Always There [Klance/Laith]

Chapter 8

The sun beated down upon the ground. It was ridiculously hot and allergies were on a high. A light breeze lingered in the trees. Small bugs thrived in the clumps of grass. It just all seemed so alive.

Keith ran next to his friend. Lance giggled uncontrollably. They got out to enjoy the sun. It has been raining for the vast majority of the week. Today was the driest day they had had. They might as well make the most of this delightful day.

The two boys chased each other. They travelled through the grass. Reeds and flowers were pushed down, under their feet. Keith was leading the two. Lance tried to catch him from behind. The black haired boy was slightly faster than the tanned one. Lance could feel his chest tightening up from tiredness.

Lance suddenly stopped. He bent over to place his hands on his knees. He panted and tried desperately to reclaim his breath. Keith turned at the sudden loss of Lance's giggling. He saw the other bending and he was hit with a sudden concern. He ran over to see what was wrong and what he could do to help.

Keith wrapped his arms around Lance's shoulders. Lance smiled at the contact and felt his rapid breathing slowly begin to cease. Lance smiled at Keith, as he slowly began to rise. Keith had left the embrace to let the other rise. He smiled as Lance placed their own hand on Keith's shoulder.

"Tig. You're it."

Lance erupted in laughter, before setting off. Keith scowled slightly but that was soon replaced with a small grin. He ran after the other boy. Keith was catching up to the other faster than Lance did. A root was the thing to catch him out. His foot was pulled back, as it fell into the grasp of the 'deadly' thing. He fell to the muddy ground.

Keith groaned and looked up. Lance had taken notice to Keith's mistake. He took this as an opportunity to speed off. He sped off into the entrance of the surrounding forest. Keith slowly rose up with a grunt. He felt a small pain in the foot that was tugged. He tugged through it so he could get to Lance. He would not let that boy get the glory of winning.  

The trees where never as daunting as they once were. When he was younger, Keith would have erupted in fear knowing he had to go in. After a friend none the less. What could be in there waiting for him? Falling tree? A nest of bees? A red lion with a craving for flesh? Absolutely anything could be waiting for him.

The giggles escaping Lance's mouth sweeped through the trees. This made it slightly easier for Keith to locate his friend. He knew Lance was treating this as a joke- really it is war. Keith will find this lanky boy. He sped down the small mud hills that littered the area. He burst through openings in the bushes. He did all this to follow his friend's noise.

Keith could hear the sound of running water nearing. It was mixing in with the giggles to form an almost challenging noise. The water was slowly overpowering the giggles, as Keith got closer. Keith had to stop as soon as he reached the edge of the river. It was a deep and wide space of water. It obscured any path through. Lance could not have gotten through it.

The sound of giggling had long since stopped. Lance must have realised any sort of peep out of him would alert Keith of his location. By the determined look plastering Keith's face, any person would know he was deeply serious about this. Serious in an almost scary way. Keith's head swing around to trace the surroundings. Lance could see Keith from the tree he was hiding behind. By chance, Keith started to slowly edge towards the side Lance was hiding in.

Trees and bushes blocked off every way but one. It was obvious that that would have been the only way Lance could have headed. Keith's eyes scanned around him. Lance, acting by the fact Keith was heading towards him, started to slowly edge away from his hiding spot. He dodged Keith's gaze waits relative ease. It was only the sound of a stick cracking under his foot that would aleart the other.

Quickly, Keith's head flicked over to the direction of the noise. From within the bushes, Keith could see the faint presence of his friend. He gave off a quick smirk before running over. Lance, who barely had enough time to react, let out a small scream. Keith pounced on the other boy.

"You're it!"

Keith collapsed on top of Lance. By this time, Lance was full on screaming. His friend had just thrown himself on top of him- how else was he supposed to act? Keith's determination was beginning to fade. Lance was just kind of stuck under Keith. The black haired boy just awkwardly stared back at the boy. Quickly realising the situation, the two boys looked anywhere but at each other. 

Keith quickly got up off of Lance, startled. A look of pure mortification was evident on his face. Lance slowly began to rise from off the ground. He wanted to see what Keith had reacted to. He looked over to the area where his friend was looking at. 

It was a dead rabbit. Its insides littered the floor around it. Its blood painted the nearby grass. Flies thrived around it. Yet, Lance was unfazed.

"It's just a dead rabbit, Keith."

Keith looked over at Lance in shock, "What do you mean 'It's just a dead rabbit'! It had feelings Lance!"

"Yeah," Lance replied in confusion, "It HAD feelings."

"It's dead. You should at least care a little bit more."

Lance still looked confused, "What's left for me to care about?"

"It was alive Lance!" Keith snapped, "How is such a hard thing to comprehend?"

"I just... don't care, I guess?"

Keith was shocked, once again, "You don't care?!"

"Yup," Lance smiled, "Your the only one I care about. Your not exactly that rabbit now are you, Keith?"

-~-~

A certain friend of mine wanted me to update this. You know who you are- I hate you for it. I was not planning on updating this in a long while. I wanted to do other things like, you know, read. Sadly no. 

So enjoy this non-proofread chapter I shat out.

Bye.