#regularghostly

Keith wasn’t sure what to think anymore. Lance had resorted to a new kind of teasing that he absolutely could not deal with. When they were training and Keith beat the gladiator, Lance gasped and pretended to swoon as he said something about Keith slaying his heart too. And when the castle had to change course because there was a dying star near, Lance had turned around and proclaimed that “yes, that star is bright, but it can never compare to the ones in your eyes”.

Needless to say, Keith was helpless. He couldn’t do much besides blushing and changing the topic because that one time he had demanded a clarification it had all just gotten worse. 

[The statement: “You are definitely Red’s original paladin because you’re making me burn up.” 

The question: “What is that even supposed to mean?!” 

And the answer, with a wink: “Obviously, you set my heart on fire.”]

Keith wasn’t sure what to make of it. Was Lance making fun of him? Had he found out about his crush? Did he want to annoy him? Maybe it was an attempt to become friends with him. It was definitely nicer than all the aggression he used to show him. 

Just. Yeah. Just a tiny little bit too nice for his gay ass. Keith wasn’t sure how many more playful pick up lines he could take before he would have to start avoiding Lance to prevent his heart from getting broken.

If he was perfectly honest, he had probably crossed that number already. Seeing Lance flirt with local aliens annoyed him more than it used to. And yet he couldn’t bring himself to hide from Lance; he wanted to be closer, wanted to be at his side, always. Pushing him away was impossible. He loved Lance’s dorky grin and his bright eyes and his mindless compliments, he loved his high fives and half hugs and teasing winks. For the first time he understood why he attracted so many alien girls - it felt good to be in the center of his attention. He felt loved, appreciated.

It was a dangerous and stupid game he was playing. Keith really should start avoiding Lance before it got too bad. But he couldn’t, dear god, he just couldn’t.

Keith was beginning to think Lance from a year ago had had a point when he had called him a brainless idiot.

“We already share a lion, wanna share a seat too?”

“Sometimes I think Allura isn’t the only one who can do magic because you definitely put a spell on me.”

“You might be Shiro’s right hand but you’re the right man for me.”

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’re both the paladins of Red, the paladins of love.”

“You’re a real space ninja, you snuck your way into my heart undetected and made it yours.”

“You being Galra makes sense, I always knew you were out of this world.”

“I should ask for a memory storage unit because I don’t want to forget a single second of your smile.”

“Pidge can find formulas for everything but there are no numbers to express my love for you.”

Lance was pretty confident that his attempt at wooing Keith was successful. No matter what line he used, Keith always started blushing like crazy. Over time he had gotten better at just ignoring the lines and move on with whatever he had been doing before but the blushing never ceased.

Also. While Keith had not reciprocated, Lance had caught him with a helpless smile for two times in a row now. It was working and Lance had never been so thrilled about anything before. He was so sure that it was working that he had even cut back on the flirting with other aliens just to see more of Keith’s small smiles. And to stand next to him. And to talk to him. And to flirt with him and to make him laugh and to watch him blush and to admire his skills and to brush against his shoulder and-

Yeah, everything was going as planned. Better than that, even. It was time for the last step in Operation: Wooing Keith.

Once they had finished the debriefing dinner with the Marmorites, Lance lightly nudged against Keith’s shoulder and leaned into his personal space to whisper against his ear. He was pleased to note that Keith unconsciously leaned his way to make it easier. All the hard work for the past two months had totally paid off.

“Have a moment? Now?”

Keith’s head turned and wide, concerned eyes found Lance’s. “Sure. Here or…?”

“Your room? More privacy,” Lance said softly, a nervous grin on his face. As sure as he was that his pick up lines had done the trick, he’d rather not do it in front of the team. In case he was wrong he’d like to save himself the embarrassment and in case he was right he wanted Keith’s reaction to be for him and him alone.

Apparently his grin hadn’t been reassuring, the concern in Keith’s eyes hadn’t faded one bit. His right hand found Lance’s biceps and he gave it a light squeeze before agreeing and dismissing them from the dinner table. The team gave them a few curious looks but one happy wave from Lance had them all shrugging and turning back to their own conversations.

A few hallways later, they had reached Keith’s room. 

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Keith asked quietly once the door had closed behind them. Warmth bubbled up in Lance’s chest and he gave him a fond look.

“I’m fine. Absolutely a-okay. In fact, I’ve rarely been better than these last few days!”

Keith blinked a little, then his eyebrows drew together in confusion. “So why did you want to talk to me?”

“Aw, come on, don’t be like that. We’re friends, right? Good friends, it’s normal to hang out sometimes.”

Honestly, Keith’s shellshocked expression would have been hilarious if it wasn’t for his next words. “Wait, you think we’re good friends?”

Had Lance been completely wrong about everything until now?

“I mean, yeah? We hang out after training, we’re great at working together, we both know it’s okay to come talk to the other when we’re unsure about something. What else would you call that?”

Slowly, Keith’s expression morphed into his thinking face before a small smile stretched over his lips. His very distracting lips. Very kissable, if you asked Lance. Full and well formed, if a little chapped-looking.

He was so distracted by them that he almost missed Keith’s answer. “Yeah, I guess we are.” The words were spoken softly and Lance had to fight against the blush threatening to overtake his face.

“Right. Right, yeah, that. We’re really good friends.”

“We are,” Keith affirmed, his smile growing. Lance could feel himself falling deeper and deeper.

“Yep. We’ve grown a lot closer over the past few weeks… I guess you could say we connected. That’s a step above bonding, y’know? We clicked and it’s awesome.”

“I-” There was a light blush dusting Keith’s cheeks but his eyes had never been brighter. Lance had never seen anyone as beautiful as him. “Yeah, it was… it was really good.” Keith self-consciously shifted from one leg to the other and Lance couldn’t take it anymore. Quiznak, he was so gone for this boy. A wide grin stretched his face and he didn’t bother to try hiding it.

“Uh-huh, agreed. It was more than good. More than awesome, even. We seem to get along great and you seem to have liked my flirting, so I’m actually quite excited to ask this. You wanna go on a date with me?”

Silence.

More silence.

Just when Lance’s smile began to get strained (had he really been wrong? But all signs had pointed towards success!) Keith’s eyes grew huge. From one moment to the next, Keith was bright red and had taken half a step backwards.

“What?!” he asked, voice cracking halfway through. 

…was that a good or a bad reaction? Keith was so weird sometimes, Lance had troubles keeping up with his thoughts. 

“You wanna go on a date with me?” he repeated, slower this time. 

“You’re serious?!” 

“Yeah?” 

“You - what?!”

This was getting slightly uncomfortable. Lance was rather confident in his flirting skills but this was testing even his limits. 

“Look,” he began nervously, twisting his fingers together. “It’s fine if you don’t want to. You just seemed to react positively to the lines, so I thought - yeah. But it really doesn’t matter if you don’t want to, I can take rejection-”

“No!” Keith interrupted passionately. He had his arms thrown out as if he wanted to physically keep Lance from speaking without actually touching him. “No, no, I don’t - I mean, I think I’d like to go on a date with you.”

Lance frowned. “You think?”

“I don’t know! Are you serious about this?”

“How often do I have to tell you that I’m serious? What kind of joke would this be?!”

“I don’t know! I thought - I thought you were mocking me or something!” Keith exclaimed before self-consciously looking down. “You never gave an explanation, you just suddenly started with all these jokes and I didn’t know what to think. I just… I never thought you were serious.”

For a while, there was silence between them. Lance just looked at Keith, confident, self-assured Keith who was almost curling in on himself and wondered how he could have come to that conclusion. But no matter how he twisted it, he couldn’t figure it out - Lance had been flirting nonstop for two months, he had hung out with him more and touched him more and smiled at him more, nothing about it should have given the impression of a joke. As usual, he had troubles understanding how Keith’s brain worked.

A vague smile snuck onto his face. Lance had always liked a challenge.

“Well,” he drawled while taking a step closer. Keith’s head snapped up, eyes immediately locking on Lance’s when he leaned close enough that their foreheads were almost touching. “I can assure you that it’s not a joke. So, what do you say? Yay or nay?”

The tiny flicker from Keith’s eyes to his mouth was all the warning Lance got before Keith’s lips were suddenly pressing against his. It was unexpected but certainly not unwelcome, he missed them the instant they were gone. Why did Keith always have to do everything so quickly?! He didn’t even have time to enjoy the kiss, his mouth had barely lingered long enough for Lance to process that it was there before it was gone again.

“Um. Yes,” Keith said quietly. That snapped Lance out of his daze. One look at Keith showed him that he was blushing like crazy, but his eyes were as open and earnest as ever. 

Slowly, a grin stretched over Lance’s face. Keith wanted to date him. Keith. Keith.

“Awesome,” he breathed. He was so happy that he felt like laughing. “That’s hella awesome. Kiss me again?”