((Au: Arranged Marriage/Royal
Warnings: I made it as fluff'y as I possibly could, and its pretty long, even though I tried to shorten it down a bit [so if you don't have time to read a long oneshot you may leave]
Also I censored the word 'bitch'; cause why not, and cause even just this part is so long, I've decided to make it into parts, maybe 2-3 parts, depending on how it turns out
And, the story idea i posted last time is also being worked on at this moment, so that will be the next one posted-))

It had been almost 10,000 deca-phoebs (years) since the kingdom Altea has had an arranged marriage. But here they were, King Alfor, and his son Lance, after many failed attempts of trying to get his son into a relationship, has resulted into an arranged marriage, but with a different approach you might say. Alfor had decided to arrange marriage between the Galran kingdom, which would be an advantage for both sides of the kingdoms as they have been in war for many years.

He had set up a room for the 'couple', as they would be staying there for a month. But the one problem was......
The Galra empire only had a son (That wasn't married yet) . But he'll leave the exploring part about that to Lance.

Anyways, the arranged couple would have to live together for one month, which (hopefully), would be enough time for them to fall in love. If not, itmaybreakoutintoahugewarthat'llgoonforcenturies. So, Alfor just had to trust his son on this one...

Day 1

King Alfor, Lance, Allura and her wife Romelle (Who decided to come), were all standing in the entrance hall, waiting to greet the Galra kingdom in. Lance was probably the most nervous, which made sense since he doesn't even know who he was arranged with him, and the fact that everyone rejects him, and he can't risk rejection as that would result in an all out war, which his father had told him the day before.

His father also said something about this person would be a little 'different' from what he would've expected, and to not act up when you find out exactly what was, and I quote, 'different'.

It wasn't long before there was a knock on the front doors, (which was unusual, since there usually was like a mini ceremony presenting Queen/King as they walked in), but I guess this wasn't too serious to the kingdoms. Alfor walked over to the door and opened it, letting in a slightly talk woman with purple skin, and someone following behind her.

Lance's father greeted them nicely, as the person behind the women, who looked almost exactly like her, had stepped aside to shake hands with him. Lance admittedly knew what was different about this person.

"A boy?!" Lance shouted, slightly pointing at the smaller man next to the tall women

The women and Lance's father looked shocked at the outburst.

"I thought you told him" The women said

"Well....." Alfor said, making the women look disappointed in him.

Alfor walked to his son over to his son and stood next to him.

"I told you not to act out" Alfor whispered

"You didn't tell me it was a guy!" Lance whispered back.

"Well, your sister ended up getting a wife, so I thought I'd give you what she couldn't have, y'know?" Alfor said

"Not appropriate father" Allura stated behind them, Romelle giggling next to her.

"Look, Lance, all i'm trying to say is, how about you atleast try. We don't want another war starting, right?" Alfor said

Lance was silent, he just looked away and shook his head.

"Good, now I please welcome you to my kingdom, Queen Krolia, of the Galra Kingdom" Alfor said, walking back to the tall women, "And your son Keith of course"

"You don't have to be so formal, my sons going to live with you for a month you know" Krolia said

"Right. Can I interest you in a tour around the castle?" Alfor said, walking off.

"I wouldn't mind" Krolia said, following, "And Keith, how about you bring your stuff in, I'm sure Alfor's son can help you"

"Yes mother" Keith said, as his mother walked off.

Keith made eye contact with Lance, who tried to put on his best 'flirtatious' smile, which was only ignored in response as Keith walked out the door.

;~~~*^*~~~;

Keith and Lance had to go up two sets of long spiral stairs to get to the third floor. Which, luckily, there wasn't too much stuff to carry, just two suitcases, and a small bag.

It was silent between the two boys as they walked to the door of the room they'd be staying in for another month. When they got there, they both stopped infront of the door, while an awkward silence loomed in the air.

"Keys" Keith said

"Oh, right" Lance said, placing down the suitcase he was carrying and taking out the keys from his pocket, unlocking the door and opening it.

"You first, my prince" Lance said, holding the door open for Keith.

Keith took the suitcase Lance put down, along with the other stuff he was holding and walked into the room.

"You didn't have to take that, you know?" Lance said, following Keith into the room.

"I thought I might help, got a problem with that?" Keith said, placing down the stuff he was carrying next to the door.

"Uh- no, not at all" Lance said looking around the room.

The room was a little to big for his taste, but he was going to be living with another person, so he set that aside for now. Inside the room was a king sized bed a few inches away from the window looking outside and a door to a mini balcony, along with a nightstand on the left side of the bed. The other side of the room had a dresser, right next to a door, that supposedly lead to a bathroom. There wasn't much stuff for a big room, but Lance will figure out how to fill up the space eventually.

"You look like you've never seen the room before" Keith said, grabbing the small bag he brought and put it on the dresser.

"I haven't actually, this rooms always been locked" Lance said, sitting down on the (oddly comfortable) bed.

"So you have tried to get into the room?" Keith asked, unzipping his jacket.

"What are you doing?" Lance asked, obviously taking the situation the wrong way.

"Chill out, just give me a second" Keith said taking off and setting his jacket aside.

He took a deep breathe in and once he exhaled, his shrunk down a few inches, and his skin color went to 'non-purple', as Lance would've explained it.

"You look..., non-galra?" Lance stated

"I kind of look like your race, but without the pointy ears, and whatever those stupid marks are" Keith said

"Um, excuse me, but these marks are special for Altean" Lance said, crossing his arms.

"Mhm, sure" Keith said, facing Lance, "And are those 'princely clothes' you're wearing right now are special too?"

"Infact, they are. I wear them for special occasions" Lance said

"Like a lucky charm?" Keith asked

"No, to be formal" Lance simply said

Keith just rolled his eyes, then walked over to the king-sized bed and slumped onto it.

"This beds comfortable" Keith stated

"All beds are comfortable" Lance said

"You wouldn't know" Keith said, to which Lance ignored him

"Aren't you going to unpack?" Lance asked

"No, too comfortable" Keith said

;~~~*^*~~~;

"So, uh, Keith. How has your stay been so far" Allura asked

Everyone (besides Krolia, since she left prior) was sitting at a long blue table, having dinner.

"I'd say it was great, fell asleep for the whole 4 hours" Keith said

Allura look over at Lance, who looked down at his somehow now interesting food.

"Ahem, so Lance. What did you do for the past four hours?" Allura asked

"Uh, sat in the garden and watched the sun set" Lance said

"You guys have a garden?" Keith asked, as Allura gave Lance an unamused face.

"In fact we do, along with a field of juniberry flowers just down in the village, Lance can take you sometime" Allura said, smiling at Keith warmly

Lance gave Allura a 'why would you suggest that ' face.

"I'd love to go, I don't get to see alot of flowers where I live" Keith said, smiling (which had been the first time Lance has seen his smile)

"How about you guys go tomorrow? It's not that far into the village" Alfor said, finally talking.

"We can bring you guys a blanket and a basket with food in it, you guys can have a picnic" Allura suggested

"Oh, and you can pick a few flowers, they grow back with the seeds that have already fallen out" Alfor told Keith

"And you guys can watch the sunset on your balcony, it's truly a beautiful view" Allura said

"And while you're in the village I suggest going to the small stores, I'll give you a few coins to buy stuff" Alfor said

"Maybe Lance can buy you a bouquet of flowers at that one flower shop" Allura said

"Oh, I don't think that's necessary" Keith said

"Oh no, its fine. Lance likes to give gifts for the people he likes" Allura said

A chair abruptly moved back as Lance stood up, not very comfortable with the situation.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow" He said, then walked off down the hall and up the stairs to his room.

When he got to his room, he tried to open the door, which it was locked. Lance, who had forgotten he moved rooms, just flipped off the door like it was a person. Then he turned around, headed up the stairs another floor, the walked to his (unlocked) room.

He opened the door and shut it behind him. He fell on his bed face first, and muffled a sigh. What would he had expected from Allura, she always does this, no matter if Lance brought over just a friend, she'd always assumed it was just some kind of secret relationship or something. And what made it worse was that he didn't even know Keith that well, and Alluras already pushing the relationship.

Lance heard a knock on the door, which he could probably tell who it was.

"Come in" He said, his voice being muffled

He heard the door open and close, then felt the bed go down on next to him.

"Your sister told me to talk to you" Keith said, to which Lance was correct about who it was.

"Of course she would" Lance said, rolling over and sighing, "She always tries to embarrass me"

"That's just was older sisters do" Keith said simply

"Don't you not have sisters?" Lance asked

"No, but I did have a friend who was like my older sister. Her name was Acxa, one of my really best friends" Keith said, warmly smiling, " She was the first to know I liked guys"

"Wait, you like guys?" Lance asked, looking over at Keith

"Well yeah, I wouldn't have agreed to the marriage if you were a girl, no offense" Keith said

"My father didn't tell me you were a guy" Lance said

"Yeah, seemed obvious when you yelled and pointed at me" Keith said, looking over at Lance

"I was surprised...." Lance said, his marks glowing slightly, to which Keith instantly noticed.

"Your marks glow when your embarrassed?" Keith asked, slightly shocked, "Do they glow for anything else?"

"N-No." Lance said, his marks glowing brighter

"That seems like a lie" Keith said

"No, its not" Lance said, covering his marks, and rolling to his side, facing away from Keith.

"Whatever you say"

Day 2

As much as Lance wanted to cancel it, he still had to take Keith to the juniberry field, and like Allura and Alfor said, they brought stuff for a picnic and a (generous) bag of gold coins from both Lance's father and Allura. It wasn't too much to carry, Lance held on to the bag of coins as Keith held onto the basket.

They were walking down to the village, through a path Lance has memorized by now. The pathway in particular was filled with pebbles, as plants grew on both sides of the path, having a few flowers sprouting from them. It was a nice path to the village, and way more peaceful one too. It leads to the back of a store that Lance's father works with, as they could see as they got to the door.

Lance opened the door, showing the backside of a mini shop, that sold a bunch different stuff. He walked through a wooden, push-able gate, showing the whole other part of the store. Lance didn't mind seeing what was in the store, as he walked right out the front door, Keith following behind.

Now out of the shop, you could see the village clearly. It was bigger than it looked from the castle, and way more cheerful, as everyone seemed to be living happy and normal lives.

"C'mon, this way" Lance said, walking down the village street, passing houses and stores along the way.

It was only about a ten-minute walk through the village, before they came across a clearing, a huge one infact, with millions and millions of flowers that looked like it went on forever. Lance could tell that Keith had never seen anything like this, from the expression on his face, which made Lance smile.

"Wait, hold this, I want to roll in it" Keith said handing the basket to Lance.

"That's immature of you" Lance said, gladly taking the basket

"You try living in the Galran Kingdom for all your life, then you can come call me immature" Keith said, looking at Lance

"Whatever" Lance said, as Keith took off into the field, lance following behind.

Keith found a spot in the middle of the field and laid right down in it, rolling over a few times from side to side, while laughing, which could make anyone smile, so Lance didn't try not to.

Once Lance had made it to Keith, he was breathing heavily and smiling at the sky like an idiot, with a few flower petals in his hair.

"Tired?" Lance asked, looming over Keith

"Nope. Could do that all day" Keith replied, sitting up.

Lance set down the blanket that was in the basket down, right next to Keith, who didn't bother to get onto it. Lance sat down and looked through the basket.

"By the way, you have flower pedals in your mullet" Lance stated, grabbing a few strawberries.

"It is not a mullet" Keith said, running his fingers through his hair to get the pedals out.

"Is too." Lance said, eating a strawberry.

"Can I have one?" Keith asked

"Yeah, here" Lance said, handing a strawberry to Keith.

"Thanks" Keith said, eating the strawberry, "Wow that's really good"

"Yeah, the guy who owned that shop we just went through owns a farm too, farther into the village. He offers us some crops sometimes, mostly strawberries, since most his kids don't live with him, and don't take any strawberries when they come visit, which they visit pretty often" Lance said

"That's nice of him" Keith said

"Tío Lance!" Lance heard from the other side of the field.

"Speak of the devil" He said, getting up, Keith's eyes following him to see what he was doing

Silvio and Nadia were both running to give Lance a hug. He picked up Nadia and set her on his hip, saying hi to both.

"Oh Lance! I didn't know you'd be here!" Lance heard infront of him

"Hi Mr. McClain, how's your farm been?" Lance asked

"It's been good, Lisa asked me to watch her kids today, as you can tell, but her and Luis went out of town today, but will be back tomorrow" McClain said

"Needed a break from you little rascals didn't she!" Lance said lifting Nadia into the air, making her laugh, before he put her down, letting her run off.

"Who's your friend?" McClain asked

"What?" Lance said, turning to see Keith next to him, "Oh, this is Keith, he's... uh-"

"I'm Lance's 'fiancé', nice to meet you" Keith said, shaking hands with McClain.

"Fiancé....? " Mr. McClain said, looking at Lance.

"Y-yeah, my 'fiancé'" Lance said, the slightest glow in his marks.

"I don't see a ring" McClain said

"O-oh, he proposed with a gold juniberry flower" Lance said, quickly saving the situation

"Those rare ones? Wow, they're almost impossible to get, you don't see a proposal with those everyday" McClain said laughing

"Yeah I was surprised when he gave it to me too" Lance said trying his best smile

"How long you guys been engaged?" McClain asked

"A week" Lance said, saying what first popped into his head.

"That's nice. Thought you'd never find love, just a hopeless romantic" McClain said, making Keith laugh

"That's not funny" Lance said

"I thought it was" Keith commented

"Well, I was going to head over to the shop, come by whenever you like" McClain said, then calling for Silvio and Nadia, before waving Lance and Keith goodbye.

"He seemed nice" Keith stated

"You shut up" Lance said.

;~~~*^*~~~;

"I just realized that I barley know you" Lance said, looking up at the blue sky

"There's nothing really to know about me anyways, and you just met me yesterday" Keith said, also looking up at the sky, given they were both sky-gazing together.

"But like, there has to be something to know about you, like you can tell me how your life was back at the Galran Kingdom" Lance suggested.

"Boring. Life was boring back at the Galran kingdom. I grew up learning how to fight, and was locked away in the castle I lived in for most of my life. My mother didn't let me go outside, since what happened to my dad when I was young." Keith explained

"What happened?" Lance asked

"He was killed by someone of your race" Keith said

"Oh..."

"Yeah, but I know it's not all Altean's fault, 'just bad people who do bad things for money', atleast that's what my mother said" Keith stated

"Im sorry" Lance said

"It's not your fault, 'just people who do bad things for money'" Keith said.

There was a moment of silence as clouds passed in the sky.

"Do you have any brothers?" Lance asked

"Yeah, I have one. But he's married now, and lives somewhere very far away though" Keith said, "Do you have any brothers? Or any other siblings?"

"No, just me and Allura. Oh, and technically Romelle, even if married in, I consider her as a big sister too" Lance stated

"Seems you've got the best life" Keith said

"I wouldn't call it the best, some horrible things still happened. Like how my mom died a few years ago. Which, fun fact; Allura met Romelle at the cemetery, my mom's and her brother's tombstones were next to eachother. Allura told me it was destiny, and I said it was was just a coincidence" Lance told Keith

"Doesn't sound like something a 'hopeless romantic' would say" Keith joked

"I regret taking you to my village" Lance said

"Of course you do"

;~~~*^*~~~;

"So, how was your day today?" Allura asked at the dinner table that night.

"Amazing actually" Keith responded, to which Allura raised her eyebrows at Lance

"How so" Allura asked

"Well, me and Lance went to the village, and we had a mini picnic-"

"After, you rolled in the flowers like a child" Lance stated

"I got to meet Mr. McClain and his grandkids" Keith said

"To which you told him you were my fiancé, and I make up a story on why we didn't have rings" Lance butted in.

"Then we watched clouds pass by, as I told Lance about my life back at home, and Lance told me his whole family story for more than a few minutes" Keith finished.

"It was not my 'whole family story'" Lance said

"Seemed like it. Cause by the time you were done, we missed the sunset, and ended up star gazing" Keith said

"It wasn't even dark outside" Lance defended

"But the sun wasn't in the sky anymore" Keith said

"Ok, I may have been ranting a little bit, but it was only about family" Lance said

"And your love life as a, and I quote, 'hopeless romantic'" Keith stated

"I am not, a hopeless romantic" Lance said, his marks glowing bright

"The way you were describing your romantic fails, and your marks right now tells me otherwise" Keith said

"You know what-"

Their conversation was interrupted as Allura had laughed.

"This reminds me of when Lance had brought home that one girl, with yellow skin and two sets of pigtails" Allura stated

"Nyma?" Keith asked

"Yeah her! She pissed off Lance so much sometimes" Allura said

"Some quiznacking ↖ػسﻯ↘" Lance mumbled under his breath

"We do not curse at the table Lance" Alfor stated

"And we do not call women a ↖ػسﻯ↘" Allura said

"Allura, just because your older doesn't defy the no cursing rule" Alfor said

"Sorry" Allura said

Day 3

"What are we supposed to do today?" Lance had asked, he was staring at the ceiling while on the king-sized bed, as Keith was unpacking.

"I don't know, that's your job to decide" Keith replied

"Could you atleast try and help me?" Lance asked

"I'm unpacking right now, can't help" Keith said

"Of course you can't" Lance said

There was a moment of silence, as Keith closed his suit case

"How about we go to the garden you were talking about the other night" Keith suggested

"That's a great idea, lets go now" Lance said standing up

"But- I have to finish unpacking first" Keith said

"No time to wait, you can do that later" Lance said, grabbing Keith's arm and walking out the door.

;~~~*^*~~~;

"And here's the garden" Lance said, going through the gate to his family's garden.

"This is one big garden" Keith stated

"It used to just be an empty space until a few years ago, when Romelle became Allura's girlfriend, Romelle had planted some flowers, and that huge over there is a symbol of her relationship with Allura. Allura said something about 'the tree grows faster if your relationship is true' or something like that. After, everyone started to plant more things, and it eventually became this big garden" Lance explained

"Wow, I want to plant a tree" Keith said mindlessly

"I can help you grow one, but I don't know if we have any tree seeds, I'd have to ask Romelle" Lance said

"Does Romelle live with you? She seems to be at every dinner, and I've seen her around the castle one or twice" Keith asked

"No, she doesn't live here, but she likes to visit alot, and she enjoys having dinner with us" Lance said

"But isn't she married to your sister, shouldn't they move out and find their own house?" Keith said

"Romelle wants to pay for the house when Allura lives with her, cause she'll feel bad if Allura bought the house, so she hasn't asked Allura to live with her yet" Lance explained

"That's sweet" Keith said

"Oh, and here" Lance said, picking a stem full of flowers and giving it to Keith, "I used to grow these alot when I was little, back when Mr. McClain let me build a garden at his house"

"Thanks" Keith said, taking it, "What kind of flower is it?"

"Lilac" Lance replied

"It's pretty" Keith said, holding it in both hands (slightly smiling),"It's like a huge family of tiny flowers"

"Yeah.." Lance said

There was comfortable silence for a few moments, before Keith looked back up at Lance.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Keith asked

"Oh- uh no" Lance said, "Your mullet was distracting me sorry"

"Not a mullet" Keith stated

"Sure it isn't" Lance said

Just then, they heard the gate open behind them, as Romelle walked in carrying a basket full of stuff in two hands.

"Romelle! Great timing" Lance spoke, making Romelle almost drop the basket

"Oh- Lance, hi" Romelle said sweetly

"I was going to ask you if you had any tree seeds we can plant" Lance asked.

Romelle took not of the 'we' part in his sentence, as she looked between Lance and Keith. Should put down the basket and fumbled through her pockets, looking for something, before taking out a seed that was the size of a quarter.

"Here" Romelle said, giving Lance the tree seed, then sweetly smiling at Keith, grabbing her stuff and walking to the shed on the other side of the garden.

"Is it normal to have a tree seed just in your pocket like that? It seems like she purposely was waiting for someone to ask for it" Keith said

"It's fine, she gardens a lot, so I wouldn't look to deep into it" Lance said walking to an empty spot with only dirt.

"Yeah but, it looked like the only thing in her pocket" Keith stated

"Take this" Lance said giving Keith a rubber band, "You shouldn't garden with your hair down, it gets in the way"

Keith took it, tying his hair to a low ponytail as Lance took a small gardening shovel from a table near by with tools on it. He gave the shovel to Keith, who looked at him confused.

"You need to dig a hole to plant a tree" Lance said, as if it was obvious (Which to Keith it wasn't)

Keith, besides not knowing what he was doing, took the shovel and started to dig a hole. He tried to as neatly as possible, since dirt seemed to fly everywhere when he lifted up the shovel. Lance laughed at Keith's concentration, finding it funny that he was trying so hard.

"Ok, now put this seed in the hole, and cover it back up with the dirt you just took out" Lance said, giving Keith the tree seed.

"What's the point of digging a hole if you're just going to cover it back up" Keith mumbled, doing exactly what Lance told him to do.

"Now take this, and water it" Lance said, giving Keith a watering can

"And how exactly do I do that?" Keith asked, one he had grabbed it

"Just tilt it to the left side" Lance said simply

Keith did just that, and was amazed when water had come out of it. He'd obviously seen nothing like it before, since gardening wasn't really a thing in the Galra Kingdom.

"Ok, that's enough, don't want to drown the plant" Lance said, grabbing Keith's hand to tilt the gardening can back.

"Now what" Keith asked

"We wait for it to grow" Lance said

"And how long will that be?" Keith said

"About a few weeks at most" Lance started, "And it did look like a big seed, so it may grow into a big tree"

"Like the one Allura and Romelle have?"

"Hopefully not" Lance said, mentally praying that this tree wasn't anything like Allura's and Romelle's.

"Anyways, I'll give you a tour around the whole garden, follow me"

;~~~*^*~~~;

"So, Lance and Keith, how were your guys's day?" Allura asked, it now seeming to be a daily question for every dinner.

"Great" Lance had responded

"I got to plant a tree" Keith said, in a slightly proud tone

"Which actually had already started to sprout since the last time I checked it" Lance said, "Romelle gave us the seed to plant it"

Allura looked over at Romelle, who smiled warmly at her.

"Anything else?" Allura asked, looking back to the boys

"Lance gave me a tour of your whole garden, which I was surprised to see a whole second part to it, since it already seemed huge" Keith stated

"Yeah, we've been growing things in that garden for years now, almost every plant having a meaning to it" Allura said

"Yeah, Lance told me about that" Keith said

"Lance seems to be telling you a lot of things" Allura said, suggestively looking at Lance, who glared at her as his marks glowed, "How about Lance tells you more about the castle tomorrow, he can give you a tour"

"The castle is huge Allura! How am I supposed to show him everything?!" Lance stated

"Just do a floor a day, then I'll ask you how it went in, about four days" Allura said smiling, "Oh, and if you guys need a room anytime while this tour, all rooms have locks on them and most are unlocked, so you can just use one real quick, just make sure to clean up after"

"Allura!" Lance yelled, his markings glowing bright, while Keith avoided eye contact.

"Right, sorry"

Day 4, 5, 6, 7

The tour around the castle was rather peaceful. There were many different rooms, including guest bedrooms, storage rooms, bathrooms, one room with mice living in it, ect. They even had a ballroom, but that was only on the first floor. Some rooms were completely empty, while others (like storage rooms) were completely packed.

This tour did make Keith learn about some altean history, but also learned more about Lance, and all his memories in each room. All the stories were stored away in Keith's mind while Lance was telling them, so he can look back at the stories and made comments about them whenever he thought was necessary. Like how he had every girls' name that Lance had ever tried to date and all his important ancestors that he told him when Lance ranted. It was a habit of Keith's to store something away in his mind, then bring it up when necessary, as Keith grew up having to remember certain things to tell some Galran soilders.

But overall, Keith had enjoyed the 4-day long tour around the castle. He had mapped it out all the places in his mind, so now he had mental map he could use whenever needed.

;~~~*^*~~~;

"Did you finish the tour?" Allura asked that night at dinner

"Yeah, the tour had finished in one of the empty rooms on the fourth floor" Keith said, seeming to be in a joyful mood

"What was your favorite part?" Allura said

"Probably when I got to see the ballroom, it seemed to be my favorite room" Keith stated

"Did anything eventful happen?" Alfor butted in

"Not particularly, no" Keith said

"Use any of the rooms?" Allura asked smirking

"No, Allura, we didn't" Lance stated

"Just asking"

Day 8

Today, Lance had planned out the whole week, as the week before were mostly Allura's ideas. So, Lance had decided to take matter into his own hands, before Allura had suggested something like 'A date at one of the most romantic places' or something like that. But Lance had It all planned out, and he wasn't going to take any suggestions from his sister.

Lance had dragged Keith out of the village, stopping right infront of a shop, that was of many other shop along the line.

"What are we doing here again?" Keith asked

"We're going to fill up our spacious room" Lance said

"By going into every shop I'm guessing" Keith said

"Nope, only the important ones" Lance stated

"Which is how many exactly?" Keith asked

"Ehh, around 10'ish" Lance said, "But there's no time to wait, we have a room to decorate!"

"That rhymed"

"I know it did"

;~~~*^*~~~;

The picking out stuff was surprisingly easy, as they spent about 35 minutes max in each store, before either moving on, or buying something. Lance had bought a corner bookshelf, aswell as books he had picked out with Keith. He also bought fake flowers, that he could put on his bed post, (and other stuff you can put in your room I guess, I'm not good with this kind of thing). Keith had gotten a flower crown he saw on display in one of the shops, and gardening seeds as a thank you gift to Romelle.

Once they got back to their room, Lance instantly started to decorate, along with Keith helping. Lance had decided were everything went, and Keith followed suit of placing things there.

;~~~*^*~~~;

"You guys do anything today?" Allura asked

"Yeah, went into town and bought things for our room" Lance said

"Like what?" Allura said

"Like, books, decorations, ect." Lance replied

"I bought a flower crown, and Romelle some flower seeds" Keith added

"Oh- you didn't have to Keith" Romelle said, probably talking for the first time at the Dinner table

"It's fine, I thought I'd give it to you as a thank you gift for letting me garden with Lance the other day" Keith simply said, slightly smiling

"Your glowing Lance" Allura said smiling, (referring to Lance's altean marks)

"You don't have to point it out" Lance mumbled, his marks glowing brighter

"Anyways, how about tomorrow you guys go to Mr. McClain's farm, I think he would be delighted to see you" Allura said

"Can't" Lance stated, "I've already planned out the whole week"

"Then what are you guys doing tomorrow?" Allura asked

"That's for me to know, and for Keith to find out" Lance said

"Fine, but you're going to have to tell me what you guys did tomorrow" Allura said

"We will"

Day 9

Today, Lance had dragged Keith to the kitchen. He had planned out today with baking, hoping that Keith knew how to atleast measure proportions.

Once they got to the kitchen, everything had already been laid out on the kitchen counter, so they didn't have to go from one place to another to get things. Everything laid out where ingredients for a simple homemade cake, along with measuring cups, two mixing bowls, and a whisk. The recipe was written on a piece of paper that was placed on a closed egg carton.

"Do you know how to use measuring cups?" Lance asked

"No" Keith responded

Lance just sighed as he dragged Keith to the counter, taking the next five minutes to explain to him how to use a measuring cup. Keith just nodded along as he talked, making sure to take mental notes on how to fill to the top of the cup, and how to properly pour it out without spilling it everywhere. And before he knew it, they started making the recipe.

The recipe was pretty simple, just mix in a few ingredients, then bake for 30-40 minutes. But no matter how simple it looked, Keith has never baked before, and was bound to mess up eventually.

"Ok, wash your hands, then I need one egg please" Lance said.

Keith washed his hands, reaching over to grab an egg, then giving it to Lance. Lance cracked the egg into the bowl, then whisked it, until it was fully beat. He asked for another, repeating the process, aswell as with another egg.

"Now measure 1 teaspoon of the vanilla extract, and mix it with the eggs" Lance said.

Keith reached for the vanilla extract, then grabbed a purple teaspoon measuring cup. He held the measuring cup over the bowl and slowly poured the vanilla into it. He tilted it once it filled to the top, all the vanilla extract going into the bowl. He looked over at Lance after, who gestured to do it once more. So he did, overfilling it slightly, but Lance said it was fine. Lance had mixed it shortly after, since Keith hadn't.

After, Lance grabbed the other mixing bowl, then grabbed the flour and sugar shortly after.

"1 1/2 cups of flour, and 1 cup of sugar" Lance stated

Keith grabbed the measuring cups, then the flour and sugar. He filled the cup up with the flour, before flipping it all the way over, most of the powder falling out of it, while some stayed on the cup's walls. Keith had noticed, as he tried to get the flour out, to which Lance laughed. Keith just shot him a look, and Lance looked away as if he hadn't been laughing in the first place. Keith looked back at the measuring cup, and an idea popped into his head.

He put some flour on his fingers, then slightly turned Lance's face towards him, as he placed the flour of his altean marks, covering them completely. Lance just looked at him dumbfounded, before realizing and pulling his head away as his marks glowed brightly through the powder.

"Look whose laughing now" Keith said

"You shut up" Lance said, grabbing some flour and throwing it straight at Keith.

The flour went everywhere, (cause what did you expect? Its flour), but mostly onto Keith, as most of the top half of his body was now lightly covered in flour. Lance laughed at him, only to get a face full of flour in return, luckily none getting in his mouth.

Ten full minutes passed, of them throwing flour, laughing, and making a straight up mess. Then they eventually went back to making the cake, ignoring that the counter was covered in flour. And while they waited for the cake to bake, they attempted to clean the kitchen, which was an utter failure, as all they did was spread the flour even more.

But once the cake was done, and cooled off, the boys got to try it and see how they did. Lance made a comment about it 'having slightly too much vanilla extract', but other than that, the cake was fine on its own.

;~~~*^*~~~;

"I heard you guys baked today" Allura said, not bothering to look up from her food as she talked

"From who?" Lance asked

"Coran. He also said he almost fainted upon walking into the kitchen, cause there was flour everywhere" Allura replied

"Oh- forgot about that" Lance said quickly

"Sorry for making a mess in your kitchen" Keith said

"Oh no, don't apologize, it seemed you guys were just having a little bonding moment" Allura said looking up at Keith

"Yeah... a bonding moment" Keith said, before smiling down at his food.

Allura looked at Lance, smirking at him as he was blushing from Keith's response. She could tell that Lance's planned out week was already going good for him.

Day 10

Trees were the only thing you could see, beside the castle in the far distant through the huge plants. Walking through the woods was probably not the best option for a 'date', but Lance knew this wasn't a date unless Keith considered it one, and he most likely didn't. But for now, Lance needed to find a way to get a conversation going.

"So you like the forest?" Lance asked, continuing to walk deeper into the field of trees, with a backpack slumped over his shoulder.

"I guess so? It just seems like your walking me right into a murder scene though" Keith slightly joked, kinda being half serious.

"I promise you that I'm not, I thought I might just show you around the forest, maybe meet Pidge along the way" Lance stated, looking up at the trees

"Pidge?" Keith asked, wondering what he was looking at

"A friend of mine that lives in the forest, been living here ever since the war ended. They kept saying something about 'Altea having the most human activity' or whatever, and they probably already know we're here. Due to their stupid gadgets they place all over the forest" Lance said, stopping by and tree, as he seemed to wait for something.

"They're not stupid, you just don't understand" said a voice from the nearest tree, which made Keith jump slightly.

"Hey Pidge" Lance said simply, as Keith looked up the tree to see what looked like an olkari.

"Hey Loverboy" Pidge said smiling

"I told you to stop calling me that" Lance said, starting to walk again

"It pisses you off, so no" Pidge said, following as they easily walked from tree to tree, not even slipping or stumbling once.

"Eavesdropping like you always are, I see" Lance said, looking up at Pidge

"What? I can't miss any of you forest dates, it's funny to mess with you" Pidge said in a jokingly manner.

"First, not a date this time. Second, you either scare them off or just start attacking us with your pet robot" Lance stated, looking very annoyed.

"Rover is not a pet, he's just as human as you are." Pidge said, crossing their arms.

"Yeah, one that you can't take care of properly without blowing it up a few times" Lance said, smirking at his own remark

"You've wounded me!" Pidge said dramatically, letting themself fall backwards off the tree branch they were on, only to land onto another one, that seemed to just appear out of nowhere

Lance completely ignored them, and continued to walk into the forest, stopping at small rocky wall were most of the trees had stopped.

"You know how to rock climb, right?" Lance asked, turning to face Keith.

"I think so?" Keith responded, looking at the wall, which wasn't really that tall.

"Good, cause once we get to the top, there is going to be a river just down the hill, with a bunch of beautiful animals we can hang out with," Lance stated, putting on some kind of gloves, before gesturing a pair to Keith, "Here take this"

Keith just looked at him confused, but took the gloves anyways, which Lance had noticed.

"What is it? Don't need them?" Lance said quickly.

"What are these even for?" Keith asked

"For climbing" Lance said, which just made Keith just look even more confused.

"Altean skin is sensitive, so they wear those gloves so they don't get cuts on their hands when climbing and stuff like that" Pidge stated, who was already at the top of the wall, "You don't need them"

"Stay out of it Pidge" Lance said, just sighing and grabbing the gloves from Keith's hands, going to put it back in his backpack.

"Wait, I can still wear them" Keith said, catching Lance's attention.

Lance just smiled and gave them back to Keith, as the olkari giggled down at them.

"So what's your name? Never seen Lance taking a boy out on a date before" Pidge asked Keith, once Lance had started to climb

"Not a date" Lance stated again, to which Pidge ignored him, waiting for Keith's answer.

"It's Keith" He said

"Keith? I swear I've heard galra soldiers mention that name back when I was at the prison" Pidge said

"That's cause he's the prince, the peace treaty between kingdoms" Lance stated, before Keith could ask about the 'prison'.

"Like the one your engaged to? He doesn't seem galra to me" Pidge said, who has been around many galra before.

"He did look galra before, he just seems to have two forms that he can switch between" Lance said, finally making it to the top, looking down at Keith, "You coming?"

Keith realized he hadn't started climbing, so he quickly did so as Pidge continued to talk to Lance.

"Shapeshifting appearance is a Altean thing Lance, are you sure he's not just a secret Altean spy working for the galra?" Pidge asked.

"No, I'm pretty sure he's not, and he doesn't even look Altean, and no altean can pull off such a good galra form" Lance stated, watching as Keith was already halfway up the wall.

"Now that you say that, he actually kinda looks, human...?" Pidge said

"Don't let your imagination run wild Pidge, humans don't live on this planet anymore, and haven't for years, plus, they're like across the galaxy on a planet that's being affected by a virus right now" Lance stated

"Yeah but, he looks human! His father could of been one. I know that he doesn't have a father figure in his life, just his mom" Pidge said

"How do you know that...?" Lance questioned

"I know a lot of things Lance, now shut up, Keith is almost done climbing" Pidge said shushing Lance.

As if right on cue, Keith had reached the top, stumbling onto the ground as he did so. Lance quickly walked over to him to help him up, making sure to block the view behind him.

"Ok, before you look at the river and the animals, if any animal glares at you, leave it alone. It will attack you" Lance said, taking off his gloves while Keith nodded, taking his off too after he saw Lance doing it.

Lance gladly grabbed Keith's gloves, and stepped aside so that Keith could finally look at the river. And Keith would have be lying if he had said he expected it to look the way it did. It wasn't just a river, but a mini waterfall at the start of it, and a good amount of a grass field around it, trees replacing some hills on the right, while the hills just lead to mini cliffs, like the one Keith had just climbed. A bunch of animal were either drinking from the river, laying down, or playing with others.

"Do you like it?" Lance asked, quickly looking over at Keith, a bit of excitement in his voice.

Keith just nodded in response, a bit in awe at the sight. There was for sure nothing like this where he lived. Lance gave Keith a quick smile, before quickly running down the hill, Pidge following suit, along with Keith right after. It seemed to turn into a non-spoken race between all of them, as they all we're sprinting to see who could get there first.

Lance had ended up getting there first, but had fallen into the river, Pidge had tripped midway down the hill, and Keith been the only one standing and intact when he made it all the way down. Lance was laughing non-stop once he got there, laughing at his own stupidity that is, and Pidge had decided to log roll the rest of the way down, letting themself roll right into the river with Lance.

Lance's laughs were accompanied with Pidge's giggles as they sat up next to Lance. It was one of those rare moments that made Keith feel warm inside, in a good way atleast.

"Keith why don't you come sit down with us" Pidge said, still slightly giggling.

"Oh- I'm not a water type of person" Keith stated, slightly baking away.

"Aww, your no fun" Lance said, "Could you atleast help me up?"

Keith didn't even try to think through what Lance was about to do, as he reached out to help Lance up. He was surprised when he was quickly pulled into the river, only a few seconds after he had taken Lance's hand. His whole body was soaked, which wasn't a good thing since this form didn't take that well, so before he knew it, he had changed back.

Pidge had stopped giggling abruptly, and Lance's laughs died down as they both stared at Keith.

"What the fu-"

"Language Pidge" Lance said quickly

"Says you! Anyways- what just happened? You suddenly turned galran" Pidge said

"I was always galra-"

"That's not what I meant! I mean- you just shapeshifted before my eyes, galra can't do that" Pidge said

"It's a genes thing, sorry" Keith said, slightly trying to cover up his purple skin (and fur).

"What they were trying to say was," Lance said pushing Pidge away, "why did you suddenly turn purple"

"The skin in my other form doesn't handle water well," Keith explained

"But your fur does?" Pidge asked, earning punch on the shoulder by Lance instantly

"I don't have that much fur, less than normal actually" Keith said, Pidge earning another hit, along with a glare from Lance

"What? I was just asking" Pidge said, rubbing their arm

"It's rude to say it like that" Lance whispered to Pidge, before quickly turning to Keith, "I think your fur is perfectly fine Keith"

"Oh- thank you... I guess?" Keith said

Lance replied with a simple 'no problem', before realizing that he just had soaked his backpack. He quickly got out of the river and took off his backpack, placing it on the grass admittedly. He searched through it to see if anything had gotten ruined, but everything seemed to be fine and intact.

He heard splashes behind him, and few laughs once he had put everything back in the backpack. He turned around to see that Pidge had started a water fight with Keith, who accepted, but was sadly losing. He laughed to himself as he watched them splash water everywhere, barley minding their surroundings, which probably wasn't a good thing because a sociox was headed towards the river. (Sociox is pretty much animal I made up, where its a deer, but bigger and has needle like fur, similar to a porcupine). Lance took notice to the large animal almost admittedly, as it walked towards the river carelessly.

"Pidge stop splashing! Your going to hit the sociox!" Lance quickly said, honestly scared for his friend's life

"A so-sio what?" Pidge said, splashing once again, hitting the once peaceful animal.

Pidge looked at the now angered animal, before nervously laughing. They reached to grab Keith's arm, before quickly running out the river.

"Ohshitohshitohshitohshit!" Pidge yelled, dragging a very confused Keith behind them.

The animal chased close behind them, to which Keith noticed. He quickly started to run faster, ending up dragging Pidge along instead. Pidge climbed onto Keith's to avoid falling over, cause they knew they couldn't run that fast. Keith made a huge u-turn to avoid jumping of the cliff, ended up grabbing Lance on the way, and headed into the nearest trees. The sociox still followed, but was slowed down a little, which gave Keith enough time to look for something to climb onto, so that the sociox couldn't follow. 

The first thing Keith saw was a large a group of large rocks. He quickly climbed those and hoped to god that the animal couldn't climb. He turned back and saw the animal struggling to get on, but never succeeding to. Keith sighed and let go of Lance who stumbled for a second, and Pidge climbed off of Keith.

"That was close....." Pidge stated, looking down at the animal, who tried to headbutt the rock.

"Yeah" Lance replied, before happily presenting his backpack, "Luckily I had this in my hands! Could've left it at the river"

"How we going to get back though?" Keith asked, to which both Pidge and Lance looked at him

;~~~*^*~~~;

"Your late" said Allura, as the two boys walked into the dining room, completely out of breath.

"Yeah, sorry, we had to walk over some trees with Pidge, and ran into a few non-friendly animals" Lance said, sitting down in his seat, and taking from the food from the table, as Keith sat next to him in his seat.

"Pidge? The Olkari?" Allura asked, to which Lance nodded.

"So you went into the forest?" Allura asked

"Yeah, and we went to a beautiful river" Keith said, grabbing his food aswell.

"The Creditur Potionatus River?" Allura asked, in a surprised tone

"Mhm" Lance responded, starting to eat his food.

Allura looked at Lance, then at Romelle, who giggled.

"What?" Lance asked, looking at Romelle

"N-nothing" She said quickly, before looking at Allura.

"Did you guys go into the river?" Allura asked, starting to smile a bit.

"Yep, I got pulled in, while Lance fell in" Keith said

Romelle snickered, but stopped when Lance looked back at her.

"What's funny?" Lance asked, putting down his utensils

"It's nothing Lance" Allura said getting up, "Romelle, I'm going to bed"

She said that before walking off, while Romelle got up too, discarding her food, and followed Allura to her room. Lance just looked at his father.

"What was funny?" He asked, but Alfor only shrugged.

Day 11

"Ok, so" Lance started. He was sitting on his bed again, while Keith had just finished unpacking, after ignoring it for several days. "I didn't actually plan anything for today"

Keith just looked over at him and rolled his eyes, before sitting on the edge of the bed. "I thought you said you had the whole week planned out"

"I know, I know, but I didn't. So, I thought, maybe, we could play this game called, 'twenty questions', but the getting to know people version" Lance said, as he rolled over onto his back to face the ceiling.

"Isn't twenty question when you think of an object, and you have to answer twenty yes or no questions so that the other person can guess said object?" Keith asked, looking over at Lance

"Uh- yeah, but we're playing the 'get to know person' version. We take turns asking questions about eachother, and then the other person answers truthfully. We each get 10 questions" Lance said, "Look, ill start, how old are you?"

"22? How old are you?" Keith asked, laying down next to Lance, but on his chest instead of back.

"21" Lance said proudly, only cause that was drinking age (even though he hasn't had a drink in his life, even being six months after his birthday).

"Whats your favorite color?" Lance asked, trying to count the dots on his ceiling.

"I never really thought about that" Keith admitted, "I guess I like red? Its like the only other color you see besides purple were I'm from. How about you?"

"Mines blue, reminds me of the ocean, even though I only visit the ocean once in a blue moon" Lance said, sighing a little bit.

"Have you had any pets before?" Lance asked, giving up on counting the dots.

"Not any that belonged to me, but I did have a hunting dog. You have any pets?" Keith asked, turning his head to look at Lance.

"You have to stop asking the same questions" Lance said, looking at Keith aswell, "And yes, I had one, before Pidge decided to take care of it for me"

Keith thought for a moment, before speaking, "What was your pet's name?" 

"I called him Richard, he was a bearded dragon" Lance started, "Pidge renamed him to Rover, and now he just chills in the forest. Pidge even trained him to bring them gadgets, and to do tricks, only has had him for two months"

"Wow, I don't think I could even teach an animal to do anything within that much time" Keith said

"Yeah, had him for 2 years, and the moment I give him to Pidge, he suddenly listens" Lance said, in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"That's rough buddy" Keith simply said, moving some hair that was falling onto his face

"Anyways, what's your favorite food?" Lance asked, as he could use this information to tell the cook

"I don't have one, but I mostly like meat based foods" Keith answered, even though liking meat was probably just a galran thing

"You don't seem to have a lot of favorite things" Lance said, turning onto his side towards Keith

Keith just shrugged and asked his next question, "If you could go somewhere, where would you go and why?" 

"Oh- I'd probably go to Balmera, the people there are so nice" Lance said, smiling slightly as he remembered a friend he had from there

"Would you marry a person you just met?" Lance asked moments after

Keith laughed slightly, "I mean, I'm marrying you right?"

"Well yeah, but that's because our marriage was arranged, would you if it wasn't arranged" Lance said, clarifying his question

"Depends who it is, but I'd rather marry someone that I know loves me" Keith answered

"Ok, ok, how about marrying someone you've known for a week" Lance said

"One week isn't enough to get to know them fully, so no" Keith answered almost instantly

"A month? Two months?" Lance asked 

"Your using up all the questions we have" Keith stated, before sighing, "Two months, probably, but I don't know about just a month"

"Ok, ask your question now" Lance said, seeming satisfied now with an answer he liked

Keith thought again, he didn't really have anything to ask, and he can't just ask the same question as Lance.

"Um, have you had you first kiss yet?" Keith asked, even though it probably an obvious answer

"Why you ask?" Lance said smirking at Keith, who was unfazed

"Just answer the question"

"Fine, yes, yes I have" Lance said, before smiling again, "Have you?" 

"First kiss? Yes. Any other kiss after that? No." Keith answered, shifting slightly

"Who was your first kiss with?" Lance asked quickly

"Don't worry it about it, it was just some guy who turned out to be a jerk" Keith said, "Who was yours?"

"My first one was with this girl from the village, I always thought that she kind of reminded me of Allura, which later told me that she's more of a sister than a significant other" Lance explained

"That sucks" Keith said, to which Lance silently agreed to

It was silent between the two, before Lance got up.

"Ok, I'm pretty sure that's all the questions, I'm going to the garden to check on our tree" He said, before walking out the room.

Keith just rolled over and sighed, he'll probably catch up to Lance later.

((Ok, sorry to end it here, but this oneshot is giving me anxiety about how long it is, so I'm going to end it here, then day 12 will start in the second part! I've actually been working on just this specific oneshot for 3 months now, and I kinda just now got the feel of what I'm doing, and stuff like that- I'll probably make part two in the late future, if I finish all other many things I have planned (also ignore all spelling or grammer mistakes I made in this oneshot, its to many words for me to fix)

Other than that, I hope you enjoyed pt 1 of this oneshot, I'll see you again when I post the other oneshot I need to finish! Peace out- <3

Words: 9693))