Winter Tree (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic/ONC )

Reasons for Kindness

Lance honestly wanted to hug the younger Keith at that moment, yet in the back of his mind, he didn't think the action would go over well. He instead placed a hand gently onto Keith's shoulder while he wondered how he would answer Keith's question. The ice pack dropped onto the bed and Keith let out a sound indicating Lance's actions confused him. Lance felt Keith's free arm lift up and pushing him away despite Keith's injured arm. Lance then watched Keith scuttle away.

Keith now sat at the other end of the bed with his back against the headboard. His chest rose and fell, and his eyes were wide with panic. Lance carefully picked up the ice pack. "Okay. Okay. I overstepped on this one. Hunk and Allura have always been much better at this."

"What do you want from me?"

"Wh..." Lance found himself confused regarding what Keith meant. Lance let out a deep sigh before cucking the ice pack at Keith. He watched Keith swallow. "What do you mean by that?"

"Why else would you be nice to me?"

Lance narrowed his eyes in irritation and let his mouth form a firm frown. "Look..." He let his tone of voice indicating he was speaking in a serious manner rather than the humor he normally preferred using. "You said earlier I must be in major denial regarding how I act, right?"

"So?" Keith's eyes narrowed and now the young man was on the defensive.

"I'm not. I know I'm not because I'll freely admit to you right here, I have a very narcissistic personality and I can be a major jerk at times. That's not the real reason I know I'm not in denial like your Lance is." Lance let his facial features soften. "The real reason is I actually consider our Keith a good friend."

"You're lying." Keith's eyes widened in surprise and then he shook his head.

"Look, I admit Keith and I don't always..." Lance watched Keith start moving towards the edge of the bed. "...get along. What are you doing?"

"I've got to find Shiro. I've got to."

Lance's eyes widened upon realizing Keith was starting to run again. Lance swiftly launched himself over the bed and grabbed Keith as he made it to his feet. Lance let his arms wrap around Keith's middle, but let Keith's arms get stuck at his sides in the process. He felt Keith completely tense up and yet Lance didn't let go as he utilized his own body weight to plop them both back onto the bed.

"Let go!" Keith struggled, yet his attempt at getting lose instead caused pain and his eyes snapped shut.

Lance leaned over and whispered into Keith's ear. "I know why Shiro is important to you." Hearing this in his ear made Keith go limp with shock. Lance continued whispering into Keith's ear. "You've not told your Lance because you think it will make him even more upset because he's jealous of..."

"Shut up!" Keith threw his weight forward. Instead of allowing Keith the chance of escaping he found himself crashing onto the ground with Lance on top of him. Lance started getting up but let out a slight hissing sound as he wondered if he'd managed to hurt Keith more than he already was. He felt Keith shift under him. While Lance found himself kneeling on the ground next to Keith, Keith hunkered down slightly. A few drops of water fell onto the ground as that Keith refused to look Lance in the eye. "I've got find Shiro. I've got to find him, mom and everyone else."

Lance gently clapped his hands onto Keith's shoulders and felt Keith's body tremble slightly. "You're not going." Lance saw a few more tears hit the ground. "You and I both know you're a precious person to Sven, or as you call him Shiro. That's why I'm going for you."

He felt Keith tense up and then saw Keith turn and look at him. Keith's eyes were narrowed and his mouth pulled into a thin line. "Wait..." Keith pulled away again and sat with his back against the other wall like he had before. "You know? You know that Shiro is my..."

One of Lance's eyebrows lifted and he sat on his heels watching the younger Keith. "Shiro's actually told you?" He watched Keith glare at him.

"You said you knew, that this world's Keith told you. Was that a lie to get me to trust you?"

Lance let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I know that this world's Keith doesn't remember his mother."

"That makes sense."

Lance opened his eyes and looked at Keith who was now looking at him murderously. "What do you mean?"

"None of your business. You said you knew..." Keith swallowed. "You knew why he was important to me, but that was just a lie."

"He's your family, alright!" Lance found himself losing it with that Keith. "I can't say anymore as I don't know what your version of Sven has told you yet, but I promise if anything has happened to him and he can't tell you, I will tell you what he should have told you! Okay!"

Lance watched Keith's facial features soften. "Wait. You know that Shiro is my older brother?"

Lance felt himself relax as well. "Then he did tell you?"

Keith shook his head and looked at his feet. "No. Krolia did."

"Who?"

"She's my... our mother. She explained why Shiro hasn't told me yet." Keith's mouth twisted into a slight smile. "You and this Keith's world really are friends? I mean, you were concerned with the idea of it not being Shiro who told me."

"Now there's the Keith I know." Lance smiled. "If I let you go, our Sven and your Shiro would skin me alive, but I couldn't live with myself if something happened. Lance moved his hand and held out a pinky. "I'm going to promise you I'll do what I can to bring him back to you. Your mom and everyone else, so stay put."

Keith's eyes narrowed. "Why are you holding out your pinky?"

In some ways Lance wasn't surprised at Keith's lack of social norms; their Keith wasn't much better. "It's called a pinky swear."

Hesitantly Keith lifted up his hand in the same manner, but eventually, they locked pinkies and the promise was made; Lance would go after everyone on the Altas, and Keith would stay put.