Together
Lance really wished it was worth the diplomatic crisis for him to double over cackling at the blank, fried expressions of the Garrison Admirals as he finished explaining the last thirteen phoebs to them, his gestures covering half the table and voice dipping to mirror the intonations of his family. Allura had folded her lips over one another halfway through, a trick she had memorized so she could bite her lip without letting the diplomats in front of them track her reactions. In this case, her twitching fingers and boots brushing against his ankle gave away the laughter bubbling in her chest, and Lance felt a rush of pride. His sister needed a little more laughter in her life, especially after that astral plane fiasco.
“Any questions?” He asked, lips quirking up and knuckles knocking against Keith’s beneath the table.
Between two quintants of rest, a truly remarkable amount of food, and the color-coded Garrison uniforms Adam had stubborned into getting the team, his boyfriend had finally stopped looking like a truck had ground him into the floor during an earthquake. Everyone had spent the time catching up with their families, and Lance had gotten to introduce Allura and Coran as his family (even if he still hadn’t gotten to come out to his family somehow). Keith and Krolia had officially taken up residence with Mrs. Shirogane, who had ordered Adam and Shiro to remain with her (she cast a significant wink at Adam as she added that she could help them have more time together), so Shiro had given his apartment to Acxa and Lotor for the time being. And sure, bags still draped themselves beneath Keith’s eyes, but his fingers slid between Lance’s and curled tightly, giving some relief to the tension in Lance’s stomach. He gave a soft squeeze in response.
“You realize that what you are saying is…”
“Far-fetched? Absurd? Preposterous?” Suggested Lance, eyes never once dropping from Admiral Sanda’s. “I mean, I’m pretty sure I’d describe the firefight you just saw yesterday as all of those things too. Plus, we do have five semi-magical sentient superpowered metal lions out there along with a castle battleship, so I’d say our evidence surmounts the whole ‘impossible’ argument.”
Admiral Sanda scowled at the interruption, her shoulders jerking up as if to raise her out of her chair in indignation. Lance leaned forward, smile unflinching as Allura’s fingers gripped his knee. She had been briefed leading up to this meeting, and everyone in the Garrison knew Admiral Sanda; they knew not to cross her, not to irritate the powerful woman in the chair across from them, and certainly not to question or intercede on her authority.
This was going to be painstakingly delicate; Lance had to lay out the broad groundwork that set up Voltron as a group that commanded respect, confidence, and power. Then Allura would do the fine maneuvering, getting Admiral Sanda on their side and securing a voice on the main council for herself. But to do that, she had to seem reasonable and respectful in comparison to Lance (Keith had giggled out that pulling that off shouldn’t be too hard, and had wound up with a slightly lopsided braid in retaliation). Allura raised her chin, a polite smile not quite reaching up to her Altean marks, and Lance felt the tattoo on his arm burn softly. They had been chiselling out the details of this plan, downing coffee, and slamming their heads against the nearest hard surface for the last twenty-four vargas without any break; they knew their plan was going to work. It had to work. They could do this.
Then Adam snorted, adjusting his jacket pointedly and leaning forward as Sanda’s frown deepened.
“I can assure you all as to the validity of their statements,” he chimed in, smirk growing as Sanda’s frown contorted into a line of pure rage across her face. “Admiral Sanda, I’ve lived with them for the past two phoe—months, and I’ve been working with them towards liberating planets from the Galra’s control. The Galra are vicious; they won’t stop until they have control of everything, and then they’ll destroy it all for its energy. They’ve done it before, and they’ll do it to Earth if we don’t stop them.”
Sanda glared at Adam, fingers interlaced like woven steel and chin jerking up. Adam didn’t flinch, head tipped to the side and a smile playing on his lips. “I give you my guarantee as a fellow Admiral: the Voltron Coalition and the paladins are our allies and we can trust them.”
Lance nearly pitched off his chair and right into the gleaming edge of the table at that, and Keith’s jaw crashed into the ground. Adam kept right-on talking. “We must rely on them if we want to save the Earth. Samuel Holt can give you a full rundown on their technology; he knows we are not prepared to defeat them. But Voltron is. This is our home; we want to save it as much as you do.”
“And the alien princess?” Huffed Sanda, her I-would-murder-you-if-I-could-get-away-with-it glare trained on Adam like an ion cannon. “Does she also wish to save this planet?”
“The Paladins of Voltron are my family,” interjected Allura, the room’s light flashing across her eyes in an electric arc. “I have already lost my planet; I will not allow any harm to come to their home.”
“I mean, we did kind of save the day and all that earlier!” Quipped Lance, leaning back in his chair and curling his shoulders up, smile resting on an iron throne. “If we weren’t trying to save the planet, we wouldn’t have exactly come in guns-ablazing to knock those guys out of the sky. There were, what, no casualties?”
“None,” replied Sanda through gritted teeth.
Lance spread his arms in a there-you-go gesture, and Admiral Sanda let out a shoulder-wrenching sigh. “Very well. Admiral Wazir, I shall hold you fully to your word as a commanding officer. Voltron shall be tasked with intercepting the Galra invasion currently en route for the planet. You said they shall be here when?”
“Well, due to the rather…extensive help of the Mevucs, we managed to knock back the main fleet as well. As such, according to our calculations, we have a little under a phoeb before the Galra invade,” stated Allura, spinning a hologram from her bracelet and casting it towards Sanda, who jerked back as if it would burn her. “Lance and I are working with the coalition to finalize plans and finish gathering our allies. Pidge and Matt shall depart within the next few quintants to infiltrate Haggar’s ship and report back to us on the plans that are being developed for that comet. As soon as our crucial diplomatic relations are finalized, I shall leave with General Acxa for Oriande, and Hunk shall visit the Balmerans to acquire assistance upon the return of Pidge. Coran will depart with me to make contact with the former rebels and the Olkari in order to secure more material support. Should there be any surprise attacks, Lance, Keith, and Shiro shall remain on Earth with their Lions at all times. This shall be the site of the final battle; the war will end here. We will make it count, I swear it on Altea.”
Admiral Sanda just stared. Lance cleared his throat.
“The Galra will be here in about a little under five weeks because one of our allies managed to damage their main fleet en route,” he translated. “We have a lot of allies throughout the galaxies that we’ve saved, so Allura and I will be contacting them and figuring out plans. Two of them, the Olkari and the Balmerans, are technologically and resourcefully strategic, so we’re sending our Royal Advisor and Yellow Paladin personally via wormholes, and the Royal Advisor will also contact the Rebellion that has been fighting the Galran Empire since it began to expand. The Galran witch, Haggar, recently got her hands on a comet and is constructing a weapon from it, so we are sending our Green Paladin and a former Commander of the Rebellion to analyze it, potentially slow construction, and report back to us. But, since the Green and Yellow Paladins are both our tech experts, we’re staggering their visits. Once the Green Paladin has returned, the Yellow Paladin will go to the Balmera to update them on the situation. However, as soon as our diplomatic priorities are handled, General Acxa—she’s a Galran General on our side—will go with Allura to a place called Oriande to expand on Allura’s powers. In the meantime, Shiro, Keith, and I will stick around in case of any surprises, and we can also answer any questions you all have.”
Admiral Sanda blew out an audible breath and nodded once to Lance, her eyes crinkled with gratitude before turning back to the princess.
“We will leave this to you. Earth affairs are for humans to handle, but this is an intergalactic issue. I’m grateful to have a team such as yourself and our former cadet leading the operation.”
Lance’s cheeks blossomed pink and he snapped his gaze away, clearing his throat self-consciously. Keith’s smile glowed right up into his eyes at Lance’s blush, and Allura giggled as she patted his knee.
“I’m grateful to have him as my partner in this; none of us would have gotten this far without him.”
“Oh, like we’d ever have gotten off the ground if it weren’t for you!” Retorted Lance as his Altean marks lit up a vibrant blue. “Anyway! Voltron is a team effort, and each one of us is indispensable. As such, each of our members needs to be treated with the same respect and kindness you have afforded us here, Admiral Sanda. I hope you can ensure that the staff of the Garrison is aware of this and acts accordingly.”
Admiral Sanda inclined her chin, grey eyes slitting into shards of basalt at the silent threat, and her pen snapped against the table. Lance’s shoulders remained loose, his smile wide, and eyes fully open as they crackled with an icy electricity. Go on, try me on this, he silently dared the sneering Admiral. Push me. Find out exactly how Allura and I have quelled the most stubborn, snobbish, psycho aliens in the universe, and turned them into members of the Voltron Coalition. Come on. Bring it.
“I shall convey your message,” spat out Admiral Sanda. “Needless to say, it will be a matter of mutual respect.”
“Of course,” replied Allura, her smile practically sparkling compared to the thunderstorm barely controlled on Keith’s brow. “The full team of Voltron has nothing but respect for all of you.”
Sanda’s eyebrow twitched. Lance elbowed Keith under the table, his face a perfect mask, and Keith bit down the urge to let his eyes glow a searing yellow at the woman who had abandoned the search for Shiro two decaphoebs ago. If respect meant he wouldn’t stab her as long as he didn’t have to talk to her, then sure, he had nothing but respect for Admiral Sanda. Lance internally groaned all of the air out of his lungs.
Admiral Sanda pushed her chair back and straightened her spine into a metal rod. Allura followed suit.
“Then I believe we have come to an agreement. I look forward to our partnership and entrance into the Voltron Coalition,” stated Sanda as she extended a hand across to Allura.
“Indeed, it is an alliance we have been most eager to make. I look forward to your continued support,” said Allura, clasping Sanda’s hand in a firm shake.
Lance rose, knocking his knee against Keith’s harshly to snap his boyfriend out of his glaring contest with Iverson, and the other Black Paladin jerked to his feet. They shook hands with Sanda, Lance and Sanda’s grip entirely too tight for their smiles, while Keith and Sanda barely made contact before releasing. Allura beamed, clasping the Black Paladins’ hands in her own, and bowing her head at the Garrison staff. She snuck Adam a wink.
“I am afraid that Voltron has many critical duties to attend to, so we shall be taking our leave of you,” she said, giving Keith’s hand a sharp squeeze to forestall the snort she could see building in his throat. “If you have any questions this afternoon, you may ask……Coran, my advisor! He is extremely well-versed in the strategies and history of Voltron, and has been our record-keeper for…millennia, in a sense. I am sure he would be more than happy to help you; I wish you a good quintant.”
“Good day,” translated Lance before anyone could so much as process confusion, tugging his partner and sister from the room with a laugh bubbling on his lips.
Adam rolled his eyes at the grin Lance flashed him, his fingers flailing against the chain where the ring should be. Oh. Right. He had taken off the ring. And, hopefully, it would never come back on again.
Admiral Sanda cleared her throat, lips pursed as Adam snapped back to reality, and the newer Admiral pushed off the table to stand, a smile quirked over his face. The two locked eyes, Sanda’s snapping up like a whip and Adam’s falling with the force of a meteor.
“If they fail,” she said slowly, each word laced with calculations, “I shall have no hesitation in placing it on your shoulders and calling for your demotion. Do not forget, Wazir, I still have seniority over you, Admiral or not.”
Adam inclined his chin, smile unchanged even as the light in his eyes boiled with unspoken laughter.
“Noted, Sanda,” he replied, slinging his bag over his shoulder and striding from the room without a glance backwards.
Adam wasn’t stupid, he knew that already. He had only been promoted to Admiral a couple of ph—months before going on the mission that would lead him back to his missing family. It had been the result of his frequent voyages into space that pushed the boundaries of their knowledge, his quest to find the ones that the Garrison pretended were dead, his relentless devotion that they took as a love for space and their program. Not true, but if it gave him a higher clearance, Adam wasn’t going to protest.
Sanda had been against the promotion from the start, insisting that Adam didn’t remain strictly confined by the rules that governed the institution. He had always played within them because you could only stretch rules if you were in them, right? Adam was also the youngest admiral they had, only twenty-six in comparison to Iverson’s fifty and Sanda’s sixty-nine. An upstart. If she had the chance to kick him out, she would snatch it up faster than Keith when offered a knife. A demotion was far kinder than what she would probably do.
Adam closed the door behind him and continued down the hallway, humming a lullaby Lance was teaching him under his breath and cackling internally at the threat. For that to happen, Voltron would need to fail. If that happened, being out of a job would be the least of his problems. Plus, he didn’t mind putting all his eggs into one basket if it was his family holding that basket. They’d never let him down before. He knew they weren’t about to start now.
Lance threw his head back with a peal of shimmering laughter as Allura’s hood swallowed her face, the strings taut in her hands, and she let out a shrill squeak from within the fabric. He had left his kids alone with their new aunt for one dobash to kiss his boyfriend hello—one minute!—and Allura was already drowning in her new hoodie while his little royals doubled over with laughter.
“Nadia! Sylvio! Don’t torture ‘Lura!” He teased, scooping the two kids up into a hug and dropping a pair of kisses onto their foreheads as he strode towards the glowing map. “That’s my job! Oh man, Ally, can you get out of that?”
“Why would I want to?” Queried the princess, spinning with a giggle as the hood remained trapped around her head. “This is quite delightful! I shall have to develop a way to incorporate these into my cloak immediately!”
Lance snorted, shaking his head fondly and allowing his gaze to dart down to the matching tattoos glowing on their arms. The soft red light mixed with its bobbing sea lining, casting a purple aura over the siblings as Lance snuck across the room to sweep Allura into a twirling hug, shrieking laughter sparking the air to life between them. Nadia and Sylvio crowed as they were spun across his back, and the light pulsated warmly over them all. It flickered over Allura’s fitted jeans, her oversized white t-shirt, and the floppy pink hoodie Lance had rifled through Rachel’s wardrobe to find. Blue bangles clinked around her wrist as she wrenched the hood from her head, white curls springing forth in a halo over her circlet. Lance grinned up at his sister, the otherworldly glow melding with her Earthen clothes and almost leaving a faint sparkle to the air around her. Allura beamed.
“I am glad you have retained your hoodie,” she teased, fingering the white hood draped over his back. “It gives me the opportunity to do this!”
Lance let out a squawk as his vision was shrunk down to a pinhole of light, the fabric condensing over his head and his protests drowned out by peals of laughter.
“‘Lura!”
“Yes, Lan?” Replied Allura innocently, batting her crystalline eyes as if giggles weren’t bubbling through her every word and Lance wasn’t still holding her in the air.
“Fxd yve y atuyqe.”
Allura smacked his arm with a snorting laugh, and Lance set her down with a matching wave of mirth rocking his shoulders.
“Fxd’ve xss th yybr, bvyybe tsxteen,” she shot back, her feet tapping to the ground and her finger bouncing off his forehead. “Or have you forgotten that time with the molten fire trial when the diplomat came into view and you—”
“Papi!” Squealed Sylvio, the chocolate-smeared palms of his hands bouncing against the back of Lance’s head. “Papi, Tío Keith took us to the arcade and we played laser tag and the Ultra Beanbag Tournament and pinball! Hey, hey did you know Tío Keith’s reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally good at bumper cars? I told him he should go professional, and he said he’d think about it!”
Lance choked on his laugh, blue orbs flickering across the room to meet Keith’s don’t-you-quiznaking-dare glower. Really, Keith should know him better than that by now; that look was just encouragement.
“Take him on the carousel some time,” teased Lance, smirking as Keith glared immediate murder at him. “He’s got moves.”
Keith groaned, dragging his hands down his face as Lance laughed, crouching to let the twins slide off his back and dash towards Tío Keith to shriek out their questions. Sylvio tugged on Keith’s hand, bouncing up and down, and Nadia wrapped her arms around his waist to peer up at him with sparkling eyes as she barraged him with questions. Lance giggled; he had taught her that trick to get extra cookies out of their abuela.
“Lance?” Called Allura, tugging on the strings of her hoodie, and Lance didn’t even need to see her face to know that her nose was crinkling up like a bunny’s. “Lance, how do I get this off?”
Keith cackled, shaking his head as he knelt down to return Nadia’s hug. She was so warm, like a bundle of sunshine bursting at the seams, with that glinting edge in her eyes Keith recognized from his mirror every morning. Sylvio squeezed into the hug, latching his arms around Keith and giggling as he nestled against the two. Keith grinned, ruffling Sylvio’s curls softly as he marvelled at how fluid the boy was, like the edge of the ocean that bumped lightly against the shore, welcoming anyone who wanted to come in and play, with that familiar occasional furrow of his brows that cracked Keith’s heart each time. You only needed to lose someone once to never hold those you loved the same way again.
“What do you want your papi to make for dinner tonight?” Asked Keith, booping Nadia’s nose with a fond smile just like he’d seen Lance do. “We can gang up on him and get your guys’ favorites!”
“Yesssssss!” Cheered Nadia, pumping her fists in the air and hip-checking her brother cheerily. “Let’s do it! Sylvio really loves Papi’s homemade pizza! Especially when he makes pizza monkey bread!”
Keith blinked at the bouncing girl, his brain reeling from the whiplash of monkey bread—which he swore on his life was supposed to have bananas, chocolate chips, and cinnamon in it—somehow becoming savory. How much had changed in the year that he’d been gone?
Sylvio pouted, poking Nadia in the side. She shrieked, dancing away from his tickling attempts, and Sylvio grinned at Keith.
“Nadia really loves Papi’s fried rice!” He added, smirking as his sister huffed at him. “And she loves churros!”
Nadia stuck out her tongue at him, and Sylvio cackled triumphantly. Keith’s breath fluttered in his chest, and his necklace bumped lightly against his t-shirt as if to remind him that this was real. That he had a family now. And if that meant he had two rosy-cheeked, sunny eyed children whose version of tattling was to try and make sure their sibling got their favorite dinner, well, he wasn’t complaining.
Plus, they were cuddly.
“Hey,” called Keith, giggles slipping into his words as Allura’s latest attempt to ‘help’ Lance get the hood off only managed to snare her brother’s hands in the trap as well; Lance looked resigned to his fate. “Lance, the twins have spoken on dinner! One family size order of pizza…pizza monkey bread(?) and fried rice, along with churros for dessert!”
Lance squawked, his hands shooting apart and finally freeing Allura from her hooded trap as he stared at the twins in mock betrayal.
“My secretest of recipes!” He cried, throwing an arm across his forehead and flopping into Allura’s arms. “You have revealed them! Along with my latent talent of turning everything into pizza!”
Sylvio snickered, and Nadia placed a hand over her heart, an offended gasp slipping from her lips.
“Not true!” She protested. “We haven’t told him your drama queen recipe!”
Keith exploded with laughter, clutching his stomach and bending double as tears pricked his eyes and Allura’s shrieks of amusement bounced off the walls. Lance couldn’t pull off an offended face for more than half a tick before he joined in, holding up a high-five for his little princess to clap, and Sylvio cackled, as his papi lifted him up on his shoulders. He was even higher up now than he’d been before.
“He couldn’t follow it if he wanted to; I’ve been perfecting the recipe since I could first scream,” teased Lance, ruffling his niece’s hair as she giggled up at him. “Unlike a certain someone I know!”
“Aww, don’t be too harsh on Sylvio,” joked Nadia, practically snorting out her words as she leaned into her papi’s touch.
Lance let out a ringing peal of laughter, and Keith felt something in his heart melt as he watched his boyfriend swing the kids around the room, their higher-pitched giggles mixing with his to create a symphony. Lance’s face was glowing brighter than any nebula they’d seen together, his gestures were larger than the Castle of Lions, and his smile was more beautiful than Keith could ever have imagined. Everything around them melted away, shifting into spilled white paint as Lance twirled in the center like a blooming dahlia, his joy growing in shimmering ocean blues, velvety reds, and vibrant purples, each tinted with that rich hint of black that wiped away the white universe to prepare it for a fresh coat of paint.
This was who Lance had always been meant to be. He was the miracle of joy.
Keith felt Allura’s hand press against his back, and he settled his on her shoulder as Lance turned back to them with glimmering eyes so much brighter than they had ever seen before.
“He is finally home,” she breathed, eyes sparkling with tears that held the light off her smile. “Keith……Keith…!”
Keith squeezed her shoulder, unable to hide the tremble of his lips as he let out a shaky laugh. He had seen so many families, had bounced between them his whole life, he had gotten used to their jagged edges, their stabbing words, the cracks slowly tearing each person to shreds. He was used to the icy love they offered, conditional and fragile, freezing over everyone it touched until they were left paralyzed, too scared to so much as look the wrong way. Keith was used to families that were fragmented, lumped together, confused and rough.
The last time he had seen a father look at his children with that unabashed, overflowing love was when his father hugged him goodbye to go put out that final fire.
Keith giggled, tears hidden in each laugh, and Allura’s palm pressed a little firmer against his back, anchoring him to the present as Lance jogged over, Nadia and Sylvio chattering about their days and a cloud of coziness around them that reminded Keith of the marshmallow fluff Shiro had forced upon him a few years ago. It was almost too soft and pure for him to touch, and suddenly he felt like he had been thrown back a year and a half, afraid to reach out for fear of breaking the first thing he held.
“Come on!” Called Lance, twining their fingers and bringing up his hand to kiss with an overly flirtatious grin; Nadia cheered so hard she nearly fell off the Papichoo Express, and Sylvio gave in to a fit of giggles as Keith’s cheeks started to outshine their strawberry fields. “Let’s go home, Keith!”
Lance seized Allura’s hand giving her a royal bow, and squirmed to position Nadia and Sylvio more comfortably across his back. He flashed a sunshine grin at Keith, squeezing his hand and letting his thumb rub softly over those battle-hardened knuckles that had been beaten bloody so many times to get them to this point, to bring them home. And Lance would carry them those last few steps home if it was the last thing he did.
“Last one home is a rotten egg!” Taunted Lance, winking at Keith. “You’ve got ‘Lura, Samurai?”
“You bet,” replied Keith, squeezing Lance’s hand and blowing him a silent kiss that sent butterflies waltzing in his stomach. “I’ll see you at home, Sharpshooter.”
Pidge poked her head through the door with a beep from Rover, her backpack bulging behind her, but not enough to hide the waving Hunk. Lance grinned, throwing the door open wide and practically yanking his friends inside.
“Welcome to my humble abode!” He said, sweeping an arm around the living room where the rest of their space family was already lounging in their rainbow-colored blanket fortress. “If you guys need a little more food, there’s leftover pizza monkey bread in the kitchen.”
Hunk squealed, grabbing Lance by the arms and staring at him with pure glowing eyes.
“DUDE?! YOU MADE YOUR PIZZA MONKEY BREAD AND DIDN’T INVITE ME?!” He shrieked, shaking his best friend like a dummy. “THAT STUFF IS HEAVENLY!”
Lance flailed, shushing Hunk insistently, eyes darting upstairs and entire body going tense as a steel pillar.
“The twins are asleep!” He hissed. “Don’t wake them up!”
Hunk clapped both hands over his mouth and Pidge snickered, patting his back as she dumped her backpack on the couch beside Krolia and started fishing out her share of the blankets.
As happy as everyone was to be back home with their families, as quick as they were to run home for a family dinner, and as careful as they were to pick up calls and talk for a solid varga throughout the day, whenever the sun set and they couldn’t touch one another, couldn’t bicker over who got more marshmallows, couldn’t say goodnight and know that they would protect one another if there was an emergency……it sent them grappling for cell phones, desperate to hear everyone’s voices if nothing else. And, well, from that first night when Lance offered for them to come have a sleepover at his house, he had never needed to offer another invitation. Everyone knew to come before ten o’clock, and they knew what to bring.
Pidge yanked out her pillow, chucking it into the back of Keith’s head with a cackle, and dashed out of the room with pajamas under one arm and the other raised to prevent any retaliation. As if Rover would let anything touch her. Lance just shook his head with a laugh, and Hunk dashed past him to devour the pizza monkey bread. Keith chuckled, holding his arms out for Lance, and Lance barely resisted the urge to coo as he walked over to join his boyfriend. Shiro was reading, Adam snuggled against his side and already half-asleep, and Allura was whispering (stuttering and blushing profusely) with Acxa, fingers just brushing together. Coran was laying a few feet away, his eyes shining brighter than the fairy lights draped over the walls to mimic the Castleship’s lighting, and his lips settled in a content smile as he nodded off to the sound of his space daughter giggling with her first love. Krolia was still passed out on the couch, Hunk’s outburst having done nothing to disturb her slumber, and Matt was cackling over a video game below her. Kuron had insisted on living at the Garrison despite the fact that Shiro’s apartment had also been offered to him and, if he had the same difficulties the rest of them did, he refused to join in on the slumber parties. Lotor had no such reservations, and was currently flopped on his stomach perusing one of Veronica’s magazines with her, the two quietly squealing over the latest ruffle patterns.
Lance bit back the desire to throw Lotor out by his hair; the emperor wasn’t the one he was mad at. The fact that Veronica hadn’t even kissed the twins goodnight though…
“Sleep, Lance,” whispered Keith, kissing Lance’s cheek. “You’re going to need it tomorrow. Plus, if you don’t, Pidge is going to keep you up for hours trying to figure out your guys’ mini mind meld in that last battle, and then we’ll all be up past midnight.”
Lance giggled, returning the kiss and snuggling down under the covers to curl up in his boyfriend’s arms. He rested his head on Keith’s shoulder and blew out a gentle breath, reveling in the knowledge that his little royals were slumbering peacefully upstairs. He gave a blissful sigh, pecking a kiss to Keith’s lips before tucking his head back against his boyfriend’s chest to listen to his thundering heartbeat.
“Goodnight, mi amor,” he murmured. “Sleep well, sweet dreams.”
Keith let out a choked reply, and Lance giggled, his eyes already sliding shut. “I love you too.”
And, as Adam and Shiro chuckled behind them, Lance and Keith flashed a smirk at each other. Oh, they couldn't wait for tomorrow!