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If there were ever an important time to know how to swim, now was it.Keith gasped as another wave washed over him, the weight of his armour dragging him deeper into the depths of the ocean. He kicked his legs furiously, survival instincts kicking in, trying desperately to keep him alive. His hands grasped at the water, finding nothing to hold onto. The rain pounded around him, crashing into the grey water, adding only to the cacophony of splashing surrounding him.“Help! Please!” Keith yelled, out of breath from the last wave. Unfortunately for him at that exact moment another wave came down and got him in the mouth. Keith gagged from the water, coughing and spluttering to save his lungs from the water. The wave left the horrible taste of salt burning his nose and tongue.It’s not that Keith didn’t know how to swim. It’s just that he was positively terrible at it. Keith wasn’t one to reveal his weaknesses willy-nilly, so when the other Paladins opened up about their flaws, Keith made up some bullshit about heights. He didn’t want the rest of the team to think he was (in any way) weak or scared. The exercise however was supposed to let everyone work on their fears and flaws until they no longer bothered them. Hunk trained in hand-to-hand combat until he could face a Galra soldier no problem. Keith remembered how huge his smile was when he finally beat the gladiator on one of the higher settings.Pidge’s problem was a little more difficult. She was strong, no doubt, but her stamina was utter shit. So she trained with Hunk, working her body a little more every day until she could run twenty laps and not lose her breath.Shiro’s wasn’t like the other two’s. He didn’t face any physical challenge, but rather a mental challenge. After losing someone very important to him, he never knew how to deal with it, so he never did. Bottling it up and locking it in a safe, only to be opened in the late hours of the night, when no one was watching. Coran found some research on the human brain, and how to deal with loss, and taught Shiro a few valuable things to help him. Shiro was finally able to let go of his past pain.Lance’s was a strange one. Although it was alike to Shiro’s, it was slightly different. He was missing someone, that someone being his entire family. It pained him greatly to acknowledge that his whole family thought him dead, and that he will probably never see them again. Although Lance and Keith were very different, they did have some things in common, one thing being that they were both reluctant as hell to reveal any sort of weakness. They had to drag it out of Lance, but he finally gave up his walls and admitted he was feeling shitty. He attended some sessions with Coran just like Shiro did.Keith knew that the rest of the team didn’t buy his bullshit about heights. It was easy to see the lack of fear on his face when he made it to the top of the climbing wall set out for him. Pidge was to first to suspect it of course, putting her hands on her hips and biting her bottom lip in suspicion. After her initial accusation (which Keith obviously denied) her suspicion spread to the rest of the team. They all would be having a normal conversation with him but then start interrogating him about his fears. So far Keith had dodged these questions.But he wouldn’t be able to for much longer.Keith dragged in a breath, tilting his head back as far as it would go, trying to keep at least his head out of the water. He stared up at the sky. Giant, dark grey clouds covered every visible inch of it, sending down an ocean’s worth of rain. Oh how badly Keith wished he could contact the team. After his lion has gone down in the battle, the only way for Keith to stay alive was to eject himself from Red and let her plummet to the ground. Keith knew he wouldn’t survive the impact if he landed on the ground, so he made the logical decision to take his chances with the ocean. He curled into a ball as he hit the water in a way that would have broken his legs had he not been wearing armour.This was after only a few minutes of struggling. His limbs were tiring fast. Every movement was an effort. The initial shock after impact had worn off, leaving him with only his wits. Keith took a ragged breath, gasping as he felt himself sink lower into the water. Panic raced through him and he struggled harder. He took one last breath before he sunk beneath the water. He kicked his legs harder. No use. No matter what he seemed to do, he just kept sinking. Keith blindly thrashed around, his eyes closed from the water, until he lost his sense of direction. His heart pounded as the pressure increased in his ears as he sunk lower.This was not how he was going to die. Or if it was, Keith was not going to die blind.In a final attempt to say suck it to the water so intent on drowning him he forced himself to open his eyes. His hair floated around him in locks of black, the surface of the water getting further away. It glimmered at him as if it were saying fuck you. Keith ignored the burning sensation that crossed his eyes. He used his arms and legs to push himself closer to the surface. All he could think about was how stupid he was to not open up to the team. Had he displayed his weakness, he could have survived this. Keith cursed himself silently, not daring to open his mouth underwater. Stupid him, being so fucking emo. Couldn’t he open up to his friends like every other normal person?Keith breached the surface of the water. He immediately sucked in a large breath. Gulping down the air, Keith let his body relax. He took the time to recall any sort of information on swimming his brain might have retained. Somewhere in the murky depths of his brain he remembered something about how to float. He grimaced as he thought hard and desperately to recall what it was. Something about relaxing and lying on your back. Yes, that was it. Let all your limbs relax and lay on the water as if it were a bed. Keith hesitantly let his limbs float up to the surface of the water.He laid there for a countless amount of time. A couple of times he almost fell asleep, but was always quickly awoken by the large waves lifting him and the rain splattering on his face and entire body. It made a small tapping noise every time it hit somewhere on his armour. Eventually Keith did fall asleep. Such hard effort had not only kept him alive, but also exhausted him. He drifted off, following the currents of the ocean.
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The taste of sand and salt is not a comforting thing to wake up to.Keith was lying face down in the sand of what must have been a beach. He used his arms to push his torso up, they shook with the effort. He dragged his body into the standing position, swaying slightly. The first thing he did was strip off. He pulled off each of the heavy duty pieces of metal stuck to him, leaving him in only in his black morph suit. After ridding himself of the heavy pieces of armour, Keith threw up. Water-y sick came and mixed in with the ocean. Keith wiped his mouth.The next few hours were spent exploring. The mysterious island that he had landed on was filled with creatures Keith had never seen or even heard about. Perhaps he should listen to the Princess more, she did often tell interesting facts about planets they had never been on. There were large plants that resembled trees, with large pink spheres on them, which could have been fruit. Keith went and snapped one of the trees (?) pointy branches off. It looked sharp enough to be used as a weapon.Hopefully he didn’t have to use it.Keith pushed some sort of large flora out of his way as he walked deeper into the jungle. Many things skittered around in his peripheral vision, just enough to catch his eye, but not enough to suggest a problem. Sometimes Keith would catch a glance of a pair of fluorescent green eyes. He didn’t think anything of it.After exploring the jungle, Keith made his way back to the beach, his arms full of things he thought might be edible or useful. The climate was hot, two suns were in the sky, extremely close to each other, for stars at least. If Pidge were here she would say something about how the stars would collide at some point and make a supermassive black hole or something. Keith felt a pang in his heart. He missed the team dearly already. Who knew how long Keith had blacked out for? Certainly not Keith. Keith found the beach and dumped his armful in a pile next to his drying uniform. He plonked himself cross legged next to it. He put his head in his hands and took a few deep breaths to stabilise himself. He couldn’t break down yet, he needed a fire to survive the approaching night-time.Keith made a pile of leaves and other various burnable plant matter to create his fire. He tried his best to light it with two rocks that he had found. Unfortunately Keith was not a master of making two rocks spark, and instead used the one non-broken side of his jet-pack to light it. He watched the fire dance as the two suns began to set. The grey sky was painted with streaks of orange and red. Keith imagined the best sunset he had ever seen on earth, and doubled it. Only then could he measure its beauty. Keith shuffled on his bed of left-over leaves. Hopefully there was nothing too dangerous during the night-time. And if there was, Keith has his sharp stick.Keith took what felt like his first breath since he had been there.Too bad it was interrupted.“HHHEeeeeyyyYAAAA,” screamed a voice from the jungles border, its owner’s silhouette charging at Keith.Keith jumped to his feet immediately, abandoning any sort of calm that may have embraced him. He lifted his stick like a spear and screamed right back at them. This took them in surprise. They certainly weren’t expecting their prey to scream back.Keith closed one eye and aimed the spear at the moving target. He exhaled as he threw it with all his might. The silhouette barely dodged it.“Oh shit,” they said as they stumbled away from the landing sight of the spear, clearly trying to regain balance. Keith immediately recognised the voice.“Lance?”“Keith?!”The silhouette moved into the light of the fire and sunset. Lance stood there, staring at Keith with a look of wonder on his face, in his morph suit, just like Keith.“No fucking way,” Lance shouted, running to Keith and wrapping his arms around him impulsively. Keith tentatively moved his arms around Lance’s waist as Lance held his top half. They hugged for a few seconds before Lance pulled away, keeping his hands on Keith’s shoulders though. Lance smiled directly at Keith, as if he were the best thing in the world. Suddenly his face dropped.“You almost fucking killed me!” Lance moved to grip Keith’s biceps instead. He squeezed Keith as if to tell him how insane he was for trying to kill him.Keith winced, rubbing the back of his neck, “Yeah. . . Sorry about that.”Lance just shook his head and grinned, dropping his hands. “Don’t worry, I would have done the same, but by god, how on Earth did you learn how to throw a spear like that?”Keith chuckled, blushing slightly at the compliment, “Natural instinct?”“Sure. Anyway, do you have shelter?” Lance asked, putting a hand on his hip.“Uh, kind of,” Keith said gesturing to his fading campfire and leaf bed.“That’s your shelter? Jesus. Here, gather your things. Come stay by my fire.” Lance offered, pretty much demanding he follow.Keith nodded and picked up his armour. He splashed water on what was left of his fire, and followed Lance through the dark jungle. The moonlight shone through the canopy of leaves. The sky (which was once covered head to toe in grey clouds) was visible, lit up by the many stars above. Keith smiled, overwhelmed with the fact that maybe, just maybe, they had a chance of getting back home. Every step he took had a little bounce in it. He watched as Lance pushed his way through the leaves as if he were following an invisible path. A question bubbled in the back of Keith’s mind.“How long have you been on this island?” Keith questioned, trying to estimate how long he had been floating around for.Lance hummed at the question, not bothering to turn around to face Keith to answer him, “Around four days? I kind of lost track of time.” He pushed one particularly large leaf out of his way, bending it in front of him. When he let it go, it came right back around and smacked Keith right in the face.“Ow!” Keith said angrily, more of a way to tell Lance off than to actually express pain.“Oh, sorry.” Lance said absent-mindedly, focusing mainly on finding his way through the Jungle.Keith shook his head and continued to take in the scenery. Every colourful piece of flora was tinted a light blue. Keith couldn’t help but notice how Lance looked with his bulky amour off. His tanned face was glowing in the moonlight, his hair shaggy yet still styled. Apparently even when you’re stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere on an unfamiliar planet, one must still keep up appearances. Keith hated how he made looking so perfect seem effortless. He watched as Lance gracefully stretched to reach the brim of the jungle and step over a fallen tree. Keith followed him with his eyes and his body.They reached Lance’s campsite. A small fire sat in the middle, a pile of stones surrounding it making it a fire pit. A simple text was erected, leaves woven together in a simple pattern held up by some of the branches that Keith had been using as a spear. Like Keith, Lance had disregarded his amour as useless weight and dumped it in a pile next to his tent. Keith placed his pile next to Lance’s, again, watching Lance move comfortably around his small camp. Keith compared this camp to his own. He was not sure there was much of a difference.“I know my camp isn’t much better, but at least I have a tent,” Lance said, reading Keith’s mind, “You won’t get completely sopping tonight at least.” Lance bent over the fire pit and started it, Keith (who was behind Lance at the time) took his time to survey Lance’s (uh-hm) backside. Let’s just say he had quite a good view, if Keith’s blush was anything to go by.Ever since they had first met at the Garrison, Keith had had a crush on the tanned boy. Everything, from the way he flew, to the way he laughed with his friends, had Keith swooning. Luckily for him (or unluckily) Lance was not the most observant, and never picked up on Keith’s staring and stuttering. This crush continued right through their time as Paladins as well. Their rooms were only a few steps away. How’s it Keith fault if he imagined Lance bridging that gap, coming into his room, pushing him against the wall and-Keith yanked his mind out of the gutter before things went too downhill.Lance stood up, wiping his forehead, a small flame catching the rest of the leaves and eventually the wood. He turned around and smiled at Keith, it was simply amazing how Lance could look as amazing as he did in the moonlight in the firelight.“Do you want anything to eat?” Lance asked, “I have a few small edible fruits left from Lunch, if you want.”Keith smiled gratefully, “That would be great thanks.”“Hey now no problem, take a seat, let me just go get them.”Keith gently lowered himself to the ground, taking his time to let his sore limbs adjust to the new surroundings. He finally took that deep breath he had been craving. All was well. He had found Lance, food was on the way, and he had a place to sleep. Everything would be okay.Lance reappeared, this time carrying an armful of assorted fruits. Keith took another deep breath as he accepted something that looked strangely like an orange. Lance plopped himself right next to Keith, their knees touching. He peeled the skin and bit into it, not knowing how starving he was after a whole few days without food. His mouth was filled with juice from the fruit, which, weirdly, tasted like strawberries. Keith’s mouth felt confused.Lance laughed at the confused look on Keith’s face, biting into one himself. They ate in silence, staring at the fire, which danced ever so gracefully in the pit, stealing glances at each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking. Eventually they made eye contact, Keith looking away in fluster, while Lance just smiled and laughed at his antics, oblivious to Keith’s obvious crush.Eventually they packed up for the night. Lance retreated to the tent, beckoning an awkward Keith to follow. They both slid into the tent at the same time. It was not tall enough for them to sit up in, it was made purely to keep the rain off when sleeping. Keith laid facing Lance’s back, he watched as the muscles in his back expanded and contracted, slowing down as he fell asleep. Keith took a deep breath as he laid on the large leaf beneath him. He felt exposed without any blankets on him and the hot humid climate of this planet didn’t make things any better. His face was flushed as he was a mere few centimetres away from his crush and in his bed. It took him way longer than usual to fall asleep.
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When he awoke all he could think about was how hot he was.Keith groaned as he woke up to the hot early morning sun. For some reason it felt ten times brighter and warmer than it was yesterday. He felt like he was wrapped in a large warm protective blanket. He snuggled back trying to capture a bit more sun on his back, only to find an actual solid warm being there. Keith’s eyes shot open. What he thought was the sun warming his back was actually a sleeping Lance with an arm thrown over him, holding him close. Keith felt his whole body heat up. Here he was, cuddling with his crush, on a planet they had little to no hope escaping from, with him alone.Keith almost exploded.All the commotion that Keith had been going through had been enough to wake Lance up. He yawned sleepily, before tightening his grip on Keith, pulling him closer. Keith was officially dead. Surely Lance was dreaming or something and didn’t have full control over his body. That had to be it. There was no way awake and sober Lance would ever willing cuddle Keith like this. They’ve had their fair share of hugs sure, but they had never lain together, back-to-chest, legs entwined. The thought alone was enough to make Keith want to shout and melt.Lance stirred.Keith froze. His whole body stiff. Lance yawned and slowly let himself wake up to the morning sun. He blinked a few times before realizing what his situation was. He froze up just as badly as Keith did, before sitting up making eye contact with Keith. They had a wordless conversation. One that seemed to get Lance’s message of I’m so sorry I molested you in my sleep please don’t hate me. Keith just looked at him with wide eyes and a flushed face. Usually he could control is expressions better but he usually didn’t have to this early in the morning.“Um,” Lance started, “Sorry.”“S’kay,” Keith mumbled, sitting up as he did so, “Breakfast?”Lance laughed, any sort of tension that they has had beforehand shed, “Yeah, yeah. Can you get the fire going, I’m going to grab something we can roast?”Keith rubbed his eyes and yawned before responding, “Yeah. Go now, get food.”Lance left and Keith crawled out of their tent. The fresh smell of the ocean cleared his senses with every breath, so he took a deep breath. Keith had only ever been to the beach twice back on Earth. Once was when he was very young so he couldn’t really remember it, but the second time was just before he joined the Garrison, and it was amazing. The waves were almost non-existent and the sun was glinting off of the ocean, it looked like someone had sprinkled an aeroplanes worth of glitter on the surface. Keith splashed around in it while Shiro watched from the sand. Keith always stayed within standing depth, not wanting to accidently down. Shiro gasped as Keith kicked the water, making it rain down in a thousand droplets on him. The book he was reading getting splash marks all over it.“That’s it,” Shiro had said, smacking his book into Adam who was completely dry next to him, “My turn.” Shiro stripped down to his shorts and run after Keith into the water. Keith decided to hold his ground and go down with a fight, he splashed as much water as he could at Shiro, getting him soaking wet before he was even in up to his waist. Shiro just smirked, charging faster at Keith, being the more confident in the water out of the two. When he was within a metre of Keith he ducked beneath the water, successfully hiding from Keith, who had rightful decided it was the best time to run.“Oh shit,” Keith muttered as he sprinted as fast as he could in the water, but Shiro was faster. Shiro popped up in front of him –scaring the shit out of him- and splashed him with as much water as he physically could. Keith was drenched. Shiro laughed and eventually Keith joined in.Keith looked back at this memory fondly. It was the first time he and Shiro had really bonded. He went back to lighting the fire, using the same method he used before. Apparently Lance had something worth lighting the fire for on a hot day like this. As much of the heat Lance had been, the sun was still a major contributing factor to today’s heat. The climate on this planet was very humid, something which Keith was less than pleased about. There’s nothing nice about being sweaty and sunburnt –something which Keith was very sure he was becoming-. Keith stoked the fire a few more times to really get the heat up. He stood up straight and wiped the sweat from his brow.“Keith? Is the fire ready?” Lance called, immerging from the jungle, “I think I have something we can cook?”Keith took the dead animal from Lance’s hands and inspected it. It looked like a cross between a possum and a hairless cat.“Seems fine, I’ll prepare it.” Keith offered, knowing that Lance didn’t have the stomach for such a task.“Sounds good,” Lance said gratefully. He looked relieved.Lance walked off to check something out at the tent while Keith got to work. It was a gruesome task, but an important one none the less. Once he was done, he gave the carcass to Lance, who seemed more than ready to season and prepare it.“Now while you were doing that,” Lance said, nodding his head to the pile of bloodied guts further down the beach, “I was getting something to season this bad boy.” Lance grinned widely, “Do you prefer rosemary on your roasts or thyme. I found some plants that resembled both, but I-” “Do what you would like the most,” Keith cut him off. Keith had no idea how to cook a roast and wasn’t really interested.“Rosemary it is,” Lance smiled. That smile. It made Keith melt. Internally of course. He couldn’t let such a simple thing force him to show weakness. He was a force to be reckoned with, a war-hardened soldier, not a weak boy with a crush. Lance seemed a little disappointed when Keith didn’t return his smile. His smile dropped for a second before bouncing back. He gave a little shrug and got back to work. Keith cursed internally. Fucking emo fuck, sweet Jesus why did this always happen?Keith turned around. He needed to find something useful to do. If this were a normal day in the castle, he would probably be training or helping Hunk out in the kitchen. Neither of which were possible now. Keith would have to improvise. Sit-ups were improbable, sand in unsavoury places. Push-ups were difficult, again from the sand. Perhaps he could work on his hunting skills? There were plenty of strange animals in this forest that Keith could discover . . . and kill. Keith settled on that, wandering into the jungle in the search for a more suitable weapon.With a small search of the outer most layer of the jungle –where the light continued to shine through the density of the canopy-, he found a sharp rock and a lightweight, yet strong log of wood. He returned back to the campsite and sat down next to the fire Lance was cooking at. He began using is rock to carve the log to make it sharper. The rock itself could have been useful but Keith was used to a much longer weapon, like a sword, so Keith -being the emo fuck that could show no weakness that he was- decided that carving his own sword would have been easier than learning how to fight with a rock. He sharpened out the tip, tapering it the closer to the handle it was. He tossed the scraps into the fire that Lance was cooking on the other side of. Lance glanced up at the movement. When he was cooking, Lance was in a trance. He focused on one thing and one thing only. It was almost mesmerising to watch him work, how he rhythmically cut things into pieces and checked how the salt water he was bubbling the salt out of was going. Keith often caught himself slowing down on his carving and staring at Lance. He snapped himself out of it and got back to work.Just when he had finished carving, Lance called him for breakfast. Only then did Keith realize how hungry he was. His nose had just registered how amazing Lance’s meal smelt, making his stomach grumble. He sniffed the air as Lance brought a leaf (the type of one he had used to make their bed) with his meal on top of it. Lance chuckled at Keith’s antics and went to get his own leaf. They sat down, facing each other.“Nice to see you did nothing useful yet,” Lance joked, using his fingers to scoop up the first bite of his meal.Keith glared at him playfully, “I’ll have you know making a weapon is a very useful task to be doing.”“Uh huh sure.”“Oh, like you were doing anything better.”“So you don’t think eating is important?” Lance stared Keith down pursing his lips.Keith growled, knowing he’d lost this battle, “Yeah well, I bet I’ll be more productive than you when the suns go down!”“Oh, you’re so on Kogane!” Lance scoffed, stuffing his face full of the rest of his breakfast, so he could begin being productive before Keith.“When the suns set, this bet ends” Keith said, following in Lance’s footsteps and shoving the rest of his breakfast down his throat.“Whoever has contributed into making this camp better wins.”“Deal,” They shook hands.Lance immediately bolted into the jungle, leaving Keith standing there, with a mouthful of breakfast. He heard a large thud on the ground, followed by a string of curse words. He chuckled and carefully made his way into the jungle, makeshift dagger in hand. The path into the jungle was pretty much non-existent. The only thing making it was the rows of crushed plants that both Keith and Lance had left behind. Keith, unlike Lance was quiet on his trip into the jungle, for he knew there could be dangers lurking around every corner. He smelt the flora around him, hoping for a whiff of something that vaguely resembled something Earth-like. All he could smell was a sickly sweet plant that mixed in horrendously with the stench of a rotting corpse somewhere nearby. He continued further into the jungle, each step leading him away from the safety of their camp. An eerie silence surrounded him. It just wasn’t natural.If he wanted to beat Lance he would need an end goal. Lance was probably going to do something materialistic, like built up the fire or something. Keith should do something a little more useful, like collect resources. Heaven knew they needed it. So that’s exactly what he did. He looked around for more of the animals that Lance had snatched up for breakfast. A good haul of those could last them a few days. If Lance cared so much about breakfast, then breakfast Keith would bring. He stopped walking for a second, not realizing that he had stopped paying attention to where he was going. A certain darkness surrounded him. The foliage of the plants was so thick that it blocked out almost all sunlight, spare the few strands that just managed to push their way in. He waited until his eyes adjusted to the darkness, then looked around. The first thing he laid eyes on was a pair of glowing green eyes. He blinked twice –just to make sure it wasn’t a trick of the light- then looked around to the other pairs of eyes, all staring at him. Panic flared in him. Strange creatures on an alien planet, could be friendly, right? His instincts told him they were not. He readied himself for an attack, if killed these creatures could be food. One of them pounced, adrenaline pounded through Keith’s vein as he struck, quick as lightning, into the side of this creature. It howled in pain, trying desperately to bite Keith. Keith quickly removed the knife. He glanced quickly at it before the other creatures attacked too. It had glowing green eyes, and muddy lime fur, if Keith had known any better he would have called it a dog. At least he knew what they looked like now. Another one pounced, its jaw wide open, displaying a vast collecting of teeth. Keith dodged it, moving to its left. He used the momentum of its leap against it, by ramming his knife into it when it landed. Not being able to turn fast enough is what gave Keith the upper hand. The others scattered.Keith took a deep breath, only then realising his mistake. It was these creatures that were the horrible smell from before. Once his adrenaline had worn off, he was hit with the smell like a brick. He picked up their corpses and swung them over his shoulder. Keith had been through worse, he could tough it out against a bad smell.Too bad things were about to get much worse than just a bad smell.A loud blood-curdling scream broke the eerie silence of the jungle. Keith’s head snapped to it, his feet already dragging him in the direction of it.“Lance!” He called, almost screaming as loud as the man himself.“Lance! Where are you?!” Keith yelled into the now silent jungle.“Keith! I’m here!”Keith broke in-between two tightly intermittent trees, to reveal a Lance, being cornered by five of the creatures Keith had just killed. Lance was carrying a large bundle of sticks and leaves, and had no way to defend himself, and by the looks of things, he already had a large injury on his arm. Keith dropped the two he had killed, and growled at them. All five of their heads snapped to Keith, now noticing the bigger threat. They too growled, though at a much higher pitch. One of them went back to Lance, prowling closer, its jaw opening wider than either Lance of Keith would have thought possible. Keith charged. He screamed as he slashed his knife wildly at the animals. They all pounced on him, eager to protect what looked like their leader, the one which now had a large gash that stretched from its ear to its stomach. Keith couldn’t help but feel proud, in a sick and twisted sort of way. They tore at him, but he tore back. His vision was going black around the edges, as body after body was flung at him. Each of his slashes was calculated, he aimed for the kill. As much as he hated these creatures, he didn’t think anyone deserved a painful death.Eventually, only one of them remained. It had the brain to stay back as its comrades had been brutally slaughtered. Keith circled it, never losing eye-contact. From his side Keith heard a whimper. Lance. Within the second that Keith had turned his head to look at Lance, it had pounced. A huge bite to Keith’s calf. Keith screamed out in pain. It locked on and started trying to twist Keith’s calf off. Blinded by the pain, Keith couldn’t do anything. A blur went past him, and suddenly the pressure of the creature on him was released. Keith had a moment to see the smiling face of Lance before he dropped. He hit the ground with a thud. His leg didn’t have the strength to hold him up. The world spun around him, the trees twisted in ways that a tree should probably not be doing. The edges of the world were going black.“Lance,” Keith called, his voice quiet, “Can you please tell the world to stop spinning for one god dammed second, I’m trying to think!”Lance just looked down at him for a moment, before using his good arm to lift Keith back into a standing position. He hooked his arm under Keith’s and began walking them back to safety. All the while whispering comforting things to Keith, who was losing blood at an extraordinary rate. A few small trips over some branches and they were back at the beach. Lance laid Keith down (at least, what Keith thought was down, everything was spinning and it was kind of hard to tell at that point in time). The black edges around his vision were closing in, everything was fuzzy and only the soft sound of Lance calling his name was what kept him awake for a few minutes.Everything went black.
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Horrible red-hot heat was what woke him up. Searing pain burnt though his calf and he screamed.“Keith! I’m so sorry!” Lance said, but Keith couldn’t pay attention. Too. Much. Pain.Keith screamed until his throat was raw, tears poured. He tried to get up. He needed it to stop.“Keith, I need you to stay still, please, I’ll make it stop, please, just stay still.” Lance pleaded with Keith. Keith believed him and laid back down. Unfortunately the pain didn’t immediately cease. Keith was whimpering and sobbing. He couldn’t control himself. Once again the searing pain came back and Keith screamed like he never had before. His throat was ripped to shreds afterwards.He passed out again. It was too much.This time when he awoke, it wasn’t to searing pain, although there was still a horrible throbbing pain there, it was to the nice smell of breakfast cooking. Keith had never thought he could be so relieved to smell the scent of cooking meat. He sat up slowly. He looked around. He was on a bed of leaves, Lance was a few metres away, hunched over their campfire.“Lance,” he croaked, his throat was still in shreds.Lance’s head whipped around, “Keith!” He stopped whatever he was doing and bowled into Keith. He flung his arms around him, straddling his thighs. Keith hugged back just as tightly, anything to distract him from the pain. He took a deep breath, taking in Lance’s scent. It relaxed him. Everything was going to be okay. Lance rubbed calming circles into Keith’s back, before moving away. “Oh thank god you’re okay, I don’t think I could have lived with myself if you died, seeing you jump in front of those things for me, I-” Keith cut him off by pulling him into another hug.“It’s okay, I’m still here,” He whispered into Lance’s neck. Lance just smiled and squeezed him tighter.They let go of each other, Lance moving to sit in front of Keith.Lance had this stupid smile on his face. The same smile as before that had made him melt, only this time it was entirely for him. Keith laughed at his predicament. Maybe it was the pain, or maybe he was loopy from the hug, but for some reason everything was funny. He had given death a high-five and survived. Lance soon joined in, and the pair laughed until Keith’s ribs were sore.“So Lance,” Keith said, finally calming down, “how long has it been since?”Lance’s smile faded a little, “around a day, I didn’t want to wake you so soon after- after well,” Lance glanced down to Keith’s calf.For the first time since he woke up, Keith assessed his injuries.His calf was the worse, and it seemed just by looking at it made it worse. Twin gashes sliced down his calf, from the creature’s teeth. They were sealed, by what looks like a lava monster. Keith looked at Lance apprehensively.“What did you do to my leg?” Keith asked suspiciously.“Well, I didn’t want it to get infected because I knew that that would kill you, but I knew that I had no medicinal knowledge of any of these plants, so I-”“Lance!”“I, well, I heated up a piece of my armour and used it to seal the wound.” Lance winced when he saw the look of horror on Keith’s face.“You WHAT!” Keith yelled. Lance had tried to burn his leg off!“I needed to seal it and I had nothing to make stitches with!” Lance put his hands up defensively.“Alright! Okay! Its fine! Just . . . need a moment,” Keith said, remembering the horrific burning pain that woke him up before, “I need to walk.”“Keith, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea-”“Lance! Help me up now!” Keith barked, interrupting Lance. Lance bowed his head in submission, knowing that there was no way to stop Keith once he put his mind to something. Lance hooked his arm under Keith’s like when he had to carry his back from the fight. Keith winced with every inch they rose, but never made a noise. When they were standing, Keith tried to swat Lance away, desperate to stand by himself, but Lance kept a firm grip. They walked very slowly to a seat by the camp fire.“Keith, you can sit here, but do not try to stand by yourself okay?” Lance said as he helped Keith sit down slowly.Keith just grumbled a response and watched as Lance go back to cooking.The next few days were a nightmare.Keith would not stop trying to run, even though he knew it was unlikely he would be able to run again. It was not going to stop him trying. Every time Lance turned away, Keith tried to get up and help. He couldn’t sit still. His leg was killing him –especially since they didn’t have anything to dull the pain- and Keith just wanted something to distract from it. Usually if Keith couldn’t stop thinking about something, he would go work out. The struggle of a work out always helped the troubled mind, or at least that’s what Keith thought. Having Lance care for him as if he were a child made him incredibly angry, and with nothing to punch, made it even worse. Although Lance wasn’t horrifically injured, he still had some bad scratches he could only hope wouldn’t get infected, which made it all the more difficult to look after Keith. Which in turn made Keith even angrier. Seeing his close friend (and crush) in pain and not being able to do anything about it, well let’s just say Keith was about to blow a casket with how frustrated he was. He could walk fairly decently, but trying to stay up for more than a minute or two at a time hurt like hell.Lance lent over the fire, poking it a little to brighten the flames that lit up their campsite in the dark of the night. After a whole day of Keith trying to help Lance out, but failing badly (and eventually slowing down Lance’s work) the pair were both utterly tired. Lance winced as he overextended his arm. Keith almost winced as well. He couldn’t stand watching his friends hurt (literally). Lance let out a big sigh and eventually gave up, sitting down next to Keith. His face was glowing in the firelight and Keith couldn’t help but notice how pretty he was. His tanned skin was only enhanced in the candescent light, his eyes matching the waves of the quiet ocean in the background. Keith tried to stop himself from staring, but only found his eyes tracing the curves of Lance’s cheeks up to the lengthy curl of his eyelashes. Lance blinked and turned to face him.Keith blushed and looked away.Lance just chuckled a bit. “So Keith,” Lance said calmly, “What is your actual fear?”Keith spluttered. He was not prepared for a question like that. “What do you mean?” He managed to get out.The tanned one laughed again, “Back in the castle, everyone knows heights aren’t your actual fear, so come on, what is it?”“What brought this on?”Lance looked past Keith, at the ocean, “I figured if we are going to die on the island, we may as well get to know each other a little better, I mean you hardly ever speak!”“Don’t say that.”“Say what?”“That we are gonna die here.”Lance shook his head with a smile, “It’s true, Blue is wrecked, I have no way to contact the team.”This caught Keith’s attention, “You still have Blue?”“Yeah, when I crashed on this planet I was in Blue, but Blue took the brunt of the impact and now isn’t responding,” Lance relaxed his shoulders and let his chin hit his chest, “I feel like I’ve lost a part of myself.”“I know exactly how you feel,” Keith responded, “When I crashed in Red,” He shivered, “I felt like I died along with him.”“Speaking of Red, where are they?” Lance asked, tilting his head.“Deep, dark depths of the ocean,”“Oh,”“Yeah,”Lance’s brows furrowed, he reached over to Keith and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, drawing Keith in closer. He gave him a moment to pull away, but Keith didn’t. He didn’t have the energy to fight off Lance. He sighed and settled into Lance’s neck, smelling him deeply. Lance pulled him tight, trying to comfort an obviously upset Keith. Keith let himself relax. He swung an arm around Lance’s waist. They watched the fire flicker in the night.“I think I might have a way to help you run again,” Lance whispered. Keith’s ears perked. The question that had been weighing down on both of them –mainly Keith- was what if Keith could never run again? They both had the question but neither dared mention it. Lance had almost broken a taboo by simply referencing it, so of course Keith was interested.“Yeah?”“Have you ever heard of aquatic therapy?” Lance asked.“Can’t say that I have.”“Well,” Lance began, “When I was a little kid, my abuela was having some trouble with her knees, so she went to aquatic therapy. Before the therapy, she could hardly walk. After it, she was up all the time, she even went for a few morning jogs.”“What is it Lance?”“It’s learning how to walk again in water, when gravity doesn’t hurt your joints.”Keith took a moment to listen to Lance’s suggestion. It didn’t sound too bad, apart from the fact that Keith wasn’t sure if he could go back into the water. After almost drowning, water just seemed full of malice, as if it were out to kill him. It wanted his soul, just as it took his lion.“Alright,” he managed to get out, “Let’s do it.”Lance smiled, “I know you dodged my other question but you’re clearly not ready to talk about it, so I won’t push you . . . Yet.” Keith stared at him, agape. Lance laughed and yawned, “Let’s head to bed.”They settled down for the night, sliding into the tiny tent.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Waking up to a pounding heart it never a good sign.Keith was not ready to go into the water again. Every glace at the ocean sent shivers down his spine. He couldn’t make eye-contact with Lance throughout breakfast, not even when Lance specifically asked him what was wrong. Keith couldn’t eat, he couldn’t sleep. Keith snuck another glance at the ocean, waves crashing further out, then fading as they approached. The sound of the waves crashing down made Keith jump internally. He was not going to let Lance know he was scared shit-less of a shallow body of water. Logically, he knew there was no danger, but that didn’t stop his mind from running rampant. The waves were ten thousand metres tall and the water was just as deep. Every time he would try to kick, he would only sink further- No! Stop! That’s not true. That water was safe.He shook his head to clear his thoughts.“You ready?” Lance asked, tossing his breakfast leaf into the glowing embers of the fire. Needless to say, Keith was not ready.“Yup,” He said, trying to sound nonchalant. Fake it ‘till you make it and all that.“Awesome,” Lance said, clapping his hands, “I’ve already thought of some exercises.”Keith’s stomach sunk to his knees. Everything about this screamed please no! I don’t want to! “Sounds great.”Lance wrapped his arm under Keith’s in order to help him up. They walked towards the ocean. Every step felt like ten tons on Keith’s back. Keith felt panic rise in his chest as his feet were covered in a wave of cold water. It was such a stark contrast to the heat of the day. He kept his fear at bay, he couldn’t let Lance know he was weak. A chorus of ‘I’m not weak’’s chanted in Keith’s head as Lance walked effortlessly into the water. How could he be so calm? Keith’s heart was pounding and his chest tightened. They were up to their knees. He couldn’t breathe. He felt air pass through his lips but have no effect. The water was drowning him, it was flooding his lungs, pulling him deeper, breathe, breathe, BREATHE. Keith sucked in air like a child with sweets on Halloween, yet it didn’t touch him. He clutched at Lance, as if he were trying to drag him down himself. Stop panicking, you’re not weak, not weak, weak, weak, weak. Up to his waist, he couldn’t feel Lance. All there was, were wave after wave, plunging him deep into the ocean.
Panic raced through him and he struggled harder. He took one last breath before he sunk beneath the water. He kicked his legs harder. No use. No matter what he seemed to do, he just kept sinking.
No. No! NO! Keith let go of whatever he was holding onto and saw the black edges coming in. The world was blurry. Red was sinking to the bottom of the ocean, his armour was dragging him down, and there was no escape. Everything was blurry, the sound of waves crashing into each other filled his brain. Breathing was optional. The end was coming, he could tell.“Keith!” Called a voice, he couldn’t focus on it. It seemed far away, horror raced through him as he realised it was Lance. If he could only just hear him, how far beneath the surface had he sunk? He was going to die. It was as if the fear pooling in his stomach had erupted into full-fledged panic. He screamed, water inundating his throat, burning as it went down. This was it. This was it. This was it.“Keith, I’m going to get you out of here, you just need to calm down,” Something tried to pull him, but he resisted. He was not going to let anything take him down easily. He pushed as hard as he could, falling back. Liquid filled his ears and nose. He didn’t dare breathe. He thrashed around, trying desperately to find air. He thrashed until he couldn’t anymore. There was no air to breathe, there was no escape. This was the end. He let his body relax. If this was the end, then so be it. If the ocean wanted to take him, let it. How ironic, he thought, I can’t tell my friends my fears and they can’t save me from them. His eyes fluttered shut, leaving the blurry mess of colours behind. He let his body grow heavy and sink, his face being submerged in the liquid. Something grabbed him, but he paid it no mind. If this was death, he didn’t want to fight it. He had been fighting for so long, every battle he lost a little piece of himself, but now there was nothing left to lose. He felt the force pull him out of the water, it took every ounce of his self-restraint to not immediately try to gulp in air. He knew he was going to be dunked in again from the all-powerful waves, and he would lose his breath all over again. He’d rather die sooner than later, thank you very much.“Please hold on Keith, we’re almost there,” Keith listens. He lets himself grow heavy in the grip of whoever is helping him. Somewhere, in the depth of his mind, Keith recognises who is helping him. He feels his feet scrape the ground under the water, signifying the shallowness. His eyes spring open (when did he close them?) as he scrabbles to push himself out of the water. Survival instincts kicking in, Keith shoves himself to shore. He falls forward as he loses the ability to stand when the water becomes too shallow. The sand fills his grip as he drags himself into the sweet embrace of land. He heaves as the black edges around his vision begins to fade as the adrenaline wears off. A sob escapes him. He pushes himself to his elbows, another sob, which mixed in with a cough, comes. A calming hand strokes his hair and back, as he finally lets his walls break down. An onslaught of tears and an armada of cries inundate him. He allows himself to be taken by such emotion. Never in his life had Keith cried so much. Sure, just like every kid, he had cried when something didn’t go the way he planned, but he had never broken down like this, not since the death of his parents at least. That had been an immediate pain, a rush of grief, smacking him in the face like a brick. But this, this was the result of years of agony. Years of bottling up every small thing. Hell! He bottled up all the big things as well. He felt like an over packed suit case, t-shirts streaming out the sides while he sat on top, trying desperately to squish it all in. He eventually managed to get the zip closed, he managed to cut himself off. Lose contact with such silly things like emotions, but it wasn’t going to end there. The zip was vibrating, almost like in cartoons. It was being pulled at by the seams, until eventually, pop. It exploded. T-shirts flying everywhere, tears streaming down his face like a river.He cried until he could no longer. For the entire time, Lance (who Keith now recognised once he had calmed down) stroked his head, whispered calming things in his ear, and held him close. Keith eventually grabbed his hand and squeezed it, letting Lance know he was okay. The sound of the waves hitting the sand soon came back.Lance helped Keith sit down by their fire pit, then sat right next to him and wrapped his arm around his waist. Keith (who was now exhausted) leaned into his chest, no longer caring around being subtle. They took a moment to recover.“Are you willing to tell me what that was about,” Lance asked when Keith’s breathing was slow and even.Keith moved apart from Lance for a second, searching his eyes, he soon moved back in, “I’ll tell you,” He whispered, “just let me gather my thoughts.” They sat in silence for a little while before Keith took a deep breath and began. He talked about how he was having difficulty opening up to the team, how no matter what he did he always felt useless, how he felt like he couldn’t express his emotions, how he had fears, but couldn’t express them. All throughout it he was plagued with sobs. He tried to pull away from Lance when he had finished, but Lance didn’t let him. Lance comforted him.“Well that sounds like a shit show and a half,” Lance said when Keith had finally stopped crying. Keith chuckled.“A shit show alright,” Keith shook his head and wiped his nose. They both laughed quietly.“Seems like you’re in real crappy situation,” Lance smirked.Keith groaned, “Stop,”“Shit really hit the fan,”“Lance,”“You must be feeling pretty shitty,”“Lance,”“I guessed you’re pretty bummed out,”“Lance!”Lance cracked up laughing, Keith just crossed his arms. “Come on, at least smile, they were pretty good!” Keith may or may not have let the corner of his lip twitch in a way that may or may not be perceived as a smile.“Ha!” Lance grinned triumphantly, “Knew I could make you smile.”Keith shook his head and kept his eyes off of Lance, willing himself to keep a straight face. Although this was made harder by Lance slowly creeping into his view, bottom jaw extended to its full extent, top lip bitten. He cracked a small smile at Lance’s stupid face. Lance’s face lit up.“You smiled!” Lance said happily. Keith rolled his eyes, but continued to smile at Lance’s words.Keith had never opened up like this to someone before, (not even Shiro) he wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he was hoping for, but literal shitty puns wasn’t it. Maybe he was hoping for some sympathy, or maybe just nothing. He could keep up his emotionless demeanour if Lance hadn’t reacted. But, even though Lance hadn’t reacted in a way Keith would have liked, Keith wouldn’t change what he did if he could. For some reason, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Keith liked the feeling.The two eventually got back to work. Keith going out to hunt, while Lance collected more wood for the fire and tried to improve the camp. Mindless work. Lance made a pile of firewood that should last them at least a week, while Keith made his way through the jungle. Green eyes followed him throughout his trip, keeping on edge. At one point he swore he could hear the faint growling of one of the creatures. He made sure to keep a steady pace. Quietly setting snares that he learnt how to do in his time alone in the desert and checking his old ones. Luckily the animals here weren’t familiar with the noises he made when hunting, and therefore weren’t concerned by his presence, making it ten times easier. He came back to a pile of glowing embers and a pacing Lance. He heard his faint ramblings in Spanish. He recognised some of the names Lance was bringing up, but didn’t know where they were from.Keith decided to do what he would normally do and go on with whatever he was doing without question. Whatever Lance was dealing with he could deal with it himself, Keith thought, it wasn’t his business. No, Keith should ask him if he’s okay. Keith walked over silently to Lance and placed his hand on his shoulder, making Lance jump.“Mierda!” Lance yelled, whipping around to look at Keith, “Keith what the fuck! I thought you were some fucking animal creature thing!”“Are you okay?” Keith cut straight to the point. “I’m okay, I just don’t like being scared,” Lance said.“No, not that, like in general, like emotions or whatever,” Keith muttered, crossing his arms.Lance softened, “I’m alright, just-”Lance sighed, his shoulders dropping, “It’s stupid, don’t worry about it.”Keith shook his head, he felt stupid and awkward trying to get Lance to open up, “If you need to talk, I’ll listen.” Keith said falling silent. He hoped he had said the right thing.Lance bit the inside of his cheek. Keith stared into Lance’s eyes, searching for something, before he caught himself and blushed, looking away. Lance coughed, and Keith nodded before picking up his game and going to get it prepared for lunch/dinner. God, what was he thinking?! Like Lance would actually want to talk about things! Keith felt his entire body heat up. He prepared it and brought it back to Lance, keeping his head down the entire time. He couldn’t let Lance know how he affected him.Keith decided to focus on something else. In the pit of his stomach, Keith knew he would have to go back into the water. He knew that if he wanted to overcome from his fear, he would have to go back. He shuddered at the thought. He thought about going swimming with Shiro, how much he loved that, how much he missed feeling the water splash up against his legs as he ran as fast as he could. He thought about how he wanted to swim with Lance. How the water would look as droplets in Lance’s hair, the sun glinting off of them. How his eyes would shine as he ran a hand through his hair, wiping away the droplets. How he would look as his smile shone as bright as the sun, and his laugh was as loud as the waves crashing around them.Keith groaned. He was trying to clear his mind of Lance, not invite more thoughts! The mental image of Lance holding his hand as they waded through clear water was irresistible. It made Keith sigh, just thinking about it, he could only imagine what it would be like in real life. And that he did. He was back in the thought pattern about his friend Lance. What would it be like to kiss him in the ocean? To hold him in his arms as they cuddled around the fire? Keith sighed louder than his groan. This boy was in deep.“Keith!” Keith jumped as Lance called his name, “Dinners ready.”Keith shook his head and went to Lance. He really needed to learn how to control his thoughts. They sat down together, Lance set down a leaf in front of him.“We need to plan how to get me back into the water without panicking,” Keith stated plainly.“Are you sure you want to go back? Especially after, you know. . .” Lance trailed off, stopping himself from making it awkward by scooping some food into his mouth.“Yes,” Keith said firmly, “I have to, you guys overcame your flaws, and now it’s time I face mine.”“Alright,” Lance agree, knowing there was no way to change Keith’s mind, “But we have to have a code word, for if things become too much.”Keith just nodded, wolfing more food.“How about, window? Or something like that?”Keith nodded.“Okay, so, we need a game plan,” Lance began, “I think we should start by slowly easing you into the water, one step at a time, going deeper every day. Then, once you have that down pat, I’ll teach you how to swim. Since we don’t know how long we are going to be stuck here, I figured we could take our time, really get you used to the water.”“Sounds like a plan, let’s do it.”And they did just that. Every day, for the next month or so, Keith would take another step into the ocean. He would get further and further into its murky depths, all the while, Lance was by his side. They went through this together, and even when Keith felt overwhelmed, Lance was there to hold him until he calmed down. Each night they would sit by the campfire and discuss why Keith felt the way he did. Lance desperately wanted to know why Keith felt so panicked in water, so he interrogated him until he thought of a feasible reason. Perhaps the reason Keith was so scared of water was the fact that he was so bad at swimming (which caused him a bit of anxiety) was then mixed with his near drowning experience, which gave him two reasons to hate water. It wasn’t a phobia, but perhaps it was a trigger, bringing him back to his horrible experience in the water. Lance decided to help him with exposure therapy (more commonly known as putting up with something until you’re immune to it). The sun was just beginning to set as Keith waded in up to his waist with no problem what-so-ever. He turned to face Lance with the biggest grin he could muster since they had been on this island.“Lance, look!” Keith grinned, “Look, I’m not scared at all!” Lance stayed silent, his eyes shining in the orange glow of the sunset, a soft smile playing on his lips.“Lance, aren’t you proud? Look!” Keith repeated, running his hand along the surface of the water before splashing it.“I’m very proud Keith,” Lance took a step closer to Keith, he cupped the side of Keith’s face, pulling it gently towards him.“Lance, what are you- mrumph!” Keith was cut off by Lance’s lips being pressed to his. His eyes fluttered shut and his body froze instinctively. Lance wrapped his arms around Keith, drawing him in. As soon as Keith closed his eyes, his conscious mind defenestrated itself. He felt like he was floating when Lance tilted his head. None of it felt real, not even when Lance gently moved Keith’s hand to his hair, coaxing him to hold him. His lips, once frozen with his body, began to move, slow at first, but soon matching Lance’s pace. He adjusted to Lance, letting his body fall into Lance’s curves. Suddenly, Keith realised what he was doing, and pulled back abruptly.“Holy shit,” Keith didn’t move his hand, “Holy fuck.”Lance giggled, “I’ve been meaning to do that for some time now.”Keith looked at the freshly set sun reflected back at him from Lance’s ocean blue eyes, His eyes, oh his eyes- they were the colour of the sky. They were so full. So full of everything, of nothing. They were overflowing with love and life, yet were as empty as the sky itself. They lured Keith in, sucking like the endless abyss of space, only to leave him floating and breathless. Keith couldn’t help but admire the effect they had on him.“How long?” Keith asked, just as breathless as when they were kissing. Holy shit, they were kissing!Lance hummed for a second, “Around a year,”Keith sighed and smiled at that, flustered. He closed his eyes and drew Lance in for a hug. Nothing had ever felt as good as when Keith rest his head on Lance’s chest, his hands resting gently next to his face. Lance wrapped him up in his arms like a Christmas present. Keith couldn’t help but chuckle. He pulled away again.“Holy mother of fuckass,” He laughed, splashing the water again, “No way today is real.” Keith spun around in a circle, letting his fingers break the surface of the water. The colour reminded him of Lance’s eyes. Eyes that were currently fixated on him. Keith made eye contact with Lance again. His smile fell and was replaced with a look of wonder.“Don’t worry Keith, this is so real,” Lance said gently.“Prove it then.”Lance smirked at Keith’s bold move. He carefully slid one arm around Keith’s waist, pushing the other through Keith’s hair. Lance moved his face close enough to Keith’s so that Keith could feel his breath on his lips before connecting them. The two boys relaxed once again.The sun continued to set.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Once they were back on shore, Keith felt like he was on cloud nine. Lance was holding him close, and he wasn’t worried about the island’s creatures. Everything felt different. It was like the world was coloured differently. It was like everything was covered in a new hue. For lack of a better saying, everything felt rose-coloured.Keith continued to feel like this for the next two weeks.It would have remained like this, had Keith not woke up to Lance crying. Keith was sleeping on their bed of leaves when he was awoken my muffed sobs. Keith sat up silently, not wanting to intrude, but finding it hard to not immediately get up and comfort him. Lance wasn’t the one to bottle up his feeling like Keith was. Everyone could always tell when something was bothering Lance, mainly because he would not shut up about it. He would complain, and complain until it was fixed. Well, maybe not this time. Keith stood up quietly and went to sit down next to Lance. Lance jumped when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, calming down when he realised it was only Keith, then tensing back up again as he realised that Keith had noticed him crying. He hastily wiped away his tears, throwing on a messy façade of a smile. Keith could see straight through it.“Lance, tell me what’s wrong,” Keith pushed, not wanting Lance to continue feeling like this.Lance’s smile grew, trying to prove to Keith that he was fine. It would have been a lot more convincing, had his eyes not been bloodshot from his previous sobbing. “No, no Keith I’m fine really, just the stress from this planet, that’s all.”Keith raised an eyebrow. He knew Lance was lying, but he didn’t want to push him past him comfort zone. Then again, wouldn’t a good friend try to find out what’s wrong and try to fix the problem? And, if Keith is trying to be a better person, shouldn’t he be helping Lance as well? Fuck boundaries, he was going to help Lance whether he wanted to be helped or not.“What’s up?” Keith asked gently, sitting down next to him.“Nothing you need to worry about”“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,”“Alright”Silence“Fine, but you have to promise that you’ll never tell anyone”“We’re stuck on a deserted island on an alien planet I think your safe”“I just- I miss my family. And I know that everyone else does, and that I shouldn’t be selfish – this is the safety of the universe and all – but I can’t help but imagine my brothers and sisters, and my ma – oh god! ma – and how much I miss them.”Keith couldn’t say he understood, because when he left Earth he took everyone important with him. What Lance must be feeling is something unimaginable to Keith. He decided to comfort him by slinging an arm over his shoulder. Lance seemed to understand the hidden message behind Keith’s actions.They spent the rest of the night staring at the fire.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The next morning was a rough one. Rain came pouring down by the bucketload and their campfire was sopping wet. The sky was misty and the colour of whitewall in a plastered house. Keith could feel the moisture in the air, it made his skin tacky and his hair greasy. If he was honest it probably wasn’t the moisture in his hair that made it greasy, but the lack of a proper wash since his crash. His heart twinged at the memory. He and Lance had been here quite a while now, their friends must be either going insane from the search for them, or mourning their deaths. Whatever one, it was a sobering thought for the morning.Keith decided to see how his leg was doing. Miraculously, it wasn’t infected. By all odds, his leg should need to be amputated by now, his veins a deep purple red spreading from the cut, blood infection seeping through him. Keith had seen it before, although not on himself, and he decided he’d rather keep it that way. Keith stood up. After Lance’s help in the water his leg had been getting quite a bit better. He could stand and walk at least a couple steps before collapsing. His fear of the ocean had been diminishing as well. Keith could see all the progress he’d made since being with Lance, and it only made him smile.Keith looked around their campsite in search for Lance this early morning. He was nowhere to be found, but he would come back soon, Keith was sure of it. Keith took a couple steps towards the fire, his knees wobbling unsteadily beneath him. Keith cursed. His precious mood from before ruined by his simple inability to move. His face scrunched up in a snarl as he forced his legs to continue holding his weight. Keith hobbled steadily over to some trees before bending over and gathering some wood for their fire. Although it may be hot and wet now, it would get cold during the night time. His leg ached in pain, but that was not going to stop him.After about an hour of log collecting, Keith returned to their campsite, to find Lance trying to restart their fire, with the wet logs from before. Keith shook his head and swatted Lance hands away without a word.Lance however was a tad offended, “excuse you, I was working there.”Keith scoffed playfully, “yeah well, wet logs won’t light, use these instead,” Keith handed Lance the couple of the logs he had collected, “they should do the trick.”Lance chuckled slightly, shaking his head, before using Keith’s not wet logs to light the fire. It only took him around five tries this time. They both made eye contact before leaning in slightly. Keith could see the flecks in Lance’s eyes, the reflection of the light glistening in them. The smell of the ocean and the gentle breeze cooling their damp skin. When they first kissed it was fast and proud and demanding attention. However, the press of their lips together was sensual and warm. They slot together like pieces in a puzzle, filling each other’s crevices. A cocky smile formed against Keith’s mouth, teasing him into soothing it down with his tongue. It became harder to kiss when he couldn’t stop smiling. Keith didn’t want to lose this moment but unfortunately he succumbed to his desire to smile. He opened his eyes to find Lance grinning softly at him. Keith pecked his lips before pushing him back and standing up, brushing himself off. His face felt warm and his legs even shakier than before.~ ~ ~It was another two weeks before Keith could truly walk. If only for a short amount of time, Keith could walk for about half a kilometre, but it wasn’t painless. He pushed as far as he could, striving to gain back some of his freedom. He was finally getting back on track.This night was also misty and wet. It seemed this planet had seasons just like earth, only it consisted of ‘hot’, and ‘wet and hot.’ Keith didn’t mind though. Heat was heat, and he had survived in the desert before, this was a piece of cake. His bed felt like it had been rained on, yet it wasn’t unpleasant, just… different. Keith was adaptable, as was Lance. They were going to get through this.That was, until they were savagely attacked. The night was cool again, and their fire had gone out. Keith arose when his shivers got intense enough. He was just about to get up to see if he could quickly find something to light before he heard a few leaves crunch as they were stepped on. It was quiet, quiet enough that it just could’ve been a trick of the wind, but it clearly wasn’t when it ever so slowly grew closer. He leaned over and gently shook Lance awake. Lance groaned, but was quickly silenced when Keith clamped his hand over his mouth. He jerked into alertness and stared at Keith silently asking him what’s going on. Keith made a gesture to his ear, telling Lance to listen. They sat in silence, their breaths barely audible when sure enough, a soft growl washed over them.Lance reached silently next to him, grabbing his bayard, watching as it transformed into a gun, Keith followed suit, letting the comforting feeling of his blade rest in his palm. They sat in utter silence, eyes unadjusted to the dark, only their sense of sound helping them. Keith had almost relaxed enough to go back to sleep when a hiss sounded sharp and metallic right behind them. Keith sat dead up and turned around, rustling their leaf bed. The rustling caused whatever was making that hissing to jump out at Keith. He yelled as he swung his newly formed sword near it. It flashed slitted glowing green eyes at Keith, before snarling and snapping its razor sharp teeth as close to Keith as it could get before he jumped out of the way. In this commotion, Keith heard Lance cry out as one of them almost bit Lance on the leg. The pair scrambled to their feet, surrounded by cat-like creatures with fluorescent green eyes. These were the very same that had attacked and bitten Keith before. They eyed the pair like fresh meat, which in this case, they were. Keith felt Lance’s back press against his. They had fought back-to-back before, now they were just slipping into old habits.One of the creatures attacked first. It launched itself at Keith’s face. Keith tore it down with a slash of his sword. This sent the rest of them into a frenzy. The usual adrenaline of a fight kicking in, Keith was on his toes. This was the most agile he had been since the first attack. Laser-shots filled the air. Another pair of snapping teeth was at his throat as he cut at it, kicking a foot out at the next on-coming creature. Sweat poured from him like a fountain, the metallic taste of it on Keith’s tongue. One bone-crunching stomp later and Lance was yelling. Keith spun around to help his teammate, kicking aside the creature that had locked jaws on Lance’s leg. Keith had reacted so fast the creature had barely been able to nick Lance’s leg.“Keith look out!”Keith felt the bite before he saw it. Raw heat and pain soared through him as one of the creatures latched themselves onto his previous bite. Rage flashed through Keith as he stabbed it in between his eyes, watching as its fur parted with the clean slice of the blade. It’s brains were visible as Keith tore its life from its body. Keith was panting as he stalked over to another creature, slitting it’s throat. They were disjointed, and there were still five more creatures to kill. Lance took on two at a time rushing at them with a double tap with two bullets. Keith could hear the blood rushing behind his eyes, tainting his vision red. A scream tore itself from his throat as he used the momentum from a turn to slice the head clean off of a creature. He could see the green light from its eyes fade slightly as it’s head was cut cleaning from its body. Oxygen pumped in and out of Keith’s lungs faster than his body could process it. Only one left, but this one was not like the others. It had hung back during the fight, assessing their skill. Keith panted and stumbled over to Lance, falling back to back again.The slightly larger creature tilted its head slightly, before flattening its ears and snarling. It circled Keith and Lance, each step in the sand leaving a paw print similar to that of a cats. Keith hyper-focused on the cat like thing, analysing it as much as he could before it would attack. It was only a few more moments before it was pouncing onto Keith’s chest. He screamed at attempted to stab it, only for it to dodge at just the right time, almost making Keith stab himself. This creature was clever, it knew how deadly Keith and Lance were, and were trying to get them to off themselves. Keith punched the head of the beast to get it off, watching as it landed standing on ground in front of him. Lance spun around and shot at it, bullets grazing it front legs. The creature snarled again and went in for the kill.Two sharp fangs launched directly at Lance’s throat.Keith watched as if it were slow motion. The stretching wide of its jaw, unhinging itself, trying to get wide enough to fit Lance’s throat in its mouth. Lance’s bulging eyes as it flew through the air to get to him. The scream as it’s fangs scraped the side of his neck, piercing him.After that, it was personal.The creature was too preoccupied with Lance to realise that Keith was stabbing it through the heart. The two seconds it took to unhinge itself from a screaming Lance, was the time it took to collapse on the soft sand. Keith watched as the creature squirmed, blood pooling from its chest, staining the sand. Keith was frozen, only able to watch the poor creature cry out in pain, before hearing Lance do the same. He spun around and dropped to his knees next to Lance. Lance’s hands were pressed firmly to his neck, attempting to stop the blood flow, only somewhat succeeding. Small coughs pressed from him as he too squirmed just like the creature. They made eye contact as the first tear poured from his oceanic blue eyes. Keith watched in shock, feeling his eyes widen and brows shoot up. His jaw was locked. Lance slowly moved one hand from his neck, keeping the other continuing to stop the blood flow, and moved it to Keith. He placed his hand on Keith’s leg, right next to the bite mark, reminding him of the sharp pain. Keith looked away from Lance for a second to see oozing red from around his black suit. Purple skin was visible from under it, shiny with red and black. A sharp stabbing pain went through him from his leg. He cried out in agony. He slowly laid down, careful not to knock Lance’s neck, draping an arm over him. Keith laid his head on Lance’s chest, feeling the stuttering rise and fall off it. Death seemed near. There was no way Lance could survive a bite to the neck, and his leg felt so bad this time there was no recovering. Keith felt Lance’s other hand placed gently on his head. Hesitantly, it started stroking his hair in a comforting manner. Keith felt an overwhelming wash of sadness and love. A confusing blend that perfectly describe how he was feeling. Sadness that there was no future here, and love for a boy who was surely about to die yet still used that last of his energy to comfort him.Keith saw the colour red before darkness consumed him.~~~Keith was roused by the sound of someone running.His head felt heavy. As if it were glued to his chest, because he couldn’t seem to lift it. In fact, his whole body felt that way. He groaned in pain as the aches and knots in his shoulder made themselves present. A sudden loud coughing fit startled his eyes open. Keith’s head snapped to the noise, readying his body for attack, before he realised.
He wasn’t dead?!
Keith stumbled forward, out of whatever was containing him and into a brightly lit room. He squinted, trying to make out his surroundings before he was tackled into a bear hug. His ass hit the floor as the person who attacked him had their arms tightly wrapped around his waist. He was about to shove them off when he realised it was Pidge. His eyes widened at the sight of their friend, and quickly encompassed the entire room. Shock flooded through him as he realised he was in the castle, had just fallen out of a pod, and was caught and tackled by Pidge.“Keith!” Pidge shouted, pushing themselves off of him.He started back at them, unable to form a sentence. He spluttered for a second, only managing a soft “How?” Keith lifted himself off the floor, standing on wobbly legs. He looked down, hands tracing over when his injuries used to plague him. He found that the bite on his leg had been reduced to a jagged scar. Keith was pleased for a second before gasping again.“Where’s Lance?” He started at Pidge.“He’s in the living room with the others-“ before Pidge could finish Keith was stumbling into the other room as hastily as he could. The world was still far to bright, and each footstep felt like it shook his entire body. He could hear Pidge running to catch up to him but he just sped off. Keith split on an axis and curved into the living room. In there was Lance and the rest of the team sitting around looking somewhat relaxed on the blue chairs.“Keith,” Lance spoke as he stood dead in the archway.“Lance,” Keith gulped down air, trying to find some words,“How the fuck did we get here?”~ ~ ~It took an entire hour sitting with the group to explain what had happened, and how they got back.The boiled down version of it was that the lions saved them. At the very moment where they gave up, the moment where they laid down to die, their two lions and pulled the last of their strength to save them. The lions had scooped them into their cockpits and flown as fast as they could to the castle, where the other three lions had been patrolling, looking for them. As soon as the lions had docked, the pain had been separated and shoved into healing pods. Lance rubbed his back at that. They had been told that their bodies had entered a hibernation-like state in order to survive. That their vitals had been dangerously close to dipping into the point of no return zone. Keith and Lance had sat there silently, listening as Shiro went over everything that had happened. Every now and then Allura would input and add some detail that the pair would’ve been better off without knowing, with Pidge glaring at her every time it happened. Lance had grabbed Keith’s had around halfway through the hour, squeezing it, letting him know that he wasn’t alone. They were both scared and relieved when the story was over.“So how long did you say it has been again?” Lance asked to no one in particular.“It’s been a week since we found you,” Shiro responded, looking sheepish.Lance looked at Keith, before looking down at his lap. Keith knew what this meant, he was thinking about the pain he had caused the team. Keith cupped the nape of Lance’s neck pulling him in until their foreheads were touching. He squeezed Lance’s hand using his other hand. He closed his eyes.“It’s okay Lance, I’m here,” he saw a small tear trace it’s way down Lance’s face. Keith squeezed his eyes shut this time. Lance took this moment to bury his face in Keith’s neck. It was only a moment before the rest of the team joined in, each of them hugging the pair that they had missed so much.“Keith, Lance, I missed you guys so much,” Hunk sniffled into the hug. This only made everyone squeeze tighter.This was where he was supposed to be, Keith was sure. Surrounded by his friends who all wanted to be with him, not just from necessity, but also from simple love. He had a team, a family, and a boyfriend who would always love and support him (and he would always do the same). There honestly wasn’t a place he’d rather be.Keith smiled.