#draft2k17

- It starts out small

- One fond smile here and there

- Keith and Lance still glare but it no longer holds the deep anger and resentment it used to carry

- There's no longer actual heat behind any of the jests

- Keith is still impulsive but with one look Lance can shut Keith down so fast

- It strange but it seems like they're beginning to learn how to coexist, maybe become friends

- Then all of a sudden Lance starts blushing an awful lot around Keith

- Keith begins avoiding Lance

- That's when it all starts turning to shit

- In that time Lance and Keith become miserable and irritated all the time

- Keith goes back to being really hotheaded and always going ahead if the team during missions

- Lance seems to always want to say something but stops himself at the last minute

- After another mission where they barely succeed Allura finally decides to intervene

- She then invites Lance to do something together

- They spend the afternoon doing face masks and gossiping until Lance opens up to Allura explaining why he's become distant

- It was all fine and dandy being close with Keith until he realized his feelings for the red paladin and then he began to worry that Keith doesn't feel the same way and how his confession may drive him away

- He doesn't want to ruin their friendship but after realizing that he is basically 85% of Keith's impulse control he is scared that if he doesn't get over himself, Keith or the others may get hurt

- It's imply hard because he may be in love and he really doesn't know how he will handle it when Keith rejects him

- At that point Allura looses whatever patience she had and begins to tell Lance how she doubts that would happen

- How Keith's eyes soften and seem to light up whenever Lance enters a room

- How Kieth subconsciously looks to Lance whenever he's confused or wants advice

- How Keith always smiles for Lance always

- And finally how the only reason why Keith is avoiding Lance is because he is worried he hurt Lance or did something wrong

- Lance is then renewed with determination and immediately gets up to find Keith but before going on his search to confess he hugs Allura and thanks her for her help

- The next Day Lance and Keith are together and everything is peaceful once again

-Shiro is a professor at Garrison university

-Lance is his TA who kind of sorta has a crush on the professor and a (crush) rivalry with a fellow graduate student

-Lately he's been flirting with his professor and receiving positive feed back

-He's then ready to ask Shiro out until Keith walks in

-Next thing he knows the man who had been low key reciprocating his flirting is telling him Keith is his boyfriend

-In other words the two men he has feelings for are taken...BY EACH OTHER

-He kind of wants the ground to swallow him whole

-So he just starts to back off, there's only a few more weeks until winter break and then he can just never again TA for Shiro and avoid Keith, yeah that's the plan

- And it's all going well

-He doesn't notice the barely disguised hurt in Shiro's eyes and how Keith's smiles start being less genuine when he tries to greet Lance

-He just keeps going until he gets a phone call from Hunk in the middle of class

-Hunk knows his schedule by heart and has never bothered him while in class

-As a result he swiftly leaves the class to answer the phone call

-Thankfully it's good news, Hunk proposed to Shay and she said yes

-Hunk in his excitement completely forgot Lance's schedule and called him to ask him to be his Best Man

-If the class heard him squeal like a little girl no one mentions it

-He goes back into the class with a dopey smile, completely blissed out knowing that his best friend and wonderful girlfriend are going to tie the knot

- Made even better by the huge honor his friend bestowed upon him

-Which led him to zone out and stay behind the classes dismissal, something he'd stop doing as soon as he learned Shiro was in a relationship

-For before he would always stay behind and talk to Shiro about anything and everything, often leading to a bit of flirting back and forth

-It was fun until he felt like Shiro was probably just humoring him

-And now that he had backed off and he was still in the classroom he could help but feel a little lost

-Lost because he remembered clearly how he honestly thought Shiro was flirting back and whenever he was with Keith they would banter

-But all of the banter was the cutesy kind not the malicious type one expected of 'rivals'

-And he just can't comprehend how those two amazing men could lead him on like that, he never thought either one had a mean spirited bone in their body

-So when he walks away he clearly doesn't hear Keith walk into the classroom

-Or Shiro calling his name repeatedly

-He also doesn't hear the open conversation Keith and Shiro have about how Lance isn't the same anymore

-How Keith doesn't know where they went wrong and how he misses Lance

-He does hear Shiro reassure his boyfriend that it will all be fine

-The situation will get better they just need to give it time and space

-When Lance makes his move to leave he does hear Keith yell at him "don't go"

-The moment Lance turns around he's met with a blushing Keith who's looking at the ground and Shiro who's looking at Keith with a look of disbelief

-"Why?"

-Keith replied "Because I miss you dammit, I thought things were going well"

-Lance confused asks him what he meant

-Leading to an exasperated Shiro who charges in to plant a kiss on Lance's lips

-When the kiss ended Lance looks confused and being to turn his glance to where he last saw Keith only to be pulled into another kiss but this time by the man he had just been searching for

-Becoming the leader is hard

-Becoming the leader because your closest friend is gone, possibly dead is harder

-Yet no one seems to understand that and the others are only thinking of moving on and taking Shiro's place

-Keith knows that technically Shiro gave him the position but to be quite honest he could live without it

-He would rather have Shiro back than take the position of the black lion's paladin

-But then the black lion chose him and no one else

-He was prepared to have Lance explode on him and go on about how he would be a terrible leader....he wouldn't be wrong

-And yet instead Lance decided to be kind and respectful of Keith and in that moment Keith's heart fluttered

-Next thing he knows he begins following Lance's advice

-And the more they talk the more he melts whenever Lance smiles at him

-He could be having a terrible day but the moment Lance enters the room his day becomes a 1000% better

-The third time Lance makes the day tolerable with his mere presence is the day Keith realizes he has a crush on Lance

-Sure enough Keith begins to feel his ears turn red every time Lance addresses him or uses one of his awful pick up lines

-One day on his way to call the others for training he overheard Lance moaning to Pidge about how the guy he likes is so perfect and amazing

-How he just wants to cuddle them

-How he loves their smile

-How he loves spending time with them

-Keith has never felt so dejected in his life then at that moment when he learned that Lance likes Hunk

-He then decided he's had enough hearing the guy he likes talk about another person and decides to make his presence known

-He tells Lance to stop talking about his non-existent love life (harsh he knows but he was just so incredibly jealous) and to get ready for training

-At the reprimand Lance turned as white as a sheet and froze up

-Keith then stormed out leaving a shook™ Lance and Pidge in his wake

-/--/-/--/-/--/-/--/-/--/-/--/-/--/-/--/-/--

3 days later

-Keith never brought up what he overheard and Lance was losing it

-First off he knows there can only be so many Paladins and Allura is improving amazingly

-He believes Allura deserves to further train and to have the experience of being a paladin just as her father

-So he goes on to talk to Allura about possibly taking his spot in the team when Shiro comes back (because he's coming back) and he can just help Coran maintain the castle

-He always thought that was what Allura wanted, to be a paladin and have his annoying ass on the sidelines

-He was wrong, she yelled at him for giving up his role so easily, for thinking so little of himself, and even considering that she would take him up on the offer

-"Saying you aren't necessary is like saying Hunk or Pidge aren't necessary. And you would never say that, so why say that about yourself? Think about it and when you're ready to talk, you know where to find me."

-Lance then leaves slightly shocked and yet also feeling humiliated for what he said and his attempt for the easy way out when that's not fair to his team, correction, to his family

-But before he can move on from all of this he needs to talk to Keith about what he said because although he isn't going to give up his position anymore he needs to talk to Keith about what he said

-He doesn't know if he can really keep working alongside him if he never addresses how harsh his rejection was

-When he finally finds Keith alone, training of course, he builds up his courage and immediately fucks up

-"Why did you have to be so harsh?"

-Instead of having a calm and rational conversation he starts with a sentence that leads to a lump in his throat, a sure sign that he will not finish the conversation without crying

-And he wonders if he can just turn around and leave when Keith speaks up

-"Because I'm an asshole who can't control his emotions?"

-"That doesn't excuse what you said to me. I get that you don't like me back but there are better ways to tur-"

-"I'm sorry what?"

-Discussion happens, it's revealed Keith was the object of Lance's affections