Chapter Text
Keith had spent enough time on the field to be able to tell when he was being followed. He could feel it in the air, the tension that seemed to drape around him when someone’s eyes were glued to him just a little bit too closely. Not to mention, in this particular instance, his pursuer was utterly terrible at being discreet. He heard the door click shut not-quite-quietly-enough and he heard the shuffle of sluggish footsteps crossing the room, all over the constant panting and whirring in the room as he concentrated on battling a training simulator bot.
When he eventually won, he was quick to risk a glance toward the sidelines. He wasn’t surprised in the slightest to find Lance settled on the bench.
Well, he was slightly surprised, given it was early enough in the morning that the rest of the castle was probably just now rising and stumbling toward the kitchen. Keith usually liked to get his training done before anyone else was awake to interrupt him, meaning Lance must have purposely sought him out and woken up earlier than usual to do it.
He’d been expecting Lance to act at least a little bit weird after their hug yesterday, but this was pushing it just a bit.
“End session.” Keith called out, panting as he pushed his hair back from where it’d fallen in his eyes. He staggered over to the bench, shooting a glare in Lance’s direction when the stalker refused to even make eye contact and own up to what he’d been doing. Keith grabbed his water bottle, tipping it back and taking a heavy swig.
Meanwhile, he eyed Lance as he drank. This was his first time seeing Lance since that strange hug yesterday and he still felt flustered. He’d dwelled on it into the early hours of the morning, the warmth of another body pressed against his, the gentle vanilla smell that teased him every time he got just close enough to Lance.
He wasn’t sure if the blue paladin was here to apologize or initiate something equally as embarrassing, so Keith was left feeling antsy. He didn’t like antsy, so he was quick to cover it up with angry.
He tossed the empty bottle down, turning to Lance coldly. “What are you doing here?”
“Just hanging out.” Lance responded casually, stretching his legs further out across the bench, leaving no room for Keith to sit even if he’d wanted to. Lance cracked an eye open, peering tiredly up at Keith before offering a small smile. Keith hissed like he’d been physically wounded at the corresponding butterflies that fluttered through his chest. Damn it, Lance. “You can go back to what you were doing, don’t mind me.”
“I do mind you.” Keith argued, turning and starting out of the room. He was content to leave it at that, if not a little bit guilty about brushing Lance off so hurriedly. It was never that he didn’t want to spend time with Lance, he just couldn’t trust himself to. Those butterflies had already made an appearance once today and he wasn’t too keen on inviting them back.
He reached the kitchen and was surprised to find it was already empty, no sign that anyone had been there at all. He dug out an easy breakfast meal and trudged back to the table, freezing a few feet away from it when he found the seat next to his usual one was already occupied. It was pretty rare that the team switched up from routine to sit in a different seat, meaning he already knew who was sitting there as he approached from behind.
He placed his plate down on the table, leaning ominously over the back of Lance’s chair. “Why are you following me?”
Lance tipped his head back, staring up at him with the most annoyingly endearing wry little grin plastered across his face. He winked up at Keith and that was it. Keith caved, anger depleting as he sunk into his seat and tried his best not to look in Lance’s direction ever again.
“Can’t I spend time with one of my trusty teammates just for the fun of it?”
“Fun? Are you having fun right now? Watching me eat food goo?” Keith huffed, shuffling another bite into his mouth. He was smiling despite himself though, something that he couldn’t chase away no matter how he tried. It was a barely-there tilt of his lips, but Lance would surely see it.
“Well, not exactly, this isn’t the ideal way to spend time together, but-”
“What is ?” Keith interrupted, spoon hanging from his lips as he squinted over at Lance. There was something mighty suspicious about how tolerable Lance was being, clearly on his best behavior, but for what? Normally, in such a sleep-deprived state, he would have started ten fights by now. “Are you trying to do that thing where you talk me into doing something really stupid because you’re bored and no one else will entertain you? I’m not having another lion nose-dive competition to appease you, I don’t-”
“I’m not trying to talk you into anything.” Lance insisted hurriedly, reaching over to punch Keith’s shoulder with a little bit too much force. He was doing that nervous laugh, the stupid one that came up every time he tried to talk to a pretty girl or suggested a ridiculous plan to the team, the laugh that meant he was in way over his head. “I told you, I just want to spend time with you.”
“You’re up to something.” Keith grumbled bitterly, sinking down to appear smaller in his chair. Figuring out that Lance was plotting something was easy enough, but the blue paladin was far too creative for Keith to guess what he was planning exactly. He was still a sitting duck in that sense. He knew something was coming, but he had no idea what .
“Nah, my intentions are as good as gold.” Lance argued, leaning back in his chair and nearly sending it toppling over backward. He caught himself on the edge of the table, thankfully, and Keith was left to awkwardly unhook the ankle he’d wrapped around the base in an effort to soften Lance’s fall.
“Gold is worthless in space, Lance.” Keith deadpanned, drumming his fingers against the table, his appetite long ago soured now that he had something to fixate on. “It’s a common metal on most planets.”
“You’re a common metal on most planets.” Lance grit out through his teeth. Keith shot him a glare and promptly rose to his feet, determined not to fall into the same game of cat and mouse he always fell victim to with Lance. He wasn’t going to spend the entire day wrapped up in this guessing games, either Lance could be honest or- “Keith! Don’t go!”
“What do you want ?” Keith growled, spinning around and slamming a hand down against the table, leaning over Lance threateningly. The other boy quivered, smiling sheepishly up at him.
“L-Let’s do something together.” Lance suggested, looking all too hopeful and invested in how Keith would answer. Keith snorted, huffing the hair out of his face.
“You just said you weren’t trying to get me to do-”
“No, your choice.” Lance explained hurriedly, sitting up taller in his seat. He reached out, settling an arm just above Keith’s arm, hovering there like he was too scared to actually touch him. Keith stared at the almost-contact for an embarrassing amount of time before Lance continued. “What do you want to do?”
And, fuck, was it ever easy to play right into it when Lance phrased it so openly. Keith could think of a hundred and one things he wanted to do with Lance right in that very moment, varying dramatically in how appropriate they were.
He cursed himself, turning away and starting out of the room again. He moved slower this time though, the fight smoothed out of his tense shoulders, and Lance didn’t hesitate to jog after him. He’d be lying if he said he minded.
“Are you high? Did you inhale too many cleaning product fumes yesterday?” Keith asked, turning to watch as Lance fell into step beside him. Lance shook his head, jumping ahead to walk backward ahead of the other boy.
“You like knives, right? Let’s go to the knife store!” Lance exclaimed, throwing his hands up excitably. A quiet stifled laugh and smirk later, Keith shook his head.
“There are no knife stores in the middle of space, idiot.”
“Actually, we’re stopping by a market planet today, I asked Allura to last night.” Lance argued pointedly, jabbing a finger into Keith’s chest so he would stop moving and look him in the eye. Keith furrowed his eyebrows, well-aware that it was near impossible to convince Allura to take a break or go off the path she’d chosen. Lance must have done some serious begging for this day off, and he wanted to waste it by spending time with Keith? It didn’t add up.
Lance grinned widely when he realized he had Keith’s attention, shaking his shoulders. “It’s an entire planet composed of little street stalls and home-run shops. There’s also a carnival, so maybe you’ll get to see one of those sword-swallowers ! That’d be cool, huh?”
Keith blinked dazedly, studying the excited twitch to Lance’s lips, the brightness in his eyes. Ah, what the hell, for whatever reason Lance seemed pretty excited about this and just this one maybe Keith would just allow himself to go into something blind. He rolled his eyes, shrugging Lance’s hands away.
“You do realize that knives and swords aren’t my only interests in life, right?” Keith snorted, shoving past Lance and start down the hall. He quickly realized Lance wasn’t following though and turned around after just a few steps, quirking an eyebrow at the defeated expression on Lance’s face. Okay, maybe he hadn’t been clear enough.
Keith cleared his throat, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “You’re paying.”
Lance lit up instantly, eyes widening with recognition and goofy grin kicking in tenfold. Keith scoffed, turning around and smiling to himself when he heard Lance rush to catch up with him.
“Of course, everything’s my treat today!” Lance all but yelled, running ahead and snaking an arm around Keith’s waist so quickly he nearly fell flat on his face. As it was, even with Lance holding him up, Keith felt his knees going uncharacteristically jelly-like.
Lance didn’t seem to notice, simply kept trying to tug Keith ahead like he couldn’t wait another second. He was oblivious to the blush spreading heavily across Keith’s face as he stumbled to keep pace on his shaky new-born fawn legs.. “Let’s go get ready, come on!”
Lance tugged him along until they reached the blue paladin’s room, to which he quickly excused himself and disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared. Keith stood outside his door, staring dazedly at the paneling and wondering if he’d somehow imagined all of that happening. He shook that thought away, trudging down the hall. He didn’t reach his room though, instead veering off-course and hammering his fist against another door.
“Keith?” Pidge called, sounding tired. Keith tapped his foot against the floor as he waited for them to answer. Eventually, the doors slid open to reveal a sleep-mussed and grumpy Pidge. They glared at him for waking them up so early.
“Pidge.” Keith spoke breathlessly, surprised by how timid he sounded to his own ears. Pidge squinted at him and silently stepped aside, inviting him in. He landed on their bed in ten seconds flat.
“Keith? This is weird even for you.” Pidge chuckled awkwardly, walking over and kicking at his foot. “Is there something wrong?”
“You tell me.” Keith snapped, looking up at Pidge and immediately regretting his harsh tone. He took a deep breath, speaking more evenly. “What the hell kinda bet did Lance lose? Why is he clinging to me?”
“No idea.” Pidge answered without hesitation, turning away and settling down at their desk, booting up their laptop indifferently. Keith narrowed his eyes, studying their rigid posture. They must have noticed something was off too, they always noticed stuff like this. Keith had come to Pidge on numerous occasions begging them to explain strange behaviors of their fellow paladin and they’d always pulled through, why were they acting so aloof this time?
“When was the last time Coran performed a physical on him? Maybe he’s concussed… or he realized he has a terminal illness and is trying to make up for all the terrible things he said to me… maybe he inhaled a weird alien chemical that makes him nice!” Keith listed off his best theories so far, hoping they’d take to one and try to build on it. Instead, Pidge turned around and allowed their glasses to slide down the bridge of their nose, staring skeptically toward him.
“Have you considered that maybe he just… wants to spend time with you?”
“Ha!” Keith snorted, clutching his stomach as he awaited impending laughter. Except Pidge didn’t start laughing, leaving his grip to tighten even more as he tried to fight off the flighty feeling in his belly. He shifted, tilting his head to the side. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah, I mean, you guys haven’t been as close since we found Shiro.” Pidge commented knowingly, turning back to their screen. “It’s not that hard to believe that maybe he misses having you around all the time.”
“I find it very hard to believe.” Keith spluttered, finding the entire concept difficult to process. Here he’d been missing the close relationship he’d had with Lance like crazy, thinking it was just a temporary thing meant to burn out once things went back to normal. The idea that maybe Lance missed him too, would want it to be a not-so-temporary thing, it was ludicrous. It was a nice thought though, he could give Pidge that much.
“Come on, he was your right-hand man, you bonded .” Pidge argued, holding a middle finger up and pointing it in his direction. Keith glowered at them.
“Shut-up.” Keith would have said more, perhaps thrown a pillow or something, but a gentle knock sounded at the door in that exact moment. He swallowed harshly, sitting up straighter.
“Keith? You in there?” Lance called gently, knocking again. Keith jumped to his feet, walking over to lean against the back of Pidge’s chair and whisper.
“I think he’s plotting my murder, Pidge.” They groaned, looking up at him with an unimpressed stare.
“Listen to me, Lance doesn’t have any ulterior motives. He literally just wants to spend the day with you, I swear.” Pidge promised, holding a hand over their heart. “For once in your life, just… go with the flow.”
“You know something, don’t you?”
“Come in, Lance.” Pidge called, blatantly ignoring Keith’s question. Lance toppled into the room hurriedly, grinning when his eyes landed on Keith.
“Hey.” He greeted, a quietly-spoken word directed so clearly just toward Keith that it was overwhelming, he had to lean heavier on Pidge’s chair for support. Lance turned to Pidge then, nodding. “What are you guys doing?”
“I invited Pidge to come with us.” Keith blurted, deciding to test just how easy it would be to throw a wrench in Lance’s plans. Surely if he was plotting something evil, he wouldn’t want anyone else to be there for it. No, he’d definitely call it off now, there was no way he’d-
“Oh, good!” Lance beamed, walking over to ruffle Pidge’s messy hair. Keith gaped at the back of his head.
“You’re not… annoyed?”
“Why would I be?” Lance laughed, looking between Keith and Pidge slowly. “Today’s about you, you can invite anyone you want along.”
“What the fuck.” Keith mouthed the moment Lance turned away, so deeply confused it was making his head ache.
“Sorry, Keith, I can’t come anyway.” Pidge spoke up suddenly, tapping away on their keyboard. “Hunk and I are very busy today.”
“Doing what ?” Keith demanded to know, obviously disbelieving that Pidge had anything else going on. In any other circumstance, they’d be dying to go explore a new planet, especially a merchant one where they could buy new technologies. Something fishy was definitely happening here.
“We’ve got a project we’re working on, don’t really wanna reveal any details until it’s finished.” Pidge explained, or rather didn’t explain at all, turning to smile up at them. “You two have fun though, alright?”
“Too bad.” Lance grumbled, sounding genuinely disappointed. He turned to Keith, patting him on the arm in passing as he started toward the door. “You ready to go? Allura’s says we’re landing in the next fifteen minutes, so you might wanna get a shower and all that.”
“Pidge.” Keith whispered pleadingly, clamping a hand down on Pidge’s shoulder so tightly it had to have been bruising. They shifted uncomfortably, squinting up at him.
“ Keith .” They growled back, making it plainly clear just how likely he was to get his way. He allowed his grip to go slack, turning hesitantly toward Lance. A whole day spent in the presence of his crush, the one he could hardly manage to be in the same room as for more than ten minutes at a time. It was both his dreams and nightmares come alive.
“What?” Lance asked dumbly, looking between them. Keith shook his head, dismissing it as he trudged after Lance toward the door. He crankily grabbed Lance’s wrist, speed-walking away before he had to see Pidge’s devious smirk. They were definitely plotting something, but he had no idea whether Lance was in on it or not. Damn it.
He didn’t even think about the fact he and Lance were practically holding hands until he looked up again, halfway to the lion hangars by the time they ran into anyone else in the halls. A tired Shiro cast a suspicious look between them, eyes lingering on their hands. Keith jumped away from Lance like he’d been burned, giving Shiro a hurried nod before scurrying away even faster.
Lance caught up to him as he was about to jump onto the zipline, which meant Keith had no excuse not to stop and look back when his name was called. He turned around, staring guiltily at Lance’s panting form as he realized the other must have ran to keep up with him.
“Sorry.” Keith blurted out, unsure what to say. Lance looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed together, then shook his head.
“Don’t be, I get it.” He laughed, straightening up from where he’d doubled over to catch his breath. He stretched his arms above his head. “Look, I know I’m not your first choice of friends on this ship, I get that. I can see how uneasy you are about this, I’m not blind. I just wanted to spend some time with you and get to know each other better. I mean, you say that knives aren’t the only thing you care about, but I have no idea what else you do care about. I feel like a pretty shitty friend.”
“You don’t have to know everything about me to be a good friend.” Keith mumbled dumbly, his words not entirely working to his favor when Lance’s were blasting on repeat in his mind. Pidge was right, there were no ulterior motives, Lance genuinely wanted to spend time with him and get to know him better.
Lance must have missed him.
Keith had to sink his teeth into his bottom lip to keep from smiling, though he was sure his eyes were gonna give it away if he didn’t look away real soon. It was so difficult not to stare though, the times when Lance was serious and genuine with him were far and few. Moments like this one were the whole reason Keith had fallen for him to begin with.
“Well, no, but I want to.” Lance spoke under his breath, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. He spoke up louder after though, looking up to meet Keith’s wide eyes. “I want to know you. I really like what I’ve seen so far.”
“Fine, whatever, I’ll go with you.” Keith bit out, turning around stiffly and reaching up for the zipline, not wanting Lance to catch even a glimpse of his face as it heated up to temperatures previously unknown. What kind of dumb straightforward compliment was that? Would it kill Lance to be subtle for once in his life?
--
Lance stepped out of the red lion, looking overhead to ensure the castle was floating not far overhead and would be guarding the lions while they were gone. Chances were Allura would get antsy and zap them back up then have someone else come to pick them up after the sun set. Lance didn’t really care, it didn’t matter what happened from here on out because he’d already accomplished the hardest task: convincing Keith to accompany him.
He pranced down the ramp, watching with a wide smile as Keith landed the black lion. He gave Red a final farewell pat, then ran over to Keith as fast as his legs could carry him. He made it in time to watch as Keith trudged down the ramp, eyes studying the vibrant colors of the planet around them.
“Check it out, Keith! See that city over there?” Lance yelled, gesturing him down to the ground rather impatiently. Keith sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and walking down to meet Lance. Immediately, Lance was grabbing his sleeve and dragging him down the hill they’d landed on. He pointed out multiple dumb things as they walked, from the local foliage to buildings in the distance.
He led them both out of the woods a few minutes later, squealing excitedly when distant carnival music came into earshot. “Woah, this place is insane!”
“Mm.” Keith hummed, turning and noticing the sea of tents and sales booths set up to their right. This was exactly Pidge’s kind of place, not so much his. He could see the crowds from here, could only imagine the overpriced traveling merchant wares. He didn’t have the heart to tell Lance though, not when blue eyes were boring into the side of his face and studying his reaction so intently.
“Pretty cool, right ?”
“It’s okay.” Keith smirked, flipping his bangs out of his eyes. Lance shoved him, though it was hardly effective when he responded by stepping closer and eliminating the minimal distance he’d put between them.
“Okay, hard to please, that’s fine.” Lance grumbled, cracking his knuckles. He grabbed Keith’s sleeve, dragging him toward the tents. “Let’s go hunt down some knives, Stabby McGee.”
“Don’t call me that.” Keith groaned in exasperation, shaking his head as Lance tugged him away.
The crowds weren’t quite as packed as Keith had previously assumed, but it was enough to make him uncomfortable. Too many strangers in one place, he had no way of telling what any of their intentions were, what any of them were currently thinking about him. He found himself walking impossibly closer to Lance, practically plastered to the blue paladin’s side, but Lance didn’t complain about it once.
They browsed the flea market-type environment lazily. Lance would point things out occasionally and Keith would make a comment on how overpriced or useless it was. They bought a few small trinkets to bring back to the other paladins, including something overly shiny for Allura. Nothing caught Keith’s eye though, despite Lance’s frequent insistence that he’d buy him anything he wanted.
Lance really was being too nice today, it wasn’t normal.
“Huh? How’s this?” Lance exclaimed suddenly, nearly yanking Keith’s arm out of its socket as he pulled him toward a building on the outskirts of the sales tents. Keith wasn’t even sure how he’d seen what the shop was for from such a distance, but sure enough, as they approached Keith’s eyes widened with recognition.
This time he was left pulling Lance along, eagerly pressing his hands to the glass so he could peer in despite the sun reflecting off its surface. He studied the display of knives and swords, made from all types of colorful metals with inscriptions and details applied to every single one. He was naturally skeptical though, pouting as he finally turned back to Lance.
“They don’t have any prices on them.” He explained, turning to leave. No prices generally meant ridiculous prices, at least in this type of situation. Lance stayed rooted to the spot though, refusing to budge.
“We can go inside.” Lance prompted, smiling over at Keith. God, he seemed so in his element here, surrounding by people with the midday sun beaming down on his skin. Keith found himself dumbly nodding in acknowledgement, unaware that Lance would mistake it for agreement and pull him closer to the shop again. “We’ve got the whole day, we’re not in any rush.”
Keith didn’t protest this time, simply followed Lance up the steps and into the shop. Immediately, he was bombarded with racks and displays of knives, as well as walls covered in swords. He grinned, breaking away from Lance’s hold without hesitation to stumble toward the first one that caught his attention.
Meanwhile, Lance lingered back, grinning stupidly to himself as he watched Keith’s face properly light up into a smile for the first time today. It was his real smile too, the one that made his cheeks dimple and eyes crinkle. Lance leaned back against one of the few walls that wasn’t covered in weapons, finding that his chest seemed to swell as he watched Keith wander around with that amazed look on his face.
Who knew that watching someone pick out a favorite murder weapon could be so… so cute .
“Can I take a closer look at one of the swords in the display window?” Keith asked the salesman suddenly, leaning on the counter that was just a little bit too high for him to properly make a transaction over. Lance pushed off from the wall, walking over to lean over Keith’s shoulder and watch as he examined the sword handed to him.
It was a bright ruby-red type samurai situation, complete with some kind of dark black inlay of dramatic patterns along the blade. It would have been ridiculously flashy and obnoxious if it were anyone else holding it, but against the pale of Keith’s knuckles it just seemed to work. Lance glanced up to Keith’s face, studying the focused pinch of his brows, the slight pout to his lips.
“It’s nice.” Lance breathed, regretting it immediately when Keith tensed up against his chest, the both of them suddenly becoming aware of just how close they were. Keith shook his head, stepping away and placing the sword back on the counter.
“It’s ridiculously overpriced, let’s go.” He ordered, stomping toward the exit like the sore loser he was, making it all too obvious how much he’d caught himself wanting the sword. This was Lance’s moment then, apparently this was the exact thing he’d been saving his allowances up for since being thrown into Coran’s chore chart.
“We’ll take it!” Lance exclaimed, slamming a handful of cash onto the counter, not even taking the time to double-check it added up to the right price. The shop-keep skimmed the wad before nodding, beginning to wrap the sword up for transport.
Keith stumbled back over to Lance’s side, gaping at the entire interaction like he’d lost the ability of speech. Lance elbowed him in the side, sticking his tongue out at him. Keith blinked, dumbfounded expression shifting into a glare.
He all but wrestled Lance out of the shop then, despite the blue paladin’s neverending offers to buy him something else as they went. He must have pointed out twenty knives during the short trip from the counter to the door, but Keith wasn’t looking at any of them. It wasn’t until they were outside that Lance actually looked over at him, his playful smile fading in an instant when he realized Keith’s face was nearly as red as the sword they’d just bought.
“Are you pleased with yourself?” Keith grumbled, tying the holster the shopkeep had gifted him around his back so he could slide the sword into it. Lance was just now realizing that maybe buying a giant sword first thing was slightly impractical. “You just wasted over half of your funds at our first st-”
“You like it?” Lance asked, cutting Keith off. The other boy glared at him for a long moment before crossing his arms and shrugging.
“Yeah.”
“Then it wasn’t a waste.” Lance concluded, spinning around and starting back in the direction they’d originally come from. “Come on, mullet man, we’ve got places to be.”
“You just said we weren’t in any rush!”
“Well, now we have to waste time taking that thing back to the lions!” Lance argued, lingering just before disappearing back into the aisles between the tents, mindful to wait until Keith was next to him again. He was no expert at reading people, however much he liked to pretend so, but Keith had never struck him as much of a crowd guy. His theory had just been proven earlier when Keith clung to him like a lost little duckling in the sea of people.
Sure, he was a lost little duckling with a sword strapped to him now, but that didn’t make it any less cute as Keith sidled up close to him just like before. Lance grinned, leading the way.
Half an hour later, Lance had realized how annoying backtracking truly was and was growing annoyed with the amount of time they’d wasted doing so. He was complaining loudly and frequently now, but for once Keith didn’t comment on it or try to shut him up. Maybe he was still feeling bashful about Lance buying such an expensive gift for him? Either way, Lance took the silence to his advantage and veered straight toward the carnival before Keith could gather his wits about him enough to complain.
See, this may have been a slightly self-indulgent destination of Lance’s choosing. He’d always been ridiculously fond of the carnival that had come through his hometown of Varadero when he was younger, and now he wanted to re-experience that while giving someone else the chance to for the first time. He wasn’t entirely sure what Keith would think of it, but worst-case scenario they’d seek out that sword-swallower and ignore the rides altogether.
“Is this the carnival?” Keith spoke up belatedly, as Lance shoveled money toward the gatekeeper and grabbed handfuls of tickets in response. He turned back to Keith, about to hand him some tickets out of his collection, but before he got the chance Keith was buying his own. Okay, fine, Lance wouldn’t complain even though he was growing quite fond of that bashful look Keith wore whenever Lance spent money on him.
“Yeah!” He answered, leading Keith down the path and veering through the food stalls and trucks. He was headed straight toward the area were all the rides were, from merry-go-rounds to roller coasters, he was ready. However, a thought struck him belatedly and he remembered that his companion might not be quite so ready.
He turned back to Keith, quirking an eyebrow. “How do you feel about alien roller coasters?”
“Uh…” Keith trailed off as his eyes followed Lance’s point toward the looming roller coaster just ahead, one that veered all over that area of the amusement park. He swallowed noticeably, turning back to Lance almost hesitantly. “Can we start small?”
“Daredevil Keith Kogane wants to start small?” Lance gasped, throwing an arm over his eyes in poorly-portrayed shock. He straightened back up quickly though, not wanting Keith to feel bad about being nervous. He headed toward one of the tamer rides first, noticing immediately that most the people riding them were definitely half their age and a quarter of their size.
The only thing that looked non-threatening and occupied by adults was the tunnel of love, but Lance was not about to get into that mess. Instead, he opted for the over-glorified swing set that would spin them around. “You got it, buddy.”
“I’ve never been to anything like this before.” Keith commented, stumbling after Lance and sticking close as they headed through all the fair-goers. Lance hummed as he noticed a mother carefully leading her child around by the hand, clearly worried about the kid getting lost. He stepped back to walk beside Keith rather than lead him, hesitating for a moment before grabbing his hand.
It didn’t feel like such an innocent concern when Lance did it, but his intentions were just to keep Keith from getting lost, that’s all.
Keith stared down at their hands, eyes wide like Lance had just violated him. Lance chuckled nervously, immediately trying to shift the mood into something less serious. The thing about that though, was that Lance was terrible about performing under pressure.
“So this is your first time, huh?” Lance asked, wiggling his eyebrows even as his mind screamed at him to quit while he was ahead. “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle with you.”
He expected Keith to hit him, best case scenario. Worst case scenario he was imagining Keith would stomp back to the castle all on his own and any hope at securing a friendship with the guy would be long lost. Turns out, Lance wasn’t exactly an expert at surveying the likeliness of outcomes, he was no Slav anyway.
So, how was he supposed to prepare himself for that dusty little blush that graced Keith’s cheeks as the other looked up at him in shock? God, how was he supposed to be anything but blindsided by the way Keith sheepishly looked away, biting his lip and shaking his head fondly. He didn’t look angry in the slightest, he looked almost… flustered.
“Fuck off.” Keith spat, squeezing his hand around Lance’s fingers. The breath knocked out of him, Lance did exactly that. He was completely fucked off for the foreseeable future, unable to speak a word or form an expression as he pulled Keith toward the ferris wheel with the weight of a thousand anchors suddenly settled on his chest.
Turns out, Keith was quite a fan of the ferris wheel. So much so, that he dragged Lance back onto it two more times before Lance had to forcibly drag him toward another ride. Lance may have gone slightly pliant after that flirting fiasco, but he came back to his senses before Keith could waste their entire day on the ferris wheel like a lameass. No way, they were going on at least one coaster, even if Lance had to cradle Keith the whole way like a five year old.
“Why do we have to try another one? I like that one just fine.” Keith pouted, grumbling as Lance pulled him away from his new obsession. Lance exhaled heavily, staring back at him pleadingly.
“What if you like this one better?”
“I won’t.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re stubborn and determined not to let me prove you wrong.” Lance argued, dragging Keith toward the smallest roller coaster out of the three around the park. Keith stared up at it skeptically, practically sneering. “Trust me, you’re gonna like this.”
“Fine, I’d better.” Keith sighed, standing in the line-up next to Lance. On the surface, he seemed calm and composed, a little bit annoyed about being there if anything, but Lance noticed something when he allowed his gaze to drop. He smiled hesitantly, staring at where Keith was rubbing his thumb along the outside of his fist, the same nervous tick from his paladin vlog.
Lance grabbed his hand again, this time knowing there was no excuse about losing Keith in the crowd when they were standing between velvet ropes. Keith glanced up, but he didn’t pull away, just searched Lance’s eyes for answers. Lance looked away, clearing his throat.
“Now, if you get scared it’s totally normal to scream, I’ll probably scream.” He assured Keith, nodding toward the cart that whirled past on the tracks, full of screaming aliens. “Roller coasters are all about the thrill of going so fast that you feel like you’re gonna die any second. That’s why I think you would like it, Mr. Red Lion.”
“You pilot Red now.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that she chose you originally and you’re the fastest-reacting paladin on the team.” Lance responded easily, not even thinking about how willingly he was dishing out compliments to his supposed rival.
“Stop.”
“Stop what? Complimenting you?” Lance laughed, looking over at him in confusion. “You were the top pilot of your class, Keith. You’re amazing at what you do, I’m just giving credit where it’s due.”
“Well, stop it.” Keith snapped, breathing a relieved sigh when the line ahead of them started to move. He looked back at Lance, at their interlocked fingers, and then started to drag him ahead.
It wasn’t all that long until they were being buckled into their seats, Keith’s knuckles stark-white where they gripped the support beam in front of them. Lance chuckled, reaching over to squeeze his hand reassuringly. He left his touch light, giving Keith plenty of time to swat it away. This was slightly more obvious than any of the other fleeting touches they’d shared today, he wouldn’t blame Keith if he reacted negatively.
He didn’t though, simply relaxed his grip slightly and breathed a shaky breath out.
“If I die on a roller coaster when the universe needs me to save it, my ghost is going to give you absolute hell, McClain.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Lance responded easily, laughing excitedly when the ride lurched ahead and they start to slowly ascend the first hill.
Three dramatic drops later and Lance was screaming every other turn, the ride going so fast his eyes were tearing up at the wind whipping his face. Keith was in a similar state next to him, tears gathering in his wet eyes and hair blowing haphazardly in every which direction. They were both smiling like fools though, grinning so hard their jaws ached. “This is fun!”
“Were you not expecting it to be?!” Lance yelled back, trying to be heard over the wind and the other riders in their cart. Keith shook his head, smirking over at Lance. “Jerk!”
“Woo!” Keith yelled, throwing his hands up over his head as they began to drop again. Lance paled and began to scream, gripping the support beam for dear life as they toppled toward the planet’s surface all over again.
“Ahhh!”
“You scream like a little girl!” Keith yelled, giggling wildly as the ride started to slow to a halt. He doubled over the beam, laughing so hard he seemed to wheeze for air. Lance blinked away the wetness in his eyes, turning to Keith as he shouted.
“What did you just say to me, Kogane?!” He’d probably been planning on saying more, but he couldn’t really remember when his gaze landed on Keith’s bubbly state next to him. Keith laughed wildly, leaning into Lance’s side for support when the person monitoring the ride lifted the beam in front of them.
Lance chuckled, shooting an apologetic smile to the alien as he helped the cackling Keith to his feet and led him toward the exit. He’d never heard Keith laugh so much. He definitely looked happier than Lance had ever seen him. Lance sighed contently, surprised when Keith continued to lean into his side even as his laughter died out. “Wow, that was-’
“Amazing!” Keith exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
“So, final review? Better than the ferris wheel?”
“Hmm…” Keith hummed, looking up at the sky thoughtfully. “Nope.”
“You’re just saying that to-”
“No, I’m not.” Keith shook his head, turning to Lance with a chuckle. He opened his mouth, hesitating when he registered how close they were. He didn’t back away though, simply stayed where he was long enough for Lance to clue in to the tension between them as well, and then quietly continued. “I really like that one. This one was more fun and I definitely want to go on it again right now , but that one felt more special. Maybe because it was my first experience like that? I don’t know.”
“Oh.” Lance breathed, wondering if Keith could feel the exhale against his lips with how close they were right now. Lance looked back to the roller coaster, heart racing in his chest. “You wanna go again?”
“Hell yeah.” Keith responded determinedly, eyes zeroing in on the ride. Lance laughed, leading the way back to the entrance.
Turns out, Lance was unknowingly contributing to the making of a monster. How was he supposed to know that dragging Keith onto one roller coaster meant they’d spend the next few hours alternating between the most intense rides in the park? Lance was green-faced and queasy while Keith was bouncing eagerly ahead of him, so filled with adrenaline it seemed to leak out of him.
“Let’s try that one now!” Keith suggested loudly, pointing toward some kind-of upside-down contraption that Lance wouldn’t be caught dead inside. He liked the thrill, but he didn’t have a death wish.
“Oh God, I’ve made a terrible mistake.” He groaned, doubling over. Keith jerked on their locked hands, trying to drag him ahead for a solid ten seconds before realizing that Lance was in a state. “Keith, I’m glad you’re having a good time, but if you drag me back onto that roller coaster I will pull a Hunk and puke all over the place.”
“Ugh.” Keith groaned, kneeling in front of him so they could make eye contact. Lance smiled sheepishly down at him, surprised to see how much concern was in the eyes peering up at him. Lance blinked, smile fading into something much shyer. Keith reached up, smoothing his thumb over Lance’s cheek. “Okay, we can take a break, I wanna go check out the games anyway.”
“Keith, I’m pretty sure they’re all rigged if this place is anything like Earth.” Lance commented, but Keith wasn’t listening to him whatsoever. It was generally a lesson one had to learn for themselves anyway. So Lance allowed Keith to approach one of the terrible dart-throwing games, expecting the worst.
Keith got a prize on his first try. Lance cried out in outrage. “How did you do that?”
“You gonna go again? Risk your small prize to upgrade to a bigger one?” The gamerunner asked, leaning over the counter with a sneer. Keith nodded.
“Yeah.” Keith said, sounding determined. Lance laughed, clapping him on the back. His head was still spinning slightly, so he eyed a nearby bench and made his decision.
“I’m going to go sit over there, okay? Don’t get lost.” Lance exclaimed, walking over and collapsing onto the bench ungracefully. He leaned back, focusing on taking deep breath, his eyes falling closed. He sat there for a long while, waiting for Keith to wander back to him.
A weight settled next to him probably half an hour later and he cracked an eye open, glancing to the other end of the bench. His eyes widened when he saw a garbage bag filled with stuffed toys and similar prizes.
“Lance.” Keith deadpanned. Lance looked up, finding Keith standing in front of him, hands on his hips.
“What?”
“I’m out of tickets.” Keith explained, pulling the pockets of his jeans out to make a point. Lance sat up, finding he felt considerably better. He turned toward the pile of prizes next to him, spotting a few things that he wouldn’t mind snagging for his room.
“You won all of that?”
“Yeah.” Keith answered gruffly.
“That’s amazing, Keith.” Lance laughed, reaching into the bag and pulling out a tiny shark-like plushie. He held it up, grinning. “These are cool.”
“I guess.” Keith grumbled in response, sounding not-at-all impressed. Lance sighed loudly, leaning forward and staring up at Keith with bored eyes.
“Alright, spit it out, what’s with the pout?”
“I found the coolest prize at the last stall and I ran out of tickets trying to win it.” Keith whined, raking his hands through his messy hair.
And, well, okay, Lance hadn’t expected the complaint to be quite so cute. Damn, Keith was on a roll today with this being cute shit, it was a little unsettling. There were girls that Lance had actively tried to get with that he didn’t find cute this often. Shit, come to think of it, Lance had been being awfully touchy-feely with Keith lately… maybe that crush thing was coming back into play.
Not now, Lance.
“Well, I suppose I could spare some change.” Lance spoke up, digging most of his remaining tickets out and handing them to Keith. Keith looked hesitant about accepting another donation, but his eagerness seemed to win out as he snatched them up.
“You don’t mind?” Keith asked, even though he was hurriedly pocketing the tickets and clearly had no intentions of giving them back. Lance laughed, shaking his head. “Thanks, I’ll be right back.”
Keith wasn’t joking either, he was right back just a few short minutes later. He stomped over to the bench, arms crossed over his chest, and angrily shoved a couple small prizes into his bag of treasures with a scowl so deep it was blatantly obvious he hadn’t won what he wanted to. Lance laughed, placing the bag on the other side of himself and sliding closer to Keith.
“Don’t tell me.”
“I shot the target and it just bounced right off! It makes no sense!” Keith exploded, voice raising enough that it caught the attention of some nearby people. Lance ignored them, focusing solely on Keith. He reached over, patting his thigh.
“Calm down, hothead.” Lance laughed, getting to his feet. He gestured to the prizes, rolling his shoulders and smirking. “Gather these up and come with me, I’ll show you how it’s done.”
“Oh, I bet you will.” Keith snarked, slinging the garbage bag over his shoulder all the same as he sulked after Lance. “What are you gonna do? Try and flirt with the worker so she’ll take pity on you? Bribe her with your body?”
In the end, Keith had to lead Lance rather than the other way around. Lance’s ego didn’t back down whatsoever though, considering the way he lumbered up to the booth and pushed his sleeves up his arms to expose his biceps. Keith rolled his eyes, leaning against the counter while Lance surveyed the game. It was a simple target game, but given that Keith had hit the bullseye straight-on without winning anything… there had to be some kind of method to it.
He leaned down, eyeing the edge of the targets and noticing that the lip over each of them made it nearly impossible to shoot the upper half of the target. Interesting. A weak spot?
“It’s one shot for two tickets,” the owner of the game spoke, addressing the both of them, “or three shots for five tickets.”
“I’ll only need one.” Lance spoke confidently, though he was trembling inside hoping his suspicion was true. After sliding the tickets across the table, he grabbed the small pellet-gun and leaned down to look at the targets from an upward angle.
“It’s harder than it looks, Lance.” Keith sighed, kneeling next to him to try and figure out what the hell kind of game Lance was playing at.
“Hey, have a little faith, they don’t call me the sharpshooter for nothing.” Lance spoke out of the corner of his mouth, closing one eye to stare through the focus on the gun.
“They don’t call you the sharpshooter, no one does.” Keith argued, leaning closer to him to get a better view of what was happening. Lance smirked, turning to wink at him as soon as he pulled the trigger.
“You’re gonna start after this, babe.” He drawled, listening to the quiet thud of the bullet hitting the target, then the immediately following rip as it flew right through the un-penetrable material.
“Winner! Winner! Winner!” The mechanics overhead shouted repeatedly, lights flashing all around the booth. Lance smirked, wondering if he was the first one to ever figure out the weak spot. He turned to Keith, flexing his arms.
“Ready to kiss the ground I walk on or what?”
“Lance!” Keith shouted happily, clapping his hands together excitedly. He looked up, studying the rows of prizes with a smile so big it was practically blinding. “I can’t believe you did that!”
“I know, I know, I’m pretty unbelievable.” Lance chuckled smugly, brushing the non-existent dust from his shirt. He turned to address the gamerunner, even managed to open his mouth, before his jaw was slammed back shut so harshly his brain seemed to rattle as Keith hugged him. Not just any hug, oh no, a full-on tackle hug that had him throwing his arms around Lance’s shoulders and kicking his feet up as he clung to him.
Lance staggered backward, hands settling on Keith’s hips and trying to keep them both upright.
“Thank-you!” Keith laughed, hands sliding across Lance’s back until finally he simply lowered himself back down to the ground. He didn’t back away far though, just enough to look Lance in the eye and smile at him like he’d just handed over the stars rather than a cheap carnival game prize.
“I-It’s no trouble, really.” Lance stuttered out, suddenly very certain that his crush from before was back in full-force. Actually, it’d probably never left, no way was there any moment in this reality since meeting Keith that Lance couldn’t see how obviously and beautifully perfect the other boy was for him. Oh geez.
“Alright, you won the grand prize, take your pick out of any of the things hanging overhead.” The alien running the game grumbled, clearly unpleased that their rigged operation had been bested. Lance laughed, nudging Keith.
“That’s you, dude.” Keith looked over at him, eyes sparkling.
“That one!” He shouted, pointing toward something absolutely huge and… pink. Lance watched curiously as the alien fished it down with a hook and handed it over, eyes widening as Keith immediately engulfed the giant plushie in a hug. Oh, wow, that was… catch Lance out here swooning with forty alien eyes all glued to him at once.
“A giant, pink… hippo?” Lance guessed, just barely able to see the face settled against Keith’s shoulder. The shorter boy nodded hurriedly though, spinning it around so he could give the hippo a piggy-back instead, making eye contact with Lance again. “You just hugged me to the edge of suffocation over a hippo plushie as tall as Pidge?”
“Yes!” Keith exclaimed without any shame whatsoever. Lance wordlessly offered to carry all of the prizes Keith had snubbed, walking alongside him dazedly as he carried the hippo around like it was somehow more valuable than the sword Lance had splurged on for him earlier.
Eventually, Keith caught on to Lance’s staring and looked over to meet his gaze. For a terrifying moment Lance was worried that Keith might think he was being judged, but instead he just gave a quiet wistful sigh and turned back to the path ahead of them. “You said you wanted to know more about me? My favorite animal has been a hippo for as long as I can remember.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” Keith spoke, pausing when he undoubtedly realized what a not-answer that was. Lance laughed, leading him over to a picnic table. He tried not to coo when Keith settled the hippo next to him at the table like it was an actual friend. “I used to have a stuffed animal of one as a kid. I don’t even know where I got it, I was bouncing around a lot back then, but that little guy went with me everywhere . I took a spell when I was six where I refused to talk to anyone unless I did it through my hippo.”
“What? Like a puppet?” Lance snorted, shaking his head at the image of a tiny Keith speaking through his stuffed toys. It was so vulnerable and small, so unlike the Keith that stormed battlefields swinging his swords. Lance smiled, reminded once again why he’d decided to have this outing today in the first place, to get to know this other side of Keith. “Do you still have it?”
“Nah, I lost it at some point.” Keith explained, kicking Lance’s foot under the table. You’d bet your bottom dollar that Lance kicked him right back, resulting in a distracted game of footsies out of sight as the conversation continued. “I mean, I was a teenager by then, so not a big deal.”
“Right.” Lance nodding, making it clear that he was unconvinced as he watched Keith cling to this new hippo plushie like a lifeline. It had definitely been a big deal when Keith lost the original one, no matter how old he’d been.
“I still have a soft spot for them though.” Keith commented distractedly, kicking Lance’s foot particularly hard to get his attention. Lance opened his mouth to shout at him, but decided not to when he saw the playful way Keith was smiling at him. Was he… flirting? “Thank-you, Lance.”
“Don’t mention it.” Lance chuckled nervously, jumping to his feet so fast he knocked his knees against the underside of the table. He looked around, pointing out a food stall. “Food, right? You want some of it? Hungry?”
Smooth, Lance, effortlessly smooth.
Keith seemed amused if nothing else, hiding his smile behind his hand even though his eyes gave it all away on him. “Yeah, sure.”
“What do you want?” Lance asked, finding it a little difficult to draw a breath when Keith was looking at him like that. Keith tilted his head to the side, eyeing the options written along the side of the stall with disinterest. He turned back to Lance, quirking an eyebrow.
“Surprise me, let’s test how well you know me now.”
“I don’t know you at all!” Lance hissed in outrage. Keith didn’t look like he was going to budge on the matter though, so Lance trudged up to the stall. He eyed the options, failing to recognize any of them.
“Order?” The person behind the counter asked, looking focused. Lance shifted, looking over his shoulder and noticing a group of alien girls eating at their picnic table. He grinned, pointing out what looked to be a bowl full of curly fries.
“Uh, whatever that is.” He explained, grinning at the server. He waited a short while before retrieving his food after paying, and then headed back to Keith with it held over his head like a trophy. He placed it down in the middle of the table, waiting for Keith’s reaction. “Enjoy a whopping bowl of not-quite-fries.”
“Playing it safe?” Keith scoffed, grabbing a not-quite-fry and eating it. “Everyone likes fries, Lance.”
“I don’t wanna get you sick or something.” Lance grumbled, planning on saying more before a hand settled on his shoulder. He looked up, seeing the group of alien girls from earlier surrounding him. He lifted an eyebrow, turning to face them properly.
“Excuse me, but could you show us where the wheel is?” One of them asked, leaning closer. Keith watched the exchange closely, fingers drumming against the tabletop as he awaited the inevitable. It was only a matter of time before Lance realized this girl was blatantly flirting with him, trying to drag him away somewhere. Then he’d expect Keith to come with or stay here all alone.
Damn, just when Keith was getting used to having Lance all to himself, thinking he might like to have him just like this for the foreseeable future.
“Uh, I'm kind of busy right now, but I can give you directions?” Lance suggested brightly, flashing a smile over at Keith. That was… unexpected. “It’s right around the corner of that building, you can’t miss it.”
“Great, thanks.” The girl replied, sounding all too disappointed as she sulked away with her friends in tow. Lance turned back to their food, grabbing a fry to bite into.
“You like them?” He asked suddenly, nudging Keith’s foot. Keith blinked, still staring after the girls as they left, feeling just the slightest bit smug that Lance had picked him .
“Hm?”
“The fries.” Lance clarified, waving one in Keith’s face. Keith swatted it away, before laughing and grabbing one out of the bowl anyway.
“Yeah, they’re good.”
“I passed the knowing-Keith test, then?” Lance prompted, leaning across the table so they were much closer, so Keith could see the way his pupils dilated as they made eye contact. Keith swallowed harshly, shoving him away and back into his respective seat.
“Don’t get cocky on me now.” Keith teased, sticking his tongue out. Lance leaned forward, settling his chin in his hands.
“I’ll get cocky on you whenever I want.” He responded easily, almost too easily. Keith went fuschia and Lance’s eyes widened with realization too-late, the innuendo hitting him like an oncoming train. Oh, oh no, Keith looked murderous. “Uh… that didn’t come out how I meant-”
“Shut-up.” Keith mumbled, looking down at the table and hiding his smile behind a scowl. Idiot.
--
“Keith, come on, I promised Allura we’d be heading back to the ship when the sun started to set.”
“You’re just a big baby when it comes to heights.” Keith countered, spinning around and giving his best set of puppy-dog eyes to Lance. The will to protest was already depleting, Lance’s heart feeling light in his chest, like he might fly away. “Please?”
“Fine.” Lance caved, allowing Keith to drag him back to the damn ferris wheel once again. He settled into the line, Keith’s fingers snug between his own, Keith’s animated chatter next to him making him relax into the setting. Truth was, he’d had his fill of looking out over the carnival from the top of the ferris wheel, maybe he did have a fear of heights just a little bit, but Keith made it an enjoyable experience every single time anyway.
“This must be the tenth time I’ve seen you two today.” The person monitoring the ride greeted them, helping them into their seat. While Keith had placed the hippo between them every ride they’d been on since getting it, ridiculously protective of the damn thing, this time he slid closer to Lance and sat in the middle instead.
Lance tensed, lifting an arm almost cautiously and watching as Keith leaned into the space he’d made without a word. The ride wasn’t all that bad, Keith commented on something different he could see every time they reached the top, his head resting heavier and heavier on Lance’s chest each time they’d go around.
When the ride lurched to a side stop just before they reached the top for the fifth time, Keith sat up in total outrage.
“Ugh, is it over already? I swear it gets shorter every time!” He yelled, probably trying to make sure the person running the ride heard. Lance stared over at him, watched as the ride shifted again as another couple was let out and they lifted higher, up to the top. Keith’s anger faded in an instant, eyes widening as he looked out across their view.
And Lance… Lance knew it was a beautiful view. Despite his deal with the height they were at, he’d looked out across the shining lights and lakes reflecting starlight enough times tonight to know that it was one of the most gorgeous things he’d ever have the chance to commit to memory. This was his last chance to get a good look at it, to really memorize this night for what it was.
Yet he couldn’t bring himself to look away from Keith, as Keith looked out over the lakes and his eyes went glassy and soft, his lips curling into a little smile. Lance traced the outline of Keith’s face instead, committing every inch of it to memory for what was probably the millionth time, and what would definitely not be the last time.
God, did he ever want to kiss him.
“What?” Keith asked, making Lance become suddenly aware of the fact the ride had moved again and at some point Keith had lost his view of the planet enough to look back at Lance instead. He’d caught Lance staring, shit.
“Nothing.” Lance lied, terribly.
“Clearly it was something.” Keith argued, looking self-conscious as he swiped his sleeve over his cheek, hesitant. “Do I have something on my face?”
“No, you’re fine, Keith.” Lance laughed, shaking his head. Keith shot him a look and Lance rolled his eyes, deciding to change the subject. He reached out, running his hand over Keith’s knuckles, exposed just above his gloves. “You look cold.”
“Oh, I guess.” Keith mumbled, shifting his not-at-all practical jacket down so it would cover his middle better. “It’s kinda chilly now that the sun isn’t out.”
“Here.” Lance offered, wiggling out of his jacket. He handed it to Keith, smiling openly even as the cold nipped at his bare skin. Keith shot him a skeptical look, like he realized what an idiot Lance was being by offering his jacket to someone already wearing one, but he accepted it anyway. Lance watched proudly as Keith shoved his arms through the oversized jacket, snuggling into it like he belonged there. As far as Lance was concerned, he most definitely did.
“Thanks.” Keith hummed, leaning closer again and resting his head on Lance’s shoulder. “You know something?”
“What?” Lance asked, cautiously wrapping an arm around the other boy’s shoulders and pulling him impossibly closer.
“I kinda hope it breaks down so we can stay up here.” And just as quickly as Lance had pulled him closer, Lance was pushing him away with a screech of disgust.
“Are you insane?!”
“I knew you were scared of heights!” Keith accused, pointing a finger directly into Lance’s face. Lance swatted his hand away, all of his fears brought back to the forefront of his mind at the though of the ride breaking down, leaving them like this.
“Don’t act like I didn’t notice you tensing up every time a clown walked by!” Lance snapped back, glaring Keith down. Keith glared right back, until their composure broke and they both started to laugh.
“Clowns are scary!” Keith whined, shoving Lance gently, before grabbing a fistful of his shirt and pulling him closer still.
“You’re ridiculous.” Lance scoffed, poking Keith in the chest. He leaned back, opening his arms. “Come here?”
“What, finally gonna return the favor and cradle me in your arms?” Keith scoffed, though he was all but clambering into Lance’s lap moments later, given the limited space they had to work with. Lance laughed, running his hands through Keith’s hair, gently smoothing out the knots from a long day out in the wind.
He leaned closer, nuzzling his face into Keith’s hair.
“Is it just me or does this feel like a bonding moment to you?” He whispered, biting back a smirk. He expected Keith to groan, to be at least a little bit annoyed given how much he usually reacted when Lance joked about remembering their bonding moment, but this time he just shrugged. He relaxed against Lance’s chest, sighing contently.
“Something like that, maybe.” He whispered back, burying his face into Lance’s neck. Lance gulped, holding him closer. Maybe Keith was onto something about the ride breaking down and letting them have this moment forever…
As all good things do, it did end eventually. Their seat reached the bottom and the alien helped them to their feet, Lance expecting Keith to scramble away now. He didn’t though, instead clinging onto Lance’s side and the hippo both at once somehow.
“Enjoy your night!” The person running the ride called out to them, watching as Keith lugged his hippo around and Lance gathered up the rest of their prizes from where they’d left them. They started out in the general direction of the hill they’d left their lions on, leaning into each other and chatting warmly.
“Okay, no, get your eyes off of that concession stand.” Lance laughed, tugging Keith away from yet another death by cotton candy. “You’ve had enough sugar to kill a diabetic, you’re done. We’re going back now.”
“You’re such a bore.” Keith protested, trying to look intimidating as he glared over at Lance, despite the giant pink hippo riding on his back. Lance rolled his eyes.
“You didn’t even wanna come today, you’re the real bore.”
They reached the sea of sales tents not long after and Lance led the way, holding Keith extra close as they veered through the crowds that had cleared out drastically since earlier in the day. They stopped a couple times to check out things Keith had been too bashful to look into when they’d first come across them this morning.
They were nearly in the clear, about to emerge from the crowd and head back into the woods their lions were in the middle of, when Keith suddenly tugged Lance abruptly to the side. Lance stumbled into the dark space between two tents, not unlike an alleyway.
He was expecting Keith to lean in close and talk about a threat coming their way, like he had so many times before when he yanked Lance into a secluded place during battle. This time though, he looked even more nervous than when there were soldiers stomping toward them by the hundreds.
“Lance, can you promise me something?” Keith asked, looking incredibly small. Lance glanced around, trying to figure out what was bothering him. He stepped closer, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder.
“Yeah, of course.” Lance assured him, offering a small smile. “Anything.”
“Be honest with me.” Keith spoke evenly, locking eyes with him. “Why are you doing all of this? It’s not that I’m not having fun, this has been the best day I’ve had in months, but… I still don’t get your motivation here. You don’t get anything out of this, it doesn’t make sense .”
“I get to see you smile.” Lance argued, shaking his head in protest immediately. Keith groaned, gently slapping him upside the end.
“Lance.” Keith pleaded, begging him to lay his curiosity to rest. He needed to know why Lance was doing this. He couldn’t go back to the castle without knowing they were both on the same page. He couldn’t go on pretending things were the same as they were before Shiro had gone missing. Things had changed, but he was finally starting to think it might be for the better.
Then Lance had to go and open his big dumb mouth, looking incredibly guilty. Keith’s hopes were sent plummeting to the floor.
“Promise not to be mad?” Lance asked, biting his lip. “When we were cleaning, we stumbled across the tapes for all those vlogs Coran had us film.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes.” Lance laughed, not sounding amused in the slightest. “I only wanted to watch Coran’s to make fun of him a little bit, but then yours ended up in the player and… it just messed me up a little bit. I’ve never seen you like that before.”
The gears that had been turning and whirring in Keith’s mind all night came to an abrupt stop, replaced by an aching emptiness. He blinked rapidly, giving out his own humorless laugh as he turned away from Lance, everything suddenly falling into place. Of course Lance wasn’t doing this just because he wanted to spend time with him, just because he enjoyed it. He felt obligated because Keith was the poor orphan with mommy issues.
“So this has been a pity outing, okay.” Keith confirmed aloud, mostly for his own benefit. “Oh wow, all of this makes sense now, geez.”
“It’s not a pity outing.”Lance all but growled, grabbing Keith’s arm before he could take off running back to his lion. He struggled against Lance’s grip all the same though, blinking back tears and refusing to look up long enough for Lance to notice as much.
“That’s what my social worker used to say every time they took me out to ice cream to break bad news to me, it’s what Shiro said when he took me out to the movies the night before leaving on the Kerberos mission, it’s-”
“It’s not a pity outing!” Lance snapped, grip on Keith’s arm tightening to almost painful. Keith gasped, whipping his head up to bite out an insult, something no doubt venomous and cruel and… defensive. He felt cornered and weak, like an idiot who had fallen for a beautiful lie and was now paying the price.
Lance gripped his jaw the moment he looked up though, refusing to let him look away, his hold gentle but insistent. “I don’t pity you, I’m impressed by you and how well you’re handling all that you’ve got going on. I just want you to know that you have someone to turn to if it ever does get to be too much for you. You’re doing your own thing and it works for you, but I’m here if you ever need me to be.”
“So it’s a suck-up outing, where you take me out and make sure I’m in a good mood before lecturing me on how badly I’m handling my life.” Keith concluded, nodding angrily. “Shiro took me on a lot of those, too.”
“No! Stop trying to turn this into something that’s against you! It’s not any of those things.” Lance yelled in exasperation, raking his hands through his hair. “It’s just two friends, mutually caring for each other, and enjoying their time together. I missed spending time with you, isn’t that enough?!”
“We could have done that back at the castle, you didn’t have to spend a year’s worth of your allowance to be my friend!” Keith shouted back, hands landing on his hips. He tossed his hippo onto the ground, fire burning in his eyes. “Liar!”
Lance grit his teeth, tugging on his own hair and trying his best not to play into their usual dynamic. He couldn’t help it though, Keith always did this just when things were starting to go good between them. A quick lash-out and suddenly all of their progress was gone again, Lance was left wondering why he’d ever felt that happiness in the first place. He was so damn defensive, every second of every day, it was impossible to get close to him!
He turned to Keith, shouting the first things that came to mind.
“Fine! It’s a date! We’re on a big fat date and I’m spending all of my money to impress you!” Lance shouted at him, stepping closer and getting all up in his space. “Does that make you happy? Or are you gonna assume the worst and accuse me of just trying to get into your pants?!”
It was at this close proximity that Lance got to watch as Keith’s expression shifted from something vicious and cold, back into that same doe-eyed confused loser from before. Keith blinked up at him, slowly shaking his head.
“W-What?” He managed weakly, shrugging his shoulders. “This isn’t a date .”
“What part of it isn’t a date?” Lance asked, forcing himself to calm down and use an even tone. Maybe this time would be different, maybe he’d be able to talk some sense into Keith before everything went down the drain. “You’re wearing my jacket, you’re carrying a giant stuffed animal I won for you , and I’ve spent the entire day using my best lines on you. It’s a date if you want it to be a date.”
Keith stared at him for a long moment, opening his mouth only to close it again without saying a single word. He turned to leave, then promptly turned back, holding up a hand to silence Lance who’d had no intentions of speaking to begin with.
“Do you want it to be a date?” Keith asked, lifting a single eyebrow.
“I’m f-flexible, I don’t care what this is.” Lance stuttered out, the adrenaline draining from his body and helping him realize just what he’d suggested during the heat of the moment. Fuck, that was going to be so embarrassing if Keith didn’t feel the same. It was time to backtrack fast, give an easy out. “Listen, the only thing I wanted to get out of this was the chance to see you look happy. After watching that vlog, I realized that I can count the amount of times I’ve seen you laugh or smile on two hands. I don’t pity you, I don’t look down on you, I don’t want anything from you... I just wanna be there for you.”
Keith’s expression shifted into something unreadable, emotions flickering through his eyes so fast that Lance couldn’t recognize any of them. He stood his ground though, refusing to go back on what he said just now. He stood in front of Keith, his posture open despite knowing he was inviting even more hurt if Keith turned it back against him.
Eventually, the unreadable look in Keith’s eyes gave way to something much more universal, and tears began to slide down his cheeks in heavy streaks. He shoved Lance back a step and Lance assumed the worst, that an actual physical fight was about to happen between them, before Keith barreled forward and collapsed into his chest.
“You’re an idiot.” Keith growled, hitting Lance’s chest so lightly that it didn’t hurt in the slightest. Lance snorted, reaching between them to grab Keith’s fist and keep it from hitting him anymore, instead gently prying it open and holding his hand.
“You say that, but I’m pretty sure those are happy tears, so either you’re lying or you’ve got a thing for idiots.” Lance responded breathily, squeezing Keith’s hand. Keith looked up at him, smiling through his tears and giving a wet laugh. He swiped the sleeves of Lance’s jacket across his face, getting rid of most the tears all at once before leaning forward.
Lance’s eyes widened just as Keith’s fell shut, hands winding through Lance’s shirt and gripping it tight as their lips met. Lance forced his eyes clothed, trying to enjoy the moment even as his heart lodged itself somewhere in his throat, racing so fast he found it difficult to remember to breathe.
It wasn’t even much of a kiss, it was mostly Keith slamming his close-mouthed lips against Lance’s open shocked ones, clearly inexperienced in whatever he was trying to initiate here. It took Lance a minute to catch up enough to attempt kissing him back and by then Keith was self-consciously leaning away.
“Was that okay?” Keith asked, sounding nervous. Lance reached up between them, ghosting his fingertips across his lips that felt fuzzy. Actually, all of him felt fuzzy, as he quickly realized.
“You kissed me.”
“You said you were flexible, I just assumed-”
“You kissed me!” Lance repeated, this time shouting it loud enough that some people outside of the alley paused to stare down at them. He shook his head, brushing the layer of disbelief off and gaping at Keith in shock. “You like me?”
“I mean, I guess, you’re not the most intolerable person in the universe or anything-”
“Do you kiss everyone that isn’t the most intolerable person in the universe?” Lance countered, squealing excitedly when Keith simply shrugged, resigned to his fate. He was admitting to it, confessing in his own awkward Keith-like way. “You like me. You’ve been playing hard to get this whole time.”
“I’m not playing anything, that’s just who I am.” Keith grumbled, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. Try as he may to seem angry now, Lance knew him well enough to see through the act. He was only acting defensive because he was scared of how Lance would react. “Was it okay? We don’t have to-”
“Come here.” Lance whispered, opening his arms. Keith cast a wary glance around, then stepped closer into Lance’s hold. He was expecting a normal hug, maybe even another kiss if he got lucky. Keith was not expecting for lanky limbs to wrap around him in a constricting hug and lift him straight off the ground, spinning him around like a ragdoll.
“Lance!” Keith squealed, thrashing around angrily. Well, he was trying to seem angry, but he couldn’t possibly chase the smile from his face now that everything was suddenly going so much better. He eventually started to giggle, leaning against Lance for all of his support. “Put me down! People are staring!”
“You have the prettiest smile.” Lance swooned aloud, staring up at Keith with a soft, awed gaze. He lowered Keith down just slightly, so the red paladin could wrap his legs around Lance’s hips. Keith settled against him easily, his face aflame with a blush.
“Shut-up.” Keith grumbled, hand settling in Lance’s hair and carding through it. Lance practically purred, leaning into the touch and closing his eyes.
“How about you make me this time, Samurai?” Lance countered, eyes fluttering open to stare down at Keith with a suggestive glint. Keith smirked, leaning up as Lance met him halfway, their lips meeting with far more ease this time. Lance led the kiss, holding Keith closer as their mouths moved together, slow and exploring, oh so tentative.
Lance was almost certain he’d just earned the title of Keith’s first kiss, something no one would hear the end of until approximately never.
When they broke apart, it was only for Lance to spin them around and lead Keith backward until he was backed against the nearest building. His back was pressed to the bricks and Lance’s mouth was on him again in a second. First Lance was kissing his mouth so hot and fast that Keith’s head spun, then nipping and sucking at Keith’s neck until his knees went weak, and finally pressing a close-mouthed chaste kiss to Keith’s exposed collarbone. “I can’t believe we didn’t do this sooner.”
“Mm.” Keith sighed, gripping Lance’s hair and pushing him back to his neck. Lance snickered, nipping at one of the places that’d had Keith squirming in front of him before.
“From now on, I’m going to spend all my free-time trying to make you smile.” Lance concluded aloud, straightening up to smile goofily down at Keith. Keith chuckled, grinning up at him.
“Oh God, no.” He groaned, swatting Lance playfully away. Ignoring that entirely, Lance leaned in again to place sloppy kisses all over Keith’s face.
“Nope, I know how much you love me now, you can’t scare me off that easily.” Lance continued wickedly, pressing his lips to the corner of Keith’s, debating if they had enough time for another proper kiss before Allura would come hunt them down. Eh, they could afford to make time for it.
Lance leaned back, biting his lip. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I sure hope not.” Keith responded quietly, gripping the back of Lance’s neck and pulling him down for another kiss.
It was a kiss that would quickly bleed into another, and maybe another after that, until eventually Pidge and Hunk would come looking for them and then even after finding them… decide to leave them be. It was overdue anyway, Keith and Lance had been fighting this for so long, it only made sense to let them have their moment now.