Work Text:
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-ACT 2-
=DISCOVERY=
Wish Upon a Dandelion
Ever since he was a small boy, Keith had a tradition. It started on his sixth birthday, less than a month after fire claimed his dad. He would scour the fields and gardens for dandelions and then find a high place, as high as he could go, a rooftop, a tree branch, a fence, and make his way up. Up to the sky. If the dandelion survived, he would blow it into the soft velvety evening darkness with a prayer, a wish… A wish to the universe to let him find his home, to lead him to this sanctuary that will keep him safe and warm against the cruelty of the world he was living in. Of all 10 birthdays on which he followed this tradition before being yeeted to outer space, on only 4 was he successful in properly making that wish and sending those seeds carrying his deepest longing into the night sky.
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The surprise birthday party was really nice, though it was the last thing he wanted. Still, he did appreciate Lance’s effort and gesture. They were the last ones standing, lazing around on two bean bags next to each other, the others long asleep, most in their respective rooms already.
“Thank you, Lance. I really loved it.” Keith said with a soft smile.
“My pleasure Mullet. I really liked doing that for you.” the blue paladin’s voice was borderline fond, no trace of teasing. He reached out to grab two bottles of nunvil from the floor while fishing his keychain out of his pocket. It was so bulky, more gadgets than actual keys on it and Keith was halfway to a laugh, watching his teammate opening the bottles with one of them, when he suddenly froze.
“What’s wrong? Let’s do one more toast…” laughed Lance, his head snapping up to the aborted sound that came from his right. “Keith? You ok, my dude?”
“What is that?” stuttered the other boy, his hand jerking to grab one of the ornaments hanging from the brunet’s keyring - a clear flat resin circle encasing four neatly arranged dandelion seeds in a sea of glittery stars.
“Oh… that…” Lance’s gaze turned melancholic. “Funny story, actually… Back home, on the farm, every autumn, my mom would make dandelion wine. I used to help her… a lot… heheheh… ever since I was, I dunno 4 or something. It was captivating. One year a seed landed on my nose and just stood there upright. I kinda got crosse-eyed looking at it for minutes on end. It just stood there. It couldn’t have come from what we were doing, as you need petals to make the wine and not seeds, so I was so curious where it could have come from. I was soo fascinated that I kept it. Crazily enough, the same thing happened three more years. I kept all the seeds and decided to make a keepsake as a reminder of that wonder… It has not left my side ever since…”
He turned around to look at Keith and “Oh my God, Keith, are you ok??”
Bottles of nunvil, keyring, everything forgotten, Lance launched himself at the raven-haired birthday boy. Keith was silently crying, hot wet tears streaming down his face, his whole body shaking within Lance’s strong embrace.
“Lance…” Keith barely whispered and then proceeded to recount his birthday tradition and wishes. It was now Lance’s turn to shake as he slowly moved to properly look Keith in those big watery nebula eyes.
“I… I… You… I…” for the first time ever, Lance’s words were failing him, yet everything seemed to fall into place. The dance, the longing was finally over. He slowly leaned in, letting in a very Keith-like fashion for actions to speak louder than words and softly captured those plump chapped lips he adored with his own. It didn’t even take Keith a second to melt into the kiss and that warm, safe embrace. The universe had finally brought him home…
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