Work Text:
Keith wanted to scream, to cry, to pull at his hair until it stayed in his hands. He was such a fool. He should have known this could happen.
“Keith, please, don’t fall apart on me! Not now! I need you to stay strong!”
Purple eyes looked up at Lance, the altean visibly stressed too but doing his damn best to stay calm. Keith’s ears perked back up and he nodded.
“OK. Sorry, your highness. Let’s try again…”
He pushed a few boutons on the dashboard and they both held their breaths. But the sound they wanted to hear never happened. Keith groaned and pushed them again, and again. At some point, Lance went out of the cockpit to go see the engine room.
Keith closed his eyes while he waited for the other man to come back.
His superior would never trust him again with leadership, and Shiro would be SO disappointed after this. It should have been a normal diplomatic mission, but of course, Keith messed up and now, he was lost in space with the little brother of princess Allura after they tried to wormhole out of firing line and messed up.
It was his fault, he knew Lance was still learning how to do wormholes but he pushed him anyway. He opened his eyes, knowing full well the last thing he could do right was make sure the young prince would come back home safe and unharmed.
“Keith! I fixed a few things on the engine. I’m not sure if it will help at all, but you should try again.”
Keith didn’t ask when the prince had gotten the knowledge of fixing a ship’s engine and instead did what he was told. This time, the nice vibration and sound of an engine coming to life made them smile. He quickly checked their location and headed to the closest base of the Blade, only an hour away. A very small base but it had direct communication to HQ.
So, they flew at a slow path, not straining the engine too much. Lance had an arm circling Keith’s chair and made small talk about this and that. Like he always did when they had nothing better to do.
“By the way, I’m not really supposed to tell you this…”
“Then don’t.” laughed Keith.
“But… Allura is engaged.”
Keith turned his head to look at him.
“Seriously? This is not exactly big news.”
He turned back to face the main window, in case there was any space debris out there.
“Yeah, I know rumours and such. But this is real this time. And you should probably know who her fiancé is… because it directly concerns you.”
His fluffy ears perked up at this, but his eyes didn’t leave the window.
“Your highness, you’re making me a little worried there.”
“You shouldn’t, to be honest. I was against it at first but… he proved himself. He proved himself and a lot of people around him. My sis is gonna be really happy with him…”
Keith frowned. Then it hit him and his eyes widened.
“Are you talking about prince Lotor?”
“Um… Yes, it’s him.”
Keith was surprised but not exactly shocked. Anyone with eyes and common sense could see how the galran prince and altean princess were very much attracted to each other. It had not always been the case for Allura, but the prince made her change her mind.
Keith smiled widely. For being quite close to his prince, he knew Lotor must have looked stone faced at the news but probably jumped up and down or did a little victory dance in the secrecy of his room. If Acxa and her friends joked about it in the next days, he would know.
“So, when is the wedding the…”
He couldn’t finish his sentence as a big jolt came from behind them. Immediately, alarms went on and Lance clung to the seat for dear life. Keith looked over the screen detailing the problems and went pale.
“The main engine is down. We’re running on the two smaller engines and they are not designed to last long without the main one…”
“W-what do we do?!”
An alarm stronger than the others made a red dot blink. Keith’s eyes went as wide as saucers. This dot signaled a failure in the oxygen system.
“Lance, get our helmets now!!”
He forgot all protocol by calling him simply by name. The prince didn’t care and did as told, not without staggering at the jolts of the ship. He put his helmet on then went back to the chair and carefully put Keith’s over his head. The ship was trembling completely at this point and Keith knew it could possibly explode any moment.
Being stranded in a malfunctioning ship was one thing, but in space with just oxygen masks and no ressources? By the time they were found, they would be dead. He gritted his teeth, judging their options.
Then, he abruptly turned the ship, making the prince almost fall down.
“What are you doing?!”
“Getting us on this planet!”
He recognized it. It was small but had a breathable atmosphere, weather cycles and most definitely animals that they could hunt if necessary. He only hoped now that the ship wouldn’t give and explode before they landed.
He woke up later, his feet wet and someone shaking his shoulder. When his brain finally woke, he recognized the prince next to him.
“W-what happened?”
“You crashed us onto a planet.”
“Are… are you OK?” he worried.
Lance smiled at him, taking one of his hands.
“I’m fine. I was lucky enough to have my helmet on, otherwise I could have drown.”
Keith looked down, the water reaching his mid-calf. He stood up and reached for a handle in the ceiling, pulled it and a hatch opened. He climbed up first, checking for any danger. Once he was sure it was safe, Lance climbed after him.
The ship was partially immersed into a pond, explaining the water inside. The sky was a very pale blue coming close to white. In the horizon, they saw mountain with snow covering them. Closer to them, a forest of trees with purple and pink leaves. They removed their helmets, and the wind blew gently at their faces, making their hair fly at little around their heads.
“What do we do now?”
“Get as many supplies as we can out of the ship, find somewhere safe to settle for the night, and maybe get the ship out of the water to fix the communication.”
Thanks to Lance’s altean’s strength the next day, they managed after hours to push at least the head of the ship out of the water. They waited a few days for it to dry, getting most of the ship out, then Keith started to fix what he could with the little knowledge about electronics he had.
In the meantime, they hunted for food. They observed the peaceful creatures of the planet, noticing what plants and fruits were good to eat. To Keith’s surprise, the prince adapted nicely to their situation. He was the one collecting resources while Keith burned his fingers on wires and failed to get the radio working again.
After a week, Lance was optimistic while Keith was more and more afraid he had doomed the only brother of the altean princess to stay stranded on this planet only a few planets away from a Marmora base that wasn’t even aware of them being here. Kolivan would have all rights to take his blade away, meaning disgrace and incompetence.
“Don’t worry, my sister is probably turning the universe upside down in search for us. I’m sure she already roasted more asses than acceptable from a princess.”
This made Keith smile and almost laugh. He knew how protective princess Allura was of her younger brother. Which reminded him Kolivan would probably never even get to take his Blade away, or at least only from his dead body. In the scenario of Allura reaching Keith before him at least. Oh stars, Keith was a dead man!
A month in, Lance was still hopeful. The galra could see he was looking longingly at the sky and stars, his certainty not fading. Keith wished he could be like that. The longer they stayed isolated, the more he realized he fucked up, and the more he was certain his death would be from princess Allura’s hands. And no amount of Lance’s reassurance that Allura wouldn’t hurt him could change the dread in his chest.
Then, one day, Keith managed to make the radio work. He quickly found the frequency of the galra base a few planets away and tried to contact them. Only to realize it wasn’t working. Either there was no one there, or he couldn’t hear them. When he tried again a few minutes later, the radio broke. This time, for good. Keith punched the pilot chair in frustration, and fell down, crying.
One chance, he had one quiznaking chance to get them out soon, and he let it slip out of his hands. He was gonna die of shame even before Allura could kill him.
He woke up to Lance touching his face with cold fingers. He jumped a little before he recognized the prince.
“I was getting worried. You didn’t come back to camp and it’s almost dark out…”
Keith checked the window. The night was coming. He quickly walked with Lance to their camp, a small fire warming him up when he got close.
“Keith, are you OK? Your eyes are all red and you look very pale.”
Keith watched the fire, heard the question and the twigs breaking under the heat. He sighed through his nose.
“I failed you.”
“What?”
“The radio is broken. I managed to fix it for a few minutes and tried to get help but… no help is coming. I’ve failed you and the Alliance.”
He fell to his knees, hands grasping angrily at the ground, shame washing over him. Then, he felt arms circling his middle and a head weighting on the back of his neck.
“You’ve failed no one. If anything, we would have died if you didn’t tell me to wormhole us out of here. It’s my fault for trying to impress my sister and the Alliance by playing diplomat when I’m just a nuisance. You just protected me against my own stupidity… I-if anything, the one that failed the other… is me.”
Keith turned his head and saw Lance, eyes closed but tears running down his cheeks. He turned around, taking his brown cheeks into his pale purple hands.
“Don’t say that. You are not a nuisance. I should have been more careful back there. It’s because I told you to wormhole us that we are stranded here.”
“No, it’s thanks to that that we are still alive.”
“I don’t see things like that!” he said while shaking his head.
“But that’s what it is! Slaloming between ship fires and expecting them to give up was no option. You did what was best.”
“I still let one hit the ship.”
“Not your fault…”
Lance hugged him tight, head on his shoulder. Keith’s eyes stung, close to crying. He hugged the prince back, both of them very drained by the whole situation and thoughts they hadn’t shared until then.
They took a few minutes to calm down, staying close together, foreheads connected, hands joined, breaths mixing. Lips meeting once Lance turned his head. Keith was too emotionally tired to care that it wasn’t appropriate. All he wanted was to continue the kiss.
“I’ve always liked you.” said Lance hours later, when they were face to face on their makeshift beds. “You’re probably the one person I would give up everything for.”
“Don’t say that, your highness. I don’t want you to give anything up, especially not for me.”
“Told you to drop the ‘highness’. And I would.” he said while taking his hand. “If I have to choose between my title and you, I wouldn’t be a prince already.”
Keith shook his head, a small smile gracing his lips.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. No one asked you to give up your status for me. And with how things are going, it will be months or even years before anyone asks you this.”
Lance got closer, an arm circling Keith’s waist.
“A few months sounds good.”
He closed the distance between their lips again. A single tear escaped Keith’s eyes, both in happiness at being liked back by the prince, and in the shame of leaving the princess without her brother.
Keith cried a few days later, when he saw a ship of the Blade of Marmora lowering in the sky. They had actually heard him and found the source of his distress signal. Lance joined their hands, tears running down his cheeks too.
“I stand by what I said.”
“I wish you wouldn’t.” responded Keith, head lowering in defeat.
They were taken to the base for a quick clean up and check of their wounds. They were told both Kolivan and princess Allura would be coming soon. Keith had his blade ready, knowing his superior would take it away the moment they were close.
They waited in a room, in private. Lance had an arm around one of Keith’s, head on his shoulder and fingers stroking the galra’s hand in comfort. Lance kept saying everything would be OK, that he wouldn’t let him take all the blame, kissing softly at his jaw.
Then, the door opened, and Kolivan entered. Followed by the princess and galran prince.
Keith expected Lance to get up and rush to his sister. He didn’t. He stayed put, not moving at all, staring at her instead. Letting them see the altean prince too much into the other young man’s space for it to be platonic. Obviously, the other three looked puzzled at him.
“Lance?” she asked, a bit of shock in her voice.
Keith closed his eyes and straightened up, forcing Lance to let go. He walked the few feet to his superior and presented his blade, resting on both palms.
“Sir, I apologize for my incompetence and understand the consequences to come.”
“Keith, wait..” tried Lance.
“It’s all my fault…”
“NO it’s not!”
“For putting the prince in danger…”
“Keith stop!”
Lance rushed to him, grasping both his shoulders. Keith closed his eyes. If he turned around and looked at these blue eyes, he would lose his composure. He heard the sob in Lance’s next intake of breath.
“I’m sorry, but I thought we were here to reunite with these two after weeks without contact. Not putting blames here and there before even hearing the complete story.” said Lotor in a matter of fact voice.
Allura let out a heavy exhale, like she had held her breath for a few minutes. She then hugged her brother, Lance not letting go of the galra’s shoulders. With his eyes still closed, Keith was surprised to feel a big hand landing on his head. He looked up, Kolivan smiling at him. A proud smile. He rarely saw his superior smiling, even less in pride.
A small gurgle resonated from Keith’s stomach. Lance shook his head.
“That’s what you get for giving me your food.”
They had been running a little low on supplies and planned to go hunt that day, before the ship appeared. So yes, he had just ate what was essential for him, leaving the rest for the prince.
“I’m sure we all want to sit down at a table with some food and a nice cup of tea.” said Lotor, putting a comforting hand on Allura’s shoulder. “Let’s do this then.”
As they walked to the small room used as a cafeteria, Keith knew no one was fooled by Lance’s attitude. Nor his, actually. Lance hadn’t let go of him, just shifting his grip for his shoulders to circling his arm again, head high and back straight. Protocol be damned.
There would be a talk about the events, their landing and stranding on that planet. Another about how close they had grown to be.
One from Kolivan about how dangerous Keith had acted but also how responsable he had been. How proud he was of the boy.
One from Allura, warning Lance people would probably talk about them, manipulating the truth because by all means, they were not supposed to be this close. Also, how she didn’t mind their relationship as long as her brother was happy. Giving a glance of ‘hurt my brother and you are dead’ to Keith.
Hours later, when they got a little privacy to get their stuff back, Lance kissed him again. Tender, loving, determined.
“No one is gonna get you away from me.” he promised.
Keith responded by kissing him back, for the first time. His own way of accepting this love and showing he too wanted it to last.