I had more nightmares than I could count before I woke up in a cold sweat. I didn't know if it was because of him or not, but I couldn't get much sleep. I crept silently out of my room and slowly shut the door. I was about to make my way into the kitchen, but I was stopped before I could start walking. His door was open and I couldn't help but peer inside. I furrowed my brow. He was sound asleep, sprawled out across his bed and had his mouth open. It took all that I had not to smile and walk over to crawl up beside him, so I dashed over, shut his door, and sighed deeply.

The kitchen light was on, but I didn't care. I poured myself what was some sort of Altean coffee. If I wasn't going to sleep tonight then I might as well try and get some energy in me. Images of Lance still plagued my mind and I scowled. I shouldn't have a reason to be mad at him, he didn't even do anything to me, but somehow I couldn't control my feelings. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even see Shiro standing in the kitchen.

"What are you doing up so late?" He made me jump when he spoke. I looked over at him, he was smiling but looked pretty concerned. I looked back down at my cup.

"Couldn't sleep." Is all I replied with. There was a silence before he sat down at the counter.

"You look like something's bothering you. Care to tell?" I couldn't keep anything from him. If I was going to trust anybody with this secret, It'd have to be Shiro. I didn't say anything as I pulled up a chair and sat next to him.

"Lance and I have been…well we're like, you know, it's sort of like-" I was cut off.

"I think I get it. You two have been pretty different, and I've had my assumptions, but I wasn't completely sure." He knew exactly what I was trying to say.

"Yeah." I couldn't look him in the eyes. "And, well, lately it's been…bad. I don't think I'm treating him all that well. You see we got into this argument today, and I yelled at him. It made me feel…pretty bad. But he probably felt way worse. I don't know what to do, Shiro. I really like him and…oh god, maybe he hates me now. Maybe we're-"

"Ok. First off, calm down a bit." He placed his hand on my shoulder. I sighed. "If you know Lance, and I'm pretty sure you do, then you also know that he forgives very easily. He's probably just waiting for you to tell him the truth."

I didn't know how to respond to him. My eyes began to water. I never show this much emotion, what is wrong with me? "I just…I…"

"Keith." He had a firm yet somehow soft look on his face as he told me, "It's going to be fine."

After our conversation, which got me feeling just a bit more confident, we both headed back to our rooms. I could always count on him to give the right advice in times like these. I went back to my room, and was about to open my door, but I looked back at the closed door behind me. I bet Lance doesn't even want to see me right now. Plus he's probably asleep anyways, and I don't want to upset him even more by waking him up just to try and apologize.

But I just couldn't go to bed thinking about what I did to him.

I opened the door as silently as possible and crept into his room. He was still asleep, of course, but in a completely different position as I last saw him. I smiled, but didn't know what to do after I went over to his bed. It took me a minute, but I knew he wouldn't be mad at me if I acted daring every once in a while. I reached down and framed his sleeping face in my hands as I planted a soft kiss on his forehead. This was apparently enough to wake him up a bit.

"Huh…oh, hey Keith…" He said in a half asleep voice as he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. His hair was distraught and stuck up in some places. It was kind of adorable, but I didn't tell him I thought that. "Wait, wha-Keith?" His eyes shot open and he reached out to grab me. "Are you…are you, like, okay?"

"Well, yeah. That's why I came in here. I kind of owe you an apology for…earlier." I kept eye contact with him as I told him what I should've said much earlier in the night. "I yelled at you because I was emotional, not because you did anything to upset me. I'm really, really sorry, Lance." There was a silence. He didn't say anything but instead pushed me down on his bed and embraced me in an uncomfortably tight hug.

"You don't need to apologize!" He said into my ear. "I totally get it. You need your space, or whatever and that's fine. Just, you know, tell me next time and I'll understand." How does a person like him exist? No yelling, no backlashes, he didn't even blame me. I wrapped my arms around him too and we stayed like that for a while before eventually sitting up to face each other again, although he never let go of my hand.

"Can I…um…can I just stay here…? For the rest of the night?" I didn't want to go back to my room.

"Sure! Yeah, of course!" I knew he'd say yes. "Are you tired at all? It is kinda late…?

"Well I had some coffee earlier, so not really. But if you are then we can go to bed."

"Nope. We're staying up, then." I covered my mouth as I laughed, then stopped because I noticed he was staring at me.

"Uh…what?" I felt my face heat up.

"I've never heard you laugh like that before…" I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was being serious. "Do it again." He said, even more firm.

"What? No…"

"Come on. Just for a second."

"No way, Lance."

"Ugh, fine. You made me do this." He swiftly pushed me down onto his bed to where I was lying on my back.

"Lance what the-" He reached his hands under my shirt and began poking at my sides. "H-Hey! Stop tha-" I couldn't hold it in and began laughing again, a lot louder than before. Damn him and his long, cold fingers. How did he know I was ticklish? I sure as hell never told him.

"Aha, so you are ticklish! Perfect!" I was out of breath and could barely speak as he continued to poke at my stomach.

"L-Lance! You're-pffhahaha! You're dead!" I tried to push him off of me, but fell off of his bed instead. We paused before he snickered at me.

"Nice going, Kogane." He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me back up.

"Thank you, McClain." I laid down beside him, still panting, and we both gazed at the ceiling. Well, I gazed up, but it took me a while to realize that he was gazing at me. I couldn't have been a pretty sight in that moment. I was sweaty and tired, but he still looked at me like I was the most gorgeous person he had ever seen. I looked over at him, no words were said, but he pulled me in and pressed his warm lips against mine.

I closed my eyes. He tasted sweet, a taste I never wanted to forget. Our lips moved together perfectly and I sighed against him as he pulled our bodies closer. We pulled apart after a minute or two and I never noticed how red his face got when we kissed.

"Lance." I said softer than I intended. It was really late now, at least 4 am, and I was starting to get tired.

"What is it?" He replied with the same softness in his voice as he tucked my hair behind my ears, just as he knew I liked. I leaned closer to him.

"I love you so much."

He hugged me tightly, and I hugged him back, then he leaned down and whispered into my ear in a low voice,

"I love you too, Keith." It sent chills down my spine. I had accepted that Lance, this handsome idiot, was the first and hopefully the only person I'd ever love.

I hope every morning would be like this from now on. Waking up to his arms around me, morning kisses, and tiredly walking out into the kitchen for breakfast.

"How do you want your eggs? Or…whatever these egg-like things are." He grabbed a pan from the cupboards.

"Uh…scrambled, if that's possible. I haven't had those since I was, like, 6."

"Got it, babe. I'll try my best." I watched him cook. He looked really happy, and declined when I asked if I could help him. I just went with it until he eventually finished and we sat down to eat together.

"I wonder if any of the others are up yet." He said as he took a bite of his food.

"Well, I've been up for a while." A voice came from the lounge. We both turned our heads in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Pidge. She was sitting down with her computer in her lap. It looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"How uh…how long have you been up, Pidge…?" Lance looked nervous.

"Didn't go to sleep. Not last night either. You two are cute, by the way." She smirked and looked at Lance, who was bright red.

"Thanks, Pidge." I smiled too, which alarmed Lance even more. I began eating.

"What…does she…" He was at a loss for words. "Does she know?" He said quieter.

"Who cares? But yeah, she does, and so does Shiro."

"Keith!"

"What?" I said, and laughed. "Wipe your face, nerd." He looked surprised, but calmed down after a while. I didn't care if the others found out. The ones who did know didn't seem to mind, and the others would probably react the same way, which calmed my nerves a little.

"C'mon, Keith, hurry up. We said we'd hit the training deck this morning."

"Alright, alright. I'm done. Let's go." He grabbed my hand and we sprinted towards the deck, passing Hunk on the way there.

"Hey Hunk!" Lance greeted him as we raced by, still hand in hand. Hunk laughed and greeted us back. We arrived at the deck and Lance insisted on training for as long as he could, which was not his brightest idea. We were both out of breath at the end of it, and sat back to rest for a while.

"Should we go get cleaned up? I want to go back to my room and take a shower." I desperately needed one after this.

"Hmm…I think there are showers here in the training area, aren't there?"

"Well, yeah, but we have our own in-"

"No, no. I'd rather use these showers instead. Wouldn't you?"

It took me a minute to register what he was trying to say. "I mean if you want t-" I paused. "Oh. Oh. Y-Yeah! These…these showers are better anyways so-" He didn't let me finish before we stumbled over to the shower room.

Lance is the most careless and stupid person I've ever met, and I'm just as stupid for falling for him. But I don't regret a moment of this amazing change of events.