Work Text:
Lance proposing to him had been the best day of Keith’s life so far. But his engagement only held that title for a total of 19 hours.
Not saying that it didn’t mean a lot to Keith, because he was so damn excited to marry that gorgeous man in the near future. But what happened 19 hours later had really been one of the greatest moments of his life.
Lance, his boyfriend of 3 1/2 years and fiancé of 19 hours walked into the room with a giant grin on his face with Vivian walking in front of him. She was four years old now, still looking like a mini Lance with her tanned skin, wavy hair and especially those big bright blue eyes that showed every emotion.
It was easy for him to see in those eyes that she was a little nervous.
“Hey Keith, can we talk to you for a second?” Lance asked as the two of them walked over to Keith who was sitting on the couch, sketching a few concepts for a commission.
“Of course.” He put the book down and closed it to give them his undivided attention. “What’s up?”
Vivian looked back up to her father for a moment with hesitancy. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he gave her an encouraging nudge forward.
By the way Lance was acting it seemed that this ‘little talk’ had more to do with Vivian than himself.
The girl was dressed in her nighttime onesie that was blue and covered in clouds, accompanied by a stuffed lion toy he gave her for her second birthday. It was still hard to believe that she was going to be going to school next year. She looked too little, seemed too soon. He could remember holding her for the first time as a baby, taking her first steps and everything in between. She was growing so fast that he just wanted to hold her down from roaring on ahead. He wanted to enjoy her being small, being able to carry her wherever she wanted to go. It hurt his heart to think one day she was going to be too big for him to carry.
“Hey Vee,” he said, giving her a soft smile. It was weird to see her so quiet and timid, usually she was so bubbly and excited. “Come here,” he grinned and snatched her up, causing her to giggle as he sat her on his lap. “Now, do you want to tell me what you want to talk about?”
In that moment Lance sat down next to them, not interacting, but happily watching.
She again glanced towards Lance who smiled with the nod. “Go on, you can ask him.” Keith looked back down to Vivian who finally reached enough confidence.
“Umm, well papa said that you’re – uh…” she got distracted by a thread in her toy for a moment before continuing. “You’re getting un-gage-ed.“
“Sweetheart, we’re already engaged,” Lance mused, holding up his hand to show her the ring. “We’re getting married.”
That was seriously the best feeling. He was engaged and he was going to get married.
“Going to get married,” she copied her papa, making Keith chuckle. “Papa says that means you’re going to be with us forever.”
“That is true.” The very thought of it had his body going fuzzy and warm. He was going to be taking Lance’s name, so it really felt like he was joining the family for real. Not that they haven’t been a family for a long time, it just felt more official this way.
“Umm…” She pulled at her fingers nervously, looking back to Lance as if for more encouragement. It was such a nervous Lance habit, pulling at fingers. It filled Keith with pride. If she kept growing to be more like her papa, she was going to be a fine adult. Filled to the brim with compassion and with the sweetest heart.
“You know you can ask me anything, right?” Keith said to Vivian. She looked like she was debating and then nodded. “And that you don’t have to worry about me being mad or upset with you for asking me something?” She nodded again, looking a little more relaxed which made Keith smile. “Okay, so what did you want to ask me Vee?”
“Well, papa said you’re getting married,” she repeated herself again. “Does that mean you’re going to be my dad too?”
Never had anything anyone has ever said to him took his breath away in such a positive way before.
He stared at the beautiful little girl in front of him for a few moments, letting himself process it all. He only stopped when a warm hand squeezed his shoulder; Lance.
“You…” He hated how his voice cracked. Clearing his throat he tried to compose himself. “You want to call me Dad?”
Vivian didn’t think about it for long before she nodded quickly.
He’s never really felt like this before. Like his heart was shattering and rebuilding itself and then breaking again and then forming back brighter and stronger.
“Yeah,” he croaked, breaking out into a smile. “You can call me dad. I’m your dad, I’ll be here forever.” He squished his arms around her and pulled her in, squeezing her as tight as her little body could handle. She giggled at the pressure but ultimately hugged him back. For a while they stayed that way, mostly because he's 100% crying and didn't want to confuse her with his tears.
By tilting his head he looked towards Lance who was still sitting next to them. His eyes red and tears smeared down his face. His smile wobbled and when he let out a little laugh it came out slightly gurgled. Tentative tanned fingers wiped tears off Keith’s face instead of reaching for his own.
It was almost overwhelming how many emotions were going through his body. He was so in love with Lance, and he loved Vivian just as much. The crazy part was they loved him back just as ferociously.
It felt so unconditional, so endless. Like it was going to go on forever and ever and never stop. Like Vivian had put it; forever.
No wonder he wanted a family so badly as a kid.
If it weren’t for Vivian’s squirming Keith might have quite comfortably been able to hold her all night, but he let go and felt his heart break all over again as she grinned at him, rebuilding as she went into a spiral of giggles just for the sake of it.
She then extended her hands out and patted his cheeks, big pout on her chubby cheeks. “Why are you crying?”
“I’m just really happy. Happy tears.”
“Happy tears,” she echoed. “‘Cause you are happy to be my dad?”
Keith nodded, determined not to cry even more. “Yeah, I am super happy to be your dad.” He knew he was smiling like a clown, but he couldn’t help it, especially when she was smiling right back at him.
“See sunshine? I told you it would be fine,” Lance smiled and played with Vivian’s cheek which made her squeal in delight. Lance laughed quietly and looked to Keith, expression soft. It was the face that was always reserved for when Keith did something right.
Lance looked back to his daughter – their daughter – and smoothed down her hair. “Why don’t you go clean up your toys that you left all over your bedroom floor and when you come back we can watch a movie. Your dad and I need to have a chat.”
Your dad and I. The unity in that sentence made his heart soar.
“Moana?”
Lance nodded and leaned to give her a kiss on the forehead. “Sure thing. I love Moana.” With new found enthusiasm she leapt off the couch and dashed to her bedroom. “And remember, shoving things under your bed is not considered cleaning! Put them in your toy box!”
The ‘okay papa’ sounded muffled through the walls, making both the adults have a quiet laugh between themselves. Once it quietened down, Keith took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. Crying always made them itchy.
“How do you feel?” Lance asked in a whisper, shuffling closer and putting his chin on Keith’s shoulder.
“Shocked, happy, overwhelmed,” he looked at his fiancé. “I’m feeling a lot of things. I love you both so fucking much and I don’t think I don’t know what to do with it all.”
Lance moved forward and gave him a brief, meaningful kiss.
When they pulled apart there were still smiles.
“I can’t believe she’s my daughter too,” he said quietly, thumb smoothing over Lance’s jawline. The other scoffed and rolled his eyes.
“Even though she wasn’t calling you dad before, you’ve always been one to her. You’ve always been there for her. She can’t remember life without you, I don’t want her to know what a life without you in it is like.”
Keith pressed their foreheads together as Lance continued to speak.
“I know you’re always going to be there for her. No matter what happens between you and me, no matter how hard it gets, I know you’re going to be there for her. You’ve been her dad this whole time without even realising it. You’re already such an amazing dad.”
“Nothing compared to you, though. God, I love you so much. I love you both so much,” Keith said before adjusting his head so he could kiss him again.
They pulled back when they heard the soft pitter patter of sock covered feet on wooden flooring.
“Did it!” Vivian announced to them both as she ran over, climbing up on the couch and sitting in between them with a huge grin on her face. “Moana time! Daddy gonna watch too?”
“Of course I am,” he said pressing a kiss to the side of her head. She giggled and cuddled up in between both her parents.
It was the perfect start to a happy life as one whole family. In his eyes it was a fair enough reason as any for his engagement to come second in being the best day of his life.