Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

april

Lance wakes up to Keith’s peaceful, sleeping face. His cheek is squished into the pillow and he’s definitely drooling but Lance still thinks he’s the most beautiful man alive. Sliding out from under the duvet, he washes his face and throws on his running gear. He sends one last soft smile in his snoring husband’s direction before scribbling a note on their kitchen counter and shutting their dark blue door behind him.

He takes the stairs, too impatient to wait for the lift to arrive and slips in his earphones, jogging in the direction of the park. He wants to get home as soon as possible. It’s the weekend and Lance wants to make the most of his time together with Keith.

The sun is hidden behind the clouds so a nice breeze is welcome as Lance works up a sweat. He breathes deeply, savouring the freshness of the air. He’s making his way around the pond when it happens.

The action seems to play out in slow motion. One minute Lance is running leisurely, the next he’s sprinting forward to stop a toddler from toppling into the water. The child had obviously not been watching where she was going and her feet had edged just too far over the bank. Lance grabs her under the arms and swings her around, back onto the path. He drops into a crouch to sit at eye level.

“Hey, little miss,” he whispers. “You okay?”

The little girl just nods mutely, obviously a little shaken. Then she points. Lance follows the direction of her finger, his eyes landing on a red lion toy which lies on the rocks beside the pond. He reaches forward, fortunately able to clasp a hand around it without moving too much and passes it back to the girl who huddles it close.

“Thank you,” she mumbles. Lance smiles at her brightly.

“Do you have someone you know here?”

The girl has little to no time to answer because all at once someone is scooping her off the ground. Lance looks up at a young woman who cradles the girl’s head to her chest. When Lance rises her face breaks into a grateful smile.

“Thank you so much,” she breathes out, her eyes wet and cheeks red from exertion. “I took my eyes off her for two seconds and she was gone. She likes to explore.”

“It’s no problem, really.” Lance grins. “I’m glad she’s okay.”

“Have you said thank you to the nice man, Evelyn?”

The child nods, a small, private smile on her face. The woman sighs in relief.

“Thank you, again.”

Lance says goodbye, sending a final wave their way before he continues his run. And, maybe he just has kids on the brain, but he’s all at once hyper aware of every child he sees.

He smiles unconsciously when he spots parents swinging their children up and down between them and chuckles to himself when he sees exhausted fathers with bawling babies strapped to their chests.

For a moment he pictures him and Keith with a kid and almost goes careening towards the grass, stumbling and steadying himself. Glancing behind him at two giggling toddlers who run in between their parents ankles and a third child in the pram, he can see it so clearly it throws him off guard. Holy shit.

He’s always wanted kids. Coming from a big family, it has never even been a question. Lance loves children and he can’t deny that having one, or two, or three, of his own with Keith hasn’t crossed his mind. Apparently, saving Evelyn was all it took for his brain to release his hidden thoughts he’s buried into his mind for ‘later’. Maybe today was ‘later’.

On an impulse, he calls Shiro and, within minutes, he’s cut through the rest of the park to Shiro, Adam and Amira’s house.

Amira, being the absolute angel she is, greets him at the door, immediately holding her hand out. Lance crouches down and presses his palm against hers - so small in comparison.

“Hi, sweetheart.” Amira smiles and Lance mirrors her expression.

“Uncle Lance!” Adam appears in the doorway. Lance smirks at the title. “What a pleasant surprise!”

“Hi Adam. I called Shiro. He said I was alright to come over,” Lance explains.

“Oh, yeah that’s perfectly alright, we have nothing on today. Taking a lazy day, aren’t we, princess?”

Amira beams and starts running in the direction Lance knows her room to be in. Seeing her so happy with one of her dads increases Lance’s confidence in his own decision. Shiro arrives shortly after, coming down the stairs like a hurricane and sweeping Lance off his feet in a tight embrace.

“Hey, Shiro,” he manages to force out. His ribs are crushed but he can’t find it in himself to care. “How are you?”

“Great. We’re great,” his brother-in-law replies after releasing him. “What about you? Why’d you want to pop over?”

“Well,” Lance begins. “I kind of just realised I really, really want kids? Like, as soon as possible? And I was wondering if I could talk to you guys about the options and the adoption process. I know it took you a while to finally adopt ‘Mira.”

They end up in the family’s living room. Amira is back, nestled between her dads, brushing Shiro’s hair with the comb set Keith and Lance got her for Christmas. All of the other various brushes and utensils lay in a neat line on Adam’s thigh. All the while, Lance asks questions and they’re answered patiently.

“Have you talked to Keith about it yet?” Adam takes a sip of his tea, making sure he doesn’t cause the combs to fall off his leg. Lance shakes his head.

“When I say I just realised, I mean it. I saved this little girl from falling in the water and then suddenly all I could see were children. Then I called Shiro.” He pauses, frowning. “Do you think Keith would want kids? I know his childhood was a lot different from my own so he might not have thought about this. But he’s a great uncle to Amira, right?”

“He is.” Shiro nods. “If you have any other questions, obviously feel free to ask but, if this is something you want, you should talk to him. You deserve to figure it all out together.”

After saying goodbye, Lance makes his way back. He’s only ten minutes later than he would be if his run had gone to plan and he’d skipped the whole epiphany part so he doubts Keith will interrogate him upon his arrival.

He opens the door to his and Keith’s apartment only to be enveloped by his husband. Lance relaxes, taking in his husband’s appearance. He’s obviously just rolled out of bed as his dark hair is a mess and Lance doubts he’s done much in his absence.

“Hey, baby, what’s up?” Lance presses a kiss to his head softly, smiling down at where Keith’s face is hidden against his shoulder.

“Missed you.” The response is muffled. Lance chuckles, running his fingers through Keith’s hair, pushing his too-long bangs away from his eyes.

He feels a nip on his jawline.

“Hey, save that for later,” he scolds. “I have something I want to talk to you about.”

“You’re no fun,” Keith grumbles, separating from him. Lance shrugs.

“Maybe so, but this is important. Will you let me get a shower first?” Lance laughs out loud at how reluctant Keith looks. Lance smirks. “Or do you wanna get one with me?”

It’s safe to say Keith likes that idea better.

After they’re both fresh faced and Lance is decidedly not sweaty from his run, he grabs two mugs from the cupboard and puts the kettle on.

“What was it you wanted to talk about?” Keith is much more alert now, sitting upright at their kitchen table, scrolling through the space page of the news. Lance glances over.

“Well, I actually have a story.”

“Really?” Keith closes the laptop, giving Lance his undivided attention. Lance hums, pouring the now hot water into the cups, stirring the teabags.

“Yeah. I saved a little girl’s life today.” He smirks at Keith’s suddenly shocked expression. “She almost tumbled into the pond - you know the one by the car park? - but I caught her before that could happen.”

“Wow.” Keith gets up from the table, fetching the milk for Lance, a smirk on his face as he drapes himself over Lance’s shoulder for a moment. “Who knew I had a superhero as a husband?”

“Anyway,” Lance continues, fighting the blush on his cheeks. Curse Keith and his endless knowledge on how to fluster him, even after a year of marriage. “After that, I had a whole realisation. I went to your brother’s to chat and he said I should talk to you.”

“About…?” Lance can feel Keith watching him. Lance slides a mug across the countertop to him.

“I kind of want kids?” He blows on his tea, looking out for Keith’s reaction. His husband’s expression smooths out.

“Oh. That’s it? I’ve always known that, Lance. That was never a question.” Keith tilts his head, looking unfairly adorable. “You’re going to make a great dad, someday.”

“Right.” Lance nods. He sets his cup back down. “But what I was getting at is that I want to start looking at our options and stuff. Now. With you.”

“Seriously?” Keith’s smile simply widens. Lance feels the butterflies in his stomach ease. “Yes.”

“Yes what,” Lance asks. Keith rolls his eyes.

“Yes, I’d like that, too.”

He buries his face in Lance’s neck, squeezing his middle tightly. Lance reciprocates the gesture wholeheartedly, sighing into Keith’s hair.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Keith replies, pulling Lance into a kiss, one hand on his cheek, the other firm on his waist. “Let’s go get ourselves a kid.”

“Or two.” Lance raises an eyebrow hopefully. Keith breathes out a laugh, picking up his tea and taking a long swig.

“Or two,” he agrees eventually. “But no more than that for now, we don’t have that big an apartment. Also, we need to make sure we don’t fall head over heels for every kid we meet. It’s a long process so we’ll probably meet a few different options over time. You know I aged out of the system but some of the kids I knew got adopted and it made their lives so much better.”

Lance did know that. He knows about Keith’s rocky start in life - they’d had multiple discussions about it right through the night. But something about Keith saying how much good their decision would do makes his heart seize.

“You’re the best husband ever.”

“I know, sweetheart,” Keith smirks, pressing another kiss to Lance’s temple. “Do you want to start signing up right now? I have the page saved somewhere on here.”

“And why is that?”

Keith doesn’t answer.

Instead, Lance watches him wander back to the laptop, tea in hand, and thanks life for letting him get so lucky. He slides into the adjacent seat and they go through each question meticulously. Soon enough, their application is sent, their teas are finished and Keith’s hands are in his hair, dragging him in for a long, drawn out kiss.

Chapter Text

december

Eight months later, Lance creeps into his son’s room. The sound of muffled sobs comes from the bed. Lance checks the astronaut alarm clock on the shelf. It’s one am which is way past both he and Leo’s bedtime. The winter winds rattle outside the window.

“Leo? Are you alright?” He crouches by the bedside, giving Leo some space but staying close enough so he can still whisper.

The six year old emerges from the covers slowly and blinks his wet eyes owlishly. Lance only has to hold his arms out for Leo to slink into them, pressing his face against Lance’s collarbone. Lance strokes his hair - a technique he learned pretty early on that calms both his children.

“Sorry, Papa.” Lance leans back a little, wiping the tears and snot from Leo’s face. Lance thinks he does a good job at hiding how excited he is. That’s the first time Leo’s called him anything other than his name in the two months they’ve had him and now he's is freaking out big time on the inside.

“What are you sorry for, mijo?” He places his arms under Leo’s legs gently, lifting them both onto the bed.

“Crying.”

“Oh, Leo,” Lance whispers, rocking him a little. “That’s alright. Crying is alright. Crying is nothing to be sorry for.”

“You sure?” Leo’s breathing has evened out a little and Lance can tell he’s tired. The storm was probably keeping him up, like it did Lance.

“Why don’t you come sleep with me and Keith? With me and Dad?” He tries the name out and Leo doesn’t object, simply nodding. “We can talk about things in the morning.”

“Okay.”

He balances Leo on his hip - he’s kind of heavy but nothing is going to get in the way of Lance comforting his little boy. He closes the bedroom door quietly behind them and makes his way to he and Keith’s own room. When he opens the door, he’s met with the sight of his husband and their daughter, Maria, curled into him.

“Looks like your sister beat us to it. I do hope we all fit, otherwise we’ll have to kick Daddy out and make him sleep in your bed.” Leo giggles quietly and Lance beams with pride. They settle into bed and Lance can tell Keith’s awake when he raises his arm to make room. Lance turns to face him, their two children in the space between them, and presses a kiss to the inside of Keith’s outstretched wrist.

“Night, Papa,” Leo whispers. Then he turns to look at Keith who now has one eye open. “Night, Dad.”

“Good night, buddy,” Keith replies, sounding vaguely surprised and smiling softly. He shares a fond look with Lance before closing his eyes.

They all drift off to sleep together. As a family.

january

“Papa!”

“Yes, sweetpea?”

Lance pokes a head into Amira’s room. His three year old daughter is pouting across at Amira who is mirroring the expression.

“Amira isn’t letting me play,” Maria huffs, folding her small arms. Lance sighs.

“Maria, remember we’ve talked about this? Amira likes to keep her toys separate from other people’s. That’s just how she likes it or she gets very sad. Remember how we put our hands together when we say hello and we don’t hug? Doing that helps her to not get sad. You don’t want her to get upset, right?” Maria sends him a look that tells him she does not give a flying fuck if that happens. Lance frowns. “Maria?”

“I guess not.” Maria slides the hair comb back across the floor to Amira. “But I can still play, right?”

“Of course - just let Amira play with the toys that are hers and you can play with the toys which are yours, okay, chicken? And, Amira? Remember Maria is new and doesn’t always know what you like to do. Don’t worry, she will soon enough.” Lance smirks as Maria nods and Amira smiles, leaving them to it.

When he re-enters the Shirogane’s living room, Leo is in the middle of animatedly explaining to Shiro the order of the planets in the solar system. Lance smiles inwardly, knowing Shiro has more space knowledge than anyone he’s ever met but dumbs himself down a little for Leo.

Keith is sprawled on an armchair across from his brother and Lance dumps himself onto his lap ungracefully. Keith shifts, wrapping an arm around his waist to get comfortable again.

“Hey, sweetheart.” The words are pressed against his ear and Lance leans closer to him.

“Hi.”

“Everything cool with the girls?”

“Yeah, it is now.” Lance presses their foreheads together. “Just needed some explanations. Both of them.”

They’re lucky that Amira and Maria had taken to each other so well when they first met three months ago. He and Keith had been proud parents for a grand total of two weeks and it soothed their hearts to know going to Shiro and Adam’s wasn’t going to be a problem. They also got to nap on their sofa together after Adam offered to watch the kids.

Leo joins his sister from time to time but he has made his own friends since joining the school nearby so he spends time with them at the weekends. Lance and Keith had been so proud when he first introduced a small girl with blonde ringlets as ‘Nellie’. Keith had later discovered her name was Ellen and had exchanged phone numbers with her mother. The two seven year olds have been inseparable since.

Since Amira prefers to stay in her own house, he and Keith have been making the most of the free food being in Shiro and Adam's house provides. Adam had called them out on it last week but what are they supposed to do? Not set up playdates almost every week between the new cousins? Plus, Adam is currently at work so no one stops Lance from sneaking into the kitchen and stealing some breadsticks from the cupboard.

Keith is behind him in seconds. They are also taking advantage of the kid-free time. Leo and Maria are the new lights of his life but Lance makes sure to give the original some loving when he can.

“Hello, dearest. How are you?”

“Just fine thank you,” Keith mutters, pulling Lance against his chest. He spins him around and begins to pepper his neck with kisses. Lance puts the breadstick box back on the counter, now newly occupied.

“Baby,” he breathes out, Keith’s administrations doing their job. “Leo’s literally next door.”

“Shiro’s got him.” Keith leans away, tilting his head with a smirk. “Plus, we shared a look.”

“What, do you have some weird brother telepathy or something? I highly doubt that.” Lance grins as Keith’s face falls.

“Hey, I’ll let you know that Shiro and I are very close and--”

Lance pushes forward, capturing Keith’s lips with his own and letting his hands wander. Keith’s arms wind around his neck when Lance grazes his thigh. This is the most action either of them have had for the past fortnight. Getting Leo and Maria was the most wonderful thing to happen to them but, damn, Lance misses being able to help himself to handfuls of Keith whenever he pleases.

The moment is interrupted when Shiro appears in the doorway, clearing his throat. Leo isn’t with him, presumably still on the couch. Maybe he went to find his sister?

“Please refrain from doing something age inappropriate in my kitchen. It’s for eating food, not eating each other’s faces. Seriously, your children could walk in on you any minute.”

Lance’s heart flips in his ribcage. Their children. Keith groans quietly.

“I thought you knew! We had a look.” Lance holds back a snort.

“That's why I came in,” Shiro says, shrugging. He looks a little bit dead inside. Lance can’t count on both hands how many times he’s walked in on both of them doing something edging towards explicit.

“Dad?” Okay, now there’s definitely no chance of resuming. Lance removes his hand subtly from Keith’s ass. Maria giggles in the doorway, running in their direction. Keith bends and picks her up easily. “Can we go home now? I want to watch the fish!”

‘The fish’ are what Maria calls the numerous ocean documentaries Lance has recorded on their TV. Lance grins, knowing Keith will never be able to say no and that he’ll have an excuse to watch sharks all evening.

“Of course,” Keith agrees, nodding enthusiastically, all his earlier reluctance wiped from his face. “That’s a great plan. Let’s get your brother.”

october

That October, Lance hovers over his husband, both Leo and Maria stifling laughter. Lance doesn’t doubt that Keith knows they’re there, though. He has ears like a bat and his children are not the quiet type.

“Three, two, one,” Lance whispers. “Happy birthday, Dad!”

Leo and Maria let out their own shrieks with him and Keith jolts, peeling his eyes open. He stares at them in mock confusion.

“What is this?”

“A surprise,” Leo explains, climbing onto the bed. “For your birthday. How old is he again, Papa?”

“Thirty-five,” Lance supplies. Maria smirks, getting right in Keith’s face.

“You’re old, Daddy.”

“Oh yeah, super old,” Keith agrees, nodding. Lance sneaks a kiss on his cheek as Keith brushes his bangs from his face. He leans closer to Lance. “I didn’t expect them to be so loud. If I go deaf by the time I’m forty I’m blaming you.”

“You’re almost there, babe.”

“Your thirty-fifth birthday was three months ago, don’t lecture me about old age,” Keith grumbles, rolling his eyes. Lance laughs, pressing another kiss to his lips, lingering until Maria starts complaining.

“Alright, alright,” he announces, clapping his hands. “Show Dad what you made for him.”

Maria produces a card from behind her back. It’s decorated in colourful feathers and glitter of all shades. Some star shaped sparkles fall onto the duvet but neither Keith or Lance comment. Leo hands his own card over, a big smiling spaceman on the front. Keith takes both the cards, pressing kisses to both his children’s foreheads.

“Thank you very much,” he says, eyes crinkling as he opens the cards up to read out loud. Lance watches over his family, a warm smile on his face. He doesn’t think he’s ever been happier than he is now.

He sends Leo and Maria away for a moment alone with his husband. Keith immediately pulls him down on top of him and Lance slips under the covers, ignoring the fact he’s no longer in his pyjamas like Keith but rather a loose t-shirt and skinny jeans. He envelopes Keith who looks close to falling asleep again.

“Happy birthday, baby. Love you,” he mumbles.

“Love you, too,” Keith replies, silencing any possible further conversation when he cradles Lance’s face and kisses him deeply. Lance sighs into the kiss, twisting their hands together under the sheets. Keith ducks back after a while, his eyes sliding over to where Leo and Maria’s cards sit on the bedside table. “Sweetheart?”

“Yeah?” Lance hums, tilting his head in question.

“Do you maybe want to send in another application?” Keith’s voice is quiet and he meets Lance’s gaze after a pause.

Lance moves into a sitting position, pulling Keith up with him.

“For another kid?”

“Yeah.” Keith shrugs. “I mean, not right now, if you want to wait a bit longer. But, we’ve had Leo and Maria for a whole year and I’ve always felt like having three would be nice.”

“You’ve thought about that?” Lance can do nothing to reign in his heart-eyes and he stares at Keith in fond surprise. Keith nods, looking slightly less shy when Lance’s smile stays put. Lance reaches forward to brush his husband’s hair behind his ears over and over and over. “Well, we know they take roughly six months to go through. It’s not like we’d be getting another tomorrow afternoon. We have time to prepare.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes, you sap,” Lance exclaims, squishing Keith’s face between his hands. His husband bats them away, escaping his grasp, grin on full display. “Why don’t we wait till after Christmas, though? I don’t want us to be getting anxious or busy over the festive period. Is that okay?”

By the way Keith drags him back under for more kisses, Lance assumes it is.