Klance: Truth or Dare

Part 20

The room fell quiet. Eyes shifted from Lance to Keith, and back to Lance, who could only stare at the newcomer. The sleep had ruffled Keith's hair even wilder than usual, his skin pale and breakable as paper, and his red eyes open wide in surprise. 

Keith's first plan had been to fight Shiro for letting him sleep that long. He'd been out for a literal day, when he should have been by Lance's side to protect him. But when he saw the blue paladin, completely healthy, awake, and oh so beautiful, his resolutions had been long forgotten. Lance. Hís Lance. 

Nearly half a minute had passed - it felt like hours in Keith's mind - when Shiro broke the silence. "I think you have some things to talk about," he said slowly, shifting his gaze to Lance mid sentence. Lance gave a short nod. "Come on, guys, let's leave them alone." Shiro stood up, and the team followed him. 

"But-" Hunk tried to interject, not eager to leave his buddy behind again. "Hunk," Shiro cut him off. He motioned his head to the door. Hunk sighed deeply and followed orders, leaving the room too, and closing the door behind him. 

And then it was silent again. Lance shifted, sitting on the ground with his long legs in front of him. Keith looked down, but slowly approached him, his steps echoing around the large room. He stopped in front of the other boy, sinking down too, still not looking at him. 

What was he supposed to say? 'Sorry for letting you get tortured'? 'Sorry for almost letting you die'?  'Sorry for these stupid feelings I have that won't go away no matter how much you hate me'?

"Are you okay?" he asked instead. 

Lance chuckled, pulling a hand through his hair. "I've been better, to be honest. These healing pods truly suck all the energy out of you, I haven't done my skincare for days and it's showing. " He tilted his head, watching Keith closely. "But mostly, I can tell you're unhappy." No matter what played between them, Keith was still his best friend, and he could tell when something was bothering him. The game seemed so far away now, Lance barely believed it had really happened. It made no sense, and yet... He'd liked it. A lot. Especially what Keith said. Shit, did he really return those feelings? Really? For Keith? For the stupid Mullet? Lance frowned to himself. 

"I'm sorry." Keith's pained voice broke through his confusing thoughts. Lance directed the frown at Keith now. 

"What do you mean?" 

"I.." Keith hesitated, finally meeting Lance's eyes. "You got hurt. You got really hurt." He averted his gaze again, unworthy of even looking at the boy. "And I couldn't stop it." The tension became near unbearable, and Keith already regretted his words. He shouldn't have said that, maybe Lance hated him more now. The silence stretched and stretched, until... Lance started laughing?

A wild laughter filled the room, the blue palading shaking where he sat, and Keith looking up at him in surprise. He frowned at Lance, biting his lip and crossing his arms. "Think that's funny?" he snapped. 

Lance faked wiping a tear. "Dios mio, I think that's hilarious. I always knew you were weak in the head, but I'd never believed you this stupid." He stopped laughing, straightened up and looked at Keith with an unfamiliar sincerity. "How could you even think all of this was your fault? Did you torture me? Did you shoot me? Did you stab me?" He raised an eyebrow. 

"Well, no, but-" 

Lance cut him off. "Then it's obviously not your fault. It's the Galra's. Or, if you really wanna blame someone on the team, it's mine." Before Keith could argue, Lance continued. "I was the one who charged into battle recklessly - as Pidge so elequently said - because I couldn't handle my own feelings. I'm sure Shiro will yell at me once I've had some rest." He chuckled, really not looking forward to that.