Work Text:
Lancey Lance: im going viral, bitches!
Shiro: You know its 2 in the morning, right?
Lancey Lance: fame doesn’t sleep
Princess: Congrats! we know you’ve been trying for ages
Lancey Lance: oh my god, its blowing up. im famous. look at these numbers.
Pidgeon: So, Lance. Just curious. Did you happen to see why you are going viral?
Lancey Lance: my dashing good looks? charm? humor? originality? the way everyone loves me and they just don’t know it yet?
Hunk: Maybe you should look at what people are saying…
Lancey Lance: hey where is keith anyway? hes going viral with me! keith!
Lancey Lance: mullet!
Hunk: L
Pidge: Just check out this link and think about it.
************
Lance doesn’t get why his friends aren’t celebrating his wild victory right now. He had blown past 10K likes on tiktok and the video had found its way to twitter too. His followers are blowing up and the comments are pouring in. Wild. He always wanted to be viral and now his dreams are coming true, all because of one silly video with Keith.
He clicks on the twitter link that Pidge sent him, wondering if something about the harmless Tiktok is causing drama in some way. Surely he didn’t accidentally have his fly down or something else dumb. And there wasn’t even any dialogue to get him in trouble.
The tweet reads “ok so if someone did this to me I would be sick to my stomach.”
Lance blinks, baffled by the comment.
It wasn’t even a bad prank. Not at all. He has done way meaner pranks to Keith before, like throwing a bucket of ice on him while he was in bed or tricking him into eating toothpaste. This was just a silly prank, quite harmless.
He clicks and scrolls downward, trying to figure out what is going on.
“Every gay in the world felt this one.”
“Kinda cruel.”
“he was gonna give him everything he asked for”
“embarrassing”
“I’ll take care of the little gay one”
“hes cute even if he has to move and change his name now”
“god look at his face”
“I want someone to look at me that way”
“I aint exactly gay, but I aint exactly not gay”
Lance’s head reels with confusion. Did he somehow pass out and record another video, one that was different from the one he thought he posted? Did Pidge accidentally send him to someone else’s video?
He scrolls back up and sees the video posted in the main tweet and, sure enough, it’s his. The main still is his face smirking at the camera and Keith standing in the background, guarded, arms crossed as usual.
Huh.
He guesses he will just have to rewatch his masterpiece and see what everyone is talking about. Maybe he missed something stupid, though he has no idea why the tweets are talking about being gay or mean. The video starts off just as he remembers. He smirks at the camera and then turns toward Keith and puts his own arms in the air.
Keith reluctantly imitates him, also putting his arms in the air. He is used to Lance’s antics by now, having been forced into other Tiktok challenges and videos. He knows the drill and follows Lance’s movements, cautiously watching Lance with arms raised high.
Then, Lance crosses his arms above his head. Keith mimics him, crossing his own wrists above his head. Lance giggles, knowing what is coming next.
Lance in the video takes a sudden step forward, pushing Keith’s arms against the wall, jokingly pretending like he is going to kiss Keith.
It’s all a big joke. No big deal. Keith has suffered through other Tiktok pranks before, some way worse than this.
The video ends with them laughing and a quick hug.
Lance blinks, mind going back to the comments. Gay? Mean? His face? What are people talking about??
And then he clicks again, rewatches, a nagging feeling that he had missed something circulating in his mind.
He clicks play again. And again. And watches again. And again.
The Tiktok is only 10 seconds long.
But Lance had missed something. Something very important.
The video is so short and not perfect recording quality but…
Lance gasps.
The exact moment that Keith thinks Lance is going to kiss him. Right when Lance pushes him against the wall.
Keith’s face.
Just a split second, but Lance sees it now.
It’s soft.
It’s passionate.
He makes an expression Lance didn’t even think possible for Keith.
Lance’s brows furrow in confusion as he clicks the play button again and again and again.
Such an adoring face, looking up at him. Then Lance laughs and Keith’s face…it falls. It crumples.
Lance’s stomach sinks.
That split second is the worst. That look on Keith’s face following such an amazing expression.
Lance remembers them laughing and hugging at the end, but it was really more Lance laughing and hugging Keith. Keith’s face falls, then he looks uncomfortable, and then turns his face away from the camera.
An uncomfortable feeling rises in Lance’s chest.
He goes back to twitter, scrolling downward, seeing people posting actual screenshots from the video.
He isn’t imagining Keith’s face. It is even more obvious in the still frames. His eyes are lidded and soft. His lips are puckered just a bit. He’s looking up at Lance like he’s…like he’s actually looking forward to a kiss. Like Lance is the hottest guy ever. Like he likes him.
Lance’s stomach churns. He immediately leaves twitter and makes a group text with Hunk and Pidge.
Lancey Lance: what the fuck
Pidgeon: So…
Hunk: Right
Lancey Lance: does Keith…like me?
Pidgeon: It was kinda a dick move to do that to him
Hunk: Yeah Tiktok challenges are fine but that one was kinda mean
Lancey Lance: it was supposed to be a joke! because he would never want to kiss me.
Hunk: Lance, buddy…
Pidgeon: Christ, you can be oblivious.
Hunk: He’s probably embarrassed right now either way.
Pidgeon: Yeah, I saw it all over twitter today.
Hunk: He’s pretty private…he hasn’t answered any of our messages all day.
Pidgeon: Did you not rewatch it and think maybe I shouldn’t post this?
Lancey Lance: NO. i was mostly looking at myself. why didn’t anyone tell me he liked me???
Hunk: I mean, its not like he hides it.
Pidgeon: Think about it.
Hunk: Honestly, we kinda thought you were dating already or getting close to it.
Lancey Lance: what??? thats ridiculous. thats…
Lancey Lance: oh my god
Pidgeon: There it is.
Suddenly, a thousand different memories hit Lance at once. Going out for coffee. Talking on the phone all night. Keith’s soft face, stroking his hair when Lance had a bad day. Making dinner together on rainy Friday nights. Going to the aquarium and arguing over which creature is the best. The way Keith rarely touches anyone, but let’s Lance hold his hand and hug him. The way Keith smiles at him. The way Keith is very private, but takes part in Lance’s stupid ass Tiktok videos, a small smile on his face and seemingly eternal patience, the type of patience only afforded to Lance.
Keith likes him.
KEITH LIKES HIM.
Lancey Lance: oh god i fucked up
Lance doesn’t even bother looking at Hunk and Pidge’s responses. He darts out of his apartment and runs. He doesn’t bother getting his beater of a car or thinking about the bus that he sometimes takes to Keith’s when the weather is bad. Just straight runs for his life into the drizzly rain and cold, flying as fast as he can toward Keith’s shitty apartment located mere miles from his own shitty apartment.
His main fear as he runs those miles, dodging a few other people much smarter than him with umbrellas, is that Keith might think he did this on purpose. He hopes that Keith doesn’t think he did this knowing Keith’s little secret. It never occurred to Lance that Keith could ever like him. The idea never crossed his mind.
Some of the comments on the video definitely seem to think he was some straight jackass playing with his gay friend’s heart. Lance is offended at the idea, but that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is Keith and making sure Keith is okay.
Keith is very private and Lance had accidentally publicly embarrassed him. His stomach clenches as he stomps through puddles and wishes he could move even faster. He would never, ever hurt Keith knowingly, never set him up for actual embarrassment in such a cruel way.
He finally reaches Keith’s apartment building, charging up the stairs to Keith’s place on the third floor (the elevator hasn’t worked in at least a year). He is stopped abruptly though, running into a brick wall of a hulking figure in the stairway.
Shiro.
He recognizes that white hair and broad frame immediately. They spend one moment looking at each other, Lance’s eyes wild, clothes wet, hair messed up, frantic and worried.
Shiro sighs loudly and wordlessly pats Lance on the shoulder before continuing downward. Lance thinks he sees a smile on his face, but there is no time to worry about that now.
He slams into Keith’s door and then frantically uses the key Keith gave him sophomore year.
What the fuck, Lance? He thinks to himself. They both have keys to each other’s places and it never dawned on him that there was something more there than just friendship? Lance has used this key many times before, endless nights of sitting in Keith’s living room, giggling over memes and watching dumb movies and Keith sometimes falling asleep on his shoulder.
He cringes at the thought of this now. How could he not have known. How could he be so blind? How could he have done something to hurt one of his best friends?
He charges into the living room, half expecting to be greeted with a knife to the chest since Keith owns a few for protection. Maybe he should have texted before coming over.
Instead, he is greeted with a disheveled looking Keith, standing in the kitchen with a mug. Lance rakes his eyes over him, stomach dropping when he sees that Keith’s eyes are rimmed in red.
“Are you mad at me?” He blurts out, panting and soaking the carpet beneath his feet.
“Uh, Lance? What are you doing here?” Keith says, nervously looking around, almost like he is looking for an escape route.
“Answer me.”
Keith sighs, putting down the mug and walking closer, hesitant, slow. “No, I’m not mad. Just…you know, embarrassed.” He looks downward.
“Good. Because I’m mad at you!” Lance jabs a finger in Keith’s direction.
Keith’s head snaps back up. “Excuse me?”
“Why didn’t you tell me all this time? You like me. How dare you. How. Dare. You.”
Keith takes a step backward, face visibly going pale. “I…uh, didn’t want to ruin our friendship. It’s fine. Nothing has to change.”
“You asshole! How long. HOW LONG.”
Keith cradles himself. “Two years?”
“TWO YEARS? Are you kidding me right now. We could have been dating for two years if you hadn’t been a big fat chicken.”
“I’m sorry, please…wait, what?”
“You better be sorry. You could have asked me out two years ago and we could be having our second anniversary! Jerk!”
“I’m…wait. Hold on. So, I have a chance?” It is almost comedic how Keith’s face shifts from fear and misery to hope in a split second.
“A chance? If I thought I had a chance with you, I would have been putting the moves on you years ago.”
Keith barks with laughter. “Man. We are idiots.”
“Yes. Now get over here.”
Lance isn’t wasting more time. Not at all. They had already lost two years and he wouldn’t lose another second. Keith walks over and happily embraces him, not even caring that Lance is soaking wet.
First, they just hug, Lance humming in happiness. Then, a brush of the lips. Keith’s lips. The ones he had stared at so many of those weekend nights spent together. Their first kiss.
When he pulls away, Keith is giving him the same look as in the video. Eyes lidded and clouded with passion. Looking at Lance like he is the whole world.
It’s a great look on him. Lance wants to make sure he gets to see this look on Keith’s face for the rest of his life.
He leans his forehead against Keith’s, content, the stress of the situation melting into a happiness that beats going viral by a mile.
Later, they make a Tiktok showing off the fact that they are boyfriends now and they go viral, again.