*rips canon into shreds* im the captian now

basically shiro reveals he's a big gay and lance comes out to him as bi (also his obvious crush on keith is obvious)

***

It was a calm day on the planet Crynetx. The purple sun was setting, shrouding the land in a beautiful light lavender. The paladins (plus the alteans, and Krolia) has started to talk about their families, spreading the air with a beautiful reminisce of home.

Even Keith had shared how his dad would randomly make peanut butter cookies to calm him, or how his gloves weren't originally fingerless, he just cut off the fingers so his lizards could have sleeping bags. He really missed his lizards.

Romelle told of how she would make her brother flower crowns, and while Krolia's stories were short and blunt, they all felt honored to hear of how her parents had fought in the blade.

"Do you miss Adam?" Keith asked his brother, smiling softly. This night had been so untouchable, and perfect, and Keith's smile had matched that. Lance had noticed Keith had been smiling more.

"Adam? Who's that?" Hunk asked, leaning into the fire more, but not so much he was hot. He had kind of just assumed Shiro didn't have any family to talk about.

"He is... was my fiancé." Shiro corrected the past tense with a grimace on his previously calm face. He sat around the campfire looking into his hands, "Back on earth. God, he's probably so mad at me."

His expression changed, and he started to laugh. Not in a funny way. But in a remembering way. A soft, distant laugh.

"Probably." Keith smiled, putting a comforting hand of Shiro's shoulder, "You did sort of blow him off."

"Yeah, I did." Shiro said, looking at the ground. Coran then started talking about how his father would make the most amazing cakes out of Tyzqen grass, and the conversation flickered back.

But what Shiro had said had stuck in Lance's mind the whole time. Not intentionally, it just sort of did. Usually, he would love to hear about Coran's wacky family, but the thought of Shiro being gay? Bi? Pan? Whatever he was, didn't leave.

Lance had kind of found out he was bisexual when he was around fifteen when he was watching a TV show and the male character looked kind of cute? It was confusing to him because before that all he's liked were girls.

It was kind of a good thing, in a way. He knew he liked girls, liked 100% but liking guys was always a weird thing for him. He wasn't too sure. But he was at the same time. The whole thing was confusing.

And Keith didn't make it easier. Lance (he thought) had had crushes on guys are the Garrison before. But those were people he didn't know, and the crushes eventually fizzled our and died. But Keith was different. He had spent two years in space with Keith. They had a connection, even if neither of them would admit it.

And maybe Lance sort of had a crush on him.

*****

When the stories were over and the paladins (expect Shiro) had dispersed from the fire, Lance had decided this was the time.

"Hey, Shiro." Lance said, approaching the lone former black paladin carefully, like he might snap. The other paladins were crowded around Pidge's new star map in the green lion, so it was only Shiro at the campfire. 

"Lance, what's up?"

"I didn't know you liked..." Lance looked down at his feet, trailing off. This sounded better in his hand. Was he ready to come out to Shiro? What good would that do? He just needed to so desperately get it off his chest.

"Guys?" Shiro offered, and gave a small smile differing from his usual leader ones that basically just gave off wave sand waves of confidence. This one was smaller, like a delicate secret.

"Yeah." He said, not smiling because his heart was beating out of his chest, "That."

"So, are you gay?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Okay. Cool. Cool. Major Casanova with the gentlemen back at the Garrison?" Lance laughed, but both he and Shiro knew the laugh was hollow and forced, "Making all the guys swoon?"

"No, actually." The white haired man replied, poking the fire, "Believe it or not, I was pretty awkward when I was enrolled."

The air after that turned a little thicker. Denser. Lance swallowed the bike building up in his throat. "How did you know you were... that you liked guys?"

"I'm not sure. I think it was Adam, actually. We kind of hated each other in the beginning, kind of like you and Keith. Two hotshot pilots head and head. Eventually, we got closer, far from best friends, but we were getting there, still a little bit of a rivalry. Until he got hurt on a mission." Shiro's expression turner worried, hurt, "I was so scared of losing him, I didn't even realize how attached to him I had gotten. I was spitting word vomit all over the place and I hadn't even reloaded what I had said before he kissed me. And it felt right. It felt so right that I picked him up like he was nothing and basically skipped two miles to the Garrison, smiling my face off."

"That's so cheesy." Lance couldn't help but smile.

"I would do anything to back to that moment, Lance." The man replied, and put a hand on Lance's back, "You can't spend time questioning yourself. Just live. Don't think. If I thought hard about Adam, about my feelings... I would probably never have kissed him. I would be too scared."

He took in a deep breath.  "I... I think I'm..."

"I know." Shiro interrupted him, his mouth crinkling in the ends in the most reassuring smile Lance has every scene. It reminded him of his dad more then he would like to admit.

"You know?" Lance asked, shaking his head and wiping tears form his eyes. Of course Shiro could see his crush on Keith. He was his brother, after all, "Was I that obvious?"

"That obvious? I'm talking about the fact you flirt with aliens even though they don't have human genders. What are you talking about?"

"What? N-Nothing!" He sputtered out, leaving back, his face a bright red, "I was talking about what you were talking about!"

"It's okay, Lance. I'm teasing." Shiro laughed, "I know about that too. And maybe you should talk to Keith. You have more in common then you think."

With that, Shiro gave Lance a wink and a pat on the back, before looking up, and leaving.

"Yeah, I'll-I'll do that." Lance says to no one in particular.

He hears a shuffle behind him, and instinctively reaches for his bayard, before seeing a mil of messy black hair and purple eyes.

Keith.

"Talking with Shiro, huh?" The half galra boy asked, taking the liberty to plop himself next to the Cuban boy, "What'd you do now?"

"Nothing. He was just kind of... well, I went to him with a problem, I guess. He helped me."

"A problem, huh?" Keith asked, teasing in his face. He looks at Lance with his sparking violet eyes, "What's that?"

"I'm bi." He quickly blurts out, "Or pan, I guess. I don't know yet."

Keith's face immediately softened. "Takes courage to say that. I'm proud of you, Lance."

"You're proud of me?" Lance asked, and God, he's going to lose it. This boy is going to make him lose it. Doesn't Keith know his poor heart can't take looks like that?

"What? Of course I am." Keith said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lance wasn't sure what he was thinking, or if was even thinking, but the next thing he knew, he was kissing Keith Kogane, and Keith Kogane was kissing him back.

When they broke apart, Keith's hand was still dipped around Lance's cheek, and Lance feels like he's going to explode. It's not like he's touch starved for anything, a simple touch of a hand on his skin shouldn't feel as good as this does.

"So... you're gay?" Lance asked, breathless. Keith was looking at him so intently he wasn't sure if he wanted to kiss him again or if he wanted to rip his head off.

"Super gay." Keith laughed, and tucked a strand of hair behind Lance's ear before leaning in and kissing him again.

Shiro looked at the two boys, their faces connecting once again. He fished around in a pocket in his paladin armour. He pulled out a pristine photo, a little worn down from the ages. It was a man with brown skin, caramel hair and bright ember eyes. He was smiling at the camera, his eyes crinkling at the ends form his giant smile.

"I'm coming home, Adam." He whispers tearfully, wanting to clutch the picture, but not having the heart to crinkle it. He put it back in his pocket, taking one last look at the setting purple sun, before walking back to the black lion.