Chapter Text
“Keith, you know I’m sorry. Please, I-.” Lance hears, right as he's about to go into the training room.
“Yes, yes. I know. Of course, I know. I’m sorry for putting you in this position,” Keith says, his voice going from choked to robotic.
“You can still talk to me about anything. I love you, Keith.”
Lance can hear the “but not like that” implied. This is what he gets for trying to go to the gym.
“You’ve always been a great friend, Keith. I’ll always care about you.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Keith…”
Jesus, Lance thinks. What an awkward situation. He’s still standing in front of the door, thinking about the possible repercussions to the team when Keith slides it open.
“Shit,” Lance blurts.
“Wait, I mean, hey what’s up, dude?” Lance says, running a hand through his hair and trying to pretend he hadn’t heard. Keith’s face flips through emotions disturbingly fast until it seems to just crumple in on itself. Keith pushes past him towards his quarters. Lance sucks in a breath and tries to decide what to do. Should he leave him alone?
Shiro follows Keith out of the training room, worry pinching his face.
“Lance. Did you hear that?”
Lance nods slowly, “But it was totally an accident.”
“Give him a few minutes then go knock on his door. It gets worse when he’s alone.”
“Are you sure? I not sure that..."
"No, Lance, I think you really should. Please," Shiro says seriously.
"Um, sorry, okay, I will.”
Shiro puts his hand on his shoulder appreciatively and heads the opposite way of Keith. Lance sighs. He’s not the greatest at comforting people but he supposes this is his fault for listening in. He tugs on his jacket self-consciously, thinking about the time he tried to comfort his sister after a breakup and she wouldn't talk to him for a week. Lance turns away from the training room and goes back to his room. He changes into sweatpants then paces around his room for a little bit. Deciding his course of action, he grabs his laptop then goes to the kitchen. He grabs some snacks and then mentally steels himself to head to Keith’s room. He knocks on the door, steeling himself with the knowledge that Keith's emotions are way easier to read than his sister's.
“I’m busy,” a muffled voice says. Lance tries the knob. It’s unlocked, so he slowly lets himself in. The lights are off, but there’s enough light from the window for Lance to see Keith with his head under his blankets on his bed.
“What’d you want,” Keith says in a dead voice from his blanket pile.
“Nothing, buddy. Do you wanna watch a movie? I brought toasted space goo.”
“Lance.”
“Keith.”
Keith continues to not move. Seeing how Keith hadn't explicitly demanded he leave, Lance proceeds on a course of executive action. He pulls Keith, blankets and all, onto the floor.
“Lance!”
“Keith.”
Lance sets up his laptop on the floor in front of Keith’s bed and puts on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He pulls the pillows off Keith’s bed and puts them behind his back, then pushes Keith forward so that he can do the same for him. Then, quickly making a decision, Lance pulls on Keith’s blankets and moves into them, putting an arm around Keith to make sure the blanket is around them both.
“Lance,” Keith says in warning.
“Keith,” Lance says, grinning at him and leaving his arm there.
“What’re you doing?”
“Cradling you in my arms, dude.”
“Oh my god,” Keith says, but he adjusts so that he’s comfortable. Lance smiles, feeling accomplished. Keith’s hair is tickling his neck.
They watch about twenty minutes of the movie until Keith’s mullet is making Lance’s skin itch when he laughs. Lance, puts his hand through Keith’s hair to move it away, without thinking about it. Keith looks up at him, his big eyes still a little bit red. Lance shrugs at him. Keith moves out of his arms, startling Lance. He thought that he was moving away, until he settles his head down on Lance’s lap. Oh.
Lance puts his fingers into Keith’s hair again and Keith looks up at him again and smiles. Lance feels like he might have just had a heart palpitation. Keith keeps letting him play with his hair and Lance wonders why he'd never tested Keith's hard-protected personal bubble before. Being let in sort of makes Lance feel proud, like when a cat who hates everyone lets you pet it. Lance rubs circles on Keith’s back and plays with his hair until the movie finishes, when he realizes Keith is asleep. Lance smooths Keith’s hair back and sits for a minute. He feels like he’s just meditated. He gently picks Keith up and deposits him back in his bed. Keith wakes up a little, but Lance shushes him. He puts a pillow under Keith’s head. He sort of feels like he should kiss Keith's forehead at this moment, but that's probably just a reflex leftover from tucking his little sisters in. He turns around.
“Thanks, Lance,” Keith mumbles.
“What was that?” Lance teases.
Keith gives him a sour face, which soon softens. “Could you sit with me for a little bit?” Keith whispers, like it'd be too hard to say in a normal volume.
Lance sits down on the side of Keith’s bed, a little bit awkwardly.
“I should’ve known right? He’s too old for me, definitely. I wish…”
“Don’t worry about it. Love’s love, dude. And I mean, yeah you’re kind of going to have to get over it, though.”
Keith doesn't say anything and then lets out a slow breath. “I wish I was older. I’m not even an adult yet, technically.”
"Mm, even if you can't drink, I think you're still legally an adult. Either way we're in space, dude, it's not like the space cops are stopping you from doing anything."
"I don't measure adulthood by drinking age."
“What do you measure it by?"
"Legal adulthood? By being eighteen."
"Huh? You're not eighteen?" Lance says, repositioning himself on Keith's bed so that he's looking at Keith.
"No."
"Woah, what? How old are you?
"Seventeen," Keith says, giving him another sour look.
“Oh, that's rough. I didn’t realize how much older I am than you.”
“I’m turning eighteen in like, a month. Aren’t you eighteen?”
“Nah, me and Hunk are nineteen. Everyone in our class was nineteen or twenty. You didn’t know that?”
Keith shakes his head. “Well, still. You’re not that much older than me.”
Lance pauses, slowly blinking when Keith's eyes look up and catch his. “I guess not.”