When his eyes open he feels finger's carding through his hair. He looks up and finds Keith playing with his hair as he watches the television. Lance takes a deep breath before slowly sitting up rubbing at his eyes. "Morning Lance, how are you feeling?" He shrugs his shoulders and slips out of bed grabbing some fresh clothes. Lance moves to the bathroom to get changed and then steps back out taking a seat on the edge of the bed. Keith watches him for a moment before standing. "Let's go get the others and eat breakfast." Standing up slowly Lance follows him out the room walking through the halls to the other rooms. Walking towards them is Marquis and Leo. They wave and stop outside Mrs. McClain's room.
"Marq and I got kicked out because the girls are getting dressed." Lance chuckles and ruffles Leo's hair as they wait for the others to come out. Anna rushes out and jumps into Lance's arms making him stumble and use his back against the wall for support. He puts her down and looks over at his mother. Marina follows after and they walk down heading down to the diner to eat. Their guide spots them and leads the way. They take their seats in the booth and look down at the menus handed to them.
"Don't get anything too crazy okay?" Lance frowns at his mother and puts his menu down placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Mama let them get what they want, we can afford it." She looks down at the menu and frowns back at her son. Everything is so expensive she is unsure of it. Lance takes a deep breath and squeezes her shoulder flashing a reassuring smile. Shaking her head she looks back at her menu figuring out what she wants for breakfast. Lance knows his mother was excited to try the different cafes in the park and he was not going to stop her from going to every single one she wanted. No matter the cost. Their waitress comes back with their drinks and gets the rest of their orders. As they order Lance collects the menus to make it easier for the waitress to take them away.
"Anna what did you get?" He looks up from the pile of menus as he hands them to the waitress and turns his head to Keith. Anna sits up and leans on the table to look at him too.
"I got waffles with ice cream on it with lots of strawberries and Bananas." She smiles and taps on the table excited to eat as she sips on her orange juice. Keith ruffles her hair and looks back at Lance. They make eye contact and Lance snaps his head away awkwardly. Keith places a hand on his lap and squeezes his hand reassuringly going back to talk to the others. "Keef-"
"Keith."
"Keith what did you get?" Anna sticks his tongue out at Keith and huffs. "I bet what I got is much more yummier than yours."
"I got Breakfast potatoes pancakes and bacon." He looks up as their waitress arrives with some of their things. Placing their plates down before walking off and coming back with the rest. Anna cheers as she sees her food arrives. The table goes quiet as they eat. Too busy shoving food into their mouths to speak. Lance stares down at his pancakes and hums. They made it into a smiley face with ice cream for eyes. He starts to eat and hums. He looks up and everyone has finished already. He just started. Keith looks at him with a frown. "You okay?" Lance nods and looks back at his food.
"Just give me a moment. I'll finish up soon and then we can check the list of activities. "Keith places a hand on his shoulder and nods. As Lance eats their plates get taken away. Until he is the last one. They stand up and Keith walks off to pay the bill. Lance follows after him. Looking down like some sort of lost puppy. Keith stops. Making Lance bump into him. The Cuban looks up and stares at him. They stare at each other and Lance sighs. He can hear Keith in his thoughts. "Nothing is wrong, buddy. Just tired from last night."
"From last night? You guys get freaky?" The two Paladins look down with red faces. It's Leo.
Lance scoops the younger boy up and digs his knuckles into his head roughly running up to their mother. "Mom Leo made a sex joke!" She snaps her head at them and pulls on both of her son's ears. "W-Why am I getting hurt too?" Keith laughs and swipes his card, paying for breakfast before walking back to the McClains. Pulling his list out from his pocket he looks down.
"You guys ready to go on some rides?" Anna walks up to him with a smile and Keith lifts her onto his shoulders walking out of the diner. Waving goodbye to their guide. Off to the amusement park they go. Keith rides on all the kiddie rides with Anna because she is still too short to ride the other rides with Lance and Leo who have completely abandoned them to get to the rides notorious for making people vomit. Looking down at Anna as he lets her drive the bumper cart he smiles. This is Lance's family. These are the people he loves, the people who love him. Lance seems to be having a fun time with them. It's nice to see him like this. He doesn't plan on taking him away anytime soon. He isn't going to be a party pooper. The one that makes Lance miserable. Today is going to be packed with fun.
They exit the bumper carts and move around. Anna resting on his shoulders. Tired and hungry. Moving over to one of the rides they spot Mrs. McClain. Keith walks over and sits down now holding Anna in his arms. "Mrs. McClain? Anna is already hungry; would you like to come with us to one of the cafes?" The woman looks up and stands smiling at the two.
"I'd love that." She wraps her arm around his and pinches her daughter's cheek. Together they walk out of the theme park and walk into the first place they find. Anna is the one who spotted it. She squirmed out of Keith's hold as if she was never tired and ran over to get inside. "Churros? Why doesn't she just wait until we find Lance and he can make them? He makes the best ones." She smiles down at her hands as they walk into the cafe taking a seat to where Anna leads them. "Keith?" The paladin looks down at the shorter woman and tilts his head to the side. She looks at him and smiles, Keith frowns as he spots tears threatening to spill from her eyes, "Thank you for taking care of my boy, for everything." He presses his hand on her shoulder and squeezes.
"Mrs...Please do not thank me. I was a bad teammate who let bad happen to him and I-"
"You brought him back. You saved him. The past is the past; there was nothing you could do. Everything is okay now. Now let's enjoy the time we have now. Don't you dare cry too." He blinks as Mrs. McClain dries the tears he didn't know had formed. A waitress comes up and smiles. She hands them menus and Anna takes them away making the two adults laugh.
"We want...Five Mickey churros and a cookies and cream churro bowl." Keith shakes his head and rests his chin on his hand.
"Anna why do I have a feeling you've been waiting for this day for a long time." He chuckles and looks out the window only to look down at the youngest McClain.
"One of our skating contests was supposed to be held here...My friends and I made a list of things we wanted to try. But it was the day of Lance's birthday and I wanted to be home for it so I didn't go." He blinks and frowns. Lance disappearing forced the kids to mature when it was too early. They didn't get the chance to be kids just like Keith.
"Well, save some room for other stuff we still have plenty of places to go to while we are here. There is still the rest of the week too."
The three hit up some shops until they find Leo and Lance chasing each other with water guns. Anna runs through the crowd and jumps onto Lance knocking him over. "Anna be careful!" Keith shouts out and follows after her. Lance is rubbing at his arm which is scraped up and is just starting to bleed. Keith sighs and reaches into his pocket pulling a used napkin out to clean the wound.
"Keith buddy its okay, what's one more battle scar going to do to me?" Keith glares at him and Lance looks away standing up. "I've had worse, remember that time Sendak got into the castle?" Keith sighs and nods.
"That was so long ago, you claimed to shoot his arm off and Pidge was angry at you for so long because it was her who sliced it off." Lance shoves him and picks up the water gun. Shooting Keith right in the face.
"It was to make a point that I did more than you did in that fight." Anna chuckles and hugs her older brother. Lance pats her head and looks at the sky. "I wonder how everyone is doing. They need to visit..." Keith nods and picks Anna back up. Back to his shoulders she goes. "Let's go find everyone." It takes a while to find Marquis and Marina. They spot them in line for a ride. Lance wanted to ride some of the crazy ones with Keith. Getting off the ride they spot a clock. There isn't enough time to hit up every ride. They will continue tomorrow. They use the rest of the day to relax and go into gift shops. His mother and Keith are constantly at each other's side. Anna jogs up to Lance and smiles.
"Are you and Keith together?" His face reddens and Leo starts laughing. Lance glares at him and shakes his head at his sister. "Oh. Okay just asking." She runs back up to Keith and climbs up his back. Lance can't look at his younger brother who won't stop laughing at the situation. He pushes him forward and falls back from the group. Thinking. Anna thinks they are together. Leo made a joke about them. Even the team used to tease him about how calling their friendship a rivalry was just his way of hiding his crush. But love.
Lance stops and frowns.
He can never love again. No one would love something so broken. Why do they even think they are together? Is it the way Keith treats him. Keith is just being nice. He is just trying to make Lance feel safe. Taking a deep breath he catches up to the rest of them. They are heading to the hotel to get changed. There is a firework showing later, they are all going to get changed into more comfortable clothing. Lance is excited. He doesn't remember the last time he ever saw fireworks. Lance sits on the edge of the bed tying his shoes as Keith puts on a fresh tank top. He looks over and chuckles. Keith is starting to burn. Standing up Lance goes into his bag and grabs the aloe and puts it on his shoulders. Keith flinches and grabs his arm pinning it behind his back and pressing him to the bed, breathing heavily. "K-Keith buddy it's just me!" Keith blinks and lets him go stepping back.
"Sorry, you scared me." Lance slumps to the floor and nods. The room feels awkward and tense. He takes a deep breath and stands up walking to the door. "You're ready?" Lance nods and leans against the door. Waiting patiently. Together the two walk out of the castle and meet up with the rest of the McClains. They make their way down to where the parade starts. Lance sways side to side. He points at the sky as a line of light shoots up. A firework. He watches and his eyes widen as it explodes. He covers his ears and drops to his knees. Shaking. All he can see is explosions. People dying. Guns firing. He curls up and looks down as he hears Keith call after him. He tugs on his leg and Keith squats down. Wiping his cheeks. "What's wrong..?" Lance shakes his head. Keith looks over at the others. They are too distracted. Keith guides him out and they head back to the castle.
Lance lays down on the bed once they are in their room. Keith sits beside him and plays with his hair. Trying to calm him down. He notices Lance falling asleep and he shakes him and he lays down in the bed under the blankets beside him. "Stay up a little longer..." He doesn't want Lance to have a nightmare. Its hours until everyone is back. Marina knocked on the door to check on them and came in seeing Lance crying still. "He's okay…We are going to bed, tell everyone he is okay too...Thank you." She nods and leaves. Going to her own room to inform the others. Keith looks down. Yeah. He's asleep now. "It's going to be okay Lance."