HIIIIII! I've kicked this around for so long, I'm glad to get it out even though the show is over... :'( We'll always love Keith and Lance and the rest of the characters, no matter how the creators abandoned them and their amazing story lines. Anyway, rant over! Enjoy, really, this is so much fluff. Love you guys!

When Keith landed on planet Tsuru, he didn't think he'd even remember the planet's name a day later. The civilians there had an operating, balanced monarchy ruling over the land and were open to joining the Voltron Coalition. Honestly, it seemed like a stop-and-go planet that he'd probably forget about. The only thing he might remember about this planet was how startlingly similar it was to Earth, aside from the fact that the citizens were slate grey and had small and big bumps mottling their skin like dragon leather, complete with horns sticking out from their foreheads.

The team had been led from the castle to another castle to meet the King and Queen. At this point, Allura and Shiro would take over the negotiations of the alliance and the rest of the team would sit back and look pretty. Keith spared a glance over at Lance, who was grinning and waving his fingers at the very young princess, who giggled on her throne. It wasn't ever hard for Lance to look pretty, he thought. He felt a warmth in his chest, seeing Lance interact with the young girl. Her teeny horns turned pink at the ends with a blush when she stuck out her tongue at Lance, who feigned hurt at the gesture. Lance stuck his tongue back out at her. Keith stopped himself from laughing at the childish display, only cute because it was Lance.

Lance noticed him watching and glared. Keith was taken aback by the look because what did he do? Keith frowned, upset and defensive. Lance grew more irritated, crossing his arms and turning away from Keith, who mirrored the action. Why did Lance hate him so much? He didn't even do anything wrong!

Keith sighed. This trip was turning out to be kind of crappy.

•••

The princess grinned when she saw the way the red and blue paladins crossed their arms and turned away from each other. What the red paladin didn't see was the sad, fond look the blue one secreted his way. Ah, unrequited love? No, the red one clearly liked the blue one back. They obviously hadn't realized that they had been chosen for their roles for a reason. That they were meant for each other. She sighed, happy for them. Sometimes the universe gave lovely little gifts like that.

But at this rate, maybe they just needed a little push in the right direction. She whispered a small spell and felt her fingers sizzle and glow with the magic. She grinned. This was going to get interesting. She walked up and reached out an innocent hand to the red one, who looked at her funny before slowly offering his hand with a small smile. She reached for the blue one's hand next, who smiled down at her with warmth, obviously used to dealing with children. Well these two were going to get along until they realized their destiny in each other. She quickly pulled their hands together until they held each other's hands and stepped back, satisfied. The spell was complete!

•••

Keith stared at the princess. Why had she come to him? He usually freaked out around kids, not knowing what to do if they got upset or something. Heck, Lace was standing right next to him, so why choose Keith instead? Keith let a small, nervous smile slip onto his face as he reached out a hand to take her outstretched one. His hand tingled, but he thought it may just be from the warmth of contact- something he seriously lacked.

He watched as she turned to Lance and held out her hand, a pit of dread digging into his stomach. Lance was already mad at him for no reason, and she was trying to make them interact! Lance smiled down at the dragon girl and took her outstretched hand. She smiled up at him and then in an instant had tugged their hands together. Once close enough, a magnetic pull had latched their hands together and then they were stuck.

Immediately, panic set in. Lance stared at their hands in horror and tried to yank his hand out of Keith's grasp, which only jostled his shoulder to hell. Keith clamped his lips together to hold in his cry of pain and tried to pull his hand away. Keith stopped, seeing no immediate fix to this, and held up his free hand in the universal "stop" motion. "What the he-" Keith clamped his hand over Lance's mouth. Lance paused, panic clear in his eyes. Keith gave him a mild look and pointed to where Allura was negotiating with the King and Queen.

"Don't interrupt them." Keith mouthed. He turned to ask the princess of Tsuru what she had done, and to undo it now, but she had vanished. He clenched and unclenched his free hand in frustration. Great. Just great. Not only was Lance stuck to him, they didn't have a way to get him unstuck.

Pidge noticed their wild motion and looked at them over her shoulder. Keith watched her eyes double in size in shock before a mischievous smile split her face. She wiggled her eyebrows at them, and they quickly gave her panicked looks, shaking their heads and tugging on their arms. She seemed to realize they weren't holding hands willingly and stared in confusion. She nudged Hunk with her elbow and jerked her thumb over her shoulder at them. They quickly shook their heads and tugged on their hands again, seeing Hunk's haughty reaction to the scene.

Hunk and Pidge exchanged glances and seemed to have a silent conversation. Eventually, they got the same answer they'd told themselves: wait. Keith refrained from groaning. Of course, he'd get stuck to his crush. Nobody else had to suffer like this. Not only did Lance not like him back, he hated him, and now they were stuck together. This was not helping his heart.

It took another twenty minutes for the treaty to be signed, and finally, finally the royals, Allura, and Shiro turned around to the mild panic behind them.

"Wha-"

"Can somebody please help us?" Keith cut Shiro off.

"Lance? Keith? Why are you two-"

"The princess! It's- she just- she came over and I thought she wanted to play and now Keith and I are stuck together and please help!" Lance burst, tugging on their joined hands.

"Oh- oh dear." The queen gasped. "I think I know what's happening here…" She exchanged a look with the King, who perked up and stiffened.

"Ooh, that little rascal!" He exclaimed. "ELEANOR!" He boomed, his voice ringing down the halls of the castle. A faint giggling tinkled through the air like bells, impossible to locate. The King sighed heavily. "Dear, if you would explain…?" He requested before whisking away down the halls in search of the princess.

The Queen shook her head, her long black hair moving like a sheet with the motion. "Oh, paladins, our most sincere apologies. Our daughter Eleanor has been practicing her magic and must have put a spell on you two. I do believe that it is the Bond of Silence she's used. Very rare, and I have no idea where she would have learned it!"

Shiro stepped forward a bit. "Your majesty, with all due respect: just what does this spell do?" He eyed their hands warily.

"Oh, yes I was just getting to that." The Queen continued. "The Bond Of Silence takes advantage of bonds that are already there between two individuals, simply ones that are unseen and unspoken. The spell uses these bonds to determine what kind of relationship those affected with have with each other. Sometimes that means enemies, sometimes friends, and sometimes something much more than friends. It appears that you two will be stuck together for as long as it takes for you to find out what you are to each other."

The room was silent.

"Unfortunately, there's no way to reverse the spell once it is complete. I do truly and deeply apologize on behalf of my daughter." The Queen continued with a soft voice.

Keith's head was swimming. What you mean to each other. There was no way in hell he was going to survive this. He was going to die.

"So they're stuck together like that?" Pidge piped up, pointing at their hands.

"Oh! Oh heavens no, but it's not much better. You see, you two must be near each other, touching most of the time, or you will experience great pain. It will grow with time, the more you are away from each other. Honestly, you should be able to let go of one another within the next couple of vargas."

Keith's heart was pounding. Just how long would it take for them to determine what they meant to each other? Keith already knew what he meant to Lance! He was a nuisance, an enemy, a rival! Someone Lance hated!

"What if we already know what we mean to each other?" Keith's voice was strained.

The Queen startled. "My dear boy, if you already knew what you meant to one another, you would not act in the way you do. And you would not be stuck together." She gave a pointed look at the way they had moved away from each other, their hands hanging in the air between them.

"May I suggest that you and your team stay here for the night, just to make sure that the spell goes over smoothly in its beginning stages? It was performed by an amateur, and I'd feel terrible if we were to send you on your way and you have complications." The Queen offered.

Allura took a moment to consider. "Well, I believe it would make the, ah, transition easier. We've got one night to spare in our schedule… Shiro?" She looked to him for a second opinion.

Shiro nodded. "That's probably the best plan."

Keith remained silent, but he could feel the annoyance radiating from Lance.

They were led to their rooms that they'd be staying in for the night. Keith and Lance stared at their separate doors. "Um, do you want to put your stuff away first?" Keith offered.

Lance looked at him with an unreadable expression. "Sure, thanks."

Keith was tugged into the room. Honestly, the only things they had brought were a spare change of clothes and some pajamas. Only Lance had brought a couple of face creams and skin care products that he dumped in the bathroom.

In Keith's room, he set his small stack of clothes to the side of his bed and then they were led out to the grand hall for dinner. The King and Queen were there, but the princess was not.

"We're very very sorry that this happened." The King apologized. "We hope that we can at least somehow appease the mess our daughter has made."

Shiro shook his head. "It's no big problem, really. Those two were going to need a "get-along" shirt some time or another."

Lance squawked indignantly and Keith pouted while everyone else snickered. About halfway through dinner, Keith's hand un-cramped from Lance's and they dropped their death grips on each other, cradling their hands to their chests. It was a relief to not have to be stuck like that, but Keith did like holding Lance's hand. It was comforting. Now Lance was back to glaring at him, rubbing his now-freed hand like Keith had somehow hurt it.

"Ah, you see? The spell is working just fine. No complications." The King chuckled, but he had a nervous tinge to his voice. "Maybe you'll get along a bit better after this mess anyway, eh?"

Keith frowned deeply at that. Lance managed an awkward diplomatic smile. The others laughed and they finished dinner without issue. The rest of the team paid their respects to the Queen and King and went to their respective quarters for the night.

Early next morning, before the light of dawn, Keith woke to a deep unsettlement in his chest. It felt hollow and pin-prickly.

He forced himself out of the warmth of his bed, feeling like a bowling ball was rolling around in his ribcage. He decided to walk to the kitchen quarters, hoping that a glass of water would help the subtle burning.

As he stepped out of his room, one hand rubbing his chest, over his heart, he collided bodily with something.

Blinking in astonishment, he realized he'd run smack dab into Lance, who had been walking past his room. Keith stumbled back. "Woah, uh sorry." He cringed.

Keith knew he was the last person Lance wanted to see. The blue paladin looked at Keith with a bit of fear, but for what, Keith didn't know. "You ok?" He asked quietly.

Lance shook himself and nodded. "Uh, Yeah. You just startled me is all."

Keith nodded and awkwardly tried to get past Lance.

"Hey wait, where are you going?" Lance followed him. Keith glanced over at him.

"I was going to get a glass of water. If you want to come you can." He shrugged one shoulder, mostly making the offer to be polite because why would Lance want to spend extra time with Keith after today?

But, Lance followed him there without another word, which was rare for them. Their friendship was tedious at times, and both of them needed to work out their issues, but even just Lance's presence was comforting in the dark halls of the big castle.

Keith grabbed two glasses and handed one to Lance, pouring them both some water. "So what do you think this spell thing means?" Lance asked, staring down at the water in his glass.

Keith sighed and shrugged a bit. "I think it means that we're not really in a good place of communication." He took a sip of water, but it didn't help the burn in his chest. "That there's things we don't know about each other."

"Huh." Lance muttered. "That's… huh." Keith rolled his eyes and hid a smile behind his glass.

"Well, what's your favorite color?" Lance asked. Keith startled enough to almost choke on his drink. He looked at Lance in confusion, but the other boy just raised his eyebrows. "You said we don't know each other well. And you're right. So what's your favorite color?" He swept a hand out in question to show Keith he had the spotlight.

Keith shook his head. "That's not what I-"

"What's. Your favorite. Colorrr?" Lance cut him off with a sing-songy voice.

Keith shook his head and laughed a bit. "It's blue." He said, eyes darting to meet Lance's, knowing that the blue of his eyes were his favorite color. But Lance didn't know that. "What's yours?"

Lance paused. Their eyes locked and something in the atmosphere of the night sizzled. "It was blue. It used to be. But now I'm thinking I like violet." He looked away, breaking the spell between them, took a small sip from his glass. He perked up. "Ooh! Idea! Ok, we're gonna play 20 questions on the walk back to our rooms, ok?" Lance offered with a smile.

Keith hesitated. What kinds of questions would he be getting himself roped into? But then he saw Lance's hopeful face and knew he needed to take this chance if his relationship with Lance was going to improve. He nodded slowly. "Ok."

Lance beamed. "Aw yeah ok I'm going first-"

Maybe it was the fact that it was around 4 a.m. Maybe it was how cute Lance looked in the low light of the castle. Maybe it was that constant presence of need, clawing its way up Keith's throat, forcing him to open up to this one person, allow himself to trust this one so that he could have a chance at keeping Lance in his life. So in the early grey of dawn light, Keith found out Lance's favorite movies, childhood memories, other interesting things that had made Lance who he was. And Keith opened up a bit to Lance, telling him all the answers to the same questions and then some. They took the long way back to their rooms.

They giggled their way down the hall and bumped shoulders teasingly outside their bedroom doors. And for the first time in- maybe forever- Keith felt like he had a true friend. They shared small smiles and slipped silently into their respective rooms to catch up on whatever sleep they could before the sun rose. Keith fell asleep again with his chest feeling lighter than it had in ages.

The next morning though, Lance seems to have forgotten about their bonding, and was back to giving Keith the stink eye. Keith didn't know what to think of that, but the heaviness in his chest was back.

The walk back through the kingdom was a nightmare.

All around, dragon citizens pointed their clawed fingers at Keith and Lance, the tips of their horns turning pink with a blush. Keith didn't understand. Did they know?

"Shiro can we please hurry?" He urged, his voice set on edge.

His brother turned to him over his shoulder. "It's ok, Keith. Maybe Coran will be able to help you guys sort this whole thing out. In the meantime let's all just try to stay calm."

"They won't stop whispering!" Keith hissed quietly. It was true; all of the citizens they'd passed had quickly lowered their voices to murmur about Keith and Lance.

The weird feeling in his chest had shifted to an ache, and he rubbed his hand across the spot to ease it away. He dropped his hand, accidentally touching Lance's on the downswing.

They quickly hopped away from each other, clutching their respective hands to their chests and glaring at the other. Well, Lance glared. Keith looked at him warily, knowing it wasn't Lance's fault. The pain had dulled in his chest when they'd touched, but Keith just blamed that on his mind turning to putty from any physical contact with Lance.

Keith moved up to walk with Shiro and Lance moved back to walk with Pidge and Hunk. As they approached the castle, Keith felt his chest burn. It was getting worse, much faster. He rubbed his hand over the spot, his breathing becoming wheezy. What was going on? This had never happened before.

He recalled the Queens words: this must be the physical separation pain she told them about. Keith spared a glance over his shoulder and found Lance's face contorted in pain. Seeing him in pain only made the elephant sitting on his heart weigh more. It seemed the elephant had a flamethrower, because his lungs simmered and seared with each wheezy intake of air. Keith gathered up his pride and set it to the side. He didn't want Lance to be in pain because of him. Because of his pride. He dropped back a bit and held his hand out to Lance.

Lance stared at it, looked at Keith warily. But when he saw that Keith really was just trying to help, he silently slipped his hand into Keith's. The elephant disappeared, the flames in his chest doused, and the pain on Lance's face disappeared. Lance gave a small nod, a smile lifting the corners of his lips. Keith returned it.

The rest of the team ignored them, not noticing the interaction or already knowing about the situation, not giving them any more grief.

They arrived at the shuttle to the castle in silence, holding hands.

I'm so excited, let's see if I have enough self-control to keep a consistent update pattern for this! I already have the work completely done, It's just a matter of keeping myself from posting it all at once lol. Follow and review! I love you all!