Chapter Text
When they got back, Lance softly shook Keith awake. He was met by an immediate glare.
“Awe, come on. You were only asleep for like twenty minutes. Why so grumpy?” He just stretched out his arms and got out. When they got to the dorm they both tore off their coats. “You still want to go to the pool?”
Keith: Unless you’ve thought of something better.
“Nope.” He said, throwing Keith a pair of swim shorts. “No one’s here now though, so we can do whatever we want.” He nodded and went to go change. When he came back in a hoodie with a pair of sweats over his shorts. “You ready?” He nodded and pulled on his boots. Lance led them out to the pool as usual. He went through the window and let Keith in before starting the heat. Honestly, Keith didn’t want to be here, but he knew Lance was sad he wasn’t going home, and he hoped it would help. It was freezing in the building. As soon as Lance made his way to the chairs, he wrapped his arms around Keith.
“It’ll warm up in a minute.” They stayed there for what was probably quite a bit longer than necessary, before Lance finally got up. “Come on, should be warm now.” He said as he connected his phone to the speakers and pulled off his clothes. Keith slowly did the same and made his way to the edge of the pool. As he sat down on the edge, Lance jumped in, causing water to splash all over him. Suddenly, his head popped up by his feet.
“You’re just going to stay there?” Keith shrugged. “Keith!” He whined as he pulled himself closer to the edge. “Don’t be lame.” Keith just rolled his eyes. Lance pulled him closer to the ledge. “Don’t make me pull you in…” He teased, wrapping his hands around Keith’s legs. He tensed up a little, then shrugged it off. So, Lance pulled him in. He panicked at first, but soon realized the water stopped at his shoulder, he was wrapped around his waist. When he finally relaxed his grip, he pulled back and glared and his smirk.
“You know you love me.” He teased, immediately met by Keith’s middle finger. “Well then…” Lance trailed off and stopped kicking his legs, causing them to start sinking. Just before Keith’s head went underwater, he swam back up. Keith was glaring even harder now. Then, he realized he never told Shiro they made it back. He was probably blowing up his phone.
“You alright?” Lance asked as he swam to the shallow end of the pool. Keith held up a finger and made his way out of the pool and to the chairs. “Keith?” He just waved him off. He immediately got up and ran over to him. “I’m sorry…” He sat down next to him, earning a confused look from Keith.
Keith: What?
“I’m sorry.”
Keith: I’m not mad at you dummy. I just realized I never told Shiro we got back. He blew up my phone.
“Oh.”
Keith: Yeah, I’m gonna go call him.
“Wait.” Lance said, pulling Keith back. “It’s like thirty degrees out and you’re soaking wet. Just stay in here. You’ll freeze out there.” Keith kind of shrunk down.
Keith: I’ll just call him later.
“That’s not what I meant…” Lance said softly as he realized how that most likely came off. Keith just shrugged and turned his phone off. “Seriously.” He just shrugged again. “Keith… I’m never going to try and make you talk to me. If you ever decide to, that’s all on you.” He said softly. He just shrugged again. “Keith…” He pulled his legs up to his chest. Lance pulled him into his chest. “I promise you, that’s not what I was saying…” Keith nodded, but made no effort to move. They sat there for a few minutes before Lance wrapped a towel around him. “Do you wanna go back to the dorm? Or you could go to Shiro’s?” Keith nodded and slowly started drying off. When they were both dressed, Lance led the way back into the main building. He started towards the teacher’s dorms, but Keith pulled him back.
“I thought you were going to Shiro’s?” Keith just shook his head and continued walking. Lance just followed behind. When they got to the dorm, Keith went straight to the shower. Lance decided to go shower in Hunk’s room since he wasn’t there anyways. When he came back, Keith was already in bed.
“Are you still mad at me?” He asked softly.
Keith: I was never mad at you.
“You weren’t?” He asked as he sat down next to him. Keith shook his head softly. “Really? You seemed it…”
Keith: You’ve seen me mad before.
“Yeah… I guess so… You know I really didn’t mean that right?” He hesitated, but nodded, then moved over to the edge of the bed. Lance laid down next to him and pulled him closer. “Don’t you still need to talk to Shiro?”
Keith: Probably.
“Are you going to?”
Keith: He can wait until tomorrow. I’m tired. Adam’s probably there and he knows I’m alive. Plus I’ve been with you all day, so I doubt he’s very worried.
“What do you mean?”
Keith: He trusts you.
“Really? Why?”
Keith: I dunno… I guess because I do.
“You do?”
Keith: You haven’t noticed?
“Well… I mean you actually make eye contact with me now.” He teased, earning an eye roll from Keith. “I thought you were just learning to deal with me.”
Keith: Believe it or not, I’ve actually told you more than I’ve probably told anyone but Shiro and like one other person.
“Really?”
Keith: Yeah. I know I haven’t told you much, but more than most people.
“Well you can tell me anything, you should know that by now.”
Keith: It’s not that easy. It’s kind of hard to do that when you can’t talk.
“Yeah… I think this works just fine though.”
Keith: I guess.
Keith shut off his phone and curled closer to Lance.
“You goin’ to sleep?” He nodded into his chest. Lance wrapped an arm around him and rested his chin on his head. They both fell asleep wrapped up in each other's arms.
The next morning Keith woke up alone. When he saw that Lance was gone, he looked over to see the bathroom empty as well. When he got up, he was immediately met with much cooler air than usual. He pulled his devet around him and made his way to the living room. When he got there, he heard Lance shout from the kitchen. When he got there, he was running his hand under the sink.
“Hey.” He said, almost grunting. Keith motioned to his hand. “Oh, I’m fine.” He mumbled as he turned off the faucet and wrapped it in paper towels. “Well, I was trying to make omelets… give me a second to finish them.” Keith walked over and took his hand. When he pulled his other hand away, there was already blood covering the towel. When he pulled the towel off, he realized Lance was definitely playing it down. He started to pull them back to their room.
“Keith, I’m fine.” He ignored him and brought him into the bathroom. Keith carefully cleaned and bandaged Lance’s hand after trying to get an idea of how deep the cut was, ignoring his protests. “Are you like a doctor now?”
Keith: No, but I have plenty of experience. Let me change that in a little while. Tell me if it doesn’t stop bleeding.
“I’m fine, I promise. Can I go finish our food now?”
Keith: If you let me cut up whatever you were trying to.
“Fine.” He sighed, as he followed Keith into the kitchen. “Here. Maybe start with a new pepper though, and knife.” He said as he slid a cutting board over to him. As soon as he started, Lance realized he had no idea what he was doing. “You’ve never done this have you?” He just shrugged. “Here.” He said walking behind him. “Hold the knife like this instead, you’ll have better control.” He whispered as he repositioned Keith’s hand. “And hold the pepper like this. It’ll make it harder to cut yourself. When he was finally done cutting the pepper, Lance made his way to the stove.
Keith: So, if your so good at that, how’d you manage to cut yourself that badly?
“I have like no attention span. I went to go do something else and when I came back I picked it up from the wrong side…” He said with a soft laugh. “Seriously, I’ll be fine.”
Keith: It was pretty deep…
“I’ve had worse. It’ll be fine, I promise.” Keith nodded and waited for Lance to finish cooking. A few minutes later, he slid a plate across the bar. They ate in silence for a while before Lance had an idea. “You should teach me how to play bass.”
Keith: That’s gonna be hard to do over text.
“You can just show me. It’ll be fine. C’mon, it’ll be fun. It’s not like we have much else to do today.”
Keith: Okay, fine. What song? One that I know.
“You pick. I don’t know what’s hard.” Keith nodded and watched as Lance took their plates to the sink, then started towards their room. “You coming?” He asked, he hopped up and followed him down the hall. He threw a pen and a notebook on his dresser, then grabbed his bass off the wall and plugged it into the amp. Lance watched as he played around with the sound of the amp and checked the tuning. Then, he motioned Lance over and handed it to him.
“So, what song am I doing?” Keith scribbled in the notebook.
‘21 guns.’
“Green Day?” He nodded. “You should play it first so I can know what it should sound like.” He nodded and took the bass back. He rolled his eyes and played through the first two verses. Lance was already lost. Keith handed it back and Lance threw the strap over his shoulder. Then, he walked behind him to where he could see in the mirror. “Can you even see over me?” He teased, before Keith jabbed him in the side. “Hey! You know I’m funny… So how do I do this?” Keith repositioned his fingers, then showed him which strings to pick. After about half an hour, he was starting to get it. “How do your fingers not hurt all the time?”
‘They’re just used to it.’
“What’s your favorite one to play?”
‘Freewill - Rush’
“Play it.” He said, handing him the bass back. He honestly had no interest in playing, he just liked seeing Keith play. This time he played through the whole song, using quite a bit more concentration.
“How long have you been playing?”
‘My dad got me an acoustic guitar when I was like seven, but bass for like six years maybe.’
“You don’t play guitar anymore?”
‘No. I only ever had the acoustic, but this makes more sense.’
“Really? So I’m assuming that means no George Strait?”
‘Well, do you see one anywhere?’
“But you know stuff on it still?”
‘Probably. Maybe. Why?’ Lance just grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the dorm. He dragged him all the way down to the arts hall, stopping at the door of one of the music rooms. When he tried the door it was locked.
Keith: Oh no, guess we have to go back…
“Hey, I know that’s sarcasm. No worries though…” He said as he pulled a card out of his wallet. A few seconds later he had the door open. “The locks here suck.” He said as he pushed Keith inside the room. He rolled his eyes, then looked over his options. He landed on a random Taylor guitar and sat down on a nearby box drum. “What are you gonna play?” Lance asked as he attempted to tune the guitar.
Keith: Not George Strait.
“Why?” He whined.
Keith: Do you even know any George Strait songs? Doesn’t seem like your thing… You just wanted me to play a country song right?
“Maybe…”
Keith: Yeah, not happening.
“Well, what are you gonna play then?”
Keith: Give me a second to look at chords. I haven’t played since I was like ten.
“Fine…” He sighed and watched as Keith attempted to figure out the song. A few minutes later, he started. It took him a minute to figure out what song it was, but eventually, he did. It was Everlong by the Foo Fighters. When he finished, he looked up to see Lance staring at him.
Keith: Are we done now? It’s cold in here.
“Fine, let’s go.”