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Lance tries really, really hard not to stare.His attempts at restraint are unfairly thwarted by Keith, and the look of sheer, unadultered ferocity on his face. There’s strands of black hair falling in front of his eyes, he has a case of helmet head that only makes Lance want to rake his fingers through his hair even more. There’s blood dripping from his nose, and Keith wipes it away while setting his jaw. Keith, in his rawest moments, pinning a Galra (who Lance sort of wishes he could switch places with) to the floor with an insanely attractive smirk and glistening flash of Keith’s slightly overgrown canines is just about the sexiest thing Lance has ever seen.Allura puts a hand on his shoulder, scaring the absolute shit right out of him. “Oh holy fu—hey Allura.”“Lance, I love you, and under any other circumstance I would die for you, but I will not help you if you get knocked to Altea’s moons and back because you’re ogling Keith.”He doesn’t even have time to feign offense, because a Galra soldier launches himself with at Lance throat with every intent to knock him to Altea’s moons and back. Lance ducks out of the way, sending the Galra tumbling to the ground. Lance is ready by the time he gets back up, shooting the soldier through the stomach with his rifle. (A while ago, he might’ve thrown up. The first time he took a life he cried for three days. He doesn’t really have the liberty to think about what his mamá would say each time he kills someone).“That’s cold, Allura, and I was absolutely not ogling Keith, so jot that down.”“You were staring at him for almost a full minute,” Allura’s voice softens. “Lance, you need to tell him how you feel. This isn’t good for you—”“Nuh-uh, ‘Llura,” Lance shoot a glare devoid of any venom at Allura. “Later. I’m saving the universe.”She just hums amusedly, and Lance smiles despite the teasing. After the mission, Lance is forced to retreat. He can’t have a moment of reprieve before Keith’s vicious smile was in his head again. Or those violet eyes, that flash yellow in a fleeting second, that hold all of Keith’s anger, or all of his joy. The huskiness of Keith’s voice, the growls that curl his lip as he launches himself at a very unfortunate opponent. And that god forsaken smirk, one that leaves Lance’s knees weak and face warm. Lance tries very pointedly not to think about Keith’s lips, and how good they might feel pressed against his own.Needless to say, he thinks about them anyways.He sits on a ledge in the castle’s bridge, staring into the empty visor of his helmet. He replays Allura’s advice to him in his head again, about actually telling Keith how he feels, and his stomach lurches unpleasantly at the thought.Now that Keith is with the Blade, the thought of telling him is all the more terrifying. Keith goes out of his way to get on missions with Voltron (even if he won’t admit to it), and without Keith’s stubborn persuasion, Lance is sure that Keith’s specific interaction with Voltron wouldn’t be something Kolivan would require. If Lance tells him how he feels…there’s nothing tethering the two of them together anymore. Keith would snarl at him, Lance’s heart would shatter, his heartstrings would be severed by Keith’s blade, and he would be cut loose.It’s selfish. It’s selfish, and his train of thought would make Allura shake her head, but he can’t do that. He needs Keith, in whatever dosage he can have him.Speak of the devil.The door to the bridge slides open, and Lance snaps his head up in surprise. It’s Keith, who damn well should be on his way back to the Marmora base, stalking towards him with a frankly terrifying pace. Keith presses the button on the side of his mask, and it dissolves to show Keith’s fiercely determined face, his eyes almost fucking glowering at him, and Lance has no clue what he did to deserve this.There’s a surge of panic in Lance’s chest, that Keith knows, that Keith hates him and he’s going to scream his throat raw at Lance because Keith doesn’t fucking love him back. Through the midst of his pessimistic, ridiculous mind, he manages to quietly ask, “Keith?”“Lance,” Keith says, ripping the hood off of his head. Lance swallows, because why the fuck is Keith looking at him like that, like he wants to eat him alive.Lance slides off his seat on the edge of the bridge’s control center, still panicked and confused as Keith presses their bodies together, cups the back of Lance’s neck, and—--and kisses him.Lance freezes, shocked, and Keith’s body stiffens as he moves to pull back, but Lance isn’t letting go of him that easy. His hands move, tangling in the soft curls at the nape of Keith’s neck, and kisses back, fiercely. Their bodies move together from the sheer force of it, and Keith gives a soft groan as Lance’s long fingers tug at his hair, and Lance feels himself being pushed back into the control center, Keith’s body pressed warmly against his.It feels like a blissful eternity before Keith pulls away. Lance chases those lips, mourning the loss of Keith’s warm mouth, especially considering how long he’s waited for a kiss like that.Lance is temporarily caught up in the fact that Keith—Keith is taller than him, just by an inch or two, and as much as he knows he’ll be teased for it, it’s insanely attractive. Keith’s chest is heaving, like Lance just gave him his first breath of air in weeks. He tentatively puts a hand over Keith’s chest plate, a smile curling over his lips.“H-hey soldier,” Lance says, regaining some semblance of his usually suave personality that he lost when Keith had thrown him for an absolute loop like that.“Hey, Lance,” Keith replies, and almost mumbles, “Stop being so damn hard to find.”“Sorry,” Lance’s grin grows. “Not that I’m complaining, because god forbid I complain about a kiss like that, holy shit, but what the hell, Keith?”“Oh, um,” Keith says, apparently going to be sheepish after kissing Lance like a man starved. “I…may have realized some things about…us, Lance.”“No shit, Kogane, but just so we’re clear…what things?”Lance was just teasing, but Keith shudders, and looks down at his feet.“I’m in love with you,” It’s barely above a whisper, but Lance hears it like it’s been screamed at him. “I love you, Lance. It’s burning me up, and I wouldn’t fucking be able to forgive myself if I didn’t kiss you just once.”Lance can’t stop the tears from welling in his eyes, or his jaw from falling to the floor.“I understand if you don’t want me like I want you, but, um. Yeah. I was so frustrated at the thought of never being able to tell you that I…I had to do it.”“Keith, you idiot,” Lance says, breathlessly. “I—holy shit, you have no idea how much I—oh my god.”Lance kisses Keith again, tears flowing down his face that he doesn’t really bother to stop. Keith’s hands rest on Lance’s waist, and Lance chooses to cup Keith’s face.“I love you too, Keith, I…when you came in here, I thought you knew, and by the way you were looking at me it looked like you hated me. Peak romance, Kogane, scaring the shit right out of me.”Keith laughed, like all the weights had been lifted off his shoulders. “I got a little carried away.”“I’m so glad you did, you big sap.” Lance says.“Me too.” Keith’s voice is soft, and Lance can’t help but notice that his face is too. Lance takes a moment to take him in, feeling ridiculously cheesy as he admires the way the stars illuminate Keith’s face. His black hair falls into his face, and his Marmora hood is bunched up around his neck. It’s hard not to kiss him, but Lance doesn’t see the point in trying to hold himself back anymore.Their next kiss is softer, and it fills Lance’s chest up with a saccharine adoration when Keith’s lips move against him like a calm stream, his hands gripping Lance’s hips with no intention to let go.Lance realizes at that moment that Keith actually has no business being here right now, and that Kolivan is probably marching down here to beat both of their asses. Lance pulls back, looking at Keith with a raised eyebrow.“Keith, what are you even doing here right now? I mean, other than to profess your undying love for me, and the fact that you’ve missed my rockin’ body while you were out with the Blade—”“Kolivan gave me leave,” Keith said, cutting Lance off from his teasing.Lance squinted at him. “Sounds kinda fake, but okay.”“Lance,” Keith says, groaning. “The Blade is literally the last thing I want on my mind right now.”“I mean, I know I’m just that irresistible, but there’s not guarantee Kolivan won’t, I don’t know, ground you from seeing me again if you don’t leave.”“He’s not my dad, Lance,” Keith’s nose wrinkled with annoyance. Lance couldn’t help but think it was adorable. “I can go wherever I want to go.”“Until you actually do get grounded,” Lance smiles.“I’ll just get grounded if it means seeing you.” Keith mumbles, a blush dusting his cheeks.Lance coos, pressing a kiss to Keith’s cheek. “Alright, loverboy, if you sleep in my room he won’t ever know you were here. And speaking of sleep, you look dead on your feet.”“I didn’t sleep last night.” Lance pushes off of the control center, looping an arm around Keith’s waist as they walk towards the door. “I was thinking about what you might say.”Lance’s eyes softened at the thought of Keith being so worried over his reaction, just like Lance had fretted about it. It warmed his heart, and he kissed Keith again. “That’s over, and now I get to kiss you off before you leave tomorrow.”Keith smiled sheepishly at the thought. “Yeah, you do.”Lance keyed in the code to the door, only to find Shiro right on the other side.“What the hell, Shiro? Were you listening in?” Keith yelled, almost immediately.“What? No, I was going to go over mission plans for tomorrow! What are you even doing here—” Shiro’s confusion turned to understanding as he saw Lance’s arm around Keith’s waist, and he raised an eyebrow at Keith. This only meant embarrassing teasing, which Lance really didn’t need to hear.“Oh,” Shiro said, and Keith desperately looked for an exit. His brother was going to embarrass the hell out of him, and Keith knew it. Shiro smirked. “So how long have you two been sneaking around like that?”“This is new, actually, and it was fine until someone so rudely interrupted us,” Keith said, Lance struggling to hold his laughs in as Shiro blocked Keith’s attempts to leave.“Now you have to tell me about it, because as your brother it’s my—”Keith turned to mouth the word “run” at him, grabbing Lance’s hand before they both ducked under Shiro’s arm and ran down the hall. Shiro shouted after them, but Keith got too lost in Lance’s giggles to care.Keith slept better than he had in month’s that night, with Lance’s chin resting atop his head and strong arms around his waist. It’s barely four in the morning when Keith slides out of bed to leave. Lance forces himself to wake up so he can kiss Keith off like he promised, vaguely reminding himself of one of those movies where the protagonist’s spouse kisses their lover one last time before they go off to war or something, and Lance hopes the blush on his cheeks isn’t noticeable. They’ve been together less than a day and Lance already thinks of him like that.He supposes that in this war, they don’t have much time to waste.Keith is shrugging on his Marmora gear, sliding his knife into his belt and pulling his boots on with an ease.“Keith,” Lance says softly, in his sleepy voice. But no matter how quiet it is, Keith still turns around, the angles of his face highlighted by the stars out Lance’s tiny window. “You gotta kiss me goodbye, Keith. Like you said.”Keith gives him a half-smile. “Wouldn’t forget it.”Keith walks over to kneel by the side of the bed, and Lance raises himself to press his lips softly to Keith’s. He wraps his arms around him, burying his face in Keith’s neck, and breathes him in.“I love you.”“I love you too, Lance.”“Try to see me soon,” He says, words slurred by sleep.“I will,” Keith says with a kiss to his forehead.The door closes behind Keith, and Lance’s chest is warm with the thought of seeing him again as he falls back into sleep.