"Oh my god, Keith, what are you doing?"

 Keith looked up guiltily, a mess of wrapping paper and tape in front of him. "Wrapping... gifts?"

Lance sighed from the doorway of Keith's room. The two had decided to work on gifts together since they hadn't bought gifts for each other (that kind of defeated the whole purpose of being rivals). But Lance had overestimated Keith's wrapping abilities, which were pathetically displayed on Keith's bed.

Lance sighed, shaking his head. "You're hopeless, Mullet." 

Keith frowned. "It's not my fault that you're some pro-gift-wrapper," he shot back. 

"I'm not," Lance said calmly, walking over to Keith and sitting down next to him on the floor, folding his legs criss-cross-applesauce in front of himself, "I've just had a lot of practice."

The red paladin looked away. "Because you have a big family?" he guessed.

Lance looked over at Keith, his blue eyes deeply intelligent and comforting. He cracked a smile. "I guess so, yeah. Presents for grandparents, parents, siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews... You get the idea."

Keith looked sour. He didn't say anything.

"What about you, Keith?" Lance asked gently. 

The red paladin stood abruptly, pacing to the other side of the room. He didn't look at Lance as he said, "After Dad died, I spent Christmases alone."

Lance swallowed. He didn't want to make Keith even more standoffish, but he wanted to comfort him. He just didn't know how. 

"Well, it's never too late... to learn how to wrap a gift," he said slowly. Keith turned, his eyes softening a bit. Lance patted the spot on the floor beside him, inviting Keith to come sit. He did. 

Lance pulled out one of his presents- it happened to be Hunk's. It was a brand new, cast-iron skillet that whistled when your food was fully cooked. It came in a big box, thankfully, which would be easier to wrap than the actual pan.

"Cut me some wrapping paper, please," Lance told Keith, directing him to how much he needed. Once he had the paper, he wrapped the box lengthwise, taped it, and then folded in the sides of the paper and taped them too.

"Your turn."

Keith looked fully immersed in concentration as he did his best to wrap a little box that was painted with Altean mountains that he'd gotten for Allura, following Lance's instructions as he slowly wrapped and taped the paper. 

Lance smiled at the finished product. "Good job, man. You've got the hang of it."

The two paladins were able to wrap their gifts together quickly after that, talking a bit but mostly just sitting in comfortable silence. Lance would never have guessed that he and Keith could have been in the same room without fighting, but the peaceful environment was almost therapeutic. 

All too soon, they'd finished the wrapping and Lance stood, stretching out his back. He gathered all of his gifts into his arms and prepared to leave the room. 

Keith hurried to stand, saying, "Lance, wait."

The brunette turned, his arms full of wrapped gifts. 

"Thank you," Keith said earnestly. 

Lance smiled, eyes soft. "You don't have to be alone at Christmas anymore, Keith."

The red paladin stepped forward and rose up on his toes, kissing Lance softly on the cheek. His own cheeks burned as he stepped back. "Thank you," he repeated.