Chapter Text
At first, Lance wanted to hate the red flowers on his skin. He knew what they meant but he didn't want to accept it. He felt as if the roses were going to curl around his neck and choke him anyday, and the thought scared him, especially when every day he saw those roses continue to creep out across his skin more and more.
Every time he saw Keith now, he couldn't help the way his heart would damn near leap out of his chest. Keith, of course, only scowled in return when he caught Lance staring, even though they shared almost every class and they had known each other for years, even if they weren’t exactly friends. It was almost like Keith was purposefully trying to hate Lance just to piss him off. It might've worked too, had Keith not been so goddamn hot even when he was angry. However, Lance personally thought he looked so much better when he was happy.
He'd only seen Keith smile a handful of times, but each time it felt as though Lance would fucking melt on the spot from how beautiful it was. Usually he only smiled when Shiro, his older brother and a teacher in the university, was around. Once, Lance had seen him smile in class when he was zoned out, lost in his own thoughts with a light pink dusting to his cheeks. Lance had just about died on the spot, and that's when the roses really started to become a problem, and about when he realized that he actually loved them.
They had started off as tiny, innocent little red buds on his upper arms. He had been confused at first, but once he realized who these flowers were for, he knew that he was absolutely fucked. From that moment on, Lance couldn't keep his eyes off Keith, and every little thing made his heart stop and new rose to etch itself into Lance's skin and into his heart. The roses now covered the entirety of his upper arms and were now crawling halfway down his lower arms, determined to claim the whole of both appendages for themselves. A few had even started to creep up to his shoulders and across his chest, and Lance knew that soon enough, they would peek out from under his shirts and someone would figure it out. He couldn’t bring himself to mind all that much, though.
Even now, in the middle of class, Lance couldn't keep his eyes off the mop of dark hair a few rows ahead of him. He was so lost in his thoughts about him, that Lance never heard the teacher tell the class to pair up with a partner for a project. The thing that finally snapped him out of it was when searching violet eyes landed on him, and Lance could only watch as Keith strode over and placed himself directly in front of Lance with a disgruntled frown and pinched eyebrows.
"You're the only person left. So you're doing the project with me. I'll meet you in the commons after classes today." Keith declared gruffly, then walked out of the class as the bell rang. Lance hastily grabbed his things as he tried oh so very hard not to think of just how lovely Keith's voice sounded, even as gruff and annoyed as it was, and how it made his heart flutter like he was a lovestruck fool. Although, Lance conceded in his thoughts, he was indeed a lovestruck fool, and he was okay with that. Lance mentally shushed himself as he hurried out of the room and to his next class, his last one of the day and the only one Keith wasn’t in as well.
Lance felt like this class always dragged on for far too long. The professor’s voice grated on his nerves like nails on a chalkboard, and she never shut up. Lance realized that was her job and he should be a little nicer, but he just couldn’t make himself do so, especially when it honestly sounded like she gargled rocks for breakfast each morning and seemed to have a personal vendetta against Lance that he had never understood. When the bell finally rang signalling the end of the class, Lance felt as if he absolutely could not get out of there fast enough. He felt as if he needed to sleep ten years just to gain back the energy he had lost in that class alone.
When he finally got back to his dorm, Lance let out a long breath of relief as he deposited his stuff on a random desk and flopped onto his bed with a quiet groan of exhaustion. That last professor really knew exactly how to just completely and utterly drain Lance. With a heavy sigh Lance rolled onto his back and pulled his phone out just as he received a call. Without really looking at who it was, Lance hit answer and brought it up to his ear with a tired sigh.
"Where are you? We agreed to meet after classes. I know you're not in class right now, Lance." An annoyed Keith spoke, making Lance sit up quickly enough to make him go lightheaded.
"Shit, sorry, I forgot! I'll be right out." Lance assured Keith, who didn't even reply before hanging up. Lance groaned and rubbed his face with annoyance. How could he forget about meeting up with Keith after class? Was he actually an idiot? What’s worse is that Keith seemed like he was now very annoyed with Lance and that really was not going to help his case.
Quickly grabbing his things, Lance rushed out to the commons area, instantly spotting a scowling Keith in the corner and headed over to him with a sheepish smile. Keith regarded him silently for a moment as Lance sat down with a tired sigh, and Lance noticed that his expression was slowly morphing from anger to something closer to… concern? Lance tilted his head and stared at Keith quizzically.
"Lance, are you alright? You're not… yourself. You're, you look, how do I say it?" He mumbled, and appeared to be wrestling with what he was trying to say in his head. "I guess you just don't seem like your normal bubbly self?" He tried, but frowned as if he didn't like how it sounded. Lance smiled softly, and he swore he could feel another damn rose appear on his arm and bloom as he listened to Keith. He did care, or at least seemed to, and Lance’s tired brain latched onto that like a lifeline.
"Yeah, my last teacher kinda drains me, and it's just a long class with her. I'm fine, though. Just a bit tired, but that’s hardly news when you’re a college student." Lance offered a small smile to Keith, who seemed to be mulling over Lance's words carefully before slowly nodding.
“If you say so, I believe you. Let’s get to work on this project then.” Keith replied nonchalantly, already shifting gears back into serious mode. Lance smiled softly, he loved that Keith knew when to drop something and focus on the task that was more important. Lance struggled with that himself, he’d admit that easily enough, but he always admired people who did it seemingly effortlessly. Keith just had the added bonus of being really attractive when he frowned, which he did often when he was focused, and Lance was loving it.
After many hours of working on the project, Keith eventually let out a long tired sigh and dragged a hand across his face. Lance dimly noted in the back of his tired brain that Keith was staring at him for a long moment, but for the most part he was staring blankly at the screen in front of him that had information he needed somewhere in a big block of confusing text. He kept trying to refocus and keep reading it, but he just kept zoning out and forgetting everything he just read. Eventually, he looked up and caught Keith’s eyes, and gave him another quizzical look at the contemplative expression he found resting on his face.
“I think we’ve both done as much as we can today. Let’s pack up and regroup tomorrow with fresh eyes. After all, we have all week to finish this.” Keith suggested. Lance bit his lip slightly as he slowly contemplated his offer.
“Yeah, that’s true. I don’t know if I could have done much more today, if I’m being honest. I just couldn’t focus on the words anymore.” Lance sighed tiredly. “But uh, if you don’t have anything else going on, do you maybe wanna go get ice cream or a smoothie with me?” Lance started packing up, refusing to look at Keith’s face while he waited anxiously for his reply.
“Uh, sorry, I gotta get over to my brother’s house. He likes to cook dinner for me and his boyfriend a few times a week, and he decided that tonight was one of them. I’m probably gonna be late as it is…” Keith trailed off and bit his lip as he glanced at Lance. A hint of a smile pulled on his lips but it disappeared rather quickly. “How about a rain check? Tomorrow, maybe?” Lance beamed at that, and Keith shifted uncomfortably.
“Yeah, sure, we’ll see about tomorrow, then!” Lance slung his bag with all his stuff over one shoulder with a grin. “Bye, Keith. Have a nice night!” Lance called cheerily as he left. He ignored the stares of the other students scattered around the room, and this time he knew for sure that he’d gained more flowers somewhere on his body. He couldn’t wait to see how far they reached now.
Upon entering his dorm again, Lance couldn’t help but bounce up and down in excitement and allowing a giddy smile to claim his face. Hunk was back from his classes now and was at his desk, working on homework probably, but turned when he heard Lance enter. As soon as he saw how excited and happy Lance was, a big smile graced his own features.
“I’ll take a wild guess and say this has something to do with this secret rose boy you have a crush on?” Hunk raised an eyebrow. He knew fully well the boy in question was Keith, Lance was pretty awful at being subtle, but he wouldn’t mention he knew until Lance wanted to tell him himself. Lance nodded vigorously at Hunk’s question and flopped on his bed with a dramatic sigh.
“We got put on a project together for Astrophysics. Gosh, Hunk he noticed as soon as I got there how tired I was, because we all know my calculus teacher drains me, and he actually asked if I was okay! I wasn’t expecting that because he always scowls at me for whatever reason, but that’s proof he does care and that he’s considerate about me, right? He even ended up agreeing to go get ice cream or a smoothie or something with me tomorrow before we left! That’s good, that’s progress isn’t it?” Lance babbled on, hoping he wasn’t wrong about what he was attempting to infer from Keith’s actions. The boy could just be so damn hard to read sometimes, but Lance found that he actually quite enjoyed trying to figure him out. With Hunk’s help of course; he always talked to Hunk about these things.
“Yeah, that all sounds like a positive, Lance. You know, other than the whole bit about how he’s always scowling at you. You should probably ask him about that, see if he will stop glaring at you all the time. Oh, maybe over that ice cream? Just a suggestion though.” Hunk smirked knowingly. Keith probably hadn’t even realized he was scowling at Lance, he just had a closed off demeanor and that showed through his angry looking resting face.
“Oh I don’t know. I don’t want to annoy him or anything by asking. I’ll try to slowly be his friend first, and maybe ask later on down the line when we’re both more comfortable with each other. That’s why I’m so excited about him accepting to go with me tomorrow! It’s a chance to know him better and since he didn’t outright reject the offer, that means he must want to hang around me a little bit too, right?” Lance flipped over on his belly to stare at Hunk meaningfully; he knew Hunk was more level headed about all this than he was and could give him sound advice. Hunk was smiling lightly at his friend, but shook his head endearingly before turning back to his work.
“Yeah, probably. He would not have accepted if he hated you and didn’t want to be around you at all. You have a solid plan, Lance. Attempting friendship is probably your best bet, especially if you ever want to date this person.” Hunk grinned as he heard Lance splutter and scramble out of his bed and rush up next to his desk. Hunk looked up at him innocently as Lance scrambled for something to say.
“Well yes, I guess that is the goal but Hunk! I’m nowhere near there yet! I don’t even know if he likes guys, much less if he likes me!” Lance groaned loudly, dramatically sinking to his knees and leaning over Hunk’s desk so he couldn’t focus on his work, but rather Lance only. Hunk chuckled at his best friend’s antics whilst playfully and futilely trying to push him off.
“So ask him over ice cream tomorrow. Bring it up somehow. Come on, Lance. You’ve never been afraid to flirt with anyone else before, why change that now?” He questioned, and Lance seemed to ponder this for a bit before he stood back up and freed Hunk’s homework.
“I mean, you’re right, but this is different. You know what the roses mean, but that doesn’t guarantee that he has soulmarks too. There have been plenty of cases of one-sided romantic feelings between soulmates. I’m kinda scared of being one of them and I really don’t want to be too forward for fear of scaring him away or something. He’s special, he’s more important than anyone else I’ve ever been interested in before.” Lance explained as he sat back on his own bed with a heavy sigh.
“Lance, you know those cases are rare. If you’re too busy worrying about something that might not ever even happen, you’ll miss the chances you have. You have to relax man. Trust that if you just be yourself, everything will be fine. That’s never failed you before. You remember high school, don’t you?” Hunk smirked and Lance couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. I know that, I really do, but I’m still scared, you know?” Lance glanced over at Hunk.
“Being scared is normal, Lance. That doesn’t mean you should let it stop you. Get out there and romance the hell out of this boy!” Hunk cried in exasperation.
“Fiineeee,” Lance groaned dramatically, but smiled at Hunk. “You’re right. As always. Thank you, Hunk.”
“Well I’m glad you liked my advice. Now I have to finish this homework or else my professor is gonna eat me alive.” Hunk joked with a grimace, knowing that he wasn’t actually too far off.
“Alright, buddy. I’ll let you get some work done. I’ll head out and get some food for us. What do you want?” Lance questioned as he stood back up and stretched.
“Uhhh, calzones? Yeah, it feels like a calzone night.” Hunk smiled at Lance gratefully.
“You got it buddy. I’ll be back soon with the normal order.” Lance gave Hunk a small two finger salute and walked out the door. He walked quickly to the nearest pizza place and got them both their normal calzone order, before heading back to the dorm as quick as he could. By the time he got back, Hunk had already finished his homework and was now laying in bed reading a book like he normally did to start relaxing from the day. His eyes lit up excitedly when he saw Lance, and Lance quickly handed him his food.
Hunk turned on the t.v. they had both chipped in to buy for their dorm, and they watched Netflix while they ate. Finally able to have the time to relax, Lance realized he was much more exhausted than he had thought he was. He found himself stifling yawn after yawn, until he just couldn’t hold them back anymore. Hunk soon followed suit and he chuckled.
“Your yawns are contagious, Lance.” He joked and threw a pillow at him. Lance barely managed to block the pillow before it hit his face. He gasped in mock offense, and hurled the pillow back at Hunk with all his might, but Hunk just lazily caught it with a shit-eating grin.
“Oh shut up,” Lance huffed with a grin. He flopped backwards on his bed with a playful pout, which only earned him a sharp bark of laughter from his best friend. Lance honestly didn’t know what he would do without Hunk there to give him pep talks and give him a level head. He could also always count on Hunk to be honest with him about anything, even when he did try to sugarcoat it because he hated being mean to anyone, but Lance knew he could count on Hunk to set him straight when he needed it.
“What are you thinking about over there? You’re quiet, so I’m scared.” Lance could hear the smirk in Hunk’s voice at that last comment.
“My soulmate. You already know who he is, don’t you? You’re just good at picking things like that up. You know, I really admire that about you and I’m also a bit jealous. I wish I could just know things like you do.” Lance sat back up to look at him.
“Well, I mean, to be honest Lance? You weren’t really all that subtle. Anyone can tell just by the way you look at him. Also, roses as a soulmark? Kind of a dead giveaway. Keith’s favorite color is red, I’ll admit he is quite attractive from purely an objective stance, and he has a prickly and defensive personality. Who else could match all those criteria that you know of?” Hunk raised his eyebrow.
“Yeah, I guess that’s fair. However, soulmarks don’t always match the person they’re for like that. They often do, yes, but sometimes it’s something as simple as the other’s favorite flower and the personality implications are wrong and meaningless.” Lance pointed out.
“Well, yeah that’s fair, but it’s almost always a flower that will match the person in color and personality implications. Besides, you told me about Keith before telling me your soulmark was a rose. The roses just kind of confirmed my suspicions, honestly.” Hunk admitted softly.
“You just know me too well, huh?” Lance grinned at him. “I’m glad you do though. I couldn’t ask for a better best friend.”
“Right back at ya, buddy.” Hunk smiled at Lance happily before yawning again. “That’s probably my cue to get some sleep. Yours too, Lance. You have an early class tomorrow don’t you?” Lance groaned and flopped back down again.
“Don’t remind me. I hate morning classes. I’m gonna die, Hunk. I’m not made to wake up that early. I am not a morning person and I never will be.” He huffed and rolled further onto his bed, dragging his thick soft blanket over him.
“Sorry, Lance but you know I’m right. Time for both of us to get some much-needed sleep. You’ll be okay, I promise. Just get some sleep okay? Besides, you wanna be well rested for your date tomorrow.” Hunk smirked at Lance as he got up and threw the empty calzone boxes away and turned off the lights before returning to his own bed and ignoring Lance’s indignant sputtering resulting from his last comment. “Goodnight, Lance,” he called in a sing song voice, before rolling over and facing his back towards Lance.
“Goodnight, Hunk.” Lance grumbled in a disgruntled manner before sighing softly as he allowed himself to slowly relax into his pillows. It didn’t take very long at all before he was out like a light, whilst simultaneously dreading tomorrow and hoping it would come sooner for two very different reasons.