Broken

Chapter Three: Bound by Time and Space

"That's impossible," Lance squeaked after taking several long breaths.

"Nope, not impossible," Keith confirmed.

"Keith," Lance breathed. "If this is some kind of joke I swear to God." Lance threatened, grasping desperately at Keith's arms.

"No, it's not. Why would I joke like that?" Keith asked confused.

"Because " Lance sighed as he tried to explain. "People will say... Things to people that they don't really mean. Especially if they know it means something to that person. For example, everyone cares about you, it will get better, and I love you. People have done that to me before Keith and it hurts like hell. I taught myself just not to believe them. That's why I can't believe you. No matter how much I want to... I just can't."

"Lance, please don't do this. You need to believe me!" Keith pleaded.

"I can't Keith! I won't let myself get hurt anymore!" Lance yelled, tears streaming down his face.

Keith rolled off of Lance and sat up next to him. "Lance-" Keith tried again but Lance got up and walked to the door.

"No." He said simply before walking out.

Keith lay on Lance's bed with his hands gripped tightly in his hair. Of course, he had to mess everything up. He had to tell him how he felt. Of course, Lance wouldn't return his feelings- wait. His brain rewinded back to what Lance was telling him. That's why I can't believe you. No matter how much I want to. No matter how much he wants to? That must mean he likes him back. Keith shook his head as he sat up. He had to fix Lance, but how do you tell someone you love them when they've already given up?

Keith got up and exited the room trying to find Lance. He was terrified for him because the longer he walked away, the darker the halls got. He wandered in a straight line down the corridor until he heard someone breathing hard and ran to the source. He found Lance sitting outside of a familiar airlock with his face hidden by his hands as he was shaking. Keith knew by just a glance that he was having another panic attack. Keith crouched down in front of him and did the same things as last time until Lance was calmed down.

Lance looked up at him with wide eyes, still shaking slightly.

"Lance, I love you," Keith said softly. Lance hid his face in his hands.

"I don't believe you," Lance whispered.

"Why?" Keith asked. "Lance, you have to trust me! Let's think about this, why would the queen send us to stay together? She said I can fix you... Lance let me fix you." Keith hadn't noticed how close he had gotten to Lance before he was straddling his thighs.

"You can't fix something that's broken, you have to replace it," Lance muttered.

Keith sat stunned to silence.

"You guys should just replace me. We all know I'm not good enough. I'm not strong, and I'm barely a good pilot. Blue's the friendliest lion so it shouldn't be hard to find a replacement. No one will miss me. Pidge barely acknowledges my existence, I annoy her too much. Allura's never liked me in general. Shiro barely spares a glance at me... He's my idol, Keith. I wanted to meet him so bad. Now I live with him and he barely communicates anything to me. All my ideas and plans are left on deaf ears. Hunk is sweet and so amazing, but even I can see that sometimes he gets aggravated by me. Then there's you, I was so desperate for your attention that I made a rivalry between us. All I wanted was to be friends, not enemies, and I screwed that up too." Lance whispered.

Keith was horrified to hear all of this and honestly didn't know where to go from here. He got off of Lance and sat next to him. He racked his brain for things to say as Lance's words hung in the air between them.