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love left on Telforeah

Summary:

"Nooo-" Lance's eyes go wide, he even blinks a couple times.

"Yup, Pidge and I almost cried when he put it on." Keith laughs, probably remembering the sight.

"Where do you even find a swimming cap for mustaches?" Lance wonders out loud, looking back at his teammate. Keith laughs, Lance keeps looking.

"When it comes to Coran, who knows?" Keith agrees, laughing at the end of his sentence. Despite his words, Lance notices how his eyes sparkle with admiration, conveying just how fond Keith is of Coran. Though when Keith focuses his gaze back on Lance he turns away, making sure he doesn't see that same fondness in his.

Notes:

This first chapter takes place right after the Space mall episode of Voltron, I wrote this first chapter when I was 16 so please, bare with me. It has had a major facelift since then so hopefully, all is well.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: A Trip to forget

Chapter Text

         "Land? But we need to find the blade of Marmora base, I thought you said you were gonna plot a course?" Shiro reaches for Coran almost desperately.

 

         "Shiro, I know you really want to get there, but I need time to fix the teludav. I need to completely shut down the Castle’s main energy, or I'll fry myself like a Balmeran on a hot day." Coran says, quickly making a joke out the situation.  "Just because the planet is a living organism doesn't mean it doesn't get hot." 

 

Shiro sighs, probably understanding it must be done, and steps back from Coran; Lance can see the dark bags under his eyes from where he's standing next to Pidge. He glances at Keith, knowing that he and Shiro are really close, only to find him already giving their leader a worried look, and just as expected he speaks up.

 

         "Okay, Coran, land us on the next safest planet," he turns to Shiro. "Shiro, I think you should get some rest." Everyone on the main deck of the Castle murmurs in agreement to Keith's comment, including Lance.

 

         "Yeah man, you said you didn't take a nap, but you look like you really need one," Hunk speaks up as well, always the one to be concerned for others.

 

         "Fine, fine. I'll take a nap," Shiro's tired voice speaks, saying the word nap like it's foreign to him. As he leaves the room he gives everyone a sleepy smile before disappearing behind the closing doors.

 

Coran then turns towards the control panel, probably searching for the coordinates of a safe planet to land on, while the rest of team Voltron seem to go about their own business. Hunk also leaves the room, probably heading to the kitchen to recreate his ‘cooking masterpiece' or whatever he called it on the way back to the castle from the space mall. Lance even distinctly remembers Hunk muttering ‘Gordon Ramsay ain't got shit on me' on his way out. Lance snickers at the thought and glances at Pidge. She's mournfully eye-balling the game they just bought from the space mall, and Lance could almost swear he saw a dramatic tear there.

 

To be quite honest, Lance wasn’t really into that game. I mean yeah he heard of it, he even thinks his younger brother was obsessed with the game, but he had no real interest in it. But seeing how hyped Pidge was after seeing that game in the store made him want to play it with her, just to get her away from this whole saving the galaxy business. It wasn't too long ago he found out she was not only a girl but a bit younger than the rest of them, despite her personality or how she didn't act it. He was just hoping maybe this game could allow her, and even him, some sense of normalcy.

 

Lance sighs, he wants to say something to try and cheer her up but a small shriek comes from the other side of the room, interrupting his train of thought. All heads whip around to find Allura, wide-eyed, staring at her reflection in a mirror she has pulled up on the main controls. She turns her face away, looking quite embarrassed as she cautiously tries to leave to room.

 

         "Uh, I- um, must leave now, too ugh- yes, so, goodbye." And with that Allura bolts out of the room to change her horrific hairstyle.

 

         "In all honesty, I thought she knew her hair was like that." Lance turns to the sound of Pidge’s voice from behind him. He nods in agreement, he thought Allura looked pretty cute with her hair sticking up in all different directions anyway, but just as he was about to voice his opinion-


         "She looked pretty good to me," Keith admits from, you guessed it, the corner of the room. Lance rolls his eyes, subconsciously getting mad at Keith's attention always being on the princess.

 

         "Oh, like you know anything about style," Lance pauses for dramatic effect, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans forward, "mullet." He musters up his favourite shit-eating smile, the one he knows Keith hates. At the mention of his hair cut Keith abruptly stands up, hands up in the air in surrender.

 

         "That's it, I'm shaving my head, I can't take it," he shouts dramatically, turning to leave the room. At his words, Lance panics. "I'm shaving it all off, I’m telling you. Coran, do you have a razor and a hat?" Keith exclaims. He’s only trying to egg him on, of course, but Lance can’t help but to take him seriously. Lance only picks on his hair to annoy him in the first place, but at the mention of his mullet being shaved off, he is struck with the quite honestly annoying knowledge of having involuntarily grown attached to it.

 

         "Wait, I-" Lance starts, only to be interrupted by Pidge, eyes sparkling and smile stretched from ear to ear.

 

         "Can I do it?" She pleads. Of course, that's why she looks so excited, Lance thinks to himself.

 

         "All of you stop your gibber gabbing, we've made it," Coran calls from where he's steering the castle, but what Lance is really focused on is the beautiful planet they seem to be approaching.

 

         "It's-" Pidge begins, but is cut off by Keith. "Beautiful," he admits, in complete awe, and damn, so is Lance. This planet really looks amazing, despite being on the smaller side - and according to Coran, it isn't even a planet at all.

 

         "This is Telforeah (pronounced tell-for-ah) and although it looks like one, it is not a planet, not exactly. Long ago, this used to be a large part of a planet that somehow survived when the original planet died. Several years later it became somewhat of what you humans call a Dwarf planet." The mention of Dwarf planets reminds him of the planet, Pluto, back in their solar system, back on Earth. Lance would have fought anyone who said it wasn't an official planet, he nostalgically remembers.

 

         "Nothing inhabits this planet but wildlife. Just vast oceans and forests with no living things but animals, insects, and plants. Not to mention that Telforeah is still surrounded by the debris of the planet it once was. Making it pretty hard to find." Coran stops to think before continuing. "Now that I think about it, not many know about this wonderful place."

 

         "Well that's perfect, this is the best place to camp out until you fix the teludav, and even restock our inventory," Keith exclaims, and he has a point. This place really is the best place to hide.

 

         "My eyes hurt, it's so beautiful I might cry. A scientific impossibility right before my eyes." Pidges says, somehow finding herself at the front of the bridge, face squished up against the glass. "Coran, you have to explain to me how this happened. How didn't this piece of the planet sustain any injury, how is it still functioning? Does it have its own gravitational pull?" Pidge gushes as she bounces around the main deck, observing the planet before rushing to Coran's side prying for answers. Lance would almost feel bad for the Altean if Coran himself wasn't also revelling in Pidge’s curiosity.

 

         "Welp, I'm gonna get my swim trunks,” Lance shouts, interrupting his friends. “Have fun talking nerd you two." He glances at Keith from the corner of his eye. "And Keith," he adds, then leaves the room trying embarrassingly hard not to skip away. He’s feeling far more excited than he'd like to admit about landing on this particular planet. It looks like Earth, he thinks. Sure, it's tiny and has a bunch of the remaining planet around it, but it has an ocean. And not like that mermaid village they crashed on. Terfor- whatever it’s called had a beach, and forests. Although Lance likes mermaids just as much as the next guy, he'd pass up any beautiful fish with gills for a least a taste of home anytime. Even though his family isn't on this planet, Lance can't hold in his excitement.

 

**

 

Well, this isn't what one would expect when Allura said let's all go to the beach, Lance thinks as he stares at the scene before him.

 

When you think beach you think swimsuits, water guns, bonfires, and suntans. But what Lance is looking at is deeply disturbing him: Pidge is sitting to his right in a pair of shorts and a way too baggy shirt, rubbing so much sunscreen on that Lance doubts she has enough skin for it all. Not only that but Pidge has sunglasses, a sun umbrella for shade and somehow some kind of battery-powered fan? Lance just stares at her like she’s the only alien inhabiting this planet, but she just looks up at him and shrugs.

 

         "What?" She questions like it isn't obvious. Lance just gestures to her, well, everything. She just shrugs again. "When you're as pasty and white as I am then we'll talk, Cuban boy," and with that, she continues applying sunscreen. Believe it or not, that isn't the oddest part. Allura is in some Altean get up that pairs with a rope-like thing attached to a stick as she jogs towards the water shouting with it over her head. Hunk isn't too far from Pidge, wearing his own swim trunks along with a floaty around his waist, two around his arms and some sea creature floaty tucked under his arm as he toes the water like it might bite him. Surprisingly and quite ironically, Coran jumps out causing Hunk to fall into the water, floatable toys flying everywhere. The most unbelievable thing of it all, far at sea you can see the cow they had gotten from the space mall surfing to what looked like to Lance to be an impressive wave. Watching this all unfold before him Lance doesn't notice Keith approaching him.

 

         "Is that Kaltenecker?" Lance says under his breath, more to himself than anything. I haven't even surfed that well, how is it that a cow can?

 

         "Yeah, he wouldn't stop mooing until we got him out there." Lance jumps a little in surprise to the unexpected company but laughs as Keith speaks from beside him. "If you think it's weird now, look closer." Lance turns to look at Keith to see he's pointing at Hunk and Coran. He turns back, squinting his eyes to find what he’s talking about. Focusing on the Altean, Lance can't believe what he's seeing.

 

         "Nooo-" Lance's eyes go wide, he even blinks a couple times.

 

         "Yup, Pidge and I almost cried when he put it on." Keith laughs, probably remembering the sight.

 

         "Where do you even find a swimming cap for mustaches?" Lance wonders out loud, looking back at his teammate. Keith laughs, Lance keeps looking.

 

         "When it comes to Coran, who knows?" Keith agrees, laughing at the end of his sentence. Despite his words, Lance notices how his eyes sparkle with admiration, conveying just how fond Keith is of Coran. Though when Keith focuses his gaze back on Lance he turns away, making sure he doesn't see that same fondness in his.

 

         "Where's Shiro?" Lance quickly asks trying to take his mind off of Keith's soft smile, those eyes that seem to dance in the light, and the god damn ponytail that’s the bane of his existence.

 

Keith shrugs, "still asleep I think, I don't even think he knows we landed." Lance hums at his words, looking out into the ocean, feeling at peace. This is what they needed, no saving lives, no responsibilities. Just some space nerds finally relaxing on an alien beach.

 

Lance smiles at his friends, their figures casting shadows on the sand due to the setting suns. Laughter and the sound of the crashing waves fill his ears. The smell of the ocean is not quite right but Keiths smiling profile in the golden light makes it easy to forget. "Come on, Kogane, let's join the chaos." Lance grabs the sleeve of Keith's black T-shirt and pulls him towards the sea, and although he can't see him, Lance knows Keith is rolling his eyes but never the less holds a smile on his face.

 

**

 

Hours have passed and the group, now joined by Shiro, is laying in the grass on a hill in the middle of the small forest closest to the castle. The sun has set and the stars are out and they’re all spread out atop the hill, as scattered as the stars above. Everyone seems to be talking about the day they just had, or even days they've had like it, but Lance is quiet. He stares up at the stars, you can see the old planets remains from the surface of Telforeah. They’re blocking his view almost like clouds blocking the sun, and Lance couldn't tell you why it irritates him so much. Just like their current view, their day had been almost perfect - Allura said they'd all spend the day lounging before Coran would start fixing the teladov and they'd start searching for food they could use in the castle because really, anything would be better than the food goo they currently lived off of. Lance thinks Hunks still a little wary of it anyway, he would cautiously weave around the kitchen never taking his eyes off the food nozzle, always muttering things like ‘good, alien devil goo’ and 'please, I'm just hungry' as he poured some out.

 

         "Hey, you alright?" Lance jumps at the sudden noise so loud in his ears despite Keith's voice being so hushed. He knows he has been acting weird, but he can't help it. He thought the fact that earth was so similar to this weird planet would help fix his homesickness, but if anything, it just made it worse. He just ended up getting mad at things that were different about the planet rather than enjoying the beauty it held. But obviously, he can't tell Keith all that.

 

         "This place is like Earth," is all he says, sighing; Keith nods his head and looks up to the sky, mirroring Lance’s actions. He puts an arm behind his head letting the arm closest to Lance fall between them, brushing his with the action. Lance would be a dirty dirty liar if he said he didn’t freeze up, shivers running up his arm like frozen winds over mountains.

 

         "It is," Keith agrees next to him, which to be quite honest Lance isn't sure how it came to be. Keith agreeing with him? Magic, also, when did he get beside him and why is he still shaking? He blames the cold of the night.

 

         "But it's not Earth." Lance sighs, frowning at the sky, feeling the hardness of the dirt beneath him, almost willing it to turn into the soft grass of his backyard. He stands up, head raised, still frowning at the sky. He turns to the group, only to find them already looking at him through the darkness surrounding them.

 

         "I'm heading to bed, I'll meet you guys back at the castle," Lance speaks into the darkness at the vague shadows around his friends. Lance turns around repaired to walk alone back to the castle, he needs to sleep this feeling off. He only has the chance to take a step before a loud grunt belted from behind him.

 

         "Ahh!" The voice winces and Lance is already rushing to crouched down next to a very pained looking Keith. Shiro appears next to him calling his name, but Keith's eyes drift shut until his limp body lays on the grass, head and shoulders heavy in Shiro's arms.

 

They bring Keith back to the castle of lions, the walk rushed and frantic. They debate putting him into a healing pod but Coran speaks up immediately, telling them not to. They all look at him like he was crazy, wondering why the fuck not, but a smiling Coran promises he'll be okay and that he'll reveal all once Keith has woken up. The mention of Keith waking up is why Shiro agrees, but Lance can feel his hesitance as he helps him lay Keith down to rest, he felt it too.

 

**

 

Around the two hour mark, the door to the lounge room opens to reveal a surprisingly smiley Keith. Everyone in the room looks at him, expecting a ‘what happened' or some kind of vocal indication of his state but Keith's smile just grows, which only contributes to worrying them all a little more. Keith's gaze zones in on Lance, and before he knows what’s happening, Keith’s straddling his lap and moving his face very close to Lance’s face. Immediately going red, he tries to duck out of the way of Keith's lips. Even going as far as having to push his face away, because Keith seems hellbent on kissing him, apparently.

 

         "W-what the?" Is all Lance can squeak out until he's ducking away from Keith's lips again.

 

         "Come on, just one smooch?" Keith bargains, as he tries to push his face past Lance's hand. Lance can hear Pidge’s hysterical laughter from the other end of the room, and apparently so does Keith. Without looking back, Keith's off Lance’s lap and hugging Pidge’s unsuspecting head to his chest, as he sways them back and forth he strokes her brown hair from her face.

 

         "Coran, explain," Shiro demands, not even looking up from his hand as it squeezes the bridge of his nose.

 

         "It's quite comical actual-" Coran starts, but is quite literally cut off by Keith petting his obnoxious orange mustache, all the while whispering ‘Coran Coran the gorgeous man.' Looking annoyed now, Coran swats Keith's hands away. A loud gasp is heard and they all look at Allura, gaping at Keith with wide eyes, her hands over her mouth.

 

         "It couldn't be what I think it is?" She marvels leaning forward, she stares at Coran expectantly.

 

         "But it is, Princess." Coran sighs as Keith moves on to latching himself onto Shiro's arm, rubbing his cheek against the muscle.

 

         "Could you please get to the point," Shiro growls, looking more annoyed as the minutes go on.

 

         "Well if Keith would take off his sweater," Coran begins, and this new, very complacent Keith unsurprisingly obeys immediately. "If I'm correct, Keith has been bitten by a Telforean love bug," he speaks with one finger in the air.

 

At Coran's words the room goes silent, all heads turn to Keith as he absentmindedly finishes taking off his sweater and looks up and smiles at them all. Coran gestures with his hands for Keith to raise his arm, and without a doubt, there is a huge hideous bug latching onto the under part of Keith's forearm. Keith sees it and shrieks, jumping into Hunks arms, hugging him to what looks like to Lance to be a painful extent, his arms, and legs completely around Hunk as he shoves his arm in the direction of Coran.

 

         "GetitoffGetitoff- GET IT OFF!" Keith shouts as he flings his arm around, Allura and Shiro dodging his movements without breaking a sweat.

 

         "Alright, alright, just wait a tick." Keith stops yelping and stays as still as his quivering body can so Coran can get a good look at him.

 

Grabbing Keith's arm by the elbow he crouches down, nose practically touching the bug. "The Telforean love bug is very ticklish," Coran states, matter of factly, and Lance swears he can hear Pidge snort before he proceeds to tickle this huge black and brown bug, almost the size of Lance's hand. In the blink of the eye, it flops off Keith's arm and into Coran's hand. Almost instantly it starts to glow red and purple, legs tucked into its body.

 

         "You got a good meal just now, didn't you, little fella?" Coran blubbers down to the bug as he takes it away to the side of the room, to search for what Lance is sure to be a container.

 

He turns his attention back to Keith as he appears to do the same. A knowing smirk finds its way on Keith's face, and Lance can’t help but squirm uncomfortably under the scrutiny. But before he can question the look, Keith is jumping from the couch Hunk, Allura and Shiro are on to the one Lance is currently seated at. Lance tries to catch him but fails miserably - he swears he can already feel a bruise forming at his side.

 

He hears Pidge laughing as Shiro asks more about this ‘love bug' that seemed to have taken their teammate's personality and traded it with a clingy child. Although he can hear the conversation, Keith's giggling causes him to divert his attention. Lance frowns at the boy now laying on him, using his hands to hold himself up on either side of Lance's head. Lance lifts an eyebrow as Keith smiles down at him.

 

         "What are you doing?" Lance asks teasingly, trying to ignore how close they really are.

 

         "You're so pretty it hurts," Keith admits, completely ignoring Lance’s initial question, causing Lance's eyes to widen as he feels the heat climb up from his neck to meet the freckles on his cheeks. Lance can feel a tightness in his chest grow with that heat, only deepening more as Keith's face seems to be getting closer to his."It makes me want to kiss you." Keith all bout pers the words, putting Lance's body in a state of panic. Yeah, Keith is pretty hot or whatever and yeah, Lance can feel himself stealing glances at him during training or whatever, but he never let his imagination indulge itself in something so, so unbelievably impossible. They’re rivals, they're teammates, they're friends, but they're not lovers. So then why does Lance feel himself rising up to meet Keith's expectant ones?

 

Almost on cue, Keith's gaze moves to Lance's lips, and without hesitation, he cranes his neck forward to apparently do just that. Feeling too unbalanced to know what to do, or how to feel, Lance crams his eyes shut. Not trying to stop the disaster in motion, but not consenting to it happening either. Neutral, like Switzerland. When it doesn't come, Lance peaks an eye open, seeing that Shiro, thankfully, grabbed Keith by the collar of his shirt and is lifting him off of Lance. “Not today buddy,” is all he says as he basically pries Keith's unwilling body off of Lance's.

 

Now free to breathe, Lance rubs the back of his neck with his hand, sitting up straight. What the fuck just happened? He could of sworn that he was just about to suck face with Keith if it hadn't been for Shiro stepping in. Mind already rushing a mile a minute, Lance decides to just push the whole experience to the back of his mind, but not before glancing gratefully up at Shiro, who’s dragging a raging Keith away to his room. The others seem unfazed by what just happened, but despite his decision to forgive and forget, Lance can’t help but feeling dizzy from how hard his heart is pounding in his chest.

 

**

 

Lance rolls around in bed for what's gotta be the fiftieth time, his usually easy sleep just not seeming to come today as he tosses and turns. Huffing he turns onto his back, staring up at the ceiling through the darkness. Lance knows the reason he's not getting his beauty sleep is that he can’t stop thinking about Keith, but in his defence who wouldn't after what just went down? Who would believe his introverted, moody, totally isolated teammate would just sprawl himself all over, well, everything? Especially him, like what was that about?

 

He’s nursing a pretty bad headache, which he hates because just thinking that reminds him of Keith. Suddenly hit by a thought, he turns to his side with a groan and blushes incredibly hard into his hands. What would have happened if Shiro didn't pull Keith away when he did? Lance places a hand on his lips as if to try and find a trace of Keith there. Why had he been like that? He wonders. Keith has been bitten by a love bug, sure, but he didn’t try to kiss anyone else in the room. That thought gives Lance a sense of hope he doesn't really want.

 

Lance knows he likes Keith by now. Hell, he’s known for a long time. You could say it dates way back, since when they were at the Garrison together, even if that came to a halting stop once Keith got kicked out. But here he is again, suppressing his feelings into that deep dark part of him to never be seen again. These feelings resurfacing the minute he saw Keith again like they were on pause the whole time. He remembers just running towards him, spouting some rival nonsense to Pidge and Hunk as he raced towards the boy he didn't know he wanted to see so bad.

 

Lance had come up with that rival thing back when the two were going to school together. He thought it would not only give him a reason to be around him but an excuse for how much of his thoughts were consumed by the raven-haired boy. He rolls around some more, burying his body under the covers provided as he curls into himself. He has always looked at Keith in a type of envy he can't explain. He hates that he's good at everything, perfect and beautiful and unfair, yet he still wants him to do better, still cheers him on when he does. Lance loves how Keith is just good at everything he puts his mind to, and at the same time, it infuriates him that he'll never be the same. Now, Lance not only has to live as second best to Keith but love him for it too? It's just not fair. It's not fair that his smile makes him want to weep, he was never meant to have that power over him. Growing up the thought of liking boys never occurred to him, until his oldest sister came out when he was eleven. He remembers asking her how she could like girls when she was one. She had said, anyone can like anyone. That love is love and genders didn't change that. As a kid, he thought it was super cool of her, but he didn't really understand it until Keith. He liked girls before, but once he felt himself wanting to touch him, or hug him, to help him when he struggled and hold his hand, is when he knew he liked Keith. Lance sighs at the memories and tries to will sleep to envelop him like his covers had.

 

**

 

His head seems to have set aside those pining feelings, and Lance feels himself finally start to drift off, until- three unmistakable knocks sound at his door. Lance shuts his eyes tight, hoping the disturbance will find something more interesting and leave him alone to sleep. For a second Lance thinks his wish he’s being granted, but soon enough, something, or rather someone, knocks again. Lance groans, begrudgingly, he gets out of bed and walks towards the door, eyes half-closed both in sleep and annoyance.

 

         "What could anyone possibly want at this-" Lance starts, but draws out his sentence towards the end at the sight of Keith literally vibrating in front of him. He looks up, and Lance almost clutches his heart at the sight he makes. Without a word, Keith launches himself at Lance, causing the two to crash to the ground, Lance going down first, despite the tentative of grabbing onto Keith's hips for stability. The two land with a loud thud on the floor of Lance’s room.

 

         "Wha- Keith?" Looking up, the Cuban boy frowns when he catches Keith's eye. "What's wrong?" Lance asks, allowing the concern he feels too numb the pain in his butt and back even if just a little - it’s the second rough landing involving Keith today, he can’t help but note. He strains his neck to look down at the bundle of mullet and limbs on his chest. Both his arms are around Lance's torso, face buried in his pyjama shirt. Lance cautiously puts a hand on the boys back when he doesn't get an answer, sitting them both up in the process.

 

         "Keith, buddy what is it?" Lance whispers all evidence of sleepiness or annoyance long gone. Keith just shakes his buried face like a pouting child, now Lance would be lying if he said the sight didn't warm his heart just a little.

 

         "Come on Keith, tell me what's wrong." Lance pries, further pushing Keith away from his chest to look into his eyes but failing when Keith refuses to look up. He hears Keith mutter something but completely misses the message.

 

         "What was that?" Lance asks, a small smile on his face - it’s like talking to a child, I'll bet very stubborn, adorable one, at that.

 

         "Ugh, I said." Keith barks finally, lifting his eyes to meet Lances only for his words to fall short. Lance finds himself staring into the depth that is Keith's eyes yet again - but this time, they’re staring back.

 

         "I, ugh, I said- If I were to look at you-" Keith breaths, his eyes flickering to Lance's lips and back. It's then that Lance notices their closeness, and pushes against every fibre in him telling him to run to a safe corner. "I'd only want to-" Keith's voice trails off, already in a whisper as he looks back down at Lance's lips, this time not looking away. Lance feels Keith inching ever so closer, his breath tickling his mouth and sending shivers through his entire body. He knows it’s probably just the bug bite, and that it’s a stupid thing to do, but with Keith sitting so pretty, looking at him like Lance has only dreamed he would. He's in trouble.

 

When Keith presses their lips together, both their eyes flutter shut. Lance breathes into the kiss through his nose, his chest rising with it to ever so gently press against Keith's. The contact making his head spin. Like a drug, he gets high on the feeling of Keith's lips moving with his. While sucking his tongue into his mouth, Lance can feel Keith, still sitting in his lap, gripping onto the sides of his shirt, pulling him even closer and Lance has lost the ability to breathe. He moans into Keith's mouth before nibbling at his lip in protest. When they break away, Lance is out of breath, but Keith doesn't rest. He kisses along Lance's jaw, causing little gasping breaths to push past his lips, only to proceed trailing sucks and bites along his neck, jaw, Adam's apple, and anywhere else he can get his mouth on. Chest now flat against his, Keith is pushing down into him until Lance is laying back on the floor. Eyes shut, back arching into Keith's touch.

 

Keith pulls at Lance's top, and before he can stop himself Lance is helping him lift it over his head. Keith sits back on his heels doing the same, and Lance watches the dips in his stomach, or how his ribs poke out while he’s stretching. Shirtless, laying on the honestly freezing floor, the two boys can finally feel the warmth of each other’s skin, and Lance is a mess. His heart is pounding so hard in his chest he fears he'll break a rib, mind fuzzy with only thoughts of Keith he revels in it. Lance’s arm is around Keith’s waist and another at the base of his neck, but Keith is touching all over, setting Lance’s entire body on fire.

 

It's when he feels Keith grind their hips together that Lance freezes. Keith kisses his neck again, making Lance feel so good that he forgets the action. Until he does it again. Mind numbingly slow, with way too much intent to be an accident. Lance's eyes roll back at the feeling, stuttering out a 'k-Keith' before his mind comes back to him and their shooting open, his face the definition of crimson.

 

Keith trails little kisses along his neck, then to his chest, increasingly getting lower. As he does this Lance starts to panic, all fuzziness gone and full-on fear taking over. A kiss lands right under Lance’s belly button, just above the elastic of his sweatpants, and Lance arches his back at the soft contact to the sensitive spot, biting his lips to prevent any unwanted sounds to break free. Keith takes this opportunity to slide Lance’s sweatpants off - but just as Keith is reaching for the top of his boxers, Lance freaks the fuck out, scooting away, kicking off the sweats in the process. His heart is beating so fast he has to put a hand on his chest to try and calm it.

 

Lance stares at Keith for a long time then, eyes wide and filled with shock and dismay. He’s now sitting in the corner of his room, just watching, almost expecting Keith to disappear and for him to wake up sweaty and in his bed. Keith speaks up first.

 

         "What is it?" He says, letting out a breath as he sits back on his heels.

 

         "What is it?" Lance echoes, whisper-shouting like someone might hear. "Y-you" he points, "You were gonna-" breathing in, he tries to calm his nerves. "You were about to," Lance stutters out, glancing at the boy then at his sweat pants and gestures to them like it will make things clear. Keith just nods, apparently unbothered.

 

         "Yeah, so?" he shrugs, putting his hands on the ground as to be on all fours, Lance immediately flinches back.

 

         "S-so, you can't just do that to a guy out of nowhere. Whatever h-happened to consent?" Lance resorts to babbling, as Keith creeps towards him, shoulders rising and falling with every step like a lion looking at its prey. He kind of feels like prey.

 

         "You didn't seem to need to be asked when we were making out?" Keith smirks with his words, sending shivers up and down Lance’s spine. He places a hand on either side of him, effectively trapping him, he leans forward. "Tell me you don't want me to?" Keith’s tone is almost pleading, his gaze dangerous. Despite it, despite getting maybe a little too overboard, Lance has gained enough sense to know what’s right, and this ain't it.

 

         "Stop! You know it's just that stupid love bug that's toying with you," Lance barks, with more conviction than he feels, trying to hide his own dread and uncertainty. Keith's smirk drops from his face as he sits back. He frowns as he looks Lance right in his eyes, as if he’s looking through him, or trying to.

 

         "Keith, you know you don't want this, n-none of it." At his words, almost like flipping a switch, the boy's features morph themselves into ones of rage.

 

         "How do you know that?" Keith shoots back, hurt and anguish lacing his words, the type of hurt that shakes Lance to his bones.

 

         "Because you got bitten, and the name clearly implies that-" He starts, trying to sound reasonable but failing miserably.

 

         "What if this is how I feel and the bite is just intensifying it? Huh? How do you know this isn't what I want?" Keith attests voice low and firm, causing Lance’s eyes to go wide at the possibility. The thought hadn't crossed his mind, that Keith maybe already felt this way.

 

         "Do you?" Lance bargains - he knows which answer he's hoping for, but he’s not thinking about sex. He’s thinking about the option of Keith loving him back, one that he’s never even considered.

 

         "Well, obviously!" Keith replies almost instantly, and Lance has to stop himself from gaping at the boy in front of him. He wouldn’t have expected such a straightforward answer.

 

         "Y-you feel that way, about-" Lance starts, looking at the boy in front of him for a hint of dishonesty. Lance lets himself hope before actually starting to use his head. With so many gears in motion, his headache can only worsen at this point. No, no this is that Fucking Bug. It doesn't matter that Keith looks and sounds coherent enough, who knows how fucked up that damn thing made his head.

 

         "No, you're only acting this way because of the love bug," Lance decides, finality heavy in his tone. He’s just projecting his feelings. He stares at the tiles of the floor for a moment. It makes sense, he thinks. Keith would never be interested in him that way, this is all that bug bite making him all wonky.

 

         "Lance, please, can't we just go back to what we were doing?" Keith whispers, leaning forward again, arms on either side of Lance, trapping him once more. "I promise th-"

 

"N-no," he says, interrupting Keith's words. "I think you need to leave," he doesn’t look up, eyes tracing the lines separating the tiles, pretending they’re far more interesting than they really are. The silence that follows is as thick as the ice in his veins, Lance looks up to find Keith staring at him, brows frowned in the most broken expression Lance has ever seen him make. Keith reaches out for him, tries to touch his face, but Lance flinches away from the touch.

 

         "Lance, I-" Keith starts, evidently trying to understand why Lance is acting this way.

 

         "Please go." Lance’s voice is just over a whisper, his eyes now looking deep into Keith's. Finally getting the message, Keith backs away slowly before completely getting up and turning to leave. Lance doesn't follow his movements, just keeps staring at the floor. Keith opens the door and looks back, but Lance stays stubbornly looking away. Though not himself, venom fogging his mind with fabricated jitteriness, Keith can still feel his heartache as he leaves the room, shutting the door with a soft click behind him.

 

**

 

Lance wakes up on the floor. Not even the floor beneath his bed, but curled into a ball in the corner of the room basically naked. Groggy and quite frankly sore from his sleeping position, he hobbles more than walks into the adjacent washroom. The neons immediately flicker on from the new motion in the room, causing an aggravated groan to escape him at the sudden light currently enveloping his senses.

 

Slowly Lance peels his eyelids open until he’s staring blearily at his own reflection, and man, does he look like shit. He puts his hands on the counter and pushes his face real close to the mirror, unable to see without his glasses or contacts. His eyes are red and puffy, there are quite heavy bags under his eyes, and his hair looks like someone’s run their hands through it one too many times. Which someone has. Damn. His eyes drift to a dark stain around his neck, only to find three love bites spotting his skin, glaring mockingly at him. He sighs deeply.

 

He remembered immediately after waking up what transpired that night from his sleeping spot alone. He rubs his face up and down vigorously before turning the water on and splashing some of it on his face, pushing the heels of his palms into his eye sockets. He sighs again, filling his lungs until they hurt, then releases a shaky breath. Why'd this happen now? He had just started to accept his feelings for Keith, then this was pushed in his face, toying with his emotions.

 

After a brisk shower, the boiling water heating his skin and melting his tense joints, Lance gets out and changes into his clothes, making sure to remember to zip up his favourite sweater and put on the hood, in a lame attempt to hiding his shame.

 

Since they’re in space, it's hard for anyone to have a proper sleep schedule without sunlight to section their hours into days. Allura had Coran set a sort of light cycle around the castle that followed a basic day on earth, getting dark around 'night-time' and light during the 'day'. Lance hates it. It’s not easy to tell whether it’s morning or day, plus his room doesn't have this feature so it always feels as if he’s waking up during the night.

 

The lights in the hall outside his room aren't super bright, so Lance assumes he woke up kind of early, but as he approaches the kitchen to grab some food, he notices the light in there is already on. Lance peers inside the room curiously, but at the sound of his name, he turns away, hiding behind the wall.

 

         "So, you're saying Keith has romantic feelings for Lance?" A voice that sounds like Shiro's is saying from somewhere in the kitchen. Lance’s jaw drops a little. As he turns away from the door, every voice inside him screams that Keith would never, that he’s surely misunderstood.

 

         "To some extent yes, that's why Keith's been extra attached to Lance." Coran's voice whispers back in a serious tone Lance isn't used to. "The love bug from Telforeah amplifies any positive emotion felt by its feed. In the animal kingdom, these bugs usually just cause more mating amongst whatever organism they bite. But with sentient beings, it causes all love and admiration to come spilling out in buckets." Coran’s voice goes on. Lance, though, can't stop his fidgeting. He places his hands on either side of his head as he pulls at his hair, his mind racing with too many emotions and questions as he paces the hallway as quietly as possible.

 

        "Are you telling me Keith loves Lance?" Shiro blurts, sounding quite hurt. Lance stops moving immediately, freezing at the mear idea of it. "And he didn't tell me?" Shiro whispers the last part, Lance hardly catching it.

 

        "I don't think so." Coran rushes the words out to soothe Shiro's apparent anguish. Lance sits down, head resting against the cool metal of the castle wall. "Seeing as the bug takes any feeling of love and multiplies it if Keith truly loved Lance it would be far more overbearing than what Keith's state is at now." Coran pauses, and Lance holds his breath automatically. "I merely think Keith likes Lance romantically, even if just a little bit. All I'm saying is Keith seems to care about Lance more than he lets on."

 

Lance lets out a breath and blinks a couple times, placing a hand on his chest he tilts his head back, squeezing his eyes shut and tries to will his lungs to work. It's there, he thinks. He might not like him a whole lot, or as much as Lance likes him, but Keith liking him is there. There are too many emotions to sort through. But how are you even supposed to feel when you've been pining and concealing your feelings for so long, all for it to come spilling out at the mention that the boy you like may correspond your feelings? Lance feels like screaming and crying all at once. He opens his eyes, trying to breathe deeply. He stands up and walks away from the kitchen holding Shiro and Coran. He suddenly has no appetite, not when he feels so full inside.

 

**

 

Lance puts his left arm over his forehead to shade his eyes from the light. It's finally really morning. If Lance were to guess, he'd say around 9 am. He squints at the beautiful scenery that is Telforeah in the morning. He starts to walk in no direction in particular, Lance thinks back to last night for what might have been the hundredth time that morning.

 

He started the day feeling bad for himself but soon realized what he did was so, so wrong. He just couldn’t help himself, he had been waiting for an opportunity to kiss Keith for far too long, only for some stupid bug to ruin it. But Lance knew that was no excuse, he’d already vowed to apologize to Keith once he returned to normal. He already had the conversation in his mind, he’d apologize immensely for taking advantage of him, and if Keith forgave him, he’d spill the beans. He’d tell Keith how he felt, he swore he would.

 

Despite it all, Lance starts to feel somewhat at peace with himself, finally not at war with his feelings. He turns his head towards the forest they were in the previous night and decides to take a walk through it. He remembers last night when the sun was just about set, how the trees radiated with a dim indigo colour, turning a possibly scary forest into a sort of magical wonderland. Glowing red flower plants littered the floor, Lance remembers Keith saying how they looked like fire. Bright yellow firefly like bugs danced all around them as they walked farther into the forest. The trees held vibrant green leaves that when touched would light up. This forest was the type that made you question reality, the wind would blow like a song causing the leaves of the trees to brush against one another and at that moment you'd forget it was even nightfall with the forest lit up like the fourth of July.

 

But now, as Lance walks, the forest from last night almost feels like a dream. The forest he’s walking through right now is simple and almost seems dead. Like it truly awakens only once the sun is down. Nothing glows, there isn't even a breeze. As if the forest is frozen in time.

 

Finally, Lance comes across the open field with the hill they laid on last night. To his surprise, he finds Keith laying on it, seemingly having the same idea as him. Despite himself, Lance walks up the hill until he’s standing over his friend with a raised eyebrow. Keith has his eyes closed, but he’s now frowning at Lance's silhouette shading his face from the sun.

 

        "Mr. Sun, where’d you go?" Keith says in a whiny voice as he sits back on his arms, opening his eyes.

 

        "Sorry, am I interrupting a bonding moment?" Lance comments from above Keith as he stares down at him, not even trying to stop the smile as it stretches its way onto Lance's face.

 

        "Nah, forget it," is his only reply, as Keith jumps up and wraps his arms around Lance's neck. Lance just keeps smiling and places his hands on Keith's waist, pulling him away he frowns.

 

        “Keith, about last night in my room.” Lance starts, taking his hands from Keith’s waist to pull the hands from around his neck. A frown washes over the other boy's features. Keith’s eyebrows frown and he tilts his head to the side. Man, this fuckers gonna kill him one of these days, Lance thinks as he looks at the adorable sight before him.

 

        “What happened last night?” Keith questions as confused as ever, and despite the cute look, Lance can’t help his own confusion.

 

        “What do you mean? You were in my room last night remember.” Lance tries, pushing for the memory of that night to float backing into the boy's head. He takes a step back to look at Keith from afar.

 

        “I was in your room last night.” Keith’s eyes widen with a childish sort of envy like another kid just got the toy he wanted. “Lucky me.” He all bout pouts but Lance’s mind is racing, he had forgotten the encounter completely? What the fuck? Lance is snapped out of his thoughts though when he feels Keith latch onto his arm.

 

        "I missed you, sharpshooter." Keith grins up at him, and it warms his whole body from his toes to his ears.

 

        "Sharp shooter?" Lance echoes, a little put off. When had they hit the pet name stage?

 

        "Yeah, because you're smart and you shoot with your gun Bayard, duh," Keith states matter of factly before pulling Lance back down to sit with him in the grass. There’s a sort of childish happiness in his eyes, and Lance doesn't find it in himself to question it.

 

They lay in the grass, cuddling and leaning on each other as they just stare up at the sky. And if Keith tries to kiss him a few times, what does that matter? Lance won’t let him, not yet. Not while he’s still figuring out what’s going on. Not till the effects of the bug are gone, then he’d get the real Keith back. Then they could kiss and cuddle and lay on their back on top of hills, staring at the drifting clouds. Lance pushes all worrying thoughts to the back of his head, whatever happens from this point on happens. In the end, he just sits next to him, enjoying Keith’s company for fear of losing it forever. As they lay on a hill in a frozen forest.

 

**

 

The day passes by fairly uneventful. Coran and Pidge spend it fixing the teludav, and according to Pidge cleaning Coran's sweat from literally every surface. Allura and the mice do small repairs around the castle, like cleaning and checking all the control wires to make sure they’re all in order. Shiro decides all their lions need to be cleaned, saying how they'd appreciate it. Hunk goes along, saying something along the lines of “giant kitty bath!”

 

This leaves Lance and Keith to search the planet for edible food, with a list of the planet's safe and unsafe berries and plants. They spend the afternoon stuck in some 1950's love story. Picking berries and herbs. Smelling flowers and simply enjoys each other's presence and the freedom that comes with exploring somewhere new. Unfortunately, once back at the castle, they discover that they mixed two of the plants up and Hunk sadly finds out the hard way, having a hilariously high pitched voice for over half an hour. In the end, it could’ve gone much worse and Hunk demands they run cross-examinations on all found plants for the next couple of hours.

 

        "The Teludav is almost completely fixed, princess," Coran says as he walks into the lounge room, Pidge tailing behind him. "There's just some re-calibrating that needs to be done before we’re ready to take off," he tells that last bit more to Shiro than to Allura, probably to assure him that they'll be leaving soon.

 

        "Thank you, Coran. I think besides Keith's bug bite this small trip has been a major success. We got a lot done today and managed to relax for the first time in a while. Good job, paladins." The princess says, summing up their time in Telforeah wonderfully.

 

        "Relax? Hunk nearly gave me a heart attack when he squeaked in my ear," Shiro states, referencing when Hunk ate the bad berries him and Keith picked.

 

        "It's not my fault! Lance and Keith picked some messed up berries. I was freaking out, okay?!" Hunk explains, defending the small panic attack he had after discovering his voice had changed. Lance laughs at the memory, smiling at his friend.

 

        "Hunk, nobody told you to eat them, we were gonna run them past Coran before eating any," Lance argues, defending his berry picking skills while laughing at Hunk’s misfortune. He looks down towards Keith to see if he's smiling too. He has been curled up on Lances lap since he sat down, and is uncharacteristically quiet, or at least for a Keith under the influence of the love bite. Lance frowns when he sees Keith isn’t even listening, just staring at nothing in particular.

 

        "Hey, it's the first time I've seen a berry since leaving Earth. Sure, it was orange and triangle-shaped, but anything's better than food goo," Hunk says, earning a laugh from almost everyone in the room - Lance is still looking at Keith with a worried expression. He places a hand on his shoulder, causing Keith to look up and give him a soft smile, the one that makes his heart melt. Just to be sure, he still mouths a ‘you alright' to Keith. They’ve been inseparable since this morning. All-day, Keith has been clinging to Lance, occasionally Shiro or Hunk. He even bowed at Allura before hugging her tight, and it warms Lance's heart to see him being so uncharacteristically open with everyone. He knows it won't last long - Coran said the bite’s effects will wear off around the end of the day, but Lance has allowed himself to bask in it while he can, with some boundaries of course. He’ll think about the rest later, though he hasn’t been able to shake that awful thought that drifted into his head that morning on the hill.

 

Just as Keith is nodding to confirm that he’s alright, his whole body goes stiff against Lances, eyes squeezing shut he releases a blood-curdling scream. Lance is too surprised to react when Keith rises up, arching his back with a pained expression, his entire body tense on Lance’s lap. Lance can’t do anything but watch as Shiro rushes to his side followed by the rest of them - he distantly hears Coran say that the bug's venom is starting to leave Keith’s system, that it’s a painful process.

 

        "Is he gonna be okay?" Lance hears

 

        "The pain, though quite intense at the time leaves no damage on the body." Corran's voice says from somewhere beside them, but Lance can't pry his eyes off Keith, hardly hearing the conversation as the boy grips Lance's shirt and scrunching his eyes closed until his entire face is squeezed in tension. He feels Keith's knees dig into his side and his hot breath through his shirt as he tries far too hard to breathe.

 

For Lance, the toughest part is knowing that he can’t do anything but watch helplessly.

 

**

 

The castle has left the beautiful Planet that is Telforeah and is now drifting peacefully somewhere in space.

 

Pidge is trying to pinpoint the exact location of the Blade of Marmora's base from the coordinates she’s pulling from Shiro's arm, Allura’s flying the ship, and Hunk is making lunch but Lance - Lance is pacing.

 

He’s inside Keith's room walking back and forth beside the bed. He had been lying with him for a while but the weight of his heavy limbs, limp and unmoving kept reminding him of a dead body so now? Now he's pacing. It's been three hours since the venom started to leave his body and it’s starting to scare Lance how long he's been asleep. Just as he’s considering (again) if he should send for Coran or put Keith in the healing pod, he hears a groan.

 

        "Ugh, what the hell?" Keith mumbles, still half asleep, as he sits up and rubs his eyes. Lance runs to the side of the bed and crouches in front of it, sighing in relief.

 

        "Oh my god Keith, thank god you're awake." Lance gushes, closing his eyes and dragging a hand up and down his face to try and get rid of any worry it holds.

 

        "Lance, what the hell are you doing in my room?" He hears Keith fret, a trace of fear in his voice. Ignoring his reaction, Lance yawns and places a hand on Keith's, leaning forward to smile down at his crush. Keith's eyes widen as his cheeks redden, he looks down at their hands then up at Lance in confusion but doesn't pull away. Lance scrunches up his nose.

 

        "I was worried about you," Lance says, almost as if it were obvious. Keith just blushes more before pulling his hand free and scratching at the back of his neck. His bottom lip between his teeth as he stares at the wall next to him. Worry starts to take over Lance’s whole body. "Oh god, what happened? What'd I say to you?" Keith asks, now looking back at Lance, still red in the face and hair a mess from just waking up. Realization crashes into Lance like a typhoon. He stands up and backs away from Keith's bed. Just as he fucking thought, he knew it was coming but hoped anyway.

 

        "You don't remember anything," he states, more than ask "Do you." Lance takes another step back as he stares at Keith, but his eyes are unfocused like he’s remembering a sad dream. Keith shakes his head.

 

        "No, should I? What happened?" he inquires, his eyebrows furrowing at Lance as he backs away.

 

        "N-nothing happened," he lies, and oh what a lie that is. "Some bug bit you and you were passed out all day," Lance says, stepping even closer towards the door of Keith's room. He has to get out of there, now, before he breaks down. "We're, uh, we’re getting close to the Blade of Marmora's base so- um, shower and get changed. Meet us on the main deck when you’re ready."

 

Keith's eyes widen at Lance's words, but Lance has no intention of sticking around to find out why. He slips out of Keith's bedroom door and it shuts behind him as he rushes towards his own. There isn't a word in the dictionary to describe how stupid Lance feels. He lets his door close before he leans against it, banging his head against the hard metal of it until he feels dizzy. He slides down to sit against the cold metal. How fucking ironic, he totally fell for Keith. Well, harder than before, at least - only for the asshole to forget the whole damn thing. He knew he would, after that moment on the hill the thought had been plaguing his mind nonstop, but still, he refused to believe it’d really come to pass.

 

Lance laughs at the thought. He was going to tell Keith how he felt about him once he woke up, that's why he stuck around in his room. Why he was pacing in the first place - sure, he was worried, he was so fucking concerned, but he knew it'd be alright in the end, and it was. Keith just has no memory of how he made Lance feel, which tares him up inside. I guess he deserved this, he shouldn’t have taken advantage of Keith when he did, and now he’s paying for it. Who knows if Keith would have forgiven him if he even deserved to be forgiven. Lance sighs, he knows he fucked up bad, that he could have handled the situation better, could have done things differently. But he didn’t, and he was starting to piss himself off for it. stupid stupid stupid. Barring his head in his arms he cries.

 

He gives himself five minutes, five minutes to cry his eyes out against the door, on the floor of his room.

 

After those five minutes passed, he gets up. He splashes some water on his face, gives himself a quite empowering pep talk, and marches out of his room. His head held high but dragging his heart on the floor. That's what his sister taught him, she told him 'give yourself five minutes, to yell, or punch, or cry your eyes out. But once those five minutes pass, you pick yourself up again and hold your head high.' It's never failed him before.

 

He walks onto the main deck with a smile on his face, not meaning it but holding it strong. He tells the others that Keith remembers nothing of the love bite and to please hold the facade, that it’s what he wants. No matter how many times they press him to tell Keith what happened on Telforeah, Lance shakes his head and insists they keep it secret.

 

When Keith walks in, he inevitably asks about the trip, but everyone just repeats what Lance has said. He’ll have to thank them later. It’s actually ironic really, how quickly it is for the topic to move on. While the others talk about their future plans, Lance steals one last glance at Keith before coming to a conclusion.

He'll make Keith fall for him, without the aid of some stupid love bug. He'll do it, whatever it takes. This time, he'll be the one to make Keith fall in love.

Chapter 2: Please help!

Chapter Text

Okay, "update" from like 4 years after writing this. I have no clue if anyone still reads this but after reading this fic over and giving it a much-needed facelift, I was thinking about how it ends on a major cliffhanger and started having ideas for a second part but this time in Keith's perspective. It'd be in the future and the boys would revisit the planet. If anyone is at all interested in me writing this, please leave a comment saying so! I just hope literally anyone cares cuz I'm super excited at the idea of revisiting the story.

Anyways thank you lovelies

xoxo

Chapter 3: Cold Tea With Milk

Notes:

PLEASE READ!
This takes place 4 years after the end of Voltron. As an update, Keith is head of the Galra Alliance Humanitarian Relief Organization or G.A.H.R.O. Lance lives with his parents on their farm in Cuba. Once a year all the remaining members meet on New Altea in remembrance of Allura and Voltron.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Hearing a chime, Keith feels the buzzing of his communicator on his wrist, signalling an incoming call. Looking around, he checks to make sure his fellow blades are okay unloading and steps aside. Lifting his arm, he answers the call. A second later a very familiar face appears on the hologram.

 

 

        “Hey, Keith my man, long time no see.” Hunks smiling face says from the screen. “How have you been?”

 

 

        “Not so bad, how about you?” Keith grins back, watching as Hunk moves about on the screen, clearly straining to see the scene behind him. Keith just laughs at the obvious attempt, knowing what follows.

 

 

        “Hard at work are we?” Hunk not so coyly asks, eyebrow-raising in question.

 

 

        “Yeah, we just landed on Wradool a couple of dobashs ago with a new shipment for their planet stabilizer.” Hunk leans closer as Keith raises his arm to show his fellow blade members as they unload said supplies. “The Galra Alliance Humanitarian Relief Organization has been visiting this planet a lot this Decapheeb.” He says, though when he lowers his arm he’s met with a cold glare. Oh boy.

 

 

        “Keith will there ever come a day when I call you and you’re like, I don’t know, eating a sandwich, or at home, or just not on a mission?” Face coming closer to the screen, Hunks upset features are on full display.

 

 

        “No?”

 

 

        “Keith!”

 

 

Scratching the back of his neck with his free arm he just smiles at his long time friend. “Anyway, how's shay?” Keith quickly redirects and is glad to see Hunk’s face brighten considerably.

 

 

        “So good, she keeps talking about how earth children are so soft and squishy, she won’t stop making comments about how fragile we are.” Hunk laughs loud and wide. “But she’s loving teaching.”

 

 

        “Well, that’s good then, since you might have your own little ones running around soon right?” Keith says, smirk only growing as the blush forms on his face.

 

 

        “W-well, anyway that’s not why I called you.” Hunk waves off the statement, only making Keith bark a laugh. “I was calling because I won’t be meeting you guys on earth tomorrow.” Keith feels his eyebrows rise at the surprise.

 

 

        “Oh, well you’re still coming right?”

 

 

        “Yes, of course, I could never miss it.” Waving a hand, Hunk dismisses the idea. “It’s just that I’m already on Altea for work, and I usually pick up Lance from the farm.” Keith has to stop himself from reeling back. Smile growing, Hunk crosses his arms at his chest. “So I was wondering if you’d pick him up for me?” Keith can’t help but squint at the screen

 

 

        “I know what you’re doing.”

 

 

        “I’m not doing anything.”

 

 

        “Get Shiro to do it.”

 

 

        “You know he doesn’t fly anymore.”

 

 

        “Pidge.”

 

 

        “Is that a trick question?”

 

 

Keith sighs, looking up at the purple sky of Wradool, his free hand comes up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Why are you doing this to me?” He says, letting the frustration seep into his words, hoping maybe Hunk will show some sympathy.

 

 

        “Oh come on Keith, you know I’m not doing anything.” Looking at the screen, he watches as Hunk bats his eyes. “And if you just so happen to get some nice quality alone time with him then who’s to complain?” Shrugging his shoulders with a cheeky smile, Hunk smiles in an attempt to hide the mischievous glimmer in his eyes, only causing Keith to squint more at his friend.

 

 

        “Hunk,” Keith growls, voice low in warning.

 

 

        “Thanksgottagoloveyoubye!” Hunk all about shouts before his arm is coming up, ending the call, causing the screen to disappear. Frowning down at his arm he balls his hands into a fist and shoves them down at his sides. Basically stomping back over to the ship, he mumbles his way inside, walking into the bridge of the small aircraft he finds his mom. Ignoring her he grumpily makes his way to the escape pod, opening the hatch he climbs inside.

 

 

        “Keith where are you going?” He hears her ask from behind him.

 

 

Plugging in his coordinates, he responds, or more huffs. “Home, can you open a wormhole?” Typing away at the keypad, Keith enters the coardinets for the Galran headquarters.

 

 

        “Why?” She asks, but Keith knows she’s already preparing the teludav for operation. Yet despite her cooperation…

 

 

        “I have to get ready,” is all Keith says in response.

 

 

        “Alright, but be sure to say hi to Lance for me.”

 

 

Keith stops typing. Whipping his head around he glares at the woman through the open pod door. Flashing him a shit-eating grin she waves a hand.

 

 

        “Bye Keith,” and before he knows it the door is closing and the pod is shooting out towards space. That good for nothing woman, he’s so getting her back for this.

 

 

~

 

 

Keith’s foot won’t stop bouncing as a field of pink comes into view. Steering the ship to just outside the entrance, Keith lands as elegantly as his slightly shaking hands would allow. He needs to calm down. No matter what he feels, Lance is a friend and he shouldn’t be nervous to see a friend.

 

 

Taking a breath, he stands up and starts the walk up to Lance’s farmhouse. The distance is a decent one because of where he landed, so Keith lets himself take in the picturesque scene that is Lance's family farm. It’s hard to ignore the squeeze in his chest that seems to grow the closer he gets to the house. Conscious of every step he takes, he can’t help but wonder if he’s ever made Lance feel like this. So nervous and jittery to see him. Looking at the sea of pink made of Allura’s favourite flower, he knows just how unlikely that reality is. The sight alone making his walk towards the house that much more somber. He’s been avoiding coming here for so long, but he guesses it’s about time that comes to an end. Despite how unwilling he is to do so.

 

 

The sound of scampering against the dirt path makes Keith look up. A tiny black and white dog is barking as he runs towards him, sitting just in front of the door as if to say ‘you can’t come in.' Keith leans down to pet at the still barking dog. Sitting politely and accepting the physical assurance, he continues to bark at Keith calmly. Frowning slightly in amusement at the strange behaviour, Keith is surprised when the front door opens.

 

 

        “Whatcha find mojo?” A very familiar voice says from in front of him. Black socks, light wash jeans, a nicely worn flannel over top, and a dark grey tank top, Lance stands over Keith with a look on his face that makes Keith’s chest squeeze. Seemingly just as unprepared to see him as Keith is, Lance blinks down at him.

 

 

        “Keith?” His name is said in bewilderment. “What are you doing here,” he laughs through his words as Keith stands to match his height. Scooping him up almost instantly, Keith finds himself buried in that flannel as strong arms wrap around his shoulders.

 

 

        “It’s good to see you man,” Lance’s voice reverberates through his chest, sending warm bubbles throughout Keith’s body. Closing his eyes, Keith allows himself to lower his head onto his shoulder and breath him in.

 

 

        “You too Lance.”

 

 

Although pulling away felt like ripping his heart from its home, Keith flashes a smile with the purpose of hiding how unwilling to let go he was and lifts an arm to rub at the back of his neck. “Sorry, I don’t know if Hunk called you but I came to pick you up for dinner.” Stepping aside, Lance lets Keith into his home. He leads the way as they walk into a living room.

 

 

        “No, he didn’t call. That’s strange,” Lance questions, and he’s right, that is strange of Hunk but then again Keith has a feeling he knows why, that slimy son of a-

 

 

        “Have you not been to the farm before?”

 

 

Keith looks around the cozy little farmhouse, despite how instantly comfortable he finds himself, “No this is my first time.”

 

 

        “How the hell have you not been here?”

 

 

Averting his eyes, Keith finds the curtains are a nice beige colour. “I'm usually busy every time you’ve invited, you know with G.A.H.R.O and stuff.” Keith shrugs, knowing full well that he made sure to be busy any time Lance has asked. All a part of the very ineffective ‘if I ignore him long enough my feelings will go away’ plan.

 

 

        “Well better late than never.” Lance smiles, “since you came so early, let me give you the grand tour.” He says, waving a hand to motion for Keith to follow him through the house, But Keith is too busy cursing Hunk for giving him the wrong time to really pay attention as they walk through the kitchen onto the back porch. Looking out, there are fields of plants as far as the eye will allow. It’s quite literally beautiful.

 

 

        “We grow oranges and Grapefruits primarily,” Lance explains as he points at the rows of hundreds upon hundreds of little citrus trees in neat rows. “And a couple of years ago mama wanted to try growing coffee beans, so now we grow arabica beans there.” Pointing to a smaller area of the farm where there are more neat rows of these luscious green plants, creating almost a maze of foliage. Lance walks off the porch and Keith follows.

 

 

Lance shows Keith all the animals at the farm, and he’s even reunited with Kaltenecker. He shows him their far smaller personal garden with all types of fruits and veggies and by the time they’re walking to the side of the house, it’s already been well over an hour.

 

        “This is my favourite place on the farm,” Lance says as he leads the way to a couple of tall trees. Placing a hand on one of the tree trunks, Lance turns around with a hand on his hip. Frowning in confusion Keith just blinks at the boy. That is till he looks up, and Keith understands when he does too.

 

 

        “Woah you have a treehouse?!” Keith can’t help but gush, stepping back to get a better look. He always wanted one as a kid, but his problems extended farther than wooden forts in trees. Lance laughs at his reaction, putting a foot to the latter he steps up.

 

 

        “Yeah, my dad nearly killed himself trying to set this up with our uncle, but we’ve had it since I was 7.” He says with a smile as he speaks before he starts to climb his way into the fort. Keith too gets a foot on the ladder, eager to follow where Lance leads.

 

 

Climbing his way inside, Keith looks around the old wooden house. A small little bench, a cute little window, a rope pulley, it has everything you’d think it would. Explaining the master plans him and his siblings would hatch up here and how his mom always threatened to come up when they wouldn’t come in for dinner, Lance lays out his childhood for Keith to see with a sort of sad, reminiscent smile. Walking up to the little telescope sticking out the window, it can’t be helped that Keith leans down to peer inside the scope.

 

 

        “This is where I fell in love.” Lance says from behind him causing Keith to bolt upright, jostling the telescope, Keith fiddles to fix it. He hears Lance snort a bit before helping him stand it back up. Taking a moment to breathe, Keith is surprised when he finds Lance sitting down at the edge of the treehouse with his feet dangling over the edge. Keith waits for him to turn back, for him to say something but he never does, so Keith just watches his silhouette as he looks straight out. Confused, he decides to sit next to him.

 

 

Clearing his throat Keith feels his brows frown. “Fell in love with who?” He asks, voice small and uneven.

 

 

        “With space.” He smiles, “with the sky and with the stars.” Lance explains, head up and eyes wide as he stares at the darkening sky. It’s too early to see much, but as the sun sets, the hidden stars start to peak out.

 

 

        “I used to come out here at night and stare for hours, I’ve even fallen asleep on the floor here more times than I can count. I’d even sneak out of my room just to climb up here and watch,” Lance speaks lowly but the passion evident with every word, the smallest of smiles on his face. Keith can’t help but watch as his eyes flutter closed and open, wondering how anyone could become so beautiful.

 

 

        “So why give it up?” Keith hears himself asking without his mind's permission. Eyes widening Keith covers his mouth with his hands. He wants to take it back but he stays quiet, needing to hear his response.

 

 

Lance sighs, shoulders rising and sinking as the air pushes through his lips. “There’s nothing left for me in space,” is all he says. Like that was an answer, like what he said didn’t send Keith’s mind whirling with even more questions.

 

 

        “Wh-,” he tries to ask, to understand what Lance was talking about but he was already standing up. giving an outstretched hand, Lance helps him up. And though Keith can’t stop the butterflies that flutter unwanted behind his rib cage, Keith is still trying to piece together what Lance could have meant.

 

 

Once they're both back on the ground, Keith can’t help but turn back onto the view they had just seen. This new perspective, thought still breathtaking, not hitting as hard as the last. So as the sun descends past the Cuban mountains in the distance, Lance and Keith start their descent back inside the house.

 

 

        “Would you like a drink? Tea?” Lance says as they walk back into the kitchen, already reaching for the kettle.

 

 

        “I’ll have whatever you’re having.” Keith nods in thanks as he looks around the large kitchen.

 

 

Lance nods with a similar smile. “I’ll just be a minute, you can sit in the living room if you’d like.” He turns back to filling the kettle so Keith makes his way back into the living room he passed when he first arrived. Eyes drift to the various pictures and paintings littering every available inch of wall space as he makes his way over to the couch to wait for Lance’s return. The room looks well lived in and despite living on a farm there is no shortage of house plants. His eyes dance on a lot of the family photos in the room but there’s one photo in particular that he can’t seem to tear his eyes from. Sitting in a frame on the coffee table is a photo of Lance with what looks like Veronica and his two other siblings. He looks young in the picture, but what has him frozen in place is the wide over baring smile on his face. He looks around the same age he did when the blue lion took them to Altea, maybe a year younger. Keith remembers how familiar that smile was. He can almost hear the laughter that comes with such a grin, like an old dream he just remembered he had. Keith didn’t know back then how rare that smile would become.

 

 

It was no secret that Lance hasn’t been the same since Allura died. They all haven’t. With the way it all ended, Keith felt that if only he could have done more. Maybe if they had done something differently, Allura would still be here with them today. And he knew everyone else felt the same. But Lance? Keith has never felt such a cold presence from the former paladin. Someone so bright and lovely somehow ended up so cold and distant. The stain of war and heartbreak left their mark, leaving him tired and aged. Looking now at this picture, at the old Lance and just how carefree he used to be, Keith is struck unless.

 

 

        “I hope you like honey because it’s too late to take it back now,” Lance says as he walks back into the living room, two mugs in hand. His voice rips Keith from his trance, gaze drifting from one face to a completely different one. Lance looks older, but it’s not just that. He looks decrepit, eye sockets sunken in and fine lines creasing his once oh so precious skin. Yet he smiles, as he sits next to him, as he hands him his mug. As he talks about his favourite teas and preferences. He’s been smiling like this for years, empty, and the sight could make Keith cry.

 

 

        “Oh gosh sorry I’m rambling on about nonsense.” Lance huffs with a smile and a toss of his hand. “How have you been? Hows G.A.H.R.O and the other blades doing these days?” And there he goes again, putting down himself at his own expense. Keith has been watching him do this for years now, but looking at that picture of when he used to be carefree, he doesn’t think he can hold his tongue anymore.

 

 

        “Why do you do that?”

 

 

Keith sees Lance’s brows frown as his face creases with confusion.

 

 

        “Why do I do what?”

 

 

        “Brush yourself off, pretend you’re alright, I know how broken up you are, how hard this day is for you.” Keith seems to spill out, like a broken damn. He knows he should stop, that questioning him like this is never well-received, that he’s pushing too hard. The shocked and broken look on Lance's face was enough of an indicator. Still… “Why do you insist on acting like everything’s okay?”

 

 

Taking a sip from his mug, Lance looks off. He sighs and turns to him, “How else would you like me to act?” Keith is caught off guard, Lance is looking him right in the eyes. The dull lifeless blue Keith has seen for the last hour or so is now a sharp intense glare. His Altean marks seem to glow at a similar intensity. He couldn’t say a thing even if he had a clue as to how to respond.

 

 

Sighing again, Lance sets his drink down and stands up. “It’s getting late, I better get ready.” And just like that, he walks out of the living room, his footsteps creaking over the floorboards. Keith falls back against the couch, hands coming up to cover his eyes. He’s an idiot.

 

 

~

 

 

Once Lance is ready they leave the farm to meet Shiro and Pidge at their lab, and to say that the flight there was awkward would be conciderate. Once they’re all together they hop on the next wormhole to New Altea where they meet Hunk and Coran. Now all together and seated at a table under Allura’s statue, they start her memorial dinner.

 

 

The food unsurprisingly is delicious, having been made by Hunk, and as always Altea is beautiful. With the sun finally settled over the horizon, it allows for the stars in this galaxy to start to dance in the sky. They talk and catch up and share new stories and experiences. As usual, it’s mostly Hunk and Pidge talking though.

 

 

        “I’m telling you, the guy wouldn’t relent. He kept saying he’d take great care of me and that I’d have anything I’d ever need.” Hunk explains with a sour look on his face that Keith has to hold back from laughing at. “Like it was just one meal, yet he was foaming at the mouth for more.” Hunk insists, causing a round of laughter from the group.

 

 

        “That’s real sugar daddy behaviour,” Pidge chimes in. Eyebrows twitching in mockery.

 

 

        “You should have taken him up on it.” Shiro laughs from the other side of the table. They all turn to him, surprised by his comment. He shrugs and huffs a laugh, “Who wouldn’t want everything they could ever need, I’ve been trying to get Curtis to give me a back rub for weeks with no dice.” Shiro says, rolling his shoulders to emphasize his point, but only getting a few pitiful chuckles.

 

 

        “Well anyway, how are things going in Altean politics Coran?” Keith asks. Coran has been having struggles with the rest of the Altean court in finding a suitable replacement ruler. Since king Alphor and now Allura are both out of the picture, and Coran refusing to take the throne, they have been trying to figure who should be the future Ruler.

 

 

        “Sadly we haven’t anyone suitable as of yet, but I still have a person in mind.” He says with a twitch of his mustache. “I’m just waiting until they’re ready themselves, but until then the council and I are making due, you needn’t worry.” He affirms with a wide grin that Keith can’t help but want to match.

 

 

        “You guys will figure it out, and Earth's got your back until you do so don’t worry.” Pidge pipes in sending the older man a thumbs up which results in a heartwarming hug from Coran that Pidge was most definitely not prepared for. Turning away from Pidge trying to escape from the old man’s clutches, Keith looks over at Lance. His profile, a sight in itself to behold, cute upturned nose, adorable chin, but the same hollow eyes and a matching hollow smile that makes Keith wilt slightly. He hasn’t said much tonight, more so than what’s become usual and Keith can’t help but worry.

 

 

        “What about you Lance?” Keith is suddenly brought back to the conversation, turning to look at the owner of the voice only for Shiro to flash him a knowing look. The table goes a little quieter at the question.

 

 

        “Yeah, Lance what’s new with you?” Pidge adds as they free themself from Coran’s clutches and turns to face him fully. Laughing a little, Lance leans off his closed fist.

 

 

        “Nothing crazy or anything to report from me.” He says rubbing his arm with his free hand. “This year’s harvest is going good, no major issues. Nadia and Silvio are still in the galactic school in America so I haven’t seen them or my brother and Lisa in a while.” Lance shrugs as he speaks. He holds his arms around himself, making him look so small. Keith can’t hide his frown.

 

 

        “Rachel started at that exploration academy on Arus so she’s been gone for months now, and Pidge, you probably already know about Veronica’s mission on Gred.” Lance finishes with a closed-lip smile towards the group, arms still around themselves as if to hold himself together. “So all’s been good.”

 

 

        “Lance he asked about you,” Keith explains, jaw only clenching when Lance looks towards him as if he just said he is actually part Bulmaran and not Galran. “It’s good to hear that your family is well, but I wanted to know about you and how you’re doing.” Keith tries to explain, but that perplexed look on his face never wavers.

 

 

        “Like I said, nothing to report.” He heaves a bitter laugh, smile not reaching his eyes in the slightest. “I mean I’m a farmer, what exactly would you like me to say?” Lance gestures to himself, still laughing lowly like something far funnier was said.

 

 

        “For fucks sake Keith, you have a peace organization in space! You travel to new planets all over the universe helping people. Pidge is building the technology that will defend our planet, and the rest of you guys are representatives for your entire race in a galactic coalition.” Lance badgers on, the light in his tone draining into something darker.

 

 

        “Why in the hell would you want to hear about my life when my life so obviously pales in comparison?” Lance is visibly upset now, eyebrows creasing, breath ragged, he pushes back from the table. Turning to Keith with these burning blue eyes, intense in their pain. “Why even invite me when I so clearly don’t belong here anymore. We hardly speak all year, why in the hell do we even do this?” And he’s right. Keith avoids seeing Lance, but they all rarely talk in spite of that. Keith wants to reason with him, defend himself, but what can he say when it’s the truth. Turning to the others at the table, they look about as shocked and hurt as he feels, they know it too. Keith looks back at Lance, his head is down, brown strands hang over his eyes, shielding his face. Thin fingers squeeze tightly into a ball as he visibly shakes.

 

 

        “We don’t even talk about her.” Lance seethes through his teeth in a voice a hair above a whisper. Even with the hushed tone, he might as well have shouted the words with the way they shot into Keith like daggers.

 

 

        “We meet every year on the day she died and call it remembrance when all you do is talk about yourselves.” Lance rages quietly, speaking each word with fire in his breath. Slamming his hands on the table, he rises and storms away, leaving the rest of them to sit in silence. No one went after him.

Notes:

haha, hi, remember me? Remember when I said I was gonna write another part, remember that. Yeah well here, I present to you a small part of that second part. I actually have almost 16k words written and even more to write. I have so many ideas and nothing better to do so I will be uploading them in parts to just break it up and not post so much at once. I'm also so insanely sorry for disappearing for so long, I had bitch of a time writing some of this, not to mention just life being what it is. But I have so much ready for you guys if you're still interested. The next part will be uploaded next Friday, so get ready. Please enjoy, that's all I really care about, thank you for your patience and,

Thanks for reading
xoxo

Chapter 4: Two Moons Shine Brighter

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Lance’s outburst was an abrupt end to dinner that left everyone feeling like an open wound. No one spoke a word as they cleaned the table or when they walked into the Altean castle. But as Pidge, Hunk and Shiro ready themselves to head back to earth, Keith feels himself halting. He knows they’re not just gonna leave without Lance, but he hasn’t come back yet and Keith doesn’t know where he is, it’s been a while now since he left what could he-

 

        “Keith?” Shiro’s voice makes Keith look up. “Coran said Lance can stay the night here,” Shiro says like that was a solution. He wants to question him, protest even. He opens his mouth, but just as he’s about to speak he feels a hand come down on his shoulder, making him jump.

 

        “We think you should stay with him,” Hunk says from behind him, smile warm despite the sad look in his eyes. Keith feels his mouth open wide as he looks around at his friends. They all share nods or looks of agreement which just twist in Keith’s stomach. What exactly do they expect him to do, why was talking to Lance now up to him? Apparently, he’s not left with much of a choice as he blindly watches his friends board a ship heading to earth, waving, the door closes.

 

~

 

Looking around the castle, it’s hard to say where Lance might be. They’re both not very familiar with the new Altean castle, having only been here a handful of times. Nevertheless, Keith felt like he needed to find him, like something could happen if he didn’t. So he scours the castle halls for curly brown hair and blue facial marks.

 

 

After 20 minutes of nothing, Keith is starting to get worried. Did he leave the castle, did he find another way back to earth? More importantly, did something happen to him? Keith has been looking down so many halls and has opened so many doors that he’s lost count. Not to mention he’s desperately lost himself, hardly being able to tell the difference between the identical hallways and corridors. He’s starting to get a little restless and honestly pretty tired. Turning another corner he’s relieved when the familiar blue glow of moonlight is seen in the distance, the breeze of the night air cooling him the closer he gets.

 

 

Stepping out into the fresh air Keith breathes deeply. Eyelids failing to stay open as he fills his lungs. Leaning over the railing of the small balcony, Keith looks up at Altea’s two moons. Their light brings a new meaning to moonlight, casting the planet in a soft glow far brighter than one you’d get on earth. Tracing the stars with his eyes until they fall behind the walls of the castle, Keith comes to notice another balcony a couple of floors above him. More importantly, he notices a figure standing at said balcony. Thanks to the bright Altean nights and two blue marks, almost glowing in the moonlight, Keith was able to recognize the familiar mob of brown hair.

 

 

Breath hitching he almost yells out to him, but just as the words form he stops himself. Instead, he books it down the hallway he came down, looking for the closest staircase. He has a feeling if he tells Lance he’s coming, he might be gone when he gets there. Flying up three sets of stairs, he tries to figure out where the balcony might be, but the layout of this place makes his mind spin in just as many mental circles as physical.

 

 

After searching the whole floor to no avail Keith finds his way back to the staircase and runs up two more flights. Feeling Lance is on this one, he runs around in search of him. Seeing a different sort of glow than the usual castle lights, Keith smiles and speeds down the hall. Hooking a right he stops almost immediately, the glow from the moon shining on the floor. Down the hallway lies the open doors of another balcony, a shaggy-haired boy stands right in the middle of it.

 

 

Slowly Keith walks towards the open doors, despite not running any longer his heartbeat doesn’t seem to be slowing down. The whole time he’s been looking for Lance he somehow hasn’t managed to figure out what he was gonna say to him. Now that he’s standing at the doorway, looking at Lance’s profile as he stares emptily at the horizon, he figures it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

 

 

        “So you didn’t leave with the rest of them?” Lance’s voice breaks the silence, startling Keith. His presence obviously already being known, he walks over to the balcony’s edge, eyes towards the deep blue city of Altea just as Lances are.

 

 

        “Somehow I felt like I’d be leaving something important if I did.” Keith says, voice low cause the quiet summer night calls for it. They stare at the distance for a while, neither saying a word because what is there to say. No, really Keith was shit out of ideas. Turning to Look at Lance he examines his face. Soft chin, soft pink lips, cute upturned nose and these piercing blue eyes that always used to light up his face. That was until Allura left him with those Altean marks. The light blue marks steal the attention from those deep dark crystals he has for eyes. They seem to catch the light and glow mockingly at him.

 

 

        “I-,” Keith turns at the sound. “I’m sorry,” Lance suddenly apologizes, catching Keith off guard. He feels his frown when Lance drops his head to hang between his shoulders.

 

 

        “I don’t know why I exploded like that. I totally killed the night for literally no reason.” Lance mutters over his words, “sorry.” Head shaking as he speaks, he seems unaware of how Keith is struggling to understand why Lance is saying this.

 

 

        “What?” Keith says without another thought, “what do you have to be sorry for?” And he means it, yeah Lance's outburst ended the night but he made a good point. Lance looks up from his hunched position with clear confusion outlining the features of his face, and Keith is coming to realize how familiar this look on Lance's face has become.

 

 

        “Lance you’re right, we aren’t really a team anymore, we haven’t been in a long time. Even when we still had Voltron, we just got so preoccupied and now,” he sighs. “Now I feel like I hardly know you.” Keith can’t help but vent into the night. Arms swinging through the air, trying to prove to Lance himself of all people, that what he said was true.

 

 

        “Lance, nobody thinks you were overreacting.” Keith says, grabbing his shoulder, trying to get him to look over at him. “You said how you felt and damn it Lance.” Keith squeezes as he leans down looking him in the eyes, he really needs him to understand. “It was the truth.”

 

        “Still,” Lance laughs, low, quiet and short. “Now dinner’s over and everyone went home without us.” He turns his head to look at Keith despite his hunched position.

 

 

        “Funny, I was complaining about Allura’s dinner being about other people, and now it’s all about me.” Lance huffs a laugh, “the irony.” He jokes. Breaking the silence, but not preventing it from returning.

 

 

        “We never would have lasted, huh?” Lance says suddenly.

 

 

Frowning, Keith asks “what do you mean?”

 

 

        “Me and Allura, it was never gonna work.” And Keith had to double-take because-

 

 

        “What?” Keith can’t help his surprise, it’s probably written all over his face but he couldn’t care less. What was he hearing right now?

 

 

        “Oh come on, I’m sure you all knew it too.” Lance says with a sad smile, just confusing Keith even more.

 

 

        “But,“ Keith interjects. Questioning all that he knew about Lance, “you loved her?” He says a little softer, and Lance smiles, it never quite reaches his eyes but stretches his cheeks nonetheless.

 

 

        “Yeah, I did.” The confirmation of what he already knows isn't painful anymore, at least that’s what Keith tells himself. “At least I really wanted to.” Lance sighs, leaning back to look at the night sky.

 

 

        “I think I just wanted love, I wanted to love someone and feel loved by them. I was basically useless in space and you guys hardly needed me.” He shrugs, mind somewhere else, speaking softly and calmly, as if he was talking about the weather. “I guess I just wanted someone to need me.” Lance says not even looking at Keith as he talks. Which is probably for the best because Keith wasn’t doing so well. Could his words be any more ironic? The boy he loved ever so desperately just told him that he felt as though nobody loved him at all. Keith could almost laugh if only he didn’t feel so jaded.

 

 

He is so the wrong person to be doing this, holy shit. Keith would give anything for Hunk or Shiro or Coran to just appear out of thin air because although he’s better than he was, Keith still only really speaks in right hooks and swift jabs. And he’s pretty sure he can’t punch Lance’s low self-esteem, no matter how much he’d like to. Processing all this information as best he could he takes a breath.

 

 

        “I know I said you were right before but I take it back,” Keith says and actually gets a cute little half-hearted snort that spurs him forward. “Lance, you’re out of your mind if you think you were useless while we were in space.” Keith says, and he can feel his rage building with the longer he thinks about it. “I mean you not only were the quickest to adapt to the lion switch, but you helped both me and Allura with our switch.” His hands start to wave intensely as he speaks so he runs them through his hair to try and ground himself.

 

 

        “I mean, you helped me get a grip when Shiro was gone and helped all of us from spiralling into madness.” Keith insists, voice growing from low and calm to something close to a shout. Reeling with his own emotions as he speaks, he doesn’t notice the almost teary-eyed look Lance is giving him.

 

 

        “Not to mention you’re our god damn sharpshooter Lance. I’ve never seen precision in my life like you picking off sentries from god knows where okay?” And Keith smiles when he says this, picturing the way they’d drop like flies before his eyes. Seeing sentries falling right as they spotted him, knowing that he was always covered, that someone always had his back. Something he didn’t appreciate enough till he was in the blades.

 

 

        “Lance, how could you say you were useless, how could you even think that?” Keith all about shouts, turning back to face Lance after his rant he stops cold. Eyes wide and clear, Lance is looking right at him, a waterfall of tears flood his face as he gapes at him.

 

 

Keith is frozen, not really expecting such a response. “Oh, Lance. I-“ Keith stammers, reaching for the broken boy in front of him, but he flinches away, preventing him from coming any closer, quickly wiping his nose and face.

 

 

Lance takes a deep breath, “It’s alright I’m fine I just,” he sniffs brokenly, rubbing his face. “I guess I just never thought I’d hear that from anyone, let alone-” He clears his throat. “And to think after all this time,” Lance laughs bitterly, looking over at him with red swollen eyes. “What I would’ve given to have heard that before.” And Keith feels his heartbreak in two, the thought that Lance has felt so inferior for so long, and that he contributed to why he did, Keith doesn’t know if he can handle the reality of that. The weight of it pushing so hard on his chest that he can’t stop himself from pulling Lance in his arms. Holding him as tight as he can, he wonders if he could squeeze his pain right out of him. He puts a hand on the back of his head and holds Lance close in his arms, wondering if this is to make Lance feel better or himself. And when he feels Lance place his head on his shoulder, his gasping pushing their chests together as he sobs in his arms. He can’t even try to stop the tears from falling, only pulling him tighter as he shakes with each hiccup. How does he make up for this?

 

 

        “I’m so sorry.”

Notes:

Boom boom boom, see I told ya I'd be back. This one was a bit,,,,,emotional, but this is what the show desperately NEEDED so I've arrived to supply. Tell me how you guys are liking where the story's going so far, also do you guys like or dislike the extra spaces between paragraphs, I'm not sure if they're helpful or too much. I love to hear your oppinions. Hope everyone's doing okay, happier chapters to come, eventually, I promise.

 

Thanks for reading
xoxo

Chapter 5: Only If It's you

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Keith walks into the giant lab, footsteps echoing as he walks towards the small figure. They bob their head as they fiddle in front of far too many screens to be beneficial.

 

 

        “Pidge?” He calls and isn’t surprised when he isn’t met with a response, judging by the massive headset over their scruffy hair. Keith can’t help but roll his eyes, he grabs their shoulder to get their attention. They jump in surprise, grabbing hold of his wrist, they turn around raising a fist to take aim. Eyes wide in panic, they look up and their eyes meet his. Then just as suddenly, they calm, realizing who he is. Sighing, they free his wrist, removing their headphones.

 

 

        “Oh, hey Keith.” They say with an easy smile like the whole exchange hadn’t happened. But Keith knows better than to question their actions, that they were all affected by reluctantly fighting someone else's war. They walk over to a desk, writing something down and setting down their headphones. “Sorry, Matt has been making me wear headphones while I work instead of letting me blast my own music in my own god damn lab,” Pidge says, yelling the end of their sentence towards the other side of the lab where Matt would be. Sighing, they push up their glasses.

 

 

        “Anyway, have you spoken to Lance?” They ask, stepping back to hop up onto their work table, they lift their leg to hug their knee. Keith can hear the concern in their voice as they ask.

 

        

        “No, I wouldn’t know what to say,” Keith sighs

 

 

        “You took him home right?” Pidge asks after some time.

 

 

        “Yeah but we ended up staying in the castle for the night, I don’t think he wanted to go home,” Keith remembers how reluctant Lance was to get on the ship the next morning, that they didn’t end up leaving till dinner time. He wouldn’t admit it if he asked, but Keith thinks Lance doesn’t like it so much on the farm.

 

 

        “I don’t blame him, have you seen how many juniberry flowers grew this year?” Pidge leans forward, lowering their voice like their words are secret. “It depresses me to visit too, Allura loved those flowers.” Keith nods, remembering the sick feeling that washed over him when he first saw them. He paces in front of Pidges desk as he talks. He already told everyone all they needed to know about that night, leaving out what Lance said about Allura. They’re all really concerned for him but nobody knows what to do about it.

 

 

        “He just looked so hollow you know? Like a cartoon character, like he was already dead.” Keith rants, it's been 4 days since he's seen Lance and he can’t stop worrying. He’s even been having nightmares. “I just can’t get the way he spoke out of my head Pidge, I never would have guessed he thought so poorly of himself.” And it’s true, he’s seen Lance self-conscious of himself, but this is another level of self-loathing. Back then Keith felt like his words at least stuck with him. Now he feels like it doesn’t matter what he says, Lance won’t believe him.

 

 

        “Well, I think it got worse after you left,” Pidge says and Keith feels his neck snap towards them.

 

 

        “What do you mean?”

 

 

        “Well I’m not sure, but I feel like he became more and more distant after you left for the Blades.” Pidge says, brows frowned as they think back. “And then by the time we were on our way back to earth, it was like he wasn’t even there anymore. Being with Allura helped I think, but then..” Pidge tapers off, not needing to say what was already known. Pidges words send Keith’s mind whirling, so much so that he takes a seat at one of Pidges desk chairs, putting his head in his hand.

 

 

        “Fuck, what was I even doing?” Surprised by their outburst, Keith looks up to find them in a similar position, elbows on their knees and head in their hands. “I just remember all of us brushing him off all the time, with everything that was happening we were too focused on the coalition and the Gaulra that,” they take off their glasses, rubbing their eyes with the balls of their palms, “fuck.” And at this moment Keith can’t help but remember how young they still are. They turned 19 this year but they have the mentality of adults far older. Looking at them worry about Lance like this really puts it in perspective, they’re all so broken.

 

 

        “Wait?” Pidge says, lifting their head suddenly from their hands. Jumping off the table they rush up to one of the many screens. Typing something in, they scan the screen before them, glasses reflecting the words as they pass by. From where he’s sitting Keith can see when a wicked smile breaks out on their face. Crooked and mischievous, they look over at him like they’re the devil reincarnated, laughing lowly to themself.

 

 

        “I really don’t like that look,” Keith says, fighting the urge to roll back in the chair.

 

 

        “Keith, I called you here to ask you for a favour,” Pidge says menacingly, making Keith even more uneasy with the change in conversation.

 

 

        “Um,”

 

 

        “You see, I need you to visit a certain planet and collect some data from within its core. It should be relatively easy, in fact, you could probably do the whole thing with just one other person.” And somehow their smile grows a little more wicked. “The planet is called Telforeah, have you heard of it?” Pidge asks in a way that makes Keith nervous. Scanning his memory he can’t seem to recall anything by that name.

 

 

        “I don’t think so,” Keith shrugs, shaking his head. Strangely Pidges smile stays in tack, they even chuckle a little to themself.

 

 

        “I mean you wouldn’t would you,” pidge says, making Keith frown. What is that supposed to mean?

 

 

        “I-"

 

 

        “Well, the only person I can think of who might remember the planet is a certain Lance McClain.” And Keith’s confusion only grows. What would Lance know about this random planet? He squints at Pidge, not fully trusting their words. They just smile back at him, all traces of malice gone within seconds.

 

 

        “Pidge,” Keith says in warning but they just put their hands up in mock surrender.

 

 

        “I’m serious, you can even ask him.” Pidges sure tone convinces him a little, but he still thinks he smells a rat. Probably seeing the worried look on his face, they sigh.

 

 

        “Look, Lance could really use a mission right now. He won’t say it but I know he misses space.” Pidge says seriously, their words reminding him of the look on Lance's face when they were in his treehouse. “He needs to remember how much he loved flying and that he was good at it. Not to mention getting him off that godforsaken farm and doing something with his life.” Pidge huffs, smiling with a light tone of voice like they're kidding. But Keith knows their words are well thought out and deep-seated. Lance after all is their friend too. Defeated, Keith signs. He knows they’re right but-

 

 

        “You know he won’t come, he can be so stubborn sometimes,” Keith says, and Pidge smiles and shrugs their shoulders.

 

 

        “Then at least you tried right?” Shaking their head, they cross their arms in front of their chest. “But I feel like if you ask, he’ll come.”

 

 

~

 

 

        “But I feel like if you ask, he’ll come.”

 

What did they mean by that? Keith has been thinking about that all day. As Pidge was explaining the mission, as he was briefing Krolia and Kolivan. And now as he stares at his ceiling, he’s still running her words over in his head. Why did they say it like that, like if anyone else asked he wouldn’t go, but if he did-?

 

 

But that doesn’t make any sense, why would Lance want to listen to him? And then Keith thinks back to what Pidge said, that Lance started growing distant after he left for the blades. He tries to remember when he rejoined Voltron, what did he say to him once he saw him again.

 

 

        “Oh dear god,” Keith mumbles into the night. He covers his head with his pillow in complete mortification. That's when all the memories start flooding back. He hardly even remembers Lance's presence once they got back to earth, but what he can remember is only involving Allura. Keith is mortified at himself, Pidge was right. He remembers everyone brushing Lance aside, fuck he remembers brushing Lance aside. What kind of person treats the person they love like that. Never mind what kind of friend. Sitting in the dark with his pillow pressed firmly to his face he can’t help dramatically wondering if he should just smother himself out of shame. Removing the pillow Keith glares up into the darkness, arms and legs laying limply on his bed. He needs to fix this. He'll make Lance love himself. He'll do it, whatever it takes.

 

 

~

 

 

Fiddling with his suit, he adjusts it again, not liking the way it seems to bunch up in the middle of his chest. A factor he’s never really noticed before. Looking up at his reflection he frowns some more. He glares at his hair, he doesn’t like the look of it but he knows if he tries to fix it, it will only mess it up more. So he just continues to glare at his reflection. He feels like a fish out of water and now his usually perfectly fine appearance has so many issues. Groaning again, he attempts to flatten the pesky fabric under his suit.

 

 

        “Keith everything's ready.” Krolia says as she steps into the room, startling Keith as he quickly shuts the mirror he had open on one of the screens.

 

 

        “Yes okay I’m coming.” Keith splutters quickly, head low and back still to the door.

 

        “Alright but try to not be all day about it.” She says, and he can hear the mockery in her voice. Turning once she’s gone he can’t help but glare at where she stood, she is the worst I swear to god.

 

 

Refusing to reopen the mirror whether out of spite, or the fact that nothing's gonna change his appearance at this point anyway, he heads in the same direction as Krolia, patting his leg and making a clicking sound to signal Kosmo to follow him out.

 

 

Walking into the hangar he heads towards one of the smaller ships where his mom and a few other blades are gathered. Walking up to her he squints at the smile she has on her face.

 

 

        “Oh shut up,” He says, making her Laugh.

 

 

        “I haven’t said anything.” She says in that mocking tone that drives him nuts because she only uses it in regards to a certain someone. Keith crosses his arms as the other blades finish up readying the ship.

 

 

        “Good.” He says, and just as he does a blade member waves, signalling that Keith is good to go. Walking towards the ship he activates his mask so he can hear Krolia from the command center. He steps up to the controls with a little bit of glee, he doesn’t get to fly so much these days, so when he does he savours the feeling. It’s nothing like flying one of the lions but he’ll take what he can get.

 

 

        “Alright so I’ll ready the wormhole for the sakaian sector,” Krolia says to him through his communicator and he can’t help the cringe.

 

 

        “Um, actually?” He interrupts and almost as if she was expecting it, (which she 100% was) Keith see’s her pop up on his monitor, a smug expression poorly hidden behind her fake questioning gaze. His eyes are starting to hurt from the glaring.

 

 

        “Oh, are you going somewhere else Keith?” She asks with all the sincerity of a con man.

 

 

        “Just take me to Earth damn it, you know where I’m going.” Keith mutters under his breath, sending another notice to Earth of his arrival. He hears her ‘quiet’ chuckling and sends her a flat look.

 

 

She clears her throat, “Alright whatever you say.” She concedes, opening a wormhole. “By the way, I’m sure Lance will think you look very dashing in your armour.” Face burning instantly, Keith slams his hands onto the controls.

 

 

        “MOTHER!”

 

 

But before he knows it her face has disappeared and he is forced to grumble his curses as he flies his ship off New Daibazaal towards earth.

 

 

~

 

 

So distracted by the revenge plot he was planning for his mother he forgot to get worried about seeing Lance. And now he’s at his front door, frozen because he hadn’t had the chance to calm himself down yet, and blinking hard to see if the view of Lance's farm door would change is only getting Keith agitated.

 

 

Just knock, what's the worst that could happen?

 

 

He could slam the door in my face without another thought? No, but he wouldn’t do that...probably.

 

 

Just knock, do it.

 

 

Keith tries to convince himself, anxiety and frustration just making him angry with himself.

 

 

Pussy ass bitch can’t even-

 

 

He knocks on the door.

 

 

Nothing.

 

 

He knocks again, and then after a while, again.

 

 

Is he not home? Where else would he be? What happened to that dog from before?

 

 

Deep in his own thoughts, he doesn’t hear footsteps as they approach. The door swings open and Keith nearly jumps out of his skin. Looking up he’s met with a strikingly familiar yet unfamiliar face.

 

 

        “Oh, hello Keith.” Lance’s mother says in a strong Spanish accent, smiling wide and gorgeous and Keith has to hold himself together because of it. That’s Lance’s smile.

 

 

        “U-um, h-hello,” Keith says like he’s never spoken a word before in his life. He’s only met Lance’s mother a couple of times and every time it shocks him how similar they look.

 

 

        “You looking for Lance?” She asks with an interesting sort of tilt to her head, Keith can only nod. “He’s right at his clubhouse,” she says turning and pointing behind her. “ Come in, come,” She smiles, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him into the house. Her arm is interlocked with his and she has a hand on his shoulder as she leads him towards the back door and Keith just follows silently, enjoying the warm touch. She shoo’s him out the back and points towards a tree in the distance with a couple of nods of her head. Stumbling across the yard in the general direction Lance’s mother pointed at, Keith starts to realize what she meant when she said clubhouse as he approaches the bottom of Lance’s childhood treehouse. Two tanned feet dangle from the edge of the house as the boy stares off towards the miles of fields. Sizing up the height, Keith finds the ladder and starts his descent up the tree.

 

 

        “Mamá, eres vieja para estar trepando aquí (Mom, you are too old to be climbing here anymore),” Lance says fluidly as Keith reaches the landing of the treehouse.

 

 

Laughing a little Keith corrects, “I’m not your mama.” He giggles, ‘mama’ being the only word he was able to pick up. Turning to face him in confusion, Lance frowns at him from the edge of the fort. Not letting it bother him, Keith sits down next to him, looking out just as they did only a couple of nights before.

 

 

        “What are you doing here?” Lance speaks the words softly, as if he was speaking to himself, as if Keith wasn't really there. Keith turns to answer him but his breath catches in his chest. The setting sun lights his profile with warm oranges, and they melt into his caramel skin in a way that makes the hair on his arms and neck stand up, his face is so much closer than he thought I'd be. He has to take a moment to collect himself.

 

 

        “I,” He clears his throat. “wanted to check up on you?” And it’s the truth. With the way it seemed to Keith, Lance was unstable and hurting and he doesn't like the idea of him going through that all by himself.

 

 

Lance smiles for a moment and breathes a huff in a silent laugh. He doesn’t look up when he says, “You know,” shaking his head a bit. “ I do have a phone.” And Keith can’t help but snort, not really expecting him to joke like that. Smiling to himself he tries to calm his beating heart.

 

 

        “I uh,” Lance laughs, hands fidgeting in his lap. “I’m sorry for dumping all that on you the other day.” And Keith’s head is already shaking.

 

 

        “Lance-,” but he puts up a hand to stop him.

 

 

        “Let me finish,” Lance says with a whisper. Eyes boring so deeply into his at this moment that Keith's lips snap shut automatically as if Lance commanded them to.

 

 

        “I’m sorry for dumping all that on you the other day, but I’m not sorry I told you.” Lance smiles with his words, hand coming down to cover Keith’s knee in a way he’s sure was meant to be friendly and reassuring. Keith's heart all about stops. He feels the heat rise up his whole body to sit on his face, sucking in a breath between his teeth.

 

 

Lifting his hand he places it back in his lap. “I uh,” looking away Keith can hear the smile in his voice. “Really needed to hear that. So um, thank u, Keith.” And there they are, clear and honest and Blue, his eyes so bright, they light up his face as he smiles small in his direction. This is the Lance he loves. Still flustered and probably red in the face Keith decides now is as good a time as any.

 

 

        “Well your welcome,” he starts. Hand coming up to cup at his neck. “I’m sorry it took so long.” Keith smiles sadly, but Lance doesn’t seem to hold the same sadness. He shakes his head cutely.

 

 

        “It’s not your fault.” He smiles bright, hand coming up to wave at the air but Keith only wilts some more because he feels like it is. Remembering what he’s here for he clears his throat, rubbing his fingers between his thumb, a habit that’s always calmed him down.

 

 

        “Um, Lance?” His voice cracks as he asks and he can’t help but cringe into himself. Clearly not ‘calmed’ at all. Lance just laughs.

 

 

        “YeAs,” Lance answers with a fake voice crack to mock him that Keith can’t help but laugh at, pushing his arm which gets Lance chucking too. This is nice.

 

 

        “Um well, I was wondering if you had any plans today?” Keith just blurts out, trying not to think too much about, well everything. Looking over, Lance's mouth is slightly parted, eyes wider than before.

 

 

        “Um, n-no? Why?” He asks, seeming more nervous than before for some reason. Keith guesses he doesn’t like being questioned.

 

 

        “What about tomorrow? Do you have anything you need to do then?” Keith asks, trying to sound non-intrusive. Lips pressing together Lance shakes his head.

 

 

        “Nope, not that I can think of, in fact, the idea of skipping on chores is sounding better and better.” Lance jokes and Keith laughs happy to see he’s in a good mood.

 

 

        “Well, then how would you like to go on a mission with me?” Keith asks and he sees a lag in Lance's smile.

 

 

        “Oh, you want me to go on a mission,” Lance says, lacking greatly in excitement but before Keith has even a second to digest his reaction Lance is jumping back.

 

 

        “WAIT YOU WANT ME TO GO ON A MISSION?!” Lance basically screams in his face. Eyes wide and arms up as if he’s trying to protect himself from the news.

 

 

        “Um, yeah, I’m visiting a planet for Pidge and-“

 

 

        “And for some reason, you think I should come?” Lance interrupts. Keith frowns a bit.

 

 

        “Well, not for some reason I do have a reason why-“ Keith starts to mumble a little.

 

 

        “Pidge put you up to this,” Lance says on a tangent all on his own. “That slimy little shit, I know what they're doing,” Lance says to the sky, shaking a fist as if Pidge was looking down at him laughing. “They must think they're so slick convincing you to do this.” Lance says glaring at nowhere in particular.

 

 

        “They didn’t convince me,” Keith interrupts. Knowing that Lance might go on like that for a while otherwise. His head snaps towards him, pure confusion written on his face but fists still raised to the sky. He can’t help but laugh a little at the sight.

 

 

Lance blinks, “they didn’t?” He asks and Keith just giggles more.

 

 

        “Well they suggested I could invite you, but I wanted to so they didn’t have to convince me.” And that’s more or less the truth. As soon as Pidge mentioned it, he knew he wanted Lance to come with him, it was more a matter of whether or not his heart could take it. Lance seems to wilt from his defensive stance, the tense muscles on his face seeming to relax.

 

 

        “Really?” Lance says, voice small again for some reason. Keith feels his lips pull into the half-smile that he sends Lance as an attempt of being reassuring.

 

 

        “Yeah Lance, I think it’ll be fun.” Keith says with a full smile on display now. He leans over and nudges Lance's arm, getting a couple of chuckles out of him.

 

 

        “Besides, imma need my right-hand man as back up,” Keith jokes some more. Not addressing how his own words make him feel and instead opts for nudging Lance a couple of times more. “Come on sharpshooter I need you on this one.” Keith says punching Lance's arm now, softly landing little pats as he talks. Hopefully, this will distract from just how red his cheeks must be. Laughing now Lance pushes him back by the shoulders.

 

 

        “Okay okay, I get it, I’ll go,” Lance says simply and Keith feels his fists freeze. Eyes finally lifting to meet his expectant ones in pure glee.

 

 

        “Really? You will?” Keith can’t help but ask, not really expecting him to concede so quickly, if at all. It reminds Keith that his and Lance's relationship is a lot different than what it was before. Lance let go of him and that’s ironically when Keith realized Lance was holding him in the first place. Scratching his face Lance leans back.

 

 

        “I mean seeing as you basically begged me to come, it’s the least I can do.” He smirks in a way Keith hasn’t seen him do in a long time. He feels it warm him from the inside out. It’s so nice to finally see little pieces of the old Lance, knowing that he’s still somewhere inside him. He has to get up because he can’t hide the grin on his face. He doesn’t make his escape though, making sure that this time he stretches his own hand in assistance.

 

 

“Then let's go,”

Notes:

Whoo-hoo, another chapter completed! This one is a bit longer than the last but also can I get a hell yeah in the chat for non-binary Pidge? I know in the first chapter I wrote them as her, but I can't help but feel in my soul that sometime between then and now she came out as non-binary. Honestly, it just feels wrong to write them as she, so I hope you don't mind, but also your wrong if you disagree :) Another thing, I am so sorry for the Spanish, it's probably terrible, if anyone wants to help me I'd love you forever. I tried my best I really did. I'm from Canada okay, we speak French here. Anyways loves I hope you liked this one, please tell me if you're liking the story so far, in the next chapter we meet Lance's mom so look forward to that. Hope everyone's happy and healthy, and staying safe.

Thanks for reading
xoxo

Chapter 6: Mother Knows Best

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

They make their way down the ladder and back into the house, on their way there Keith starts briefing Lance on the basics of the mission. Having explained it already 3 or 4 times you’d think Keith would have the mission plan down by now, but he finds himself stumbling and rambling over his words like a flustered preteen. Once they get inside they catch Lance’s mother chopping up something in the kitchen. Lance tells his mother their plans and the woman gasps, dropping her knife and clasping her hands together in joy.



        “Oh, that’s so exciting mijo!” She says with her hands held to the side of her face. The short round woman seemingly the most excited one at the idea of Lance returning to space. She walks up and hugs him tightly. Pulling back and looking up at her tallboy, Keith watches as she lifts a hand to cup her son's cheek. 



        “Mi Vida, she would be happy, I know she would.” And though she speaks softly, Keith hears every word, which makes the broken smile that cracks onto Lance's face the more heartbreaking. He looks away then, feeling as though the scene isn’t meant for his eyes to share. 



        “Thank you Mamá,” he hears Lance say to his mother, the soft tone of his voice making him shiver. Oh, look what a lovely shade of yellow the cabinets are painted. 



Someone clears their voice, breaking the silence, causing Keith to turn around. “Now Lance, you go and you pack for your trip,” Lance's mother says, pushing Lance out of her arms and in the direction of the stairs. “I’ll stay with Keith here, you go get ready.” She says as she pushes the boy forward, Lance looking like this has happened before glances at Keith, giving him a look that says something along the lines of “sorry” before he disappears upstairs. 



Watching him as he leaves, Keith’s eyes linger on the space where Lance was, looking away, Keith jumps back a bit in surprise at the sight of Lance’s mother right in front of him. She’s looking his face over with this smile that has him very uncomfortable. He looks away and carefully lifts his hand to scratch his head. 



        “Umm,”



        “You were the red one yes?” Lance’s mother asks suddenly as she walks back over to the kitchen where they had found her originally. Bristling for a second, Keith’s brows frown confused.



        “What do you-,” then realization hits. “Oh, um. Yes, I was the red Paladin, though I had the black lion for a bit.” Keith says embarrassed by his own awkwardness, trying not to shuffle his feet as she just nods in understanding. 



Without looking up she continues, “Keith you are a good warrior right?” She says as she starts to expertly dice onions. Keith has to think for a couple of seconds this time.



        “I-”



        “I mean can you fight well, and are you strong?” She speaks, never once looking up from her work. Keith is caught very off guard, he didn’t think he’d be asked such strange questions.



        “I’d like to think so,” Keith answers, a little wary. Surely she’s heard many stories of Voltron and its paladins, they were legends all over the galaxy. Not to mention her son was one of them. She nods again at his response, head held down.



        “Good, I just need to make sure.” She says, her hands have all but stopped moving since he answered and Keith watches as she just stands there looking at her hands. “My Lance was gone for a long time, and I didn’t know-.” She breathes looking up to meet his eyes and Keith sucks in a breath. “I am happy to know he is safe with you.” she says, her voice clear and even despite the tears lining the rims of her eyes. Keith can’t stop the sadness that her expression pours into him, such conflicting emotions hidden in her warm features that he’ll never be able to decipher. 

 

        “I promise to take care of him,” is all he can think to say. The responding smile is big and blinding, just like Lance’s. 

 

She clears her throat and wipes at her eyes.“Sit Keith, do you like coffee?” And Keith can’t help but sigh as well. 



        “Yes, one would be great thanks.” Sitting at one of the island chairs, Keith relaxes if even a bit, though the lingering view of Lance’s mother looking at him like Keith was stealing her son away is something he doesn’t think he can easily shake. 



        “I much prefer coffee to tea,” Keith says in a dire attempt at conversation. Whipping around, the short woman places an angry fist on her hip. 



        “He gave you tea, did he? Querido Dios, that boy is not my son.” She says at a much louder volume and pointing to the ceiling, surprising the hell out of Keith. “He is the only one who drinks it, like we don’t grow our own granos de café right here. I swear that boy is not mine.” Shaking her head she turns and continues to fix his drink. Utterly confused and frankly sorry he brought the topic up, Keith tries to file that away as something to not mention again. 



        “So Lance told me you’re the maker for G.A.H.R.O, actually Lance tells me a lot about you.” She says with what could only be described as a mischievous sort of smirk that just screams Lance in every way possible. Okay but wait, what does she mean? Is she saying Lance talks about him? I mean they were teammates he probably talks about all of them a lot. But then why did she say it like that? Like he was-



        “That’s very good for you to do.” Her voice making Keith’s head snap up, not realizing he was zoning out. He can’t see her expression since she's turned around, but really he’s just glad she can’t see his. Keith breathes slowly, now these are questions he knows how to answer.



        “Well I could hardly call myself the creator, but I did helped start it.” Keith huffs a laugh, running a hand through his bangs and probably messing up his ponytail.



        “You must like space to live there.” She says pouring the coffee into a cup. “You like crema-ah, cream?” She stutters looking up, Keith shakes his head no but accepts sugar. Receiving the cup, he looks down into the dark liquid, running her question around in his mind. The warmth from the cup grounding him without the need to take a sip.



        “Well, um, it’s the closest thing I have to a home, besides it’s easier to get to missions if you’re already on a ship.” Keith answers nervously, he doesn’t want her pity or anything, but for some reason, the thought of lying to her felt wrong. Looking at her as he takes a sip from his cup, her expression seems more contemplative than pitiful which he’s grateful for.



        “I never understood Lance and his love for the stars and space and all this,” she says with a wave of her hand as she stirs her own cup of coffee. “But when he was gone, I-” she pauses, looking for her words. “I would look up and know he was up there with them.” She says looking out the window and taking a sip. “Sometimes I wonder if some of him still is.” She asks allowed, but Keith frowns at her words. Startled, her eyes land on his, “This is why I thank you for helping him find what it is he lost.” She says smiling as she sips at her drink. Keith nods, lifting his mug to do the same but his mind is working a mile a minute. What does she mean by that? What could Lance have left in space other than- maybe Allura? His heart? Could be the lions? No that makes no sense. My god if this woman was gonna ask so much of him, the least she could do is spell it out so he could understand. 



The sound of footsteps sound from above them as Lance runs down the stairs. With a duffle bag the size of a Pidge slung over his shoulder and a fresh pair of clothes hanging from his lanky limbs. Lance stumbles into the kitchen, body folded almost completely in half to support the weight of the bag, and Keith turns to watch Lance drop it as soon as he enters.



        “Okay, I’m ready,” Lance says with a huff and a smile towards them that makes Keith feel the same urge pull at the corners of his lips, but he schools his expression. 



        “You gave Keith tea?” Keith hears Lance’s mother shout from behind him making Keith’s shoulders rise a bit in surprise. Kieth watches Lance’s eyes roll back into his head. 



“Amá.” Lance groans the name. 



~



After some more hot beverages, arguments about said beverages and promises to visit that Keith couldn’t say no to, the two are ready to board the ship. Walking them up, Lance and his mother argue over what qualifies as important information to share as their tiny dog barks around Keith’s feet. 



        “Okay but Má, Keith doesn’t need to know that, I have a reputation to uphold here.” Lance huffs with a frustrated hand coming up to rub at his forehead, but not without the trace of a smile still lingering. 



        “He needs to know about your gimnasia mijo, you were so good!” Lance's mother defends, and Lance rolls his eyes. “I should show Keith your cute little outfits, sometimes you even wore Veronica’s tutu and-” 



        “Mother that is quite enough!” Lance hastily reaches to cover his mother's mouth, and she swiftly swats his hands away and Keith can’t help but laugh. They stop once they get to the entrance to the ship, ready to say their goodbyes. Just then Kosmo teleports before them, probably sensing another dog close by and coming to say hi. Lance’s tiny dog immediately goes into defence mode, crouching low and barking in her face. Only wanting to play, Kosmo doesn’t get the message and pounces on the poor tiny dog causing the two to tumble clumsily to the floor. 



        “Awe, I could just die,” Lance coos in their direction and runs over to rub at the dog's bellies. 



        “Keith?” He hears Lance's mother say from next to him. Keith turns to see she is looking at Lance as he tries to wrestle with Kosmo, the sound of frantic barking from Lance's tiny dog as he tries to help from a distance is background to the still between them. 



        “My children mean,” she pauses in thought, “more than life to me.” She explains in a tone she hasn’t used in front of Keith. Even when she was about to cry, Keith still felt a warmth from her that seems to be missing now. He swallows. 



        “This one is strong,” She says with a nod towards Lance. “But he breaks easy,” She breaths, eyes never leaving her son. “I know you will bring him back but-,” shaking her head, she closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them looking into his. 



        “Please, don’t break him?” Piercing yet soft, her eyes bore into Keith’s in a way that makes him almost wanna take a step back. He wants to look away, but he knows he shouldn’t, that would just confirm her fears wouldn’t it. Keith is so confused, what does she keep talking about? Why is she acting like somethings gonna happen on the mission?



        “Oof,” Keith turns to find Lance laying flat on his back with a dazed sort of painful look on his face, Kosmo and Lance’s dog licking at his face. “Ah, jeez okay I accept defeat,” Lance laughs as he covers his face from the wet noses and tongues trying to give him kisses. Freeing himself from the clutches of overexcited dogs, Lance jumps to his feet.



        “Okay, we ready to go Keith?” Lance asks, swinging his giant bag over his shoulder, unaware of the conversation that just conspired. Nodding at his question but mind somewhere else entirely, Keith looks back to Lance’s mother.



        “I promise to take good care of him,” Keith says with light bow of respect, but also so he could speak the words faintly so only she would hear. Lifting his head he’s faced with that smile again, the one she shared when he first arrived, the one that screams Lance like no other.



        “You can say mamá Milly okay,” she says, taking Keith by surprise. He feels himself freeze at her offer.

 

Walking closer to where they stand Lance plops his bag back down, “wow Keith, you’re practically family now, only Hunk gets to call her that.” Lance says with an easy smile that matches his mothers to a T, making Keith's head spin. He can’t help the blush that fights to rest on his cheeks, but damn it he tries. 



        “W-well we should be going,” Keith says nervously, feeling far more flustered than he really should. Lance and his mother exchange parting words and tight hugs before Lance, him and Kosmo board the ship with a waving mamá Milly disappearing behind closing doors. Walking into the small cockpit triggers the ship's sensor, causing the controls to activate. Turning cause Lance stopped walking, Keith frowns, he’s just standing there staring at the controls. Walking over to the pilot's seat, Keith presses the button that turns the seat around to be more easily accessed.



        “You can fly it,” Keith feels himself saying like it had to be said. Lance's eyes snap up from where they were fixated, shock and, was that fear? Stepping hesitantly forward, Lance places his fingertips on the armrest.



        “Keith, I-”



        “You can,” Keith interrupts. He knows Lance hasn’t flown since the Lions left, and if he loves flying as much as he did, he misses it. Taking a breath, Lance turns and sits in the seat. Keith presses the button, turning the chair around once again and leaning over the side of it to see Lance as his hands hover over the controls. Breathing again he starts the engine and opens the front window, allowing them to see Lance’s farm.



Lance laughs nervously, smile only appearing to disappear within seconds. “Bare with me it’s been a while,” he says as he shakes out his hands and cracks his neck this side and the next. Slowly pushing down on the controls he eases the ship into a hover. Breathing out like he was holding his breath, Lance presses forward, sending the ship higher and forward. Slowly they build speed until Lance is flying them into the upper atmosphere, going every which way and doing loopty loops making Keith have to hold onto the seat for dear life. The smile on his face is wide and easy, a lot of the nervousness he felt before seeming to melt away slowly as he hollers, leaning forward as if trying to get closer to the horizon. Keith is suddenly reminded of when Lance first flew the blue lion, he can’t help but shout along with him. Laughing together Keith walks and sits in the co-pilot's seat. Pulling up the coordinates Pidge gave him, Keith turns to Lance. The sun warming the skin on his face as they fly far above some ocean, smiling finally like he wants to be doing it. He turns and catches his gaze. 

 

“You ready?” Lance says, his smile infectious and pulls Keiths own from hiding. 



“Hell yeah.”

Notes:

And here is another one, we finally get to properly meet Lance's mother and now I get to apologize to any Spanish speakers AGAIN! I really hope I didn't offend anyone, I tried my best but if anyone didn't like anything or has some advice about writing bilingual characters or even specifically spanish speaking characters then I'm all ears. As always please share your thoughts with me in the comments, it's really motivates me to write and keep publishing. Stay safe everyone :)

Thanks for reading
xoxo

Chapter 7: Once a Paladin

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Keith had prepared. He had a long chat with Kosmo about this trip, he even called Shiro, though he promptly got hung up on. He said something like 'stop calling me about Lance,' like Keith doesn’t get weekly updates about what cute thing Curtis did last. Though it wasn’t ideal, Keith couldn’t say he wasn’t used to it. But he was as prepared as he could be, he planned the whole trip down to a T and was ready for anything.

 

 

That is until Lance had all about insisted Keith let him fly all the way there without a worm whole. Keith’s brain almost short-circuited, he had not planned to spend a whole lot of time in the ship, yet here he was trying not to stare at Lance’s delighted face as he sores through space at top speed. And he had to come up with something to fucking say? Keith might just throw himself out an air socket.

 

 

        “God, I forgot what it’s like to fly a normal ship, last thing I flew was red and even that was forever ago.” Lance says not even looking over at Keith as he menuvors away from another planet. Keith can’t help but nod, eager for the conversation to continue.

 

 

        “Isn’t it so different, almost like you're playing a video game.” Keith laughs at the idea, but it really does feel like that. Flying with the lions was so immersive, almost like he was flying through space too. Comparing that to a regular ship is laughable.

 

 

        “Oh my god, that’s it exactly.” Lance almost shouts in excitement. “I miss the feeling honestly.” Lance says a lot quieter, still looking straight ahead. Keith nods, understanding completely.

 

 

        “Yeah me too, nothing can compare.” Keith says just as softly, but not without a smile on his face. They weren’t just ships to them, they were a part of their little family. And just like everyone else who has left, Keith misses them. All five of them had bonds with the lions, with all they went through together, how could they not miss them?

 

 

        “Do you ever wonder what they're doing?” Lance asks, finally looking over at him with amusement on his face, it was a good look. Keith frowns his brows, confused, and only slightly because he was minorly distracted.

 

 

        “What do you mean?”

 

 

        “Well they just flew away right, do you think they’re like flying through space? Or maybe they’re watching over us, waiting till we need them like some kind of robo guardian.” Lance says with a goofy smirk on his lips and a raise of his brows, making Keith laugh.

 

 

        “Guardian lions,” Keith supply’s with a laugh.

 

 

        “Robo jesus.”

 

 

        “Godtron,” Keith could hardly hold in his laughter long enough to spit the words out before they both burst into fits of laughter. Lance with a smile wide and large as his chest shakes.

 

 

        “I pray that Godtron watches over us always,” Lance says in mock seriousness, but he can’t hide the laughter in his voice. He shakes his head at the ridiculousness of it all, but Keith is just proud he was able to make Lance laugh like that. A warm feeling fills his chest, sometimes he forgets that he’s Lances friend first before anything else.

 

 

They chat the entire way there, nothing serious, just jokes and light banter, as if there's nothing better to talk about. Before he can tell that time has passed, they’ve just about arrived, a beautiful tiny planet comes into view. Blue and green covers the planet like a smaller version of earth, but with rock and debris surrounding it strangely. It’s a beautiful sight really, and Keith can’t help but gape at it.

 

 

        “Woah, it’s beautiful.” Keith can’t help but say as they steadily approach.

 

 

        “Yeah, it,” Lance pauses, causing Keith to look over at him in concern. Lance is staring at the planet in confusion. Brows and lips are frowned and Keith can’t help but mimic the expression. “it’s beautiful.” He mumbles and flies the ship forward. Keith wants to ask if Lance is alright but as he flies around the debris he finds himself watching in wonder as he minuvors the ship with ease.

 

 

        “Woah Lance you still got it.” Keith can’t help but praise as he barrel rolls over a giant meteoroid. But he says nothing as he continues forward, Keith sits back in his chair.

 

 

~

 

 

Finally they land in a clearing on the outskirts of a dense forest. This is one of the closest clearings to the initiation point for Pidges device, yet it’ll still be a day and a halfs walk till they get there. Keith’s packing his bag in silence, it’s been this way since they got to the planet. Keith doesn’t know why he’s so quiet suddenly, but Lance seems to know this place, and it apparently doesn’t bring fond memories.

 

 

He’s just about finished packing and as a last step he goes to put his blade in its holster but stops. He finds himself looking down at it, fixated on his reflection appearing on the luxite. Finally, he puts it in place but he leaves his bag in search of something else. Pidge gave it to him when he left their lab, pulling it out makes even him feel strange. Holding it incorrectly to be sure it won’t weaponize for him, he walks over to where Lance is quietly packing for the hike.

 

 

        “Hey Lance,” Keith calls as he approaches. “Did you bring a weapon of some kind, you know just in case?” Pausing what he’s doing, Lance turns to the side to look at Keith over his shoulder in confusion.

 

 

        “Uh, no, you never said anything about having a weapon.” Lance says, voice low and hesitant.

 

 

        “That’s alright, I have one you can use.” Keith says with a smirk as he lifts the bayard, holding it up for him to grab. Stunned, Lance turns around only to take a step back, almost flinching away once he lays eyes on the red bayard. The very one he used way back when. Frozen, Lance doesn’t move, wide eyes staring at the weapon in Keith's hand.

 

 

Shaking it a bit as a signal to grab it, Keith smiles. “Lance take it, it’s yours.” Keith tries to encourage, he can understand how Lance feels, Keith feels strange holding it too. Even still, Keith knows Lance needs this. Lance reaches out a hand slowly before withdrawing it at the last second.

 

 

        “How do you know it’ll even work?” Lance asks. Looking up, Keith meets his striking blue eyes. He sees it. Lance is scared, but Keith doesn’t know if it's a fear of it not weaponizing for him or a fear that it will.

 

 

Keith shrugs, “I don’t.” That simple answer seemed to be enough for Lance to reach out his hand and grab the bayard by its handle. Holding it out in front of himself, they watch as a flash of red comes from his hand, morphing the bayard into a gun before their eyes. Keith can’t help the smile that spreads across his face from pure delight when he sees Lance's shocked face holding his activated bayard. Looking down at it with his mouth open, he looks up at Keith in a shock that Keith can’t help but match.

 

 

        “Holy shit it worked,” Lance whispers as if nobody can know, but Keith laughs loudly in excitement without a second thought.

 

 

        “Lance it fucking worked you’re still the red paladin.” Keith almost shouts in his face. Wanting to jump up and down but stopping himself. Looking up at Keith’s words, Lance frowns.

 

 

        “But we,” He starts but Keith can’t help but interrupt.

 

 

        “Does it matter?” Keith says, swinging his arms, “it still works, that means you're always gonna be the red paladin.” Keith all bout shouts with the widest smile on his face, he can feel it stretching his cheeks and he lets it. Lance looks at him, not matching his smile at all, making Keith’s excitement wither a bit. He has an expression that Keith really can’t place, he looks down at the gun in his hand with that same expression. Suddenly another flash of red and the gun morphs into something else. A red and white broadsword appears in Lance’s hand, long and straight, it configures between them. Keith feels his breath catch in surprise, rendering himself speechless as he steps back, allowing Lance the space to twirl the weapon once testing its weight. Keith blinks.

 

 

Looking up at him, Lance’s smile grows ever so slowly. “I-”

 

 

        “YOU HAVE A SWARD!” Keith can’t help but scream, pure shock and happiness flood his emotions as he steps closer to inspect the weapon. Face coming close to the blade without fear, he feels the flat side of the blade. Looking sideways to see it’s length, Keith almost whimpers at the sight. Lance seems to find that funny.

 

 

        “Don’t get too hard on me now, this is my sword.” Lance tries to say in a serious tone, forgetting about the smile on his face. Looking up at the boy, he rolls his eyes.

 

 

        “Well if you wanna keep it, you better watch out.” Keith smirks at him, standing up straight to match his height, he crosses his arms. “the real question is since when?” Keith can’t help but ask. If he had known sooner that Lance had a sword….actually this might be a problem. His mind is already supplying very unhelpful visuals that he actually rather not delve into.

 

 

Clearing his throat Keith looks back down, “while you were at the blades I unlocked it. Apparently Alfor used the same one when he was red paladin.” Lance smiles and turns the handle a few times in his hand, almost as if he were trying to remember the feeling. “Actually I never fully learned how to use it,” he says, frowning at the blade in his hands. Head snapping up, Lance takes a step towards him.

 

 

        “You could totally teach me,” Lance says with a beautiful smile, eyes piercing his from across the space between them. Keith feels his eyes widen on instinct at the idea. The mental picture of Lance wielding a sword is one thing, but for Keith to be able to spar with him? To feel his strength against his? To be pinned down by him-

 

 

        “I mean unless you don’t want to, it’s not like it's for anything really.” At Lance's words Keith looks up, having apparently spaced off a bit. “I mean it’s not like I need to train and you’ve got lots of important things you're doing,” Lance rambles on, even going as far as deactivating his sword back to its original form. Rushing forward on instinct, Keith grabs the hand holding his bayard.

 

 

        “No no, I want to,” Keith says out without thinking. Not a second later Keith realizes their proximity and his grasp on Lances forearm. Frantically letting go, Keith takes a step back, awkwardly letting his hands down by his sides. “I mean, we should train together, it’d be helpful for me too to teach someone else.” Keith suggests, trying desperately to recover from his previous...awkwardness.

 

 

Turning, Lance puts his bayard in his bag, going quiet. Maybe he’s thinking about it, yeah he’s probably just thinking about it. Honestly, Keith has no clue and it’s making him anxious. Picking at his nails, Keith tries not to fidget as he waits for his answer. Slowly Lance turns back around, fingers in his other hand in a tight grasp.

 

 

        “I mean if you’re sure,” Lance hesitated. Instantly Keith replies.

 

 

        “Yeah I’m sure,” he says quickly, trying to push down not only Lance’s insecurities but his own. “Um, plus I think it’d be fun too.” Keith adds on slower than before. Laughing a bit to break the tension. Lance lets out a short laugh that matches his, a small smile drifts onto his lips.

 

 

Clearing his throat, Lance picks up his bag and shrugs his shoulders. “Shall we?” Keith leans forward with a nod of his head in a kind of ‘yes right’ sort of motion. Rushing, he walks over to where his bag has been waiting, throwing it over his shoulder and rushing back to Lance's side. Patting his leg, Kosmo appears at the command, wearing her harness with a small bag that he had put on her previously. All three packed up and ready to go, Keith activates the main hatch. As it opens for them, the pair walk out onto the planet of Telforeah.

 

 

The planet's air is safe to breath and the water is okay to drink, but Keith wasn’t expecting the paradise they seemed to find themselves in. Keith has always loved nature, but the giant green trees with surrounding grass and wildflowers looked straight out of a painting.

 

 

        “Wow, look at those trees, they're huge.” Keith can’t help but voice as he walks towards the opening of the forest.

 

 

        “Bigger than I remember,” Lance mumbles but Keith has already walked ahead, unable to hear.

 

 

Whistling, Kosmo runs over and sits in front of Keith on command. “Kos, scope out the first mile ahead of us,” Keith orders. Then in an instant, she’s gone without a trace. Turning back to face Lance, Keith activates his gauntlet, checking when the sun will set on this side of the planet.

 

 

        “Seriously, the fact that she was once wild is terrifying.” Lance pipes up, pulling at the straps of his bag casually.

 

 

        “Hmm?” Keith hums in confusion, looking up with frowned brows.

 

 

        “Kosmo,” Lance says pointing at the forest in explanation." You sure Pidge never replaced her brain with like, Rover 2.0 or something?” Lance asks and Keith can’t help but spit a laugh. They both start walking toward the forest without a word, continuing the conversation without a hitch.

 

 

        “What?” Keith laughs.

 

 

        “I’m serious, because I’ve been trying to teach mojo to roll over for years, but his stupid pea brain can’t get it.” Lance says with fake frustration as he pinches the bridge of his nose with a smile.

 

 

        “Maybe if you take him to pidge they’ll upgrade him for you.” Keith laughs, stepping over a fallen branch.

 

Tilting his head back, Lance barks a laugh loudly. “Yeah, like I’d trust anything that little mastermind would whip up for me.” He says with a roll of his eyes but a smile on his lips. “One second he’ll be barking like normal the next he’s eating my hair in my sleep and shitting on my pillow.” Now Keith really does laugh, eyes closing for a second causing him to wobble on the uneven terrain.

 

 

        “What’s sad is they really would do that.” Keith can’t help but supply. Pidge is known galactically at this point for their pranks.

 

 

        “Are you kidding?” Lance asks, looking over at Keith from below the summer sun as it peeks through the trees. His smile, large and easy. Keith watches as Lance's eyes land on his. “Asking them to do that would be like an open invitation,” And it really does take Keith a second. Looking away with a smile he can’t help, Keith closes his eyes and sees the scene as if his mind had taken a picture. Lance standing in the forest smiling at him like there was nothing better to do. He sees it every time he closes his eyes, almost like some kind of beautiful torture. He finds his eyes can’t stay open.

Notes:

Hello readers, welcome to the next chapter. FINALLY their back on Telforeah, it only took like 4 chapters to finally get back here. I hope you like this one :) Also, I actually don't know if they had their bayards after the lions left or not but let's just pretend they did okay, thanks. As always please leave a comment if you have any opinions or things you're enjoying about the story, they help me stay motivated and are much appreciated. Hope everyone's staying happy and healthy.

Thanks for reading,
xoxo

Chapter 8: Monsters Lurk In The Deep

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It’s been a couple of hours of walking through dense forest, and although Keith is sweating, and the terrain is narrow and ruff, he can’t help but have a nice time with Lance. Keith isn’t much of a talker (as surprising as that is), he prefers to be alone or in silence, something he’s learned he gets from his mother. Yet with Lance, conversation isn’t only easy, but Keith finds himself actively prolonging or starting it, just to hear Lance's voice. Which is strange even for him, never had the two of them been this close. Even before Keith left for the blades, Lance and him had never gone for long just peacefully enjoying each other's company. I guess he can thank maturity for that, but it’s still a strange and new feeling for Keith.

 

 

        “Okay, Keith I know you were like, born on a log and raised in a barn, but,” Lance says after a few minutes of comfortable silence between the two. Turning to look at him, Keith finds that Lance had trailed a bit behind. He’s standing with his hands on his hips and his body leaned forward a bit. “Can we stop for a break or something? Cause I might just go into cardiac arrest,” Lance heaves as he slowly makes his way over to where Keith is standing. 



Keith can’t help but laugh, “yeah let’s stop for a bit, I’m tired too.” And almost as if he was waiting for Keith to okay, Lance drops his bag and collapses at the foot of a giant tree. Legs spread wide, he rests his head against it. Keith rolls his eyes with a smile and walks over, he puts his bag with Lances but not before grabbing some water bottles. Sitting down next to him, Keith hands him one. Silently grabbing it was a little head tilt in thanks, Lance releases the cap and guzzles the liquid down. After the first gulp, Keith looks away. 



Appearing, Kosmo returns from scoping the nearby area, he notices Lance jump in surprise. Keith has her check the surrounding area every hour or so, just to be sure. Walking over to him she noses at his hand. He flips it around to reveal his palm and as expected she licks it. Smiling, he scratches her head. 



        “Good girl, we’ll leave in a bit, rest.” And just like that, the giant wolf lays down next to him, curling into his side with her head on his lap. 



        “What kind of morse code bullshit was that?” Lance asks from beside him. Turning, Keith finds wild bewilderment written all over Lance's goofy face and he can’t help but huff a laugh. 



        “Kosmo found water nearby, that’s how she tells me,” Keith answers simply, rubbing at her fur instinctively. Lance’s expression doesn’t change, if anything he just looks more confused. 



        “How on earth did you teach her to do that?” Lance asks, even sits up despite his exhaustion to look at him more clearly. Smiling Keith looks down at her. 



        “We’ve been in a lot of situations where we only had each other to rely on,” Keith says, hands smoothing down the fur on her head, soothing Keith more than anything else. “We had to find a way to communicate or we would have never survived.” Keith says with a small smile, he trusted this wolf more than anyone, he knew no matter what happens she has his back, and that’s been enough. 



It’s silent after that, neither really knowing what to say in response. Then Keith sees Lance's hand from the corner of his eye rubbing Kosmo’s back. Pausing his movements he looks up at him. Lance is sitting there, cross-legged, bending over and rubbing at the side of her face. Opening her eyes but not moving, Kosmo looks at him. Lance looks her in the eyes as he holds her face, still laying on his lap. He rubs the fur away from her eyes slowly, smiling at her with so much sincerity it catches Keith by surprise. 



        “Thank you for taking care of him for us.” He whispers to her, voice low but clear. Keith feels his breath hitch, he must know he can hear him right. So then why break his heart right in front of him. Leaning forward he plants a kiss on her temple, the exact place Keith always does, as if he knew. And when he draws back, she licks his chin. Smiling at him in her own way. Keith’s heart squeezes at the sight, not really expecting Lance to get along with her the way that they are. 



Kosmo usually keeps to herself, she used to actually hate other people. After a while, she’s learned to tolerate others, but not willingly. The only other person she’s ever really been warm towards was Krolia, and that’s because she was there when he found her. Yet somehow, she licks at Lance's scrunched-up face as he squirms away. With Lance it's different. I guess he can relate to that. 



~



After around 20 minutes of resting, they decide it’s time to start moving again. Standing up despite their sore feet and putting back on their heavy bags, they follow Kosmo to the water she found. Another 20 or so minutes pass and the sound of crashing water gets louder and louder until,



        “Woah,” Lance says, pointing towards the blue lake they were approaching. Running ahead with a giant wolf on his heels, Keith smiles and follows at a slower pace. “Keith it’s a whole lake.” He hears Lance shout from up ahead, he turns around and jumps as he points towards said lake. His excitement riling up Kosmo as she jumps with him. It’s too cute and Keith has to rub at his chest to smooth its squeezing before it crushes his heart. 



They reach the clearing and Lance drops his bag without care, jumping over the rocks that litter the shore towards the water, and Kosmo jumps around him just excited by the excitement. A large lake spreads out before them, far larger than Keith was expecting, but nonetheless, his eyes enjoy the sight of large trees surrounding the beautiful crystal clear expanse of water.



Turning around Lance shouts back towards Keith who’s taking off his bag as well. “Keith, you mind if I go in real quick?” Lance shouts from a few feet in front of him. Smiling, Keith sits down on the rocky shore, quite uncomfortably mind you.



        “I don’t see why not?” He shouts back, and he can see the excitement on his face despite the small distance. Running over to Keith, Lance takes off his flannel and pulls his shirt off from the collar. Keith nearly chokes. Throwing the clothes in a pile next to Keith, he kicks off his shoes and balances on one foot, taking off his socks.



        “You wanna join me?” Lance asks, throwing one sock on the pile and going to pull the next off. The site of a half-naked Lance kneeling over with such carefree excitement really shakes Keith to his core and despite himself, he feels a blush warm his cheeks, so he looks away. 



        “Nah, it’s okay you go ahead,” Keith says looking out to where Kosmo is splashing at the shore. Lance stands up straight, causing him to look back over in time to see him shrug.



        “Suit yourself mullet head,” and then without another word he runs off into the water, Slashing as he enters the lake. Keith watches as he dunks his head in and floats on his back, really not absorbing much of anything.



He called him mullet head, after all these years, Lance brought back the old nickname he called them. It’s been so long since he’s heard Lance call him that stupid name. It makes him smile. Hand coming up to the tips of the hair at the end of his ponytail. Is it even really a mullet anymore, his hair has grown so much since when the name was used. Still, it warms him up inside as he blankly watches the two ply in the water, carefree and happy.



~

 

Keith had pulled out a book at some point, a recommendation from Pidge probably 3 years ago that he finally managed to find. He was just peacefully reading, listening to the sound of the water crashing onto the shore. Lance and Kosmo have grown quite as Lance seems to be in his own world amidst the water. Suddenly Kosmo barks loudly and sharply twice. Keith feels the hair on his back rise on instinct. Looking up immediately he finds her, she’s standing out of the water but barks towards it. Specifically towards Lance. Jumping up, completely forgetting about the book in his lap he pulls his blade from its holster.



        “Lance!” He shouts towards him, running to where Kosmo was. Looking up from floating on his back, Lance waves at Keith from where he is deep in the Lake.



        “Lance get out of the water!” Keith shouts at him from the shore, now activating his blade, transforming it into a sword. Obviously confused Lance thankfully starts to swim back to shore. Kosmo barks twice again in Lance's direction, then again, and again, pacing the shore before barking again. Keith really is getting anxious watching him swim back, he looks around where Lance is, trying to find a threat when.

 

Holly shit!



A giant dark figure under the water seems to be approaching Lance as he swims towards the shore. Turning to Kosmo he crouches down, “Get him out of there.” And without a second's hesitation, she teleports into the water but Lance is too far for her to reach and she appears a few feet short. Keith's stomach drops as she starts swimming towards him. 



        “Shit shit shit,” Keith shouts as he swings his sword, feeling helpless as he’s forced to just watch and wait and see. Finally reaching one another they disappear and appear a couple of feet from Keith. Seeing them struggle he runs into the water too help.



        “What’s with the-” Lance starts as he heaves from the swim but is cut off by a giant creature erupting from beneath the surface of the water. Turning around at the sound, they see a giant, almost octopus thing emerge from the water where Lance just was. Turning around they scream as they run from the water, splashing and honestly freaking out as they run onto shore and towards their bags. Turning around once they reach them, Keith holds his sword out, expecting a fight. Only to see nothing when he looks back. Frowning, confused, he lowers his sword a fraction as he eases from his fighting stance.



        “What the hell?” He asks aloud, where the hell did it go? Turning when he speaks, Keith frowns over at Lance who's crouching by their bags.



        “Where in the quiznack did it go?” Lance almost whispers towards the lake. And maybe it was his tone of voice, the life or death situation or the fact that Keith hadn’t heard the word quiznack in forever, but he really couldn’t help it when giggles start erupting unwanted from his belly. It starts small, but soon Keith is squeezing his eyes shut as his stomach aches from the pain of it.



        “How on earth could you be laughing at a time like this?” Lance shouts from beside him, but Keith really can’t help it. He unsheaths his sword, flopping down on the rocks next to Lance rather painfully. Still giggling like a mad man he sighs a bit to relieve himself of them.



        “Sorry, it’s not funny it’s just.” Keith breaths, shaking his head with a smile. But for some reason, giggles keep bubbling up. 



        “The fact that we were attacked by a giant purple octopus,” Keith says through another low effort laugh, holding his hands in gesture to the lake. Keith looks down at the rocks in front of him silently at first before chuckles rise up again. 



        “And what was with that thing on its head?” Keith asks, unable to hide the amusement in his voice. 



        “It looked kinda like a trunk,” Lance giggles a bit as he speaks, relaxing from his previous scared position. “But if it had spikes?” Lance asks more like a question than a statement, laughing at the end of the word. 



        “Alien creatures are so fucking strange,” Keith Laughs shaking his head. “ I once visited a Planet on the far end of the galaxy with G.A.H.R.O, and there were these,” Keith can’t help but laugh thinking about it. “These large aliens,” Keith covers his mouth, shaking his head when he looks over at Lance’s confused but amused face. 



        “What?” Lance chuckles as he asks.



        “They were furies.” Keith gets out finally, and the view of Lance’s eyebrows shooting up to his hairline sends him leaning back onto the rocks cackling.



        “What do you mean?” Lance giggles with so much confusion laced in his tone. Keith sits back up, leaning forward.

 

        “Lance, they looked like people in giant fursuits,” Keith really was losing it. “But they were real,” Keith cackles the end of the word, clutching his stomach, he squeezes his eyes shut. And behind his hysteria, he hears Lance laughing too.



        “They had these giant anime eyes,” Keith giggles. Sitting up, he pulls open his eyes to try and replicate the idea, causing Lance to burst into a fit of Laughter.  And Keith laughs along too, shaking his head once he can breathe clearly again. 



        “They were so scary to look at,” he says softly, causing Lance to snort and cover his mouth. 



        “Scarier than a 50ft purple Lance eating Octopus?” Lance asks after a second, leaning back into his hands, next to Keith. 



Keith laughs at his phasing, “objectively?” He asks, thinking about the experience. 



        “Yes,” Keith says and Lance snickers in response.

 

~



Laughing on the shore of a monster-infested lake was a strange way to continue their hike, but Keith couldn’t find it in him to mind. Putting back on his clothes, Lance and Keith pack up and set out again into the forest once more. Turning their back on the lake and what lies in its watery depths. 



They trek for hours after that, chatting and observing their surroundings like they were on some nature documentary. At one point, Lance even started narrating Keith’s actions like he was a shitty off-brand David Attenborough. It was fun, Keith hadn’t felt this at ease and happy in so long that it was easy to ignore the squeeze in his chest every time Lance's arm would brush his, or when he’d turn and smile at him. 



Now though, as the sun starts to set from somewhere above the trees, and the breeze starts to grow colder and colder, they decide now is as good a time as any to start setting up camp. They found a clearing, and with their tech, setting up camp was almost hilariously fast. Within no time they were sitting by a fire with some hot dogs Lance had brought. 



It was just about dusk and Lance had been roasting the food for them to eat. Keith is just sitting, silently watching. The heat from the fire is warm on his face and puts a glow over Lance that he just can’t help but stare at. Kosmo, having already scanned the surrounding area, is laying by the fire with her eyes closed like any other dog would. It’s perfect and peaceful and everything Keith could ask for. 



        “Okay there done,” Lance says, pulling the sticks from the fire. He sits down on the log they managed to find, right up close next to Keith and hands him his stick. “Careful it’s hot.” Lance says and Keith just nods, not trusting his voice at the moment. Keith has to strain his eyes to look to the side at Lance as he blows at his food. He looks anyway.



        “You know I packed food too, you didn’t have to-” Keith is cut off by Lance’s finger coming up to his lips, efficiently shutting him with a shushing sound.



        “You can’t camp out without hot dogs and s'mores.” Lance huffs, removing his hand and going back to blowing at his steaming food, not taking notice of Keith’s malfunctioning brain. “I knew you wouldn’t have packed any, but it’s okay.” Lance turns, “I don’t mind picking up the slack.” He says with a wink, almost like he's is trying to hurt him. Then without a second thought, he chomps into his hotdog with no remorse. It’s not symbolic at all. Desperate for something to say, Keith looks at their surroundings. The sun just about set, leaving the forest close to a pitch black. Looking up he notices the lack of moon in the sky.



        “Hey this planet has no moon,” Keith says, pointing upwards. Head falling back as he looks too.



        “Huh, you’re right,” he frowns in confusion. “That’s probably why it’s so dark.” Suddenly, almost as if on cue, Keith notices a light, growing in intensity from, well, everywhere. The grass, the trees, the leaves, hell even the log they were sitting on had a glow to it. Jumping up in surprise Keith looks around them. The whole forest slowly starts to come alive. The trees admit a sort of purplish-blue from deep within its surface, with matching vibrant green leaves that hang down all around them. Dull blood-red flowers that have littered the floor of the forest unnoticed, now almost burn like fire, scattered as far as the eye can see. Laughing a bit at the absurdity and wonder of it all, Keith looks around at the sight before him. He turns and looks down at Lance from where he stood, wondering if he too was in as much shock as Keith was. The wide, wondrous smile on his face fades though when it’s met with Lance’s look of almost dread and horror. Frowning instantly, Keith takes a step.



        “Lance?”



        “Did Pidge tell you the name of this planet?” Lance asks, eyes wide and searching in his for answers to questions he hasn’t asked yet.



Blinking confused Keith nods. “Uh, yeah they said it was called, um, te-.”



        “Telforeah?” He finishes, saying the word like a question, but Keith feels like he already knows the answer.



        “Um, yeah,” Keith nods skeptically. Now he knows Lance has been here, the question is why does he look like he wishes he hadn’t.



        “I knew it,” he says quietly to himself, looking down at the ground with its glowing grass. Sitting now next to him, Keith tries to give Lance his space, since the other boy seems a bit distraught. Despite being a bit wary, Keith still jumps when Lance looks up, leaning forward.



        “Do you remember this place, at all?” Lance asks, eyes big and hopeful and prying for answers. But before Keith can even shoot him down himself, Lance is leaning back, the hands that were bracing his weight now pillowing in his lap. “No, you wouldn’t, would you.” He says looking down at his lap, his fingers playing with the fabric of his sleeves. 



Keith frowns at his profile, Pidge had said just about the same thing to him yesterday. Was there something he was forgetting? He doesn’t even know when he would have had time to come to a planet like this, never mind with the rest of Voltron as it seems. They were fighting a war, when would they have time to come to an uninhabited planet, no matter how wondrous. He really doesn’t think he’d forget a place like this, yet-



Suddenly standing up, Lance starts to walk over to his tent. Turning his head towards Keith, “I’m gonna get ready for bed,” he says. Arms wrapped around themselves, like he’s trying to hold himself together, just like he was at Allura’s dinner. And just like then, Keith just watches him leave. Entering his tent he closes the door. 



Keith sits for a while on that log. Foot bouncing, he’s already cracked all the joints on his fingers and Lance hasn’t come out yet. Jumping to his feet, Keith decides he needs to go on a walk. So much is going on in his head, he just needs to clear his mind. So just like that he starts marching through the forest, all the lights making it impossibly easy to navigate as he storms past brightly coloured trees and shrubbery. 



He doesn’t understand why everyone seems to know something he doesn’t, in fact, he fucking hates it. What’s worse is apparently he should know this goddamn planet. Why was Lance so upset? What the fuck happened here that would put that look on his face? Like his heart was broken or something. How could he forget something that hurt Lance so much? Keith can’t stop thinking, his mind working a 100 thoughts a minute, trying to wrap his mind around what is happening.



But the thing that he doesn’t understand is, he’s sure he’s never been here before. He’s positive he’s never seen this planet or its sights. So then why does he feel a sense of peace, almost like happiness and contentment? A feeling that he's worked so hard to build in his own damn home, and yet as soon as he set his eyes on this strange broken rock halfway across the damn galaxy, he couldn’t help but know it was safe. He felt safe and happy, and...loved? What the fuck was happening?



~

 

Keith stomps around the bright forest for a while but eventually, the blind rage at his own confusion turns into a quiet simmer beneath his skin. Stopping, he tilts his head up towards the leaves of the tall trees surrounding him. The wind blowing from above the treetops brush the leaves against each other causing an uproar of bright green light to shine down on him. The sound it makes and the feeling of residual breeze against his face work in tandem to blow out the fire inside himself. 



Closing his eyes, he breathes in the fresh air of the night. Opening them again, Keith is delighted to find a small bright yellow light floating in the air above him. Squinting in delight at the small glowing lustre in the distance, he finds that dozens are floating in his vicinity just overhead, slowly floating towards him like snow. He can’t help but let a small laugh of astonishment escape into the silent void of the night as he stares, mouth agape at the fantastical beauty of this paradise. 




        “Keith!”



He hears his name pierce through the silence. Whipping around in its direction, he frowns. His head sort of spinning from the quick change of direction. He squints in the distance, trying to hear for it again, wondering if his head was playing tricks on him or not. Just when he’s sure he imagined the call…



        “KEITH?” The distressed voice, he realizes to be Lance's, sends panic into his heart. Taking off in the direction of the sound, Keith whips and weaves through the trees and plants until the clearing with their campsite comes into view. Pulling out his blade from its holster just as he breaks from the forest, he’s welcomed to the view of a teary-eyed Lance in the center of the clearing, looking at Keith with so much fear in his eyes. Arms tightly wound around himself, and cheeks moist with fallen tears, he stands under the light of the firefly like bugs, somehow still managing to look beautiful. 



Looking around with his activated blade at the ready, Keith is confused by the lack of a threat. Kosmo, strangely, stays by Lance's side, tail hanging low as she looks up at him. Lowering his weapon, Keith takes a step, wanting to ask what's wrong.



        “WHERE DID YOU GO!” Lance yells at Keith from their small distance. Taken aback by his response, Keith takes a step back.



        “I-I just went on a walk,” Keith says, frowning at Lance and the way his fists seem to squeeze from their place around him. He deactivates his blade, returning it to its place. Walking towards Lance with palms out, almost like approaching a traumatized animal. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” He tries to soothe.



        “Why wouldn’t you at least tell me you were leaving? Even Kosmo didn’t know where you were.” Lance huffs, tears now dry, but his cheeks and nose are still red from the exertion.



Cringing at his words, Keith hadn’t realized he just left without a word like that. He just needed to blow off steam, but the picture of Lance coming out of the tent to find no one there makes the excuse seem pointless.  



        “Sorry, I hadn’t thought-”



Huffing, Lance throws his arms down at his sides. He walks up to Keith, whipping the remainder of his tears with his hands. “It’s fine, you just scared me,” Lance says, glaring at Keith, and even going as far as punching his arm in retaliation. Causing Keith to clutch the injured area, but he can’t help but laugh at the exchange. A thought comes to his mind then as he looks at Lance from the small distance between them. So before he can stop himself or think it through, he reaches his arms out and pulls Lance towards himself.



        “Well I’m sorry again,” Keith says into the fluffy brown hair at the side of Lance’s face. He pauses, trying to tell if he’s making the boy uncomfortable. 



Just as he was about to awkwardly pull away, he feels nimble fingers on his back as they cross and hook over his shoulders. They hold Keith closer than he dared to press, so he closes his eyes and buries his head in the side of Lance's neck, lifting his own arms to wrap more tightly around Lance's body. 



And they stand there like that, Keith couldn’t tell you for how long but it didn’t feel like long enough. Moving his head against his shoulder, Lance squeezes Keith that much closer.

 

        “Please, I can’t lose anyone else.”



Any amount of time in his arms wouldn’t be enough to ease the pain that brought him.

Notes:

Another Friday, another chapter. This one was fun to write, were really getting into it now and I hope you are excited, I can't tell though so please leave a comment if you're actually reading. I'm really tryna drive the 'Keith is a whipped mess and Lance is a broken person,' hard! XD I'm really excited for where this is going so I hope you enjoy it. Like always stay safe and happy and healthy.

Thanks for reading
xoxo

Notes:

I want it too be known that this was Keith’s sexual awakening and then the poor boy proceeded to forget it and if that doesn’t scream Keith Kogane then idk what does folks.