There were some people who reminded Keith of sunsets. Hunk was one of them, Coran another. They were soft and careful, and hopeful in ways he couldn't explain, they prefaced a respite, a time to rest. They heralded night time, they let you know that, no matter what, the Earth was turning and everything would be alright again. Maybe not now, maybe not soon, but at some point. The daylight would return.

Allura was a sunrise. She was bright, she lit up the room and his life. She was the dawn of a new day, a new chance for the universe. Her presence told Keith of the relentless determination of life to survive, that there's always a chance. She illuminated him, showed him how he could live, thrive, could keep on going.

Daylight was Pidge- young, sparkling, full of opportunity and potential. He never knew what she could offer, never knew what she would bring him, but it always worked out for the best. She could be unpredictable, tempestuous but caring and kind. He was brought new life by her, encouraged to try new things, shown he could always rely on a new day.

He likened Shiro to the night sky. Comforting, eternal, omniscient. Like a warm blanket over his existence, he knew he could always look up and he'd be there, watching and protecting him. Constellations stayed the same, but there was always something new to discover within them, something new to marvel at and appreciate.

And Lance? Lance was all of them, and more. Lance was a supernova, a shooting star and an eclipse rolled into one.

…

The only thing illuminating the cabin was the glowing of the moon that the castleship had settled into an orbit around the previous day. And 'glowing' wasn't just referring to the reflection of the light from the nearby sun on the moon's surface, but from a light source seemingly within the satellite itself, shining through miles of diamond-like structure to fall through the window onto Lance's sleeping face.

Keith was grateful to the moon for this, as a sleeping Lance was one of his favourites. Along with happy Lance, tired Lance, cuddly Lance, soppy Lance, excited Lance and any other feeling with positive connotations. But here and now, with his dark lashes casting long, even darker shadows on his soft cheeks, Keith couldn't help but marvel at the marvel that he was. The light billowing in through the window was a soft, pearly grey so that the cabin was still dark enough to feel comforting and intimate, but just bright enough for Keith to see the constellations of freckles dusting across his nose and cheeks.

He was curled next to the sleeping boy, tugged in close by the arm Lance had thrown around his back before dozing off so that the upper half of Keith's torso was resting on and against Lance's chest, their legs lazily tangled together and Keith resting his chin on the back of his hand, which lay flat over Lance's heartbeat. Black lashes brushed against pale cheeks as Keith blinked slowly, fighting to keep his eyes open to keep looking at the beauty above him on the bed. Not that he couldn't look at Lance in the daytime (in fact, he probably spent too much time doing so), but the silence and peace of the cabin in the night-time gave him space to just look. And memorise. And love.

Probably sensing he was being scrutinised, or maybe he could feel how strongly and lovingly Keith's heart was thumping in his chest, Lance's eyes flickered and he breathed in and out a gentle sigh. The Red Paladin held his breath, not (consciously)wanting to wake his sleeping boyfriend, but his efforts were in vain as slowly but surely, his eyes fluttered open and trailed downwards to make contact with Keith's.

"Hey," Lance whispered gently, his voice hoarse and warm in the silence of the room. The arm around Keith tightened and encouraged him to move upwards so his face was level with Lance's on the pillow. Their breaths mingled and they twisted their legs closer together at the foot of the bed. "You okay?"

Keith hummed an assent, bringing an arm up under his head and above the pillow to rest on it. Lance mirrored the action and they lay there for a moment, their other hands reaching out to meet on top of the covers.

"Why are you still awake?"

Shrugging gently, Keith looked down at where their hands were intertwined and pressed his palm against Lance's.

"Just thinking."

Lance blinked slowly, brushing off the last remnants of sleep and stifling a yawn.

"What about?"

Keith smiled to himself and, dragging his violet eyes to meet Lance's dusty blue ones, whispered, "You."

Lance chuckled gently, warmth dancing behind his eyes. Keith adored when Lance was like this- as much as he enjoyed the confidence, the brazen roguish charisma he displayed for everyone else, the softness of his eyes and warmth in his voice in these intimate moments were what Keith lived for. There were no pretences here. Lance wasn't acting, didn't feel he had to put up a front, and Keith was comfortable enough now to let himself enjoy and embrace the gentle charm of Lance at his most vulnerable.

"Really? Mm, do tell," he said coyly, rolling onto his back and pulling Keith with him so his cheek rested against Lance's shoulder. Lance brought up their intertwined hands and brought his other hand into the tangle to play gently with Keith's fingers, "what specifically caught your attention at such a late hour?

"How beautiful you are," he breathed softly, turning his head to look over at the silhouette cast by Lance's face against the silver moonlight, and watched as the darkness allowed him to see the hint of Lance's cheeks pulling up in a smile. "How I love all your different sides-"

Lance cut him off with a low chuckle, turning his head slightly to look at Keith. "My sides?"

He nodded slowly.

"What, inside and my outside?" Keith let out a quiet huff that just brushed against the possibility of being a giggle. "Surely not my good and my bad side- because I'll have you know, I spent long enough taking selfies in my youth to know that I don't have any bad angles, thank you very much."

Giving the taller boy a light whack with his free hand, Keith buried his face in Lance's shoulder.

"Stop teasing," he scolded lightly and felt Lance chuckle under him and bring both arms around to wrap round him and hold him close. "I meant your personality." He brought his face up to lean against Lance's shoulder again, and there was a pause where the two boys just looked at each other.

Lance raised his eyebrows to encourage Keith to continue, clearly intrigued.

"Well, there's sleeping Lance, whom I love because then he's not talking and getting himself into trouble."

The other boy let out a proper laugh at that, the sound bubbling loud into the subdued night. He quietened almost immediately after, clearly not wanting to ruin the intimacy, but Keith could hear the smile in his voice.

"What a beautiful start. I'm not sure I want to hear where this is going."

"Well, then there's soppy Lance."

"Oh yeah? What's his deal?"

"I like soppy Lance because he's honest. He just goes around the castle telling everyone how much he loves everyone. I think he made Coran cry once." Lance huffed out a chuckle, but didn't interrupt. "And he's touchy-feely, as well. I can always count on a snuggly night when you're in a soppy mood."

As if considering this assessment for a moment, Lance hesitated before replying.

"Hmm. Well, that wasn't bad. I quite liked that actually. Tell me more."

Keith continued, glad his inevitable blush would be shadowed in the darkness.

"You're beautiful when you're excited. Excited Lance gets this fire behind his eyes and manages to make everyone else just as energetic as he is. It's infectious, I don't know how you do it, but you somehow sort of pull everyone along with you. You're irresistible."

"That much is true."

"Cocky Lance is not one of my favourites, I must say," there was no heat to the words, just fond teasing, but Lance let out a fake-offended "Hey!" anyway. Chuckling, Keith continued. "Sleepy Lance has a place in my heart. He's calm, and peaceful but kind of a pain in that he just drapes himself over everything to try and get to sleep, and that includes over people. But, you know, you do this slow blinking thing whenever you're really tired and you wrinkle your nose slightly, like this-" Keith lifted his head slightly off Lance's chest so he could see him demonstrate. When he was done, he paused and took in Lance's expression.

There was so much love there, so much affection weaved into the amusement dancing around his face that it took his breath away. Silence breathed through the room as they gazed at each other, Keith taken aback by how much Lance loved him.

He cleared his throat gently, to break the tension and stop the blush he could feel burning across his face from frying him alive.

"What?" He deflected, looking down at their intertwined hands.

"I love your sides too," Lance breathed, and when Keith looked up, his face was closer, so much so that he could almost see himself reflected in the dark oceans of Lance's eyes.

"Oh yeah?" The words were whispered, almost silent as they drew closer still. "Which one's your favourite?" Their lips met, a soft, chaste touch that filled them with warmth and starlight. They pulled apart after a moment, and Lance paused, considering.

"The left, definitely."

There was a beat, during which Keith was sure he'd missed something. When he finally got it and looked at the amusement displayed on his boyfriend's stupid, perfect face, he gasped.

"You are such an asshole!" He whacked Lance with a pillow, the taller boy snorting and wriggling around in an effort to avoid the blows. "You just had to ruin the moment!" Keith gave him a final hit, then cast the pillow away in order to pull away the hands Lance had covered his still-giggling face with. He took one hand in his and glared at his boyfriend until he'd calmed himself down enough to meet Keith's stern eyes. "Are you done?"

Lance smothered one last giggle, then smoothed his face out into something more serene and sedate.

"Yes, Keith. I love you, Keith. Sorry, Keith."

Keith 'hmmpf'-ed and wriggled to lie down next to him, muttering, "you'd better be," as he did so. As he turned his head on the pillow to look at Lance, the other boy leaned in swiftly to capture his lips before he could move away. Lance was the one to pull back, and as he looked into his eyes, the mood slowed again.

"I love you," Lance repeated in a whispered tone, tangling their fingers together again. Keith responded, squeezing their hands together.

"I love you too," he breathed, before resting his head on Lance's chest once again and closing his eyes.

...

Yes, Lance was a supernova. He was bright, beautiful but heartbreaking at the same time. Seeing Lance sad was like seeing a star die, so Keith would make it a mission to make sure all the stars in his eyes stayed alive for as long as he did.

He was a shooting star for he'd streaked across the sky of Keith's life like a comet, shining light on all that had been in darkness and burning the imprint of himself upon Keith so strongly that even when he closed his eyes, he could still see him.

He eclipsed everything else in Keith's life, the only thing he'd ever need again. And a world in which Lance was in shadow or was hidden was a world in which Keith had no interest in living.

In layman's terms, Lance was Keith's everything.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I posted it on AO3 a while ago, but felt like sharing it on here as well. It's been ages since I posted on this site, so this is me throwing myself a welcome-back party lmao

As always, please review or favourite this story if you want to, it fuels my writing so much and honestly means a lot to me. I hope you enjoyed this, and feel free to send prompts or PM me any questions or requests you may have!