Chapter 1 - The Lance and Keith Playlist (Lance POV)

"I caught him watching you again," Pidge said, settling on Lance's bed next to her friend as he was rolling yarn from a skein into a ball.

"Oh?" he responded, trying not to sound interested. "What was his excuse this time?"

"It was when you were cleaning up the dining room. He was watching you sing from the door. He told me he couldn't find the kitchen."

Lance snorted. "How long have we been on this ship?"

"Long enough for Keith not to be lost anymore," Pidge drawled.

Lance just hummed, his concentration seemingly on the yarn in his hands.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Pidge asked.

"Do about what?"

Pidge huffed in irritation. "This thing between you and Keith!"

Lance just chuckled. "You're making it sound like there is a thing between us."

"There is!" she insisted.

Lance just shook his head. "You're imagining things. That big brain of yours is working overtime."

"I'm telling you, Lance, he likes you."

"You're delusional."

They heard Lance's door slide open. "Hunk, tell Lance I'm not delusional."

"Pidge isn't delusional," Hunk automatically responded cheerfully. "What is she not delusional about this time?"

"She's still on about this Keith thing," Lance said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh that. Yeah, she's definitely not delusional about that. You like him, he likes you. You're just both too dumb to do anything about it," Hunk said, settling himself on the bed too.

"There is no proof that Keith likes me," Lance said in an annoyed tone, finally risking a glare at both of his friends.

"Um, the fact that we keep catching him watching you when he thinks you can't see him? How flustered he gets trying to talk to you? The eyes he gives you when we're all together?" Pidge listed her 'proofs', ticking them off her fingers.

"None of that means anything. Keith gets flustered talking to anyone," Lance pointed out.

"The boy does have a point," Hunk conceded.

"He's worse around Lance," Pidge retorted.

"Not really sure why you're confusing Keith's disdain for me as being flustered, but whatever," Lance said, tossing the finished ball of yarn into the basket across the room. "Look, I know you want to believe this thing, Pidge. Believe me, I wish it were true too, but it's not."

"Flirt with him a little and you'll see," Pidge suggested.

"And I told you why I don't flirt with him," Lance said darkly.

"Shiro!" Pidge exclaimed.

Both Lance and Hunk gave her the same blank look.

"Keith and Shiro are close. Shiro might know how Keith feels!"

"I am NOT asking Shiro about Keith!" Lance cried.

"Ask me what about Keith?" Shiro asked as the door slid open.

"I seriously need to start locking my door!" Lance said, covering his face with his hands. "I am NOT having this conversation!"

"Is this about the two of them liking each other and not acting on it?" Shiro asked, amused.

"Not you too, traitor!" Lance growled, looking at Shiro, who stood inside the room now, arms crossed as he looked at Lance with a grin.

"Told you so! Shiro even knows!" Pidge gloated.

"Everyone knows. I was just talking to Coran and Allura about it yesterday," Shiro said.

"Oh Dios mio!" Lance groaned, hiding his face again.

"Did Keith say something to you Shiro?" Hunk asked.

"Well, no," Shiro said slowly. "Not directly. He certainly talks enough about Lance, but he hasn't actually SAID anything. But it's so obvious Lance."

Lance just groaned again.

"You should be happy about this Lance. Keith likes you back, isn't that what you want?" Pidge asked.

"Well, yeah, of course I do."

"There you go, buddy," Hunk said. "You need to tell him. Just make your move!"

"Make my move?"

"Hunk's right, Lance," Shiro said, his tone a little more serious. "Keith is too shy and unsure of himself to do anything about how he feels. I'm sure you intimidate him."

"Me intimidate Keith?" Lance's tone was disbelieving.

"In this situation, yes. You're much more outgoing and confident than he is. Keith's pretty inexperienced in emotional things and is afraid of putting his heart out there. You'll definitely have to make the first move on this."

"Flirt with him a little tonight. We're all planning on team bonding in the lounge later," Hunk said. When the Paladins weren't busy fighting or on missions, they enjoyed the occasional down time in what they dubbed the Paladin lounge, a place to relax where they all brought things to entertain themselves. It sometimes resulted in game night, a night of talking and laughing and reminiscing, or just being quiet and content with each other.

"That would be perfect!" Pidge said excitedly.

Shiro nodded, "A smile at him would go a long way."

Lance crossed his arms across his chest, looking down at his knees, thinking. His glance darted to the phone that lay next to him on the bed. "I have an idea," he declared.

Lance fiddled with his phone nervously as he sat between Pidge and Hunk in the common room lounge. Keith sat opposite him on the other couch, between Shiro and Coran. They usually broke off like this when they all relaxed together. Lance jokingly said to Pidge and Hunk once that it was like the adults and the children – himself, Pidge, and Hunk supposedly the children. Keith was serious enough to be considered an adult.

It was true that on their side of the room, the trio of 'children' usually engaged in something where the result was a lot of laughter. Shiro usually sat quietly next to Allura, wooing her in his own non-showy way. Coran would alternate back and forth, because he loved the boisterousness and fun to be had with Hunk, Pidge and Lance. Lance, especially, was a favorite of Coran – the one person always guaranteed to make him laugh.

Tonight, however, Lance was mostly ignoring the chatter of Pidge and Hunk because he was staring at Keith, who was obliviously looking at papers in his hand. Did Keith really like him? He kept asking himself that question. He hoped so. He hoped that all of his friends were right. Lance had no idea what he would do if he found out that Keith did not like him the way Lance wanted. Romantically. Pining after the Red Paladin hurt enough, but Lance knew that the knowledge of Keith NOT liking him back would hurt much worse.

His friends were right, however. No matter what Keith felt, Lance needed to know. It would hurt, but at least he could move on. He closed his eyes briefly at the pain in his heart that thought caused. He loved Keith. He hated the thought that he might have to move on.

Lance felt Pidge nudge him and he opened his eyes to look at her. As much as she could be a pain, Lance adored this girl that reminded him so much of one of his little sisters. The same attitude and loving pushiness. He knew in this situation, Pilar would be acting the same way as Pidge. Pidge just flicked a glance at Keith and nodded.

It wasn't the performing that Lance dreaded. He loved being the center of attention. It was Keith's reaction he dreaded. It should be pretty obvious what Lance was doing.

He turned his phone on, sending a mental thank you to Pidge and Hunk once again for figuring out how to power their phones with Altean tech. He opened his music player and scrolled down to the song he had chosen. The words were basically what he wanted to say, or rather sing, to Keith. It was a sweet little uplifting song called "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. Taking a deep breath, Lance hit play.

At first Keith didn't even react. Lance wasn't singing loud at first, but with Pidge's laugh in his ears and Hunk's encouraging smile next to him, he started to lift his volume.

He saw Keith look up at him, his expression confused, then he turned to say something to Shiro in a low voice. Shiro looked away from Allura and shifted his gaze from Keith to Lance. Lance heard Shiro chuckle during a pause in his singing before turning his attention back to Allura. Shiro knew what Lance was doing.

Keith had returned his gaze to Lance, so Lance kept his eyes focused on Keith. There should be no mistaking Lance's intention. He was literally singing a love song to Keith.

Yet Keith looked down, back at his papers, halfway through the song. Lance almost faltered, but thought he saw that Keith's cheeks had reddened. This was encouraging, so he upped his volume just a little. Keith looked back up again, his eyes reflecting confusion. Everyone was watching Lance now, and he tried a little bit of a theatric at the end, placing his hands over his heart as he sang the last two words, "I'm Yours".

Everyone laughed and applauded the performance. Except Keith, and Lance felt a little painful shaft pierce his heart. He did stand up, pretending to acknowledge the accolades of an adoring audience by blowing kisses to them and tried not to let it show that Keith's unsmiling and indifferent reaction to Lance's grand gesture hurt him a lot.

Two quintants later, Lance was in the kitchen helping Hunk. Hunk was the whiz when it came to preparing food that was not only tasty, but healthy. Lance had a lot of experience at helping in the kitchen. He often helped his Mamá back home.

"I knew it was a stupid idea," he was saying to his sympathetic friend.

"It wasn't a stupid idea," Hunk responded patiently as he stirred something in a pot on the Altean equivalent of a stove.

"Yes it was," Lance insisted stubbornly.

"That song wasn't THAT obvious, Lance. I mean yeah, you kept saying "I'm Yours" to him, but remember, Keith doesn't KNOW that you like him, and Shiro said he's inexperienced with all of this. Choose something more obvious next time," Hunk suggested.

"Sing to him again?"

"Yeah. I think it's sweet. He'll get it eventually."

Lance was chopping something up on a sort of cutting board. What that something was, he wasn't sure. Hunk had found it in a market stall on the last planet they had stopped at for supplies. He slid the board toward Hunk, who dumped the contents on it into the pot.

"I just think you should pick a different song. Something where your intention is plainly clear," Hunk continued, stirring the pot once again.

"I don't know," Lance said.

"It's either that or go to him right now – I think he's on the training deck – and declare your love for him point blank to his face. He definitely should get the clue then. Actually, I think that's the best thing you could do. Then there's no confusion."

Lance snorted, "Yeah that's not happening."

"Alright then. Pick another song."

The following night found all of the Paladins and Alteans back in the common area. Lance and Hunk were on either side of Pidge and she was showing them a program she was writing that would upgrade her Green Lion's defensive shields. She hoped that it would have a successful testing so that she could upgrade the rest of the lions. Keith sat across from him again, lovingly polishing his Galra knife and patiently working out any nicks in it with a whetstone.

"Do it," Pidge hissed in a quiet voice to him. He had played the song he had chosen for them, and both agreed that Keith could in no way mistake Lance's intention.

Lance sighed, opening up his phone and finding the song. He took a deep breath and hit play. It was a favorite older song of his, the words should be pretty clear and the music was upbeat and catchy. Keith immediately looked up and Lance caught his eye. Keith looked confused again, and his eyes narrowed a little. Lance heard Pidge actually giggling next to him. That and the beat caused a big smile to break out on his face as he stared at Keith.

I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I'd love you to love me
I'm begging you to beg me

It should have been obvious from the lyrics of this Cheap Trick song, even with the fun dance beat, what Lance felt. Lance was quite modest as to his singing talent. And while it was a playful song, he put as much longing and need into his voice as he could, which became more pronounced when Keith looked back down at his knife.

'What do I have to do?' Lance thought, even as he sang, feeling foolish for the first time. He could feel the eyes of his friends on him as they looked between him and Keith, and he even heard Allura cry out, "Oh I like this one!" He even went so far as to dance to the song, jumping on top of the couch to air guitar during the riffs. He knew he probably looked like an idiot, but everyone else seemed to enjoy his performance, even Pidge and Hunk, who scrambled aside from him along their couch so he wouldn't step on them.

For the last of the lyrics, he jumped off the couch and dropped to his knees on the floor in front of Keith and sang into an imaginary mic. He finished with another air guitar rift and flung out his arms. Pidge, still laughing, shut off the phone as everyone started cheering. Lance panted, trying to catch his breath, and gave Keith his best smirk.

All his effort was rewarded with Keith staring back at him with wide eyes before slightly shaking his head and turning his attention back to his blade. Lance waited a few moments before jumping back to his feet. He bowed and acknowledged the applause and had to agree when he heard Pidge mutter "Clueless…"

They had entered a quadrant of the galaxy where the Galra had enslaved a planet of sentient beings who were at the threshold of developing a civilization when the Galra had arrived and taken over the planet. Voltron was able to free the planet and drive the Galra away. The credit for the plan went fully to Keith, who had figured out how to draw the Galra out and had formulated the plan to free the beings on the planet while getting them to safety. Keith looked uncomfortable with the praise from his team, especially when Lance complimented him, which confused Lance. How could praising him be wrong? Everything he did in regards to Keith was wrong.

Yet Keith was again caught by Hunk, watching Lance prep food in the kitchen, at the door peering in at the Blue Paladin as he sang along to some Spanish music on his player. Keith invariably sat next to Lance at meals, as he always did. He almost always stood next to Lance when they were all together. Even Lance, by now, had to grudgingly agree with his friends that yes, it did appear that Keith might like him. Then why didn't he respond to the singing?

The next time they were all in the common room, Lance called up a sappy country song – "Shameless" by Garth Brooks. He wasn't exactly a country fan, but he remembered his cousin sang this to his girlfriend at a karaoke thing during a school dance and everyone there had loved it. Lance thought it cheesy, but maybe cheesy would work with Keith.

"He is from Texas originally," Pidge reasoned, as she and Hunk were in Lance's room to approve of the song choice. "I think he has to like country music by law or something. It has to work."

It didn't.

Lance threw his phone on his bed, after they had left the common area, and flopped back onto it, dramatically as always for him. Pidge and Hunk stood there watching him.

"We underestimated Keith's denseness," Pidge said.

"Three very obvious love songs sung directly at him? Crap if someone did that for me, I'd love it. I'd at least REACT," Hunk said, shaking his head and looking as angry as a cuddly teddy bear could look.

"Let's face the facts, guys," Lance said, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes. "He's NOT interested."

"That's the POINT," Pidge stressed. "He IS interested in you. I KNOW he is."

"Should we say something to him?" Hunk asked.

"No!" both Lance and Pidge cried.

"No," Lance repeated in a more level tone. "If he's not interested, then," he shrugged, "it would make things weird, I think."

"It's already weird," Pidge muttered. "I can't imagine what Allura and Coran think."

"Probably that human mating rituals are unnecessarily complex and ridiculous," Hunk offered.

"Geez, thanks Hunk," Lance said drily.

"Just saying, buddy. You're the one making this complicated. I've been saying from the start to just TELL Keith how you feel."

"The one thing I CAN'T do!"

Lance tried one more time, though his heart wasn't very into it. The song was sort of vague as to his feelings, but he thought that it described how he felt about looking into Keith's eyes. Keith was reading some book when Lance started singing "In Your Eyes" by Peter Cetera. Keith looked up from the pages and held Lance's gaze and Lance sang with as much passion and love as he could, never taking his eyes from Keith's.

In your eyes
The light the heat
In your eyes
I am complete

His heart broke when Keith looked down, back at his book. Lance thought he looked upset because Keith kept blinking his eyes. The applause he got from the others was more subdued than it had been before, but the dismissiveness from Keith was the same. Lance felt humiliated as he settled back into his spot on the couch and grabbed his tablet to pretend he was playing something on it. He made a point not to look at the others. He didn't want to see their pitying looks.

"What song are you going to try next?" Pidge asked, a little hesitantly. She rarely saw the expression that Lance wore, a defeated and depressed expression that looked out of place on him.

"I'm not," he stated simply.

She handed him back his wrist communicator which she had taken to upgrade. "Why not?"

"It's pointless, Pidge. I'm just embarrassing myself. All of you feel sorry for me, and I hate it." He strapped the comm unit onto his wrist.

"I just don't understand," she admitted, pushing a button on his communicator to test it. The hologram appeared and she grunted in satisfaction before closing it. "Everyone can see he's into you. You're making it painfully obvious you're interested in him. This just doesn't make sense."

"All of you are wrong. I'm wrong. He's not into me. It's ok. I mean, yeah, I wish he was, but if he's not," he shrugged, "he's not. There's nothing I can do to MAKE him like me. It's really ok," Lance said, but his tone was so subdued that it made Pidge wince.

Lance avoided Keith after that. He just couldn't face the other Paladin. He imagined that Keith must think him crazy. The Alteans and Shiro were busy working on an agreement with two planets in the Blanton system, so the Paladins had a few quintants of down time. Lance spent most of that in his room, coming out only to sneak into the kitchen for something to eat as he didn't show up for the normal mealtimes. He ignored Pidge and Hunk when they admonished him for his behavior. Lance even took to training in the middle of the night to avoid Keith on the training deck.

Allura insisted he be present for a briefing about the planets they were orbiting, but he knew that whenever they had meetings, Keith would usually sit next to him. He deliberately arrived late and sat far away from Keith. Lance was so nervous that he barely said anything during it and concentrated strictly on Allura and Coran, not looking at Keith at all. He asked a few questions and escaped at the first chance.

Later that day he couldn't ignore the rumbling in his stomach. He looked at the Altean clock next to his bed and knew that lunch should have ended about a varga ago and he knew Pidge was on cleanup duty, so the chances he would run into Keith was low. His door slid open and he poked his head out, relieved that the corridor was empty. He stepped out and walked down the hallway only to see Keith come around the corner. Lance felt trapped and almost turned to run back to his room.

"Excuse me," he managed, trying to edge his way around Keith, who seemed to somehow block the whole corridor.

"Where are you going?" Keith asked.

"Not that it's your business, but I'm going to the kitchen for something to eat," Lance snapped at him, annoyed that he had to talk to Keith at all. Lance's eyes automatically looked at the floor, not able to meet Keith's.

"Well, why weren't you at lunch? If you're hungry, you should have come down for that!"

Lance thought that Keith sounded angry and he couldn't figure out why the red Paladin would be. Why should Keith be angry at him? Lance was the one hurting. Lance wasn't angry that Keith didn't like him back. Lance was mature enough to know that he couldn't force Keith to feel anything for him, and if Keith didn't like him, he didn't like him. Keith wasn't to blame, but Lance still could be hurt about it. So he didn't respond and pushed past Keith, wincing as his shoulder brushed the other's.

"Hey!" Keith exclaimed.

"What do you care?" Lance hissed in panic as he hurried around the corner, ignoring the shout of his name. He gripped his shoulder with one hand as the other wiped at his wet cheeks.

"Grr," Lance grunted out as he once again lost a life on the game system he had bought with Pidge. He reset the game, glancing at the clock next to his bed. He snorted, knowing it was time for him to be in the common room, but he wasn't about to budge. Pidge and Hunk had already stopped by and tried to persuade him to go, but he ignored them and stayed on his bed, back against the wall as he pretended to be really into the game. Nothing his two closest friends said moved him, though. He adamantly refused to leave his room, stating that he didn't have the energy to smile and play nice.

Pidge and Hunk reluctantly left him, much to his relief, but it wasn't long before there was a sharp knock at his door. He didn't respond at first, but the knock came again followed by Shiro's stern voice saying, "Come on, Lance. Open the door."

Lance sighed. "It's open," he called.

Shiro stepped into his room and waited until the door shut, then looked at the blue Paladin, who didn't bother getting up and stared at the screen as if it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. "Why are you not with the rest of the team?"

"I'm not in the mood for it tonight," Lance answered, not meeting Shiro's eyes.

"Put the controller down, Lance."

Lance entertained the thought of ignoring his leader, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. With an irritated noise, he threw the controller down, folded his arms, and stared down at his knees.

Shiro waited patiently, which made Lance nervous. "I'm not leaving this room," Lance said rebelliously.

"I know you don't want to, Lance, but you can't let this affect the team."

Lance closed his eyes. How did Shiro know exactly what to say that hit him where it hurt the most? "Shiro," he said in a small voice, "please don't make me. I just can't."

"Lance, you can't hide from him forever," Shiro reasoned. "You should just be honest with him. You should have been from the start. I told you Keith doesn't know that you like him. I know that Keith is confused about what you're doing. He doesn't understand what's going on."

"How can he not?" Lance demanded angrily.

Shiro lifted both hands helplessly. "I love him like a brother, but the boy is clueless when it comes to things like this. Lance, he's never had friends. He's never been with anyone. Keith is very literal, so you need to be straightforward with him."

Lance frowned as he thought it over. "No. I thought maybe all of you were right. I thought maybe he did like me as more than a friend. Maybe I should have just said something to him, but now I'm glad I didn't. I was wrong. All of us were wrong. I've gone and made a fool of myself. I tried and failed. It's not so much facing him. I can't stand seeing all of you look at me with those sorry expressions."

Shiro sighed. "I understand, Lance. I do. None of us think badly of you. We all thought it was sweet what you tried to do. We feel bad because we love you and hoped it would work out. We all hoped for something too. All of us. Unfortunately, none of us can force Keith's feelings…"

Lance interrupted, "I know that! I'm not angry that he doesn't like me! If he doesn't, he doesn't. It hurts, yeah, but it's not his fault. I'm disappointed and angry at myself for letting it get like this."

"Angry, embarrassed, or hurt, you're coming to the common room," Shiro said firmly. "If I have to drag you there, I will. We are a team, and like it or not, you will still have to work with Keith. You need to get your emotions under control and just face him. Face us."

Lance knew that Shiro would follow through on his threat. For the first time he was angry at the leader of Voltron, even though he knew at the back of his mind that Shiro was right and that all the Black Paladin was doing was keeping the team together. Lance, however, didn't have to like it. His expression darkened as he slid off his bed and followed Shiro from the room.

He made no eye contact with anyone when he entered the common area. He only stomped over to the couches and fell onto the seat next to Pidge. Lance had brought his tablet and called up a mindless game and kept his concentration on that, scowling down at the device and ignoring everyone in the room.

The mood in the room was subdued. Keith was cluelessly sketching something in a sketchbook. The Red Paladin would occasionally spend time drawing. He was quite good. Lance had seen some of his sketches, even the ones Keith had done of the rest of the team.

Lance watched him, though his head was down and it appeared that he was very into the game he was playing on his tablet. His eyes were lifted up enough to watch Keith. Lance kept ignoring the nudges in his side from Pidge. "Sing!" she hissed at him.

"Stop it," he snapped back, thoroughly annoyed as he glared at her.

"Come on Lance," she whispered again, scowling back.

His expression soured again, a look he had never before leveled at Pidge. Lance could tell he sort of frightened her from her widened eyes. "Fine. If you want me to sing, I'll sing. I'll fuck this up even more!" he hissed at her.

Lance shoved his hand in his pocket and yanked out his phone. He was poking at the screen with rough finger jabs as he heard her say a little louder, "Don't do this angry, you're not thinking clearly."

"You wanted it," Lance grated out, pressing play on a song.

Everyone looked up as the first notes played, except Keith, who kept his eyes on his sketchbook.

Say something, I'm giving up on you

Lance heard Pidge's gasp next to him.

I'll be the one, if you want me to
Anywhere, I would've followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you

His eyes shifted to Allura as she raised her hands to cover her mouth. As he continued to sing, he could see Shiro and Coran were upset, and he saw Hunk look down at his hands out of the corner of his eye.

Oh, oh, oh, oh say something, I'm giving up on you
Say something, I'm giving up on you
Say something….

The music trailed off and Lance hit stop on his player. For the past four performances the others would cheer for him, excited at what they hoped was the possibility of seeing this relationship form in front of them. No one cheered now and Lance refrained from taking a bow. The silence finally got through to Keith, who looked up directly into Lance's eyes.

The Red Paladin's expression was…startled...and his mouth formed an 'o' shape as he stared back at Lance. Lance didn't know what to think and couldn't fathom what Keith was thinking. 'Say something, you idiot, say something!' Lance screamed in his mind.

Keith didn't. He just stared.

"That was quite sad, Lance, but you sang it so lovely," Allura said, distracting him. He forced a smile on his lips as he turned his head to look at her.

"I'm glad YOU approve, my dearest Princess."

No one said anything for a few minutes, until Lance faked a yawn, "Training beat me up today, I'm heading to bed early," he said as he got to his feet to head to the door, tossing a lazy good night over his shoulder even as he expected Shiro to stop him. Their leader didn't, just watched him leave with a slight frown. Lance tried to act casual, but he hurried before the tears actually started staining his cheeks.

"Well you can't stay in here all day," Pidge reasoned with Lance. He was face down on his bed, trying to smother himself with his pillow. Pidge was trying to get him up with Hunk's help. She was impeding Hunk, however, by the mere fact that she was sitting on top of Lance.

"Get off me," he mumbled into the fabric he was trying to suffocate himself with.

"Only if you promise to get up. And if you don't promise, I'm just going to have Hunk literally pick you up and throw you out."

"Leave me to my misery," Lance begged.

"No," she said stubbornly.

"Pidge is right, buddy. We're not leaving you in here to mope any more. You've done enough of it."

"I deserve a few days of moping. Maybe a year or so, ok? I made a complete fool of myself in front of everyone."

"First of all," Pidge said, "you are always making a fool of yourself, so why should this be any different?"

Hunk laughed while Lance made a sound between a protest and a grunt.

"Second of all, no one thinks you were making a fool of yourself. We ALL know why you were doing what you did. We ALL thought it was incredibly sweet. And if your boyfriend weren't such a dense and inexperienced idiot, we wouldn't even be here having this discussion. You'd probably be skipping around the castle looking for places to make out."

Lance launched himself up, throwing Pidge to the foot of the bed, where Hunk held out a hand to catch her before she hit her head. Lance twisted and glared at the both of them. "My boyfriend?!" he cried. "Fuck Pidge, he's not! That's the fucking point! He's not and he won't be!"

"There, you moron, that's the first emotion I've seen in you since yesterday. And at least you're up!" she retorted, non-plussed that she had almost cracked her head open against the wall.

"And he's not your boyfriend, YET," Hunk stressed, putting up his forefinger.

"Or ever!" Lance snapped, then the realization of what he said hit him and, still seated on his bed, he hugged his arms over his stomach and bent over with a cry.

He was immediately engulfed in two pairs of arms and two voices were murmuring comforting things into his ears. Things he didn't even hear or comprehend over his sobbing.

The next few quintants were subdued. Lance tried to act as normal as possible, and he did a passingly decent job. The Paladins were kept busy, working on their assigned missions on Thrakor and Illuma. All of them had training, diplomatic duties, and restocking runs. Lance volunteered to help Hunk and Coran with the restocking duties, which allowed him to be off the ship and away from Keith.

He had thought a lot over the past few quintants. It still hurt, but he kept telling himself he had to accept the fact that Keith did not like him back. Oh Lance was sure that Keith liked him, but only as a friend. At least Lance had tried, right? Well no, not really. He supposed he could SAY something to Keith. To expect Keith to bear the burden of being the first to confess was expecting a lot, especially as Lance was the outgoing one and Keith was the brooding loner who was probably afraid of rejection.

Yet Lance had been obvious – painfully obvious – in how he felt. He literally sang that he loved Keith. How can anyone misinterpret that?

Pidge and Hunk had both assured him that it was easy. Though Keith didn't talk much about his past with any of the other Paladins or the Alteans, it was well known that he was an orphan, whose parents were not in the picture and he had moved from home to home and had no consistency in his life. The Garrison had even expelled him. Lance realized, as he and Hunk flew their lions back from the surface of Illuma, Coran tagging along in Blue with him, that Keith probably never expected anyone to love him.

Thinking about it that way gave Lance a fairly new perspective on Keith's character. "What do you know about Keith?" Lance asked Coran, before he could think.

Coran looked at Lance with some surprise. "Not much, really, Lance," Coran said kindly. "I know he's very sensitive and lonely. I think that's why he volunteers for Blade missions. To be alone. But on the other hand, he wishes he weren't that way."

"What do you mean?"

Coran thought over what he wanted to say, his hand lifted almost automatically to twirl his fingers in his mustache. "I don't know how much Keith has ever told any of you, but he has confided in me a little. I think he fears that he'll be alone forever. This is ridiculous for him to feel, of course, he always has this team." Lance nodded slowly. "And I believe all of you feel as if he were a friend. Or more," he added with a sly glance at Lance that made the Blue Paladin blush, grateful for the helmet that hid his cheeks.

"We do," Lance replied faintly.

"Being abandoned by your mother at such a young age and having no real information about her. Father walking out. Being kicked out of home after home after home. The expulsion from the Garrison. No wonder he feels unloved." Lance knew he shouldn't have been surprised that others would have come to the same conclusions about Keith, but he was.

"He shouldn't feel that way!" Lance exploded. "He should know we all love him. He should know that I love him!"

Coran turned his head fully to look at Lance. "Have you ever told him? I mean, other than in song form?"

"Well, no."

"Then how would he know, Lance?" Coran asked gently. "I know you all joke that Keith is dense, but I think it's just more that he misses social cues. He hasn't really ever had friends, according to Shiro, so I think he just doesn't know how to read people. He comes across as a sullen young man, but he's really not."

Lance nodded, feeling guilty. He should have been up front with Keith from the beginning. Maybe it was too much for Lance to hope that Keith would understand what he was doing. Heck, he remembered trying to flirt with Keith at the Garrison, but Keith had just looked at him blankly. Lance took that as rejection so long ago, so he never tried to flirt with Keith again. If Keith had had no friends and tended to be a loner, he probably didn't even have a clue when someone was flirting with him.

"I don't know what to do, Coran," Lance admitted in a small voice, even as he maneuvered Blue into her own hangar. "Everyone says that Keith likes me as more than a friend, but I just don't see it. What is everyone seeing? I don't want to say anything to him if he's not interested."

"You humans have an interesting way of courting. We Alteans are much more direct. I think humans are so afraid of being hurt that you miss out on a lot of amazing experiences. Keith shows his love for you," and Lance whimpered a bit at the l-word, "in many subtle ways. Doesn't he stand or sit next to you all of the time? Doesn't he come to you for advice? Doesn't he want to partner with you on tasks and missions? Aren't you always catching him looking at you? I know the others have found him watching you when you don't see it. I see it all the time on the monitors."

"You never told me that," Lance said almost accusingly.

"No I didn't, because I didn't want to interfere. Things like this can't be forced, especially since I didn't know until recently how you felt."

"I must be better at hiding it. I fell for him at the Garrison."

Coran hummed to himself. "That's quite a long time to suffer in silence, Blue Paladin. And a lot of time wasted in misunderstanding. Make this right, Lance. You'll know how." Coran stood as Blue settled on the floor of the hangar. He put his hand on Lance's shoulder. "I hope it works out, my boy. I care so much about the both of you, and I want to see you both happy."

Lance felt like he was stuck in a repeat nightmare. There they all were, in the lounge again, waiting uncomfortably. Keith hadn't shown yet and Lance very much doubted that he would. Wait, why would he think that? Keith was apparently clueless about what was going on. If anything, Lance should be the one hiding away in his room, tucked under the covers. He knew if he tried that, however, Shiro would just come and force him out again. Come to think of it, he sent a slight glare Shiro's way as he wondered why the Black Paladin wasn't going out to fetch Keith.

The atmosphere in the lounge was tense, and Lance knew it was because everyone there pitied him, which made him want to scream. He didn't like being pitied. He had tried and failed, but Coran's words echoed in his head. "Make this right." How? How could he make this right?

The door slid open and Keith stepped in. Lance heard the greetings from the group and he risked a glance up from his tablet, where he was playing a game that resembled Tetris. Keith looked terrified and Lance wondered about that. Why would he look like that? The Red Paladin practically tripped as he stumbled to the opposite couch and sank into it between Coran and Shiro. Lance smiled a small smile at him, then immediately looked back at the device in his hands.

There wasn't much banter this evening. The silly chatter and boisterousness was usually instigated by Lance, but he kept his eyes on the game in his hands. Pidge and Hunk were also a little subdued, no doubt influenced by Lance's mood. Lance risked one glance at Keith, who was now leaning against Coran as they read from the tablet in the Altean's hands.

Shiro was the one to break the silence. "If we're going down to meet the King and Queen tomorrow, Princess, we should probably get some sleep."

"What's this?" Hunk asked.

Coran was the one that answered, as he shut down the device he held. Keith sat up straighter and looked at the older man. "We've got alliance treaties to discuss and sign. Shiro and Allura will go downside tomorrow morning and I need to be available for launch." He yawned. "Not as young as I was ten thousand years ago!" he quipped, getting a laugh from everyone as he bounded up from the couch. "Goodnight, my Paladins!"

Shiro and Allura both said their goodnights and they all left the lounge, leaving Keith all alone on his couch. Before he turned his eyes back to his game, Lance noticed that Keith had nothing in his hands, therefore nothing to do, and the Red Paladin looked quite irritated and anxious. He was frowning and staring at his knees with his arms crossed over his chest. In short, he looked like he usually did.

It grew quiet again, except for the tapping of Pidge's fingers on her keyboard next to him. Hunk was humming an unidentifiable tune as he scrolled through his own tablet. Lance debated in his head if he should just leave or not. Part of him wanted to say something to Keith, but part of him wanted to just forget him.

That's when he heard it, the frustrated groan across the room. Lance, as well as Pidge and Hunk, looked up with surprise at Keith, who realized what he had done. He looked flustered and he blushed a bright shade of red and it seemed as if he wanted to throw himself out of the airlock.

Without thinking, Lance asked, "You ok, Keith?"

"Why aren't you singing a song tonight?" Keith said in a forceful way, then looked as if he regretted saying anything.

Lance couldn't reply at first. His heart had started beating hard in his chest and his breathing felt restricted. Keith wanted him to sing? Did Keith enjoy his songs? Was Keith as oblivious as Lance thought? He looked at Keith, who he could tell was trying not to squirm under his gaze. He couldn't help but say the truth, and he couldn't hide the sadness in his voice. "I didn't think there was a point to it anymore."

Keith looked even more flustered at that. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but didn't quite know what to say or how to say it.

Lance was about to just get up and leave – he was mentally and emotionally tired - when Hunk said suddenly, "I think you've got one more in you, buddy."

Lance turned his head to look at his best friend, who he saw was staring at Keith. "You do, huh?"

"Sure why not?"

"Yeah, sing another Lance," Pidge added.

He didn't really want to. If anything was going to advance with Keith, it would have to be with honesty and being straight-forward with him. Lance just didn't know how to do that, where to start, or even if he had the emotional strength at the moment to deal with the inevitable rejection. One glance at Keith, however, gave him a little bit of hope. Keith actually looked eager and he smiled at Lance.

The smile decided him. Maybe, just maybe. He let his glance stay on Keith for a few moments, then he reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and unlocked it. He scrolled through the songs in his playlist, thinking about each one until he got to a particular one. This did say it all and, he thought with a hidden smirk, it would be a direct challenge to Keith – a person who hated backing down from a challenge.

He pressed play.

I feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes
The love that's all around me
And so the feeling grows

He could see from Keith's narrowed eyes that he wasn't familiar with the song. Lance, however, had always loved this song, and sang it with a passion direct from his heart without taking his eyes from Keith. Instead of looking away as he had been every other time, Keith met Lance's eyes, the violet ones widening as he listened to the lyrics.

It's written on the wind
It's everywhere I go
So if you really love me
Come on and let it show

You know I love you, I always will
My mind's made up by the way that I feel
There's no beginning, there'll be no end
Cause on my love you can depend

Lance was grateful he knew the song so well, as his mind was swirling with thoughts and emotions. Keith looked entranced, but why hadn't Keith shown this earlier? 'Don't blame Keith,' Lance berated himself. 'Why not?' his mind whispered silently. His silent debate, even as he sang, over whether or not he should be singing, whether or not Keith liked him, whether or not it was worth even trying anymore made his eyes narrow into an angry expression.

Lance was barely aware that he was on his feet. When had that happened? He stood in the middle, glaring down at Keith now, his hands clenched. He had left his phone on the couch, and Pidge picked it up. Keith's eyes widened even more as if intimidated.

It's written in the wind
Oh everywhere I go
So if you really love me, love me, love me
Come on and let it show
Come on and let it show
Come on and let it show, baby

Lance became even more forceful with his voice as he kept repeating the last lines, which repeated in the recorded song a dozen times. He saw the flicker in Keith's eyes at the somewhat direct challenge and the next thing Lance knew Keith stood up and faced him. Lance was never more grateful for his taller height. He knew he was egging Keith on and he hoped it would get Keith to SAY something.

Come on and let it show.

Keith was actually glaring back at him now and it was all Lance could do to not laugh. At least he had gotten a reaction from Keith, and now the other Paladin was standing close. If Keith didn't say anything, Lance decided he would. He was tired of hiding this, and he agreed now with everyone else, he just needed to be honest with Keith. He sang, almost mockingly.

Come on and let it show baby.

What? Keith's hands had reached up and grasped the sides of his head, firmly, but gently too. Lance almost cried at the touch – it felt so good. He heard Pidge's gasped "Oh!" and Hunks exuberant "Yes!", but he stayed with the song, only whispering the line this time.

Come on and let it show.

And Keith did. Lance felt the pull, saw Keith's eyes close and saw him tilt his head up to press his lips against Lance's. It wasn't a great kiss. It was as if Keith had never kissed before, which Lance guessed was probably the truth. The thought made Lance smile, even as Keith tried to kiss him. 'It's just something we'll have to work on,' he thought as he lifted his hands to Keith's waist, gripping him tightly. He heard Pidge shut his phone off as he took control over the kiss. He wasn't very experienced, but this wasn't his first kiss and he kissed Keith back, tilting his head slightly and concentrated on giving Keith the sweetest and most sensuous kiss he could.

In spite of Keith's inexperience, the kiss was everything Lance had dreamed it would be, quite possibly even better. He loved that Keith's kiss was uncertain and awkward. To know that he might just be Keith's first everything, as Keith would be his almost-first (except kisses) everything, was a turn on he didn't expect.

They were both unaware that sometime during that first kiss, Pidge and Hunk slipped out of the room to give them their privacy. Lance only noticed it when they finally pulled apart to breathe. "Looks like we chased them off," he said.

Lance watched Keith's face, even as he still held him tightly about the waist. Keith looked a little disconcerted, glancing down at the way their chests were pressed together. Lance was hyper-aware of every point of contact with Keith's body. Keith's eyes met his again and Lance was amused as he could see the pink color starting to stain Keith's cheeks.

"You're cute when you blush."

Keith flushed even darker.

Lance tilted his head forward, slightly, bumping their foreheads. "What took you so long, mi amor?"

Keith took a deep breath and answered softly, "I didn't think someone like you would ever like someone like me."

Lance was confused. Did Keith not realize how amazing he was? "But why?"

"You're…you're always so happy, so outgoing, so friendly." Lance felt himself start to blush at the praise. He didn't always feel happy and his outgoing personality was a coverup for his insecurities. "I'm not any of those things. Why would you even like me?" Keith asked.

Lance thought he understood where Keith was coming from. On the surface, the two seemed to be complete opposites, but as he got to know Keith, Lance began to realize that they had a lot more in common than most would realize. If Keith saw him only as Lance let himself be seen, he could understand why Keith would question it.

"Because I see who you are Keith. I see all the good and bad in you. I see all of the wonderful things and your faults. I see how much you care…about the team, about the people we're saving. I see you try to hide the good person you are, but it shines through whether you like it or not. I love how smart and brave you are. Doesn't hurt that you're the most gorgeous person I've ever set my eyes on," he added, smirking at the way Keith smiled. "I love you for every little thing about you."

"You love me?" Keith asked wistfully.

"Te amo, cariño. I love you very much."

Keith sighed and he closed his eyes. Lance smiled - he had never been able to say that to anyone, not in a lover-like way. "I love you, Lance," Keith told him softly, opening his eyes again.

Lance had never felt like this. A warmth spread through him that soothed every heartache he had suffered over the past phoeb – the past few deca-phoebs - that he'd been pining for Keith. Keith's eyes were so dark and full of love that Lance's breath caught. Lance was so overwhelmed, he dealt with it the only way he could – teasing his new boyfriend.

"Just next time, if I sing a love song, know that it's for you."

Lance thrilled as Keith laughed, then hugged him tightly and hid his face in Lance's shoulder. "Next time, just tell me," Keith said in a muffled and amused voice.

"Count on it, cariño!"

SONG LIST:

"I'm Yours" - Jason Mraz

"I Want You to Want Me" - Cheap Trick

"Shameless" - Garth Brooks

"In Your Eyes" - Peter Cetera

"Say Something" - A Great Big World

"Love Is All Around" - Wet Wet Wet