*someone asked for Hunkxpidge on my tumblr so there is some mild shipping happening here but otherwise it's just Shance*
It wasn't that Lance was scared – he was nervous, yes, but scared was a big word. It was just that he didn't know how to approach the topic.
It wasn't long ago that he had realized that his admiration had turned into something else, something deeper and stronger. He liked Shiro. A lot. Maybe 'love' was a little too much, too early; but it was clearly leaning towards it anyway. He was okay with that. He knew and was proud to be bi, and while he certainly had a stronger preference for ladies, some guys were worth more than a glance.
But. The problems he was facing were that
1) he didn't know if Shiro had ever thought of him that way
2) they were usually too busy fighting aliens and
3) even if, in the ideal case scenario, Shiro liked him back, Lance wasn't sure how comfortable Shiro would be with physical intimacy. Not even sexual stuff, which Lance wasn't necessarily interested in anyway. But touches, like a hand at the small of his back, hugs, kisses... Lance was used to being very physical, but he didn't remember Shiro reaching out for contact a lot or even being at the receiving end of it very often. There had been his and Keith's hug once but these two were familiar with each other before the whole... alien thing, so it wasn't the same. Not to say Lance couldn't appreciate a relationship with little contact if the intimacy and complicity were still there. But he'd much rather be all over his significant other.
Though, again, all of this was only in the best case scenario and he had yet to know what Shiro thought about him and his feelings.
However, not knowing if Shiro liked him back or if he was ready for a relationship wasn't Lance's main concern.
There was the whole space war stuff going on. Relationships at a time like that were probably not a good idea. It could distract them, it could make some missions harder and it might even compromise them. Lance wasn't sure he wanted his feelings to be the reason Voltron was out of service.
But, he thought, if feelings can compromise a mission, then even just a crush can, right? So why not at least get the advantages of a relationship? Ah... but if we fight and have a bad break up, that sucks.
Lance liked to believe that neither of them would actually make it a bad break up, if a break up were to happen. Not that he wanted it to happen. On the contrary. He would very much like to stay forever happy with Shiro. He just... had to actually confess.
Lance sighed. He was getting in a weird mood again because of all of that. He hated hesitating because hesitation meant getting pessimistic about something. Which he was definitely getting.
He decided to go find Hunk. As his best friend, Hunk was more willing to listen to him complaining about his crush than Pidge. Not that Pidge knew about his crush but if she did, she probably wouldn't want to listen to him whine about that.
Given the hour, Hunk was most likely in the kitchen, playing around with Altean ingredients. So that was where Lance headed.
And sure enough, Hunk was there. And Pidge. Pidge who was sitting on the counter in front of Hunk, pulling him closer with the hand she had on the back of his head.
"Oh."
Hunk and Pidge jerked away from each other, startled. They looked at Lance with wide surprised eyes.
"I can come back later if I'm interrupting something," Lance said. He had crossed his arms and quirked an eyebrow. Pidge narrowed her eyes at the grin on his face and stuck out her tongue.
"Don't bother. I was gonna go back to my room anyway." She jumped off the counter.
"You just wanted a first taste of the menu, huh?"
She didn't bother gratifying Lance's comment with a reply, preferring to walk past him quickly, and left the kitchen.
Hunk was looking around, a sheepish smile on his lips and a light blush on his cheeks. Lance walked up to him and gave him a big pat on the back. He started laughing and felt Hunk let out a nervous breath.
"So, how long? You two hide yourselves well!"
"It hasn't been long. Like, maybe a few days. We didn't feel like telling everyone yet."
"And that's cool man. But why didn't you tell me you liked her? With how much I whine about my crush, you could have totally shared yours!"
"Ah... I wasn't sure. Like, seriously, feelings are hard! I have no idea how you managed to know your feelings for Shiro were romantic. If it hadn't been for Pidge coming to me and asking me out, I wouldn't have known! And when she did, I panicked because I wanted to kiss her and also she was looking at me like, you know when she's determined to get something? Like that."
"Pidge asked you out?" Lance asked, rather surprised. Pidge wasn't exactly the most on par with her feelings usually, so this was surprising.
"She told me she was overthinking and couldn't focus on her projects."
"So she just went ahead and fixed her problem, eh?" Hunk snorted. "Anyway, congrats man! I'm happy for you two. Just- avoid making out everywhere if you don't want endless teasing."
"Yup. I know you'd have too much fun." Hunk smiled. "Oh, did you need something? Since you came here and all."
"I just needed a mood-lifting, I'm good now."
Hunk tilted his head. "You sure? I'm still open to talk if you need."
"I was just thinking." Lance paused, then let out a snort. "Though, you did help me with that already."
"Oh?" Hunk blinked. He tried remembering all of their conversation since Lance had come in and something clicked into place. "Oh! Is it about Shiro? Are you gonna tell him?"
"Yeah. I think I'm gonna do it."
"What exactly are you going to do, Lance?"
Lance and Hunk nearly jumped out of their skins. They turned to look at the kitchen door and Shiro, who had just arrived. Lance's heart felt like it was trying to jump out of his ribcage and he felt nervousness crawling back in his belly.
Shiro was still waiting for an answer, even as he walked up to the Altean version of a fridge to get a water pouch. He looked at Lance with curious eyes and peacefully sipping his water.
"I gotta go check up on something with Pidge, I'll leave you guys alone!" Hunk said suddenly. He trotted quickly out of the kitchen, under Lance's betrayed gaze and with a wave from Shiro.
"So? Are you gonna tell me what you were going to do?"
Shiro was smiling, mostly amused. Lance thought it was unfair that Shiro's smile was so nice.
"Weeeell... I could tell you, but then I would have to get rid of your body somehow." Lance replied, voice as serious as he could manage. It made Shiro snort and smile wider.
Really unfair.
"Well then, guess I'd better leave you to your thing." He turned to leave then. Lance's heart was still beating faster than it should but there was also something else. It was like Lance's body was trying to tell him, to shout at him that it was now or he would never find the right time ever again.
So he listened to his body.
"Shiro– wait!" Lance reached out for Shiro's arm (his left, since the right one was holding the water pouch) and Shiro stopped to look at him. Curiosity filled his eyes and Lance thought that he really liked that look on him.
"Are you telling me?" Shiro asked. Lance let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in.
"Yeah... Yeah, I'm gonna tell you. I thought– I thought I'd do that in a more... in a smoother way but I guess that'll do, heh." Shiro faced him again completely and tilted his head, waiting for Lance to go on. Clearly he didn't have the slightest clue he was going to be confessed to. Lance wasn't sure whether to be happy about that. He took a deep breath, then looked at Shiro in the eyes. "I really like you– like, more than just as a friend or a fellow paladin, you know? And I just wanted to tell you because it only seemed fair and I guess I was also hoping that it'd magically work out but like, no pressure of course!"
Lance's confidence was all gone and this had been a terrible idea, oh god.
He was rambling now, and wasn't even looking at Shiro's face or even just at Shiro in general. Why were his flirting skills only good when it was random people?
Suddenly he heard the sound of metal against the counter. He looked up, only to see Shiro wasn't in front of him anymore. Shiro had moved to stand against the counter, hands on it and he seemed... shocked?
"... Shiro?"
"You... like me?" Shiro asked, incredulous. It sounded more like he was talking to himself than to Lance, though. Like he couldn't believe his ears. Which given Lance's ramblings was pretty surprising.
"I do," Lance replied anyway, "I really do. Are you... Do you like me too?" He asked softly.
Shiro's eyes focused on him. He looked like he didn't know what to answer. Lance felt his heart tighten. Maybe he had assumed things too early? That would be terrible if he had. The awkwardness would be too strong, he wasn't sure he'd survive it.
He was about to say something, anything really; but Shiro's cheeks coloured and soon were a really pretty shade of red. Shiro was blushing. Lance felt a grin take place on his face but he couldn't be bothered to stop it.
"You do!" Lance whooped. "You like me!"
Shiro hid his face in his hands. "Oh god. Please stop, I'm mortified enough already."
"There's no way I'm gonna stop, like holy shit dude! You like me!"
"I'm more surprised that you do. I didn't think– I've never thought you could actually like me this way?"
"Is it because I'm always flirting with girls? God, that's got to be it. Hunk told me it'd be my downfall someday; I didn't think it would prevent me from scoring a hot guy like you, holy shit." Lance was pretty sure he heard Shiro whimper after calling him a hot guy. That was interesting knowledge. But it would have to wait. "Are we like, boyfriends now?"
"If you want us to be, gladly." Shiro finally freed his head to look again at Lance. His cheeks were still pink but he had a fond smile on his lips and Lance really wanted to kiss him.
So that was what he did. After shouting a very delighted yes.
Lips against lips, Lance felt more than he heard him when Shiro whispered "I really like you, too."
