Yay new update. Honestly, this is so much fun to write, check out the end for more notes! On to the story!
Pidge, Shiro, and Hunk disappeared, leaving the two boys in each others laps on the floor. Keith sighed heavily against Lance's shoulder, moving to bury his nose in his neck. "Do we have to move?" Keith had crossed his legs underneath Lance, leaving a little space for him to sit, and Lance's legs were still wrapped around Keith's waist. Keith had his arms around Lance's waist and Lance held him around his shoulders. They were ridiculously comfortable.
He felt Lance shake his head against the crook of his neck. "Nuh-uh, I'm not moving."
Keith laughed a bit. This was… so weird. Weeks ago, Keith thought Lance hated him. Now, they'd hugged, held hands, slept together (slept next to the other, get out of the gutters you heathens), cuddled, had several nice meals together - which hadn't included an eating competition, for once - and were now officially attached at every point of contact currently possible. So, yeah. Weird that they'd grown so close so fast. What had changed between them? Was the forced proximity really enough to make them get along for more than five minutes?
...No, Keith decided. They'd always had such high potential of being an amazing team, now they'd been forced to act together, in sync, like a well-oiled machine. Keith just hoped it would last... He didn't want to lose what they had now. He didn't want to lose Lance. He just hoped that Lance wouldn't hate him when he eventually had to come clean to him to break the spell.
But... weren't they going to talk about that... NOW? Keith's smile dropped as the reality of the situation hit him. He had to tell Lance that he liked him. He had to tell Lance NOW. Keith felt his pulse pick up, fear and anxiety coursing through his veins. Lance seemed to pick up on his mood shift, lightly rubbing his hands up and along Keith's spine, making his nerves stand on end... but also soothing them? Keith didn't bother trying to think that through to something comprehensible. Instead, he sucked in a steadying breath.
"We should try to talk about this anyway."
Keith startled away from Lance's shoulder, meeting his wide eyes. They'd just said the same thing at the same time. Again.
"Can you read my mind?" They both said, their anxiety clear on their faces. They jumped and both brought a hand up to their mouths at the same time. Lance giggled behind his hand and Keith submitted to his own laughter.
Keith furrowed his brows. If Lance started hearing his thoughts, he may not be able to keep his love for Lance to himself much longer.
He paused. Love? Keith /loved/ Lance? He'd never been in love before... but this seemed real. All he knew was that his heart sped up when Lance was in the room, that it threatened to stop every time they put themselves in danger, and it had nearly burst just now, seeing Lance on the floor, motionless.
Shaking his head, he decided to tuck that contemplation away for a later time.
Lance's laughter calmed and Keith rolled his eyes to hide his smile. "I know a place we can talk…"
Lance looked at him. "Does that mean I have to get up?" He pouted.
Keith raised a flirty eyebrow. "Are you dying?"
"Yes." Lance's pout deepened. Keith chuckled and helped them both to their feet.
"Technically, we both just were…" Lance saw a bit of Keith's blood had rubbed onto their armor and cringed. "Can we change first?"
Keith looked down and frowned. "Yeah, let's get out of this."
After departing at their respective rooms, Keith quickly found himself sprinting next door into Lance's room without a shirt on, effectively tackling Lance. Again.
"Woah! At least take me to dinner first, Keithy." Lance laughed, but his hands were all over the planes of Keith's back. Keith let out a small mumble, half-embarrassed, half-scolding Lance.
Lance stifled a laugh as Keith pulled back a bit. "You own joggers?" He asked, inspecting Keith's grey sweats and the black t-shirt he'd barely grabbed before he'd run from his room.
Keith blushed, pulled away to put his shirt on. "I got tired of sleeping in jeans."
Lance shrugged. "I don't blame you." He pointed down at his own sweats and t-shirt. "These are like comfiness-to-the-max."
Keith rolled his eyes. "Dweeb."
"Rude!" Lance smacked Keith's shoulder lightly.
Keith ducked away, chuckling. He let his laughter die down before meeting Lance's eyes. He let his guard down, let himself be open. It was Lance. There was very little that would faze him. Keith knew that they'd be fine after all this. If anything, he still had Lance as a best friend.
"Follow me, Sharpshooter." He held up his hand for Lance to take. Lance hesitated, and Keith was sure he wasn't imagining the lovely blush on Lance's cheeks. He slipped his hand into Keith's, drawing close to him so Lance could hug him. Keith was shocked, to say the least, but quickly returned the embrace. They sat in the quiet of Lance's room for a moment. Keith felt Lance's breath on his skin, felt his fingertips dig into his back, felt the strength of his hold, and knew that Lance was just as scared of losing their friendship as he was. "Hey..." Keith nudged closer against Lance's skin. "No matter what, you're our Sharpshooter. My blue paladin. My best friend. Nothing will change that."
Lance let out a small sigh of relief and nodded against Keith's shoulder. He pulled away softly, chuckled slightly before meeting Keith's eyes. "And you say you're not good with words..." Keith didn't know what to say, so he took Lance's hand and ed them deep into the halls of the castle. He paused outside a door and it swished open quietly.
Lance gasped at the view before him. The whole wall was made of glass, several feet thick and no doubt impenetrable. But the galaxies beyond the glass took his breath away. "Wow…" he breathed. "How'd you know about this place?" Lance turned wide eyes to Keith.
He shrugged. "I explored the whole castle in our first week out here. I like having a good feel of my surroundings, and I knew I'd get lost if I didn't memorize the place." In fact Keith had gotten lost. Several times. It was embarrassing enough to stumble into Coran all those times and have to ask for directions back to his room. Coran had given him a map of the castle so he wouldn't get lost in the belly of the monstrous ship quite so often.
Lance laughed in awe and stepped further into the room, tugging Keith along.
"There's actually four other rooms in the castle like this one, out of around two thousand."
Keith found those wide blue eyes back on his. "Two thousand?" Lance gaped.
Keith nodded. "This place is massive. It's like a double cruise ship in space."
Lance smiled at that. Lance suddenly looked nervous. "Ok…" He said, mostly to himself. He shook his head, still uneasy. "Ok. So we're supposed to talk."
Keith just nodded and tugged on their joined hands so that they could sit on a step that spanned the room in a semicircle facing the window. Despite mentioning having a talk, both just stared up at the stars together in quiet. It was a long while before Lance said anything. "So… we're friends right?" He asked, avoiding Keith's eyes.
Keith swallowed. "Yeah." He was glad to be just friends with Lance. "We're friends. Best friends. Teammates. We work really well together, if these last few weeks are anything to go by. i'd do anything for you." He shrugged, trying to be nonchalant, but failing miserably.
Lance's eyes met his. There was so much depth there that Keith felt he couldn't possibly be imagining the affection from Lance. "I'd do anything for you, too." There was a pause, and then Lance slipped his hand from Keith's.
Thirty seconds later they were both in pain and wheezing. They quickly latched on to each other's hands again.
"So that's not all we have to say…" Lance murmured and Keith felt dread hollow out his chest. He wanted to stall the inevitable. Push it back so that he didn't ruin the friendship he had just earned with Lance.
"What does it feel like for you?" He asked quietly, rubbing the pain in his chest away with his free hand.
Lance considered for a moment. "Like… like this ice is forming in my chest." He rubbed a hand over his heart. "And it grows and spreads to the rest of my body. It's like getting hypothermia, but you can feel the crackling pain. It feels like my cells are splitting apart. And it feels like something's trying to break through out of my arms and legs, like it's trying to snap through my bones and tear through my skin." He stared at his hand, the one that held Keith's. "Yours?"
Keith sighed. "Like there's a whole circus full of elephants sitting on my chest. A fire burns through my lungs and it feels like there's shards of glass stabbing them every time I breathe. It spreads and burns like lava until I can't breathe, can't see, can't taste, or hear. It sucks." Keith frowned.
"Seems like we're both pretty miserable without each other." Lance murmured, maybe as a joke. But Keith could hear an underlying truth there. Their silence relapsed as they moved closer to each other subtly and looked back out to the stars. It took a long time for either of them to have the courage to speak, but it was Lance who broke the silence.
"Back at the Garrison, the first time I saw you, I was impressed. You were sharp, witty, talked back to Iverson like no other, and were an incredible pilot. I-" Lance swallowed. "I wanted to be your /friend/. But I never got the chance to talk to you. You were always busy, too busy to take a moment to bother talking to someone like me, so I guess that's when I started to see you as a rival." Lance looked down at his lap. "I thought that if I could catch up to you, maybe even match your scores, you'd see me as someone valuable enough to talk to. But I could never keep up." Lance sighed. "You just kept setting your own bar higher and higher every time you beat your own best score, and that made my goal unreachable. Which wasn't your fault, but I chose to be angry at you instead of trying to understand you."
Keith stared in shock. He'd never known that about Lance... he rubbed the cuban's hand with his thumb in small, comforting circles, like Lance had done for him before. Lance took a steadying breath and continued. "And then Shiro disappeared, and then you did too. Everyone else stopped talking about it after a while, but I always thought back to you. The amazing fighter pilot that punched James Griffin and took one of Iverson's stupid little beady eyes on his way out. The kid I wanted to know and be friends with." There was a beat of silence as Lance collected his thoughts.
"When I saw you out in the desert that night, I immediately recognized you. I'd know that stupid mullet anywhere-" he choked on a laugh. Keith smiled and rolled his eyes, but squeezed his hand reassuringly. "And I thought that was my chance. To help you. To be seen by you. So we rushed in to help, and found Shiro there. You looked so cool with your stupid bandana and surrounded by a bunch of knocked out scientists. Like, badass. And I wasn't surprised when you didn't remember me. I didn't think you would-"
"I lied." Keith cut in.
Lance stared at him, startled. "What?"
"I lied. I did remember you." He kept his eyes down, not daring to look Lance in the eye. "I just… was nervous. I was always too nervous and awkward to talk to you at the Garrison, so I avoided you. I wanted to know you, too. I wanted to be… friends." He stumbled over "friends" because that wasn't the whole truth. He'd thought Lance was cute and attractive even when he was a little peanut at the Garrison. He just was so awkward and scared that he ran away. "And when I saw you walk in, it was like my brain just stalled, and I was too awkward to admit that I knew you." Keith smiled bitterly, finally braving Lance's soft gaze. "I was a jerk. Sorry."
Lance smiled back a bit. Keith went on, focusing on a spot on the floor, trying to keep his courage now that he'd started talking. "But then we were flying off into space, and I was seriously kind of jealous at how you were flying the Blue lion when I'd been feeling the pull from her for so long. I was jealous of you, and I said you were the worst pilot ever. But you weren't. I just didn't have a seat belt, and earth's gravity was much different in the lions than it was in space." Lance laughed at that. "And then we got thrown into a war and you adapted so quickly and you flirted with Allura and that all pissed me off and so I didn't have much trouble reacting to the jabs you took at me." Lance was quiet. "And then we all grew together, and you and I got closer, and I thought we were friends, but sometimes you still act like you hate me and I don't know how you feel about me anymore." Keith frowned at the ground. "You're an amazing pilot, and I want us to be f-friends" he stumbled over that word again. "But sometimes you make that really hard." His voice cracked a bit and he cursed himself.
Lance's hand squeezed in his. "I'm sorry that I've been a jerk. I just… keep thinking that I'm over my jealousy, that we're on equal grounds. But we're not, and it makes me feel small again. But I shouldn't take it out on you. It's not your fault I'm a hindrance to the team. And I know that-"
"Wait what?" Keith held up his free hand. "Lance, you're not a hindrance to the team! You're our sharpshooter, our Blue paladin. You bring so much to our team."
Lance looked down bitterly. "I'm a one hit wonder. Sure, I can hit a target sometimes but I- I'm not good at being a paladin. I'm too goofy. Immature. Stupid." His voice grew weak.
"/Lance/." Keith stressed, bringing Lance's eyes up to meet his with a gentle finger hooked under his chin. "You are so important to our team. If you weren't here, Voltron wouldn't have formed in the first place, wouldn't have stuck together this long. You're the glue that keeps us together, the jokester that knows how to handle situations and bring us back to reality in the best way. You handle all the diplomatic bull better than everyone... except maybe Allura, who's a literal princess and made for that stuff. You're important to us. You're important to me." He squeezed his hand.
Lance blinked at him. "Is that why you got pissed that I flirted with Allura?" He asked blatantly.
Keith startled back. "W-what?" He felt a blush creeping up his neck. Oh no, oh crap why had he said that? He was so screwed.
Keith…" Lance held his eyes, deathly serious. "You're my friend. My teammate. My red paladin. Someone I look up to. Someone that pushes me to be better." Keith felt himself being pulled into those blue, blue eyes, a sea of emotions swirling beneath that he couldn't even begin to navigate. "You're handsome, infuriating, and you bring out my better parts. I want to stay by your side forever." Keith swallowed thickly.
"Yeah?" He leaned closer.
"Yeah, Samurai." Lance whispered back, tilting his head closer to Keith's.
"Lance.." Keith breathed, heart pounding, but it wasn't because of the elephants. His eyes flicked down to those rosy lips, drawing ever closer. He could feel the brush of Lance's breath on his mouth. "I think I…" he locked eyes with Lance and at that moment they both knew.
"I think I love you." Lance whispered.
Keith's eyes fell closed as he surged forward to capture Lance's mouth, like he'd been aching to do for so long.
It was like an electric shock, throwing all thought out the window except those of Lance. The hot mouth on his, the brush of Lance's shaky exhale on his cheek, the hands coming up to his waist, his neck.
Keith's brain slipped into pure bliss as he finally tasted those soft lips. Keith pressed into him, bringing his hand up to cup his face as their mouths moved together. Lance pushed back and then he was in Keith's lap, their tongues dancing as Lance's fingertips brushed down Keith's chest.
If this was a dream, Keith didn't ever want to wake up. Lance's fingers threaded through his hair and their bodies pushed closer, closer so that they were pressed flush against the other. Keith pulled back to kiss a line down Lance's jaw toward his ear, where he tasted the lush skin of Lance's neck. This pulled a long groan from the boy in his lap as he tilted his head back to give Keith better access.
They melted together under their ministrations, caught up in hands and mouths and heat. Keith pulled away from the hollow of Lance's collar bone to purr against his skin. "Is there anything else you want to say, Sharpshooter?" His tongue flicked out to run over a newly formed hickey.
Lance's breathing stuttered and the hands in Keith's hair pulled their faces back together. "I love you." Lance murmured, their lips brushing. "And I'll love you tomorrow," he dipped closer, their lips catching together, spreading fire. "And the day after that," a deep kiss. "And forever after that." Lance slotted their lips together again and again, refusing to let Keith slip from his grip.
The noises Lance made rumbled through Keith's chest and filled him up to the brim. Keith let a possessive growl slip through and Lance pulled away a bit, puffing and panting. "That's so hot." He whispered. Keith laughed and kissed him hard - because he had to after that. They pulled back a bit, kisses becoming sweet and less urgent, letting their hands explore delicately. Fingers danced over shoulders, traced up their backs. Just little memorizations of the other that made them both shiver with anticipation for the future.
"Should we see if that satisfied the spell?" Keith whispered, his voice low and husky.
Lance hummed and something flashed in his eyes. Worry? "Only if you promise me another kiss after we see…" he leaned in to Keith again for a couple little kisses.
Keith grinned. "I promise. Many more kisses."
Lance made a small disappointed noise as he backed off of Keith's lap. They waited a minute. Then five. Then a bit longer.
There was no pain.
Keith met Lance's gaze and smiled, holding his arms out to him, and Lance quickly filled the space again.
A couple more blissful kisses later, and Lance pulled back a bit, setting their foreheads together. "So, mullet, what's my title?"
Keith gave him a confused look. "Title?"
Lance blew an exasperated breath. "Like what am I? Space bae? Alien bootycall? Future Ms. Universe? Boyfriend? A little friend from the other sid-"
Keith took Lance's hand in his and pressed a kiss to his palm, effectively cutting him off. "Boyfriend sounds nice." He murmured into Lance's skin. Lance gaped with wide eyes, mouth open, but no sound came out.
"Y-yeah?" Lance breathed, staring at where Keith's lips made contact with his skin. Now, Keith could tell that he was blushing and grinned.
"Yeah, Sharpshooter." He pressed another kiss into Lance's hand and set it gently in his lap before moving in to capture his lips again. Keith pulled away and quirked an eyebrow at Lance's silence. "What? Got nothing to say for once?"
Lance frowned. "Shut up." But he leaned in to Keith again. "You hurt my feelings." Lance said in between kisses. "Now you gotta kiss 'em better."
Keith laughed and returned the kiss. "I will, love, I promise." And if Lance didn't just melt at that pet name. He whined and buried his face in Keith's shoulder in embarrassment.
"Too cute. Too cute. I can't handle that Keith, you gotta play fair!" Keith just laughed and held him closer.
Keith fulfilled his promise, and then some before they sat back and watched the galaxies float by outside the window, snuggled up to each other. Keith could hardly believe it was real. That had just happened. He had kissed Lance. Lance loved him. Lance was in his lap and nuzzling his neck like an attention deprived puppy.
After a long while of basking in the glow of their new relationship, Keith felt the cold of the room seeping into his butt. "Want to have another sleepover?" He smiled. "My ass is numb."
"Pfft." Lance giggled against the crook of his neck. "Your room or mine?" Lance moved his head up to murmur near his lips.
Keith grinned. "Yours. It's warmer than mine. More homey."
Lance laughed and hauled him up as he stood, placing a sweet kiss to Keith's lips before dragging him back to his room.
"When should we tell the others that the spell is gone?" Lance asked as they navigated the halls of the castle.
Keith shrugged. "They'll find out soon enough." A grin stole over his face.
Lance gave him a scrutinizing look. "What are you planning you sneaky little samurai?"
Keith leaned into him, effectively stopping their journey for a kiss, one that left Lance breathless and scrambled when Keith pulled away. "Don't worry about it." Lance just nodded like a bobble head, a goofy smile on his lips. Keith grinned and pecked Lance's lips before tugging them towards Lance's room.
They tumbled onto the small bed in a tangle of limbs and kisses and giggles. Neither wanted to sleep, for fear of what the morning would bring, so they just wrapped each other up in an almost desperate embrace. "I'll still love you in the morning." Keith promised into the quiet of the night, unable to keep his eyes open any longer.
"...I'll still love you in the morning." Was Lance's promise in return. And then sleep pulled them both under.
•••
Keith woke to feather-light kisses on his forehead and cheeks. He smiled and managed to tilt his head up so Lance could access his lips.
He sighed into the kiss, feeling the cloud-like softness of Lance's mouth. What a way to wake up. He whined pathetically when Lance pulled away, felt the airy brush of Lance's chuckles against his face, and pouted.
"Aw, don't be grumpy." Lance giggled. He slanted his lips over Keith's without warning, making him groan and press into him. Lance pulled away teasingly, and Keith's eyes opened to show his disapproval.
"You're being mean." Keith grumbled. Lance laughed.
"Good morning Mr. Fussypants."
"It'd be a better morning if you would just kiss me." He smiled despite himself. Lance giggled, but obliged, pressing a searing kiss to Keith's lips. Keith felt his mind burn, his blood rushing and heart pounding.
In an instant, Keith hovered over Lance, who stared up at him with wonder and anticipation. His lips were red and a bit kiss-swollen and looked so appetizing. His t-shirt had shifted to the side to show where Keith had marked his perfect, golden skin with hickeys the night before. His curly hair rough and tousled from sleep, and his blue eyes were deep, dark oceans with blown out pupils and half mast lids.
Keith took in his every feature. "Beautiful…" he murmured before he realized he'd said it out loud. Lance stared at him. He stared back, watching his face turn red.
Lance whined and hid behind his hands below him. Keith shook off his embarrassment because he knew he'd spoken the truth, and pulled Lance's hands from his face gently. "You are…" he smiled sheepishly down at his blushing boyfriend.
Lance pouted up at him. "It's too early for you to be sweet and suave." Keith snorted and leaned into him again. Lance sighed and relaxed into the white sheets, hands coming up to weave through his hair. Keith relished in the light scratch against his scalp, the subtle pull of his hair in Lance's hands. He pulled away to rest their foreheads together, panting slightly. "You know, for someone who hates my hair, you sure do seem to like it." He grinned impishly.
Lance scowled. "Shut up mullet. Your hair is perfect. And soft. What shampoo do you even use?" He growled, but softly fingered a lock of Keith's hair.
Keith laughed and brushed his fingers along Lance's cheek, moving down to cup his jaw. "I'll show you… eventually." Keith gave him a look that meant he'd show Lance in the shower.
Lance let out a shaky breath. "You're gonna kill me. I'm gonna be dead and it's gonna be your fault." He grouched. Keith barked out a laugh, letting his head dip down to rest on Lance's shoulder, effectively squishing Lance with the rest of his body.
"You're comfy." He nuzzled into Lance's neck.
"You're heavy." Lance complained, but contradicted himself by wrapping his arms around Keith's waist to hold him tighter. Keith chuckled. He pressed a kiss to Lance's neck, then another, and another, until he was trailing kisses up to his jaw. Lance's breathing stuttered with each one, making Keith laugh against his skin.
"You're very cute, Mr. McClain." Keith ghosted his lips across Lance's jawline.
Lance puffed out a nervous breath. "Yeah, yeah, you're pretty fucking sexy, Mr. Kogane." Keith felt his chest swell.
"Oh really?" He teased against Lance's mouth.
Lance grinned. "Oh yeah, baby." He winked cheesily and Keith huffed exasperatedly.
"Hey, guess what?" Keith whispered conspiratorially.
Lance's eyes widened a fraction in curiosity. "What?"
Keith grinned at him, pecking his lips softly, nuzzling his nose. "It's morning." He kissed Lance again. "And I still love you…"
When he met Lance's eyes again, they were brimming with happiness and hope for their future. "Good morning, Samurai." He smiled, and in that moment, everything was perfect. Keith had complete faith in their future and would never ever let go of this boy.
"Good morning. I still love you."
I'm cry,, this was so fun to write and you all have been so sweet in comments, favs, and follows. Thanks so much for reading, let me know what you thought of it, and if u want to see more works! (check out mimi_l_imim on instagram so we can chat about voltron, writing, drawing, other fun shows, I'm always down!) lmk if a spin-off would be fun, or just other voltron works! much love! (also on AO3)