story belongs to sunbeamed @ a03
>keith<
keith slept better that night than he had in weeks. which was strange, considering today was the day he would finally see lance again. (he expected to be repulsed by the idea of sleeping, too excited to close his eyes and too fearful that the opportunity to see lance would slip away if he did). he woke up, showered, dressed and found hunk on his way to the parking lot where they agreed to meet.
"good morning, sunshine." a chuckle. okay, so maybe keith definitely looked like he just woke up from the best sleep in the world: hair tousled by his extra-fluffy pillow and groggy eyes aggravated by the january sunlight, shivering at the loss of his spiderman bedsheets in the brisk air separating them from hunk's prius. but he wasn't bitter.
"hello to you too." okay maybe he was, just a little bit. a smile. hunk seemed to light up whenever he was happy. seemed to be lit from within by his joy, skin drenched in a golden extract so pure it radiated goodness onto everyone around him. even keith. even after being oh-so rudely woken up by his phone alarm blasting 'damn regret' from what just happened to be the best night's sleep of his life. (but he still wasn't bitter).
>?<
it was hard to be bitter with someone like hunk.
hard to deny that he always had nothing but the best intentions drilled into his heart, kindness branded into the flesh and blood that composed him. nearly impossible to ignore someone so genuine, so pure.
so overwhelmingly taxing on oneself to stay mad at someone with this much light, this much good, seeping through his cracks and faults and slip-ups.
no one stood a chance, not even keith.
>hunk<
hunk wasn't going to lie, he knew bringing keith to see lance was a bad idea. a very very bad idea. not to mention, lance was going to be pissed off at him for at least the next ten thousand years. but the faint upturn of keith's lips that were chapped raw, the lightness in their conversation for the first time in weeks. the subtle hurry in keith's stride replacing the way he lingered and drifted around campus in days prior. hunk told himself it was worth it. told himself that the ease and happiness it brought keith, no matter how little, was worth an eternity of lance's frustration.
it wasn't like lance could hold a grudge anyway.
they finally stepped into his car, rolled the windows down and back up again. tuned the radio to a station that wasn't currently playing ads. hunk finally felt himself breathe. worry fled his body like smoke from the lips of a cigarette and he realized that he was doing this right. told himself that for what felt like the first time in a long time he had everything under control, right where he wanted it to be.
"hey, keith?" the turn of a head, inky black hair swirling around keith's pale canvas.
"yeah." for a second hunk believed all the emotion, all the joy was sucked out of his roommate like some evil vacuum cleaner had gotten to him. but hunk knew better.
keith is just really good at being incredibly emotionally unavailable.
"i just want to say that i really appreciate this. you coming with me, i mean."
"no problem man." his tone was almost lifeless. but hunk could pick out the slight elation in his voice.
"and even though at first it might not seem like it, i know lance will too." silence. they fell back into the rhythm hunk had done his best to break for weeks now.
that really seemed to do it.
"yeah, i really hope so." almost too quiet to catch, too genuine to be from those worn lips. the slamming of the prius doors. hunk was trapped. with nothing else to stall their departure, he started the car. pulled out of the parking lot outside their dorm building and most of all hoped that lance wouldn't be awake by the time they got to him.
