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Lance is a romantic at heart. Keith on the other hand is not. He loves Lance but he’s not one to place stock in sentimental cards, love letters, or meaningless tokens just because. But Lance loves it all. When the war was over and the Paladins were back on Earth the first thing Lance did was to dig through his parents’ storage unit and pull out a box of romantic movies and binge them for three weeks.
Keith can tell you every line of Titanic, the modern version of Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes, the Wedding Planner, and every single Disney romance thanks to his boyfriend. There’s definitely more useless information stored in his brain about the ways to woo and romance the one you love but Keith refuses to acknowledge any of it, until the day he decided to take on mission impossible and surprise Lance by letting him live out every single romantic moment of every romantic movie he could possibly think of.
Cupid kill him now because he was in over his head but once Keith committed to an idea, then damn it he was going to see it through.
The problem with this great idea was he knew he was not going to be able to pull this off all on his own. So he enlisted Veronica, Rachel, Allura, Romelle, and Hunk to help him. He would deny this to his dying days but he even got down on his knees and begged Red to help him. He swears the lion laughed at him, but in the end he thinks she agreed.
Now, Keith will tell you his plan definitely had merit, but his biggest flaw was timing. You see he had one specific day in mind and his planning started with barely a month and a half before execution day. Allura promptly told him to quit calling it execution day, no one was being executed. Keith would argue that yes, he was most certainly being the one executed and he had no one to blame but himself. But to appease his helpers he called it execution day, just not out loud. So back to timing, Keith’s timing sucked. He had way too much to accomplish and definitely not enough time. He decided to break his plan down into multiple steps and hope for the best. Worse-case scenario, execution day would be pushed back. It would definitely ruin the romantic trope that Lance loved so much but it could be beneficial when it came to the element of surprise. But that’s the last part of the plan.
Step One: Keith decided Veronica and Rachel were going to be his go to sources for everything concerning Lance. If there was something specific no matter how embarrassing, he was going to bite the bullet and ask the sisters. The amount of information Keith found himself wanting was outstanding. Favorite color, favorite music, favorite food, favorite romantic movies, favorite idea of a romantic date, perfect ideal romantic date, favorite flowers, favorite animal, favorite rainy-day date, favorite sunny day date, sunset or sunrise, fall or spring (scratch that, execution date is already set and this is irrelevant), ideal romantic getaway/vacation, and the list goes on and on. Keith was determined, and Veronica told him he was diligent and impressed that he carried around a small notebook to write down anything he could think of that was important and all of the wisdom Veronica and Rachel imparted to him.
Step Two: Keith was not one for fashion. Take a look at his mullet. It was over grown, split ends, and always in his face. Also while he could pull off just about anything, this day needed specific clothing. The only thing Keith had to go on was Hunk telling him that Lance thought he looked good in a dark red button down shirt he had borrowed from Matt one time. It wasn’t much but it was definitely a start.
Step Three: Keith begged Hunk and Romelle to help him learn how to cook. He wasn’t sure how this was going to fit into his plans but he felt this was important. To everyone’s surprise, Keith turned out to pick up cooking rather quickly. Hunk began giving Keith more and more difficult recipes to try and Romelle, ever the brave soul that she was always volunteered to try Keith’s attempts. There was only one failed attempt when Pidge slipped in and switched out sugar for salt. Needless to say Keith was sad that his attempt at a homemade red velvet cake ended in the trash. For future Lance’s need-to-know list about Keith, red velvet is his favorite cake. Keith was really sad about the cake, sad enough he didn’t talk to Pidge for a week.
Step Four: Lock down various venues for execution day. Again, Keith’s timing sucked and a lot of these venues were already booked. But it’s surprising what being a Paladin of Voltron can accomplish, especially if you’re the leader. While most venues were booked, the owners were able to accommodate Keith with even better options and they were willing to allow it for little to no cost if they could use him for advertising purposes. Keith agreed as long as nothing was advertised until after all was said and done. He stressed this was a surprise and he didn’t want it ruined or he would have to let the public know. It was a dirty tactic but he had to ensure top secrecy from all parties involved.
Step Five: Find a way to keep Lance occupied while all of this planning was going on. Thank god for Allura! She played up wanting to have the full Earth experience and Lance was the perfect target. She asked him about spas and facials and something about manicures. Whenever Allura was out of ideas Veronica would feed her another trivial thing to ask about that she knew Lance loved, like aquariums and the zoo.
And finally there was Step Six. Keith had specific ideas for each step of execution day that needed to be set up just right. He trusted no one but himself and maybe Hunk. Hunk was a blessing in more ways than one, and he never made fun of Keith’s ideas, only gave him tips that he thought would make the experience into something more that Lance would love. Hunk was literally the best.
There was only one other quest that was going to make execution day complete but Keith kept this one close to his heart. He told no one about it. Well, that’s not exactly true, he did tell someone or two someone’s to be exact but that’s not for you to know. This was his biggest secret ever and the most important one of all.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Keith was an absolute wreck. Today was it, execution day was upon him. He would either fail or succeed. If he succeeded, he would never in his lifetime be able to ever top this again. This was the all-out make it or break it end all be all of romantic endeavors and Keith only had it in him to do it this one time.
Midnight: Execution Day
Keith took a deep breath and looked at the pebbles in his hand. He took one and tossed it at the window on the upper level, the window that Lance told him he used to sneak out of because the tree was the perfect distance to shimmy in and out of the house undetected. The first one hit but nothing happened. Keith threw a second pebble. This time a light flickered on and the window opened. Lance stuck his head out the window and leaned his elbows on the window sill, “Keith? What are you doing out there?”
Keith was going to vomit. He couldn’t do this, his nerves were too bad. Nope, not going to happen. And then there was an angry growl from Red. Shit. He was doing this. He took a deep breath and gathered all of his Black Paladin bravado. “I was hoping you could sneak out of your house and go on a date with me.”
Lance looked back at something in his room and then back at Keith, “You know it’s after midnight right?
Keith just grinned, “Yea. I know.”
There must have been something that Lance saw in the way Keith was looking at him because Lance smiled, “Give me a minute to get dressed!”
Lance poked his head back out one more time, “Are you wearing a tie?”
Keith reached up self-consciously and grabbed the tie around his neck, “I….it was…you don’t have to.”
Lance smiled and if Keith wasn’t paying attention he wouldn’t have heard the soft way Lance whispered, “Babe!”
Several minutes later Lance scaled the tree and stood in front of Keith dressed in dark jeans, a smart blue button down shirt rolled up to his elbows and a tie. Keith was dressed similarly in dark jeans, a red button down shirt, a sweater vest and a tie. But what stopped Lance in his tracks was when he reached out a hand and fingered the soft hair at the nape of Keith’s neck, “You cut your hair?”
Keith blushed and ducked his head, “I thought maybe something different would be nice. I didn’t know if you would like it or not.”
Lance ran his fingers a few times through the short hair on the side and the back. The front was still a bit long, similar to Shiro’s haircut but longer in the front. He pressed a quick kiss to Keith’s cheek, “You handsome devil.”
And so operation execution day was a go. Keith grabbed Lance’s hand and they ran down the long driveway to where Keith had his hover bike stashed. He truly felt like a teenager sneaking around after curfew. When Lance climbed on behind him he asked, “what no helmets?”
Keith just grinned, “Shut up and trust me!”
Lance let out a loud whoop of joy as Keith took off at break neck speed. After several minutes of wild hair pin turns and lots of back roads, Keith finally pulled into an empty field. In the middle of the field was a pile of pillows and blankets facing a large projection screen. Keith managed to forgive Pidge over the cake debacle only because he needed her help on setting up the projection equipment. Keith watched Lance’s face as he took in the setting. “Is this like a drive-in movie?”
Keith shrugged, “I’ve never been to one so this is kind of improvised.”
Lance’s smile was blinding. His eyes were sparkling and he bounced with excitement, “Keith! Babe, this is amazing!”
Keith smiled back, “I’m glad you like it.”
He grabbed Lance’s hand and led him to the pile of blankets and once they were comfortable Keith reached behind one of the blankets and pulled something out, “I um, I got something for you.”
If possible, Lance’s smile just got bigger when Keith handed him a small trio of pink and red tulips tied with a bow and a small bag of candy.”
Lance opened the bag, “Are these all brown M&Ms? Wait! Keith! Did you copy this whole set up from ‘The Wedding Planner’?”
Keith rubbed the back of his neck, “I may have stolen an idea or two.”
Lance leaned over and kissed Keith’s cheek, “I love you so much right now! This is amazing!”
Keith grabbed a remote that was hidden nearby and started the movie. Lance snuggled into Keith’s side, “So what are we watching?”
Before Keith could answer the music for the movie began playing and Lance’s eyes got big, “We’re really watching a Star Wars movie?”
“It’s not just any Star Wars movie Lance. It’s The Empire Strikes Back. The one that has only the most romantic line in cinematic history.”
Lance grinned, “I love you.”
This time Keith leaned over and kissed Lance, “I know.”
Once the movie was over, Keith made Lance stand up, “Are you ready for more?”
“There’s more?”
“So much more!”
For everything Keith had planned as the night went on, Lance’s smile seemed to get bigger and brighter. The next step involved the help of Red. He made Lance wear a blindfold until he got to where Red was hiding. The blindfold was crucial to Keith’s plan because he didn’t want to give anything away. Lance was definitely getting impatient by not being able to see anything. “When can I take the blindfold off? I hate not being able to see anything.”
Keith pecked Lance on the cheek, “Almost there.”
Keith guided Lance up a few tricky steps he had him standing up and holding on to some sort of railing. Once Red took off he waited a few more minutes before he took off the blindfold. Lance looked around and started grinning. The railing came to a point in the front and there were makeshift benches, a smoke stack and they were over water. As Lance took in Keith’s hard work he began laughing when he realized Keith had soft music playing in the background with a very familiar pan flute solo. “Seriously! The Titanic?”
This time Keith just gave Lance a smug look. Lance leaned over the deck and gasped, “Is this…are we on top of Red? How did you get her to do this?”
Keith shrugged, “I just told her this was all for you and she agreed.”
Keith was pleased that Lance seemed to be enjoying everything so far. Only moments later Lance turned around with a frown on his face. Keith couldn’t help the worry in the pit of his gut, “Is something wrong?”
Lance bit his bottom lip, “No I just, well, I didn’t see the car.”
Keith glared at Lance and turned away. “Oh my god Keith did you try to get the car? Did you get the car? Where is it?”
Keith’s face was definitely crimson, “There’s no car.”
“You wanted to get the car! You totally wanted to recreate that scene didn’t you?”
Keith was scowling now, “I was told they no longer let people use the car because it came back defiled.”
Lance let out a large burst of laughter, “You naughty naughty boy! I am so proud of you.”
Even after recreating the titanic for Lance, operation execution day was far from over. Red took them all the way to Paris where Keith led Lance to the top of the Eifel Tower and they kissed under the stars. They ended up in Italy where Keith had a gondola ride waiting. There was a trip to the Empire State Building that had Lance quoting Sleepless In Seatle. And then there was a stop in New Orleans where Mardi Gras was in full swing. There was a parade and beads and drinks, and both boys were sweaty from the humid air. They landed on a beach and lost their shoes and socks, pants rolled up to their knees and splashing in the water, holding hands and watching the sun come up over the water in a brilliant display of reds and oranges and yellows and a burst of light and then clear blue skies. They made their way to the Grand Canyon and stopped in the desert where they found Blue all those years ago.
And then finally Keith had Red bring them to a small secluded beach that had Lance fighting back the tears. Keith knew he would recognize this place so he saved it for last. It was late evening but the sun was far from setting. Keith grabbed Lance’s hand and walked with him to a small pavilion set up with fairy lights and more soft music. Lance wiped at the tears on his cheek, “Keith. This is where my parents’ used to live. I grew up here.”
Keith smile, “I know. I asked them about it after you told me how much you missed Cuba and your home.”
Lance tilted his head and couldn’t help the tremble in his voice, “You did this for me?”
Keith reached for Lance’s hand and brought it to his lips and kissed his fingers, “I did all of this for you. Today was all for you. I know sometimes I’m not the best boyfriend, and you put up with a lot of moodiness from me. And today I wanted to give you everything that you deserve. You love the romance and the sappy movies so I wanted to give you one whole day of everything I’ve never given you before. And I want to give you more.”
Lance flung his arms around Keith, “You’re such a sap! I knew you were a closet romantic at heart! But you didn’t have to do all of this. I love you for you, and I don’t want you to feel you have to give me all of this. All I need is you.”
Keith smiled, “I know you don’t expect me to do this for you. But I did it because I love you and I enjoyed seeing the smile on your face everytime we did something new. But I have one more surprise for you.”
“What more could you possibly surprise me with?”
Keith grabbed Lance’s hand, “walk with me ok?”
Lance didn’t respond he just let Keith guide him from the decorated platform and the two of them walked along the shore and let the waves crash over their feet. Keith stopped and turned to face Lance, “You know I want to give you everything. I love you and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without you. You’ve been there for me when I was a crappy leader, you’ve been there for me when I thought I lost my brother for the second time, you’ve seen me at my worst, and you’ve seen me at my best. And right now I’m the best person I’ve ever been because of you.”
Keith took a deep breath and shoved his hands in his pockets. He looked back up and Lance reached forward to wipe a tear from his face, “Keith, hey don’t cry.”
Keith grabbed the hand that Lance had resting on his cheek, “I’m not good at words. All I know is that I want to show you how much I love you and this was the only way I knew how. I want to have a million more days with you Lance. I want to wake up and see you every morning. I want to live the rest of my life making you happy.”
Keith could feel Lance’s hand trembling in his. At this point he figured Lance knew where he was going with this conversation but he hadn’t stopped him yet so he kept going. He pulled out a small box from his pocket and dropped to one knee, his voice was shaking and he could barely speak, “Lance, will you marry me?”
Lance landed on his knees in front of Keith, “Is this real? Are you serious? You mean this?”
Keith nodded, “I mean every word of it. I want to spend every single day of the rest of our lives together.”
Lance grinned and tackled Keith with so much force the pair of them landed backwards in the sand. Lance peppered Keith’s face with kisses. He kissed his cheeks, his forehead, his eyes, his lips, his nose. Keith laughed, “Is that a yes?”
Lance pulled back and kissed under Keith’s eye where tears were starting to build up, “It was never anything other than a yes.”