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Keith and Lance were laying next to each other in the castle-ship's observation deck when it happened. Hours before, the rest of the team had been in the room with them. Coran and Allura had insisted that they all spend the night together, as two of the smaller stars, in the solar system they were currently orbiting, were set to collide within a safe enough distance for them to watch.
The team had huddled up on the floor of the observation deck, making a huge pallet of all the castle’s pillows and blankets on the floor, right in front of the curved windows that made up most of the room.
They watched the stars circle around each other, gradually gaining speed, until they eventually collided. The explosion made from their clash was both beautiful and terrifying. Keith found himself wondering how it was possible that something so destructive could be so mesmerizing at the same time.
The team stuck around for a while after the collision – just to watch the bright colors that exploded out of the two stars – but eventually they left the observation deck one by one, and went back to their rooms, trailing their respective blankets and pillows behind them.
Keith briefly heard Hunk asking Lance if he was coming back with him, since their rooms were right next to each other. He also roughly heard Lance telling him he wanted to stay in the observation room for a bit longer, and that he’d go to sleep soon.
Hunk seemingly believed him, and turned to trudge back to his own room. And then there was only Keith and Lance.
Keith was vaguely aware of how close he and Lance were lying to each other at this point. He was so sure that they had been further apart earlier in the night, but he figured he was just overthinking it. He could feel the heat radiating off of the boy next to him, regardless of the cold floor they had been laying on for the past few hours.
“Did you ever see stars like this back in Texas?”
Keith was startled a little as the silence was broken by this question. He turned his head ever so slightly to look at Lance, watching how his chest rose and fell as he continued to stare at the galaxy around them.
“Yeah, actually,” he turned back to the sky. “I was practically in the middle of nowhere, so the stars were always really clear… no light pollution, y’know?” He heard Lance hum in response, seemingly marking the end of this conversation, even though it had just begun.
After a minute or two of silence, Lance spoke again, though his voice was so quiet that Keith could have easily missed it if he hadn’t been paying close enough attention. (When was he ever not paying attention when it came to Lance, honestly?)
“The stars in Varadero were beautiful”
“Yeah?” Keith breathed, turning to look at lance again.
“Yeah,” Lance raised his voice a bit, so Keith could fully hear him.
“There wasn’t much light pollution in my town either. Sometimes I’d sneak down to the beach just to listen to the ocean and watch the stars. One time I fell asleep there and my mom went crazy. She got almost everyone in the neighborhood to go out looking for me.” Lance huffed out a laugh at the memory. “I was grounded for two months after that, safe to say she was pretty pissed.”
Keith hummed, unable to look away from the other boy as he retold the story. He noticed how his eyes crinkled ever so slightly at the corners when he spoke of his Mother, how he got that gleam in his eyes when he spoke of his home. Lance shifted next to him, bringing his arms to rest beside him on the ground. Keith was acutely aware of how close their hands were. He wondered what would happen if he just moved his own hand over those few inches, what would happen if he took that shot? He could play it off as an act of comfort if he had to.
He ultimately decided against it.
Lance must’ve noticed him staring, because his eyes quickly flicked over to him before returning to look at the ceiling.
“I actually had my first kiss on that beach. We were young and stupid and the kiss was fleeting, but I was in love with him, so I don’t regret it.” Lance had a sad smile on his face; Keith couldn’t tell what part of his story had elicited that look.
He also didn’t miss the way his heart skipped when Lance said ‘him’. Keith had known Lance was bi for quite some time now (he was pretty open about it), but it still made his stomach churn a little when he spoke about it.
“Or I guess..I was as in love as someone can be at 15. Which probably isn’t much.” Lance mumbled, furrowing his brows.
They sat like that for a while, Keith still silently staring at him, watching his eyes flick from one star to another; almost like he was studying each one individually, giving them all the attention they deserved. Not focusing only on the bigger picture, but giving every small detail of the galaxy around them its own place in his mind.
Keith was mesmerized by the way the colors of space reflected in Lance’s eyes, accentuating just how blue they were.
His heart skipped when Lance turned to look back at him, and he realized he hadn’t been breathing. He took a slow breath of air, not wanting to draw to the fact that he had been so caught up in Lance’s beauty that he had seemingly forgotten how to breathe.
“What was your first kiss like?” His tone was so soft that Keith might not have heard him if he wasn’t paying such close attention.
Keith frowned slightly, not knowing exactly how to answer the question.
“I actually…haven’t kissed anyone?”
He noticed Lance’s eyes widen a bit in what seemed like disbelief.
“Really? Nobody? Ever?”
“Nope. Nobody. Ever. Just never really felt right, I guess. I didn’t really have any romantic relationships back on Earth.”
“Seriously? That’s hard to believe..”
Keith’s lips quirked up at the corners, “Is it really? You’ve seen first-hand how awkward I am.” he huffed out a laugh.
Lance didn’t laugh, his eyes boring into Keith’s.
“Yeah man, it is hard to believe. I know I joke a lot about how awkward you are, but you’re like…crazy attractive,” his eyes darted away before returning to look at Keith.
“It’s just really hard to believe nobody piqued your interest at the Garrison.”
Keith sucked in a breath and knitted his brows together. “Well, I never said nobody piqued my interest,” he mumbled.
Lance suddenly sat up and leaned on his hands, hanging over Keith a little, making his eyes go wide. “Really?? Who?” he tilted his head, reminiscent of a curious puppy.
Keith slowly sat up as well, turning to face Lance and crossing his legs. They say that way for a minute, just staring at each other, Keith waiting for Lance to get the message behind his stare.
He could see the moment the realization dawned on him.
“Oh…Oh, really?” he breathed.
“Yeah, sorry..” Keith muttered, turning his head.
After a few seconds, he felt warmth against his hand, which was previously resting in his lap, but was now hanging in Lance’s in the small space between them. He looked back over to him and his breath hitched when he saw the way Lance was looking at him now.
He couldn’t place his finger on what kind of look it was, but he knew he had never been looked at that way before.
“Do you still…” Lance’s voice trailed off as he looked hopefully to Keith for an answer to a question he hadn’t even finished.
Keith knew what he was asking. His eyes briefly flicked down to Lance’s mouth, then back up to his eyes, and he nodded.
Lance did nothing but stare at the older boy for a moment, until he seemed to snap back into reality, and he moved his hand to rest on Keith’s shoulder.
“You said you’ve never kissed anyone, right?”
Keith nodded again, confused as to where this question was going.
“I could show you how.” Lance spat out, “How to kiss.” he clarified.
Keith couldn’t tell if his heart was hammering in his chest, or if it had stopped completely. He could feel his face warming up under the weight of Lance’s eyes on him.
“Okay.” he whispered, so quiet that it was almost inaudible.
Lance slid his hand from Keith's shoulder up to his cheek, cupping it gently as his eyes flicked from Keith’s to his lips.
He slowly leaned in, stopping just before their lips touched. “You’re sure this is okay?” he breathed, his lips brushing against Keith’s ever so slightly as he spoke. He could feel Lance’s warm breath against his face as he patiently waited for a response before continuing.
Keith responding with “Yes.” was all it took for Lance to close the distance between him.
Whatever Keith thought kissing would feel like before this moment, it didn’t compare to how he felt when Lance slotted their lips together.
He had honestly assumed that kissing wasn’t all it was chalked up to be, that ‘fireworks’ and ‘sparks flying’ was only something that happened in movies. He never realized just how wrong he was.
Lance’s lips were incredibly soft; probably due to his extensive collection of lip products that he had either brought with him or gathered during their time in space.
He felt Lance smile a little against his mouth before he pulled away, only a little bit, but enough to be able to speak again.
“You have to move your mouth,” he rasped.
Keith hadn’t even realized how he had frozen up when Lance had kissed him, he hadn’t realized he hadn’t been kissing him back.
He gave a short nod, and Lance moved in to kiss him once again. This time, Keith’s nerves had eased a bit, and he didn’t freeze when their lips touched.
At first, Keith struggled to keep up with Lance, but he eventually got the hang of it. After easing into the kiss, he found that it was easy. Maybe it was just Lance (it probably was), but kissing him felt almost as easy as blinking.
Lance tasted like vanilla, presumably the flavor of his chapstick. (Which was strange, because Keith always thought he’d be the type to use cherry chapstick. Not that that was important right now)
Keith found the taste almost intoxicating, along with the way Lance smelled. He had never really noticed how faintly he smelled of both the ocean and of the juniberry flowers that grew in the castle-ships memory chamber.
He nearly jumped back when he felt Lance’s teeth grazing against his bottom lip, followed by the swipe of his tongue. He brought his hand up to rest it on the side of Lance’s neck, and instinctively opened his mouth a little when Lance’s teeth bit his bottom lip again.
Lance took this as an open door to slide his tongue against Keith’s, making him stifle a gasp.
He felt Lance smirk slightly against his mouth, and he decided that two could play at that game.
He moved the hand that wasn’t busy holding onto Lance’s neck for dear life to his waist, slowly trailing it to his lower back and successfully pulling Lance against him. Lance pulled away a bit with a small gasp, pressing his forehead to Keith’s as he smirked.
“Getting cocky, are we?” Lance’s voice was hoarse and it sent chills up Keith’s spine.
They spent the rest of the night pushing and pulling to see who could get a bigger reaction out of the other. By the time they stopped, both of their lips were red and sore, and they were exhausted.
If anyone found them cuddled up on the floor of the observation deck, wrapped up in each other’s legs and Lance running his hand through Keith’s hair in the morning, nobody said anything.