Snow's Savior (Keith Kogane x Reader)

A Decision To Make

It was easy for you to fall asleep when you reached Keith's room. The panic attack (and holy shit, you had a panic attack in the hall where anyone could have walked in and seen you) had exhausted you more than you thought it would.

As soon as your head had hit the pillow, you were out like a light. Thankfully, there had been no nightmares during the night. There had been no dreams either. Your sleep was like a blip in your memory; one second you were closing your eyes, the next you were opening them to the sight of Keith moving around his room.

You let out a small groan and rubbed at your sore eyes. The night hadn't given you much rest, and you were just as tired as you had been the day before. Maybe Keith and the others would let you stay in today? Frankly, you deserved more rest. You weren't going to ask, of course not, but it would be nice if they let you anyway.

But it seemed that the universe was against you that morning. Keith had heard your groan and turned over to look at you. As soon as he registered that you were awake, he stopped what he was doing and came over to you. A round object was left at the foot of the bed as he reached over to hold your hand.

"Morning, ugly," he said with a smile, though it wavered slightly, betraying his neutral tone.

You rolled your eyes at him while trying to contain your snicker. This was an ongoing joke that had started years ago. It was nice to hear it again after everything. With a bit of effort, you pushed yourself up into a sitting position on his bed, Keith helping you along the way. The thin blankets crumpled up in your lap. "Good morning, hideous. What are you doing so early?"

With a shrug, he gestured to what he had placed on the bed. It looked like some sort of helmet, coloured in white and... red. Oh. You knew what that was for instantly. The red gave it away.

"Got training," Keith said nonchalantly. "We do it before breakfast. I wasn't planning on waking you up 'til then."

"Training, huh?" You wondered what training entailed for them. It must have been tough if they were the supposed defenders of the universe. Images of training drills and combat practice arose in your mind, making you grimace slightly. The thought made you sort of thankful that you refused to be a paladin.

(No, it did bring up memories of laughter and a gentle smile as your father helped you fix your form. It did not. Stop it.)

Keith let out a huff, his expression full of amusement. "Yeah, training," he replied, a hint of nostalgia in his voice. "I know what you're thinking. It's not as stiff as it sounds... most of the time."

You chuckled and pulled your hand out of his to stretch your arms over your head. "Oh yeah? What does that mean, exactly?" A groan was pulled from your chest as you tried to rid of your tiredness.

He chuckled along with you and got up from the bed to continue what he was doing before you woke up. You watched as he headed to a box near the door and pulled out an outfit of sorts from the top of it. It was made of the same material as his paladin helmet with black clothing underneath. You assumed it was supposed to be a type of uniform or armour, but it wasn't like any sort of armour you've seen before. For one, the upper body piece looked barely long enough to cover his abdomen.

He answered your question as he started to put on his outfit. "Well, we do drills most of the time with our bayards, but there's a bunch of other stuff we do as well. Like, we do this mind-melding thing sometimes."

You let out a low whistle. "Mind-melding? What the hell does that look like?" A mental image of the paladins' minds coming together to form a mushy pink mass popped into your head before you could stop it. You shuddered and had to physically shake your head to get rid of that thought.