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Leaning hunched against a pillar in the airport lobby, Keith was scrolling through his phone notifications to try and settle his growing nerves. Lance had read his last reply about five minutes ago, which meant he had wifi and had finally landed after a long delay. They would be face to face for the first time. Just the thought of getting to physically touch his face or hands had a pink blush creep across Keith’s cheeks.
Keith turned off his phone and shoved it into his coat pocket to break his train of thought. He sulked down into the collar of his coat as he started to panic and second guess about ever suggesting for his long-distance boyfriend to come over for Christmas as their first physical interaction. It wasn’t helpful that his brother and his fiance were very transparent about how excited they were to meet Lance, and wouldn’t stop sharing how they’ll tease him by sharing Keith's baby pictures and telling embarrassing stories.
Sighing heavily, Keith laid his head back and shut his eyes to not let his thoughts run wilder then they were. All he could think about was how close Lance was, making his hands clammy. At first, this trip was somewhat of a casual thing Keith suggested back during the start of the summer when Lance was asking about having Keith fly to Cuba for next year's Valentines day. Keith didn’t think Lance would so eagerly agree--and by that, Lance literally screaming into a pillow and bouncing on his bed, since Keith hadn’t shared too much about his own family. Keith couldn’t say no to his pleading puppy dog eyes.
Keith didn’t know how much time had passed, but he was startled by a loud call of his name from a familiar voice. Eyes widening, he quickly pushed himself off the pillar and whipped his head around until his gaze fell onto an enthusiastic teenager making a mad dash towards his location.
Just seeing such a beautiful smile, all his worries were pushed aside and a grin grew on his own face. Laughing, Keith waved before running towards Lance, leaping into his arms the moment Lance stopped to catch him.
“Oh, Keith, it’s so good to see you,” Lance muttered as his face naturally buried itself into Keith’s messy hair. Keith tucked his face in Lance’s neck to take in his scent, letting out a sigh of relief. All his remaining tension vanished with Lance's arms wrapped tightly around his body.
“It wouldn’t be a family Christmas without my boyfriend, now would it?” Keith murmured before they both pulled away enough to look into each other’s eyes. Lance was just barely a few centimeters taller, and Keith knew Lance would bring that up later.
Lance had a cheeky smile plastered on his face, leaning towards Keith until the tips of their noses touched. “I can’t deny I’m the life of the party~! It can’t start without me.”
Blushing profusely, Keith cleared his throat and quickly looked off to the side. “A-ah...about that, I should warn you about my brother and his fiance..” he muttered, the two slowly separating with Keith leading Lance away from the gate entrance towards the baggage claim.
Keith was about to nervously stuff his hands inside his coat pockets, but Lance stopped one from being put away by gently taking hold of his hand and intertwining their fingers. A soft thumb rubbing on the back of his palm helped Keith’s nerves just a small bit, and he subconsciously leaned into Lance’s side.
“Lay it on me, what’s troubling you?”
The concern in Lance’s voice encouraged him to peek up from the ground as they walked, Keith’s arm maneuvering to coil around Lance’s while keeping their hands intertwined.
“Well, since it’s our first Christmas together...and your first time even being here, Shiro might be a little overbearing? Adam isn’t any better,” he muttered, pouting somewhat at just trying to imagine what cringe-inducing jokes Shiro might try sharing, or Adam’s embarrassing story telling. “Shiro will no doubt pull out the dad jokes.”
Falling into a comfortable silence, both teenagers kept their eyes peeled for Lance’s flight number to be displayed. Keith ended up spotting it first, smiling towards Lance as he pointed over to the rotating belt that was starting to push out luggage. “Over here Lance.”
Letting go of Lance’s arm so they could grab his luggage as it circled around, Keith glanced back at Lance who was leaning against one of his bigger suitcases he snagged off the belt, which was littered with stickers of sea critters and a few retro surfing slogans. Keith could see the edges of his lips twitch as Lance was trying his hardest to keep his composed smile, but it ultimately failed.
Lance laughed at him, but it was short lived as his expression returned to that dreamy smile of his. “You’ve known me for how long now? And what’s the first thing I text you every morning?”
“...a corny joke?” Keith muttered with an arched brow, completely clueless to what Lance was getting at.
“Right, so by the sounds of it, Shiro is a man of taste,” Lance concluded with a smirk.
Huffing, Keith waved off the idea, setting his free hand on his hip as he pulled up the handle on Lance’s luggage and tipped it onto its wheels to get ready to leave the baggage claim area.
“This is completely different, Lance! There is no limit to his absurdity.”
Shrugging with a snicker, Lance copied Keith with the suitcase he had been leaning against. “What’s a night of dad jokes, huh? Would it help if I throw in some of my own?”
Pouting, Keith turned his back to Lance as he began to head to the airport exit to meet up with Shiro and Adam, but he couldn’t even make it a couple steps before Lance had nudged himself into his side, both suitcases colliding against each other in the process.
Eyeing Lance, who was only looking at him with a smug smile, Keith playfully shoved back. His smile began to return after a few nudges between them. “I don’t think I could take a joke battle between the two of you.”
“Come on! I have the best one.” Lance pestered with a chuckle.
Keith gave in as he looked at him from the corner of his eyes.“Alright, loverboy, let me hear your winning dad joke.”
“Why do melons have weddings? Because they cantaloupe!”
As they exited the airport, Keith halted and looked towards Lance with a disappointed face, but as much as he tried, he couldn’t hold it for long before cracking and starting to laugh.
“Geez, Lance!”
Both falling into helpless giggles, neither noticed that Shiro and Adam had made their way towards the rowdy teenagers.
“Keith genuly laughing? So this is the true power of the famous Lance McClain.” Shiro commented with his usual cheerful grin. Keith slowly calmed down and cleared his throat as he blushed.
“Not funny shiro...” he muttered as he crossed his arms back over his chest.
Adam fixed his glasses with a clear smirk plastered across his face.“I’m not so sure we’re passed your emo phase just yet--though, seeing you this happy is heartwarming.” he added, which made Keith’s chest swell with warmth.
Lance smiled as he quickly shook both men's hands. “You must be Keith’s brother Shiro and his fiance Adam. Thank you for allowing me to stay for the holidays. I’ve heard so much about you from Keith.”
“Well, I hope all those things were good,” Shiro joked as he started to grab the luggage with Adam to place in the trunk of the waiting car. “How was the trip here?”
Adam nodded as he slid one suitcase into place. “We were surprised to hear the plane got delayed last night. We hoped we’d have you for the entirety of Christmas eve. Though I’m sure you’ll still have plenty of time with us.”
“Being held back a few hours was a bummer, but at least I made it in time for dinner. I count that as a plus any day,” Lance replied with a grin. He moved over to snag Keith’s hand again, which had the other standing there with a red face, but Keith returned the gesture, and went further by lacing their fingers together and giving a gentle squeeze.
“I actually was just sharing some jokes with Keith. I heard you’re a fan, Shiro?”
Closing the trunk, Shiro dusted his hands and turned to Lance with the biggest grin, and before Keith could interject, Shiro set his hands on his hips and cut him off. “You bet I am! I am the king of jokes,” he bragged. Keith rolled his eyes with a scoff, though he couldn’t help but have the tiniest of smiles.
Lance just laughed and tugged Keith along to the car to pile into the backseats. “Let’s share some on the ride home! I just thought of a great one.” he called out, making Keith playfully complain.
“How many jokes do you even have in that head of yours?”
As the two bickered happily back and forth, Shiro and Adam smiled at one another before Shiro raced to the passengers seat.
“That’s not--” Keith's reply to Lance cut off when he recognized the look on Shiro's face. He quickly pulled himself forward by the back of Shiro's chair in an attempt to get his hand over Shiro's mouth, but he didn't have enough reach.
“Hey, Lance! What concert costs just 45 cents?”