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Keith knocked on the door to Lance's room, duffel bag of food and blankets in his other hand. He heard Lance yelp at the unexpected interruption, and after a minute of Lance recovering the door slid open.
“Keith, hi!” Lance smiled, leaning against his door frame in an attempt to seem cool, like the nerd he was. Keith really couldn't believe that he used to think Lance was this idiotic but cool guy.
“Hey, Lance,” Keith responded. “So, you know how Allura's given us the next two days off?”
“And how you used the first few hours of today working out.” Lance smirked, rolling his eyes as Keith huffed. Keith had a routine , okay?! He couldn't just break that.
“ Yes , well I was wondering if you wanted to take a trip down to the planet whose moon we're docked on,” Keith asked, lifting the bag in his right hand. Lance's mouth formed an ‘o’ shape, and as his cheeks tinted red he nodded. Keith smiled. “Awesome. I'll meet you in fifteen minutes by Red?”
Lance took a moment to respond, seemingly having short circuited. Like Keith said, fucking nerd. “Uhm, yes!” Lance shook his head. “Yeah, that's great,” he repeated, backing away with finger guns into the room. The door didn't shut though, and so Lance was left looking like an idiot, as per usual. Keith snorted and shut the door himself, and walked over to Red.
Keith jolted at the sound of a knock ringing through the hull of Red. Lance's soft steps on the metal floor followed, and soon Lance was standing in front of Keith. He was laying on the floor, one leg up on the chair. Lance was wearing jeans and a white shirt with blue sleeves. Keith waved.
“...Why are you like that?” Lance questioned, an inkling of concern trickling through.
Keith shrugged. “Comfy,” was all he said before he stood up, missing the overly fond head shake from the Blue Paladin, and sat in the chair. He had Red bring out a second one for Lance, because as much as he would enjoy getting the other in his lap, it was not safe. Besides, it gave Lance the ability to control certain parts of Red, which was always something she begged for.
Lance sat down in the chair and leaned over to Keith, slumping over his shoulder.
“What?” Keith asked, poking Lance's chin.
“You're so boooring, Keithey,” Lance moaned dramatically, falling out of his chair when Keith shoved him. From the floor he continued, “What are we doing?!”
Keith sighed as Lance then grabbed his wrist, pulling him up. “It's a surprise where we're landing. You haven't even seen the planet yet, have you?” Keith asked. Lance shook his head as he sat back down in his seat.
“Nope. Haven't had the time. Been too busy being Pidgeotto's test subject,” Lance lamented. Keith snorted.
“You like doing that. It makes you, and I quote, ‘feel closer to her,’ weirdo,” Keith flicked Lance's side. Lance grumbled and turned away from Keith. Keith rolled his eyes and had Red start to float off of the floor. He started to fly them towards the planet.
Lance gasped. The planet was green, yellow, and blue, just like Earth. Its blue oceans covered the majority of the surface, and the landmasses were arranged into continents of a similar size to Earth's. Keith had to admit that looking at it made his heart ache, despite not truly yearning for the planet like Lance did. Keith could never comprehend just how much hurt Lance carried upon his shoulders everyday, never knowing if he would be able to visit his family ever again. The pure pain of the ambiguity sometimes affected the entire team, causing Lance's low mood to trickle through their own morale. Lance was the heart of the group and whenever he wasn't there to keep them going, they fell into a sort of depression.
“What…” Lance said, trailing off. Keith saw out of the corner of his eyes Lance's eyes growing misty. Keith swallowed and placed a hand on Lance’s thigh, squeezing it.
Keith parked Red in the clearing of a forest near a beach.
“We've landed,” Keith announced, undoing his seatbelt and standing up. He grabbed the bag and took Lance's hand, squeezing it before dropping it. Lance smiled up at him and followed when Keith left. The grass wasn't as green as Keith knew it to be from the Garrison, but that was probably due to the copious amounts of water it was drenched in by the government to maintain a ‘prestigious’ atmosphere to the base. Keith stood a few metres away from Red, letting the breeze sweep up around him. The sound of the leaves flapping together, the subtle cheeps of this planet's variants of bird, and the crunching of sticks behind him from Lance felt so nostalgic to Keith. Lance stood next to him, leaning his head on Keith's shoulder. Keith brought a hand around Lance's waist and they stood together for a while.
“Hey, there's more to show you,” Keith divulged, pulling away from Lance and stepping forward. Lance raised an eyebrow but didn't speak, instead just taking Keith's hand and letting himself be guided. Keith followed the stars of—tree safe—paint that he had painted on the trees between the clearing and their destination. It took a few minutes, but they eventually started hearing the crashes of waves against the shore. Lance gasped, but continued following alongside Keith.
It was weird, the ocean. Keith knew Lance had a deep love for them, but he had never understood the appeal. However, truly experiencing one made him get it. The reflection of the planet's main star on the water, the oddly sweet, salty breeze whipping around them, and the rhythmic crashing of waves on the rocks and sand. It created a comforting atmosphere that filled Keith with the desire to sit back and relax. Lance stood still beside Keith, taking in the sight.
“Hey, Lance,” Keith whispered, like it was a secret. “You should go in the water. It's safe.” Lance turned to him, face slowly morphing from the grin that split it. Lance kicked off his shoes, took off his jeans and shirt, and left in just his boxers he dashed towards the water, jumping in and staying submerged for a while.
Keith watched from the shore as Lance swam around, laughing. He eventually decided to set up the picnic he had brought, aided by Hunk. Keith grabbed a blanket from the bag, laying it out over the sand. He then took Lance's clothes, shook them down to remove any sand and folded them up, laying them neatly on top of the blanket. He sat down, taking out the basket of food and putting it in the centre of the blanket. Finally he grabbed the five towels he had brought, leaving the changes of clothes inside the bag.
“Keith!” Lance called out, waving at him from the water. Keith had to admit, his partner was beautiful in the afternoon sun, framed by its light. Keith waved back.
“Lance, c'mere!” He shouted back, beckoning for him to return. Lance nodded and began to run back, water dripping from his skin. Once Lance was within range, Keith flung a towel towards him that landed perfectly on his head. Lance used it to dry his hair, and then dried his arms and chest. He sat on the blanket, leaving the towel around his shoulders. Keith opened the basket.
“You… made food?” Lance asked, genuinely shocked. “Yep,” Keith hummed. “Wow, Mullet, it's like this is a date,” Lance teased, making Keith blush. Keith shrugged and grabbed something from the basket.
“Maybe it is.” Keith ate while Lance sputtered.
Their meal naturally wasn't complete without a sand fight that resulted in Keith getting sand shoved down his shirt and Lance face planting into the sand. But after it had finished, Lance got dressed and dragged Keith towards the shallow end of the water. The sun was beginning to set, and as they kicked water at each other, trying to see who would trip and fall over into the water first, Keith marvelled once again at just how beautifully the light highlighted Lance. It highlighted his skin with a brightness Keith never thought he could have experienced, and it had brought back the spark in his eyes that had slowly faded from them.
Later they sat on a rock together, pinkie fingers locked together.
“Thank you, Keith,” Lance mumbled as he leaned his head on Keith's shoulder.
“Of course,” Keith replied.
“Not just for this, Mullet. I mean for everything you've done for me and the team. You're, and I can't believe I'm saying this, the best person I have ever met,” Lance admitted. Keith smiled and pressed a kiss on Lance’s forehead, softly laughing as Lance froze up, embarrassed. Keith found it hard to express his feelings for Lance in words, but he hoped that the day’s excursion had shown Lance just how much he cared. However, the affectionate glances that the Blue Paladin threw his way made it abundantly clear to Keith that he more than just cared.