'such a pity, a boy so pretty'

35. if he's hurt...

Keith sighed and held the phone a little bit away from his ear, biting his lip. Sophia had been shouting spanish curse words and now she had calmed down he put the phone back against his ear.

"What happened?" She finally asked, her voice slightly menacing and Keith just guessed it to be her 'Protective Older Sister' voice.

"Some girl kissed me at the party and Lance saw, he took my bike and drove off" Keith reluctantly told her, swallowing the lump in his throat and clenching his fists hard before continuing. "And he's drunk"

"I swear to god if he's hurt because of you, you're dead. I'm gonna call the police, see if they can send out a small search party." Sophia told him and Keith sighed, clenching his fist harder, so hard that he was sure his leather gloves gave him a burn, or at least left a mark.

"Okay" Keith mumbled and told her where they were and that they were already searching, before Sophia ended the call. Keith let out a hollow sigh and continued to look out of the window, the snow still falling, relentless, like a waterfall of snowflakes had submerged over the town.

Sophia called Keith again a few hours later, when he was home, with Pidge, Hunk and everyone else. Keith was sat in the middle of them when the phone rang. They hadn't been doing much, just sitting there, the tv blaring with whatever programme was on at 3am on New Year's.

"Hey?" Keith said into the phone and put it on speaker as Sophia began to ramble and stumble over her words, as though, if she didn't get them out fast enough, she wouldn't be able to say anything.

"They found him. By the side of the road. No one else was hurt, just him. He must've lost control of the bike. Because he was drunk. He hit a tree. They've taken him to the hospital. They don't know if..... Just get to the hospital." She ended the call after that and Keith was sure she didn't want Keith to hear her cry.

Shiro and Allura drove in Shiro's car. Hunk drove Pidge and Keith, who were in the backseat. Pidge had her arms around Keith, who had seemingly frozen up, even if he was wearing multiple layers of clothing. Lance hadn't been, Keith thought. He was just wearing jeans and his shirt, Keith had Lances jacket in his hands, he hugged it tight.

They got to the hospital quickly and Keith just sat there.

"Keith? We're here." Pidge told him, stroking his arm.

"What if he's dead because of me?" Was the first thing to come out of Keith's mouth since they had left Keith's house. Pidge bit her lip and looked at him.

"He won't be, he'll be fine."

"You don't know that. It was my bike. He left because of me-"

"That wasn't your fault." Pidge began.

"But I could've stopped it" He said miserably, looking down. "I should've stopped it" He sniffed and Pidge pulled him into a hug, sighing.

"It's not your fault" Pidge repeated, holding him tighter, and they eventually left the backseat of the car, and walked into the hospital, Keith lingered behind slightly, hugging himself and followed Hunk and Pidge into the hospital.

They walked to the reception and asked which room Lance was in, and walked down the hospital corridor once again. Pidge and Hunk walked inside, by the sound of Shiro's voice he guessed everyone else was already there. Keith bit his lip hard.

He could turn back now and not go in, Lance would still be out there and he would be fine, he would just be walking home and might've lost his way. Keith would call him and he would come pick him up. The black haired boy put his hands in his pockets and ran his hands over Lance's phone. He sighed and then took a deep breathe, before walking in.

The first thing he saw was Lance. Laying there, not moving, except his chest. Machines everywhere, surrounding him. His eyes were closed. He had his leg in a cast and both of his arms. He looked like he hadn't slept in months. Keith felt like crying, but no tears came, so he just stood there, frozen with grief at the sight of Lance.

Sophia looked up and saw him, her eyes red and tearful, she stood up and walked over to Keith, pulling him into a hug. Keith hugged back as the tears started to flow again. Sophia just hugged him tighter and sighed. Sophia let go of him and bit her lip.

"It's not your fault" She told him and Keith wiped his eyes and looked past her at Lance. Sophia led him over to the bed and Keith sat down. She walked out of the room, mumbling something about getting a coffee.

Keith stared at Lance and eventually took his hand, which was seemingly lifeless but there was some sliver of warmth in his palm, which gave Keith a small sense of happiness in his drowning feeling of guilt and sadness. His thumb stroked the back of Lances hand, holding it tightly, never wanting to let go.

Everyone stayed in the room for hours, Keith had eventually fallen asleep, holding Lances hand and someone had found a blanket and put it over him. Soon Hunk, Pidge and everyone else began to go home, promising to be back in the morning. The only people that remained was Sophia, Rosa and Keith. Sophia, like Keith had fallen asleep, her body curled up in the plastic chair, her jacket over her.

Only the soft beeping of the heart monitor could be heard and Rosa sighed, her eyes glancing at her son as she held his other hand.

"Come back to us hijo, te necesito" She glanced at Lances other hand and at her sons boyfriend. "Keith needs you. So please wake up. For him, and for me. I love you hijo" Rosa told him, wondering if he could hear her or not, and if he could, would he listen.

end of chapter 36

sorry this took ages to upload i've been in exam season
hope you enjoy :)