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Chapter Text

Keith heard the swish off the belt before he felt the burning sting on his back. He grunted in pain. Then he suddenly felt a hand in his hair tugging his head roughly back.

"After everything I've done for you! You go and do something shitty like that!" Keith's foster father yelled.

Before Keith could say anything his foster dad slammed his head into the floor.

Keith suddenly woke with a start. He was drenched in sweat, tremors were raking his body and his breathing was ragged. Taking deep breaths he tried to calm himself.

"It was just a nightmare. I'm in space, I'm in the castle of lions. I'm not 'there' anymore." He murmured, trying to ground himself.

Standing up shakily he quietly slipped out of the room. He walked quickly to the lions hamper. He desperately needed to see Red. While walking down the dark hallways he heard a suspicious racket coming from the kitchen.

Thinking it could be an intruder he activated his bayard and carefully crept closer to the noise. He took a deep breath to steady himself then he leapt into the room, sword raised.

Lance who had been looking for a midnight snack, suddenly let out a very high-pitched girlish scream. Keith stood frozen, sword still raised.

"Lance!" He said exasperated. "What the hell are you doing? And why do you scream like a girl?!"

Lance indignantly swallowed his biscuit and irritatedly said. "For your information I don't scream like a girl, I was just startled and accidentally let out a rather higher pitch than normal. And I was getting a midnight snack."

Keith raised an unimpressed eyebrow as he put his bayard away. "Ok then." He said suspiciously.

Lance scoffed and gave an enormous eye roll. "What are you even doing awake?"

Keith shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

Lance narrowed his eyes skeptically and took in Keith's disheveled appearance. The way he was still sweating and shaking ever so slightly told a different story.

"Nightmare?" Lance asked sympathetically.

Keith debated denying it, but he needed someone right now. Even if that person was Lance. Stupid stuck up Lance.

"Yeah." He mumbled.

Lance nodded sympathetically. "Wanna talk about it? When I have a nightmare it helps if I tell someone what it was about."

Keith shook his head quickly and said anxiously. "I don't want to talk about it. I just want... I don't know what I want."

Lance looked at him and sighed. "Wanna watch a movie together? I think Pidge got the TV to work."

Keith looked at Lance in surprise, then nodded. "Sure."

Together they both walked to the couch. Lance put on a corny movie that gave Keith a lot of second-hand embarrassment.

Halfway through the movie Lance fell asleep. Keith decided to sleep on the couch too, thinking it would be rude to just leave him here.

As Keith fell asleep, he couldn't help but wonder why Lance was so nice and didn't make fun of him for having a nightmare.

Shrugging away the thought, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

A few days after his nightmare, the paladins decided to take a break, and do something to take the edge off. By that, they meant they were going to drink themselves stupid while playing questionable party games.

Keith never liked alcohol. Granted, he never actually had it, but he could remember the smell on his foster parents breath as they beat the living shit out of him. So he steered clear of the alcohol.

Unfortunately, that immediately grabbed Lance's attention. Lance stalked up to him menacingly. Keith could see in his eyes that he was itching for a fight. Keith had no idea why, as far as he knew, he never did anything too Lance to warrant the other boy's wrath. It like Lance just forgot about the night they fell asleep on the couch together after Keith's nightmare.

Lance shouted loudly," Hey Keith! To much of a coward to drink a little? What are you scared?!"

Pidge and Hunk immediately tried to cover up their laughter by coughing, but Keith could see through it. He looked at Shiro for help, but was shocked to his core to find Shiro hiding a grin. This severely irritated Keith.

Shiro didn't know everything about Keith's past, just the bare details, so he roughly had an idea of what happened to Keith. By that, it meant he basically had no idea what horros Keith experienced in foster care, since he refused too tell him.

Keith fumed. Couldn't Shiro see that he was uncomfortable? And here he thought that Shiro would always have his back. He mentally scolded himself. He was being overdramatic. Shiro would never know about his distaste of alcohol.

He sighed and glared murderously at Lance. Then, as if on impulse, grabbed Lance's cup and downed all the contents in one go.

Lance blanched and quickly said," Woah dude, slow down. I mixed some heavy shit in there."

Keith ignored him. He could already feel the effects of the alcohol starting. His brain felt a little fuzzy and he couldn't think very clearly.

Suddenly Pidge clapped her hands together and said excitedly," Ok, I think we should play Truth or Dare first! Any objections?"

Everyone murmured their agreement and formed a crooked circle. Pidge got the bottle and excitedly exclaimed that she was going first. She spun the bottle. And it landed on... Keith!

Pidge smirked," Ok Keithy, truth or dare?"

Keith stared blankly at her for a moment, not even registering at the nickname she called him. The alcohol was really messing with him. Finally he managed to slur out," Truth."

Pidge grinned happily and asked," Have you ever kissed anyone before?"

Keith had too force his mind away from the memories where he had been forcibly kissed against his will. Keith kept his expression blank as he nodded. This immediately caused un uproar from Lance who was shouting that it was false and a bunch of other bullshit. Shiro managed to calm his ranting about nothing down.

A few more rounds passed. Lance spun the bottle and it landed on Keith. He got an evil look on his face. He asked," Keith, truth or dare?"

Keith who was just trying to stay awake, just said truth without thinking about it. If he knew what Lance had in mind to ask him then he would have said dare in a heartbeat.

Lance smirked and said," Tell me what you fear the most and why?"

The room went deadly quiet. Keith couldn't understand what the hell he did to Lance to be treated this way. Lance was just like all his foster families. Always blaming and hurting him for things he didn't even do. If Lance was going to keep hurting him, he was going to make damn sure that Lance was at least feeling guilty about it. So he kept his face blank as he said.

"I'm afraid of belts. My foster parents used to whip me senseless with those damned belts, that sometimes I would pass out from the pain."

It gave Keith immense satisfaction to see the dumbfounded look on Lance's face. But then he looked at the others faces and felt a pit in his stomach. Shiro looked at him in horror. Hunk looked nauseated. Pidge look shocked and her eyes fill off pity.

He suddenly realized he messed up. The alcohol had loosened his tongue and not made him think clearly. He stood up and quickly walked to his room. Feeling horrible. He just made a huge mistake. He collapsed on his bed and wished he could just dissappear forever. He wished that he could fall asleep and never wake up again.