Chapter Text
Dinner rolled around and by that point, Lance had finished crying into Hunk’s and Pidge’s shirts. He sat at the table with everyone else, pretending he was a well-put-together, charmer that hadn’t been breaking down over a boy earlier. Well, he would have been doing that, if everyone else were there at all. There were missing two members. The seat at the head of the table and the seat next to Lance were both empty. It only hurt Lance further that Keith and Allura hadn’t shown up at all. He ate his goo silently, trying not to imagine what they were doing that they couldn’t make it to dinner.
Right at that moment, Keith and Allura entered the hall. There was a small smile at Keith’s lips and Allura looked determined. Something about that made Lance very nervous. Everyone turned to them, watching. Rather than splitting up to go to their respective seats, they both stood at the head of the table together, staring back at everyone in anticipation. This was even weirder. Allura glanced over at Keith, who gave her a reassuring nod. She turned back to the table.
Something in Lance flooded with dread. They couldn’t be… announcing anything, could they? Everyone could tell they were together, Lance didn’t need to hear the confirmation out loud. It would make it all too real and would dash all of Lance’s hope to shreds. Any chance he had with Keith, no matter how minimal, would be immediately burned right before his eyes. His heart beat faster and his stomach sank. Lance was holding his breath without even realizing it. He prayed to deities he didn’t even believe in that Allura and Keith would not say the words.
“Paladins, I believe I owe all of you an apology,” Allura began. Lance suddenly let out a rush of breath, causing everyone to look at him. He gave a sheepish look and turned back to Allura. “Especially you, Lance.” Allura continued, “The way I have behaved in regards to Keith’s heritage was completely unfounded and uncalled for. It was unfair to Keith, and it was unfair to all of you. I let my own experiences cloud my judgement.” Her eyes locked onto Lance. “Lance, I am sorry about the way I acted towards you. I also want to thank you for accepting Keith so readily while I was stuck in my ways, you truly live up to your title of Blue Paladin.” She turned back to everyone else. “I am deeply sorry.”
Next to her, Keith nodded and smiled to the ground.
“It takes a lot to own up to your mistakes, Princess,” Shiro spoke up.
“If Keith can forgive you, then I can too.” Pidge raised her fork to the ceiling.
Hunk hummed in agreement and Coran smiled at her, proudness in his eyes.
The only person who didn’t respond was Lance. He stared at Keith. At the very least, he was glad that they weren’t announcing anything. But, he wasn’t sure if he could forgive Allura for what she had said. The way that she had treated Keith had taken a toll on the black-haired boy, although he had tried to pretend it didn’t, and Lance had worked hard to pick up the pieces. Allura was genuinely sorry, Lance knew that. He just wasn’t sure. His eyes shifted over to Keith. Those purple eyes were staring at him expectantly, waiting for Lance’s reaction.
“Keith didn’t deserve that, but I can forgive you,” Lance replied carefully.
There was an odd look in Keith’s eye, but it wasn’t bad. Allura nodded deeply. “Thank you, everyone.”
After that was decided, Keith moved around the table to sit back into his seat in between Lance and Shiro. Everyone had turned back to their meals and the conversation was in full swing again. There was laughing and smiling. Sometimes, Keith would add something, just as he had before, and sometimes, Allura would do the same. Everything was as it had been, but the team was stronger.
Near the end of the meal, Keith leaned over to Lance. No one noticed, since they were all listening to Pidge yelling about something and laughing. Lance was confused at first, but Keith gestured for him to lean over too. Abiding, Lance shifted his head so that Keith could reach his ear. The breath on his skin tickled and he giggled at the feeling. Keith huffed into Lance’s ear unexpectedly as he laughed. “Stop moving,” Keith whispered.
Lance giggled again. “Sorry,” he whispered back. By that point, Shiro had noticed them but Lance didn’t mind.
Keith pulled away from Lance’s ear. Quietly as he could, he muttered, “I’m trying to ask you something, stop.”
“Okay, okay.” He steeled himself and waited for Keith to move back to his ear. It was moments like that when Lance could almost convince himself that he and Keith were dating. He didn’t want to think about Allura. He didn’t want Keith to think about Allura. It caused his heart to hurt whenever he reminded himself that getting close to Keith was dangerous as long as he was with Allura, but after crying earlier, all Lance wanted was for Keith’s attention to be on him.
“Meet me in the bridge after dinner,” Keith instructed, ghosting his lips over Lance’s pinna.
Lance pulled away to look at Keith. Wow, he was really close. “Why?” he whispered to Keith’s face.
There was a sneaky sort of smile on Keith’s face and he murmured a quick, “because,” before turning back to his food.
Lance stared at him for a moment before returning to his goo also. Coran was telling a story and Lance tuned into that. He glanced up across the table. Hunk and Pidge were giving him so questioning looks and making eye shifts, signaling Keith. Lance shrugged his shoulders but he could feel his cheeks reddening a bit.
That was the longest dinner that Lance had ever gone through. Even longer than the awkward ones before Allura come around on the idea of Keith being Galra. Lance felt stupid for expecting anything from Keith, because he knew that it was only going to let him down again, like it always did, but he couldn’t bring his heart back down the reality. He knew it was ridiculous to hope. It was great that Keith wanted to hang out with Lance as a friend and he should have been happy with just that. Keith didn’t owe him anything. But it wasn’t enough for Lance. He wasn’t sure it could ever be enough. Lance would take what he would get, but it would never be enough.
Once Keith had finished, he said goodbye to everyone and headed down the hallway to where everyone assumed to be his room. Lance, however, knew that he was going to the bridge. At least, he hoped that was where Keith went. It would be awkward if Lance showed up and Keith wasn’t there. Allura didn’t say anything other than goodnight like the rest of the team.
Lance tried not to look too twitchy while he ate the rest of his food. He didn’t want anyone to question him. Finally, he finished and brought his plate to the kitchen, washing it and returning it to its place. He hurried along through the halls to the bridge. The way he was running was a little bit desperate to anyone who saw it, but Lance pretended it was totally normal. He reached the bridge doors and stood outside, taking a deep breath, then opening the door as nonchalantly as he could manage.
Inside, Keith was sitting on the floor in the centre of the room. His hands were behind him as he rested on them, his head tilted back. The planet map was up, covering everything in the room with holographic constellations. It was dark in the room, illuminated only by the glow of the computer stars. The entire atmosphere was calm and mellow.
Lance stepped into the room as quietly as he could, closing the door behind him. Keith must have heard him enter, but he didn’t turn around. He realized once he was closer that there was music playing softly. It was coming from Keith. Well, not Keith himself, but something in Keith’s possession. Lance’s shoes clapped along the floor even as he tried his best to be silent. He settled down into the open space next to Keith, somewhat confused. Keith didn’t look at him though, he was still inspecting the stars around them. A soft, blue glow lit up Keith’s face, reflecting off his eyes and causing shadows to pour down his neck and shoulders.
Lance pulled his legs into a cross-legged position and stared at Keith for a moment longer. Then he followed Keith’s line of sight, wistfully gazing at the stars around them. The music continued to play.
We woke up in the movie. Seeing stars in our eye, and the songs we fall asleep to, help to guide us through the darkest night. ‘S alright. We’re alright.
You’re a pain and I feel you.
Lance snorted. “What song is this?” he whispered.
Keith smiled. “I don’t know, Pidge let me borrow her player.”
The music played on softly, the lyrics soothing as they filled Lance’s mind. “It’s nice,” Lance commented after a moment.
“I think it’s pretty fitting too.” Keith nodded his head along to the music. Quickly sitting up, Keith turned to face Lance, grinning. Lance was confused for a moment as the guitar solo filled the space between them, then it slowed down and Keith began mouthing the words in time to the song, “You’re a dick, but I love you. It’s just sometimes I wish that we didn’t dissect things. I feel sick when we argue.” The song ended with a couple more notes and Keith just closed his eyes and tapped his foot.
Lance felt that sickly little whisper of hope once more in the back of his mind. After the song had ended, Lance decided that he had to tell Keith. Keith had to know. “Keith…” The boy cracked open his eyes and glanced to Lance. That just made Lance’s nerves rev up again and he willed his heart to stop pounding. “I need to tell you something…” He paused, swallowing thickly.
“What is it?” Keith asked, turning more serious, opening his eyes. There was a worried tilt to his eyebrows.
Lance took a deep breath. “I know you’re with Allura, but I–”
“Whoa, wait,” Keith interrupted. He shifted his legs around to match Lance’s position. “With Allura?”
“Yeah…” No need to rub it in, Keith. “Everyone can tell. You’re not exactly subtle about it…” The conversation was going much worse than Lance had anticipated, and he hadn’t thought it would go well in the first place. He would be lucky to not get punched but he also didn’t need Keith going on about Allura to his face again.
Keith stared at Lance for a moment, his cheeks turning red and his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. “I’m not– You thought we–” he sputtered. “Allura isn’t my girlfriend!” Keith settled on. His eyes were as side as saucers. “We’re just friends!”
The last time Lance had felt as confused and lied to as he did in that moment was when he learned that barcode scanners only scan the white part and not the actual bars themselves. “You were naked in her room!” Lance pointed out, staring at him incredulously.
If it was possible, Keith went even redder. “I was not naked in her room!” he shrieked. “I was wearing clothes!”
“Okay, you were in your underwear, but that’s not any better!” Lance cried.
“We were playing Mizaranta!” Keith’s shoulders were up to his ears, which were red by that point.
Lance squinted in confusion. “Is that a codeword for doing the do, because I didn’t need to know that!”
“No!” Keith’s voice was higher than Lance thought he was capable of.
“Cleaning out the cobwebs with the ol’ womb broom, were ya, Keith?!” Why was Lance yelling at him? What kind of interrogation was this?
Keith had gone so red that it wouldn’t have been surprising if he passed out right then. “What the fuck?! No!” He roughly shoved a hand over Lance’s mouth so he couldn’t speak. “It’s Altean monopoly, sort of! And she told me to come in my pajamas but I sleep in a shirt and briefs so I just came in my regular clothes, and she told me that if that was how I slept, then she had no problem with it. It was a secret because were all supposed to be sleeping and she didn’t want anyone being tired the next day, but she knows I have trouble sleeping anyways.” He paused. When he was satisfied that Lance wasn’t going to shout at him, he removed his hand. “Nothing is going on between us.”
“But… you’re so close…” Lance argued weakly.
“You’re close with Hunk.” Well, Keith got him there.
Lance sighed. Half because he was relenting and half because he had never felt so relieved in his entire life. A small chuckle escaped him and he met Keith’s eyes again. “I was so worried,” Lance admitted.
Keith furrowed his eyebrows. “Why?”
A sudden panic overtook Lance again. “Because I…” He thought back to all the moments he had shared with Keith and all the times he had thought maybe, just maybe, he had a chance. And there Keith was, outlined by the gentle blue light, looking so beautiful and endearing. That was his shot. All he had to do was tell Keith. “Keith, I love you.” Keith’s eyes widened, but Lance wasn’t ready to hear his response, the possibility of rejection was too much, so he kept speaking; “Every time I think I can’t fall any deeper, you go and do some stupid stunt in your lion or you laugh so hard you snort and I just…”
There was an awkward silence between the two of them in which they just stared at each other. Then Keith broke it when he dropped his head forward, his bangs hanging in his face, and laughed. It wasn’t an insulting laugh, it was more relieved than anything. Lance felt even more nervous and unsure than before. Keith looked back and his eyes were glistening with emotion. He shot his hands out and gripped the collar of Lance’s jacket, yanking him down. Their lips connected roughly. It took Lance a moment to realize what was even happening, but when he did, he began moving his lips against Keith’s. It was kind of sloppy and very desperate, but nothing could have been better.
Keith chuckled lightly, pulling away from Lance, who was also laughing. They met in the middle again, more in rhythm with each other. Lance flattened his palms along Keith’s neck, sitting up on his knees and moving closer. Keith took this as an invitation to fall backwards, dragging Lance along as he chased Keith’s mouth. Hovering over Keith, Lance caressed his cheek before moving upward to run his hands through Keith’s hair, never breaking away from his lips.
Lance could feel his heart beating out of his chest and every part of him felt lighter than air and hot. So hot. The warmth radiating off of Keith was incredible; his hands pressing into Lance’s shoulders and neck, his breath on Lance’s lips, his reddened face when Lance cradled his cheeks, it was all so very hot and inviting.
Eventually, they both began to run out of air and Lance pulled back. Their noses were a hair’s breadth apart. He stared down as Keith’s chest heaved underneath him. Keith’s eyes were lidded, and his lips were parted and red as he panted lightly. “I love you too,” Keith whispered, his breath flowed over Lance’s lips as he broke out into a smile.
Those were the words that Lance had dreamt of Keith saying to him for so long that it was enough to bring him close to tears. Of course, he couldn’t cry in front of the beautiful boy that was below him, that would ruin his suave demeanor. Instead, Lance pressed another kiss to Keith’s lips, much tamer in nature however. It ended much faster and Lance began quickly pressing kisses all over Keith’s face. On his forehead, his nose, his cheeks, his eyelids, his temples, his chin. And all the while, Keith giggled.
“What’re you doing?” Keith asked, still grinning and tittering.
Lance paused for a second, kissing Keith’s lips one more time. “Right now? Wondering if this is even real,” he mumbled.
Keith’s arms snaked around Lance’s neck, guiding him down until he was resting on top of Keith, their legs tangled. “It’s real.” He tilted his head to kiss along Lance’s jaw.
“Are you sure? This can’t be real.” Lance was in a dizzying state of awe and he let out a noise somewhere in between a laugh and a gasp at the feeling of Keith’s mouth.
“Well if it isn’t, then this is the best dream I’ve ever had,” Keith answered, lost in the kisses he was peppering over Lance’s cheek.
Lance laughed, high off the euphoria he felt from Keith returning his feelings. “So, are you gonna be my main squeeze or what?”
Keith snorted, sinking his head back to the floor. “Not if you call it that,” he complained.
“My beau?”
“No.” Keith was trying not to smile but it wasn’t working.
“My fellow?” Lance suggested.
“Absolutely not.”
Lance thought for a moment. “Oh my god, Keith, you Texas, country boy! Be my swain!” His eyes lit up with excitement.
Keith stared at him for a moment, his grin widening. “Alright, whatever,” he answered.
“Yes!” Lance cheered. He kissed Keith again, slow and lovingly. Keith followed his pace as well. They stayed like that under the stars for a while. It wasn’t all spent kissing, but they did do a lot of that too. Most of it was just cuddling while creating names and stories for the constellations they made from the stars in the solar system they were visiting. Eventually, Lance fell asleep with his head in Keith’s lap and Keith carefully removed his jacket, folded it up, and shimmied it under Lance’s head as a pillow. That way, Keith could curl up next to Lance with his arm as his pillow. He left the stars up around them.
◊ ◊ ◊
The next morning at breakfast, Lance had never felt better. He was on top of the world. Waking up was actually something he was dreading for fear that it really was all a dream, but it wasn’t and Keith was still there. They had entered the dining hall later than everyone since they had taken time to chat for a little bit and then retreated back to their rooms so they could, at the very least, make themselves presentable. Keith’s hair sort of gave away what had happened to an extent.
Once they were fit to be seen, they were hurrying through the dining hall with their goo. Lance, as usual made a big show of his entrance while Keith just skirted along behind him to reach his seat.
“Good morning, guys!” Hunk greeted them. Everyone else just sort of nodded.
“Good morning to you too, Hunk!” Lance’s grin was almost concerningly wide. “And what a grand morning it is!” Keith settled into his chair, staring at Lance and willing him to sit down and shut up. No such luck, however, as Lance plopped into his spot next to Keith and continued speaking, “You would not believe this!” He had everyone’s attention. “Keith is not so immune to my incredible charm and he has agreed to be my swain!”
Everyone stared at Lance in confusion for a moment. “What?” Pidge asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
Keith sighed, “He means ‘boyfriend.’”
“Yes! My darling, my dear, my lover, my steady, my significant other!” Lance smirked as Keith’s face got progressively redder and redder until he was forced to hide his face in his hands from embarrassment.
Suddenly, at the end of the table, Allura slammed her palms on the table, nearly knocking over her bowl of food. It drew everyone’s attention. “I told you he returned your affections, Keith!” she shouted gleefully.
Keith stared at her, eyes widened in horror. “Shut up!” he hissed, but his voice was weak from the fact he was close to spontaneously combusting. She just laughed and smiled sincerely at him.
“Whoa, whoa. Hold on.” Shiro held up a hand to gather everyone’s attention. He looked especially confused. “Weren’t Keith and Allura dating?” he asked.
“Not that I’m not totally stoked for you guys, because I am! But yeah, I thought so too,” Hunk added, shifting his gaze between Keith, Lance, and Allura.
Even though Keith still had some residual blush dusting his cheeks, he threw his hands up in exasperation. “Why does everyone think that? We’re friends!”
“Maybe it’s because we’ve never seen you with friends?” Coran offered, holding a finger up.
“Maybe Keith’s friendship style is flirty!” Hunk looked excited as he joined in on the theories.
Allura nodded. “I can confirm his friendship style is flirty.” Keith looked completely betrayed.
“A flirtationship, if you will,” Lance pondered.
“Lance!” If the conversation continued then Lance was sure Keith would actually melt into a puddle of mortification.
“Who would have even guessed Keith is a flirty friend?” pointing her spoon at Keith, Pidge chuckled.
“As long as he’s flirtiest with me, there will be no problem!” Lance gave an eyebrow wiggle to Keith.
Keith groaned and started shoving goo into his mouth. Shiro patted him on the back, laughing light-heartedly in the way he did when he wanted to let Keith know they were all just joking. “I’m happy for you two!” Shiro added.
“We all are!” Allura grinned.
“Remember what I said, Lance!” Pidge reminded, “Hot, badass kids!”
Lance squeaked slightly. “Pidge, stop!” She was going to scare Keith off and they hadn’t even been together that long.
“What?” questioned Keith.
“Nothing at all! Let’s all eat! Looks fantastic, Hunk did you make it?” Lance hurriedly changed the subject.
Hunk raised an eyebrow, confused. “It’s food goo from the–”
“Always the culinary genius!” Lance interrupted. Everyone decided to let Lance be weird and just returned to their breakfast, chatting comfortably about this and that. Eventually, Lance managed to calm himself. Keith was none the wiser.
Underneath the table, Lance’s hand inched over, searching for Keith’s hand. Instead, he basically just rested his hand on Keith’s thigh. It was too late to undo that, however, and Keith practically jumped out of his seat. The entire table clattered and everyone halted their conversations to look over at Keith, who wore a startled expression. It quickly morphed into one of anger, his cheeks tinting red again.
Lance’s face matched his in terms of how red he was. He sputtered for a moment, holding his hands up in front of his chest. “I was looking for your hand,” he explained weakly.
Keith stared at him a moment longer. “That wasn’t my hand.”
“Lance, can’t you keep it in your pants? We’re eating!” Pidge complained, a disgusted look on her face.
“His hand! I swear I was trying to find his hand!” Lance tried defending himself but everyone at the table was shaking their head in disbelief.
Keith held his hand out to Lance with his eyebrows furrowed in irritation. Lance smiled, hoping Keith would forgive him. Their fingers interlocked, wrapping around each other and Lance hummed happily as their hands dropped to rest between them. It took Lance a moment, but as they sat there, he began to realize that Keith was holding his hand as tightly as he was capable of.
“Hey, Keith. Could you maybe lighten your grip? You’re crushing my hand…” he whispered.
Keith just lifted their hands and pressed a kiss to Lance’s fingers. Lance flushed a bit while Keith just smirked smugly at him. He dropped their hands again. Keith didn’t let up his grip though, but Lance didn’t complain again either.
◊ ◊ ◊
“Keith. Listen to me. Don’t.” Pidge glared at him.
“I wouldn’t do it, Keith,” Hunk warned.
Lance shook his head. “You’ll regret it.”
Allura leaned closer to Keith, turning to whisper in his ear without taking her eyes off the board, “Do it.”
Keith smirked and stared Pidge dead in the eye.
“Keith,” Pidge warned. Keith shuffled through a bunch of gems in his hands. “Keith,” Pidge warned again.
He didn’t listen, he just tossed two gems over to Coran, who put them in a container and handed back a card to Keith. “Algalt Wormhole now belongs to Keith of Team Galtean,” Coran announced.
Pidge launched herself across the board, attempting to tackle Keith. They both screamed. “I almost had all four wormholes, you dick!” Pidge tore at Keith’s hair.
“Hey, hey! Lance, I saw that.” Shiro pointed across the table to where Lance was using the distraction as an opportunity to scoop gems out of the container next to Coran.
“Lance!” Coran cried in disbelief. “How could you?!”
Allura glared at him with a seriousness that shouldn’t have been used in simple board game. “You know what happens to people who steal from the Balmera, don’t you?”
“Now you’ve done it.” Hunk muttered. He almost couldn’t be heard over Keith and Pidge’s yelling.
Coran reached over and grabbed some of Lance’s gems. “Wha–?” Lance tried to stop him but Allura slapped his hand away.
“You must return twice as much as you have stolen!” she snapped. “And you have to wear the Shame Hat!”
“The what?” Hunk asked, confused.
Coran pulled out a hat from the container that the board game had come in and slapped it onto Lance’s head. It was a giant cone shape that flowed out and down Lance’s face. He tapped on it from the outside, having trouble determining where the thing ended and in what ways he could move his arms. “Okay, I’m sorry, I won’t steal anymore, but I’m not going to wear this.” He moved to pull it off his head but found it wouldn’t come off. “Uh… Allura…” He tugged harder. “It’s not… It’s not coming off!”
“This is the punishment of the cheater!” Allura tutted.
Hunk and Shiro were trying not to laugh. Suddenly there was a loud snort and everyone looked over. Keith was on his stomach with Pidge straddling his back. Pidge had her fists latched into Keith’s hair, with her glasses askew and one of her shoes across the room. They were both paused, mid fight, staring at Lance.
“Nice hat, Cone Head,” Pidge snickered.
“Doing some welding later, Lance?” Keith added. Lance gave them both a flat, unimpressed look.
Hunk interrupted before either could say anything else, “Can we go back to the game, guys?”
Pidge gripped Keith’s hair tighter. “As soon as this fucker gives me Algalt Wormhole!” she shouted.
“Trade me Sixort Solar System and I will!” Keith yelled back.
“How about I trade you with not smashing your face into the floor?!”
Shiro sighed off to the side and Hunk looked even more worried as Pidge raged on.
Keith thought for a moment. “We have healing pods.”
Lance stumbled around with his depth perception for a moment. “Don’t hurt him! I have plans for his face later!” His voice was muffled through the mask.
Keith looked over to him and slowly, a sly grin appeared along his face. “Babe.”
Pidge grimaced.
“Pidge, please let Keith go,” Shiro sighed, resorting to begging at that point.
“Never!” Pidge yelled.
Keith suddenly stood up, jostling Pidge around. She let out a startled screech and dug her knees into Keith’s side, piggyback riding on him as he began walking over to Allura’s bed. “Give me Sixort Solar System, or give me death!” he screamed, reaching over his head to grab Pidge’s arms and flip her over his head. She slammed into the mattress of the bed and bounced once before sliding over the other side, screaming the entire time.
Lance laughed. Coran and Shiro looked like they needed to nap for the next three days. Hunk worriedly hurried over to check and see if Pidge was okay. And Allura cheered. “Team Galtean shall rise!” She called. Keith sat back down next to her and high fived her. She moved to rest on her knees behind him, plopping her chin on top of his head, some of her hair fluttering into his face. Reaching a hand over Keith’s shoulder, she flicked the dice in Shiro’s general direction.
“I can’t believe you teamed up against me, that’s so cheating!” Lance complained, his speech garbled through his Shame Hat.
“There’re more people on your team!” Keith countered, shifting a piece of Allura’s hair out of the way.
Pidge and Hunk came rushing back over to join the game again. Spaceships players and pieces were strewn about the board and half the gem holders had been overturned. No one minded though. “Team Earth! Team Earth! Team Earth!” Pidge called. Hunk copied along.
Lance ignored them, still addressing Keith, “Why wouldn’t you team up with me?! I thought you loved me!” He waved his hands around wildly, bopping himself with his own helmet.
“There is no love in Mizaranta!” Keith pumped a fist in the air.
“Only war and winnings!” Allura pumped her fist in the air too, then they both fist bumped before Allura tumbled off of Keith to sit next to him again. Lance made a dramatic gasp and placed his flat hand over his chest in offence.
Shiro started to roll the dice, seeing as it was his turn. The board was a total mess though. “Just because it says that on the box, doesn’t mean we need to actually hurt each other.” He stared pointedly at Pidge, who looked only mildly embarrassed. Shiro landed on Planet Jablin, which happened to be owned by Allura. He collected some gems from his gem holder and held them out toward Allura who was across the table. Before Shiro could hand off the gems, Lance swiped his hand upwards, slapping Shiro’s hand away and sending the gems flying.
“Don’t pay the enemy!” he yelled.
“Lance, you can’t just decide who to pay and who not to pay,” Hunk reasoned, completely baffled.
Pidge stood again. “Fight the system!”
Shiro dropped his head into his hands and sighed deeply but no one paid attention as Pidge was busy flipping the entire board across the room, scattering all the pieces. There was all out chaos.
“Well all need to calm down!’ Hunk shouted.
Allura shrieked, “If any of those pieces got into the vent, you will be finding them!”
“Free market! Communism!” Pidge was probably just yelling words. “Overthrow the government!”
“Meet me in the pit, Keith!” Lance picked up Keith by his waist and carried him over to the bed while he fought against it.
Keith tumbled onto the bed, laughing, “Can’t fight with a bucket on your head!”
Coran just subtly left the room when no one was paying attention.
It suddenly made sense why Allura would want to keep her and Keith’s game nights secret, but they were a family, and if a family can’t beat each other up over a board game and pretend it never happened afterwards, then who can?
Keith leaned up from the bed and kissed the glass of the Shame Hat. Lance laughed and smiled down at the boy. Even the screeching going on around them wasn’t enough to deter them. Keith pressed his forehead against Lance’s helmet, staring into his eyes. “I’ll still step right over your dead body for Sixort Solar System,” he whispered lovingly.
“Kinky.” Lance wiggled an eyebrow. That earned him a kick to the gut and he tumbled backwards, laughing.
“Had it not been for the laws of this ship, I would have slaughtered you!” Pidge screamed from somewhere across the room, a lilt of laughter in her voice. She threw a gem piece at Allura, who easily dodged, also giggling.
They may have been a family, but game nights just weren’t their thing. It at least provided a nice distraction from the impending doom of the final battle with Zarkon. They were all a little worried about it, but no one liked to talk about it. At the very least, each of them knew that the others would have their backs through the entire thing, as a team, as a family. Allura and Keith were as good of friends as ever. In fact, Keith had grown closer with the entire team. Moreover, true to Allura’s claim, Keith was an unintentionally flirting friend. He didn’t even realize he was doing it too. Lance found it endearing. He found a lot of things Keith did endearing, and judging by the way that Keith would smile at him when there was a moment of silent contemplation between the two, Lance was sure that Keith felt the same.