Red: A Keith x Reader Love Story

Chapter 33

Dedicated to @Wren_HEV_Haddock. I think you'll know why.

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"Hey, man." Lance walks into Keith's room, knocking lightly.

Keith looks up from where he polishes his dagger. "Hey," He says, surprised.

"Listen," Lance rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Are you still mad at me?"

"About what? Saying those things to (Y/N) yesterday?" Keith puts his knife aside. "Because I don't care about that anymore."

"No, about-" Lance pauses. "About last year... that incident."

Keith's gaze stares him down intensely. "Oh. That."

"Because if not, I want to apologize again. I'll apologize as many times as it takes." Lance looks away as Keith stands and crosses the floor to be in front of him.

"You're not the one who should be apologizing." Keith says softly.

Lance glances up, shocked. "What do you-"

"I treated you horribly." Keith admits. "It wasn't right to blame everything on you. You loved her too, and were jealous. And then I was jealous and upset. I said so many mean things to you. I threatened to kill you.

"I think, part of me blamed myself, thought I wasn't good enough for her, and I lashed out at you. I finally had everything I wanted and I was a bit insecure and was afraid of losing it all."

"But I screwed up bad too," Lance swallows. "I mean, dude. I fucked your girl."

Keith winces. "Don't think I've forgotten. I felt betrayed, so utterly betrayed. I knew in my heart that neither of you would do that to purposely hurt me. But there you were, my best friend and my girlfriend-"

"Best friend?" Lance repeats, cheeks red. "You consider me your best friend?"

Keith blushes a little. "Well, sure. I may not act like it very often, but I consider all of you guys my best friends. Mostly you and Shiro though, I guess, because I consider myself to be closer to you two. But that's not the point." He takes a deep breath. "I was mad because the two people who meant the most to me stabbed me in the back. But in return, I stabbed you both in the back several more times."

When Lance goes to protest, Keith holds up a hand. "Maybe not in the same way, but I let (Y/N) leave. I tried to hurt you, a lot. I made you feel like shit, and I basically abandoned (Y/N) for a whole year."

"No, you didn't. You never stopped searching for her." Lance whispers. "But what are you getting at?"

"What I'm getting at, is I'm sorry." Keith looks Lance in the eyes. "I am so sorry, Lance. I'd do anything to take everything back."

"Me too," Lance murmurs.

"Forgive me?" Keith asks hopefully.

Lance nods, a smile on his face. "Of course. Do you forgive me?"

"Of course," Keith grins. He holds out his fist and Lance bumps it.

"Friends?" Lance beams.

"Friends."

They shake hands, and Lance turns to leave, everything off his chest, except for one small thing.

"Keith?" He pauses in the doorway. His heart pounds.

"Yeah?"

"For the record," Lance looks at him over his shoulder. "(Y/N), wasn't the one I was jealous over."