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‘Heat of the moment.’
Keith hated the song. Hated it so much. Why had Lance discovered the radio? Why had he chosen to make a song their new wakeup calls? A different song each morning, but it was the worst way to wake up. He was abusing the privilege.
“Someone woke on the wrong side of the bed,” Lance said, bumping his hip as they sat at the table.
“You had to choose that song?”
“What’s so bad about it?”
Keith grumbled, glaring into his breakfast.
“Good morning team,” Coran sang, swanning into the team. Sparkles practically followed his entrance. Keith scowled, could this morning get any worse?
“Mission from the blades,” Allura said, proving that yes. Yes it could.
“What do they want?” he asked, trying not to sound like he didn’t want to go. Some days he just wanted to lay in bed with his boyfriend, was that so wrong?
“Recon, we’re close by, so they want us to go. Keith, Lance, this is yours.”
“Great,” Lance said, though he was practically grimacing.
Recon. Awesome. At least he had good company.
“Watch your six, dammit, this was supposed to be simple, why is it never simple?”
Keith rolled, swinging his sword to one of the sentries. He felt a shot blur past him and sent a silent prayer of thanks to whoever had blessed Lance with such incredible aim. It was Lance, and all his hard work, Keith would be kissing that boy very soon.
“The blade love to play dangerous games,” Lance said, turning for another shot, downing several more sentries. Keith was impressed. He didn’t have time for that.
And then, the unthinkable happened.
A sentry got a lucky shot. A guard got luckier.
Lance went down.
Keith cried out, catching his boyfriend, his teammate, his best friend.
“I love you.”
‘Heat of the moment.’
“No,” Keith felt like hot trash. He’d lost all recollection of what happened after the fight. It didn’t matter. Lance was dead. Gone. He wasn’t coming back.
The universe stopped mattering.
He wasn’t sure there was a point to getting out of bed.
Still, he went to see the team. They would all be sad. Misery loves company.
Except, they weren’t. there, right at the table, sat exactly as he had the morning previous, sat Lance. Not dead Lance. Looked exactly as he had the previous morning Lance.
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Lance said.
Keith froze, before taking his place beside Lance. He was almost numb. What was happening? Did he get another chance to save Lance? How?
He had to take this chance.
“Lance and I are going to have a quiet day.”
“We are?” Lance asked, positively glowing.
“We are.”
“Awesome.”
Allura chose that moment to walk in.
“Not taking the job,” he said, watching her open her mouth, but his glare shut her up. He smiled. Lance was safe.
Until they went to their own room and Lance touched the light switch.
‘Heat of the moment.’
Keith yelled.
Ok. So, Lance was problem bound today. That was ok. He needed to figure out why.
“Pidge.”
She looked up, surprised. Lance looked almost betrayed, but this was for him. Keith ignored Lance, hoping that if this went to plan, he wouldn’t have to see him die in his arms. Again. He’d lost track of how many times now.
“Can I speak with you?” she nodded and they left.
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Lance said just before they disappeared.
“Say, hypothetically, one of us was stuck in a time loop. What would you do?”
Pidge’s eyes widened. “Well, I would first figure out why. Then how. So, did you touch anything recently? Anything glowing?”
He couldn’t think of anything.
“Start there. The why will follow, you know. Groundhog Day style.”
“He needed to be nice, but this – Pidge, I’ve watched Lance die 9 times now. 9. I can’t do this again.”
He watched Lance die another twenty-three times before he found something. A small rock. Seemed innocuous.
Lance had collected it and given it to Keith.
“What do you know about this rock?”
Coran took a step back. “You touched it? How do you feel?”
Keith looked down at the jagged piece of black glass. “I’m stuck in a time loop where Lance keeps dying, so. Not great.”
Coran looked at the rock like it might bite him. “It’s a Loopus Stone. Dark, terrible things.”
“How do we stop it?”
“We break it.”
Keith groaned. He didn’t like Coran’s tone. “How?”
‘Heat of the moment.’
If he heard the song one more time, he was going to lose it.
He found Coran. They destroyed the rock.
Lance yawned, pulling his arms around Keith’s waist. For the first time in weeks, Keith had never been so glad to wake up. He pulled Lance in close, felt the strong breath, felt his sturdy pulse. Alive. Lance was alive. Warm, safe, alive.
“Good morning to you too, then,” Lance hummed, breath warm and tickling against Keith’s skin.
“You have no idea,” Keith clutched at Lance, pulling him ever closer. Felt the tears in his eyes.
Lance, surprised, wrapped his arms tighter around Keith. “Hey, are you ok? No, don’t answer that. Nightmare?”
“You are banned from picking up rocks, Lance. Banned. I watched you die twenty-four times. Twenty-four. Never again. Promise me.” And he would deny it, but he was pleading. He couldn’t watch Lance die, not again. Please, not again.
Lance’s blue eyes were wide. “I – none of us can promise that, Keith.”
He closed his eyes, pressing his head to Lance’s neck. “Promise me, Lance.”
Lance softened, warm lips on his unkempt hair. “I’ll do my best, Keith. So long as you promise me.”
“I’m never leaving you again.”
Lance smiled.
“And you are never allowed to play music to wake us up.”
Lance laughed, and it was the best sound Keith had heard. He was not losing this man, not to some rock time loop, not to the Galra, not to anyone. This beautiful soul was all his.