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Lance was confused. Or, a little more confused than normal, which wasn't saying much since he was always trying to figure out one thing or another about this castle, that was also a ship, which was also an intergalactic database. Or was it? He’d given up trying to figure out exactly what it was a while ago.
No, what Lance was confused about were his own feelings, which ended up being a surprise for him. Normally he knew exactly what he was feeling, why he was feeling it, and who had elicited his current onslaught of hormonal balances or imbalances. But not this time. Lance was tackling something inside himself that he’d ignored and pushed back, not because he was scared or threatened by it, but because he didn’t ever have the time for the proper introspection the thought required.
And now in the middle of the night (was it night? The vastness of space made it impossible to tell when night ended and day began), he was alone with his thoughts and his feelings and the stars. He thought about home a lot at times like this: how he missed his parents, siblings, and the Varadero sun. But tonight he was thinking more about his Voltron family and how lucky he was to have them with him in space. He knew that without each of them to remind him of home in one way or another he’d be hopeless.
Allura, for all of Lance and Pidge’s joking, did actually feel like a maternal figure in many ways. Albeit a young, devastatingly gorgeous mom that kids fell in love with, but she’s a caregiver, inspirer, and will kick your ass if you give her sass. Coran reminded Lance of his uncle on his mother’s side: loud, a terrible cook, but always willing to lend a listening ear or a shoulder if you need one. Shiro was like a cool older brother who had the best stories, Pidge was the little sister you brandished crucifixes at and made sure to stay on her good side, and Hunk was his favorite sibling. Don’t lie, we all have one sibling that we’d choose over any others, and Hunk was his. And Keith—
Lance wasn’t sure what Keith felt like to him, which is why he was having this Midnight Crisis™ in the first place. Annoying younger brother? No, there wasn’t any of that “It’s a good thing you’re cute because you’d be dead otherwise” feeling. And there wasn't the “3rd cousin you don’t really know” feeling, nor the “awkward S.O. of your sibling at christmas” vibe either. “Space Ranger Partner”? Ehhhh, maybe.
So where did Keith fit? He definitely had to fit somewhere to illicit such strong emotions and reactions from Lance.
Lance rubbed his eyes and tried to shake the clutter from his mind. It was too late to think properly about this kind of thing. If he stayed up much later, he knew the mere idea of making mac n’ cheese would begin to sound like the most daunting quest of his life. Which, if you only had space goo, kinda was, but that’s beside the point.
“Lance?”
The paladin jolted as he turned to see Keith enter the control room, “Oh Keith!” he yelped, trying to remind his heart how to beat properly, “You took me by surprise!”
Keith smirked, “What, you? Surprised? I thought you were the master of all things stealth.”
“Ah,” he waved a hand dismissively, “When I’m not bone-tired and having existential crises, yes, but you’ve caught me at one of those rare moments.”
Keith rolled his eyes and put his hand on his hip, staring at the other boy, “Can’t sleep?”
“Yeah,” Lance nodded, looking back up at the sky, “For this quadrant of space being void of all matter and life, it sure makes me think a lot.”
“That must be hard on your paper-airplane brain.”
“Ha,” the blue paladin said dryly, “You wish your mind was as graceful and quick as mine.”
“Whatever, Lance.”
There was a comfortable silence after that, one boy crouched and staring at the simulated stars, the other standing and staring at the constellations dancing across amber skin.
Finally Keith sighed and sat next to Lance, his joints cracking as he did so.
“Dude,” Lance glanced over at the grimacing boy, “You’re too young to be sounding like that.”
Keith groaned, “You think I sound bad, you should hear Shiro’s back when we spar. Or Pidge’s neck after she’s been coding for too long.”
“You mean every moment of her life?”
“Basically.”
“Well, I’m sure Hunk cracking my back after getting out of that healing pod beats anything you’ve ever popped. I felt as spineless as a squid after that hug.”
Keith laughed at that—and not just a small chuckle or groan, but a breathless burst of noise that escaped his chest and turned up the corners of his lovely mouth. Lance momentarily forgot how to breathe, and felt the heat rise on the back of his neck as the soft glow of the stars danced and glimmered in Keith’s tousled hair.
‘Oh quiznak,’ he thought, an unfamiliar yet pleasant feeling blooming in the pit of his stomach, ‘oh quiznak oh quiznakohquiznak—’
“Uh, Lance?” Keith’s dark brows knitted together, creating a wrinkle in one of the constellations floating across his skin, “you okay?”
Lance cleared his throat, realizing he’d been staring, “What me yeah I’m fine, it’s fine, we’re all good and fine, it’s fine.”
“You do realize the more times you say you’re fine the less I believe you, right?”
Lance laughed, hoping it came off casual instead of crazy and scampered up quickly, “Yeah it’s fine I just gotta go pee like right now it’s fine bye!” he shot his fellow paladin erratic finger-guns before nearly sprinting down the hall, leaving Keith very confused in the control room.
‘Smooth, Lance. Real smooth.’
He ran down to the kitchens, where Hunk was grabbing a late-night snack. On normal circumstances Lance’d be grilling him on why he was awake so late, but instead he tried to focus on controlling his heart rate.
“Hey Hunk my buddy, my pal, my man?”
The large boy barely looked up from the goo concoction he was working on, “Yeah Lance?” This wasn’t the first time Lance had come rushing to tell him something he’d thought about moments before. Once, right after Pidge had revealed she was actually Katie Holt, Lance had nearly broken Hunk’s door down with the realization that it was because she didn’t like girls (or guys, he came to realize as well. Her true love was science), which is why she’d never wanted to be his wingman at the Garrison.
“I think I might be a bit more gay than I originally thought.” Lance’s face burned with the realization.
Hunk raised an eyebrow at him, “For who? Shiro? Because if it’s him, I promise everyone on this ship has questioned their orientation over those lashes and biceps.”
“No, it’s not—” Lance took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his burning neck, “I mean—yes, Shiro is gorgeous, but I’m actually talking about Keith.”
Hunk stopped what he was doing and leveled his best friend with a look, “Dude. Even Pidge could have told you that.”
Lance opened his mouth to give a witty retort, but decided to keep quiet instead. he knew whatever he said would just make him look even more like an idiot, and settled on shooting another set of erratic finger guns and retreating to his room.
***
The next time the paladins of Voltron received a distress call from a nearby planet, Lance made sure to flirt openly and expressively with both the girl and guy aliens. Granted, he got shut down two times faster and two times as much, but it was worth it to see Keith roll his dark eyes and sake his head two times more than normal. Not that he cared what Mullet-head thought. Or that he wanted the red paladin to know he now liked guys as well as girls. Or that he wanted to make him jealous.
And absolutely not because he compared Keith to being his Space Ranger Partner in his head.
Definitely not.