Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Lance! Get out here already," Keith banged on his door for the third time. "It's an eight hour drive and you're going to put us off schedule."

"You can't rush perfection," Lance's muffled response came through the door. "Go wait in the car, I'll be out in five minutes."

"I will leave without you," Keith threatened. "Don't make me wait."

He found himself cursing the timing of his physics exam once again. If it hadn't been for that damn thing he and Lance would have left the night before along with their other friends. As it was Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, Allura, and her oddball of a godfather Coran were already camped out four states away. The others had shown little remorse in regards to leaving him and Lance behind to suffer through a huge exam and then make a long drive with only two people. He thought they were asking for disaster.

The walk to his car was short and simple since he had already brought down his blankets and pillow. He thought about driving around the building so that Lance would freak out when he wasn't there, but after that exam they had suffered through he didn't have it in him to torture his so-called rival.

"That was seven minutes," Keith stated when Lance finally collapsed into the passenger seat, arms full of blankets and snack foods. "I should've left you on the curb."

"Shut up Mullet." Lance rolled his eyes. "Who else would've brought your Chips Ahoy?"

"I suppose I can forgive you then," Keith smiled. "We need to get on the road so buckle up."

Lance haphazardly tossed his armful into the backseat and managed to extract the cookie package from it and offer one to Keith. "How are we doing this?" He asked. "You can't drive straight there."

"I can't do anything straight," the joke slipped out before Keith could stop it.

"Same buddy, same," Lance snorted. "But you know what I meant."

"It's an eight hour drive so we could go four and four," Keith suggested.

"You look a bit tired for that, how about we take two hour shifts? That way we can both get some rest," Lance said.

"Would you look at that, Pretty Boy has a good idea," Keith teased. "We have to stop for gas in two hours anyway, I'll wake you when we're close."

"I knew you thought I was attractive," Lance winked.

"I'm ignoring you now." Keith clicked the radio on and turned the volume up. He knew from experience that Lance was the world's heaviest sleeper. It was only about five minutes before he heard soft snoring sounds coming from the passenger seat.

The drive was rather mundane compared to the usual antics that took place on outings with these particular friends. He was certain that had he been in the vehicle yesterday he would have been pulled into an endless whirlwind of increasingly ridiculous games to pass the time. It seemed too peaceful with just Lance passed out against the window.

The highway was empty enough that he only had to pass the occasional truck and could otherwise stay in the right lane with cruise control on. Trees lined the road on either side, the greenery a sharp contrast to the desert landscape he had grown up in.

Two hours with his friends passed quickly; two hours with his own thoughts crawled by. Without anything to distract him Keith’s focus was drawn to the awkward feel of the steering wheel beneath his padded gloves. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat to shoo the feeling away. There was a noticeable scratching in between his shoulder blades though he knew his shirt had never had a tag.

A glance at the clock told him he still had an hour and a half left to the gas station. There was nothing to do but let his thoughts wander and they inevitably fell on the boy sleeping next to him.

Lance with his blue eyes and lazy smile and hair that looked so soft Keith had to physically stop himself from touching it sometimes. It was impossible not to think about him after the hours they had spent studying the night before:

--

Keith's phone buzzed in his pocket, an incessant sensation that he thought he imagined at first. He was hunched over a textbook staring at words and numbers that he had no intention of reading. In all reality he was much too distracted by the duality of the air conditioning on his left arm and the fading sunlight on his right.

His phone buzzed again and drew his attention. He plucked it out of his pocket with two fingers and sighed upon seeing the contact name peering up at him. "Hello."

"Keith, my man," Lance's voice was equipped with a whining tone only possessed by youngest siblings. "I need you."

"Do you now?" Keith replied somewhat skeptically; he had a good idea of what was going on.

"Wanna be my study buddy?" Keith could hear the grin Lance was wearing. "The answer is yes, I already ordered takeout from that good Chinese place."

"Sesame chicken?"

"You know it man!"

"Damn you." Keith shook his head, glad that Lance couldn't see the smile on his face. Of course Lance remembered his favorite order. "Give me ten minutes."

He closed the textbook he had been looking at and unceremoniously shoved it into a bag along with his laptop and lecture notes. It bothered him to no end that he hadn't been placed in the same dorm as the others, but policy was policy.

The only merit his room had was that it was next to a staircase which allowed him to slip in and out of the dorm without interacting with anyone. The door was plain brown with a single adornment: a construction paper swan with the name Emily on it. Keith had torn down the other swan the day he moved in. When his RA conveniently forgot to make him a new swan with the right name on it he moved Em's to the center of the door—exactly where it would sit if only one person stayed in the room.

It was an eight minute walk to Lance's dorm if he was quick, it was thirteen if he walked slowly. The promise of sesame chicken turned it into a six minute walk. He ran into Shiro and Pidge on the way into the building, they both had backpacks stuffed to full capacity and a pillow in hand.

"All ready to go?" Keith asked, startling both of them.

"We're waiting on Hunk, he has a late lab," Shiro said. "Coran and Allura went on a snack and gas run. Pity you and Lance have that exam tomorrow."

"Shiro's only excited to make googly eyes at my brother," Pidge rolled her eyes. "Matt should get there before we do."

"I still can't believe you managed to justify going two days early," Keith said. "We could all leave tomorrow and you know it."

"Ah come on Mullet," Keith heard Lance's shit eating grin before he saw it. "We'll have a grand old time, the two of us."

Keith felt a hand close around his wrist and he let himself be tugged forward. "Where's my chicken?"

"It's up in my room already, come on." Lance pulled on ahead, not seeming to care what or who he ran into.

"Be safe you two," Pidge called after them in a singsong. Lance did not hear her and Keith was glad when the flush on his cheeks went unnoticed.

Lance's room was on the fourth floor of the building and he refused to use the elevator—even when he'd sprained his ankle a few weeks back Lance insisted upon climbing the stairs until Hunk picked him up and carried him into the elevator. Keith said nothing the entire way up to the fourth floor. He didn't even mention the hand that was still encircling his wrist despite there being no need for it.

"Yo Lance," some tall frat boy called from across the hall. "Got a hot date?"

Lance deliberately took Keith's hand fully and held up their interlaced fingers. "You jealous Brett?" He raised an eyebrow. Keith swallowed thickly, hoping his face wasn't as red as it felt.

"Keep it down in there," Brett seemed unimpressed.

"Lance here doesn't do quiet Brad," Keith found himself playing along. "Do you?"

Lance brushed his thumb over Keith's knuckles. "Not with guys like you."

It took everything he had to not burst into laughter at that. The situation was ridiculous and he knew that if he didn't play it off someone would ask him why he was blushing so hard. Luckily Brett shifted uncomfortably and stepped back into his room with a drawn out, "O-kay."

Lance held Keith's hand the rest of the way to his room and dissolved in a fit of giggles as soon as they stepped inside. "Did you see his face?" He asked through bouts of laughter.

Keith grinned. "I'm so glad we talked you out of joining a frat."

"We don't mention that," Lance said. "Now eat your chicken, we have work to do."

Keith grabbed the takeout container Lance had pointed out and sat cross legged on the rug. " You have work to do," he said. "We both know I'd be fine without this."

"You score a couple points above me every time and you get a god complex," Lance teased. "I want my rank one, that number two is yours this time."

"I knew you were using me," Keith said around a mouthful of chicken. "I can take my notes and leave."

"That chicken was a binding contract," Lance pointed a fork at him. "We make a good team, you know it."

"So you acknowledge that, do you?" Keith raised an eyebrow.

"Nope."

Keith rolled his eyes and turned back to his chicken. If they were going to actually get any studying done they had to stop their bickering before it even started. He set his container aside once he was done.

"So, chapter seventeen?" Keith tugged his textbook out.

"Don't remind me," Lance glared at his own textbook. "I swear Kolivan is trying to kill us."

"Have you worked through the practice problems yet?" Keith asked. "I worked on them earlier but they might not be right."

"I did them last night." Lance pulled out a pile of loose leaf papers. "I tried getting Hunk to help me but all I got was a sympathetic look."

"I don't blame him, I hate this chapter. We can compare answers and then check the key," Keith suggested.

"Sounds good."

They set their work side by side to compare. Lance's work was sloppy, there were numbers and formulas scrawled without regard to the lines on the page; if it weren't for the circles around each answer Keith wouldn't have made any sense of them. His own work was tight and condensed, each calculation distinct from every other.

"We have six the same," Lance finished scanning the papers.

"That's promising," Keith confirmed. "It's more than half at least."

Lance reached for his textbook and thumbed it open to a bookmarked page. "We got number one right at least," he smiled slightly. "Two, three, and four. I missed five and got six. You got five and missed six. You missed seven, eight, ten, and eleven, you got nine. I got eight and ten," he paused for a second to count. "So I win, I got seven right answers and you got six."

"Well I guess if you're so good at this I can leave," Keith jokingly began to stand up only to be pushed down again.

"Can I read your notes?" Lance asked. "I won't mark on them or anything."

Keith reached across Lance and into his backpack. "Here you go, I'd like to look through yours if you don't mind."

Lance pointed behind him. "Purple notebook, feel free to highlight them if you'd like."

The notebook was slightly out of reach but Keith was a lazy college student so he did what was necessary and leaned farther forward than he could actually stretch himself, narrowly avoiding falling flat on his face. The notes themselves were only slightly more organized than the practice problems had been. Lance had at least bothered labeling the section of each chapter as he took notes.

Despite their sloppy nature, Keith still understood the material well. The little doodles and jokes in the margins made for a nice break from the dryness of the textbook itself. He did however use a highlighter to mark the beginning of each section just to make it easier to navigate.

"I see why they pay you to be a note taker now," Lance looked up after a while. "Your handwriting is excellent."

"Thanks?" Keith shrugged, he wasn't sure that was a compliment.

"You're handwriting seems too pretty to be yours though," Lance said. "It's weird."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, to put it nicely, you're a rough guy," Lance thought for a second. "I know a lot of it is a façade but you put up this air of 'don't fuck with me' and you aren't a gentle person. But your handwriting is neat and flowy and inviting. If I got an invitation in this font I would want to go."

"Okay?" Keith scratched the back of his head. "I didn't know you were a handwriting analyst now."

"But it's also uniform and neat just like you," Lance added. "So it's an interesting combination."

"You make no sense sometimes," Keith shook his head. "Pass me my textbook? I'm going to rework the ones I missed."

"Yeah me too." Lance slid the textbook over so they could both see it and grabbed a fresh sheet of paper.

Three of the five problems he missed were on the same concept and it was apparent that he had been using the wrong equation. Going over the material once again had at least reminded him of the equation he'd forgotten about.

They sat in silence for half an hour, the only sounds being the scratching of pencil on paper and the occasional erasing from Keith or crossing out from Lance. Keith was fast when it came to tests so he ended up finishing a few minutes before Lance did, which he took as an opportunity to discretely stare at the other boy.

He often joked that Lance was the human embodiment of Newton's first law; there was always some aspect of him in motion, be it his hands or his legs. So a Lance who was sitting completely still was a strange Lance indeed. He was one those people who poked their tongue out slightly while concentrating and Keith had to stop himself from reaching out and pressing his thumb to the furrow between Lance's eyebrows. It was odd to see him so concentrated.

After allowing himself a few minutes to stare, Keith pulled his eyes away and looked back through his work, scanning the page to make sure he hadn't dropped any negatives. He spent more time staring at it than was necessary but he didn't want to be a distraction.

When he finally looked back up, he found that Lance was leaning even farther forward than before to the point where it looked like he would easily lose his balance. But in contrast to a few minutes prior, Lance was moving. He had his hand up by his temple and was tapping his pen against it.

Keith didn't stop to think before reaching out and gently taking Lance's face in his hands. His right hand cupped his cheek and his left rested against his temple—he could feel Lances heartbeat through his fingertips. "Lance," he said softly. "Hey, you're drawing on your face."

Lance jumped and blinked a few times. "Huh what?" He lurched backwards and ended up on the ground. Keith immediately missed the warmth under his fingers.

"You got a bit focused there," Keith said. "And you have pen all over your face."

Lance pulled out his phone camera to examine it and groaned. "That's not part of my skin care routine."

"Didn't think it was," Keith laughed. "I finished over ten minutes ago, how are the problems coming?"

"I was checking my work on number eleven," Lance set his phone back down and picked up his papers. "I think I did better this time. Trade?"

Keith nodded and handed his work over. "Have you ever considered that maybe you get worse marks than me because your work is a mess?" He asked. "Your writing is sloppy."

"It's an art," Lance said. "You write the stuff you're sure of clear and legible and the other stuff a little bit messy so that they can read it if they try but they might not want to put in the effort. That way I get the most points out of it. If you write as clear as you do your mistakes are easy to see."

"That is a terrible philosophy." Keith thumbed back to the answers and grabbed his pencil. "You got the same answer on five as you did before," he pointed out, scanning through the work to find what went wrong. "Ah, you dropped a negative when you carried the variable to the other side of the equation."

"Let me see that," Lance snatched the paper back and looked for the offending mark. "Fuck. I always do that." He grabbed his pen back up and started scribbling furiously. "Got it! Suck on that, I'll shove that wooden block up your-"

"Okay that's enough," Keith took the paper back. Lance looked slightly sad to have been cut off mid insult but he glanced down at Keith's paper.

They went through each other's work and cross referenced against the book to ensure everything was matching up. Every few minutes one of them would stop and explain something to the other and after a while they were down to only one wrong question.

"I don't understand this," Lance groaned. He had moved in the past half hour and was now dangling upside down from his bed—if the mattress was any lower his head would be touching the ground. "I've checked my units, I've checked my signs, I've checked the equation. There's no reason for this not to work."

Keith was of the same opinion. Nothing they did made the problem work out correctly. "It could be a special case?" He wondered aloud. "I'm going to check section six again."

"No, wait," Lance jumped to his feet and grabbed his bed frame to stay upright after his legs buckled beneath him. "We're gonna wait until my legs wake up and then we're taking a dance break. It'll be fun!"

Keith opened his mouth to say no but Lance had a starry look to him and he found that he couldn't. In that moment he would've walked into Hell if the other asked him to.

"I have the perfect playlist!" Lance fumbled with his phone. "And we need a break anyway, I don't want to know how long we've been working."

"Okay," Keith's mouth turned up in a smile. "I could use a break. We'll tackle number eleven after this."

Lance shoved their textbooks and papers out of the way to make room on the floor. "This is gonna be the best thing ever, just you wait!"

Keith stood awkwardly to the side and waited for the music to start. He had taken ballet for most of his life, but outside of the studio he wasn't much of a dancer—at least not a bounce up and down to loud music dancer. The music playing was definitely loud enough to violate dorm rules, but neither of them cared.

Keith stayed back while Lance closed his eyes and danced to the beat, clearly letting out pent up energy from the last few hours. The songs weren't anything Keith listened to but they admittedly had a good sound to them and were easy to dance to. He found himself bouncing up and down after the first song.

Lance danced straight through three songs before stopping to breath and look at Keith. "You're not having enough fun," he stated. "Let me put on the good playlist I mentioned and we'll have some fun."

"Weren't you enjoying that though?" Keith asked. "You don't have to change anything."

"Oh no," Lance waved a hand. "I needed something loud to start with, you'll like this better." He switched the playlists and Keith immediately smiled, this was the kind of music he liked to dance to.

"Good song," Keith nodded his approval.

"Come on! Dance with me?" Lance held out a hand. "I'll dance the girl's part if that'll make you more comfortable."

Keith thought for a second before taking Lance's hand; it was surprisingly cool against his. "I'll follow for this one," he said. "You do know how to waltz right?"

Lance replied by grinning and taking the lead position. Keith stepped in front of him and let the music take over for both of them. The room was not big enough to properly dance in so they ended up going in a small circle, box turning around the room with the occasional spin.

Keith wanted to believe this was something special; it was no secret that he liked Lance. Only one person remained oblivious to that fact. With Lance's hand in his and his smell surrounding him he could close his eyes and pretend that this meant something. He could tell himself that Lance wanted to dance with him not just because he liked dancing.

The fact of the matter was that Lance would dance with anybody: he danced with Hunk all the time, he danced with Pidge when he could convince her to, he danced with Allura, he danced with Shiro, he even danced with Coran sometimes. There was a reason Keith always refused when Lance asked him: he saw no point when it only meant something to half the party.

Keith knew he should stop after one song, he knew he should step back and return to his textbook and forget about everything. But Lance was sparkling bait and Keith was a very stupid fish. He let himself be reeled in until they had danced for over an hour and ended up cuddled together on the floor. Through every waltz, swing, and tango he felt his resolve slip further down the drain. There was no denying that he was thoroughly caught in the net that was Lance McClain.

"We still gotta finish that problem," Lance yawned.

"Yeah," Keith muttered, his face only a few inches away from burying itself against Lance's chest. "We do."

"Physics first, then cuddles," Lance nodded as if that was some profound saying and then he sat up.

"Right. Number eleven," Keith swallowed hard and made himself scoot away from Lance. He was going to work through the problem and then go back to his dorm.

His book was still on the other side of the room. It was utterly too far away to justify standing up when he could share Lance's copy. But it was equally unjustifiable to allow himself that close to Lance again.

He stood up and grabbed his book, making sure to sit a few feet farther away from Lance this time. The textbook was still open to the page he had it on earlier, the offending problem staring up at him.

"This has to be a special case!" Lance grinned at him with a smile that rivaled the sun. "You were right, I don't know how I didn't see this before." He excitedly turned pages in his book, slowing down slightly after a slight tearing sound. "Oops."

Keith read through the section he was on, skimming through the footnotes at the bottom of the page in an attempt to find something. He needed to figure it out as soon as possible so he could leave. "I don't know," he sighed after his third read through presented nothing. "It'll probably only be one or two questions on the exam anyway."

"Ha, you giving up means I win," Lance laughed. "That number one is mine!"

"It's getting late," Keith scratched the back of his neck. "I should get back to my dorm soon, it's dark."

"No I swear I've almost got this," Lance held his hand up in a wait sign. "I'll walk you back, it's the least I can do."

"You don't have to," Keith mumbled but he was drowned out by a jubilant shout from Lance.

"Got it!" Lance practically jumped to his feet. "Bottom of section eight, it outlines a specific case and problem eleven fits the requirements. Where's my pen?"

The writing utensil sat a few inches behind Keith. He held it out for Lance who almost knocked it to the ground in his excitement.

"Carry the negative, take the square root, divide," Lance mumbled under his breath as he worked the problem. "Solve for the angle, adjust for gravity. And..." he poked his tongue and and scribbled a few more lines. "Answer key me man!"

Keith flipped to the answers and held the book out wordlessly. He knew immediately that Lance had gotten the answer right by the way he threw his head and laughed in joy.

"Suck it chapter seventeen," Lance stood up and spun in a circle. "I'm so acing this thing tomorrow."

"Can you show me what you did?" Keith asked. He could figure it out himself but it was easier to understand if it was explained.

"Sure," Lance sat back down. "Grab a fresh sheet of paper and I'll explain it."

Keith tore a paper out of his notebook, not bothering to take the time to pull it out neatly. He wrote the beginning of the problem from memory and looked at Lance expectantly to explain it.

The explanation was much simpler than he had expected but he would have never gotten it right if Lance hadn't seen the small paragraph explaining it. They worked through the problem and two similar ones to make sure they understood it.

By the time that was done Keith was ready to go directly to bed. "I need to get back to my dorm," he yawned. "Some sleep would be nice."

"Okay," Lance echoed his yawn. "Get your stuff together and I'll walk you."

"No, it's late," Keith shook his head. "You stay here, I'll be fine."

"Exactly, it's late," Lance said. "It's not safe to go by yourself, I don't want anything to happen."

"You'd be walking back by yourself," Keith raised an eyebrow. "Either way one of us walks alone."

"It's different if it's you," Lance said. "You know that."

"And why's that?" Keith felt a brief wave of anger roll over him.

"You know why," Lance mumbled, breaking eye contact.

"No I want to hear you say it," Keith crossed his arms. " Why is it different?"

"Because you're..." the rest of the statement was incomprehensible.

"What? A girl?" Keith spat.

"No," Lance's head shot back up. "I didn't mean it like that and you know it. I would never call you that."

Keith felt his heart sink as the momentary anger washed away. His friends would never call him that, Lance was right. "I'm just tired okay."

"I understand," Lance said. "I won't walk you back if you don't want me to. I know you can take care of yourself."

"I'm not going to stop you," Keith said. "But I don't think it's necessary. You shouldn't have to go out of your way this late at night. And you don't need to be walking back on your own either."

"Wait," Lance's smile came back. "Why don’t you sleep on Hunk's bed? He won't care."

"That is definitely breaching university policy," Keith said.

"Since when do you care about that, Mister Discipline Problems?" Lance raised an eyebrow. "It'll be fine. I know for certain that the frat boys down the hall have girls spend the night all the time. Not saying that you are one but it's a similar situation."

"I can stay if you really think it's for the best, but I'm not using Hunk's bed without permission," Keith said.

"He won't care," Lance repeated. "And he's let you sit on it before so that's kind of permission."

"Your floor is pretty comfortable with the rug," Keith pointed out. "I can steal some of your blankets, it'll be fine."

"Or you could sleep on my bed," Lance offered. "That way you have permission and you're not on the floor."

"But it's your bed," Keith said.

"They're the exact same beds, I can sleep on Hunk's for one night," Lance shrugged. "It isn't a big deal, I've fallen asleep up there before."

"Let me sleep on the floor," Keith insisted. "I can't take your bed and I can't use Hunk's without him saying so."

"You are not sleeping on the floor the night before a big exam, if you're so worried about it just share my bed with me," Lance said. "It won't be the greatest fit but at least nobody's on the floor."

Keith felt himself turn bright red at the offer. "Okay," he managed to choke out all the while internally cursing himself.

"Do you want something to change into?" Lance asked. "I have some comfy oversized shirts, I don't know how well my pants would fit you but I have some sweats that should do."

Keith found that he was nodding even though he really did not need to take some of Lance's clothing and he definitely should not. "Yeah sounds good."

"Okay if anything will get me in trouble it's this," Lance pressed his keycard into Keith's hand. "The bathroom is directly across the hall, if you can avoid talking to anyone that's great. As long as you don't pull my door shut when you step out you don't have to worry about the code to get back in."

Lance tossed him a shirt and a pair of sweats and Keith crossed the hall quickly. It was late enough that there wasn't anyone else around.

The shirt was soft blue and obviously well worn. He assumed that it was only ever used at night because he hadn't seen it before. The sweatpants were one of the many pairs Lance wore on days he was feeling particularly lazy and though they were too long on Keith’s legs they were still comfortable.

When he got back to the room he found that Lance was dressed in an almost identical outfit. "Aww we match," Lance grinned.

"You picked the clothes out," Keith pointed out. "So that's on you."

"No this is cute." Lance smiled even wider. "We're taking a selfie, come here."

Keith begrudgingly let Lance wrap an arm around his shoulders and pull him close to his side. He wasn't sure what exactly Lance was aiming for but he tried to at least smile as Lance clicked away on the camera. The last thing he was expecting was for Lance to kiss him on the cheek, but that was exactly what he did.

"Look it's perfect!" Lance showed him the picture. Keith's mouth was in a perfect o and he was blushing all the to the tops of his ears as Lance kissed him; Lance had his eyes squeezed tight and a slight red hinting on his cheeks. "I'm keeping this one forever."

Keith went to speak but found that he was not yet capable of coherent words or thought. He shook his head and blinked a few times before jumping up onto the bed. Lance jumped up beside him.

"Fair warning, I'm a cuddler," Lance said.

"Yeah I know," Keith nodded. That was the thing about Lance: he cuddled everything he could get his arms around—he would willingly cuddle a cactus if it came to it.

"Well know to expect it," Lance swung his legs onto the bed and took the side closer to the wall. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable so if you want me not to cuddle with you tell me and I'll hug a pillow instead, that's what I usually do."

Keith hesitated before answering. "No, you can. It'll be fine."

"Seriously though, I want you to be okay with this. Is there anything that will ensure you'll be comfortable?" The concern on Lance's face was endearing—Lance's face was endearing in general.

"If you could avoid my chest I would appreciate it," Keith pulled his legs up. "Rib cage is fine but please stay away from the area above."

"Of course man," Lance nodded. "No touchy the top."

"If you keep talking like that it'll be no touchy at all," Keith mimicked Lance's tone.

"Can you turn the lamp off?" Lance asked. "You should be able to reach the cord."

Keith nodded and tugged the cord, plunging the room into the semi darkness of a college dorm—he was suddenly grateful for the blackout curtains in his room. There was only so long he could delay lying down for without it being obvious that he was doing so. He sent up a silent prayer that his racing heart wasn't too obvious and he settled down next to Lance.

"You sure you're okay with this?" Lance asked softly.

"Stop worrying so much." Keith closed his eyes so he couldn't see how close they were. "Go to sleep."

He lie perfectly still with his back toward Lance. A few seconds passed before Lance's arms wrapped securely around him and pulled him toward his chest. Keith's eyes shot open and he began to internally curse himself once again. This was a bad idea, he should go back to his dorm and sleep there.

"You're stiff as board," Lance mumbled, his breath hot against the back of Keith's neck. He "Want me to let go?"

Keith knew he should say yes. He knew he should disentangle himself from this web before he was caught with no chance of escape. He knew he shouldn't spend the night in the arms of the boy he liked more than he should. He also knew that he wasn't going to leave, and if he was going to stay, he might as well enjoy it. What the hell? His mouth shaped the words.

Keith wiggled out of Lance's grip and before the other could even whine in protest, he rolled so that he was facing him and buried his face against Lance's chest in the way he always wanted to.

"Keith," he wasn't sure if he imagined the hitch in Lance's breath or not, but moments later he was once again engulfed by Lance's arms; this time he had no intention of leaving until morning.

It was only one night, he could indulge himself for one night. There couldn't be any consequences from that. He would let it all slip away in the morning.

There were a few minutes of shifting as they figured out where to put their arms and their legs and then Lance's breathing became soft and even. Keith had never been this close to a sleeping Lance—only mere inches away from his face. He was softer in his sleep, all of his constant pent up energy was gone. Keith could feel it in his chest; if Lance was a vice around his heart he would gladly be squeezed to death.

The freckles on Lance's cheeks stood out like stars Keith couldn't form into constellations. Everything he wanted but couldn't have was in his arms. Keith let himself get drunk on it, he let himself believe it was meaningful, he let himself think it would still count once the morning sun rose from its grave and the world came alive again. And he fell asleep fully aware of what the warmth in his chest meant.

Six AM came too soon. Keith cursed his alarm when it pulled him back to reality. The illusion he had woven as he fell asleep faded much too fast for his liking. He gave himself two more  minutes in Lance's arms but it wasn't the same with the first hints of the morning sun coming through the window.

He was careful not to wake Lance as he extracted himself from their embrace. The soft snick of the door behind him shattered the rest of his illusion. He took the stairs back down and snuck out a side door to avoid walking through the lobby. It took fifteen minutes to get back to his dorm.

"Did you fall asleep on your textbook?" His roommate asked when he swung open their door. If asked he would swear that Em never slept.

"Not exactly," Keith mumbled.

"Those aren't your clothes," Em said, glancing up from whatever she was working on.

"They're Lance's," Keith set his bag on floor and sat down. "I'm so fucked."

"Young love, so fickle," Em sighed. "At least it was Lance. Were you safe about it?"

"Em!" Keith glared over at her. "A bit of cuddling never knocked anyone up. I slept in his arms on his bed, nothing else. You know he doesn't like me that way."

"But you like him," she stated.

"Yeah."

"You're right, you are fucked."

--

As he drove, Keith could still feel the ghost of Lance's touch on his face and arms. Even the shower he had taken that morning had done nothing to scrub away that echo. Allowing himself to spend the night hadn't been his brightest idea ever but he couldn't find much fault in it, having slept better than usual.

He was starting to think it was an understatement to call his attraction to Lance a crush. It was something more than that; he didn't love Lance but he didn't not love him either. Either way he was very, very fucked and there was nothing he could do about it.

Lance woke up right as they pulled into the gas station. "That went by fast," he yawned loudly and stretched his long limbs. "We're a fourth of the way there."

"Speak for yourself," Keith grumbled. Those two hours had crawled by at the pace of slower than average snail.

"Don't sound so grumpy Mullet," Lance grinned. "It's your turn to nap. Hopefully you don't dream about physics like I did."

Keith snorted and got out of the car. "I have to take care of something, park her when she's done filling up," he tossed the keys to Lance.

The gas station was by no means the nicest he had ever been to but it was far from the worst; as gas stations go it ranked perfectly average. Keith clutched his drawstring bag loosely in hand and walked to the back corner where the restrooms were.

He glanced nervously around him to see how many people there were and then his eyes flicked back and forth between the men's and women's signs. With a sigh he stepped forward and pushed open the door to the women's.

It was a three stall bathroom and if it were up to him he would've turned right back around and gone into the men's but that wasn't an option. He hadn't thought far enough ahead to take his binder off before getting in the car so he was stuck doing so in one of the stalls.

He hated changing in public bathrooms and it was even worse when it was his binder he had to take off. That thing had a tendency to stick around his shoulders and the door to the stall was not tall enough to hide the awkward dance he did to pull it off.

Luckily enough nobody came in while he was changing and he was able to slip back out unnoticed. He kept his head down as he weaved his way toward the register, swiping a snack at random.

"That'll be $2.17 ma'am," the cashier smiled at him. Keith wordlessly held out a five dollar bill. He grabbed his change and the snack and left as quickly as possible.

"You ready to go?" He asked Lance.

"Yep, car’s filled up and I used the bathroom so we're good for another two hours," Lance nodded. "I can go farther than that if you wish."

"Two is fine," Keith mumbled, buckling himself into the passenger seat.

"You okay man?" Lance asked.

"It's nothing I don't deal with daily," Keith turned away.

"The frequency with which you deal with it does nothing to the amplitude of discomfort caused," Lance said. "But if you want to ignore it right now that's fine."

"We have places to get to and I'm in need of a nap," Keith said.

"Feel free to use my pillow and blanket, it'll be easier than digging yours out," Lance offered.

Keith nodded and positioned the pillow against the window. It was the same pillow he had shared with Lance the night before. Which meant that it smelled like Lance—he couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.

Once they were up to speed on the highway again, he closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately. His dreams were not filled with numbers and variables. They were however filled with a certain blue-eyed boy.

Keith's dreams came in waves, snapshots of a life that wasn't his. He dreamed of laughter and dancing. He dreamed of visits to the beach and dates under the stars. For a few fleeting hours in his unconsciousness, he lived an impossible life.

Two hours passed too quickly and he was soon gently shaken awaken. "Hey," Lance's voice was soft and his expression unreadable. "It's been two hours, you good to switch or do you want to go back to sleep?"

It took Keith a few moments to come back to reality and when he did he was struck with a sinking feeling in his gut knowing that none of that dream would ever be real. "Yeah," he yawned. "Let's take five minutes to stretch our legs and then we can keep going, hopefully we'll get there in time for dinner."

The rest stop had a nice playground with a large grassy area surrounding it. There were only a couple other vehicles parked. Keith walked fast in an attempt to clear his head. Every second with Lance sucked him further into the vortex he had created and there was no way out of it.

He walked a loop around the playground and the rest area buildings and got back into the car, Lance was already buckled in. "Halfway there buddy!" Lance grinned. "This is going to be great, I've got a playlist and everything."

"You have a playlist for everything," Keith pointed out. "You know where the aux cord is."

Lance hooked his phone up and pressed play. "I think you'll find this thematically appropriate."

It was apparent after the first few songs what Lance had meant by that. "This is going to all be songs about the sun and moon isn't it?" Keith asked.

"You got a problem with that Bright Eyes?" Lance pulled a nickname from the song currently playing. "We're driving for eight hours to watch a three minute astronomical event."

Keith decided not to reply. It wasn't unusual for him to go quiet for periods of time, the others knew to expect it and rarely pressured him to talk until he wanted to. They all had their own ways of dealing with his silence. Lance usually kept talking as if nothing had happened, he would tell stories or ponder about the meaning of life or something ridiculous like if aliens would prefer pancakes or waffles. So it was strange when Lance fell silent alongside him, leaving only the radio to make noise.

After an hour even the music stopped and the car was plunged into an uncomfortable silence. Keith had an unshakable feeling that something had happened that he was unaware of. The road ahead of them suddenly felt much longer than it was.

By the time they switched again it had been over an hour and a half since either of them had uttered a word—that had to be a record for Lance. Keith didn't know how to break the silence; he would just jump back into the conversation when he felt like it, but when there was no conversation to join there was nothing he could do.

It wasn't until they were forty-five minutes out from their destination that the silence was finally broken. "Fuck this," Lance threw on the blinker and pulled off at the nearest exit ramp, stopping in the parking lot of a derelict grocery store. "What it is your deal man?"

"What?!" Keith was confused. "You're the one acting strange."

"You're messing with me aren't you?" Lance looked genuinely upset.

"What are you talking about?" Keith asked. "I haven't done anything."

"Did Pidge put you up to this?" Lance asked. "Is that why you're not acting normal?"

"I don't know what you mean," Keith said.

"Last night," Lance sighed. "You helped me study and you danced with me and you let me cuddle with you. And today you willingly used my pillow and blanket instead of insisting on yours like always. That's not normal for you, you hate me man."

"I don't hate you?" Keith said it like a question. "You're my friend."

"Yeah, friends," Lance scoffed. "I know."

"What did I do?" Keith could feel the vice tightening in his chest.

"Nothing Kogane," Lance said. "That's the problem, you did nothing."

"Are you angry with me?" Keith asked. "Did I do that thing again where I make someone upset and don't realize it?"

"No," Lance was quieter this time. "I overthought this, I'm sorry. Let's just forget about it and let everything go back to normal."

"I wasn't aware that it's not normal now." That was a lie, Keith was acutely aware of how he made this not normal and this was confirmation that he shouldn't have.

"You talk in your sleep," was all Lance said before turning his happy music back on and getting on the highway again.

It took Keith half of the remaining drive to realize what that meant. He talked in his sleep. He had dreamed about dating Lance. Lance knew.

He spent the next twenty minutes panicking and flung himself out of the car the second it stopped at their campsite. He didn't even bother grabbing anything of his before running to the others and dragging Shiro away from the group.

"You okay?" Shiro asked in concern.

Keith shook his head rapidly and wrapped his arms around himself. "He knows," he mumbled.

"What does who know?" Shiro set both hands on his shoulders.

"Lance. He knows that..." Keith trailed off. "About the..."

"Did he say something about it?"

"He said I talk in my sleep."

"You do," Shiro said. "I could've told you that from when we used to share a room."

"Yeah but, he asked if I was screwing with him," Keith sighed. "He thinks I don't mean anything by it but he doesn't even know about my...feelings."

"Keith," Shiro adopted his 'big brother fixes everything' tone. "Do you think he would be upset with you messing with him if he didn't feel the same way?"

"But he doesn't," Keith said miserably. "Don't say that he does."

"Even if he doesn't you know how loyal he is to his friends," Shiro reminded him. "You two used to hate each other, look where you are now. I guarantee you it will be fine. Don't let it be weird."

"I won't try to," Keith said, feeling a bit better about the situation.

"If it makes you feel any better I know for a fact that he knows your order at every restaurant within a five mile radius of campus, he always has a few bottles of that weird Gatorade flavor you like in his fridge, and he's extra careful to make sure you're comfortable in every situation," Shiro listed. "So at the very least he cares about you a lot. What happens will happen, don't fight against it."

"Okay," Keith nodded. "You better take your own advice in regards to Matt, you know Pidge will take action if one of you doesn't."

"No I don't," Shiro playfully brushed his fist against Keith's shoulder. "Older sibling privilege."

"Not by blood, doesn't count," Keith stuck his tongue out echoing a taunt they had traded a lot when they were younger.

"Then I guess I shouldn't have made the others wait on dinner," Shiro sighed in a show of dramatics. "A double portion sounds good to me."

Before he realized, Shiro had taken off and Keith had to run as fast as he could to catch up. "Fuck you and your long legs," he glared once they made it back to the campsite.

Keith sat down to catch his breath and found that while he had been gone, Lance had emptied the car for them and gotten the last tent pitched.

"Glad to see you made it safely," Allura smiled at him. "You got here just in time. Matt and Hunk made some sort of stew and we're jumping in where we left off on the campaign afterwards. You remembered your dice right?"

"Fuck, I knew I forgot something," Lance groaned loudly.

"Yep they're in my bag," Keith said at the same time.

"Ha, Lance gets the cursed dice of shame tonight," Pidge laughed.

"He could use my DM dice if he wants," Matt offered. "I have two sets."

"Yeah I'll take those," Lance said in a rush. Keith didn't blame him, the cursed dice of shame were aptly named—they never rolled higher than a twelve.

"That's no fun," Pidge complained. "You made me use the shame dice the last time I forgot mine."

"It's not like he rolls high anyway," Hunk said. "Let him have this."

"Yeah, let me have this," Lance echoed. "Hey! I do too roll high. My dice like me."

"Dinner's ready," Matt cut them all off by smacking a spoon against the large pot that presumably held their food.

"Man I'm starving," Keith said. "I haven't eaten since before the exam."

"Keith!" Lance practically screeched. "I asked if you wanted to stop for food."

Keith shrugged and grabbed a bowl. "I never said no."

"Okay so the big pot is a beef stew," Hunk spoke loudly. "Meat, carrots, potatoes, good stuff all around. The small pot is the same thing just without the meat."

"Thanks Hunk," Pidge grinned and slid the smaller pot toward her. "There's enough in here for three people?"

"I made enough for the two of us and Allura," Matt answered. "Not sure if anyone else is vegetarian."

"Definitely not," Keith and Lance said, Hunk shook his head.

"I don't have as strong a preference as the rest of you," Shiro shrugged. "I'll eat whichever there's enough of."

Once it was decided on who as eating what they all scooped a portion into their bowls and sat in silence to eat. Keith was hungry enough that he made it to the bottom of the bowl without tasting any of it.

"Don't choke there Keith," Coran cautioned. "We don't want to break out anyone's CPR certification do we?"

"No," Keith mumbled around a mouthful of food, already reaching to scoop himself another portion.

"I don't think Lance would mind using his certification," Pidge said. "In fact I think he would rather enjoy it."

There was a slight scuffling sound and Pidge yelped, leading Keith to believe that Lance had kicked her underneath the table. He turned his attention back toward his dinner and ate it slow enough to taste it this time.

"Hunk if I were to confess my undying love for you, would you marry me so that I would never have to part with your cooking?" Lance asked after they were done eating.

"Lance, you're my best friend and I love you buddy, but you're not my type," Hunk shook his head slowly.

"What?!" Lance grabbed his chest in mock injury. "I am everybody's type."

A resounding, "No!" came from everyone except Keith. He hoped his lack of response went unnoticed.

"Anyway, Hunk is too good for you," Pidge said. "Hunk is too good for anyone ."

"Guys stop," Hunk shifted at the praise. "I only did half the cooking."

"I think I have to agree," Matt said. "You apologized to the potato that fell on the ground."

Hunk opened his mouth to defend himself but quickly gave up and shook his head. "You got me there," he chuckled, everyone else joining in.

"Well if we're done with that, let's get the game started," Coran pulled out a small whiteboard, a notebook, and some dice. "Shiro, you helped Matt make his character yes?"

"I explained what was going on to him last night," Shiro nodded.

"A full campaign where everyone is a paladin," Matt shook his head. "I can't believe you guys."

"Allura is a sorcerer," Coran corrected. "But the other five are all Paladins."

"It's fun Matt," Pidge grinned. "I'm a gnome!"

"A gnome paladin?!" Matt raised an eyebrow. "That's...interesting."

"You'll get used to it," Keith promised. "Wait, Lance," he glanced over to him. "You did remember your character sheet right?"

"Yeah," Lance nodded. "I only left my dice."

"Oh yeah, here," Matt picked up a small bag and tossed it to Lance. "Those are my DM dice, they represent who I am inside."

Lance opened the bag and poured them onto the table. "They're rainbow."

"Yeah, 'cause I'm gay," Matt flashed a peace sign and snorted.

"Remind me again why we invited him?" Pidge rolled her eyes.

"Because a certain somebody," Keith looked at Shiro, "has a crush on him."

"Enough of that," Coran waved his arms to get everyone's attention. "We have a game to commence. I'll leave these here for anyone who needs them," he set a set of pink and black marbled dice in the center of the table.

"Don't touch those Matt," Lance said in a stage whisper. "They're cursed."

"You can't leave those out like that Coran," Hunk shielded his own dice with a hand. "They'll corrupt the others."

"Agreed," Keith nodded, hiding his dice as well.

Pidge snatched up the cursed dice and shoved them into a bag before throwing them toward the tents. "Not this time you little fucks!" She cheered.

"Language Katie," Matt shot her a look.

"Fuck off Matt," Pidge stuck out her tongue.

"Where were we last time?" Shiro spoke up, cutting off whatever fight the two siblings were about to have.

"Red's quest to bring vengeance upon the evil beings that destroyed his village led to the Princess being kidnapped by the enemy," Coran adopted his DM voice. "The five of you are standing in front of what appears to be an impenetrable fortress. The walls are made of thick stone and there are sentries prowling the grounds."

"I roll a perception check," Pidge said. Keith and the others nodded and did the same. "Seven."

"Eighteen."

"Ten."

"Fourteen."

"Nat twenty," Lance grinned. "So make that a twenty-five. Matt, your dice love me."

"Green as far as you're aware there's no way into the building. Red and Yellow you notice what appears to be the outline of a trap door, but you aren't sure. Black and Blue, you know for sure that there are three trap doors, one about twenty feet to the side of you in the ground and two on the wall nearest you," Coran made a rudimentary sketch on the whiteboard.

"Wait?" Matt asked. "Are all of your character names colors?"

"It's an alias thing," Pidge said. "Our identities must not be revealed to the enemy. Didn't Shiro explain that much?."

"I spent two hours going over it for you," Shiro said. "Weren't you paying attention."

"I was distracted," Matt grinned. "I caught the important parts."

"If you two don't stop flirting I will seriously consider killing you in game," Pidge threatened. "And you won't see me coming."

"I walk toward the outline to check it out," Keith spoke up.

"Roll an investigation check," Coran said.

"Uh, seventeen plus two so a nineteen," Keith said.

"That is in fact a trap door," Coran said. "And since you moved closer you see that there are three small panels at the bottom of it each marked with a different character in a language you do not speak."

"I gesture to the others to join me," Keith said.

"Is it a language I know?" Lance asked.

"No," Coran shook his head. "You can roll an intelligence check to see if you recognize it though."

"Will a seventeen do?" Lance asked.

"You recognize the markings as Infernal," Coran said.

"Ooh, I speak Infernal," Pidge said. "What's it say?."

"You can read the markings but they seem to be a cipher of sorts," Coran wrote a string of letters and numbers on the whiteboard and held it up for Pidge.

Keith only half paid attention as she recruited Hunk to help her solve the problem. Problem solving was not his character’s strong suit. After about fifteen minutes they managed to crack the cipher and enter the fortress.

"There is light coming in through the door up to ten feet, everything beyond that is dark," Coran said. "From what you can see it looks normal on the inside."

"Fuck," Lance banged his hand on the table. "Most of us don't have darkvision."

"I cast prestidigitation and light my torch," Pidge said. "Red can scout forward, I'm giving the torch to Black."

Keith had a feeling that there was some sort of trap but forging ahead without thinking it through was a trademark of his character. "I can see sixty feet, what's up ahead?"

"There are no rooms lining the hallway," Coran said. "As far as you can see the hallway goes straight, there are no breaks in it."

"I roll a perception check," Keith grabbed his d20. "Five," he groaned.

"The hallway looks safe to you."

"I rush forward."

"Something doesn't seem right to me," Hunk said. "I cast detect magic. I got a twelve."

"That'll do it my boy," Coran smiled. "The area around you lights up, you get a strong sense that every stone used in making this fortress is imbued with strong magic."

"Can I tell what school it is?" Hunk asked.

"Most of it is illusion but on the edge of your radius, you see a person shaped aura of necromancy."

"Well shit, we're fucked," Pidge stated. "It was nice knowing you."

"The door you came in has been slowly shifting behind you this entire time," Coran said. "It appears to have been on a timer and it is now shut. I need everyone to make a wisdom saving throw, that includes Allura."

"Sixteen."

"How can you even read those Shiro?" Matt asked, interrupting the stream of numbers from everyone else. "It looks solid black to me."

"Practice," Shiro shrugged.

"Twenty-five."

"Shit that's a nine."

"Eighteen."

"Twenty."

"Thirteen."

"Green and Yellow take 3d6 psychic damage," Coran began rolling. "Nine total."

"Man you guys rolled high," Matt commented.

"Most of us are proficient in wisdom," Lance said. "And your gay dice love me."

"You're not even gay Lance," Keith found himself saying. "It's misplaced trust on their part. Let me see that," he grabbed for the twenty sided die as Lance closed his fist around it. He forced his fingers around Lance's thumb and worked to pry open his hand.

"Aww, they're holding hands," Hunk whispered in the background.

Keith felt himself blush but he wouldn't give up until he had that die. "Ha," he was triumphant after a few minutes.

"Work on your hand holding game before you get a boyfriend," Lance mumbled, shaking his hand out. "That was so not romantic."

"Wasn't supposed to be," Keith grinned and held up the die before tossing it on the table. "Ha, it's an eighteen!"

"Well I rolled a twenty with it my first time," Lance stuck his tongue out. "So it clearly thinks I'm the gayer one."

"Maybe it's measuring flamboyance," Pidge suggested. "Because that would certainly rank Lance higher. Let me try it," she grabbed the die. "A fourteen."

"I guess we're all trying it now," Hunk shrugged and picked it up. "Seven."

"Mine turn I suppose," Allura said. "That'd be a sixteen for me."

"So much for normal game play," Coran picked the die up next. "Alas, a four. My partner will be disappointed to hear," he shook his head.

"That just leaves you and Shiro," Pidge aimed her comment at Matt. "What does the die say?"

"They're my dice," Matt rolled his eyes but he picked it up anyway. "And that's a two, yikes."

"So much for them being your dice," Lance laughed. "Just you now Shiro."

"Fine," Shiro gave in after they all turned their pleading looks toward him. "One. Are you happy now?"

"How does it feel to have the die decree you as the least gay?" Pidge teased. "Shiro and Matt, who woulda thought."

"Clearly this is meant as a message," Keith shot Shiro a pointed look.

"We could put them in the same tent and see what they roll in the morning," Lance wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Well you're sharing with Keith," Hunk said. "Are you going to have to roll again too?"

"I am a comfortable bisexual," Lance put a hand to his heart. "I don't need a gay die to tell me that."

"Well your flirting tactics don't ever get you anywhere," Keith pointed out. "So maybe the die is helping you."

"Ooh he has a point," Pidge cackled. "Poor Lance."

"It is not my fault when the people I flirt with don't notice that I'm flirting," Lance crossed his arms.

"It's pretty hard to miss it with those stupid pickup lines of yours," Keith said. "'Hey are you a rogue? Because you've really stolen my heart. You must be a bard, you're plucking my heartstrings like a lute. Hey are you a drow? 'Cause you're causing a real stirring in my underdark.'"

Lance's face went dark red and he spluttered. "I do not...sound like that."

"Sorry pal but you do," Hunk said. "You use cheesy pickup lines on me whenever you want something."

"You used one on me in class the other day when you needed to borrow a pencil," Pidge said.

"I think most of your greetings to me are pickup lines," Allura agreed.

"You tried to get quiz answers out of me with them," Shiro said.

"Okay maybe I use them a lot," Lance relented. "But I don't use them on Keith, he hates them."

"We all hate them," Allura said. "Seriously I swear they get worse every time."

"Compliments work well enough man," Hunk said. "Actually the word 'please' will get you farther."

"What makes Keith so special that you don't use them on him huh?" Pidge raised an eyebrow.

"He's Keith ," Lance pointed at him. "Isn't that enough of an explanation?"

"Well anyway," Coran spoke over everyone. "What appears to be a cloaked figure has appeared at the edge of the light about thirty feet away."

Keith picked up his dice to roll a perception check and then promptly dropped it to the table. "I think I'm done actually," he stood up, refusing to make eye contact. "Sorry guys, you can play without me."

He walked away from the table without bothering to pick up any of his things. There was a pond not too far off from where their tents had been pitched and he headed in that direction. It was dark without any moonlight to guide him and he regretted not grabbing a flashlight.

Thankfully he managed to get to the pond's edge after tripping only three times. He felt a burst of anger in his chest and picked up a rock to throw as hard as he could, it made a satisfying splash.

He couldn't take the joking anymore, he couldn't sit there and listen to the lighthearted flirting as Lance all but out right stated that he didn't like him. He needed a break and there was no better place than where he was seated.

The pond acted as a mirror and reflected the starry sky up above back at him; he could see the belt of the galaxy and everything. He was willing to sit out there all night if he had to, there was no way he could go back any time soon.

It remained relatively quiet save for the water lapping against the shore and crickets for what he guessed to be around an hour before a set of footsteps came up behind him. "I don't want to talk about it Shiro," Keith mumbled. "Please leave me alone."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not Shiro," a voice he didn't immediately recognize spoke.

"Matt?" Keith looked over at him quizzically, his eyes adjusted enough to make out his facial features. "Did Shiro put you up to this?"

"Actually Katie did," Matt said. "She wanted me to make sure you were okay. They all did."

"I'm fine," Keith pulled his knees toward his chest. "It's been a long week."

"Wanna tell me about it?" Matt lounges into what seemed to be a relatively comfortable position considering that they were sitting on a bunch of rocks.

"My RA is a piece of shit," Keith didn't know why he was talking. "I asked her multiple times to make me a door decoration with the right name on it and every time she claims she forgot to," he sighed. "I haven't slept well recently because of dysphoria not to mention everything else on top of that. It's a lot of really small things that have been building up for a while and I don't know what to do about it. I kind of want to scream."

"Then do it," Matt said. "There's nobody around but us, go ahead and scream."

"I can't do that," Keith shook his head.

"I don't believe for a second that you don't wish to curse whatever gods there might be for putting you through this shit," Matt stood up. "I'll do it first."

"But the others might care," Keith shifted awkwardly.

"Nah, come on," Matt held out a hand and helped him to his feet. "You don't deserve to feel this shitty, you have to get it out somehow."

"Okay," Keith said. "Only if you go first though."

Matt nodded and cupped his hands around his mouth before letting out a loud shout. Keith joined in a second later. Before long they were yelling and shouting and cursing, sometimes making complaints other times just making noise.

"If god didn't design me to be gay then why are guys so fucking hot?"

"My name is my name you don't get to choose it for me."

"No, a nice young man like me shouldn't have a girlfriend he should have a boyfriend."

"Why are old ladies so judgmental?"

They shouted until Keith's throat felt raw and his chest lighter. "Okay, maybe you were right about that," his voice came out slightly hoarse.

"Told if you would feel good," Matt smiled, his voice equally hoarse. "Sometimes you do have to scream."

"It helps with some things that's for sure," Keith nodded and sat back down.

"Did it do much about the Lance thing?" Matt asked.

"You know about that too huh?" Keith winced.

"Bud, I have eyes," Matt said.

"Well apparently he doesn't," Keith sighed. "Everyone else knows about it."

"It wouldn't hurt to tell him," Matt said. "He's your friend and if what Katie says is right he always will be."

"I know," Keith said. "Doesn't make it any easier. Do you know what it's like to feel so strongly about somebody who's so oblivious to it?"

"Yeah," Matt nodded. "I know and you're right, it's not easy."

"Shiro?" Keith asked.

"That obvious?" Matt laughed. "He's my best friend, I can't mess that up."

"You won't," Keith said. "Take it from me that he feels the same."

"You know Katie and Hunk said the same thing," Matt nodded. "They also said that Lance feels the same for you."

"Shiro keeps saying that," Keith grumbled. "But I don't believe it."

"Well I'll promise you this. I'll give it a shot if you do," Matt smiled. "Maybe we'll both come out of this trip happier."

"Yeah, maybe," Keith stood up. "I need to go to bed."

"Everyone else is in bed already," Matt said. "There's room with Lance or with Shiro, it's up to you where you sleep. I think your stuff is in with Lance though."

"I'll sleep in there then," Keith said. "It can't do me any more harm than has already been done."

"Alright buddy," Matt gently cuffed him on the arm in a brotherly manner. "I'm free for pond yelling in the morning if you find it necessary."

Keith laughed and walked over to his tent; he stood outside for a minute to psych himself up and then he pulled the zipper and climbed in.

"Hey," Lance sat up when he came in. "You okay man?"

"Yeah," Keith plopped down on top of his sleeping bag. "Sorry for running off and ruining the game."

"Red fell through a trapdoor and we had to rescue you along with the Princess," Lance smiled his easy smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"How did that go?" Keith asked, thankful for the safe topic.

"Let's see... Green almost died and I had to carry her through some underground prison to find Yellow because we got separated," Lance laughed. "Let's just say we're lucky I'm good at seducing guards or we might not have made it out of there."

"Did you find out what the strange aura Yellow detected was?"

"That was Matt's character," Lance said. "I think we might be calling him Silver, he's a wizard in the school of necromancy."

"Interesting," Keith said. "Anything else eventful happen?"

"Some real freaky shit went down, I don't think I can do an explanation justice," Lance shook his head. "I'll ask Coran to give you a rundown next session."

"Thanks," Keith shifted, suddenly aware of their proximity. There wasn't much he could do about it in a two person tent though.

"I'm sorry for earlier," Lance bit his lip and looked down. "I freaked out on you and I shouldn't have. In the car," he explained.

"I might know why," Keith sighed. "You said I was talking in my sleep?"

"Yeah, you were," Lance nodded. "Not very coherently. There were some things I thought you said and it got to me you know. And then again during the campaign, I shouldn't have gotten into the weird flirting thing."

"I didn't mean to make things awkward between us," Keith tried his hardest to maintain eye contact. "You're one of my best friends, I don't want to have ruined that."

"What did you do that could've ruined it?" Lance stared at him incredulously.

Keith blinked a few times. "Okay I don’t think we're talking about the same thing. What did I say in my sleep?"

"You know what let’s leave this where it is," Lance said. "You don't know what I'm talking about, I don't know what you're talking about. We forget this misunderstanding and go back to whatever we had before."

"Okay deal," Keith nodded instantly. "We can ignore what happened today."

"Sounds good to me," Lance said. "In that case let's get some sleep. I'm planning on using my sleeping bag as a cushion and sleeping on top of it with a blanket. What about you?"

"I was thinking the same thing," Keith said. "We definitely have enough blankets for that."

"Just a warning, I'll probably end up cuddling you again if that's the sleeping arrangement. Will that bother you?"

Keith knew he should say yes. He was already messed up in regards to this entire situation and letting himself sleep in Lance's arm again—this time knowing that it really wasn't anything special—was a bad idea even for him. "Go ahead," he shrugged. "I didn't mind it last night, it was pretty comfy."

"Sweet," Lance grinned and Keith melted a bit inside—the things he would do for that smile. "I liked it too."

"Well time for bed then," Keith turned away even though the darkness hid his blush for him. "Big things tomorrow."

"That is true," he heard Lance laugh and lie down beside him.

Just like last night a pair of arms wrapped around him and he settled into them. Tomorrow for sure this wouldn't happen again; he couldn't let it happen again if he had any hope of recovering from his feelings. This time Keith didn't even bother trying to fight off the urge to snuggle up against the other boy. He didn't realize how tired screaming at the pond had made him until he closed his eyes and felt a pleasantly sleepy buzz settle over him.

"You're really comfy," Keith nuzzled against Lance's chest. "I don't know why I don't let myself do this more often."

"Hmm?" Lance sounded just as tired. "You should. You're warm."

"You're a good sink," Keith attempted to nuzzle further in and found that he couldn't.

"That makes you my source," he could hear the smile in Lance's voice. "You're the best source I could hope for. I really love you man."

Even in his half-asleep state Keith knew Lance meant that in a friend way; he was exactly the kind of person who told his friends he loved them at every opportunity. Before he had a chance to reply, Lance's breathing evened out and he fell asleep with his head buried in the crook of Keith's neck.

"I love you too man," Keith whispered, allowing sleep to overtake him as well. "More than a friend." The last thing he remembered before he was dead to the world was the sound of Lance's heartbeat, strong and steady in his ear.

That heartbeat was the first thing he heard upon waking up. There was just enough light coming into the tent to tell him that the sun would be rising soon. In their sleep, he and Lance had formed what was best described as a human pretzel. Their legs were twined together and Lance's arm had ended up on top of Keith's chest sometime in the night. His other arm was trapped beneath Keith's ribcage and would definitely be asleep.

A few minutes later he felt Lance stirring and it was still early enough that he did the only reasonable thing, he closed his eyes and pretended to still be asleep. "Keith," Lance whispered, shifting slightly and moving his arm down so it rested on Keith's stomach instead of his chest. "Sorry that ended up there, I know you aren't comfy with it." He kept talking in a low gentle voice that made it hard for Keith to keep up his act.

Lance moved again, shifting both of them so that Keith was partially lying on top of him. "That's better," Lance continued to talk softly. "Now you’re my personal blanket, I could get used to this."

"Okay," Keith mumbled, forgetting for a second that he was supposed to be asleep.

"Huh?" Lance poked him gently. "Oh," his voice fell. "Sleep talking again. Wonder what you're dreaming about."

"You," Keith let the word fall from his mouth. If Lance thought he was sleeping he might as well speak the truth.

"I wish buddy," Lance ran a hand through Keith's hair. "But no, you're going to wake up soon and go back to the grumpy old Keith who wouldn't be caught dead cuddling like this, at least not with me."

Keith hummed softly and and shifted his head so that it was centered on Lance's chest. He dreaded the time when he would have to get up and leave the embrace for good. "You," he mumbled again.

"Good things I hope," Lance continued to lightly card his fingers through Keith's hair. "Wouldn't wish any bad dreams on you, Bright Eyes. Today's a big day after all. The sun and the moon are aligning for us."

Lance went silent for a while after that and the air was soon filled with the chirping of birds indicating that the sun had peeked over the horizon. They had a few hours before waking up was necessary.

"When you wake up I hope you won't be upset about this," Lance spoke again. "I know I shouldn't hold you like this when it means nothing to you. Don't be too grumpy with me."

"I am awake," Keith opened his eyes slowly and raised them to meet Lance's.

"Oh shit," Lance whispered, too stunned to do anything else. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have-"

"Shh," Keith hushed. "Go back to sleep, it's still early."

"But..." Lance trailed off. "Did you hear all of that then?"

"Yes," Keith nodded. "Don't ruin the moment." He reached to take Lance's hand in his own and squeezed it.

"Is this real?" Lance breathed in disbelief.

"If you want it to be."

Keith closed his eyes again and willed himself back toward an unconsciousness filled with images of Lance. It was warm and safe there and only made stronger by the presence of the boy in his arms. He didn't quite fall asleep and instead entered the honey-filled landscape of semi consciousness—he didn't want to wake up.

When a few more hours passed and it was nine in the morning instead of six, he did wake up much to his disappointment. He slid out from underneath his shared blanket and made sure it was covering Lance before he stepped outside into the morning air.

He wasn't the first person to awaken, Shiro was already up and clutching a mug in his hands. "Morning Keith," he smiled an easy smile. "You sleep well?"

"Yeah," Keith nodded—fantastic was more like it. "Did you?"

"I stayed up longer than I should have," Shiro said. "But yes, I did once I fell asleep."

"You talked to Matt?" Keith guessed. "How did that go?"

"Yes and no," Shiro spun the mug in his hands. "He asked me if I thought aliens exist."

"They do," Keith said immediately. "My mom was an alien."

Shiro cracked a smile at that. "I told you that joke a long time ago."

"I know, I was what, five?" Keith asked. "That was forever ago. Man I was still a normal kid back then, but I was completely convinced."

"I hope you never change," Shiro said with a serious expression. "How's everything with Lance?"

"Is it too late to join my mom in the spaceship?" Keith stared up at the sky.

"That bad then?" Shiro asked.

"No, not really," Keith sighed. "I might even have a chance."

"That's good right?" Shiro smiled.

"Is it bad that I don't know?" Keith asked.

"That's fine," Shiro said, patting him on the shoulder. "You don't have to."

"This doesn't feel real," Keith buried his face in his hands.

"What's his crisis about today?" The crunching of rocks underfoot indicated the arrival of Pidge.

"Same as always," Shiro answered. "Boy problems."

"All my problems are boy problems," Keith groaned. "Either by the fact that I am one or by the existence of another."

"Well you're my favorite boy," Pidge poked him in the ribs. "A bit of an asshole, but cool."

"Thanks little birdy," Keith stood up straight.

"Now go put your space shirt on," Pidge gently shoved him back toward his tent, an action rendered ineffective by their height difference. "The hours are counting down, I got up early for this so everyone else must suffer too."

Keith knew better than to argue with a Pidge on the warpath, it was best to do what she wanted of him sooner rather than later. "You up yet Lance?" He asked as he stepped back into their tent. "Pidge has deemed it morning and demanded we all don our space shirts."

"Hmm," Lance blinked and yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I'm up I'm up," he extracted himself from the blankets winding themselves around his legs. “Do you change first? Do I change first? Do you care if we change at the same time?"

"I've seen you change a million times before," Keith shrugged and grabbed his bag. "It's no big deal."

"Yeah but...you know," Lance gestured at him. "You've got that whole thing going on and don't change in front of other people."

"Yes and I also woke up to your hand almost stuffed down my shirt," Keith said. "You know they're there, I can't do anything about them yet. It's fine, we can change at the same time."

"I'll be sure not to look anyway," Lance turned his back as best he could in the cramped space.

"Fuck, Lance I-" Keith closed his eyes and forced himself to stop talking. He couldn't put a name to the swelling feeling in his chest and head—he could put a name to it, he didn't want to.

"What?" Lance turned back toward him with a quizzical look.

Keith's heart was on his sleeve and he knew it. "I was going to sneeze but it died." It was a shitty excuse but neither of them commented on it.

"Okay then," Lance looked away.

Keith bit his lip and went back to rummaging through his bag. He pulled his shirt up over his head and tossed it aside in favor of the red half binder sitting at the top of his bag. He was not expecting the tent to be too short for him to easily pull the garment on and he found that it got stuck around his shoulders.

"Lance don't laugh," Keith said. "I'm a little bit stuck here, can you pull the back of my binder down for me? I don't have enough wiggle room in here to do it myself."

"That does not look comfortable," he felt Lance's hands on his back. "You do this every day?"

"Pretty much," Keith nodded.

Lance slid his fingers under the rolled up section in the back and he gently slid it down so that it straightened itself out. "Is that good?" He didn't move his hands.

Keith glanced back over his shoulder and found that Lance had the softest smile on his face. "Yeah," he breathed. Neither of them moved for what felt like an eternity.

"Uh, thanks," Keith broke the silence and jolted forward away from the Lance. He grabbed for his tank top and stepped out of the tent with only his binder covering his chest. Of course he didn't realize until after he was out that he hadn't taken the time to adjust his binder in the front. "Fuck it," he shrugged and lifted the bottom edge of his binder so he could position everything properly. He could still feel the ghost of Lance's touch as he walked away from the tent and toward the tables where Shiro had pulled out a bucket of food.

He snatched a granola bar out of the bucket and took a seat on the table top. "Morning. You like my shirt?" Matt waved at him from where he sat my hung on an apple.

"Your shirt is gay," Pidge shouted before anyone else could answer.

"You mean an astronaut riding a unicorn through a rainbow is gay?" Matt asked in fake shock. "Damn, I was going for subtle."

"Matt you consider being gay to be to defining point of your entire personality," Shiro stated. "Did you ever tell them how you came out to me?"

"Oh is it storytime now?" Lance walked over, wearing a short sleeve button up shirt decorated with a planet motif.

"I love storytime," Hunk chimed in.

"I think we would all like to hear this," Allura said.

"Am I telling it or you?" Matt asked.

"I vote Shiro," Keith said.

"This is gonna be good," Pidge's smile said that she would be using that information against her brother.

"We were ten or eleven I think," Shiro said. "Fifth grade I think. So of course everyone else our age was beginning to date."

"Elementary school relationships," Matt added. "They last all of three days."

"Yeah well Matt here had the brilliant idea that the two of us should date," Shiro laughed. "And I agreed to it for some reason."

"I picked a flower for you," Matt said. "You would've been heartless not to."

"It was an ugly flower Matt," Shiro rolled his eyes. "So anyway, we went on a date to that good park with the swing set. Which is exactly what we did most of the times we hung out. And him being the big romantic that he is decided to tell me on what was supposed to be a date that he thought he might be gay."

"I was concerned," Matt said. "I thought that Daniel kid in class was really cute. So I asked you to be my girlfriend."

"Real logical Matt," Shiro laughed, bringing out a lighter side to him that Keith didn't often see. "He wanted to be sure so he asked if he could kiss me."

"You said yes so this isn't all on me," Matt raised his hands in defense.

"Yeah well we kissed and you said word for word 'Yep, I'm definitely gay,'" Shiro shook his head at the memory. "That was my first kiss and you insulted me two seconds after."

"Hey I thought you were a girl," Matt laughed. "It was my first kiss too."

"Well Shiro is a guy now," Pidge said. "So if kissing him was so bad that must mean you're straight."

"Nonbinary man," Shiro corrected.

At the same time Matt shouted, "Never! I'm as gay as they come."

"Well clearly something went wrong with that kiss," Keith said after Pidge prodded him in the ribs with one of her bony elbows.

"I mean Shiro isn't completely male," Hunk reasoned. "So I don't think it counts against it."

"Thank you Hunk," Matt nodded. "Plus my shirt is too gay for me to be straight."

"Hey Keith, you gonna put your shirt on or just walk around in your binder all day," Shiro looked over at him.

"Oh yeah," Keith took the tank top off his shoulder and pulled it on.

"And now Keith is more gay than you," Pidge stuck her tongue out at Matt.

"Where did you get that?!" Matt's eyes widened. "I need it."

Keith's tank top was black with a rainbow alien on it reading 'Nobody knows I'm a gay alien.' "I don't remember," he shrugged.

"He won't answer that," Lance said. "I've asked before, we all have."

"I want one that says 'Nobody knows I'm a trans alien,'" Pidge said. "I told him we could get matching ones with Shiro as well but he still won't budge."

"Shiro is already wearing a shirt that says he's nonbinary," Keith said. "And Matt's shirt is gay enough as it is. Lance's shirt has the bi pride colors on it and Hunk's literally proclaims that he loves everybody. You chose the alien flipping people off shirt Pidge, that's on you."

"Actually why are you dressed so nicely Lance?" Allura asked. "We're all dressed for a lazy day and you're in business casual."

"I wanted to be fancy," Lance shrugged. "Isn't that enough?"

Keith knew exactly what the look everyone shared meant and he hastily tied his hair back with the hair tie on his wrist. There were enough of them that they acted fast enough to catch Lance before he could get away.

"Hunk I thought you loved me man," Lance weakly tried to get out his friend's grip as they marched him toward the pond.

"Sorry Lance," Hunk laughed.

"This is what you get," Pidge said.

It took both Shiro and Hunk to toss Lance into the pond and he came up spluttering and glaring. "Oh it's on," a very wet Lance climbed out of the pond and grabbed Pidge, dragging her in along with him.

Shiro was the next to go in, tossing his shirt behind him before looping an arm around Matt and dragging him in with him. Twin surgical scars sat proudly on his chest surrounded by several other scars that stretched from one shoulder to the other—it was impossible to tell what the two uniform scars were without already knowing.

"You getting in Keith?" Lance grinned up at him.

"I don't know," Keith shifted awkwardly before a hard shove sent him into the water. He turned to find that Allura was responsible. "Hunk take care of her please."

A few seconds later Allura was in the water as well. "I deserved that," she said. "Come on Hunk."

Hunk laughed and jumped in as well. "Did anyone bring any towels?" He asked, always the reasonable one.

"Coran is on the phone with his partner," Allura said. "But he'll bring us something to dry off with later."

"I'm going to sunburn," Pidge said, not sounding upset about it. "I feel like a drowned rat."

"You look like a drowned rat," Matt took the opportunity to dunk her head back under water. Pidge managed to climb onto his back after that and from there it was full on war between the siblings.

"Hey Keith," Lance shouted, splashing him once he turned in that direction.

"Oh fuck off," Keith grinned, surging forward. "I'll get you for that."

"Don't overwork yourself Keith," Shiro said in a stern voice. "You're binding."

"It's properly sized and broken in," Keith assured him. "You know it's safe to have in the water."

"Just reminding you."

"I know, I'm being safe," Keith turned his attention back to Lance who had used the opportunity to sneak farther away. "You get back here."

Lance laughed and dove under the water the grab Keith's legs. Keith crashed into the water and was pulled into a hug once he was under the surface. "Is here fine?" Lance asked once they both resurfaced, his arms still wrapped around Keith's torso.

"Hmm, I don't know," Keith teased. "I think you're still in trouble with me."

Lance's grin spread across his face and he leaned forward, halving the gap between them. "What about here?"

Keith smacked the surface of the water with a hand and splashed Lance on the side of the face, getting himself too in the process. "That's better," he leaned forward as well, leaving only an inch or two between them. He could feel Lance's breath on his face. He lifted his eyes the few inches necessary to make eye contact and smiled.

"Think we should get closer?" Lance whispered, his eyes having a magnetic effect on Keith.

"Definitely," Keith's gaze dropped to Lance's lips and then back to his eyes. His hands had found their way up to Lance's shoulder and he lifted one to cup Lance's cheek. There was no going back from it now, even though everything logical was screaming at him to stop. He ignored that part of his brain and did three things at once: he closed his eyes, stood up on his tiptoes, and leaned in. His nose brushed against Lance's as the space between them shrank to nothing. It was warm and soft.

And the next thing he knew, both he and Lance were underwater before he could tell if their lips had met or not. When he came up spluttering he was surrounding by the rest of his friends playing innocent.

"That was gay," Matt grinned at the two of them and Keith was pretty sure he winked as well.

"I'm done here," Keith suddenly realized what had almost happened and he needed to move. Coran hadn't come by with towels yet but it was sunny enough that it didn't matter, he found a patch on the grass to lie down in.

"We were just joking around," Hunk said, following him out of the water. "You aren't upset about that are you?"

"No," Keith shook his head. "I expected as much from you guys."

"You seem upset," Hunk said. "So something is bothering you."

The others seemed to have gone onto better things and were back to laughing and splashing each other. "Maybe it's the fact that I am completely, irreversibly, unreasonably in love with your best friend," Keith sighed.

"The big L word?" Hunk asked.

"I'm afraid so," Keith groaned. "Hunk I am beyond fucked."

"Okay so you're in love with him," Hunk said. "That's not much different than how you've felt about him already."

"How does one do this?" Keith asked. "How do you not die from the feelings?"

"Easy," Hunk flicked him on the arm. "You talk about it."

"Not happening," Keith shook his head. "No way."

Hunk merely laughed. "Well that's your problem to deal with then. You're a smart guy, you can figure this out."

"Who decided that I was allowed to have feelings?" Keith grumbled. "I was content not feeling like this all the time."

"Keith listen up," Hunk paused to make sure he had his attention. "Doing nothing is going to leave you like this. You either need to act on it and risk the disappointment or you have to let him go. It's your choice."

"I don't want to let go," Keith sat up. "I don't want to lose him but it's not like I have him in the first place." He looked over to where Lance stood in the pond with his head thrown back in laughter and his much too fancy shirt dangling limply from his frame, he looked at home in the water—he felt like home to Keith.

"Then tell him," Hunk nudged him with his elbow. "It doesn't have to be now, but it should be soon."

"You're his best friend," Keith sat up straight. "Do I have a chance?"

"I can't betray any secrets he's confessed to me," Hunk smiled knowingly. "But if I had to guess, I'd say you have a million chances if you act on it."

"You guys have a good swim?" Keith was saved from responding by Coran's arrival.

"And girls Coran," Allura added to his statement. "Guys and girls and Shiro."

"Did you guys, girls, and Shiro have a good swim?" Coran asked again, setting down a bag filled with beach towels. "Sorry for taking so long on the phone, you know how my partner is."

"Was it him or did you go off on a tangent about the rotation of the moon?" Allura teased her godfather as she grabbed a bright pink towel and took it to her white hair.

"I do not go off on tangents that easily," Coran defended himself.

"Yes and I don't believe in aliens," Pidge said with a straight face.

"And I'm straight," Matt said, his expression mirror that of his sister's.

"And I don't like dogs," Hunk added.

"And I'm not handsome," Lance winked and shot a pair of finger guns to the side.

"And I am a calm and collected person," Shiro said.

"And I-" Keith tried to add something but fell into laughter before he could. "I don't know what's more unrealistic, a non tangential Coran or a calm Shiro," he snorted.

"I think Hunk disliking dogs would be the biggest travesty there," Allura said. "Who would volunteer at the animal shelter with me then?"

"Katie not believing in aliens?" Matt shook his head. "I'd have to go on a journey to find my real sister if that were the case."

"Keith here is at least one-fourth alien," Shiro said. "So he's living proof."

"I thought I was half alien?" Keith said. "You're downgrading me. I thought I was your favorite little brother."

"Not by blood," Shiro teased. "And yeah, I guess you can be my favorite."

"You're still making that joke?" Matt asked. "He's literally your cousin so you are related by blood."

"Well we aren't brothers by blood," Keith said.

"You're adopted, Keith," Pidge said. "I hate to be the one to break it to you."

"What do you mean?" Keith put a hand to his chest in mock dramatics. "That's not possible."

"Guys, five minutes until first contact," Hunk spoke up excitedly. "We better get our glasses ready."

"Mine are back in the tent," Lance said. "I'll go get those, I want to change my shirt anyway."

"There's a package on the table with the rest of them in it," Allura told Lance. "Can you bring that back with you?"

"Sure thing," Lance turned and ran off in the direction of the tents.

"You all are in for a big treat," Coran said. "I remember the first time I saw a solar eclipse. I was a wee one just like you are now."

"Coran I am a man in my mid twenties," Matt said. "I wouldn't consider that a wee one."

"You're young, that's all that counts," Coran waved away the comment.

"He's been to outer space," Pidge said, something she brought up all the time. "And he gets to go back. It's not fair."

"It's my job Katie," Matt laughed. "I am quite literally an astronaut."

"We all know that," Shiro said. "So this shouldn't be that impressive to you huh?"

"I don't think the space station is quite the same as an eclipse," Keith said.

"I don't think any of them care about the semantics," Hunk said. "They just like arguing."

"Fair point," Lance laughed, rejoining the group. He had changed into a well worn t-shirt with the NASA logo on it. "Arguing is half the fun."

"Thanks for grabbing these Lance," Allura took the package from him and opened it, revealing a dozen pairs of eclipse glasses.

"First contact should be any second now," Coran said. "You'll be able to see partial coverage in a few minutes."

Keith snatched a pair of glasses and found a nice spot to sit on the grass. He folded the sides down and slid them on his face. "It's an orange circle," he said. "How many minutes?"

"It'll be noticeable in five," Hunk said. "This is going to be great."

Everyone else donned a pair of glasses and sat in a circle around him. Lance took the spot right next to him and their hands were just barely touching.

"Ooh I see it!" Pidge flapped her hands in happiness. "A little sliver of black on the top right."

"You're right, that's it," Coran told her.

"It's so cool!" She laughed.

"Cool is right," Coran smiled and Keith knew they were about to be subjected to a long winded lecture about the topic.

He chose to pay attention to the proximity of Lance's hand instead of Coran. There was about a centimeter of space in between their hands and he was deliberating whether Lance had done that intentionally or not.

He stared at it hard enough that he was almost certain Lance could feel it. It still took him by surprise when Lance outstretched his pinky and set it on top of his own. Keith smiled and let his finger link around Lance's.

This small connection between the two of them was enough to reopen the well inside his chest. He wanted this more than anything. He couldn't allow himself to have it, but he wanted it. It was Keith who extended his ring finger and added that to their conjoined fingers.

"Where the fuck did that come from?!" An unexpected voice pulled him from his trance. Hunk wasn't one to swear often so hearing him do so was enough to grab anyone's attention.

"Wait what?" Lance asked. "What's going on."

"That cloud up there," Allura pointed at a thick dark cloud that definitely hadn't been there earlier.

"What's the time at?" Keith asked. "It might have enough time to move away."

"Twenty-five minutes," Coran answered. Keith's eyes widened, an hour had passed and he hadn't even noticed.

"Maybe we should try yelling at it," Lance suggested. "It has to get the idea eventually right?"

"Yeah," Pidge stood up and flipped the cloud off with both hands. "Suck my dick, Ra!" She yelled with as much anger as her small body could muster.

"Wait Katie, stay like that," Matt stood up as well. "Let me take a picture and send it to Mom. She wants to know how you've been."

"We both know that you want this for your personal collection of blackmail photos but go ahead," Pidge rolled her eyes. "By all means send it to Mom too, let her see how much you've corrupted your innocent baby sister."

"Pidge you swear more than the rest of us put together," Hunk said. "I doubt Matt is responsible for that."

"You're right," Pidge plopped down again. "Keith is."

"I am not," Keith shook his head. "I taught you one swear word Pidge, one."

"Yes but I was only four," Pidge said. "A small innocent child."

"You were taller than me back then," Keith remembered it hazily. "I was only visiting for a week."

"Shiro's family and the Holts were neighbors right?" Lance asked. "I think Pidge has mentioned that before."

"Yes," Shiro answered. "Pidge is referring to when Keith and his dad came to visit. I didn't see him again after that until we took him in, but little Pidge spent the next year shouting 'fuck' at everything. I don't think she knew what it meant."

"My father would have washed my mouth out with soap for that," Allura laughed. "He did not appreciate children swearing."

"Your father was a great man though," Coran squeezed her shoulder. "And he raised an excellent daughter."

"Hell yeah he did!" Lance grinned.

"Allura is awesome as fuck," Pidge nodded in agreement.

"Thanks you two," Allura smiled.

"Allura is a sweetheart," Matt added. "But that cloud is homophobic."

"Matt not everything is homophobic," Shiro rolled his eyes.

"You're right," Matt nodded. "The vacuum of space would never do this to me."

"We could try more yelling," Keith suggested. "I want to yell at the sky," he leapt to his feet and pulled Lance up with him by their conjoined hands. "Fuck off!"

"I bet you got rejected from cloud school," Lance shouted, laughing his own joke.

The others joined in as well and they spent ten minutes screaming up at the sky in an attempt to part the cloud. "Do we have to bargain with God?" Hunk asked. "Will she accept cookies? I'll make God cookies."

"Try positive reinforcement," Coran suggested. "It might just do the trick."

"Did you hear about the cloud who went to the doctor’s?" Lance asked.

"What about it," Shiro said with a sigh.

"His condition is cirrus," Lance said. "What do clouds wear under their pants?"

"What Lance?" Pidge rolled her eyes.

"Thunderwear," Lance looked proud of himself. "What do-"

"Maybe let's not torture the cloud with bad jokes," Keith said. "I would like to see the eclipse."

"I say we cheer it on," Hunk said. "You're doing great up there, keep it up!" He cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Two minutes until totality," Coran said.

"Come on," Keith shouted. "Move!"

"Move, move, move, move, move," the whole group stood up and chanted, glaring at the slow-moving cloud as if it were the devil himself.

Keith was about to give up and sit back down when the edge of the sun became visible in a thin spot of the cloud. "Did that fucking work?" He wondered aloud, using his glasses to look at the tiny sliver that remained uncovered.

"Thirty seconds," Hunk read off his watch.

"You can take the glasses off once it hits totality," Coran reminded them.

"Look, the cloud shifted," Allura pointed excitedly at the sky as the light dropped and the corona became visible. The transition from light to dark was sudden and breathtaking.

Keith let his glasses drop and his stared up at with his mouth slightly agape. "Woah," he whispered. "That's amazing."

They stood in shocked silence for a few seconds before everyone let out a cheer—even the very confused crickets seemed to be cheering. "This has got to be the greatest thing I've ever seen!" Pidge flapped her arms.

Keith found himself imitating the movement with his free arm, the other hand was still loosely hooked around Lance's. "Space is fucking cool."

"Shiro get over here man," Matt gestured at him. "This is the best time I could possibly say this. I fucking love you man."

"Oh thank god," Shiro stepped closer to him. "I fucking love you."

"Go ahead, kiss him," Pidge gestured at them. "It's been long enough."

Shiro was just tall enough that Matt had to stand on his tiptoes but that requirement was negated by Shiro practically picking Matt up. Keith heard the sound of a phone camera go off and he knew Pidge had taken a picture of it.

Lance dropped his hand and wrapped that arm around his shoulders instead, stepping over so that the entirety of their sides were touching. "This is beautiful," he breathed. "I think I'm the luckiest man in the world right now."

"I bet Matt would disagree," Keith leaned his head against Lance's shoulder as best he could while still watching the eclipse.

"I could fall in love like this," Lance said, not acknowledging Keith's statement.

"I already did," Keith found himself saying—there was no point in hiding it anymore.

"Yeah," Lance nodded. "With what?"

"You," the single syllable was more massive than the sun.

"Oh," there was no question in the word, no acceptance, just a flat unreadable sound.

"I want to lie down," Keith said. "There should be a minute left still."

Lance wordlessly removed his arm and took his hand once again so that the two of them could lie on the ground and stare at the sky. "I want to go there someday," he said. "The stars."

"I would go with you," Keith said.

"Good," he could hear a smile in Lance's voice. "I wouldn't want it any other way. In fact, we should all go together. We could have a big ship, maybe travel the galaxy fighting bad guys."

"Shiro always used to joke that my mom is out there," Keith said. "Maybe we could find her."

"I could fall in love up there," Lance mimicked his earlier statement.

"I already did," Keith repeated as well.

They let silence fall between them for the remainder of totality, neither speaking nor moving until the sun had peeked out behind the moon and lit up the world again. The fullness of the light seemed to break whatever spell had settled over them.

"When exactly is the next one?" Hunk was the first person to speak. "I'm putting it on my calendar now."

"I don't know what to say," Pidge shook her head. "I don't think I'll ever see anything that great again."

"I am definitely gay," Matt mumbled under his breath, just loud enough that everyone could hear.

"Is that the only thing you're capable of saying after kissing me?" Shiro asked, a light and playful tone lacing his words. He looked happy.

"Hmm, we could try it again," Matt grinned up at him hopefully.

"Fair point," Shiro mirrored the grin and leaned down to press his lips to Matt.

Matt's face seemed to be permanently stained red once they pulled apart. "Yep, definitely gay," he nodded. "You're comfortable with that yes?"

"Yes," Shiro confirmed.

"Okay that's enough of that," Lance said, standing with his arms crossed. "We have an eight hour drive and the tents are still up."

"There are eight of us and three vehicles heading back," Coran said. "How would you like to split up?"

"Matt's coming back too?" Keith asked. "I thought he was heading the other direction."

"No," Matt shook his head. "I'm overdue for a visit home and I have the time off to take it."

"Matt, Coran, and Keith are the ones with vehicles so clearly they'll all be riding separately," Pidge said. "Shiro will probably go with Matt and Lance will probably go with Keith. I'm not one for eight hours of romantic tension be it resolved or not, so I'm riding with Coran."

"I'll join Pidge," Allura said. "We were having a lovely conversation earlier that I'd like to continue."

"Do you want me to ride with you Keith?" Hunk asked.

Keith thought about that for a minute. He knew Hunk had offered to act as a buffer to whatever was going on with Lance at the moment. "I'll be fine if you don't," he said. "But I'd never say no if you wanted to."

"I'll ride halfway with you and the other half with Coran," Hunk said. "That sound good?"

"Fine by me," Keith nodded.

"I'll stick with you," Lance said, affirming Pidge’s assumption. "Can't have you driving without anyone else in the car. Plus we can switch off if necessary."

"Well that's settled," Coran clapped his hands. "Let's take down these tents now. When I was just a wee Boy Scout I could do this with my eyes closed."

Keith was suddenly glad that his tent was the farthest from Coran's and he was saved from hearing another ramble about the man's youth—it wasn't that it was boring, it just tended to get long winded at times.

“Hey, Keith.” Shiro bumped him with his elbow before he made it to his car with the first armload of stuff.

“Yeah?” Keith glanced up to see identical expressions on Shiro and Matt’s faces.

Shiro raised up his and Matt’s conjoined hands and smiled. “Your turn.”

Keith opened his mouth to reply but before he could conjure up the words the other two had already walked away. Their message was clear enough.

As always, repacking seemed to take up twice as much space as it had the day before. "Okay where did all these blankets come from?" He asked after shoving what had to be the seventh blanket into his backseat.

"I swear I only brought one," Lance raised his hands in defense. "I don't know anymore than you do."

"I don't recognize any of these either," Hunk shrugged. "Don't question it."

"I won't," Keith said.

With two people, taking down the tent went quickly and soon enough there was no sign that they had been camped out. He wished they were staying another night.

"Did anyone ever pick up that dice set Pidge threw?" Coran asked. "I do wish for those back."

"He remembered," Hunk groaned, producing a small bag from his pocket. "We were hoping to bury the evidence before he found out."

"Too bad," Keith shook his head. "Those things corrupt even the best of dice."

"Let them die Coran, let them die," Hunk tossed the bag over.

"They're already dice," Coran laughed at his own joke.

"Well that's it folks," Matt said loudly. "It's over, we're done here, time to leave."

"Seconded," Allura gently pushed Coran toward his car. "Do we all want to stop for lunch together?"

"The nearest place is two hours away," Pidge said. "I think it might have options."

"I'm good with a McDonald's," Keith said. "It's fast."

"Keith buddy, no offense but you have the worst taste out of all of us here," Lance shook his head. "You don't get to pick."

"I'm driving it's my choice," Keith jangled his keys in front of Lance's face.

"Alright, I'm not that hungry yet," Shiro said. "So if want more choices we could stop where we did on the way up, there was a food court there."

"That sounds good to me," Hunk said. "I liked what I had there the other day."

"Best we head out now," Coran made a shooing gesture away from himself. "Time to go."

Keith swung himself into his driver's seat and slid the seat a few inches forward—Lance had ridiculously long legs. "Hunk you can pick music." He ignored the disappointed sigh from Lance and pulled out of the campsite ahead of everyone else.

Not even fifteen minutes had passed before Hunk and Lance started singing along to the music the latter dancing along as best he could in the cramped backseat. "Keith!" Lance shouted in joy. "You have to join in!"

"No I don't." Keith didn't move his eyes from the road.

"Hunk can you believe how un-fun this guy is?" Lance whined. "I can't believe I associate myself with him. I can't believe I like him."

"Lance you like everybody." Keith only spoke the truth—Lance made it a point to let that be a well known fact.

"He doesn't listen to my music very often," Hunk said. "I doubt he can sing along very well."

"Thank you Hunk." Keith briefly glanced out of the corner of his eye.

"Fine," Lance huffed. "We should play a game then."

"I have a couple hundred trivia podcasts on my phone," Hunk offered. "You know, the ones we listen to when you can't sleep."

"I like trivia," Keith said. "That sounds good to me."

The first few questions were all on music that Keith had never heard before, Lance seemed to know all the answers. "1987," Lance shouted, answering the last question in the round. "All those songs were released in 1987."

"How do you know all those?" Hunk laughed. "I don't remember you listening to 80’s music."

"I just do." Lance sounded proud of himself.

The next category was on cephalopods. "Wait what the fuck?" Keith stared at the speakers. "Why do people grind up cephalopod skeletons for bird supplements?"

"I have no idea man," Hunk shrugged. "Nor do I know which cephalopod."

"I know that octopuses have eight legs," Lance said. "That's the extent of my knowledge on them."

"Calamari is squid," Hunk said. "That much I know."

"I don't know fuck about the ocean," Keith shook his head. "I would've expected more from Lance."

"Hey man," Lance said defensively. "Quiz me on my extensive bank of knowledge on sharks, not on cephalopods."

Needless to say they missed most of the questions in that round. The next went much better due to Keith's knowing more about swords than was necessary of any living person. They played a few more rounds after that before switching back to music.

"When do I get to pick the music?" Lance asked. "I have a playlist we could be listening to."

"Lance you have over eighty playlists," Hunk pointed out. "You have one for everything."

"But this a special one," Lance insisted. "It really is, I'm putting it on once Hunk switches cars. You can't stop me then."

"Take a nap Lance," Keith said. "Let us have some peace and quiet."

"Oh please you both love me." Lance stuck his tongue out—at least it sounded like he did.

Keith froze for a second before realizing that Lance was joking. Even though he had admitted to it in a lapse of judgment, he didn't want it brought up right away; he didn't want it brought up ever.

"No he's right," Hunk said. "Go to sleep Lance."

"I hate you two," Lance grumbled. The telltale rustling of blankets said that he listened though.

"Hunk how the hell do I deal with this?" Keith asked once Lance started snoring. "He's so..."

"Dramatic?" Hunk offered.

"Perfect," Keith finished. "He's perfect, I hate everything about him."

"No you don't," Hunk laughed. "I never thought you'd be the one coming to me about this. Now Lance, he's always on about someone. You know how he is. 'Hunk, the girl I sit next to in chem smells like flowers,'" Hunk imitated. "'Hunk, that boy smiled at me, help.'"

"He's hopeless." Keith smiled, he was hopeless too. "But you give good advice. Hunk this boy keeps acting like he might reciprocate my crush, what do I do?"

"Keith, let's say hypothetically I have a roommate. And let's assume this guy hypothetically never stops talking about people he finds attractive," Hunk said.

"Okay," Keith nodded. "Does this hypothetical roommate like anybody? More than just a fleeting fancy. Hypothetically of course."

"Hypothetically yes," Hunk stifled a laugh. "He hypothetically never shuts up about this boy in physics class and his hypothetical grey-purple eyes and his 'fucking mullet.' He's been talking about this hypothetical person for the past year just about, never drops it."

"Hypothetically?" Keith asked, allowing the barest hint of a smile to grace his lips.

"Hypothetically," Hunk nodded.

"And how would one win the heart of this hypothetical boy?"

"Talk about going to space, play into his competitive streak but keep it playful, tell him that his jokes are stupid," Hunk listed. "Get his family to love you, especially his mom, he's a mama's boy. Let him treat you like the most wonderful thing in existence, take him shopping and buy something ridiculous and matching."

"And what if this hypothetical boy doesn't actually like that boy you say he talks about," Keith started drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Oh no, he's head over heels," Hunk assured him. "Never seen him so far gone for someone before, it's a nice change."

"You sound pretty sure about this," Keith said.

"He's my best friend," Hunk said. "I know all of his deepest, darkest secrets."

Keith fell silent for a minute. "Thanks Hunk. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I want to see you happy," Hunk smiled. "That's all I want for all my friends."

"You really are the best." Keith let himself smile too.

The silence that fell over them after that was comfortable, though Keith was thinking so loudly he was almost certain Hunk could hear it. Even with confirmation from Hunk he couldn't believe it until he heard it from Lance himself, there was no way he would get his hopes up over nothing. Especially not when it came to the beautiful long-legged boy in his backseat.

There was no word that did him justice but beautiful came close. No explanation could adequately describe the color of his skin or how his eyes sparkled in the light. Nothing could come close to defining the feeling one got by watching him dance, his head thrown back without a care in the world. So Keith would call him beautiful until a better word arose.

"Hey lover boy," Hunk poked his arm to get his attention. "We're getting off at the next exit."

Keith threw on his blinker and moved over into the exit lane behind Matt—he hadn't noticed when the other car passed him. The town they pulled into was big enough to have a mall but small enough to not have major traffic.

"Wake up, Lance," Keith shouted once he parked the car. Lance didn't budge. "Hunk do something," he looked at him over the top of the car. "He's your roommate, how do you wake him up?"

Hunk opened Lance's door and undid his seatbelt after moving the blankets off of him. Keith couldn't see exactly what happened but a few moments later Lance was on his feet and blinking blearily in the bright sunlight.

"Morning sleeping beauty," Keith rolled his eyes. "Time for lunch. I'm getting McDonald's."

"I can't believe you," Lance mumbled sleepily, taking a few steps in his direction. "Bad taste."

"It's cheap, it tastes good, who am I to complain?" Keith turned and walked toward the building, Lance half a step behind him. Hunk had gone off and joined the others already.

"I just can't believe it," Lance shook his head. "I have to reconsider this friendship."

"I already have," Keith said, letting himself fall into easy banter. "I think I'll keep you around for a while, but you're on thin ice buddy."

"It's because of my stunning good looks isn't it?" Lance winked, already seeming much more awake than even ten seconds prior. "I keep you around for homework."

"I knew you were using me." Keith clicked his tongue. "I only like you because you buy me food."

"Well I only like you because you give good hugs," Lance countered.

"Go pick something to eat," Keith shooed him away once they reached the food court. "Unless of course you want to stick with me."

"Uh, no," Lance shook his head. "I'm going to find myself something palatable."

Keith rolled his eyes and headed in the direction of the all too familiar yellow M. He ate there often enough that he could order without glancing at the menu. They had gotten there after lunch rush had ended so he only had to wait a few minutes before he had his tray in hand and made it over to a two-person table since the others had picked a spot that wasn’t big enough for all of them.

Lance arrived a bit after that with a fancy looking salad. "Let me guess," he pointed at the bag. "Double quarter pounder no cheese, small fry, and a small drink half lemonade half sprite?"

"Yep," Keith nodded. "You know me well."

"Yeah, I know your awful taste in food that is," Lance scoffed.

"Says the one eating leaves," Keith pointed at the salad which admittedly did look really good, not that he would say anything about that to Lance.

He unwrapped his burger and lifted the bun to make sure that it didn't have cheese on it and then he bit into it. It had been over six hours since he'd had that granola bar at the campsite and he was definitely hungry.

Neither of them spoke a word until most of their food had been eaten. "Hey you want a bite?" Lance offered once he got down to the last little bit. "Or are you too afraid of eating these delicious leaves?"

"Yeah sure," Keith said. "I'll try your rabbit food."

"Don't let Pidge hear you call it that," Lance laughed. "Here," he gathered up a bite on his fork and held it up to Keith's face.

Keith tried his best to avoid making eye contact with Lance as he leaned forward and closed his mouth around the fork. He failed miserably and felt his face flush as he froze in place for a second. "Okay that was good," he spluttered once he managed to look away and lean back.

"Told you," Lance looked smug but there was a slight pink tinge to his beautiful brown cheeks—in that moment that was Keith's favorite color.

"Whatever," Keith rolled his eyes. "It wasn't that good."

"You're just jealous because your greasy burger can't compare," Lance teased. "Time to go now?"

Keith was about to say yes when he remembered something Hunk had said in the car. "Nah, I want to stretch my legs before we get back in," he said. "Want to walk around the shops?"

"Yes!" Lance's eyes lit up like a child at Christmas. "That'll be so much fun."

"Come on then," Keith grabbed his trash and stood up. "Let's find something cool to look at."

Lance bounded ahead of him in excitement and only slowed down after realizing how far ahead he had gotten. "Oh right, I forgot about your short legs," he teased, waiting for Keith to catch up.

"Oh fuck you," Keith rolled his eyes and found his way over to the mall directory. "Where do you want to go?"

Lance skimmed over the list of stores. "Let's try the toys and games store, my little nephew has a birthday coming up and I need to get something for him. We can stop in anything else that looks good along the way."

"Sounds good to me," Keith nodded. "Let's head that way."

Once again Lance walked off without regard to Keith and he found himself running to catch up. "Slow down, your long ass legs are giving you an unfair advantage."

"If it's so bad I'll just carry you," Lance joked.

"Fine then," Keith stared him down, knowing it would incite a challenge.

"You know what yeah," Lance turned his back toward him. "Jump up, I give the best piggy back rides."

Keith was slightly wary of doing so in a public place but he hopped on anyway, wrapping his legs and arms around Lance a lot tighter than was necessary.

"On we go!" Lance laughed and continued in the direction of the toy store.

The toy store was in the far corner of the building so they had a bit of ground to cover to get all the way over there, but not once did Lance break stride. He stopped at a bench in front of the store to let Keith off.

"I suppose that was passable," Keith nodded. It was more than passable, he was already wondering how he could get Lance to do it again. "What are we looking for?"

"Dinosaurs," Lance said. "He loves dinosaurs, he can spell pterodactyl, I certainly can't spell that."

"If it's any consolation, I can't either," Keith laughed. "So are we going stuffed animal or more like action figure?"

"Probably stuffed animals, he likes cuddly things," Lance said, making a beeline for the stuffed toy section.

"He must take after his uncle," Keith said. "You are a very cuddly person."

"What can I say?" Lance spread his arms out. "I have lots of love to go around and cuddling is a good way to share it."

"Good thing you aren't an octopus," Keith said. "Otherwise we'd never be able to get you to let go of people."

"People are soft and warm and they make feel all safe and loved inside," Lance smiled. "Maybe you should try it more often."

"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer," Keith returned the smile. "Now come on, we have dinosaurs on the agenda."

There was a sizable collection of dinosaur plushes to choose from. "I want to get all of these for him but there is no way I can afford that," Lance had a stegosaurus in one hand and a T-Rex in the other. "Which one is better?"

"Personally, I like the stegosaurus," Keith pointed. "It looks better for hugging but if he doesn't like purple then go with something else."

"You're right," Lance nodded. "It is better shaped for cuddling with, I'll get this one."

"Nice and easy," Keith smiled. "Want to look at the gaming stuff? I'm curious to see if they have any dice, I've been itching to get myself a second set."

They turned and walked to the other side of the store where there was a display full of dice and a bunch of gaming books. "Fuck these are so pretty," Lance held up a set of dice.

Keith took in the familiar black and blue sheen coupled with red lettering. "Lance," he rolled his eyes. "Those are literally the set you already have."

"Yes but they're pretty," Lance said. "They're so pretty." Keith fought off the urge to say that Lance was pretty.

Keith scanned his eyes over the dice sets to see if anything stood out to him. There was a set of red dice with gold glitter in them that he thought looked cool but didn't feel right. "Hmm, I don't know if I'm getting a vibe from any of these," he shook his head.

"That's too bad," Lance said. "They're on sale. Buy two get one free."

"That is a good deal," Keith tapped his fingers on the shelf. "I'll look again."

This time he went through them slowly, making sure to look at each set individually. He placed the ones he liked on the top shelf and kept looking. "So that's five you picked up," Lance counted. "Six if you count the set you're holding."

"I'm holding a-" Keith looked down. "Oh, these. I like these," they were black with light blue numbering and green and red speckles. "I really like these."

"Have you been chosen?" Lance smiled. "Do they call your name? 'Buy me Keith. Buy me.'"

"I'm not quite sure," Keith placed them in line with the other sets and compared them side to side, each time coming back to the set in question. "You know what, yes. I think I have to get these. Do you want to pick a set out too?"

"I like this," Lance opened his hand to show a similar set except his was dark blue with yellow numbers, the speckles were the same.

"Well if we're both getting a set we might as well get the free one," Keith said. "What should we get?"

"I have an idea!" Lance's grin said he was up to no good. "Let me see." He started shuffling through the dice sets, his tongue poked out in concentration. "Ha! Found it," he triumphantly held up a set of pink and black dice.

"The cursed set," Keith smiled, catching onto Lance's idea.

"We'll switch these out when Coran isn't watching," he said. "And then poof, no more cursed dice."

"You're a genius, I love you!" Keith was so excited at the prospect of getting rid of those dice that he didn't think about what he was saying.

"Yeah?" Lance's voice was soft and uncharacteristically quiet.

"Fuck," Keith muttered under his breath. "Never mind."

"Should we pay then?" Lance asked. "Three sets of dice and one dinosaur. Is that all?"

"Yeah," Keith nodded, avoiding looking straight at Lance. "Sounds good."

The cashier greeted them and rang up their items without much conversation. Keith hung back so as to not be roped into talking. "Have a good day you two," the cashier waved them off. "Cheers to the happy couple."

Keith's ears went red but he didn't bother correcting them, Lance didn't either he actually opted to swing his arm around Keith's waist as they walked out of the store calling behind him with a, "Thank you, have a nice day too!"

"You can let go of me now," Keith said once they were out of the store. "You didn't have to do that."

"They were totally gay though, we could have made their day," Lance said. "And honestly, I did it because I wanted to. I like holding you close like this, do you not?"

"No I do, I just..." Keith trailed off and shook his head. "I wouldn't say no to another piggyback ride."

Lance beamed at him and turned around. "Okay hop on then! I'll give you the best damn piggyback ride ever."

"God you're cute," Keith covered his face and groaned. "Why are you like this?"

"I can't help it Bright Eyes," Lance said. "It's a gift."

"You are going to be the death of me you know," Keith shook his head and hopped onto Lance's back again.

"That'd be too bad, I like you," Lance said.

Keith felt a smile spread across his face and he nothing to stop it. In that moment he was happy, and that was all he could ask for. "Stop anywhere you'd like," he said. "I'll get you something within reason."

Lance ended up stopping at a store that was filled with various socks. "I'm going to find the best pair ever."

"We can both get a pair," Keith suggested. "We can even match if you want."

"You would match with me?" Lance asked in surprise. "Now you're being cute."

"Sock hunt time," Keith said. He expected Lance to set him down, but he continued to carry him as they walked around the store.

"Ooh, these ones are gay," Lance held up a pair of rainbow socks. "They'd suit you."

"I think Matt might have an aneurysm if I get another gay thing," Keith laughed.

"True," Lance nodded. "They don't have a bi pair anyway, moving on."

"Here's a pair with sharks on them," Keith pointed. "It makes it look like they're eating your foot."

"That's funny," Lance laughed. "But my sweet docile predators would never eat me."

"We could go space themed to match our shirts?" Keith suggested. "There's a wide variety of space socks."

"They are pretty cool," Lance agreed. "I don't know if I would want space cadet or shooting star or astronaut or constellations though."

"You're right, too many choices," Keith said. "Moving on."

They went through each display rack with care, weighing the pros and cons of each pair. There were scores of animal themed socks, including a pair of puppy socks that they were tempted to get Hunk. They looked through narwhals and American flags, flowers and footballs, mathematical symbols and peace signs.

"Those constellation ones were pretty cool," Lance said after they had walked the perimeter of the store. "Maybe let's get those?"

"Okay," Keith agreed. "I did like those ones."

Lance turned and walked them back toward that pair. "Wait, stop, I see something," Keith reached above his head to a pair on the highest rack. "Look they have d20s on them."

"Holy shit," Lance grinned. "We have to get these. Is there another pair?"

"Yeah!" Keith pulled the second pair down. "One red and one blue."

"Perfect," Lance said. "Do you want down to check out or no?"

"I'm paying in cash," Keith said. "So nah, I'm good right here."

"Good," Lance squeezed his ankle.

"Did you find everything alright?" The cashier asked when they got to the register.

"Yep," Lance nodded. "It was a hard choice to make though, too many options."

"I hear that a lot," the cashier said. "You and your girlfriend there are pretty cute."

Keith grit his teeth and dug his fingers into Lance's shoulders to keep himself from snapping at the cashier—it wasn't their fault for making the assumption.

"Actually he's my boyfriend, but yeah he's definitely cute," Lance waved his hand as if it were nothing.

"Oh I am so sorry sir," the cashier apologized. "It was the long hair I think."

"Don't worry about it," Keith forced his voice to be deeper than usual. "Common mistake."

"You know what, I'll give you the friends and family discount," the cashier smiled, Keith noticed a rainbow flag pin next to their name tag. "As an apology."

"That's very kind of you," Keith smiled and handed over a twenty dollar bill.

"All right well here is your change," the cashier counted it back to them. "Have a great day!"

"You too!" Lance waved back.

"Why did you say I was your boyfriend?" Keith demanded the second they were out of earshot.

"It seemed the easiest way to correct them," Lance said. "I didn't think it through, I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Keith frowned. "Thank you I guess. I wasn't going to correct them."

"They were gay too," Lance shrugged. "Don't know how we managed to get two gay cashiers in a row but that was pretty cool. They could have a mall romance!"

"Lance no," Keith said. "Just no."

"To the car it is then," Lance laughed and took off at an almost run toward the nearest exit, bags dangling from both hands. "Wait," he skidded to a stop before they reached the doors, jolting Keith enough that he had to squeeze to stay on. "You have to take your binder off."

"I know," Keith sighed. "I don't want to though."

"Come on buddy you have to," Lance patted him on the leg. "It's for the best. Do you have something with you or do you need to grab something from the car?"

"I have a sports bra in the car somewhere," Keith mumbled. "But finding it might take too long, I can take it off in the bathroom and figure out something to change into in the car."

"The bathroom is right by the door," Lance pointed. "So nobody will have to see you on the way out."

"Okay, take me over there then," Keith said.

"Look, they have a gender neutral single stall," Lance set Keith down once they reached the bathrooms. "You can go change in there, I have to use the bathroom anyway."

Keith stepped into the single stall and locked the door behind him, at least it wasn't as cramped as the bathroom he had changed in the other day or the tent from that morning. He stood awkwardly inside the door once it was off and loosely clutched in one hand. It took a lot of mental deliberation before he was able to turn the lock and step out into the hallway.

Lance was waiting for him with a grin when he finally. "My main man," he said. "My favorite dude. Come hither, we have adventures to take."

Keith crossed his arms over his chest as best he could. "Okay then," he rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

"Keys," Lance held his hand out once they made it to the car. "I'm driving."

"Here," Keith tossed them over and climbed into the passenger seat, opting to wrap a blanket around himself instead of look for his bag.

"Time to get this party on," Lance danced in his seat for a minute before buckling himself in.

"Hey Lance?" Keith asked after they had been driving for a while.

"What man?"

"Was that, um..." the words died on Keith's lips. "Was that...never mind."

"What?" Lance asked. "Go ahead."

"Was that a date?" Keith asked his voice so quiet he wasn't sure if it was audible.

"I think so," Lance said. "Was it supposed to be?"

"I don't know," Keith looked down at his lap.

The silence between them was awkward, filled with too many words that went unspoken.

"Could you grab my phone for me and hook it up to the aux cord?" Lance asked after a painfully long silence.

"Yeah sure, what's the passcode?" Keith reached for the phone.

"534845," Lance said.

Lance's lock screen was light blue with a shark motif on it, exactly what Keith would expect from him. He was not, however, expecting to unlock the phone and find that Lance's home screen was the picture he had taken the night they studied for their exam.

Keith stared at the photo for longer than he should have. The fleeting glance he had of it the other day did nothing to show the pure adoration in his eyes or the protective bordering on possessive way Lance was holding him. If Keith didn't know the people in the photo he would have said they were deeply in love.

"Your background," he said softly. "Why?"

"It's a good picture," Lance said, matching his tone.

"But why?" Keith repeated.

"I always set my screen to something important," Lance said. "Could you go to my playlists and put on the one titled Space Boy?"

"Uh, sure," Keith didn't know what else to say so he did as he was asked and set the phone back down.

After a few songs he couldn't quite figure out the connection between them. Some were love songs, others were angry, and some were about wanting something you could never have. There wasn't any consistency in the mood of the songs.

"Lance, what is this one about?" Keith asked. "I know you always have a theme to your playlists."

"What do think it's about?" Lance asked, then as an afterthought, "Space Boy."

"You..." Keith had heard that from him before. "You used to call me that," he mumbled. "When we first met. Space Boy is...me?"

"Yes," the single syllable was clipped and they fell silent once again.

Keith didn't know what to say; when that happened he would shut his mouth and not open it again until he did. The music flooding the space between them took on new meaning to his ears. In every angry song he could feel the pent up anger always raging at the back of his mind. There was a piece of his soul in every song and Lance had sewn them together into a patchwork quilt.

One lyric in specific stood out to him: I want to love you but I don't know how. That was everything Keith felt for Lance in one sentence—everything Lance felt for Keith in one sentence.

"I thought you were joking," Lance said without moving his gaze from the road. "That's why I acted the way I did. I didn't believe you."

"I wouldn't joke about that," Keith said, matching the flat tone with which Lance had spoken. "I indulged myself, it wasn't supposed to go this far."

"Do you want to pretend it never happened?" Lance asked. "Let everything go back the way it was."

"No," Keith picked at a stray thread on his blanket. "I let myself have too much to go back."

"Keith," Lance's voice was soft. "I know you aren't good at this sort of thing, I know the words are hard to find."

"You're right." Keith wound the thread through his fingers. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say."

"Then don't say anything, your actions speak loud enough," Lance smiled.

"Pull over at the next exit," Keith said. "I'll drive the last hour."

"Okay," Lance nodded, letting the car fall silent again.

Fifteen minutes later they stopped at a rest area. "Lance, I'm going to hug you, okay?" Keith held his arms out awkwardly as they got out of the car to switch seats.

"Yes, very much okay," Lance nodded.

Keith wrapped his arms around him as if were the last time he would ever be able to. "I promise to try my best," he said, the words muffled against the fabric of Lance's shirt.

"That's all I want from you," Lance whispered, holding him tightly.

Keith didn't know how long they stood there like that. It had to have been at least five minutes before they broke apart and climbed back into the car.

"Almost back," Keith said, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. "Back to homework and exams."

"Don't remind me," Lance groaned, hooking the music back up and turning it as loud as it went. "I want to live in this moment."

"Me too," Keith smiled. "Me too."

And so they did. Heads thrown back in laughter as they sang along to the music, making up lyrics when they didn't know them. The atmosphere was instantly lighter than it had been all weekend. And Keith knew right then and there that he could do this, he could be this with Lance.

"Hey how many hands do you need to drive?" Lance asked after a couple songs.

"Uh, two?" Keith was confused.

"No I think one," Lance smiled and offered out his hand to hold.

"Actually yes only one." Keith smiled as well and laced their fingers together.

They stayed like that for the rest of the drive. He was reluctant to let go once he arrived outside his dorm. "I'll help you carry stuff in," Lance offered.

"Thank you," Keith slowly pulled his hand back to his side and instantly missed Lance's.

They dug through the backseat and sorted everything into piles of who it belonged to. Keith could have easily carried his stuff up by himself but he wasn't going to refuse Lance's offer.

"You're on the second floor right?" Lance headed toward the door that would let them into the staircase.

"Yeah," Keith fumbled around for his keycard and swiped it at the door. "Right in the corner."

"Hello Em," Lance greeted when they got to his room. "I brought your roommate back, he's all yours again."

Em glanced between the two of them and smiled knowingly. "You know what, I just remembered I have somewhere to be right this second," she shot up from her bed and barely managed to snatch up her keycard before leaving them alone in the room.

"She's worse than Pidge sometimes," Keith mumbled under his breath. "Okay well, thanks for everything," he turned to Lance.

"It was fun," Lance said. "I'm glad we went."

"So am I," Keith agreed. "Do you want me to drive you back to your dorm?"

"I can walk," Lance insisted. "You got a good parking space."

"Sooo," Keith stretched the syllable. "See you Monday."

"Yeah, see you then," Lance awkwardly shuffled back toward the door. "I guess this is it then."

"Yeah," Keith scratched the back of his neck. He knew whatever this was would dissolve if Lance walked through that door without them talking about it, but he didn't know what to say.

"Uh wait," Lance turned back toward him. "You know how I don't use pickup lines on you?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I have one, if that's okay."

"Go ahead."

Lance looked up and grinned. "Hey Keith, are you a total solar eclipse? Because you're a once in a lifetime opportunity that I don't want to miss out on."

"Oh my god Lance!" Keith felt himself flush as he tipped his head back in laughter. "I can't believe you, I-" he cut himself off and acted before he could possibly think about it, grabbing Lance's collar and pulling him down in one swift motion.

Their teeth collided before their lips did and though it was uncomfortable, Keith didn't care. Their first kiss was wet and sloppy, but he wouldn't have had it any other way. It only lasted a few seconds before they both broke away laughing.

"That was, do that again," Lance smiled so wide Keith was afraid his face would crack in half.

Their second kiss was soft, a gentle press of lips against lips. Their third kiss was much the same.

"Please don't ever make me stop doing this," Keith said between kisses, stumbling backwards toward his bed.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Lance lifted Keith onto the mattress and stood in front of him. "I've wanted to do this for so long."

"Me too," Keith pulled back to fully appreciate the beauty of Lance's face. He ran his hands through Lance's hair and it was just as soft as it looked. "This is... Wow."

"Bright Eyes, Mullet, my Space Boy," Lance muttered. "This is everything."

Keith leaned forward and closed the gap between them. Lance was right, it was everything. And now that he had it he had no plans of letting go.

If his heart was an eclipse this was totality.