#klanro

Face flushed red, Keith threw the book he’d pulled out of his bag at Lance. “Shut up!”

Shiro walked into the store, taking glance at the shelves thinking about what he needed to get as he approached the front desk. Standing waiting for him was a woman about his age, if not a bit younger. Her skin was darker than Lance’s but her hair was bright white, tied up into Sailor Moon buns. Her blue-purple eyes glinted mischievously.

“Last time I checked, Takashi Shirogane didn’t spare monsters, yet there are two left in your car.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I was trying to kill one of them and then the other came along trying to kill me. We all got stuck together I guess.”

“Well, if they managed not to get killed by you, I guess all is good. I am curious about the story.”

“Well, Lance is a vampire who was turned by Zarkon.” Allura looked surprised at that. Understandable, Zarkon had been responsible of the death of Shiro’s family and many of Allura’s coven. Since becoming a monster hunter, Shiro would kill any monster associated with Zarkon. “he was coming to kill me, but he tried to stop me from killing Keith, the werewolf. Though, actually, it was more of he interrupted and then Keith took offence to that and they started arguing and I found it really cute? Point is, we kinda stuck together, me with Keith mostly and Lance following us until Zarkon sent someone else and Lance tried keeping him away. I killed the guy in the end but he told us that Lance had also been fair game in killing so he kinda came with us.”

“He must have been something amazing if the fact that he was a member Zarkon’s group.” Allura said, truly looking impressed.

“I didn’t trust him for a while, even after what we’d been through. It pissed him off but he never did anything about it. Of course he wasn’t getting the chance to hunt either so he was getting weak and he still never said anything. He almost got himself killed trying to save Keith from a poltergeist when I finally realised he wasn’t going to turn on us or hurt us.”

“So you let him go take blood from a human? If he was turned and taken in by Zarkon, he obviously doesn’t drink animal blood.” Allura stated.

“Yeah. Keith beat me to the punch actually. He let Lance take blood from him.” now Shiro felt embarrassed remembering when he had found the two monsters. Lance already had his teeth in Keith’s neck and was making these kinda cute pleased noises. It was the start of the feelings he had towards the two monsters, or at least it had been a push from when he’d found them cute the first time he met them. “Keith thought I would have been mad, but I just told him to try and keep in control in case Lance lost control at any point. He hasn’t really gone and asked either of us since though.”

“Wow. Vampires only bite and leave alive lovers and very close friends. Shiro, you called them cute. Do you like them?”

Shiro shrugged though the answer was yes. “I can’t help it. The more I got to know them, the more I started to fall I guess.”

“And hope Lance would bite you too. I hear vampire bites are very pleasurable.”

“Thanks.” He said sarcastically. God, it was amazing he kept coming back. Allura loved nothing but embarrassing him. “Can I get my regular order please?”

                                                             _______

Keith watched Shiro paced back and forth as he was told about a new monster over the phone. After the last time they walked into the monster hunter usual hang out and almost got filled with silver bullets, Shiro made it his new thing to get info over the phone. He had felt guilty that since joining Shiro, he had to change they way he did things but it still felt good that Shiro was doing things to make them feel comfortable. It made the feelings he had towards him grow, but it was hard to tell his heart no. he hadn’t really given any type of love a chance since his mother died. He never expected it would be with a monster hunter and a vampire – because yes, even Lance wormed his way into his heart – but he couldn’t be mad at himself. He and Lance hadn’t gotten along at all when they first met and he and Shiro had depended on each other more. But after Lance fought against that vampire to save them, he started to trust him a bit. Then he saved him again from the poltergeist and he saw that Lance wasn’t an agent of Zarkon, he was just a turned vampire who wanted to get as far away from his maker as possible.

Getting Lance to take blood was hard. He pretty much refused, despite the fact he was weak and could barely stand. In the end, Lance did it. He was soft about it though, telling him thousands of times what to do if Keith wanted to pull out. The bite had hurt but after that it was, pleasant, as much as a bite could be. Lance was gentle and the noises he made where cute and the tiniest bit arousing. However after that, Lance never asked, no matter how much Keith offered. He was sure he’d heard Shiro offer to but Lance refused.

He looked over at Lance who was face down with Shiro’s hooded jacket on, blocking out the lights in the diner. The borrowing of each other’s clothing was normal to them now. They hadn’t put a name on what they were but things had obviously moved past friends. They depended on each other.

Shiro walked back into the diner, sliding next to Lance and pulled his half-drunken milkshake closer.

“There’s been druids attacking humans. Apparently, some fairies have been messing with their forest so they’re retaliating buy getting humans to do their dirty work. We’re heading after we’re done.”

Lance finally lifted his head. “I haven’t really fed in a while.”

“Well, we’re not really in a place where you can go feed. No forests for animals and this diner is at a pitstop. Do you think you can wait till we get closer to where we have to go?” Shiro asked, looking worried. Since the last time Lance had been weak with hunger because of him, Shiro would make sure Lance had blood, even if it meant having to steal it from a blood bank. Thankfully that option didn’t happen very often.

“I should be fine. besides, it’s a bunch of druids, can’t be that bad.”

“Right, couldn’t possibly be in trouble when they’re surrounded by their power source.” Keith mocked.

“Guys,” Shiro said, stopping whatever fight was about to break out, “that’s enough. Keith, eat quick. Sooner we get there, the better.”

Lance was quiet the whole time they drove, different from when he’d be talking everyone’s ear off once the sun had set. He had abandoned the seat and completely and was hiding behind the front seats, Shiro’s jacket still on him with the hood up. He claimed the lights from approaching cars were irritating his eyes, which worried both Keith and Shiro. Lance’s lack of food was starting to affect him.

When they arrived at their destination, Shiro got out first to pull his supplies from the trunk, while Keith turned in his seat to look at Lance.

“Lance, if you need blood, you can take it from me.” He offered.

“No,” Lance said, “I’m fine. we’re gonna need help stopping these guys and we need all the strength possible.”

“Lance, Keith, I need help with this.” Shiro called from the trunk.

Eager to escape the conversation, Lance climbed out the backseat and joined Shiro, taking the filled bag he was handed.

“Salt and sugar, plus those weird microwave bombs for fairies and blessed guns for any druids who don’t listen to reason.”

“Thank god the stupid rumour about vampires and rice aren’t true.” Lance said, sliding the bag on his back.

“Lance,” Shiro said, tucking extra bullets in his pockets and another gun in his boot, “I know you’re low on blood and the lack of noise tells me there are no animals around either.” Lance scrunched his nose. He didn’t understand how some vampires could drink animal blood. “You can take some from me if you need it. I don’t mind.”

Lance shook his head. He’d only done it once, taking blood from Keith. It was good, but god, he couldn’t do it again. To take blood and leave them alive, that was only meant for lovers and close friends and god was Keith and Shiro starting to lean into the lovers side. With all the time they spent together things had started to change for him. He didn’t know to deal with it and to take blood again when things were getting intense now was not a good idea.

“I’ll be fine. Besides, that means I can just take it from the druids who don’t listen. Magic filled blood is always good anyway.” Lance said, making his way to the forest, leaving Shiro shaking his head.

“Only if I tell you Lance!”

                                                            ________

Since Lance and Keith joined him, Shiro took anything that happened to them personally. Yes, he knew that as supernatural creatures, they were perfectly capable of defending themselves, better than he could, but still. When they decided to trust him enough to go traveling with him and help him stop other monsters, he tried to keep them out of trouble and safe. Seeing Lance on the ground, barely moving, mad him see red.

They had been lucky to find the fairies trying to attack the druids but the druids didn’t take kindly to being offered help. Instead of trying to kill the fairies only, the three of them had to be on the defence against fairies and druids throwing spells at them. Keith had turned into a wolf to literally rip the throats of any of their enemies. Lance’s speed helped spread the salt and sugar that distracted the fairies and allowed him to sneak around the druids’ defences and attack. Shiro was stuck dodging any spells and shooting at them but he made the most of what he had.

He should have noticed Lance slowing down. He should have been paying attention to the leader of the druids, gathering their magic. It wasn’t until Lance body slammed him out of the way he realised what had happened. Keith took care of the culprit, taking no time of biting his head off while Shiro ran over to Lance. his breathing was weak and he looked pale, his tan skin almost another colour. Then he looked down and saw why. Lance’s shirt was mostly torn to shreds, his stomach almost the same as it sluggishly stitched itself back together, blood easily escaping the wound.

“Lance? Lance, can you hear me?” Shiro asked, gently shaking his shoulder. The jacket was becoming stained with blood. Even if it did come out, he didn’t think he could wear it again without remembering what happened.

Lance’s eyes slowly blinked open, not even focused on Shiro. “What?” he slurred. God, Shiro didn’t even know vampires could slur.

“Lance, you’re losing blood. You need to eat now.”

“Druid?”

“Most are gone or dead if the screams and Keith’s growling is anything to go by. You need to take it from me.”

Even as weak as he was, Lance shook his head. “No. I can’t.”

“This isn’t up for debate Lance. if you don’t take blood, you’re going to die.”

“No, I can’t. I can’t take your blood.”

“Lance, I’m sorry, but I’m not giving you a choice here.” Pulling a dagger from his belt, Shiro made a small cut near his collarbone.

With energy he didn’t think Lance had, the vampire moved until he was pressed against Shiro, his tongue licking the blood from the cut before Shiro felt Lance’s fangs bite into him. it hurt and he could almost feel the blood leaving his body. After large gulps though, it slowed and those little pleased noises Shiro heard the last time started to emerge from Lance. he was starting to feel a bit off balance when Lance finally pulled away, resting his hand on the wound, resting his head on his hand.

“You asshole.” Lance rasped.

“Call me what you like but you were going to die. I wasn’t about to let that happen.”

“Lance! Lance are you ok?” Keith asked, the forest finally quite of any druids he’d killed. “I smell blood. Are the two of you ok?”

Lance shoved Shiro away, looking like a mixture of upset, embarrassed and confused. “Why did you do that?”

“Wha- Lance, in case it escaped your knowledge, you had a gaping wound on your stomach, that’s still healing by the way. You hadn’t had anything to eat for days. I wasn’t about to let you die because you were being stubborn.”

“What is the issue anyway?” Keith asked, not understanding why Lance was acting that way.

Lance hid his face in his hands, confusing the two dark haired men even more.

“Vampires don’t leave their food alive, ever. The only time a vampire willingly does that is for close friends and lovers.”

“I’d hope after what we’ve been through, you consider us close friends.” Keith said.

“Ugg, god, are you an idiot? Do you think after we’ve been through, I think of you as only close friends?” Lance said, his face looking as red as it could with his would still trying to heal.

“Excuse me?” Keith said, sounding insulted. Thankfully, Shiro was understanding what Lance was trying to say. He didn’t think he’d hear it, but when he was forced into a corner, Lance had no choice but to tell them the truth.

“Keith, it wasn’t the close friends part he was referring too.”

“What? Then what-oh.” Keith turned redder than Lance was.

The vampire hid behind his hands, letting out an embarrassed sound. “God, 700 years and this never happens. First month out of Zarkon’s grip and I manage to gain feelings for a monster hunter and a werewolf. He’s half the reason I tried to stop the feelings. If he comes after me for betraying him, he’ll go after you two.”

“That should be our choice.” Keith said, his face still sporting a blush. “We decided how we feel and we decide that that overgrown monster has another thing coming if he thinks we’re easy to get rid of.”

“I think what Keith is trying to say, I hope, is that we do feel the same way. I’ve dealt with Zarkon’s minions before, he doesn’t scare me. He won’t get the chance to use us against you because we won’t go down without a fight.” Shiro said, pulling Lance’s hands away from his face. “Under the strangest of circumstances, we ended up joining together. It’s gonna take a lot more than that to pull us apart ok?” Lance nodded slowly. “How about we save the feelings talk for tomorrow? I don’t know about you but I could do with a 14 hour nap.”

A rustle alerted them of a druid attempting to escape. Lance put his hand on Shiro’s arm that had reached for one of his guns.

“I’m still hungry.” Lance said licking his fangs, which sent shivers through the other two. “I usually want to escape when I get embarrassed, but I guess ripping his throat out will have to suffice for now.”

With regained speed, Lance was on the druid and drinking his fill.

“Why do I find that hot?” Keith asked out loud, seeming embarrassed himself.

“Nothing is wrong with you. You heart just decided it wanted something you can’t have, though unless their poly, which I do remember them being.”

“Don’t start Hunk. There is no way it’s gonna happen.” Lance said, no matter how much he wished it. He took a big breath and pushed himself up. “I can do this, I can forget these feelings and I’ll be fine.”

“Yes you will.” Hunk said feelingly, patting Lance’s shoulders. “How about we do an indoor spa night? Maybe we can pull Allura away from all the clubs she’s in.”

“Oh, I can’t.” Lance said, looking a bit guilty. “I promised Shiro and Keith I’d go to the movies with them.”

“Movies? With them? On a Friday? Like, obvious date night?”

“They invited me. And they asked which movie I wanted to see. If they plan on making out the whole time, at least I’ll be focused on a movie I want to see and not them.”

“Uhhh,” Hunk seemed confused but nodded anyway. “Ok, sure I guess. Tell me how it goes right?”

The movie was fine. Lance enjoyed it and the small part that Lance wanted to show in a corner enjoyed how Keith and Shiro made him sit in between them. They had been on the level above the middle walkway, so Lance had propped his feet up on the railing. Keith had done the same, Shiro whispering to them that they’d get in trouble, but Keith made his feet rest in a way that he was leaning more on Lance.

Being a cuddler, Lance was fine, though he had been wondering why Keith was cuddling against him. Keith wasn’t much for physical contact unless he started it but even then, never to the point of cuddling. Lance decided to ignore that and focus on the movie. It did make him think though. This wasn’t the first time he joined them in an outing that could have been a date for them.

‘It can’t be that odd. We’re really close friends and Allura and Hunk are busy most of the time.’

Lance was walking to his dorm, trying to text Keith. Keith had offered to take him to the mall and after the day he had, Lance needed retail therapy. Plus, it would give him a chance to get Allura a pick me up present from the Lush store with all the work she was doing with the groups she was in and the work she was putting on herself.

“Get it loser, we’re going shopping.”

At the sound of iconic lines, he turned to see Keith pulling up to where Lance was standing.

“Did you just Regina George me? You?” Lance had never felt more in love-No, no, nope. Not love, because Keith had a boyfriend and wouldn’t be interested in Lance McClain, nope, no way.

“Yes, and I hated every minute of it.”

“What are you doing here anyway?” Lance asked, stepping closer to Keith’s open window.

“I was coming to invite you out to the mall and you look like you’ve had a day. Come on, I’ll even get you a Cinnabun.” Keith said the magic words. Lance was quick to get into the passenger seat. “You and your gigantic sweet tooth.” Keith said, laughing to himself.

“Less jokes and more driving. We’re getting Cinnabun first.”

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the mall and Keith followed Lance as he dashed right over to where Cinnabun was held. He looked like a kid in a candy store at the sight of the iced rolls.

“Which one do you want?” Keith asked, leaning close to him, looking over his shoulder.

Lance pointed to one in the corner that looked like it was completely covered in icing. “That one.”

“How do you not get cavities?” Keith asked, while getting the worker’s attention.

“I take perfect care of my teeth, thank you very much. My dentist still can’t believe I’ve never got a cavity before.” Lance boasted, not seeming to pay a whole lot of attention to his dessert being taken and put into a box until it was handed to Keith, who paid and handed the desert to Lance. “I could have paid.”

“I don’t mind. Come on.”

Lance watched Keith walking away. It had been weird, all the times he hung out with Shiro, Keith or both, it felt different for some reason. Lance was sure that it was because he had crushes on them but it was different than that.

Just the other day, Lance had been missing his cat, and Shiro surprised him by driving him to the closest cat café, which was an hour away, even buying Lance a cat eared beanie he had been looking at when they got in there. Shiro was allergic to long haired cats but he didn’t complain a bit when all the long haired cats surrounded Lance, one blacked haired cat even crawled up into Shiro’s lap.

Even now, Keith letting Lance drag him around, and feeding him pieces of his Cinnabun while he carried his shopping bags after Lance refused Keith’s help carrying them, it felt very different. Lance didn’t know why, but these outings had been feeling a bit more like dates.

Which couldn’t be right, because Keith and Shiro didn’t like Lance like that.

Right?

Lance wasn’t sure how much more of this he could handle. For the past month, maybe more, Keith and Shiro had been acting flirtatious to Lance. Lance could say with full confidence that while he could let out pickup lines to any person who caught his fancy, getting them in return, he became a complete mess. It wasn’t blatant flirting, just little things. Compliments on his appearances, giving him praise when he did something good, doing small little things for him.

“I think they know.” Lance was telling Hunk.

They were in Lance’s dorm for a change. Lance knew Keith would have a long lab at the time, so he didn’t have to worry about Keith coming back when Lance was gushing about him and his boyfriend.

“What makes you think that?” Hunk asked, gently rubbing Lance back. His own back was against the wall the bed was pushed against, Lance laying on his stomach in front of him.

“They’re being…I don’t know, boyfriend-y? I mean I like it but it’s just weird. It’s like they know how I feel and they’re trying to get me to admit it, like try to kiss them or something.”

“Lance, come on. This is Keith and Shiro, they wouldn’t do something like that to trip you up or anything. Maybe they’re just being nice or-”

“Hunk, if you try to say that they might like me, I’m kicking you out. There isn’t a chance in hell that they’d feel that way for me.”

Hunk frowned at his friend’s self-deprecating comment. He really wished Lance had the confidence he could fake. Maybe then he’d realise just how important he was.

“Fine,” he said begrudgingly, “what are you going to do about it then?”

“I don’t know, pretend it doesn’t exist and hope like hell I’m just seeing things?”

Lance phone dinged with a notification and Lance leaned over to grab it from his bedside table.

“Don’t drop it again.” Hunk warned. He was honestly surprised Lance hadn’t cracked his phone’s screen the amount of time’s it’s slipped out of his hands. He was really gonna have to bug him about getting a pop socket for it.

It got safely into Lance’s hands and onto the bed so he could open and scroll through it. He pouted at the message. “Ugg, reminder to get tickets to the Royal Ballet’s film of Alice in Wonderland.”

“I’m really sorry I can’t take you.” Hunk apologized. His girlfriend went to the same school their friend Pidge attended and he was planning on driving up to go see her. Lance was determined to go and see the ballet, but so far he couldn’t find a ride.

“It’s fine. I mean the tickets are expensive anyway. But I really want to see it, I know they have the DVD of the first one they did, but the Alice that’s playing is a fav of mine from the company. And the White Rabbit. Besides, I think you’d get tired of me gushing about ballet.”

“I swear, if your parents could have afforded to send you and your sisters to ballet classes, you’d still be doing it wouldn’t you?”

“Hell yeah,” Lance said, turning on his back. “But just watching it is enough. It’s so worth it to see the beautiful dancing and the costumes. God, whoever could go with me will think I’m so weird for being so overly excited for this. I just really, god Hunk. I really want to go. Even if I have to spend my entire pay check on the ticket, I want to go.”

The door swung open and Keith walked in, looking tired.

“You’re back early. I thought you had lab?” Lance asked, watching Keith drop his bag on the end of his bed and drop down on it.

“Fire alarm went off because in another lab, someone set something on fire, so we have to reschedule. I’m really tired.” He answered, running his hands through his hair.

“You sleep. I can go to Hunk’s room.” Lance said.

“Oh, uh I actually need to start on an essay. Sorry.” Lance felt like Hunk really wasn’t. Something told him Hunk was trying to be sly and keep Lance and Keith in the same room.

Hunk gave him a look as he headed out the door, while Keith flopped down on his bed looking close to sleep. Lance sighed; Hunk really knew how to push it.

“Come on Keith, at least take you shoes off.” He instructed, approaching the half asleep young man. He unzipped Keith’s boots and pulled them off for him, tugging at the blanket Keith was on top of. Keith ached enough for Lance to pull it from under him and cover him. “Good?”

Keith hummed, already slipping off into dreamland. Lance knew he should just go back to his side of the room and do something, but it wasn’t often he got to see Keith asleep. Lance usually passed out first or Keith would be in Shiro’s room. Lance wanted that, to fall asleep next to them. Lance was a hug fan of cuddles piles and napping with other people and he had to be honest, both Keith and Shiro were the perfect cuddling partners, well except for Hunk. It was Hunk, nothing could beat him.

Lance wanted the chance to snuggle close with them, happy and safe in their arms, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t theirs and they weren’t his. They couldn’t be, why would they want him?

Lance was curled up against the door of Hunk’s bedroom, waiting for him to come back. He needed help. He heard voiced and looked up to see Hunk and Allura turning the corner.

“Lance? Hello, how are you? I haven’t seen you for a while.” Allura greeted. She wasn’t wrong, her workload and other obligations had made her too busy to hang out with him and Hunk. He guessed she was finally free if she could help Hunk bake, judging from the baking items in their hands. He could smell the lemon berry cake from where he was sitting.

“You ok? You look kinda, I don’t know, stunned I guess? What’s wrong?” Hunk asked.

“Can you open the door? I need to sit down.”

Hunk let them all in, resting the cake on his desk and focused on putting his stuff away, while Allura sat next to Lance on Hunk’s bed. Lance pulled something out of his bag and handed it to Allura.

“These are tickets to the screening of the Alice in Wonderland performance. Lance you got tickets? That’s amazing. But, there are three?”

Lance wasn’t even looking at Allura, more interested in his sleeves. “That’s because I didn’t buy them. Shiro and Keith got them for me, as a date. Because apparently, I’ve been their boyfriend and I didn’t even know.”

“Wait, what?” Hunk abandoned putting away his baking items and sat down next to Lance. “What do you mean?”

“You know how I’ve been complaining about how they’re really extra, flirty and I was sure they knew and were trying to get me to admit it? I confronted them about it after they gave me the tickets and they looked so confused. They were under the impression that I agreed to date them like 2 months ago. Except, you know how I feel about them. If they asked me to date them I’d be screaming it from the rooftops. So how, ugg, how did they come to that conclusion? Were they joking and just messing with me? Did it actually happen and I somehow forgot? What?”

“Ok, first calm down. I’m the only one who gets panicky here. And second, I know it’s not something you want to hear, cause I know it’ll confuse you, but I don’t think they’d trick you. You know those two, they’d never to that to you.” Hunk said

“That should make me feel better, but I just feel confused. How, when did this happen? Not only that, after they told me that and just looked at me, like they couldn’t understand why I didn’t know this, I just took off. Now they’ll never like me.” Lance moaned, hiding his face in his hands.

“Lance, come on. They did so much for you. They genuinely like you, I know it.” Allura tried comforting, but Lance just continued making wounded noises in his hands. “I will call Shiro and find out what happened ok? I think they also deserve an explanation.”

“No! You can’t call him please. I don’t want them…I can’t…”

“Lance, you deserve an explanation as to what happened, why did they even think this and they deserve to know what you’ve been going through. Hunk, stay with him.” Allura got up, already dialling a number.

“Hunk.” Lance whined, but Hunk just rubbed Lance’s back, trying to be the smallest amount comforting as he could be, while wondering if he was going to have to throw punches. “What if it was all a mistake? How am I going to face them? I room with Keith!”

“You can room in here. Rolo is never here so he won’t mind.” Hunk was quick to say. Lance let out another wounded noise and dropped to hide his face in Hunk’s lap.

“Ok, they’re coming here.” Allura said after getting off the phone.

“Wh-Here?”

“Yes here. Lance needs a place where he feels like he has control and he can’t do that at his or Shiro’s room, so he can do it here. Now, Lance I know you haven’t really calmed down much so do you want us to stay here when they come or do you want to face them yourself?”

“I don’t know. Are they really coming here?”

“If they don’t want me to go start yelling at them without getting the whole story, yes. Don’t choose now. Shiro has to collect tests from the class that he’s TAing so once he’s done with that, they’ll be right over. Now Lance, deep breaths please.”

“Do you want a slice of the lemon berry cake? I was gonna give you half anyway since Shay likes it more than Pidge so I knew she wouldn’t try to devour it when Shay turned her back.” Hunk asked

“Please.”

Lance had almost devoured his half when someone knocked on the door. He was more put together than he had been when he first entered the room.

“Do you want us to stay?” Allura asked, getting up.

“Can you stay outside the door?”

“Of course.” She opened the door where both Shiro and Keith looked uncomfortable and apologetic. “We’ll be outside the door, so don’t give me a reason to storm back in here, got it?”

“Yes princess.” Shiro answered

“Excellent. Hunk, come on.”

Hunk gave Lance shoulder another pat on the shoulder and followed Allura out the door, the low click closing Lance in with the two guys he still felt in love with, even with all the confusion. The quiet felt so awkward though. Lance wasn’t used to this, with them silence didn’t feel weird or suffocating. Somehow it always felt fine, even during the times Lance felt like he had to hold a much tighter grip on his feelings.

“Lance, um…” Shiro started. Shiro never seemed unsure of himself like he did standing in front of Lance. “Allura told us that, you never knew that we asked you out.”

“Trust me if I did, I would know.”

“I see. Can we tell you when we asked you out, and see if you remember? Maybe we weren’t as clear as we thought.”

How would he not remember? He was more than certain that the day Shiro and Keith ever asked him, he would never forget. Nothing could make him forget it.

“Remember the Harry Potter dance a few months ago?” Keith asked.

Dance? Oh the family and friends weekend dance. They had the theme of Harry Potter that weekend and he and his friends went wearing house cardigans and ties over their outfits. He remembered he switched Shiro’s Hufflepuff tie with his Ravenclaw one. Though, he was sure when he woke up still in his clothes from the night before, he was wearing a Gryffindor one.

“You slipped between us on the dance floor and were being your usual self and I think that’s when it hit us. We’ve liked you for a while and we had been wondering we were ready to add someone else to our relationship.” Keith continued.

“The last time wasn’t the best. Keith and I almost completely lost each other, so we’ve been really careful in this, that decision. But I don’t know, just watching you dance between us both, it kinda clicked for us that we wanted to ask you out.”

Lance remembered that. He remembered the small burst of courage that made him slid between the two of them, keeping their attention on him. He was quick to disappear once embarrassment caught up with him.

“We talked it over once more, to make sure we were both in agreement and then went to look for you. You were on one of the couches, resting I guess. You seemed a bit tired but you answering clearly so…”

That he didn’t remember. After he danced, he went over to the refreshment table and…

“This is gonna sound strange, but was I drinking anything when you came over?”

The two black haired guys look at each other confused at the question but Keith answered anyway. “Um, I think you had a cup. Why?”

The two stared at Lance as he burst into an entire string of curse words and muffled screams. They could hear something banging just outside the door. Keith decided to check on the two outside while Shiro kneeled in front of Lance.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Lance didn’t say anything except moan and groan even more, hiding his face in his hands. “Lance, please tell me what’s wrong. If we did something wrong, we want to know.”

“I was drunk. I’m a sleepy drunk.”

“What? Drunk? Lance, I swear we didn’t do anything except ask you out.”

“I know. I know you wouldn’t. I know you guys would never do that. I just…uggg!”

“Lance doesn’t remember anything once he’s drunk. He might say or do anything but he has no memory of it. Whether it’s because he’s tired or blacked out, well…” Allura filled in for Lance.

“So when we asked Lance out and if he’d wanted to be our boyfriend and he said yes…?” Keith started.

“Lance had no clue what he agreed to the next day. But hey, at least the mystery of the necktie is solved. It must have been Keith’s.” Hunk said

“Um, yeah, you said, ‘I’ll be your boyfriend, but I want Keith’s tie.’ Then after you got it, you said, ‘I never thought you would ever be interested in me’.” Keith explained.

Lance sounded like a wounded animal making Shiro hit Keith in the leg.

“Obviously there has been a lot of miscommunication. Lance, we’re really sorry we’ve cause you all this trouble. We never meant for you to feel confused or anything. We should have made sure to check with you the next day instead of just assuming.”

“I need time to process everything.” Lance said, sounding out of breath.

“Of course. We can go. We are sorry Lance. Trust me, we never wanted a relationship with you to start out so misleading.”

Lance appreciated how understanding they were being. Now he had to figure out just what he was gonna do now.

Lance thought long and hard. He still wanted to be with Keith and Shiro. While he wasn’t in the know about being their boyfriend, they still treated him so well. He had Allura act like a bridge between them and according to what she heard from them, the reason they hadn’t moved for more romantic moves was because they knew Lance liked to move slow with his relationships. He wanted the first kisses to be special and they wanted to give Lance the kiss he wished for.

“They really care about you. Poor Shiro looks like he did something horrible. I think he think he disrespected you assuming you were all going out without checking with you.”

“I want to give it a real chance with them. I just don’t know if it should approach them or wait for them. What if they lose interest?”

“Lance, trust me. They aren’t losing interest. They just don’t want to rush you.” He knew she was right. Didn’t mean he still didn’t worry.

He was heading back to his room. Rolo got into a fight with his own girlfriend and decided to take advantage of the empty room that Hunk left after his classes. He knew Shiro had made Keith room with him to give Lance space, so he was sure the space to relax and try and decompress. However he was surprised at the sight of Shiro and Keith leaning against the wall to his door. Why Keith was waiting outside made no sense, he never forgot his keys. Lance was guilty of that more than he cared to admit. He also noticed a big bouquet of tulips in Shiro’s hand. Tulips were his mom’s favourite flower and he loved the sight of them.

“Lance.”

“Hey guys.”

Shiro handed him bouquet of flowers. “These are for you. We wanted to ask you something, if you’re willing to hear us out?”

“Uh, yeah?” What was going on?

“Keith and I have feelings for you and we’ve talked about it a lot and we want you to be with us, if you wanted.”

“Ok?” why were they telling him this? He knew this already. Wait, hang on. Where they? Could they be? Were they asking him out, like it was the first time, because he had been in a drunken mind space he didn’t remember the first?

“At the Harry Potter dance, it kinda hit us how much we wanted to be with you. And we’re really sorry it took us so long to come and ask you this. I don’t think I could take waiting anymore. We want to be with you. Like take you to the movies.”

“Feed you Cinnabuns when you’re focused on shopping.” Keith said, making Lance smile.

“Take you to a cat café when you’re missing your own cat.”

Their dates, or what had been dates without Lance’s knowledge. They wanted to do that stuff all over again, with him with the knowledge of knowing now.

“We want you to be our boyfriend Lance, and possibly go out with us this weekend?” Keith asked

“Where to?”

“Well, I heard that you really wanted to go see the screening of the Royal Ballet’s Alice in Wonderland, so we got tickets.” Keith answered, pulling out three familiar tickets from his back pocket. “And before you ask, these aren’t the one we gave you. We got other copies from the theatre. We wanted to do this from scratch.”

Ooh, how could Lance say no? He didn’t think anyone would ever go through such effort. His past relationships didn’t.

“Sure. I would love to.” Before he lost his nerve, he did what he had been dying to do forever and quickly pressed kisses to their cheeks. He was glad to see they were turning about as red as he felt. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while.”

“Oh well, it’s taken everything to keep Keith from shoving you in a corner and kissing the daylights out of you, so we understand.” Shiro explained

“You only say that because once I start, you’ll want to join in.” Keith was quick to snap back.

“No fair. Keith was supposed to catch me.”

Resting his hand on the prince’s shoulder, Keith said, “and I have.”

“Besides, it’s time for you to get back to the castle. You still need to get your fitting for your suit for your coming of age ball.” Shiro said, removing his arms from Lance’s waist.

“I don’t know why we do this every year. I was cursed by that dark fairy when I was a baby to fall into a sleep on my birthday.” Lance reminded.

When he had been born, his family invited everyone to his christening but even though his mother remembered writing an invitation to the dark fairy of their kingdom, it never got there. So said fairy decided to curse Lance in retaliation, cursing him to fall into a deep sleep unable to wake on his birthday, only to be woken by true love’s kiss. Lance tried not to let that curse bother him but the issue came up every now and then. Shiro and Keith wanted to do everything to protect and help Lance, but what could simple knights do against a powerful, vengeful dark fairy? Every other fairy tried to remove the curse but nothing worked. All Lance’s parents could hope for was that Lance would be kissed by his true love.

“Well you haven’t passed out on us yet, so we have high hopes. Besides, while you’re busy with your fitting, we can go get your present.” Shiro said, knowing that would get Lance’s attention.

“Really? What is it, what is it? Oh, tell me please!” Lance begged.

“Wait until your birthday, but Keith will be leaving and don’t think you can pull what it is from me.”

Lance pouted. “You guys are such teases. But fine, I’ll survive. We’ll go, but I want it now.” Lance said, tapping at his cheeks.

Ever since Lance was young and he had Keith and Shiro on his guards, he got them to kiss his cheek before he went to his persona of the perfect prince. Even as they grew older and they tried to tell him it wasn’t acceptable, Lance didn’t care.

With matching blushes, the two pressed a kiss against Lance’s cheeks, making him giggle and smile before turning back to towards the castle, not seeing the almost love sick looks he was getting from his guards. They hide their looks because as much as they liked their prince, they were just guards. There was no chance that they could be the prince’s true love.

Shiro remembered when Lance fell under his curse, Lance had been standing in front of the crowds that came to celebrate his 18th birthday and suddenly he collapsed. He wouldn’t wake up. His curse finally came to be. Keith wasn’t even back yet.

Shiro was instructed to take Lance to a tower that had been built for Lance when he fell under his curse and keep him safe. It was lucky he did because after that the dark fairy tried attacking the kingdom. Walls of rose thorns surrounded the tower as if trying to keep anyone who could awaken Lance out.

Shiro looked to where Lance laid on the bed, looking like the usual morning where they’d try to wake him up. But firm words and shaking wasn’t going to do anything. Not now. He felt like if this was the end and Lance never woke up, Keith should be with them. But he was out of the kingdom, probably not knowing what was going on. Shiro didn’t think it would end like this, Keith barely knowing about Shiro’s feelings about him and the feelings he had for the prince. Falling love with them was not what he expected. He tried to stop it, to be professional but he couldn’t help it.

The sound of footsteps started to sound and Shiro tensed at the sound. He was locked in here with Lance, and the only other person with the key would Keith. He stood in front of Lance, his grip on his sword tightening as the footsteps grew closer. He heard the sound of a key going into a lock and turning before the door swung open to Keith.

“Keith! How did you get here?”

“I heard what happened on my way back. I saw the wall of thorns and decided to go and get Prince Hunk.” Shiro noticed Lance’s fiancée was standing behind Keith, looking a bit scared and determined all at once. “Your highness, if you would.”

Prince Hunk took a deep breath and approached Lance.

“Do you think it’ll work? If he kisses Lance?” Shiro asked

“It’s the closest thing we have. The fairies are helping push back the dark fairy but it won’t be worth it if Lance doesn’t wake up.”

Shiro knew that. He also knew that if Lance did wake up, he’d have to completely forget about him. From the look of Keith’s face, he understood that too.

“Hey, did you get it?” Shiro asked.

Keith looked a bit confused but recognition came to his eyes. He pulled a small draw string bag from off his belt and handed it over. “In a perfect world, we could give this to him and tell him how we feel.”

“In a perfect world. Unfortunately, this was never going to be perfect.”

They watched as Hunk leaned over Lance, leaning down, but they averted their gaze as Hunk got much closer. Moments passed, turning into minutes but Lance hadn’t woken up. Hunk wasn’t Lance’s true love.

“I’m sorry Lance.” Hunk said.

Shiro tried to hold back the stinging in his eyes. Lance would stay asleep for the rest of his life, unknowing of just how in love his guards were with him.

“You go ahead you highness, we need to get you back to your kingdom and see if the dark fairy’s forces have been defeated. And then we need to tell Prince Lance’s parents what happened.” Shiro said, trying to stay strong.

Hunk seemed to understand the mood of the room and with another apologetic look at Lance he started his trek down the winding stairs. Once he was out of the room, Keith let out a shaky breath.

“It isn’t fair. He didn’t deserve this.” Keith said, his fist shaking.

“Then defeating that fairy is the best we can do. Here, help me put it on him.” Shiro opened the bag and shook it out, dropping the necklace in his hand. It was a clear star shape with the smallest bud of a juniberry flower blooming within the star. Juniberries didn’t grow in Lance’s kingdom and to get it pressed between pieces of crystal glass, it was no wonder Keith had to go out of town to get it.

Keith lifted Lance’s head up enough that Shiro could put the necklace on Lance, the charm resting gently on his chest now. The two looked at Lance, like it was the last time they’d see him and with an understanding look, they did what they always did at their prince’s request, each pressing a kiss to his cheeks at the same time.

They did not expect as they started to back away that Lance would slowly open his eyes.

“Keith, Shiro? What happened?”

Shiro watched Keith skate down the sidewalk as he headed towards the sand.  Lounge chairs and umbrellas were spotted in the sand, a renter walking around to rent out the umbrellas. Shiro walked over to the nearest one, a renter appearing almost instantly. Shiro paid for his chairs and decided to lie on his stomach to read his book. He noticed a sign that said ‘No Pets’. He knew there were dog beaches but he never really saw any signs against animals not to be a beaches.

He opened his book, taking a quick glance around when he noticed the person on the lounge next to him. He looked like he was tall, his tan skin shinning with the water that was still on his body, a light shirt sticking to his body. He assumed he was asleep from the sunglasses on his face and relaxed body language. Shiro was not going to lie, he was gorgeous. Being poly as well as pan, he got small crushes on other people but he and Keith never really met someone else who they felt fit in their relationship. If they went on looks alone, he had a feeling they’d both be head over heels. Of course, there was a chance he wasn’t interested in guys at all, so Shiro decided not to pursue that.

He was so focused on the book, that he didn’t see Keith until he felt something cold press against his neck.

“Oh my god! Keith!”

“Frozen lemonade. It’s not too tart, just like you like it.” Keith said, handing the drink over.

“And you’re an asshole.”  Shiro said, sitting up, wiping the back of his neck. “It couldn’t have been that long.”

“It got too hot. I’m regretting skinny jeans.”

Shiro saw the guy next to him twitch his lips like he wanted to laugh. Guess he wasn’t asleep.

“I’m almost done and I really want to finish. If you want, you can stay in the car with the AC on.” Shiro offered.

“No, I’ll just stay here. Does that sign say ‘No Pets’?”

“Yeah, don’t usually see those signs.” Shiro said before they heard it. A little meow.

Both Shiro and Keith turned over to the guy sitting next to them who looked stiff as a board. At the end of his lounge chair was a black tote bag that looked stuffed and now that they looked at it, it was moving. Another meow sounded and they saw a pair a blue toned paws stretching out.

“Uhhh, is that a cat?” Keith asked.

“Do you want to ask any louder?” The guy pushed his glasses on top of his head and sat up, pulling his bag closer to him. “Blue, shh.” A confused mew answered the guy. His blue eyes were staring down the bag as his hand disappeared, no doubt scratching at the cat’s head.

“Does your cat like the beach?” Shiro asked, trying to get a better look.

“She has separation anxiety and if my neighbour has to go through an entire afternoon hearing her meow the apartment down, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind trying to get my thrown out. Besides, my Blue is a sea girl just like her dad.” Looking around to make sure no one saw them, he lifted the bag so they could see the Russian Blue curled up on a black towel, her paws curled under her head. She blinked sleepily at her owner before dozing off again. “You can pet her, just don’t make it obvious. I’m sure that renter saw her move and I’m overdue on a beach day.”

It turned out his name was Lance, and he was interested in guys. Not that the jumped on the boat with that immediately, they just met the guy! He worked at a cat café, which is where he adopted Blue and he was from Cuba, hence the beach days, to remind him of home. He was quick and witty, not slow or shy to say what was on his mind. They even were able to get early dinner with him, him leading the way to a really amazing gyro truck.

“He was nice.” Shiro said, after they waved Lance off, who was almost caught by a lifeguard with Blue.

“Yes. And he was pretty cute. A little much, but not bad.” Keith said, dropping his skateboard in the backseat before climbing into the passenger seat.

“He was. I would have liked to get to know him better, maybe see if we had a chance, but we didn’t get his number.” Shiro bemoaned starting the car.

“Actually, we know where he works.” Shiro looked over at his boyfriend confused. “The tote bag he had, it was a special one that workers at Space Cats get after 3 months of working there. I remember Hunk getting his. I know he said every location has a different design and it looked like the one Hunk has, which might mean he knows him. Is it stalking if you want to get to know him better?”

“With good intention, I think we might be fine, but that depends on what Hunk thinks when we explain it to him.”