Lance feels like he can finally say that the universe is done trying to kill them. He is currently in a hospital bed at the Garrison, recovering from the last battle they had with Sendak and then that crazy powerful alien robot. He doesn't know where the hell that thing came from, but he's glad that it's gone. Since he is on bed rest, he hasn't been able to see the other paladins. According to his family and the doctors, they are all alive. He has asked them many times since he has woken up, and every time they reassure them that it's true. Everyone is alive and recovering. For that, he's grateful. He doesn't know how he'd feel if he was the only one to survive. Actually, he does know what he'd feel. He'd feel guilty because they would be dead and he'd be alive. He would've wanted it to be the other way around.

That thought scares him because people his age don't have to think about these kinds of situations. Then again, people his age don't go off into space and fight evil aliens in giant lions.

Someone knocks on the door, and Lance says, "Come in!" He assumes it's probably one of his nephews wanting to try on his helmet again. They never get tired of doing that. But when the door opens, he doesn't see a small boy with an excited smile. He sees Keith in a hospital gown with a relieved smile on his face.

Lance can't help but smile back because he thinks just a little part of him needed to see living proof that what everyone has been saying is true. All of them made it out alive.

"Hey," Keith croaks, his voice a bit hoarse. Lance guesses that he hasn't had the time to use it much. In fact, it almost looks like Keith just woke up.

"Hey. How long have you been awake?" Lance says, looking at him intently.

Keith looks away and says, "About an hour and a half."

Lance is a bit surprised. He's been awake for two days. If anything, he thought Keith would be the first to wake up. "What? Why are you out of bed?"

"My mom and Kolivan finally left my room. They kept telling me that everyone had made it, but I needed to see it for myself. I couldn't believe it otherwise," he explains.

"So, you got up out of your hospital bed and hauled your ass to each room that we're in just to see if we were alive?"

Keith nods and Lance smiles, "I'm glad I wasn't the only one who wanted to do that."

They laugh, and Keith fully enters the room. He sits at the end of Lance's bed. Lance isn't sure if he wants to close the distance or scoot further away. Accepting the way he feels about Keith has only made him more self-conscious and nervous. He's so lost in his own thoughts that Keith has to clear his throat to snap him back to reality.

"For a second there, I thought we'd lost you," Keith says, looking down at his hands. Lance remembers thinking that too. Red wasn't coming to him, and they had crashed. As the Galra came nearer, all Lance could think of was protecting Veronica. He couldn't let her die, even if he had to be the one to die. At that moment, he had accepted his fate. But now, looking back on it, he couldn't believe that was him. And yet, how could it not be him. If he reviewed everything that has happened since he became a paladin, how many times was he willing to put his life on the line for the mission? Not even just the mission, but for his friends, who had become like family to him? Now that everything is over, he feels…free.

"Me too," he whispers, staring at Keith's scar. A scar that, like Shiro's, was given to a person who had suffered enough in life. Keith turns his head, and they make eye contact.

Staring into Keith's blue-grey eyes, he realizes that now would be the perfect time to tell him how he feels. They just survived a battle where they almost died. If he's wrong, and the universe does still want to kill them, then he needs to get this off his chest right here, right now.

He opens his mouth to speak, but Keith speaks first. "I'm not good at the whole feelings thing. Two years stuck in the abyss, and I still haven't learned. But something I learned a long time ago is that life is short, and you have to do what you want. I guess that's why I was kind of impulsive."

Lance snorts. "Kind of?"

Keith glares at him. "I'm trying to talk about my feelings here. Anyway, I also learned that actions speak louder than words. For some reason, around you, I'm never really sure if that's true."

"What do you mean?" Lance asks.

"Like … the way I act around you. Sometimes, I think I'm obvious. Everyone else seems to think so. But then, saying certain things didn't seem to clue you in either."

"Let me guess. It's because I'm the dumb one?"

"Don't you ever say that about yourself! I was so happy that Pidge attacked him or else I would've done it first," he growls.

This makes Lance's stomach flip. He's always felt insecure, but ever since the game show, he's wondered if everyone saw him like that. Then, Keith was the only one to choose him to leave, and his answer as to why didn't really make him feel any better. But if Keith doesn't actually feel that way, then why did he say he didn't want to be stuck with him for eternity? Lance doesn't think he'll ever understand the hot-headed paladin.

"Shit, I'm getting off topic. What I'm trying to say is that I, well, I um…" he trails off, looking away from Lance's eyes.

Lance grows concerned, wondering what could be making him so nervous. He rarely sees him nervous. Angry sure, but never really nervous. Lance, with a burst of confidence, grabs Keith's hand. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me."

Keith's cheeks turn pink. Lance smiles at how cute he looks, and he blushes as well. This only causes Keith to get even redder than Lance. Keith lets out a breath and stands up. "You know what, fuck it. I like you, okay? I've liked you for fucking forever, and I thought you noticed, but you didn't. So, Shiro told me to come and talk to you, which is what I did. So, see you around."

The first thought that goes through Lance's head is, What the fuck just happened?

But then Keith is starting to leave, so Lance yells out, "I like you too!"

This isn't really how Lance wanted to reveal his feelings for Keith. But when has anything ever gone how Lance expected them to? It doesn't matter because Keith comes back, and the corners of his lips are twitching like he's holding back a smile.

"Seriously?" he asks, sitting back on the bed, closer than before.

Lance nods quickly. "I've liked you for a while now, but I've never had the guts to say anything."

"Really? What happened to Loverboy Lance, the king of flirting? I thought if you liked me, you would've given me some kind of obvious sign."

Lance looks right into Keith's eyes, and he says, "It's different with you. We started off as rivals. I wasn't planning on liking you. It just happened."

At first, Keith doesn't say anything. Lance is worried that maybe he said the wrong thing. How could he manage to ruin this before it even officially started? Did he somehow make Keith rethink his feelings and now he realizes that maybe he doesn't like him? All these thoughts were going through Lance's head, making him completely unaware of the fact that Keith was moving closer to him. He finally noticed that Keith was close, closer than he's ever been to him if you exclude the whole pool situation. He's moving slowly, and Lance doesn't do anything to stop him. Is this it? Is this going to be their first kiss?

But then Keith shifts his head, giving him a soft kiss on his cheek. Keith pulled back, and both were super red. Lance was suddenly glad that Keith didn't kiss him on the lips. He thinks he would've combusted if he had actually done it.

"I guess I'm still kind of impulsive," Keith whispers.

"That's not really a bad thing," Lance says, grabbing both of Keith's hands.

The two smile at each other when Lance remembers exactly what Keith said. "Wait, there is no way you were obvious about how you felt."

Keith narrows his eyes. "Um, yeah, I was. Our bonding moment?"

Lance shook his head. "Never happened."

Keith let go of his hands and yelled, "Yes, it did!"

Lance giggles and Keith's expression softens. But, he quickly masks it and says, "Okay, what about when you came to me after we found clone Shiro? You wanted to step down, and I told you very nicely how that was a stupid idea. I didn't even use the word stupid."

Lance remembers that moment. He had felt like it was his responsibility to step down and that he wasn't good enough to be a paladin. Keith had told him not to worry about it and to leave the math to Pidge.

"I remember that. I still don't see how that showed your feelings."

"What? But I was all soft and supportive!"

"Yeah, you were being a good friend. I thought that was all you saw me as," Lance says, shrugging.

Keith groans. "But everyone else was able to tell."

Lance hummed. "Well, they were reading between the lines, I guess. I was too busy fawning over Allura at the time."

Keith stiffens. "Do you still have some feelings for her?"

Lance thought of everything they've been through, and he knew he could honestly say, "No, I don't. I thought that maybe a part of me still did, but I don't. Not anymore."

Keith smiles. "Well, maybe after we get cleared we can—"

"No."

"What?" Keith asks.

"You beat me to confessing first. I want to be the one to ask you out."

Keith snorted. "Go ahead."

Lance clears his throat and squeezes Keith's hand. "Keith, will you go out on a date with me?"

"I think I'd like that," Keith says.

Lance feels as if maybe this is his moment. Maybe he was just feeling confident after Keith's response, but he thinks he has better control of his emotions right now that a kiss wouldn't make him explode. He starts to lean in, and Keith doesn't move away, making him feel surer of what he was about to do. That is until he hears someone say, "Shit."

He stops and pulls back. Keith groans and yells out, "Who's there?"

The door creaks open to reveal Hunk, Pidge, Shiro, and Adam standing outside their room. Pidge looks smug, clutching a few bills in her hand. Hunk is crossing his arms, trying to look upset, but he can't hide the happiness he felt at seeing his two friends together. The two are in their own hospital gowns, but they had woken up a few days ago, and they had even visited Lance already. Shiro looks disappointed in those two, like the space dad he is. But then he looks at Keith and Lance, and he smiles. Adam just looks confused about everything, which Lance felt like was a whole mood.

"What are you guys doing outside my room?" Lance asks.

Now, Pidge looks sheepish. "We went to visit Keith after hearing he woke up, but his room was empty. I bet Hunk ten bucks that he was here and confessing. He said that he thought Lance would be the first to confess. So, we came here, and we may have heard everything."

"Shiro, you too?" Keith asks.

"I didn't think you'd be confessing already. You both said you needed time. Now, I lost ten bucks."

"You talked to both of us?" Keith looks back at Lance, and he nods.

"He talked to me back when we were still in space," Lance says.

"Wait, Takashi, they came to you for love advice? Do they not know how you confessed to me?" Adam says, trying not to laugh.

Shiro turns red, the second time Lance as ever seen him do so. "They don't need to know."

"What'd he do?" Lance asks.

"He told me he liked me, threw flowers at my face, and tried to run away, but he slipped on a petal that had fallen. I pulled him back up and kept him there long enough for me to tell him that I liked him too," Adam says, smiling fondly at Shiro.

Everyone else laughs, not expecting to hear this about their former leader. Adam kisses Shiro's cheek, causing him to turn redder. It also causes everyone to giggle at Shiro's reaction.

They see Allura, Coran, and Romelle walking down the hall. Hunk yells out for them to come in and join them. The three greet Keith, asking him how he's feeling.

"Actually, better than I've felt in a long time," Keith answers, looking at Lance.

They notice the two boys holding hands, but they don't say anything.

"Now, what was so funny when we came in?" Allura asks, referring to how they were still recovering from Adam's story of Shiro confessing his feelings.

"Oh, we were laughing about how bad Shiro is at romance," Pidge answers.

"Really?" Coran asks, surprised.

"Oh, can you tell it again?" Romelle says.

"Maybe we should leave these two alone. They probably have a lot to talk about," Shiro says, trying to stop his boyfriend from telling any more embarrassing stories.

Lance thought he would've wanted alone time with Keith, but they have plenty of time for that. Looking around the room, seeing all these people who care about him, and another person he knows he'll grow to care for, he can't help but think that the universe can't be trying to kill them anymore. Maybe this was a new beginning where the universe is trying to make up for everything it has done to them. If that was the case, then he wanted to use this opportunity to get to know his family better.

"Actually, Adam, can you tell us again? But this time, with some more details on how everything went down," Lance says, lying back down his bed. He pulls Keith back down with him. They lay side by side, their hands laced together. No one comments, leaving Adam to retell the story. Shiro groans at every embarrassing detail while everyone else laughs and looks at him sympathetically.

"This isn't really what I had in mind when I imagined confessing to you," Keith whispers in his ear, leaving shivers down his spine.

"Me neither."

"But I kind of like that it happened this way."

"Me too," Lance whispers. He is being completely honest, knowing he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.