Archive of Our Own

It's rare that they get to do this. It was a hard won battle; they can now say they have taken out a fourth of the Galra’s known destroyers, their biggest and baddest ships that take one hundred and fifty years to build completely. These ships are known for destroying entire systems in less than a movement and they did it without any shots fired. The team’s girls are responsible for the victory. Pidge is regarded for creating the kill drive, an on-line spider whose job it was to wrap up a few specific lines of code up and smash them together. It resulted in the meltdown of the quintessence cores of every ship that was connected to that particular cloud. Allura is the paladin who snuck the drive into the command ship, using every bit of stealth, shape-shifting, and close quarters combat training that she has ever learned. 

The mission was obviously high-risk, high-reward; so now that they have won, they are certainly rewarding themselves. The Nunvill is flowing freely and even Shiro (who for some reason is extra crabby lately) is drunk and engaged in a happy-looking conversation with Krolia. The girls are wearing hand-made paper crowns and giggling to each other while they watch Romelle, Hunk, and Coran try to do their best Keith impression. Keith, of course, is sitting in his closed off way, pretending to be upset but grinning behind his bangs. Lance is, well, Lance is jumping to his feet, hopping up onto the stage in the common room, and producing a pen from the pocket of his signature green jacket. He gets attention in the room by tapping the pen into his glass and turning down the music. 

“First and foremost!” Lance swings his arms wide, in a flare that is unique to only him. “A toast to our girls, because really, they do all the hard work around here.”

Allura whoops while clapping over her head and Pidge raises her glass so fast that she sloshes some of her drink onto the floor. 

“To our new friends, Krolia and Romelle. We were not looking for you two, but for many different reasons, I am sure that all of us are so grateful to have you here.” 

Romelle turns pink and her markings glow as Krolia gives the slightest hint of a smile. 

“To all of our Alteans, for giving us a cause, and to Shiro for constantly keeping us together.”

Coran sniffles loudly, he usually cries when he drinks. Shiro and Lance don’t make eye contact but, nobody notices other than them. 

“To Keith,” Lance looks him right in the eye. It happens the way it usually does, they fall into each other like tractor beams, physically unable to look away. “The symbol of peace. His very existence furthers our cause and makes us remember why we are doing this. To the countless children just like him, feeling like they have no place in the universe; with Keith to lead us we can show them that their place is not a birthright, but it is made out of their own love and hard work.” 

All of them remain silent, completely enraptured. 

“To my fellow humans, we are far from our homes and our families, but not really. Sure, my parents and siblings are far, far away, but I think we can all agree that we have made a certain home here. I know personally, begrudgingly, I have found home in this place among you all. I hope you feel the same.” 

Lance takes a large sip of his drink, seemingly trying to hype himself up for what he was about to say next. The rest of the room froze when Lance resurfaced, unbeknownst to him, they see that he has that certain look on his face he gets when talking about an encounter with a pretty alien. A certain wistful longing. 

“Finally, to the person, well , I’m sure most of you know by now. To the person who keeps my fire lit. To the person I model myself after. To the person who makes me the best possible me.” Lance looks like he wants to choke up and Keith looks like he wants to die.

“Lance, pal,” Hunk tries to placate. “I’m not sure now is-,” but Lance powers on over him.

“I miss you the most when you are gone. I spend half of my waking moments thinking about you. You have become my light, my love, and my favorite person in the entire universe. To the most beautiful person I've ever met; mind, heart, and body.” 

“Lance, gross!” Pidge was sitting with her arm braced in front of Allura, for some reason. 

“To our fearless leader, to Keith. Half of all the universe, universes, are in love with you and I am just a statistic.” 

The room is an empty void. Everyone is looking at Lance now, most enraptured, one skeptical (Shiro?). Lance doesn’t seem to realize the importance of what he just said, choosing to smile his shark-toothed smile, the one that gets all the girls, and sits back in his seat next to Keith. Nobody moves for a few moments until Allura breaks the silence. 

“Thank the quiznacking stars !” She smiles and hops to her feet. “Romelle, I am tired, let's go to bed.”

Romelle sputters and turns violently pink. “Together?”

“Only if you want to, thought I’d take a page out of Lance's book.” Allura looks seriously at the floor when Romelle doesn’t respond right away. 

“- yes! Yes please, I want to.” Romelle looks panicked like Allura is going to take back the offer. As if. “ Please.”

Allura then grabs her by the hand and leads her out of the room without any further adieu. 

“Whelp,” Pidge was the next one to stand. “I’m gonna go drunk-pass-out with all my clothes still on. Everyone else but Keith and Lance are leaving as well. Or at least you should, for the safety of your eyes.” In an instant, the room is cleared and a frozen Keith along with a lazily relaxed Lance are all that remain. 

“Hey, don’t sweat it sweetheart.” Lance patted Keith’s shoulder as he stood to leave. “I know you don’t feel the same, I just don’t want you to get so down on yourself. You are so easy to love, Keith. You even got a tomcat like me to want to settle down.” Lance laughs and runs his hands through his hair. “But don’t worry about me baby. I’m like a rubber ball, I always bounce back.” Lance starts walking towards the door but Keith is not finished quite yet. 

“What does it feel like? Being in love.” Lance had an unreadable expression on and Keith flushed to his collarbones. “Not like- with me, just in general.”

“Oh, um, okay,” Lance sat back down on the couch but this time across from Keith on the ‘U’ shaped couch. “I wake up in the morning and I wonder what you want to eat for breakfast.” Lance finally betrays a sad, introspective face but Keith thinks he’s still so fucking noble. “I dream of you during the day and mourn the loss of you in my bed at night. My mother told me growing up, that when you love someone, you do not need them. You want them more than anything, you’d travel to the edge of the universe, you'd lay down your life for this person but when the universe decides their time is up, you mourn, and you try your very best to move on. I’d follow you through everything. Eyes closed, head first, anything you ask me. That’s what it feels like.” 

“Huh,” Keith wasn’t asking, just commenting. Like he has come to a conclusion.

Lance decides it is finally time to leave the room and leaves Keith alone with a light pat to the shoulder. By the time Keith can surface for air, he’s alone with a brand new understanding of what or- who he wants.