Fragile | klance

16. Keith

It's been several weeks since Team Voltron found out about Lance's illness. It has been hard but slowly, ever so slowly, everyone has excepted the fact that one day they will wake up, but Lance will not.

Every painful step, everyone sharp intake of breath, and every flinch. It was all noticed, but never addressed. There were eggshells underneath every step, so everyone was cautious still.

Keith was in the kitchen for a late night glass of water when he heard the soft pitter patter of footsteps and two tanned arms wrapped themselves around his waist lazily.

Lance buried his face into his shoulder blade and Keith smiled as he took a small sip from his glass. "Oh my dearest Keith, will you not return to our pleasant cradle?" He slurs.

Keith snorts at his words. "I will in a minute, i'm just finishing this glass. Why don't you go back to sleep?" He turns in Lance's grasp and smiles at him. Lance frowns and shakes his head, "but I want to sleep with you!" He whines cutely.

"Alright. Would you like a glass of water as well?" Keith laughs breathily. "Mmm no. I don't want to pee later." He replies causing Keith to laugh again. He chugs the rest of his glass before placing it on the counter. He'll get it in the morning.

He turns back to Lance and places a loud kiss on his forehead before picking him up bridal style. "Oh my god," Lance laughs, "Keith put me down!"

"No. For I must take thee to thy sleeping chambers." He replied curtly before holding him closer. Lance bursts into giggles, "Keith!"

"Hey Keith.." Lance interupts the silence a few seconds later. "Yes, love?" Lance takes a deep breath before continuing, "would you ever want to marry me?" Lance's voice is wavering slightly when he asks this.

Keith stops walking which causes Lance to tense up in his arms. "Of course I'd marry you. I'd marry you anytime, anywhere." Lance smiles amd his eyes shine. "Okay."

"I love you." Lance tells him softly leaning up for a kiss. Keith smiles into the kiss before sobering up to kiss him properly. "I love you too, sunshine." Lance's cheeks darken and he buries his face in Keith's chest, grumbling.

Lance is already asleep by the time they make their way back to their shared room, showing his exhaustion. Keith gently placed him underneath the covers before sliding in beside him, slinging an arm around his waist and pulling him close.

Keith wakes up to someone yelling his name frantically, panicked. He shoots up and slides his wide eyes to the right where he heard the voice come from. He sees Hunk, red faced, and crying.

"What? What's wrong?!" He yells as well, panicked at his friends frenzied state. "You're gonna wake up Lance!" He yells again but in a slightly more hushed tone. This causes Hunk to cry even harder.

"H-he- He's n-not waking up! He's not waking up! I- I tried, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I tried!" Hunk cries before slumping against the wall, hands covering his face as he sobs wildly.

Before he even finished talking Keith felt his heart stop. Or maybe it was beating so fast he couldn't even feel it anymore, he couldn't tell. He turned to Lance then for the first time since waking up and looked at him.

He looked just the same as he did last night, less the slight changes. For example, his hair was sticking up in all different directions endearingly.  His face was slightly puffy from sleep, which usually caused Keith to kiss them until they were bright red in embarrassment and from lack of breathe when Lance giggled too hard.

Only this time, his cheeks weren't flushed. They didn't really have much color at all, they were rather pale. His eyes weren't shining with the usual fond expression he saves only for him. The one that makes his heart sputter. His set of perfect, white teeth weren't on display like they usually were when he smiled widely at him and told him goodmorning.

His body wasn't flushed against his like usual. Lance always wanted at least 10 minutes of extreme cuddling time before they got up and joined the others in the kitchen. Most importantly, his lips weren't pressed hard yet soft at the same time against his.

Keith gulped audibly before slowly bringing his shaking hand towards Lance's pale cheek. It was chilled to the touch. Lance's chest wasn't moving up and down slightly with each relaxed breath he took. His hand was lax at his side, not clinging onto Keith's shirt like every other morning.

Though he didn't want to believe it, so many things shouted it out to him. He brought his other hand to cup Lance's other cheek and he lifted himself to hover above his late love.

He never even noticed he was crying until he wheezed in a breath and a tear fell onto Lance's skin, sliding down the side of his cheek almost as if he was crying himself.

Keith wheezed and gasped as he tried to control his breathing. Which proved to be hard as more and more tears just kept coming out in floods. His eyes were already becoming slightly sore with the onslaught of tears they were releasing.

"No. No no no, please. Please Lance. Lance, I love you! I love you, please! Pl-please." His voice cracks as he starts crying harder than he's ever cried before. Growing up without a mother, his father's death, Shiro's disappearance. Nothing compared to this.

Suddenly the door opened with a soft whish but Keith couldn't bring himself to lift his head. "Hey, what's taking so-" Pidge's voice suddenly cut off, presumably because of the sight before her. You see, Pidge was a smart girl. Sometimes too smart for her own good.

Keith heard a soft thud sound as her legs gave out from underneath her weight. "Wha-" Hunk hushed her and they both cried in the comfort of the other. Only, Keith didn't have any. All he could see was the one person he could truly ever love completely.

It didn't take long before everyone was filtering in the room, wondering what was going on. Gasps and hiccups could be heard from the space of the small room. The walls were only reverberating the noises, making them even louder than they already were, mocking their pain and laughing at them.

Some time later, Keith feels the cold press of metal against his shoulder. "Keith." Shiro whispers to him, voice slightly hoarse. Keith doesn't look up, nor does he stol crying. "Keith. We can't just- we can't keep him here."

Keith had been slowly started to calm down due to exhaustion, but this caused him to go back to square one. He knew. He knew god damn it! But he couldn't. Couldn't move, couldn't look away, couldn't loosen his hold, and he most definitely couldn't bare Lance to be taken away from him right now.

"Keith." Shiro repeated his name again, more sternly. Keith turned to him finally glaring at him with his most deadly stare. Couldn't he see that he was hurting? That he was in pain?

Why is he trying to take his only source of happiness? Couldn't he just see him? While Keith let his anger overpower his emotions, even if for just a few seconds, Shiro used it to pull him tightly to his chest with no hope of escape.

Keith tried to scramble out of his grasp. Started to scream when he saw Allura and Coran walk towards Lance's body. He cried and screamed as they held him. He kicked and thrashed as they took him away.

Shiro just placed his hand against the back of his head and pulled him closer as Keith's energy left him and he started sobbing in a way that broke everyone's heart even more. Shiro just hushed him slightly. "I know, Keith. I know and I'm sorry." He choked out.

Keith suddenly wished it was his body that Allura and Coran was taking away.

OOF
so i'm back haha
sorry