Color Me Intrigued
dreamcp
yes fellow artists, this is for you.
Work Text:
Lance, for as long as he could remember, had liked to draw. He was one of those kids who scribbled all over his notes and sketched made-up creatures when he was bored in class. It wasn’t a skill he planned on doing anything with, he just liked to keep his hands busy. And if it kept him occupied during boring lessons when he should have been taking notes, well, that was even better.
Things were a little different after he found himself far away from home, sharing a giant castle-spaceship with six other people and some mice. Suddenly Lance found himself with the burden of protecting the entire universe from the spread of evil. Seven people and a big robot couldn’t topple an empire in a day. Or a week, or a month, or maybe even a year. Lance didn’t mind being a hero, not at all; everyone looked up to heroes, believed in them, praised them. But no one had ever mentioned the drawbacks.
He missed his family. It hadn’t registered at first, not with all the excitement of being a part of Voltron. Seriously, who’s got the time to care about that when you’re a savior of the universe? Soon though, reality began to sink in. He was so far away, and his family had no idea where he was or what had happened to him. Did they think he was kidnapped? Killed? What did the Garrison tell them? How long had it actually been since he’d left?
Seeing Pidge with the photo she carried around hit it home even further. Lance didn’t have any pictures of his family with him. He hadn’t really been planning on going anywhere permanent when the three of them snuck out that night. Hindsight was a bitch.
So he drew. He came across a small notebook in one of the castle’s many rooms, and the first thing he did was capture his parents’ faces on the paper as best as he could. They were followed by his siblings, then some of his extended family. It wasn’t a very good substitute, and Lance was sure the drawings weren’t completely accurate, but he felt a little better afterwards.
Drawing became something of a comfort to Lance after that. When they weren’t training or saving planets, Lance sometimes drifted back to his room and let out his frustrations onto paper. He drew his teammates, or the aliens he’d met, or the places he’d seen, or whatever came to mind. The hurt never fully went away, but it was much more manageable, and he started to draw more for fun like he used to. Lance soon saw himself as quite the artist.
Being an artist meant needing practice, which meant needing references. They were hard to find. Lance didn’t have his phone with him, and even if he did, service was unsurprisingly poor this far from Earth. Asking one of the others to pose/model/whatever wouldn’t be a problem. He might get some strange looks though, and Lance decided it wasn’t worth the embarrassment. Besides, he kinda preferred to keep his drawings to himself. Pidge and Hunk knew he doodled, sure, but he’d chosen to keep most of his art a secret. It just wasn’t something he needed to share.
So Lance tucked the book into his jacket and quietly embarked down the halls of the castle in search of someone to draw. He didn’t really have anyone in mind, though he was hoping to come across Allura somewhere. But she was probably in the main control room, and she’d notice him immediately; that or Coran would instead. His steps guided him instead past the training deck. He ducked into the room, expecting at least Keith to be there.
Much as he hated to admit it, Lance admired the effort Keith put into his training. Even when everyone else was lounging around, Keith could still be found working out and practicing for combat. His commitment was almost inspiring. It reminded Lance to work hard too, made him try a little more when they occasionally sparred together.
Strangely, Keith was absent. Lance pouted a bit. Dynamic poses might have been fun to try; oh well. He moved on, looking for any sign of life in the castle. It was oddly quiet, and Lance was beginning to wonder if he was the only one awake when he got to the observation deck. He paused. The view was truly breathtaking. Lance had never seen so many stars before leaving Earth. He made a mental note to come back and sketch this some other time and made to leave, but then his eyes caught on the figure at the other end of the room.
Keith was sitting on one of the windowsills, looking out at the stars. He must not have heard Lance come in, since he made no acknowledgement of Lance’s presence and continued staring. He looked… peaceful, kind of. Deep in thought, maybe. Lance might have teased him about moping around, but he didn’t seem upset. Keith just seemed calm.
Lance watched Keith for a minute from the doorway. It didn’t seem like Keith was going anywhere for a while. Making up his mind, Lance crouched and slid into a sitting position. He retrieved a pencil from his pocket and pulled out the notebook, flipping to a blank page. Another glance at Keith confirmed he still hadn’t moved, so Lance got to work.
It wasn’t quite a portrait. Lance knew he wasn’t very good at lifelike drawings, preferring to use the style he’d developed over years of practice. His art was cartoonish and stylized, but it would still be easy for anyone to recognize the sketch forming on the page as the red paladin. He focused on the head first, spending a couple minutes just trying to get the damn hair right. Stupid mullet. Next was the body, and it was a much simpler job drawing the clothes. The drawing was basically done at this point. Going a step further, Lance drew the window and a few simple stars in the background.
He ended up with a refined sketch by the time he decided to stop. It was pretty good: Keith in the drawing looked almost exactly like he did in real life, style choices aside. One leg was held close to his body while the other hung down, and Keith’s head rested against the window as he gazed into space. Lance stood carefully, still not wanting to announce his presence. He quietly left Keith alone and returned to his room, where he pulled out the book and looked over the drawing again. A few quick fixes were made, and then Lance hid the book in a drawer.
He went back to that sketch the next few days when he had the time. Mostly he cleaned up the rough lines and added small details, but the result was even better than he could have hoped. Satisfied, he declared it finished and put it away. He didn’t think on it much after that, though he did heat up slightly the next time he saw Keith, praying to any gods who would listen that Keith didn’t say something. For once it looked like they were on his side: Keith didn’t bring it up, and Lance was in the clear.
A week later Lance decided to try again, since it had gone so well the first time. He wandered around the castle awhile without finding anyone, but as he passed the training deck again he heard the sounds of someone grunting inside. He peeked in and observed Shiro doing sit-ups near the middle of the room. Lance grinned and crouched near the doorway, careful to stay out of sight. He checked that the hallway was clear and then got right to drawing.
It was a little more difficult this time. Shiro’s constant movement made it hard to draw one pose, and Lance had to duck behind the doorframe any time Shiro shifted to start a new exercise. The final drawing wasn’t quite what Lance was hoping for, but he wasn’t too disappointed; he tried something new, he didn’t expect it to be perfect.
Like before, he went back and fixed up the sketch. But even after that, it still wasn’t as good as his drawing of Keith. Lance flipped back to that page, then looked at the new one again. The style was the same, though the new one was missing a background. Other than that, there was nothing really wrong with it. But he just… didn’t like it nearly as much, somehow. Lance wondered about that for a bit. Was it the pose? The setting? Was Keith just easier to draw? He didn’t have an answer.
~~~~~
A new planet was soon in need of rescue, and Lance forgot all about his sketchbook for a while. The Galra fleet they were up against was relatively small, but they put up as much of a fight as any other. Lance put his lion into a dive to avoid a cluster of lasers, then swerved left.
It was business as usual. They formed Voltron, took down a couple ships, and disbanded to deal with the remaining ships scattered around. It was working fine.
At least, until a massive Galra ship showed up midway through. Lance didn’t know when it had shown up, but he definitely knew he was in trouble when he narrowly avoided a massive laser from behind him. He jerked the lion around, only to find himself staring down a ship nearly three times the size of the others. Lance gulped.
“Guys, that’s a really big ship,” Hunk said over the comms, slight panic seeping into his voice.
“This place must be home to an older Galra base,” Allura spoke up. “It’s too far from the main force’s front lines, but they’ve still got some ships stationed here in case anything happened.”
“So there could be more on the planet’s surface?” Pidge asked. Lance nearly groaned. So much for an easy job.
“If that’s the case, then we’ll have to act fast,” joined Shiro. “Allura, are there any ships left on the planet?”
“Looks like there’s one more of these,” came the princess’s reply, “and a few more of the smaller ones. They’re at a base on the opposite side of the planet.”
“Keith, Pidge, I want you two to get over there and take down those ships before they can lift off,” Shiro ordered.
“On it!”
“They won’t stand a chance!”
The two lions and their paladins pulled away from the ongoing fight and headed towards the planet. In the meantime, Lance focused on finding a weak spot in the ship’s defenses. He circled around the ship a few times, dodging lasers. This was going to be a while.
Lance had no idea how long it took for them to finally bring down the battleship. It felt much longer than he would have liked, that’s all he knew. They weren’t done yet, though; they hadn’t had word from Pidge or Keith in a few minutes. He angled his lion towards the planet, flying high over the treeline as he scanned the ground for the base. He heard it before he saw it: a loud boom came from his right, and he turned his head to see an explosion of fire in the distance. Without pausing he sent his lion into a sharp turn and sped in that direction.
“Keith, Pidge, do either of you guys hear me?” he asked. There was silence for a few seconds. Lance began to feel seriously worried. “If neither of you say anything in the next minute, so help me I will turn this car-”
“Lance!” Pidge came in. Lance immediately felt relieved. “We destroyed the other ships and the base, but the big one is still giving us trouble.”
“Where’s Keith?” Lance asked. He was closing in fast, and could see the flames rising from the base. A battleship identical to the one they had been fighting was slowly rising into the sky. Pidge was there, maneuvering around it and attacking when she saw an opening. The red lion was nowhere to be seen.
“He… he went beserk,” Pidge said. Worry flooded through Lance again. “He was attacking the base pretty heavily, but he pulled back a minute ago.”
“Pulled back?” repeated Lance. He brought the lion to a halt and, looking around quickly, asked, “Did you see-”
A loud sound from behind cut him off. Before Lance could process it, a large red blur dove right in front of his lion and shot towards the battleship. It fired at the ship and sailed over, coming dangerously close to crashing into it. Lance watched, frozen in awe, as the red lion spun past lasers and attacked again.
It was stupid and dangerous, what Keith was doing, but… wow. Lance could almost feel the fury and passion Keith was fighting with. There were so many near-misses, but Keith swerved and ducked to avoid being struck and only fought harder. No wonder he had been the best pilot in their class. Lance had full confidence in his own piloting skills (despite whatever Keith may have said in the past) but damn if Keith wasn’t something else.
Not that he’d tell that to Keith, ever. Absolutely not. As far as Lance was concerned, they were totally on the same level. Lance was even a little better, maybe. Right.
“Pidge, I need an update on the situation,” Shiro said, breaking through Lance’s thoughts. He shook his head and plunged into the fight as Pidge talked to Shiro.
“Keith? Hey, Keith buddy?”
No response. Lance cursed under his breath. As impressive as Keith’s fierce determination was, he needed to stop before someone got seriously hurt. Namely Keith himself. Lance tried again.
"Keith!"
“What?” Keith’s voice came in, irritated but otherwise fine.
“You’re doin’ a good job banging up the enemy and piloting like a badass, but d’you mind toning it down a little? Save some for the rest of us?”
Keith was silent. Lance thought he was ignoring him and prepared to call him out on it. But, sure enough, the red lion stopped its barrage on the battleship. Keith flew up to join him and the rest of the team. Lance glanced over at the lion; he could just barely see Keith through the eyes. He was surprised when Keith met his eyes, but didn’t look away.
“Ready team?” said Shiro. Lance grinned at Keith. Keith smirked back. They were definitely ready.
With the five of them combined, it was only a matter of minutes before the battleship met its demise. Lance and Hunk whooped as the ship went down. Another day, another planet saved. Maybe the princess would go easy on them and let them get some extra rest tonight.
As it turned out, sleep didn’t seem to be a priority to anyone but Lance. Allura and Coran landed the castle to smooth things over with the planet’s natives. Then the natives wanted to personally thank the paladins for rescuing them, and even threw a party in celebration of their heroic deeds. As tired as Lance was, he couldn’t turn down a party, especially if it was in his honor. So he met with the aliens and watched them dance and shout and have a good time.
Even Lance had a breaking point, though. A few hours into the festivities, he slipped away from the large crowd of aliens and entered the castle. The walk to his room wasn’t that long, but he could barely keep his eyes open the whole way there. Upon finally reaching his room, Lance threw himself onto the bed fully-clothed and closed his eyes.
A knock on the door caused Lance to groan. He’d been lying down for what, a minute? Two? No more than ten, for sure. Grumbling, he got to his feet. The door slid open on his command, and while rubbing his eyes he moaned, “I know I’ve probably got a ton of alien babes wanting my signature out there, and you know I'd normally be all over that, but a guy’s gotta have his beauty sleep. Can it wait until tomorrow?”
“I’d ask if you got up on the wrong side of bed, but I think that’s pretty much what happened,” came the dry remark. Lance’s head snapped up, and he found himself face-to-face with Keith. Keith, who was also still in his combat uniform. Whose hair looked just a little messier than usual, and somehow looked really good that way. Whose skin was slightly flushed from the atmosphere of the party continuing far below. Had Keith always looked so good? Lance wasn’t so tired anymore.
“Uh,” he replied. Brilliant, Lance.
“Coran told me to get this to you,” Keith said, ignoring Lance’s confusion and handing him a small box. It was smooth, and its contents rattled as Lance took it.
“Thanks.”
Silence fell. Neither boy made to move. Lance just stared at Keith. Keith gazed back. Everything was uncomfortable and awkward. Could Keith see the blush on Lance’s face? God he hoped not, he really did. Not that he was blushing, of course.
“So.”
“So…”
“‘Piloting like a badass,’ huh?” asked Keith. Lance was confused.
“What?”
“That’s a pretty good compliment from someone who claims to be the best pilot on Earth. Which doesn’t even make sense, by the way, because we’re not on Earth.”
“What are you…” Lance began. Then he remembered. His face felt even hotter and he thanked God that the corridor lights were so dim right now. He really hadn’t intended for the compliment to slip out. Shit.
“I never said that,” Lance denied. Keith scoffed, leaning against the doorframe. This was not helping Lance get rid of his blush, oh god.
“Yeah, you did.”
“Nope. Didn’t happen.”
“Uh, did too.”
“Can’t prove anything.”
“You said it over the comms, all of us heard it. I’ll go to Pidge right now, just watch me.”
“So maybe you did one kinda cool thing,” Lance admitted, switching tactics. “Is it wrong to give a bro a confidence boost? I mean, I’ve totally done cooler, you know. I am a fantastic pilot.”
Keith stared at Lance hard. It didn’t look like he was buying it. Honestly, Lance hadn’t expected him to, either. A five-year-old could tell Lance was talking out of his ass. God, what was with him today?
“Uh huh,” Keith said. He didn’t sound convinced. “Get back to sleep, you look like you need it.”
“Alright, mom,” muttered Lance as Keith left the room and the door slid shut behind him. Lance didn’t move for some time. His face was still burning, what the hell? He laid back down on the bed, but made no attempt to sleep. Instead he stared at the ceiling, trying to rein in his thoughts.
“I’m tired. I’m tired after a long day of kicking ass and being a hero, that’s all. And if Keith just happens to look amazing during and after a fight, well, it’s not like I care,” he said to himself. Then he groaned, slinging an arm over his eyes. “Oh my god, I’m tired. And I’ve got a thing for Keith. And his stupid messy hair. Fuck.”
Suddenly, the drawing of Keith being his favorite made a little more sense.
~~~~~
Was continuing to follow Keith around to draw him a bad idea? Yes, absolutely. Lance was sure his ass was gonna get caught, sooner rather than later. Was he going to stop doing it? No, apparently not.
Somehow Keith had totally taken over Lance’s sketchbook. Following the talk with Keith, the first thing Lance did after pulling it out was draw the other paladin the way he looked that night. Lance stared at that sketch for a long time after finishing it, playing back the conversation in his head. More and more pictures found their way onto the paper over the next several weeks. Entire pages were filled with different sketches, all of them featuring him. It was a little like what was going on in Lance’s head, a constant stream of Keith Keith Keith whenever he had time to himself.
Lance found himself experimenting with the drawings. He figured, if he was going to be drawing so much anyway, he may as well make the best of it. The box that Coran had given him turned out to contain several broad-tipped pens in multiple colors that actually produced an effect similar to watercolors. It came with a note as well: Hello Lance! I noticed that you seemed to like drawing, and thought you might like to give these a try! Do something fun with them, eh? From, Coran. Lance had to give the guy more credit in the future; he was way more observant than he seemed. With practice Lance learned the best ways to blend colors and how much pressure to use to produce a certain shade.
Aside from all being of the same person, the new artwork was surprisingly varied. Lance had sketches of Keith relaxing, mid-workout, talking, reading, just about anything. If he couldn’t access his notebook right then, Lance would save a mental image and copy it to paper later on.
He kept finding Keith in the observatory. Lance was dying to ask him about it, but that would lead to questions about how he knew Keith was there, and more questions about why he kept returning there to see Keith, and that was a conversation Lance really didn’t want to have. So instead he tried to put it out of mind and focus on drawing.
Occasionally, though, Lance wouldn’t draw. He might have gone to the observation deck with that intention, sure, but he would get caught up in watching Keith. He hated himself for it. If he wasn’t in stalker territory before, he was definitely there now. That didn’t stop him from studying Keith’s pale, smooth skin (did he ever get out in the sun?) and dark hair (who in their right mind still had a mullet?) and, yes, his even ass (... no comment). A few times, Keith had discarded his jacket, and Lance turned four shades of red after seeing Keith’s athletic figure. Yeah, all that training was definitely paying off.
Lance found Keith in the observatory so often that he eventually skipped checking the training room and went straight there. Keith wasn’t always there, of course; all of them had things to do around the ship, and Lance doubted Keith stayed for longer than an hour at a time in that room. In cases like that, Lance simply left and tried again a few days later.
It was one of those days again. Lance approached the observatory, but was disappointed to find it empty. It was a little strange; Keith hadn’t turned up at all the past week, from what Lance could tell. Maybe he was just coming at different times? Lance pouted and turned to leave, deciding to go find Hunk instead.
He didn’t get very far. Without warning his left side slammed full-force into another body and he let out a yelp as he fell to the floor. A thud sounded from nearby, followed by a much lighter one, but Lance paid them no mind. He rubbed his shoulder and looked up.
“Ow, c’mon, did you not see-!” Lance stopped short. The other had also fallen, and was shooting him a dirty look. Of course it was fucking Keith.
“You were the one not looking,” retorted Keith.
“But you could see me! I didn’t know you were there!”
“No, you just weren’t paying attention. It’s not like I was trying to go unnoticed.”
Lance scoffed and stood up, brushing himself off. In lieu of an actual answer, he stuck his tongue out at Keith and started back down the hall. He patted his jacket pockets without thinking. Pen, yes. Sketchbook… no? Did he drop it? Oh god, where was it? Lance scanned the floor.
“Oh, wow,” came a quiet voice. Lance’s head whipped back to face Keith. His eyes fell to the book in Keith’s hands. His blood ran cold, he froze in place. This was bad. This was very, very, very bad. Keith couldn’t… he was… he was looking at his drawings. At those drawings.
“Wait,” Lance said. His voice sounded strangled. He took a few steps forward.
Keith looked up. Lance braced himself for a look of disgust or confusion. But he didn’t see either of those on Keith’s face. Keith kept staring at him, but he looked more surprised than anything.
“When did you draw this?” Keith said, holding up the sketchbook. He indicated to one picture that took up over half the page. It was the same one Lance had done the first day he found Keith in the observation deck. He’d since used the pens on that one, and it was the only picture on that page with color. Lance couldn’t force himself to speak. Keith flipped to the next page, then the next.
“I knew you were drawing me, but these, they’re… they’re really good. I mean, wow,” Keith said, his voice hushed. Lance stared blankly back at him. His mind struggled to process Keith’s words. Then he groaned, putting his face in his hands to hide the oncoming blush.
“You knew?!” He wailed. “You didn’t… I thought you didn’t see me, how’d you know I was there?”
“I saw your reflection in the window once, and then I kept seeing you after that,” Keith answered.
“And you didn’t say anything?”
“I didn’t know what you were doing at first, but you were sneaking around and I pretended not to notice so I could figure it out.”
“Well, why didn’t you say anything after you figured it out… wait, how’d you know I was drawing you anyway?”
“You kept looking at me while you were drawing,” Keith shrugged. “I kind of assumed. But I never realized how good you are.”
Lance looked up at that. Keith had returned his gaze to the sketchbook, but his face was pink. Was he embarrassed, or flattered? And Keith had avoided the other question. Lance narrowed his eyes.
“So why did you keep coming back here?”
“I didn’t mean to at first,” Keith admitted. He continued avoiding Lance’s eyes. “One day I just wanted to think without anyone interrupting. My room would have been the first place to look if someone wanted me, so I came here instead.”
“But if you knew I was there, and if you weren’t even planning on coming back in the first place, then why didn’t you stop?”
“Ah…” Keith blinked. He gripped the sketchbook a little tighter.
“Did you want me to ‘draw you like one of my French girls’ or something?” Lance joked, and immediately winced. This was the worst time to be joking, couldn’t he keep his mouth shut for once?
“Sh-shut up,” Keith snapped. He tore his attention from the sketchbook and focused on Lance, continuing, “You didn’t stop either.”
“I wouldn’t have kept showing up if you weren’t there every time,” Lance argued, though he grew even redder at the admission.
“Well I wouldn’t have kept coming here if you hadn’t eith-” Keith cut himself off, his face scarlet. Lance was stunned.
Keith didn’t speak after that. The shorter teen diverted his eyes again, this time staring at the floor. He shifted his weight to one leg and bit his lip.
Lance’s mind was still reeling from the situation. Keith saw the drawings, Keith thought they were good, Keith apparently didn’t mind him creeping around to make them, Keith actually liked him being around. Keith was blushing too.
He stared at Keith’s lip where he’d been biting it. An idea formed in his head. It probably wasn’t a good idea, at all. Potentially, Lance could seriously damage an important relationship and affect the whole team. On the other hand, he’d done nothing but make risky decisions this whole time anyways.
Lance took another step so he was directly in front of Keith. Keith jerked his head up and met his eyes warily. Lance put a careful hand on Keith’s shoulder, and the other on his sketchbook. Keith loosened his grip on it.
He was so close to Keith now. Keith stood his ground, but Lance could see the miniscule shifts in his expression that indicated his uncertainty. His eyes flitted down towards Lance’s mouth, then instantly jumped back up as though nothing had happened. But the message was loud and clear. Lance took a shaky breath. He pressed his lips to Keith’s in a short kiss.
Their noses bumped together at first. Lance could feel the heat radiating off of Keith’s face. It had been way too long since he’d kissed someone, and he felt out of practice. None of that stopped Lance from loving every bit of it. He pulled back slowly after a few seconds, watching for Keith’s reaction.
Keith’s eyes had closed during the kiss, and he reopened them once Lance had pulled away. They stood motionless in the corridor, surrounded by silence. Then, without warning, Keith angled his head upwards and caught Lance in another kiss, more forceful than the last. Lance made a surprised noise against Keith’s lips. The sketchbook fell to the ground with a loud smack. Neither paid it any mind. The hand on Keith’s shoulder moved into his hair while Lance’s other hand slid around Keith’s waist, pulling their bodies closer. The warmth of Keith’s mouth was driving him wild.
Keith’s hands had tangled themselves in Lance’s jacket. The two of them pulled away to breathe momentarily. Lance felt dazed and hopeful and giddy all at once. Then he was back to kissing Keith. He allowed his tongue to trace over Keith’s lips, and Keith let out a low whine. Oh fuck.
Lance needed him closer. He maneuvered Keith backwards until his back hit the wall, never parting their lips. Keith gasped on the impact, and Lance took the chance to slip his tongue inside Keith’s mouth. Lance’s hand moved from Keith’s hair to the wall next to his face. Keith wrapped an arm around Lance’s shoulders and tugged him as close as possible while Lance explored his mouth with his tongue. Their noses were squished; Lance didn’t even care. God, he’d been wanting this for so long.
They broke the kiss again. Panting heavily, Lance admired how flushed Keith looked. He was probably in a very similar state. They locked eyes, and Lance half expected them to dive right back into it. Then, Keith dropped his head to Lance’s shoulder and laughed. He honest-to-god shook with laughter, and Lance buried his face into Keith’s jacket to hide his dorky grin. Keith sounded beautiful.
Keith’s laughter eventually subsided, and he pulled back from Lance as much as he could, fixing him with a smile. Lance suddenly remembered their position and untangled himself from Keith, moving back a step to give him some breathing room.
“So,” Keith said. Lance snorted.
“So.”
“Does this… what does this mean for us?”
Lance looked around, and upon locating his notebook he walked over and retrieved it from the floor. Then he rejoined Keith and took his hand.
“Hopefully it means I get to use you as a model without stalking you around,” he answered. Keith’s laugher filled the hall once more.