Work Text:
It was almost midnight, the start of a new year.
The paladins had decided to spent the last hours of the current year together, celebrating at the McClain household alongside Lances siblings, parents and some relatives.
Don’t get him wrong, Keith has been enjoying seeing his family-in-law and friends again, cherishing every second he can hear them laugh, and see them being their happiest self. That didn’t change the fact that Keith still needed some time to get used to having such huge families in his life, and wasn’t necessarily fond of large crowds of people.
So, after already spending hours with the most important people in his life, and enjoying playing different party-games with them, or simply catching up with their lives, he decided it was time to take a short break. He found himself in his boyfriends childhood room, smiling while thinking about the other time he has been here already, and how the room is just so ‘Lance’.
He also started memorizing the first time he met Lances family, and how nervous he had been been. But Lance had reassured him that day, telling him how much his family will love Keith, and how much he loved him. That evening turned out to be one of the best nights of Keiths life, and one of the many beautiful memories the two boys had already made at Landes family house.
Keith was so lost in thoughts and smiling, almost not noticing how someone had entered the room. Of course, it was none other than Lance himself.
“Hey, stranger, thought I might find you here. Too many people?”
“Yeah, kinda. Don’t get me wrong, I love them all as much as possible, but I just needed a short moment of quiet.”
“It’s okay, I understand. Being surrounded by that many people at once for so long can be a lot.”
“What, Mr. “I love big parties and make friends everywhere I go” suddenly has a problem with big crowds?”
“Haha, very funny.”
Even after dating for years, they never stopped good-naturally teasing each other. Even small competitions regarding the most daily and regular things hadn’t gotten old. It was just the way they are. One way of showing their love for each other, and Keith would t trade it for anything in the world.
Lance began sitting himself next to his boyfriend, laying an arm around Keiths shoulders which made Keith automatically feel more at ease and home.
“You are okay though, right? If you want to, we can just spend the rest of the evening here, or something.”
“No, it’s alright, I’m okay, just needed a short break. Besides, you being here makes everything better.”
Keith earned a kiss on the cheek for that sentence. God, he was so gone for that boy.
“Ditto, babe. Besides, uhm, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you in private anyways, and there’s no time like the present, right?”
The sudden mood change of his boyfriend made Keith raise an eyebrow. Why was Lance suddenly so nervous? Not to mention that they practically know everything about each other.
“Is everything alright?”
“Y-yeah. It’s just- this is kind of a big thing, and I’m, well, nervous about your answer.”
“Hey, it’s okay. And trust me, there’s no need for you to be nervous, okay? I love you more than anything, and I promise that won’t change, no matter what your question is, okay?”
That brought one of the soft smiles Keith loved seeing on Lances face.
“I love you, too. So much more than you can imagine. Even that stupid mullet won’t change that.”
“Can’t let go of my hair, can you?”
Now Lance was grinning, pressing one more kiss on his boyfriends cheek, softly chuckling while whispering a small “Nope.” into Keiths ear.
After that, Lance let go of Keith a little in order to get something out of his pockets, visibly nervous, but not as much as before. That ‘something’ ended up being an engagement ring, a beautiful red crystal on top of it. Suddenly, Lances nervousness made now much more sense to Keith, his own heart suddenly beating much faster, his cheeks on fire.
Taking one more deep breath, Lance flopped off the bed to get on one knee, never letting go of Keiths hand.
“Keith, babe, you’re without question the love of my life, and the most important person in my life. Those past years have been such a big adventure with you. And I’m not just talking about our time in space. With you, even the most boring things suddenly are fun. You constantly bring out the best in me, and challenge me to learn new things day by day. Whenever I’m around you, I feel like I can be my truest self because you never wanted me to be anything more than that. All those insecurities about myself suddenly go away whenever I’m around you. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you, come home to you every night, and wake up next to you every morning. And I know how cheesy all that sounds, but it’s kind of your fault that I’ve gotten so soft Mr. “I stole Lance McClains heart the second I walked into the Garrison and never gave it back afterwards.”
That last part made Keith chuckle softly, still in disbelief about what was happening right now, thankful for the kind of life he is living now.
“So, Keith Kogane, will you marry me?”
The grin on Keiths face even hurt a little because of how much he was smiling, tackling his boyfriend to the ground while kissing him straight on the lips. It just a few seconds for Lance to kiss him back. The big smiles on their faces made it a bit hard to properly kiss each other, but none of the boys cared about that.
The beginning of a new year started out to be one of the best moments in both of their lives.