Lance had gently helped Keith to his feet, a hand resting gently on the small of his back. The red paladin was clinging to his own shirt tightly, a terrified look in his eye, something comparable to an animal that had been cornered in its own moment of vulnerability. Something burning in his chest with the urge to comfort the young male ignited and refused to stop, as if it wasn't already made up in Lance's mind that he wouldn't do everything in his power to see those violet eyes glittering like the stars again.

He licked his lips momentarily, wondering if he should say something, but hesitated. He knew that his and Keith's relationship was pretty rocky, and alongside that, most of their troubles were his fault. He needed to be careful with what he said, otherwise he'd end up either damaging him or their relationship further.

"We're almost to the kitchen," Lance said softly, giving his back a gentle rub before lowering his hand. "Maybe it'll help you clear your mind a little. These long dark hallways can be kinda scary, can't they?" He glanced at Keith with a gentle, mostly reassuring smile.

Whatever problems he had with himself that night were forgotten; his teammate needed him to be strong, and letting himself dissolve into that pain like that was anything but.

Keith looked up from the entrancing patterns on the floor, hearing and recognizing Lance's voice for what felt like the first time. His mouth went dry as he processed. It was Lance? Wait, why was Lance helping him? Didn't he hate him? A slight jitter of anxiety rolled over his shoulders before he shrugged them forcibly, glancing away.

Something hardened in his throat as he spotted Lance's reaction out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't as if he didn't appreciate that Lance was trying to be there for him, it was just that no one ever had been there before, other than Shiro. He didn't expect it, especially not from the blue paladin that had been on his ass from the start.

Lance's bright, soothing sort of expression barely flickered, but something did change in those deep blue eyes. He ran his hand through his mahogany curls with a slight exhale, then dropped his hand as they reached the kitchen door. This was to be expected. The mullet-headed teen had the right not to expect anything from him, anyway. Not that he should, though. He cared for Keith, even though he did an admittedly shitty job at showing it.

He pressed his palm against the touch pad and the door opened, his lips twitching upwards as he tried to make light of the situation. "Hunk locks this place up tighter than Alcatraz," he commented, watching Keith walk in before following.

The red paladin frowned. "What's Alcatraz?" he asked, real and genuine confusion flickering across his facial features as he turned back to Lance.

He blinked in reply, smirking a bit as he opened his mouth to make some witty, probably rude response, but quickly closed it again as he rethought about the situation. "It's uh... a really old, supposedly inescapable prison. Some real bad dudes got locked up in there," he nodded factually, a content glint in his eyes that read,'I've watched far too many prison movies.'

Keith frowned a bit deeper, giving a slight nod. His own thoughts were flicking from topic to topic, adrenaline racing through his veins. "I'd be able to break out of it," he stated, completely sure of himself in that thought. He wasn't truly sure about anything else. It was strange, his mind was focusing on the small things rather than the bigger things, like he couldn't believe he was in this kitchen right now, talking to Lance.

He quietly approached one of the floating stools hovering around the island bar, pressing his hand against the seat. He needed to calm himself down- he needed to focus on one thing, and one thing alone.

"Lance. Tell me about yourself," he grit out, the words spilling from his lips before he could actually decide on them. His brain had decided to be just that cooperative right now. Oh, well.

"You want me to talk to you about me? Are you sure?" Lance was blinking in confusion, wildly shocked that Keith would actually ask him to talk about himself. He always seemed to agree that he never stopped yammering about something that had happened to him in his life, so to be actually asked? Wow, what a wild card.

Receiving a frustrated, sharp nod and glance from the red paladin, he scrambled for words. "Uuuuh-"

"Just anything. About you. I need to focus on something." With that, he turned his gaze to Lance, his violet gaze unflinching but somewhat twitchy. It went up, down, left, right left right up and back him again.

"O-oh, uh, o-okay. Um, my name is Lance McClain, I was born in Cuba." He paused a moment, struggling to find words to say before just letting his brain flow and his mouth move.

"My dad came to Cuba 'cus he was like, a soldier. And he met my mom cuz she was a dancer at one of the bars they stopped at. It's kind of one of those like stereotypical away-from-home soldier relationship stories. They fell in love and had a kid and got married so fast that their baby was four months away before he had to go back home again.

"That was my brother Marco. Once he was born my dad started to try and get him and my mom visas, but none of it was working out so he just ended up moving to Cuba and living there with my mama and little baby Marco. They were happy and everything, and of course then Luis and Veronica came, one after the other, and then Maria and I.

"Hehe, not a lot of people know this, but I'm a twin. I'm the younger of the two, the baby of the family. Ria's shyer and quieter than I am, but from what I know right now I'm pretty sure she's got a damn good boyfriend taking care of her in my place for the moment." He licked his lips and his blue eyes flickered for a moment, glancing up to Keith somewhat nervously.

The red paladin had his eyes closed and was leaning against the bar, his head tilted back slightly. He was listening and focusing on Lance's words, and his lips twitched a bit when he stopped. "Keep going."

"Uuhhh, okay. Um, I grew up knowing the beach and the storms and boating and surfing and swimming. My favorite color is grey, not like, the flat grey, but like the grey when the storm is settling in and you can see that it hasn't made its way all the way off to the distance yet, but it's getting there, and like, if you were to look above your head it's like your shadow is just hovering over you, celebrating in the fact that it's above you for those few couple of moments..." He paused, closing his own eyes as he imagined the color himself. He felt himself reaching for the sky that he hadn't seen in what was now several months, not realizing until he opened his eyes, cleared his throat, and forced his hand back down.

"I dunno, maybe it's why I like rain so much." Lance shrugged. "Other than the weather gets so nice." He rubbed a hand against the back of his neck nervously, before he heard Keith sigh in a sort of relief.

He had grown less and less tense as the blue paladin had continued to speak, finding himself imagining what he was describing. He bit his lower lip a moment as the pictures fluttered away, his mind now back to its usual, calm pace. He lifted his purple gaze to the Cuban male, a light, thankful smirk gracing his lips.

"Thanks, Lance, you helped a lot," he murmured, glancing away as he folded his arms and tucked his gloveless hands into the crevices. Just listening to Lance talk about Lance was... comforting, for some reason. Maybe it was because of how deeply he thought things through. It was funny, because he never thought he could expect that from the energetic blue paladin.

Lance's mouth fell open momentarily, "I did?" He blinked, snapped out of it, snorted with a playful grin. "Oh, I mean, of course I did! I'm great, aren't I? Lance, the Tailor, the Sharpshooter, and the, uh... The guy that helped Keith out a lot!! Yeah!" He pumped his fist into the air, blue eyes sparkling.

Keith snorted a bit, shaking his head. "Yeah. You sure are great, Lance. Wow." His voice was flat, but the slight lilt it had gave it away that he might be trying to be genuine, or that he was just amused. He brushed raven black hair out of his eyes and smirked, watching Lance grin like an idiot with a sort of warmth in his chest. Maybe he wasn't as irritating as he thought he was.

Lance squinted, but he was still smiling. "I can't tell if that's serious or not and it somewhat scares me," he laughs, grinning even brighter as Keith joined in. They shared in the brief joy of the moment before it went quiet for a while, the red paladin sipping at a drink the sharpshooter had given him.

"You know, you never did tell me quite what happened," Lance spoke, putting his lips to his own glass. He was serious now, his navy blue gaze resting on the male before him.

Keith paused a moment, looking up to meet Lance's gaze. "What? What do you mean?" he asked, shifting his grip on the cup and sitting a little more upright.

"Why did you come running into the training room like that?" he murmured, lowering his cup as he peered at Keith. "I've never seen you like that before. You're usually so..." He faltered, searching for a word. "Unafraid of everything."

Keith flinched momentarily, then scoffed as he looked away. "Just because I have anger issues doesn't mean I never get scared, Lance." He frowned, brushing his hair behind his ear.

"No, no, that's not what I'm saying! I just... I don't know. I've just never seen you like that. It scared me too. I..." He paused, licked his lips, and met Keith's gaze. "I just wanna make sure you're okay."

Keith's mouth opened, then shut, his face comforting into a short wince before he sighed. "I... I am okay. Now. I just... I had a nightmare, and it was just like... one of those things where I woke up, and I thought about it more than I should have and I just..." His grip tightened on his cup. He didn't know what to say anymore. He didn't have the right words.

Lance's expression softened a bit. "And you were scared," he murmured, looking at the ground below Keith's feet briefly before he looked at him, with a distanced, thoughtful look in his violet eyes.

"Y-yeah. I was... scared. Scared of... not being enough. Scared of failing. Scared that I already have failed." His voice was quiet, his lips drawing into a tight line. "I just... yeah." Keith forced himself to look away from those understanding eyes. He had never opened up to anyone like this before. He felt like he had said everything he could say. He never knew that Lance would the this... understanding. But why did he understand? Why did he know all the right things to say?

The blue paladin paused, nodded. He could sense that the other make was done talking now- he had said everything he could express. So he picked it up for him. "It's okay to be scared, but... don't doubt your value to this team, Keith. You won't fail us, you're exactly what this team needs, and as long as you stick to that mentality, everything's gonna work out just fine. Besides," he winked, " you got a crazy space uncle, a gorgeous space princess, a lil green nerd, a big huggable chef, and a great big brother looking after you. You've got a squad to last to the end of the galaxy, Keith. Don't doubt that. "

"And I've got you."

"Haha- wait, what?"

"You forgot yourself. On the list."

"Oh. I did? Oh. Well I also meant to say that you've got a pretty stylin' sexy-hot sharpshooter on your side, too." Lance winked, snapping his finger guns at his team mate playfully.

Keith rolled his eyes and chuckled with a soft smile, setting his glass down quietly. His eyes were distant for a few moments before he walked over to the sharpshooter in question and gently clasped his arm, like he did with Shiro. He looked at him for a few moments in silence before practically whispering, "Thanks, Lance," and heading off to bed again without another word.

The blue paladin just stood there as he watched him go, his blue eyes glittering faintly. "Of course, Keith." He let loose a quiet breath, turning away from the door after it had closed and raising his cup back to his lips.

"Of course."