+Lacuna+

Fear

keith and lance were both sweating messes by the time they got out of the training simulator. through a lot of insults and encouragement keith had convinced the other boy to train with him since battling a person in real life had more surprises than with artificial intelligence. 

after the singing scenario a few days ago, keith had tried to pry out why the song had meant so much to lance. lance, however, had made excuses or just brushed off the questions with a variety of jokes. the truth is still left unanswered, but keith didn't want to step somewhere he was not welcome. 

"you wanna get something to eat? i'm kinda hungry." lance asked awkwardly. eating right away didn't sound like the best idea, but he had tired himself out too much during the simulator and at this point could have even beat hunk in a race to the kitchen. 

keith shrugged in weak approval and the two continue walking down the well-lit hallway. well, it was bright until the lights started dimming. lance squints his eyes and looked at keith questioningly. "have they done this before?"

"no, never." was the reply that came from the other boy. it was strange, they were dimming, but not going out all the way. "do you you think the infection from sendak's galra crystal is still in the castle?"

"i doubt it. pidge and coran were able to clear most of it out after allura got rid of her father's memories as well, remember?" lance replied. "it's probably pidge and hunk messing with the technology again. i bet shiro will come in any second to scold them and it'll go back to normal." lance explained smugly. 

it was probably the first and last time keith was going to agree with lance, until the usually-magical lights started flickering dangerously,

and went out all the way.

keith tensed and started to feel his cheeks start to heat up. lance was suddenly clinging onto his waist quite tightly. actually, that wasn't accurate enough to describe it, the feeling was more of a snake slowly constricting you until you suffocated. 

"lance," he growled dangerously. the flustered warning had turned out more angry and annoyed than he would have liked it to be, and lance immediately jumped back, only to come close once again after the darkness enveloped him.

"you afraid of the dark or something?" keith chuckled, and tried to make lance less gloomy. it backfired, and lance just stayed silent, which was unsettling. lance was never quiet, better yet absolutely silent. usually he would have dramatically snapped back a witty, insulting reply. he noticed the change and tried to consult the frightened boy instead, "hey, what's wrong?"

lance whimpered. he actually legitimately whimpered. if keith wasn't already disturbed by then, he definitely was now. "do you, wanna like, continue or just stay here?" he asked. if lance had replied, he didn't hear or see it. "lance, it's almost completely dark, if you nodded or shook your head i couldn't see a damn thing." keith said more impatiently.

"i.. we should continue." was the sheepish reply that came. 

"fine by me, but if you trip on anything it's not my fault." 

the two continued in uncomfortable silence. at this point they knew the hallways of the castle of lions by now, but running into walls or dead ends were still common for everyone on the team. "keith, where are we going?"

"to the room on the west wing, i remember there's an energy generator or something." 

"oh oka- aHH!" was half of lance's reply before he was abruptly interrupted and a loud thud could be heard. keith whipped around and saw no one behind him. he was going to cry out before he heard a groan from the floor and saw in the extremely dim light that lance was holding his head while sprawled on the floor. 

"what did you even trip on?!" 

no reply.

"lance?" 

he slowly keeled down to lance's level. he was now in a fetal position, head in both hands, and muttering incoherent words. keith is pissed and tired. "lance snap out of it! you've been acting weird for days! honestly, what's wrong?!" 

"fire.." the other mutters. 

fire? what about fire? did this boy finally lose it? actually, fire was keith's lion's element, but what kind of connection could it have to lance breaking down?

"it's just like that night.." was what keith was able to make out next. 

"what night? what fire? i don't get what you're talking about! this might be selfish, but tell me!"

lance seemed to have calmed down a bit. the fear in his eyes was dimmer, but it was still there and noticeable. he sighed, and let everything out. 

"it was when i was about 9. there was a blackout in my home. my family is large, and we lived in a very cramped house. something happened to the electrical system earlier that night, and before we knew it a spark made it's way into our home. everyone got out safely, except..." he swallowed roughly, "except my older brother. he was trapped, and died." he finished. 

keith gaped. so this. this was what plagued the darkest places of lance's mind. this is why he's so paranoid of the dark. this is why he was so uneasy when the lights started dimming and flickering. 

lance couldn't say anything else before he felt two arms hug him and pull into an embrace. even though it was dark, he was sure his face was turning bright scarlet. 

oh my god oh my god i hugged lance. why. i made it so gAY i meSSED U P. keith internally screamed. 

eventually the two let go, and just sat in the darkness with flushed faces. "u-um, so, you wanna continue to that power generator?" keith sputtered. 

lance was dumbfounded. after all that, this boy just wanted to continue to the place that would bring electricity back to the castle. it kind of hurt, like he was being rejected. but the hug did help him forget the painful memory, even for a single short moment. lance agreed. 

-time skip-

the two had finally found the room after some stumbling and dead ends. on the far side of the room was a slight glow, and lance ran to it. "is this it?" lance inquired. "it has to be." he said before keith could stop him and flicked the switch.

light.

light flooded into the room, and lance could never have been more thankful for something in his life. even though it was blinding, and both he and keith had to shield their eyes, it was there. the reassurance that they could finally see properly. 

the two grinned at each other before they jumped when they heard a voice other than their own. "looks like you two had another bonding moment." 

they whipped around the see pidge, hunk, shiro, allura, and coran all huddled in the corner as if they were camping out. 

"i didn't expect that." hunk stated and pidge nodded with a smirk.

lance and keith screeched. 

- - - - - 

WE'RE VERY SORRY THIS IS SO LATE (mostly kat) 

My writing style is a bit different from Zumi and by the time I wrote the whole thing I forgot to capitalize GO D (also not as good at writing fluff) 

forgive usss (also 99% kat) q-q

thank you for reading!

~Zumi&Kat~