Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Do you not want to?” Lance asks. Straight to the point. They’d been fooling around for the umpteenth time since that first night more than a movement ago. Lance had told him again how much he wanted Keith to fuck him but Keith hadn’t made any move to reach for the supplies in Lance’s bedside table.

Lance’s demeanor quickly flips from confident and ardent to apprehensive in a moment.

Keith is quick to contest him. “No.”

The concern on Lance’s face doesn’t dissipate, he raises himself up on his elbows and Keith has to shift back to give him space.

“No you don’t want to have sex or no you do?”

“We are having sex,” Keith argues.

Lance huffs, “you know what I mean Keith. Are you worried about space STDs? I was careful before. Coran checked me out–I’m clean and I have condoms for us anyway.” He’s fussing with a loose thread on the bedspread to avoid looking at Keith directly.

“Hey,” Keith tries to sound soothing, brushing Lance’s hair back from his forehead. He hadn’t realized how concerned Lance was about this. “That’s not it.”

Lance grabs Keith’s wrist as if he’s afraid Keith will disappear if he lets go. “Then what is it?” he searches Keith’s face, worrying his lower lip between his teeth and Keith’s heart clenches at his visible anxiousness. “Is it really just that you’re not ready?” Lance doesn’t sound like he believes that's the reason. Probably due to the fact that they’ve been exploring every other sexual act since the first night they slept in this room together.

Keith pulls the other boy the rest of the way up so they’re both sitting on the bed facing each other. “You’re right. It's not that either.”

Lance looks devastated.

Keith curses himself and quickly tries to remedy the situation. “Lance, hey come here.” Keith frames Lance’s face with his hands. “I’m sorry I should have said something. I didn’t realize you were stressing about it.”

Keith struggles to put what he’s been worried about into words. “I just want it to be special,” he starts lamely. Lance looks bewildered. “I know you’ve had a lot of experience,” he continues conscientiously, “and a lot of it–at least lately–has been purely physical.”

Now Lance looks like he’s ready to be offended. Before he can retort, Keith continues on. “I just didn’t want to fall right into bed.” At Lance’s raised eyebrow he concedes, “okay I know we’ve been doing other stuff but I just…I know it’s stupid I just didn’t want to be another guy that takes you home just to fuck.”

Lance just blinks at him for a solid dobosh while Keith becomes progressively more self-conscious. “You’re right. That is stupid,” he finally says.

Keith hangs his head. “But even though it’s completely misguided, the sentiment is actually kinda sweet? I think?” Lance’s face is all screwed up but Keith can tell he’s trying to hide his smile.

Lance rolls his eyes fondly. “You make it sound like I was being used and getting my heart broken but you forget that I was using them.”

He’s shaking his head like he can’t believe what an idiot Keith is. “And there were no feelings involved because I was already” Lance punctuates the last four words by jabbing his finger none too gently into Keith’s chest “in love with you.”

Keith smiles at the blue paladin sheepishly, rubbing his chest where he’s likely to have a bruise in the morning.

“Which is the reason that having sex with you will be special no matter what–and not just the first time but every time, you absolute idiot!” Lance throws his arms up dramatically to underline his point.

Keith knows Lance is right and he feels like an idiot, but the look Lance is directing his way is full of affection.

“I just really love you,” Keith murmurs.

A devilish grin spreads across Lance’s face as he pulls Keith back down on top of him. “Good, now prove it.”

Keith finally has reason to use the drawer that Lance has been unsubtly pointing to for over a week now. However he makes the mistake of divesting them both of their boxers before rummaging around for the supplies they need because Lance can’t keep his hands to himself.

“Hold on a second,” he reprimands, placing a hand on Lance’s chest, both to make Lance stay still and get better leverage to reach the contents of Lance’s ‘sex drawer’.

Lance bucks his hips in retaliation, causing Keith to gasp at the drag of bare skin. “If you make me wait one more minute for this I’m going to scream.”

Keith has the lube in hand but he’s still scrambling around to find a condom when Lance turns his face so they’re eye to eye. “We don’t need a condom,” he says and Keith is pretty sure he stops breathing. Lance seems to take his reaction as negative and quickly backpedals. “I mean, only if you want…”

Keith loves the way Lance’s blush colors his chest. It’s subtle due to his dark complexion but Keith can see it easily when he’s this close. He can feel the warmth under his hand where he’s still holding Lance down. “Okay” he says, “Yeah, if you’re sure.”

Lance’s smile is radiant and Keith is drawn in like a moth to the flame. “I’m sure,” Lance whispers. Keith settles back between Lance’s long legs and pops the cap of the tube he pilfered from the drawer.

It should not have come as a surprise to Keith that Lance is exceptionally vocal in bed. Lance is both exceptional, and the most vocal person Keith has ever met. He silently promises to never tell Lance to shut up ever again when he moans obscenely at merely the press of Keith’s finger at his entrance.

The sound goes straight to Keith’s dick. So does Lance impatiently trying to push down against him but Keith’s spare hand is holding his hip to keep him in place.

“Patience,” Keith says and huffs a laugh at Lance’s scowl.

“If you say ‘yields focus’ I will never forgive you.”

Keith snorts but decides it's time to give Lance what he’s been begging for and pushes his finger inside. Lance finally stops squirming and his features relax. “Fuck,” he breathes.

“Is that what you wanted?” Keith teases as he moves his finger, gently probing.

Lance relaxes only briefly before he makes it clear to Keith he wants more. Keith slips a second finger in and gently scissors them. Lance moans, still trying to get more, but he arches off the mattress when Keith crooks his fingers just so. Keith watches with fascination at the way Lance rolls his whole body like a tidal wave.

Water is so clearly Lance’s element, and not because he is the blue paladin. Lance is the blue paladin because he is the ocean personified.

Even before Keith learned that Lance grew up near the ocean, before he realized that Lance’s lithe build came from years of swimming and surfing, he’d equated the boy with water.

Lance is adaptable and playful like a bubbling brook, easily redirected but joyful and mesmerizing. Early on, Keith had made the mistake of thinking him superficial, shallow as a puddle, but had come to know Lance as a fathomless ocean. He has a current that draws others in, impossible to evade–like a rip tide. But instead of drowning, Keith feels the most alive he’s ever felt. Being with Lance is like a rainstorm in the desert; exhilarating, beautiful, electrifying, devastating.

Keith can’t help but think about how lucky he is as Lance writhes underneath him. He adds a third finger and uses his left hand to stroke Lance slowly as a distraction from the stretch.

“If you fuck me just right I can come untouched,” Lance tells him and Keith may actually be drowning now because the blue paladin says it so casually like its not the hottest thing Keith has ever heard. And Lance knows exactly what he’s doing, because Keith has never been one to turn down a challenge.

“Jesus fucking Christ Lance” Keith exhales.

Lance hums, obviously pleased with himself and Keith’s reaction, but his patience is fraying again because he’s using his full weight to try to fuck himself on Keith’s fingers. “I’m ready. Fuck me. Please,” he whines. Keith crooks his fingers one more time just to watch Lance’s eyes go hazy and unfocused, to hear him cry out.

He slides a pillow under Lance before slicking himself up. He kisses the inside of Lance’s thighs, biting gently and making Lance shudder. He lines himself up and meets Lance’s eyes. The blue paladin’s pupils are so blown that there is only an almost imperceptible ring of toffee brown. He’s biting his lip, eyes locked with Keith’s, half begging, half challenging him.

Keith takes one last steadying breath and wades in.

The first slow push into the heat of Lance’s body has Keith’s head spinning and he’s a little embarrassed to note that his breathing is ragged like he’s been running laps. He’s moving slowly, painstakingly slowly and Lance is beyond impatience at this point.

Keith feels long legs snake around him, ankles locking together behind his back and in one fluid motion he’s fully seated in Lance, both of them moaning in tandem.

“Don’t need to treat me like I’m made of glass samurai,” Lance murmurs, leaning up to capture Keith’s lips.

He unlocks his ankles to give Keith room to move but Keith’s still working on getting his bearings, gripping Lance’s hips like they’re the only thing keeping him from getting drawn out to sea. “Give me a second,” he grumbles, voice shaky. He takes another breath and begins to move.

The first slow drag as he pulls out has him shuddering. “God, you feel so good,” he murmurs. Lance’s smile is smug until Keith snaps his hips forward.

Lance throws his head back, “fuck,” he shouts.

After a few more thrusts–-out slow, but snapping in fast and hard–Keith sets a steady pace that has a constant rush of noises escaping Lance’s mouth. He’s responsive to every little adjustment Keith makes, gasping and moaning and grunting at every press of Keith’s hips against him.

When Keith changes the angle just so, Lance shouts his name, spurring him to hit that exact spot again and again. After a few more good thrusts that have Lance whining, Keith eases off a little, not wanting to end things too soon. He slows down his pace enough that he can lean down to kiss Lance’s neck and chests, enjoying the way the blue paladin sighs happily and reaches his long arms around his shoulders.

But then, without preamble, Lance slides one muscular leg around Keith’s back.“Not that you’re not doing a great job,” Lance starts and Keith has barely a second to contemplate what that means before he’s on his back.

In one of the most effortless moves Keith has ever experienced, Lance spins them over, keeping them locked together with that same leg, so that Lance ends up on top. He slides his calf out from under Keith’s back before he continues, “but I’ve been dreaming of riding you since the first time I saw you fly.”

Keith’s brain short circuits between Lance’s words, the way the blue paladin undulates his hips and the inexplicable way he was able to take control. Lance moves his hips in slow tantalizing waves, seeming to enjoy the feeling as much as Keith does. Every hitch in Lance’s breath is like a siren song bringing Keith closer and closer to the edge, but Lance laid out a challenge for him and Keith is nothing if not competitive.

Keith grips Lance’s hips and pushes up to meet him, going so far as to lift his hips off the mattress. Then he holds Lance there while he pistons his hips up to meet him, taking control back. Lance moans his name and his hands scramble to find purchase on Keith’s shoulders as Keith thrusts into him forcefully. Keith adjusts the angle just slightly and Lance is practically screaming, the sound being punched out of him with each thrust. “Oh fuck, oh fuck,” he moans.

The position is a little awkward for Keith and he can already feel one leg cramping but he refuses to let up until Lance finishes. He can tell he’s hitting Lance’s prostate with every thrust because Lance is practically incoherent at this point, and he can tell the blue paladin is close when the muscles of his thighs start to contract and his eyes roll back a little.

“You’re so fucking pretty like this,” Keith says, knowing how praise pushes Lance over the edge.

“Fuck Keith I’m gonna,” he shouts and Keith is ready. He thrusts hard a couple more times then pulls Lance’s hips hard against him, pushing up with all the strength left in his legs.

“Keith!” Lance screams as he slumps forward slightly, his orgasm leaving stripes across Keith’s chest and stomach.

Lance squirms a little so Keith settles them both back down on the mattress, giving Lance the chance to move off him if he needs to. Lance stays mounted though, rolling his hips in shallow circles, chasing the echoing waves of his orgasm.

Keith’s so close now it’s almost painful. It was hard enough to hold back when Lance was riding him, hips moving fluidly, but hearing the noises he made with each of Keith’s thrusts and seeing and feeling him come from Keith’s dick alone has him ready to reach his own end.

“Give me a second,” Lance pants, leaning his forehead against Keith, “that was, really, intense.”

Keith smiles at that, gratified, because Lance sounds absolutely wrecked and he did that.

It takes about a minute for Lance to catch his breath. Keith goes to grab Lance’s hips to help him dismount but Lance stops him. “No. I want you to come like this.”

Keith doesn’t have a ton of experience, but he knows that continuing after an orgasm is often uncomfortable if not outright painful. “You don’t have to,” Keith starts. He doesn’t care how he finishes, whether it's Lance’s hands or his mouth, it's guaranteed to be unbelievable.

“I want to,” Lance says, rolling his hips enticingly.

“Fuck Lance.” Keith searches his face for any sign of discomfort, any twinge of pain but Lance looks happy and enraptured.

“That’s the idea,” He quips. He starts out slow and shallow.

Keith can feel the heat building in him again before Lance even starts talking.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to get you like this.” His pace gradually swells as he continues. “You know I dreamed of flying my whole life…but when I saw you fly for the first time it was like the world shifted. You were so goddamn beautiful. I wanted to fly with you. I just knew that, given the chance, I’d follow you anywhere.”

Keith is losing his mind at this point between the sinful motion of Lance’s hips, the sound of his voice–deeper and scratchy from screaming his name–and the things he’s saying. He’s so close and Lance’s next words send him over the edge. “Keith, love, I want to feel you cum inside me.”

Keith cums so hard his vision whites out around the edges. He always thought the phrase ‘seeing stars’ was an exaggeration but there are no windows in the paladin quarters and yet it's like he’s looking out into space.

When he focuses back in the present a moment later he runs one hand through his sweaty hair the other still gripping onto Lance’s hip with bruising force. “I fucking love you,” Keith murmurs, raising up on his elbow so he can more easily pull Lance into a sloppy kiss.

“You fucking love me or you love fucking me?” Lance asks cheekily.

“Both,” Keith answers immediately, “definitely both.”

Lance hums happily and nuzzles into Keith’s neck. “Mmm both is good.”

After what is, without a doubt, the best sex Keith has ever experienced in his life, the two of them lay sprawled on the bed panting. Lance is curled into him with his head resting on Keith’s chest, one hand stroking idle shapes along his ribs that make Keith shiver and then abruptly the blue paladin is giggling uncontrollably.

Keith just raises an eyebrow at him when their eyes meet.

“You were worried about it being special,” Lance gasps, breathless from laughing. “Estúpido.”

Keith doesn’t speak Spanish but he can guess what that word means. In an instant they’re both laughing, Keith kissing any part of Lance he can reach in between bouts of giggles until Lance leans up so their lips meet in a languid kiss.

Chapter Text

When they are both bare Keith lies back down and makes himself comfortable before spreading his legs and pulling Lance back down to rest between them.

Lance’s expression changes from a goofy, wondering smile, to lips parted in a silent gasp. Keith watches his eyes practically darken to black at the implication. It’s not unheard of for Lance to top but it’s definitely not as frequent an occurrence. 

And It's not like they’re forcing each other into their usual roles–they both have a strong preference in a way that makes them incredibly compatible. That thought has Keith blushing like a virgin–which he decidedly is not. 

Lance hadn’t been his first everything but Keith had never bottomed before Lance. Maybe because he was an emotionally stunted teen with a chip on his shoulder; maybe because he’d never trusted anyone the way he trusted Lance–it didn’t really matter. With Lance, being vulnerable–being taken care of–hadn’t felt so frightening.

Still, it wasn’t the way these things usually ended up but Keith just needed Lance right now–to touch him, to prove he was real–he needed the other boy as close as he could possibly get him. He needed Lance under his skin.

Lance pauses and Keith doesn’t know what he’s so hesitant about. Maybe Lance thinks he’s not in the right headspace for this–he tends to overthink where Keith just acts.

“Are you sure you wanna do it this way?” Lance whispers, confirming Keith’s theory while staring earnestly into his eyes. “We haven’t–it's been a long time since–” they both flinch at that choice of words and Lance murmurs an apology against Keith’s skin. Even ignoring the time difference for Keith, it has been a while since they did this. “I just don’t want to hurt you,” Lance murmurs apologetically–trailing more kisses along Keith’s chest.

Keith isn’t bothered in the slightest–if he’s being honest with himself, he’d welcome the burn–even wants it to hurt a little. It would be a reminder that it's real–that all of this right here is happening and it’s not some vision or dream–but he doesn’t want to tell Lance that. The last thing Lance would ever want to do is hurt Keith.

Instead he tilts Lance’s chin up so their eyes meet. “We’ll take it slow then.”

Lance hums in agreement and their lips meet–soft at first, then returning to the frenzy of earlier. Lance’s hands are everywhere, touching him all over and driving him crazy.

The slide of skin is too much and not enough all at once and Keith knows he said they’d take it slow but Lance hasn’t even started touching him there yet.

“Lance,” he pants because he’s not above begging.

Normally this would be the point at which Lance teased him for being impatient but it doesn’t come, probably because they both know Keith earned this overwhelming desire over 2 years of almost solitude.

“So much for slow,” Lance chastises but Keith hears him slide open the drawer where they keep their supplies. 

Keith is confident if they weren’t already grinding against each other he’d have a pavlovian reaction to the sound of that specific drawer. It tended to feature in his wet dreams when he was away. He’s pretty sure Lance could awaken him from a dead sleep, simply by sliding open that drawer.

Lance dribbles some of their lube over his fingers before rubbing them together to warm it up a bit. “You ready?” he asks nonsensically considering Keith was just begging and now that he’d finally grabbed the lube Keith was pulling him closer.

“ Lance ,” he whines, cheeks darkening in embarrassment over how needy he sounds.

“Okay okay, sorry,” Lance grins–not at all apologetic. “Its just really hot when you’re like this.”

Keith opens his mouth to retort but he ends up choking on it as Lance finally touches him. His finger is cool from the gel–even after trying to warm it–but Keith knows Lance’s hands would warm up soon enough, and the sensation doesn’t really bother him–he just welcomes the feeling of being touched.

True to his promise, Lance is slow in preparing him–toruturously so. Keith pants and writhes beneath him and he hasn’t even breached him with a third finger yet. Keith’s fingers dig into Lance’s shoulders. It probably hurts and would definitely leave bruises but Keith can’t loosen his fingers. Lance doesn’t seem to mind though. It feels so good but there is also this intense, almost painful need for more.

He wants Lance closer– needs him closer.

“Fuck me,” he begs–directly into Lance’s ear, causing the shoulders he’s clinging so desperately to, to ripple in a shudder.

“Trying to,” Lance chokes but continues working Keith open.

“I mean now, Lance,” Keith argues–beyond caring how bratty he sounds.

Lance finally inserts a third finger, diligently ignoring Keith’s efforts to pressure him. “I know what you mean, baby, I’m just ignoring you.”

Keith doesn’t have time to start on a comeback before Lance is crooking his fingers just so and making Keith choke on his words.

Lance looks entirely too smug so Keith kisses that look off his face. 

Lance’s fingers feel amazing–he knows exactly where to touch Keith but it's still not enough. Even with Lance’s fingers filling him up he still feels too empty. And the angle Lance needs to touch him like this means they can’t press as close as Keith wants. He wants Lance’s arms around him. He wants Lance to fill him and surround him. He wants every sense filled to the brim with Lance.

“Okay,” Lance says as he pushes Keith down flat with his left hand flat to the center of Keith’s chest. Keith would complain about the loss of his warmth if Lance weren’t finally lining himself up to Keith’s entrance. “Breathe,” Lance orders and Keith realizes he is holding his breath. 

He inhales deeply and lets it out before nodding at Lance, because he knows Lance is waiting for him to relax before he pushes forward.

“Slow,” Lance reiterates before pushing into Keith so slowly Keith has a hard time believing he’s actually moving.

Keith fights the urge to roll his eyes back at the delicious stretch–as slow as it is–so he can watch Lance. Because even though he’s adamant about being careful with Keith, his shoulders are quaking and he looks about a tick away from losing it.

Keith makes a drawn out noise as Lance finally bottoms out. Keith’s usually not that vocal in bed–Lance usually takes this as a challenge and does all he can to draw sounds from Keith–not that Keith minds. This time he reacts with concern.

“Did I hurt you?” He asks, holding himself perfectly still while his eyes scan Keith’s face.

“No, Lance. You feel good.” He reaches up to pull Lance closer. “Come here.”

He kisses Lance greedily, pulling him as close as possible–holding them together with bruising force. Lance moans into his mouth but still keeps his hips frustratingly still.

“I need you, Lance, please,” he murmurs against Lance’s jaw.

“Oh god, Keith,” Lance whines and finally– finally –moves. 

Keith chokes on Lance’s name as he sets the pace. It's not fast but it's not as torturously slow as it was before. Keith can feel every inch of Lance dragging exquisitely against his walls. When he thrusts in at this angle he just teasingly presses against Keith’s prostate in a way that is maddening. All the while he’s pressed tight to Keith’s chest–caged in by Keith’s arms and legs and pinning Keith to the bed with almost all his weight.

“You feel so good, sweetheart,” Lance mumbles, peppering kisses and love bites down the side of Keith’s neck. “God you’re amazing.”

“Lance,” Keith gasps, letting his mouth fall open so Lance can hear all the little noises he punches out of Keith with each thrust. “Oh God, La-ance.”

Keith can feel Lance’s smile where it's pressed against his skin. “My name never sounds prettier than it does from your mouth.” He punctuates this with a harder thrust that has Keith shouting.

“Fuck, Lance!” Keith can feel sweat sliding across his skin between the exertion and their combined body heat. He buries his face in Lance’s neck so he can taste it, making Lance moan.

“Sorry baby,” Lance murmurs against the underside of Keith’s jaw, “I’m not going to last much longer.” He tries to lean back so that he can fit a hand between them to pump Keith in time with his thrusts but Keith whines, wanting Lance to stay skin to skin–as close as they can possibly get. “Work with me here love. I can’t get you off without touching you.”

And it's true, Lance is the only man Keith has ever met that can cum from penetration alone. Keith even managed to get him off with only his fingers once. His wrist had been sore for a couple days but it was still worth it just to see the surprise and awe on Lance’s face.

When Keith stubbornly refuses to let Lance lean away from him, Lance grumbles but then he says, “hold on. Got an idea.” He pulls out fluidly and uses Keith’s shock and dismay to flip him onto stomach before pulling his back against his chest–this time with Keith facing away. One tan arm is banded across his chest holding him tight to Lance’s body while the other reaches down to take Keith in hand. Lance is kneeling on the bed with Keith straddling his thighs.

“Is this okay?” Lance’s breath fans against Keith’s ear at the same time he enters Keith again from behind.

Keith chokes on his answer and lets his head drop back on Lance’s shoulder as Lance rocks up and into him at the same speed he drags his hand along Keith’s cock.

“Going to take that as a yes,” Lance grunts. “Come on, baby. Need you to come for me.”

This position can’t be easy to hold when they’re practically the same size but it's so good. Keith can feel Lance everywhere, every inch inside him–hitting his prostate more intensely now at this angle–and his thighs beneath him and his arms everywhere else. He can hear Lance’s panting in his ear and feel it in his chest against his back.

Lance bites into the meat of Keith’s shoulder and that finally sends him over the edge. He shouts Lance’s name and it makes Lance’s rhythm stutter but he keeps stroking Keith through his orgasm even as Keith feels Lance spilling into him.

When Keith’s senses return, Lance is rocking them gently. He can feel Lance softening inside him but he’s in no rush to move. His legs are cramping a little and he can’t even imagine how Lance must be feeling but Lance is still murmuring sweet nothings and peppering his skin with kisses while his hands restlessly skim over any bit of Keith he can reach.

When Keith turns slightly to look him in the eye, Lance’s smile is beautiful. “You back with me sweetheart?”

Keith just hums, not really sure of the answer. He feels kind of like he’s floating–the aches in his body feeling distant.

“Oh good. I thought I broke you there for a second.”

Keith hums again, eyes half closed. “Maybe you did,” he murmurs, the emotional exhaustion of the day hitting him suddenly. “I liked it though.”

“Good.” Lance tries to be gentle when he pulls out but it still makes Keith squirm a little. But then Lance is arranging them so they’re lying on their sides with Lance still against his back.

“Might need you to top more often,” Keith murmurs–half delirious with the feeling of Lance wrapped around him in a real bed for the first time in so long.

Lance chuckles into Keith’s hair. “A true hardship but I’ll suffer anything for you mi amor.”