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Lance McClain had never been good at staying still. Whether it was in the middle of a heated battle or even just in the quiet of the Castle of Lions, there was always an itch under his skin to be moving, to be *doing* something. But here, in the silence of the observatory deck, with stars flickering in the vastness of space outside the massive window, he found himself uncharacteristically still.
Because Keith was there.
Keith had a way of grounding him. Which was funny, because Lance had spent so much time thinking Keith was the one who made him want to punch through walls. But now, he was realizing that maybe all that tension, all that frustration, had been something else entirely. Something he hadn’t known how to name back then. But now? Now it felt like the stars had aligned—literally—and he couldn’t deny it anymore.
“Hey,” Keith said softly, his voice almost swallowed by the expanse of the room. His dark mullet framed his face, and he turned, catching Lance’s gaze with his piercing violet eyes. They were softer now, less guarded than they’d been in the past. There was something different about Keith when he wasn’t in the middle of a fight, when the weight of the universe wasn’t on his shoulders.
“Hey,” Lance echoed, sitting down next to him, close enough that their legs brushed against each other. He felt a jolt, like electricity sparking under his skin. Keith didn’t pull away, and that was something.
For a moment, they sat in silence, both staring out into the endless void. Lance’s fingers twitched at his side, wanting to do something, say something, but the words were stuck in his throat. This wasn’t like the usual banter between them. This was different, heavier, like the air around them was charged with something unsaid.
“You ever think,” Lance finally began, voice quiet, “that maybe... maybe we were always meant to end up here? Not just in space, I mean, but... this. Us.”
Keith didn’t look at him right away, his gaze still fixed on the stars outside, but Lance saw the way his shoulders tensed, like he was preparing himself for something. For once, Lance wasn’t joking, wasn’t throwing out some sarcastic remark to deflect. He was being real.
“Yeah,” Keith admitted, his voice just as soft. “I think about it sometimes. How we’re always orbiting around each other. Even when I didn’t want to be.”
Lance blinked in surprise at the admission, his heart skipping a beat. He hadn’t expected Keith to just *say* it. But then again, Keith had always been the straightforward one.
“I thought you hated me,” Lance said with a half-laugh, though there was no real humor in it. His chest tightened at the memory of all those early fights, the misunderstandings, the rivalry that had always felt so one-sided.
Keith finally turned to look at him, and Lance’s breath caught in his throat. There was something intense in Keith’s eyes, something that made it hard for Lance to think straight.
“I never hated you,” Keith said, his voice steady. “I was just... confused. About a lot of things. About us.”
Lance swallowed, feeling the weight of Keith’s words settle over him. He’d always wanted to hear something like that, but now that it was happening, it felt overwhelming. His heart was racing, and he couldn’t stop the nervous energy that bubbled up inside him.
“So,” Lance said, trying to keep his voice steady, “what now? I mean, we’ve spent so much time fighting. What are we supposed to do now that we...”
“Now that we’re not fighting anymore?” Keith finished for him, his lips quirking up in a rare, soft smile. It wasn’t smug, like the ones Lance used to get so frustrated with. This one was warm, almost tender.
“Yeah. That.”
Keith hesitated for a moment, and then, slowly, he reached out. His fingers brushed against Lance’s, and it felt like the world stopped. Lance held his breath, his heart pounding in his chest as Keith’s hand slid into his, their fingers intertwining.
“I guess,” Keith said quietly, “we figure it out. Together.”
Lance stared at their joined hands, his mind racing a mile a minute. He’d imagined this a hundred times—more than that, if he was being honest. But now that it was real, now that Keith was sitting here, holding his hand like it was the most natural thing in the world, he felt like he was floating.
“Yeah,” Lance breathed, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Together.”
They sat there for a while longer, hand in hand, watching the stars drift by. For once, Lance didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with words. The quiet between them wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable—it was peaceful, like the space between them had finally been bridged.
It wasn’t perfect, and Lance knew they still had a lot to figure out. But for the first time, he wasn’t worried about it. Because Keith was here, by his side. And somehow, that was enough.
As they sat there, watching the universe unfold around them, Lance squeezed Keith’s hand a little tighter. They had a long road ahead of them, but they would walk it together, step by step, orbit by orbit.
And maybe, just maybe, they would finally find their way home.
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**End.**