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“Goodnight, Shiro,” Lance lazily saluted at the man on couch of the lounge. Shiro waved back in the general direction of Lance but kept his gaze toward the newspaper in his hand and threw an uncommitted farewell over his shoulder. Hunk and Pidge were tinkering around with some sort of junk pile. Lance was sure that it was actually extremely high tech and cool, not just a pile of junk, but he really couldn’t figure out how.
“Night, Shiro,” Keith called, following suit of Lance.
Shiro gave another wave, “Goodnight, you two. Don’t stay up too late or get into trouble.”
Lance snorted, “Yeah, thanks dad. We’ll try not to.”
Pidge perked up then, glancing away from her work to stare at Keith and Lance who were getting ready to leave the room. “Where are you guys going?” she asked curiously.
“Keith wasn’t there when we had movie night last week so I’ve gotta go fill him in,” Lance explained, throwing a thumb in the direction of the hallway.
“Oh, sounds fun! You really missed out last week, Keith, it was a good one!” Hunk grinned.
Keith smiled, “I’ll just have to see it then.”
Lance nodded, already grabbing Keith’s wrist to pull him towards the door. “You bet! Now let’s get going!”
“Have fun!” Hunk called after them, but there was no chance to respond as they were gone.
Lance led them down the halls to the movie room, excitedly bouncing with every step. He really enjoyed the movie, and he was more than ready to show it to Keith too, but not only that, he was getting to spend time with Keith in general. That really was a win in his books. He had already spent the entire day with Keith, mostly in the pool, and yet Lance wasn’t ready to let him go. Lance hadn’t even wanted to waste a second changing after they had finished swimming, and so he was still in his swimming trunks and a t-shirt.
Still, he couldn’t help but complain, “Quiznack, why is it so cold in this hallway all the time?” he frowned through gritted teeth. His body took the words as a sign to shiver.
Keith stared at the shaggy brown hair that was the back of his head skeptically and with a hint of amusement. “Look what you’re wearing.” Shorts and a t-shirt were not the best choice, no.
“Okay, you know what? The movie room is right there. It has blankets,” Lance pointed an accusatory finger at Keith.
Keith didn’t even flinch, just stared Lance straight in the eye. “Maybe it’s the ghosts that make the castle cold,” he dropped his voice low and even with the dim hallway lights, Lance could see his smirk.
“Shut up!” he huffed and punched Keith in the arm.
Keith just tripped back, laughing, and carried on toward the movie room. The noises that had previously gone unnoticed were now deafening. Lance stared into the darkness as far as he could down the hallway. The darkened crevices appeared as endless masses of black ink, all around them. The hallways stretched on into the dark and he could see the way it blended together with the walls. His thoughts ran wild, spinning images of ghosts pouring into the hall and chasing the two of them. Every sound seemed to be a ghost. By the time he came back to reality, they had reached the movie room and Keith was already opening the door.
He swallowed. “There are no ghosts,” he whispered, trying his best to sound confident while he convinced himself.
“No, there aren’t,” Keith glanced over his shoulder as he pulled the door outward. He flicked a tiny switch on the inside of the room and the small theatre lit up. It offered solace to Lance and yet made the outside seem even scarier in comparison. “Why, you scared?” Keith teased.
Lance scoffed, “Of course not, mullet! If either of us would be scared, it would be you!” He shoved past him without a word. Keith just snickered and followed, closing and locking the door behind him.
Keith tossed himself onto the couch and stared around, investigating the room. It was very big, there was a small television fashioned into the wall, rows of seats, what he presumed to be some kind of snack bar, and a huge mattress at the front. Heaps of blankets were piled on the mattress, just as Lance had said there’d be.
“Do you guys sleep in here?” Keith muttered.
Lance, who was opening cupboards in search of snacks, glanced up at him. “Pidge does a lot, but sometimes we all have sleepovers here. You should join us sometime. It just means movies and junk food,” he smirked and dipped his head back into the cupboard. “Actually,” Lance suddenly exclaimed, “let’s have a sleepover tonight!”
The way Lance grinned at him was enough to stop Keith’s heart and there was no way he could possibly say no. “Alright, sure,” Keith muttered, hoping the softness wasn’t too evident in his voice.
Lance just brightened before quickly going back to snack hunting. Keith smiled to himself and turned to begin unfolding the blankets.
The pair had been friends for awhile now after they had worked out their differences with the whole rivalry thing. Keith had just been very bad with people at the Garrison, but he hadn’t mean to ignore Lance and then forget him entirely, and Lance hadn’t wanted to fight Keith, he just didn’t want to seem inadequate in comparison. There had been a lot of miscommunicating in their relationship before. But once they had gotten it sorted out, the piercing jabs they threw at each other quickly became teasing pokes and joking prods.
Keith had gotten a lot better at expressing things as well as understanding what others meant, while Lance had gotten better at recognizing others’ emotions and not letting his fears consume him. They helped each other to get where they were, because they were a team.
Keith stood back and admired his blanket nest before nodding and climbing on top of it. Lance toppled over to the mattress and dumped a pile of chip bags and boxes next to Keith. “Can you set my blanket up for me while I pick a movie?” He stared at Keith with his piercing blue eyes and smiled before hurrying off toward the television. Keith blinked after him before staring back down at the blankets and then the snacks.
“Wait, you’re sleeping here?”
Lance stared at him again. “I mean, if you want me to move after the movie, that’s fine.” He frowned and turned back to sift through the movie selection stored in the cupboard.
Keith cleared his throat before quickly speaking, “No! No, it’s okay, I just wasn’t sure.” He could feel his face heating up and he averted his face to set up the blanket. It wasn’t like he hadn’t slept near Lance before. Maybe it was different because before they hadn’t had an entire empty movie room to themselves and there hadn’t been much of a choice. And now there was a choice, and Lance was picking to stay next to him.
“Blush any harder and it’ll become permanent.” Keith’s face shot up. Lance was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. A copy of some old Altean action movie in his grip. That same infuriating smirk was plastered across his face. “I don’t know what you’re thinking but try to keep it in your pants, yeah?”
Keith’s face blushed deeper, if it was even possible. “I wasn’t!” he squeaked, panicked. “I’m not blushing!” His hand reached up to cover the embarrassment painting his face in the most natural way he could.
Soft snickering filled the room as Lance sauntered over to Keith, who was sat on the cushioned mattress, head in hands. “Relax, I was joking.” He seated himself down in front of Keith and tossed the movie case onto the couch. Keith shifted backwards to further himself from Lance. An amused smile stayed spread on Lance’s face as he gently grasped Keith’s wrists and attempted to pull it away from his face. Keith let his arm drop, but Lance’s grip remained. “I mean, if you wanna have a roll in the hay…” Lance’s smile stretched into a smolder and he winked.
“Oh, my god,” Keith shoved him back and he stumbled off the cushions and to his feet, laughing once again. “I actually hate you.” All Keith’s previous embarrassment had left him and was replaced with his laughter at the extent Lance’s humour would go. This boy had no semblance of what ‘too far’ meant, Keith could swear it. “At least buy me dinner first,” Keith muttered jokingly.
“I’ve bought you dinner countless times.” The smirk in Lance’s voice could be heard as he continued to shift through the movies, half paying attention. His sphallolalia was automatic at this point.
Keith huffed a laugh, “So, helping Hunk carry dinner to the table sometimes now counts as ‘buying me dinner?’”
“Yes, it does, Keith! Bone app the teeth,” Lance countered. “When can we get to the good stuff?”
Keith let out a quick snort and shot back. “You’d be too afraid to even kiss me, what is this ‘good stuff’ you’re referring to?” He leaned back on his hands and smirked at Lance for a change. Lance turned to Keith, offended expression present.
“I am not afraid!” Lance didn’t fire back any sort of hard hitting retort and Keith could only read it as his win and Lance quickly turned back to the movies once again.
Keith smiled at Lance’s head as though he knew something Lance didn’t. “Prove it,” Keith whispered, a challenging note in his voice.
Sudden clashing filled the movie room as all the movies that were previously in Lance’s hands fell to the floor and scattered. Keith startled back at the sudden noise and Lance stared down, throwing his hands up. “Quiznack,” he whispered to himself and dropped his hands. Without turning to Keith, he crouched to pick up the movie cases.
“Lance...?” Had his joke gone too far? Did Lance actually have a ‘too far’ after all? Was it even a joke anymore? Keith inched toward the edge of the makeshift bed to help him, concern filling him.
A knocking sounded on movie room door and both boys paused, staring at the door. Lance stood from his position on the floor and set the DVDs he had collected on the counter. Flipping the lock, he opened the door.
“Oh, you are in here. Shiro said you would be,” Allura poked her head in the doorway. “Are you two going to be staying in here overnight? You better still be ready for training. It doesn’t mean you get a break just because you spent the night watching movies again, Lance. Don’t break anything either,” she warned.
“Thanks, mom. We’ll be alright,” Lance groaned.
She paused, trying to think of some other thing she might need to mention. Finding none, she responded, “Well, alright. Goodnight, Lance, Keith.”
Lance waved to her as she exited down the hall, “Goodnight!”
Lance closed the door behind her and locked it again, causing the two to be thrown back into the previous awkward situation. Keith became aware once again that Lance hadn’t looked in his general direction since he had said those words. He bit his lip nervously. Lance stepped back towards the television and continued to pick up movies off the floor. He still hadn’t said anything. Should Keith start the conversation? The silence of the room was almost unbearable.
“Hey, Lance–” He was about to explain away his slip up as a joke and move on when Lance cut him off.
“Okay.” It was almost inaudible but the previous silence magnified any sounds uttered into it.
Keith waited a moment for him to continue but he just continued staring at the DVDs in his hands. “Okay?” Keith repeated in the same soft whisper.
Lance slowly rose to his feet, leaving the movies on the floor, and turned to stare at Keith. His gaze had never been nearly as intense as in that moment and Keith could feel his heart speed up in his chest. A smile pulled across his face; a smirk at first glance but with much more behind it if you really looked. And Keith did.
“You want proof?” Lance’s feet moved gingerly toward Keith and his arms swung limply by his sides. “You’ll get proof.” Keith couldn’t believe what he was hearing as Lance’s knee hit the edge of the mattress and he leaned forward to crawl toward Keith. His body moved closer to Lance subconsciously, his mind was racing through a thousand thoughts. Was this a joke? Was Lance playing along with it? Or was he serious? Whatever it was, Lance pushed himself further. His arm landed next to where Keith’s thigh was seated and he moved his head toward Keith. He was practically on top of Keith, whose heart couldn’t beat more if it tried.
He had known Lance for so long, how had he never noticed that his eyes were the colour of the ocean? Well, now he noticed. And he couldn’t tear his gaze away. He breathed in sharply, as it suddenly became harder to breathe at all. His lungs filled with Lance scent and nothing had ever smelled so good.
Lance was very close now. His breath tickled Keith’s lips and he shivered, clenching his eyes shut, hard. It was becoming clearer and clearer to him now just how much that joke had not been a joke after all. Keith waited, expecting to feel Lance’s mouth press against his, the sweet release he had never known he was craving. But it didn’t come.
“Why are you bracing like that?” Lance muttered softly, still just as close as when Keith had last looked.
Keith’s left eye opened to see Lance’s furrowed eyebrows and questioning glare. Right eye opening, he answered, “I’m not…”
“You are.” Lance tilted his head with a look of worry.
Red flowered across Keith’s face at the situation of being this close to his friend who was about to kiss him, now having a conversation about the kiss. The kiss that hadn’t happened yet. “I’m just nervous… I’ve never… y’know, kissed you,” Keith murmured.
“So?” Lance’s eyebrows furrowed further. “I’ve never kissed anybody. I should be the nervous one,” he smirked and blew air through his nose in amusement.
“Wait? You’ve never kissed anyone?” Keith pulled himself back slightly, confused.
Lance moved closer again. “Nope.” His intense gaze dug into Keith.
“Lance!” Keith frowned.
“What?”
“You can’t just throw away your first kiss for a joke!” Keith’s voice was hard.
Lance’s face turned red and he pulled back slightly, looking anywhere but at Keith. “O-oh… You were… joking… Right, of course.” he whispered anxiously.
Keith watched as Lance prepared to move away from him entirely and a new panic surged in him, one that desperately wanted Lance to never make that face again. Keith didn’t like this joke. He didn’t want this to be a joke. He wanted this to be real.
Grabbing onto the front of Lance’s shirt to yank him back and tilting his face, Keith’s lips met Lance’s. His mouth was warm as Keith slowly began to move. Thankfully, Lance melted into the kiss immediately, trying his best as he matched the rhythm as his eyes slid closed. Keith could feel Lance’s heavy breathing on his face. Heart beating faster and shivers running down his spine, Keith reached up to hold Lance’s cheek and neck, lightly pulling him closer, deepening the kiss. Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s neck, pulling him down in response. All their weight was being held up by Keith’s one arm on the mattress. Keith growled into Lance’s mouth, low and guttural, and he could feel Lance groan in response, adding new fuel to the burning fire of want between the two.
The pace of the kiss picked up at this and Keith’s hand moved from his face, to his hip, to hold Lance up. His lips pressed harder and faster against Lance’s mouth, sliding over to suck and nip at Lance’s jaw. A deep moan escaped his throat and he lightly pushed Keith’s chest away from his while keeping the other arm around his neck. His eyes opened slowly. Keith returned to reality after a moment and gazed at Lance, confused and out of breath. Lance panted just as much, staring into his eyes. Neither spoke.
“Does this–” Lance’s voice croaked and he cleared his throat. “Does this mean we’re dating now?” The hand around his neck tugged lightly.
“I don’t know, Loverboy Lance, are you going to ask me out?” Keith had intended to ask it teasingly, but his shortage of breath made it sound seductive more than anything. Not that he minded.
“Keith, I wish for nothing more than to be with you. Would you do me the great honour of being my boyfriend and accompanying me on a date?” Lance had regained some of his breath and was making a big show of asking his out. He smiled the whole time though, and Keith couldn’t help but smile back.
“That’s the worst way to ask someone out,” he whispered, “but, yes.”
Lance laughed before diving back in for another kiss. Keith accepted it readily, smiling into it. Their lips moved together, more hungrily this time. It quickly escalated farther until Lance was sitting on Keith’s lap, scraping his fingernails through Keith’s long, black hair and across his skin. Keith had his arms wrapped firmly around the boy’s waist and was groaning at the feeling of those nails raking across his scalp.
Keith prodded Lance’s mouth open, pleased when Lance gave little resistance. Their tongues met, lapping over each other in long, languid motions. Keith’s tongue glided across the inside of Lance’s teeth and he squeaked causing Keith to laugh into the kiss.
Keith pulled on Lance’s neck, yanking him over with him as they fell onto the bed. Lance lay on top of him, their mouths still connected. Keith pulled himself up slightly with one hand while the other hand shifted the hem of Lance’s shirt to run his calloused hands over the bare skin of his stomach. He kept his hand on the same latitude, never going higher or lower. With great struggle on both their parts, Lance managed to pull himself upwards and away from his new boyfriend.
Lance’s face was flushed and Keith could only imagine he was not in a much better state. It set off something in him to see his former friend, who he had had a small crush on for so long, in such disarray, and all because of him. A smile tugged at his face and Lance mirrored him. “We should probably stop for now or we may never watch that movie,” Lance’s voice sounded unused and weak but neither of the two cared.
Keith laughed and nodded. He let his arms drop from around Lance’s neck to let the boy pull himself away from the bed to go put in a movie. After setting it up, he hurried back to his blanket and settled in next to Keith.
“Is it okay if I sleep here now, Keith?” he asked, sarcastically.
“Well now I’m even more worried about some sort of roll in the hay,” Keith replied, feigning distress.
Lance laughed and Keith joined him. They snuggled up together in the blanket nest that Keith had created. Keith’s body heat seeped through his leggings, effectively warming up Lance’s bare legs. He intertwined his legs with Keith’s, smiling at the boy as he did. They both stared at the other’s flushed face for awhile. When the movie finally began, they squished up closer to each other, Keith wrapping his arm around Lance, who practically melted into Keith’s chest. The movie did eventually come to a close but the pair were out long before then.