color coded [klance]

sixteen

"i just want to see keith," lance pleaded, giving his mom his never failing puppy eyes.

"no! absolutely not! you need to focus on healing right now."

"i can't heal if i don't know if he's okay or not," lance argued, crossing his arms over his chest.

"he's fine, i already talked to him," shiro promised.

"how do you know if he's not just lying to you so he can get out of here quicker?" lance inquired, and a tense silence fell over the room. lance sighed, thinking back to the previous few hours. shiro had revealed that keith was on a 72-hour suicide watch, and the doctor had told lance that if tomorrow he was feeling up to it, he could go home. but he didn't want to go home, not before he could see keith. "has his foster mom showed up yet?"

"no," shiro replied shortly, and lance could tell the fact bothered him by the way his jaw tensed. "i've left her several messages."

"bitch," lance commented under his breath.

"ay, mijo! don't speak like that," his mom scolded, slapping lance on the hand.

"am i wrong?" he retorted, crossing his arms again. "this sucks. i just wanna see keith."

"if i let you see him, will you stop talking about him?" his mother asked defeatedly.

"yes! absolutely! i'll never speak again. please let me see him."

"fine!"

———

"keith?" lance whispered softly as he opened the door, noticing keith was reading a book, but he quickly put it down upon hearing lance's voice.

"lance! come in!" he exclaimed, patting the spot next to him. lance elected not to use that spot and instead laid over keith, hugging him tightly.

"i love you, so much," he whispered into keith's hair, which smelled like the lavender scented shampoo the hospital provided, and lance instantly missed keith's regular strawberry shampoo.

"i love you too, lance. and i'm so sorry, for all of this. you don't deserve this."

"i don't even care, i just want you, here, in my life. i don't care about what i deserve, keith, i just want you. always," lance rambled, feeling keith's heartbeat against his chest.

"i'm gonna get better, lance. they're putting me in an out-patient facility, and then i'm gonna see a therapist and get meds."

"you don't know how good it feels to hear you say that," lance breathed, a lump rising in his throat.

"you made me realize how much i want to keep living. how much i have here on this earth, in this life time. i know we've only been together for a short time, but i...i wanna grow up with you, lance. i want to wake up next to you, i wanna watch you smile and i just...wanna go through life with you next to me."

"i want the exact same," lance whispered. "and i'm glad you said it, because i didn't have the balls to," he joked, pulling away from keith to look into his eyes. "i'm going to help you get through this, okay? i'm going to stay right here and support you."

"you promise?" keith asked, and through his insecurity, lance could tell the words meant a lot to keith. lance held out his pinky and looped it through keith's.

"i promise."

and then, they shared a kiss in the bleary white lights hanging overhead, their pinkies intertwined and their hearts even more so, and though they were only teens in love, neither of them had been more sure of anything in their entire lives.

the end