shining like the stars

11

There was absolutely nothing better than standing under the hot, steady spray of a shower head when you were really, really in need of a shower. Lance closed his eyes and tilted his head back and sighed luxuriously, before scrubbing both of his hands through his short hair and ducking his head through the spray again.

Okay, there was one better thing, and he was going to have to hunt down Coran and ask if there were any baths anywhere on this ship. A nice long soak in hot water was a fantastic relaxer for sore muscles, although Lance figured if anything Keith would need that more than he would.

Lance felt his face heat despite himself, and he ducked his face into the spray again and rubbed sudsy water through his hair. He wasn't going to open, consider, nor even think a moment on that. They were leaving that on the dusty, dead planet and going about their business of being rivals who only occasionally got along. In fact, if he had to wager a guess at anything, Keith was probably on his knees sucking Shiro's dick right now.

Face back into the water, because he wasn't dealing with the way that thought curled and settled in his gut, cold and hard and black. There was nothing to deal with, there was nothing to be jealous of. Keith had been pretty vocally clear about his pursuit of Shiro, and even before his heat had started he would make eyes at the pilot of the black lion without even realizing it. That had always been the way things were meant to go, after all.

Lance slammed the palm of his hand into the divider between the stalls, hard enough to make it wobble a little, and then started rinsing his hair in the spray. He had other things to do, like think up all the ways he could drag Keith over dinner for the fact that the red lion kicked its paladin out because he needed to get fucking laid without expressly saying as much.

Wait.

Hunk had known.

Shiro had known.

Well, Shiro would have been able to smell it on them anyway but there was no way he could have know before they got back to the castle-ship? Was there...?

Lance slammed the shower off and grabbed his robe off the hook outside the stall. He intended to run but then slid on one heel on the slick tile and settled for walking quickly toward the exit, because the last thing he needed was to give himself a concussion. He had to find Hunk.

#

Shiro stood, with his back mostly toward Keith and his arms folded as Keith got changed. The emergency beacon, now deactivated, sat on the table in the middle of the room. "I don't understand why you didn't just come back to the ship," Shiro said, eyes averted respectfully, face gone pink under his scar.

"Red wouldn't let me back in," Keith said simply. He took the deactivated emergency beacon out of the pouch on his belt and set it on the table, before shrugging on a robe to wear to the showers. "We handled it."

Shiro's head tilted at the 'we.' "I guess I should just be grateful that things works out," he said finally. "I'm ... glad, that you and Lance seem to be getting along better."

"Shiro," Keith said softly, and he watched as Shiro squared his shoulders before turning around. It wasn't as pungent now, but it was still there, the scent of desire rolling off Shiro in almost visible waves. Keith watched Shiro wet his lips and felt his entire body tense up, even though Shiro was not raising his eyes to Keith's. "Look at me."

There was a moment where the balance of power in the room seemed to shift, and Keith felt his heartbeat speed up as Shiro met his eyes. They were both breathing harder than they should be, just standing in a room together, and after a moment of direct eye contact Shiro crossed the room to him.