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The space pub was exactly what Keith would have imagined a space pub to look like. He almost expected the Star Wars cantina song to start playing.
“Dude! Check out that giant keg thing! Oh my god, I’m going to get space-wasted!” Lance said, shifting from foot to foot in excitement. “Do they have legal drinking ages here in space? Shit, I don’t have a space-ID—”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” Hunk said. “Look—they’re not even asking for ID. It looks like... self-serve?”
He pointed at where some short alien people were serving themselves cups of electric green liquid from the “keg thing” Lance had noticed earlier. The aliens put coins into a slot and then pressed a button to fill their cups.
“Let’s just get some of it before Shiro and Allura notice we’re gone,” Pidge said. “I really don’t want to get another lecture about responsibility.”
“Psh. They’re still at that space movie theater. We’re free for the next couple hours for sure,” Lance said. He sidled up next to Keith, slinging an arm over his shoulder. “So, what do you say—should we get completely shit-faced?”
Keith frowned. “That sounds like a bad idea.”
“Hey, you didn’t have to come along,” Lance said, poking a finger at Keith’s chest. Then he turned to Hunk. “Hey, Hunk—be my wingman for tonight? There have to be some pretty alien ladies in this bar.”
“Uh,” Hunk said. He shot a quick glance at Keith and then looked back at Lance. “Not tonight, man. Sorry. Pidge and I were going to....”
“We were going to play space foosball,” Pidge said quickly. “I thought I saw it when we came in, so....”
“Yeah,” Hunk agreed. “We’re going to do that.”
“You guys suck,” Lance said. He looked back at Keith. “Seems like you’re going to have to be my wingman tonight, Keith. You up for it?”
Over Lance’s shoulder, Hunk and Pidge gave Keith a pitying look. He sighed. “Sure, I guess,” he said. “Why not?”
Why not wingman for Lance? Why not wingman for the guy he might have sort of been crushing on since day one?
This wasn’t going to end well.
An hour later, he was trying halfheartedly to talk Lance up to an alien woman with lilac skin named Ayfa. Lance was across the bar, gesturing animatedly as he kept up a lively conversation with a couple of pretty alien girls. Keith was still nursing the same glass of alien alcohol he’d poured himself when they got there, but he was pretty sure that Lance was on his third glass.
“Lance is pretty funny,” Keith said. “He’s great at... jokes.”
“Is he?” said Ayfa, resting her chin in one of her four hands. “Tell me one of his jokes.”
“Uh,” he said, “I can’t really think of any off the top of my head, but... he’s really good at impressions. He knows how to mimic the way people speak. It’s sort of weird sometimes, how good he is. It only took him a week to get my voice right.”
“Really?” Ayfa grinned. “What other hidden talents does he have?”
Keith glanced over at Lance again. He must have been recounting some kind of story, because his arm movements were getting even more wild and dramatic. “Uh, he’s pretty handy with a gun—he likes to call himself a sharpshooter. He’s got great reflexes. He’s good at... at understanding people, I guess. And he is a pretty great pilot.”
“How long have you two known each other?”
“Uh, a few months, maybe?” He shrugged. “He keeps saying that he’s known me longer, though. He never forgets anything.”
“I see!” she tittered. “So, how long have you been together, then?”
Keith almost choked. “What?”
“I was just wondering when you started dating,” Ayfa said. “It must have been pretty soon after you met, right? You seem to know him really well.”
Keith felt like his brain was short-circuiting. For a moment, it was difficult to find the right words. “No, uh, we’re not dating,” he explained. “We’re not—we’ve never....”
“Oh,” Ayfa said, her expressed turning into a look of sympathy. “Oh. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. We’re friends,” Keith said. He fell silent, unsure of what else to say. He’d never talked about Lance with anyone before. This stranger in an alien bar was the first person to guess how he felt, and he barely knew her.
“You wanna know something?” Ayfa said, leaning in a little closer and putting one of her hands up next to her mouth conspiratorially. “I think he likes you too.”
“He doesn’t,” Keith said. Ayfa just shrugged and took another sip of her drink. He eyed her quizically, then asked, “Why do you think he likes me?”
Ayfa grinned widely. “I have mind-reading abilities.”
“Really?!” Keith balked.
“No, no, I’m kidding. I’m kidding,” she laughed. “I don’t need mind-reading abilities to know that he likes you.”
“Why not?”
“Well, first of all, those girls he’s talking to?” Ayfa said, nodding in the girls’ direction. “They’re my friends Lupa and Vini, and they’re dating each other—exclusively. So either your boy Lance is really dumb and hasn’t realized yet, or he’s not actually that interested in finding a date here.”
Keith frowned. “But then, why would he ask me to wingman for him?”
Ayfa shrugged. “Maybe he’s overcompensating? Or trying to make you jealous?”
“I don’t... I don’t know.”
“Alright, alright. Maybe, maybe not. But here’s the clincher,” Ayfa said. “When your back is turned, he looks at you. He’s been watching you most of the night.”
“He has?”
“Yeah.”
This time when Keith looked over at Lance again, he was looking back. Almost as soon as their eyes met, Lance looked away.
Oh, Keith thought quietly. Maybe he could fix this. Maybe the night would end well after all.
“You want a wingman?” Ayfa joked.
“No,” said Keith. “I, uh. I’ve got this.”
“Alright,” Ayfa smiled. “Go get him.”
Keith got to his feet.
It felt like it took forever to cross the room to the other side of the bar. The music was still playing, and the chatter of the people around him was still noisy, but he swore he could barely hear it. The only thing keeping him putting one foot in front of the other was the slow sweep of adrenaline he felt building up as he approached. What was he doing? What was he going to say? He hadn’t thought this through.
After an eternity, he was standing next to Lance’s chair at the bar. Somehow, Lance hadn’t noticed him yet; he was still chatting with Lupa and Vini. Keith stood awkwardly for a moment, running his hand through his hair, and then cleared his throat.
Lance jumped.
“Keith!” he said, a little too loudly. The two girls stopped talking and turned to look. “Hey man, what’s—what’s up?”
Keith shrugged, because he’d never been able to figure out how to respond to that question. “Um, I just—uh.” He swallowed. “Do you like me?”
Lance choked on his drink, coughing violently for several seconds before staring up at Keith with wide, watering eyes. “What?”
Shit. Why did Keith always do this? Going in without a plan never worked out—why hadn’t he learned that yet? “I...” Keith floundered. “I asked if you like me?”
“Keith, buddy, my man,” Lance laughed, his voice a bit too high as he crossed and uncrossed his arms. Keith had never been great at the whole body language thing, but he was almost completely certain that Lance was nervous. “How much, uh, how much of that alien alcohol have you had?”
“Alcohol?” one of the girls cut in. “That stuff’s not alcoholic—that’s fruit juice.”
“Oh,” said Lance. There was a tense pause.
“Um.” Keith took a deep breath. “I was just asking, because I was thinking, you know, maybe we should go...?”
“Go? Go where?” Lance asked.
“Um. Out. Go out.”
“Go out? You mean like—”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.”
Another pause. Keith panicked.
“Um. You know. Only if you want to. Or, just forget—”
“...Okay.”
“What?”
“I said okay. Let’s, you know. Let’s go out.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. That’s—that’s great,” Keith said, dazed. Then, “You’re serious?”
“Yeah,” Lance replied. He was grinning now, his face a little flushed and his blue eyes bright in the dim light of the bar. “I like you. A lot. I’ve actually sort of had a crush on you since the Garrison?”
Keith couldn’t help it—he was smiling too. “I’ve liked you since we found the blue lion,” he confessed. “I’ve wanted to tell you for a while but I didn’t think you felt the same way.”
“What changed your mind?” Lance asked.
Keith looked over his shoulder to where Ayfa was sitting back at the table. She waved one of her arms at him and then gave him a thumbs up. “I had some help,” Keith said. “Turns out I’m just as oblivious as you are.”
“No shit,” Lance said, a little bashfully. Then he reached out and took one of Keith’s hands in his own.
“No fucking way.”
They both startled and looked up. Standing a couple feet away were Pidge and Hunk, looking at them like they’d grown extra sets of arms. They all stared at each other for a few awkward seconds.
“I told you,” Pidge said to Hunk. “I told you.”
“I never said you were wrong!” Hunk protested. “I agreed with you!”
“I know, but I still called it—”
“Called what?” Lance interrupted.
“I told Hunk that you two would get your heads out of your asses tonight, and—” Pidge gestured to their joined hands. “—I was right.”
“...Does everyone know?” Keith asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Pretty much,” Hunk admitted. “Coran knows, Allura knows, Shiro probably knows—”
“Shiro,” Lance said suddenly. They all froze.
“Shit, we need to get back to the castle—”
“Yeah, yeah, definitely—”
“Oh man, he’s gonna be so mad if we’re not there when they get back—”
“Then let’s hurry, before we get lectured at!”
After a quick series of goodbyes to Ayfa, Lupa, and Vini, they left the alien pub behind and raced off into the night. The foreign air was cold and crisp, but not unpleasant. As Keith ran, Lance keeping pace at his side and Lance’s fingers still intertwined with his own, Keith really couldn’t think of anywhere else he’d rather be. Alien planet or not, when Lance and the rest of the team was with him, it felt like home.
“What are you grinning about?” Lance asked, a little out of breath. Keith just shook his head and smiled wider.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just you.”