https://www.instagram.com/p/BedtnSFnxah/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=hc90sktev9u4

Matt watched Allura walk out of the bathroom, closing the door gently behind her. Keith was standing next to the doorway, arms crossed. It was obvious that he'd been eavesdropping, he made no move to hide it and considering his expression, what Allura had said wasn't what he had wanted to hear.

Allura put a hand on his shoulder briefly, sighing, then moved to go to the living room where Shiro was. Instead, Matt poked his head out of the tech room where he'd been working and gestured for Allura to come inside. She looked confused but stepped in the room with Matt.

The tech room had a lot of complicated-looking machinery, mostly from Sam and Colleen Holt's jobs at NASA, but there were a bunch of computer monitors too, and even some video game consoles. Two laptops were on, connected to bunches and bunches of wires, and it was assumable that they were Pidge and Matt's.

"Hello, Matt, what is it?" Allura asked, folding her arms over her chest naturally. Her face was strained, and even though Matt hadn't heard her and Lance's conversation, he could tell that it had taken a toll on her as well.

Her eyes were wandering frantically over the room, obviously overwhelmed. Determined, Matt moved to block her vision, brow set. "Look, Allura," he started. He was at least an inch shorter than she was. "I don't know you that well. I don't even know if we're friends, probably just acquaintances. But you're dating Shiro, and Shiro's my best friend."

Matt paused, choosing his next words carefully, "I care a lot about Shiro and I don't want to see him get hurt. So if what you just said to Lance concerning his and Keith's relationship also applies to you and Shiro's, I just think that you should break it to him now instead of later."

Allura frowned, "That's-"

Matt held his hands up, shaking his head, "I know it's none of my business, I get it. I just... thought I should let you know. Shiro's..." he looked straight into Allura's eyes, chin out, doing his best to get his point across, "sensitive."

Something shifted in Allura's face as she looked at Matt, and he didn't know whether it was a good or bad thing. "I'll keep what you've said in mind. Now, if you'd excuse me," she concluded.

Matt leaned against the wall, biting his lip. He wondered if he should've just stayed quiet.

...

"Soup's good," Lance said that night, quietly in the tub. Keith finally got him to eat something, which was an accomplishment. Allura had left a few hours ago with Shiro, talking to him in a soft voice. They hadn't come back yet.

Keith nodded, sitting on a stool beside the tub. The same stool from his art studio. He hadn't been sketching much recently and he wondered if that was why he was so damn stressed. No, that was probably due to Lance. Maybe it was a good kind of stress. Was that a thing?

Lance slurped his soup noisily, gills pulsing with his breath. Keith admired him, even with all that weird tape on his tail. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop, it just sort of happened. And now he knew that he only had one more night with Lance. If only he could spend it outside a bathtub.

Keith tried not to think about dirty things, but it was inevitable. God, he was such a perv. Lance looked up at him, a bit of soup dripping down his chin. Keith couldn't help but smile.

"Lance, I have to tell you something."

"Oh no," Lance snorted, bringing the soup back up to his mouth. He didn't like spoons. Keith clasped his hand over his knees, then just decided to word vomit the whole thing out. He supposed the reaction would be just the same.

"I heard everything," he said quickly.

Lance shrugged, "Figures. You've been acting all weird. Sentimental." Keith was confused, if Lance knew, why wasn't he more... emotional? Keith himself wasn't a very open person when it came to feelings, but he knew that Lance was, at least with Keith.

"Y'know, I always thought that I wasn't good enough for you," Lance laughed dryly, "I guess this is proof." He was crying now. Keith felt relieved for a split second, it would kind of freak him out if Lance was honestly that emotionless about their relationship.

"Oh, love," Keith soothed, reaching forward for Lance. The soup bowl clattered to the tile floor. Lance was crying into his palms, and the surge of incompetency hit Keith so hard he stood, knocking the stool over with the force. Keith whipped his shirt off, then his socks, his jeans.

Pushing Lance forward a little bit, Keith climbed into the tub behind him, wincing at the cold water. Lance liked it that way. They'd even poured some salt in the bath to imitate the ocean. Lance leaned back onto Keith's chest, openly sobbing. Keith wrapped his arms around him from behind, trying to console him with soft, "It's okay"'s and "It's gonna be alright, Lance"'s.

Lance's skin was surprisingly warm, considering the cold water he was soaking in, almost like a blanket over Keith's torso. "C'mon, Lance, you're gonna make me cry too." He already was.

"I don't wanna leave you!" Lance sobbed, flipping over with some trouble so that he lay on his stomach over Keith's chest. Throwing his arms around Keith's neck, water splashed over the sides of the tub. Keith didn't care. He didn't care about anything but Lance at the moment.

"I know, I know," Keith stuttered, holding Lance to his chest. If he could keep him here, he would, hands down. But of course, he couldn't say that. Because, if what Allura had said was right, then that would mean Lance's death. And how could he ever, ever want that?

Keith had come to the conclusion that he could stand losing Lance to the ocean but he couldn't stand losing Lance to life. As long as he knew that Lance was alive, living, bright-eyed and beautiful as he always was, Keith could stand it.

"Lance?" Keith said after a few minutes, letting Lance calm down.

Lance looked up at Keith's chin, sniffling, "What?"

"I don't know what love is." That sounded stupid. "Well, I mean, I know what love is, but I don't know what it is. You know? But if love is this, this right here, if love is you, Lance, then I love you." He couldn't believe he'd said it.

Lance was quiet for so long that Keith thought that maybe he'd fallen asleep. But then Lance spoke up. "I'm in love with the sound of your heart. And your coffee. And your kisses. And everything about you but your mullet," he joked, "And I know it's too soon. We've only known each other for what? A few months at the most? So I don't know if love grows that quickly, but I think it might because I love you too."

Keith's heart raised up a little. He could live with that. He could live with the thought of Lance in the ocean, loving him.

Lance put his palms on Keith's pecs and raised himself so he could look him in the eyes. The streaks on his cheeks were illuminated. He was happy here. It wasn't morning yet, he didn't have to leave yet, so why should he be sad now?

He didn't have to think about leaning down to kiss Keith- it was an impulse by now. This one was different. Slow, deep, meaningful. Full. Full of love.

Keith kissed Lance softly and had to remind himself not to cup Lance's neck like he usually did because Lance had gills now. Gills. Good god, how did he fall for such a gorgeous, annoying, beautiful merman? Maybe he'd never know the answer to that. He was okay with that, too.

...

[slight smut will be in italics]

It was dark, and neither of them were sleeping. Neither of them wanted to. They lay in the attic with the window open and their fingers intertwined. "I'll take you to the beach tomorrow," Keith whispered, resigned. He turned onto his side, burying his nose in Lance's neck and breathing in the seafoam-and-peach scent of his dark skin.

Willing himself not to cry again, he pulled Lance closer to him. He always wanted to be closer to Lance. Maybe Allura's aura was power but Lance's was magnetism. Maybe that explained everything. Neither of them were talking about what was going to happen. They hadn't broken up, the hadn't said goodbye. The thought was terrifying.

Lance kissed Keith's neck like a whisper, then moved up his jaw. He'd never done this. He didn't know if he was doing it right, but it was late and they were laying next to each other and the sea breeze that floated in from the open window was soft and smelled like melancholy smiles that were inevitable for tomorrow.

Why couldn't tonight just be tonight and not the predecessor of tomorrow?

Lance was at Keith's lips now, and something about his kiss was desperate. It hit Keith like a train- what Lance was getting at, that was. He blushed deep and dark, but Lance didn't see it, obviously. He was too busy with his hands all up in Keith's hair and his hip bones on Keith's as he held himself over him.

"Are you sure?" Keith held Lance's face back, just a few millimeters. Their lips were still brushing together. He could just make out Lance's eyes in the darkness. They seemed to be glowing. Maybe they were.

"Yeah," Lance breathed. Keith's stomach did a somersault.

They fell against each other, skin magnetic. Keith's kisses were rushed as he pulled Lance closer and closer. This was finally how close he wanted to be. Shirts were pulled off. Then pants. Lance used his toes to push off his socks, pressing his knees into the mattress as he kissed Keith in the total darkness. Their hands in each other's hair, lips crashing like waves on the sand, their breathing fast and hurried and in sync.

What happened next was warm and clumsy and awkward at points but it was perfect. They fell asleep tangled together like the knots in fishnets that lay on the bottom of the ocean floor.

...

qotd: constructive criticism?

i love you all~