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“Do I really have to do this?” Keith grumbled as Lance dragged him through the doors of the department store.
“Keith.” Lance laughed, rolling his eyes. “You know Curtis would kill you if you showed up to his wedding in that . And I know for a fact that you have no other casual clothes, therefore, shopping!”
Keith groaned, slumping as he followed Lance to the clothes section. He didn’t get why it was such a big deal that he only owned two shirts. He pouted as Lance started pulling clothes off the racks, examining them before slinging them over his other arm. Keith was glad he had Lance to help him, Keith was just happy to have Lance still in his life honestly, after Allura, and the war effort, Keith was unsure if Lance would get through it in one piece. If he’d ever make time for his ‘rival’ now that he didn’t have to.
Lance, of course, gracefully welcomed him onto the farm whenever Keith stumbled out of the ship.
They’d grown close again, even closer than they had been before Keith had left for the Blade the first time. Keith was very proud to be the person Lance turned to when he needed help or when he needed to get away or to just curl up and be grounded with when the trauma of everything they'd been through was too much.
Lance was his best friend. And Keith was his. So it made sense that, when Curtis passive-aggressively mentioned that Keith needed a normal suit for the wedding, Lance had piped up in a second to offer to help him find one.
“Maybe I’ll even be able to find him some real people clothes too!”
“I have real clothes, Lance.”
“You have one pair of pants, Keith, three different warrior suits and one pair of pants. That’s not how real clothes work.”
Keith had a feeling Lance hadn’t been joking when he said he intended to get Keith an entire closet.
“I’m not trying that on!” Keith cried when he saw Lance grab a pair of leather pants off a rack, “I just need a suit, Lance!”
“Come on Keith," it was impressive really, how long Lance could whine the n in on. "You need clothes. It physically pains me that you have more uniforms than casual clothes. And it’s not like you can’t afford it! Just let me buy you things!”
“No.” Keith tried to snatch the pants from Lance's grasp but Lance held on to the legs, a desperate gleam in his eyes that already knew he wouldn’t be able to say no to.
“What if I sweeten the pot?”
Didn't mean Keith had to make it look as easy as he was with Lance. He crossed his arms.
“How do you plan on doing that?"
Lance hummed, “Since you aren’t going to be any help picking out your own clothes anyway," Keith scoffed but Lance just raised his eyebrow, daring him to argue. When Keith said nothing, Lance continued. "What if for every outfit you try on for me, I’ll try on one for you.”
“Anything?”
“ Anything. ”
Well, that was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Lance smirked, he knew he'd already won Keith over.
Keith was going to make him regret this.
~~~
The first few outfits Keith had come up with were, frankly, disappointing. A horrifically orange vest paired with a hot pink pair of booty shorts that Lance killed , thank you very much.
But it was worth it to see Keith in the clothes Lance picked for him because holy fuck, Keith looked good in a suit. The black suit with white shirt and red tie was a classic look, but years of being a soldier had done wonders for Keith’s body and he filled it out like a pro. It did things to Lance. Plenty of bad things that he certainly should not be thinking about his best friend right now. Keith wasn’t ready for a relationship, Lance had only just got him back to being a regular visitor, he wasn’t going to push it further yet.
Didn’t mean he couldn’t look, storing away the image of Keith coming out with the button-up shirt undone (because the adorable idiot couldn’t figure out the buttons) for a later time. He'd describe the leather jeans that went with it but he'd have to raise the rating to do it.
His time to shine came after Keith came back into the change rooms, wearing jeans, a blue shirt with a black sports jacket that Lance had picked out for him, his face distorted into an evil smirk.
He held up the clothes he expected Lance to try on and Lance matched the smile.
Finally .
~~~
Keith had just wanted to make Lance look silly, to embarrass him so he would regret the game. So far all he had managed to do was get some unimpressed looks from him. Keith had needed to up his game.
He thought this would stump Lance, that he wouldn’t be able to pull it off.
Keith had been very, very wrong.
Lance’s hips swayed as he strutted out of the changing room, his legs not even wobbling in the insanely tall black heels Keith had picked out for him. It didn’t stop there, Keith’s self-induced doom continued upwards, up his bare legs that seemed to go on forever, to the body tight thigh-high red dress Keith had chosen that fit Lance like a glove.
Keith was fucked.
He was definitely bright red and he was pretty sure he was shaking as he stared at Lance’s long legs, at the way his hips moved as he walked towards Keith, the sultry smile.
“So Keith,” Lance said, “What do you think?”
“Uh...I...um...,” Keith had to get his head back on, what was he even thinking? Something witty. Say something witty so he doesn’t know you like your straight friend in a not straight way. Say something. “I think you walk really well in those heels for a straight guy,” Keith blurted out.
Lance’s gasp was excessive, he even added to it by ‘stumbling’ back a few steps, his face twisted in horror.
" Did you just call me straight ?” Lance cried, clutching his chest as though he were insulted.
Keith was confused. “Aren’t you?”
“Wow,” Lance breathed, rubbing his forehead as he shook it, “You are the most oblivious idiot I have ever met.”Lance fished his phone out of his bag, “Hang on, I just need to text Hunk and tell him you thought I was straight!”
Keith was only half aware as Lance muttered further insults to his intelligence. All Keith could hear was apparently… Lance wasn’t straight? But…
“You dated Allura!” Keith argued as Lance called him ‘dumber than a straight jock’ “Is it really so far a stretch to assume you were straight?”
“There are more than two sexualities mullet,” Lance shook his head again, shuddering, a look of revolution across his face as he muttered straight again, “I’m a goddamn walking bisexual sterotype,” he said louder, “I finger gun constantly! I flirt with everything! What were you even thinking!”
Keith wasn’t thinking. He’d tried so hard to not think about Lance like that.
“So… you’re not straight?”
“No Keith,” Lance replied slowly, putting away his phone, “I’m not straight.”
“I’m not either.” Keith blurted out, his heart skipping a beat.
When Lance smiled at him then, it wasn’t his usual smirk, or his flirty smile, it wasn’t even the smile he used to give Allura during the brief period they’d dated before she broke it off with him. It was something sly, as though he knew a secret that Keith didn’t.
Lance said simply, “I know.”
Keith bit his lip, breaking eye contact with Lance, unable to control the rapidly increasing beat of his heart. Just because Lance wasn’t straight, didn’t mean Keith had a chance, he’d known Keith was gay and hadn’t made a move. Lance was his best friend. He didn’t like Keith like that…
Lance took a step closer.
He didn’t…
Lance was taller than him in the heels, a lot taller. He crowded Keith’s space and mind and Keith was certain he’d stopped breathing as Lance moved in closer.
And closer.
And closer.
And Lance was touching his arm so lightly Keith wasn’t sure he wasn’t dreaming.
He might be dreaming.
Dear mothman, please don’t let this be a dream.
Lance was touching his arm and it was real and firm and he was even closer now.
This wasn’t a dream. This was actually happening. Don’t panic, Keith you are a trained war soldier, stop panicking.
Was Lance going to kiss him? Lance who was not straight and wearing red and was touching his arm . He’s so close. Keith could kiss him. He could lean up and Lance’s lips would be right there.
“Keith,” Lance’s voice was barely louder than a breath, and Keith would have missed it if he weren’t close enough to count Lance’s eyelashes as his eyes fluttered shut. Keith waited for the trick, for Lance to start laughing, or the cameras to come out. He watched in what felt like slow motion as Lance’s lips puckered, his head tilting to the side, coming closer and closer and it couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real.
“Breathe,” Lance murmured, brushing their noses together, holding Keith's arms in a firm comforting grip. “Trust me, okay? I want this too.”
Keith trusted Lance more than he trusted anyone, himself included. Lance who was always here, even when his world fell apart. Lance who knew him better than even Shiro. Lance who could talk him into anything. Lance who he had fallen for, who he had watched fall for another. His Lance.
His Lance who wasn’t straight. His Lance who wanted this.
His Lance who had taken that first step, and was waiting for Keith to take the next one. Keith let the tension fall out of his body, banished the anxiety that clouded his mind, he let himself focus on what was important.
Keith let himself lean into the kiss, to finally taste Lance’s lips against his. As Lance moved closer again, slotting their bodies together.
Lance fitted better against him than any suit ever could.