Chapter Text
"So, wait. It was mutual?"
"Yep."
"Both of you decided to break up?"
"That is what it means, yes."
Keith and Lance were round at their friend Shiro's dorm room one weekend. Keith was already there, allegedly not stealing Shiro's Netflix account to catch up on a bunch of shows. As much as Keith tried to defend himself, Shiro really couldn't care less. Lance came knocking shortly after Keith's arrival and both Keith and Shiro assumed it was trouble in paradise. Lance usually goes round to Shiro's whenever he needs relationship advice but neither of them were prepared for the bomb Lance dropped.
"What happened? I thought things were going well with you guys. You only recently planned a trip away, didn't you?" Shiro asked while joining the two younger boys on the deep purple linen sofa. He stretched over Lance to grab the remote from Keith and turned Stranger Things over to a documentary about Earth's ocean life, hoping to cheer Lance up a little.
"Yeah, I planned for us to go to away for the weekend. Not anymore." Lance said, barely paying attention to the dolphins swimming around on the screen.
"And that caused you guys to split? What, you're not good enough for him?" Keith scoffed. Shiro shot a warning glare at him, causing Keith to hold his hands up defensively.
"No, nothing like that. Um," Lance's voice broke slightly and he nervously rubbed his arm. "He, uh... just got a little bit too much. So I left." Keith's eyes glanced down at the motion of Lance's hand against his forearm.
"... I thought you said it was a mutal breakup?" Shiro said, carefully. Lance's eyes widened before trying to compose himself.
"Yeah, i-it was! We spoke about where our relationship was going for a long time and neither of us saw it going much further, so we just... ended it." Tears begun to fill Lance's eyes. He blinked hard to get rid of them but a couple escaped and rolled down his cheeks. Shiro let out a soft noise of sympathy and scooted closer to wrap his arms around him. Keith continued to analyse Lance before letting out a small breath he didn't realise he'd been holding.
"He hurt you, didn't he." Keith said. It was more like a statement rather than asking a question because he just knew.
Shock passed across Shiro's face as he frowned at Keith.
"Keith! You can't just say things like that! You don't know his situation to be throwing out accusations!" Shiro's grip on Lance tightened and Lance winced and immediately tried to wiggle out of Shiro's arms. Lance hesitantly made eye contact with Keith who hadn't taken his eyes off of him. He looked defeated and exhausted with more tears threatening to spill over. Keith heaved a big sigh and stood up, placing a hand on Lance's shoulder. "I'll get you something for the bruise." Keith received a small smile from Lance as a thank you before he went to get some ice.
"Bruise?" Shiro asked. He looked down at Lance's arm that had a deep purple hue peeking out from the hem of his sleeve. Realisation dawned on him and he released Lance from the confines of his arms. "I'm so sorry! How... how did this happen?" Lance sighed, avoiding eye contact.
"Keith's right. It was him. It was Lotor."
Keith returned with a handful of ice cubes wrapped in a towel. Lance instantly tensed and moved his arms to cradle himself.
"Take your shirt off." Keith said. Lance didn't bother to protest. Instead, he sighed and carefully pulled the blue and grey shirt he's always wearing over his head revealing a number of bruises and scratches scattered across his back and chest. Shiro gasped silently and put his hand on Lance's knee. "Lance... I don't even know what to say."
"I do." Keith said, gently applying the ice pack to Lance's bruises, causing him to sigh in relief. "I'm gonna break his fucking kneecaps." Lance shot up and turned abruptly to face Keith.
"No! Please don't. I don't want anything happening because of this. And before you say anything, no he doesn't have any control over me." Lance groaned and dropped his face into his hands. "I don't hate him. I just hate what he did to me and what he's capable of. Does that make sense? I just... want to move on. Is that so bad?" Keith looked to Shiro who looked just nearly as broken as Lance did.
"Shiro, could you please go get another ice pack?" Keith said gently. It took a few moments for Shiro to realise what was said before he nodded and disappeared into the kitchen.
Keith cautiously placed his hand on Lance's back. Lance twitched, making Keith pull his hand back quickly. "Sorry..."
Lance shook his head and signalled for Keith to put his hand back. "Your fingers were cold from holding the ice. It felt good." Keith blinked and rested his hand in between Lance's shoulder blades, feeling him relax.
"Hey. It's not your fault. You know that, right?" Keith whispered. Lance nodded.
"I just feel stupid," Lance let out a pitiful laugh. "I should've been out that door as soon as he grabbed me the first time. I should've seen the signs."
Keith dropped the ice pack he was holding and guided Lance's face so he was looking straight at him. "You had no idea. How were you supposed to know? And even once you noticed, I'm sure it was difficult to just leave like that. You must've felt trapped..."
Keith saw Lance's eyes light up for the first time in a while. "Yes! That's exactly what it felt like! God, I just... I don't even know how I mustered up the courage to end it."
"The point is, you did," Keith continued. "It's over because you ended it. And that takes a lot of bravery. You're incredible, Lance. I hope you know that."
Lance looked into Keith's eyes and smiled a smile so bright, Keith thought he was going to need sunglasses. It made his heart do a thing.
"Thank you, Keith." Lance said. "You don't know how much I appreciate all this. How much I appreciate you."
Keith glanced down to Lance's lips that were only centimetres away from his own. "You could show me." Keith said, completely and totally without thinking oh my God why did he say that. The unfortunate truth is that Keith had been pining for Lance forever. Way before he even went out with Lotor. Lance had a girlfriend a couple of years ago, but that ended after finding out she was a liar and a cheater. During that time though, Keith had always thought Lance was straight. He never let on that he was also into guys and he had never had any male love interests (that Keith knew about). It didn't stop him crushing on him, however. So his surprise when he discovered Lance was dating Lotor, one of the popular guys from the Planetary Science course, was very much warranted. Lance's best friend, Hunk, was actually the one to tell Keith that Lance was bi. Ever since then, Keith has been dreaming about being lucky enough to be in a relationship with Lance.
Every time he saw Lance with Lotor though, he just knew there was something about that guy that rubbed him up the wrong way. He tried to convince himself that it was nothing and wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he just couldn't. Keith always noted that Lotor had an air of overconfidence and superiority around him. It came off as extremely cocky and made him really unapproachable. Especially when he looked at others like they were gum on the bottom of his shoe. At least that's what Keith thought. Part of him thought that the only reason Lotor asked Lance out in the first place was because he could see he was vulnerable. Just come out of a relationship. Easily manipulated. The mere thought made Keith angry. He thought if a relationship were to ever happen between himself and Lance, he'd want it to happen naturally. He'd want Lance to actually like him the way Keith does; not just because he's lonely and wants company.
Which is why Keith instantly regretted the words that came out of his mouth.
Luckily, Lance let out a chuckle that brought Keith's soul back to life. "How about I take you out for a coffee first? That okay?" Lance tucked some of the hair that framed Keith's reddening face behind his ear. Keith nodded and dropped his now warm hand from Lance's back. An exaggerated cough brought Keith and Lance back to reality and they instantly moved away from each other.
"Shiro? How, uh, how long were you standing there?" Keith stammered.
"Long enough," Shiro tossed the ice pack he got to Lance, who caught it effortlessly and held it to his chest.
"Thanks, you guys. For everything." Lance stood up and hesitantly stretched. "I better head to the infirmary, though. I'll just say I went paintballing or something." He chuckled.
Shiro eyed him up and down. "You alright?" Lance ran a hand through his hair and glanced back at Keith.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be just fine." Lance grabbed his shirt and pulled it back on. He threw the ice pack in the air and caught it again. "I'll be keeping this for now, if you don't mind," He bent down to pick up his bag before heading for the door.
"I'll text you guys with updates later, okay? See ya!"
The door clicked shut leaving Keith and Shiro stood in the middle of the living room, almost speechless.
"So, what did I miss while I was gone, exactly?" Shiro said, collapsing on to the sofa. "I left you guys for a while because I thought you'd want some... privacy."
"Privacy for what, Shiro?" Keith pressed.
Shiro shrugged and smirked at him. "I don't know, you tell me. Or not. I know you aren't one to kiss and tell."
"Shut up," Keith shoved Shiro and slumped next to him on the sofa. "We didn't kiss."
"Yet."
"I'm not kissing him unless he genuinely wants me to. Don't think I'm gonna take advantage of him like that. I'm not Lotor." Keith spat his name as if it was nothing more than poison.
Shiro shifted in his seat. "About that. What are we gonna do? Do we say anything? Do anything?"
Keith shook his head and sighed. "It's not our business. It's up to Lance to say what happens next. All we can do is support him." Shiro poked Keith in his side, making him smack his hand away.
"Look at you, being all decisive. What's brought this on?"
"Honestly? Lance. I just... want the best for him. He's fragile. I want to protect him, you know? And I'm going to make sure I do." Keith said, threading his fingers through the hair that Lance tucked away minutes ago. Shiro patted Keith's knee.
"We all will. I'm proud of you, Keith."
"Yeah, thanks, Dad." Keith rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at Shiro.
Keith knew that Lance just wanted to move on and forget everything but there was something almost burning deep inside of Keith that made him want to make Lotor regret ever doing that to Lance. He usually wasn't one for revenge, and he knew Lance didn't want him doing anything. But he desperately wanted Lotor to get a taste of his own medicine.
He just needed to work out how.