shining like the stars

5

Lance was barely awake, dressed only in his pajamas as he stood at the door to his room. He rubbed one eye and yawned as the door hissed open, not even in the slightest bit thrilled at being awakened in this manner. "Yeah, what it it?" he grumbled. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Keith staggered through as soon as the bulkhead doors parted, pitching forward and directly into Lance - who was not only not awake enough to command reflexes, but was in fact holding his pillow under one arm and completely unprepared to be catching anybody. Lance went down under Keith with a startled yelp. "What the- " Lance's voice went up and back down as Keith pressed his forehead into Lance's chest, hands holding tight to the baggy tunic shirt that served as his pajama top. "... Keith?"

Keith was breathing raggedly, great gulping breaths that reminded Lance immediately of his reaction in the showers; Keith unable to control himself or calm down. "Whoa, whoa," Lance said, and realized that Keith weighed more than he thought when he couldn't easily shift him. "Keith, buddy..."

He was trembling and soaked through with sweat. "I hate this," Keith said, his forehead to Lance's shoulder. "I fucking hate this."

"Yeah," Lance said, and awkwardly patted Keith's back. "I know."

"I don't like not being in control, I can't stand it!" Keith raised his head finally and Lance was thankful that he didn't seem to be crying at least, because that was something he had absolutely no toolkit for dealing with.

Keith stared up at Lance, and Lance could feel his heartbeat, rapid and uneven, just like his breaths. Lance inhaled and said, "you're really kind of heavy, you know that? Hunk overfeeding you on the goo? How much do you even weigh , anyway, I mean Hunk's sat on me before and even then- "

"Fuck you," Keith snapped and looked away. His face was still red, even by the dim light of Lance's quarters, but the questions had served as intended and derailed Keith's train of thought.

"You wish," Lance said, and pushed at Keith. "Would you get off me? I wasn't kidding, you weigh a ton. "

Keith put his hands on the floor and stared down at Lance, and Lance felt the heat on his cheeks as well, he couldn't help but flush at such intense scrutiny. "What are you staring at?" Lance demanded, and Keith shook his head once and then closed his eyes.

Unexpectedly, he laughed.

Lance narrowed his eyes. "Are you laughing at me?"

Keith shook his head but continued to chuckle, his laugh less harsh and more exhausted-sounding.

"You are . Stop laughing at me!"

Keith pushed himself up on his knees and dragged his hand over his eyes, the chuckles dying off into quietude. Then he sighed deeply and smiled down at Lance, who was more than a little twigged out by the soft, amused expression on Keith's face. "Thanks, Lance," Keith said, before dragging himself to his feet. Lance sat upright, and Keith stumbled past him.

"Hey, wait a sec," Lance said said as Keith flopped face-first into the bunk. "That's my bed!"

Keith only moved enough to kick off his boots and draw his feet up onto the bed. "If you don't like it there's a bed in my room," Keith said, his back to Lance.

"Are you kidding me? I'm not going to go sleep in your bed, your sheets are full of spunk - get your sweaty ass out of my nice clean sheets!" Lance flung himself to his feet, pillow forgotten on the floor behind him. "I will make you move," he threatened.