At Least I Tried

Was it worth it? All this pain?

When Lance arrived home later that evening, dinner was already cooked and ready. He thanked Keith with a kiss and sat down to enjoy a home cooked meal with his husband.

He didn't sleep well that night. The brunette stayed still in the bed with the lights out watching and listening to Keith sleep peacefully next to him. The occasional blue or red flash of Keith's hearing aids flashing in the dark were the only other source of light in the dark room.

Lance smiled. He was quite proud of those hearing aids. Or well how Keith got them to be more precise. Lance had scrambled up all his money and even somehow pulled some strings with Keith's good old friend Pidge to help raise money so Lance could buy Keith hearing aids or at least pay for a surgery for him to get them implanted.

God willing, his friends agreed to help him. Pidge set out a donation jar on the Starbucks counter at their store for people to drop a little cash in. At first no one donated and Lance started to think that maybe it was selfish of him to ask this of people. Not everyone would be willing to donate to some random dude, not knowing what or who it was for. Keith wasn't some big charity organization.

But when the first $100 appeared in the Starbucks donation jar, Lance saw hope. He picked up extra shifts at the marine lab. His boss told him to lay off the hours but the extra $15 an hour was worth it. Just the thought of Keith finally being able to hear after 21 years of dead silence...it was worth it.

...

Pidge ran to Lance with an expression only they could pull off. In their hand was a jar filled to the brim with cash.

"Lance! Lance! We did it!!" They shouted at the top of their lungs as the ran across the parking lot. "The jar..." Pidge heaved. "It's full." They said.

The pure joy on their face made Lance smile. He took the jar and examined the cash. "How much is in here?" He asked. Pidge shrugged.

"Some lady dropped two $100 bills in there this morning. Who knows?" Pidge shrugged. "I just hope that it is enough." They said with a smile before they heading back into the Starbucks at the call of their name being called by their boss.

Lance held the jar in his hands. This...this jar could change Keith's life.

That evening, before Keith came home from his day with Shiro, Lance dumped out all the cash he had and sat down to count. His heart was pounding. He needed just enough to pay for hearing aids and those were quite expensive. But there was also the chance that Keith would need surgery...Lance just wished he had enough.

The dollars piled up and the total number rose. Just when he placed down the last cent, the door to the apartment opened and Keith walked into the house.

"Hey, I'm home!"

"Hey, welcome home! How was your day?"

"Good. Shiro took me out to Olive Garden."

"Oh? Was it good?"

"Yeh, it was." Said Keith. He walked into the bedroom finding Lance sitting on the ground. This odd look on his face.

"What were you doing?" He signed.

"Nothing." Lance replied.

Keith stared at him for a second. He knew Lance very well and the past few years he had gotten to know him even better than he ever thought he would. Keith knew Lance. He knew that Lance was hiding something but he decided to not push against the brunette and ignored the odd feeling of suspicion.

Lance sighed as Keith walked passed him into the bathroom and shut the door. He quickly gathered the money he had pushed under the bed and stuffed it into his pockets before he made a run for the kitchen to put the cash in a bag to stash away.

...

Not only was Lance nervous but for some reason he thought Keith was too. Maybe it was just his subconscious saying that his feelings were rational because someone else around him was feeling the same way. Or maybe it was because he was irrational. Lance couldn't tell. It would make sense if he was mentally insane. He didn't really have a good childhood or a nice family. In fact, he hadn't seen his family in almost 10 years.

The truth was, Lance did not know if he wanted to see his family. His face burned when he thought of his Ma slapping him across the face...

{warning: homophobia}

"NO!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Veronica slammed her door shut, cursing in Spanish as she screamed swears at her mother. Ten year old Lance sat silently in his room on the blue ocean themed cover of his twin bed. His heart pounded. Was Ma going to come for him too?

A knock on his door sent him almost into a panic attack. He slowly walked to the knob to unlock the wood panel that was either keeping him from danger or putting him in danger. His father stood outside his door.

"Lance..." The old man began. Lance looked up at his father, his eyes watering with tears. The old man was in his 40's. His dark brown curly hair was starting to fall out and turn gray as he grew older but blamed it on his kids being crazy. His eyes were a gentle gray-brown but stress caused them to wrinkle like an old grandma.

"Can I come in?" He asked. Lance stepped aside and his father walked passed him to sit on his bed. "Come here son." He patted the spot next to him. Lance shuffled to the side.

"Did you hear the fight between Veronica and Ma?" He asked. Lance nodded. "Do you want to know what it was about?" Lance nodded. His father took a deep breath.

"Veronica has decided that she likes girls." The old man said. His words choked him. Lance looked at him with a side glance. "It is sinful to like those who are of the same sex." He continued. "Your mother and I have made the sad but correct decision to ground her from technology and she is no longer allowed to have friends over."

Lance looked at his dad like he was crazy. He didn't understand much of what he was saying but the idea of not having any friends over was such a crazy and unbelievable idea he couldn't even imagine.

"Don't be like her, son." were the last words his heard his father say before he closed the door and left Lance to himself in his blue ocean themed room.

{warning: over}

He felt the piece of paper in his pocket, worried that the wind had taken the sheet from his pocket. But it was still there. Lance sighed. Was he ready for this? This moment? What if Keith said he didn't want it? Who is Lance kidding, of course Keith would want the money...the raven's biggest wish is to hear Lance's voice with his own ears. He told him that years ago.

So when the sun set and the moon rose in the sky, Lance tapped Keith on the shoulder. "I have something for you." He signed. Keith raised an eyebrow. "Here." He handed Keith the piece of paper. It was a check. For...

$10,000 cash...

Made out of Keith McClain.

Keith stared in awe. He opened his mouth to at least try to word what he was thinking but he forgot he had never made a sound since he was a child. "Lance, what is this?"

"It's a check." Laughed Lance.

"I know that. But it's for $10,000!!"

"I thought you would want to have the money to get hearing aids." Lance smiled as he watched Keith's face pale and his hands shake. "You always talk about wanting to hear my voice with your own ears, so I thought, for our anniversary we would go and buy some hearing aids. And if the doctor said that they wouldn't work, we could still pay for a surgery to get implants."

Keith's eyes began to water. He put the check in his pocket, careful not to loose the money. "Lance, they said I couldn't be helped."

"That was years ago. I'm sure they have come up with some way to help you. I swear, we could at least try. Go to the doctor and ask. There is no harm in asking."

The raven looked at Lance like he was crazy but sighed and hugged him anyway. This was why he loved him.

All this pain...was worth it.