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“Are Lance and Kuro sleeping together?” Pidge asked as the door to her room slid closed behind her.
Shiro looked up, eyes widening. Keith’s eye twitched.
“What? Why?” Shiro asked, bewildered.
Pidge shrugged, scratching behind her ear, the gesture fluffing her hair out even more. “I just saw him backing Lance into his room. They might have been kissing.” she added thoughtfully. “They were awfully close.”
“You are making that up.” Keith’s voice was flat, but his expression was a little twisted up.
She wasn’t, but now she kind of wished she had thought to do so before. Keith’s reaction was hilarious. She grinned. “Nope! Also, weird. . .” she trailed off, tapping one finger against her lower lip.
“All of . . . of the idea of that is weird.” Keith said, lip curling. He glanced towards Shiro, lounging half-naked on the bed.
Pidge tsked and trotted over to drop onto his lap. Keith might be unhappy - with her specifically - but his arms came up around her anyway. Pidge snuggled a little and patted him soothingly. Maybe a little patronisingly. “There there.” she said, because if she was already taunting him, why not? “And no, I mean specifically . . . he was wearing Shiro’s clothes.”
“He does, sometimes.” Shiro said, still frowning a little, the tablet he held long forgotten. “They were all we had that would fit him at first and I did say he could keep the one set.”
“Yeah. . . But he’s not wearing his harness, holster, thing, either.” Pidge said, raising an eyebrow. Kuro very rarely removed it, no matter what he wore, preferring to keep his comm and weaponry on him at all times.
“Huh.” Keith said, frowning.
Lance backed up, idly grateful for Kuro’s hands keeping him steady since he was distracted and walking backwards, and clung to Kuro’s shoulders passionately until the door closed fully.
He let go, twirling in the middle of his room, and laughed.
“Did you see her face?” Lance grinned and toppled backwards onto his bed. “That was priceless, I can’t wait to see her reaction tomorrow. To me or Shiro. It’s only a pity we haven’t got Keith yet, that is going to be. . .”
“No, I didn’t see.” Kuro said, putting one knee on the bed and then prowling on all fours up the length of it beside Lance. His giggles faded and his eyes widened as he watched Kuro come up almost directly over him. “I was looking at you, remember?” Kuro asked, leaning close, his eyes bright - they were why he’d had to be looking at Lance; his eyes were very distinctively not Shiro - and his nose almost brushing Lance’s cheek.
“Uh. Right. Sorry?” Lance said, voice pitching higher than he would have liked, only partially aware of what he was saying.
Kuro’s oddly intense expression broke into a grin and he was laughing as he rolled onto his side next to Lance. He stretched lazily. “I look forward to seeing the reaction tomorrow. And we can always try for Keith another time, if you really wish.” He paused, lips pursing. “Why do you want to ‘get’ Keith so badly?” he asked, arching a brow.
“I think it’ll be funny.” Lance said, sticking out his tongue. Kuro snorted, prodding the centre of his chest. “And Keith fawns so much over Shiro and he was so-” Lance huffed. “He idolised Shiro back at the Garrison. And he didn’t act like he respected anybody. I just want to see how he reacts.”
“You did too. Idolise Shiro.” Kuro pointed out archly, and Lance huffed again, poking Kuro back.
His lips twitched and he swatted Lance’s hand lightly away and pinched him just over his hip. Lance yelped and rolled over, trying to get away and trying to get at Kuro at the same time, but damn him he just started laughing and reached for Lance’s most ticklish spots and-
Lance grabbed Kuro’s wrist, shoving his hand away, but Kuro was so much stronger than he was that it didn’t accomplish much and he was left squirming and laughing and trying to get at Kuro’s ribs while being half pinned under his friend.
Lance didn’t realise he was about to topple right off the edge of his bunk until he was falling, and he yelped again, flinching. Kuro grabbed him by one arm and the back of his shirt collar, hauling him back up. He landed sprawled across Kuro’s chest, and he started laughing again, bright and amused.
Lance opened his mouth, then closed it without speaking, smiling fondly and sprawling a little more, letting his head and shoulders rest against Kuro’s chest even as he shifted to lie on the bed again. Kuro tucked his right arm around Lance, hand coming to rest splayed low over his ribs, and yawned, nuzzling Lance’s hair sleepily.
It was weird, but Kuro was weird, and Lance certainly didn’t mind when his friend - any of them, though aside from Kuro only Hunk really was, here on the Castle - was cuddly with him.
“Guess you should go to bed, huh?” Lance asked after a few minutes of fighting off his own yawn, comfortably settled and beyond worn out from the afternoon’s training session led by Allura.
He loved the Princess, he did, but her training sessions were a special kind of hellish.
“I’m in bed.” Kuro said lazily, shifting minutely and curling his arm around Lance a little more snugly. “’s fine.”
“. . .I meant your own bed, but okay.” Lance said, and Kuro hummed, the sound falling into a soft little purr.
Lance smiled, rolling over just enough to snuggle closer against Kuro’s side. It was nice to have his own space, for real have his own space, but sometimes Lance really missed the quiet sounds of someone else in the room while he slept, the warmth - intangible or real - of another presence nearby.
Kuro was certainly a very big presence, as always, even if he hadn’t been pressed comfortably snug against Lance where he was now. Lance yawned and tucked his cheek into the curve of Kuro’s broad shoulder, just below his collarbone.
“Good morning!” Lance said with far more cheer than he usually would so early. He couldn’t quite restrain it, though he was aware it was kind of suspicious.
Keith glared at him, but that was hardly unusual anyway. Keith sort of glared as a default expression it seemed like, at everyone except Shiro. “Morning.”
“Good morning.” Pidge replied, eyeing him sideways. “What’s up with you?”
Keith dipped his head and said something near her ear that was far too quiet for Lance to hear, and he frowned a bit. Pidge laughed, and Lance’s eyes narrowed.
“Just happy to be awake and alive and on the Castle of Lions. . .” Lance said cheerfully, smiling again as Pidge looked at him again.
“Sure.” Pidge said, sliding past him and nodding a greeting to Kuro, who returned it with a nonverbal, sleepy rumble. Pidge started rummaging in cabinets, and Keith stretched before following in her footsteps. He pushed a plate almost into her face and then grabbed an energy bar - or whatever; they used that word around Allura and she got very wide-eyed and started talking about power sources and unsafe consumption habits - for himself.
“I am!” Lance said, glancing at the doorway and then turning his back to it to watch Pidge. “What about you, oh my dear teammates? How are you this fine morning?”
Keith looked contemplative for a moment. “Awake and alive and on the Castle of Lions. Like every morning.” he said dryly, and Lance made a face at him as Pidge snorted a rough little laugh.
Keith tapped her playfully between the shoulder blades as he rounded the island and headed back towards the table, though he didn’t seat himself.
Pidge went as well, once she had a plate of mostly-food-goo, but neither of them sat down. She put her plate down and looked at Lance, who quickly took a sip of his not-coffee to explain why he wasn’t following either example but was in the kitchen. He glanced at the doorway again, wondering if Shiro would come in soon.
“So how long have you and Kuro been sleeping together?” Pidge asked, and Lance nearly inhaled the liquid rather than drinking it.
“What?” Lance yelped, then shook his head. “No, I- We’re not!” he protested - honestly, as it happened, unless you meant literally in which case . . . not often and still not the point. He looked at Keith, whose eyebrows were raised but was showing no other reaction.
“Oh?” Pidge asked, with a sly smile. “I did see you last night . . . by your room . . . super close together . . . and-”
“How did you decide it was Kuro?” Lance said, even though he hadn’t planned to outright lie - for obvious reasons. He tried to affect a blush, but he’d never been very good at that. “It could’ve, I mean. . .”
“I have eyes?” Pidge said, rolling them, as though Lance was being stupid on purpose or something.
“I- Shiro.” Lance pointed out, frowning, waving one hand helplessly.
“It was obviously Kuro.” Keith said almost lazily, damn him, hardly looking ruffled at all.
“How do- Why would you say that?” Lance asked, glancing at Kuro, who rolled one shoulder and arched a brow curiously. “You weren’t even there.”
“I know the same way Pidge knew last night when she first saw you.” Keith said, lips twitching, leaning backwards against the table.
“How?” Lance asked, realising a second too late that he’d given up any attempt at keeping his fiction, but still curious. And he wasn’t going to straight up lie anyway. That was crossing a line; assumptions would have just been funny.
“Because I knew where Shiro really was.” Pidge said brightly, grinning a wicked-looking smile that made Lance nervous. She leaned forwards, palms braced on the table opposite Keith. Lance would have been nervous to have Pidge sounding that playful and smug at his back, but Keith didn’t seem to care.
“Well, everyone should have been in bed, didn’t mean it was, you know, his own.” Lance pointed out, sulking a little.
“It wasn’t.” Keith said wryly, and Lance twitched. No. Surely not. Not Keith and Shiro. He stared hard at Keith, who was, of course, unmoved by it and didn’t even offer any further comment.
“Shiro!” Pidge said suddenly, and Shiro paused just inside the door as they all looked at him, looking surprised and a little wary. Pidge ignored the somewhat lacklustre response, darting around the table and towards Shiro, flinging herself up at him once she was close enough, catching his shoulders and kissing him with absolutely no hesitation.
Shiro startled, but he caught her and he didn’t pull away, his expression softening.
Lance stared. Then he dragged his gaze away and looked at Keith. He was now smiling slightly, taking a bite out of his energy bar. Lance looked at Kuro, who shrugged, but didn’t look too shocked. Not that Kuro often looked very shocked at much.
Lance’s gaze returned to Pidge and Shiro; he was holding her up with an arm wrapped around her waist, and she was still kissing him. There was no way- Surely even Pidge wouldn’t go that far just to mess with him, right?
Pidge slid down Shiro’s body as the kiss broke, and she grinned again. “Hello again, big guy.” she said with a wide smile. Shiro’s hand left her waist and came up to ruffle her hair fondly, a few fluffy strands wrapping around his fingers.
“Hello, darling.” Shiro replied, still looking a little bewildered, but that cinched it for sure. Pidge might do a lot to screw with people, Lance was very sure, but Shiro? Not . . . no way.
And how had Keith known? Keith barely noticed things right in front of him!
Lance looked at Kuro again, but while his surprise had faded into curious interest, Lance still thought it had been genuine. He hadn’t known either. And probably he would have told Lance. Surely. Right?
“So,” Pidge said, tipping her head to rest her temple against Shiro’s chest, “you and Kuro.” She looked at Kuro, waggling her eyebrows. “How long has that been a thing?”
“What?” Lance shook his head. “Oh, haha, no, we’re not . . . together!” he said, and then realised there was no explanation other than something like the truth for what Pidge had seen the night before, then.
“We were having a sleepover.” Kuro said with a low laugh, moving to Lance’s side and draping an arm around his shoulders.
Sleepover. Lance eyed his friend, startled both at the excuse and that he’d come up with it so quickly.
Pidge gave him a flat, disbelieving look, but Kuro only grinned widely, and she rolled her eyes. Lance fidgeted a little under Kuro’s arm, which lay heavily across his shoulders.
Lance sighed and idly kicked his toes against the floor. “Game’s over, and it hardly worked anyway - they weren’t even trying and still somehow got me back harder. . .”
“Lance.”
“Thanks for playing along, it was fun,” Lance said with a fleeting grin at Kuro, “and it would have been even more if it had worked the way I planned, but. . .”
“Lance.” Kuro grabbed his shoulder, turning him around sharply. His back thumped lightly into the wall and Kuro stepped closer, filling the space above him. “I am not playing any more.” he said, a low rumble flavouring his words. Lance heard himself make a sort of confused squeaking sound and tried to swallow it back. Kuro gave a fangy grin. “Well, not that game, anyway.”
He dipped his head and gently nuzzled Lance’s cheek. “. . .okay?” he asked softly.
Lance squeaked again and nodded confusedly, and Kuro purred, closing his eyes and nuzzling Lance’s face a little more before kissing him, soft and warm and firm.
Lance practically melted against the wall for support, one hand sliding up Kuro’s bicep towards his shoulder. Kuro purred again, nipping gently at his lower lip and moving in close enough to fully cage Lance between his broad body and the wall.
He stretched up, arms sliding over Kuro’s shoulders and behind his neck, and pressed against his friend. Lance made a soft whimpering, moaning sound as Kuro kissed him a little harder, tongue pressing deeper, but couldn’t quite bring himself to care.
Kuro only backed off when they both desperately needed to breathe, and even then only enough to catch his breath. He was still purring, and he lightly, affectionately nosed along Lance’s cheekbone, lips brushing his cheek from time to time.
Lance licked his lips - they were warm and slightly tingly - and tightened his grip a little on Kuro’s shoulders. “You- Was that why you agreed to play that prank with me?” he asked, which was the first question that had popped into his mind.
Kuro laughed, soft and rumbling, and nipped at Lance’s mouth playfully. “It sounded amusing. And you wanted to play.” he said, his eyes warm.
Lance grinned, leaning against Kuro’s chest. “I wanted to play?” he repeated archly, and waggled his eyebrows. “So you played along just because I wanted to?” he asked.
Kuro raised an eyebrow and pushed Lance flat up against the wall again. “I like making you happy.” he said, and then growled low.
Lance jumped, and Kuro laughed, the harsher sound gone in an instant as he trailed light kisses along Lance’s temple. Lance smiled a bit. “I like you.” Kuro added with a low hum, and Lance bit his lip, smile widening. He tugged at Kuro, nudging his jaw until he lifted his head enough to let Lance kiss him again.
“I like you, too.” Lance said, amused, and bit Kuro’s lower lip. “Thanks for playing with me.”
Kuro purred, but pushed him harder against the wall with a sly, predatory smile. “I didn’t say I was done playing with you, either.” he pointed out, voice low.
“I don’t really think it’s going to work any further, after this morning.” Lance pointed out. He’d specifically avoided trying it on Hunk because Hunk knew Lance and his pranks - and even if he didn’t, he probably wouldn’t have had such an amusing reaction as Lance had expected from the others - and trying the same thing on Coran or Allura just-
Kuro was just watching him with a flat expression, looking as though he was waiting for something. Lance frowned, and Kuro snorted and arched against him, and-
“Ohh.” Lance realised, and blushed. He still grinned up at Kuro then. “I’m game.” he said boldly, and tipped his head back, stopping just shy of leaning up for another kiss.
Happily, Kuro covered the rest of the distance himself after only a moment. Lance could almost taste his smile, and his steadily deepening purr made Lance’s mouth tingle. He laughed into the kiss, tilting his head and bringing one hand up behind Kuro’s head to keep him close.