Chapter 22

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 Hunk was scared of a lot of things. Once his therapist thought it would be a good exercise to list them all out, but he just ended up stress cooking brownies because there were so many he was worried he'd forget one. The one fear he always remembers to list, though, is the dark. Right above his fear of wandering into caves in an alternate dimension while his friend's fought off armed, purple aliens, of course.

This fear was currently at the forefront of Hunk's mind, the darkness of the cave triumphing over the fact that Lance was possibly dying or dead, Hunk would be stuck forever in this horrible dimension, would never see his family again, would go insane in this cave all alone and turn into an old man who talked to himself and ate bats for lunch and- Hunk shakes his head as he pushes thee thoughts. He breathes in, focusing his thoughts on the now, and pushing away thoughts of the future like his father taught him. 

Opening the eyes he didn't realize were closed, Hunk continues forward into the cave. At this point his vision was straining to pick out the walls, and he had to strain his ears to hear the sounds of guns firing. He finally came across a large, open space, large enough for the corners to be shrouded in darkness. Hunk gulps. Giant scary spaces were also on his list. 

"For Lance," he whispers to himself, and takes one step into the room. Immediately the room's walls begin to glow in patterns similar to the drawings in the cave on earth, except in a soft, comforting yellow. In the center of the room a rocky pedestal sits, its jagged edges suggesting that it had been mined forever, but never broken. 

Hunk feels himself drawn to it, and in cautious fascination he approaches it. He listens to the ebbing in his head and reaches forward to touch it, only for the pedestal to crumble under his touch to reveal the brilliant yellow gem within it. Hunk smiles as he touches it, letting the waves of calm wash over him. 

The sound of a laser firing echos through the cave and Hunk jerks. He quickly wraps the leather band around his wrist -- he was never one for necklaces -- before turning and charging back towards his friends, no longer afraid as the familiar presence lit the way. 

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"Keith," Lance said, so close to the other boy that when he spoke Keith's neck flushed. The two were still cowering-- I mean hiding courageously -- behind the shield. At this point the material it was made out of was losing it's structure to lasers, and the soldiers knew it. Every few minutes they would approach only to scurry away at Keith throwing a rock and Lance screaming loudly. At this point the aliens were scared; what kind of creatures are these that can produce so much noise, and have the guts to lay there like sitting darlucks? 

"Keith." Keith is too caught up in his thoughts to care. What about? Well, realistically Keith could turn and kiss Lance right than and there. He could even play it off as an accident, really. A mistake in the heat of the moment. A miscalculation of lip landing. An accidental ass grab or -

"Keith!" Lance repeats, this time accompanied with a sharp poke at his shoulder. Both boys wince, Keith because Lance sure knew how to jab, and Lance because he had once again forgotten -- no not the author. the author remembered this the entire time. the author doesn't have further comment -- that wounds hurt. The adrenaline of the fight had calmed down enough to the point he could feel the ache of his laser burn when he moved, and a sharp pain where his recently healed wound was. The stitches had probably ripped by now, but Lance was hesitant to pull up his sleeve to look. 

"Wha-" Keith turns and is interrupted by Lance's face being two inches away. He gulps. "What?"

"I'm sorry." The lanky boy replies.

"For what?" Keith's mood quickly changes to concerned. A laser ricochets off their shield and he tries to ignore it.

"For dragging you into all of this. For messing up your life. I mean you had everything you needed and I just had to come in and wreck it and-" Lance begins rambling so fast Keith can barely understand a word. The confusion of Lance being anything other than cocky also messes with his head, so when the next full thought that enter his brain is to kiss him, he does. 

Despite the tension -- some would say sexual. Cough, cough, Pidge -- between them the last couple days, the kiss is sweet and light. Neither boy moves much, both caught to off guard to use the mushy pink thing in their skulls. What finally tears them apart is a new barrage of laser fire. The soldier's must have noticed Keith's lull in rock throwing and pushed forward.

"Shit," Keith says under his breath, peeking around the shield to see the group approaching.

"Wow,"  Lance says breathlessly. "That was... unexpected. Though not in a bad way. Maybe we should do it again. With some warning I could really make your da-" His last syllable is cut off by a boot kicking their shield away. 

Lance looks up cautiously, keeping his hands behind his head to seem harmless. "Oh hi. We were kind of having a moment here if you could give us some privacy that would be great."

The soldier doesn't acknowledge understanding Lance at all, instead dragging him up to standing by the back of his neck. Keith struggles slightly on the way up, trying to punch out only to be met with a gun to his face. He grunts at the impact, but doesn't move otherwise. 

Two soldiers station themselves behind the two boys, guns to their backs. The remaining two stand before them, and steps forward. "You are charged with treason against the Galra Empire," the soldier says in perfect English, due to the all-language translator embedded in their uniforms. The use of a language they understand coming from the mouth of a purple, armor clad alien is enough to distract Lance from digesting the next line.

Keith however, hears every word.

"And as stated in Galra law, you shall be executed immediately." 

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Three whole chapters! And finally, a tangible Klance bonding moment. 

Thank you for sticking with me!

Stay healthy.

-TheGirlBehindTheMask

Word Count: 1081

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