Bonding (Klance)

Chapter 6 GAY!

Lance Pov

I don't know what's wrong with me. My heart won't stop pounding and I don't know why. When Keith fell it was like my mind went blank and I just acted on reflex. I didn't even know what to say after so i just made a joke, a really dumb joke that got me in trouble. But the way he looked at me; it was kinda. . . cute.

"Lance. . . Lance. . . Lance!" Keith called to me, resting his hand on my shoulder. I flinched and stared up at him, my heart racing even more. What was I thinking just now, Keith; cute?

"I've finished eating, I'm going to head to bed." All I could muster up was a small nod and a measly hum as he disappeared into the tent. I just stared into the glowing embers of what remains of the flame. Not knowing what to do or what to think. 'Did I really think Keith was cute for a second there?' what did it mean, how was i supposed to react to this. I was so confused and it felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest.

I decided to shake it off and head to bed, today has been a weird enough day already. When I entered the tent I noticed Keith sleeping huddled up to the wall. I slumped down onto my sleeping bag and grabbed some pjs for my backpack. I slowly changed into my pjs, glancing over at Keith ever so often to make sure I didn't wake him. Once I finished I slipped into my sleeping bag and got comfortable, which was hard because I didn't have any of my sink care or face masks and that bugged me.

"You done?" I almost jumped out of my own sink when I heard him.

"You're awake?" I said propping my elbow up to get a better look.

"Of course, you think I fell asleep that fast?" he said, turning his head over and slightly glaring at me. Because of the bright red grass outside it was pretty easy to see him and the red glow just added a more menacing effect to his obvious annoyance.

"Well kinda, yeah." I said, laying back down while he turned over and paused for a second.

"Please, I wish I could fall asleep that fast."

"Do you have trouble sleeping?" I said without thinking. 'Why did I ask that?' And it looked like I wasn't the only one thinking that. He kinda stared at me with disbelief but turned to the ceiling petty quickly. It's none of my business if he has sleeping problems, so why did I want to know why so badly?

"Kinda, it's more of a matter of staying asleep really." I was surprised he actually answered me. But now I was even more curious, like why couldn't he stay asleep and why did I want to find out so bad?

"So, why can't you stay asleep?" I said, giving in to the urge. It was hard to tell but it looked like he glanced over at me with a shocked look in his eye and a small smile. Was he happy that I asked? It was rare to see Keith smile, and most of the time when he did it was just a small smark. I kinda wondered sometimes, what he'd look like with a true genuine smile. one big, and filled with laughter

"I have nightmares." he said in a hollow voice. It was clear he didn't like talking about it.

"Nightmare about what?" I said without hesitation.

"Look I don't mind if you want to talk but can we talk about something else!" he said all in one breath. He was clearly upset, but not the usual Keith upset when he gets angry and yells at me. It seemed more as if he was going to cry.

"Uh yeah man we can talk about something else." silence filled the air while awkwardness grew. I tried to come up with a topic as quickly as I could, and then it hit me.

"Actually, there is a question I've been wanting to ask you for a while." I said, quickly trying to break that awkward silence.

"Well it's not like I got anything else to do." he said, flipping onto his side facing me.

"What's your question?"

"You and Shiro, I mean, obviously you two are close and have known each other for a while. But like, what exactly is your relationship?" He paused for a second. Probably to either desire to turn down the question or how to answer it quickly.

"Well, if I had to put a title to our relationship I'd have to say 'brothers', but he's not my real brother. We're not actively related at all. But he took me in a few years after my dad died and got me out of the fucking orphanage. So I owe him a lot." he said never once making eye contact with me. I had no idea he had been through something like that.

"Wow, I had one idea. That must have been really difficult."

"It's alright, Shiro and Adam helped a lot. I mean I still miss my dad but they we're the closest thing I got to a real family."

"Well I'm glad you had someone. But can I ask; who's Adam?"

"What, how do you not know who Adam is? He worked at the Garrison, he was one of our instructors.

"Nope, doesn't ring a bell"

"He was Shiro's fiance; anything?"

"Wait, wait, wait! FIANCE! SHIRO'S ENGAGED? And to a man!?" I yelled sitting up way too fast and my head started to spin. Shiro was gay? Since when? Well I guess since always. But he was engaged and didn't tell me, I love, love. Why didn't he say anything? We have been able to talk about his love life this whole time?

"Yeah and. Is that a problem?" Keith said, shooting daggers at me.

"What? Of course not. I'm just mad he didn't say anything to me. I mean everyone knows I love relationships, I am a hopeless romantic after all." I said, flailing my arms around trying to make my point. Just as I finished Keith bursted into laughter, genuine, loud, laughter. I sat there stunder. I had never seen Keith laugh so hard. My heart started to race again and my face felt hot. All I could think was 'he's so cute'.

"You're definitely hopeless, that's for sure. Fuck, i don't know why i was so worried." he said filping over on to his back with hes hands on his face.

"Worried?" was all I could get out, thankfully he understood.

"I was worried you were going to say something I needed to hit you for" what he said stabbed me back to reality. Keith was worried I wasn't going to accept Shiro. Did he really think I wouldn't be okay with that?

"Well, you don't have to ever be worried about that." I said while laying back down and snuggling in my sleeping bag.

"Well that's good, anyways it's late we should go to bed now."

"Yes sir" I said, giving a little salute then turning over on my stomach and hugging my pillow. The last thing I heard was a soft giggle before falling into a dreamless sleep.

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word count 1218