The date was January 3rd.

Today was the big day. Auditions for the spring production, Voltron: Legendary Defender, were being held in the auditorium after school from four to six, and the stakes were high.

Mr. Coran, Altea High's theatrical director and drama teacher, had written the play himself, with the help of last year's drama club president and star student, Allura. The two of them would be directing an epic about five brave paladins, brought together by fate, with a mission to save the galaxy. Each paladin pilots a lion (Allura loved the idea of the ships being modeled after the school's mascot) with different powers, and by working together, Voltron could be formed.

The lead role was the Red Paladin, and it was going to be some heavy competition. Everyone wanted to snag that role, especially Lance. But he wasn't worried.

Lance had been a devoted drama club member since his freshman year. It was senior year now, which meant he had to go out with a bang. What better way than starring as the lead, the handsome Red Paladin? This role was his.

He sat in a chair with the monologue sheet in his hand. Mr. Coran was a fan of cold readings, but that didn't scare Lance. As soon as he got in character, he would knock their socks off.

His best friend, Hunk, sat behind him, staring nervously at the paper in his hands. "I dunno man, what if I stutter? Or speak too soft? What if I throw up? You know I get nauseous at auditions, bro."

That was true. Hunk wasn't exactly a stage fright kind of guy, but his tummy did flips and twirls at these cold readings. Lance placed a hand on his friend's shoulder to calm him down. "Cool your jets, Hunk, you'll be fine. I don't see anyone else in this room who could do a better Yellow then you."

Hunk smiled, and took a deep breath. "Thanks, Lance. You always know how to calm me down. Except for the times when you're the cause of my stress, those times you suck major ass, dude.

Snapping his fingers, Lance winked at Hunk. "That's my job, man! What do you expect?"

Thirty minutes went by before Allura started calling in people for auditions, which would be done in groups of four. After they performed the monologue, scripts would get handed out and they'd have to perform a quick scene. Everyone would get to read for their part and maybe more, to switch things up.

Lance's group was mostly made up of familiar faces: Pidge, his classmate who sometimes helped out with those complicated trig questions, and Shay, the tall hippie with the hoop earrings and a big crush on Hunk. Both had been involved with the drama department before, but this last guy? Lance didn't recognize him in the slightest, and there's no way he'd miss a guy who looked like this. He had a mullet for fucks sake. Hello, what year is this? It was totally out of style but somehow it didn't look bad on him. He also had on some stupid fingerless gloves that didn't make sense and newsflash: weren't cool or edgy. He had pale skin and a lean figure, but Lance could tell he had some muscle on him...and his face. He had an infuriatingly pretty face.

And that face was looking right at Lance, brows raised. "Can I help you?"

Shit, he had caught Lance staring. "Ah, sorry, I was just thinking how I don't think I've seen you around school before. The name's Lance."

Pretty face boy looked Lance up and down, either sizing him up or checking him out or both? "Keith."

Keith, Lance thought, I was expecting a weird name like Nox or Shade or something emo like that. "What part are you auditioning for?"

Keith looked down at his paper, like he couldn't remember off the top of his head. "The...Red Paladin."

Lance tried not to laugh. This guy didn't exactly look like the kind of person who could just waltz and become a character like the Red Paladin. He didn't seem like the kind of person who could act at all, really. But Lance wasn't going to say that. "Oh, really? Me too."

Keith nodded, looking back down at his paper. "Well, good luck," he said as the doors opened and the group was led into the auditorium.

In theater, we don't say good luck. We say break a leg, and thanks but I don't need it. I got this in the mother fucking bag," Lance confidently announced, "but back at you.

Keith just blinked at him, lips pursed and eyes locked onto Lance with intensity.

That was how Lance met Keith.

xx

The date was March 1st.

Rehearsal was over and Lance and was sitting outside on the stairs by the auditorium exit, waiting for his ride. Hunk had to leave early for an appointment and Lance had waited last minute to call his sister, so he was the only one stuck there as far as he knew. Winter had overstayed it's welcome this year, and the cold was biting at him. Maybe he could use this time to study his second act lines. Icy air tended to help him focus anyway.

Flipping through his script, he looked at the highlighted sections, and mouthed the words, adding as much inflection he could muster under his breath.

This was a scene where he had a lot of dialogue with the Green Paladin, so he also had to memorize those cues. He wished Pidge were here. He always memorized his lines faster with someone there to practice with him.

The next few minutes were filled with only the hushed words from Lance's mouth and the sound of cold wind racing through the trees.

But the calm was interrupted, and Lance jumped at the sudden sound of the door being shoved open behind him. He turned his head to find Keith looking down at him, surprised. Great.

"Oh, I thought everyone had gone home already," Keith mumbled, dropping his bag and taking out a cigarette, "Were you practicing? Don't mind me."

Lance glared at the boy across from him. Mr. Coran would kill Keith if he knew that he was having a smoke so close to the school. Is this what he always during breaks, come out here and smoke? To think this lame wannabe bad boy would be the one to steal the part of the Red Paladin from him.

Yeah, that's right. Lance did not get the role he wanted. Even if it was the best audition he had ever performed, even if it was his senior year, it meant nothing because Keith. Keith, who literally came out of fucking nowhere and awkwardly walked onto the stage, acting as if he posed no threat, opened his mouth and blew everyone away. It was like nothing Lance had ever seen. It would have been inspiring if it hadn't been such a tragic moment.

Lance still got a major role, the Blue Paladin (which he had to admit was a pretty awesome part), but sometimes Lance just wanted to kick that pretty boy straight in the face. At least Keith's presence kept him driven, because with him around Lance was never slacking off. If he couldn't be the lead role, he'd sure as hell upstage him. But Keith was no fool, and caught on quickly until it became an unspoken war. Who's going to be the one to steal the show? Lance didn't plan on being defeated.

"You could get Mr. C in serious trouble if someone caught you doing that so close to the auditorium. They'll know you're one his students."

Keith shrugged, leaning against the stair's railing, and blowing out a puff of smoke. "Don't see anyone around but you," he muttered, but still rubbed the butt of the cigarette against the wall. Lance smirked. So much for the rebel act.

Keith stuck the barely used cigarette behind his ear, and looked over Lance's shoulder. "You looking over the second act?

Lance nodded, "May as well. Having my lines memorized before all you nerds is my one way ticket to praiseville. I need Allura to know that I'm taking this more seriously than some people." Some people being Keith.

"Yeah," the raven haired boy murmured, grabbing a hold of the rail and pulling himself up so he was sitting on top of it, "I already memorized all my lines.

Lance's neck did a full one-eighty, his mouth hanging wide open and his eyes practically busting from their sockets. "Say what now?! You've got to be kidding me! Just when I think I'm one step ahead of you!"

Keith shrugged, the corners of his lips curved upwards. "If you want, I could help you go over some of the lines. We have quite a few together in the later scenes. I know it's easier for me with another person around.

Even though Lance wanted to decline the offer, there was no denying how helpful it would be. And as much as he hated to admit it, the scenes he performed with Keith were usually the ones he had the most fun with. "Okay, but don't get mad if I throw you off with my mad stage presence."

"We're not even on a stage."

Lance scoffed, "Oh, don't let Mr. C hear you say that. Haven't you heard the motto, Keithy boy? This big ass world is but a stage, man, and all the peeps just playin'."

A light chuckle flew past Keith's lips, and Lance was shocked. He had never really heard Keith laugh before, aside from when he was in character. It was weird. "That was so wrong on so many levels.

Lance couldn't help but smile. "Alright, let's see if you really got this down. This scene has some Yellow Paladin lines, so I'll read for Hunk, too."

Lance started off in the middle of an action scene, where his character was fighting alongside the Red Paladin, who was badly injured. "We aren't going to be able to hold these space freaks off much, longer? You got a plan or what?"

Keith picked up on his cue instantly. "Kind of busy trying not to bleed to death, here! I'll leave the brilliant escape plan to you." At this point he was supposed to look out into the audience and stage whisper, "We're doomed."

That's when they hear the Yellow Paladin through their space gear. Lance changed tones to correctly represent Hunk's characterization, "You guys okay?! We got the coordinates and are on our way! Whatever you do, don't die!"

The next line was the Red Paladin, but when Lance looked up, Keith was just staring at him. Lance cleared his throat, smug. "What? Forget your line?"

Keith continued staring, his eyes full of shock and something else Lance couldn't quite place. "No, of course not. I was just- that was impressive," he admitted. "If I didn't know it was you I really might've thought it was Hunk. You switched characters so easily."

Lance felt his face grow warm. Was that a compliment? "I practice with him a lot. Plus I've kinda known him all my life. I just know how to play a Hunk character. It's nothing really.

"Are you actually being modest? What the hell, man?" Keith raised an eyebrow, and added "but seriously, that was something else. I guess you really are a decent actor."

Lance's eyes twinkled, "As if there was ever any doubt! Who knows, maybe if you try hard enough you'll be as good as me one day."

Keith rolled his eyes, and looked back down at the script. "So, erm, is Hunk like...are you two...?" He wrung his hands together, flustered. "Not trying to be nosy here, but you guys are always together. You're pretty touchy-feely too. If I didn't know any better I'd think...Well, are you two dating?"

Lance leaned back and snorted. "Oh, boy! That's a good one! Me and Hunk! Nah, he's cool and all, and a good looking dude, but he's my best friend. If we're both single when we're forty though, which for the record is like one thousand percent not gonna happen, I'd totally marry him."

Keith just nodded, looking pretty much anywhere but at Lance. "Oh, okay. Cool. So what was that line again?" he asked, sliding off the rail leaning down to look over Lance's script, practically cheek to cheek with him.

Lance froze, stunned by the lack of space between them, but forced his eyes to stay glued to the script. That didn't stop the rest of his senses, however, and Lance could hear the boys steady breaths and smell the lingering residue of the cigarette smoke mixed with something earthy and light. The wind was blowing strands of that black hair all around, and he could feel it tickling the side of his neck. They were so close that Lance could see their warm breath mingling together in the cold air. Lance felt a jab in his gut and was so focused on keeping calm that he didn't hear a word Keith said.

"Hello? Lance? It's your line.

It wasn't the first time he'd heard his name out of that mouth, but there was something different about hearing his name on those lips now that had his heart racing. He wanted to hear it again, multiple times even. "Uh, yeah. Gotchu. Sorry, I was just- you're like super close."

Keith snickered, turning to look at Lance and bringing their faces even closer. What the hell? Was he messing with him? "You get all up in my face every single day at rehearsal to talk shit. What's the big deal?"

Do not look at him. Do not look at him. "Yeah, but that's different. That's me defending my title of alpha male and putting you in your place on stage. Right now you're just..." He gulped. "You're just kind of there."

Keith deadpanned at that answer, his eyes staring directly into Lance's, briefly flicking downward for a brief second, (Wait, was he looking at Lance's lips?) before he brought his mouth dangerously close to Lance's ear and whispered, "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

That was how Keith caught Lance.

xx

The date was April 13th.

Voltron: Legendary Defender went up in two weeks, which meant the directors were stressed. That meant yelling. A lot of it. ("Two weeks! We have two weeks! Don't think we won't cancel this show, because we will! We'll put on no performance before we put on a half-assed one! We are going to start from the top and I better see from energy from you kids this time!")

And like every year, they were behind on sets. Lance sat on the deck with buckets of paint and giant wooden rectangle on the Thursday before Easter, one of the few days of spring break where mandatory rehearsal wasn't scheduled. But Hunk was out of town, Pidge was spending time with family, and Lance's extended family wouldn't be there until Saturday so Lance had nothing better to do than come help out with sets.

A few others were around, like Allura and Shay, Rolo and Nyma. Mr. Coran would pop his head in every now and then, drive off to collect more plywood or whatever, just to disappear again.

Usually Lance had his friend and big time role model, Shiro, here to help him out with the painting, but he'd graduated last year with Matt and Allura. The difference is those two took college classes in the area whereas Shiro went to some university across the country. Jerk. If only he were here, he'd come out like he always did, smile at Lance and say something like-

"Hey, kiddo, you need a hand?"

Lance nearly fell off the deck. That almost sounded like

"Shiro!" Shiro was standing behind him, grinning from ear to ear, with some stupid new white streak in his hair, and his arms out waiting for a hug. Lance didn't waste any time. "Oh my god, you have no idea how happy I am to see you, bro! What are you doing here?! I thought I was going to fucking die painting all this alone. What the hell happened to your hair?! Is that the style over where you live now? Is that what all the hot babes like? Tell me, how many girls have you hooked up with since-"

"You haven't changed at all, Lance," Shiro said abruptly, ruffling his hair to greet him and shut him up at the same time. "It's Spring Break so I came home. And I'll tell you all about this-" He pointed to the streak of white, "-after I say hi to the others. Is Allura around? Coran? I talked to Matt already so I know the Holt siblings are out. I'd love to see Hunk!"

Lance huffed, putting his hands on his hips. "Hunk abandoned me this year, and Mr. C is out and about right now, but Allura," Lance said with a knowing grin, nudging Shiro with his elbow, "is in the wing somewhere with Shay trying to build a giant spaceship.

Shiro ignored the teasing but it wasn't easy to miss the blush that crept up his face. "Girl's kick you out here again, huh?"

With a sigh, Lance clutched his heart. "My handsome face is just too distracting. I simply can't be in the same room with them or they'd lose focus. It really is a curse, you know."

Shiro patted Lance on the back, and sighed. "Whatever you say, kiddo. Anyway, I'm gonna go say hi to the girls," he said, looking back like he was looking for someone. "My brother should be right behind me. He's the one who told me this was happening today. I'm so happy he decided to do theater this year. I always knew he'd do great. I'm so proud."

Lance didn't have time to ask who he was talking about because before he could even open his mouth, he heard the familiar groan oh his arch rival. "Shiro, wait up!"

Keith.

A lot was going on in Lance's mind right now. Maybe he was dreaming. Keith was Shiro's brother? Shiro was related to Keith? Keith was here? Oh god, Keith was here.

Things had gotten a little weird between Lance and Keith ever since their moment on the stairway. Before it was always the two of them throwing insults at each other and spending the entire rehearsal trying to see who was going to upstage the other. Granted it was still like that, only now Lance couldn't look at Keith without his stomach dropping down to his knees. He loathed to admit it, but he'd developed a crush on this guy the size of Jupiter and he didn't know why.

He knew he thought about kissing Keith. A lot. Usually backstage, when it was dark and they were waiting for their cues and there was a wall placed perfectly behind them, totally asking to have bodies pushed up against it, which was totally weird since all he thought about before was pushing him off the stage.

He had absolutely no idea how this crush came to be. All he knew is that he could still sometimes feel Keith's breath on his cheeks, and that was the last thing he thought about every night before he fell asleep.

Luckily he was able to keep these feelings down when they were in character, so getting through rehearsals was easier than it could've been. But now he was panicking. This wasn't rehearsal. He didn't have a character to jump into to avoid his problems. Lance had no idea how to act around Keith. Usually, when he had a crush on someone, he'd throw out some awesome pick-up lines and show off. But this wasn't just a normal person. This was Keith.

He didn't even know if Keith liked guys.

If Keith liked anyone.

Shiro was already gone by the time Lance snapped out of his daze, to find Keith standing right in front of him. His brows were furrowed and he had an uncomfortable look on his face. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Because I'm embarrassed and you're here and I don't know what to do because I want to touch you but has anyone ever touched a Keith and succeeded? "Oh, I dunno! Maybe it's because I just found out you were Shiro's little brother! Like what the actual fuck dude, you couldn't tell someone?"

Keith made a small grunt of acknowledgement, and walked straight past Lance to stare at the deck. "You need a hand?"

Lance guffawed, waving his hand around in dismissal. "Yeah right. This is nothing. I could paint backdrops for days. Days!" He climbed up the ladder and back onto the deck, only to watch Keith jump up onto it like it was nothing. He couldn't decide if he was swooning or seething. Probably both.

"Shiro said you two used to do this together and I should help you out," Keith replied, nonchalantly picking up a paint brush and dipping it in the paint.

Lance watched how Keith forcefully dragged the brush across the wooden surface, and he couldn't help it. He laughed. "You suck at this!" he declared, picking up another brush and taking a seat next to Keith. He shut out the part of his brain that kept thinking about how close they were, and motioned for Keith to watch. "You're too stiff. You can't just press down too hard and drag the brush down one long line." He dipped his brush in the dark blue paint, and proceeded to gently stroke the brush against the wood, back and forth. "It's all in the wrist, look. Kind of like dancing, but with your hand, and the brush is your partner. Now you try."

Keith watched Lance paint for a few more seconds before trying again. It was a little rough, but he was getting it. "Like this?" He looked up at Lance for approval, the tiniest flush creeping across his cheeks.

Lance couldn't help but think about how cute it was, and cute was a word he had never had used to describe Keith. "Yeah, like that. You're a quick learner, but with a teacher like me, are you really surprised?"

Keith rolled his eyes.

They continued to paint the board, inevitably turning it into a race to see who could cover most of the surface. Lance won, but it was still a close call, and didn't feel like much of a win considering Keith had just learned how to freaking paint, but whatever. At least they were done.

"Okay, so now we just have to wait for this to dry, and then we'll add the stars. But, you can sit that one out if you don't think you're ready for it." Lance teased, closing the paint tin and setting the brush down on the concrete.

"What do we do in the meantime?"

Lance yawned, stretching out his legs which were tired from all the crouching. "I mean, I usually chillax with a lemonade and sneak up to the catwalk to take a nap. There's a mattress up there. I know. It's wild. No one knows how it got there, but it's there. One of the seven wonders of the world and all."

Keith nodded, standing up as well and running his fingers through his hair, which was a totally unfair thing to do. Lance thought his heart was going to beat right out his chest. "I could use a nap. Let's go."

Lance choked. "Uhm, well. There's only one mattress and...uhm..."

"And...What, can't handle taking a nap with a guy?" Keith was looking at him like this was a challenge, like he was testing him. Lance would be lying if he said it wasn't kind of turning him on.

Lance gulped. Don't make this weird. You've taken naps up there with Hunk before. This is totally casual. "No, absolutely not. Come on, I'll show you the way."

The two of them quietly made their way through the wings without being seen. Lance was relieved he didn't have to explain what they were doing would get them in a lot of trouble if they were caught. Keith just kind of understood.

The door to the catwalk was hidden in a nook just off the stage, and behind it was a ladder the went straight up the wall. Lance went first, looking back to whisper at Keith not to fall. Keith rolled his eyes.

The catwalk was one of Lance's favorite places in the whole school, and not because it was the best place to skip class. Up here, he could just kind of relax and lose himself in his thoughts. Senior year was stressful, and this was one of the only places he could just lay down and forget about college essays and scholarships and acceptance letters.

The enigmatic mattress was on the very opposite side of the entrance. "And here it is, Keithy boy, the drama departments own personal suite," Lance showcased, flopping down on his back and taking a nice relaxing breath.

"I wonder how many people have had sex up here." Keith wondered aloud as he sat down next to Lance.

Lance was glad it was dark enough hide his face, or Keith would totally see how red he was. Why was he talking about sex right now? "Gross. Could you maybe not?"

Keith shrugged, and leaned back so he was laying parallel to Lance. If Lance thought it was hard falling asleep just thinking about Keith, how was he supposed to take a nap when he was right next to him? Unfair.

Keith must have been having some trouble too, because after about ten minutes, he turned on side and whispered to Lance, "I've been trying to quit smoking."

Lance continued to stare up at the ceiling, paranoid his rapid pulse could somehow be heard through the mattress. Were they about to have a conversation? Was this going to get personal? Lance didn't know if he could coherently talk to Keith unless he was schooling or challenging him. "T-that's good. Smoking is kind of gross."

"Sometimes it's harder than other times. There will be days where I'm really good about it, and only smoke before I go to sleep. But sometimes I just feel like I'm going to die if I don't have one. Isn't that pathetic?" Keith's voice lowered, dark and vulnerable, "How such a tiny thing can control my will like that?"

Lance felt his chest tighten, and he wanted to say something encouraging but, in typical Lance fashion, he said whatever first came to mind. "Well, when my uncle was trying to quit, he'd just find my aunt have a quickie every time to relieve some stress."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lance prayed that a meteor would come and wipe out mankind. Or maybe the sun could explode? Any kind of world ending disaster to put him out of his misery so he didn't have to live with the fact that he just told the boy he was crushing on, the boy he was currently laying down next to on some mysterious mattress on the catwalk, to basically screw his cravings away. Nice one, Lance.

Keith was speechless for a long time, and Lance almost didn't hear the next words that came out of his mouth. "I haven't ever even kissed a guy, so pretty sure that's not an option."

Lance tried to wrap his mind around everything he had just heard but all his head could do was repeat the words kissed a guy kissed a guy kissed a guy. His body was on fire and he was one hundred percent positive his heart was beating loud enough for the entire world to hear. Keith liked guys. Holy shit, Keith liked guys. What did this mean? Did this mean Lance might actually have a chance?

"Have you ever wanted to?"

Keith's voice was low and husky now. "Of course I have. I-" he paused, his breathing ragged and tense. "I've even wanted to kiss you sometimes."

Lance might have actually died. Cause of death: Keith. "O-oh?"

"The first time I wanted to was when you introduced yourself. You were being so cocky and annoying. I just wanted to shut you up with my mouth."

Lance's entire body was shaking, his eyes closed and his skin covered in goosebumps because the words he was hearing were sending shivers up his back. Was this actually happening or did he actually fall asleep?

"The second time," Keith voice wavered, "was when you got all embarrassed when we were going over lines. It was so fucking cute how you, the guy who never paid any attention to personal space, couldn't handle another guy's breath on his face. I almost did kiss you then. But I didn't know what you would do, and I didn't want you to hate me. That was when I realized I liked you. For whatever reason-"

"Hey-"

"And after that it was basically hell, man. I've pretty much wanted to kiss you anytime you were in a ten foot vicinity." He gripped onto the sheets, "and I've been going crazy. It's driving me nuts and stressing me out and for fucks sake you make me want to smoke."

Wow. Holy hell wow. This was definitely not what Lance was expecting to happen up here. Keith liked him. Keith actually liked him and wanted to kiss him. And shit, Lance wanted to kiss him too but he had to be careful. Keith was something like a wildfire, quick to start and easy to engulf whatever is in his way and so hot and Lance was set aflame.

He sat up, and held his hand out for Keith. "I've wanted to kiss you too," he confessed, thinking back to all those times backstage and wondering if Keith had felt it too, "so if you wanted to right now, I wouldn't mind. If it would help."

Keith wasted no time reaching for his hand, but instead of sitting up, he pulled Lance down on top of him, and from the way his heart was racing, Lance was pretty sure Keith was dead too. He could feel the muscles and heat and tension, the mile a minute breathing. Keith didn't let go of Lance's hand, and his voice was uneven as he muttered one word, "Please."

"O-okay. I-I hope you're ready for the best first kiss of your lifetime..." Lance proclaimed, leaning down and catching Keith's mouth just before he could say something snarky.

At first no one moved. Lance wanted to take a second to appreciate the feel of Keith's lips. They were chapped, rough and small, but plump and better than Lance imagined they'd be, because even if they weren't the softest lips in the world, they were real.

He kissed him hard then, and felt Keith squeeze his hand, a low moan escaping him and Holy Crow it was so cute that he let his tongue run over Keith's bottom lip because he wanted in in in, and the boy beneath him must have wanted it too because he opened his mouth and clutched Lance's shirt pulling with his free hand to pull him closer.

Lance had kissed a handful of people in his years, but there was always something he wanted to try that he was never brave enough to do before. In one of romance novels he stole from his mom's room as a kid, when the hero would kiss his lovers he'd use his tongue to trace letters in the alphabet, and it would apply just enough force and focus to make the kiss that much more pleasurable.

It was worth a shot. He started off gentle, just letting himself explore Keith's mouth and easing him into it, slowly forming a letter 'L' on the roof of his mouth. Lance was going to write his damn name in here because this mouth was his.

Keith's own tongue was making headway and damn, this guy was a fast learner, to fucks sake, did this guy have a overdrive switch that was always on? Lance was going crazy and reached up to cup Keith's face, rubbing his thumb along his cheek and it was soft, and warm and- and wet? Was Keith crying

Keith went still, afraid that Lance would get creeped out by the tears and pull away, but Lance reassured him by wiping the tear away and giving their hands another light squeeze. "Are you okay?" he asked against Keith's lips.

"Yes. I am, I'm just…" He let out a deep breath and Lance inhaled it. "I'm happy." He admitted, before pressing his lips against Lance's one more time. This kiss was lighter, like an affectionate breeze, and ended much sooner. "Did... did you write your name in my mouth with your tongue?"

Lance grinned, "Damn straight. So when you talk shit, never forget that I left my signature up in there."

"You never quit do you?"

That was how Lance took hold of Keith.

xx

The date was April 27th.

Curtain calls were by far Lance's favorite part of a production. This was the part where he runs out and takes a bow and everyone applauds and he is struck with the overwhelming reality that all of this hard work had been for this.

This was one the last curtain calls he'd be a part of here, and it was a bittersweet feeling. He would miss this stage. He'd found a home here, and the thought that he only had two more nights left almost had him in tears.

A hand clutched his, and he smiled. Keith stood next to him, and if there was anything better than experiencing this feeling for himself, it was being able to watch his boyfriend experience it for the first time.

When the lights blacked out and the cast was rushed off the stage and into the backroom, everyone started to scream. They'd done it. They'd put on one hell of a show.

"So, Keith, what did I tell you? Wasn't that like the best thing you've ever felt?" Lance asked, leading Keith out of the crowd of giddy thespians and crew.

"It was pretty amazing, yeah, but I can think of a few things I like more." Keith came to a halt, and pulled Lance against him, "Being with you, for one."

Lance grinned, a mix between the opening night high and the cute boyfriend high getting to his head. "I want to kiss you so bad right now."

Keith didn't have to be told twice, and before Lance could bat an eyelash he was being pulled down to lock lips with his wild fire of a boyfriend.

That was how Lance and Keith celebrated one hell of a show.

xx

AN: this was something i published a while ago on ao3 and was just kind of like, what the hell, and decided to upload it here too. hope you liked it. thanks for reading./p