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The one day.
The one day that Lance doesn’t want anything super epic and totally action-movie worthy to happen in his life, and it happens, because of course it would. Literally any other day he would’ve been positively thrilled by today’s course of events, probably written a song about it once it was all said and done, but today was supposed to be perfect for so many reasons and instead it’s gone wrong in every possible way imaginable.
It’s a long story, but he’ll make it short. To summarize: his wedding day was completely derailed by someone who’d recently been released from prison, someone Keith had arrested several years ago and now wanted revenge. Keith and Lance had hardly arrived at their venue when Lance received a call from a disguised voice threatening them with a supposed bomb already planted there. So of course the bomb squad was called, and instead of preparing for their wedding on an extremely well-earned day off, the two boys found themselves working a case, which ended in the discovery of a literal shrine complete with a wall full of Keith pictures, black Xs marked across his eyes and all (Lance has to admit, he was a little jealous—having a nemesis who hates you so much they make a shrine dedicated to hating you? C’mon, that’s every cop’s dream!) and the arrest of the same man Keith had already arrested years prior.
Which is how he and Keith wind up sitting in the precinct’s break room at the end of the day, slumped in their chairs and limbs sprawled across the table, too exhausted and let down to do anything but. Keith is staring rather dejectedly at the wall, cheek pressed against the table’s surface that makes his lips pucker slightly, while Lance rests his chin over his crossed arms and simply watches him.
Keith’s previously braided hair has mostly come undone, thick strands falling over his shoulders and into his face, but he pays them no mind. Lance’s fingers itch with the urge to reach out and brush them away, but he’s not sure the action would be all that welcome in the moment, so instead he curls them into his palms and slouches a little more in his seat, exhaling a quiet breath of defeat.
They sit there in silence for what feels like hours, but for what Lance knows must be only a few minutes in reality. Usually he’d be focused on searching for the silver lining, because according to his mom there’s always something good you can make out of a bad situation, but in this case it’s proven pretty difficult to find. He knows Keith must feel the same, and it kills him that he can’t think of anything comforting to say when he clearly needs it so badly.
“This sucks,” Keith mumbles at length, so quietly and muffled by the table that Lance nearly misses it.
He can’t help but let a small, dry laugh escape past his lips, sitting up and propping his elbows against the table, resting his chin in his hands. “Yeah. It does.”
Keith sighs, blinking slowly, and finally drags himself back to sit up as well, scrubbing at his face before dropping his hands into his lap. “I think this has to be the most disastrous wedding day in the history of disastrous wedding days.”
Lance genuinely snorts at that, content to see the corner of Keith’s mouth quirk up just so, albeit sadly. “I don’t know, I guess it wasn’t all bad. You have to admit, it could’ve been a lot worse.”
“I guess. You didn’t have a psycho criminal out for your blood, though.”
“Hey, you know how badly I wanted that guy to hate me instead!”
“Then you’re just as psycho as he is!”
“And yet you love me,” Lance sing-songs, a familiar feeling of warmth and fondness blooming in his chest at the sight of Keith’s smile, even as he rolls his eyes and shakes his head with a scoff. “Who would’ve thought? Must be why you said yes when I asked you to marry me.” He means it as a joke, and it definitely lands as one judging by the way Keith’s cheeks turn pink and he scoffs again with a bit more feeling, but his smile almost instantly fades and his eyes fall to the floor.
A beat of silence passes, and he fiddles restlessly with his hands for a moment before he answers, very softly: “Yeah. I really want to marry you.”
The look on his face breaks Lance’s heart, sad and wistful and longing for something that was supposed to happen hours ago, that they’d planned together for months and looked forward to for even longer. All of it, taken away from them in the blink of an eye. Lance bites his lip, glancing down at where he’s drumming his fingers against the table, at a sudden loss for anything else to say.
Then just as suddenly, a thought strikes him.
He clears his throat. “Well… why don’t we just get married tomorrow?”
Keith blinks, his brows knitting together in confusion before he looks up. “What?”
“Tomorrow,” Lance repeats more confidently, shifting again until he’s sitting up straight. “Let’s get married.”
“Wh—Lance, are you crazy? What do you mean tomorrow? We don’t have a venue, we don’t have a caterer, we don’t even have a band, we don’t have anything we planned to have and there’s no way—”
“No, no, I mean—let’s just go to city hall.”
Keith’s eyes widen in horror, his expression seemingly appalled by the suggestion, the reason for which evades Lance only for a few seconds until Keith responds. “But—Lance, that’s—no way, you worked so hard to put together the perfect wedding and it’s what you’ve always wanted, we can’t just—”
“Okay, babe,” Lance interrupts, laughter bubbling out of his mouth as he crosses his hands in a time-out motion, hopelessly endeared by the intensity of Keith’s reaction. “First of all, we worked so hard to put together the perfect wedding.”
“Lance—”
“And second of all, it’s not about the wedding. Marrying you, that’s what I want, Keith. As long as I’m marrying you, any wedding is the perfect one.”
Keith seems to flounder for a brief moment, apparently conflicted as to whether he should be touched or irritated. “Yeah, but—it’s not the same.”
“Maybe not,” Lance agrees with a shrug. “But honestly? This is gonna make a super cool story one day. I know things kind of suck right now, but a year from now we’ll be laughing our heads off about this.”
Keith presses his lips together, reaching up to rake a hand through his hair and letting it flop back onto the table. “Fine,” he relents, but Lance doesn’t miss the disappointment still written all over his face. “I guess. Still, city hall is such a downgrade. You really want to get married at the same place people go to get restraining orders?”
“Dude,” Lance chuckles softly, reaching across the table to lace their fingers together and bringing Keith’s hand closer to him. “I would marry you literally anywhere. Heck, I’d marry you in a dumpster.”
Keith wrinkles his nose. “That’s gross,” he mutters, but the returning pink staining his cheeks tells Lance that he very much appreciates the sentiment.
“I’d marry you in the middle of the ocean surrounded by hungry, bloodthirsty sharks.”
“I thought we weren’t allowed to imply that sharks are evil man-eaters.”
“I’d marry you in the frozen depths of space in the middle of an epic starship battle.”
Keith finally cracks, tightening his grip on Lance’s hand as he laughs, bright and unabashed in the quiet of the break room. Lance smiles at him, waiting hopefully as Keith’s laughter fades and they’re left with nowhere to look but at each other. There’s a short moment of quiet, charged with cautious excitement and anticipation until Keith bites his lip, his smile growing adorably wider until he’s unable to contain it.
“Okay,” he says finally, and Lance’s heart swells with utter happiness as Keith reaches forward to take Lance’s other hand, squeezing it tightly. “Let’s get married.”
“NO!”
Lance and Keith startle rather violently at the sound of another thundering voice and they both turn to watch Hunk practically fly into the room, looking very out of breath despite the fact that he seems to have come from just around the corner. They all stare at each other for a moment with various amounts of confusion, and then Hunk clears his throat. “So, I was eavesdropping.”
“Great,” Keith says dryly.
“Wonderful,” Lance says at the same time.
“I’m sorry!” Hunk cries, holding his hands up placatingly. “Okay, I’m sorry. But look, I didn’t watch you two pine after each other for literal years just to watch you get married at a city hall, of all places.”
Lance and Keith glance at each other with a grimace. “I mean, there’s not really any other place for us to go,” Lance points out, as much as he hates to say it.
“Sure there is! You can get married right here, right now.”
Keith’s eyebrows shoot up. “What? Hunk, we don’t even have anyone to actually marry us.”
Hunk opens his mouth, then closes it. “Okay, well, not to spoil, but Shiro’s getting ordained online as we speak.”
“He’s doing what now?”
“Just give me, like, half an hour,” Hunk pleads, clasping his hands together. “I’m telling you guys we can totally make this happen.”
Lance can’t deny the hopeful feeling welling up in his chest as he and Keith share a look across the table. It sounds almost too good to be true, but Lance has always trusted Hunk’s judgment, and if he says he can slap a wedding together in half an hour, Lance believes him. Keith still doesn’t look quite convinced, but Lance knows that’s only because he’s afraid of getting his hopes up only to be let down yet again. He does his best to communicate his faith in Hunk’s abilities to Keith, arching an eyebrow and offering a small, encouraging smile.
After another moment they seem to come to a silent agreement and Keith sighs, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Fine. Just—tell Shiro if he’s serious about this, then he has to actually, in fact, be serious about this. No funny business.”
“On it!” Hunk yells, already halfway out the door.
Keith never takes his eyes off Lance, who still hasn’t taken his eyes off Keith. Lance tightens his hold on Keith’s hands since they never actually let go, and for a minute they allow themselves to simply stare at each other, drinking in the moment and processing exactly what’s taking place. Keith huffs, shaking his head in disbelief. “This is really happening,” he says quietly.
A smile unable to be contained breaks across Lance’s face and he laughs softly. “Yeah, it’s happening,” he confirms, lifting one of Keith’s hands toward his lips to kiss his knuckles. “We’re getting married.”
。·:*:·ﾟ★。·:*:·ﾟ☆
When they push open the front doors to the precinct half an hour later, hands clasped tightly between them, Lance can hardly believe what he’s seeing.
The area in front of the building has been completely transformed into something that looks more like a courtyard, almost like it was literally made to be one. There are lights strung around the entire space, even the lights of squad cars flashing distantly in the background, in an entirely fitting way. The “aisle” is a walkway covered with rose petals—where in the world Hunk found them, Lance has no idea—and on both sides are several neat rows of chairs already full of their friends and colleagues from the precinct.
“Hunk,” Keith breathes, eyes wide as he takes everything in, “This is incredible. How are we ever going to repay you?”
“No excessive PDA at work,” Hunk states flatly without missing a beat.
Lance barks a laugh at that, reveling in the sheepish look that appears on Keith’s face. “No promises, Hunk. But seriously dude, this is insane. We owe you one.”
Hunk smiles at them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. “Just do me a favor? Go get married already.”
“Yessir,” Lance answers with a mock salute, wrapping his arm around Keith’s waist and tugging him into his side with a grin.
Hunk gives them a double thumbs-up and heads off to find his own seat, leaving the two of them standing alone for one last moment to prepare. Lance sees Shiro standing at the podium they’ve dragged out of the briefing room, and even as he smiles he lifts one eyebrow in question, silently asking if they’re ready.
Ready, Lance mouths, and watches as Shiro turns to murmur something to the violinist near him who Hunk also must have found—they look vaguely familiar, but Lance can’t quite place it. Anyway, he’d have time for that later. He takes a deep breath and exhales, turning so that he and Keith are standing face-to-face and lowering his voice. “Feeling okay?”
“Feeling fine,” Keith offers, bouncing up and down on his toes a few times. “I really wanna kiss you right now, but I’m trying not to spoil the moment.”
Lance laughs, taking both of Keith’s hands in his and leaning forward to press their foreheads together. “Easy, pretty boy. Just a little longer and then you can kiss me all you want.”
Keith sighs, eyes fluttering shut as he melts into Lance’s touch. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Lance murmurs as the music starts to play, his heart threatening to burst as Keith opens his eyes again. He reluctantly pulls away and repositions himself at Keith’s side, squeezing the hand still held in his. “Ready?”
Keith squeezes back and smiles, more brightly than Lance has ever seen. “Ready.”
They walk down the aisle together.
Everyone is there—Hunk, Allura, Romelle, Matt, Pidge, even some of their colleagues from nearby precincts they’ve worked with. Then there’s Shiro, who smiles widely at them as they approach, so much that Lance is almost convinced that he’s more excited for this wedding than they are. They reach the podium, and as they each take their positions across from each other the music fades and the crowd’s hushed, excited murmuring stops completely.
Shiro gives both of them a bright smile and then clears his throat. “Friends. Romans. Countrymen and women and people.” The start of his speech solicits a fair amount of laughter from the crowd, and Keith rolls his eyes exasperatedly as Shiro winks, although his smile immediately softens as he continues. “We’re here today to celebrate the marriage of Keith Kogane and Lance McClain.”
Lance’s heart skips a beat and he bites his lip as Keith meets his gaze. He already knew this was happening, but now—this is really happening. It’s finally hitting him, the full force of what they’re about to do, and he’s never been so excited for anything in his life.
“I’ve known you both for a very long time,” Shiro goes on. “Keith for even longer. Honestly, it’s kind of a relief to see you two finally getting married after I spent so long listening to him wax poetic about Lance’s eyes and his laugh and his—”
“Alright,” Keith mutters, looking away from Lance long enough to glare at his older brother, cheeks flushing as there are a few more chuckles from the crowd and Shiro grins and raises his hand in a placating gesture.
“What I’m trying to say is—these two have come a long way since they first started working together. We’ve all seen it. We all watched their frustrating, childish rivalry turn into something more light-hearted, until it was something that brought them closer and pushed them to be the best that they can be. I know there were times that none of us thought we’d ever get through the pining phase, but look where we are now.” Another short bout of laughter, and then Shiro inhales deeply. “And I’ve never been more proud of you both than I am now.”
His voice cracks on the last word, and Lance can’t help but have to suppress his amusement at the sight of the tears clearly welling in Shiro’s eyes, although he does his best to hold them back. He clears his throat again to recover, shaking his own shoulders slightly. “You’ve both prepared your own vows?”
Lance nods, straightening his posture and taking a deep breath as all attention is turned toward him. The only person’s attention he really wants is Keith’s, anyway, and he’s already got all of it.
“Keith Kogane,” he starts. “Today… has been kind of a trainwreck.” Lance relishes in the way that Keith snorts, one hand flying up to cover his mouth as he tries to muffle his laughter. “But just like every other trainwreck we’ve been thrown into, we’ve always come back out on the other side, stronger than ever. Because that’s kind of our thing, you know? We’re a team, we have each other’s backs, and no matter what happens, as long as we have each other, we’re gonna be okay. We’re unstoppable together.”
He smiles gently as Keith lowers his hand back to his side, eyes shining slightly, but he doesn’t mention it. “You’re smart, and funny when you’re not trying to be, and the best partner I’ve ever had in more ways than one. I love you. The end.”
Keith exhales a shaky breath, glancing down at his feet as the crowd awww s and then turns their attention toward him in turn. He swallows as if mustering up the courage he needs to speak, then seems to relax when he meets Lance’s gaze once again. “Okay. Um—Lance McClain. Yes, today has been kind of a trainwreck. But then again, a lot about my life has been kind of a trainwreck, as most everyone knows.” His eyes fall back to the ground, and Lance reaches out to take his hand, swiping a thumb over his knuckles sympathetically. It must give Keith the confidence he needs to go on, because he takes another deep breath to steady himself.
“You of all people know I’m not as good at talking about my feelings as you are. But… you make me want to be. You’ve always had a way of tearing my walls down, no matter what I did to try to keep you out. You’re the bravest, most selfless person I’ve ever met, and if I’m marrying you? My life really can’t possibly be that much of a trainwreck after all.” He lifts his head and looks at Lance, a funny look suddenly crossing his face. “Also—there’s another bomb at this wedding.”
Lance freezes, blanching. “What?”
“Your butt,” Keith blurts, eyes widening as he realizes the sudden anxiety he’s just caused by being too vague. “Your butt is the bomb. There’ll be no survivors.”
Lance stares at him. “I want to kiss you so bad right now.”
“Ringbearer!” Shiro calls, laughter ringing in his voice as he waves at someone in the back. Or rather, some thing, because down the aisle trots Keith’s dog, Kosmo, a small pillow carrying the two rings held gently in his jaws.
“Oh, good boy,” Keith coos as Kosmo reaches them, taking Lance’s ring and scratching behind his ears as Lance takes Keith’s. “Best ringbearer ever.”
“Hey, I was a ringbearer once,” Lance protests.
“I said what I said.”
Lance squawks indignantly as everyone laughs and Keith grins up at him, but it’s so silly and so them that it makes his entire being want to burst with fondness. From the look on Keith’s face, he must feel the same, and that makes Lance’s own fondness twice as strong. Shiro waits for the crowd to settle once more before turning back to Keith.
“So, without further ado: do you, Keith Kogane, take Lance McClain to be your husband?”
Keith nods, meeting Lance’s gaze head on and smiling. “I do.”
Lance’s hands are shaking slightly as he takes Keith’s and gently slides the ring onto his finger, after which Shiro then turns to him.
“And do you, Lance McClain, take Keith Kogane to be your husband?”
Lance looks at Keith and thinks, I wouldn’t have it any other way. “I do.”
Keith slides the ring onto Lance’s finger, and as they grasp each other’s hands Lance can’t help but wonder how in the world he got so lucky to be right here, right now, marrying the one person he loves like he’s never loved anyone else.
Shiro nods in satisfaction, still smiling. “Then by the power invested in me by the internet about thirty-six minutes ago, I pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss the grooms.”
Everyone around them begins to cheer as Lance loops his arms around Keith’s waist at the same time that Keith wraps his around Lance’s neck, and in no time at all they’ve closed the space between them. Lance takes the opportunity to swing around and dip Keith as they kiss, although it’s not much of a kiss at all when it has Keith laughing into his mouth and tightening his arms around Lance’s shoulders in an effort to stay upright.
Lance pulls Keith back up and they kiss properly this time, still holding each other as closely as possible while everyone continues to whoop and shout out encouragement. Keith takes advantage of all the extra noise, and as they part he leans in close to press another kiss to Lance’s cheek, soft and lingering in a way that sends shivers down Lance’s spine.
“I love you,” he murmurs.
Lance smiles and brushes a piece of hair out of Keith’s face, tucking it behind his ear. “I love you too,” he answers.
And now, they have the rest of their lives to keep on loving each other.