Rest Your Bones

The fake leather of the couch cushions squealed as they moved again, followed by a popping noise and a muffled "ow, fuck!"

"Lance, could you shut up? For like, two seconds?" Keith groaned after what seemed to be the millionth time the lanky teen had shifted loudly on the uncomfortable two seater couch.

He just groaned, "You shut up, Mullet. I can't get comfortable!" Lance sat up, rubbing the back of his neck, "Either I'm all curled up and I'm stabbing myself in the ribs with my elbows, or my neck is at a 90 degree angle and my legs are all up in the air!"

"Stop shouting, you'll wake up Shiro," Keith sighed and ran a hand through his hair, self consciously, "And for the last time, it's not a mullet!"

Lance snickered, "Whatever helps you sleep at night,"

Suddenly, a pillow smacked him square in the face, earning a screech, "You shutting up would help me sleep at night!" Lance grinned at him and Keith just glared, "I hate you, you know that right?"

"No, you don't," :-)

Keith sighed, mumbling to himself, "Oh I am so going to regret this... You can sleep in my bed until we figure out better sleeping arrangements or your dorm finishes their repairs."

"Alright, one, the chem and engineering kids using a microwave as a bomb is so not my fault, okay? Also, I don't want you sleeping on here. Like, it's bad."

Chuckling slightly, Keith was blushing, "I mean together."

Lance raised an eyebrow, "N-no! That's so not what I meant! Oh my God, Lance. No. I don't want to sleep with you sleep with you!"

He was dying of laughter, "Dude, it's chill. I know what you meant-"

The two were interrupted by a loud knocking, "Can you shut up? I love you guys but it's two AM!"

Keith got up and opened the creaking door, "Sorry, Shiro. We'll be quiet."

"Thank you, now, good night. Morning, whatever!"

When Shiro left, grumpily so, the two college students were left in an uneasy quiet. Keith coughed, "So are you gonna sleep there or...?"

Lance looked up at the sudden break of silence, a little flustered and surprised, "Oh, um.. Would that be okay with you? If I slept up there? I mean, it's really not comfortable on this couch, it's not even really a couch just more of a chair with a little extra space and if I slept on the bed, I promise I wouldn't make it awkward like I normally make situations like that I just want sleep because lately I've just been running on like, three hours of sleep a week and a monster/coffee/5 hour energy hybrid thing and I'm t-"

"Lance, you're rambling." Keith said as he stood up to grab an extra pillow, "C'mon, the bed is fairly big..."

"Yeah, sure," Lance mumbled, trying to untangle himself from the thin cotton sheets Keith had given him. (play song)

Lance and Keith settled down on the bed, both facing away from the other so as to not make the air surrounding them any more uncomfortable than it already. Neither of them could sleep, the heat radiating off the other making one warm but cold with the small distance. Keith could hear Lance's uneasy breathing under the blanket, he could hear every tiny shift in the sheets and every sigh. He couldn't see him, but he could imagine him. And no, not in that way! Just, Lance. He could imagine him. Keith could see him stressing out in he and Shiro's living area surrounded by textbooks, flirting endlessly with everybody, joking around and always being there for everyone. He could remember one time during winter break when Lance couldn't a plane ticket to visit his family in Cuba for Christmas and how hurt he had looked. Keith was the only one on campus, so they had spent it together alone, eating Ramen and sharing childhood stories. Thinking all of this made Keith think of a song he had heard recently, Home.