Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

growing up galran, keith’s ears always reacted to his emotions. he was sad? his ears would flatten back against his head. he was happy? his ears were relaxed. et cetera et cetera.

no matter how hard keith worked to keep his emotions off his face, any galran could read him with the blink of an eye.

but… only galrans. and the more keith started conversing with other species as he grew, the more he realized just how unique this was to galran culture. no one knew what his ears meant. everyone thought he was just an emo man who didn’t want to talk to people.

by the time keith met lance, keith avoided the hell out of other galrans so he could appear super broody and mean looking. lance told him that alteans kind of had the same thing, the marks on their cheeks — god knows what they’re called, keith forgot the moment he was told — change color according to their emotions. but, unlike keith, lance liked having people know him so well.

keith called him crazy. lance only laughed.

but as they got closer and started understanding each other more, they started being able to read each other (lance knew what it meant when keith’s ears were twitchy and keith knew what it meant when lance’s marks turned from the brightest of blues to the deepest of grays) and keith found that he… god. he liked it when lance called him on his bullshit! he likes having lance know who he is and how to help him.

and then when the night comes that keith confesses, and his ears are pressed so tensely against his head with anxiety and worry, and lance just massages them forward and gives each a kiss until keith is nothing but putty in lance’s hands.

and then, only then, lance speaks. “nothing to be afraid of, darling,” he says softly, allowing keith to curl closer to him.

omg and then keith looks up to find lance’s marks as red as his cheeks and lance is just looking down at him absolutely infatuated and keith loves him all the more for it.

(OMG bonus round, then at their wedding, keith’s ears are so tall and pointy because he’s so giddy and happy and excited to be marrying this man and lance’s marks are changing color rapidly because he’s just a man in love and he can’t help but feel every emotion ever when he looks at keith)

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keith lives in the woods alone because being a deaf human in a magic world isn’t the easiest thing ever and one day out of no where a house pops up not two hundred feet from his and here comes a boy wearing brightly colored pastels and flowy, ruffled clothing walking to keith’s door with a basket in hand.

“hi! i’m lance!” and lance shoves his hand into keith’s to shake it while also setting down the basket at keith’s doorstep, all the while not noticing keith’s utterly helpless, confused look because he just wanted to be alone and who the hell is this person.

keith does what he does best, saying “go away” before slamming his door shut (his black door, because he’s just so emo and goth) and hoping that the boy never tries to talk to him again.

but the world has always hated keith, because the next day the boy was back while keith was gathering his planted vegetables for dinner and he was talking so fast that all keith caught was “doorbell” and “mean” and finally keith had enough and straight up says “i can’t hear you, you idiot.”

and all of a sudden the boys face just lights up and he lifts his hands to talk to keith instead of opening his mouth and keith shook his head because no way did this person know sign language, it was basically a forgotten language at this point but—

i’m lance, sorry about that.

and the boy was just sheepishly smiling as if he didn’t just rock keith’s world and all of a sudden keith was obsessed with him.

i was just saying that i’ve been ringing your doorbell and knocking so i could reintroduce myself, and that i thought it was mean of you to not answer, but that all makes sense now.

keith couldn’t get enough of the boy now, constantly walking over to his home, eating meals with him, playing with kosmo outside like way more often than normal because sometimes lance would come out and play too. and keith learned about lance too, how lance was a witch setting up shop here, and he didn’t want to disturb keith but this was one of the best spots in the dark forest for him to harness his magic, and that if anyone ever knocked on keith’s door asking for a witch to just send them lances way.

and holy shit did they come knocking. now that lance installed a light system (so that whenever someone rang his doorbell, a light started flashing so he knew to answer), keith got a visitor at least once a day. whatever lance did, he did it well. keith could do nothing but grumble and point over to the brightly colored cottage that seemed to attract sunlight.

one day lance came over after he closed shop and told keith that one of his customers thought keith was the witch because his cottage was so dark and emo and it just screamed magic-y, whatever that meant, and lance was laughing so hard the entire time that he had to stop signing because it got unintelligible. keith rolled his eyes and waved it off.

but, over the next few months, it became ridiculous. keith was dealing with “customers” well over three times a day, and it was riling kosmo up and out of no where one day he told lance that they should just move in together so at least that way the customers were always knocking on the right door and keith stumbled through his explanation with a red face and teary eyes. but lance understood immediately what he meant because he agreed so fast.

and really, because lance was a witch and all that, it was easy for him to move into keith’s home (lance insisted). once all of the necessities were at keith’s place and lance was moved into the small little cottage, lance poofed away his own cottage and used his magic to make keith’s house a little bigger + adding an area for his shoppe.

and they were all happy and they lived happily ever after, especially because they turned magically immortal and they kissed each other like a year later and they love each other the end.

Chapter Text

totally not canon compliant so like stick with me here:

like four years into the war, keith and lance are dancing around each other but neither have the balls or the time to say anything. but they are so fucking smitten for each other, like it’s so bad they can’t look at each other without a gooey smile and soft stupid looking faces.

they’re past the ‘in love’ stage, they’re at the ‘let’s be buried in a joint coffin’ stage.

it sickens the team.

but one night something snaps because lance has been getting more and more reckless, just wanting this to end so he can go home, and everyone can practically feel his anguish but they can’t stop him from doing stupid stuff and all of a sudden lance takes a plasma ray bullet in the stomach for hunk.

it mostly hits his armor, barely scrapping his skin, so no one forces him into the pods they know he hates. lance thanks them briefly and just limps off because it still hurts but not enough to warrant anything. and then later that night, after everyone is asleep, when lance goes to maybe clean it up in the medbay and find some pain meds, keith is already there with a determined look on his face.

like he was waiting.

because he knows lance.

and so all lance has to do is sit on the gurney and let keith do his thing. instead of thinking about anything important, lance just admires how pretty keith is when he’s working, when he’s confident, because he feels like recently he hasn’t been doing that enough. and when keith looks back up at lance, ready to chew him out for his behavior, lance doesn’t look away. instead, he lets their gazes catch, and they just stare at each other.

and usually, USUALLY, staring is where it stopped, but keith is feeling so pissed off and agitated because the man he loves is actively trying to kill himself in war and so he steps closer to lance, where lances legs are parted, and touches their foreheads together.

“what the fuck ,” keith starts, his voice barely a whisper because even that echoes in the empty medbay, “were you thinking?”

and lance hears the rage, the fury, but underneath that he hears the concern, the fear— and lance put that there and he feels so terribly sorry, but he’s also so sick with the feeling that they may never go back to earth and he doesn’t want to stay here forever and—

“lance.” keith would snap, but not in a mean way, just in a way that lance stops thinking bad thoughts.

and lance would finally break. “oh god keith,” he would say. “we can’t do this here, we’re in the middle of a war but—“

and finally lance inner turmoil would reveal itself— his fears about his family, his fears about himself, his fears about keith , and keith would hold him through it (arms held so tightly around lance’s waist that keith feared he would rip off the bandage he just applied), pressing kisses to his forehead, cheeks, nose, the corners of his lips, even a few to the pulse points on his neck.

and then, when it became clear that lance wouldn’t listen to keith fully, keith proposed the idea of making a pros cons list so they could see it all laid out in front of them.

“how do you know i like those?” lance would ask.

keith would only shrug, brushing off the fact that he knew everything about lance because why wouldn’t he want to know all the little details about the man he loves?

and so keith would stay up with lance the entire night, until the artificial sun rose in the castle, and he would not complain once. he would gives real cons to put on the list, despite the fact that he didn’t agree with them. he would help lance talk through some things so lance finally got to the root of the problem. and finally, when keith felt like he’d had enough and the other paladins were beginning to wake up, he said “it’s ok if you want to wait, but i am ready to spend meals sitting beside you and wake up next to you and be with you for the rest of this damn war, and i want you to feel like you have something worth living for while you’re here instead of only fighting for earth”

and then lance would make up his mind.

and they would kiss.

in the medbay, and then in their bedroom, and then in the kitchen when they finally got to eating some breakfast.

and then they’d take a nap with each other.

and then, when the war was won, keith would show lance his favorite places about the desert. and then lance would show keith his entire family (and keith would memorize their names and their favorite things and their relation to lance like it was life or death because he wanted lance to know that he loved him and his family) and then they would live happily ever after.

that is my ted talk.

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fighter keith who was susceptible to injuries from magic exhaustion dating healing powers lance who wanted nothing more than to help people.

but they didn’t know that about each other at first.

and so the first time they kissed, and keith got a rush of cool rejuvenation shot through him, he just thought it was because he was really into lance. and so they go on about their lives, not knowing, until one day keith comes home with his eyes dripping tears of blood and in a complete daze and lance panics, using every healing spell in the book and when it wasn’t working he panicked some more and then keith passed out and lance was a full panic party—

so lance calls up some of his magic healing friends for some help because what if his boyfriend was dying right in front of him and one of his friends just deadpanned

“have you forgotten everything you know, you numb nut? it’s users’ exhaustion, we learned about it like first year or something.”

and lance face palmed because duh all the signs were there. most magic users experience extreme exhaustion from overuse in the form of bleeding, fainting, and hunger. because of these side affects, most magical beings tried to limit their magic use to day to day activities, but fighter users didn’t have a choice. to protect their kind, they had to fight through the pain and exhaustion until they were some place safe.

how could lance be so stupid ? never mind the fact that lance didn’t know keith was a fighting magic user until two seconds ago. and damn keith for getting in the way of lance’s 9+ years of medic experience because of feelings or whatever.

so basically lance chills on the spells, conjures up some teas and ice chips for when keith wakes up and moves the boy to his bed, allowing him to rest.

and then when he was feeling better he smacked keith right across the face for scaring him.

omg omg and then after that lance does little checks on keith, making sure he’s alright and didn’t over do it while on a mission. sometimes keith comes home with little nosebleeds still, or blood trickling out his ears, but he just goes to lance and lets lance baby him until he feels better. it almost never gets so bad that’s he’s fainting or passing out anymore.

and omg lance is always so smug about it too, like “oh yeah, does my little fighter feel tired?” and “does that feel better?” just because riling keith up is fun, but they both know that lance respects what keith does and keith respects what lance does and they love each other so it’s ok.

Chapter Text

early on in their soldier careers (maybe six months in?) keith and lance are captured by the galra. while they were always aware of the possibility, it didn't stop them from being terrified. 

they're just kids, after all. 

they huddle together in their prison uniforms, the cell about as cold as the human body could handle, and waited. 

and waited. 

and waited. 

when nothing bad immediately came to them, lance began to relax. keith was still on edge, unnerved, but lance was talking more and more, telling stories and singing and speaking spanish and it helped keith relax minutely. 

of course that would be when the galra chose to enter, right?

the galra wrenched the boys apart, a blaster to lance's temple, and gave keith a very serious ultimatum. (they're just kids.) 

"answer our questions, red paladin, or i will shoot. no trickery, no deception on your part and i will return the favor." 

of course keith knew what he was supposed to do. not give anything up, one life wasn't ever supposed to be valued higher than the millions, billions of lives at war. 

but... 

well. 

the first questions were so easy. almost too easy. 

"what is your name?" 

keith answered without a second thought.  

"what is his name?" 

another one without question. 

"what is your race? where are you from?" 

and after that, the galra stopped their line of question. keith was thanked for his easy cooperation before they walked out, and not even an hour later they were each given water and a meager plate of food. 

lance new he should tell keith to not give up any information, that he would be okay, but he didn't want to die... who actually did? 

he knew he should accept it as a part of life, especially when they were at war, but his ultimate goal was to get back to his family. this wasn't his war, and though he was more than happy to help, he couldn't help but think that he was at least a little bit justified. what 17 year old should have to choose death? 

and so they just didn't talk about it. 

and then the next line of questioning came, and maybe the questions were a little bit harder, a little bit more personal, but when they were done they got food, water, and a blanket. 

of course it would all come crashing to a halt though. 

blaster to lance's temple, lance looking at keith with the most trust in the world, and the galra asked "what is the secret to the castle's teleduv system?" 

keith froze, brow furrowing. that was... well that was a little bit too much information, no? everything up until now had been hypothetical, nothing that keith could really see hurting the coalition attempt, but that was just a step too far. 

"i..." 

keith saw a flicker of panic in lance's eyes as he realized keith's hesitation, and the reason behind it. he knew it was too far as well. 

the galra demanded an answer, and when keith delayed again, he sighed. 

"very well." 

and because it was the first time keith had denied him at answer, the galra said he would not go to the extremes. but they must be punished, anyhow. 

and so keith had to sit, restrained by another galran, as lance received 25 lashes to the back via metal tipped whip. they did not get food or water that night, but got to keep the blanket. 

the blood stains on the blanket were a reminder of keith's disobedience, and as lance shook and cried through the entire night, keith vowed he wouldn't hesitate again. 

the next time keith answered questions (quickly) they were rewarded a salve for lance. 

the paladins found them too little too late. lance's back was just beginning to close, but keith had spilled. no locations, but the galra now had the transmissions broadcast of the coalition, layout of the castle, schematics of the castle's shield system. in keith's opinion, all thing that could be changed once allura knew they had been compromised (or simply unimportant things) and not at all worth lance's pain. 

lance's life.  

allura disagreed. 

"perhaps i was not clear enough" she said "but when you are captured, you can not tell the galra anything!" 

"when?" pidge had squeaked out. 

it was no longer a question of if. but when. 

"if it essential to the coalition's success that—" 

"they were going to kill lance," keith interrupted. 

"you don't know that," allura argued. 

"i'm pretty fucking sure i know that," keith got heated. 

"well then think about how many lives could be lost because of this information being handed over! those are lives on your hands!" 

"we can't do this allura! we're fucking kids!" keith had shouted (and it was just then that he realized no one was stepping in the help him, but all of the other paladins were green in the face, thinking about what could have happened or how it could happen to them, probably). "i shouldn't have to choose between whose life i save!" 

"you stepped into that role the minute you became paladins." allura gave keith no room. 

it was lance that spoke next, shocking everyone. "then i don't want to be a paladin." his voice was shaky, probably still in pain because they hadn't yet put him in a pod. "i don't..." lance trailed off, trembling hands covering his entire face. "you've never been— that was so scary allura. i don't want to do it again." 

keith nodded, figuratively and literally at lance's side. "i agree. it was terrifying." 

"any more terrifying than losing your entire planet?" allura was desperate now, tears in her eyes. "waking up and realizing everyone you have ever loved is gone, as well as your entire race of people?" 

no one would take the bait, and instead keith would put lance in the healing pod with coran's help. coran, later that night, tried to talk to keith, explain why allura was reacting the way she was, but he wouldn't hear it. 

lance had said he was done, he'd had enough. keith agreed. and the second lance was out of that healing pod, they were leaving. 

Chapter Text

lance wasn't usually the go-to for stealth missions, or extraction missions. he had a certain... gracelessness that the team had come to adore, but it had no place in a galra tech ship when they were trying to go unnoticed. 

but...

keith had been gone for a month. captured. 

and lance had been getting more and more reserved, less like the goofy boy they knew and loved. so, when lance volunteered to be the main extractor on their seventh mission to find keith, no one fought him. 

it was unnerving though. 

but for all that lance was, he was not one to jeopardize his friends well being. so he took to the mission, seriously, easily, having memorized the sentry patterns, and reporting into the comms whenever he had the chance.  

pidge and hunk led him down a silent hallway, to the cell at the very end. 

"you should be good for a while lance, most of the squadrons have passed you by now," shiro updated. 

lance affirmed. "pidge, open this door for me?" 

it was open not a minute later, squealing in a way that shot lance's heart rate up, but he put his trust in shiro had hoped that no one was close enough to hear. 

lance's eyes came immediately to the cowering figure in the corner. it was so unlike keith but... anything could happen in a month. 

a month of captivity. 

lance had to push the thought away, lest he started crying in the middle of the whole operation. 

his team trusted him to do this, damn it. get it together! 

"hello?" lance whispered, stepping forward. 

keith flinched. 

he flinched. 

lance's brow creased, hurt slamming into him unbidden. shaking it off, he tried again. 

"dude?" 

"...go away." 

go away?? lance blanched (and i mean cartoonishly blanched) because what kind of response was that? lance understood that he wasn't in keith's shoes, but saying go away when actively being rescued wasn't understandable. 

"what? no," lance said, and there was a little bit of him gracelessness shining through. "don't you want to get out?" 

keith only shook, head against his knees, completely balled up. 

lance didn't understand what was wrong. 

keith muttered something that lance didn't catch. 

"what?" lance asked, begging keith to repeat himself. lance was getting scared. "keith i don't understand what's wrong, help me understand," he begged again, kneeling down and getting closer. 

keith gasped a little, still not looking up. "you... you know my name? h-how do you know my name?" 

lance paled. "keith do you not know who i am? do you... have a head injury?" 

and for some reason that made keith laugh, dry and humorless, shaking his head. 

"estará bien keith, i promise it will be okay, just tell me what's wrong and i can get us out of here, right?" lance was a little helpless, a little desperate. 

and that stopped keith's shaking and trembling, finally looking up with wide eyes. and as he muttered a surprised, hurt filled little "lance? is that you?" lance let out an inappropriately loud gasp. 

because keith's eyes were dull, a veil of white covering them, and it was clear they were unfocused. twin cuts were displayed over either eyebrow, down to the bottom lid of each eye, and lance felt his heart break. 

keith couldn't see lance. 

 couldn't see anything. 

"keith..." he whispered, reaching forward. 

"lance," keith said again and he flinched when lance touched his cheek, but leaned into is all the same, throwing himself forward. 

and lance caught him. 

he wouldn't do keith the disservice of breaking his trust. 

"what did they do to you?" lance was never one for subtly, but he was still inappropriately shocked and he could feel it scaring keith.

"i don't think it was on purpose but— their claws— they tried to grab me and their claws slipped and then..." keith gasped out, clutching to lance like a life line. "it all happened so fast." 

and there it was. keith's steady voice began the waver and he was close to a breakdown. 

who wouldn't be, really?

without his eyes, he couldn't brandish a sword. he couldn't tell friend from foe. he couldn't ever truly see his brother again. his entire world had changed because of a careless accident.

"okay," lance affirmed. he understood, he tried to say. he would protect keith, keep him safe, and they would fix this. he hoped keith understood that. 

but even coran couldn't do anything. lance had listened in horror as the man had scanned keith's injuries, and with the exception of lessening the pain that keith was in, there was nothing the pods could do. nothing anyone could do. 

the damage had been done. 

keith would never see again. 

the scars would remain. 

and that night, not even shiro could properly console him. the morning after, keith quietly admitted that he didn't know who anyone was. he didn't... he hadn't spent a lot of time with anyone beforehand and it had been so long since he had consistently seen shiro that after a month of capture, he couldn't recognize their voices. 

the only reason he knew who lance was was because he spoke spanish. 

and so lance and hunk took to speaking spanish more often, as an indicator of who they were. shiro didn't know spanish, but he announced himself when entering a room. and that seemed to work well enough, because within no time keith was comfortable with shiro again. pidge and keith weren't all that close but she still came and went, doing what she could to help. 

bonus because when keith admitted to missing his sword maybe a month after he was rescued, coran asked why keith couldn't continue to fight. keith had blanched and asked how he was supposed to do anything if he couldn't see his opponent, much less the weapon his opponent was holding. 

but coran told keith about a sacred fighting technique the altean's used to practice; fighting blindfolded. it was an art, more than a real technique, but it kept keith preoccupied. 

and extra bonus if after the initial recovery the team started learning spanish together because then keith would always know friend from foe. 

and extra extra bonus if keith and lance become really close, because like hell is lance going to let keith drown in grief. he dragged that boy kicking and screaming to every training, meal, and meeting until keith realized that life could continue on with him, and not pass him by. and, well, he owed that to lance.

Chapter Text

listen. obviously keith fights with lance. they're both stubborn mules, like children who both want to get their way. 

but do you think he's letting anyone else talk to lance that way? 

no way.

so when he comes back from living on the back of a stupid space whale for two years (never mind the fact that's it's apparently only been three months?), he doesn't stand for the shit lance is putting up with. 

pidge and hunk are still pretty solidly on lance's side, but something is different about shiro, and allura is wrapped around lotor's finger. not even pidge and hunk were as vocal as he was about standing up for lance.

the first time he hears allura doubt his abilities in the form of "this is a little above what we have taught you—" keith cut allura off. 

"lance was the top politics analyst in the garrison. i think he knows a thing or two about how to help the coalition." 

he didn't truly wait for any reactions before he left, but he was satisfied in hearing allura shuffled papers over to him. 

and when his own brother, who had returned crueler after capture, muttered "if you'd work a little harder—" keith wasn't having any of it. 

"lance works plenty hard as is," he fought, arms crossed defensively. "everyone make mistakes and it does no good to keep harping on him."

all the while, he's teasing lance left and right and lance can't really seem to get a pin in what's happening. 

eventually the team seems to understand. pidge and hunk come around to it, sticking up for lance more. there would probably be an emotional night where the two apologize to lance for how long it took them to realize. the two would probably spiral, saying that if keith had never come back they probably wouldn’t have noticed enough and how terrible they were at being friends—

but lance would stop them, hug them, forgive them. just like he always does. 

then, of course, they find out that shiro is a clone. and once shiro is back, with the memories of his doppleganger, he makes it his ever priority to show lance that he is a good soldier, a good spokesperson, a good friend. they spend more time together, and lance gets over this innate nervousness and becomes infatuated with his hero again. 

and, when all is right with dynamics in the ship again, keith can finally go back to giving lance the rivalry he deserves.