Klance One Shots

Homesickness and Comfort

A/N Chapter dedicated to The_Angel_Nico for the prompt. I changed it up a little, though.

Keith had been looking for Lance for a while, wanting to talk to him about the new training routine. He wasn't in his room, he wasn't on the training deck (it was a rarity if he was training), and he wasn't in the dining hall. He was worried about him, he knew it was late, so he was afraid that he got sucked out into space, but he wasn't fighting a rogue gladiator robot to come and save him that time.

He ventured into the control room, the door hissing as he entered. He looked around, not seeing any sign of the blue paladin, before he saw a heap of blankets, brown hair was visible at the top. Keith walked up to him, wondering why he was sitting there, all alone.

"Lance?"

"O-oh, hey, Keith," Lance greeted, turning his body slightly so he could look at Keith, who was behind him.

"Why are you here all alone?" Keith asked. "I wanted to talk to you about the new training cycles-" Keith noticed Lance's usual cheerful eyes brimmed with red, his face red and slightly puffy. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Lance looked back up at Keith, as if he was lost in thought for a second. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking a little."

"About what?" Keith sat down next to the blue paladin and placed his gloved hands in his lap.

"Y'know, nothing really, just space, Earth, home..." Lance let out a sigh that showed Keith that Lance missed Earth, his family.

As for Keith, he didn't have any family. The only family he knew was Shiro, and Shiro wasn't there some of the time, then not at all once he departed for the Kerberos mission. He didn't manage to get any friends at the Garrison, the only praises he got were from the instructors, which happened a lot, but didn't feel real to him. Some of the only criticism he thought about were the envious ramblings of a jealous cargo pilot.

"I want to go home, Keith," Lance said, his words bringing Keith out of his train of thought. "I mean, I miss everyone back home. They must be worried sick about me. The last time I talked to them was at the Garrison. I wish I could communicate with them, somehow. That I could tell them that I'm okay, and they could tell me that they're fine. I just-" he sobbed. "I miss them all so much."

His head was buried in his arms, which were crossed and resting on his knees. He could see the tears dripping down his arms and falling on the ground, which made Keith think about how Lance missed his family, a thought that has never occurred to him before. Keith reached out his hand and hesitantly patted his back comfortingly. He never really comforted anyone but Shiro, and he wasn't all too great at it, but it was the thought that counted.

"I don't have anything to miss on Earth," Keith told him.

"Y-you don't?" Lance asked, looking back up at Keith with tear stains on his tan cheeks. "No family?"

"No, I'm an orphan, and when I got kicked out of the Garrison for trying to find Shiro, I found my desert shack to continue tracking him down," Keith explained.

"Y-you're an orphan?!" Lance asked, surprised. He felt terrible for his self-proclaimed "rival". "I'm so- I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Keith said. "I've learned to live with it."

"Have you met your parents?"

"Well, I knew my mom for a while, but suddenly, she disappeared and I was put into foster homes."

"That must've been terrible."

"A few times, yes, but that's how I met Shiro," Keith said. "He was my foster brother until we were both accepted into the Garrison. He was my only friend, and closest to family I've ever had until you guys. When he got assigned to the Kerberos Mission, I didn't want him to go. He was the only thing I had, except for the empty praises from the instructors. He did, and then he disappeared, and I've never felt so empty before. I didn't eat as much, and my studies were declining, and a certain cargo pilot jeered at me wherever I went."

Lance's face was full of shock. "I'm s-sorry, I d-didn't mean-"

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean to. You didn't know." The red paladin was stricken by surprise as Lance wrapped his arms around him, and pulling him closer to his body.

"I really am sorry, I didn't mean to be a jerk about everything," Lance told him, his words muffled in Keith's hair, which smelled comfortingly like mint.

"It's alright." Keith enjoyed the feeling of Lance's long, warm arms wrapped around him as he let out a sigh, causing the blue paladin to smile in his hair. Lance reluctantly let go and took his face out of his mullet, which a while ago, Lance would have said he would rather have died than to put his face in. Keith smiled at Lance, leaning in to his ear, and muttering, "I have you now.", subconsciously kissing his temple.

Lance looked at Keith in surprise after he pulled away. Keith then realized what he said. Embarrassedly, he stood up, and corrected himself with, "I-I mean, all of you guys!" His face red, he began to walk out of the room, Lance still trying to register what had happened, then realized that Keith was walking away.

"K-Keith! Wait! Don't go." Keith stopped as Lance ran to him. Keith turned around to be pulled into another hug, Lance's face resting on his shoulder. Keith ignored the feeling of rising heat in his face, and wrapped his arms around the blue paladin. "It's okay, I like you too."