The one shots I write when I should be sleeping

1. Klance (799 words)

Allura

Over the past few movements, I had noticed Keith drifting away from the rest of the Paladins. Shiro had noticed it as well, and as Keith let another Galra blade graze his leg, crumpling and falling to the floor, the purple warrior's heavy blade lifting above him, he almost burst my eardrums when he yelled over the intercom, too far to go help.

Thankfully, Lance had been perched up in the rafters and shot the blade out of his hand, and then the warrior, who crumpled and landed right on top of Keith, who made a sound that I almost thought was a sob.

"You good Keith?" I hear Lance's voice through the intercom.

"Yeah," Keith groaned. "Yeah, I'm fine."

***

Kolivan, after Lance glaring at him (which can be a scary thing considering he's usually so upbeat and happy), let Keith come to the Castle of Lions.

Lance and Keith went home in Red, and when they got to the castle, Lance breezed past us all, Keith draped in his arms, half conscious, to the infirmary.

Shiro followed, brow creased in a way that really shouldn't be attractive. He was rapid-firing questions at Lance, but Lance wasn't answering.

It took a moment for the rest of us to realize how dire the situation could be. Keith hardly spent any time in or near the infirmary, for him to have to be carried there by Lance, of all people... it confused and shocked everyone.

***
Lance

Thankfully, Keith's wounds healed quickly, and he was only in the healing pod for about three days. Kolivan agreed to let him stay a couple more days, and I decided I'd take the time to just... adore him.

At the moment, we're tangled up on each other with our fingers intertwined. My nose is buried in Keith's hair and his back is pressed so close to my chest I can feel each breath he takes.

They're slow and steady and I think he's half asleep.

"Keith," I murmur into his neck, wishing I didn't have to disturb him.

"Mmm," he hummed in reply.

"Are you okay? These past few weeks, you've been... I don't know. Just, you seem a bit off, recently," I said quietly.

Keith shifted out of my grip. He winced a bit as he sat up, and I reached out to touch his arm gently.

"I'm fine. Just some stuff the healing pod didn't quite get," he waved it away.

"Keith..."

"Yeah. Um, I just..." he lifted a hand to scratch the back of his neck. "The Blade has this database. They have everyone who had ever been even remotely involved with them, and..."

Keith takes a deep breath, wipes tears from his eyes.

"I found my mom, Lance."

Woah.

"Really? Keith, that's awesome!"

"Yeah– I mean, yeah. We haven't tracked her down yet but her file... she's got almost as much of problem with authority as I do," he said, laughing a little bit.

I smiled.

"God, Lance, I– It's scary how similar we are. I've never known her my entire life, but I'm more like her than... I'm more similar to her than I have been to anything in my life, I swear."

Keith's leaning on my shoulder, playing with my fingers, and I can hear the emotion in his voice.

"You excited to find her?" I asked.

"Yeah. I– Lance, I'm this close to finding my mom, I–" he pinched his fingers together in a measurement pose.

"I'm glad you've finally found her, after all these years."

"Lance, I want you to come with me when I go looking for her," Keith blurted.

"You... really?" I breathed, staring wide-eyed at him.

"Yeah. You... you're really important to me, Lance, and you keep me grounded. Honestly, I don't think I would have kept looking into it if we hadn't been video chatting for the past four months. You give me the strength to keep going, Lance. It's why I love you so much," he murmured.

I couldn't stop the smile climbing on to my face as I pulled Keith closer.

"Keith, you're gonna make me cry," I joke-whispered quietly. Keith chuckled and looked up at me.

He stared at me for a couple minutes before leaning forward and pressing our lips together.

***

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch in the common room, kissing, snuggling. We even got a nap in, and no one bothered us. I could have felt bad for keeping Keith to myself all day, and I should have, but I just wanted to spend some time with him and only him. With Keith in The Blade, and me here, we rarely got time to talk. So I kept Keith for myself that first day, and then I shared him.