Archive of Our Own

For the first time in what felt like centuries, the galaxies seemed to be silent. There were no Galra threats, no missions, just peace. The paladins were finally getting a night off to themselves after months of constant battles and planning, free to use their time in any way they wished.

Lance, unfortunately, didn't really have much to do.

He was currently sitting on his bed staring at the wall alone in his room. A sigh tore its way past his lips. There were still a few hours until he’d have to go to sleep in order to wake up and function like a normal human being. What could he do? He wracked his brain. Train? No way. Clean red? He'd done that already. Face mask? That one piqued his interest.

He hadn't had the time to do one in what he assumed was a few weeks, and he could see his poor skin beginning to suffer. He glanced over at his mirror and scrunched his nose up in disdain at the blackheads dotted about his face and the lonesome pimple on his chin.

Lance leaned over and reached for his nightstand, his hand flailing in the air for a few seconds before he grasped the handle to the top drawer. As he pulled the drawer open, he smiled at the array of space equivalents to skin care products. Coran had helped him select a few at the space mall.

The idea to invite Hunk along popped into his mind. Lance pushed himself off his bed, slipped on his lion slippers, and made his way to Hunk’s bedroom.

It used to be a weekly tradition between them when they were back at the Garrison, and it had continued for a while even in space. Eventually, there was no time when they were constantly battling the Galra, planning the next attack, or trying to catch up on the hours they had missed sleeping.

A frown creased Lance’s brow when there was no answer to his knock when he reached Hunk’s room. Suddenly, with a sad droop of his features, Lance remembered that Hunk was helping Pidge with a project she was working on.

A bit dejected, Lance made his way back to his room. He tried to push the disappointment away when he told himself that it was okay, he would just have some well-deserved pampering by himself. He could belt out his favourite pop songs from back home with the actual songs in the background.

Pidge had gifted him a makeshift music player what seemed like a few months ago during a bad bout of homesickness. Sometimes, although rarely, she could be nice.

When he got back to his room, he quickly got changed into something more comfortable. He pulled on his Blue lion pyjama bottoms and a grey t-shirt Hunk had given him. It was giant on him, but Lance found it to be one of the comfiest pieces of clothing he owned. To him, it felt like home; warm and welcoming, just like one of Hunk’s hugs.

He had literally just sat down to choose a mask when there was a loud pounding at his door. The sudden onslaught of noise nearly made lance jump out of his skin. He was sure everyone was off being busy. Weird.

Nonetheless, he made his way to the door. Slowly, he opened it until only one of his eyes was visible. Lance was expecting Shiro coming to talk to him, or Hunk popping by to ask if he wanted to come and watch the making of… whatever he and Pidge were doing. What he didn't expect was to see a very sweaty and flushed Keith.

Lance swung the door open a little wider.

"Keith?"

It was obvious that Keith was just back from training if the way his shirt stuck to his chest from sweat was anything to go by. Lance’s eyes slipped down to stare at his chest. His eyes lingered there for a few seconds, his eyes glued to the abs Lance could see through his shirt. That would explain the flushed cheeks, too.

Keith looked breathless. It took a moment for Lance to realise that he'd also pulled his hair up into a ponytail at the back of his head, his bangs falling out of the hair tie and into his eyes.

"Hey," Keith said with a slight pant. He was acting as if it was normal to just barge in on his personal time. In the months they had been in space, Keith hadn't been to his room once even though the rivalry they used to share was gone.

After Keith had returned from the Blades, he and Lance had actually grown rather close. There was the odd jibe at each other of course, but it was done in more of a joke-like fashion, unlike before.

"Hey," Lance trailed off, his eyes suddenly snapping back up to Keith’s face. He swallowed and mentally scolded himself for allowing himself to get so distracted. "Is there something you need, or did you just decide to pop by?" Lance continued sarcastically, a playful smirk pulling at his lips.

Keith looked a little embarrassed, the flush on his cheeks darkening slightly. Lance wasn't sure he wanted to know what he was here for now. He scratched the back of his neck.

"My room locked me out."

Lance stared for a few moments, a frown appearing between his brows as he stared at Keith in confusion. Suddenly, he burst out laughing. He managed to gasp out a breathy “What?!” through his giggles, as he clutched his stomach.

"Don't laugh! It's not funny!" Keith snapped as he crossed his arms and pouted, his bottom lip pushed out very slightly, not unlike a petulant child. Lance grabbed onto the side of his door frame to stable himself. He took a steadying breath to compose himself. He was taking way too much joy in seeing Keith get embarrassed. He grinned.

"How is that even possible?" Lanced asked, amusement evident in his voice.

Keith tried to school his face into a neutral expression.

"I don’t actually know. I just tried to open it and it swung back and hit me in the face," at that Keith averted his gaze to the floor in shame. "Then it shut and locked itself again, and now it won’t let me in."

Lance laughed again, thoroughly entertained by the fact Keith got whacked in the face by his own door. That, however, formulated a new question in his mind. "Why are you here then? Shouldn’t you go to Allura and Coran? See if they can fix it?" he queried, his brow raising into a perfect arch.

Keith swallowed and fidgeted with his fingers. "I did, but there’s nothing they can do until tomorrow. It’s going to require shutting down the entire ship’s system and restarting it." He stated, his lip curling in anger. He dropped his hands from across his chest and bunched his fist in annoyance.

"Honestly, this ship is some of the best technology out here according to Pidge, how does a door just malfunction like that?!" It didn’t appear that Keith was talking to Lance anymore, but to the area in general.

Lance was afraid to push Keith any further in case he aggravated him any more than he already seemed to be. He’d rather not poke the bear; Keith was too hot-headed for that. If it had been a couple of months ago, however, Lance wouldn’t have missed a beat in making fun of Keith, turning around and shutting the door in his face.

Instead, he tried to keep it casual. "Keith, buddy, you still haven’t answered my question," Keith tensed slightly. "How exactly do I fall into all of this?"

Keith shifted on his feet and bowed his head. He mumbled something under his breath that lance couldn’t quite catch.

"What?" Lance asked, leaning forward to hear better. "Keith, you’re literally talking to the floor right now".

Keith’s head snapped back up. Lance watched in wonder as the flush from his cheeks spread to the tips of his ears as his embarrassment continued to build. Any kind soul would’ve tried to spare him some of the humiliation by putting two and two together, but Lance, unfortunately, was very slow.

"Allura told me to share your room for the night since I have nowhere else to go." He muttered.

Oh. How had Lance missed that? It was obvious. He mentally face-palmed. Lance all of a sudden became slightly defensive.

Only a little while ago, Lance had come to the startling realisation that he really didn’t hate Keith as much as he’d lead on. In fact, it was the complete opposite; he liked Keith. A lot.

He'd originally tried to blame it on just missing Keith while he was away with the Blades, but it became apparent rather quickly that it was more than that. It made him think back on the past teasing he'd directed at Keith and found that he only did it to gain Keith’s attention. A “subtle” way of flirting. Like pulling your crushes hair in the playground.

Very confused, he’d gone to Hunk for guidance who'd assured him that it was okay and no one was going to judge him for it. Thank God for that because not two days later, Hunk had accidentally told Pidge, who’d told Shiro, who’d told Allura, who’d told Coran. He genuinely thought that he’d combust from embarrassment and the blush adorning his cheeks after they all came to comfort him, offering him their own advice.

Except for Pidge who'd just laughed and said that it was obvious before instructing him to grow some balls and ask him out.

Therefore, Lance couldn’t help but think that his feelings, and the entire ship knowing about his stupid crush, meant that this whole room-sharing idea was a disaster waiting to happen. It just seemed like a great way to create sexual tension and for him to have a heart attack at the close proximity he’d be forced to endure.

Quickly, some walls were put up.

"Can't you share with Shiro?" Lance blurted in slight panic. Keith shook his head and if Lance wasn’t mistaken, a fleeting apologetic look crossed his features.

"Already tried. Allura claimed it was a great time for team bonding and for us to get along." Lance’s eyes nearly fell out of his head. ‘Get along?!’ He felt his eye twitch. He already knew that was some lame excuse Allura had made up in order to force the two together. The entire team had been trying this kind of stuff since Keith had got back from his mission. It was a miracle he hadn’t caught on.

"But we already do get along!" Lance exclaimed in frustration, his arms flying up in annoyance. Keith simply bit his lip and shrugged.

Lance sighed as he debated his options. This could either go horribly wrong or end up going incredibly well. With Keith forced to be near him, Lance could try and decipher if the possibility Keith liked him back existed, even if the team had insisted it countless times before. That is, if he doesn’t spontaneously combust from over-exposure to Keith’s attractiveness first.

There was also the possibility that Allura killed him for ruining what she deemed was a "chance".

Well, there really was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t exactly say no and shut the door in his face. Lance pushed the door open as wide as it would go, partly in invitation, partly in defeat.

"Fine, just don't bother me too much," Lance joked as he turned and sauntered back into his room. He was sure he heard Keith mumble a sarcastic “I’ll try” but he couldn't be sure.

Keith followed suit and walked into the room behind Lance, stopping in the middle of his floor. The door closed behind them as he hovered rather awkwardly where he stood. Lance watched Keith from the corner of his eye as he held onto one of his arms and looked around his room with curiosity.

Lance’s eyes followed him as Keith zeroed in on a photo hanging on Lance's wall. In the photo, a large group of people stood with their arms flung around each other’s shoulders, each one with the same tanned skin and freckles Lance had. Right in the middle, Lance looked at himself smiling widely at the camera, his grin so wide his eyes were closed.

He was ten in that picture. Photo Lance had one arm flung over a girl the same height with braces on her toothy grin, Maria, and his other wrapped around a shorter, chubby woman with a kind face, Madre. A freeze frame of a time when Lance had no cares in the world, and nothing at all to worry about.

Keith stared at it for a few moments without saying anything. "Is this your family?" he finally asked.

Lance looked at the photo one more time with a heavy feeling weighing down his chest. That was the last thing he had from earth to remember his family by. He’d always carried that photo around in his pocket as a good luck charm, even when he was just staying at the Garrison.

"Yeah, that's them," he sighed, a sad smile on his face.

Keith nodded. His gaze lingered on the photo. A silence fell over the two boys. Lance knew Keith had grown up alone as an orphan. Despite finally being reunited with his mother, Keith still hadn’t had a proper childhood with a family. Guilt sliced his stomach when he noticed Keith’s longing gaze.

Suddenly, Keith’s voice cut through the silence when he blurted out "Can I use your bathroom?" Keith looked a bit shocked that he’d spoken, and his face was flushing ever so slightly again. "I mean, I didn’t get to have a shower after training because my room locked me out, and it’s pretty uncomfortable-" he rambled.

Lance smiled slightly at Keith’s pitiful attempt of making a situation less awkward. He really was rather socially inept. He took it upon himself to stop him before he dug himself an even bigger hole. Lance still appreciated the attempt.

"Yeah, sure. It’s on the right." Keith shot a brief look of gratefulness at Lance. He mumbled a quiet “thanks” as he walked past Lance and entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

Lance flopped back in his bed. He let out a slow breath as his eyes roamed around his room. His eyes landed on the drawer that was still lying open and he perked up almost instantly. ‘Oh, yeah! Face mask.’

With that thought, Lance crawled to the other end of his bed and sat with his legs in a basket like a child. He rifled through the colourful packets. Eventually, his fingers hovered over what he assumed was supposed to be a cucumber clay mask. Except the alien equivalent was a bright, cherry red. Lance chewed the inside of his cheek and shrugged.

Lance smiled in satisfaction as he popped the tin foil film covering the top of the tube with his fingernail. He squirted the product out onto his fingers and marvelled at just how bright the red was.

Praying that the colour wouldn’t stain his precious face, Lance smeared the product over his skin making sure that every part was covered. He stuck his bottom lip out and nodded to himself in his mirror. ‘Looking good, McClain.’

He'd just begun wiping his hands off from excess product when he heard a quiet curse from the bathroom. Lance raised an eyebrow in confusion and listened to Keith shuffling through the metal. He heard a sigh and then a tentative mutter of his name.

Said paladin got up and walked over to the door to hear better.

"Yeah?" He shouted back. The other side of the door was quiet, and Lance was picturing Keith closing his eyes and trying to count to ten.

“I-uh, I don't have a towel," then almost as an afterthought, "or any clothes."

Of course. Keith couldn’t get into his room, so obviously he didn’t have anything with him. Internally, Lance felt chuffed that he wasn’t the only one out of the pair that seemed to forget that important piece of information. So, he wasn’t dumb, no matter what Keith said.

Lance glanced at his dresser and swallowed hard. ‘Oh no', he thought in sudden desperation. There was only one option. That is unless he wanted Keith to waltz around his room naked for the night. That might have been a good thing in another context, but right now, not so much.

He sighed again for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"Hold on a second," he called. He heard an answering hum before he turned and stared at his dresser. He pulled the drawer open and began rummaging through his clothes he’d collected on his space travels from hopping into space malls when he could.

Keith was smaller than Lance, and so he tried to find clothes that were slightly too small for himself. In the end, the only thing Lance could find was a pale blue hoodie that was a size too small because Lance had stupidly misjudged alien sizes…and a pair of grey boxers.

A vibrant blush het up Lance's face and neck. He buried his face in the hoodie as he tried to compose himself. ‘Just imagine it's your friend. It's just like Hunk. Except it isn't because it's Keith and I like Keith a lot and he puts butterflies in my stomach-‘ Lance decided to stop his thoughts right there by knocking on the bathroom door, grabbing a towel on his way.

The door opened a crack and Keith reached out a pale hand to grab the clothes and towel as he mumbled a quiet “thanks”. It was odd seeing Keith’s hand sans his gloves. Lance pointedly tried not to think about the fact that Keith was also bare of all his clothing on the other side of the door.

He decided to just lie down on his bed and stare at the ceiling as he desperately willed away the warmth in his face. That way he could just relax and let the mask to do its magic. Maybe afterwards he'd do a proper exfoliation and moisturise his face until it was perfect. Then he could do his toners and then do his lips with a lip scrub and lip balm. Then he could- his thoughts were cut off as the bathroom door opened.

Lance wanted to stab his eyes out.

Keith was standing in the doorway fidgeting with the hem of the hoodie. Lance's hoodie. It was still slightly too large for him and hung past his wrists just a little bit. The bottom of the boxers Lance had given him poked out from beneath the soft fabric on his torso. Lance’s eyes focused on Keith’s muscular thighs. He felt like crying.

Keith stared at his sleeves before sighing and bunching them up to his elbows. He looked even hotter that way and Lance was ready for the angels to swoop down and take him away.

Lance's breath hitched a little when an actual coherent thought passed over his mind. ‘His hair’s in a ponytail again.’ Sometimes Lance wondered what he’d done to piss God off so much for such unfortunate events to unfold in his life.

His eyes hovered at the now exposed part of Keith’s neck that was normally covered with his long hair. It was like a secret, a private thing, and Lance felt privileged that he’d seen it in person. Surely “he has a nice nape” was not something a normal person thought. Maybe he should ask Coran to run some kind of analysis on his brain cells.

Lance became aware that Keith was still holding his dirty washing and was now staring at him. That’s when he realised that he hadn’t told Keith where to put his stuff. He pointed to the corner of his room. He didn’t trust his voice to speak right now.

Thankfully, Keith seemed to get the message and dropped his clothes in a messy heap before making his way over to Lance’s bed and plonking himself right in front of his legs. He leaned his head back on the bed and looked up at Lance’s face with a scrutinizing gaze for a few moments.

In those few beats, Lance felt his cheeks heat again. Thankfully, the colour would’ve been covered since he had a bright red face mask on. He felt his hands grow slightly clammy and his stomach flip. He felt trapped under Keith’s violet-grey eyes. The colour of the hoodie Lance gave him complemented his eyes perfectly.

Keith’s head tilted to the side slightly. "What do they even do?" Lance was abruptly snapped from his stupor. He tried to register what Keith said.

"I-What? What does what do?" he asked in bewilderment.

Keith waved his hand around in the air in the direction of Lance’s face searching for a word. It appeared his mind turned up blank as he just said, "Whatever that red stuff is."

Oh. The face mask.

Lance rolled his eyes. "It’s called a face mask, you use them 'cause they’re good for your skin." He managed to hold himself back from saying 'that’s why mine is so amazing'. Lance glanced down to see that Keith was still gazing at the mask.

"Plus, they’re just nice. Help you to relax a bit." Keith nodded absently before he flicked his gaze away to stare at the wall opposite him like Lance had been doing before he knocked on his door. He shrugged.

"I’ve never used one," he stated nonchalantly. Lance's jaw dropped at that. Yeah, Keith had lived in a desert for a year, but how did his skin look like that naturally? Lance was a little jealous. There wasn't any point in denying that Keith had nice skin.

"Do you want to try one?" he asked quietly.

Lance seriously had to learn how to hold his tongue. Maybe he'd just cut it right off. He was just about to say that Keith didn't have to when he noticed that the other boy actually looked a little interested. He glared a bit and crossed his arms trying to blow off the signs of interest.

"Nope, no way."

Well, now he had to make sure Keith did one if only to say, "I made Keith do something" and brag about it to his friends.

"Aw, come on Keith," he said dragging out the ‘e’. "They're nice! You could use one anyway. You know you want to!" That seemed to irk Keith if the way his eye twitched was any indication. He sat up.

"I’m not letting you put some kind of alien concoction on my face, Lance!" he huffed.

Lance felt a sly grin inch up on his face. He waited until Keith had turned away from him again and put his head back on the bed. His eyes closed. Lance shuffled over to his drawer, trying to make as little noise as possible. He grabbed a mask and tore the packet open slowly to keep it quiet, squeezing some product on his fingers.

With a quick jerk, Lance dragged a streak of bright blue face mask down Keith’s cheek. Said boy's eyes shot open as he gasped. Keith shot forward from the bed and landed on his knees. He put his fingers to his cheek and stared at them in shock at the bright blue painting his fingertips.

"Lance, what the fuck?!" Lance buckled over laughing. He flopped backwards onto his bed and tried to keep his hand away from his sheets so he didn't stain them blue. The anger on Keith’s face might have scared some people, but to Lance, it was just hilarious.

"I said not to put it on my face!" Lance grinned at Keith’s scrunched up face. He thought about the grumpy cat meme and giggled to himself.

"But, Keith! You look so good!" Keith glared at him and Lance was sure he heard him grumble about how he was going to “fucking kill him”.

"Might as well slap it on the rest of your face though since it’s pretty much halfway done," Lance teased, leaning forward into Keith's personal space.

Keith shot daggers at him but stood up nonetheless. He snatched the packet from Lance’s hand and turned to the mirror. Lance watched in amusement as Keith fumbled with the packet. He squirted a minuscule amount into the palm of his hand and began rubbing it in way too roughly. Lance rolled his eyes again and tutted. He reached for his wrist to stop him.

"I don’t even know how it’s possible for someone not to know how to apply a face mask properly." Keith looked as though he was going to say something back in retaliation, but Lance took the packet from his hand before a syllable had slipped past his lips.

Lance took it upon himself to start applying the face mask himself. To his surprise, it seemed like he’d managed to render Keith speechless.

For a few seconds, Keith’s eyes followed Lance’s fingers as they rubbed over his left cheek gently, his lips slightly parted. He morphed his face into a frown and muttered: "If you fuck up my face, I will literally throw you into a wormhole." Lance had heard it before and chuckled quietly.

"Yeah, yeah, easy tiger."

Lance reached his hand out and took Keith's chin between his fingers and pulled his face closer. He desperately prayed to any god that could hear him to not let his cheeks colour. Gently, he brushed his fingers over Keith's right cheek his fingers lightly brushing Keith’s hair from his face. Lance wasn't even sure if Keith was breathing, honestly.

If he passed out Lance might stick him in a wormhole.

Lance spread the rest of the face mask over his forehead, Keith still watching his every move. He felt under pressure being scrutinised under such an intense gaze. Not only that, but he kept getting distracted by the same pretty violet-grey colour that had caught his attention earlier.

Keith's eyes were really entrancing overall. Lance just wanted to stare at them for hours, see them light up smiling, or glaring at him when they were in a “fight”. He wanted to look at them when they were in a battle, the concentration evident in his stare. He wanted to-

"Um, Lance?" he heard Keith ask.

His train of thoughts crashed to an abrupt stop. He’d been staring at Keith, his fingers no longer moving. How awkward could he be?! He jerked back a little bit, a nervous laugh bubbling in his chest. ‘Play it cool, Lance, play it cool. That didn’t happen.'

A strangled noise erupted from his throat and Lance wanted to die. Keith looked at Lance with a raised eyebrow, ‘he has perfect eyebrows’, his lips pursed in confusion, ‘he has perfect lips’.

"Well? Are you just going to keep staring at me or do this fucking mask you were so desperate to do ten minutes ago?" Lance’s eyes darted over his face a few times before dropping back to his hands which were now resting on Keith’s chin and jaw. He swallowed thickly; this seemed awfully intimate.

"Yeah, sorry," he squeaked out, not realising that he’d not even answered the damn question. Fuck Keith for making him sound like a school girl. Fuck himself for not being able to stop sounding like a school girl. He shook his head slightly, a habit he had to “stop thinking”, before continuing to rub the mask into Keith’s face.

It was done in a few seconds, and Lance denied the fact that he let his fingers linger on Keith’s cheeks for a little bit longer than necessary. Lance sat back to admire his work. Even, smooth and perfect. As usual.

Keith turned to the mirror on Lance’s bedside cabinet. His brows furrowed.

“I literally look like I’ve been strangled." It was sort of true. The bright blue it once was had begun to turn into a darker purple-like colour. Lance snorted at the comment. Keith was so dramatic, and yet that’s exactly what Keith had called him many times before.

Lance wiped his hands again, glancing at Keith from the corner of his eye. He watched in amusement at Keith’s fascination with the mask. Suddenly, he turned around to look at Lance.

"What now?" He asked as his hand reached up to poke experimentally at his face. Lance raised an eyebrow and swatted his hand away.

"Uh, you wait until it dries," Lance explained.

Keith nodded and leaned his head back onto Lance’s bed. Lance let out a soft breath from his nose and rested against the wall his bed was pushed against. His eyes locked onto Keith when he saw his hand fidgeting in his lap. Lance’s eyes tracked the jerky movements of Keith’s fingers and realised that it was because he was picking away at the sides of his nail beds and the black nail polish on his nails.

'God, he's so emo,' Lance thought fondly.

Keith’s nails were in a terrible state. The sides of his fingers were dry and bloody from constant gnawing and picking. The nail polish adorning his fingers was chipped beyond belief. His nails were all uneven lengths with rugged edges from biting them. Subconsciously, Lance glanced down to his perfect hands.

Without really thinking about it, Lance found himself blurting out “do you want me to do your nails?”. He felt his face bloom in a blush as he watched Keith turn his head around to stare at Lance. He seemed to be trying to judge whether or not Lance was joking or not.

"You know, ‘cause we have plenty of time to waste. And I mean, you could think of it like a pampering session because of the mask," God, what was he saying?! "It’s whatever though, man." Lance let out a nervous laugh as he waited for Keith's response.

Keith’s eyes traced his face before he shrugged and turned his full body around. "Sure," he said nonchalantly as he raised his hands onto Lance’s bed.

Lance realised with a drop of his stomach that this was going to require touching Keith’s hands. His hands. The ones he’d longed to hold several times before. Lance just loved getting himself into the best situations. Lance took a steadying breath and reached over to his bedside cabinet again. He produced a nail file and, surprisingly, a bottle of black nail polish.

Keith raised his eyebrow and Lance gave him a pointed look as if to say “don’t even ask”. Lance really didn’t want to get into the full story of his old emo phase.

Apparently, Hunk had found the nail polish lying around. It belonged to Allura, but she’d allowed Hunk to keep it. The yellow paladin decided then that gifting it to Lance would be funny. Instead, it made Lance almost die of embarrassment. Thankfully, Hunk was the only one to know him during that particular period of time.

Lance reached for Keith’s right hand and held it in his own. His palm was calloused and rough from countless training and battles. Lance’s was much the same. His hand was a warm weight in Lance’s grasp.

Lance began on his pinky finger and filed in a smooth sidewards swipe. He continued this motion until the nail was perfectly rounded and smooth. His hand was looking better already. He moved onto his ring finger next. Unconsciously, Lance pulled Keith’s hand further into himself and rested it on his upper thigh. He tried to ignore the sensations jolting through his leg at the warmth.

Unbeknownst to him, that also meant he had pulled Keith’s entire upper body towards himself too. Including his face.

When Lance was finished on his right hand, he was startled to see how close Keith’s face was; he was barely a few inches away from Lance’s face. If he squinted, he could count Keith’s eyelashes or the very faint freckles that were invisible at a normal distance. Lance swallowed and found himself unable to speak. He stared right at Keith and was shocked to see a slight flush rising on the other boy's face, too.

Lance forced his eyes back down and continued with Keith’s left hand until he was satisfied. He then uncapped the nail polish and swiped a fresh coat on top of the old, chipped layer. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the alien version of nail polish remover, and if he had, he’d have been hesitant to buy it. Who knows what kind of chemicals could be in it?

Finally finished, Lance made one last stroke of nail polish before gently rubbing his thumb over Keith’s hand without really thinking, and then promptly dropped it. He hoped and prayed that Keith hadn’t registered what he’d done as he recapped the nail polish. Sadly, if the confused look was anything to go by, he had.

Lance could see harsh movement from his peripheral vision and almost snorted when he turned around to look at what it was. Keith was flailing his hands around everywhere, his cheeks puffed out as he blew on his nails in an attempt to dry them. Lance fleetingly thought “this is why I like him” as he put the items back in his drawer.

A small, dopey smile caressed his lips as he shut the drawer.

With nothing to do now until the masks dried, Lance got up and turned on his music player. As soon as the first beat had played, he heard Keith groan and flop backwards onto his bed. Lance, however, grinned. Ariana Grande. His queen.

He let his hips sway to the beat and began to dance around the room, all long limbs and grace galore. As he moved, he lip-synced to the song in an overly dramatic fashion. He glanced down at Keith and saw him smiling up at him from the floor. When he saw he was noticed, he quickly tried to school his expression back to normal.

In a spur of the moment action, Lance shot his hand out and grabbed Keith’s wrist hauling him up onto his feet. Keith looked surprised from the sudden change and stared at Lance, pissed.

"I’m not dancing if that’s what you think," Keith stated, his arms crossing over his chest again. Lance ignored him and continued to move his body, this time in a circle around Keith’s brooding form. Despite his forced annoyed façade, Lance could see Keith’s mouth twitching into a smile.

"You’re such a dick, Lance." With that and an overly dramatic eye roll, Keith began to softly mutter the words too. Lance looked ecstatic.

"You do like these songs!" Lance screeched in glee, his arms falling at the sides. Keith laughed at that.

"You don’t have to get so excited."

And so, for the next twenty minutes, Lance and Keith both sang along to the upbeat music, although Lance was much more enthusiastic. He’d even busted out some of his killer moves which Keith had the audacity to make fun of him for through his guffaws. Lance wasn’t too pleased about that.

Eventually, exhausted from all the dancing, Lance sat down on the floor, Keith following suit. That’s when Lance remembered that they still had their face masks on. He quickly ushered Keith up off the floor and into the bathroom despite Keith’s displeasure at practically being manhandled. He made his annoyance clear with a few choice words which Lance decided to ignore.

Once in the bathroom, Lance chucked a wet towel at Keith. He turned to the mirror and started rubbing his towel in a circular motion, making sure every last bit of mask was gone. He leaned back and grinned at the skin that was revealed from underneath. His skin was looking so much better already.

He turned to glance at Keith and noticed that despite Keith chucking his towel down as if to communicate he was finished, there was still a strip of blue on his jaw.

"You missed a bit," Lance muttered before reaching out with his own towel and wiping it away himself. Keith looked right at his face as he did this, and Lance tried desperately to avoid his gaze. He jerked back when he was finished and threw the towel into the wash basket next to the sink, hurrying out of the bathroom.

When Keith entered back into the room a few beats later, Lance was already smearing moisturiser, toner and lip balm on his face and lips. Keith raised an eyebrow. Despite Lance’s pleads, Keith refused to use anymore face products. Lance did manage to wrangle him into applying some lip balm when he mentioned it was cherry flavoured, Keith’s favourite.

He’d learned that fact when Keith was all over some cherry flavoured bubble-gum some aliens had given the team to try at a party a short while ago. Lance watched in awe as Keith’s finger dragged across his lips, coating the pink flesh with a shine. His lips looked plump and incredibly soft. Lance desperately wanted to taste them, feel them against his own, but he knew that was just wishful thinking. No way would it happen.

He sighed as Keith put the lip balm back in Lance’s drawer. A silence lapsed over the two boys. Lance noticed that Keith was staring intently at the photo on the wall again. Lance leant his head back against the wall and stared at it, too. Longing consumed him.

"Tell me about them." Lance startles. He snaps his head to look at Keith who hasn’t even torn his eyes away from the picture. "I know you miss them, maybe talking about them will make you feel better." Lance kept quiet for a few short moments, his brain coming up empty for something to say in return.

Lance stood up and gently took the picture off the wall. He held it with care as he slumped down to sit next to Keith on the floor.

"That’s my Madre," he explained as he pointed to the plump woman on his right with shoulder length hair and a kind smile. "She loves to bake, and she’s amazing at it. She makes some of the best cheesecake known to man, I swear to God. No surprise she and Hunk got along great, too. She’s always so cheery and kind, she’ll put anyone before herself. She was my rock."

Lance felt a lump build in his throat. Swallowing it down he pointed to Veronica. "She's my sister, Veronica. Everyone thinks we’re twins but we’re not; I’m a year older. She was obsessed with animals when we were younger, so we ended up getting a ton of pets. Some of our grandparents owned a farm and she loved it every time she visited," he smiled thinking back on his childhood. "She would always tease me and try to agitate me in general. I used to hate it, but I’d give anything to have her do it again."

His finger hovered over a broad-shouldered man slightly older than Lance. "That’s my brother, Marco," and so the list went on. He went over every face and told Keith a little about each of each of them. The picture was taken at his older sister’s wedding and so the full family had wanted in.

Twenty faces later, Lance was finished. He could hardly see now because of the tears clouding his vision he had desperately tried to hold back.

He felt Keith’s hand come up and rest on his shoulder, a comforting weight. Lance leaned into the touch. When Lance began to really cry, the tears cascading down his cheeks, Keith moved his hand and shifted a little closer to Lance. He jutted his shoulder out a little. Lance caught on to what he was trying to convey and let his head drop onto Keith’s shoulder.

Lance was taken aback by the strong smell of … Keith. Despite being just out the shower, there was still a comforting smell behind it that was just so like the boy; a little musky, a little sweet. This was exactly what he needed right now. Damn the voice in the back of his mind telling him to stop to hell.

"A lot of the younger girls have French braids in," Keith pointed out quietly. Lance assumed this was Keith’s way of giving him the opportunity to just let it all out, talk on and on about his family. Lance looked down at the photo he still had in his hand.

"Yeah, they all made me do them," Lance mumbled.

Keith shifted to look down at Lance in surprise. "What? Shocked, mullet?" Lance joked, but the humour was flattened by his mood. Keith smiled a bit.

"No, not really, just curious." Lance nodded against his shoulder.

"My parents used to be busy a lot with work, so I learned how to do braids for my youngest sister for when she went to school. Eventually, I got pretty good so the rest of them wanted me to do it." He explained as Keith nodded.

That was one of Lance’s fondest memories of his sister’s, sitting on his bed with all of them. They would all come in with the juiciest gossip they had and snacks as they rotated around in a circle to get their hair done by Lance. They loved the fact that they could talk about boys and Lance could join in with his raging bisexuality. It was on one of those days that he’d originally told them about the fact he wasn't straight.

Keith went quiet as though contemplating something. "This…This might seem a bit insensitive, but you could braid mine if you wanted? Like, if it’ll make you feel better, as though it was something from home." His sentence trailed off at the end and his eyes were shifting uncomfortably.

Lance tilted his head up off Keith’s shoulder and was overcome by a wave of affection for the boy above him. Keith’s cheeks were slightly pink, and Lance revelled in that fact. He gave a small smile to Keith and sat up properly.

"Turn around then," Lance instructed as he positioned himself behind Keith. It went rather quiet as Lance gently pulled Keith’s hair from his hair tie. He carefully pulled his slender fingers through Keith’s locks.

It was much longer than what it was before. No one really had a chance for a haircut. The hair beneath his fingers was incredibly soft and still slightly damp from the shower. Despite the length, Keith didn’t appear to have many split ends. In fact, he had amazing hair. Lance pretended not to be jealous.

"You could be doing with a haircut." Lance teased. Keith answered with a quiet “shut up”.

As Lance continued running his fingers through Keith’s hair, he realised that the one thing he didn’t have was a hairbrush. He normally just ran his fingers through his hair as it lay flat on its own anyway. 'That might make this a bit difficult,' he thought in slight frustration.

Deciding to attempt it anyway, Lance separated Keith’s hair into two large sections. He grabbed the left side and began the braid at the top of the other boy’s head. Lance found the process incredibly soothing and nostalgic. He really was starting to feel better.

When the braid was coming to an end, Lance tapped Keith on the shoulder, and almost on instinct, the other boy's hand shot up with a hair tie between his fingers. Lance tied off the bottom of one braid and smiled at his work.

This night was going better than he thought.

He began on the second braid. When he finished that braid Lance tapped Keith’s shoulder again, but this time he didn’t get a response. Lance hesitated for a few seconds before shaking him instead. Still nothing.

Confused, Lance peered over Keith’s shoulder. Keith had slumped forward slightly, his short fringe pieces which had fallen out of the braids landing in his eyes. His eyes were shut, and his long eyelashes were kissing his cheeks. His lips were slightly parted, and he was breathing slowly.

'He fell asleep,' Lance thought as he gently pulled the hair tie Keith already had prepared in his now limp fingers. Once the braid was secure, Lance shook Keith a little harder to try and wake him up.

Keith grunted low in his throat at the movement, his eyes opening just a crack. Keith smiled at him when he saw the tanned face in front of him.

"Do you want to go to bed?" Lance questioned gently, trying to keep his voice down.

Apparently, even though Keith was practically asleep, he was still a rude little shit because his reply was a sarcastic “Obviously, you Dumbass. I just fell asleep, didn’t I?” Lance rolled his eyes and waited on Keith standing up.

He became aware of another issue; where were they going to sleep?

Lance stared at his single bed and then down at his long limbs. That wasn’t going to work at all. Keith seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"I can sleep on the floor. I’m the one crashing here anyway," Keith offered.

Lance shook his head. "No you can have the bed, you’re a guest." This started a back and forth between the two until Lance physically shoved Keith onto the bed and lay on the floor. Keith grumbled all the while, before muttering a quiet "thank you". Lance didn't see the little side eyed gaze Keith gave him before he clicked off the light.

It wasn’t until two hours later that Lance began to regret his decision. The room was abnormally cold, and the floor was incredibly hard. He should have grabbed something to cover himself with in retrospect, but to do that now, he’d have to lean over Keith to turn the light on or risk falling face first onto the floor.

He gave up when his tossing and turning had gone on for more than thirty consecutive minutes. Instead, he stared at his ceiling and let out a long sigh.

"Can’t sleep?" Keith asked from above him, his face suddenly appearing in Lance’s vision. With a gasp, Lance shot up off his back, smashing his forehead against Keith’s in the process. Lance groaned over the “What the fuck?!” Keith tried to keep quiet.

Lance whipped around to Keith. "What the hell, man?! Why’d you scare me like that!" Lance whisper-shouted, his hands flinging out to the side. Keith glared at him.

"It was obviously an accident," Keith hissed back. Lance huffed and lay back down on his back.

"And to answer your question, no I can’t sleep. I thought you already were."

Keith was quiet for a few minutes. "How come?" Lance answered with a mumbled “uncomfortable” to summarise everything. Keith fell silent again and then suddenly there was some shifting about from above him. Lance sat up and looked at Keith with a raised eyebrow as if to ask what the fuck he was doing. His expression fell into one resembling nervousness but also gratitude as he took in the sight before him. Keith had one corner of the duvet lifted up in invitation and was looking at Lance in expectation.

"Well? Are you getting in or not?" Keith asked rather impatiently. If the lights were on, Lance would see Keith’s embarrassed flush spreading down his neck. Lance bit his lip before thinking “fuck it” and climbing in next to Keith.

The sudden closeness between them was quite jarring. The small bed space forced them only a few inches apart, their noses almost brushing. Lance lay completely straight on his side and tried not to breathe to avoid touching Keith.

'Great. How will I sleep now?' Lance thought despairingly.

The pair tried their best to fit together, including back to back, someone front to back, laying at opposite ends of the bed, but none of them were working or comfortable.

Lance sighed again. "Y’know what? It’s fine. I’ll just go back onto the floor," he grumbled in defeat.

Just as Lance was about to swing a leg out of the bed, Keith suddenly shouted: “Wait!” Lance turned to look at him with a questioning gaze. Keith shifted his eyes away to the side and bit his lip.

"Can I try one more thing?" Keith asked sheepishly. Lance looked at him for a few seconds before shrugging and lay back down.

"Okay, yeah, lie flat and then I’ll just-" Keith mumbled ad he nudged Lance’s legs apart with his knee before slotting between them, his body now laying on top of Lance’s and his head on his chest. Lance took a moment to realise what had just happened before his face exploded in red and his heart began to pound. Keith would definitely feel the strong, quick beats.

To make matters worse, Keith wrapped one arm around Lance’s side and lifted one leg over Lance’s so that their legs were interlocking. Lance in complete surprise with his mouth hanging open, curled one arm around Keith’s torso to prevent it from cramping. This was both the best and worst experience of Lance’s life. He’d never sleep without this again.

Keith mumbled a quiet goodnight into Lance’s chest before shutting his eyes and attempting to sleep. The surprise still hadn’t left Lance’s system and when it did it left him mouthing “Oh my god!” and “What the fuck?”.

After he'd calmed down, he could finally relax. Slowly, he allowed the tension to seep out of his muscles. He began to sink into the warmth Keith’s body was emitting and felt a swarm of butterflies in his stomach. He was going to die. It wasn’t until half an hour later that Lance looked down figuring Keith was now asleep again. Lance wished he hadn’t.

If it was even possible, Keith looked even more gorgeous while he was sleeping somewhere actually comfortable. His face was much more peaceful. Lance smiled, a warm feeling joining his butterflies. Keith’s braids were still in surprisingly and they actually really suited him.

Lance knew from experience though that his sisters hated sleeping in them because they got sore scalps. So carefully, Lance removed them and brushed the hair out with his fingers once again.

Now Keith was looking like himself again. Lance looked back at his face. His eyes traced down the slope of his nose to his pink lips and up again to his naturally rosy cheeks.

'How is it possible to like someone this much?' Lance thought. After all, they had been rivals not that long ago. Lance felt a huge rush of affection and love towards the boy now sleeping in his arms.

With the closure that Keith was asleep, Lance loosened up. He brushed the hair away from Keith’s face and tucked it behind his ear. Slowly, Lance hesitantly placed his palm on Keith’s cheek. His skin was much softer, if that was even possible, after the face mask. Lance leisurely brushed his thumb over Keith’s skin lovingly. He smiled again, his hand trailing up his face before coming to rest in his hair.

He began to slowly pull his fingers through the locks again as he had earlier. His fingers briefly massaged Keith’s scalp. His hand then trailed down Keith’s arm and rested at his hands. Lance traced his finger across the back of the other boy’s hand. He was doing everything he’d done that night, but without any excuses. He felt a little vulnerable.

Lance’s hand reached back to Keith’s face. Only one more thing.

He placed his thumb right under his bottom lip. He sighed. He wouldn’t go that far, but he wanted to. God, did he want to.

Instead, Lance placed a sleepy kiss on the top of Keith’s head, his tiredness catching up to him, and not really thinking anymore. Keith suddenly sucked in a loud gasp and snapped his head around to look at Lance with wide eyes. It suddenly clicked in Lance’s head what he’d just been doing. His face turned ghostly white.

Keith searched his face and Lance felt dread fill his entire body, butterflies gone and warmth turning cold, he felt like he was going to throw up.

"K-Keith, I’m so sorry I don’t really know what I was thinking-" Lance tried to continue, ignoring his stutter at the start, but Keith interrupted him.

"Did you mean that?" Lance blinked, confusion fogging his brain.

"What?" Keith looked him dead in the eye.

"You were muttering. And all the touches, and the… kiss. I was going to pretend I didn't know but..." Keith trailed off and sighed. "Did you mean them? Were they real?" His voice had a tinge of hope and desperation attached to the end.

In the back of his mind, Lance was still shocked Keith had managed to surprise him to the point of almost having a heart attack three times that night. Desperately he tried to come up with some kind of answer, but his mind came up blank.

With a lot of force, Lance managed a very quiet, almost inaudible “yes”. Keith stared straight into Lance’s eyes, and Lance felt nervous. Now was not the time to fawn over Keith’s eyes.

He was just about to open his mouth to speak when suddenly he couldn’t.

Keith had grabbed both of his cheeks in his and yanked Lance towards himself, slotting their lips together harshly. It was more like the side of Lance’s lips actually due to Keith’s haste to pull them together, but Lance really couldn’t care any less. That was because right now, Keith Kogane was kissing him. On the mouth. Willingly.

He felt his wide eyes begin to slip closed and after a few seconds, he began to move. He slid one hand up into Keith’s hair to tangle in the strands, and the other one fell down to grasp his waist.

The kiss was close-mouthed and tender. It made Lance melt. He was right about Keith’s lips being soft, and they were also incredibly plump. They felt amazing against Lance’s thinner lips, and he wasn’t sure he would ever want to leave this moment.

He could taste the remnants of the cherry lip balm Keith had smeared on his lips earlier and felt his stomach flip. The butterflies were back tenfold and the warmth in his body had returned. The kiss was comforting, and Lance felt safe.

He did, however, begin to feel lightheaded from his excitement and lack of air, and so slowly they parted. Lance’s body felt like it was buzzing from the kiss.

Keith still hovered close so that their noses were touching, his eyes half-lidded. Lance felt like he was going to cry. Lance did cry. It startled Keith and suddenly he was reeling back and apologising. Lance just shut him up with another kiss and tried to explain in between several more that it was because he was just really happy. He felt Keith’s lips pull up into a smile against his own at that, and the kiss deepened ever so slightly, their lips moving together now.

Keith brought one hand up to wipe away Lances tears while the other searched for Lance’s hand resting on the bed. When he found it, he entwined their fingers together in a solid, firm grip.

When the two boys had managed to detach themselves from each other, Keith returned to his comfy position laying on top of Lance’s chest. This time, he properly nuzzled in, and Lance ran his hand up and down Keith’s back in a soothing stroke.

Lance grinned as wide as he was in the photograph of his family when he heard Keith mumble a croaky, “I love you”.

Feeling very light and happy, Lance briefly thought 'I have to thank Allura for this,' before he replied with intense happiness, “I love you, too”, the grin never leaving his face
.
Lance’s eyes began to grow heavy, and slowly he began to fall asleep with the boy he’d been pining over for months - who he could now call his boyfriend - nestled closely between his arms.