Work Text:
Lance stumbled out of his room. He'd been minding his own business when suddenly Pidge had appeared, wanting to talk to him. Normally, he wouldn't have minded, but today he was extra tired and had no patience to deal with the little gremlin. Pidge has a tendency to talk about one thing for a long time. Yeah, Lance did this too. She could go on for HOURS though, and honestly, who wants to sit around for that.
Lance had been having a rough day. It started with him waking up to a badly cracked face mask. It ended up being hell to get off, and he swore never to use that one again. When he'd finally got ready, there was no food to eat and no events actually planned. On any other day this would've been great, but everyone but Lance was busy. He spent the whole day lying around. He knew for a fact that was never good for him; he hated how many times he'd wound up crying in those situations because of overthinking.
Added onto that, when he finally had enough, everyone came and yelled at him for various things, such as why he didn't clean up Blue after the last battle, why the bathroom was a mess, small things like that. Most the time, it wasn't even him. Everyone just assumed the worst from him, like always. He was so tired, and he was not in the mood to listen to a lengthy tale on, what? Robots? Yeah, no thank you.
But, since he had left his room, where would he go? Hunk was busy tonight, the little ball of sunshine actually asked Shay out. It took him a long time, and hey, Lance was proud and happy for him. He just had no one to cuddle right now. He knew that Coran was busy working and Allura was sleeping. Not that he'd cuddle her anyway, he was too embarrassed by his ridiculous flirting he'd done when they met to do that kind of thing. Well, maybe not embarrassed, but he sure wasn't thrilled about it. And God knows what Shiro was doing, but he was probably training or discussing adult things with the adults.
That left one person; Keith. Now there wasn't anything WRONG with him. He was... Fine? Lance just knew from looking at him that he was not the cuddler. God, he was the exact opposite. Always grumpy and uptight. Lance kind of developed a very small liking for the red paladin too, and not just friendly. He'd date him, no doubt about it. Yes, Keith wasn't exactly who he'd think of first, but he definitely wasn't far off. He was a good guy, Lance knew that. Keith wouldn't laugh at him for needing to vent and cuddle someone, would he? Then again, he really didn't want to poke at those romantic feelings. Screw his aggressive bisexual self.
Somewhere through thinking, he'd guided his body to Keith's door. Maybe it meant he was supposed to see what Keith would say. Or maybe it just meant he'd stumbled to the door, either worked. Lance glanced across the smooth metallic surface of the door, not really focused on anything. He stood there for a few minutes, hand hovering over the door to knock. With all the will he had in him, he gently pushed his knuckles to the door. The sound was barely audible, he knew that. Lance turned to leave before it was weird, when the door slid open. Keith looked tired, extremely so. The dark circles hanging below his eyes, however, signalled the boy had not slept yet. Or not very much if he had. At least that was a plus side to this. He didn't want to disturb him when he was asleep.
Lance cleared his throat, spinning on his heels. His hand reached up to rub the back of his neck out of habit. Keith looked at him, confusion evident in his eyes.
"Hey man," Lance mumbled as cheerily as he could. "I was wondering if... Uh..."
Keith raised an eyebrow, frowning. "If what?"
"What is your view on cuddling?"
"What the hell, Lance? You came to my room at 2am to ask about my vie-"
"Yes," Lance interrupted. He held his arms around his upper torso, trying to hold in his heat. Damn, why was it so cold in the castle at night?
"I, uh... Why? I guess... Ugh, I don't know, I don't do it often enough. I only do it with Shiro, I guess it's good?" Keith looked at him. God, it was so awkward. Well, better go for it while he had courage.
"That's great! Because I need someone to cuddle as soon as possible or I might just break down."
Lance looked up at Keith, and saw the sigh escape his thin lips. He had moved to the side, letting Lance into the room. He looked around, it was quite bland. Lance had personally modified his own room to suit him, whereas Keith... He just left it. Lance's eyes wandered over to Keith who had sat on his bed, hunched over and rubbing his eyes with his fist. Maybe he had been sleeping. Of course he had to go and wake him up, he was so stup-
"So, was there something bothering you? Or did you just need someone to give you attention?" Keith's voice was husky and rough, it was quite soothing.
"I, uh, a bit of both," Lance replied, turning his attention fully to the other paladin.
"What are you doing over there then? Come here," Keith sat against the bed so his back leaned against the headboard, his legs sprawled out in front of him. He looked at Lance, his arms extended to him. Lance shuffled over and climbed across Keith's body, settling comfortably against his side. Lance's head rested against the firm chest as if it were a pillow, and hell, this was nice. Keith wrapped his obviously toned arm around Lance, holding him close.
"What's on your mind?" Keith mumbled, looking down at him. Lance met his gaze briefly before looking at his shirt.
"Well... Many things really. I just don't feel like I mean anything to this team. I haven't ever since we began. I don't feel like I mean anything to anyone, really."
"Lance, you know that's not true. Everyone views you equal because you are equal, and we all care about you."
"It doesn't feel like it, you know? Why are we even doing this? I just want to go home... I didn't sign up for a life fighting aliens and trying to save the universe," Lance looked up at Keith. Whatever was awkward before didn't matter anymore. He just needed to let it all out. "I know that none of us did. And I know you all have it worse or whatever. But that doesn't mean I can't feel this way, right? I'm allowed to miss my family, I'm allowed to miss the ocean, I'm allowed to miss my life. I know that. I can't help it, and I don't even feel valued here. Why can't I just, I don't know, leave?"
Lance lowered his gaze yet again. He waited for something, anything to be said. Slowly, he felt his body getting pulled closer to Keith's, being fully enclosed in a hug he never thought he'd experience.
"You are allowed to feel that way. You shouldn't have to, but I know you have a lot back on Earth. You'll see them, hopefully soon. Your feelings are valid, don't ever think otherwise." The way the words fell from Keith's mouth reminded Lance of rain. It was only soft, a calming sound in the midst of it all. It was nice.
"Yes, you may not have gone through quite the same hardships as the rest of us, but you sure as hell are going through a lot. You're going through something I've never been able to experience, and I can't imagine how it feels... Lance, we need you. You're important to us all."
This was what he needed. Hell, he never thought Keith would be this comforting. Keith pulled Lance closer to his body, removing the space between them. The two of them stayed there for a long time, neither saying anything. Lance kept thinking Keith fell asleep, but every time he looked up at him, he was staring at the roof. Lance nuzzled his head further into Keith's chest, grabbing his shirt tighter in his hand. Keith looked down at Lance. He probably thought he was going to cry, but he wasn't. At least not yet.
"Thank you."
The words were barely above a whisper, yet Keith heard them. Lance looked up, meeting his eyes, noting the way a pale hand slid into his hair. Keith smiled softly down at him, toying with the short strands of hair on his head.
"Anytime, Lance."
Yeah, he could fall for this boy. No doubt in his mind.