Keith unlocked the door and pushed it open; walking inside, he flipped on the lights, Lance following close behind.

The place was fairly bland: a single couch against the wall, a TV on a wooden stand. A coffee table with a single remote. There was a painting on the wall of a foreign city that could probably be bought at any home decor store.

As for the kitchen, it was all countertops not including a few basic appliances.

"Well, this is it." Keith set down his bag and threw his jacket on the armrest of the couch.

"It's very..." Lance looked around. "Clean."

Keith laughed, "Yeah, I know it isn't very homey. I guess I didn't expect to be here this long."

"You're welcome." Lance smiled trying to hide the anxiety.

Keith sat on the couch and his grin faded, "I... actually want to talk to you."

Lance swallowed hard. He walked over and sat on the very other end of the couch. He wanted to be cautious in case Keith decided to give the whole stabbing idea another try.

Keith noticed the distance and rubbed his neck.

"What is it?" Lance finally asked nervously.

"I'm... I'm not leaving." Keith finally said.

"I don't think I understand," Lance's eyebrows narrowed.

"Um, I quit. You know, the whole assassin thing." Keith explained. "Well, I mean, I guess I was sort of fired. It was a mutual agreement of sorts."

"It's because you couldn't complete this mission wasn't it?" Lance looked down guiltily.

"No- well yeah, but it's a good thing, honest." Keith pursed his lips. "I was bad at my job anyway."

"You weren't bad at it. You just got a bad first mission." Lance sighed.

"It wasn't a bad first mission. In fact, it was the best first mission I could've been given. How can I work for an organization that would assassinate someone like you. I thought my job was helping people by eliminating threats. You're not a threat."

Lance stared at the boy. There was an overwhelming feeling, there was so much of it and it made him want to laugh and cry at the same time. It made everything feel fuzzy and blurred, everything but Keith. He felt crystal clear.

So when Lance suddenly scooted to Keith's side of the couch, and his arms wrapped around his neck, and Lance pressed his lips to Keith's, it all felt clear and right. Warmth bloomed in his chest when Keith's hands found his waist. Like every event before, ever since they met, had simply been building to this.

But then Lance had a sinking feeling in his chest. Should he tell Keith about his lack of immortality? He will, but what was the rush?

Lance pulled away and suddenly felt better now. Keith's eye were staring at him in astonishment.

"Woah." Keith muttered eyes wide.

"Woah indeed." Lance let out a breath he'd been holding and smiled.

Keith pulled Lance back into another kiss that lasted longer than the first.

Lance unlocked the door to Keith's apartment and walked in carrying a paper bag of groceries. "Keithy!" He called setting the bag on the counter. Keith had given him a key to his apartment a couple weeks ago. When Keith gave him the key it made Lance's heart melt. It's been almost three months since their first kiss and things couldn't be better.

They had a tradition that they make diner together every Sunday. Today's menu was spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread and asparagus.

Keith poked his head out of his room and smiled seeing his boyfriend. "Hey," he walked into the kitchen and kissed him tenderly. When they pulled apart, Lance smiled widely.

"Someone missed me." He chuckled wrapping an arm around Keith. "Oh, also my mom made you this," Lance held up a very warm thick blanket with a neutral colored pattern.

Keith felt the blanket and grinned widely. "It's so soft. I'll have to tell her thank you when I stop by." He hung the blanket on the back of the couch. His apartment was way more homey now with mostly thanks to Lance. Plants were everywhere and now it actually looked like someone lived there.

Lance washed his hands and worked on washing the asparagus. Keith joined him at the sink to wash his hands too. He leaned over and kissed Lance's neck making the boy blush.

"I almost forgot to tell you, my mom is coming out to visit next weekend." Keith said unloading the ingredients onto the counter.

"What?! That's awesome! I finally get to meet her," Lance said giddily.

"She can be kind of intense sometimes, and mind that she's pretty big in the whole assassin business." Keith warned.

"Yeah, yeah," Lance rolled his eyes, "still."

"How was your day?" Keith asked as he began to prep the garlic bread.

"Good, Rachel brought home another boyfriend." Lance snorted and started cutting of the ends of the asparagus.

Keith laughed, "Better or worse than the last one?"

"Better. She's improving. But I can't blame her, I already took the best guy off the market." Lance gave a wink.

Keith chuckled and shook his head, "You're so cheesy."

Lance smiled as he focused on his cutting. He thought about his whole immortality issue. It didn't take long before he understood what was happening. He was still immortal, except when he's around Keith.

Lance found that it made sense and on some level was actually kind of romantic. Whether it's because he has a desire to be vulnerable with Keith or just that fact that Keith makes him feel so normal that he does become normal, he doesn't know. But for whatever reason, it made him love Keith that much more.

He hadn't told Keith. Lance stared at the asparagus he was chopping intently. He doesn't know why he hasn't told him yet. It's not like he's afraid Keith would do anything.

Lance was getting sidetracked by his thoughts and jumped when he felt a sharp pain in his finger. "Ow! Shit!" He jumped dropping the knife and sucking the end of his finger tasting metal.

"Are you okay?" Keith stopped what he was doing to make sure.

"Yeah, yeah, just got myself with the knife." Lance muttered.

"At least it's healed." He went back to what he was doing.

"Yeah," Lance breathed and moved to the sink washing his hands. He cleaned them with soap and watched and felt the stinging throbbing pain shoot through his hand. Blood was still gushing from the cut. He glanced over his shoulder at Keith who was unaware as he cut up the French bread.

Lance panicked a little. What should he do? He grabbed an old ratty dish rag and buried his finger in it.

"Did you ever get that issue with Mr. T cleared up for the online assignment." Keith asked starting to look over at Lance.

The boy panicked and quickly hid his hand behind him. "Uh, yeah- yeah I did." Lance's voice wavered.

Keith stared at him for a moment. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Lance laughed nervously.

Keith stepped closer to his boyfriend and gently grabbed his arm. "Show me you hand."

"Babe I'm fine." Lance smiled leaning forward to give him an assuring peck.

Keith didn't allow it however. He tugged on his arm again. "Show me."

Lance pursed his lips and held his hand out showing the blood soaked rag wrapped around his finger.

Keith peeled back the rag and his heart began to race. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" He wrapped the towel back around the cut causing Lance to wince. "I-I'll grab my keys, that's going to need stitches."

Lance could see the sheer panic Keith was attempting to fight off. "No, no, it's fine... I just-," Lance began to protest.

"Lance, it's not healing, you can't brush this off." Keith said sternly as he was slipping on his shoes not even bothering to tie them.

"It'll be fine, you just need to get away from me!" Lance tried to explain but Keith seemed to panicked.

"Lance I'm not going away until your hand is taken care of!" Keith snapped, "if you want me away from you, you'll have to wait until I know your cut is stitched up." He opened the door gesturing to leave.

Lance sped forward and pulled Keith into a kiss. "That's not what I meant. I'll explain but first I need you to walk to the parking lot entrance and back. That should by far enough." He instructed, "Just trust me."

Keith hesitated before doing as he was told. He did it in a dead sprint and Lance patiently waited. Suddenly, he felt no more pain coming from his hand and he unwrapped it from the cloth. The skin was smoothed over beside the remnant blood. Lance washed his hands the in sink and as he dried them, Keith burst through the door.

Lance held out his hand for Keith who inspected it carefully and gave it a squeeze in his own hand. He rested his head on Lance's shoulder pulling him into a hug. "I'm so used to you healing... I didn't know what to do. Why didn't you heal right away? Why did you make me leave?"

"There's... something I need to tell you."

Lance came clean and Keith listened silently.

"Why didn't you tell me before? Do you not trust me?" Keith asked the last part a little solemnly.

"No! I do! I just knew you'd freak out. I didn't want to worry you. You already have a lot going on and you're still getting sorta settled and..." Lance trailed off.

"But why? What about me makes you mortal?" Keith pondered.

"I think it's my desire to be vulnerable with you, to be normal with you. I'm not entirely sure myself." Lance scratched his head.

"Well stop it." Keith frowned.

"What? Why?" Lance pouted.

"I like you being immortal, I like you being safe. I'm not quite as worried that something's going to happen to you." Keith bit his lip.

"Aw, Keith," Lance grabbed his hand and rubbed it gently with his thumb. "Just think, when your not around to protect me, my body just picks up the slack. Think of it that way." Lance smiled. "I honestly think it's kind of romantic."

"You think everything is romantic." Keith sighed.

Lance pulled Keith into a loving kiss. He couldn't help but love how much they kissed, even just around the house when they were doing nothing. It was like they were making up for all that time they never knew each other. He loved the way Keith felt, he was warm and despite being strong enough to lift probably two of Lance, he was always incredibly gentle with him.

"Keith," Lance said breaking the kiss but keeping him close, "I love you."

"I love you too," Keith let a small smile slip. He didn't use those words often, but they felt good to say to Lance. He loved how happy they made the boy.

Lance stood up and pulled Keith with him. "Let's go finish making dinner! I promise I didn't bleed on the asparagus."