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Wake up! Keith yelled to himself, the darkness gathering around him. WAKE UP KEITH! PLEASE! He screamed again, but it was useless.
He couldn’t run away from this, like he always does. Running into Lance’s arms, shaking and crying, that wasn’t a choice tonight. Tonight he had to suffer. He had to watch the past, over and over again.
The fight with Shiro, the yelling. Him going Galra for a second, Shiro almost kills him. He had to rewatch all of it.“Shiro please…you're my brother….I love you..” Keith spoke, groaning. Shiro’s eyes went wide before he growled. “Just let go Keith, you don’t have to fight anymore.”
The rest of his words were a haze, a jumble. It was as if he was playing a word unscrambler, one he couldn’t solve. Then it happened. He cut of Shiro’s garla arm, watching him stumble back and fall.
Watching him groan, and glare. Watching him trying to stabilize himself. Keith held both swords, Shiro's and his, tightly. “Keith..” Shiro whispered, looking up at him.
Keith didn’t do anything, didn’t say anything, The platform they were on started to break, explosions happening all around. As it fell, they did too. Keith jabbed his knife into a piece of metal floating by before grabbing Shiro’s hand and holding them up. He grunted, trying to figure out what to do, holding the passed out Shiro. As he tried to pull them up, they slid down the metal, causing them to fall even more.
Keith grunted holding it tight. He stared at Shiro, memories flooding him. They were all a blur now, nothing could be stable in this dream.
He shook in his place in bed, rolling over, crying, sweating, struggling to breath. Then a jumble of words appeared on the screen of black he saw. He couldn’t fix them, but then, it was a clear image. The day they found each, at the very beginning. Shiro was holding Keith, and spoke softly. “Keith, you’re like a brother to me.”
He woke up fast and hard, at the feeling of being held. “Shh..” Lance spoke, looking at him. “It’ll be okay.”
Keith’s breathing picked up as he closed his eyes. “Deep breaths, Keith.” Lance spoke softly before kissing the top of his head. His mullet was longer than before, uneven and a mess. “You need a haircut.” Lance joked quietly, running his hands through Keith’s hair.
“It’s not working..Lance..” Keith struggled to breath, wheezing out his words. Lance grew worried and picked up his phone. He texted someone, Keith couldn’t tell who, before he placed his phone down. “Help is on the way.” Keith assumed it was his mom he texted, or maybe, just maybe, Pidge and Hunk.
“Now.” Lance started, Keith looked at him, his breathing uneven, but calmer. “Can you tell me what the dream was about?” Lance asked him softly. Keith shook his end, whispering “no’s” and “you wouldn’t understand.” Lance sighed sadly, accepting it before pulling Keith closer.
They sat like that, in there room. Lance shirtless, in just jeans, as he just came home from work (bar-tending), and Keith in Lance’s shirt and some sweatpants. “Have the papers gone through?”
Keith asked suddenly, looking up. Keith was in the middle of trying to turn his pesky into a service dog, to help him with his PTSD, as suggested by his therapist.
Lance smiled before speaking.“Almost. We still need to make sure she passes a test on how she acts in certain situations, but other than that, we should be able to get her ID and vest in the next week or so.” Lance explained. Keith nodded, laying against him, with a smile.
A knock on the front door ruined this moment though, as Onyx looked up and started barking. Keith whined as Lance stood up to go get the door, causing Onyx to turn and jump up to cuddle with Keith.
The older male smiled, laying back and allowing the dog to lay across his chest.“Hey.” A soft voice said. As said before, Keith expected Pidge, Hunk or his mother but instead, he got Shiro.
He froze, the nightmare coming back in full detail. He shook slightly causing Shiro to sigh, understanding what happened. The older male made his way over, Lance following his arms crossed.
When Keith looked up he saw the whole group. Pidge, Hunk, Allura, Romelle. Hell, even Matt was there. Shiro sat beside him, as Lance and the others stayed at the edge of the bed.
“Hey guys..” He whispered awkwardly. They all smiled, before Shiro spoke. “You want to talk about it?” His words were simple, and kind but Keith was still slightly spooked. He shook his head before whispering, “Not really..” Shiro nodded, accepting it before opening his arms for a hug. Keith smiled, moving to snuggle up against him, smiling and closing his eyes.
“Who knew.,” Pidge started, straighten out their glasses, “Keith would be a cuddler?” The question was simple, causing everyone to chuckle and Keith to blush and whine. “Shut up!” Everyone laughed before Lance spoke.
“I was pretty surprised myself. I’m his body pillow, and then Onyx will lay up against his back, curled in a little ball.” Lance smiled to himself, before Hunk spoke up. “Who’s the big spoon?” Pidge snorted and Keith shoved himself away from Shiro to glare at him.
“Me, Obviously.” Lance said, putting his hands on his hips. “After sex though,” Keith spoke up, causing them to turn to him. “Lance loves to be held.”
“Keitthh” Lance whined, slumping and dropping his arms. Keith laughed at his fiance, causing everyone to smile. “Wow. You guys sure have changed.” Allura said, smiling. “We all have.” Shiro said, smiling at his best friend.
Lance smiled at a memory, before turning to Allura. “Remember when we tried to date?” He asked. She laughed, nodding. “That sure was something.” She commented, smiling. “God I hated that.” Keith groaned. Everyone laughed at him, the whole mood in the room changing.
“Remember when we dated?” Shiro said, looking down at Keith. Keith smiled, before nodding. “Yeah. That was practically incest.” He said, shrugging to himself. “You guys were cute together, I will admit it.” Hunk said, smiling.
“Remember when we both tried to save Shiro?” Lance said, making his way over to the before sitting down on the other side of Keith.
Keith laughed before smiling and nodding. “Yeah that was great.”
“Big guy lean left!” Hunk said, doing his best impression of Keith. Everyone laughed and sat on the bed together. “Oo!” Pidge said, causing them all the turn.
“Remember when I came out?” Everyone smiled in memory of Pidge revealing their biological gender. “I can’t man up.” Lance said, quoting the small one.
As the night went on, turning into day, they all shared old stories from the war. All the good times. Soon enough, Keith fell back asleep, in Lance’s arms, smiling to himself.
No more nightmares happened that night.