Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lance McClain had never been a morning person.  Growing up he had always been the last one to rise, much to his mother’s annoyance.  As he got older he learnt to get up early; becoming a college student and deciding to study business had shown him that no matter how much he loved his bed and sleep, he had to become more responsible if he was going to make it.  Now that he was a young man, having graduated Arus University four years prior with a business degree, he found himself getting up at 3am daily. He always made sure that in the thirty minutes that he allowed himself to get ready, he would make himself look as amazing as possible.  Today he had managed to put together an outfit that he was particularly proud of, a long sleeve blue and white striped shirt with a black vest and stylishly torn jeans. His short brown hair had been meticulously styled to look as if he had just jumped out of bed and his tanned skin shone, showing all the hard work he put in to keep it youthful and clear.

Lance was listening to classical music playing through the speakers of the shop, dancing slightly as he moved between each stand making sure that each flower had enough water for the day.  It was 5am and he had half an hour until his employees arrived, and an hour until it was time to open the shop. He always made a point of getting in early so he could complete any paperwork needed, water the plants and just relax.  Being surrounded by flowers had always helped him feel like he was back home in Cuba. He could pretend he was kneeling in the dirt with his Mama and Abuela teaching him about the different meanings and how to keep each different species of plant thriving.  They would be so proud of his business that he had built from scratch.

The Dandy Lion.   Lance still chuckles at the name that he picked for his little flower shop that he had opened just over four years ago.  He had started out small, no employees, just him running the entire thing. It had been a hard road but somehow, he had made it.  He was now a successful business owner at the young age of 25, with a blooming business (pun intended) on Voltron Boulevard. With amazing friends and employees, he couldn’t ask for much more in his life.

His best friend Hunk had opened his own bakery, appropriately named 'Piece of Cake' (pun also intended) and it was right next door!  The smell of freshly baked goods wafted out to greet Lance every morning when he arrived at 4am to start his day. A freshly brewed coffee in a takeaway cup with the bakery’s logo always found its way into his hand once the flowers had been watered. 

Around the same time that Piece of Cake had opened, another business had opened on the other side of the Dandy Lion; Black Cat Tattoos.  It was a unique tattoo parlour, all open windows, cool soothing colours and beautiful artwork. The owner, Shiro, was not the most typical guy you would expect to own a tattoo studio.  Lance had admired the guy’s full sleeve of cybernetic tattoos on his right arm that made it look like the entire thing was made of metal, along with the very attractive man that was attached to the arm. 

All three businesses had ended up becoming close over the past three years, always helping each other out when someone was away ill and whenever they needed something that they could get from the other two they would.  They had become what Lance had lovingly coined the Voltron Boulevard Familia .  Whenever one of them had a problem they would all rally behind them with support and threats if needed. 

There was a fourth business that had joined the familia a year ago, Holt Industries.  Matthew Holt or Matt for short was a business consultant, meaning he worked with businesses large and small and came up with strategies to boost their profile, sales and profit.  At first, he seemed a bit uptight, almost too professional but Lance soon got him to loosen up once they started chatting every morning at Hunk’s when they would run into each other getting their morning coffee.

He was tidying up the Myrtle display when he heard the bell for the front door ring.  Lance didn’t even look up when he greeted the man walking through, “Buenos dìas Matt.”

“Morning Lance, I got your daily coffee,” Matthew Holt greeted as he set his briefcase down and walked over to stand next to Lance, a pair of takeaway coffees with the Piece of Cake logo in hand. 

“You are a godsend, Matt,” Lance took a whiff of the aroma coming from the cup offered to him and felt his entire body relax, “Please tell me Romelle made this.”

Matt laughed, “Yes she did, and she put in extra sugar for you, just how you like it.”

“If you don’t marry that girl, I just might man.  Your girlfriend is some sort of coffee wizard, I’ve never tasted coffee the way she makes it,” Lance took a sip and had to lean back on the counter and let the warmth overcome his body.

Matt chuckled as he played with the hem of his green dress shirt nervously.  Lance had always admired Matt’s sense of style, for a guy who seemed like the biggest nerd in the world, he had somehow managed to make the whole mess of colours work.  The brown suede shoes, the white slacks, the green Holt Industries shirt along with the big bug-eyed glasses somehow turned him into a respectable looking adult who you would happily talk business with.  “You have no idea. I could live off the coffee and scones she makes at home, seriously.”

“It’s no wonder that Hunk employed her, her skills are almost as good as his,” Lance nodded, “I honestly wonder what my life would be like if Hunk hadn’t have moved in next door.”

“You could be having Coran’s coffees instead,” Matt said. 

“Oh boy, I love that man, but he can’t make coffee for shit,” Lance smiled. 

It was then that a loud meow came from next to Matt’s legs.  A large black cat with emerald green eyes was standing at his feet, looking at him pointedly as it meowed a second time.  “Oh, hey Chat Noir, how’s my boy been?” Matt asked as he bent down to pat the cat, “You been behaving yourself for Lance?”  Chat Noir meowed again almost in an answer before rubbing his head against Matt’s hand. 

“He has been very helpful with sales lately, I might need to give him a raise,” Lance said as he continued to sip on his coffee, “I think I can go up to two tins of tuna a day.  Might stretch the budget a little but I’m sure we will manage.”

Matt chuckled, “Thanks again for taking him in Lance.  Romelle was devastated when she found out our landlord doesn’t allow pets.  To think that someone could have just left him alone at such a young age,” Matt shook his head, “I’m just glad he found a loving home.”

“He is a hard-working employee, keeping all the mice away from the seeds.  Letting him stay here in the shop is the least I can do. Plus, like I said, since he arrived the sales have gone up.  He is a lady’s man, just like me,” Lance smirked as he bent down and patted the black cat on the head. He glanced at the clock and sighed, “Well, it looks like I better get back to the grindstone, I only have a few more minutes before the girls arrive and then its show time.”

“I thought Shay was away for the next two weeks.  Didn’t she have her nursing prac to do?” Matt asked pulling his phone out of his pocket to check the date.

Lance’s eyes widened. “Crap!”  He had totally forgotten about the fact that Shay, who had been studying to become a nurse for the past couple of years, had taken leave to complete the mandatory practical experience.  “Yeah, you’re right! Allura won’t be able to do the deliveries either, because she rolled her ankle yesterday at her theatre rehearsal.”

“Is she okay?  What happened?” Matt asked worriedly.

“She fell off the stage, but she is okay. She just can’t do too much walking or stand on it for too long from what she said in her message.  I was going to have her sit at the front counter all day or go chill out the back while putting together bouquets.” Lance thought for a moment before nodding to himself, “Right. Well I’m going to have to do the deliveries until she heals up.”

“Good luck with that man, if you need a hand just give me a call.  I’m pretty quiet now so I can always come help watch the shop,” Matt offered.

“Thanks, Matt! I might just take you up on that one.”

“You know where to find me,” Matt gently patted Lance on the shoulder, “Well, I better head off and leave you to it. Just give me a call and I’ll be here.”

“Will do,” Lance called as he watched his friend head out the door and walk to his own shop on the other side of Black Cat Tattoos.

Lance looked around his stop, hands on his hips before he looked at Chat and said, “Well, I better get started, I have a feeling that it's going to be a long day.”

Chapter Text

The instant Lance saw Allura hobbling into the shop, he dashed over to the front door to hold it open for her.  She shifted her crutches slightly to let herself get past Lance and gave him one of her award winning smiles, “Morning boss man.”

“Hey Allura. How’s the foot?” Lance asked as he walked with her to the counter.  He glanced down at where her entire right lower leg was covered in medical bandages.  He knew that there were more that he couldn’t see through the long skirts of the yellow floral dress she was wearing.

“Eh, it’s a foot,” she eased herself onto the high stool, “The doc says I need to keep off it for a week and let it heal otherwise it could become a bigger problem.”

“Well I guess that means you are grounded for the next week young lady,” he joked as he pulled up an extra stool and gently placed her injured foot on it.

“But what about the deliveries?  With Shay away, who is going to do those?” Allura asked as she shifted her skirts to cover the bandages on her leg.

“I am,” Lance said as he started to pull together the pre-orders for the day, “Matt said he can come and help out here in the shop if you need a break while I’m out, so don’t be shy about calling him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course!  It’s not that hard to do the deliveries, it’s been too long since I have done them anyway,” Lance chatted away, “Oh!  I get to go see my Hunkalicious!”

“‘Hunkalicious’?” Allura questioned, “Do I even want to know what kind of relationship you two have?”

Lance spluttered, “Allura!  Hunk is my everything, except that!  I mean, sure I like both guys and girls, but even I draw the line at Hunk!  He might be a god given gift to mankind, but he is my best friend and that’s it!”

“That’s a lot of denial for a simple question,” Allura teased, knowing full well that Lance and Hunk’s relationship was nothing more than close friends to the point of brotherhood.

“Careful Allura, keep that up and I’ll find another drop dead gorgeous woman to run my shop,” Lance warned, pointing a menacing looking finger in her direction.

“Really?  I doubt that,” Allura challenged as she reached up and tightened the elastic that was holding all of her silver hair up in a high ponytail.

Lance sighed. “You’re right, no-one is as angelic looking as you are ‘Lura.”

Allura giggled. “Enough of your flirting Lance, if you don’t get started with those deliveries you’ll be running behind all day.”

“Yes boss,” Lance called after her sarcastically.

It took them another half hour to finish putting the orders together with Lance darting around the shop collecting the flowers required while Allura sat at the counter bunching them together in vases and wrapping the ones going out in bouquets.  Lance’s phone screeched when it was time to open the doors to the public and straight away they had a few of their regular customers come in and make some purchases.

“Alight Allura, I’m off!” Lance called with his hands full with two large vases, “I’ll be back soon once I have done these guys.”

“Ok, have fun!”  She called back as she sat at the counter, petting Chat Noir, who had chosen the bench as the place for him to take a nap.

Lance winced as he walked out the front door as the early morning sun blinded him temporarily, “Should’ve brought my glasses,” he muttered to himself as he turned left and pushed open the door of Hunk’s bakery, Piece of Cake.

“Buenos dias familia!” he called as he barged in on the not quite empty bakery, surprising the single customer that was currently being served.

“Morning Lance!” the young woman behind the counter called as she continued to serve the older man.

“Hiya Romelle, have I told you how much of a goddess on earth you are lately?” Lance asked as he made his way to the counter with the vases still in hand.

“Have a nice day Melvin, see you tomorrow,” she said to her customer as he smiled at her and left.  Turning to face Lance she flipped her blonde hair out of her face and jutted out her hips slightly, “And as for you Lance, no, you have not informed me of my deity status as of late.  Though I am curious as to what helped you catch on.”

Lance placed the flowers on the top of the counter and took in the goddess standing in front of him.  Her blonde hair pulled back in twin pigtails, the brown blouse with green jacket was nicely paired with the torn denim jeans and…were those cowboy boots?  “Your loving boyfriend brought me coffee this morning and I swear I went to heaven.”

“Ah, yes well Matt can confirm that I am an angel, but the goddess thing is new.  Oi! Hunk! Lance is here!” she called out, making Lance wince at the volume, “Oh, and I’m a goddess of coffee, apparently!”

Lance grinned as he heard movement in the back kitchen, “She is!  You should put it on the sign, ‘Coffee and Cakes made by the Goddess herself!’”

A moment later a large Samoan man strode out, a yellow headband tied on his head, a grey shirt that read Big Guys Cuddle Better and a yellow bakers’ apron tied around his waist, “What is this about me hiring a goddess?”

“Hunk.  My Hunkalicious.  My main man!” Lance called as he leaned against his best friend in the entire world, “I swear, you hiring this woman was the best decision you have ever made in your life!”

Romelle giggled at the theatrics, “You know Lance, if I wasn’t so in love with Matt, I might actually be flattered with all of this talk.”

“Well, I did tell him that if he doesn’t marry you soon, I was going to steal you,” Lance said with a sly wink at Romelle.

Romelle blushed, “Marry?!?  Lance, I think that might be taking things a little too far.  I mean we have only been dating for 4 years.”

“Yeah and you have known the guy since you were 5, so that’s what 20 years now?” Hunk joined in, “I might have to kick the guy’s butt soon if he doesn’t make an honest woman out of you yet.”

“Hunk!”

Hunk and Lance both looked at Romelle’s flustered face, turned and looked at each other before curling in on themselves as they burst out into laughter.

“Coran!  Hunk and Lance are being mean!” Romelle called out to the familia’s resident vodka aunt.

“Boys, behave yourself,” Coran said with a smile as he leaned against the doorway in between the kitchen and shopfront, his bright orange polka dot bow tie matching his moustache and hair perfectly.

“Hey Coran,” Lance greeted in between chuckles, “How’s it been?  I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“It has been a while,” Coran smiled at Lance, “I have been busy slaving away here under your so called best friend.  Maybe I need to jump ship and come work for you.”

“Coran!” Hunk whined, “No!  You are the best baker I know!”

“OI!” Romelle called.

“You are too Romelle!” Hunk was flailing now, “Lance back me up here!”

“Aww, Hunk.  I think I need to stay out of this one,” Lance teased as he started to pat Hunk on the shoulder.

“Fine, I won’t tell you about the new cute boy~” Hunk said slyly.

“I’m sorry what?” Lance spun on his heel, “What new cute boy?”

“Oh, just the new guy that Shiro hired.  You actually just missed him, he just got the morning coffee order for the shop.”  Lance knew that Hunk had him hook line and sinker, he was a sucker for gossip, especially when it involved a good-looking guy or girl.

“Ok spill.  I need details now Hunk,” Lance demanded, hands on his hips in a stance his mother would be proud of.

“Oh no!  You didn’t back me up, so you have to find out all by yourself,” Hunk said with a grin, “And you better hurry up, otherwise you are going to be late.”

Lance took one look at his watch and yelped, “Dammit Hunk!  I will get you for this!”

“Love you too Lance!” Hunk called as Lance bolted out the door with the flowers for Black Cat Tattoos.

Lance was still trying to compose himself from Hunk’s stupid teasing when he opened the door of Shiro’s tattoo parlour and was greeted with the sound of classic rock and the buzz of a tattoo gun.  He looked around to see who was there and spotted Pidge sitting at the front desk sketching away in her art book.

“How’s it going Pidge?” he called as he put the vase on the desk.

“Hey Lance.  What are you doing here?  I thought Shay was the delivery girl?” Pidge looked up as she flicked her long ponytail out of her face.  Lance laughed internally as he saw that she was wearing one of her favourite shirts. The one that said The Aliens Believe In You Too.

“She is doing a nursing prac for the next two weeks, so you are lucky enough to be graced with my presence every day,” Lance said with a flourish of hands.

“Yay.”

“Now now my little Pidgey, don’t be like that,” Lance cooed as he tried to rub her head.

“Keep that up and I’ll bite your hand off,” she growled.

“Still not a morning person huh?” Lance chuckled, “I don’t know how Shiro and Adam put up with you every morning.”

Another warning growl convinced Lance that his hand was worth more attached to his body and he retreated from biting distance.  “So, Hunk tells me that you have a new guy working for you. Any juicy details you care to share?”

Pidge smirked, “Why don’t you ask him yourself,” she said in a tone that made Lance’s hair stand on end.

“He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

“Yup.”

Lance closed his eyes and took a breath to prepare himself to apologize to the guy.  He should have learnt by now that he shouldn’t gossip about others, especially when they could hear him.  What he didn’t expect to see when he turned around and opened his eyes was a young man who had to be around his age.  With long black hair in a ponytail, a streak of red hair in his fringe, an ear piercing on his right ear, stunning violet eyes, covered head to toe in red and black leather and a look of curiosity.  Lance felt his entire body freeze and burn at the same time; this guy was stunning and that just wasn’t fair to Lance’s heart.

“Lance.exe has stopped working,” Pidge said with a laugh as Lance stood there open mouthed.

Chapter Text

Keith had just finished unpacking his tools at his new workstation when he heard the door of Black Cat Tattoos open.  Looking up he spotted as tall man walked in with a vase of purple flowers, lilies, if he wasn’t mistaken. As the guy leant up against the front desk and started to talk with Pidge, Keith took a moment to assess the him.  He had tan skin that looked incredibly smooth, almost no blemishes that he could see, which meant that he had the perfect skin to tattoo, no scars or moles that Keith would have to try and avoid or cover up. With his short brown hair spiked to perfection, stylish clothing and the way he stood gave Keith the impression that this guy was confident in everything he did.

He stood up and made his way over to introduce himself and hopefully get his first client for the day when he heard the man ask Pidge for some gossip on the new guy.  Keith paused for a moment, he was the new guy, so why would this stranger want to know gossip about him? He watched as the guy’s entire body stiffened and he turned around to look Keith right in the eye.  Oh Lord. Bless Keith’s gay ass heart. This guy was drop dead gorgeous. The long, tanned limbs, those very kissable lips and the hair that just begged for Keith to run his fingers through it. This was the kind of guy Keith could get behind.  He seemed like he could be the good kind of trouble and if Keith was very, very lucky: gay.

“Lance.exe has stopped working,” Pidge laughed which broke Keith out of his thoughts. 

“What?” Keith asked as he looked around the still frozen man to raise an eyebrow at Pidge.

“Oh nothing.  Just teasing the dufus that is standing right in front of you,” she said back with a smile.  Now Keith had only been working at the parlour for less than an hour, but in that time, he had very quickly learnt that when Pidge smiled it meant that trouble wasn’t too far behind.

“Right….” He said unsurely before turning his attention back to the stranger.  He was still blinking and seemed to be breathing so at least Keith hadn’t scared him to death.  But why wasn’t he moving? Keith waved his hand in front of the guys face a few times and then clicked his fingers.  Still nothing. “Ummm… hello? Anyone in there?”

Abruptly the guy seemed to shake himself out of the stupor he had been in for the past couple of minutes.  His eyes darted everywhere, almost as if he was trying to remember where he was.  

“Can I help you?” Keith asked starting to feel annoyed and worried at the same time.  This guy seemed a bit too weird for even Keith’s taste.

“Huh?” the guy, Keith still had no idea what his name was, said dumbly.  He looked down the few inches to see Keith standing in front of him, “Oh um… I’m delivering the flowers Shiro ordered.” 

Keith nodded, remembering the vase he had carried in, “Sure.  Was there a reason you wanted to know about me though?”

“You heard that?” he squeaked before becoming a little sheepish, “I, uh.  I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been trying to gossip. It’s just that, well…  We haven’t had any newcomers to the Boulevard in a while, not since Matt and honestly I am just as bad as my Mama and Abuela when it comes to gossip and I really should learn how not to do it, but I just can’t help it and…”

“Okay.  Okay. I get it.  You are an old woman who loves to gossip,” Keith chuckled as he interrupted the still nameless guys rambling.

“Did you just call me an old woman?” the guy asked before poking his finger into Keith’s chest, “I will have you know that I look a lot younger than I actually am.  Thank. You. Very. Much.” Each word was accented with an additional poke to the chest.

“So, what.  You’re five?  Cause it’s kinda hard to tell with all the childish antics,” Keith said with a smirk.  He didn’t know what had come over him. He was supposed to be a professional, this kind of behaviour could cost him his job, never mind the fact that his boss was his older brother.  But there was just something about this guy that Keith couldn’t work out if he liked or hated, but either way their verbal battling was fun.

Before either of them could continue a man and a woman approached the service desk where they were standing from the back of the parlour.  The woman was obviously a customer with her fresh tattoo covered in glad wrap and the man Keith had known of for a while. His name was Adam Williams and he was Shiro’s right hand man (and boyfriend) when it came to the parlour.  His tanned complexion was similar to the new guy but he had a more mature vibe to his look. Keith had found, in the time he had known Adam, that he was a big softie, but when he got the look in his eyes, that he was currently giving Keith and the stranger, it would mean a promise of a lot of pain if they didn’t move out of the way. 

Keith quickly moved back with a mumbled apology and grabbed the tall man’s shirt collar, pulling him back to where he now stood off to the side.  They waited in silence as Adam rung up his customer, his lip piercing catching the light as he gave them their aftercare instructions. The instant that the customer left, Adam turned to face the two men standing as if they were small children waiting to be punished.

“Do I even want to know what is going on here?” he asked as he shucked off his leather jacket, exposing the violet tank top underneath and placing it on the desk next to him.  Keith personally admired his fashion sense, the dark leather with strong contrasting coloured shirt, the dark denim jeans and the amazing combat boots just screamed a man who could kick your ass and look good doing it.

“I was just talking with…uh…” Keith tried to say but stumbled when he remembered that he still hadn’t got the guy’s name.

As Adam shook his head, chuckling to himself at how the boys where acting, Shiro strode over after watching the entire thing from his office.

“Having fun boys?” he asked as he crossed his arms.  His cybernetic looking arm sleeve poked out of the purple dress shirt he was sporting.  Keith had been shocked when he heard that his brother, the squeaky clean, teacher’s pet, never do anything wrong, perfect child Shiro, had decided to get a full arm sleeve tattoo that looked like it was completely mechanical.  Even more so when only six months later he had got a tattoo license, rented out a space, and opened his own studio. 

Keith on the other hand was almost expected to get tattoos and piercings.  He was the typical bad boy growing up. He hated listening to instructions, always fighting and had been busted smoking during middle school.  But little did his parents know that it had all been an act. An act to try and get out of his perfect big brother’s shadow. He didn’t hate Shiro.  Quite the opposite. He loved his brother with all his heart. He just hated being compared to him growing up and figured the only way to do that was to be the bad boy that he really wasn’t.  Turns out he liked the look and the tattoos and piercings gave him a sense of confidence he hadn’t had before.

“Shiro!” the guy standing next to Keith called.  “I, uh, brought your order?”

“What happened to Shay?” Shiro asked as he looked over at Adam with a raised eyebrow.

“She is doing her nursing prac.  Remember?” Adam said as he smirked up at Shiro.

“Oh yeah~.  So, you must be doing the rounds then?” Shiro asked.

“Yup, sure am Shiro my man,” the still nameless man said with a large smile, “You are going to be graced with my presence here, every day, for the next two weeks!”

“Are you going to be arguing with my little brother in front of my shop every day for the next two weeks as well?” Shiro asked in a joking tone.

“Your little brother?  Who is your…little…brother…?” he asked and turned his head as he started to slow his speaking.   

Keith realized that he was following everyone’s gaze to him. Giving a sheepish smile and a small wave he chuckled quietly, “Uh, that would be me.  Keith Kogane.”

Keith watched as he froze up again before spinning on his heel and running out of the shop with a hurried, “Got to go!  Allura will kill me if I am late, cripple or no cripple!” Shaking his head, he moved to go back to his station and continue to get used to his surroundings when it hit him.  

“Dammit!  I didn’t get his name!”

“Lance.”

Keith spun to look at Shiro, “Excuse me?”

Shiro smiled, “His name.  It’s Lance. He owns the flower shop next door, just in case you were wondering.”

“Oh.  No, I was just wanting to know because he was strange.  You know. Know which ones to avoid…” Keith said unconvincingly.  To be completely honest, he was hoping to see Lance again, while yes, he was a bit strange, Keith was willing to look past that to get to know him a little better.  Who knows, maybe it was a good kind of strange.

“Sure Keith,” Pidge said from where she was perched on top of the service counter.  “How about you go have a drink, you were looking a little thirsty there~”

Keith frowned at the young girl, “Thanks but I’m not thirsty, actually.  I had a whole glass of water not too long ago… Wait a second… PIDGE!”

Chapter Text

“Sooooo, what are you doing Allura?” Lance asked as he sidled up to her as she finished counting the till for the end of the day. 

“Counting all the money that we made today,” she replied, as she tried to do her work, with both Lance and Chat Noir leaning in on her.

“I meant after work.  Did you want to go see a movie or something?” Lance amended.

Allura put down the money and turned to look at her supposed boss.  “Lance, you have a mountain of paperwork that needs to be done. Are you trying to use me to procrastinate?”

“No~”

Allura swore her eye twitched, “Even if you didn’t.  I would have to call a rain check. I am meeting up with the girls for a few drinks once I am finished here.”

“Can I come with?” Lance asked as he produced a puppy dog stare that could melt any heart, “Please.”

“No.”

Well almost any heart. 

“But why~” Lance pouted.  Allura ignored him as she finished counting and started to close the till for the evening.  “Allura~”

“No Lance!  If you hadn’t spent so much time pinning after Keith this week, you wouldn’t be so far behind,” she reprimanded.  Bending down, Allura picked up her bag and turned to look at Lance.

“I want you to text me when you are done in there,” she pointed towards Lance’s office which was overflowing with folders.  “If you don’t do it all tonight, then I am sicking Shay onto you tomorrow morning. It’s her first day back and you know she will hound you from dusk ‘till dawn until it’s all done.”

Lance glared at her, “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me,” she dared.  Giving Chat a quick pat on the head, she walked out the front door with a quick, “Bye Lance.  Have fun~”. 

Once outside Allura took in a deep breath of fresh air and turned towards Black Cat Tattoos.  She opened the door and strode in to see the rest of the girls and Adam (who was an ‘honorary girl’ according to Pidge, for undisclosed reasons) from the familia all sitting on the chairs from the parlour, that had been dragged to Adam’s station.

“Shay!  You’re back!” Allura called out as she spotted the brunette girl sitting next to Adam. 

“’Lura!” Shay called as she jumped out of her chair and raced over to hug her friend and co-worker. 

Allura smiled as she took in Shay’s appearance, “Looking good Shay.  You finally got your tattoo!”

Shay smiled as she shifted to look at the brand-new geode tattoo on her back, “Yeah, Adam just finished it.  Isn’t it amazing?”

“Beautiful as always Adam,” Allura agreed. 

Shay adjusted her glasses and pulled her overall strap up, that had come loose when she leapt on Allura.  “So, what have I missed in the last two weeks? Any goss?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.  Take a seat girl,” Romelle said as she exchanged looks with Adam and Pidge.

Once they had all taken a seat again and each girl, and Adam, had a drink in hand, Shay looked at her friends expectantly, “Ok, so who wants to explain what is happening?”

Giggles erupted from the others before Pidge spoke up.  “You know how Lance gets when there a new cute boy or girl?”  Shay nodded, remembering the antics her boss could get up to when he was in love.  “Well, he has a new muse. Keith Kogane. Shiro’s younger brother, and the new artist here.”

“You mean the good looking, dark haired guy with the red streak?” Shay asked.

“That’s the one,” Adam smiled.  “You should have seen them the first day they met.  Lance has been doing the deliveries while you were away, cause Allura hurt her leg and couldn’t walk.  And oh boy, did Lance deliver with the entertainment.”

“Let’s not forget Keith was pretty epic in some of his attempts to find out more about Lance,” Romelle added.

“Oh yeah, Keith has been drilling us all for information about Lance.  Like is he single? Is he straight or gay? What kind of things does he like?” Pidge laughed.

“Oh, I remember, when I came to work late that one time and found Lance pacing out the front of the shop here, with the delivery muttering to himself.  I offered to take the flowers in for him, and he just looked at me like I was crazy and yelled, ‘No! I need to see the pretty man!’” Adam said as he burst out laughing.

“Wait, wait, wait.  Are you telling me that the both of them like each other, but haven’t actually done anything about it?” Shay asked as she looked to her friends in astonishment.

“Got it in one Shay,” Adam said, clinking their drinks together.

“Oh my god,” Shay said slumping down in her chair.  “Have you guys done anything to help the idiots?”

“We wanted to wait for you before we came up with a game plan,” Pidge said, “I’m thinking the classic ‘push them into a closet and let them sort it out’ might be good.”

“Isn’t that a little too obvious?” Romelle asked.  “Maybe something a little more subtle?”

“Like what?  Trick them into going on a date?” Adam asked.

“Actually…you might be onto something there Adam,” Allura said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, maybe we could get everyone together to go somewhere as a group, but then ditch them, so they have to spend time together.  Alone,” Shay mused.

“Oh, that is good,” Romelle said gleefully.  “Should we let the boys in on this?”

All the girls sat in silence, contemplating on involving the boys in their plans.  “Maybe let it go for the moment. Give them a couple more weeks to make a move themselves,” Shay said, “I say, if they haven’t gotten their butts into gear by the end of next month, we do it for them.  Not to say, we don’t give them little pushes here and there.”

“We are pure evil, aren’t we?” Adam said with a smile.

“Yes, but they will thank us for it later,” Allura agreed.

“I demand to organize their bucks’ parties when they finally get married,” Pidge piped up.

“Speaking of getting married… When is that boy going to propose to you Romelle?” Shay asked.

“Shay!” Romelle screeched.  

Allura just cackled at her friends.  They were a rambunctious lot, but she wouldn’t trade them for the world.  She just hoped that Lance and Keith would forgive them for their meddling.

Chapter Text

Lance grunted as he tried to mould the cookie dough into the rough shape that he wanted.  His arms were burning from the effort it took but he welcomed the burn, it took his mind off the fact that he was completely in over his head.  He hadn’t been this bad in a long time, not since middle school, when he had his first male crush and had realized that he was bisexual.  That had been a very embarrassing time for him; all legs, acne everywhere, braces glittering in his mouth and the constant worry of if he would ever fall in love.  Oh, what a time to be a teenager. 

He knew he was pining, how could he not?  Keith was just so…  And his eyes were just…  And his smile?  Ugh!  Lance had fallen for him the instant they had met that fateful day in the Black Cat.  It had been only six weeks, but, in that time, Lance had most certainly made an absolute fool of himself.  He had tried to play it cool, figuring that dropping a couple of well-placed pick-up lines and a well-timed smirk would be all he needed to at least get a date.  But no~.  Every time he had tried, he only had to see Keith, and he would turn into a blubbering pile of mush.

If it wasn’t for the soothing presence of Hunk, standing next to him as they silently worked in the bakery’s kitchen, Lance would totally be freaking out right now.  Hunk always seemed to know how to keep him grounded.  Just one glance, and Hunk would drag Lance into the back and set him to work on whatever needed doing.  They didn’t even need words anymore, the two of them so in sync with each other after all this time, Lance could anticipate what Hunk needed and vice versa.

The boys had been 14 when they had first met, being paired together in their home economics class.  Lance had been a transfer student that year, moving to the USA from Cuba with his family only a few months prior.  Hunk had been at that school since he was old enough to attend but he wasn’t the most popular student and so kept to himself.  When the teacher had told Lance to stand by Hunk in the classroom kitchen, Lance had been slightly intimidated by the larger boy.  Barely being able to speak the language, Lance decided to just wave nervously and wait for the teacher’s instructions.  When she had started rattling off the instructions rapid fire, Lance had panicked, he could understand English, but not at that speed.  Hunk had been his saving grace, by placing a large, warm, comforting hand on his shoulder, he had repeated the instructions at a slower speed, always waiting to see if Lance had understood.

From that point on, Lance had stuck to Hunk like glue.  They would always pair up when given a chance and the teachers usually let them.  Once Lance had become more confident in the language, his personality began to start showing.  The young skinny boy, that Hunk had once assumed was a shy wallflower, turned into a boy who was just as smart and confident as any other in their grade.  His skills usually shone in the textiles classes of home economics, the way he made the fabrics blend and merge into a new item was like magic.  Lance said the same about Hunk and his ability to cook just about anything, though baking seemed to be his forte. 

After they had both started high school the following year, Lance had finally gotten his long-awaited growth spurt.  Seemingly overnight, he had grown as tall as Hunk and his once gangly limbs now seemed to fit him.  He finally got his acne under control and with this newfound confidence, he started to explore the interest he was starting to receive from the girls in their class.  While Lance would flirt and sometimes go on a date, they never lasted more than one day, and never progressed enough for him to receive his first kiss. 

Halfway through that year, Hunk received puberty’s swift kick up the backside and while he didn’t get any taller, he did start to fill out.  It wasn’t soon after, that Lance had started notice Hunk in a different manner.  Instead of seeing his best friend, he would get distracted by the way the muscles in his large arms flexed when they lifted the weights in their gym class, the way his smile would brighten up a room and make Lance’s knees weak.  It was like how the girls that he had flirted with made him feel, the way his heart would start to race when Hunk would sling his arm over his shoulder and draw him in for a hug.  At first, he decided to ignore what he was feeling, thinking that it was just all the hormones messing with him and that it would just go away. 

But they didn’t.  After weeks of trying to ignore how he felt, Lance had found himself reclining on one of Hunk’s beanbag chairs, playing Legend of Zelda.  As he mashed the buttons, trying to defeat the boss monster, he came to the realization that he did, in fact, have a crush on Hunk.  It was the first time that he had acknowledged his feelings towards his best friend, a guy.  He knew that it was ok to feel that way towards boys, his mother had told him a few years earlier, that no matter who he loved, she would always love him.  But still, Lance didn’t want the fact that he liked his friend like that, to affect their friendship.  He cherished it too much, but the feeling still niggled at the back of his mind. 

Once Hunk’s mum had delivered a tray of fresh chocolate-chip cookies, Lance had decided to take the plunge.  He had turned to face Hunk, a pink blush barely visible on his cheeks, as he confessed his feelings.  It took a few moments for Hunk to realize that Lance had meant he loved him romantically, instead of platonically.  He had certainly been surprised, but not repulsed, in fact he had admitted that while he preferred girls, Lance probably would have been his first choice for a guy.  But in true Hunk style, he just said that if Lance could beat him in the next round, Hunk would let him have a kiss.  Lance knew he should have trusted Hunk not to hurt him. 

Lance won the next round of their game and true to his word, Hunk let Lance kiss him.  It was nowhere near as life changing as Lance had hoped it would be.  In fact, it was downright awkward.  It felt like he was kissing his brother, it felt wrong and he broke it off immediately.  Both boys had sat there in silence, both waiting for the other to say something.  Lance had relaxed back into the beanbag and had bet Hunk that he could get more coins than him.  They eased back into their usual friendship and Lance’s confession, and the kiss, weren’t brought up again.  Until he met Jason.  Then Mark.  Clayton had been the worst of his crushes that year and Hunk always made sure to remind Lance that, no matter what he felt for these guys, Hunk would always be his first. 

Hunk nudged Lance’s shoulder when it was time to start cutting out the shapes for the pastries.  “So Lancey Lance,” he said slyly, “You ready to start talking?”

Lance only made a non-committal noise, “I guess so.”  Rolling out the dough, he let the movement of the rolling pin calm his nerves, “I mean, where do I even start?”

Hunk just chuckled softly, “I’m assuming Keith is the problem here so maybe start with him.  What is it that you like about him?”

Lance let the question sit for a moment as he tried to put his feelings into words.  

“Everything.  Hunk, I like everything about him.  His eyes, his smile, his laugh.  Hell, I even like his hair, though no one should ever wear a mullet in this century.”  Lance paused, “But it’s more than that.  I like the way he cares for his family.  I like the way that he is so passionate about his work, and the way that he always goes out of his way to do what his clients need.  The way that he is so shy and awkward around us.  How he doesn’t seem to know how to act around friends.  Like he hasn’t really had them before.  I just want to kiss him silly, and then hold him in my arms so that he knows he is loved and cared for.   I want to be able to take him out to all my favourite places, and show him what they mean to me.  I want to find out what he likes.  What his favourite colour is.  Why he drives a motorbike, and if I could go with him next time he goes on one of his big adventures.  I want to know what makes him tick.  What his past is like.  What he wants to do in the future.  I want to know if he likes me.”

As he ranted, Lance had stopped moving the rolling pin, he was so focused on blurting out how he felt about the boy who had taken over his heart, that he hadn’t noticed Hunk moving in close to him.  The moment that he felt Hunk’s massive arms wrap around him, encasing him in a wall of muscle and warmth, Lance felt his entire body relax.  This was Hunk’s single most powerful move.  All it took was for him to hug someone like this and all their stress and worry would just wash away.  Lance was usually the main recipient of this move, but it wasn’t uncommon for Shiro or Shay to need one as well. 

“Well,” Hunk said as he leaned his head on top of Lance’s, “This boy better be up to my standards of who can date you.”

“Hunk~” Lance whined quietly.

“Shush now.  I think I have the right to judge who you date, especially since I was your first love,” Hunk said as he squeezed Lance.

“No!”

Chapter Text

The sound of Little Mix’s Black Magic was playing through the Dandy Lion’s sound system as Lance found himself sitting on the floor; along with Allura, Shay, Adam, Pidge and Romelle.  It was their weekly ‘girls night’ get together. Lance had been dubbed an ‘honorary girl’ a few years prior, when they had realised that he had a better skin care routine then the rest of them combined. 

He had offered the use of his shop as their base of operations for a few different reasons, firstly because it was easier for them all too just stay back after work instead of travelling to one of their various apartments.  Secondly, none of them had enough space for all six of them and their gear to fit comfortably. Thirdly, there was the apartment above the shop where they could crash, if it ended up being a late one, and this also allowed them to have a few drinks safely.  The final reason was because it was peaceful in the shop, the aroma of the fresh flowers combined with the visually stunning colours of the bulbs and petals that Lance prided himself on stocking, created a sense of serenity that just couldn’t be replicated anywhere else.

They were all currently sitting in a circle in the main shop front.  Lance had collected his piles of pillows and soft blankets that were now strewn across the floor for them all to sit on.  Allura was sitting with Chat Noir in her lap, letting Shay braid her hair, while Adam did the same for her. He had just finished helping Pidge pick out a colour for Romelle to paint her nails, when he heard a soft ding.  Lance looked over at his phone as it lit up with a new notification. Taking care of his newly painted nails, courtesy of Shay, he picked it up and slid the bar across to unlock the screen. 

Unknown Number

Hi Lance Hows it going?

Lance frowned as he looked at the message, trying to rack his brain to who this person could be.  He hadn’t given his number out to anyone new recently, so he quickly typed back a reply.

DandyBoy

Who is this?

Allura poked him in the ribs, “So Lance, any gossip you want to share with the class?”

“Sorry ‘Lura, I guess I was a bit distracted,” he said as he looked up from his phone.  “You always know I have loads of gossip to share,” he gave the group his trademark smile when his phone dinged again.

Unknown Number

Sorry I should have started with that huh?

I’m still not great at this whole texting thing

Shit I still haven’t actually answered your question

It’s Keith

An undignified squawk erupted from Lance’s mouth before he could cover it, startling Chat and causing the gathered group to stop their discussion and look at him strangely. 

“What in the great googily moogily was that?” Shay asked her hands still tangled in Allura’s hair.

“Seriously Lance, were you a dinosaur in another life?  Cause I swear you just did a perfect pterodactyl impression,” Pidge teased from her pile of pillows.

Lance floundered slightly under the scrutiny of his friends, he considered lying about what had happened, but quickly realised that if he wanted to up his game with Keith, he would need all the help he could get.  “Well...I mean…I just had someone message me that I wasn’t expecting...”

“And who was that?” Romelle prompted.

“…Keith…”

There were a few moments of silence before cries of “Finally!” and “He took his time!” started erupting from the group.  “What do you mean ‘finally’?” he asked, slowly becoming suspicious of his friend’s reactions.

Adam was the one to answer, “Oh, Pidge and I gave him your number last week.  I was wondering when the idiot was actually going to message you.”

Lance sat there in shock, blinking rapidly as he tried to process what he heard, “What do you mean you gave him my number?  Adam? Pidge?”

“It means,” Pidge started, in an extremely condescending tone, “We gave him the digits.  That make up the number. That causes your phone to ring. When someone wants to speak to you.”

“But why?” Lance whined, as he sat there on his extremely soft pillow and blanket pile, trying not to have an existential crisis.

Allura placed a hand on his shoulder, “Because Lance.  You are so completely obvious in your failed attempts to flirt with the poor guy, that we all agreed that we should help you in your plight.”

“And anyway, you were never going to get the courage to give it to him yourself, were you?” Pidge asked.

Lance spluttered for a few moments before rounding on Pidge, “Excuse you!  I am perfectly capable of giving my number out to people when I want to!”

Pidge just smirked at him, “Sure Lance.  Just like you were perfectly capable of getting that Nyma girl to agree to go on a date with you six months ago.”

Lance froze as he remembered that abysmal attempt at asking the extremely attractive girl out.  She had dumped a vase on his head and walked out of his shop while Pidge, Shay and Allura had all witnessed his failure.  At least Shay volunteered to help him pick out all the flowers that had gotten stuck in his hair. 

Hearing the other girls trying to stifle their laughter, he glared at Pidge who was currently sitting crossed legged next to him with a haughty look, “Stop looking at me, you smug heathen.  You were right once.”

Lance pouted as the entire room burst out into hysterical laughter at his expense.  He wondered why he was friends with them in the first place. All they did was pick on him.  As he continued to sulk he glanced down at his phone again, there was a new message. Picking up the device he wondered when that had happened.  Probably when he was trying to defend his honour against the hyenas.

Unknown Number

Lance?

Lance looked at the messages from Keith again.  The poor guy seemed like he was trying to make a conversation with him, but was failing immensely.  Quickly adding Keith’s number to his contacts and deciding on the nickname he would use, like he did for all his friends, he typed a response out.

DandyBoy

Hey Keith.  Sorry. I was busy being eaten alive by savages.

PrettyBoy

Savages? 

Are you ok?

DandyBoy

Yeah.  By savages I mean the girls. 

And Adam.

PrettyBoy

Oh.

Sorry to interrupt.

DandyBoy

Oh, you aren’t.  Trust me. I would rather be talking to you than…them

PrettyBoy

Really?

Oh.

Well. 

That’s good right?

DandyBoy

Yes.  It’s very good. 

Lance smiled as he continued to text with Keith.  The conversation was light and fun. He didn’t feel like he had to put on a big act to impress him and Keith seemed to be just as flustered as Lance felt.  He hoped it was because he was texting Lance and not because he was just bad at texting. He got so engrossed in talking with Keith, that he didn’t realise the looks that the girls were giving him and each other.  If he had, he might have realised that something was going on and that he was their main target.

Chapter Text

Keith groaned as he stretched his back after finishing another piece of art on his latest customer.  Ralph had become a regular of his, five tattoos in under three months, which might seem like a lot, but Keith wasn’t complaining.  Money was money and he had a good deal with Shiro, on top of his wages, he got a 25% commission off any of his works.  Both Adam and Pidge had a similar deal with their work, which, along with the fact that the Black Cat Tattoo studio was just an awesome place to work, and Shiro being a chill boss, probably explained why they had stuck around for as long as they did. 

Keith could vouch for how often tattoo artists would move from studio to studio, as he had been notorious for it in the past few years.  He had probably worked for at least a dozen studios in the last five years, ever since he had gotten his license.  His heart had never felt like it was truly at home in any of them, never giving him a reason to stay in the town, before he hopped on his motorbike and went where the road took him. 

It wasn’t until Shiro had called him four months ago, that he had heard from his brother ever since Shiro had graduated high school and had gone off to college.  Not that Shiro hadn’t tried to talk to Keith, but Keith, being who he was back then, had taken Shiro leaving as a personal insult.  They may have had different mothers, but he still saw Shiro as his full brother, and his rock in the torrent that had been his teenage years.  Shiro had always been that goody two shoes guy, who would help old ladies cross the street, or volunteer at a homeless shelter.  He never got a detention or cursed.  Ever.  Keith swore the guy had a halo and wings tucked underneath the prim and proper clothes that he wore every day. 

Keith, on the other hand, was the opposite of Shiro, with multiple piercings over his body, a red streak in his hair and constantly threatening to get a huge tattoo on his face.  He would skip school religiously and his mother was on a first name basis with their local police station.  It truly was a miracle that Keith even finished high school, with the amount of trouble he had caused.  The kicker was, that he really didn’t have a proper reason for any of it.  Sure, his dad wasn’t around as much as he would have liked.  After having two sons to different women, Kogane Snr had decided that he wasn’t going to settle down, and would periodically send postcards with bundles of cash to both Keith and Shiro’s mothers.  Krolia Kogane was a strong woman who managed to weather the storm that was her son’s teenage years.  She would always sigh when she would get a phone call, knowing it was because Keith was in trouble again.  She and Sakura Shirogane had become close friends over the years, and through that, Keith and Shiro would come to see each other as true family.

Keith checked the clock near the front of the store and saw that it was only 3pm, he still had another few hours before the end of the day and it had been a slow one.  Pidge was currently practicing her techniques at her desk, while Adam was working with a customer that had wanted an extravagant design in water colours, which was his specialty, and they had been at it all day.  Glancing to Shiro’s office, Keith decided to stretch his legs and go see his brother.  Leaning against the door frame, Keith could only smirk as he saw Shiro passed out at his desk.  The guy had been spending the past few days, and nights, trying to get the taxes for the shop sorted, insisting that he could get it all ready for the accountant before paying them to do what he could ‘easily do’. 

Being the dutiful younger brother that he was, Keith made sure to tread quietly as he crept over to where Shiro had his head resting on his arms.  Checking to make sure that he couldn’t hear Adam’s gun whirring, he took a deep breath, and yelled directly into Shiro’s ear.  

“WAKE UP SLEEPING BEAUTY!”

Shiro jolted up so quickly, that he slipped out of his chair and landed, ass first, on the floor.  His eyes darted around the room, trying to work out what had caused the loud noise, when they fell on Keith, who was currently clutching his stomach from laughing so hard.

“Keith Akira Kogane,” he growled, “What the fuck was that for?”

“Language Shiro, there are customers in the shop.  Wouldn’t want to sound unprofessional, would we?” Keith said slyly. 

The sound of laughter could be heard from the main room, obviously Pidge and Adam had worked out what had happened.  Shiro wasn’t laughing though, “Seriously Keith, what was that for?”  He stood up, gingerly rubbing his backside from hard landing.  “That wasn’t cool man.”

“Nah, it was hilarious,” Keith said as he straightened from his bent position.  “I’ve finished with all my bookings today and we haven’t had a single walkin all day.”

“And?”

“I wanted to know if it was cool, if I headed next door for the rest of the day.  I could always come back if you needed me, but I will go nuts if I stay here all afternoon with nothing to do.”

“What makes you think that I would let you do that, after that prank you just pulled?” Shiro asked.

Keith shrugged nonchalantly, “Because I’m your baby brother and you can never say no to me.”

He saw the instant that Shiro folded, the vein in his forehead stopped throbbing just a smidge, but it was enough for Keith to know that he had won.

“Damnit Keith.  I don’t know how you always do that, but fine.  You can leave.”

“Thanks, Shiro!” Keith called as he turned and started to leave the office.

“Anyway,” Shiro continued, “We both know the real reason you want to head over.  Say hi to Lance for me, will you?”

Keith felt his whole-body freeze for a split second, before raising his right arm above his head, making sure that his middle finger was the only one pointing upwards.  “Screw you Shiro!”

“Love you too little brother!”

Keith barreled out of the studio, ignoring the other's chuckles, and quickly made his way into the Dandy Lion.  The instant he walked through the doors, the perfume of the fresh flowers hit him like a brick wall.  It was almost to the point of being overwhelming.  Shaking his head, Keith glanced around, trying to see what Lance had done different today.  He had a habit of changing at least one thing in his store every day, he insisted it was to make sure that it was never the same for his customers, to always give them a new opportunity to find the perfect bloom.  It took a moment, but Keith worked out that the display of geraniums on the right-hand side of the room hadn’t been there before. 

“Keith!  What are you doing here?”

He glanced up at the sound of Allura’s voice, she was sitting behind the counter, putting together a small bundle of flowers.

“Hey Allura.  I finished early next door and figured I’d come over and say hi.”

“And Shiro just let you leave work 3 hours early?” Allura asked slyly.

Keith smiled, “Well, he may have had a convincing argument presented to him, that he just couldn’t ignore.”

Allura shook her head, “I swear you are almost as bad as Lance some days.”

Keith looked around, “Speaking of.  Where is your glorious leader?  Normally he is bouncing around the shop trying to teach me everything about these flowers of his.”

It was true, in the weeks since Keith had started coming by the shop on occasion, Lance would take it upon himself to try and educate Keith on all the different breeds of flowers that were sold.  At first, it had been intimidating, there were just so many different types, and within those, there were so many sub branches of each breed that it made Keith’s head sore.

“Oh, he is in his office.  It might not be such a great time for him to have a visitor though,” Allura frowned, “He’s pretty stressed out right now.”

“Why?  What happened?”  Keith was starting to wonder how stressful it was to run your own shop considering that Lance was almost never stressed out, if anything he was a big bundle of joy and happiness.  

“A pretty big customer’s order just got lost and now he has to try and come up with a Plan B, with pretty much no time left.”

“Oh.  Well maybe I might pop my head in and just say hi.”

Allura shook her head, but waved him past her, “It’s your funeral.”

Keith shrugged and strode past, patting Chat’s head quickly when he spotted the black cat lounging on a plump cushion behind the counter.  The layout of the Dandy Lion was very similar to Black Cat Tattoos, in which most of the space was an open floor and only the small lunch room and the manager’s office separate in the back.  The door to Lance’s office was slightly ajar, so as soon as Keith got close he could hear the loud muttering that was coming from within.  He pushed the door open enough for him to look inside and see Lance pacing the room, a bouquet of white roses in his hand with easily a hundred more scattered around in boxes.

“Hey there Lance.  How’s it going?”

Lance’s head snapped up when he heard Keith call out to him, his normally bright eyes were dark with anger.  “Like crap,” he replied before he started to pace again.

“That bad huh?” Keith asked as he leant against the doorframe.

“I have a bridezilla, who will be biting my head off tomorrow morning, when she finds out that the flowers she custom ordered didn’t arrive.  I placed the order two months ago and the stupid supplier sent me the wrong flowers!  Yeah it’s that bad!” Lance yelled, throwing his arms up in the air with frustration.

“You’re cute when you’re mad.”

“Yeah, well I’m about to get adorable, unless I can work out how I am supposed to turn a hundred and fifty white roses, into a hundred and fifty multi-coloured roses,” Lance growled.

“Can’t you just dye them?”

Lance stopped pacing to stare at Keith, “Oh yeah sure!  Let me just go and grab all the specialty dye’s, that I don’t have enough of on hand, and that take too long to work.  Great idea Keith!”

Ok, that one hurt.  Keith was only trying to help him, but all Lance was doing was yelling and complaining.  It wasn’t Keith’s fault that he didn’t know how to dye flowers different colours.  He could do it to people’s skin easily, but flowers were a completely different kettle of fish.  Wait a second.  Keith wondered if it was possible to use his skill with tattooing people’s skin to help Lance.

“Hey Lance,” Keith said softly.

“What Keith?”

“Now don’t go biting my head off, but I have an idea that might just save your skinny ass.”

Lance sighed, “I’m sorry Keith.  I don’t mean to be such an asshole, I know you are just trying to help.  So, what’s your idea?”

---

“You are either crazy or a genius, Keith Kogane,” Lance said as he sat in his office with a rose in hand and a series of bowls surrounding him.

Keith smiled as he sat opposite Lance with a similar set up, “I’m pretty sure I’m both.”

“Well, whatever you are, I am so glad you are here.  You have literally saved my life.  Who knew that tattoo ink and flowers worked together?” Lance asked as he dipped the rose into a bowl that had a beautiful red ink.

Keith shrugged, “Well, I figured if the ink stained human skin if left on long enough, and from what you told me about flowers, why couldn’t it work with them?  Once we have finished dyeing the flowers with the main colours, we can start marbling them with the opposing colours.”

Lance placed the now red rose on the drying rack and reached for another unpainted rose, “I almost feel like I am one of those playing cards from Alice in Wonderland.  Paint the roses red!”

Keith burst out into laughter, he hadn’t even thought of that until Lance mentioned the movie.  It had been a personal favourite of his growing up.  When he was young, he would convince his mother, Shiro and Sakura, to sit down with him and watch Disney movies.  They would all get into it, quoting favourite lines, yelling at the screen when a character made an obvious mistake and devouring the butter popcorn.  He loved the idea of Alice in Wonderland, because of the way she was able to escape her boring life, and go on an amazing adventure.  The creatures that she saw and the people that she met always intrigued him.  The idea of just eating something to change your size was a personal dream, the then tiny, seven-year-old Keith, had to deal with being the shortest in his class for a long time before his growth spurt hit later in life.

“Well, you must be the Ace of Hearts, because you are number one in my books,” Keith said, glancing at Lance.

Lance almost dropped his newly painted rose, “Keith!  You can’t just say things like that!”

“Why not?”

“Because!  I… You… You just can’t, okay!”  Lance spluttered.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Keith muttered under his breath.  Was it possible that Lance was flustered because of Keith attempting to use a pick-up line on him?  Did this mean that maybe, just maybe, he had a chance?

“What did you say?” Lance asked.

“Oh, nothing.  Just wondering how much longer it was going to take you to finish all your roses, ‘cause I’m almost done mine.”

Keith saw the instant that Lance’s well known competitive streak was triggered, “Oh you are on.  I know I will get mine done first.”

“Well make sure you get them done right as well, because I am not going to stick around and fix any that aren’t up to your ridiculously high standard,” Keith teased.  Honestly, he would willingly stay up all night to make sure that each and every flower was perfect.  Anything to make Lance smile like he was right now.

Chapter Text

Lance took a sip from his glass, the wine soothing his sore throat as it passed.  He had been flat out at the Dandy Lion all week, with five weddings, two funerals and ten parties, and that wasn’t even including the fact that there were always husbands, and sometimes wives, coming in looking for apology bouquets.  He had always been a chatty cathy, as Shay would say, but that had been too much talking, even for Lance.  The instant that he had closed the doors on Saturday afternoon, he had made sure that everything was as it should be, grabbed the bottle of wine from his mini fridge and walked over to the Black Cat.

That was where he was now, lying back on a reclined tattoo chair, drinking a bottle of wine slowly, while hanging out with the boys.  It wasn’t a regular thing for all the men of the familia to get together, unlike the women who had their regular meetings.  No, this was because Matt had asked them all for a big favour.  He was perched up on top of the front counter, unbeknownst to him, a perfect mirror image of how his baby sister would sit.  Shiro was leaning against the counter talking to him softly, almost as if he was trying to calm Matt down.  Adam was tapping away at his phone and Hunk and Coran were chatting to themselves, while Hunk drew diagrams in his ever present notepad.  Lance could only guess they were trying to design a new cake.

“So does anyone want to explain what we are doing here?” Keith asked as he sat down on the edge of the very bench Lance was laying on.

Lance quirked an eyebrow for a moment before the lightbulb clicked, “I keep forgetting you’re new and have no idea what’s going on.”

“Yeah,” Keith said shortly, “So, do you want to fill me in?”

“You know Matt right?”  Keith nodded.  “Well, he and Romelle have been dating for the past couple of years but have known each other since they were practically in diapers.”

“Okay, but what does that have to do with us?”

“Oh, hold your horses cowboy!  I’m getting to it,” Lance said teasingly, “As I was saying, they have been together since forever, and now Matty boy over here has finally decided to grow a pair and ask the girl to marry him!”

“Lance!  Could you please stop saying it like that?” Matt called.  

“But I’m calling it like I see it Matt!” Lance yelled back, “Don’t you always say ‘truth is like the sun, you can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away’?”

Matt huffed and poked his tongue out at Lance before smiling, “I hate it when he is right.”

Lance just laughed.  He loved riling up his friends, but always watched where the line was and made a point of never crossing it.  It was a fine tightrope act but he managed it.  He was quite content to sit back and relax until they started to get into the reason that Matt needed them there, when he felt something touch his leg.  Looking down without moving his head, as to make it less obvious, Lance saw that Keith had shifted, so that he was now leaning back on Lance’s bent legs, using him like a backrest.  

Lance felt his face warm as thoughts flew around his head.  Why did Keith do that?  Didn’t he know what it did to Lance every time they touched?  Or maybe he did and this was on purpose?  But what if he didn’t and he was just trying to get comfortable?  Oh god, what if this was Keith trying to be subtle about how he felt towards him?  Was it because he thought they were close enough friends?  Or perhaps it was more than that?  Was he doing this as a way to get closer to Lance?  

Just as Lance’s brain had started to shut down, Matt cleared his throat.  “So, uh, I wanted to say thanks to you all for coming around tonight.  I, uh, really appreciate it.  Um.  Well.  As Lance so kindly put it, I want to propose to Romelle.”  Matt was wringing his hands nervously now, “I have the ring and I know I want to do this.  But, my main problem is that I don’t know how to ask her.  I don’t know if I should make this a big, public event or if it should be more private.” 

“So,” Hunk said, “Basically you want us to help you brainstorm how to propose to your girlfriend?”

“Yes please,” Matt said in a quiet voice.

Lance looked over at Adam, Coran and Hunk who were smiling like jackals, Shiro who was patting Matt on the back sympathetically while trying to keep the smile off his face and finally Keith, who had twisted his body slightly so that Lance could see his maniacal grin.  Lance giggled softly, Matt would get what he asked for, there was no doubt about that.  But it wouldn’t come without a cost.  His dignity.

“Right!” Lance said as he clapped his hands together, “So boys, what suggestions do you have hidden away in those conniving brains of yours?”

---

They had been at this for hours.  Every time one of them would come up with an idea, it would get shot down immediately by Matt.  No matter what they would say, he would find something wrong with their suggestion.  It was too flashy or it was too bland.  There was too much pomp and circumstance or it wasn’t special enough.  It was too difficult to pull off or it came across too simple.

Even Lance was starting to get irritated at how Matt was just shutting everything down, without offering up his own suggestions.  Now, he loved Matt like a brother, he even acted like Luis, but this was starting to become annoying.  As much as Lance was a romantic at heart, there are only so many ways you can propose to a girl.  They had tried the obvious ones, like the flash mob and the skywriting.  They had tried a quiet picnic or a romantic dinner.  They had suggested they go on a holiday or do it while skydiving.  They had offered ideas like getting her to plan her own surprise proposal or getting her to make a cake with the ring inside it.  But nothing was good enough.

Surprisingly it was Keith, who for the most part of the evening had kept quiet, who came up with a new suggestion.

“I had a thought.”

“Oh no,” Shiro groaned.  “I know the types of ideas you have.”

Keith blushed, “I swear it’s a good one this time!”

“It’s not like any of our ideas were any good Shiro,” Lance said, intrigued to see what Keith had come up with.  “Shoot Keith.” 

Keith shot Lance a smile as thanks, “Well, what about that event you guys are having in a few weeks?”

“What?  You mean the Voltron Boulevard Family Day?” Matt asked.

“Yeah that one.  Why don’t you propose there?  It means something to the both of you.  It’s public enough without being too over the top.  You are already in charge of being the MC for the day, so it’s not like it would be hard to get a hold of the microphone.  You could call her up on stage, maybe tell her some bogus excuse beforehand so she does actually come up.  Then voila, proposal time!”

Lance sat there in surprise and awe, it was the perfect idea.  It had everything that Matt had been looking for while avoiding all of the things that he had shot down.  It was far enough away that they had enough time to plan it and because they were already in charge of the event, it wasn’t like it was going to cost a fortune to organise it.  

Lance nudged Keith’s back with his leg, which he was still using as a back rest, though admittedly they had both relaxed a little into the position.  “That’s a great idea Keith.  What do you think Matt?”

Matt was silent for a moment, his brow creased in concentration, “I think…”

“Yes…”

“It’s perfect!  It’s exactly what I need to do!  Romelle will probably kill me for it, but that’s even more of a reason for me to do it!” Matt said gleefully.

“Then there we have it.  We have a foolproof plan on how Matt can finally become a man, and it only took us five hours!” Lance said as he ducked the note pad that Matt threw at his head.

Lance poked his tongue out at Matt before sharing a look with Keith.  They were both the younger brothers of their respective families, and it was just another thing they had bonded over.  He felt Keith lean back into his legs as he started to chat to Shiro about something or other and Lance realised he couldn’t be happier.  He had the best family back home, a brilliant career, amazing staff, a familia that he would die for.  And Keith.  The boy who had completely and utterly stolen his heart.

Chapter Text

It was the Voltron Boulevard’s Annual Family Day, and it was turning out to be the biggest one yet.  Every year, all the stores on the Boulevard would shut down the street and host a massive street party.  The ring leaders, of course, were the members of the Voltron Boulevard Familia, since they were the masterminds behind the whole thing.  

Matt was in charge of doing all the paperwork; from getting the permits to close the street, to coordinate with the other stores.  Shiro and his team would run a stall where they would do airbrush tattoos for children and adults alike. Hunk and his crew would make special treats and run a pie eating contest.  Lance and the girls would extend their shop onto the street and make a living greenhouse, where people could paint their own pots and take home a plant. Each store would have a bucket or tin on display, as each year the Boulevard would choose a charity that would receive a donation of all the money raised on the day.

This year there was also a jumping castle, a petting zoo, a trash to treasure and a stage where local bands and performers would get up and showcase their talents.  Keith had never seen anything like it before, he had been to large social events before sure, but the feeling of warmth and happiness that radiated from the street was something unique.  

He had been helping his brother set up their area all morning, moving the tables around so that they had plenty of space to work with.  Pidge and Adam had their own area off to the side, where they were setting up all the non toxic face paints. It had been Adam’s idea for them to include face painting along with the air tattoos after all the requests the year prior.  Keith was just glad that he didn’t have to do it, he wasn’t exactly a big hit with kids, and so he had silently praised Shiro when he had been allocated to the tattoos.

The day was in full swing now with easily over 1,000 people in attendance.  Keith had just completed his hundredth airbrush tattoo, though it could quite possibly have been a larger number than that, when he looked up towards the greenhouse.  There, crouched on the ground, giggling along with a pair of little girls, was Lance. He was helping them paint the pots they had chosen. As Keith watched, one of the little girls had found glitter, and in an obvious accident, it had gone all over him, to the delight of the pair.  

Keith could only chuckle softly at the way Lance made a big scene about it, without actually upsetting the girls.  Their parent’s had come over quickly, obviously not happy about the mess their daughter’s had made when Lance just waved them off with a smile.  While Keith couldn’t actually hear what was being said, he could hear Lance’s voice in his head and knew what he would have been saying.

“Taking your break now are we?” Shiro said as he finished up with his customers.  

“It’s probably the only chance I am going to have,” Keith said, “I swear, we are never this busy on a normal day.”

Shrio laughed, “Well, when it’s for charity and when you have as many businesses as we do basically giving away their stock and services, wouldn’t you come down?”

“I suppose,” Keith agreed as the girls with Lance squealed again, drawing Keith’s attention back to the trio.

“You really do like him, don’t you?” 

“Yeah,” Keith sighed before realizing suddenly what he had just agreed with.  “I, uh, I don't know what you mean Shiro. Have you been hitting the giggle juice before work?  Man you have to stop doing that!”

“You do know that you are convincing no one with that act right now, don’t you,” Shiro said as he shook his head.  “Luckily for you, I have a feeling that that won’t be a problem when it comes to Lance.”

“Shiro,” Keith growled, “I am warning you, stay out of it.”

“But Keith~  This is what a good big brother does.  We have to make sure that our little siblings go through life being as tormented as possible,” Shiro said with a teasing smirk.

“I swear to God Shiro.  If you do or say anything to Lance…”

“Oh don’t worry little brother,” Shiro said slyly, “ I won’t say anything to Lance.  But I can’t promise you that anyone else won’t.”

Keith glared at Shiro, “Okay, look.  The only reason I’m not choking you right now, is because there are children around.  Do not take advantage of it.” 

---

Lance was in his element.  There were people milling about, children running everywhere and it felt like he was back home in Cuba.  The sounds of mothers calling for their children to slow down and fathers laughing with each other as they tried to keep up with their wives; the music from the local band performing on stage and the cheers of his friends as they watched Hunk’s pie eating contest.  While he missed his family back home, Lance knew that he would never trade the familia he had now. This was his home and he was happy.

Well.  Happy and stressed.

Matt had been looking like he was a dead man walking all day.  The poor guy had called Lance at 2am to double check something about the greenhouse and he had then started to panic about the fact that a band had pulled out the day prior.  It had taken Lance over ten minutes to calm the poor man down enough to get him to admit that he was nervous about proposing to Romelle that day.  

Once Lance had helped him sort out all the issues that had cropped up overnight it was 3am and time for Lance to get up and get ready for the big day.  He had scrambled into the outfit he had chosen the night prior, styled his hair and grabbed an apple to eat on the way. The girls had already arrived, bleary eyed and looking unhappy at the fact that they were already out of bed when they could have been sleeping.  Only once Lance had promised them that Hunk was going to be making everyone coffees did they perk up. They had spent the morning setting up their greenhouse and helping the rest of the boulevard do the same before they opened to the public.

Now it was midday and everything was in full swing and Lance had his hands full with a pair of little girls who were loving the glitter that he had brought to help paint the pots.  One of them had accidentally knocked over the glitter jar and as he had gone to catch it, it had tipped all over him, covering him from head to toe in blue and silver glitter. The parents, who had been checking out the vintage trash to treasure stand across the boulevard, came racing over when they heard their daughter’s cries of alarm.  

Lance just laughed and waved them off, “It’s fine really.”

“But, your clothes,” the mother said.

Lance looked down at this outfit; the long black coat, the blue jeans, his favourite converse and the galaxy themed shirt, were all covered in glitter.  As he moved his head to look back up at the woman more glitter fell down in front of his eyes and he just knew it was all over his hair.  

Moving his hand up to dust as much of the stuff out of his carefully styled hair, he grinned, “Honestly, I think it makes it look better.”

“Are you sure?” the father asked.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Lance said, “Now while the glue on those pots dry, why don’t you guys have a look around and see which plants you want to put in them?  Allura over there will be more than happy to help you look.”

Once they had wandered off, Lance moved back inside the Dandy Lion, and tried to shake off as much of the glitter as he could.  He was starting to regret bringing the stuff as it got everywhere .  After a few minutes of imitating a wet dog getting water out of its fur, Lance decided to go check on Matt.  He hadn’t heard from the man in the past couple of hours, and if this morning’s early phone call was anything to go off, he would be a mess.   

It took a little bit of maneuvering to make his way through the crowd, but Lance finally made it to the command tent.  There, he found Matt, muttering to himself under his breath, pacing the area behind the table.

“Matt?  You ok buddy?” Lance asked.

“Huh?” Matt said as he whipped around to look at Lance.

“You ok?  You’re talking to yourself and I’m a little worried about you.”

Matt nodded, “Yeah, I’m ok Lance.  I just…”

“You’re worried about proposing again, aren’t you?”

Another nod.  Lance felt a twinge of sympathy towards his friend, he joked and jested as much as the next guy, but honestly he couldn’t be anything but in awe of Matt’s courage.  You can talk till you're blue in the face about asking someone to marry you, but actually doing it is another thing altogether.

“I just don’t want this to go wrong.  What if she says no? What if she laughs at me?  What if I freeze and don’t say anything?” Matt said frantically as he quickened his pacing.

“Matt, look at me,” Lance said as he grabbed his arms and made Matt face him.  “You love Romelle and I know she loves you. I know you will do fine, you have been practicing this for the past few weeks.  But if you think you are going to freeze, just remember to speak from the heart. I know she is going to say yes and one day in the next year or so she will be Mrs Romelle Holt.”

Matt stared at Lance, “Thank you Lance, I seriously don’t know what I would be like without you here.  Hell, you are the one that welcomed me into the familia with open arms.”

“Well, of course,” Lance said as he patted Matt’s arm softly, “I am the heart of the Voltron Boulevard Familia.”

“Says who?” Matt said teasingly.

“Say’s me!” Lance said indigitly.

Matt laughed, “Sure, sure, Lancey Lance.”

“Oh shut up!  Haven’t you got a speech to do and a girlfriend to propose to?”

Matt’s eyes widened as he looked at his watch and scrambled to get everything together, “Stuff you Lance!”

“Love you too Matt!”

---

Lance leant against the pole of the tent as he watched Romelle make her way up onto the stage, her smile was as bright as the midday sun and he knew that it would be even brighter by the end of the day.  He had to give it to Matt, this was probably going to be a proposal to remember, provided that she said yes and didn’t kill him first. They all loved Romelle and she was one of the sweetest members of their familia, but God help anyone who messed with her or her loved ones.  

Lance remembered the first time they had planned her birthday party, it was to be a surprise party and everyone decided to ignore Matt’s warnings of how Romelle hated surprises.  Lance winced at the memory of the bruises that he had worn for the week afterwards from her right fist swinging in reflex to them all popping out from their hiding places. Lance had been the unlucky one to be right next to where she was standing, and therefore, in range of her fists.  This time though, it was Matt who would be in the firing line if anything went wrong.

He could hear Matt droning on about how much the organisers of the event were grateful for everyone attending and so on.  Then when he had finished saying his part he turned to Romelle, making it look like he was about to hand the microphone over to allow her to say her part of the speech when he stopped.  It was easy to see that Romelle was concerned, her boyfriend had been acting oddly for the past few weeks, especially today, and now he had just frozen on a stage in front of a thousand people.

“Matt?” she said softly.

“Actually, I have something else I want to say before I hand the mic over to my wonderful girlfriend Romelle,” Matt said as he took one of her hands in his free one.

“Romelle, it’s hard to believe that it has been twenty years since we first met.  When I first saw you on the kindergarten playground, I thought I had seen an angel.  You were sitting there in all your glory, blonde hair up in two cute little pigtails, your front tooth missing and your violet eyes shining with the promise of adventure.”

Romelle started to giggle, “I turned to my mother right there and then and said that I would marry you one day.  She told me that I would have to make sure I treat you right and to come home for dinner every Sunday. Of course, five year old me didn’t understand that I would have moved out of home by then and so became distracted with the logistics of why I would only get one meal a week.”  That caused a chuckle to run through the entire crowd.

Matt took a breath before continuing, “Of course, over the years we have been through a lot of things, younger siblings being born, moving through each grade and dealing with the trials that came with middle school.  When your mother passed, I never left your side, knowing that you would be fine because you are so strong yet somehow you still needed me to hold your hand every day. The late night phone calls throughout high school, my horrible attempt at asking you to prom as ‘just a friend’.  When I thanked all the Gods in existence that we were both accepted into the Garrison for our tertiary schooling.”

Lance could tell that Romelle had started to cry by this point, “In our freshman year of college, you made me the happiest man alive when you asked me out on a date.  I had loved you for all my childhood and thought that I would forever be in the friendzone. Little did I realise that you never actually dated anyone else. It was always just you and me against the world.  I know that after we graduated and moved here that things won't always be so fairy tale like. We have had our ups and downs for sure. There have been many a night where we have disagreed about something but you always insisted on never going to bed angry.”

Matt wiped Romelle’s eyes, “Romelle you are the love of my life and I will forever be grateful for having you by my side.  I promised myself I would never ask you for anything after everything we have been through. But, now, I have to break that promise.”

“Romelle Alita Donahue,” Matt said as he dropped down onto one knee, “Will you do me the greatest honour and consent to become my wife?”

Chapter Text

It was over.  It was finally over.  Valentine’s Day has finished for another year at the Dandy Lion and Lance could finally take a much needed breath.  It had been nuts this year and they had sold out of almost every flower possible. All their soft toys and gift options had been gone since lunch and he was glad that he had decided to do pre-orders of the bro-quets, because he never even considered how popular they would be.

He had sent Allura and Shay off about half an hour ago.  They had places to be and boyfriends to see and since it still was Valentine’s, they should be allowed to celebrate it instead of working overtime.  Lance looked up from where he was leaning against the service counter and took stock of the messy shop front. “Ugh, this was going to take forever to clean” he muttered to himself.  Chat Noir meowed at him from where he sat on the counter, his black fur standing out in contrast to the brightly coloured wrapping paper scattered everywhere.

Lance sighed and hit the play button on his phone, which he had hooked up to his speaker system.  A second later his cleaning playlist started blaring from the speakers. He picked up the rubbish bin from the back room and started going from stand to stand, pulling out any dead flowers and any leaves or petals that had fallen off during the day.  Chat had decided to watch Lance work, refusing to move from his spot on the counter where he had found some leftover string and batted it halfheartedly. Lance was humming to himself as he cleaned, when the bell to the front door chimed. He lifted his head to see who had come in even though he had the closed sign up. 

“Oh, hey Keith.  What brings you to my humble abode?” Lance greeted from the glaringly bare roses section.

“I finished up early and Shiro said to go home, but I noticed you were still here and wanted to see if you needed a hand,” Keith explained as he still stood in the doorway.

“What, no hot date tonight?” Lance asked.

“Nope.”

“Wait.  Seriously?  A guy like you, doesn’t have a date with a smoking hot chick on Valentine’s Day?”

“First of all, I’m gay so I wouldn’t be on a date with a chick to begin with.  And secondly, I haven’t really had the time to meet anyone to date.”

Lance just stood there, open mouthed, and couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  Keith was gay and single!

“What about you?”

Lance couldn’t believe it!  He might have a chance with Keith! 

“Lance?”

The fact that he was gay helped and since he was single, Lance didn’t have to worry about a significant other or anything like that.  And-

“LANCE!”

“Huh?  What? Sorry Keith,” Lance said sheepishly, “What was the question?”

Keith sighed, “I asked if you had a date tonight.”

“Me?  Oh! No, just work.”

“Really?  A good-looking guy like you?” Keith smirked from where he stood dangerously close to Lance’s personal space. 

Lance looked at him, since when had Keith moved to stand next to him?  Wait, Keith called him good looking! Focus Lance! “Well, I mean, I,” Lance stuttered.  He could feel his entire face going red. 

“So, since we both are without dates tonight, how about I help you clean up the shop and I buy you a beer later,” Keith offered.

“Really?”

“Sure, you look like you need to relax a little.  You look dead on your feet; did you even have a break today?”

“Nope, no time.  Not on Valentine’s Day.  I don’t think I have stopped since we started at 2am this morning,” Lance said with a yawn.

“Wait you started at 2?  How are you not passed out yet?” Keith asked, his eyes darting to Lance’s.

“Uh, I don’t know,” Lance muttered.  He was tired, as much as he wanted to have a drink with Keith, sleep probably would be the smarter option.

“Well, let’s get started before you do pass out on me,” Keith said as he took the bin off Lance and started to tidy up the area. 

They spent the following hours tidying up the shop front, listening to Lance’s music and making small talk.  Keith would stop to pat Chat periodically, when the cat decided that he needed the black-haired man’s attention.  Lance was in the middle of carrying a pile of plastic containers that he used to store decorations in when his head started to spin.  Dropping the containers, he threw out his hands to try and steady himself against one of the many display stands.

“Hey you ok?” Keith asked from where he was sweeping the floor, looking up at the sound of the containers hitting the floor.

“Everything is okay!  I feel fine!” Lance tried to laugh it off but then noticed his vision was getting dark, “Hey, who’s dimming the lights?”  Lance crumpled to the ground, his head somehow barely missing the display stand next to him.

“Lance!” Keith yelled as he raced over and dropped to his knees, “Lance can you hear me?” 

Lance groaned but didn’t open his eyes, “Lance, come on, you need to wake up!” Keith called lightly slapping Lance’s face in the hope that it would wake him up.

“Ow.”  Lance grumbled as he cracked his eyes open, “Did you just slap me?”

Keith let out a sigh of relief, “Yes.  You wouldn’t wake up.”

“Oh sorry.”

“What happened?” Keith held out his hand to help Lance sit up, “You just collapsed.”

“I don’t know, the room just spun and then nothing,” Lance used the hand that Keith wasn’t holding to touch his head, “I think, I might be more tired than I thought.”

“You think?” Keith asked sarcastically, “Look you sit here, I’ll finish up and then I’ll take you home.”

“Okay,” Lance said quietly. 

It didn’t take long for Keith to finish tidying up the store under Lance’s direction, from where he still sat on the floor.  “Thank you, Keith, I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.” Lance said sincerely as he leant back against the stand, Chat curled up in his lap as he absentmindedly stroked the black cat’s fur.

Keith looked over from where he was locking the front door, “I’m just happy to help.  You can always ask me to give you a hand, I don’t mind.” He knelt to help Lance stand up, “What happens with Chat of an evening?”

“Chat?  He stays here.  He has a bed and food stuff in my office,” Lance explained as he felt Keith’s arm wrapped around his body, supporting his weight.  Keith nodded before gently tugging Lance towards the back door and his car.

“Come on, let’s get you home.  You are taking the day off tomorrow by the way,” Keith stated, “I’ll even cover for you, I’m sure Shiro can spare me for a day.”

“Are you sure?” Keith nodded.  “Thank you, we do make a good team,” Lance breathed as he felt his head spin again.

“Yeah we do,” Keith agreed.  “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask.  Do you realise that you named your cat ‘Black Cat’ in French?”

“Romelle was the one who named him, but yes, I do know that.  I didn’t change it ‘cause it’s the name of one of my favourite characters from a show I like,” Lance said as he tried to keep his eyes open.

“Oh yeah?  And which show is that?” 

“Have you ever heard of Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir?”  Keith just chuckled as he hit the lights and the entire shop was thrown into darkness.

Chapter Text

Keith looked up when he heard the door to the Black Cat open, assuming that his next client had arrived early.  He had finished his previous appointment quicker than he had anticipated, so he was glad that they had shown up now.  It meant that, provided that everything went well, he could finish up early for the day. Perhaps, he could even go back to the apartment he was currently sharing with Pidge, and work on his motorcycle.  It had been a while since he had had a chance to do some maintenance on it, and if he let it go too long, then it would be a monster fix if the shit ever hit the fan.

As he glanced over towards the door, he was surprised that, when he spotted the newcomer to the shop, it was not his client.  But instead Lance, who was leaning against the front counter smiling as he messed up Pidge’s hair. Keith smiled as he watched his friends muck around with each other before he started to frown as a thought came to him.  Was Lance just a friend anymore? It had been six months since they had first met, and Keith felt like his relationship with Lance had progressed beyond that point. They hung out regularly, sometimes by themselves and other times with the rest of the familia.  It wasn’t uncommon for Keith to be found hanging out at the Dandy Lion of an afternoon, with Lance trying to teach him everything about flowers. Or even, for one of them to drag the other off on a ‘big adventure’ as Lance called them. Keith countered that they were just walks through the park or a trip to the movies to see the latest blockbuster.

In the month since that night on Valentines Day, Keith had kept trying to ask Lance out but each time he had been thwarted.  Either Shiro would have him booked for days at a time, so that when he had finished with his clients, Lance had already gone home, or he would be hanging out at the flower shop and the instant he opened his mouth to ask, Shay would rush in saying there was an emergency with an order.  Hell, even Chat Noir was dateblocking Keith! The fuzzball, as Keith affectionately called him, would trip Keith over, causing him to knock over a display and make a mess. He and Lance would then spend the next half hour cleaning the whole thing up, and Keith would be too embarrassed to ask him out.

“Lance, what are you doing here?” Keith asked as he walked up to the front counter, where his two friends were still chatting.

“Lancey Lance here, was booking in to get his first tattoo,” Pidge said teasingly.

Keith cocked his head, “Really?  You’ve never had a tattoo done before?”  Lance shook his head silently, “What were you thinking of getting done?”

Lance blushed, “I was thinking of getting some blue hydrangea over my shoulder.”

“Blue hydrangea huh?” Keith said, “Don’t they mean something like water or jar or something?”

Keith saw Lance smile at that, “Well, technically they have lots of different meanings and while, yes, they do mean water or jar, they can also represent gratefulness, sincerity and a few other things.”

“Fair enough,” Keith nodded, “Did you have a preferred artist you wanted to work with?”

Again Lance blushed, Keith was starting to think that red was a good colour on Lance.  As Keith was still checking out Lance he didn’t hear what he mumbled.

“Sorry.  What was that?” he asked, flicking his eyes to Pidge to see if she heard what had been said, and which she shook her head in response.

“I said,” Lance said in a clearer tone, “I want you to do it, Keith.”

Keith could feel the devious grin that Pidge was sporting without needing to look at the little gremlin’s face.  “Well, how about you come into my office and we can have a chat about how you want it to look?”

Keith bowed slightly as he gestured for Lance to walk the few steps into his workspace.  Lance barked a laugh as he walked past Keith, “Well don’t mind if I do.”

“So…” Lance said as he sat down on the chair next to Keith’s desk.  “How does this work?”

Keith looked at Lance as he pulled out a sketchbook and some pencils from the top drawer.  “Well, firstly we need to go over specifically what kind of tattoo you want, then we have a look at where it is going to go which will give me an idea of size and if I need to work around or cover anything up.  Once we have that down, we can start hashing out the specific details, if you want any hidden images or messages, and then once that is all done, I can put together a sketch to give you an idea of what it will look like.  Once you are happy with it, we can book in the appointment and get you inked.”

Keith could see that Lance was a little overwhelmed by the bombardment of information, his eyes were slightly wider than normal and his breath had hitched just a little.  “Lance?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.  Well,” Lance said as he twiddled with his fingers, “Like I said before, I want to get some blue hydrangea on my shoulder.”

“Ok, but do you want it in a vase?  On a stem? One single flower or a bouquet?” Keith said.

“I like the idea of having a bunch of them as if on a vine?” Lance said, making it sound more like a question than a statement, “Um, how do I put this?  Maybe having a single branch and having the flowers blooming off it?”

Keith sat there for a moment, trying to imagine what Lance was describing.  He could see a rough design in his head and picked up his pencil to scribble in his book.  After a few moments he turned it around to show Lance, “Something like this?”

“Yeah!” Lance said, “That’s exactly what I was trying to say!”

Keith felt the pride in the fact that he was able to understand Lance’s vague description and draw what he had in mind.  “Ok, now which shoulder did you want it on?”

“This one,” Lance said as he pointed to his left shoulder, “I like the idea of them reaching for my heart.”

Feeling the blush creep up his face before he even spoke, Keith said, “I’ll need you to take your shirt off for me please.”

Lance froze, “Why?”

“Because, I need to have a look at your skin and see if I need to work around any blemishes or scars.  If you do, I can either incorporate them into the design or cover them up.” Keith said as he pulled the rough sketch out of the book and quickly cut around it so that he could get a good idea of positioning and sizing before completing the final design.

As Lance undid the buttons of his blue dress shirt, Keith clearly heard him say, “My skin is flawless thank you very much.  Blemishes? Scars? Ha!”

Normally, when Keith asked for a client to remove their clothing for this part, it didn’t happen all the time, just the ones that would be otherwise hidden, he would see the small marks or dips in their skin from the toll life had taken on them.  He had seen war veterans come in with massive scars along their bodies, domestic violence survivors covered in the marks their abusers had left, people later in their lives who had decided to honour the marks their loved ones had left on them and even the few that would come in asking for a tattoo cover up the marks they had left from self harming. 

None of them though, had prepared Keith for the sight of Lance’s skin.  Lance wasn’t wrong when he said that his skin was flawless. Keith could see that his entire torso, that was now being bared to the world, was completely free of any and all marks.  Not a single freckle, mole or scratch. There was nothing to cause the perfectly smooth skin to change from the warm caramel glow that seemed to emanate from within.

Clearing his throat, Keith moved closer to where Lance was still sitting on his client’s chair.  He let his hands hover over Lance’s skin, allowing himself to rake his eyes over his shoulder, trying to keep his mind on his job and not on the perfect skin in front of him.  He let himself take a calming breath before taking the sketch he still had in his hand and holding it around Lance’s shoulder.  

“I think if we go with making it a little longer than what I have drawn here,” Keith said as he started to gesture closer to Lance’s heart, “I can extend the branch to reach more towards your heart like you wanted.”

Lance shifted his head so that he could look at where Keith was pointing, “Yeah I like that.  Maybe expand on the flowers in the middle to give it more body but let the two ends taper off?”

“That could work, did you want it to have a shadow?” Keith asked as he shifted the paper again slightly.

“Shadow?”

“A shadow.  Like what all objects have when in the sun.  I could give the tattoo a little shadow underneath it to give it a more 3D effect,” Keith said.

“Um, I’m not sure.  Do you have an example?” Lance said as he bit his lip slightly.

Keith internally mourned the loss of having his hands on Lance’s skin as he moved away to pull out his portfolio.  “This one has a shadow similar to what I was thinking of doing.”  

He leant against his desk as he watched Lance look over his portfolio, suddenly wary of what Lance would think of his art.  He knew that Lance had seen some of it before, hell, he had made a few drawings for Lance to put up around his store, but this was different.  This was Lance looking at his art to help him make a major decision. To help him decide if he really did want Keith to be the one to permanently mark his perfect skin.  He held his breath for a few moments as Lance turned the page to look at a few more of his designs before flicking back to the original image Keith had pointed out.

“I like it,” Lance said as he pointed to the image, “The way the shadow seems to bring the whole thing to life.  Yeah, I think you are right with adding a shadow.”

“Glad you agree,” Keith said as he tried to keep his professional mask on.  “Do you have anything else you want to have included? Any small details or tweaks?”

Lance thought for a moment before shaking his head, “Nah, I’m happy with it as it is now.  It’s already going to have a lot of detail with the flowers. So what now?”

“Well,” Keith said, “Since we have the design, size and location sorted.  It’s now up to me to draw it full detail and get it ready for whenever you want to come and have it done.  It will probably take me a week to get it done, so any time after that should work for me.”

Lance nodded, “Cool.  Oh, how much will it cost?  I have been saving up for a bit now so I should have enough for it.”

Keith paused, he had totally forgot that Lance was going to be a paying customer.  He did the math in his head quickly, “Well it will take a couple of hours to draw the design and then it will probably be at least 4 hours to ink it.  So… how does $250 sound?”

“Only $250?” Lance asked, “Isn’t that a little cheap?  I was expecting more like $400!”

“Well, it probably would be around that normally, but since you are a first timer and my friend, I’m giving you a discount.”  Keith winked, “Maybe it will help convince you to come back and get more done.”

He took pleasure in watching Lance blush again, it really was a great colour on him.  But before he could continue to tease him, Pidge called his name and pointed to his next customer, who had finally arrived.  “Well, that is my next client so I suppose you need to put your shirt back on,” Keith pouted.

Lance laughed, “What?  Were you enjoying the view?”

“And what if I was?” Keith countered, suddenly feeling confident that this might the moment to ask Lance out.

“Well then, maybe if you play your cards right mister, you might get another peek,” Lance purred as he pulled his shirt back over his broad shoulders and started to button it up.

“Are you free tonight?” Keith said.

Lance paused as he took a moment to think, “I believe I am.  Did you have something in mind?”

“How about I take you for that drink I promised you last month?”  Keith was jumping for joy inside. He had finally said it! He finally got to ask Lance out!  Now all he had to do was wait for his reply.

“Hmm, I do remember you offering to buy me drink and I don’t have anything to do,” Lance said as he looked at Keith slyly.  “Sure, I could go for a cold one or two. I’ll pick you up at 8 o’clock?”

“Sure,” Keith said as he smiled brightly.

“I’ll see you then Pretty Boy!  Catch ya Pidgey! Adam! See ya Boss Man!” Lance called out as he dashed out of the shop.  But not before blowing a kiss towards Keith as he had started to move towards his next client.

It was going to be a very long day of trying to keep focused on tattooing people’s skin and not about his date with Lance.

Chapter Text

“You, sir, are very attractive.  Therefore, I shall stare at you,” Keith slurred, as he pointed a wobbly finger towards Lance.  

Both boys were currently sitting at a bar table at the Arusian Warrior, a local pub that the Familia would frequent from time to time.  Lance had picked up Keith in his Jeep just before 8pm as planned, and was pleasantly surprised to see him waiting in the parking lot in front of the building his apartment was in.  When Lance started to tease him about being eager, Keith had snorted and said that Pidge had kicked him out, for constantly looking out their lounge room window waiting for Lance to arrive, not that he would admit that part to Lance.  

Lance had honestly forgotten that Keith and Pidge lived together.  When Keith had blown into town, he had started out staying with Shiro and Adam by crashing on their couch, but that had quickly grown old for both brothers.  Pidge had been the one to offer up her spare bedroom, citing that she needed help with the rent, and since she had the space free, why not rent it out? They made a strange pair of roommates, but it worked.  They would carpool to work, unless Keith wanted to ride his bike, the rent was cheap and since both weren’t hugely social or seeing anyone there weren’t any awkward encounters.

It hadn’t taken Lance and Keith long to settle into their chosen perches at the pub, a tall bar table with a couple of stools.  Ordering their first round, Lance had also had the foresight to get some hot food for them to eat as they drank. He was supposed to be their ride tonight, though he had a feeling an Uber would in his future if they kept up at this rate.  Turns out, Keith was a lightweight when he drank. They were still going drink for drink but Lance was able to hold his liquor more than his counterpart, who was starting to sway in his seat.

“You sure you want another one Keith?” Lance questioned as their new drinks were delivered by an admittedly attractive waitress.

“Are you tryin’ to imply I can’t hold my liquor?” Keith hiccuped as he grabbed his drink and took a big sip.

Lance looked him up and down and chuckled, “I would never do that, Keithy boy.  Anyway, I’m pretty sure I’ve had too much to drink to drive home myself.”

Before either boy could say anything more a new song started to play which caused Keith’s eyes to widen and a squeal to erupt from his mouth, “Oh my god!  Lance! It’s the song! C’mon we hav’ to dance!”

Lance couldn’t react fast enough to stop Keith from tumbling off his bar stool and dragging Lance off his towards the dance floor that was sunken at the back of the bar.  As the song started to wind up for the chorus, Keith turned to face Lance and his body started to spaz and jerk.

“Keith?” Lance asked as he moved closer to the boy who seemed to be having a fit.  Keith must have had an allergic reaction to something that had eaten, but why hadn’t he said something to Lance?  He reached a hand towards Keith, trying to remember what to do when someone was seizing, and called out over the music, “Keith are you ok buddy?”

Keith smiled, “Of course I am!  I’m dancin’ to one of my favourite songs with one of my favourite people!”  his smile dropped a little, “Well I would be if you were dancin’. Why arn’t you dancin’ Lancey Lance?”

Wait.  What?

“You call that dancing?” Lance asked throwing his hands up, “It looks like you are having a fit or something!  I was seriously concerned for your health!”

Keith stopped moving suddenly, “You don’ like my dancin’?  But I like dancin’ with you Lancey.”

As tears started to build in Keith’s eyes and his bottom lip started to tremble, Lance felt his heart break.  How could he have been so mean? Keith was just trying to have fun with him and he made fun of the poor drunken boy’s dance moves.  And now he had made him cry? Lance had better do something quick before this date turned into a disaster.

“No!  No, no, no!  I like your dancing Keith!  I just didn’t realise that you had started dancing!”  Lance kept on rambling, trying to come up with something to help Keith smile and somehow salvage this night, “I think you are a really good dancer!  Really!”

Keith’s face broke into a huge smile, “Well dance with me!  Come on Lancey, I want to dance with my favourite person.”  

Lance couldn’t help the jolt of surprise when he realised that Keith had meant that he was his favourite person.  But if the boy insisted on dancing with him then he wasn’t going to refuse him.  Deciding to be brave, Lance took Keith’s hand and started to move them to the beat of the music.  Arms flailing everywhere, possibly due to the fact that they were both moderately, or completely in Keith’s case, drunk and that Keith didn’t seem how to not dance like he was having a fit.

When the song changed to something a little slower and more romantic, Lance assumed that Keith would want to head back to their table and have another drink.  Instead, he was surprised to find that Keith wanted to keep dancing, wrapping his arms around Lance’s neck and moving his body closer so that Lance had no choice but to put his arms on Keith’s hips.  

“Uh, Keith?”

“Shh… I wanna dance with you…” Keith said before resting his head on Lance’s shoulder and swaying to the music.

Lance felt his face heat up in surprise and couldn’t help the dopey smile from appearing on his face.  It was strange to think that when he woke up this morning that he would end up with the boy of his dreams in his arms as they slow danced across the floor of a bar.  The smell of alcohol and sweat disappeared as they clumsily danced their way through the song, and the next even though it wasn’t a slow one, allowing the music and the atmosphere between them take them to a place where it was only them.

Lance was thinking this might be a good time for him to say something to Keith when they were bumped into by a guy trying to stumble through the dance floor.  Lance tightened his grip around Keith’s waist to make sure that he didn’t fall over and glared back at the stranger.  

“Do you mind?” he said, annoyed that the moment had been ruined.

“Not particularly, especially when it means that I got to meet you~” the guy said as he leered at Lance.

Before Lance could say anything in response, Keith moved to stand in front of him, albeit wobbly, with his arms crossed, “Why don’ you rack off, he’s tak’n.”

“Why don’t you make me,” the guy said as he shoved Keith backwards.

Lance figured it was a good time to step in and stop this before it became any more physical than it already was, “Come on Keith, let’s get out of here, yeah?”

“But he was-” 

Keith started to say, before the thug broke in and looked at Lance again, “How about you leave him and come home with me instead?  I can show you what a real man is like.”

“How about you get out of here before I show you how much of a man you aren’t?” Lance threatened, before grabbing Keith’s arm and dragging him off the dance floor.

Lance didn’t bother to stop at the table they had been sitting at earlier, and only hesitated at the bar to pay their tab, before dragging a still bewildered Keith out of the Arusian Warrior and onto the street.  He stomped down the footpath, in the opposite direction of the car park where his Jeep was parked, and only stopped when they came to a well lit area of the block.  

With his free hand, since he still hadn’t let go of Keith’s hand by this point, he pulled out his phone and ordered an Uber to collect them.  It was only after he saw that the driver wasn’t that far away did he start to relax. Turning to Keith he saw that the poor boy was starting to pale, all the alcohol he had drunk was starting to catch up to him and if he wasn’t careful he might be paying extra for the ride home.

“Keith?  Are you ok?”

Keith looked at Lance, swaying a little, “Yeah… I think...so…  Are you...ok?”

“Yeah, sorry about that, I don’t normally…  I mean, I don’t-” Lance sighed as he tried to get his thoughts in order and was distracted as the Uber pulled up.

Checking that the car and driver matched his booking, Lance opened the back door and gently nudged Keith in.  After making sure they both had their seatbelts on, Lance sent a quick message to Pidge, letting her know that they were on their way back and that she should expect a delivery of a very drunk Keith shortly.  Once he got a reply with a GIF of a person facepalming, he chuckled and put his phone away.

“Was’so funny?” Keith asked as he leaned against Lance’s shoulder, “I wanna know was’so funny.”

Lance put his head on top of Keith’s, “Just Pidge.  I let her know I was bringing you home so she can help you to bed.”

“Oh.”  Keith was silent for a moment, “But if I go home I can’ tell you what I’v been trying to say all night.”

“You can tell me now,” Lance said softly as he drank in the warmth that Keith was exuding.  

Keith shifted out from under Lance’s body so that he was facing him, his seatbelt barely still in place, “Lance.”

“Yes Keith?”

“I…”  Keith gulped audibly, “I…”

“Yes?”

Keith’s eyes widened in panic as his hand shot to his face and whined, “I’m gonna be sick.”

Lance yelled at the driver to pull over so he could get Keith out of the car before anything could happen.

---

Keith felt awful, he was pretty sure there was vomit on his shoes and probably Lance’s as well.  The only good thing that had come from his unfortunate regurgitation of everything he had drunk that night, was that he was slowly starting to sober up.  The Uber had just pulled up in front of his apartment block and the driver had promised to wait around for Lance to take him home. Lance, the ever patient man that Keith was very grateful hadn’t just dropped him on the curb and made him wait for Pidge to collect, was half carrying, half dragging, Keith’s drunken corpse up the stairs to their third floor apartment.

“Lance?” 

“Yeah Keith?” he said as he shifted Keith’s arm to give him a better balance going up the steep stairs.

“I didn’t get to tell you that thing before.”  Keith was determined to tell Lance, before all of his courage was thrown up along with the alcohol and bar food.

Lance grunted, most likely at the strain his body was going through, “Well, you have one more set of stairs before you run out of time buddy, so if you are going to say it, now is the time to do so.”

Taking a breath, Keith blurted out the most coveted and intimidating sentence in all of existence, “I love you Lance.”

Silence.

There wasn’t a single sound made.  No horns blaring in the distance. No yelling from a neighbour.  No dogs barking across the road. Lance had even stopped moving half way up the last flight of stairs.

Keith felt as if his heart had stopped beating.  He had actually said it. He had finally told Lance that he loved him.  But Lance hadn’t said anything back. He hadn’t even looked at Keith. His grip had tightened around Keith’s body where he was still holding him up, but other than that, the boy was as still as a statue.  

Then, as suddenly as he had stopped, Lance started to move again.  Adjusting Keith once again, he got them onto the third floor landing and heading towards Keith’s door.

“Lance?”

Lance didn’t say anything as he arrived at a door Keith knew was his, he had to wriggle his way out from Lance’s grip as he turned to look at Lance’s face.  It was twisted in what looked like pain. Keith’s stomach dropped. Had he read the signs wrong? He had been so sure that Lance was as into him as he was Lance.  He had been sure that Lance had agreed to the date, knowing that it was a date and not just drinks between friends. Where had he gone wrong?

“Look, Keith, I, uh…” Lance seemed to hesitate for a moment, “Thanks for tonight, get Pidge to get you some water and an aspirin before you pass out ok?”  Without saying anything further, Lance took off and disappeared down the stairs again.  

Keith stood there, dumfounded, as he waited for something to happen.  For Lance to come racing back up the stairs, blurting out apologies and his own confession.  For him to wake up and realise that this was all just a dream and the date had yet to happen.  For Pidge to open the door and tell him that it had been all a prank. For something, anything, to happen.

The only thing that did, was the sound of the Uber pulling away with Lance inside it.

Accepting his fate, Keith pulled out his keys and unlocked the front door to his and Pidge’s apartment.  The lights were all still on and the younger girl was sitting on the couch, the tv on low and a bowl of popcorn sitting on the table in front of her.

Pidge looked up and quirked an eyebrow, “Are you sober?”

“I’m moderately functional,” Keith said as he tried to keep himself from falling over from the intoxication and the heartbreak he was feeling.

Pidge sighed as she got up from her place on the couch and lifted Keith’s arm over her shoulder.  “I’ll take that as a no.”

Keith could feel his head spinning as Pidge helped him to his bedroom, “I love him Pidge.”

Pidge hummed placatingly as she tried not to let his drunken weight crush her, “I am sure you do.”

“No Pidge, you don’t understand!” Keith said as he was unceremoniously plonked onto his bed, “I love him.  I love Lance. I told him and everything.”

“Wait,” Pidge froze, “You told Lance that you loved him?”

Keith nodded drunkenly.

“While you were both drinking?”

Another nod.  “He didn’t drink as much as me though,” Keith said before hiccuping, “He took me home.”

The room started to swim as a wave of nausea hit Keith like a tsunami and he was only able to give Pidge a seconds warning before he was puking into a bin she had produced like magic.  

---

Light was pouring into his room when Keith awoke the next morning.  Pidge obviously had left his blinds open as a punishment for having to look after him the night before.  Or at least he was pretty sure she did. He remembers having his arms around her at one point and a bin being thrust into his hands, but that is about it.  

Groaning as he threw back the covers and stumbled to his feet, Keith made his way to the bathroom to have a cold shower and hopefully feel more human, before facing his roommate and colleague.  Once he had fresh clothes on and had brushed his teeth because his mouth reeked of vomit and alcohol, he made his way slowly into the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“What happened to me last night?”  he asked as he slumped onto the couch next to a disturbingly chipper Pidge.

“You thought you developed magic powers and could talk to squirrels.”

Keith had a sneaking suspicion that she was lying, but at the same time, he knew what kind of drunk he was and honestly it could have happened.  “Kind of glad I don’t remember any of that.”

It was then that she turned to him, her glasses glinting in the early morning sunlight, “It’s ok, I got it all on video.”

Chapter Text

Lance sighed as he thanked the Uber driver for waiting for him and watched as they drove off into the night.  The apartment block where Keith and Pidge lived still loomed behind him, an ominous figure that seemed so threatening, and yet when Lance looked back towards it, where he could see the shadows moving around in the apartment, it seemed so light and carefree.  Sighing again, Lance could feel the weight of Keith’s confession heavy on his mind and he knew that he needed the fresh night air to help him sort out his thoughts.

Lance hadn’t been lucky in the wars of love.  He had always fallen for the wrong person, letting them string him along, having him at their beck and call, until they grew bored of him and cut him loose, like their relationship, and Lance, meant nothing.  He hadn’t expected Keith to come straight out with a confession on their first date, and honestly, he hadn’t been sure what Keith was wanting to tell him, but definitely not a love confession. It was rare for Lance to not be the first to confess, he had always been forthright with his emotions, never one to hold back.  

And yet, something was holding him back now.

Deciding that the cool air was getting just that tad bit too cold, Lance turned on his heel and strode along the road, hands in his jacket pockets, and mind awash with thoughts of Keith.  There was no way that he would be able to avoid him for long, not with how close the Familia was, especially once the others found out about the date. The girls would force them to speak if Lance tried to ignore the elephant in the Boulevard, hell Allura would shut them in a cupboard if that is what it took to make them talk.

So Lance had to decide what he was going to do.  Would he confront Keith about the confession? Should he hope that Keith only said that during a drunken state and didn’t mean it?  Or should he ignore the confession and keep things the way they were before tonight? To top it all off, Lance had to work out how he felt about it all.  Did he have more than a crush on Keith? Did he, in fact, love him back?  

Lance shook his head, he was just so confused and yet he wasn’t that upset.  What did that even mean? Shouldn’t he be furious that Keith confessed while drunk?  It should have been a romantic moment, with flowers and maybe a single glass of wine each to set the mood.  Not after dragging his ass, and what an ass, up three flights of stairs, while stinking of vomit, which he had gotten onto Lance’s nice dress shoes, thank you very much Mullet, and spending the evening in a pub where they both drank way too much alcohol.  

As he reached his street, Lance noticed that his house light was on.  One that he didn’t remember leaving on when he had left earlier in the day.  Had he really forgotten that he had turned on his light or had someone broken into his house?  But why would they turn the light on? As he crept up to the front door, he saw that it was shut and locked, but when he peeked through the curtains, he could see a figure moving around in the kitchen.

Now instead of doing what he was sure he should, aka calling the police, Lance unlocked the door as quietly as he could and grabbed the baseball bat he had stashed in the umbrella stand.  He tiptoed towards the kitchen, listening carefully for the sound of the intruder and when he had gotten as close as he could, he jumped out brandishing the bat while yelling at the top of his lungs.

“Jesus Christ Lance!  Put that bloody bat away!  You’ll knock someone out with that thing!”

Lance’s grip on the bat slipped slightly and he allowed his arms to drop so that it was pointed to the floor instead of the person standing in the middle of his kitchen with a freshly made bowl of popcorn.

“Hunk?”  Lance blinked a couple of times comically, “What are you doing here?  It’s like midnight or something!”

Hunk placed the bowl on the kitchen counter and wrapped his massive arms around Lance, “Pidge called me and said that you might need some bro time.  Something about a drunken confession?”

Lance whined lowly, of course Pidge would have found out from loose lips Kogane.  Which meant that Hunk would have been the first point of call before sending out a group message to the rest of the Familia to inform them of the train wreck that was Lance’s love life.

“Come on buddy, let’s get you into some comfy pajamas and watch some National Geographic while you tell me everything that happened.”

God there was a reason that Lance loved Hunk this much, as platonically as possible as Hunk was in a committed relationship to Shay now.  “Ok, but promise not to laugh?”

Hunk smiled as he pushed Lance towards his bedroom before grabbing the popcorn and moving to the lounge to set up the tv, “No promises.  Remember buddy, no matter what you do in your relationships, I was your first love and so I reserve the right to laugh as much as I want at your mishaps.”

---

How could have he forgotten?  Seriously? How could Lance have forgotten that he had made the appointment?  It was as if the fates had gotten together and decided that Lance hadn’t suffered enough.  He had spent the past week trying to let things continue as normal, serving customers, placing orders, fighting with suppliers and being teased by the girls.  There admittedly were a few changes, including not having his regular visits from Keith in the afternoons and spending way too much time hiding in his office cuddling Chat Noir.

In fact, he hadn’t seen Keith since he had dropped him off at his apartment.  He knew he was back at work after taking the first day off due to his hangover, thank you Shay for being his spy for the tattoo parlour.  Even Shiro had come over at one point to see if everything was ok since Keith refused to talk about what happened. Lance had promised him that nothing bad had happened on the date and that he wasn’t mad at Keith or anything, he just was a bit busy at the moment with orders, it wasn’t a complete lie as they did have a large amount of work.

But back to why he was panicking.  Lance had completely forgotten that he had booked in to get his tattoo done today.  With Keith. He had specified that he wanted Keith to do his tattoo and now they would have to spend a few hours sitting, closer than what was probably comfortable, in awkward silence.  There was no way of getting out of it either, because then Keith would know for certain that Lance was avoiding him, just like he was avoiding Lance.

Lance braced himself as he pushed open the front door of the Black Cat and internally cringed when he saw Pidge’s sadistic grin.

“Hey Pidge, how’s it going?”

Pidge’s grin dropped slightly when she saw how hesitant Lance seemed, “Better than you by the look of it.  Did you come down with something? Should you even be here?”

Lance chuckled, “Nothing contagious I swear.”

“As long as you are sure.  If I catch it, you will be the one to look after me, mark my words McClain.” Pidge said while making the ‘I’m watching you’ motion with her hands.  “So why are you here?”

“He has an appointment, don't you ever read the book Pidge?” Keith said as he seemed to appear out of thin air next to them.

“Quiznack Keith!” Pidge yelped as she put her hand on her chest, “I seriously need to put a bell on you or something.  I am going to have a heart attack if you keep that up!”

Keith just smirked at her antics before turning to face Lance, “You ready for your tattoo?”

Lance nodded mutely, taking in Keith’s appearance.  He had changed in the week they hadn’t seen each other, the hair was in a messy bun instead of the controlled ponytail, his usual touch of eyeliner was non existent, his standard eye catching leather jacket and dark clothes had been swapped with a soft jumper and leggings in the palest colours Lance had ever seen him wear.  But the thing that had changed the most was the fact that Keith wouldn’t meet Lance’s eye. Perhaps ignoring him had been a mistake? Obviously Keith wasn’t taking the, whatever this was, well.  

Keith pointed to his tattoo chair, “Take a seat here while I grab your design.”

Lance did as he was told and sat stiffly on the reclinable chair, “So…” he started, “How have you been?”

Keith visibly flinched at Lance’s question, “Uh, good I suppose.  I finished your design the other day, so I hope you like it. If not, I can try and make some changes now otherwise we will have to make another appointment.”

Lance sighed, of course Keith was keeping it strictly business.  Fine, if that is how he wants to play it, Lance can do that too. “I am sure I will let you know if there are any mistakes.”

Keith pulled out the final design of Lance’s tattoo and Lance swore his breath caught at the sight.  It was exactly how he had imagined it. Every single petal and leaf were accurately portrayed as if they were a real live plant.  The shadow they had discussed was there and Lance swore he could pick it up off the paper. He could see that Keith had looked at him to gauge his reaction and he tried to keep his face as neutral as possible, but it was hard in the presence of something so magical.

“What do you think?” Keith asked after a couple of minutes. Obviously he was starting to get a bit anxious on Lance’s opinion.

Feeling just a little vindictive Lance only said, “I suppose it will do.”

Keith fidgeted a little, “Do you want any changes made?”

“Nah, like I said.  It will do.”

“Ok,” Keith said slowly, “Well if that is the case, I’ll need to you take your shirt off so I can get started.  Just sit as far back on the chair as you can go to start with.” And with that he turned away from Lance and started to trace over his design with a marker.

Lance obeyed and unbuttoned his shirt.  The room was a little cooler than he remembered it being, most likely because Pidge had turned down the air conditioning on purpose, and shivered as his naked skin touched the leather chair.  

While he waited he took in the parlour again, noticing that there were new pieces of art on the walls.  Shiro was known to encourage his artists to create pieces for him to display and then sell on their behalf to expand their skill sets and client base.  One of the pieces caught Lance’s eye. It was a water scene, or at least he was pretty sure it was, there were lots of different shades of blue in a wavelike pattern, and yet there were different types of water flowers floating along in the water.  It was a perfect mesh of two different elements, water and nature. He was squinting to see who had signed the piece when Keith rolled over in his stool, tattoo sketch in hand.

“Ok, so I am going to place this on your skin which is going to allow the marker to transfer over and give me a guideline to follow with the tattoo gun.” Keith explained as he let his hands hover over Lance’s shoulder.  Once he seemed happy with where the design was going to sit, Keith lowered the drawing and placed it gently onto Lance’s skin.

It burned.

Not the design, but where Keith’s hands touched his skin.  It burned, but didn’t hurt. Every time Keith moved his hands to press the design down, Lance could feel the burning sensation shift to follow.  It was a strange feeling, one that Lance had never experienced before. One he wanted to feel again.  

As Keith pulled away, the paper with the design on it still in his hands, Lance mourned the loss of the sensation and mentally begged for it to return.  It wasn’t until Keith turned to him with black rubber gloves on and his tattoo gun in hand, did Lance remember that he was going to be stuck here with Keith hands on his body for the next few hours while he got jabbed with a needle full of ink.

“You ok?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, just a little nervous I guess,” Lance confessed, which he was.  He was never one to be happy about being stuck with a needle and now he had willingly put himself in this situation.  Was he really that masochistic?  

“We can stop if you need to take a break,” Keith said softly while placing his free hand on Lance’s chest.  “This can be a little daunting so you just tell me what you want and I will listen.”

Lance glanced over at Keith and realised that while he probably was talking about the tattoo, it felt like his words had another meaning.  Something a little more personal than getting a piece of skin permanently inked. Did he really want to talk about this now? Did Lance?  

“I’m ok,” Lance said after a moment, “I just got stuck in my head a little.”

“You sure?  We can talk this out first, so you know what to expect.”

Damnit Keith, he was really making it hard for Lance not to say anything.  “Can we talk while you work?”

Keith eyed Lance warily, “Sure, what do you want to talk about?”

Lance took a breath as he heard the tattoo gun start up, the soft humming sound was hypnotic at first and just as he was about to speak, Keith touched the needle to his skin and Lance let out a yelp of shock.  

Keith instantly pulled the gun away from him, turning it off, “Lance?”

“Sorry,” Lance said sheepishly, “I guess I wasn’t expecting it to feel like that.  I’m good, you can keep going.”

“Ok,” Keith said as he turned the gun back on and started to work.  

This time Lance was ready for the feeling and only flinched slightly at the sensation of being pricked a thousand times.  The burning from earlier started to come through the needle pricks which seemed to make it easier to handle. “So…”

Keith hummed in answer, while focusing on his work.

“About last week,” Lance said, deciding to bite the bullet and just talk this out.  “I’m sorry if I came off rude. I just didn’t really know how to react. I mean, I was flattered, really flattered, but I just wasn’t expecting it and I think I may have gone into shock.”

Keith didn’t respond, so Lance continued, “Look, Keith, I am just trying to say that I had a really great time with you and I wouldn’t mind doing it again sometime.  I just need to know if what you… well you know…if you meant it.”

Keith seemed to think as he worked, his expression shifting constantly as he scrunched up his nose.  “Um, Lance?”

“Yeah Keith?”

“I uh,” he hesitated, “I don’t exactly remember what happened that night.”

What?

“What do you mean you don’t remember?” Lance asked.

Keith stopped his gun again, “I mean that I remember you picking me up and driving to the Arusian Warrior and I think I remember Pidge handing me a bucket.  I think I vomited at one point. But other than that, I don’t remember anything that I said or did.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, so if I said or did something that you didn't like, I am so sorry.  I don’t normally drink and so when I do, it doesn’t take much for me to become a sorority girl, or at least that is what I have been told I am like.”

Lance started to chuckle before it turned into a full belly laugh.  “Oh my god! You don’t remember! This is hilarious! Keith! You don’t remember!  I’ve been worrying my ass off the past week on how to talk to you about this and you don’t remember!”

“Wait, what did I do?” Keith asked, “Lance what did I do?  Please, I am sorry if I upset you, I didn’t mean it!”

“Didn’t mean it?” Lance said sobering up instantly, “You didn’t mean it?”

Keith sighed, “Look Sorority Keith usually has a way of pissing off just about everyone he meets so I am sure I said something insulting or ridiculously rude and I didn’t mean it.”

“It wasn’t rude,” Lance muttered under his breath.

Keith still heard him though.  He tilted his head in a way that should be illegal for how cute it was, “Then what did I say?  Lance I don’t want to lose you because of something I said while drunk.”

“Then why have you been avoiding me for the past week?”

Keith visibly bristled at that, “I could ask the same of you Lance.  You haven’t talked to me either.”

“It’s because you said you loved me and I didn’t know how to react!” Lance yelled.

The entire parlour was silent.  The others who had been working with their own clients had turned off their guns, only the sound of the radio softly playing in the corner could be heard.  Lance could feel his chest starting to seize with the panic of blurting that out in front of everyone but before he could he felt Keith’s hand on his.

“I said that?” Keith said quietly.

Lance nodded, “Yeah, you uh kinda tried to tell me the whole night I think but it wasn’t until I had carried you back to your apartment did you actually tell me.  I froze up when you did though. I had never had anyone tell me first before so I didn’t know how to react and I am so sorry I behaved like that.”

“Lance, I am sorry that I did that,” Keith said as he moved to sit on the chair with Lance, “I shouldn’t have done that when I was drunk.  It should have been a big romantic thing with, oh I don’t know, chocolates and someone playing music in the background.”

Lance’s heart froze.  Keith wasn’t sorry that he had said it.  Only that the way he had.

“Lance, what I said was true, I do love you.  It might be a bit early to say it and if you need me to back off I will.  But it won’t make me love you any less.” Keith smiled softly as he picked up Lance’s hands again, “I will always do whatever I can to make you happy.  If that means taking a break to let you work out what you want out of this, then so be it. As long as you know you are loved, and that I will always be here for you, then fine by me.”

Lance could feel his eyes filling up with tears.  He had never felt like this before. Not with any of the others he had dated or professed his love to.  This was deeper. Stronger. This was something that could possibly last a lifetime. But was that what Lance really wanted?  He knew he didn’t want to string Keith along. Not like others had done to him. But could he really run the risk of losing Keith because he was unsure?

“Keith… I” Lance started to say.

Keith tightened his grip on Lance, “You don’t have to decide now.  I can wait for you to work it out.”

“Thank you Keith.  I probably need a little bit to decide what I want but I don’t want to stop seeing you.”

“Then you won’t,” Keith said “I only stayed away because I thought I had done something wrong and you wouldn’t want to see me anymore.”

Lance shook his head, “Never.  I missed you.”

“Ok,” Keith said, “Ok, well how about we finish up your tattoo and then maybe we can try again?”

“Sounds good,” Lance said with a smile.

“THANK GOD!  THE IDIOTS FINALLY TALKED TO EACH OTHER!” Pidge yelled as Adam, Shiro and their clients all clapped as if they had just witnessed the climax of a rom com movie.

Lance and Keith both blushed as they smiled at each other.  It was stupid that they had made such a simple mistake that had almost cost them their friendship, but as long as they were willing to listen to each other and take it slow, anything was possible.

Chapter Text

The following next few weeks were peaceful in the Boulevard, business was steady and nothing truly exciting happened.  Much to Lance’s disappointment.  He was currently working on an order for a wedding the next day, a bride had decided that she absolutely needed twelve.  Count them.  Twelve bridesmaid bouquets to go along with the forty table arrangements, the monster of a bridal bouquet, the dozen and a half lapel pins and six flower girl baskets.  He had been planning this job for over a week, ensuring that he had ordered the correct flowers and then doubled the order just in case there was an accident or some of the flowers came damaged. 

He picked up another flower and tilted his head as he selected the perfect spot to place it, listening to the soft Latin music that was echoing throughout the currently empty shop and humming along.  Smiling he pulled the bouquet away from his body as he took it in, twisting it slightly to look at it from different angles and after making a small adjustment he was finally happy with the result.  He still had another five bouquets to go until he was finally finished with this order, but he had plenty of time and didn’t need to rush.

Chat Noir decided that that was the perfect time to jump up on the workbench and demand Lance’s attention by rubbing his entire body in his face.  Lance spluttered through the cat fur as he was forced to put the flowers down and pick up the cat in one hand and try to pull out the offending cat hairs out of his mouth.  “Really Chat?” he asked in a disappointed tone, “You just had to do that when I had my mouth open, didn’t you?”

Chat gave Lance a look of indifference, before meowing offhandedly and rubbing his head against Lance’s shoulder.  He sighed at his cat’s behaviour, he really should have known better.  Chat had always been aloof, ever since Romelle had found him and when he decided that he wanted attention, well, that was the end of that conversation.  Giving up on getting every single cat hair out of his mouth, Lance proceeded to stroke the pitch-black cats back in a repetitive motion.  It was soothing, not only to Chat, but to Lance as well as he let his mind wander in the tranquil serenity that had enveloped the shop.

That peace was quickly shattered at the sound of the front door bell jingling.  He looked up and saw Allura and Shay walked back in, he had sent them both off to lunch at the same time, confident that if a customer came in he could handle it.  The girls were chatting animatedly as they walked in, barely taking notice of Lance and Chat as they sat in the back of the shop.  Chat was the first to move, wriggling out of Lance’s hands with a loud meow and bounding over to Allura to demand attention from her. 

“Hello, my prince,” Allura greeted as she bent down and picked up the now purring cat.  Shay giggled as she watched Allura play before she turned to greet Lance, “Brought you something to eat boss man.  Fresh from Hunk’s kitchen.”  She held out a brown bag with the Piece of Cake logo and Lance jumped out of his seat and plucked bag out her hands with glee. 

“YES!  Chicken Pie!  Thank you, Shay!  Thank you, Hunk!” he called out as he proceeded to stuff his face with the crumbling pastry.

“So, Lance,” Allura asked as she finally pulled herself away from Chat, “Have you got any plans this weekend?”

Lance was so engrossed with eating his pie that he failed to notice the smirk the girls shared.  Shaking his head, he tried to convey that, no he didn’t have anything planned, and that yes, he was interested in what they obviously had planned.

“Would you like to come to the aquarium on Saturday after we close up here?” she continued, “Everyone else wants to go check it out and I figured you would like to join us.”

Lance struggled to swallow the bite he had just taken, “The aquarium?  Sure, I haven’t been there in a while, I wonder what kind of upgrades they have made since last time.  Wait, you said everyone wants to go, who is everyone?”

Shay held up her hands as she listed off their friends, “Well there is obviously Allura and myself, Hunk, Romelle, Coran, Matt, Shiro, Adam, Pidge and Keith.”

“Keith is coming?”

“Sure, turns out he hasn’t been there before, so we figured it would be a good time to all go and show him around,” Shay smiled as she watched Lance’s expression shift slightly.  “That’s not a problem is it?”

Lance stiffened, “Problem?  No!  No, no, no, no!  I am just surprised that he hasn’t been there before.” 

“Well, I suppose he hasn’t really been in town all that long and I probably wouldn’t want to go by myself…” Allura drawled slowly. 

Shay nodded, “I would be the same.  This would be a good time for us to try and work out what he wants for his birthday.  I think it’s in three weeks or something like that…”

Lance spluttered, “Ummm what?!?  Excuse me!  When was someone going to tell me that it was his birthday?”  He sat back in his chair for a moment, tapping his finger to his lips as he thought deeply.  He was silent for so long that even the girls were starting to get a bit worried before he started smiling brightly.  Pulling out his phone he started to dial a number.  “Hello?  Frankie?  It’s Lance, I need to call in a favour.”

“What are you doing?” Allura asked as Lance strode past them both, grabbing his wallet and keys from under the service desk.  

Lance gave them both a look as he shifted the phone slightly, “I am going to organize Keith’s birthday present, while you two are going to finish that order and watch the shop.  Oh, and I will be coming to the aquarium on Saturday, hell we can close early if we want to.”  Before he could say anymore, the person on the other end of his phone spoke again, “Yeah I’m still here Frankie.  I’m going to need to call in that favour you owe me.  I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

Allura and Shay watched in surprise as Lance raced out of the store.  Once they heard the engine to his Jeep rev and peel out of their car park they both turned and looked at each other.  

“Well that was something,” Allura said.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect him to react like that.  Poor Keith has no idea what he is in for, does he?” Shay agreed as she started to smile.

“Nope,” Allura replied with a matching smile, “This is going to be so much fun.  Let’s let the girls know that Mission Klance is a go!”

Chapter Text

The aquarium was huge.  Keith leant back against the cool brick wall, as he stood in the limited shade provided by the building.  He had finished up with his only client of the day early and Shiro had let him go home to get ready for what was being called the ‘familia outing’.  It hadn’t taken him long to splash his face with some water, slip into the outfit that he had carefully picked out the night before and ride his bike over to the harbour where Altea’s Aquarium and Aquatic Hospice was located. 

Picking at the dark red jacket he was wearing, he glanced down at the rest of the outfit and started to wonder if he had overdressed for the… whatever this was.  He had tried to gauge from Shiro and Adam’s discussions about the aquarium on what kind of place it was and how he should dress, but typical of his older brother, Keith had no hints on what an acceptable dress code was.  He decided to dress as if it was a date, erroring on the side of caution, and chose his best black shirt, his favourite black skinny jeans, the jacket and his comfy black boots. He tied it all together with a pair of black necklaces that he had bought a few years ago when he was going through his emo stage, yes, he had had one of those, what teenager didn’t these days.

He watched as a family of four walked past him on their way out of the aquarium.  The parents looked tired but happy as their son and daughter squealed at the stuffed turtle and whale they both had clutched in their arms.  Even though it had been a few months since he had moved into town, and subsequently started working at the parlour, he still felt like the newbie of the familia that was made up of his friends.  They all acted like they were a family, constantly bickering like siblings, just arriving on each other’s doorsteps at ungodly hours of the day and night or even stealing lunches. Keith’s personal favourite was one that Lance was particularly notorious for, sneaking up on people and hugging them. 

Though when he thought about it, he rarely saw Lance do it to anyone else bar himself.  Well, except for Hunk but everyone knew that what Hunk and Lance had went beyond labels.  Letting himself glance up to make sure the others hadn’t arrived yet, he smiled softly as he remembered the feeling of Lance’s body pressed up against his back in his last surprise attack.  His long, gangly arms had wrapped around Keith’s torso and he had rested his head on Keith’s shoulder. The tickle of warm breath against his ear had sent shudders down Keith’s spine and it took all his limited self-control not to pull away from the sensation. 

“So, what’s got you smiling like that Pretty Boy?”

Keith’s head snapped up at the sound of Lance’s voice.  The Cuban was standing directly in front of him, his trademark sunglasses had been pushed up onto his head allowing Keith an unobstructed view of his clear blue eyes.  Allowing his eyes to take in Lance’s outfit, a white tee under a light blue dress shirt, dark denim jeans and his white and blue converse, he felt a little better in knowing that he hadn’t overdressed.   Keith smirked as he looked Lance in the eye, “Oh, just taking in the view.”

Keith took pleasure in watching Lance’s face burn in embarrassment and made another obvious look at Lance’s outfit.  Lance spluttered a few times, trying to say something that Keith couldn’t understand, but was saved from further embarrassment when the rest of the familia arrived.  Everyone seemed to be dressed in casual clothing except for Lance and Keith, which made Keith wonder that maybe they had both not been given the memo on the dress code.  He shrugged, deciding that if he wasn’t the only one dressed up it was fine but decided to still give Shiro a sharp glare since he was pretty sure his older brother knew he had been trying to find out what to wear the entire week.

“So, since everyone is here, shall we go in?” Coran asked from where he stood next to Matt and Romelle.

“Sure, I can’t wait to see what they have done to the place,” Lance called as he looked at Keith and smiled.  Keith’s heart jumped a beat. He still couldn’t get over how much Lance’s smiles affected him. How such a simple movement of his muscles could cause Keith’s entire body to feel like it was on fire.  It really wasn’t fair. 

“That’s right, you used to come here quite a lot a few years ago didn’t you Lance?” Allura said with a sly lilt in her voice. 

“Yes.  I did.”  Keith frowned at Lance’s tone.  He sounded like he was annoyed. Why would such an innocent question annoy Lance like that?  He thought Lance liked the aquarium?

“Hurry up Keith!” Shiro called from where the rest of the group had gathered at the entrance, 

“Get your butt over here or we will leave you behind.”

“Yeah, yeah.  I’m coming. Keep your shirt on,” Keith said as he shoved his hands in his pockets and jogged to catch up with them. 

If Keith had thought that the outside of the building looked impressive, he had no words for what the interior was like.  The roof seemed to rise higher than it should have been, the walls covered in different shades of blue and green with lots of large windows that showed the creatures living in the tanks.  The group took their time waiting in line to purchase their tickets, though Lance only showed a card and was waved through without having to pay. Keith wondered what that meant. Was it a special VIP card?  Was that what Allura was implying earlier? But then why did Lance get huffy when she mentioned it?

Once they had all made their way into the large auditorium, Keith watched as dozens of children raced around, sticking their hands in shallow tanks and teenagers taking photos of each other with the tanks behind them.  There were a few staff members in their obvious fluro blue polo shirts giving advice for where the visitors should go, when one of them walked over and asked if they needed help finding any exhibits.

“No thanks, we know where we need to go,” Pidge said sweetly.  This was the first indication to Keith that something was up. Now Pidge was never rude to strangers, but she was never that sweet to people unless they were doing something for her.

Once the young man had wandered off again, Adam turned to face the group and smiled.  “Alright so I really want to go see the turtle exhibit. I heard they had a new one come in a week ago.”

“Oh yeah!  I want to go see that too Hunk!” Shay said as he laughed at her enthusiasm.

“Well I want to go see the tropical fish,” Romelle said as she grabbed Matt’s hand, not giving him a choice in the matter.

“I want to see the deep-sea creatures,” Pidge said as she looked pointedly at Allura and Coran, “Wanna come with me?”

“That sounds like a smashing idea,” Coran said.

Keith wondered why they were all splitting up like this.  Wasn’t it supposed to be a familia outing? He thought that you stuck together when you went out with a group, maybe he was wrong though.  He hadn’t done something like this in a very long time, so maybe this was how it normally happened.

“Wait up guys!” Lance said quickly, “I thought we were going to see this place together?”

Well that explained that.  Keith was officially suspicious.  His friends were up to something fishy, pun intended, and he was going to find out what.  By the looks of it, Lance had not been let in on the little secret, which gave Keith the impression that whatever it was, it was something to do with the two of them.  While the other guys seemed to be not as in control as the girls, they were not confused about the new outing rules.

“Guys?” Lance called out again as he watched them all scatter in different directions.

“Don’t worry about them Lance,” Keith said as he saw Lance’s facial expression drop.  “How about you show me around this place. I’m pretty sure I’m going to need a guide, so I don’t get lost.”

That caused Lance to laugh, “Yeah, knowing you, you will somehow find your way into one of the tanks if I left you alone.”  Keith gave a chuff of fake annoyance at that but felt his heart warm at the fact that Lance was now happier than he had been only a moment ago.  “Let’s head over to the shark enclosure first, they have some amazing specimens here and there is sometimes a show where they let you dive with them.”

Lance then grabbed Keith’s hand and dragged him along one of the tunnels that branched out from the room they had been standing in.  The tunnel was completely encased in the thick glass of a tank, the fish darting in and out of the submerged rocks and coral. A stingray was laying on the ceiling, allowing them to get a good look at its underside, the long tail like thing, floating gently in the current.  Keith smiled as he watched Lance point out the different species of aquatic life as they passed them, spurting out bits of trivia that he seemed to know by heart. Before they arrived at the shark tank they were stopped by two attractive looking women.

“Lance?” The one on the left said as she and her friend pulled up right in front of the boys.

“Florona?  Plaxum? How have you been?” Lance said as he dropped his hold of Keith’s hand to give the women a joint hug.

“We’ve been good.  Plaxum here was just saying how much she missed you,” Florona, Keith assumed, said.

“Florona!” Plaxum hissed, “We have missed you Lance.  It’s been too long since you came to visit us.”

“Well I’m here now, aren’t I?” Lance said with a smirk.

“True,” Florona agreed.  She peaked around Lance’s shoulder, “And who is your handsome friend here?”

“Oh!  Ladies, meet Keith.  Keith, this is Florona and Plaxum.  We go way back.”

Keith nodded towards the women but stayed close to Lance.  Lance smiled at him before he turned back to address the girls, “Aren’t you two supposed to be getting ready for the show?  I thought it was starting soon.”

“We would, except it’s going to have to be cancelled today,” Plaxum said.

“Why?  What happened?” Keith asked, suddenly curious as to what show they were talking about.

Florona was the one who answered, “Well, Lucas, our third cast member called in sick today and we can’t go on with only two of us.”

“Has the show changed much?” Lance asked suddenly.

“Not really, most of it is the same.  Why?” Plaxum said.

“Do you still have my old tail here?”

“Yes.”

Lance smiled, “Brilliant.  Let Alex know I’ll be joining you.  I remember our routines, I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“Seriously?  You’d do that for us?” Florona said in awe.

“Of course.  I’d do anything for you ladies.  If it weren’t for you two, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.” Lance said.

Keith was starting to get concerned.  What kind of show would require Lance to have a tail?  What were they doing? Routines? And how did these strangers save Lance when he was younger?  Keith wanted to ask Lance what was going on but didn’t want to do so when they were still standing in front of them.

“Brilliant!  We’ll go let Alex know and see you backstage,” Plaxum said as she grabbed Florona’s hand and took off running in the direction they had come from.

“Lance?” Keith said, “What is going on?”

“Sorry about that Keith,” Lance said as he turned to look at him, “I got caught up in the moment and didn’t even think to see if it was ok with you for me to help out.”

“You don’t have to ask my permission to help someone Lance.  I just didn’t really understand what you all were talking about, that’s all.”

Lance chuckled, “Well I have a few minutes before I have to run backstage so let me explain.”  He took Keith’s hand and dragged him over to a poster that was advertising a Mermaid Show. “A few years ago, when I was still at Arus University, I was starting to fall behind in my tuition payments.  I couldn’t really afford to get a proper job with the workload I had from school, so I needed to find a high paying job with flexible hours. Turns out that the aquarium was looking for performers, specifically people who could hold their breath for a long time while completing complicated maneuvers underwater.”

Keith was stunned, “Wait a minute.  Are you telling me that you became a stripper to pay your way through school?”

Lance blanched, “What?  No! I became a merman! Jesus Keith, get your head out of the gutter!”

“But you had a job where you had to take your clothes of and perform half naked in front of strangers to pay your way through school.  That sounds like a stripper to me.” Keith could only laugh as Lance imitated the puffer fish that was floating in a tank behind him.

“You should count yourself lucky that you are pretty.  Otherwise I would disown you from the familia for that comment,” Lance growled.  “Look I need to get going before they come looking for me.” As Lance started to walk away, he turned to glance at Keith, “If you wanted to catch the show, I’d head over now before the crowd starts to form.” 

Before Keith could say anything, Lance took off running.  Now Keith had heard about these Mermaid Shows before. They would have a couple of attractive girls dress up in those fake tails and swim around a bit while the audience, made up of children and teenage boys, watched in awe.  He had never once considered going but now that he knew that Lance would be performing. Well, that was a different story all together. Taking another look at the poster Lance had shown him, Keith took note of where it was happening and started to make his way over to the tropical fish tank.  On his way he ran into Allura, Coran and Pidge.

“So, Keith, where did Lance run off to?” Allura asked innocently, “I thought you two were hanging out together?”

“We were,” Keith said, “Before he got kidnapped by a couple of mermaids.”

What Keith didn’t anticipate was Allura to start laughing, “Please tell me it was Florona and Plaxum.  Please Keith, it would make my day it was them.”

“How did you know?” Keith asked.

“Because I went to school with Lance for a couple of years.  I happened to catch one of his shows one day and never let him live it down.  Plus, Florona and Plaxum are pretty awesome ladies and are a part of my theatre troupe.”

Keith grinned, “So you’ve seen one of his stripper shows then?”

Allura stopped dead in her tracks, “Did you just call Lance a stripper?”

Keith nodded, wondering if he had just made a big mistake.  It was one thing to say it to Lance as a joke but another to say it to his familia who would have no problems making sure he slept with the fishes.  God, he had to stop with the fish puns today.

Allura placed her hand on his shoulder, looked him right in the eyes and gave him the largest smile he had ever seen on the intimidating woman.  “Keith Kogane, I officially love you. You are the only other person in this familia who knows about Lance’s past and for you to call it stripping just made my day.”

Keith stood their stunned.  Allura had praised him? How had that happened?  Well, he wasn’t going to linger on that mystery when he had plenty more to solve.  First and foremostly, what Lance looked like with a mermaid tail. They managed to make their way to the area where people were already starting to gather for the show.  Coran was the one to spot Romelle and Matt who seemed to have saved a small area near the side. Barely five minutes later, Adam, Shiro, Shay and Hunk had joined them after Pidge sent out a message to meet at the tropical fish tank asap.

“Has anyone heard from Lance?” Shay asked as she looked around trying to find him.  “He was sent the message and I know he would love to see this kind of thing.”

“Don’t you worry,” Allura said quietly, “I am sure he won’t miss it.”

Before Shay could respond, a loud voice came from behind the crowd.  It was a staff member who had dressed up as a pirate, complete with a headset radio.  Obviously so that he could speak with the performers and let them know when the crowd was ready.  He spent a few minutes introducing his character, hyping up the children and make a few jokes at their parent’s expense.  Keith was happy to ignore the noise the crowd was making as he kept a watchful eye on the tank, waiting to see a glimpse of Lance. 

The crowd started to count down, Keith could feel his stomach tighten with excitement, this was it.  Once the countdown had hit the final number there was movement in the water. Two mermaids, Plaxum and Florona swam into view, the pirate introducing them and giving a few random details about the mermaids.  When they left the view of the crowd, probably to go back up to the surface to breath, the pirate asked the crowd if they had ever seen a merman. When the children yelled out no, there was a chuckle from Keith’s left as Allura muttered something under her breath.

Then there he was.  Lance looked ethereal as he glided through the water, his long blue tail sparkled in the water as he moved it with easy.  He had a few shell necklaces and bracelets along with what looked like glitter on his face and torso. The way he moved was as if he was born in the water.  He managed to pull off a double barrel roll before he disappeared out of view.

“Is that?” Hunk asked.

“Lance?” Pidge completed.

“Yup,” Keith said, “Turns out they needed an extra merman for today’s show and Lance volunteered to help out.”

“But how did he know how to do it?” Shiro asked.

“Oh, Lance used to do this as a job back at uni,” Allura replied, “This is how he paid his way through school.”

The mermaids and Lance all came back into view and continued their performance.  Doing tricks, swimming in sync and even showing different types of rubbish that could be found in the water.  Though when they started to give mermaid kisses to the crowd, Keith saw that Lance made sure that one of his kisses was directed right at him.  Making sure to keep eye contact with Lance, Keith made a motion of ‘catching’ the kiss and pressing it to his cheek. Since it was a mermaid kiss, it didn’t count.  Right?

Chapter Text

The entire familia had gathered in the shop front of Black Cat Tattoos.  Every single chair, every table and all the stations had been pushed to the walls to make room for the sheer amount of people who were standing in the room.  Lance had to admit that it looked a little different from the normally professional looking parlour. There were red and black streamers everywhere, balloons that said Happy Birthday and Shiro had even broken out his antique gramophone to play the vinyl records that he and Keith had grown up with. 

“So, who had the fun job of putting up the decorations?” Hunk asked as he looked around the now more colourful room.

“Me,” Pidge said from where she was sitting in her favourite spot on top of the service counter, “Damn streamers kept breaking the minute I touched them.”

Shiro chuckled as he took a sip from his glass of whiskey, “Just shows you still have a long way to go before you are ready to tattoo someone.  You need to have the softest touch to be able to create the art without hurting your client and if you can’t touch streamers without breaking them…. well…”

Pidge pouted, “Trust you to use Keith’s birthday party decorations as a lesson in tattooing.”

Lance smiled at all his friends, they had all made sure that Keith’s birthday was the best one he had ever had.  At least until next year when they tried to one up themselves. Speaking of Keith, he was standing next to Shiro and Adam swirling his drink.  Lance was pleasantly surprised to find out that Keith was a bit of a Scotch man. Keith seemed to be almost embarrassed about how much of a fuss they all were making but little did he know, this was just the beginning.

“Alright!  It’s time for the cake!” Coran called as he and Romelle pushed forwards a trolley from the back room that had a stunning red fondant cake with black accents.  A tattoo gun was sitting on top of the two-tier cake and what Lance guessed was fondant printed with some of Keith’s more popular designs were wrapping the tiers as if they were pieces of art in a gallery.

“Hunk, you outdid yourself this time,” Allura said as she started drooling at the sight of the cake, “What flavour did you go with?”

“Red velvet,” Hunk stated proudly.

“Seriously?” Keith asked as he shuffled forwards to look at all the details of his cake, “That’s my favourite!”

Hunk smiled as he placed one of his large hands on Keith’s shoulder while he continued to try and inspect every single angle of the cake, “I know, that’s why I did it.”

“Thank you, Hunk,” Keith said with the largest smile Lance had seen on the guy since they had met.

“Alright, let’s dig in!” Someone called as they all descended on the mouthwatering dessert.

“Bip bip bip!” Lance shouted, causing everyone to halt and look at him where he stood with hands on his hips.  “We haven’t sung happy birthday yet!”

“Seriously Lance?” Keith asked as his eyes kept flicking back to the cake.

“Yes Keith.  Seriously. It’s a tradition in this familia and now that you are one of us, you need to deal with it,” Lance stated as he gave the rest of their group a knowing look.

“Oops” they call chorused sheepishly.

Hunk was the first to clear his throat and start them off in the song.  “Right then. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Keith~ Happy birthday to you!”

“Hip hip!” Shiro yelled.

“Hooray!”

“Hip hip.”

“Hooray!”

“Hip hip!”

“Hooray!”

“Now can we eat?” Adam asked as he glanced over to Lance.

“Last one to get a slice is a rotten egg!” Lance called as he slipped in front of her to jump the cue forming.

“LANCE!”

After they had all had three slices of cake each and there were literally no crumbs left, they all pulled up a chair and relaxed as they all spoke in small groups.   Coran, Keith and Pidge had all pulled chairs together while Shiro, Adam and Shay were talking together near Adam’s station. Romelle and Allura where trying to convince Matt to sponsor Allura’s next play while Lance chose to flit between each group.

“Alright!  Presents time!” Shay called cheerfully as she pulled a small box out from nowhere and pushed it to Keith’s shocked arms.

“Woo!  Let’s see what you got!”  The others called as more boxes seemed to appear as if by magic.

Keith’s eyes widened as he opened each box.  There was a new tattoo gun courtesy of Shiro, a new sketchbook thanks to Adam and a box of red hair dye from Pidge.  The cake was Hunk’s gift, Allura and Coran had teamed up and had arranged for all his artwork to be transferred into a proper portfolio once the photographer that Romelle and Matt had booked was finished recording all his drawings and Shay had given him a little bear that she had dressed to look like him, complete with the now trademark red and black leather jacket.

“Here,” Lance said as he held out an envelope to Keith.  He watched as Keith carefully opened it, suddenly nervous if he would like the gift.  He watched as Keith’s mouth went slack and Lance didn’t realize that it was possible for his eyes to get even bigger.

“Lance?  Are you serious?” he breathed.  “I thought they had all sold out?”

“What did he get you?” Adam asked as he looked over Keith’s shoulders and gasped, “Tickets to see Three Days Grace?  Holy shit Lance! And floor tickets too! Aren’t they worth a few hundred dollars each?”

Keith kept staring at the tickets which was starting to make Lance nervous.  “If you don’t want them, I am sure I can- “before Lance could finish Keith had wrapped his arms around Lance’s body and was hugging him.

“Thank you so much Lance!”

“I-It’s ok.  I remembered that you said you wanted to go but couldn’t get tickets, so I looked around and managed to find these.  I thought you would like the floor tickets, you know, so you could be as close as you could to the band. And I got you a second ticket, so you could take someone with you,” he pointed to the additional ticket.

“Will you come with me?” Keith asked with what Lance swore were tears in his eyes.

“You have to stop doing that.” Lance said quietly.

“Doing what?” Keith asked confused.

‘Saying things that make me want to kiss you.’ Lance wanted to reply but instead said, “Uh, springing these surprises on me.”

“You’re the one that surprised me with the tickets,” Keith countered.

“Well damn, you got me there,” Lance laughed.

“Well?  Will you come with me?” Keith asked, his expression softening.

Lance smirked as his heart started to speed up, “Sure, it’s a date.”

The blush that crept along Keith’s face was worth all the teasing he was bound to get the next day once Shay and Allura cornered him in the shop.

Chapter Text

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.  Why did I say that? I can’t believe I did that! Oh my god!”  Lance was pacing the floor of the Dandy Lion, it was the morning after Keith’s birthday party and he was not so secretly freaking out.

“Calm down Lance,” Allura said softly as she placed a hand on his shoulder, preventing him from continuing to pace.  “Now tell me why you are freaking out so much.”

“Yes Lance, please tell us what happened,” Shay asked as she sat on the service counter eating a pastry from Hunk’s bakery watching Lance’s meltdown with amusement.

“You know what happened!”  He cried, his hands reaching up to pull at his hair, “I asked Keith out on a date!  In front of everyone! On his birthday!”

“Technically he asked you out,” Shay countered, “So I don’t know why you are being such a drama queen.  That’s Allura’s job.”

“Oi!”

“It doesn’t matter who asked who!  I have a date with the most gorgeous creature in existence this weekend and I don’t know what to wear!”  Lance cried as he started to pace again.

“Wait a minute,” Allura turned Lance to face her, “Let me get this straight.  You are practically having a midlife crisis because you don’t know what to wear on a date?”

“…Yes…?”

“OMG!  Allura?  How did we end up working for a guy who acts like he is a middle school girl with her first crush?”  Shay asked as she doubled over in laughter, her arms wrapped around her stomach.

“Rude!” Lance called back to her but admitted that their teasing was somehow helping reign in his panicky thoughts.

“Right well that settles it.  Shay, you are in charge while I take the mess over here shopping,” Allura said as she dragged Lance towards the back lot where their cars were parked, grabbing her bag on the way. 

“Sure, thing Allura!  Make him look good!” Shay called over her shoulder as she pulled out her phone and started texting the others about what had just happened.

---

Pidge felt her phone vibrate with a new message.  Pulling it out as she waited for Keith she saw it was a message from Shay.

RockChic

Hey all.  Just a FYI that Lance just had a complete meltdown in the middle of the shop because he has nothing to wear to the date this weekend!  Hahahaha! ‘Lura is now taking him for some much-needed retail therapy!

Pidge snorted with laughter as she re read the message before shooting off a quick reply of a gif doing pretty much the same thing.  She looked up when she heard the curtain of the change room in front of her move and Keith stepped out.

“What’s so funny?  You hadn’t even seen the pants yet,” he pouted as he looked at his reflection in the mirror.  Shifting his body this way and that to try and get as many angles as possible of the insanely tight leather pants the sales girl had picked out for him.

“I didn’t need to see the pants to know they were going to look horrendous on you Keith,” she said as she looked at her very emo looking friend.  “Here try these.”

Keith looked at the offered pair of pants.  They were a very plain black pair of jeans, no patches or stylish rips, just black jeans.  “Seriously Pidge?” he asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“I am small, but I am fierce, you hear me?  You will try those pants on Keith or so help me…” Pidge growled.  Keith’s eyes flew open and without another word he took the offered clothing and ducked back into the change room.

“How did you become so scary Pidge?” Keith’s voice echoed through the curtain as he changed.

Chuckling, Pidge leaned back on the bench, “Oh that’s easy.  I had Matt as an older brother.”

“So, he picked on you a lot growing up?”

“Nah.  He was a complete nerd, so I had to protect him from the bullies,” Pidge explained as she started playing with her phone again.

There was a drawn-out silence with neither of them speaking before Keith opened the curtain again.  He was now wearing the jeans she had picked, and Pidge thanked the stars above he had listened to her.  They fit his body perfectly, the black material seemed to move with him instead of restricting his movement like the leather that airhead had forced on him.

“You know, that explains so much about both you and Matt,” Keith said as he checked his reflection.  “And since when did you have a sense of style?”

“You know you can just say thank you like a normal person, right?”

Keith barked out a laugh before turning to look at her, “Thank you Pidge.  I don’t know what I would have done without your help.”

Putting her phone away again, Pidge gave Keith another once over, “Well when you came in practically crying over the fact that your favourite pair of pants had finally carked it.  It was practically my civic duty to take you shopping. That and I didn’t want to spend the rest of the week listening to you moan and groan about not having anything to wear for your date.”

Keith spluttered, “I did not come in crying!  They were the only pants that I had that worked with my Three Days Grace shirt!  How dare you! Pidge! I- “

Pidge couldn’t hold it in anymore.  She burst out cackling in laughter, rolling onto her side as she held her sides as she tried to avoid getting a stitch.

“You are a cruel person Katie Holt,” Keith deadpanned before spinning on his heel and ripping the curtain behind him, so he could get changed.

After paying for Keith’s new pants, they decided that they would stop by the food court to get something for lunch before heading back to the parlour.  Pidge insisted on getting sushi so that she could tease Shiro with it since it was his favourite food to eat. Keith was happy to go along with whatever she wanted since she had helped him out that day, even if his dignity didn’t quite survive. 

They were standing in line of the sushi food stall when Keith spotted a familiar head of silver hair.  Turning to look he felt his entire body warm. Walking past the food court was Allura and Lance. Allura seemed to be leading the way while Lance was currently carrying at least a dozen bags and three objects that looked like shoe boxes.  Both had huge smiles on their faces and Lance let out a laugh at something that Allura had said to him. Pidge tugged at his arm, pulling him forwards when the line started to move, and he lost sight of the pair.

“What’s up with you?  You have this stupid look on your face,” Pidge said as she stood next to him, impatiently tapping her foot.

“Oh nothing.  Just saw something I liked,” Keith said cryptically. 

“Well I ain’t buying it for you,” she retorted with a huff.

Shaking his head at his friend’s antics Keith smiled, “I’m pretty sure it’s priceless anyway.”

Pidge glanced up at him and turned away before he saw her smile.  She had seen Lance and Allura walk past as well and knew exactly what he was talking about.  She couldn’t wait to text the others and let them know.

Chapter Text

Keith fidgeted as he waited at the front of the concert hall that Three Days Grace was playing in that night.  He had been so excited for tonight that he had gotten dressed and had Pidge drive him over in her little Volkswagon Bug an entire hour before he was supposed to meet Lance.  He had suffered through the ten minutes of pure teasing that his roommate had put him through, justified teasing she claimed, and now he was forced to wait as he watched other couples arrive together, holding hands or with arms around each other.

He picked at the red checker jacket he had decided on, to keep him warm against the cool evening, and the possible rain that was threatening to arrive at some point.  He had even called Shiro over earlier to help him decide on what to wear, considering that he had managed to get Adam to go out with him, he must have had some dating dress sense.  

They had ended up deciding on Keith’s favourite Three Days Grace shirt, the new black jeans Pidge had bought him, the red checker jacket and his favourite pair of converse.  Keith had insisted on his now trademark choker necklaces and a pair of studded belts while pulling his hair into a high ponytail. When Keith had looked in his bedroom mirror, he was pleasantly surprised to see that he looked good.  In fact, Keith thought as he double checked his phone for the twentieth time since arriving, he looked better than half of these other punks on dates.

Hopefully Lance liked it.

“Hey good lookin’.  Fancy seeing you here,” Lance’s voice came from behind Keith.  

Keith spun around and proceeded to choke on air as he took in Lance’s appearance.  Somehow the usually preppy looking boy he had been falling in love with, and yes it was love that he felt, had turned into a grungy punk rocker before his very eyes.  Lance had spiked his hair up as far as it could possibly go and had dark sunglasses on. He had a dark Three Days Grace shirt on underneath a large black leather and buckles jacket combined with black leather pants and boots.

Keith squeaked a reply, before coughing to try and cover up the embarrassing noise.  “Lance! I… uh… you look good.”

Lance chuckled as he moved up to stand next to Keith, “Well I did have help from a couple of girls who will remain nameless.  Though you definitely fit the bill for best looking date.”

Keith blushed as he smiled back at Lance, “I could say the same about you.  I will have to thank those nameless girls later.”

“I’m sure if you bring them back some videos or buy them something sparkly they would appreciate it,” Lance said, “So, how about we go in or is there something else you want to do beforehand?”

Keith shook his head, “No, I was just here to wait for you.  We can head in and pick a spot before it gets overrun with the little gremlins that are sure to show up.”

“Pidge is going to be here?”

“No,” Keith laughed, “All the little punks who think they are hardcore because they listen to heavy metal and rock music.  They are the worst at concerts, you just need to kick them and show them who is in charge.”

Lance gave him a look of concern, “You don’t actually kick them… do you?”

“Nah, but if a mosh pit opens up?  Well then, it's fair game if you get caught in one.” Keith said with a shrug.

“A mosh pit?”

Keith smiled, “I forget that you haven’t been to a concert like this before.  A mosh pit is basically a space that gets pointed out at random during the concert, and basically anyone who is in the inner circle has full permission to jump around and ram anyone else there.  I think I’ve broken my nose once so far. Got a couple of good shiners as well.” Keith smiled as he remembered those concerts. They were all when he was much younger, well maybe not that much younger, and most of the time he had gone by himself and didn’t have to worry about anyone else's safety.

“Yeah, Beyonce doesn’t usually condone violence at her concerts,” Lance said side eyeing Keith, “Are you sure it’s safe to be here?”

“Don’t worry Lance, I’ll protect you if we find one.”  Keith said as he patted Lance’s shoulder in comfort.

“Why doesn’t that comfort me as much as it should?” Lance whined as he followed Keith into the stadium that was slowly starting to fill up with other concert goers.

The stadium itself was huge.  There were three levels of seating available above the floor in a full 360 ring, with the section behind the stage barricaded off for the crew.  Stalls already up and running, selling beer and pizza on one end and Three Days Grace merchandise on the other. Keith allowed himself to glance over the merchandise table, checking to see if there was anything new he wanted to get.  There were shirts, wrist bands, stickers, beer coolers and some other basic items that he probably shouldn’t pay the asking price for, and yet, because they had the band name on them, he already owned from previous concerts.

Keith felt as Lance moved to stand next to him at the stall, his hand resting just next to Keith’s, as he also checked out the stall.  Keith wanted so badly to take his hand and never let go, to be able to feel the heat from the hands that look too delicate to possess the strength and power that they did.  Would Lance even like it if he did? Would he be graced with that soft smile that he loved so much? Keith took a breath as he reached for Lance’s hand, only for it to move as Lance leaned over to inspect a poster of the band.  

As Keith grumbled quietly to himself about how he was too slow to take Lance’s hand, he was surprised to feel something, or someone, grab his hand.  Looking down, he saw the contrast of tan skin against his own pale complexion. Keith’s eyes flicked up to look at Lance’s face, which was still turned away from him as he looked at the different items for sale, but Keith spotted the blush that was creeping over Lance’s cheeks.

"I would hold off on buying anything right now," Keith said with a small smile, "It is way too pricey now but if you wait a week you can pick the same stuff up for cheap online."

Lance nodded as he turned from the table, "So should we go and find our spots then?" 

"Yeah, let's go," Keith replied as he tightened his grip on Lances hand and led him towards the stage, hoping that tonight would be the night that things changed between them.

*

Lance’s head snapped up as the sound of thunder rumbled across the sky that had been covered in clouds since he had last checked.  It had been months since they had received any decent rain and Lance knew that if this turned into the wet season they had predicted, his business would be in full swing within a few weeks.  He smiled as he thought of the different bouquets he could put together with a full range of flowers to choose from if the drought lifted. Maybe even a little one with some red chrysanthemums and tulips for Keith.

Speaking of Keith, he was still standing next to Lance, his hand warm in Lance’s as they both rested against the side of the stadium, waiting for their rides to come pick them up.  It had been an incredible evening, the dancing, the singing, the way that Keith had protected him when the mosh pit had opened right on top of them. As scary as it had been, Lance had never felt safer than when Keith was at his side.  It was as if they were meant to be. Lance already knew that Keith liked, loved, him and he was starting to realise that the feeling was mutual.

Lance’s phone then decided that it was the optimal time to start ringing loudly, startling both boys out of their daze.  Without even looking at who was calling him, Lance used his free hand to reach into his jacket pocket and answer.

“Hello?” he said while giving a sheepish smile to Keith, who had cocked his head in confusion as to who could be calling.

“I’m surprised you even answered your phone loverboy.  I would have thought you would be already sucking Keith’s face off by now,” Pidge’s voice came through the line.

Blushing heavily, and secretly glad he had turned his phone’s volume down a long time ago, Lance hissed, “Pidge!  What do you even want you little gremlin? I’m kinda on a date here.”

Lance saw the instant Keith had connected the dots and made a face of understanding that his roommate was the one who had called, “Well…” she started, “I know for a fact that the concert finished over fifteen minutes ago and I am still yet to have received a message from Keith to say that he wanted me to come pick him up.”

“Oh?  Well, yeah it finished.  Maybe you just haven’t seen his message?  It happens to me all the time.”

“Do you really think I would have missed a message I was waiting for McClain?” Pidge deadpanned, “Just tell that airhead that I will be there in ten minutes to pick whatever you have left of him up.”

Before Lance could say anything to reply, the line went dead.  “Hey Keith?” Lance said as he turned to the boy next to him, “Did you message Pidge?”

Keith’s eyes widened in horror, “Oh god, no.  I completely forgot!” Keith ripped his hand out of Lance’s as he scrambled to pull his own phone out and Lance saw him visibly pale at the number of messages he had waiting for him.

“Left it on silent?” Lance asked knowingly.

“Yeah,” Keith sighed as he quickly sent an apology to Pidge, “I never bother to leave it on sound since you can never hear it over the music.  She is going to kill me tonight. I swear I thought I had messaged her already.”

Lance chuckled as he finished subtly sending his own message to Hunk for his lift, “Don’t worry, I’m sure it happens to the best of us.”  

Keith glanced back over at Lance with a look that meant Lance hadn’t been as sneaky as he thought he was, “Yeah, so if I was to ask Hunk when you sent him a message, it wouldn’t be immediately after Pidge called you, would it?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Lance said with a smile, “So, what should we do now?  We have at least 10 minutes before our rides are here.”

Keith looked over at Lance as he took his hand again, “Well, we can either just hang out here and try and survive the crowds or…”

“Or?” Lance prompted.

“Or, we could head over there and have some peace and quiet and continue this date,” Keith said as he pointed to a quiet park across the parking lot.

Smiling, Lance squeezed Keith hand and started to drag him towards the park, “Well, what are we waiting for?”

They both dashed across the parking lot, dodging cars and people alike in their excitement to reach the park.  The sound of rowdy concert goers decreased as they moved further in, even if the thunder was starting to get louder, allowing the tall trees to hide them from wandering eyes.  Lance knew what Keith meant when he suggested they continue their date here, but in all honesty he hoped it meant that he would have the chance to say the thing that had been playing on his mind all evening.

“Thank you so much for coming with me tonight,” Keith said suddenly, “I really appreciate that they probably weren’t your most favourite thing to listen to, and I swear, if you wanted to do this again, I would go to a Beyonce or Rhianna concert if you wanted.”

“Keith, I-”

“I mean, you don’t have to go on another date with me if you don’t want to, I don’t want you to feel pressured to do this when I know we are trying to take this slow.  Hell, I was surprised that you agreed to come in the first place after how disastrous our last date was,” Keith was starting to ramble.

“Hey, Keith-”

“Not that it was a date!  I would rather we not call that our first date since I made a fool of myself and then made things awkward between us for ages, just because I couldn’t keep my big mouth shut,” Keith was now starting to tug at his hair, a sign Lance had learnt meant that he was starting to spiral.  “Not that this date was perfect either, I got you caught up in a mosh pit for crying out loud! You could have been seriously hurt and it would have been all my fault!”

Lance needed to stop Keith from talking just for a second, so he grabbed his arm and pulled him to face him before yelling, “Oh for fuck’s sake, can you please shut your mouth so I can tell you that I love you?”

Keith looked stunned.  His mouth was open, slack-jawed, he seemed to be almost holding his breath, as if waiting for Lance to call out that it had all been a prank.  That he hadn’t just said the sentence that they had both been waiting for.  

“Lance?  Did you just…”

“Heh,” Lance chuckled, “I guess we are both horrible with our timing when it comes to saying that, aren’t we?”

Lance moved his hand from where it had been gripped on Keith’s arm to his cheek, “Yes, Pretty Boy, I just said it and I will say it again.  I love you.”

Keith’s breath caught, “Are you sure?  Not that I don’t believe you, I just want to make sure you aren’t feeling pressured to say it or-”  

Before Keith could start rambling again, Lance took a chance and leaned in.

It probably wasn’t the best kiss in the world, it definitely wasn’t going to win any awards for Kiss of the Year, but to Lance, it was perfect.  The way Keith’s lips were chapped from all the gnawing he had done over the course of the evening, the flavour of cheap beer was drowned out by the sweetness that Lance knew was Keith’s taste.  His hands moved to run through Keith’s hair, pulling it free of the ponytail it usually sat in, and it was as silky smooth as he had always thought it was. Lance tilted his head after he felt Keith’s hands move from where they had been frozen to rest on his hips, gently pulling him in closer and when he let his tongue run across Keith’s lips he was rewarded with a soft gasp.

The clink of metal on his teeth was a shock.

Allowing himself to investigate, Lance was surprised to find that Keith had a piercing on his tongue.  The small metal ball was cool against his tongue as they battled for dominance in the kiss. As Keith grew more comfortable, he became more aggressive and soon won the battle, not that Lance fought hard once he realised that he liked Keith being that dominating in their romance.

It was then that the heavens opened up and the storm that had been threatening all night to come, arrived.  The rain was cold as it fell down upon them, Lance knew he was going to be soaked by the time he got home, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.  Not when he had the most beautiful creature in existence in his arms, and kissing him like there was no tomorrow. Lance allowed himself to get caught up in the kiss again, moving his hands to allow him to feel as much of Keith as he could when they were in semi-public.

A car honked loudly right next to the grove of trees they were standing behind, as a voice called out, “Get in bitch!  We’re going home!”

Keith and Lance both jumped out of their skin and then proceeded to laugh hysterically at the hilarity of Pidge finding their hiding place and using a Mean Girls reference.  Lance smiled as he kissed Keith on the lips softly, “You better go before she leaves your cute ass here.”

“Would that really be a bad thing?” Keith said.

Lance chuckled, “You are the one that has to live with the gremlin, you tell me.”

Sighing, Keith pulled away, “Yeah, I don’t want to wake up covered in glitter again, that stuff is impossible to get rid of.”

“Again?”

“Don’t ask,” Keith said as he ducked back in for a kiss as Pidge hit the horn again, “Alright!  I’m coming! Keep your devil horns on!”

Lance shoved Keith gently, “You better go.  I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Of course, I need to make sure my boyfriend has his daily kiss, don’t I?” he said as he started to walk away, not taking his eyes of Lance.

“Boyfriend?”  Lance was the one stunned now, Keith had just called him his boyfriend.  

They were actually dating now.  It had happened. As he watched Keith jump into the front seat of Pidge’s car and proceed to get hit in the arm, probably for not texting her as promised, he couldn’t help but feel as if he was floating on air.  He knew his phone was ringing, probably Hunk trying to find where he was, but he couldn’t seem to care as he watched the car with Keith inside pull away from him. Lance touched his lips as he smiled softly to himself, he could still taste Keith, the sweet, and yet rough boy who had stolen his heart.  His boyfriend.

Chapter Text

Lance’s fingers gripping the edge of the kitchen counter were the only things holding him up from collapsing on the floor.  There were tears in his eyes and he was wheezing with every breath.  It felt as if he were going to die at any moment and yet Keith, his boyfriend of four months, could only sit on the couch of Lance’s apartment and pout.

“You don’t have to laugh that hard Lance,” Keith said as he crossed his arms.

Lance took a moment to try and get his breathing under control, and then gave himself an extra moment, before rising from his half prone position in the kitchen.  “Keith, babe,” he said before letting out another chuckle, “You were screaming like a baby, this is the funniest day of my life!”

Keith’s pout deepened, if that were possible, “Oh, shut your mouth.  You probably would have screamed even louder if you had been the one having to deal with the creepy-ass creatures that jump out at you from nowhere.”

“Hey, you are the one who wanted to fight the monsters, not me.”  Lance shrugged, “If you didn’t want to be such a scaredy cat, you could have played Killbot Phantasm, but no, you wanted to play the game that has been dubbed ‘The Most Frightening Game In Existence’.”

“I had to see what all the fuss was about,” Keith said as he shifted in his seat on the couch to look away from Lance, who had the biggest grin on his face, “Plus, Pidge would never have let me live it down if she had found out I was too scared to play.”

Lance looked down at the messy kitchen bench in front of him, “So that is why you came over to play it here, instead of doing it at home?”

Keith spun to look back at Lance, his mouth open to protest, when he was met with a face full of flour, the dust cloud softly wafting in the air-conditioned room.  There was silence for a moment as Keith seemed to process what had happened to him, before he raised his hands and wiped the flour from his face as best he could.  All while sending a glare towards his boyfriend, who still had his arm outstretched from where he had thrown the handful of flour.

“Lance,” Keith growled in warning, as he spotted Lance’s hand reaching for the bag of flour again, “Don’t you dare.”  The smirk on Lance’s face was all the warning Keith got before he dodged the next handful of flying dust and managing to only get hit with a light mist instead of a facefull.  

“What are you going to do about it, huh Keithy boy?  Are you going to fight back or just sit there like a scaredy cat?” Lance taunted as he glanced down to get some more ammunition. 

This was Lance’s big mistake as it allowed Keith to vault over the couch and race into the kitchen to wrap his arms around Lance’s torso, trapping his arms into his body and effectively dropping his grip on the flour bag, dropping it onto the floor.  The dust cloud covered both boys as they struggled with each other for dominance in the hold.  Much to Lance’s disdain, Keith remained rigid in his hold, even when he removed one arm to reach towards the bench.  Lance’s eyes widened when he realized what Keith was reaching for.

The eggs.

“Keith.  Buddy.  Think about what you are doing.  Don’t you pick them up.  Keith!  No!” Lance cried as he felt the raw egg dripping through his hair.

Keith smirked as he watched Lance mourn his, once previously, clean hair, “Heh, like that?”

“You are a cruel, cruel man, Kogane,” Lance pouted as he slumped in Keith’s arms, still trapped within them.

Keith turned Lance so that he was facing him, but made sure to keep his boyfriend encircled within his hold.  Keith still didn’t know how he had managed to be so fortunate to be able to have Lance agree to be his boyfriend.  Even after four months of dating, it still felt like a dream, like he was going to wake up one morning and find that he was still waiting for the man in his arms to be ready for a relationship.

The rest of the boulevard had been gentle in their teasing of the pair, almost as if they were aware of how fragile the relationship felt to Keith, as if one careless poke or jab, could bring the entire thing crumbling down.  Not that it would.  Keith knew that what he and Lance had was strong.  That while they might fight or disagree on things, from where they wanted to go for dinner together or the fact that Lance works too hard and doesn’t give himself enough time to ensure he doesn’t burn out, they would always come back to each other, apologetic for arguing with the other and would fall asleep cuddling on the couch.

“Yeah, but you love me,” Keith said as he smiled at Lance.

Lance’s cheeks burned, “Yeah, I do.”

Keith made sure to give him a peck on the lips before he turned to look at the mess, Lance’s kitchen had become.  “So what were you supposed to be making again?”

Lance straightened his flour and egg covered clothes, “Well, I was supposed to be making a cake for Hunk’s birthday tomorrow, but I need to clean up this mess first.”

“How about I give you a hand cleaning, and then we can make that cake together?” Keith said as he rolled his shirt sleeves up, “I’m pretty sure I can do some pretty epic icing designs, since it’s not that different from tattooing.”

Lance beamed at him, “Well considering that you are the reason this kitchen is so messy, I think it is only reasonable that you help me.”

“How am I the reason?” Keith cried from where he was pulling a cloth from the drawer, “You are the one who threw all the flour!”

“I only threw it because my boyfriend was being a scaredy cat about some fake ass monsters on a TV screen,” Lance said as he bent down to pick up the flour bag and try and salvage whatever flour was left.

“Oh shut it McClain.”

Chapter Text

Keith couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he drove Lance back to their house. They had moved in together six months after they had started dating, much to the amusement of their friends, who had apparently been taking bets on how long it would take them. Shiro won. They had decided to stay with Lance’s house that he had previously been renting, since it was close enough to the Boulevard and had plenty of spare rooms for Keith’s art supplies and bike. It had also allowed them to get a puppy a year later, Lady, who was a Red Heeler who had an abundance of energy. Lance was still proud of the fact that he now had a matching pair of pets who were characters from the children’s show that Keith would never admit that he actually liked.

It had been three years since Lance had admitted that he loved Keith and that they had kissed in the rain after the concert. Three years of surprise bouquets of flowers, of intimate dates under the moonlight, of screaming matches at three in the morning over who’s turn it was to take out the trash, three years of being in a whirlpool of emotions and never knowing where the surface was. Three years that he would never change for anything.

Those three years had also changed them and their familia. Allura had started dating a fellow actor from her troupe named Lotor and things were looking good after ten months of dating, Pidge had received her tattooing licence and was in the process of starting up her own business with the support of Shiro and Adam. Shay had jumped ship over to Piece of Cake to work with Hunk a year ago, and they were now one of the most popular bakeries in town, Coran was starting to joke about retirement, not that anyone actually believed him.

As for Romelle and Matt, they had been married for a year and a half now. Their wedding had been truly unique to them, with lots of memorabilia from their lives together, from the time they had met, up until their wedding. Pidge had been Matt’s Best Man and Romelle’s younger sister, Luna, had been her Maid of Honour, with the rest of the familiar each having a different role within the wedding. Keith had been the ring bearer with Chat Noir and Lady and Lance had been the MC for the reception, which had caused a riot with all the extended family.

Keith and Lance had just come from a dinner at the still happily married couple’s house, where they had sprung the surprise that Romelle was three months pregnant with their first child. Of course, this meant the entire dinner had been thrown into chaos, as each member of the familia had taken it upon themselves to give the happy couple a hug.

Keith had noticed the look in Lance’s eyes though, when he had stepped back from giving Romelle a huge hug, a look of wanting. Keith knew that Lance had been caught up in the wedding and now baby fever, something that they had discussed in detail over the years, something that had scared Keith to pieces. He had seen what marriage could do to a person with his parents, what that pressure could cause a person to do. To be able to just up and leave the people you were supposed to love, just because it became too much responsibility.

Keith knew that it was something that meant a lot to Lance, who had come from such a large and loving family, where having a wedding or a christening almost every year was the norm. Lance had told Keith, time after time, that it didn’t matter if they never got married or had children, as long as they had each other. Anyway, they had Chat Noir and Lady, who were basically their children, just a little bit furrier.

Keith felt the weight of the little box sitting in his jacket pocket get heavier as he pulled up to their driveway. He had been planning this for months, deciding on the best way to propose, even calling Lance’s sisters back in Cuba for advice, picking out the ring and even taking dancing lessons from a local studio when he was supposed to be ‘taking an art class’. The sound of Lance shutting the door of their house startled Keith out of his thoughts, causing him to turn and look at his boyfriend fondly.

“What?” Lance asked as he shrugged his jacket off to hang on their coat rack.

Shaking his head, Keith just smiled, “Nothing, just admiring the view.”

Lance laughed, “Well, as long as you don’t mind me doing the same, by all means, admire away.”

“How about we listen to some music?” Keith suggested as he moved to where the stereo system was set up. He made a show of looking through a small selection of discs, even though the one he really wanted was already set and ready to play. “How about this one?”

As the sound of soft Cuban music started to fill the living room, Keith allowed his hips to start to move, just as his dance teacher had taught him. He made a point of not turning around straight away, just letting the music wash away some of his nerves, and to let Lance enjoy the view that he had never seen before. Keith dancing properly, and sober.

Keith glanced over his shoulder to where Lance was standing, mouth open and eyes trained on Keith’s behind. With a smirk, he slowly turned so that he was now facing Lance and amped up the swing in his hips while he made his way to where Lance stood.

“Take my hand.”

Lance took a moment to register that Keith had actually spoken, “Why?”

“Because I want to dance with you,” Keith said, holding his hand out.

“But why?”

Keith swore internally. He loved this man, but sometimes Lance made it very difficult to be romantic. “I’m trying to ask you to marry me, so take my damn hand!”

“You what?” Lance looked like a deer caught in the headlights as he stood in their living room, mouth open and still as a statue.

Keith’s expression softened as he moved to take Lance’s stiff hand, “I am trying to ask you to marry me, you idiot.”

The soft name calling was surprisingly the thing that seemed to snap Lance out of his stupor, “That’s not a nice thing to call the person you are proposing to.”

“Well, you were standing there like one, but you are my idiot and that is why I love you,” Keith tugged Lance’s hand gently to get him to move back into the middle of the room, “You are one of the most amazing people I have ever known Lance. You are smart and kind, gentle and artistic, you are amazing with kids and just about anyone you meet. You managed to convince me to stay in one place for more than a couple of months, something no one has been able to do since I became an adult.”

By this point, both boys had started to sway in the middle of their lounge room, the soft music still playing in the background, “You are so beautiful Lance, I could get lost in your eyes, or in the softness of your skin. There are so many things that I love about you, so many reasons that I could stay with you forever, but the reason I want to marry you.” Keith moved to kneel on one leg, pulling the ring box from his jacket, “Is because you are you. So, Lance Charles McClain, will you marry me?”

Keith watched as tears filled Lance’s eyes, as his lips trembled, and his hands shook as he leant down and pulled Keith back up onto his feet. The kiss was understandably wet from all the tears, but as far as Keith was concerned, it was the best kiss he had ever had.

“Yes.”