Often, I am upset,
That I cannot fall in love,
But I guess,
This avoids the stress of falling out of it.
~Mounika, Cut My Hair (feat. Cavetown)
"Lance, LANCE!" screamed Keith, running over and dropping to his knees next to the blue sniper after decimating the rest of the Galra droids. Lance smirked at him before grunting as more crimson fluid oozed from between his cupped hands and his wound pulsated, the purple tinge becoming brighter every minute that passed. The rest of the team gathered around the pair as the Cuban lay on the floor, gasping out shallow breaths, Shiro sending a message to Coran and Allura to set up the pod.
"Heh. I... guess I... beat... you." Lance heaved out, dragging a smile onto his face as his wound leaked more and more, creating a dark pool around him. "Look... you're... crying." The Cuban lifted his arm slightly, forefinger pointing at Keith's face. Said boy roughly dragged his gloved hand across his face, furiously scrubbing away the salty trails, before he leaned down to Lance.
"The Princess and Coran will be here in a tick, just sit still." Interrupted Shiro, scarred face creased with worry. Lance smirked back at him before opening his mouth - most likely to attempt some snarky retort along the lines of 'It's not like I could go anywhere' - before deciding that it wasn't worth it, his attention instead drawn back towards the pale boy staring at him with wide teary eyes.
Keith had moved from his previous position at Lance's side to behind him, swiftly lifting the boy's head and placing it in his own unarmoured lap. The brunette lay still, too tired and too in pain to care that the one he had always called his rival was stroking his hair and humming a song; a soft one that Lance didn't wholly recognise. Slowly he drifted into a pain filled slumber, unconsciously flinching as Keith lifted him, carrying him to the Red lion to fly him back to the castle as it drew close.
Keith was scared. No, not scared, Keith was terrified. Terrified of Lance dying, terrified of his feelings, terrified of many things. He paced around the ring of pods, repeatedly rubbing his hands up and down his arms before he went back to standing before the only pod which contained a living being. The noirette paused for a moment before sinking down to the floor, his back hitting the cryopod whilst his head dropped between his knees.
Earlier, Shiro, Allura, Pidge, Hunk and Coran - everyone - was there, checking and watching Lance as he recovered, all slowly disappearing until the only person left was Keith. Said boy sobbed into his own arms as he hunched in on himself in an upright fetal position, protecting himself from the world. It had been a whole week since the battle, a whole week since Lance had been talking and laughing, and Keith had been a wreck ever since.
Suddenly, Keith felt the pod behind him shudder, ready to spit out its occupant. Feeling the pod start opening up, the dark-haired boy stood up, almost running in a circle before shaking as he stood before the pod. A hiss escaped and the cryogenic layer vanished, a fully healed but freezing cold Lance falling into his waiting arms.
Hot, fresh tears began to run down Keith's face as he hugged the Cuban to him tightly, barely allowing him to breathe, the salty tears dripping down his chin and onto his fellow paladin's back. The slowly rousing boy in his arms snuggled into him as Keith pulled Lance even close to his hot body.
"I love you, Lance." he whispered as his tears slowed, a smile appearing on his face for the first time in a week. "And I hope that someday you might just love me back too."
