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From that night on, Keith and Lance were on good terms again. More than that. Keith walked with Lance to the grocery store, telling him about different human customs and holidays, or just holding his hand as they strolled on the sidewalk. Lance was outraged that he'd been cheated out of Christmas and Halloween, and even his own birthday.

"It's not a big deal for us, I guess. It's our Deathday that's the important one." Lance did happen to know when his birthday was (July 28th) and Keith was surprised by how close it was. He promised to celebrate with Lance when the day came (about a week).

Keith was suddenly feeling like he didn't have all the time he wanted to spend with Lance. They were a couple, a pair, and Keith wanted to show Lance around, take him to tourist spots, just hang out, but he was aware that summer was running out. He'd have to go back to school soon and what would Lance do then? Stay at home? Sooner or later, Lance would have to go back to his own home- and even then, the village moved every few years.

Lance felt like water slipping through Keith's fingers. It was keeping Keith up, and he felt like every moment, he stressed about the time, the date. He never mentioned it aloud, though. He couldn't make himself say it to Lance, because then Lance would see the impossibility of their relationship as well.

Keith lay awake downstairs on the basement couch, an empty bag of chips next to him on the floor. The basement was nice and cool and it smelled faintly of laundry detergent. Keith had even put a few posters up to make it more home-like. He was thinking about summer (as always) when he suddenly heard thumping footsteps down the carpeted stairs behind him. It was too dark to see who it was.

"Yeah?" Keith called out. It was probably Pidge, searching for something in the supply closet. But Pidge's voice wasn't the one to reply.

"Hey, man," Lance said quietly. Keith sat up and squinted at the outline of Lance in the dark room.

"What's up?" Keith asked, propped up on his elbows. He could hear the sound of Lance's breathing, louder than usual because of tiredness. Lance's breath got all deep and huffy when he was sleepy, and Keith was just thankful that he didn't snore (Lance had fallen asleep once on Keith's shoulder when they'd watched a movie together).

"I can't sleep," Lance admitted, mumbling, "Bad dreams."

Keith could hear his heartbeat in his ears as he lifted up the corner of his blankets invitingly, "C'mere." He moved over on the pullout, making space for Lance. "You okay?" he asked as Lance crawled over the flimsy mattress to Keith, laying down on his side, facing away.

"Yeah," he sighed, sounding tired. Keith hoped he was telling the truth. He flopped back down onto his back and resumed staring at the ceiling. After a few minutes, just as Keith knew he would, Lance shifted and turned over, situating himself closer to Keith until he'd pressed himself into Keith's side, one arm draped over his stomach. "Thanks," he murmured into Keith's shirt.

Nodding, Keith found Lance's face in the dark and cupped his cheeks in his palms, lips grazing Lance's forehead. "I really care about you, Lance," he said boldly, loudly. Lance chuckled, grasping Keith's cotton t-shirt.

"No shit," he said in return, "I do too." It was silent then, and even a little bit awkward, but that was to be expected. Keith'd never slept in the same bed as someone else unless they had a pillow barrier and were facing opposite directions. And now here he was, holding a beautiful boy's face in his hands as he drifted into sleep, slowly stretching his legs to reach out to Lance's.

Hooked at the knees, Lance's skin warm through his shirt, his breath ghosting over Keith's neck, it felt right. Lance smelled like soap and grass, like sweat and the sea and peaches. Keith would kiss every one of his freckles if he could. The patches on his knees, knuckles, and collarbone. He didn't know that this was possible, to feel so strongly after such a short amount of time. It was confusing and he was terrified he was going to lose the feeling of being totally enamored with everything Lance did.

He wanted to cradle Lance in his arms and touch his skin like it was made of easily-bruising flower petals, caress his back with only his fingertips, run the pad of his thumb over Lance's lips like a whisper. And at the same time, he wanted to bite Lance's shoulder and leave a mark, be bold and throw himself into the tumultuous waves of possession. He wanted Lance to look at him with yearning and want, and he wanted to want Lance so badly it hurt.

Intrusive thoughts circled Keith's mind as he held Lance to his chest, blood rushing in his ears, heat in his cheeks. Lance was so unique and undeniably indecisive, a constant change of plans and feelings. And yet, Keith would gladly through himself into that riptide of heavy, hard, raw emotions, let his heart be crushed in the coral reef and submit to Lance's bright eyes and thin fingers through his hair.

Keith was so sleep-deprived, he didn't even know what he was thinking anymore. He could only hold onto Lance, that one strand of sureness, in the dark basement and hope that he'd finally be able to sleep. Surprisingly, he succeeded.

...

Lance sat on the motorcycle seat eagerly, holding a bulky, black helmet in his hands. Keith came outside in shorts and a tank top, fussing with his hair as he pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. "C'mon, Mullet," Lance called, grinning.

The previous night, Lance had beaten the household tenants in multiple rounds of card games like BS, Spoons, and Spit (it was sort of unreal and Keith was convinced that Lance was using some sort of mermaidian trickster powers until Shiro owned everyone in Go Fish).

His request for a prize for winning was a motorcycle ride with Keith into the city. It wasn't that Keith minded, he definitely didn't, but this was a pretty public display of his... queerness. Kind of like coming out to every tourist and resident they passed, he guessed.

But seeing Lance's face all lit up like that... Keith basically felt invincible. He strapped on his own helmet, then helped Lance with his own. "Hold on," he reminded Lance, even though they'd ridden together before. This time was different, though. Lance wasn't stiff as he held onto Keith's torso, and he didn't keep from touching Keith's back like he had before. Now, he openly leaned against Keith, hands clasped around his stomach, sighing happily into his shoulder blade.

Keith's motorcycle was 6 years old and even before that it'd been used, but Keith had kept up with all the mechanics and changes and such, so it still ran near-perfectly. As they worked their way towards Main Street, Keith turned on the radio, pleasantly surprised by the track. He shouted over his shoulder to Lance, "This used to be my favorite song when I was a teenager!" and Lance laughed, lightening to it.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

The pair zoomed down the street, legs tucked up as they wove through the streets. Keith lost himself in the feeling of his bike below him, Lance behind him, and the music around him, and he started singing along, " We rattle this town, we rattle this scene..."

"Oh, Anna Sun," he whooped, passing shops and weaving through pedestrians easy as pie. His smile was so big, he forgot about the threat of incoming autumn and the stares of curious passersbys. He had Lance with him, he could do anything.

...

Hi guys!!

I'm sorry this is such a short chapter, I just wanted to put it out because I feel guilty for not posting anything yet. BUT I'm free all this week SO I'll be updating a LOT!

Storytime-

so as soon as I got my phone back after camp and went onto wattpad, this is what I saw

i nearly had a heart attack, just so you know. Holy shit.

wow- you guys are amazing <3 I then spent nearly half an hour going through all the votes and comments, replying to the ones i could. unfortunately, there were so many notifs that i could only see the ones that went back until the 13th, so i'm sorry if i haven't replied to your comments if you were here before the 13th- i can't see them on my feed! anyways, it was really nice to come back to all that love... it made my heart so happy. you guys make my heart so happy. i missed you SO much, and i tried to write every day. when i wasn't writing new content, i was outlining! i'll show you pictures of my notebook when the fic is over- i have SO MANY pages that are labeled "Planning and Outlining" since it's so important to me to know what i'm doing with this fic.

For those of you that asked, camp was amazing. i miss my friends already, and everyone there was so nice. I always feel so healthy there because we're so active and energetic. I lost my voice a few times from cheering so loud haha. All in all, it was a super fun time. But how are you guys? any news?

Before you start yelling at me in caps, I just found out about Shiro and Adam. I'm so beyond happy. I've seen a bunch of clips from the first episode on instagram, and it looks amazing. By the way, I'm so sorry that I made a typo last chapter- I meant to type that the new season was coming out on the 10th (of August), not the 20th. My bad. Needless to say, I'm very very very excited.

Concerning this fic, things are going to start to speed up now. We're going to be getting more action, more klance, and more angst. Believe it or not, we're nearing the end of the fic,, don't worry, we have a bunch more chapters to go, but I'd venture to say that we're about 3/4 through. thank you for sticking by me and supporting me :) if you have any questions, ask them here, i'll continue to answer anything you want to know (within reason lmao (no spoilers!!))

Anyways, I just wanted to check in with you guys and say hi and that i missed you,,

almost forgot: qotd- what is your favorite voltron scene or episode?

love you!!