Most people were unhappy with how VLD ended especially with what happened to Allura. But guys, she is a magical space princess. Just bring her back. I will, at some point, write a fic on how she came back (still trying to gather the confidence for it lol) but for now, this is the sequel to Start of Something New and prequel to Forever in Your Arms and Better Half of Me. I want to gift this to my friend Ali, mainly because I would have never had the courage to post this had it not been for her Alternating Floret Series, which if you have not checked out yet, go read it! Ali, this is for you. Thank you to my anonymous friend for helping me with Lance's characterisation and thank you to Crystalleris for betareading for me. Also, a shout-out to 'Aya Diefair' who helped me come up with a title and stop obsessing.

1. The Meaning of Being In Love

Feelings had never been something easy to understand – they always kept changing and could be very intense, whether they were positive or negative feelings. Keith had not heard a lot of whatever Allura had come to talk to him about. Although, she seemed a bit jumbled too, so maybe he hadn't missed anything too important? Maybe he should take Black to New Altea and apologise…

But what should he apologise about? How was he even going to explain why he seemed unable to pay attention to her? He didn't really have an explanation for that one anyway. Her casual wear had looked beautiful on her, though. You've seen her in her casual wear before, Keith. There was something different – maybe she had been wearing a different colour – no, he had seen her in that colour before, too.

He was pacing back and forth in the local park when a car crawled to a stop beside the curb. He recognised the car. It was Lance's. Sure enough, a mass of familiar brunette tresses peeked out of the unwound window.

"Hey, Mullet, why the gloomy look on your face? Did one of your fangirls ask you out again?" Lance asked him, grinning and Keith scowled at the question.

"No, I think they finally got the message," Keith replied instinctively without having to really put much thought into it. Seriously, there must be something seriously wrong with the female population at times. Were Allura and Pidge the only normal girls that he knew? Sure, Allura wasn't really human, and Pidge wasn't like other girls, but they were normal. Even Veronica had become…odd in terms of company ever since she had begun dating Acxa.

Girls were weird. Or, at least, human girls. Pidge seemed like the only somewhat normal one. Someone he could have a conversation with and not feel bothered by anything else. And Allura – well, she was different. They may not have gotten off to the best start, but he felt she understood, and, in a way, he did too. They were similar, but not in the same way he felt he had similarities with Pidge.

"So, did you want to talk about what's up?" Lance asked, his voice gentle and unprying. Keith blinked, noticing that Lance had parked his car and came over to talk to him. But how could he talk to Lance about this? Allura was his ex-girlfriend after all, and wouldn't that be strange? Was it okay to tell a friend that you might have some kind of feelings towards their ex-girlfriend? That even sounded bizarre in his head, so he didn't want to think about how it would sound out loud. But he had to say something – because if there was one thing he had learned about Lance, it was that he picked up on things most people tended to miss.

"Lance, why did you and Allura break up?" The words came out of Keith's mouth before he could filter them, and he wanted to kick himself. What kind of friend asked something like that? What if he'd brought up something Lance didn't want to remember? Alas, it wasn't a bad breakup. In fact, Lance and Allura seemed even closer after. For those who didn't know them, it might still appear like they were dating. Weren't breakups normally awkward?

Lance stared at him for a second, navy eyes wide. "That's what's bothering you? Why we broke up? It was a while back, man."

Keith felt his cheeks heat up. "Well…" He trailed off, realising it probably did seem like a question that had come out of nowhere. He tried to open his mouth to give an excuse but promptly shut it because he did not have one. Luckily, Lance didn't tease him for that and instead his friend's forehead creased as if he were thinking about it deeply.

"We just decided we were better off as friends," Lance replied after a moment of thought. "I'm glad I dated Allura, and I don't regret it, either. But I think we got together when it was something we both needed, y'know, because of the war. I thought what I felt for her was love – not that I don't loveAllura. It's just not that kind of love. She's family to me, and she feels the same way! In the end, it was something we both wanted – going back to being just friends. We're both happy with the choice."

"So, you don't want things to go back to the way they were?" Keith asked. Before he even attempted figuring out what his feelings were, he wanted to make sure his friend was okay with it somehow.

"No! No, not at all," Lance denied, shaking his head. "That'd be way too weird now. We started dating during the war, so it took us dating and going out when things became, like…normal again for us to realise that, well, I was kind of like I am with Hunk or Shiro or even you with her. But love is more than that. Allura felt the same way. I was a comfort for her because I reminded her of the people, she was the closest to – Coran; even her dad in some ways – back then, it's what she needed. And it was what I needed, too. Like I said, I love Allura, Keith." He shrugged, fingers embedding themselves in his fringe. "But I'm not in love with her."

Not 'in love' with her…that was what made the difference, and it also cleared a few things up in Keith's mind. I love Shiro, Hunk, Pidge…and Lance, although he can get on my nerves sometimes. Even…no, not Allura. Wait, why had he thought that? Did he not love Allura? She was definitely precious to him but thinking that he loved her in the same way that he loved Shiro, and the others made his stomach feel like it was tying into knots – and not the good kind of knots either.

"Keith," Lance's hand on his shoulder caused him to jump a little as he peered at his friend. "What's really wrong? I know this isn't just about why Allura and I broke up."

Keith sighed, dipping his focus to a stone near the toes of his shoes. "I don't really know, Lance." He scowled slightly, eyebrows tugging in towards the bridge of his nose. "Feelings are confusing."

"Do you like her?" Lance asked, still watching him closely. "Allura, I mean?"

"Of course, I like Allura. She's my friend," Keith said, frowning at Lance. What did that have to do with anything?

Lance chuckled. "No, I mean, like, actually like her – more than a friend. Like…are you in love with her? Or attracted to her?"

Keith felt heat rush to his cheeks again at Lance's words and thought back to the conversation he had with her.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Keith asked, now having showered, but as Allura turned to look at him, it was as if everything else had faded from the distance. He could see her lips move but could not hear the words. Sounds seemed to have become minimal around him as his gaze focused on her lips. Have they always been so beautiful? 'Focus, Keith! She came here to talk to you about something.' But whatever Allura had come to talk to him about, whatever she was talking about now – he couldn't hear anything except the feeling that his heart was beating so loudly that he could hear it.

What was wrong with him? Sure, he zoned out when he went to the Garrison at times, but they could be annoying and Allura was not annoying, like not even close. But he was noticing things he never seemed to have noticed about her before. Like how perfect her lips looked, just a slightly different shade than the rest of her skin, a nice natural look that complimented her other features, like the markings around her eyes. And her eyes, had they always shined like starlight, or was that just the lighting? They brightened any darkened room, even this one where the lights were slightly dim. Okay, this was odd. These thoughts had never crossed his mind before – not just for Allura but for any other girl, what was going on?

Focus on her words – read her lips, anything that would help him make sense of the strange thoughts that were going inside his head. He was able to read her saying the word 'Juniberry' and, slowly, sounds began to return to his line of hearing long enough for him to hear Allura ask a question.

"Do you feel it is a good idea?" Allura asked him and Keith blinked. He had completely missed out on what she had been asking.

However, as embarrassing as that conversation had been, he felt as if, maybe, Lance was onto something.

"Maybe?" Keith finally said, glad Lance hadn't said anything and was being… patient as he waited for him to reply. Something Keith was both relieved and grateful for. "But, um…" Could he really ask Lance this question? Well, he might as well since he had come this far. "What does attraction feel like?"

Lance stared at him for a moment before beginning to laugh causing Keith to scowl. Maybe he should have just asked Shiro – at least his brother wouldn't have laughed at him.

"Lance, shut up!" Keith snapped, glaring at him. Why had he told this idiot anyway? Worst mistake ever. Okay, he admitted he didn't know much – scratch that – he didn't know anything when it came to these kinds of feelings, but he just wanted to be sure before he did anything with them – was that so wrong, honestly?

"Sorry," Lance said, not sounding sorry at all, but he did stop laughing. "I keep forgetting you've never been in a relationship before since you have so many fangirls and all. But attraction is…well, it's different for everyone, but one of the main things I've heard most people talking about is noticing the really small details, like how pretty the girl you like is. Physical attraction is usually the first sign you're falling for someone. Course, it doesn't always mean you'll fall in love with that person and all. I mean, there are so many girls that are pretty. Like, look at that one." He gestured to a young girl walking down the road. "Look how many amazing curves she has, and the way she walks…"

"Ok, I think I get it," Keith interrupted before Lance could go into too much detail because his friend did have a habit of oversharing what was going inside his own head. Still, how Lance was describing it did explain why his head was so jumbled the other day during the visit from Allura. But Lance felt a physical attraction to every other girl – he had never felt this kind of attraction towards anyone. "I think I…am attracted to Allura, but…does it work if I've never been attracted to another girl like that before?"

Lance watched him for a moment before shrugging. "If it works for you, it works, Mullet. I mean, you only started to let your guard down around other people after you met us 'cause our awesomeness rubbed off onto you, right?"

"Well," A smirk came to Keith's face. "The others definitely helped me let my guard down, not so sure about you, though, Lance." He kept his tone light, knowing that was sure to get under his friend's skin.

Lance faked a scowl. "I resent that! I had the most awesome effect on you." He then dropped the joking tone and shifted. "Hey, Mullet, do you remember when Allura and I broke up; I told you guys I was asexual?"

Keith frowned, dropping the teasing tone as well. "Yeah, what about it?"

"What I didn't tell you is I'm also sex-repulsed," Lance admitted honestly. "Allura knew about it, and she said it didn't make me weird or any less than anyone else, but I'm still not sure what to think about it, really. I mean, I know it doesn't make me less than, even if it makes me different…I mean, wanting romance but not anything more than that."

"You're not weird, Lance," Keith said firmly. "Being different from others doesn't make us bad, it just makes us unique." Shiro had taught him that, after all, and it was something that had helped him genuinely cope.

Lance grinned now. "Now, you sound like Allura." He chuckled. "Hopefully, I can come to terms with that soon, too. But Mullet? If you're only attracted to Allura and have never felt attracted to any girl before that, it doesn't make you weird, either. It's just a different way of feeling attraction. Ok?" His expression firmed and he rested a hand on Keith's shoulder.

Keith blinked then gave Lance a small smile. "Okay. Thanks, Lance."