#ive had a sudden craving for altean lance lately

[pftones3482]

I was thinking about the Balmera episode and how Keith got the doors to work and I was just wondering...what would happen if Lance had done it? And then I was like...okay but what if Altean Lance had done it? And then this happened (under a cut for length)

Lance frowned, guiding his eyes along the panel in front of him and furrowing his brows. “Hmm…nope…maybe…”

He winced and started pressing at random buttons before glancing over at Keith. “I don’t know what I’m doing over here,” he admitted. “It’s all Galra gibberish.”

Keith scooted over. “Let me see.”

He studied the panel for a moment before nodding. “You said maybe on the handprint, right?”

Lance bit his lip. “Yeah, but what if it sets off an alarm?”

Keith ran a hand over his jaw, weighing the pros and cons. “Well…they already know we’re on the planet. Worst case scenario, we have to just destroy the hangar and hope the Balmera survives. Best case scenario-”

“The doors close and we leave,” Lance finished with a nod. “Okay. Worth a shot. If it goes wrong, I’m blaming you.”

Keith rolled his eyes and Lance settled his palm over the handprint emblem, waiting with baited breath. For a moment, nothing happened, and the boys grinned, certain that they had found the solution.

“INTRUDER ALERT! ALTEAN INTRUDER ALERT!”

Lance paled and ripped his hand away from the console, fingers flying up to his helmet. “Allura? Are you and Coran okay?”

Allura’s voice came back in milliseconds, rushed and a little confused. “Yes of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”

Keith looked out the window and swallowed at the sight of all the sentries marching towards the control room. “Lance, the alert…was triggered in here.”

He turned back to Lance, eyes cautious, and Lance stumbled back from the device, mouth dry. “I don’t….I didn’t-”

Crashes came from outside the room and Keith cursed, slamming his own hand down on the print and watching as the doors shut. “We have to go,” he ordered, not questioning anything for the time being. “Come on.”

He swung his sword through the console and pulled Lance out through the opposite set of doors, the ones that didn’t have sounds coming from behind it, and they sprinted down the corridor together until the sound of chasing sentries died behind them. Keith tugged him into a small alcove of the Balmera to wait out any stragglers and Lance immediately dropped into a squat, ripping his helmet off and digging his hands into his hair. Keith hesitated, glanced at his hand, and then knelt cautiously next to his teammate, pulling off his own helmet and disabling contact with the team for a moment. “Lance?” he tried, resting a palm on his knee.

He flinched at Keith’s contact, fingers trembling in his hair, and Keith bit his lip. “Lance, it’s okay. Hey.”

Lance’s eyes flickered up to Keith and the blue paladin took a shaky breath, the air he exhaled breaking. “What the hell was that?” he managed to croak out.

Keith licked his lips nervously, glancing out from the alcove and straining his ears to try and detect any oncoming enemies. “I…I don’t know,” he admitted. He looked back to Lance, body softening. “Lance, that was an alert system specifically for…for Alteans.”

Lance’s breath hitched and he choked, curling in on himself even more and trembling under Keith’s hand. “I know,” he whimpered.

“Are you-?”

“I don’t know.”

They fell silent, Keith sinking into a proper sitting position and leaving his hand on Lance’s knee, rubbing his thumb in circles over it. A pair of sentries ran past at one point, making him glad that they had stopped speaking, but after a few minutes the silence became unbearable and Keith felt the need to relieve the tension. “Well…if you are…that’s okay, isn’t it?”

Lance lifted his head, dragging one hand through his hair and down, brushing the tears that had streaked their way over his cheeks. “What do you mean?”

Keith shrugged, bumping their legs together gently and trying for a smile. “I mean…Allura and Coran are pretty great. You might be royalty, who knows! And um…shape…shifting?”

Lance chuckled softly, nudging Keith with his foot and dropping his other hand, curling his fingers together and staring at his hands like he had never seen them before. “You suck at cheering people up.”

Keith rolled his eyes, slapping at Lance’s knee halfheartedly. “At least I’m trying, princey.”

“Yeah.”

Lance looked up with such a fond smile that Keith was momentarily taken aback; that smile was reserved for Hunk and Pidge alone, and he had never found himself on the receiving end of it. It faded after a moment and Lance’s eyebrows furrowed instead. “You made it work. You made…Galra censored tech work.”

Keith winced, having been thinking the very same thing for the last ten minutes or so, and turned his head away. “I um…I’d rather you not mention that detail to anyone,” he murmured. “Not until I…I mean…”

“Hey.”

He glanced over at Lance to see the fondness back, if a little gentler. He reached out and squeezed Keith’s hand, shrugging. “You saved my ass back there. I won’t say anything. Not if um…not if you don’t say anything.”

Keith lifted an eyebrow, trying for teasing. “You don’t want to tell them? Get on Allura’s good side?”

Lance’s smile faltered and he pursed his lips. “Not now,” he said seriously. “Not until I’m positive…until we’re positive.”

Keith’s lips twitched and he forced down the blush on his cheeks. “We, huh?”

Lance shrugged like it was obvious. “I’ll help you figure this out,” he said, gesturing to Keith’s body, ��if you help me with myself.”

Keith smiled and nudged Lance’s knee with his own, tilting his head in acknowledgment. “Deal.”

Lance took a deep breath and slid his helmet back on, assuring the team quickly that he and Keith weren’t dead and were just hiding out before standing and offering Keith a hand. He took it and Lance pulled him up, and he realized with a start that the alcove he had pulled them into was much smaller than he had realized at the time; they were basically chest to chest.

Lance didn’t seem fazed, just held up his bayard and cocked an eyebrow. “Wanna go kick butt?”

Keith held his hand out against his hip, his own bayard flashing into existence. “Is that even a question, your highness?”