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Lance always considered himself to be a man of love. He loved complimenting people and thought receiving love right back was just as nice. Everyone who knew him knew he was a flirt; it was just how he is. He believed that everyone deserved a little lovin’ in their lives, so why not spread as much happiness as he could?
This was why, when he saw Keith in an alien’s arms, he told himself that he wasn’t bothered. Why would he be? Like he said, everyone deserved some love, even Keith.
But then, why did his stomach clench like that? Why did something hot and cold at the same time rise in his throat and catch his tongue?
When he asked Hunk, his best friend just turned, looked him straight in the eye, and said, “You’re jealous.” But that was impossible. Saying Lance was jealous was like saying Shiro was mean or that Hunk punched kittens in his free time. It just wasn’t something that happened.
“Hey, Lance, you doing okay?” Shiro waved his hand in front of Lance’s face, a look of concern crossing his features.
“He’s just upset ‘cause Keith is snuggling up to Alien Hottie and not him,” Pidge snorted, using a weird chopstick-fork thing to take a bite of the alien feast set before them. They were all still in their armor, sweaty and tired from battle, but more than willing to take part in shoveling their faces full of thanks-for-saving-us food.
“I’m not upset,” Lance huffed, chewing on something he could only compare to calamari, “I just wish he would be more professional.” Said unprofessional paladin was currently turned in his chair, facing the prince of the planet they were staying on--Prince Dorhen? Prince Doryhen? Whatever--and laughing at something the prince was saying. “And he isn’t that hot.” If you didn’t account for his lovely lavender skin tone, glowing pink eyes, glossy white hair, and perfect teeth, anyway.
“Keith seems to think otherwise,” Pidge smirked, watching as the prince took Keith’s hand and smoothly pressed it to his lips, eliciting a pretty blush from Keith….did he really just think anything involving Keith was pretty? I mean sure, his eyes were an unbelievable shade of blue and his stupid smile was super nice, but he wasn’t pretty.
Oh my God.
“I’m jealous!” Lance suddenly proclaimed, slamming his chopstick things on the table. A couple of nearby court officials glanced at him in confusion, but he ignored them.
“The realization we were all waiting for,” Pidge muttered under her breath as Shiro just shook his head.
“But why? Keith’s an asshole!” a couple more people began to notice and Shiro shot them quick smiles before dropping his hand a bit too hard on Lance’s shoulder.
“Lance, please remember where we are and who we are,” the Black Paladin hissed under his breath. Lance quickly mumbled his apology, taking his eating utensils back up and stabbing them into whatever native bird happened to be on his plate.
Sitting through the rest of the feast was absolute torture. Following Lance’s epiphany, he began to notice more subtle things about Keith he never noticed before. The shine in his eyes when he was truly amused, the way he bent forward a bit when he was laughing, the wave of his hands as he animatedly talked, and just how lovely his little blushes were. Lance could feel his own face flush in response to Keith’s, earning a snort from Pidge.
Lance found himself tapping his fingers against the wood of the table as the final speech was made. Unfortunately for him, it was made by Prince Goo Goo Eyes.
“We should all be thankful,” his luminescent eyes flickered over the face’s of his people around the table, “that the forces of Voltron,” he gestured to all of the Paladins next, stopping with a look that was a little too thankful on Keith, “came to help us and were generous enough to form an alliance with us. A thousand thanks to the Paladins of Voltron!” The dining hall rang out with choruses of “A thousand thanks!” as the Paladins were finally permitted to return to the Castle.
“I thought that would never end,” Lance groaned behind their closed doors, arching backwards and shivering as his back popped.
“Their food was alright, I suppose. Though I wonder if I should send them some recipes for next time,” Coran mused, twirling his moustache.
“I don’t think that’s necessary. They could just use a little bit of seasoning, is all,” Hunk chimed in, rubbing at his stomach.
“Okay, but what were their eating utensils? Were they forks? Chopsticks? Spork sticks?” Lance questioned, pinching his fingers together like he was using chopsticks.
“I’m already on the case for that,” Pidge responded, pushing up her glasses and reaching into her pocket, pulling out one of the said eating utensils.
“Pidge!” Allura exclaimed, “You stole from them?” The princess looked like she was going to have a heart attack, her eyes widening in horror.
“Of course not,” Pidge scoffed, “I used my replicator to create one.” Allura visibly relaxed, letting out a breath and dropping her shoulders.
“I thought it was pretty nice,” Keith shrugged, plopping onto one of the couches and pulling off his boots with a relieved sigh.
“You would,” Lance sniped, “you were holding a royal hand the entire time.” Lance ignored Shiro’s soft warning behind him, turning to completely focus himself on Keith.
“Is there something you want to say?” Keith raised a brow, carefully putting his boots to the side and crossing his arms over his chest. What are you doing? The Logical part of his mind asked, this is not where we wanted to go with this. We wanted to say something cool and witty like “Hey, babe, you’re fire and I’m ice, let’s make some steam.” Or something.
“Yeah, there is,” Lance’s mouth was on total autopilot and it was terrible, “what you were up to out there was pretty unprofessional, dude. Gettin’ all cosy with a prince like there wouldn’t be any horrible consequences in the future.” Keith was on his feet now, pushing himself into Lance’s face, breath an angry fan over his lips.
“I don’t see how what I get up to in my private life is any of your business,” Keith growled, his face flushing with anger. Shit, he’s cute when he’s angry.
“It didn’t look very private to me,” Lance sneered. Abort, abort, this is not the intended mission.
“You are being such a child right now--”
“I’m being the child? Well maybe if you weren’t making goo goo eyes at some alien prince--”
“I wasn’t doing anything! I was just being nice--”
“Just being nice?--”
“What is your problem? Why do you always do this--”
“Why do I always do this? Well, why do you always give me a reason to--”
“What do you want from me, Lance? What do you want from me?--”
“I want you to hold my hand!”
Everything froze in that moment. Keith stared at Lance, mouth ajar with unspoken words, and Lance stared right back. Everyone around them had gone completely silent, before it was suddenly broken with a loud guffaw.
“Holy shit, get a room!” Pidge was clutching at her sides, tears pooling in her eyes as she shook with laughter.
“Well, this has gotten nice and awkward. I think I’m gonna go to bed. Night, everybody!” Hunk waved as he left the room, shaking his head as he went.
“I think I’ll be going as well,” Allura murmured, a blush coloring her cheeks as she shuffled out of the room, Shiro close behind.
“Ah, this is a beautiful development!” Coran exclaimed, throwing himself forward and wrapping his arms around the Red and Blue Paladins’ shoulders, “these kinds of bonds between paladins are always so rare, but I believe you two will compliment each other well! However, we should talk about the safe practices of your relationship--”
“Oh my god, no,” Lance quickly ducked under Coran’s arm, moving backwards toward the door, “wow, would you look at the time. You know, saving planets and being a hero really takes it out of me! I’m gonna gonowbye!” Lance sprinted out of the room as fast as he could, not even bothering to return his armor to the armory.
Once in his room, Lance pressed the button beside the door and locked it, leaning back against the cool surface and letting himself breathe. God, he had screwed up royally. First, he picked a fight with Keith, then he argued with him, calling him a child, and then he told him he wanted to hold his freaking hand. What was wrong with him? How would he face Keith in the morning?
Lance thunked his head back against the door and groaned. God, why was he such a screw up? Everything from the day seemed to slam into him. Suddenly, his muscles screamed with tiredness and his eyelids felt like they were going to burn off. Clumsily, he pushed himself off the door and shed his armor, tossing it into some corner and flopping down onto his bed butt naked. Distantly, he knew he would have to face all of this soon. Real soon. Like awkward-silence-over-breakfast soon.
However, his body was much too tired and bruised to really care right now. That was a problem for Tomorrow Lance.
***
Yesterday Lance was an asshole.
Lance stared up at his ceiling, contemplating how long he could stay in his room before Allura used her freaky Altean strength to break down his door and drag him into the training deck.
He calculated about five minutes.
Defeatedly, Lance got to his feet and threw on his best smelling shirt, slipping his arms into his jacket and running his fingers through his hair. Good enough. Lance forced himself out of his room, peering around the corner just to be sure that no one was there, before making his way to the training deck.
Lance could already hear the sounds of sparring and smell the sweet, sweet smell of hard working paladins. The Blue Paladin paused outside the door, breathing in deeply, holding his breath, and then releasing. It was now or never.
The moment he stepped into the room, he regretted ever deciding that now was better than never.
Keith was the only one in the room, his motorcycle jacket tossed to the side and his hair pulled into a low ponytail.
“End simulation,” Keith ordered into the silence, turning towards Lance and cocking a hip.
“So, uh, where’s everyone else?” Lance inquired, looking everywhere except at Keith.
“Shiro decided to give us the day off. I’m surprised he didn’t tell you.” Lance vaguely wondered if a certain Green Gremlin had anything to do with that.
“Oh, I, uh, guess I’ll be off then--” suddenly Keith was in front of him, eyes narrowed.
“Did you mean it?” Keith’s voice was completely flat, eyes blank and guarded. Lance swallowed loudly, feeling sweat prickle at the back of his neck.
“About you being childish?” he laughed awkwardly, “totally--”
“Lance.” Keith’s eyes sparked with anger and….hurt?
“Yes, I meant it. About, holding your hand, not about you being childish,” Lance hurriedly said. Lance shoved his hands into the pocket of his jacket, looking down and trying to will away the red that had to be spreading up his neck. Keith was watching him, eyes roving over him as if he was trying to figure out the world’s largest, most complicated puzzle.
Then, Lance’s hand was filled with warmth.
He looked down, chest numb and mind foggy. Keith was still wearing his stupid fingerless gloves, but it felt oddly good. Lance’s gaze followed the hand up a bare arm, over tense shoulders, before finally settling on Keith’s flushed face. Woah, his mind helpfully added.
“Won’t you're Alien Knight in Shining Armor be upset?” Oh my God, Lance, shut up. Keith huffed, but thankfully didn’t let go of Lance’s hand.
“I don’t know what you think was happening at the feast, but I don’t like Prince Dorhen. I was just being polite. It’s not like I could rip my hand away and leave,” Keith rolled his eyes.
“Oh, that’s….good to know,” Lance intelligently said. They both stood there for a few moments, holding each other’s hands and just….waiting. “Hey, could I kiss you?” You never learn, do you?
Keith’s face ignited and he hurriedly pulled away, leaving Lance’s hand disappointingly cold.
“Keith, wait, I’m sorry--”
“Yes,” Keith interrupted him. Lance stopped, mouth open and hand reached outwards. Keith was as red as his armor at this point, eyes glued to the floor and arms crossed over his chest.
“Then why did you pull away like that?” Lance demanded, his face quickly flushing to match Keith’s.
“Because it was unexpected! Who asks to kiss someone?”
“A gentleman, that’s who!” Lance shot back. Keith looked like he was going to snap something right back, but was interrupted by Lance’s hands on his cheeks and mouth smothering his.
The kiss wasn’t any Earth shattering event. There weren’t any fireworks and angels didn’t start singing, but it was still perfect. Keith was quivering ever so slightly beneath his hands, gloved palms reaching up to wrap around Lance’s wrists and pull him closer. Lance felt himself melt beneath the touch, tilting his head a bit to make the angle even better and taking a quick breath in through his nose. Keith, on the other hand, didn’t really seem to know what he was doing. His brows were furrowed as if in pain and his grip was a bit too tight, lips a bit too stiff. Yet, Lance wouldn’t change it for anything.
They pulled away after a few moments, eyes glazed and lips swollen.
“Hey, baby,” Lance whispered, voice a bit hoarse, “you’re fire, and I’m ice, so let’s make some steam.” Keith’s eyes widened a bit in surprise, before a single, almost silent giggle fell from his lips. Then, another. They stared at each other for a full three seconds, before they were both full-belly laughing, clinging to each other and bending forwards with the weight of it. Keith’s laugh was light and bubbly, completely opposite of what Lance would expect. It was freaking adorable.
Lance pressed his forehead against Keith’s, looking into deep blue and wondering if something cheesy like drowning in them would be possible. Keith leaned forward and pressed his lips against Lance’s gently; nervously. Lance responded in kind, but
didn’t deepen it, letting Keith take the wheel. Suddenly, Lance was pulling back with a yelp, finger pressing against the groggily bleeding bump on his lip and staring at Keith incredulously.
“Call me childish again and I’ll kick your ass,” Keith smirked, pulling away and turning his back on Lance, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door.
“Oh, I could think of way more fun things to do with our asses,” Lance murmured to himself, following after the Red Paladin out of the training deck quickly.
Really, honestly, Lance was never one to be jealous. But, he supposed, it was okay if it got him to this.