Keith can feel the heat of the explosion as the doors shut behind him. Sweat coats the back of his neck, and drips into his armor. For a moment, he can't feel anything other than relief that he's alive, that he made it out.

"Answer me!" Lance yells, his voice breaking. Keith snaps out of it, and suddenly, he can feel everything. His bones feel heavy, as if they're made of lead, not calcium. His heads pounds, and he feels terrible.

He laughs. "I'm fine. I made it." It still doesn't feel true. He repeats it, just to be sure that it's real. "I made it."

Lance doesn't reply.

Keith cruises the rest of the way out of the mines, and out to the castle waiting for him outside. Below him, he can see the crowds of liberated people, cheering as he flies over them. A child reaches for his lion, a vaguely similar replica clutched in its other arm. Keith smiles and waves back. The kid's face lights up, and Keith can't help but think that this is why it's worth it.

When he pulls into the hangar, the comms are still silent. He can't tell if Lance didn't hear him, or if he just didn't bother to reply. Keith figures he'll talk to him about it later; right now, the only thing he wants to do is take a nice, cold shower.

He stretches as he steps out of his lion and walks out, only to almost run into Lance. The Blue Paladin wraps his arms around him, and squeezes so tightly that Keith can't tell if he's trying to kill him or show affection. It takes Keith a minute to remember that he's supposed to hug him back, but by then, Lance is pulling away.

Tears streak down his face, creating brown tracks through the dust that covers him. "I thought you were dead." He hiccups.

Keith isn't exactly sure what to say. He was fine, honest, but obviously that didn't matter to Lance. He blurted the first thing that came to mind. "I'm not dead."

Lance pulls away, as if Keith was running an electric current. "But you could've been! When you didn't answer, and then everything was burning, I was so scared. I thought you were dead, Keith! Doesn't that matter to you?" Lance's last words were more of a whine than actual words. He crosses his arms, and doesn't meet Keith's eyes.

Oh shit.

Keith is horrible at comforting Lance, especially when it's his fault that he's upset. He never had to deal with others like that until he got to the Garrison, and even when he got there, he didn't interact with many people, and those he did weren't close enough to him for him to learn The Art Of Comforting ©. The last time they got in a fight, they didn't speak for a week, until Shiro forced him to write down an apology, versus trying to say it out loud. Of course, he didn't have any time to write a note in response.

He could tell the he screwed up before he even finished his sentence. "Yeah, but I'm not dead. See?"

Lance's face did contortions as he tried to stop angry tears from spilling over. Clearly it was a battle lost, as he pushed past Keith, and back into the castle.

Damn it.

OoOoOoOoO

Lance wished the castle had doors he could slam.

That's what he used to do at home, when his brothers got too annoying, or the pressure of being the only kid in his family to make it into the Garrison became too much. He'd go into his room, and slam the closet door until he didn't feel angry anymore.

But what was he supposed to do now?

He settles for going to his room; He has some pillows he can punch there, which works for now. The halls are silent as he walks back to his room. Pidge and Hunk are probably still taking off their armor. Allura is either doing the same or reviewing battle footage. He has no idea where Coran is, but he's glad that the uncle-like Altean doesn't intercept him. He's not in the mood to try and be polite.

The door slides open for Lance as he barrels through. He grabs a towel off of the floor and wipes the dust from his face. He tosses it to the ground and marches towards his bed. The first punch he throws is cut short when he realizes that he's still wearing his armor; he hadn't stopped to take it off after Keith went offline. Suddenly the weight of the armor is stifling, and he wants it off now. Stupid Keith and his stupid recklessness. And Lance could deal with him being so reckless; it was one of the reasons why he had fallen in love with him. What he couldn't put up with was how nonchalant he was about it.

Almost dying wasn't something that you should get used to, but it seemed like Keith already was. Lance claws at the little switches that keep his armor together. His leg armor pops onto the ground with a clang. Why the hell doesn't he care? Lance cares. He cares every time someone gets hurt, but he cares for Keith most of all. And when Lance does The Reckless Thing © Keith never fails to tell him how stupid he is for being reckless, and doesn't he care a bit more about what happens to him?

Lance is struggling to get the switches on his back so hard, he doesn't even notice when the door slides open and Keith stumbles inside. Not until he trips over the pile of clothes by the door, and falls onto the bed beside him, rather than sitting down like a normal person. He sits there awkwardly as Lance continues to scratch at his armor. It's not until he tries to unbuckle Lance's armor for him that Lance actually acknowledges him.

He turns so fast, he startles Keith, who pulls away, hands frozen where his back had been. "The next time I almost die, you can't touch me for a week."

Keith's expression of surprise quickly turns to one of confusion. "What?"

"You heard me. No doting, no visiting and no watching the Cryo-pod, if I need one."

Lance knows the signs of Keith's anger all too well, even though he tries to hide it. His hands curl into fists. He mouth straightens into a thin line. If you make eye contact, you're likely to burst into flames.

"That's how I feel."

"What?"

Lance rolls his eyes. Of course he wouldn't get it. He still didn't get the Voltron cheer. "All of that was an analogy. Now switch it around and apply it to your situation."

"Just tell me what you mean already!" Keith yells, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation. Lance wonders if he can roll his eyes any harder. Jeez. That's what he gets for trying to be nuanced.

"What I mean is that I worry about you when you almost die, and it's not fair that you don't care that you almost die, but when I almost die, it's a big deal." Keith's angry expression slowly fades away. "It's hypocritical, okay?"

Keith's hands still hover, shifting from his shoulders to his waist until Lance thinks that he's suffered enough, and scoots over until Keith can wrap his arms around his waist.

"I'm sorry, it's just-"

Lance interrupts him with a kiss, and when he pulls away Keith looks even more confused. "I thought I was supposed to apologize?"

Lance sighs and shakes his head. "You don't have to. It's my fault for overreacting like that."

"But still, I should-"

From the next room over, Pidge shouts. "Both of you are sorry, now make up already!"

Lance smiles devilishly. "I'd be happy to."

Keith falls back onto his elbows as Lance crawls into his lap. "What about your armor?"

"Kiss now. Armor later." Lance utters between kisses trailing up Keith's neck.

Deep down, Lance knows that this'll happen again. Keith is just too impulsive for him to expect otherwise. But for now, Lance is content to leave it, as he and his boyfriend forget about the battles behind him and the battles ahead.