Lance groaned as he was punched in the gut.

"Mama said get up or we're gonna be late!" His seven year old brother Carlos shouted in his ear.

He pushed him off and onto the floor before turning over and shoving his head under his pillow.

"If you don't get up I'll get mama!" He threatened, Lance could tell he was probably smirking.

He groaned again.

"Mamaaaaa! Lance isn't-" Carlos was silenced by Lance's duvet, which he had thrown over him before picking him up and spinning him around, muffled shrieks of laughter coming from the young boy.

Lance chuckled and put the wriggling bundle of covers on his bed again before stretching.

Carlos peeked out after a few seconds and smiled at his brother as he began getting ready for school. His eyes wandered around the room until they landed on the photo frame beside his bed.

"Lancey... Why don't you talk to Keith anymore?" He asked innocently, sitting up to look closer at the picture of Keith and Lance. Lance was laughing, his arm around Keith's shoulder having just told a bad joke and Keith was looking away from the camera trying not to smile.

Carlos remembered when the picture was taken, despite it being more than a year ago now.

The boy turned to look at his brother after noticing his silence to find him looking at the floor with a frown.

"Because he doesn't like me anymore." He said with a sigh after a few more seconds.

Lance walked over to his little brother and ruffled his hair before smiling.

"Hey go and get dressed and maybe I'll make pancakes before I drop you off okay?"

Carlos cheered and immediately got up and ran to his bedroom, Lance thanked the lord that kids are so easily distracted.

After getting ready for school, kissing his mama goodbye, making pancakes for his brother and two sisters, they all clambered into Lance's truck and began the journey to school.

It was always one of Lance's favourite parts of the day. They would put the radio on and sing (scream) songs until he finally handed them over to their teachers.

They were only a minute into 'Firework' before Carlos gasped loudly and smashed the radio button to turn it off.

"Guys look! It's Keith!" He shouted out of the open window as they stopped at a red light.

Keith looked over at the mention of his name, his beautiful red motorbike purring softly beneath him. He smiled wide at Carlos and waved.

His sisters gasped too and a nine year old Andrea wound down her window, Rosalie leaning over her lap to see him as well.

"Keeeef!"

Lance wished the earth would swallow him up in that moment.

"Hey guys, wow you've all gotten so big since I last saw you!" Keith said.

Lance felt his stomach pang as he listened, Keith had always been amazing with his siblings and they loved it whenever he used to come over.

Carlos giggled and nodded before holding his mouth open to show his teeth.

"I even lost three teeth! And the tooth fairy left me five bucks for every tooth!" He said enthusiastically.

"Damn, the tooth fairy sounds very generous, you must be his favourite."

"No way! I'm the favourite!" Rosalie yelled.

Lance tensed and looked over at the two boys to his left.

Carlos tilted his head in confusion.

"I thought the tooth fairy was a girl?" He said, ignoring Rosalie.

Keith hummed and then made direct eye contact with Lance before smiling.

"Maybe... who knows?" He said softly before jumping a little as he heard beeping behind him.

"Well, seeya soon devil children. Have a good day at school." He said with a smile before speeding away as the light had now gone green.

Lance quickly drove forward to shut up the cars behind them, his heart beating faster and faster.

How dare Keith look at him like that, all soft and beautiful.

"Oooh. Lancey Lance is blushing!" Andrea said from the backseat with a giggle.

"Shut up Andy!" He said loudly, his cheeks growing even warmer.

The girls giggled and started whispering to each other in the back while Carlos just put the radio on again without a word, he seemed deep in thought.

Lance prayed he wouldn't figure out that he was in fact the tooth fairy, thanks to Keith's small slip up.

"Okay kids, buzz off. I'm gonna be late." He said, finally pulling up to their school.

They all got out of the truck with shouted goodbyes and Lance rolled down his window.

"Watch the road!" He called after them.

Andrea took their hands and looked left and right before guiding them across the road.

When they had safely crossed he smiled and waved before making his way to his own school.

When he arrived he was surprised to see Keith only just taking off his helmet.

'That doesn't make sense... He would've gotten here ten minutes ago...' Lance thought to himself.

He shrugged, deciding that it wasn't his business anymore and got out of the truck. He grabbed his bag from the back seat before heading towards school, only to be stopped by Keith calling his name.

He resisted the urge to turn around, instead just freezing in the middle of the school parking lot. He heard hurried footsteps before he saw Keith come to a halt in front of him.

"Hey." He said breathily, out of breath from running to catch up.

Lance just stared at him, confused and trying not to think about how hot he looks today.

"Earth to Lance?" Keith said with a smirk, waving a hand in front of his face.

"...What do you want?"

Keith frowned slightly.

"Jeez... someone woke up on the wrong side of bed."

Lance shook his head and started walking again, Keith falling into place beside him.

"Sorry. It's just... you're actually talking to me. Caught me off guard." He mumbled.

"About that..." Keith stopped walking abruptly and pulled Lance's arm to make him face him.

"I'm sorry... for being such an asshole. Seeing the kids today, it made me start remembering stuff that I had been trying so hard to forget..."

Lance was silent for a while, trying to figure out what the hell was happening. Was he concussed or something?

"Stuff...? Like what?" He finally asked.

Lance watched as Keith's cheeks slowly turned a light pink and he looked away.

"Stuff like your smile... and your eyes... Your bedhead that takes a good ten minutes to tame..." He said, very quietly.

Lance smiled slightly.

"Go on."

Keith rolled his eyes and shoved Lance gently but continued anyway.

"Your cockiness." He said pointedly. "Your cooking, the roof we used to sit on and talk for hours, your smell... everything."

Lance's smile slowly faded and he sighed.

"Keith, where are you going with this?" He asked.

He was still trying to comprehend that Keith was actually talking to him, that Keith actually thought about all of these things.

"I guess... I guess I'm trying to say that... I-I miss you?" Keith said, playing with a loose thread on his sleeve awkwardly.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" He said softly.

Keith looked up at him.

"Telling you."

Lance hummed and pulled his bag more securely on his back.

"Well... I miss you too. But Keith, you know things can't just go back to that. As much as I'd like it to. What happened still happened." He said, trying to keep his voice steady.

He was lying through his teeth. Lance would give anything to go back to how things used to be, to just forget what happened and move on.

Keith nodded.

"I-I know that... I know. I just... I'm sick of pretending-" he cut himself off.

"Pretending...?" Lance encouraged him.

The ravenette bit his lip and sighed. He blinked a few times before taking a deep breath and looking up at Lance.

"Pretending that I'm not still in love with you."

Lance felt his stomach flip over and he had to pinch his leg to stop himself from visibly reacting.

He could tell that was hard for Keith to say, but still... why? Why after all this time? Surely it can't just be because he saw his siblings again... Right?

Lance had daydreamed about this moment millions of times, had actually dreamed about Keith coming back to him, dreamed that his heart would stop aching every time they saw each other in the hallways, that his mother would stop worrying about him slipping back into that dark place.

Now that it was happening he didn't know how to react. Surely it's a trap. He was just waiting for him to go "just kidding dipshit, I can't believe you fell for that." Which is how every other dream had ended.

"Please say something." Keith said suddenly, his voice sounding desperate.

Lance blinked, coming out of his trance. He rubbed his face while taking a breath.

"You mean that?" He asked.

Keith nodded quickly.

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't."

Lance nodded slowly.

"Wow... I'm- I'm sorry that was just a lot to take in." He said.

Suddenly the school bell rung out, meaning they were both now five minutes late.

They didn't seem to care though. They were just staring at each other, both trying to figure out what the other was thinking.

Keith took a step closer and put a hand over Lance's heart, which at this point was going crazy, he smiled slightly.

"Is this my answer?" He asked softly, their faces now so close that Lance could feel the warmth radiating from him. He couldn't bring himself to speak.

Keith was right there, Lance could see the barely visible freckles on his cheeks and nose, he was looking at him with those gorgeous eyes and his lips were curved up in a small smile.

Keith raised an eyebrow, the expression on Lance's face taking him back to old times.

"Normally when you look at me like that you end up kissing me." He whispered.

And Lance couldn't help it. He really tried to hold it together, he honestly did, but Keith had this effect on him that he could never control.

He grabbed the collar of Keith's jacket and pulled him in, he let their lips meet ever so softly, his eyes fluttering closed at the same time as Keith's.

Lance felt a shiver run throughout his entire body and if possible, he's pretty sure his heart stopped for a split two seconds.

Once he had started, he couldn't stop. Keith was like a drug, a drug that he had been deprived of for so long. He dropped his bag to the ground, one hand moving to Keith's waist to pull him closer and the other coming up to cup the back of Keith's neck, tangling in his hair as he deepened the kiss.

Keith's arms wrapped around his neck as he kissed back enthusiastically.

The kiss was passionate but blissfully sweet, Keith could practically feel how bad Lance needed this kiss. He had completely shut everything else out, every ounce of his concentration was on Keith right now. And Keith knew in that moment that he did in fact have his answer.

After a few more seconds, Keith pulled away breathing heavily.

Lance was still holding him close, his breathing just as erratic and his heart even more so.

Keith swallowed and went to speak but Lance had quite literally taken his breath away and it seems he took his ability to speak with it.

"I love you too." Lance said softly, finally opening his eyes to look at the boy in his arms.

Keith smiled.

"Hey! You two are almost ten minutes late!" A voice shouted suddenly and Keith rolled his eyes before turning around to look at the prefect.

Now Keith had quite the reputation in school. Rebel, bad boy, whatever you want to call it, everyone knew him and made a point to avoid him unless they wanted to start an argument.

The prefect paled as he noticed who it was but he kept a brave face.

"You need to get to lesson!"

Keith sighed and pulled away from Lance before turning to face the boy.

"Ahh Colin. And where are you supposed to be? Not out here all alone surely." He said, walking closer.

The prefect, now known as Colin, backed away slowly.

"I um..."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Get lost before I make you, kay?" Keith said, smiling sweetly.

Colin made a hmph sound before reluctantly walking back the way he came.

Keith walked back over to Lance and smiled.

"Where were we?" He said before cuddling into the brunette.

Lance chuckled and shook his head, wrapping his arms around him.

"You're unbelievable." He said gently.

"You say that like you don't already know." Keith mumbled.

"Hey Keith... Carlos and the girls seemed really happy to see you and I know all of this is like... really sudden but... would you wanna come to mine later?"

Keith nodded into Lance's chest.

"I would love to."