The Red Paladins Klance

Chapter 27

There was one person Keith was focusing on today, and that was his mate. It was his birthday, and Keith had gotten up early, determined to make today the best day that Lance would ever have. He leaned down and kissed Lance’s temple, gently nuzzling him. “I’ll be back in a bit.” He whispered before going off. A bit later on, Lance woke up, and got a bit confused when he didn’t find Keith asleep on top of him. He instantly felt very cold, wanting the warmth of his mate. He rubbed his eyes as he got up, walking out of their shared room in the Castle. “Keith?” He called out as he walked through the halls, tired. He looked in the training deck, but didn’t find him there. He peeked his head into Red’s hangar, “Keith?” He called. No answer. He made his way onto the observation deck, where Shiro and the others were. “Hey buddy. Happy birthday.” Hunk said, coming to him and squishing him in a hug.

    He hugged him back, “Thanks, Hunk.” He said. The others wished him a happy birthday as well, but there was one person he wanted to hear it from the most. “Have you guys seen Keith? He wasn’t with me when I woke up.” He asked. Shiro smiled, “Oh, he said he’ll be back soon. He’s just out doing something.” He said. Lance sighed, rubbing his face as his shoulders dropped. “Really? He didn’t say what?” He asked. “Don’t worry.” Shiro chuckled. Lance sat down in his chair, “I just wanted to cuddle with him today...” He quietly whined, closing his eyes as he rested his cheek on his palm. He could hear the others quietly talking, but he was slipping in and out of a light doze to actually listen. He just wanted to see Keith...

“We need someone to distract him.” Pidge said quietly, keeping her eyes on the dozing birthday boy

“He won’t want to be with anyone except Keith today. If he keeps him away from the castle, he’ll expect us to make everything perfect for him.” Hunk said. “He said Lance would want to spend the day with him. We’ll tell him when he’s finished setting things up in the lounge.” Shiro said. A bit later, Keith came in, “All right. I finished setting everything up. Where’s...” He began, but as he looked around at the others, his eyes suddenly caught something. He turned, only for his eyes to widen when he saw that Lance was also in the room, curled up, sleeping in his chair. He smiled, and looked at the others, “When did he wake up?” He asked as he went to Lance, reaching out and running his fingers through his hair. “Just a bit before you came. He was looking for you. He wanted you to say happy birthday to him.” Pidge said. “Aww...” Keith said affectionately, his smile widening as he knelt down, gently brushing Lance’s cheek. Lance twitched, mumbling incoherently.

  “We can take care of everything while you distract him.” Shiro said. “Really? Are you guys sure?” Keith asked, turning to them. “Yeah. Totally. We know you want to make this day the best day for him, so we’ll do our best. Just go and do some things with him while we prepare everything. Be back in like...let’s say, 3 hours?” Shiro said. Keith smiled, “Thanks, Guys. Really. I owe you.” He said. “No prob. We’ll see you in 3 hours.” Shiro said as they all walked out of the observation deck. Keith leaned to Lance and kissed his head, “Hey. Hey, Blue. C’mon, wake up. You’re not supposed to be sleeping on these chairs, sweetheart, they’re not very comfortable.” He whispered. Lance shifted, but did not wake up. Keith gently nudged him, “Lance. Come on, let me wish you a happy birthday.” He said softly. Lance moved again, and Keith could see he was slowly coming to, his eyes fluttering.

He then pushed himself up, rubbing them.

“Keith...?” He mumbled. Keith smiled, “Hey Blue.” He said fondly. Lance opened his eyes, and instantly brightened, smiling back. “Hey Red. Where were you, I was looking for you.” He said, his voice still heavy from sleep. “I’m sorry. I woke up a bit early, I was just doing something.” Keith said. “Hmm?” Lance said curiously, and Keith shook his head. “You’ll see. Not right now, though. A bit later.” He said. As Lance yawned, Keith craned his head and affectionately kissed his cheek, “Happy birthday, babe.” He said fondly. Lance’s smile widened, “I’ve been wanting to hear it from you since I woke up.” He said. Keith laughed, “C’mon. You and me, let’s get out of here. Today’s your day, we’ll do anything you want.” He said, touching his hand. “What I really wanted was to snuggle with you.” Lance said. “You’re cute, but let’s go out and do something first before we can get to that.” Keith teased, reaching for him and wrapping his arms around his waist. “What are you-Keith!” Lance began, but cried in slight surprise when Keith pulled him to him, and threw him over his shoulder, standing up. “Really?” He heard Lance say.

    “Really. So what do you want to do? Do you want to walk around the city? We can go to your home and walk around there, or we can do something totally different, like go to any place you want. Tell me, and we’ll do it.” Keith said as he walked out the door and into the halls. “Put me down first.” Lance said. Keith stopped and set him down, letting him go. Lance stretched his arms, “Hmm. Anywhere I want?” He asked. Keith nodded, “Anywhere you want. It’s your day.” He said. Lance smiled, “I, um...” He trailed off, laughing nervously. “What? Tell me.” Keith said. “Well...there’s this-um-carnival I wanted us to go to one day.” Lance said, rubbing the back of his neck, turning red. “A carnival? Where? Around here?” Keith asked. “No, it’s actually in Varadero. Can we do that?” Lance said. Keith smiled, “Why are you asking? Of course we’ll go. I’ve never been to a carnival before. That sounds like fun.” He said.

Lance brightened and nodded, and they went off.

In Varadero, they were at the carnival. Lance won every shooting game, and Keith was watching him with every second, proud and fond. All day, Lance was smiling so widely and happily, and it was the most best thing ever. “So how is it so far for your first carnival?” Lance asked at one point, nudging Keith. Keith looked at him, and got distracted by the lights reflecting off Lance’s eyes, making them glitter. “Beautiful.” Keith vaguely said, caught in his eyes. Lance laughed nervously, blushing darkly. “I-I wasn’t talking about my eyes, Red.” He stuttered. Keith shook out of his dazed trance, “It was fun, but my attention was on you. You were having so much fun. You were so happy.” He said. Lance turned redder, “I was. Thank you, Red. You made this the best day ever.” He said shyly. “It’s not over yet.” Keith said. Lance’s eyes widened, “Wait, what? There’s more?” He asked, surprised.

   Keith laughed, “Yep. Come on. We gotta go back to the Castle.” He said, taking his hand and pulling him with him. It was around late afternoon when the two finally came upon the Castle, heading inside. “I don’t understand.” Lance said, confused. Keith only smiled, leading him to the lounge. He let Lance enter first as the lights turned on, and the team jumped out from hiding. “Surprise!” They shouted. Lance gasped, his eyes more wide than humanly possible. He looked at Keith, “You...you did this for me? You threw me a party?” He asked softly. Keith smiled, “Of course I did, why wouldn’t I? I wanted to make this the best day ever for you.” He said. Lance looked like he was about to cry. He tightly embraced Keith, “You’re the best. You have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you.” He whispered. Keith softly laughed, “You’re welcome, sweetheart.” Keith said. Lance pulled back after a few seconds and went to the others, embracing them as well. “When did he tell you guys about this?” He asked. “Yesterday. He was planning since then.” Pidge said.

“I might actually cry. This means so much to me.” Lance said.

Keith smiled fondly, watching him. The party went on ‘til night, and Keith had never left Lance’s side, seeing that once again, Lance had never stopped smiling. Many pictures were taken of the party, which would be put up later for the team to see and remember. A few of them had Keith putting cake on Lance’s nose and cheeks, the two of them laughing. The rest of the team finally bid the two goodnight, leaving them in the lounge, eating cake. Keith looked at Lance, meeting his glittering eyes. Keith smiled, “I would have done more for you, you know.” He said. Lance smiled back, “That would have been way too much. This was enough.” He said. He then reached out, nudging their fingers together. “I loved every single second of today. I know I said this already, a lot, but it really does mean so much that you went out of your way to do all this for me.” He said softly. “Why wouldn’t I? You’re my mate, Lance, I’d do anything for you.” Keith said.

   Lance smiled again and suddenly shifted closer to him, leaning down and kissing his cheek. “Thank you so much, Red.” He said softly, pulling back. “You’re welcome, Blue. I’m happy that you had so much fun. I made sure that everything was perfect. You deserved nothing but the best.” Keith said. Lance suddenly, quickly leaned in again and kissed him. After a second, he pulled back. “That’s you, you idiot.” He whispered, smiling. Keith softly laughed, blushing, “I love you, Blue.” He whispered. “That’s not fair, I was going to say it first. Always beating me to the punch.” Lance whispered. Keith softly laughed and affectionately nuzzled him, purring. Lance instantly nuzzled him back, “But I love you too, Red.” He whispered.