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He’d found this place during a supply run on a Blade mission. The instant he’d seen it, he thought of Lance. Lance, who had driven him nuts with his constant mentions of rain and the ocean. Lance who could shift from happy and laughing to crushingly homesick with a speed that had startled him at first. He’d seen it from a distance, and when they had some unexpected free time, he’d taken the chance to check it out and to make sure that it was safe for humans. Then he’d stored the coordinates away in the back of his mind and moved on.
He’d almost forgotten about it, honestly. But today, he’d watched and listened over the comms as Lance’s mood dropped steadily. This ‘space road trip’ back to Earth was… gruelling. The encounter with Bob had been awful- but especially so for Lance… and he still owed him an apology for that… and then he’d noticed where they were. Even with low energy, he could swing this. A few words with Shiro and Krolia and then Kosmo teleported them away. His mother giving him a slightly too tight hug before leaving him. After their time in the Quantum Abyss, she understood.
He toggled the comms, “guys, there’s something I need to check out. A planetoid near here that might have supplies.”
“You can’t go alone,” was Lance’s immediate response, “don’t be so reckless!”
“Perhaps we should all go,” Allura interjected, her voice soothing.
“No. It’s not far off course, but I don’t want to delay everyone. Black and Red are the fastest. We’ll go, you guys stay on course and we’ll catch up to you. Lance? That work for you?”
“Uh… yeah. Sure thing, Team Leader.”
“Alright, good. Sending you the course correction now. Hunk, Pidge, Allura, we shouldn’t be out of comm range, but just in case- watch each other’s backs.”
Lance had been unusually quiet on the comms during the flight, all business. Keith hated it. He never thought he’d miss Lance chatter more than he had when he’d been stuck on the back of a giant space whale for two years, but somehow, knowing Lance was right there and still not hearing him was worse.
He grabbed his gear, and exited Black, meeting Lance at Red’s ramp… which was awkward. Red was pissed at him (and rightly so), and it was weird to get the cold shoulder from his fiery former Lion. “I’m trying to fix it,” he whispered to the massive robot, but he didn’t get a response. Yup. Red was seriously pissed at him.
Lance trudged down the ramp, adjusting his own pack. “Alright, you said something about supplies?”
“Yeah,” he pointed towards a nearby copse of vegetation, “there are fruit trees, tubers, and if we are lucky, we might even find some berries- I’m not sure if they are in season or not.”
“Fresh food is always a good thing, I guess. Alright, lead the way.” Falling into step beside him, Lance went quiet again. It just felt so wrong.
“When we get back to Earth,” Keith said after a few minutes, “once all the fuss dies down a bit and you’ve spent some time with your family. What’s the first thing you are going to do for fun?”
“Me?” Lance sounded surprised, but he hummed like he was thinking, “I would say go swimming, but I know my family will definitely have a beach day before they let me out of their sight again… so… something else. Hmm… oh, I know! There’s a paintball place… no… not that. I don’t think shooting people with paint will be as fun now. So… I don’t really know. I haven’t thought about it much beyond getting home and seeing my family. What about you?”
“I’m painting my house.” Keith answered easily, “well, I’m fixing it up first, but I’m painting it. Yellow.”
“Your house? You mean the shack? That little shack in the desert? You’re going back there?”
“Yeah- it’s where Mom lived with Dad… and me, I guess. I’m fixing it up for her.” He shrugged, “so she has a real home again.”
“That’s family stuff, then. You said after the family stuff. What are you doing after the family stuff?”
“Oh... yeah… I guess it is. Ummm… Oh! I am going to Buster Burger- the one by the Garrison, you know? And I am doing that stupid Belly Buster Burger Challenge.”
“That… sounds awesome, actually,” laughed Lance, “I always wanted to do that but you have to be 18 or have a guardian sign off for some reason.”
“Stupid insurance,” muttered Keith, “but yeah, I’m doing that.”
They’d reached the edge of the copse, and the taller plants were starting to provide some shade. It wasn’t a particularly hot day- especially not for people who’d grown up in the tropics and the desert, respectively- but the sun was bright and there wasn’t much of a breeze, so the shade was definitely welcome.
“Right. So what are we looking for, exactly?” Lance asked, pulling out a water pouch and drinking some of it before offering it to Keith.
“You should be able to use the HUD scan in your armor to identify edible plants and how to harvest them. We stick together and fill as many of these as possible.” Keith handed Lance a silvery bag made out of some kind of funky plastic.
They worked together quietly for a while, picking through the vegetation and finding plants and berries and fruits that their armor said were safe to eat and nutritious. A lot more options than he’d initially thought, too. Lance was really impressive, actually. Where Keith was getting frustrated with the tedious, dirty, repetitive work, Lance was humming softly to himself and moving with a sure, confident efficiency that surprised Keith. He was also showing knife skills that Keith had no idea he possessed, trimming inedible parts off the plant with sure, strong movements that he made seem almost effortless.
As their work took them deeper into the trees, the air slowly grew more humid, eventually forming an actual mist around them. Keith smiled to himself, they were getting close. Lance’s mood seemed to be improving as well. He was definitely more relaxed and the humming was becoming more upbeat. “So,” he said eventually, pushing through his own nervousness, “that game show was… a mess, huh?”
“I don’t want to talk about that, Keith,” Lance ground out, his voice like ice.
“About the whole voting thing…”
“I am not talking about that. Is that why you brought me here? To make me feel worse? Because today is not the day for this, Keith!”
“I’m trying to apologize!”
“You don’t have to,” Lance sighed, “it’s okay if you can’t stand me, Keith. Just focus on the mission, right?”
“What?” He sat back on his heels and turned to look at Lance, “what mission? We’re… freaking gardening right now!”
“And that’s the mission- fresh food for everyone.”
“Oh, my God…” He looked up to the sky like he was seeking divine intervention. But, of course, there was none waiting for him there. Just overhanging branches, and the haze of the mist that had developed. Above that was just sky, and space… endless, endless space. Frankly, ‘divine intervention’ was a big part of how he’d gotten himself into this mess in the first place. That and his own stupid pride. Muttering to himself he pushed himself to his feet and stomped over to Lance. “Come on,” he said, irritation plain as he stuck his hand out.
Lance stared at his hand like he’d never seen the gesture before in his life. “What are you doing?”
“The mission isn’t the food. It’s… it’s not a mission,” he growled, “would you just come on? I want you to see something.”
“Fine… you are so dramatic!” Lance grabbed his hand and let him pull him to standing. “Where are we going?”
“Deeper into the trees. You are so infuriating.”
“Me? What did I do? I’ve been the consummate professional since we left the others! I didn’t even crack a joke when we passed that nebula that looked like a dick!”
“You aren’t being yourself,” Keith muttered, “it’s… aggravating.”
“What does that even mean?”
He stopped, Lance nearly slamming into his back from the suddenness of it. “Okay… so… let’s just say… you said something stupid to Pidge…”
“Sure… I mean… I do that all the time, so-”
“No- not like that. Something… bad stupid… something that… did damage…”
Lance eyed him skeptically, “allllright?”
“And after that… she just… stopped tinkering with stuff. Like, she was never on her laptop, she didn’t ramble about color coding stuff, she stopped arguing with Hunk about modulations or whatever.”
“But Pidge wouldn’t even be able to stop doing any of that stuff! It’s like… part of who she is!”
“Right. But if she did stop… you’d worry, right?”
“Yeah, of course I would! She’s my friend.”
“Right,” he relaxed a little, Lance was getting it, “and you didn’t even crack a joke when we passed a nebula that looked like a dick, Lance.”
“Sooo… great. Awesome, Keith!” He pushed past him, storming into the trees. “Freaking peachy! Nice to know that my entire being is that I crack dick jokes. Awesome.”
Keith stared after Lance, trying to understand how he’d managed to screw that up! Also- Lance had no idea where they were even going! What was his plan!?! How was Keith managing to make this worse at literally every turn? It should have been simple! Bring Lance here. Show him the thing. Apologize. Bonus: fresh food for everyone. Even Krolia and Shiro had thought it was a solid plan. But everything he did was pissing Lance off for some reason.
Well, no… not for some reason. He knew why it was pissing him off. He knew Lance was (rightfully) pissed at him… he just hadn’t realized that it was quite this bad. For the first time, Keith was starting to think that this… might not be fixable. He might have ruined everything. That thought spurred him into action and he jogged after Lance.
The leggy Paladin had made it a surprising distance in such a short time. “There you are,” Keith said, falling into step beside him.
“Yup. I’m right here.”
“I wasn’t trying to say that… you know what, never mind. We’ll talk about it later. Let’s try this… why is today not the day for this?”
“What?” Lance looked at him like he had ten heads.
“Before… I was trying to talk to you and you said today wasn’t the day for this. So… instead of me trying to say my piece, how about I just… listen? Why is today bad?”
“Did Shiro put you up to this?” Lance asked, his expression suspicious.
“Put me up to what?”
“This whole peacemaker bit… of course he did. It’s so obvious. This has Shiro written all over it.”
“What? No. No! Shiro has nothing to do with this- he doesn’t even know what…” He sighed, trying to hang on to his patience, “this was my idea. I wanted to do this.”
“Yay for team building I guess, then.”
“It’s not about the team.” He fought the urge to scream. Lance was impossible! Why?? Just… why?? Why him? It didn’t even make any sense. “It’s about,” he sighed, shaking his head, “it’s not about the team. This way… and be careful! The brush hides the ground and there can be drops… like, fissures and stuff… and the fog is only going to get thicker.” Lance followed him through the trees into a clearing and stopped when Keith held his arm out. “We’re close.”
“Close? I can’t see anything! This looks like something out of a cheesy B movie!”
“There’s a crack… like a ravine. We need to climb down. It’s not hard- the trick is finding the edge in this haze.”
He heard Lance sigh and then there was a soft whirring. When he looked over, Lance had taken a seat on the ground and was using the small exhaust fans that were built into the Paladin armor to dissipate the fog a bit. Quietly, Keith settled beside him and did the same.
“I dreamed about my niece and nephew last night,” Lance said softly after a few minutes, “it’s been three years… plus however long we were out here before time went weird. They were really young… I just… the homesickness is bad today. That’s all. That’s why today is bad.”
“I know you are homesick,” Keith answered, matching his volume to Lance’s, “that today is worse, I mean. I could tell. That’s part of why I wanted to bring you here. It’s not about the team. It’s about… trying to help you.”
“You don’t have to do that- I’m not going to let my homesickness affect Voltron.”
“Stop it.”
“Stop what? I’m not doing anything.”
“Stop acting like the only reason I could possibly be doing this is because of Voltron when I keep telling you that’s not what’s going on.”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense… hey! Is that the edge of the ravine you were talking about?” He pointed to their left, to a point where the fog seemed to dip and funnel away like a floating river.
“Yeah! That’s it!” Keith hopped up, droplets of condensed water from the fog splattering Lance’s armor. He extended his hand again, for Lance to grab, “come on. You’re going to love this.”
“When did you say you were here before?” Lance asked as they began to pick their way down the side of the ravine. There wasn’t really a path per se, but there was a kind of gently sloping ledge that trailed downwards. It was a few feet wide and fairly stable, so they made decent time once they adjusted to the powdery white soil and the low visibility.
“Umm… the first time I went off with the Blade. When I saw it, I knew you’d love it.”
“Me, specifically? Or like, ‘you guys’?”
“You, specifically. I mean, I’m sure the others would, too… but it kind of screams ‘Lance’. You’ll see!” He flashed a smile over his shoulder and Lance smiled back- small and tentative, but Keith would take it. It was a smile. That had to be progress! Conversation dwindled after that point since the ledge they were following narrowed. A few times they had to actually use the boosters in their armor. Slowly and surely, though, they made their way down, through the lingering mist, into clear air and finally onto the floor of the ravine. Keith took a moment to listen and get himself oriented, and then he waved for Lance to follow him.
“Where the heck are you taking me?” Lance asked, after they’d been walking for a little bit and Keith had led him into a high-ceilinged tunnel. Keith wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard a smile in his voice.
“You’ll see,” Keith laughed, “Look up! This stone is… a kind of salt, I guess… It’s translucent! What do you see?”
“It’s… blue,” Lance breathed, “it looks like the sky! Earth’s sky!”
“Yep- take your helmet off… the air is… something else…”
“My visor’s retracted, Keith, I am breathing the air.” Lance muttered, but he pulled the helmet off anyway and when he did his eyes widened, “it… it’s like ocean air!”
“Right? The helmets have like… some kind of purifying zone or something even when the visor is retracted… it, like… dulls it.” Buoyed by the expression on Lance’s face, Keith felt actual excitement spark in his chest for the first time since they’d landed here. He grabbed Lance’s hand and tugged, “this way… it gets better!”
They raced through the softly glowing tunnel until it grew louder, a rumbling echoing around them. “Keith?” Lance sounded worried, but Keith knew what the sound was and it definitely wasn’t something to be concerned about.
“It’s fine,” he assured him, “almost there. Actually… put your helmet back on and black out the visor. This is better as a surprise.”
“You’re not going to just leave me here as some kind of prank, are you?” He sounded worried, but he was pulling the helmet down over his head as he said it, so Keith knew he wasn’t completely serious.
“Look, I know it is hard to do right now, but please just trust me? I’m trying to do something nice here.”
The clear surface of the visor went black, Lance’s smile blinking out of sight before it had even fully formed. Keith took both of his hands and carefully led them through the tunnel. It grew brighter as the tunnel widened, the false ‘sky’ above them growing paler and paler as it thinned out until it finally opened up to the dull white of this planet’s actual sky. The roaring noise was less noticeable without the echo of the tunnel, but they were actually quite close to its source. Lance was going to love this! It was even better than Keith remembered!
A weird kind of pride filled him, “okay… keep your eyes closed but you can take your helmet off. I wanna see your face when you see this.”
“That is borderline creepy,” Lance muttered, but he did as Keith had asked. Keith squared him up for the very best view and then stepped to the side, eyes glued to Lance’s face.
“Okay… you’re good…”
Lance opened his eyes and Keith had never seen a more perfect expression of awe on anyone’s face. “Ohhhhh,” Lance breathed, “ohhhh wow...” Keith got to watch happy tears well in Lance’s eyes as he took it all in. The waterfall cascading over the milky white cliffs into a lagoon that was almost the same bright blue-green that Keith had seen in movies and magazines depicting island resorts, like the ones near where Lance had grown up. The pristine white sand and the soft waves splashing against the rocks that ringed one edge of the water.
“There’s a salt water spring up there,” Keith explained, “this is salt water, that’s why the air feels like you are by the ocean. It’s like this weird salt water pool…. There are a few kinds of fish, but nothing dangerous and nothing edible. It’s… umm… safe for swimming…”
“It’s a beach,” Lance whispered, tears spilling down his cheeks. “You found a beach… and you remembered it… and you brought me here…”
“Yeah… I told you… this place just screams ‘Lance’...” He chewed at his lip, “you like it, right?”
Lance nodded, wiping at his cheeks, “you were bringing me here and I was being such a…”
“Stop it. You’re angry. I get it… I know angry,” he shrugged, “don’t think about that stuff now. Just… enjoy it. You can swim or just hang out or whatever. I can go back and gather food and come back later. Take the day.”
“What? You’re going to leave? Why would you leave?”
“Well, you’re pissed at me… I don’t want to ruin it… and I dunno… I figured you might want to have some time to yourself,” he shrugged. He was thrilled that his instincts about this place were right, but the last thing he wanted to do was hang around and make Lance uncomfortable. The whole point was for him to get a break from stress.
“So, your plan was for me to have a beach day while you picked food by yourself for hours?”
“Yes?” He didn’t think it was that complicated.
“That’s a terrible plan,” Lance laughed. “Come swimming with me. This place is too pretty not to share it!”
“I’m fine with leaving, Lance… You’re mad at me. You’re allowed to be mad at me. I… was awful. I know that. I want you to enjoy yourself- me being here will wreck that.”
“If you think I will be able to have fun here knowing that you are up there picking berries and pulling tubers while I am swimming, then you are completely nuts! So, either you stay, or I come with you to get food. Either works, but we are not splitting up.”
“This planetoid is completely safe, Lance- no predators, no poisonous plants-”
“Not splitting up,” he snapped.
“Fine! Geez, fine… I’ll stay.”
His face broke into a glee-filled smile, “good, i knew you would see sense! Come on! Swimming!!”
They peeled out of their armor and the black undersuits, leaving them in the funky boxer-briefs-slash-athletic-support shorts that Coran called their ‘foundation layer’ (for some ungodly reason). Keith couldn’t help but laugh when Lance picked his way over the rocks to cannonball into the water near the falls with a crow he hadn’t heard from him in ages. He, on the other hand, contented himself with wading in the gentle waves for a while. He’d never been to an ocean on Earth and he kind of wanted to get to know the whole experience, so he took his time.
Before he knew it, a couple of hours had passed and the sun was starting to dip. The day/night cycle here was short and it never really got fully dark, just dim enough for the temperature to drop. Floating like a starfish beside Lance, he smiled- there was more to his surprise.
“Getting dark…” Lance said, his voice a little sad. “We should probably head back…”
“Not yet,” Keith said easily, “you’re going to love this.”
“Love what? Oh! Is there a bunch of shooting stars here? I love shooting stars!”
“Better,” he laughed, shifting to a backstroke and heading to the shore.
“Better than shooting stars?” Lance followed him, “is it like the Northern Lights or something? I saw those once, you know… I was on a trip with my Uncle to Europe and we went way North for a couple of days. They’re beautiful. As pretty as anything we’ve seen in space. Earth is amazing.”
“Yeah, it really is,” Keith agreed, “I miss it, too. Not as much as you guys, but I do.”
“Well… it’s home. Of course you are going to miss it. No one thinks you don’t miss it, Keith.” They settled side by side on some long flat rocks that jutted into the water slightly, waves lapping at their feet.
“I owe you an apology,” Keith said after a few minutes, “but if you aren’t ready to hear it, I can wait.”
“Well, you might as well say it,” Lance answered, eyes on the sky.
“I know you think I hate you… after the whole thing with Bob, of course you think that.”
“I don’t. Not anymore. This,” he gestured at the waterfall, “this isn’t something you do for someone you hate, even as an olive branch.”
“Oh… okay… good…” He went quiet again, rethinking what he should say now that he knew Lance didn’t think he hated him.
“Still pissed at you, though.” Lance added, not looking at him.
“Voltron has people with very specialized skills,” he said.
“What?” Lance turned to look at him.
“Specialization is good, it lets people really focus and excel, but just as important is being able to adapt. You are our generalist. You can lead. You can strategize. You can fight hand to hand, or smooth over a tense situation. You are a sniper, and a caretaker. Any gap in Voltron, you can fill in. I can always trust that any job you’re given will be done. If only one of us gets to leave, it should be you. Lance, you can do the most good in the most ways.” He took a breath, “that’s what I was going to say. That’s what I should have said. But you said… what you said… and then… I... uh... kind of blanked.”
“Wow… I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say at once. So… uh... generalist, huh?”
Keith nodded, “mmmhmm… kind of like Shiro, but more… balanced.”
“Did you just… say I was better than Shiro?”
“I said you were more balanced than him. He’s better at some stuff, but other than you, he and Allura are the most versatile in the field.”
“So… why did you… umm… blank?”
“I… it’s complicated…” Keith shrugged, “the important thing is that I’m sorry for… all of that. It was a shitty time for all of us, but you got the brunt of it and that… sucked. We were all kind of jerks to you, but I was the worst. So, yeah. I’m sorry.”
The sun had completely vanished and the sky had darkened to that blueish purple that appeared during late dusk. The air was cooling and Keith smiled, glad he’d been able to salvage his plan.
“Thanks,” Lance said softly, leaning back on his elbows. “You’re the first one to apologize.”
“Really? That surprises me… I figured Hunk…”
“He will, I know him. He just hasn’t yet. I’m guessing he’ll do it once he’s got access to a fully stocked kitchen. Apology snickerdoodles are delicious. Pidge might, but it will probably be slipped into some other conversation weeks from now, or over comms if we get in a bind. I’m hoping not comms, that’d be a bad sign. Allura,” he sort of jerked his head to one side, “she’s not great with apologies. She’ll probably just… I don’t know… pay me a compliment in front of someone I need to impress or something… or not. Doesn’t really matter- she’s dealing with a lot right now. My feelings are pretty low on her radar.”
“That’s… not okay, Lance.”
“It is though,” Lance said, “I have a lot of siblings. I get it. Sometimes, you don’t have to say it. Sometimes… Look, I just know they aren’t proud of it. People screw up. It’s embarrassing when that happens. I get it. I don’t need to hear the words to know. I can tell. Well… with the others. You- it was trickier. You’ve been gone so much. Things have happened… I think I needed to hear it from you. So… thanks.”
“I never… meant… to be gone so much. You know that, right?” He hugged his knees, “when I left for the Blades… I thought I’d be around more. I thought we’d be working together more often than we were. I probably would have gone anyway, if I’d known… but… yeah, when I made the decision, I thought I’d be around more.”
“But being gone meant you found your mom,” Lance replied, “that’s amazing! And you found Romelle, and the truth about Lotor… those are things that are bigger than any of- hey!” He sat up, “did you feel that?”
A drop of water hit Keith’s knee and he grinned, “yup! This is the other reason I wanted to bring you here. That mist? It builds up all day… and then when it gets dark and the temperature drops…”
A rumble rolled through the air and a sound neither of them had heard in far too long followed it. Hundred of tiny, wet impacts rushing toward them as the skies opened up.
“It rains!” Lance leapt to his feet. He splayed his arms wide and threw his head back as soft, gentle rain swept over them. “Oh my god! Keith! It’s raining!”
“Yeah,” he couldn’t help but chuckle. Lance was so happy and they were good again… and he felt like his heart might actually give out, it was racing so much. Before he even realized what was happening, Lance grabbed his hand and dragged him first to his feet and then away from the rocks they’d been using as seats and out onto the white sand.
“This is amazing!” Lance spun, shaking out his wet hair and practically dancing around the beach. The rainfall wouldn’t last long, Keith knew that, but that meant that they could stay for the whole thing. That Lance wouldn’t have to miss out on any of it. That Keith got to soak up more of seeing him so happy and carefree.
For almost an hour, he and Lance goofed off in the rain. At one point, Lance asked if there was any threat of lightning, and when he found out there wasn’t, he dragged Keith back into the water. Keith had never swum at night before, and he’d never swum in the rain, either. Most of his swimming experience was in pools for lessons or ‘pool parties’ he’d attended while he was in foster care. Lance had been positively giddy when he’d found that out, gushing about being the one to show Keith what ‘real’ swimming was like. He’d been right, too. Swimming in the rain and the dark was a completely different experience, and Keith promised himself that when he was back on Earth, he’d do it again.
Finally, the rain drops started to peter out and they returned to their perch on the flat rocks. “I can’t believe you did this for me,” Lance whispered, pulling him into a tight, quick hug, “thank-you. It means… you have no idea.”
“I mean… I kinda do,” he said softly, the words tumbling out, “when I was in the Quantum Abyss… there wasn’t really much to do other than try to survive and… think. I missed you guys so much, and I was so scared I’d never see you again. I made a bunch of promises to myself. You are so… loud and bright and I used to think that was bad, but it’s not. It’s incredible. Anyway… I don’t think you realize how much you mention rain, and the ocean. It’s a lot. So… I know what missing something you love is like… and I know you love… water… So... “ He shrugged, picking at a section of the rock that was kind of crumbling. “I said before that it was complicated… why I froze… and it is… but it is kind of not too. What you said, about me… I… really didn’t expect that. It was… a lot. I had no idea…” He huffed, frustrated. The words weren’t lining up right in his head. He sounded stupid. Awkward.
“What? That you’re our leader? Keith, I thought you were more comfortable with being the Black Pala-”
“Not that part,” he made a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a growl, irritated with himself, “you said that I’m half-Galra like it’s a good thing… and then that bit about being the future… and I dunno… your face and your voice- just all of it… I wasn’t expecting… and then… I thought about the abyss and how hard it was and how much you missed your family and… I couldn’t. I just couldn’t… Like- the only thing I could think of that would be worse than the abyss would be to be stuck there watching you suffer and hurt and never getting to go home to your family and the ocean and the rain and me not being able to fix it for eternity… but… it came out all wrong when I opened my mouth and it sounded so… mean.”
“Keith…”
“I’m… bad with this. The whole feelings thing… and just... words. I’m bad with words. I’m trying to be better… but I think I just kind of babble when I make myself talk… but yeah. I know I screw this stuff up a lot. But I hurt you, and that’s the last thing I wanted… because… I just want you to be happy, okay? I want you to be happy… because…” He took a breath, supremely grateful that for once Lance wasn’t trying to fill the awkward silences, “because I’m in love with you. And I know you don’t feel the same way, but when you answered … your voice and your face and I felt like... maybe... and I didn’t know how and-”
A chilled hand cupped his face and he trailed off. Lance turned him to meet his eyes, soft and blue and gentle in the slowly brightening day. “Keith,” he whispered, “you’re like… the future… my future. I wanted to say my future. You’re my future.”
“I’m…?” He had to be misunderstanding him. Because that sounded an awful lot like...
“I love you, Keith,” Lance whispered, “I’m in love with you. I have been for… a long time.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” Lance laughed softly, and then he was leaning closer. Keith felt the warmth of his breath for a fraction of an instant before it was replaced by his lips. They were both a little chilly from the rain and the water, but his touch was a nice kind of cool against Keith’s skin. When his lips parted, the warmth of the kiss seemed to radiate through him like… a sunbeam. Lance was like a sunbeam. He sighed, pressing closer, arms wrapping around Lance as he returned the kiss.
They still had work to do. They still had to finish gathering the food and catch back up to the others. They were still Paladins of Voltron with obligations and duties. There would still be missions, and they’d probably still bicker and fight. But Keith let himself just not worry about all that stuff for a little bit. He took a moment to fulfill one of the promises he’d made to himself back in the Quantum Abyss- that if he ever got up the nerve to tell Lance McClain how he felt, and by some stroke of luck, if those feelings were returned, he would make a point of appreciating it. He wouldn’t push it aside for the sake of the ‘greater good’. So, here, in one of the most breathtaking places he’d found in the vastness of space, he was going to do that.
He loved Lance.
Lance loved him.
They were on a beach, drying off from a rainfall and he was in his arms and it was perfect.
Perfect.
Everything else could wait just a little longer.