Chapter Text
“Keithy,” Lance whines again, scooching closer to the other boy.
Keith just hums, completely focused on his paperwork. He has reading glasses on – which, hello? Lance didn’t know about this until last week and it’s adorable? – and his hair is up into a messy bun. Bonus point.
“Keeith,” Lance continues, now lightly poking him on the cheek. It squishes in an adorable way and Lance does it again, just for the sake of it being cute. “You’ve been working for, I don’t know, since the Ice Age, get up!”
Keith doesn’t even hum this time, just scribbles something on the paper scattered in front of him and slides onto a new page on his tablet. Ugh, fucking workaholic.
Lance stares at him for a moment, debating if he should leave and let him drown in stupid paperwork.
Or…
He pokes Keith’s cheek again – it scrunches adorably – and pokes him again. And again. And again.
And soon, he’s practically stabbing left side of Keith’s face with his finger.
Keith makes an unintelligible noise coming from the back of his throat.
“I’m not going to stop poking you—” Lance says, poking him harder than before for emphasis. “—until you pay attention to me.”
Keith sighs, his shoulders relaxing a little and Lance knows his inner cat just got the cream. He grins at Keith’s frowny face and lifts his hand to take off the glasses for him. Keith leans back in his chair and Lance is quick to hop onto his lap, snaking his arms around the boy’s neck.
“Hey,” Keith hums, looking up at him from half-lidded eyes; they look heavy and red and tired.
“Hey everyone,” Lance says loudly, looking around the empty kitchen. “Keith’s back!”
Keith snorts. “It’s just us,” he says, wrapping an arm around Lance's waist and running his thumb in soothing circles on the small of his back, absentmindedly.
“I was talking to my split personalities,” Lance tells him as a matter of fact. “Lancelot says hi, bee tee dubs.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Keith says, and Lance almost loses his breath at the softness of his voice – God, he’ll never get used to that, to Keith sounding so fond of him.
“I know,” Lance replies, grinning down at him. “I’m also saving your ass from overworking, so…” he adds, looking down at him expectantly, wiggling his eyebrows.
“What? You want a thank you gift?” he jokes.
“If the thank you gift is a very sweet, very loving kiss, then yes,” Lance says, playing with the dark locks at the base of Keith’s neck. “Yes, I do.”
Keith laughs again and Lance smiles, his chest filled with sparkles. Keith leans up slowly and kisses the smile off, taking Lance’s breath away by how gentle the movement of his lips are.
Keith kisses slowly and featherlight, first his top lip, then the bottom one. Lance melts into it, tilting his head a little to the side and hums when the kiss becomes even better. And when Lance moves away to catch his breath, his breathing already heavy, Keith’s lips travel down to his jaw, to his neck, nipping and leaving soft kisses on the sensitive skin.
Lance places a hand on Keith’s chest, leaning away.
“Not that I don’t enjoy this,” he tells Keith, a little breathless. “But I was thinking maybe you’d like to see the daylight? Step outside, see how the world functions.”
Keith huffs, kissing him one last time.
“What do you have in mind?” Keith asks.
“Oh, great, so there’s this new park,” Lance stands up, reaching out a hand to help Keith up. “It’s supposed to be a modern, more advanced and prettier version of, like, Central Park,” he continues, lacing his fingers with Keith’s and walks toward the door. “And I haven’t been at an actual park since the war, so, I thought it would be nice?”
He looks at Keith, questioningly. He knows Keith doesn’t like crowds, and since it’s the first open park since the Galra attacks, it’s probably going to be filled with people.
“Sure,” Keith says, squeezing his hand in a reassuring way. “You seem excited about it, so, why not.”
Lance smiles and leads the way.
.
When Emma ran into Lance at the park, he was elated. He hasn’t had the chance to see his friends from the Garrison, too busy rebuilding Earth and dealing with the mess the Galra had left in the universe. So, when she asked if he was free tomorrow to meet up, Lance nodded his head off, setting the date quickly and waving her goodbye with a huge smile on his face.
“Babe, I’m out,” he tells Keith, grabbing a jacket from the hangers.
“Have fun,” Keith calls from the living room where he’s, yet again, working on paperwork.
They had agreed to meet at a new café that’s in the east side of Central Park 02. It’s cozy and warm, smelling of cupcakes and coffee.
“Lance!” Emma calls from a far corner, sitting at a two-man table. Lance quickly makes his way towards her, greeting her with a friendly smile. They settle down and give out their orders – an ice tea for Lance and a mango milkshake for Emma.
“So,” Emma begins, linking her fingers together in front of her. She looks just as excited as Lance feels. “I’m just gonna say that you missed out on so much, I don’t have a tea to spill but a whole damn ocean!”
“Oh God, gossipgossipgossip.”
“Okay, for starters,” she says and pulls out her phone. “I got a pet snake,” she shows him a picture of a white, tiny snake curled around her wrist and fingers. “Named her Kaa.”
“Nice,” Lance nods. “I bought a cow in space.”
“So, they do abduct cows.”
“I’m not sure, I haven’t seen another one, so, maybe they took her by accident?”
“Or she was a product of an experiment gone wrong, like, they’re trying to create an immortal war machine and got a fluffy four-legged creature that shoots white liquid.”
Lance laughs, Emma’s always been ridiculous, that’s exactly why they clicked so fast the first time they met. She had been sat next to him at physics class and kept muttering witty comments about their teacher – to be fair, Ms. Didn’t-Even-Bothered-To-Learn-Her-Name was annoying. Lance could manage to hold his laughter for six whole comments, and with the burst of his laughter, a friendship was born.
The waitress brings them their drinks and they keep talking. Lance tells her funny stories from space, like the time they shrank into ant-size and were chased by a yelmore. Emma tells him about Garrison gossip, feeding his internal noisy self.
“—and I was like, weird flex but okay—”
“You did not use a meme at an interview!” Lance cuts her off, gaping.
“I was nervous, dude, cut me some slack,” she tells him, barely holding in her laughter. She takes another sip from her milkshake. “And the guy was looking at me like—” she’s cut off again, this time by her phone.
It’s been pinging with messages for the last ten minutes until Emma turned it on mute. Now it’s vibrating, the flash blinking in alarm.
Lance sees more than hears Emma sigh, the smallest of annoyance ghosting across her face.
“Sorry,” she says, smiling apologetically.
Lance waves her off as an it’s fine gesture.
“Hey, love,” she answers the call, leaning one elbow on the table.
Lance raises his eyebrows, “love?” he mouths at her and Emma furrows her brows, mouthing that she’ll explain later.
“I’m still with Lance… sure… something funny, maybe Shrek? Or The Hangover?... yeah, I’ll bring some snacks… okay… okay, love you,” she talks into the phone, a small smile on her lips.
She hasn’t even put her phone back on the table when Lance leans forward with raised eyebrows and a glint in his eyes.
“Again, love?”
“It’s Alex,” she says, nonchalantly, as if Lance is not about to drop his jaw on the floor.
“You asked them out?!”
“Yeah, that tea is kind of cold now,” she says, laughing a little.
“Dude, what? That’s so amazing, I’m so happy I don’t have to see you pinning like a fool anymore,” Lance says, way too excited.
“Haha, yeah,” she drawls, looking down on her nails.
Lance frowns at her indifference, shouldn’t she be, like, blabbering about Alex, her crush for many years that is now her partner? The fact that she didn’t even mention them is already weird; Lance doesn’t like talking too much about him and Keith, but even he mentioned their relationship at some point.
“Okay, my people senses are tingling, what’s the matter?” he says after a moment, giving his friend a calculated look.
“Nothing, just,” she breathes in, eyes fixed somewhere behind Lance’s shoulder. She sighs and adds. “Don’t get me wrong, I love them to death, I really do. They’re just… everywhere, you know? Like, I love the time we spend together, obviously, I wouldn’t have moved in with them otherwise. It’s just,” she stops, roaming her eyes around the café as if in search for the right words.
Lance feels stiff, his chest is tight and at some point, he started holding his breath.
“As soon as I leave the house, they either text me or send me memes or talk about their work or call me,” she says, pointing at her phone like it’ll prove her point even more. “And I do like that they’re attentive and always want to talk to me, it’s sweet I know, but…” she stops and Lance feels like his heart stopped, too, something cold running in place of his blood.
“But it sometimes gets annoying and… irritating even, you know?” she adds, voice coming out a little guilty. Her eye’s downcast, she adds. “Kinda wish they’d give me some time to actually start missing their presence.”
When Emma says nothing more, Lance breaths out, only now realizing how hard he has been fisting his hands; the slightest of pain shoots in his fingers as he relaxes them.
“And,” he begins, but coughs when his voice comes a little hoarse. “And you haven’t talked to them about it?”
“I mean, what would I say? ‘Hey, I get that you’re always willing to talk to me and just want to be with me, but it’s bothering me and could you stop? By the way, no offense’?” she laughs dryly, rolling her eyes with a tight smile. “It’ll be just mean and they’ll be so hurt. I don’t want to make them upset.”
Lance says nothing, his mind working overload. He wants to get away from here, foot tapping on the floor with restlessness.
“It’s bad, huh?” she says, sounding small. Lance jolts.
“No, no I think you just have to tell them, talk it out,” he reassures her, curving the most comforting smile he can master with his nerves on the edge of exploding.
“Maybe we should take a break, I mean, people in love shouldn’t be feeling this way, right? I should be happy that Alex is so… so willing to just be with me, all the time,” she says and Lance gets the feeling that the words are said more for herself than anyone else. It still pinches his heart.
Now that he’s looking at her, Emma’s expression is nothing more than exhaustion and guilt. Lance remembers the way her whole face would light up at the slightest mention of Alex, remembers the way she would talk his ear off about them, about how cute they are and how they smile and other sappy stuff. Lance wonders why she’s not that way anymore. Was it time? Something Alex did? Something she did? Would he feel like this, too? Would Keith…?
“I mean,” he begins, a little nervous and… desperate. “Everyone loves differently, right? So, maybe comparing to others isn’t the best thing. I think… you should talk to them, Em.”
“I know,” she says. “I know, you’re right, I’m being stupid,” she adds and smiles at him. “Sorry for the angst, this was supposed to be a happy get together not… this.”
“It’s okay, you know I’m always willing to talk about this kind of things,” he smiles back, hoping it won’t look as unnerving as he’s feeling.
Lance leaves soon after that, saying something about helping out Hunk. They say their goodbyes and split up.
Lance wonders around the park, which was much emptier compared to yesterday. He thinks and thinks and thinks until his brain is sort of throbbing and his heart is in his throat.
Lance thinks about all the stupid and completely unnecessary messages he sends to Keith, like that one time he saw a pigeon hopping like a bunny and immediately took a video of it and sent it to Keith, or that time when he found a random grumpy cat at the roof of the Garrison, taking a picture of it and sending it to Keith, saying he found his doppelganger or that time when he came across a broken brick, the form of which reminded him of the Red Lion and…
Oh God, Lance is Alex. And if Emma – head over heels, to the moon and back, to-the-depths-of-the-ocean-in-loved-with-Alex Emma – lost the previous spark in her eyes, what if… what if Keith would lose it too?
Lance remembers yesterday afternoon, the way he poked at his cheek and bugged him while he was working! They haven’t even talked about moving in together and Lance already has his toothbrush and spare clothes at Keith’s place, he’s already staying there most of the time!
What if Keith already finds him annoying? Too much too soon? Maybe he wants to be left alone, too, like Emma. Maybe he’s… thinking of a break, too…
Lance shakes his head. That’s stupid, he’s stupid. He’ll just stop constantly nagging him and will give Keith some space to breathe. Honestly, Lance should’ve realized this sooner, without the need of someone else’s example. Keith likes quiet and likes being alone and likes places that are not crowded.
So, when Lance walks into Keith’s apartment, his mind is already made up.
“I’m ho— here,” he says, almost smacking his forehead because, it’s not home yet, dammit, don’t cross the line!
The place remains silent and Lance wonders if Keith’s out for work. He’s proven wrong when he walks into the living room, a bundle of papers and a sleeping Keith on the couch. Lance can’t help but smile, the tightness in his chest dissolving almost into nothing but warmth and affection. He steps closer, removing the glasses from his boyfriend; Keith scrunches his nose at that and Lance fails to fight the urge of kissing him. He leans down and pecks at the boy’s nose, only for it to scrunch again.
God, he’s adorable.
He cleans up the mess of papers, placing it neatly on the coffee table. Then walks quietly into their – Keith’s, into Keith’s bedroom. Jesus, when did he start using home and their bedroom?
Lance grabs a fluffy, yellow blanket – a present from Allura when Lance told her about birthday traditions. She had insisted on giving each of the paladins a gift and, with the lack of stores due to the war and attacks, she decided to give everyone a fluffy blanket since that was the nicest thing she came across. Why she did not use color codes with them Lance will never know – he thinks she messed up the boxes and just rolled with it.
Lance corrects Keith’s neck on the couch, making sure it’s placed in a less awkward position than it was before. He tucks the edges of the blanket around the boy, making sure Keith will be warm and comfortable. Then Lance begins to collect his things.
He gathers all of his clothes, but leaves his toothbrush, because space or not, he’ll still stay over sometimes, just not as often. He places the clothes into a bag, making a mental note to return it tomorrow.
Before Lance leaves, he brushes Keith’s dark bangs away from his face, taking in the boy’s peaceful features. He’s so beautiful, Lance wonders how the hell he’s even real. He kisses Keith’s forehead, then his nose – scrunch – then, lightly, his lips.