ch. 22 Lance steals a chapter from Hunk, but it's okay because he's being a little shit
Lance begins stirring on the couch, the familiar warmth of a body pressed against him. His arms lazily wrap around the person on him, his mind lazily registering it isn't Hunk. That would normally be cause for concern, maybe? Except this person, despite not being his roommate, feels and smells like home to him so in his barely conscious state he decides to pull them into a tight embrace, burying his face into soft hair and relishing the familiar scent as he starts to fall back asleep.
Until a tongue licks his nose.
Immediately, as if his mind just got fucking rammed by a freight train, he's brought back to his actual situation, his current predicament and the sleeping boy on top of him.
Reluctantly, he opens his eyes to see Rover's tiny body of fluff resting on his arm that's nestled between Keith and the couch, the tiny puppy visibly smiling at a sign of someone actually being awake, his curly tail now wagging on his back.
Lance knows he has to go to the bathroom, judging by the small amount of sun coming through the curtains it's been probably a good three hours since they fell asleep, but he's not ready to get up yet.
He's not ready to wake Keith up yet, either.
So he lays there, torn between the duties of a dog owner (which he's technically not, by the way) and his self-appointed duties of caring for Keith right now.
He pouts at Rover, silently willing the puppy's bladder to grow three sizes or whatever. Anything that will keep him from having to get up.
It doesn't work, though, and Rover begins to get impatient, lightly scratching at Lance's arm to get him to move, his little puppy eyes staring into Lance's with a pleading urgency.
Lance smacks his head against the arm rest now beneath him, of course it's not gonna work. He looks down at the peacefully sleeping Keith wrapped tightly in his arms and begins to think of a way he can move with the smallest chance of waking him up.
Before he can, though, a hand comes down from behind the headrest and scoops up the puppy. Lance looks up, about to thank them, when Matt presses a finger to his lips before pointing towards Keith. He flashes Lance a small smile before heading towards the door to let Rover out.
Matt is a true life saver, and there's no doubt he knows it. Today is the wake and burial of their uncle, so there's no doubt Keith will be a complete wreck the minute he wakes up.
Lance silently lies there for a while, carding his hand through the soft hair tickling his chin and feeling Keith's body relax more with every touch.
This is kind of dangerous, he can't help thinking. Everything about this feels so inherently right, and it's absolutely terrifying. Still, he made a decision to be Keith's comfort through this hard time and a little thing like the existential dread of his crush growing bigger isn't gonna stop him. He takes a deep breath and lets out a heavy sigh before wrapping Keith up in his arms again, burying his face in his soft hair and allowing himself to fall back asleep as well.
A few hours later, at ten, a warm hand rustles his hair on the arm rest. He grumbles out a protest but opens his eyes and sees a grinning Hunk hovering above.
"Good morning," Hunk says quietly, "Wake up sleeping beauty there, we have to get ready."
Lance shoots him a dirty look before turning his attention to Keith still sound asleep in his arms, Rover sprawled out on top of him, tummy up and lightly snoring. "How the hell am I supposed to interrupt this?" He asks, "I'm not a monster, Hunk. A puppy is snoring!"
"Rest assured, Pidge and I took lots of pictures." His toothy grin betrays his innocent act, "Matt, too!"
"Don't show them to Keith for a while, okay?" Lance asks, completely serious, "He's got enough on his plate right now."
"Of course, Pidge and I swore not to embarrass him with them for a solid...24 hours."
Lance sighs, "Well, I tried." He mutters, lightly rustling Keith's hair and whispering into his ear to wake up.
"First of all, you aren't even trying," Hunk groans, "and second of all...what...what are you even doing right now? You're acting like some starry eyed boyfriend trying to wake up his lover." His eyes narrow down at Lance, "You've got a few steps to take before you get that right." He then bends forward over Lance's head and begins rustling Keith's with fervency. "Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!"
Lance winces when Keith moves a little, the latter's elbow going into his hip, "Hunk!" He hisses, making his best friend stop messing with Keith's hair and instead reach a little further to snatch up the sleeping puppy from his back.
"I'll be taking this! You two hurry up and get dressed. I made breakfast." Hunk says, Rover still out in his gentle hold.
"Why," Keith grumbles into Lance's chest, "the fuck did you have to make me watch Pocahontas last night?" His hands find purchase on the edge of a cushion and the top of the couch so he can lift himself up, now hovering above Lance for a moment before getting off the couch entirely. "You think you're so sneaky, making me watch bullshit to get me to sleep."
Lance lays there for a minute, not entirely sure what the fuck just happened. He expected some blushing, or stammering, or Keith blaming him for them sleeping like that.
Nothing.
He's just annoyed about the movie.
Does that mean...he appreciated it?
Did he want to be held?
Possibly. He's a stubborn little shit so it's not like he would actually admit that to anyone.
"Lance!" Pidge yells from the kitchen, "Move your ass!"
Lance groans, as loud and obnoxiously as possible, before getting off the couch and heading for the bathroom to get ready.
After their 10:30 breakfast everyone piles into the cars to head to the funeral. Lance and Hunk go to his, Pidge heads out with her parents, and Shiro pretty much drags Keith into the van with him and Matt.
Rover in tow.
"So," Hunk begins when they are alone in the car, using his lecture voice, "What...hm...what...wat?"
Lance raises a brow, "If you're gonna lecture me about something, you have to use words, Hunk."
"I'm trying! I just literally don't know where to start! Why have you been, like, monopolizing Keith? Your jacket? Really? I saw you shivering on the ride there and after! Why did you stay at their place? Shouldn't you have left Shiro to take care of Keith? Why were you curled up on the couch clinging to him for dear fucking life while he slept? What the fuck was with that soft ass attempt at waking him up? Why won't you just fucking date him already?"
Lance stares at him, wordlessly blinking for a solid minute, "Oh, okay, that's a lot of...stuff."
"Yup," Hunk nods, "See why I was having trouble?"
"Yep, yeah. Um...I stayed with them last night because it was painfully obvious Keith was avoiding Shiro, and I wanted to give him a neutral alternative. We were on the couch because he couldn't sleep and was sitting on it for hours in silence until I finally came down and forced him to watch something I hoped would make him pass out-it worked. I didn't wanna wake him when he finally fell asleep at like five in the fucking morning so I stayed and ended up falling asleep as well. I...I just feel bad for him, okay? I would do the same for you!" Lance huffs and crosses his arms in the passenger seat.
It's true, he would absolutely do the same thing for Hunk, or Pidge.
"But you wouldn't look so...smitten." Hunk points out, "Sure you would dote and be cuddly but, dude, do you even know the face you made? I literally cannot express how fucking...just. God you two piss me off."
Lance remains silent, because honestly everything he is saying is a fair point.
Thankfully soon after that they arrive at the funeral home, so he doesn't have to face that music just yet.
Once they get inside, Keith and his brother are sitting up by the casket, the younger of the two clinging onto a very pliant Rover and staring blankly ahead. He looks so small, so broken, like his mind is in overdrive reliving something it shouldn't (probably because it most likely is) and it absolutely destroys Lance to see him like that. Every fiber of his being is screaming for him to just go over there and pull Keith into his arms and not let him go for the res-
"Lance," Hunk groans, "You look about ready to fucking pounce. Shiro's got this."
"But-"
"He's not your responsibility."
Lance bites back a groan and decides to look anywhere but Keith. "This is some bullshit." He notices Pidge sneak past them and pay her respects to the man in the casket before doing exactly what Lance wanted to.
Keith immediately relaxes in her arms and clings to her. It's great Keith has Pidge, who understands what he needs. Someone he's comfortable with, who is always there.
He's not jealous.
Hunk subtly elbows him in the side and motions to the casket, "Come on."
"It feels weird," Lance mutters, looking at the pictures of the man all over the room, "We never even met him."
"But Keith wanted us to." Hunk points out and Lance sighs.
"Yeah," He spots a picture on a little stand that has this man, smiling brightly an arm wrapped around a tiny Keith and another around a younger Shiro. They are all grinning, Keith missing a few teeth. Sometimes it's odd to him, how much life a person leads before they meet you. It feels like they've known Keith and Pidge forever but it's only been a little less than five months.
When they reach the man's casket it feels strange. All of these pictures on the way over were of him full of life and here he is, stiff, unmoving. Lance can't help but to peak over to Keith, who also had to see his parents like this, and he once again feels some not-jealousy for Pidge getting to be the one holding him right now.
That's who should be his comfort in this time.
She was probably doing the same for him last time as well.
Hunk is right, Lance isn't the one who should be monopolizing Keith right now.
They each say a prayer for the man before going over to the brothers. Lance shakes Shiro's hand, it's a firm shake but his palm is cold and sweaty, the only part of him betraying his composed demeanor. Luckily Hunk comes up and pulls the man into a big hug. He's not entirely sure when the two of them got so close, apparently in Arizona? But he's happy about it nonetheless.
After that he comes up to Pidge and Keith, watching as Pidge takes a seat beside him with Rover, eyeing Lance who awkwardly holds a hand out to Keith like he did Shiro.
A look of disappointment flashes over Keith's face at the gesture but he goes to shake Lance's hand anyways, letting out a surprised noise with Lance tightens his grip and hoists the unsuspecting teen off his chair and into a tight hug.
"Do you have to be so dramatic?" Keith grumbles into his shoulder and Lance quietly laughs.
"It wouldn't be me without a little flair, right?" He teases, his heart fluttering a little at the soft chuckle that's muffled by his shirt.
"Naturally."
Lance takes a deep breath and reluctantly lets go of Keith, allowing him to sit back down, "You want a hug, too, Pidge?" He jokes, trying to hide the fact he doesn't wanna leave Keith's side.
"Touch me and suffer." She warns and Lance instinctively backs up.
"Yup, gotcha. Only Keith gets Pidge hugs."
"Damn right."
"Rude," Lance pouts, "Little hurtful, but, it's your choice."
"You fucking know it." Pidge smirks before Hunk comes over, hip checking Lance to make him move out of his way.
"Sit down next to Pidge, you're blocking traffic." Hunk orders and Lance pouts, but does it anyways, watching Hunk give Keith a tight but quick hug before sitting down on the other side of him.
The wake sort of drags on, various people Lance and Hunk obviously don't know swarming in and giving their condolences before finding a spot to sit and wait before the procession to the graveyard. Lance, admittedly, has only really been to one funeral other than this. An elderly neighbor in their town passed away when Hunk and him were around 8, and their parents took them to the wake to help them understand death (and because this man was like the town uncle to their parents' generation).
Hunk and him didn't know what to do, seeing so many crying people, and then looking at the man's dead body, Lance was sure he saw him breathe a few times.
He didn't.
The funeral home was much smaller than this one, and a little claustrophobic.
It's not one of his fonder memories.
Then again, he can't imagine anyone really has fond memories of a funeral home. It's not exactly a happy occasion.
He sits there, unfocused as the white noise of feet shuffling and people mumbling sympathies surrounds him. To say he's bored would be rude, terrible even, so he won't.
But deep, deep down, in the recesses of his mind, he's definitely thinking it.
Keith's uncle Ulaz wasn't a religious man in any way, and eulogies were going to be spoken at the burial, so once the wake is over, everyone is filed out and lead to the graveyard.
This is an entirely new situation for Lance. He's never been to a burial before. The old neighbor had been cremated, after all.
When they arrive at the graveyard, and find a spot to park, Hunk leads the way over to the actual site. There's a device above the hole, holding up the casket as the funeral director says some words, followed by Shiro giving a truly heart wrenching eulogy. He continues to look unfazed, but there's wet spots on the paper he's holding so tightly it might rip any second.
The burial is over much quicker than the wake, pretty much everyone leaving except them and the Holts once the funeral director gives them the option.
They, alone, watch this man get lowered into the ground, next to his pre-deceased husband. Shiro is hyper focused on it all, on hand in Matt's, and Keith looks like he's a million miles away, his tight embrace of Rover the only sign he's really aware of anything going on right now.
He hates it, how helpless Keith looks and he feels. Would it really be so terrible for him to just-?
"Don't make things complicated, Lance." Hunk whispers, "Don't...don't give him the chance to lean too much. Nothing good comes from when someone is vulnerable."
Lance takes a deep breath and nods. He's right. Keith is very vulnerable right now and to be as affectionate and...caring as he wants to be with him will just confuse him in the long run when things go back to normal. It will confuse them both. There's no point in throwing that wrench into things.
It's best to stick to the sidelines.
Watching Keith suffer.
"This is bullshit." He grumbles and Hunk sighs.
"Find a non-physical way to help him out. He doesn't need you hanging all over him and making shit confusing right now."
Lance remains silent, because he's right. He's just not sure what he can do…
Until it hits him.
He starts looking for haunted places nearby that night, laying on Keith's bedroom floor.
A/N:
I am aliiiivvvve
also my dad is doing better
also-also, it's weird writing from the point of view of a person who has never been to funerals before bc I was literally an intern funeral director for a year (it's what I went to college for, then decided not to pursue because...I like having days off).
Made sure not to call things by their name or add any extra stuff, bc, I mean, he wouldn't fucking know.
Funerals are a beautiful, somber thing. However, if you don't really know anyone (like I didn't at my uncle's since the family I know of his is in OHIO AND WE ARE UP HERE IN NEW YORK THEY COULDN'T COME) it's a very boring thing.