The ship they rented was named Inara, and Keith fell in love instantly. Okay, that was an exaggeration. Keith didn't fall in love until about fifteen minutes into the flight back to the castle when Coran cheerfully declared that ship was a right dream to fly and asked if Keith wanted to take a crack at her. And maybe it was the way he liked Inara's slightly temperamental controls, or maybe just because it had been so very long since he'd gotten a chance to fly anything, even poor neglected Red, but Keith sort of refused to give up the pilot's seat after that and insisted on the flying the rest of the nearly hour long flight to the castle himself. As for how much more relaxed he felt afterwards, Keith couldn't even find it in himself to be surprised. It just went to show how much he hated being cooped up in small spaces like they had been recently. Just having that little bit of control that flying the ship gave him, having the power to fly straight on into the sky and away from Elpis or crash them into the ground and kill them all in an instant… Yeah, he didn't have a handle on his life or emotions or anything, but at least at that moment he had complete say over where the fuck he went and that meant a lot right now.
And it's a good thing he did manage to cool his head a little, because a few hours after the lot of them loaded up the ship with wares to bring to their new store Hunk had all but cornered him. Apparently the three they'd left behind had wound up splitting up after they'd made sure they knew how the fuck they planned on getting to the shop every day, Pidge and Lance wandering off to explore the city a while while Allura finalized the last of their official business with Veret. Hunk had been able to contact both of the girls in order to tell them dinner would be ready soon and they should start heading back, but no one had been able to get a hold of Lance yet. Hunk had then proceeded to make it abundantly clear that he expected Keith to be the one to and find him, even though he would have to take a podship the fifteen minute flight back to Concordia's nearest border crossing/warp station and then THEN wander around the streets near the shop for a while trying to locate his errant boyfriend when Pidge was actually still around the city to do so themself. But of course, Hunk had been exactly as present for Keith and Lance's fight earlier that day as everyone else in a five mile radius, and the pointed look on his face when he asked Keith to look for him told more than enough of a story. So Keith set off.
It was kind of nice, being able to wander around Concordia by himself. He was already used to watching his own back, so it wasn't so hard to keep his guard up when he only had to be aware of his own location and not his plus seven other people. This meant he could spend more of his attention on the city itself, vibrant and dirty and beautiful in a way that a lot of the too-technologized metropoli of the civilized universe tended to fail at, all cold and sterile in their robotic cleanliness. Yeah, as far cities went, Keith liked this one.
The streets and walkways were color-coded along with being labeled, so even with their inability to read Elpisian it was surpisingly easy to navigate. There were childish-looking maps randomly posted like those in shopping malls and incredibly distinct landmarks like the giant pond full of fish people taking up three blocks of the upper west side, so even though Keith's directions had been more or less along the lines of "follow the blue path up to the four story building and then leave on the second floor to yellow street that travels over the dog park," he had managed to actually find his way around without too much difficulty.
He found the empty street stall they'd be occupying by the time Elpis's red sun set, the blue one rising to take its place like the spinning hands of a clock. And Keith knew enough about cities to be pretty sure they'd been set up in the slums, the brick buildings cracked and holographic billboards flickering in and out of life in the sky the first signs of disrepair as the surroundings grew almost imperceptibly shadier. That alone was enough to set Keith back on edge, a new concern for the disappeared Lance growing where he'd at first been sure his boyfriend had just gotten distracted and lost or ignored his communicator.
It was somewhere near the small jelly man loudly selling something called paopu oil (3) that Keith heard the familiar sound of laser fire. He stilled, listening carefully for more sound. The area he was in wasn't crowded by any means, but there was still enough noise form the passing traffic overhead that he had to strain his ears, only hearing another shot nearly a full minute later and no other signs of any struggle, which should have been audible if the quiet sound of the gun had been. He headed towards the sound, hoping it was someone who happened to have a gun that sounded similar to Lance's bayard, or some other sort of laser being fired for some other non gun-y purpose, casting his eyes around his surroundings as he headed deeper towards the empty ghettos of the run down neighborhood, the tangle of buildings growing less organized and more familiarly shambled like the slums of any city on Earth.
It didn't take too much longer before Keith caught a flash of light overhead, and he followed the line of fire to one of the abandoned rooftops of a short two-story building, a small space overshadowed by the ten-floor apartment building it stood next to. Half-hidden in the shadows cast by the complex next door was a hunched figure that could easily be Lance-shaped, and Keith followed the path of the next careful shot fired to see no enemy or person if any kind. Instead being fired upon was the cracked and fuzzy screen of a giant, wall-sized television repeating an infomercial where a regally dressed geruda woman was giving the same speech ad infinitum. But if it was Lance - and it probably was considering how many human-shaped aliens wielding laser rifles there probably were wandering around this area - then why the hell was he shooting at a TV?
He nearly jumped at the sound of a small explosion somewhere behind him, and Keith whirled around to look for the source. But the only response was an alarm going off and someone screaming "God damn it, Roberto," and even stranger still Keith was now pretty sure he heard an entirely different gun coming from back the direction he'd came from near their shop. Actually, that was probably the gun Keith had heard in the first place considering how far away he'd wandered to get to here, and just what the hell kind of neighborhood was this?
He turned back to the TV, trying to decide if there was any particular reason this particular gun was being shot at this particular screen today. The well-dressed geruda took up most of the screen's image, so it took a second glance for Keith to notice the lettering that blinked and scrolled and waved along the bottom of the screen in patterns that probably made sense if you knew Elpisian. He watched the slow shots as they hit the image, each one fizzing uselessly off the screen in a tiny burst of static that rippled in harsh lines all through the picture. And slowly, Keith realized that the firing was nearly perfectly timed, aiming for one specific letter as it made it's not-quite random journey across the bottom of the screen every time the video recycled.
Target practice, he realized. In a street that wasn't even empty, and no one had noticed because the people in this neighborhood just didn't pay attention to that kind of background noise. Which at first Keith thought was pretty friggin' weird, until he remembered how pissed off he himself had been a few hours ago and how the only reason he'd calmed down at all was an hour of commandeering the cargo ship to fly at unsafe speeds in directions only vaguely similar to their actual destination. Maybe Lance had needed his own… catharsis.
Keith turned his gaze back to the other roof, trying to find a path down to the street he was on. There was an odd ladder attached to the side of the building just across the small alley the street split into, and while Keith was not a hundred percent sure it could lead across to the next building seven feet away he figured it was a good a place to start as any considering Concordia's layout was so much like a video game map. Who know what even led where in this place.
When he reached the roof courtesy of the ladder rungs which slid down to meet his grip in a disconcerting way, he was close enough to confirm that it was in fact Lance he was looking at. Crouched low on the nearly hidden roof with his lower body tucked in the shadows, and Keith was quick to notice he had indeed taken off the ridiculous coat of his while he was shooting. Only to realize that the jacket was folded into a square and tucked halfway underneath Lance, cushioning where his elbows where they were propping him up on the hard rooftop. There were… a lot of other things to notice, once the image in front of Keith really set in.
While Elpis had two suns and no discernable night time, not even a city like this could run everything 24/7. Business hours and sleep cycles demand that the geruda pick time to call night, and it made perfect sense to choose the dimmer hours of the blue sun's reign. The light it gave off was less bright and harsh than it's crimson counterpart, turning the sky a pale mint green and casting the shadows long and blue-tinted like the world was caught perpetually in the early hours of dawn. Even the burning bright red sands were dulled into a burgundy by the green night, turning the bright palette of the city into soft cool tones that almost made it seem like the air wasn't exactly as fucking hot and dry as it always was.
The skyway just a few hundred feet overhead of them was purple, its guiding lights casting a violet glow to everything underneath it, and Keith decided that the array of colors complimented Lance well. From his place maybe fifteen feet away or so Keith was close enough to watch the expression on Lance's face, brow tight in concentration as he peered one-eyed through the lens of the wire glasses Pidge had fashioned into his sight scope and his hair a bit mussed out of place where Keith had gelled it back earlier like he'd been unthinkingly running his hands through it. Every time the video recycled the TV across the street flashed its cerulean background, casting Lance's face in a bright blue light for a few seconds at a time, the monotony of the advert's pattern broken by the briefest flickers that were Lance's shots, each small light fast and faint like a firefly charging across the sky.
Firing his gun also complimented Lance well, actually, in a very visual sort of sense. Maybe it was that rare focus shining in his eyes, but it was a very good look on him. Lance really was one handsome son of a bitch, wasn't he? With his jaw and his eyes and his… augh, stop it. He should just stop with his face.
It wasn't really a striking in-your-face kind of handsome like Shiro, though. Keith's first impression of Lance had hardly been flattering and hadn't involved his looks at all - to spite Lance's outrageous efforts, he tended to leave an absolutely terrible impression on anyone he first meets. It was only later on, with careful observation and actual human interaction that one could see Lance wasn't a huge useless douchebag; that there was someone really worthwhile under all that awful swagger.
It had taken Keith himself the effort of actually looking to find that decency. He'd known that someone the Blue Lion had gone so far out of her way to specifically choose as her paladin couldn't be as much of a prick as he'd seemed, and Lance asking him out out of nowhere had only cemented the certainty that there must be more to him than he'd let on. And so Keith had looked for the good in Lance. And… Keith had found it. Had found plenty of it, more than he could even have ever expected.
Lance had a way of bringing humor and levity to nearly any situation, even the ones that really didn't call for it. And Keith had found it endlessly annoying in those first few weeks as paladins, how Lance never seemed to take anything seriously no matter how grave the predicament they would wind up in. And this obviously was still true on occasion, but now Keith could also see the effect it had on other people around them. To aliens who had spent their whole lives oppressed and afraid, meeting the paladins of Voltron may have been a symbol of hope and security, but it was Lance who continued to humanize them time and time again. Keith and Shiro and Pidge and Allura all had the habit of taking their missions too formally and too seriously, but having Lance break the tension with ridiculous declaration of his superiority had a way of putting strangers at ease instead of making them uncomfortable. He was just… so silly, how could they be afraid of these ten-thousand year old warriors if the tall skinny one was flirting unabashedly with the first cute local he could find? Lance reminded everyone they were above all, still just people.
He did that for the paladins as well, of course. Lance ceaselessly and effortlessly continued to remind them all that no matter what else might be true they were all still a bunch of underqualified overworked teenagers, and that no matter how important this war was they still all had to take breaks to do normal goddamned human teenage things like fall asleep watching TV and fighting each other over games they had to make up their own rules to.
Keith had seen the way Lance acted differently the fewer people were in the room. The individual ways he interacted with each of the people on the ship, and how even in these small daily interactions Lance managed to continue to be thoughtful and sweet almost as if by accident. The way he never let Hunk get a chance to get lonely, so constant Lance's presence by his side even after dating Keith had started sucking up his time. How he gave Pidge an excuse to indulge in her childishness, being silly and petty and crude with each other just to prove they could be efficient paladins even if they decided not to be mature a hundred percent of the time (or ideally, as seldom as possible.) The fact that he never let the age gap or leadership role separate Shiro too much from the rest of the paladins, dragging him into card games they always ended up gambling on and intentionally trying rile a fight out of him just because he thought Shiro getting mad enough to curse him out was the funniest thing in the universe(4). How where Allura had failed to find a sister in Pidge Lance had somehow slipped in to fill that gap instead, going together to explore every new planets marketplaces for shopping and talking about fashion frequently enough that Keith doubted their current costumes matching was in the least bit coincidental. The hours on end he'd spent with Coran watching old Altean soap operas in the background of all of the rooms of the castle they were still meticulously cleaning one by one.
Before he could even be aware he was thinking about it memories came to mind of the way Lance looked at Keith. His half-worried smile last night when he'd pulled Keith into dancing with him. That proud little snicker he'd give when their eyes met just after pulling something insane off in training; sharing a quick smile of acknowledgement with one another before diving side-by-side back into combat. The smug little cat grin he'd get when he agitated Keith into another rant or argument, and the satisfied twinkle lighting his eyes whenever he pulled out another secret Keith hadn't meant to tell anyone ever but had ended up telling Lance.
Yeah, Keith had noticed plenty of things. Keith had seen the way Lance acted when he thought no one was watching. And when he let all of his guard down and thought he was really alone Lance looked… small. Sad and afraid and lonely, trying too hard and desperate not to be left behind. Trying to find a place in a group he was already responsible for holding together.
Any of the last traces of anger drained from Keith as easily as letting it fall from his hand, and in its place Keith felt heavy. The increasingly familiar guilty drop of Keith's heart as it swelled big too in for his chest to contain, breath expelling out in a shaky sigh. Keith knew Lance felt like that, but what had he ever done to help? To make Lance feel better about himself, to reassure him that he was wanted and needed? Had he ever managed to help Lance when he was feeling down, the way Lance did for him? Give Lance that beautiful-safe-warm feeling that made the whole world fall away around them like Lance could do for Keith? Had just done the very night before when Keith was at his worst?
Watching Lance, still tense under the blue and violet glow of the city, Keith had the sinking feeling the answer was no. Maybe… Maybe their relationship wasn't just bad for Voltron. Maybe he wasn't even good for Lance.
The idea of breaking up once again surfaced, brought up from looming ever-present and unignorable in the back of Keith's mind. The side of Keith that was certain it was what was best for everyone assured him that they'd both get over it in time, but… But at the same time, it was already way too late. Keith had already figured out who Lance really was, right? He couldn't unsee all of the things that had so endeared him to Keith in the first place. Lance would still be Lance even if they weren't dating, and Keith couldn't go back to how it was before because… Because he'd never be able to feel the way he used to about Lance again. Keith couldn't just unsee how beautiful he was.
Aw, man. Everything sucked. Everything sucked and Keith wanted to kiss his boyfriend.
Keith of course, being the trainwreck of a person he was, managed to continue standing there doing nothing for several long minutes. Turned his attention from Lance to the screen he was aiming at, watching the light of his shots burst against the flashing letters. Actually, now that he was really looking Lance seemed to be hitting quite a few of them, even just as they rapidly appeared against the blue backdrop. How did he know when and where they were going to show up when Keith still couldn't read the pattern himself? Were his reflexes getting that fast or had he just been sitting here long enough to memorize it?
"Nice shooting there, Hot stuff!" Lance startled visibly at Keith's shout, nearly dropping the gun from his hands as his head whipped around to find the source of of the compliment.
"Keith?" Lance asked, sitting up and blinking in confusion for a moment before he remembered the glasses still distorting his vision and pulled them up to rest above his forehead and rubbed at his eyes. "What are you doing here? I thought you went back to the ship with the other guys?"
"Uh, I did, yeah," Keith raised an eyebrow, shifting his weight to put a hand on his hip. "A couple of hours ago. Hunk sent me to find you so you wouldn't miss dinner."
"Wha?" Lance looked even more confused than before, starting to get to his feet. "No way, it's only been like, twenty minutes," he tried to argue as he stood up, only for his knees to wobble out underneath him so that he had to catch himself to stop from dropping straight to the ground. He looked down at his legs like he genuinely couldn't understand why they'd gotten stiff, then up at the now green sky around them with a betrayed look like he couldn't believe the world had been so rude as to continue revolving when he wasn't paying attention. "Or… maybe a bit longer than that," he amended uneasily. He looked back to Keith, his expression still tense and wary like he hadn't decided if he was done being angry yet. "How did you even get up there?"
Keith shrugged. "I don't know, I climbed? How did you get over there?"
Lance looked around himself, once again uncertain. "Uh… I'm not, uh. Sure. Meet you at the bottom?"
The silent break between them while they scrambled back to the street was too long, long enough that Keith couldn't manage to find an opening for conversation once they started walking back towards the warp station. Lance, it seemed, had decided he was not quite done being annoyed with Keith yet, letting the uncomfortable quiet simmer around them.
Which, fine. Keith had been the one to start this fight, he could be the one to finish it. A man took responsibility for his actions.
Awkwardly, he cleared his throat. "Uhhh," he began eloquently. "Sorry for. You know, uh. Not telling you what I wanted or expected from you and then spazzing out when you couldn't read my mind." Nailed it.
Keith was only looking from the corner of his eye, but the surprise on Lance's face was visible. Clearly not having expected Keith to actually apologize so quickly, he squirmed a little. "Yeah, um. No problem." His brows furrowed together like he kind of wanted to still be angry but now had no choice but to make up since Keith had put his foot forward. "Sorry for. Spazzing out right back at you, I guess," he finished stiffly.
The silence settled around them again. It was still awkward. Keith probably had not apologized well enough yet. "It's… I just get..." He sighed, started again. "It's not that I want to hide the fact that we're together as much as, I feel like it's really important that we keep up our appearances right now. There's something about the Merchant's Guild that seems… threatening, and the idea of that skeevy guy knowing that we, um. Care about each other was… too unnerving to handle."
Lance gave Keith a side-eyed look of his own, but his frown didn't look angry. Just… Resigned, maybe? "And why can't us dating just be part of our space pirate disguises?"
For fuck's sake, don't just say we're in disguise in the middle of - Keith shoved down the voice of reason as it tried to pick another fight. Fished around for a way to explain this that Lance would understand. "It's like… You know how superheroes have secret identities? And how it's not actually to protect them, but the people around them who they love so they can't be used against the hero? I was sort of thinking like that."
Lance seemed not to find the metaphor pleasing. "So, what, you're Batman and I'm Vicki Vale, and you're staying away to keep me safe?"
Keith frowned. "No, I was thinking more like, I'm Batman and you're Green Arrow so we BOTH have to shut up. Like. Double the secrets."
"Batman and Green Arrow never made out," Lance scoffed. "They're billionaire buddies." He let a small silence pause him while they walked. "Superman, maybe. I'd believe Batman and Superman have made out before. Have you ever read some of their crossover comics? Some of that shit gets downright romantic."
Keith tried to remember how Batman and Superman interacted, but could only recall stiff arguments and at best, awkward friendship. "I only ever watched some of those Justice League cartoons on TV. But I guess if you say so?" At least the superhero metaphor had distracted Lance out of his huff. Maybe it had worked and he had understood Keith after all?
When Keith looked back over at Lance as they reached the line to use the nearest elevator, he didn't look like he was still mad. Not happy, either; more like he was thinking things over, which was good as far as Keith was concerned.
Eventually, Lance grinned. "Or, if I'm Green Arrow like you said, then you'd be Black Canary. They've waaaayyyyyy made out."
Black Canary? The blonde girl in the the leather jacket? Keith had only remembered her in one episode, but `er was pretty sure it had involved her taking on an entire warehouse of bad guys bare-fisted. "Okay, you say that like it's supposed to be teasing me, but I remember Black Canary and she's a badass, so. I'm gonna take that for the compliment it so clearly was."
Lance actually laughed, slinging an arm around Keith's shoulders. "You just can't let me stay mad at you, can you, Pretty Bird?"
--
They only had a few hours of free time in between dinner and the round of evening training Allura had scheduled for them, and Keith would normally spend that extra time on the training deck warming up before the others got there to join him. Tonight, however, Keith figured he should probably make sure he and Lance were really okay, and followed the other paladin back to his room for… well. Cuddling, mainly.
They were once again tangled on Lance's bed, Keith settled in between Lance's knees with his back to him so that Lance could play with his hair. For all that he insulted the way it looked Lance certainly did seem to love Keith's hair anyway, considering he was always getting his hands on it at every available opportunity. Not that Keith really minded, if he was going to be perfectly honest. Since Keith had never had parents and always cut his own hair, he'd never had anyone touch his hair pretty much period until Lance. He didn't know if it was just the lack of exposure but the action always felt outrageously intimate, every little touch still capable of sending shivers down his spine no matter how much time Lance spent running his hands through it.
Keith, when he wasn't distracted by the feeling of Lance's fingernails dragging softly against his scalp, was playing with his phone. Not Keith's phone - he only ever had a drugstore burner and he hadn't brought that into space with him. But Lance had had his on him, and so Keith was messing around with it now while Lance idly worked his hair into braids.
Lance didn't actually have all that much on his phone, Keith soon realized. There were a couple of games but less photos than he'd have expected, and to his utter astonishment there only seemed to be about sixteen songs on there. Most likely, everything was stored somewhere else like a laptop or harddrive somewhere back on Earth.
What he found in his photos seemed to all be recent as well. There were a couple of pictures of people that had to be Lance's family, but for the most part all of the pictures were from and of the Garrison and people in it. The most recent photos of all were even form here in space, but those were all familiar to Keith by now because at some point Lance had found a way to print some of them out so that he could cover the walls of his room with pictures of planets they've been to and people they've met. None of these older pictures were decorating his walls, though - Keith had a feeling it was because being surrounded by things from Earth would just make him homesick - and so Keith had never seen any of the photos going further back. There were a lot of pictures of students, ones Keith recognized and ones he didn't, freinds Lance had made all smiling at the camera. He really was good with people, wasn't he? Made friends so easily. Even with Pidge, who still kind of hates Lance.
And then there was a flash of white and pink so startling Keith nearly dropped the phone, it slipping out of his hand as he jolted back harshly against Lance and nearly knocking their heads together. "Whose tits are these?!"
"Huh?!" Lance's cry was sharp with surprise, but it didn't last for long. After just a moment, his tone turned embarrassed and contrite as he answered, "Oh, yeah, uh. That'd be Alyssa." Without bothering to ask, Keith deleted the photo as Lance looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, that's… That's fair. You can delete that. I haven't looked at it in months anyway."
"Oh really now," Keith said flatly. Not that he thought his boyfriend to be a liar, it was just simple reason. A teenage boy lost in space with no internet access has a picture of boobs and hasn't looked at it? He'd have to have been as gay as Keith to resist that. Especially considering they'd only started having sex what, last week?
One of Lance's hands fell to wrap around Keith's torso, settling low on his stomach. "Yeah, well. A while back I realized I couldn't quite remember what her face looked like anymore, and then it was just kind of creepy to look at it, you know? Since the picture's uh. Neck down and all."
Which as far as answers went was probably a fair one. Keith still shifted uncomfortably in Lance's embrace. "Why didn't you just delete it right then?"
"Well, I mean, it was a gift, you know? When a girl sends you a naked picture she's like, honoring you with the privilege of gazing upon her loveliness. It would have been rude to just throw it out."
"Well, I already deleted it."
"Which is fine!" Lance insisted, voice high. "You're my current boyfriend, so you definitely have the right to do that without disrespecting anybody. So. That's that." His other hand dropped to join the first around Keith's waist, pulling him to Lance's chest like he was afraid Keith would fly away if he wasn't being held down.
The weird tone to Lance's voice still left Keith unsettled, but he supposed it was all over and done with at this point. And finally Keith realized that maybe what had unsettled him was one odd fact. "Who is Alyssa? You said you've only had three girlfriends, and I remember their names were Priya, Monique and Ann."
"Annette, yeah." Lance agreed. "Alyssa was never my girlfriend, actually. She was a friend of Gwen's, and when she started coming around the house somehow she and I just sort of, um... Yeah," he broke off. "And so we did stuff together a couple of times. But we never went on any kind of dates or particularly talked about anything, it was just one of those… physical sort of deals."
Jesus, Keith had known Lance had more experience than him, but he'd never thought it would even include that kind of experience. He was honestly surprised; he'd thought Lance would be too much of a romantic. Almost against his own will, Keith found himself asking "H- how physical?"
Lance made an awkward procrastinatey sort of groan from the back of his throat. "Completely? She was… a learning experience." When Keith only grew more tense under his arms, Lance sighed. "She was like, a rebound, you know? Something that needed to happen in order for me to get on with my life." One arm left Keith's side long enough for Lance to scratch the back of his head before settling right back around his side. "Did I ever tell you about my first girlfriend Priya?"
"Sort of," Keith shrugged. She had been mentioned maybe twice? He hadn't really kept track of anything other than her name.
"Hm, that's a no, then." Lance sighed. "Okay. So you know I spent a lot of summers down in Cuba at my Aunt Pilar's house, right? Well one summer when I was… God I don't even remember if I was fourteen or fifteen anymore. But I ended up meeting Priya, who was also there on vacation. And she was only there six weeks before her family went back to God-Knows-Where Michigan." He paused, the fingertip of one hand drawing absent circles on Keith's belly as he lost himself in memories. "It was… The kind of thing that could only be a first love, you know?" His voice was wistful and far away when he started again, the distance curling unpleasantly in Keith's chest. "The kind of whirlwind romance you see in movies that could only happen to fifteen year olds because we were just young enough to be so, so sure we knew what love was. We spent every minute of that summer together, and then on the last day right before she left we, ah. Gave our bodies to each other." He huffed a sigh through his nose, before burying his face in Keith's hair. Without lifting his mouth away from the back of his head, he mumbled. "And then I went home, too. And I was heartbroken and thought I'd never feel like that for anyone again because i was young and stupid and didn't know any better, and… Then there was Alyssa. Just. Right there in our house, whenever my sister had friends over."
"I think I can see where this is going," Keith muttered.
"Yeaaahhhh." Lance agreed, and the long huff of his breath against Keith's neck sent a fresh shiver down his spine. "At first it was exciting, you know? I had only been with a girl one time and had been too nervous to even enjoy it. But with Alyssa, I didn't have to worry about hurting her or embarrassing myself in front of her. She didn't care, she just wanted to get hers, and she wasn't gonna laugh or tell anybody. It was nice." He tipped backwards, taking Keith with him as he leaned against the headboard. "Buuuut, it was also different from Priya in a whole different way. Like, it felt kind of empty, you know? Fun, but… Not really the sort of thing I could go around doing casually."
"What, sex is too intimate to do with just anyone, then?" Keith drawled, not hiding the small bite of sarcasm.
Lance shrugged again, and Keith could feel the motion against his back as Lance's shoulders raised and fell. "As it turns out, yeah. Call me a romantic, I guess. Annette and I never got around to having any sex at all, and we were together nearly two months." He paused. "Not Monique, though. She and I were… that was another whirlwind. But not a good one, probably."
Priya, Alyssa, Annette, Monique… Keith felt kind of ridiculous putting his own name in that list next to them. "You sure have been with a lot of girls for someone who doesn't seem to know the first thing about talking to them," Keith was trying very hard not to sound bitter. Maybe he had no right to rag on Lance for being possessive, after all. Pot, meet jealous, angry little kettle.
"Whaaat?" Lance scoffed, "Not even. I mean, anyone can get a girlfriend, it's not actually hard. There is a very large number of girls who are shy and happy to talk to any guy that talks to them, all you have to do is find one of them and actually listen to what she says for like, five minutes and bam! Instant girlfriend." He finally let go of his python grip around Keith, but only as far as using one hand to go back to playing with his hair. "Besides, I bet you had girls and guys both lining up around the block to get a date with you. You're like, 10/10 hot and good at everything you do."
"I'm definitely not a ten and you have to be at least an eight," Keith denied easily. And if he were really good at everything he might ever have any idea how to act or what to say around his own boyfriend, but Keith probably didn't need to say that. "And while you are right about my looks being what got me the dates I did go on, you're also forgetting the part where I was gay and homeless in Texas."
A beat of silence. "Oh. I suppose."
"Yeah," Keith said, tilting his head to the side and letting his eyes slide shut as Lance's fingers teased the hair above his ear. "There weren't a lot of places where I could even afford to be myself, much less find a boyfriend." A flood of bad memories swirled to the forefront of Keith's mind, going back way too far into the past. Hiding the fact that he was gay became a matter of course even before he knew that's what he was or what the word meant.
One memory in particular stood out, and Keith realized with dismay that it was, in retrospect, his first love. Or at least his first crush, anyway, and it had been even worse than whatever Lance and Monique could have been to each other.
Keith had been twelve years old, maybe even a bit less, and he had just entered a new foster home. Raphael had been a couple of years older than him at fourteen, tall and tan and straight out of juvie. When he'd found out Keith was a fair hand at stealing he'd recruited him into a tentative partnership, helping him knick cigarettes and liquor bottles just because it made Raph smile and call Keith an 'impressive fucking little cabron.'
And then, one day Raphael had left the bathroom door cracked open nearly halfway and Keith had by no means INTENDED to look through there in the first place, but he hadn't known what that odd dry, repetitive thwaping sound was and as he'd passed by, and… And he had been twelve years old and made entirely out of angst and confused hormones, and the boy he liked was touching himself right in front of him. Keith had frozen on the spot. mind screaming at him to leave as his body had rooted itself to the ground in panic and uncomfortable arousal, and at some point while Keith stood there staring Raph had opened his eyes and seen him.
A cold chill ran down his spine as the memory replayed itself, Raph's sharp, angry voice calling him a 'pervy fucking faggot.' How from that point on Keith hadn't even been allowed to look at the older boy for too long without it being an invitation to get his ass kicked, because when he had been asked if he was some kind of homo he hadn't yet known the answer was always 'no,' and never, ever, 'I don't know.' The fact that their foster father had at first intervened on a teenager hitting one of the younger kids until he'd found out why and chosen to stay out of their fights because maybe it would be a good incentive for Keith to learn to straighten himself out. And how his wife had only seen fit to help Keith as far as getting him out of that house as soon as possible.
So, yeah. As far as sexual awakenings went, Keith's was pretty much fuck-awful. Good thing the rest of his life had been equally wretched, or that might have really fucked him up sexually. As it was, Keith figured it was pretty much par for the course.
The silence had grown tense again, Keith stiff and lost in thought in Lance's arms. Lance of course noticed, but also knew better than to say anything considering the sensitive subject matter. Just rubbed a soothing hand up and down the length of his arm, and Keith knew he once again probably owed Lance some backstory.
But not that story. Keith never wanted to share that one with anybody ever. What other times had Keith gotten his ass kicked for being gay?
It was sad how fast Keith could pull up a different memory. He cleared his throat, trying to decide where to begin. "So, um… one of the high schools I went to had an LGBTA Alliance. I went there for a while, and that's how I met the guy I went on that first bad date with." He had never actually made friends with anyone, but it had still been nice just to know he wasn't as alone as he felt. "And so when I got kicked out of that school, I figured if I had found more gays besides me once, it couldn't be that hard to do it again. But the next school was Catholic so that wasn't the first place to go looking, and all I could wind up coming up with for ideas was the nearest gay bar."
"Oh, dear."
"It's not… I never actually went inside," Keith explained. "I was like sixteen and never could have passed for old enough to get in even if I'd wanted to. I just…" He trailed off, surprised to find his throat going tight from emotion even after none of this mattered anymore. "I was lonely, and desperate for someone to talk to and I ended up just… hanging out in the parking lot outside pretending I smoked cigarettes in the hopes that someone would ask to bum one off me."
"Jesus," Lance cursed against the back of his hair, although Keith couldn't guess why considering he hadn't gotten to the bad part yet.
"So, at some point this really beautiful woman comes out of the bar and starts walking home. But the bar is right next to an all-night gas station, and a couple of douchey guys come out of there in time to meet her in the street. And they start hitting on her, and she tried to brush them off up until the point where they noticed she had an adam's apple, and then it turns into harassing her instead." Insane accusations about trying to trick men that still made Keith angry just to think about.
"And you… decided it was your business, then, am i right?"
Keith nodded, the motion brushing the ends of his hair against Lance's face. "Yeah, it was not a smart move, tactically. The guys were both around six feet tall and I was even skinnier than I am now, with Tangerine was wearing five-inch stilettos and a pleather miniskirt. We didn't stand a chance."
"Oh my god, Keith!" Lance's cry was appropriately horrified, and the renewed grip around Keith's waist went from python to anaconda.
"I ended up with… three bruised ribs and a shattered hand, I think it was?"
"How can you say that so casually?" Lance whined, burying his face against the back of Keith's neck. "You can just count off bruised ribs from a gay bashing like it wasn't even a big deal!"
A big deal, maybe, but… "Well, as far as fights I've been in go, that was actually one of the more justified ones." Most of Keith's battles had been more for the sake of standing up for himself, but at least this had been one of the few times he'd ever fought for someone else's sake. He could still remember the broken tear-choked voice she'd used to tell him to lie still on his back to keep his breathing steady, the sensation of long orange wig hairs tickling against his face as she hovered overhead and waited with him for the ambulance to show up.
Keith may not have ever had a home on Earth and he certainly had no family to fight for, but… When it came to making sure this war never got far enough to touch their planet, Keith had his own motivations. And maybe it didn't carry the need and conviction the other paladins reasons did, but he had already figured out who he wanted to defend. Kind people like Tangerine and Louisa Jeffries from ninth grade. People who didn't have anyone else that would fight for them. People like Mr. Palmer from the apartment two doors down, who everyone thought was a pedophile just because he was gay but had let Keith housesit for his cats when he went on trips out of town. Even though if anyone had found out he was leaving a fourteen year old little twink like Keith stay there it would probably enough to get him arrested just for that alone, no matter that they'd never both been in the apartment at the same time. Keith may not be able to do anything for them now, but the least he could do was try to keep their stupid planet safe so they could live their lives.
"Actually, come to think of it, that was the last incident before I got sent to the Garrison," Keith said almost conversationally, hoping a change in subject would break the tension. "Since I didn't have a guardian to send the medical bills to and was still a minor, I sort of ended up pretty much being owned by the government."
"How cheerful," Lance said flatly from the back of Keith's neck. "Is there any part of your life that hasn't been absolutely terrible?"
Keith thought about that for a moment. "Well, first I met Shiro," who then died in space leaving Keith alone and half-crazy in the desert. Keith was going to have to do better than that if he wanted to lighten the mood. "...Uh. And I feel like things have been on a real upswing since I got to space." That was more the direction he'd been trying to take that thought. "I have friends now, for one." He bit his lip, hesitating for a moment before shyly continuing, "And, uh… As far as first boyfriends go, I feel like I've gotten… pretty lucky." Pressed right up against his chest like this Keith could feel it when Lance's heartbeat stuttered for a moment at that, and he let a tiny smile curl his lips. With a bit more confidence to lower his voice into what he hoped was a seductive sort of tease, he added, "And even though there are a lot of ways to have really bad gay sex, somehow my first time ended up being kind of amazing, so. There's that."
Lance's hand snaked its way across the bed to find his, curling their fingers together. Smiling directly against Keith's neck, Lance agreed, "Yeah, I… thought it was pretty amazing, too."
Keith squeezed Lance's hand. Having finally gotten the mood back to cuddly instead of tragic backstory-full, Keith let himself relax back into Lance's hold again, finally noticing the phone still in his own hand. It had timed out while they'd been talking, returning to the default lock screen of a picture of Lance grinning at a confused Keith as he pressed their faces together for a selfie. And, to spite Keith's best efforts to enjoy their time together, couldn't fight the passing thought when he saw it wondering if someday there'd be a new girl deleting pictures of Keith off this very phone, and having every right to do so. It unsettled him all the way until evening training
--
It was hours later and Keith was back in his own room after evening training, freshly showered and feeling lighter than he had since he'd had Inara's controls thrumming under his fingers. They'd moved up to fighting against more than one droid, the melee fights Keith preferred and they were more likely to run into for a while yet anyway, and their teamwork was even finally improving. Not good enough to be able to all focus on one enemy without falling into each other, but at least now no one was worried Lance was going to shoot their back or about tripping over Pidge anymore.
He smiled to himself as he slipped into his pajamas, sliding his knife from his belt to its resting place under his pillow. Plus, since Keith had known about Lance wearing himself out earlier that day with target practice, he'd been able to predict how slow he was moving and had been able to match his pace, providing the cover necessary for Lance to line up his shots. And yeah, half of them he still missed, but now the ones that did hit were always dead-on target and that certainly wasn't for nothing. Really, at this rate it wouldn't be long until every shot Lance took could be relied on to be perfect.
Keith was just trying to decide if he was worn out enough to go to bed yet or if he needed to do some push-ups first when there was a knock at his door. Which… was odd, because it was actually fairly late at this point.
When he opened the door it was Lance on the other side, shoulders stooped and eyes a little wild. Keith wasn't quite sure if he was concerned, asking, "Lance? Is something wrong?"
Lance jerked a little like the question surprised him, awkwardly scratching at the back of his head. "No, nothing, um. Everything's fine." He looked away, eyes averted down the hallway. "Look, can I come in?"
"Sure," Keith stepped out of the way of his door, allowing Lance inside after him. He had meant to sit on the bed, assuming Lance was here for them to talk about something, but he was stopped by a hand around his wrist as Lance turned him to face each other eye to eye. "Lance?"
Face to face like this Keith could properly see the expression on Lance's face, and just as he was thinking he knew the particular gleam lighting up those blue eyes Lance was pushing Keith against the wall in a kiss that drove straight past being just forceful to dive into predatory. Even having recognized the blatant lust coloring Lance's face Keith didn't have time to be anything except surprised at first, stiffening as his shoulders hit the wall and Lance used the gasp that broke out of Keith's mouth as an opportunity to shove his tongue inside.
Lance sucked Keith's tongue into his mouth harshly, barley giving Keith time or opportunity to actually like, participate in this kiss at all. For some reason Keith found himself relaxing anyway, arm curling around Lance's lower back to drag their bodies closer together as soon as he realized if he kept just standing there dumbfounded there was a chance Lance might stop. He had no idea what was going on, but when Lance used one hand to pin Keith to the wall by the hip while the other didn't just tangle into his hair but straight up fisted it tight enough for Keith to feel the sharp pull against his scalp he decided that whatever was up with Lance Keith was TOTALLY onboard for. This was… Jesus, this was hot.
Lance's teeth scraped against the top of Keith's tongue before biting down, and Keith choked on a moan. He tried to put his hand to Lance's shoulder to push him back a little and maybe slow things down a bit, but even that was met with teeth as Lance bit at his bottom lip even while Keith pulled away from the kiss. Lance didn't go very far and Keith didn't try to make him, just let Lance move onto his neck with more violent kisses as he gasped out, "L-lance," in a voice that was already way too unsteady.
That wicked tongue laved at Keith's pulse point, mapping out the place for Lance to sink his teeth in and sucking so hard Keith almost wondered if he wasn't actually trying to drink blood out of him, after all. He jolted, back arching off the wall enough for Lance's hand to slip from his hip around to his backside to grope himself a handful of Keith's ass. Holy SHIT, he wasn't holding anything back, was he? Just barging into Keith's room and taking what he wanted, going at Keith like his body was all his to play with. Theoretically, being pushed around like this should have made Keith's skin crawl, but… Fucking hell, he guessed on occasion, if it was Lance specifically? Good fucking christ, this was sexy. His usually gentle Lance, so good at warming Keith up slowly like a teakettle set to boil, slamming in here and heating Keith up so fast it was like being thrown right into a fire. Keith's toes curled and his fingers fisted in Lance's shirt. Get a man who can do both, right? Fuck.
Still, this was out of character enough that Keith was still a bit worried this might actually be weird, like Lance trying to start a fight or something. "Lance," he croaked. Clearing his throat to make sure his voice came out less wrecked this time, Keith tried again. "Lance, baby, hold up." There was a moan against his throat, at which point it occurred to Keith that might be because he had accidentally just called Lance 'baby,' because apparently terrible nicknames rub off on a person. He ignored it, pushing on to ask "What's gotten into you?" Lance changed his grip on Keith's ass, squeezing hard enough to probably leave bruises and making Keith shudder a little in Lance's embrace. "...Because if you're hopped on on some alien aphrodisiac I think we should move this to the med bay."
Lance finally removed himself from Keith's neck, apparently satisfied with the array of angry red bite marks he'd littered the pale skin of his throat with. "M'not high," he said against Keith's skin, voice low and gravelly from want. "I'm here because of you," the words were hissed almost like an accusation, sharp and low into Keith's ear.
Suddenly Keith was being spun around, and he had to catch himself with arms to stop his face from being slammed into the wall. Lance was on him again in an instant, pressing himself to Keith's back and pinning him there, and Keith was glad he'd gotten his arms in front of his face because at least this way he could hide his moans by biting into his own forearm if he needed to. Before that thought was even processed Lance was talking again, harshly whispering "I was in bed trying to sleep," into Keith's ear, the almost angry edge to the words sending another hot shiver down the length of Keith's spine. Lance rocked his hips, grinding his - oh jesus fuckign christ he was hard, Lance was already hard and his cock was pressing in between the cheeks of Keith's ass through the soft fabric of pajama pants and Keith felt himself join him in that state, his own dick rapidly growing stiff in his tightening underwear. "But no matter how much I tried to ignore it, I could still smell you," he rolled his hips again, rubbing his cock into Keith's ass with so much force Keith could feel the head press hard against his hole as it passed by and that bit of teasing friction really did make him moan, low and shaky against the wall. "Smell your hair on my pillow from when you snuck into my bed this morning," he continued, and also continued that harsh sexy grind against Keith's ass. His voice was low, so low it might not have been audible if he hadn't been biting the words directly into Keith's ear, "And your jizz soaked into my mattress."
Keith shuddered, and the movement of his body shaking against Lance's was so nice he felt his own hips start to rock back to meet Lance's. "M-my…"
Lance stopped moving, hands like vices around Keith's hips and weight heavy against Keith as he kept him pressed to the wall. "What, don't you remember how you came all over my bedsheets last night?"
Fire. Keith was on fire and he was dying and all he could do was just stand there and whimper as Lance groaned into his ear. "...And so it occurred to me," he continued, fingers sliding into the waistband of Keith's pants and underwear and pulling down . "Why the fuck was I jerking off alone in my room when the person who did this to me was in the next hallway over?"
"Okay," Keith squeaked out as he felt Lance pull just far enough away to drop to his knees behind Keith and oooooh fuck what was he doing down there? Weakly, he babbled on, "Okay, that makes sense, then," as Lance directed his legs to spread apart as much as they could with his pants and underwear still bunched at his knees.
The first touch to the soft insides of the top of Keith's thighs was almost tender, Lance's fingers dancing up and down against his skin for a moment before he planted the first messy, open-mouthed kiss. He continued in that fashion, sucking and nibbling at the sensitive flesh between Keith's legs before he was licking him, laving long wet stripes up and down every inch of skin he could taste as Keith shuddered and held himself up with wall, even letting another choked whimper escape when Lance's tongue went so far as to lick at Keith's perineum and the sensitive underside of his sac.
And then Lance was standing up again, and Keith could hear the rustle of fabric as much as felt it against his back as Lance pulled himself out of his own pants and pressed his bare, leaking cock against Keith's naked ass. This time when Lance spoke his voice sounded more desperate than sharp, mouthing at Keith's bruised neck and telling - not asking, but telling and fuck if that wasn't its own kind of hot - "Hey, lend me your body. I'm gonna fuck your thighs for a minute."
Keith groaned and his whole body twitched, starting from his dick. "Kay," he agreed obligingly, and his traitorous body proved it was at least capable of moving as far as changing his footing to bring his legs back together to give Lance a nice, tight place to slip his cock into, popping his hips up invitingly while he was at it. Breath heavy and fast in his pounding chest, Keith reiterated. "Okay, go ahead," in a voice he barely recognized as his own.
Lance didn't take up the offer right away, taking an indulgent moment to grind up in between Keith's ass cheeks again now that there were no clothes separating them. And fuck fuck fuck was that ever not good, because Keith could feel it even more pronounced when the head of Lance's cock brushed past his twitching entrance and the only thing Keith could think when he did was how easy it would be to take Lance inside himself right now and Keith had had no idea how much he wanted it but now he was so, so genuinely tempted to tell Lance to skip over fucking his thighs and just put it in. Somehow the words "Oh god, come on, fuck me, " really did end up escaping his mouth, but Lance had no way of knowing how literally Keith actually meant that and instead pushed his dick into the waiting resistance of Keith's tense, spit-slicked thighs.
Keith bit his lip but Lance's moan was more than loud enough to fill the waiting silence, shaky and broken against Keith's back. Keith tried to squeeze his legs together tighter, squirming against the hard shaft trapped between his soft thighs. Everything between Keith's legs right now was wet and hot and way too sensitive and he shouldn't be getting as much from this as he was but God he liked Lance's cock so much, he could feel how hard Lance was for him and then he started to move, sliding in and out of the waiting space between Keith's legs and even though his thighs weren't sensitive enough to be able to like, get off on this or anything it didn't even MATTER because this was like. Lance's pure, raw sexuality he was laying on Keith here and Keith wanted every second of it.
Lance tried to move slowly at first, fucking Keith's thighs in long, smooth strokes that just left them both shaking and needy. The attempt at gentility didn't last long, and soon Lance was moving against Keith faster and harder, hips pressed right up hard against Keith's ass and breath panting hot and fast against his neck as he fucked himself in between Keith's too-willing thighs hard enough to rock them both against the wall, the only barrier stopping it from slamming into Keith's face being the forearm he was currently, indeed, biting into. Instinctively Keith started to move his own hips, rolling back against Lance in a desperate attempt to somehow get more his cock, slipping it from it's track mid-thigh up to his groin so that now every stroke was rubbing against Keith's balls and the underside of his own dick and even biting his own arm wasn't enough to completely muffle the loud, obscene moan that tore its way out of him.
The fingers digging into his hips turned bruising, and even though it was getting hard to concentrate on squeezing his thighs together the way Lance groaned "Fuck, Keith, feel so good," was more than enough motivation to stay as tense as possible for him. Wanted to make Lance feel good, wanted to keep that hard cock trapped between his legs so tight Lance wouldn't even be able to pull away if he wanted to. "Shit, can't believe the noises you're making," Lance continued, voice choked and broken with lust. "Wish I was inside so badly right now."
"Nnngggaa," What was that? Was that a noise that came out of Keith just now? It couldn't have been. And even if it was there wasn't time for it to matter - Lance's words were somewhere around the sexiest thing Keith had ever heard, had sent a shiver down his spine and even made his ass clench and twitch with the want of being filled. He swallowed a shaky breath of air, surprising himself with how confident his words sounded when he pulled away from his arm to goad, "Y-yeah? You wanna fuck me?"
"Fuck," Lance swore sharply, his thrusts against Keith growing faster and less steady. " Fuck you, Keith, you know I do." He nosed some of Keith's hair aside to get to the back of his neck, into which he bit the next words directly. "Like you don't already know how often I think about bending you over."
Keith whimpered a little, and he couldn't even muffle it in his arm anymore because now that's where his forehead was buried to brace himself where he was currently being slammed against the fucking wall. The weight of Lance's body against his back, the rhythmic bounce of their bodies against each other from the force of his pounding hips, the shallow breaths panting directly into Keith;'s ear… Jesus, he was… Keith was being fucked against a wall right now. This is what it feels like to be fucked against a wall. Yet another thing he hadn't been aware he really, really wanted in his life, but here he was. Here he was and there Lance was, all force and unexpected dominance and Keith could feel how his breath and hips had both started to stutter and speed up which meant he was about to come because of Keith, just from the memory of last night and the heat of his thighs and everything was awesome right now. "Bend me over, huh?" He gasped shakily against the wall, "You mean, kinda like you're doing now?"
Lance wasn't gentle when he came, either, sinking his teeth down hard into the yet-unmarred skin of the nape of Keith's neck. He kept moving even after the first hot splatter of come hit Keith's thighs, fucking himself against Keith's legs in short, shaky thrusts to the sound of a chorus of moans from both of them.
There was a moment where they stayed like that, Lance's weight pinning a still-squirming Keith to the wall while the grip on his hips finally slackened. When he stepped away Keith discovered that his legs were no longer capable of bearing his weight as he slid gracelessly to the floor in a messy, fucked-out heap.
He rested his forehead against the wall as he caught his breath, idly trying to decide if he should start jerking himself off right there on the floor or if he had the patience to make Lance do it for him. Behind him, he could hear his boyfriend stumbling back a few steps and swearing "Jesus christ, look at what a mess you are," in tone that sounded for some reason less sexy now than perhaps genuinely amazed. "What the fuck did I just do? A-are... are you alright?"
"No," Keith said lowly against the wall, because he was not okay. He was aching hard and shaking on the floor and for some reason right now Lance was still talking?? Instead of touching him?? Unacceptable.
"Shit," Lance's voice sounded genuinely regretful for some reason, apologizing, "Shit, Keith, I'm so sorry…"
Keith didn't let him finish or even bother wondering what on earth he was sorry for, having stood up in order to launch himself at his boyfriend and tackle him to the bed in needy kiss. Lance caught him with a surprised "Hmpf!" thumping to land sitting on the bed as Keith crawled into his lap, rubbing his straining erection against Lance's leg meaningfully as he conquered Lance's mouth via kiss.
"Oh," his voice was high in understanding now, and Lance ran his hands up and down Keith's sides softly. "Right, sorry." He broke the kiss to murmur, "Slow down, baby, let me take care of you."
"Don't call me that," Keith complained even as Lance turned them both around to spread Keith out over the bed on his back. Keith took Lance with him, one arm looped around his neck keeping him close enough to still feel his breath against his lips. "I hate that, it's the worst one."
Lance laughed, having to stop to bury chuckles against Keith's neck as he pulled Keith's legs up high to wrap around Lance's waist. "Okay, sweetie, whatever you say."
Keith just rolled his hips up seekingly as an answer, pulling Lance into another kiss that Lance kept far too gentle. For all Keith tried to get things rolling again with the almost desperate jerk of his hips, Lance seemed to refuse to pick up the pace, lazily pawing at Keith keeping the kiss languid until Keith finally had to break it to whine "C'mon Lance, I'm already so hard for you."
Lance shuddered, laying a soft kiss to one of the still-sore bite marks he'd left on Keith's neck. "Yeah, all right. Tell me what you want, honey," He rolled his hips down to meet Keith's. "Tell me what to do to get you off."
Keith grabbed one of Lance's hands from where it drawing light circles on Keith's side. Looked his boyfriend straight and deliberately in the eye, and rumbled "I want you to put your fingers inside me, you fucking tease." Lance's eyes widened, but he didn't shudder between Keith's legs until Keith brought their joined hands up to suck two of Lance's fingers into his mouth.
"Fuck. Fuck, alright, I got you." Lance let Keith keep sucking on his fingers even as he shuffled around, leaning back far enough to to use his free hand to yank at his pants and underwear enough for Keith to get one leg out. Instead of wrapping it back around Lance's waist Keith flung his leg high over Lance's shoulder, opening himself up to exposure as he let Lance's hand slide free from his lips.
Yet still his lover persisted in his wretched teasing, because even when he had a wet finger pressed directly against the tight rim of Keith's entrance he only rubbed gentle circles around the oversensitive ring of muscle that left Keith clenching his eyes shut and trying to stop his hips from trying to fuck down onto Lance's finger himself. "Come on," Keith's voice was a strained whine, shaking like the rest of his body. "Come on, Lance, I know what I want."
Finally, the tip of his finger pushed inside, and the hard strain of the intrusion stretching the taught muscles of his rim open around it as it forced it way inside was so, so fucking perfect after he'd been wanting it so badly that Keith soon felt the leak of precome fall from his aching cock to splatter onto his own belly. "Oh god yes, come on." Squirmed around the tip of Lance's finger, loving the way it felt catching against the sensitive insides but knowing there was still so much he could take. "God, come on, give me more."
Lance buried another chuckle against Keith's collarbone even as he complied and slipped more of his middle finger inside. "You're still so bossy," he laughed, and Keith couldn't even be mad because he was going deeper and Keith's insides were twitching and trying to suck more of him in and he just needed this so fucking bad, you don't even understand. "I fucking love it." It stung a bit since spit was not in fact a proper lubricant, but Lance got the whole of his finger inside and fuck it was so, so worth the wait and trouble to get here because he could feel how much longer Lance's finger was than his own, reaching places he'd never gotten to by himself and Keith could just about die now. "Love how you feel inside, too, holy shit, dude."
Keith's eyes rolled to the back of his head, but not in the fun way. "And don't call me 'dude' when we're having sex." He wiggled his hips, revelling in the delicious friction. "Just call me by my name and start banging me, already."
"Sorry," Lance's voice was still more giggling than contrite but at least he started moving his finger, and just because he was so good at surprising Keith instead of drawing it out to fuck back inside he just started to twist and hook the digit to rub against every inch of Keith's insides. Keith arched his back, a moan twisting its way out of his throat and his fingers digging harshly into the skin of Lance's shoulder.
God jesus fuck, was Keith ever losing his shit right now. After the tease of Lance's tongue inside him last night Keith had been craving this, something thick and solid and Lance filling him up was just too sweet, and he was so glad he hadn't just jerked himself off on the floor because even after all the drawn-out waiting this just exactly what Keith wanted and needed. And then Lance did draw back, slipping his finger halfway out and then fucking it back inside in long smooth strokes that had Keith just about wailing, barely aware of the vibration of his voice leaving his throat or the sound of the words "Oh, fuck, yes, " as they echoed around the room in favor of concentrating on that slide.
"Shit, Keith, you're too…" Lance's voice was a bit broken again, too, and somehow that DID register with Keith, probably because of how sexy it was. "You're too tight, I can't…" It did sting a bit, and the slight twinge of pain was starting to grow the more vigorous his motions got but it was hardly any kind of deterrent for Keith at this point. Lance seemed to disagree, pulling out entirely with a mutter "Need to get you wetter," when Keith tried to protest his withdraw.
Instead of the sound of spitting like he'd expected Keith felt warm fingers swiping over his dirty thighs, and when Lance pushed two of his fingers inside with a wet slide Keith realized that what he was using to ease his way inside was nothing other than Lance's own come. His thin whine turned into a scream when this time Lance didn't bother to play gentle, going straight back to plunging his fingers quickly in and out of Keith's shuddering, greedy heat at a rate that had his toes curling.
Keith was definitely screaming now, or whining or moaning or begging, he didn't even know. All he knew was somewhere in the room was the sound of his own voice breaking with his heaving breath, the heat and weight and smell of his Lance between his legs, and everything else was wound right down at the bottom of his spine where he couldn't even feel the hardness of his own dick over the glorious solid heat of Lance's fingers flickering skillfully inside of him. Fuck. Fuck, his two fingers felt so much bigger than Keith's, longer and a bit thicker and moving so, so well, hooking a little bit at his insides at the deepest part of every stroke and God he'd been wanting this so badly. Needed it so badly, needed to be fucked hard into his mattress and made a mess out of and this was so close to getting that, right now it was so easy to imagine this was Lance's cock and not his fingers - oh god, especially since that was Lance's come inside of him right now, he was never gonna get over that - and just that thought was so hot Keith had riled himself up nearly to coming himself.
Especially with the sensory memory of only a few minutes before. The way Lance felt draped against his back, the fingers digging into his hips as Lance had held him down and pounded him into the door… If Keith thought about that right now when he was already full of Lance's fingers so hot and perfect and huge inside him as he opened Keith up, it was like putting together the pieces of a perfect fantasy of getting truly, properly fucked right now god, did Keith ever like that.
And then, just because he had forgotten it even existed, that's when the tip of Lance's middle finger finally brushed up against Keith's prostate. Keith flailed ridiculously, the arm he'd had twisted into the bedsheets jerking into the air to seek out Lance's head for him to yank on short hair while he heard his own voice shout "There, there, right there!" Lance obliged with a moan of his own, seeking out that spot again and knowing he'd found it by the telling frantic jerk of Keith's hips and desperate screams.
Lance kept his fingers shoved in deep after that, one long finger flickering against Keith's prostate while his forefinger continued to stoke at Keith's insides as much as they could, mostly ending up curving down to hook at the inside of Keith's rim which was like an extra little added bonus of pleasure in between Keith's mind being totally blown. Where earlier it had been a desperate chase to try to get off now it was the opposite, and Keith had to bite his lip and hold his breath to try to fight off the impending flood of orgasm because this was all too good and too perfect and he wanted it to last, wanted to revel here in bed under Lance's hands and be fucked for days.
Lance seemed to agree, because for a while now he'd been babbling mindless praise neither of them really heard. Telling Keith how sexy he was, how soft he felt inside, how he was twitching around Lance's fingers like he was trying to swallow him whole and he couldn't wait to someday be inside him, find the time to spread Keith out nice and slow and open him up for Lance's cock and Keith couldn't listen to that kind of shit right now, not when he was trying not to come.
His efforts were quite in vain, though. Somewhere in his ramblings Lance had started to say Keith's name, low and breathy with renewed lust and Keith made the mistake of opening his eyes when he heard it, and… And there Lance was. Hovering above him with that hot look in his eye again, staring at Keith like he was the whole universe and there was nothing in the world that could have stopped Keith from coming right then. He tried to keep his eyes open to keep looking at Lance but they just ended up rolling into the back of his head, vision blurring out and semen spilling so hard from his cock it actually shot all the way to hit his chin while the rest of Keith's body convulsed and shook, turning from hot iron to jelly in moments around Lance's fingers.
He was still shaking even as he came down back to reality, too sensitive after coming so hard and flailing a tired arm out to grab Lance's wrist and stop him where he was still trying to softly paw at Keith's insides. Lance fell forward on top of him and Keith embraced it, wrapping his arms around Lance's back as Keith panted into his shoulder, trying to catch his lost breath.
Lance sat up after a minute or two, untangling himself from where Keith had all four limbs wrapped lazily around him like a sloth clinging to a tree. Keith stayed where he was, because his bed was warm and his brain was cotton and his spine probably didn't work right now anyway, barley hearing it through his sleepy post orgasmic lull when Lance awkwardly cleared his throat to say. "Uh... Well that was kind of weird, huh?"
Keith just hummed, letting his eyes drift closed and his head fall to the side. "Def'nit'ly a s'prise," he slurred into his pillow. A good, great wonderful surprise that had made Keith come so hard he still hadn't come out of his sex coma yet.
"Um. should I like... " Lance hesitated. "Do you want a towel, or…" he trailed off, and Keith absently wondered if it was because he was waiting for a response. "Are you awake?"
"Hmmm?" Keith hummed, nuzzling further into his pillow. Lance was doing that talking thing again, why was he doing this? Now would be such a perfect time for cuddles, too! This man was so useless. Except for the part where he'd just made Keith come so hard he still hadn't stopped shaking yet.
"Should I…" Lance's voice was still weird in that unidentifiable way. "I'm just. Gonna go now."
"Huh?" Keith asked groggily, feeling the bed shift as Lance's weight left it. Wait, what? He was leaving? After all of last night's hullaballoo about Keith not sneaking out after sex? Keith's eyebrows furrowed together, and he forced his spine and arms to function enough to push himself into a sitting position. He was too slow, though, only catching sight of Lance's back as it passed through his doorway and the white door slide closed behind him while Keith stared dumbfounded.
Well. okay. Maybe that had been weird, after all? He frowned, falling back onto his bed and pulling his skewed shirt the rest of the way off, using it to wipe off the jizz before letting it fall ignored to the floor. Whatever, he'd worry about it later. It wasn't worth ruining the afterglow Keith was still basking in right now.
He sighed, inhaling and releasing a long, slow sigh of breath as he relaxed into the warm spot they'd worn into his mattress. And realized, with a bit of an ironic smile, that he could still smell Lance in his room, too.