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An orphaned runaway crosses the cracked and dry land, his lips chapped and skin raw from sand blown over it. Was the scrap of food the guards chased him out of the city for worth it?
Parched and on the verge of collapse, he finds a well. It’s almost too convenient, too good to be true, out here in the immense, empty flatness.
It is. The moment he begins to draw the rope, he knows the well is dry. But he feels a certain weight to the swing that tells Keith there must be some water left in the pail.
There isn’t. It’s bone dry inside when Keith finally reaches for the scoop. The source of the strange weight is a small, golden lamp. The lid is encrusted with glittering blue jewels. Perhaps he could bring it back into the city, and the right crooked guard would let him slide in return for it. As he carries it back toward the skyline on the horizon, Keith rubs away at the dust over its surface and - A flash of light. A puff of smoke. A rain of sparkles. A figure emerges out of it - A guy that looks his age blinks at Keith, as if he is equally surprised by the situation.
“I am the Lance of the lamp,” he says. He raises one hand up to his forehead and bows deeply to Keith, twirling his wrist.
“Stop,” Keith says.
Three.
“It is in my power to grant you three wishes. And don’t try wishing for more. I won’t play and you lose a wish. Right? Throw one at me.” Lance shoots him double pistols and a wink.
Keith’s eyebrows knit together, gently confused. Lance inhales deeply, crosses his arms in a formal way, and stares at him expectantly. So, he says the first desire that comes to mind.
“I want to know where Shiro is.”
Lance smiles and he winks. In the space of that wink, the entire world shifts beneath and around Keith. He is in a city he hasn’t been to before, far nicer than any he ever lived in. The arched gates to a sprawling white marble palace tower over him.
Lance is the same distance away from Keith as before the shift. “Dunno who he is, but Shiro’s in there.”
Keith bounded toward the gate. Before he could cross the threshold, two guards blocked his way in, pointing their swords at him.
Two.
“Only way you can get into the castle is if you’ve got a good excuse to meet with royalty,” Lance drawls, tugging Keith away by the wrist.
“You’re kind of garbage at your wish thing.” Keith’s hands ball into fists as he stomps behind the genie. “Why didn’t you take us inside the castle if that’s where he is?”
“I’m helping you not waste wishes, idiot. If I brought you inside the castle, the guards inside would spot you and throw you in shackles within minutes. Look at you.”
He looks down at his own ungroomed hair, the dirt on his hands, his hastily stitched up clothes. He looks up at Lance, who waves his hand in a there-ya-go gesture and says, “Not castle material, right?”
He’s right. Keith hadn’t thought that far ahead. The thought sticks to the roof of his mouth, fighting not to be admitted.
“I wish I was royalty, then,” Keith grumbles. Seemed like the easiest solution to the issue.
Lance perks up with a grin - he’s thrilled for this one - crosses his his arms, and winks.
I.
Calling for coffee was how she politely signaled that she was ready to wrap up this first meeting, but Prince Lotor was in no hurry to finish his cup. “You know, the body of your coffee is all wrong. We don’t over-roast the beans in my kingdom.”
Allura raised her demitasse up to her lips and took a long, deliberate sip before answering. “I’ve tried coffee from Galra before. It’s not as strong as what I’m used to here.”
“Whoever made it for you must have prepared it wrong. When you come to my castle, you will see what I mean.”
Her eyes flitted to a corner of the room just over his shoulder, and made contact with her guard’s. Just when she did, like he was waiting for it, Shiro rolled his eyes up to the sky. Every word coming out of this man’s mouth scraped against Allura’s nerves like nails on a chalkboard. She kept herself sane by glancing over to Shiro now and then, who silently reminded her she wasn’t the only one suffering through this. Her eyes never lingered on him longer than a second or two, so most suitors who visited never noticed her attention wandering.
She struggled with the urge to smile, even when she wasn’t looking at him. “Long way to travel. I don’t like coffee that much.”
“I know women like you, Princess Allura.”
“Oh? Lucky man.”
Prince Lotor leaned forward, sliding his hand across the silk tablecloth to place it over hers. “I know why you feel so alone.”
Her skin crawled at his touch, but etiquette too deeply ingrained into her kept her arm still. “I do?”
“You’re sick of rodomontade, I know. I am too. Of maharajas magniloquently mouthing their meaningless love for you. I’m not some roué like them. I’ve never really felt like other royals, you know—” (Allura’s eyes were widening incredulously by the second. She wanted to share a look of solidarity with her guard again, but Lotor’s eyes were fixed too intensely on hers. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Shiro’s shoulders shaking silently, just a little bit, like he was trying his best to hide it. It took all her self control not to laugh as well.) “—Like, I’m just different. You know?”
“I… Hm.” Allura delicately pulled her hand out from beneath Lotor’s. “I know you’re really something, Prince Lotor. But I don’t see this happening.”
He arched one white eyebrow at her with a smug laziness to it. “I’m the only prince anywhere near your age that you haven’t turned down yet. You narrowed it down to me.”
She realized, uncomfortably, that Lotor’s imagination had spun some tale of her waiting for him, The One, being the reason she turned away every prince who came visiting. He wasn’t the first to pin this romantic fantasy on her, either.
“I think you’ve overstayed your welcome,” she said gently, and looked at Shiro again, with a different purpose this time.
He marched toward the table at her words, rigid and unsmiling now that he wasn’t standing idle.
Lotor still hadn’t taken her seriously. “Princess, you’re going to get stuck marrying some old dinosaur if you don’t—” Shiro yanked him out of the seat by his arm. “—How dare you!”
Far from the first time he had to drag an entitled noble, kicking and screaming, out of the Princess’ courtyard. Shiro looked over his shoulder as he did. They shared A Look and, like she was waiting for it, Allura’s eyes rolled skyward.
One.
“Listen, she’s been proposed to by every pompous prince in the goddamn world. It’s going to take some serious high level romance to nail this date.”
“I don’t wanna marry the princess, Lance.”
“Yes! You do! That’s the only way you can get into the castle. No other reason they would invite you, unless you declare war on this kingdom.”
“I know, I’m going to do the date thing, so I can look inside the castle.”
“But Keith, she’s perfect.”
“So?”
“Perfect.”
Keith squinted, not understanding how repeating the word in a different voice explained anything. “My brother was perfect. It’s not my type.”
“Come on, just let me teach you how to woo her. Do you know how to dance? Have you even held a hand in your life?” Lance reached for Keith’s hand and took it. He whispered, “You’re welcome.”
“You don’t understand how much I hate the idea of getting paired off with someone.”
“Why? Everyone loves having someone!” Lance raised Keith’s hand up to shoulder level, then stepped close and placed Keith’s other hand on his hip. “Now you’re paired with me, and you are learning to dance.”
“I don’t,” Keith insisted flatly, following the series of steps Lance launched into to avoid the genie bumping into him or stepping on his feet.
“Do you love anything other than your brother?” Lance could actually hold a pretty steady rhythm, despite there being no music.
He lifted one arm over Keith’s head and lead him into a spin. Keith didn’t answer, choosing to concentrate on following the momentum. Trying to predict Lance’s movements on the fly, keeping oriented while Lance maneuvered him into unexpected turns, swirling through moves while not mixing up their hands or feet was actually… kind of a fun challenge.
“Damn dude, you’re better at this than I thought.”
Actually, Keith loved being good at shit.
Keith let Lance go ahead and teach him whatever else he thought Keith should know to woo the princess. Tasteful flirting, optimum times to go for a hand hold, how to stare into each other’s eyes… Keith was better than Lance thought at all of these, too.
Keith doesn’t see Shiro the first time he visits the castle. Brunch with the princess goes decently enough for them to make plans for a second visit, at least. Keith attributes his success to the fact that he used nothing from Lance’s “lessons in love,” which the genie said would be the name of his guidebook.
“Why don’t you wish to find Shiro now?”
Keith hesitated. He only had one left.
II.
Allura’s hourglass is running out of sand. She wishes Shiro was around to offer advice.
“The head of my guard was taken prisoner by Galra,” she tells Keith.
They sit in her garden, surrounded by lush and vibrant parterres. With the high walls of the courtyard blocking out the world outside, you could easily forget you were in a desert.
His brows furrow. “Why?”
She rarely confides in her suitors, but she likes Keith. He’s easy to talk to. He doesn’t brag about his family, his wealth, or his country. He doesn’t volunteer much about himself without Allura asking, actually. It’s rare for the princess to have genuine, two-sided conversations that aren’t constantly steered toward one-upping her to prove something. Rarer now without Shiro around.
“For laying hands on their prince. Emperor Zarkon wants me to marry his son in exchange for his release, and to establish peace between our kingdoms.”
“Don’t trust Zarkon.”
“I don’t. The only other option is battle.”
“Then do that.” Keith says it in a tone that implies it’s the obvious choice. Not a trace of hesitation.
It was obvious. Allura had told her father to fight back every step of the way. She’d been talked down from it so many times, convinced it was the wrong choice, convinced she had to take one for the team to keep them all safe.
“I want to, but our soldiers—They don’t have a leader now.”
“They have you.”
Allura shakes her head. “My father would never allow it, and they side with him.”
Keith thinks for a moment. Then he sighs. “Would he let me do it?”
“I don’t think… Not unless you’re going to marry me.”
They stare at each other for a long, uncomfortable moment.
“Uh, hey, you’re cool, but I don’t… want to.”
Allura releases a tiny, fluttering laugh of relief. “That’s great! I don’t want to either! Let’s get engaged just long enough for my father to let you lead our invasion of Galra. Your army will be our reinforcement.”
“Oh, yeah, my army. They’re not as good as yours. Reinforcements for sure. Okay. I’ll call the wedding off after we get my brother back.”
“Shiro’s your brother?”
One.
Lance loved what he was.
Finders of his lamp had offered in the past to spend their last wish on freeing him. Lance always told them he didn’t feel bound.
“You can’t live your life non-existent outside of pleasing people,” Keith says.
“But I love it.”
“You don’t love anything for yourself?”
Lance isn’t jealous of things. He has given people riches, given them power, and not wished any of it were for himself. Everyone he has ever met immediately started asking him for things. The finder before Keith spent her wishes in this order: Huge house, closets stuffed full of designer dresses, decadent party for everyone she knew. Not all of them are just after fun stuff. Sometimes they wish for things like clean water in a neighboring country, or that an orphanage would find its pantry stocked with gourmet foods. Whether their wish is selfish or charitable, Lance always feels good. Even if it only took nice dresses to make them happy, there’s one person that wouldn’t be smiling as they opened their closet every morning if they hadn’t met Lance.
Keith does not smile when his wishes come true. He actually looks more disappointed than before. It’s frustrating for Lance that what Keith wants isn’t what makes him happy. He thought that leading Keith into wishing to be a prince would do the trick. Because princes have it all—Power, luxury, a beautiful princess to adore. Keith acts aloof about her, but Lance can’t fathom how anyone with eyes doesn’t fall in love with Allura.
And he is a little jealous about the princess thing. He gets touchy anytime Keith mentions the engagement, even though Keith explained the reasons why it’s all pretend. Sure. Lance knows how these fake relationship shenanigans go. He can’t compete. He was the one teaching Keith how to woo the princess, anyway. He expected to feel happy that it’s working, but he doesn’t. He wants Keith to make the last wish already so he can go sleep in his little hollow for a few years and not feel anything about this.
“Keith, please. You can have anything you want. What are you waiting for?”
“I’m saving it.”
“For what?”
“I… don’t wanna waste it.”
“Then pick something good.”
“I can’t think of anything.”
“This isn’t right. People always want something.”
“What if I don’t think of something?”
“I’m stuck with you forever until you do.”
Keith thinks, but doesn’t say anything.
“Whatever you want. I’m talking anything at all. Just say it and I’ll do it.”
“I want to…”
Lance’s lips part in anticipation, but Keith doesn’t finish the sentence. He keeps his eyes open as he leans forward (Lance sees it happen because he does the same). He comes close slowly enough to leave Lance the option to pull away, but doesn’t pause to wait for any confirmation when Lance doesn’t move. His eyes are level with Lance’s, and so bright, and his mouth captures Lance’s like it’s easy, like he was ready for this long ago.
Lance still isn’t released from his side, because desires aren’t wishes.
III.
Allura meets with Keith the day they intend to take Shiro back from prison in Galra. She goes over the plans with him again. The princess has been acting as the true commander despite Keith being the new figurehead of the army. Before she dismisses him to suit up for the mission, she straightens up and tells him, “I’m coming with you.”
She has counterarguments for every reason he would give her not to. Bullet points to defend why she must be there to ensure they don’t retreat without Shiro. They all go out the window because Keith nods and says, “Good.”
At sunset, Keith blows the first gate on the Galra border. War horns blare deep enough to rattle Allura’s teeth. Their army isn’t as large as Galra’s, but they have the upper hand of a surprise attack—And everyone putting their entire heart into the fight knowing their Princess needs to come out alive. They blaze their way through the city, through the prison, and find Shiro at the heart of it. Allura carries him and Keith slices apart any attempts to stop them. The alarms sound like slow, mournful wails as they return home with their loved one through the path of unconscious soldiers and overturned vehicles they carved on their way in.
“Keith… What are you doing with Allura?” Shiro asks, jostling gently between them in the caravan to the castle.
“We used to be engaged,” Keith says.
“What?”
“Your long lost brother is a prince!” Allura beams.
Shiro does not look thrilled by this news at all. “Uh. No. He’s really not.”
“He is, Shiro, he proved it to the entire country. He entered in an enormous parade, everyone was singing—”
“Actually, Princess, I’m really not. That was also faked so I could find Shiro.”
“How do you—?”
“Genie,” Keith offered before Shiro could finish that thought.
Allura cleared her throat. “Alright. Well. No one outside this caravan needs to know that, so let’s never mention it again.”
“Does it matter? The mission’s over.”
“Shiro’s from a royal family now. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep it that way?” She slides her hand into Shiro’s and they share A Look. A heavy gaze so drawn out that you would think they were communicating, but neither had said a word.
One.
He decides Allura can have her one-on-one catch up session with Shiro first, even though Keith hadn’t seen him in far longer. Because Lance has been in the lamp all day and Keith figures it’s only good manners to let him know he’s still in one piece. He sneaks off into the courtyard, underneath pink and orange clouds, and rubs the lamp. A plume of blue smoke pours out and forms into Lance.
“You’re okay,” he sighs in relief the moment he sees Keith.
It’s reassuring to hear, after Lance had been acting relatively cold to him before the rescue mission. Keith feels himself smiling. “Yeah. We got Shiro back.”
“All on your own.” Lance reaches out to cup Keith’s jaw and brush his thumb over a purple bruise on his jaw from the fight with care. “You’re so headstrong. You could have just wished for him back.”
“I didn’t need it, did I? It was better for the princess this way. And I told you I’m saving the last wish.”
“For what?” Lance’s face crumples, so suddenly filled with hurt that it takes Keith aback. “Why are you stringing me along like this and wasting time instead of just making any god damn wish? If you’re trying to prove you don’t need me for anything, fucking felicidades, you got it.”
No. No no no no nonono. Keith wants to say sorry, but the words don’t come out. Instead, he argues, “I didn’t think I was—I just—I can’t have what I want if I make a wish.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You said I’m stuck with you forever if I don’t wish for anything.”
Lance merely blinks at him for a charged, tense moment.
Keith tries to fill in the silence. “You don’t need to grant me wishes to make me like you.”
“Then what can I do?” he asks, so quiet and lost that Keith’s heart clenches.
“Nothing,” Keith says, half-laughing out of exasperation and a need to release the tightness in his chest. “You already did it. I can’t think of anything to wish for better than just, like, having you around.”
He can see Lance struggling to add this up in his head. “But—What about the princess?”
“Already broke up. Already has a new prince. I told you my brother was annoyingly perfect, right? They’re made for each other.”
Lance’s lips purse into a silent Ohhh, and then open up into a smile. “That’s cute.”
“Yeah. Both of them got their wish, so nice job.” Keith takes a step closer and tentatively reaches out to touch Lance’s arms, sliding his fingertips down his golden bracers. “All this time, I never asked you…”
“Hm?” Lance lets Keith’s hands drift into his, their fingers flow together and intertwine as easily as water.
“What would you wish for?”
His brows draw in, quietly surprised. “Right now… I wish I was just human. So we could actually do this like normal people.”
“Mm. I wish so too.”
And Lance fucking winks. Air whooshes around them and he lets go of Keith’s hands to watch his bracers dissipate into sparks and ribbons of pure color.