1 - "Long time no see, aye"

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You lay in your boyfriend's room, book in hand, as you awaited his return from a mission with the other paladins. It had been a few days since you had seen him and your mind was running in circles. Groaning, you ran a hand through your hair and closed your book before heading to the control room. 

As you pushed the large doors open, you were shocked to see the team had returned. Without you knowing, nonetheless, but why hadn't Keith come to his room? Shiro was the first to notice you as he turned to face you, a worried expression in his hazel eyes. 

"Oh, hey everyone! How was the mission?", you asked, a smile plastered on your face. 

The room remained silent, bar a few murmurs between the others before they looked back at you. Everyone, even Lance, looked somewhat upset. 'That's strange. Why's it so quiet? I'd have thought Lance and Keith would be arguing.' That's when you noticed it. 

"G-guys? Where's Keith?", you muttered. The room stayed quiet once again, no one knowing what to say or do. They all knew they had to say something, but they didn't know who should tell you. "You know what? Nevermind, I'll go look for him.", you say, turning on your heels to search the castle. 

Before you could leave, however, a hand grasped your wrist. You turned around only to be met with Lance. "I'll take you to him. You'll want to see for yourself.", he told you and no sign of playfulness was in his tone. All you could do was nod as you were dragged through the corridor, only halting when you were outside the medical bay. 

"You don't mean...", you whispered, eyes becoming glossy.

Lance stayed silent, turning away from you and opening the door to let you in. You walked into the room and stopped dead in your tracks upon seeing something you'd hoped you would never see. There, in a pod, lay Keith. 

His face was littered with bruises and it appeared that a bandage was wrapped around his torso. Upon seeing this, you brought your hands to your mouth in an attempt to muffle your whimpers. 

"I-I'm sorry...", Lance said quietly, walking to your side. "He got hurt trying to protect us. I- if only I had been faster... I could've killed that Galra bastard..", you let out a half-hearted laugh at this. 

"It's fine, Lance. Really. You did everything you could. He's still alive though, right? Something like a small coma won't stop Keith.", you reassured the Cuban boy, giving him a light side hug. He gave one of his signature smiles and hesitantly hugged back, although still feeling guilty. 

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From that day on, everything seemed to blur into one. The days dragged, and the nights reminded you of the void you felt in your heart without Keith. Most nights, one of the paladins would find you by his pod, having cried yourself to sleep.

Not once did you go to them for comfort, though. You were stubborn when it came to admitting your true feelings, not wanting to burden the paladins with any more issues or worries. Shiro tried to get you to open up, but each time you just plastered on a smile and bluffed your way out of a lecture. None of this went unnoticed by the paladins, however, as they were currently discussing how they could help you. 

"She's way too stubborn!", Lance groaned, leaning back on the sofa of the living room. 

"Speak for yourself, Lancey. Remember how stubborn you were with proving you were better than Keith?", Pidge argued as she pushed her oversized glasses up again and ignoring the offended look on Lance's face. "But anyway, the only thing that can fix this is Keith."

"I agree. They seem to be each other's source of stability, however, Keith isn't supposed to come out of the pod for another week. This does pose quite the dilemma.", Coran added, twirling his moustache as usual.

"Speaking of pods, we should probably check on him again.", Hunk suggested, but in reality, he just wanted to check up on you when they went past your room. 

"Yeah, let's go, team.", Shiro declared, rising from the sofa and out of the door. 

As they entered the medical bay, they were met with something beyond expected. A silence fell across the room and they all glanced at each other, shellshocked. Lance, however, bolted out of the room and made his way to find you. 

"y/n, y/n!", he screamed, bursting into your room with no regard to whether you were decent or not. 

You jumped at the sudden outburst from your friend; he hadn't been this happy for a while. Confused, you wiped your eyes and took a deep breath before leaving the bathroom. "Hey, Lance.", you greeted.

"Come on! No time to explain, just hurry your ass up, pretty lady!", he ordered, grabbing your upper arm and dragging you through the corridors of the castle. You sighed but did not attempt to free yourself, knowing your efforts would be fruitless.

"I'm really not in the mood for this right now", you mumbled as he pushed you through the doors to the medical bay. You quickly regretted your words, though, once you had lifted your head. Tears brimmed in your eyes as you gripped your shirt, unsure of whether you were hallucinating or not. 

"K-Keith...? Is- is that really you?", you asked, eyes scanning the pale ravenette that stood before you, still sceptical as to whether he was real. 

"It's me, sunshine. Long time no see, aye?", he grinned, holding his arms wide open for you. 

A gasp slipped from your lips as you ran full-force towards him. You felt a smile creep onto your face for the first time in weeks as you were engulfed into his arms and were quick to bury your head into the crook of his neck. 

Keith, on the other hand, stroked your h/l, h/c locks as he inhaled your scent. It felt so good to hold you in his arms again, even if he hadn't been conscious the whole time he was gone. A single tear slid down his cheek; relief that you were safe and happy again.

"I-I'm so glad you're okay. I missed you.", you whispered into his ear, although you did have to stand on your tip-toes to do so. He let out a breathy laugh, planting a light kiss on your forehead. 

"Have you been looking after yourself?", he asked. You stayed silent, giving him all the answers he needed as he flicked your forehead. "You dumbass!"

"Ow!", you whined, rubbing the spot he had flicked. "I definitely didn't miss the scolding.", you mumbled. Keith ignored your snarky comment, just wanting to enjoy your reunion. And so, you spent the rest of the day in each other's arms, not wanting to be alone again.

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A/N: Hey reader, and happy valentine's day if you're reading this then! This is one of my first one-shot attempts, but I thought I should do something special for Valentine's day, so here it is! I hope you've had a good day or night, and thank you for reading this! - Gracie

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