The three younger paladins shrieked happily, shouting their thanks as they took off running for the shore, shoes flying and jackets landing in the sand. Shiro turned his head to look at Allura with a smile. „This is amazing, Allura. I think you couldn’t have made them happier.“

Allura tilted her head and put a hand on Shiro’s left arm. „I was hoping you would enjoy this as well, Shiro. You have been working harder than anyone of us. You deserve a day’s rest.“

Shiro opened his mouth in surprise, a little overwhelmed by so much attention and a little lost for words. Fortunately Keith chose excatly this moment to step out between them, a grumpy expression on his face. „A beach?“ He asked with a raised eyebrow, obviously sceptical about something that involved such a big amount of fun.

Allura narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance, having hoped for a rather different reaction. „Yes, Keith. A beach. A place for relaxation and happiness. I’m glad to see that it disgusts you so much.“

Allura went to take off her armor inside the castle, mumbling intelligibly under her breath. Keith merely sniffed and shrugged as the princess moved away, crossing his arms over his chest and looking outside with a wary expression. Three cheerful paladins were splashing around in turquoise water. They were still dressed in t-shirts and pants, but didn’t seem to care a bit about the additional soaked weight. Keith had never seen them this outgoingly happy.

He felt a weight on his shoulder and saw that Shiro had put his hand on it, an encouraging smile on his face. „Go on, Keith. Don’t worry so much. I bet it’s fun out there. Give it a try.“

Keith tilted his head slightly and looked away, a little crease appearing between his eyebrows. „Hmmm. I don’t know, Shiro.“

The warm dark eyes of the older paladin changed, giving room for worry. This guy managed to catch up to everything. „What is it?“

Keith huffed and shook his head slightly, fond of Shiro being so perceptive, yet at the same time wishing he weren’t. „It’s just… I don’t know. I- I’ve never… well, I’ve never been to a beach before. My father and I never went on vacations, you know.“

Keith shuffled around slightly, trying to act as indifferent as he could, while he was actually dying from insecurity inside. He sent a tentative side glance in Shiro’s direction and saw the realization in his expression. Keith smiled and shielded his eyes against the sun.

„I think it’ll come naturally to you, Keith.“ Shiro said softly, making Keith look at him again in surprise. „All we have to do is go out there and… do the next best thing.“

Keith blinked at him, pretty unsure about this much spontaneousness. „And what would that be?“

Shiro put his finger on his lips thoughtfully, making Keith start to consider that maybe Shiro had just as little clue what to do at a beach as he had. His features softened a little at that impression. Where Shiro knew pretty much everything about him, there was little Keith knew about Shiro in connection to his past. Shiro kept most things locked away behind so many doors that walking through all of them could take years. Keith had barely managed to walk through the half of them.

He sighed deeply and slid out of his jacket, leaving it in the castle. „Let’s start by making ourselves more… beach ready.“ Keith made an awkward motion towards his t-shirt and then bent over to take off his shoes and roll up the legs of his pants.

Shiro smiled at that and copied Keith’s actions, stripping to his sleeveless muscle shirt and rolling his pants up as well. For a second he was insecure about the bulgy skin where his right shoulder merged into the metal arm. But then a sudden feeling took over him and made him forget about any insecurities. Was that… giddiness he felt in his stomach?

There suddenly was so much energy inside of him that he had to get rid off. He looked at Keith staggering around on one leg as he tried to keep the material of his pants rolled up on the other leg. And a grin spread out on his face.

He suddenly knew exactly what he had to do.

„Keith..“

Keith looked up in time to manage a very surprised yell, before a very strong arm wrapped around his middle and lifted him off the floor. „SHIRO WHAT ARE YOU-“

„I know what we have to do!“

Keith clawed his fingers into Shiro’s foreram, holding on to him tensely as the pilot started running with Keith dangling from his side, shaking him quite thoroughly. Despite that Keith almost sighed in relief as fresh air ruffled his hair and blew under his shirt, giving him goosebumps and drying his sweat. It felt like flying through the desert with Shiro all over again. The memory of their races untied a knot in Keith’s chest and he suddenly had to let out a laugh as Shiro readjusted his grip on him, lifting him even higher than he’d been before.

„Don’t drop me!!!“

Shiro’s smirk was audible in his words as he raised his voice as well. „Oh, I will drop you in a bit!“

Keith tensed up again and looked to where Shiro was headed. Pidge, Hunk and Lance in the water had noticed their approach by now, curious happy smiles on their faces as they got closer at a dizzying speed. The realization hit Keith and he started struggling, almost causing Shiro to drop him himself.

„NO YOU WILL NOT! DON’T YOU DARE! SHIRO!“

But Shiro wasn’t bothered by Keith’s defiance in the slightest. His soft laughter mixed with Keith’s gasps and yelps and put a warm feeling in his shaking stomach.

Keith’s struggles grew stronger the closer they got to the water, forcing Shiro to swing Keith’s in front of his chest to be able to hold him there with both his arms.

Keith’s fists drummed against Shiro’s forearms, as the pilot reached the shore and took a few steps into the water. How Shiro managed to stay strong enough to hold him like that with all his laughter was a freaking mystery to the paladin of the red lion. „Enough with the violence,“ Shiro chuckled, „Time to cool your head!“

Keith’s knees were pulled up to his chest and he was eagerly trying to keep himself in that pulled up position by wrapping his hands around Shiro’s head behind him and holding on. „I DON’T THINK SO!!“

„Oh, but you will let go,“ Shiro growled, a playful tone to his voice that made Keith’s stomach drop.

„YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!!“

„Ah, Keith, you really bring this upon yourself,“ Shiro chuckled and kept his metal arm wrapped around Keith’s middle, the other suddenly dangerously unoccupied and close to his side and ribs and this was when it clicked, but too late.

„SHIRO WAIT-“ Keith shouted out in panic, trying to pull himself up higher to get away, but it was to no use. Shiro’s fingers were already squeezing his side and making their way up and hell on earth, it tickled so much, Keith had never thought anything could tickle this much.

Any plans for holding back his giggles were diminished immediately, as he broke out into hysterical squeals and deep uncontrollable laughter, twitching around like a fish as Shiro’s fingers were crawling up his side, over his ribs and right in the center of his exposed armpit. He really meant to keep his hands behind Shiro’s head, pulling at his hair to keep from being dropped. But forget that, he couldn’t take this without fighting back. It felt like Shiro was tickling him with twenty fingers at least where he was only using five and it wasn’t fair and it led to Keith’s unavoidable fate.

„SHHIHIIHRO NOHOOO PLEEEHEHEHEASE!!“

„I won’t stop until you let go!!“

„BUT THEN YOU’LL DROOHOHOP MEE!!“

„Beach rules, Keith. You are obligated to have fun!“

One last arch in Shiro’s arm, then Keith couldn’t stand it anymore and he tore his arms down, trying to push Shiro’s assaulting hand as far away from his ticklish torso as possible, when it was already time for a dive in the waves of Basoria.

Keith shrieked, when Shiro’s arms suddenly stopped holding him, honest to God shrieked - as if he’d needed any more embarrassment in front of the others. The cold water caught him quite gently though. There were no burns at the impact of the water, there was no water shooting up his nose. There was just a nice feeling of floating around and having his hair fly around his head.

He welcomed the feeling happily. But only for a few seconds. Then his wish for revenge grew too strong and he speedily made his way back up to the surface. He managed to find a stand on the sandy underground, the water up to his chest where it had been up to Shiro’s waist.

Shiro. With narrowed eyes and wet hair clinging to his forehead he saw Shiro quickly making his way deeper into the water, looking over his shoulder, laughing breathlessly.

„OH YEAH YOU BETTER RUN!! JUST YOU WAIT TIL I GET YOU BACK!“

Shiro almost slipped from laughter at Keith’s bubbly attempts oto swim after him, completely out of breath, but fueled with the desire to give him a taste of his own medicine.

In the meantime Pidge was busy climbing on top of Hunk’s shoulders in her soaked shirt, where she held on to Hunk’s hair with one hand, pointing at Shiro with the other and letting out a war cry that would have scared away Galrans. „FUGITIVE ON THE RUN! GO GET HIM! AID OUR TORTURED FRIEND!!!“

Keith almost sunk under the surface from his surprised laughter. He hadn’t expected the others to come to help him. They liked to watch Shiro tickle him into madness during sparring matches rather comfortably. But this. Maybe this was also part of the beach rules. Everyone against the strongest one. It seemed like a good rule to Keith.

Shiro on the other hand was barely able to bring much more distance between himself and the others as panicked laughter started to slow him down. Lance was gaining on him, as Hunk grabbed Pidge from his shoulders and used all his strength to throw her in Shiro’s direction, getting her closer to him as well.

Shiro thought it clever apparently to change tactics and stopped swimming in the one direction to make his way in the other one now.

Keith had to chuckle as he heard Shiro’s breathless gasps for air get closer. Alright, if this was a fun time at the beach he was sold. Now they only had to catch him.

„YOU GUYS, THIS ISN’T FAIR!!“ Shiro shouted, smiling widely as Pidge and Lance were getting awfully close.

„BEACH RULES!!“ Keith yelled as he too was getting closer to Shiro who was trying to make his way to the shore to be able to run away. He’d be way too fast for the other paladins if he managed to reach it. They couldn’t let him get away.

„Oh no, you will NOT!!“ Lance exclaimed passionately as Shiro was stumbling to his feet in the ankle high water. The plue paladin took a large dive and actually managed to pull Shiro down with a splash. The two of them rolled over in the warm part of the water, Shiro breathless from laughter already while Lance was yelling almost as loud as Pidge had before.

„You did it, Lance!“ Keith cheered as he too got to his feet in the low water, throwing himself on top of the other two. Shiro groaned with laughter at the additional weight and tried to push the two of them off of him.

„Now, just wait a second, just wait…“ Another weight took away Shiro’s breath as Hunk dropped down on top of Keith, slowly but successfully building a sandwich.

„We have him! Do we have him?“ Hunk spluttered and looked at his two friends underneath himself. Keith held up a thumb, despite the lack of air.

„We’ve got him! You guys are the best!!“

Pidge arrived with a wide smile on her face and was a bit reluctant to putting herself on top of the three boys as well. She didn’t have to anyway. Instead she dropped down next to Shiro’s face and grinned at him evilly.

„Ha, you didn’t see that coming, did you?“

Shiro glared at her, still out of breath, but he just couldn’t keep it up and a soft, playful expression was back on his face again in no time. „I guess Voltron’s bond must be really strong already. Just don’t lose your head in the process…“

All four of them groaned inexplicably loud at this bad pun and Pidge felt no sympathy for him in the slightest as she told the other three to give him hell just for that. Even though he was pretty doomed in his current position. He couldn’t move out from underneath the three boys and all of them put their hands to good use some place on his tall upper body. Hunk was pinching his sides, as Keith worked his hands under his arms and Lance immediately used his position for good access to Shiro’s ribs.

Pidge was blessed with the picture of Shiro throwing his head back in ticklish agony, his eyes squeezed shut and his mouth opened in the brightest smile, as beautiful laughter was shooting out of him.

He couldn’t fight off six hands with just two and Keith enjoyed strongly making him laugh this hard, especially with the aid of his friends. He could tell that Shiro was very fine with them having their fun like this and it warmed Keith’s heart that Shiro was so selfless and soft in every situation. He looked at Shiro throwing his head from side to side, shaking with incessant giggles and trying to arch his back against the overwhelming sensations and he just knew that Shiro would never stop doing whatever it took to make him happy and have fun despite the times they were living in.

He knew that there was no „Voltron losing their head“. Shiro’s love was the starting point of all bonding among the paladins. He was the heart of the group.

“Lance! Not on the-” in a surprising turn of events, Shiro was cut off as Lance dove off the counter and tackled him to the floor. Shiro landed on his side with Lance on top of him, and the two were immediately wrestling for the upper hand.

“...What’s going on?” Keith asked, making sure to avoid their scuffle. Shiro was stronger than Lance by far, but the latter was able to put up a fight in his position.

“Training,” was all Lance said before he replaced his focus in winning against Shiro. He managed to get the upper hand- by playing dirty. They were both pushing at each other, trying to roll the other over. Lance took this opportunity to shoot his hands into Shiro’s exposed underarms.

“AGH, Lance! Th-that’s che-heating!” Shiro said as his arms shot down in an attempt to protect his sensitive spots, leaving Lance undisturbed.

“Says who? I didn’t hear any rules other than ”immobilize the other person,” right?” Lance smirked as he walked his hands down to scribble and prod at the sides of Shiro’s stomach. This caused him to curl in on himself as deep, cheerful laughter was drawn out of him.

“I say nohoho ticklihing- oh mahaHAN.” Shiro grabbed Lance's wrists, attempting to pry them away from his stomach. As soon as he got close to succeeding, Lance simply switched things up by moving back to his underarms. He would stay in this spot, with a pleased smile, as Shiro’s laughter rose in pitch and he clamped his arms down again, before dragging his fingers back down to his stomach. He kept up this pattern, which sufficiently kept Shiro occupied.

Keith shook his head and chose to ignore them as he turned back to the dispenser. The struggle continued behind him as he got his food.

“All you gotta do is tap out! C’mon Shiro, just tap out, okay?” Lance teased as he kept up his assault, this time scratching at the fronts of Shiro’s ribs.

“I swehehear you’re in fohoHOHor ihihihit!” Shiro was half attempting to stop Lance and half attempting to just get out from under him. As he walked towards the door, bowl of goo in hand, Keith was sure he would tap out and Lance was going to win.

Just as the door slid open he heard Lance yelp, then a thud. He looked over his shoulder and saw Shiro on his hands and knees, breathing heavily, and Lance kneeling a few feet away from him. Lance gulped as Shiro looked at him with murder in his eyes.

“I’ll give you five seconds to run.”

Lance immediately shot to his feet and bolted for the door.

“We gotta gooo!” he shouted frantically.

“We?” was all Keith got out before Lance’s hands were on his shoulders, pushing him through the door and down the hall. And that was how he ended up sprinting through the castle with Lance, a bowl of green food goo in hand and a vengeful Shiro not far behind. He honestly didn’t know what he was expecting of his day off.

Steered by Lance- literally- they eventually found themselves in the communal room. This wasn’t the first place he would have chosen to hide, though he didn’t think he should have to be hiding at all. Lance guided him all the way around the circular, sunken couch and down the stairs. He watched as Lance crouched behind said stairs, using the wall/couch as cover.

Keith, suddenly remembering how hungry he was, sat on the couch across from where Lance was hiding, and began eating.

“Keith! You have to hide!” Lance said in exasperation. Keith stopped mid-bite and gave him an indignant look.

“Why do I have to hide? I didn’t do anything wrong.” He continued to eat as Lance popped his head up to glance nervously at the door.

“Aiding and abetting!”

“I did neither of those things.”

“Guilty by association!”

“That’s just not fair,” Keith said with annoyance in his voice.

“C’mon Keith, you’re going to give me away!” Lance pouted at him and crossed his arms. Keith didn’t get a chance to respond as the door slid open and Lance quickly ducked back down in a panic.

Shiro made eye contact with sitting-in-plain-sight Keith, who just shrugged, spoon in his mouth. Shiro began walking toward the sunken couch.

“Another bad move, Lance,” he called as he spoke. Keith could see Lance jump slightly at Shiro’s voice.

“You couldn’t have picked a more obvious room. Maybe you want me to catch you,” he said with a smirk.

He hopped over the edge, and Keith watched him as he slowly walked towards the other end of the room (okay, maybe he was a little invested now in how this was going to play out).

Shiro had almost reached the point where he would be able to see Lance, but before that could happen said male shot up and attempted to run away yet again. As he made his way up the steps, he tripped in almost comedic fashion, giving Shiro plenty of time to catch up.

Shiro tackled him to the floor, there was a struggle, and they both rolled off the edge and onto the couch. Shiro easily found himself on top this time and pushed Lance’s hands firmly against his chest, holding them in place with one of his own hands.

“Nonono Shihiroho, I’m sorry!” Lance was already laughing in anticipation before Shiro even did anything. As Shiro’s free hand moved closer, he began squirming more. He would shoot his hand towards Lance’s stomach before pulling it back, causing Lance to shriek and jump each time.

”Shirooo, dammit, either do something already or let me go!” Lance said, his face red from all the running around, as well as embarrassment.

“Well, since you asked,” Shiro replied with a smile, and wasted no time attacking the younger man’s torso. He scribbled his fingers from side to side across Lance’s stomach, causing him to begin laughing with renewed vigor. He squirmed and rolled from side to side as much as he could with Shiro sitting on his thighs and pinning him down.

“That’s nohot what I meheheant Whahat are yOU DOHIHING?” Keith crossed his legs and leaned to the side a bit to see what it was that Shiro was doing. He had stuck his hand under Lance’s shirt and was dragging blunt but tickly fingernails all over the sensitive skin on his stomach and sides. Keith shivered slightly at Shiro’s ruthless display.

Lance’s muscles jumped at the ticklish feelings and he tried to curl up to block them, but Shiro’s hand on his chest kept him firmly in place. His loud laughter turned a little wheezy as Shiro’s tickling hand moved up his side and squeezed under his arm. Lance tried his best to immobilize the hand between himself and the couch but was unable to keep Shiro from digging into his sensitive underarm.

Once Lance’s began to turn silent, Shiro released his hands, freeing up his own hand to join the torment. He immediately shoved his other hand under Lance’s shirt and began rubbing circles into the poor troublemaker’s ribs on either side.

Lance’s laughter returned, loud and frantic. He rolled side to side, and grabbed and pushed at Shiro’s arms, but was too tired to stop him. Shiro seemed to be enjoying his revenge, while Keith almost felt bad for his victim.

“Now I know you remember the rule, Lance, since you so happily reminded me of it earlier.” Shiro returned to digging into the sensitive hollows of Lance’s underarms, causing the latter’s laughter to increase in pitch. “This could all be over in an instant!”

Lance didn’t waste a second after being reminded of the rules. He forced his arm over to smack the back of the couch, tapping out. Shiro tickled him for a few moments longer before patting Lance on the shoulder and climbing off of him. Lance rolled off the couch and sat on the floor with his head against his knees, residual laughter still chasing him.

“Aaaahah that was crahazy,” Lance said, his voice a little hoarse as he spoke.

“You definitely lost that “training excersize.” I won’t be as lenient with mistakes during the new team regimen.” Shiro said in his best ‘Space Dad’ voice, but there was a smug tone as well.

“I didn’t lose,” Lance replied, looking offended.

“You definitely lost,” Keith spoke this time as he got up from the couch and began moving towards the door to return his now empty bowl to the kitchen.

“Wait!” Lance called after him, jumping to his feet. He… recovered fast. “Where do you think you’re going, Mullet!” Keith turned to give him a confused look. He just pointed to the door in response.

“No way. You didn’t even try to help me or anything. And after I even helped you run away!”

“Well, I didn’t need to run away. I didn’t even do anything back in the kitchen!” Keith huffed, annoyance clear in his voice. Lance began to argue back, but Shiro interjected.

“No, he has a point Lance. He didn’t do anything. In fact, he didn’t try to help me either, just ignored us. That’s not how a team works, Keith.”

Keith felt his fight for flight instinct kick as he realized where this conversation was heading.

“But I had nothing to do with any of this!” Keith turned, keeping his eyes on them. He was ready to run if needed.

“Key word being “had.” And now you do!” Lance replied with a mischevious grin. He looked at Shiro and they made eye contact for a moment before Shiro lunged at Keith. Keith, anticipating this, took off towards the door.

What none of them expected was Lance, hopping on one foot as he yanked off his boot and chucked it right at Keith. Keith felt something impact with the back of his knee, causing him to lose his footing. He tumbled to the floor, turned over, and kicked the offending boot away in anger.

“What the hell!” he yelled, crossing his arms in frustration. There was no point in trying to run at this point. Shiro chuckled softly as he jogged up to Keith and knelt beside him. Lance was quick to join them.

“I see you’ve accepted your fate,” Lance said smugly.

“Shut up,” Keith bit back. He didn’t even flinch as Shiro grabbed his arms to move them above his head. There was a bit of a struggle as Keith resisted, keeping his arms folded firmly against his body. With the help of a few squeezes to his sides from Lance, Shiro was able to force him to lie back against the ground and hold his hands above his head.

“Love the “tough guy” act, man. You’re doing great,” Lance teased his friend as he knelt over his thighs. Keith was pursing his lips and looking anywhere other than his two friends faces. He was just ready to get this humiliation over with.

“Where should we st-” Shiro began, but was cut off by Keith suddenly spazzing. He quickly repinned Keith’s flailing arms and looked up to see the cause of his sudden struggles. Lance had dug right in to Keith’s sides, squeezing and poking at random. It wasn’t the most coordinated attack, but seemed to work nonetheless.

Keith had yet to laugh, but was putting up a considerable struggle as he bucked his hips and pulled on his arms. His face was all scrunched up and a trembling smile began to form.

“Lance, one thing you need to work on is slowing down and strategizing. You get too excited about things and sometimes act without thinking,” Shiro spoke in a teacher voice and Lance nodded with a focused look on his face, like this was actual training. Keith couldn’t believe Shiro was using now as a teaching moment!

“Try slowing down and strategizing. Anyway,” Shiro concluded, looking back down at Keith. He held Keith’s wrists in one hand and used his free hand to slowly trace up and down Keith’s left arm from wrist to just above his armpit. Keith shivered and held his breath, hiding his face in his other arm. He tried to shake his arm away from Shiro’s hand but was unable to escape the tickly feelings.

“As for you, Keith. You need to be more of a team player! If we want Voltron to be strong, we each need to have strong bonds with each other, right?” Keith could care less what Shiro was saying as Lance started scratching and prodding at his sides more methodically. The electric feelings coming from his torso, as well as the ticklish feelings from Shiro, caused Keith to lose his resolve.

“S-stohohop ahaha.” He started giggling, his voice muffled by his arm, as he squirmed and tried to break free. How embarrassing.

“Hah, wow, who would’ve though Keith could laugh like that?” Lance commented, clearly amused.

“Shuhuhut uhuhup,” Keith responded, though he couldn’t say any more than that.

“Still has the nerve to be rude though,” Lance rolled his eyes and smirked. He used both hands to scratch at Keith’s lower stomach where his shirt had ridden up, causing the other’s laughter to rise in pitch.

Shiro also decided to kick it up a notch at this point, and finally hit his target, digging in to Keith’s underarm. Keith squealed into his arm at this and desperately pulled on his arm in an attempt to protect his sensitive armpit. Shiro’s hold on him wouldn’t budge, but Keith actually pulled himself up a little bit. Unfortunately for him, this did nothing other than cause Lance to laugh and actually sit on his thighs to better pin him down.

“Holy cow, you must be pretty ticklish,” Lance mused, much to Keith’s embarrassment.

“OHO MY GOHOHD,” was all Keith could say as he twisted and squirmed as much as his current position would allow.

“I bet after this you’ll start being more of a team player, right?” Shiro teased, moving his hand to Keith’s other side and tickling the area at the top of his ribs with a clawed hand.

“Screhehehew yohoHOHOU, ahahaha.”

“Now that’s not very nice!” Lance said as he moved to test Keith’s hips. Before he could continue his teasing, he squeezed Keith’s hips and was cut off by the other’s reaction. He let out a loud, high-pitched screech-laugh before dissolving into silent laughter. He shook his head back and forth as he laughed

“Oh my god,” Lance laughed at his reaction, and Shiro couldn’t help but chuckle too. Lance repeated this a couple more times, and each time Keith let out a similarly loud and desperate laugh. Lance eventually moved away from this obvious bad spot, instead moving up to lightly tickle Keith’s ribs. Shiro, too, returned to alternating between Keith’s underarms.

By the time his laughter became weak and he stopped struggling, Shiro stopped what he was doing.

“Hey Lance, we should let him go now.” After a few more squeezes, Lance stopped tickling him and sat back with his hands on his hips and a proud look on his face.

“That. Was. Hilarious. This rest of the team is going to love this!” Lance said excitedly as he climbed off of Keith, and Shiro smiled in amusement and released his arms. Keith was still letting out tired giggles as he laid on the ground with his arm thrown over his eyes.

“I’m gohohing to kill you guhuys,” he managed to say.

“…It’s earlier somewhere.”

They heard Violet sprint the length of the house, small paws thundering impossibly loudly for her size. There was another crash. Both groaned, pulling the blanket up further.

“L a n c e …”

“K e i t h …”

“Lance the sooner you take care of her the sooner we can go back to sleep.”

“Ugh, but if I do that I’ll be too awake to go back to sleep. You do it.”

The bedroom door rattled as they saw the perpetrator’s fluffy black paws appear underneath it and begin shaking it.

“K e i t h… the baby’s hungry…” Lance turned over and tried to ignore Keith, hoping to get the last word.

Violet essentially yelled from the other side at them.

“Lance, it’s your turn,” the red paladin buried his face in his pillow as the door continued shaking.

“No…” Lance shot out a hand behind him, aiming for really anywhere on Keith. He heard a yelp as he squeezed his target’s side. “Keith go help the baby,” he smirked as the paws retreated and the little cat left to tear through the house again.

“So, it’s gonna be like that huh?” Keith smiled into the plushness under his face. “It’s your turn, Lance.”

Keith turned his face to see Lance’s back facing him. Lance had gone to sleep without a shirt again, as he so often did on hot humid nights that turned into these soft sunny mornings. He gently traced a finger up and down Lance’s spine as he watched him shudder and saw goosebumps arise on his skin.

Lance squeezed his side again and Keith had to resist the urge to curl up. He bit his lip instead and moved his finger a little faster along his spine. He felt Lance’s breathing become more irregular as he was trying to stifle little breathy giggles threatening to pour out.

“Ihihit’s your tuhuhurn Lahance,” Keith managed to get out. “Cohohome ohohon…”

Lance began feebly drumming his fingers against Keith’s stomach. The angle he was at – arm twisted behind him and acting blindly – made it somewhat difficult. The fumbling led to Keith being able to dust his hand over Lance’s shoulderblades and just at the edge of his armpits, which made him seize up and start giggling uncontrollably as Lance withdrew his hand.

“Keihihith nohohoho…”

“Go take care of Violet and I’ll stop. Then we can both go back to sleep,” he hummed contentedly. He reached the base of Lance’s neck and the blue paladin’s laughs increased in pitch.

Lance turned over and managed to pull himself against Keith. “Just lemme sleeeep…” he slurred, muffled, into Keith’s chest. Keith was also shirtless, since it was just too warm to sleep with a shirt, but also because he really liked that increased contact with Lance.

Now? It might not have been the best idea, he thought as Lance nuzzled into his chest. His hair… it was brushing his skin just enough to make his breath hitch in his throat. Keith brought his hands to Lance’s sides and held him close, in part just to, well, hold him close and enjoy it. It was also a good pinning technique when both parties were still half-asleep.

However, it quickly backfired when he felt fingers drumming at his hips. He retaliated by brushing behind Lance’s ears, causing the blue paladin to huff little breaths into his chest. The fingers never stopped, though.

Lance pressed in a little more. “Just go take care of her Keith…” He smiled against his skin that was still warm from sleep. He started wandering his hands up Keith’s ribs.

“Nohoho Lahahahance—” he tried to swat the wandering hands away, but Lance persisted. He figured he’d take it up a notch, and rolled them over so he was on top of Lance.

The blue paladin looked up at him, smiling lazily. Both were still too asleep to really defend themselves against anything, so Lance just went with it.

Keith spidered his fingers around Lance’s stomach. Lance began laughing more heartily now, but as he had more experience in this kind of thing from his large family, he was able to fight back. He directed his hands up to Keith’s exposed upper ribs where they met his sides. Keith broke out into a stream of giggles and tried to protect himself, rolling back onto the bed with Lance on top now. Lance smiled down at the man he loved more than anything, the sun once again falling across his bright eyes. He leaned down and kissed Keith softly, and instantly felt him return it. Lance cupped his head from behind with a free hand and felt Keith smile into the kiss as he hummed softly.

Then he felt Keith reach up and scratch at his stomach again. Lance instantly broke the kiss with laughter, and Keith laughed in return.

“Oh, that’s rude babe, I can’t even have a kiss?” Lance fake-pouted after composing himself.

The door shook on its hinges again. “It’s your turn, so no, you can’t,” Keith smirked.

“Well I want to stay in bed, so you do it,” he rebutted, turning around and reaching for Keith’s knees. His movements were still groggy, which made it easy to follow him. Keith saw how Lance’s feet were near his arms now, and just as Lance was about to attack his knees Keith struck his soles with light but steady touches.

Lance practically fell over forward, giggling like a maniac now as Keith continued to tickle his scrunched-up soles.

“Come on, the sooner you attend to the baby the sooner you can come back to bed…” Keith said over the effervescent laughter coming from the blue paladin’s mouth.

“Nohohoho Keihihith…”

The cat yelled again from the door.

“Kehihith shehehehe wahahants yohohohou…”

Keith smirked. “No, I think she wants you… come on I want to go back to sleep too.”

The red paladin had to pause for a moment to yawn. Lance used the opportunity as an opportunity to strike back. He twisted around and managed to pin Keith’s arms down at his own sides with his knees. Keith instantly started blushing, body too heavy to move out from under the other paladin.

“Come on babe, ‘the sooner you attend to the baby the sooner you can come back to bed…’” Lance mocked playfully. “Look, I wanna go back to sleep, you wanna go back to sleep, just go feed her and we can come back and snuggle all day.” He smiled down at the one trapped beneath him.

Keith rolled his eyes, fighting a smile. “It’s your turn.”

Lance grinned widely. “Alright, but you could’ve avoided this,” he teased as he used both hands to spider all over Keith’s stomach, ribs, chest and sides. The red paladin turned beet red and laughed heartily, trying his best to escape. He was trapped, but his mind was clearing up as time went on from the adrenaline.

“Lahahance nohohoho ihihihit’s yohohor tuhuhuhurn!”

“You’re putting up quite a fight to avoid feeding a cat, it’s a simple task really,” Lance smirked down at him, now playing his ribs like a piano.

“IhIhIhIhI cohould sahahahay the sahahame thihihing tohohoho you!”

“True, but right now I have the higher ground and I don’t think you’re in any position to be arguing,” he pointed back. He paused to yawn, having needed to since Keith had, and Keith rolled Lance off of him and below him again.

“What was that?” He grinned down at the blue paladin. “Looks like you’re in for it now.” Keith pinned Lance’s arms beneath him, mirroring the reversed position from moments before.

The red paladin grinned as he got an idea. “Lance, it’s your turn to feed her. Will you do it?”

Lance looked confused. “I feel like you’re backtracking here a little, buddy. We’ve already established—oh no.”

Keith chuckled as Lance caught sight of his hand shaping into a claw above them. He started squirming and laughing nervously, and a blush started to spread across his face.

“K-Keith cahan we tahalk about thihis…” he giggled nervously from anticipation.

“Oh, we’re done talking,” Keith practically growled.

Lance’s face turned red at that, and he watched Keith’s hand grow closer and closer to his bare stomach. He couldn’t escape, and he knew what was coming. Not the claw not the claw not the claw not the claw not the claw not th

Lance nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt five fingertips make contact with his skin and vibrate madly. He began cackling as Keith smiled over him. Keith knew he couldn’t keep up this forever since this was his worst spot and Lance did need to breathe… but for now he could go for a while.

Lance felt each digit of Keith’s hand vibrate on its own and his laughter nearly went silent. Keith laughed at the squeaks that interspersed themselves among the gasping breaths. Whether Lance’s face being as red as it was amongst wrenched-shut eyes was from the lack of oxygen or simply from being impossibly flustered was unknown, though Keith expected the latter.

Keith did let up soon though, and Lance took in massive breaths of air.

“You… are… gonna kill me… with that someday…”

Keith combed through Lance’s hair with his fingers. “We both know you love it, don’t be such a drama queen,” he said, ending with a kiss to his nose.

Keith rolled off of him and laid beside him as Violet returned to shake the door again.

“You know Keith, I’ve come to a terrifying realization,” Lance said groaning.

“What is it?”

Lance looked dead at him. “We’re both too awake to go back to sleep now, thanks to you.”

The red paladin laughed heartily at him pouting. “Hey you could’ve avoided it if you just did what you were supposed to!”

“You know I never go down without a fight,” he rebutted pointedly.

Keith chuckled at his antics. “You just wanted me to tickle you, huh?”

Lance’s mouth snapped closed and his face grew red.

“Even now you think it’s a surprise that I know,” the red paladin smiled fondly.

“Sh-shut up man,” Lance playfully shoved him, but he came back with a poke to Lance’s side causing the blue paladin to squeak again.

The little cat yelled from outside the door again.

“Ugh… Alright, alright I’m coming,” Lance conceded. “But—”

“But?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“But… only if you help me make breakfast,” he grinned.

“You think I wouldn’t?” He smiled, then winced as the blinds shifted and a sunbeam fell into his eye.