everyone else at a bigger risk. "There's no time! If you want to protect me, get out there and kick some Galra ass" Lance looks into his eyes, waiting for the other to move.
There's a terrible second that stretches on endlessly where Lance thinks Keith is going to argue, to continue holding him in place.
Keith nods once, and drops his hand.
They shoot down their respective tubes, hop into their lions, and join the commotion outside.
"Took you guys long enough!" Pidge yells when she sees their red and blue streak towards her.
"Sorry!" Lance squeaks out for the both of them.
"Well, the good news is that was one of our fastest Galra defeats yet," Shiro starts. All the other paladins sit tensely on the couch, waiting for the other shoe to drop. There was no way this ends in anything other than a long winded lecture on proticalls or something boring like that.
Shiro clears his throat, looking right at Lance. Quiznak, he totally missed whatever he said.
"As I was saying," Shiro gives him one more pointed look before continuing, "the bad news is that there was too much recklessness attached to that speed. If we want to continue on helping the universe, we need to be alive to do so."
Lance tunes out the rest of the 'don't throw your life away, think of the bigger picture, blahblahblah' speech, focusing on Keith — who is most definitely the target for this speech — doesn't look guilty in the slightest. On the other hand Hunk looks ready to get down on his knees and apologize, even Pidge has her eyes lowered. Shiro must really be laying it on thick.
It must be two hours ten minutes before Shiro finally lets them go. Lance books it for the door, hoping to snag some leftovers from the fridge before Pidge can snag them.
"Lance, Keith, I'd like to speak to you both for a moment."
Ah. Quiznak.
Lance drags his feet back over to the couch, Keith plopping down right beside him. Shiro's face pinches up at that, tight with an emotion Lance can't place.
"Sorry Lance, I want to speak with Keith specially, I didn't think he'd stay here without you." Shiro apologizes, it doesn't make Lance feel any better. He still has to sit through a lecture. Yay.
"Still here, you know." Keith grumbles beside him. Lance and Shiro both turn to look at him. That's the most he's sounded like himself since the whole situation started. "Stop looking at me like that!" He snaps to Shiro specially. Not even an alien pollen could take away Keith's signature charm Lance thinks fondly amusedly.
Shiro clears his throat awkwardly. "Uh, anyway. Keith, you were way too reckless."
Keith shoots up, his entire body tight with anger. "You said it yourself! That was the quickest we've ever taken out the Galra! They couldn't even touch us!" Lance can see his figurative hackles raising.
"That's the problem, Keith!" Shiro snaps back.
"How so! How could that ever be a bad thing!" Lance has to commend Shiro's self restraint, the man looks ready to throttle Keith. As for Keith, his restraint isn't as impressive. His eyes have narrowed into slits, and his freakishly sharp teeth are on full display. Lance silently prays for Shiro.
"In protecting everybody else, you left yourself open, constantly!" Shiro all but yells.
Keith yells back immediately. "Why does it matter! I'm alive, everybody is fine, Lance is fine!" Lance chooses to ignore how Keith singled him out. His heart does not jump up at it, thank you very much. (He'd noticed how in Keith's reckless attack, not one single Galran ship had gotten close enough for Lance fight in close range.
He'd also noticed how when a ship had tried to sneak up in Lance's blind spot, Keith had darted across the battlefield in a red blur and shredded the ship. Hunk's bullseye shot at the ship had zipped past off into distant space. He'd ignore the foreign sense of concern that had washed over him in a wave, not unlike when Blue was trying to tell him something.)
Shiro sighs into his hands. "Keith, please. I'm hoping this is caused by the Datura flower, but if it isn't," he puts his hand onto Keith's shoulder, "please, be more cautious. I- we all want you to be as safe as possible when we're fighting. That means you have to let us cover you too."
They stare into each others eyes for one, two, three seconds before Keith breaks away with a scowl.
"Fine. Whatever." Shiro and Lance both breathe out a relieved sigh. Keith sits back down on the couch, closer to Lance than before. "I'm not letting Lance get hurt, though." He tacks on with a defiant glare.
Small victories Lance thinks. He pats Keith's knee. "Alright, that's fine. You keep me safe." Keith perks up, whatever Shiro's face was doing beside him didn't matter. You could've told Lance that Shiro had turned green behind him and he'd believe you instantly, just to keep looking at Keith's face.
"I wish he was like this without the flower." Slips out of his mouth and into the air before he can stop it. He doesn't have to think about whether or not it's true. His mouth had came to a decision before his brain had. Lance hears a strangled noise beside him. Shiro's pale, like he's seen a ghost.
"Me too, Lance." He says, like it hurts him physically.
Keith grabs onto his hand. "What do you mean, Lance?" He worriedly asks.
Lance smiles and shakes his head once. "Don't worry about it, Buddy."
"God fucking dammit Pidge! Did you have to eat all of the leftover?" He yells into the kitchen. That snake is shovelling the last the leftovers into her mouth. "I wasn't here for five goddamn minutes and ate everything?"
She had the absolute nerve to shrug once and gesture to meager amount left in the container. "Help yourself."
"Pidge I am going to kill you so dead!" Before he could beat her into a pulp, (re: shake her roughly and curse for a couple of seconds) a hand wraps itself around his shoulders.
"I can cook for you, if you'd like." Comes a sentence muttered into his ear.
"Ah." Was all he could manage while his brain slipped out of his head and onto his shoes. Had Keith always sounded like that? Did Lance want him to continue sounding like that? Why was the answer yes?
The flash of a camera distracts him from his racing thoughts long enough to pull himself together - and away from Keith.
"Sure, if you're offering." Lance replies, mustering all the calmness he could conger into his voice. He did not miss Pidge's giggling, flipping her the bird promptly. She just continued to laugh right in his face.
Keith wasn't a terrible cook like Lance would've assumed. The meal wasn't anything to write home about, but it was better than anything Lance could've made, and tasted great.
"Did you learn how to cook in that shack? This is really good." Lance speaks around a mouthful of food.
"Lance! Gross." Pidge scolds. "But he's right, this is really good." She spears more food onto her fork. How is she possibly still hungry? Lance is gobsmacked. For someone so small, she really knows how to eat.
"Thank you," Keith says awkwardly, pushing his food back and forth on plate. His cheeks are tinted a nice rosy colour. "I kinda picked it up after a while? Get enough sick of eating shitty army rations, you learn how to fry an egg or two." He takes a bite of his food and shrugs.
Oh. He's funny, when he's not trying to pummel Lance into the dirt. Its endearing, the awkward, accidental humour he has.
"Lance? Lance!" Pidge yells, way too close to his ear. "Keith, I think you've broken Lance."
"Do you think?" Keith sounds genuinely worried. His hand settles onto Lance's chin, turning it left and right.
Lance shakes his head and gives Keith's hand a small shove away from his face. "I'm fine! Guys, calm down."
Pidge mutters something that sounds suspiciously like 'not us that needs to calm down' before he stops her with his meanest glare.
Keith hasn't stopped looking at him, his hand hanging in the air, torn between reaching back out and pulling away. Lance makes the decision for him, holding his hand across the table.
"Thank you for cooking Keith" Lance says earnestly. Keith looks proud under the praise.
Pidge stands up, rolling her eyes. "Never mind, you're both broken." She calls from the doorway.
Lance and Keith stare at each other for a heartbeat before dissolving into laughter.
"She's something, ain't she?" Keith manages around his laughter. Lance can only nod. He's not totally sure why he's laughing this hard. An ache is forming in his chest, and his checks hurt from smiling.
"Alright, alright." Lance finally manages words. "I'm full, and tired. Wanna go chill on the couch?" They missed breakfast fighting the galra, and exhausted themselves in the process. Lance is ready to watch bad Altean TV, with plots so simple subtitles aren't needed.
Lance feels a gentle warmth rub up his back, across his shoulders, and down his arm. It's so nice, it reminds Lance of when his mother would hold him when he was really young, struggling to sleep without her beside him.
He's so comfortable, there's something soft and warm under his face, and his entire body feels like jelly. He nestles his face deeper into his pillow, sighing contently.
His pillow shifts, and the warmth on his back rubs a comforting circle.
Lance's eyes fly open. His head is not resting on his own pillow, in his room. Instead, he sees something suspiciously like Keith's pants, attached to something suspiciously like Keith's torso.
"Awake?" A gentle voice asks him. The hand on him moves to rest on the small of his back.
"Keith? How long have I been out?" Lance stares right into the lap he was just laying in. Every point of contact between his body and Keith's burns.
A snicker from behind him pulls his attention.
"Don't worry Lance, you've only been out for a little while, you didn't miss supper."
Oh. Great. Pidge is totally standing behind him. She totally saw him sleeping in Keith's lap, and she totally took a picture.
"Mhm! Only a little bit!" Keith assures him with a pat.
"Thanks, buddy." Lance grumbles. He finally bites the bullet and looks up. Keith is looking at him with a tenderness that pre-flower Keith wouldn't be caught dead showing Lance.
Heat rises to his face. "Ahahaha sorry Keith! Guess I was more tired than I thought! Lemme just-" He hurries up off of the couch, standing ramrod straight a foot away.
Keith- oh my god did he just whine?
Lance's jaw goes slack in shock, and he thinks he sees Pidge's eye widen from his peripherals.
He needs to talk with Hunk, immediately. Ever since Keith got a face full of pollen, Lance hasn't been able to go an hour without some strange feeling or other attacking him out of the blue.
There's a tug on the hem of his shirt. Keith's hand is grabbing at him weakly, pulling gently.
"Lance, why'd you move away?" Keith all but whimpers, his voice dejected.
Taking one deep breath, Lance settles his hand onto Keith's. He pries it away from his shirt, clasping it between both of his hands.
"I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you, I'm sorry." Lance moves his thumb slowly across Keith's hand in a soothing gesture.
Keith's wide eyes bore into his. "I wasn't uncomfortable, I liked you laying there."
Whatever sound falls out of his throat is something he will deny until the day he dies, and then some.
"Oh," He and Pidge squeak out at the same time.
She scurries away yelling something about 'Hunk' and 'need to talk' before Lance can kill her into silence.
The evening goes by torturously slow. Keith seems to have taken Lance's impromptu nap as Lance accepting his affection. This is terrible flits across his mind constantly. Instead of very-affectionate-but-still-understands-boundaries-Keith, he's constantly touching Lance, constantly.
Lance first notices this when he's standing in the kitchen and Keith walks up behind him. The Keith who still had an inch of his sanity would've grabbed his arm and tucked close; annoying, but manageable. Keith who's lost all his marbles wraps his arms around Lance's waist and tucks his chin onto Lance's shoulder. Lance squeaks and jumps a foot away like he's been shocked.
"What's wrong?" He just barely hears Keith pout over the pounding of his heart.
"Nothing!" He cringes at his voice, an octave higher than normal. "You just, uh, startled me?" He supplies weakly. Keith with his marbles wouldn't have believed him for a second, but this Keith would believe everything and anything that fell out of his mouth. (Small victories, Lance supposes).
The evening passes in similar fashion. Keith role plays that they're married with three kids, and Lance tries to not jump out of his skin every time Keith touches him, or looks at him all lovesick, or compliments him, or - yeah. His blood pressure is so screwed, when this is all over.
Five more days at most, then he's normal again! Lance forces his eyes not to wet when he thinks that.
Keith's breath deepens and slows beside him. Lance throws a sock onto the floor. His breathing stays the same, perfectly even.
Oh thank god. Lance slips out of his bed as gently as he can, making sure the mattress doesn't dip under his weight. He'd made sure Keith slept on the inside so Lance wouldn't have to crawl over him, there was no way Keith 'I haven't slept fully since the day I was born,' would sleep through that.
Lance steps into his slippers and shuffles as quietly as he can towards the door. It hisses as it opens, making Lance wince. One look backwards tells him that Keith's hearing is, thankfully, not insane enough to have woken up from that. Lance slips through the open door, praying Keith's stupid Galra instincts can't sense Lance leaving.
Tiptoeing down the hallway for an embarrassing amount of time until he feels safe enough to walk normally, Lance thinks about what he's going to say. "Hey Hunk, sorry to drop in, I get heart palpitations every time Keith touches me?" Hunk would never laugh at him, but Lance's inner self could admit that.
Before he's had time to come up with a proper plan or chicken out, he's in front of Hunk's door, fist already raised.
Here goes nothing, he thinks with a grimace, rapping his fist once.
The door slides open, revealing Hunk's hopeful face.
"Lance!" Arms wrap around him before Lance can open his mouth in reply.
He wraps his arms around Hunk and feels himself be pulled through the doorway.
The arms around him loosen and settle onto his shoulders. "I've missed you buddy!" Hunk admits through tears.
Lance squeezes his arm. "It's only been one day, man!" He smiles at his best friend. Truthfully, he's missed Hunk too. It's not like he hasn't seen him, but it's been impossible to talk to anyone without Keith mean-mugging them over Lance's shoulder.
"So, you snuck away from Keith, is there something you wanted to talk about." Hunk asks, worry slipping into his voice. "He gets bad when you're five feet away, you're taking a big risk." He tries to joke, but his expression is anything but playful.
"That's just it," he rubs his neck, staring holes into the floor, "When he acts like that, I, uh, it makes me feel, uh," His throat closes up, holding the words back. He looks up, meeting Hunks gaze.
Hunks eyes widen. He's always been better at reading Lance than Lance is himself.
"You like Keith!?"
Oh fuck.
Every cell in his body screams in protest. Keith? Hah! No way! That stupid mullet, he'd never like him!
But he can't force the words out. He can't even get his head to shake. His silence speaks volumes. Hunks mouth forms a tight line.
"Lets talk this out, okay?" He pulls Lance towards his bed.
Lance can only nod once.
He totally likes Keith.
Lance has crush on him.
He pictures Keith, sleeping peacefully in (Lance's!) bed, and feels his heart flutter.
"This is going to be a long week, isn't it?" He moans, flopping onto Hunks bed.