Day 1 - December 1 - Prompt: First Kiss

Snow Kisses

"Keith! Keith! Wake up!"

His pleasant dream cut out abruptly at the feel of someone shaking his shoulder and the hiss in his ear of his name. He bolted upright, his heart racing. "Fuck, ow!" he exclaimed as his head bumped against something.

"OW!" echoed in the dark room.

Keith slumped back onto the bed on his side, his hand coming up to rub at the crown of his head. "What the fuck? Lance?"

He could see Lance in the dim light of their shared dorm room, pressing a hand against his forehead. His roommate knelt at the side of his bed. "That's gonna leave a mark," he said with a pout.

Keith rolled his eyes, pressing the now-tender part of his head with his fingers. He knew how important Lance's looks were to him. Not that Keith objected to Lance's looks. Not at all.

"What's wrong? Why'd you wake me?"

It took a minute of Lance staring at Keith before he remembered. His eyes lit up in spite of the tiredness evident in them. Both boys had been studying for finals and finishing up end-of-term projects - foregoing sleep and social activities to finish off their first semester of their first year of college with high grades.

"Get dressed! Come on!"

"What?"

"Trust me! Get dressed!"

Lance hopped up to his feet and skipped over to their shared wardrobe. He was humming what sounded like a Christmas song as he pulled out a sweatshirt of his own, then one of Keith's. He tossed Keith, who now sat up on his bed with feet firmly on the floor, the shirt and then pulled his over his head. Keith dragged himself out of bed and started getting dressed with a fond sigh.

If you told a socially introverted and backwards Keith on move-in day in August that this outgoing boy from Miami would have him wrapped around his long, tan finger by the end of the semester, Keith would have passed out from laughter. Yet, here they were, solid best friends. Lance somehow worked his magic on Keith - Keith who found himself involved in all sorts of activities and outings with the growing circle of Lance's friends.

Keith, who wished for more, but would never dare tell his roommate how he felt and thus spoil this friendship. He could worship from afar up close and enjoy the benefits of being Lance's best friend. Arms around the shoulder, whispered secrets in his ear, mugs of Keith's favorite tea (made in the illegal kettle they kept in their room) waiting for Keith on Tuesday night after his longest day of classes, stories of Lance's family and childhood, Lance helping him memorize notes for class, Lance making sure he ate, Lance decorating their dorm room with balloons and streamers and somehow finding a cake for the two of them on Keith's birthday, the little stuffed hippo Lance knitted for him, Lance making him dress up as Tweedle-Dee to Lance's Tweedle-Dum for Halloween, Lance surprising him with a cheap turkey dinner on Thanksgiving because neither of them could make it home - they ate at their desks while going over Chemistry (Lance) and Literature (Keith) notes.

All of it would disappear if Lance knew how much Keith loved him. Lance was sunshine and kindness personified, and Keith was simply a backwards emo kid with a resting bitch face who had no place in Lance's life. He tucked his feelings deep down inside so he could continue to orbit this sun - continually pulled in by his endearing gravity, but never allowed to touch.

"Why are we getting dressed?" Keith asked in a grumpy tone. He'd been awake until past midnight working on an essay for Modern Lit. "It's three in the morning."

"Trust me," Lance repeated. His coat was on already and he held Keith's coat in one hand and Keith's scarf and gloves in the other.

Unfortunately, Keith trusted Lance with his soul. Dammit, he wished he didn't. His narrow bunk was warm and his dream about Lance was nice. He wanted to return to both.

Once bundled up, Lance's gloved hand grabbed his to pull him out of the room. Keith was grateful for the scarf wrapped around his neck and lower face which hid his blush in the harsh fluorescent light of their dorm hallway. It was deathly quiet as they sped down the hall to the stairwell and ran down.

"Lance, what are we doing?"

Lance didn't answer. Instead he pushed open the exit door at the bottom of the stairs and dragged Keith by the hand outside.

The cold air hit the exposed skin on Keith's face, making his eyes water. They'd been in a cold snap the past few days, hitting the weekend before Thanksgiving with icy winds that made the walk to class a nightmare. Now, early Monday, the winds were gone leaving only the cold air and a silent world draped in snow. Big, fat flakes floated gracefully to the ground and it was clear and bright out. The nearly full moon reflected on the white ground cover and the normally busy and noisy quad was perfectly silent.

"It's snow, Keith..." Lance breathed out, his breath creating swirling clouds of steam in front of his face.

They stood there, still holding hands, and stared up into the sky as the flakes fell on their faces. Like a child, Lance stuck out his tongue to catch one, laughing in delight when he did. Even though Keith was tired and annoyed, he couldn't help but feel his heart melt at Lance's expression. Still, he had to keep up appearances. "So?"

"I've never seen snow."

Keith understood. Of course Lance had never seen snow. He grew up in Miami. Keith, who had grown up in the north, was familiar with it and, like any good northerner, was jaded about it. Yet, seeing it the first time, through Lance's eyes, gave him a whole new appreciation of it. Fuck, was he whipped.

"Oh. Yeah, I forgot."

Lance let go of his hand only to spread his arms and twirl around laughing. "This is amazing Keith!" he cried out. "It's so beautiful!"

Keith watched Lance, thinking it wasn't so much the snow that was beautiful, but he agreed with Lance that yes, 'it' was beautiful. Lance didn't need to know Keith meant the boy himself.

He soon thanked the gods above it was so late and the quad was deserted when Lance grabbed his hands and spun him around in the snow, reluctantly getting him to dance among the falling flakes. No one needed to see his lack of coordination and awkward steps as he laughingly tried to keep up. Lance helped, keeping a hold of his gloved hands as they spun in the middle of the quad.

They came to a halt, both breathing a little heavily from the exertion, puffs of steam raising up between them. Keith's heart ached with how sweet Lance looked with red cheeks and snowflakes in his hair.

"You should put your hood up," Lance said in a soft voice, letting go of Keith's hands so he could reach over Keith's shoulders to grasp the edges of the hood of Keith's coat. Gently, he drew it up until it covered Keith's hair. "Don't want your mullet to get all wet."

Lance didn't withdraw his hands - he instead held the edges of the hood with the backs of his thumbs brushing Keith's jawline. The steam from Keith's lips disappeared as he held his breath. He was stunned enough to not rise to the bait of Lance's teasing. He couldn't move, just as he couldn't breathe, and his hands hung at his sides. They were cold, in spite of the gloves, now that Lance's warmth had left them.

"Keith is speechless?" Lance teased again.

The tenderness and teasing caused a glitch in Keith's brain and he blurted out, "Why do you do this?"

"What?"

"This..." Keith said, lifting a hand to gesture at the hood of his coat and Lance's hands. "Take care of me the way you do."

"I don't understand," Lance said, his lips turning down into a frown, which looked out of place on him. "You don't like it?"

"I didn't say that."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I mean, why?" He felt his cheeks burn. Why did he say anything? He ruined this moment like the idiot he was. "Why do you do all the things you do?"

"You really don't know?"

"No."

Lance laughed then, with a little shake of his head. "Hunk was right, you really are an obliviously adorable dork." With that, Lance pulled carefully on Keith's hood, drawing him closer. "Why else would I do everything for you?"

Keith's hands lifted involuntarily as Lance's lips met his. They hung in the air to the sides as their faces were muffled in Keith's hood. The image of snow and moon and stars was blocked and Keith's senses tuned into the heat and warmth of Lance's mouth as it moved over his. It took a moment before he responded, his hands coming in to rest on Lance's waist over his coat.

When Lance pulled back, he smiled at Keith. "Does that answer your question?"

Lance's smile was confident, but Keith could see the doubt and nervousness in Lance's eyes. He realized what a leap of faith this was for Lance. As self-assured as Lance liked to present himself, Keith knew Lance was, in reality, as insecure as anyone. The longer it took him to answer, the more his smile faltered. Shit, he should say something.

"I'd say so," he said, feeling his heart nearly explode, because Lance's relieved smile beamed brighter than the moonlight on the snow.

"I like you, if you couldn't tell," Lance said, dropping his hands to Keith's shoulders. "If you like me, too, I'd like to take you out on an official date."

"I'd like that."

"I guess that means you like me, huh?"

Because Keith could barely speak, he answered by kissing Lance again, amazed at how the cold seemed to disappear as their lips met. He'd never felt so overheated, to be honest.

"Why tell me now?" Keith asked when they stopped for air.

"I got tired of waiting for you," Lance said with a laugh - a laugh that bubbled through Keith like a sip of champagne. "And I thought, you know, my first snow and our first kiss. Kind of poetic, you think?"

"I do. Definitely on the romantic side," Keith agreed.

"Ok, you're shivering and trying not to let me see. Let me take you in and wrap you in blankets and get you into your bed. We can talk more tomorrow."

One more kiss. He needed one more in this magical land of snow before he allowed Lance to take care of him once again. "Sounds like a good idea."

A/N: Find me at devooshawrites on Tumblr