Okay so I wanted to update earlier but I'm currently on vacation so I don't have so much spare time. AnyWHO, here I have some Lenny face material for ya:

I bring you Lance's POV again because I can and nobody can stop me.

O O O

The pod won't work.

I pushed Keith inside and the door closed, that went right, at least - Keith blacked out as soon as he got inside. But the problem now is that the little screen on the side is telling me things in Altean, things I wouldn't understand otherwise. Not that I do it now, but I just understand the situation. There is also a picture of a body, the screen blinking red. Any breath I stored inside my body just goes right out in one sweep. Oh my... The body suit. Keith has to wear it in order to heal. And it's not like he can put it on himself; he would pass out at least ten times and only manage to get one arm in after all of that. There is really no time left. Everything needs to happen fast; Shiro could be anywhere right now. I don't have time to ask him.

I try to push away the big side of me that tells me that all of this is lame excuses. That side of me that is happy that I got the job to do this. What the hell is wrong with me? No really. Maybe I got a concussion without even realizing it, or something.

I have to undress him. That's what's going on. That's what the provoking Altean screen is telling me, pointing to the side of the pod where the suit must be kept. There shouldn't even be time to freak out about it; Keith is bleeding himself to death, for goodness sake.

So I move on instincts, lunging forward, roaming my hands over the side of the pod in search for any kind of button. When I do, I react too slow and a big hatch opens up in a swift motion, bumping into me and sending me to the floor. My head meets the hard surface and the impact makes me bite down on my tongue. I let out several colorful words, my whole mouth, head and jaw aching in different kind of ways. All of this almost makes me forget all about the plight.

When I stand up, I cup my cheek in resentment, trying to place my jaw in the right place. Maybe I'm just imagining it, but I hear all the bones in my face crack. Through blurred eyes, I see the grey suit hanging neatly inside the oblong hatch, almost glistening at me. Put it on him, I hear it whisper in a seductive voice in my head. I eye it strangely. I know you want to, it continues.

Great, now I'm imagining a cloth is talking to me inside my head. I couldn't have gotten more crazy than that.

Dubiously, I reach for it, pulling it out from the opening. It feels both light and heavy in my grasp. Immediately, the hatch closes with a soft and short whir. Welp, this is it, I guess.

Placing the suit down on the floor, I stand in front of the pod, wondering what the hell to press to get Keith out. His eyes are still closed but his face doesn't look at peace. Through the thick red stains on his face, I can see the evident lines, that can't be anything else than pure exhaustion. It's lines of hard work, running all over his pale skin. His shoulders are slouched like he really is tired of keeping them up, tired of the demands on him.

When I finally figure out how to open the pod up, Keith falls forward, right into my embrace. His face hits my shoulder and he doesn't even grunt, which is bad. Very bad. He doesn't even show much sign of breathing, the only sound in the big room being my strident breathing and the low hum of every pod. Strident for various reasons. The main one being just Keith. Keith in general. 

"Please don't murder me for this", I whisper as I prudently lay him down on the floor, careful not to make his body parts lay in a excruciating position. His face stays the same all the time, and it pumps my heart into a worried crisis. 

I try to figure out how to take his suit off; maybe starting off with the metal parts. I don't know where to touch and where to not. A few parts of the suit has big stains of a darker color, which can't be anything else than blood. I will have to wash my hands considerably later.

His suit is filled with strait and wiles, and it takes me too long to get the metal parts off his body. By then, my hands is wandering in panic, trying to take off the rest of his suit as fast as possible. It takes me additionally a long amount of time to flip him onto his stomach without risking to kill him without even knowing it. I wouldn't know, since his breathing is barely audible even now.

There. Hidden being a long strap of cloth running from the start of his neck to just at his hips is a zipper, covered enough that you wouldn't notice it from long sight. I try to grip it and I see that my fingers are trembling. Add two minutes to just dragging the zipper down.

I hold my breath. I don't know what I expected. Maybe the beauty in his skin, but is now covered in wounds, all different kinds of scratches and bruises. It's like a whole constellation of pain on his rear, a small part of space that shows that the universe can be more scary than you choose to believe.

I find myself trailing my finger along his spine, astonished by the strength he's holding, and the muscles hidden behind his pale skin. I may have seen him half naked before - and oh my. God was definitely not on my side then - but this close, in this context, makes it much more different. In some way. Maybe considering how our relationship evolved into this strange but beautiful thing.

The timer goes off in my head again. I try to as quickly but carefully as possible flip him to his back again, and I start to drag his suit down, all the way to his hips and oh my lord, his chest and abs and quiznacking muscles, quiznack. Every where is blood, and if I wasn't so busy making sure Keith doesn't die I would have felt nauseous. Even now, I feel it stir in my stomach, but I tell it to do it later.

I continue to drag his suit down, relieved that he didn't decide to be strange and go without his boxer. When I reach to his ankles, I literally rip it off the remaining way in my distress. He's almost completely naked in front of me, the boxers the only cloth on him. I dedicate some seconds to just stare at him - against my own wishes, of course. Nothing intentionally.

I don't want to imagine the scars that will be left behind on his body - just like the big one on my back that I got when I sacrificed myself for Coran. The pod is a miracle, but they can't heal scars. Or your mind. I see a long scar running over Keith's right shoulder, and I wonder when he got it. If we weren't in this situation, I would have traced it with my fingers.

"I'm sorry", I say even if he can't hear me. "I should probably put the suit on you. You have suffered enough."

I take the cloth from beside him, zipping it open in the back, starting my mission to get it on him. One good thing with Keith being passed out is that he probably doesn't feel a single thing right now. It spares him the pain.

As I pull the suit the last way up, my hands touches his chest. Just barely, but it still sends jolts of electricity through my body, making me buzz with energy. I press my hand flat on his heart and I feel it pump. Just barely, but it does.

Good. He's alive. He'll stay with me.

O O O

"Lance?"

I startle awake, my heart pumping into overdrive, making my ears pound with my pulse. My head flies up and I hit it hard against the pod, where a bump already started to form from when I first hit my head on the floor. I hiss.

"Ouch, fu...!"

"Why are you sleeping on the floor", Shiro asks me, reaching out a hand to help me stand up. I take it without a word, standing up on wobbly legs. Shiro holds my hand until I gain my balance again, and then he lifts an eyebrow at me. I blink away the remaining blur in my eyes.

Before I can answer, he smiles, looking at Keith behind me.

"You managed to get him inside. Good job."

"You thought I couldn't?"

Immediately, he looks at me, his smile broadening, his eyes telling me I'm saying bullshit.

"Of course not. Actually, I thought you were perfect for this job. And I have never doubted you. You have great potential, Lance. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

My heart scrunches into a sad little raisin in my chest. It swells with emotions, and my eyes widens at Shiro. To hear him, the leader himself, say such a thing about me, with such sincerity in his voice and eyes, makes all my words flutter open and closed in my mouth. I won't lie; I really look up to this guy. Since the Garrison I remember the first time I saw him; a thirteen year old standing among the other kids, probably as astonished as I was, gaping up at him.

And now I stand right in front of him, stuck in a war in space with him and five others - ten if you count Kalternecker and the mouses -, getting a direct compliment from him. Saying I have potential. Something I doubted for a long time, but now I'm ready to rethink.

"You're making it sound like Keith loves me", I say, trying to laugh away the upcoming sob in my throat. I blink furiously.

"He does." I stop breathing. Shiro laughs when he sees my face. "Or, he admires you. Very much. I can see you do the same."

I let the thought sink into my head, like a stone in water. I think it will take a while for that rock to get to the very bottom of the ocean in my mind, but eventually it will, and everything will get clearer by then.

"You seem okay with it", I mumble, my throat laying in big knots.

"Of course I am", he says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. His smiles hasn't vanished yet; it only got bigger. "I'm glad things worked out between you. And don't be scared, relationships can be very hard to muster." Slowly, his smile gets smaller, and his eyes get clouded with worry. The sudden change surprises me. "I should know. Adam could be so stubborn."

I gasp like I just witnessed Zarkon twerk - oh God, I can't even imagine it without feeling sick - and I grip his arms without really intending to do it.

"Adam? As in a boy? As in you like boys? Like you know, like like? As in you like di..."

"Lance!" he warns in loud tone, but this time it doesn't scare me. My whole body is too focused on being prompted with something utterly bright. Bright enough to make me smile widely. When Shiro sees the look in my eyes though, his face softens. "But yes. I do like boys."

"You do?!" I try to shake him in my euphoria but he won't budge. "Really?"

"I do", he says, certainty and determination in both his voice and posture. It's like heaven opened up for myself, the brightness blinding me with aspiration and optimism. He puts his metallic hand on my shoulder and I feel like a little kid when I look up at him. "We can talk how much you want, but now you have to rest. Keith won't go anywhere." He says it like he needs to believe it himself, and for a second we just stand in silence, every thought prodding out minds.

Normally, I would have protested, but something in Shiro's voice assures me that he speaks the truth. Keith won't leave. Even Shiro will make sure of that.

"Thank you", I say, feeling this is the right moment to thank him. "For sharing that with me, I mean."

"Of course", he says.

I think: It always goes well in the end. Ultimately it does.

O O O

The next day has been confusing. Confusing in feelings. I don't know whether to dwell or be happy. It's like those two feelings is fighting with each other about who should take the place in my stomach. Dwell because Keith is still in the pod. Happy because of the moment me and Shiro shared yesterday. It makes me befuddled.

And Keith's mom is still here. I don't know how to feel about that either. I try not to be in the same room as her, so that makes me quite alone, since everyone else is gathered around her, asking questions. So this whole day I have escaped from any room Krolia might be in, or just spend it in my room. I have forced myself several times not to enter the healing room so the sight of Keith won't bring my mood all the way down to hell.

"Lance!" It's him. I whirl around, my first thought being: He found out who changed his clothes, and he will kill me now.

Just as I trun around, he halt towards me, and I don't even have time to look at his face before I feel something hard but soft at the same time press against my lips. That being his own. The force of it is hard enough to make me stumble backwards, my back hitting the wall behind me. Keith pushes me against it while furiously kissing me. The sudden action makes me scream internally.

The two feelings in my stomach vanishes, being replace with two other things: Relief and pleasure. Combining into something so strong it makes me gasp into his mouth.

His lips are attacking mine, rough and harsh, and I can already sense how my lips will be so swollen. Where his energy and boldness came from I don't know, but I guess I have more sides of Keith to figure out.

Speaking of boldness; He grips my wrist firmly, pushing it above my head on the wall, and his other hand is slowly running along my necks. My whole body goes through a vigorous shiver. And if that wasn't enough, he moves his mouth painfully slowly up to my jaw, his warm breath tickling my skin. His hand moves from my neck up to my hair, his fingers burying in the shorts strands. My eyes flutter closed and colors crackles and sparkles behind my eyelids. Everything crinkle inside me, making me quiver, and I pull his lips back to me, longing for his taste I never thought I was yearning so much. I can still feel the slightest doubt in his kisses, and his grip on my wrist that is loosening, like he just realized what he was doing, and I smile, biting his lip which makes his lips part in his surprise. I take the opportunity and push my tongue in, letting my free hand explore his chest, feeling his muscles swell under my fingers when he trembles. I feel the texture of the healing suit, which must mean he just got out. It makes me overly joyous that I was the first one he came to think of when waking up, and the greeting he gave me.

I let my hand get entangled in his hair, letting the strands tickle my fingers, and I kiss him harder, quicker. He breathes my name and I hum againt his lips, biting them, licking them. It's like he can't decide what to do with his hands; he tries to grip my shoulder, but then moves to grip the collar of my jacket, trying to take it off me, but grunts in frustration when he doesn't succeed. I chuckle against his lips and shake it off me instead, the sound of it hitting the floor filling the corridor outside my room. He grips my arms like he tries to keep himself steady, and my hands wanders to his waist, and back up. My mouth moves down and I let my tongue just slightly trail down to his chin, and further down to his neck, pushing down the collar of his suit to get access to more skin. He's gripping my arms so hardly now it's starting to hurt, but kissing him compensates.

"Is this..." A kiss on his jaw. "... what you..." A harder kiss on his neck again. "...said you..." I lick my way up to his chin again, my lips just under his. "... wanted to do..." My lips barely brushes his and he opens his eyes to look into mine, dilating and unfocused. "... yesterday?" I grin at him.

He doesn't say anything - he's probably too breathless to do so - but I know he means yes. He tries to attack my lips again but I grip his hair to stop him, making him whine. I caress his cheek with my one hand, feeling the fire under his skin.

"Keith..." I let my thumb stroke his upper cheek, like I'm wiping away imaginary tears. "You're here. You are. Please say that you'll stay. You are staying right? You will let us help you."

Keith takes a small step back, and finally I can see his face. There is a big scar running along his right cheek, matching the one on his shoulder. His face is shadowed with tiredness, and I guess that one more thing the pod can't heal. Or not this kind of tiredness at least. The one that just comes instantly. I let my fingers touch the wound, and Keith buries his head into my palm, eyes closing for a second. He sighs, lips quivering, red and swollen.

"Lance", he whispers when he opens his eyes again. They burn with desire. "Lance... My head has never been this clear. Ever since you contacted me, and I met my... my... mother... everything just made some kind of sense. I just feel more... certain, in some strange way." He blushes harder than he already does and he looks away, the next sentence coming out rapidly. "That's part of the reason I even had the courage to kiss you now."

"Me too", I mumble, relating to most of what he just said. That's exactly what I am; more certain. Things just started to get more understandable. Ever since yesterday. The talk with Shiro really cleared things up for me.

"I mean it Lance." Keith grips my face and stares right into my eyes like he wants to get the message straight. "I feel more assertive, like I know what I want know. Nothing has made more sense than it does now."

"What are you implying on, Keith?" I whisper because I'm afraid to overvoice my hopes but at the same time I'm also very afraid of those hopes.

"I know Lance... how much I want you. I was so unsure in myself before, unsure in everything. I didn't know what was the truth and what was not. But I do now. I know I want you so much it scares me."

And that's when everything changed.

O O O

Aaagghhhh I got a little carried away with this chapter :)))

But here it is, written in the car and in the restaurant and in the hotel, so I may be a little messy. And oh my God I have never checked a chapter for spelling mistakes this fast, so forgive me if this gives you a minor headache.

I hope your holiday is going well!