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Chapter Text

Lance strides confidently back into the lounge, feeling unstoppable as he holds up his arms and declares his victory to the room.

"Done! I got Allura to bed safely! Thanks to me, we avoided getting caught by both Coran and Pidge, who nearly sold us out for the fun of it because she could tell how wasted Allura was and... neither of you are listening to me."

He narrows in on Hunk and Keith sitting with the prized bottle of silverale between them. It was a gift from the leader of Blade of Marmora after he'd heard Keith had taken over as the head of Voltron.

Keith didn't seem thrilled by the present, and was planning to pour it down a drain but Allura had looked at the silverale with hungry eyes and refused to let him throw out what she called one of the 'finest spirits' in the known universe.

Lance wasn't that impressed. Silverale is essentially space-bourbon, only opaque and grayish-blue instead of brown. It has a bitter sting that takes about 3 extra seconds to hit you, and it will leave you in a fit of coughs if you're not ready.

Back to what's happening now in the lounge, as Lance walks back to his seat. He sees that Hunk has wet puppy eyes, and Keith has curled up on the couch with his arms wrapped around his knees as he speaks.

"... I just like it. I dunno it's a guilty pleasure of mine, I guess?" Keith says, Lance draws closer to rejoin the conversation, grabbing the bottle and refilling his cup. He flops down between Hunk and Keith and watches them carefully.

Hunk nods with a familiar enthusiasm that causes Lance some concern, "Oh my gosh yes! It's such a good movie!" 

"Right?" Keith laughs. "And the part where he's singing to her on the bleachers during soccer practice? And then the band starts up?" Keith sighs. "That's my favorite part," he buries his smile in his arms as Hunk coos at him like he's a cute kitten.

The fuck?

Lance swallows, "Are you fucking talking about Heath goddamn Ledger in fucking '10 Things I Hate About You'?"

Keith gives him a glare and Hunk nods. "Yes," Keith still looks a bit perturbed.

Lance shrugs, "What? I swear a lot more when I'm buzzed, fuck off."

"Whatever, what's wrong with me liking Heath Ledger in that movie?"

"Dunno mullet, didn't realize you dug public displays of affection like that?"

"Maybe I do, maybe it'd be nice to be wanted that much," Keith unfurls a bit, keeping his arms crossed but returning to his usual defensive posture. "You don't know everything about me."

"This is true, I know maybe... 10 things about you," Lance smirks. 

"Lance."

"One of them is that you're extra gay for Heath Ledger."

"Lance." Lance can't help but smile at the rise he's getting out of Keith. The more he can fluster him, the more he–

Huh.

Keith is really cute when he's flustered. Shit, this is a weird train of thought he's having.

"Too much silverale," Lance mumbles and attempts to put down the cup only to have Keith snatch it away and down the rest of it in one gulp.

"Need it to deal with you," Keith mutters darkly after the coughing stops.

"Hope you enjoyed my backwash."

"It was fucking delicious," Keith says and licks the rim of the glass where Lance's lips had touched.

Lance definitely isn't turned on by that. Nope, that would be crazy because it's Keith. 

Keith, who apparently is in love with Heath Ledger, and wants to be wooed and chased around by a guy who's smitten with him and that's not relatable or adorable in the slightest. 

Keith, who just implied that he'd enjoy the taste of Lance's spit in his mouth. 

Keith, who isn't really daring Lance to jam his tongue down his throat and shove him to the ground, but that's where Lance's mind is going and he is not okay with that.

No, he has to derail this thought-train before he starts thinking any more about what it might be like to kiss Keith.

Lance shakes his head and opens eyes he didn't realize were shut. "Well good. You ever want more, you just come right to the source, babe," Lance gestures to his mouth with a wink. Keith sneers in annoyance but doesn't look away.

Okay. That didn't help.

Keith scoffs, and takes a long drink straight from the bottle. Tongue lapping away again when a little spills over into the corner of his mouth.

Now Lance is wondering if Keith kisses like he fights, with passion and reckless abandon. If he could kiss him back just as fiercely, and hear Keith moan his name and fall apart beneath Lance's hands and melt like candy in his mouth.

Lance is never going to have silverale ever again.

"Why don't you just go ahead and–Hunk, why are you crying?" Keith turns and Lance finally takes notice of his best friend sobbing into his shirtsleeves. Oh no.

"It's just so sad! When Heath Ledger died, and he left behind his family and he'll never be in that movie again!" Hunk is rambling.

"Hunk, buddy, they already made that movie," Lance says carefully. "It's been a minute since he–"

"Yeah but he'll never be in it again! Why?!"

Keith is giving Lance a worried look. Lance nods, "I got this. Hunk, pal, it's time for the bunny test."

Hunk sniffles and nods.

"Bunny test?" Keith asks, and Lance holds his finger up in the air.

"Hunk, I want you to think about bunnies. Fluffy, cute, sweet little bunnies. Happy bunnies in a field of never-ending carrots and gamboling and protected by a powerful anti-bunny-death shield that prevents them from ever coming to harm. They just get to eternally frolic and snuffle flowers and be cute."

Hunk nods. "Cute bunnies. So damn cute!" Hunk covers his mouth with his fists and sobs again.

"Hunk, you failed the bunny test. You know that means you need to go drink water and go to bed."

Hunk nods, rubbing his face and standing carefully, "O-okay. I know, I'm going. Night, Lance and Keith."

Lance turns to Keith once he sees Hunk shuffle off, "The bunny test is to see if he's too fucking gone if he really can't stop crying over fictional, nonexistent rabbits."

"Right," Keith laughs, "and you came up with that?"

"Back in the Garrison, yeah. It's his litmus test for when he's pushing himself too far and he needs a stopping point. It happened a few times when he was over-caffeinating to stay up and study."

Keith brings his knees back up to his chin. "Good thing he has a friend like you, I guess."

Lance doesn't really know how to react, it's tricky when Keith gets earnest like that, so he lets his eyes roam. "Hey, thing number 9, Keith takes his shoes off when he's drunk," Lance says pointing at his bare feet.

Keith's toes do not wiggle adorably after he points that out.

"Um. I dunno. Guess the alcohol makes my feet really warm," Keith turns to look at him through his fringe, head tilting down. "You don't really know only 10 things about me, right Lance?" Lance swears he somehow makes himself look even smaller, all curled up in a little Keith-ball of mullet and pouty lips. Damn it.

"Do you?"

Lance shrugs. "Maybe I don't know a lot about you, but you don't know a lot about me either."

"I know a lot about you Lance, you talk so much."

"Fine, something else you wanna know about me? Wanna know my guilty pleasure movie? It's 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' and it's specifically because of the musical number, where Marilyn Monroe is singing and is surrounded by men fawning all over her and pretty girls in pink flower dresses and I always wanted that. Fuck. Way too much silverale, Hunk doesn't even know about that, and I will murder you if you tell him or anyone else."

Keith blinks but Lance can't stop the torrent of words from spilling from his mouth.

"So maybe I get it, that whole 'wanting to be wanted'-thing, yeah? Because when I was little, I just wanted to be the center of attention and adored, and maybe in my head there was an equal number of dudes in tophats and tails as there were chicks all around me, and maybe I used to dance and sing along to it with my mom's fancy lacey fan, and will you just laugh or react or something because you are staring and it's freaking me the fuck out, Keith," Lance drops his hands to his sides, not realizing how much he was waving them around and gesturing madly.

"Sorry," Keith bites his lip. "It's... funny?"

"It's stupid and ridiculous."

Keith picks up the bottle, shaking it to test the amount that's left. "Wanting to be loved isn't stupid or ridiculous."

"Well then, I'm just stupid and ridiculous in general," Lance gets up, stretching his legs and arms out, "and that's my litmus test. When I've reached the point of oversharing and bitter self-deprecation."

"Oh," Keith sips carefully.

"I mean the tip-off should've been when I offered to jam my tongue down your throat and called you babe," Lance laughs. Keith's eyes bug out as he tips the bottle a little too far, swallowing the last of the alcohol too quickly. He gives himself a nasty coughing fit, and Lance thumps him on the back a couple of times.

"Okay now?"

"Better that than the other one," Keith mumbles.

"What's that?"

 "I'd rather you call me 'babe' than 'mullet'."

"... I really don't know how to react when you get all earnest on me, Keith."

Keith shrugs, "Do what you want," he stands up to meet Lance's eyes, the empty bottle slipping from his hands to fall with a soft thump. Keith looks down where it landed on his foot and he pouts again and it isn't fair.

It isn't fair how Keith's bottom lip is wet and red from his teeth scraping it unconsciously, and Lance wants to bite it so much.

And he does, he leans forward and pulls Keith's lip between his teeth and gives it the slightest pressure. It tastes like warm silverale, and there's a pop and a soft gasp hovering in the air when he releases it. Keith looks at him through dark, hooded eyes.

"Do what you want," Lance echoes as those eyes focus in on him and hands are pulling him close, tugging his clothing and–

**

Keith kisses like he fights.

It's reckless and passionate he pushes and pulls and scrapes teeth along lips and melts, finally melts when Lance pulls him down into his lap and Keith wraps his legs around his torso and moans his name into his mouth and maybe Lance starts melting too.

**

"What was that?" Keith stands with his arms crossed, and Lance nearly knocks their faces together he's so damn close. Lance instead takes the opportunity to nip Keith's lip, as it is jutting out just right. Pinching it slightly between his teeth and getting that wonderful Keith-fluster, red ear tips and all. Lance loves that they're dating now so he has a free pass to kiss and mess him up whenever he feels like it.

(It's in the boyfriend rules that Lance totally isn't making up as he goes along.)

"Mmm, a shower? Funny how the towel and the me dripping water didn't give it away," Lance says with a laugh as he starts to ruffle his hair dry.

Keith shakes his head and crosses over to him, yanking the towel away. "You were singing in there. I heard you."

Lance feels the color drain from his face.

"I'm sure I don't know-"

"No, I'm sure you were singing that 80's song by Tiffany." 

"Actually it was Tommy James and the Shondells that originally recorded I Think We're Alone Now, and the far superior version in my opinion," Lance huffs and grabs the towel back, but Keith doesn't let go and he's dragged closer to him instead.

"Ha! So you do admit you were singing in there?" Keith has a wicked grin as he presses even closer to Lance, chest to chest, their foreheads touching.

"I plead the fifth."

"The space court does not recognize your argument."

"I plead mercy." Lance laces his fingers through Keith's hair, eliciting just the right moan as Keith's smile falters into a hard press of his lips together, and Lance tugs and massages his head just right.

"You'll get none of that-ohhh... Oh." Keith disappears for a few blessed moments, eyes slipping shut and mouth curling at the edges. "You seriously don't need mercy when you have those damn fingers," Keith mumbles.

"There's plenty of other things my damn fingers can do without mercy, Keith."

"Oh, fuck me." 

"Gotcha. I love it when you're blunt like that, babe. Lemme get the stuff and I'll-"

"Lance!" Keith unfortunately comes back to himself once Lance pulls his hands away to rifle through their 'sexytimes' supply drawer. "I mean, yeah of course we can, but that wasn't what I was trying to tell you."

"Whazzat babe?" Lance asks as he tucks a few condoms behind his ear, while he searches the drawer for the lube.

Keith flops down on the bed, face red and flustering. "I hate that you know how to push my buttons like this. Fuck."

"I'm trying, are we out of? No it's here," Lance turns to his half-hard and fully frustrated boyfriend as he's toeing his shoes off. "Aw babe don't be mad, just because you get all hot and bothered by the mere presence of me in your life. You're allowed to appreciate beautiful things."

Keith breathes out hard enough to send his hair off his forehead and it flops down in a messy cute way that Lance can't wait to mess up even more. He wants it sweaty and stuck to Keith's skin and he wants it five minutes ago. 

"I get all hot and bothered by you in general, yes. More bothered right now but potentially even hotter because Lance, Lance," Keith grabs the sides of Lance's face for emphasis, pulling him in again. Lance drops the casual smirk. "Do you know what you could do to me? Do you have any idea?"

"Uhhh."

"Do you have any idea how much I want someone to sing to me?" Keith whispers into Lance's ear, nipping his earlobe as he pulls away. Keith's eyes are dark and pupils blown wide and Lance realizes he's picturing it, he's picturing Lance serenading him and it's getting him off.

"I seem to remember a drunk conversation about Heath Ledger..." Lance bites the inside of his mouth. "Too much silverale."

"And I remember you talking about your secret love of old movies and big musical numbers," Keith rests his hands flat on Lance's chest, right over his heart. "How much you want to be in the spotlight, the attention, the adoration. Don't even try to pretend you wouldn't love it as much as I would."

Lance does remember that part of the conversation as it comes flooding back. "Well, fuck."

"That first. But seriously. You should sing to me. Add that to the boyfriend rules."

"My voice isn't even that-"

Keith throws his shirt off, his hands starting to unbuckle his pants. "It is, but I'm not going to stroke your ego right now because there's something else in need of a fine amount of stroking," Keith winks and Lance definitely doesn't whimper pathetically as Keith reveals more and more skin. "Whatever caliber you think your voice is at doesn't matter, Lance. Boyfriend rules."

Lance really shouldn't have started to make those up.

**

"Y'know I never really understood the phrase 'hate watching you leave, love seeing you go', until now. 'Cause damn," Lance whistles.

Keith flusters a bit, pulling the hood of his Blade of Marmora uniform up. "It's just one mission, I'm not really leave-leaving or anything like that."

"That's not what I meant," Lance laughs and crosses the room to flick Keith's hood back down and kiss him solidly. That was oddly... defensive?

"You look so good in this." Lance takes a moment to step back as Keith turns his head and smiles coyly. "I love it, it's not all bumpy and pokey like the paladin armor. I think the last time I got a Hunk-Hug, something nearly pinched a nerve in my spine."

"Yeah, I think it's like, space-Kevlar? All the padding's on the inside, hey!" Keith smacks Lance's hand away. 

"Just checking your padding, babe. Gotta protect the vitals."

"My vitals are in my chest, not my ass, Lance," Keith rolls his eyes.

"Oh, there's vitals there."

"Very funny."

"It's vital for me that your ass be sufficiently protected."

"You are such a-" Lance wiggles his eyebrows and Keith lightly pushes him towards the bed, but Lance goes loose and lets himself fall down dramatically.

Next thing, Keith is on top of him, kissing him and Lance pulls him in by the hood. Moans into his mouth because damn, that space Kevlar is so soft. A rich, fine leather under his hands and Lance's shirt is riding up a little so he can feel the material that Keith's wearing against his stomach and–

"I'm gonna be late," Keith breaks the kiss, panting slightly.

"I'll make it worth it. Promise. Boyfriend promise. One of the most sacred promises of all time."

"Mmmrgh,"

"Baby. You look so good. You feel so good." Keith relents, pulling Lance's shirt up and runs his gloved hands down his chest. Lance hisses, but leans into the touch. Keith kisses him deep, and Lance runs his hands back down over Keith's ass, squeezing it firmly. 

"How about this?" Keith says, "I'm gonna go on this mission, and when I get back..."

"Yeah?"

"You can finally sing something for me like you promised!" Keith says hopping off of Lance with a grin.

"Augh, Keeeith..." Lance turns face down on his bed and whines, trying to ignore how turned on he is, and at the same time utterly defeated. "It's too hard to pick the perfect song. I'm trying!"

Keith laughs. "I don't care, whatever you pick would be perfect." 

"Then how about Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?"

"Lance, you're putting way too much pressure on yourself. I told you, I just want you to sing something to me, it doesn't have to be some epic romantic heart-stopping moment. I already love you."

"Mmmrgh," Lance buries his face in a pillow.

"And?" Keith is poking his backside. Lance picks his head up.

"I love you too, obviously. Which is why it does have to be perfect because you're Keith."

"What does that mean?"

Lance waves his hands, shooing Keith away. "Okay, go on. Be with your knife-pals, and leave this tormented artist-slash-poet to his existential broodings."

Keith rolls his eyes. "Fine, I'm going."

"Hmph."

"And when I come back... I'll keep the uniform on?"

Lance blinks slowly, Keith winks at him.

"If it helps give you some inspiration?"

"Among other things."

"Like what?"

"Boners, mostly."

"Yeah, you're a real tormented artist-slash-poet."

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Or a winter's frottage? Thou art more lovely with your mouth on my–" 

Keith gives him a quick kiss as he turns to walk out of the room. "Goodbye, Lance."

"Mmm! Love watching you go," Lance sighs at the departing view of Keith wrapped in black with lines accentuating all the right curves.

**

Keith is leaving this time. Really leave-leaving and something horrible in Lance short-circuits in the middle of the team saying their goodbyes. 

"Bullshit! We have to say goodbye for an hour!" he shouts without meaning to.

Keith looks absolutely gutted, and his eyes widen in surprise.

"No one was trying to stop you from saying goodbye for however long you need to," Shiro says.

"It's in the rules," Lance adds. He feels all of five years old again, at his sisters' birthday party opening her gifts when nobody paid him enough attention and then demanding presents of his own. 

"Come on, I have to pack my things," Keith says, dragging Lance away to his room.

"You mean your thing. Pack your one thing."

"Lance," Keith says shutting the door and slumping against him, arms wrapping tight and Lance lets go. He starts hugging and kissing him, trying to take in everything about his face, his scent, his taste.

"I'm sorry, that was mean," he mumbles into Keith's hair.

"Nah, it was accurate," Keith laughs softly as he points to the small bag on his bed that was already packed, "I'd have two things but I can't pack you can I?"

Lance shakes his head and wipes at his eyes. "Okay so, we have to say goodbye for an hour, I'm gonna say a lot of cheesy things and it's gonna make my head hurt and I'm gonna ugly-cry at some point, so we need to get some real talk out of the way," he takes a deep breath.

"There's three options. We break up–"

"No!" Keith shouts.

"Same. Big fat no. Okay, two options. We take a break, or we do long-distance."

"What's the difference between breaking up and taking a break?"

"Breaking up means we just stop, we're not boyfriends anymore."

"I stand by my earlier no to that."

"Taking a break means we just pause, and we start back up again when you're..." Lance drifts off.

"When I'm what?"

"You're not coming back. It just kind of hit me that this isn't like an extended mission. You're joining the Blade of Marmora. You're gonna stop being a part of Voltron and you're gonna make friends and live there and all that stuff."

"... I have to make friends?"

"Yes you do. And we are gonna do the long-distance relationship thing because I love you too much to let you go, and apparently I'm gonna have to coax you into being social and making at least one friend and Kolivan doesn't count."

Keith tilts his head, "I honestly can't even imagine Kolivan having friends. Maybe one friend, but even that's a stretch."

"Moreover, what would his friend even be like?"

Keith scratches his head. "Boring, humorless, and dead behind the eyes?"

Lance nods. "They'd have to be. Ah fuck, the ugly crying's about to start. Keith, brace yourself."

**

"So how was your first day?" Lance asks Keith through the communicator, pretending not to care about how fuzzy and grainy the image quality is. He already made Allura re-align the castle-ship three times just to get a decent picture.

Keith folds his arms, "It was... a day."

"A bad one? A good one? Something in-between?"

Keith pouts. "They won't let me train with weapons yet until I get 'assessed' or something, so I was in the 'soft room' which is just for hand-to-hand, so really boring. Then I did monitor duty which everyone says is the worst, but I kinda liked it? It was peaceful and quiet and you just have to keep your eyes on the screens for about five vargas and tell someone if something happens."

"Sounds like my nightmare," Lance jokes.

"Nah, you can totally nap or read stuff or whatever because it's like 90% automated, they just need you to push a button every so often and say 'all clear'. I mostly spent the time learning the 39 basic Galran characters so I can start reading stuff in their language. Someone mentioned there's a library in the base, I guess that's cool?"

"Uh huh, so how are the rest of the, uh 'Blades'? That what you call yourselves, yeah?" Keith nods. "Did you make any friends?"

Keith sighs, "I don't think I'm gonna make friends with them, I don't know how. I sat in someone's chair at the commissary and he was this big humungous Galra bruiser-type and growled at me and this other one was really nasty and then the head of combat training told me to beat it, and I got really freaked out and ate my lunch in my room alone."

"Aw, Keith," Lance gives him a sympathetic frown.

"Apparently they're like the popular group or something, how was I supposed to know it was their table?"

Lance snickers. "Oh man, did you cross the Plastics of Marmora, or something?"

"I guess I did! Lucky me!" Keith thumps his head on a table, picking it up and continuing his rant. "According to the medic all I had to do was show him my teeth, and he would've backed off. Of course I didn't know that, and I don't even get it. I don't have big fangly teeth like them so what good would that even do?"

"The medic?" 

"Oh! And the medic was weirdly honest about things and didn't get why I wanted him to turn around while I was getting undressed, and he was all like 'I'm married, I don't care, my wife's taller than you,' and I was trying to tell him that wasn't the issue, but it didn't really make sense to him. I mean, everyone's really blunt but this guy was like... they don't do sarcasm per se, but he was kind of snarky?"

"Back up, why were you seeing the medic?"

"Oh, not for an injury, they just wanted to do a basic check-up or something. All good, I guess? Though they keep harping on how short I am. It's ridiculous, of course I'm shorter, I don't even know how much Galra blood I have to begin with and I'm pretty much human and I'm fine."

"I dunno, you wanna let me check you out?" Lance cocks his eyebrows. Keith drops his head on the table again and sighs.

"Keith. Keeeith," Keith picks his head up. "Did you have the worst first day ever?"

"Yes."

"Well then guess what, it's over. You can't have a worst first day again."

"No, I can have an even worse second day."

"Nope, I'm not gonna allow it," Lance steeples his fingers together. "Keith, you're gonna be okay, you're gonna find your people because you are lovable and I need you accept that fact. Also if we're gonna take down the Plastics of Marmora I'm gonna need you to assemble a team to help with your wacky hijinks."

Keith lets a small laugh slip out, "I guess. Also, I was right about Kolivan not really having friends. He eats alone, or at least he totally ignores the people kissing up to him while he eats. Maybe I can do that too."

"See! You're already figuring out a plan. Let the friends come to you."

"I'm gonna go to bed, I'm tired."

"Okay babe, the signal's cutting out anyhow. Love you." 

"Love you too. Miss you."

**

The very next day Keith is practically bouncing on his heels when Lance turns on the communicator, "Lance! You were right, I made friends!"

Lance reels back in his chair. The picture is really clear and Keith is smiling from ear to ear rushing into frame, gesturing wildly with his hands.

"Yeah?"

"Okay so I tried that 'showing my teeth'-thing from yesterday, but I did it wrong because it was kind of like I 'threw down' instead of conveying 'back off', but then Holson stepped in and Boggis punched him instead of me! So Jaussey and I had to drag his unconscious body off to make sure he wasn't concussed, and Jaussey decided we're friends because now he isn't the shortest Blade, and he wants me to stay happy so I'll stick around. Oh! And Holson is okay, he's got a thick head according to Jaussey. Also no-one gets along with Ilonya except her cronies, so I should't feel weird that she's keeping me in the soft room. Jaussey knows like, everything about everyone and Holson is actually really nice, he's kind of a goober and asks really embarrassing questions about our sex life but that's okay! He said he'll teach me how to 'show my teeth' properly, and he felt guilty that he didn't realize how foreign everything is for me, so he should've been more specific. So Jaussey was like 'Holson you frelling idiot you can't do that to our new best friend' and then Holson started telling me about how he only has half a–" 

"Keith!" Lance laughs. "Can we back up a few light years?"

"Right, sorry, I made friends their names are Holson and Jaussey, I get to eat at their table in the commissary." Keith takes a deep breath. "Holson is a field medic, but he is the most familiar with non-Galra species from working closely with rebels, so that's why he did my exam. Jaussey is gonna be my unofficial tour-guide and show me around the library and the armory tomorrow and he's something called a 'Legacy Blade', and I don't know what that means yet but it sounds cool and there's a friggin' armory Lance!"

Lance laughs. "That's great! Now what's with the um, well you're grokking my style of speech here?"

"I'm just kind of keyed up, I think the food has a lot more sugar than I'm used to so I'm gonna have to eat less of the blue stuff. I was just excited for non-green stuff, and it tasted really good. Ooh, my hands are all jittery, like the time I mixed red bull with espresso during finals and Shiro legit thought I was on cocaine. Don't tell him I told you that, he's still really embarrassed because he tried to stage an intervention and I just laughed in his face."

"Keith!"

"Sorry, I ate blue stuff and now I'm realizing it smelled like cotton candy, so I think was pure sugar and I have way too much energy." 

"Well, that explains the blue tongue."

Keith sticks his tongue out, looking at his reflection in his knife, "Oh wow, it really is blue."

"At least I know you're not sucking off a Smurf."

"I'm not sucking anyone off."

"Tragedy. Absolute tragedy. Waste of so much talent."

"Did you want me to be?"

"Never! I'll have to befriend Heckle & Jeckle and make sure you're not."

"Holson and Jaussey."

"Whatever, so..." Lance drops his voice. "What're we gonna do to burn off all that energy?

Keith smiles.

** 

"Lance?"

"Oh, hey Shiro."

"Kolivan just called me."

"..."

"Apparently Keith broke his communicator last night and he said it was your fault. Kolivan is sending a new one but he'd like you to be less... distracting? They're difficult for them to acquire. The Blade has limited funds and resources, okay?" 

"..."

"This one is going to be audio only, I've assured him that will help minimize the distractions."

"... Can I go?"

"Can you promise me no more broken communicators due to interstellar phone sex?"

"..."

"Lance?"

"He had too much blue stuff okay? It wasn't my fault!"

**

"How's com-Keith-inator 2.0 working?" Pidge asks as she walks onto the bridge.

"It's not," Lance says and he's not panicking, nope. "What are you doing out of bed this late?"

"I'm always out this late, is Allura okay?"

"Allura should be sleeping, but apparently she's needed for a dire emergency," Allura says with a yawn.

Lance is fiddling madly with the new communicator, but all he's getting is static and feedback that barely sounds like Keith saying his name.

"I'm really sorry, please can we just try turning a few more degrees away from that sun?" Lance pleads. Allura nods and puts her hands back on the controls.

Pidge adjusts her glasses and brings up some of the main control screens. "Pretty sure that sun out there is giving off solar flares, that's gonna interfere with your comm no matter what."

"Fuck!" Lance kicks the ground.

"Okay, okay," Allura pats Lance's shoulder and then turns to Pidge. "Get me the box of protein cubes from the kitchens, Pidge. I'll open a wormhole and we'll get out of this system for a bit."

"I thought we had a Voltron show on that planet tomorrow?" Pidge says.

"It's already tomorrow, and it can wait another varga. Please, Pidge. I don't have the energy for two jumps right now, protein cubes would really help" She nods and leaves the bridge.

"Allura, I owe you so much mouse-sitting and I'll do all of your chores for the next cycle. Or three. Or fifty." 

Allura waves her hand, "Lance it's fine."

"You really are the best."

"Three cycles of chores and mouse-sitting are enough. Fifty is a bit of overkill, don't you think?"

**

"Long story short, Allura is a saint and I forgot she's been trained in the art of negotiation since she was old enough to talk."

Keith laughs on the other end, his voice isn't very clear, and there's these weird static pulses where he cuts out, but it's good enough

"Is that why I bzzzkt squeaking?"

"Yeah, that's the squeaking. I'm on mouse duty right now. They all want simultaneous head and belly scritches."

"Way to kzzzt-ake me jealous." 

"Can't help it if I have magic fingers, and I must share this gift with the universe." 

"I miss those fingers, especially when we bszzzzt and then you kzzzzzhhht-krrrrtkt until I can't stop bzzzztk-ing."

"Awww!"

"Lance... that didn't sound like you."

"No, that was the sound of a Altean Princess who knows how to read between the lines."

"Actually my ears can pick up more frequencies than yours, so I heard everything rather clearly through the static."

Keith is quiet before letting out a nervous cough. "Hi, Allura."

Allura swallows another protein cube. "Hello, Keith. You two are adorable, sorry to interrupt! Please continue."

"We have to warp back really soon and it didn't make sense to leave the bridge when I just got this thing working."

"That makes sense. But, um. I thought we could talk a bit mo-shkrrrt and stuff."

"Oh, just pretend I'm not here. But Keith, if you haven't seen the Voltron shows, please try and catch a broadcast. Lance is a rather skilled aerialist, I'm sure it will give you some new ideas for whenever you can next cross paths."

"Voltron shows?"

"Allura is a saint. Allura is a saint, and she warped the castle to a different solar system just so I could talk to you for one little varga, so I'm not going to have a conniption that she's trying to suggest new sex positions to us."

"Oh, could I? I'm not a very good artist but I'm sure I could sketch up some basic figures."

"Wow has it been a varga already? Time sure flies, love you baby!" Lance turns off the communicator and turns to Allura with an exasperated look.

"What?"

"Have you been drinking?"

"No but I've had about four vargas of sleep, I've been stuffing myself with my weight in protein cubes and I have to open up a wormhole to another solar system in a few dobashes."

"Right, sorry. You get really un-filtered when you're sleep-deprived, is all I'm saying."

Allura stands up, dusting off her hands. "Was I wrong in assuming you'd like to show off your flexibility to Keith?"

Lance rolls his eyes. "He knows how flexible I am, trust me."

"Awww!"

"Whatever," Lance says and tries to snag a protein cube. Allura smacks his hand away and sends him back to mouse-duty.

**

"Hey, baby," Lance purrs into the communicator. "How's my guy doing?"

"Lance..."

Lance hears it in his voice immediately. This is not normal-Keith or happy-Keith or even angry-Keith.

This is Keith about to fall apart.

"What happened?" Lance says, changing to his normal tone.

"Started weapon training today in the arena." 

"Well hey, that's good! No more soft room, that's what you wanted, right?"

Keith sniffs. "Yeah, it is."

Lance presses his lips together, but gives him silence and time to process. He can picture Keith wringing his hands, or tapping his foot, or some other thing he does when he's trying to pick out his words carefully.

Or when he's holding back.

"Harder than I thought it'd be," Keith sniffs again. "I mean, yeah it's the Blade of Marmora. They spend most of their time training and practicing weapon-to-weapon combat, some of them since they were old enough to hold a knife. So of course they're all like, amazingly good. And I knew that, it happened during the trials, but I've been practicing like crazy since then, and I thought I'd improved enough but–"

Another pause. Keith hiccoughs and clears his throat, Lance can picture him rubbing his face as he tries to hold on to his composure.

"Couldn't get one clean hit in. All day long." 

"Ah," Lance understands that feeling too well, when there's someone a hundred times better than you at the thing you're best at. Wonders if Keith's body is as bruised as his ego right now, and if he didn't know when to give up and take a break.

"I knew this was never gonna be easy. Not all gonna be missions, or silly commissary gossip, or bartering favors over monitor duty shifts, or doing cartwheels in the armory and then hiding in the infirmary when G'Ardo catches you." 

"Cartwheels in the armory? G'Ardo?"

"Series of escalating dares. Stupid story, I'll tell you another time."

"You better."

Keith sniffs. "Ugh. Nevermind. Tell me about your day?"

Lance takes a deep breath. "Keith, I want you to listen to me."

Keith answers with a sniffle. "I'm listening."

"You're failing your own bunny test right now, remember? The litmus test for when you've had too much?"

"Y-yeah," Keith says softly.

"I want you to let go."

"I can't."

"You can. I'm gonna talk you through it, okay? Do you want that?" Lance picks up the communicator and takes it to his bed, lying down.

"Please." Keith's voice cracks.

"I want you to take the comm, and lie down on your bed. And we're gonna take nice and slow from there, okay?"

**

"Lance! Lance! Lance McClain will you wake the fuck up!"

Lance stirs, leaning over to where the communicator is still flashing, Keith's voice cracking through static. 

"G'morning baby, you feelin' better?" he stretches out, all warm and satisfied and still a little blissed-out from the comfort and dirty talk that took him and Keith through the night.

"It won't come out!"

"Huh?"

"Lance, I fell asleep after we finished, and it won't come out of my uniform what the hell am I gonna do, and it was your stupid idea that I leave it on in the first place!"

"Babe... You know I can't see you, right? I figured you would just take off your uniform when we got to the messy parts. You didn't really leave it on?"

"Um."

"Keith! Oh my lord, go find space seltzer or something and soak that thing right now! Ask Hans & Franz for help?"

"Holson and Jaussey!" Keith shouts as the communicator switches off.

**

"Lance."

"Shiro."

"Just got off the comm with Kolivan."

"..."

"Do you want to know what we talked about?"

"Even if I say no, it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"Nope."

"..."

"I had to tell him what happens during human male ejaculation. I had explain to him what makes up semen and seminal fluids, and the specific circumstances that need to happen to cause stains in dark clothing, Lance."

"..."

"Please Lance, I'm begging you. "

"It's not my fault they don't have space seltzer and that Keith falls asleep after he–"

"Lance!"

**

Lance is finishing another encore from the Voltron shows, and yeah, it's definitely helping him cope a lot better with his loneliness. He gives the crowd another flourish and bow and they cheer.

"Thank you!" he shouts, blowing a kiss to the fans screaming in the front row. It's one hundred percent a cheeseball move, but he loves that sudden rise in volume the crowd gives him back.

Out of the corner of his eye, there's this weird something. He looks up and to the right, and swears there's a shadow there, somewhere high up in the catwalks where the stage lights hang.

**

"You still messing with that soundboard, Pidge?" Hunk asks.

"I think I can do something cool with it," she replies, poking at the piece of technology the last theater wanted to discard before Pidge asked for it.

Lance smirks, he knows she'll come up with something amazing with it. His team is awesome like that.

"Lance, you still have people waiting," Coran taps him out of his reverie as he turns back to the autograph line.

"Right! Sorry!" Lance smiles at the Shkexian holding out their program for him to sign. "Thanks for coming to the show," he winks and they make an adorable trilling sound through their beak.

He thinks he sees that shadow again, it darts from his blindspot in the distance and Lance rubs his eyes. Signing his name over and over, and attempting to write so many alien names in alien letters as carefully as he can must be messing with his eyesight.

**

"So they have these dolls of us now, Keith! Little plush toys and they squeak when you squeeze them!"

"Mm."

"I was able to snag the Hunk-one because it's adorable and I need to figure out how to send it to Shay. She's gonna flip, and he's gonna get all glassy eyed and blushy. It's gonna be awesome."

"Mm."

"I was gonna try and make them make one of you, but I know you're keeping a low profile, so I didn't want to blow up your spot. And, well like I said, Coran has Allura playing you so it's a little surreal when all the 'Keith-merch' is pink, but hey that's showbiz. I'm doing jazz hands right now, I know you can't see them but it's important that you know that fact. When I say showbiz, I'm accentuating the term with jazz hands."

"Mm."

"You're really quiet, I mean you're always quiet but is everything okay, babe? Are you having trouble with that Galra-Regina George or whoever giving you too many combat drills? More awkward Kolivan talks? Frick & Frack asking you inappropriate questions about human sex stuff?"

There's silence.

"I know, it's Holson and Jaussey, not Frick & Frack. I'm joking."

More silence.

"Keith? Babe? Aw hell, if you can hear me don't move, I'll get Allura to tilt the castle-ship."

"I can hear you."

Lance registers the tone immediately. It's familiar. Bitter, stinging, and indifferent. He hasn't heard that tone in cycles.

"Keith... You sound really angry."

"I am really angry."

"Well, do you want to talk about it? It might help. I'm here for you, baby."

He hears Keith inhale, he can picture his face. How Keith shuts his eyes and concentrates before he unloads on someone or something (usually a training drone).

"Okay," Lance hears through clenched teeth. "Let's talk about groupies."

**

Keith fights with reckless abandon.

It's a frenzy of shouting and stomping and Lance gives just as good as he gets. He's pacing his room madly and screaming into the communicator. He's not even registering what he's saying or really what's being said.

It's a bad fight. It's bad because Lance can't see Keith's face, can only guess from how his tone shifts if what he's saying goes too far. All Lance can do is repeat himself until he's feeling drained and at one point they take a break, just silence as they catch their breath. But Keith's an unrelenting storm and it was only a moment's rest before he's thundering again, and Lance shouts back, just unloading every terrible selfish thing he has in him.

Every bratty, needful and inconsiderate thing he could say to Keith, he says and he says it twice.

Every irrational, unforgiving, and untrusting thing is shouted back in his face just as many times.

At some point Lance just crumbles against a corner of his room and tunes out, "I can't fight you, I can't do this anymore," he says holding back a sob.

Keith shouts his name over and over but Lance has given up and he hears a terrible cracking and stomping sound and a shout that cuts out mid-way.

**

"Never go to bed angry." 

"That's stupid. I go to bed angry all the time. I'm kind of angry right now. I really, really hate Lotor," Keith sneers. Lance turns his chin so they're face-to-face.

"It means we don't leave arguments unfinished, okay Keith? Boyfriend rule number one, most important. When we fight, and you know we'll fight at some point, we can't walk away and not come back. No matter how much it hurts and sucks and makes your blood boil, we come back to it. I don't care if you need to put your bayard through every training drone first, but we have to finish the fight. Promise?"

"Yeah, we should always finish the fight," Keith pulls closer to Lance and yawns in his ear. "No matter what."

Lance wakes up feeling like the wind's been knocked out of him. Like something punched a hole in his chest and he's losing more and more air.

**

"Shiro?"

"Yes, Lance?"

"Can I ask you a potentially upsetting question?"

"Damn it, Lance! Am I gonna have to field another awkward Kolivan call?"

"What's it like to have a panic attack?"

Shiro blinks, turning to face him and Lance pulls his shirt tighter, over his chest where his heart feels like it's beating way too fast for him to keep up and it's thundering in his ears.

Shiro's hands on his shoulders bring him back into focus. They talk quietly until Lance can breathe comfortably again.

**

Pidge is excitedly talking about sequencing, quantization, loops and other random music terms as she points to the remodeled soundboard she and Matt have been working on. Lance wanders by and pokes at it, pressing some buttons and listening to the sounds it makes.

"You made a space-MOOG. Congratulations," he says, interrupting her.

"Uh, it's a bit more advanced than that!" Matt says, hands on his hips.

"Right!" Pidge says, "It can handle way more tonal alterations than a traditional synthesizer."

Lance rolls his eyes and mocks her. "Blah blah, space-MOOG, blah blah."

Pidge growls, her eyes narrowing. "Ignore him Matthew, he's just got space-blue balls the size of Uranus."

"What?!" 

"Pidge!"

"Oh my god, Pidge! 

"So not cool!"

Lance doesn't care who's coming to his defense, or to even defend himself as he shoves his hands in his jacket and walks away quietly.

**

"It's a fucking MOOG synthesizer, who even cares? I don't get why she's all freaky about what I called it, and it's not like I was trying to insult her."

Hunk clicks his teeth. "Lance, have you talked to Keith since the fight?"

Lance stops pacing the floor and stares at a particular spot, "No."

"Are you gonna?"

Lance glares at the floor and shrugs. "Communicator's right over there, why don't you talk to him if you're so worried?"

Lance immediately regrets every decision ever because Hunk doesn't put up with his bullshit sulking and is way too strong for Lance to take down. He's failing helplessly trying to rip the communicator from Hunk's hands shouting: "No, Hunk no! I was joking! I'll call him!"

Lance stops when Hunk pauses and looks down at the communicator with a frown.

"Um. The receiver is gone."

"Hm?"

"I mean, there's this tone it makes when the sister device–the one Keith has–isn't working, but is still y'know, around? Then there's this tone it makes when the other one is out of battery, and another for out of range but this sound... It only makes this sound if the other device has been, um, obliterated?"

Lance hunches his shoulders up. "Explains the stomping noises."

"Lance."

"It's fine! I'm fine."

**

Lance is not fine. He is terrified.

Going up against a fleet of Galra warships firing lasers at you and your pseudo-magical space lion? No problem.

Trying to stop a power-mad dictator from taking over the universe? Easy peasy.

Getting up in front of a crowd of aliens and performing some embarrassing cheeseball Voltron play? Bring it on.

Lance clears his throat. Hunk is giving him a thumbs-up as his hands hover over the not-a-space-MOOG-synth-thingy. His hand tenses and he drums his fingers around the microphone.

Pidge comes over the comm, "Guys, I've got the frequency. You'll be broadcasting in 5... 4... 3..."

Okay.

"2..."

He's got this.

"1..."

Because it's Keith. It's worth it. It will always be worth fighting his fears and losing his pride and ignoring the way his voice breaks as the digitalized violins swell, and wow Pidge really did a great job programming the synthesizer, they sound amazing, and shit did he miss the starting note? Hunk's replaying the intro again, so he can come back around and start singing at the right part.

Lance is shaky during Am I Blue, and to be fair he's only had a quintet and a half to memorize the lyrics. Hunk insisted it was a good warm-up number, and it'd make the Blade take notice.

"I have a visual on a particularly short-looking Blade on one of the defeated drone ships. We definitely have their attention," Allura whispers into his ear through the comm. Lance feels his heart skip and he can't finish the song. Hunk plays the instrumentals through the end, letting Lance reset.

"Wait..." Lance hears Allura tapping away on her console. "That short Blade is being joined by an even shorter Blade, I'm isolating the video feed sending a visual to you now."

Lance sees the image on the screen, a room of downed Galra drones and two Blades, one conspicuously shorter and leaner than the other one. They're chatting and looking over the diagnostics of the ship's console.

"You got this, Lance," Shiro says over the comm.

"C'mon loverboy. Love-a your boy!" Pidge cheers and manages to make Lance crack a smile. 

Hunk is nodding as he cracks his knuckles and gets ready for the next song. "Heath Ledger! You can do it!" he whispers to Lance.

Lance drops his voice low as the music starts back up again. He focuses in on the image of the Blade that's a foot shorter than his teammates. "You're just too good to be true," he croons, ignoring the crack and wobble in his voice and that he's a little too flat. "Can't take my eyes off of you..."

Lance's chest swells with warmth when Keith drops his visor and moves closer to the speakers in the ship, his hands over his heart. Lance feels his confidence grow as the song gets faster, and he doesn't go off mark or crack even the slightest for the rest of it.

**

Red is hovering among the wreckage of the Galra fleet, as Lance keeps sending out a signal beacon.

"Lance, the Blade's left already. They had to, and we should as well."

"I'll fly back to the castle in a few more dobashes, Shiro. Just give me that much."

"Of course, Lance," Allura says. "I can hang back as well Shiro, if you're concerned. I should be able to get a wormhole opened if needed."

"No, we are all going back to the castle-ship now. Lance, come on." 

Lance sighs. "Yeah, fine."

He hangs back though, listening to Shiro scream as he ducks under the wormhole and twists back towards the emptied battlefield.

There's a spark in the corner of his eye. A drone ship approaching him. He opens the comm and sends his beacon out one more time.

It's reciprocated with a familiar coded sequence. Lance smiles, and pulls his visor down as the ship slows to hover in front of his lion. Lance is out of his seat and through Red's mouth in seconds. 

The drone ship opens and there's a Blade standing up, carefully using magnetized boots to walk along the ship's nose. Lance jets over, meeting him halfway, he touches a few buttons on his armor to open the radio channels in his helmet.

"You sang for me," Keith says.

"I know it took me a while, and it wasn't very original and I just ripped off that movie and the other songs were Hunk's ideas, so next time I'll really pick a song that means–"

He's cut off by the hug as Keith shouts. "You sang for me!" 

Lance wraps his arms around Keith, wishing he could feel the warmth, but the vacuum of space is strong, so his armor has to be stronger. All he feels is a slight amount of pressure, and not much else.

"Keith... I'm so sorry. For everything I said, and for running away from the fight. I let it get to me, all this guilt and missing you and feeling lonely and selfish."

"I'm sorry too. I was jealous and angry and frustrated, and I took it all out on you. I wasn't even listening, at one point I was just shouting at you for the sake of it, trying to push you away before you could leave me," Keith buries his head in the crook of Lance's neck and and it makes him ache. "I hate that I think like this. Anything goes a little bit off, and I assume you're just gonna leave me. So I try to shove you away, and pretend like it was my decision all along."

"Keith, there's so much more we need to say but I can't take it anymore. Please get in the lion with me so I can take off this visor and kiss you?" Lance asks as he runs his fingers down the sides of Keith's mask. Keith nods and then stills, putting his hand to his ear.

"Just a few dobashes, oh come on! Please! I'll do monitor duty for the rest of the cycle! I'll clean the hangar! Okay, fine." Keith groans. "I have to go. I hate this. Frell."

"Frell?"

"It's like Blade-slang for Quiznak."

"Screw it, I'll follow you back to the base, I need to–" Lance drops his shoulders as he feels the tell-tale boom of the wormhole opening behind him, and Shiro growling and nearly swearing at him through his helmet. "I need to go face the wrath of a Shiro disobeyed, apparently."

"And I need to go explain to Kolivan why my boyfriend decided to hijack a Galra radio frequency to serenade me," Keith laughs. "It's 'K plus L' all over again. That was weird to explain to people who don't understand the symbolism of heart-shapes versus actual hearts."

"Your boyfriend loves you, that's why. That's always the answer, babe." Lance squeezes Keith's hands and presses their helmets together, in the pantomime of a kiss.

"Your boyfriend loves you too. He misses you so much."

Lance holds onto Keith's hands as long as he can until they have to part, Lance using the momentum to jet back to Red and Keith flying away in the opposite direction in the stolen ship.

**

"Lance?"

"Oh my god Shiro whatever it is, I swear I didn't do anything! I haven't actually spoken to Keith in quintents we've just been sending space-emails through Pidge's server and they are so incredibly G-rated because we don't trust her one bit and–!"

"Kolivan sent a new communicator. It's got video. He says this model is more durable but still don't push it too far."

"Oh! Um, can you tell him thanks?"

"I'm sure I will. When Keith inevitably breaks his by doing something stupid."

"When what?"

"He's really, really clumsy with technology. He cracked two of my phones, burned a third while also killing my microwave and the fourth wound up in a sewer drain. We don't ever talk about what happened to my laptop, for the sake of our friendship."

"..."

"He punched it Lance. He punched it so hard that he cracked the bezel and the screen and it flew off a table and landed on top of my brand new DSLR camera and broke my lens and my flash. And then there was this one time I caught him about to drop my TV out a window. I don't know what's wrong with him? He's part human, part Galra, part technology-destroying Luddite demon child."

"Wow. Bet you're glad he can't borrow your arm?"

"I have terrible fantasies that he does, and then returns it and it's missing the thumb and it's sawed in half and filled with spiders and on fire."

"How would he even?" 

"He's Keith, he would find a way in the middle of space to fill my arm up with spiders. That's what happened to my GameCube, did I tell you about that?"

**

Lance gets back to his quarters locks his door and immediately calls Keith up, excited to see him and hear his voice. The G-rated messages are killing him.

The face isn't who he's expecting when the Blade visor drops. It's a sunny-smiled Indigo-skinned Galra with a tuft of fluffy blue hair, and pointy ears. The voice is unfamiliar, but friendly and excited.

"Ooh! It's Keith's! Um... Halberd? Spear? "

Lance takes a minute to realize the translators are possibly messing with the way his name is being interpreted. He laughs a little into his hand."Um, my name's Lance."

"That's it! You're his Lance! Hi! Hey, look at this human, his eyes are beady."

Lance feels himself shrink a little. Suddenly, all the times Keith complained about being told how short he is makes sense.

The video moves to another Blade, this one is more on the purple side and less... fluffy than the first. They have more serpentine features and larger, bat-like ears with a row of small ridges and horns on their head instead of hair or fur. They angrily wave away the other, "Holson frell off, I'm watching."

"Sorry, Jaussey is being a Mother Chirrop to his littlest kit. He doesn't like it when I interrupt while he allows himself to have an actual emotion."

"Holson, I said frell off!  And for the last time, I do not Mother Chirrop."

"Yes, Mother."

"I will make you eat what's left of your–oh, is that Keith's... Javelin? Pike?" the other Blade catches sight of the video and takes the communicator so Lance gets closer look. He's not as bright-eyed or cheerful as the first. There's more of a curious and calculating expression that reminds Lance of Pidge when she's in the middle of hacking a new system.

"Lance," he corrects.

"Greetings Lance, I'm Jaussey. Holson and I have heard so much about you! Except the stuff we actually want to hear because your boyfriend is a prude and some of us like to live vicariously when we're in-between relationships."

"Who has the bigger phallus between the two of you?" The first one, Holson, interrupts by sticking his head back into the frame. "Keith says it doesn't matter, but I don't believe him because the way I understand it logically you'd have to have the bigger one. I mean, consider your longer limbs, the relative size of your lower and upper paws and proclivity for stimulating his pros–"

"Lords. Ignore Holson, did you want to talk to Keith?"

"Please?" Lance says, trying desperately not to shrink away into his chair.

"He's in the middle of a sparring evaluation for advanced weapons training, so it may be a while," Jaussey explains. Lance sees Holson in the background standing up, cupping hands over his mouth and shouting.

"Keith! Lance is calling you! Finish up so you can say hi!"

Jaussey pinches the bridge of his nose. "Holson, I swear, you have seven medical certifications, complete anatomical knowledge of eleven different hybrid and xeno-species, and yet zero common sense so how the frell have you survived this long?" 

"Mother Chirrop looks after me, obviously," Holson smiles and gives Lance a thumbs up that he's 99% certain Keith taught him.

"Mother Chirrop is going to, whoa," Jaussey hands off the communicator and Lance sees him running away from the video feed towards what looks like an arena below some bleachers that they're sitting on.

"Um, is everything okay?" Lance asks, the video turns back to Holson.

"Yeah, wait... Oh. Oh wow." Holson looks stunned, all Lance can hear is a clanging sound and some huffing and grunting, the room has gone fairly silent otherwise. "This is actually happening! Be right back!" Holson must have put down the communicator flat because suddenly Lance is seeing what he can only assume is the ceiling.

He hears the clanging sounds louder and louder, and then a final sudden clang and a gasp. Something falling to the ground and there's a sudden rush of whispers through a crowd. There's thundering footsteps and the video jostles as a Blade mask comes into focus and it melts away to the most beautiful smiling face Lance has seen in far too long.

"Lance!" Keith shouts happily as he wipes the beads of sweat falling from his face. Some of his hair is sticking to his forehead, he's breathing hard, eyes wild. It's post-battle Keith, when he's running on adrenaline and he's glowing. "You finally got it! Man, you are a sight for sore eyes."

"You're telling me! God, you look good Keith. Did you have a good match?"

"Yeah, whatever that's not important Lance I–" Keith is cut off by a sudden roar and cheers ringing out. "Huh? What's happening-oof!" 

Lance watches as Keith is tackled by a bunch of Blades, led by Holson, there's more enthusiastic whooping and Lance swears they're all chanting his name. Holson has him lifted up on his shoulders and Keith looks absolutely stunned and adorably flustered by the attention. The communicator is with Jaussey again, who is wiping what looks like a tear from his eye. 

"Hey, Skewer?"

"Lance."

"Yeah whatever, Keith has to call you back. Oh my lords, I'm so proud of our littlest Blade!"

The video cuts out.

**

The communicator buzzes a varga after his first call and Lance dives for it, "Keith! What the fuck?"

"I do not know what news of fornication you want to share with Keith, but can that wait? I would like this communicator to last a bit longer than the others," Kolivan answers.

Lance feels his blood run cold.

"H-hey Kolivan! Did you want to talk to Shiro?"

"No, did Shiro wish to speak to me?"

"No, he actually yells at me whenever he gets one of your Keith-broke-something calls. He has these little twitches now whenever we get an encrypted signal," Lance frowns. He's oversharing from nervousness. Kolivan's expression never changes, it's unsettling.

"That sounds vexing for the black paladin. I will try and use more empathy when I speak with him in the future. The 'robot arm and PTSD' are difficult for him, I am told."

"Yeah, I'd say he's pretty dang vexed."

"Why he berates you is beyond my understanding. You realize it must be a form of sublimation? I do hope you are able to remain calm during those times, and do not hold a grudge against your leader."

Lance bites the inside of his mouth. "Yeah, I mean I never really minded, I just felt bad that I was giving him another problem."

"If he succumbs to the stresses or anxieties that come with dealing in the minutiae of leading a group of strong-willed individuals amidst the looming and ever-present spectre of an intergalactic war, then it is only because we are all made to be fallible and retain soft underbellies throughout our decathebes."

Was that the long-winded Galra version of He's only human? "Wow. Thank you, um, that didn't really occur to me."

"From what I understand, you provide comfort and intimacy your romantic partner. While I do not have the same desires to form such a relationship, I think the world of the passion you must share. It is not something I would hold you responsible for when your partner is naturally prone to breaking things and an... abnormal level of anxiousness."

"Keith is anxious?" Lance is kicking himself for not noticing."He gets flustered sure, but I hadn't... I can talk to him. I'll get my friend Hunk and we'll figure this out."

"Anxious is a bit hyperbolic, I suppose. I hold him to Galran standards, it's difficult not to. I find humans to be generally anxious creatures. Though, I can relate to his impatience, I quite often find myself in a frustrated state due to that nasty habit."

Lance feels himself relaxing. "Yeah, he's been prone to that leap-before-you-look thing. Drives me nuts."

"I count ticks. It's rather helpful." Kolivan pauses. "Most of the time."

"I just make badly-timed jokes and sarcastic remarks."

"Keith has doubled my tick-count... until recently. He credits his newfound patience and combat prowess to your recent reconciliation, and a desire to spend as much time in your company as he can. He is driven to end the war, and work with the Blade to do so with a renewed vigor that has inspired fellow Blades as well. I would like to personally thank you for that inspiration, and affection you give him."

"Aw, really? Kolivan you're going to make me blush."

"Feel free. I can wait if you'd like?" Kolivan leans back, Lance can tell he's doing that counting-thing in his head.

Lance laughs. "Okay, yeah it's a non-literal thing. It's a way to say you've flattered me."

"Ah."

"Keith hides when he blushes, doesn't he?"

"All the time, is that normal?"

"For Keith, yeah."

"That's good to hear. I should get to the point of this call though, I would not want to take up your time. I believe we have shared an adequate amount of 'small talk' yes?"

Lance leans back in his chair, letting himself get over the initial weirdness of how much he's enjoying the conversation. "Kolivan, you have no idea how awesome you are at small talk. But yeah, cut to the chase, I'm sure you're a busy guy and I don't want to waste your time either."

Kolivan blinks. "Thank you. Sincerely." 

Lance gives him a classic McClain-finger-gun-and-wink, "I gotchu."

"Yes, I would like to facilitate a chance for you to stay with us at our base during the tri-quintents of the upcoming Nyctimene-moon. And if you would indulge me, I would ask you to keep this invitation between the two of us, and on a need-to-know basis among the paladins of Voltron. I believe an impromptu reunion under those circumstances would be rather joyous for you both. We shall have you enter the base in a supply cargo ship, it will stop at a refueling station where a shuttle can travel to. I will send the coordinates along to your Princess when you are ready."

"So, a three quintent surprise vacation for me and Keith?" 

"He will have to remain at the base, and complete his scheduled shifts of monitor duty and combat drills. Also he's been assisting with cleaning and organizing the armory. He volunteers for the latter task regularly, no other Blade does."

"Oh wow. Keith regularly asks to be in what I'm guessing is a huge room full of weapons that he gets to disassemble, clean, and reassemble? I'm shocked Kolivan. This is my shocked face."

"Yes, I would imagine nothing less than your utter disbelief. Truly, you know your partner well."

Lance laughs, "Kolivan, you have the universe's best poker face. I'm calling it."

"You accept my offer?" 

"Frell, yeah I do!"

"Language."

"Frell, yes please and thank you."

Kolivan pauses. "I look forward to speaking more with you Lance. You are the least anxious human I have ever encountered. It is very refreshing."

**

The ride in the ship isn't too bad, and it barely takes more than a few minutes once Allura sends them through a wormhole, knowing Lance wouldn't be able to contain himself.

Kolivan opens the cargo hold doors and motions him over. Lance smiles, pulling his bag closer. Another familiar set of faces appear.

"It's a Lance! We got a Lance in the delivery!" 

"Neat!" 

"Hey, it's Abbott & Costello!" Lance says.

"No, I'm Holson, he's Jaussey."

"He's getting us back for the name games, Holson."

"Ooh, wow he bites back? That's gonna be fun."

"Holson, there is actual cargo in the ship." Kolivan gives him a look that Lance decides he never wants to be on the receiving end of. "Most of it is from your purchase request to restock the infirmary. Boxes will not unload themselves."

Holson salutes and immediately gets to work unloading. Jaussey backs out of the room with a very curt salute, "I'm just gonna go relieve Keith from monitor duty, don't worry I won't spoil the surprise!" 

"Those two get almost as many ticks as Keith does some days," Kolivan murmurs to Lance.

"I can imagine. Have you tried purposely calling them by the wrong names to undermine them? May I suggest Chip & Dale? I've been saving that one but you can totally have it."

"Thank you, I will consider that."

"Hey and I can help with," Lance tries to pick up a box but doesn't get further than testing the weight and density within his arms, "I can help with nothing because I am a weak, inferior human and you are clearly shipping boxes filled with the inner cores of black holes."

Holson lifts the box up easily with one hand. "Nah, this one is just bandages. The really heavy ones are the antiseptics and ointments over there. I'm probably gonna need help with those."

Kolivan is tapping his foot, and suddenly dials something on his armband and speaks into it. "Keith, report to the hangar to assist us with the cargo," he says and seconds later it echoes over a loudspeaker.

Lance blinks. "Wow. It's been less than a dobash, Kolivan."

Kolivan shrugs. "I'm eager to reconcile you."

"As my mom would say, you've got all the patience of a mayfly in June."

"It's a Galra thing."

"No it's not," Holson whispers to him, ducking quickly away from Kolivan's glare.

Lance hears steps approaching, and ducks behind one of the crates in the ship as a familiar voice asks, "I'm here, where's this cargo full of 'important stuff'?"

Lance smiles and steps into view. "Hi, I'm important stuff."

**

Keith kisses like he fights, until he can't anymore. He buries his face in the side of Lance's neck and inhales deeply.

"Mmm," Lance groans as Keith nips and teases down his neck with teeth and tongue.

"I love you," Keith says.

"I love you too. I missed you."

"I still can't believe you're here." 

"It was Kolivan's idea," Keith picks his head up, his eyes are wide and frantic. Lance laughs, running his hand down the side of Keith's face. "He thinks I'm a good influence on you."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Nothing," Keith says and pulls his hood down, "deal with that later. Need you now. Wanna get you off and suck you and fuck you and fuck me and taste you and-and I don't know what comes first." 

"Me, if you just keep doing that," Lance says as Keith grinds his hips down against him, he's needy and frantic and Lance doesn't care because he's just the same after so much time apart.

"Lovely as a summer's day or a winter's frottage, was it?" Keith says.

"Thou art far more lovely," Lance murmurs, "so take off the uniform before I get you in trouble again."

"Right," Keith laughs sitting up to reach behind him, and then pauses. "Or, y'know, you could?"

"Could what?"

"I'll show you where all the zippers are hidden."

"Oh my god," Lance trembles.

**

Lance was really glad about the rule of no-masks-on in the commissary, it made it easier to recognize Keith's friends. 

It also helped him pick out some of the other Blades that he's heard stories about. "I'm guessing the big angry sasquatch over there is... Boggy? The one Keith got in a fight with?"

Jaussey angles his head to the table at the center of the room. "Yeah that's Bruiser Boggis, and next to him is Tamargh, the biggest gossip in the known universe." 

Lance leans in, "Is her hair so big because it's full of secrets?"

"I'm pretty sure that's just how she wears it."

"Dang, neither of you are gonna get any of my jokes about the Plastics of Marmora," Lance frowns.

Jaussey angles his head. "I don't even know why that's a joke to begin with."

"Trust me, it's hilarious and I'm a comedic genius for coming up with it," Lance preens. "Where's the Regina George? Y'know the queen bee?" he scans the room for someone that matches Keith's description.

"Oh no, I think we need to step in Jaussey," Holson says tapping his shoulder to point at what's going on behind Lance.

Another Blade is, well, stalking Keith. She's tall, long scars running down her left cheek, and has a commanding presence. There are whispers and eyes on them as she towers over Keith, gesturing wildly and speaking frantically. Keith is trying to walk away from her but she grabs him and he drops his food on the floor in surprise.

"Oh, that's not good," Lance says when he sees Keith ball up his fists. 

Keith has his eyes shut, like when he's about to explode on someone, Lance gets up and jogs over along with Holson and Jaussey, ready to break up whatever is about to go down.

"You must meet me again in combat and allow me to–!" Lance hears her saying.

Keith holds up his hand, stilling all of them, and takes a deep breath. Lance sees him grit his teeth together before opening his eyes and addresses the person in front of him.

"Ilonya, listen to me carefully. My boyfriend is visiting and we only have these three quintents together, and I want to spend as much of my time with him as I can. So for right now, you can just back. The frell. Off." Keith says through his clenched teeth.

Ilonya holds up her hands, her eyes panicking and her body posture changing from intimidation to... submission? "I-I'm so sorry Keith, I had no idea!" she says, then turning to Lance, in a quiet, kinder tone. 

"My deepest apologies, your boyfriend is a very skilled fighter, I look forward to challenging him  to a rematch at a more appropriate time. Please accept my humblest regards, you must be a worthy paramour for him. I acknowledge your time together is precious, I meant no disrespect." 

"Thank you?" Lance says.

She nods. "Allow me to replace your tannot root stew, I shall be right back." She spins on her heels, walking away from them quickly towards the kitchen. 

"Keith!" Jaussey shouts and Holson grabs him, picking him up and hugging him close and spinning him around like a ragdoll.

"Keith you did it! Our littlest Blade did it again!" Holson whoops.

"Crushing... windpipe..." Keith gasps.

Jaussey claps him on the back. "He showed his teeth! He did it right and in-context and no one got floored this time! I'm so proud, we're so proud you Keith!"

"Really... can't breathe... Lance help..."

Lance taps Holson, "Put him down, big guy, I think he's turning the same color as you."

"Right, right, humans have fragile lung-protectors."

"Ribcages, gah!" Keith wheezes.

"What the heck was that?" Lance asks, looping his arms around Keith's shoulders. 

"I beat the head of combat training in a fight, and she wants a rematch," Keith steadies himself against Lance, one hand on his chest. 

"The head of... you mean that was the Regina George of the Plastics of Marmora?"

"No, that was Ilonya, the best weapon combatant in the Blade next to Kolivan! Keith is the only one besides him to ever beat her, and she was pissed," Jaussey says, wiping a tear from his eye. "I thought I was proud then, but now I'm even prouder." Holson pats Jaussey on the shoulder comfortingly as they walk away towards their table.

Lance looks at him with bright eyes and Keith shrugs. "We were sparring and you called so I beat her. She wouldn't let me have a time out."

"That's what that whole big thing was? You beat her because of me?"

"I really wanted to talk to you and like I said, she doesn't believe in time-outs, so I wanted it to end faster so I beat her."

"And you didn't think that maybe, giving up and letting her win would have been faster?"

"Lance that makes no sense, it's faster when I win," Keith pouts. "I don't get why you'd want me to lose on purpose, that's ridiculous."

Lance has to take a moment to appreciate the pout, he missed it so much. He doesn't even bother to restrain himself from nipping Keith's lip, earning a blush and a smile.

"You're right, I don't know what I was thinking," Lance says taking Keith's arm and pulling him  along. "C'mon, your friends are waiting and apparently it's my turn to answer embarrassing questions about human anatomy and my sexual proclivities."

"I feel like this could backfire on me, though. You have no shame."

"I'll lie and say your dick's bigger because I love you."

"Lance."

"Only because I love you. I will lie to your friends. I will live my life in shadows."

"Lance."

"The shadows cast by my enormous dick."

"You are banned from talking to Holson. Forever. I'm making up a boyfriend rule about that."

** 

"Feeling up for our sexy reunion, take two? Subtitled: Keith and Lance actually get naked at the same time." 

Keith responds by emerging from the bathroom in nothing but a pair of black boxer-briefs and pouncing on Lance, leaping into his arms. Lance laughs and spins them around, falling against the bed with a small bounce.

Lance adjusts himself as Keith straddles his hips properly and then there's a weird squeaking sound and something is under his neck. Lance reaches under the pillow and pulls out–

"Oh. My. God."

"Um."

"You have a Lancey-Lance squeaky plush! I thought these were sold out?"

"Ummm." 

"And you keep it under your pillow? And, wait... What is that in the corner?" 

"Shit. Lance no!" Keith struggles to pin Lance to the mattress but he just picks Keith up, and carries him over to the corner of the room and what's caught his eye.

"Babe, you have a Lance-shrine? Should I be flattered or scared? I'm gonna go with flattered but I'm putting you on a watchlist for any future Voltron publicity shoots."

Keith is burying his face in his hands. "I missed you, and I saw the merchandise on a supply run, and it was so stupid but it reminded me of you. It is not a Lance-shrine, I just like keeping it all in one place, okay?"

"Okay, stalker. Wait, did you come to that show on Shkexis-9? Is that where you saw the autograph line and had your freak-out?"

"Maybe."

"Oh thank goodness, I thought my eyesight was going! Just my crazy stalker boyfriend in the shadows, not me seeing things."

"Lance, do you really want to have this discussion now? It's been like forever since we've seen each other and as horny as I have been for frelling weeks, you have found the one and only mood-killer topic. Congratulations."

"Uh, if I suck you off, will it help?"

"Mood. Killed."

"Alright, alright," Lance carries Keith back to his bed, depositing him in the middle of it, "I think I know how to resurrect the mood, if you'll give me a chance?" Lance kisses the side of Keith's face and he grumbles slightly, but allows it.

Lance reaches into his bag, pulling out a small mini-MOOG Pidge cobbled together for him. He places it in-between himself and Keith as he joins him on the bed.

"So, we've established how much I like attention and being adored by the public, yeah?"

Keith rolls his eyes, "Yeah."

"And that I am completely unfazed by public displays of affection in general. I can give as good as I receive, so to speak," Lance adds a wink.

Keith tries to bite back his smile. "Yeah..."

"It's different when it's not really for the public, or rather when I only care about one person's opinion on something. With a crowd you're gonna get a mixed bag. Who cares if someone doesn't like something you do? Because usually someone else does. I can focus on that, and ignore that annoying little voice of uh, bitter self-depreciation," Lance fiddles with the switches on the tiny synth, running his fingers down the keys. 

"I get nervous when I have a single, important person that I'm trying to reach," Lance changes the tones until he gets a very soft, muted piano. He plays the chords that he's been practicing every free moment he's had leading up to his visit.

"And yeah, you love me for trying, or you love me even if I'm terrible and you'll lie and say I'm great. But I get in my head, because I don't want to just get a pass or give you lip service. I want to impress you. I want you to know I took time, and care because I love you. Sometimes my voice goes off the rails, because it's dumb like that and I get thrown off altogether, but I still want to make sure that I'm focusing more on the feeling than the perfect sound. 

"I have to learn to let go of the idea that I want to be the star of my own little movie, and have my adoring public fawning over me. It's better when it's you, Keith. When you're there to remind me I don't have to be perfect, or feel guilty for wanting to belong, or when I need to own up to my mistakes." Lance takes a deep breath.

"This is a song I really love, and it makes me think of you. It makes me think of the moment I realized how much I liked you, and how much I wanted to kiss you. When I found out that you wanted to be wooed and chased and have someone show how much they care about you. And I related to that, because suddenly I wanted to woo and chase and win you. 

"When you said I was a good friend. When you told me I wasn't stupid or ridiculous for wanting to be in love. When I saw how cute you are when you wiggle your toes, or scrunch your face up because you hate bitter things. How hot it is when you talk about how much you wanna drink my spit."

Keith lets out a quick laugh, hand clapping over his mouth with a gasp as Lance sees him remember that night drenched in silverale and laced with desperate, reckless kisses.

"I feel like it's the first time I really saw you. And through the haze of everything that was clouding my mind, there was a clear image that I saw of you and me together. It was so beautiful, that it made my heart beat faster and took my breath away. You still do that to me." Lance bites his lip, trying to calm his nerves back down.

Keith nods, and he wipes the sides of his face quickly, coaxing Lance on.

"So. The first time, ever I saw your face..."

** 

"Mood un-killed?"

Keith shoves the synthesizer off the bed, and Lance hears an ominous-sounding crash and pieces scattering but he can't really do much at this point. Keith pushes Lance down, kissing him passionately and moaning into his mouth, melting under his touch and bringing Lance's  hands around his backside so he can grab Keith's ass.

What Shiro told Lance echoes in his mind as he opens an eye and peers down at the mess of metal and wires on the floor.

** 

"Tell Pidge I'm really sorry," Keith says with a yawn as Lance surveys the damage in the morning.

"It's okay, I should have expected it, I guess?" Lance says as he kisses his fingers and touches them to the poor, fallen instrument. "You served me well, and got me laid. So rest in pieces, little MOOG friend," he whispers.

"Hm?"

"Shiro told me about your uh, colorful history with electronics."

Keith narrows his eyes, sitting up suddenly. "Did he accuse me of being a loom-smashing Luddite again?"

"Close, I believe his exact phrasing was 'technology-destroying Luddite demon child'."

"He is being so dramatic, I bumped into him and he cracked his phone screen. Those things he got were super-fragile, and he refused to buy a case. And yeah, I smacked his computer off a table by accident. I was trying to swat a mosquito, y'know I could have saved him from getting malaria."

Lance sits back on his heels. "Right, I guess that makes sense? I mean the spider-thing sounded a bit excessive."

"Oh my god, what did he tell you?" Keith frantically throws up his hands, "So I borrowed Shiro's stupid Cube-thingy and a spider must have like, laid eggs in it before I gave it back and he needs to get over it because it was years ago! It's like, nature! How is nature my fault? It wasn't like I was actively trying to put spiders in his stupid game console."

Lance blinks. "Did you also break the controller like he said?"

"... Mario wouldn't jump when I told him to. I got a teeny bit annoyed and I might have stomped the stupid thing 12 times in a slight bout of frustration."

"And the phone-in-the-microwave thing?"

"Okay, so that one was my bad, I got myself into a fight with someone on reddit about the fastest way to charge an iPhone."

Lance's jaw drops. "How have you not set one of the lions on fire? How have you not set the entire castle on fire?"

"...If I suck you off, will you let it go?"

"Oh suddenly it's okay when you're the mood-killer, and of course you can, geez."

**

"Hey, babe is it okay if we sit with Kolivan at lunch? I know it's my last day here, but I promised him I would during our midnight snack chat sesh."

Keith nearly drops the armful of weapons he's holding, earning a nasty look from G'Ardo, the Blade in charge of the armory. Lance winces, he knows they already have a tenuous relationship.

(G'Ardo thinks Keith is coming for their job. Lance isn't 100% sure that worry is unfounded since Keith got a little starry-eyed when he talked about what it would be like to run the armory).

"What?" Lance asks.

Keith puts the pile of short-swords down on a table and pulls Lance away from the gun shelves. He pushes him against a wall, pinning him in place with his hands on Lance's shoulders.

"Lance, I need you to be honest with me."

"Of course Keith, what is it?"

"What is with you and Kolivan?"

"Whaaat? We're midnight snack buddies, all we do is eat cheese and talk about stuff."

"No, no Lance you don't get it. I've been watching and I think... I think you're friends."

"Huh. Yeah, I guess we are?"

"Lance!"

"What's wrong with that?" 

"It's Kolivan!"

"Yeah?" 

"What the hell could you possibly talk about with him? And don't say-"

"Cheese, for one."

"What else?"

"You, dummy."

Keith grumbles. "Of course."

"How is that a bad thing? We both have a vested interest in making sure you're doing okay."

Keith wavers, his grip on Lance's shoulders loosening. "Oh."

"I mean you're not like our main topic of conversation. If you're pressing me, I'd say mostly we talk about the differences between humans and Galra and sort of try to figure out why we are the way we are, and why we misunderstand each other. It's all very meta."

"Really?"

"Yeah it's pretty much, 40% human vs. Galra meta, 30% cheese talk, maybe 20% talking about you, and 10% just two dudes joking around."

"I'm sorry, what was that last part?"

"We joke around with each other. I think I can teach him how to use sarcasm."

Keith drops his hands from Lance's shoulders and collapses against him in relief. Lance instinctively hugs him close. 

"Okay, of course you can have lunch with him. But I'm gonna hang back. Those curds he eats are rancid."

"No, they're delicious. That stew you like so much tastes like a boiled creamsicle mixed with stale marshmallows, ugh."

"We obviously have very different palates. I mean you said it yourself, I like drinking your spit," Keith winks and kisses Lance.

"So I get lunch with my cheese bro?"

"Just get ready for a lot of disbelieving stares. Especially from my table."

"Aka the coolest Blades you will ever meet-table."

**

Lance doesn't mind the stares. He especially enjoys the way Ilonya ducks her head and shuffles away in near-terror when he sits down next to Kolivan, who greets him with a firm and polite handshake.

He blows Keith kisses and keeps giving him finger guns whenever he catches him looking. Keith shakes his head, but Lance can tell he's more charmed than embarrassed by his antics. Holson and Jaussey are sharing twin looks of utter disbelief. Jaussey also won't stop running his mouth, he must be extra shook.

"I agree, Lance. Tannot root stew is far too sweet for my tastes."

"Right? My older sister used to dip her french fries in her milkshake, so gross."

"Was she the one you threw the tantrum at during her annual celebration?"

"Totally. I opened up all her presents and cried, and made her cry. Mom and Pops lectured me about sharing for like a month. She still brings it up every Christmas to shame me."

"The gifts were to be opened regardless?"

"Yep."

"Strange. So the act of opening the package is more important than what the package contains?"

"Kolivan, I'm gonna need you to write this conversation down so if I ever get back to Earth, I can have it with my sister. Actually, can I just bring you to her?" 

"Keith will be upset if I meet your family before he does." 

"This is hypothetically after I've brought him home to my parents and while they're all distracted with what a damn catch I got. So while they're stuffing him with food and asking him really embarrassing questions, you and I swoop in and we bring Olivia down."

"I'll need a map of your house with the points of egress marked to plan it accordingly, but of course."

Lance sighs, winking and sending another kiss Keith's way. "I like this plan. The McClain-Marmora Christmas Special. Fun and knives for the whole family!"

Across the room, Keith spits his food out at the table. Lance immediately turns his head and starts to stand up, worried. Kolivan clears his throat and lifts a napkin to cover his mouth.

"I forgot that Jaussey is an expert in lip-reading," Kolivan says, keeping his mouth obstructed. "I will double his monitor duty."

Lance sits down and looks back to Keith's table, realizes he's laughing and pounding the table with his fist. He brings a cup to his mouth to cover his lips. "Or we mess with his head, and start having a hypothetical conversation about how you're plotting to send Jaussey to a garbage-planet or something?"

Kolivan raises his brow. "Lance, are you certain you're not part-Galra? I wouldn't hesitate to recruit you as well."

**

"Lance?"

"Hi, Shiro. Keith broke the thing, I know."

"Yep. Kolivan told me to shame you for 'losing the contest'. He's... very disappointed in you."

"Ha! Tell him excellent use of sarcasm. Say 'I'm so proud,' and then roll your eyes dramatically like you're in a 90's sitcom."

"..."

"Oh, and tell him I tried counting ticks, but when I get turned on, the numbers-part of my brain goes blank."

"..."

"Also tell him that Hunk really likes the curds too, so if he could link us to his direct supplier it might be easier."

"..."

"What?"

"Keith warned me about this. I thought I was prepared for the weirdness, but clearly I wasn't." 

"What can I say? All Galra and part-Galra inherently adore me. They must have excellent taste."

**

"You kiss like you fight," Lance says that first night, and Keith's either too drunk or too gone to respond with anything more than another moan as he moves his mouth down the side of Lance's neck.

"Not that it's a bad thing," Lance sighs, "you're beautiful when you fight."

"Eh?" Keith finally registers his surroundings. He pulls away, settling on Lance's lap and twisting his hands in Lance's shirt.

"Why is that," Lance asks himself out loud, "you're violence and grace all at once."

Keith's lips part slowly. "You taste good."

Lance runs his fingers through Keith's hair, "We are very, very drunk. Too drunk. We should go drink water and go to bed."

Keith nods, carefully extracting himself from Lance's lap to stand on wobbly legs, and he follows suit.

"In the morning," Keith starts, as they get closer to their rooms, leaning on each other for support as they stumble-walk through the castle halls.

"Yeah?"

Keith turns to him, tilts his chin down and kisses the corner of his mouth, then his lips, again and again. Lance feels a warmth in his stomach, and pulls back before it stirs any lower.

"In the morning?" he asks.

"If you still taste good, in the morning," Keith chews his bottom lip thoughtfully. "Mmm, yeah, that's it. That's what I'm gonna do. Kiss you in the morning."

"Well, I'll make sure I don't brush my teeth and give you a nice face full of morning-breath," Lance deflects with a joke, shoving his hands in his jacket and trying to think of anything but kissing Keith in warm rays of sunlight.

"Good," Keith blinks, and Lance gently ushers him to his room. "In the morning, I'm gonna kiss you," he says, opening his door.

"I'm gonna let you," Lance says.

"Gonna kiss you every morning. Until you fall in love with me too."

Keith stumbles into his room, closing the door leaving Lance standing there breathless.