Waking up was usually Lance's favorite part of the day. Waking up was a time to start off a fresh, new morning. It was a clean slate, where the craziness of the day before had disappeared, and all fears and worries were washed away . . . True, Lance usually woke up later than most people, but he was definitely a morning person. His morning routine lasted only fifteen minutes, when it had lasted him an hour only two years before, because he wanted to get started with the day as soon as possible.

But with mornings, and waking up, was the groggy feeling one had when their eyes were just fluttering open, the memories and experiences of the night before completely gone, if only for a moment. They'd soon rush back, and the energy would soon reach Lance, the refreshing feeling of getting a nice amount of rest flowing throughout his body.

But there was still the annoyance of that temporary memory wipe.

Lance's body woke up, though he was keeping his eyes closed for a moment. He was still a bit tired, having stayed up late the night before (that much he remembered). His blankets were heavier than usual in a few spots . . . like there was something on top of him, but only in certain places. He then noticed was . . . hugging something. A pillow, maybe? But it was way too warm and long to be a pillow . . . Besides, he realized that it may have been wrapped around him a bit. Lance moved his hands up the thing, trying to feel for what it was. It was only when his fingers touched silky strands of hair that he opened his eyes quickly, seeing none other than Keith Kogane wrapped in a cuddly embrace with him in his bed.

Lance yelped, his arms pulling back almost immediately. Keith made a small noise in his sleep, somehow not having woken up yet. The Paladin usually was an early-riser, which was interesting considering the fact that he trained into the early hours of the morning when he thought nobody would notice, but then of course he'd never realized that Lance was up just as late sometimes, thinking about life and his problems and whatnot.

It was that thought that triggered the memories from the other night to come rushing back into Lance's conscious. He was breathing a bit heavy from the surprise and sudden panic of finding Keith snuggling with him in his bed, but he soon calmed himself. He shouldn't have been to surprised. He'd been the one to ask Keith to stay with him, after all. He should have known he'd get tired, though Lance was now wondering why the quiznack he'd stayed with him long enough to fall asleep. Maybe Lance had just worried him . . . or, maybe he'd simply been to lazy to go back to his bed. Lance doubted that last one. He was sure Keith would have left at the first chance he'd gotten, if only to get away from Lance and his . . . problems. Then again, he had fallen asleep in his bed, so . . . what had happened?

Lance shook his head. He was overthinking this. He quickly realized that he couldn't get out of his bed without disturbing Keith, as he had gotten in the bed after Lance had, therefor trapping Lance in the corner of his room. He huffed, wondering if he should just wake Keith up.

Before he could decide what to do, Keith made another noise, reaching up to grab at the air. Lance lifted a brow, unsure of what was going on. It wasn't until Keith murmured, "Lance . . . " that he realized: Keith was wondering where his snuggle-buddy was.

"NOPE," Lance said aloud. "NOPE, NOPENOPENOPENOPE NOOOOPPPEEE." He scooted himself into the corner, pulling his knees up to his chest. This morning was turning out very weird, and Lance did not like it.

The loud NOPEing must have triggered something, because Keith's eyes finally opened, his arms falling down immediately. "Wha . . . Lance? Wait, frick." Keith remembered what had happened much quicker than Lance had, looking over into the corner at the other teen. "Sorry, I don't know what-"

"It's fine. Just, uh, forget it ever happened." Lance excused it quickly, giving an awkward smile.

"Um, yeah, okay," Keith agreed, unsure if Lance was only talking about the falling asleep.

"So, um, think I can leave my bed?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Keith got up quickly, stepping back a few feet to allow Lance room to get up himself.

Lance practically jumped out of his bed, stretching his arms into the air.

"Um, I'll just . . . leave, then . . . " Keith quietly excused himself, a warm red accumulating on his cheeks. He backed into the door by accident, then exited awkwardly as they opened for him.

"Yup, cool, bye!" Lance gave another smile, sighing loudly as the doors closed behind the Red Paladin. "That was awkward."

Keith sighed on the other side of the door, looking over to his right where Shiro was blinking in confusion.

"Keith? What were you . . . " his eyes trailed over to Lance's doors.

"Nothing! Just, um, he stole my shampoo so I was trying to get it back!"

"Um," Shiro's mouth was open as if he was going to say something, but he quickly closed it. Then, he opened it again to add, "yeah, okay. No more fighting, then."

"Yes sir," Keith responded with an unusual formality.

"Uhhh, I'm going to go . . . help Allura with something. We'll be in the the navigation room if you need either of us." Shiro quickly excused himself from the situation, looking rather dumbfounded at it all.

Keith sighed once again, running his fingers through his long bangs. "Well that went well . . . "

Meanwhile, Lance was attempting to do his skin-care routine, though he was taking a lot longer than usual to set everything up. He wanted to buy as much time as he could before he had to see Keith again, because he knew very well that it was going to be awkward. He grabbed his comb as his face mask dried, parting his hair just the way he liked it. He slicked some styling gel in, just to make sure it stayed, and smiled at himself in the mirror, pointing finger guns at his reflection.

"You, Lance McClain, are a god," he winked, sending himself into a small fit of laughter.

He washed his mask off, grabbing his lotion and spreading some along his already smooth skin. With a deep breath in through his nostrils, he cracked his knuckles, knowing there was nothing else he had to do in his room. His stomach was grumbling, and he wasn't going to let an awkward situation with Keith prevent him from eating.

So he marched out his door, a look of pride on his face, his head held high, as he made his way towards the kitchen. He saw Hunk emerging from his room just ahead of him, so he sped up his pace until he was by his side.

"Mornin' Hunk," he grinned to his best friend.

"Good morning!" Hunk smiled, the two just about to enter the kitchen. "You sleep well?"

"Yeah," Lance responded as they entered, "I slept just fine . . . "

Lance then noticed that Keith was in the kitchen.

"God dammit Keith, why do you have to be in every room I want to go in?" he complained, grabbing a plate to pour his food goo into.

"What? Um, sorry?" Keith's eyes darted across the room, not sure where to stay. "I was just eating breakfast . . . "

"Yeah, well, whatever," Lance sat down, but not before grabbing a spoon.

Hunk rolled his eyes at the two, used to their bickering, "so what about you, Keith? Did you sleep well?"

"Uhh . . . " Keith's gaze trailed to Lance, "yeah, I mean, I stayed up kinda late, but uh, I slept . . . fine?"

Hunk's brow raised at the uncertainty of the answer, then he just shrugged, "that's good."

"Yup."

A sort of nothingness filled the room as Lance shoveled food into his mouth, Keith poked at his goo, and Hunk searched for some seasonings to add to his food, the three Paladins quiet as mice (not space mice though, they're pretty chatty).

"Soooo," Lance started, ending the silence, "you guys wanna do some team training today? I'm in the mood to punch something."

"Yeah, sure," Hunk smiled, tapping the seasoning's container to sprinkle some onto his food.

"Uh, sure," Keith agreed.

"Cool," Lance took another bite, the silence returning.

And so it continued on like that for who knows how long, a streak of silence followed by a question or two by one of the boys, then the silence coming right back. Hunk seemed to sense that's how the others wanted it to be, but really Keith and Lance just didn't know what to even say to each other. Lance was hoping the team training would help lighten the mood, maybe even help the boys bond more, but he knew it wouldn't even happen for an hour or so.

Keith, on the other hand, was just trying to act as normal as possible, whilst still keeping in mind the way Lance had admitted to feeling the other night. He didn't want to add to the problem, so he held in his usual banter and jokes towards Lance. Someone said something was small? Well at that moment, Lance's brain just happened to be bigger. Lance said something stupid? Keith let it be.

It was a weird morning, to say the least.

It wasn't until Pidge came in for her own food that everything started to return to its normal state. The atmosphere became ten times more sarcastic, and soon the Paladins were chatting and laughing up a storm, the awkwardness fading away.

This only continued as Shiro and Allura waltzed in, Shiro pulling out Allura's chair for her kindly before he sat down himself. They added to the conversations, their parent-like natures giving a good humor to it all.

And then Shiro had to go and ruin it.

"Keith," he whispered, "can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Uh, yeah," Keith answered, getting up.

Shiro led him to the hallway, his voice low, "would you mind telling me why you were really in Lance's room?"

Keith's cheeks reddened, which conveyed something Keith had not wanted to convey, as he struggled to give an answer, "well, uh, I just, um . . . "

"Keith."

"I just, was talking to him late last night, and I uh, fell asleep in there?"

"You slept with him?" Shiro's eyes widened.

"God, no, not like that!" the blushing only intensified.

Shiro shook his head, "I'll be right back."

"What . . . "

Shiro walked back into the kitchen, only to return with Lance.

"SHIRO!" Keith fumed.

"Okay Lance, Keith, I'm all ears. Explain." Shiro crossed his arms, his expression closely resembling a father's when his children were in trouble.

"I told you what happened!" Keith said, his fists clenching.

"Wait, what are we . . . " Lance suddenly realized that Keith must have told Shiro. He must have told him everything. Of course he did, that traitor. "Keith! Did you tell him?!"

Shiro's eyes widened, "tell me what exactly? Because Keith has told me a lot of things that I'm pretty sure aren't true."

"No, frick, no!" Keith growled, trying to get a hold of the situation. "I swear I just fell asleep on accident! It was really late!"

"Wait, so you didn't tell him?"

"So there is something going on!" Shiro's eyes widened more, if that was even possible.

"No! There is nothing going on!" Keith practically shouted, the entire galaxy able to hear.

Shiro and Lance were quiet for a moment, then Shiro gave Keith a sad look, before going back into the kitchen, leaving only Lance and Keith in the hallway.

"I thought we said we'd forget that ever happened," Lance said, his words venomous.

"Sorry, Shiro saw me leave your room and . . . ugh!" Keith grunted, his frustrations too great for simple words.

"And now he thinks we're hooking up. Great."

"NO! Not great! Definitely not great!" Keith ran his hand through his hair once again, trying to make sense of the situation.

"I was being sarcastic, idiot." Lance rolled his eyes.

"Well sorry I was trying to cover up for your freak out!" Keith's arms flung into the air.

"Oh, so now it's my fault?"

"I'm just saying, I was doing you a solid by not telling him you have freaking crippling depression or some shit, since you obviously don't want anyone to know for some stupid reason! I mean, what is your deal anyways? Are you too cool to admit to being a big baby?"

Lance looked shocked, and Keith immediately regretted his choice of words. Lance's face grew defensive quickly, masking is emotions like always. His brown furrowed as his nose crinkled, a large frown forming.

"Funny," Lance crossed his arms, "it almost seemed like you cared last night, but apparently I was wrong."

"Wait, Lance-"

Lance flashed his middle finger. "Frick. You." He spat before turning around and storming away.

Keith just stood there, regretting everything he'd ever said or done, biting his lip in anger. He punched the wall, "dammit," and realized he'd bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. He stopped quickly, letting himself go slack against the wall, not really sure what else to do.

"Great job Keith," he muttered, "you've done it again. Relationship skills plus one."