A/N: Hey there, so here's chapter four. It's a little longer than the other chapters, but I think that's definitely okay. Not gonna ramble, but I'll have a bit more of a life update at the end of the chapter.

Oh, yeah. So, I listen to music that inspires me to write like most people do. So I might add a song or two along the way. This song kinda reminds me of Lance and the feel of this particular fic - Fine, Great by Modern Baseball

Lance collapsed onto his bed, the walk away from Keith to his room taking longer than usual. He never bothered checking the time, wondering why the pod had spit him out early. The boy pulled his pants off gently, lip curling into a pained snarl as he edged the tight fabric away from his knee. The skin was a little discolored still.

He could see a small swell, but other than that, he figured it wasn't broken anymore. It was hard not to be sour that the healing pod had malfunctioned. It's not like Earth could have done any better. He may just have to deal with it for a while. That was hardly the thing bothering him most, anyways.

As the dark hum of his room washed over his aching body, Lance folded his face into his hands. Shaggy brown hair dropped shrouded his features as he struggled to control his breath. He'd almost died. And it was completely stupid the way he'd almost died this time. That robeast had come out of nowhere and none of his team would have seen it coming any better than he had.

It could be any one of them in his position right now. And he knew that he should be relieved it was him and nobody else, but Lance wasn't perfect. Okay. No. That was a horrible thought, and he immediately felt guilty. It should have been him, and if he could do it again, he'd make sure it was still him. Lance was just like that by default.

There was a very viable reason that Keith was getting sick of his almost dying all the time.

But it wasn't his fault this time. Lance grit his teeth angrily as he wondered what made Keith so difficult. The night Lance had told the other that he kind of sort of liked him had been stuck in his head since. He was so good at pretending that conversation had never happened. He went back to teasing Keith and the other, while a little distant, would reciprocate. But….

I love him, Shiro. I can't get that cocky asshole out of my head long enough to think on this god damned ship. And it's starting to piss me off...

Lance shook his head, groaning audibly as he collapsed back into the comfort in his own bed. He'd never meant to break into a memory like that. He didn't want to know that Keith had… had what? Loved him? It was pretty ironic how Keith figured Lance was the only one keeping things held up inside his mind for the good of the team.

And not only that, but Shiro knew? He'd known for however long and hadn't said anything. It made a little more sense when he thought about the way Shiro watched the two of them fight. Lance rolled over on his side, staring at the wall as he surrendered to his inability to sleep. He wasn't dead.

He wasn't going to die.

He wasn't going to lose the war for the team just because Keith thought he would. Lance was stronger than the demons in the mirror, and when push came to shove, he'd prove Keith wrong. "I'm not gonna die. He's… he's just an idiot."

Lance couldn't get to sleep for another three hours.

Keith jolted with a start when he felt a hand on his shoulder. With eyes wide and breath shaking, it took him a little while to calm down. "Shiro…"

The older man was smiling warmly down at him, a little apologetic air tugging at his lips. The boy on the couch yawned and brought up his arms to stretch out any muscle tension. Had he fallen asleep on the couch? Apparently.

"How are you feeling, Keith?" Shiro asked, his voice always reaching that special octave between comforting and nagging. But Keith looked up anyways.

"I feel fine. Still a little… uh, you know."

The man nodded, taking a seat next to Keith and releasing a little sigh as he relaxed his back against the couch. The castle was still pretty quiet seeing as Hunk would be busy in the kitchen, Allura and Coran would be charting their next course, and… well, nobody really knew what a morning looked like for Pidge.

Of course, that only left Lance. Who Keith knew, would still be sleeping.

The red paladin groaned as he recalled the events of last night. Worry was still embedding itself into his chest. He couldn't help but give in to this absurd concern of his. He couldn't lose Lance. But he had to lose Lance so he could stop thinking about him. The whole situation was ridiculous and pointless. "Shiro, he's gonna be the death of me."

Of course Shiro laughed. Keith was acting like an angsty hormonal teen that just got grounded for sneaking out past ten. Immediately, he regretted saying anything. But then Shiro pulled him back to the couch before Keith could successfully run away. "Hey. Hey, Keith. Listen. It's okay to… I don't know," the man rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "it's okay to have feelings."

"Gee. Thanks for the wisdom."

"Shut it. What I mean is, feelings don't make you weaker. You- we almost lost Lance. And everybody's still a little shaken up about what happened." Shiro got a little quieter and Keith had to wonder if his friend was somehow blaming himself. Keith didn't know what to say, but he didn't have to know since Shiro continued. "I know when you're angry. Just make sure you're angry at the right person. C'mon. Whatever Hunk's making, it smells great. Lance is missing out."

Be angry at the right person?

What was that supposed to mean. Well, obviously not Lance. He already knew that he couldn't honestly blame Lance for this. Which again, gnawed on his guilty conscience. As he stood to follow Shiro, dark grey eyes stayed on the ground but they shot up when he caught onto Shiro's last words. "Er, about that. Lance is out. Of the pods. He was let out last night when you were all sleeping. He won't admit it, but I'm pretty sure that idiot's still hurting."

Shiro raised an eyebrow, glancing in the direction of the bedrooms, "That doesn't sound good. Why don't you check on him?"

"That's not a good ide-"

"Wasn't really asking, Keith. He's your teammate. Feelings or not, you've gotta start working on your relationship with the guy."

Keith opened his jaw, eyes widening in exasperation. Whose side was Shiro on, here? Allura. "She put you up to this, didn't she?"

"Who?"

"Asshole."

"Jerk," Shiro smiled fondly, ruffling Keith's hair and shoving him off in the direction of Lance's room, "And don't come back out until you apologize for whatever you said last night."

"I didn't…" Keith frowned, "Fine."

...

Lance's room was always way too clean to make sense. He had some yarn and other hobby essential items lying around, but other than that, things were neat and in their place. It was completely different than Keith's own room. You didn't really care all that much about clean living spaces when you were shacked up in a little desert hut.

The first thing Keith had noticed was the clean room. The second pulled Keith's attention undivided towards the bed. His teammate wasn't wearing his usual nightly routine on his face, so he didn't look like some ridiculous diva. Instead, there was a dark bruise peeking out from behind Lance's hairline and spilling onto his forehead. His lip was split. And there was a delicate frown making the boy's sleep look just as unpleasant as the rest of him.

It tugged at Keith's heart to see him like this.

And as soon as the tugging started, he was automatically shunning himself for such thoughts. Clearing his throat, Keith cleared the room and folded his arms, "Lance. Hey, wake up."

Just a little grumble.

"Lance," he tried again, raising his voice, "Oh my God, I hate you so much sometimes." Leaning over, Keith gave the boy a little shake, expecting the other to lunge and attack him or something. Instead, he watched the other open his eyes slowly, blinking out exhaustion. When they met each other's gaze, Lance smiled.

He smiled. Why was he smiling? Wasn't he still angry at Keith? Also, why did it have to be such a cute smile? Cute. Way to go, Keith. Pushing that thought into his brain dumpster, Keith folded his arms before Lance could say anything stupid, "Its morning."

"Mm, is it?" Lance looked over at the clock beside his bed which was still going by Earth's time, "So it is. Only question now is, why are you in my room?"

"To get you out of bed."

"Better idea. How can I get you into bed?"

"Lance…"

"Keith!" the boy was grinning, looking up with that cocky expression of his. It made Keith want to punch him. And seriously, just punch him. Lance rubbed the back of his neck, "Only joking. I don't sleep with assholes."

"You don't sleep with anybody."

"Rude. And that comment is exactly why I'll never be sleeping with you," Lance was still grinning and instead of it making Keith feel any better, it was irrationally pissing him off. What did Lance have to be happy about? It was so damn fake, he could feel the rage piling up. So annoying. But he didn't say anything because of what Shiro had said.

If Lance wanted to pretend everything was fine, then fine. But Keith wouldn't play along, "Just get up and get to breakfast. Then go see Coran about your knee. Unfortunately we can't fix anything about that brain of your- Lance?"

The other was getting up and brushing past Keith absently. He was still only in his boxers, having no shame as he moved around his own room. All of a sudden, Keith felt like he wasn't even there. Was Lance honestly just ignoring him, now? God, he was so immature. He wondered if he should apologize for the things he'd said the night before.

But would that fix anything? Keith still believed in what he'd said. He may have regretted saying them, but he'd meant every word of it. Because Lance was still Lance, and he wasn't fooling Keith one single ounce. An arm thrown around his shoulder stole him out of his thoughts, and Keith looked over at Lance, "What are you doing?"

"Using you. Now help me get to my boyfriend."

"Uh…"

"Hunk, Keith. I require sustenance and Shiro probably sent you over here to be my bitch."

Keith frowned, "I'll drop you."

"You wouldn't dare," the blue paladin smiled and pulled Keith closer, "You like this too much."

Keith's face got a tad bit darker, but otherwise, he didn't say anything or protest. Because yes, it killed him to admit that he liked being close to Lance. Even if he knew the other was merely doing it to make his life hell. He'd missed the chance for this to be anything else.

A/N: Alright! Thanks for reading up to this point. All regular thanks and all of that. So, I'm going on a family vacay for a week and a half so we'll see if I can write or get a chapter up. If I don't, please don't kill me. I'm weak and delicate. Like a porcelain doll. Kidding, in any case, I'll see you maybe with an update or maybe not with an update sometime next week. 33