Archive of Our Own ^beta

Lance woke up to the sound of crying. That in itself was disconcerting, but what was truly confusing was he was lying down on pavement.

No wait…

He knew this one. He must’ve taken a nap under the solar panels on the Garrison roof again. Lance couldn’t help the temptation. It was shady and dark underneath yet warm from the panels collecting the sun’s rays. It was the perfect spot to nap where he wouldn’t get woken up by his roommates. Though today he hadn’t come up with the intent to nap. That must’ve just happened.

But the crying though…

Is it weird that Lance touched his own face just to make sure it wasn’t him? Okay, no tears. Someone else was crying. Someone else was crying on the Garrison roof.

Lance rolled to his stomach and army crawled towards the source of the noise. When he got to the edge of the solar panel he’d been hiding under, he peeked out to see who was out there. Lance had to rub his eyes to be sure he wasn’t still dreaming since who he saw didn’t make sense. Still… he’d recognize that mullet anywhere.

Keith Kogane. Keith “star of the fighter class” Kogane was crying on the roof of the Garrison.

The best thing to do in this situation would be for Lance to back away and hide until Keith left. So Lance went about crawling backwards and immediately hit his head.

“Ah – dammit!” cried Lance, regretting opening his big mouth.

“Who’s there?” snapped Keith’s voice.

Lance had honestly never been more terrified. He froze and said nothing, hoping to the high heavens he could get away with it.

“I already heard you so just come out already!” demanded Keith.

Sheepishly, Lance crawled out, accepting his fate. Keith studied him, not saying anything. Lance took the silence as an opportunity to stand up, brush himself off then lean casually against the solar panel he’d been sleeping under.

“Hey, uh, come here often?” asked Lance, trying to be as smooth as possible.

“You spying on me?” asked Keith, ignoring Lance’s very friendly question and replacing it with his own accusatory question.

“No, I was just napping,” sputtered Lance, “and I heard crying.”

“I wasn’t crying,” lied Keith who definitely looked like he’d just been crying.

“I misspoke. I was dreaming I heard someone crying and then I woke up and saw you, but you obviously weren’t crying because you’re too tough to cry.”

Without meaning to, Lance found himself inching forward towards the spot where Keith was sitting with his legs dangling off the edge of the roof.

“I mean… I’ve seen you upset before and you’re much more the type to punch away your problems then cry them out.”

“You talk a lot,” said Keith.

“I… have gotten that note before,” said Lance as he sat down beside Keith. What was he doing?

“What are you doing?” asked Keith, echoing Lance’s thoughts.

“Sitting beside you. It’s usually what people do when they’re having a conversation.”

“I came up here to be alone.”

“Yeah but… you’re always alone anyway.”

Lance caught that look before Keith hid it. He’d just poked something sore deep inside Keith and suddenly Lance was reevaluating everything he’d assumed was true about him. He’d been sure Mr. Gifted never spoke to anyone because he thought he was better than everyone else. It never occurred to him that maybe Keith wanted to talk, but just wasn’t. Likely because his idea of conversing involved trying to end the conversation as soon as it started.

“Whatever,” grumbled Keith, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I rarely do,” agreed Lance, “But… do you wanna talk now? Like, talk about why you were crying? I promise I’m fully capable of shutting up and listening when the situation calls for it.”

“I wasn’t crying,” muttered Keith then he sniffed quite audibly suggesting that yes, he had been crying.

“Right,” said Lance with a nod. “I guess I’m the only one here who’s ever cried on this rooftop.”

“You? Yeah right. Every time I see you you’re grinning. It’s like the world was made for you.”

This gave Lance pause. That was Keith’s impression of him? That was crazy. He’d been so certain that the world was made for Keith and his gifts.

“I did cry up here. Recently, even,” said Lance, knowing full well his usual grin was not on his face.

“Why?” asked Keith, suddenly more curious than skeptical.

“Because I was put into Cargo Class instead of Fighter Class,” Lance said quickly. It’s not like Keith wouldn’t know this. Lance had definitely bragged very loudly about how he was going to be a Fighter Pilot. The resulting cry of the failure to make it was equal parts disappointment and embarrassment over how cocky he’d been beforehand.

“Oh,” said Keith, plainly and apparently that was the only reaction Lance was going to get to that confession. The silence stretched out further than they could see across the desert. Lance was giving up on the idea of Keith sharing anything when he spoke again. “Why are you up here? Don’t you have a bed to nap in?”

Never mind. They were still on Lance.

“It didn’t start as a nap,” said Lance. “I was watching the Kerberos mission launch.”

Keith’s eyes widened a little at this. “You can see it from here?”

“Not very well,” chuckled Lance, “but I didn’t want to miss it. Commander Shirogane’s flying and he’s kinda my hero. Plus squinting at the sky is more fun than geometry class… Did I miss anything important by the way?”

“I missed it too,” said Keith. “I was watching the Kerberos launch from the air field.”

“Wait seriously?!” barked Lance. “How did you get the VIP seating?”

“Well, Shiro brought me to…,” Keith trailed off, shifting awkwardly. “Commander Shirogane,” said Keith, correcting himself. “I was his guest.”

“Oh, right,” said Lance, “I heard a rumour you were tight with him. How’d that happen?”

Keith seemed tense. He’d clammed right back up.

“Does it have to do with why you were crying?” asked Lance. As much as it seemed like Keith wanted Lance to let this go, he just couldn’t for some reason.

“Shiro’s kinda like a brother to me or somethin’ I dunno,” mumbled Keith.

“Oh,” said Lance, feigning understanding when really he didn’t understand at all.

“I’ve only really had two people in my life that I was close with. One was my Pops and the other is Shiro.”

“ Was your Pops?” repeated Lance, latching onto the past tense.

“Didn’t you hear the orphan foster kid rumours?” said Keith, bitterly looking down at his knees.

“Well, I never listen to rumours,” lied Lance. “So… you lost your dad and now Shiro went to space. Okay, yeah, I understand why you were crying.”

“Wasn’t crying,” grumbled Keith. “I just… got used to having a friend around.”

“I could be your friend,” said Lance quickly. Oh, mouth, why you no wait for brain? 

Keith gave Lance a look like he was the last person he’d pick as a friend. Time to backtrack on his offer.

“Look, you don’t have to be the kind of friend who has lunch with me everyday and listens to my every thought, because there are a lot of them, and you don’t even need to be seen with me if you don’t want your rep dragged down by a lowly Cargo Pilot, but… everyone should have a person to talk to when they need it. Someone they can admit they cried to. Someone in their corner no matter what. And if you can deal with it being me, my offer stands. No strings attached, just here if you need to talk.”

“I don’t think of you as lowly,” said Keith, and then he went quiet. 

Lance sat in the silence, calming himself. Keith didn’t need to accept him as a friend and he could even take his time considering the offer. It was the right thing to say because Lance couldn’t stand the thought of the person he thought had everything going for him, from raw talent to looks to connections, not having anyone to talk to.

“Okay,” muttered Keith so quietly Lance wasn’t sure he’d heard him.

“Okay?” repeated Lance.

“Yeah, okay,” confirmed Keith then he drew his knees up to his chest. Quietly he said, “I’ve never had a friend my own age before.”

******

“KEITH?!” bellowed Lance as he pushed open the roof access door. He looked around wildly for any sign of that mullet. “Keith, are you out here?”

Lance stalked forward, swinging his head around looking for his friend. If he wasn’t out here, he’d think of somewhere else to look. He had to find him. Keith couldn’t be alone right now.

“Lance?” His voice was a croak, but it got Lance’s attention immediately. He spun to see Keith curled up next to a solar panel, resting his head against it. His face looked like he’d been crying for some time. Lance cursed himself for taking so long to find him, for leaving him like this alone for what might’ve been hours.

“Keith…” His name came out like a huff of breath. Lance’s feet were moving, going to meet him.

Keith stood up as a greeting. Lance went on autopilot, forgetting all sense of boundaries between them as he walked right up against Keith and pulled him into a hug. To his surprise, Keith held him back. So he stayed like that, holding him, feeling every bit of pain and anguish flowing off of him. Cursing the world for doing this to Keith again.

“I’m so sorry about Shiro,” muttered Lance. “He was a good man and he didn’t deserve –”

“He’s still alive,” said Keith with force, cutting Lance off.

Lance had to step back out of the hug to look Keith in the eye. “Keith, it’s all over the news. The Kerberos mission crashed.”

“Missing and suspected dead,” said Keith.

“Okay, but I don’t think –”

“Shiro is the best pilot in the world,” said Keith, his tone defensive. “Would the best pilot in the world crash?”

“No matter how good you are, nothing’s one hundred percent . Iverson just held an assembly and announced they were dead. That’s where I was before. I got pulled in by my sister. Keith, they’re planning a memorial service at the Garrison…”

Keith stepped back further as Lance spoke. Lance could see by the betrayed look in his eye that he was arguing the wrong side of this, but he didn’t know how to get on Keith’s side. Keith needed this reality check, not false hope… right?

“They’re wrong and the Garrison is lying,” said Keith, coldly.

Lance took a deep breath and looked down as he spoke. “I understand you wanting that to be true –“

“It is true!” yelled Keith.

“I don’t know how you could know that!” Lance yelled back, losing the battle of staying calm.

“Because I can feel it!” Keith shuffled on his feet, too angry to stay still. “I felt the loss of my dad before they told me he’d died. I knew it in my gut before anyone confirmed it. With Shiro I still feel him. I know he’s out there! Him and I have this connection…” Keith’s energy ran out. He faltered, looking at Lance’s face. Lance recognized what that look was. Keith was waiting for a rejection from Lance and when it came, he was ready to push Lance away. Maybe for good.

“Okay,” said Lance, quietly, unsure if he was coming around out of self-preservation or because Keith was convincing him on some level. Bottom line was, he’d made a commitment to be there for Keith no matter what. That would be the entirety of their friendship and Lance was no quitter. “If you feel that way, then yes, it’s possible.”

The way Keith’s face changed to relief warmed Lance with the strangeness of its beauty. “Thank you.”

“So what do we do?” asked Lance.

“We find him.”

******

“LANCE?!” called out Keith’s voice.

“Over here,” said Lance from his spot at the edge of the roof.

“Oh, good. You’re not napping,” said Keith, stalking up to Lance with an uncharacteristic amount of energy.

“What’s gotten into you?” asked Lance as Keith dropped down to sit beside him, his knee knocking against Lance’s. That had been happening a lot lately, knee knocking. Sometimes the knee stayed touching his. Lance was trying not to get distracted by it. Especially when Keith was grinning like a mad man rather than answering Lance’s question.

“No, seriously,” repeated Lance, “what’s gotten into you? Wait… Did you do it?”

“Yep,” said Keith, proudly.

“Really?” gasped Lance. “So that’s it?”

“I’m officially expelled from the Garrison.”

“That’s amazing!” cheered Lance. He went to high five Keith and then, somehow, their fingers became tangled instead and then stayed that way, dropping down between their laps. That was a distraction… “How’d you do it?” asked Lance, eyes on their clasped hands.

“Punched Iverson in the eye,” said Keith, his smile tugging upwards to grow even bigger. Trust Keith to get excited over violence.

“Good eye or bad eye?” asked Lance.

“Obviously good eye,” said Keith. “There is no bad eye to hit.”

“Then what’s under the closed lid?” asked Lance. Then he gasped, “Wait… is there nothing under there? Oh, weird… but I wanna see it.”

“Lance, focus,” said Keith, tugging a little at his hand, but not letting go. “The plan?”

“Right, the plan. We’ve officially completed stage one of the plan. Okay, what’s next? Where do you go?”

“Out there,” said Keith, looking out at the desert. “It’s hard to explain, but… I feel something out there calling to me, drawing me to it.”

“It’s odd, but I feel that call too,” said Lance, well aware that he was looking at Keith and not the desert. There was a lot of energy in the air and Lance couldn’t deny that the more time they’d spent discussing finding Shiro, the more certain he became that Keith was right. Shiro was alive and they would somehow, with their Earthbound handicap, find him.

“But you’ll stay here,” said Keith, suddenly looking at Lance. Lance felt a blush like he’d been caught staring for too long. “I need you to find out what you can from the Garrison. See if you can uncover this cover-up.”

“I will try everything I can,” said Lance, “which might not be much. I wish I could help more.”

“You’re helping,” assured Keith, giving Lance’s hand a squeeze. Lance’s reassurance level rose to one thousand percent.

“I’ll see if Veronica can dig anything up. She’s actually got some security clearance and the way she’s been talking about Kerberos, I think she suspects something too.”

“Anything you can tell me… wait, how will you tell me?”

Lance chuckled. Reluctantly, he let go of Keith’s hand and dug into his book bag beside him. He’d been a bit nervous about giving Keith this, but suddenly it felt like it was a good idea after all.

“This is my old phone,” said Lance, pulling it out and handing it off to Keith. “I got that new Cadet, Pidge, to unlock it and put a new SIM in it. It’s prepaid so you can use it to contact me. I already put my number in there.”

Keith was looking through it, nodding along.

“I don’t know what kind of cell reception you’ll get in the desert, but just… contact me when you can so I know you’re okay.”

“I will,” said Keith. “You’ll be the first to know if I find anything.”

“Well, yeah,” chuckled Lance. “Who else would you talk to?”

“True,” agreed Keith, “and hey, maybe you’ll get my spot in Fighter Pilot Class.”

“I don’t care about that anymore,” said Lance with a shrug.

“Yeah, you do,” pressed Keith.

“I do,” laughed Lance. “And it’ll be a good distraction.”

“From?”

Oops. Lance had spoken without thinking it through again. Ugh, Keith was looking at him expectantly and Lance was blanking on a lie and the longer he didn’t speak the more of a big deal it was going to be when he finally lost it and said, “Missing you.”

Look at knees. Do not look at Keith. Be sure to make it completely obvious you meant as more than friends by your embarrassed aftermath of the confession.

“I’ll miss you too,” said Keith simply, as if they didn’t need to be completely ashamed of wanting to continue being around each other. “That’s why we need to solve this. When Shiro comes back, everything will go back to normal.”

“Including you ignoring my existence?”

“Lance,” scolded Keith.

“Kidding.”

“I gotta go,” said Keith, standing up. “I gotta grab my stuff and steal a Garrison bike.” Keith offered a hand to Lance. Lance didn’t need help standing up, but he took it and when he stood, neither of them let go. It was official, hand holding was the new knee touching. This was distracting, but… in a great way.

“Do you want help?” asked Lance. “I can play lookout.”

“No,” said Keith, looking down at their clasped hands. “Can’t risk you getting caught and getting kicked out too.”

“But then I could come to the desert with you,” said Lance.

“You have a family,” said Keith. “You get kicked out and they come looking for you and they worry if they don’t find you. No one’s looking for me.”

“Only because you’re going to tell me where you are,” said Lance. “That’s not the same as you being alone.”

“I know,” said Keith. “I guess I didn’t properly thank you for what you’ve done.”

“What I’ve done?”

“Taking me on. As your friend.” Friend… hmm.

“My pleasure,” said Lance. “Now can I please help you steal a bike because that sounds awesome?”

“No,” said Keith, “let’s say goodbye here. This is where I’m going to picture you anyway.”

Keith stepped closer and hugged Lance with his free hand, the one not already holding on to Lance. Lance hugged him back, his brain bombarding him with three thousand possible things he could say to Keith in this moment and exactly one thing he could do with Keith in this moment. 

Lance felt overwhelmed. He said and did nothing but release the hug as Keith stepped back. As Keith walked to the roof access door he looked back at Lance.

Lance smiled, pushing all the positivity he could into one look. He saw Keith smile back and then… he left.

******

“It’s definitely something,” said Lance, scrolling through the photos on his phone.

“Right?” agreed Keith, through speakerphone. “You wouldn’t believe the energy coming off this place too.”

“So what do the cave drawings mean?” asked Lance, zooming in on the photos of the cavern walls Keith had sent him, the ones with the drawings of a blue lion.

“It’s some kind of story, but not from history. Like, I think it’s a prediction of something that will happen, not something that happened.”

“How do you know?” asked Lance and predicted the answer when Keith said…

“I just have a feeling.”

“Feeling… right…,” agreed Lance, kicking his feet as they dangled over the side of the Garrison roof. “Your gut has been right so far. I’m going to trust it.”

“Tell me what you found on your end,” said Keith.

“Well, it’s not as exciting as cave drawings,” chuckled Lance, “but Veronica caught a glimpse of the personnel files. Matthew Holt, Samuel Holt, and Taskashi Shirogane are all classified as Missing, not Dead.”

“And if they were sure they were dead, they would’ve classified them as Dead.”

“Exactly,” said Lance. He flipped his phone off speaker so he could press it to his face and hear Keith speak directly into his ear. “More than that, she couldn’t listen to it because she doesn’t have the security clearance, but she said there was a recording of an exchange between two ships at the time of the supposed crash. Neither of those ships were ours.”

“… How could you not lead with that?” gasped Keith in Lance’s ear.

“Why, is that something big?”

“It’s aliens, Lance!”

“What… no. Nah-uh no way. Two ships could mean anything. It could mean international Garrison ships.”

“No way another country abducted Shiro. It had to be aliens!”

“Keith…,” said Lance, slowly, “were you always thinking it was aliens and you’re only just now telling me?”

“Well… it kinda had to be, right?”

“Okay, so you’re crazy.”

“Lance, the evidence. The recording and the drawings in the cave…It’s not an Earth language.”

“Okay, yeah, now it looks like aliens. I’m not denying that, but the fact that you jumped to the conclusion of aliens right from the get go? That has me a little worried.”

“What does it matter if I was proved right?”

“Because I can’t be associating myself with conspiracy theorists.”

“We’re both conspiracy theorists!” snapped Keith. “That’s what we’re doing here!”

“Oh, is that what we are?” asked Lance and he knew his tone got just a little funny. Just a little… insecure.

“Yeah…,” said Keith, his typical one word answer when Lance got awkward.

Lance needed a change of subject. “Hey, how come we’re still talking?”

“Should I have hung up on you?”

“No, I just mean usually when we talk the call gets dropped because of the reception out there, but we’ve been talking for a good twenty minutes and no drop. How does that work? Is your tinfoil hat working as a cell tower?”

Keith chuckled. “Maybe.”

“Cryptic.”

“Or maybe the reception is good because I’m on Garrison property.”

“Haha,” said Lance, sarcastically.

“I’m serious.”

“What?” Panic gripped Lance, but then also something new. “Keith, you can’t be here. After you stole that bike, the police came.”

“Oh, so the Garrison was more concerned with its missing property than a missing minor? Nice.”

“No, I’m serious. You could get arrested.”

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. I’ll just leave without seeing you then.”

Lance’s heart stopped. But then… it was a good heart stop. “Wh – where…?” asked Lance, standing and spinning around on the cement. He stalked to the roof access door. If Keith was coming, he was coming from there. If he wasn’t bluffing. “You’re teasing me, right? Keith, this isn’t funny.”

“Hold on, I’ve gotta climb something.”

“What?!” snapped Lance just as the call finally dropped.

Okay, confirmed it. Shoddy reception ruined the joke. There was no way Keith was actually back to see –

“LANCE?!”

Lance’s head whipped back. Surely that had not come from the edge of the building…? Yep. There was that mullet he’d know anywhere. 

Dammit! Keith was climbing up the side of the building!

“Little help,” called out Keith.

Lance scrambled over and held out his hand for Keith to grab. “Since when do you scale buildings?”

“It’s not a tall one,” said Keith, moving up onto his knees.

“Any roof is tall, especially one that’s multiple stories high,” argued Lance. “It’s a wall, not a ladder.”

Keith stood up, but didn’t let go of Lance’s hand. Hands actually. He was just holding both hands now and that was as distracting as anything Lance had ever experienced. But then… there was also the changes in Keith’s appearance over the past six months. Last time Lance had seen him he’d been in his Garrison uniform. Now he was in black jeans and a t-shirt with a red and white crop jacket and matching boots.

“Wow. You look cool,” said Lance, his mouth moving on its own.

“Uh, thanks,” said Keith, a little awkward.

“I mean… besides that extra growth on the mullet.”

“Right.”

“So, uh… did you come here for a fashion review or…?”

“Well, uh, funny story. I was trying to send you those photos, but I couldn’t get any of them to send because the reception in the desert is terrible, so I figured I’d drive towards civilization until I could get enough bars to send them, but then I got halfway towards the Garrison and thought I might as well drive the whole way so I could, uh, see you.”

“Wow,” said Lance, “that was a whole lot of words to express that you came to see me.”

“I know. I’m nervous,” said Keith, his eyes drifting away. His hands were still holding Lance’s tight.

“Why are you nervous?” asked Lance, which was unfair. He was nervous himself, but Keith brought it up so he got to ask why.

“Because,” said Keith. He was moving in closer. There was little air between them. “When you talk on the phone… but in person…”

When you talk on the phone sometimes you can imagine you hear something in their voice, but only in person can you tell for sure if they feel the same.

“I get that,” said Lance. He hooked his forearms with Keith, getting him to step that little bit closer.

“So you’re… glad? To see me,” said Keith. Lance saw him bite the side of his bottom lip lightly. A nervous gesture Lance caught because he was so focused on Keith’s lips.

“I’ve been wanting to see you for so long,” confessed Lance.

This was okay now, wasn’t it? Each knew what this was as their foreheads touched and they both let out a relieved laugh.

Lance wished he’d known all those months ago the kind of gravity Keith possessed. The pull he felt towards him. Keith kissed Lance’s cheek, shy for someone so bold, and Lance sighed his contentment as his body tipped right against Keith’s.

“Will you kiss me?” asked Keith. Lance was so surprised he’d ask, but also touched.

Keith was shorter so Lance had to bend just the slightest bit to capture Keith’s lips with his. 

Lance had kissed girls before. Well, three girls to be exact. He had stupidly thought that kissing a boy would be different. Well, it was. It was so much better. The rest had just been names attached to lips, but Keith was… Keith was the person that kept him awake at night. Keith was the name that made his insides feel like warmed up caramel, all sweet and gooey. Keith was the person who felt exactly the same as Lance did. Nothing compared to kissing the person who you really liked and having them want that kiss just as bad as you.

Keith was maybe a little shy, maybe a little nervous, but his kisses were still so good and his lips so soft. He made Lance’s whole body tingle.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for so long,” confessed Keith, drawing back enough to fit words between them, but permitting no real space.

Lance frowned. “We should’ve done that six months ago. No… further back. Years ago.”

“What? Why?” asked Keith.

Lance let his head drop against Keith’s shoulder. “Because you’re about to leave again and that’s the only time we’ve gotten to do that.”

“Well… you already snuck out past curfew and I have nowhere else to be so…”

“So?”

“So we could just keep going,” suggested Keith, his voice full of nerves.

Lance snapped to attention. “Wait… going how far?”

“I meant just kissing more,” sputtered Keith.

“Oh, okay,” said Lance, relaxing. “I’d like that.”

That is how Lance ended up making out with Keith for, well… hours on end. The standing up part didn’t last. Especially not after Keith got over his timidity and skipped right over being assertive to being mildly aggressive with his kisses.

No, when Keith decided to get tongues and teeth involved, Lance’s knees started quivering so hard they threatened to give out. That’s when a change in level came about. That’s when Lance learned what it felt like to kiss Keith with him in his lap and soon what it was like to kiss him while lying on his back.

There was a voice somewhere at the back of Lance’s head reminding him that he was both tired and thirsty, but he ignored it. Let his shaky fingers reach behind Keith’s neck to pull him back in because every time one kiss ended he just wanted to start another.

Lance had kissing dead wrong. He’d thought it was something you did to gain status and bragging rights. He’d never brag about this. He didn’t know how to describe this. He wasn’t thinking about the future anyway. He was in the moment completely because that was where Keith was and any imaginings of the future took Keith away from him.

So he ran his fingers along the cotton of Keith’s shirt while dragging slightly numb lips across ones plump and red from every kiss they’d already shared. Lance appreciated this while it was happening because the anticipation had been building since their first meeting on this same rooftop. He luxuriated in this. This feeling. The one that made his whole body hum and his chest ache in a way that was both happy and greedy.

Three times they had false endings. Three times they told each other they’d finished and would just cuddle until Keith needed to leave. And three times one of them titled their head to the other in a gesture to ask just for a quick peck and thirty seconds later they were making out again.

When they finally stopped, Keith balled up his jacket to use as a pillow on the concrete. Lance laid his head against Keith’s chest and listened to the thump of his heart as it slowed, felt the rise and fall that went with his breathing. Their fingers were still tangled together. He felt Keith shift to plant a kiss on the top of his head.

“You asleep?” asked Keith. 

Lance blinked up at the stars, his lids heavy. He didn’t want to sleep. He didn’t care if Keith did, but he didn’t want to miss a minute of this. 

“Never,” hissed Lance. He felt Keith’s chuckle bump up his head. “I like you so much,” whispered Lance. Even though they’d been physically expressing the hell out of their feelings for each other, it still felt embarrassing to name it.

“I kinda figured,” said Keith, all too casual. Ever since he pushed past his initial nerves he was back to his cool, calm, and collected self.

“Whatever. Don’t say it back. I know how you feel. I don’t need to hear it.” Yes, he wanted to hear it.

“Lance,” said Keith, seeming to know he had to say something, “It’s meant so much having you support me through this…” Lance lifted his head off Keith’s chest and propped himself to look down because this ought to be good. “Between that and just liking you for you I… I’m pretty sure I like you way more than you me.”

Lance was just prepared to kiss Keith when he registered what he said. “Wait… so this is a competition. That’s not fair! I like you so much!”

“And I like you more.”

“You can’t measure that!” snapped Lance. “I at least have exes to compare you to!”

“Exes?” repeated Keith, raising an eyebrow.

“Well… like people I went on one date with, but I like you a thousand times more than I like all three of them combined!”

Keith smirked. “I like you so much I never even liked anyone until you, so I win.”

“That’s not fair,” grumbled Lance.

“Aw. Let me make it up to you,” said Keith, scooping his hand behind Lance’s neck to pull him down into a kiss (which was Lance’s move mind you!) but then, thirty seconds later, Lance couldn’t remember what he was mad about. Not when he had this incredibly cute boy refusing to let him come up for air.

When the light gathered on the horizon Keith announced he had to go. “Once there’s daylight, I’m more likely to get caught.”

“Your logic is sound,” said Lance, holding on tightly to him as they sat on the roof, “but your plan is cruel.”

“Cruel?”

“You can’t just kiss me into a weak mess then leave me again for who knows how many months.”

“I don’t want to be apart from you,” said Keith. “I’ll probably miss you so much I’ll find myself driving here just to see your face sooner rather than later. But I’m close to something and I need –”

“To get Shiro back from the aliens, yes, I know,” grumbled Lance.  “Doesn’t mean I won’t both whine and miss you like crazy, though.”

“You better miss me,” said Keith, wiggling out of Lance’s hold and standing up. He pulled Lance up with him, their hands never letting go. “I parked my bike outside the grounds.”

“Can I walk you there?”

“No… I want to keep picturing you here. Just like this.”

“You’re bossy,” said Lance, though he was kinda blushing. After that whole night together, Keith could still floor him with his sweetness.

Lance snuck three more kisses from Keith before he told him to cut it out and grabbed his jacket from the ground. Keith shook it out then kissed Lance one more time of his own volition.

This was hard. Saying goodbye. It made everything that had been buzzing with joy inside of Lance harden to a lump of sadness. He watched Keith climb his way back down the building then sat on the roof alone for a long time. The sun was peeking over the horizon when Lance spotted a dust cloud moving away into the distance and figured that it had to be Keith making his escape.

‘There goes my heart,’ thought Lance. But Keith had left his own heart in its place. Lance would keep it safe until he saw him again.

*****

“KEITH?!” bellowed Lance as he pushed open the roof access door. “Keith, are you out here?”

“Lance, slow down,” said Hunk, tripping his way out behind Lance. “You’re gonna get caught!”

“I come up here all the time, Hunk,” said Lance, turning back.

“But I doubt you’re this loud every time. You’re gonna get us expelled.”

“If you’re worried, go back to our room. I need to see Keith and honestly, it might be better if you’re not here when I do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Hunk. “I thought you said Keith was in trouble.”

“I don’t know if he is.” Lance pulled out his phone. “His texts lately have been cryptic then he went silent for two days and every time I tried to call it said he number was out of service and then I finally get a text today and all it says is ‘tonight.’”

“What’s happening tonight?” asked Hunk.

“Either something big is going down or it’s a booty call.”

“Wait… there’s booty involved?” squeaked out Hunk. “I didn’t know you and Keith were… Well, why wouldn’t you tell me?”

Lance blushed deeply. “Booty call was the wrong word. Last time I saw him we just made out a little… all night.”

“What?” gasped Hunk.

“Who did you make out with all night?” came a third voice from out of nowhere.

Startled, Lance jumped and spun around to see Pidge sitting on the ground with a bunch of computer equipment spread out in front of him.

“Where did you come from?” he demanded.

“Literally been here the entire time,” said Pidge, pulling off his headphones.

“Yeah, I saw him there,” said Hunk.

“So who called you for booty?” asked Pidge.

“Nobody!” snapped Lance. “You don’t know them!” He thought he was clever, disguising the gender by saying them, but then it struck him that it definitely implied he was hiding the gender so he said, “Her!” Then he realized it was disrespectful of Keith to pretend he was a girl so Lance caved and said, “Him! Look, it doesn’t matter what gender I made out with! What are you doing up here?”

“Just, uh, looking at the stars,” said Pidge, suddenly getting awkward. “If you two are here to hook up, I’ll put my headphones back on.”

“We are not here to hook up!” snapped Lance. “Sure, Hunk is a teddy bear and has it going on, but I like emo twinks with knife fetishes.”

“Do I look like a dating profile you’re filling in?” asked Pidge. “Time to dial back the overshare.”

“Where’d you get this stuff?” asked Lance, the equipment set up around Pidge drawing his attention. “It doesn’t look like Garrison tech.”

“I built it,” said Pidge, smugly.

“You built all this?” asked Hunk, crawling up to inspect. He went to touch a key on Pidge’s keyboard and got his hand slapped away.

“Stop it!” scolded Pidge. He turned back to Lance and continued to explain, “With this stuff I can scan all the way to the solar system.”

“That right? All the way to Kerberos?” asked Lance. He was already holding out his phone to take a photo to send to Keith.

“No photos,” snapped Pidge then he turned to Hunk who had snuck up on the equipment again and said, “Second warning, Hunk!”

“You go ballistic every time the instructors mention Kerberos,” said Lance, tapping his finger on his chin. “Is there something you’re not telling us?” It just didn’t seem like a coincidence that both Keith and Pidge had the same obsession.

Pidge sighed. “The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos mission wasn’t lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake.” Pidge suddenly whipped around to yell at Hunk “Stop touching my equipment!”

Hunk groaned and rolled onto his side in defeat.

“You were saying,” pressed Lance because he really wanted Pidge to continue.

“So I’ve been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter.”

“Whoa what?” gasped Hunk, sitting straight up. “Aliens?”

“Wow,” said Lance, slowly, “There’s two of you.”

“What do you know about Matt?” demanded Pidge.

“Who? I don’t know a Matt. I meant you and Keith could be twins. You’re even a twink… Would you say you’re emo and into knives?”

“Who’s Keith?” asked Pidge.

“Lance’s lover apparently,” said Hunk, “though he doesn’t tell his best friend any of this. Can we go back to the part about the aliens?”

“They keep repeating one word,” said Pidge, pulling out a notebook and showing Lance a drawing of… well a horned robot with a sword? “Voltron. And tonight it’s going crazier than I’ve ever heard it.”

“Tonight…” repeated Lance. It was time to come clean on his end about what he and Keith had discovered, but as he opened his mouth to speak an alarm sounded…. How did the Garrison know he was going to spill its secrets?

“ATTENTION STUDENTS,” came Iverson’s voice over the intercom, “THIS IS NOT A DRILL. WE ARE ON LOCKDOWN! SECURITY SITUATION ZULU NINER. REPEAT: ALL STUDENTS ARE TO REMAIN IN BARRACKS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.”

This was weird and where was Keith? Lance was looking around, hoping to see his favourite mullet pop up along the edge of the roof and ask Lance for a hand up.

“What’s going on? Is that a meteor?” asked Hunk. Lance looked up to where he was pointing to see a bright red light in the sky. “A very, very big meteor?”

“It’s a ship!” said Pidge. Lance looked and saw he had a pair of binoculars so he snatched them for himself (accidentally dragging Pidge along with them.)

“Holy crow!” gasped Lance seeing the clearer view of the ship barreling towards Earth. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing! That is not one of ours.”

“No,” said Pidge, “It’s one of theirs.”

Shit. Keith was right…

“So wait. There really are aliens out there?” asked Hunk.

The ship streaked across the sky and crashed in a flash of light just out of sight behind a rock formation.

SHIP
CRASHED
WHER U?

Each message Lance sent turned red as it failed to send. Dammit.

“We’ve got to see that ship!” said Pidge, throwing his bag over his shoulder.

Lance was in agreement and already following him. “Hunk, you coming?”

“I thought this was a booty call!” whined Hunk. “Now we’re alien hunting?”

****

Lance called Keith as they ran towards the crash site. “The number you have dialed is not in service.”

“Dammit, Keith! How are you missing aliens?” Lance swore into the phone as it turned to a beeping noise.

Pidge found them a vantage point of the crash, but Garrison tents had already gone up everywhere. Lance snapped photos with his phone, but naturally they failed to send to Keith. He was so anxious, half his brain was so wrapped up worrying about Keith missing this that he wasn’t fully appreciating the crashed alien ship until Pidge lent him his binoculars and he caught a better look at the thing strapped to a transport vehicle.

“Whoa. I think I owe Keith a coke or something.” Lance scanned over to the biggest and most reinforced tent the Garrison had set up. “What do you think they’re keeping in there?” He watched an employee come out and speak to a guard. “Man, we’ll never get past all those guards to get a look.”

“Aw man,” said Hunk, “yeah, yeah, I guess there’s nothing to do, but head back to the barracks, right?”

“Wait,” said Pidge. He had all his equipment set up again on the cliff and was looking at his monitor. “They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed. Look!”

On Pidge’s monitor was surveillance footage that featured a man in tattered clothing with a shock of white hair strapped to a table. Three people in hazmat suits stood around him.

“Hey! What are you doing?” demanded the man on the table.

“Calm down, Shiro,” said a suited man with Iverson’s voice, “We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests.”

Shit. That was Shiro. Lance’s fingers were already hitting the speed dial for Keith.

“You have to listen to me! They destroy worlds! Ah! Aliens are coming!”

“Keith, pick up! They have Shiro! It’s happening!”

“The number you have dialed is not in –” Lance hung-up.

“How is Keith missing this?” he said far too loudly. He slapped a hand over his own mouth.

“I guess Shiro isn’t dead in space after all,” said Hunk.

“Where’s the rest of the crew?” asked Pidge.

“Do you know how long you’ve been gone?” Iverson asked Shiro.

“I don’t know. Months? Years? Look, there’s no time,” Shiro sounded desperate yet no one in the room was heeding his tone. “Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They’re probably on their way. They’ll destroy us. We have to find Voltron!”

“Voltron,” gasped Pidge.

“Sir, take a look at this,” said one of the other people in the room. “It appears his arm as been replaced with an cyborg prosthetic.” Lance couldn’t see too well what they were talking about, but he was curious.

“Put him under until we know what that thing can do,” ordered Iverson.

“Don’t put me under,” begged Shiro, “No! There’s no time!”

“There didn’t ask about the rest of the crew,” said Pidge.

“What are they doing?” asked Lance, horrified over the treatment of Keith’s Big Brother. “Isn’t he a legend? They’re not going to even listen to him?”

“We have to get him out,” said Pidge.

Lance nodded his agreement as Hunk spoke up, “I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren’t we just watching on the TV because there was no way to get past the guards?”

“That was before we were properly motivated,” said Lance. “We’ve just gotta think. Could we tunnel in?”

Pidge’s eyes lit up. “Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs.”

“Or we dress up like cooks,” suggested Hunk, “head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary – little late night snack.”

“No. We need to think like Keith. What would he do?” Lance considered this. “Something illegal probably. What we really need is a distraction.”

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Lance jumped and screamed as four explosions went off in the distance.

“Is that the aliens? Is that the aliens?” cried Hunk. “Are they here? They got here so quick!”

“No,” said Pidge, pointing down at the Garrison tent city. “Those explosions were a distraction. For him.” Lance looked where he was pointing and saw a Garrison issued bike arriving on the scene while the guards fled to their vehicles. “The Garrison’s heading toward the blast, and he’s sneaking in from the other side.”

Lance put the binoculars up to his eyes, already knowing what he was going to see. Red cropped jacket… hair blowing in the wind…

“No way! He’s not going in there without me!” snapped Lance. “Bae is always doing cool shit and expecting me to stay home!”

“Who is it?”

“Keith!” yelled Lance as he stepped to slide down the cliff face.

“Who’s Keith again?” asked Pidge.

“Are you sure?” asked Hunk, following behind Lance.

“Oh, I’d recognize that mullet anywhere!” snapped Lance.

“Wait… is Keith the booty call?” asked Pidge, following too.

*****

With no guard outside the enforced tent, Lance strolled right in down that eerie tunnel. When he arrived in the room where they’d seen Shiro on the surveillance feed, everyone in the hazmat suits was unconscious and Keith had Shiro untethered and hanging off his shoulder.

“Nope. No you – no, no, no.”

“Lance!” said Keith, his eyes lighting up.

“No, you don’t.” Lance walked right up to them and took Shiro’s other arm. “You don’t save Shiro without me.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Keith. “I told you to come here.”

“Uh, no you didn’t,” argued Lance, “The only text I’ve gotten from you in the past two days said ‘tonight’ and that’s it.”

“No,” said Keith, pulling out Lance’s old from from his pocket. “I texted you ‘tonight something big is happening. I think it has to do with Shiro.’ Followed by my detailed plan involving explosives and you meeting me at this exact spot.”

“All I got was the word, ‘tonight!’” barked Lance, showing Keith his own phone screen with his one free hand. “And given our recent history, the word was highly suggestive of some horizontal activities.”

“Wait…” said Keith, squinting at his phone. “When the messages turn red that means they didn’t send?”

“Yeah!”

“Well, I didn’t know that!”

“Yeah, great to see you too,” said Lance, sarcastically

“And I’m really happy to see you,” said Keith his tone going from angry to soft in just as many words. Lance was instantly a blushing mess, but then… “… just as I expected to because I invited you!”

“Hey! Old married couple!” snapped Pidge. “Can you argue when you’re not kidnapping someone?”

Keith and Lance instantly starting moving, muttering about the other starting it. They carried Shiro out to Keith’s stolen bike while Pidge and Hunk play look out for them.

“Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?” asked Hunk, scampering after them.

“Of course. Get on the bike,” said Lance. Hunk Climbed on the very back, which was a mistake since it acted like a teeter totter and tipped the front end up causing everyone on the bike to yell and slip.

“Is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?” asked Pidge.

“No,” said Keith, simply.

“Keith,” warned Lance. He was not turning away his friends.

The headlights from the returning Garrison vehicles distracted them. Looked like they figured out there was nothing at the explosion sites and now they’d spotted them.

Keith revved the engine and flipped them around to retreat. Lance was busy trying to keep an unconscious Shiro from slipping off the bike. He got Pidge to help him balance him.

“Why am I holding this guy?” asked Pidge.

“Hey, we did all fit,” said Hunk, always the optimist.

Lance looked back to see the Garrison gaining on them. “Can’t this thing go any faster?”

“Sure,” said Keith, “Just pick a friend to ditch. I vote for the mouthy one.”

“Hey, is that me?” snapped Pidge.

“No one’s getting ditched,” snapped Lance, “Honestly, you never wanna hang out with my friends!”

“Big man, lean left!” ordered Keith.

The bike took a sharp turn left, startling Lance, but also surprising the Garrison vehicles. One vehicle failed to turn and took out a second one.

“Aw man!” cried Hunk. “Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomary! No, no, he’s fine.”

“Big man, lean right!” ordered Keith and then they basically side jumped off a cliff and landed on another. Holy crap! Keith’s driving was fire! And also completely terrifying hence why everyone was screaming so much.

“My name is Hunk by the way. Lance should’ve mentioned me, but that’s not for sure since he really didn’t mention you and i-i-is that a cliff up ahead?” Hunk pointed.

It was indeed a cliff and this time with no second cliff to jump to.

“Keith, don’t you dare!” yelled Lance. “No!”

“Yup,” said Keith, leaning forward and increasing his speed.

All Lance could do was hold onto Shiro and scream as they vaulted the edge and fell to what was sure to be their deaths.

“NICE RESCUE, KEITH! YOU’RE GONNA KILL US ALL!”

“SHUT UP AND TRUST ME, LANCE!”

“YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS ARE AS GOOD AS YOUR RESCUES!”

But as Lance was screaming this at Keith and realizing himself that his last words were sarcasm, Keith pulled up at ground level and… they didn’t die. Instead they were just driving now along flat, safe terrain.

“You wanna apologize now or later?” asked Keith, smugly.

“Shut up and keep your eyes on the road.”

“There is no roa –”

“I realized that as I said it!”

Keith drove for what felt like hours until a small shack appeared in the distance. Keith pulled the bike up beside what Lance was convinced was a bomb shelter, but he was going to let that paranoid idea go for once.

Keith took Shiro from Pidge’s shaking arms and Lance helped him lift him to the porch.

“So I finally get to see your place,” said Lance.

“Huh?” Even in the pitch black of night, Keith’s big eyes shone for Lance. “Right, I guess. It’s not much.”

“I wasn’t expecting a beach front bungalow.”

Keith unlocked the door and Pidge skittered ahead.

“Uh, make yourself at home,” he said, awkwardly.

“Or at lair,” said Pidge.

“What?”

“I know a lair when I see one.”

“Electricity is…” Keith reached to the wall and Lance heard a switch flicking, but nothing happened. “…currently off. I put the gas for the generator in the bike.”

“So everyone watch their step,” said Lance, “OW!” He immediately tripped on the threshold.

“Just follow my lead,” said Keith, tugging Shiro along. Lance took more careful steps. “There’s a couch over here. Let’s rest him here.”

Lance helped Keith lay Shiro down on the couch. Lance’s eyes adjusted to the darkness as he watched Keith fuss over Shiro.

“He okay?” asked Lance.

Keith sighed. “His arm is crazy and he was knocked out pretty bad by whatever the med techs gave him, but his breathing and his heart rate are normal.” As he said this he stood up and Lance was very much looking forward to him turning to look at him so he could kiss Keith hello properly finally (provided Keith wanted to kiss Lance again,) however…

“So are we on the lamb?” asked Hunk from the corner. “Are they going to send people after us? Assassins? What if they’re on their way? What if they’re already here?!”

“Calm down, Hulk –“

“Hunk.”

“-Hunk, I’ve been wanted by the Garrison and the police for awhile now. Tends to amount to nothing.”

“That’s before you kidnapped someone from them though, right?” asked Pidge. Lance swore his eyes were glowing in the dark like a cat’s.

“We can worry about that at first light,” said Keith, “I suggest we all hunker down and get some sleep.”

There was a movement as Lance assumed Hunk and Pidge found comfortable spots on the other side of the small room. Keith sat down and leaned his back against the couch that supported the sleeping Shiro. Lance sat down beside Keith. As soon as he did Keith took his hand in his, shifted over, and leaned his head against Lance’s shoulder.

Lance let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good, you still like me.”

“Of course I still like you,” said Keith in a quick whisper, “Why would I not like you?”

“Because you kinda did this by yourself –“

“I invited you!”

“- and you’ve been snappish this whole time.”

“You’ve been snappish this whole time, but it was a tense situation after all. I didn’t think you meant anything by it.”

“Oh… so we’re not fighting?”

“Not on my end,” said Keith, sounding very relaxed.

“So we can just be moody with each other and things are still okay?” asked Lance.

“Yeah buckle up. That’s going to happen a lot with me.”

“Huh…”

“Look I…,” began Keith, his whisper growing soft, “I’m not used to people sticking by me or meaning it when they say they’re going to help me, but you’ve felt different right from the start. I trust you. You’ve got a good heart.”

Lance had never felt so full in his chest and now he was stuck, pulled in my Keith’s gravity. He kissed Keith a bit sloppy, misjudging the distance in the dark. Keith giggled and in a moment they caught each other’s lips properly. Much like on the rooftop, Lance found it impossible to stop kissing Keith once he’d started.

“Can you two suck face a little quieter?” asked Pidge, “I’m trying to sleep.”

“So the talking didn’t both you, but the kissing sounds do?” asked Keith.

“The talking was sappy, but less revolting, yes.”

“I guess we try to sleep,” said Lance, nuzzling his head against Keith’s shoulder.

Keith turned his head to kiss Lance’s temple. “Should be easy. I have my everything’s back with me.”

“Aw.”

“And I can say that because I like you way more.”

“You do not!” barked Lance. This earned him a harsh “shhh!” from Pidge. “This isn’t over, Mullet…”

Lance drifted off for a bit, having crazy dreams about flying an alien ship. He woke up disoriented when Keith shifted position to wrap an arm around Lance’s shoulders. Lance shifted along with him, wrapping a lazy arm around Keith’s middle. This seemed to signal “I’m awake so please kiss me” to Keith who did just that.

“What happened to getting some sleep?” whispered Lance when he pulled back for air.

“Code for: Wait until everyone else falls asleep so we can makeout.”

“You need to let me in on these codes of yours because that is a good code. However, Hunk’s not a asleep yet. If he was, he’d be snoring.”

Just then Hunk let out a loud, comical snore. They heard Pidge rustle around following by him muttering, “Nine eleven was an inside job…”

“I think we’re good,” whispered Keith.

Lance responded to this with more kissing as he twisted around so he could face Keith properly. Keith’s hands ran behind Lance’s head to pull him in closer as Lance’s arms wiggled between Keith’s back and the couch. They kissed like this, slow and methodical, luxuriating in being back together again.

After a few minutes of keeping things chaste, Lance decided to go outside the lines and trace his kiss down Keith’s chin and onto his neck. There he found a nice spot to give a suck and Keith’s reaction was so pleasing that it made Lance sweat… and want to do it again. On the second suck Keith’s head leaned back then shot right back up again. Lance was confused until he saw Keith looking over his shoulder and realized Keith had just knocked his head against Shiro.

“Oops,” muttered Lance, “Almost woke dad up. Probably not the best spot to -”

“You said something about horizontal activities before,” whispered Keith, cutting Lance off. He could hear the smile in Keith’s voice. Of course Keith was so happy. He’d been successful tonight after a year of searching for answers. It made Lance happy too.

Lance lay back while tugging Keith on top of them. They giggled a bit as they figured out their positioning, kissing on the ground. Keith had one leg between Lance’s and the other knee on the outside. Lance felt absolutely surrounded by him, blanketed by him. It was close to overwhelming, but a good overwhelming. Lance knew as he ran his hands under Keith’s shirt for the first time, feeling cool skin against his too warm hands, that they wouldn’t go any further than this with the others slumbering around them, Hunk snoring away. Honestly, Lance wasn’t near ready to go any further than this. This was exactly perfect. This made all those months apart with the ache in his chest worth it.

Lance wanted to tell Keith all this, but kissing was quieter than talking and it felt like the perfect way to show him how he felt.

ACHOO!

“Stupid dust allergy,” muttered Hunk with a sniff.

Keith and Lance froze.

“Hunk… are you awake?” asked Lance, tipping his head back to see his best friend silhouetted by the window, the moon shining in bright.

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. You know… kept thinking Iverson was going to bust down the door and arrest us if not shoot our faces off so I’m just, uh, reading Pidge’s diary to keep my brain busy.”

“Were you going to give us a heads up at some point that you were awake?” asked Keith, he had propped himself up on Lance’s chest.

“You were snoring…,” said Lance, confused. “Were you fake snoring?”

“Maybe… I, uh, I didn’t want to disturb you,” explained Hunk. “I wanted you to think you had some privacy since you clearly missed each other so much. You two go ahead. I’ll just keep reading.”

Keith looked down at Lance. Lance shrugged. Keith shook his head no.

“I mean… I am still dying to know how you two became an item, but I can wait until you’re finished.”

“Sleeping,” said Keith, “We’re definitely sleeping now.” He shimmied down and rested his head on Lance’s chest.

“Night babe,” muttered Lance. He stroked Keith’s hair until he conked out himself.

Lance woke up to sunlight and his Keith-shaped blanket missing. He blinked, at least grateful that he remembered where he was and wasn’t freaking out which is how Pidge was woke up.

“INVEST IN CRYPTO CURRANCY!” shrieked Pidge, jolting awake, arms flailing.

“Where’s Keith and Shiro?” asked Lance, sitting up and noticing the couch was empty.

“Outside talking,” said Hunk, nodding to the door. Lance watched him sneak Pidge’s diary back into his bag while Pidge rubbed his eyes and felt around for his glasses. Lance saw his old phone/Keith’s current sitting on the coffee table and a thought jumped into Lance’s head so he pulled out his own phone.

“Did no one tell you to destroy that?” asked Pidge, glasses on a viewing what Lance was up to.

“I’m not destroying my phone,” said Lance.

“They’ll track you,” argued Pidge.

“And they’ll use satellites to pin point where the bike is,” said Lance, “We’ll have to move soon anyway, right? Let me send one quick text and I’ll turn it off.” He was grateful to see he had one bar's worth of reception at the moment.

With Keith
Found Shiro
Aliens involved
Gotta lie low
Pidge and Hunk followed me
Tell no one ☺

Veronica’s reply was immediate.

SHIT THAT WAS YOU?
SHIRO IS DEF ALIVE?
Secret is safe with me
But I’m telling Colly and Addy ☺

Of course she wasn’t listening. Lance was in the middle of demanding to know who those people were when the door opened and Keith and Shiro walked in.

Oh shit. That was an awake Shiro. Lance’s hero and Keith’s somewhat father figure and Lance was about to meet him!

“Hi,” said Shiro, looking around at the sleepy teenagers strewn about the room. The others looked about as star struck as Lance himself.

“Over here,” said Keith, walking up to a sheet hanging on the wall that Lance hadn’t noticed in the dark. Lance hopped up to go stand beside bae as Keith pulled off the sheet.

“Wow. Your own psychopathic crazy wall,” said Lance, looking at the strewn madness across the corkboard covering one wall of the shack. “Arts and craft skills on point,” he added, noticing the string connecting the maps, drawings, and photographs.

“It’s an evidence wall,” said Pidge, speaking up. “Crazy walls are more like photographs of the person you’re stalking with their eyes scratched out.”

“Clarification noted.”

“What have you been working on?” asked Shiro in awe.

"It’s tricky to explain, really,” said Keith, looking at the crazy – er – evidence board. “After they declared you dead I was kinda... lost and... felt myself drawn out to this place. It's like something... some energy, was telling me to search.”

"For what?" asked Shiro.

“Aliens,” said Lance, plainly.

"Well, I didn't really know at the time...”

“I don’t know why you’re being coy about aliens,” said Lance, looking at Keith. “You thought aliens, it turned out to be aliens.”

“I stumbled across this area,” said Keith, ignoring Lance and pointing at a photo on the board. “It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night. Then you showed up."

Shiro nodded and turned to Lance. "I should thank you all for getting me out. Lance, right?" He offered his hand and Lance kinda… froze. Shiro was both his hero and Keith’s only real family. He really wanted to impress him. Which of course meant he was terrified of him and his cyborg hand that… actually looked badass.

“Lance has been helping me since you left,” said Keith then in a voice that sounded like he was sucking in air as he went he added, “He is my… boyfriend.”

Lance was so thrown when he heard this he went ahead and shook Shiro’s hand without stopping to worry that the cyborg fingers would crush his into a pulp.

“Then it’s a real honour to meet you,” said Shiro.

“Y-you too,” mumbled Lance.

Shiro released Lance’s hand and strode across the small room to introduce himself to Hunk and Pidge.

“You look freaked,” whispered Keith. “Should I not have called you my boyfriend?”

“No…” whispered Lance and when Keith’s face fell he got what he did wrong. “No, you should! I mean, I really liked that.”

“Good,” said Keith slipping his hand into Lance’s. “I liked it more because I like you most.”

“You do not!” barked Lance.

“I said boyfriend first,” said Keith. “That means I’m winning.”

“What?!” cried Lance. “You can’t win our relationship!”

“That sounds like loser talk.”

“KEITH!”

“Yo, lovebirds,” called out Hunk, drawing their attention. “I think I found something…”