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Lance was having, quite possibly, the worst day of his life.
Allura was refusing to let the paladins rest, with the preparation for the upcoming Galra invasion as the only thing on her mind. Shiro had been stressed with having to deal with both the mission plans as well as four sleep deprived teenagers. Pidge and Hunk had been working nonstop on dissecting and understanding the newest, state of the art Galra technology, which could possibly have the power to explode an entire quadrant.
And then there was Keith.
Keith was training nonstop. He was skipping meals, staying up until the others had been getting up for breakfast, and was refusing to speak with Lance. Everytime Lance entered a room? Keith left. Everytime he came to join the others for dinner? Keith was suddenly full.
And the worst thing? Lance had no idea what he had done wrong.
He had thought him and Keith were doing— good. Really good. They had come to a point in their relationship where they could actually consider themselves friends. Or at least Lance thought.
Lance tried to track his previous conversations with the latter, trying to see if he had anything at all to possibly offend him at all. After going through all his previous memories, he couldn’t remember anything at all that could’ve messed with Keith. Except…
Oh.
A few nights ago, when everyone in the castle was finally asleep, there was one person who wasn’t. Lance had not been able to sleep, with flashbacks of his family coming back stronger than ever. Realizing he had missed his nephew, Silvio’s, birthday. He’d be six now.
Pressing his temples, Lance had decided to get out of his bed, because attempting to sleep was clearly going nowhere. As he headed to the Castle’s main kitchen, he was started by the shadow of a sitting figure.
Keith’s sitting figure.
“Keith?” Lance asked, wondering why his fellow paladin was still up.
Keith, clearly startled by Lance’s voice, jumped in his seat, “Lance? I didn’t- I didn’t think you’d be awake.”
“Yeah dude, I didn’t plan on seeing you either. Whatcha doing?”
“Just…couldn’t sleep. You?”
“I was just- just thinking about my family.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, ‘oh.’”
“Do you- er- wanna talk about it?” Keith asked nervously.
Lance smiled softly, knowing how much Keith was trying to talk about feelings.
“Scooch over, Mullet,” said Lance, squeezing himself in between Keith and the numerous throw pillows. Keith rolled his eyes but said nothing, just waited.
Suddenly, Lance spoke softly, “It was my nephew’s birthday today. I know it’s not that serious, especially with all that’s going on right now but it’s just- I’ve always been there to celebrate it with him! Cool Tio Lance, you know?” He turned to look at Keith, and he was shocked to see Keith looking back at him intently, eyes urging him to continue.
So, he did.
“He’s turning six today, I checked with Pidge’s Earth calendar she made and I- I miss them. Growing up, we’ve never really been separated much. Even when my siblings got married and had kids, they all still stayed in the same house. I remember I used to hate that, not being able to get away from them, but now? I can’t stand it. I know it’s stupid but-”
“It’s not stupid, Lance,” interrupted Keith, “and it’s definitely not stupid to miss them. I know I can’t relate much, since Shiro’s the only one I had on Earth, and he’s here right now but, from what I’ve heard? Your bond with your family is like mine with Shiro. And you know how I got when I lost Shiro.”
Lance snorted at that last line, remembering him and Keith’s first real encounter, but nodded.
“And Lance. You will see them again.” Affirmed, focusing his eyes in a way that made his seem impossibly sure of himself.
Lance, with tears welling up in his eyes, knew he couldn’t respond verbally without cracking his voice, so went with the safer option of leaping into
Keith’s arms. Keith’s eyes shot up, but didn’t move, and instead wrapped his arms around Lance’s chest.
“Hey, Keith?” Mumbled Lance, lifting his head to look into Keith’s eyes.
“Yeah?”
“You never told me why you were awake.” Lance recalled.
“I’ll tell you later. Now, we sleep, yeah?”
“Yeah. That’s- yeah.”
“Goodnight, Lance.”
“Night, Keith.”
~~~~~
Lance scrunched his eyes, remembering their previous late night encounter. Did Keith- was he uncomfortable with Lance? He shook his head, trying to rid the idea of his mind, but it was too late. There wasn’t any other reason for his avoidance, right?
Lance decided to take matters into his own hands, and dragged his feet over to the training room, where Keith normally resided. Lance may have been embarrassed, but he wasn’t willing to allow that to ruin his friendship that he had worked so hard to create.
Building his confidence one last time, Lance finally stepped into the training room.
“Keith.”
“Lance- I don’t have time for this right now-”
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh- What?”
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable that night, and I really do apologize for making you like that. We can- we can pretend it never happened, if you want?” Lance queried, eyes still glued onto the floor.
“Lance, no, I’m sorry. You did nothing wrong. It’s-
It’s my fault,” Keith apologized, his expression overflowing with guilt.
“No, Keith, you don’t need to do this. It’s ok, you didn’t do anything-”
“But I did! I did, Lance.”
Lance tried to protest, but Keith raised his hand, and continued.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel like you did anything wrong. What you said that night didn’t bother me at all. It’s- it’s nothing really, nothing big at all.”
“Keith,” Lance urged, unwilling to let Keith let go of the topic.
Keith paused, but then blurted, “Isortamaybehaveacrushonyou.”
“Huh?”
“I like you, Lance.” Keith confessed.
Lance didn’t respond. Lance couldn’t respond. His long time crush, someone who he once considered his rival, was admitting his feelings for him. The man with a rock hard wall built around him, who seemed to despise Lance with a fiery passion, was admitting that they were into him. Him!
After being met with a long silence, Keith started, “It’s fine. I didn’t expect you to- we can forget this ever happened, okay?” He began to walk out of the room when-
“Wait!” Keith turned around, to find Lance grasping his wrist, “I like you too, idiot.”
“You what?”
“I like you. Hell, I’ve been in love with you ever since you showed up with that stupid mullet of yours.”
Keith scoffed, but his eyes stayed focused on Lance’s words.
“You’re just so,” Lance waved his arms around, motioning to Keith’s entire body.
“I’m so…me?”
“Yes! Yes, and your ‘me’ is just so amazing. Ay dios mío, everything about you is just perfect. You’re the best fighter I’ve ever seen, and your stupid face is just so pretty that it makes me want to punch a wall but at the same time push you onto one.”
Keith blushed furiously at that last line, much to Lance’s appreciation.
“And the way you help Pidge with her projects? Even though you know absolutely nothing about what she’s talking about? It’s adorable, you’re adorable.”
Now Keith was blushing even more furiously, his face matching the color of his infamous cropped jacket. Then, trying his best to collect himself, he spoke,
“I think you’re cute too. Even with your stupid pick up lines, that you use on everyone you meet. And every time you do that, I can’t help but wish that I was the one you’re flirting with. And god, you’re an amazing sharpshooter too. I haven’t seen you miss a single shot, even in the hardest moments. You’re- hell, you’re so ‘you’.”
Lance’s grin was spreading so far that he thought it might fall off his face. And honestly? Even if it did, it couldn’t ruin his day. Lance would be a happy, happy man no matter what today.
“Lance?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I- you know-”
Lance smirked, understanding what Keith was getting at.
“Can you, what, sweetheart?” Lance teased.
“I hate you.”
“You love me.”
“Yeah, I do,” and then promptly pressed his lips onto Lance’s.
And yeah, this was, quite possibly, the best day of Lance’s life.