That Night [Klance]

Chapter 1

Keith was sitting in his room. He stared into nothingness as he thought back on what had happened today. His vision went blurry, so Keith wiped his eyes and took a deep breath, like he had done over and over again for the last hour. He hadn't realized how late it had gotten, it was dark and the castle was hulled in silence. Keith sniffled and exited his room, walking down a few corridors and stopping in front of a door. He was tired. After all, Keith had barely slept since Shiro had disappeared and now he had messed up completely on the first mission where he was leading the team. Keith felt stupid, because he had been on the verge of crying for nights, now more than ever.

He didn't know what he was doing here, in front of that door, ready to knock, ready to enter. He was too tired to know and too tired to care.

Keith let his head fall to the front, still holding it all back, and knocked. It was a quiet, hesitant knock and Keith doubted anyone would even hear, but after a few seconds the door opened. "Keith? What are you doing here?", Lance asked. He clearly wasn't tired. "Do you know how late it is? Shouldn't you be asleep after a..." Lance stopped talking when he saw Keith's face, pleading and empty, like he needed Lance more than anything right now. And he did. Lance looked at Keith and then stepped aside, holding his arm toward his room's inside. "Come in.", he said and smiled softly. Keith took a few slow steps before Lance closed the door behind them. Then they just stood there for a while, not daring to speak or look at each other. "So...", Lance sighed after a while "what brings ya here?" Before Lance could even finish the sentence properly, Keith bursted out: "I'm sorry!"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. For screwing everything up today, for almost getting you killed, for making you accept me as your leader... I'm a moron, Lance, and I can totally understand why you hate me. Oh god, Lance, I..."
"Stop.", Lance interrupted "You're tired, Keith, you haven't slept properly. You're not making any sense!" He put a hand on Keith's shoulder and smiled at him, but when Keith lifted his head, he was crying. He was crying and he wasn't holding back any more, he just stood there and cried and stammered on about how sorry he was. "I'm sorry, Lance!", he said "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! You're right to hate me, I'm sorry! I couldn't... I... I could never live with myself if I hurt you, Lance!"

Lance flinched back from those words in disbelief. This was so not like Keith to show affection like that, to show weakness like that. "Hey...", Lance said and wiped away some of Keith's tears with his thumb, while holding his smile, an honest smile. "It's fine, Keith. I'm here." Lance guided Keith to the bed and they sat down beside it, leaning their backs against the side of the bed. Keith cried into Lance's shoulder and Lance was holding Keith tight.

"I don't hate you.", Lance said after a while. Keith looked up at him and sniffled. "But, you're always so... mean to me."

"I don't hate you.", Lance said, shaking his head. "Actually, it's quite the opposite. I admire you, I always have, even back at the academy. You always seemed to handle everything so well and never get kicked off your game. And you're a talented pilot. I guess I could just never admit it."

Keith had stopped crying and looked at Lance with big eyes. And then he started laughing and Lance joined in. "Thanks.", Keith said when he had calmed down "I was always so desperate for your approval, great Lance!" Keith sounded ironic, but he was serious. He just didn't want Lance to know. Not just yet.

"Oh! Keith!", Lance said and bounced up and down excitedly. "I wanted to talk to you, too, actually.", he said.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Uhm, so... you remember how I pilot the red lion now? You've seen how bad I coped with it. Can you maybe show me a few tricks?"

"You want me to train you?", Keith asked.