Work Text:
“Dude, that’s dangerous.”
Keith looked back at Lance, raising an eyebrow.
“What is?”
“Uh, that? ” To emphasize his point, Lance pointed (with both hands, with all fingers) to the lollipop in Keith’s mouth. Keith rolled his eyes, then took it out; the candy making a disgusting pop as it was removed. Lance leaned backward, trying to get as far from Keith as he could without falling off the bike.
“This?”
“Yes. ”
“So what?”
“So---so what!? ” Lance smacked his palm to his forehead. God, if he had to deal with Keith’s absolute idiotic-ness one more time-- “ It’s a lollipop. We are on a motorcycle, compadre.” Keith stuck it back into his mouth, the light turning green overhead. “Hey! You better listen to me, mullet!” Keith just waved a dismissive hand, replacing it a moment later on his bike’s handle. Lance just frowned at the back of Keith’s head, mullet tickling his face as he leaned his chin onto his boyfriend’s shoulder.
{--+--}
Fortunately, they made it to Hunk’s house unharmed. Completely lollipop-accident free. This time. Keith says nothing as they park and head in, Lance’s glare lingering on that white, bobbing stick of paper between Keith’s red, perfectly kissable lips.
Despite Keith being the (arguably) coolest guy Lance knew (aside from himself, of course) the dude had this fucking obnoxious oral fixation. It was like he couldn’t not have something in his mouth at any given moment.
Even after dating for a while (3 months and 6 days, but it’s not like anyone’s counting) you would think that Lance would figure out how Keith kept a steady supply of lollipops and gum stashed on his person at all times.
But no.
The answer eluded him.
It drove Lance crazy.
“Hey, party people,” Keith greeted around that thing in his mouth, waving haphazardly.
Lance fist-bumped Hunk. “‘Sup, dudes.”
“So, are you guys ready for Shay and Hunk’s gross hetero congratulation party? ” Pidge came into view as the welcome committee entered the kitchen, locked in a battle of sudden death with the other of the said gross heteros in the living room, in front of a huge TV . Hunk frowned from across the room.
“Uh, Pidge, I asked you to stop calling it that.”
“But that’s what it is,” he shrugged, and a huge GAME! flashed across the screen as Shay’s character was sent flying. Pidge’s glasses flashed, and they punctuated their victory with a smirk. He leaned back on the couch, looking backwards to wave at the newcomers. “You’re late.”
“No, actually, we are completely on time.” Lance crossed his arms, checking his phone just to make sure. It was 2 past the starting time, 6. “And anyway, technically, the party doesn’t start till I walk in.”
“Mmhm,” Pidge turned back to the Super Smash Bros screen, “whatever you say, Kesha.”
Hunk’s house was filled with food. So fucking much of it, that it could probably sustain Lance for like, a whole week (and Lance ate a ton). And it was all the good stuff--all of the group’s collective and individual favorites.
The night proceeded with laughs and talk and for once, Keith had nothing in his mouth. Though, that could be attributed to the food. Lance and Keith hadn’t eaten a crumb of good, delicious, mouth-watering morsels for god knows how long--especially not one of Hunk’s amazing dishes (college broke); So tonight, they feasted.
After dinner, they gathered and played Super Smash Bros, Pidge switching the game to 8 player mode. He plugged in the controllers, set everything up, and then turned to the rest of the group, the most downright evil aura engulfing him.
“Get ready to be wasted,” he cackled, sitting down not a beat later and proceeding to choose Ness. The group glanced at each other briefly in apprehension, and got to picking their characters.
Keith immediately made a beeline for Ike, Lance chose Samus (zero suit of course, to which Keith scoffed and Hunk groaned), and Hunk chose Mega Man (“It’s a classic,”). Allura picked Zelda (“She looks like she can kick ass,”) and Shiro settled on Link, sending Allura a soft smile. Pidge stuck his tongue out again, muttering about there being too many damn heteros.
Shay once again picked jigglypuff, and Coran proudly placed his cursor on Mario.
“Now, that’s a real nice ‘stache,” he boasted, twisting his own.
“Why don’t you choose Wario, Coran?” Lance pointed on the screen.
“With that--that monstrosity of a moustache!? I think not!” He glared a Lance as the other tried to stifle his laughter, and just like that, the versus brawl begun; each of them stocked with 5 lives.
Lance struggled at first, not knowing the controls; he made Samus dash instead of jump, charge instead of shoot. Coran didn’t know where he was onscreen half the time, and kept getting himself and Hunk confused; he was the first to die as he kept accidentally tossing himself over the edge. Hunk just sat in the corner of the map with Shay, the two of them using their taunts and seeing what their characters did. Eventually, Pidge and Allura wandered over to where they were, flushing them out for Keith and Lance to pick off (as the latter finally got ahold of controls, but not after dying twice).
Shiro swooped in as Keith and Lance dispatched Hunk and Shay and began to assault Allura and Pidge; Pidge pulled back as Shiro took out Lance easily. Allura and Shiro double teamed Keith, but then he sent Shiro flying with one of Ike’s swings.
Then, it came down to the real fight: Lance had one life left, both Shiro and Keith had 3, Pidge had 4, and Allura had 2.
It was tough. After Lance was thrown off by none other than Keith, he shoved his boyfriend over.
“What the hell, man!?”
“Sorry,” he said, eyes still flicking across the screen, not sorry at all. “You were in the way.” Lance pouted, and he noticed Keith had a lollipop again. He narrowed his eyes at the offending stick, wondering just when the hell Keith unwrapped it. Lance figured it didn’t matter, and resigned himself to watching the battle play out, arms crossed and bottom lip jutting out.
Shiro was knocked down to one life, and Allura turned on him to give the final blow. He slumped in defeat.
“Be careful, Shiro,” Pidge said, “it’s the pretty ones you gotta watch out for.” Allura made an offended noise.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her focus wandered for a brief moment as her gaze flicked down to Shiro, and Pidge easily took away her last life.
“Remember what I said? Pretty ones.” Pidge grinned at their self-gratifying statement.
“Uh, if that’s true, why am I dead and Keith is alive?”
“Because, Lance, you’re ugly.”
“Rude!”
“You walked right into an insult. Literally. The bar was set so low and you just ran straight into it.”
“Listen, Mullet. Shut up.”
“Alright, Keith,” Pidge interrupted, “It’s just you and me. Mano y mano. A fight to the death.” He settled into a more rigid grip of the wii remote, eyes flicking slightly to where Keith sat. They each had one life left, and their characters paused on screen, across from each other. Waiting.
“Uh… you guys gonna stand there all day or--”
“Shh, Lance! It’s setting the mood,” Hunk whispered loudly. “You know in like those really old western cowboy movies--”
Pidge leapt towards Keith’s character, and they both hunkered down, their fingers flying across the buttons on the controller. Lance thought it was some Death Note level type shit. Except they were out of potato chips. Hunk ate them all.
It got to the point in the stalemate where both players had damage percentage in deep red, where they were now sending one another flying--but not far or fast enough. Pidge spammed pk thunder while Keith took advantage of Ike’s weight and zipped around the screen, using a dashing sword move. Keith’s lollipop stick bobbed in between his teeth with increasing intensity.
In the end, they blew each other off the screen in the same moment; but Ness flew off the radar slightly more quickly.
Keith whooped loudly as he was declared the winner, Pidge crying in outrage.
“My streak!” They pounded a fist into the carpet, head bowed in shame. Keith was doing a little victory dance, face lit up and shoulders rocking. Lance found himself smiling at him, unable to hide it. Keith looked fucking cute celebrating like that, and his face was slightly flushed and god he wanted to kiss him.
But, unfortunately, they were surrounded by their friends, and pda would be greatly frowned upon. So he resisted, wondering how much torture he would have to endure until he could kiss him.
The answer to that: a lot. Keith won almost an equal amount to Pidge and Allura; Lance and Shiro were a close second. Hunk and Shay soon went off to clean up the food, and Coran was always the first to die.
“Quiznak!” Coran finally threw the controller down (gently) and stormed off (not that angry). Allura and Shiro went off somewhere shortly after, and then it was just Pidge, Keith, and Lance.
In the process of Lance getting his ass kicked, Keith managed to gnaw two more lollipops. Lance finally paused in the middle of the game, huffing.
“Okay, that’s it!” Both Pidge and Keith looked up at him, one pissed, the other confused. Lance took a deep breath. “Keith, where the hell do you keep those lollipops?”
“Really Lance?” Pidge rolled their eyes. “You fucking pause the match because Keith has a lollipop?” Shiro’s tiny, far away exclamation of “Language!” was heard, but Pidge paid it no mind.
“Aw, babe,” Keith says, taking out the candy, “if you wanted one you could’ve just asked.” As Lance opened his mouth to retort, Keith, with cat-like reflexes, shoved it into his mouth. He pulled out a new one from the inside breast pocket of his jacket, and replaced the old one.
The game resumed, and Lance had literally no clue what the fuck to do. Keith’s lollipop was in his mouth. The one he had been chewing on.
In Lance’s mouth.
Lance covered his face with a hand, lollipop stick twitching slightly as he ran a tongue over the red candy. He felt his face heat up under his palm and hunched forward slightly.
“Lance, you make out with Keith all the time,” Pidge mutters with barely disguised disdain. “What’s the big deal?”
Lance doesn’t say anything for a while, feeling Keith’s smirk. He eventually grumbles about it being drastically different.
“It’s a lollipop,” Lance all but whines. “It’s not a kiss.” It was pretty gross but at the same time, in a weird way, endearing. Very gross though. Really gross.
“So what; it’s not his tongue in your mouth, it’s some candy. Big whoop.” At this point, even Keith is beginning to grow red, grin faltering as Pidge plows on. “I mean I’m sure you two’ve done a lot worse--”
“O-kay!” Lance claps his hands and stands up. “I think I heard Hunk calling from the kitchen. Adios.” He doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he’s running from Pidge.
Keith snickers at Lance’s retreating figure, though not entirely unaffected by the exchange. He and Pidge go a few more rounds, and when it’s decided they're pretty evenly matched, they shake hands (gripping each other really hard) and join the others in the kitchen.
Hunk lights up when the two of them come into the room. “Time for cake!” Keith frowns slightly. It looks like the group had been waiting for them.
“Y’know, you could’ve just called us in from--”
“You guys looked like you were having so much fun,” Allura says, smiling. “We didn’t want to disturb you.” Pidge and Keith exchange a glance; just minutes ago they were flinging insults at each other.
“Uh… sure,” Pidge replies, adjusting their glasses.
“Anyway,” Hunk says, bringing the attention back to himself, “the moment you’ve all been waiting for…” He holds up a finger in anticipation, and suddenly steps aside, using his entire body to present Shay, walking in with a huge cake.
Shay smiles, big and proud, and Hunk looks even prouder, if that’s possible. The cake itself is a masterpiece, obviously made by Hunk and Shay themselves. It was decorated with small pink flowers and intertwining branches, an amazing amount of detail on the bark and petals. The rest of the group just stared. Lance was the first to break the silence.
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah,” Keith seconded.
“Does it taste as good as it looks?” Pidge leaned forward, pointing, resisting the urge to stick a finger in it. Lance doesn’t resist it.
“Let’s find out,” he said, but as soon as his finger even grazed the icing, Keith smacked his hand away.
“Lance. How could you?”
“Come on, guys. It’s Hunk’s cake of course it’s gonna be awesome! Let’s dig in already.”
“Thanks, Lance! My cakes are always pretty good,” Hunk puffed out his chest a little, but then deflated slightly. “I mean, people seem to enjoy them.”
“Well, of course! Because they’re more than pretty good.” Hunk’s smile grew at Lance’s words. “Anyway, can we stop staring at it and taste this beautiful masterpiece?”
They cut the cake, and it was definitely as good as it looked. Even Keith took seconds, and he usually didn’t like cakes very much.
The inside was a marble swirl of chocolate and vanilla, and the icing was--phenomenal. It wasn’t quite whipped cream or cream cheese, but it wasn’t quite confectionary either. It was just amazing.
After the fact, they all sat around on the couch, stomachs full and aching, and just basking. You know, in the presence of one another.
“So, guys.” A collective groan at Lance’s words. “Where do you think Keith stashes his lollipops?” The rest of the team turned to Lance, and then to Keith, who is, of course, at the moment not eating one. Instead, he has a bowl of popcorn.
“Uh?” was Keith’s very eloquent reply.
“You pull out these damn lollipops and gum all the time; how do you even fit them all? It’s like you have one of those Mary Poppins bags but with pockets,” Lance clarifies, waving a hand lazily around in the air, as if it helped get his point across.
“Or one of those Harry Potter ones. Hermione had it, right?” Hunk looked to Shay for confirmation, and she nodded. Pidge groaned, their basking moment soured.
“Okay, before we go off into spacial renditions and specifics of different magics of two fictional worlds, Lance--why are you so damn hung up on Keith’s lollipops?”
“Uh! Who isn’t?” The entire group glanced at each other, all except for Lance and Keith, and then raised their hands. “Alright, guys. Thanks. Real supportive.” Lance slumped into the back of the couch.
“Lance, I told you. I keep them on the inside of my jacket, in the breast pocket. I just replace them. What’s so hard to grasp about that?” Keith looked genuinely confused, before asking, “Does anyone want one, by the way? I have mint gum too.”
“What kind are the lollipops?” Keith waved the strawberry candy at Allura. She smiled and plucked it out of his hand, and he returned her grin. Hunk and Shay reached forward to grab one, and Pidge and Shiro took some gum. Coran declined the offer, and Keith looked expectantly to Lance.
“Do you want something?” Lance’s frown deepened.
“You stuck a half eaten one into my mouth earlier.”
“Oh, come on. Are you still salty about that?”
“Keith, I am so salty . I am as salty as the sea, right now and forever.”
“If that was true you would die,” Pidge said, unhelpfully. Lance sent them a glare.
After a few more offhand comments and the movie they had turned the TV to ending, Shiro, Allura, and Coran got up to leave.
“Sorry we can’t stay longer,” Shiro said, shuffling around the couch. “We have to get up early tomorrow for the trip.”
“No worries, guys!” Hunk ushered them out the door, everyone yelling their goodbyes. As most of their little group was gone, the rest of the party moved to depart as well.
“Again, sorry for the dry party.” Shay smacked Hunk on the shoulder, and he stuttered to redeem himself. “I mean, Pidge is still 18, and you two may be 20, and everyone else may be older--”
“I’m not going to get caught serving alcohol to minors,” Shay smiled.
“Shiro would have our asses, too,” Lance adds. “I mean, he still tries to get Pidge to have a clean mouth. I mean look at him--” Lance gestures to Pidge, and the whole group turns to look. Keith’s brows scrunch together.
“What about him?” Pidge appeared as he always did, short, choppy hair, round wire glasses, slightly disheveled clothes. The person in question was currently giving Lance a stare that could weather steel.
“I mean, what about him screams innocent to you?”
“Lance, shut the fuck up.”
“See?” Hunk and Keith rolled their eyes and said their goodbyes, as Pidge and Lance started bickering. Shay hovered, trying to break them up. Eventually, Keith just dragged Lance away by his hood.
“Okay, Keith! I get it, we are at the motorcycle, you can let go.” Keith did, but not before removing the lollipop in his mouth and giving him a chaste peck on the cheek.
“Let’s get going,” he said, swinging a leg over to his red bike and starting to put on a matching red helmet. Lance groaned in frustration, not knowing what he was more fed up about; Keith and his insufferable lollipop, or the fact that Keith had went to kiss Lance and it wasn’t on the mouth.
“Keith,” he whined, but it was drowned out by the rev of his engine. Letting out another childish moan, he put on a blue helmet, the same style as Keith’s, and joined him on the back of the bike. They waved at Pidge and Hunk and Shay as they zipped down the street, and Lance watched their retreating figures until they were hidden by another house.
The ride there was spent in silence, Lance not talking for once. Keith kept sending questioning glances back, but Lance had closed his eyes, leaning decidedly into Keith and refusing to budge. When they got back to their shared apartment, Lance wouldn’t let Keith stand up and dismount. He smacked the arm and pried at the fingers that were clasped together around his stomach, and Keith huffed, unable to move them.
“Lance. Get the fuck off.”
“No.”
“What’s up with you? Why’re you acting like this?” Lance just opened up a single eye, and in the corner of his vision, as Keith craned his neck to look at Lance, saw a red tongue stick out. Keith rolled his eyes. “Lance. It’s adult time.”
“Says the person who won’t stop eating lollipops.”
“Is that what this is about?” Keith wiggled in Lance’s vice grip, knocking his shoulder into Lance’s chin. Thankfully, Lance had pulled his tongue back in, or he would probably have bitten it.
“Uh, yes?”
“Lance, we’ve already talked about this--I have to have something in my mouth or else I--”
“Okay, I know, but it sucks? All I wanna do sometimes is kiss you but then you go and have a damn lollipop in your mouth.” There was a brief pause as Keith finally took the key completely out of the ignition, and then he stared back at his pouting boyfriend, who still had his arms around Keith, but had moved his head to look directly at the other.
“... So what you’re saying is you’d rather have your tongue in my mouth, other than--”
“Ugh! Keith, when you put it that way--I mean, yeah, but jesus--” Keith just laughed, enjoying the flush that creeped up on Lance, starting from his neck and moving to his ears.
“Okay, fine. I’ll chew more gum, then.”
“But then you do that thing where I end up with the gum, and sometimes it doesn’t even taste that good anymore.” Keith finally pulled Lance off him, and hopped onto the ground.
“Well, I’ll try not to? I mean, it’s pretty hard when you just feel like making out with me randomly in a coffee shop--you just kinda make it so that the gum ends up in your mouth.” Keith watched Lance slide dramatically from the seat, amused at how much of a show he was putting on.
“Fuck you, it’s not my fault you’re so damn cute all the time. ” Now it was Keith’s turn to flush, the smile he was wearing quickly going crooked. He turned and bounded up the steps, unlocking the door and pushing it open, discarding his keys and jacket and shoes easily.
“Fine, then. But if you’re gonna kiss me just tell me and I can take whatever it is outta my mouth, no problem.”
“Nooo,” Lance whined, shutting the door behind him and also throwing his jacket on a rack. He sank to the floor to untie his converse. “It’s better when it’s a surprise.” Keith sighed loudly; pulling out the lollipop one more time and glaring at Lance with a hand on his hip.
“Lance.” He paused from tying his shoe and looked up.
“What?”
“Sorry, but get over it.”
“Awww, Keeiiitthh. You’re so mean.” Keith ditched Lance at the doorway and moved farther into the house, swiping up the TV remote and clicking on the news. He heard Lance get up and walk past him, grumbling about some piece of chicken stuck in his teeth, and Keith leaned back into the sofa, resting his head on the back of the couch and rolling the lollipop around in his mouth.
He did feel slightly bad about the whole ordeal, especially since Lance was always so willing to give affection and he, of course, liked it. Keith’s eyes slipped closed. It was just--y’know, the whole gotta have something in his mouth thing (which was not in any way sexual, as Lance first thought). Gum, tea, candy--whatever it was that he was chewing on, it made him feel better, clarified his thoughts, and kept him grounded.
He was so deep in thought that he didn’t hear footsteps behind him, and suddenly his lollipop was being removed. Keith knew at once it was Lance, and let out a groan, but then another pair of lips collided with his and he made a startled noise.
It was weird kissing upside down, and Keith huffed a breath of short laughter at the awkwardness of it. But then, Lance licked his bottom lip and he allowed the other to deepen the kiss. A hint of sugary sweetness swirled around his mouth; he couldn’t tell, though, if that was Lance or the strawberry lollipop. Keith opened his eyes as Lance pulled back, feeling his boyfriend’s hands grip his shoulders as their eyes locked.
“You taste good, though,” Lance murmured, and Keith rolled his eyes.
“See, that’s all you have to do.” Lance tsked softly, moving back into the kitchen, and Keith listened to the glasses clinking as he makes coffee, for himself, and tea, for Keith. He mumbled in the background about gum being very different, and that he wasn’t going to shove his hand into Keith’s mouth to retrieve it.
A few moments later and Lance has settled himself beside Keith, who now has his feet drawn up onto the sofa, leaning into each other. Keith let Lance turn the channel to some ghost-finders show, and Lance laughed as the guys on the screen make fools out of themselves. Keith watched Lance’s face light up, corners of his eyes crinkling, head bowed slightly as he smiled.
Keith takes a sip of his tea, having finished off his lollipop, and closed his eyes. He leaned further into Lance, and the night droned on, until the two of them fell asleep like that, the ghost hunters on the TV continuing to try and make contact with spirits.