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“Great job paladins. Especially you Lance!” Allura said after she had met them in the hanger with a smile and praises. She had every right to praise the paladins. They were defenders of the universe. But today, she saw a raw talent she had never seen from the blue paladin.
After a blast had knocked all of the lions, except Blue offline, Lance took it upon himself to protect the planet of Jatzan. He blasted every fighter ship and shot down every galra. He took some hard hits though.
At one point during the fight, a ship flew itself right into the Blue Lion. It was enough to knock Blue off her feet. At first, none of the paladins thought Lance would get back up. Heck, Keith thought he had died. But after a solid ten seconds, Blue bounced back to life, with her strong paladin inside, and took down another dozen soldiers with her icy blasts.
By the end of it all, the other lions had come back online and helped Blue finish off the fight. Everyone was huffing and puffing and congratulating one and other. Although it was an amazing moment after the battle, Keith began to worry about his boyfriend when he didn’t say much on the ride back to the castle. He was usually excitedly chattering about random things or about how awesome everyone did on the mission. Right now he was just quite. A scary kind of quite.
And to make matters worse, Blue kept emitting waves of discomfort into all the lions. They all knew what their sister was feeling after a battle like that. Once they had gotten back to the hanger, Lance came stumbling out of his lion. Keith had practically jumped out of Red to go check on his disheveled boyfriend.
Keith came running up to Lance before anyone could stop him. He enveloped his beloved in a soft hug, being careful not to squeeze him too tight for fear he might hurt him. “Lance, baby. You did it. You did so well out there. Are you okay? You took quite a hit out there hun,” Keith pushed back from the hug to observe the smaller boy.
He still had his helmet on and his armor was all scraped up. He didn’t look too roughed up, but then again Lance had a habit of hiding his injuries from the team. Keith moved to take Lance’s helmet off. “M’tired Keith,” Lance said in a low strained voice.
“I know sweets, lemme get your helmet off first. Then we’ll go from there,” Keith gracefully pulled Lance’s helmet from his head and tossing it to the cold floor of the hanger. He studied his beloved's face. He had eye bags dropping below his eyes and a bruise on his cheekbone to rival the one Keith had gotten from his fight with the battleships. There was a clean cut on his cheek and sweat was tattooed to his hairline.
To be honest, Keith was expecting worse. He was expecting a large hole in his head or some sort of alien gash on his eye or something. For all the time he had spent in this intergalactic war, he never thought that after a battle like that everyone would actually make it out alive. It’s scary to think that even on a simple mission such as this one, someone could have easily died. Lance could have easily died.
But Keith didn’t have time to worry about the potential perishing of one of his teammates or beloved right now. He had Lance to worry about.
Smoothing back Lance’s sweat-drenched hair with one hand and using the other to take Lance’s hand, Keith guided him over to the team. Not so they could gush over Lance’s injuries, but so he could dismiss both him and Lance to their living quarters. Quietly, Keith approached the team, who had been making small talk about the mission while the Korean tended to his boyfriend. “Hey, guys. I’m taking Lance back to the quarters. He’s fine, but he’s really exhausted.”
“That’s fine Keith,” Shiro said, then turning his attention over to Lance, who was still behind Keith. He rubbed his eye with the hand that wasn’t occupied by Keith’s and returned his gaze to the floor in front of him. “And Lance, you did amazing today. You saved that planet and the team. I’m so proud.”
“Thanks,” Lance mumbled, rubbing his eyes once more.
“Alright, hun. Come on, we’re going back to our room,” Keith said, guiding Lance out of the hanger and into the glowing halls. The walk back should have taken five minutes, but with Lance constantly dragging his feet, the trip took a bit longer than it should have.
Keith entered the room while Lance trudged behind him. Keith had wandered over to the dresser and began to shed his armor off. Lance, on the other hand, felt that was unnecessary in his case. Once the groggy Cuban was in arms reach of the bed, he climbed in and closed his eyes. “Hey, hun. No sleeping yet. You’re still in your armor and you’ve got some nasty scratches on your face. Let’s go get cleaned up,” Lance groaned in response but nonetheless, sat up.
Throwing his legs over the side of the bed and getting up was an easy task… for someone who hadn’t just been fighting in an intergalactic space battle. Lance winced at the sudden motion. His legs hurt. They were probably just sore from all the hits he had taken. Keith had to help him stand so he didn’t pass out from exhaustion. The Korean led the blue paladin to the bathrooms to get washed up.
Getting Lance in and out of the shower had been a struggle. The idiot didn’t want to get in the shower because he was ‘too tired’. But once Keith managed to get him in the steaming hot shower, Lance could only feel blessed. The warm water soaked his skin and soothed his aching muscles. Keith joined him in the shower only to make sure his boyfriend wasn’t going to pass out. Lance leaned against him the whole time, letting the warmth leave tingling in his legs and the water soak his hazelnut hair.
But getting Lance out was a bigger struggle. Lance wanted to stay in the warmth forever and never get out. He wanted to feel the water splash on his skin and smell the Altean shampoo forever. The only way Keith managed to get him out was by telling him that he was going to get all wrinkly and that the shampoo was bad for his skin. These were all lies but Lance, being as tired as he was, seemed to believe him.
Once Lance had dried off and had gotten into his PJs, Keith ordered him to sit, not lay, but sit on the bed while he went to retrieve the med kit from the bathroom. When he came back, Lance was just barely awake. The brunette was rubbing his eyes and yawning and in all honesty, Keith thought he looked adorable.
Keith walked over and sat beside Lance as the sleepy Cuban slowly turned to meet the Korean’s comforting gaze. Keith moved to remove the disinfectant swabs and a blue bandage from the small med kit and laid it out on the bed comforter. He took the disinfectant swabs and cupped Lance’s injured cheek. “This might sting a little baby,” Lance just nodded and braced himself for the burn.
Keith brought the swab up to the wound on his cheek and began to dab it onto the scratch. Lance tensed and winced. “Sorry, hun. I’ll be done in a second,” Keith said, finishing up the disinfecting and moved to get the bandage. He stuck the blue bandage on the cut and pressed a chaste kiss upon it. “There, all better,” Keith said triumphantly. Lance went to lay down.
“Goodnight Keith-”
“No! Lance, I wasn’t finished,” Keith said, gently pulling Lance back up to his sitting position. “I still need to put some ointment on that bruise. It’ll take just a second.”
“Mmmmm fine.”
“Good job baby. You’re doing so good. I know you’re tired, but we can sleep as soon as I know you’re okay,” Keith praised as he quickly got the ointment out and squirted some in his hands. He rubbed it into Lance’s smooth mocha skin just under his eye. Once he was done he picked up the med kit and kissed Lance on the forehead before he got up to put it back in the bathroom. Keith came out of the bathroom and switched off the lights.
“Goodnight Keith…” Lance said as he snuggled into the bed.
“Honey, you’re gonna need to get under the covers or we won’t be able to cuddle. Plus you’ll get cold feet,” Keith chuckled out as he sat beside his boyfriend, who was going to fall asleep at any second. “Babe, sit up for just a second so I can help you under the covers,” Lance groaned at that statement but reluctantly did as he was told.
Once the grumpy paladin was off the bed, Keith pulled back the covers and crawled in. Lance waited for Keith to get settled. All he wanted to do was fall asleep in Keith’s arms and forget about the solemness of war. Keith opened up his arms, welcoming the other boy into his loving arms. Lance laid his head on Keith’s chest, following his breathing pattern with the way his chest rises and falls.
“Goodnight Keith, I love you. Thanks for cleaning me up.”
“You’re welcome, baby. Get some sleep.”
And he does. Lance sleeps. Lance dreams. Lance dreams of a day when the galaxy would finally find peace. When the universe finally just stops. When he can love without death as a limit. When he can finally be at peace.