Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It's the third time in the last two weeks that Lance does the journey to the animals shelter, but once again, he finds himself perambulate in front of it instead of going in like a normal person would do.

It may be stupid, but he's nervous. When he was still living with his family, they never adopted any pet, there was so many of them that a pet would just have been too much. But now, Lance lives alone, and he's lonely, and he always dreamed of having a cat, so really, nothing should be stopping him.

He can almost hear Hunk's voice in his head telling him to "fucking go in that shelter, Lance", but still, he's just really scared because he has no idea of how to take care of a cat, let alone a kitten.

Lance takes a deep sigh and makes his decision. This is stupid, he can always ask for help or look on the internet if he's not sure, no big deal. He can do that.

He turns around to open the door when another guy passes in front of him to do just that.

"Huh, rude." He can't help but comment, and as the guy turns to look at him, he wishes he shut his mouth for once because the guy is probably the most gorgeous person he had ever seen in his life.

He looks at Lance, surprise on his face, impossible indigo eyes wide opened, an eyebrow slightly raised, and kind of long black hair framing his traits.

"What?" He asks him, confused, and Lance realizes his mouth is slightly opened, so he hurries to close it, sending the guy his best grin.

"Nothing, man, you must be hearing voices. Are you going in there or do you think the air conditioning is working just for fun?" He makes fun of him, and the guy rolls his eyes before entering the shelter, not holding the door for Lance who almost gets hit.

"Okay so now that's really rude." He says, catching the door just in time.

"Thought I was hearing voices." The guy answers, not even bothering to look at Lance as he walks in the shelter, and Lance can't help but chuckle.

"Thought you didn't understand what I said." He says right back, pleased with himself.

He swears he can hear the guy rolling his eyes again, groaning slightly.

"Hello, gentlemen, how can I help you?" A woman asks behind a desk, standing up to greet them, and Lance is almost startled. With that guy, he forgot where he was or why he was there. At least his nerves calmed down.

"We're not together." The guy hurries to clarify, as if the idea of going anywhere with Lance is disgusting. He's almost wounded. "And I'm here to adopt a kitten." He adds, but Lance is not having it.

"What?! No, no no no. I'M adopting a kitten. I swear to god, if there's only one kitten and you give it to him-"

The guy turns to look at Lance with annoyance, and Lance hates how pretty he still looks. This is not authorized. Nope. He definitely hates this guy, he won't let him steal his kitten. Never. Not in a million years.

"What's your problem?"

But before Lance can lists all the problems he has with the very existence of the guy, the woman interferes, preventing Lance to make a scene. Blessed woman.

"Gentlemen, please. We actually have two kittens so if you can just calm down I can take you to them?" She offers nicely, but with a bit of annoyance in her voice, as if she's about to snap at the next one who'll act stupid. Not that it's what Lance is doing. It's all the guy's fault.

"Works for me." He says, relieved that he won't have to fight for the kitten, but also stressed because it's really happening now. After that, no way of going back to when he didn't have a kitten. His life is about to change.

"Same." The other guy adds, following the woman in the corridor leading to where the animals are.

Lance hurries behind to catch up, walking next to the guy, but a bit in front of him still. He wants to be the first one to see them, he wants it to be an evidence, he wants the guy to be jealous because Lance and his kitten have such a great relationship right away.

Lance looks at him in the corner of his eye, trying not to be noticed but unable not to look at him. He's still frowning a bit. Maybe it's something he does often, without thinking about it.

Suddenly, it turns into the fondest look Lance has even seen in his life, a slight, unconscious smile to go with, and Lance feels his heart going crazy because this can only mean one thing. This fucker dared to see the kittens before him.

Mad at himself, Lance looks around and is fast to locate the pen where the two tiniest kittens ever are sleeping, nestled against each other. It's almost a crime they have to be separated, never to see the other one again.

The woman steps aside, letting the two young men getting closer to take a look at the kittens, and Lance forgets completely about the other guy as he feels himself melt at the sight of the kittens. One of them is of the most mesmerizing ginger, almost like fire dancing as he moves a bit in his sleep. The other one is of a light grey with reflections that make him looks almost.. Blue. Lance's favorite color. He feels warmth invade him, and he just knows he has to get this one.

He throws a look at the other guy, still looking at the kittens like they hold the secret to happiness, and Lance feels his stomach knots because what if the guy just fell in love for his blue kitten? He absolutely adores the ginger one too, but he just feels it in his guts that the other one is his and his only.

Lance is too panicked to notice that the guy stopped looking at the kittens to turn his head over him, and pretending he wasn't already looking by looking away would make it seems like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't do, which he wasn't, so he just wait for the guy to do the next move, ready to fight.

"So, which one do you prefer?" He asks Lance.

"No, I'm not telling you. You're going to want the same one!" Lance panics, before mentally slapping himself because maybe if he just told the one he wanted, the guy would have accepted to take the other one and it would have been done with.

The guy sighs. "What about we tell which one we want at the same time?" He offers, and Lance can see the woman shaking her head as if she never saw something more tiring in her whole life but he doesn't care.

"Deal." He answers, praying all gods that this will turns out okay. He really wants the blue kitten.

"On three. One.. Two.. Three!"

They speaks in the same time:

"The blue one!"

"The red one!"

They both look at each other like they were watching an alien, and if the woman sighs, relieved, Lance ignores her once again.

"How is it red? It's fucking ginger, man! Dark, but still orange!" Lance says, outraged, so loud that the kittens startle, waking up slowly. Lance feels guilty, but is mostly amazed by how cute they look, all tired and looking around to see what is happening.

"Good job." The guy comments, glaring at Lance, who rolls his eyes back. "And you know what? There's a name for dark orange and it's red. By the way it's a cheeky comment for someone who calls grey blue."

Lance opens his mouth to reply with a smart comment but the woman doesn't give him the chance, coming right between them as if she's scared they would hit each other. "That's enough! Can't you just be happy each of you can have the one he wants? Look at you, arguing like an old married couple. You should be ashamed of yourselves."

Lance blushes furiously, as much at the comment in itself than because he's getting yelled at by a stranger for yelling at another stranger. The guy isn't looking better either, thankfully.

"Sorry." He mumbles, and the guy does the same, refusing to look at Lance again. Weirdly, that annoys Lance. Crazy how everything about this guy annoys him.

The woman shakes her head. "I'll get the adoption papers. You can start to get to know them without fighting."

They both nod vigorously like kids reprimanded by their mother, but the moment the woman leaves the room, Lance can't help but look back at the guy mischievously.

"I bet I can get my kitten to come in my arms before you." He challenges him with a tentative grin, and the guy immediately grin back.

"You're so on."

And then, the fight begins. Lance goes right away for the most logical strategy by offering his fingers to the cat to smell, making small noises with his mouth to get its attention. The kitten naturally wonders what it is, and smells gently Lance's fingers before rubbing its tiny head on them. Lance takes the opportunity to scratch its head carefully, smiling softly because it's the cutest thing ever.

Suddenly, the ginger kitten catches his attention by making a little jump backward, and he laughs as the other guy pulls him arm back rapidly.

"Shut up." The guy tells him, looking down, clearly disappointed. Lance is about to tease him but realizes he doesn't really want to because that face is so not meant to be sad and maybe his kitten is making him too soft but he can't bring himself to be cruel to a guy who just got rejected by his kitten.

The woman comes back with the papers, a professional smile on her face. Lance is pretty sure it's fake but can't blame her for that.

"Okay, so, who are we starting with?" She asks with a severe look, daring them to argue to go first. And Lance is totally going to go for it, just to have the pleasure to take his kitten in his arm first.

"Go on, I'm not in a rush, I can wait." The guy says, not letting Lance the time to call first and he's so offended because what? They're supposed to be rivals, he's supposed to fight Lance, not just let him go first without a fight!

"What?! You arrived first, you're supposed to want to go first! It's called logic!" He argues, and the guy looks at him like he's crazy. Okay, maybe he should have dropped this one. Good thing he'll never see him or the woman again after that.

"You were in front of the shelter before me, even if you waited outside for some reason! And I thought you'd want to go first." The guy explains.

"Oh I totally want to go first." Lance says, petting his kitten's head, sending a haughty look at the guy who still doesn't dare trying to touch his own kitten again. Yeah, Lance definitely did the right choice with that blue cat.

"Do you guys really have to disagree to agree?" The woman asks, annoyed, and Lance sends her his most charming smile to be forgiven.

"Sorry about that, this guy's really trying to get on my nerves." He falsely confides in her, pretending the other guy isn't there or can't hear him.

"Whatever." She says. "Name?"

"Lance McClain, but you can call me anytime." He winks at her, but all he can see is the other guy rolling his eyes. He probably wishes he was as smooth as Lance is.

"Okay, I'm not doing that. Here, write your infos yourself, please." She decides, holding out the paper to Lance. "You too." She adds, giving one to the other guy too.

"I wouldn't hit on you." He declares, not taking the paper.

"But I'm sure you know how to write." She retorts, and Lance snorts, finally, he likes that woman just fine.

The guy huffs but is smart enough not to say anything. He just takes the paper begrudgingly, and starts writing. Curious, Lance looks to catch his name, but the guy feels his look on him and switch the pen he's holding on his other hand to hide his answers.

"Aw, man, don't ruin the file with shitty handwriting just for me." He teases him with a smirk.

The guy doesn't even stop writing when he answers: "I'm ambidextrous."

Well, what's Lance supposed to answer to that.

They filled the papers silently after that, but Lance makes sure to finish first, giving the paper back to the woman with a proud smile she doesn't return. Whatever. The guy's done too, and the woman takes a look at it like she did just before with Lance's before bursting into laughing for a second, stopping right when she can control herself again.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Lance yells, trying to grab the papers, but she puts them into a drawer behind her.

"Nothing. Do you have a cage to take them home? They're both females, if you gentlemen care about that." She changes the subject, and Lance lets her because damn, he didn't think one time of asking that. Is he a bad father already? But it's not his fault, she's so cute that he can't think straight right now.

He exchanges a look with the other guy, who looks equally ashamed of himself. Good.

"Oh, that's great. I mean, I don't really care as long as she's healthy but—"

"I don't have a cage. Can you lend one to me? I can bring it back tomorrow or something." The guy cuts him, and the woman nods tiredly as if she wasn't expecting anything different anyway. Rude.

"I'll lend you both a cage, yeah, no problem." She assures, and Lance is grateful he doesn't have to ask himself. "Follow me. With the kittens."

And with that, she leaves the room. Lance immediately kneels down, offering his hand once again to his blue kitten. His kitten. Wow, that's a weird thought. She smells him, and he takes the opportunity to grab her under the tummy to lift her. He cradles her gently, looking at the other guy who's still trying to approach the ginger kitten.

"You're so terrible at this, I feel sorry for her." He can't help but say.

The other guy just glares at him and Lance is weirdly disappointed.

"You don't have to stay here and make fun of me, you know. You can just leave already." He finally says after a few seconds of Lance watching him, and Lance feels himself blushing.

"Yeah, right, I'll just.. Yeah." He stammers, walking slowly to the door and back in the main room where the woman is waiting with the cages.

He puts the kitten in one gently, closing it. He pays the adoption fee as slowly as he can, but the other guy is still not there.

"I'll go help him. Goodbye, take care of her!" The woman says as if reading into his thoughts, and Lance turns around grudgingly, disappointed he can't have a proper goodbye with the other guy, just to make fun of him one last time, of course. But he doesn't have an excuse, and there's no way he's waiting outside because that would just be too obvious, and it's not like he has the day to lose anyway.

He walks to the subway, unable to stop himself from watching his kitten every two seconds. Then it hits him. He has to give her a name. Gods, how did he not think about that earlier? He looks at her again, thinking. Then he realizes he already named her, unconsciously. Blue. Of course. The other guy would be pissed. Lance likes that.

He enters the subway, slowly and with difficulty as he passes the cumbersome door. He makes his way down the stairs carefully, and swears when the tube leaves right in front of him. He looks at the table, and of course, the next one is only in seven minutes. Great.

He sighs and sits, waiting with Blue's cage on his lap. She looks at him with her eyes wide opened, as if she's asking him what is going on. She's the cutest and maybe he's not supposed to love her that much that fast but gods, does he loves her already.

"Hey, Blue. Everything's okay, we're just going home. It'll be a bit scary but it's the only way to go, it would take forever to walk there and I don't have the money for a car." He explains her, and if she can't possibly understand him, she looks more relaxed, maybe just by the sound of his voice.

He smiles at her, putting his fingers inside her cage to touch her. She doesn't seem to mind, even leaning into the touch.

When the tube finally arrives, he stands up, going in as soon as the doors open to sit, Blue's cage on the seat next to him. Thankfully, there's not a lot of people so he can allow himself to take two seats.

The doors close, and he thinks he'll be able to just chill when someone sits in front of Blue, placing a cage in front of Lance. He looks and can't help but grin because it's that guy again, looking a bit out of breath, cheeks pink, heavy breathing.

"Missed me already?" He asks, unable to stop himself.

The guy jumps, surprised, before looking at Lance with shock in his purple eyes. He sighs, collapsing on his seat, closing his eyes as he tries to catch his breath.

"I'm too tired for this shit." He mumbles, and Lance almost doesn't hear him because it's so noisy in there.

"Aw, come on, stop being so rude! Glad to see you finally caught her, she didn't look so pleased to come with you." He makes fun of the guy, who just ignores him. Okay, maybe he's really hurt by Lance's comments? "How did you name her?" He adds, trying to play nice.

The guy must says something, as his lips move softly, but with the noise of the tube braking, Lance can't catch anything. The tube stops, and it's Lance's chance.

"What was that?" He asks again.

"Red." The guy answers, opening his eyes to straighten a little bit and look at her with a fond smile.

And Lance can't believe his ears because what. And then how dare he.

"No. No! You're so not stealing my cat's name!" He yells, attracting the looks of the few people that are here too, but he doesn't care.

"You're naming her Red..?" The guy asks, skeptical.

"No, Blue."

"Then what is your problem again? Red and Blue are really different names you know." The guy says, smirking at Lance and gods how Lance wants to take that smirk away.

"It's the idea!" He clarifies, annoyed the guy has to pretend he doesn't understand.

"I didn't even know your cat's name so how the fuck would have I cheated or anything? You're not making any sense."

Lance glares at him, unable to find a good comeback.

They make a good job at ignoring each other as the stops pass, Lance hoping that the guy would just go already so the awkward moment would be over. Then, realizing he isn't stopping any time soon, he finds himself wishing for his stop to just come faster.

Finally, they're slowing down to his stop, but as he's about to take Blue's cage to stand, the guy does just that. Lance's mouth falls open and he stands rapidly.

"Why are you following me?" He asks, more aggressively than he expects.

The guy looks at Lance as if he's dirt on his shoes and walk away, exiting the tube while shaking his head. Lance bits his lips, a weird feeling on his inside. He doesn't like it.

The alarm of the tube goes on, and Lance realizes with a start that he needs to get out now. He runs a bit and the door closes right behind him. He hurries out of the platform, catching up on the other guy as he pushes the heavy exit door. He looks behind, and holds the door when he sees Lance, who smiles shyly.

"Thanks." He mumbles sheepishly, but the guy already turned around, walking fast up the stairs.

Lance catches up thanks to his long legs, and takes a great pleasure to overtake him, the muscles of his legs slightly burning but so worth it. He can hears the guy huffing. That makes Lance smiles.

He walks along the road, checking in every shop window if the guy is still following him. When he arrives at the dead end where his building is, he's almost disappointed. Until the guy follows in. Lance can't help but turn around.

"Are you going to murder me?"

And maybe he is. Lance doesn't know anything about the guy after all. Maybe he messed with the wrong guy and is about to pay the price. But he seriously doubt it. He saw the way the guy looked at the kittens, he couldn't be a psychopath.

Or could he?

"I exited the subway before you, what the fuck is wrong with you?" The guy snaps, clearly annoyed, and Lance doesn't know where to put himself.

"I— It's just, since then, you've been following me!" He accuses, knowing it's ridiculous, but unable to stop.

"Why don't you just stay here until I'm home so I can't see where you live? Like that, we're sure we'll never see each other again." The guy is out of patience, and Lance wishes the ground would just swallow him whole.

"That's dumb, man." Because it is. Their whole conversation has been.

"You're dumb! Go fuck yourself, man, seriously." The guy says coldly, and Lance has trouble seeing what he found attractive in the stranger earlier.

He watches him leave, mouth opened in shock. He knows sometimes his strong personality annoys people, but never in his life a stranger yelled at him like that. He doesn't know if he wants to cry or punch something, but only the little meowing of Blue makes him move again.

He walks to his building's door, opens it, and goes for the elevator when he notices the guy waiting in front of it. He realizes then he didn't even look behind what door the guy had disappeared, so nothing had prepared him for that. The guy sees him and sighs.

"I'll take the stairs." He mumbles, putting his foot on the first step, but Lance stops him.

"Don't. I.. I'm sorry, okay? Didn't mean to be rude or anything. I can wait for the next one or something." Lance says, looking down at the floor to avoid the guy's eyes.

He sighs deeply, but comes back in front of the elevator. "Don't bother, it's okay. I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have lost my temper."

Lance nods, an uneasy feeling on his inside. He can't wait to be home, and really doesn't want to wait for the elevator to come back again. He just wants to be in his flat and introduce Blue to everything he bought for her the last couple of weeks.

When the elevator arrives, the guy squeezes himself as much as he can away from the door, and Lance would have been offended if the thought of making the guy as uncomfortable as he felt didn't bring him joy.

"Imagine if we get trapped inside." He says once the doors are closed, eying the guy, testing his reaction. It's not his fault, he just needs to get under his nerves, to test his limits.

"Don't." The guy answers, but there's no animosity. Just tiredness. Lance looks at him, and notices the dark circles under his eyes, and remembers how he looked about ready to fall asleep in the tube. He wonders what put him in that state, but he knows better than to ask.

They stay silent for the rest of the ascension, both going out on the 5th floor. Lance goes out first, stopping in front of the first door on the left, and watches with shock as the guy passes him to stop at the second door, right next to his own.

They looks at each other for a moment, not believing their eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me." Lance comments, unable to stop himself because what were the chances, really. What were the chances that another guy would want to adopt a kitten just when he did, and that the guy would stop at the same stop of the tube, then on the same building, same floor, just to live right next to Lance.

Lesson of the day: don't be rude and start fight with a stranger, he could turns out to be the guy next door.

The guy chuckles and puts his cage on the floor, taking his key out of his bag to open the door. As he's about to close it behind him, Lance comes out of his trance and takes a step to the side, looking at the guy.

"Hey, I bet I can make Blue learn her name before Red does." He declares, a hopeful smile on his lips. Or the guy would tell him to fuck off and he'd just have to try and avoid him forever, or he would take the bet and.. Who knows.

"You're so on, McClain." He answers, smirking, and Lance feels so many things at once that he has trouble breathing because damn, that smirk is hot, and does that mean they're cool? Or is it war? What the heck is going on?

The guy starts to close the door again, but Lance can't just let it ends like that.

"Wait! I never got your name!" He calls back, but the guy just laughs and shut the door at Lance's nose. "Asshole."

Shaking his head, he finally opens his front door and lets Blue out of her cage.

He's so going to win this.

* * *

"Baby, I'm home!" Lance yells as he closes his front door, letting his keys fall on the kitchen counter. He puts his bag on the floor and takes his shoes off. It's warm enough outside that he doesn't need a jacket.

He makes a few steps inside his living room, looking around for Blue. She's not on the couch (she generally prefers sleeping there than on her tiny bed he bought for her), or eating, or on the balcony (he lets it opened so she can go to the litter without making his whole flat smelling like poo, but of course, he made sure she can't fall or run away), and after checking over the bookcase, Lance would have started to worry if he hadn't see her tiny head stepping out of his bedroom.

She looks at him with her wide eyes, her head slightly tilted, and he just melts.

"You're too cute, I can't handle it." He announces, dropping to his knees in front of her to pet her. He only had her for three days, but it's crazy how important she became in his life. She's now his wallpaper on his phone and computer, and he refused a date with some girl from work just to get back to her first. Okay, the girl wasn't really his type, but still.

He lifts Blue, holding her in his hands until he reaches the couch, where he lets himself fall. She immediately huddles against him on his lap, purring happily. She's starting to fall asleep when someone knocks loudly on the door five times.

Lance sighs, considering ignoring them for a moment. Okay, it's rude, but he just got back home and he really doesn't want to deal with anyone right now. He checks his phone in case someone told him they were on their way and he didn't feel his phone buzz, but nothing.

They knock again, and Blue sends him a strict look. "What? Don't make me stand up, please, daddy's tired, honey."

"I know you're in there, McClain, I heard you!" They yells, and Lance stands with a start because holy shit it's his stranger. The stranger. His neighbor. The one he still doesn't know the name of but who's still way too much in his thoughts.

"Coming!" He answers, an octave too high.

He places Blue on the couch before almost running to the door, breathing out deeply before opening the door.

"Hey, asshole! And yeah, I'm going to call you that until you— Aaaah, what are you doing?"

The guy didn't wait for Lance to be done with his greeting to grab him by the wrist, forcing him to follow. Lance just have the time to close the door to prevent Blue from running away before he's rudely dragged into the flat next door.

It feels weirdly cozy, a real home he wouldn't have expected from that guy. He stops once they're in, letting go of Lance who only registers then that he touched him.

"What are you—" Lance starts, but is stopped by the guy's finger on his lips, urging him to shut up. Lance can't resist the urge to lick it away.

And it works. The guy immediately takes his finger away with a disgusted noise. "Ugh, what the fuck, man, that's gross!" He complains, wiping his finger on Lance's shirt.

Lance chuckles. "What are you, five?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing." The guy retorts with a severe frown.

Lance just grins, looking around. "Listen, as much as I enjoy being kidnapped, what are we waiting for again?"

He doesn't know what he expected, but it certainly wasn't for the guy to just smile with the most satisfied smile he's even seen. It looks good on him.

"Red?" His neighbor calls, and Lance understands what is going to happen right before it actually happens. And as expected, the tiny ginger kitten arrives, running to her human friend from nowhere, looking at him with the same adorable eyes Blue always looks at him with.

The guy kneels in front of her, petting her tiny head, and she purrs so loudly Lance is sure the whole building can hear her. The guy smiles softly at her, and Lance feels himself melt until he understands what that means. He lost. How could he lost?!

Okay, maybe he shouldn't always call Blue pet names instead of her actual name, but it's not his fault, she's so cute that they come naturally. He thought he had more time, the guy was terrible with Red just three days ago! How could he suddenly be the cats whisperer?!

"Dude, how?!" He asks, outraged, and the guy just dares to look at him with that adorable smile and Lance is so so furious.

"I just actually call her by her name." He teases, standing back up to be at Lance's height.

"Okay, first of all, stop spying on me, second, it's not my fault Blue's so cute, and third, how did you do that? She hated you three days ago!"

The guy glares at him, crossing his arms. "She didn't hate me! She just needed to get used to me, she doesn't just open up to everyone right away, there's nothing wrong with that!" He defends himself, and okay, maybe Lance was a bit harsh, but he just hates losing so much.

"Geez, calm down, I never said it was, I'm just surprised, that's all." Lance answers calmly, holding his hands up in surrender.

But the guy just frown, not settling at all. "Anyway, that's all I had to show you. You can leave, now." He informs Lance.

"Oh, okay. I'll just.. Bye, then." Lance says, embarrassed, turning around to open the door for himself and closing it again behind him.

What the heck was that about?

He shakes his head, not even knowing what he's feeling right now. He tries to open his own door, but it's locked. Of course it's lock. Lance has been living there for months now, he knows fully well the door locks itself without the key when you close it.

"Shit." He mumbles, letting his head bangs against the door, staying like that for a few seconds. He just wants to cry. Stupid. Stupid him, stupid hot and rude neighbor, stupid door, stupid keys.

He slips his hand on his pocket to grab his phone, but can't find anything. Of course, he left it on the couch with Blue when he checked for a text or call. Great. Amazing. Perfect, really.

He could still try to convince someone to let him borrow their phone, but it's not like he knows Hunk's number by heart (he's the one who has his spare key), and it's not like he can go very far with only socks on anyway.

He hits his head on the door once again, panic rising fast in his chest. What the hell is he supposed to do? He can't call a locksmith, it would cost him more than he can afford (that, and the fact that he still doesn't have a phone). He can't go down and try to climb from the bottom of the building, he would definitely die. And he can't just ask a random neighbor to let him pass by their window or balcony to go back home, he doesn't know any and they'd think he's crazy.

Unless..

Well, he definitely knows guy-next-door now. He hates him, sure, but he knows Lance. And it's totally his fault if Lance is in this situation right now. Without him forcing Lance to leave his apartment, not letting him the chance to grab his keys or phone, he'd be home, cuddling Blue without a worry in the world.

Okay, he can do that. He doesn't have much of a choice anyway.

Slowly, he walks to the other door again, rises his fist, and knocks twice. He exhales deeply, hoping against all hopes that this is going to turns out fine.

Then, the door opens and he's met with purple eyes he could never get used to, intrigued first, and then his stranger is frowning again. Typical.

"What—"

But this time, it's Lance who doesn't let him finish.

"Here's the thing. When you kidnapped me, I didn't have my keys or phone on me, so now I'm trapped outside and I can't afford a locksmith because I have a cat to feed, man." He starts to explain, hoping his neighbor will stop being an ass just for once and help him.

"Shit, ugh, I can kick the door opened for you if you want but—"

"Wait, what?! No! I'm not.. No. I just need to climb from your balcony to mine!" Lance stops him again, shaking his head violently because what the hell? True, his neighbor is muscled enough to force his door opened but.. Damn, why did he have to notice these muscles too now?

"Oh because that's totally less crazy! We're on the fifth floor!" The guy remarks smartly, and Lance rolls his eyes. He doesn't have much of a choice, does he?

"Listen, I have a very good balance and there's like.. One meter between our balconies, I have long legs, I can totally do that." He affirms, confident.

"Why were you so worried the other day that I would murder you if you have a death wish anyway?" His neighbor is back at crossing his arms, and Lance doesn't understand why he's so stressed about this if he hates Lance. Maybe he just doesn't want to see him crushed on the road five floors under them. Yeah, pretty traumatizing if you'll ask him.

He's about to answer when he hears the door of the elevator opening, and in panic, he pushes his stranger to enter his home, closing the door rapidly behind them.

"What the—"

"Don't. It's not like you didn't force me in ten minutes ago. I'm totally authorized to do that. And I don't know about you, but I really don't want to explain this to a stranger." Lance says, eying the door suspiciously, as if it's about to open and reveal his awkward situation to the world.

"But I'm a stranger." The guy remarks, looking at Lance like he's a mad man that escaped the local psychiatric hospital.

"A stranger who's in this situation with me, who even cause that situation. And you wouldn't be if you'd just tell me your name." Lance explains, trying to stay calm but really, he just wants to go home.

"And where's the fun in that?" The guy asks with a grin. At least he didn't dare pretend he's not responsible for all of Lance's problems.

"Just let me go through your balcony so we're done with this, please."

Not waiting for an answer or a direction (he can guess that much, it's not big), Lance walks to the door leading to the balcony, ajar like his own is, probably for the same reason. And it's a good thing because if not, he wouldn't be able to get in once he's on his balcony.

"Hey, wait! You can't just do that!" His neighbor yells, running after him to try and stop him. But it's too late already, Lance is determined, and no one will prevent him to do that.

"Too bad, because it's the only way I'm leaving your apartment." He announces, now outside on the tiny balcony. And okay, he's still totally determined to do that but in his memories, the two balconies weren't that far away from each other, and the fifth floor wasn't that.. High.

Oh lord. I'm going to die.

"Stop! I don't want to be charged for murder!" The guy begs him, trapping Lance between his arms to prevent him to move and wow, he's really strong. And smells good, not that it's important right now but.. Yeah.

Lance doesn't even think of trying to free himself. "Better help me not to die then." He mumbles, turning his head slightly for his neighbor to hear him.

The guy blushes and lets Lance go, looking down so his hair falls on his face, hiding him. Lance wants to run his fingers through it to put it away.

"How am I supposed to do that?" He asks shyly, still not looking at Lance.

Lance runs his eyes around them, trying to figure out a plane to do that as safely as possible. If his neighbor is okay to help, maybe they can make this work.

"Hm, maybe if we move a chair for me to stand on, then you can hold me while I reach my balcony to stabilize me?" He offers, still thinking because even if he pretends he's confident in his plan, he's actually almost sure he's going to die really soon.

"Yeah no, we're not doing that." The guy says, shaking his head, apparently arriving to the same conclusion as Lance. "Wait here. Don't move."

And just like that, he's gone, back in his flat. But Lance only has to wait a couple of minutes until he's back, carrying a small ladder in his arms, looking proud of himself. Lance likes that look on him.

"We can put it as a bridge between the balconies." He explains, hesitant, as if he fears that Lance is going to make fun of him, but it's actually a pretty good idea.

"Why the hell do you have a ladder in an apartment?" He still asks, perplexed.

"For my bed, it wins place." The guy answers, embarrassed, looking down at the ladder to avoid Lance's look. Why does he keep doing that?

"Is it strong enough?"

The ladder is in wood, not really big, pretty slim, but then again, it doesn't mean anything. Lance is himself quite lanky but able to carry huge stuff if he wants to.

"Huh, I use it twice a day and it holds so I guess?" The guy offers, and Lance nods.

"Good enough for me."

They install the ladder between the two balconies, using scarfs to tie it on the guy's balcony, a last attempt to make this at least a little bit secured. It's hard to maneuver around each other on the small balcony, but they make it work, surprisingly good at working with the other when they're not busy arguing.

They put a chair next to the ladder to help Lance up, and stress rises as he realizes that it's done and he has to try it now. Suddenly, his will to go back home is really nonexistent and he just wants to wait there that Hunk understands he's missing and comes with the spare keys to check on him.

Unfortunately, he knows that wouldn't be for hours, and he's not sure his neighbor would be pleased to welcome him in his home for so long. And Blue's waiting for him.

He exhales deeply and puts a foot on the chair, his hand on his neighbor's shoulder to steady himself. The guy's hand finds its place on Lance's hip naturally to help him, and between that and the fear, Lance feels like he's going to explode.

"Any last word?" He asks Lance in a breath, a worried look in his eyes, but a playful smile on his lips.

Lance doesn't even have to think about it.

"What's your name?"

Because that's definitely something he wants to find out before he dies. Of course, he doesn't really believe he'll die, or he wouldn't do it, he's not that stupid, he knows it's just the fear talking, and that the guy is just teasing him, moved by the same apprehension. But still.

He looks right into those gorgeous indigo eyes, and catches the glimpse of a smile on his stranger's lips.

"Keith. Kogane." He mumbles shyly, waiting anxiously for a reaction from Lance.

He smiles. "It was nice knowing you, Kogane." He declares, adopting the equivalent of how his.. Of how Keith calls him. That makes him smile back so Lance guesses it's a win.

"Same here." Keith admits, a slight blush on his cheek, which is the second cutest thing Lance saw in his life, after Blue, obviously.

"Okay, I can die happy now, let's go." He jokes, and lifts his leg still on the floor, bending it to put it on the ladder slowly, testing its resistance. To his surprise, it doesn't even curve a little. Good. He knew Keith wouldn't voluntarily put him in danger even if he doesn't like him, but he feels better being sure of it.

"Please don't die, I don't want to have to clean the mess." Keith jokes back, his hand on Lance's hip sliding to the small of his back, sending shivers in Lance's whole body. He notices his other hand on the ladder, steadying it.

"Don't worry, the time the elevator gets you down it'll be done already." He remarks, and Keith chuckles, knowing as much as Lance that their old building doesn't offer advanced technology to avoid the stairs.

"Still." Keith says in a breath while Lance raises his other leg from the chair, slowly putting it next to his other one.

At first, he doesn't move, testing his balance, then he takes a first tentative step, shaking hands moving forward, then knees. Okay, that seems alright, he can do that. The hand on his back leaves as he's out of reach from Keith, mi-way between the two balconies, and he suddenly feels very lost, so much aware that he's suspended so high above the ground.

Don't look down. Don't stop moving.

And he doesn't. It feels like hours, but after only a few seconds, he reaches the other side of the ladder.

There's no chair, table or arm to help him out, but he manages, nearly falling down but on solide ground. He can hear Keith relieved sigh, or maybe it's just his own, but he's so happy he doesn't know if he wants to laugh or cry.

He turns around to look at Keith, sending a thumb up and a proud smile. His neighbor smiles back, shaking his head slightly. Then he starts untying the scarfs to take his ladder back on his own balcony.

"This better not happen again." He informs Lance as the ladder touches the ground.

"Then if you want to kidnap me again you better make sure to kidnap my keys too." He jokes, kind of hoping this is not his last encounter with the boy next door.

"Don't worry, I won't do it again." Keith says sheepishly, looking down to hide a light blush (something he seems to do often, Lance notices), before exiting his balcony without a last look for Lance.

Well, here go his hopes.

Lance sighs and opens his door, glad to finally be back home. Blue's still sleeping peacefully on the couch, unaware of what just happened, and Lance can't help but think it's better for her.

He lets himself fall next to her, waking her up but making her forgive him by petting her behind the ears.

"Red is a step ahead of you, you know. Maybe I can let him know too when you learn your name?"

She tilts her head, as if wondering what he's telling her. He smiles. She's so adorable.

"Then again, he doesn't want to see me again. He even threw me out. He looked so mad. But after he helped so.. I don't know? He's just so confusing, Blue. Maybe he thinks I was bothered or angry and that I didn't want him to come again?" He asks, suddenly hopeful again because that makes so much sense! Of course, he wouldn't have comme seeking for Lance in the first place if he didn't want.. Whatever that is.

"I don't know." He repeats, thoughtful. "I guess I'll just have to teach you your name and see." He informs her, determined.

He had to teach her her name anyway, may as well brings him an excuse to annoy his lovely neighbor.

* * *

"Blue! I'm—"

Lance stops himself in the middle of announcing he's home to Blue, noticing a piece of paper folded in two on the ground.

"What the.." He mumbles, frowning a bit as he kneels to pick it up.

He stands up to close the door, looking down at the bottom. Did someone slide this under it? Why did Lance do to deserve that?

He looks around, searching for Blue, suddenly fearing she somehow ran away or something, but there she is, licking herself on the couch, eyes on Lance as if wondering why he's not already petting her like he always does when he gets home.

Reassured, Lance gives his attention back to the paper in his hand, opening it with a mix of excitement and apprehension. He's met with a pretty handwriting he doesn't recognize.

Hey. I know what reward I want for winning the bet. — K

He smiles at the paper. He hasn't talked to his beautiful neighbor for a few days, except that time they cross each other at the elevator while Lance was going to work in the morning and Keith was coming back from whatever he was doing out this early. But they just had time to say hi before Lance had to go, and Lance had missed him.

Not knowing if Keith is home or not, he decides to use the same communication way, grabbing a pen to write under his neighbor's words.

Hi! And what is it? :) — L

He hurries to go back in the corridor, careful to let his door open, and slides the paper under the door next to his own. He considers knocking in case Keith is here, but decides against it. He prefers the excitement of the wait, and if he's home, he'll probably hear Lance and guess he answered.

And trustfully, Lance just has the time to collapse on his couch next to Blue before there's a knock on his door. This time though, he doesn't feel too lazy or tired at all and jumps on his feet, almost running to the door with a big smile on his face.

"Hello, Kogane." He greets him as he opens his door with a wide grin, and he definitely wasn't ready for the sight he's welcomed by because holy shit he put his hair into a ponytail and it shouldn't be that hot but it is.

"McClain, hi, are you free for the rest of the day?" Keith asks right away, looking adorably embarrassed and Lance can't breathe because why is he asking that?

He tries to keep his cool. "Sure. Are you asking me out on a date?"

Keith blushes furiously but chuckles as if that idea is the most ridiculous thing he ever heard. "No! I just need to be somewhere in like.. Half an hour, for a couple of hours I think, but I don't want to leave Red alone, and as she knows Blue I thought she'd be comfy here if you're okay to babysit." He rambles, clearly nervous, and Lance wonders who he's so nervous about.

So he's definitely going on a date, huh? Just not with Lance. Not that he's jealous, they're just rivals, neighbors, strangers that could be friends some day. He doesn't get to be jealous, it's not fair, it's not like he likes Keith, he just finds him pretty, and he finds a lot of people pretty, Keith is nothing special. Right?

"Wait a minute, how did you do the other days?" He asks, noticing that it's weird Keith suddenly doesn't want Red to be alone when he can't possibly had taken her wherever he goes in the day.

"What other days?" Keith asks, confused, tilting his head and oh gods that reminds Lance of Blue.

"Since you adopted her, you don't take her out with you, do you?"

Okay, some people do that, but it'd be dangerous with a kitten you don't know that much yet, right?

"Ugh, I only left a few minutes to go grocery shopping, or taking the trash out." Keith explains sheepishly, and under Lance's perplexed gaze, he adds: "I.. I work from home? So I don't need to go out that much."

There's that slight blush again and Lance has so many questions, so many things that are intriguing him about Keith and that he just wants to know but can't because he's just the guy next door who happened to adopt a kitten in the exact same moment than him.

He remembers how Keith got mad a few days ago, so suddenly, when Lance teased him about not being loved by Red right away, how Keith said there wasn't anything wrong with not opening up easily, and he wonders if that was really about Red. He feels stupid for his comment now, but he couldn't know, right? Maybe Keith works from home because he's not confortable with leaving his home, maybe that's why he's so nervous right now. Or maybe he just does a job that is naturally done from home. Who knows? Not Lance. But gods know he wants to.

He smiles at him, hoping he can reassure him. "You're lucky, I don't have anything planned. You can bring her in whenever, I'm sure Blue will be glad to see her."

Keith smiles brightly right back at Lance, nodding. "Thank you so much!"

Then, without anymore words, he runs back to his door, and Lance just stays here, waiting in front of his own door, deciding it would be rude to close it. He considers going after Keith to help, but maybe that would be intruding?

Luckily, he doesn't have the time to overthink much about it as Keith comes back with a backpack and a ginger kitten in his arms. He puts her in Lance's hands, who takes her by automatism, and hurries to open the bag.

"Okay so there's her food for tonight, she eats at 6, and a few treats, her favorite toy - don't lose it please -, the fluffed hippo she always sleeps with - don't let Blue steal it from her -, and one of my shirt because for some reason, she only sleeps on them." Keith mumbles, flustered, showing everything he mentions to Lance before putting them back in the bag and giving it to him.

Lance nods, taking it. Everything his neighbor just mentioned is just too adorable to handle but somehow, he manages. "Don't worry, I'll take care of her." He tries to reassure him, not sure if his nervousness is because of whatever he needs to be doing in a few minutes or because he has to leave Red to do so.

"Great, thanks again." He looks at his phone while it buzzes. "Shit, I need to go. Bye, Red." He leans to kiss Red's head, who purrs at the attention, then straightens, pink on his cheeks. "Bye, McClain, see ya later!" He adds, waving awkwardly with his hand before exiting, running straight for the stairs before Lance can say or do anything. And maybe it's for the best because it was so not a good time to ask for a kiss too.

He pushes his front door closed with his foot, both hands busy right now, and walks to his couch to place Red on it next to Blue. They both jump, but when they smell each other, they relax and rub against the other, purring.

Lance hurries to take his phone out to take pictures and videos, sending them to Hunk because he needs to share how cute this is and, well, he doesn't have Keith's number so Hunk is second best choice. Then seconds later, Hunk calls him and Lance bits his lips. Maybe he should have wrote something to explain.

"Why the hell is there another kitten on your couch?" His best friend asks right away.

"Hello to you too, Hunk. It's Red, you know, my neighbor's kitten." He admits, feeling hot in his cheeks because Hunk totally knows. Lance spent hours telling his everything about his neighbor after all.

"And what does she do there? Please tell me you didn't introduce yourself into his apartment to steal his cat because I won't be on your side if—"

"Geez, calm down, Hunk, who do you think I am? I'm his rival, not his enemy, and I wouldn't do that even to my worst enemy." Lance says, rolling his eyes. Who's cruel enough to steal a kitten?

"Yeah, his rival, sure. And you don't have a worst enemy, you're too nice for that." Hunk remarks, making Lance chuckles. True, he likes to annoy people sometimes but he's not a bad person and would have helped Keith no matter what, bet lost or not.

"You got me there, Hunk. I'm actually babysitting Red, he needed to go somewhere and was scared to leave her alone. Because he never left since he got her. Crazy, right?" He asks, still bothered by that knowledge without really knowing why. The guy can do what he wants, it shouldn't bother Lance.

"Don't judge, Lance, he must have his reasons, you can't—"

"No, I know, it just makes me kind of sad, I guess? I mean, he seems like a nice guy, everybody would be lucky to have him as a friend but he never gets out and I have never heard anyone comes.. I mean, they can come during the day when I'm out, that would make perfect sense but.. I don't know." He rambles, thinking a bit too hard about it.

"Oh my gods, Lance, you totally like him. I wasn't sure but damn, man.." Hunk says, a smile in his voice, and Lance shakes his head furiously even if his best friend can't see him.

"No. No, no, no. No. I'm just too nice, you said it yourself." He argues, using Hunk's words against him.

"You're babysitting his kitten." Hunk remarks.

"Because I'm nice! And because it's his reward for winning the bet. Or course he won the bet, if he was home all day repeating her name!" This is totally cheating, right?

He can hear Hunk chuckles on the other side of the phone. "Bet you made to have an excuse to talk to him. And it's not a bad thing, Lance! If he went all the way to show you he won, then came for a reward, maybe he wanted to see you again too! You guys could so be friends!" He says excitedly, and Lance can't bring himself to be mad. It actually makes sense.

"Maybe.. And maybe it can work again!" Lance thinks out loud, a sudden idea coming into his mind. "I'm gonna buy a harness. And a leash. And bet him I can teach Blue to go on walks before he does with Red!"

He would totally win this one, he loves going on walks and Blue seems docile enough to let him. But if Keith isn't an outside person and Red isn't one to let herself be tamed easily.. It's almost already won.

"Or.. You could offer to try and teach them together." Hunk remarks smartly and damn distance because Lance wants to hug his best friend right now. What a genius.

"Hunk." He simply answers.

"I know. Love you too, bro."

They hand up a few minutes later as Hunk needs to make dinner for his girlfriend and himself, but Lance can't stop grinning. This is why Hunk is his main man and will always be. He's just the best.

He empties Keith's bag, taking the food in the kitchen to prevent the cats for stealing it, then grabs Keith's shirt, putting it on the couch for Red. She immediately sniffs it and sits on it, looking expectingly at Lance who then remembers Keith's words and takes the fluffed hippo out. He gives it to Red, who grabs it between her paws, her head on it like a pillow. So cute. Apparently she's in a mood for sleeping, so he lets the toy in the bag and sits on the couch too, on Blue's side.

She steps on him right away, nestled against him, and Red adjusts herself to touch his lap too. Then Blue expands one of her front paw to rest on Red's back and Lance wants to cry of happiness. It's just too much to handle for one guy.

He takes pictures and videos again, and once he decides which one is his favorite picture, he puts it as his new wallpaper. He also sends a few to Hunk, and Shay answers for him that it's the cutest thing ever and that they now want one too.

He watches tv for an hour or so, relaxing, until Red wakes up, looking at him expectingly, and he wonders what she wants because he doesn't know what that look means in Red's language. She seems to understand he has no clue, because she pushes Blue with her nose, meowing, and Blue turns to Lance with that look before turning her head to the kitchen.

He grabs his phone. 6:03 pm. Oh.

"Sorry, on it." He announces, extracting himself from under Blue to get the food. He doesn't normally feed Blue until 6:30, but he doesn't want to make Red wait and knows better than to feed one and not the other.

They eat, Red a little faster, eying Blue as if fearing she'd try to steal her food. But his girl isn't like that, and Red waits until she's finished before starting running so fast Lance can hardly see her. His heart jumps in his chest, but then she stops in the middle of the living room, looking at Blue, who runs after her.

Okay, playtime now.

Lance takes Red's toy out, a tiny mouse, and chuckles because he bought the exact same one for Blue but in another color. He decides to give them all the toys he has, and if they like playing with each other, they won't let him not play with them so he does just that, stopping from time to time to take photos and videos.

At some point, Blue is running after Red, and to escape, the ginger kitten just climbs on Lance with her claws until she reaches his shoulder.

"What the heck, Red? What does Keith teach you?" He laughs, kneeling to be sure she won't hurt herself by jumping down or falling.

She meows and jumps back in the game, taking her mouse before running as fast as she can. Blue tries to run after her, but Red is definitely faster even if she's slightly smaller than Blue.

Blue catches up on strategy though, hiding from Red before jumping on her by surprise and running with the toy. Lance thinks back at Keith's words, but it was the hippo Blue couldn't steal, right? He can't remember, but as Red doesn't seem bothered, he lets them play.

When they finally got tired, they go back to the couch, and Lance cleans a bit, putting Red's mouse back in the bag before joining them. They immediately both come near him in similar positions as before, and Lance lets himself relax in their warmth, slowly closing his eyes until he's asleep.

Even if his neck hurts a bit, Lance feels safe, warm, sleepy, and really doesn't want to open his eyes. He's slightly aware that there's light behind his eyelids, he must have forgotten to turn it off before falling asleep, and his eyes are totally not ready to face that.

But there's a hand who decided otherwise for him, shaking him softly on the shoulder, and Lance groans as an answer. He really doesn't want to wake up. He can vaguely hear a voice, or more like a whisper, but it brings a shy smile on his lips unconsciously.

Then, he's suddenly conscious enough to realize that holy shit there's someone in my apartment, and he jumps awake brutally, making the other one startled, taking a step behind to avoid getting punched. In the meantime, Blue's claws are deeply sunk in the skin of his lap, and all he can see of Red is a flash of ginger flying and disappearing from his sight.

But he ignores the cats, more worried about the other human in his home until he recognizes Keith, a hand on the back of his couch as a support, the other one on his heart as if trying to calm it down.

You and me both, buddy, Lance thinks.

"Damn, Kogane, way to wake up a man." He says in a breath, an amused smile on his lips that Keith is fast to return.

"Shut up, you almost gave me a heart attack." Keith straightens, and the hair that was partly hiding his face disperses to reveal a dark bruise on his left cheek, almost on his jaw.

Lance's mouth falls open, his calming heart going crazy again. "What the hell is that?!" He yells, raising on his feet in a jump after pushing Blue out of his laps.

"Shit." Keith mumbles, craning his head down for his hair to fall back on his face. Lance then notices that his ponytail is now a mess, and he never needed answers more than in this moment.

Because he cares. He fucking cares so much for this guy he didn't know a week before that it's scaring him. But he does, and if he can do anything to help him, nothing is going to stop him from doing it.

"It's nothing." Keith adds, not meeting Lance's eyes.

"Doesn't look like nothing to me. Did you at least put something on it? Ice?" He asks, not daring coming closer, but unable to move away.

"No, it's okay, it looks worth than it is. It'll be gone in a few days." Keith says, a hand on his bruise to hide it from Lance. As if he could forget it just because he couldn't see it anymore.

"You sound like this happens often.." Lance notices, stomach knotted with worry. Is he going somewhere dangerous to fight? Is it why he looked nervous before leaving? Or was he attacked somewhere on his way? Does he at least have someone he trust with him?

"Not that often anymore, I'm getting better, I just got distracted." Keith confides, cheeks a bit pink, a soft smile of his lips, and Lance doesn't understand anything anymore. He tilts his head, confused, and a look of realization appears on Keith's face.

"Oh. Oh. Shit, sorry, must looks weird. Ugh, I do martial arts with my friends. One of them accidentally hit me in the face. Well, not really accidentally. I mean, he thought I was going to avoid his fist, but another one was talking to me at the same time and.. Boom." He explains, voice fond when talking about his friends, and Lance is so so relieved. So Keith has very good friends, and he's not getting in trouble, more like learning how to defend himself. Good.

Lance smiles. He likes hearing Keith tell him about his day, about his life. He wants to know more. Everything.

"Good, you scared me for a minute. You sure you don't want that ice, though?" In front of Keith hesitant face, he adds: "I'm getting you some ice. You can sit if you want. Or try to find where Red is hiding."

Not that his apartment is big or that there's a lot of places to hide, but still, Keith must have missed her.

Lance goes to the kitchen, taking some ice to put in a small packet. When he's back in the living room area, Keith is sitting on his couch, Red half on his shoulder and half on the back of the couch. It's so cute Lance has a hard time not taking a photo. Maybe he should stop taking pictures all the time to avoid an awkward situation where he couldn't stop himself.

"Here." He says, giving the ice to Keith who takes it thankfully. He applies it on his cheek and sighs.

"Thanks. It actually feels better already." He smiles softly at Lance, grateful.

"You're welcome. Your friend should have given you some, not very nice to punch someone and not taking care of them afterward." He jokes.

"Oh no, he's the best person I know. Just.. He was so sorry I told him it was nothing so he stops feeling guilty. Then I kicked him so we're even." Keith says proudly, and Lance laughs.

He's almost jealous of that guy who Keith called 'the best', even if it's stupid. They just met each other, what is wrong with him?

"You're something else." He says without thinking, cheeks hot, and decides to change the subject before things get awkward. "Red and Blue still love each other, by the way, so if this is something you do regularly, don't hesitate to bring her here. Just let me know if there's a schedule so I don't plan anything."

Smooth way to go, McClain.

Keith nods. "Thanks, it's every week, actually. That's great that they get along, I was scared Red would get lonely with just me. Blue can come too. I'm a painter so I'm almost always home." Keith explains with a smile, looking as Red jumps from his shoulder to his lap to smell Blue who just jumped on Lance as he sat on the couch next to Keith.

"That's so cool, could I see some or your work? Or is it like something super personal you don't want to show anyone?" He asks, not wanting to intrude but also so curious.

"I mean, I sell it to strangers so it's generally pretty generic. I have some more personal work though, that I don't sell, but it's more for training or for friends. I'm actually painting a big portrait of Red for my living room at the moment, but it's slow because I have to do my commissions first. Sometimes I spend the whole night at it and can only sleep like.. Two hours. Sorry, I'm rambling." He says, but Lance furiously shakes his head because no, he's not letting him do that thing when people talk about something they're passionate about then apologize because they think they're annoying.

"No, don't, it's cute to see how passionate you are about this, makes me want to know more, to see it for myself. Also that explain the dark circle." He replies, adding the last thing more for himself than for Keith.

"Dark circle?" He reacts right away, a slight frown on his face.

"Oh yeah. The first day we met you looked about ready to fall asleep right there and now in the tube." He develops sheepishly, remembering that tired face he wondered so much about. Then already, he just knew there was something special about the guy in front of him.

Keith chuckles slightly. "Oh no, you just made me really tired that day." He teases Lance who can't help but laugh loudly, rapidly joined by Keith.

"Why are you always that rude?" He asks, still half laughing.

"I don't know, man, you just made it really easy."

Their laughters continue a few seconds before they slowly calm themselves.

"But yeah, I needed to finish a few commissions to clean the day for Red, and I knew I would need time for her the next days so I did as much as I could the days before and.. When I got home I felt asleep right away. I woke up in the middle of the night, Red asleep on my back." Keith tells him, looking fondly at Red, now sleeping peacefully on his lap.

"That's so cute!" Lance comments with a smile, each one of his hands petting a kitten because that's probably the only reason he has two hands anyway.

"Not really. I thought she was a sleep paralysis demon." Keith says with a grin and Lance has no idea of if he's joking or not but he doesn't really care. All he cares about is that he gets to witness that smile.

"I mean.. She's a bit of a demon, she climbed on my shoulder from the ground while I was standing." He suddenly remembers.

Keith giggles guiltily, taking the ice off his cheek to try and hide his face with his hand that is not petting Red. That other hand moving so close to Lance's one, busy doing the same thing.

"I'm so sorry for that!" He doesn't sound very sorry at all, probably imagining Lance's shocked face when it happened, and Lance isn't bothered by that at all. "I taught her to do that for when I'm too lazy to lean over and catch her myself."

I have feelings for you, Lance thinks. Then holy shit I have feelings for him what the fuck.

"I don't know if I should laugh or cry." He says instead, as much about what Keith just revealed him than about what he just realized.

"Don't judge! I'm sure you do plenty of weird things with Blue." Keith says, chuckling as he puts the ice back on his cheek.

That reminds Lance of his conversation with Hunk.

"Actually, speaking of that, I had an idea." He announces, testing the weather. He hopes he's reading into all of this right, that Keith is enjoying his company as much as he is, at least as potential friends.

"I'm terrified." Keith jokes.

"Shut up. So, I think we should train them to go on walks. With harnesses and leashes, of course. We'd have to accustom them inside first, but then I'm sure it could work outside too." He explains, a bit anxious while waiting for Keith's reaction.

"That's.. An interesting idea, we totally should give it a try. Do you want it to be a new competition you'll loose?" Keith smiles playfully.

"In fact, I was thinking we could do it together? I mean, one guy trying to walk his kitten is weird. Two, though, it becomes funny. And like that, you're forced to actually work during the day." Lance answers, hoping he doesn't sound desperate or anything.

"I'd like that." Keith says simply, and Lance breathes a sigh of relieve. Good. That's good. Hunk's going to be proud of him. "I should go, though. I'm tired and I'm sure you are too, if I believe how deeply asleep you were when I got here."

Lance chuckles, starting to nod when it finally clicks in his tired brain. He stops petting the kittens, looking at Keith as if he's seeing him for the first time.

"Wait a minute. How the hell did you get into my apartment?"

Keith just looks down, embarrassed, but there's the ghost of an amused smile on his lips. Lance turns his head around, looking at his door, but thank gods no, Keith didn't kick it opened. At that, Keith definitely laughs.

"Oh my gods no, I wouldn't do that!" Keith rassures him.

"How, then? Can you pass through the walls? Is that your superpower?" He jokes, still very curious, but weirdly not more worried than that that his neighbor found a way to introduce himself in his home. It's not like he doesn't trust him.

"Remember when you were locked outside your apartment?" Keith asks, and of course Lance remembers, they had to find another way to get in and.. Oh no he didn't.

They eyes meet, and Lance knows it's the truth, Keith isn't joking anymore. He really..

"Oh my.. You can't just do that! Are you fucking crazy?! There was no one to help you! You could be crushed on the road right now!" He yells, and all trace of laughters and good mood is gone, but Lance doesn't care. He's pissed. So fucking pissed by the thought of what could have happened.

Keith looks shocked by Lance's reaction, mouth slightly opened, eyes wide opened, not daring to move.

"I.. I'm sorry, okay? I knocked for five minutes and you didn't answer the fucking door! I was worried." Keith admits, and Lance is mad at himself for yelling. In his situation, he would have done the same thing.

"Sorry, I must have been more tired than I thought." He says, wishing he could go back to before Keith closed himself. But it's too late now.

"Okay. I better get going then." Keith stands up without letting Lance time to say that it wasn't at all what he meant, but Lance finds himself unable to say or do anything.

He watches Keith putting Red's stuff rashly into the bag, swearing before holding his left wrist, clearly in pain, but just for a moment. Then, he's back at it, even if it's obvious with how he moves that it still hurts.

"Are you—"

"It's fine." He cuts Lance harshly, and puts the bag on his shoulder.

Lance tries to pretend his heart is not hurting as Keith takes Red into his arms, wondering if everything they seemed to build that day is destroyed. He doesn't move either when Keith walks to the door, too tired to bring his body to do anything.

Keith opens the door, and stops there a few seconds too long, maybe considering saying something, or letting Lance the chance to say something. But he doesn't. He really can't think of anything to say to make it better. He's just done with the day.

So Keith closes the door and Lance feels more lonely than he's ever felt in his entire life.

* * *

When he checks his mailbox, Lance doesn't wait anything in particular. It's not the period of the bills, and no one ever wrote to him, all his friends and family know his phone is practically glued to his hand. So yeah, he generally only has a few ads and that's it.

But not today. Today, he's greeted by a very realistic drawing of Blue, posing like a queen in a throne-like version of Lance's couch, a tiny crown on her head. On one of the armrest, there's a small Lance, maybe a third the size of Blue, looking at her like she's the most wonderful thing he's ever seen.

Lance can't help but burst into laughter, joy filling his chest because he 100% knows who did this, who took the time to do this instead of just knocking on Lance's door to talk like a normal person would do. But Keith isn't your average person. He's so much better. The drawing isn't signed, but it's just the same.

Lance is so excited and in a hurry to see Keith that he ignores the elevator and starts running in the stairs, reaching the third floor before collapsing against the wall, out of breath. Okay, maybe he should take the stairs more often.

Unable to continue any longer without dying, Lance decides to wait for the elevator to take him to the fifth floor, which takes forever, but gives him a bit of time to think about what to do. Should he go home first? No, Keith would probably hear him and think he's ignoring him. He can't have that. Okay, maybe he wouldn't, but it's what Lance would think, so maybe..

The elevator finally stops, and Lance makes his decision right there, unable to wait any longer. He knocks, wishing the door would just open, but nothing happens. He waits for what seems like forever but is probably more like 30 seconds before knocking against, strongly this time. Maybe he didn't hear?

"Coming!" He hears his voice, muffled by the door, but just as much reassuring.

Okay, good. He's here, and he's planning on opening the door, probably knowing it's Lance because he must have known it's the result he'd get after the drawing, right?

He hears footsteps coming closer and his heart beats faster as the door opens. The wondering looks on Keith's face turns into a smile as he sees Lance, but Lance wasn't ready for the sight. Keith's hair is once again up in a ponytail, several locks of hair framing his face, some of it with paint stains of various colors on. There's the same kind of stains on his face, making his bruise looking like one of them. Lance likes that.

He wearing a blue jean overalls with a red shirt, both pieces of clothes full of the same paint stains. It's adorable.

"McClain, hi." He says, smile fading a little as he probably fears Lance's reaction, and Lance definitely can't let him hanging like that.

"Hey, thanks, for the drawing, it's beautiful." Lance smiles at him to let him know everything's okay for him, and Keith smiles back. "You could have signed it, though, could worth a lot of money someday." He adds jokingly, unable to stop himself.

"Okay, bye!" Keith laughs, faking closing the door, and Lance stops him.

"No, don't! I was joking, it's perfect." He says honestly.

"I'll sign it one day if you deserve it."

"You'll sign it if I get Blue to walk with a leash before Red does?" He asks wishfully, already knowing he's going to win this one.

Keith pretends to think about it, humming loudly. "I thought this one wasn't a competition." He reminds Lance.

"It can be if we want it to be." Lance says smartly, daring Keith to say no.

"And what would I get if I win?" Keith asks, crossing his arms, leaning on his wall.

"Dude, have you seen Red? You're not going to win." Lance laughs at him and Keith mouth opens in fake shock.

"Rude! And if it was true, then why should I agree with this?" Keith grins, so sure he managed to trap Lance. But Lance is a professional at getting what he wants. He trained during his whole childhood on his whole family to be assigned the less horrible chores, and it's not Keith who's going to win at this game.

"To prove me wrong." He answers simply, and Keith is the trapped one, having as only two options to accept the competition, or to admit out loud that Lance is right. And Lance already knows which one he'll choose.

Keith sighs loudly, and Lance knows it's done. "You're on, and you're going to regret this because as you're so sure you'll win, if I win, I get anything I want from you." Keith announces with a grin. Lance doesn't like that, but it's the game, and he's not risking anything because he knows the kittens and there's no way he's losing this time.

"Anything except Blue." Lance objects, not really fearing that Keith would ask for her, but never too careful.

Keith rolls his eyes. "Come on, McClain, as if I'd ask for her, have a little faith in me."

"Deal, then?" Lance asks, offering his hand for Keith to shake.

"Deal." Keith answers, shaking Lance's hand a bit too long.

They let go, looking away awkwardly.

"When do you want to.." Lance starts, stopping himself because he has no idea on how to formulate that without sounding too needy. Instead, he makes a vague gesture with his hand, hoping Keith will understand.

He does. "Ugh, I'm free right now if you want." Keith saves Lance, still not looking at him, and it's a shame because Lance hates when he's not authorized to look into those deep purple eyes.

"Oh, weren't you painting?"

Lance immediately wants to slap himself. Way to go, McClain, now he's going to think you don't want to go and are trying to find an excuse to postpone.

"I.. was. But I can stop? I finished commissions for today, I was just painting Red. But if you have something to do it's okay, we can do that another day of the week. Maybe not tomorrow but after that I'm—"

"Now is good!" Lance almost yells before Keith rambles so much he postpones their plan next year.

Keith jumps slightly, surprised, and Lance feels his cheeks turning red. Great.

"O-okay! Ugh, let me just put some shoes on." Keith stammers, looking around for shoes.

He finds some red baskets after a few seconds of looking through the mess in his apartment, puts them on, almost runs to the door, stops himself mid-way, turns around, grabs a bag, hurries back to Lance, and closes the door, slightly out of breath.

All Lance can think is cute. Very much adorable.

"Sorry." Keith says in a breath.

"It's okay." Nothing has ever been more okay than that. But of course, Lance can't tell him that, so instead, he just presses the button to call the elevator.

Once they're out of the building, Lance starts looking around, having no idea of where the closest pet shop is as he did all his shopping for Blue with Hunk next to his and Shay's place.

"This way." Keith guides him when he notices how lost Lance is, and he follows docilely, liking how domestic and natural this feels.

Like he belongs there, walking next to this guy who didn't hesitate one second before rushing out with him, paint strains all over his face, hair and clothes but not giving a shit about it and still looking so good anyway. Yeah, Lance is in so deeply it's scaring him, but slowing down is the last things he wants to do when it comes to Keith.

"You think I should have washed my face before leaving?" Keith asks suddenly as if reading Lance's mind, but Lance laughs it off.

"Nah, you're good, it gives you a style." He answers, not trusting himself to say more.

Keith hums, not totally convinced. He looks behind to look at Lance, bright eyes on him. "You just want to make fun of me, don't you? Well, it's your lost, you're the one with the weirdo." He teases, and Lance wonders how anyone could ever be ashamed of being seen with Keith.

"It's just gonna brings out my own greatness." Lance teases Keith with a fond smile he hopes is enough for Keith to understand what he really means, what he thinks deep down.

And Keith chuckles, shaking his head. "You're really something else, McClain."

You're the one talking, Kogane, he answers in his head, not trusting his voice anymore.

The pet shop is only a few minutes walk, and there's not a lot of people in. A seller looks a bit too much at Keith for Lance to be comfortable, but Keith doesn't seem to notice so he lets it go.

They go straight for the harnesses, looking at them from every angle to try to decide which on is the best.

"You should take the orange one, we won't be able to see it on her." Lance says, pointing an orange harness with his finger.

Keith glares at him. "She's not orange, stop it." But a few minutes after, he shows a blue one to Lance, telling him: "Look, you should take this blue one! We will totally be able to see it on her." And Lance really wants to make him shut up by kissing him.

Instead, he punches him slightly on the arm, and Keith laughs. Lance feels like they're alone in the world.

Finally, Keith chooses a dark brown one, and Lance a black one, with matching leashes.

When they exit the shop, Keith tells him: "Race you to the building?" But Lance answers: "Hell no, we're gonna get hit by a car." So they walk back home, easy conversation between them.

"Maybe for today we should just have them getting used to wearing a harness before taking them out." Keith offers with reason as they arrive to the building.

"You just say that because you know Red is going to give you hell for that." Lance says, knowing better. He opens the door for Keith, who rolls his eyes but doesn't comment as they get in.

"Don't think Blue's gonna accept it calmly, they're not dogs." Keith remarks, calling the elevator.

"She knows I know what's good for her, she'll listen. Red, on the other hand, is.." He doesn't finish, searching for the right word, but Keith completes his sentence for him.

"Red."

"Yeah, that."

They laugh, getting inside the elevator that starts to bring them slowly to the fifth floor.

"Would you still be mad if we were trapped in here?" He half-jokes, not meeting Keith's eyes.

Keith huffs. "Yeah. You're not that bad but I'd be mad being trapped with anyone honestly."

And okay, that's maybe not a perfect answer, but it's already something, right? What does "not that bad" even means? Like, is his company not unbearable but Keith would rather avoid it? Or is this a way to say he likes Lance better now that he knows him? He doesn't think that going for the second one is wishful thinking, Keith did let everything down to hang out with him after all.

When they exit the elevator, Lance stops at his door, looking at Keith who's opening his.

"Take Red and come in, I want to see that." He teases, grinning at Keith who rolls his eyes.

"And why don't you come in, then?" He asks, falsely annoyed.

"Cause your place is a mess, which is a shame when you think about the fact that you're in there all day, having plenty of time to clean it up."

"I especially have more time to mess it up. It's easier for you, you're not there often so you do less things in there." Keith argues, and Lance laughs, shaking his head.

"Man, why are you like this?" Lance asks, amazed by the guy next to him. How did he get so lucky that he got to meet him and spend time with that guy?

"Why are you?" Keith asks back right away, and Lance chuckles before opening his door to enter his apartment.

He lets to door opened, knowing Blue won't run away and trusting Keith to come anyway, even if he complained about it. He's pretty sure his neighbor likes their bickering as much as he does, and that realization does something weird to his inside.

"Baby Blue, I'm here!" He calls his kitten, who immediately comes at him from his bedroom. Great, he'll probably find at least one sock completely destroyed. He really needs to work on that before he's forced to go to work sockless.

"I have presents for you." He announces, putting his bag on the counter of the kitchen to look for scissors. He cuts the prices and turns the harness around, searching the way it's supposed to go. This thing looks so weird, why did he choose that one again? Oh, yeah, because Keith was making fun of it.

"You have no idea on how to put it on, do you?"

Lance jumps, turning around to see Keith, Red in his right hand, the harness and leash on the left. He has a mocking grin on his pretty face, but Lance can't bring himself to be offended. He's the one who's going to laugh in a few seconds.

"Laugh at me as much as you want, Kogane, it won't change that I'll win." He retorts, taking the harness to Blue confidently, as if he knows what he's doing.

But it's okay because Keith definitely has no idea of how to convince Red to come near her harness. She's that kind of cat who knows exactly what she likes and what she doesn't like, and today, she decided she doesn't like the harness.

Keith is also too gentle with her, not daring to force her into it like Lance does with Blue, and as Blue is generally opened to new things, she's on her harness in only a few minutes when Red is running around the living room, not letting Keith anywhere near her.

Blue struggles against the harness, trying to get it off of her, but when she understands it's not happening, she gives up and lies on the couch, licking herself.

Lance smiles proudly as he turns to Keith, but his neighbor doesn't seem to notice as he tries to catch his kitten, cheeks red.

"Need any help?" He offers.

Keith finally looks at him, then at Blue, and swears loudly. Lance bursts into laughters but decides to help Keith anyway, chasing Red until she runs right into her human's arms. He catches her before she realizes the mistake she just made, but as she tries to escape, she moves violently and Keith suddenly lets her go, holding his left wrist with a whine of pain.

It's over in a moment and Keith tries to pretend it never happened, but Lance is worried now, kneeling next to Keith to take a look at his wrist.

"It already hurt last night, right? What happened?" He asks, taking Keith's wrist softly. There isn't any visible sign of injury, but Lance knows sometimes the worst wounds are invisible.

"It's when I was fighting with my friends, I made a mistake and hurt my wrist. It wasn't hurting anymore this morning so I painted with it all day, which was stupid, so now it hurts again. It'll be fine with a bit of rest, I just keep forgetting it's hurt." Keith explains, not taking his wrist away from Lance's hands.

Lance nods slowly, thinking. "But aren't you ambidextrous? Why not painting with your right hand?"

"I am, I just paint faster with my left one, for some reason." Keith tells him sheepishly.

"Wait here." Lance just answers, letting go of Keith's wrist grudgingly to stand up and run to his kitchen. He opens his medicine cabinet and grabs a strip of cloth.

He's back at Keith's side in a few seconds. "I'll band your wrist so it heals better and faster. And like that, you won't forget it's hurt anymore." He explains as he starts unrolling the strip to place in gently on Keith's wrist.

"You don't have to." Keith mumbles, a slight smile on his lips.

"You'd rather have me to kiss it better?" He dares asking, thankful Keith then turns so red that he hides his face with his right hand, not seeing Lance's own red cheeks.

"Oh my gods." Keith just whispers as if not believing his ears, but not answering Lance's question. That's fine, his reaction tells him enough already.

He finishes wrapping Keith's wrist in silence, then looks around for Red. He sees her the moment Keith opens his mouth to call for her, and his only reflex is to put his hand on Keith's mouth to make him shut up. He doesn't expect Keith to lick it, but he does. He immediately takes his hand away, torn between acting disgust and laughing.

"Ugh, who's the gross one, now?" He teases, and Keith chuckles as an answer. He points his couch with his finger to show him Red, somehow now lying next to Blue. "I'll catch her by surprise by pretending I'm coming for Blue. Once she's controlled, you come with the harness to put it on." He explains his plan, not wanting for Keith to hurt his wrist again and counting of the cats to think he'll come for Blue.

"Okay, but why are you telling the plan in front of them?" Keith asks seriously, and Lance finds himself out of words.

"Because they don't speak English?" He offers logically, half hoping Keith is just joking.

"How do you know? We speak English to them all the time." Keith looks so lost it would be cute if it wasn't slightly worrying.

"But they don't speak back, they're cats, they can't English." Lance tries to explain, but it's so logical that he doesn't even know how to explain that. It's just common knowledge, right? Everyone knows that.

"Maybe they can understand it but not speak it. They come when we call for them, they understand." Keith contradicts him.

"Just a few words! But they can't understand full sentences, Kogane." Lance tries to keep his calm, but Keith looks so confused it's hard.

"But—"

"Did you hit your head too, yesterday? Other than on your cheek." Lance cuts him, unable to suffer from this conversation any longer, and a bit worried Keith is actually concussed.

"What? No?" Keith answers, tilting his head in confusion and okay, so he's serious and not even on the verge of dying as an excuse.

"Okay, good. We'll talk about this later. For now, let's just try with the plan, yeah?"

Keith nods, and Lance stands up, looking straight to Blue. He walks to the couch, not giving one look to Red, and kneels in front of his kitten to pet her. She immediately purrs, and Red, jealous, stands to rub her head on Lance's hand. He slowly takes one of his hand out of Blue to pet Red, who leans into the touch until suddenly, both hands are grabbing Red around the tummy.

"Keith, now!" He yells, forcing her to stay still.

In a second, Keith is by his side, forcing the harness around her head as she looks right into Lance's eyes, betrayed.

"Sorry." He apologizes, feeling guilty.

"Thought she couldn't understand English." Keith mumbles, now forcing her front paws into her tiny harness. She tries to stab him with her claws, but he has good reflexes and manages to avoid them.

"Don't." Lance simply answers.

Finally, the harness is attached, and they can leave.

Luckily, the corridor and elevator are free from any other neighbor, but once outside, there's people everywhere, some looking at them with judgmental looks, some finding the kittens cute.

It takes them fifteen minutes to get to the park which's normally a three minutes walk, because people are always stopping them to pet the kittens, always asking questions like "how old are they?" Or "are they siblings?" And it's cool at first but now Lance just wants them to leave him alone with Keith.

"So, how do we do that?" Keith wonders, and Lance shrugs. Sure, they should have look on the internet for tips before going, but it's too late now.

"I'd say we just walk and see if they follow?" Lance offers, and Keith nods, putting Red down.

She immediately runs as fast as she can, only stopping when she's out of leash, thankfully hold strongly by Keith's right hand. "Wow, Red, calm down!" He says, walking in her direction to try to reassure her, but she just runs away again. "This was a terrible idea." He announces to Lance.

"Probably." Lance answers, putting Blue down too.

She's the opposite of Red, just standing there like a stuffed animal. Lance decides it's still better than Red's reaction, and tries to walk, calling for her to follow, but she just stay right there, not moving at all.

He kneels next to her, petting her to make sure she's okay, and she jumps on his lap, sitting there.

He looks up to Keith, who calls for Red, and when Red sees him and climbs on him until she reaches his arms, Lance can't help but laugh. Attracted by the sound, Keith looks at him too and joins him in his laughter.

"If Red moved with the leash on, does that mean I win?" He asks, hopeful, and Lance wonders what he chose as a reward to hope for it like that. He's pretty sure he prefers not to know. Or maybe he hasn't planned anything yet and just wants to win.

"Nope, sorry, her running around like a mad cat is not walking her." Lance decides, and Keith pouts.

"But it's impossible!" Keith whines.

"We literally tried for less than a minute." Lance deadpans.

"And they make it feels like hours." Keith complains, leaning down to put Red back on the ground. She immediately runs to Lance lap against Blue. Keith laughs and Lance almost falls down.

"Yeah no, we're not doing that, I'm not a taxi for cats." He says, trying to push them away unsuccessfully.

"A catxi." Keith comments.

"Not helping."

Keith shrugs and walks to Lance, grabbing Red to place her on Lance's shoulder like a parrot.

"Hey! Still not helping." Lance says unnecessarily.

Keith takes a step behind and takes his phone out to take a photo. Lance blushes furiously because what? They're authorized to do that without it being awkward? Keith should have warned him.

He puts his phone back in his pocket, and takes Red back, putting her on the ground where she starts running around again, slower, but still looking a bit crazy.

Lance puts Blue down too. There's no way Keith is winning this. But Blue is still not motivated by moving, and just looks at Lance. He walks a few steps, calling for her and forcing her to move, but then she just lay there.

Red is not doing any better, as she starts climbing a three, stopped by Keith just in time before she's out of reach.

After half an hour of training, they made a few progresses, but no kitten is close to what they need to win the competition, and both humans are too tired to continue.

They collapse on a bench in the park, their arms touching, cats on laps, not wanting to move again anytime soon.

"I could fall asleep right here and now." Keith announces, eyes already closed.

"Didn't sleep well? Or just because of Red?" Lance asks, taking advantage of Keith closed eyes to look at him, really looking. He didn't notice before, but the dark circles under his eyes are back. He was too distracted by the paint stains earlier, but now that he's paying attention, it's all he can see.

"Didn't sleep at all." Keith whispers, already half way gone.

"Why?" It's only a whisper too, as if Lance is scared of the answer. Maybe he is.

"You.." Keith starts, but falls unconscious before saying more, his head tumbling on Lance's shoulder and he can't breathe anymore because what the heck is happening right now?

He doesn't dare to move or say anything, waiting. Waiting for his heart to calm down, or for Keith to wakes up, whichever comes first.

He lets his head rest on Keith's after a few seconds of hesitation. It feels good. Natural. Like it belongs there. He sighs slightly, wondering what Keith would have said in his half conscious state if he stayed awake just a few more seconds.

You. Him. Lance. Keith didn't sleep at all last night because of him. Why? Because of their fight? Was is even a fight? Did he stay up all night drawing that portrait of Blue for Lance? Or did he lay on his bed for hours, overthinking everything?

Lance wishes he'd have come to him to talk. Even in the middle of the night. He wishes he'd said something when Keith stopped at his door before leaving, obviously waiting, hoping for Lance to say something, anything. He wishes he could reassure him, make sure he sleeps well every night.

A stupid car beeps on the road going along the park and Keith jumps awake, same with the cats. He looks at Lance, sleep in his eyes, rubbing his hands on them to chase away tiredness.

"Sorry." He mumbles.

"It's okay." Lance just answers, too scared to ask what he really wants to ask.

Blue jumps on the ground, starting to walk, and Lance's heart jump in his chest. Is she..? He stands up right away, taking a few steps next to her, and she continues to walk as if it is something they do all the time.

Lance grins. "Looks like I win!" He declares proudly and Keith pouts, clearly disappointed.

"Guess you did."

Lance holds him a hand to help him on his feet. "Come on, don't be grumpy, you knew you couldn't win! What were you going to ask, though? I'm curious now."

Keith takes his hand to stand but immediately let go when he's on his feet to carry Red with his good hand.

"Doesn't matter now."

He smiles sadly at Lance, and for the first time, Lance regrets winning. He frowns, a bit worried, but Keith forces his smile to look more natural.

"Come on, let's go home, I need to sleep for the next two days."

He's pretty good at pretending everything's fine, but Lance knows better. He knows how it looks like when you pretend you're not upset for the sake of the people with you. He wishes Keith wouldn't feel the need to do that with him. He doesn't push, though. It wouldn't do any good.

"Okay, we'll teach Red next time, I'm sure with Blue as an example she'll get it." He tries to reassure him, and Keith nods.

"Yeah, next time."

* * *

Lance waits outside the locker rooms while Keith is getting changed with a mix of apprehension and excitement. A part of him fears what he'll see, but the other one can't wait to discover more about Keith and that side of him.

Three days ago, Keith asked Lance if he could babysit Red, because the club where he's doing martial arts is organizing a competition between its members. Nothing big, but apparently, it's fun to fight against other people than his regular group, so he wanted to go, except it takes the full day, so he was embarrassed to ask Lance to babysit for so long.

Of course, Lance got excited by the idea, but not for the reason you can think. Yeah, having two kittens for the day would be great, but what would be greater would be to go with Keith to watch the competition. And watch him fight. Lance can't help but think it'll be extremely hot.

So he asked Keith, who looked completely caught out of garde, thinking Lance wanted to fight, then he blushed furiously when he understood Lance wanted to watch him before nodding his approval.

After that, Lance called Hunk, and him and Shay accepted to babysit the kittens at Lance's place as a test before they adopt a kitten themselves. So they briefly met Keith, who was amazingly awkward, but Hunk and Shay were so nice it went smoothly (that, and the fact that Lance talked so much about Keith to his friends that they likes him already, then he talked a lot about Hunk and Shay to Keith to convince him he could trust them with Red).

So now, here is Lance, right before the competition starts, excited about seeing Keith fights, but really not wanting to see him take any hit. Especially against one of him friends, because then, he would have a hard time liking them, and for some reason, he really wanted to get along with them (just like he wanted Keith to get along with his friends).

When they arrived, they didn't see any of Keith's friends, so now, waiting, Lance can't help but look at every person coming in, wondering if they're one of them.

Then, Keith exits with another man, more muscled than anyone Lance has ever seen, and he just lose it because damn, that's the kind of person Keith hangs out with?! And Lance is just there, hoping, looking like a stick. Great.

Keith waves at him. "Hi, sorry for keeping you waiting. Ugh, this is Shiro, my best friend. He's the one who punched me in the face." He introduces the guy, who laughs at Keith's words.

Imagining the dude who hit Keith, Lance had created someone looking mean, but he couldn't have been more wrong. The guy has a great smile, and as Keith said, looks like one of the nicest person ever. Like a protective big brother. Lance hopes it's what he is for Keith.

"And there I was hoping to make a good impression. It's nice to meet you, Lance." Shiro offers a hand to Lance, who shakes it, trying not to think too much about the fact that Keith didn't have to tell Lance's name. As if he talked to Shiro about Lance before.

"It's nice to meet you too. And don't worry, just don't do that again." He answers, knowing he couldn't do anything against the dude, but still wanted to show that he wouldn't let anyone hurt Keith.

"Believe me, if I don't do my best against him he'll kick my ass." Shiro says, and Keith scowls at him as if daring him to say another word. Then, his eyes are attracted by something else.

"Look, Adam is back! Don't be gross." Keith points at some guy behind Lance, looking as much muscled as Shiro, and Lance wonders how Keith manages to fight against men like that.

Shiro smiles brightly, and Lance doesn't know what kind of 'gross' he should expect until he kisses the Adam dude. His mouth opens, and Keith pretends to be annoyed but Lance can see him looking fondly at them.

Before he can ask, they're both back. "Lance, this is Adam, my fiancé! When we first met he knocked me unconscious, then kept apologizing during the whole ride to the hospital." Shiro tells him proudly, Adam laughing at the story, and Keith groans.

"You're so embarrassing." He mumbles, but there's the ghost of a smile on his lips.

"Guess you can say you fell for him, then." Lance comments.

"Oh my gods, Keith, I like him already, we're keeping him!" Adam says excitedly. Lance wonders what he means with that, but he's too scared to ask, and too happy to say anything about that. Is he doing it? Is he really making Keith's friends liking him?

He looks at Keith, wondering if he'll answer, but Keith is just blushing, and two other people arriving save him from having to say something back. Damn.

"Hey, guys, ready to kick some asses? I really hope I'm against James, I want to punch that kid." One of them announce, resting his elbow on Keith's shoulder and what the heck does he think he's doing. Lance sees red and has to resist the urge to push that elbow away.

"I hope he's against Keith, I want a legal rematch of that fight." The other one says, and she's literally a miniature version of the guy she arrived with.

Lance really wants to know who that James dude is and what is the story with him but more than anything, he wants to know why the guy thinks it's okay to be so close to Keith.

He cleans his throat to introduce himself, as Keith is too busy scowling at them to do it, but the girl notices him, her mouth opening in a 'o'.

"Oh. You must be Lance." She tests, eyes going fast between him and Keith.

"Yeah? Nice to meet you, ugh..?" He prompts, waiting for her to introduce herself, but she just looks at the guy who's probably her brother, with the scariest look Lance has ever seen.

"Katie, but you can call her Pidge. And this is her brother, Matt. They're genius but also the dumbest persons alive. And they share a brain." Keith says for them, not meeting Lance's eyes.

"We do not!" They answer at the same time before glaring at each other, them bursting into laughters. Keith rolls his eyes, finally looking at Lance as if saying I told you so.

Lance laughs.

"I changed my mind, I want to fight Keith, now." Matt says, pouting, but still resting his damn elbow on Keith anyway.

"You do not, he could kill you in his sleep." Pidge laughs at him.

Matt sighs. "Yeah, true."

Everybody laughs, and Lance finds himself joining them, more relaxed. They seem like a nice group of people.

"Alright guys, we should go warm up, the first fights will be announced in fifteen." Adam announces, and everyone nod.

Adam and Shiro leave hand in hand, followed by Matt, who finally removes his elbow from Keith's shoulder, then Pidge, after she sent a meaningful look at Keith that Lance is dying to know the meaning of.

"Sorry about them, they're a lot." Keith says anxiously, and Lance understands that he fears they scared him off.

"I think they're great." He tells him, and Keith smiles brightly at him.

They join the others who are already warming up, except Pidge. She walks to Lance as Keith starts his exercises with the others.

"I'm glad I'm not alone in the bleachers, for once." She says as a conversation starter.

"Oh, you're not fighting?" Lance asks, looking at her gym clothes. Yes, she's super tiny, but that doesn't mean she can't be strong, and with her clothes and how she seems to fit so well in their group, he just assumed she was in the competition too.

"Are you kidding? I'm a brain, not muscles. And I can actually use my brain enough to know that." She answers, eying her brother. True, the guy looks like he has nothing to do in a fight, but Lance learned not to judge on look, people are surprising.

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

She nods at that like he just said something super deep. "I'll try." She says, looking at him from top to bottom, smirking slightly.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Lance yells, making her laugh.

"Nothing, I'm just trying to figure out what your intentions are with Keith, that's all." She admits frankly.

Lance feels his cheek getting hot. There's no way she'd imply stuff like that just because of the few interactions she saw between them in the last minutes, right? Keith must have say something about him, maybe he talked to them about him, maybe he..

"Don't look at me like that, dude. I think Matt's gonna have a burn on his elbow because of how you looked at it." She answers his thoughts, and Lance isn't sure if he likes her or not. "He has a girlfriend, by the way." Lance's heart stops beating, and it must show on his face because she adds hurriedly: "Matt, I mean!"

Lance's smile is so big he normally would be embarrassed, but he's too relieved to care right now.

She chuckles, and Lance tries to suppress his smile but it's hard.

"Shut up." He says.

"So, who do you think will win today?" Pidge asks, eyes back on the people training.

Lance follows her look. There's a few people who look really strong, but not that much.

"Hm, probably Shiro or Adam." He guesses, as no one is as muscled as they are. Maybe more Adam, as he apparently can knock Shiro out, but seeing how Shiro looks at Adam, maybe this incident had more to do with love at first sight than fighting skill.

Pidge giggles. "Who's the one judging by the cover, now? Shiro's often in the last ones but Adam never is. This kind of fighting is not only about muscles, you know."

"Come on, it's easier for you, you watch them all the time, it's the first time for me! And I'm sure Shiro can kick everyone's butt. I can't see how anyone could win against him." He defends himself, looking at everyone again. Yeah, she's probably just trying to confuse him.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

Lance jumps as Keith arrives in front of them. He was so busy arguing with Pidge he lost sight of Keith for a moment.

"Lance bets on Shiro." Pidge informs him right away, and Lance glares at her. Great, tell him I don't think he can win, go on.

Keith chuckles. "You don't think I can win?"

He looks right into Lance's eyes with his beautiful purple eyes and damn, Kogane, you already won my heart, isn't it enough?

"I.. I just.. I mean.." He stammers, but Keith just laugh it off.

"It's okay, I get it. But you'll lose your bet." Keith announces.

"Yeah? And who are you betting on, Kogane?" He asks with a grin. He feels like they're the only two left in the world.

"Myself. You can only trust yourself to win a bet." He says confidently and it's just so hot. "If I win, I can get anything I want from you except Blue. If Shiro wins, you can have anything you want except Red."

"You're on. But you not authorized to talk to Shiro before the end, I don't trust you not to ask him to lose."

Keith huffs. "Are you kidding? He'd give his best to win if he knew. But deal, and some goes for you."

They shake hands.

"You two are so ridiculous it's scary." Pidge says next to them, and Lance almost jumps because he totally forgot she's here. Looking at Keith's pink cheeks, the same goes for them.

"Hey, guys. They announced the first fights. You're against Kinkade, Keith." Shiro announces as him, Adam and Matt join them.

"Can you ask him who he's against, Pidge?" Keith asks his friend without even looking at Shiro. "Oh, and thank him for info, please."

"What the..?" Shiro starts, but Pidge cuts him, repeating Keith's words with an amused smile. Shiro doesn't answer, too confused, looking between Keith, still ignoring him, and Pidge, on the edge of laughing.

"He's against Adam." Matt says eventually.

"What?! That's so not fair!" Lance yells, feeling betrayed by fate.

"Come on, Adam never wins against him!" Keith yells back, crossing his arms.

"He's his fiancé! He won't hurt him!" Lance continues, ignoring the group around them.

"It's not about hurting people, if you do it well, no one is hurt!" Keith explains-yells.

"Them why were you hurt the other day?!" Lance asks, thinking back at the bruise that had nothing to do on Keith's pretty face.

"Because I made a mistake! It wasn't his fault that I got distracted!" Keith reminds him, throwing a quick look in Shiro's direction as if to make sure he doesn't feel guilty again.

"Yeah, that was actually my fault." Pidge mentions, and that brings them both back to earth because oh yeah, we have an audience.

"Anyway, what are Keith's chances against that Kinkade dude?" Lance asks, embarrassed.

"Pretty good, actually, dude must be crying right now." Matt says with a gently smile.

"So he sucks?"

"Oh no, he can hold himself, Keith is just one of the bests." Matt explains, tousling his hand on Keith's hair. Keith immediately fights against it, and Lance has to remind himself he has a girlfriend, he has a girlfriend.

Then, an alarm announces it's time to start the firsts fights, and everyone disperse. Pidge follows Matt, and Lance naturally does the same with Keith, the excitement to watch him fight back with the anxiety to see him get hurts. And okay, he said it isn't something that happens a lot, but it does, and that's scary.

"Kogane, hi!" A guy greets with a big smile that reminds Lance of Hunk.

"Hey, ready to lose?" Keith greets back playfully.

"Come on, can't you let a guy hopes for victory?"

"Never."

With that, the fight begins. Lance doesn't understand a lot about what is going on, not being familiar with the moves and rules, but he can tell it's a fair fight, that no one is playing dirty. His heart races a few times when Kinkade comes a little to close to hit Keith badly, but he can rapidly see that Keith is winning this, taking the advantage second by second until his opponent is on the ground.

Keith comes back all sweaty, drying himself with a towel before drinking some water while Lance makes his way to him.

"Congrats, it looked cool." He comments, and Keith answers with a soft smile that has nothing to do with the controlled brutality of the fight that just happened.

"Thanks, I hope you're not too disappointed." He jokes, and Lance shakes his head.

"Nah, I'm rooting for you." Lance says trustfully.

He doesn't really care about the bet this time, he just wants to see that joy and proud smile on Keith again and again. And he can't help but think back at Keith's sad face when he lost the competition the other day. He kinds of hope he'll lose today so Keith can ask that anything he wants from Lance. He wants to know so badly.

The next fights are announced a few minutes later, and Lance is only half happy when he hears Shiro's name being called for another fight. According to Keith, it's really not a surprised. Apparently, it's another easy fight, but almost any opponent is an easy fight for Shiro. Keith loses his smile when he's called against that James dude, though.

"Is that guy a jerk or something..?" Lance asks Keith as they're making their way to the fight. He catches Shiro looking worriedly at Keith a few meters away, and Adam leaves his side to follow Keith and Lance.

Okay, if Adam comes to see this fight instead of his fiancé's, it must be bad.

Keith shrugs. "You can say that." He doesn't explain, and Lance doesn't ask.

Adam arrives, putting a reassuring hand on Keith's shoulder. "If you don't want to fight him—"

"Oh I totally want to fight him." Keith cuts him, not even looking at him, and oh oh, this sounds like something that's about to go wrong.

"Yeah, maybe a little too much."

"I won't fight dirty if he doesn't." Keith mumbles between his teeth.

They make their way through, and this time, there's no playful greeting. The guy simply nods at Keith with cold eyes, and Keith does the same. Lance doesn't like that look in his eyes.

"Be careful." He asks, and Keith's look turns soft as his eyes lands on Lance. Okay, this is good.

"Don't worry."

He squeezes Lance's arm and leaves his side. In the meantime, Matt and Pidge arrived next to him and Adam.

"Already out?" Adam teases Matt.

"You're the one talking."

They both chuckle, but there's no real joy. Pidge frowns at James, and Lance dares ask her: "What's the story?"

She seems to think about her answer for a few seconds before opening her mouth. "They had a fight, a real one. James said something to Keith that was unacceptable and suffered the consequences. I can't tell you much, it's Keith's story to tell if he wants to, but the blame is all on James." She says loyally, and Lance nods, reassured.

Until the fight starts. It's brutal, and unlike what Keith said, it gets dirty pretty fast. He doesn't break his promise though, keeping thing in the rules until James doesn't. No one stops him as he tries repeatedly to hurt Keith, and as it's not like him to accept hits without giving them back, he lets go of his control on himself and hits.

Lance looks at Keith's friends, wondering how he's supposed to react. If no one says anything, it must be authorized, right? Adam looks worried, but not as if he's about to interfere, so it's already that. Matt is looking cautiously, and Pidge has a thin smile on her face. She feels Lance's gaze on her though.

"Keith is going to win." She predicts, her eyes not leaving the fight for one second, but Lance knows she's talking to him.

"How do you know? That dude is.. Savage." He says, half yelling because of all the cheering around them for the different fights taking place.

"James is an excellent fighter when he's in control. With Keith, he's not. And Keith is great when he thinks about his moves, but when he fights with his guts, he's unstoppable. That's probably why he bet on himself. You're totally losing that bet by the way." She informs him, still looking at the fight, and Lance does the same, finding himself unable to tear his gaze away anymore.

"We'll see." He answers with a smile, and at that, she sends him a quick look.

"You look too happy for someone about to lose a bet." She notices.

"Losing that bet doesn't mean I won't win." He says as Keith manages to throw James on his butt, jumping on him to push him against the ground.

When he's declared winner, Lance sighs deeply, relieved that it's over. Keith shakes James's hand, but doesn't even look at him, hurrying back to his friends. Adam immediately hugs him.

"You did so well." He congratulates him.

"I want to be like you when I grow up." Matt adds, bumping his fist against Keith's arm. Keith rolls his eyes as Matt is obviously older than him, but smiles at his friends.

He looks at Lance and seems a bit worried, waiting for his judgement, and Lance understands he fears Lance won't look at him the same after seeing this. And he's right, he won't see him the same. He just likes him even more, because whatever James did to him in the past, Keith still managed to keep his nerves and win this.

"It was amazing." He says, and Keith smiles fondly at him and his heart goes crazy in his chest because that smile is not allowed.

"Keith!" A familiar voice yells behind him, and Lance turns around to see Shiro running to them. "How did it go?"

Keith sends a questioning look at Lance, and he understands that Keith wants to answer, but doesn't want to break their no-talking-to-Shiro deal.

"Go ahead." He immediately gives his authorization, not that Keith really needs it.

"The final hit made him cry a bit." He announces proudly, and Shiro chuckles, shaking his head slightly.

"You're impossible."

After that, the general mood is more intense as the winners will make it to the final. Shiro leaves with Adam and Matt, and Pidge and Lance stays with Keith as he waits for his next opponent, a man named Lotor. Keith made a face when he heard the name, but apparently, not because they don't get along or anything. No, he's just one of the rare who can put Keith down.

When he arrives, Lance has to fight to keep his mouth shut. The guy is tall, like, really tall, he has very long hair, and looks like some kind of prince who just fought a dragon without sweating at all. He walks like he owns the place, confidently, looking at others like they were his subjects.

He makes a beeline to Keith, smirking down at him.

"How does it feel to know you already lost?"

Keith scowls at him while also rolling his eyes, which gives a result that shows pretty well how annoyed he must be. And Lance totally gets it because that guy seems super rude.

"I don't know, you tell me." Keith retorts, and Lotor smiles coldly.

"I heard your dominant wrist is still weak, and you ordinarily need to give everything for a chance to compete with me. You know you don't stand a chance." He says, looking down at Keith's wrist menacingly and Lance swears that if that guy dare hurt it or something he's going to punch him himself.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, don't count too much on that, though." Keith answers confidently, crossing his arms nonchalantly.

"You guys are so annoying." Pidge suddenly interferes, and Lance jumps a little. He had almost forgotten she was there, too taken in the pre-fight taking place behind his eyes.

"Come on, Pidge, don't be like that, there's more than one way to warm up before a fight." Lotor explains, and Lance notices Keith's smile and what is happening?

They're called to fight, and as they walk away, Pidge turns to him. "They're always doing that but they're actually really good friends now. At first, they were like rivals, but they figured it out because spoiler: you can be friend with someone you're in competition with."

Lance nods, liking this better than his previous idea of Lotor being another jerk.

"Will he fight dirty?" He still asks.

"Which one?"

"Lotor, of course."

"Nah, he's like.. Mister rules. He knows them all by heart and makes sure everyone respects them. He also knows how far he can go. Like, he'll probably try to take advantage of Keith's wrist, but would never hurt him, for example." She explains, and Lance is thankful he has her with him to give him the information because damn, this is complicated.

"So.. He's a nice dude?" He asks to be sure.

Pidge seems to think about it for a moment. "He's a fair dude."

Well, it's better than the other way around.

The fight begins, and it's everything Pidge said it would be. Lotor's attacks are mostly directed against Keith's left side, but either he's really not hurt anymore, either he's stronger than Lotor thought because he doesn't even flinch, attacking back strongly.

If Keith's style is fast, brutal, determined, Lotor is all in strategy. Every move he makes seem to be thought about, even if they happen in the moment, and it's like he can guess Keith's moves before he decides them. It's getting on Keith's nerves. He starts making mistakes, is less precise, until Lotor finds a way in and throws him on the ground.

Lance closes his eyes for a moment, his heart going crazy in his chest, but Keith is back on his feet in a second, attacking more fiercely than before. The fall seems to have brought him back in the game though, and he doesn't make any more mistake.

A few meters away, Lance hears cheering, letting him guess the other fight is over, but he can bring himself to care about it. He doesn't care about the bet anymore, he just wants Keith to win.

And after a few more seconds of eternity, he finally does.

Then, everything goes crazy. Everybody's yelling and Keith has trouble making it back to them. Adam and Shiro arrives with Matt around the same time, and everything is just one big hug, so messy Lance doesn't even know who dragged him into it, but glad they did because he feels so accepted he wants to cry.

He looks at Keith in the middle of that mount of affection, and is positively surprised to see he's already looking at him. And contrary to what Lance thought, Keith doesn't look away. Instead, his smile grows softer, warming Lance from the inside.

He doesn't want that moment to end, but it does as the two finalists need to get ready.

"Guess we'll see if the student has surpassed the master." Shiro says, grinning at Keith who just has the biggest smile ever at that news.

"What master?" Keith still teases, even though it's clear how much he admires the man in front of him.

"I'll get you for that." Shiro answers before turning around to take a break with Adam before the fight.

Keith immediately turns to Lance.

"So, what do you think? Enjoying yourself so far?" He asks a bit nervously, toying with his fingers and Lance has to fight the urge to prevent him to do so by taking his hands in his own.

"Actually yeah, it almost makes me want to try." He admits. The thought has crossed his mind as he saw how Keith seemed to be so.. Relaxed, so fully himself as he was fighting. It was like seeing another face of Keith, so different from the one with painting all over himself but still so.. Him.

"Really? I could totally give you a lesson if you want. Or I could ask Shiro, he's a way better teacher than I am." Keith's face breaks into a grin, and Lance didn't know he could be the reason of that, but he likes it.

"I think I'd be more at ease with you." He says honestly, and for the pleasure of seeing Keith's blush.

"Then I'll do it."

"Cool. I'll thank you with ice cream afterward." Lance promises. Great way to spend more time with Keith, really smooth, McClain.

Keith smiles. "Works for me. It's a—"

"Fucking drink some water, Keith, the final is in 2 minutes!" Pidge yells at him, shoving a bottle of water in Keith's gut violently.

He looks away from Lance, docilely drinking the water Pidge brought him, and Lance has to resist de urge to strangle her. Why couldn't she wait three more seconds before forcing Keith to hydrate? Sure, it's great she thought about it, Lance should have, damn, Keith should have, but if only he had the opportunity to end his sentence.. He was about to say 'it's a date', right? There's no way he wasn't. It was about to be official. But she had to come and..

"You okay, McClain?"

Lance jumps back into reality at Keith's worried look, not even wanting to know what kind of face he was making. All he knows is that Pidge is smirking, sending him a knowing look.

"Yeah, yeah." He mumbles, forcing himself to smile reassuringly.

He's not sure Keith believes him, but before he can try to convince him, him and Shiro are called back. Keith gives the bottle back to Pidge and starts leaving, so when Lance acts, it's totally on the impulse. He catches Keith's arm before he's out of reach, forcing him to turn around, surprised readable in his beautiful eyes.

"I.. Just.. Good luck. Not that I think you'll need it, I'm sure you'll do great." He stammers a little, not finding the right words to express what he wants to say, but Keith's soft look is the best answer he could have dreamed of.

"Thanks."

Lance squeezes Keith's arm before letting go, and Keith's gone, joining Shiro. They exchange a polite nod, but their affection for each other is obvious. They don't smile at the other, their expressions are closed. They're concentrate on giving everything to win, it's not playful, it's a serious fight, not a training, and it shows. But still, Keith looks different from how he looked on his other fights.

Maybe it's because he learned with Shiro, because he fought so much with Shiro that he knows his style so well he's totally relaxed. Maybe it's because he trusts Shiro so completely he can be himself with him. Or maybe it's because they fought so many times against each other they know it won't have any incidence on their friendship.

"Still on Shiro's side?" Matt asks Lance, suddenly on his side and of course Pidge told him about the bet.

Said Pidge just snorts hearing that. "Matt, please."

"What?! He saw how good of a fighter Keith is, he could change his mind. Just because Shiro won most of their fights doesn't mean—"

"That's not what I meant. And I'm not referring to probability on this one." She answers, confusing Lance even more, which is scary with Matt knowing look.

"Oh."

"What?" Lance asks.

"So he was never on Shiro's side because.. Oh." He repeats, completely ignoring Lance.

"What does that 'oh' means?" Lance asks again.

But no one answers him because at that moment, Keith tries to force Shiro on the ground. But Shiro uses his impetus to make Keith fly over himself before throwing him strongly on the floor. There's a lot of cheering and yelling from all around him, but it's like Lance can't hear them as his heart jumps in his throat, going crazy.

He doesn't care who wins or loses at this point, he just want to know if Keith is okay. He needs to know he's okay.

Shiro wouldn't hurt him, right? He's his best friend, he would never.. Lance wasn't even worried, not like with the other fights. He thought.. But Shiro already hurt him, right? That bruise on his cheek, his messed up wrist..

It all happens in a moment. Shiro lowers to keep Keith on the floor, and Keith does that same throwing-his-opponent-over-himself thingy Shiro just did, taking him by surprise as he thought Keith was down.

Lance hears someone chuckling next to him, and is surprised to see Adam, a hand over his mouth as he looks his fiancé being brutally thrown on the ground. The perplexed look he sends him mustn't stay unnoticed as Adam looks away from the fight to look at Lance.

"Keith does that all the time. He lets Takashi - ugh, sorry, Shiro -, think he's winning, then turns the situation around. It's mostly like that that he gets hurt, when he lets him falsely win on moves too easy to avoid that Shiro was sure he'd be stopped." He explains, and Lance nods, reassured. So he's stupid to worry that much? Maybe it's because he's not used to it like Adam and the others are.

He feels better having someone explaining things to him, so he's thankful for Pidge and Adam.

"Who do you think will win? Honestly." Lance asks him. It's the first time he sees Shiro fight, so he can't really compare this fight to his previous ones like he does with Keith. And Adam has seen them fight for years now, it must be easy for him to tell.

"I have absolutely no idea." Adam admits to Lance's surprise. "With them, it could go either way in a second."

True to Adam's words, Keith and Shiro are once again rolling on the ground, giving their best to get the upper hand. And true to his prediction, the outcome arrives at a glance. As if it's in the meantime the hardest and easiest thing ever, Keith just stops on top of Shiro, blocking him with his left arm on Shiro's throat.

And just like that, it's like the room explodes. Everyone run forward, and Lance can't see Keith or Shiro anymore, even Keith's other friends are gone from his sight, as they run to them as soon as the fight was declared over while Lance was still trying to comprehend what just happened.

Luckily, Lance is tall, so he manages to locate Shiro and Adam, the tallest of the group. He hurries in their direction, but mid-way to them, he's stopped by someone suddenly crushing against him, arms wrapping around his neck. It doesn't take half a second before Lance hugs him back, wrapping his arms around Keith's hips.

It feels so natural, so right, that when Keith nestles his face in Lance's neck, he just forgets everything else and kiss him on the top of the head. Keith freezes, moving his head back to look at Lance, and Lance's heart just stops because what if he interpreted everything wrong? What if he just ruined a great friendship?

But in Keith's eyes, he can see the same hope he's feeling, holding the boy next door close to him as if he never had anything more precious between his arms in his entire life. And when Keith smiles at him, he knows he's definitely something special, something he never had but always dreamed of having.

"It's what I want, for winning the bet." Keith announces him weakly, a bit out of breath.

"What?" Lance asks, unsure, scared to make a mistake.

"A kiss." He clarifies, looking back and forth between Lance's eyes and his lips.

Lance removes on of his hands from Keith's hips to cup his cheek, kissing the other one, feeling himself blushing furiously but not caring, forgetting everything about their audience as Keith chuckles softly, shaking his head slightly.

Lance tilts his head, confused as Keith takes Lance's head between his hands, caressing his cheeks with his thumbs, and Lance feels like he's going to explode because he wants that man so much.

"I really have to do everything myself, huh?" He says quietly, for only Lance to hear.

Lance half opens his mouth, about to ask Keith if he means what he hopes he means, what he thinks he means, but Keith doesn't let him. Because he shuts him up with a kiss, gentle at first, then deeper, passionate, almost hungry.

Lance runs his fingers in Keith's hair, messing up his ponytail a bit more, but none of them care. He vaguely hears cheering, but no one really exist right now except Keith. Keith and the warmth he's sending through Lance's whole body as if he's brought back to life, as if he's waking up for the first time.

He doesn't realize he's out of breath before Keith leans back, breathing heavily. He smiles shyly at Lance, not totally daring looking at him in the eyes, and Lance rests his forehead against Keith's, smiling widely.

"It's real, right? It's not just the euphoria of the victory or—"

"Lance." Keith cuts him and Lance freezes because..

"You called me by my first name." He remarks, wondering why it feels so good, why it makes him so happy.

"Yeah. Though it was about time, don't you think?" Keith jokes, bumping his nose against Lance's.

"Yeah." He pauses. "Hey, Keith?" He tests the name on his mouth. He likes it. He wants to say it again. And again. Forever.

"Hm?"

"Kiss me again." He asks, and Keith is happy to supply.

After that, the group of friends decides to go in a restaurant, most of them hungry because of the competition, but Keith passes, saying he doesn't want to go because he's too tired, and Lance feels relieved because all of this starts to be a little too much for him and he just wants to go back home.

And they do just that, hand in hand, until they reach Lance's apartment. They speak a bit with Hunk and Shay, but they leave after a few minutes, and Keith just collapses on Lance's couch with the kittens on his tummy as Lance heats up the food Hunk left for them after eating with Shay.

It's domestic, it feels good, natural, and when they slowly fall asleep on the couch against each other, Lance doesn't find in himself the motivation to fight it.