This was originally for Julance, but it was late so now it's its own stand-alone thing.

Disclaimer: I do not own VLD.

Soulmate

It was just after dinner, as they were cleaning up and preparing for dessert, when his mother said something in Spanish so off the cuff and unexpected that Lance practically dropped the plate he was washing. To his benefit, nobody else noticed his slip up. Veronica was taking a phone call on the patio away from their family's prying eyes while Marco and his wife were pulling put plates and forks from the cabinets on the other side of the room for leftover cake. The kids had taken Keith to the living room to engage him in a ridiculously cute mash-up between a tea party and a battle scene from Star Wars where they had fitted him into a too-small tutu and a lightsaber to fight for Sylvio's honour against his sister and determine who had baked the best cookies in the galaxy.

"You- you think so?"

"Of course," laughed his mother, continuing to dry off one of the larger pots. "He makes you so happy, and I know you've cared for him for longer than we've known him in person." Lance flushed. Guess all his ranting about that "cocky fighter pilot from school" tipped his parents off to the unbearable crush he didn't even know he was harbouring for Keith. Perfect.

"You, uh, you knew about all that."

"There's only so many times you could mention his hair and his flying skills without it being a little suspicious, Lance." Lance nodded to himself and picked up the sponge again. Because yeah, he figured. Everybody, it seemed, was well aware of his long-suffering infatuation with Keith. His mother being included in that count didn't surprise him quite so much.

What did, however, was what she had called them, that secret special word that he, as a child, had often admitted his equal longing and frustration with.

"And you think my soulmate is Keith and not anyone else?" Saying the word again made him nervous somehow, but excitement ran through those same veins. He'd given up on that concept long before he met Allura, had maybe fantasized about it a little when they were all up in space, but hadn't considered it until now. It felt mostly like a children's tale, of a person meant just for him, someone meant to fit into his heart like they belonged there all along, someone who wanted him just as much as he wanted them.

Not anyone else sounded a lot like not Allura, and his mother seemed to hear that loud and clear.

She finished with the pot and exchanged it for the serving spoon on the drying rack. "Keith is the second person you've ever brought home to us," she began softly and she came to stand next to him. Lance bit his lip. "From what I learned from your friends, it seems you have a type, and from what I saw of them, Allura and Keith were very similar. Both stubborn, both strong, both in love with you." She placed a hand on his cheek. "And that part is most important. They love you. Maybe in different ways, but they love you. That's what a soulmate is meant to be. They are meant to love all of you, to see you at your core and accept you for it. It's a word you get to choose to give to somebody important to you, and I think that person could very be Keith." He nodded slowly. "Besides, how could I say Keith isn't your soulmate? You're dating him!"

"I don't know." Lance shrugged, old wounds jostling against new ones, inadequacies shifting anxiously under his skin. His tone was only half-joking, the light of his mother's words working like a balm against his own doubts. "You've only just met him. Maybe you'll change your mind."

"With how much you talk about him, I feel like I've known him for a long time," she laughed. "All I needed to know was that you love him and he loves you. And I've heard about that love from your friends, from you. I've seen proof of it myself." She patted his cheek before smiling, a twinkle sparkling playfully in her brown eyes. "And at dinner, he agreed with you that cherry tomatoes were disgusting. I didn't think anybody could agree with that."

Her distraction effectively pulled him straight out of his self-doubt. "Mama," cried Lance, scandalized. His screech drew the attention of everybody nearby, even Keith, who had both Sylvio and Nadia hanging from his arms like the monkeys they were. "Cherry tomatoes are absolutely the devil's fruit. People eat them raw and pop them into their mouths like grapes. Can you imagine the horror? How could I be okay with that?"

She sighed, both amused and regretful for relighting this particular argument. "Lance, it's not that strange. We do it all the time."

"There's a reason they were considered toxic for hundreds of years, Mama! Why do people still eat it?!"

The rest of his family chuckled to themselves and carried on with their tasks. Lance turned to Keith beseechingly from across the house, who blinked at him curiously.

"Eat what?"

"Cherry tomatoes," Lance said scathingly.

Without missing a beat, Keith narrowed his eyes as he mouthed, "Heathens."

It caused Lance to burst into laughter, shaking his head at his boyfriend's vehemence and glancing over at his mother, who wore a fond expression as if to say, See? This is what you were meant for.

"He's very good to you," she said instead.

"I know." He stared down at his hands, still soapy and bubbling. There was a huge bubble drifting up to his wrist slowly. It didn't pop. "I want to be good to him too."

"You are, and it's because I know you want to be that you will continue to be good to him. You've always been able to do what you put your mind to. Your persistence is one of your best qualities, after all. It's one of his too." Her hand drifted to his arm. "You are a good man, Lance. I am not surprised that your soulmate is a good man with a staying power as strong as yours."

Lance said the word again, just once more under his breath, and he looked back in Keith's direction, now thoroughly buried under a mound of pillows and stuffed animals as Sylvio mourned the loss of his knight and Nadia, who had slain Keith in the first place, read a dramatic eulogy that discussed his prowess on the battlefield and in the kitchen. His heart swelled with affection.

Staying power, huh? It felt crazy thinking of how far they had come together, of being pulled apart and reunited, over and over and over again. Of Keith choosing to leave and coming back to him, of Lance never truly being able to get rid of the affection he felt for Keith, of how their feelings for one another kept morphing and changing and meaning more.

Staying power felt like an understatement.

As if he sensed Lance's eyes, Keith's violet eyes flickered open to catch his stare. He held it like he might have held his hand, slipping into it with ease, and smiled softly from his pretend grave, just as warmly as he had under the sunset over a year ago. Lance's heart pounded just as it had back then before settling into something much more comfortable.

"Soulmate is a good word for him." His mother nodded her agreement and left her son to the rest of the dishes to put away the spoon and gather her children at the table again, the mention of cake and ice cream drawing everyone in. As Lance washed, Keith drifted to his side, leaning with false nonchalance against the counter

"Everything okay over here?"

"I'm good, babe."

"You sure? That conversation looked pretty serious up until the end."

Lance felt the touch of Keith's fingers on his hip and allowed himself a secret smile. "Actually, come here. I gotta tell you something." Keith leaned in obediently, seriousness painted on his features, and when he was close enough, Lance pressed a kiss to his cheek. Keith pulled back sharply, surprised and embarrassment flooding his face.

"Lance."

"Yeah, Lance," Luis drawled from the table. "Not in front of the kids."

Lance rolled his eyes and peeked at Nadia and Sylvio, who each gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up.

His mother clapped her hands to gather everyone's attention once more and became doling out the dessert.

"In front of your family?" Keith hissed, pretending to be upset.

"It's not like they don't know I'm in love with you " Lance shrugged and relished in having the upper hand as the words came easily to him. Keith might have him beat in terms of acts of service, but he knew how to sweep his boyfriend off his feet with a few well-placed words, and that was a victory in and of itself. "But it doesn't hurt to remind them."

Keith huffed a little and hid his embarrassment by hip checking Lance to one side of the sink so he could rinse the dishes. Lance let him, holding back a laugh at how completely cute this was. Lance could practically see the gears turning in his boyfriend's head as he pulled together a plan of attack. He could see the exact moment Keith had decided on it too, as his mouth set firm a moment before quirking upwards in a fairly impressive imitation of Lance.

Lance opened his mouth to say something when Keith's shoulder pressed purposefully with his, the look in his eyes changing from cute to coy as he said, "Maybe they need reminding that I'm in love with you then?"

Dramatically flirty Keith was different from oblivious flirty Keith, but he'd take whatever Keith was willing to give him. "Maybe," breathed Lance, playing along even though his eyes flickered down to Keith's mouth and back up again in genuine want. "I wouldn't be mad about it. A little reminding never hurt anybody."

"We don't need reminding, thank you," cut in Lance's mother, and both boys pulled away from one another, equally embarrassed this time. "Save that for when you're in your room, please."

"Yeah, Lance," said Veronica as she finally entered the room. "Keep it in your pants."

"Me?" He gaped. "You just got here! How do you know it's not Keith's fault?"

"I just know," she said, sitting down next to Marco and grabbing a plate. "Now hurry up, or there won't be any leftovers for you."

Chatter and the clinking of dishes took over the rest of the kitchen, the sounds of his family beyond comforting as he finished up soaping. "You should eat," said Lance, taking a dish out of Keith's hand and putting it under the warm water. "She's right. There really won't be anything if you don't go now."

"I don't need leftovers," said Keith. He held the other side of the plate and tugged gently. "I just need you."

"Wow." Lance let him take it, not bothering to kick up a fuss at a mock battle he'd clearly lost. "Just wow."

"Impressed?"

"Very."

Keith's turned his head towards Lance with a cheeky smile. "I'm expecting a reward."

When he was sure that the rest of his family was well occupied with dessert, he pressed a quick kiss to Keith's mouth. "A down payment."

"Looking forward to the rest."

"It'll be worth it."

There was a pointed cough in the background. "Lance, I swear to god-"

Lance groaned loudly and swivelled on his sister with all the dramatized outrage he could muster. "I am trying to romance my boyfriend."

"Do you have to?" Veronica asked.

"Do you have to call Axca twice a day to ask for a face to face update even when she's a quick drive to the Garrison because you're too chicken to ask her on a date?"

Veronica flushed. "You-"

"Don't be jealous, Veronica," said their mother smoothly. "They're in love."

He practically beamed at the words and heard Keith chuckle next to him as he carried on with the dishes. "We're very in love," declared Lance. "Thank you, Mama!"

"Of course." She returned his smile, all-knowing eyes filled with love, and he felt contentment wash over him. He had his soulmate and his family. They were all safe, wrapped up here in the chaotic peacefulness of the kitchen, and he was happy.