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Lance was a goof, widely known and stated by anyone who'd ever been in his presence for more than 30 seconds or ticks or any other miniscule amount of time.
Keith was well aware of this fact, often driven to the very brink of insanity by his habits and quirks.
Which made it all the more curious when he'd caught himself thinking about their difference in height after a bout of teasing, and his train of thought after took a rough turn to 'how far would I have to stretch to kiss him?'
Keith ran a hand over his face. And stood from where he was cleaning his Bayard to suck in a huge breath and bounce on the balls of his feet a few times. This was not cool.
Keith could not... like lance, nope. No way was that happening, to many issues with the team and, and... Other things there would be problems with. Definitely.
Fuck. Keith was so screwed.
____
Keith spent the next week doing his utmost to ignore the fond burn in his chest whenever lance made a bad pun or grinned smugly at every slight 'triumph' over Keith (i.e. finishing his food goo first, the pimple Keith got on his hairline).
The red paladin couldn't help the slight chuckle slip from his lips when lance slid down the hall in his socks and underwear humming 'old time rock 'n roll.' though it was quickly masked with a scoff.
What a weirdo.
Keith sighed as he trudged down the corridor to the kitchen, hoping for the improvised food goo that hunk made. Keith lived for it.
He was not, however, greeted by a cheerfully humming hunk but instead a grumbling lance who'd found a tee shirt some where and was digging through the fridge with his rear in the air. Good Lord is that sight for a poor mullet haired boy to walk in to.
Lance must've heard his boots tapping lightly in the hard floors because he peeked behind him and crinkled his nose before turning back to the fridge.
"Why is there nothing in the space-fridge, it's breakfast. Hunk is seriously slacking today."
Keith forced his eyes from the slight strip of skin that was revealed between the boxers and shirt.
"Lance, you'll just have to eat the normal goo for now," Keith said as he made his way around lance to grab a bowl and the goo hose.
"But the food goo is gross. Hunk c'mon!"
Keith sighed and sat his bowl on the counter, propping himself on his left forearm while he shoveled food with his right, though with more manners than lance at least.
Said teenager wilted against the counter next to him and moaned, the sound twisting Keith's gut.
"Lance, why don't you go ask hunk to make you something if you're going to be this needy?"
Lance looked at him as though he'd just suggested lance should have a nice romantic date with zarkon.
"Keith, mullet, koga-fett, red padawan. Do you know how far away hunks room is?"
Keith sneered at the nicknames, unamused by the fact lance was making fun of his lack of pop-culture knowledge.
Lance didn't wait for a reply, instead putting on a look of awe and staring at Keith through wide eyes.
"It's two corridors down. Two corridors!"
Keith simply continued to watch as lance bobbed his head, as if he thought Keith was staying silent in agreement. Lance carried on with his rant, gesturing wildly as he complained about the size of the castle.
Keith sucked down his food, tossed the bowl in the sink and hightailed it, throwing a quick 'gotta train' at lance who was making high, offended squeaking noises.
He sounded like a mouse, which was almost as cute a thought as the actual action was annoying.
Well, Keith did have to train, but he wasn't sure that sweating out you feeling was possible so he just fought the simulations until he was to tired to think about them.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was a few days later that lance started acting weird, acting a little more on the annoying side than on the offensive side. A sudden increase of bad jokes that Keith was afraid to assume we're pick up lines, lance asking to train together.
It was very weird. And suspicious.
It was during one training session, in which Keith had not been having a very great day when lance seemed to explode.
"Jesus Keith, what is your problem? I know we're sparring but could you take it down a notch!?"
Keith reciprocated, tired after so many battles and so many arguments with lance and so much hiding
"Just because you can't keep up doesn't mean I should slow down lance."
"Fucking- Keith would you chill? I just don't want to end up with a broken rib or something just because you hate me."
Lance let out a frustrated growl and if Keith were in a better mood he may have tried to correct lances assumption.
"I'm not the one always throwing insults and pestering the entirety of the universe with shitty 70s music."
Keith stormed out, lance still looking mildly peeved.
What a fantastic fucking day.
____
Keith spent the rest of that day in his room, mostly cleaning his suit and his Bayard, working on little things he had in his room. Though there wasn't much for him to do, considering his schedule consisted of training, cleaning his Bayard, hanging out with red and arguing with lance.
He spent his evening laying in bed and thinking about the argument, which had been much worse than usual.
He figured, yes, it was partially his fault, if he hadn't been so merciless lance wouldn't have gotten mad and then, okay, yeah he didn't have to go and insult lance like that, it was pretty harsh.
He was starting to kind of figure that he should apologise when there was a solid knock on the door and of course his first thought is 'lance is here' and then he realised that it's dinner time and it was most definetuly not lance after the way Keith had treated him.
He got up and opened the door, groaning at the sight of shiro's unhappy and expectant posture.
"Keith."
Aww crap the dad voice.
"You and lance had an argument?"
It would have been a question of he hadn't said it so accusingly.
"A little one, maybe."
Keith's gaze was anywhere but on shiro and he kept his arms folded, ready to defend.
"Really? Cause he's training. Really working the simulator."
That had Keith on edge, lance rarely trains outside of team exercises, and with Keith.
"Yeah, well he needs it."
He kicked himself for saying that, especially to shiro of all people.
The older man heaved a great sigh and looked at Keith expectantly.
"You better fix this Keith, I don't care what you do, but we can't let your and lances rivalry get in the way of the team."
Keith groaned and mumbled a 'whatever' as shiro pushed out of the teens doorway, allowing Keith to slam it shut.
He needed time to think.
____
It was three days of dodging shiro's glares and lance's existence before anything happened, and Keith is not petty enough to claim the move as his own.
He'd been reading an altean book that was translated ever so helpfully by his lion when a faint noise tickled his ears.
First instinct was to grab his bayard, which he did, but dropped it not long after when he recognised the sound.
He pondered only for a moment before deciding to check it out.
And boy was it not what he expected.
Sort of.
Lance was stood outside with some kind of small speaker in his hand. He had light dust of pink across his face and was appearantly finding it hard to look Keith in the eyes.
And boy did Keith follow that example.
Pink ears and all Keith glanced down the hallways and up at the ceiling before huffing and giving in, the light, cheery tune of the song he didn't recognise making him anxious.
"What are you doing lance?"
The Latino boy shrugged and stepped a little closer, so that they were at a socially acceptable talking distance.
"Apologising, I'm not entirely sure what for, but I am-"
Keith cut him off, just slightly annoyed that lance had needed to prompt him this way in order to apologise.
"No, it's totally my fault. I know hand-to-hand is not your strength, I should have apologised sooner."
Lance looked a little surprised, and it made Keith feel worse that he hadn't expected Keith to apologise.
The taller boy shook it off though, and glanced at him again, this time more sheepish.
"Okay, well I also wanted to say that I'm sorry that I've been so annoying. I really haven't been trying to, and I know that that you... Ugh," there was a moment where lance tilted his head back and squeezed his eyes closed in a grimace. It was a look Keith would not be forgetting.
Lance started back up, abruptly throwing his gaze back to Keith.
"Keith I like you. A lot. And I know that you're probably not interested in me and I get that, but that why I've been so annoying. It's not that I was- ugh... I was flirting," the last word was forced out and Keith could only watch lances face become redder and redder as he stayed silent.
He maybe stared a bit to long because lances face fell and his body caved in, shoulders hunched over and it reminded Keith that lance was actually here in front of him and confessing.
"Lance," Keith stepped forward, standing a measly foot away from the other boy, "I, uh... I like you too."
He looked up at lance from under his bangs, face completely red and a stubborn frown still etched in his face. His eyes, though, still looked hopeful and that was all lance needed to pull him into a warm, tight hug.
Lance sighed happily into Keith's hair, sending tingles down his spine as he tucked his face further into lances neck, wrapping his arms loosely around lances narrow waist.
Keith was utterly content standing in the steril white hall wrapped around and tucked into lance mclain.
"So, your room or mine?"
Of course it wouldn't last forever.
Keith scoffed as he pulled away and turn to go to his room.
"So yours," Keith didn't have to look to know lance was wearing a shit eating grin.
Keith heard the second pair of steps and shut the door the moment he was in the room. He was very happy with the muffled whine that came from the other side of said door.
Oh yes, Keith could content himself with this.