Work Text:
Lance stood in the hot water as it poured down his body. He loved showers. Yet at the same time, he hated them. They were relaxing, yeah. But sometimes they were just too relaxing. Relaxation often let the demons out. The demons that were usually limited to sleepless nights and little else.
He placed his hand on the shower wall, near the water spout, and hung his head. He closed his eyes and just took deep breaths. It didn't take long before tears were streaming down his face, voices racing through his head.
His dad's: You'll never be a good pilot! You're too childis-
Iverson's: You won't survive a day out there. You're too fragile. Not pilot materi-
His mother's: Honey, why'd you leave us behind? Do we mean nothing to you?
He fell back against the shower and fell down to the floor. He sobbed for minutes until he finally calmed down. He eventually stood up, turned the water off, wrapped a towel around his waist, and made his way to his room. He passed Keith's and stopped.
He knocked lightly on the door.
He smiled weakly when he saw Keith's face.
"Uh, Lance. What's wrong?" Keith went to cup his cheek but Lance was faster and enveloped him in a hug. "Uh..." Keith mumbled until he just accepted it. He slowly brought Lance into his room, still holding him tightly.
He closed the door and brought Lance down into his lap when he sat down. He put an arm around his back and used his other to hold Lance’s head to his chest.
He rocked them back and forth. Lance kept sobbing, making incoherent sentence fragments. Keith just shushed him.
"It's okay. You don't have to explain. I'm here. Always."
They stayed like that until Lance finally calmed down. He pulled away and stared at Keith.
Keith cupped his cheek and wiped under his puffy eyes.
Lance looked at Keith's shoulder and started to laugh quietly. "I got your shirt all wet." His laughs grew and Keith joined in.
Lance looked back into Keith's eyes and his laughs slowly stopped. Keith's eyes searched his face and Lance's fell onto his lips.
Lance leaned in and kissed Keith softly. The kiss stayed slow and gradual.
Keith pulled away and Lance once again hid his face in the crook of Keith's neck as Keith continued to hold him.
Keith brought Lance up to the head of the bed and laid them down. They fell asleep like that.
When they awoke, Lance started freaking out. As per usual. "K-Keith! Wha-what are you doing her-" He cut himself off as he remembered the events of last night. He blushed and hid his face in the pillow.
Keith sat up. "Lance, that's not the only reason you should be embarrassed." He also had a pink shade to his cheek. He had the covers around him, leaving Lance with no covers. Lance also had lost his towel during the night.
"What?" He looked down and quickly pushed his towel on his . . . area, tying it back around his waist.