The first night that he and Lance had had an actual conversation, without fighting or bickering, he honestly wasn't sure what to do or say. It had been late at night and he had been admiring the stars from one of the castle's windows, wondering what he would do when they had taken down Galra Empire. Would he continue traveling through space? Would he go back to Earth and keep trying to find his place there? As he was having these thoughts Lance stumbled down the hallway heading towards the kitchen. Normally Keith would have just given a glance and continued on with his thoughts but this time was different, Lance almost seemed, at the very least he was not swaggering about like he normally did.
He let out a sigh and asked "Is something wrong?"
Lance jerked in surprise, having just noticed Keith's presence in the hallway. "Oh what? Yeah everything's fine, I'm just going to the kitchen to grab some water," Lance answered his question, lamely trying to throw up some finger guns halfway through.
"Rrrright," Keith said, raising an eyebrow at the blue paladins attempt to brush off his concern.
"Let's be real man, you don't actually want to know what's going on with me do you?" Lance sighed, far too tired to keep up a bickering and sarcastic front right now.
"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't willing to talk to you about whatever is bothering you, but if you don't want to tell me I'm not going to force you," Keith shrugged and waited on the other's reaction.
Lance thought about for a second before giving in and sitting down next to Keith. "I guess I've just been really home sick lately. Being a defender of the universe is nice and everything, but I'm really worried about my family and how they're doing. I'm not even sure if they know if I'm alive or not thanks to that explosion the Garrison might have listed me, Hunk, and Pidge as casualties." Lance finally spit out all at once after a few moments of silence between the two of them.
Keith was startled and half understood what Lance was saying with how fast he said everything. But as he looked at the blue paladin he found himself trying to be as reassuring as he could, telling Lance that there was no doubt that they would all make it back to Earth to celebrate the liberation of the universe. As the night went on they shared more and more about their lives pre-Voltron. Keith found out that Lance had four sisters, three older and one younger, the latter had only been five when they disappeared and she was also the key to one of Lance's biggest fears, that some day he would get back to Earth and she would have no idea who he was. Likewise Lance found out that Keith had never known his father and his mother had died when he was ten, leading him to grow up moving from foster home to foster home, never quite finding a place where he could fit in.
That night they sat at that window and talked about everything and nothing, until the other paladins came out of their rooms ready to start the day. While neither would admit it if asked, it helped both of them immensely to feel better about where they were at the moment so many light-years away from everything they had ever known.
After that first talk everyone in the castle started noticing a difference in the way that Keith and Lance acted towards each other. They still bickered, but it was no where near as frequently as before and never with as much bite behind their words. While no one knew what had caused it, no one was complaining about the relative peace in the castle.
Instead they worked on improving their bond as a whole team for once not fueled by the adrenaline of fighting but rather the unity of each member finally getting along the way that they were supposed to.
It was through these interactions as Allura watched that she noticed something other than friendship blossoming between the blue and red paladins. Not that any of the other paladins had noticed, not even the paladins in question had noticed yet. It was something that she had expected would come with time as had happened with most of their predecessors.
One morning saw the two of them working together in the training room trying to better coordinate their fighting styles with each other. This particular morning was the morning when Keith happened to realize that he had developed feelings for the blue paladin.
He hadn't meant for it to happen, it had come as a rather sudden and shocking realization to him at that time. Lance had fallen down right on top of him and as he was about to yell at him, he found that he had lost his voice and his focus due to a certain situation he found himself in thanks to where Lance had landed.
They had just gotten back from one of their duo missions, a small raid on a Galra merchant ship to gather some supplies and intelligence that had gone not exactly as planned when Lance finally realized that Keith was no longer just a rival turned friend to him. Blue had taken a pretty big hit and Keith was helping with some of the repairs.
Lance was beginning to wonder what was going on with Keith, for the past week he had been helping Lance a lot more and their playful rivalry had gone down even more. Lance would have questioned more, but he had not noticed the times that Keith had had to look away from the other because he was blushing at something the other had done. Not that Lance would have necessarily picked up on what was happening even then.
Despite not knowing why their relationship was changing yet again, Lance went along with it and gladly accepted the help. Although this was the day that he began to question if he should have. Keith had gotten quite close to his face while stretching to try to tighten a bolt into place and Lance had a stray thought that he wouldn't mind kissing Keith at that moment. Which led to him staring at Keith in a whole new way, long enough that Keith actually asked him what was wrong leading to a furious blushing and a lot of stuttering about why wouldn't he be, he was chill why couldn't Keith be.
A few days before they had fought a particularly hard battle against the Galra. They had been backed into a corner while trying to rescue a ship full of prisoners and Keith had done something rather stupid. Stupid enough that Lance had to wait actual days before Keith was able to come out of his cryopod.
The time that Lance spent waiting for Keith was mostly spent pacing in front of the cryopod stressing, either about whether Keith was going to be okay or if he would actually have the courage to confess to him once he was feeling better. The moment that Keith was due to wake up saw the whole team gathered around to make sure he was completely healed. And they were actually all gathered around and not arguing over seconds and ticks like they had for Lance's awakening. Due to the fact that everyone was there, Lance couldn't work up the nerve to tell him in that moment like he had promised himself that he would.
Later that night though saw Lance in Keith's room under the premise that he was just making sure one last time that Keith was actually okay. In reality though he was just babbling until he finally gathered the nerve to say, "I like you" to the other boy right in the middle of one of his own sentences.
Keith, who had been getting ready to reply to the interjected statement sat there staring at him for a few moments, completely silent. Lance all the while was freaking out interpreting the silence in a completely different way about to make a lame attempt at taking away the awkwardness.
"Okay," Keith sighed after a long time. "I may like you too, but if anything it's so small you couldn't see it with a microscope."
"Damn Keith, I'm gonna need some Heelies to escape these feelies." Lance said instantly brightening knowing that Keith was just trying to downplay what he was actually feeling at that moment.
"Shut up."
"Why don't you make me?"
Without a reply, Keith did just that.
Their routine for the most part remained unchanged after the confession, except they found themselves sat in the hallway that lead up to this almost every night just talking about what was troubling them some nights. Other nights they had discussions about what they were going to do once they finished saving the universe. They would spend hours upon hours just talking with each other about anything and everything and of course there was also a lot of kissing in the mix.
It had been a few weeks since they had gotten together and so far it had only become obvious to Allura, who had already had a feeling, and Shiro that they were an item, not that Keith and Lance knew that. On this particular day they had decided that they would tell all the castle occupants.
They told every one at meal time and while they didn't think that the team would take it badly they also did not expect to be bombarded with hugs from all angles. Allura was the one to start as she could barely hold in her excitement that they had finally trusted everyone enough to tell them. Then Shiro followed, because what space mom does space dad backs up. The last one to join the giant group hug was Pidge mostly because they had to throw a sarcastic quip about how much they would miss the unresolved sexual tension first.
It was a particularly hard battle that they were fighting when Keith first noticed it. He had been fighting a Galran solider when suddenly he had heard Lance cry out in pain and suddenly he couldn't contain his fury he suddenly was able to take them down with ease. Once finished he looked down at his hands to find that they were covered in purple fur and he was no longer the human that he had always assumed himself to be.
He makes his way back to the other and finds Lance okay minus the newly blossoming brusies everywhere. But much to his horror everyone goes on the attack as soon as they see him, before registering what he is wearing and stopping to question. He explains what has happened to him and is at first greeted by silence.
Everyone is looking at him in surprise, unsure what to do or say when finally Lance took initiative walked over to him and kissed him assuring him that nothing was going to change, with them or Voltron as a whole. Keith realized at this moment that no matter what happened at the end of this war, it didn't matter as long as he had Lance by his side he would have a place to belong in the universe. As realizes this the whole team rallies behind Lance and Keith finds himself engulfed in yet another group hug.
Sometime after Keith's Galran roots came to light the two of them were lying in bed when Lance blurted out his love for Keith much the same way he had confessed to liking the red paladin, in the middle of a sentence with no warning. This time however Keith needed no time to respond that he loved the other as well.
Once they had confessed their love for each other everything seemed easier than before they still had their little squabbles and every once in a while the rivalry would flare back up but never for long. At this point they knew that they had each other's backs no matter what the situation was they would never have to worry about being without the other again.
No matter the argument they always made up before the day had ended because they knew how important what they had was and how irreplaceable it is to find a love like the one they have.
They were in the middle of a huge fight against the Galra. It appeared that the moment of truth was finally here, this was going to be the all or nothing fight to determine the fate of the Galra Empire and Voltron alike.
The battle was hard and long but finally Lance got close enough to fire a last hit straight into the Galra central command ship. At the same moment Keith put an end to Zarkon's tyranny and in his wake the rest of the Galra Empire would follow. They had finally done it.
They hadn't expect the explosion to be as great as it was however. Lance and his lion were the closest to it and were hit heavily with shrapnel from the explosion that had just completely decimated the Galra central command. While Hunk and Pidge were hit with it too it was nowhere near as much or as devastating. Blue tried to shield him as best she could, almost dying herself in the process.
In the end Lance never did make it back to Earth.
Keith did though, and much like before he still saw no purpose in being there, much preferring being among the stars. The only reason he had come back was to inform Lance's family of the events that had unfolded. He told them their son was an intergalactic hero and while it brought them pride to know what Lance had done, they would rather have their son back. They would rather have had Anna Maria grow up with her brother. They would rather have done anything to make it so they didn't have to call Sophia, Carmen, and Isabella and tell them that it has been confirmed that their little brother is dead.
Keith stayed at the home with Lance's family for a while at their insistence. They wanted to know what Lance had done and the tales he would've have told them had he made it back. Once they found out Keith had been his boyfriend they had him stay longer to participate in the funeral. He appreciated what they were doing but in the end being in the place where Lance grew up, surrounded by so many people who reminded him of Lance, was too much for him and he returned to his shack in the desert. Although not for long because Earth held nothing special for him any longer, sure there was still Pidge and Hunk, but he could always come back and visit them. In the end he decided that he would wander space doing what he could to help planets get back on their feet after the Galra, and maybe even explore his less violent Galran roots. There were so many things he could do but there was only one thing in his life that was a definite. He would never feel whole again.