Chapter 6

Two weeks had gone by. Two weeks since Blue had chosen Prince Lanceon as her pilot (the local populace was going with the term Paladin, but Keith wasn't sure how he felt about that). Two weeks since Princess Allura and Prince Lotor had gone missing on some secret trip to a magical world.

Two weeks since Keith had been forced out of being a bodyguard and thrust into the position of Ambassador, trying to fill his brother's role, and only barely able to stumble along with Shiro's help.

No word from Allura or Lotor. They hadn't attempted to make contact with Altea, or tell anyone anything; not even which direction they'd gone. They didn't know if Allura had gone willingly, if Lotor had kidnapped her, or if they both had been kidnapped by someone else. Understandably, the royal family was a bit stressed.

Announcements had been made. The citizens had been given some version of the truth that Keith hadn't even bothered to keep track of; if anyone asked him what happened, he was just going to say he didn't know and move on.

But now, now was the moment he'd been both dreading and looking forward to: he had to see Emperor Zarkon. Not in person, of course, he didn't dare leave Altea that long without an ambassador (especially in this situation), but the holograms were imposing enough. Hopefully, his father would simply appoint a new ambassador and let Keith go back to his old job, but….

"Prince Keithyr. Were you responsible?" Zarkon's voice rumbled from his throne. Even though it was just a hologram in an empty room, Keith could feel his father's fury.

"No, your majesty," Keith said simply, keeping his head bowed, even as he winced. Lotor and Zarkon had never been close, but Zarkon had valued Lotor enough as his Heir to be righteously angry. He was too honest to claim he loved either of his sons, but nobody dared to attack something the Emperor had claimed as 'his.' So, even though the rest of the Empire would see Lotor's assassination by Keith as simply a show of power, Keith knew better than to try to claim he'd had something to do with his brother's disappearance.

He was gonna have a hard enough time getting out of this alive as it was….

Impassioned speeches about his own innocence, declaring how much he loved Prince Lotor when they both knew it was a lie… these things would gain him nothing from the Emperor except disgust and more suspicion. Instead, he slowly raised his eyes to meet his father's.

"The crown prince and I had our differences, but he was no threat to me, sire," Keith said, keeping his voice even and calm. "I had no reason to strike him down. Nor was I a threat to him. Was that not the reasoning behind my current post? To get me out of the way?"

Zarkon growled a bit at his impudence. The official reason was to promote the alliance between Daibazaal and Altea, but again, everyone knew the truth.

"This Altean prince," the Emperor said next, his tone considering, "what do you make of him?"

Oh, quiznak!

"Prince Lanceon is quick and clever," Keith said immediately. "He's creative in times of crisis and is surrounded by friends and advisors who would gladly give their lives to protect him."

Please, father, please don't be thinking about what I think you're thinking about—we don't need a war—anything but that!

"That would include you, I assume?"

Keith froze, too stunned to reply.

Zarkon snorted in derisive laughter. "I should've known. You were always too soft. Even as a child."

Keith remained silent.

"My informants tell me you've presented—"

"I'm an omega," Keith said quickly, daring to interrupt his father this once. If it meant not being dragged back to Daibazaal and forced to become the new Heir, he'd take the stigma that went with that label and be grateful. Nobody on Altea would care, anyway.

Zarkon, of course, was displeased. "Of course you are," he spat. Keith could imagine how his father felt about that. Lotor had never presented, and now Keith….

Keith exited the room a few minutes later, his hands still trembling a bit from the experience, but otherwise okay. King Alfor was just down the hallway, waiting for him.

Keith swallowed before telling him the news. "Emperor Zarkon choses to withhold his judgement of the incident with Prince Lotor and Princess Allura until a more thorough investigation can be done," he said, proud that his voice didn't tremble anymore when he had to deliver official news. Alfor nodded. They'd been expecting that.

"He will also be sending another, more experienced, ambassador to continue to negotiate relations with Altea," he added, unable to keep the relief out of his voice. "I know Thace, he's a good man. You shouldn't have any problems with him, your majesty." Alfor chuckled and clapped him on the back. He'd been so patient with Keith these past few weeks, so kind and caring, even with his own loss, that Keith hated the next words that came out of his mouth.

"Sendak has been named Heir," he said, watching as the king went pale. They both knew what that meant. Officially or not, the Galra Empire had basically just declared war. "I've been disowned, but… he'll probably be after me by the end of the next movement." Sendak wasn't really known for being merciful, or even strategic. If he thought something was in his way, he destroyed it. "Don't worry," he assured King Alfor, "I'll be gone long before—"

"You'll do no such thing, my boy," Alfor said, leveling him with an even stare. "I have no doubt Sendak would attack us whether you were here or not, and I will not send you off to face him alone. Besides, my son would never forgive me if I made you leave." He gave Keith a smile. "I know you don't see it, but you've been good for him. Can I count on you to stay with him now?"

"I stand with Altea, sire," Keith said solemnly, giving the king a bow. It was partially to hide his own shining eyes. All he'd ever wanted was to find a place and a family, and here it was. He'd been gifted with such unquestionable loyalty and acceptance…. He had to swallow down a sob. Alfor gave him a little smile, not unlike the ones Shiro had been giving him lately, and nodded him down the hallway towards Lance's room.

Keith was very willing to go (he hadn't had a proper conversation with Lance in forever), but there was something he had to do first. Red had been getting anxious in the back of his mind.

In no time at all, he was knocking on Lance's door, and opening it as soon as he heard someone tell him to enter. Shiro stood from where he was sitting with Lance on the edge of his bed, relaxing only when Keith gave him a small smile.

"Hey," he called softly.

"What are you doing here?" Lance asked, obviously still pouting. "Don't you have big 'ambassador duties' to do? Not that it ever stopped Shiro from visiting me…," he muttered.

"Sorry," Keith sighed. "But, in my defense, we aren't trying to stop Earth from attacking."

"C'mon, Lance," he heard Shiro murmur, "he's trying."

"Fine. Fine. When do you leave, Mullet?"

Keith studied his former charge. Lance was sullen and sulking, and had been ever since Allura had gone missing. Ever since… he and Keith had been separated.

"I'm here to deliver a message," he said casually, grabbing the item off his belt. He tossed it to Shiro. "Black sends her regards," he grinned, "and would like it very much if you'd visit her again, just to make everything official."

In their heads, all of them heard Black roar her affirmative. Shiro's jaw dropped, and he turned the bayard over in his hand, studying it with wonder.

"But then, who—?"

Keith held up his own bayard.

"YOU!" Lance exclaimed, standing up and pointing at Keith accusingly. "You got Red?! But—but, you're leaving! You're gonna go off and be Zarkon's right hand while he pulverizes us into dust and…!" He trailed off when he realized that Keith was raising an eyebrow and looking at him like he'd just said something Extremely Stupid.

Keith didn't look away. "Shiro," he said quietly. "You probably shouldn't keep the giant, sentient war machine waiting."

"R-right," Shiro said, catching on quickly, "if you two will just excuse me…." He exited, leaving the two of them alone.

Keith waited until the door closed behind him to make eye contact with Lance again. He didn't know what expression was on his face, but it couldn't have been good, because the prince gulped and took a step backwards.

"What part of our interactions together made you believe I wanted to go back to Daibazaal to attack you?" he growled, pacing forward.

Lance was sweating, but he stood his ground now. "Our-our very first one!" he stammered. "You said you wanted Lotor and Allura to get together so you could go home!"

Keith blinked. Had he? Yeah, that sounded like something he would've said. "I meant home to the Blades," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I grew up with them. They—they're an organization dedicated to maintaining peace in the universe—and they're probably gonna have to go underground now; Sendak always hated them—but anyways, they never would've attacked Altea."

"Oh," Lance also seemed to be at a loss for what to say. Yeah, they really needed to work on their communication skills. "Well, you've never made any secret about how much you hated me—"

"Lance—," Keith was trying not to give into the urge to just take the other boy and shake him, but it was growing harder by the moment. Instead, he took a closer look at the prince. "When was the last time you did your skin care routine, your grace?" he asked, smirking.

"What?! My sister is missing, who has time for—wait, why are you looking at me like that?!" Lance exclaimed. He felt around his face. "Oh God, I don't have a pimple, do I? Keith, what did you see?!"

"Oh, nothing…."

Lance obviously didn't believe him, because he rushed into the bathroom, muttering about his perfect skin. Keith followed him in, already working on the next part of his plan as Lance examined his skin closely in the mirror.

"I don't see—maybe there—hey, Keithy-boy, where did you—" Lance turned to Keith at just the right moment for Keith to smear a good-sized glob of the prince's favorite facial cream all over his cheeks. Lance immediately flailed backwards with an indignant squawk, his eyes round.

Keith snickered. "C'mon, Lance," he teased, grabbing more of the goop, "let's get you exfoliated!"

Lance yelped and ran for it as his former bodyguard chased him all over his room, intent on getting him covered with as much of the pungent cream as he could. They only called it off when they started getting it on his clothes too; the prince started wailing about cleaning costs, which Keith didn't want to think about. He even relented enough to let Lance take a shower.

By the time the prince came out again, the dark circles under his eyes had all but disappeared and that familiar spark of laughter was back on his face. Keith smiled in satisfaction as Lance flopped onto his back on the bed beside him, looking up to grin at his former bodyguard.

"Feel better?" Keith asked smugly.

Lance laughed. "Yeah," he admitted. "God, I missed you, Mullet," he said, reaching up to brush a stray hair out of Keith's face.

They both froze when they realized how intimate this must look. Even this simple touch was far more than they usually did (not including severe cases of being-out-of-one's-mind-with-pheromones) but…

Oh, what the hell, Keith decided, leaning into Lance's hand and closing his eyes. He'd already been disowned. He wasn't technically the prince's bodyguard anymore. And he'd been giving Shiro's advice some thought….

He liked it when Lance touched him—softly, slowly—like this.

He'd certainly enjoyed that kiss before. And he wasn't even sure he could totally blame the pheromones for that.

Could he have this? If only for a moment?

"Do you remember when Allura made us dress up in her dresses?" Keith asked quietly.

Lance laughed lightly. "You looked really good in the purple one!"

"And you were determined to wear high heels."

They both laughed at that. Lance's sad smile had brightened somewhat.

"Yeah, good times," he muttered. "But I was thinking of a different memory…."

"Oh? Which one?" Keith asked. To his surprise, Lance flushed.

Oh. Huh. I don't think he meant to say that out loud….

Now I really wanna know.

"Lance?" Keith prompted. Lance didn't reply, but his eyes flickered to Keith's lips for an instant, and Keith just knew.

After all, it wasn't like he hadn't been thinking about that kiss too…. Unconsciously, he licked his lips, realizing halfway through that Lance was still following the movement with his eyes. He drew in a deep breath. Okay, he reminded himself, you can do this. Even if you've been disowned and you're not technically breaking any rules, you two still have to work together and the last thing you want to do is make him feel uncomfortable. So—

To his surprise, Lance suddenly rolled away from him to sit up on the bed, his eyes bright with determination.

"Look, don't get mad," he said, looking like he was working himself up to something as well, "I just—I need to see something—just to try it—and then we can go back to… whatever it is we have. I just—" He slid forward and Keith froze, partially to keep himself from throwing Lance to the floor in a defensive move and partially… because Lance was cupping his face with both hands and kissing him as desperately as he had the other night.

Oh.

Oh.

Keith balled his hands into fists on his thighs to keep himself from grabbing the prince and taking control of the kiss. But it was hard, especially when Lance brushed his tongue across lips, obviously begging for entrance. Keith groaned and granted it, unable to keep himself from responding anymore.

And Lance's little sigh of happiness when he finally started kissing him back? Keith was gonna have to find more ways to draw that particular noise out.

To Hell with protocol and responsibilities, if Lance was actually on board with this, that changed everything! I wouldn't have to lie and say that nothing had to change, that it was just pheromones and would never happen again—oh, I want, I want, I WANT….

"Lance," he gasped against the other boy's lips, even though Lance was enthusiastically still trying to kiss him, "are you sure?!" Lance paused, looking at him with pupils blown wide. "You're sure you want this?"

"Are you kidding me? Yes!" Lance exclaimed. "Have I not been kissing you for the past—Mmph!"

Whatever he'd been about to say was cut off when Keith lunged forward, finally allowing himself to wrap his arms around Lance and flip them both, so that Lance landed on his back in the middle of the bed. Lance let out a breathless squeak at their change in positions, but gladly reached up to meet him when Keith bent down to claim his lips again.

Oh God, oh God, just when he thought his life couldn't possibly get any better, he was actually allowed to have this?! Every glance, every suppressed want, every single time he'd put duty over desire—now he could feel Lance beneath him, warm and sweet and soft, but not completely soft, Lance was still all angles and burgeoning muscles and Keith wouldn't have it any other way—

"Hey, Lance, do you—OH MY GOD, MY EYES!" they heard Hunk screaming over by the door. "KEITH! How could yo—"

"I'm off-duty," Keith deadpanned from where he remained on top of Lance, choking back his laughter at the indignant expression on the other guard's face.

"Oh, for—If you're OFF-duty, that means I'm ON duty, which means I have to protect him from people like you!" Hunk exclaimed.

"Good luck?" Keith said, raising an eyebrow. Hunk couldn't take him in a fight and he knew it.

"YOU—Get off. The. Prince," Hunk growled, pointing an accusing finger at the former bodyguard.

"Nooooo," Lance wailed before Keith could tease their friend again. He wrapped his arms around Keith's neck. "Let me be ravished, Hunk! Go away!"

"Ugh, LANCE!"

"You heard the prince," Keith said smugly. "Orders are orders." He sighed in mock-exasperation. "Work, work work…."

Lance grinned up at him. "That's right. Get back to work."

"As you wish, your grace," Keith murmured, leaning in to brush his lips down Lance's neck. Lance shivered in delight.

"Guys? Seriously?! I can't watch this! Like, I'm pretty sure I'm not legally allowed," Hunk moaned. "Besides, Shiro's calling a team meeting, so if you two could keep it together for another varga or so…."

Keith and Lance both grumbled at that, but they started to get up anyway.

"Oh, thank God," Hunk muttered, exiting and probably still bemoaning his current situation. Obviously, he trusted them enough to follow—which was valid. They could all feel the pull from the Lions, excited and eager to finally fly together for the first time….

"Hey," Lance said, pulling on Keith's arm before he could completely get off the bed. "We're still good, right? This isn't gonna… get weird?"

"It's going to get very weird," Keith informed him solemnly. "In fact, it's been weird ever since I got here, so why would we stop now? Only now," he continued, leaning his forehead against Lance's, "we are going to fly super cool ships into battle—and watch Shiro get some vindictive pleasure out of smashing Sendak's squadron to bits—and then, we're going to find my idiot brother and your sister and put them back on the throne where they belong—because I was not kidding, we'd—"

"We'd burn the universe to the ground," Lance finished, laughing softly.

"Exactly."

"And after that?" Lance asked, looking at him with hope shining in those big, blue eyes.

"And then," Keith paused, thinking for a moment. "How did you put it? I'm going to take you—" he grabbed Lance around the middle and pulled him closer, "—and keep you—" he tightened his grip, "—and hug you—" he tickled Lance's sides, right in the sensitive spot he knew was there, and Lance cracked up.

"Did you just compare me to a Kaltenecker?!" he howled.

"—and completely obliterate you when it comes to flying our Lions—"

"HEY!" Now Lance was trying to squirm away from him for real. "YOU WILL NOT!"

"That sounds like a challenge, your grace," Keith purred, standing up and holding out a hand to Lance.

Lance grabbed it instantly. "Challenge accepted!" he declared. "Race you to the hanger!"

Sometime later:

Shiro facepalmed. "Did you two just face-plant those Lions into the sand?!"

"Lance started it!"

"I did not!"

"That's my story and I'm sticking to it!"