Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Before getting on the train to settle in for a five-hour trip, Keith had run a little checklist through his mind to make sure he was prepared for the journey.

1. Headphones: in.
2. Book/Phone: out.
3. Most intense and unfriendly glare possible: on.

This was, of course, necessary precautions that were taken before every single one of Keith Kogane’s major trips. In order to make sure nobody made the mistake of sitting next to him and saying hello or- goddess forbid- starting small talk, he needed to look as approachable as physically possible.

Of course, the purple fur, large cat-like ears, and yellow glowing eyes probably helped as well.

Keith never really used his Galra form unless it was for events like this. Believe it or not, sometimes he did want to be friendly. 

But public transportation frequenters are just... different species of uncomfortable. He just doesn’t like them, alright? Sure, some can mind their damn business, but others never seem to take a fucking hint unless he puts on this... facade beforehand.

Plus, it’s not like he likes his Galra side. He didn’t exactly get a say in the matter though, genetics and whatnot are like that sometimes. 

His late father was a witch, actually, which means he is capable of doing more than becoming a large kitten dipped in grape jelly. Why else would he have gotten into such a prestigious University? 

He’d received an acceptance letter in the mail a couple of months ago in response to his application from Atlas University. They had offered him a full ride, including housing in their supposedly luxurious dorms.

Keith didn’t quite understand how any dorms could be considered just decent, nevermind luxury. Whatever, they probably had some cash to spare from government fundings. After all, it must be hard to find proper accommodations for nearly every mythical creature living on the planet. Well, the ones that wished to pursue higher education at least.

See, Atlas was built a long time ago and has been around for pretty much forever. It’s infamous for being the best school for multi-species creatures, as it provided them with a curriculum that actually included classes suited to their needs- potion-making, flight, crafting, etc.- instead of the Human curriculum, which couldn’t include those things. Sure, it certainly wasn’t the only one, but people treated it like a mythical Harvard: elite.

The only reason Keith had even applied was because of his pseudo-brother, Shiro. Apparently, when the Shirogane’s took him in from the foster system, they’d begun to see potential in his magic abilities right away. They were aware of Keith’s witch heritage (the Galra was a surprise), and they were also magic practitioners. So they taught him pretty much all he knows. All except how he was able to levitate himself to the roof from the trampoline in the backyard. That was the potential they were referring to.

Keith’s magic abilities are… fickle. Sure, he can control them and perform complex casts no problem, but the issue is his magic’s desire to go off-script. There’s no one spell for flying from a trampoline to the roof, much less a non-verbal one. So he’s… special. 

Whoop-de-doo.

All of a sudden, his train of thought is cut off by the actual train pulling into its final destination. Looking out the window gives Keith a cut-off view of the extensive campus, already crawling with diverse creatures, most of them first-years like him no doubt.

He pulls up his hoodie over his head, tucks away his book into his carry on, and grabs his suitcase from the overhead. Then he joins the rest of the occupants in their slow shuffle out the train and onto the platform.

As soon as he steps out into the fresh air, he lets go of his Galra appearance, relaxing a little. He scans the crowded platform for a familiar face, and eventually spots it waving frantically at him while holding a crudely made cardboard sign that read ‘KEITH!!!’.

Making his way over, he let his scowl melt into a soft smile. “Hey, Matt,” he greeted when he reached the other man.

“‘Sup Keith? How was your trip?” Matt beamed, reaching out a clawed hand for a fist-bump.

Keith returned it, “Good, I guess.” Then, he noticed the smaller looking version of Matt standing next to him, “Hey, who’s this?”

Matt’s smile grew into a smirk, “This is Pidge, my Lil sis. She’s in her first year, just like you!”

“Oh, cool. Hey, Pidge,” he greeted, holding out a hand for her to shake.

Pidge squinted at him from large round spectacles. She really was the spitting image of her brother when he was younger, both brow feathered harpies with wild untamed ‘haircuts’ and suspicious/curious almond-coloured eyes. Sure, she was way shorter and looked to be younger, but otherwise, he could definitely see the resemblance.

“Is that a Mothman patch on your jacket?” she asked bluntly, still not making to grab his hand.

He looked down, despite already knowing it was there, “Uh… yeah, why?”

Her lips twitched up into a smirk, “You believe in him too?”

Scoffing, he matched her smirk, “Obviously. You can’t tell me we can exist but he can’t, just doesn’t make any sense.”

Pidge nodded and turned to her brother, “I like this one.”

Matt laughed and ruffled her feathers (literally). “Okay, Keith. Let’s go show you to the dorms, follow us so you don’t get lost in the crowd of thirsty club presidents.”

Keith winced, “Thanks.”

Together the three of them weaved in and around the crowds, keeping their heads low as to not attract too much attention. Keith’s ears perked up a little at the sound of splashing though. What, does this school have a waterpark or something?

“Oh my goddess, Matt. The fish kids are in the fountain again, look,” Pidge said, pointing and tugging on Matt's sleeve. Keith looked in the direction she was pointing in and- sure enough- there did seem to be some people swimming in the fountain.

“Is that… sanitary?” Keith asked cautiously, to which Pidge replied with a snort.

“Probably not. Whatever, that hasn’t been the weirdest thing I’ve seen here and certainly won’t be the last. C’mon Keith, chop chop, let’s get to your dorm already.”

He nodded and spared one last glance towards the fountain (although he still couldn’t make anything out too clearly, curse his nearsightedness) before turning and following Matt and Pidge to the large dorm building.

*

“Lance, look! Hot guy, ten o’clock!” Nyma whispered next to him, her scaly yellow tail nudging his.

He squinted in that general direction before his eyes locked onto a pale boy wearing a black hoodie. Unfortunately, it obscured most of his face, but when he turned to look in their direction, Lance found his breath caught in his chest.

This guy had the most mesmerizing purple eyes he’s ever seen. Paired with the smooth chiselled jaw, rugged scar that ran up his right cheek, and soft-looking black hair that was long enough to frame his face in all the right places, plus that vaguely triangle-shaped upper body, stocky legs, and thick thighs, it was official. Dudes’ a looker.

And, “I’m gonna woo him so hard.”

*

So the dorms were... nice. A lot nicer than he’d expected, actually. He’d made sure not to look up the rooms online to avoid getting his hopes up because he knew no matter what living situation he ended up with, he was still grateful for getting the opportunity to go to this school.

Looks like my roommate hasn’t come in yet... odd. Whatever... that just means I get to pick which bed I want then.

The rooms were formatted a lot like what you might expect at a four-star hotel. Two queen-sized beds, a small kitchen, a single bathroom, two desks parallel to the beds, a couple of dressers on either side for storage, and a balcony that had a little glass table and two chairs.

Man, this place needs plants.

Tossing his suitcase and carry-on onto his claimed bed (the one closest to the door), he walked across the room to open the screen door to the balcony. The wind was cooler up there, but they weren’t blocked by any buildings, and the weather usually stayed sunny in this part of the region. So in other words, a perfect place to grow some plants.

Nodding to himself, he leaned on the balcony railing and looked down below. The campus was huge , not even looking that crowded from an aerial perspective. The sheer amount of people shocked him too, all the different species, some familiar, some he could vaguely recognize, and some that were entirely foreign to him.

As he took in the fresh air and continued watching people, he never took notice of the door of their room opening and then shutting as a new person walked in. He did, however, notice as soon as arms wrapped around his waist and a warm body was pressed against his back.

He froze in shock, which gave the stranger enough time to take out one of his earbuds- he totally forgot that he had them on- and whisper hotly in his ear, “You come here to rock out?”

Finally unfreezing, his survival instinct kicked in, elbowing the rando in the (pointy) chin before spinning around and shooting a blast of magic at them which sent them flying backwards onto the bed, bouncing once, before falling off of it and onto the floor.

Whipping out his knife, Keith rushed to pin down the intruder. “Who are you, how did you get in here?” he growled, Galra voice kicking in as he held his knife to the stranger's jugular.

“Dude- wheeze- chill out for a second man! I’m your roommate!” The stranger pleaded, wincing and closing his eyes in fear, “Oh, mierda, please not my pretty face!”

Blinking a couple of times, processing, Keith quickly leapt to his feet and off of the stra- his roommate , “Shit, I’m sorry! I thought you were an intruder or something!”

His roommate coughed, standing up slowly while clutching his stomach, “Damn dude, way to make an introduction. You treat everyone you just met this way?”

Flustered, he clenched his fists, “No! I’m sorry, alright! You startled me, it was an accident.”

“Oh geez, I startled you? Man, I’d hate to see what you’re like when you're really spooked,” the man chuckled, slowly unfurling.

He squinted suspiciously, “Yeah, well, maybe don’t wrap your arms around my waist and whisper directly in my ear the next time you go to greet me. I accept hello’s and handshakes you know.”

Chuckling, his roommate smirked in his direction, “Aww, that’s unfair. How am I supposed to resist such a cute Lil’ tush, huh?”

Keith... didn’t know what to make of that exactly. “Uh... what?”

“C’mon, Mami, don’t tell me you don’t know how you look,” he continued, deliberately looking Keith up and down in a motion that had his skin crawling in an unpleasant way.

“Of course I know how I look, I had a mirror at my old house,” Keith responded bluntly, to which his now infuriating roommate chuckled.

“Nononono, I mean surely you must know how delicious you look, right?”

Keith’s face scrunched up in disgust until something clicked, “Oh! You’re a Siren .”

The roommate flashed finger guns at him and winked, “Bingo, baby. Name’s Lance. What, you've never seen a Siren before?” 

He shook his head, “No, actually. I don’t live near any large bodies of water, so I can’t actually tell if I’ve seen any.”

“Well... what d'ya think? Do I make a good first impression?” Lance asked, moving closer while swaying his hips, still looking at Keith with half-lidded eyes. 

Keith stood his ground, despite his desire to get away from the other male, “No? Did you literally forget about our interaction not five minutes ago? ”

“Nah, but I do know a thing or two about forgetting,” Lance continued, still walking forward which forced Keith to walk backwards to keep their distance. “Used to put a spell on my prey that would make them forget everything from about an hour ago, but now I’ve stopped.” He parked himself right in between Keith’s legs where his backing up had caused him to hit the other bed and fall down on it. “I want everyone who gets to have fun with me to remember the experience for as loooong as they can.”

He scowled, Galra features making a slight reappearance, which Lance seemed to notice but went unfortunately undeterred by, “You call this fun? ”

“Not yet~” the Siren responded, reaching up to stroke a fluffy ear that peaked out of Keith’s hair. It made him twitch and shiver, which in turn made Lance giggle.

“You’re really pretty, baby. What do you say I take care of you, hm?” Lance asked, leaning in further.

“I think...” Keith started, unable once more to keep the growl from his voice, “that you need to fuck. Off.”

Before Lance got to respond he grabbed the collar of the Sirens jacket and planted a foot on his stomach before roughly shoving him off and back onto the floor. 

“I’m not interested. Try that again and I’ll slit your throat,” he threatened darkly, turning around harshly to grab his hoodie from the hanger by the door. He needed to request a roommate switch immediately.

“Yes, Sir~” Lance purred from where he landed face-down on the floor, which made Keith’s eyes flash before he mumbled a spell that twisted one arm behind his back painfully.

The reaction was immediate: “OOOOOH SHIT! SHIT SHIT MIERDA SHIT FUCK FUCKFUCK- oh Dios mío, duele mucho. Deténgase, por favor, deténgase pLEASE OHMYGOD!”

“You promise never to do that shit again?” Keith growled, still not letting up on the spell.

Lance rolled onto his back in agony, “YES, YES! I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY PLEASE MAKE IT STOOOP!”

Finally releasing the spell, he nodded, “Good.” Then he turned to walk out the door.

“Can I at least get a name?” Lance asked from the floor.

His response was merely a middle finger over the shoulder before he closed the door behind him and made his way to the main building.

*

Lance lay there on the floor, still panting as he recovered from his hot roommate-induced injury. Slowly, wincing a little, he brought one of his arms out from behind his back and smiled down at the crossed fingers.

“Heh... totally worth it,” he wheezed. Finally sitting up, he looked over his shoulder at the door and smirked.

“Bitch, you gonna be mine~”

*

“What do you mean roommate assignments are permanent?!”

“Exactly that, Sir. Unfortunately, we can’t switch anyone out of their rooms because they’ve been matched according to their best compatibility species wise.”

Keith took a deep breath and exhaled aggressively, “You thought a Galra and a goddamn Siren would be a good match to be roommates?”

The secretary deadpanned, “Have you killed each other?”

“Not yet,” Keith grumbled, unsure of how long ‘yet’ would be.

“Then there you have it,” she shrugged. “Since your species technically aren’t at war or mutual predators, the system sees this as a perfect match. The only switches we’ll accept are ones from pairs in which they’re causing a violent disturbance, not ones with mutual dislike.”

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Keith knew that he shouldn’t get mad at her, she was only telling the truth. Besides, as much as he hates to admit it, Lance hasn’t done anything... entirely awful for the short time he’s been there. If he heeds Keith’s warning, they should get along fine, really.

“Okay, thank you anyway,” he sighs, giving her a small smile before walking out of the foyer.

When he got outside, he noticed the crowds had gotten significantly thinner, so he had no trouble navigating the campus on his own. He headed to the Library, unknowing of the figure that had spotted him in the crowd and began to follow him on his way there.

*

Soooo after some brief consultation with his most respected peers (Allura, Hunk, and sometimes Pidge), Lance had devised a list of ways to properly go about seducing his adorably grouchy roommate.

Foolproof, right? Absolutely.

He had already spotted his cutie roomie- or Keith (thank you Pidge) walking towards the Library. Thinking about crossing a suggestion off of his list, he broke away from his friend group and kept a steady pace behind the other boy, making sure not to be seen and not to lose him in the crowd.

When he finally got inside the library, he saw Keith setting up at a desk by the window. You know, like your typical Anime protagonist. Looking around, he spotted the computer desks a couple of seats down from him and smirked as he noticed the wheelie desk chairs.

Grabbing one and seating himself backwards on it, he rolled over to slide in right next to Keith (one could say as smoothly as he slid into those DM’s- Heh, nice one Lance!- Thank you, Lance.), “Hey kitten~ How goes the studying? Looking to get ahead of the curve already?”

Keith frowned and whipped his head around to stare at Lance, “Kitten? ”

“Yeah, ‘cause you’ve got the, you know...” he made the motion of two cat ears above his head and smirked, “they’ve very cute by the way.”

The scowl persisted, “Okay, two things. One: never call me that again, two: what are you doing here?”

Lance leaned forward against the seat, hearing the chair squeak, “Well, one: I shall take that into consideration, kitten. And two: this is kinda a public Library Keith. What, am I not allowed to come here myself?”

“No, I mean why are you here,” Keith elaborated, gritting his teeth a little at the use of the unfavourable nickname. Damn, as much as Lance thought he was adorable and hot and wanted desperately to date him, teasing Keith and riling him up was so much fun.

He puckered out his bottom lip, resting his head on the crossed arms that he placed on the back of the chair, “Can’t I just want to hang out with my cute roommate?”

“No.” Keith deadpanned.

Lance sucked in a breath dramatically, “Damn, you should stop being so gorgeous, then maybe I wouldn’t want to be around you so much.”

“You’re so superficial,” the other boy scowled before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, which Lance thought was to calm himself down but then he saw the rapid spreading of a dark lilac shade across his skin. 

Oh, so he took that literally. Unfortunately for him, his Galra form is just as attractive as his “human” form~

When Keith re-opened his eyes, Lance was met with the same enchanting galaxy purple eyes, except they were surrounded by a yellow sclera instead of white, and the pupils were slit, like a cat. His body hadn’t changed too much, with disregard for the fluffy purple ears that poke out of his black hair and the visibly sharper teeth that were made noticeable by the scowl he still wore.

“That good enough to drive you away?” Keith grumbled in that lower tone that made all of Lance’s nerves catch on fire and shiver in a good way.

“Oh, Keith,” Lance tsked, reaching out to hold the other boy's chin in his hand, “you underestimate my attraction. I may be superficial, but I’m not a coward. You’re still as appealing to me in this form as you are in your other form.” He felt a brief flick against his calve and looked down to spot a purple tail with a tuft of black fur on the end of it twitching against the floor to further display Keith’s agitation. “Damn,” he whispered, looking back into Keith’s eyes, “maybe even more~ ”

He thought he’d finally gotten through to Keith when the other boy’s pupils dilated, but then he felt a strange weightless feeling come over him. It shocked him to the point where he let Keith go, feeling himself float up towards the roof of the Library.

“KEITH!” he shouted fearfully, scrambling to grab onto something and just managed to grasp the cord of a hanging lamp. His loud voice had definitely caught the attention of the whole library at that point, but Keith didn’t even flinch, eyes glowing as he stood up and raised two clawed fingers higher, which had Lance’s grip slipping on the cord and him floating faster.

“How do you know my name?” Keith growled, showing no sign of acknowledgement for the people whose attention they had gathered. 

“PIDGE TOLD ME! KEITH PLEASE LET ME DOWN, I’M AFRAID OF HEIGHTS!” he yelled, curling his arms and legs around the wire to try and force himself steady.

“Should have thought of that before you went and did the one thing I told you not to do again Lance,” Keith growled and Lance hated how his name in that low raspy voice made him shudder again.

He closed his eyes and swallowed, already feeling a little sick, before opening his eyes again to the sight of Keith hurriedly packing his backpack and leaving the desk. “WAIT, KEITH, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!”

“Away from here!” the Galra boy snarled, hastily making his way towards the exit. “I texted Matt, he should be able to let you down from there. Hopefully, by then you’ve learned your lesson.”

As he watched the Galra leave, paying special attention to his swishing tail, only one thing was running through his mind. 

Baby, you should know by now that I never learn.

*

Banging his clawed fist against the door, Keith called out to his traitorous friend, “PIDGE!”

After a moment the door handle started turning and came face-to-face with a very large yet very timid looking Satyr. 

“Uh... hey, man. Pidge isn’t here right now, but I can take a message if you want? Also please stop banging on our door, there’s a doorbell here for a reason,” the Satyr spoke, voice low in their signature rumble but with a gentleness that Keith hadn’t expected.

“Oh, sorry about that. I’m Keith, are you Pidge’s roommate?” he asked, holding out his hand.

Thankfully, the Satyr smiled, “Don’t worry about it, you didn’t break anything so all is good. Yeah, I’m Hunk. She’s told me about you, wanna come inside and wait for her?”

Keith sighed, “That would be nice, but I’m kind of mad at her right now and I don’t want you getting caught in the middle of that. You seem like a nice guy.”

Hunk blushed and rubbed the back of his neck with a huge hand, “Aww, thanks, man. You’re alright too, you can come in anyway, I’d kind of like to learn more about you. Maybe when she gets back you’ll be calm enough to talk to her.”

Smiling, he nodded shyly, “That sounds nice, actually. Thank you.”

“Again, no worries, bud. Any friend of Pidge is a friend of mine,” Hunk said, moving aside and opening the door to let Keith in. “You can settle down on one of the beds, for now. We were looking into getting a sofa or something since Pidge hates beds but we still have to figure out where her hammock would go.”

Keith sat down on a feather-covered bed, assuming it to be Pidges, taking note of the untouched blankets and pillows in favour of a nest that took up a good portion of the space, “A hammock?”

Hunk shrugs and starts digging in the cupboards of the kitchen, “Yeah, she says she wants to hang it up by the loft since we’re on the top floor. I mean, obviously I have no issue with it, but I’m kinda wondering how she’s gonna get up there- oh, do you want tea?”

“Yes, please,” Keith answered, watching how comfortable Hunk seemed to be in the kitchen as he prepared it, being extremely mindful of his size and the twisty horns that curled from the side of his head, resting below a bright orange headband. “So, how long have you known Pidge?”

The Satyr smiled at him, “Oh, funny story actually, so my girlfriend, Shay, is a Golem, and she hosts this kid’s pottery class on the weekends...”  

Listening to Hunk ramble was endearing, and eventually, he was actually feeling a lot calmer with the mix of tea and gentle conversation, letting his Galra form melt away. So seeing Pidge come in didn’t spike any sudden feelings of resentment.

“Hey, Hunk- oh, Keith, what are you doing here?” Pidge asked, tossing her small backpack onto her nest.

He smirked, “Well originally I came over to chew you out for name-dropping me to Lance, but you can thank Hunk for calming me down.”

Hunk blushed and shrugged, “It was no problem, I like hanging out with you, man. We should have you over more often, you know, other than when you wanna murder Pidge.”

Chuckling, he leaned back against the Satyr's shoulder, finding out in a short amount of time that Hunk made an excellent pillow, his body as soft and comfy as his personality.

Pidge groaned and collapsed on the bed next to them, leaning her small head on Hunk’s fuzzy thigh, “Oh my god, what did that idiot do now.”

This made Hunk pout, “Pidge, don’t call Lance an idiot, it’s rude... but I’m actually curious as to what he did too.”

Taking a deep breath when he felt rage boil up inside him again, Keith decided to be honest, “Well, ever since he’s become my roommate, he’s been making these constant... innuendoes to get me to have sex with him.”

Frowning, Pidge looked up at him, “He hasn’t, like, forced himself on you has he?”

Keith shook his head frantically, “No, no, just really aggressive flirting. You know, calling me gorgeous and giving me cutesy nicknames and whatnot.”

Hunk sighed, “Yeah... that sounds like Lance. He can be really persistent sometimes, the dude flirts with everyone, even if they’re older than him.”

Pidge snorts, “Especially if they’re older than him. He comes off as a fuckboy, but he’s really just super insecure. Hunk and I’ve known him forever, we all went to the same High School for a couple of years. Sure, the flirting is annoying, but it becomes more endearing over time.” 

“Has he ever flirted with you?” Keith asked.

“Oh yeah, but he cut it out quick when I told him I’m aro-ace. Now he just does it to tease me,” Pidge answered.

He blinked down at her, “Oh, you too?”

She raised a feathered eyebrow, “Too? ”

“I’m Demi, Demisexual,” he clarified, smiling a little.

Pidge grinned, holding out a fist for him to bump, “Nice.”

Hunk squished him into a hug, “That’s awesome Keith, thanks for telling us.”

Blushing a little, he chuckled, “No problem.”

Then, the Satyr blinked in realization, “Oh! You should definitely tell that to Lance, though. Like Pidge mentioned, he backs off immediately after he knows you aren’t interested, he’s really good about that. Maybe you guys could even become friends after? I hate to see my buddies fighting.”

“Sure, I’ll tell him when I get back,” Keith said, still smiling and snuggling into the warm embrace.

“Woah, speaking of getting back, you should head out now, Keith. They close the doors to the dorms at twelve.”

He jumped up, “Shit, really? What time is it?”

“11:15,” Pidge answered, “so you’ve still got time. Lance should be there by now.” Then she snickered, “Did you actually spell him to the ceiling?”

Keith smirked back, “Yup.”

“Nice,” Pidge said, reaching out to fistbump him again as Hunk sighed.

*

Lance blinked awake as he heard the door to their room open. “Keith?” he asked groggily, sitting up from the bed, blinking against the harsh light of the hallway outlining Keith’s silhouette.

“Hey, Lance. You okay?” Keith asked, closing the door behind him, letting Lance’s eyes adjust to the dark a little. His night vision helped a little, and by the looks of it, Keith had the same ability with the way his eyes glowed solid yellow and he was able to navigate the dark dorm room with ease.

He hummed, nodding. The fatigue in his bones weighed down on his head, making it bop up and down like a bobber on a lake. “‘Mfine, sorry for causin’ a scene t’day. Jus’ wanted to talk to you.”

Keith smiled a little, “Thank you for your apology. I actually have something to tell you, but we’ll talk more in the morning, okay?”

Lance beamed. “Okay! Night Keefy~” he said, snuggling back down into his pillows before falling asleep.

Chapter Text

Keith was not there in the morning, much to Lance’s chagrin. In fact, he couldn’t actually find his grouchy roommate anywhere.

“Huuuuunk,” he whined, slumping down on the cafe table, “I haven’t seen him all day! I’m going through withdrawals only his adorable kitten ears can fix.”

Hunk raised an eyebrow like he usually did whenever Lance displayed these antics and patted his head softly, “Cheer up bud. He’s your roommate, you’ll see him again eventually. Also, get your head off of the table, that’s unsanitary.”

He raised his head, wincing when he could feel some kind of sticky residue left on his cheek, “Ugh, gross. I’m going to have to wash my face twice as hard tonight.”

“I heard ‘hard tonight’ and now I want no part in this conversation. Goodbye,” Allura said, doing a 180 from where she was steadily approaching their table.

“Allura, wait! Don’t leave me with him!” Hunk whined, to which Lance flipped him the middle finger. “Don’t flip your fins at me, young man,” he berated sternly.

He stuck out his tongue instead as Allura grabbed a seat from an empty table and dragged it over, the scraping of metal against tile making their sensitive ears flinch in tandem, Hunks in particular.

Allura winced, “Sorry about that. Honestly, you’d think with such a large population of other species these Human cafes would put in some kind of accommodations.”

Lance shrugged, “Humans are stubborn. Anyway, back to my problems, I tried to talk to him yesterday and he got all hot and bothered in the wrong way and then spelled me to the ceiling!”

Sighing, Allura patted his shoulder, “That’s rough buddy.”

“That’s not all though,” Lance continued, voice and dramatics raising unnecessarily to accommodate his new audience member, “Yesterday night he said he wanted to talk to me about something, but now I can’t find him anywhere! You think he got a roommate switch?”

She frowned in thought, “I don’t think so. Usually just not getting along with someone isn’t enough to make the school budge on roommate assignments. They have a system for this, you know? It takes a while to even get a proper roommate pair, so unless you guys start killing each other you’ll most likely be stuck together.”

Lance sighed in relief and was about to speak again before Hunk interrupted him frantically, “Wait, wait, wait, is your roommate Keith ?”

“...Yes?! Were you not paying attention this entire time?” he asked incredulously.

Hunk held his hands up in a placating manner, ”Dude, chill, I have been. You’ve just been referring to him as your ‘hot roommate’ the whole time, this is the first time I’ve made the connection.”

His eyebrows raised all the way up to his hairline, “Wow, Hunk. Just… wow.”

“I know, okay? I know. But anyway, maybe you should… tone down on the flirting a little,” he suggested.

Allura nodded, “See? I’ve been trying to tell you that too. Sometimes you come on a little too strong, Lance.”

Squinting, Lance crossed his arms, “How do I know you guys aren’t just talking me down ‘cause you like him too or something.” 

“What? No! I’m dating Shay, remember?” Hunk replied, “It’s just that well… I know Keith and-”

Lance jumped up, “You know him?! Can you talk me up? Be my wingman a little? C’mon Hunky~”

“No, no, nonononono. No. I don’t know him that well, Lance. What I was going to say…” he glared at Lance who shrunk sheepishly back into his seat, “is that I know what he wants to tell you and it’s important.”

“If it’s so important why don’t you tell us yourself?” Allura asked, to which Lance nodded.

Hunk scratched the back of his neck, “I mean, I would , but this is kinda… personal so it’s not really my place to say…”

“Hunk, buddy, my man,” Lance started, gripping Hunk’s broad shoulders, “did Keith tell you which position he prefers in bed?”

Both Allura and Hunk recoiled, making Lance smirk devilishly and cackle. 

“THAT IS GROSS, LONCE!” Allura yelled.

“D-DUDE WE’RE IN PUBLIC! AND NO, HE DID NOT! I DON’T EVEN WANNA KNOW THAT!” Hunk stuttered.

Nodding he sat back down, “Mkay, good. I’d rather find out for myself-”

He was cut off by two twin groans that drowned out all the other noise from the cafe.

*

After some searching, Keith had eventually found a relatively secluded nook hidden in the Library where no annoying roommates could bother him. He was in the middle of setting up his new laptop, (Shiro bought it for him to replace the shitty one he used throughout high school,) when his phone rang. Luckily, he kept it on vibrate so it never disturbed the other Library patrons. Checking the caller ID (it was Matt) he answered.

“Hello?”

There was a pause filled with soft static before “Keith?”

“Yeah?”

Matt sighed audibly, “Oh thank the goddess. Do you have any quarters?”

He frowned, “Uh, maybe. Hold on, let me check my wallet.”

Checking his wallet revealed that yes, he did have quarters. Several, in fact. “Yeah, I have some, why?”

“Okay, so, I’m at the gym on campus, right? And apparently they installed these pay-per-hour locks on the lockers in the change room. At least for the guys, I dunno about the rest of them-”

“Matt,” he cut off, “get to the point.”

“Right, yeah. Anyway, I only paid for an hour but my class went on for longer than expected and the machines only accepted quarters but my wallet’s in my locker. Can you come and spot me? I promise I’ll pay you back!”

Now, if this wasn’t college, Keith would probably say ‘Don’t worry about it’ but because it is college he says, “You fucking better. I’ll be there in ten.”

“Thanks, man! You’re a lifesaver!” Matt cheers before hanging up.

Keith puts his phone and his wallet back in his pockets before packing up his computer and making it over to the gym.

When he arrived, he saw Matt standing outside wearing a grey tank top that was stained with sweat. Matt noticed him and waved him over with a clawed hand, “Keith! Over here!”

He jogged over and fist-bumped Matt’s offered hand. “Hey, Matt. I’ve got your quarters.”

“Great! Okay, so the locker room is on the first floor, follow me,” Matt said, opening the door for Keith and leading him inside.

Looking around, he saw a huge window that opened in on the pool. It was decorated with cheesy fish stickers and drawings of various sea creatures and plants in some chalk markers. The noises from the pool were muted, but he could still make out an argument.

“Hey, Scaley! You’re hogging the lanes!” That was James Griffin, one of the domestic werewolves on campus, specifically a border terrier. He was treading water in a lane that looked to be blocked by a huge blue fishtail. A tail that looked to be connected to a very familiar face.

Lance turned towards James and smiled, displaying two rows of sharp teeth, “Oh, Griffin! I didn’t know they allowed dogs in the pool!”

The werewolf bristled and growled, “I’M HYPOALLERGENIC YOU FISH BRAINED FUCK!”

Pouting, Lance twisted his tail in the water, splashing James in the process, “Ouch! That hurts, man,” he looked around, “Where’s your owner? KINKADE! COME COLLECT YOUR FERAL BOYFRIEND!”

If Keith was any closer he could probably see the blood vessels pop in Griffin’s forehead. “HE IS NOT MY OWNER YOU-”

“James, what did I say about starting unnecessary conflicts?” Out of seemingly nowhere, Ryan Kinkade appeared and lifted his boyfriend out of the pool with a single hand. The gentle half-giant then set him down on the deck and began to scold him, which was unusual since normally he never spoke save for a few grunts.

Matt cleared his throat impatiently, “Keith?”

He snapped to attention, “Shit, sorry. Uh…” he glanced back at the pool, where he saw Lance notice him and visibly perk up, waving frantically. He waved back, “Actually… how many quarters do you need?”

*

Diving under the water, he hummed the Jaws theme to himself and steadily approached where Hunk would be reading calmly on the deck. Without warning, he propelled himself up with his tail and shouted, scaring Hunk so much that the Satyr jumped 3 feet in the air.

“LANCE!” Hunk chastised, to which the Siren laughed at.

“Huuuuuunk~ He’s here!” Lance cooed.

Hunk looked around, “Who’s here...?”

The door to the pool opened, and Lance snapped his head around to stare at the person who came through it, “Keith!”

“Oh, Keith. Hey man, what’s up?” Hunk asked, waving to Lance’s roommate.

Keith smiled a little and waved back, finally joining them, “Not much. I actually came here to talk to Lance.”

“Awww, Keith. Seeking me out just to talk to me? You’re so sweet~” he crooned, pulling himself out of the pool with visible effort.

The other boys winced. “Oh, wow, uh… do you want some help?” Keith asked, his hands twitching in half aborted motions.

“Ugh , no I’m- hnnng- I’ve got- hmmmm uugh,” he collapsed with his front half on the wet pool deck, huffing, “okay no, I don’t got it. Help?”

Hunk sighed, “Okay, I’ll grab his left arm, Keith you get his right.”

“Wait, my right or his-” Hunk grabbed an arm and started pulling, “oh okay.” Keith grabbed Lance’s other arm and together they were able to heave Lance’s gigantic tail out of the pool.

“Geez, Lance, what have you been eating?” Hunk gasped, sitting down on the pool chair. 

Lance crossed his arms and huffed, his gills fluttering as he fought to catch his breath, “Oh hush, you never complained before and you had help this time. Plus, I’m a growing boy, I need to eat.”

“You’re still growing?” Keith asked, genuinely shocked from where he rested he wiped his hands on his jeans. 

He smirked, unable to resist, “That’s what he said~”

Hunk groaned again, while Keith just looked confused, “Yeah… that is what I said.”

“Keith,” Hunk sighed, sounding more and more tired by the second, “It’s an innuendo. Don’t encourage him.”

“Oh,” Keith said before his nose scrunched up.

Lance laughed, “Geez, you’re cute.” He lifted his arms up and made grabby motions towards Hunk, “Carry me to the change rooms?”

“Can’t you go by yourself this time?” Hunk asked, picking up his book again.

“I mean… yeah, but then I’d have to flash everybody with my gorgeous figure and you’re the one who said that would be ‘indecent’ and ‘public nudity’ ” Lance argued, using his webbed fingers to make air quotations to the best of his ability.

Hunk sputtered, “It is!”

He rolled his eyes, “I’m technically naked right now and nobody’s complaining.”

“I AM, I AM VERY MUCH COMPLAINING!” Hunk yelled.

“Yeah, well, you’re a prude, so…” he stuck his tongue out and then turned to Keith, who was starting to look as though he would much rather be somewhere else. “Keith~”

Keith sighed, already accepting his fate, “Sure.”

“Wait, really?” Keith nodded and Lance cheered, clapping his hands, “Yay! Thanks, kitten~”

Scowling, Keith knelt down, “I’m warning you, I will drop you if you call me that again.”

Lifting his arms and tail to hold on so Keith was carrying him bridal style, Lance smiled, “Wouldn’t dream of it, honey. Bye Hunk~” 

Adjusting Lance in his grip, Keith stood up without visible effort, which made Lance giggle. “See you later Hunk,” Keith said before walking Lance out of the pool area. Hunk merely waved a single hand, now fully enraptured in his book again.

“So, Keith,” Lance began once they left the pool area, “are you this strong because of your Galra genes, or do you actually work out?”

Keith hummed, shifting Lance’s weight to press a wheelchair accessible door opener, “A combination I guess. Though I only got the full brunt of my Galra genes when I turned twelve.”

He chuckled, “Oh man, that must have been a nightmare on your parents.”

The black-haired boy stiffened a little but continued anyway, “I mean… Shiro and his fiance, Adam, definitely had a hard time with it, but I’m glad it’s over now.” Keith sighed and shook his head, trying to get his bangs out of his eyes. Lance took pity on him and reached up to brush them out of his eyes. “Thanks,” Keith huffed.

“No problem. You have really pretty eyes, you know?” Lance states, staring into them. From their close proximity, he could see the adorable light blush that appeared on Keith’s cheeks.

The other boy rolled said eyes, “Sure. Where do you want me to drop you off?”

Lance looked around and eventually pointed to a changing stall, “Over there is fine. If you could pass me a towel that would be great too...” he looked up at Keith and fluttered his eyelashes cheekily, “Unless-”

“I’ll get you a towel,” Keith snapped, setting Lance down on the bench and practically dashing back out of the stall. Seconds later a white towel was flung over the top and landed with a plop on the ground.

“Gross,” Lance shivered, picking up the limp towel in two pinching claws and sneering at the dirt that had gotten on it. “Keith~” he whined, “can I have another one?”

He heard a deep sigh from the other side and smiled smugly as another towel was tossed to him. He caught this one and let the other drop to the floor. “Thank you kitten~” he cooed before shifting into his human form.

“Is that everything,” Keith bit out from the other side of the stall. 

“Yup!” Lance called, wrapping the towel against his waist snugly before stepping out of the stall. To his chagrin, Keith was no longer paying attention to him and was instead on his phone texting someone. Lance leaned over his shoulder, “Who’re you texting?”

Keith glanced up, “Matt, we came here together because he needed quarters since his locker timed out. I’m just checking up on him, he has my wallet.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Wow, you must really trust Matt to be left alone with your wallet.”

Rolling his eyes, Keith shut off his phone, “Yeah. He’s a dork, but I’ve known him for a while through Shiro, so I trust him. Or at least, if he tries anything I trust that if I tell Shiro he’ll come down here and beat him up.”

“You’ve mentioned Shiro a couple of times now,” he pointed out, now leaning on the bench, “is he like your brother or something?”

Keith nodded, “Adopted, yeah. His family took me in when I was like… ten years old? Here, I have a picture of him on my phone.”

While Keith was looking through his phone, Lance was looking at Keith. Admiring the way his thick black hair curled around his ears, how his bangs framed his face, how it was long in the back and perfect for… wait a fucking minute.

“DO YOU HAVE A MULLET?!” Lance screeched, causing Keith to flinch and fumble in order not to drop his phone.

Keith turned to look at him with wide eyes, “W-what?”

Lance groaned and collapsed on the bench, ignoring Keith’s protests against his lack of modesty. “I cannot believe I fell for a guy with a fucking MULLET!” he wallowed for a couple of seconds before sitting up to face a now red-faced Keith, “You have to cut it.”

“It will cost you zero dollars and zero cents to stop flirting with me,” Keith deadpanned, now back to scrolling through his gallery.

“Too expensive,” Lance sighed, resting an arm on Keith. “Okay, now show me Shiro.”

Keith handed his phone over to Lance, displaying a picture of Keith and another taller Magi who was wrapping a metal prosthetic arm around him, the other flesh one coming to wrap around a tan male who wore glasses and had visibly pointed ears. 

“The one with the metal arm is Shiro,” Keith clarified, “the other guy is Adam, he’s a Druid and Shiro’s a Magi.”

Lance let out a low whistle while he studied Shiro. Although they were adopted, it wouldn’t be hard to mistake them for biological siblings. Shiro, like Keith, had similar perfect pale skin and inky black hair, although Shiro’s was shaved close to his skull with a fluffy white fringe hanging down to rest at the centre of his forehead. He was noticeably more buff than Keith too, taking on the same “Dorito upper body” that Keith had, but more prominent. Also, damn those thighs… if Keith was fine, then Shiro was like a Greek god chiselled from stone. Adam was a lucky man.

“Damn. Keith’s bro has got it goin’ on,” he said, fanning himself and handing the phone back to a disgruntled looking Keith.

“Gross, he’s like 8 years older than you,” Keith complained as if that would stop Lance’s thirst.

The fanning continued and Lance swooned like a southern belle, “Even better. Shiro’s like the perfect example of a DILF.”

Looking like he would regret asking, Keith prompted, “DILF...?”

“Dad I’d like to fuck,” he gladly elaborated, taking pleasure in watching Keith’s face contort even further. It was like that WikiHow picture of a cat sucking on a lemon, priceless. As Keith pretended to choke- which brought up even more mental cat jokes, thank you- Lance cackled and hooked his bare arm around Keith’s neck, “Aww, don’t be jealous, kitten. You know you’ll always be my number one~”

“Fuck off ,” the other male groaned, shoving Lance away roughly, the motion causing the towel to slip into dangerous territory.

“My, my, Keith. So forward... if you wanted me naked you could have just said so…” he teased further, tugging on one end of the white fabric that was barely keeping him decent, threatening to remove it.

The Galra turned around, eyes flashing. At this point, it was truly unfortunate that Lance kept forgetting a key part of Keith’s heritage. He felt the towel around his waist squeeze tighter, like a cobra, as the dirty towel from before came flying out of the stall and was violently shoved onto Lance’s head, making him sputter in shock, now rendered temporarily blind.

“KEITH!” he shrieked, tugging on the head towel and nearly running around like a chicken with its head cut off. “KEEEEITH!! I CAN’T SEE!! KEITH YOU BETTER COME FIX THIS RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR TO DIOS I WILL DROWN YOUR FURRY ASS IN THE FOUNTAIN! KEITH! YOU FUCKING CABRON I KNOW YOU’RE STILL HERE, I CAN HEAR YOU SNICKERING!! KEITH GET OVER HERE-”

A loud metal bang echoed through the change room as Lance slammed full force into the lockers, toppling over to the sound of Keith’s hysterical laughter.

*

No matter what anybody was going to say, nothing on this planet would make Keith delete the footage of Lance running into the lockers face-first and landing on his half-naked ass. Nothing.

 “You are a fucking Asshole, Mullet.”

Not even that.

“It’s a good thing you’re hot, ‘cause otherwise I’d-”

“Lance,” Keith started in a very placating manner, “you have a baseball-sized bruise on your head that advertises perfectly why continuing that sentence might be a bad idea.”

Blue eyes meet his through a mirror, where the owner of said eyes is attempting to cover said bruise with concealer while an exaggerated pout rests on his lips.

“Eh… I’ve had worse,” Lance says, wincing slightly whenever he goes in with his finger to lightly dab on the concealer. “Like there was this one time where I was practically knocked across a room with a knife shoved at my throat, and when my arm was twisted so far behind my back it could have been popped right out of its socket, or that time when I was spelled to the roof of a Library and got a bruise on my leg from when Matt got me down and dropped me.”

He sighed heavily, “Lance, I did all of those.”

Lance blinked, “Ohh yeah… you’ve been really dangerous to my health lately, Keith.”

Facepalming, he growled, “Any idea why that is? Or did you hit your thick head so hard you forgot.”

“Well… my head certainly isn’t the only thing that’s thick~” the Siren crooned, winking at Keith through the mirror.

Keith wanted nothing more than to bury a knife through his skull. He groaned loudly and collapsed backwards on his dorm room bed, dragged his fingers down his face. “You’re impossible. What do I have to do to tell you that I’m. Not. Interested.”

“I told you already, stop being so cute and I’ll consider it,” Lance hummed, satisfied with his concealer coverup. 

He sat up, raising an eyebrow, “I’m not cute.”

Chuckling, Lance packed up his makeup, “That won’t work on me, kitten. I have eyes.”

“You just never learn, do you?” he sneered.

Lance turned to him and winked, cheekily smirking, “Nope.” He ducked quickly as Keith chucked a book at his head, "Keeeith, don’t bruise my pretty face…”

Keith couldn’t help himself, his eyes flared yellow as his Galra features appeared, “Oh I’ll do a lot more than bruise it.”

Screeching, Lance sprinted out of the dorm room, with Keith following close behind. 

He chased Lance down the hall, quickly gaining on him, but the lanky boy wasn’t slowing down either. Lance just barely slipped through the closing doors of an elevator, causing Keith to catch one final glimpse of the other boy's terrified expression before he growled (which probably sounded more like a roar) and tore off towards the staircase, the metal door banging shut behind him from the force. 

Luckily, there was nobody else using the stairs at the moment, so he hopped over the railings to shortcut his way to each floor just to check if Lance had gotten off on one of them. Eventually, he reached the foyer and met eyes with a still scared shitless Lance who was just coming off of the elevator along with three other students. He wasted no time in tearing off after him, another roar ripping out of his throat. Lance shrieked loud enough to shatter glass and split off towards the front doors, yelling out towards the person coming through to hold them open. 

Together they took off down the lawn, people giving them a wide berth as they passed. Lance looked around wildly, looking for someone to come rescue him.

Keith chuckled darkly, his Galra instincts reeling from the thrill of the hunt. “There’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide!” he roared, catching up on the terrified boy, “Nobody’s coming to save you, little fishy… just give up. ”

Lance looked back at him with wild eyes, fumbling as he took in the rapidly declining distance. The Siren might have been a predator in the water, but the land was Keith’s territory.

When I catch him he’ll be dead-

“SHIRO!” Lance hollered, making Keith’s ears flatten against his head at the volume. Even after all that cardio, Lance’s lungs weren’t tired at all. Then, another sense broke through his concentration. The scent of something familiar… no, someone familiar.

Sure enough, a rather confused looking Shiro was standing on the sidewalk, looking around to see who had called his name. Upon closer inspection, Adam was seen by his side, squinting through his glasses in the sunlight, before his eyes widened and he rapidly smacked Shiro’s arm and pointed in their direction. Then, it was Shiro’s turn to look shocked before he rapidly registered the situation and dropped the black backpack he was carrying, bracing himself for Lance’s impact.

Leaping into his arms, Lance practically climbed Shiro like a squirrel would a tree. Shiro let out a gasp in shock, before steadying himself and holding onto Lance, who was now perched on his shoulders. Keith dug his heels into the grass to stop himself before he, too, slammed into Shiro. He stood at their feet, still growling subconsciously and snapped his jaws when Lance looked at him, making the other boy yelp again.

“Shiro… let go of him,” he rumbled, flexing his claws and hunching down a little, still remaining in attack mode.

Raising his eyebrows, Shiro held out his hands in a calming manner, “Okay, how about we all take a deep breath and handle this peacefully. Keith, c’mon, breathe in…”

His vision started flickering in and out. Confused, he shook his head and roared again. “He’s mine. Let me at him!”

Frowning, Shiro turned to Adam, “I don’t think I can get through to him right now, he’s too far gone.”

Lance quivered from Shiro’s shoulders, “W-wh-what do you m-mean he’s t-too f-far gone...?”

Adam stepped forward, arms held out much like Shiro’s, Keith bared his teeth at him, growling low in his throat as a warning. He flicked his eyes back to Lance, who was being carefully set down and talked to by Shiro. 

At this point, Keith’s instincts completely took over. His train of thought didn’t differ much from: 

Hunt… prey… capture… prey… kill… prey… kill… kill… kILL… KILL-

With a flick of his wrist, Adam summoned strong vines from the ground to tie town Keith’s ankles and wrists. He bucked against them, feral and furious at the plants for holding him down and keeping him from his prey. Adam approached calmly, undeterred by Keith’s thrashing and growling as he laid his palms against Keith’s purple temples.

“Go to sleep, problem child,” he said before Keith’s eyes lulled back into his head, limbs going limp against the vines as he blacked out. 

*

“Is he gonna be okay?” Lance asks, looking down worriedly at his roommate who is currently passed out on the campus lawn. He looks almost… serene like this. The nearly permanent scowl that definitely has nothing to do with him smoothed over, making way for a peaceful looking expression.

Lance can only hope he’s having good dreams… and that he’s in them.

“Of course he will, my magic isn’t lethal. Besides, even if he was, that child is so stubborn I doubt his condition would persist,” the darker-skinned man- Adam- reassured him. He reached up to adjust the glasses on the bridge of his nose, bringing to Lance’s attention the green markings that lined his face as well as the pointed ears that stuck out from his slightly curly brown hair.

“Apologies,” Adam sighed, reaching his hand forward, “I wish we could have met in better circumstances. I am Adam Warner, Takashi’s fiance and Keith’s… well, I would like to say guardian but I believe that is an understatement.”

Chuckling, Lance shakes his hand. Adam’s grip is firm and calloused, much like Keith’s, though he seems to pay special attention to his nails as his cuticles are definitely groomed, “Great to meet you. I’m Lance, Keith’s roommate.”

Shiro nods in recognition, “Ahh, the Siren. Yes, Keith’s told us about you.” He reaches his own human hand forward, “My name is Takashi Shirogane, I’m Keith’s brother.”

Nodding, Lance shakes his hand as well, “Yeah, I’ve heard about you guys, too. No need to be so formal though, I’m hardly worth the sentiment.”

Adam and Shiro frown and look at each other before Adam speaks, “Well I’d hate to agree, but if it would make you feel more comfortable then Takashi will relax a little.”

He raises an eyebrow at the wording and Shiro chuckles, “Adam’s always this uptight. He’s got a ‘permanent stick up his ass’ as Keith would say.”

Narrowing his eyes, Adam glares at Keith’s unconscious form, “That child is wilting my leaves faster than I can water them. If only he did not have such an attachment to Takashi, then dealing with him would be easy.”

Lance is just about ready to call campus security before Shiro laughs again. “Adam, just because Lance told you to relax, does not mean he is prepared to be exposed to your… unique relationship with Keith.” He turns to Lance with a smile, “Those two used to bicker all the time when we were all living together. It was pretty amusing, but they bonded eventually,” he finished, hooking an arm around Adam’s shoulders and pressing him in a one-armed hug.

Adam is not very discrete in melting into the embrace, which leaves Lance a little stunned as such a stony-faced man can be so easily reduced to a puddle in Shiro’s arms.

Then again… I’d probably do the same thing. Damn those muscles… Why couldn’t I prefer twinks?

“Unfortunately, we cannot leave the brat on the lawn to sunbathe. Do you mind…” Adam begins.

“Oh!” Lance smacks his forehead, “yeah, duh. Come with me, I’ll show you our dorm!”

In one fell swoop, Shiro sweeps Keith up into a fireman's carry, Keith’s consciousness remaining none the wiser to the physical activity its body is being put through. Lance leads them towards the elevator in their dorm’s main building, pointing out a couple of key features of campus along the way. He’s assuming that Adam and Shiro were originally here to visit Keith and get a tour of the campus, but since Keith is… well… out of commission, Lance can easily fill that spot. He just hopes he assumed right, else he’s making an awfully annoying impression on the two men.

“Here we are! Home sweet home,” Lance says, swiftly unlocking the door and opening it. “Keith’s bed is-” Shiro ignores him and sets Keith down on Lance's bed, while Lance… doesn’t have it in himself to correct them.

Adam frowns at the balcony, “Needs more plants.”

Ooh, that’s a nice idea, “Yeah, those could certainly spruce up the place. Got any recommendations?”

The Druid’s head whips around to stare at Lance, hazel eyes glimmering with unbridled excitement, though his expression remains emotionless. He swears he hears Shiro sigh and whisper: ‘now you’ve done it’ before Adam launches into a discussion that has Lance’s mind diving to keep up. Adam paces while he talks too, making his way around the room and eventually into the kitchen. He barely pauses to take a breath as he removes the canvas bag from his side and sets it down, opening it to reveal several packets of seeds and two small succulents. 

Lance interrupts Adam with a loud gasp, “Succulents! They’re so cute, what kind are they?”

Looking slightly shocked at the sudden question, Adam looks down at the succulents, most likely not even noticing that he’d pulled them out. Nonetheless, he carries on, “Oh, well, the one in the red pot is an Echeveria agavoides and the one in the blue pot is a Haworthia fasciata. Both have been crossbred with Pangea plants, which possess the special quality of quickly adapting to environments. As such, they are often used by elementals for potions, as well as mixed with other sturdy plants so that creatures living in volatile domains can still have a plant to look after without worrying too much about it perishing. Interestingly enough…”

Adam’s ranting continues as his muscle memory kicks in again and he fully unpacks his satchel. By the time he’s finished, Lance and Keith have acquired two succulents, six packets of seeds, and three new types of tea leaves. Adam mentions that he was tempted to include a fruit tree of some kind but knew that Keith always managed to kill his, so he merely brought them some blackberry seeds.

“Dude, sick! I love blackberries,” Lance exclaimed, picking up the package intently. He examines it for a bit before smiling at a very shocked Adam, “Thanks so much!”

The Druid stutters, a blush appearing on his cheeks that makes Lance turn to Shiro apologetically, “Sorry, guess my charm is too much to handle.”

Shiro shakes his head and chuckles, standing up from where he was sitting on Lance’s bed, watching the whole exchange with fond eyes, “No, no. Nothing to apologize for. Other than his family, nobody is quite able to keep up with Adam’s rants, even I have trouble sometimes,” he says sheepishly. He walks over and wraps an arm around Adam’s waist, smiling wider when he doesn’t respond, “I think you’ve broken him. He’s usually not used to this much attentiveness, probably thrown off by your interest.”

“He’s… so nice…” Adam mumbles, staring off into space, “why… why does the problem child always attract such kindness..?” He snaps out of his trance, looking Lance in the eye and determinedly marched around the counter to grasp his shoulders, “You are now under my protection. If anyone tries to pull any shit you don’t like, call me and I’ll beat their ass.” He gives Lances shoulder a firm pat before stepping away to collect his things, “Let’s go, Takashi. The little demon has everything he needs to complete his dwelling. We’ll come back tomorrow when he’s actually awake.”

Still smiling, Shiro shakes his hand again, “Great to meet you again, Lance. Look after Keith for us, alright?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, sure,” Lance stutters, still in shock. Shiro hums and graciously doesn’t comment on his shaky voice.

“I wrote down our numbers on a piece of paper that I left on the counter, call if you need anything!” he says finally before joining hands with his fiance and walking down the hallway.

“Bye…” Lance calls, waving to them from the doorway before shutting it and leaning against it, sliding down to the floor. “Ay por Dios…” he mutters, looking over at the new plants and plant fetuses they’ve acquired before his gaze settles on Keith.

His roommate Galra features have melted away, leaving behind the pale-faced beauty that is Keith Kogane. Not to mention the jagged rips that tear through Keith’s black shirt and tight black skinny jeans. It appears as though the Galra transformation adds muscle mass to his body, which stretches out his clothes.

Lance sighs and sits down on Keith’s bed, intent on staying there until Keith woke up. As soon as he would do so, Lance was going to question him about the conversation they’ve been unwillingly postponing.

He leans against the headboard, nose brushing against Keith’s pillow. Immediately he is overwhelmed by Keith’s scent. It’s kind of woodsy, in a way. Like burning logs and barbecues. There’s also the underlining smell of mint, which must be from deodorant or aftershave.

...Or cologne.

Oh please let it be cologne.

Impulses getting the better of him (once again), Lance snuggles down into the comforting scent and falls asleep in his roommate’s bed.

Chapter Text

Keith woke up to a minor chill and an unfamiliar scent invading his nose. He blinked groggily, groaning at his half-awake state as he looked around the room.

The first thing he noticed was Lance, curled up on top of the covers on his bed. His hair was mussed, sticking up in multiple different directions, a look the boy would no doubt shriek at if he were conscious. Keith sat up abruptly, trying to recollect his memories from yesterday. A quick glance at the alarm clock on Lance’s nightstand told him that it was 5:03 am, so he must have slept through the night. 

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, the movement drawing his attention to the jagged tears that ran across his favourite pair of black jeans. Groaning again, he shucked them off quickly, depositing them on the bed to deal with later before rummaging through his unpacked suitcase for some sweatpants and a new shirt. He also grabbed a red wool pullover to stave off the early morning chill and went to the bathroom to change and examine himself. 

Looking at his reflection revealed several more tears in his shirt, which he discarded as well. Without those clothes on, he could now get a closer look at the stretch marks on his sides that stung an irritated red from his transformation. Perks of being a half breed, right?

Sighing heavily, he glanced down at the bathroom counter. It was noticeably more crowded now, filled with lotions and containers labelled with things like “hydrating” and “refreshing”. There was also a giant plastic container that held multiple makeup brushes and other beauty products. These were Lance’s, no doubt.

The extensive skincare and beauty products made him pause for a bit and reexamine his own bathroom materials. He’d only brought what he’d thought to be the essentials, a toothbrush, Waterpik for the food that got stuck in his teeth, an unscented stick of deodorant, a heavy-duty hairbrush with a couple of hair elastics tied around the handle, and a single large bottle of 3-in-1 body wash. Cautiously, he sniffed his arm, scrunching up his nose and deciding a shower would do him some good. He folded up the new clothes he brought to the bathroom and locked the door, the sweat on his skin making him shiver in place as he waited for the water to warm up to a comfortable temperature before climbing in.

Even inside the shower, there was evidence of Lance’s extensive beauty care routine. While Keith only had a single bottle of soap, Lance had five, as well as some kind of poofy blue loofa that was hung by a string on the neck of the showerhead. When the water became steamy enough to fog up the glass, he used the condensation to try and piece together his memories of yesterday, making small doodles of everything he was able to recollect (and, well, if a small doodle of a hippo happened to join them… nobody had to know). 

Just as he had figured it out, a loud knock sounded on the door. “Yeah?” he called, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the spray.

“Hey, man,” Lance yelled back, “could you hurry up in there? I didn’t get to do my routine last night and my pores are screaming at me right now.”

“Sure,” he agreed easily, despite having no idea what ‘pores’ were. He whipped away his shower doodles and finished washing. After rinsing, he stopped the water and wrapped a towel around his waist, grabbing his folded clothes so that he could change while Lance was using the bathroom. Then, he turned to the door and unlocked it.

“Quite honestly, I didn’t think you were the type of person to be awake at this hour,” Keith stated, standing in the doorway to turn on the bathroom fan.

There was no response from Lance at his comment, so he raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat loudly to snap him out of where he was blatantly checking Keith out. Lance startled a little and rushed to respond. “Oh, well… yeah, no, I’m not. But I gotta get up early for my routine so I set an alarm for like 5:30. Looks like these don’t just come naturally to all people, you were just lucky,” he finished with a wink and some finger guns.

Keith stared at him, unimpressed until Lance shifted in place. “Anyway, you’re delaying that very routine right now so… scooch.”

He scooched, walking away from the bathroom and the ‘thank you~’ that Lance sent after him. He tossed his clothes on his bed this time, picking up the pants he discarded earlier and putting them on top of his desk along with the torn shirt. Maybe he could repair them with magic or something… or else he’d have to ask Adam to teach him how to sew and be subjected to the utter smugness the man would radiate at being asked to teach him about something he would allegedly ‘never need in his life, Adam’.

Quickly, he towelled off and got dressed, grimacing when his wet hair soaked the collar of his shirt. He grabbed his towel again and aggressively dried it off, leaving it untamed and fluffy. Attempting to smooth it down wouldn’t do him any good, speaking from experience, so he huffed to himself and collapsed back down onto his bed. He wasn’t tired enough to go back to sleep, but his first class started at 8:30, so until then he needed to fill the time with something. Nothing would be open right now, so he couldn’t go to a cafe or to the library until his class started.

Then, he remembered something. He still hadn’t come out to Lance yet… or apologized for going ape-shit on him yesterday. Determined now not to let the opportunity slip by (again) he approached the bathroom door once more and knocked.

“Lance?” he called.

It took a bit before Lance yelled back, “Whaaaat!?”

Rolling his eyes at Lance’s antics, he said, “I have to talk to you about something when you get out, okay?”

“ Whaat?!”

“I said I have to talk to you about something!”

“WHAT?!”

“I SAID I HAVE TO- ugh, I’LL TELL YOU WHEN YOU GET OUT!”

There was a pause before Lance responded, “Okaaay!”  

Great. Now all he had to do was wait until Lance got out of the bathroom.

Then he remembered the surplus of products on the counter in their bathroom. He groaned loudly, collapsing back onto his bed.

This will take a while...

When Lance finally, finally, got out of the bathroom, a puff of steam followed him. He looked a lot more... radiant than before, caramel skin practically glowing in a way that must have been witchcraft.

“So, Keefy, what did you need to talk to Lil ol me about?” Lance asked cheerfully, smiling brightly as he sauntered over to his wardrobe in a blue and gold robe that Keith hadn’t noticed him holding before he had gone into the bathroom. The robe was tied loosely, most likely a conscious decision, and it revealed a lot more of Lance’s chest and collarbones than was necessary. 

“I’m Demisexual,” Keith stated, blunt and right to the point. There wasn’t any reason to draw this out more than it had already, plus he had no concerns that Lance wouldn’t ‘accept’ him (as long as Hunk and Pidge were trustworthy, although so far they had been).

Lance froze, turning around slowly with wide eyes, “Heh?”

He rolled his eyes, “I’m Demisexual, Lance. I don’t feel sexual attraction unless I’ve formed a strong bond with someone. Your flirting is pointless.”

There was a long pause, long enough that Keith actually began to get concerned that he had broke Lance before the other boy groaned loudly and fell face-first onto his bed in a dramatic show of defeat.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” came a muffled complaint from the bed. Keith winced a little and cautiously came to sit next to the dejected Lance, patting his head awkwardly in a show of condolence.

“Uh... sorry?”

Lance shot up, hitting his head on Keith’s hand when he failed to draw it back quickly enough. He hissed in pain, before grabbing the hand and looking into Keith’s eyes, “What? No! Keith, never apologize for something like that! I should be the one apologizing to you! I came onto you so hard dude, I was a total creep, but I just thought you were playing hard-to-get!”

Keith raised a skeptical eyebrow, “You thought I was playing hard-to-get?”

The Siren boy groaned again, “I know, I know. No excuse, but it happens more than you think. People expect Siren’s to be like... relentless pursuers. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given up on someone just to have them come to be and be like ‘what’s wrong with you? Why’d you stop?’

“Anyway, I’m sorry I basically harassed you for three days. I swear, if I’d known any sooner, I would have stopped immediately.”  

He shrugged, not used to this earnest side of Lance. Clearly, he had a lot to learn about the other boy. “S’okay. I mean, I understand if that was the response for backing off before. People are weird.”

Lance chuckled, “You got that right. Still no excuse though, I’m really sorry, Keith.”

Smiling, he squeezed Lance’s hand, “I forgive you, seriously, don’t worry about it.”

Grinning back, Lance squeezed his hand once more before letting go, “We can still be friends though, right?”

“Uh, yeah? I need friendship rights in order to lord this experience over you forever,” Keith snickered.

The other boy groaned again, falling back onto the bed, “I take it back! You’re a meanie! I don’t know what I saw in you!”

“Oh no, my feelings,” he deadpanned, standing up and walking towards the kitchen. “You want coffee or something?”

Lance sat up and hummed, “Nah, I’ll get it at the cafe. For me, It’s an iced coffee or nothing.”

He rolled his eyes, “Of course you’d like iced coffee...”

“Hey!” the other boy pouted, “I request that you relinquish your comment, sir, as I find it to be offensive.”

“Too bad,” Keith teased, opening one of the new boxes of tea that were on the counter.

“I will not stand for this abuse!” Lance gasped, finally standing and going back to his wardrobe. 

He hummed dismissively, taking notice of the tiny plants on the counter as well, “Did Adam bring these over?”

“Hm?” Lance glanced over from around the corner, in confusion before his eyes brightened, “Oh, yeah he did! He gave us a couple of seed packets as well, I left those on your nightstand since I have no idea what to do with plants.”

“He got us succulents.”

“He did indeed, captain obvious,” the Siren teased, pulling on a blue striped t-shirt, “I’m gonna name mine Vera, short for Varadero, like the beach in my home town. What are you naming yours?”

Keith considered this for a moment before settling on: “Kevin.”

Lance stared at him blankly, “Kevin, really?”

He shrugged, “It starts with a ‘K’, like my name.”

The other boy dragged a hand over his face in exasperation, before sighing loudly, “ Okay... tell you what. I have to visit Hunk and Pidge today because I left one of my sweaters at their place, how about I pick up some name tags for our plants and in the meantime you can rethink your horrendous naming decision.”

“Why? What’s wrong with Kevin?” he asked, genuinely 

“Everything, Keith. Everything, ” Lance said dramatically before putting on his shoes. “I won’t be too long, 6:30 at the latest. Oh! Almost forgot,” he grabbed his phone from where it was plugged in on the nightstand, “I’m dragging you to breakfast with Hunk and Allura, gimmie your number.”

Keith stared at the phone blankly before looking back at Lance, “Uh, why?”

“‘Cause we’re friends? Also, we’re roommates, so this is probably something we should have done on day one,” Lance reasoned.

He complied, putting his contact information into Lance’s phone and shooting off a text to himself before handing it back. That was apparently a mistake because Lance then wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulder and snapped a quick picture of them, much to Keith’s dismay. 

“Awesome! Thanks, man. I’ll be back soon, so wait up. If I come back and you aren’t here, I’ll hunt you down myself and drag you to breakfast.” Before Keith got the chance to respond to that poorly concealed threat, Lance yelled, “Okay, byeee~” and rushed out the door.

Keith stood in silence for a moment before Lance opened the door in a rush again, running over to his nightstand to grab something else. “Almost forgot my keys!” he said in explanation before going to leave again. He stopped once more when closing the door and looked at Keith, “Oh, by the way. Not that it’s not adorable, but you might wanna fix your hair.” With that, he shut the door finally behind himself.

Alone again, Keith slowly raised a hand to his hair and looked at his reflection in the metal fridge door. He cursed as he came face-to-face with his hair looking much like an angry kitten and rushed into the bathroom to tame it.

*

“IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT I AM A HORRIBLE PERSON!” Lance announced, barging into Hunk and Pidge’s dorm room and promptly collapsing onto Hunk’s bed. 

Hunk and Pidge, who have been friends with Lance for a while and were used to his dramatics, barely flinched. Instead, Hunk continued whisking some eggs while Pidge nabbed a pillow from her hammock (it had taken a lot less effort than she thought to get it installed) and chucked it blindly at the sudden disturbance to her slumber. Though judging by the whump and the screech that followed, she’d hit her mark.

“PIIIIDGE, DON’T ASSULT ME, I’M HAVING A MELTDOWN!” the Siren boy whined, retrieving the pillow she tossed at him and hugging it.

“What happened, buddy?” Hunk asked, the only true G in the room.

Lance perked up like a puppy after getting attention, “Well, I’m glad you asked-”

“Huuunk, ” Pidge whined from her hammock, “why would you do this to me?”

“Pidge, he’s suffering,” Hunk explained, “If I don’t pay attention to him now, he’ll just get more whiney until he’s doing it for the principle and will refuse to talk to us about what’s wrong.”

“Oh, okay, rude,” he pouted, “here I was thinking that my best friends cared about my hardships, but it turns out you are just as cruel as the rest of the world.”

Hunk sighed, abandoning the egg mixture to sit next to Lance on the bed, lowering him down until his head was cushioned by large fluffy Satyr thighs, “Okay, Lance, I’m listening. Tell me what’s wrong.”

The Siren sniffed, “I’m a horrible person.”

“No you’re not,” Hunk said, terribly used to this discussion.

“As much as I’d hate to agree, Hunk’s right,” Pidge grumbled, finally sitting up in a motion that made the hammock sway dangerously. Pidge seemed unbothered by it, however, and continued, “You aren’t a bad person, Lance. Everyone makes mistakes, so what did you do?”

Lance’s face crumpled and he turned to whine into Hunk’s thighs again, “Keeeeith...”

“Ahh,” Hunk said, understanding immediately, “he came out to you, didn’t he?”

“I’m awful...” he cried and Hunk placed a large hand on top of his head, running through his hair soothingly.

“Ugh. Lance, you’re fine,” Pidge sighed, “I’ll bet Keith forgave you, didn’t he?”

There was a pause from Lance before he nodded his head, the movement making the hair on Hunk’s legs shift around.

She frowned, “Then what’s the problem?”

Lance finally turned his face away from Hunk’s legs, looking at her instead, “The problem is that I feel guilty! He went full Galra on me, Pidge! I knew the flirting annoyed him but I. Just. Kept. Pushing! ”

Pidge and Hunk glanced at each other, unsure how to comfort him. Lance sniffled a little before a tear slid down his face, much to their combined shock. “He hates me...” he spoke in a watery voice, staring down at the ground in shame.

If Hunk had learned anything about his best friend, it’s that once he starts feeling emotional, it’s best to just let him. So, he did exactly that, maneuvering Lance into a hug and letting him cry into his shoulder. Pidge flew down from her hammock as well, joining the group hug.

She hesitated a little before she spoke. Pidge knew she wasn’t the best with words, sometimes appearing insensitive or aloof. She understood machines better than she did people, but she’d known Lance forever, so she knew exactly what she needed to say to console him.

“Look, Lance. Do you remember when you first met me? You flirted like crazy. Sure, I was annoyed, sometimes even frustrated. But when I told you I was aroace, you stopped immediately. I know you feel guilty, which is good because It means that you respect Keith enough to realize that what you did wasn’t okay. But he forgave you, that’s the important part. Keith forgave you, so now you get to start over with him. Just like you did with me. 

“When you met me, I was completely closed off, but the thing about you, Lance, is that you’re determined. Whenever you see someone who’s alone, or scared, or confused, you open yourself up to them. You would do anything you can to make someone laugh or feel happy around you. Your heart is so big, Lance, you have so much... love to give and you hand it away like its the easiest thing in the world to do.

“I know for a fact, that if Keith were to see just how loving you can be, you guys will be best friends before you know it.”

Lance sniffled, pulling his head out of Hunk’s damp shoulder and turning to her with red-rimmed eyes. “You mean it?” he asked, his voice weak and scratchy from the tears.

Pidge smiled sincerely, tears pricking her eyes as well, “Of course.”

His mouth wobbled as the corners pulled into a humongous smile, tears returning once more. “ Pidgey!” he said before tackling her into a tight hug that she returned tenfold. Hunk’s arms wrapped around them both as well, his eyes leaking too. The Satyr had always been a sympathy crier, his heart soft and cuddly just like his body.

“ You guuuuys~ It’s too early for tears...” he sobbed, causing the other two to laugh wetly.

Lance pulled away from the hug, whipping his eyes and sniffling, “Thank you guys, seriously. I couldn’t have asked for better friends.”

They all smiled at each other before Hunk sighed, “Well... my legs are definitely asleep, so I think eggs are off the table.”

Pidge groaned at that, her stomach grumbling at the same time, causing all three of them to laugh. 

“You wanna join us for breakfast, Pidgey? I managed to get Keith to agree to come!” Lance asked, already back to his cheerful self.

She sighed, “Yeah... sure. Why not.”

“We should actually get going soon for that,” Hunk piped up, glancing at the clock. “It’s already 6:45.”

“Shit, really!” Lance yelped, scrambling off of Hunk’s lap and falling uncoordinated onto the ground. He hopped back up and rushed over to Hunk’s desk, “Hunk, do you have any labels I can use? I only need two, Keith’s not-dad brought us some plants yesterday and we need name tags for them.”

Pidge left Hunk’s lap as well, grabbing the pillow she threw down there earlier and attempted to toss it back into her hammock. Hunk watched her fail for a bit before answering, “It should be in the second drawer in that blue container.”

Lance looked for the container and retrieved the labels. He ripped off two before shoving the rest back where they came from. “Thanks, Hunk! I’ll see you guys soon!”

“Lance, wait! Don’t forget your sweater!” Pidge called after him, finally landing the pillow in her hammock. Lance rushed back inside and grabbed the baby blue cardigan from her unused matrasses with a quick ‘thank you!’ before leaving again.

“Geez, that boy is a whirlwind...” she commented. Hunk sighed fondly in agreement and the two of them raced to get ready for breakfast.

*

“Honey! I’m hooome~” Lance announced as soon as he opened the door to their dorm rooms. Keith was lying down on his bed, hair looking significantly less fluffy, reading something on his phone.

“Took you long enough,” the other boy grumbled, turning off his phone and resting it on his stomach. Lance walked into the room, setting down the labels next to their plants and throwing his cardigan onto his bed. “It’s almost 7, I thought you’d only be 30 minutes?”

He winced, glancing at the time, “Yeaaah, my bad. We gotta go now, actually. Usually, we all try and meet up around 7:15 or so. So... get your shoes on, Keith.”

Keith groaned, walking over and pulling his shoes out of the closet. In the meantime, Lance plucked a sparkly blue gel pen from his pencil case and wrote the name Vera on one of the labels. Then, carefully, he peeled it off and stuck it onto the lip of the flowerpot, making sure it was straight (heh, unlike him).

“Ready to go?” Lance asked, capping the pen and turning around to face Keith. The other boy was standing near the closet, wrapping his hair in a ponytail.

When he finished, he replied, “Yeah.”

“Okay,” Lance opened the door and made a sweeping motion towards it, bowing a little, “after you, my good sir.”

Keith rolled his eyes and deadpanned, “Thanks.” Then together they left the apartment, locking it behind them. 

“Where do you guys usually go for breakfast?” Keith asked as the two of them waited for the elevator. 

They heard a ding and stepped inside, Keith pressing the button for the ground floor. “Oh, we usually go to this cafe that’s a little ways off campus, only like a five-minute walk from the dorms, but today Allura wanted us to check out one that just opened up on campus that’s run by her Uncle. Apparently it’s modelled after classic 80’s diners and whatnot, so... should be interesting.”

When the elevator reached the ground floor and the two stepped off, Lance began leading them in the direction of the diner, “Also, since it’s on campus, there’s gonna be fewer humans that aren’t used to dealing with, ya know, ‘our kind’,” he said with finger quotes, “so there are a lot more creature-friendly accommodations and whatnot. Also less bug-eyed stares while we’re eating, so that’s a plus.” 

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed, “Do you guys usually have to deal with that stuff?”

Lance scoffed, “Oh yeah, all the time. You’d think after centuries of integration that more people would be used to us by now, but I guess not!”

The other boy merely hummed and looked straight ahead as they continued walking. Soon enough, they reached a parking lot that held one or two cafes along with a few more amenities, including the library that Keith frequented.

“Oh, wait, I know this place,” he commented, pointed at the library, “we’ve been there before, haven’t we?”

“Hm?” Lance followed the direction where Keith’s finger was pointing, and brightened in recognition, “Yup! That’s the good ol library right there. Remember when you spelled me to the ceiling in there and I nearly broke something?”

Keith shifted awkwardly, “Yeah... sorry.”

“No hard feelings, if I could spell people to the ceiling I’d do it all the time, trust me . Anyway, the diner’s over here, c’mon!” Lance said, grabbing Keith’s wrist and dragging him over to a cafe with a bright red neon sign reading Voltron .

When Lance and Keith entered the diner, they immediately spotted Hunk, who was waving frantically and saying ‘over here!’. They walked over and slid into the bright red booths, Keith sitting next to Pidge and Lance sitting next to Hunk.

“Good morning, Keith,” Hunk said pleasantly, “You haven’t met Allura yet, right?”

Keith shook his head and turned towards the Fae who was sitting on the other side of Hunk, she gave him a brilliant smile and held out a hand for him to shake, “Nice to meet you, Keith.”

He shook it firmly, still a little awkward with new people, which Lance found to be very endearing, “Likewise.”

“Okay, cool, we’re all introduced. Can we order now? I’m starving,” Pidge complained, slumped slightly in her seat.

“You guys haven’t ordered yet?” Lance asked curiously.

Hunk smiled, “Nah, we were waiting for you guys. Don’t listen to Pidge, by the way, we were only here for about 3 minutes before you came. She’s always this grumpy in the mornings.”

“Add that on top of the mandatory socialization I’ve been subjected to and you get a pissed-off Pidge,” she scowled, crossing her arms.

“Aww, poor Pidgey. We need to get some coffee in you,” he teased, “I wonder if Coran serves iced coffee.”

“Well I haven’t seen the menu yet, but we can always ask,” Allura said, her hand raised up high to wave over her Uncle. 

This action garnered the attention of an eccentric-looking older man who appeared as though he’d jumped right out of a cartoon from the ’80s (fitting, right?). He was dressed in a light blue 3 piece suit, along with a pair of neon-orange roller blades. His hair, also bright orange, was slicked back and groomed to perfection, his bushy moustache no exception. He glided over with ease, tucking a black tray under his arm as he lifted one of his legs and came to a stop at the head of their table.

“Welcome to Voltron!” he cheered. His accent reflected his overall appearance as well, in the way that it was also ridiculously cheezy, just like the rest of him. It was both eerily familiar and somehow unique, in a way that Lance couldn’t place.

The man was like the embodiment of a peacock... that was orange. 

He was by far the greatest person Lance thought to ever walk the earth.

“What can I get ya?” Coran asked, twirling his moustache in a hypnotizing motion that Lance couldn’t look away from, “Let’s start with this lad, what would you like?”

He blinked in surprise, “Uh... could I see a menu?”

Coran tittered and waved a dismissive hand, “Oh, trust me, my boy, you don’t need that. Anything you need, we can get, trust me!”

Raising his eyebrows in shock, Hunk leaned forward, “Really? Anything?!”

“That’s correct!” he cheered, placing a notepad that he was concealing behind the tray onto the table. Then, he grabbed 5 different coloured crayons from his suit pocket and dumped them on top. “Just record anything you’d like on this here paper and I will whip it up for you in a snap!”

Hunk was the first to dive for the crayons and paper, immediately scribbling something down. The rest of the crew took a crayon as well, Allura with more confidence than the rest of them. Lance grabbed a blue crayon cautiously, twiddling it between his fingers before leaning over the table to Keith, “Hey, what are you getting?”

Keith furrowed his brows, “I don’t know. Probably just toast or something.”

“Toast? Seriously?” Lance said incredulously.

“Yeah?” he shrugged, but before he could write it down, Lance grabbed his red crayon, “Hey!”

Lance held the crayon out of reach, glaring down at him, “Keith, you could literally get anything you’d want and you chose toast?!”

The other boy scowled, leaning forward to try and grab the crayon, but Lance was used to games of keep-away, so he held it further out of reach, “So? What’s wrong with toast?!”

“Literally everything!”

“Oh, okay, first literally everything is wrong with the name Kevin and now literally everything is wrong with toast?! I’m starting to think you just don’t like my decisions,” Keith growled, his eyes tinting yellow.

He sighed exasperatedly, “I would like your decisions a lot more if they were so boring . Live a little, Keith! You can get anything, anything! Try and chose something other than toast, which we can totally just make in our dorm room.”

Handing the crayon back to Keith, who snatched it in a manner that was way too aggressive, he peered over to see what Keith scribbled down. Underneath the aforementioned toast, he put down bacon.

Lance pouted, finally relenting and sitting back down in his seat with a huff. I guess that’s all I’m gonna get out of him .

He turned to his own order, already writing down iced coffee. Then he wrote down some pastelitos de guayaba and just for shits and giggles, a bonefish. Even though Coran said he could get them anything, Lance was sure he’d decline his request for a bonefish, even though it was pretty tasty. 

Allura waved Coran over again from where he was waiting on another table. When he finished with his other customers he skated over and held up his tray. 

“Alright! Everyone ready to order?” he asked, looking particularly excited.

They all nodded and he clapped his hands, holding the tray in place with his arms, “Excellent! Number 1, you can go first.”

Looking between each other in confusion, they frowned. Keith spoke up, raising his hand a little like he was in class (cute), “Um, who’s number 4?”

“Ah! Silly me, I forgot to tell you, my orders are based on height! The tallest person orders first, the shortest person orders last. The Satyr is the tallest, so he shall order first!”

“Oh, uh, okay...” Hunk said, looking intently down at his paper. “Well, my name is Hunk and I’d like a-”

Coran chortled, sliding the black tray onto the table in front of them, “Oh, there’s no need for that, my boy! Just place your paper face-down on the tray.”

Hunk hesitated, then did so. The entire table watched with wide eyes as paper sunk into the tray like the surface was made of liquid. As soon as his order was swallowed, the tray spits out a large plate with a silver cover. Hunk took the cover off and revealed a delicious looking and brightly coloured salad along with a berry smoothie that made him gasp in delight.

“How did it do that?” he asked, eyes bright with all the wonder of a child who’d just seen their first magic trick.

“Conjuring, my boy! I happened to excel at it in my youth, so I chose it as my primary magic!” Coran explained, preening. Then, he turned to Lance, “Number 2, that would be you, just do the same thing your friend Hunk did.”

Lance did. To his surprise, the tray spits out a gigantic wiggling bonefish, as well as a smaller identical platter to Hunk’s that contained the rest of his meal.

“Woah!”

“Oh shit-”

“FISH!” he cheered, his teeth losing their glamour immediately and chomping down into the scaly flesh. Blood squirts out from the wound immediately until the bonefish becomes completely limp. Then, Lance unlocks his jaw and tears its head off, closing his eyes to silently bask in the flavour. He hadn’t had fresh fish in forever , so he forgot how amazing it tasted.

He moaned quietly, opening his eyes to take another bite and landing on the wide-eyed stares of his friends, all watching him intently.

“What?” he asked curiously, pouting a little when seeing them eye his fish, “if you guys want some you can just order it, I’m not sharing.”

“Oh, uhh, no I’m-I’m good,” Keith says, holding up his hands.

Pidge winces, “Yeaaahh, you can have that all to yourself. Don’t worry.”

Lance shrugs, digging in again, oblivious to the grimaces that his friends make. Just as he’s about to take apart the ribcage, Hunk stands abruptly and announces ‘I’m gonna be sick’ before rushing past Lance and Coran and out of the booth towards the bathroom.

Coran looks undisturbed by his display, but the rest do not. “Lance,” Allura starts, her pale expression visible now that Hunk is not available as a blockade, “do you mind eating that somewhere else? It’s a little too... brutal for this hour.”

He then took notice of the blood that surrounded him and the space around him, as well as the half-eaten fish in his hands, “Ah, my bad, let me just...” he then unhinged his jaw and swallowed the remaining fish whole, licking the blood off of his sharpened fingernails after. “Man, that’s good. Thanks, Coran!”

“Not a problem my boy!” Coran cheered, still smiling. Then, Keith leaned over the table and barfed directly into the tray.

“What the fuck,” he wheezed. Then he got up and rushed out.

Lance had a funny feeling that he wouldn’t be joining their breakfasts again any time soon.

Chapter Text

It was one month into being friends with Lance and Keith had already come across a problem.

(1) New Message from Lancey Lance 💙

...Remind him to change that contact name.

Lancey Lance 💙

---

Today 7:45 PM

 

heyy just a heads up im hookin up w someon e 

again tonight so,,,, might wanna evacuate the 

room ;) 

 

Keith frowned, shooting a quick confirmation to Lance to make sure he knew that Keith had received the message. However, that still didn’t get rid of the problem.

The problem being that Lance had hooked up with at least one person every week for the past month that they had been friends. Keith had no idea “normal” people had so much sex. It seemed unnecessary, at least to him. As strange as it may sound, Keith missed his dorm bed. He’d been sleeping over at Hunk and Pidge’s dorm so often he was constantly being woken up by either feathers poking him from Pidge’s old mattress or Hunk’s rumbling snores.

Don’t get him wrong, he was immensely grateful that Hunk and Pidge let him sleepover, but it would be nice to spend a full night in his own dorm room again. His laundry was already starting to pile up and he needed to get new pyjamas like… yesterday so he would have been able to wear a fresh pair tonight when he was “sexiled” from his room again. 

Also, he has to shower in the afternoon, because Hunk showers in the mornings and so does Pidge, and he does not want to enter his room until he’s certain that Lance’s… guest has already left. Then there’s also the risk that Lance will hook up with another person that night, so he can’t exactly hold off on it. He also doesn’t exactly want to shower at Pidge and Hunk’s dorm room, because he doesn’t want to make them think this is a permanent arrangement.

Though at this point, he’s kind of running out of options here.

So he decides to take a stand… and go vent about the situation to Hunk and Pidge.

To their credit, they take his predicament very well… again.

“Geez, really?” Hunk winces from the kitchen, stirring some ramen in a pot. Somehow, Hunk manages to make even the cheapest of college foods taste heavenly. “That’s like the fourth time right?”

Keith nodded, chopping up the vegetables that Hunk had given him, “Yeah, It’s starting to piss me off a little. At least he’s telling me about it so I don’t find out at the last minute.”

Hunk frowns, “I dunno, man. It seems kinda last minute to me. I for one don’t understand why he can’t just go to the place of whoever he’s hooking up with instead of your place every time.”

“Exactly!” he says, pointing the knife at Hunk with conviction. Hunk’s eyes widened before he slowly used his finger to move the blade out of his general direction. Keith blinks before realizing the position he’s in and returns the knife to the cutting board, “Sorry…”

“Not a problem, man. Just watch where you’re swinging your knives, okay?” Hunk reassures him. “You done with those onions?”

He looks down to where he’s finished chopping a couple of green onions into thin rings, “Yeah.” Hunk takes the cutting board away from him and uses his spoon to scrape the onions into the simmering pot of broth.

“Hey guys,” Pidge calls, coming back from her last class of the day. Keith and Hunk return her greeting before she picks up on the delicious smell from the kitchen, “Smells good, whatcha making?”

“Just ramen,” Hunk says, scooping up some broth with his spoon and holding it out to her, “wanna try?”

Pidge takes the spoon eagerly and sips, practically going boneless at the taste. “Fuck yeah, you make the best ramen, Hunk,” she groans, handing the spoon back to him.

Hunk chuckles and bows slightly, “Thanks, Pidge. How was class?”

“Ugh,” she says simply, collapsing on the bed that Keith had been using. “Don’t even get me started.” 

Keith and Hunk raise an eyebrow at each other before Keith decides to indulge her, “Okay, what happened.”

“You guys know Rolo, right?” she asks, face scrunching up in distaste.

“Uhh, no?” Keith says, coming over to sit next to her on the bed, “Why, who is he?”

Pidge and Hunk groan in tandem. “Oh, just the most untrustworthy piece of shit on the planet,” she jeers.

At the still confused expression Keith wears, Hunk decides to clarify, “We went to High School with him and his cousin Nyma. Essentially, they never did work, always smoked weed behind the school, and even stole Lance’s bike one time.”

Keith raised his eyebrows, “Seriously? But I thought Lance and Nyma were…”

“Friends?” Pidge asked, to which Keith nodded. “Yeah, they are. They dated in High School for a bit before, ya know, she stole his bike and everything. But Lance is a big softy, so they made up. Now they’re like… gossip buddies or whatever.” Pidge shook her head, “But that’s not the point. Nyma redeemed herself. Rolo did not, and guess who got assigned to a group project with him?!” 

Hunk winces, “Aww, I’m sorry Pidgey.”

“If Lance is friends with Nyma, then why not ask her to keep Rolo in check?” Keith asks.

“Ugh, I wish it was that easy. Those two kinda had a falling out during High School, so they don’t really talk anymore. Besides… I still kinda have a grudge against Nyma after what she did,” Pidge grumbles.

He raises an eyebrow, “Really? After all this time?”

Hunk laughs, “Pidge is as stubborn as an Ork. She still holds a grudge against her kindergarten teacher!” 

Pidge growls and snaps, “MS. WOODWORM WAS A BITCH, OKAY? SHE ALWAYS SINGLED ME OUT DURING INDEPENDENT READING TIME!”

This outburst just causes Hunk to laugh more and then sigh, “Man, I miss independent reading time…”

Keith nods in sympathy, “Well, that sucks. You could always email your teacher if he decides to slack though. Unfortunately, I’m sure he’s not going to be the only slacker you come across in Uni.”

The Harpy girl groans again and Keith awkwardly pats her on the head. When she doesn’t immediately bite his hand off, he continues the motion, seeing her tense shoulders relax a little.

“Anyway, Keith. I really think you should talk to Lance about it. Any kind of relationships, especially friendships, require communication, right?” Hunk says.

Keith sighs, “Yeah… I just feel like I’m nitpicking him a little. Isn’t it too soon to complain about?”

“Too soon for what?” Pidge asks, moving her head to the side so she can look at them.

“Keith wants to talk to Lance about his frequent hookups,” Hunk says to which Keith nods.

Pidge snorts, “Seriously? Dude, just tell him. Remember what I said about Lance?”

“...He’s insecure?” 

The Harpy girl facepalmed, “No, I said that he’s a great listener. Plus, It’s not that big of a deal, he’ll probably just go over to their place to hookup instead.”

Hunk nodded, “Yeah, man. Don’t worry about it, once you guys start talking a little more it’ll become easier, you’ll see.”

“I gotta say though, I’m kinda glad that we don’t have to deal with his whining about that stuff anymore,” Pidge chuckled. 

“Same,” Hunk seconded.

Keith was confused, “Whining about what?”

Pidge raised an eyebrow at him, “You do know why Lance hooks up so frequently, right?”

He shrugged, “I just figured that was the normal rate of hookups. Why, is it not?”

“Dude, no,” Hunk said, “Lance is a Siren, that’s how they gain energy.”

His eyes widened in shock, “YOU MEAN LANCE EATS PEOPLE?!”

Pidge burst out into hysterical laughter as Hunk tried to clarify, “NO! No, Siren’s gain energy from attention. As soon as they hit puberty they start needing that attention more frequently and in higher doses. The quickest way for them to gain a lot of that energy is either through a relationship or through hooking up because in those instances there’s usually a single-minded desire to give attention to a partner.”

Keith still looked a little confused, so Pidge- when she had calmed down- decided to add her input, “In High School, Lance and Nyma started dating so they wouldn’t have to chase after other people to gain attention. Even when they broke up they remained pretty close so they wouldn’t have to look for anybody else. Plus, ya know, he had us hanging around him 24/7 and he’s got a pretty huge family. Colleges and Universities are great sources of energy for Sirens since there are so many people, but it can be kinda hard because of that as well. Everyone is mostly focused on their studies, so Lance needs to hookup frequently to keep energized.”

“So... he doesn’t eat people?”

“No, that’s just a rumour started by Humans. Sirens used to live exclusively in the water and most full-grown Sirens were pretty solitary so they would seduce Human sailors to gain energy. It wasn’t their fault Humans couldn’t breathe underwater,” she finished with a smirk.

“Oh. I feel kinda stupid now,” Keith admitted, so Hunk came over and gave him a hearty pat on the back.

“Don’t worry about it, man. I’ll admit, I didn’t know anything about Siren’s until I met Lance. He taught me a lot about them.”

“He didn’t have to teach me,” Pidge admitted smugly, “I learned everything about Siren’s from books.”

“They wouldn’t happen to have those kinds of books in the Library, would they?” he asked.

Pidge chuckled, “It would be kinda stupid of them not to. Trust me, you’re not the only person who knows next to nothing about other Species.”

Keith frowned a little at that but stood up, walking towards the door, “Okay, I’m going to go to the Library to check some of those books out. Thanks for your help.”

“Uhh, Keith? The Library is closed,” Hunk pointed out.

He blinked in surprise before glancing at the clock on the stove, “Oh… right.”

“Don’t worry, Keith,” Pidge snorted, “The books will still be there tomorrow.”

“Yeah...”

“In the meantime, you can sleep here and eat some of the lovely ramen I made,” Hunk said with a smile.

He smiled back, “Thanks, guys.”

Pidge smirked and waved dismissively, “Anytime, Kogane. Now, let’s eat!”

*

On Saturday, bright and early, Keith made his way to the Library and stationed himself at a desk near the section one of the Library assistants had directed him to. He scanned the shelves quickly and pulled out a couple of thick leather-bound books, to begin with. He was about halfway through the second one when his phone rang, causing him to jump at the sudden noise.

He answered it quickly, ignoring the dirty looks he was receiving and walked to a more private section of books to take the call.

“Hello?”

“Keith! Hey, I texted you, like, twenty-something times, dude. What’s up, where are you?” Lance said cheerfully. 

“Oh, sorry. I’m at the Library right now so I had my notifications turned off,” he answered.

Lance chuckled a little, the phone making the noise sound tinny, “No problem, sorry to interrupt your study time.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m not doing schoolwork right now, more of a personal project,” Keith reassured.

“Really? In that case, mind if I swing by?” Lance asked. “I’ve got a sandwich here with your name on it~”

Keith frowned and lowered his voice, “Are we even allowed to have food in the Library?”

“What, afraid we’ll get caught?”

“No,” he huffed indignantly.

“Then we should be fine! Plus, it’s not like we’ll make a huge mess or anything.”

He snickered, “I don’t know about that, Lance. Remember the first time I went with you to Voltron?”

“THAT WAS ONE TIME, MULLET! I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I CAN BE A VERY NEAT EATER WHEN I NEED TO BE!” Lance yelled back, making Keith wince and hold the phone away from his ears.

“Okay one; ow, two; fine. Bring your sandwiches,” Keith agreed, holding the phone further away when he heard Lance’s loud cheer.

“Okey dokey, Keith! See you soon~”

“See ya,” he responded before hanging up and returning to his spot. Thankfully, nobody had touched any of his stuff, so he sat down and continued reading (after turning his phone on silent of course).

Ten minutes later a chair across from him was pulled out and Lance sat down in it, putting his bag on top of the desk.

“Hi,” Keith greeted with a small smile.

“Hey!” Lance said in return, smile big and bright as per usual. He unloaded a paper takeout bag and set it down in front of them. “Okay, do you want the breakfast sandwich or the meat sub?”

He frowned, “Breakfast sandwich?” Keith picked up his phone and shoved it in the other boy's face, “It’s almost noon, Lance.”

“So?” replied Lance indignantly while batting away the offending device, “They have all-day breakfast for a reason, Mullet.”

Keith rolled his eyes and sighed, pocketing his phone once more, “The meat sub, please.”

Lance handed him one of the sandwiches and began unwrapping his, lifting the top bun to double-check that he’d gotten the correct one first before chomping down on it and humming happily, glamour fading to fully display all his razor-sharp teeth.

Determined to pick up from where he’d left off in his book, Keith set his sandwich to the side and continued reading. It was soon made clear, however, that Lance’s mere presence was dedicated to ensuring that he did not do just that.

“Whatcha readin?” he asked, mouth full of sandwich. Keith closed his eyes to fight off the spew of crumbs that came from Lance's mouth when he spoke, taking a deep breath before answering.

“A book,” he replied, much to Lance's chagrin.

The Siren boy swallowed- thankfully- before speaking again, “Well, duh. What’s it about?”

Keith promptly lifted the book up to show off the front cover, which Lance read aloud, “The Complete Directory of Mythological Species and their Behaviours…” When Lance tilted his head in confusion, Keith began to elaborate.

“I just recently realized that my childhood was kind of… sheltered from other Species. I mean, I didn’t get to learn much about anyone in foster care and the Shiroganes were a part of a neighbourhood coven type thing, so other than their familiars I was never really exposed to anybody other than Witches and Druids like Adam.”

“Well, I mean…” Lance started, scratching the back of his neck, “Nobody ever really grows up in the most diverse spaces, especially when they’re younger. My mama never even let me leave my shoal until I was around ten, and even then my first encounter with Humans didn’t happen until I was twelve.” He chuckled a little and shifted slightly in his seat, “I guess it depends really on your Species and their customs. Mer have always been a little more… secretive than other Species so… for me starting High School in a new country was my first real experience of seeing how much variety the world has to offer.”

Keith blinked in shock, “Oh, well, I’m reading about Mer now actually-” 

Lance cut him off by slamming his hands down on the desk, causing a shushing reaction to go off- which he largely ignored-, “DUDE! For real? Why didn’t you just ask me about that stuff, I’m sure I’ll be more helpful than some stupid book,” He boasted with a large smirk.

Raising his eyebrows in a skeptical manner, Keith sighed and decided to give in. “Fine,” he said, bookmarking the page with a loose piece of paper before closing it and focusing his attention on Lance.

“Alright man, ask away,” the Siren boy said, resting his head on his hands in a display of giving his full attention to Keith.

He took a moment to gather his questions before starting, “Do you lay eggs?”

Lance looked stunned for a moment as Keith continued, “Because Mer are more fish than mammal, right? And most fish lay eggs. But then there’s Dolphins, who are aquatic mammals, and they give birth and they have nipples. And you have nipples because I’ve seen them. But Siren are apparently fishier, because they have gills and scales which Dolphins do not, plus they don’t have a blowhole, which I’m not entirely sure really fits with the context of the situation but I read this one article-”

“DUDE! STOP!” Lance shrieked, immediately gaining the attention of everyone in their vicinity as he stood up from his chair and slapped a hand across Keith’s mouth to shut him up, his own face a cherry red. “WE DON’T LAY EGGS ALRIGHT? WE GIVE BIRTH!”

Keith raised a curious eyebrow as Lance sat down and put his head in his hands, rubbing away at his blush, “It’s like a… seahorse and kangaroo situation. Fertile Sirens have pouches that… ya know… house the baby until it’s ready to be born and then… pop goes the weasel.”

“Oh.”

The two men sat in silence for a bit while the surrounding Library patrons went back to their own business, Keith frowning as he processed the information and Lance fighting desperately to control his raging blush.

Keith then broke the silence with another question, “What does fertile mean for Sirens?”

Lance froze completely before abruptly standing up and grabbing his bag, “I can’t go through this shit again, man… my poor mama ...” He then swiftly turned away and left the Library, leaving Keith alone with his still burning questions.

“But... your breakfast sandwich.”

*

It was only hours later when the two of them had gone back to their room for bed that Keith remembered the other burning question he needed to ask Lance.

Oh well, I’ll just ask him in the morning.

...We really need to get better at this communication thing.