Chapter Seven

"Prince Bandor!" Both Nanny and Coran yelled, with an added. "Bleepo," from baby Magnus.

Keith watched as if it was happening in slow motion, Granger stumbled, his eyes rolled to the back of his head his legs gave out under his weight and he fell to the floor. He was blinking them open in an instant but his right eye wasn't opening quite right. It was full of tears, and Bandor had his sword out and was pointing towards him.

Keith heard Bandor's words, caught their meaning but didn't comprehend anything that was said, not really. All he could do was stare at Granger on the floor, with Bandor's sword brandished at him.

Keith was numb. Pidge, who had been the one talking with Bandor, when there had been a sudden change of conversation, was suddenly on the floor with Granger. Keith watched him help Granger to a chair at the dinning room table, check his eye and heard Granger say wryly.

"Kid, packs a punch," Granger laughed.

"That's Prince Bandor," Bandor said, rather haughtily and in a way Keith knew Bandor would never say to anyone who was a friend. It was a tone he shouldn't be using with Granger, Keith should be telling him this.

But he couldn't, Keith felt horror at the situation, he felt shocked and stricken but not because a friend had hit his boyfriend. No, Keith felt horrified, shocked and angry because he'd been relieved it'd been stopped.

He'd twisted his words around earlier when Granger had asked him if he was over Lance. He'd told a truth he'd believed fully twenty-four hours ago, but had been doubting since the moment Granger arrived early for his visit. A day ago, yet it felt like weeks, yet Keith had been so sure he was right, that he was ready, that he could move on from Lance. That his talk with Allura a few nights before had made him think about Granger, and how Granger wanted to build a life with someone, and build a real relationship. Granger's words about commitments and waiting for Keith as long as it took. He'd been so sure, then Granger arrived too soon and Keith hadn't warned Lance because it was the right thing to do.

Lance had spat his integrity back in his face, Lance had walked into his body space, Lance had been bleeding on the floor, Lance was sweaty and dirty and beautiful... Keith closed his eyes. Then saw Lance against gleaming in the Arusian sunset, then again naked at door, smelling of the cheap vanilla soap he always bought but still the undercurrent of leather, the tattoo deep red and burning right there burning into Keith's minds eye. As if he didn't have it memorized by sight, by tongue, cheek, lips, fingers... Lance had tasted like beer and fire, he was always so vibrant.

"Bandor, look, Keith's actually with Granger, thanks and all but... uh it's... well that's Granger's, Keith's Christmas guest," Lance's voice cut through Keith's thoughts. Lance telling Bandor why what he'd done had been wrong. Lance pointing out that Granger was Keith's guest. Lance telling Bandor that were no long together.

"But you two were Bonded," Bandor said, his voice reminding Keith he was still kid, even though he'd had a growth spurt and didn't sound like a chipmunk any longer. Though the term confused him.

"Keith, is there something else you forgot to tell me?" Granger's voice sounded harsh to Keith's ears. He looked at Granger, at his blue eye, the other was covered with a piece of steak, Hunk was standing next to him and Keith realized he must have run into the kitchen to get it for him. He should've done it himself, Keith thought.

"Huh?"

"You two, were you married or something?"

"Practically!" Hunk and Pidge said.

"Yes," Allura, Bandor and Coran said.

"What?" Lance said.

"No." Keith said, still feeling dazed.

Allura sighed. "Well, I know they didn't do it officially, but on both Arus and Pollux there is a peasant tradition of partners getting personalized tattoos that symbolize their relationship and it's considered a binding of souls. On Pollux, I believe it's much more common than even a Church marriage as those are considered to be only for those who have money, and property that is part of the marital dowry..." Allura trailed off and rolled her eyes. "Since in some ways we still live in the dark ages where there are dowries..." she gave Coran a bit of an eye roll.

"I do believe I am not in a position to effect that much change Princess," Coran said. "But the Princess is correct. On Arus is more common in the mountain villages and the southern hemisphere's island inhabitants but it does happen even our main cities and villages. I'm finding it more and more common of late with the younger generations..." Coran trailed off and coughed, eyes at Larmina.

"Not that anyone should be getting any ideas," Allura said, looking right at Larmina.

"Ideas? I'm never getting married all!" Larmina said. "So, they've been like married all this time!"

Allura sighed. "Well, not really, or officially, I mean they just went out and got tattoos, they didn't know the tradition, and I didn't tell them. Though, I mean, I have always seen them as married."

"Romelle and I as well, and when we told Sven of the tradition, well first he teased Romelle for making him go through the huge royal church wedding with her for a bit..." Bandor laughed. "When all they had do was get a tattoo of Lotor, then the symbol of freedom on their wrists or something...but then he sobered up and said 'Ya, Ya, for as long as I've known them their souls have been one, married or not.'"

"Huh," Hunk said. "Works for me. I mean always figured the only thing missing was the actual ceremony."

"Me too," Pidge said.

"We were married?" Lance said, staring at Allura.

She shrugged.

"Is that why you gave you us those his and his robes, and the crystal shot glasses with our names engraved on them shortly after the tattoos, you were secretly giving us wedding presents?" Lance said again.

Allura shrugged.

"You know, she gave you two that big suite around then too," Hunk said.

"Shit," Lance said.

Allura laughed.

"Uh, look, I don't mean to uh, interrupt this...but they aren't married now right? I mean do they need do some sort of divorce ceremony?" Granger asked from his chair. "Remove the tattoos?"

Keith felt dizzy, he didn't know what end was up but Granger's question brought him into the conversation because one thing was crystal clear to him. "We, were never married. We didn't know the tradition, we had no intent to marry, we didn't get married. We were never practically married, we never talked about being married. There was no marriage..." he said the last two words looking right at Lance, anger rising up inside him that he didn't quite understand.

Lance blinked, the teasing smile he'd had on his face while talking to Allura vanished and his eyes went dark as he looked at Keith. "You're right we never discussed it," Lance said, his voice sounding strained. "Ilya, no worries. He dumped me. We're done. Finished. Right, Keith."

Red. Heart beating, hard pounding in his ears, Keith's back went rigid, he felt a few bones crack as his neck straightened out completely and took two long strides and got into Lance's face. "Never dumped you."

Lance laughed.

Keith shoved. "I. Didn't. Casue. The. End. To. Us." he shouted.

Lance pushed back, Keith felt the heat from the palms through the thin cotton of his shirt. Lance's shove was hard, he was angry, frustrated, but Keith didn't think he could possibly be as pissed off as him.

"I never wanted us to end in the fucking first place Keith, so don't you dare put it on me. I loved you when we were screwed up teenagers, I loved you during the academy, I loved you then and fuck me I love you now. Why don't you take (ITALIC) Ilya, and go fuck him on his damn moon where he has his fucking bar and keep it out of our fucking home!"

Lance's last shove ended up being Lance's left hook. Keith staggered, he expected to fall but he didn't and he knew then Lance had done more than merely pull the punch. Hunk and Pidge were hovering around him, in case of the worst case scenario and he waved them off. He noticed Lance was no where to be seen. Yet Lance's words had been left behind. There were echoing in a loop inside of Keith's mind.

He'd been so pissed off but he couldn't even tell why he'd been so angry, it'd been Lance, he thought, it was always Lance. He closed his eyes and realized he made one hell of a mess. Opening one he saw Hunk and Pidge, looking at him with friendly disappointment and he had to hang his head in shame. "Uh, Chief, just so you know, Granger took off a second after Lance did," Hunk said.

As Keith left the room the last thing he heard was, "Are you kidding, Bandor, don't be sorry! This is like the best DINNER PARTY EVER!"

"Larmina!" Allura admonished.

~~.~~

Keith found him outside, duffle bag over his shoulder, wearing what he'd been in when he arrived. He was standing to the left of a group of people waiting for a shuttle to the planet Jericho, Keith knew that from there it'd be a piece of cake for Granger to find a ride back to the moon where he lived. Granger was leaving, it wasn't a surprise, it wasn't even a shock that he would decide to leave after the scene in the dinning room. Keith didn't feel any of those things about it, he'd walked out of the dinning room after Hunk told him Granger had left intent on catching Granger before he got this far.

Problem was Keith had found himself outside of Lance's door instead of his own, he typed in his own damn code to have the computer system bark back at him it wasn't the correct code to the door. Lance's room was on a high security alert, a wrong code typed in meant you either quickly typed in the right code, or the Castle alarms would begin to blare. Keith had sighed and punched in the correct code.

The same code it'd always been, when it'd been their room, their home, their bedroom.

It'd been dark and empty, Keith had walked inside and looked anyway, wondering where Lance was that he hadn't come here; he could think of where. There were three main thoughts off the top of his head. He was back at that punching bag, harming himself, letting out the anger so it wouldn't build up.

Keith could feel the punches if he closed his eyes, could feel the skin of Lance's knuckles against his face. He knew it was his face Lance would be seeing and unlike what had happened in the dinning room, there would be no pulling back. Not when Keith was an image and weight he was hitting wasn't human.

Keith left Lance's room, locked it up and told himself to go back to his own, he still had time to catch Granger but he ended up in the Gym. The empty gym, standing where he and Lance had stood when everything had come back to the surface. Looking down at the splatters of Lance's blood, red against the dirty green of the gym floor.

It meant Lance was flying.

It meant Lance was riding.

Either way it meant Lance was going too fast and Keith would have to wait until he was back on solid ground to even have a chance to...a chance to... A chance at...

Keith sighed.

By the time he got to his own room, Granger and his stuff was gone, and Keith knew now, standing next to the man it was luck that had him here while Granger was still on Arus's surface. He held up the unread, folded piece of paper with his name on it. "I rather hear the goodbye," Keith said.

Granger shook his head. "I thought you'd get to the room before I changed."

"It was my intention," Keith said.

"Where did your heart take you, then, Keith?"

Keith didn't know how to apologize because he hadn't known. "When I invited you here, I was sure. When I kept telling you I was sure, I wanted you, I was going with that moment, that clarity. It wasn't well thought I suppose. I really thought, I would tell Lance today because it would be the right thing to do, that you were coming for Christmas, that I was going to start a relationship with you. And you'd arrive and it'd be all okay."

Granger laughed. "I messed that up. Arrived early, let the cat out of the bag with Lance. Blindsided him, I guess."

"He would've reacted the same no matter how he found out."

"Keith, you told me you asked me because you wanted what I offered. I was offering you commitment, and I thought that meant, that Lance hadn't... That there wasn't a commitment. The tattoos aside, that could've been a drunken night but I'm getting the feeling they weren't... That Prince, that kid... he says you two are married, and everyone agrees with him but you."

Keith gritted his teeth, it set him on edge, that. Memories of Lance and he deciding on getting tattoos in the midst of sex, Lance laughing, seducing and Keith thinking it'd be hot to know, to have his name on Lance. Hated the way others would look, always looking at Lance, and Lance would have his name on him and he'd chosen a place where it would be seen, even it was just the tips of the K, and the T. It would be his name on Lance. Saying he is Keith's.

It'd been about possession. Lance's handwriting across his ass. They'd been young, on Arus just over a year, happy together but never really thinking things through and they'd been happy Sven was found alive and safe and whole.

"Lance didn't agree," Keith said.

"Yes, he did Keith. He was surprised, he didn't know about the peasant ceremony, but I saw his face Keith. He's my competition, I saw his face. He smiled, he started teasing the Princess... he remembered wedding presents. He didn't get angry until you shot the idea down, he liked the idea. It felt right to him to be married to you."

Keith laughed, bitter, scared and angry. "You read him wrong, he was teasing Allura, because he didn't know any other way to react. When in doubt, when unsure, when he doesn't know how he feels, he makes it a joke. Lance and his jokes."

"You're still in love with him, and I heard him loud and clear."

Keith closed his eyes. "I didn't want to be," he whispered.

"And what you hoped I'd show up and he'd nod and say, hey okay you've invited a guy home and be okay with it?"

Keith shook his head. "I don't know."

"You never said where you went instead of after me."

"Granger does it matter? I'm here."

"Because you failed to find him, I'm not stupid Keith."

"I went to his room. It was empty, I didn't even realize. I thought I was at my room."

"Weren't you. Caught it used to yours too. Your's and Lance's."

Keith had been drawn to Granger for his intelligence, it was sharp and it honed in on the little details and rarely missed a thing. "It was. It was empty."

"So then you?"

"Gym. Thought maybe he was hitting the punching bag, getting out that anger he was barely holding in out... he wasn't there."

"And that leaves?"

"He's out there," Keith said, eyes towards the sky, inhaling the nighttime air. "Either in the sky with Red, or on the roads with his bike. Going too fast, he'll come in sooner or later. Have to wait it out."

"Why you found me, then. No where to look."

Keith sighed. "I didn't mean to bring you here for nothing, it's a horrible Christmas present, a horrible.. I didn't think. I wanted something I wanted, and I thought it was clear Lance couldn't give it to me. Maybe you can... but."

"You love him."

Keith felt dizzy. "I'm feeling more things than I have in awhile. I pushed a lot down and away. He and I have been going through the motions of friendship, and sussing out our roles as Commanders. We both run Voltron Force, now. I'm the Commander, I'm the leader but he's... Not merely my second in Command. He's a leader too, he kept them together while I was gone, he kept things running and the cadets. He's better with the cadets... It's a new side of him I've seen, been getting to know. We've avoided us. We've avoided the rest..."

The shuttle that would take Granger off of Arus came in for a landing then, causing a wind, that in the Aruisian night was cold. Keith shivered against it but it didn't change his anger, his confusion and his shame. "I cannot express my guilt Granger," he said.

"Then don't," Granger turned toward him, the wind moving his shaggy blonde hair. He shook his head. "I am not happy. I am not okay. I thought, I was getting Keith Kogane for Christmas. When I gave you that speech, about how I could feel you holding back, pushing me away, but I'll wait for you to sort it out. I'll wait... I thought, it was about Wade, Black Lion, maybe another guy. But yeah, I didn't pick up your soul was so bound to someone else. You called me, because you wanted what I was offering... but I don't think I'm the man you want. It's been obvious, Keith. We haven't managed five minutes without him coming up. Even from my own mouth - I feel like a moron for ever thinking he was homophobic," Granger laughed nervously, then he took a deep breath. "Be happy, Keith, figure it out. I do forgive you, I'm kind of a sucker for you after all," Granger leaned forward and kissed Keith's cheek.

Then he was on the shuttle.

Keith sighed and realized he still held the note he'd found on his pillow. Granger's hand writing was messy, feeling ashamed, disappointed in himself and wondering how he'd gotten something so wrong, Keith opened it up to see what Granger had written. The spoken words of Granger's goodbye felt too forgiving, too nice, too understanding.

Keith thought maybe Granger would lash out more in anger and disappointment in the note, having written it so much closer to what had come out in the dinning room. What Granger had written instead was... "Whatever happened between you and Lance - it isn't over. I'm in the way, we both know it Keith. Goodbye, be happy."

Keith crumpled the note up in his hand, pushed it into the pocket of his dress pants. He turned around and began to walk. He ended up walking down to the lake, taking of his shoes and socks, his suit jacket and top. He stood in the sand of the lake's beach, then he started to do the movements of tai chi.

Hoping to clear his mind.