Sure, Keith thought about boys before. What normal, growing boy didn't have his share of fantasies? That wasn't the issue here, not at all, the issue was that his soulmate was loud, over confident and seemed to flirt with any girl he encountered. Keith always pictured meeting someone quiet, maybe someone who loved to read and would keep him company when he was home alone. And he always imagined breaking free from this red string and following his own desires.

Yet here he was, walking to his classroom with Lance at his side, who seemed to be rambling on about how he really preferred cheese with his scrambled eggs.

It was only the second day of school but Keith already found himself completely distracted and exhausted. He found himself zoned out, staring at the back of that green jacket he'd already become familiar with. He observed how a tuft of Lance's hair always stuck up in the back, similar to his own. As if Lance could feel someone staring at him he suddenly turned around, startling Keith and causing him to jump a little.

"Oh, admiring my good looks back there?" Lance whispered making a suggestive face.

"Hardly." Keith deadpanned.

"Keith. Lance. Eyes up front." Their teachers voice boomed from the front of the class causing both of them to jump and apologize. Much to Keith's relief the rest of the day went by quickly, he was feeling less distracted as class finished up. He nearly forgot he had agreed to visit Lance's home the night before, of course Lance wouldn't let him forget as he was already giggling to himself triumphantly while standing beside Keith.

"By the way." Lance stepped in front of him. "I know we're all in the same class but I've never really seen you guys talk to each other, these are my friends. Only the most amazing friend ever, Hunk." He placed a hand on Hunk's shoulder. "And the brains of our study group, Pidge." He placed his other hand on the small girl's head.

Hunk waved and smiled while Pidge raised an eyebrow at Lance, pinching the skin on his hand and moving it away from her head. "Nice to meet you!" She greeted. "Always great to make new friends!" Hunk chimed in.

"Guys, this is Keith, he's new to this school and stuff so we're gonna help him study today."

Before Lance could reach out for him, Keith sidestepped his advance, waving at the two. "Nice to meet you all."

"Don't let Lance's abundance of affection intimidate you, you get used to it eventually." Pidge smiled, watching Keith avoid Lance's hand.

"Hey, nothing wrong with some affection. Anywhooo let's get going." Lance led the group to his house. "Oh by the way, I forgot to mention my parents and siblings are out for the afternoon so I have the place to myself for once."

"Finally some quiet, well, mostly." Pidge sighed.

"Is Lance's family normally as noisy as him?" Keith asked.

"Noisy?! I'm not that…"

Hunk cut Lance off, "Oh yea, they're like ten times louder. Guess that's a Cuban family for you." He laughed.

Cuban? That explained it, Keith thought, he wondered where he got his complexion from. It didn't explain his stunning blue eyes though. Wait, did Keith just think "stunning" was a good word? He shook his head, nope. Not gonna let his mind go there.

The group arrived at Lance's house without incident, Keith took the chance to take in his surroundings as they walked in. It was larger than he expected, the living room was tidy and organized. It felt very lived in, and it felt warm, the same kind of warmth that Lance emanated.

He was a little surprised when they entered Lance's room, for some reason he pictured it being messy, probably because Lance himself was a mess. Much to his relief it was clean. A small coffee table sat in the middle of the room where Hunk and Pidge tossed their backpacks down and sat.

"This wouldn't be a party without snacks!" Lance announced as he stretched in the doorway.

"I wouldn't call a study group a party." Pidge chimed in.

"Pft." Lance shrugged and walked out, disregarding the remark.

"Soooo Keith." Hunk addressed him, patting the spot on the floor beside him to signal Keith to sit down. "Tell us about you."

Keith scratched the back of his head as he sat down on the floor. "I don't talk about myself too often, is there anything you would like to know?"

"Hmm well, I don't know, do you have siblings? Oh you're new to the school right, did you move here from somewhere else?"

"No siblings. Didn't move, just transferred schools since this one is closer."

"No siblings huh? So how did you meet Lance anyway?"

"Well, he knocked me down in the hallway. Nearly broke my phone too."

Hunk laughed. "Sounds accurate. Seems like some unlucky fate there."

Keith felt his eyebrow twitch. He didn't get to say anything in response before Lance came barging back into the room with his arms full of bags of chips and soda.

"Alright, Alright. Let's not exaggerate here." Lance spoke over everyone, dropping the pile of snacks and drinks on the small table and taking a seat next to Keith. "FIRST: I did not nearly break your phone, rude."

"You totally did!" Keith interjected.

"SECOND! I met him years back... well, I saw him in one of my old classes. So maybe it was fate that we ran into each other again."

Keith was trying to process what he just heard, they'd seen each other before? Where? And how? He wished he could remember but nothing was coming to him. Everyone in the room must have realized he was thinking about it because it became very quiet all at once. "Well." Keith broke the silence. "I really don't like the word fate."

Lance raised an eyebrow at him. "I happen to really love the word fate."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Ya know, just meeting someone can completely change everything. A single encounter can change your life. I don't think that's a coincidence... I think it's fate. But not everything is happy, there's a lot of sad and painful things too. But I think those things also happen for a reason. Like nothing in this universe is completely pointless." Lance leaned back against his bed as he spoke, averting his gaze away from Keith.

Keith for once was left speechless, just like that Lance flipped his entire world on top of itself. Though their viewpoints were entirely opposite something about what he said resonated in him.

"Wow Lance." Pidge spoke up, raising an eyebrow at him. "I didn't know you had it in you to analyze things like that."

"Ah shuddap." He responded, snatching a bag of chips off the table.

The rest of the day was uneventful as they finally decided to pull out their books and get some studying done. Though Pidge seemed like a brilliant mentor, Keith found his exhaustion creeping up on him once more. He tried his best to pay attention but boredom got the better of him as he finally leaned forward and rested his forehead on the small table. Before he knew it he fell into a deep sleep.

"I think it's time we get outta here." Hunk whispered as he noticed Keith passed out beside him. Pidge nodded in agreement. "Do you want me to uhh... like wake him up or help him get home?" Hunk whispered to Lance.

"Nah, i'll wake him up later and get him home. Thanks for coming over guys!"

Keith wasn't sure how long he was out, it felt like hours, days even. He opened his eyes and gasped, sitting up. He was still on the floor but he had a blanket wrapped around him. He immediately noticed it smelled like Lance. It hit him all at once that he wasn't in his own room. He glanced around, there was a plate of food in front of him, neatly wrapped up in plastic wrap. Lance was curled up on the floor near him sleeping.

As he rubbed his face he felt a stirring beside him as Lance groaned and sat up. "Mornin' sunshine." Lance said through a yawn.

"Is it... morning?"
"Nah, it's night time though. You slept through dinner and everything so I made you a plate."

"Thanks." It was actually very thoughtful, probably the nicest thing anyone had done for him when he thought about it. He carefully unwrapped the plate, grabbing the fork next to it and taking a bite. "Wow, this tastes amazing!"

"Right? My mom's a really good cook. I told her you passed out studying so hard. She said you could spend the night here since it was getting late, if you want that is, you totally don't have to."

He probably would have said no if he wasn't already so tired, and he was actually thankful for the good food. "Sure, I can stay."

At that Lance's eyes lit up. "Really? I mean, should you call your parents or something?"

"No... it's fine." He couldn't admit he had no parents to go home to, he wasn't ready to talk about that yet.

"Oh..." Lance didn't press him, instead he grabbed some clothes from his dresser and set them next to Keith. "Here, pajamas to sleep in, and a shirt. I can wash your clothes for school tomorrow if you go change after you eat."

"Thanks." This felt a little odd, being taken care of by Lance. He imagined Lance being a little more... irresponsible? He felt completely refreshed after eating and changing clothes. He couldn't help but notice the blue shirt he was wearing smelled like Lance, he hated to admit it was a nice scent. As he walked back into the bedroom he realized there was one tiny detail he didn't think of, there was only one bed, and a small single sized one at that.

"Don't worry." Lance patted him on the shoulder, causing him to jump. "You can sleep on my bed." He told him as if reading his mind.

"Really? Well, thanks." He almost felt bad accepting, but the floor wasn't exactly comfortable either. He curled up under the sheets facing the wall and let out a long sigh. Even though the bed was small, it was probably the most comfortable he'd felt in a long time. He heard Lance switch the lights off behind him.

As Keith closed his eyes he suddenly felt the bed shift behind him. His eyes immediately shot back open as Lance laid down behind him. He immediately felt the heat at his back from his body being so close.

"Lance, what the hell?" Keith whispered loudly.

'Hmmmmmmm?"

Oh great, not he's playing dumb. "This isn't exactly what I had pictured when you said I could sleep in your bed."

"Oh?" Keith could practically hear Lance's smile through his low whisper. "It's exactly what I had pictured though."

Keith felt his face flush, he was really glad at that moment it was pitch black in the room. He felt Lance's warm breath against the back of his neck they were so close. As if testing his reactions Lance managed to lower his voice even more, leaning in so his lips were nearly touching Keith's ear. "Can I... Can I hold you?"

"Hell no." Keith swung his leg back to give Lance a swift kick.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Lance rolled onto his back. "Mean." He sounded completely rejected.

It was the only thing Keith could think of at the moment to break the tension though, he wasn't entirely sure where they were going, well, he kind of was. But he knew deep down this was just that cursed red string that haunted him, he didn't want it to influence his feelings... or Lance's. If only he could cut this thing off, he thought.

Lance lay in bed, staring at the pitch black ceiling above. 'Man, I really just wanted to cuddle him.' He thought. He sighed to himself. For once he wasn't able to fall asleep. He was mesmerized by the sound of Keith breathing beside him. As he heard his breathing deepen he knew he was fast asleep. He nearly yelped when Keith suddenly shifted and rolled over onto his other side, facing Lance.

"Keith?" Lance whispered, not sure if he was awake or not. He was definitely asleep. It already took everything in him to lay on his small side of the bed but now he really felt his inhibitions leaving him. He gulped as Keith's body pressed against his arm. "Screw it. Totally worth getting kicked again." He whispered to himself as he rolled on his side, wrapping his arm around Keith's waist and pulling him firmly against his body.

He relished in the fact that their bodies fit perfectly together. Keith felt even smaller when he was holding him, he felt delicate. He wanted to remember this moment forever, the feelings he had, the way his heart beat faster, he wanted to memorize the feeling of Keith's body. This moment was perfect, and he knew he may never get to enjoy it again. He sighed against Keith's soft hair as he finally fell into a deep sleep.

Phew, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,

Don't forget to leave a review~ and I really appreciate the chapter 1 reviews so far, i'm excited with where this story will go and will try to update frequently.

As always, see you next chapter.