Klance - Beat Drop (Complete)

Chapter 21 He Was

The rest of the week was spent waking up late, going out into the city and towns nearby to see stores and tourist attractions. Every night, they would come home and have dinner and read and talk in the living room, then head up to bed late, and Lance would fall asleep on top of Keith, his breath warm and his bare chest warmer.

As it got colder and colder outside, Keith lost more layers of clothes he wore to bed. Lance was plenty warm, even if they just wore boxers. Keith was always nervous his parents would barge in, but he chided himself, knowing his parents knew the concept of knocking. Lance didn't though, not really. He'd already walked in on Keith peeing twice, and then casually strolled in when Keith was showering. Both times, he had glanced at Keith up and down and then moved on, not really phased. Keith almost died of embarrassment.

Lance and Keith's parents got along surprisingly well, and Lance would often sit with Nate in the morning and chat about the news. Keith hadn't known he was so politically smart, but Nate was impressed. For Acxa, Lance was an angel, always asking to clean things up or help make food. Acxa always brushed him off, but sometimes he persisted and she allowed him to clean up after dinner or lunch.

Acxa was weary and growing thinner. Keith noticed how slowly she ate, and the blender, sparkling clean, sat on the counter, Acxa sometimes whisking away to it to make herself something she could actually eat. The circles under her eyes grew darker, but she was refusing chemotherapy now, even as Nate pleaded. When Keith asked her why, she turned to him, an odd expression on her face, determined but scared.

"I was put on this Earth with a certain amount of time to do everything I wanted to. I've done all those things. I've been a crazy teenager into my twenties, I've fallen in love, I've had a son, I've visited so many places... I don't want to suffer this longer than I have to because this prolonged torture can really eat up the good things in life. I'll live with this as long as I can, but only with my own body helping me." Keith had gathered her up in his arms and hugged her tightly then, but not too tightly.

It was Monday night, the day before Halloween and when Lance and Keith would go home, when Nate pulled out his telescope.

"I haven't seen this thing in ages," Acxa commented from the couch, holding a cup of tea between her hands.

"Me neither," Keith said excitedly, watching Nate reattach all the parts together, the long, heavy tube over the mount, everything sliding together perfectly. Keith loved his father's telescope, and Shiro knew because it was the exact same model he had gotten Keith for his birthday. This was the telescope of Keith's childhood. Keith thought he could spend years just staring up at the moon and focusing on the planets and stars so far away.

Nate carried the long instrument outside onto the small porch, paint peeling away, the color of pale blue hydrangeas. The night was cold and Lance huddled up against Keith, pressing his warm hands into Keith's as Nate adjusted the focus onto the moon. Acxa stepped outside, wrapping her bathrobe around her thin frame. She wasn't wearing her headscarf now, and her head was bald and smooth. Keith looked at her once, then tugged off his beanie and pulled it down over her head. She looked at him and smiled. Keith put his arm around Lance's waist and leaned into him. Acxa gazed at her husband who was meticulously adjusting the focus of the telescope. Her heart ached and she already missed him.

"Keith, come take a look," Nate said suddenly, and Keith shuffled forward, scooting beside Nate to look into the small eyepiece. He grinned and shoved his hands in his pockets, searching for warmth. He stood there for a few minutes, making small adjustments, then turned back to Lance.

"You have to check this out." Lance stepped closer to the sleek black instrument and Keith backed up to let him in. Lance heard Nate tell Keith that he wanted to show him a picture of the moon he had taken a month prior, during the harvest moon when the spinning rock was made a huge, orange orb in the sky. Keith followed Nate inside, leaving Lance and Acxa on the porch. Lance leaned down, careful not to touch the telescope in both fears of breaking it and shaking it out of the perfect alignment father and son had adjusted it to.