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The first time he saw him in person, he was getting out of his spaceship with the hands above his head in a sign of surrender, just before Shiro handcuffed his wrists and guided him across the hangar and through the people, his eyes, incredibly blue and surrounded by a light yellow, finding him in the multitude and staying in his face for more than necessary.
The second time he found him, and that there was more than just visual contact going on, was when he crashed with him in the Kral Zera, after trying to deactivate all the explosives himself and his team were activating before knowing Shiro was up there.
He had crashed with him when his body was thrown away by the explosion to the only exit he had at reach, both rolling down the stairs.
It wasn’t the best way to approach, it was clear. But it wasn’t like he wanted to approach in the first place.
‘You’re lying to yourself, you know?’ the voice in his head keep repeating, and he had to shake his head in order to get it away, ‘You actually would like to have the social ability to approach without feeling a misfit.’
“Shut up.”
“I don’t have the memory of saying something.”
He flinched, turning to the door and stepping back when he saw him in the threshold, leaning in the side of it with crossed arms over his chest and a crooked smile that told him that he was there for a bit more than a moment.
He squinted at him, scolding himself for having spoken out loud when trying to scare away his thoughts, and he crossed his arms, too, in a defensive stance, looking him step away from the door and walk to him in steady pace.
He didn’t approach what he thought at first, with his attentive eyes and expression curious on his reactions, and Lotor tilted his head to a side, making him step back one more time. This time, though, he heard him chuckle.
“Easy, I don’t bite,” he said with simplicity, a spark on his eyes disappearing for a second before continuing, “Unless you’re into that.”
He swallowed and looked away, the anxiety eating up his need to look at his mouth, the little promise behind it lurching his stomach.
“What do you want?” he asked with more hostility than he should. Yes, he was disgusted by the sensation that caused being in his presence, but he still was someone important to the diplomacy of Voltron.
“I imagine it’s pretty obvious by now.”
As if he wanted to emphasize it, he took a step into his space, smiling when he forced himself to stay in his place sticking his feet to the floor, causing that his eyes looked up to him because of their difference on their heights.
“Intimidate me?” he risked, because that was what he felt every time the blue irises lighten up in something unknown, because it was what he felt every time their spaces converged in a single one.
The little huff hit his lips and he pursue them automatically, now regretting he didn’t take a step back when he could have.
“I suppose I wasn’t clear enough, then,” he commented leaning a bit and sighing, as if he couldn’t keep the air in his lungs, “Or maybe you are oblivious to my attempts.”
He frowned, confused, and he avoided biting his lips to kill the tickles that were starting to get over them.
“Attempts?” he repeated, trying not to look down, to the mouth that was closing the distance to his slowly, but his low voice was too conscious of it, “Are you talking about your unpleasant stares and rude comments?”
A white brow lifted in question.
“I doubt I am the one of the rude comments, Keith.”
He scoffed and turned over his heel, until then noticing the hand reaching to take his.
“Save your energy,” he said rolling his eyes and walking to the door, now really sure he had to go back to the Blade's base if that asshole was going to be free in the Castle of Lions, “Not interested.”
“I differ,” he responded easily before he walked out the door, “I could even say you’re, oh, very interested.”
He huffed, annoyed that he was so right.
He met him a few times since that conversation, the unpleasant stares getting longer and deeper when their eyes found each other, and the rude comments multiplying with smiles too honest and sharp.
He was tired of being afraid to get cut.
“Keith!”
His steps halted immediately, turning and staring at him despite the alarms going off in the hangar and painting the place in an exalting red, the noise of all the people rushing to their combat places and the panic not accelerating his heart as how those deep blue eyes, full of something similar to dread, did.
“Lotor,” he acknowledged, without knowing what else to say, the danger already hitting the spaceship they were in and making the place rumble.
He saw him take air over all the sound in the hangar, and the big hands held his face carefully, a little kiss being left in the edge of his mouth.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized in low voice, but he could hear him clearly because of the almost inexistent distance, “If I didn’t do it now, I maybe couldn’t...”
He opened his mouth in some kind of scold, but the words died when he saw him smiling sadly.
“There’s something only I can do,” he explained with caution at his confused silence, his fingers caressing his cheeks fondly even when he had claws so sharp he knew they could hurt him with a little more pressure. Nonetheless, the touch was too delicate, “And maybe...”
The couple of seconds in which he paused and then didn’t finish turned on more deafening alarms in his head.
“Lotor.”
“Goodbye, Keith.”
He couldn’t do anything when he saw him run away to his ship, seeing it disappear through shots and stars.
It couldn’t be the end.
Could it?