anyway, don't be a stranger || klance

• chapter two •

After leaving Lance's room, Keith couldn't help but be worried about the other boy.

He knew Lance was trying to be strong and sound dependent to deal with his emotions, but Keith knew him. Maybe Lance was the second person he knew most in his life, if not the first. Even though he wasn't Lance's best friend, he considered Lance his best friend and knew when something was wrong with him.

It was clear that Keith couldn't read Lance's mind and know exactly what the boy was feeling, but he could read Lance's expressions and the way he said the things he said. He analyzed everything about Lance to try his best to know how to deal with the other paladin's problems, but he also couldn't force Lance to accept his help. After all, Lance was kind and understanding but also proud when it came to asking for help.

Keith was like Lance in that part, he could also be a little prideful about asking for help. He also preferred to keep everything to himself and find a way to solve his personal problems that didn't require help from others. And Keith knew that keeping everything to yourself was terrible, because in addition to eating you up inside and making people isolate themselves or make mistakes trying to fix more mistakes, they had to deal with it alone and many people hated being alone, like Lance.

Damn, Keith thought.

Why couldn't he just think of something without finishing his thought straight to Lance? It must be some karma he was paying for the wrong things he already did in his life.

Why couldn't he just think of something without finishing his thought straight to Lance? It must be some karma he was paying for the wrong things he already did in his life.

Not ironically, he would find it better to be physically tortured than to suffer because of a person who was once his friend before being anything more. And he knew they would never get past that, he was accepting that. But why was it still difficult to stop loving Lance?

Before Keith could finish his reasoning about how loving Lance was like paying for some sin that went horribly wrong, Keith bumped into a shoulder as he was turning another Atlas hallway, which caused a near fall on his part, but fortunately - or perhaps just surprisingly - a strong hand held his forearm, preventing him from falling face first onto the smooth floor of that place.

Keith was scared by the quick situation in which all that happened, but the hand pulled him to stand up correctly again and gave him a somewhat worried look.

Keith's eyes widened as he saw who had 'saved' him from falling to the ground like a piece of food thrown off a plate.

James.

"Are you okay, Kogane?" James asked after he let go of Keith's arm and looked him up and down, as if analyzing him.

Keith's eyes were still wide with surprise at seeing the other man again after the war and he sighed deeply, trying not to look like a scared boy in front of James.

James had changed a lot since the last time Keith saw him when they were still children. He made this note as soon as he saw him when they arrived on Earth, but only now did he allow himself to look and see how strong and adult the other seemed to be.

Iverson told them that the MFE pilots were responsible people who were extremely intelligent and good at what they did, so Keith was even more surprised to find out that James was one of those people.

Still with his eyes wide and fixed on James, Keith didn't notice that James's face was now confused and his eyebrows were arched, as if he was waiting for a response to come from Keith's mouth.

"W-What?" Keith asked after a few seconds of his shock and shook his head, returning to normal. "What did you say?"

"I asked you if you're fine?" James repeated the previous question he asked Keith before the boy went into a state of bodily paralysis. "You looked pale and were about to fall..."