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“Oh come on, it can’t be that bad,” Lance grumbled. He had been standing outside the bathroom stall for what felt like thirty minutes, though it was probably closer to five. Either way, it was taking forever. He was bored.
“It keeps riding up!” Keith snarled, his voice echoing strangely off of the bathroom’s tiled walls. “I told you it was too small!”
“It’s supposed to do that,” Lance insisted with a gusty sigh. “Pidge does not make mistakes when it comes to cosplay. She’s a perfectionist. If she tells you it fits, it fits. Now just hurry up and come out of there already!”
“Fine.”
Lance perked up when he heard the lock on the stall disengage, and took a step back just in time to avoid getting whacked in the face with the swinging door. And he was extra glad that he had moved, because that meant he got to see Keith standing there right away, in all of his glory.
“Whoa.” Lance gave Keith a once-over, whistling appreciatively. He had been right; Pidge knew her stuff. Keith’s costume fit him like a glove.
Keith stood there a moment, fidgeting with the helmet slung under one arm. “Well?” he asked. “Do I look stupid?”
“You look awesome,” Lance told him truthfully. Because he really did look amazing. Pidge had gone with a more matte suit compared to the show’s original shiny fabric for better photos, and the helmet’s paint was unfortunately a little messy in some places, but otherwise Keith looked the spitting image of the original Red Power Ranger.
Lance gave him a thumbs up before grabbing his own blue helmet off of the bathroom counter. He didn’t want to put it on until someone actually asked for pictures, because it was kind of hard to see through, so he just rested it on his hip for now. He couldn’t resist checking his own costume over in the mirror. He looked pretty damn good as the Blue Ranger, if he said so himself.
“Ready to go?” he asked Keith. “Remember, we’re supposed to be meeting everyone in Hall C in fifteen minutes. We’re gonna have to book it if we’re going to make it over there in time.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Keith sighed. He tugged at his pants one more time, looking himself over critically in the mirror, and then he strode out of the bathroom.
Lance scrambled after him. “Yo! Wait up, Keith!”
“I thought you said we had to hurry,” Keith snapped, not even slowing down. Thank god he had shorter legs than Lance. He was able to catch up, although he had to jog a little bit. Not fun in this outfit. These costumes looked amazing, yes, but he really didn’t want to try to do anything too athletic in them.
They had made it about halfway across the massive convention space, when they suddenly heard a high-pitched squeal and a cry of, “Oh my god it’s the Power Rangers!”
Lance had been cosplaying and going to cons long enough to know what that meant, but Keith was still relatively new at this, so he quickly reached out and grabbed Keith’s shoulder to stop him in his tracks. Keith yelped in surprise at the sudden stop, but before he could chew Lance out they were swarmed by people with cameras and phones.
“Hi there!” One of the people, a woman carrying several bags full of merchandise and wearing a huge grin on her face, acted as the spokesperson for the group. “Sorry to stop you, but can we get your picture?”
“We’re actually headed somewhe – ”
“Sure!” Lance said over Keith, always eager for attention. “We should have time for a few quick pictures.”
“Lance,” Keith growled. Lance quickly stepped in front of him with his back to the group to give them a few seconds of privacy.
“Come on,” Lance whispered to him, “It’s just a few shots. Think of it as a chance to practice posing before we meet up with the rest of the group.”
Keith looked like he might protest, but when Lance turned on the puppy dog eyes he merely wilted. “Fine. But just a few shots.”
Lance, already seeing more people approaching with cameras, didn’t bother to clarify what ‘just a few shots’ might actually mean. He just plopped his helmet over his head, turned back to the group, and struck the first Power Ranger pose he’d been practicing all week. He heard Keith grumbling, but felt him start posing as well.
Sure enough, they were stuck there for nearly five minutes. As soon as one person finished taking pictures, someone else would walk by, spot them, and rush over. Lance could already tell that the moment they met up with everyone else and had the full group together, they wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. He couldn’t believe how much attention he and Keith were getting already with just the two of them!
Thankfully, the crowds eventually started to die down. Even Lance was starting to get tired, his legs cramping from all of the awesome-but-impractical poses he’d been doing. Finally, only a pair of con-goers remained. They were both blushing and giggling.
Oooh, fans! They probably want to take a picture with me, Lance thought immediately, his ego expanding. He flexed a little, a special show just for these two lovely creatures.
“Um, excuse me,” one of the fans approached them.
Here it comes. Lance gave them a winning smile, completely forgetting that they wouldn’t be able to see it under his helmet. “How can we help you?” he asked in his most suave voice.
“Sorry, we know you probably have somewhere to be, but if you’re okay with it, we were wondering if you could do a special pose for us?” The fan gave him a hopeful smile.
“A…special pose?” Keith asked, confused. Lance was a little surprised as well, though as a more veteran cosplayer this wasn’t the first time he’d been asked to do something like this. People had asked him to do some odd poses in his time. He just wasn’t sure what kinds of suggestions they might have for Power Rangers.
“Sure,” he agreed easily. Special poses could be interesting. Maybe they’d have a suggestion that he could bring back to the group! And everyone would be so impressed with his creativity! Especially Allura. She was going to look incredible in her Pink Ranger costume.
“Um,” the fan ducked their head and blushed shyly. “It’s kind of silly. But see, my friend Maddie and I just recently marathoned the show, and we got super into it, and it started as a joke but now we’re kind of really into this rarepair, kinda crackship?”
“Oh my god, Lauren,” the girl standing behind them, Maddie, groaned and hid her face in her hands. “Don’t tell him our life’s story!”
Lauren went on, ignoring their friend. “Anyways, what I was basically wondering is, would you be okay with posing like this?” And then they held up a piece of fanart for demonstration.
Lance felt Keith go stiff beside him. He couldn’t exactly blame him either. There was nothing…too raunchy about the image, but he was still caught off guard. The fanart, clearly just drawn and probably a commission from Artist’s Alley, depicted the Red and Blue Rangers in a loving embrace, the Red Ranger almost swooning into the Blue Ranger’s arms, while their foreheads were pressed together lovingly. There was even a background of sakura blossoms and shojo bubbles to complete the image.
“Um,” Lance stuttered, completely at a loss for words.
Both Lauren and Maddie’s faces fell a little. “That’s okay,” Maddie quickly said, “We knew it was a long shot. It’s a bit silly. We just figured we’d ask. Sorry for bothering you.” She reached out to grab Lauren’s hand to start dragging them away.
“Wait!” Lance cried out, startling both Keith and himself. “Uh, wait. We could, uh…”
He glanced over at Keith, who had been awfully quiet. He couldn’t see Keith’s face past his helmet, but his body language was screaming do-not-want. Lance hesitated, torn between upsetting these adorable fans, and making Keith feel even more upset. But one look at Keith and he made up his mind.
He knew who came first, and random strangers was not it.
“Um, nevermind. Sorry, guys,” he apologized sadly. “I think that might make my friend here a little uncomfortable.”
Their faces fell even further, and he felt himself drooping in response. He hated disappointing people, especially when they were so excited to see his costumes.
But then to his absolute shock, Keith abruptly held out his hand towards Lauren. “Let me see it again?”
They froze, startled, but quickly dug the fanart back out of their bag. Keith lifted his helmet up so he could squint down at the image properly, his face screwed up in concentration. He turned and gave Lance a hard look.
“Do you think you can do this without dropping me?” he asked.
“Uhhh.” Lance’s brain froze, crashed, and struggled to reboot. Keith was actually thinking about posing like that? With him?! Granted, it wasn’t the most suggestive pose Lance had ever seen – heck, it wasn’t even the most suggestive pose he’d ever done – but it was still probably way outside of Keith “Don’t Touch Me” Kogane’s usual comfort zone. Finally, his brain seemed to catch up, and he realized that all three of them were waiting for him to answer. “Uh, yeah? Yes! Yes I can.”
Keith eyed Lance’s arms underneath his suit, which, hey, rude, Lance had been specifically bulking up for this costume thank you very much, but he didn’t otherwise comment. Instead he just handed back the fanart to Lauren and put his helmet back on.
“Get your cameras ready,” he ordered them tersely, and then he wrapped his arms around Lance’s neck. Lance only had a split second to get his arms around Keith’s waist and back, and then Keith pulled Lance’s head down so their foreheads were touching and let himself fall into Lance’s arms. Lance held on, instinctively tightening his grip so that he could support Keith fully without dropping him.
Lance was absently aware of camera flashes going off, way more than just the two that should belong to Maddie and Lauren, but he was too focused on the feeling of Keith in his arms to really pay attention. His heart was thudding in his chest, and his breathing was echoing harshly within his helmet. Their faces were nowhere near each other, separated by two helmets, but Lance still almost felt like they were kissing. Keith was pressed against him from chest to feet, and he could feel the heat radiating off of him through the thin fabric of their costumes.
On occasion he’d done intimate poses with other cosplayers before, and he’d never really been affected by it, but for some reason this time felt different. This time felt significant. His heart had never raced like this before, even when he was holding onto Allura when she had been dressed as Wonder Woman. All at once Lance had the horrible thought that if he popped a boner in this costume, it would be very obvious.
Quick, think unsexy thoughts! Uh, Coran’s cooking, that time Pidge caught Hunk messing with her fabric and nearly castrated him, that Zarkon guy in his catgirl cosplay!
Suddenly, he felt Keith pull away. For a second he thought he was dropping Keith, and his hold tightened, but then he felt Keith’s arms pushing against his chest and he caught on. He let go and took a careful step back, hoping it wasn’t obvious to everyone how nervous he was. Keith somehow looked completely normal next to him, which was completely unfair. He was the veteran cosplayer, not Keith! He was supposed to be the unflappable one!
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Maddie and Lauren both gushed, clutching their cameras happily to their chests. “You have seriously made our day!”
“No problem,” Lance said, hoping his voice didn’t sound as hoarse to them as it did to him. Maybe the helmet would mask it.
The two fans grinned at them before darting off, laughing and squeeing with each other. At least they were happy.
The moment they were gone, though, Lance was stuck with Keith, and he had no idea what to say. Normally at this point he would have taken his helmet off – it was getting quite stuffy inside and he really couldn’t see that great – but he could tell his face was still on fire and the helmet at least meant he could pretend that he wasn’t blushing over Keith. Keith. It didn’t really occur to him that Keith hadn’t taken off his yet either.
“Was that normal?” Keith suddenly spoke up, making Lance jump a little. Keith’s helmet turned towards him, tilting in confusion.
“Um.” Lance let out a nervous giggle before he could stop himself. He quickly strangled it in his throat with a cough. “It, uh, it depends. On what you’re cosplaying. Some costumes you’ll get that a lot. I, uh, wasn’t really expecting it for Power Rangers though.”
“Oh,” Keith said. Lance waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t.
Suddenly he saw someone walk past with the time on their phone screen, and he jolted in fear. “Crap, we were supposed to be at Hall C ten minutes ago! Oh man, Pidge is going to kill us!” He immediately ripped his helmet off of his head and started running. Nothing motivated a person like the wrath of Pidge when she was in charge of a cosplay group.
“You were the one who wanted to stop for ‘just a few pics’, dumbass!” Keith snapped, but he started running right there alongside Lance. The two shoved their way through the crowds, apologizing as they bumped into people, ducking and weaving as best they could without knocking anyone over.
At one point Lance looked over and caught Keith’s eye. His chest went warm when he saw that Keith was smiling for the first time since he put on his costume.
“Okay, maybe this cosplay stuff isn’t all bad,” Keith admitted with a grin. “It’s kind of cool to be a superhero for the day.”
“Now you’re getting it!” Lance cheered, grinning back just as brightly, as the two of them burst into Hall C just in time to see Pidge turn her murderous gaze on them. Lance immediately froze, all his happy feelings vanishing in a split second, his survival instincts kicking in. “Uh oh.”
“His fault.” Keith pointed, immediately throwing Lance under the bus.
“LANCE!” Pidge roared.
+++
(Three days later)
“Uuuh, Lance?” Pidge called out from her room. Lance froze mid-motion of putting the milk back in the fridge after making himself some coffee. He was still tiptoeing around her after the rant she’d given him at the con.
“Yes?” he called back reluctantly.
“Is there something you’d like to tell me about you and Keith?” she shouted.
Lance was instantly in her room, coffee forgotten in the kitchen. His sight went straight to her computer screen, and the image splashed across it.
“What?!” he shrieked.
“It’s on the con website,” Pidge explained with a devilish grin. “I guess one of the con’s official photographers happened to get a pretty good shot of you and Keith hamming it up, and it turned out so nice they thought it deserved the front page, even. When the heck did this happen?”
Lance didn’t answer her. Lance was too busy having a heart attack. The memory of the moment came floating back to him. He knew he’d seen an extra camera flash!
“Oh my god, I am never going to cosplay again,” he moaned, while Pidge laughed at him so hard she fell out of her computer chair.