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Keith blinked, confused. “I thought you hated me.”
That… admittedly, was not the response Lance had been anticipating when he confessed to the red paladin.
“Hated you?” Lance was bewildered. “Why would you think that?”
“You always seem angry at me.” Keith shrugged. “And you said we were rivals.”
“That was before! We’re teammates now!” Lance said. “Besides, we’re the kind of rivals who drive each other to do better. And I’m not angry at you; I’ve been hitting on you for weeks!”
“You have?” Keith was surprised. He had noticed Lance flirting, sure, but it was always directed at Allura. He was just snarky with Keith.
“Yes!” Lance spread his hands. “It’s been super obvious, even Shiro started noticing it. It’s not my fault you’re about as dense as a box of moon rocks.”
Keith frowned. “See, it’s saying things like that that make it hard to believe you like me.”
“Ugh, fine, but it’s so awkward saying it,” Lance pointed at him. “I like you and your stupid dumb mullet. You’re smart and driven and strong and hot and it’s just not fair that whenever you tie your hair back I can’t think straight. There, I said it, now can we please date?”
Keith arched an eyebrow. Wow, talk about mixed signals. “You… actually like me?”
“Yes!”
Keith thought about it. “That’s still only half of a relationship.”
“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t like me too.” Lance put his hands on his hips and leaned forward a bit, smirking. “I’ve seen the way you check me out when we’re training.”
Keith felt heat rush to his cheeks. “I’m just keeping an eye on your back, like Allura told us to.”
“Suuuuure,” Lance drew the word out, his smirk widening. “Keeping an eye on my back-side, hmm?”
“Shut up.”
“You think I’m hot, admit it.”
“A hot-headed idiot, sure.”
“You like me,”
“So?” Keith didn’t bother hiding it.
“ So , I like you, you like me,” Lance said. “So we should date!”
“We’re on a castle-ship hurtling through space and have to fight off Galra ships every few days.” Keith reminded him. “Where would we even go on dates? The corridors? The dining room, with everyone there?”
“You’re thinking about it too narrowly.” Lance said. “Not every date has to be at the movie theater or a restaurant. We can just spend more time together, get to know each other better outside of team-building sessions. If we want to get real romantic about it, we can always go up to the observation deck and look out at the stars.”
Keith thought about it. He had never dated anyone before. His time at the Garrison had been spent mostly studying so that he could stay there; if (when) he got kicked out for poor grades, he had no family to go back to. Any free time he had had was spent sneaking off to repair the hover-cruiser he had found. He had overheard his classmates talking about girlfriends and crushes, but he hadn’t had time to afford himself such a luxury. He hadn’t even had time to make friends (at least, that was what he told himself).
Maybe it would be good for him, he thought. It wasn’t that Keith had never entertained the thought of having a boyfriend or girlfriend. There had certainly been people he had found attractive -- and Lance did happen to be one of those few people -- but he figured he simply didn’t have time for it. Furthermore, he was at a complete loss of what to do. What if he messed up?
“I’ve never… I don’t know how to date.” He admitted quietly.
Lance smiled sheepishly. “Believe it or not, I’ve actually never dated anyone either. We can figure it out together.”
The thought that neither of them knew what they were doing, rather than make him feel more anxious, actually put him at ease. At least they were on equal footing.
“Okay. Sure.” He said. “Let’s date.”
“Great.” Lance beamed.
Keith shifted awkwardly. “Should we… I don’t know, shake hands or something?” He could already tell this was getting off to a bad start. He had no idea what he was doing.
Lance looked bemused. “Well, we could hug,”
Keith nodded. That sounded more in line with what little he knew about dating. Lance held out his arms with a smile, and wrapped his arms around Keith. Keith awkwardly put his own arms around Lance, a little uncertain where his hands should go. Lance chuckled, the low sound rumbling next to Keith’s ear and making his stomach do weird little flips.
“No need to be so nervous, boyfriend.” Lance said. Keith felt his breath catch in his throat at the word. Boyfriend … The little flips in his stomach felt somehow both pleasant and unpleasant at the same time.
Lance’s hand started moving up and down on Keith’s back, fingers dragging along the length of his spine. Even through his shirt, every inch of contact felt tingly and raw, like his skin was exposed to electricity. It felt like they had been hugging for an eternity. Were hugs usually this long? Keith tried to remember the last time someone had hugged him. The social workers hadn’t; they didn’t let themselves get too attached to their charges. He didn’t think any of his foster families had, either. He had never stayed with one long enough to get that comfortable with them. Maybe his neighbor, when he was little, and he had gotten called out of his kindergarten class to go to the office, only to find her waiting there with tears in her eyes, and she had hugged him and told him there had been an accident, that his parents were gone…
Keith stiffened and pulled back. He ignored Lance’s questioning look and took a step back, putting some distance between them.
“I have to, uh,” get away, get away, get away … “Bathroom. Sorry.”
“Um, okay.” Lance still looked concerned, but he didn’t push the matter, thankfully.
~~~~~~~
When Keith finally emerged from the bathroom, he made his way to the lounge where the paladins usually hung out on breaks. Lance was the only one there, sitting sprawled out on the couch and looking bored. He looked up when Keith entered.
“Oh hey, there you are,” Lance smiled when he saw Keith, but he still looked a little concerned.
“Where is everyone?” Keith looked around.
Lance shrugged. “Pidge and Hunk are off trying to make some improvements on the lions, I think, and I don’t really know where Shiro is. Guess we have the afternoon to ourselves!” He patted the space next to him on the couch.
Keith didn’t want to sit down; he was afraid that if he sat down, Lance might want to talk about the weirdness that had happened when they had hugged, which was not at all a conversation he wanted to have.
“Want to go to the training deck?” He asked.
Lanced let out an over-dramatic groan and slouched down in his seat. “But I’m so tired …”
Keith arched an eyebrow at him. “You don’t have to come with me. I just thought you might want to do something together.”
“Can’t we do something that doesn’t involve getting beaten to a pulp by robots?” Lance complained.
“You wouldn’t keep getting beaten up if you were any good.” Keith said, knowing Lance would rise to the bait.
Lance let out an indignant squawk and glared up at him. “Wow, some supportive boyfriend you are!”
“I am.” Keith rolled his eyes. “I’ll help you get better.”
Lance looked at him critically. “Fine, but only because you’re so cute.”
The compliment made Keith’s stomach feel weird. He cleared his throat. “Come on. Last one there has to do the dishes tonight.”
“Oh, you’re on , mullet-boy!”
~~~~~~~
The training drone burst into pieces as they both landed a particularly hard attack on it. They had been in the training room for a few hours; at first, they had fought well enough but they had fought separately. As time went on, each of them started to notice small things about the other, and they began to fall into step and attack together, as one. They grew more in-tune with each other and used each other to strengthen their joint attacks, protecting each other’s backs.
However, only half of Keith’s attention was focused on the battle at hand. The other half was preoccupied with the way that every brush of contact with Lance rocketed to the front of his mind. Ever since that hug, Keith felt like he was hyper-aware of every touch, even through their armor. He didn’t quite understand it, but he tried his best to ignore it during the battle simulations.
“Level 4 completed.” A robotic voice spoke over the coms. “Initiating level 5 in 60 ticks.”
“Can we take a break?” Lance asked, sounding just as winded as Keith felt. “We’ve been going at this for hours! It’s nearly time for dinner.”
Keith glanced at the clock on the far wall and saw that he was right. “Good point, we’ll need to get cleaned up for dinner. We can always come back later.” He turned off the simulator before it could start the next level.
Lance looked at him like he had grown a second head. “You’re a maniac , you know that?” He sounded more amazed than angry. He groaned and flopped onto his back, laying spread-eagle on the floor like a starfish. “I’m exhausted. I can’t even get up. I’ll just lay here forever.”
“Oh come on, weren’t you the one who wanted to leave just a couple of minutes ago?” Keith put a hand on his hip and looked down at him.
“That was before I laid down. Now I’m too dead.” Lance looked at him and his mouth twitched up in a smile. “Help me up?”
Keith snorted and held his hand out. Lance gripped his hand and used the leverage to haul himself up to his feet. Even once he had straightened up, he didn’t let go of Keith’s hand.
Keith blinked. They were close, nearly chest to chest. Lance smiled at him.
“Hi.” He sounded different, almost shy. Keith hadn’t thought it possible for Lance to be shy, yet there he was. Yep, there he definitely was, right in front of him, very, very close...
“Hi,” Keith returned, feeling just as shy. His hand felt like it was burning in Lance’s own. He pulled his hand back as casually as he could, palm still tingling. “We should get cleaned up and go to dinner.”
“Yeah, okay,” Lance jogged to catch up with him.
~~~~~~~
After showering and getting changed into casual clothes in their respective rooms, Keith wandered over to Lance’s room and knocked on the door.
Lance opened the door, still rubbing a towel over his head. “Oh, hey. What’s up?”
Keith shrugged and leaned against the open doorframe. “Just thought I’d wait for you and we can walk together. Since we’re dating and all.” He had thought that he might get tired of being around Lance all day, but he hadn’t. When Lance wasn’t trying to flirt like a peacock, he was a pretty easy guy to be around. Maybe this would be okay.
Lance beamed at him. “Aw, Keith, that’s sweet. I had no idea you cared.” He teased.
Keith frowned and pushed off the doorframe. “Nope, changed my mind. See you at dinner.”
“Hey, wait, I’m kidding.” Lance elbowed him. “You’re too easy to rile up.”
Keith rolled his eyes and resumed his spot in the doorway.
“Just gimme a sec,” Lance tossed his towel over the back of a desk chair and peered into the mirror, mussing up his still-damp hair.
“So that’s why your hair always looks like a giant cat licked you upside the head.” Keith said. Lance shot him a glare.
“At least my hair isn’t so long that I can put it in a ponytail.” He stuck out his tongue.
Keith arched an eyebrow. “I thought you said you liked my ponytail?” He smirked and lifted his hands, pushing his hair back and slipping a hair-tie around it from his wrist in one fluid motion. Lance’s cheeks colored and his mouth fell open before he shook himself.
“Now that’s just not fair.” Lance muttered, grabbing his jacket.
Keith smiled. He liked this, the easy banter between them. It wasn’t complicated; it felt relaxed and natural.
Lance suddenly smirked as they left his room and headed for the dining room. “Your hair looks sexy pushed back.”
Keith blinked and was so surprised by the statement that he actually stopped walking. “I… uh… what?”
“You know, like ‘ Cadi, tell Aaron his hair looks sexy pushed back ’?” Lance said, adopting an obviously fake, falsetto voice. Keith was even more confused.
“They said they go by Pidge, not Katie,” Keith said. “And who is Aaron?”
“You know, from Mean Girls ?” Lance said. Keith just stared at him. Lance blinked. “Wait, you’ve never seen Mean Girls ?”
“...mean girls doing what?”
“It’s a movie!” Lance explained. “It’s iconic!”
“I’ve never heard of it.” Keith said, shaking his head.
“Oh, dude, you need to watch it. Maybe we can get internet somehow and stream it. Or, I know Pidge has it practically memorized; between the two of us, we could probably just quote the whole thing.” Lance nudged Keith’s shoulder with his own. “I can’t believe you’ve never seen it. Man, you need to get out more!”
Keith shot him a look and rubbed his shoulder. It hadn’t hurt, but it still made his stomach do weird flips again. “Sorry I never got around to watching it. I did spend the last year living in a shack in the desert, if you remember. Movies weren’t really high on my list of priorities.”
“You never saw it growing up? It’s been around a while.” Lance said. Keith just shrugged. He didn’t feel like talking about the instability of his childhood right now, thanks.
Lance touched his shoulder and Keith tried hard not to flinch. “Hey, I’m sorry I gave you shit for it. For what it’s worth, Hunk hadn’t ever seen it before me and Pidge made him watch it.”
Keith lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug, trying to calm his racing heart and ignore the tingling feeling of his shoulder under Lance’s palm. He felt like he was being pulled in two different directions; he wanted to be close to Lance, he wanted Lance to keep touching him, but this was all so new and -- although he didn’t want to admit it -- a bit terrifying. He wasn’t used to it.
So he did what he did best, and pushed the feeling down, burying it deep inside him. “Come on, we’ll be late for dinner.”
Lance was quiet as he caught up with him, and neither of them said anything as they made their way to the dining room.
~~~~~~~
After dinner, Keith volunteered to help Hunk wash the dishes. Pidge muttered something about taking another look at some coding before bed, and Shiro left to go practice in the training room for a while. Allura and Coran went to go inspect the castle’s defenses and make sure everything was running correctly, leaving Hunk, Keith, and Lance in the kitchen.
“The food goo was less gooey than usual tonight,” Lance commented, lacing his fingers together behind his head and leaning back in his chair.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Hunk asked, scrubbing at some dried goo stuck to the edge of a plate.
“I’d say it’s a goo d thing.” Lance smirked.
Keith snorted. Hunk gave him a flat look over his shoulder. “Get out.”
“No thanks,” Lance propped his feet up. “I’m good here.”
“You could help us, you know.” Keith said pointedly as he dried a washed dish off and set it in the growing stack on the counter.
“I could.” Lance didn’t move.
Hunk washed the suds off of a plate. “Lance, get your lazy butt up and put away these dishes, please.” He said without even looking up, handing the rinsed-off dish to Keith to dry.
“Well, since you said ‘please’...” Lance stood up and strolled over. Keith was in the middle of drying off another plate, so he waited to take it from him. “Thanks,” he said, bumping Keith’s hip with his own as he took the plate.
He didn’t miss the way Keith’s fingers tightened around the edge of the sink. He frowned as he carried the stack of dishes over to the cabinet. He had been noticing that a lot, actually. Every time he so much as touched Keith, he would act startled or grow tense. He didn’t think he was being too rough -- Keith was a tough guy, after all -- but he couldn’t think of any other reason he would have to recoil like that. It bothered Lance immensely, because he could tell there was something wrong here.
After all the dishes had been washed, dried, and put away, and the counters had been cleaned, Hunk stretched his arms above his head and yawned. “I’m going to go see what Pidge is up to. See you guys later.”
“See ya,” Lance waved. He turned around to find Keith walking away in the opposite direction. “Hey, Keith, wait up,”
~~~~~~~
Keith felt his heart jump when Lance called out to him. He stopped, his hands curling into fists on reflex. He reminded himself that he didn’t have anything to be afraid of, this was just Lance. But a confrontation was still a confrontation, and that was even worse when it was about feelings.
Lance caught up with him. “You okay?” He asked, looking concerned.
“I’m fine.” Keith said. As long as he could brush it off, he would be fine.
“Are you?” Lance was too perceptive, damn him. “You seem a little… off.”
“I’m fine.” Keith repeated, trying not to sound strained. “It’s getting late, we should probably go to sleep.”
“Hey, Keith? Can we… talk, for a sec?” Lance said.
Keith felt like the world crashed down around him at those words. How many times had he heard them? From social workers, from foster families, from teachers and principals? We need to talk, Keith… things just don’t seem to be working out here… you haven’t adjusted as mush as we thought you would… you’ve skipped class too many times for us to turn a blind eye to it any longer… we thought we would be able to support another kid but it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to… things aren’t working out, maybe you’ll have better luck with the next family…
“...Keith?” Lance’s voice seemed to be coming from far away. He opened his eyes -- when had he closed them? -- and found the blue paladin looking at him with a concerned expression.
“I’m sorry,” Keith blurted out the words before he could stop himself. Lance looked surprised.
“For what?”
“I don’t know.” Whatever I did this time . “For fucking up already.”
“Keith, you haven’t fucked anything up,” Lance reached out to touch his arm but stopped when he noticed Keith flinch away like he was about to be hit. Lance felt his gut twist up. “If anything, I’m the one that’s in the wrong. I must have done something that freaked you out, but I don’t know what it is. Please, talk to me, and I’ll fix it.”
“It isn’t you.” Keith wouldn’t look at him. “It’s me. I’m… I’m not good around people. I get nervous when people get close to me.” He took a deep breath and went on. “I’m not used to people touching me. I can’t remember the last time someone hugged me before this morning when you did. It might have been when I was five and my parents died; I’m pretty sure no one hugged me after that. I’ve been passed around to so many different foster families, and I never got very close to any of them. And when I got kicked out of the Garrison, I lived alone in the desert for a year.” He gave a short, dry laugh that sounded more like a choke. “I barely saw or spoke to another person for an entire year , Lance.”
Lance couldn’t understand that; he simply couldn’t fathom it. His family was so huge that until he started going to the Garrison, he was pretty sure there hadn’t been a moment in his life that he hadn’t had parents or siblings or aunts and uncles or little nieces and nephews all over him. An entire year of being completely alone? He couldn’t even go a week without skyping his family from school!
In front of him, Keith drew a shaky breath in and let it out again, clenching his hands into tight fists. “I wanted to try this, Lance, I really did. I wanted to be good at this dating thing, but I just don’t think I can. I’m sorry.”
Lance blinked, his mind reeling. “Wait… what?” They couldn’t break up; they had only just started!
“I’m not cut out for this, and I don’t want you to waste your time.” Keith wouldn’t look at him. “I can’t be the kind of boyfriend that hugs you and holds your hand, that kisses you. I don’t know how, I’m not good at it.”
“Woah, woah, Keith,” Lance softened his voice. “It’s okay. It’s okay that you don’t want to do all that stuff.”
“But I do ,” Keith sounded miserable. “I want to do those things, but I… I can’t … I don’t know how …”
“That’s okay,” Lance told him. “We don’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable with.” He reached down and took Keith’s hands in his own, keeping his movements slow. Keith’s hands were still balled into tight fists, and they were shaking. Lance held them carefully and ran his thumbs over the curled-up fingers. “Is this okay?” He asked, meeting Keith’s eyes.
Keith swallowed and thought about it. His heart was hammering in his chest and his hands tingled where Lance was touching him, his nerve endings screaming at him to yank his hands away, or maybe closer, he wasn’t even sure anymore. “Yeah,” he replied, finally finding his voice.
Lance smiled at him. “Good. That’s a good start.” He coaxed Keith’s hands open and ran his thumbs lightly over the crescent-shaped marks in his palms from where his nails had dug into his skin. “We can take this as slow as you need to, Keith. I really like you, and I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
“I’m not afraid.” Keith said. Lance arched an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the marks on his palm.
“Nervous, then,” Lance said. “Or whatever it is that you feel when I touch you and you flinch away.”
Keith hesitated, taking a moment to gather his thoughts and pluck the emotion out of the swirling mass he felt churning inside him. “I feel… confused.”
“Confused?” Lance asked.
Keith nodded. “I feel like I’m being pulled in two opposite directions. I want you to keep doing it, but I’m not used to it. It puts me at ease, but also makes me uneasy. I don’t understand it.” He sighed. “I’m a mess.”
“I think we’re all a bit of a mess.” Lance said reassuringly. “We do pilot semi-magical robot space lions, after all.”
Keith managed a dry laugh at that. Lance smiled; Keith was beautiful when he laughed.
Keith looked up at him. “Are you sure you’re okay with this? With me being like this?”
“I’m sure,” Lance nodded. “I like you, and I just want to be with you, in whatever way you’re comfortable.” He paused. “Are you okay with this?” He indicated their hands.
Keith considered it, then nodded. “Yeah.”
Lance smiled. He wanted to hug Keith, to wrap his arms around him and tell him he didn’t have to be alone ever again, but he knew that would be too much. The last thing he wanted to do would be to scare him off. He settled for lightly squeezing his hands. They could take this slow.
~~~~~~~
Over the next few weeks, Lance was very careful with how he touched Keith. On the surface, they interacted as usual, sometimes arguing over nothing or teasing each other, riling the other up. Both of them knew when to stop, when it was too much, and the teasing was never mean-spirited. Lance began to gradually slip small touches into the playful banter; resting his foot against Keith’s under the table, sitting beside him on the couch so that their legs were pressed up next to each other, letting the back of their hands brush as they walked through the castle corridors… soon enough, he found that Keith was beginning to initiate contact, doing the same actions that Lance had been doing on his own.
Because they were stuck on the castle-ship and date night opportunities were few, many of their dates involved simply strolling through the castle corridors and talking, or sometimes just gazing at the stars through the windows of the observation deck with their shoulders pressed together. One evening, as Lance let his hand brush against Keith’s while they walked, Keith turned his hand around and grabbed it. Lance looked at him, surprised. Keith’s ears were pink.
“Is this okay?” He asked, worried.
Lance gave him a wide smile and slotted their fingers together more comfortably. “Yeah.”
A few days later, the paladins found themselves seated on the couches in the lounge while Allura stood near an image projected on the wall. The princess was convinced that any time they weren’t actively training, they needed to be training their minds and learning more about the galaxies around them (as Earthling knowledge about space was, to the Alteans, woefully deficient). She was explaining something about the planet they were passing by…something about their government structure? Lance hadn’t been paying attention in a while.
Next to him, Keith sighed and scooted closer, resting his head on Lance’s shoulder. Lance’s heart was probably pounding so loudly that Keith could likely hear it, but he went ahead and did it anyway; he slowly shifted his arm around Keith’s shoulders.
He really wasn’t paying attention to Allura’s lecture at all anymore, having zeroed in on Keith and watching his reaction with baited breath. Keith didn’t stiffen and pull away, nor did he flinch. Instead, he just leaned into Lance’s hold more and seemed to relax.
“You okay?” Lance asked quietly. Keith nodded.
“Yeah,”
~~~~~~~
“Pidge, shield!” Shiro shouted over the coms.
“On it!” Voltron’s arm raised the shield as Pidge brought it up just in time to take the laser’s hit. Lance had a fraction of a second to brace himself before the impact struck, rattling the entire machine.
They weren’t sure why this giant robot was attacking a defenseless planet, but they were pretty sure it was part of some Galra plan. Their motto seemed to be ‘save the planet first, ask questions later’, though, so they had hardly given it a second thought before jumping into their lions and forming Voltron. The robot at hand, however, seemed pretty intent on breaking them up.
“If we split up, it can’t focus on all of us at once!” Keith shouted.
“We’re stronger together as Voltron!” Lance replied.
“We’re one target right now!” Keith countered.
“He’s got a point!” Pidge added. “If we split up, I can use my lion’s cloaking and sneak up behind it.”
Shiro was quiet for several seconds, which seemed like an eternity in the heat of the battle. “Alright, split up. We’ll draw its fire away from the planet, Pidge, attack it from behind.”
That was easier said than done. Several minutes later, they were still no closer to defeating the robot than they had been.
“How does it keep seeing you?!” Hunk shouted. “ I can’t even see you!”
“It’s not my fault!” Pidge sounded frustrated. “I think it has fucking infrared vision!”
“Pidge! Language !”
“This is really not the time for that, Shiro!”
“Hang on, I see an opening!” Lance shouted. “There! That asteroid just took out its arm!”
“It can regrow arms, Lance, remember?!” Keith countered, steering his lion around another asteroid. “We’ve been watching it regrow limbs for the past ten minutes!”
“It can’t do it instantaneously!” Lance insisted. “I can get it when it’s regrowing!”
“That’s mere seconds!” Hunk protested. “You can’t count on that!”
“I’m doing it!” Lance fired at the robot. He could barely hear his teammates’ protests over the blast as the robotic arm exploded yet again. He revved the lion forward, steering around all sorts of asteroid chunks and metallic debris. As he sped past the gaping hole that used to be the thing’s arm, he fired his blaster again and shot straight at the core of the robot.
“ LANCE! ” Keith’s voice shouted at him over the com system just as the explosion threw the blue lion sideways. The lion smashed into a large asteroid and Lance’s head smacked against the back of his chair, both he and the lion wincing at the pain. The coms crackled with static for a few moments before working again.
“--ance! Are you okay?!” Shiro’s voice cut in.
Lance groaned and tapped a few buttons on the dash, checking the lion’s systems. “I’m fine. Blue’s a little banged up, but we’re okay.”
“What about everyone else?” Shiro asked. “Paladins, head count!”
“Minimal damage, I’m okay.” Hunk replied.
“I was pretty close to the blast,” Pidge said. “I’m gonna need to be towed back to the ship.”
“I’ll get you.” Hunk told them.
“Keith, how about you?” Shiro asked.
Keith was quiet for a few worrying seconds. “I’m okay, but Red’s running on back-up generators.”
Lance let out a sigh of relief.
“I’ll tow you.” Shiro said.
“Was the robot destroyed?” Lance asked, his eyes scanning the debris littering the space around them.
“Fucking better be.” Pidge muttered.
“Pidge.” Shiro’s voice was stern.
“The robot is no longer appearing on my radar systems.” Allura’s voice joined them. “I believe that it has been destroyed, and that we are safe for the time being. Good work, paladins!”
Lance was too tired for a victory cheer, and it seemed that the other paladins were in agreement. The most that they managed was a collective sigh of relief as they all steered their lions back to the castle-ship.
Back in the hangar at last, Lance stumbled out of his lion. He gave her a weary smile and patted the chipped blue paint of the exterior. “Good job, Blue. I knew we could do it.”
He could swear he heard her purr at his words.
Back upstairs, Lance took his helmet off and tucked it under his arm. He sighed and rotated the shoulder that had taken most of the brunt of the collision during the explosion. Man, he was going to feel that tomorrow. He bet a bruise was already forming…
The doors opened with a woosh behind him and he turned around. It was Shiro and Keith. Keith stopped and stared at him for half a second, then ran towards him and barrelled straight into Lance, throwing his arms around him. Lance blinked, stunned for a moment, before remembering to hug him back.
“Don’t you ever do something that reckless again,” Keith told him, his voice shaky. He squeezed him tighter. “Idiot…”
The corners of Lance’s mouth twitched up in a smile. It was nice to see Keith caring about him so openly. He realized, with a start, that Keith was actually hugging him, of his own volition, with no apparent aims to let go anytime soon. Lance drew him closer and rubbed his back.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.” He told him. Keith’s fingers grabbed at the armor on his back, his other hand coming up to tangle in his hair. Lance carded his fingers through Keith’s hair and rubbed soothing circles between his shoulder blades. It seemed like all his hard work had paid off; Keith was finally comfortable around him.