Shine

Chapter 12-we all have walls

{photo by luty-chan}

When the train arrived in Brazil, Keith was the one who actually had to wake Lance up. He had slept through his alarm, shutting it off that morning at 7 am. Which was unusual. Since Lance took absolutely forever in the bathroom during the morning, he was always the first in so he wouldn't bug anyone, but this morning Lance had completely skipped out.

He heard Lance snoring last night. That's how heavily he was sleeping. Lance was not a heavy sleeper. He woke up whenever there was a loud bump from something hitting the wall of the train, and Keith always noticed his brow furrows even as he slept when too much noise was being made.

For Lance to sleep through his alarm, and then shut it off after the fourth ring, was mind boggling. After living with him for weeks on end, it was just so un-Lancey. It wasn't like him.

Keith walked over to his bedside, shaking him. He noticed something he hadn't before. Lance copied him.

He passed out wearing a pair of headphones, listening to his playlist. His cheeks were reddened and he looked..so sad.

Keith gently shook him, and Lance simply yanked the covers over his head and buried deeper into his blankets, not wanting to talk to anyone.

That was also very un-Lancey. The happy boy was always making an effort to talk. He never shut up.

But now..Lance didn't seem as bubbly as normal.

Keith's heartbeat began to quicken, worry spreading through him. Lance seemed so distraught.

"Lance?" Keith said, touching him. He felt Lance get stiff at the touch, and he was shoved away without another word.

Keith stood there dejectedly, watching the boy for a moment to see if he'd do anything. Moments later, he heard Lance's soft snores again. He was back asleep.

All of this was incredibly strange. Lance absolutely NEVER allowed himself to act this way. Hell, Lance would beat himself up if he acted like this all the time.

So Keith went and got an adult. Shiro.

He crossed over into the living area where the team was waiting.

"Shiro, Lance won't get up."

This seemed to strike a panic in everyone. Allura perked up, her brows furrowing as she problem solved in her head. Pidge sat up from her spot in the couch, leaving her beloved sofa crease and closing her laptop. Hunk got a worried, panicky look on his face. Shays happy expression melted away.

Shiro looked gravely concerned.

"What do you mean?"

Keith shrugged, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. "I dunno. He ignored his alarm through the whole morning and won't get out of bed. He hasn't said a word. He just passed out again." He said, letting his shaggy bangs fall in his violet eyes.

Shiro stood up. "I'll go talk to him." He said concernedly, walking through the doors to go and find Lance. Keith stole his chair, sinking into the indentation of his older brothers body, the leather chair still warm from where he previously sat.

The room was tense. The silence was awkward, and the tension could be cut with a hot knife.

Soon, Shiro came back with Lance by his side, earbuds in and attempting to smile.

"Hey." He smiled fakely.

"Sorry about that. I was just really sleepy and drained from the beach yesterday. Blegh, yknow?" He smiled, hand on his hip. He was acting like the normal Lance. Everyone was falling for it. Except for Keith.

Keith noticed how dead his eyes looked. He noticed that the turquoise had faded into dark, unhappy cyan. He noticed that his smile was a little too bright for it to be totally real. And he noticed how stiff Lance was. Lance was never standing completely still. He was always walking and strutting around, making a big deal of himself.

Lance was so fluid with his motions. He always moved like he was performing for the president. Like he had to look like an absolute god at all times, otherwise he was messing up. This Lance right here was standing perfectly still with his hands in his pockets.

Lance was not happy. Not normal happy that is. Fake happy. Keith hated happy actors.

Keith noticed his style. He was in a navy zip up jacket. He remembered Lance cursing him out one night about a week ago.

~

"BLACK?! Why in God's name would I own black clothing?! Black is the bleakest, ugliest, most unfriendly color I have ever set my eyes upon! I will not even wear black to a funeral!" He scoffed over dramatically.

Basically, Keith asked if he had any black clothes. And Lance was very very offended.

"The darkest color you will ever see me wear is navy." He said, crossing his arms.

"And even if I'm wearing solid navy, you should question my happiness and sanity."

Keith would remember that Lance was not a dark color person. He was a light color person.

And if he was ever caught wearing solid navy, he should question his happiness and sanity.

Seems easy enough

~

Keith looked down, wiggling his toes in his sneakers and chewing on his bottom lip.

Oh well..

Maybe Hunk or Pidge could take care of this. Since Lance doesn't really want him or whatever, yknow?

Who would want some edgy emo loner teen with no sense of style and a 40 year old haircut?

~

The team arrived at the hotel, Lance and Keith being paired together for rooms once again.

Keith noticed.

The second the door shut, Lance dropped his smile and curled up in bed, going on his cellphone and plugging in his earphones, totally shutting out the world. Once again, very un-Lancey.

During the last show, Lance was so antsy he couldn't sit. He had gotten ready two hours before they were set to leave. It was stupid, but showed how much he at least cared.

The show was at 8. Lance got in the shower at 7 and was out in literally fifteen minutes.

While sitting at his desk in his leotard, Lance stared at the mirror, his bottom lip trembling before he crossed his arms and laid his head down, his shoulders quaking.

Lance was breaking down, brick by brick. His walls were tumbling all the way down. Faster and faster. The more bricks fell the harder Lance sobbed.

It was all coming down so fast

Too fast

No

~1083 words~

Poor boy is homesick

~Atha