ANXIETY- A Klance Fanfiction

Lost, Then Found

Keith and Lance lay in the room among the blankets lazily. Keith had let Lance walk back by himself, and it had proven to be quite taxing for the Paladin, as he was practically asleep, laying curled up beside Keith. Keith had his chin on Lance's head, and was rubbing circles into Lance's back with the arm they were laying on. The other was wrapped around Lance's waist. His eyes drifted closed for a few moments, before the Castle's loudspeaker crackled to life.

Lance sat up, looking around in slight alarm and Keith quickly grabbed Lance's hand to keep him from bolting. Maybe he wasn't totally stable yet.

"Keith, Lance." Allura's voice came clear and unmistakable. "We're back. We need to discuss something. Meet us at the bridge."

Lance looked at Keith with wide eyes, although hints of exhaustion caused his pupils to quiver a bit. Keith furrowed his brow, pursing his lips in thought before setting his hands over Lance's. "I'll go for the both of us, okay? You stay here, and try to sleep. I won't be gone long."

Lance's heart thudded loudly, but he nodded numbly. Keith patted his hands softly and stood up, leaving the safe room.

Leaving him alone was a bad idea.

He lay back against the blankets, but a worried feeling settled into the pit of his stomach. Despite how tired he felt, he tossed and turned, and couldn't get comfortable. The paranoia was starting to set in again.

What if it was a trap? Could someone project Allura's voice through the Castle? If it was an invasion surely they would've been notified, or there would've been an explosion, but they hadn't exactly been paying attention. Maybe someone snuck in?

Lance hadn't realized hie was shivering until he bit his tongue so hard he drew blood. The feeling of the thick liquid tainting his tongue with a metallic taste seemed to jerk him to attention and he sat back up again, running a hand through his hair nervously, and trying so desperately not to scratch at his skin. His trembling breath picked up again, and he shot nervous glances around the small room. He was safe here, wasn't he? No, no. He couldn't be thinking about that now. He had to make sure Keith was safe. He was hydrated enough he'd started sweating soon after Keith left, and he rubbed the back of his neck to try and get it off, to alleviate that confined feeling the moisture gave him.

He pulled his knees to his chest and tapped lightly on his elbows, shooting nervous glances around the room. He couldn't shake this feeling that something was wrong about this situation. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it made his skin crawl. His fingers fell into a rhythm as he counted ticks that Keith was gone. He spent a little bit wondering how much time had passed when he wasn't counting, but he was worried about losing track if he thought too hard about it, so he focused on how much time was passing now.

Suddenly, he heard scuttling-like tapping moving along the wall to his left, and he scrambled back to the opposite wall, his heart pounding loudly in his chest. Long ticks passed before he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and curled back up, trembling. There was another tap, tap/from off to his right side, and he covered his ears with his hands, letting out a weak whimper. Keith had told him to stay here, and he oh so desperately wanted to follow those instructions, but his heart was pounding right out of his chest and he didn't, he couldn't keep himself calm.

He jumped and was afraid his heart was going to explode when a new series of loud tapping sounded from his right side. He couldn't take it anymore. He needed Keith. He couldn't exactly explain why- maybe because Keith had been the only one there when Lance really needed him, or because of these gut wrenching feelings he had for him- but he needed to find Keith.

He scrambled to his feet, tripping on one of the blankets- or himself, he couldn't exactly tell- and pressed his palm against the button that opened the door. It slid open almost agonizingly slowly, and he was met with a cavernous hallway, similar to the first time. The tapping raining down on his ears was the same, too. This time, however, he ignored the dark, and the open space, and the hiding places, and just focused on one thought-

Keith.

His socked feet pattered on the floor as he ran through the Castle, sliding occasionally on the floor and flailing his arms to keep him from falling. They said they'd be at the Bridge, right? That would give him the option to alert the others if there was a problem. The tapping sounded distant, now, like he had managed to run from it, but he was this far already. Might as well go the rest of the way.

Fortunately he didn't have to sound an alarm of any sort (in hindsight, that was a good thing, since he didn't exactly know how to do that). The door slid open and he skidded to a stop as several pairs of eyes turned to look at him. He was suddenly very aware of the fact the tapping had not stopped, and he stumbled back almost as soon as he stopped moving forward, eyes looking around at everyone. A wave of tremors came over his body, his legs gave out and he pitched forward. Someone's arms wrapped around him, and enveloped him in a hug, rubbing his arms gently. Feeling that physical contact against the exposed backs of his arms calmed the adrenaline pounding through his veins, as fast as his heartbeat, and another set of tremors came over his body, echoing in his teeth as they chattered.

"Lance." Lance looked up through the blurry haze that had come over his eyes to see Keith holding onto him, rubbing his hands up and down Lance's trembling arms. "Why didn't you stay in the room?"

Lance's hands shot out suddenly and grabbed Keith's arms tightly, his breath hitching as he tried to take a deep breath, and failed. He choked out a panicked sob, guilt crawling its way up his throat. "I-I'm sorry... I-I..." He dug his nails deeply into Keith's arms, tears welling in his eyes and letting out a feeble whimper.

"Whoa, hey." Keith reached up with one hand and gently wiped the tears from Lance's eyes. Lance suddenly jerked forward and wrapped his arms around Keith's neck, clinging to him. He clung tight to the feeling of Keith's skin, or his jacket or his clothes, trying to shut out the tapping, the people watching him. Keith wrapped his arms around Lance, holding him tight and rubbing circles into his back gently. "You're gonna be fine, Lance. I'm not mad at you."

Lance hiccuped and looked up at Keith. "Th-the tapping..."

Keith bit back a sigh, a bit bothered by the fact they had made reverse progress, but he refused to get mad at Lance. "Is it gone now?"

Lance was silent for several moments, and a heavy silence lay over the area, before Lance nodded. "I-it stopped after you..."

Keith's face lit up a bit and he heard snickering behind him, but chose to ignore it. For the moment at least. Someone would get a butt whooping later. "That's good." He ran his fingers gently through Lance's hair. "Do you want to stay here?"

He nodded quickly, tightening his hold on Keith. "I wanna stay here with you."

His cheeks flushed pink and me smiled at Lance warmly. "Okay. You can stay with me then."