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Keith hated mornings. Absolutely hated them. In foster care, he was met with foster parents shaking his shoulder to wake him and when he was adopted by Shiro, he had the lights flickered on and off until he woke up (okay, preferable, but he still hated it). He'd much rather just stay up late, even if Shiro would walk into the room and beg him to remember that unlike Keith— he wasn't Deaf and unfortunately heard when he was watching Inc Masters and forgot that he laughed loudly and ate out of the noisiest bag of chips they had apparently.
So, to put it lightly, mornings sucked and everyone who liked mornings was a freak.
But
Maybe he could understand the appeal under certain circumstances.
-
It started with a gentle brush against his arm, the sensation barely there and warm as it traced his skin. He twitched his nose with furrowed his brows before contemplating burrowing more into the pillow to get away from the touch or lean into it more. It was warm and comforting yet pried him away from his restful slumber.
His mind was fuzzy from sleep, his body heavy and eyes unwilling to open. With his eyes shut, all he had was touch and smell at his disposal (taste too, but all he could taste was his own morning breath). All he wanted to do was sink back into the sheets while the little touch on his arm continued going in a soft circle, almost lulling him further in a way.
As he was about to flutter back to sleep, he felt the brush of fingers form into a full palm going up and down his arm, tugging him back awake again. He made a sound of protest and he knew he did because he felt the tingly vibration in his throat. The blanket was partially lumped into his arms while his back was firmly placed against the warm presence he learned to grow familiar with in the mornings.
A puff of air was blown into his hair which he could concur was a yawn after feeling many of them every morning. He tried to rest his eyes once again but felt small repetitive taps on his arm, a little, "Time to wake up…" message that Lance did every morning.
He shook his head and tried to hide his face more.
He didn't want to…
For a few moments, the soft rubs on his arm stopped and he almost felt sad at the now still hand, but he also wanted to go back to bed. He remained unmoving and waited for it to continue to see if he could finally doze off, and luckily the hand just rested there. Yawning and scrunching his nose at his own breathe, he tried to fall back asleep.
Just for a little while…
Then the rubbing started again and he groaned. He was about to give Lance a lazy, dismissive wave when he felt a light blow of air on his cheek. Finally, he peeled his eyes open and saw a face next to his resting on his shoulder. Blue eyes were soft and sleepy while gazing at him while said person's brown skin seemed to look like the epitome of warmth in the morning sun.
Another blow went to his cheek and he squeezed his eyes shut before shaking his head. He felt the shaking of laughter that only made his cheeks burn pink. Even though this was becoming a daily thing, he still felt kind of nervous about being looked at so intensely.
Small little kisses started to be placed on his cheek and he curled up tighter with his face inflaming a deep red. Each one was just as light as the other as it grazed his cheek and continued in a soft symphony of butterfly kisses. His heart was not fairing well.
A little poke on his face got his attention and he opened his eyes to be met with a gentle wave. He huffed through his nose and tossed to his side to be face-to-face with Lance, because communication is important I guess.
"What?" He signed lazily, his hands moving slowly and sluggishly. From this position, he could feel his shaker alarm in his pillow and he half-heatedly pushed it away so he could rest on the soft mush of fabric.
Still learning ASL, Lance signed a bit sloppily, his facial expressions a little less structured. "I wanted you up! I missed you. I got lonely," He mixed up the signs 'miss' and 'lonely' either out of early morning tiredness or being too eager.
Keith gently corrected him and Lance furrowed his brows then nodded in consideration.
With a slight scowl, Keith signed back, "How did you get lonely? I'm next to you." He made sure to move his hands slowly at an understandable pace.
The other just pouted in return. "Can I not miss my boyfriend's beautiful eyes?" Then gave a smug smile when Keith blushed.
He brought his fingers and thumb together to look like a closed c before dragging it across his mouth, "Shut up." He replied back.
For a moment, Lance made a face of confusion at the new vocab but then raised his eyebrows indignantly and looked flabbergasted. "Hey! That's rude!" He turned his nose away. So dramatic.
Snickering, Keith poked his cheek a few times to get his attention. Lance continued ignoring him and he frowned. He scooted impossibly closer before placing a soft kiss on his cheek and watched in satisfaction as a red blush went across Lance's skin with a surprised face.
Finally, Lance caved in and peered over.
Giving the stupidest pleading face he could manage, which years of being a younger brother gave him the ability to do so amazingly, he signed. "Look at me please?"
Oh Lance could be strong… but right now he was a weak weak man.
Quickly, he responded back with, "What? Yes?" Which was more English-y than ASL-y but semantics.
"I don't want to get up. Can we keep cuddling?" He asked. Okay, maybe he can bare to be physically awake, but he really didn't want to get up and start his day yet. Especially since he didn't have work.
Lance made a face of contemplation. While he thought, Keith admired his face. It was so pretty. Plus it was expressive, which made him feel safe; he never had to think about what he was thinking. Everyone told Keith he had an RBF, so maybe a part of him was jealous too. But it was also hard to envy him when he was busy just analyzing every detail on his face.
A breeze of Lance's breathe came out in an assumed sigh as he melodramatically signed back, "Fine. We can cuddle for longer. But I need to my skin care routine at—" He paused for a few moments and Keith raised an eyebrow. "How do I sign N-O-O-N?" He fingerspelled.
Easily, Keith answered, "Noon," Then placed his dominant hand's elbow at a ninety-degree angle on his non-dominant arm.
Nodding in affirmative, he repeated his sentence, "I need to do my skincare at noon. So either wake up then or sleep alone, got it?" He looked at Keith expectantly.
Well that sucked.
Holding onto Lance tightly, he nodded and snuggled into him, trying to coax the other to just wrap his arms around him instead of harassing him. He wanted to be held.
Lance's warm hand made it's way into his hair and started to run his fingers through it. Keith's eyes fluttered shut and he basked in the feeling. This was much better than being pestered awake. The sleep slowly returned to his body and he found himself nodding off with his hands tucked into Lance's chest.
Before he fell asleep, he felt Lance sign, "I love you," On his bare arm.
He smiled and gave a tired shake of his own hand against Lance's chest, "I love you." Then he re-tucked his hand into his chest. It didn't take long before he went back to sleep, feeling warm and safe. Just Lance and his arms wrapped around him tightly.
So, even though he hated mornings, he supposed with Lance they weren't all bad…
Lance better let him sleep in on weekends though.