Chapter Text
Keith was exhausted.
Not only did he just get back from a mission, but he was desperate to just hang out with Lance, who was working at the Garrison for the time being, causing his days to be long and tedious. When he finally got home, he was exhausted as well, opting to gently smile at Keith and head to bed as soon as possible.
So when they were finally able to eat dinner together and go to sleep, it was relieving.
Then someone knocked on their door at two in the morning.
At first, Keith shot upwards, startled by the noise. He wasn’t quite sure what he just heard, but he was on alert anyway. Lance was still fast asleep. He hadn’t been as conditioned to wake up at every little noise compared to Keith.
Keith was opposed to getting out of bed and allowing the cold air to touch his skin. He was so content, in bed, with Lance.
But then, a knock was heard again, louder this time and it was enough to stir Lance, causing him to let out a groan into his pillow. Keith traced his hand along Lance’s face before grabbing the blade under his pillow and shuffling out of bed. He wasn’t exactly prepared to fight in plaid pants and a black t-shirt, but he would if he had to.
Because no one in their right mind would knock on someone’s door at two in the morning unless they were here to pick a fight.
Keith just hoped they knew who they were picking a fight with. He also hoped they knew that he wasn’t happy being forced to get out of bed meaning he wasn’t going to show any mercy.
His blade was tightly gripped in his hand as he stalked toward the front door. He placed his other hand on his doorknob, slowly opening it. The wood creaked as he pried it open.
However, when he saw who it was, it was honestly the last thing he expected. A Blade stood at his doorstep accompanied by two others who stood behind them. The tension pooled out of his shoulders at the sight, relieved that he wouldn’t have to fight anyone.
He placed his blade on the nearest table and glared at the people in front of him. Their mask faded out, revealing none other than Kolivan who had his usual serious expression.
“What are you doing here…?” Keith tiredly asked, rubbing at his eyes that no doubt had bags under them.
Kolivan motioned inside. “Can we come in?”
Keith sighed into his palm, stepping aside. “Do I have a choice?”
The Blades didn’t respond, very obviously meaning no, he didn’t. They moved into Keith’s living room, sitting on the couch.
Sure, make yourselves at home, Keith thought, bitterly.
He idly sat down, eyes piercing into the Blade members. With their masks, they didn’t seem deterred but Keith saw one of them shift, uncomfortable. Good, he wanted them to know he wasn’t happy with this.
“You know, I was enjoying my time off,” Keith remarked, directing his attention to Kolivan.
“Yes, well, something has come up.”
Keith furrowed his brows at the bleak information. He glanced over at his blade and considered threatening them to get out of his house.
“Something so important that you had to come all the way from space to wake me up at two in the morning?”
Kolivan’a face deadpanned as if it could get any more serious than it already was. He obviously wasn’t enjoying Keith’s attitude.
“We thought it would be considered a favour being woken up by us instead of a Galra army,” Kolivan revealed, sarcasm dripping on his tone.
Keith’s body froze, eyebrows raising to meet his hairline. The information was more than startling. “Galra…?” he questioned, mouth dried.
Just then, subtle footsteps were heard within the house and Keith instantly knew who it was. He turned over toward their bedroom, eyes softening at the sight of a sleep-addled Lance.
“Keith?” he questioned, rubbing at both of his eyes.
Once Lance opened his eyes, he stared at the living room, spotting the three Blade members sitting on their furniture. His jaw hung slack at the sight and he looked questionably at Keith for answers.
“What’s going on?” Lance asked, flickering his gaze between all three of the members before landing on Keith.
“These are private matters,” Kolivan instructed, looking expectantly at Lance as if he should leave the premises of his own house. Keith felt rage gather in his stomach.
“He’s allowed to be here,” Keith bit, challenging Kolivan with a stare. Lance still looked endlessly confused.
“Fine,” Kolivan relented, glaring daggers at Lance. However, Lance only looked slightly deterred, as he moved to sit beside Keith. Keith responded by placing a subtle hand on his thigh.
“As we were saying,” Kolivan continued, “we believe a Galra army could strike at any moment.”
Lance tensed beside him. “Galra army? On Earth?”
Keith looked expectantly at the Blade member.
Kolivan only nodded. “Not a big army, just stragglers left over from the war who still believe they should be loyal to Zarkon.”
Lance gripped his hand for comfort, not only for himself but for Keith as well. They were both thinking the same thing. They had thought the war was over, for Earth at the very least.
“You want us to act on it?” Keith asked, getting right to business.
Kolivan seemed to not know the answer himself. “We thought it was appropriate to warn you. You are welcome to join the fight but as you said, it’s your time off.”
Lance readjusted his posture. “I want to fight.”
Kolivan sharply turned to him. “You are not a Paladin anymore.”
Lance’s mouth snapped shut causing Keith to feel rage burn within him. He hated how it made Lance feel; how it made him look so helpless, but despite the way he would have worded it differently, he agreed. It was hard to admit it, but it was there.
“Lance, I hate to agree but…” Keith began, shrinking at the other’s pained face. “You haven’t trained in a long time.”
The former Paladin let out an offended noise in the back of his throat. “You know just as well as me that I can shoot ten times more accurately than anyone in this room, even without training.”
Keith grabbed his hand and winced at the way it was angrily pulled back. “I know. I would want nothing more than for you to have my back—“
“But?” Lance put forward, eyes as cold as ice.
“But,” Keith agreed, “the Galra fleet will be small. The Blades won’t even need me. They came here out of courtesy.”
Lance looked heartbroken, as if Keith had betrayed him a thousand times over. Just from that look, that glare, Keith believed it.
“Excuse me for wanting to protect my own planet.”
Lance was standing up now, getting as far away from Keith as he could. Then he took one last look at everyone and retreated back to their bedroom. Keith sighed out of defeat, knowing that he couldn’t do anything about it. He turned back toward Kolivan, reaching out a hand for a handshake.
Kolivan shook his hand as Keith spoke. “Thank you for the heads-up. If you need me, you know how to contact me.”
“You’re turning down the mission?”
“Yes,” Keith confirmed.
Kolivan looked confused, studying him for a long time before he pivoted around and walked out of the door, the other Blade members right behind him.
Keith stood in silence, among the darkness. Just—breathing. He didn’t know whether he was preparing himself mentally to talk to Lance or if he needed time to fathom that there was an active threat on his planet again. He trusted that the Blades would handle it. What he couldn’t trust would be if he could say the right things to Lance.
When he finally returned to their bedroom, Lance was already asleep, back turned facing the door so Keith couldn’t see his face. Keith frowned, shuffling back into bed, sleeping as far away as he could.
Keith was exhausted.
The next morning, Keith woke up to a cold empty bed. He didn’t even hear Lance in the kitchen getting ready for work. Sure enough, when he emerged from the bedroom, the house was empty and quiet, just like the bed.
There was no note, no nothing. Even still, Keith knew that he had gone to work judging by his shoes that were no longer by the front door. That also meant that Lance was pissed. He had woken up early and gone to work early just to avoid Keith.
A subtle pang bounced around in his heart. Keith sauntered into the kitchen and shoved toast into the toaster just as his phone rang. He secretly hoped it was Lance, but to no avail. It was Shiro because of course it was.
Keith found himself responding anyway.
“Hello?”
“What did you do?” Shiro asked, exasperated.
Keith groaned in understanding.
“How mad is he?”
Shiro huffed on the other line. “He was muttering angrily when I tried to talk to him.”
“Shit,” Keith blurted.
Shiro didn’t even chide him for the language. This was very, very bad.
“Keith, he got to work early today.”
“I know,” he responded, helplessly.
“Keith. What did you do?” Shiro repeated.
“It’s…it’s confidential.”
His brother hummed in understanding. “Something with the Blades?”
“Yeah…”
“Want me to have Adam talk to him?”
Keith sighed at the effort, grateful for the help. “Honestly, I don’t even think Adam could fix this.”
“That bad, huh?”
Keith nodded even though Shiro couldn’t see him. “That bad.”
They talked for a little while longer until Shiro admitted that he needed to go. Of course, Keith let him leave while he sadly ate his toast that was slightly burnt on the ends. It kind of looked like how his heart was feeling.
His next phone call was from Adam.
“Lance is shooting things,” Adam began the call with as soon as Keith answered.
That was…worrying.
“Not people, I hope,” Keith remarked, trying to keep light of the situation.
“No, but he looks like he wants to.”
Keith didn’t doubt it. He ended up having an even shorter conversation with Adam than he did with Shiro.
His last and final phone call of the day was, unfortunately, still not Lance.
It was Kolivan.
Keith half expected him to be called into action right away. “The threat is stabilized, Earth is no longer under attack,” Kolivan said instead.
Well, at least one problem was out of the way…
When Lance returned home, Keith was pleasantly surprised. He honestly thought that Lance was going to stay at the Garrison instead of coming home.
The first thing he said didn’t go over well. “The Galra were defeated.”
All Lance did was study him for a moment, eyes still made of daggers. He wordlessly moved into the kitchen and grabbed something to eat while Keith trailed behind him like a lost puppy.
Lance quietly sat down at the counter, silent as ever. Keith hated it when he was silent. Keith sat beside him anyway, almost close enough to touch. The still air still didn’t relent.
Then finally, Lance spoke. “I’m tired of being mad at you.”
So am I, Keith thought, but didn’t say aloud. He stayed quiet.
“Was the fight hard?” Lance continued, refusing to let the conversation die out.
That caused Keith to blink and he realized that Lance had thought he went out and fought with the Blades instead of sulking at home like he had been doing all day.
“I—I didn’t go.”
Lance’s head snapped to him so quickly that Keith was worried his neck would snap. “What?”
“The Blades had it handled,” Keith reasoned, itching to grab the other’s hand yet he didn’t want to move as if it would startle Lance and cause him to leave.
“I just—I thought you would want to fight.”
Keith nodded, understanding. “Don’t get me wrong, if they asked for my help I would have gone, but I wasn’t needed.” He met Lance’s eyes. “We don’t have to fight anymore, Lance. We’re not in the middle of a war anymore.”
“Doesn’t that bother you? To not fight?” Lance asked, searching for an answer as if he didn’t know the answer himself.
“No, not really. Not when I have you,” Keith admitted and apparently that was all he needed to say because Lance wrapped him in a hug right after the words left his mouth.
“I don’t know how,” Lance whispered, “I don’t know how to stop fighting.”
Pleading.
Lance was pleading for Keith to answer him, to help him. When in truth, Keith didn’t know how to answer either.
“I’m sorry,” Keith muttered. That was all he could say, really.
I’m sorry that I don’t know how to help you.
Lance slowly shook his head in defeat. “I feel useless.”
Keith kissed the top of his head, right on his hair. “You’re not. You’re never useless.”
Lance stayed silent and Keith hated it, so he continued to speak, “Lance, you helped save the universe. You are anything but useless, sweetheart.”
“But you’re still fighting with Marmora.”
His voice was weak, enough to sink Keith’s heart.
“That doesn’t make me any more useful than you. You’re helping people become pilots, Lance. They’ll be lucky if they turn out remotely as good as you.”
Lance’s voice was small, delicate. “Really?”
Keith gingerly grabbed his chin, pecking him on the cheek, just barely catching the corner of his lips.
“Yes,” he whispered.
They spent the rest of the time, hugging in the kitchen. Leaning on each other to stay upright. After a while of just basking in the comfort, Lance spoke.
“Keith,” Lance began, “can we go to bed? I’m exhausted.”
Keith chuckled. “Me too.”