Hug Me Tight (Or Don’t)
Shameless Fall Out Boy Song title
This is based off my headcanon, found here!
Ready for a klance hug??
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Lance wiped his eyes as the door hissed open behind him, pulling his jacket a bit tighter around him. “Sorry Coran, I’ll be going to bed soon.”
There was no verbal response, no footsteps sounding closer to him. He turned quickly, his heart beating faster at the idea of an enemy behind him. His eyes fell on Keith, who stood a bit awkwardly by the door. His body a mixture of tense and relax, almost as if part of him wanted to turn around and bolt and the other part wanted to stay.
Lance sighed, “sorry I thought you were Coran,” he turned back around, resting his chin on the top of his knees. His eyes focused more on the stars above, twinkling in the sky. He pushed the intrusive thoughts out of his mind. The thoughts that would force him to figure out how far away they were from Earth. Thoughts that’s wouldn’t stop until he was shaky where he sat; the feeling of helplessness consuming him.
No sounds were made by the red paladin and Lance found himself borderline obsessing over why he decided he needed to be in the same observation deck as Lance.
He didn’t have to dwell to long on the ‘whys’, his thoughts running away as Keith cleared his throat. “Can I sit with you?”
“Yeah,” his voice was hardly above a whisper. He swallowed around the dryness in his throat, wiping his eyes once more.
Keith hesitantly stepped closer, taking a seat a couple of feet away from Lance. His face was up towards the glass ceiling, Lance could faintly make out the stars in his eyes.
Lance dragged his eyes back up, silently naming the constellations he created. He forced himself to keep naming them, imagining a dotting line connecting each star. But the thoughts began to swim into focus, repeating that he was never going to get home. His family wasn’t waiting for him, they had already mourned him and moved on. He was never going to get back to Earth. If he ever did, he would be in a box.
How long had it been? How old was Veronica now? He missed Rachels graduation didn’t he? How was mama doing? Was she feeling better? Did papa ever retire? He took a deep breath, trying to breath through the constant questions. He closed his eyes counting backwards from 10 in his mind.
“Are you okay?” Keith’s voice was hesitant, concern rolling off it. He seemed unsure of what to say.
Lance gave a small nod, rubbing the skin under his eyes with his jacket sleeve. He bite his bottom lip as his skin burned, borderline rubbed raw. “Yeah, just...Earth is really far away y’know?”
Keith kept his eyes at the stars, “yeah.”
Lance looked down at his knees, wrapping his arms around them. “Do you miss it? Earth I mean.”
Keith didn’t respond for a moment, his eyes remaining still. “I don’t really think of it I guess. No much is waiting for me.”
Lance made a small humming noise. This conversation was defiantly different than when Coran joined him. Coran would share stories of his youth, stories of Altea, stories of his family.
“Who’s waiting for you?”
Lance gave a small chuckle. “You don’t need to listen to me talk about my family.” He looked at his fellow paladin, “why are you here anyways?”
Keith looked at him briefly, his eyes going back to the unmoving stars. “Couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t want to be alone.”
Lance didn’t respond, and he returned his gaze back to his knees. “Happy to help I guess.”
Keith cleared his throat again, “I don’t mind hearing about your family. I think it would be good for team bonding or whatever.”
Lance found himself slightly smiling, “okay mullet. It’s a big family.”
Keith gave a breathy laugh, “lay it on me.”
Lance did. He told him about his mom and her home cooked meals. She was a nurse and the sweetest person he had ever met in his life. He talked about his dad and how hard working he was. He was a college professor teaching chemistry, unless he hadn't retired yet.
Marco studies biology in college and he was starting rotations in med school the year Lance left. Luis was married to Lisa and they had two kids together; Nadia and Sylvio. Luis worked in business doing something Lance never understood while Lisa was a first grade teacher. Nadia wanted to be an actor when she grew up and Sylvio wanted to be a dancer.
Veronica worked for the Garrison and was his main inspiration for applying himself. She worked in the analytic side, another complicated job he didn’t fully understand. And finally there was Rachel. She was still undecided with her major in college but she liked animals. She was probably going to do zoology or something.
He took a deep breath, realizing how long he had been rambling. He glanced over at his teammate, expecting to see a look of annoyance. Keith’s eyes were closed, his face relaxed. He sat back on his hands, his head rolling back slightly.
“Did you fall asleep on me?”
Keith hummed, “no, just trying to imagine you being the youngest.” He opened his eyes and brought his head forward again. “Is it stressful being part of a big family?”
Lance shrugged, “it’s all I’ve ever known. I liked the loud house. As the others grew up and moved out the quiet bothered me.”
“I’ve only really known the quiet.”
Lance grinned, “what? I couldn’t tell.”
Keith rolled his eyes, “shut up.”
They sat in the silence for a bit, Lance’s mind slowly easing up on him. It felt good to talk about his family.
“You’re going to see them again. I promise.”
Lance blinked a couple of times, trying to let the words sink in, “thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Lance hugged his knees again, “thank you for letting me talk about them. It felt nice.”
“Anytime. They sound like a loving family.”
“Yeah,” he took a deep breath.
Keith adjusted where he sat, his eyes moving from the floor to the ceiling to Lance’s shoes.
Lance raised his eyebrow at him, “did you get bit by something? Why are you squirming like an insect under a microscope?”
Keith released a breath Lance didn’t even know he was holding. “I um...I’m not very good at this okay.”
Lance nodded slightly.
Keith took another deep breath before making his eyes land on Lance’s shoes. “Do you need a hug? Or like want a hug?”
Lance felt a smile tug at his lips, “yeah Keith. That would be nice.” He stood, waiting for Keith to follow his lead. Keith stumbled up, his eyes still moving around the room as if he was searching for an enemy.
Lance took a step closer, Keith shuffling forward a bit. Lance opened his arms, letting Keith move closer at his own pace. He eventually stepped close enough, letting Lance wrap his arms around him.
It took a couple of moments but Keith’s arms slowly wrapped around Lance, his fingers curling into his shirt.
Lance placed his chin on top of Keith’s head, pulling him in a bit closer. He missed human contact. Keith tighten his own grasp, his shoulder shaking ever so slightly.
Lance closed his eyes, shifting his head so his cheek was against Keith’s head. His eyes opening when he heard a small noise escape from Keith’s mouth. He pulled back quickly, as much as he could from the other boys grasp. “Keith? Are you okay?” He did his best to keep his voice low and quiet, trying to push down the frenzy feeling blooming in his chest.
Keith pulled away from him quick enough to make Lance stumble backwards a bit. “Sorry I uh,” he met his eyes briefly, “I need to go,” he headed towards the door. Nearly tripping over his own feet.
Lance watched the other boy leave, confusion plaguing every aspect of his being. He knew he should leave it be. He should just sit here and look at the stars more or head to bed himself. He told himself that he was heading back to his room, not Keith’s. They just happen to have rooms next to each other but he was still heading to his room.
He raised his hang and knocked hesitantly on Keith’s door; cursing himself out. He should just go to bed. Give Keith his space, he obviously needed space. He thought back to Keith’s eyes. How wide with worry they were, he looked almost scared. He knocked again.
“This is stupid” he began to turn on his leg, he needed to go to bed. The door hissed opened, a blanket wrapped around Keith. “I uh, sorry you left so fast I didn-”
Keith reached forward and grabbed the front of his shirt. He dropped his grasp almost as quickly as he grabbed it. “Sorry, I um,”
Lance frowned slightly, “can I come in?”
Keith looked around, Lance could tell he wanted to say no, maybe he wanted to shove him away and tell him off. But he did none of that, bobbing his head a bit before stepping aside.
Lance entered quickly, letting the door close behind him. “Keith what is going on?”
“I don’t know,” he ran his fingers through his hair. “What did you do to me?”
Lance tilted his head slightly, “what do you mean?”
Keith sat on the edge of his bed, his foot tapping a hole into the floor. “I um,” he cleared his throat again, blinking away the excess water that was forming.
“Was it the hug?”
Keith looked at him, the hint of fear still in his eyes.
Lance took a deep breath, trying to think of what to do. Maybe Keith really hates hugs, he wasn’t a touchy feely guy. “Keith, I am thankful for the hug. I’m sorry you felt the need to do something like that when you weren’t comfortable with it.”
Keith looked at the ground, his foot still moving. “I’ve hugged others before but I never felt like that before.”
Lance hummed in confusion, “I don’t know what you mean.”
Keith met his eyes, the hint of purple captivating Lance’s ocean eyes. “Safe.”
“Oh,” Lance looked down at Keith’s shoes, “um happy to help?”
“I got scared.” Keith’s voice was quiet, hardly above a whisper.
“That’s understandable.”
“I felt vulnerable, I...” Keith’s voice trailed off.
“You didn’t like it?”
Keith shook his head slightly, “a part of me wished I didn’t.”
“Well I got more where that came from so just say the word mullet.” Lance laughed, trying to lighten the mood.
“Can I have another one?” Keith’s face appeared a bit flushed, this was clearly out of his comfort zone.
Lance smiled, “of course.” He allowed Keith to take his time, standing up and approaching him. Keith kept his hands in front of him as Lance wrapped his own arms around him. He pulled him close, humming a random tune, hoping the vibration in his chest would add additional comfort.
He tightened his arms more as Keith shook a bit, small gasp escaping his mouth. Lance fought back a frown but he couldn’t ignore how heavy his chest felt. He had never experience Keith crying before. He didn’t know the correct ways to comfort him.
He allowed his thumbs to circle on Keith’s back. He mumbled comforting words into Keith’s ear, allowing him to feel any emotion he needed to feel.
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Inner child issues? Don’t know her
I’m so glad I finally got around to writing this :’)
I might write more for this if there is a demand for healing inner child Keith
