Chapter Text
Lance yelped when Keith shoved him into a nearby storage container. “What are you doing?” he whispered furiously as Keith hopped in next to him and closed the lid. The box was cold against his back and empty save for the two people inside.
The box was also dark, so Lance assumed the thing clamped over his mouth was Keith’s hand. “Be quiet.” Lance listened, frozen in silence as the pounding footsteps ran by them through the cargo bay. Keith removed his hand and Lance heard him push at the top. It didn’t move.
“Uh, Keith? Buddy? Why aren’t you opening the lid?” That was when Lance noticed their position. He was on his back, legs pulled up a ways and knees bent. Something warm rested between his thighs. ‘Keith’ his mind supplied. The soles of his shoes were braced against the far end of the box. From what Lance could judge, it felt kind of long, but short in height. Keith’s breathing sounded pretty close. Lance knew Keith had half fallen on him when they’d gotten in the box, Keith’s weight forcing the air out of his own lungs. Lance heard skin slap against the metal on either side of his head.
Something moved to the left of Lance’s head and he flinched away from it. “Relax, it’s just me.” said Keith. Lance didn’t relax.
What he assumed was Keith’s hand returned to sit next to Lance’s head, catching the edge of the hairs there. A dull thud resounded in time with Keith grunting and the whole box shifted. Keith had slammed against the top. “Keith, why isn’t it opening? Are we stuck in here?”
“Quiet!” Keith’s voice was further away than before, but it still filled the container. A com beeped, different from the one of their suits. The planet they were on for negotiations found wearing armor offensive. Something about ‘to feel the need to protect oneself from us is to say you find us a threat’ or another. Lance hadn’t listened, one hundred percent more occupied with glancing toward a certain red paladin. Keith’s voice was suddenly closer. “Guys? We uh, have a problem.”
“Are you two alright?” Shiro responded in a worried tone, “What’s wrong?”
“We’re kind of... stuck in a box.”
“It’s Keith’s fault by the way!”
“Shut up, Lance,” Keith sounded more irritated than usual and his voice turned a little towards murderous as he explained. “But, yeah, we’re stuck here and it locked when we jumped in to hide from the guards. We need somebody to get us out.”
Lance could have sworn he heard Pidge and Hunk snickering over the coms. He returned his attention to Shiro’s voice. “I’m sorry boys. You’ll have to wait a while. We can’t wrap up the diplomacy meeting with the Erinies in anything less than an hour and we really can’t spare anybody.”
Lance groaned. “Don’t leave me here with him, Shiro!”
“I’m sure it’ll be good for you two to bond. We’ll come get you later. Com us if you’re in immediate danger.” With that the coms clicked, signaling that Shiro had cut them off.
Keith summarized their thoughts fairly well. “Fuck.”
It started out as a simple diplomatic mission. There weren’t even any Galra, just a planet that Altea used to have close relations with. Allura had hoped they could form a solid alliance once more and restock on supplies, but upon feeling something off with the king of the Erino, she sent Keith and Lance to sneak around the back halls and cargo bay to see what they could find out.
Clearly, that had gone well.
“Lance, stop squirming!” Keith snapped. Lance didn’t stop, continuing to try and shuffle away from Keith and give himself more room. The surprise of being shoved into a box under a teammate he was kind of hardcore crushing on had distracted Lance, but now a begrudgingly familiar tightness of his chest was rising.
Lance had had panic attacks before. He and small spaces didn’t tend to mix well and the symptoms were there. His forehead felt damp and his hair was beginning to stick. His whole body shook.
“We n-need to get out, Keith. I can’t sit in here f-for an hour!” Lance shuffled his hips, wriggling his whole body as he pressed his hands behind him and shoved with his feet at the other end of the box. The metal didn’t give. “I feel like I can’t breathe.” Lance’s breath had sped up, and he knew Keith realized this as well.
“Lance?” Keith’s tone was different from before, no longer sharp words being spat out. It was more concerned and gentle. “Lance, are you claustrophobic?”
Lance felt the mortification burn through him and he was suddenly glad the box was too dark for Keith to see him, words coming out between gasps for air. “Yes.” Wheeze. “Happy now?” Despite the dark, colors began to dance in his vision. “Make fun of me later.”
Keith’s sounded offended, then worried. “I would never make fun of you for something like that, but I need you to slow your breathing down.”
Lance tried, but nothing came of it. He startled when Keith shifted above him, what Lance assumed was Keith’s nose brushing against his own. “What are you-“
A hand pressed itself to Lance’s forehead, stroking his hair back until it reached his ear and then started again. The motion was soothing, and despite the unforgiving circumstances, Lance reveled a little in the attention Keith was giving him beneath the fear. “Are you… petting me?”
Keith pulled his hand back. “I was trying to help, but if you-“
“No, wait! Don’t... stop.” Lance hated how desperate he sounded, but the stroking had grounded him, given him something to count his breaths with. Keith resumed his ministrations and though it didn’t disappear completely the fear became manageable, something Lance could control. “P-please don’t stop.”
Keith kept petting Lance as he spoke. “Better now?”
Lance nodded, brushing their noses together. “Yeah. Sort of.”
“Good.” Keith’s breath was warm against him. “Are you gonna be okay until they rescue us?”
“Yeah, I think I’ll be okay.” The moment was intimate, almost too intimate for Lance to process. Why was Keith being so gentle?
The moment was broken when some of Lance’s senses came back to him. Something warm… and stiff… was pressed against the inside of his thigh.
“Keith, is that your dick?” Lance squeaked. Lance could feel the heat from Keith blushing. The petting stopped.
“Well, you wouldn’t stop squirming! And you were rubbing your ass against my crotch!” Keith snapped. “I’m nineteen! What did you expect?” Lance shuffled and tried to distance himself from his teammate.
“It certainly wasn’t you getting a boner over a dude near your dick while he has a panic attack!”
“I’m gay, Lance! You know this!” Keith sounded exasperated.
“And I’m bi! That doesn’t explain the boner-while-Lance-panics part!”
“God da- I didn’t get a boner because you were scared!”
“Then why did you?!”
“Because it’s you!”
Lance could feel Keith trembling above him, the tension of his confession making the air thick.
“What?” Lance’s confusion and embarrassment came to a halt. Keith liked him?
“I like you, Lance. So, yeah. Having somebody you have a major crush on grind against you kinda gets the gears turning. Look, you can just forget I said anything, but, stop moving. You’ll make it worse.” Keith sounded defeated. Lance hated that sound.
He moved his hands from where they’d been crushed against his chest to slide down Keith’s front and rest on the boy’s ribs. Lance rubbed against Keith’s hard-on with a slow, testing motion of his hips.
Keith moaned and his head dropped onto Lance’s shoulder as he whispered in his ear. “What. Are. You. Doing?”
A shiver worked its way down Lance’s spine. He wanted to hear Keith make a noise like that again. “I… like you too. I don’t want to forget anything. Do you want me to stop?”
Lips kissed the skin above the edge of Lance’s shirt, beneath his jaw, then behind his ear. Air puffed over sensitive nerves. “No.” Keith shifted and Lance felt them line up properly, groaning in time with Keith.
Lance felt the pressure in his suit start to grow as he and Keith rocked together gently. He panted as the box grew warmer, a whine escaping his throat when teeth worried the edge of his ear, sliding down to mouth at the side of his neck.
“That okay?” Keith asked. Lance moved his hands from where they’d braced themselves on Keith’s sides to wrap around broad shoulders, pulling their chests together with a needy sound. Keith chuckled, uncharacteristically soft. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He threaded his fingers through the hair at the nape of Lance’s neck, rubbing the skin under his ear with his thumb. He used his other hand to push himself up a little, separating them and pulling back.
Lance was flushed more than he thought was possible, feeling the red creep down his neck and under his clothes. He felt a desperate need to be touched, overwhelmed by it to a point that it was unsettling. Lance whined again when Keith seemed to just sit there, but Keith shushed him.
“You look good like this.” His hand moved from Lance’s neck to stroke across his cheek, eventually cupping Lance’s jaw affectionately. .
“How can you even see me? It’s pitch black in here.”
Keith lowered his head, lips barely brushing Lance’s own. “Apparently Galra have night vision. I never knew humans didn’t. Besides, this sight isn’t for anybody else. You all moaning and grinding underneath me. Never took you for someone so submissive. Shouldn’t the ‘Great Lance’ want to be in charge?”
Lance tried to keep quiet but he couldn’t keep the want out of his voice. “Never took you for somebody so kinky, mullet bo-ahh!”
The hand that wasn’t on Lance's cheek had moved into the space Keith made when he rose up. It rubbed at the inside of Lance’s left thigh with dexterous fingers and the gentle press of nails made his leg tremble. “Hmm, what was that?”
“Fuck you.” Lance’s hips jerked up involuntarily, touching Keith’s hand against the part of him that strained in his jeans. The one graze was enough to make Lance’s head flop to the side, eyes narrowed against the sensation that rocked through him.
“Hey,” said Keith, “Turn this way.” He took a hold of Lance’s chin, other hand sliding its full palm up and down the back of Lance’s thigh, from the inside of his knee to just below his ass. Keith turned Lance’s face until they were once again barely touching their mouths. Keith splayed his fingers across Lance’s abdomen, pinning his hips with his palm, grinding down, completely in control.
Keith’s pace was practically torture. He was moving in slow circles and his grip kept Lance from pushing harder or going faster. “Keith.” His name slipped from Lance’s lips, drawing out the vowels as he held onto the word.
Lance could hear the smirk in Keith’s voice. It was that look he got when he knew he’d won a battle before it was over. “What, Lance?” His cool tone didn’t trick Lance. He could hear how Keith’s voice was strained and gravely. Could feel how warm the other boy was above him. Keith let out his own groan before he spoke. “You gotta say the special word, Lance.”
Lance begged. “Please. Go harder, faster, something.” Keith was silent and Lance could have cried at the frustration in his head and his groin. He felt so tight and tense, desperate for something to relieve the pressure.
“Hmm, no.” Keith moved even slower than before and Lance’s eyes start to water. He scrabbled at the backs of Keith’s shoulders, the jacket protecting them from Lance’s scratching.
“Please, Keith, I’ll do anything.” Lance needed something, anything.
“Anything? Would you kiss me?”
Lance had never kissed somebody faster in his life. He arched up into Keith, pressing his lips off-center against the red paladin’s with hungry force. Keith returned it with a soft pressure, a hand on Lance’s chest pushing him back down. “Slow down, Lance. You’re not really that desperate, are you?” Keith teased, “Why don’t you be a good boy, and do what I tell you?”
Sparks flew from Lance’s groin to his head and he moaned at the sound of Keith’s voice. “Oh, you like that don’t you? Be a good boy, Lance, and kiss me again?” Lance kissed Keith again and he didn’t care that Keith’s lips were chapped or that he tasted like that weird alien dish from dinner. He tasted like Keith and Lance wanted it.
Keith picked up from where his hips had stuttered to a stop and began to thrust against Lance with earnest. Lance whined, mouth opening against Keith’s and Keith dragged a tongue across his lower lip before delving in and scraping across the tops of his teeth. He let Keith explore for a minute before pushing back and taking control. Lance was met with a little resistance, but Keith relented, letting him touch over sharp canines and smooth molars. They eventually settled somewhere in the middle, kissing without stopping and god-damn did it feel good.
Lance sunk his hands into Keith’s hair, tugging gently and reveling in the groan it evoked. Keith leaned away and Lance tried to follow, only to be pressed down again. “Fuck, Lance.” He slid his hand down Lance’s chest, the self-control from before evidently gone as he unbuttoned the front of Lance’s jeans and shuffled them down. Lance laughed when Keith smacked his elbow, and Keith got his revenge when he pulled down his pants and boxers in one sweep. Lance had yelped at the cold touch to bare skin. They were both laughing then, and when they calmed down Keith whispered, “Touch me?”
Lance gulped, still lightheaded from the moment, but he reached forward and after a short moment of searching, palmed Keith’s erection through his boxers. “Yeah, that’s good. Like that.”
Lance could get used to Keith moaning his name, but right then his dick wanted attention. “Keith, Me too. Please?”
Lance groaned briefly as Keith wrapped calloused fingers around his cock and Lance returned the touch. It was heavy in his palm, and he gave it a few experimental strokes like he would for himself. Judging by the noise Keith made, he felt he’d done something right. “Hey Lance, hold on.” Lance pulled his hand back and Keith’s fingers ran up and down the top of his leg from hip to knee. “How far do you want to go?”
If you had asked Lance just the day before if he’d wanted to have sex with Keith he would have told you ‘No. Of course not.’ and laughed it off. He would have been lying. But right now, Lance wanted nothing more. “How far can we...?”
Keith kissed him again, lips sliding over one another and hands pulling down Lance’s pants and boxers. “I’m going to assume you don’t have a condom.”
Lance shook his head, “No.”
Keith kissed Lance’s forehead and whispered into the damp, brown hair there. “I’m not gonna hurt you. Trust me, spit isn’t the same as lube.”
Lance nodded, knowing that Keith could see it and tilted his head up for a kiss. It was chaste, reassuring, and it ended a little too soon. “What can we do then?”
Keith kissed his cheek and Lance felt him smile. “This.” Lance arched when smooth fingers wrapped around his dick and moved up and down with a loose fist.
A high pitched keen reverberated around the space as Keith thumbed his slit, moving to rub under the head. Lance couldn’t think straight, eyes rolling up and panting against Keith’s mouth. Keith stopped, and in a smug whisper, said, “Hey, don’t forget about me now.”
Lance felt his way back toward Keith’s cock, mimicking Keith’s own actions and they fell into a steady pace. The angle was awkward for his wrist and he wasn’t exactly sure what to do, but Lance loved it anyway. The building pressure told him it wouldn’t last much longer though. “Keith,” breathed Lance. “I’m gonna soon”
Keith kissed him, then his cheek, his jaw, then the shell of his ear. “Cum for me, Lance.”
Lance screamed, voice muffled by Keith’s mouth sealing over his own as he came between them. He was pretty sure he’d just ascended to another plain of existence. A few thrusts later and Keith stilled his small motions, something warm spreading over Lance’s palm. They lay in silence for a few moments, the only sound their harsh breathing.
Lance grimaced when he felt the cooling liquid start to drip down his arm. “I feel so gross.”
Keith snorted, bringing the hand previously around Lance’s dick to sit in-between their faces, close enough that Lance could smell it. “Yeah, well you jizzed in my hand too, so I’d say we’re both feeling pretty gross right now.” Lance wasn’t sure what prompted him to do it, but he leaned forward and licked Keith’s hand, tongue dragging through the mess he’d made. Keith let him, breath catching when Lance pulled two fingers into his mouth. Eventually Keith’s hand was clean, and Lance lay back.
A hand gripped his wrist, warm fingers pulling it up. Keith licked Lance’s hand, gentle strokes with a soft tongue until nothing remained.
He pulled Keith down into a tight hug, tucking his nose into the other’s shoulder. Keith smelled like sex, but underneath it was the desert and sweat and something else uniquely Keith.
“Hey, Keith?”
Keith grunted. Real sexy there, Lance thought.
“What are we now?” It wasn’t everyday you got stuck in a box, confessed to somebody, then gave each other fantastic handjobs. Lance needed some solid lines drawn to guide him through the haze that had become his and Keith’s relationship. Lance felt Keith shrug under his hands. “Oh, very helpful.”
Keith growled a little. “I don’t know, Lance. What do you want me to say? Do you want to be my boyfriend? Are we going to pretend this never happened?”
“That’s why I asked you! I don’t want to pretend it never happened, but most people go on a date or at least to dinner before they jack each other off. But we’re….”
Keith sighed, the fight gone from his voice, and he ran his fingers through Lance’s hair as he finished his sentence. “-not exactly most people. Are we?”
Lance leaned into Keith’s petting. “No, we aren’t. We pilot giant magical-slash-mechanical lions through space to fight evil purple cat-bats and save planets.” Dating Keith couldn’t be any weirder than that. “Ask me again?”
“Hey Lance, will you be my boyfriend?”
Lance kissed him.
When Hunk opened the box they’d tracked Keith and Lance to, he immediately shushed the others. Waving a hand, he motioned for them to come and look.
Inside the box, Keith and Lance had swapped places, with Keith laying on his back and Lance nestled half on top, half to the side. Lance had his face tucked into Keith’s neck, and Keith’s arms were thrown around Lance’s waist, holding him steady.
Pidge whipped out the camera.