"I can be the handle to your sword, or I can 'handle' your 'sword'~"
Keith had to blink several times to make sure he was reading correctly; the golden ink was a little too sparkly for his morning eyes, after all. Mornings on the Castle of Lions had never been the most conventional, but waking up to a stabbing invitation took the cake for the weirdest morning greeting yet. What was even weirder was the red paper that it was on, with hearts of every color dotting every inch of parchment.
He walked the slip of paper to his table, where two similar pieces of paper lay. The color schemes were identical, but the 'messages' were different.
The first one read, "Careful there; if you keep this up, you're gonna run Cupid out of business", while the second one read, "If I'm heartless, it's because you stole mine from me!"
The past two mornings had already been confusing enough for Keith, but at this point, it seemed to be becoming a pattern for him to find a scrap of paper with a message of some sort every morning outside his room.
His eyes darted back and forth as he exited his room to the hallway, as if he would find an answer to whatever was going on. Just as he had the previous days, however, he reached the dining area without any solution to the enigma.
The rest of the paladins were already eating and talking, but his plate was set up for him, so he didn't need to interrupt anybody to sit down to eat. As soon as he'd taken his seat, however, Lance ended up dropping into the chair next to him, leaning against the table with an enthusiastic smile.
"Hey, Keith! How's your morning been?"
He couldn't help but wince as Lance practically shouted in his ear; the boy's volume and energy made him jump even when he'd been expecting it. Still, he returned the smile.
"I just woke up."
Lance chuckled and waved his statement off as the others chatted among themselves, leaving the two of them to converse. "No, of course, I know that. I just...uh, never mind. So, guess you arrived last today!" He shot Keith a finger gun, and for whatever reason, that single gesture suddenly brought images of those strange messages to Keith's mind.
"Have you been writing weird poems?" He blurted out.
"Wha?" Lance backed up in his seat a bit before looking up casually. "Uh, I mean, why do you ask?"
Keith rose an eyebrow as he scanned Lance and rose his fork to his mouth. "Because. If you are, you've been accidentally dropping them and they've been ending up in front of my room."
Thinking about it now, something about those messages, or 'poems' as he'd chosen to call them, seemed to resemble Lance. They were both confusing, random, and used inviting words...not to mention they both looked pretty. As far as everyone else knew, though, that trait was specific to the paper.
"What are you talking about, Keith? Who even writes poems, nowadays? Not me!" Lance gave Keith a laugh that almost seemed to burst with color, which only bombarded his head with even more images of the rainbow hearts on the papers...but those images were quickly replaced as he stared at Lance's smile, his cheeks turned upward and eyes squinted in amusement. Hearing and watching him laugh lifted Keith's heart every time.
Then, when he stopped laughing and just stared back at Keith, he got even more lost in his smile. There must've been something about Lance today, because Keith didn't usually go around losing his brain every time he looked at him, though it did happen occasionally, but this was ridiculous.
"Keith?" Lance questioned, grinning as Keith's cheeks grew a shade darker.
He was forced to glance back at his plate. "Sorry. I mean, whatever you say."
He focused on his breakfast from there, mostly just listening to Lance while he explained some strange dream he'd apparently had about heart-shaped meteorites running into the castle. Of course, that only made Keith think about the hearts on the papers, and suddenly his mind was way more occupied with those things than it had been the previous two days, but he did his best to shut it out to give Lance his attention. Well, Lance and his food, since it didn't seem to be a good idea to focus completely on Lance right now, either.
While listening and eating, though, he couldn't help but briefly glance over the rest of his teammates as they chatted amongst each other; Pidge with Hunk and Shiro with Coran and Allura. Lance had claimed he wasn't the culprit behind the strange messages, which meant it had to be one of them...most likely Coran, Pidge, or Hunk...or it was an enemy. But any of those three probably wouldn't hesitate to pull a prank on him, and if it was Pidge or Hunk, they could even be in on it together...
Why am I thinking about this still?!
He frustratedly tightened his grip around his fork and turned to give Lance his full attention; watching his lips move at lightning speed was better than torturing himself with those weird messages.
Breakfast successfully carried on without any more annoyances…
...but by the end of it, he swore Lance was much closer than he had been at the beginning of breakfast.
Sweat flickered from Keith's hair, black locks waving slightly as he ducked beneath the gladiator robot's staff and kicked its legs out from beneath it. His clothes were feeling increasingly heavier after two hours of fighting, though, and by the time he had his sword raised, the droid was spinning itself back to its feet for a counterattack.
He parried blow after blow, grunting with each collision between weapons. Then, as soon as an opening appeared, he thrust himself forward, not stopping until the tip of his sword came out the other end of the bot.
It was then that the words from this morning came back to him.
"I can be the handle to your sword, or I can 'handle' your 'sword'~"
His muscles tensed up in annoyance as he stared at his blade, eyes traveling up the handle that he was holding...god, why was he so stuck on those messages?! They didn't even make sense! And it made even less sense that he was remembering them now...just because of the word 'sword'.
He tore his blade out to the side, ripping the gladiator in half as his chest heaved, suddenly feeling the full exertion of his fighting. Despite that, though, his eyes stayed glued to his sword with the message from that morning in mind. He deactivated his bayard with a grunt of frustration.
As soon as he looked up, dark-grey eyes met blue as he locked gazes with Lance through the window, head clearing up instantaneously.
At first Lance looked like he was about to walk away, but they stared at each other longer until a silent agreement was reached.
Keith walked to a bench in the room as Lance entered with his hands in his pockets, glancing from Keith to the demolished robot and back again with a whistle.
"Hey! I was, uh, just passing by. Impressive as always, samurai. What level are you on now?"
"Thirteen," he replied, sighing and wiping at his forehead sweat as Lance sat at the opposite end of the bench.
"Quiznak, you look...really worked out. That's my polite way of saying you're sweaty and disgusting and I'm staying on my end of the bench."
Keith wrinkled his nose in amusement and grabbed his jacket from the floor to fan himself. "Is it still polite if you went ahead and said what you really meant anyway?"
Lance waved him off as if he were being preposterous. "Of course it is! It's just polite and honest now! Best of both worlds!"
They both chuckled at that as Keith propped a leg up onto the bench and looked Lance over. He was always saying clever things like that...or sometimes not-so-clever things—it really varied when it came to Lance. Either way, he knew a lot of phrases and taglines that sometimes didn't make sense to Keith.
"...'I can be the handle to your sword, or I can handle your sword'. What does that mean?" He hesitated for a second to ask, but if it was going to be stuck on his mind so much, he might as well look for an answer. When he looked up, though, Lance's face had gone dark cherry, and he seemed to be speechless for once despite his mouth gaping wide open.
Keith tilted his head. Had he just said something strange? Maybe Lance needed an explanation?
"I just saw it somewhere and thought it made no sense. I mean, no one can 'be a handle'. You seem like you would understand this type of thing, so…"
"Why would I know?" Lance coughed suddenly, arms crossed over his chest. "I thought I told you already, I'm not writing poems!"
Keith rose an eyebrow. "I...I never mentioned poems."
A shiver visibly travelled up Lance's sides before he stiffened and coughed some more, fingers tapping against his crossed arms. "Uh...yeah. Of course not."
"...alright." Keith let it go at that, mainly because Lance was acting so weird about it, and pushed himself to his feet to stretch in preparation for another round against the gladiator. Lance still seemed unstable, so he turned to him as he armed his bayard. "Hey, maybe you should have a go at the gladiator? I mean, a fight might help you deal with...whatever that is." He gestured to the way he was curled into himself.
Lance's face reddened more before he stood up, clearing his throat several times before breaking away from his shaky state to raise an eyebrow. "Are you inviting me to train with you, then, samurai?"
Keith's lips curled up. That was more like the Lance he knew.
"'Samurai'? Same nickname within five minutes? You're losing your touch."
"Oh shut it, sir killjoy. I'll grab my bayard and be back in a tick." He stepped forward to flick Keith's hair, gasping and jumping back as soon as he did so. "Still sweaty! Gross!"
Keith scowled, hand on his hip. "If that's the case, then maybe don't touch my hair." Not that he actually minded, but he had to at least pretend he did.
Lance snorted as he began backing up towards the door. "Don't act all offended—I was just being honest!"
"What happened to 'polite and honest'?" Keith challenged.
"Hey, don't use my own reasoning against me! Besides, that was the Lance of five minutes ago! I'm a changed man now! I've learned from my mistakes!" He stuck his tongue out, and Keith had to wait until Lance had officially exited the room before he broke into laughter, sitting back against the bench so he could grip his sides. He hadn't even begun fighting again yet, yet his heart was already pounding against his chest.
Lance himself is a work out. He couldn't help but snicker at that thought before hoisting himself back to his feet to start before Lance got back. As a new gladiator bot dropped down from the ceiling, he wondered what face Lance would make when he saw Keith starting without him. Would he be annoyed? Comically outraged?
...impressed?
He did a double take on himself there, heart jumping. The gladiator jumped too, taking his brief moment of confusion to strike.
His breath left him for a split second as the shadow enveloped him, but before he could be sent tumbling across the floor, a loud laser sounded from his left, and the gladiator jumped away from him before backflipping several yards back.
"What're you doing, letting it hit you?" Lance scolded, bayard raised in front of his shoulder from the doorway.
Keith meant to answer, but his voice ended up catching in his throat just at the sight of Lance with his bayard raised in his normal clothing. Normally he was in his paladin armor while shooting, but the casual clothing seemed to add something to the weapon that made him seem even more badass. Like, maybe casually badass, or—
"Hey, mullet! I know I'm attractive, but maybe save your drooling for when there isn't a level 14 robot after your head!" Lance shouted, shooting several more times as the gladiator once again tried closing the distance towards him.
He wanted to gawk for just a little longer over the fact that Lance had been the one to show off despite Keith starting early, but he really was making himself look lame, so he positioned himself into a fighting stance and parried the gladiator's next blow before jumping to where Lance had run in.
"You sure you haven't been training for too long? You seem out of it." Lance questioned.
His concern was appreciated, but Keith didn't have time to answer as the gladiator rushed them. He slashed its nimble form several times before locking his sword against its staff, keeping it in place.
No words were needed as Lance shot its head and sent the mighty robot crashing down, and only after its glowing eye faded did both boys drop their arms to their sides, panting.
"That was definitely level 14, alright...man that thing does not move like a human…"
"That's because it isn't human." Keith pointed out, sword supporting him like a walking stick as Lance threw his bayard over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay sure, but what was that? It's not like you to get so caught off guard. You should relax, and maybe go eat something sweet so you feel better."
It was Keith's turn to raise an eyebrow. "What? But I—"
"Nope! I'm already leaving, meaning you have to leave, too!" Lance walked back towards the door despite having just arrived, patting Keith's shoulder as he passed him just to shriek. "Quiznak, sweaty!"
Keith pouted at Lance telling him what to do, but he couldn't help but stifle a snicker at that as Lance waved with the back of his hand and exited the training area. He paused with the door still open, though, as if thinking something over.
"...about that line, earlier. Think of the 'sword' as something dirtier, and you'll probably get it." With that, he left without waiting to hear another word.
"Dirtier?" Keith glanced down at his sword before huffing and tilting his head at the door. Lance could be just as enigmatic as those weird messages, sometimes.
He considered ignoring his orders to call out for another match against the gladiator, but decided against it and disarmed his bayard, grabbing his jacket on the way to the door to fan himself.
As soon as the door opened, however, he noticed a piece of red paper on the floor, accompanied by what appeared to be a chocolate candy.
"What…?" He picked both up and turned the paper around, examining both sides before reading the golden words that were written there.
"Chocolate is nowhere near as sweet as you~"
He glanced down the hallway both ways cautiously, sweaty hair standing on end. Lance had just been here...but he'd said the weird papers weren't his. So unless he was lying, this had been left for Keith right after Lance had left.
His grip on his bayard tightened as he hurried down to the shower room, stuffing the message in his pocket. Before he stored the chocolate, though, he looked over the outer wrapper. It had been a while since he'd seen Earth chocolate like this, after all. Or, to be more specific…
White Chocolate?
As soon as he finished drying himself off from his shower (with the exception of his hair, which took longer to dry), Keith rushed to Shiro's room and barged in without so much as a knock.
"Keith?" Shiro didn't even have to look up or move from his bed to know it was him.
"Shiro, I think you should see this." He pulled out the latest message and thrust it in front of Shiro's face, chocolate candy in his other hand. "I think it could be a message of some sort, or something. What do you think?"
HIs lips were pressed firmly together as he watched Shiro blink, waiting for an epiphany of some sort to strike him. Perhaps it wasn't enough evidence?
"Listen, this is the fourth one I've seen in just the last few days. And this time, it came with this!" He offered the chocolate as solid proof and reread the paper himself as Shiro scratched the back of his head.
"...isn't this just a catchphrase or something?"
"Okay, but what does it mean?" Keith showed him the paper again, but Shiro just looked past it at Keith, brow sweating.
"Keith, I think it's just trying to say what it says. That you're sweeter than chocolate."
Keith's eyes narrowed, gaze shifting from the paper to the chocolate to Shiro. "Why would it be saying that?"
Shiro sighed and began lying back down. "Well, it's a pretty Lance-like thing to say, it shouldn't be too surpri—" He stopped before his back was against the mattress so his body looked like it was frozen in the middle of a sit-up, and he got noticeably stiffer altogether, but Keith just stuffed the chocolate back in his pocket with a raised eyebrow.
"I already asked Lance if he was dropping these weird things, but he said they weren't his doing. Unless he was lying...or...has somebody infiltrated the castle?!"
Shiro's pursed his lips at Keith pointedly, as if it was his turn to wait for an epiphany to strike him. When Keith just kept staring back, though, he gave a heavy sigh.
"...I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, Keith. It's probably harmless fun, really."
"But—"
"How about this; if it comes up again and it's...weird...which it very well could get weird...then you can come to me again. Okay?" Before Keith could protest, Shiro finally collapsed back on his bed, as if he'd been waiting to do that for hours even though he'd just gotten up when Keith arrived.
Keith had no choice but to cross his arms and dip his head compliantly. "...fine."
When he didn't leave, Shiro peeked back up. "Did you know Valentine's Day is coming up? According to Pidge's Earth calendar, anyways. It's in less than a week."
His ears perked, but other than that, he shrugged.
"...maybe you should think about getting something for Lance."
"What?!" Keith exploded instantly, fire catching to his face as he stomped his foot. "That's...why would I…?! Why are you bringing Lance up again?!"
Shiro just rose an eyebrow at him as Keith hurried out the door before he could answer him.
"...I'll come get you if anything weird happens, like you said."
He could only breathe again once he was outside of Shiro's room, leaning against the wall as sweat fell from his forehead.
Valentine's Day...Lance…
He bit his bottom lip. It wasn't like he was trying to hide his feelings...Shiro's suggestion that he do something about them was simply impossible, though.
Simply impossible.
"You make my heart melt, because you're so hot~"
Keith stared at the paper with lines under his eyes, a small, chocolate heart in his other hand. White chocolate—just like from yesterday. There was hardly any need to sit and ponder over these items; Shiro had already told him what to do.
He shoved both the paper and chocolate into one of his pockets before fast-walking to the dining area with stiff legs. As soon as the doors opened for him, he shouted Shiro's name, drawing the attention of the other paladins, who were all seated around the table as Hunk set up breakfast.
"Keith?" Shiro scooted his chair back to stand as Keith slammed his hands down on the table directly across from him.
"Shiro, I found another one!" He revealed the paper for everyone to look at. "It's happened too many times to be coincidence at this point. We should check the castle's cameras—"
Pidge interrupted him with a yawn, and even Shiro sank back into his chair as Hunk continued setting up the table, as if doing whatever he could to avoid the conversation.
"...how about Coran and I go over the cameras to check?" Shiro offered after a solid half-minute of silence. Keith suspected he was only trying to appease him. Still, it was better than nothing.
"Alright. Let me come—"
"After breakfast."
"Speaking of breakfast, let's eat now!" Hunk added, dusting his hands together at the finished table.
Keith stared at the rest of his team in disbelief as they quickly began reaching across the table to eat, as if they had completely forgotten everything he'd said.
As if they were avoiding it on purpose.
His eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he relented and took his own seat off to the side to observe each paladin. Only then did he notice one of them was missing...and said person was rising up on Keith's list of suspicions...
As if on cue, the casanova himself came through the doors in his blue robe. Keith would've been taken aback by his natural beauty just like he was every morning, but despite the usual brilliant glow of his skin, Lance's eyes were slitted with exhaustion, and his hair was unnaturally unkempt—especially for Lance.
"Are...you okay?" Keith couldn't think of anything else to say; his suspicions were completely forgotten in favor of concern for the boy who yawned and dropped into the chair next to him, arms hanging at his sides like noodles.
"I'm...fine…" Lance interrupted himself with a yawn before tossing Keith a thumbs up, accompanied with a signature Lance grin. It would've been somewhat charming if the skin beneath Lance's eyes weren't so dark.
Keith had half a mind to reach out to comfort Lance, though he had no clue how or why that idea would occur to him. He didn't even like physical contact...but if it was for Lance…
He swallowed hard and clasped his fingers together while attempting to mirror Lance's smile. "If you say so. Uh, if you do need something, though…"
"Yeah, don't worry about it!" Lance assured.
They both chuckled awkwardly, unable to exit their conversation, like the rest of the room didn't exist. They couldn't look away from each other, either; or at least, Keith couldn't. Not until Lance looked away first, which he eventually did, but only thanks to a yawn.
He gestured with his head towards Keith's right side. "Actually, could you maybe pass me a cup of that space juice? Think it could do some good waking me up."
Keith was pretty sure 'space juice' wasn't a technical term, but he didn't have a comeback ready, so he grabbed the cup for Lance wordlessly.
When Lance reached for the cup, however, he ended up grabbing Keith's hand instead, sending a rush of heat to Keith's face as he turned stone solid, as if Lance's touch was Medusa.
"L-Lance…" His voice was much breathier than normal, but he couldn't help it. His chest was rising and falling in massive, slow crests despite the rapid beating of his heart, and in a way, that just made it even worse—he could feel every pulse in his chest. Still, no matter how red his face got, he couldn't move away.
Lance turned to look at their hands before they made eye contact, as if he didn't realize what was going on; the red on Keith's face spread almost instantly.
"Quiznak!" Lance backed up from Keith as they managed to tear their hands away from each other, and Keith would have laughed at the way Lance nearly fell out of his chair if it wasn't for his own embarrassment.
Suddenly they were both avoiding looking at each other, and Keith was discovering that he did not like making physical contact with Lance...at least, not like this. Not when it made him combust from the inside out. Maybe there was just something wrong with him…
"So." Lance coughed awkwardly and scooted back over to where Keith was. His yawning had stopped, though he still slouched against the table.
Even from his peripheral vision, Keith could tell Lance's face was still slightly red. His face was still felt red, too.
"Thanks for the cup." Lance rose the cup in a cheer of some sort before shooting Keith straight in the heart with a wink, somehow able to transition back to his typical self.
"You're...welcome…" Keith glanced back down at his hand, where Lance's fingers had held his knuckles just seconds earlier. He could still feel it…
He swallowed hard and looked back up, only for his eyes to lock onto Lance's smile. There definitely had to be something wrong with him...if he was going to go red just by looking at Lance, then he needed to get out of here and sort himself out...
"Enjoy breakfast, guys." He stood up and briefly glanced at the other paladins, who all seemed to be eyeing him and Lance out of the corners of their eyes. Then, before any of them—specifically Lance—could say anything, he darted out of the dining room, fanning himself with his hand.
For whatever reason, just thinking about Lance rekindled his memory of the paper he'd found this morning.
You make my heart melt, because you're so hot.
Keith had gone from embarrassed to stressed within the mere span of five seconds thanks to Lance, but a warm, morning shower had his heart rate back to normal now. His hair still dripped with water as he pulled a towel around his waist tightly and exited the shower room with a sigh. He hadn't had even a bite of breakfast before leaving...maybe Hunk would save something for him? Or better yet, maybe Hunk would make something else for him? Whatever he did, Keith would probably have to wait until after their mission to find something to eat.
It's Lance's fault, he grumbled to himself. When he glanced at the hand that Lance had touched again, though, his breath caught in his throat, and he had to cross his arms to hide his hands. Great...now I can't even look at my hand without thinking about it…
Things could get ugly if his stupid feelings interfered with their missions...should he talk to Shiro about it? Was it even worth talking to Shiro about, or was he just blowing things out of proportion? He wanted to pull at his hair in frustration...but before he could drive himself up a wall with his dilemma, he saw a paper just in front of his room.
His rapidly beating heart dropped into his stomach as he rushed forward and snatched up the paper and chocolate, grimacing and looking every which way for any sign of suspicious activity. Only once he'd decided he wasn't in immediate danger did he read over the newest message.
"You're like a burning skillet; one small touch makes me hot, hot, hot~"
Keith's fingers subconsciously moved to the hand Lance had touched as the words made him hot, hot, hot. He didn't know for sure if this was Lance, and Lance himself had denied knowing anything about these weird occurrences, but...if it was Lance...what was he implying?
It's best not to assume. He quickly entered his room and left the paper and chocolate with all the others he'd collected up to this point before throwing on some clothes. There was no more time to waste; he needed to get to the bottom of this.
He was prepared to scour the entire castle in search of Coran, but as fate would have it, he was met with an orange mustache as soon as he turned the corner.
Coran cried out in alarm as Keith immediately fell into a battle stance, blade already in hand and ready to strike when he noticed it wasn't an intruder.
"Coran. I was just looking for you."
"I thought you might be; that's why I came to your room." Coran twiddled with his mustache, as if that helped calm him down from their sudden run in. "Anyways, Shiro and I checked the castle's cameras; specifically around your room. We didn't notice anything strange, so, uh, looks like you're just being paranoid, like usual!"
Keith's eyebrow twitched at that. "...okay, but that isn't possible. Those papers ended up in front of my room somehow; things don't just appeared out of thin air!"
Coran held a hand up to intervene. "Well, the cameras certainly didn't catch anything! Perhaps you dreamed it all up! Or something. Anyways, we depart for planet Reiphod in just under a varga, so you'd best prepare for that! Right then, see you at the bridge, young paladin!" He saluted quickly before rushing down the hallway.
"'Dreamed it all up'?" Keith muttered as his eyes followed Coran. The advisor often times made no sense, but even this was a little strange for his whimsical advice.
There was no way that paper wasn't placed in front of his door; even on an Altean castleship that could sometimes seem haunted, that type of thing didn't just happen consecutively four days in a row. Whatever the case, Keith would have to go out of his own way to find the answer...with a little help, of course.
The mission on Reiphod was mostly a clean up mission of the remaining Galra forces scattered throughout the planet, but the civil unrest that occurred with the sudden demolition of the Galra administration left the citizens in tatters. As such, they ended up spending hours on the planet dealing with diplomacy and sorting out a foundation for their leadership. Naturally, Keith didn't have much to do other than stand guard and confirm every ten minutes or so that Voltron would have their back. He may pilot the Black Lion, but Allura and Shiro were the political diplomats.
By the time they were done with their dealings for the day, they were all just slumping into their respective seats at the dinner table.
"Man, I'm pooped...after we eat, I think I'm just gonna kick back in my room, maybe play video games for a while," Lance said, with Pidge glaring at him pointedly at the mention of her video games. Keith, on the other hand, couldn't help but frown.
"Are you sure? You've looked sort of tired lately...shouldn't you consider sleeping?"
Lance did a double take on Keith as Hunk set a plate of food down in front of them, blinking a few times as if confirming if he'd heard him right. Then, his lips morphed into a cat-like smirk. "Aww, you getting worried about me, Mr. Bed Hair?"
Keith's face immediately flushed red with both frustration and embarrassment. Frustration because Lance had to turn everything into a way to tease him, and embarrassment because, what if he was worried?
"I was just suggesting...it's been a long day; sleep would do us all some good."
"Hypocrite." Pidge scoffed.
He turned to her in shock, but immediately realized what she was talking about. Indeed, despite the long day, he wasn't planning to do much sleeping tonight…
"Enough. Pidge, no looking for excuses to stay up; everyone should get some sleep after they eat." Shiro ended the conversation, much to Keith's appreciation.
As soon as they all separated to their rooms, Keith set up the hidden camera that Pidge had made for him just before their mission on Reiphod. While it wasn't probable, the castle cameras could have just missed the person behind the messages. Pidge's camera wouldn't fail him, though. Not only would it record the entire night, but it broadcasted a live feed to another camera he had. Any movement or source of heat would be detected as soon as it happened. He would catch the culprit tonight. Now, it was just a waiting game.
While he assumed the papers and chocolates were being placed during late sleeping hours since he never came across them during late night showers, he wasn't taking any chances. For multiple hours, he sat in front of the broadcasting camera on his bed, watching the ground in front of his room just in case the paper and chocolate really did magically appear.
Pretty soon, he heard Shiro, Coran, and Allura shouting their goodnights to each other from in the castle. Then, it was all quiet.
His adrenaline was already rushing as he pictured multiple scenarios in his head. What if it was an intruder? He would have to detain them and wake up the rest of the paladins. If it was a Galra? That'd mean information about their castle would probably already be with the Empire by now. A prank? Well...Keith would just be annoyed, then—especially if Pidge was the one pranking him, since she'd supplied the cameras to catch the culprit in the first place.
The camera suddenly began focusing as a figure came into view on screen, ending his speculation as he peered into it and stood up, hand finding its way to his knife hilt. In the heat vision broadcast, he could make out the petite form of the culprit. They were incredibly small...and not humanoid…
Oh. It was Chulatt—one of the space mice. But...what was it doing?
He walked to his door, but stayed just outside of it so as not to scare the smallest mouse away. He always had a feeling there was something more to those mice, whether it be something sinister or not...Chulatt especially tended to give Keith chills every now and then simply because she was the smallest of the four.
What is she up to?
The blue mouse stopped just outside his door, prompting him to arm himself with his knife. His adrenaline was shooting through the roof, now. What was he supposed to do? Confront the mouse? Would there have to be an interrogation? Was this Allura's doing, or did Chulatt the mouse have other intentions?
Before he could make a decision, Chulatt darted off, leaving Keith seething at himself. He was Voltron's leader, but the mouse had managed to throw him off enough until he couldn't settle on a decision on time...Chulatt was truly a worthy adversary.
Another glance at the screen, however, showed that there was no message or chocolate left behind. Chulatt hadn't left anything behind; she had just...left.
His shoulders began dropping, though the grip on his knife refused to loosen. What is going on…?
Before he could investigate, another figure suddenly appeared on his camera; one that was distinctly more human.
Keith immediately resumed a tight battle stance, eyes flickering as they bent down to place what appeared to be two small items; a paper and a chocolate.
If he'd learned anything from his short-lived psychological warfare with Chulatt the mouse, it was that hesitation would do him no good here; he needed to act if he wanted to reveal the identity of the culprit.
With a brief but firm battle cry, he charged forward once he opened his door. The shout didn't give his attack away; not when his opponent was pinned to the wall half a second later.
"Who are you?! What do you want?!"
"What the fu—"
"Answer me!" Keith spat, raising his knife, only to be met with a familiar high-pitched scream.
"Keith, wait a minute, hold up, who goes around raising a knife just like that?! Let's calm down!"
He blinked several times in an attempt to adjust to the darkness outside of his room as the figure slowly pulled their hoodie down.
"...Lance?" Sometimes, it seemed the most obvious answer was the correct answer.
"Don't 'Lance?' me! You can stop pinning me now! Or, I mean...unless you're into this. Because I can be into it if you're into it. Just saying."
"Lance!" He repeated, pulling away and looking him over with a raised eyebrow. "You...you said it wasn't you!"
He dusted himself off even though his clothes definitely wouldn't have gotten dirty just from a small shove from Keith. "Well yeah, I said no to your question, but to be fair, your question was stupid, so I wasn't lying." Once he was clean, he met Keith's grimacing face with a smirk, hand on his hip. "You asked me if I'd been 'writing weird poems'. What kind of question is that?!" He broke into laughter, clutching his stomach as Keith's face grew hot.
"You know what I meant! I was asking if...you were the cause of those!" He pointed at the paper in Lance's hand.
"Well, that's not what you said. 'Poems'..." He broke off his laughter to lean a shoulder towards Keith, eyebrow raised. "Not that I'm complaining, since you're calling my pick up lines 'poetry'."
Keith took a step back, 'fight or flight' reflexes kicking in as he grabbed his own arm with a gulp. "What...what are you talking about? 'Pick up lines'? I thought those were things that you say to other people…"
Lance paused, as if waiting for some sort of epiphany to strike Keith, but when an awkward silence ensued he just sighed and slumped forward.
"Are you kidding me? What have I gotten myself mixed up in...look, don't think so lowly of pick up lines! They can be spoken, written, and I mean, I even delivered pick up lines in morse code once for a girl in middle school! Honestly, how new can you be to the romance game to think that pick up lines are limited to being delivered by word of mouth?"
Keith backed up more, intimidated yet also slightly enchanted by Lance's passion for the topic, but he couldn't get over one specific line.
"'Romance game'?"
It was Lance's turn to have his face go red, but Keith wanted answers now.
He took a step forward. "Is that what the papers...the...pick up lines...were?"
"..."
"Lance?"
"...yes. Obviously. What else would they be for?!" He rose his voice suddenly, as if to make up for his blushing face. Naturally, that just spread the red to Keith's face.
"...why?"
"'Why'?!" Lance shuffled his hands in his hair. "You know, it's already surprisingly hard to admit it in person, you're not helping by being so oblivious…!" He poked his finger against Keith's chest, eyes narrowed "I. Like. You! Why else would I be doing this?!"
Keith's eyes widened, and he practically fell over himself as he backed up all over again. His heart was pounding fast, his breaths were escaping fast, and this entire situation was just moving so fast.
Lance seemed to sink into himself while still stepping forward to exert himself, until he was an awkward mix of contrasting nerves. "So...what about you? I mean, I guess you don't necessarily need to say anything back, just...do you accept it?" He offered the newest paper and chocolate forward, and Keith wasn't sure if he was asking whether Keith accepted the gift, his confession, or both.
Of course, Keith knew his answer and had known it for a very long time, had imagined this moment for a very long time, but now that it came to it, he could only swallow hard and slowly reach to accept the gifts.
The paper looked the same as all the other ones, but this time, it read, "If you can free a planet from the Galra, then maybe you can free my heart from your cage~".
"Too bad you caught me...I mean, I guess it's easier this way, but still, it was fun watching you stress out over these while it lasted."
Keith rose an eyebrow. "Stress out? I never stressed out! Besides, I was always suspicious of you, and had I received this one anonymously, I probably would've definitively figured it out. 'Free a planet from the Galra'? Did you write this today?"
"Don't make fun of my pick up lines! I did not write it today! In fact I have all of them written out beforehand already!"
Keith's face flushed all over again. "'All of them'? How many of these do you have?"
Lance crossed his arms. "You'll just have to find out. Also, before you make fun of my poems, read them properly! It says something about 'freeing my heart'; aren't you supposed to think that's sweet, or something?"
"Don't change subjects!"
"I'm not! Why are we arguing in the middle of the night in the middle of the halway?!"
"I don't know!" Keith exasperated. "I'm not the one who snuck out of his room at night! I mean...what are you doing this for?"
Lance's glare pierced straight through him, and Keith was quick to raise his arms defensively, face lighting up the darkness with its bright red color.
"N-no! I...I know you said it was because you liked me...but doesn't this seem a little random? To suddenly start leaving me things like this...I'm not rejecting them or anything, but…why?"
Lance huffed for the hundredth time that night. "Haven't you ever heard of 'valentines'?"
"Did you know Valentine's Day is coming up?"
Shiro's words resonated in the back of Keith's head as he stared down at the heart-shaped chocolate that had accompanied the pick up line. Together, the paper and the chocolate made a valentine gift…
His heart was suddenly throbbing in overdrive, and he didn't dare look up past Lance's stomach for fear of exploding.
"...but, it isn't even Valentine's Day yet…" Good going; you haven't even accepted his confession yet.
"Just because it isn't Valentine's Day doesn't mean I can't give you these things, right?" Lance chuckled nervously, and Keith died a bit on the inside. It was clear as day that Lance was being vulnerable, what with his confession and all, and here Keith was, peppering him with questions…
Before he could ask another one, Lance rose a finger.
"I'll have you know that every day is a perfectly fine day to show affection; Valentine's Day just so happens to be a very good excuse to go all out!" He leaned towards Keith with a wink, somehow still smiling. "And believe me, I plan on going all out. It is a bummer that you found me, but at least now I can do this more officially!" Lance cleared his throat, holding his hand out. "So, Keith, would you accompany me on a Valentine's Day date? I promise it'll be the best day you ever have!"
Keith didn't doubt that for a second, and yet, he still hesitated to take Lance's hand. He longed for it, and he knew he longed for it, but...something was still holding him back, like a coil tightened around his muscles. Willpower alone pushed him to reach forward, but the moment their fingertips touched, he stopped.
"...I'll accompany you, Lance."
Lance's face lit up in a genuine smile, fingers creeping forward along Keith's as he awaited more.
Keith didn't know what else to say. There were so many things for him to add; he knew Lance wanted to hear him accept or at least address his confession more, but he didn't know how to say it…
As the silence sunk in, Lance's smile faltered, and his hand slowly pulled away from Keith's. His smile never broke completely, though, and Keith found himself staring at him and screaming at himself, I like him, I do, I need to say it. But how was he supposed to say such simple words that he had barely ever used for as long as he'd been alive?
"...great! Okay! I'm glad!" Lance backed up, probably to give Keith space. "See you tomorrow morning, then! And don't worry, I'll have the date all planned out!"
He turned to leave, and only when he saw Lance's shoulders slump did Keith find the courage to call out.
"Lance!"
Lance turned over his shoulder, hands in his pocket. It was such a simple scene, and yet the lack of a smile on his face was enough to make Keith's chest ache, because it was his fault.
You have to get it right. Just accept his feelings. 'I like you too'. It's that easy.
"Um…" He took several deep breaths, as if to psyche himself into it. Instead, more sweat just accumulated on his forehead, and when he locked eyes with Lance, he lost it. "...what were you doing with Chulatt?"
He hated himself so much.
Lance rose an eyebrow and turned around fully. "Chulatt? You mean the small mouse? That guy usually gives me the cold shoulder, honestly. Platt and I get along way more."
They stared at each other for a few awkward seconds before suddenly erupting into laughter, though it was mostly on Lance's side. Keith joined in for the sake of it; his stomach was churning too much for him to commit to laughing seriously, though. Still, if it put a smile on Lance's face, then he wasn't as mortified for having asked such a stupidly random question.
"Catch you later, bud!" Lance winked before turning and waving with the back of his hand.
"Yeah. Later." Keith watched Lance walk away before smacking his forehead. Twice.
Chulatt? Really?
He glanced down at the chocolate heart in his palm with a sigh, slipping back into his room and leaning against the wall. He turned to look at the array of valentines on his table, and suddenly his heart sank into his chest even more.
He was awful at this, and the more he thought about how he'd practically ignored Lance's confession, the more his heart twisted with agony. And if this was how he felt…
How does Lance feel?
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