Hidden Messages [Klance AU]

10: Let Me Help

"Keith?" Lance whispered warily. There was no answer. Lance noticed how the raven-haired boy's head rested against his chest, with no muscles holding it up. He noticed the rate of his breathing had slowed, signaling that the boy was asleep.

Lance looked down at his face. It was different, seeing him like this. The stress lines that normally were present on his skin were gone, the only trace of them being the dark lines still present under Keith's eyes. Wait... Keith's had those ever since I met him. He just woke up screaming, and had a panic attack— from a nightmare? Lance internally gasped at his realization. All the dots added up; Keith always seemed tired, both nights when Lance first came he was awake, and he seemed to never go near the ocean.

Was Keith... could Keith have been the person who sent the letter?

Lance was pulled out of his thoughts when Keith almost fell out of his arms. He opened his eyes slightly, stirred awake from the sudden movements.

"S-Sorry," Lance whispered, but Keith didn't seem to even know he was there. He just mumbled something incoherent along the lines of "five more minutes." Lance chuckled as he carefully lifted Keith onto the bed. He pulled the blanket over him then was about to leave the room, but something caught his eye on Keith's desk.

Open on the desk was a notebook, the page filled with something that looked like an assignment for school. Along the sides were plenty of messy notes and small doodles. Lance jumped up in exaggerated excitement as he ran to the guest bedroom where his bag was. He found the original letter as well as the one he'd written in response to it.

Upon entering Keith's room(as silent as he could) the mer opened the letter and held it next to the notebook. Lance chirped in delight; the handwriting matched. Yet a sinking feeling grew in his stomach, now knowing that Keith was going through this all by himself.

Lance looked towards Keith, asleep on his bed. It was hard to believe at first, but he now realized that his discovery made perfect sense, from the ever-present bags under Keith's eyes to the way his eyes filled with fear and dread when he thought of the ocean.

Lance noticed Keith's eyebrows were furrowed, his eyes closed tight and lips formed a thin line. The mer put a hand against his cheek, tracing over a faint scar on his skin.

"Cálmase," he whispered. You won't let others help you.

"I'll help you, then," Lance decided. He brushed a strand of hair out of Keith's face then turned towards the desk. He picked up the original letter and left the room, leaving a bottle on Keith's desk, the letter sealed inside it.

~ ♆ ~

Keith blinked a couple of times until his eyes grew used to the light in his room. He sat up in his bed, glancing towards the clock on the nightstand. It read 10:21 AM.

Keith stared at the clock, surprised. How did I sleep for this long? He stretched, cracked his back, and stood up as he grabbed a T-shirt from off the floor. He caught himself in a mirror, realizing how bad his hair looked. The boy ran his hands through it a bit in an attempt to "brush" it.

Keith then noticed that the dark circles under his eyes had gone down quite a lot. Wow. That's weird. He thought he'd woken up from a nightmare last night, but maybe it was just a dream. What could explain me sleeping so well though?

He opened the door, looking down the hallway. Keith raised an eyebrow in confusion when he heard what sounded like someone cooking in the kitchen. He walked downstairs and stopped upon seeing Lance in front of the stove, his strange phone in hand. The boy's gaze moved back and forth from the phone to the pan as he mixed ingredients in.

"Lance?" Keith asked, surprised to see his friend cooking. Lance visibly jumped a bit, then turned his head to face Keith.

"Hey! How'd you sleep?"

Keith nodded contently, not used to being able to respond to that question with, "Pretty good actually." Lance smiled, noticing the surprise in Keith's voice.

"So, what are you making?" Keith asked as he walked over to the counter across from Lance. The mer titled his phone away from Keith, the screen open to "human breakfast foods."

"Eggs!" Lance exclaimed, smiling as he placed two fried eggs on a plate that he gave to Keith. The latter smiled slightly when Lance turned around.

"Thanks."

After the two finished their food, Keith returned to his bedroom to get ready for the day. Soon after he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in." Lance opened the door cautiously, scanning the room and noticing his letter still present on Keith's desk. He was thinking of something he'd seen in Keith's room the night before, which he saw lying on the bookshelf against the wall.

"Hey, I'm just wondering, um..." Keith looked quizzically at Lance, who kept glancing back at the object while trying to come up with an excuse for his presence. "I just... wanted to know, uh, what— what are we doing today? 'Cause I know you don't have work today, and my shift starts late."

"Oh, well I was going to head over to Pidge's house. You're welcome to come if you want to, though we're probably just going to be watching movies and finding clues for something strange I saw a week ago." Something strange? Lance thought. A week ago was when I saw Keith for the first time.

"No, it's fine. I wouldn't want to intrude. I'll find something to do in town, maybe explore a bit," Lance replied, forcing a smile and a few chuckles.

"Oh. Cool," Keith smiled back, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. He went back to getting ready, taking off his t-shirt and putting on another one. Lance stared, not saying anything. His gaze shifted to the two blue circles that lay on a shelf. The mer moved closer to inspect them. As soon as he touched one he felt a chill run down his spine, ending at the scab on his leg from where the scales had been. Yep. Those are mine.

"What are these?" Lance asked Keith when he caught the raven-haired boy staring at him.

"I found them on the beach. It was the strangest thing, they were left behind after I saw some sort of a fish-person."

"I'm not a—" Lance mumbled, then froze, realizing his mistake. "Err, they're really cool."

"Y-yeah. They are," Keith replied. He thought he heard Lance whisper that he wasn't something after Keith called the mer a fish-person, but he probably just heard wrong. Keith's phone buzzed before he could think about it more, signaling a text from Pidge asking where he was.

"I, uh, got to go." Keith gestured to the door for effect, then ran out of the room. Lance stayed there as he heard the front door close and footsteps disappear. He stood in the room awkwardly. He was lying when he told Keith he had plans for the day.

Lance sighed a "What now?" as he wandered down the hall, stopping at a door that looked like it hadn't been opened in a long time. Keith wouldn't mind if I explored a bit, would he?

A/N:

Hey guys! Sorry this chapter took awhile to get out, I was on vacation this week and completely forgot to publish it. I'll have more free time this weekend, so might even be able to get the next chap out early!

As always, thanks for reading and hope y'all have a great day/night!

- Soni <3