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If Keith had to pinpoint an exact moment when he realized he was in love with Lance, it would probably be this exact moment. He makes a note of it. March 23rd, 7:18pm. The day Lance had held out a DVD with an expectant grin and Keith had agreed immediately. There was something about that smile. It set him on fire. He was utterly helpless in the face of it.
(Utterly disgusting, is what Pidge calls it.)
Although, he has to admit that if he knew watching Mamma Mia would be less watching the actual movie and more listening to Lance watching the movie, he might not have agreed quite so quickly.
“Now, there’s a lot of contradictory opinions about Mamma Mia, both the play and the movie. Some people think it’s making light of the music, but I think it’s a great celebration of the band and their influence. Then of course there’s the movie. A lot of people don’t like it because – well, it’s not a very good movie, to be honest. Most of the main cast can’t sing very well. But I still love it. I think it upholds the meaning of the music.”
“Are these real words coming out of your mouth? Actually?”
Lance pinches him. “You own two copies of the Black Parade and yet you’re judging me?”
“One of them was a gift!”
Lance settles more comfortably into Keith’s side. “So you say.”
“I hate you sometimes,” he says, a statement that is vastly undermined by the fact that he is currently sitting here about to watch a movie he has no interest in seeing.
Oh yeah. And Lance and forced him into the matching ABBA shirt he had gotten him for Christmas.
No, all right, he’ll be honest. Lance hadn’t forced him into anything. He had put it on of his own volition, because he was a fucking sappy idiot in love and he wanted to see Lance smile.
God, Pidge was right. He was fucking disgusting.
Lance’s hand slips into his as the movie starts, and then he starts humming along. Keith leans back a bit so he can glare.
“You’re not going to do that the whole movie, are you?”
“Shh,” Lance says. “It’s starting.”
“I can’t believe this is my life,” he mutters. Lance pinches him again.
“You love it.”
He does, yes. But he sure as hell isn’t going to admit that.
Are you and Lance at home?
Yeah. We’re watching Mamma Mia
Lance makes an affronted noise. “You can’t text in the middle of a masterpiece! You’ll miss important stuff.”
Keith wouldn’t exactly call this a masterpiece, and he doesn’t really think there’s much to miss, if he’s being honest. “I’m texting Pidge,” he says, turning back to his phone as it vibrates.
Jesus Christ. You’ve really got it bad
Keith angles his phone screen away from Lance, afraid he would have seen, but he is utterly focused on the movie.
Shut up, is his great reply. He can’t exactly tell them they’re wrong.
Pidge sends him three lines of laughing emoji’s.
“Keith,” Lance whines pitifully. With a sigh Keith puts his phone away.
“You’re needy,” he says. Lance kisses his shoulder, and Keith begrudgingly turns his attention back to the television.
“No one wears overalls anymore,” he says.
“You wear fingerless gloves,” Lance retorts immediately, as if he had been saving that comeback for the perfect time.
“You don’t have to be mean about it.”
Lance just laughs and squeezes his hand.
Keith shouldn’t be surprised that Lance knows all the words to the songs, because Keith wakes up every morning to “Waterloo,” which is Lance’s alarm. But Lance also knows all the words to the whole movie.
“How many times have you watched this?”
“A few,” Lance answers, something which Keith suspects is a massive understatement.
“Hunk’s watched it a few times with me. Shiro too. Pidge always refused. Eventually Hunk and Shiro told me they couldn’t do it anymore. So it was just me and Meryl until you came along.”
Lance’s voice is light, but Keith has a feeling this whole thing means more to him then he’s letting on. Keith considers how to play this.
“Somehow I don’t think you and Meryl Streep are on a first name basis.”
Lance smiles at him. Keith turns his head to kiss him, and Lance lets this go on for about a second and a half before turning back to the movie. Keith makes an irritated noise.
“There will be no making out during Mamma Mia.”
He makes another noise of disagreement but obligingly turns back towards the screen. They watch the movie for a little while without a hitch, and Lance settles for just mouthing the words so as not to disturb Keith. Keith, for his part, is able to keep his mouth shut until the duet between Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan.
“That man was James Bond once,” he says disapprovingly.
“Yeah, but the worst one,” Lance says. “Shut up, this is so good, when they’re singing to each other about how they’re still in love but they’re not listening, and all the Greek people are trying to show them.” Lance lets out a happy sigh. “So good.”
“Why can’t they hear each other sing? How thick is that wall?”
“Shh, you’re ruining it. It’s a metaphor. Or something.”
Keith smiles. “You’re talking out of your ass.”
“When you have an ass as good as mine you should get as much use out of it as you can.”
Keith can’t help but agree with that.
“Fun fact,” Lance says towards the end. “The instrumental song playing right now is “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” which is actually a song about divorce, which seems like a dumb choice to use as the song for when the bride walks down the aisle.”
Keith can’t fucking believe that he’s in love with the idiot beside him. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Hmm.”
“What was fun about that fact?”
Lance lets out an offended noise. Keith sinks into his side a little more, tangling their legs together, and Lance kisses the side of his head. He knows that if Hunk came in right now, he would get that happy look on his face. Pidge would make gagging noises all the way to their room. For the first little while Keith had thought they were laughing at him, certain they could see from his face how far gone he was, how a single sappy grin from Lance could make his toes curl.
But Keith had found out that he didn’t have to be ashamed with how quickly he had fallen in love with Lance. Everyone was a little in love with Lance. Keith loved all of them, really, but he’s never been sure of how to tell people things like that. He had been on his own for so long, and there was a very limited amount of love in orphanage’s and foster homes. But he likes to think that he does an okay job letting them know anyway. The way he lets Pidge do weird (totally harmless, they assure him) experiments on him, the way he asked Hunk to teach him how to cook and all the jokes they shared. Shiro had started treating him like a brother, something Keith had always wanted.
And of course here he was, watching Mamma Mia with Lance. That couldn’t be forgotten.
He tests the words out in his mind. I love you. Lance, I love you. I love you, Lance. Hey Lance, I can’t watch these people get married without thinking about us getting married one day –
“Hang on. Why is Meryl Streep getting married? I thought this was her daughter’s wedding?”
Lance gives him a hurt look. “You’re not paying attention.”
That was just patently unfair. Keith has given this entire shitty movie every ounce of his attention, and the one time he lets his mind wander, this happens.
“No, I was –”
“It’s okay, Keith. I know you’re just doing this for me, and I appreciate it.”
God, that kills him, because Keith knows what it’s like, to put yourself out there, and Lance has this look on his face and it’s so goddamn stupid that this twenty-year-old boy loves ABBA so fucking much, but he does and Keith can’t stand Lance thinking that he’s been hating every minute of this.
So the only thing he can think to do, the only thing he can think to say to get that sad look off of Lance’s face, is to tell him the truth.
“I was paying attention! Honestly, I was just… I was just thinking… I love you,” he finishes lamely, utterly defeated.
Lance, in act of calmness and poise uncharacteristic of him, leans forward, grabs the remote, pauses the movie, then says, in a voice much higher than his normal one, “Can you maybe repeat that?”
“I didn’t want you think I wasn’t paying attention, because I am paying attention, I have been all movie, I just let my mind wander once because I was thinking about how I’m in love with you and didn’t know how to say it because I was scared but why are they getting married?” He is babbling, he knows this, but Lance is looking at him and Keith can’t read his expression and he gets the feeling that he has fucked up majorly. “They haven’t seen each other in 21 years! They’re totally rushing –”
Lance kisses him. Lance grips him hard and kisses him harder. “I can’t believe you just told me you loved me during Mamma Mia, Keith, oh my God, you’re perfect.”
Keith isn’t entirely sure what is going on, but Lance is still kissing him, which is very much a good sign.
“I love you,” Lance finally says back, and Keith thinks it might just be the best thing he’s ever heard.
He suddenly hears the sound of retching behind them. He and Lance both look over their shoulders and see Pidge leaning over the garbage and pretending to puke.
“Don’t be dramatic,” Lance says.
“Don’t be disgusting,” they shoot back. Lance kisses him again, making obnoxious kissing noises, and each of them keep getting progressively louder, kissing and gagging, until Hunk comes in, sighs in exasperation, and leads Pidge to their room.
Lance smiles, soft and warm at him, and Keith thinks nothing could be better.