Chapter Text
Keith’s eye sprang open, hand immediately grabbing the knife under his pillow before realizing the high pitched beep was coming from his alarm. Kosmo growled before Keith smashed the snooze button with a closed fist and burrowed back under the blankets. He was on the cusp of unconsciousness when someone pounded on his door. He groaned and threw the blankets off, letting them land in a pile on the floor. Kosmo raised his head from his bed on the floor and with and irritated sniff, teleported away. Keith opened his door, glaring at the intruder.
“What.”
“Keith! My man! My buddy!” Lance pushes his way into the room.
“Sure, come on in.” Keith mumbles under his breath, but turns and follows Lance inside.
“You would not believe how well my date with Allura went last night. It was incredible. She is incredible!”
Lance grabbed the rolling chair at Keith’s desk and spun it around and sat down, draping his arms over the back of the chair. “Not to mention-“ Lance stopped, looking at Keith for the first time.
“What is up with your hair? It’s…” he trailed off, gesturing around his head “…fluffy. Did you sleep on wet hair? Keith, buddy, that is so bad for your hair. You really should join the Paladin spa night. Even Shiro comes!” Keith glared at him and fell back into his bed.
“Are you here for a reason? Or did you just come to critique my hair?”
Lance laughed.
“Both, I guess.” Keith glared.
Lance held his hands up in surrender.
“Okay, sorry. I wanted to tell you about my date! It turns out, my family absolutely adores Allura! Seriously, I think my mama likes her more than me now.” Lance smiled, “But that’s not all. I told her how I felt about her last night.”
Keith felt his blood run cold.
Lance continued. “But she didn’t say anything back. Well, she kissed me so I think that means she feels something at least.”
Keith closed his eyes, forcing his face into a neutral expression.
“That’s great Lance. I’m happy you finally got what you wanted.” Lance gave him a curious look, but before he could respond another knock sounded at the door. Keith and Lance both turned toward the sound. Keith rose and opened the door. James stood outside, arms folded across his chest. He looked Keith up and down and smirked.
“Morning Sleeping Beauty.” Keith looked unimpressed.
“Don’t start.” He stood aside, letting Griffin inside. “Sorry, I’ll change right now. I got a little distracted. Lance stopped bye to talk.” James noticed the boy at the desk.
“Hey, McClain.”
“Griffin. What are you doing here?” Lance looked at Keith.
Keith ignored him and grabbed and change of clothes and headed into the bathroom. He stood by the door to catch their conversation.
“I’m here to see Keith. You?”
“I’m here to talk to Keith. We’re friends.”
“Right. Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak with Keith about our date.” Lance froze.
“Your what?”
“Our date. We planned it like a week ago? I thought you were friends, I’m sure he said something to you about it.”
“We are friends. That’s how I know that is impossible. Keith doesn’t date. He’s Keith. He doesn’t even like you! You’re the reason he was kicked out of the Garrison!” “Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he agree to date me?”
Lance stopped and glared. Keith ran a brush through his hair and came out of the bathroom looking much more presentable. Lance stood from the chair and made his way to the door. Keith followed after him, stopping him at the door.
“Hey, we can talk later, okay?” Lance furrowed his brow.
“Yeah, sure. Just…” he bit his lip. “Just be careful. I don’t trust him.”
“I thought I was supposed to be the one with trust issues?”
Keith attempted to joke but Lance just frowned and turned to leave.
“Right.”
“Lance,” Keith began but Lance was already down the hall, leaving Keith alone with Griffin. He turned back into the room.
“Why did you do that?” Keith glared.
“Do what? Antagonize him? Come on, even you have to admit it was funny. Besides, I thought you were trying to get over him?”
“I am. But I still want to be friends. You told him we planned this date a week ago. Now he’s going to think I don’t trust him.”
Griffin frowned.
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. No more picking on Lance, got it. Now, can we please head to breakfast, I’m starving.” Keith nodded.
“Yeah, sure.” He led the way out the door, Griffin following quietly behind.
“So…” Griffin began as he stepped next to Keith.
“So?”
“You clean up nice, Kogane.”
“I’m wearing the Garrison uniform. You’ve seen me in this a dozen times.” “Keith, I’m trying to flirt.”
“I know.” Keith smirked, eyeing him from the side.
“Oh so you have jokes now? Kogane got funny in space.”
They continued their light bickering until they reached the mess hall. James and Keith quickly made their way through the line to a quiet table, away from peering eyes. Keith noticed the Paladins and Coran eating together and quickly looked away before making eye contact with any of them. As they were placing their trays down, they heard Coran yelling from across the hall.
“Number 4! I was wondering where you were! Bring your friend over here! We have plenty of room!”
Keith felt his face flush and closed his eyes in annoyance. When he opened them again, he saw Shiro whispering into Coran’s ears. Coran’s eyes grew wide before whipping his head around to look at the couple. He grinned and gave Keith a thumbs up. Keith groaned and put his head in his hands. He heard a loud scraping sound. He looked back and saw Lance stand from the table, back rigid, and march out of the hall, Allura quickly and quietly following behind him. Keith turned his attention back to Griffin and began eating.
“So, how does this work?” He asked around mouth full of egg.
“How does what work?” James took a bite of toast. Keith gestured between them.
“This. Our date. What do we do?”
“We talk.” James replied.
“About what?” “Anything.” James thought for a moment. “Like, what is your favorite color?”
Keith arched his brow.
“Red.”
“Right, bad question.” He thought a bit longer. “Okay, what about your favorite place in the universe?” Keith bit the inside of his cheek, thinking.
“I really like my shack.” James looked taken back.
“Your shack? Really?”
“Yeah. It’s home. As much as I love being in space, it’s nice to know I still have a home back on Earth. Plus, the desert has beautiful sunsets.” James nodded his head.
“What about you? What’s your favorite color and place?”
“My favorite color is gold.”
“Is that even an actual color?” James glared at him, but there was no heat in the action.
“Yes, it’s a color. As I was saying-”
“I really don’t think it is.”
“Keith I swear to God….”
Their conversation continued for a time, both of them starting small arguments just for the sake of arguing. They were in the middle of another small spat when a hand wrapped around Keith’s bicep. Keith stopped talking and glance up. Shiro stood awkwardly, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else.
“Hey guys, sorry for the intrusion. Keith, we’re getting ready to give our final speech before take off.” Keith glance at the clock at the mess hall and stood up quickly.
“Sorry, Shiro. I didn’t realize how long we had been sitting here. I’ll head over now.” He looked over at James. “I’ll see you later. Thanks for breakfast.” James waved his hand.
“Yeah, okay. And don’t mention in. Maybe we can do it again sometime?”
“Sure. I’ll let you know when I’m free.”
“Yeah me too. See you around, Kogane.”
“See ya, Griffin.”
James stood and took both trays to the dish conveyor and quickly disappeared down a hallway. Shiro walked with Keith for a while before smiling. Keith stopped him with a hand.
“Not a word.”
Shiro laughed.
“I wasn’t going to say anything!”
Keith narrowed his eyes.
“Yes, you were.”
“Okay, maybe I was. But it wasn’t bad! It's just nice to see you happy and not pining after Lance.” Keith froze in his steps, blood rushing to his cheeks.
“I am not pining.”
“Well today your not. And it’s nice. I’m happy for you.”
“Shiro, can we please talk about anything else.” They turned down the final hall, joining the other Paladins. Pidge grinned at him manically.
“Hey, Loverboy.” Keith groaned.
“Not you too.”
“What’s wrong Keithy. Don’t wanna talk about your new boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend. We just had breakfast together.”
“Yeah, that lasted like two hours.”
“We were just talking!”
“Sureee,” Pidge laughed. Keith opened his mouth to respond but Lance beat him to it.
“Oh my God! Can we please shut up about Keith’s love life! We are about to leave for who knows how long and I’d rather my last memories not be of Keith and his choice of partner.” Lance fumed.
The other stared at him, but Keith narrowed his eyes.
“What’s your problem, Lance?”
“I’m fine. I just don’t care to hear about you and your love life.”
“But I get to hear all about yours? I thought that’s what friends do? Share life stories.”
“Not about things like this!”
“You were literally in my room this morning telling me about your date with Allura!” Keith yelled. He knew his temper would get the best of him eventually, he has grown up a lot since first joining Voltron, but some things never change.
“That’s different!”
“How?!
“Because Allura is a good person! And everyone here likes her! James is probably just using you for likes on his social media.” Lance responded flippantly. Keith clenched his jaw.
Shiro put an arm on his shoulder and Hunk did the same to Lance.
“Hey, come on we’re a team. Let’s just cool off for a second.” He barely heard the Yellow Paladin over the blood rushing in his ears.
“Shut up, Lance. You don’t know anything about my love life.”
“Why? Are you upset because it’s probably true? I mean, come on. We all know you’re not exactly the lovable, datable type. He’s gonna date you for a bit, then dump you once he’s gotten the attention dating a Paladin of Voltron gives him.” Keith saw red. The next thing he knew, Lance was on the ground. Hand on his jaw, a small cut on his lip bleeding. Keith shook out his sore fist.
“Lance!”
“Jesus, Keith!”
“Holy shit.”
Keith distantly heard Allura, Shiro, and Pidge all at once before Lance was jumping back up.
“What the fuck, man!” Lance lunged.
Thankfully Hunk grabbed him before he could reach Keith but that didn’t stop him from struggling against the larger man. Shiro grabbed Keith with his Altean arm to keep them separated. He looked disappointed in both of them.
“Enough you two!” Shiro fixed both of them with a glare. “I don’t understand what’s going on with you guys right now but you better solve this before we need to form Voltron. You’re supposed to be a team!”
He turned his glare to only Keith.
“And you are supposed to be their leader. You’re better than this.” Keith’s cheeks burned in shame. He looked at Lance.
“I’m sorry. Shiro is right. We are a team. I don’t know what came over me.” Lance looked guilty.
“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have said anything about Griffin.” They shook hands, their anger still present but calm enough to save it for a later time.
The Atlas took to the skies shortly after the final speeches were done. Once they were out of Earth’s atmosphere, Keith began looking for James. He found him in the hangar, inspecting his Fighter jet. Keith clears his throat.
“Hey.” James smiles at him.
“Hey. All done with your Paladin stuff?” “For the day. I was thinking about Gladiator training but I thought I’d check to see if you’d be interested in sparring?” James nodded.
“Sure.”
“So,” James began as Keith lunged. “I’m assuming you have something on your mind?”
Keith grunted as James shoved him to the ground, rolling backwards onto his knees.
“How about less talking, more training.” He jumped at James, using his sparring blade to slash at his shoulder, hitting his mark and making James grimace.
“I’m just saying,” James continued, dodging another one of Keith’s attacks. “You seem like the type to train to relive stress.” Keith landed anther hit.
“If I knew you were just going to talk the entire time, I would have asked Lance.” Keith growled as he landed another hit.
“Why didn’t you? Ask Lance? I thought you two were like besties or something?” Keith frowned.
“We had a disagreement.”
“A disagreement?”
“…I might have punched him.” James’ eye grew wide.
“You punched your crush?!” James tried to stifle a laugh. Keith dropped his sword and left the training area, stepping off to the side.
“I know. It was stupid. We are supposed to be team. I just can’t help it. He knows exactly how to press my buttons and I just lose it around him.” Keith sat down, rubbing his hand over his face.
James plopped down next to him.
“As someone who has been on the other end of your punch, I feel kinda bad for him. But also as someone who egged you on until you lost it, I say he probably deserved it.”
Keith laughed and threw his head back against the wall.
“Oh, he totally deserved it.” He felt James laugh next to him.
“So why did you do it?”
“He was saying some pretty terrible things about you.”
“Wait, you punched him because of me? Keith, I don’t know what to say. I’m honored”
“Shut up. He was just saying things to be cruel and hurt me.”
“But you still love him, right?” Keith looked over.
“Of course I do, I’m an idiot.” James was quiet for a minute.
“I have a new idea. I don’t think you need to get over Lance…” Keith blinked in shock.
“What? Why?”
“I think we need to get Lance to acknowledge his feelings for you instead.” Keith’s eyes bugged out.
“Lance does not have feelings for me.”
“His jealousy says otherwise.”
“What jealousy?”
“The jealousy that made him say enough bad things about me to make you punch him. Platonic friends don’t do that. He was jealous.” Keith opened his mouth to protest, but couldn’t seem to form words.
“Besides,” James continued, “I really don’t think we are going to work out.” Keith raised a brow.
“Why’s that?” “You literally could not shut up about Lance on our date. I’m pretty sure every single story you shared had Lance roped into it somehow.”
Keith blushed.
“I didn’t realize…” “It’s cool. Besides, I think we can be great friends once all this is over and Lance and you ride off into the sunset together.”
“Shut up.” James just laughed.
A few hours later, Keith was making his way down the halls of the Atlas, headed towards his room. His room was right after Lance’s and when he passed the blue Paladin’s room, he heard light whispers and laughter. His chest felt tight and he quickly passed, opening the door to his room. He had just changed into his pajamas when there was a knock. He sighed and opened the door. James stood on the opposite side, smirking.
“We have got to stop meeting like this.” Keith said dryly.
“So I have an idea to start this new plan.”
“I never agreed to your new plan.”
“That’s okay. Because it’s the same plan. We date, but this time, we up our game.” Keith rolled his eyes.
“Sounds great.” He heard a door down the hall slide open and heard Allura and Lance voices come through the open door way. He was about to pull James inside his room when James grabbed him by his shirt and shoved him against the far wall.
“Do you trust me, Kogane.”
Keith, wide eyed and flustered from being man handled, nodded once. James smiled and leaned in, capturing Keith’s lips with his own. Keith froze, eyes wide and body tense. They kissed for a moment before Keith heard the conversation down the hall stop.
“Lance? Are you alright? You don’t look-Oh!”
Keith heard Allura gasp and broke the kiss.
Glancing over at the couple as if he didn’t know they were there. Allura was blushing, trying to avert her gaze, but we he locked eyes with Lance, he was met with a stormy glare. Lance turned his head, breaking their eye contact and offered Allura a quick goodnight before turning back into his room. Allura, shocked by the sudden change in Lance looked over at Keith.
“Sorry about the intrusion. I didn’t know anyone was out here,” she tried to explain. “However, you two make a lovely couple!” Allura smiled. “And I am sorry about Lance. He’s been quite temperamental since this morning. I think leaving Earth again has been harder on him than he expected.” She looked sadly at the closed door. “I suppose I’ll be heading to bed. Goodnight,
Keith. James.”
“Night, Allura.” Keith waved at her.
“Good night, Princess.”
Once she was out of range, James turned to him and grinned wickedly.
“Told you, he’s so jealous of me right now.”
Keith rolled his eyes. There was no way Lance was jealous, he didn’t think of Keith in a romantic way. He never has…has he?