Love Bite | a klance au

chapter 1 | oh please no

[Ruelle - War of Hearts]

i can't help but love you,

even though I try n o t to.

The planet that Lance, the other four paladins, Allura and Coran were currently exploring was, in fact, quite magical. There were flowers growing everywhere, in all shapes and colors, which spread an amazingly refreshing scent through the air. Even the soaring trees were extraordinarily colorful and they apparently served as homes for the planet's inhabitants, which, in Lance's opinion, looked a little bit like bird-squirrel-hybrids, so it would kind of make sense for them to live inside these giant motley trees? But Pidge had told the group that, despite their primitive way of living, the "people" of T'Rox were actually pretty good at creating advanced technology, which was the entire reason why they had even decided to visit their planet in the first place. What exactly they were looking for was a little bit of a mystery to Lance, since he usually tunes out once the topic technology is even remotely mentioned. But because the population of T'Rox was willing to join the alliance and hand their high-tech devices to Voltron in exchange for protection against Zarkon, Allura wanted all paladins to be present. Hunk and Pidge, of course, were walking in front of the rest of the group, having a lively conversation with the queen of the bird-squirrel-hybrid-people, as she was leading the seven of them deeper into the forrest. Apparently she was hosting a feast in honor of Voltron's arrival. And normally Lance would have been thrilled at the thought of getting food and drinks for free, if he hadn't been sweating so hard under his paladin armor.

"I feel so sweaty, I think I have actually soaked through my clothes.", Lance complained, taking off his helmet with an annoyed sigh and using the back of his left hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

"I probably wouldn't do that, if I were you. We don't know what's out here.", he heard Keith say and rolled his eyes.

"Can't just pull that stick out of your ass for one damn day, can you, Mullet?"

"Ow!" The smug grin plastering Lance's face only seconds ago turned into a slightly worried expression when he heard Keith yelp. He turns to face Keith, who has taken his helmet off and was clutching one hand against his cheek. Lance took a couple of steps forward, putting one hand on Keith's shoulder.

"You okay, buddy?", he asked, the concern evident in his voice. And yes, this was Keith he was worrying about. And even though they were kind of supposed to hate each other, you know, because of the entire "rivalry" thing, Lance still cared about his well-being. But he would probably never admit it to anyone but himself - admitting it to himself had been hard enough already - because his pride wouldn't be able to endure that sort of humiliation.

Keith moved his hand away from his face, locking eyes with Lance. His expression was fond - and oh god, just the thought of it sounded weird as hell to Lance. The entire situation seemed like a dream, like this couldn't possibly be the actual Keith standing in front of him, gazing at him like he was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on.

"Lance.", Keith breathed, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Yeah. You feeling alright, buddy?" Lance hesitantly smiled back, his eyebrows knit together in confusion. Keith nodded his head. That was the moment Lance noticed a red mark, similar to a mosquito bite, just below his cheek bone.

"You sure? Looks like you got bit by something." And probably the last thing that Lance expected to happen in that situation, ended up happening. Keith lunged himself at Lance and - since he wasn't really prepared to suddenly get tackled in a hug like that - they both fell onto the ground with a loud thud.