Let me know any questions that are unanswered as of this chapter, it helps me improve the overall story! Favorite, Follow, and Comment for more cute klance idiots lol 3

The next morning, Keith woke to the smell of Lance. He'd somehow shifted in the night, one arm draped over the other's chest while his nose had tucked into Lance's neck, whose arms had wound around his waist. It was… nice. Really nice.

Was Lance going to freak? Probably. Was Keith going to make that moment come sooner by waking him up? No.

Keith let himself drift in and out of sleep, the most he'd slept since… well, maybe ever. He'd never shared a bed with anyone else, and the space between Keith and his crush was so, so little. It was like tempting a dying man in a desert with a water bottle.

Was this taking advantage of a situation? Yes.

Was this taking advantage of Lance? ...No comment.

Keith sighed. There wasn't much he could do to fix the situation, so why not let them both catch a couple extra bits of shuteye in their crazy, hectic lives as paladins.

He found himself hoping that he could wake up this way every morning.

But he knew that was just wishful thinking. Lance wouldn't like him back. He would never like him back. It would be better for all of them to just let go. But it wasn't that easy. Keith wasn't the type to fall for anyone- in fact, he hadn't ever fallen for anyone. Until now. Lance was… well, Lance. He got under Keith's skin, broke through his barriers. Made him a better person. Made him want to be better.

But better wouldn't be good enough for Lance. Lance deserved perfection, something Keith wasn't.

A hand came up to lightly smack Keith's shoulder.

"Hmm stoppit." Came Lance's sleepy command.

Keith froze. "Stop what?" He asked nervously. Lance shifted to hold him tighter.

"You're doing that thing again."

"Thing?" Keith furrowed his brows. Maybe Lance really was a snuggler and didn't know who he was talking to. That seemed like a reasonable explanation for the current paladin-cuddle-fest.

Lance sighed, his warm breath tickling Keith's skin. He made a conscious effort to remain calm and not tense up at the feeling. "That thing where you go down your rabbit hole of bad thoughts. You always start tapping your finger" Lance reached over to demonstrate on Keith's upper arm, "right here. So stoppit."

Keith was incredulous. How had Lance even known that? Lance hated Keith!

The silence between them was thick, like glass.

Maybe… maybe they could be friends. Maybe this was Lance's way of finally making an effort with Keith, and this was Lance showing Keith that he cared and paid attention to him. "...Okay…" Keith murmured, bringing his arms around Lance to hold him back. Keith let himself relax into the hold more, and the glass shattered, leaving comfortable quiet. "...okay…"

So… apparently Lance was more observant than he seemed.

Correction- Keith knew Lance was observant. That's how he quickly picked up on social queues and directed diplomatic conversations to safe territory like a traffic cop in Rome.

Apparently Lance was more observant of Keith than he showed.

And… Lance hadn't freaked out like Keith thought he would. Maybe he was just a snuggler and knew it. Yeah. And Keith and Lance were becoming better friends. That was it.

...But still, being a snuggler doesn't mean he would snuggle with just anyone, right? If Lance really didn't see Keith as a friend, he would have pushed him off the bed when he woke up. Hell he wouldn't have even let Keith sleep in his bed- would have made him sleep on the floor, holding his hand above him on the bed so that his arm went numb in the night.

Lance sighed, his breath rustling Keith's hair softly. No, maybe Lance didn't hate him. Keith allowed himself to relax in Lance's hold, allowed his nose to remain buried in the crook of Lance's neck so he could smell the soap and ocean that was always there. Call it self-indulgence.

Keith drifted between sleep for a long time after that.

•••

The next morning lacked any of the awkwardness that Keith had expected. He'd woken before Lance, managed to disentangle their limbs without waking the other, and slipped off to the restroom before his bladder exploded. When he returned, Lance was sitting up in bed, rubbing his hand over his chest with a look of discomfort on his face.

"Hey," Keith greeted, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, placing his hand on Lance's knee with only a little hesitation. He immediately felt the spikes in his chest disappear, and Lance gained some more color in his face.

"Hey…" Lance sighed, looking relieved.

"Sorry, I had to pee." Keith apologized.

"No biggie." Lance waved a hand in the air. "As long as you washed your hands…" His blue eyes drifted down to eye Keith's hand suspiciously.

Keith snorted. "Of course I did." He gave Lance a fake glower, who just rolled his eyes in return.

"You never know…" He shrugged.

Keith poked Lance's knee. "I wash my hands. I'm not quite the desert heathen you make me out to be." He teased.

Lance crossed his arms. "I don't seem to recall ever accusing you of such." He stuck his nose up.

"You literally just did!" Keith squawked indignantly. "Two seconds ago!" He poked Lance harder.

"Ey, watch it, don't damage our most valuable paladin!" Lance swatted at his hand.

"Har, har." Keith sniffed, but it was all in good fun. "At least we can rely on you for most things."

"Exactly!" Lance nodded, but Keith could see he was trying to suppress his true smile of pride.

"And I'll always be there to get your lion back when you lose it." Keith added with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah totally! Wait- hey!" Lance moved to smack at Keith's shoulder, who ducked out of the way laughingly. "Rude." He sniffed, but soon joined Keith in his chuckles.

And then, for the next several nights, Keith didn't even bother trying to sleep in his own bed. The two fell into the routine of Lance plopping down on his bed after a long day and simply opening up his arms to Keith.

During the days, if they weren't holding hands during team exercises and drills, they were eating together, lounging together, or even sparring together. Sparring proved difficult at first, as they were practicing with bo-staffs and weren't touching for too long. But, Lance found that hand-to hand combat and wrestling techniques like jiu-jitsu gave them the doses of touch that they needed to keep the pain at bay.

It felt so nice and natural, and Keith admitted to putting off their talk because he wanted this to last longer. But Lance never brought it up, either, and this new thing between them didn't affect the team dynamic at all. In fact, they seemed more in tune than ever, even though they hadn't put it to the real test in battle. Keith assumed that they'd be better, faster, stronger and more efficient if and when they had to go back out into the field.

But in the meantime he enjoyed Lance's presence. They were sitting close enough on the couch during team movie night that they fell asleep snuggled together. Once the film ended, they'd been roused by Pidge and had moved back to Lance's bed. There, they stayed up to swap stories and secrets. Keith didn't know what had possessed him to put this much trust in Lance, but he opened up about his dad, Shiro, his mom, and his struggles through the Garrison and out in the desert. Lance listened, offered support and it felt… good to let it all out. And in return, Lance told him about his homesickness, how he sometimes felt like he was lacking. Keith didn't know what to say, so instead he held him and asked him to tell him about the ocean, since he'd never been.

Neither knew when, but they became the dynamic duo they always had the potential of becoming.

In training, they took out the gladiator bots in record time, working together as an unstoppable force.

And in the mornings like this one, they simply lay and enjoyed the others presence, leeching warmth from each other.

It wasn't until Keith felt Lance shift and kiss the top of his head that he considered getting up.

WhatthehellwasthatLance?! Keith made sure his body didn't tense up to give himself away, faked a yawn a second later like he was just waking up. The inside of his mind was screaming, on fire, a klaxon alarm blaring.

Lance acted like nothing was wrong. "Morning Mullet." Bright blue eyes shone down on him. "Sleep well?"

Keith let the corners of his lips lift in a smile to hide his panic. "Yeah, great, actually." Was he blushing? He felt like he was blushing.

Was… was Lance blushing? No, impossible. "Me too. You're like a furnace. Kept me warm all night." Lance mumbled, letting his eyes slip closed drowsily.

Was that a compliment? What did that even mean? What did he say to that?!

"You're… welcome…?" Keith mumbled back, hiding his embarrassment in Lance's shoulder.

Lance just puffed out a laugh. He mumbled something incoherent and stretched. Keith took advantage of Lance's closed eyes and watched the way his muscles coiled and released.

Keith had kept a tight lid on his feelings for a long time now, and that lid was being cracked open.

Now, all Keith wanted to do was tackle Lance and kiss him senseless. Feel those corded muscles under his fingertips…

This was not what he should be thinking while in bed with Lance. Well, if 'in bed with Lance' meant what Keith wanted it to mean, then it would have been fine. But not now.

Keith sighed and sat up. "So do you want to eat breakfast before we shower? Or just do it right now or-"

Lance's stomach growled loudly. He blushed and chuckled a little. "I guess that answers that…" he averted his eyes. Keith nodded and quickly slipped out of the bed, having to disentangle his legs from Lance's. It was one of the most tempting things he'd ever been faced with. Those long, smooth legs. "Here, wait…" Keith turned to see Lance reaching up towards his head. He let Lance move his hand up to fix Keith's bedhead, closing his eyes at the feeling of those slender fingers against his scalp. He opened his eyes and met Lance's deep ocean blues and felt heat creep up his neck. "There…" Lance murmured, eyes flirting around Keith's face instead of his hair.

"Thanks." Keith managed to choke out around his heart, which had jumped up into his throat. He inhaled sharply and Lance pulled his hand away. "I'm gonna go get changed." Keith said quickly as he made his way to the door, turning to throw a smile over his shoulder. "I'll meet you outside in five?"

Lance smiled at that. "See you then."

The elephants started thumping on his heart about three minutes later. The Queen had been right- they had less and less time in between touching-the pain was getting worse, faster. Keith changed quickly and brushed his teeth before striding with purpose outside.

And nearly ran into Lance. Again. "Woah! Careful there, Mullet." Lance held his biceps to steady him. The elephants were gone.

"S-sorry it just-" he rubbed a hand over his chest, avoiding Lance's eyes.

Lance frowned. "I know…" he rubbed his hands up and down Keith's arms, making Keith shiver.

Keith cleared his throat a bit and held up his hand. Lance gave him a goofy grin.

"Oh my dear gentleman, how chivalrous of you!" Lance pulled his hands up to cover his heart like some old-timey English maiden. "I swoon!" He leaned backward dramatically, pressed the back of one back to his forehead, fingers fanned out like peacock feathers.

Keith couldn't hold back his laugh. "Ok weirdo, I thought you were hungry?"

Lance met his eyes and winked cheesily. "Oh I'm starving babe!" He said in a high pitched Marylin-Monroe-esque voice. Keith choked out another laugh and tried to fight his blush away. That was stupid. It shouldn't have been cute.

But Lance seemed happy to have gotten Keith to laugh. Lance took his hand and marched them down the hall towards the kitchen. Keith let himself be dragged along, glad that, even with the sour circumstances, he had a true friendship with Lance.

And, as he looked down at their clasped hands in front of him… maybe it could learn to be something more than a friendship.