Life Line ((A voltron AU))

Heartbeat

It was a silent and cold January night. Only the soft shifting of sheets and slow, steady breaths from a couple of teenager's embrace laced the cool night time air.
It was well over midnight, maybe even early morning, however Keith was still awake, still in his own head, in his own exhausted thoughts. He laid there in a other man's, his fellow comrade's arms quietly enjoying this unfamiliar warm embrace.
With his wavy raven hair draped over his dark violate eyes and spreading over the other's chest, Keith closed his eyes as a soft smile graced his pale lips. He pressed his ear closer, just barely, feeling the chest under him rise and fall in a relaxed manor and a steady, familiar pulse.
He tried to sync his breathing with the other's in order to calm the dully painful pounding that raged restlessly inside his chest. However the anxiety from his night terror had still not left his system causing his breath hitch, cut short by tightness that was still on the process of working itself loose inside his chest.
He was so close... That he could hear the soft breathes the other male would take in swirl around his lungs before being pushed out and he could faintly hear the steady, rhythmic beating of his heart.He had never been so physically close to someone in his whole life but it wasn't half as terrifying or awkward as he used to imagine it.
It was actually really comfortable. He felt so safe and to think that someone trusted him enough to let themselves be exposed in such a intimate way ... sent a painful pinch of guilt into his already oversensitive heart.
'How could Lance let himself trust someone who could barely trust themselves ?' Keith would think angrily to himself at times.
But the fact that this trusting, warm, fragile heart of his was still beating... After all the hell he's been through was in it's self a miracle. This had made droplets of tears, now bittersweet, start to gather at his smooth dark lashes for the second time this night.

He knew that he could never be able to express everything that swirled inside him to his friend or to any. He knew almost for a fact that he physical would never be able to verbally express how much he actually felt for this guy. He would most likely end up tripping over his own words and  half heartedly twist them into an form of petty insult.

Lance is so .... Lance. He's so selfless... He'd do anything for others even if it meant putting his own life on the line over and over again q. And, Keith had to admit, the way he could laugh through any situation, no matter how rough it got, was incredible. He could make the gloomiest and dimmest situation a tad bit brighter even if it meant having people make fun of him or look down at him or dub him useless. And foolishly he keeps being bright for others even when he is feeling dark inside. 
Maybe that was why his eyes were such a stunning shade of ocean blue? They were a dark navy blue at the edge of his iris and lighten into a sky blue right it the pupils. They would appear dark, unremarkable until you actually looked into them. Maybe eyes are truly the windows to the soul. 

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Lance took a lungful of the cool night time air, indicating that he had waken up from his short slumber. Keith worried silently to himself if he had waken Lance up or if Lance woke up on his own. 

"Hey, Keith?..." Lance softy spoke with one hand lazily resting on Keith's silky head and the other resting at the center of his warm back.

"Yeah?" Keith responded shortly, not bothering shifting his attention away from the quiet melody that played in Lance's chest.

"How come you're curling up into my chest like that?" Lance laughed softly, finding the way Keith was nestled up like a kitten would sleep with it's siblings adorable and actually kinda comfy. But he had also mentioned it just to check if Keith was feeling any better or if he was still freaking himself out.
Looks like he had waken him up after all. Keith's eyes snapped open as if he wasn't completely aware of his own actions . At that moment ,his fair cheeks were sent aflame, burning into the same shade of dark red as the shirt he wore loosely on his slender frame.

"It-it's- um..." Keith took a deep breath, deciding to let the truth that was steadily rising in his throat to spill out.
"I just like it here. I like hearing your heart beat, okay? It's not in a weird way or anything--" He  tried to explain himself, his erratic heart jumping at his own words. "It... Just reminds me that this real. That you're still here with me...alive.." At the end of his explanation, his voice softened as he trailed off into thought.
There's had be time where Keith was almost sure that he was going to lose Lance. He feared that one day, Lance's luck would catch up with him and that his overly forced confidence would be the death of him.

Lance stayed silent for a moment almost not believing that this was the real Keith talking right now. 'Honestly, what has gotten into this guy?' Lance silently thought to himself.
Sooner then what he would have liked it, He found his cheeks starting to heat up rather quickly as his cheeks turned beat red and that his heart, that was once relaxed and content, was now pounding hard enough to make his chest ache.
Hearing the reaction he was getting out of Lance had put an amused smile across Keith's face.

"You're heart is pounding." Keith mentioned softly with wide eyes before he lets out a light chuckle as he heard Lance's breath hitch over dramatically.

"S-shut it,Mullet !~" Lance practically squeaked, obviously very flustered.

That just made Keith smile more as he let his heavy eyelids flutter close. He found himself being more relaxed then he had been in a long time.
Lance glanced down at Keith, half way expecting a scowl after calling him Mullet but instead he was met with an nearly angelic sight.
The moonlight caused streaks of silvers in his raven hair and his damp lashes. His fair face was relaxed, glowing without a trace of worry or fear he had experienced during his night terror earlier this night. Lance almost forgot to breath for a moment before he took a long, relaxed breath feeling his raging pulse calm. The aching feeling in his chest had faded into a warm and fuzzy feeling that Lance couldn't quiet describe. Maybe it was contentment?...

Lance slowly shook his head with a small smile. He was just glad that Keith was feeling better for a change. Having nightmares night after night had started to really take a toll on Keith's mental stability as well as his emotions. Lance could tell that much due to Keith becoming more attached to him.
Every since Shiro was taken by Galra soldiers, who was like a older brother to him, Keith had been clinging more tightly onto Lance lately. Lance would often wonder to himself if Keith was afraid of losing him in the same fashion. He even began sleeping, if he did any at all,  with him more then he did on his own. Not that Lance really minded though. 

All he wanted to do is to make sure Keith was going to be alright. Hell, he wanted his whole team to be alright. Somewhere along the battles, his other comrades Pidge and Hunk had been separated from them. So they were currently at a hideout on the east side and him and Keith was on the west.
This just added more stress to rescue mission at hand. Lance had already promised himself that he would keep the team safe until they have rescued Shiro but after the whole getting separated situation happened, he was slowly beginning to doubt himself. And he would have probably given into his own self doubt if it wasn't for Keith believing in him. Even though Keith was depending on him emotionally, but he was Lance's rock. He was the one keeping him grounded to earth, keeping him inspired, and he was one a the few people that can make the hole in his chest that had formed once he had left his family feel a little less empty.

Looking fondly at Keith's relaxed features one last time before letting his  eyes closed Lance whispers, " Dulces sueños." Sweet dreams. to the sleeping Keith.