There's Bones In My Closet, But You Hang Stuff Anyway

It had been about a week (a movement as Coran put it) after Lance got completely better and everything went back to normal. Well, almost everything. Keith was acting a little cold, colder than usual, and everyone noticed. But whenever anyone asked him if he was alright, he would always shrug it off and say that he was fine, he wouldn't even talking to Shiro about whatever was bothering him.

He was training endlessly nowadays, only taking breaks to eat, to go on a mission, or just minutes before he crashed. He was pushing himself over something and it was very apparent, but no one knew what was bothering him so much.

Keith had come a long way while he was in space, a long way in getting closer to other people and allowing himself to care for and be cared for by them. But now it was like he was receding back into the same closed off person who first stepped into the Castle of Lions. The same closed off person who pushed other away before they had a chance to push him away.

On this particular day Lance thought that he would try himself on the training deck, wanting to test out the limits of his flexibility which might've been altered by his wound (everyone assured him that it wouldn't but he still wanted to check), that and the fact that he hasn't trained for a while and felt like it was long due.

As he walked into the training area he saw Keith battling the Gladiator with all his might. Yet he was sluggish, getting sloppy and being pushed around by the Altean robot. Keith had his hair tied up into a ponytail, sweat dripping down and through his shirt, and droopy posture. With one last burst of energy Keith charged at the Gladiator, swinging his sword at it and chopping off it's head with the once last slice.

"Training sequence fifteen; complete" the castle's automated voice said from around the room. Lance's eyes widened, he couldn't believe that the Korean had gotten so far into the training sequences.

Then Keith fell. Hard.

"End training sequence. End training sequence!" Lance commanded as he ran over to Keith's side. Lance slid to a kneeled position next to Keith, freaking out a little because he had no idea what to do.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit, Lance thought to himself as he finally decided on starting off by checking for a pulse. He pressed two of his long, tanned fingers up to Keith's neck while supporting himself with his other hand, waiting for a heartbeat.

There it was. Faint and palpitating, but it was there. Lance could feel his own heart rushing with adrenaline as he picked Keith up and ran him to the medical bay with the healing pods.

"Allura! Coran! Pidge! Anyone? I need help here, I need a healing pod!" the Cuban yelled as he ran down the hallways. He screeched to a halt once he made it into the medical bay, hearing the sound of pounding footsteps coming up behind him.

Or was that his heart?

He couldn't tell.

Lance started pacing a little while he waited for someone, anyone who could activate the healing pods, to come in and help him get Keith into one.

"Lance? Lance what's wrong?" Allura asked, rushing into the room with Pidge at her heels. "I heard you yelling and- oh my! Keith! What's wrong with him?" she asked, hurrying over to Lance who was still carrying Keith bridal style in his arms.

"I-I don't know! He just passed out after a finished training sequence!" Lance answered as Allura and Pidge rushed over to get a better look at Keith.

"Overexhaustion I'm guessing. Lance tell me how he was acting before he collapsed," Pidge said calmly.

"Well, he looked tired, sloppy. He was...not himself."

"Definitely overexhaustion."

"Yes well we have to get him into a healing pod, like, now!" Lance said, a little agitated, panic was taking root in his brain.

"Oh Lance, we can't. Coran and I are still rebooting the healing pods because of what happened to you. If we stop the reboot process and put Keith inside of one then he might come out worse than he actually is right now." Allura said sympathetically.

"But all he really needs is to rest up. Take him to your room since it's closer, let him sleep, give him a change of shirt at least oh my god he stinks, and we'll make sure he eats once he wakes up," Pidge said, looking pointedly at Lance from over her glasses.

"But why me? Can't we call Shiro or something?" Lance complained, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"Actually no, I was, and still am, helping Pidge with something," Shiro said, walking through the door, concern still knit between his eyebrows. "I'm done with the download so you're good to come in," he said, focusing on the smaller girl.

"I'm going to check on the pods," Allura said as Shiro and Pidge walked out together. "Lance please, we don't want him to get worse," Allura pleaded.

"Alright princess, but only because you asked~" Lance flirted. Allura facepalmed when he turned his back on her.

Lance trudged down to his room with Keith curled in his arms. The Korean's face was flushed red from the excessive amounts of training, his hair clinging to his pale skin from the sweat, and his eyebrows furrowed together almost as heavily as his breathing. His eyes were closed, showing off his long eyelashes that enclosed his deep-set stormy violet eyes. Lance's eyes followed a bead of sweat that traveled down the bridge of the smaller male's arched nose and around his lips. His pink, soft looking, thin lips.Lance looked up from Keith's face, feeling his own heat up a bit as he continued his journey down to his quarters. When he got there he carefully typed in his code before walking into his cluttered bedroom, carefully stepping over his things.

Lance walked in and set Keith down on the bed, turning around to switch on the lights. He then walked into the bathroom which was, shockingly, filled with face creams, a few clothing items, scented shampoos, and labeled towels. Lance grabbed a towel, ran it under cold water, grabbed a random shirt from his stash, and walked back out to where the barely conscious boy was.

"Hey there buddy, can you sit up for me?" he asked, noticing that Keith's eyes were fluttering. He nodded and did just that, nursing his head and stomach in his hands.

"What...what happened?" he asked, his voice was groggy and heavy form his exhaustion.

"Don't try to talk too much, but long story short, you collapsed from overexhaustion after training and I carried you here to relax and recharge for a while," Lance answered, moving Keith's arm so that he could press the cold cloth to his forehead. "Can you take your shirt off for me? You're gonna want to change out of that at least," Lance asked, tugging at the hem of it with his free arm. Keith swatted Lance's hands away and nodded, shifting a bit and hazily peeling the cloth off of his body, showcasing his abs that glistened with sweat.

Lance looked down at his own body and frowned. Sure, he was lean, but he didn't have abs.

Abs.

What the hell Keith?

Keith tossed the old shirt off to the side before grabbing the one that Lance offered him, using the towel to dry himself off. After that Keith grunted as he sat back on his bed, Lance climbing up to sit next to him on it.

"Hey, I think we should talk," Lance whispered, copying Keith who had his knees pulled close to him.

"Aren't you supposed to be letting me rest?"

"Well, someone who's actually not half bad once told me that talking about things could make them better."

"There's nothing to talk about. I guess the only thing I have to say is thank you for helping me but that's about it," Keith muttered.

"Keith, you have very obviously pulling away from everybody. Something is definitely wrong. You can talk to us, to me. I'll listen to you just as you listened to me," Lance frowned.

"There's nothing for you to listen to. Can you please leave me alone now?"

"Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"There's nothing wrong!"

"You yelling just proves that my point is more valid than yours."

"The only point here is that there shouldn't even be one. There's nothing to talk about so just drop it."

"C'mon Keith! I opened up to you! You can open up to me," Lance said, starting to get a little frustrated with the red paladin.

"No Lance, I can't!" Keith shouted, causing Lance to jump. "I can't open up because that means getting close. And the last time I tried getting close to you, you accused me of just trying to get laid because I was gay! That hurt Lance, you're bi, how could you say something so...so insensitive? I was in the closet for a reason, this! And besides, who are you to say that when you're a loverboy yourself?" Keith whispered the last part, tears burning his eyes.

Lance froze up, he was speechless for a good minute, that minute was filled with a heavy silence.

"Keith I said I was sorry a-"

"Yeah well sorry's not going to cut it Lance! I was closed off, indifferent, I was fine before I tried to open up, and look where it got me! I thought...I thought this time could be different, that if I let myself be close to people they wouldn't push me away. But I was wrong, I was so, so wrong. And I've allowed myself to get hurt again because I'm so stupid! And I'll never do it again. You took one of my biggest secrets and insulted me about it to my face, and now I know better than to try and be kind."

"Keith...I really am sorry. I didn't mean it, I was just, I don't know. I wasn't myself when I said that."

"Sure," Keith replied darkly, unmoved by Lance's words. He had his head buried in his knees, hair covering any hope of Lance catching the smaller male's eyes.

"My family is very open-minded ya know. Sure, it took them a while to get used to the fact that I was bi after I came out to them, but they really tried. That was nice," Lance whispered.

"Lance, why do I care?" Keith asked rudely, but Lance just shushed him and hesitantly continued on with his story.

"Not all of them tried at first though. My papa...he didn't talk to me for months, and my sister Sophia yelled 'just make up your goddamn mind' to me. My abuela was understanding, but not my abuelo... although he didn't outright show his distaste for my sexuality, he could no longer look me in the eyes," Lance said in a hushed voice, no longer looking at Keith when he felt as if his heart were about to stop beating.

"I'm sorry that happened to you Lance, but again, why do I care? Why are you telling me this?" Keith asked, lifting his head up but not looking over at the Cuban.

"Well first, don't be sorry. It's better for the most part now, I came out a long time ago. And second, I'm telling you this because I've never told a single soul that, and unlike my nightmares, I never plan to. I've always said that they were completely fine with it form the beginning, but that's not even remotely true."

"So, what? You've told me something that you don't want to tell anyone else and I'm supposed to just forgive you because of that? You hurt me really bad."

"No I don't expect you to forgive me, I acknowledge what I said wasn't right. But god, I was terrified to tell you that Keith, I was scared that you were going to judge me or say something awful like I did to you, but now we're closer whether you like it or not. So don't close yourself off, because it's not going to push us away from you Keith, in fact it's probably going to pull us closer to you," Lance replied.

Keith scoffed but didn't say anything for a moment. "Hey Lance, were you really terrified of telling me about your families first reactions to you being bi?"

"Yeah, I can feel my heart pounding at just the thought of talking about it, of saying it out loud."

"Yeah right."

"No I'm being serious!"

"Prove it," Keith challenged.

"Fine!" Lance exclaimed, grabbing the Korean's hand and slamming it (a little too hard) onto his own chest. "Can you feel that? Can you feel how fast it's beating?" he asked rather loudly.

Keith was shocked that Lance grabbed him so quickly without warning, but he could feel himself nodding as the sensation of Lance's pounding heart traveled up his soft palm. Lance loosened his grip on Keith's wrist but he didn't let it go as Keith shifted a little on the bed to better press his hand onto Lance's chest.

The two were facing each other now, heads subconsciously drifting closer together until Lance could feel Keith's breath on his shoulder. His face was red, he could tell, and his heart wouldn't calm down under the touch of the shorter male. Lance had to fight himself really hard so that he wouldn't reach out and touch Keith's hair, sure he always made fun of it, but right then it looked so soft and fluffy, he just wanted to touch it.

"Are we...are we cool?" Lance asked, looking up so that he wouldn't be tempted to touch Keith's hair.

Suddenly Keith dropped his head onto Lance's shoulder drowsiness taking over his body.

"Yeah sure, I'm too tired to be upset anymore," Keith mumbled, snuggling into the crook of Lance's neck.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

"Oh yeah, overexhaustion, I almost forgot about that," Lance chuckled, holding Keith steadily to his chest as he mindlessly started humming a tune.

"Hey, that's the song I hummed to you," Keith smiled, falling deeper into sleep with every passing moment. Lance paused for a good second, thinking back on the song.

"Yeah, I guess it is," the taller male smiled back before continuing to rock Keith to sleep whilst humming the old tune.