Arrest Me, Officer {Klance}

Chapter 10

"Gee, thanks." Lance replied, sarcasm practically oozing from his voice. His hands removed themselves from his pockets and his arms wrapped around his torso. Keith didn't look down at them, he kept his eyes trained on Lance's face. "Who wouldn't be upset if their sister was ki-" Lance took a deep, shaking breath, "If their sister was killed. It's just kinda of... Still processing, I guess." He raised one shoulder in a half-shrug. His shrug told Keith that it wasn't a big deal but his face was another story. Eyebrows sloped up into the centre of his forehead, his blue eyes glistening with newly unshed tears and a slight quiver to his bottom lip.

Keith's fingers were still wrapped around Lance's wrist though his grip loosened. A few seconds later and he built the the confidence to slide his hand down until his fingers were curling around Lance's hand. Hand holding... That wasn't something Keith did often. But... He was sure hand holding always made someone feel better. Or at least, it helped. The thief looked down, looking startled for a second as he noticed Keith's hand on his own, body going tense. Keith took back his thought of hand holding making someone feel better. Maybe that didn't work. Lance could be such a mystery sometimes, maybe holding his hand just wasn't something Keith should've done. Couldn't blame him for trying. When he went to take his hand away, he only got a few centimetres away before Lance's hand was shooting out and grabbing his own. It was Keith's turn to be startled.

His wide eyes rose to meet Lance's gaze. Lance looked uncertain, like maybe he shouldn't be grabbing Keith's hand, but he was soon intertwining their fingers. The movements were slow, like he was worried and was giving Keith enough time to pull away if he wanted to. He didn't want to.

"Lance, we'll arrest Lotor, okay?" He said, giving Lance's hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'll make sure he pays for what he did. He committed murder. Once we've got the evidence against him, he'll be put behind bars for the rest of his life. I promise you that. Allura will be okay, don't worry about her, you know how she is. She'll beat his ass."

"It isn't just murder." Lance said, "Thievery, blackmail, drugs... He has the quintessence gem, Keith, you can't forget that." There was a long pause where Keith let that process in his brain. The gem... The reason this whole situation was happening. "And I was going to help him get it..." Lance whispered, more to himself than to Keith as shame filled his tone, "I'm a criminal, Keith. Once Lotor's down for the count, I'm following not too shortly after him." His thumb gently brushed over Keith's knuckles, a smile on his lips. It didn't quite sit well on Lance's face. It was... Off. "I'm just as bad as him." It was guilt. He was guilty.

Keith reached forward with his free hand to grab Lance's so he held both hands within his own. His stare was intense as he met Lance's gaze, barely registering the soft pink on the other's cheeks in the dim lighting. He had to tell Lance he was wrong, he had to tell him he was nothing like that creep. He was so much better, he was a good man. That he shouldn't compare himself to a person as twisted as Lotor. But that didn't come out of his mouth.

"You're an idiot." Keith said instead, eyebrows pinching together. Lance looked offended before Keith gave his hands a gentle squeeze. "Don't you dare ever think that." That was when Lance averted his gaze. Without realising, Keith had taken a step forward and was much closer than he was intending. Hands interlocked at their sides and their chests only inches a part. He had to tilt his chin up slightly to look up those couple of inches difference between them. Curse the height. "Lance..."

Lance's eyes flicked up to look at Keith at his name. There was a long moment of silence where neither of them said anything. They studied one another's face for something. Neither were sure what. Then Lance's eyes twinkled like they usually did, that twinkle that Keith was worried he wouldn't see for a while after what had happened. It gave him only a few seconds of warning before Lance spoke.

"Your eyes are really pretty." Lance's head tilted as if observing a rather fine specimen. He probably thought he was doing just that. Keith, despite the blush that was spreading across his face, was reluctant to step away. So he stayed where he was, letting Lance looking into his eyes. "You know... I've always thought they were really pretty. I was telling the truth in the cafe whenever I said it." Lance admitted. The blush spread from Keith's cheeks to his ears. "How can someone get violet eyes? They're like... Super cool."

"Too cool for you." Keith said simply, smirking as the gasp of mock offence that came from Lance. It was a type of behaviour that Keith was used to with Lance. He was glad Lance was slowly going back to normal.

"You wound me." Lance said, voice breathless and holding an ongoing tone of offence.

They were still holding hands. Keith had completely forgotten about that. He only realised when he felt the fingers lock with his tighten their hold slightly. He looked down at one pair of their intertwined fingers. There was no other place he'd rather be at that moment other than holding hands with Lance with barely a couple of inches separating them. It was comforting. It made him think about what it would be like if he was able to hold his hand whenever he wanted. If he could just grab ahold of it and never let go. Get those gentle squeezes of reassurance and the brush of a thumb over his knuckles.

"Hey..." Lance's whisper caught Keith's attention, snapping him out of his thoughts. He slowly raised his gaze to meet Lance's, catching sight of a soft smile on the tanned features. He was stunning. How his thoughts had suddenly changed one day from hating this man to caring about him more than he'd care to admit was beyond him. Jeez... After finding out Lance had been the Blue Paladin, he had been so convinced that he'd hate him. But it hadn't taken long at all for him to realise Lance wasn't as bad as he thought he'd be. "Do you mind if I... Um... Crash at yours? I mean, Lotor might have eyes on my apartment and I'm..."

"Scared?" Keith finished for him. The shame-filled nod from Lance signalled he was right. "Hey, it's okay to be scared. I would be too. Of course you can crash at mine. I'm feeling generous, you take the bed." Lance looked relieved at that. He smiled again, this one being just as breath-taking as the first. And it was directed at Keith. Was his chest meant to feel this warm?

"Thanks, buddy."

"Now come on then, I'm tired." Keith said, tugging at their hands as he began to walk in the direction of home.

"Calm your engines, Keef." Lance replied but let out a laugh when Keith tugged again. The sound was music to Keith's ears. He'd do anything to hear it again.

"I'll race you." Keith suddenly said, letting go of Lance's hands. He didn't have time to mourn the loss of feeling Lance's hands in his own before Lance was speaking, a challenging smirk on his features.

"Oh, it's on like fucking donkey kong." Lance replied, causing Keith to snort in amusement at the odd rhyme. Then they were both sprinting back to Keith's house. And when they got there, not really caring anymore about who won, they couldn't quite catch their breath between the panting and the laughing.