Stars // klance AU

Secrets Are Hard To Keep

Keith was the last one to stay behind with Lance, clearing up the endless shreds of garland from the planetarium floor. They worked in comfortable silence, sweeping the place slowly, as if to drag the chore on.

"Hey..." Lance broke the silence, leaning his head on the top of the old, disheveled broom. "I have been wondering this for a while but... why did you stay here during break?"

Keith stopped the repetitive motion, turning to face Lance with a perplexed expression. "What do you mean?"

"Like... don't you have family to visit? Or is there a project you're working on, like Coran?" Lance stretched out one of his arms, flicking his wrist left and right with each possibility.

Shaking his head, Keith pushed up his sleeves, "Nah, It's nothing like that."

"Then what?"

There was a brief moment of silence within them, a mistrustful look peering from Keith's narrow eyes. "It's not that I don't have places to visit..." He tried to explain, avoiding Lance's gaze. "It's more like... There is nowhere for me to go."

"What do you mean there's nowhere?" Lance was baffled, pushing himself off the broom's handle. "There's always SOMEWHERE."

"And that somewhere is a place I'd rather not return to," Keith stated with vicious simplicity, leaving Lance speechless as tension settles between them.

"Well," Lance began again, pacing around the broom in a circular motion. "This could always be your somewhere."

"Here?" Keith looked around the dimly lit planetarium. He had not been able to properly observe it until that moment, when the lights were so faded that the fluorescent constellations above them glowed like some sort of mystical map to faraway lands. Lands with a promise of endless possibilities just an arms' reach away. He turned back to Lance, who had stopped right before him, leaning back on the broom handle with incredible balance, like the rebel in class who would lean his chair back to a ridiculous degree and still stay seated. "What about after graduation? I can't just come back to this."

"Maybe not the planetarium itself, then," Lance shrugged. "Just this. The friends, the fun, the undoubtedly handsome fellow with the most amazing cheekbones in existence," Lance pulled one of his hands to his face, posing in such a way that it was obvious he was describing himself. The loss of support caused the broom to shift, breaking his spell and sending him straight to the cold floor.

Keith could only laugh at the other man's misfortune, letting him struggle for a moment before holding out his hand in assistance. Lance took it without another thought, pulling himself back to his feet. They stayed like that, hands still clasped together, watching each other in total silence aside from the sound of Keith's dying laughter and Lance's heavy breathing. Over the past few weeks, their presence around each other seemed to shift. Not in a sudden, clashing motion, but slowly, like gears in motion. Everything was changing and yet it felt the same.

"What about you?" Keith tore his hand away from Lance's carefully. "Don't you have places to visit?"

"I do... I just don't get the opportunity," Lance shrugged offhandedly, but he could sense Keith's eyes on him. He wasn't telling the whole truth and Keith could see that.

"So you WANT to go," Keith prodded at him, urging for a real answer. Lance's eyes turned away, distant. "You miss home?"

Lance flinched. Running a hand through his already messy brown curls. "Yeah," He confessed. "I do but... It's not like I can do anything about it." He took a quick, deep breath, and tried to change the subject. "Tell me about your family."

"What about them?" Keith narrowed his eyes. In the dim light, Lance's features seemed almost skeletal, thin and sharp like blades.

"I just want to get to know you better," Lance grinned, awaiting even the least bit of information he could gather from the unknowable mystery mullet.

"There is nothing to be said," Keith scoffed. "I was tossed around foster care for a while until an odd couple decided to take pity on me and take me in for my last few years of high school. After only a month I found out that she was a bitch and he was an asshole. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Lance's eyes narrowed, "Not personally... how were they so?"

"I don't know... they would just... They didn't trust me with anything," Keith tried to explain, spitting out the words like acid. It was clear he had not told this to anybody and he was not very comfortable speaking out loud about it. "I guess they saw me the same as some... stray pup that needed rescuing, but when they realized I was an actual human being they instantly regretted their decision."

"Hey, you don't have to talk about this if you don't want to," Lance suggested, trying to calm down his agitated friend.

Lance's words had the opposite effect on Keith. "You were the one who asked!"

"Well I was just curious," Lance's thin frame retreated into itself. "No need to yell-"

"Don't you DARE tell me what to do!" Keith spat.

It was Lance's turn to become irritated. "I was just trying to have a conversation, jeez. Sorry you have daddy issues." He froze, immediately regretting those words as soon as they had left his mouth. His breathing was heavy.

Keith simmered, "If anybody has daddy issues is you! Have you even SEEN the way you act towards Shiro!?"

"Oy! Don't make this about Shiro!" Lance fought back. "You're the one that follows him everyone like some kind of dog-"

"Dog!?" Keith was in flames, something had snapped. He wasn't thinking anymore. He wasn't Keith. "You're the one drooling all over the place every time Allura walks by!" He stepped forward, chest to chest with Lance, unaware at just how unreasonably shallow his breathing was.

"What the HELL man!?" Lance shoved him off. "I wouldn't even touch Allura. Shiro has had dibs on her since like... forever!"

"Oh, so she's an object now!?" Keith shoved him back. This wasn't right. It wasn't him. "What is it, Lance?"

"You know that's not what I meant-"

"What. Is. It!?" Keith took a step closer and Lance took a step back, tripping over the discarded broom on the floor. He glared down at him, infuriated without a reason to be so. "Answer me, Lance!?" He paused, waiting for a reply from the taller man to no avail. That's when he heard the short wheezing sounds, the shallow breaths. Lance was not getting up.

"Shit." Keith snapped back into himself. This was wrong, this was all wrong. "Shit. Shit. Shit." He kneeled down beside him to check if Lance was alright. "I'm sorry, I'm-" He stumbled over his words, fumbling for his phone.

This was not how it was supposed to go.