Lance's footsteps echoed through the halls. The castle was empty, silent. Everyone had gone to their rooms, but Lance was still awake. He couldn't sleep, not when he was this far away from home. It had been a long time since he'd slept peacefully, or at all. When he used to sleep he was transported back to his small house by the beach; he saw his parents, siblings and old friends; that was on the good nights before he was in the war with the Galra. Most nights he would sleep to see Earth destroyed in front of him, the screams and pleads of his family and friends still piercing through his mind. He would be defenseless and vulnerable only to see his home destroyed again and again. Waking up was no delight either; he would open his eyes to remember he was still in the cold, dark reaches of space.
He was tired, dead tired. He hadn't slept in days. He knew it was bad, especially since he could be thrown into battle any second, but it was impossible to close his eyes. Even if he blinked for a second he would be cast back into reality; so he took to the habit of walking through the castle at the latest of hours to try and clear his head. It only worked sometimes and when it did he would crash on the floor somewhere to be found by another one of the people on the desolate ship.
He thought that this night was like any other, but the castle's silence was breaking. He heard it through the walls, the sound waves crashing into his ears. The noise was quiet though, the kind of noise that no one would notice unless it was as dead silent as now. He still heard it though, choking. Someone was choking. Lance panicked and ran to the source of the noise. Someone was in trouble and no one could hear. He ran down the hall into the corner of the castle Keith's room was in. Keith? Was Keith choking? He came up to the door and was about to turn the handle when he heard the choking turn to a sob. That sob turned into a gasp and began to grow into horrific screams of pain and agony.
Lance knew it was Keith, he recognized the sobs, he'd heard them before. He also knew that Keith was not in any kind of physical pain, he knew it was the kind of pain that could only be felt in the mind. When Lance roomed with Keith at the Garrison he heard these sobs every night. He never told Keith he'd heard him cry and knew the kind of pain Keith was going through couldn't be fixed by talking to him. Lance was lost. He didn't want to open the door and confront Keith; he knew he'd be pushed away. He didn't want to grab Shiro either because he knew that Keith would never admit to such vulnerable of an emotion, so he decided to wait.
He sat outside the door of his room and listened to his heart-wrenching tears fall. They began to grow quieter and less strained until it turned to nothing but an occasional sniffle. Lance did not feel any regret to coming to Keith earlier, he knew that sometimes the best way to cope with that raw of an emotion was alone, but now there was no excuse. He heard Keith's footsteps near the door and he knew Keith was going to open it. He got up, took a step back and waited for the door to open; it did.
Keith opened the door to find a tired looking Lance standing in front of him. He knew that he'd heard him crying. Keith stared at the boy waiting for him to insult his emotions. Lance stepped forward, paused, and lunged towards Keith. Lance wrapped him arms around the other boy and held him for a long time. After a minute of having Keith in his arms he moved his lips to the boy's ear, "You don't need to cry alone..." and for the first time in his life, Keith hugged him back too.
