Keith followed Lance into his cabin, which was small. Grounded. Caged. Even standing in the cramped living room was draining. The house seemed devoid of the blue hues that always marked Lance's presence, announced his dramatic entrances. His crooked smile was lost in the brown haze that littered the dingy room. Keith felt incredibly out of place in his obsidian Blade suit, awkward and confused at the person standing in front of him. He flinched when the man spoke.
"So," Lance sighed, "You're back."
"Yeah. I guess so."
"How are the others?" Lance asked, leading Keith to the kitchen.
The youth's eyes drifted to the walls, where he saw the photos Lance took from the Garrison. It took Keith aback, how young Lance looked. All down the hall, it was Lance with Hunk, Lance with Pidge, Lance with them both making weird faces. Keith didn't see any from the ship. No paladin armor, no breathless smiles after a close call with the Galra. No Shiro, no Coran. Not even Allura, although he guessed it made sense. No Keith. He made quite the calculated effort to carve out that part of his life.
It must be so inconvenient to have me show up now.
"The others are fine, I think."
"Have you seen them recently?"
"Yeah. About...a year ago? Not much has changed." A nameless emotion bubbled in Keith's gut as his eyes traced Lance's back. His shoulders had widened, his biceps had grown. The farm look was good on him, no matter how much Keith hated to admit it. He also was loath to address the blush that crept up on him when he was in Lance's space, breathing in the little parts of him he could still see through the haze. It didn't feel like that much time had passed since the days of eager pulls into hidden corners, loud fights that ended with laughs, dreams shared in the inches between them where their hands met.
"Oh. Well, great."
But of course he loved Allura. Who didn't? "I'm guessing you haven't seen them in a while."
"No," Lance huffed. "I haven't."
I've missed you.
Lance turned to the fridge and brought out alcohol for the two of them. "C'mon, Mullet, you can't show up on my doorstep decked out in full Blade of Marmora gear and then not tell me what this is all about." The floorboards creaked under their feet as Lance handed Keith a fizzling brown bottle. "It's been a minute since I've seen you, so..."
"Ah, its kind of complicated. The Blade of Marmora investigates suspicious stuff in a couple galaxies, and we can't always focus on our own. Bunch of other planets, bunch of worlds...you remember, surely." Keith wasn't really sure what to do with himself, or how to be casual. He didn't quite know how to break the news to Lance yet. "Lately, there's been some...activity of interest that we're having trouble with, but that's complicated too." He could see Lance considering this, and watching him made something deep inside Keith hurt. Anything to put off that conversation. Before he could change his mind, Keith opened his mouth.
"So how have you been?" Keith watched Lance hesitate at the question, shoulders tensed and hands frozen. Then, with a sharp inhale, Lance smiled.
"I don't know, man. The farm's a nice distraction."
Keith's tongue moved before he meant for it to. "From Allura?"
The smile cracked. "Yeah," he breathed. "It keeps my mind busy." A little twinkle in his eye appeared as he gestured to the back of the house. "There's also some stuff in the shed out back that I'm tinkering with. It helps too."
Lance McClain. Tinkering?
Keith bit down a flicker of curiosity and focused on the floor. "Yeah, sorry for asking. It probably still hurts, and I'm interrupting..." Keith winced at his tone. "I mean, not probably, obviously it still hurts, its Allura-- and, god, sorry, I'm making this really weird--"
