shining like the stars

34

They found Shiro in the training room, using the regular old earth-style exercise equipment to lift weights. Pidge and Hunk were off in the corner doing questionable things in the name of science, or something, Lance wasn't really paying much attention to them anyway and they were fucking with the memory core and if Lance never ever had to deal with the memory core ever again it would be too fucking soon.

"I talked to Lance," Keith said, as if Lance wasn't standing right beside him, a step back. Lance rolled his eyes and groaned – for fuck's sake, Keith was still holding his hand. He didn't yank it away to fold his arms even though he really desperately wanted to, because Shiro was sitting on a bench right in front of him wearing a tight black tee shirt that was like a second skin, and Lance felt like he should have that barrier of his crossed arms between them. It took a lot to disregard that creeping feeling, because it wasn't uncomfortable, he wasn't scared of Shiro ... but he felt like he should have a buffer all the same.

"Did you," Shiro said in an amused tone, his eyes flitting to Lance's face before looking back to Keith.

"Yeah," Lance said, and pulled his hand free from Keith's, giving in to the need to cross his arms, to close himself off. The vulnerability frustrated him, and he glanced across the large open space of the room, expecting to see Pidge and Hunk watching them closely. "I'm willing to try this out," he said finally. "I don't know how far I'm comfortable with going and stuff, but..." he looked at Keith, who was watching him, and he shrugged loosely, arms still folded. "I'll give it a shot."

Shiro's expression was not quite what he expected. "I don't want you to feel pressured into anything, Lance."

"I don't feel pressured," Lance snapped back quicker than he intended, voice going a bit louder than. He shook his head once to clear it, then tried again. "I'm not afraid of you," he said firmly. "Keith trusts you, and I..." he trailed off and looked at Keith, who was staring at him with a surprised expression. "I trust Keith's judgment," Lance said finally.

"Wow," Keith said, eyes wide. "Can you say that again? I want to get that on a recording."

"In this," Lance clarified. "I still think you have shit judgment elsewhere."

"That's not what you said, you can't just modify it how you please," Keith said. "You said you trust me!" He gloated over this, looking quite pleased, and Lance's face turned pink. He turned toward Keith and shoved him, one hand in the center of his chest.

"Dick!" Lance said loudly. "You're a fucking asshole, Keith!"

"Ooooh," Pidge called from across the room. "Is that any way to talk to your boyfriend, Lance?"

"Yeah," Keith said, with the smile tugging on the corners of his mouth as he repeated Pidge. "Is that any way to talk to your boyfriend, Lance?"

"Don't you dare gang up on me," Lance said, then half turned and pointed a finger at Shiro. "Don't you say it, too!"

Shiro shrugged loosely, a mischievous expression forming on his face. "Well," he said. "Maybe I don't want you talking that way to my boyfriend, did you think about that?"

"I've changed my mind, you two can have each other," Lance said, and waved his hand in the air sarcastically. "I'm out." He turned around and marched decisively toward where Pidge and Hunk were working on the memory core. "Hey Pidge, wanna date me?"

Pidge said, without looking up from her computer, "I'm gay."

"Hunk? Buddy?"

Hunk held up his hands. "I, tragically, am not gay."