Chapter Text
Keith grunted and threw his helmet on the floor of the changing deck as he stormed out. There last battle was... messy. No one was in a good mood , no one. Everyone was tired and not even Shiro trying to inspire everyone helped. which was rare. No one had stuck around long after the battle , there was a small 'let's get some rest' from Coran and everyone left. Lance hadn't stayed that long , he practically flung himself out his lion and rushed off somwhwere. Which really was fine with Keith , he didn't want to see Lance. It was , like many times before , his fault the mission was such a fail.
They had broken into an enemy base to gain information they needed. And it was all going well, until Lance decided to be his usual idiotic self and blew the whole mission up. Which ment after all of that , Keith did not want to see Lance.
And because Lance is the only person on the ship Keith didnt want to see , that's exactly who he saw. Keith felt a small rage built up from seeing the teen sitting there.he was sitting in the corner of the hall way, head buried in his knees and hisnhands in his hair. Keith had half a mind to ignore the boy and just walk to his room, but when he got closer he heard fast and heavy breathing coming from the tanned boy. He stopped walking and looked over at Lance. His lips parted slightly when he looked the boy up and down , seeing Lance shaking eratically and oulling harshly his hair. Small sobs escaping his mouth.
Keith looked around the halls then back at Lance before he sighed , releasing he couldn't be mad at someone who's like this sitting having a panic attack.
Keith slid down the wall and sat next to Lance more then a little awkwardly. "You'll hurt yourself doing that" he said and took hold of Lance's hands , that seemed to be forever warm. Lance tried to pull his hands away but after a few ties he gave up. "You need to breath, believe it or not" Keith then said, feeling Lance now hold onto his hands tightly as he choked on sobs and his body shook. "Lance , I'm gonna count and you're gonna follow to catch your breath, understand?" The mullet head said. Lance shook his head , his breath reminded Keith of an elephant and his nails dug into Keith hands. Keith was half tempted to just get up and walk away if Lance didn't want his help. But he didnt. "Lance, look at me" Keith and Lance made eye contact. Lances eyes red and swollen, they seemed dazed , his pupils shaking as much as the rest if his body. Keith took this moment to scan the rest of Lance's face. Snot pouring out his nose and saliva doing the same from his mouth. The boy looked heart broken. Keith was almost temped to pull Lance into a hug.
"I have some tissue in my pocket.." Keith said , trying to prey his hands away, but Lance held them tighter and shook his head frantically. Keith stopped trying to reach for the tissue. "Okay , no tissue" Keith sighed , Lance nodded his head "sit up straight for me" he then said. Lance just leaned against him. "Or that's an option" Keith grunted , knowing he was going to now have to clean his clothes later. "You know back in the cadets I got into this fight with James , you remember him?" Keith asked as he talked. Lance whined and nodded his head , "well, when later on after I got scolded by Shrio, he called James a know it all snob" Keith chuckled , remembering the memory. Lance's sobs went quiet, "really?"
Keith nodded his head, "yeah, Shiro may mot seem it , but he can be as salty as the next when he wants to be" he repiled , "the amount of times I've seen him calling kids test papers stupid"
Lance gave a small laugh, as he finally began to breath normally. His grip on Keith's hands stayed the same. "Did... Shiro ever let you cheat on the tests?" Lance asked , voice small and sounded hoarse. "Fuck no, would Shiro ever break rules? No, he wouldn't, you ever broke rules in cadets?"
"Often , ask hunk..." Lance wiped his how nose on his sleeve and he sniffed "I used to sneak out to the pool most nights or me and hunk would just sneak to the vending machines"
Keith hummed and gave a nod of the head , "I remember you got a lot of detentions back then also ,remember when you spent a whole detention waving and staring at me" Lance huffed and sighed "I was... was trying to... never mind" Lance settled into a calm state , he moved his hands to they were laced with Keith's and he gave them a gental squeeze to them both.
Keith looked down at there joint hands but decided to ignore the small action. He might still rattled up. "Challage me to what?" Keith raised a brow. Lance puffed his cheeks "I wanted to fight you, see who was stronger... whatever not something I care about any more" he sighed. Keith wasn't sure if it was a blush or just Lance's swelled face but his face went red.
"We're about the same level , just in different ways" Keith said , Feeling Lance fully relax against him.
The two sat there on the floor for a few minutes. They may they had even been there an hour. At some point Hunk had walked , looking confused at the two ofnthem holding hands and sitting together. Keith just waved him away. And with multiple glances back at them.
Lance sniffed and slowly cuddled into Keith - making him a little uneasy. "Thank you Keith... for calming me down"
Keith patted one Lance's hand , "it's fine, panic attacks aren't fun" he claimed. Lance nodded his head and looked up at Keith, "you have them often?"
Keith gulped slightly and took a deep breath , "used to, back in the cadets" he admitted "Shiro.. he helped me a lot, he used to talk to me about weird stories and it helped me focus"
Lance stayed quite for a minute before looked over at Keith, sitting up, "That's what you just did!" He gave a smile , his cheeks red. Keith shrugged but nodded his head "helps does it not?"
Lance nodded his head and leaned back against Keith and held Keith's hands close to him.
That's when Keith then took his hands back, "uh- it's late, I should get going" he slowly stood up, Lance looking up at him with an almost sad puppy look 'I'll cya in the morning, Lance"
"Yeah" Lance stood up also , hoping to be able to walk back to the rooms together - but Keith was already walking "good..night" hos voice turned to a whisper as Keith made a quite exit. Keith didnt look back , he just wanted to get to his room with so many thoughts in his head he didn't know what to do.
As Keith walked away, Lance looked back down at his hands and kiss his knuckles. He blushed snd swung back and forth with a smile painted on his face.
In his room, Keith threw himself onto his bed and huffed and lightly punched the pillow.
Was lance really blushing? Why would he be blushing?
Why was Lance so intent on holding his hands? Was that just because he needed comfort? Was Lance usually a clingy person when sad? Keith didnt even know Lance could... have those emotions. That thought lingered for a minute. To have a panic attack in the middle of a hall... that's not normal and with how quickly he left the lions he must had been holding it in for a while. Maybe Keith had been a but too harsh on Lance? Just maybe.
Keith looked over at his right hand , the small areas were Lance had dug his nails and left small patched of blood. His mind went empty for all but Lance's face. Him crying and panicking.
Keith but his face back in the pillow , "fuck..."