Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Lance woke up in a bed that wasn’t his. To the surprise of no one, this was not a common occurrence.

It certainly wasn’t the first time this has happened. He’s had more luck with love in college then he ever did in high school even if the relationships had been short and more casual then anything else. The thing is though, Lance wasn’t in a relationship with anyone at the moment and he wasn’t a one-night stand kinda guy.

And it was only in his wildest dreams and fantasies that he would wake up in bed next to Keith Kogane.

Keith was a bit of an asshole, but he was an asshole that Lance had been friends with since the first year of high school and it was a friendship that Lance treasured. Keith was a natural loner and had a quick temper and little to no impulse control, but he was also fiercely protective of the people he cared about and was always doing cool junk and seemed to have a natural talent for everything and was probably the prettiest boy Lance has ever seen.

He also drooled in his sleep and Lance could feel it on the side of his chest that Keith had decided to use as a pillow sometime last night, which was, you know, eww. Lance was sort of enjoying having Keith cuddled up with him, but also really dreading the moment his friend woke up because last night was not supposed to end this way.

Hearing that Keith was moving near Lance was probably the best news he had heard all week. Lance was not ashamed to admit that he was lonely. Sure, his friend Allura was amazing and her family had all but adopted him a minute after meeting him, but it wasn’t enough to fill the space the old gang had left behind. He knew that everyone was busy with their own classes and jobs, but he missed his friends like a lost limb. Hunk and Pidge were going to the same school in their home state of California, Keith had moved down to Nevada to be closer to Shiro, who worked as a teacher at the Galaxy Garrison with Pidge’s brother Matt, and Lance had managed to get accepted into his dream college in New York City.

Everyone was determined not to loose touch like a lot of other people did when they went to college. Hunk, Pidge, and Lance texted just about everyday and had skype dates or video chats at least twice a week. Shiro, the eternal big brother/dad of the group, still called him at least once a week to make sure he was doing alright and taking care of himself. Hell, even Matt would hit him up to share some juicy gossip around the Garrison or an embarrassing story about Shiro.

Keith however, had all but fell off the face of the Earth.

A few months into the start of college, Keith dropped out. He told no one and it was only weeks afterwards that Matt mentioned how worried Shiro was about it to Pidge. Lance had tried to reach out to him, but his calls went unanswered and his texts were ignored. Shiro said that Keith just needed some time alone to sort out his head, but weeks turned to months and no one heard from Keith unless it was through Shiro.

Eventually, Lance had to accept that Keith didn’t want his help or friendship.

It had hurt. God, it had hurt like a knife twisting in his heart.

So getting the call from Shiro was a heaven sent. Keith had decided a change of scenery was what he needed and decided to move up to New York, not that far away from Lance. Shiro, ever the worrier, asked Lance if he would be able to check in on Keith every now and then and maybe help him adjust to the new city. Lance was all too happy to. He helped Keith move into his small apartment and helped him in his job search and took him out to a nice bar when the search ended successfully a few weeks later.

And that was how he ended up where he is now.

Keith shifted in his sleep and Lance tensed up. Keith inhaled deeply and gave a content sigh, body nuzzling the smallest bit closer to Lance. Lance could only watch with held breath while Keith’s eyes slowly blinked open, his friend becoming more awake by the second.

Lance felt Keith’s body go still and fill with tension. He slowly lifted his head and turned to look at him, dark eyes wide but thankfully not angry or scared. Lance swallowed hard.

“Lance?” Keith’s voice was husky from sleep. “Wh… What happened last night?”

What happened last night? Lance could feel the evidence of what they had done last night dried on his stomach.

He could remember little bits and pieces of how exactly that evidence got there too. Could remember drinking way too many shots with Keith and laughing and taking a cab to Keith’s place to sleep off their hangovers. He couldn’t remember the ride or actually getting into the sparsely furnished apartment, be could remember Keith climbing into his lap and moaning into the wet, filthy kiss they shared. He could remember falling onto Keith’s bed, a mess of half undressed limbs and hot kisses.

“We went out to a bar,” Lance said slowly, nerves and guilt turning his stomach to lead. “I… I think we drank a little too much.”

Keith was silent for a moment, eyes intense and focused on Lance’s face. “We had sex.” Lance nodded, but regretted it in the same second because oww. Hangover headaches sucked ass. “You ok?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, I’m good. Are… Are you?”

Keith hummed an answer and to Lance’s complete and utter shock, placed a soft kiss to Lance’s shoulder. Keith slowly pushed himself out of bed with a groan, untangled himself from the sheets, and stood up in all his naked glory. Lance’s mouth dropped because holy shit. Holy shit, he had sex with that guy last night. Lance pushed himself until he was half sitting up and leaned on his elbows so he could get a better look, because he was creepy like that.

“I’m gonna take a quick shower and make breakfast. You can use it after me,” Keith said casually while he grabbed himself a change of clothes. He looked over at Lance before he left the room. He smirked, the evil little tease, at the look on Lance’s face. “We can talk after that, ok?”

Lance nodded dumbly, eyes wide, mouth hanging open, and face red.

-

Keith was a year older then Lance when they met in high school, but they were in the same grade. Keith later tells him that it’s because he had failed the first grade, the same year his dad went missing and he became a foster kid. Keith and his newly adopted family had recently moved to the area and he had switched schools in the middle of the year.

Keith was a loner. He kept to himself and didn’t make friends and was just mysterious enough and more then attractive enough to have almost every girl in their grade swooning over him. He wore biker gloves everyday and tight black jeans and was the first person Lance had ever seen make a mullet look good. Girls liked to think of him as a bad boy with a troubled past and a heart that needed healing.

Lance thought he was a stuck up jerk who acted like he was too good to talk to anyone.

And he kinda hated their biology teacher the day she assigned them to work together on a project worth a quarter of their semester grade and he really didn’t want to do that, because Mrs. Nickson was a really nice lady who always offered extra credit.

Hunk and Pidge (a child prodigy who had been bumped up two grades) were mostly indifferent to Keith, but didn’t seem to mind him working in the group with them. Pidge and Keith knew each other because their older brothers were friends, and Hunk seemed to be able to get along with anyone because Hunk was awesome like that. The main issue with their project was that Lance and Keith didn’t get along. They fought over everything and traded insults by the minute and rubbed each other the wrong way. Neither wanted to work together, but none of them wanted a bad grade so Hunk and Pidge forced them to work it out.

They got better, over the course of the two week long project. It was like pulling teeth some days, but they began getting along. When the project was over and they got a nice 98%, they went their separate ways and Lance totally didn’t subconsciously look for Keith all the time in their shared classes.

They only really became friends when Keith rushed to help Lance out of a bad situation. Somehow, the news of Lance’s bisexuality had spread beyond his little friend group and family and a monster of a senior named Sendak had an issue with it. Lance had been minding his own business when a shove from behind had sent him tumbling down the stairs of his high school and knocking his head onto the edge of one of the steps.

He had been half aware of the sounds of a fight happening before someone was picking him up and carrying him, a worried voice calling his name and asking if he was ok before he blacked out. He woke up in the hospital with his family watching him. Lance’s little trip to the hospital revealed that he had a minor concussion, but was otherwise right as rain. He stayed there over night for monitoring, and was on bed rest for a very boring week.

Hunk and Pidge later told him that Keith had seen Sendak push Lance down the stairs and had stormed over screaming at Sendak. The fight between them was short, but apparently awesome. Teachers had come to break it up and help Lance, but Keith was already carrying Lance to the nurse and wouldn’t let anyone else take him.

Lance’s mama simply couldn’t let Keith go without some kind of reward or thank you for helping her baby, so Lance was stuck delivering a container of fresh, warm cookies to Keith one morning. “And you better appreciate them, my mama had to chase my siblings and me away all morning.” Keith had taken a bite of one of the cookies and his face had gone all soft and pretty and Lance totally didn’t blush.

They found out that they had a shared interest in movies and tv and their arguments were suddenly about characters and plots rather then who was more incompetent. They went to a new horror movie together because they didn’t want to go alone and everyone they knew were wusses. They talked about big dreams and small secrets and made bad jokes and turned to each other for comfort and support. Pidge teased them horribly about being a married couple whenever they fought and Hunk would ask if he could be the best man.

It was all too easy to fall in love at that point.

-

“So,” Lance started. “We had sex last night.”

“Yep,” Keith replied before sipping his black coffee.

Lance shook his head, more at Keith’s horrible life choices regarding coffee then his forced (was it?) casual attitude about sleeping with one of his best friends. “Don’t know how you drink that shit,” he commented. Keith flipped him off and Lance smiled. Maybe last night wouldn’t change them, they could just agree to forget about it and continue on without anything being weird.

“Last night was some of the best sex I’ve ever had.”

Oh dear God up in heaven.

Lance inhaled so sharply that he chocked on the food in his mouth. He coughed and pounded on his chest to clear his airway while tears sprung to his eyes and Keith snickered into the abyss of sadness that was his coffee.

“Fu… Fuck… you!” he managed to gasp out, which just made Keith laugh harder. “You’re an ass!”

“Yeah,” Keith agreed with a smirk. “but I’m an ass who just had very satisfying sex last night. From what I can remember anyway.”

Lance hid his face in his hands and groaned. Keith was messing with him, he had to be messing with him. “Don’t say that!”

Keith was quiet for a long moment while Lance tried to gain some sense of composure or dignity. He wasn’t picky. When Lance finally did look up, Keith was biting at his bottom lips and twisting his cup in his hands. He took a big breath before speaking again.

“I wouldn’t mind a repeat, you know. Of last night.”

“You… You’re not serious!”

“Yeah, I am,” Keith protested, sounding almost offended. At Lance’s shocked silence, Keith gave a huff. “Look, I don’t really do relationships. You know I never have and I still don’t. But the sex was great. I know you aren’t seeing anyone right now, so wheres the harm? We’ll still be friends, we can just… I don’t know, help each other out sometimes?”

“You- what? Want to be friends with benefits?”

Keith shrugged and looked away, taking an interest in his food. Lance really needed to pick up his jaw from the floor.  “Oh my God, you’re serious…”

Lance got a dirty look in return. “Is that really so hard to believe?”

“Uhh yeah! We’ve known each other for years, we’ve been friends for years. I didn’t think you… saw me like that?”

Keith rolled his eyes, looking vaguely annoyed and embarrassed. “Shut up Lance, you’re always talking about what a hot catch you are, I’m not adding to your ego.” Holy shit, Keith thought he was hot. “It’s just a thought, alright? If you don’t want to then we can forget I ever brought it up.”

Lance was quiet for a long time. He had never seen the appeal of friends with benefits relationships, but he had always been a romantic. Lance had always wanted to fall in love with someone as deeply as his parents were. He wanted someone to love him as much as he loved them. The kind of love that lasted a life time, that was filled with laughter, that held strong through anything. He didn’t do one-night stands or casual sex. He didn’t see the appeal in sleeping with someone you barely knew and had little to no feelings for.

But Lance knew Keith. And Lance had so much feelings for Keith that he could hardly stand it some days.

“Ok, let’s do it.”

-

Turns out that the sex is even better when they were both sober.

It was also a touch more awkward and a hell of a lot more nerve racking, but Lance treasured every minute of it. He treasured every touch and noise and kiss that he got from Keith.

He found out that Keith had a very healthy appetite for sex and Lance was almost overwhelmed by it. It seemed to be Keith’s goal every time they fucked to turn Lance into a mess and damn, was he good at it. Lance had never had sex so intense. He wondered if it was because he hadn’t been in love with his other partners like he was with Keith. It made sense. Keith was the guy he had been pinning over for years.

Or maybe it was just that Keith was good at sex, great even. It didn’t matter if Keith was fucking him into the mattress or taking Lance’s cock while he moaned like a porn star, Lance always had the best sex of his life.

And he loves it, loves it so much that he wants to drowned in it. He never wants it to end, doesn’t want to go a day without the feeling of Keith’s hot skin under his hands or the thrill of having Keith’s violet eyes watching him like he’s the most beautiful thing in the universe while Lance sucked him off. He doesn’t want to go a day without Keith whispering praises into his ear and making filthy promises in the same breath. He doesn’t want a day without the smell of Keith on his sheets or the taste of his lips.

He wants Keith, wants all of him, wants him so bad that his heart aches.

But the ache is one that Lance has dealt with for years and he can handle it.

-

‘I got hit on today’

Lance had read the text four times since it was sent a minute ago. Five innocent words strung together into a sentence that left Lance in a panic.

How do you respond to that? Especially when it came from the guy you’ve known for years who you’ve been sleeping with for the past three weeks? ‘lucky guy ;)’ ‘you heartbreaker ;D’ and ‘brag about it why don’t you lol’ were things Lance could have sent in reply without a thought two months ago. Now though? Was he still supposed to say that or was he allowed to be jealous? No. Jealousy was too much of a ‘boyfriend’ thing. Right? Right?

‘Creepy old guy looking for a sugar baby or hot chick who thinks your straight? Lol’ is what he eventually typed out and sent before he could rethink it.

It was four long, endless minutes in which Lance questioned every decision in his life leading up to this moment before Keith replied.

‘Guy our age who wanted a date’

Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no no no no. How in the hell was he supposed to respond to this now? ‘Please tell me you said no?’ No. Too desperate. ‘Good think you don’t date huh?’ No. That would imply that Lance doesn’t want Keith to date other people. ‘Poor guy. Another victim of Keith Kogane. :’(’ Oh who is Lance even trying to kid, he’s in the same boat as the mystery guy! God damnit, why was talking to Keith so hard now?

‘Did you turn them down?’ Sent. Before Lance could think too much of it. Aaaaand welcome back to regretting your life decisions in a pit of anxiety. Nice place, love the decor.

The little buzz of his phone announced another text. Lance almost hoped the conversation ended soon, his heart couldn’t take it.

‘Cours I did. I have you’

Yeah. Yeah you do, buddy. Lance threw his arm over his eyes to cover the redness of his face and bit his lip to side a smile while butterflies had a wild party in his chest. More then you will ever know.

-

“Lance,” Keith whispered against Lance’s ear.

Lance ignored the little shiver he gave in response. He had an essay he needed to proof read before sending to his professor in the morning, Keith knew this. Lance had told him this when Keith asked if he could come over, and again when Keith started kissing up his neck ten minutes after he arrived. “I’m busy, Keith. Just play on your phone or something. We can play a video game or watch a movie after ok?”

Keith dragged his lips along the shell of Lance’s ear and wrapped his arms around Lance’s shoulders. “But I’m bored. I came over to see you and you’ve been working on your paper the entire time. Take a break.”

A kiss was placed on the space under his ear and Keith started moving down his neck again. Lance swallowed the saliva that was suddenly filling his mouth. Maybe just a short break…? No. No, bad Lance. You needed to finish this paper! “I need to finish this Keith, j-just…”

Keith ignored him and instead slipped his hand under Lance’s shirt to drag his nails down Lance’s toned stomach. He moved the strap of his tank top over to start sucking at Lance’s shoulder, dragging his teeth across Lance’s skin in the most delicious way and making it hard to thing straight. “Lance,” Keith half moaned. “Take a break. I want you.”

Lance nodded, half lost in pleasure and closed his laptop screen shut.

Hours later, Lance was half asleep in bed when Keith started putting on his clothes again. Lance lifted his head off the pillow, confused. Was Keith not staying the night?

“Where ya going?”

“I’m heading home now, good luck on your paper,” Keith said. He kneeled on the bed and leaned down to give Lance a long, slow kiss that made his toes curl and his head spin. He pulled away and give one last peck to Lance’s lips before standing. “See you later, Lance!”

Lance flopped back down when Keith was gone, his bed suddenly feeling much colder then it was just a few minutes ago. He was almost asleep when his eyes snapped open in panic. He didn’t finish his essay!

-

“Hey Lance,” Hunk started. His best friend has moved his laptop into his little kitchenette so they could talk while he cooked himself dinner. “Are you doing ok? You look a little… off?”

Oh, if only Hunk knew.

Hunk is the best friend a guy could ever want. He has always been very attuned to Lance’s moods and caring enough to want to help and Lance loved him for it. But right now, what Hunk was concerned for wasn’t the usual shitty depression moods Lance would get into sometimes.

Lance gave Hunk a grin. “No, I’m good. Stressed as all hell from school and work, but thats the norm now. I’ve just been slacking on my morning beauty regiment, so I look a little less stunning then your use to, buddy.”

Hunk pursed his lips and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. He made an unconvinced noise. Lance hated lying to Hunk for many reasons. He always felt icky lying to his best friend and the icky feeling made his usual skilled lies sound fake even to himself. Hunk and his mama were so far the only people Lance had difficulty lying to and both knew him well enough to see right through him. He didn’t even know why he bothered.

“You’ll talk to me if it gets worse?”

“Yeah,” Lance reluctantly promised. “I will. Just don’t feel like talking about it right now.”

But Lance did want to tell Hunk just as badly as he wanted to tell Pidge and Shiro and his family and maybe every random person he met on the street that he was sort of kind of in a relationship (that wasn’t a relationship) with Keith. No, it wasn’t everything he had dreamed of, but it was more then Lance ever thought he would have. He wanted to share the happy news, he wanted everyone he loved to know that he was happy because Keith wanted him back.

But he and Keith hadn’t talked about telling the others. Keith hadn’t really brought it up and Lance didn’t want to upset their new thing by putting a label on them and sharing it with everyone. So, they had a mutually unspoken agreement to not tell any of their shared friends.

“Thank you. Hey, have you and Keith been hanging out?”

Ohh, were they ever. They did more together then they ever did in high school. Video games were replaced with kisses, late night drives turned into quickies in one of their cars, study sessions turned into long hours of hot, hot sex. Lance was honestly thinking he was becoming addicted to the taste of Keith’s skin and the sound of his voice.

“Yeah, a few times a week. Has he been talking to you guys more?”

Hunk lit up, a big smile coming to his face. “Yeah! He was telling me about his new job and asking about my classes and asked for some easy recipes that wouldn’t lead to him burning his kitchen down again. I was really surprised, but happy, you know? He didn’t really talk to any of us after he dropped out, but I think being around you is really good for him. I’m glad he moved over there by you.”

Lance couldn’t hold back the entirely too fond smile on his face even if someone paid him to. “Yeah, I am too.”

-

Lance woke up to Keith in his bed. He smiled to himself and gave a content sigh. In the weeks since they began sleeping together, this has occurred only two times. Apparently the first time Lance woke up to Keith cuddling close to him had been a fluke. Lance tried not to be disappointed.

No one ever said it was easy to be in love with your one of your best friend. And Lance was stupid enough to think sleeping with the guy on a regular bases was a good idea. Seriously? Had his stupid pinning heart made him gone crazy for a few hours to think that was a good idea?

But every time Lance got to see Keith like this, relaxed and beautiful, he was reminded that yeah, it was a good idea. He didn’t want to think of a life where he never got to see this.

Lance dropped a soft kiss to the back of Keith’s shoulder and slowly got out of bed, careful to not wake his friend. Keith didn’t move or mumble and continued to be dead to the world. Lance smiled to himself as he made his way to the bathroom, years of babysitting his nieces and nephews left him an expert in not waking people up when you leave the bed and he’s still got it.

Once he was done in the bathroom, Lance got started on a late breakfast for two. He didn’t have any classes until the late afternoon and didn’t have work today so he was free to do what he wanted. Maybe Keith would want to chill with him for the day? It felt like its been forever since they last had a day like that, filled with horror movies and video games and greasy pizza. It would be nice.

He just finished poring the scrambled eggs into the frying pan when Keith stumbled out of his bedroom looking confused and blinking sleep out of his eyes. Lance gave him a bright smile before turning to flip the bacon. “Good morning,” he chirped. “Breakfast will be done in a few. How did you sleep?”

“... I spent the night?” Keith said slowly. He was wearing the clothes he came in last night and had lines from the pillow on his cheek. Lance chuckled at him and turned back to the eggs while Keith sat down at the little island counter that served as his table for the time being.

“Yep. Little slow in the mornings, huh Keith? You want coffee?”

Keith grunted a yes and Lance grabbed one of his mugs to pore the black (like most of Keith’s wardrobe) coffee in. He handed the mug off and leaned in for a short kiss. Keith’s eyes shut and he leaned into the kiss when Lance started to pull away. The kiss lasted longer then the peck Lance had intended it to be but he was perfectly fine with that because, damn, is Keith a good kisser. The kiss remained chaste and left Lance sighing, more content then he could ever remember being.

When they parted, Lance smiled at Keith and was far too full of adoration to bother hiding it. “Good morning,” he said softly.

Keith watched him for a long moment before standing up suddenly from the chair. He put his mug down so quick that a few drops spilled out. “I have to go.”

Lance blinked, confused. “Huh? But breakfast is almost-”

“I have to go,” Keith said again, not looking at Lance. He grabbed his jacket from where he had thrown it on the couch last night and rushed to put his shoes on. “Bye, Lance,” he called out before all but running out the door.

Lance was left staring after him, confused and hurt, before the smell of burning eggs brought him back to real life.

-

‘Can I come over’

Lance smiled at the text and sent ‘Yep! I’m just watching movies. Wanna join:)’

Lance hadn’t seen much of Keith in the past week. Classes and homework and his job were slowly consuming his social life and killing his soul. His only comfort was that he wasn’t alone in his suffering. Allura (who was an actual goddess) had been sporting dark eye bags and messy hair earlier that day while they studied at the universities library. Thankfully, Lance handled stress better then she did and didn’t go into a ballistic rage at the frat boy who tried to take her coffee away so she would talk to him like she had.

Keith arrived twenty minutes after Lance sent the text. He was pushing himself into Lance’s tiny apartment and pushing Lance against the wall seconds after the door opened. He moaned into the kiss, hands sliding down Lance’s chest before settling on his hips. Lance kissed back after a second, still dazed from the sudden intensity.

“Keith-” Lance tried to start when Keith pulled back. He stopped when he saw the look in Keith’s eyes. His pupils were blown and his eyes were dark as he looked at Lance. His face was flushed and he was panting a bit from the kiss.

“I want you,” he said and holy fuck. His voice was hot and husky and made a shiver go down Lance’s spine because he was so weak for this boy. “It’s been days. I want you so fucking bad, Lance. Can we?”

Lance could only nod dumbly before throwing himself at Keith and kissing the breath out of him. Keith groaned into the kiss and pressed Lance back against the wall. The movie continued to play in the living room, completely forgotten.

-

Lunch dates with Allura were always fun. Allura was a goddess among women and Lance has seen men walk into walls (and a water fountain once) because they were so blinded by her beauty. Lance couldn’t even blame them because he had almost tripped and landed flat on his face the first time he saw her.

Allura was a sweet and commanding girl from a wealthy family who grew up in a fantasy boarding school in London and as a result had an accent that made people weak at the knees and an extremely sheltered life. She relied on Lance to explain a lot of social ques and ‘normal’ things to her, like how you tip at restaurants but not at fast food places and introducing her to blanket forts and cheep junk food and the satisfaction of eating half burnt food that you cooked yourself.

Lance was grateful for Allura’s friendship especially now because he couldn’t talk to his other friends about him and Keith, but Allura was safe.

Allura was also very concerned and kinda disappointed. She had been wanting to play match maker for him and a friend of hers who would be moving to New York in a few months.

“I thought that you didn’t think highly of… these kinds of relationships? We watched that movie about it.”

Lance flushed and sipped his sweat tea. Allura was like him, an utterly hopeless romantic. But while Lance wanted to have the experience of a love that lasted forever, Allura seemed to only admire it in films and stories. She had little to no interest in dating and would only say ‘maybe if I meet the right person’ when Lance asked her about it. “Yeah, I know. It’s just… It’s Keith, Allura!”

Allura rose one of her perfect eyebrows at him, an utterly unimpressed look on her face.

Ok, so just saying that it was Keith who he was sleeping with wasn’t enough of an explanation. Lance sighed and pushed the ice cubes in his drink around with the straw. “I’ve been crazy for him since high school. He’s my first love and I always just thought that… I don’t know, he was too far out of my league to even entertain the idea of it being possible? So when he asked if I wanted to I just- I didn’t really think it over before I agreed.”

Allura nodded her head slowly. She was frowning a bit, the corners of her lips pulled down. “Do you wished you hadn’t agreed?”

“I…” Lance bit his lip and took a deep breath. “I don’t know? I don’t know if my answer would have been different even if I had thought it through. First love, remember. Well… Only. Keith’s the only one I’ve been in love with.”

“Oh, Lance,” Allura said softly.

She she was such a good friend and she looked so unbearably sad and Lance had caused it. So he forced a little laugh and smiled for her. “I’ll be fine, Allura, I promise. I’ll end things with Keith if I can’t handle it. Now, tell me about that friend of yours, the one you met at boarding school in London. If he’s cute enough then Keith may have competition,” he said with a flirty smile and a wink that made Allura smile and launch into a story about Letho or something.

-

Keith seemed to love touch during sex with Lance. He didn’t seem happy if he wasn’t touching as much of Lance’s skin as possible. If Keith had it his way, they would be tangled in each other so tightly that Lance didn’t know where he began and Keith ended. Lance quickly found out that Keith didn’t like having his hands tied in any way, but everything else seemed fine. He would whine in protest if Lance was too far away or he wasn’t allowed to touch.

Lance loved it. He loved that Keith wanted him, he relished in it. He held Keith close while they fucked and enjoyed the feeling of his skin and body being worshiped.

That being said, Keith seemed to shy away from intimate contact if it didn’t have to do with sex. Once their hearts had stopped pounding and their breathing was back to normal, he went right back to his usual prickly self. Keith had never been an overly touchy guy. He liked his space and rarely initiated touch with other people. He accepted hugs from Hunk (who gave the best hugs ever and if you disagree you can fight Lance in the fucking pit) and seemed to soak up any affection given by Shiro like desert sand does water, but that was the extent. Lance had never pushed Keith’s boundaries on that, had traded hugs for high fives and bit his tongue instead of offering to fix Keith’s hair.

Lance had tried, he really had. Just about every time they slept together Lance tried to cuddle, but Keith would only tolerated it for a few minutes before wiggling away. Keith would get up and clean himself up and had shied away from Lance when he offered to help the first few times. He would get dressed again, kiss Lance goodbye, and be gone until he wanted sex again.

Keith would either avoid Lance’s touch or would immediately push it into sexual boundaries. If Lance tried to stroke or fix Keith’s hair, his friend would flinch away and give Lance a bewildered look. Lance would smile, laugh, and say Keith had some lint in his hair. If Lance leaned against Keith or rested his head on his shoulder, Keith would slip his hand under Lance’s shirt and drag him in for a kiss.

Lance was in no way complaining.

Ok, maybe a little.

He was being stupid, Lance knew this. Whatever he and Keith had between them wasn’t mutually romantic - that was just Lance. Keith wasn’t a relationship guy, he wasn’t a particularly touchy guy either, and Lance shouldn’t be bothered by the fact that Keith didn’t like to cuddle.

-

‘U at hom e’ was the text Lance got from Keith at 11:48 that night. He hadn’t thought much of it and had sent a quick ‘Yeah why?’ in reply. He didn’t get a response until more then half an hour later when someone started knocking on his door.

He found a red faced Keith on the other side of his door, dressed like he was going out clubbing and smelling like alcohol. Keith swayed and blinked at Lance a few times before smiling. “Lance,” he slurred out.

“Keith? Buddy, are you drunk?” Lance asked.

Keith blinked at him again and Lance could almost see the loading bar processing his question. “I’m… ’m drunk,” Keith finally slurred out. Then he giggled like he had just heard a great joke and had to grab a hold of Lance’s door frame to stop himself from falling over when he stumbled.

Lance was thankful that Keith was a happy drunk instead of an angry one like he use to suspect he was. The guy had anger issues when sober, so that would make since right? But no. Lance’s logic made him loose twenty bucks to Matt during sophomore year of high school.

“Come on, man, you can crash here for the night. You can either take the couch or you can share the bed with me. What’s it gonna be?”

Keith hummed at him, eyelids heavy. “With you,” he answered with a little nod. Lance tried not to be so damn pleased to hear that.

Keith followed after Lance and only almost stumbled into Lance’s wall once on the trip to the kitchen. Lance made Keith drink at least two glasses of water and eat a few of the stale crackers he had before he was satisfied and Keith did so with minor complaining. Lance is just glad that he had already finished all his homework and was getting ready for bed himself before Keith came over.

“Where were you drinking anyway?” Lance asked while Keith struggled to pull his shirt off. Drunk and stuck wasn’t a good mix and Keith proved it. He shouldn’t laugh. He knew he shouldn’t laugh. But fuck.

A little giggle finally broke free when Keith huffed and asked for help. “Laaance,” he whined. Lance smiled entirely too fond and was glad that Keith’s head was covered by his shirt and he couldn’t see the stupid look on his face. Lance walked over and had Keith sit on his bed so he could help when Keith answered his question. “Was at a bar… Fun place, we should go sometime… If you wanna.”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed easily. “Sounds fun, buddy.”

With a final tug, the shirt came off. Keith was still flushed and had a dazed and confused look on his face, blinking his pretty eyes up at Lance. His hair was an absolute mess, sticking up in every direction with static from rubbing along the material of his shirt. 

Lance couldn’t stop the laughter that built in his throat. “Sorry,” Lance laughed. He smiled down at Keith sheepishly. It sucked getting laughed at when you were drunk.

He expected Keith to tell him to shut up or at least be pouting, but his friend was watching him with an almost awestruck look on his face. 

Hestood and was pressing his lips to Lance’s with a speed that was surprising considering his current state. Lance made a startled noise against Keith’s lips. Soft hands cupped his jaw before threading into his hair. Keith tasted like cheap beer and sour alcohol and his half naked body was hot. Keith licked at Lance’s lower lip and pressed himself flushed against Lance.

Lance turned away from the kiss and grabbed Keith’s arms to pull them away. “No. You are very, very drunk, Keith.”

Keith’s eyes widened and his brows went down in confusion. “But I want you…”

“You aren’t thinking clearly at the moment,” Lance said patiently.

Keith started to look distressed. He swallowed hard and blinked rapidly. He didn’t fight Lance to free his arms, but did try to press his body against him again. “Don’t you want me? Lance? Don’t you?”

Lance sighed. “Yeah, but not when you’re drunk. Look, can we just… can we just sleep? It’s late and I’m tired.”

Keith bit his lower lip and lowered his head against his head like a kid getting scolded. He didn’t say anything, but did lay down on the bed and didn’t push for sex again. Lance sighed again, half relieved and half resigned to a night pressed against a half naked beauty.

Lance finished getting dressed for bed, forgoing his face mask since he wore it last night and brushing his teeth before crawling into bed by Keith. Keith kept his back to Lance the entire night, but he didn’t protest when Lance pulled him close to cuddle.

-

“Somethings going on,” Pidge said. Her amber eyes were squinting at him through his laptop screen and her lips were pursed.

“Nah,” Lance smirked at his friend. “You always get paranoid when you don’t get enough sleep. Go take a nap, you gremlin.”

Pidge’s squint turned into a glare. It wasn’t nearly as terrifying as she thought, but Lance knew first hand how dangerous she could be. She once hacked into some jerks cellphone in high school and made it play furry porn at full volume nonstop when he turned it on. He couldn’t get it to turn off and just ended up panicking and throwing it against the wall to get it to shut off.

“Fuck you, you don’t tell me how to live my life,” she said almost proudly while crossing her arms over her chest. She was quiet for a second before opening one of her eyes to peek at him “Please don’t tell Hunk or Matt?”

Lance laughed. “Alright, but you gotta help me with my math homework. My professor is a sadist who gets off on our suffering, I swear to god.”

Pidge snickered at his misfortune before sobering. “For real though, are you ok? You gotta tell me man, I can’t do that mind reading thing Hunk does.”

Lance smiled at Pidge, touched that she cared. School hadn’t been as bad for the past week and work was alright. He knew very well what was making him feel so low and it started with ‘K’ and ended with ‘eith’.

But he couldn’t tell Pidge that. She has never handled emotions well, her own or other peoples. She has on occasion up and ran from a room when someone started crying and listening to him whine about a fucked up situation that he put himself into wasn’t something she would want.

He could probably tell Hunk, but his friend didn’t handle conflicts within their little group very well. He could remember once when Keith and Pidge were fighting and Hunk had been convinced that this was what would break their new little group. He had worried and over-thought everything and tried to help as best as he could. He would call Lance late at night when he couldn’t sleep because of his anxieties. Pidge and Keith eventually worked out their issues and apologized and no one was happier (and more sleep deprived) then Lance.

Shiro was a big no. Shiro was a great guy and a good friend to Lance, but he took his position as Keith’s older brother very seriously. If Lance called him up crying that Keith was breaking his heart, Shiro would remind him that Keith was in no way at fault. He would remind Lance that his little brother didn’t do relationships and had been clear that he didn’t want one with Lance, who should have known better then to do this to himself. Shiro can be kinda mean when it came to Keith.

“Aww, I knew you had a heart somewhere in there!” Lance cooed. Pidge gave him the finger and Lance gave her an innocent grin, pure as an angel. “I’m good, I’m good. Now about this math homework.”

-

Lance was tired. He was so so tired.

He had a two hour lecture from a professor who had the most monotone voice ever, his part time job at the sea food restaurant had called and demanded he come in, he had to work with Tom (who liked to take long breaks, left Lance to wait on his tables, and still got half the tips), someone had almost ran him over while he was leaving work, and he still had homework to do. He was exhausted and drained and really just wanted a nap.

But he also wanted Keith.

More specificity, he wanted to cuddle Keith. He wanted to hold Keith while they laid on his bed and Lance fell asleep while he was warm in Keith’s arms, the smell of his clothes and skin surrounding him, and Keith ran his fingers through Lance’s hair.

He wanted that so badly he could cry.

But Keith only ever seemed to have more carnal activities in mind when they spent time together now. He never seemed to be in a mood to hug Lance and listen to his whining about a bad day, but he was always in a mood to help work out some stress. Maybe if Lance got lucky, Keith would be tired enough to cuddle after. So Lance sent a text and ate some left overs and waited for Keith to come over.

He didn’t disappoint. Keith didn’t ask what had Lance so stressed and looking so tired, maybe he didn’t notice. Or maybe he did? It would explain why the sex was so slow. No, he probably wouldn’t have cared even if he had noticed, a vicious little voice whispered in the back of his mind.

-

Lance knew many things about Keith. He knows that he never knew his mom and still wonders where his dad is. He knows that he loves Shiro and fears disappointing him more then anything else. He knows Keith wants to own a hover bike of his own one day and work for the Garrison like Shiro does. He knows that Keith has a knife that use to be his moms and he’s almost never without it. He knows his favorite color is red and he hates chocolate and that he thinks hippos are cool.

He knows Keith hated people seeing him cry or look weak. He knows that Keith’s hair was some of the softest Lance had even felt and that Keith’s eyes turn a bright, undeniable purple when the light hit them just right. He knows that Keith is one of the most beautiful people he knows.

But now Lance knew things he had only fantasized about before. He knew Keith liked it when Lance pulled his hair and talked dirty in his ear. Keith liked to bite and leave marks all over Lance’s shoulders and inner thighs. He knew that Keith has scars on his knuckles and the insides of his thighs that he doesn’t want to ever talk about. He knew Keith loves it when Lance rides him slowly. He knew Keith loves to touch his skin and get fucked hard and fast.

Lance learned how to give Keith pleasure and make him scream and keep him coming back.

Lance learned a long time ago to bite his tongue instead of telling Keith that he loves him.

Lance would be ok as long as Keith kept coming back.

-

The club was one that Keith recommended and Lance had to admit, he was having fun. The music was good and the drinks were better. Lance was just on the right side of tipsy. Sober enough to know what he was doing but drunk enough to forget his worries and heartache and just enjoy the moment. And was it ever a moment. Keith was never much of a dancer, Lance could remember literally dragging him to dances and proms in high school, but tonight he was the one dragging Lance out for a dance.

Apparently Keith was on the right side of tipsy too. He was grinning and dancing and hadn’t taken his hands off Lance since they joined the sea of dancers. In fact, Keith couldn’t seem to keep anything off Lance. Keith pressed himself close to Lance, rocked his hips in the way that always made Lance’s blood rush, and couldn’t seem to decide if he wanted his arms around Lance’s shoulders, in his hair, or to let his hands roam free and touch everywhere he could.

Keith was beautiful. Lance always knew that, but sometimes it hit him hard. Keith looked beautiful in the dancing lights of the club, with his long hair wild and messy, with flushed cheeks and a big grin, and with beads of sweat forming on his forehead and sliding down his throat. Lance’s throat went dry at the sight and a shiver went down his spine despite the heat.

Lance was reminded of just how lucky he was to be the one Keith wanted. He felt like he was the envy of all tonight, to have a beauty like Keith pressed against him. If he wanted, he could lick the bead of sweat off Keith’s skin and he knew it would make Keith tilt his head back in a quiet plea for more.

“I’m gonna go get a water,” Lance said loud enough to be heard over the music. He needed to cool down before he was the one dragging Keith into his car tonight. Keith was a temptation and he knew it, but Lance didn’t want the night to end just yet.“You want one?”

Keith shook his head and let his hands slid from Lance’s hair. “Hurry back!” he said.

Lance nodded and turned away to find the long bar that was crowded with people. Three bartenders rushed around making drinks for people behind it. Lance managed to squeeze his way in and waved to one of the bartenders. The curvy blond girl in a crop top noticed him and gave a nod. Leaning against the bar, he managed to find Keith in the crowd while he continued to dance. Keith didn’t have the fancy moves or a natural grace with his movements, but Lance couldn’t look away from him.

“Hey, cutie, what can I get for ya?”

Lance turned to find the blond bartenders smiling at him. She was pretty, really pretty actually. Long blond hair pulled away from a soft angelic face and big blue eyes that looked purple in the lighting of the club. Her name tag read ‘Nyma’ in bold letters.

Lance gave her a smile. “Just a bottle of water would be great, its kinda hot in here.”

Nyma nodded and ducked down beneath the bar for a second before standing with a bottled water. “Free of charge for you, handsome.” Lance gave a startled laugh, but he sure as hell wasn’t gonna complain. They probably charged five bucks for a water here.

“I have a question though,” she said. She kept her hands busy while she worked, preparing drinks to hand off to her coworkers with ease. “Are you here with Keith?”

Lance gave a startled look. “Yeah, you know him?”

Nyma gave a crooked smile and an amused scoff. “Yeah, just about everyone who works here does. I didn’t think you were his type though.”

“His… His type?”

“Yeah, Keithy-boy always seems to go after the rouged type. Don’t get me wrong though, you’re a cutie,” she said with a flirty smile. Lance felt something very cold creep into the pit of his stomach, stealing away the warmth and the all consuming heat Keith had given him just minutes ago.

Lance forced a little laugh, returning her smile. “Keith’s a friend of mine,” he said casually as if his heart wasn’t in his throat and his stomach wasn’t twisting. “Do you see him in here often?”

Nyma nodded and slid a pink and yellow cocktail to her coworked. The guy muttered another order in her ear and she started pulling out shot glasses. “I don’t work every night, so I can’t be sure how often he’s really in here, but at least once a week. He always stays until he finds some guy to take him home after a few drinks.”

“He never leaves alone?” Lance asked, feeling ill. She has to be lying, she has to be. Keith wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

“Nope!” Nyma said, popping the p in the word. “You’re the first one he’s come with, but don’t be surprised if you get ditched. If he does though, you come find me,” she said with a wink. She leaned across the bar to be closer to Lance. “I’m great company. I promise.” Nyma then walked across the bar with her platter of shots, a sway in her hips.

Lance abandoned his water and ran out of the bar. He needed air. There were too many people around him. Was he going to be sick? His stomach was rolling and in knots, his eyes burned. She had to have been lying. Keith wasn’t the type to sleep around. He had never had flings or one night stands in high school, hadn’t really seemed interested in romance at all.

But he wasn’t exactly interested in romance now was he? He had made that very clear when he and Lance started sleeping together. And what would stop Keith from going to other men for sex? He owed Lance nothing. They had never talked about being exclusive and it would have made no sense for him to promise loyalty to someone who was just sex to him.

Tears burned at Lance’s eyes.

-

He found a string of texts from Keith a few hours later once he finally reached outside of his blankets for his phone.

‘Lance did u leave?’

‘Srsly where r u?’

‘OMFG u left!’

‘DICK’

‘U so owe me im going home’

‘U could have just said u werent having fun’

‘R u ok?’

Lance was not ok.