Relationship: Keith/Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: I have this head canon that Keith is terrible at naming things, season 6 spoilers? Kinda, Fluff a little bit of angst, because I can't just not write angst, Would it even really count as one of my fics if there wasn't any angst?, Written in Keith's pov this time, exciting, I know

Notes:

I don't write Keith very often, as is probably very obvious, but please, I could really use some feedback on this. I like raw and rough around the edges Keith, but I also kinda like soft Keith, I just don't know if I got the right balance or not ... I'm not trying to feminize him either, so if he feels too feminine please let me know. I can't promise I'll change this fic, but if I write in Keith's perspective again, it will definitely be advice I take into account.

A World Seen

He had seen a lot of things in that distortion field, the past mostly. It helped bridge the gap between Krolia and himself, helped start conversations that were too painful and awkward to even begin to try and ask about. But sometimes, he saw the future too. Not all of it was pretty, and not all of it made sense, but some of it … some of it left him feeling like he was floating. Those two years with his mother on the back of that space whale made him hopeful for something he had been too afraid to even dream about back with the others.

"Hey babe, why don't you stop polishing that dagger and come to bed already, it's late." came the voice of a man Keith would never mistake. He could feel it as he watched Lance, older and scruffier now, come around the corner from down the hall and wrap his arms around his older self. He could feel the way his heart fluttered in his chest, both his, and the chest across from him. Lance's hands were warm and smooth as they made themselves at home around his waist, just barely grazing skin as his shirt was rucked up at the action. Keith had to assume Lance had done it on purpose, but then again, he could also tell that his older self didn't mind in the slightest as he smiled and leaned back against his now obvious lover. The moment seemed so intimate and special, that even though it involved him, Keith felt like an intruder. To think that he and Lance of all people could have something this special was honestly a shock.

"I'll be done in just a moment, I can't just stop in the middle Lance, you know that."

"Well then maybe I'll have to give you a good enough reason to put me first." future Lance smiles, the only warning Keith receives before the other man had dipped his head to be level with his older self's neck. He feels a blush blaze to life as he tries not to imagine more vividly what that mouth can do to him at such an angel. Of course, he doesn't have to imagine too much because it's clear Lance knows, at this point in their lives, all of his weak spots and uses them against him viciously. He watches as Lance's tongue peeks ever so slowly out from between those sinful lips and brushes lightly against his skin. Keith can feel the heat against his own flesh, as if Lance were licking him as well.

Luckily he doesn't have to witness what such a bold first move will result in as he's pulled out of the future before much else can happen, but not before he has a rather obvious problem he's now in desperate need to take care of. Snippets of their life together isn't rare. In fact, Keith would venture to say that one out of every four glimpses into the future result in Keith seeing how happy Lance makes him. How happy he makes Lance. He's seen the moment Lance introduces him to his family in Varadero, he's seen bits and pieces of their wedding, and of the team throwing them surprise anniversary parties. He's seen them adopt their first child, and witnessed more than once how intense their private lives can be behind closed doors.

Though, for all the good things to look forward to in their future, Keith had also seen the rough times. Lance comforting him after a nightmare or a panic attack. His own struggle with helping Lance though his own problems. Keith still didn't have a full picture as to when or how it happens, but he does know that at some point Lance needs his help with a bout of Anxiety and depression. He'll never forget the flash the distortion showed him where he came home only to find Lance unconscious and far too pale on the ground, bleeding from his wrist. He watched his future self pick his husband up and run him to the car, watched him sit by Lance's hospital bed all night and squeeze his hand. Keith had never felt like crying more than he did then. Watching himself take care of Lance like that, Keith wanted to vow to himself that he would do anything to stop that future from happening. It was too scary to think that he could come to care about someone so much and that at the drop of a hat, he could lose them.

"Look, Lance, I know we've never really been on the best of terms, and the potential that you don't like me like I like you is a lot higher than I'd like, but I have to tell you-"

"Whoa there Keith, slow down, it almost sounds like you're trying to confess to me or something."

"I am. Lance, I love you." Keith can't help the smile that starts to creep across this lips as he watches Lance freeze up under Keith's own hand against his cheek. He can't be too much older than he is now, this must be soon. He watches as his future self, now satisfyingly taller than Lance - of course, he already knew that he would be, he was in every other future flash, but it was nice to know that he was now, and could keep it that way. - leans down and presses his lips to Lance's in the most gentle kiss he's ever seen them share. He can tell, even from across the room that that kiss is conveying a million words, is explaining every emotion that Keith knows for a fact he could never voice. When the kiss finally breaks, his future self is smiling softly and tells Lance that he can have all the time in the world to think about it, but that he had needed to tell him as soon as he could find the spare time. And, with one more quick peck on the lips, he watches himself leave a very stunned Lance flounder to catch his breath again.

He still has that dopey love struck smile on his face when his mother walks back into their small little half hut with the catch for dinner. She knows by now what that smile means, but this one is special, and it's infectious.

"Another happy vision of your life with Lance?" She asks knowingly.

"I just saw how I confess to him." he grins, falling to the right with a giggle and straight onto Cosmo, burying his giddy face in his soft fur. "I do it when we get back, and he's totally speechless!" Keith coos. Krolia can only chuckle at how happy her baby boy is. She knew he'd find someone special, but to know for sure just how special, well, it was a treat not many mothers got to experience.

"Is speechless a good thing?" She asks as she sits down to start on dinner.

"Of course it's a good thing, Lance never shuts up." Keith answers, turning his head and adjusting himself so that he was laying down, his head propped on Cosmo's belly like a pillow, arms wrapped loosely around the alien wolf's neck.

"Well then I suppose you better start mentally preparing for it now so that you can make that one come true." Krolia smiles as she skewers the first batch of meat and starts to cook it. And while Keith knew that they were still on a mission, being like this with Krolia was nice. He felt like he was really bonding with her. It felt like they were really a family.

When they got back, he really missed that feeling. Being alone with his mother for those wonderful two years, while in reality it had only been a few months, had given him something he didn't even know he'd needed, something he hadn't even realized he'd been craving so much; maternal love. Things were happening so quickly though, and as much as he wanted to make his confession come true, he still needed to help the paladins defend themselves against Lotor. Then once that was done, Shiro needed help readjusting to a physical body. Keith felt like the universe was conspiring against him. He just wanted to get a spare moment alone with Lance, just long enough that he could say what he needed, but the other boy never seemed to be alone. Though, now that he thought about it, Keith was finding it hard to think of a moment when Lance had ever been alone before he'd left the team. The only times had been when Keith, looking back now, could tell that the former blue paladin had been in emotional distress. Huffing to himself, he looked down to Cosmo;

"Well boy, this might be a little harder than we first expected it to be. Think you can go chase off Hunk and Pidge for me for a second?" He asks, voice hopeful. And as if Cosmo had just been thinking the same thing, simply waiting for Keith to give him the green light, he took off. Keith didn't know exactly what he took, but within moments he heard shouts and Pidge's undeniably frustrated screech of horror. Not a second later, he watched as Cosmo bolted from the table and ran in the opposite direction, Hunk and Pidge hot on his heels. "Good dog." Keith mutters under his breath with a smile before he shakes his head and tries to refocus on his mission.

It felt weird feeling nervous about something he already knew was going to happen. About something he already knew would work out. He had seen he and Lance grow old together, heck, they hadn't even shared their first kiss yet, and Keith already knew all of the best ways to make Lance scream in bed. He'd used that bit of learned knowledge many times in private during that long two year journey, had recalled Lance's voice chanting his name and crying out for more. He was ready to rock Lance's world … as soon as he got passed his nerves and actually spoke to the boy he was destined for that was.

"Dude, your space dog just ran off with Pidge's relay thing-a-majig." Lance says boredly from his spot on the makeshift blanket couch he'd made on Green's paw next to PIdge and Hunk's small work table.

"Yeah well, I'm sure he'll give it back eventually. He's probably just trying to play with them."

"By stealing a piece of tech she and Hunk have been tinkering with for weeks? I don't think they'll like that kind of playing." he replies, stretching out in the most enticing way. It made Keith's mouth water to see those muscles so taut, and then run dry again almost immediately as a small sliver of bronze skin is revealed under that blue and white shirt as he arched back. Lance was like a cat; all limbs and light on his feet, claws that were sometimes playful, but deadly sharp when they needed to be. Keith admired that about him.

"Probably not, but he'll give it back eventually." Keith shrugs, trying to make the conversation feel more natural. He knew everything worked out in the end, so why was this conversation so terrifying to have?

"Can't you just tell him to stop and give it back?" Lance asked, doing that adorable thing with his brow that had always made Keith feel weak in the knees.

"I probably could, but then they'd come back over here, and I kinda asked him to distract them real quick for me."

"And why would you do that?" The inquisitive look was gone now, replaced by a reserved look of tired suspicion.

"Because I really needed to talk to you, and getting you alone lately has been pretty much impossible."

"You could always just open a closed channel in the lions while we're flying if it's important." The way Lance flops back down onto the pile of blankets with the look that clearly says he'd rather be anywhere else strikes something deep in Keith's heart. It's now or never. He's rehearsed these words a million times, but that doesn't make them any easier to say out loud to Lance himself now.

"I could, but I really think this is something I need to say in person." Keith replies, taking a deep breath before sitting down next to Lance on his makeshift couch and starting the conversation he'd been waiting to have for so long now. "Look, Lance, I know we've never really been on the best of terms, and the potential that you don't like me like I like you is a lot higher than I'd like, but I have to tell you-"

"Whoa there Keith, slow down," It's not an exaggeration to say that Keith felt butterflies in his stomach as he hears Lance utter those words, cutting him off just as he knew he would. "it almost sounds like you're trying to confess to me or something." He's smiling, he already knows he is, he has to be. He knows what comes next, has been dreaming about it since the day he first saw that glimpse into the future.

"I am. Lance, I love you." And before Lance can even pick his jaw up off the ground, Keith has his hand on Lance's cheek. It's so much softer than he's ever imagined it was, and he knows he's got that soft dopey look in his eyes because the confusion in Lance's own pools of swirling blue are blown wide with crystal clear understanding before Keith gets up the nerve to finally go through with it and brings his lips to Lance's.

The feeling he'd felt watching this kiss was peanuts compared to the real thing. Lance's lips were soft, and smooth, warm and inviting. Lance's lips felt like he was kissing a cloud, and he never wanted to let them go. He poured every sleepless night, and every passionate dream into that kiss, he made sure that Lance knew he was being one hundred percent real with him, and that there was no way to misconstrue the meaning of his actions later. Keith made sure that Lance could feel all the love he'd bore for him from their first day in space, and how much deeper he'd fallen while on his mission. Keith didn't want to be that cheesy guy who fell for the clichéd "fireworks during the first kiss" but honestly, there were, and he could only hope that Lance felt them too. Regretfully, Keith did need to pull away, if only for the unfortunate reason that he had in fact forgotten how to breathe through his nose up until this point and he needed to take a breath. Resting his forehead against Lance's own, he breathed out the last few words he knew he needed to say;

"You don't have to respond now, and you can take all the time in the world to think about it …" Keith's smile is perpetual at this point, stuck on his face for everyone to see. "But I needed to tell you as soon as I could find a spare moment." Keith licked his lips before dipping in to give Lance one last peck before getting up, muttering a quiet "before I lost my nerve." as he got up to leave. He didn't need to turn around to know what sort of state he was leaving Lance in. The image had been burned into his mind long ago, and oh, what an image it was. Now, he just had to wait for Lance to respond. It was the one vision he'd never gotten. He didn't know what to expect, or when, all he knew was that the fate of his and Lance's happiness rested entirely on Lance's shoulder's now. It really was a shame that he couldn't show Lance just how happy they were going to be together. He supposed he'd just have to rely on fate for this one.

Notes:

I honestly adore the headcanon that Keith is terrible at naming things and thus the unnamed cosmic wolf was dubbed "Cosmo" Like, imagine that:

Krolia: Oh hey, look, a Cosmic Wolf.

Keith: It's cute, I've always wanted a dog, can we keep him?

Krolia: That's up to him.

Keith: Sweet! I'm gonna call him Cosmo! Come on Cosmo, let's go set up camp!