Chapter Text
Keith didn't come to wake Lance the next morning. It was unusual. Since Lance had concussed himself, Keith always woke him up and brought him along for morning training. The boundary that had risen between them in Keith's time away had disappeared almost immediately when Lance had the… accident. During the movie, they had... cuddled... on the couch. In front of everyone. So, they were friends again. That's not to say all was forgiven, but given their progress, Lance could see it happening. He could see things growing far beyond the tentative friendship they currently had.
Keith skipping out on their routine, however, put quite a wrench in it. Lance waited up until breakfast, but Keith never showed. After a while, Lance began dressing himself slowly; holding onto the little hope that Keith was still running late, and still, there was no sign of him.
The common sense part of Lance's brain told him that Keith didn't care anymore. The ‘friendship’ had been fabricated for some unidentified nefarious plot. The gullible part of his brain trusted Keith, though, and argued that he had gone to bed late. He overslept- or Shiro had planned something with Keith that took priority.
A third part of Lance, maybe not his brain, went cold when the latter thought surfaced. It meant that Keith would never choose to be with Lance when he could be with Shiro instead. And it wasn’t fair. Keith was allowed to spend time with other people; Shiro had practically raised him! But, if that was the case, Keith could have let him know. He could have messaged him on the cellphone-like device Pidge had crafted for each of them, or come in person just to say ‘hey, we won't be able to train together today, I made plans with Shiro, but maybe some other time.’
Keith did none of that. So maybe their routine just wasn't important. Maybe he didn't see it as a routine at all. Lance lingered just inside his own doorway, deciding if he should try checking in on Keith. It... wouldn't hurt to knock. If Keith had really just ditched him, he wouldn't be there to answer, anyway. If he was there, he had probably just overslept, right?
That's how Lance saw it, at least.
He stood outside Keith's door for another ridiculous amount of time, going back and forth, considering and reconsidering, before he finally did it. He sighed deeply and raised his hand to rap gently on the door. The sound landed dead to his ears as if he had knocked on a solid wall. Keith wouldn’t have heard it, even if he was there. Lance grimaced, squeezing his eyes shut as he reached up to try once more. Then he heard the swoosh of the door opening.
“Lance” Keith acknowledged him tersely. When Lance opened his eyes, he saw Keith was without the smile he had grown used to seeing on his face.
“Hey” Lance sheepishly replied. “You didn't come get me for training earlier. Is everything alright?”
“Your head is better now, I assumed you would want to sleep in.”
While that was all well and good, it didn't seem like Keith was telling the whole truth. He wasn't looking Lance in the eyes, and he still wasn’t smiling.
“Well, we had that routine. I assumed you would be coming” Lance responded. He could feel a deepening frown on his face and quickly corrected it.
Keith sighed, and leaned into his door frame, running a hand over the red scar on his cheek. Lance noticed, again, that Keith wasn't quite as tall as he had thought when he first returned. Instead of crediting it to the height he so obviously gained from his shoes, Lance wondered if it was Keith's new confidence making him seem taller.
“Do you want to train later, Lance?”
Lance, as a matter of fact, did want to train, but Keith's question sounded like defeat. Like he was sacrificing something just by continuing the routine he had started. It didn't sound like Keith really wanted to at all.
And maybe, Lance was a clown for it, but he said yes.
…
They ate breakfast first. Keith sat at his usual seat once again. Lance really hadn't expected them to suddenly sit together, but some biting feeling surfaced whenever he looked at him.
He and Shiro talked to one another like they always had before. At one point, Shiro's eyes met Lance's across the table, and he smiled just a bit, not letting it reach his furrowed brows, before looking back to Keith. Lance tried to focus on his plate; to stop staring at them and just be cool, but he could feel them looking at him, from then out. When he looked up again, he was met with a strange, sad and cold gaze from Keith.
Lance just couldn't figure out what was going on. It hadn't seemed last night that he was being too cuddly; in fact, Keith had seemed to enjoy it as much as Lance. Lance also hadn’t forgotten how Keith had carried him to bed, not letting Shiro wake him- Shiro’s distaste with their couch cuddling wasn’t lost on Lance either, even without opening his eyes. They were just friends, though. Lance would have been in the same position with Hunk at the end of the night, if Keith had decided to skip out.
Most of all, though, Lance remembered Shiro and Keith’s conversation over him as they thought he slept. Keith had seen something on the space whale that changed things? What could have changed? they were friends before. They were on a road that, so far, had made them a bit closer, but things were mostly the same on Lance's end.
Shiro and Keith didn't look his way again for the rest of the meal- until Shiro stood to leave. It wasn't that Lance was trying to eavesdrop, but he caught the tail end of their conversation.
“- don't have to stop being friends with him Keith, that’s not what I meant.”
“No, you were right-” Keith whispered the last of his words more softly. Lance couldn’t guess what they were, but Shiro looked almost pained to hear them. He put his hand on Keith’s shoulder, and squeezed before he finally left for good.
Whatever was going on, it had become even less clear than before, but it had something to do with Shiro. It really didn't make sense for Shiro to want Keith to distance himself from Lance just because they had cuddled. Their conversation about the whale had to have led to it.
Shiro had told Keith what he thought about the situation, but Lance hadn’t gotten his chance yet. Lance's input should be more important, anyway, he was the other party in their relationship, not Shiro. It wouldn't be easy to convince Keith to go against his mentor and family, but Lance had to at least tell Keith what he thought.
…
They made their way to the training room together and in silence. Once, their swinging hands brushed against each other, and Lance blushed as he thought about holding his hand. He’d held Hunk's hand before, it wasn't weird. It could be a joke, even. Keith would laugh with him, breaking the tension, and then they would let go. Their hands didn't brush again, however, because Keith had scurried to the left side of the hall, as far from Lance as it would allow.
The silence grew more oppressive as they reached the training room. Keith wouldn't even look at him as he readied the floor for their session.
Lance stood and watched until, finally, Keith called him over.
“Did you want to spar or go against the bots?” He asked.
“Spar.”
Sparing was a new benefit of Lance’s bayard transformation. Ge couldn’t be sure, but last time they had trained together, he was convinced Keith had even been impressed by his sword.
Keith activated his bayard and positioned himself in the center of the room, waiting for Lance to join him.
“Ready?” he asked as Lance stood before him.
“Ready.”
“We’ll start on 3,” Keith clarified for Lance. He looked in his eyes, still gruffly, as he began his count. “1…”
Lance hoped this would fix whatever was troubling Keith. Training was his bread and butter; it would at least improve his mood enough that Lance could talk to him.
“2…”
“No, you were right” he had said. Shiro's words confirmed, there was something wrong. He didn't think they could be friends anymore, and it hurt. They were close enough that Lance believed, already, that something small couldn't tear them apart.
So, he still had to try. If Keith wouldn't listen, then nothing could be done, but maybe it wasn’t hopeless. Lance geared himself up as Keith’s final call approached.
“3!”
They both surged forward, Keith moving faster than Lance, clashing their swords again and again. It didn't take long for them to break a sweat, and from there, the harder they worked to defeat each other, the more smiles made appearances on either face.
“Are you out of practice, Old Man?” Lance teased.
Keith stumbled a bit, eyes wide, and almost… sad.
Before Lance could react, he moved forward again, with more tenacity than before.
They clashed against each other again and again, until Lance had his blade victoriously pointed just under Keith's chin.
He had won.
He couldn't bask in his own glory long, however, because in the blink of an eye Keith had reached beyond his sword to Lance's arm; Which he used to flip him onto his stomach.
“Hey! I won!” he protested. Keith still held his arm behind his back and straddled him.
“It’s not over until someone can't fight anymore,” Keith said, pulling Lance’s sword from his hand, “and you can’t fight without this.”
“Well if that's the case,” Lance smirked, “then I can do this!”
He lifted his hips from the ground and flipped over on top of Keith, who practically squealed in surprise. He shouldn’t have: he made the rules himself, after all.
From there, they just started wrestling again. Even Keith was laughing and smiling, now. He was himself again, and they were happy together. If Keith could see that, then Lance had a real shot with him.
They wore themselves down quickly, and laid there on their backs panting until Lance moved to lay on top of Keith. He crawled up to him, he rested his head on his chest and let his legs lay crossed between Keith's. It was comfortable. Keith even lifted a hand to rest on Lance's head.
But as soon as he had, he stiffened.
“Move, Lance.”
“No, I'm comfortable.” Lance retorted, in a way he thought must be cute- but Keith? not so much. He pushed Lance to the floor and clambered towards the farthest wall, once again.
“What the hell, Keith!” He made no secret of his hurt, and going by Keith's guilty, crossed arms, it showed on Lance's face.
“This just- It’s time for Lunch. I'm going to go shower. I'll come to get you, and we can do this again tomorrow.”
Lance had no time to protest, as Keith ran from the room.
…
Lance didn't see Keith at lunch or dinner. In fact, he didn't see him for the rest of the day.
…
He did come to wake him up the next morning.
He didn't knock. He let himself in and stood as the door closed behind him. The sound was what ultimately woke Lance.
Upon noticing Keith, he smirked and decided to tease him once again.
“Aren't you gonna kiss me on my forehead? Come wake me up like my mama would?”
Keith looked a bit horrified, if Lance was being honest. He was about to apologize when Keith finally spoke up.
“No… I'm not going to do stuff like that anymore, Lance.”
For the millionth time in the last 2 days, Lance registered an intense hurt. It had been a joke, but that was just what they did. He hadn't wanted to get used to it, but Keith had done everything to persuade him. He knew, from the start, that Keith would hurt him. Maybe, at some point, he'd had good intentions, but did it really matter? Lance should never have trusted it.
“Why the hell not? You are the one who said we would be friends.”
“I talked to Shiro, and it’s just not a good idea. I thought it was, but it's not and-” He slapped his hands over his cheeks and his light pink scar, pushing upwards until they covered his eyes, “I'm sorry.”
“This is between you and me; what does Shiro have to do with it?”
“It doesn't matter that it was Shiro who said it, he was right. We both know this isn't work-”
“Oh? I wasn't aware that this isn't working for you, Keith, I'm sorry that I inconvenienced you with my friendship!”
“God, Lance! You know what I- nevermind! I don't have time to do this with you. I'm leaving.”
He left quickly, but Lance followed him into the hall.
“Yeah? well, say goodbye to my hair treatment, asshole, because you aren't allowed to use it anymore!” Lance yelled after him.
Keith didn't even turn to reply. “I didn't want to use it, to begin with!”
That was infuriating.
“Sure looks like you wanted my moisturizer! I saw your scar, and I'm the only one in this ship with shit good enough to fix that!”
Keith finally turned, but his confusion and anger were clear as day. “Just shut up!” he yelled back. He all but ran to his room, and if he could have slammed his door, most likely, he would have. Lance was stunned. Older Keith was acting more and more like younger Keith, and Lance was confused all over again.
Lance stood there in the hall for a good long while before he retreated to his own room. Who could have guessed that things would get messed up so quickly? Well, Lance had, but he had doubted himself.
Probably, nothing would have been messed up, at all, if Shiro hadn't said whatever he did, but Lance couldn't convince Keith to listen.
So as he laid there, heartbroken and hurt over the loss of Keith- His friend Keith, who helped him out whenever he needed it, and who Lance had once helped in turn… he was far too valuable a person to just let go. He knew they were good together, and Lance decided he had no other choice but to convince Shiro.