There, nestled against my pulse

Chapter 14

Shiro is missing and Keith is going to puke and someone says—

"Hey Kogane, you alright?"

Those are the first words. His soulmate's words, inked into his pulse points.

This is his soulmate. His soulmate who puts a hand on his arm, in the crook of his elbow. His soulmate who Keith turns to, who Keith looks at to find long lashes, blue eyes, a nice nose—

His soulmate—

—is Lance.

He remembers.

Awareness slams into Keith like a sledgehammer and he gasps.

His hands come up instinctively and he hits glass. All he sees is a haze of blue and god everything aches—

There's a hiss; the glass disintegrates and he feels himself tilt, feels gravity pull him down and he's falling—

And then suddenly, he isn't.

His head rests against soft cotton and a heartbeat hammers away under his ear. There are arms around his waist, two warm bands that hold him tight and secure from the chill of the room. He shivers.

"Hey there, Red," a voice whispers, "welcome back."

Keith lifts his head.

Lance, with bags under his eyes, the skin around them rubbed red and raw. His hair sticks up on one side and lies flat on the other, and there's stubble on his chin and pillow marks on his cheek. He looks like he's been living a nightmare.

Keith can't take his eyes off him.

Because there's that expression on his face—warm, crinkled eyes, a grin that's so effortlessly radiant—and that's what Keith has always wanted Lance to look like. That's the look Keith has always wanted to be the cause of.

"I'm not dreaming," he says, "right? This is real?"

Lance only grins harder. Shakes his head, almost in disbelief, and laughs, the sound of it wobbling and wet. He ducks his head, pressing his temple to Keith's. His breaths drift past Keith's ears. He hiccups.

"Yeah," he says, into Keith's hair. "Yeah, sweetheart, we're real."

And Keith smiles, helplessly, dopily, because he trusts Lance. He trusts that this isn't something his brain made up, that the sensation of heat and lingering pain and Lance is true—he doesn't know how, doesn't know how this can be, but...

He drops his chin onto Lance's shoulder, leaning into the hug and feeling those arms tighten around him.

But he's alive, he's here and he's alive—they're both alive and they made it.

And that's all that matters.