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It’s Keith’s birthday, but he’s all alone. No one is with him. He’s nine and no one is celebrating his birthday, no one even remembered. Keith remembers his birthday, how could he not? He remembers the birthdays with his dad, when his dad would get him gifts and a cake and they would play games. He remembers the hippo stuffed animal his father got him, the one that made the sound when it squeezed the paw.
But Keith’s dad isn’t there anymore, so Keith’s birthdays are pretty much spent alone. With no celebration.
It’s Keith’s birthday, and he’s all alone, eating toaster waffles and singing “Happy Birthday” to himself. He refuses to cry, it will make the waffles soggy.
But it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t—
“Keith. Babe, wake up.”
Keith’s eyes jerk open and he finds himself looking into Lance’s eyes.
“You were having a bad dream.”
“Oh. Sorry,” Keith says. He didn’t know.
“It’s not your fault.”
Lance gets up, and Keith tries to do the same. Lance pushes him back down.
“Nope, you are staying in bed.”
“Why?”
“It’s a surprise, so stay here. With Kosmo.”
At the sound of his name, Kosmo teleports into their room. On top of Keith.
“Kosmo! Get off!” Keith says, trying to squirm out from under the fuzzy wolf, but it’s too late. Lance is already gone. Keith can hear his footsteps as they run down the stairs.
Keith just gives up and lets all his limbs flop down back onto the bed.
What was with the dream he had? He can’t even remember much of it, only the stuffed hippo he used to have as a kid.
But he doesn’t get much time to think because Lance is coming back up the stairs. So Keith just tries to sit up and Kosmo finally lets him move enough to do that.
And Lance walks into the bedroom and he’s holding a tray.
“Kosmo, scoot over. Go lay next to Keith,” Lance says, and Kosmo listens to him. But he wouldn’t listen to Keith earlier? Honestly, who raised this wolf with these manners?
But Lance is setting down the tray and Keith can see what’s on it. A plate with homemade waffles and syrup on the side, and a plate with sunny-side-up eggs and crispy bacon, and a Lactaid pill next to a mug of hot chocolate.
Keith doesn’t know what he did to deserve this, but he can think nothing more than how much he loves Lance.
Lance scoots Keith’s legs over so he can sit at the edge of the bed, and he looks at Keith and smiles.
“Happy birthday, Keith. I love you.”
Oh. It was his birthday. Right.
“Thank you,” Keith says, because it’s the only thing he really can say.
And, because Keith loves his husband — and because he’s hungry — he dives right into his breakfast.
But that doesn’t stop Lance from talking, although Keith never expected him to.
“So, since today is your day, we can do whatever you want within reason because I made plans for us with everyone later. I can cue up your favorite movie so we can watch it together, and we can cuddle in the bed with Kosmo, and all that cool stuff if you want. I also did call the laser tag place if you want to play laser tag, and they are open and ready to take us at any time.”
Keith only half hears any of this because he’s stuffing his face with food and chugging hot chocolate, but he appreciates all of it and Lance so much.
It’s hours later. After breakfast, Keith watched “Love, Simon” with Lance and Kosmo and he definitely didn’t cry. After, they went to the laser tag place and played against Allura and Romelle, and Shiro and Adam.
And then they all went out to dinner together, and it was loud and fun and everyone celebrated and Keith was never the type of person for big events, but seeing all of his family together? It made Keith feel all warm and fuzzy.
And then, they all went back to his house and played games. Pidge threw a Monopoly house at Shiro, and Adam flipped over all the money because they kept pestering him, the banker. Then with Cards Against Humanity, someone threw the Pride deck at Keith, so they had to shut the whole thing down. And then, Lance beat Krolia at Smash, which led to her punching a wall, so now Keith and Lance are going to have to get that fixed. Keith doesn’t even want to talk about Mario Party and Mario Kart, because Hunk wrecked everyone and there was a riot.
They had to evacuate the house after all of that, so now everyone is in the backyard, gathered around the fire pit. Keith is sitting with Lance, and they’re holding hands as Lance roasts marshmallows for them. Kosmo sits on Adam’s lap, and Shiro pets all of Kosmo’s fuzzy fur. Romelle is resting her head on Allura’s lap, running her fingers through her hair. Pidge has ten marshmallows on their stick and is trying to perfectly brown them all. Coran is getting hot chocolate from the kitchen for everyone with Krolia.
And Keith? Keith is happy.
Keith isn’t alone, he’s with his family. With all of the people he loves.
He knows his plush hippo is upstairs in his room. He knows even his dad is with him.
Keith is happy.
He couldn’t imagine a better birthday.