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“You really shouldn’t smoke.” Lance sighed and waved the smoke away as he sat down next to Keith. Keith grunted his reply and took another drag as he refused to look at his teammate. “What’s up, you only come out here when you’re brooding.” He can hear the smile in Lance’s voice and he wishes that Lance would just leave him alone, he remembers what Shiro told him once before asking Lance to leave, “we all need people, if they seek you out when you’re sad then they really care about you.” Keith sighs and pinches the butt of his cigarette between his fingers to drag it along the ground, he sees Lance frown out of the corner of his eye as he breathes out smoke.
“I’m just thinking.” He doesn’t want to talk to Lance, especially when it’s about Lance, his fingers itch and he wants to pick at his lip like he always does when he’s nervous. Lance scoots closer to him and rests his hand on Keith’s knee, it’s friendly and innocent and warm and Keith can feel the emotion bubble up in his chest against his will.
“Take your time dude, I’m still gonna be here.” Lance sounds so soft and genuine and Keith can’t look at him no matter how much he wants to and he takes a deep shaky breath to stop the anger and the tears from welling up.
“Can I move closer to you, can...I touch you?” He grumbles and holds his breath as he waits for Lance to answer, he doesn’t expect Lance to move close to him so that their hips and thighs and shoulders are touching. It’s another thing on an annoyingly growing list of things he likes about Lance, that he’s accommodating and gracious and that feeling like he wants to cry seizes his chest again and stalls his tongue from thanking Lance. He’s been sitting outside for so long just watching the sun go down, or at least this alien equivalent of a sun, that he’s grown cold, his jacket not doing much to keep out the temperature but he can feel how warm Lance is even through their clothes. He chuckles at the thought because Lance is the one with ice-powers and he has fire but they’re opposites here and Keith feels a warmth slide down his cheek, he touches his fingers to the warmth and it comes away wet. Keith is crying in front of Lance about Lance because he can’t have Lance, he scrubs the side of his face on the sleeve of his jacket and goes to stand but Lance sighs and wraps an arm around his waist and Keith feels a heavy weight on his shoulder.
“Listen, Keith...I know it’s hard to work through your feelings and I know you’ve never really had anyone to help you with that but...I want to help you with that,” Lance takes a deep breath and squeezes Keith’s side gently, “I don’t want you to be alone.” Shiro’s words echo in his head and he wonders if Lance talked to Shiro too and his breath hitches and he can’t fight the heaviness in his chest anymore, not with Lance there with his head on Keith’s shoulder and supporting him without knowing. Lance is warm and his hair is soft and tickling Keith’s cheek and he smells clean and Keith hates himself for falling in love with him, Lance is too good for him and they both know it. The sky above them has gone from red to purple to blue and Keith can only see the deep sparkling blue of Lance’s eyes and he wonders for a moment if he’ll ever get over Lance when he’ll see him every night up in the sky.
“It’s just,” Keith starts but he bites his tongue and weighs his options, should he be honest and open with himself and Lance or should he run away from his feelings like he always has and cover it up with anger? He watches Lance trace little patterns into the soft fabric of his jeans and he thinks that being this patient with Keith must be so hard for him, to sit still and just wait for someone to bare your soul to them has to be hard.
“I like you, Lance. Not just as a teammate, or just as a friend, I like you Lance.” His chest is so tight, the thought of Lance’s rejection just now dawning on him as a very real possibility makes his anger flare but Lance stays right where he is, his hand still on Keith’s side and his head still on his shoulder anchoring Keith to the spot.
“That’s good because I like you too. And not just as a teammate or friend, but those are nice too.” Keith feels Lance lift his head and he decides that if he’s confronted his feelings he can confront Lance so he turns to look at him and the smile Lance is wearing is soft and big and beautiful.
“Can I kiss you?” He asks, so incredibly grateful for Lance, to have met Lance, to be in love with Lance.
“I’d be upset if you didn’t.” Lance laughs against his cheek and Keith swears that Lance wipes a tear away before their lips meet, cold and warm, tasting of smoke and mint.