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Unlike everything else about their relationship, the actual “getting together” is a quiet affair. Maybe if this was a different time, a different place...but they were kind of in the middle of an intergalactic war, so everything else sort of took a backseat to that.
In fact, if Keith and Lance hadn’t gotten trapped in that cave during their mission, they probably wouldn’t have even confessed their feelings. Near-death encounters kind of put things in perspective though, so they had spilled the metaphorical beans and had to deal with the consequences once they were (thankfully) rescued.
Despite what everyone else might think, they could be mature when it mattered. And this...whatever this was between them, it mattered. So like the mature almost-adults they were, here they sat in Lance’s room, dealing with the aftermath of rushed confessions. With a game of rock-paper-scissors.
“You’re cheating.” Keith narrowed his eyes as he lost the fourth time in a row.
“Keith, buddy, how do you even cheat at this game?” Lance asked with a laugh.
“I don’t know but I’m gonna figure it out.”
“You’re just mad because you lost the ‘can I call you pet names’ round. Babe.” Lance leaned in to whisper his newly earned right with a smirk.
Keith kicked out a socked foot in retaliation and Lance rolled away laughing. Okay, so maybe others wouldn’t think this was very mature, but negotiating the terms of their new thing with a good ol’ 2-out-of-3 game was the only way they would agree to anything in a timely manner. So far they’ve agreed on: the term “boyfriends” instead of “super space boyfriends”; “subtle pda allowed” over “must hold hands at all times”; “no Lance we’re not getting couple t-shirts” unfortunately won over “but they could even be cryptid boyfriend t-shirts, please Keith”; and now Lance held the latest victory with “I can call you pet names” versus Keith’s “I’m allowed to smack you if you call me anything but my name.”
“Okay, time to get serious.” Lance sat back up with a serious expression and Keith straightened up to match. “How do we tell everyone else?”
Keith frowned for a moment, considering. “I vote for...just telling them I guess? Keep it simple.”
“Listen boo-bear, these things are never simple-”
“Don’t ever call me boo-bear outside of this room, so help me Lance I will end you.”
“As I was saying! I live for the drama. I vote we don’t tell anyone and let them figure it out. And when they find out, we gotta make ‘em promise not to tell anyone else. Like a game.”
“Lance…” Keith groaned.
“It’d be kind of fun! God knows we need some more fun around here.” He reasoned, hand waving around to emphasize his point.
Keith grabbed his hand and pulled him forward till their noses were nearly touching. “Lance, we’re fighting the forces of evil to liberate the entirety of the known universe, we don’t have time for fun.”
“Yet here we are.” Lance smirked, but there was a softness in his eyes as he leaned forward to peck his boyfriend’s lips. “You gotta lighten up babe.”
Keith pulled back with a disgruntled noise, face flushed, and Lance held out his hand. They played their three rounds of rock-paper-scissors and Lance only gloated a little more than usual when he won.
The game was on.
✶✶✶
Maybe unsurprisingly, their relationship doesn’t change that much on the surface. Lance's natural affection mixed with Keith's natural stoicism kind of canceled each other out. So their dynamic hardly changed except the underlying tension that had always lingered in their interactions was finally gone. It was kind of fun, Keith had to admit after a couple days. Maybe Lance was actually on to something with this little game.
Pidge is the first to really catch on. The green paladin is equal parts inquisitive, observant, and just downright nosy; nothing stays hidden from them for very long. So when not even a week has gone by and Pidge is busting down the door to Lance’s room, fixing the two with a critical stare, they’re really not that surprised.
“Alright, are you two finally together?”
“Yeah.” “Finally?” Keith and Lance answer at the same time and Pidge rolls her eyes.
“Yes, finally. You two really aren’t subtle when you’re pining.” Pidge waltzed into the room like she owned the place and took a seat on the bed.
“How’d you figure it out?” Keith was genuinely curious. He really didn’t expect someone to catch on so quick. They hadn’t really done anything yet.
Pidge hummed and flopped onto her back, effectively wedging herself into the space between where the two boys sat. She glanced over at Lance, then back to Keith, then back to Lance again before sighing.
“I wanna say you two were super obvious and gross, but you actually weren’t. It was more like...I noticed that something was missing. That weird awkwardness during your mutual pining phase was gone.” Both of them blinked at her for a couple seconds before Lance broke out in a goofy smile.
“It’s actually so cute that you were so invested in us.”
“Gross, don’t say it like that.” Pidge scrunched her face and Lance chuckled.
“You can’t tell anyone else.” Keith added, remembering the rules of their game.
“What? Are you like, scared to come out? Because I’m sure no one would care-”
“No, no, young one. Nothing like that.” Lance waved off, eyes full of mischief. “We’re playing a game.”
“Oh?” Pidge sounded a little too intrigued.
“Lance wanted to let everyone figure it out on their own.”
“So now that you figured it out, you’ve claimed first place. You can’t tell anyone else. Hell, you can even sabotage people to keep them guessing even longer.”
Pidge mulled it over for a while before grinning. “I like the sound of that.”
Keith was only a little concerned at how much they seemed to be enjoying this.
✶✶✶
Allura was the next to find out, which they really should’ve seen coming; her mice always supplied her with the hottest gossip. She confronted them about it in the rec room, thankfully while no one else was present. It was an awkward touch and go of her asking a number of leading questions and Keith answering in his trademark deadpan. Once she realized her current approach was getting her nowhere, she just came right out and asked, which Lance answered with a laugh.
They filled her in on the details and, to Keith’s utter dismay, Allura was absolutely delighted. She left them soon after, scurrying off to find Pidge, talking about some sort of grand plan to keep this game going as long as possible.
As the days turned into weeks, their relationship really started to take form. That is to say, Keith finally started to relax into the idea of being with Lance and stopped keeping his distance as much. If Lance threw an arm around his shoulders, Keith leaned into it instead of away. If Lance stood next to him during a meeting, Keith moved a little closer. The changes were small but not unappreciated if the stunning smile on Lance’s face was anything to go by.
Under normal circumstances, most everyone in the castle at this point would’ve probably caught on to their relationship. But with the grand master saboteurs Pidge and Allura at the helm, no one confronts them for another couple weeks. And even then, it only happens because Coran accidentally walks in on them kissing in the holodeck. Poor man almost had a damn heart attack.
Hunk doesn’t find out until the three paladins are sent on a mission together, far away from the interference back at the castle. In fact it’s only five minutes into their exploration of a neon jungle that Hunk stops dead in his tracks and makes the most inhuman screech Keith has ever heard.
“Holy quiznak, are you two dating?!”
Lance stops to stare at his friend, mouth twitching into a slow smile. Keith stops too, sighing, and nods to answer Hunk’s question. Lance really had expected Hunk to catch on sooner, being best friends and whatnot, so it was actually funny to tell him he’s the second to last to figure it out.
The whole time Lance and Hunk are talking, Keith is left wondering what kind of black magic the girls back at the castle posses. It was just five minutes of walking alone that tipped Hunk off after all. Keith looked back at them curiously, wondering if it would be weird to ask what gave them away. It’s not like they’d suddenly held hands or something. Hunk seemed to sense his gaze and looked away from Lance to give him a smile.
“Dude, Lance started doing those stupid hand signals and you actually understood him. That’s couple goals right there.”
✶✶✶
Between the countless missions, battles, diplomacy and, y’know, universe saving, everyone sort of forgets there was even a game going on. Basically everyone knew about Keith and Lance’s relationship by this point and literally nothing had changed. They still bickered, still tried to best each other at literally anything; Lance still flirted with anything sentient, Keith still rolled his eyes and called him an idiot. The only difference was that everyone just kinda knew it was how they functioned at this point. Well, except for Shiro, who’d been growing increasingly tired of them.
Oh right, Shiro.
Technically, he was the only one left that hadn’t caught on. Or had he? Keith wasn’t sure when they’d given up on this little game but honestly, it’d been a couple months now so the man had to know. Right? Keith frowned as he tried to recall if Shiro had ever indicated knowing about him and Lance. He was drawing a blank.
“Lance? You awake?” Keith whispered, poking the boy next to him.
He got some muffled gurgling in response which was good enough.
“Lance, I don’t think Shiro knows about us.” Keith continued, pulling the covers from over Lance’s head.
Suddenly the boy seemed very awake, rolling over with a strange look on his face. It seemed caught somewhere between confusion, disbelief and amusement. Keith watched as Lance mentally went through his own memories as well, eventually reaching the same conclusion.
“Holy shit, Keith, I think you’re right.” Lance whispered and then laughed.
“Dude, he keeps scolding me for fighting with you, and I’ve legit told him like ‘don’t worry Shiro this is just a healthy part of our relationship’. Like do you really think he doesn’t get it?” Lance propped himself up on his elbows, eyes full of mirth.
“He did the same to me. Except it’s because I insulted you while you were flirting. Shiro told me to stop being so mean and to let you have fun. Honestly, it kind of confused me so I just agreed.” Keith recalled that event from maybe a week ago and it just made Lance dissolve into giggles again.
“I didn’t think he’d be this dense. Should we tell him?”
Keith hummed as he looked up into Lance’s eyes, the two of them sharing a smile.
“How about we wait for the perfect moment?” Keith suggested with a raised brow and Lance knew exactly what he meant.
“I love you and your stupid mullet.”
It didn’t take all that long for the perfect moment to arrive. Three days later saw them on a new planet, freshly freed from the Galra, and at a banquet in their honor. Sometime during the festivities, Keith and Lance had started bickering about something or another. They didn’t even notice Shiro glaring at them until it was too late and they were being asked to speak with him, privately. The boys shared a meaningful look before getting up to follow Shiro, Lance making sure to give Pidge the signal they’d planned for this moment.
Shiro led them a short distance away from the festivities before stopping and regarding them with a serious gaze. Shiro could be intimidating when he wanted to be, but honestly right now he looked more like a disgruntled single dad than he did a fearless leader.
“Lance, Keith, I don’t know what it is with you two but I need you to stop. Right now.”
The boys shared a look, poker faces in check, before looking back at the black paladin.
“Shiro, it’s like I said before, it’s a healthy part of our relationship.” Lance replied, laugh a bit forced.
Shiro looked at them skeptically, frown deepening. Lance elbowed Keith in the side to back him up.
“Oh, yeah. What he said.” Keith mumbled, not at all convincing.
Shiro narrowed his eyes. “I see what you’re doing here, and it’s not gonna work. You two aren’t getting out of this that easily. We’re going to have a bonding moment right here, right now. Until you two can learn to get along.”
“Oh, a bonding moment you say?” Lance questioned with a hint of mischief in his voice and Keith turned to glare at him.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop it right now.” Keith hissed, loud enough for Shiro to hear, expression even more disapproving than before.
“Nope, no way, trust me babe.” Lance added a wink at the end and Keith groaned.
And then without warning, Lance reached out to place a hand on Keith’s shoulder and waist. And then dips him. Just dips him as if they were competitive salsa dancers, and Keith bites back a yelp as his hands shoot out to grab Lance’s jacket. Shiro doesn’t even have time to question what they’re doing before Lance is leaning in and kissing Keith for all he’s worth. Keith just mentally rolls his eyes and gives in, moving his hands to cup Lance’s face, trusting the boy not to drop him or some dumb shit.
The face Shiro is making when they finally break apart is priceless. Lance pulls Keith back to a standing position, but doesn’t move the hands from his waist; Keith just moves to lace his hands behind Lance’s neck, poker face back in place, only made ten times funnier because of the bright flush of his face. They both look Shiro dead in the eye as they continue talking.
“Gee, what a great bonding moment. Thank you Shiro, for helping us resolve our differences.” Keith recites monotonously and he can feel Lance shaking with silent laughter.
“Also, we’ve been dating for the past few months. We forgot to tell you.” Lance adds with a smile.
Shiro is still frozen in place, staring at them like they’d just kidnapped his puppy and sold it on the black market for a single corn chip. The poor man was even sweating a little bit. Pidge comes out from where she’d been hiding the whole time, camera in hand and shit-eating grin on her face. When Shiro doesn’t react even to that, Pidge busts out laughing.
“Oh my god, I think you broke him.”
Pidge continues giggling as she snaps yet another picture of Shiro’s face, to be added to the castle’s growing collection of the ‘space dad is confused’ data bank. Lance started chuckling and even Keith cracked a smile, despite the embarrassment still burning in his veins. He pulled away with a sigh and Lance let him go, settling with linking their pinkies as they watched Shiro walk away without ever changing facial expressions.
“Told you it’d be worth it boo-bear.” Lance commented with a final chuckle.
“Yeah, that was pretty funny- wait a minute. Lance!” Keith yelled as he registered that cursed nickname but Lance was already sprinting away.
Pidge was practically rolling on the ground, repeating the words ‘boo-bear’ between gasping laughter. Keith’s face was burning and he grit his teeth before taking off after his so-called boyfriend.
“I’m going to end you!”