Query Quest

Exposed ⟴ 10

SOOoo, ehm...yeah, heh...let's just forget about the part that I suck at updating regularly and continue with the story???

PS:

I'msorryI'msorryI'MSORRY 😖 Life is just too busy, y'all

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Lance was touching his scar, and Keith didn't know how to feel about that.

It was a tender touch, like he was afraid that Keith's arm would splinter under his fingertips if he pressed too hard, but Keith could feel it so eminently, like he was adding force from the start. His fingers were dry and cold, but as soon as they came in contact with the other's arm, they instantly heated up and damped just slightly, but enough for Keith to feel it. His skin crackled, and the sparks within immediately made him pull back his arm, drawing it back from Lance's soft grip. It was pure instinct, but Keith couldn't understand why he regretted it directly afterwards, as his eyes flew up to look at the boy in front of him, skin sputtering and heart crepitating in his chest so loudly he feared Lance would hear it. 

But he didn't seem to notice it, since the brunette was too busy freaking out himself. His eyes widened, and he immediately withdrew his hand, so quickly the movement was seen in a blur. His mouth hung open in surprise, and his eyebrows almost reached the ceiling. He grimaced afterwards.

"AH, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Does it hurt?" Lance wheezed like he was the one in pain, and he backed away from Keith as much as the bed would let him, his face wrenched in agony.

His reaction was completely unexpected to Keith, and his brain short circuited for a second or two, unable to process the whole situation properly. Was Lance worrying if he was in pain? Was that what it was about? Had Keith understood correctly? Probably not, so he ended up just stuttering out a outdrawn "Uhh..", staring dumbfoundedly at him, his skin still pulsating from the occurrence of Lance's very light touch.

"It hurts, doesn't it? Man, I'm sorry about that." Lance brought his hand up to scratch his neck, looking down at the mattress, a diffident little smile on his lips. "I guess the healing pod didn't complete it's full job, huh?"

His words were getting to him, but still not completely, like there was just that thin layer around his conscious that prevented him from seeing the whole picture. Could he tear it down in just a span of seconds? Probably not, since it clearly must have been evident most of his life, or most of the time around Lance, at least. He could still feel the shadow of his fingers on his scar, like it was a reminder that it had happened, and would be for a while. But why was it affecting Keith so much? It wasn't any different from when they had to hold each other's hands during Query Quest...
Except it was. This touch was different; it wasn't forced, and most importantly, it was soft, barely there at all, like his fingers were ghosting over Keith's scar. It was so unusual to him, that it put him out of place. He quickly had to fix the expression on his face and the malfunction in his brain before speaking again,

"I'm...fine..." His words came out unsure, like he couldn't be fully certain about how he was feeling himself "But... But why'd you touch it anyways?"

Lance dropped his smile immediately, and his hand stopped scratching, instead hanging there in the air for five silent seconds, before falling flat on the bed beside him. The thud of it sounded like a goddamn explosion in the momentary silence, and for the first time, Keith didn't welcome the stillness, not this one; the one that was a million voices screaming in his head, before Lance spoke again and dispelled all of them.

"Well, you know..." His eyebrows were wrenched, and he looked frustrated as he intently stared down at his lap, fiddling with his fingers, pulling on each one of them like he was planning to dislocate them from his palm, but never did. Keith was relieved that he didn't. "It just comes... naturally, to car..." He stopped midsentence, squinting down at his hands, and started over instead. "As I mentioned earlier, my nephews always got injured, so I always... treated their wounds with care, you know... caressing it, just to soothe them. It's completely automatic. I do it with almost everyone, so don't feel special." He clasped his hands together, glaring down at them, like he could see Keith's face in them. Of course he'd turned it into an insult directly after, and Keith had a vague perception as to why; this was his way of maintaining his amour-propre, since this clearly must have been a touchy subject to him, and bringing it up to Keith, his rival - who he must have thought would make fun of him or something along those things - probably made him want to quickly set his pride high and boost up his attitude. But what he didn't know was that it wasn't Keith's intentions at all, and has never been. Not if necessary; not if Lance didn't fuck with him too much and basically asked for Keith to treat him like that.