Hey, all. I have been busy for a while but just now getting back into the writing groove. And of course Klance. I love my space trash boys. I don't own them though (sadly), so this is fan-made and not for profit.

Tantrum

The Altean prince was awake.

True, that could be said for half of his life, but it was also true he valued his beauty sleep. The problem was it was currently the middle of the night and he was awake. Furthermore he had not slept the previous two nights.

He was a tad bit on edge. And by 'tad bit' I mean he was to the point of a full-fledged temper tantrum. Indeed, yelling and trashing his room were involved.

The reason for this somewhat uncharacteristic show of anger was that his personal bodyguard had been sent on a secret assignment without his permission or foreknowledge. He was pissed, frustrated, and frankly scared.

Lance was in the process of lifting a stool over his head to toss at the wall when his sister waltzed into his chambers.

"Lance!" Allura gaped at him like he was a stranger. "What is the meaning of this? You are disturbing the whole palace! Be glad mother and father are away right now, they'd never stand for this!"

He tossed the stool, but with a slight less force than he'd originally intended. "Where is Keith, Allura?" He glared at her with all the venom he could muster.

Is that what this was about? She rolled her eyes. "He's fine. He'll be back in a few days or so. Have some faith."

Blue eyes narrowed until their color was shadowed by his white brows. He stomped over to her through the debris of his room. "How do you know that? Where is he? What is he doing? So help me, Allura, if he is harmed I'll..." he let that sentence peter out.

She crossed her arms. "You'll what?" she challenged.

He set his hands on his hips. "I'll go find him and bring him back to where he belongs!" He tipped his chin up in determination.

She scrutinized him. "You wouldn't." Her tone wasn't as sure as she wanted it to sound.

Lance laughed in her face. "You know I would. I would do anything to get him back!"

One of her manicured brows rose. "Would you, now. And why is that, Lance?" There was a challenging but teasing lilt to her voice.

Her question took the wind out of his sails, but only for a second. "I... I just broke him in! It's hard to get a personal guard the way I like them." He folded his arms and turned slightly away from his inquisitive sibling.

"Yes, of course. That is the only possible explanation for you destroying your room in the middle of the night. You don't want to be inconvenienced to break in a new guard." The dry tone pushed the sarcastic words deep into his skin.

"Allura," he was trying for a commanding, back-off tone, but ended up with petulance and desperation.

The older sibling sighed. "I know you're worried, but Keith is truly all right. Have faith in his abilities. He is a competent warrior, he will return to you." She laid a comforting hand on his arm.

Lance turned to look at his sister and she was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "Oh, Lance," she immediately pulled him close. He returned the hug and rested his head on her shoulder. "I suspected an infatuation but you are in love with him."

Lance shook his head as his tears made streaks over his Altean markings. "I love him, but I never told him. I have no idea how he feels. When I think about how he could never return, something inside me clenches so hard it hurts."

Allura could feel her brother's whole body shake. She pushed away just enough to cup his face in her hands. "I promise, he will return to you. But when he returns, promise me you will be bold and tell him."

Lance nodded obediently and she tipped his face down to kiss his forehead. "Try to get some sleep," she murmured as they separated. "And stop destroying your room, it's not becoming of a prince of Altea."

Lance tried to muster a smile, but it was only brief and decidedly halfhearted. But he nodded and that was enough to appease his sister.

As soon as the door shut Lance took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He felt tight in his own skin, he had no idea how to calm from his current mood. He looked around the room at the mess he'd made. In a sense it was satisfying to see the the chaos outside which matched the chaos inside.

He sighed and flopped into a ridiculously overstuffed chair. He was pouting, he knew he was, but he felt he deserved to. It wasn't like he was going to sleep until Keith was safely back in his arms, well, at least safely back in the castle.

Ever since the half-Galran guard had been given this assignment it had been an emotional wormhole for Lance. They had not gotten along to say the least. Keith was hot-headed and Lance himself was so stubborn it pushed his guard to the brink on more than one occasion. But eventually Lance had seen past the prickly exterior and seen the heart beyond.

Keith was so good, he was unfailingly kind especially with children, he was disciplined to his sword-craft, and dedicated to his protection detail. When these traits had come to his attention he'd also started to notice things like the color of Keith's eyes, or how he alone could get his guard to smile.

Great Spirits, how could he not be in love with this man?

As his thoughts swirled about his bodyguard he could swear he could see him at the other side of the room. Keith was walking towards him, a concerned look on his face. Lance made a weak noise when the half-Galran knelt in front of him.

"Your Highness, are you alright?"

He was having full-on auditory hallucinations now. Great. Maybe he did need sleep. Well, in for a drop in for the whole sea he supposed.

"Keith. I miss you, I wish you were here." Tears were beginning to prickle the corners of his eyes again, and after they'd just now stopped.

The hallucination of Keith had been looking at the destroyed room, but at those words focused back on the prince. "I am here, highness."

Lance shook his head. "No, you went away. I don't know if you are safe or if you are coming back, and I didn't tell you." The tears were coming now, fat and hot down his cheeks.

The dream-Keith's look softened, but he didn't move towards or away. "Tell me now."

Lance supposed it wouldn't hurt, it would be good practice if (when) his guard came back. His hand came up to fist his robe over his heart, bracing himself for this. "I love you. I have for some time, but I'm scared that you won't... that you don't..." his voice trailed as his breath got caught on the lump in his throat.

Keith looked shocked, then something like fire lit in those violet orbs. He quickly pulled one glove off and reached that hand towards Lance. "May I touch you, my prince?"

My prince? That sounded wonderful. How he longed to hear those words from his guard. A sob choked out of him. "Any time, always!" It didn't matter if he was making a fool of himself, none of this was real anyway. He pressed the heals of his hands into his eyes to stem the tide of his tears.

He was startled a second later at the feeling of a warm hand on his wrist. Lance gasped and scrambled back in the chair. The warm hand fell to his thigh where the thumb swished back and forth over the smooth fabric.

"Keith?!" There was one of those rare smiles that Lance loved. So beautiful in the dimly lit room.

"I'm really here, my prince. I just returned from my mission."

The fear that held Lance in the chair finally broke and he lunged forward, throwing himself at his guard. "Keith!"

The half-Galran wrapped his arms around his charge. His breath stilled at the sudden contact but he held on with everything he had.

Lance was shaking and he couldn't seem to stop. His beloved Keith was here, in his room, in his arms. So why couldn't he stop shaking?

Keith felt the prince shiver and made an executive decision, he slipped an arm under his knees and lifted him into the air. He carried him over to the bed and set him down gently.

Lance tightened his arms. "No! Don't leave me again," he whimpered.

"I'm not going anywhere, my prince." He brushed long fingers through soft white hair. The prince's arms relaxed enough that Keith was able to set him on the bed, then he knelt next to him.

"Hi," Lance's voice was soft. Now that the burst of emotions had subsided, the lack of sleep was catching up with him. He felt like he was floating in a dream.

"Hey," Keith smiled as he swept his fingers over the prince's arm. Now that he had permission he couldn't stop touching him. "Were you serious about what you said?" he asked softly, it was almost too good to be true.

"What I said?" Lance parroted, thoughts were hard right now and his eyes felt so heavy.

"That you love me?"

Lance curled both his hands around his guard's larger hand and pulled it to his chest. "Yes, with all my heart." A smile lifted his lips as his eyes closed in slumber.

Keith leaned over to kiss the monarch on the forehead. "Sleep well, my prince. I will be here with you in the morning."

It was late the next morning when the prince finally stirred from his rest. He blinked his eyes open, still a bit disoriented. He was surprised but pleased to see his personal bodyguard asleep on the bed as well. Furthermore, Lance seemed to be holding one of his hands.

The memories of last night flooded him and a nervousness washed over him as he recalled what he'd said and did. He didn't regret it per se, but he was concerned about everything that would come after. It was a consolation that the early result was his guard ended up in bed with him, even though they were both still fully clothed (a shame really).

A few seconds later Keith woke up, Lance suspected he had some weird Galran ESP or something. Like when he always knew when Lance was in trouble, maybe he could also tell when he was awake.

Keith rubbed his face with his free hand and groaned. He could feel the prince's eyes on him and he didn't blame him. They definitely needed to talk.

Lance thought that Keith would pull his hand away once he was awake but was surprised when he threaded their fingers together instead. The prince couldn't help but give him a languid smile. "Hi," his voice was as soft as it had been last night though he was much more focused now.

"Hey," Keith returned, with a small smile of his own. He rolled onto the shoulder nearest the prince so he could hover over him for a better look. "Are you truly okay?"

Lance chuckled. "I missed you, but I'm better now."

Keith's eyes darted out into the room. "But your room..."

The prince huffed a breath. "When they wouldn't tell me where you were I threw a little tantrum."

"Little?" Keith's eyebrow rose to meet his shaggy hairline. Lance had the good grace to blush and look away. Keith let him have a moment before getting to the real topic. "Did you mean what you said last night?"

Lance turned his blue eyes back to his bodyguard. "Of course I did. I might not have anticipated telling you like that, but I meant it." His hand came up to stroke a scar along the other man's cheek. "With all my heart."

Keith's eyes closed as he nuzzled into the prince's hand. His eyes fluttered open a tick later. "I love you, my prince. My Lance."

Lance sucked in a breath, he could count on one hand the times Keith had called him by name. He didn't doubt the sincerity in the sentiment, he could see it pouring from the other's eyes. He whimpered as he felt tears spring to his eyes, these in response to the overwhelming joy he was feeling.

Keith leaned further and Lance's hand guided him down until their lips met. Once the dam burst there was no holding either of the men back as they drank deeply of each other.

The outside world was a blur, inconsequential, as their focus narrowed. Yes, they'd have to rejoin it eventually, and face their relationship in the light of public opinion, but they both knew one thing for certain; now that they were together there was never going to be anything that could separate them.

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Sorry this sort of got more hurt/comfort than I originally was going for, but what can I say? I like a crying Lance who is ACTUALLY BEING COMFORTED. But I digress. Hope you all like it.

The cover image is from my a drawing my friend did. She graciously let me color it (which I'm bad at) and use it for my story. You can see the sketch on her DeviantArt page (dragonstar10). Go look at the art, I didn't do it justice.

I'm not sure this was exactly what you were going for, Shiranai Atsune but I hope it was close.