Chapter Text
"Wait, you've never played hide and seek?" Lance gasps.
"No…" The child responds with sadness, as if that made her unable to play.
"Don't worry, that's okay Ally! We'll teach you!" Lance knelt in front of the Altean. He cupped her tiny chin, and raised her face. "Just copy me. Cover your eyes like this," He placed both hands over his eyes. "And then you'll count to….hmmm…let's go with ten for now. You'll count to ten and then come find us, okay?"
Allura nodded. "Ok!"
Lance stood, readying to go hide, before he realized something, and pointed at her. "And no using quintessence to find us! Your father wanted you to learn to rely on more than just your magic."
Allura pouted, but nodded eventually.
"Ready? Set…Go!" As Allura covered her eyes, Lance and Keith ran to look for a hiding spot within the garden.
"One, two, three, f…..fo…..what was the next number?" Lance heard this and desperately wanted to tell her, but he hadn't the time. "Four! I got it! Oh right! Five…"
Keith was already hiding, having flown to the top of the gazebo, sitting atop like a perched bird, Lance thought with a chuckle.
"Eight, nine.."
Shit, gotta move
Lance finally found something catch his eye. A small pond. It was barely bigger than a large bathtub, but he couldn't very well make it impossible, now could he? He tipped his toe in, sighing as his body touched the water, his home. He lowered himself and sat up to his biceps in the pond.
He was still moving around when he suddenly heard shuffling by the bushes. In a split second decision, Lance grabbed a lily pad and placed it on his head. He then crouched his shoulders under the surface as best he could and waited.
"Lancey? Where are you?" Allura's voice sing-songed. "Keeeeeef?" She drew out the 'e' sound as she turned the corner.
Lance finally saw her curtain of white hair as she came closer. Her blue-purple eyes looked around, searching for anything out of place. As she walked closer to the sitting area near the pond, Lance got more and more nervous.
Some ducks were swimming around in the water just behind Lance, he could sense it. Allura and the ducks got closer and closer. Allura, for what it was worth, truly seemed stumped. She mumbled to herself a few times about not using her magic, ' No Allura, Lancey said not to .'
Lance was so focused on Allura, that he hadn't realized just how close those ducks got. A sudden snap and sharp pain in his ear made him shoot up in the pond faster than Keith running from a diplomacy meeting.
"Ow, what the hell!" Lance shouted, holding his ear and forgetting about Allura.
"Ha! Found you!" The Altean pointed at him and cheered.
"No! That stupid duck bit off my ear! I call a rematch!" Lance said back, stepping out of the water.
"Nuh uh! I still have to find Keef!" Allura jogged back around the corner and started looking again. Lance slowly followed behind her and as they came to the center of the garden, where they had all started, he saw Keith lounging atop the gazebo still. Their eyes met and Keith smirked at Lance, taunting him. Lance stuck his tongue out in response.
"Lancey!" Allura called.
He walked over to where she was staring at a bush of juniberries. "Yeah Ally?" He crouched down next to her.
"I think I know where Keef is." She whispered.
Lance decided to play along. "Oh yeah? Where is he?" He whispered back.
"He's gotta be in this bush of juniberries. He's red and purple like them, so it's the perfect hiding spot for him." She declared quietly at the bush no taller than Lance's mid-thigh and no wider than his shoulders.
Lance carefully turned just enough that he met Keith's eyes. The Draegon's eyebrows lifted in question and a slight smile was on his lips.
"Yeah, I bet that's exactly where he is Ally. But how do we get him to come out?" He asked her with mock seriousness.
"Hmm, we could bribe him?" Allura said.
Not what Lance was expecting, but alright. Sure, let's bribe the Draegon.
"With what?" He countered, still holding Keith's gaze.
"Ooo! I know!" Allura turned to Lance, who quickly pretended to be looking at something else. Allura winked at Lance, a full face wink that could only work with children, then looked back at the bush. Lance's eyes returned to Keith's. "Keef~ If you come out now, Lance'll give you a kiss!" She shouted.
Lance and Keith both went red and Keith jumped a bit in surprise, effectively making him lose his balance. Lance could only watch as he toppled backwards and fell to the grass.
"There you are!" Allura ran towards Keith as if she hadn't just been saying he was in a bush. "You must really want a kiss from Lance if you jumped out that quickly!" Allura said to a blushing Keith.
"W-what? No! No, I-I don't-I-err! No I don't, Ally!" Keith's face was getting darker than his scales.
"Then why are you always staring at Laney's lips when he's not looking?" Allura asked innocently.
It was Lance's turn to be embarrassed now.
Keith was…He was staring at my lips? He…wanted to kiss me? Does he…
Keith's face was the color of juniberries by now, and he abruptly stood, opening his wings wide and flying straight up and away.
"Keef?" Allura's voice sounded so soft, a little sad even. She ran back to Lance, who was still in shock. "Did I say something wrong? Lancey did I hurt him? I didn't-I didn't mean it!" Allura's eyes began watering and her eye scale glowed a soft pink. Lance had been aware that Altean eye scales glowed when faced with strong emotion, but he'd never seen it on Allura.
Thick, fat tears rolled down her cheeks and she began sniffling. "I didn't mean it, Lancey! I didn't, I promise!"
Lance was shaken from his daze. He sat up quickly and pulled Allura into his arms. "No, no Ally, it's not your fault. You didn’t mean any harm. It's alright, everything's gonna be alright." He held the crying princess to his chest, trying to figure out what to do. He looked to the skies, trying to see if Keith was still up.
Allura ended up falling asleep and Lance carried her back to the castle. There was a commotion when the king and queen saw the tear tracks and asked what happened immediately. He lied, which was bad but he didn't need anyone gossiping about him and Keith, saying that she tripped and scuffed up her knee, and then got tired on the way back.
Lance said goodbye, and pretended to go to the usual leaving docks. As soon as he was far enough away from the castle, he tried to reach his senses out to find Keith. Because his senses were for under the sea, he was having a really hard time.
It was beginning to get dark, and Lance knew that if he didn't contact his mom, she'd get worried. He pulled out his communicator and just sent off a message saying he and Keith were going to stay over instead of flying home now. She said that was alright and that Krolia was okay with it as well. One thing less to worry about, Lance supposed.
Where had Keith gone? Lance was basically just walking through the creepy woods by now and still no sign of Keith.
"Keith? Keith! Shout if you can hear me! Keith?" No response.
The mega-structural rings surrounding Altea made the light of it's moons bounce and glitter across the sky. Lance stopped and stared up, just gazing at the spectacle. Would he find Keith? He was beginning to lose hope now, and Lance hadn't a clue what to do. The only place Lance could easily find him in was water and there was no way Keith was there.
"Keith," He spoke in a normal voice instead of shouting this time. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I really just want to talk to you. I'm not gonna make fun of you or something, I promise. I'm getting scared now. Please Keith." He whispered the last plea, sitting down in the open meadow he found himself in.
Lance hugged his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them, staring at everything and nothing all together. He lost track of time, having sat there for hours, or maybe just minutes. All Lance knew was that he had fallen asleep, lying on his side and curled up.
Crap, how long have I been here?
He moved to sit up, but felt something leathery shift atop him. He fully looked at what was before him, finding a red and purple wing resting on his shoulder like a blanket. Lance's eyes traveled up the wing structure to find Keith, who was silently staring at him.
"Gah!" Lance jumped back. "Jeez, you scared me, jerk." Keith said nothing. His face was emotionless. The Draegon retracted his wing, and sat up, across from Lance. The moonlight shone from above made Keith's eyes sparkle, and Lance was enchanted.
Oh yeah…the kiss thing…does he…does he feel the same way though?
"Keith-" Lance began, but Keith interrupted him with an apology.
"It's creepy, I know. I…I understand if you don't want to…b-be my...my f-friend anym-more." Keith had tears streaming down his face by the time he finished, his voice cracking.
Lance had two options before him. He could try to talk Keith around this and reason with him and all of that, or he could do what the characters in his sisters' romance novels that he pretended to hate did and just kiss Keith right here. The former was less 'romantic', but for Keith, it was definitely the better option. He could put option two away, maybe for later.
"No, Keith. No . You can't just get rid of me that easily. I'm not going anywhere, and I swear to Syren if you try to fly out of here before we're done, I'm gonna…..I'm gonna do something that you'll regret. Now, what is this business I hear about you staring at me, hmm?" He lifted his eyebrow and smirked at the last part.
Keith blushed, and lifted his hand to wipe away some of the tears. "It's not-I don't-Not very-I……It's not very often…." Keith finally got out in a small voice. He fidgeted with his finger tips, not daring to look at Lance.
Lance grinned and leaned closer. "So, say I wanted to kiss you right now, what should I do, Keith?"
Keith's head shot up, cheeks tinted but face reading as surprised. He blinked a few times, then blushed some more, before looking away again. "I can't stop you…." He replied shyly.
Lance took that as a hint. He scooted closer, and raised one hand, cupping Keith's chin in much the same way he had to Ally earlier. He rubbed Keith's cheek with his thumb, looking back and forth between his eyes and lips. Keith's hands parted and fell, resting themselves on Lance's legs. They pressed into his leg a little, giving away Keith's apprehension.
"Don’t mind if I do." Lance leaned down, and kissed him.
It was difficult to describe. The softness and vulnerability streaming between the two in that moment was tantalizing. But it was so good . Keith's hands moved to Lance's shoulders and Lance's hands moved to Keith's waist. The Draegon shook and the two parted. They breathed in the darkness of the meadow, all quiet around them. Lance's eyes were sure to be glowing in this darkness (and they were, which distracted Keith).
The two looked at each other for a second longer, glanced at the others lips again, and they were gone. Lance tilted his head to the left and Keith did the same, deepening the kiss. His hands pressed into Keith's side, and the Draegon hummed in his throat. Keith's hands at Lance's shoulder pulled just enough to give Lance the message, and they fell, Keith lying on his back and Lance over him. They continued to kiss, even when Keith's wings wrapped around the two of them and forced Lance closer.
When the need for oxygen finally caught up with them, they parted, and panted. They didn't move, nor did they speak. Just stared at each other in this moon-lit meadow.
Lance was the first to move, and he shifted to lay his head on Keith's shoulder, laying down next to him.
"Keith I-"
"Lance-"
Both paused for a moment, and then they promptly burst out laughing. Chuckling still, Lance wiped at his eye and sighed.
"I think we feel the same, Keith…" He said,
"I…How do you know that for sure though? We may be on completely different pages for all either of us know."
Lance sat up a little, and stared down at Keith. "Well, unless you're telling me that you don't like me, then I guess-"
"Of course I like you!" Keith said a bit loudly. His blush returned as did Lance's grin.
"Aww, prickly, emo Keith said he likes me. Ooooo, Keef's in loooove~ Oooo!~" he would have kept going, but Keith pulled him down and shut him up with a kiss. Oh man, what terrible punishment. Poor Lance.
"Oh shut it." Keith pouted when he released him.
Lance smiled and returned to his previous spot. The two watched the night sky, chatting about nothing and everything. Who knew what the future would hold for them, but in this moment, in the solitude of the meadow, they were happy and satisfied.