Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Keith sighed as he stared at the Lance-turned-mouse. That horrible witch. How dare she! How dare she ask for the flower – the one thing that Lance had of his mother – in exchange for passage in the caravan. It just made his stomach boil in anger. Well, at least the mouse was quite adorable, despite the predicament. 

But, when was he ever going to get this opportunity again? To tell Lance how he felt without actually telling him?

The star cleared his throat. “Lance, if you can understand me,” His voice wavered as he spoke. “look at me now.” 

The light blue mouse gazed out from the small wooden cage, turning his attention to the block of cheese that hung behind him. Keith’s expression fell, a sigh slipping from his lips as he carefully got up. He managed to break off a piece from the bottom, big enough for mouse-Lance to snack on for the rest of the trip. He walked back over to the cage, slipping the piece in through the bars of the tiny cage. Mouse-Lance (Mance?) took the piece in his new paws and began to chew.

Keith laid his hands in his lap, fiddling with the midnight blue fabric of his dress pants. If I’m going to say it, I better say it now. He thought to himself. 

“So, um, I’m not good when it comes to putting words together so I’m going to take this slowly,” he began. “Well, remember when I said I know little about love? Um, that was a lie. It would be hard not to know a lot about it, especially after seeing centuries of it. It’s the only thing that ever made watching Earth bearable, which says a lot overall.

“All those wars, the pain and lies, along with the strong hate that humans are able to feel towards each other. And I’ll be honest, so many times I just wanted to look away and never watch again. But, the love you all feel for each other, it managed to keep me from doing exactly that. But to see the way that mankind loves…” He pauses. The confidence in him was starting to build more and more. It was rather reassuring. 

He took a deep breath before he continued. “I mean, you could search even the farthest part of the universe, but wouldn’t be able to find anything more beautiful than that. It’s remarkable. So, yes, I do know that love is unconditional. I’ve always known, I just didn’t want to admit that to you. Don’t need to inflate your already large ego.” Keith chuckled to himself. He could practically hear Lance’s instant denial as if it were real. 

“However, I also know that it can be extremely unpredictable. Unexpected, uncontrollable and strangely easy to mistake for loathing,” Keith gulped. “And what I’m trying to say, Lance, is…” He groaned. It’s not like he really has any experience in this sort of thing. He lived in the sky, for Alfor’s sake!

“Boy, am I glad you can’t understand this,” He whispered to himself. “I’m saying I love you, okay? My heart, it feels like my heart can barely contain it. Almost like-like it doesn’t belong to me anymore. I think it belongs to you now, and I can’t control it. I don’t really know exactly what this means but, if you wanted it...I’d wish for nothing in exchange.

“No gifts or demonstrations of devotion; although your sappy self would probably do that anyway. Just, knowing that you love me too. Your heart, in exchange for mine.” 

As he finished his confession, it felt as though the weight of the sky was lifted from his shoulders. He took a deep sigh of relief, an affectionate smile came upon his face. Thank the stars he can’t understand him like this.

It took all day to reach town. A whole day of Lance as a mouse. Though Keith will admit that he did enjoy the quiet during the twelve-hour trip. 

They came to a sudden stop, causing Keith to fall forward onto the dirty floor of the caravan. Does she ever clean up in here? He thought, rolling his eyes. He could hear the witch’s footsteps from outside and start to unlock the backdoor. The star quickly stood up and moved out of the way from the cage. 

The ragged-looking witch hummed as she took Mouse-Lance from his cage and seemed to be baby talking to him. Keith gagged, begrudgingly followed her out. She put the light blue rodent down onto the dirt floor before tapping its forehead. “Be careful, boy, transformation tends to leave one’s mind scrambled for some time.”

A puff of bright blue smoke grew from where the mouse lay and there stood a rather groggy Lance. Nor was he happy either.

“You-” He drew his broadsword quickly but then fell to the left. Keith caught him before he could hit his head at least. 

“See ya!” The witch gave a smirk before walking in the other direction.

Keith glared at her for a moment, before letting his gaze fall onto the man in his lap. “Lance, you okay there?”

The tan man groaned, his eyes struggling to stay open as he stared up at him. He tiredly smiled. “Nyma.” Lance slurred the ym in Nyma’s name. 

“Never thought I’d miss ‘mamá’,” Keith frowned. “Look, there’s Vrepit Sal’s, just like Hunk said it would be. We need you well rested before you present me to Nyma.” He draped Lance’s left arm around his shoulders. To the best of his ability, he carried the sleepy mortal all the way to the tavern/inn. He loved him, but it wasn’t fun doing it all on his own. 

As luck would have it, two (frankly drunken) people left the tavern just as they arrived. Before the door closed, Keith used his foot to stop it. “Phew,” He mumbled, keeping it open long enough for him to go through. 

It was pretty crowded on the inside, the stench of beer filled the air. Keith scrunched his nose; it was not the most pleasant smell in the world. 

“Who are ‘ou ?” A gravelly voice captured Keith’s attention, taking his mind off the pungent scent. The man was large-set, his hair thinning at the top of his scalp. Even had a greasy goatee as well. His scowl was a bit menacing, and unwelcoming. 

He cleared his throat. “Um, I’m Keith. He’s Lance. We’re friends of Hunk’s?” Keith gulped.

The scowl fell away, a somewhat nice smile replacing it. “Hunk, huh? Perhaps we can come to an arrangement.”

“All we ask is dinner and a stay for one night. We should have enough to pay.”

“You got it, Keef.”

Keith frowned. “It’s Keith.”

“Whatever, follow me.”

Lance lay face down on the bed – Keith’s arms gave out after they got up to the room. So as he slept, Keith just relaxed in the bath by himself. His mind ran away from him, leaving him no thoughts as he soaked. Not that he minded at least. 

But his body was so relaxed that he didn’t even hear the ruffling on the other side of the screen. The screen that separated the tub from the bedspace. 

“You seem to be in my bath,” A familiar voice spoke, his tone teasing. Keith looked up, seeing that Lance was peeking through a tiny little window, a sly grin ever-so-present on his lips. 

He blushed deeply, turning away in embarrassment. “Lance!” 

“What?” Lance chuckles. “I don’t mind.”

“Close your eyes, you idiot!” Curse that contagious smile of his.

 Lance continued to smile as he rolled his eyes. He did as he was told, turning around respectively. “I’m not looking, I promise.” Keith scoffed. 

He carefully got out of the bathtub and wrapped a towel around his waist. Keith was rather shy as he moved to the other side, where Lance stood still facing away. He ran his fingers through his dark hair, trying to dry out the tips as much as possible. 

“Keith, did you really mean everything you said in the caravan?” 

With that one question, Keith’s heart dropped. He turned faster than he ever knew possible. His hair almost sounded like the crack of a whip. His violet eyes were filled with terror. 

“But-but you were a mouse!” He squeaked. “You wanted cheese. Oh god, I told you to give me a sign!” Keith covered his face. He has never felt so embarrassed in his entire life. How could he say those things! Not like he ever would’ve told Lance if he had been normal and he was so naïve to believe that Lance wouldn’t understand.

Lance gently took Keith’s hands and moved them from his face. Instead of looking disgusted with him, the human was still smiling. “And keep you from saying all those sweet things?” Keith chuckles nervously. The taller of the two softly kissed his forehead, pushing some of his hair out away from the star’s amethyst eyes. 

“Keith, I’m not upset with you, far from it. I was actually thankful that I was a mouse, or you would have seen how red my face was.” Keith snorted.

“I’m serious. But remember how you asked what Coran whispered to me before we left the ship?”

“Yeah?” Keith’s heart skipped a beat.

Lance smiles affectionately. “He told me that...My real true love was right in front of my eyes.” Now he was actually shining and he couldn’t stop it. Definitely not as he kissed Lance passionately. Even if he has never kissed someone before, he loved the feeling that it gave him. Especially when it came kissing the man he’s fallen in love with over the course of the trip. 

He couldn’t even help the giggle that slipped when Lance locked the door. They deserved some privacy.

Chapter Text

Why is he here? How did he even get here? 

Legit, the last thing Keith remembers is Lance saying something about a party and that he had no choice but to come along. Right, a party at the Arus sorority house. Which is where he was now. 

He was leaning against the wall, holding a red solo cup full of beer. There wasn’t anything for him here, he should just leave already. But, he just couldn’t go anywhere without Lance. 

It’s still a bit hard to believe just how far their relationship has come over such a short amount of time. 

8 Months Ago

There’s a guy in his room. At least, a guy is already in his room. He was tan, lean and only a few inches taller than Keith. Seemed to be unpacking stuff on the right bed.

“Who are you?” He finally asked. 

The guy looked up. “Oh, you must be my roommate. I’m Lance Serrano, I’m an acting major.” He smiled.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Keith, Keith Kogane.”

“Nice to meet you. I hope you don’t mind that I already claimed the right side, it’s just a little closer to the door and it’ll be easier to get to the bathroom for my self-care regime.” He explains. Keith stared at the whole room. There were two twin beds, two small wardrobes, and a desk at the end of each bed. From what he could tell, they were each at equal distance from the door. So, he had no idea what Lance was talking about. 

But, as long as he didn’t question it, he doesn’t have any issues to deal with. So, he keeps his mouth shut. He carried a couple of boxes over to the left side of the room, putting them down on the empty mattress. Lance began to hum showtunes, and Keith could practically feel him dancing behind him. 

That’s a good queue for him to get out of there and get more of his boxes. He rolled his eyes, quickly moving out and bolted down the hallway. Of course, of course he had to get stuck with a theater nerd for a roommate. Why does this cruel universe hate him so? And where the heck is Shiro?

Keith went downstairs, going out the front door of the dormitory. His adoptive brother, Shiro, had actually driven him here with all the stuff he claimed to have needed. He was supposed to be right behind him, bringing in some more of his packed-up boxes. But when the first year college student got out there, that disaster was nowhere to be found. 

He growled under his breath. “Shiro! Where are you!” Keith called out, running around to try and find his brother. The parking lot was huge but there weren’t a lot of cars around, so he couldn’t have gone far. He wandered around for what felt like an hour, even if it was only about fifteen minutes. And low and behold, there was Shiro. Of course, he was talking to that boyfriend of his. Adam Wright, a teacher here at the university with him. It looked like they were flirting, hidden away from prying eyes. 

Keith rolled his eyes, going up from behind him and tapped his shoulder rather rudely. Shiro stopped mid-laugh at something (he didn’t know or care) and glanced back at him. 

“Hey, remember me? The brother you drove here and are supposed to be helping move boxes into my new dorm?” He stated bluntly. 

Shiro bit his lip, a faint blush appearing quickly across his pointed nose. “Oh, um, hi Keith.”

“Look, I’ve already met my roommate and he’s a theater nerd. So I need some kind of backup. Adam, if you want to join, I don’t mind having a third pair of hands.” Keith turned around and walked back to the car. He smirked a bit when he heard two pairs of footsteps behind him. Guilt trip mixed with embarrassment, works every time. 

The graphic design major unlocked the car and made sure to grab the lightest three boxes for himself. His brother had to suffer a punishment for leaving the car and ditching him. Which meant that he had to get the heaviest ones from then on. 

Keith carried them up to his dorm, with the gay professors following not that far behind. Once getting back, Lance was now laying on the bed with only a few boxes remaining at the foot of his bed. 

“Oh, hey you’re back!” The tan roommate says. “And you seem to have brought company with you.”

Shiro managed to beat Keith before he could even reply. “Yeah, I’m Professor Takashi Shirogane.”

“Professor Adam Wright,” Adam adds, his tone rather monotone. 

Lance’s eyes widened, sitting up faster then Keith had thought humanly possible. “Wait, the Takashi Shirogane? The Takashi Shirogane that discovered an entirely new comet over by Uranus? Oh my god, I’m a huge fan!” 

Keith and Adam just kind of stood there awkwardly as Lance fanboyed over Shiro. For a theater major, he sure did know a lot about astronomical stuff as well. Whenever he had a question about something, Shiro was nice enough to answer and actually seemed quite amused by the whole situation. He and Adam are able to sneak out of the room to get a couple more boxes while Shiro stays behind. 

“What just happened?” asked Keith, his face in a bit of disbelief. 

“It seems your roommate knows about not only theater, but your brother too.”

“That’s just too bizarre.”

Adam shrugs. “It was, but also a bit adorable. Most people don’t even remember that he discovered that comet.”

Keith rolls his eyes. Together, they each took four of the last eight total boxes before heading back up to the dorm room. 

Shiro and Lance were looking through a couple of things on his phone when they came back. Keith couldn’t help but notice that Lance was practically glowing. His toothy grin sparkled as he explained something, and he struggled to stay still. 

He blushed. Why was that so adorable?

“Well Shiro, it looks like you have someone who can listen to your space talk longer than Keith ever has,” Adam teases.

“I’d gladly do that anytime.” Lance beams. The moodiest guy in the room just rolled his eyes, packing his pillow into his black pillowcase. 

Lance chatted with his brother and the boyfriend for about ten more minutes before they had to leave. He highly suspected that the couple really just wanted some alone time.

And finally, it was quiet. Keith spent most of his afternoon unpacking and getting settled into the room. Lance was either on his phone or on his computer, doing who-knows-what. As long as he was quiet, that’s all he cared about. 

“Hey, Keith.” Pidge popped up. “Never thought I’d see you at an Arus party.”

Keith glanced at her. “Oh, hey Pidge. I could say the same for you.”

“It’s called ‘they have good food and an extra room to hide in’. I’ma guess it was Lance?”

“Always is.”

The shorter girl rolled her eyes. “You are such a coward.”

Keith’s eyebrow shot up, his forehead crinkled as he frowned. “I’m sorry?”

“You’re a coward. He has you wrapped around his little finger and doesn’t even have a single clue about how you feel. How much more of this painful pining must I endure before you finally tell him!” She shook her arms like a crazy person, fully engaged into rant mode. 

He rolled his eyes, tapping a small sip of beer. “You’re so dramatic.”

Pidge glared. “I’m younger, of course I’m dramatic. At least I’m not stupid.”

Keith was about to interject, until a set of arms wrapped around his torso. And judging by the mischievous smirk on Pidge’s face, it was exactly who he thinks it is. 

“Keithhhhh,” a drunk Lance whined. “Why'd ’ou leave me?” He snuggles into Keith’s shoulder, his short hair tickling his neck. 

“I’ll leave you two be, see you guys later!” Pidge cackles evilly, sneaking away before Keith could even try to stop her. 

He holds out a long-gated groan, glancing over his shoulder to stare at his clingy roommate. Lance had a somewhat dopey smile, and his hands kept a firm grip on him. Keith tried to move his arms off but that only made Lance’s grip even tighter. 

Despite how annoyed he felt, he couldn’t resist a smile. It reminded him of where they began with their friendship.

7 Months Ago

A few weeks passed and the two of them didn’t really interact much. The only times that they would was when Lance would attempt to talk to him and Keith would just give him one-word answers. 

Until one night.

Lance was out of the dorm for most of the day, so Keith is able to spend most of the day either studying or drawing. It was nice to finally have peace and quiet. His roommate could be quite noisy, always moving around or listening to music loudly (even with headphones). 

He hums as he sketches. All his thoughts were relaxed, allowing himself to fully embrace his creative mindset. It’s nice. Mind clear of everything except for the creative flow. 

Lance burst through the door, slamming it just as fast as he opened it. Keith jumped, his pencil streaking the paper he was drawing on, almost enough to rip it. He growled, spinning around in his chair to give him a piece of his mind. But, he sees the sad-angry mix of an expression on his face. 

“I hate my life! I have tried everything and even still, no one seems to care about me!” He cried. Lance’s usually cheerful eyes were red with tears. He threw down his bag and face planted onto his bed. All that could be heard was muffled sobs. 

Keith didn’t really know what to do. He doesn’t know him well enough to know how to make him feel better. Or how to make anyone feel better. But, he couldn’t just not do anything. 

“Lance?” 

The sobbing paused as he slowly turned to look at him. 

“Whatever happened, do you want to talk about it?” asked Keith, his tone hesitant. It didn’t surprise him when Lance shook his head. He sighed, lifting up the cover of his sketchbook and flipped it over to close it up. He pushed off the floor and his office chair wheeled over to where Lance lay on his bed. 

He cleared his throat. “Well, I’m not going to try and force you. But um...Maybe we should try and do something to get your mind off whatever that is. Is there anything you want to do?”

Lance sniffled, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his hoodie. “N-not much comes to mind. But you really don’t need to pretend you care; I know you don’t like me.”

“I don’t not like you,” He argued, unconvincingly. The sad man across from him even raises an eyebrow, showing just how much he doesn’t believe him. 

“Okay, I’ll admit that you do annoy me a little, but I don’t hate you. Besides, I wouldn’t be offering if I didn’t care, now would I?” 

Lance makes an awkward shrug as he sits up. “I guess. I just don’t want to feel like this anymore, it makes me feel like this weird blob.” As an attempt to make Lance smile, Keith gently poked his cheek and made a squishy noise. He starts to chuckle, his belly bouncing with joy. 

“You don’t help people much, do you?” He teased.

Keith’s face fell into a pout. “Hey, I’m trying here!” 

“Yeah, and it’s sweet, trust me. It was kinda adorable too.” The paler of the two blushed. That wasn’t something he ever thought would be used to describe him. But his heart fluttered after hearing it, and he didn’t mind it. 

Keith couldn’t bring himself to say anything else for a few minutes. It was almost like...he was in a daze. 

“Uh, you still with me, dude?”

He blinks, rubbing his forehead to try and get his own attention back. “Yeah, yeah I’m still here. Sorry.”

Lance smiled. “Good, can’t have my roommate dying on me, I’ll have to take the fall for it.” Keith mockingly laughs in return before it becomes genuine. 

By the end of the night, Lance gets extremely drunk and Keith regrets everything (only not really).

“Keith. Keith. Keith.” It was getting harder and harder for Keith to keep his patience with his roommate, who kept clinging to him like he was a koala bear. 

It had gotten really boring at the party so Keith decided to drive back to the dorms. But since Lance was that clingy, inseparable drunk, he refused to let him go the whole time. So, rather than sitting in the passenger’s seat like a normal person, Lance sat on his lap as he drove. 

The tan man kept repeating his name over and over, trying desperately to get his attention. Keith tried to turn on some music but Lance wouldn’t let him. This drunk version of him was something he was used to, a little too much for that matter. One of these days, they really needed to discuss his behaviors when he was in this state. But this was different, much different. And Keith wasn’t exactly sure why. 

“Keith! I lovveeee ‘ou!” A drunken Lance declares. 

He froze. What?

“Wait, what was that, Lancey?”

“Ooh, I love it when you call me that,” He giggled. “And I love ‘ou. I have for quite some time, but I’ll never be able to tell you otherwise. Do you love ‘e?” 

Keith lifted his head, meeting his blue eyes. Those haunting blue eyes that could get him to do whatever he wanted, with those damn puppy dog eyes. Which he was using now. Dammit. 

“Do you love me, Keefy?” He repeated, making those eyes bigger by the minute. 

He softened, pecking the other’s forehead. “Of course I love you, I’d be an idiot if I didn’t.”

Chapter Text

“He’s so cool, hard to imagine that he’s around our age!” Rachel giggles. 

Lance rolled his eyes, ignoring the music she was currently playing on her laptop beneath him. He was trying to study! But how could he when she wouldn’t stop playing that stuipid music video by that stupid artist. 

Keith Kogane. The most annoying singer in the entire decade. He had no idea why his twin sister/best friend loved his country-pop music fusions, which made absolutely no sense to him. 

Then again, Rachel mostly likes him because she thinks he’s hot.

“Lance, check out his outfit for this video! You’ll love it.”

“I sincerely doubt that, Rach. Could you please plug in some headphones?”

“But you’ll miss the lyrics!”

Lance groaned, putting his biology book to the side. He carefully hooked his feet onto the edge of his bed, and leaned over the side. The two of them shared a bunk bed, and Lance had managed to get the top bunk while Rachel had the bottom. So, he was easily able to look down from above and it was usually how the two of them chatted late at night. 

On his sister’s computer screen, there was that easily recognizable Korean-American singer that she loved so much. The only thing that Lance really noted about the guy was his black medium-length hair that resembled a mullet. And he seemed to be the only one that thinks so.

“Lance! Check out this new artist! He’s so hot!” Rachel had declared a few months ago, stars practically in her eyes. She held her phone in his face when he was just peacefully watching Avatar: The Last Airbender on the couch. 

He raised an eyebrow, leaning back to get a much clearer sight of this supposed ‘hot artist’. Sure, he was fairly attractive, but what the heck is that hair? “Rach, he has a mullet.”

“No he doesn’t!”

They have been fighting about that detail for months and still couldn’t come to an agreement on it. 

But now, Lance was just so done with Keith at this point. “I am trying to study!” He growled. “Biology has that big test in a couple of days and Mamá will kill me if I fail. Then she’ll kill you  if she finds out that you’re the reason for it.” 

Rachel rolls her eyes. “You’re being so dramatic, Biology is one of your best classes and Dr. Luxia loves you.” 

“I don’t care, you know I hate his music. It’s always so overproduced and it sounds like a huge mistake.”

Rachel rolled her eyes, grabbing her light orange headphones from the headboard behind her and begrudgingly plugged them into the laptop’s jax. Lance sighed, his shoulders fell as they finally relaxed. He lifted himself upwards and leaned back against his pillow. Peace and quiet at last.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles…

“Alright guys, that’s a wrap!” Keith announced to his band. They were currently in the process of recording the next song for Keith’s album – which was scheduled to be released in a couple weeks. 

Ina left her drumsticks on her seat, running a hand through her pixie cut. Rizavi removed her bass guitar from her chest and placed it back into its stand that goes with it. 

“That went pretty well, if I do say so myself,” Rizavi boasted. 

“Oh please, I’m better than you in every way.” James Griffin – the lead guitarist – scoffed. 

Keith rolled his eyes, ignoring the two banter over who was better. (It was a pretty regular thing, so it’s become much easier to block out.) He read through the lyrics of the next song that he was working on, drumming on one of the instrument cases with his mechanical pencil. 

This song wasn’t really one that he was planning on performing for the public, it was more for himself. The beat was coming together nicely, but he was struggling with forming the right lyrics. 

He felt a tap on his shoulder. “Keith, are you busy this afternoon?” asked Ryan Kinkade – who played the key. 

Keith stopped drumming, glancing at his quiet friend. “Oh, not really. Shiro made sure to give me some free time throughout the week. Not that I’ll get that chance for much longer, with the album release coming up.”

“Well, I was hoping we could go over my ideas for your album cover? You did say that for this, you wanted the best one possible.”

“Yeah, that is true. And no one is better with a camera than you,” Keith sighed. “I really don’t want to get stuck with a sexy cover again. I’m nineteen, it feels weird.” 

Kinkade nods. “Yeah, I do agree with you there. Well, since we’re done for the day, we can head to my apartment. All the options are on my laptop, which I forgot to bring.”

The Korean-American singer closed up his songbook, with his pencil still inside. “Sounds good to me.”

The two of them locked up the recording studio and headed over to each of their vehicles. For Keith, his bright red bike. And for Kinkade, his shiny black truck. 

Lucky for both of them, the keyboarder of his band’s apartment wasn’t that far away from the label’s recording studio. But Keith always preferred to take as much of a scenic route as possible. It’s part of what makes owning a bike memorable, he was able to just take a breather for himself and not have to worry about the endless amounts of schedules. 

A normal drive to Kinkade’s apartment would on-average take at least fifteen minutes, but his little detour delayed it an extra fifteen minutes. Once he pulled up, his friend was already leaning against the wall by the front door waiting. Keith pulled off his helmet, flipped his hair a bit and then went up to him. 

“Now to look through those album ideas.”

Later that night, the Serranos were all eating dinner around the table. Actually, the tables. Although the twins were eighteen, they were still forced to sit at the kids’ table – much to their siblings’ amusement. Lance did always try to make the most of it at least, he really loved his niece and nephew: Nadia and Sylvio. While Sylvio and him had a lot in common, he always found himself playing with Nadia more. She was a relatively shy kid and didn’t have many friends. But her Tío Lance? He was her best friend and favorite uncle. (Which Lance loved to brag about to his older brother, Marco.)

While the three of them were eating, Rachel couldn’t seem to put her phone down. Her attention was fully focused on one thing and one thing only. Lance only had to guess that it had to do with that stupid singer. 

“Hija, do you mind putting your phone down?” Santiago, their father, asked. 

“Sorry Papá, the Kogane fandom won’t stop buzzing about some big news and I’m trying to find the original post,” She apologized. 

All the adults audibly sigh in unison. This happened quite often, Rachel sees how the fandom is buzzing about big news and she won’t put her phone down until she finds the original source. 

She then screamed, jumping up from the tiny table. Rachel accidentally bumps it, causing all four cups to tip over. Lance frowned, glaring daggers towards his twin sister.

“There’s going to be an album signing in the city, in three weeks!” She squeals. 

“Really? What day?” questioned Rosa. 

“Three Fridays from now.”

“Wow, these are all incredible, Kinkade,” Keith comments. “You’ve really outdone yourself.”

“Only the best for the Keith Kogane.”

“Shut up.” He pouts.

The photographer beside him only chuckled. All three of the covers were made using Photoshop, but Keith’s favorite happens to be the middle one. It had a photo of Keith shot from the front but filtered to look more like a shadow and the only part that had any color happened to be the bright red heart on his chest. It read the album title just below his torso and then his name.

It was very impressive. “I’m going to have to say the second one; it suits the theme of the song selection the best.” He points. 

Kinkade smiled. “You got it, I just need to add a few extra things before I send it in to the label.”

“Sounds like a plan. Well, I’m heading back home, best to relax before such a busy day with finishing up the album.” Keith gets up and stretches for a small bit. His friend nods silently before pulling his laptop into his lap. Probably to work on the cover some more, Keith assumed. 

The ride back was mostly a quiet one – if you consider the loud rumbles across the ground from a motorcycle quiet. But it gave him time to think about that newest song he’s working on. So far, he has the beat worked out and it sounded good to him every time he sounds it out. But he couldn’t figure out the lyrics to go along with it. Like something is missing and he isn’t exactly sure what. 

He finally arrived at his average-sized mansion and parked the bike in the driveway. Keith unlocked the front door, and tossed his keys onto the table once going through it. 

“Is anyone here?” He called out. And unsurprisingly, no one answered out. Rather making his call more like an echo. Keith sighed, his footsteps clicking loudly against the hardwood floor. 

Although he doesn’t live alone, it sure felt like he did most of the time. His mom worked for the military and wasn’t home for six months each year. Once Keith had turned eighteen and gotten famous, he managed to get the mansion for the two of them for when she was able to be around. Shiro sometimes stayed there as well, but it was still Keith’s house. 

He found himself in the kitchen, eating some of the leftover red velvet cake that his chef, Romelle, had made only mere days before. She was always his go-to when it came to making some type of dessert, it would always be delicious regardless of what it was. She really was the best of the best, at least in his opinion. Once he was finished, he quickly gave the plate a rinse (just to help out a couple of his cleaning staff) and put it into the dishwasher. 

He left the kitchen and began to just wander around the house aimlessly. Everywhere he went, it was tidy yet empty. Nothing that special ever stood out, at least to Keith. Just room after room, hall after hall, everything looks as perfect as can be. His path came to a halt once coming upon different framed photos that were hung up on the wall. 

Keith was smiling in each of them, whether it’s a group setting or just of him by himself. He stared at one that was taken only a year ago, from a photoshoot just before his first album was officially released. But, he felt his gaze focus on his face in the glass. Alone, in his giant house.

He sighed. “I wish that I could have someone around...To make my world less lonely.”

A couple of weeks go by and Rachel will not shut up about the signing. No matter what she was doing, regardless of what was going on, she would find some way to bring it up. 

Today, however, was a different story. 

Lance was just relaxing, watching Hamilton on his laptop while snuggling with Mr. Sharky. Until his twin sister slammed open the door with a rather pissed off expression, her eyes screaming murder. Not to mention how messy her naturally wavy hair had become, though she had only been out for twenty minutes. 

“I can’t believe this!”

“What happened?” asked Lance, pausing it right as Leslie Odom Jr. was about to start “Wait for It”. 

Rachel threw off her jacket swiftly and began to climb up the ladder to Lance’s bunk. Upon reaching the top, she was about to lay right next to him. Right on Mr. Sharky. Considering how protective he is of his favorite stuffed animal, he pulled it out of the way and hugged it just before his sister laid down. 

“ Mamá had gotten a call about me texting during Mr. Wingert’s class and now I’m grounded. Which means no phone for three weeks and now I’m not allowed to go to Keith’s signing next week!”

Lance blinks blankly. “So?”

“So, I won’t be able to get Keith’s autograph on anything, and I already applied for the raffle to spend the whole day with him.”

“Wait, hold on, you never mentioned a raffle.”

“That was on purpose. If I won, it meant that you all got to meet him and I’d be able to prove you all wrong when you say he’s conceited. Plus it had been like $40 just for the entry fee.” Rachel shrugged. 

Lance facepalmed. “Mamá and Papá are going to kill you once they find out.”

“The point is, this sucks. Unless…” She sits up suddenly, knocking Mr. Sharky out of Lance’s arms. 

“Hey!” He pouts, sticking out his bottom lip like a child. 

The corners of his twin’s lips were curled wickedly, resembling an evil smirk that made his heart drop nervously. He could practically hear the gears turning around in her head. What on Earth was she thinking?

“Unless someone goes in my place.” 

With just those six words, Lance went into a whole moment of denial. “Absolutely not! No way, never, not going to happen!” He crossed his arms stubbornly, squeezing his eyes shut and turned from her immediately. He knew exactly what she was implying to him and there was no way he would ever do it! He would rather die than meet Keith Kogane. 

Rachel scoffed. “C’mon, it’s only for one day! And there’s no guarantee that you’ll even win the raffle.”

“But I. Hate. Him.”

“You have never even given his music a fair chance; don’t knock it ‘til you try it.”

“Never.”

“But-”

Lance shook his head. “Not going to happen, Rach.”

Rachel smirked. “Then, maybe I need to tell Veronica and our parents what really happened to her $500 galaxy sphere.”

His face quickly felt very cold, his hands shaking. “You wouldn’t.”

A couple years ago, Veronica had spent all her savings from her job at the city’s planetarium on a very expensive glass sphere that if you hold it up to a light source, it would project a beautiful model of the entire Milky Way onto a flat surface. It had become her most prized possession. But when Lance accidentally dropped it on the counter when he was messing around with it, he had to make up a story about what happened or deal with Veronica’s wrath. 

Rachel was the only one other than his best friend, Hunk, that he had told. 

“But I would. You either go to the signing next week in my place or risk getting murdered by Ronnie. It’s your choice.” She shrugs innocently. 

Lance held out the longest groan that he had ever done in his life. “Fine. But I’m not going to like it.”

Keith’s tour bus arrived at the music store a week later. There was already a line of teenage girls (with some boys) going out the door and around the curb. It was a huge turnout, bigger than Keith would’ve anticipated. 

 “Isn’t this exciting?” Rizavi said from behind him. “Our first stop is in our hometown!”

“It hasn’t changed a bit,” Ina replied, her tone very dull and bored. 

Rizavi wasn’t wrong, of course. This was where the band had grown up together and where they had initially formed the group in the first place. She, Ina, James, and Kinkade were only a year older than Keith, so they all moved to L.A. almost immediately after they graduated. 

But, it was a completely different environment compared to what Keith was used to. 

He sighed, pulling his headphones down and let them rest around his neck. Better to just get it over with and move onto the next location. 

“Keith, apparently there’s an extra detail that I was neglected to be told,” Shiro spoke suddenly, his shoulders looking quite tense.  

“What is it, Shiro?” 

“Well, the label apparently arranged for you to spend a day with a fan that wins a raffle. At every location.”

His eyes widened, and his fingers were already fidgeting with one of the strings on his hoodie. “I’m so sorry, they didn’t tell me until five minutes ago. But they really aren’t giving you much of a choice here.”

“I’ll be fine,” Keith lied. “I just hope that they aren’t some type of creepy fan.”

Shiro didn’t look so sure, biting his lip. While Keith did love his fans, he still wasn’t much of a people person. Something that Shiro knew and often looked to avoid when it came to fan meet-ups. But all they could do now was just try and make the best of it. 

They were all escorted by security into the music store, instantly starting up the screams from the crowd. He gulped thickly, his Adam’s adam bobbing somewhat. This could get potentially overwhelming, he could already tell. But he just needed to give it his all. 

Keith was led over to a table at the back of the store, which would give enough room for at least a quarter of the line inside. He took a seat and took out his pencil case full of pens that he always kept for signing events like this. Shiro pulled up a chair and sat by him, but not close enough that it could make him uncomfortable. 

“Shiro?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think this might get out of hand?”He bit his lip. 

Shiro places his hand on the other’s shoulder, a comfortable grip. “There’s always a chance of that, but I’m still here for you. No matter what.” He smiled.

Keith gives a small, nervous smile in return. 

Someone else interrupted, clearing their throat. The two of them looked up, and there was 6’11 man standing in front of him, wearing a rather blank look on his face. “Pardon me for interrupting, but this is important. My name’s Kol Ivan, the owner of the store. We have a set schedule, after Shiro called with some concerns.” He hands out a paper to each of them, different times scrawled across the sheets. 

9:10-11:00 Signings

11:15-12:00 QnA

12:15-12:30 15 Minute Break

12:35-1:00 Sponsor + Raffle

Keith nods, a smile of approval written across his face. “This is pretty well thought out, thank you.” 

“You’re welcome, now I hope you’re ready. Because we’re starting in three...two...one!” Kol points to a couple of employees waiting at the double doors. It seems to be a signal because they opened the doors and dozens of people stormed inside.

  Lance groaned, trying his best to ignore the constant vibrating of his phone. All of which were texts from Rachel trying to get updates on what’s happening. He didn’t even want to be here, leave him be!

“Wow, you sound like you want to kill yourself,” Someone spoke from in front of him. 

“Sh, don’t make jokes like that in a line like this,” Lance whispered. His gaze fell on a girl looking at him in un-amusement, and she was much shorter. Her light brown hair was all disheveled, her caramel eyes staring blankly at him through those wide-framed, circular glasses. Somehow, she looked familiar. “Who are you?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Pidge, otherwise known as Katie Holt. We go to school together.”

“Oh, right.”

“Hunk and I are in the Mechanics Club together, we’re usually partners whenever we’re working on some sort of project.”

Lance smiles a bit. “Good to know. But what are you doing here, in a line for the lamest pop-country singer?”

Pidge shrugged. “I like his music, and he seems like a cool person. Why are you here?”

“My twin sister’s a huge fan of him and was supposed to come here. But she got grounded so she blackmailed me into going for her. With a whole backpack full of merchandise she wants him to sign. I may not like him but I pity him there, his hand may give out.”

They move forward, and the two of them continue to chat as the line goes on. So, when it’s finally Pidge’s turn to see Keith, Lance feels his stomach drop.

Keith had been signing and talking to fans for half an hour and his wrist was starting to really hurt. But, it’s not like he could tell anyone. This was about his fans, not him. 

“Make it out to Pidge?” The next fan asked. He took the CD and did exactly that. He scrawled To Pidge, just keep dreaming ~Keith across the glass and then pushed it back towards her. The girl gave him a nice half-smile before turning behind her. 

“I’ll see you later, Lance! Until I kick your butt at Killbot Phanstasm I !” 

The guy behind her chuckled. “You wish, gremlin!”

Keith’s fan moved out of line. He sighed to himself, barely listening to Shiro announcing “Next!” But his heart stopped when laying eyes on the next person in line. It was a nicely tanned guy with bright blue eyes and more on the lean side, yet Keith felt somewhat drawn to him anyway. 

The guy took off the tiny flower-detailed backpack from his right shoulder and put it down on the table. “I’m just going to warn you, this may take awhile.” He began taking out different CDs, a couple of posters, a white T-shirt with his face on it. 

“Wow, must be a huge fan of mine,” joked Keith, trying to make light of the situation. 

“It’s for my sister, not me. Her name’s Rachel.” He explained, swinging the backpack strap over his shoulder. 

“Okay, but what’s yours?” Keith couldn’t help it, he just wanted to know who this handsome and lean stranger was.

“Lance Serrano, not that you care.” 

Keith signed the CDs (3 total) first. “I mean, I kind of care. It’s not common to see a face like yours at one of my fan events. Not that I’m complaining either.” He could feel the confused look that both Lance and Shiro were giving him, but he ignored it. No one said he couldn’t flirt a little bit. 

“Do you mean that in a good way, or a bad way?” Lance asked as Keith was starting to sign one of the posters. 

“A great way.” He winked. 

Keith was rather pleased when he saw a faint blush dust Lance’s cheeks just by that compliment alone. He was quite adorable whilst flustered, just by the way of how he was awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. He continued to sign the stuff for Lance’s sister. Before the boy could leave, Keith wrote his number on a small sheet of paper. “That’s my number; don’t share it with anyone else please.”

Lance managed to stuff all the now-signed merchandise into the small backpack and chuckles nervously. “Uh, thanks.”

Chapter Text

Wednesday

“You got this, Lance!” Hunk cheered at the other end of the pool, just as Lance was pushing off the wall.

The champion swimmer drowned out anything surrounding him and focused on the wall up ahead. The chlorinated water of the pool pushed as his legs kicked through, trying to outsmart him in some way. But he refused to let it. This was his game, not the water. 

He kicked faster and faster, swinging his arms through even wider than before. Lance smacked the wall, and he could faintly hear Hunk’s cheers for him. He chuckled, lifting himself out of the pool. 

“What’s my time?” He turned to Hunk, who had been just outside the pool the whole time. 

Hunk grinned, showing him the timer in his left hand. “Two minutes and thirty seconds. Even better than yesterday for that matter.”

Lance punched the air. “Yes, that’s not bad at all. Just need to do three more practices before the race on Saturday.” 

“Have you invited him yet?”

“Of course I did, he’s my boyfriend. And it’s such an important race for me.” Lance gulped. 

Hunk pats his shoulder sympathetically. “You’ll do great, I know you will,” He encouraged. Lance smiled nervously in return, starting to head in the direction of the gym’s locker room. He hummed to himself softly as he spins the combination. 

The competition on Saturday really is extremely important. A recruiter from Baku University – Lance’s dream school – was coming to see him swim, for a swimming scholarship. He was extremely nervous and all he could use all the support he could get. Otherwise he won’t even have a chance. 

He took his gym bag out of his tall grey locker and began to change. Inside the bag, however, his phone began to ring. Without a shirt on, Lance reaches into his bag and pulls it out. 

“Hello?” He answered. 

“Hey love, you done with training?” His amazing boyfriend, Keith, replied. It brought an affectionate smile to his face immediately. 

“Yeah, I’m just getting changed. Meetup at Sal’s like usual?”

Keith chuckles, Lance’s heart fluttering. There really isn’t anything that he doesn’t love about him. “Yeah, I’m already waiting at our usual spot. Do you need me to come pick you up?”

“No, I should be okay, but thank you for the offer.”

“Okay, I’ll see you when you get here. Love you.”

Lance giggled. “I love you too, Keith.” They both kind of hang up at the same time, but he sighs happily. All thanks to the love of his life, his previous worries have all begun to wash away. He finished getting changed, and met Hunk out in the lobby. 

Hunk gave him a nice smile as the two of them went out towards the car. 

“Do you really think the recruiter will want me?” Lance asked randomly as they were driving. 

“Of course, why wouldn’t they, man?”

Lance rubbed his arm worriedly. “It’s just...You know how long I’ve dreamed of going to Baku since we were five. And without that scholarship, there’s no way that I’ll be able to pay my way through school. My parents just can’t afford it.” 

Hunk nods sympathetically. “I know, but we all believe in you. You’ve been training so hard these last few months. I assure you, you’re ready.”

Lance finally softly. “You’re the best man, you know that right?”

“Yep, I do.”

After about thirty minutes of driving and chatting, Hunk finally drops Lance off at Sal’s. “See you tomorrow,” He waved as his friend drove away in his truck. 

He quickly spotted Keith’s bike parked out front, and that familiar flutter of his heart returned again. It did confirm that his beloved boyfriend was here, so he started to head inside. And there he was, sitting furthest from the front door and in the back corner was Keith. He had his phone out and seemed to be just randomly scrolling through it. 

Lance chuckled, quietly walking in his direction. “Whatcha looking at, stranger?”

“Stranger? You of all people know I’m the furthest thing from a stranger to you.” Keith smirked, meeting his eyes. The swimmer leaned over and pecked his lips gently. It satisfied upon seeing that cute blush across those pale cheeks of his. He sits across from him. 

“How was practice?” asked Lance curiously.

“Eh, nothing special about it. You?”

Lance shrugged. “All that’s worth noting is my time was two minutes and thirty, this time.” 

“Hey, that is a big deal! It’s better than yesterday at least, so no point in being modest,” Keith teased. The other couldn’t find the way to suppress his slight giggle. Lance couldn’t help the effect that his soccer-playing boyfriend had on him. 

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Alright, what’s the matter?”

“Huh?”

“You have your ‘I’ll never be good enough’ face going on. And you know that I can read it instantly so don’t bother trying to deny it.”

Lance sighed. He knew he was right, there really was no point in keeping it to himself. It really was both a blessing and a curse that Keith is able to see through him so easily. 

“It’s just...The race is on Saturday and it still feels as though I’m not challenging myself enough. Sure, my time today is a good one but it’s not winning material. And if I lose, the recruiter won’t be interested in me.” Keith’s expression was soft and gentle, giving him all of his attention as he listened to Lance’s concerns. What would he do without him?

He extends his arm out, offering him his hand. Lance softened, taking it and weaved their fingers together. Like two glowing red threads finding their way back back together. Keith tenderly rubbed his knuckles. 

“Love, you’re the best swimmer on the team, Coach Warrick told me himself. You’ve been working towards this for as long as I’ve known you, so you just need to believe and just keep working at your hardest. And I promise, I’ll be there. No way would I miss something that important.” The couple shared an enamored look. 

Despite how awkward he can be at times, Keith always knew what to say in these moments.

Thursday

Lance hummed to himself as he walked through the school’s hallways. He went up to his locker and pushed up on the latch to get it opened. (He hasn’t used the lock since the first few days of school; just didn’t see the point in using when the latch could be used on its own.) But as he was beginning to get his messenger bag, arms slowly wrapped around his waist. 

It quickly brought him a smile. 

“Hey, love. Heading to the pool?” Keith whispered into his ear. A shiver fell down his spine, shaking like a skeleton. 

“Of course, there’s where I spend most of my time at the moment.”

“Mind if I come along?”

He shook his head. “Nope, but don’t you have practice today?”

“It had been cancelled, and Hunk told me earlier that he has a shift at Sal’s, so why not time my champion boyfriend?” Keith nuzzled his neck. 

Lance smiles. “Well, you’re absolutely free to come. Did you bring your car or bike this time?”

“Car; Shiro made me.” Keith rolled his eyes, which only made Lance more than it should’ve. 

He grabbed his messenger bag first, then his gym bag. And being the little brat he was, he shoved the gym bag into the soccer player’s face. Keith tried to protest before his boyfriend cut him off. “Make yourself useful and don’t whine.” Lance swung the strap over his shoulder.

Together, they walked out to Keith’s car, side-by-side. Both of them tossed the bags into the backseat. But being the gentleman he was, the pale teen opened the passenger door for him. And as a reward for the act, Lance gave him a kiss on the cheek as he got in. 

Keith quickly got to his side, and started the car. 

As he drove, his beloved passenger played some music from his phone. Songs such as: “Ultraluminary” from Over the Moon , “Popular” from Wicked , and “Applause” by Lady Gaga. At least that’s just the good side of Lance’s music (it could be much worse, he’s just lucky that Keith loves him so much). There would even be a few times that Lance caught his handsome driver bopping along to the music – especially when it came to “I’m Still Here” from Disney’s Treasure Planet . 

“Which playlist even is this?” Keith questioned between songs.

“The Keith playlist,” stated Lance, bluntly.

He raised an eyebrow. “The Keith playlist?”

“Well, you’re always complaining about how bad my taste in music is, despite that yours is much worse-”

“Lance.” Keith scolds. 

He ignores him. “I created a separate playlist altogether of songs that I know that you like listening to sometimes, or ones that you enjoy listening to me sing along, and compiled them into a selection that you’ll tolerate. The one that has all my so-called annoying songs like Brittney Spears are still in my main. I plan to use those for very special occasions.” He smirks. 

“I don’t wanna know.”

“Believe me, you don’t.” He winks, patting his cheek playfully.

Friday

Lance was acting really weird. He wouldn’t really speak much unless it was to return Keith’s sweet words or to answer a question. He refused to eat, nor drink, unless it was water. 

He went straight to the pool after school. And despite his debate, the others insisted on coming to keep an eye on him. They couldn’t help their worries and Keith was especially scared that someone bad was going to happen. 

“Do you think it has anything to do with tomorrow?” Hunk asked.

“It must be, he always gets nervous about swim meets, but it’s never to this extent,” Keith ran his fingers through his bangs. “But I don’t know how exactly to help him. It’s not like I can get him to tell me what’s wrong.”

Pidge shrugs. “Or you two are a bit too afraid to ask upfront.”

“Of course you just want to walk right up to him and ask him what’s wrong.” Keith slapped his hand across his forehead. 

“Well, do either of you have any better ideas?” She raised an eyebrow. 

Hunk sighed. “But considering what’s happening with him tomorrow, it’s best to be quite gentle with him.”

“Which is getting us nowhere!”

“You’re both right, Hunk more so. Lance is really stressed out right now and if we say anything that comes out too harsh, it just might make things worse. But if we aren’t clear enough, he may lie and that won’t help us even more,” Keith explained. The whole time that they’re talking, he kept his gaze on Lance. 

He was giving it his all, kicking and swinging his arms as fast as he possibly could. When it came to pushing off, it took all his force. It was kind of nice to watch. However, his boyfriend instincts were beginning to kick in. 

Before he could even stop himself, Keith was walking away from the bleachers and towards the pool. As he got closer, Lance’s panting was more like wheezing while he swam through the water. 

Suddenly, he came to a stop. Keith’s whole body was frozen like a statue, watching it all happen in horror. His boyfriend was beginning to sink at the 7 meter mark of the pool, which wasn’t a good spot for him to be doing that. 

“Lance!” Keith screamed. 

Now he was in full protect-my-boyfriend mode, quickly throwing off his jacket and shoes before diving into the pool. He wasn’t as great a swimmer as Lance was but not like he was about to just let him drown!

With a loud splash , he swam down as quickly as he could. Lance was halfway to the bottom. Keith grabbed hold of his right arm and swam back up to the surface in record speed. All that mattered was if Lance was alright. Nothing else. 

He shot out of the water, cradling Lance very close to his chest. Pidge, Hunk and three lifeguards were waiting at the edge of the pool. Keith lifted him out of the pool first, laying Lance down on the wet concrete. One of the lifeguards, Florona on her nametag, was checking his pulse as Keith got out as well.

Head to toe, he was dripping in chlorinated water and the way his black shirt was sticking to his chest, anyone could clearly see his chiseled chest. But he wasn’t focused on that. Only Lance.

“Good news is he’s still breathing,” Florona starts, which allows him and their friends to sigh in deep relief. “Bad news is we should examine a bit closer, just to make sure he’s alright. Do any of you have his parents’ numbers?”

They all nodded. “Yeah, I’ll call them.” Hunk volunteered, getting out his phone. 

“Alright, follow me to the office.” Keith cradled his boyfriend in his arms, holding him close. Never in his entire life, had he been so terrified. Lance could’ve died right before his eyes, and it would’ve killed him inside. He can’t see anyone else in his future, except for Lance. He’s the love of his life and a world without him is one that he doesn’t want to live in. 

Florona let him into the back office and Keith sat down with Lance in his lap. 

“So, what has he been doing all day? Perhaps that may give us a clue to how this happened in the first place.”

“Well, he hasn’t spoken or eaten much today. He has this big swim meet tomorrow and I knew that he was nervous, but not to this extent.”

Florona nods, scribbling across a sheet of paper as he answers different questions. Like his name, his age, stuff like that. 

All Keith knew was that he was absolutely terrified. Terrified about what was going to happen next, and especially terrified to let him go after what had happened.

After the lifeguard left, the boy in his arms finally started to open his eyes. “K-Keith? Where are we?”

“Lance, oh thank god!” He kissed all over his face.

“What happened?”

Keith lets out a deep sigh. “Love, you almost drowned. What were you thinking, not eating all day?”

“I’m sorry…” Keith gently kisses his forehead. They both hoped that he would still be able to swim at the meet tomorrow. 

Several hours later, Lance is gifted with many garlic knots, in order to get him to actually eat. It made him a lot better, full. He was so lucky that he was still okay and having a family that cares about him that much. Just hopefully he was cleared to swim tomorrow.

Saturday – GAME TIME!

Lance opened his eyes slowly, smiling affectionately upon seeing his sleeping boyfriend. (Keith had managed to get permission to sleep here from his guardians and Lance’s parents the night before.) He just looked so peaceful as he slept; he loved watching him in these quiet moments so much. 

“Keefyyy,” Lance whispered into his ear. 

“What?” he grumbled slightly. It just made him chuckle at the sound of it. 

“I love you.”

Keith peeked open one eye, giving a slight glare. “I love you too, but I wanna sleep…”

“Can’t we cuddle?” 

“You need to run.” Keith ended up slurring his words slightly. Which wasn’t surprising considering how tired he really was. 

Lance pouts. “Alright, but you better be up when I get back. Today is a big day and I need my man with me.” He kissed Keith’s forehead softly before moving out of his bed. He managed to quickly change into some black yoga pants and a white running shirt. Slipping on his sky blue sneakers downstairs, getting out of the house to go for a run. It was best to keep his mind clear for the meet. 

The run was fairly relaxing, allowing him to really clear his thoughts and process what happened yesterday. Last night, he had gotten a text from the swimming coach, clearing him to swim today but if he wasn’t feeling up to it, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. 

He looked at the time from his phone: 7:30 a.m. The meet was supposed to be at one o’clock, which was only six and a half hours away from now. Hopefully he had enough time before that nerve-striking moment was supposed to happen. The run lasted for about an hour; he needed to get back so he could get breakfast. 

“You look hot,” Keith comments from the living room. 

“Good, you listened to me for once,” He teased.

The pale teen chuckled, patting the spot next to him for him to sit. Lance tilts his head fondly, walking over and sits on his boyfriend’s lap. “Y’know I like it better here.”

Keith nuzzled his nose. “Yeah, I know. Not to mention, you’re pretty sweaty.”

“Hey, I don’t sweat, I glow. There’s a big difference there.”

He smirks. “Sure there is, love.”

It really didn’t take long for Rosa to call them in for breakfast – better than to listen to them bickering like an old married couple. They shuffled in together and sat next to the other. Lance kept his right hand in Keith’s lap while he ate his omelet with the free one. 

“Mm, this is delicious!” He comments, his mouth full. “Thank you for cooking it, Mamá!”

“Denada mijo, pero no hables con la boca llena,” Rosa scolds him. 

Since Keith and Lance started dating, he had caught onto the Spanish that the Serranos speak. Mostly Rosa and Santiago would speak in the language, but there would be times when Lance or his siblings would. It was easier to understand the longer time went on. 

In the mornings (and evenings especially), the dining room would be the loudest place in the neighborhood, above all during the weekends. Today was no exception. It was a very important day, so the noise increased by tenfold. Sylvio and Nadia would constantly ask questions about what was going on, Luis and Lisa would answer, Marco would complain about how he doesn’t have a job, but the attention was mostly on Lance. Which was a little overwhelming.

At least with Keith there, it made things feel at least somewhat in control.

Much of the day was spent preparing for the small gathering after the meet (which would most likely turn into a real party by the end of the day). Veronica and Rachel were entitled to decorating, Marco to cleanup (per Lance’s suggestion), while Rosa and Lisa were in charge of the cooking. 

The teen couple, however, was currently spending time together during such a chaotic morning. 

“I’m scared,” admitted Lance.

“I know, Lancey, I know.”

Lance snuggled into his shoulder, quite sniffly. “I just want this to go well. The fate of my future depends on it.”

“Rabu rabu, I believe in you. More than anyone else does,” Keith already had a whole pep talk planned out. “That recruiter wouldn’t even be coming if you weren’t good. Heck, you’re not just good, you’re the best swimmer the school has ever seen. 

“You’ve won them so many awards that it still surprises me that you’re not more confident. I just know that when you go out there, you’ll give it your all. And I will be right there, cheering for you louder than anyone has ever cheered for their significant other. Even if you don’t get the scholarship, you’re still smart enough to get into a school. I can promise you that.”

And really, that was all Lance truly needed to hear. Those words stayed with him on the drive to the pool, the kiss before the race, and when he got the time of a minute and thirty seconds.

Chapter Text

Keith was running around frantically, a clipboard in his underarm. Everything has to be perfect. It just has to be. Tonight, was the night his mom, Krolia Shirogane, was finally returning from her year-long trip of studying new corals down in Australia. And as a surprise, they were throwing a party to celebrate her return.

What was next up on the list of preparations was balloon check, which he had put his uncle in charge of. But the colors – red, blue, and black – were all wrong. “Shiro!” He called out.

Shiro, his uncle, happened to be on the couch, reading some sort of historical fiction novel. “Yes?”

“The balloons are the wrong colors; it should be purple and yellow. They complement each other best.”

He raised an eyebrow at his teenage nephew. “Keith, those were the only ones we had. Besides, red and blue make purple anyways.”

“I know, I’m just trying to go for more happy colors.”

“Perhaps you should try and relax, like have something to eat?” 

Keith shook his head. “Sorry, but I really don’t think I can take a break right now.”

Shiro put his book to the side so he could have his full attention on his nephew. “Look, you have been planning this party for two weeks. I’d even say you started planning as soon as she called to tell you when she was returning. There’s so much love put into every detail, that it’s guaranteed to be a success.” He assured. 

Keith put his clipboard down, letting loose a deep sigh. “I hope you’re right, Shiro. I’ve missed her a lot and she deserves only the best.”

“And it will be the best, because it’s coming from your heart.” Shiro’s tone was genuine, soft-spoken. 

The teen snorted. “That was extremely cheesy and you know it.” They both laughed together, the moment feeling far more relaxed than before. It really made Keith feel better, and it was all thanks to his father’s brother.

Allura and Romelle were just chatting at their usual booth in the corner. It wasn’t anything important, or maybe it was? Who knew which, it was girl talk. Keith came through the doorway, which was covered by strings of beads. He scanned through the cafe and smiled upon seeing his friends. 

He went towards them, and swifting out of the way in case someone appeared out of nowhere. 

“Hey guys.” Keith sits next to Romelle.

Allura sipped her lilac smoothie. “Look who’s still alive.” 

“Funny, and Coran better have only the freshest of fish for tomorrow. Or I’ll just go fishing for myself.” Keith rolls his eyes. He wasn’t playing around with this, so she really should be taking this seriously.

Romelle leaned on her hand. “Is there anything I can help with? Doesn’t seem fair for our mer-brother to be stuck with all this party planning without any of our help?” Which is true. 

The thing about their friendship is it all started because of how they shared a big secret. Romelle and Allura had already been friends before Keith joined in, but a month ago, he had just happened to be there at exactly the right time. But, the story really begins when the three of them had been at Arus Island, in that absolutely stunning cave. 

The cave rocks were surprisingly smooth, the way the water from the pool reflected off the wall made it almost shimmer. But the pool? The water glistened, like glitter from a fairy’s wings. The whole place felt so magical; it was quite the sight. 

The three of them all went into the pool, believing it to be the only way that they could get away from the island and back to the shore back home. But while they were in there, the moon shone directly above them at the mouth of the volcano. It was a strange sight to behold, with how the water bubbled around them and molecules rose up towards the moon. None of them made anything of the experience and just swam out (with Allura and Keith holding Romelle’s hands to help her keep up). 

But that next morning, something strange had happened. Whenever they touched water in some way For whenever they touched water in some way – whether it be from taking a shower (Romelle), going for a swim in the ocean (Allura), or just walking by a sprinkler head (Keith) – they would grow a fishtail of differing colors. 

It was a secret they all shared, with one non-mer in the know of it as well, like Allura’s childhood friend Lotor. Their situation brought them together like a family, and they couldn’t be any more thankful for it. 

Keith smiled as he looked back on that history. 

“Keith? Are you still there?” Romelle waved a hand in front of his face, trying to get his attention back. 

“Oh right, sorry Melle,” He clears his throat. “But sure, I could use some help in decorating. Would you by any chance happen to have any yellow and purple balloons?”

Romelle shrugged. “I’ll look, but if we don’t, I will buy some. You can count on me.” She saluted playfully. The other two teens laughed, only Romelle would do an action like that. 

From his back pocket, Keith’s phone starts to ring. Without even having to look, he pulled it out and swiped on the answer button. “Hey, Lance, what’s up?”

Lance sat by himself up on a sandy hill with his eyes closed, the breeze blowing through his hair. This was usually where he went when he really needed to think. Which Keith, as his boyfriend, knew quite well. He kisses his cheek before sitting down beside him. 

“Hey, Mullet,” Lance remarked. 

“Hey yourself, lanky boy,” Keith replied back. His boyfriend sighed, leaning into his shoulder almost automatically. It seemed to be one of those moments, where Lance had an issue but really didn’t want to talk about it. Those moments happen a lot more than most realize, but Keith was able to recognize them. 

He slowly wrapped an arm across his shoulder, holding him close as they sat there together. In the distance, children laughed on the beach down below, but the couple was able to drown it out in their moment together. Just them against the busy world. 

“Alright, I’m ready to talk now,” Lance spoke up after multiple minutes of silence. 

“I’m here to listen.” Which was true, this was one of the few moments where he had his phone turned off. He deserves his undivided attention. 

There was a blanket below them, managing to keep the sand off of Lance as he laid back on it. Keith stared at him, waiting for him to speak next. 

“It’s just...Veronica was supposed to come with me to your mom’s party tomorrow night but she ended up cancelling. The Garrison had called her away for some emergency and she won’t be able to come back until the day after tomorrow. Am I just not as important?” 

Keith frowned. “No, you’re just as important as someone like that, you can count on it. Even if I’ll be busy with the party, I’ll be with you almost every step of the way. I promise.” At least, that’s what he thought.

Around mid-afternoon at the marine park, Romelle was busy working her shift at one of the many ice cream carts. Her assigned location was nearby to the dolphin pool, so she had to be really careful when it came to the water that would splash up in her direction. 

“Beware!” An old woman called from behind her.

It caught her attention, making her turn faster than the speed of light. “What?”

“Don’t you know?” She said cryptically. 

She stared blankly. “How should I know? You’re the one telling me to beware, but why?”

The woman chuckled. “Listen closely, it’s very important. First, you must not look in the moon’s eye tonight. Second, if you do look upon its eye, do not touch its reflection upon water’s surface. If you don’t beware, someone will be struck.”

You see, this wasn’t Romelle’s first interaction with this woman. The first time when she was first hired at the park, she had accidentally splashed water on herself. But luckily, the woman had shown up with a dry towel to wipe it off. However, she has a habit of speaking in riddles that she couldn’t understand and then disappearing.

Before she could reply, Keith called out her name. It turned her attention away for just a split moment. Yet when she looked back, the woman was gone. 

“Did you see her?” She asked once her friend arrived.

Keith tilts his head. “See who?”

Perhaps she was going crazy and only hallucinating it. She wasn’t sure which reason she’d prefer. “Nothing, nevermind. What’s up?” 

“Well, I noticed that shift was close to being done so I figured I may as well come to you, since you’re going to be helping out with decorating my house.” He then pulls out a pair of nice black high-top shoes. “Also, what do you think?” 

Romelle nods in approval. “Very nice. I’m only working for about twenty more minutes, so you could go check out one of the exhibits while you wait?” 

“That’s not a bad idea, I’ll take you up on that. Where’s the hippos?” The comment only made her snort.

Later at Keith’s house, Romelle had managed to tie up plenty of streamers while he took charge of making the balloon bouquets all over the place. Allura came around, with Lotor’s help as well, with all the fish that Keith had ordered in the first place. 

“The place looks great, you guys,” Shiro points out coming home. 

“It’s all thanks to your genius nephew over there, it has become his world and we all just happen to live in it.” Allura nudges Keith playfully, who had an undeniable awkward smile on his face. 

But everywhere, especially in the living room, was decked out head to toe in a colorful assortment of decorations. On the kitchen counter, there were plenty of snacks and a punch bowl, while the bathroom stored the main course (the fish). Keith really had put everything he had into this party. 

“Alright, I’m going to go get ready, do you think you’ll be able to hold down the fort?” He turned to Shiro, who gave a nod in response. 

A few hours go by, and guests start to arrive. Including Lance by himself. Shiro was as nice as he possibly could be, which only made the insecure teen feel worse. He just walked right on by, trying hard to not show how he felt.

Keith quickly went up to him. “Hey, Lance.” He tried to give a reassuring smile. A sad Lance was always a no-go for him. 

“Hey,” he managed to muster. 

“Shiro?” He nods. “I’m sorry, I still don’t understand why he can’t trust you. Or at the very least trust my taste in boys. C’mon, why don’t you help me serve some drinks?” Keith kissed his cheek, pulling him over to the kitchen. (Not like he was going to give Lance much of a choice in the matter.)

He laid out several paper cups and Lance would pour some of the punch into each one. But as anyone would say, the worst of things always happen just by turning their back for the smallest moment. 

Keith noticed that the curtain to the kitchen window was closed, which made him frown. Shiro was supposed to leave that open! The moonlight was simply beautiful during this time of evening. He put down the next stack of paper cups and moved it out of the way, which caused it to reflect onto the punch. 

Never, ever in his life, had he ever been so hypnotized by the moon. And he couldn’t resist touching the punch directly. 

Lance’s eyes widened, his mouth gaping. “K-Keith? People aren’t going to drink it if they see you doing that.”

“But it feels so nice! And I’m going to go for a swim!” He beamed, gleefully rushing through the backdoor. While Lance was just stunned, with no words to even describe what just happened. 

After a couple of minutes, Allura is the one to go up to him. “Lance, have you seen Keith anywhere? Shiro told me Krolia is meant to be here in about fifteen minutes and mentioned that he was supposed to give some sort of speech?” 

“Well, he mentioned that he was going for a swim. After sticking his hands in the punchbowl.”

There were no words to describe the absolute terror on her face, or how fast she left. It was a strange sight to behold, but he really didn’t care enough. 

Allura, Romelle and Lotor all managed to sneak through the door, just as Keith had. “Where the heck did he go?” He wondered aloud. 

“Well, there’s these.” Romelle recognized Keith's new high tops, showing it to the two of them.

 Before Lotor could say anything, some clouds moved out of the way for the moon. The light hit all of their faces but it turned the girls into frozen zombies. “Um, guys? Are you okay?” He snapped in front of Allura’s face. It was fairly creepy how they weren’t blinking. They remained like that until the moon was covered again.

He almost nudged Romelle, who caught his arm. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” 

Allura rubbed her forehead, blinking a couple of times. “What even happened?”

“Well, you guys were very weird when the moon came out, almost like you entranced.” He explained. 

“That must be what the old woman meant,” The blonde mumbled to herself. 

Allura hummed as she thought. “Y’know, that night we were at Arus, it was also a full moon.”

Just then, a mer-fied Keith popped up right before their very eyes. He spun in circles a couple of times and exhaled with a strange smile. “You guys have got to come in, Arus is absolutely stunning at night.” Lotor stared at him as if Keith was from another planet. This was very un-him and it was freaking him out somewhat. 

He swam around in circles some more, and the girls met their non-mer friend’s eyes. “You’re going to need to get him out of there, you do realize that?”

“Why me!” Lotor complained. 

“It’s obvious that we can’t get wet!” Allura points out. “If we fall in, we’ll just get moonstruck like Keith here. And you don’t want to have to pull us all out, right?” He hung his head in defeat. The woman has a good point and who was he to deny that logic? Why couldn’t they trust anyone else to keep the trio’s secret?

Lance was running towards them, panting as he did so. The girls and Lotor froze. How were they supposed to keep Lance from seeing his boyfriend as a merman?!

“Guys, have you seen Keith! He left forty minutes ago and his mom is-” He pants, moving to Romelle’s other side. But his mouth drops when he sees his mulleted boyfriend in the water. With a tail. “What the heck!” Keith only bats his eyes in response. 

Lotor groaned. “Okay, there’s really no time to explain this right now, but I need your help to get him out.” Lance had lost his words, they had completely vanished against his will, so he could only stutter. He then sighed, kneeling down on the dock and held out a hand to his merman. Lotor did the same, at least there was another person that could help for the time being. 

The moonstruck mer grasped both of their hands, but giggled as he pulled the longer-haired teen down into the freezing water. Lance snorted, earning a glare from the girls. Well, Allura actually gave him a bit more of a death glare in comparison to Romelle’s.

“It really is good to have you back, Keith has been looking forward to your return,” Shiro comments, opening the door for his sister-in-law. Krolia gives him a nod, smiling a bit. 

But as soon as the woman enters, the partygoers all cheer, clapping for the marine biologist. Keith (before his strange state) had managed to only invite close friends of his mother’s, as well as people that he was hoping to introduce her to. But granted his current state, it wasn’t going to go exactly as he had originally hoped for. 

“Oh my, it’s great to see you all!” She smiled. 

Shiro chuckles. “Keith had been planning it for weeks, he wanted everything to be just perfect. So if there’s anyone you need to thank, it’s him.”

“Where is my son then?” Krolia had scanned through the small-ish crowd of people and she couldn’t her hotheaded son anywhere. It was quite odd. 

Meanwhile in the backyard, the group was trying to get rid of that gorgeous tail that could get them sent to some sort of science lab. Didn’t help either that Keith was the one with the heat powers, so it left them with towels. 

But no matter how much they rubbed his skin and tail with assorted towels, it remained. Didn’t help either that they were getting a little annoyed with Keith’s insisting to go towards the island. To say they were stressed really was putting it lightly. 

“Argh!” Allura exasperated. “How is it that he’s completely dry but the tail is still there?”

“And I’m still waiting for my explanation here, why does my boyfriend have a tail and acting like he’s high on drugs?” Lance’s eyebrows arched and his forehead creasing. He has frustrated in multiple ways at this point. 

Lotor sighed. “Look, I understand your confusion, I really do. But now isn’t the right time and we need to keep him out of sight for now.”

“But how do we get him in without anyone noticing?”

“Keith, are you out here!” Shiro’s voice interrupted. “Krolia’s here!”

The guys, except for Keith for obvious reasons, facepalmed while the girls only groaned. Horrible timing all around and it wasn’t helping! The moon-drunken merman almost spoke up to respond, but Lance quickly covered his mouth to keep him from saying anything. 

Allura and Romelle stood up, giving the professor a clear view of the two of them, creating a small diversion. “Keith actually isn’t feeling the best right now, planning the party has taken a lot out of him!” the darker girl spoke quickly.

Shiro didn’t look convinced. “Really? Then why can’t he tell me himself?”

“Hey, Uncle Shiro!” Keith pulled his boyfriend’s hand off. He even moved some grass out of the way, giving him a clear view of him. But luckily, Shiro wasn’t able to see the tail from where he stood.

Shiro blinked. “I’ll be sure to let your mother know that you’re here, see you inside.” He turned around, his expression puzzled like he had just been asked to solve the toughest math problem in existence. 

Lance groaned. “Great, just great. I might get to meet his mom and he’s like this. Could this night get any worse?!”

Allura then gets an idea. “What if we put him into a wheelbarrow and take him somewhere that no one can see him like this?”

“Hunk actually gave me his keys to the cafe, that could be a good place to turn to.” Lotor adds on.

Lance sighs. It’s not exactly the greatest plan, but it was the only one they had. Just hopefully once he was back to normal, he could get a proper explanation.

Keith lay upon the pool table at the cafe whilst fast asleep, Lance on the floor beside holding his hand. He had completely refused to leave his side, so the others let him. Allura and Romelle spread across two chairs each, with Lotor in the nearest booth. 

The blonde moaned, rubbing her back sorely. “You get any sleep?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Allura sighed. “What if he’s stuck like this forever? What if...Keith will never be the same again?”

“There’s always the circus,” said Lotor groggily. The girls snapped him a look for that. 

The moon was finally going down, unbeknownst to the four exhausted teenagers. Once it was completely out of view, Keith’s legs finally returned. He got himself to sit up and stretch on the pool table. “What’s up guys?”

Everyone quickly jolted upwards, a huge sigh of relief spreading in unison. 

He then paused, looking at his surroundings. They weren’t even close to where he began. He facepalmed hard against his forehead. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story.” Allura groans.

Chapter Text

The night was feeling quite peaceful, at least they thought it was night. It was always quite difficult to tell when travelling through the galaxy. But regardless of what time of day it was supposed to be, it was quite the spectacular sight. Getting so close to the constellations really was enough to set some sort of mood, for the entire ship. 

The music was joyous and festive, with almost every living being dancing. A party on a ship under the stars really was the most perfect setting. 

But in the furthest corner, away from the crowd, was a man sipping on some water. He was well-dressed, hair slicked back. But his expression was completely blank. Why was he even on the ship? Oh right, a stupid plan. He is very lucky that he loves him as much as he does. 

“What’s a handsome fellow like you doing over here by yourself?” A woman, who might be around his age, spoke up. 

He rolled his eyes. “I would like to be alone, if you don’t mind.” His position could be compromised if he spoke to anyone. But this woman wore a periwinkle party dress that cut off just above her knees, and the bust was quite low. However, everything about her was sharp and on pointe, even the bracelets on her right wrist. As far as he could tell, she wasn’t going to leave him anytime soon. 

“Oh, c’mon, you should be dancing with a beautiful woman, like myself.” She winked seductively. “What is your name?”

“Keith, now go away,” He grumbled, turning his body away. 

She tried to pull on his arm, but Keith shoved her away. This was getting ridiculous and it wasn’t amusing in the slightest. He had rejected her twice now and wasn’t leaving. Like, woman, take a hint already! He wasn’t interested, catch on.

Luckily, a saving grace managed to get him out of the situation. His communication device began to ring in his back pocket, loud enough that caused the woman to physically jump. Keith smirked, pulling the orange device out. Across the top of its screen, a small message scrawled for him to read. It read: ‘We’re ready, are you?’

He smiled a bit, walking away. Even managed to block out any of her accusations for supposedly “ditching her”. But in terms of the message, he made sure to reply with: ‘I’m almost there. These people don’t even know what they’re in for.’

Keith managed to completely slip away from the party, without anyone noticing. Which was a good thing, the whole point of him being there is to not get noticed. He climbed the stairs up to the deck, where a certain pirate crew was there waiting for him. 

“Ah, Voltron, so we meet again,” Keith comments sarcastically. 

One of the members stepped forward, a mischievous smirk written across his face. “So, we do, Kogane.” This crew member was bronzed, both in his hair and his skin color. He was fairly lean, and one of the tallest in the crowd. But what would always catch people’s attention was his large and childlike ocean blue eyes. It always was extremely captivating, the way that a man of this age and height would have such a look about them. 

Although, he was also wearing a grey trenchcoat, a stylish brown belt, and an interesting pair of jeans that had several rings going down each leg. His goggles perched against his short hair and a small set of orange spectacles perched up on his nose. 

The shortest person rolled her eyes from behind the orange glasses. “Please don’t do this, we don’t need to go through with this every single time we do this setup,” She comments. 

“Oh c’mon, Pidge, can’t we have some fun with it?” 

“No, Lance, I just want to get our treasure already,” said Pidge bluntly. She didn’t even pretend to care once he had brought out the puppy dog eyes. 

Despite how he acted like a child, Keith still couldn’t help but love him anyways. He walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek – partly from missing him and the other to get him to shut up. Lance immediately shut up, smiling like a doofus. A very adorable doofus, but a doofus, nonetheless. 

The captain, Shiro, chuckled. “Alright, Keith, here’s your getup.” He tossed a bag in Keith’s direction, who managed to catch it. The captain himself wore a long black trenchcoat with silver detailing along the cuffs, some epic-styled boots, and a pirate hat with a black feather. 

Keith smirked, throwing off his dress jacket and pants, transforming into the pirate he really was. Including his giant grey-and-red cape that almost reaches down to his shoes. “Oh, that is much better, far more comfortable.” 

“Hot as usual, honey.” Lance winked. 

He rolled his eyes, but still smirked. “Very amusing, darling. But now is not the time to flirt.”

“Alright then, let’s do this!” Coran cheered. 

The group laughed, before yelling “Argh!” in unison. 

Meanwhile back down at the party, the laughter was all getting louder and sounding altogether much more joyous than even before. At least, until Voltron burst through the door. The seven of them each held up their weapons in a rather threatening manner. All of the partygoers gasped, and their faces may never recover from those terrified expressions.

“Give us everythin’ ya’ave!” Hunk cried out in his best accent. The funny thing about him is he’s the sweetest of all of them, and he usually wasn’t the best pirate either. But the crew adored his sweet heart, and his cooking. 

Everyone screamed and ran over each other to stay away. But they were a famous pirate crew for a reason. And they weren’t going to let anyone escape, not without their loot.

“Wow, that was one of the best pillages yet!” Lance laughed, getting close looks at one of the rubies he had gotten ahold of. 

“I love that look you get after we go pillaging.” Keith gazed at him fondly. 

His lover’s cheeks dusted in pink upon hearing that. He couldn’t help how fun it could be to tease him like that. But he just loved him period.

Chapter Text

Present

“Are you absolutely, positively sure that you can trust this guy?” Pidge pestered, for the hundredth time. 

Lance rolled his eyes. “And again, for the thousandth time, I do trust him. Just because we happened to meet online, doesn’t mean that I can’t trust him.”

“But the guy is only one of the people who runs the account, so how do you even know?” 

He groaned, rubbing his forehead sorely. There are only so many times that he could listen to this, from Pidge, or anyone (which was very few however). All he had needed was someone to talk to about his sexuality and he kept getting shunned for it. 

Lance still remembered the first time they had spoken.

4 Months Ago

It had been an extremely difficult day. He flunked two tests, hit the wrong note during his solo in choir, and tripped in the cafeteria. Which led to him getting covered by his lunch, and the entire school laughing. It was humiliating. 

So, when he came back home after school, he had curled up into a ball on his bed. He held his legs with one arm, the other scrolled through his Instagram. It was his only way to fade out of existence, for only a few moments. 

The only thing that Lance could get himself to think about was...there something wrong with him? Did the universe hate him for being bisexual? Or for even being a theater nerd? Whatever did he do, universe. 

All he wanted was to have the right to be himself. Was that too hard to ask for? 

But then, like magic, he came across a post made by the user called: were_gay_within. It was the standard screenshot taken from Tumblr, but it managed to speak to him. It was a simple Simpson’s meme of Marge holding a potato. A me in her hair and equal rights typed on the potato. Along the bottom of the picture, the subtitle reads “I just think they’re neat.”

It wasn’t even just the photo itself that spoke to him, but the description as well. ‘You know, I might be gay, but I’m sick and tired of the LGBTQ+ members that get so stereotyped (like bisexuals) to the point that they almost never get representation. It’s stupid and it should not be considered okay in media to do that. Homophobes suck! ~Keith’ Lance, for the first time that day, actually genuinely smiled. 

Just for that comment alone, he hits the follow button. Out of curiosity, he clicks on the user, which takes him to the account. The account had a total of 4500 followers, with the bio listing off three different names and their sexualities. Keith (gay), Allura (biromantic asexual), and Romelle (trans pansexual). And even in one of their saved stories, it had each individual link to their personal account. 

And considering how much he felt understood by Keith’s words, he decided to check out that account as well. samuari_art.  Keith’s posts consisted mostly of different art-pieces or the occasional photography, but it all looked professionally done. 

It made Lance feel a little bad about himself. How come he doesn’t have any special talents? Why couldn’t he just be something special, like his parents always said he could be…

At an impulse, he sends a quick message to this random stranger that he’s only discovered within the last fifteen minutes. 

<lanceylance>

You probably won’t see this, but I really need to vent for a moment.

Do you ever just feel like the whole world is conspiring against you for no reason? Like, I just don’t get it. I’m in the closet and I don’t even know how to come out about it to my family or friends. What if they treat me differently? Am I not important? 

All these questions ring through my head so much that I’ve lost so much sleep these last few weeks. You’re just so lucky that people are so understanding. That you also have friends that are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Because this feeling sucks. 

Lance threw his phone towards the edge of the bed, and just buried his face into his shark pillowcase. And he couldn’t repress it anymore. He sobbed to his heart’s content, but for multiple reasons. For what happened today, for his insecurities, his struggles… Just as much as he possibly could. 

But suddenly, there was a loud PING ! from his phone. It forced him to lift his head up. His phone was still at the edge of his bed, with the screen side facing up. And to his surprise, it was lit up from a notification. Letting out a deep sigh, he used his foot to push the phone up towards him. Far too sad to use a hand. Like a normal person. 

Unsurprisingly, it was a DM. But, it was from Keith. He really wasn’t expecting a reply that quickly, or even one at all. 

<samurai_art>

Wow, um, that must’ve taken a lot of confidence to admit it something like that.

Lance raised an eyebrow at this. Just from this message alone, he kind of figured that the guy was naturally awkward. But hey, it was something at least.

<lanceylance>

Yeah, it did… 

I just wish that I could actually be worth something, y’know?

<samurai_art>

Yeah, I can understand that. Coming out is a very complicated thing, and it takes a lot of courage to do it. My story isn’t a perfect one either, so I do what I can to help others to try and avoid something like mine.

Lance wiped his eyes with his sleeve, but his nose was still extremely sniffly. He wasn’t sure how or why, but that made him feel quite warm. 

<lanceylance>

That’s very sweet of you. I’m Lance. :)

<samurai_art>

I kinda figured it out from your user but, nice to meet you. I’m Keith :)

Present

Lance chilled in his room, simply watching a movie to pass the time. Specifically Love, Simon on his laptop. It was just one of those moments where he could relax and feel safe without anyone else being around. Plus, it was quite inspirational to watch this story go down.

Right next to his head on his pillow, his phone vibrated. It immediately got his attention. As soon as he saw who it was, his heart skipped a beat. 

<samurai_art>

Dude, have you seen the newest episode of Rivendale ?

Rivendale was a TV series that they both loved to watch, especially together through video chat. It was a pretty fun experience whenever he got the chance to listen to Keith’s commentary. The guy really is nitpicky and struggles to just go “TV logic, it doesn’t matter!”

<lanceylance>

Oooh, not yet! NO SPOILERS! Or I swear to God, Keefy!

<samurai_art>

What did we say about calling me that -_-

<lanceylance>

That I can do it ;)

<samurai_art>

...you’re impossible, you know that?

Lance snickered aloud. Their banter really was too much fun to do. But the serious talks were just as important, of course.

3 Months Ago

Lance and Keith, somehow, meshed pretty well together. The emo’s bluntness yet awkward obliviousness worked well with his goofiness and child-like innocence. It was just fun to be able to chat whenever they could. 

At least, until one day. 

Lance had gotten into a huge argument with his parents about his grades and how much he was currently struggling. A dark cloud rained down on Lance’s head as he stormed off to his room and locked the door. It was one of those moments that he couldn’t handle anything. Or anyone. 

Angrily, he whipped out his phone and chucked it at the wall. But he had gotten extremely lucky that it didn’t break the screen. However, it shut off completely and it didn’t allow him to see all of Keith’s worried messages. 

He plopped onto his bed and opened his laptop faster than he could make a reference to Wicked . But much to his surprise, he actually is getting a call from Keith. Like, an actual call on video chat. Which wasn’t something they had done yet. He gulped thickly, his small Adam’s apple bobbing in the process. 

Hesitantly, he swiped right on his screen and finally got to see what his new online friend looked like. And wowzers! Keith was actually far more attractive than he was expecting. Sure, he knew that he had somewhat of a crush on him, but to be that hot should be illegal. 

“Hey man,” His friend spoke softly. “Sorry to catch you off guard, if I had, like this but you weren’t answering and I was getting worried. Usually you’re home by this point and don’t have much of a reason to not reply…”

Lance blushes, rubbing his neck awkwardly. He didn’t realize that he cared this much. Obviously Keith cared, they were friends after all. But he didn’t know that it was to the extent of video-chatting. Which was something that Keith had said himself that he didn’t feel they were ready for yet. But the fact that he did this at all? It was really sweet. 

“Uh, Lance? Are you still there?”

He straightens up almost immediately. “Oh, right, yeah I’m still here.”

Keith sighed in relief. “Good, just know that I’ll always be here for you, Lance. Always.” That line alone stole Lance’s heart forever.

Chapter Text

It was the hottest day of the entire summer. Every ice cream joint was booming, at least until they ran out of ice cream. The pool was even overrun with people trying desperately to get cool. Or at least, just stay cooped up in their houses with the AC on full blast.

Which is what Lance wishes he was doing at the moment. But nooo, he and Keith had to work on a new song together. Curse work priorities! 

He groaned deeply, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead. The air conditioner in the truck was broken, but rolling the window down was better than nothing, unfortunately. As he was driving, he listened to their CD and jammed out a bit. The beat was so catchy, if he does say so himself. 

Although he loved the way his own voice sounded, he always seemed to sing along to Keith’s lines for some reason. Which was weird, as he was the lead guitarist while Lance was the lead singer. Quite strange, really. 

“I got a spark in me, hands up if you can see, and you're a part of me,” Lance sang from the stereo. “Hands up if you're with me, now 'til eternity, hands up if you believe. Been so long, and now we're finally free!” He banged on his steering wheel, as if drumming along with Pidge in the recording. It was a great beat, what could he say?

Much to his dismay, he finally reached Keith and Shiro’s house. Despite the fact that he comes here every Thursday, it was still surprising how nice it really was. The house itself was one-thousand thirty-three square feet on the first floor, while the basement itself was actually two-thousand two hundred and fifty feet. That alone is impressive for a house that only costs five hundred of the one-thousand rent that the best friends split. 

Lance parks in front of the walkway. Taking his keys from the lock cylinder, he moved out of the truck. His feet carried him down the concrete path, and up to the door that was staring back at him. It was judging him! Stupid door.

He rolled his eyes, knocking on it while giving the mean old door a glare. As he waited for it to open, the heat was beginning to engulf his body. Sweat dripped from his skin, soaking the back of his tank top. Why did it have to be Thursday? A hot day like this really should have been on a Monday, everyone hates the day already so why not add that on top of it?

“Good to see you’re here,” Keith interrupts his thoughts. 

Lance laughs mockingly. “Very funny, please tell me that the basement’s ac is working properly?” His face fell immediately as soon as Keith shook his head. “Great. Just great.” He grumbles to himself. 

Keith lets him in, and Lance immediately goes to the kitchen to get a water bottle. It caught the host off guard but just closed the door without a word. He opened the door to the refrigerator and grabbed a couple of bottles. Even if they tended to have a rather iffy relationship, he wasn’t going to just flat out be a jerk. 

“So, do you have any ideas for the next set?” Keith asked from behind him. 

Lance twisted the cap off, and gulped down at least half of the bottle. He wiped the remainder from his lips, turning towards him. “Actually yes, I was thinking that perhaps we should work on a song for our fans? But maybe we only publish it for the band’s website?” He slid the other bottle across the counter towards him, which Keith caught. 

He gives a nod, screwing off the lid and takes a sip from the water bottle. Lance watched as some of the water dripped down his bandmate’s chin and his neck. He wasn’t sure why his cheeks felt warmer than usual, but it could easily be blamed on the heat. 

“Uh, Lance? Are you okay?”

He gulped nervously. “Y-yeah, yeah I’m fine,” Keith didn’t look convinced. “Um, so, to the songwriting?”

Keith put the cap back on and tucked it under his forearm. “Yeah, you know exactly where it is.” Lance gave a nod, going towards the staircase that’s nearby to the front door.

The thing about this place was while it’s a two bedroom place, but Keith had preferred to stay down in the basement. It had a piano, where Lance and Keith would work on the songs, a twin-sized bed, along with a couch and an old TV. 

But boy, it felt like a sauna down there! All it did was make the guys sweat even more, requiring an extra drink from their water bottles. 

Lance moved to sit on the piano’s bench, waiting for Keith to join. But imagine his surprise at the sight of his friend pulling his shirt over his head. It gave him a quite clear view of his rock hard abs, which looked as though they could cut through glass. A heat rose to his cheeks once more, and he couldn’t pinpoint exactly why. Was it the heat? Or was he actually blushing? He doesn’t know. 

But he doesn’t even notice when Keith finally sits next to him. Without a shirt. And it was driving him nuts!

“Is there a problem?” Keith raised an eyebrow. 

Lance chuckles nervously, trying to get himself together while ultimately failing to do so. “Nope! No problem here! But, why did you take off your shirt?”

“Because it’s hot and the shirt was only adding to the heat.” Keith stares at him blankly. 

Okay, that is a perfectly valid point. “Oh. I guess that’s true.”

“If you need to, I don’t mind if you take yours off as well. Doesn’t bother me.” He wasn’t sure if he was seeing this correctly, but it looked like Keith’s cheeks were slightly red. 

But the idea of letting him of all people see his chest and biceps...It honestly scared him a bit. “I’m good, thank you.” He casually brushed it off. No reason to cause any real issues. 

Keith’s shoulders slumped at his words, looking away from him. His hands balled up in his lap, and he started to shake. Lance just sat there silently, watching him with worry in his eyes. Slowly but hesitantly, he pulled his own shirt off and tossed it over by Keith’s. 

“Okay, so I was thinking that we could start like this,” Lance began, playing the first few sets of keys. It forced his bandmate to turn around, giving an approving nod with each note they played. At least, until Keith frowned at one.

“It’s sounding good, but maybe instead of this,” Keith pressed the previous note. “we play this.” His finger wandered over to another note. 

Lance smiled. “That does sound better. This is why we work together best.” He nudges him playfully. Keith gasped, nudging back with his elbow. It was sharp and pointed, so it wasn’t fun when it was shoved against his rib. It was hard enough that it almost made him fall off. Luckily, he managed to grab the bench before he could. 

“Oops, sorry about that.” Keith chuckles awkwardly.

Lance laughs with him. “No, I’m okay. Anyway, the song?” 

They spend the next hour or so working on the newest song in the dreadful heat. Which included a lot of bantering/bickering on how either the instrumental should go or who feels hotter. 

He continues to play while Keith goes back upstairs to get a few more water bottles. He’s always loved playing the keys, with each note sounding like a piece of his soul. It was almost like he was playing his own heartstrings. 

The way he felt when they played together...It made his heart leap through the cosmos. He really couldn’t explain it, but he wished he could be what Keith could possibly want. Or maybe even more than what he wants, maybe even be more for himself. 

All he ever wanted was to love someone, and to be loved back. Hopefully he didn’t disappoint him. 

“Have I ever mentioned before that you play beautifully?” Keith interrupts, causing him to jump. 

Lance forces himself to laugh. “Oh, you really think so? I thought it was mediocre at best.” 

“That’s completely bullcrap and you know it. It’s quite peaceful to listen to.” He takes a sip from his new water bottle. From how they were being suffocated by the heat, it was easy to be sloppy drinking the water. So, drips fell down Keith’s chin again and it was all Lance was able to focus on. Just how attractive can one be while drinking water!

Once he finally put it down, Lance sealed the deal. No matter how poor of a decision it was, no matter the consequences, he couldn’t take it anymore. So...He pressed their lips together.

Chapter Text

 One century ago...There once lived a young Cuban man by the name of Lance Charles Serrano. Now, Lance lived quite a simple life. He would work on the family farm as much as he could, work on his studies, and had quite a way with the women of his village. 

But in secret, and late at night, he would study the ways of the moon. Of its effect on the ocean waters, why it would go through what modern astronomers refer to as phases, and even why it seemed to call to him when he was supposed to be sleeping. 

He never knew why of how, but the moon spoke to him. Like it longed for him each evening, and even more doing the day. What was it about the moon that had him so hypnotized?

“You know,” His twin sister, Rachel, commented one afternoon. “you should consider going for a swim. Never know you might meet.” 

Lance was reading through some scrolls, not even looking in her direction. “Dearest sister, I am not interested. Last time I went down to the beach, all of those pompous friends of yours swarmed around me like a flock of flies!”

Her friends were far from pleasant, especially with how they had all moved here from the Americas. They treated their family like they were some kind of unciviled creature. It really bothered him and it still baffles him that Rachel would even associate herself with people like that. 

Rachel frowned, putting her hands on her hips. “They are not pompous! Besides, you know Mamá will never leave you alone about not having a wife at this point. At least until you actually find one.”

Lance scoffed. “Says the one who has no husband either.”  He quickly dodged the sandal thrown at his head, which instead landed in the grass behind him. 

“I’m working on it!” She growled. 

He only rolled his eyes, turning back to the old scrolls he had found at the village library. Originally, he was there to find that (stupid) book that his studies were requiring him. But due to his curiosity, he had wandered into the astronomy section, where these scrolls had been. It was very insightful, despite being in another language. Thank Alfor he was able to understand it. 

One that actually stood out to him was the only scroll that wasn’t anything scientific, but rather in his first language. It seemed like some kind of long forgotten myth, which was most intriguing. 

There was a loud clap right next to his eardrum, which actually made him fall over  Rachel snickered, an evil yet smug smile spread across that familiar face. She received a growl and a glare in return. 

“Now that I have your attention again,” She giggled. “don’t you ever get lonely? Like, all you ever do is for everyone else, not for yourself. Perhaps with a bit of company, you could feel much better.” 

Lance shrugs, pushing himself off the ground. “I guess, but I’m fine.” 

“Are you sure about that?” Rachel stuck her hip out in a rather sassy way. He sighed, gathering his stuff together. While he was able to have some effect on the women  in their town, he wanted genuine love. 

Later that night, Lance managed to sneak out of his bedroom and out towards the highest hill, where his homemade telescope was waiting for him. He wore a courier bag over his shoulder, which contained different star charts, his journal, and the scrolls from before. Oftentimes, the moon cast enough light for him to be able to read any of these things easily. Using a lantern would make it far more noticeable of what he was doing.

Carefully laying out his work, he peeked into the eyepiece to gaze up at the moon. But, there was something quite different about it tonight. 

“Um, what are you doing?” An unknown voice spoke up from behind him. 

Lance jumped, hitting his head on the optical tube. It was very hard and extremely painful. So yeah, he wasn’t too pleased with getting interrupted the way he was. “What’s the big idea!” He whipped his head around, faster than the speed of sound. 

It was a man, who seemed to be at least a couple years older. He was pale, shorter by a few inches, and dressed in an upper class matter. From his red dress jacket, down to the beige waistcoat. Lance raised an eyebrow. What was someone this well-dressed doing all the way out here at this time of night?

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” The other person apologized. “I’ve just been observing you for such a long time and you always seem to be out here.”

“So, do you stalk me or something?” Lance crossed his arms. 

The other man tilts his head. “Stalk? What is that?” 

“Nevermind.”

He shrugged. “So, what are you doing out here all by yourself?” 

Lance readjusted the position of his telescope. “Just studying the moon, nothing of much importance to you.”

“I highly doubt that, as astronomy is really interesting.” That did make Lance stop for a moment, taking in exactly what he just said. As far as he has seen, most people weren’t as interested in it the way he was. It was why he hasn’t told any of his family about his little hobby, at the fear they would judge him.

It gave him a weird feeling. 

He cleared his throat, getting himself together. “I guess so. It’s just...It is like I have a special and personal connection to it. It sounds weird, I know, but I have no idea how else to phrase it.”

“I don’t think it sounds weird at all,” The man replied. “I’m Keith.”

“Lance.” 

He continues to adjust the telescope and look through the scrolls. The air was quite awkward, considering how Keith was just watching him over his shoulder without saying a word. Not like he knew this random-potential-stalker. Couldn’t he just say something? 

The pale stranger cleared his throat. “What exactly is this?” He pats the scientific instrument. 

“My telescope?” He nods. “Well, it allows for me to see into the night sky. Like, into the stars and especially, the moon. It was invented by Galileo Galilei, a Dutch astronomer.” Keith sat on the ground by it, leaning on his wrist as he listened. It made Lance’s heart skip a beat. 

Although he wasn’t sure why Keith didn’t already know this stuff, he was polite and answered each of his questions to the best of his ability. His natural curiosity of each piece is quite adorable.

Soon, they were laying side by side on the ground. “I sometimes wonder if everything in the universe has its own story, the same way every person does here on Earth. Does that sound weird?” 

Keith shook his head. “I don’t think it does. Like, there’s a story behind each star.”  His tone was clear and precise, it made him sound absolutely sure. It confused him a bit. 

“But what about the moon?”

The mysterious stranger smiled. “It does, but it isn’t one to get into right now.”

The next morning, Lance rubbed his eyes tiredly. He slowly sat up from his bed, reaching his arms up to the ceiling. Wait, how did he even get back home? The last thing he remembered was laying side by side with Keith. It was a surprisingly comfortable moment with someone that he had never met. 

He sighed, moving out of bed and got dressed for the day. 

Throughout the day, his mind would occasionally flash back to that moment of being able to express such an interest with another person. When he hasn’t done so before and it was with someone that he had never met prior. 

But maybe that’s why he was able to open up about that interest. Because he always thought that no one would appreciate all the time and work he put into this hobby of his. And Keith actually was just as invested as he was. But he wasn’t sure how or why.

When he returned there that evening, Keith never returned, which did disappoint him. However, the moon wasn’t visible either so he really was just stargazing. 

“You’re acting weird,” His oldest sister, Veronica, comments after two weeks of this.

Which was true, Lance was focusing less and less on his studies or his chores. It was like all his energy was taken up by something far more important. Or even...Someone. He has noticed that Keith always appears when the moon is present. But whenever he was around, Lance loved being around him. 

The thing about his stranger was he was quite handsome and sharp. A bit oblivious at times, but boy does he know his astronomy! His hair was a nice length, and it would differ to being tied up or down against his shoulders. Sometimes Lance would tease him when his hair was down but he liked it either way. 

The way his heart always skipped a beat whenever he was around, or how warm his cheeks would get...It was comfortable. The way he felt about him was different compared to any person he’d met before. 

He smiled goofily. “Yeah, and?”

“And, you are barely present anymore and it is quite strange. I’m not sure how we can all handle it. So, um, who’s the lucky girl?” She rubbed her neck uncomfortably. 

Lance’s smile only grew wider, so much that his cheeks were starting to hurt, but he didn’t care. “I don’t think I can tell you all just yet. It's not fair to talk to you about it before I talk to them.” After that, his sister left him be. 

That evening, Lance planned out a special date in Keith’s honor. The moon was supposed to be at its highest and brightest tonight so it was to be the day that he would officially tell him how he feels. He had spread out a blanket, a couple of chairs that he had stolen from the house, and a simple letter he had written. 

Just them and the moon.

But...Keith didn’t show up for several hours. And when he had, he looked very different. 

Rather than the normal dress jacket and trousers, he dressed in something Lance had never seen before. It was a large set of trousers, large upper garment, two strange vests overtop of each other, and finally an overcoat. All of it was in red, and he couldn’t believe it. What surprised him most of all was the subtle glow surrounding his body.

Chapter Text

Lance takes a deep breath, trying his best to drown out all those words that were posted everywhere on Twitter. His fingers were trembling, and he hasn’t been able to keep his left leg still for the last couple days. 

“Darling,” Keith gently put a hand on his shoulder. “you really don’t need to. Not if you’re not ready.” 

He blushes, glancing up from over his shoulder. “But I want to, truly. The internet won’t leave us alone until they get the whole story; at least I have you here with me.” Lance gently squeezed his hand, relaxing himself enough to give the love of his life an affectionate smile.  

“Okay, I’m right here, the whole time. I promise.” He kissed his forehead, then moved back to his spot in the corner. 

With that in mind, Lance confidently pressed the record button. “Hello boys, girls, non-binaries, and anything in between! This is Lance Serrano, here to entertain you once again! Today, we have a very special video. As you all know, this picture has been flying around Twitter,” Lance points up at nothing, but once the video is completed, the point will be necessary. “And I’m aware of all your insistent messages to find your answers.

“Which, if you have read the title of the video, is exactly what I’m going to do. This is the story of how I came to be with the love of my life.” Lance looked away from the camera and in Keith’s direction, whose cheeks were dusted in pink. “Our story begins three years ago, back when I only had three hundred subscribers. A bit ironic now that I think about it…”

30 June 2019

Lance shut his laptop, yawning and rubbed his tired eyes. It was unbelievable how long it would take him just to edit a single video. Perhaps he should consider hiring a professional editor? No, no he shouldn’t. Hunk had offered before and because of his big mouth, he assured that he wouldn’t need it. 

He sighed to himself. “I need an Oreo frappe; I’ve been cooped up in this room all day.” Lance left his chair, which caused it to spin because of the swift movement. Taking his keys from the hook and with his wallet stuffed in his back pocket, he headed out. 

The drive to Starbucks was a slow one, due to crappy traffic. Great, just great. His head was throbbing, all thanks to his staring at the computer screen for three hours straight. While music was playing from his stereo, the volume was only at eight. It was better than adding to his already extremely painful headache. 

After about forty minutes, he finally pulls up to the parking lot. And for a brief moment, he could’ve sworn that his luck was starting to change. There was a great spot right next to the door, which everyone knows is considered to be the absolute greatest spot imaginable. He shifted gears and prepared to park. 

But just before he could park, a person on their motorcycle parked in the best spot in the lot. The rider wore a red helmet, with the visor looking somewhat blacked out so he wasn’t able to see their face. Lance growled, slamming his hands hard on the steering wheel. Great, just great!

“Thanks a lot, jerk!” He shouts. 

Said jerk actually turned in his direction, and his fingerless-gloved hands actually reached up to his helmet. Lance raised an eyebrow questionably, leaning forward in anticipation. Who exactly is this rude biker? The helmet came off and the biker flipped his hair dramatically. 

His mouth hangs open while holding out a long gasp. Standing before him, wiping his sweaty forehead, was Keith “Blade’s Gaming” Kogane! His gaming channel has over two million subscribers on YouTube and meeting him in person was a rarity, as he never went to conventions. And here he was, glaring at Lance with daggers in his eyes. 

He gulped, quickly swerving his car away from the sight and snagged a spot in the second row. His already small fanbase would get much smaller if they ever found out that he had yelled at one of the biggest gamers on the platform. As Lance got out of his car, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Keith wasn’t still watching him. A sigh of relief released from his lungs, relaxing as he went inside.

“So you see,” Lance added. “I didn’t really make the best impression, because of course I didn’t. Like always,  my big mouth had gotten me into trouble. After an experience like that, we should’ve never seen each other again, right?”

Keith snickered in the background. “The whole reason they’re watching this is to know our story. Of course we saw each other again!”

He hissed at his boyfriend. “It’s called building suspense! And no spoilers out of you.” The more popular YouTuber in question simply rolled his eyes, crossing his legs as he watched and leaned against the wall. 

Lance turned  back to the camera and cleared his throat. “Anyways, we didn’t cross paths again until two weeks later.”

15 July 2019

After spending a couple of hours editing a cover as a celebration, Lance ends up going to the grocery store. Hunk was working a shift at the cafe, but had asked him beforehand to pick some stuff up. 

He pushed a shopping cart through the baking aisle, scanning for the flour. It didn’t surprise him that the list had cake ingredients listed, considering his birthday was two weeks from now. But for some reason, he couldn’t find even a single bag on the long shelf. Rather, only lumps of flour were left behind on the metal shelf. 

He sighed. “I don’t want to go to another store just for flour. Where is it?” Lance wondered aloud.

“Are you talking to yourself?” a familiar voice said from his right. A voice which Lance was used to hearing in a more yell-y way. 

He gulped, turning around slowly. Keith’s nose was wrinkled, an eyebrow raised as he stared. Not to mention, his eyes had that whole judgy look. Lance has seen it plenty of times in Keith’s Let’s Plays, usually when he is questioning something dumb or insane about a plot or the animation of a game. Especially with requested games. 

So, seeing it in person is both a dream and a nightmare. 

“Um, yeah. Is there a problem?” Lance cleared his throat. 

Keith rolled his eyes. “I guess not, just a little surprising to see you, out of a car this time.” He glared. Well crap, he actually recognized him! He had been deeply hoping that he had forgotten that incident. 

He chuckled nervously. “I’m not exactly sure what you’re talking about.” Could he be more obvious?!

“Dude, I’ve seen enough of your videos to know you’re a terrible liar,” comments Keith.

“I am not- wait, you’ve seen my videos!” He accidentally yells that, getting strange looks from people passing by. 

The gamer rubs his ears sorely. Lance’s cheeks quickly dusted red, covering his mouth in complete and utter shame. He didn’t mean to say it that loud, far from it. So, why did he?

Keith sighed. “Yes, I have. I found your channel just by chance, ironically the same day you yelled at me. Your covers are pretty impressive, I can give you credit there.”

“Well, excuse me for being surprised that one of my favorite YouTubers knows me. Mine is so much smaller compared to yours.” Lance noticed some sugar on the shelf behind him, reaching over shyly. Keith happened to see what he was reaching for and tried reaching out to it at the same time. 

Their fingers touched when they grabbed the same bag. Lance turned redder than before, letting go suddenly and almost fell backwards, due to his foot not landing the right way. Keith grabbed his hand quickly, bag of sugar in his other arm. 

Lance gulped nervously, taking deep breaths to try and calm down. 

“Um, are you okay?” asked Keith, who seemed to have a much clearer pink dust in his own cheeks. 

And for the first time in their entire interaction, he actually smiled. “Yeah, thank you.”

Lance sighed lovingly. “That moment is quite adorable looking back on it now. I never expected that it would lead us to where we are now, but the way he makes me feel?” He looked in Keith’s direction, who was fondly smiling back at him. “It’s the greatest thing in the world.”

Keith actually blows him a kiss, which he pretends to actually catch. “I love you,” He mouths.

“I love you too,” He mouths back, his laugh sounds more like a high-pitched giggle. 

Lance then cleared his throat informally, turning back to the camera once again. “From then on, we ended up becoming friends in that experience. Weird how such a moment would force the two of us to connect like that, but hey? Our connection is a special one.”

28 July 2019

In only a short couple of weeks, Lance’s subscriber count plummeted skywards. And it was all thanks to Keith. They had actually done a small collab for each other’s channels. The one for Lance’s was where his new friend would do his makeup on-camera, which the result was surprising. It had taught him that Keith would do his eyeliner everyday and even discovered how good he looked with black lipstick. However, on Keith’s channel, it was mostly just Lance freaking out at all the scary graphics at the game. The nightmares didn’t go away for three days. It was nice at least to actually have somewhat of a fanbase, and he owed a lot to Keith.

However, in only a short amount of time, Lance trusted him completely. Sometimes he does get a bit starstruck around him, he was a fan long before they even met. So the blind trust did partly come from that. But, he always let him know whenever there was a new video up for him to see. And Keith would do the same.

But today was different. When he told him about the newest video he had uploaded, Keith did something quite unexpected. The text read: ‘Happy birthday. Do not watch this without me. Or it’ll ruin the surprise.’

It was very surprising, and happened to catch him off guard. Keith would never tell him to not watch a video. 

“Are you ever going to stop rereading that?” Hunk questioned. Lance was sitting up on the counter, next to his best friend/roommate as he was trying to bake. 

“I can’t help it! It’s so random and out of the blue!” He whined. 

Hunk cracked two eggs into the bowl, which was full of chocolate cake batter. “I know, but it is also your birthday. It probably has something to do with your gift.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “He has a gift for me?”

“I’m not telling you anything,” Hunk remarked. And he stuck to that, even with Lance trying to convince him otherwise. 

The question pondered his mind the rest of the day, especially during his birthday party. Everyone from his family to his newest friends were all there. Which (obviously) included Keith. 

While taking a sip from a cup of fruit punch, he felt a gentle tap of his shoulder. “Lance, do you mind if we talk for a minute?” Keith bit his lip nervously. 

Lance smiled in assurance. “Sure, I don’t mind at all. I’m always willing to make time for you.” He could’ve sworn that he had seen some red in his cheeks. 

Keith led him away from the corner he was somewhat hiding in. He was brought into a separate room, where they were able to have enough privacy. Lance leaned against the wall, waiting for whatever he wanted to talk about. 

He takes a deep breath. “Okay, so remember how I told you to not watch my newest video without me?”

“Yeah, I’ve been stuck on it since this morning.”

“Very funny.” Keith rolled his eyes playfully. 

Lance chuckles, letting himself smile fondly. “Yeah, I know. So, what about it? Why didn’t you want me to watch it?”

He takes a deep breath. “Because I made it just for you.”

“He still watches it once a week!” Keith calls out in the background, earning yet another glare from his boyfriend. 

Lance rolled his eyes, groaning deeply. “As I was saying, the birthday video was a beautiful cover of one of my favorite songs: Lover by Taylor Swift. And no, no anti-Swifties are allowed to bash her in the comments.”

For a brief second, the two of them shared a laugh. 

“Anyways, the next part worth noting was how he asked me out. Which was through a talking teddy bear and it was absolutely adorable.”

Keith smiles softly. “Hey, can I tell this next part?”

“What part?”

“Y’know, our first date?”

Lance giggles. “Alright, sure. But I have to be on your lap the whole time.”

“You have yourself a deal, darling.”

4 January 2020

Keith takes a deep breath as he waits outside Lance’s apartment door, holding a bouquet of bluebells in his right hand. He tried to keep the shaking hands under control as much as possible, though they had a mind of their own currently. “I got this, he’s the one that said yes to such a cheesy way of asking. Who is he to judge?” With that in mind, he finally knocked on the door.

His fingers fidgeted with the plastic wrapping around the flowers, waiting anxiously for his date to open the door. 

“I was wondering when you were going to finally show up,” Lance comments, while opening the door. 

Just before Keith could reply with a snarky response, he ended up choking on his words. Because the way that Lance looked was just...Wow. There was magenta lipstick along his lips, a lighter magenta for his eyeshadow, and black mascara. His choice of clothing included a jean jacket overtop a tight black dress with spaghetti straps, along with dark magenta see-through leggings. It was quite stylish, and he loved it. 

“Are you okay?” He raised an eyebrow.

Keith gulped thickly. “Y-yeah, just never expected you to go all out like this. Why didn’t I ask you out much sooner?”

He shrugged. “I’ve been wondering that since we became friends. Nice flowers, by the way.” 

“Oh, they’re actually for you.” He hands the bouquet over, which Lance graciously accepts. At least, Keith thought so. Considering that big whiff he had gotten from the flowers. 

“Thanks, they’re beautiful. Now, where exactly are we going?”

Keith quickly chuckled at that question alone. “Like I’m going to tell you. After all that teasing you put me through, I think I deserve to do the exact same thing to you.”

Lance leans on his shoulder comfortably, nuzzling his neck. “So you see, that isn’t exactly the whole story. But that’s because it’s far from over. Which I’m perfectly content with.” He kisses Keith’s cheek softly. 

He chuckles happily. “I’ll probably continue the story from my channel, at least from my perspective. However, I agree with my darling. Our story is far from over and I adore any chance I get to be with him, despite how often I poke fun at him.”

“Very funny, honey,” Lance teased. “but for now, I think it’s time for some cuddle time with my boyfriend. This is Lance Serrano-”

“And I’m Keith of Blade’s Gaming,” His boyfriend follows up.

He grinned affectionately. “That was our story, at least it’s only the beginning. We’re hashtag Team Klance!”

Chapter Text

“Are you serious?” Lance scoffed. “Why do I need to protect some spoiled lord?”

Regris frowned. “Lancelot, you were specifically requested by Kolivan to take this mission. So, you really have no choice in the matter.”

He crossed his arms stubbornly. “But he’s probably stuck-up and I would prefer not to do that. However, I guess it’s better than getting yelled at by the big guy.” Lance begrudgingly took the printed-out order and stormed off.

The thing about him was that he's been a part of the Blade since he was a small toddler. His whole family has been part of it, and it was even how his parents met. But even now, he still wasn't sure how well he really fit into this life. After all, he wasn’t exactly the top of his class in the Blades’ training school. In comparison to his oldest brother, he was the weak link. 

However, this was the first real big mission that Kolivan had assigned to him. Which, honestly, is a big opportunity. It could even prove to him that he was ready to take larger missions, that he could live up to his family’s legacy. 

Even if it meant being the bodyguard to some high-class lord, just to make sure he doesn’t get kidnapped during his engagement or wedding.

Somewhere else in the universe, Lord Akira wandered through the bland halls. The white and grey walls stared down at him, sending a chill down his spine. The palace was very cold and uninviting, which did not help considering how he’s engaged to the princess, Allura. It was supposed to become his home in only a month, and he didn’t like the feeling the place gave him.

Allura wasn’t around a lot, usually out being a public figure alongside her mother while the king dealt with diplomatic things.

Which meant that Akira was all by himself in a castle full of servants. But it also meant that there was really no one for him to talk to.

He turned the door to his sleeping quarters slid open slowly, which only made him roll his eyes in annoyance. You’d think that the mechanics of the castleship would make sure that the doors were always functioning.

Once it finally opened, he took one step through the door. Which immediately led to a tackle by his cosmic wolf, Kosmo. Akira laughed as his face was attacked by sloppy kisses, but he wasn’t really complaining either.

A few decapheobs ago, he had just been causally strolling through the woods on another planet, along with his mother. But suddenly, there was a big, bright blue streak soaring across the sky. Akira and his mom found it to be quite the spectacular sight, a nice moment for the two of them. Until it had collided with the planet under their feet. It made the two of them fall backwards, but Krolia (his mother) caught herself on a nearby tree.

Akira moved to his feet, quickly running in the direction of the collision. And much to his surprise, there was a dark grey and turquoise wolf pup playing at the bottom of a pit. It was whimpering, struggling to climb up the sides of the pit. He easily could have abandoned the poor animal right there and never gave it a second thought. But instead, he slid down and picked up the small wolf. He climbed out, keeping his footing still against the rocky wall. The wolf pup was placed down onto the flat surface before Akira was fully out of the pit. Ever since he found and helped him out, Kosmo has been Akira’s most loyal companion.

He chuckled, shoving the wolf off and pushed himself up. “Hey bud, good to see you too.” Akira scratches behind his ear, which Kosmo’s back leg twitches and kicks. It was quite adorable if he was to be honest.

He moved by the wolf and sat onto the firm mattress. Kosmo hopped onto the bed, curling up in a ball next to him. Akira looked away from his companion, and out towards his bedroom. His shoulders slumped, and his hands gripped some of the top layer in his blanket.

“I don’t want to be here. But what else is even out there?” He thought aloud.

“You’re going to do great; I know you will,” His twin sister, Rachel, encouraged.

Lance was packing up a small pack for the journey, with as much essentials as he can possibly bring. His face care regime (has to do something with that purple complexion of his), a communication device and a couple of photos of his family. There was a limited number of things a Blade member was allowed to bring for a mission, which is a good thing. If anyone brought more than seven things, it sort of ruins the whole stealth part of their overall organization.

But still, he wouldn’t mind packing his cot in there as well.

“Will you get pictures of the princess?” Their shy but oh-so-eager niece, Nadia, asked.

Lance chuckles. “If she allows it, I may. Then, it’ll be added to your mini collection of Princess Allura photos.” He tilts his head towards her space, which was only three cots away from Rachel’s. All the way down the wall, to where her pillow lay, was a neatly compiled set of photos surrounding the Altean princess. To say she was a fan was an understatement.

Nadia squeals, snuggling up on her aunt’s lap. “I wish I could come with you…”

“Sweetheart, you know I would love to bring you with me, but it’s safer that you stay here. You still have schooling and training to take care of. Besides, Veronica and Rachel are going to be here for you. But if your mean ol’ brother is mean to you, I’ll return as soon as possible.”

Rachel pets her hair softly, treading her fingers through the little one’s hair very carefully so she wouldn’t accidentally pull any hairs out. “We’ll be fine, Lance.” She smiled confidently.

He smiled back. They would be okay, he could tell.

After a little while, Lance is waving to his family through a window as he flies off towards the planet, Altea.

The next day, Akira hears a knock on his bedroom door, where he was just playing with Kosmo. “Yeah?” He calls out.

His electronic door slid open, allowing Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe to enter. The thing about the royal family’s advisor is that he is quite…eccentric. It’s not really a bad thing that he is but it can be very overwhelming for Akira when he had to be around him.

“Hello, young lord,” He bowed respectfully. “I hope you are having a fine afternoon?”

He shrugged. “I guess, I’ve only been hanging out with my wolf the entire time.”

“That sounds relaxing.” Coran twists his mustache as he observed said wolf, who was currently tilting his head at the ginger.

“Is there something you need, Coran?” asked Akira, a slightly irritated tone slipping through. 

Coran let go of his mustache, allowing it to bounce back to its proper place. “Oh, right. Your bodyguard is arriving soon, and Alfor wants us all to be out there to greet him.”

“Bodyguard? Why in Altea do I need one?”

“Well, you are a lord that is engaged to our beloved princess, so it is only natural that you are to have such a guard. Besides, it’s only until the wedding,” Coran explained. Akira sighed, leaving Kosmo a toy to play with. 

The young lord followed the advisor out hesitantly. It was a long way out to the courtyard, surely where the ship with his guard would most likely land. But honestly, he didn’t see the point of having it. 

As far as he knows, there hasn’t been any threats to him or Allura. So what exactly is the point of assigning him a guard? And when there is only a month away from the wedding, it seems even more pointless. At least in his mind.

Allura, Alfor and Melenor were already waiting when Coran and Akira eventually arrived. 

“Hello, Akira, we’ve been expecting you.” King Alfor smiled, giving him a nod. 

Akira returned it with an uncomfortable smile. “Alfor, it’s nice to see you’ve returned. Without saying anything,” He mumbles the last part, being sure to not disrespect his future father-in-law. 

The four waited patiently, and it didn’t take long for a pale purple ship to appear through the clouds. 

“Out of curiosity, what species is this bodyguard of mine from?” He questions randomly. 

“Oh, he’s a member of the Blade of Marmora, an exclusive Galra organization, and as their leader tells me, this is his first ever mission, although he believes that he is more than capable. About your age in fact, Akira,” explained the king. 

The ship lands right before their very eyes, which creates a large gust of wind in their direction. It caused the womens’ dresses to float up into a hoop. Akira snickered under his breath.

A door drops down, leaving a frankly lean figure in replace of the door. 

“Wow, Altea really does live up to the rumors,” The Galra comments. He was quite tall, with light purple skin with light pink scars, bright yellow eyes and dark purple hair. Akira just stared at him, an eyebrow raised as he stared at him questionably. 

Alfor stepped forward, waving in a rather regal way. “Good afternoon, I assume you’re Lancelot?”

He nods. “Yep, but I’d prefer if you would call me Lance.” Lance looks away from the royal and his gaze falls upon Akira, who still looked quite skeptical of the overall situation. But what he didn’t expect was some sort of pink dust in his cheeks, and his expression visibly softening. 

Akira just blinked, glancing from side to side. What was happening?

“Who is this?” Lance gestured to him.

Akira cleared his throat. “Um, I’m Lord Akira. The one you’re meant to be protecting and fiancé to Allura.”

Lance’s eyes widened, his mouth gaping in shock. Almost as if this was the most surprising thing to happen in the entire universe. 

Later on that evening, just before supper, Akira begrudgingly knocks on Lance’s door. May as well try and get to the bottom of the guard’s reaction from earlier. It was quite strange considering how he didn’t say anything the entire tour throughout the palace. Instead, he rather glanced at Akira more than once. 

The door opened, where Lance seemed to be trying to settle down, his back away from him. 

“So, I know that we just met, but are we going to talk about that reaction back there?” He leaned against the doorway, raising an eyebrow. 

“I don’t think that’s appropriate,” He replied, turning around. 

Akira rolls his eyes. “Not like I’ll get offended. I’m somewhat of a public figure, criticism is normal.”

Lance placed his holophoto of his family onto his bedside table, not really looking at him. “Why do you even care?”

“Look, I don’t want a bodyguard, I believe it’s totally unnecessary. But if we’re stuck with each other, we might as well attempt to get along.”

Lance only shrugs. “Fair enough of a point, but I think it’s best for me to keep my distance. At least that’s what my training has engraved into my brain since I was a toddler.”

Akira sighed deeply. It honestly seems that they really weren’t going to get anywhere. “Fine, I guess I’ll just see you later.”

This ended up being more true than Akira was expecting. Lance almost never said anything, and if he did, the answers were typically short. It was quite strange how having a bodyguard somehow made the lord feel even lonelier than before. 

However, during a diplomatic dinner party, Akira finds himself hanging out alone, staring out at the planet on a balcony. He sighed, leaning on his arms sadly. 

“Are you often by yourself, or is that just me being slow to notice?” Lance leaned on the railing, staring out as well. 

Akira frowned. “Oh, are you actually talking to me, or is this only a dream?” He replied sarcastically.

“Okay, okay, I’ll admit that watching you from afar was a bad idea. But seriously, how come you’re out here alone instead of out with your fiancé?” He looked at him sympathetically.

“Yeah, you’re just oblivious. I don’t like this life, I never have.” Akira snapped, but his eyes instantly widened and covered his mouth. He has never admitted that to anyone, not even to himself. At least not directly, that is. 

Lance’s expression softens. “Actually, I understand exactly how you feel.” 

“Wait, really?” 

He nods. “Yeah, I was literally born into the Blade, and I’m still not positive it’s what I want. But it’s also all I’ve ever known, so why would I try and change it?” Lance sighed, and it sounded quite similar to the one that Akira had let out just seconds before. 

It made him feel somewhat understood for a moment. And for the first time, with someone other than Kosmo, he’s able to smile around someone else. 

“At least someone understands how it feels. I’ve always feared that no one would get it, much less my bodyguard. So, thank you for making me feel understood.” Akira smiled softly.

Lance’s pink blush against his purple skin returned once again. “You’re welcome, Keith.”

He tilts his head. “Uh, where in Altea did you even come up with a name such as that?”

“Eh, after what you just told me, Akira doesn’t suit you. At all. So, I took the Ki from Akira and then turned it into Keith. That way, we both have nicknames that are almost unrelated to our actual names.” He grinned. 

Keith chuckles. “You’re weird, but I admire that.”

Chapter Text

Ignoring his brother’s objections, he made his way up the staircase with a plate of garlic knots, along with a salt-water scented candle. Keith sighed woefully, closing the door to their bedroom. Kosmo wasn’t far behind him, whimpering.

He kneeled in front of the memorial. “Hey darling, it’s just the two of us now.” Keith lit the candle, moving the garlic knots in front of his photo. That smiling face he knew so well stared back at him, with his heart as tough as a rock.

He sniffles, taking a slow bite from the deep-fried ball. “I can’t believe that it’s only been three months…But it still doesn’t feel right sleeping in the bed without you.” Kosmo whimpered, nuzzling his nose against his owner’s lap. 

“I can still hear your sweet and gentle voice, even though you mostly used it to torture me.” He lightly chuckled. “Things have been moving slowly, but I just don’t get how they are all pretending everything’s normal.” His pale cheeks became wet as the smallest of tears forced their way from his eyes. 

The husky attempted to give him a kiss, but Keith only moved away. “All I want is to have you back with us again, more than anything.” He tried his absolute hardest to stop crying, only wanting to eat the garlic knots in peace. But it was hard to choke the hurt down. 

After all, his heart was never going to stop breaking.

The story begins only five years ago, at the city’s science museum, specifically being the planetarium aspect of it. 

“I still don’t understand why exactly you brought me here, to your astronomical nerd workplace,” Keith complained, rolling his eyes. 

Shiro sighed, brushing his fingers through his already greying bangs. “It’s not like I could just leave you at the house, by yourself, for the fifth time this week alone.”

“I don’t see exactly how that’s a bad thing, and you can’t claim it’s for fresh air. As we are in one of the darkest places in the entire city.” Keith stared at his phone, his face blank. 

“Amusing, but I actually want to introduce you to someone. If you’ll let me.”

Well, that certainly grabbed his attention. “I believe we’ve clarified I have zero interest in making friends.”

Shiro arched an eyebrow. “Actually, I think you’ll want to meet this one. He’s only a year younger than you and is currently working as my assistant.”

“What’s the name of this supposed assistant that you’re forcing me to meet?” 

His brother opened the door politely, and ignored the drawn out groan. The room behind said door was filled with various employees, Shiro’s coworkers. Despite how done he was, Keith scanned the room hesitantly. 

The planetarium had a very diverse staff, ranging from different skin colors/cultures to people with physical or mental disabilities. It was something that Keith has listened to Shiro go on and on about, but he usually drowned it out. But it was nice to see it all in person. 

“Lance! Over here,” Shiro called out. 

Keith noticed a guy hanging out by one of the three vending museums, who just so happened to have turned in their direction. 

He was more on the lanky side, which his long legs certainly added to. His tan skin must have been personally kissed by the sun, considering the adorable individually placed freckles across the nose. That tree bark drown, choppy hair of his was surprisingly cute. But the feature of this simply gorgeous human being was the bright blue ocean eyes that glistened as he walked towards them. 

Keith gulped thickly, wanting more than anything to dash away right then and there. But his feet were glued to the ground, so he definitely wasn’t going anywhere. 

“Hey, Shiro.” Lance grinned. 

Shiro smiles in return. “Good to see you here, on time for once,” He teases. 

“Oh, very funny. I’m on time at least three times a week.” Lance pouts, sticking out his bottom lip like a child. 

“Anyways, this is my little brother, Keith,” Shiro gestured to Keith, who was still frozen in place. “Keith, this is Lance Serrano, my Cuban assistant.” 

Lance offers him his hand, appropriately trying to make a good impression on him. However, all the younger brother was able to accomplish was the softest stutter known to man. God, why was he such an idiot!

The two men surrounding him stared at him blankly, glancing at each other once before looking back at him. 

Keith cleared his throat, quickly shaking his hand. “N-nice to meet you, Lance.” 

Lance’s eyebrows shot up, his pupils shrinking while his hand was furiously shook. “Um, nice to meet you too. Shiro speaks highly of you, and sometimes not so highly.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” He glared at his brother, who tugged at his collar. 

He chuckles. “It’s a sibling thing, of course you’re going to complain about them behind each other’s backs. It’s only natural.”

Instead of denying it, the brothers just nodded in agreement.

And only a week later, Keith finds himself going to the planetarium with him as much as possible. He tried to be subtle about it, but he couldn’t help the way Lance made him feel. It was like...A comfortable set of butterflies that fluttered in his belly whenever he so much as spoke. Whenever Lance looked at him or gave one of his charming smiles, Keith’s heart skipped a beat.

Today however, he was going to attempt to finally ask him out. At least, to get to know him better without his brother watching. So, before he makes his way to the planetarium, he buys a flower bouquet full of various blue flowers, meant to go with those enchanting eyes of his. But he also gets something else, something special. 

Once finishing up in the store, he headed out to his motorcycle in the parking lot. 

“Kogane, is that really you?” Keith froze upon hearing the voice. 

His legs shook like Jell-O as he turned around, his gaze falling upon his high school ex, James Griffin. Well, it was more like a brief fling that only started due to getting drunk at a party (which he had been forced to go to in the first place). And as abruptly they had started, they ended just as abruptly. 

Considering that weird look he was currently getting, this wasn’t going to be the most pleasant reunion after having graduated two years ago already. 

“Um, hey, James.” He chuckles awkwardly. 

James flicked the visor of his cap, whistling softly. “Wow, it’s been some time hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it has. Uh, how have things been since...Y’know?”

“Since you dumped me? Not much, I’m currently studying to become a pilot; it wouldn’t even surprise me if I ended up becoming the top one of the military once I graduate...” Keith rolled his eyes at his boasting. But it wasn’t like it was uncommon for him to do so. 

He cleared his throat, cutting him off. “Well, I really need to get going. A new friend of mine is probably waiting for me to show up. So, if you don’t mind, I’ll see you later.” Keith managed to slip away, praising to the Gods that James was too busy trying to show off to notice. 

Keith was careful when driving to the planetarium with the flowers in his lap. He just needed for them to look somewhat okay. As far as he can tell, Lance deserves the sweetest of romances compared to anyone else.

Upon arriving, the sweet man was found just chilling in the break room while eating some lunch. He scrolled through his phone, humming a soft song to himself. Keith watched from afar, smiling fondly. God, he’s so adorable.

“Wow, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” He comments, leaning over him suavely, keeping the flowers behind his back. 

Lance blushes, a smile instantly grew against his lips. “Good to see you too, mullet. I’m starting to think you don’t have much of a life outside of me.” He set his phone down, leaning on his wrist. 

Keith chuckles. “Perhaps, but there’s actually something I want to talk to you about.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

At that moment, he brings out the bouquet and the small case from the jeweler. Lance’s eyes grew wider than Keith has ever seen a person’s facial muscles go. His mouth even swung down the same way a park swing would when its rider is about to land. (Unless they are about to crash.) It was quite an amusing yet cute sight, at least to him.

“Blue flowers?” Lance tilts his head. “What exactly is the occasion?” 

He pushed some hair away from his eyes, sitting by him. “Well, um...I was actually wondering if you would…”

The other leaned in close, subtly invading his space. “Yes?” He drew out the s for as long as possible. 

Keith gulped thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing in a slow motion in the process. “U-um...Do you possibly want to go out and get a coffee with me after your shift? I want to get to know you a little better.” 

“But, why me?” He tilts his head. 

“Because you’re a sweet guy and it would be nicer to see what you’re like outside of the workplace. Without my brother watching.” Keith is quite subtle when he gestures in Shiro’s direction, who was watching out of the corner of his eye across the room. 

The Cuban formed an o with his mouth, giving him a nod in response. He slowly picked the blue-themed bouquet up and took a strong whiff. “That surprisingly smells good together, nice that you remembered blue is my favorite.”

Keith chuckles. “It’s meant to go with your eyes actually, the gorgeous blue.” That deep red blush that glowed from his crush’s cheeks really made that moment.

Following this interaction, it didn’t take long for the two of them to really get together. And the way that Lance is able to make Keith feel...it truly is the best thing in the world for him. Just the smallest of things would set his heart aflutter. Like how Lance would scrunch up his nose when he was trying to study. Or how he lights up at the mention of musical theater. And especially whenever they would get the chance to cuddle. But that is just to name a few out of the list. 

“Is it just me, or have you gotten a lot more distracted since you two got together?” Pidge rolled her eyes. 

Keith raised an eyebrow. “And how exactly is that a bad thing?” 

“What, is it a bad thing for me to want to spend time with my best friend?”

He shrugs, typing up a quick reply to Lance’s text as the two of them wait in line at the coffee shop. The only reason that he wasn’t with them was due to him having a class at college for the day. Of course, Keith was proud of him when he chose to go back to school, he would’ve been a terrible boyfriend if he hadn’t. 

Pidge sighed. “I know you’re happy, and I’m thankful that he’s been able to help you come out of your shell. But sometimes when it’s just the three of us...It feels like I’m a third wheel.”

Wait, has he really done that? “Oh. I didn’t realize that I made you feel like that.” He rubbed his neck uncomfortably. 

“It’s not like I voiced how I felt either,” She shrugged. “and I should have spoken up sooner. So this is on both of us.”

“I guess that’s a good point, but still, I’m sorry that I had ever made you feel like less of a priority. But there is something that I’ve been wanting to discuss with you.” Before he could even ask, they reached the front of the line. 

Pidge ordered first, snagging a black coffee for herself, while Keith selected a caramel macchiato with chocolate croissant to go along with it. They split the total payment and moved out of the way so the line could move forward. 

She cleared her throat. “Alright, so what’s up?”

“Oh, right, Lance was wanting to introduce me to his best friend, who has just gotten back from a trip to his home country. From the many things he’s told me about, he sounds like you two have a lot in common.” Pidge nods, listening to him explain. “Maybe you could come with?” 

It must have been his lucky day, but she actually smiled. Which was a rare occurrence. “Sure, I wouldn’t mind.”

A year’s worth of dating, and Keith was beginning to reach his limit. While he loved Lance, of course he does, but sometimes he was so freaking lazy! So often, Keith has to force him to do his homework or study for a test. But then he finds some way to get out of it. By being so clingy, and whine whenever he didn’t get what he wanted.

Seriously, how could someone be so childish!

Keith bit his lip as he typed a message to him. ‘Hey, are you busy with anything?’

He got a reply almost immediately. ‘Not really, is something wrong?’

‘Actually yes, but I’d rather talk about it face-to-face.’

‘Okay, I’m on my way.’

He sighed, tossing his phone to the side. How was he going to put this anyways? Lance was perfect in his mind, and they haven’t really fought yet so it scared him a little. Sure, they would banter occasionally but his boyfriend was a naturally sensitive person. Hopefully he wasn’t going to ruin what they have.

Within thirty minutes of watching a gameplay, Lance finally showed up at his apartment. He was able to just walk right in, all thanks to the key Keith had given him right at the beginning of their relationship. 

“Hey, hon,” He greeted gleefully, leaning in to give him a kiss to the cheek. But, Keith moves out of the way. Lance furrowed his eyebrows, his smile quickly dropping. Begrudgingly, he sat beside him on the couch. 

Keith squeezed his hands into fists. “We need to talk about your laziness.”

“Laziness? What do you mean?” Lance crossed his arms stubbornly. 

He took a deep breath. “Lance, you have been really slacking off on your classes lately and acting really childish. It’s becoming too much for me to handle, and I don’t know how to help you.”

He remained quiet, but Keith could see the subtle annoyance in his eyes.

“I am not your babysitter, I’m your boyfriend. It is not my responsibility to get you to do this stuff, and you should know that.”

Although he had said his piece, the conversation was far from over. 

“And what about you, huh?” Lance growled. “You think you’re completely innocent here? Because you’re not!”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“You never tell me exactly how you’re feeling, and it’s really stressful for me! I can’t tell whether you’re angry, sad, happy, or anything! How can I be a good boyfriend if you don’t work with me? Guess what, I can’t!” Lance exploded. It was the first time that he’s ever seen anything less than a sad frown.

In his beloved’s expression, it was pure, painful rage. It was quite a weird sight. But considering how stubborn Keith himself was, he wasn’t going to put up with this.

He didn’t remember much about the argument. It was just a lot of yelling and crying on both ends. The only thing that sticks out in his mind was how they both ended up saying (more like yelling) the next big step of their relationship. 

“I love you, no matter how much you drive me nuts!” Keith shouts.

“I love you too!” Lance shouts back.

It brought them out of it. They both teared up and collided into a messy kiss. One thing led to another...But that’s none of anyone else’s business but their own.

Another year passes, then another. Everything was perfect, right where they both wanted to be. Engaged, living together, they even had a husky puppy named Kosmo (it was Lance’s choice, not his). 

But their perfect lives would quickly come to an end. 

For the last three years, Lance would happen to pop in a mention of a history-making asteroid. An asteroid that he and the Shiro had been tracking its every movement. It was supposed to be a big discovery for the two of them, and Lance was absolutely thrilled for the day it was supposed to pass by Earth. 

It was supposed to be a celebratory night, with all of their friends watching at the planetarium as he and Shiro were presenting about it. The way he had lit up every time he talked about it. It was supposed to be one of the biggest nights of Lance’s life. A special moment for him and Shiro.

Keith sobbed into his sweatshirt. All he wanted was to have one last moment with the love of his life.

Chapter Text

Long ago, like eons long ago, there were three mythical gods that oversee the world from their own special domain. Paciano, the god of emotion and feelings, Elthia, goddess of credibility and ethics, and Lohan, god of logic and reason.

And ever since they first created the Earth, it also meant that they created humans. But in the case of humans, it meant that each person had a designated person meant specifically for them. The only issue with that is they had no way of knowing who that is.

Paciano transports back from Earth, and his auburn hair shot up like a lit flame in a fireplace. “I cannot believe this!” He screamed.

“Don’t you think you’re being just a tad dramatic?” Elthia points out. 

“No, I don’t think you or Lohan care nearly enough, and you both really should!” The god growls. 

Just before any sort of argument could break out, the most logical (like the physical manifestation of logic) of the trio steps in. In their forearm was a large book, and usually they were the one carrying it around the most compared to the other two. They sighed, allowing the book to float up and flip to the page that Paciano will want to see.

“Paci, calm down,” Lohan spoke calmly. “Agata and Ouranos’ names are in the Book of Relicum, they are bound to find each other at some point in their lifetime.” 

The Book of Relicum was created right as the gods had created the humans, and it allowed them to keep track of each soulmate, their story, and whether they’ll reincarnate in their next life. The three gods aren’t sure how long it will become, as pages are added every moment a new human is born. 

The raging god only scoffed them off. “But how will they know that they are the other half? Humans have no way of finding each other, and I don’t think we should let it slide any further.” Paciano’s hair stopped burning, settling back to its normal curls. 

Elthia glanced at Lohan, who seemed just as unsure about that statement as she. As he is the living embodiment of emotional thinking, it tends to make Paciano think a bit too impulsively and not think about what could come of it. It didn’t help either how he traveled Earth the most, aside from Elthia of course. 

“But what evidence do you have that they won’t find each other?” She questioned. “You can’t come to that conclusion with little-to-no evidence.” 

He crossed his arms, furrowing his shaggy eyebrows. “You did see that right? She walked right past him, without giving him so much of a second thought.”

She opened her mouth to interject, but Paciano cut her off. “We have no choice, Thia. It’s not like we can just sit around and wait for it to happen. Lohan?”

“Yes?” They replied. 

“You must devise a soulmate system.” Paciano’s body began to glow a bright gold. They all had the tendency to glow whenever they embraced their element. And in this case, he was glowing because of how passionate he was on the subject. 

Elthia gasped, her eyes widened to the size of a small alarm clock. Was he serious?

They bite their lip. “Why me?” 

“Because you’re the personification of logos, you’ll be able to think through the details better than Thia and I,” Elthia had one hand on her hip, the other balled up into a tight fist. “we’re too attached to our creations, which would make us seem biased. But you? You are our best option.” 

The book floated into their hands, turning to an entirely blank page and a quill at the ready. They hesitantly looked back up towards Paciano. “You do realize that once we do this, it will severely limit humans’ free will?” 

He nods. “I know, but it’s for their own good.” 

Their chest rose slowly, and a soft sigh escaped. Picking up the quill, they began to write the rules of each kingdom’s system.

Throughout the last 2500 years, humans adjusted quickly to this soulmate system, with a different set of rules for each kingdom. For example, in Arus, when coming into physical contact for the first time, their hearts will pulse a certain amount of times. And if it reaches ten in total, then that’s how an Arusian knows that they’re meant to be together. 

Elthia and Paciano still wander around Earth, invisible of course to any human being however, almost every passing day. Lohan would usually stay in their domain, just watching through the gods’ globe. They always thought it was safer to just watch it from afar and see how things played out. (And so they didn’t get put in the middle of their friends’ debates.)

As they were scrolling through different areas on the globe, a specific one catches their eye. It was a small two-year-old boy, in the kingdom of Marmora. He was laying down in a hospital bed, and the deep cough made Lohan’s heart ache. Such a young child, and quite an adorable one at that. Bright blue colorization peeked through his eyelids, with his tan skin looking more like a faded grey. 

They needed to get a closer look. Crossing their arms and breaking them apart in a swift motion, a spell that allows the gods to listen in at any given moment without having to be there physically. 

“Pobrecito mío,” A woman’s voice whispered first. “You don’t deserve any of this.” 

Lohan raised an eyebrow, shifting focus on the scene. It moves to two men speaking in a separate room, where one’s expression was stricken in worry. They couldn’t help but notice that the worried man looked eerily similar to the little boy from before. Must be the father. 

“Are you absolutely sure that there isn’t anything else we can do?” The boy’s father asked, his voice breaking ever so slightly. 

The old doctor removed the glasses from the tip of his nose, rubbing his forehead in exhaustion. “I really wish there was, Santiago. But the virus has already spread to his vocal chords. So all we can do is treat it.” He grabbed a clipboard, looking through the paperwork. 

Santiago sighed. “And for his soulmate?”

“I’m afraid they’ll be an aberration. We just have to hope that Lance will still be able to find them on his own.” 

Lohan’s heart sunk in their chest, not even knowing what to say to that. That poor child.

In Marmora, your soulmate’s first words are tattooed to your wrist, but only once they are born. But, as it is in every kingdom, there will be some people who won’t have any way of knowing who their other half is in some way. These are called aberrations, who have no soulmark or prevents them from finding out. Which means that while one half may have some clue, the aberration never will. 

Which is something that Keith Kogane has to experience all the time. One horrible day at school, when he was only fourteen, he was reading a book up against a tree while eating his lunch. You see, Keith was quite the quiet kid. Didn’t help either of the rumors surrounding him about his soulmate. 

“What are you reading there, Kogane?” James Griffin, the school’s resident golden boy, snatched the hardback from his hold. 

The boy furrowed his eyebrows, glaring at him. “None of your business, James.” He growled, trying to grab it back. 

James laughs tauntingly, spinning around his classmate. It didn’t seem to matter how agitated that Keith was already beginning to feel. Because he didn’t care, and neither did most of his bullies. 

“How come you’re always by yourself? I thought you were close friends with Mr. Shirogane,” the brunette taunts. 

Keith growled. “Why do you care! I’m not hurting anyone!” He managed to smack it out of his hands. 

“Because you’re a monos, and we don’t need people like you around here.” He smirked, getting a good look at Keith’s blank wrist. 

What he didn’t expect was a hard punch to the eye. Heavy panting released from Keith’s ribcage, gripping his book tight against him. All Keith saw was red, blind with rage. “Never touch me again! My name is Keith and don’t you ever forget it!”

Quickly, he grabbed his bag strap and without looking back, ran away from the scene. Only once he was far enough away was he truly able to break down. Why did the gods have to do this to him? First his mom leaves, then his dad dies. Is it possible that they left him because they were ashamed to have an aberration as a son?

Hiding in the bathroom, a sob escaped from his throat. He just couldn’t take it anymore. 

Thirty minutes passed by, and he faintly heard footsteps heading in his direction. He froze, choking on the next cry. Whoever this was, he refused to let anyone see him like this. 

“Keith? Are you in here?” Shiro asked, his tone quite hushed.

He sniffled. “Yeah-yeah.”

“Was it James again?”

“Yes...Am I just not worthy of being loved?” His throat was really sore from the crying, so he spoke softly. 

Shiro frowned, gently knocking against the stall door. “Mind if you open the door for me?”

Despite his hesitation, Keith unhatched the door and it opened slowly, allowing him to finally see his mentor’s face. Shiro leaned down, resting on his knees as he gave the middle schooler a hug. Keith froze up, his stare blank as he just sat there awkwardly. 

“I’m here for you, and you’re as worthy of love just like everybody else,” The teacher whispers. “never let anyone make you think otherwise.”

Keith carried that advice with him into his teenage years, and well into his adult years. Even now with his position as a photographer. But he always wore long sleeves, just so that it wouldn’t cause any controversy with any of his clients. 

However, this afternoon with his next two clients: an engaged couple, where they were his old classmates. 

He met up with them at his favorite coffee shop, sipping on a chai tea as he waited for the couple to finally arrive. 

“Wow, never expected to meet you once again, monos,” said Josh rudely. 

Keith took a deep breath, keeping Shiro’s words in mind. “Neither did I, Josh, but I’m honored that you guys hired me. I want to make sure that your wedding is able to be a memorable time to look back on.” Did that make sense? He honestly wasn’t sure. 

Josh’s fiancé – Charlotte – rudely scoffed him off. “Oh puh-lease,” She waved her hand all snooty-like. “how could someone like you have any talent? Being that you’ll never have a chance of finding a soulmate.”

He could already feel the tightness of his fist, his stomach beginning to boil. “Just because I don’t have a soulmark, doesn’t mean that it affects my overall talent. Could we please focus on why we are meeting?”

This went on for quite a while, with the couple being uncooperative as he tried to steer right back to the task at hand. But it was clear to him that they weren’t going to get anywhere, considering how ignorant these idiots were being. 

“Y’know what?” He cut them off at yet another comment about how “above him they were in comparison”. “I was willing to completely put my past to the side so that I could do the freaking job that you had hired me to do, but you are so ignorant! So what if I am an aberration, I am still a person! We are done here, never reach out to me again.” Before the couple could even attempt to get another word in, he swiftly grabbed his bag and camera, running from the coffee shop like his life depended on it. 

Elthia watched this all go down, her heart in the pit of her stomach. It was devastating to see how her and her friends’ creations treat each other in such a cruel way. Especially to those left without a soulmark. Her skin crawled as she watched Keith run. 

That expression on his face was unmistakable. Teary eyes, furrowed eyebrows, grit teeth. All these are signs of unmistakable pain, one that has drawn on for an entire lifetime. 

The goddess wasn’t able to put her finger onto why, but she felt compelled to follow and see where he’ll end up. 

Keith’s legs eventually gave out by a flower cart, with a merchant that happened to be selling heart shaped garlands. He handed a garland to a couple, who nuzzled up to each other in a rather lovey-dovey way. 

It made Keith feel green with envy, sick to his stomach. Why couldn’t he have that?

While he stood there, droning on about his life sucked in his head, there was a tap on his shoulder. Keith glanced over his shoulder, his cheeks burning up immediately when he noticed the tall, tan stranger behind him. 

Bright, ocean blue eyes met his amethyst galaxies. The stranger was biting his lip, rubbing his arm gently. He really should stop staring. 

“Ah, Lance, my favorite customer!” The merchant spoke up from in front of him. His handsome stranger gave a kind wave. Keith was able to take that hint, quickly moving out of the stranger’s way. 

Lance (he assumed anyway) smiled, awarding him with a thankful nod. 

Keith’s feet weren’t moving, they were stuck in place as he watched this gorgeous vision of a person look through the flowers the stand had to offer. But in Keith’s humble opinion, none of those plants could even compare to Lance’s beauty. 

The merchant – much to his dismay – actually turned in his direction. “Is there anything I can get for you, sir?” He asks kindly. 

Keith fought (and lost) the urge to roll his eyes. “Oh yeah, totally, I’m sure Mr. Bee would love a bouquet,” He responds sarcastically. 

Lance, who was previously occupied with a bundle of blue roses, turned towards him in a flash. Elthia’s eyes widened, knowing exactly what kind of reaction that was. 

The confused photographer raised an eyebrow. “Are you alright?” 

He nods quickly, grinning like Keith had never thought possible. Lance fumbled to grab something from his messenger bag, giving the other a glimpse of his wrist. And much to his surprise, his exact words were scrawled across this stranger’s skin. 

Oh yeah, totally, I’m sure Mr. Bee would love a bouquet. 

Keith’s heart skipped a beat, meeting his eyes. He couldn’t believe it. After all this time? “Those-those are my words! My exact words! Is-is it really you?” His voice kept breaking with every word he spoke. It was a state of disbelief, what could he say?

Lance – his soulmate – smiled fondly. It was soft, warm and comforting. His other half was right here, those mesmerizing eyes gazed into his soul. A happy tear betrayed him, trickling down his cheek and hitting the ground below his feet. 

“I’m Keith,” He introduced himself, gesturing a hand to him. 

His soulmate took out a pen, scribbling quickly across a paper in a notebook (where did that even come from?). Once he was done, it rested behind his ear and held it up for Keith to see. It read: I’m Lance Serrano.

“But why didn’t you just say it?” The raven scratched his hair. 

Lance took the pen once again, scrawling something else right underneath his name. Keith’s eyes widened further as he read the next reply. Because I can’t speak, I’m mute. 

After going his entire life getting ridiculed for having no words on his skin, having almost everyone he trusted leave, it all made sense. Marmora has their first words inscribed. But it’s not possible when someone is incapable of speaking. 

He sighed in relief. “That’s why.” Keith whispered to himself. 

The goddess was still watching this cute interaction go down, but still felt that pit deep down in her heart. Sure, they found each other. But not until a multitude number of years with pain and heartbreak.

Even now, this system continues to ruin humans’ lives. It dictates them, forcing everyone to wait around and see if they’ll meet the other half of their soul. And they were never even given that choice. 

“See,” A hand finds its way to her shoulder, and only one other being would be able to see her whilst invisible. Paciano. “they still find their way to each other, aberration or not.” He smiled confidently at his friend, who was completely unamused by this. 

Elthia furrowed her eyebrows into a glare. She shoved his hand off, storming off and even fading back to their realm. She couldn’t even deal with that jerkface at the moment. 

Things needed to change, but she did not know how.

Chapter Text

Prom. It’s rumored to be one of the most important moments of a person’s life, the peak of a teenager’s high school experience. A magical night to dance with your first love, whilst in the cheap lights. Not to mention the camera flashing every five minutes from taking pictures of a group or couple that came together.

And the prom-posal. This piece tends to be more hyped up by students, who prefer to see some flashy expression of love rather than a simple gesture. It was oversaturated for a reason; despite that they probably won’t even remember it ten years from now.

Keith never once doubted that Lance would do a prom-posal, like the over-romantic sap he was. They have known each other since fifth grade, so if he didn’t know that already, then he would be an awful boyfriend.

It wasn’t surprising either when Lance refused to tell him anything, or Pidge for that matter. Not that they cared enough to find out anyway, they weren’t even planning on going to the event.

But if he was completely honest with himself, Keith did not want to go to prom that much. He never understood the hype surrounding it, since there were three other dances that the school hosted during the year with the exact same dress code. The only difference was it was limited to eleventh and twelfth graders, unless a ninth or tenth happened to get invited. Not to mention that the punch bowl will get spiked by a desperate single attendee, trying to hide how lonely they felt. Given the choice, Keith would have preferred to spend their Saturday having a movie night, complete with cuddling.

However, it meant so much to Lance. He is such a big romantic and dreamer, so the last thing he’d ever want to do is crush that. Plus, he was curious to see what the Cuban was planning.

 Three weeks away from prom, Lance was perched up on his lap while watching The Little Mermaid together. Every two months, they would have a back-to-back marathon featuring their favorite Disney films (which happen to be their favorite films overall), which Lance had insisted was a requirement in their relationship. They had already gone through Treasure Planet , which was Keith’s favorite movie of all time. 

When it came to the famous mermaid film, Lance would always sing along to the songs obnoxiously, regardless of who might be around. Not that Keith minded, it could be quite adorable seeing his enthusiasm. Although, it does annoy him every once in a while when Lance tries to drag him into dancing or singing along. 

As Les Poissons begins to play, Lance clears his throat. “Hey, honey?”

“Yes, darling?” Keith glanced at his clingy significant other. 

“Have you given much thought about what you're wearing for prom?” 

The fair teen shook his head. “Nope, considering you haven’t even asked me yet.”

“I just want it to be perfect for you, Keithy,” Lance gently squeezed his lover’s hand. “You deserve that much.” 

“But that is exactly what I have, Lance. Right here, right now.” 

This comment turns Lance’s tan cheeks bright red, his expression in a mixture of stunned-swooned. When Keith gets smooth, he gets really smooth. Sometimes this made him feel jealous, but it still warms his heart regardless. 

Keith chuckled, kissing his forehead. He knew how much he secretly loved it. 

“You are evil.”

“Perhaps, but you love me anyway.” He smirked. 

“Yeah. But you know I’m still going to do a prom-posal right?”

He nods. “Of course I know that. But you don’t need to go over the top, a gentle gesture is fine with me.”

Lance brushed his fingers through his hair, messing it up somewhat. When he played with his hair (or mullet, as Lance called it), it was quite relaxing. Even if it would require his ponytail getting taken apart or looking like he had a case of bedhead. 

“Just you wait, hon, you are going to faint when you see just what I have planned.” Lance connected their lips together, forgetting about the movie that was still playing in front of them. But Keith was happy to oblige. Movie nights were fun and all, but kisses shared between them were what mattered most. There really wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for this boy.

  About a week later, after Keith got out of the shower, he got a text from his boyfriend. ‘Hey, could you come to Sal’s? Hunk needs some help.’ That message was suspicious all on its own. While Hunk did have anxiety, he usually felt the most control when it came to his passion for cooking. 

They were up to something. Something big. 

‘Sure, I should be there in half an hour.’ He replied back, raising an eyebrow in confusion. 

Once in his bedroom, it didn’t take him long to decide on what to wear. Considering the feeling he was getting, it felt like the time to dress a bit nicer. Which included a red button-up shirt (which he purposefully left the top two unbuttoned) tucked into a pair of black jeans, along with some black with red trimming high-tops. He pulled his hair back with a red scrunchie and he was all set. 

Keith closed the door and marched on down the stairs. 

Shiro and Adam – his gay guardians – were talking on the couch, the TV playing the news for background noise. “I’m heading to the café!” He interrupted, causing the two men to jump in terror. He couldn’t resist the subtle smirk in his lips while grabbing his keys.

Lance paced back and forth, trying his absolute hardest to get himself together. His heart rate is frantic, and his hands extremely shaky. Sure, it was almost guaranteed that Keith was going to say yes, but it didn’t make him feel any less anxious. 

“Bud, it’ll be great, Keith will love it,” Hunk tries to reassure. 

He takes a deep breath. “I know, I know. But why do I still feel absolutely terrified!” Lance cried, wiping his eyes nervously. 

All he ever wanted was to have the perfect prom night with the perfect person, no matter who they were. And now, here he was getting ready to ask his best friend/boyfriend out to his dream dance. 

“Because that is perfectly natural, I remember how nervous I was to ask Romelle. You saw me when I did.”

Did he ever. Hunk’s entire shirt was extremely damp and it wasn’t the most pleasant smell. But the way he asked her was such a sweet form. It was a three-layered cake where each decoration symbolized an important piece of either their journey or their bond as a couple. Like these sculpted chef hats, made of modeling chocolate. The fondant was even in their colors, canary yellow and rose pink. The cutest part was absolutely the two figure version of the two of them, where they both held a sign that had prom? written on it. 

“Yeah, your prom-posal was sweet and gentle, which I think is what matters the most.” Lance smiles. 

Hunk smiles back. “It should be.” 

Just then, Keith’s car pulled into the parking lot, which forced Lance to move quickly. He shuts off the lights, and Hunk allows him to get behind the counter. The bell rang as the door swung open, then shut behind him. 

It was now or never.

“Um, Lance? Hunk? Where are you?” Keith called out into the dark, wandering around aimlessly. 

He took a deep breath, pressing a button that lifted up his cupcake display. Hunk had helped him to make four jumbo red velvet cupcakes, Keith’s favorite, with one letter of prom spelled out in icing on each jumbo-cake. Along with Hunk’s knowledge in mechanics, they were able to build a special shelf to raise them up rather dramatically. 

On the other side of the counter, there was a loud gasp on Keith’s end. It took a ton of willpower for Lance to resist giggling. 

“This is the most dramatic thing possible,” His boyfriend comments.

Lance popped up, leaning on the glass counter all suave. “Well, I had to do something to knock your socks off. What do you think?”

Keith chuckles, his mouth forming a fond smile. “Of course I’ll go with you, even with all the theatrics. You are going to help me eat those, however.”

Another week goes by, and it was finally time for the big night. Keith had wanted to see Lance’s outfit ahead of time, but the other had shut that down almost immediately. He wanted to give him the pleasure of doing the iconic “walk down the stairs slowly” that every high school movie about the event does. Cliché? Definitely, but it was what he wanted. 

“Quit hogging the mirror already!” Rachel complains. 

Lance rolled his eyes, continuing to apply another layer of blue lipstick. “There’s one in the bathroom, why can’t you just go there?” 

“Because Marco is taking forever in the shower,” She interjects. “Besides, we share this room. Only fair that you actually share the mirror, for once.” 

“You’re just jealous that I’m flawless.” 

It just goes back and forth until Veronica finally intervenes. Despite that she just so happened to be walking past.

“Oh for the love of God, knock it off!” She hissed. “Neither of you will be able to go at all if Mama or Papa catch you. So zip it, but Lance is more flawless.” Rachel growled under her breath, but didn’t really say anything. 

He only snickered, finally adding a little bit of blush. Better to have a little color to the cheeks. 

Suddenly, the doorbell rang down below them. Lance’s eyes widened, moving away from the mirror quickly. He ignored Rachel’s “finally!” and left their bedroom. He had to get the timing just right, just like movies do every time. 

“Wow, you look quite handsome, Keith,” Rosa comments, letting the young man into the house. 

“Thanks, Rosa,” He heard his chuckle. “Adam happened to have it just lying around.” His mother laughed in response to that, which is when Lance made his way down.

The boy had picked out a strapless, sweetheart A-line in navy blue, complete with sequins and crystals in the black sash. The skirt was made of tulle and satin, which allowed for some swaying of his hips, just to tease his boyfriend ever so slightly. Sure, it would seem a bit controversial for a teenage boy to wear a dress like this to a high school event, but he loved the feeling of the fabric against his long legs. 

Plus the look on Keith’s face was absolutely priceless. It honestly was the most swooned that Lance has ever seen in his naturally “grouchy” expressions. 

“Wow, you just look...Wow.” Keith’s lips upturned in a dorky, yet loving smile. 

Lance giggled, giving him a gentle peck to the lips. “You’re not too bad yourself, honey.” He winked. This was true, his boyfriend’s tuxedo was black and modern, but still had a red tie. They both shared a laugh, nuzzling their noses against each other. 

His family members in the background all awed, except for his nephew, Sylvio. Nadia giggles, grinning as she watched the couple be all couple-y. 

“Alright, it’s time to get photos before you leave,” Rosa brings up, once Rachel finally comes downstairs herself. The photoshoot started out with the twins posing as their hand rested on their hip. Another one was with Keith and Lance, doing that iconic prom pose where the gentleman holds their date’s waist from behind. 

It was five minutes before they could actually leave. The three of them all piled into Keith’s car, heading to the restaurant, The Kitchen, where they would meet up with her friends. The drive there was filled with cheesy music and playful banter all around. Especially between the siblings, which Keith couldn’t help but find extremely amusing. 

The Kitchen isn’t worth mentioning much, as it was mostly just the gay couple being the odd ones out of the crowd. It didn’t help either that Lance would get a lot of weird looks from most customers in the place. He tried to seem oblivious, but Keith was able to see through those ocean eyes he adores so much. It really hurts him. 

But when he got up to go to the bathroom, he was forced to leave his boyfriend by himself. Coming back however...It was not the best thing to see. Rachel was pissed, holding an arm in front of her brother defensively. While Lance looked like he was about ready to cry. 

Protective boyfriend mode is on. 

“Excuse me, what is going on?” Keith glared. 

Rachel looked up to him. “These guys had the gall to call Lance a pretty girl just because he’s wearing a dress and is in a homosexual relationship. And just kept on piling, now he’s about to have a breakdown.” She then turned away and that death glare could freeze the coldest person on Earth. 

Keith kissed Lance’s forehead, holding him protectively. “It’s okay, let’s just get out of here.” The well-dressed tan boy nods slowly, moving out of the booth. Rachel followed soon after, flipping the bird towards her now ex-friends. 

Driving away from the restaurant was mostly a quiet one. Lance’s twin sister – god bless her soul – drove the car while Keith comforted him in the backseat. It was devastating seeing him break down on a night that he had been looking forward to for so long. He sobbed his eyes out, which ruined his mascara that he had worked so hard to perfect. Keith rubbed circles against his back, whispering sweet things into his ear.

“That felt terrible,” said Lance, his throat feeling a bit sore from all the sobbing.

Keith nods. “Yeah, I’m sure it did. But hey, at least we’re still together, right?”

“Of course we are, it’s all I could ever ask for.” He smiles, leaning on his shoulder. Sure, the night didn’t go as planned. But at the end of the day, they still had each other. And in this moment, watching the stars was the best thing they could do.

Chapter Text

“Keith? Keith!” A thirteen-year-old Lance climbed onto his best friend’s back, nudging his shoulder. “Wake up, wake up, wake up!”

The boy groaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “L-Lance? It’s one o’clock in the morning, how are you even here?”

He giggles. “I want to show you something.”

“Can’t it wait for a decent hour?”

“No! We gotta go to the roof.”

How is it even possible that Lance was filled with so much energy at this time of night? On any other day, he treats waking up early like it’s the plague. But no, now that Keith was actually comfortable and trying to sleep, his afternoon hummingbird is wide awake at such an unreasonable hour.

He yawned while sitting up, which Lance moved off him quickly so he wouldn’t fall off the bed. They both wore the Garrison-stationed pajamas, which includes a white t-shirt with a bright orange collar, along with black pants. Lance had tried to style it up a bit but got into huge trouble for doing that. So, he was stuck cleaning all the dorms on his level for a month (Keith was nice enough to help him too). 

But Lance looked adorable the way he was sitting, with his legs tucked under him and staring at him. 

“Alright, fine. But you better not get us kicked out, and careful not to wake him up.” He gestured his head towards his roommate, Parker – who sat on his pillow with his face and his butt up in the air. A heavy sleeper for sure, but better safe than sorry.

Lance snickered softly, standing to his feet. “Good, now c’mon!” Without even giving the sleepy boy a chance to react, he was dragged up to the roof. Every once in a while, they would be forced to hide out of view from the security drones. Skipping curfew was a pretty common thing around here, especially with these idiots. 

To no surprise, the night sky was dark and the clouds hazy. Both boys shivered from the cold air, but neither were going to admit it to the other. 

“Now that we’re out here, why are we here?”

The younger of the two lit up, pulling a small piece of paper from his pocket. “I got a secret admirer letter!” He squeals. 

Keith blinks a couple times, his arched eyebrow becoming more apparent. “Uh, what’s a secret admirer?”

“You don’t live under that big of a rock, right?” Keith rolled his eyes as a result. “Fine, I’ll explain it. But later, we’re watching To All the Boys on our break tomorrow, you need to be cultured. A secret admirer is essentially an anonymous writer that writes love letters to whoever they are currently crushing on. It’s so romantic.” Lance sighed blissfully, the other could practically see the hearts floating from his friend’s brown hair. 

“Uh huh, could I see what said letter says?” The paper was shoved into his face, almost forcing it into his mouth. 

Keith pulled it off his face, careful to not wrinkle it. Lance would never forgive him if he did anything that could even slightly harm something this precious to him. 

The paper itself was actually crimson, while written in blue pen. Its calligraphy was quite nice, but simple at the same time. All over the page were little blue hearts scribbled around. 

Dear Lance, 

Um, hi. You might not know me this well, but I’m able to understand you on a deeper level. Heh, weird right? Nothing is better than just sitting next to you and watching you ponder if you can live up to your sister. 

I’ll be the first to say: You can. Actually, no. You don’t need to live up to her level. Create your own level. Become the fighter pilot you dream of being. 

Sorry, got off topic. 

Your smile could brighten up rooms, and I want to see you smiling forever. Without your smile, you aren’t you. And your eyes? I have never seen the ocean, but I see it whenever you so much as look at me. So, your smile and eyes are brighter than even the Sun. 

My point is, I like you. Is that a bad thing? No. Do I wish you’d notice me? Of course. 

But I’d prefer to watch you from afar. 

Lance squealed once Keith had finished reading. “Isn’t it the most romantic thing ever?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say.” Lance pouts, sticking his tongue out childishly. 

“Oh, you’re just jealous that you didn’t get one like this.” Keith simply rolls his eyes. 

He then reads over the letter again, trying his hardest to read between the lines. He didn’t even know what to say to Lance next. Does he realize who this is from?

“Um, I guess I’m really happy for you, dude.” He gave the letter back to him.

Lance chuckles happily. “I wonder who it’s from?” Well, that thing alone answered his question. 

“Maybe solve it at a decent hour?” He shrugged. “I’m exhausted and we have to run drills again.” Keith started to walk away.

  Despite how much he wished and prayed that Lance would drop it the next morning, that didn’t happen. Because apparently the universe hates him more than he has ever realized. Because the entire time during breakfast, Lance would not shut up about the stupid letter.

“I’m betting it’s Ina, she almost never says anything,” He whispered, watching the girl go past their table. 

Keith grumbled into his gruel. “Get your head out of the clouds, she’s never spoken to you before. So how would she be able to understand you on a deeper level? Or even know about your insecurities about your sister?”

“Are you even trying?” He pouts.

“Frankly, not really,” Lance glared. “I just don’t see why you want to know so much. They claimed to prefer admiring you from afar, so leave it at that.”

His friend poked at his breakfast, fiddling with his fork quietly. The defeated look on his face actually hurt Keith’s heart, making him bite his lip. Now he felt bad. 

“Lance, I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just saying that perhaps they are afraid of how you’ll react. When you find them and ask them about it...What if they are friends with you and it could change the course of it?” Lance leaned against him, looking at his face closely.

Keith leaned away uncomfortably. Sure, he was pretty affectionate with him a lot of the time, but Lance had his thinking face. It wasn’t his favorite thing to deal with.

“Are you jealous?” He blushed deeply.

“What! No.” Suddenly his gruel was much more interesting. 

He gasped dramatically. “Oh my god, you are! The Keith Kogane, top dog of the Garrison, is jealous! But why?”

Keith groaned. Guess there was no avoiding it any longer. “I’m not jealous. I wrote the letter in the first place, moron.”

Chapter Text

Today was an important day. And a young woman, with chocolate brown skin and the most beautiful locks of white that anyone could ever feast their eyes on, was singing angelically to herself. The broom she was using gently swept the dust away, and her voice filled the room. This was a daily routine of hers, but it was not one that she disliked. Plus, adding a little tune to the task makes it more enjoyable. Once it appeared to be entirely clean, she grinned proudly.

“Hm,” She spoke to herself, putting a finger to her chin. “I wonder what exactly my uncles and aunt are up to.” There was a subtle smirk in her calm smile as she made her way down the stairs.

Around the table, two men and one woman hunched over a book, whispering amongst themselves. The young woman watched them curiously, having a good feeling as to what they were whispering about. It must be something to do with her birthday.

She cleared her throat. “So, what has you all so secretive?”

The men and woman came to an instant halt, turning their attention to their niece.

“Aw, Juniberry Lily,” The leanest one of the three grinned. “Don’t you look stunning, this fine afternoon?”

Lily giggles. “Hello to you as well, Uncle Lance.”

The blond woman went up to her hesitantly. “Flower, if you don’t mind, we need you to um,” She quickly scanned the room and lit up upon seeing Lily’s berry basket. “to pick berries.”

“But I picked berries yesterday, Aunt Romelle?”

“We know, but your dear aunt and uncle ate them all again,” The other man added. He could care less about the glares he received from the other two.

Lily couldn’t help but smile at his comment. “That sounds about right, Uncle Keith.” Keith chuckled, until he was met with a hard jab to the arm. He glared at his husband, who pretended to look innocent.

Romelle placed a rose-pink scarf around her niece’s shoulders, but a part of it forms a hood on her head. It looked more like a cloak than a scarf at this point. The trio practically shoved her out the door, but she complied anyway.

The birthday girl only smirks as she begins to walk from the cottage. Whatever they have planned must be special and important.

They were clearly planning something, but considering what day this is, so she was trying to give them the benefit of a doubt. But it was amusing watching them try to lie.

“Do you think she suspects anything?” Lance asked, eyebrows arched sneakily. It was fun thinking of what her reaction might be.

“Who knows?” Keith shrugged. “But we should get to work immediately, we only have a limited window. Lily never has a limit of how many berries she needs to pick.” 

Lance and Romelle headed to their desired stations, not even noticing where the other disguised pixie was going. 

Oh right, the thing about Lily’s uncles and Romelle? They are actually disguised pixies that had taken her in to protect her from a nasty villain known as Haggar. But they had never told their niece any of this, and today was the day they finally had the opportunity. 

However, in order to keep up their façade for so many years, they had to live as normal people. Which meant no magic to draw in unwanted suspicion or attention. It has been their safest option, and it has worked for such a long time. 

“Can you believe it?” Romelle giggled, picking out a cookbook. “A real birthday party, in our special girl’s honor!” 

Lance grinned. “Yeah, with a beautiful gown worthy of a princess.”

“And a real birthday cake!” She announced.

Keith was making his way up the stairs. “I’ll get the wands!”

The two pixies dropped their items, their eyes taken in horror. “No!” The blonde exclaimed.

“It’s too risky!” Keith arched an eyebrow at his husband and friend. 

He didn’t exactly understand. “But our sixteen years are almost over, shouldn’t we take advantage of this opportunity?” Lance plopped the sewing things into his arms, shaking his head quickly. 

“Despite that, we can’t take any chances.” Keith rolled his eyes.

And with that, Romelle picked up the cookbook, and brought it over to the kitchen counter. She flipped through the pages in excitement, before stopping at a classic vanilla cake with buttercream icing. 

This further adds to his confusion. “Uh, what is she doing?” 

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m baking the cake.” She beams proudly. 

“And I’m making the dress,” Lance adds, rolling out some fabric across the wooden floor. His annoyed husband’s eye twitched, holding out a long groan. 

How could both of them be so stupid, and this close to the finish line! “But you can’t sew, and she has never cooked a day in her life!”

The blue pixie rolled his eyes, treating it like it is the strangest thing he has ever heard in his whole life. “Oh c’mon, Mullet. Today is the last day we have to do things we’ve always wanted to, it should be special.”

“But-”

“We just follow everything by the book, right Melle?” 

Romelle rolled up the sleeves of her light pink dress. “Yes, no need to worry.” 

The red pixie scoffed, throwing the sewing basket to the ground, scowling. But before he could continue to debate, he was forcefully put on a wooden stool. 

Lance threw the fabric over his head, which only muffled his complaints. He hummed a simple tune as he snipped a large enough hole to let him see his grumpy significant other. “Does it have to be blue?” The raven complained. 

“Of course, we decided it was her color years ago.” The hole was wide enough that it could shimmy past Keith and land on the ground with no difficulty. 

He scoffs. “Don’t you mean you decided?” 

Setting aside his blatant sarcasm, he tossed the next piece of fabric over his head. “Come now, dear husband of mine, it’s for Lily.” 

“But she would look lovely in red though.” 

Lance tossed the other end over. Both sides were slowly lifted off the floor, while the (failing) tailor tied a sky-blue shaded ribbon around the waist.

He grumbled, keeping his curses under his breath. “Why do I have to be the mannequin?”

Lance cut a head hole, and then two arm holes. “Because Romelle is busy, and you love me.”

Speaking of the third pixie, she managed to find all the necessary ingredients. At least, she thinks they are. The first step was adding three cups of flour. Which shouldn’t be difficult, but she proved it otherwise. By pouring it into three separate cups without measuring and accidentally spilling too much.

Lance pulled the top of the “dress” over Keith’s head, but kissed his cheek for good measure. No matter how grumpy he appears, a kiss from the love of his life always brought a goofy smile to his face. 

Romelle reads the next piece of the recipe, which included eggs. “Fold in two eggs,” She read aloud. It was a bit confusing to her, but she had promised to follow the recipe to the book. A clueless pixie added two eggs to the batter, folding two ends of it over the other. She pressed down, but her cheeks felt pale when feeling the cracks. 

“This looks terrible,” Keith says bluntly. 

“It’s not done yet, honey,” Lance rolled his eyes. “This is only the base.” 

She continues to add in more ingredients incorrectly. The measurements were what confused her most. “Finally, one tsp. of yeast. What is tsp?” 

“One teaspoon,” Keith explains from his uncomfortable position. Usually he cooked, so watching Romelle try was physically painful. 

“Oh right, the teaspoon!” She giggled. “Thanks!” She then adds in some yeast with a spoon but includes two types of tea. 

Lance then measures Keith’s waist. “You know, our princess has really grown.” 

“It seems like only yesterday that we brought her to this quaint cottage.” He thought back to that night. It was the first time that any of them had gone without their wings, so they had been forced to walk the whole way through the woods. Lily was all bundled into turquoise wrap, her tiny fingers gripping onto Lance’s top. It was such a precious sight. 

Tears welled up in his eyes, his nose getting all sniffly. 

Lance softened, gazing at him worriedly. “Honey, what’s the matter?” 

Romelle moved some of her hair from her eyes, but her expression softens in worry. Whenever Keith was sad, things tended to come to a halt. 

“After today, she’ll be Princess Allura again, rather than Juniberry Lily.” He sniffled, wiping his tears with one of poorly stitched sleeves. 

The pink pixie brought her mixing bowl over to the couple, where Lance was rubbing his husband’s back. They all shared a moment together, bonding over all the moments they had shared with the princess. From her first steps, her first words, and the first time she had sung for them. It had been a lovely sixteen years, but it wasn’t to last. Despite what they wanted. 

“Why did it have to come so soon?” Romelle sniffles, continuing to mix the batter. 

“Well, we did have her for sixteen years.”

Keith forced himself to smile. “Sixteen great years, after all, pixies can’t have children, darling.” 

“And she was like the daughter we never had.” Lance nods. 

Their kind princess has grown so much. 

He cleared his throat, pulling himself together. “Now, we all need to be strong. We’re throwing this party for Lily to say goodbye.” Lance turned away, focusing back on the gown.

An hour later, Romelle put the candles into the top of the cake. The supposed cake was collapsing onto itself and attempted to hold it up with a broom. But the blue icing slid down the wooden stick. 

“So, what do you two thinks?” She asked, feeling hopeful.

Lance finished up the final details on the gown, glancing over his shoulder at the cake. And much to his display, his eyes widened in horror. He gulped, chuckling nervously. 

“Well, um, it’s certainly, something Melle.” His tone soft but unsure. Last thing he wanted was to hurt his best friend’s feelings. 

“Looks exactly how I pictured it,” Keith grumbled. All the good that accomplished was a rough ram to the arm.

It was then Romelle’s turn to examine the dress that Lance had attempted to make. But her eyes grew to the size of saucers, gapping in horror. Over the last fifteen years, she had been the seamstress of the three of them. At least until Lily was old enough to help her out. 

But what Lance had done...He had sewn ruffles (so many ruffles) onto the design. There was one on each sleeve, along with four layers of ruffle along the edge. There were many small, different colored bows tied on the chest and waist. At least the shade of blue was somewhat pleasing to the eye. 

“What do you think?” 

She bit her lip. Of the three of them, Lance was the most sensitive. So, to give him her honest opinion, Romelle needed to tread carefully.

“Well, it’s certainly very different compared to the one in the book,” Romelle starts.

He nods. “I thought it needed some extra details.”

Keith, however, was not going to entertain this in the slightest. As much as he loved Lance and Romelle, they needed to have Lily’s best interest in mind over everything else. “I’ve just had enough of this nonsense!” He declared. Tearing the whole dress off his body, Keith hopped off the stool. His hands rested on his hip, while the other two just stared at him in confusion.

“This is about doing one last thing for Lily. And she doesn’t deserve a sinking cake,” He points to the cake collapsing down on the broom. “or a dress that looks like a mistake. The only way that either of you are going to have a chance at either of those things looking good is with magic.” Keith went straight to the point. 

The other pixies watch him go up the stairs, sharing a sigh. He was right, their ruined creations were not worthy of their special girl. 

In Keith’s hands were three wands, specially designed to match each pixie’s personality. Not only that, but they were made of a special wood that was carved from a magical tree in their village. 

When a pixie is given their wand for the first time, the design of its outside forms a design that should match its owner’s style and/or personality. 

“It feels so refreshing to have these again.” Keith grinned, before it immediately fell to a frown. Lance had snatched them from his hands, hiding them consciously. 

He shushed. “Lock the windows and doors. Snuff out any light that can be found.” Romelle closed up the windows in the kitchen, using a single rag to hide any extra light. Keith handled the front door while his husband plugged any other missing spots. 

Once it was all done, he handed out each wand to the other pixies. Romelle’s glowed with a pink hue, making her giggle in excitement. The husbands’ wands did the same thing, just red or blue. 

“Alright, let’s try this again.” She rolled up her sleeves and went back to the kitchen. 

“I guess I’ll just clean up in here then.” Keith shrugged. With a flick of the wrist, magic struck their cleaning supplies. Such as the mop, bucket, and a feather duster. He also zapped the broom (which was still soaked in uncooked cake) and summoned it over to him. In a simple flash, all the droopy batter vanished from the broom and looked good as new. 

Each thing stood in a line, all straight and proper. He waved his wand again, getting them all to work at once. 

Lance cast some magic upon the tattered dress on the floor, all separating into its original state from before. With another flick of his wrist, the basic silhouette of a new dress formed. 

In the kitchen, Romelle spoke the magic words and cast a spell on the vanilla cake recipe. The spell managed to summon all the correct ingredients and measuring cups. Ingredients were now burst to life, facing the giggling fairy.

“Just follow the instructions, I’ll handle the candles,” She clarified. The ingredients did as they were told, where flour measured itself and a cup poured it into the bowl. Eggs cracked, water poured, and the spoon mixed it altogether into a nice thick batter.

Keith moved on from mopping the floor to sweeping. The excess dust and any spots that Lily may have missed disappeared into oblivion. 

New sleeves of the dress were being sewn on using a periwinkle thread. Lance hummed a little tune to himself while looking through other ribbons he hoped to add to the dress later on. 

While he was sweeping, Keith couldn’t help but notice the multiple shades of blue that his husband was adding to this dress. He wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Oh no, not blue,” He rolls his eyes. “Make it red.” In a wave of magic, the gown turns into a dark burgundy. 

Lance gasped, turning it back to its original blue state. “Keith,” He growled under his breath. But alas, his husband acted completely innocent and focused on his sweeping. 

Romelle was oblivious to what was beginning to escalate. It was entertaining to watch the cake come together all on its own, without her accidentally messing it up. Once it had been all mixed to the correct thickness, the bowl flew up into the air and tipped over. The batter spilled out, resembling three separate layers. She ignited a small flame with her wand, helping the cake to bake. 

Keith continued to clean up around the room but kept an eye out for the dress. “Red,” He whispered, a string of magic flew towards it. It struck the gown and turned back to that same burgundy. 

“Blue!” Lance exclaimed, glaring at his husband. His shoulders were getting more and more tense, the grip on his wand was growing tighter. 

The only female pixie was humming happily, still not having a single clue of what was going on. But when Keith tried to zap the gown again, Lance was ready. He covered his creation and instead, got hit by the magic instead. His vest, shirt and pants were now burgundy. But all Lance could see was red rage.

“That’s it!”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Relax, you look good.”

“No, no I don’t. You are purposefully doing that to annoy me and now...It is on!” Lance growled. The wand glowed bright blue initially, but it became more of a plum color. When a pixie gets angry, their magic gets inherently more powerful and their magic ends up turning an entirely different hue altogether, where their theme color mixes with red. 

With that in mind, he points his wand at the love of his life. The red pixie tries to duck out of the way, but due to a metal pot that was behind him, it bounced back onto his clothing. And now, all he wore was different shades of his soulmate’s signature color. 

Lance smirks. “Hm, nevermind. I do look good in red,” He cupped his hand on his hip. “But blue suits me more.” He turns his clothing back to its normal colors. However, Keith quickly turns it back to his own colors. 

Unsurprisingly, neither of them were willing to back down. So it turns into an all out war between the married couple, going so far to hide behind their furniture.

  Only moments before Juniberry Lily was meant to return, everything in the living room was either red or blue. But the worst part was the gown that Lance had worked so hard on had a simply horrible splatter of their respective colors. 

Romelle had finally noticed, and her dramatic gasp was what got them to break it off. “I look away for one moment and-and look what you’ve done!” She gestured to the whole living room. 

Keith and Lance hesitantly looked around, seeing what exactly their arguing had caused in the first place: messy and destructive. This was extremely irresponsible of them. 

“You two are married, and much older than I am. You should know much better than to do any of this, so come to a compromise. Right now.” She huffed, focusing back on the cake. 

They sighed in unison, moving away from their battlestations. Lance sat on the floor, and Keith sat in front of him. 

Lance balled his hands into fists, forcing himself to keep his tears down. “She’s right,” He kept his voice quiet. “we should’ve known better. I’m so mad at myself.” He grits his teeth. 

“Darling, can you look at me?” Keith’s thumb found its way to Lance’s chin, while the rest of his hand caressed the skin below it. He forced himself to look up, meeting his lover’s eyes. 

And much to his surprise, his eyes (or rather, his entire expression) was soft and caring. Keith’s amethyst eyes dilated, his smile upturned fondly, and even had a slight tilt in his head. Lance’s cheeks warmed up, trying to look away. But he was stopped, in a special way. 

With Keith’s lips on his, leaving the poor pixie speechless. 

“We are both to blame for this, but please don’t be angry with yourself. I don’t like seeing you upset like that.” 

He bit his lip slightly, rubbing his neck. “Okay, we should put Lily’s needs first. Just like you said at the very beginning.” 

“I’m sorry.” Lance pecked his lips.

“I’m sorry too.” Keith pecked back. 

They both got a much better look at the gown, humming in unison. How exactly could they fix the mess they made? Well, putting everything back to its original colors would be a good place to start. Lance handled any of the unnatural red spots, while Keith handled any blue ones. They had a better chance of cleaning everything up if they took control of the other’s piece in this mess.

Once everything was back to normal, they focused back on the strange looking down. 

Keith turned his attention over at the color scheme of Romelle’s cake, where she was currently lighting each candle. The frosting was dyed in a light blue buttercream, with buttercream rosettes that alternated between lavender and rose pink. 

Staring at it managed to give him an idea. 

“What’s on your mind?” asked Lance, watching the way Keith’s lips curled upwards. 

He chuckled. “What if we created a lavender, using our magic combined?” 

Lance looked down at his wand, stroking its carvings that decorated the wood. “We could try, but we have never tried that in our entire lives. Which is surprising, when I think about it further.” He scratched at his hair. 

Romelle, on the other hand, began to hear a familiar hum getting closer to their eccentric cottage. Her eyes widened, quickly igniting the rest of the remaining candles. “Whatever you’re going to do, you need to do it now!”

The male pixies quickly returned their clothing to its normal state, and then Lance does the same for the gown. He lifts it up, bringing it carefully over to a chair that was sitting right next to the birthday cake. 

A flash of Keith’s fond smile flashed in his mind. The wand in his hand began to glow a faint lavender, capturing his attention. He smiled softly, knowing exactly what to do. “Make it purple.”

Chapter Text

In a kingdom far, far away, the famous cat burglar, Pike, was running for his life. His pointed ears stuck out through his spiky hair, which was being held back by an orange headband. Whenever it was possible, he would zap out of the guards’ sight and reappear somewhere else. Unfortunately, it was easy to find him again thanks to how his reappearances involved a smoky presentation. 

Pike ducked behind a tree, a tight grip on his satchel. “All I did was steal a crown jewel, why are they so mad!” 

He patiently waited for the palace guards to go past, listening for neighs and the galloping clops of horseshoes. It was unbearably loud, and Pike didn’t dare make a single sound. He didn’t even breathe, nor think. His heart pounded furiously against his ribcage. 

Then, it was silent. And Pike nervously peeked around the tree trunk, double checking if the coast is clear. Low and behold, it was. But that didn’t calm his heart as much as he would have hoped. 

“Okay, okay, you are the Pike,” He said to himself. “you have no reason to be this scared. Just need to find a safe spot.” He disappeared into a puff of smoke. 

But reappearing, he was swiftly swooped up before he could even comprehend what was happening. Pike laughed nervously. He attempted to crawl, but it only made his prison shake even more than it already was. 

“Well, well, well,” A deep chuckle sent shivers down Pike’s spine. “someone finally managed to catch a literal cat burglar. And it was me!”

Pike growled. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” He grabbed the ropes, scanning the forest below him. He hated being caged.

Slowly but in a rather suave matter, someone comes out from behind the tree he was hanging from. And by Obello’s name, this guy was the definition of attractiveness. His cream shoulder-piece resembled a skull of some sort, and attached to that was a dirty white cape, made of real fur. His midnight hair was messy, looking like he hadn’t combed through it in months. Around his eyes were warrior markings, which was all done in dried purple paint. While on his back was a large scabbard, with a sword inside. 

But on his right cheek was a scar, which streaked his skin like it was another warrior marking. Despite all of those things, Pike found that the guy was somewhat familiar.

“Wait,” interrupted Lance.

Keith grumbled under his breath, running his hand through his hair to keep himself from getting frustrated. “What is it, Lance?”

“How did you even come up with such a cool design? I mean, this is your first time playing the game, yet you already have a design already to go.” 

Each paladin had a small figurine that the game created on its own once a player joins the game. But they would only appear when its player was present. Coran never actually explained how that works, but Lance thought it was cool.

In Keith’s hand was his figurine, which Lance still didn’t know the name of. Probably because he interrupted just before the character could introduce itself. 

The black paladin sighed. “I created this character years ago, so it really wasn’t that hard.”

“You already created this character?” Keith nods.

“I go back to him every once in a while, usually when I imagine what we-” He cut himself off before he could say anything he would regret. 

Lance arched an eyebrow. What exactly did that even mean?

Pike’s cheeks warmed, but he forced a chuckle. “And who are you supposed to be?”

His captor rolled his eyes. “Thunderstorm Darkness, I’m sure you’ve heard of me.” 

Although he really shouldn’t have, especially considering where he was right now, Pike just burst out laughing. The net shook with each laugh, which was not going to do good things for the tree branch. 

“Thunderstorm Darkness? What are you, a dark magic user?!” 

He didn’t notice the smirk on the other’s face. Drawing a small blade, Thunderstorm cut him down. Pike yelped, hitting the ground with a painful landing. He ends up landing with his back to the dirt floor, but it didn’t change how he landed on rocks. 

Pike crawled away from the rock pile quickly, rubbing his poor back to the best of his ability. “Are you trying to kill me, Thunder?”

“Don’t call me that.”

That glare he received didn’t give him the intended reaction. Instead, it fueled Pike. Annoying this guy could actually be fun. “Nah, Thunder suits you. Plus, with a name as stupid as yours, I was never going to call you by that.”

Thunder groans. “Fine, whatever.”

“Well, see ya!” Pike tried to get up but fell back down. Thunder had his foot on his cape, and a hand on his hip. 

This wasn’t a good sign. 

Thunder shook his head. “Yeah, you’re not going anywhere, thief. There is a big reward on your capture, and I could use the money.” Using his knife, he cuts the rope from the net and ties one end around Pike’s left wrist.

“Kinky,” Lance comments. 

Keith only rolled his eyes.

Pike stuck out his bottom lip, pouting. Why did he have to be a prisoner to this attractive man? He had just escaped the royal guards, which would have meant capture. All for stealing the prince’s crown- wait a minute.

“Where’s my satchel!” He said anxiously.

“Your what?” Thunder raised an eyebrow.

He chuckles nervously. “I may have stolen the crown of the prince, and it’s hidden in a black satchel. But now it’s gone, somehow.” 

Thunder’s face went pale, a single drop of sweat trickling down his forehead. Pike wasn’t sure why, but it seemed that prince as a word makes Thunder nervous. But why?

“Why does it matter if someone else finds it?” Thunder cleared his throat. 

Pike gulped. “Well, there is a high chance that we’ll both get killed.”

“Why?”

“I was hired to steal it, by a dark magic user. And if she doesn’t get it, then she will kill me. If someone else is with me, who knows what will happen.” That icy glare from the muscular guy could freeze anything. Pike shivered at the sight, taking a step back. 

He braced himself for some sort of impact, squeezing his eyes shut. Thunder’s six pack could sharpen knives, so he had to be extremely strong. But no impact came. Instead, he heard a loud thump against the tree. Pike peeked an eye open, and his keeper’s fist was all bloody now. While the tree was missing a couple pieces of bark. 

“Alright, alright, fine! We’ll find the satchel, bring the stupid coronet to this magic user, and then I’m turning you in. The kingdom should give up on the prince returning, he never liked that glass prison in the first place.” Thunder pulled Pike’s rope, forcing the furry to walk directly behind him.

Lance blinked a couple times. “Thunder is...intense.”

“Yep, he is.” Keith shrugged. 

Romelle, who had been there the entire time, but her character hasn’t come in yet, only giggled. “They are totally going to fall in love.” 

Both paladins started to blush. Lance’s denial was quick and jumbled, stuttering with almost every other word. Keith didn’t really add anything to the conversation, only fiddling with his fingers. 

“You done?” She arched an eyebrow. 

Lance shrugged. “Hmm, yeah.”

The unlikely duo set out on their journey, but Thunder quickly found that it was going to be difficult. Because Pike has a hard time shutting up and it shocked him how he managed to find something new to say even after finishing up his previous statement. 

More than anything at this point, he just wanted to go back in time and shake some sense into his past self for even agreeing to this stupid trip. The money wasn’t worth all this pain and agony!

Once the sun went down, they were forced to take shelter in a rocky cavern. Thunder tied the other end of Pike’s rope around a rock on the ground. The only way to keep the thief from making a run for it. 

“Hmph.” Pike pouts, leaning on his knuckle. 

Thunder left the cavern for a moment, looking for firewood. The bandit passed the time by drawing in the dirt beneath him, not really caring what happened if he got some underneath his claws. It starts with writing out his name, three times. Then it shifted to drawing himself, which was very badly drawn. And he knew it. But it’s not like Thunder really gave him much to do. 

Speaking of him, he returned with wood to start a fire that would be able to keep them warm during the night. Pike’s eyes widened, wiping it all away in embarrassment. He doesn’t need Thunder seeing just how bored he was. 

The six logs were dumped into his lap, forcing Pike to fall backwards and hit his head against the rocky wall.

Lance glared at Keith, tapping his fingers repeatedly. The team leader raised an eyebrow, looking from his inventory. “Is there a problem?” 

“Did you have to do that?” He pouts.

“Technically, my character did that, not me,” Keith points out.

“Not the point!”

Thunder found small stones and used them to create a small fire circle. Pike watched him curiously, still holding the firewood. “So, do you have a backstory?”

“Not one you’d be interested in,” said Thunder, bluntly. 

“But I’m not going anywhere,” He points at the rope. “so, you might as well.” 

Thunder put down the last stone, in which his prisoner rolled the logs off his legs. Pike formed a small slide with his long legs, even pointing his toes to perfect it. The wood landed perfectly in the rock circle.

The more muscular one sighed. “Alright, fine. Just don’t annoy me.”

“I make no promises,” Pike replied.

Thunder rolled his eyes, scraping his blade against one of the stones. He scraped until there were neon orange sparks that hit the wood. Sitting the blade to the side, he blew at the spark until it became a full-on flame. 

Pike waited patiently, leaning on his wrist while watching him handle the fire. He was quite curious to see what exactly this guy’s backstory was. 

The other leaned against the wall opposite to Pike, sighing to himself. “I came here, to this forest, only six months ago. All these expectations that were being shoved upon me became too much to really handle, so I left. Luckily, I had some training on self-defense and hunting, but it still took some time to adjust to surviving in the wildlife.”

“My first kill happened to be a deer, where this skull came from,” Thunder pointed. “but seeing the life in his eyes fade away did leave a lasting impact on me. Sure, I was hungry. However, I kept the skull as a way to honor that life I had taken away.”

Pike’s eyes watered slightly as he explained his backstory. Sure, he could be a little short towards Thunder, he did kidnap him after all. But this created another layer to the guy. It was nice to see the person under all that buff toughness. 

Thunder sighed. “Well, that’s the jest of it, I guess. What about you?”

Romelle giggled while Lance face planted onto the table. 

“Hey, you made my character tell part of his story, it’s only fair.” Keith rolls his eyes.

“What do you mean part?” His voice was muffled as he complained. 

“Lance.”

The second in command groaned, sitting up. “Fine!”

Pike’s gaze shifted down to the fire, avoiding any eye contact with Thunder. The other watched him, with his arm resting against his knee. All the audible sound in that brief moment was the crackles of burning wood. 

“I wasn’t always a dashing thief,” He began. “I did have a family, just like everyone else. Growing up, I always knew I was different...I was able to climb walls at the age of six, read languages most people couldn’t understand. Even now as an adult, I still don't know why I can do all this stuff.”

“When my oldest brother and father were sent to fight a war in my kingdom, my family went bankrupt. So, I started to use my abilities to steal the things we needed. Food, money, water, you get it. But getting older, I began to get greedy and started to steal things from the palace. Now, let’s just say that I’ve been banned from the kingdom and haven’t seen my family since.”

Pike paused, wiping a tear from his eye. “Sure, I found friends a few months ago, but I’m a lone cat. Better to venture out into the unknown then to let someone into your life as a thief.” 

Thunder didn’t really say anything to that. In fact, he was speechless. Sure, the cat burglar takes annoying to a whole other level, but he’s still a living and feeling creature. 

That can be really easy to forget. The person behind the mask. 

Suddenly, a thundercrack boomed above the cavern, which made Pike jump in fear. His body began to shake, and his brown ears tucked down into his spiky hair. And his whimpers sounded like a scared kitten.

Thunder raised an eyebrow. “Pike, are you afraid of thunder?”

“W-what? No!” He got defensive, but his voice was still shaky. “What-what makes you think that?”

“Well, you are acting like a kitten that had been left behind by its owner, only frightened.”

Before Pike could reject his claim, a bolt of lightning flashed right by the entrance. That made him yelp, trying to jump away. 

While thunderstorms have never bothered him, it was literally his first name, Thunder could tell how scared he was. Whether Pike would admit it or not. So, he actually got up and untied the rope that was holding him down against the rock.

He gripped tightly on his end but extended a hand to the scared cat-person. 

“What-what are you doing?” Pike stared at it. 

“I don’t fully trust you yet, but you can be next to me until the storm stops, maybe even after. But don’t try to escape.” He moved closer, his hand still waiting.

The other bit his lip, slowly lifting up his free hand. Even after much hesitation, he takes Thunder’s hand. He gets up to his feet and without even having the rope yanked to move him forward, they sit next to each other in Thunder’s original spot. 

Pike slowly laid down against the rock floor, wincing at how painful it felt to his head. Sleeping on rocks was always his least favorite part about adventures. 

“Wait, use this,” Thunder interrupted, taking off his bag. He quickly dumped out any of the sharp objects that it had contained and put it under his acquaintance’s head.

“But, what about you?”

The other shook his head. “I’m on the first watch, and I don’t need to deal with the sleepy Pike in the morning. So, just relax and try to drown out any of the thunder.” Thunder’s tone was soft and surprisingly gentle, not something that Pike would ever expect from such a deep voice.

A small bit of color rose to his cheeks and his heart even skipped a couple beats. But why?

Pike smiled, slowly closing his eyes. The only sound he heard that night had been the beats of his own heart.

Romelle glanced at Lance first, then Keith. Both of their faces were red, and they would occasionally gaze at the other when they weren’t looking. They are very cute together; she had always thought so. 

If only they would give up the pining!

The next morning, Pike yawned and rubbed his poor, tired eyes. It took a couple tries before he could really see anything. Other than his usual tan cape, he had a whole furry white cape covering almost his entire body. And Thunder was nowhere to be found. 

“Where is he?” He whispered to himself, sitting up. The cape slipped from his back and fell onto his lap. 

Of course, he couldn’t actually look for him, as his wrist is tied to a heavy log. Great. Just when he thought that they bonded. But why did Thunder even give him the cape anyway? Surely Pike’s own cape would have kept him plenty warm, along with the fire. So, what does Thunder really think of him?

He dusts some pebbles and dirt from his clothes, preferring to keep them as clean as possible. Then he fluffs out Thunder’s cape and folds it neatly. Just because he’s a thief that has been kidnapped doesn’t mean that he can’t do something nice for him. 

Then, there were footsteps approaching the cavern. Pike turned his head sharply, his heart in his throat. He looked around for the nearest weapon, something to defend himself with. All of Thunder’s weapons were gone, and his own things were gone aside from his invisibility cloak. The closest thing to a weapon available was the stones in the rock circle. “Can I even use it?”

Lance flipped through the pages of Coran’s instruction manual. “Okay, if I roll a high number, I’ll be able to throw the stone to defend myself. If it’s too low, then I have to wait for the unknown.”

“Shouldn’t anyone does that just on instinct?” questioned Keith. 

“You’d think, but Coran would kill me if he found out I didn’t play by the rules.”

Romelle leaned on the table, resting her chin on her hands. “But what if it’s Thunderstorm?”

Lance starts to shake the twenty-sided die in his hand. “Then Thunder and Pike lose all progress they have made.” He tossed it across the table, and they all watched it roll. It lands on a sixteen, which was enough for Pike to actually throw the stone.

Pike picks up the biggest stone and throws it as hard as he could out the entrance. He heard a faint thud, and a thundering march was heading right for him. Uh oh. 

He gulped thickly, covering his eyes in fear. 

“Oh, there you are!” An unrecognizable voice spoke up. “Thought we wouldn’t find you again, huh?”

Another voice snorts. “Yeah, and he’s already tied up!”

Pike feels himself getting picked up by multiple people, feeling Thunder’s cape fall off of his lap. Oh no. 

What can he do? Thunder doesn’t really like him all that much anyway. But then if Pike gets taken now before giving the witch her crown, she’ll go after him. Which is the last thing that Pike really wants. So, he has no choice.

“THUNDERSTORM!” Pike screams, his voice echoing through the cave. 

Only five feet away from the cavern, Thunder was cooking some of the fish he had caught over a warm fire. Since Pike was some cat creature, he figured that Pike would enjoy something like this. 

What was it about him? Pike was annoying and had no idea how to shut up for like five ticks. But somehow, it was kind of nice to have company. And last night’s bonding was...interesting. 

Being around another person like this is actually really new to him, so Thunder doesn’t know how to handle it. Although, Pike was adorable when he slept. If only he could be when he was awake. 

“Thunderstorm!” His ears perked up, getting to his feet quickly. That sounded like Pike! He kicked the water onto the fire and ran towards the cavern. 

Pike was locked up in a cage, pushing against the sides. He pants, eyes wandering to see where Thunder was. Why did he leave him alone? 

His lips quivered, and his eyes watered. “I thought we bonded…” Pike hugs his knees. 

“Let him go!” 

The caravan came to a halt, which made him fall backwards in the cage. “Excuse me?” One of the guards raised an eyebrow. 

“You heard me, let him go.” Thunder growled, with his hand keeping a tight grip on his sword’s handle. 

He gasped, looking straight at him and held onto the bars. “Thunder!”

“Pike.” His face softened as he looked at the cat burglar.

“Sorry, kid, but he is a huge outlaw,” Another guard comments.

Thunder rolls his eyes. “I’m well aware, but he isn’t yours to take. He’s mine.”

The man in question’s face flamed, his heart thumping hard against his ribcage. Did he just say ‘mine’?

One guard was watching Thunder closely. Neither of them was able to see his face, as it was covered by a silver helmet. But he was as tall as Thunder, but more on the lean side. He hopped off his horse and walked right up to him. 

Thunder didn’t really react, just holding his ground. 

“Your name is not Thunder, my prince,” He said, pulling off his helmet. Only he was not a he, but rather a she.

“Romelle!” 

She giggled, tossing one of her ponytails behind her shoulder. “What?” She said innocently. 

Thunder felt a bead of sweat drip down his forehead, avoiding any eye contact with Pike or his old friend. 

“Prince?” asked Pike. “But Thunder can’t be a prince.”

“Oh, but he is,” Cimmi, the captain of the royal guard, states.

“No-no I’m not.” Thunder gulped. 

Pike’s heart was in his throat, finding it hard to say anything to that. It can’t be. Thunder would have told him if that were true, right? Right!?

Cimmi snapped her fingers, and one guard rode over. Thunder almost pulled his sword out, until Pike called out. “Wait! You have to roll first!”

Keith rolled his eyes, picking up the dice. “The rules of this game are so weird.”

“Do you have a Monsters and Mana game back on Earth?” asked Romelle. 

“Kind of,” Lance rubbed his neck. “I think it’s called Dungeons and Dragons back home. And it doesn’t have a holographic table the same way that M&M does.”

The other rolled the dice in his hand before letting it roll out of his hand and onto the table. It spun for a moment before it landed on a smaller number like a six. Romelle’s eyes widened, covering her mouth dramatically.

 The guard takes the sword from him before he can do anything, shoving him into the cage with Pike. Almost all his weapons were taken from him, even the deer skull. Thunder growled, sending death glares towards everyone on the outside. 

Pike was frowning, his body facing away from the secret prince. “I have nothing to say to you anymore.” 

That got Thunder out of his state of distaste, which brought in a new negative emotion to his heart. Guilt. “Pike, I-”

“How could you not tell me!” Thunder bit his lip.

“I thought you would’ve judged me.” Pike scoffed at that.

He might not be able to see his eyes, he could clearly see the steam spewing from the thief’s ears. Although, he doesn’t quite understand why he is so upset with him. They weren’t friends, or even acquaintances. The only reason that Pike was even around him was because he trapped him to get money. In fact, they probably wouldn’t have crossed paths without it, at least willingly.

Then, why did he feel so angry with himself? Why did his heart sting after Pike scoffed him off? Just, why?

Thunder just turned in the opposite direction, staring at the trees as they went by. The only thing that remained was awkward silence. 

After a few hours of travelling, Cimmi and her guards made a stop at a tavern. They tried to get the prince to come with them, but he had refused. So, they were eating and drinking without him. 

“I know you don’t like me,” Pike started, sounding a little sniffly. 

Thunder glanced at him over his shoulder. “And I know that we never would have come together if it weren’t for circumstances. But...It can get really lonely in the life of a thief. I guess, I was just happy to have company again.”

“Especially when that company had covered me with their cape to keep me warm overnight or let me lay next to them just because I was scared of some lightning and thunder.”

Pike turned around, and the first thing that Thunder noticed was how red and puffy they were. Had he been crying this whole time? How did he not notice? “Call me naïve, but I really thought we had a connection. I was wrong, now I’m going to get caged for the rest of my life.”

Thunder wanted to say something. He kept thinking of different responses to reply with and kept opening his mouth to say them. Only to immediately close it. How exactly should he respond to that?

“Forget it, it shouldn’t matter. You were going to get rid of me anyway.” He pulled off his headband and twisted it to be a bracelet on his wrist. And surprisingly, some of his front spikes fell, covering one of his eyes. Those must be his bangs that never get used as such. 

“I’m sorry.” Pike looks up. 

“What?” Thunder sighed, moving in closer. The thief did the same, hesitantly giving him his full attention. Hopefully it’s going where he thinks it’s going. 

He balled his hands into tight fists, his breathing heavy. “Okay, so I was born into the royal family of this kingdom. My real name is actually Zeru, but it doesn’t really suit me at all. I absolutely hated royal life; it involved so many rules. The only real joy I got was from when I would train with Cimmi, so I was good friends with her.”

“But eventually, I just couldn’t stay anymore. There is no way I would be a good enough leader to rule anyways.”

Pike softened. “Okay.”

“I ran away only six months ago, and everything else I told you was the truth. I just neglected to mention everything else, and I really am sorry for not telling you everything.” Thunder sighed, slowly losing his grip.

“So, the crown I stole-”

“-was actually mine, yes.” He finished his sentence. 

Neither of them said anything else for a moment. At least, until Pike suddenly burst out laughing. Wait, what?

“Wh-why are you laughing at me?” Pike just simply smiles.

“I just find it ironic that it was your crown that I stole, and then you were the one that also captured me in a net,” He explains. 

Thunder shrugged. “I guess, if you really believe in things like irony.” 

“At least you chose the right time to confess.” He smirked, bringing out a beige cloak. 

“Where did you get that?” 

Pike chuckles. “Oh, I have had it with me the entire time. It is the only thing I didn’t lose after losing my satchel. My invisibility cloak; very helpful for when I’m stealing things.” He winks, crawling over to the front of the cage. 

Thunder is still unsure as to what is happening. “How are you one of the most wanted thieves in the entire country?”

“That’s mean,” comments Lance.

Keith rolled his eyes. “Relax, you’re overreacting.” Romelle only giggled.

Lance rolled his eyes, reading through the Coran’s guide to Monsters and Mana. “Well, it says here that I do need to roll to try and free us. Geez, how many times do we need to roll in a roleplaying game?”

Pike pulled out a small hairpin and stuck it into the lock of the cage they were being held in. “Even if you are rudely making fun of me, I’m wanted for a reason. Such as, no cage so far has been able to hold me.” He picked at the lock, smirking to himself while Thunder just watched. 

Eventually, he was able to pop it open and the barred door opened. 

“Wow, that’s what you meant,” Thunder teased, crawling out of the cage. 

“Never doubt me, Thun.”

Chapter Text

Keith has been working at the Castle of Lion’s Ink for almost three years, and for as long as he could remember, the building across the street had always been empty. Sure, Allura mentioned there being a few attempts to buy the location, but they never seemed to go through. It was weird, the space was decently sized for a small business.

And yet, every time he drove by before turning into the tattoo shop’s parking lot, all the windows were completely blacked out. There was no way to see through them, and the two front doors were even made of glass. It was quite depressing to see, to be honest.

So, when the store actually had a sign on the front door with “ SOLD! ” written out in bold, red letters, it was suddenly weird to see it as anything other than an empty space. 

Rather than going straight to the back parking lot (like he always does), Keith actually drove across the street. Usually a sign of a sold building in this area would say who bought the location, or at least the business. But it didn’t.

“Nothing?” Keith wondered aloud. “Even tiny businesses include their names on the flyer, but wow.” 

His curiosity about it was quickly forgotten, focusing on whatever his clients wanted for their tattoo. Which ranged from a simple quote to a full on masterpiece. It usually just depended on the person.

“Y’know,” Allura starts during his lunch break. “I met this guy a couple weeks ago, and he was pretty nice.”

Keith arched his eyebrow, but didn’t look away from his phone. “And?”

“And I just so happened to show him a photo of you, which he became a flustered mess as a result..” Allura giggled. 

“Uh huh,” Keith said, not even paying attention. 

This happened a lot, way more than he liked. Allura would meet some guy, try to introduce Keith to him, and Keith would only entertain it for a first date. But that was it. This has been routine since the two had even met three years ago. 

He loves her, he really does. But Keith has only been in one serious relationship of his entire life, and they broke up during the first year of college. There just hasn’t been any room for a new romance in his life.

But it never stopped Allura from trying. “So, what do you think?”

Finally, Keith forced himself to look up. His face was blank, but his eyes were slightly glaring in her direction. “Lura, I’m not interested. Almost every guy you meet and try to set me up with have all been the same: Flirty and show-offish. I don’t care if this person is the one for me, I just can’t entertain it anymore.”

Weeks go by, and Keith happens to see the progress on the shop across the street every now and then. From the looks of it, it was being turned into a flower shop. A very colorful flower shop.

“Hey Allura,” He asks one day. “who bought the shop across the street?”

She looked up. “Oh, that would be the Serranos, they recently moved to the area.”

“But, why would anyone move here?”

“Oh, I don’t know, because this is a nice area?” Allura replied in a rather snarky tone.

Keith rolled his eyes, not even bothering to fight back. Sometimes it just wasn’t worth it. He glanced back out the front door, noticing a lean figure exiting the shop across the street. How were they even able to get in?

Wait a minute. “How did you even know who bought the shop?”

“I met the primary manager a few weeks ago, and he’s the guy that I wanted to introduce to you, before you rudely rejected the mere thought.” Her tone was so bitter that he practically tasted it. Oh man. 

Keith gulped. “Um, good to know.”

There’s a hot person in CLI today, a very hot person. With sandy tan skin and bright blue ocean eyes, that also happened to be staring back at Keith. What should he do!

“Um-um, what can I do for you today?” He stuttered, clearing his throat. 

The stranger tilts their head. “You look familiar, but I’m looking for Allura?”

“Allura?”

They nod. “Yeah, isn’t she the manager?”

“Well, yes she is. She’s currently running an errand, but you’re free to wait, if you have the time?” Maybe he could get to know this person better too.

“Sure, I can wait. I’m Lance by the way.” Lance takes a seat in the tattoo shop’s waiting area, and it was also the closest to where Keith himself stood at the counter. Weird. 

He finds himself smiling, which is a rare thing for him. “Keith, pronouns?”

“Not something I’m asked normally, but he/him,” Lance replies, an eyebrow raised. 

“I know it’s random, but I didn’t want to assume,” He assured him. “and I’m he/him as well, in case you were wondering.”

Lance shrugged. “Good to know. So, how long have you been working here?”

This goes back and forth, with them getting to know one another. When Allura finally returns, she comes across the men watching videos on Keith’s phone. Not something she would expect to see. 

“Well, Keith bonding with someone that isn’t Shiro or me,” She clears her throat, getting their attention. “that is rare.” 

Pink dusted Keith’s pale cheeks, causing him to quickly cover his face with his arm. Lance, however, actually giggled and smiled warmly. That actually made Keith blush even more. That giggle was the cutest thing he has ever heard in his entire life.

Lance turned to him. “Well, it was nice talking to you. Mullet.” He winks as he gets up. 

Keith rolled his eyes. “It’s not a mullet.”

“Whatever keeps you smiling, dude.”

He now had a good reason to show up to work now. At least now that the flower shop was finally finished and Lance was able to be there everyday. So, whenever he got the chance, Keith would just look out the window and watch Lance sell a new bundle of flowers to a customer. 

“Someone has a crush,” Allura comments. 

Heat quickly rises to his cheeks. “Wh-what? No I don’t!”

She just raised an eyebrow, her expression blank with unamusement. He could just hear her thoughts saying: “Are you serious?” 

He sighed. “Okay, maybe I do like him.”

“I knew it.” Allura smirked, giggling under her breath. 

Keith looked away quickly, glancing at Lance again. From what he could see, the florist was dancing horribly while watering the plants outside. Despite that he was a very bad dancer, he couldn’t help but find it utterly adorable. 

He couldn’t help it. The way his heart would race whenever Lance would look at him, smile in his direction, or really anything. It’s weird to feel like this, after so long of not feeling it. But it felt good.

“Allura, you haven’t told him about what I said, right?”

She shook her head. “No, have you?”

“I wouldn’t be asking if I did,” He says. 

“I guess that’s a good point, but are you planning to?” That question… He honestly had no idea on how to answer it. Sure, telling Lance the truth is probably the right thing for him to do. But what he said was before he even met him.

If only he could go back and take that statement back. Maybe he could have met Lance sooner. And meaning him sooner meant experiencing that blindingly beautiful smile sooner. Most importantly, coming into contact with Lance’s ocean blue eyes. 

He sighed longingly. “What if it makes him not want to talk to me anymore?”

“That’s just a risk you’ll have to take,” Allura shrugs. “if you really like him, you need to think of his feelings first and foremost.” 

She’s got him there.

During his break that day, Keith made his way across the street to the flower shop. Lance was back inside, behind the counter. 

“Well, you seem hard at work,” Keith teased. 

Lance looked up, his lips immediately curled into a smirk. His elbow was pressed into the glass counter, and his sharp chin was leaning against his wrist. It made Lance look much hotter than usual. “Says the one leaving his workplace just to see me.”

Are they flirting? Keith can’t tell. “To be fair, I’m actually on my break. And I wanted to see you, is that a problem?”

Within a matter of seconds, pink spread into Lance’s brown cheeks. He tried to cover his face with one hand, avoiding any eye contact with him. It’s one of those rare moments that he has seen him blush, but he likes it. Seeing him let his guard down like that is cute, in Keith’s humble opinion. 

“Sh-shut up.” He looks away completely. 

Keith snickers, leaning forward onto the counter and put on his best smirk. “Well, what have you been up to?”

Lance’s eyes sparkled, and his fingers went up to try and tuck his hair behind his ear. The problem was that he already had a cute blue bunny barrette keeping hairs away from his eyes. Keith couldn’t resist a smile, he was just naturally adorable.

“I’m glad you asked.” He winked.

He watched as Lance pushed a white binder towards him, which he hadn’t noticed before. Then again, he had been so focused on the pretty boy that he didn’t even think about anything else. 

The binder was full of countless photos of different flowers and flower arrangements, some that Keith had never even thought of before. He also was never interested in flowers, his pollen allergy was terrible growing up. But regardless, it was interesting to see just how excited it made Lance. 

“I’ve been waiting for forever to finally own a flower shop, so these are different bundles that I have made throughout my life. While keeping in mind of color theory and what the flower might actually mean.” Keith admired how Lance’s eyes would sparkle as he talked about his profession. It was so adorable.

“Do you have a favorite arrangement?” asked Keith, out of curiosity.

Lance blushes. “Well, not really. I guess I’ve just never thought about it before.”

He flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for. “I think this represents you pretty well.” Keith points at the photo. 

The photo included white roses, blue hydrangea, and calla lilies in both of the previous colors. 

“Wh-why did you pick that?” Lance’s cheeks were colored red, and Keith found it to be utterly adorable. Like he did every time he saw the Cuban blush. 

“Well, the blue in the arrangement reminds me of your stunning blue eyes, and you mentioned before that you love the ocean.”

“Yeah, but-”

“-and the white represents how you light up someone’s life. I can go on if you really need me to.” He smirked, watching as his blush got even deeper. Keith could praise this man all day.

Lance crossed his arms, eyebrows creased and stuck out his bottom lip ever so slightly. Of course he was pouting like a child. And of course, it had to be utterly adorable. “Tease,” He mumbled. 

Keith chuckled lightheartedly, closing the binder and pushing it back towards the florist. “You’re too cute.” 

“Shut uppppp!” Lance’s whines became muffled as he unfolded his arms to cover his face in embarrassment. “What exactly brings you to the shop anyway?” 

That brought Keith out of his flirty state, taking a step back to try and remember. Why exactly was he here? He had come to see Lance, but there was a deeper reason as to why. But he had gotten so lost in Lance’s gorgeous ocean eyes that he had forgotten why. 

“Uh, Keith? You still with me man?” 

“Oh, yes, I’m here.” He smiled to assure him. Lance visibly relaxed, which relaxed Keith as well.

After that failed attempt at communication, Allura had to give him a lecture about actually telling the Cuban the truth. And here’s the thing, Keith knew that she was right. 

It wasn’t right of him to just hide this very crucial fact that could finalize how Lance really feels about him. But that also scared him, terrified him even. It’s been such a long time since he has actually felt this strongly for someone. And it was a feeling that he was scared of letting go. 

The last thing he wants is for Lance to hate him, or become disappointed in him. 

But when he receives a text from the florist himself, his face is hotter than he thought it was possible to.

<Lance>

Hey man, when do you get off?

<Mullet Boi>

Um, phrasing?

 <Lance>

Didn’t know that you were sensitive to that ;)

<Mullet Boi>

Shush

My shift is over at 8, why?

<Lance>

I want to hang with you, duh

You have a motorbike, right?

<Mullet Boi>

Mm

<Lance>

Cool, I’ll meet you once I’m done. 

That way you don’t need to pick me up

<Mullet Boi>

But I wouldn’t mind picking you up?

You are literally across the street

<Lance>

Shut up. I want to see you <3

Allura looked over his shoulder, giggling under her breath. “You two have got it so bad.” 

“What- Lura!” His face flamed madly, avoiding any eye contact. 

“Am I wrong?”

He bit his lip. “I mean… He is a great guy, the nicest I’ve ever met. But what if it doesn’t end up working out between us?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think that will happen?”

“It’s what happened before.” His voice drowned out, running a hand through his hair slowly. 

It didn’t take long for Allura to catch up to what he was referring to. “Lance is not James, you do realize that right?”

“I know, I know.” But does he really? He’s only known Lance for at least a couple weeks, and there was still so much that he still didn’t know about him. 

Although, the things he does know? Like how Lance’s face lights up whenever he talks about theater and his family. Or how he’ll bite his lip when he’s trying to focus. Even how he’ll blush when he realizes that you give him a compliment. 

With Lance, it was easy to smile. Sure, he could be a bit annoying, more annoying than Keith lets himself see sometimes. But he is one of those rare people that is able to actually make him smile, so that’s got to be something. 

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Allura asks, leaning against the counter.

It was time. “Once we’re alone, I’m going to tell him everything.”

Exactly at 7:59, right as Keith was finishing up with a customer, Lance came waltzing into the tattoo shop. Only, he actually skipped through the front door. 

The Cuban should have considered what doing such an adorable movement would do to the poor man’s heart. There’s only so much his little heart could handle, okay!?

He gulped. “T-thanks, be sure to tell your friends about us!” The client raised an eyebrow, watching him closely as Keith handed back their debit card. 

As soon as the customer left the counter, Lance leaned right up against it, the biggest grin riding his face. Just like always. And unsurprisingly, Keith’s heart glowed brightly against his ribcage. It made him worry sometimes that Lance could actually see it sometimes. 

“Hey hot stuff,” Lance winked. “ready to go?” 

Keith rolled his eyes. “Business was slow today, wasn’t it?”

“Obviously.”

“You are so strange, you do realize that right?” 

His grin quickly became a pout, Lance sticking out his bottom lip like a child. “Meanie.”

“Oh, you’re fine. Just let me clock out and then we can go.” Keith turned to the computer that happened to be right next to him. He won’t lie, it was a bit hard to clock out when Lance’s bright blue, ocean eyes were only on him and didn’t seem like they were going to move away any time soon. Great.

With just a click of the computer mouse, he was officially done for the day. Now, here’s to hoping Lance isn’t going to hate him by the end of the night. 

Keith led the way to the back parking lot, where his red motorbike was waiting for the two of them. He’s had Red since high school, since his sixteenth birthday to be specific. Shiro was not thrilled at the concept of him owning a bike that young, but what’s done was done. 

And Lance loved riding it with him. 

The way his face lit up as the wind blew against his face was one of Keith’s favorite moments with Lance. (Sure, he has a list, but that’s personal!) It was adorable, and he looked so beautiful with that sparkling smile as the rough winds blew against them. But he was even more beautifuller (beautifullest? Is there a word for it?) when Lance would take off his spare helmet and was left with wild helmet hair. 

While Lance would whine about it, Keith would just smile dumbly in admiration. 

“That’s new,” The person of his affections comments. 

Keith saw him pointing at the spare helmet, which he had actually spray-painted in Lance’s favorite shade of blue, cerulean. Before it had just been a simple black helmet with boring white designs sprinkled throughout. But since Lance was who usually rode it with him, Keith had enlisted Allura's help in decorating it to suit his friend’s taste. 

Now, it was in cerulean with some white flowers hand-painted on. Along with some red, blue and purple heart decals stuck on as well. 

“Oh, that, yeah that is actually a gift for you.” Keith smiles hesitantly. 

A bit of pink quickly dusted those brown cheeks he’s come accustomed to admiring every day. “It is?”

“Yeah, my best friend has resented my bike since I first got it, so he has never actually ridden it. Allura has her own ride with her partner. Then there’s you, who loves it almost as much as I do. So, the helmet is yours.” Keith’s own cheeks were getting hot, especially after tossing it to the flustered Cuban. 

Lance giggled. “For someone so typically quiet, you are such a sap.”

“No one’s a bigger sap than you, sweetheart.” He winks, getting on first. Keith couldn’t help but smirk at the muffled stuttering that came from the other’s end as he got onto the back of the bike. 

He really believed that he could fall in love with this man. Over and over and over. 

Keith started up the bike and they quickly took off. He blushed when Lance grabbed hold off his torso, holding on for dear life. Although, it was hard to ignore how his friend’s breathing tickled his neck. 

As he drove, he suddenly got an idea of where to stop. To stop and tell Lance everything. It didn’t matter if he hated him or not, Lance should know the truth. He owed him that much. After making him smile so much in only a couple months, compared to most people in their entire lives.

After driving Lance through the city lights a bit (hoping to amaze the man even further, he loves the sparkle in his eyes when he’s amazed), Keith found himself stopping at the park. And in the middle of this park, was his favorite spot. An old, white gazebo. It was always his go-to place whenever he needed to just relax and forget about everything. 

He’s never brought anyone here before. 

“What a cute little gazebo,” Lance comments, letting his helmet hang loosely from his neck. 

“Glad you think so.”

“Any reason as to why we’re here?”

Keith bit his lip. “I’ll explain once we’re actually in the gazebo.”

Lance raised an eyebrow, but proceeded to follow the pale man towards the gazebo in question. It was old and rundown, with tree branches lined up all against the roof. Keith won’t lie, it does look quite ugly. But it’s his ugly place. 

He leaned against one of the more solid beams. “I suck at letting people in.” This instantly got the other’s attention. “And I don’t even know why sometimes. Sure, it’s partly because of how my ex cheated on me back in high school. I’m sure you have noticed that I don’t really smile a lot, or let myself be vulnerable.”

Lance didn’t say anything. So Keith continued. 

“Allura has been trying to set me up with guys the entire time I’ve known her. All of them were a lot like you, but nothing like you at the same time? I don’t even know how that’s possible. But, you have done so much for me in such a short amount of time, I feel like it’s important that you know that… I originally wasn’t interested in meeting you, since Allura was trying to set me up with another guy. And I just didn’t want to entertain it anymore.

“But then I actually met you, and I was blown away. You mean so much and I really, really like you. So, I just hope that now that you know all this, you don’t hate me for it. Although, if you do, I don’t blame you.”

Then it was quiet. But the last thing that Keith expected at all was for Lance to say: “I’ve known all this since we first met.” What?!

The Cuban laughed lightheartedly. “Allura told me after we first met. But I couldn’t bring myself to be mad at you, since I had such a good time with you. I still wanted to be petty however and wait for you to tell me yourself.”

Keith glared, shoving him hard. “This has been eating me up for months!”

“And I’m sure it has, but if it makes you feel any better, I like you.” Lance rubs his neck awkwardly. 

“Maybe it does redeem you a little…”