Day 2: “Seriously? Again?”
Klance Week Day 2: “Seriously? Again?”
I had fun with this one.
@klanceweek
All in all, Lance could say he enjoyed his job as an EMT. He got to be the first on the scene to save lives, or trade dumb stories with the people who had some unfortunate luck (he could relate). Sometimes he had to comfort terrified kids, and it always crushed him when someone couldn’t be saved, but he knew it was part of the job. The moments where everything went absolutely right made everything worth it.
And then there was Keith.
“Seriously? Again?”
Lance scowled at his boyfriend-of-six-months as he set a broken nose, which was already turning purple and blue and swelling a horrible amount. Keith did little more than wince as Lance set the break, which said something about just how often he broke himself into pieces. Lance wasn’t sure his heart could take much more—technically, he wasn’t even supposed to be on the calls where his significant other was involved, but apparently after the first three incidents, the other EMTs figured having Lance around to scold Keith for his reckless behavior might solve the problem.
It was helping. Sort of. Not really.
“At least it wasn’t the motorcycle this time?” Keith said, receiving an unimpressed look in return.
“I’m overflowing with joy,” Lance replied. He finished setting Keith’s nose and handed him an ice pack, which Keith dutifully put over his black eye.
“Lance, I’m sorry.” To his credit, Keith did sound and look sorry, but Lance was still a little too steamed to respond right away. He set about disinfecting Keith’s scraped knuckles (apparently Keith had been in a street fight, and a terrified passerby had called in) and let his boyfriend carry on.
“I’ve been trying to be less reckless, I really have,” Keith continued. “But I can’t promise that nothing will happen.”
Lance’s anger deflated a bit. He knew that was true. And it wasn’t like he was ever going to ask Keith to give up certain things, his motorcycle in particular, no matter how dangerous he knew it was. Keith built that motorcycle with his brother, after all. It was special to him.
Fighting was still way too reckless, though, and Lance opened his mouth to tell Keith that, but Keith spoke first.
“If it’s any consolation, I didn’t start the fight,” he said. “I did try to walk away.”
Lance looked at him. “What happened?” he asked at last.
“Some asshole was harassing this girl—date gone wrong or something, I don’t know.” Keith shrugged. “He was being really pushy. I tried to guide her out of the way, and he got pissed off. Broke my nose. Soon as the girl ran off, I hit back.”
Lance sighed. His shoulders slumped. “Well…I guess you can be forgiven for a noble gesture.”
Keith smiled. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Lance smiled back, then leaned over to (very, very gently) kiss Keith on the cheek. “You drive me crazy, but you’re a really good guy, and I love you. Besides, in this case…I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing.”
Keith chuckled. “You’d have cussed the guy out, too.”
“You know it, babe.”
All in all, Lance’s job wasn’t so bad.