Lance sighed as he carried their dinner dishes to what passed for a kitchen on the Castleship. It was quite different from the Earth kitchens he had known, with foreign objects that he still hadn't guessed the uses for, though he knew Hunk had been experimenting with everything there. Lance had never had a cooking 'bent', even though he helped his Mamá and Abuela in the kitchen. He did have a talent for making a perfect omelet and somehow having the ability to make the tastiest chocolate chip cookies. Hardly talents necessary for the current mission he was on, especially since there were no chicken eggs available (and the alien eggs they found were no equivalent) and no chocolate chips. He missed chocolate.

Part of being on this team meant pitching in on simple chores. Sure, there was the adventure and battle part, but they were essentially seven beings in a large ship with no support staff. If the Paladins didn't help clean up and do chores, the ship would be a large, smelly, roving dump in which none of them would want to live. Shiro, being ever practical, had produced a chore list one day, rotating the team through different tasks on a daily basis. While there were, of course, groans and protests from the other four Paladins (who were still teenagers after all), they did pitch in. In truth, the chores were not very time-consuming, nor were they difficult or energy-reducing. They were just that - chores.

Lance hated his day for kitchen clean-up. Hunk was always spared kitchen duty, as he was normally the one to prepare meals. Hunk's chore burden was also lightened, which Lance thought fair, as the Yellow Paladin did work hard to vary their diet and keep them fed and healthy. Lance, however, hated cleaning up after. Then again, he never liked it at home either, though at home the dishes were more numerous as his immediate family consisted of eleven people if you included Abuela and Abuelo.

There was one solace to him, however. When they left Earth so unexpectedly, Lance had his phone in his pocket. A phone that contained hundreds of pictures and hundreds of his favorite songs. This was useless at first, of course, as Earth tech didn't mesh well with Altean tech. He would sit staring at his dead phone during leisure time, upset that he couldn't text his siblings or look at his pictures, but also because he couldn't listen to his music. Music had always been a source of comfort for him. His Mamá had loved music as well, and their home was full of song and dance. It represented joy to him, as well as home. The Alteans had music, ancient and stilted airy music that was pleasant, and while Lance enjoyed listening to it, it wasn't the same.

Not long after officially becoming Paladins, the group was relaxing in their little common area and Pidge, who had noticed the look on Lance's face as he stared at the phone in his hand, scooted over next to him and asked Lance about it.

Lance sort of shook himself and looked at Pidge, then shrugged. "It's stupid, but my music is on here. I just wish I could listen to it." He felt dumb explaining it like that; he wasn't always great with words. He seemed to come across as self-confident, even overly sure of himself, but he really wasn't. Besides, complaining about not having music seemed out of place when they had so many other worries to think about.

"Music?" Keith asked. He had turned his gaze on Lance from where he sat on one of the other couches, arms crossed as usual. Lance immediately bristled as he imagined seeing contempt in Keith's eyes.

"Yes, music, Mullet," Lance spit out. He ignored the way Keith's eyes widened at his acid tone. "It's important to me. It connects me to home. Not that you'd understand." Lance pretended not to see the hurt in Keith's eyes.

"No fighting," Shiro requested tiredly. It had been a long day of training and working with their lions. "Remember, we're a team."

Lance had backed down, though his expression remained irritated. He returned to staring at his phone for another few minutes, before finally tossing it to the side. "No one understands," he muttered, jumping to his feet and stamping out of the room.

To his surprise, many quintants later, Pidge and Hunk returned his phone to him. It was fully charged. He stared at the lock screen, which had a picture of him with his sister, Carmen, at the beach. "How?" he asked in wonder.

"Hunk and I figured out a way to get power to it. All of our phones, really," Pidge told him. "I know it's not something essential to our mission, but it's also important to keep our memories with us. You're not the only one who has a phone with important things on it." As she spoke, she held up her own phone and waved it a little.

Lance's eyes filled with tears as he threw his arms around Pidge. "You don't know what this means to me," he cried.

"We do, buddy," Hunk said, as he gathered both Lance and Pidge into one of his big Hunk hugs. "Because it means the same to us."

Lance didn't even notice Keith watching them from the doorway.

Within another movement, Pidge and Hunk, working with Coran, had somehow managed to make a sort of speaker system for their various phones, as Lance wasn't the only one who had music playlists loaded onto their devices. Music - modern Earth music - then invaded the Castle. Allura and Coran both welcomed it, Coran becoming a huge fan of the techno music Pidge listened to and Allura enjoying the playlist of Polynesian music Hunk had. Neither Keith nor Shiro had a phone, but would never object to any of the other Paladins playing their music during down times. It brought a welcome feeling of home onto the alien ship.

So when Lance had kitchen duty, he faithfully brought his phone and a speaker and played his music loud in order to make the chore less burdensome and more something fun. He would dance, sing and let himself go. He was usually alone, so he felt no hesitation to enjoy his favorite songs.

Tonight was no different. He ran water in the sink to begin washing the dishes from breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was something that operated as a dishwasher, but Lance liked the monotonous soothing quality of hand washing, even if it wasn't his favorite thing to do. It gave him an excuse to listen to his music for a longer period of time. Listen and dance a little at the sink.

He had set the entire music library on a random shuffle, which was his norm, but when the opening notes of a particular song were struck, tears immediately came to his eyes, along with a huge smile. His hands came out of the soapy water and were dried quickly, and he began to sing and dance around the kitchen with a wild abandon.

Keith was bored. Shiro's chore chart usually included a day off for one of the Paladins and today was Keith's freedom-from-chore day. Keith never minded chores, it was something to do. He was an active young man, so he rarely liked to sit and do nothing. One can only train so much and Shiro had actually forbid Keith from over-doing it on the training deck. Allura, Shiro and Coran were meeting with the ambassadors from the planet they were currently orbiting – the ambassadors had joined them for dinner. Pidge and Hunk had gone off to work on some upgrades they had planned on installing for testing in the Green Lion. Lance was on kitchen duty. Keith sat at the now-cleared table, arms crossed, racking his brain for something to do.

'I could offer to help Lance,' he thought, then dismissed it almost immediately. 'Lance can't stand me. No, that's not true, we're friends.' Their relationship was…vague. That was a good word. They seemed to get along, but they seemed to be at odds a lot too. That, of course, all came from Lance. Keith wanted nothing more than to be on better terms with the Blue Paladin, though Keith could not figure out how to express that to Lance. When they first became the Voltron team, Lance seemed to take everything Keith said in a negative way, and Keith was too inexperienced, shy, and bad at expressing himself to change that, especially since it appeared Lance wanted nothing to do with him.

This had gradually and slowly changed and Keith was relieved to find the two got along pretty well, but then Keith left the team to not only train with the Blade, which he did feel he needed to do, but also to allow Lance to keep his place in Voltron. He knew Lance was an essential part of the team, though Lance didn't seem to think this. Keith saw his worth, however, and wanted to give this to Lance. He thought that it was a positive step toward a closer relationship between them.

Keith had returned after his almost-sacrifice at the Battle of Naxzela. He expected, and received, a lot of heat from the team over his reckless stunt, but he was unapologetic. After they got over their initial shock at his action, the team eventually accepted that he had done it. Almost all of the Paladins spoke their piece to him and it had been smoothed over. He was in Red again, Lance was back in Blue, and Allura had returned to piloting the Castleship. It took a while, but things were back to normal.

Except with Lance.

Lance had barely spoken to Keith since his return. Their mind-meld was still seamless, and their formation of Voltron never suffered, but Keith felt a distance that he couldn't explain. Lance wouldn't meet his eyes, and when he did, Keith could swear the Blue Paladin looked almost angry. Or hurt. He couldn't tell.

Pidge had told Keith that Lance had missed him a great deal. When pressed for more details, she had said that Lance was upset when he left, his personality had become more subdued and serious, but Lance also seemed really sad, and that Lance talked about Keith a lot.

"But he hates me," Keith had objected, willing himself not to read too much into what Pidge said. "I mean, it seems like it's back to when we first got here. I thought we were friends before I left, but now…" he shrugged.

Pidge looked at him, one eyebrow raised in amusement. "Lance has never hated you. If anything…" she began, but stopped herself and refused to say more.

That conversation ran through his mind, as it often did in the past few phoebs he'd been back. What did Pidge mean? 'If anything'? Discreet questions to Hunk yielded little as well, just a confirmation that Lance had missed him. When asked anything else, Hunk was just as mysterious as Pidge was and wore that same amused expression. What did they know?

Before Keith had joined the Blade, there would be times he would catch Lance staring at him, an expression in his blue eyes that made Keith hopeful, but then Lance would ruin it with a casual insult and that smirk. Always that smirk. There would be times when they'd be laughing together or working together and everything would seem to be looking up, but it never went further. Keith couldn't say anything and Lance either wouldn't or didn't want to say something himself.

That feeling was gone now and Keith missed it. Missed the developing camaraderie they were moving towards. Missed the looks at each other that lasted longer than was polite. Missed the small smiles he would catch Lance giving him. Missed that damn smirk that made his heart beat faster.

Keith sighed, sick of staring at the tabletop. 'I need to DO something,' he thought, unsure of whether that meant do something about his attraction to Lance and the seeming distance between them now or just physically do something to relieve his boredom. Either way, he stood up from the table and went in the direction of the kitchen. 'I guess I'll offer to help. I'll get turned away with an insult and that will be that, if he talks to me at all,' he thought as he listened to his booted feet slap against the surface of the corridor.

He could hear the music long before he reached the kitchen. Keith grimaced, knowing that Lance loved to play his music as loud as he could. Keith usually avoided Lance when he was listening. He knew he had insulted Lance over his love of his music. Keith wasn't sure how he had insulted him, but he had. Keith had genuinely been interested in the music Lance was talking about that day in the lounge when Lance had been upset about not being able to listen to it. Keith guessed his tone of voice had indicated something else to Lance and Keith regretted that. He knew he came across as sullen to the other team members, especially when they first arrived at the Castle of Lions, but that was just him. He felt awkward around people in a setting that was casual. He could step up and be decisive during battle, but small talk? Not so much.

Keith had wanted to ask Lance about the music he liked, but he could see he had somehow made Lance upset, then Lance had said something that seemed somewhat hurtful to Keith about not understanding a connection to family. Keith wasn't sure if Lance was directly insinuating Keith, or just said it generally. He liked to think Lance wouldn't say anything that mean. Lance's insults to him were usually pretty benign, but Keith didn't know. So as much as he wanted to talk music with Lance, because he truly loved music, he avoided the whole subject with the Blue Paladin.

To say Keith was surprised when he eased the door open slightly to peek inside the kitchen is an understatement. He had no idea that when Lance listened to his music, he listened to it with a joy and enthusiasm that was something to watch. The sink was opposite the door, so Lance's back was to him. Lance's hands were in the sink, working their way through the pile of dishes and cooking utensils, but his hips were swinging back and forth, his feet were dancing little steps in place, and he was singing at the top of his lungs, in a slightly off key falsetto. Keith paused, the door cracked, and just watched.

He recognized the song, but couldn't place it at first. It had come out just before he left the Garrison. It would be good to dance to, not that Keith even knew how to dance.

"Let's lose our minds and go fucking crazy
Ay ya ya ya ya I keep on hoping we'll eat cake by the ocean"

Oh yeah, now he remembered as Lance sang the chorus. He grinned, not surprised that Lance would like a song like this.

The song faded out and Keith was about to push the door open when a beautiful guitar sound started from the speaker. Lance's reaction froze Keith. The young man spun from the sink, dried his hands quickly on a towel and tossed it back on the counter. By then the lyrics had started and Lance sang along so passionately that Keith actually blushed, though he had no idea what the words meant.

Yo estoy aqu í , sinti éndote
A cada paso que tu des, yo seguir é
Te dar é una vuelta s ó lo para ver
Tu cuerpo en movimiento desde lejos
Pero no tan lejos voy sigui éndote.

Keith watched as Lance danced around the kitchen, slowly at first, but picking up speed as the song progressed. What entranced Keith was listening to Lance sing the Spanish words. He knew Lance was Cuban, and Lance had let slip a few Spanish phrases here and there, but he never actually spoke Spanish in front of any of them. Keith didn't know the meaning of the song, but he loved hearing the foreign (to him) words falling off Lance's tongue.

Pero tu, no quieres darte cuenta
Lo tuyo es una fiesta
Y todo lo que quieres es bailar
Y disfrutar, hasta el final
Hasta que dios nos de la dicha de vivir,
De respirar
Tu no quieres aventura
Mas all á de la locura de bailar.

Lance really began to dance now as the music sped up, abandoning himself to the rhythm of the song. Keith wasn't an expert on dancing, but a lot of the moves he saw reminded him of the salsa dancing he had seen on TV and movies. Lance was perfectly graceful and knew how to dance, knew exactly how to move his hips in an enticing and inviting way, though Keith knew that Lance didn't know he actually had an audience.

Keith became aware that his mouth was dry as he watched. Lance was normally an outgoing and boisterous guy, but something about this performance was different. It was like Keith was really seeing Lance for the first time. Someone passionate and someone who had a connection to this music and this song in particular. While Lance was smiling as he sang, Keith could see the shine of tears in his eyes and Keith didn't miss the times that a hand was brushed across a cheek as if wiping away a tear. Keith didn't think it possible, but the attraction he felt for Lance strengthened and almost made him groan from the pain of it.

Déjame llevarte mas allá de la locura
Déjame mostrarte que se siente aquí en la luna, niña
Déjame mojarte como lluvia en aguacero
Yo quiero tenerte
Pero todo lo que quieres es bailar
Y disfrutar, hasta el final
Hasta que dios nos de la dicha de vivir,
De respirar
Tu no quieres aventura
Mas allá de la locura de bailar.

Lance moved across the room to the counter and silently pressed the button on his phone to stop the player and silence filled the kitchen. Keith felt his own hand push the door open a little wider of its' own accord. Lance turned and leaned against the counter and just stayed there, not moving and with his eyes fixed on the floor. Keith could see tears glisten on Lance's cheeks and he felt an emptiness in him. He wanted so much to go to Lance and comfort him, but Keith was no good at dealing with feelings and emotional things, as much as he wanted to be.

Then Lance put his hands over his face to hide his crying. Keith's heart melted and his hand pushed the door further open. He still hesitated. He had no idea what he should say to Lance. He thought it might be better to go find Hunk as he knew that Hunk and Lance were close and maybe Hunk could help. At least get Lance to smile. Keith knew he wasn't skilled at making anyone smile. He knew he wasn't a comfort, not in the way he knew Hunk could be, but he loved Lance, so that had to count for something, didn't it? All he wanted to do was make it so Lance didn't hurt anymore, so he took a deep breath and pushed the swing door all the way open and stepped into the room.

The song came to an end and Lance, breathless, crossed the kitchen to where his phone and the speaker sat and switched off his music. He turned and leaned against the counter as he waited for his breathing to return to normal. He stared vacantly at the center of the kitchen floor, which was the scene of his little dance, and felt the tears come. The joy he felt in dancing left him and he brought his hands up to cover his face.

He was like that for a few minutes, letting the tears flow because they did provide a certain amount of relief, though he was always surprised that he had any left after all this time and all the crying he had done from missing his family. Lance thought he heard the door swing open, but he dismissed it until he heard the soft footsteps of someone approaching. 'Great,' he thought, his hands sliding down his face in a move he hoped would wipe any tears away from his cheeks; he didn't want anyone to see him crying. It was Keith, now standing only a few feet away from him, looking at him with a certain amount of hesitation and sympathy in his eyes.

Lance groaned inwardly. Keith was the last person he wanted to see; the last person that Lance wanted to see him in such a vulnerable state. It normally took Lance all his emotional energy to maintain a sort of closed off and contemptuous manner around Keith. A manner designed to hide the fact that Lance was head-over-heels in love with the other Paladin. Had always seemed to feel this way about Keith. Back at the Garrison, Lance had tried to make friends with the scowling, but good-looking black-haired boy in his classes, but he had been rebuffed, not realizing that was just Keith's way. Keith had not even realized Lance was flirting with him. Lance took it as rejection, especially since Keith didn't even seem to recall who he was when they met again saving Shiro.

Lance had taken the rejection wrongly, made up some imagined rivalry between him and Keith to cover up the fact that he was hurt, and tried to keep up the front he had made. Lance had no idea how to stop it, and cursed himself for the times during their missions where his guard had dropped and he and Keith seemed to have 'moments'. Lance cursed himself for how he let himself get when Keith left to work with the Blade. He shouldn't have been so vocal to Hunk and Pidge about missing Keith. He thought they might have guessed what he really felt and he definitely didn't want that.

He cursed himself for being so childish when Keith returned, but Keith had scared him. When he realized what Keith was going to do at Naxzela, Lance knew how much Keith meant to him. This wasn't a silly little schoolboy crush. He loved Keith and couldn't live without him. Lance wanted to sweep him up into his arms, hold him close, never let him go – all that romantic comedy cheesy stuff - but he couldn't. Keith seemed even more distant in a way and Lance felt that rejection all over again, so Lance did what he thought best. Ignored Keith. It had gone on so long, Lance had no idea how to fix it.

So Lance was less than thrilled that Keith had surprised him at a vulnerable moment. That song was a song his mother loved and she would often play it while working in the kitchen. Mamá would tease Lance about the song, which was about a man in love with someone who only wanted to dance. "Ah Mijo, someday some heart-broken boy will sing this to you, my little dancer, some boy longing for your love, but you'll just be dancing and dancing and ignore all the love waiting for you." Mamá knew about his preference for boys.

Lance would laugh that off, tell his Mamá not to be so silly. He would never pass up a chance for love just to dance, but she was right in a way. He did love to dance, but he wanted to dance with someone, not alone like he usually did. He would tell Mamá that if any boy was dumb enough to fall in love with him, he would make that boy dance with him, not stand back and just watch him.

Listening to the song had brought the tears. Lance wanted so much to be back in his familiar family kitchen, dancing and singing this with Mamá and his little sisters with the smell of dinner cooking and the spices that Mamá used. It also brought a little feeling of joy, for having the ability to listen to the song again, close his eyes, and give himself up to the rhythms of the pop song that meant so much to him.

Now Keith was here, spoiling it. His walls were down at the moment and he struggled to put them up, but he was exhausted, emotionally, from the song. This may have been why he gave Keith a half-hearted glare which was spoiled by the shine of tears and said, "What do you want Mullet?"

Keith's eyebrows raised at the tone, which Lance instantly regretted. This was part of the problem. How could he breach this thing between himself and Keith if he constantly acted like a child? How could he ever get Keith to even like him, let alone love him, if all he gave Keith was hostility and insults?

Keith looked down and Lance, for the first time, saw that Keith looked vulnerable himself. His expression and body language spoke loudly that the Red Paladin was unsure and hesitant about what to say.

"I'm sorry," Lance sighed. "I shouldn't take my mood out on you."

Keith's head tilted back up to look into Lance's eyes. "No, it's – it's ok. I understand. I just," he hesitated again, looking away to the side as if he couldn't bear to keep Lance's gaze for too long. Lance thought he saw Keith's cheeks darken a little. "I was watching you dance to that last song. You looked both happy and upset." Lance's mouth dropped open a little, but Keith added, still looking away, "And it looked like you were crying just now. I wanted to see if I could do anything." He sighed after speaking, as if it were an effort to say what he had said.

Lance blushed, annoyed that Keith had watched him. Keith looked back and, seeing Lance's expression, continued, "I know I probably shouldn't have watched, but I did."

"Why?" Lance asked bluntly, wincing inwardly at his tone.

"I don't know," Keith admitted. "I came here to see if you wanted help with the kitchen. You were singing along to that Cake song, so I stopped. I wasn't sure if I should come in. Then the other song, the Spanish song, started and you started dancing. I couldn't stop watching." Keith looked down again. "You seemed," he paused, "full of happiness. Genuine happiness. I don't think I've ever seen that from you. It was like you pulled joy from that song." After a moment and almost as an afterthought, Keith added, "I've never experienced that. I don't know how to dance."

Lance stared at Keith, a Keith who was not what he usually seemed to be. Usually he appeared to Lance to be self-assured, probably more than was good for him, confident and in control. This Keith was everything opposite that and Lance couldn't figure out why. If he didn't know better, Keith was acting more like someone trying to talk to someone they were crushing on. That thought made Lance's heart pound and he tried to swallow. No. That couldn't be. His mind raced through a million thoughts it seemed, trying to decide how to steer this conversation into something that could be…something.

"It's a song my Mamá and I would sing and dance to when making dinner or working in the kitchen," Lance said, his voice somewhat flat as he tried to suppress the many emotions working through his heart.

Keith met his eyes again. "Oh," he replied, one side of his mouth lifting a little. "That's…sweet. No wonder…" he trailed off.

Lance was finding himself distracted at how cute Keith looked when he smiled. "It's hard to hear it, you know? But good too. I miss hearing Spanish. I miss singing with my Mamá and my sisters. I miss having a salsa partner. Mamá and my sisters could all dance so beautifully. I just miss everything. It both helps and hurts to hear things like that song," Lance said, waving a hand at the speaker.

"What's the song about? I don't know any Spanish, really."

"A man is singing it to a girl he loves, but all she wants to do in life is dance. He's trying to convince her to see he loves her and to be with him," Lance explained. "My favorite part of the chorus is 'You do not want adventure beyond the madness of dancing.'" Lance paused, surprised with himself that he told Keith this much. He figured he might as well say more, as Keith was listening intently. "Mamá would tease me, because I love to dance. She would tell me someday someone would sing this to me, someone who loved me but I would never see it because I was blind and would be dancing away my life."

Keith thought about that for a moment, "Do you think that's true? What your mother said? That you would be blind to seeing when someone loved you?"

The tone of Keith's voice when he asked that caused a twist in Lance's stomach. There was something about the tone and the way Keith's eyes looked that frightened Lance in a way. "I would hope not," he tried to say in a joking manner. "I would hope I wouldn't be that oblivious. But then, no one's been in love with me, so I guess it doesn't matter."

"If you were blind to it, you'd never know that anyone has been in love with you," Keith pointed out.

"True, I guess," Lance agreed a little nervously. "I told Mamá not to worry, though. If someone was in love with me, I would know it, love them back, and dance with them. They wouldn't have to watch from a distance. And," he added absently in a quiet voice, "I would want to experience everything in life with him, not just a dance."

Lance blushed as he noticed Keith's eyes widen at the gender-specific pronoun. "You're wrong. I don't think you do know when someone is in love with you." Keith reached over to the counter and picked up Lance's phone. To Lance's surprise, Keith keyed in the unlock code and after a few ticks the song started playing again.

"Dance," Keith said, putting the phone back on the counter.

"What?"

"Dance."

"I'm not going to dance in front of you!" Lance protested.

Keith blushed and looked away, hesitating once again. "I only wish I knew the words of the song," he muttered quietly.

Lance could not quite believe he heard that, but he knew he could not interpret it any other way. His heart felt squeezed tight with hope. "What…what do you mean?"

"I think you know what I mean, Lance."

Neither of them said anything for a long moment. Keith would not look at him, he had crossed his arms and was frowning as he looked aside. Lance stared at Keith, as his heart raced and his mind swirled with incoherent thoughts. He finally moved, turning to the phone and pressing something on the screen.

"I told Mamá I wouldn't dance alone," Lance said in a low voice as he held out his hand to Keith.

Keith looked down at Lance's hand, his right hand relaxing out of his crossed posture and hovering a moment in front of him above Lance's outstretched hand, hesitating. "I don't know how to dance," he said.

"I don't care. I can teach you."

Keith lowered his hand to grasp Lance's, his gaze lifting up to see Lance now smiling at him. Keith couldn't believe how bold he had just been, but Lance seemed receptive to him, at least, and that gave him a boost of confidence, though he was still nervous. Lance stepped around Keith, spinning the Red Paladin 180 degrees, then walked backwards toward the center of the kitchen, pulling Keith with him. Keith felt awkward and his heart was beating so hard against his chest he thought he was going to pass out right there. Lance's hand was warm and strong, with thin fingers that gripped his own hand firmly, but gently too.

"Follow my steps," Lance said, still holding Keith's right hand with his left. He pulled Keith a little closer. "You'll need to put your other hand kind of at the top of my arm, almost on my shoulder."

"What are you doing?"

"Teaching you salsa. I need a partner."

The simple statement seemed to hold more meaning than just Lance needing a dance partner and Keith swallowed with difficulty as he lifted his hand and rested it lightly on the taller man's arm. "Like this?" he asked faintly.

"Perfect," Lance murmured, barely able to speak himself. He put his right arm under Keith's so his hand could rest high up on his back under his shoulder. "This is a basic salsa position," he explained in a soft voice. "Don't worry about the music, I set it on repeat."

Keith cleared his throat. His whole arm rested on top of Lance's and since he wore just his t-shirt, the skin on his arm rubbed pleasantly against the soft cloth of Lance's long-sleeved shirt. They were close, but not too close. A good foot of space was between their bodies. Without thinking, he said, "I thought partners were closer together in Latin dances."

He regretted asking that when he saw Lance's grin, though it did seem to lessen the tension between them. "You're thinking of Tango, or maybe even the Paso Doble. Most of the dances we do in Cuba are like this. I mean, if you're trying to be professional. I can certainly show you other dances if you want to get closer. Waltz, fox trot, and so on."

Keith tilted his head and Lance laughed at his expression.

"I told you I love to dance. I took lessons when I was younger in ballroom and Latin. My Mamá, my sister and my brother all taught salsa to tourists. Salsa partners are not usually very close, but this isn't a competition, so we can dance as close as we want. After you learn the steps."

Keith bit his lower lip and worried that his hands were sweating, especially after Lance's suggestion. "I'm lead, so I will signal you to move back or forward. A push with my hand," and Lance slightly pushed with his left hand, "means you step back with your right foot. When I pull your shoulder, step forward with your left. Easy, right?"

Concentrating on the instructions did pull Keith's mind slightly away from the fact that he was practically being held in Lance's arms. Though there was space between them, he could feel the heat from Lance's body through his hands. He nodded.

"It's a three count, basically, though it's actually four beats. You'll get it after a bit. When I push and step forward, you step back with your foot, but don't move your left. Put your weight on the right, almost lift the left, then put it down, then bring the right foot back. Want to try?"

Keith nodded again and he felt the slight signal from Lance's hand indicating to go back. He felt completely awkward and confused the steps, but Lance's hands held him firmly and he managed to come back to neutral position. "I'm sorry, that was awful."

"Have you ever danced with a partner like this?"

"No. I mean, stupid school dances where I did once with some girl. But that was the kind where you just stood there barely touching while swaying back and forth."

Lance laughed. "Ah yeah, we've all had those, I think." Keith stared. Lance looked so good when he laughed, the way his eyes lit up. "You can't expect to be perfect with this on the very first step Keith. Let's try again."

Keith tried and tried. Lance was patient. "It's just a one, two, three. One, two, three. Now when I pull, you step towards me and I do the step back." Keith felt awkward with this new step, but picked it up after a few minutes. By the time the song was on repeat three, Keith was able to do the entire basic steps, his mind echoing the "One, two, three" that Lance was saying softly.

"I'm doing it!" Keith cried, looking up into Lance's eyes. "I've never danced like this before!"

"You're doing good, too," Lance praised him. Keith's breath caught at the way Lance was looking at him. He felt the hand holding his grip tighter and both hands pulled at him, which confused him as he was expecting a push to signal him to step back. "Keith…" Lance whispered his name, pulling again until Keith's body was within an inch of his.

"Lance?"

"Please tell me I'm not reading this incorrectly," Lance said, his tone almost pleading.

Keith thought he understood what Lance meant. At least Keith hoped he did. He was still uncertain, though he was dancing with Lance in the middle of the kitchen, and the look in Lance's eyes was unmistakable. "You're not."

The look of relief on Lance's face was almost comical, and Keith probably would have laughed outright if his nervous system wasn't on overload. He felt Lance pull him even closer so there was no space between them. The hand on his shoulder blade slid slowly down to the small of his back, while Keith's hand, of its' own accord moved to the back of Lance's neck. Their other hands were still locked together as they looked into each other's eyes.

"You're trembling," Lance pointed out.

"I have good reason. I've never done this before."

"What, dance?" Lance asked teasingly.

"Been in love."

Lance's eyes widened just a bit at Keith's admission.

"Was that too fast?" Keith asked worriedly.

After a moment, Lance shook his head, smiling. "No. Not when I've been in love with you for years."

Keith didn't have the time to be surprised at that, as Lance made the first move to kiss, his head bending down to press his lips against Keith's. Keith's eyes shut at the contact. Lance's lips were so soft, which was not a surprise knowing how well Lance took care of himself. He winced inside a little at the thought that his own lips were likely chapped from all the chewing he did on them. Lance didn't seem to mind though. He kissed Keith gently and lovingly, close-mouthed at first, but soon moving to a more passionate level of open-mouthed tongue on tongue. Lance finally let go of his hand in order to circle both arms around Keith's waist to draw him even closer. Keith's hands gripped in Lance's hair, hair that had grown a little longer and shaggier since the team had formed.

When Lance finally drew back, Keith missed his lips immediately. He let out a little whimper that drew a little chuckle from Lance. Keith's hands slid down to rest on Lance's upper arms, while Lance's hands found their way to Keith's hips. "Next lesson we'll do turns. In the meantime, you'll need to work on loosening up your hips," Lance said, moving Keith's hips a little with his hands.

What Lance said confused him for a moment, because Keith's mind was still reeling from that amazing first kiss. He'd never really kissed before and had no idea it would be like that. "What?" he asked blankly, then blushed. "Oh yeah, the Salsa dancing."

"If you still want to learn," Lance said, shrugging slightly.

"I do," Keith said eagerly. "I want to dance with you."

"So that wasn't a ploy just to get close to me?"

"What? You're the one that dragged me out here to dance! I think you wanted to get closer to me!"

Lance laughed at Keith's indignant expression. "Guilty!"

Keith blushed worse, but he laughed too. The music was still playing and Lance's hips started moving again. His hands were still on Keith's and he made them move in time to the rhythm of the music and to match his own movements. They started moving once again in the Salsa dance, though their bodies were so close it became a slow and intimate movement rather than the proper dance Keith had started to learn.

Keith's arms were locked tightly around Lance's neck and Lance held Keith tightly to himself by his hips. Their lips were centimeters apart, Lance purposely not kissing Keith, teasing him until Keith thought he would lose his mind. They stared into each other's eyes as their legs moved and their bodies rubbed achingly together. "That's much better," Lance whispered. "You're actually a pretty good dancer when you put your mind to it."

"I have incentive," Keith replied quietly, trying to control his breathing.

They continued this slow sensuous dance until the song was almost over. Lance brought them to a stop, then abruptly let go of Keith to hurry over to his phone to turn it off. The silence in the kitchen was more deafening than the music was. Keith felt a little cast aside, actually, until Lance returned to him and twined his fingers with Keith's.

"I probably should finish cleaning up in here," Lance said, and Keith could hear the reluctance in his tone. "I would much rather dance all night, but I don't want Shiro or Allura upset."

"Of course," Keith said. "I can help you, if you want."

"It's your chore-free day," Lance objected.

"Yeah, but I want to help. That's what I originally came here to do. Besides, the quicker you finish, the quicker we can spend time together."

"I like the sound of that," Lance said. He started to turn to move back to the sink, but Keith's hand squeezed and stopped him. He turned his gaze back to the Red Paladin and raised an eyebrow in question.

Keith tried to look Lance in the eye, but he couldn't, so he looked off to the side. "Is this – Are we a…thing now? I mean, what does this mean? What happened…"

He felt Lance step closer to him. Lance reached up his free hand and, pressing his palm to his cheek, turned Keith's head so that he could look him in the eyes. Keith could see the love in Lance's blue eyes, eyes that he had dreamed about for so long. Lance didn't remove his hand, and instead cradled Keith's cheek, rubbing his thumb lovingly over the skin. "I love you," Lance said with that quirky smile that had mastered Keith's heart.

It was the first time anyone had said those words to him, at least in the romantic sense, and to hear it from the one person above all from whom he wanted to hear it, Keith's insides squeezed in the best way. "I love you."

Lance's smile widened. "Well there you go. We must be a 'thing' then. It's pretty safe to assume, now, that I'm your boyfriend and you're mine. I give you full permission to kiss me whenever you want. I also enjoy long and warm hugs, hand-holding, being touched anywhere by you, snuggling and spooning, kisses blown across the room, special smiles just for me, and any other sappy and romantic things you can think of. Or at least I think I will enjoy them. I've never actually experienced any of it."

"You haven't? I'm your first…boyfriend?" Keith asked, almost tripping over the word 'boyfriend'.

"Yes sir."

Keith's eyes narrowed slightly at the 'sir'. "You're my first everything too," he said. "Um, just so you know, it might take me a while to get used to being…intimate." He was blushing again. "I mean, the touching and hugging and all that. It's not that I don't want to. I do. I just…I just have a hard time."

"I'll help you get over all that. I'm an affectionate guy and I like to show it. You're going to be hugged to pieces, mi amor," Lance promised, then let go of Keith's hand to envelop him in a hug.

Keith's arms went around Lance's waist and they stayed like that for a few minutes. "You're right. I can get used to this."

"Come on," Lance said. "Let's finish these dishes. I want to take you to this secret place I found on the ship," he added, moving over to the sink and the pile of unfinished dirty dishes. "You dry. Anyway, it's this empty room with a huge window. No one ever goes there that I know of. It's quiet and a perfect place to watch the stars go by. It's beautiful. I think I'm the only one that knows about it. I want to share it with you."

"Sounds like a perfect date to me," Keith agreed as he picked up a dry towel, grinning at Lance's surprised expression.

Notes:

I truly love the song that Keith watches Lance dance to.

The song is Todo Lo Que Quieres es Bailar by Jorge Villamizar