Song Of The Chapter:
Tired and Awake - Oliver Riot
"-h.. be okay?"
"-ost a lot of bloo..."
"He's waking up!"
Lance slowly regained consciousness, mind foggy and disoriented. Lights were too bright, sounds coming to him in waves of muddled noise.
He saw purple.
A dark indigo like color rimmed with brighter lilac and violet. It splotched across his vision, and the more his vision came into focus, he realized it was someone's eyes.
"Wha'rrr..." Lance tried saying, but his voice slurred.
The face leaned away.
"He's awake."
That voice...
Lance blinked and let out a groan.
Looking at the figure again, he recognized the dark haired figure.
Keith.
What was he doing here? Where even was here?
Lance attempted sitting up, but was immediately met by strong arms, forcing him down again.
"Stay down, Lance, you've lost a lot of blood."
Lance tried to protest, but the wave of dizziness that followed was enough to get him going limp again.
God.
What had even happened? In all honesty, Lance could barely remember anything that happened past the first time his head had made an impact against the table.
But somehow they had managed to get those guys off of him and transport him to what looked like some sort of medical bay.
"We need to inject some blood into his system. Losing too much more could be fatal."
"Does anyone here even have the right blood type?"
"Working on it."
Lance was in pain. He could feel it now. It was an excruciating throb that seared over his whole head, making it feel heavy, though at the same time he felt faint.
He let out a low, pained sound, which got Keith coming back over and taking Lance's hand in his own.
Why?
"You'll be alright," Keith reassured, and Lance thought he could see the true concern in Keith's gaze.
How strange.
-
Lance passed out again, which wasn't too surprising, given the condition he was in.
Keith, of course, was worried, but the doctor, Colleen, said that he would be okay.
It honestly pissed Keith off.
How, throughout all of the time he's been here, has this one, stupidly annoying male manage to catch his attention?
It felt like some cruel joke to him. This shouldn't be happening. He shouldn't be so caring. But, despite that, he somehow does care.
So here he is now, standing next to Lance's bed an hour later, waiting for the brunette to wake up.
Speak of the devil, there was a twitch of the hand, and then Lance was shifting, letting out a small groan of discomfort.
"Wh..."
"Welcome back."
"Keiiith?"
"Surprise," Keith's voice dripped in sarcastic happiness.
Lance rubbed his eyes, or eye, given the other was already looking black from a punch he had received.
"What are you...uhh... doing here?" Lance asked, voice still groggy.
"I came to check on you. You were in pretty bad shape, man. You still are."
Lance chuckled, but immediately winced in pain.
"Aah--man my head hurts."
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. You did just get it rammed into a table, after all."
"Ah, right forgot about that part," Lance grunted.
"You're gonna be staying here for a few days while you recover. I was assigned to keep an eye on you."
"Ooh, my own personal body guard," Lance grinned.
Keith's frown didn't go unnoticed. "Not a body guard," he corrected. "I am here to make sure there's no possibility that you can break out while you are here. I'm not here to protect you."
"Mm, a babysitter then. A mansitter."
Keith wanted to groan.
Lord, what was up with him? And why, at the same time, did he want to laugh?
Lance sighed, gazing at the ceiling.
There was a long, loud silence that filled the air for several minutes.
It... put Lance on edge.
Back home, there was always some amount of noise; whether it was the T.V. or his siblings screaming and running around, there was always something to fill the silence.
Even in his cell, there was the reassuring sound of another prisoner coughing or snoring, or the guards passing and shifting their patrols.
But here, the only sound heard was the beep--beep--beep of the machine he was hooked up to, and Keith's gentle breathing.
Keith was also obviously sharing similar discomfort, because he shifted in his chair every now and then.
Lance finally spoke.
"Why you?"
"Huh?" Keith clearly was startled by the break in silence.
"Why were you assigned to me? To this?"
Keith took a slow breath in.
"I asked."
Lance raised an eyebrow.
"You asked?"
"I asked to be the one to watch you. Originally someone else was going to, but I decided to volunteer instead."
"How come?"
Keith looked away. "I just wanted to? I don't know, okay? Maybe to get more answers out of you or something."
Lance let out a grunt. "I highly doubt it's that, to be honest."
"And why is that?"
Lance settled his blue gaze on Keith, and the dark haired male felt, for some reason, targeted.
"Most people wouldn't ask to specifically guard a certain person, just because they want answers, don't you think? I mean, unless that person had some sort of history or reason to be interested in the hostage, of course, but I don't see that here, other than the fact that I kissed you."
Keith almost flinched at the mention of the kiss. He had nearly forgotten that had happened.
He was quiet for some period of time, before letting out a drawn out exhale.
"Can I ask you why you did it?"
"I would have thought Six would have told you what I said to him," Lance said, and noting the obvious confusion laced in Keith's face, tagged on, "Shiro."
"Shiro asked you about it?"
"Yeah," Lance shrugged. "I would have thought you knew."
"No..." The dark haired boy looked down to the ground, eyebrows furrowing.
"Well to answer your question," Lance said, but he hesitated.
Telling the truth was hard, but right in front of Keith... the officer had a right to know.
"I kissed you because I wanted to, but--" He trailed off, trying to find the right words.
"But..?" Keith encouraged, brows raised.
"--But there might be more behind it. Reasons why I wanted to. I don't know, there's something about you that really interests me I guess. I can't really tell if it's a good or bad sort of interest yet."
Keith rested his elbows on his legs and started biting at the skin near his nails.
"I could say the same for you," he said slowly. "I don't know exactly what it is, but you are somehow different from any other prisoner I've met. There's something about you that is-- I guess you could say... attractive or something."
Lance grinned. "You think I'm attractive?"
"What?? No-- No, I'm not meaning it like that!"
Lance just laughed, despite the pain caused by the motion.
Keith smiled and shook his head.
"I've been meaning to ask you," Keith said. "In all honesty, why did you turn yourself in?"
Lance stopped laughing, and Keith was worried for a moment that he was asking too much, and that the brunette could get the impression that he was just trying to get answers out of him.
But, Lance sighed.
"It's a dumb reason, really. I turned myself in to see if I could escape. It also gives me some time to take a break from the outside world."
"And why is that?"
"I get targeted a lot. Wanted for all sorts of things. Some people want to get me back for something I did or stole, some people want to hire me for this and that, it's all complicated. I just... wanted to escape for a while. I was in a lot of trouble before I came here with a specific gang of people."
Keith nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Who exactly are these people?"
Lance looked incredibly unnerved. "No comment. If I said anything, I would be screwed. My family, friends, everyone. Gone. Dead."
"Are they really that brutal?"
Lance seemed really affected by the thought of the group, because when he answered, it was hushed and almost fearful.
"You have no idea."
Keith left sometime after that.
Lance had fallen back asleep, so Keith decided to leave him in peace and to take a small break, Allura taking his place to watch the sleeping Cuban.
She was the one who had the right blood type, after all.
(Hence Lance MAGICALLY turning Altean in season 8)
Keith wanted time to write down some of their conversation too. Some of the things Lance had said.
But not just for investigation purposes.
He had realized as Lance was falling asleep after talking to him that the brunette probably hadn't had a decent amount of sleep in a while. He knew, because of footage on the security cameras, that Lance woke almost every twenty minutes, as if on guard.
He wasn't sure if it was just to remain vigilant, or that it was a habit worked into his system after being in constant danger on the street for so long.
Either way, it made Keith almost want to sympathize toward him, and further expand the boy's curiosity about what Lance dealt with outside of jail.
He knew, based off their conversations, was that everything would come to him in time.
Trust had to be built for things to be shared, and when that trust is supported, things can slip by.
But Keith wondered if gaining Lance's trust just for the sake of valuable information was all he was after.
He supposed those answers would come in time, too.
But did he have the patience?
A/N:
Sorry it took so long to update, I've been busy with vacation, SacAnime preparation, and a new kitten. (Her name is KOVA!)
Hope this chapter was alright, it isn't too exciting but looking deep it can have some significant meaning.
Thanks for reading!
-Squemonnnnnnnn uwu
Take this scene from Land Of The Lustrous
Also why is Alex me