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“Lance and Keith will share a bed.”
‘...’
‘Huh?’
Both boys in question stared at Shiro with stunned expressions. Was this some kind of joke?
“Like hell I’m sharing a bed with him!”, yelled Lance in disdain. When no other reaction came, he looked to his right only to see Keith, arms crossed and face red, scowling at the ground before him. Raising a brow in question at the surprisingly subdued red paladin, Lance turned back to Shiro.
“Look, I know you’ve had your disagreements before, but this is the only solution”, tried Shiro to placate him, “me and Hunk each require a bed, the Princess and Pidge can share a bed, you two share a bed and Coran gets his own.” He pauses for a second and then narrows his eyes at the two boys and grinned darkly, “or would one of you rather share a bed with Coran?”
At that, their eyes widened and they shaked their heads in denial, both dreading the idea.
“Thought so”, said Shiro smugly as he left to join the others.
Sighing, Lance looked at Keith. It’s not like he hated him, but..the supposed rivalry was the only way for him to control his feelings. Being stuck in space with only 4, very different, other humans and 2 weird, but nice alteans, who were your teammates, left him kind of..touch starved. Living in a big family showed him the importance of human contact. Not a day passed without hugs, pats on the back and good night kisses. Being stranded in space stole all that away. He was used to sharing his feelings and talking about his problems, not having to pretend he’s super tough and fight in a war. Which brought him back to the problem at hand.
With this environment, there was no way he could tell Keith about his crush!
Is crush even the right word? He’s harboured these feelings for years, ever since he’s first seen him at the Garrison. It started with fascination, awe and maybe a bit of envy, and it ended up becoming so much more than that. His dreams got crushed though, when Keith left the Garrison. And that’s exactly why he’s so afraid of letting the other in. He’d spend the rest of the time training and trying to push the thought of Keith out of his head. Now that he’s suddenly back, he doesn’t know what to do! Is he seriously expected to live alongside him without past feelings resurfacing? Cause that’s not fair! He can’t help the way he feels!
‘Maybe the rivalry is the only way..if otherwise, I feel like I’ll just spill my heart out!’
“Lance? You here?”
He got snapped out of his thoughts by Keith who was waving his hand in front of his face, looking quite concerned. He must have been out of it for longer than he thought.
The look on Keith’s face made him blush. How dare he look so sweet and caring when he’s trying to forget him?! Frowning, Lance slaps Keith’s hand away and turns around.
“I’m fine, jeez”, says Lance as he moves away, “let’s go find our room.”
He shoves his hands in his jacket pockets as he walks further down the hall of the building, leaving Keith to stare confused at his back.
‘What the hell is wrong with him?’ , thought Keith confused as he hurried to follow the other boy.
After a few tries, they finally found their room. It wasn’t that bad, the bed was big enough for them both..probably. Guess they’ll see when they actually try to sleep.
“...shower?”
“Huh?”, Lance turned confused towards Keith.
“I asked..can I go shower?” The red paladin seemed a bit uncomfortable, shifting from one leg to the other.
Now that he’s actually paying attention, Lance can see that Keith is still full of grime and..who knows what, from their last fight. They both needed showers, but he’s pretty sure Keith needs one first.
“Yeah..go ahead. I think that alien lady said she’ll leave us some spare clothes to change in, check the bathroom.”, finally answered Lance.
“Okay..”
Slowly, Keith moved towards the bathroom. Lance moved to sit on the floor and he got so distracted by his thoughts again that he didn’t even hear when Keith confirmed the clothes being in the bathroom.
Sighing, Lance leaned his back on the bed and closed his eyes. The bed. The one him and Keith will have to share soon. Can he really do this? Laying so close to Keith..what if he ends up hugging him in his sleep? He’ll die!
It seems Lance was gaining a habit of spacing out because Keith just came out of the shower and he didn’t notice. Excusing himself, Lance went to wash off and hopefully clear his mind.
When he came out, he saw Keith already laying on the bed. Trying to prepare himself, Lance took a deep breath and scowled towards the other tired paladin.
“Look, you sit on your side and I sit on mine, nothing more, got it?”, stated Lance with narrowed eyes.
With a humph, Keith turnt his back on him. “As if I want to sleep so close to you.”
Growling, Lance did the same. Now that his face couldn’t be seen anymore, he stopped holding back the pained grimace Keith’s statement caused. Was he really that unbearable? That not even one night like this could be okay? Lance didn’t notice the tears gathering in his eyes till he heard a soft voice.
“Why are you crying?”
Shocked, Lance didn’t even get a chance to reply before he got forcefully laid on his back. Yelping, he tried moving away but found that Keith was stradling him and holding his hands above his head.
Staring at him stunned, Lance started struggling.
“K-Keith? Let me go, what are you doing?”
“You spaced out all day, were unusually mean, and you stuttered, now you’re crying? What’s wrong with you?”, questioned Keith with a serious look on his face.
“I-It’s none of your business! Who are you to just demand this of me?!”, retorted Lance angrily as he struggled harder.
“Lance..did I do something wrong?”, Keith’s voice cracked a bit as he asked that. Finally mute, Lance regards the other with surprised blue eyes. He thought he did something to Lance? Oh no..
“Keith-”
“Please tell me what I did! I get that that’s just how we are, we’re competitive and fight, but you’re crying! This is something much more serious and I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
All that came out so fast, Keith had to catch his breath. He seemed so distressed, but more than that..”I’ve never heard you apologize before..”, said Lance, who finally calmed down enough to stop struggling. Feeling this, Keith loosened his hold on him, but had to steady himself so he wouldn’t fall. He was super shaken.
“I just..don’t want you to hate me..”, finally confessed Keith as he looked away from Lance’s burning gaze, “we’ve always fought, but that wasn’t a problem when I knew it’s just how we both interact the best. But now? I don't know what to do! I feel like I’ve seriously wronged you and I don’t know how to fix it! I’m not like you who can just freely talk about these things and form bonds with others easily, I’ve..always been alone.” Keith took a shuddering breath and then whispered, “I’m terrified”
There was so much Lance could endure before he broke, and that was the last straw for him. He freed his hands completely and hugged the other boy close to his chest, whispering ‘I’m sorry’ over and over. Keith, even more touch-starved than Lance, just sucked it up. He cuddled closer to Lance and closed his eyes, trying to calm down. Hugging was good, hugging meant he was forgiven.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, I’m so sorry I made you feel like this!”, said Lance through tears as he slowly combed through Keith’s hair with his hand. “I just..I had so much on my head lately, I acted out of line, I’m really sorry. I promise you didn’t do anything wrong, don’t worry about that.”
Acting on pure instinct, Lance kissed Keith’s forehead. Realizing quickly what he did, Lance pulled back just as Keith turnt his head to stare at him with wide eyes.
“I-It’s not what it seems, I swear!”, tried Lance in vain to explain.
“Then what does it seem like?”, asked Keith mischievously as he leaned in closer.
Yelping, Lance looked away and blushed.
‘Jesus, how am I supposed to keep quiet when he does stuff like this?!’, thought upset Lance.
“Stuff like what?”
The question stunned Lance. Slowly turning his eyes towards Keith, he realized he said all that outloud. ‘...oops’
“Wait..keep quiet about what?”, narrowing his eyes, Keith looked accusingly at Lance.
“N-Nothing!”, the pinned boy tried to evade the question, but it seems it was all in vain. Keith was searching for answers.
“Oh no, you’ll tell me right now! I need to know what you’re hiding from me!”
Lance hid his face behind his arms and muttered something.
“What?”, asked Keith confused.
Lowering his arms revealed half of Lance’s bright red face.
“I said it’s too e-embarrassing!”, repeated Lance as he looked away again.
“How bad can it be? Come on, tell me!”, prompted Keith as he tried to move Lance’s arms.
Whining, Lance opposed.
“Nooo, you’ll hate me if you know!”, protested Lance.
Surprised, Keith really looked at Lance’s vulnerable face. His look softened as he gently patted Lance on the head.
“I promise I won’t hate you. I couldn’t ever hate you, Lance. Now please just tell me what’s wrong.”, pleaded Keith as he looked Lance in the eyes.
Still unsure, Lance slowly lowered his arms till they were laying on the bed. Face bright red and expression subdued, he finally said the words that have been filling his mind for the last few years.
“I like you..”, whispered Lance as he looked away.
Unable to believe his ears, Keith asked, “What..?”
Getting upset really fast, Lance replied angrily.
“I like you, okay? More than just like you, for years now! And I was so sure I got over my feelings for you when you left the Garrison, but now you jumped back in my life and I don’t know what to do! I can’t help but look at you all the time and wish I could hug you or hold your hand or braid your hair and all that mushy stuff, but I couldn’t just come and say it out of nowhere! You didn’t even remember me back on Earth, and now we’re in a freaking war, there was no time for me and my stupid feelings! So I tried to hide them, but it’s so hard when I basically have to sleep next to you right now! And I thought the rivalry play would help me keep my feelings in check, but it’s so hard when all I want to do is ki-”
Lance’s rambles got cut short when Keith kissed him. Unable to comprehend, he could only freeze up as Keith parted their lips.
“You finally shut up.”, he stated smugly.
All Lance could do was stutter incoherently, before his mouth finally snapped shut and he turned bright red.
“Did you really think I’d hate you just because you have feelings for me?”, asked Keith amused as he smiled down at Lance.
“W-Well..”, Lance couldn’t really find the right words to answer.
“Idiot”, said Keith before he kissed his forehead the same way Lance did to him, “I’m glad we both feel the same way, would have been a shame if you really hated me.”
Keith sighed happily as he lay down on Lance’s chest. He completely relaxed his body and held tight to the boy under him.
This took Lance by surprise. He twisted his head to look down at the other boy, but all he could see was Keith’s mullet.
“Uhh Keith?”
Silence.
“Keith? My man? I know we suddenly opened up and talked about mushy stuff, but don’t you think you should get up?”
Nothing.
‘Oh god, he really fell asleep..’
Lance closed his eyes and sighed. Staying like that, so close to someone..it felt nice. He slowly raised his hand and started to play with Keith’s hair. It was softer than it looked. The relaxed atmosphere and human touch were exactly what Lance needed. Without even noticing it, he fell asleep, Keith remaining in the safe hold of his arms for the rest of the night.