It had been a couple weeks since Keith left for his solo trip—some hiking thing, soul-searching maybe, typical Keith. Lance had played it cool at first, sending memes and little updates, pretending he wasn’t counting the days. But the silence between replies got longer, and the nights a little colder. Now, standing out in the snow, bundled up to his ears with Kosmo practically dragging Keith down the sidewalk, Lance couldn’t stop the way his heart leapt.

“Missed you too, buddy!” Lance laughed as Kosmo barreled into him, paws on his chest, tail going wild, tongue all over his face. He staggered back, caught off guard but grinning so wide it hurt.

Keith jogged up behind them, red-faced and out of breath, snow in his hair and an expression somewhere between exasperated and fond. “Kosmo?! He’s not normally like this!”

Lance looked up from where he crouched, arms loosely around Kosmo. His eyes locked with Keith’s—dark and steady, like he hadn’t changed at all, but also like he had.

“Hey,” Lance said, soft, a little breathless.

Keith swallowed. “Hey.”

That one word held so much. Weeks of missed jokes, of silent dinners, of checking the phone and then putting it away. A million things neither of them had said yet.

Then Keith surged forward without warning and lifted Lance clean off the ground. Lance yelped, arms flying around Keith’s neck.

“Woah! Looks like Kosmo‘s not the only one who missed me, huh?”

Keith held him tightly, face buried in Lance’s scarf, breathing him in like he wasn’t sure if this was real yet. “…Yeah. I missed you too.”

Lance smiled, resting his forehead against Keith’s temple. “Next time you go find yourself, bring me with you.”

Keith chuckled, muffled against his scarf. “Deal.”