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He had seen his spaceship fall like an asteroid: without control and wrapped up in fire. And the panic had drowned him inevitably, almost jumping by himself in one of the available jets. But his shoulder was hold before he could take a step, and when he wanted to complain he noticed Shiro was pulling him to the Black Lion, with his pace urgent but not as desperate as Keith felt his.
They quickly followed the trajectory of the ship, Shiro talking by the comms frequent enough to try and connect with falling jet, and every second that passed with static interference as only answer stabbed him with a horrible terror.
Fortunately for his anxiety, they landed pretty soon after the spaceship crashed, forming a crater in the blueish dirt, and Keith was the first one to go out of the lion, ignoring Shiro’s warnings and approaching the fire still burning in the surroundings, the crashed ship letting out smoke from a lot of places and the hatch opened and crooked because of the hit. Without thinking twice, he gripped a bended side of it and pulled with all his force, the adrenaline increasing it to impossible measure and breaking the steel that hold it closed.
It was then that he felt his heart fall to the ground.
He was unconscious, his arms hanging in the sides of the chair and his head leaned to where the ship was crooked. He was bleeding notoriously from a wound near his left rib and had many, many scratches and bruises that were starting to take a darker color. His hair, most of the times graceful and majestic, fell in a disheveled curtain over his shoulders, his helmet abandoned in the floor of the ship.
He took a moment to react, Shiro catching up to him and gasping at Lotor’s state, and that was what made him get out of his little shock, immediately reaching for the prince and pulling him to carry him over his shoulder, his strength surprising even himself.
He accomplished bringing him away from the crater in the earth, leaving him in the orange grass that was still fresh and checked him with more attention, his hands trembling uncontrollably when he saw how the wound on his side was.
Shiro had stopped trying to help him after Keith just didn’t answer to his questions, his stubbornness of getting him out of the ship by himself, to bring him to a safer place and to check him for more serious wounds making him resign and use that time to contact the rest of their team, explaining the situation and sending their coordinates.
“Yeah, I know,” he was saying in the helmet a few feet away from where they were on the ground, the night having covered with darkness all that side of the planet and the exhaustion getting to Keith heavily, making him take seat beside Lotor, “Neither do I know what that explosion was. But it destabilized all the ships around, even I’m having a bit of trouble to make Black listen to me. Anyway, it was Lotor’s the one that took more damage. He ended up crashing in a planet faster that I’ve ever seen before."
Keith glanced the prince, putting his chin in his forearms while he leaned his elbows in the top of his knees.
He didn’t understand. He was scared, more than he would normally be, and the scene before the battle didn’t stop repeating itself in his head, the ghosty tickling of the light kiss in the corner of his mouth making him twist his face in self-consciousness of what was happening.
Or at least the possibility of it. Lotor had searched for him in the castle exclusively to say goodbye, not to wake up the desire for more with a simple kiss. He had gone to say goodbye knowing that he probably was going to die that day in the battle against Haggar.
And maybe he would’ve died if not because of Keith’s actions, desperate to find him in the crushed metal and taking him out of the danger where his life dangled from. And thinking about it painfully twisted his heart.
His gaze lowered to the open wound below his rib. He had stopped the bleeding after a few seconds of having laid him down and having cleaned it with a ripped piece of cloth of his own uniform, Lotor’s face twisting slightly in pain at the poor first aid, but he didn’t wake up.
Why was he not waking up?
“Keith.”
He looked up to Shiro, watching him walk over to them whilst taking off his helmet.
“The team is on their way with the castle,” he commented glancing Lotor and sighing, “His life doesn’t seem to be at risk, but Coran is already preparing a healing pod for him so he would be better in no time.”
Keith nodded quietly, even when his head was asking over and over why was it important for him to know.
“I think you should call Kolivan,” he said, and Keith turned to him again, “Your comm broke down during the explosion and I’m sure that they’re up there looking for you in the members of the coalition.”
Keith shifted, not wanting to get up from his place and use Shiro’s comms, but he knew he should report to Kolivan, so he didn’t have much choice.
“I can do it for you, if you want.”
He whiplashed, finding a gentle smile, and he looked away, a little troubled.
“It’s fine, I can-”
“Stay with Lotor,” Shiro asked giving him a pat in his hair, his touch soft and comforting, “I’ll tell them you stayed with me after the battle, and if it’s fine, that you’ll stay in the castle for a couple of days.”
Keith breathed deeply, remembering briefly about other mission he had for the day after. But he looked down at Lotor, still unconscious beside him, and nodded absentmindedly, confused by falling so easily.
“Okay,” Shiro muttered petting him a bit more and then walking away while putting on his helmet, “Kolivan? Do you copy?”
He stopped paying attention to his words, gazing back to Lotor, and he sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping after dropping a weight that they seemed to be having over them during the battle.
The dim light that fell over them thanks to the fire still burning a few feet away and the moon, drew weird colors and formless shades on the ground and on Lotor’s skin, the purplish highlighting with oranges from the fire and blues from the moon. His white hair was still disheveled against the ground and his face, but somehow he still was sparkling with some kind of charm that it looked as soft as always.
Keith stopped his hand midair, halfway to remove some of the hair in Lotor’s forehead, and he swallowed hard, glancing warily at Shiro still trying to connect with Kolivan’s communicator or with anyone from the Blade. He bended his fingers a bit, too self conscious about what he was about to do, and he convinced himself that it was to comfort Lotor, to erase the slight frown of pain he had even asleep, to help him relax and make him know subconsciously that he was safe and sound.
He gave another quick look to Shiro walking around at the feet of Black, apparently reporting the situation and everything he got about the battle. Keith huffed and gazed Lotor again, this time threading his fingers through the hair and removing it carefully from his face, grazing briefly his cheek and ear. He took a sharp breath, noting how his closed eyes looked like were trembling at the touch, and he dared to caress him with his knuckles, watching the crest of his cheek flinch and his ear move before his face leaned to his hand, searching for his contact between dreams.
“Keith…”
He jumped, his hand going still abruptly, and Lotor opened his eyes slowly, his gaze examining vaguely the fingers beside his face and then going up to Keith’s eyes.
“Keith,” he whispered more confident, his voice rough and tired coming out from a weak smile, “Is this heaven?”
Keith scoffed, rolling his eyes at the ridiculous compliment.
“You’re not dead, Lotor,” he assured retiring his hand as if he was burned, Lotor’s hand, bigger than his, catching his wrist and keeping his hand below his cheek, “W-what are you…?”
But Lotor kept silent, his eyes closed once again and his breathing long and calm. Keith thought he had fallen asleep.
“Lotor?”
“It’s warm,” he heard him murmur, his eyes opening a bit and seeming lost before looking up to Keith, “You are warm.”
Keith tried not to gasp, inhaling from the nose and feeling his face starting to heat at the comment.
“You are cold?” He asked looking away, trying to blame his delirium to the fresh weather.
“No.”
He swallowed heavily and turned to him when he felt his hold shift, his fingers slowly sliding until entwining with his with a startling familiarity.
“Keith…”
He forced himself to keep still, too ignorant to the warmth filling up his chest because of the touches, too scared of what it meant.
And he couldn’t help heaving a sigh at a little kiss in the back of his hand, Lotor’s eyes closed peacefully.
“I’m sorry about what I did.”
Keith had to make himself pay attention, still disoriented on what he was talking about because of the hard beating of his heart.
“What?”
“The kiss,” Lotor answered with such normality that it was Keith who felt more flustered than he wanted, “I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have thought that my actions were excused. I’m truly sorry.”
Keith had to swallow, shifting in his place, and he flinched at another kiss, this time in his wrist.
“Even this,” Lotor continued, remarking it with other kiss in his knuckles, “I shouldn’t be abusing from my state to do this to you. But thinking that you…”
He went silent for a moment, his breath hitting Keith’s skin softly, and Keith watched at him quietly, permitting himself to stare at the blue of his eyes, illuminated by the moon and the fire before his gaze looked back to him, before he had to confront what was happening between them.
“Having at least a single hope that you feel the same about me is…”
Keith bit his lower lip, and looked away to where Shiro was, making sure he was still away and busy.
“Lotor.”
The blue eyes watched him silently, expressing confusion, and Keith leaned over him a little, seeing him look startled at the distance.
“Kissing me in that moment was a huge mistake,” he complained, even though his voice was low because of the fear of Shiro hearing them, “You have no idea how selfish you were, Lotor.”
The prince looked troubled, at first ashamed of his acts and then his cheeks starting to get a darker dust over them.
“What…?”
“You went on, thinking of just going out there and dying,” he explained wrinkling his nose and almost growling, “But, of course, let’s kiss Keith even if it’s the last thing I do.”
Lotor stared at him unbelieving, his hand gripping Keith’s fingers with doubt.
“Keith…”
“Because, yeah, it’ll be the last thing I do before I die, but Keith won’t fucking care!”
He didn’t know when his scolding turned into a shout, but Lotor caught his face carefully and kissed him in the lips, the contact much firmer and more present than the one left in the corner of his mouth.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured trembling against his lips, his claws caressing his hair and holding his face, “It was stupid, I know. I’m so sorry.”
Keith gasped, trying not to sob, and he approached once again.
“Shut up,” he grumbled without caring of his rudeness, kissing with all his inexperience and so different of the steady and soft moves of the prince.
He felt him heave a noise into his mouth, pretty similar to a low growl, and he himself left out a small sound from the bottom of his throat, delighted by the sweetness of the kiss.
“Keith, the guys had landed nearby and-”
They jumped away from each other, Lotor turning up to where Shiro was standing and Keith looking down to the ground, a harsh blush feeling like a burn coloring from the edge of his ears to the end of his neck.
“Shiro!” Lotor blurted out with a higher pitch of voice, not hiding his nervousness, “You are here!”
Keith slapped his own face a little too hard, scolding himself in the back of his mind of having forgotten to be careful of what he was being wary of.
And he wanted to curse that unknown planet and that moon over them, probably as judging as Shiro’s silence.