I love you

Keith grinned, the words overcoming him as Lance smiled down at him, the rain sillouhetting his glowing body.

"Unconditionally." Keith said, pulling Lance into a hug.

Lance hugged back, feeling Keith's heartbeat against his. He'd never felt so complete.

He wanted to stay like that forever, Keith's warm hands under his shirt, his lips in Keith's hair. They fit like a puzzle, one Lance could never solve before.

And then there were more hands, more hair, more bodies, as screams and laughter bombarded the boys. Their friends enveloped them in excitement, as the boys pulled apart, red in the face.

Their commotion was suffocating, words of encouragement and squeals of congratulations. Their questions were just white noise- Did this mean they were dating? When's the wedding? Who confessed first? Why the hell did Lance push Keith?

But to the boys, it was all poorly filtered through their hectic brains- neither had recovered from the kiss, the words, this feeling.

The night blurred, with the partygoers cleaning up and dropping off their last minute gifts, or throwing off heavily garmented costumes.

Lance found himself in a trance, leaving Keith's chest in the pouring rain, warming up and staring at his glowing cerulean eyes in the bathroom mirror. He and Keith found themselves drifting through the room, with eyes only for each other. Their attention was elsewhere, and it was clear to everyone.

When Lance got back home in the thunder stricken weather, he couldn't keep his eyes off the moon, and his mind off Keith.

He practically broke his legs scampering across his bedroom floor when his phone rang.

"Keith?" Lance asked, breathing heavily. He didn't know why his palms were sweating, especially now.

" Lance. "

Lance felt his heart rate speed up at the sound, a smile creeping across his cheeks. "Hey."

Keith sat in his bed, eyeing the pile of presents at the foot of it. He gripped the phone. "Hi."

" ...what's up? "

Keith rolled his eyes. "The sky."

" Duly noted, mullet. "

They sat in silence for a while, but not the awkward kind. It was comforting, as they both stared up at the same moon, reflecting on their smiling eyes.

"Keith?"

" Yeah? " Keith stifled a yawn.

"What are we now?"

Keith blushed. It was a good question.

"....what do you want to be?" His heart was pounding against his chest, his thoughts full of Lance in blue and gold, shining like the moon, droplets of rain on his gorgeous eyelashes and freckles.

So close.

He heard Lance sigh, such an innocent and delicate sound that Keith found himself smiling for no reason at all. 

"I..." Lance's voice peeped up. " I want to be yours. "

Keith smiled to himself, as he stared up at his ceiling. He could almost feel Lance's presence next to him. His warm hands, and the feel of his eyes on Keith. 

"Then, you're mine. "

...

They woke up to the ongoing call, hands sore from gripping their phones late into the night. But they were smiling.

Thousands of messages from the group chat poured in, questioning their status, and the vagueness of the previous night.

With the initial fog gone, Lance answered them in excited blurps trying his best to put this feeling into words.

Because he wasn't scared to be second best, and he didn't want to be only comfortable with a stupid rivalry anymore.

Keith felt it too. The confidence he felt around Lance made it easy. Easy to forget the fear, and to jump into this blindly. Maybe that made him stupid, but he'd be that for Lance.

Their friends went crazy, and Romelle found herself designated to write a whole story on their love, with Pidge as her co author. The others were just as excited and congratulatory, accepting Keith and Lance into the ever growing couples list in the friend group.

That excited the boys, though they hadn't put a label on it yet.

They were each other's anchors, and that was all they needed.

They had work though, and tottered into the studio like nine year olds with crushes on each other, blushing and stealing subtle glances at each other.

It was adorable to watch, but work had to be done, as Veve insisted. They had 8 days to perfect Lance's techniques, and Keith's designs.

The runway was right around the corner, and it had to be perfect.

They struggled to work though, Lance either nearly falling off the catwalk because he was enamored by the look on Keith's face when he was focusing, or Keith leaning back in his chair with his eyes on Lance, just to fall over from his lack of balance.

The day went by slowly and painfully, but the work was accomplished and Plaxum and Veve dismissed them.

Keith waited outside the studio for Lance afterwards, internally freaking out.

Lance found himself nervous too, but immensely happy, as he stepped up to Keith's side.

"Hey, mullet." Lance said. He wrapped an arm around Keith, struggling to stuff his awkwardness deep into the pits of his stomach.

Keith blushed, glancing up at him. "Hey, Lance."

Lance stared into his eyes, pausing. "How was your day?"

" Good. " Keith said. "Don't make this awkward." He then said abruptly, stepping from under Lance's arm.

Lance blinked. "Uh, sure..?"

Keith eyed him. "Promise? I'm not good with awkward."

Lance smirked. "Promise."

" Good. " Keith smiled, grabbing his hand, before dragging him out of the studio.

"Where are we going? Our rides are that way..." Lance said, jabbing his thumb back at the slowly deserting parking lot of Altea. 

" You can choose what we do for the day. " Keith said ominously, glancing around. "But I want something first." He stopped, pulling Lance behind the building where rolling racks of clothing and department trucks were lined up against a gravel road, like an old hollywood filming studio.

"Oh-" Lance said, cheeks red as Keith pushed him up against a back door. " We could've stayed where we were for this. "

"I don't like..." Keith blushed. " I don't like people watching. " He looked up at Lance with wide eyes.

Lance brushed back a loose strand of Keith's hair. "That's fine with me. You couldn't resist this beauty, could you?" He smirked, winking.

" No, I couldn't. " Keith said, pulling Lance to him abruptly, and kissing him passionately and quick, before letting go and chuckling at Lance's embarrassment. 

"H-hey, I wasn't ready!?" Lance said, pouting.

" Not my fault, you're absolutely irresistible, asshat. " Keith said sarcastically, turning on his heel and starting towards the front of the building.

"Well, that's true." Lance said, relishing in his own awe. Then his face fell. " W-wait, asshat?! " he squeaked, starting up after his boyfriend.

"Yes, asshat." Keith said, as Lance finally caught up to him at the motorcycle. " Where are we going? "

Lance got over his initial shock of diminishing pride, and blushed. "Going?...like a date?"

Keith stopped what he was doing, face red. "...um."

" I mean we don't have to- I wasn't meaning that-"

"No, it's fine." Keith chuckled, glancing at him. "I just, uh, don't do this often." His usual nonchalant and confident demeanor was gone. "Do people usually do that the day after they kiss for the first time?" He sounded so fragile, and anxious.

Absolutely vulnerable.

" Not necessarily. " Lance said. "Everyone's different." He casually reached for Keith's hand. " We can do whatever you want to. "

Keith squeezed Lance's hand. "Okay." Then he pulled away, before grabbing his spare helmet.

" Let's go for a ride. "

...

Lance had no idea where Keith was taking him, the lights over the city blurring as the blue skies turned a crimson red and as the brown leaves danced in the streets as the bike sped over the pavement and through the city.

Lance's mind was overflowing with concerns about this relationship already. He was scared it wouldn't last long solely because Keith would feel alone.

He knew Keith wasn't good with relationships or opening up, and Lance didn't want to pressure Keith into anything he didn't want, but Keith also wasn't the best at communication, so how would Lance know? 

He wanted to be patient and make sure Keith felt secure in this relationship, because he just wanted to make him happy.

But at this point, he would have to trust that Keith would..trust him.

At least at this point, Lance was okay with that.

Maybe it was the love he felt for Keith, but for once, he felt his fear dissolve. Because if he wanted to make Keith happy, he couldn't be scared of that happiness.

Lance fell out of his clouded mind when the engine purred to a stop, and he felt Keith's hips move. Lance glanced up to the dilapidated and rundown building they parked in front of.

It was on a street that could have been busy, if it wasn't so torn down. Pharmacies, and old grocery stores lined the brownstones and boarded up apartments. Lance stepped off the bike, having never knew this part of the city even existed.

"Where are we?" He asked cautiously.

Keith stepped onto the cracked sidewalk, stuffing his gloved hands deep in his pockets as the autumn wind blew his hair across his face. He glanced up at the large building, seemingly a warehouse and hotel lovechild. Windows were broken and the steps up to the house were a gray shade of vintage cement.

Keith stepped up to the front door, before glancing back at Lance to follow.

Lance stepped up next to him, and watched as Keith wiped away the dust on the door plate.

Rusting gold lining of the plate shined roughly at them as Lance's eyes fell across the words.

Mr. Marmora's Home for Displaced and Unwanted Children

Keith looked up at Lance. "My home, after my dad died and my mom broke down." He gripped his jeans. " Uh, before she recovered and married Shiro's dad. "

He looked down sadly at the plaque. "Eight years." His eyes bored into the plaque. "Eight fucking years."

He bit his lip, before looking up at Lance. " I've never brought anyone here. "

" I've never even told anyone these things." He added.

Lance reached for his hand.

"I don't know why, but I thought this would show you, I..." Keith felt his eyes watering, and looked away. "I want you to know me, for me. All my secrets and all the pain. Like no one else. It might just... Take me some time."

Lance smiled, before caressing Keith's chin, and turning him to meet his eyes. "Take all the time you need. I'll wait forever for you."

Keith's tears fell silently, as he stared up into Lance with his eyes full of relief. "Thank you."

" Of course, my love. " Lance said, before pulling Keith into a hug.

Keith smiled, melting into Lance's arms.

My love.

_______________________________________________________________________

😳damnnn i made them hella awkward OOPS

but at first i feel like they definitely would be just because after all the trials and tribulations they've been through together as rivals and friends its gonna take time for them to be a confident couple ofc

enjoy the troye i put for this chapter it's literally how this chapter feels

also ima try to update again tonight but it's already 5 p.m for me and i have school so idk but look for that hopefully!!

disclaimer if you didn't see it on my feed: ima be updating on the weekends (most likely sundays) from now on so as to not stress myself too much with school throughout the week, thank u!

hope everyone's doing well, as always my dms are open :)) ily all!

qotd: what makes you cry ?

a: when im really really mad i cry which makes me even more upset because it makes me seem weak :( 

have some marie ulven loves <3