Chapter Text
Keith!
Darkness.
“Keith!”
A gasp.
“Keith!”
His gasp. He gasps again, and opens his eyes. He feels like he’s choking, can’t get enough air into his lungs. He grabs at his own shirt and pulls, but it doesn’t help.
Someone grabs his hands, and suddenly he’s staring into the eyes of Allura as he hyperventilates.
“Keith, calm down .”
He takes deep breaths, and stares into Allura’s eyes.
“ Lance ,” he blurts out as soon as he’s not gasping for breath.
He has no idea what’s going on, he’s supposed to be— he’s supposed to be dead. And he isn’t. He isn’t. That must mean Lance— no, no that can’t—
Allura smiles at him.
“Lance is fine , Keith. You’re both fine.”
Keith sighs in relief, closing his eyes for a second. There’s a lump in his throat, and his eyes sting hotly.
He inhales shakily.
“What—” He pauses, swallows spit, “what day is it?”
“Fifteenth cycle of the fourth Altean lunar phase.”
Keith cries.
“I’m sorry,” Allura tells him as soon as Keith has calmed down. Keith notices for the first time that they’re alone here. He cranes his neck to look at his surroundings. It isn’t the infirmary wing.
They’re in the training room.
“What happened?”
“The simulators— we don’t know exactly how yet— they malfunctioned when you and Lance were doing an exercise together. We’ve been trying to wake you up since. We didn’t want to unplug you before, just in case… just in case.”
Keith frowns.
“Did we—”
Allura waits for him.
“Didn’t we— didn’t we go on a mission? To— to Tebris?”
Allura frowns in confusion.
“Tebris? I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, Keith.”
“How long— how long have we been out? Is Lance— Is Lance awake?”
“About two cycles. Lance is fine. He woke up a couple of hours before you did, Hunk helped him to his room. He should be resting. As should be the other paladins. In fact, you should rest too. We don’t quite know what side effects this could have had on the both of you.”
Allura helps him up, then, slowly.
There’s a knock on his door.
It’s Lance.
Keith’s breath hitches. His heart starts hammering inside his chest.
“Um— hi.”
“ Hi ,” Lance replies, and Keith notices his tousled hair and the slight bags under his eyes, and the way he’s kind of shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Can I—”
“Yes.”
Lance lets out a small bout of laughter, and a bit of his nervousness seems to fade away with it.
“You don’t even know what I was about to ask. What if it’s something gross? What if I was about to ask you to try one of Coran's delicacies?”
Keith shrugs. He can’t honestly say he cares right now.
Lance’s whole face softens.
“I was gonna ask if I can sleep with you tonight.”
“Yes.” Keith repeats, even as his face burns and his heart threatens to jump out of his chest.
“You’re not even gonna think it over? What if I kick in my sleep? What if I’m a blanket hogger?”
Keith shrugs again. He grabs one of Lance’s hands and pulls him inside.
“I don’t care right now.”
Lance looks him right in the eye then, as the door slides closed behind them. His eyes run over Keith’s face, as if looking for something.
“You had— the loop thing, you went through that too, right? It wasn’t just me?”
Keith’s stomach drops at that.
“You too?” He asks, involuntarily squeezing Lance’s hand.
Lance nods and lets out a shaky breath.
“So you― you get it, then. When I close my eyes I see you― and then when I woke up I felt like I was suffocating, like it was all happening all over again. It’s―”
“―Really, really shitty.” Keith offers.
Lance nods.
“It was― jeez, Keith, it was awful. I saw you die so many times, and I couldn’t― I couldn’t do anything― I never felt so powerless.”
“Yeah,” Keith agrees. “I know.”
Lance grins at him, and something in Keith’s stomach flutters.
“Did you― did you have the dreams, too?” Lance asks then, a soft whisper.
Keith nods, whispers yes .
Lance bites his lip, and looks at the floor.
“Let’s go to bed,” Keith proposes.
“Yeah,” Lance agrees, looking back up at him, a lopsided smile on his face. “Everything else can wait, right?”
“Right.”
Lance doesn’t kick in his sleep. Or hog the blankets.
What he does, though, is spoon Keith, burrowing his nose in Keith’s hair.
Keith sleeps soundly. Better than he remembers doing in ages.
The next morning Lance rouses him softly, and when Ketih’s awake enough he points with his chin at something behind Keith, and Keith turns around in Lance’s arms.
Sixteenth cycle of the fourth Altean lunar phase.