There, nestled against my pulse

Chapter 5

"Found you!" Lance says, vaulting over the back of the couch. He lands with a soft thump that bounces Keith up in his seat. "Hey, I have a question. You don't have to answer it, but uh, have you met your soulmate?"

There are two bowls of...something in Lance's hands, and he hands one to Keith. The substance inside is neon purple and looks like some kind of alien yogurt.

"No, I haven't," Keith replies absently. He puts his book down. Taking a spoon from Lance's outstretched hand, he stabs it into the yogurt and the purple stuff cracks right through like dry, hardpacked earth. "What is this?"

"I have no idea," Lance says cheerily. "We picked it up on Kivur V, and no one's tried it out yet. On a count of three?"

"One."

"Two." Lance lifts his spoonful in the air like he's about to give a toast, grinning expectantly, and it's not adorably silly, it's not.

Keith taps his own spoon against Lance's with a reluctant smile. "Three."

They swallow down the yogurt-thing simultaneously and look at each other for exactly three seconds before hacking it all back up into their bowls.

Bent over his knees, Keith slams a fist on his chest and wheezes. Beside him, Lance sounds like he's trying desperately to cough up his entire digestive tract. When Keith looks over, he's blinking back tears, tongue sticking out; it's violet.

"God, that was disgusting," Lance croaks. "Tasted like—"

"Grass and dog food and toenails?" Keith puts his bowl on the floor and pushes it far, far away with his foot. He wrinkles his nose. "Do we have water?"

"Yeah, here." Lance pulls two bottles out of his huge jacket pockets, along with brightly wrapped candies. "Also stole some sweets from the Hunk's secret stash earlier."

"You knew this would happen, didn't you?" Keith grabs a bottle, unscrews it and downs half of it while reaching over to grasp blindly at Lance's hands.

Lance snickers and takes Keith's wiggling fingers in his, holding them still and placing the candies in Keith's palm with exaggerated care. "I mean, I had no idea it'd be that bad. If I did, I wouldn't have tried it with you."

"Wow, thanks." Keith wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He unwraps the candies and plops all three of them into his mouth, rolling them around to get the gross aftertaste out of his mouth. "Next time? Get Shiro to be your guinea pig."

"Uh, no way." Lance has his cheeks stuffed with the sweets, and the incredulous look he gives Keith makes him look like a chipmunk that's been caught red-handed in the cookie jar. "Last time Pidge and Hunk tried to trick him into eating those Yredian shit-apples—"

"Shit-apples?"

"They tasted like absolute shit, okay—"

"How do you know what that tastes like—"

Lance smacks a hand over Keith's mouth. "Oh my god, Keith, why don't you ever let me finish!"

Keith retaliates by opening his mouth and licking a slobbering line up Lance's palm, automatically noting the salt and the sweet stickiness leftover from the candy. He deliriously wonders if Lance's mouth would taste the same.

Lance squawks, ripping his hand away and waving it in the air wildly before lurching towards Keith to wipe it on his shirt.

"Hey!" Keith scuttles backwards on the couch, swatting away Lance's vicious attempts to drag his hand all over Keith's chest. "Get your filthy hands off me!"

"You're the one who made it filthy, dude! Who licks people's hands like that anymore? What are you, an animal?"

Keith reaches the end of the couch, armrest bumping into this back, and at that moment, Lance pounces. He lands on Keith's front with an oomph and presses his forearm down on Keith's collarbone, cackling as he cleans his hand off with exaggerated swipes.