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It could have been the so-called arrogance of youth talking, but Lance Charles McClain-Rivera liked to think that he experienced a lot in his mere 20 years of life. So many adults preached about that. How older siblings reminded him time and time again that he was still young. That he had his entire life ahead of him. Lance liked to think that he did experience a lot though.
He knew what it was like to face true horror and real heartache. He laughed, cried, and screamed more than he ever thought he would. He had fell in love, and no matter what people said, he knew that this was it for him. He was okay with that. Why would he want to be with someone other than the person that he was sure was his soulmate?
It would be so much easier if they lived in a world where those soulmate stories were real, but this was good enough.
He loved Keith. Lance knew that with every fiber of his being. But god if his best friend, the love of his life, wasn’t the most bullheaded, impulsive person that he ever met.
Lance blinked a couple times as he managed to get beyond his shocked silence. “Are—are you serious?” Keith wasn’t exactly good with words, but damn if he wasn’t expressive. One of his thick eyebrow tilted up, and the corner of his lips tugged up a bit. “Okay, you’re serious. Wow. Okay. Um, okay.”
Keith crossed his arms, eyes shifted so that they looked beyond Lance instead of at him. “If you don’t want to, that’s okay.” His voice sounded detached, like he didn’t actually care.
Alarm bells went off in Lance’s head. Nope. Nu-uh. They were not doing that. “No! Wait, no. I mean yes. I mean—what?” He shook his head and cleared his throat. Lance reached forward and managed to pry Keith’s arms apart so he could grab his hands. “This is insane. This is crazy. This is stupid. And I am totally in.”
Lance watched those indigo eyes blink as a cautious smile ghosted over the other man’s face. “Yeah?”
With a tug, Lance moved closer, and brushed their noses together. He used to like the thought of being taller than his partner. There was something nice about being close to the same height though. “Yeah. Insane. Crazy. Stupid. I’m in.”
The rare, brilliant smile that passed over Keith’s features made doubts that lingered vanish from Lance's mind.
He was so, totally in.
…
This wasn’t a thing that they could do overnight. Not while they were at home as opposed to a few hours away at university. It might have been easier to do if they were there. They were going to move into an apartment together in the fall, after all. They wanted to do this now . They didn’t want to wait until the end of August or September.
It started when Lance asked to switch a couple of work days in the middle of the week. He was a barista for the busy summer season, and worked with both Hunk and Allura. He was able to switch one day with each them without any questions. He claimed that they were Keith’s days off and he wanted to spent it with him.
That wasn’t a lie at all, but he also didn’t want them to pry too much. They were the biggest gossips around. Allura almost always seemed to know what was going on, and Hunk could be a little invasive at times. Like the time he read Pidge's diary.
Then Keith, being the little ninja that he was, managed to sneak clothes and other essentials into his car. It was a second-hand, slightly beat up one he bought in their senior year of high school. It was a bit terrifying, but it got them from point A to point B well enough.
No one suspected a thing.
So when Lance said that he wanted to hike with Keith, and might sleep over at his house, his Mamá didn’t think twice about it. Keith, of course, told his mother that he was going to stay at Lance’s. This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence either way, and their mothers didn't talk enough for them to catch on.
They didn’t do that though. Instead, they got into Keith’s car and took off to the city a couple hours away. It was the same one where they went to university, but they weren’t going to the campus.
“Wow,” Lance muttered, excitement bubbled up within him, “we’re doing this!”
“We don’t have to,” Keith said. He kept his eyes on the road but reached out to hold Lance’s hand. “I’m not going to get mad or anything.”
“No take backs!” Lance cried out dramatically. “Of course I want to!” He paused and looked at Keith. “You want to, right?”
“I asked you in the first place.” Keith tore his eyes from the road for a split second. “Of course I do.” He turned to look back.
“Right, right.” Lance laughed, and his entire body vibrated. “Our families are going to kill us.”
“Probably.” Keith agreed with a nod. “But it saves on costs? And the government sucks. For all we know, it’s now or never.” His cheeks pinked. It was adorable. “Everyone else keeps saying to wait, but why?”
Lance nodded his head, and squeezed Keith’s hand again. His eyes went wide as he remembered something. “Oh! Right!” He turned and grabbed his book-bag from the bag seat. “I got something a couple days ago.”
“What’s that?” Keith glanced over, looked back at the road, and then did a double-take. He almost ran them right off of the road. “Lance!”
“Watch where you’re going!”
Keith pulled the car over to the side of the road, put the car in park, and glared at him. “What the hell do you think we’re going to do that we’ll need that many condoms and that much lube?”
“Better safe than sorry, right?” Keith continued to stare at him. “Okay, okay. I bought a lot and didn’t want to leave it in the house for little eyes to see. Besides, that wasn’t what I wanted to show you!”
Keith crossed his arm. Lance cried out excitedly as he finally found what he searched for. He tossed the bag haphazardly into the back again and proudly presented his treasure.
Two stainless steel rings with a bit of gold plating on them. They weren’t particularly expensive, only about $100 all together. That wasn't the point though. The point was that Lance wanted them. They planned to do this without the rings, but Lance didn’t want to do that.
If they were going to run off and get married without telling any of their friends and family members, he wanted there to be rings.
Keith stared at him with wide eyes, before a smile graced he features, and he leaned across the console to kiss him.
Lance sighed happily as he met him half way.
Of course, when they got back home after everything was said and done, both of their families were livid. Not to mention their friends. They sat them down to growl about being reckless and brash. About stupid decisions.
Neither one of them cared about how stupid anyone else thought it was. They were both all-in for the long haul.