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“It’s kinda late; do you think they’re still up?”Hunk nodded, taking another bite of his candy bar before replying, “Those two are always up. Keith is an insomniac and Lance has a gaming problem almost as bad as yours.”Pidge scowled and smacked Hunk’s large shoulder with her tiny fist. “I don’t have a problem!”“Oh, no, no, of course not. So I guess it was my idea to sneak out of the dorms past midnight to go and borrow Lance’s second controller, because I’M the one who broke mine when I lost a round of Speed Demon to Hunk?”Pidge scowled and crossed her arms over her chest as she stalked along beside him.“Oh, shut up.”The two walked along silently for awhile, and then Hunk said, grinning, “But it IS kinda late ... what if we interrupted them, like, doing stuff?”“Stuff?”“Yeeeeah, you know, ‘stuff’,” Hunk said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively for emphasis.“Oh, ew,” Pidge said, making a gagging noise. “Nobody wants to walk in on their best friends doing ‘stuff’!”Hunk nodded in agreement. Keith and Lance had announced that they were dating about two months back, to the complete surprise of ... absolutely no one. Really, it was glaringly obvious that the boys had feelings for each other; always making ‘goo-goo’ eyes at one another, standing super close, unnecessary arm-touches, off-handed flirting ...If anything, the surprise came in how long it took either of them to acknowledge what everybody else could plainly see; both to the group, and to themselves.But still, what Hunk was suggesting now ...“I don’t think so, Hunk,” Pidge said, as they rounded the corners that led down the hallway to Lance’s room. “I mean, Keith is so awkward, and Lance is so goofy, I can’t imagine them doing anything more than kissing.”They were within a few feet of Lance’s door now, and Hunk replied, “Well, ya never know. Maybe it’s different when they’re alone. They could —“Hunk stopped mid-sentence, his eyes going wide. From beyond the door, they could hear very loud, distinct noises, something that sounded like ... grunts? Hunk put his finger to his lips, indicating for Pidge to be quiet, and then he squatted down on his ankles and leaned closer to it, his ear pressed close against it.“Are you done yet? You’ve been behind me for like an hour now!”Keith’s voice, sounding very tired and annoyed.Pidge’s mouth dropped open, emitting a soundless shriek as she hit at Hunk’s shoulder. Oh, God; had Hunk been right? Were Lance and Keith ...“Come on, Keith, don’t ruin this for me! It’s so long now, I can’t just let it go to waste!”“I don’t care if it’s long! If you don’t stop, I’m going to take a knife and cut it off!”Pidge and Hunk looked at each other, their faces identical masks of horror. What, exactly, was going on?“Sorry, Keith, but it’s too late to stop now. Besides, you owe me this; every time I ask you to do this, you always have some excuse. Well, you’re out of excuses now, buddy, so just sit tight until I’m through.”“It hurts!”“If you would just relax and stay still, it wouldn’t hurt.”“Holy crap, we should go!”, Pidge said, in as quiet of a whisper as she could muster. Yet both she and Hunk felt helpless to move away, their intense curiosity over the situation keeping them firmly in place.“You want me to stop and see if I can find anything to put in it, to loosen it up a little?”, Lance asked Keith now, sounding mildly concerned.“I don’t have anything here that would work.”“Well, we need to remember to get some stuff for next time. It probably hurts because it’s so dry.”Pidge and Hunk looked at each other, wide-eyed.“Should we be listening to this?”, Pidge asked quietly.Hunk shrugged desperately. “I don’t ...I mean, doesn’t it sound like Lance is, uh ... or Keith isn’t really ... crap, I don’t know!”“Seriously, I cant take anymore, we need to stop.”“I can’t stop now, I’m so close to finishing! Look, I promise I’ll take it out right away after, ok?”“I’m never gonna let you do this again.”“Oh, come on, Keith! It hurts less the more you get used to it. Ask Pidge; she used to let me do this all the time.”Hunk’s mouth dropped open, and he stared incredulously at Pidge. “Whaaaaaat?”, he whispered, astounded. “You and Lance used to —?”“No!,” Pidge hissed at him, her face a dark red. “I don’t know what he’s talking about, but we never —“Quite suddenly, Lance’s door opened, and both Pidge and Hunk were so surprised that they fell backwards and hit the floor, in a tangled-up smash.“Hey,” Lance said as they struggled to right themselves. “I thought I heard voices out here. What are you guys doing?”“We, um, that is, we, uh, we were just —“, Hunk stuttered, unable to think of an excuse.But Pidge shoved past them both and ran into Lance’s room, determined to help him. When she got a look at him on the bed, she stopped in her tracks, confused. She had expected to see him tied up or something ...... but he was just sitting calmly, sideways, on Lance’s bed, a magazine in front of him.“Oh, hey, Pidge, Hunk; what’s up?”Hunk came in now, too, also staring at Keith in confusion. “Hey, man; we were just passing by. Are, um, are you okay?”Now it was Keith’s turn to look confused, as he set down his magazine.“Yeah, I’m fine; why?”“It’s just —““It’s just that we kinda heard, um, it kinda sounded like you got hurt or something,” Pidge finished, her face red again.“What? Oh, yeah, Lance was being too rough with it,” Keith explained, and then he turned fully towards them. Hunk and Pidge now saw that the bottom half of Keith’s hair had been styled into dozens of tight, tiny braids.Lance went to join him on the bed, putting his hand in his artwork and saying, “He just has a sensitive scalp; I was barely touching him. Plus he doesn’t have any lotion or oils so his hair is super-dry. Took me forever just to comb that section out. But what do you guys think? It looks good, right?”Hunk sat down in Lance’s comforter chair, and Pidge sat on he edge of it, relief flooding through them both. “So — so you were just braiding his hair?”, Hunk asked, sheepishly.Lance nodded. “Yeah. Keith’s hair has gotten so long, it’s like the perfect length to experiment new styles on. Pidge, remember before you cut your hair, I used to play around with it?”Pidge nodded, also feeling foolish. For as long as any of them could remember, Lance had always talked about wanting to do hair when he grew up, like his favorite uncle. Back when Pidge still had her long hair, she would sit and play games for hours while Lance sat behind her, trying out various hairstyles.Keith smiled and leaned up into Lance, kissing him before he said, “Someday Lance will be the best stylist in the world ... IF he learns to be more gentle, first.”Lance blushed at being kissed, then said, softly, “Okay, okay, point taken. You know I’d never intentionally hurt you, babe.”Keith started to kiss him again, slower this time, more earnest, and Hunk and Pidge looked at each other in embarrassment. Hunk quickly cleared his throat and stood up, with Pidge following suit, as he said,“Uh, Pidge and I just came by to see if you had an extra controller for us to borrow.”Lance separated himself from Keith went to a little drawer across the room, fishing out the desired object and handing it to Pidge. “Thanks,” she said, tucking it into her pocket. She grabbed Hunk’s sleeve and began tugging him in the direction of the door. “Goodnight, guys. See you tomorrow.”“‘Night,” they both called after them. Lance watched as Pidge and Hunk fairly sprinted down the hall, his face twisting up in confusion before he shut his door again and rejoined Keith on the bed.“What was THAT all about?”Keith shrugged. “I have no idea. But did you see how weird their faces looked when they came in here?”“Yeah. You know what I think it is? Jealousy.”“What are they jealous of?”Lance put his arms around Keith, cuddling him close. “Jealous because I have the most prettiest, most bestest boyfriend in the whole universe, that’s why,” he said, leaning forward to softly kiss his cheek.Keith flushed pink, and smiled. “I think it’s the other way around, actually. Now let me up; I’ve gotta get ready for bed.”Lance reluctantly let go of him, sighing. “But I don’t want you to go.”“Who said I was going? I’m just gonna put on my pajamas, that’s all,” Keith explained, standing and fishing his small carry-on bag from beneath Lance’s bed.“You’re gonna stay with me? I can snuggle you all night?!”, Lance exclaimed excitedly.Keith nodded, walking to the bathroom to change. He paused in the doorway and added, “I will, so long as you take the braids out first. I can’t sleep with these things in my head.”“If it was up to ME, you wouldn’t be sleeping at all,” Lance muttered quietly. Keith stuck his head back out of the door. “You say something?”Lance shook his head. “Nope. Hurry and get changed; I’m cold without you.”As the door shut behind Keith a second time, Lance shook his head and smiled to himself. All of that ‘stuff’ could wait until they were both ready for it. Right now, it was more than enough, just to sleep in each others’ arms.