Accidental Intentions

18 • Night Sky

It was dark.

Lance had vague memories of the night. It mostly involved Keith's face shoved up in his, asking how many fingers he had, and what his street address was. Why he had those memories was a mystery.

But one thing he did know was that he was tired of the Red Paladin's voice. It was there when he woke, it was there when he was pointlessly interrogated. It was there when he slept, he was sure. And it was here now.

He opened his eyes.

They were gonna let him out now. How did he feel. Was he in any pain? What was the square root of 27? Was he able to stand? Did he want food?

"I want you to shut your quiznak!" he exclaimed. Seriously, did Keith ever shut up?

Keith looked a little taken aback, but Pidge and Hunk smiled at each other.

"One hundred percent normal," Pidge declared.

"Yup," confirmed Hunk.

"Still, we should run tests to make sure he's alright," the princess stated.

In the end, it was several hours before they were done poking and prodding and asking him increasingly difficult questions before he was allowed back into his room. There had been a little concern when he couldn't tell them what a barometer was until Pidge assured them that he couldn't answer that on a good day, which caused Shiro to ask: wasn't he a pilot?

When he finally entered his room, he threw himself on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. After a moment he flipped off the lights and took in the familiar night sky. He had fashioned it after the August night sky, his favorite time of year.

He remembered back to the night before he left for the academy. It had been early August. His whole family had driven out to the desert to watch the annual meteor shower while they munched on cool watermelon, celebrating his acceptance into the academy and commemorating his last day with them before he left. Lance licked his lips. It had been too long since he'd eaten anything other than green goo. He wanted to sit on those overcrowded, sun-faded blankets and fight over the last piece of watermelon with his siblings. He missed them.

Earth was so far away. He'd wanted nothing more than to go back there. But there was something he had to do before he could: defeat Zarkon. No big deal.

He sighed. The Galra Empire was so extensive. As cocky as he pretended to be, he was still coming to terms with the possibility that he might never see them again.

"You can go, I'm fine," he said.

"Yeah, but I...I want to make sure you're okay," Keith answered. He had walked Lance to his room in case he needed assistance. But for some reason, the Red Paladin had accompanied him into the room and was standing awkwardly by the cracked door.

"Keith, I'm fine. You heard Shiro, I just need rest." Lance wanted to be alone.

"Yeah, but..."

Why was Keith being like this? Did he feel badly for what happened? It was his fault, after all. Lance was a little annoyed about the healing tank, and royally pissed about being woken every two hours only to be questioned and have bright lights shown in his eyes. But he knew it was an accident. As much as he and Keith fought, they never tried to actually hurt each other.

Or maybe he was just afraid Lance would blab about his, uh, size.

"Fine, whatever. Stay if you want. I'm going to sleep. But I swear, if you wake me up one more time I'll tell Shiro I caught you making out with Pidge."

"Please don't."

"Then don't wake me."