swim with me? [klance au]

Love.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BedtnSFnxah/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=hc90sktev9u4

Matt watched Allura walk out of the bathroom, closing the door gently behind her. Keith was standing next to the doorway, arms crossed. It was obvious that he'd been eavesdropping, he made no move to hide it and considering his expression, what Allura had said wasn't what he had wanted to hear.

Allura put a hand on his shoulder briefly, sighing, then moved to go to the living room where Shiro was. Instead, Matt poked his head out of the tech room where he'd been working and gestured for Allura to come inside. She looked confused but stepped in the room with Matt.

The tech room had a lot of complicated-looking machinery, mostly from Sam and Colleen Holt's jobs at NASA, but there were a bunch of computer monitors too, and even some video game consoles. Two laptops were on, connected to bunches and bunches of wires, and it was assumable that they were Pidge and Matt's.

"Hello, Matt, what is it?" Allura asked, folding her arms over her chest naturally. Her face was strained, and even though Matt hadn't heard her and Lance's conversation, he could tell that it had taken a toll on her as well.

Her eyes were wandering frantically over the room, obviously overwhelmed. Determined, Matt moved to block her vision, brow set. "Look, Allura," he started. He was at least an inch shorter than she was. "I don't know you that well. I don't even know if we're friends, probably just acquaintances. But you're dating Shiro, and Shiro's my best friend."

Matt paused, choosing his next words carefully, "I care a lot about Shiro and I don't want to see him get hurt. So if what you just said to Lance concerning his and Keith's relationship also applies to you and Shiro's, I just think that you should break it to him now instead of later."

Allura frowned, "That's-"

Matt held his hands up, shaking his head, "I know it's none of my business, I get it. I just... thought I should let you know. Shiro's..." he looked straight into Allura's eyes, chin out, doing his best to get his point across, "sensitive."

Something shifted in Allura's face as she looked at Matt, and he didn't know whether it was a good or bad thing. "I'll keep what you've said in mind. Now, if you'd excuse me," she concluded.

Matt leaned against the wall, biting his lip. He wondered if he should've just stayed quiet.

...

"Soup's good," Lance said that night, quietly in the tub. Keith finally got him to eat something, which was an accomplishment. Allura had left a few hours ago with Shiro, talking to him in a soft voice. They hadn't come back yet.

Keith nodded, sitting on a stool beside the tub. The same stool from his art studio. He hadn't been sketching much recently and he wondered if that was why he was so damn stressed. No, that was probably due to Lance. Maybe it was a good kind of stress. Was that a thing?

Lance slurped his soup noisily, gills pulsing with his breath. Keith admired him, even with all that weird tape on his tail. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop, it just sort of happened. And now he knew that he only had one more night with Lance. If only he could spend it outside a bathtub.

Keith tried not to think about dirty things, but it was inevitable. God, he was such a perv. Lance looked up at him, a bit of soup dripping down his chin. Keith couldn't help but smile.

"Lance, I have to tell you something."

"Oh no," Lance snorted, bringing the soup back up to his mouth. He didn't like spoons. Keith clasped his hand over his knees, then just decided to word vomit the whole thing out. He supposed the reaction would be just the same.