Keith is late. He's just now getting back from the galra ship where he was scouting for information with a couple of others. The mission had taken longer than expected. He promised Lance he'd be back in time for a dinner date. His boyfriend. Keith rolls the word around in his mind while Kolivan briefs the Blade on changing tactics for future missions. Keith is a soldier of the Coalition, his allegiance split between Voltron and the Blade. But at the moment, he's just a boy zoning out during a lecture with thoughts of his boyfriend.

"...Keith?"

He snaps back to attention in time to see Kolivan frowning at him, but with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"You look like there's somewhere else you'd rather be," he says knowingly.

Judging by Keith's fellow Blades' repressed smirks, he must've been caught with a particularly soft look on his face. He looks at his leader sheepishly, but doesn't bother denying the obvious truth.

"You can go," Kolivan says. "We're all worn out from this mission anyway. It would be wiser to discuss this tomorrow when we're all more alert."

The dismissal couldn't have come sooner. Keith darts out, skidding to a halt in front the pods. He's missed dinner but if he's lucky, Lance might still be awake.

He flies faster than he thought the little pod could go. He's torn between patting himself on the back for his skill and chiding himself for behaving like a moony teenager. But even the self-reproach can't wipe the smile from his face as he gets to the castle, still in his Marmora suit, and navigates the dark halls like they're home. In a way they are, he realizes.

He passes the empty dining hall and makes his way to the lounge. Also empty. With a guilty pang in his chest at the realization that Lance must've gone to bed, he makes his way to Lance's room. Empty. Baffled, he stands for a moment pondering. Maybe…

He heads for his own room. The door slides open at his command, and sure enough, there's Lance, sitting in Keith's bed, slumped against the wall that serves as a headboard. He's fast asleep. But what gives Keith pause, makes him freeze on the spot with his eyes gone wide and his mouth hung open, is that Lance is wearing Keith's jacket. His head lolls to one side, his nose tucked comfortably in the jacket's high collar. The sight of his boyfriend safe in his clothes pulls at some instinctual part of Keith. He can't fight off the wave of fondness that washes over him, bringing the softest of smiles to his face. He wants to preserve the moment forever, and without thinking, finds himself looking around for Lance's phone. He spots the garish orange thing peeking out from below the pillow and reaches for it. Aiming, he snaps a photo that he already knows will melt his heart every time he looks at it.

The flash and shutter sound, soft as they are, cause Lance to stir. "Keith?" he mumbles sleepily, eyes still closed and nuzzling further into the jacket he has wrapped around himself.

It takes all of Keith's self control not to jump the bed and kiss him into oblivion. "I'm here," he says instead, running a hand through Lance's hair. "I'm sorry I made you wait."

"S'okay." Lance is smiling now and blearily opens his eyes.

"It's not," sighs Keith, settling into bed beside Lance, who gives up the wall in favor of tucking his head into Keith's chest. "I missed our food goo date." Keith feels Lance's laughter against him and wraps an arm around him.

"You're so unromantic, Keith! It was a dinner date."

"A dinner of food goo," Keith points out. But apparently Lance is too sleepy to argue further.

Sighing fondly, Keith gently settles him onto the bed and goes to change into his pajamas. He looks over at Lance's prone form and concedes that he doesn't have the heart to send Lance to his own room. When he returns to bed, he accidentally jostles Lance from sleep again and is rewarded with a kiss on the cheek before his boyfriend drifts off again. Heart more settled than it ever was without Lance, Keith wraps an arm around Lance's middle and tucks his nose into his own jacket, falling asleep to the rhythmic sounds of Lance's breath rising and falling.