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[after]
“Hey, d’you remember, Keith? Remember--- d’you remember --”
[before]
Lance follows the path of his fingers.
Lance Sanchez-- Class 3B-- Fighter-----
“Fuck, yeah! I’m fighter class, now!”
Hunk gives a little squeal of excitement and shimmies his shoulders before Lance catapults his entire body at him. He’s so happy he could cry, and he feels like he could run a marathon. Hunk hugs him back-- what a dude -- and then checks the list again.
“Lance Sanchez,” he hums, “Says it right here… oh, man! Wait ‘til your mom finds out!”
Lance laughs, and runs a hand through his hair.
“Hey, hang on. Where’s-- hey, where’s Keith?” Hunk says, “He’s-- he’s Keith Kogane, right? I can’t find him on the list.”
Lance scoffs.
“Whatever,” he says, “Who cares? He’s gone. I don’t care, he can go--”
[after]
“We were good out there, Keith,” Lance told him, “We were good out there, together.”
[during]
“ Keith ?” Lance hears himself say, “Keith! Holy-- holy shit, what the fuck… what the fuck did they do to you?”
Keith heaves, and grips his stomach.
“I’ve been stabbed, you dumbass.”
Lance hesitates.
“I can see that,” he says, “I… yeah, c’mon. We’re getting you out of here.”
“ No ,” Keith protests as Lance begins to grab underneath his arms, “ You’re getting out of here. The guards were alerted, and I’m dead weight--”
“Shut the fuck up,” Lance says. He hauls Keith over his shoulder. “Are you the tactician, or am I?”
“Fuck,” is Keith’s only reply.
[after]
“Hey, Keith,” Lance whispers into his ear, “We look pretty good together.”
Keith’s hold on his champagne glass tightens. He grins.
“Yeah,” he says, “We do.”
[during]
“Jack and Jill went up the hill to…,” Keith says.
“.... to fetch....,” Lance continues. Keith holds the tweezers over the flame, and watches the ends glint and light up. “What were they fetching, again?”
His shoulder twitches beneath Keith’s hand.
“A pail of water,” Keith replies, “Don’t move.”
Lance bites his lower lip. He flinches regardless as Keith presses the blazing ends of the tweezers against his bare skin; digging out shrapnel and bullets.
“Shit,” Lance hisses.
“Sorry,” Keith says. He tosses the bullet into a can, and lays the tweezers beside it. Lance exhales a shaking breath.
“Kiss it better?” he asks.
Keith tilts his head and frowns.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” supplies Lance.
Keith licks his lips.
“Be brave, soldier,” he tells the scarred and marred skin before pressing a lingering kiss against the warm skin.
[after]
Lance wasn’t Keith’s first love. He knows that much.
Keith’s first love was the sky, and then space, and then the thrill of the fight, and then the drop in your stomach when you lift off, and then----
[before]
“My name’s Lance Sanchez, I’m eight years old, and when I grow up, I’ll be a hero.”
[during]
“Hey, Keith? Lance pants, “If we… if we make this out of this alive… marry me, okay? When it’s all over, promise me you’ll marry me.”
The ceiling collapses. Gunshots echo. Keith surges in front of Lance and tugs him ahead.
“Shut the fuck up,” Keith shouts.
“I mean it!” Lance supplies. He nearly trips over a boulder. “We’ve had our ups and downs, sure, but… I mean, with this war thing, you and I--”
“ Lance --”
“Promise me you’ll marry me,” Lance tells him, “C’mon, you’d look good in white; suits your eyes. If you say yes, I promise you-- fuck -- I’ll work twice as hard at winning this thing so I can deflower you sooner--”
“Fine! Yes, I’ll fucking marry you, now-- shit, watch out----”
[after]
Lance waits at the bottom of the stairs. He shifts his weight from foot to foot impatiently, and suddenly, it feels like he’s in high school and waiting for his date to show up so that he can take them to prom.
It’s not far off, except Keith and Lance are going to be propelled into space-- again -- though things are different, now. Keith’s still the same. He’ll zoom across the galaxy. Lance is different, though. He’s a leader, now; commander , his name tag reads.
It’s a strange thought. Keith’ll blast ships into oblivion, and Lance’ll sit there in the space station and… command , he supposes.
He’s fidgeting with his medals when Keith comes down the stairs in green; his oxygen tank is flung underneath his arm, and he’s tugging Lance’s bomber jacket over his shoulders; for good luck , Lance had told him all those years ago, so… don’t lose it!
“You look beautiful, darling,” drawls Lance. He offers Keith his arm. “I knew you’d clean up nicely for the occasion.”
Keith grins.
“Well,” he says, “It has been twelve years since we last went to war. I thought I’d make the effort.”
Keith takes his arm. Outside, the first planes lift into the sky, and all Keith can think about is oh, how he’d missed this .
[during]
Keith feels like he should give Lance some sort of answer.
“Hey…,” Lance says, “Keith? Are you… are you gonna say anything? Kinda… kinda just confessed my undying love to you....”
He can’t though; he’s numb, and then-- and then --
“Yes,” the words spill out of his mouth, “I… me too; me too.”
Lance smiles like Keith’s the last of his wishes to come true.
[before]
“No, mom; listen, I’ll be-- no, I’ll be fine,” Lance tells her. Her voice is distant and faded over the hybrid cable, “This changes everything, the space programme. I’ll be fine. We’re back to winning wars again, now.”
[during]
Keith laces their fingers together. The sky burns above them. Lance is crying, but he doesn’t care anymore. They’re sitting opposite one another-- knees touching-- and their foreheads knock against one another. Their helmets lay beside them. Shiro’s shouting some words of congratulations-- we did it; we did it! -- but all Lance can hear is Keith’s laugh, and all he can see is his smile.
“Jack fell down and broke his crown,” Lance says, “and Jill came tumbling after.”
[after]
“I’m…. I’m on my way back, Lance, I’ve just been--- caught up in something.”
The line’s not good. Lance frowns and picks at the table.
“You know I don’t like it when you’re all secretive.”
“I know.”
“Good,” Lance sighs. He leans back, and puts his arms behind his head and props his feet on his table; toes centimetres away from that framed picture of him and Keith and Hunk and Pidge and Shiro and Allura and the others. “I… I heard it’s been… difficult. You’re… hey, Keith? You’re alright , aren’t you?”
“I’m fine.” Keith’s response is too quick. “It’s been busy but-- I missed this. I missed this so much , and I just-- sorry.” There’s a noise in the background. Lance puts his feet back on the floor and sits up. “Sorry, I have to-- I have to go but I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Yeah,” Lance says, “See you… see you soon, Keith.”
[during]
“We make a pretty good team.”
Roses are red--
Violets are blue--
Do you remember me?
Hey… hey, Lance? You… you there? Can you hear-----