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It had been a simple mission. Go to Tyrod and extract some plants for Pidge and Hunk. Coran, Allura and Shiro had been busy with some coalition meeting, Keith was off with the blades and the geniuses had bunch of other things to work on so they sent Lance.
Lance wasn't complaining, he wanted to get out of the castle. They'd been on stand-by for some while and he was bored out of his mind so despite it practically being a flower picking mission, he jumped at the opportunity.
What he hadn't expected we're a bunch of furious-looking aliens appearing out of nowhere, mid said mission, and forcibly dragging him away.
He tried talking to them but he only received unintelligible sounds in return.
Maybe they wouldn't treat him like that if he had been in his paladin armour, but he didn't think it was necessary so he had left it in the castle along with his bayard.
Next thing he knew he was on a platform that teleported him and a couple of said aliens in an enormous ruby colored room with tall pillars.
Then one of the aliens shoved him to the front and suddenly he was facing a tall alien that was standing in front of a podium.
"Name?", the alien spoke up and one of Lance's capturers poked him.
Lance took it as his cue to introduce himself: "Lance McClain."
The alien nodded and wrote something down on a tablet.
"Species?", he asked and Lance earned another poke in his back.
"Human?" Lance replied with a quirked brow, "What's going on here?"
Everybody seemed to ignore him as the tall alien wrote the information down.
"Crime?" the third question rung out and Lance's eyes widened comically.
"Wait, what? What crime?!" he whipped around towards his capturers and put up his index finger, "I'll have you know that I haven't committed any crimes besides having extremely good looks and stealing people's hearts!"
"Silence!" the tall alien shouted and pointed towards one of Lance's capturers, who Lance assumed, was the leader of the group, "Crime?"
This time Lance stayed quiet and watched as the leader started making unintelligible sounds again. The tall alien was writing all of it down and when it was over he pointed towards Lance.
"You, human, Lance McClain are hereby sentenced to a lifetime for attempting to steal the Plant Of Life from the Tyrodian people." two similar looking aliens walked in the room and approached Lance, "Guards take him to his cell."
That was when Lance realized what was happening.
"Hold on! I think this is a huge misunderstanding!" he exclaimed as he was dragged out towards the doors, but no matter how much he trashed around and yelled, nobody listened to him.
And that's how he found himself laid down on the top of the bunk bed in a prison cell about two vargas later.
He knew that someone would come after him eventually since he wasn't supposed to be gone from the castle for more than four vargas so he figured he might as well rest up and wait.
He'd nearly drifted off to sleep when all of a sudden his cell doors opened and someone was thrown in.
"I swear to god if you don't let me out of here right now I'm going to bust out of here myself and fight all of you!" the voice sounded familiar so Lance propped himself up on his elbows to take a peak, "This is no way to treat a paladin of Voltron! You hear me?!"
Someone with a familiar dark suit was holding on the cell bars and screaming a bunch of swears towards whoever had dropped them in here.
Lance nearly fell out of his bed as his mind clicked the pieces together and he realised who he was looking at.
"Keith?!" that got the figures attention and they turned around to face Lance, "What are you doing here?!"
The figure turned off their mask and took off their hood to reveal a confused looking Keith.
"What am I doing here??" his tone was just as confused, "What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be on Tyrod picking up plants for Hunk and Pidge, but instead you're locked up in a cell in the middle of nowhere!"
Lance snickered.
"Yeah well I could say the same about you." he noted as he got down from the bed, "Thought they'd treat the defenders of universe with a little more respect."
"Lance." Keith stared at him, unamused, "Could you tell me why you're here?"
"Well I was on the planet doing what I was told to do when suddenly a bunch of angry looking Tyrodians surrounded me." Lance replied with a shrug, "The next thing I knew I was in front of this alien judge, getting sentenced to life for attempting to steal the plant of life or whatever, which, honestly, is just a huge misunderstanding on their part."
Keith let out a sigh and muttered something under his breath as he sat down on the bottom bunk.
"So, that's my story." Lance said as he sat down next to him, "What about you? Why are you here?"
"I came back from the mission Kolivan had called me on. It turned out to be a bust in the end." Keith started explaining, "And since the mission was sudden and I never finished our conversation-"
They had been hanging out in the kitchen and throwing space-grapes in each others mouths, trying to find out who could catch the most and talking in between. They'd done that a lot lately. Talking. Just hanging out with each other and talking about anything and everything.
"So, then I told him, "Hunk, buddy, I am NOT going to ask Shay out on a date for you. You have to do it yourself."" Lance was telling Keith stories about him and Hunk.
"Did he do it?" Keith asked as he successfully caught the grape Lance had thrown and swallowed it.
"After enough convincing and practicing?" Lance caught his own grape, "Yeah. They've been on four dates now, which is a lot, considering the fact that we're in the middle of a space war."
A comfortable silence settled over them and they threw a few more grapes at each other until they decided it was enough and put the bowls down.
"Do you think it's a good idea to do that during a war though?" Keith broke the silence.
"Huh?" Lance quirked a brow but it went back down, "Oh, dating?"
Keith gave a confirming nod.
"Well..." a soft smile settled on Lance's lips, "Yeah."
It was Keith's turn to quirk a brow.
Lance knew what that quirked brow meant.
"I mean sure there's the threat of dying any day. I know that, Keith." he nudged him earning a scowl from the dark haired guy, "But if you think about it then it's like that outside of war too. So, you should let yourself enjoy that happiness while it's still there."
Keith seemed to contemplate it for a moment and Lance let the silence drag on once more.
"Hey, Lance?" Keith asked and received a hum back, "I have to tell you something. This might come out of nowhere but-"
And that was when Allura rushed into the room and interrupted Keith to call him away on a mission with Kolivan.
"-so I looked around for you and then I ran into Pidge." Keith kept talking and Lance listened, "She told me that you were on the planet so I flew down there myself but I couldn't find you anywhere. Then I ran into Tyrodians and asked them if they'd seen you and suddenly they dragged me to this place and the same "judge" sentenced me to a lifetime for the same thing."
"They must've thought you were my accomplice or something." Lance burst out into a fit of giggles, "Oh man."
"They did actually." Keith nodded, "I tried telling them that you wouldn't do that and that it must've been a misunderstanding but they didn't want to listen and tried pulling me to a cell. I tried fighting them but there were too many of them so I ended up here anyway."
"So you sought me out right after a mission and fought for my honour in space court? Aw, Keith, you shouldn't have!"
Lance threw himself on Keith and wrapped his arms around him, causing both of them to plop down on the sturdy bottom bunk.
"Laaance..." Keith whined and tried to wriggle out from under him, "Get off of me, you're too heavy!"
Lance faked a gasp and propped himself up: "I'll have you know- I'm as light as a feather!"
Keith stopped all attempts of getting out and looked him in the eye: "Lance we both know that's not true."
"Fine! I'll find someone else to appreciate my hugs then!" he started pulling away, "Guards! Find me a new cellmate, this one sucks!"
"Alright, Lance, calm down!" Keith pulled him back down and wrapped his arms around the boy, "You can have your hugs, but what are we going to do now?"
"Well I'm only supposed to be gone for like four vargas and it's only been about two." Lance stated the facts, "I say we just wait until the group notices we're gone, meanwhile let's relax. It's not like we can do much anyways."
"What about trying to break out?" Keith offered.
"I mean I don't know if it's worth the trouble. We already have a life sentence." Lance replied, "They might sentence us to death for all I know so I figured I'd just wait it out. Four vargas isn't that long after all."
Keith hummed: "You're right. I'm not in a big rush so I guess we can just wait."
"Yeah. I mean we can try to come up with potential escape plans while we wait." Lance agreed and added, "Just in case."
The got up and spent the following three vargas unsuccessfully searching for any ways to escape.
"Yeah, I think we're stuck here." Lance finally cut the silence and returned to the bottom bunk, "We've searched every single bit of this room and the guards aren't responsive so there's no way to get out."
"Great." Keith muttered and plopped down next to Lance, "So... I guess now we wait?"
"I guess we do." Lance nodded and burried his head in Keith's chest, "Hey, tell me one of those stories about Shiro."
"Which one?" Keith asked and Lance shrugged.
"I don't know. An embarrasing one." he replied, "You have bunch of those."
"Alright." Keith wrapped his arms tighter around Lance, "So there was this one time when he invited over his husband, boyfriend at the time, to the house and-"
"Shiro has a husband?!" Lance looked up wide eyed and Keith chuckled.
"Yeah. He's back on earth, I forgot to tell you." Keith responded, "So anyways, where was I..."
They spent the next six vargas cuddled up and talking about Shiro and his husband Adam.
"I can't believe I'm stuck in space jail with you of all people." Lance whispered in the middle of another Shiro story. Keith would've missed it if Lance wasn't right next to his ear.
"Yeah and why's that?" Keith mused, "I thought I was the most likely person to end up in space jail due to my bad temper. That's what you kept saying up until like two weeks ago."
"And I still stand by that." Lance propped himself up and Keith saw the amusement in his eyes, "It's just that I thought if I did end up in space jail with someone it'd be with Hunk since he's my best friend and I always drag him into trouble."
"Hey that's not true." Keith smirked, "You don't always drag him into trouble. Take the whole date situation for example."
Lance seemed to contemplate it before he gave in: "Yeah, you're right."
Keith hummed in agreement.
"By the way, that reminds me..." he said and turned his eyes up to look into Keith's, "What did you want to tell me back there, before Allura interrupted you?"
Keith tensed up and so did the air around them.
"Oh, uh..." he was quiet and tried avoiding eye contact, "Nothing important. It doesn't matter."
Lance wasn't buying it for a second.
"Keith, you're better than this." Lance reached out to hold the other boy's hands, "I know when you're lying. Whatever it is, you can tell me. I won't think it's weird."
Keith met Lance's gaze: "Promise?"
Lance squeezed Keith's hands: "Promise."
"Okay. Here goes." Keith took in a breath and so did Lance.
"These past years have been incredible. You've been incredible. Fighting alongside with you in a space war has been the most alive I've ever felt and we really make a good team." Lance's heart skipped a beat at the familiar words he had said to Keith long ago, "But it's not just about war. Spending time with you, whether it'd be fighting Sendak or throwing grapes in each others mouths in the kitchen or watching weird Altean movies in your room all night and then complaining on the deck the following morning about not getting enough sleep, it's nice."
Lance barely heard Keith over his own quickened heartbeat.
"I love every single minute I spend together with you. Even now in this space jail together." Keith continued, "My point is- I love you, Lance. I love that you care about everyone, I love your jokes, I love that you're so skilled, both with a gun and a sword. I would make an entire list of reasons why I love you but to make it short- I love everything about you. I love that you're you and you hold a special place in my heart. I've felt this way since we first met in the Garrison but I was scared of getting close to you and getting hurt so I didn't say anything and then you started this whole rivalry thing and the war happened so I thought I'd just keep things to myself."
"So, what changed?" Lance asked.
"We changed." Keith replied, "Ever since Shiro disappeared, after that fight with Zarkon. We got closer thanks to you reaching out to me and since then our relationship has only grown. I probably could've told you months ago how I felt about you, but I didn't want things to go bad when there's a war out there. And then you told me about Hunk and Shay and I realized that... I should tell you. Let myself enjoy that happiness while it's still there, right?"
Lance nodded and silence stretched over them. They laid there together with hands intertwined enjoying each others presence.
"I love you too." Lance whispered and gave Keith's hands a squeeze, "I didn't realize it until the bonding moment and even after that I was in denial for a while but yeah. I've felt like this since the Garrison too."
"Keith, you're amazing, you know that?" he kept talking, "I wasn't sure for a while if I wanted to be you or be with you until you left for the blade and I suddenly had a void in me. You're self assured, you're extremely skilled too and you're caring, even if you don't show it to the team all the time. You're fun to be with too, I love our playful and teasing dynamic. I think there's no one I'd rather be with, to be honest."
"Me neither." he brushed his lips over Lance's knuckles.
"I'm glad I'm stuck in space jail with you." Lance smiled.
"There's no one I'd rather be with, to be honest." Keith smiled back and leaned in.
Keith held his cheek and the skin there was just as soft as Lance's lips. They were so lost in each other that they barely heard the guards calling for them.
"Hey, you two!" the cell doors opened and they jumped away from each other, "The princess is here for you."
Lance groaned as Keith helped him up: "Allura keeps interrupting us at the worst of times."
"We can always continue when we get back." Keith whispered in his ear and Lance caught a glimpse of a smirk as Keith turned away and they walked out to meet Allura.
"I'm sorry, paladins." Allura spoke and hugged both of them, "I would've freed you both sooner but I was stuck in that coalition meeting for a while and the Nyxpherian people are very hard to convince. The judge refused to let you both go for hours until Hunk offered them their national dish and Pidge created a protective barrier around the Plant Of Life for the Tyrodians. They only agreed to let you both go on the terms that you would never step foot on Tyrod again."
"I suppose banishment is better than a life sentence." Lance winked at Keith and they burst out laughing.
"God, you have the worst sense of humour." Keith spoke through laughter.
"Maybe so, but you still love it!" he argued and they followed Allura back to the castle.
"Yeah, you're right." Keith smiled and linked his hands with Lance, "I love it."