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It was very subtle, at first. Tiny changes in their relationships, as if they were doing small steps toward each other, little things and little nothings, quiet words, quiet acts.
It had all began after Lance had woken up from coma to save Keith from Sendak, after the two said-rivals had agreed that they were a good team.
Though Lance had afterwards strongly denied this bonding moment , it had been the trigger of all the changes in their relationship.
Sure, they were arguing as much as ever, they were still competing, they were still trying to beat each other at pretty much everything, but it wasn’t like before.
Sometimes, they were speaking softly at each other. Sometimes, they were talking about random subjects without bickering with each other. Sometimes, especially at night, they were sitting side by side in front of a window, looking at the stars.
Once, Lance was saying that he missed the Earth, and especially his family, and Keith had tried to cheer him up by saying that Lance’s family must be great and that he loved to meet them once they would come back.
Neither of them had noticed Pidge watching them from afar, and mentally slapping herself when they had looked away, flushing because of what Keith had just said.
The Red Paladin was more considerate with Lance, more caring. He had proposed to teach him how to recognize some constellations Lance didn’t know, and the Blue Paladin had only grunted a bit before agreeing, making Keith smile.
That was another change : the smiles.
They were smiling way more at each other, whether it was when they were arguing or when they were being nice. Keith was smiling at Lance’s silly things, and Lance was smiling at Keith’s strange reactions. In fact, it looked like the brunette liked to make Keith smile, as each time he was saying something stupid, he was winking at his “rival” just to see him rolling his eyes, smiling nonetheless.
And that was making Lance happy too. He was laughing more than before.
He had a contagious laugh, so Keith was strangely often laughing too - even if it had been very unusual at first.
They were laughing with each other, at each other, sharing a malicious complicity, reassuring the other about their intentions when they were arguing with light chuckles or bursts of laughter.
Sometimes they were trying to make each other laugh during training, and it was a contest of who would manage to stay serious the longest. Of course, it was making training way funnier and happier - and even during missions the whole team was strangely glad that these two were here to lighten up things.
In fact, even if they were still arguing, now their arguments had a whole different meaning, since they were constantly teasing each other. It was tainted with rivalry at first, but with time, it looked more and more like Lance was flirting with Keith and Keith retorting sharp things to keep up with it. It seemed like a kind of contest, as if they were trying to shut the other silent by making him blush or unable to answer.
Lance was throwing cheesy pick-up lines that were making Keith laugh, who was shooting back sarcastical replies, or simply one was making cutting remarks and the other who was responding with equally cutting remarks: but anyway their words were tainted with fondness.
And this fondness had melted in their behaviour, to the point they had become way more… tactile with each other.
They were often seen side by side, with always a part of their bodies touching. Sometimes it was an arm around the shoulders, sometimes it was an elbow in the ribs, sometimes it was a hand on the back, sometimes it was a foot on a foot, sometimes it was a leg on a lap, as if they were craving for physical contact.
And sometimes, it was fingers tangled in hair, bodies pressed against each other in a tight embrace, arms around the waist, hands in hands, heads on shoulders, foreheads against foreheads and sweet, sweet looks that were denying the cutting yet soft words their mouths were saying.
The touches were more and more intimate and though they were trying to be discreet, though they were hiding everything, they couldn’t help but touch each other.
Hunk had surprised them one day, after a long mission, sleeping peacefully together on the couch : Keith was on Lance’s laps, who had wrapped a protective arm around his waist, their fingers intertwined together.
He hadn’t say anything. He had contained a chuckle and walked away discreetly, of course reporting everything he had seen to the others.
When Coran had made a witty remark about this, the two Paladins had blushed heavily and strongly denied what had happened.
But they were getting closer and closer and could less and less hide that special bond that had formed between them.
Things that were already obvious become even more obvious during that one morning, when all Paladins had to get up early for training, Shiro saw Lance and Keith running out from Keith’s room. They were already late - which was very unusual for Keith - and the Black Paladin had come to get them, but in the end he was so amused by what he had just seen that he decided to let that slip and act as if he was the one arriving late.
Afterwards, they acted very casual but they still couldn’t hide the fact that they were now way, way closer than before. The others didn’t see why they were trying to hide something that was so obvious you just couldn’t ignore it but they decided to let them think that they were still discreet - it was very funny, watching them trying to deny everything.
But they were really obvious. Especially Lance, and then Keith trying to cover what Lance had just said or done was making things even more obvious.
Which was really funny, for the others.
As Coran and Lance were talking, Coran had jokingly said : “If you’re so jealous of Keith sometimes, it’s because he has no flaws, has he?”
“Oh, well, he has,” Lance had scoffed. “He’s arrogant, impulsive, too confident-”
“You’re the same,” the Altarian had cut off with amusement.
“No, I’m not,” the Blue Paladin had shot back, grunting. “We’re not the same at all. I could list you all his other flaws.” Then, very offhandedly, because he was a complete jackass, he had said : “For example, Keith kicks in his sleep.”
He hadn’t really understood why Coran was laughing so much afterwards.
When they were arguing, there were time when they were throwing spears at each others about things they weren’t supposed to know. In general, they didn’t realize it, caught in their arguments, but there were also times when they were arguing as quietly as possible about these things.
For example, Keith was one day saying : “Lance, be more careful with your Lion!”
“I’m always careful!” had cockily answered Lance.
“You didn’t seem that careful two nights ago!” Keith had protested.
“It was a revenge because you’re always keeping the blanket for yourself,” the Blue Paladin had shot back. “And because you were really flirting with that alien girl during the last mission.”
“I wasn't, and you’re the one making me worried by flirting with everyone! Don’t you ever think about what I feel, you idiot?”
“It’s because you’re so cute when you’re jealous!”
“Anyway I’m not giving back that t-shirt of yours.”
“Hey, I like that t-shirt!”
“Too bad it suits me better, then.”
They hadn’t noticed that as they were on their lions, all the team could hear them bickering about their private life, even if they were whispering. In the end, as they were doing the training of vision by lions with their eyes blinded, they both crashed in the sand and kept on arguing afterwards.
The two Paladins were, despite everything, trying to be discreet. However they were also very unlucky - especially because their teammates were nighthawks and observant people.
Pidge caught Lance sneaking in the corridors late at night more than once, and though he always found an excuse, it never sounded right.
It could be : “I was hungry!” or “Oh, erm, I was sleepwalking, you woke me up!” or even “I was walking, I didn’t realize it was night already!”
Pidge never knew if he was really stupid or just trying to convince himself she hadn’t already guessed it all. She was acting as if she didn’t know anything, but was still unsure whether his attitude was amusing or annoying her. One day, it went like:
“Lance, what are you doing here? It’s midnight!”
“Oh huh, really? I’m not sleepy, so I… wanted to gaze at the stars. And you?”
“I wanted a glass of water.”
“Erm, want me to, erm, go with you?” He was always suggesting that he could do something else so people wouldn’t suspect that he was up to see Keith, but it never worked.
“No, no”, Pidge had answered that time, “go back to gazing something beautiful.” And she had left him there, blushing, wondering if she had really understood what was going on.
It was clear that they were going out together, and head over heels for each other, but they still didn’t want to admit it.
That situation was funny, yet it was a bit - well, not just a bit, in fact - annoying for the rest of the team who just wanted them not to act as if they were still the bickering rivals they used to be.
Sometimes, it would take all Allura’s strength not to scream: “JUST KISS EACH OTHER ALREADY, EVERYONE KNOWS YOU’RE GOING OUT!”
Sometimes, they would be arguing and earn a very desperate sigh from Coran who was throwing his arms up in the air without saying anything.
Sometimes, Hunk just wanted to tell them that they were really obvious when they were sitting next to each other, but more like nearly on each other.
Sometimes, Pidge had to refrain from telling them to go get a room or something.
Even the mice seemed to be exasperated.
All in all, only Shiro was keeping his calm and saying that an occasion would happen eventually for them to reveal themselves publically.
And he was right.
During a tough mission on a planet, Galra attacked them. Hunk was in his lion at that time and immediately protected his friends, and while Pidge and Shiro managed to get back to their lions, Keith and Lance, who had infiltrated the enemy base, got stuck inside.
“Keith, Lance, where are you?” Shiro asked, avoiding the enemy’s shots and counterattacking efficiently.
“We’re still in the base!” Keith shouted after a while. Battle sounds could be heard around him, but he sounded okay.
“Do you have the key?” Pidge exclaimed. Galra had hidden a giant battleship in that base, which was locked somewhere with a special key: Lance and Keith’s mission had been to infiltrate the base to steal it, in order to prevent the battleship to be used.
“Yes,” the Red Paladin answered, “We- Lance! What are you-”
“Saving your ass!” the brunette answered.
“Lance!” Keith’s voice was completely panicked. “Lance!”
“Keith, what’s going on?” Hunk questioned, worried.
“Lance!” Keith was still shouting. It looked like he had stopped fighting. He was now banging against a door. “Lance, for fuck’s sake!”
“Keith, calm down!” Shiro’s confident and appeasing tone managed to stop the black-haired boy. “Explain the situation.”
“Lance, it’s Lance.” He was breathing heavily. “He- he took the key with him and ran away to attract all the Galra’s soldiers on him, and he locked me in the control room where we were. I killed the soldiers that were left here with me b-but he-”
“I can’t contact Lance anymore!” Allura suddenly exclaimed, earning a desperate sound from Keith.
“It’ll be okay everyone, it’ll be okay!” Shiro said to reassure the team and keep their spirits together. “Lance is tougher than he looks. Keith, don’t move, we’re going in right now to get you two.”
“I’m not waiting here while he’s risking his life!” Keith shouted back. A big sound was heard and the Red Paladin, who had managed to break the door, was already running away from the control room.
Knowing there was not much left to do except fight, the three other Paladins kept on defeating Galra’s soldiers, getting closer and closer to where Keith and Lance were trapped.
Keith was unstoppable. He was dodging each hit, slicing every enemy that would come in his way. He was a red hurricane, shouting Lance’s name, hoping the Blue Paladin would answer.
While Pidge, Hunk and Shiro managed to land and fight the soldiers on the ground, the black-haired boy was following his intuition and running toward a corridor, fending every obstacle. He heard battle sounds and his heart missed a beat when he recognized the noise of Lance’s gun. He immediately hurried in that direction, ignoring the exhaustion, the pain, everything.
Only Lance mattered.
And there he saw him, down on the ground, his weapon away from him, his helmet gone, a Galran commander about to cut his head.
“Don’t touch him!” Keith roared, and he threw his sword forward, the perfectly aimed weapon cutting through the air and piercing the enemy’s throat before pinning him into the nearest wall.
There was a pause, a moment of silence: Lance’s eyes met his and his lips drew a tired smile. The next second, Keith was kneeling next to him, holding him close.
“I’m here,” he whispered. “I’m here.”
“I know,” Lance croaked weakly. “You saved me.”
“Are you okay?” he asked worriedly, gently touching his face.
“Yeah, seems so.” Lance tried to chuckle but coughed. He managed to move his arm, and slid his fingers into Keith’s soft hair. He coughed again. “The key,” the Blue Paladin breathed out with difficulties, “it broke, I-”
“I don’t care,” Keith said, and without noticing that Shiro, Hunk and Pidge were running toward them as they had cleared the area, he kissed him.
It was soft, tender, affectionate at first, but it quickly became hungrier, rougher, more passionate, and-
“Ahem.”
Shiro’s little sound surprised them both and they nearly jumped away from each other, red and embarrassed.
“It’s not what you think!” Keith yelped.
“It’s, erm, it’s-” Lance tried to talk but he was too hurt and tired. He coughed again and despite everything, his boyfriend once again rushed by his side, worried.
“Lance, are you really okay?” he asked before realizing that well, everyone was still there, watching them. He coughed too, embarrassed. “We’re not going out.”
“No homo,” Lance agreed.
“Not what you think at all.”
“It’s a bonding moment.”
“Exactly.”
“It’s to, erm, improve teamwork.”
“Wait, Lance, that’s a shitty excuse.”
“Better than yours in any case!”
“Nobody will believe you!”
“Because you-” Lance winced in pain, which resulted in Keith forgetting once more about the rest of the team and worrying about him.
The three others exchanged a tired look.
“Well, when you’ll have finished trying to be sneaky while literally EVERYONE ever knew what was going on, maybe you can come back to the castle,” Allura casually said.
Both blushed, and hard, but stopped saying anything. Keith helped Lance on his feet, and the Paladins walked back to their lions before coming back to the ship.
On their way back, Pidge expressed everyone’s sentiment by thanking a Galran soldier that was still alive. Keith and Lance didn’t get it, but in fact they didn’t even notice it since they were too busy arguing/being lovey-dovey with each other.
Yes, it had been subtle at first.
Yes, they had also been obvious.
Yes, they were still arguing, bickering, being rivals and acting like kids.
But that bond between them, now that it was official , could never be broken.