game over ♥︎ 'level up' trilogy

(3) through hell or high water

*Thank to chloelikesburgers and sher_locket  for the title for the previous chapter, "pranks or storms?". they commented suggestions before i unpublished this last year and i put their suggestions together. From now I'm going to try to make the images match what's going on in the chapter. At least try. And this time I was listening to MCR while writing, so I linked 'Sleep', I felt it most fitting because this chapter starts with Lance waking up from a nightmare.*

(3559 words)

"Stop!" Lance screamed, sitting up in bed. Breathing heavily and tears streaming down his cheeks.

Keith quickly sat up and wrapped his arms around Lance, "Lancey, calm down. You're okay. It's not real, you're here with me. I love you," he spoke softly before kissing Lance's cheek.

Lance nodded, his breathing returning to normal as he leaned into Keith, "I-I'm sorry..."

Keith frowned, holding Lance close, "You never have to be sorry, I tell you that every time..."

Lance just sighed, "I'm still sorry."

Keith kissed the top of his head, "It's 4 am. Let's go back to sleep."

Lance shook his head, sitting up properly "I-I think I'm going to stay up for a bit..."

Keith held his hand, "I'll stay up with you."

"No, go back to sleep. I'll be okay." Lance stood and left the room.

Keith considered following him but figured it would be best to let Lance have some space. He sighed and laid back down.

Lance walked out to the living room, he grabbed the throw blanket and wrapped it around himself before laying down on the couch. He didn't care to turn on the tv. He just stared at the black screen, tears streaming down his cheeks still.

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May 5 - 8:57 pm

katiehatesyou: do you and lance want to hang out today? Hunk hasn't texted me back but Shiro and Allura said they're not feeling up to it

kmskeith: i don't know. lance had a super bad nightmare last night. he's sleeping on the couch now. he's been there since 4am. i'm worried he won't be okay today

katiehatesyou: maybe me and Hunk can come over. we can try to cheer him up.

kmskeith: maybe later. i have work tonight but i'm afraid to leave him. so if you could come over then i'd greatly appreciate it

katiehatesyou: totally. i'll get with hunk when he wakes up and we can formulate a game plan

kmskeith: sounds good. i gtg. i want to surprise lance by making chocolate chip pancakes. theyre his favorite.

katiehatesyou: you guys are cute. ttyl

Keith put his phone down and finished getting out the ingredients for the pancakes. He always made them from scratch. It took him about a half-hour to make them. As he was finishing up he heard Lance walking into the kitchen.

"It smells good in here..." Lance said, he had the blanket pulled around him still.

Keith looked at him with a smile, "I made your favorite. You had a rough night so I thought this might cheer you up."