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It had been so long since they’d had a moment to themselves. Their bunks didn’t have much, but there was a bed, and for the two of them that was enough.
For Lance, who was in the middle of pushing Keith down onto the bed, it was almost funny. He remembered how back at the Galaxy Garrison, Keith used to pass him by without a second thought, but Lance found his eyes always wandering frantically in these moments, trying to take in his lithe form before it passed him. They only had moments like this a handful of times, but it was nothing special or earth-shaking. Just two people in a hallway. Who could’ve known that after all that time they would end up like they are now, pulling each other’s shirts off and leaning into the touch of the other?
Lance was straddling Keith, his hands pressed down onto the other’s chest while Keith’s hands slowly moved up Lance’s arms and onto his bare sides. They broke their kiss to breathe, Lance pressing his forehead to Keith’s. Lance found himself closing his eyes, just listening to Keith’s breath, just feeling his hands warm his sides as they somehow managed to pull each other closer.
“Hey.”
Lance opened his eyes and found Keith’s, still taken aback by them, even after all this time. “Yeah?”
“Lean back.”
He did as told, moving away from Keith and leaning his back against the wall at the foot of the bed. Keith moved onto his hands and knees and made his way over to him, and Lance let his legs fall apart from each other. Guess he just wanted his turn on top.
But Keith never moved back up to kiss Lance, instead going straight for his neck. His mouth was so warm against Lance’s skin, it almost made him jump. Lance could feel Keith’s hair tickling his jawline, and then felt his mouth slowly dip down and give a lighter kiss to his collar bone. A smile crept onto Lance’s face.
“You know, you weren’t this gentle when you pulled me in here.” This comment earned him a quick bite from Keith, making him hiss in a breath of air. Lance could have sworn he felt the other smile into his skin - a heavenly feeling. His touch made Lance melt despite the pride he used to hide it. His body felt so heavy beneath the light hold Keith had on his shoulders, but it was a nice hazy feeling.
Keith moved lower still, mouth just barely ghosting over one of his nipples before continuing on, bringing his fingers down from Lance’s shoulders to run them along his abs and rub his thumbs across his stomach before bringing his hands to rest at either side of Lance’s hips, bringing his pelvis just a bit closer to his face. It was then that Lance felt… wrong. Something felt off, but he couldn’t place what. He found his hands gripping the bedsheets tighter, it was becoming harder to breathe, the warm feeling from before was draining and being replaced by a colder knot in his chest.
Maybe it was just nerves, or maybe it was that he had been so lost in Keith’s touch that he only now realized where he was and what was happening. He tried to brush it off the best he could, but he kept finding that feeling rising up again. Once Lance found those dark eyes looking into his again, barely, as Keith’s head was only slightly tilted upwards, the feeling solidified. That look must have given something away, because Keith now brought his full attention to Lance, bringing his head up higher to see him better.
“What’s wrong?”
His voice startled Lance out of his daze, and he tried his best to repress the sudden burst of anxiety. His voice warbled slightly, “Nothing, I’m good.”
Keith, for only a moment, flashed a look of annoyance across his face, but he recovered, adjusting himself to where he was eye-level with Lance, propping himself up with his arms. He looked hard at Lance, which didn’t help the other’s nerves any. After a moment, Keith smirked. “You’re shaking.”
Fuck.
“Shut up! No I’m not!” Lance felt his cheeks grow uncomfortably hot, as if the rest of him wasn’t hot enough already. Keith chuckled a little, but Lance took it like a slap to the face as he looked off to the side, trying to find something else to focus on. He was nervous, a just little bit scared out of his mind, and now he was embarrassed. It’s not his fault he was, um, inexperienced, it’s just that the prospect of sex made him feel anxious, and so it was never something he found himself interested in. He had been told by previous love interests that he just “wasn’t ready,” or that he “needed to find the right person.” But he had been waited and waited and hadn’t changed, even when the person he felt was perfect for him (as cheesy as that sounds) was right there in front of him.
Keith’s smile suddenly fell as his features gained a more serious tone. He leaned closer to Lance’s face and brought a hand up to cup the other’s cheek and snapping Lance out of his panic. This was a surprisingly tender gesture from a man with such a seemingly cold disposition about him. Lance took pride in bringing out that side of him, but, then again, Lance took pride in a lot of things.
“Lance, look at me.” That certainly got his attention. Keith’s voice was quieter than it had been before, softer. Lance felt his conscious return to him, and he turned his head back, though reluctantly. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
Lance froze. He felt his heart stutter, and the anxiety had come to a head within his chest. He wanted to to say how he felt, how scared he was, how he didn’t want to continue, but his pride denied him even that, and he lied, “No, really, it’s alright, I’m fine, let’s, uh, keep going.”
Keith saw through the whole thing easily, and Lance knew he would, the bastard. Lance was waiting for him to continue, or for a look of disappointment to fall onto his face, something, but for a few brief seconds, all he got was a blank stare, making his blood run cold.
Instead, Keith sighed.
“Well, then I don’t want to.”
And with that, he rolled off of Lance and onto the bed, a content smile on his face as he laid on his side. Lance still sat frozen in the same position, his fists only now beginning to unclench from the sheets. His mind was still racing, so it took him some time to process what had just happened. Once he had, he turned to look down at Keith, who had his eyes closed, same smile still present.
“What?”
Keith opened one eye and trained it on Lance. “You heard me.”
Lance was completely dazed. So much had happened in such a short amount of time that he hardly had time to process it all, which normally wasn’t a problem for him. Keith had changed his mind? Thank God, Lance thought, but the relief was short-lived, as a wave of guilt washed over him. He only stopped because he knew Lance was nervous.
Lance, drowning in his thoughts, opted to lie next to Keith, the two facing each other. Lance bit his lip and tried to give an “I’m sorry,” but Keith stopped him halfway through.
“I said I wanted to stop, and we stopped. That’s all there is to it.”
That’s all there is to it. Keith didn’t want anything from Lance, he just wanted Lance in general, and in any way he could get him. This thought ran through Lance’s head a couple times, each time bringing back more and more of that warm hazy feeling from earlier. The cocky attitude can only be kept up for so long, Lance found, as he wrapped his arms around Keith and pulled him closer, effectively burying his face in the others neck.
Keith, in turn, wrapped his arms around Lance as well, muttering into his hair, “I don’t want you to have to pretend you’re okay with things you’re not okay with. If you ever feel uncomfortable, you tell me.”
Lance smiled into Keith’s neck. The warm feeling was back, and it rolled through his body in waves. Softer this time.