The party had wound down quietly, everyone having dispersed off to their respective places of sleep. Lance had stayed behind to help Atreus do a little cleanup, just to make sure everything was animal-proofed before passing out on a nearby flat surface. The sun would be up in just a few hours, which was usually when Atreus was rising, but for now he could appreciate the dim glow of the moon highlighted by the twinkle lights and soft sounds of the playlist still going in the dance area.
Atreus tossed one last trashbag in the nearby dumpster before emerging from the soft lights strung across the treeline. He paused as his eyes stopped on Lanceās figure, familiar to him now in a lot of ways, standing over the edge of the runic glow of a lion below his feet, where the dance floor was. The whole event had been chaotic and fun and loud, but that fit their lives, and heād had a blast celebrating two of his best friends. But quiet was hard to come by, especially as of late.
āI think thatās about it--ā The song changed over to something soft and romantic, and a smile touched the edge of Atreusā lips as he cut his own words off. He moved forward without even thinking about it, and stopped only a few steps away, in the middle of the lion heād created for this very event.
He held out a hand to Lance, palm up. āDance with me?ā
It had been a great evening, not that Lance had really expected otherwise. All their friends more than happy to celebrate Keith and Shiro - and it had been easy to let enjoying the familiar faces that were there settle the ache of the ones who were missing. The quiet now at the end of the night felt almost out of place compared to the earlier commotion. But it had its own merits, especially as he glanced up to see Atreus come back out of the treeline, backlit by the lights they'd spent most the day before stringing up.
And if his heart skipped a beat at that could he really be blamed.
Lance had only been vaguely aware of the music still playing as they had cleaned up, or at least as much that couldn't be put off to tomorrow, but as Atreus held his hand out he was suddenly keenly aware of the shift from the more upbeat songs from before to the slower one that played now.
"Always," he said with a soft smile as he laid his hand into Atreus' palm and moved more onto the little dance floor with Atreus. It wasn't even close to the first time they'd danced that night, even to something slow. But it was an entirely different thing then - just the two of them in the moonlight, just that much closer as he slipped his arm around Atreus' back, just that much slower in their sway, that much slower as Lance let his fingers slide between Atreus'.
The near constant hum of anticipation that had settled under his skin these past few weeks flared and Lance idly wondered if Atreus could feel how fast his heart hammered away as close as they were. Lance knew they were supposed to be - well - probably not dancing this slow in the quiet of the night, alone and without anything or anyone to interrupt the moments they seemed to keep finding themselves in. But it was pretty hard to linger too long on that right then, or at all really.
Lance let his head fall onto Atreus' shoulder, face all but buried into the crook of his neck. "This is uh - pretty damn romantic," he pointed out after a long moment, a little laugh at the words that while light still had a bit of a nervous undertone. The anxiousness of having spent the past while living in the in between, having put themselves out there but pausing at the follow through.
Atreus slid his hand around Lanceās back, a careful gentle movement as he knowingly placed it at the base of the scar heād only just seen up close recently. That image had lingered in his mind for a while, not just wanting to heal it - it was well beyond anything Atreus could do - but the skin contact had been-- a lot.
At the time heād thought the heat from the hot tub was getting to him, now he was pretty sure it was just Lance. When Lanceās face went into his neck, Atreus gently pressed a kiss to Lanceās temple, half-heartedly trying to cover up the fact that he was doing something so quietly intimate. He huffed a laugh after as part of the coverup.
āWell, there was a wedding here. I hear those are romantic sometimes.ā He turned them, just a little movement that rocked with the swell of the music drifting over them. Atreus had come a long way in two years from someone who couldnāt dance at all to twirling around on the dance floor, but it was a little easier when there was no pressure of being seen by anyone else. Just the quiet of the night surrounding them.
Lance didn't miss the brush of lips against his skin, so completely aware of every little movement right then, and his arm around Atreus tightened a little in response as he leaned into the touch. Exactly where Atreus' hand had settled was not lost on Lance, and he couldn't help thinking on what it had felt like when those fingers had lingered on bare skin. Something he'd been thinking about more since it happened than he probably should have been.
He was content to follow Atreus' lead in their little sway, just enjoying the closeness. And it was hard to remember all the reasons they'd had for not pursuing anything when everything felt like a little million pieces all clicking into place right then.
"Wedding's been done for a while now," Lance pointed out lightly and he hadn't realized how close into Atreus' neck he'd gotten until his lips brushed against the skin there as he talked.
Fuck, all those reasons that he shouldāve gone to bed, waved Lance goodbye, turned off the music and disappeared were coming right back to Atreus. But heād avoided that voice in his head and charged forward anyway, unable to resist wanting. And now that spark was traveling down his spine, which is exactly what heād feared.
But Atreus didnāt feel afraid right now, this felt right and warm and comforting. It felt like he belonged here in this moment, touching Lance. They had so many near-misses as of late, people popping in when they were close, halting what might have been in its tracks that his blood practically felt like it was on fire with want.
Atreus cleared his throat with a little huff-laugh and took one step back, as if he was about to pull away. āYouāre right, weddingās done. Want to stop? I can go?ā The threat was empty from his end and he desperately hoped he was reading the room right and that Lance would stop him.
Lance just pulled Atreus in closer with the arm around his back when Atreus made to move away. He laughed softly as he pressed more into the crook of Atreus' neck and shook his head a little. "No," he replied.
It should have felt scary - daunting or something. This was very much not how two people who were supposed to be just friends should dance. But then people who were supposed to be just friends probably shouldn't have almost kissed as many times as they had now, or go on what had very much been a Valentine's day date despite their insistence it wasn't.
Well, he supposed it was daunting. In a different sort of way. The kind of way that made it feel like every inch of his body was alight, so completely aware of every part of him that pressed close to Atreus. Anticipation and so much wanting coiled tight, standing on the edge of something and just waiting for the moment to jump.
He lifted his head though, finding Atreus' eyes with his own as his thumb brushed against Atreus' where their hands were joined. "Do you want me to go?" he asked in turn. And like Atreus he hoped he wasn't reading too much into the moment. But everything felt so damn delicate and he wanted to be sure.
āNo,ā Atreusā answer came in the same tone as Lanceās no had, like an echo bouncing around them as he spun them again. Now was probably the best time to walk away from it all before they got too deep into this but--
It felt like it was too late for that. They were already too deep into this to walk away from it. And he didnāt particularly want to, either.
āI really want to kiss you right now,ā Atreus was normally an honest person, but jumping straight to the blunt end of it-- he hissed in a breath, a little worried he moved ahead too fast, but didnāt back out completely. āIs that crazy? It feels crazy but it feels-- Gods, right? But if you donāt want me to then thatās-- No questions asked, I know we said we were being mature and smart and taking our time so we donāt fuck this up but--ā Atreus dropped his head down to bump lightly against Lanceās. āIt feels overrated when Iāve been wanting to smash my face to your face for weeks now.ā
Lance couldn't help but laugh at Atreus' choice of words and the ramble that had preceded it, but it was light and fond and really the use of smash my face to your face was way too endearing and absolutely in line with the reasons they were in this mess to begin with. "You say the sweetest things."
Truthfully Lance could probably overthink himself out of breathing if given half an inch to do so. But he didn't want to keep overthinking this. Not right then. Not when it felt so much better to just let his head swim with the closeness, with how right that moment felt.
"It's not crazy," Lance added, quieter with that as he dropped Atreus' hand only to curl his fingers around the lapel of Atreus' suit jacket. Lance had thought being honest might have made it better, might have been enough to temper the want he felt around Atreus. But it only made it that much more. His eyes were half closed, focused on Atreus' lips.
"Atreus, I - " he started, but didn't continue. He didn't want to. Talking would only open up the chance of talking himself out of it. So instead he leaned in, as though they could possibly be any closer, and tipped his head up. There was no hesitation when his lips met Atreus', no moment of pause for either of them to back out. Sure, and half desperate, finally giving in.
Atreus was ready to apologize, to back off and laugh this off or act embarrassingly awkward like theyād done a dozen times over in the last few weeks. But then he didnāt have to, he was drawn in, and Lance was leaning in at the same time, and then they were smashing their faces together and shit--
Heād remembered at least a little of this from the snowglobe. But they didnāt have the same set of memories, just-- a vague feeling of familiarity as Atreus pulled Lance impossibly closer. It was easy to get lost in this, and he did, for long moments until his hands ended up under Lanceās own suit jacket and he found himself getting carried away.
āāOkay- I- wow--ā Atreus stilled himself and just pressed his forehead to Lanceās, in no hurry to end this little cocoon theyād created anytime soon, if someone wasnāt interrupting them.
Somewhere in it Lance's hand had moved from the lapel of Atreus' jacket to the back of his neck, and he let it stay there even as they pulled apart. As barely as that was. Everything pinpointed down to the warm flush that ran through him, the way he could still feel Atreus' lips against his, how his skin didn't quite feel like it could contain his body at that moment.
He laughed softly, as light as he felt right then, the weight of so much holding back lifting. "Yeah," he agreed, his fingers running lightly against the back of Atreus' neck. Like Atreus he had half formed memories of them together. Hazy little things that crept up in the dead of the night. A possible future, their time in Serendipity Hills. But it was nothing compared to the real thing, to the moment here so vivid and clear and entirely theirs.
Maybe there was something to be said about how they should have done this a long time ago, but Lance honestly couldn't picture a more perfect moment than this one.
He leaned back in to kiss Atreus again. It was dizzyingly easy to keep getting lost in it. But it wasn't enough, not even close. "Do you want to go inside?" he asked as they broke apart again.
It felt like coming home, the way Atreus could lean in for another kiss, and another after that, and soon his hand was sneaking under Lanceās shirt and half on the verge of pulling it off right there on the dance floor. He only broke off for real with the question, that shouldāve had hesitation but none of it was there right now. āYes. Fuck yeah.ā
Atreus didnāt have anywhere near his fatherās strength, but his own was enough to reach down and wrap an arm around Lanceās thigh to hoist him up. Their suits didnāt give as much open flexibility, but Atreus supported Lance with one arm while navigating them to the stairwell up to his house in the trees.
It didnāt stop him from leaning in for another kiss, which left Atreus missing a step and stumbling with both of them up to the next one, free hand having to leave Lanceās hair to brace himself on against a tree branch so they didnāt go flying. He was mid-kiss that turned into a laugh before setting Lance down. āIt felt like a good idea at the time.ā He dove in for another kiss and swatted at Lanceās ass to move him along. āRace you the rest of the way?ā
Whatever thoughts Lance may have had on taking it slow had long since vacated his mind. Replaced solely by chasing how good it felt to give into this, how the hint of Atreus' hands against his bare skin wasn't even close to enough to satisfy the sheer want he felt. And so he was stupidly happy to hear Atreus on the same page, a grin that was cut off with a little noise of surprise as he was suddenly being picked up and that was really fucking hot.
He probably wasn't helping in the stumble department really. His hands fumbling with the buttons of Atreus' shirt as he was carried, his lips brushing over the skin of Atreus' neck. And when they fell mid step he just laughed at the ridiculousness of it, not bothered in the least by the sudden shift. "It was pretty fucking hot though," he said.
There was a grin as Atreus' slapped his ass. But he didn't start up the stairs, grabbing at Atreus' shirt instead and pulling him in to kiss deeply. He pulled away suddenly after a moment, and immediately started up the rest of the stairs with a laugh. Alright, maybe it was cheating, but he'd more than make up for it.