@bluetailored
Maybe it was a little bit of a dick move, but ever since the end of their excursion to that trading planet, Keith had made efforts to avoid being alone with Lance. He didn’t go out of his way to not see Lance at ALL, just... if everyone else were to exit the room, leaving the two of them alone, he’d make some excuse and take his own leave.
See, if he was left alone with Lance, that would be giving the other all his attention, and he just... didn’t want to let that happen. He'd only just been growing confident enough in their relationship to call Lance a FRIEND - the last thing he wanted to do was ruin that with feelings.
So, he tried not to let himself be alone with Lance, in hopes that space might help him bring his emotions back under control. Not that they outwardly affected him much---he was still able to work with Lance just fine, could easily throw back taunts as they were given to him. It wasn’t this world-changing situation. Keith liked Lance. All that was different was he was AWARE of the reasons his gaze lingered on Lance’s smile, or why it felt so important to prove his worth to him.
Now, although Keith tried his best to make sure there was always at least a third person in the room, sometimes being alone with Lance was just unavoidable.
Such as right now, when he rounds the corner and just BARELY catches himself before he collides with the Blue Paladin.
“Oh---hey,” he greets, a little stilted. “Sorry---was on my way back from training.” He adds, like maybe that should explain why he wasn’t paying attention. To him it makes perfect sense - he was rolling over techniques in his head, planning for next time, coming up with ways to do better. With a jerky little nod, Keith starts to try and slip by;
“I should... get going.” Like there’s actually anywhere to be.