Love, Loss and Everything in Between. Klance AU

Chapter 25 - Sleepovers

It became a routine for Lance to meet up with Keith in the training room in the middle of the night. He struggled to sleep on his own as his mind was plagued with nightmares of both Allura and Gort. When he was with Keith, it wasn't as bad and, even if it was, Keith was brilliant at calming Lance down during a panic attack. It took about three quintants before they finally moved to Keith's bed.

Lance had been the one to suggest it, mainly as a joke. They had sat down on the bench together, leaning against each other and Lance had mumbled, "You know, maybe we could sleep in your bed sometime. I'm getting tired of waking up with a stiff neck."

Then Keith had responded with, "We could. If you were comfortable with it."

"Really? I was only joking but... I'd be up for that."

"Cool... Let's go to my room then." Keith stood up before holding out his hand to pull Lance up. They didn't part until they were in Keith's room, standing in front of his bed. "Uh... how are we going to do this?"

"You're overthinking it honestly. Have you never slept in the same bed as someone before?"

Keith leaned his head forward as if to say ' obviously not '. "No sleepovers as a kid?"

"You know how deprived my childhood was, man."

"Okay... just... get into the bed and I'll lay in your arms. If you're okay with cuddling, that is."

"Sure, whatever." Keith climbed into the bed before opening up his arms for Lance to crawl into. Once they were settled, Keith buried his head into Lance's hair and breathed in his scent. "Don't be afraid to wake me up if you have a nightmare, alright? I don't want to freak you out by sleeping with you." Lance hummed a soft response, burying his head into Keith's chest. "Night, Lance."

"Night."

-

"Woah, please tell me you're wearing clothes!" Pidge screeched as she entered Keith's bedroom, shielding their poor, innocent eyes with their hands.

"Pidge, don't walk in like that. You're going to give me a heart attack one day, man." Keith grumbled, voice muffled by Lance's hair.

"Are you wearing clothes or not?"

"We are wearing clothes. Chill out." Pidge uncovered their eyes to see Keith pull himself out of the bed and stretch. Lance moaned in his sleep and rolled over. "Why are you here anyway?"

"You were late to breakfast and I drew the short straw."

"Cool, should we wake Lance up?" They both glanced at Lance who was sleeping peacefully. His mouth was agape as tiny snores escaped.

"Probably."

Keith rubbed Lance's arm and leaned forward whilst whispering his name. It took a couple of dobashes before Lance's eyes flickered open. As always, he appeared disorientated before Keith assured him that everything was okay.

-

Lance sat on the bench whilst he observed the others training. At first, watching the sparring was enough to trigger him but he was soon able to watch it. Every time someone was thrown to the ground or knocked against the wall, he would wince but it no longer caused panic attacks. He would observe the other paladins as they fought, giving them advice once they had finished. He told Keith to be more patient, following Shiro's signature, 'patience yields focus '. Hunk needed to have more confidence in his movements and Pidge needed to be quicker at reacting. Shiro was damn near perfect but found himself getting too emotionally invested, being unable to place all his strength into harming a fellow paladin.