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“Why are you even hanging this up? Mistletoe is a dumb tradition,” Keith said, removing the item from the wall and tossing it aside.
The expression on Lance’s face was a combination of what one would imagine he looked like if Keith had said something obscene in reference to his mother while slapping Lance.
“How can you say that?!” he sputtered out, picking up the plant and cradling it like one might a baby animal. “Mistletoe is a time-honored tradition that has brought many people closer and has been the start of many relationships! When you insult mistletoe, you insult love itself! Why are you so against love, Keith?!”
Pidge, who had been sitting in the corner with some device, let out a derisive snort, not even looking up from her tinkering. “It’s not even real mistletoe, Lance.”
“That does not change what it represents!”
The commotion brought Allura into the lounge. She arched an eyebrow in question, looking around at the paladins. “And what exactly is mistletoe?”
“A parasitic plant that latches onto trees and uses them to get nutrients and water,” Pidge replied, leaving Lance to make more offended noises.
“It is an important tradition during Christmastime! If you get caught under the mistletoe with someone else, you exchange a kiss.”
“It’s a dumb tradition,” Keith asserted once more.
Coran, who had entered just in time to hear Lance’s explanation, seemed to light up at the entire idea, his eyes darting between Allura and Shiro with excitement, the two oblivious to the look. “That is a wonderful tradition! I think we should hang this “missile-toes” up everywhere!”
“Mistletoe. We can’t find any out here, but Lance is making due with creating his own,” Hunk remarked from where he was assembling another sprig of the plant for Lance, watching as he replaced the “mistletoe” Keith had removed.
“It’s a plant with white berries and usually tied together with red ribbon. I think we did pretty well with the materials we had.” Lance admired his handy work, glaring when he saw Keith inching closer to attempt to remove it once more. The action only prompted Lance to grab another “mistletoe” decoration and hang it up in another spot.
For the next ten minutes or so, Hunk continued to make more and more sprigs of “mistletoe” while Lance and Coran put them up all over the castle, Keith running after them and trying to remove all of them, grumbling about “stupid traditions” the entire time.
~*~
With the castle thoroughly decorated for Christmas and their new mistletoe hung everywhere, emotions were high for various reasons. Keith didn’t want to get caught under the mistletoe at all, much less with someone else, while Lance tried to get caught under one with anyone. At the same time, everyone was waiting with baited breath for Shiro and Allura to walk beneath one. Even the mice were in on the plan, moving the plants to places in an attempt to catch them.
By the seventh day, it was clear they needed to up their mistletoe game as Shiro and Allura somehow avoided every decoration as of yet. And it didn’t look like it was on purpose! They would pass each other in a hall mere feet from a hanging mistletoe, or one would forget something and turn back just before walking through a mistletoe covered archway.
It was for that reason that Lance and Keith were stretched out across some rafters, a stick with mistletoe on a string in hand. One way or another, they were going to get that kiss…
The plan was for Hunk to lure the two of them down the hallway with some made up emergency, only to have Pidge stop them below Keith and Lance. Then they would drop the mistletoe and bam! Kiss! It was foolproof and nothing could go wrong!
Except maybe the timing. When they had everything set up, Hunk still didn’t know what kind of emergency to use as an excuse and by the time he had, the two of them were in completely separate sections of the castle.
So Keith and Lance had to wait. And while they did, Lance finally saw the opportunity to ask the burning question.
“Why do you hate love?”
The blank look on Keith’s face was well worth the vague nature of the question, and Lance was hard-pressed not to laugh as he waved the mistletoe in Keith’s face.
Batting away the plant, Keith shook his head. “I don’t hate love. I just think that making people kiss just because a plant is there is a really dumb tradition. People should kiss because they want to, not because a plant tells them to.”
“Then why are you taking part in this whole plan?”
“….This is different.”
Lance scoffed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. “You’re impossible. It’s really not a hardship to kiss friends, even just for fun. And I mean, it can be a tiny peck or even a kiss on the cheek. It’s just one of those fun traditions.”
The sulky pout on Keith’s face made it clear there was more to the story than he was telling, but it seemed Lance wouldn’t even have to really dig to get his answers.
“I want my first kiss to mean something,” he grumbled out, red spreading over his cheeks as he pointedly looked away from Lance.
The confession stunned Lance into silence for a moment, his mouth moving but no words coming out. Once he could form a thought, it was surprisingly not one to tease Keith. At least, not to tease Keith about never having been kissed. It was still definitely a thought to tease him.
“So this whole time it wasn’t the mistletoe at all, was it?” Lance asked, lips curling into a Cheshire Cat grin.
Keith remained silent, staring at the ground below them before pushing himself up with the intention to leave. Lance reached out to grab him by the arm, pulling him back down.
“Uh-uh, you’re not going anywhere. Not after that confession! Admit it! Mistletoe isn’t a dumb tradition, you just didn’t want to get caught under it with the wrong person!” Lance’s grin was so beyond gleeful that it actually hurt and he scooted closer to Keith.
“So if the person you were stuck under the mistletoe was the right person, would it still be a dumb tradition?”
Letting out an exasperated breath, Keith shook his head. “Fine. No. It’s not a dumb tradition.”
“Then… if I did this, would it be okay?” Lance lifted the mistletoe in his hand, holding it over both of their heads and watching as Keith processed the action. The flush on his face darkened and he glanced away, but in the end he gave a small nod. That was all Lance needed to lean in, pressing his lips firmly to Keith’s.
The com beside them buzzed to life with Hunk informing them that Shiro and Allura were on the way down the hall, but Lance ignored the repeated calls in favor of the warm lips beneath his. In the end, they were too late to catch Shiro and Allura but neither Lance nor Keith could bring themselves to care.