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Lance opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. He pressed his lips in a line impatiently as he waited for a gap in the dinner table conversation. Lately, Lance has been depending on small silences to get a word in. His words drown under everyone else’s, and they aren’t even noticed most times.
He gets that they don’t hate him. But deep down, Lance feels like that’s just a ruse they put on out of pity. Lance has had to fight tooth and nail just to get two words in recently, and his opinions seem useless to everyone else. Whenever Lance expresses his thoughts, or whenever he vents about something, he either gets an extremely harsh reply, or no reply at all.
Lance bit his lip to hold back his incoming outburst of words. It squirmed and fought under his teeth, and his eyebrows knitted together as being silent took more effort. Keith looked up from his dinner plate when he saw Lance’s clenched fists fidgeting beside his dinner plate. He frowned, a feeling of sorrow settling like a rock in his chest.
Keith has been noticing more and more lately that Lance feels... brushed off. He’s noticed how Lance has tried to speak, and how he gives up when no one hears him. He’s noticed Lance’s usual effervescent exterior crumble more and more each day. Keith felt a strong urge to help, but he was at a loss about how to approach the situation. It saddened him to see the person he loves hurt so bad.
Lance abruptly stood up from his chair, causing conversation to halt and eyes to dart his direction. He cleared his throat feebly as he grabbed his dinner plate, which was still half full. His fingers quivered and the plate rattled a bit.
“Done already?” Shiro questioned suspiciously, raising an eyebrow. Lance nodded curtly in reply, his lips still tightly pressed in a line.
“I wasn’t very hungry in the first place,” He muttered as he trudged to the kitchen. Keith sighed as he watched Lance tread into the kitchen. A faint clunk of dishes was quickly drowned out yet again as dinner table conversation resumed. Keith tracked Lance as he walked down the hallway. Keith’s heart ached for Lance. He fidgeted in his seat as he brainstormed ideas of what to say to Lance to try to make him feel better.
Lance bit his lip, swallowing his words and making way for the sobs that he felt coming. They bubbled up his throat and jabbed at his eyes, causing tears to form and very quickly fall. Lance’s lip quivered as he made his way to the main control room. Watching the stars usually posed as a good distraction. Lance has had quite a few good cries in there.
He sat down on the ground, leaning his back on the control panel that faced the stars. As soon as a shaky sigh left his lips, he broke. Tears cascaded down his cheeks and a sob forcibly parted his trembling lips. He hugged his knees to his chest for comfort, and hid his face in them as sobs wracked his body. Every single emotion he had been holding back just exploded out of him. He was infuriated, heartbroken and diffident. He felt ignored; overlooked. Deep down, Lance felt that nobody truly cared.
Keith set his plate in the kitchen sink before quickly jetting off to find Lance. After walking down a few hallways, he heard sobbing coming from the control room. Seeing nobody, he decided to cautiously venture inside. As he stepped closer to the view of the stars, Keith noticed Lance, practically curled in a ball.
Keith quietly sat down next to him, sighing as he got comfortable. Lance’s head snapped upwards and he immediately tried to flick the tears and all evidence of sadness off of his face.
“Don’t do that, I heard you crying from the hallway,” Keith replied bluntly.
“Oh,” Lance sniffled as he folded his arms over his knees. He gave a resigned sigh as he rested his chin on his arms, and his lip began to quiver.
“I’ve noticed how you’ve been feeling lately,” Keith began, looking to his feet before looking to Lance with a dejected face. Lance didn’t move his head, but glanced in Keith’s direction.
“I don’t hate you, and neither does everyone else,” Keith pointed out gently. Lance scoffed bitterly and sniffled, wiping away a stray tear that squeezed from his eye.
“Somehow that’s hard to believe,” Lance replied rancorously, his voice low. Keith sighed.
“You know how it is now. We train almost every day; we’re all stressed,” Keith added hesitantly. He wasn’t sure if he was comforting Lance at all.
“I know that,” Lance muttered, his body relaxing some. Keith looked to the stars and sighed.
“They don’t mean to hurt you, and they don’t mean to take it out on you,” Keith stated lightly. Lance exhaled heavily, closing his eyes to allow the leftover tears to flutter down his cheeks.
“We have a break for a few days now. They’ll calm down soon,” Keith assured.
“We care about what you have to say, I care about what you have to say,” Keith reassured, looking to Lance with a gentle firmness in his eyes. Lance locked eyes with Keith, smiling gently.
“I’m sorry it’s been rough, and I’m sorry you feel pushed aside. That’s our bad,” Keith apologized.
“Don’t apologize, I was overreacting,” Lance shrugged off.
“Your feelings are important, and we hurt them,” Keith explained in an exasperated tone, placing a hand on Lance’s shoulder. This sentence, and Keith’s touch, caught Lance off guard. He sat up, blushing lightly.
“I’m sorry,” Keith apologized sincerely.
“It’s… not your fault,” Lance replied quietly, his brows furrowed in surprise.
“It’s partly my fault,” Keith replied. Lance looked down.
“It wasn’t anyone’s intent to hurt your feelings, I swear,” Keith promised. Lance nodded lightly.
“When you left, Shiro asked if you were okay,” Keith mumbled.
“Pidge said she’s noticed how quiet you’ve been, and so has Hunk,” Keith added. Lance felt tears come back to his eyes, and without control, a few trickled down his cheeks.
“They all care,” Keith concluded, looking to Lance.
“Please don’t cry, it hurts me,” Keith sighed solemnly, pulling Lance into a hug. His chest filled with warmth as Lance wrapped his arms around him.
Lance’s chest filled with a warmth and happiness he could only describe as affection when Keith hugged him. The pair didn’t want to budge, but soon pulled apart.
“I care about you, a lot,” Keith burst out, his face slowly turning red. Lance’s face turned a shade of pink in response. He was shocked that Keith treasured him so much.
“When you’re sad, I’m sad,” Keith pointed out fondly. Lance nose-laughed and smiled fondly.
“Thank you, Keith,” Lance smiled sincerely.
“I-I know how you feel, about w-wanting to say something but being afraid to,” Keith blubbered, his face as red as his jacket.
“I-I feel like this might be… the wrong time, but i-if I don’t say it now, I’m scared I never will,” Keith gulped. Lance felt his cheeks grow hot.
“I’m in love with you,” Keith concluded suddenly. He pressed his lips shut so he wouldn’t say any more.
“I-I wanna be sure that… you won’t be sad,” Keith continued, his lips opening to spill his feelings almost against his will.
“B-because when you’re sad, I… I die inside, especially when you cry,” Keith confessed, tears coming to his eyes now. Lance was taken aback by his sudden outburst, and he was shocked that Keith felt the same way he did.
“I hate when you cry,” Keith sniffed, a single tear trailing down his cheek. Lance quickly pulled Keith into a hug, rubbing circles on his back in hopes of comforting him.
“I love you too,” Lance mumbled into Keith’s shoulder. Keith sniffled and sighed heavily. The pair stayed that way for a while, before Lance pulled away to grab Keith’s shoulders.
“I feel the same way, about everything,” Lance assured. Keith smiled widely, tears still gathering in his eyes. Both boys were on the edge of bursting into sobs, but in a good way.
Lance pulled Keith in for a swift kiss. Keith was stunned at the sudden move, but very quickly kissed back. What was supposed to be a small, quick kiss, turned into a deep passionate one.
After the two were reminded of their need to breathe, they pulled away from each other, gasping for breath. The pair touched foreheads, and laced their fingers together.
“I love you,” Lance breathed, a smile tugging at his lips.
“That feels so good to say,” Lance chuckled. Keith pecked Lance’s lips once more.
“I love you, too,” Keith replied with a wide grin.
“I love it when you smile. You should smile more,” Lance complimented, pulling away from Keith just a few inches to get a better look at his face. Keith blushed sheepishly at the sudden flattery.
“Oh, and about before?” Lance called as the pair stood up, their hands still locked together. Keith hummed in response.
“I forgive you,” Lance muttered, pecking Keith’s cheek.
“Good.”