I didn't want to admit it but I was head over heels.

Lance McClain and Keith Kogane. It even rhymed.

Your boy "Loverboy Lance" wasn't a virgin. Surprise, surprise. More importantly though, gender didn't feature too prominently in my love equations – if I liked someone, I liked them, and I'd made my peace with that. It was no secret that I'd had my share of passionate moments in the dark corners of dance floors and empty campus rooms with more than a handful of gorgeous ladies. Hell, I was known for it. My adventures with guys, however, were kept under lock and key. I'd never slept with a guy but I'd had my fair share of heavy flirting behind closed doors or, mainly, when Hunk was otherwise distracted when we were out on the town during our garrison days.

But sleeping with Keith? I didn't care if I didn't know exactly what I was doing and I'm sure as hell he wouldn't know any more than I did. But I wanted it, more than anything. Especially now I couldn't stop thinking about how he'd looked over at my bedroom door as we made out. He wanted to take it further which made every part of my body sing. But was it a lust in the moment thing that he'd totally regret the morning after? I know it happens. I've been there before.

We hadn't spent a lot of time together since that moment outside my bedroom – not because we were avoiding one another, but our missions seemed to triple overnight, the entire galaxy apparently against us. Although we hadn't talked about everything, the awkward aura that had always been between us had dissipated. I'm sure it didn't go unnoticed. Well, I know Pidge noticed; I often caught Pidge giving me and Keith the sly eye.

I sighed and lay back on my bed.

Lance and Keith. Keith and Lance. Did I really say that to him?

There was a knocking at my door. I sighed and shouted: "It's unlocked."

I listened to the door open and close, ready for Pidge to pounce and tell me about a new level she's created for our game that we'd have to play this very second, or Hunk bringing me a pre-midnight snack. But the voice I heard was unexpectedly Keith's. I sat up and looked at him incredulously. I expected us to talk at some point, sure, but wow. Keith coming to me?!

"We… need to talk about the other day," he eventually started. He voice was strangely even, as if each word was being measured and carefully selected. I nodded and shuffled to the edge of my bed, showing he had my fullest attention.

The room suddenly felt massive as he stood there, looking anywhere but at me, painfully cringing and mouth apparently sewn shut. He didn't realise how damn cute he was.

I took a breath to steady myself. "Okay, gonna' throw this out there. I've, uh, fantasied a lot about us, and you kinda' showing me whose boss, if you catch my drift. What we did was nothing short of wow even if it was brief." His cheeks started to burn a little and I couldn't help getting a little bit of satisfaction from that. "So, yeah. You know my feelings on that so… what are your feelings?" Okay, not my best work being eloquent there, but it was lot better than: I want you to seriously consider us sleeping together because you're the hottest being in the entire universe we know.

"What exactly do you fantasise happening between us?" he asked, eyebrow raised playfully.

With a grin I replied: "Truthfully? You probably don't want to know."

He rolled his eyes. "And I bet it's got nothing to do with mermaids, yeah?"

We chuckled, feeling the tension in the air splitting. For a moment it was bliss, then Keith crossed his arms and his smile wavered to a frown;

"What happened the other day, I… I don't know what to say, Lance."

I stood up and paced, an annoying habit of mine when I'm filled with too much nervous energy.

"Why did you kiss me? You know, originally."

Although our first encounter was weeks ago it's burned into my brain in exact detail. "I realised how much you meant to me during that battle, Keith. You're so heroic and just throw yourself in, damn the consequences, you know. But I don't know what I'd do without you around. It scared me and I wanted to teach you a lesson and, well, because I cared about you. Really cared."

Keith took a long time pondering my words. Agonisingly long.

"How did you feel about kissing me? Like, do you actually like me in that way or were you uncertain and testing the water," I continued. I inwardly cringed at the way I babbled. Where the hell is my off switch? "I won't be mad." But I will be heartbroken dependent on his answer.

I could feel the nervousness radiating from him as he responded, voice catching: "I like you…"

I sighed. If I was going to ruin it I was going to ruin it.

"I'm kinda' in love with you." I scratched my head and wanted anything to look away but, like a magnet, I couldn't not look him in the eye. "I want you to want me, Keith-" He was staring at me so intently it was like I had to manually restart my brain. "Look, I don't want this to continue unless you genuinely want to reciprocate." Suddenly I felt super exposed, like the room was filled with people and they were scrutinising every word and movement. I'm not usually one to feel bashful but I could feel my cheeks heat under his gaze. "I don't want to play games. I want like what happened yesterday. I want everything about you, everything you can give me."

In that moment Keith turned slightly and looked so incredibly vulnerable, sad even.

"Keith, I'm not fooling around anymore. This is the truth. This is real. I love you and it's okay if you don't love me back, I just need to know where we stand so we can stay in each other's lives."

Instinctively I reached towards him. I paused, realising what I was doing, so I ended up standing like an awkward statue with one hand outstretched like a complete moron. Keith looked at me, expression still sad, and lightly padded the few paces towards me. Our fingers gently interlaced and we both paused, admiring how our fingers locked our hands together.

"I've… I've never really liked anyone in that way before."

I blinked up, locking his gaze. I could believe that.

"All I know is that, everything seems so much more vivid when you're here. Like, I can see super clearly. And then the inside of my stomach feels tight when you look at me, and…" He sighed again, face matching the shade of his jacket. "The first time you kissed me it felt so weird and I'll admit I resented you for it. But, thinking about it, it wasn't because I didn't like you; it was more that I didn't know what to do with the feelings it started in me. Then the more we did it, the worse it got. Part of me couldn't wait for your next move, the other part wanted to self-destruct."

"Do you want this – me – in absolute seriousness?"

My heart was beating so loudly I swear he could hear it.

"Lance, I think I'm kinda' in love with you too."

A silence enveloped us as his words hung in the air. Slowly, I brought his hand to my lips.

"I want you to…" Keith trailed off as a sharp breath caught in his throat. I knew what he wanted me to do - us to do - without him spelling it out.

The room felt as though it'd turned up fifty degrees and something from the way he looked at me shot an electric-like current through my veins. My thoughts were a jumbled mess but my body switched to automatic as an overwhelming feeling of desire wrapped its luscious wings around me.

I wanted to be inside him. Or him inside me. Right now I didn't really care who went where.

Gripping the sides of his jacket I gently tugged, bringing us together. Kissing him lightly, I walked him towards my bed. I could feel his heart thundering as my hand brushed his chest as I helped him shrug his jacket off. It was like we were moving completely in sync as we arrived at my bed and crawled backwards until we were properly moving together atop it, my sheets tangling with each movement.

I straddled him as we sat together, his legs beneath me. Our lips were tightly locked as if any second would be our last.

He took hold of the hem of my shirt and lifted it up and over my head, his lips finding my neck as he threw my top away. One hand massaged the back of my neck while the other travelled over my chest, feeling along my ribs tenderly. We smiled to one another. I brushed my lips against his as I lightly pushed him down. My hands ran under his top, skimming up his muscled chest and back down again to rest on his stomach. All the time I watched his face, memorising every flicker and change as his anticipation built.

"Lance…" he breathed.

Okay. I wanted to take this slow and savour – really savour – every moment, but that wasn't going to happen. Not when he said my name like that.

Suddenly he flipped me over and I was looking up into his eyes as his body arched over me. I extended my neck to reach him and we kissed, tongues knitting together briefly. I bit my lip to stop myself from making an embarrassing sound threatening to escape my throat as his lips hungrily travelled down my chin, my neck and all the way down… I couldn't help myself. I raised myself to rest back on my elbows, so I could lock eyes with him, watch him. With a mischievous grin like a little boy breaking all of the rules, Keith unbuttoned my jeans-

I could tell he wanted to go further but he hovered there hesitating.

I reached forwards grasping the collar of his shirt, leading him crawling back up my body. Gently, I rolled him over, pulling his top over his head as we went so my hands could explore his alabaster skin, fingers tracing the battle scars scattered across his torso.

Unhinging his belt, I lightly touched him as I freed him from his zipper. Keith shifted slightly beneath me, ready, nervous, as my mouth teased and set to work and my hands eagerly stroked the inside of his thighs. A long, beautiful moan quickly greeted me in return.

My mouth, my heart – everything in me was hungry for more.

When he finished, I crawled back over him and pulled him against me, one hand at his back and the other at his chin, bringing our lips together again. His body continued to shake slightly as the heat continued to race through him. I'd been gentle but, oh my God, he must have wanted action as much as I did with the reaction I'd received.

Now I need to train him to do things for me…

He perched up on his elbows, eyes locking with mine. Still gasping, he gulped and I could tell he wanted to say something but was weighing his options. At this point I'd probably do anything he asked me to. To encourage him I started working on his neck, my hands travelling back down to my favourite part. In response he groaned softly, eyes rolling back with pleasure.

"What do you think about me losing the pants?"

I moved my hand to rest on his hip, still keeping us close. We gazed into each other's eyes for a good minute as I waited for his breathing to calm enough to answer me.

The pants were coming off whether he liked it or not, but what happened next was completely up to him. Keith was new to anything like this. I didn't want to hurt him mentally or physically, or make him feel inadequate in any way – we all have to start somewhere, right?

Almost as soon as his mouth opened, the alarms stared blaring throughout the Castle.

I cursed the timing but on a positive note there's nothing like a deafening siren to provide the perfect cockblock to avoid any public embarrassment.

Neither of us could hide the disappointment in our expressions as I climbed off him. We scrambled up and while he worked on his trousers, I pulled on my top and found his jacket strewn on the floor. We were out of my bedroom in seconds. Looking at us no one would be none the wiser what had just happened and almost continued between us... although Keith's hair was a bit of a mess. The way he'd gripped at his hair, my sheets, would forever stay with me. With us... I couldn't hide my smile from the recent memory as I awkwardly patted it down as we ran together. Keith gingerly smiled in thanks as we burst onto the main deck.

Within mere minutes the entire team were ready in the control room, assembled and taking orders. Our time together in my room suddenly felt an age ago. Now it was action stations. Saving the world, unfortunately, would always take prominence over romance.

"Let's get to the Lions!" Shiro commanded as we exited from the control room, powering down through the castle to the hangar.

Just before the hangar doors, Keith suddenly stopped me. We let the others run out of sight before facing one another. Inside I felt like jelly, going from such a nervous high to my usual oh God we might die in the next battle. And now this…

Before anything smart or sarcastic could tumble from my mouth he had wrapped an arm round me, cupping the small of my back, bringing me close to him. Lightly, merely brushing my lips, he planted a kiss. His blue-grey eyes twinkled with something I'd never seen seen in him before.

I usually didn't like being the damsel but I couldn't help myself loving every second of confident, strong, chiselled Keith – the polar opposite of the hesitant man that had been lying beneath me only minutes ago.

I chuckled lightly under my breath. "What was that for?"

"That," he smirked. "That was for earlier."

Arms leaving me and turning on his heel, Keith darted into the hangar towards Red, shooting me a smile over his shoulder.

Keith. I absolutely, utterly and truly, loved that mullet head. And the best part? He was mine and I was his.