And If You Have Nightmares, We'll Dance On The Bed

Lance was home, back on earth in his childhood house with his family around him. He got back a week ago, had been gone for about a year, but when he was surrounded by his family it was like no time had passed.

When he was eating his abuela's cooking. When he hugged his mama every time that he could.

When he fought with his siblings.

When he played with his cousins. When he had long talks about the other galaxies with his papa and his abuelo. Everything was just so right, so calm, so perfect. He didn't want anything to change. It was afternoon time and everyone in the McClain household went out to the deck behind the house for they're daily family time. They insulated this a long while ago, when his older siblings got admitted to colleges, so that they wouldn't drift apart.

All was well and normal, the adults drank white wine as the smaller kids ran around each other and the older ones talked over a varied amount of snacks. Each and every one of them shared something that happened, or will happen that day, starting from oldest down to the youngest (mainly this way to teach the little ones about patience). There was laughter, random conversations, little songs sung, a bunch of little things that they did as a family. Then came the fire.

It hurled down from the sky and struck his father to the ground.

"Papa!" Lance cried, reaching out for him. But the moment he did another blast came from out of the sky, blasting his grandparents into an oblivion. Lance shrieked as he looked up to see Galra cruisers litter the skies, open firing down upon his family, his home. Lance ran to gather everyone up, he tried to summon Blue but it didn't work for whatever reason.

Lance tried to protect his family, reaching out to pull them close to him one at a time, but every time just before he was able to get a hold of them, a shot would come down from one of the ships and kill that person right in front of his eyes.

He witnessed them all die, watched as each one of them called out his name in hopes that he would help them, but he didn't. He couldn't. He was unable to protect his family from the Galra, and soon they were all dead on the ground.

Lance fell to his knees and cried, watching helplessly as the house he called home burned to a crisp in front of him.

Keith woke up to find himself very confused.

First of all, he was not in his room.

Second, he was not wearing one of his own shirts.

Third, someone was on top of him.

Lastly, that person who was on top of him was crying.

What.

Keith groggily reached his hands up and shook the person on top of him, whatever room he was in it was dark so he wasn't able to see a thing around him. He only knew he wasn't wearing his own shirt because he didn't own anything long sleeved that wasn't his jacket (that he had in the castle anyway) and what he was wearing definitely wasn't his signature jacket.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked the person. "Where am I? Hello, can you hear me?"

The person on top of him shifted slightly, their breathing becoming heavier indicating that they were waking up.

"Mmm...Keith? When did you wake up?" a familiar sleep-heavy voice asked him.

"Lance? Wha-what happened?" Keith asked, wiggling a little to try and get out from under Lance. "Why were you crying? Where are we, it's dark. Why am I wearing your shirt?"

"Well you passed out from overexhaustion so I had to bring you here since the healing pods aren't completely functional yet and my room was just closer. Then we had a little...heart to heart I guess, then I guess we both crashed. Do you not remember any of it?"

Memories of what happened between them came flooding back to Keith, the conversation, the secrets, the heartbeat. Keith blushed as he thought about it but nodded his head.

"Yeah I remember, it's coming back to me," he whispered. "But, why were you crying? Was it another nightmare?"

"I was crying?" Lance asked, sitting up so that Keith wouldn't be trapped beneath him anymore. He touched his cheeks to find that they were in fact damp. "Oh. I guess I was, but yeah, I had another nightmare. It was a different one though, still bad. My family died but at least they knew who I was and didn't shun me."

Keith sighed and rubbed his eyes before standing up on the bed. "Get up," he told Lance, holding his hand out to the Cuban.

"Wh-what? Why?" he stuttered, taking a hold of Keith's hand anyway, allowing himself to get pulled up to a standing position.

"Shut up and trust me," Keith grumbled, still drowsy from just having woken up. Lance simply giggled and nodded his head, steadying himself on top of the mattress. Once they were both stable Keith hugged Lance close to him and began to sing.

"Dalbodado goun aga."A baby more beautiful than the moon."Byul bobado bitan aga."A baby more beautiful than the stars."Jajang jajang uri aga."Hush hush our baby."Jaldo janda uri aga."Our baby sleeps so well.

Then Keith continued to hum the same verse over and over as he and Lance swayed softly to the sound of his voice.

"Damn, I never knew you were such a good singer," Lance smiled, looking fondly down at the shorter male.

"Damn, I never knew you were such a good dancer," Keith said back, almost as if he'd been challenged.

"Well you're very good at comforting people."

"Well you're really good at helping people feel accepted."

"Yeah? Well you're the better paladin!"

"You're the most valuable member on the team!"

And they went on and on, fighting by complementing each other. It was stupid. They were stupid. And by the time that they realized this they both burst into a fit of giggles, their foreheads were pressed up against each other and their smiles radiated pure joy.

"You have really pretty face," Lance said after they had calmed down. Keith blushed and looked away.

"Yeah well you have really pretty eyes," he grumbled. Lance laughed aloud, Keith was so cute when he was grumpy.

Jesus, how have I not noticed how adorable Keith is until now? Lance thought to himself as he gazed at Keith.

"What?" he snorted after he caught Lance staring, "is there something on my face?"

"Nope, I'm just admiring how cute it is," Lance replied, making Keith blush even harder than before.

"What game are you playing at McClain?" Keith asked, lowering his head onto Lance's chest so that he was staring at their feet.

"You're one to talk Kogane," Lance retorted, praying to god that Keith couldn't hear how his heart was hammering inside his chest when the shorter male rested his head on it.

"Oh really?" Keith asked endearingly. "How?"

"You're just so effortlessly cute, how did I not notice until now? You make my heart flutter~" Lance flirted.

"Oh shut up Blue," Keith said, looking Lance in the eye.

"Make me Red," Lance said seriously.

Keith reached his hands up from where they were resting on Lance's hips to hold the Cuban's face. "Maybe I will," he whispered.Lance's breath hitched as he felt himself being pulled closer to Keith almost as if they were magnets.

Well, opposites do attract, he thought to himself through his half-closed eyes.

They were close now, like, really close. So close that they could feel the other's breaths on their own lips, both paladins were breathing slightly heavily, each of their eyes glued to the others'. Their mouths were just centimeter apart, the tiny gap neither closing nor opening as they stood there, just facing each other and taking in the situation that they currently were in.

"I don't want things to be weird between us Lance. I feel like we've just started getting close to one another and this will just ruin it. God, what am I doing? I'm so dumb," Keith said breathlessly, though he didn't move from the position he was in. "Tell me if this is or isn't okay. Just, tell me not to kiss you."

Lance didn't say anything, instead he tightened the arms that he had wrapped around Keith, pulling him slightly closer, but he didn't lean in yet. He didn't close the distance between them yet.

"Don't tease me," Keith growled, also not moving in.

"Maybe you should make up your mind first," Lance said back.

"I'll do whatever you want to do, because I see your eyes. You're confused, and I don't want to ruin whatever our relationship is by rushing into unfamiliar territory," Keith whispered.

"What does it mean if we kiss?" Lance asked, his eyes were practically closed.

"I don't know," Keith answered. "Probably that you'll finally figure out how bad my breath is."

Lance snorted, shaking his head lowly, but other than that neither of them moved.

"I don't want to ruin what we have either," Lance confessed, staring at Keith's lips hungrily. "But right now I really want this."

"Me too," Keith whispered huskily, lust painting a hazy cloud over his eyes. They pulled into each other, all thoughts of the future dissipated form their minds as they just focused on one another.

The others' scent.

The others' eyes.

The others' warmth.

The others' lips.

They were almost touching, just barely there, only a miniscule barrier of air stopping them from being closer than either of them had ever been to each other.

Then there was a loud band and both boys fell backwards onto the bed, startled at the sudden noise.

"Keith! You're awake! You both have been out for hours, it's dinner time and the rest of the team wanted me to grab you two so that you could eat. I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" Hunk questioned, walking in on the two of them blushing heavily while flopped across the bed and not looking at each other.

"No you're good buddy, we'll be out soon," Lance answered, nervous sweat running down his neck.

"Okay, but hurry up, I cooked tonight, so no food-goo!" Hunk called before leaving, clearly not understanding why the atmosphere in the room was so awkward.

Lance dropped his head in his hands and groaned, "well this is awkward. Great!"

"I'm sorry, this is my fault. I shouldn't have done...that," Keith mumbled, still not looking at Lance.

"No I'm okay with it! I mean, I didn't dislike it. I just...ugh. Just, what are we?" Lance asked.

"I don't know."

"Okay then we really need to sit down and talk about this."

"Yeah..."

Silence.

"How about, later or tomorrow? We should meet up with the others," Keith said, clumsily getting off of the bed.

"Yeah, ok," Lance agreed, also getting up to walk Keith out.

Keith walked out of the room with a wave and rushed back to his own quarters, his face flushed as he thought back to what happened and his heart pounded as his brain came to terms with it.

I almost kissed Lance. Lance almost kissed me! What is going on? Do I...do I like him? When did that happen? I'm so confused! I really hope that things won't be super weird, he thought as he went into his bathroom to freshen himself up.

As he walked into his bathroom he caught sight of himself in the mirror and blushed. He was still wearing Lance's shirt. Keith quickly tore it off, telling himself that he would give it back to the blue paladin after they had dinner with the team. As he pulled it off he got a whiff of Lance's musk off of the shirt. It was breezy, like the ocean, and there was just a hint of something floral, some sort of nature product. Keith guessed that it was from the taller male's obsessive use of face masks for his 'flawless complexion'. Keith snorted, he knew that Lance had, in fact, a lot of freckles across his broad shoulders. They added a certain...character to him that Keith found cute.

No! Stop! Just wash your face, put on a shirt, and eat dinner! he scolded himself mentally. Keith shook his head violently, doing just the things that he told to himself to do. He splashed water in his face, rubbing clean with his hands, and pulled on one of his fresh gray shirts. He stood back and took a deep breath, clearing his mind before stepping out of his room, throwing in his jacket, and walking out his door and down the hallways to the dining areas where everyone else was waiting. Well almost, Lance was last to walk in and join the others as per usual.

"Well goddamn Lance! Thank you for finally joining us!" Pidge gelled, although she had an amused smile in her face. She did this every night at dinner because it was so predictable that Lance would be last in the room. And every night Keith would jump a little when she yelled.

"Oh haha Pidge," Lance mocked like every other night, taking his normal seat next to Keith but this time he stumbled a little.

"Don't curse Pidge," Shiro said at the same time Lance spoke, pinching his nose slightly but chuckling at her antics nonetheless. Pidge looked over at Shiro and smiled brightly, causing him to look away from her and hide his face in his hand. Pidge just turned around from her seat next to Shiro and smirked at everyone else at the table.

Everyone talked amongst themselves, almost as if it were normal. That nothing happened. Keith didn't like it, how everyone could move in so easily. How Lance could act like nothing happened. Sure, it was comforting that his friends could put behind the worst of things about him, but he didn't want Lance to put behind what happened just mere minutes ago.

Just, wait till later to talk about it. Don't assume things, he told himself before looking up from his food and clearing his throat.

"I just um...I wanted to say that I'm-I'm sorry about-t being closed off. I was just...just going through, uh, thinking about some stuff. I needed to deal with something-thing, I promise won't close myself-elf off again," he stuttered, his face growing warm as he spoke. Embarrassment took over his senses and he looked to the floor to avoid eye contact with the others by covering his eyes with his long, raven bangs.

"Don't worry Keith, we forgive you. And jeez, I know you're emo but oh my god," Pidge replied, patting his arm.

Keith just glared at her from the corner of his eye but smiled despite her comment.

"Yeah, it's great that you got over it and all, but you can talk to us man. We're your friends," Hunk added with his cinnamoroll smile, before stuffing that smile with more food.

"Hunk's right Keith, we're all here to listen and help you. We're a family and we support each other, especially in our darkest hours. You don't ever need to feel the need to hide things from us," Shiro said, looking over at his little brother.

"I'm so glad that you've decided to open up again Keith, and what Shiro says is true, we are a family," Allura spoke, setting her hand atop Coran's, who was nodding to the conversation, and smiled over at the red paladin empathetically.

"Yeah, I'm sorry that you had to go through that, but talk to us Keith," Lance added, not looking up. Keith smiled a little wider, knowing that there was a double meaning under Lance's apology, he was also apologizing again for what he said.

"Thanks you guys, I'll talk about it next time," Keith breathed, tentavilly taking another bite of his meal signaling that he was done talking. The others joined him in continuing their dinner while keeping up a low conversation about something that Keith wasn't really paying attention to. He only grasped that it was about the healing pods and the check on their reboot.

Dinner ended shortly after that, everyone thanked Hunk for the delicious meal (no one really knew what was in it), then went their separate ways once again. Allura and Coran walked off to review the pods again while Pidge and Shiro walked off together talking about some sort of project. Hunk hung back to clean up, insisting that he didn't need help, and Lance and Keith went back to their own rooms. The moment Keith stepped into his quarters he walked straight into his bathroom, grabbed Lance's shirt, and walked right out of his room again.

Just go and don't be awkward. Hand him his shirt and if he invites you in then sit down and talk about everything that happened. There's nothing to get nervous about. Nothing, as long as you don't think about his hugs, or his laugh, or his smell, or his freckles, or his lips, or his breath, or his heat, or...

Goddamnit.

Keith shook his head, clearing it of his illustrious thoughts as he made his way down quietly back to Lance's room. And even though he told himself that there was no reason for him to be nervous, he couldn't help but feel an entire swarm of bees stinging his intestines rather than the usual butterflies that one would feel fluttering in their stomach. This feeling of nervousness was on a whole new level, it was violent to his very being.

Keith stopped in front of the door for what felt like the millionth time in the past two weeks, it was certainly more than any time before those two weeks. Keith whistled lowly when he stopped in front of the Cuban's bedroom door, hesitating slightly before he finally knocked lightly on it. He only had to wait a few moments before a voice came through the metal, but those moments felt like ages to the short Korean.

"Give me a minute!" Then there was some shuffling, a door shutting, then more footfalls before the door in front of the red paladin slid open to reveal Lance with a green face mask on. He had on only his pajama pants and a towel around his head. "Oh, Keith. I didn't expect...what are you...sorry I'm sounding rude. Come in," Lance moved out of the way, gesturing for Keith to step in.

"Ah, thanks. I mostly just wanted to return this to you," Keith said after walking in, turning around and holding out the shirt as Lance closed the door behind him.

"Oh thanks, I have...hold on," Lance muttered, stalking back into his bathroom and disappearing for a while before emerging with one of Keith's shirts. "I believe this is yours."

Keith smirked grabbing his shirt at the same time that passed Lance's over, like an exchange. He let out a small laugh and looked questioningly up at him, his eyebrows cocked up.

"Oh you don't...you were sweating really bad and I, well Pidge suggested, that I give you a change of clothes. A shirt at least, so I did because man you can really get your stink on," Lance joked, waving his hand in front of his nose.

"Oh please, you like it," Keith laughed, but much to his surprise Lance blushed deeply at his comment. "Oh."

More silence as they each took a seat on the bed.

"Should we talk about, ya know, what happened. Like, everything that happened. If I recall correctly then we didn't even talk about that first night, when you helped me with that nightmare."

"Yeah. So...what about it? Like, what is there to talk about that night, cause I'm pretty sure we've gone over it in subtext."

"Is that even a possible thing?"

"I don't know."

Lance snickered, amused by Keith's words. "Well I don't think I ever thanked you properly for that. I bet I was a handful."

"I've got two hands," Keith replied in a hush tone. Lance blushed darkly anyway. "Let's just, put that night behind us. I think we're both thankful for it, we wouldn't be this...close if it didn't happen."

"Yeah, okay. But what about earlier?"

If Keith had water in his mouth he would've spit it out all over Lance's face. Sure, he knew that the conversation was coming, it had to be addressed, but he still wasn't fully prepared for it.

"Again, I'm sorry about that. I wasn't...my head wasn't straight-" Lance snorted "-and I just acted impulsively. I don't want to fuck up what fragile thing we have here Lance, but right now my head and my heart are at war and neither of them know what they're fighting for," Keith confided, shifting his body so that his torso was facing the taller male even though he wouldn't look up from his fidgeting hands.

"Well, I'm no poet, but I can tell you that I think the feelings are mutual. I don't want to ruin what already messed up relationship we have, but I also know that I'm confused, and that this may be one of the most irrational things I've ever done or felt, but I want more of this feeling. This stupid, wonderful feeling," Lance breathed, copying Keith's movements, except he leaned in and kept his eyes on Keith.

"Me too," Keith whispered, also moving closer to the blue paladin, as if magnets they were pulled into each other.

"Do you want there to be something more between us?"

"I'm not sure, I just know that I want something right now."

"What do you want?"

"I want to know if you really want this."

"I think I've made it pretty clear that I do."

"I just, don't want to end up with this being something that I did because I was desperate. I don't want to mess this us."

"It'll be both of our faults."

"Yes because that makes things just so much better Lance."

"I don't want to think about that right now."

"Me neither." Unthinkingly, both of them had scooted so close together that they're foreheads were nearly touching. Their lips closer together again.

"Are you sure th-"

"Oh my fucking god," Lance cut Keith off and grabbed the color of his shirt, pulling him harshly so that their mouths connected. The space between them was closed, and now there was no going back for the boys. Whether that was a good or a bad thing, neither of them knew, nor bothered to think about. All they knew right then was each other.

Their lips.

Their taste.

Their heat.

Just, each other.