Citrus. Klance AU

Chapter 23

I noticed that Keith questioned whether I was okay rather often and it irritated me. Most of the time, his gaze was burning into me from whichever direction. It made me feel uncomfortable- as if he was waiting for me to do something wrong. One day, I had had enough. He was sat with his laptop but he hadn't even glanced at the screen in about ten minutes because he was looking at me. "Can you please stop staring..?" I mumbled, trying my hardest not to make eye contact with him.

"Sorry, sorry..." He replied, turning back to his laptop. For a second, I thought it was okay but then he was looking at me again. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, Keith. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"You seem kind of-"

"I'm fine, Keith."

"Fine-"

"I'm not a baby!" I raised my voice much louder than I had anticipated in my head. Keith's mouth fell open, speechless. "I'm absolutely, 100% fine. I would tell you if I wasn't so stop treating me like a kid. You don't need to skate on thin ice around me all the time. I want to be treated like a normal human being and not like someone who is on the verge of breaking-"

"Sorry, Lance, I just-"

"No, let me finish! You're allowed to tell me when I'm annoying and you're allowed to tell me what to do sometimes. We both know I'm fucked up and I hate that we never talk about it. I can't get better if you keep treating me like I'm so broken. You need to let me be independent and conquer my emotions on my own sometimes."

"Don't you understand how scared I am?"

"What?" Suddenly my string of words came to a halt and I became the one who was rendered speechless. Keith shut his laptop and placed it on the sofa cushion beside him.

"You've been through much more than any human ever deserves to go through and I'm scared for you. What if one day you decide you can't handle it anymore? Lotor fed you so many lies and I can't stand it! You're allowed to talk to other people and go outside! You should be able to do those things without- without expecting a punishment!"

"I can't help it! This is what I'm used to. This is what I think is right."

"It isn't right, Lance. It never will be right. You're a human being and you can't be controlled. You can do whatever you want without having to be scared that I'll ban you from seeing your friends of whatever." Keith rubbed his face with his hands, looking like he was about to punch something... or someone. I subconsciously shrunk back in my seat.

"I was happy with Lotor so it was fine. Everything he did was okay and-"

"Shut up. Please just... shut up. What he did wasn't at all right and I hate him for doing it to you. You don't love him and he never loved you. You just need to face that."

"He did love me and I loved him! He gave me a place to live and he looked after me-"

"Looked after you? That's hilarious. He treated you like shit. You deserve so much better than him."

"I don't though!" Keith stood up and kicked the base of the chair, his hands clenching into fists. I got up onto my feet too, backing up ever so slightly.

"I know you're insecure but will you please just... shut up. I can't listen to this anymore."

"It's the truth, Keith... and you know it."

"I need to go out." Keith's words had become angry mutters as he stormed into the hallway to grab his jacket. "Don't expect me back for a while."

"Wait, Keith. I'm sorry. Please don't leave-" But it was too late. He had already slammed the door in my face.

-

When Keith finally returned, I was sat at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for him. I had been sat there for the entire three hours he had been gone. At first I had been crying but that eventually stopped until I was just shivering. I had my arms wrapped around my legs as my teeth chattered and my eyes burned. The door opened slowly, as if Keith was attempting to sneak in but, as soon as he saw me, he realised he wasn't going to get away with it.

"Look, Lance, I-" He started but I was quick to cut him off.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier. I didn't mean to get angry and I- I really hope you can forgive me. Please don't punish me because I promise I'll be good. I won't shout again. Just please- please don't hurt me." I reached out to grab a hold of his sleeve, holding onto it like it meant everything to me. Keith stared at my hand for a moment in an attempt to understand the situation.

"You don't need to apologise. I should be the one saying sorry. I took it way out of hand and I'm sorry I walked out. I won't punish you because you don't deserve it, alright? You're okay and I'm not angry anymore. I just needed to calm down."

I bit my lip and nodded (but I still didn't let go of his sleeve). "Please don't leave me."

"I won't. I promise you. Now... do you want to go straight to bed or watch a movie? You can pick?"

"...Movie, please."