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Being in space was a lot of things, but most of them weren’t what everyone was expecting when they had been at the Garrison. Obviously, none of them had expected the giant, flying castle, the abundance of alien species, or space battle they would fight with sentient, robotic lions. But that was a given. Who would expect that? There were other small things that were very different. The food, for example, was not enjoyable in the least. On Earth, they had developed food that could be taken into space and tasted good, like actual human foods. Apparently Alteans hadn’t had time to invent that technology because the green goo – no matter how nutritious Coran claimed it to be – was an abysmal substitute. They had to eat though, and they got used to it fast enough.
Other things which were new to them were the battles. The Garrison had been somewhat military-like, but no one was actually going out on the frontlines to fight, and no one needed weapon training like they did on the Castle of Lions. It took most of them quite awhile to even get into fighting shape. Shiro had already been a strong fighter after having been forced to fight for a year at the hands of the Galra, and Keith was a natural born gym rat and adrenaline junkie with an insatiable temper, so fighting came easier to him as well.
Pidge came to realize very quickly that all the time she spent in front of her computer drinking coffee and hunting aliens were not nearly as useful when facing off against a gladiator. It hadn’t taken her too long to get the hang of fighting, but her stamina had needed work. She had trained as much as everyone else on the ship, sans Keith, and after three years in space, she was sure that she could run a marathon twice in a row without even breaking a sweat. Okay, perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, but there were no marathons to prove her theory right or wrong so where was the harm in claiming she could?
Not only was fighting a thing to get used to when she and the rest of them had first arrived, but so had getting to know the other Voltron members. It wasn’t that she hadn’t wanted to get to know any of them better, she just wasn’t accustomed to it. After some time at the Garrison with Lance and Hunk, she had come to know them pretty well. Even though that was more necessity of them being on her team than anything else, she still valued her companionship with them. She was also very close with her family before her brother and father went missing and she was forced to leave her mother behind, so she had no problem with being close to people. It was just a very interesting thing to be trapped on a ship headed for possible death with only six other people. Whether she wanted to or not, she began to understand each of them and what made them all tick.
Shiro, for one, would do a tiny, almost completely unnoticeable, thing every time they sat down to eat. He would survey everyone, making sure they were all eating and that they were all doing alright before he even so much as looked at his food. Even at his hungriest, he would take a small moment to ensure everyone around him was fine. Pidge wasn’t sure if it was a nervous thing or if he just simply didn’t want to start digging in if someone else wasn’t able to. Whatever it was, it filled Pidge with a certain warmth. The same warmth she could vaguely recall her brother giving her. That’s kind of what Shiro was; an older brother. Sometimes his lectures made him cross over into dad territory, but either way, he was in a position of familial authority and Pidge was sure no one on the ship minded.
Hunk did something similar to that, although slightly different. As he would eat, he would stare around the table with a hopeful glint in his eye, hoping everyone liked whatever his newest attempt to make the goo palatable was. It was always good, and Hunk, the culinary expert he was, had nothing to worry about, but he was unfamiliar with a lot of the alien ingredients he used and was merely hoping they worked the way they would have had they been Earth ingredients. Pidge always made sure she was most expressive about her enjoyment of the meal when Hunk glanced her way, just so he knew she really did enjoy it. He would often ask if everyone thought it was okay or not, and everyone would agree it was, every time. Although, anxiety is a hell of a thing, and Hunk had to double check.
Allura would inspect each paladin every meal. Thoroughly. It seemed at first that she was just listening to everyone talk, which she was also doing, but it was always more than that. There was something about her gaze that gave Pidge the feeling that she was reflecting on each person’s progress through the day. Or maybe it was throughout the entirety of their time on the ship? It was fond, either way. Fond and proud. For as hard as she pushed them all in training to do better and how much she berated them when they failed, it was in the way she spoke to them all outside the training deck that Pidge could really see her true feelings for each of them.
Coran was similar to Allura in that he would watch over every person with a fondness akin to that of a father. He was much easier to read than any of the others, his emotions painted clearly across his face in everything that he did. Coran was a man who could see the good everyone and everything, even when they might not deserve it. When he stared at everyone around the table, it was a look as though he could tell that they were all destined for something beautiful, as though he knew they would grow up strong and in control. It was a look that brought a lot of comfort to Pidge, almost like a promise. She trusted Coran knew a thing or two.
Keith tended to eat a lot less than someone might expect him to at breakfast, but Pidge knew it was because he was the type for late night snacks and it had nothing to do with not eating enough. When breakfast rolled around, Keith would normally only jump in on a conversation if Shiro created a lead in for him, Lance said something particularly stupid or provoking, or if someone addressed him directly. But he paid careful attention to everything that was said by each person. He was prone to overanalyzing things others said and did since he wasn’t always entirely clear on the double meaning of some stuff. Once he got bickering with Lance though, his overanalyses toward everyone else seemed to drop off the map completely.
Lance was the type to talk with his mouth full if he was excited. He didn’t do it on purpose, it was just him getting ahead of himself. Everyone was used to it. Lance’s thing was that he would briefly check up on everyone around the table whenever there was a break in conversation. Mostly, it was similar to what Shiro did in that Lance was looking for any sort of signal that someone needed help. He was selfless like that. It had taken everyone else awhile to notice that Lance wasn’t nearly as attention seeking and overconfident as he made himself out to be. He was incredibly loyal. One thing in particular he was loyal to, was his mission to annoy Keith at every turn. Pidge couldn’t think of a single meal that didn’t include Lance making jabs at Keith. When they had first arrived on the ship the insults had been clearly malicious, complete with sneering and glaring. Keith, of course, stooped to meet every single one of Lance’s provocations. Somewhere along the way though, the nastiness had disappeared entirely and was replaced by a certain friendliness, almost a fondness. The words weren’t nice, but the tone was soft. It was so gradual that if Pidge hadn’t thought about it, she probably wouldn’t have noticed at all. And Pidge was very observant. Still, every meal was accompanied by the bickering.
Which is what made that breakfast in particular very strange.
Because there was no bickering from Lance and Keith.
Pidge was sure everyone else at the table had at least noticed the odd silence a little bit because instead of doing their usual things, they were glancing more towards the pair of boys. Something was off with them. Keith was awkwardly stirring his goo around the plate, sectioning it into little shapes before mixing it all together and starting it all over again. That in itself wasn’t too odd, but alongside the odd behaviour of Lance, it was odd. Lance was rubbing his wrist with his left hand, then shifting his hand up to rub it along his neck. Stopping, he trailed his fingers over his jaw and then down his throat to lightly scratch at his collarbone. He didn’t say a word. Lance was always ready with some kind of comment at dinner, but even as everyone else at the table, including Pidge, made casual conversation, Lance remained silent.
Even stranger yet, the two boys kept looking at each other. Not just glancing like they usually did for everyone else, but very pointed looks. They meant something, but Pidge wasn’t sure what.
Keith glanced over to Lance from under his bangs, trying to hide his eyes from everyone else at the table, as if no one was paying specific attention to the weirdness that was happening there. When Lance met his eye – as subtly as a blinking red light in the middle of an empty field at night, mind you – he lifted his eyebrow ever so slightly in an unasked question. Keith seemed to know what that meant though, because he gave a restrained flick of the head toward the table. Not at anyone in particular, but just in general. His eyebrows shot up quickly as well.
Pidge narrowed her eyebrows, slowing her chewing down to focus better on whatever was transpiring across from her. Next to her, Shiro and Hunk seemed to be in the same state of suspicious confusion. Hunk hadn’t stopped eating but he was watching the red and blue paladins like a hawk. Shiro wasn’t even trying to hide his concern, just blatantly staring at them.
Lance’s eyes scrunched up in a pained expression that dripped with a plead. What was the plead? Pidge had no idea. Keith, seemingly getting frustrated with Lance’s hesitation, muttered very lowly into his food, “It was your idea.” Pidge was sure that if the conversation at the table were in full swing then no one would have even heard Keith’s words, but no one was speaking. Everyone was trying to decipher what was going on between them. In fact, they were so engrossed in their wordless argument that they didn’t even notice that everyone was watching them.
“Is everything alright?” Allura asked cautiously, eyebrows furrowed. Her voice sounded louder against the stark silence of the dining hall.
Lance and Keith both startled, staring at her like deer in headlights. Did they think they were being subtle? Apparently. Pidge shoveled another spoonful of goo into her mouth and continued to watch. Keith was the first to regain himself, glaring at Lance. “Lance?” he urged. It almost sounded like a threat and something told Pidge that they were all walking on glass just from the tone of Keith’s voice.
His eyes shifted from Allura to every person at the table briefly, almost as if searching for the words amongst the others’ faces. “Uh…” His eyes drifted off to Keith with a nervous twitch to his mouth. Keith stared openly into his eyes and nodded encouragingly. Lance met his eyes for a second before quickly turning back to Allura. “Yeah! Everything’s fine! Why wouldn’t it be? Nothing is going on!” His voice cracked at the end.
Next to him, Keith’s face instantly dropped back into one of simmering irritation and he turned to his food, finally scooping it into his mouth instead of just scraping it around his plate. Lance quickly glanced back at Keith with panic and then focused again on Allura, smiling. Pidge had spent enough time with Lance to know when his smile was fake, and she was sure everyone else could tell also because they all stared uncertainly between the two.
Pidge began to speculate about what could possibly be going on that Lance was so nervous and hesitant about while Keith was so impatient. Maybe they finally wanted to tell them that they were dating? It was fairly obvious, at least to Pidge and Hunk. They had been speculating for a couple months at that point, picking apart the differences in Lance and Keith’s interactions to find any support to the idea that maybe the two were involved. There was the clear decrease in the heat of their bickering, the casual touches, and sometimes even a longing stare if either Pidge or Hunk were vigilant enough to catch it. Everything else that they did just seemed very friendly. Maybe overly friendly for Keith, but definitely not for Lance, so they weren’t exactly sure whether to count those exchanges as evidence or not.
Perhaps it was something else entirely? Whatever it was, it clearly involved both of them and Lance was in charge of delivering the news. Or not delivering it, it seemed.
“Are you sure?” Hunk asked, concerned.
“Of course!” Lance waved his hand dismissively, almost too enthusiastically.
Keith lifted his head from where he had defiantly kept it aimed at his plate, and stared directly into Hunk’s eyes. “It’s fine,” was all he said. Lance watched Keith with a guilty expression
The rest of breakfast was spent in near silence with only Coran and Hunk attempting to make conversation. Pidge, Allura, and Shiro would add in a small comment here or there, but Lance and Keith didn’t speak anymore.
◊ ◊ ◊
Training had been going well, as far as Shiro could tell. Everyone was on top of their game. Hunk had gotten significantly less worried about his abilities as a fighter. He didn’t take nearly as much time to rethink his movements and second guess them as he had used to. Pidge was getting faster; her stamina had been improving over the course of time with them being on the ship. The training she had been doing with Keith must have been helping. Keith, as always, got extremely into it. His eyebrows narrowed, his eyes determined, every part of his body was ready to move at a moments notice, and his hand clenching and unclenching around his sword hilt. Lance usually had a smirk on his face and a gleam in his eyes as he took down bots with his blaster, quick like lightning.
Everyone had worked to the point of needing a break and Allura, thankfully, agreed. Shiro collected his bottle off the ground against the wall and drank the water. Beside him, Pidge was leaning on Hunk, breathing heavy but laughing anyway.
“We beat our previous time, Hunk, hell yeah!” Pidge pumped her fist in the air, although languidly from her exhaustion.
Hunk laughed in response. “Think we can beat it again?” he asked.
“I know we can!”
Shiro smiled and grabbed the yellow and green bottles off the floor where they had been next to his and handed them to their respective owners. Pidge huffed a sigh of relief while Hunk smiled, both thanking him in near unison. It was imperative that they all stay hydrated while they were training.
“Good work, paladins!” Allura cheered, clapping her hands together once. “You’re all improving very nicely!” The mice sat on her shoulder and chirped in encouragement.
“Thank you, princess!” Hunk answered for all of them.
Shiro couldn’t help but let his eyes wander past Allura to where Lance and Keith were approaching.
Now, Shiro had been fully aware of the oddity that was breakfast that morning, everyone had been, but it had seemed to disappear completely during training. In fact, Lance and Keith were just as good a team as they always were. Moving swiftly and with purpose, knowing exactly where the other was going to move and responding accordingly. After three years of working together, they had become two halves of a whole, two parts of a well-oiled machine. Shiro was confident that whatever had been bothering the red and blue paladins earlier shouldn’t be taken lightly, but maybe it wasn’t that important after all?
“What if they don’t let us?” he heard Lance frantically mutter as he followed closely beside Keith.
“Do it anyway,” Keith murmured back.
Never mind, it clearly was important. Shiro raised an eyebrow and lowered his bottle to rest in his hand at his side. Pidge and Hunk had also apparently noticed the others, watching them carefully. Allura turned too.
Pidge smirked, something that Shiro couldn’t understand the reasoning behind, but Hunk was making a similar expression. His was less conspiratorial though. “Hey guys. Anything you wanted to tell us?” Her voice sounded like she knew exactly what the news was. Shiro narrowed his eyebrows in suspicion.
“Yes!” Lance answered, eyes wide and nervous. “You see, I– us– we are getting…” he paused. Keith peeked over at him out of the corner of his eye. “A dog!” Lance finished, loudly.
“No!” Keith growled and flung his hands out with exasperation.
Shiro raised his eyebrows in stark confusion and when he inspected the others, he saw they were in much the same state as him.
“We’re getting a dog?” Hunk asked.
“What is a dog?” Coran, who had at some point joined the group, twirled his moustache in thought.
Lance held out his hands in front of him. “No, we’re not getting a dog!” He turned to Keith and smiled but Keith wasn’t placated. He stared at Lance, deadpan, then marched past him and out of the training deck. “Keith, wait!” Lance hurried after him.
For a moment, no one said anything, just stared at the door to the room. The confusion was basically palpable in the air. Worry filled Shiro. Were Lance and Keith okay? Surely Keith would have told him if something was off, right? Maybe he should talk to Keith about it, since Lance would probably just tell him he was fine like always and shoot some finger guns before hurrying away to who-knows-where.
“What was that about?” Shiro asked.
Hunk’s expression turned doubtful. “Whatever it is, we’re not getting a dog.”
Pidge, no longer leaning against Hunk, turned to Shiro. “I think they’re boning,” she simpered.
They all turned to look at the girl, startled. Shiro would admit that Lance and Keith had gotten closer over the last two years, giving up on their rivalry after the first year or so. They still called each other rivals and they still made everything into a challenge, but it was no longer malicious. It was jovial and always left them both laughing and smiling. Shiro was positive they were friends, but he wasn’t sure he would say they were romantically involved. He thought back through the different situations that he had thought were odd. The time when Keith had fallen asleep with his head in Lance’s lap, or the time when Lance had lifted Keith up and twirled around with him after they had completed a particularly difficult mission.
Maybe the idea of them being together wasn’t so out there. Shiro wasn’t sure though.
“Dating. We think they’re dating,” Hunk clarified.
“Well, they’re probably boning too,” Pidge shrugged. “We’ll get the truth out of them.”
Shiro began drinking his water again, pondering the new information and the strange behaviour of the two boys. All very odd.
◊ ◊ ◊
Keith scanned the room. Everything was quiet for the most part. Keyboard tapping from Pidge, the occasional shifting of paper from Shiro as he read through his book, a sigh from Lance as he draped himself upside down over the couch, light humming from Hunk, the squeaking of the mice as they whispered to Allura, clinking as Coran shifted his Olkari cube in his hands. It was calming and Keith was sure that if he let himself, he could have fallen asleep to the background noise. Except, his mind was far too preoccupied by the day’s events and there was no way he would be able to sleep.
All day Keith had been trying to tell the rest of the team that he and Lance were engaged, but Lance kept insisting that Keith had no tact and so Lance himself should be the one to inform them. That would have been fine with Keith, not being the best with words anyways, the only problem was that Lance was doing no informing of the sort. Every time he was faced with the opportunity to tell everyone, he would get nervous that team wouldn’t accept them or that it would ruin Voltron. Keith always assured him that everything was fine and putting it off was only going to cause more problems. Especially since they had forgotten to tell anyone they were dating to begin with…
His eyes finally stopped as they landed on Lance again. What a troublesome, beautiful boy. His soft, dark hair dangled down, nearly touching the floor. It fluttered around every time he shifted his head. He looked bored and tired as he kicked his feet over the top of the couch. Even upside down and half-dead, Keith couldn’t help but think Lance was adorable. His hands were gripped into the cushions on the couch, keeping him from falling head-first onto the floor. The same jacket he always wore was scrunched up underneath his back, wrinkling and bunching. Keith smiled to himself without meaning to.
“What’s on your hand, dude?” Hunk’s voice pulled everyone’s attention away from their individual activities.
Lance seemed confused for a second. “What?” he answered and swung his legs around to sit properly on the couch, inspecting his hands.
Hunk reached his finger over to point to Lance’s hand. “There.” As Lance realized what Hunk was looking at, his eyes widened and he stared intensely at it.
Around his ring finger was a purple line tattooed into his skin. Keith knew what it was; he had a matching one on his own ring finger, also purple. When Lance had proposed to Keith, they had agreed that rings weren’t a good idea. Being in the middle of a war meant being prepared for battle at any moment, and a ring was just something that could too easily be lost or get caught on equipment. Keith also couldn’t figure out a way to wear his gloves and a ring at the same time, which was a huge problem for him and completely ridiculous to Lance. They wanted something though, and when they had seen some sort of shop on a mission which resembled a tattoo parlor, they made the impulsive decision to just get tattoo rings. If there was one thing the two of them were masters of, it was impulsive decisions. Their marriage, however, was not impulsive. It was well thought out after two years together.
Lance continued to stare at his hand, as if it would offer all the answers he needed. It didn’t. “It is… a tattoo…” he frantically looked to Keith, pleading for help. It was rare to see Lance so unsure of the words he was saying. He really was nervous. It would’ve been cute; if Keith wasn’t so anxious to let everyone know that Lance was his and he was Lance’s, that is.
“You got a tattoo?! When? Why didn’t you tell me?” Hunk seemed very excited, but Lance just stared at Keith. By that point, everyone was watching the scenario unfolding. “Lance? Are you alright?” Hunk noticed Lance’s frozen panic.
Keith, in another of his split-second decisions, scooted closer to Lance’s other side and spoke, addressing everyone in the room, “So, we’ve been in space for awhile, and we don’t know how much longer we will be in space.” The more he said, the more intrigued everyone became, and the more he realized that he had no idea where he was going with his speech. “We don’t know if we’re going to die tomorrow or injure ourselves. Don’t want to have any regrets, y’know?” He was rambling and he knew it. Awkwardly, he brushed his bangs out of his face a little bit and began picking at his gloves.
“Keith, what’s going on?” Shiro’s eyebrows were furrowed in concern and he was slowly putting his book down on the couch next to him. Pidge was no longer typing, turned to watch them with a curious, yet knowing, look. Allura, Coran and the mice stared on with confusion. Hunk still had the same worried look.
All Keith needed to do was tell them that he and Lance were engaged and that would be it, but considering none of them directly knew the pair were even together at all, Keith decided that there had to be some kind of buildup. Death, however, was probably the worst way to do that. He pushed on anyway, ignoring Shiro, “Lance… He means everything to me.” Keith could feel his cheeks heating up and it was difficult to continue looking at everyone while saying such cheesy things, no matter how true they were. But, Keith knew that if he looked to Lance, he would be so overwhelmed with emotions that he wouldn’t be able to finish his sentences.
“He’s many things that I’m not, and he’s always riling me up with that stupid rivalry,” he huffed a short, quivering laugh. With every word that left his mouth, he realized more and more how in love with Lance he was, “but I can’t have it any other way.” He shakily undid the glove on his left hand and pulled it off, letting it drop to his lap. The purple line around his finger was clearly visible against his pale skin as he held it up to the others. His head turned instinctively toward Lance and he stared into the boy’s bright blue eyes which were wide in surprise and hope. “So, we’re getting married,” Keith muttered. A smile spread across Lance’s face, beaming with love, and Keith couldn’t help the upturning of his own mouth.
Quickly though, Keith stared down at his lap, lowering his hand and continuing with his speaking. He was doing a lot of that; speaking. Normally he didn’t say nearly as much as he was in that moment. “We were going to do rings but they’d get in the way, or we’d lose them. I’m not a ring guy anyways.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on! What–” Lance and Keith stared at the others, waiting for their response. Shiro’s eyes were bulging out of his head as his question was cut off.
“What the fuck?!” Pidge screeched, but she was smiling. Confused, but smiling.
Allura’s face lit up in excitement. “This is fantastic!” she turned to Coran. “We still have the ceremonial robes, don’t we?”
Coran thought for a moment. “I believe so! They would still be there.” Then he broke out into a smile and turned to the red and blue paladins. “Oh, this is so exciting! It’s been so long since we’ve performed a wedding ceremony right here in the castle!”
The mice on Allura’s shoulders squeaked and hopped in what Keith could only assume was happiness.
Hunk yanked Lance into a giant bear hug suddenly, smiling bigger than Keith had ever seen. “I’m so happy for you guys!” he exclaimed, laughing. “Pidge and I thought you were dating but this is even better! You’re in love!” Lance made a sputtering noise, but patted Hunk on the back anyway and smiled.
“Thanks Hunk! You can be my best man!” Lance nodded.
Hunk finally pulled back to look Lance in the eyes. “You really mean that?”
“Of course!” All Lance’s nerves had seemed to dissipate now that the secret was out and no one seemed worried about it.
“Okay, wait a second.” All except Shiro, who looked as though he was about to have an aneurism at any moment. “Marriage? Are you sure? How long have you two even been dating?” Shiro was slowly slipping into that dad mode again.
Keith glanced to Lance and shared a considering look with him. “Two years?”
“And three months,” Lance added.
They both turned to look back at Shiro. “Two years, three months,” Keith answered.
Everyone around them looked at the pair as though they had just fused together. “Wow. We guessed five months at most,” Pidge said, completely surprised. Allura and Coran nodded in agreement.
Lance laughed, “We’re just great actors! Well, at least, I am.” He smirked at Keith. A short, low growling noise left Keith’s throat as he glared.
Shiro stared hard, basically into Keith’s soul, startling his attention away from Lance. “And you didn’t think to tell us?”
“We thought it might ruin Voltron,” Lance replied, shrugging.
Allura smiled brightly, “No, this is wonderful for your bond!”
Coran finally asked the question they were all wondering; “Who proposed?”
“I did!” Lance slammed his hand to his chest. “Keith couldn’t resist my charm!”
“And you actually said yes?” Pidge asked Keith, her face scrunched up.
“I know, I can’t believe it either,” Keith replied, deadpan.
Lance looked affronted. “Oh, c’mon, you guys!”
The group laughed. All except Shiro. “You’re like, sixteen, Keith.” Shiro still hadn’t calmed down.
Everyone looked at him for a moment, trying to judge if he was serious or not. “I’m twenty…” a little confused, Keith reminded Shiro.
“That’s still young.” Shiro looked unsure but less so.
Keith squinted at Shiro in disbelief. “I’m an adult.”
Without saying anything, he continued to stare at Keith. It was the look of someone who was overly worried but trying to hold back. Keith could tell Shiro was just reluctant to let him go, having been there as a brother for nearly Keith’s entire life after his family adopted Keith. He knew Lance. He knew he was a respectable guy, and was more than worthy of Keith’s hand. Shiro was just protecting Keith, and the others.
“Shiro, we’ll be okay. I know what I’m doing.” Shiro’s face softened slightly.
Lance butted in, “We’re happy!”
“Yeah,” Keith easily agreed.
Shiro stared for a moment and sighed, “Alright.” Everyone else smiled at Shiro too, as if to reassure him as well. “You’re right, you can make your own decisions.” He stood from his seat and made his way to Keith, placing his hand on Keith’s shoulder comfortingly before pulling him up into a bone-crushing hug. “I’m happy for you both,” he said quietly. It took Keith a moment to relax into the hug, not being used to them at all, but when he did, he wrapped his arms around Shiro and thanked him.
When they were done hugging, Pidge piped up again, “So, Keith McClain or Lance Kogane?”
Lance and Keith shared a glance before answering, perfectly in sync, as if they had practiced it before, “Kogane-McClain.”
“What?” Pidge stared at them.
“What?” Hunk parroted.
Lance explained, “We couldn’t agree, so we’ll just hyphenate it. It’s kind of long but Keith thought KoClain was stupid.”
Keith rolled his eyes but he was clearly smiling, even if only a little. “You can still call us by our individual last names though.”
“Kogane-McClain.” Hunk wiped away a tear. “Who knew we would get to this point when you were stalking Keith at the Garr–”
A screech tore from Lance. “Okay, thank you, Hunk! That’s enough! No need to spread these lies.” His hand was pressed against Hunk’s mouth to stop him from finishing his sentence, or worse, starting another sentence.
“You stalked me?” Keith raised an eyebrow. He knew Lance had a weird thing against him at the Garrison but stalking?
“No!” Lance cried.
Pidge scoffed on the side, “He never shut up about you! Even after you left!”
Lance yelled again, “Pidge, you traitor! You’re going to ruin our marriage before it even begins!”
Rolling his eyes again, Keith interrupted Lance’s panicking, “It’s not ruined, idiot.”
Turning to stare at him for a second, Lance finally released Hunk’s face. Hunk sputtered for a moment, wiping his mouth briefly. “Aw, babe!” Lance draped himself over Keith’s lap without warning.
“Get off, you’re on my glove,” Keith frowned.
“No, I wanna hold your hand,” Lance frowned back, holding his hand out which had the ring tattooed on it.
Keith furrowed his eyebrows, “You can still hold my hand with the glove on it.”
Lance released a frustrated groan and began reaching for Keith’s hand, threading his fingers through Keith’s bare hand. “But then I can’t lovingly gaze at our rings, Keith, take a hint!”
“We get it, you’re gay.” Pidge turned back to her computer with an exasperated huff and began typing.
“Let me enjoy this, Pidge, you parade rain-er on-er!” Lance nearly tumbled off of Keith’s lap as he stabbed a hand at the girl.
She stuck her tongue out at him. “I liked it better when this was a secret.” Her fingers returned to typing.
“I think it’s cute!” Hunk defended.
“Youngins in love!” Coran sniffed as he wiped away a tear.
As everyone laughed and gave their opinion on the specifics of Lance and Keith’s wedding – including where, when, and what decorations should be used – Keith couldn’t help but smile warmly. Pidge and Hunk shared stories about Lance and Shiro added stories about Keith. None of the Keith stories were too embarrassing to warrant more than a groan from Keith. Allura and Coran joined in as well, sharing the ways of Altean weddings and comparing them to that of weddings on Earth.
After awhile, Keith zoned out. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about what everyone was talking about, it just suddenly hit him all at once how lucky he was. He had a family here, with these people, and they loved him as much as he loved them. They had been through a lot together, but they understood each other in a way that no one back on Earth would ever be able to. Keith glanced down at the boy in his lap; his fiancé. How beautiful he was, in all ways.
Unconsciously, Keith began to run his thumb along Lance’s hand, feeling the soft skin as he went. His other hand, still with the glove, sifted through the other’s hair slowly, gently. Lance, who was listening to whatever Coran was saying, turned to stare up at him questioningly, but Keith just quirked the corner of his lip up in a half smile. The smile was returned tenfold and Lance’s eyes shimmered. Then he turned back to the story from Coran.
Keith had meant what he said; everything about Lance being his whole world. He had also meant it when he said he didn’t want regrets. To not marry Lance would be his biggest regret. Life – especially for soldiers in a war – was just too short for Keith to be worrying about stupid little things like whether it was the right time or not, when he could be experiencing everything with Lance, by Lance’s side.
He squeezed Lance’s hand a little bit harder. Not enough that Lance would have even noticed, but enough that it made a difference to Keith. His eyes trailed along their conjoined hands, rested on Lance’s stomach. The thin, purple tattoos were even more pleasing when he could see them together, a simple band of dedication to one another painting their fingers. It was nice to be able to sit out in the open and act affectionate instead of keeping it under wraps. Keith really would have done anything for Lance. Maybe he wouldn’t have voiced it out loud – because that’s just not the way they rolled – but it was a sturdy fact in the back of his mind that he was fully aware of.
As if Lance could hear his thoughts, he turned to stare up at him again and made a gesture for Keith to lean closer. Hesitantly, Keith leaned forward. “If you give me a wet willy, I swear, Lance,” he warned.
Lance clicked his tongue. “No, I wanted to tell you something!” he whispered loudly. No one noticed though, too enthralled in a story from Allura. Keith hunched over until his ear was right next to Lance’s face. “I love you!” Lance whispered, excited.
Keith almost laughed. It was adorable how Lance treated it as an amazing secret that he had heard and just had to tell Keith. Turning his face, Keith pressed his lips against Lance’s temple and mumbled, “I love you too.” Lance’s smile only grew and he closed his eyes. Keith couldn’t help the rush of warmth that flowed through him. Lance was truly stunning.
Suddenly, a voice cut through the moment, “So, wait, are we really not getting a dog?”
Lance and Keith pulled apart. “Pidge. Just make a robot dog,” Keith supplied, not really thinking through the suggestion too hard.
Pidge’s eyes lit up and she stared at Keith as if she had just seen him appear magically. “Keith! That’s genius!” And once again, she began furiously typing at her computer, presumably planning the idea out. “My wedding gift to you nerds is gonna be a robot dog.”
“Oh! Can I help?” Hunk raised his hand excitedly.
“Hell yeah!” Pidge’s eyes gleamed.
Keith could see Shiro smiling, much more at ease. Allura and Coran were discussing something that Keith couldn’t even begin to understand. He didn’t know what a ‘nekmit’ was, but he and Lance were getting one for their wedding apparently. Wedding. How ridiculous Keith once thought weddings were, but now that he had found someone who made him want to promise his life, it no longer seemed ridiculous at all. It made perfect sense. Everything with Lance made sense, even when Lance himself didn’t.
Keith had no regrets about marrying Lance. He never had and he never would.