Keith squeezed his eyes shut against the brightness above him, basking in the warmth of the afternoon sun. He could hear the hum of cicadas from the trees around him and struggled to remember ever having felt more relaxed in his life.

"Keith?"

"Hm?"

"Wake up."

Keith cracked an eyelid open lazily, and grinned as Lance's face floated above his. At seeing Keith's smile his expression immediately relaxed, and Keith knew Lance still worried every time he closed his eyes.

From what the others told him, he'd been dead on the table for nearly five minutes.

"Hey," Keith blinked up at him, raising a hand to cup his cheek, "I'm here. I'm okay."

"I know," Lance sighed and rested his head on Keith's shoulder, going back to piling ripped up grass on his chest, "I just still can't believe it."

Keith twisted a strand of Lance's hair around his finger, reveling in the feeling of the wind on his face, of Lance curled up beside him, and vowed never to take anything for granted ever again.

They were lying lazily together in an open field; Keith had grown tired of being cooped up in the lab, despite Allura's insistence that he should be resting, so Lance had suggested they get some fresh air.

Everyone else had been all for the idea. According to Pidge they were being "impossibly grosser than usual," and Allura and Coran, who hadn't even known them from before, had agreed emphatically.

Keith glanced down at Lance, who had abandoned his grass pile and was staring back up at him with a soft expression. Keith bit back a smile as Lance leaned forward, and his mind flashed back to the moment he'd woken up.

His entire body felt like he'd been cut up and sewn back together molecule by molecule, but the only thing his tired mind had registered as the room came slowly into focus was Lance's terrified expression hovering over him.

"L-Lance?" He'd whispered, and watched as Lance's face lit up.

The next thing he knew, he couldn't breathe again, though this time it was due to Lance's lips pressed against his, and his arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

His head swam and his lungs burned, but Keith clung on for dear life. He felt Lance smile nervously against his lips, and Keith forgot how to think as his heart burst into a million pieces.

"Lance! Oh my god, Lance get off of him, he's turning blue!"

Lance had pulled away quickly after this revelation, and Keith fell bonelessly back into the pillows. Wondering what the fuck. Just happened.

"I'm dead." He muttered to himself, feeling Lance's fingers card through his hair gently, "I'm dead and I'm in heaven."

"Pfft." He heard Pidge's snort from somewhere to his left, "Like you'd get into heaven."

Keith turned his head to glare at them weakly, "Maybe I snuck in, I don't know, but I'm certainly not alive right now."

"Is he alright?" Keith heard Hunk ask and a vaguely familiar person came into view.

"Physically yes." Allura frowned, "I take it he doesn't normally act like this?"

"No, no, he's usually this difficult." Lance shook his head in amusement, lowering his hand to cup his cheek gently, and Keith stared at him in shock, still half convinced he was in a coma.

"Wait…" Keith could feel the cogs grinding in his mind, and cleared his scratchy throat as his brain came to terms, "I just kissed…"

He trailed off, watching as Lance blushed furiously and everyone else burst into laughter, "Guys," Hunk wiped a tear form his eye, "I think Keith just blew his own mind."

"Shut up, Hunk!" Lance glanced back at Keith, "And technically I kissed you, which means so far I'm winning one to nothing."

Keith grinned as he heard Pidge groan in the background, "I guess I'll just have to even the score."

"Nope, not right now." Shiro had quickly put a hand over Lance's face, pushing him back, and Keith pouted even as Lance's hand slid into his. "We have a lot to tell you first."

Keith was brought back to the present as Lance's lips pressed lightly against his. It was a much more chaste kiss than the first one they'd shared, and Keith's mind swam with the simple bliss that accompanied it.

Somewhere in the week that Keith had been awake and recovering, Lance had slowly begun to stop treating every moment like it might be their last, and Keith was secretly relieved.

Not that he minded Lance ambushing him in the hallway after every checkup with Allura, or sticking to him like glue at every possible opportunity, but they definitely deserved some peace after all they'd been through.

Keith deepened the kiss, his hand coming up to angle their faces as Lance's hand slid under his shirt. Keith drank up the moment like a drowning man, filling his lungs to capacity until he felt like he was ready to burst.

It was like warm fire on a winter night, he felt the flickering of the flames in his lungs as Lance ran his hands over his chest, his heart glowing like a living ember.

Lance slid on top of him, and Keith grinned as he realized they were both going to be covered in grass stains when they returned.

Keith's hands moved slowly down to the edge of Lance's shirt, tracing and mapping the muscles in his back along the way. He sucked in a surprised breath as Lance's mouth moved slowly along his jaw, moving to settle on the curve of his neck, and Keith groaned as Lance bit down lightly.

This was all he'd ever dreamed of and more. After years spent watching Lance in class, and competing for his attention with every girl on the planet, Keith felt overwhelmed with the idea that Lance returned his feelings; that he was currently sitting on top of Keith, biting his neck.

Fearing yet another hickey that Pidge would poke fun of him for, Keith tugged on Lance's hair lightly, bringing their lips back together. After a moment he felt Lance sigh into the kiss and knew what was coming as he pulled back slightly.

"I-I just still can't believe you're cured…" Lance mumbled against his mouth, and Keith nearly groaned, "Not only that, you're immune…"

"And," Keith pecked his lips, "my blood can help cure other people."

All the stress and pent up emotions from the past few days had taken a toll on all of them, and every once in a while, Lance in particular needed a casual reminder that he was safe. That everything was fine.

Keith had a hard time believing it himself, but he knew it was ten times harder for Lance, who was still struggling from the devastation of his family. They still had quite a bit of work ahead of them, but Keith was more than happy to help him along.

They had all struggled to come to terms with everything, and Keith for one had to have Allura explain the whole story to him more than once as his addled mind caught up.

Between the zombie virus originally being a bio weapon, Haggar and her followers releasing it to the public, them unknowingly stopping her from destroying the lab, and of course, Keith being turned into a walking cure… nothing had quite managed to click in yet in his mind.

But, Keith thought, as he sighed in contentment, curling his fingers through Lance's hair, they now had all the time in the world.

"We're going to have to leave soon." Lance pouted, drawing swirls on Keith's chest.

Keith smirked, still toying with his hair, "You're just afraid of catching some sort of zombie STD aren't you?"

"Honestly? Kinda. But that's not the point." Lance rolled his eyes, "Pidge wants us packed by four."

Keith sighed, knowing it wasn't fair to keep them waiting. They'd searched for nearly six months for a cure for Matt, and now that they had one…

"Fine," Keith pecked his lips, pulling them both to their feet, "But just so you know, we have dibs on the bedroom."

Lance snorted, "You guilt tripped Shiro didn't you?"

Keith grinned, pulling Lance in by his waist for another quick kiss, "Of course I did. Dying has to have some perks, doesn't it?"

Lance smacked him on the shoulder, but Keith was relieved to see that he didn't tense up anymore at the mention of his death.

"Hmm," Keith grinned, touching his forehead lightly to Lance's, "You know from where I'm standing, it almost looks like I'm the one doing all the work in this relationship."

Lance's jaw dropped, "Oh come on, I convinced Shiro to let me stay in your room."

"Yeah, after I emerged from a coma and kissed you." Keith pecked his lips to reinforce his point.

"No!" Lance shoved him playfully, "I kissed you! I literally kissed you and then said "I'm winning one to nothing.""

"Nope, don't remember. Didn't happen." Keith pulled him in again as Lance rolled his eyes, muttering mutinously.

They pulled apart quickly as they heard a quiet shuffling from their right and turned to find a zombie stumbling toward them through the trees.

As the zombie approached them Lance lazily clicked the safety off his gun, barely paying it any attention, and Keith placed a hand on his wrist, "It's okay, I got this."

Lance nodded, stowing away his gun, and Keith slipped his sword carefully from its sheath, grinning as he stepped forward. He'd missed this.

A/N

Psssh of course he lived, I'm a slut for klance lmao…

(not gonna lie though, I did debate actually killing him for a long time, so there's that, but I guess you guys can tell by now I'm an unreliable author haha…)

Also, I sort of left this open ended in case I ever want to continue it… I do have an idea or two about Matt, and of course, this story is woefully lacking a certain rock girlfriend of Hunk's… but who knows. I have to get through my new story first…

Speaking of which… The first chapter is now up! It's called Unfinished Businessand it's a klance grim reaper au based on the Twilight Zone…

So check it out if you want… if not, I hope you enjoyed this story, and as always feedback is appreciated!

MDL