Chapter Text
The paladins were hanging out in the lounge room hanging out right after training. Pidge was on their laptop, Hunk and Lance were laughing at their silly jokes, and Keith was polishing his knife. Shiro stood against the wall, watching them from a distance. Allura and Coran entered the room.
"Greetings my paladins!" She smiled at them. "Just to inform you we are making a quick stop at the nearest planet to grab some supplies for the ship. I know our current situation is stressful, so this is sort of like a tiny vacation from being defenders of the universe."
Keith looked up "Are you sure princess?"
"Yes. I feel like we all deserve a small break." She smiled again.
"We'll be entering the atmosphere soon so everyone get ready!" said Coran.
Soon they landed and the seven of them got off the ship and made their way towards the city. It was very high tech for the buildings were strangely shaped towers, everything glistened and there was a strange electric buzz in the air. There were holograms lining the streets advertising different things. They made their way to a large building that had a sign written in an alien language. They went inside and there were many aliens and different beings inside. There were small shops along the walls and in between like an alien bazar. It was very crowded and many of the other aliens were bumping into each other leaving little to no room between them. Pidge quickly walked off, seeing an electronics booth with Hunk following behind them. Shiro, Coran, and Allura disappeared into the crowd to look for the supplies for the ship, leaving Keith and Lance to their own demise.
Lance groaned "why the quiznak did they leave me with you?!"
"Wow thanks. Its not like I want to hang around you either. But I dont exactly want to get lost here by myself. Plus, the others kind of disappeared as soon as we got in here. So I guess were stuck together till we leave."
"Hey whats that!" Lance strolled over to a booth, looking around at the weird objects.
"Hey!" Keith went after him quickly after him, hitting aliens as he tried to keep his eyes on the blue paladin.
"Don't just walk off like that! You dont even know this place!"
"Psh, chill out mullet head. I know where we are. We're right next to... uh.." Lance looked around until he saw a booth that was selling some sort of clothing for aliens with eight arms or more. "That weird shirt shop thingy!"
"Wow thats real specific..." he rolled his eyes. 'I hope we leave soon..'
The two walked around for what seemed like hours. They came to a weird bug shop that Lance demanded to go into. He looked at the varying sized creatures in the cages. Some looked normal like the ones on earth. Some looked so bizarre it was amazing that they even existed. Lance looked at a certain bug that looked like a large ant. It smelled really bad and seemed to be oozing something from the pores of it's exoskeleton.
"Ah yes! That one is very smelly but it makes a good pet!" The shop keeper proclaimed to lance.
He held his nose, looking a at the greasy looking bug. Keith went further into the back by himself, a little sad that these creatures were in cages. There were many stacked on top of each other and it seemed a little too cluttered. As he went further back, he noticed a very small cage in the back of the room that had a red cloth hanging over it. It was sitting in the dark, not very noticeable. Keith glanced over his shoulder to look at the shop keeper who was pulling out a bug for lance. Curiosity got to him and he went over to it. He lifted the cloth a little and something chirped loudly. He jumped, putting the cloth back down and glanced around the tower of cages to the front. They must have not heard it because the shop keeper was still talking to lance about bugs and lance was looking like was ready to bolt out of there. He lifted the cloth again and a pink beetle looking bug crawled in a circle and jumped up and down. It was almost like it was excited that Keith noticed it.
"Hey there little fella..."
He glanced back around the tower to check again. The coast was clear and he opened the cage a little, letting the really cute bug onto his hand. It had big eyes, thin antenna, and the body about the size of his palm. Its shell was a shiny pink color that was sure to look pretty in the sun. It hopped up and down in his hand, almost like it was happy.
"Hey!! What are you doing back here?! Didnt you see the sign?!"
Keith hadn't notice the shop keeper come into the back. He had completely missed the sign telling him not to come into this area. But really it wasn't his fault considering he couldn't read the language.
The bug chirped loudly at the sudden yelling and bit keith's hand, making him drop it. The bug landed with a soft plop and then tried to fly off before the alien shop keeper grabbed it. Keith had his eyes clenched shut from the stinging bite.it felt like his hand was on fire.
Lance heard the yelling and ran to the back, "dude whats going on?!"
Keith looked up at Lance before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out.
The red paladin groaned as he blinked his eyes, trying to open them to the harsh light that was around him.
"Wh-... where am I- ah!" His head pounded as he tried to sit up.
"Woah dude!" Lance grabbed him and tried to lay him back down.
Keith looked at Lance groggily and his chest suddenly felt tight and warm and tingly. He groaned, feeling really weird. "W-where am I?"
"You're back on the ship in the cryopod room." Shiro spoke up. He came over and put a hand on his shoulder. "How are you feeling buddy? You gave us quite a scare."
"What are you talking about...? W...what happened..? All I remember is this sharp pain in my hand and then.. Lance.." he glanced at the other who was on the right side of him. He felt his stomach do flips.
"Allura said you were bit by something." Shiro spoke.
"Oh.. I think I remember that now.." he rubbed his temple and looked at his hand that was still burning. It was wrapped up tight.
"Her, Coran, and Pidge are trying to get more info on it. Hunk is in the kitchen making you something to eat. I'm going to go check on him so Lance, behave and watch Keith. Make sure nothing happens." Shiro stood and Lance mock saluted him. The black paladin chuckled a little and left the room. Keith looked at Lance, studying his face. He never noticed how long his eyelashes were before or how his brown hair looked so soft and fluffy. He watched to touch it. To smell it.
'Wait, what?'
"Uh dude.. why are you staring so intensely at me..?" Lance asked him
"I'm not staring." Keith said licking his lips.
"you are too! You're doing it right now and- woah what are you doing?!"
Keith had started carressing Lance's cheek and moved his hand up into his hair. Lance blushed and quickly pushed it away. Keith took his other hand and pushed Lance's jacket off one shoulder and rubbed his arm gently.
"U-u-um.." Lance felt his face heat up and tried to push Keith away. Keith cralwed onto his lap and ran his fingers through the brunnette's hair.
Lance couldnt take this. He pushed Keith off. His face was as red as a beet. He turned around him and left the room quickly, leaving Keith sitting on the floor.