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It's not that they went out of their way to destroy each other's lives. It just came so easily, so damned naturally. They fought, like cats and dogs. They had always been competitive, it was the very basis of their friendship. Rivals. Always disagreeing.
It was an addictive kind of passion, though. One that quickly dissolved into something more. Opposite's attract, right? Or so that's what they always say. They weren't wrong, but he can't imagine a world in which opposites work. At least not complete opposites.
Keith was fire and Lance? Lance was the bright blue ocean and they could never actually come together and form anything cohesive. But he'd be damned it he didn't love the idiot.
It's been years now, since they first formed Voltron. Years since they passed the mantle of Paladins of Voltron onto younger heroes, and returned to Earth. Keith still felt like a teenager sometimes. In the way that he felt like the on and off again bull was fairly juvenile, but he'd always be drawn back in. Like a magnet. As it was, he thought he was done. He moved out. Pidge had the misfortune of ending up with an awful Craigslist roommate anyways, so it was mutually beneficial. Keith kicked out the shit-stain and he had a place to stay. Away from Lance.
As much as he loved him, and he did love him, he was literally the worst thing for his anger issues. Lance had a habit of pushing buttons, and knowing exactly which ones to press, to work him up, piss him off. It started with screaming but it usually dissolved into angry fucking in the most convenient places of their formerly shared apartment.
Keith just wanted his damned weekend, off from work, off from everything with a cold drink and a half way decent book he'd nicked off Pidge's shelf temporarily. He'd asked Pidge not to let his ex-lover in, and if he didn't know better he'd swear Lance picked the lock. Or hopped in through the fire escape more likely. Keith liked sitting out there when it was too hot to function. One moment it was quiet, simple, flipping pages in his book the next it was Lance speaking, nearly setting him out of his skin.
"What the hell? So what? you just, pack up while I'm gone to visit home one weekend?" Is what chimes in his ears, and Keith has to suppress an eye-roll. His book is tossed aside, and he's pulling himself up.
"I told you I was leaving eight times." He said flatly, eyes sharp.
"No you threatened to leave eight times! I didn't think you were serious?"
"When have you known me not to be serious goddammit I can't do this anymore?"
"People who love each other don't just give up when things are hard!"
"People who love each other don't get into fist fights over the littlest things!"
"It's not like that!"
"I don't like who I am while I'm with you! I don't like the person I make you!" It was too late though, because Keith had Lance pressed against a door now, before even realizing they had been moving. It was too late for anything, other than teeth and tongue and kisses that split lips. And bruises that would be odd to explain but it was good, and addicting and he needed more more more.
Lance was the first out of bed, despite Keith having gotten very little actual sleep. Shame kept his face tucked into his arm until Lance finally pulled himself out of their room. It was muffled shouts from Pidge and Lance in the other room, and a door slam that could only be Lance leaving. He didn't acknowledge the tears streaming hot down his face, but he kept them silent. Let them sweep over him until he faded into a deep but unhelpful sleep. Keith was exhausted and broken when he pulled himself out of his room, and he couldn't meet the sad expression of his friend's face watching him as he made breakfast, well after one in the afternoon.
"You know-"
"Please don't, Pidge."
"If it helps I think you're making the right decision." Keith frowned at that, but didn't say anything, focusing very closely on the eggs he was determined not to burn.
"Make enough for two!"
A smile perked onto his lips, "Of course. Do we still have any of that hot sauce Hunk sent over?"
Pidge hummed, looking through the cabinets before tossing it over to him. Keith's reflexes were still sharp despite being technically off duty as a Paladin.
"Are you going with him?"
"Who? Hunk?"
"Yea."
"If he gets approval for a 'leisure' trip back to the Balmera? Maybe. We left too much behind."
"I wanna go too."
"Your whole family is here! You finally got Matt back and everything."
"There's worlds out there that could be explored, things to see. Everything here? It's just...disappointing. Besides I could talk circles around my Professors but no tech company is going to hire me without a degree it's just so boring here."
"So I guess we won't renew that lease?"
"It'd be good for you too you know. You'd be....further away. And you might be able to put some of your questions to rest I know it wasn't the same after..."
Keith shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment. "I did love him, Lance. You know? We're just...."
"Not really my area there, Keith. Even still, I'm not sure...what you had it wasn't the right kind of love."
Keith shrugged again, tipping his head from side to side. He can't remember the last time he'd smiled and hadn't wondered how long the feeling would last. Can't remember the last time Lance smiled, and honestly that should have been the first red flag. Lance was happiness personified when he'd met him. Bright and inspiring, but at the end of the day the two of them were forces of nature. Clashing in the worst of ways. Because the ocean was as beautiful as it was merciless. Flame brought warmth, but it brought destruction in it's wake. And the two could never inhabit the same spaces without one or the other turning to nothing. He couldn’t be the thing responsible for destroying something so beautiful.