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Lance

Owww...

Groaning, I sat up in bed, blinking to adjust to the brightness in the room. My head pounded painfully and the edges of my vision blurred, forcing me to sway backward and hit my pillow with a puff of air. Sighing, I turned onto my side, observing the room.

It was almost identical to the room I had been in the previous night, but the bed was on a different wall and the chair in the corner was barren. Wincing, I tried to retrace the events of the night before. Keith, Pidge, Rover and I on the mission. The elevator... after that, things went dark. I groaned lightly. What had happened?

"Morning, sunshine."

I nearly shrieked, bolting up in bed in surprise. "Keith?" I yelled, shocked at his sudden appearance. The smug bastard looked up at me from his blow-up mattress on the floor. My migraine throbbed painfully at my sudden movement and I clutched my head between my hands, crying out.

Keith was on his feet in seconds, hovering over me, all signs of previous arrogance gone from his face. "Hey, are you okay?"

I peeked at him between my fingers, wondering for the nth time why he couldn't put a damn shirt on. "Yeah," I muttered. "Headache."

Keith cocked his head to the side, frowning slightly. "Well, yeah, I guess that makes sense. I guess you got hit pretty hard last night. Maybe you should magic up some Advil? I'll get you some water."

I nodded in appreciation, setting my pillow up against the headboard of the bed and resting back against it. Letting a little Energy flow into my fingertips, I slowly materialized a few Advil tablets in my palm, surprised at how much it made my head hurt.

When Keith returned with a small glass of water, I mustered a smile, downing the pills quickly and washing them down with a few gulps. Keith sat down by my feet on the bed, slouching and giving me a curious look. "What happened last night?" I asked.

Keith proceeded to tell me about the previous night's events, most of which were incredibly shocking to me. I didn't know how he was so calm. "You're telling me that an evil, exiled devil named Lotor, who happens to be your brother, is second in line to the throne? And he wanted to kill you so he could be first in line? And he lied to the Twins about Matt and Adam so they'd return to the Underworld? And you now have a mortal ally who's going to babysit your evil brother until you go back home?"

Keith nodded, shrugging, "Pretty much. Oh, and we had a bonding moment."

Perplexed, I frowned, "What?"

"I cradled you in my arms," Keith said in a falsetto voice, flourishing his arms. I giggled weakly at his theatrics but bit my lip as I tried to remember.

"I... don't remember," I told him, pursing my lips worriedly. What if I'd made an absolute fool of myself?

Keith scowled, "Asshole."

"Asshole who's in pain," I reminded him, pointing weakly to my head.

"Asshole who's having amnesia," he grumbled in reply, standing. Stretching, Keith yawned, then turned towards me. "Let's get you up."

I reluctantly pushed the blankets off my legs and, for the second morning in a row, winced at how cold the tile floor was beneath my feet. Testing a little bit of weight at a time, I slowly stood, all the while being spotted by Keith. Full straightened, I stepped forward once, but as soon as my bare foot left the linoleum, I wobbled forward, losing my balance.

In an instant, strong hands cupped my elbows and I was barely able to keep my lips from skimming Keith's forehead as he caught me, his biceps flexed as he supported my weight. Laughing breathlessly as I regained my balanced, I apologized one too many times as I hastily stepped away from him, aware that the devil wasn't exactly keen on physical contact.

But Keith hovered, arms half-poised to catch me again, as we walked out of the room and out into the hallway. Once we entered the cafeteria, he finally relaxed, confident that I had regained my balance completely. That is until Pidge sprinted forward and barreled into me, knocking me to the ground with a bear hug.

"You had me so worried, Mr. Mcclain, do you understand? UGH, never get knocked out again!" she scolded me from her seat on my chest as I lay on my back on the cafeteria floor. Several cadets sent me pitying glances as my head throbbed with pain and Keith sputtered uselessly, making no attempt to help me up, lest he be ran over with one of Pidge's hugs too.

...

At breakfast, Pidge and Coran hed helped me plan out my next journey with Keith, while said devil went off with Rover. Apparently, Rover showed Keith the SAL's collection of daggers that they'd fought with hundreds of years ago. Keith had been so impressed by the blades that Rover had nonchalantly offered him one.

Keith looked like he was ready to cry with excitement when he presented the dagger to me, its sleek, sharp cover glinting in the fluorescent lights of the cafeteria. I playfully glared at Rover, reminding him that we had to get the giant knife through airport security too. Good grief.

After eating, I'd been eager to get on the road. As much as I loved the hospitality of the SAL, Keith and I still had a mission to follow, and I wasn't about to abandon it. Fortunately, Pidge had happily offered to drive us to the airport, as well as provide us with some new clothes instead of the scrubs we had been lending.

My Energy still wasn't up to speed, so she was also able to provide Keith and I tickets to our next destination. So, Keith in a long black trench coat and a button-up tucked into slacks and me in a polka-dotted, flowy romper and platform sandals, we flipped down our sunglasses and pretended we were movie stars as we rode in the limo to the airport.

When we arrived, I hugged Coran and Pidge through the windows, thanking them profusely.

"Tell your mom I say 'hello' when you get back up there!" Coran laughed happily, jabbing his thumb upwards at the Upperworld. Grinning in return, I promised him I would.

As I bent down to hug Pidge through the limo window, she whispered in my ear, "Good luck with that one. Invite me to the wedding." Flustered and shocked, I straightened abruptly, promptly hitting the top of my head on the top of the windowsill.

Snickering, Pidge shot me a devilish grin, then waved at Keith. "You'd make a good angel, Keith!" she called.

Keith smirked, "And you'd make a good devil!" We waved at the receding limo until we couldn't see it anymore. Alone with Keith in the airport entrance, I shot him an apologetic half-smile.

"Another plane," he commented.

"Yet again," I replied.

...

Against my better judgment, I decided not to tell Keith that the flight we were boarding was actually a connecting flight and that after the five hours on the plane to our first stop, we had another six hours until we finally reached the destination I had in mind.

I knew it was a reach, believe me, but I had my reasons. Well, reason. My best friend lived where we were going. Initially, when Keith had written his plan, I had known immediately where I would take him for this task. Not only was it a beautiful place, but I wanted Keith to meet my best friend. My only real mortal friend.

So, as we boarded the first flight, Keith lugging his bag (with a carefully concealed, invisible dagger in it that I still thought was overkill and impractical) alongside him, I tried to keep him as occupied as I could to take his mind off the passage of time.

First, I made him retell me what Lotor had said about the Twins and my brothers and wondered what would happen when I told Matt and Adam about this. Would the Twins want to see them again, now that they knew that the lies they were fed about their guides were false accusations that Lotor concocted to keep the Twins away from the Underworld throne? Would the Twins even believe it?

When I asked Keith about it, he admitted that he actually didn't know anything about my brothers and that the Twins had kept most of the information to themselves. He'd been kept in the dark about the whole thing but had always wanted to know. I bit my lip nervously as we headed into the second hour of the flight. If Keith couldn't convince the Twins that it had all been fabricated, could either pair ever be happy?

And that brought a whole new flurry of questions into my mind. What kind of relationship did the Twins and their guides even have? I knew that my brothers were somewhere in the middle of the sexuality spectrum, but so was practically every angel. It was part of the whole 'love everything' deal. I rubbed my bracelet anxiously. Amores Vobiscum. Love be with you.

Devils were incapable of love... at least, I knew Keith was. (Did I?) Did that mean that Kuron and Shiro were just toying with my brothers' emotions in the first place?

The more I worried, the more intense my headache got, and eventually, I made myself sit back and stop thinking about it. I felt useless, here on the Midworld, unable to tell Matt and Adam what the truth was, but I vowed to tell them as soon as I got back home. It was their lives, anyways.

Mildly relaxed, I forced myself to make a hangman game for Keith and me to keep us engaged through the flight and to keep my mind off things.

When the third hour came and passed, I checked my watch. The plane had left at 10:00 am, which meant that we'd get to our connecting stop at around 3:00 pm, then an hour break at that airport, and the final stop at 10:00 pm. I frowned. That was a long time to be in a plane, even for me.

Keith seemed oblivious to my anxiety, though, which I was partially thankful for. This was his mission, after all. I needed to hold myself together, just for him. I had all the time in the world to worry about this later, once Keith and I parted. But for now, I needed to focus on keeping Keith happy. And that meant to stop worrying.

Sighing, I leaned back in my seat, watching the TV screen on the back of the chair in front of Keith flip through various shows as the devil channel-surfed. Our multiple hangman games lay between us.

...

When we landed in the first stop and the muggy warmth of the airport hit us with a burst of wind, Keith's eyes went wide. His eyes scoured the gift shop in front of us until he found what he was looking for. "Honolulu? Hawaii! This is the island?" His eyes went wide.

This was it. I chuckled nervously and Keith looked at me with a suspicious expression. "Lance?" he dragged out the vowel irritably.

"Well, not exactly," I muttered, biting my bottom lip nervously. "Our... connecting flight boards in an hour. We have another flight."

For a second, Keith's face flashed to annoyance. But, to my surprise, he quickly smoothed it over with a calm expression, sighing a little before relenting. "Okay."

I blinked, surprised.

"Okay?"

"Yeah. It's fine, Lance. I don't mind." He cracked a teasing smile as he looked up at me, "I much prefer flying in planes than you carrying me."

Offended, my face fell. "Oh," I said, wounded. Did he really not like it that much?

Keith burst out laughing, putting a hand on my shoulder as he rushed to amend, "No, Lance, I'm kidding."

With puppy dog eyes, I made eye contact again, "Really?"

Keith smiled earnestly. "Yes, really."

...

woooooooah look at all these updates (I did this instead of doing my hw oof)

anyways, yeah, this was a bit of a filler chapter, I know. Now, I bet you can guess who Keith and Lance are going to see? Bonus points if you can name the actual destination.

am i updating too much? idk some people don't like it when authors update a lot of times in one week (five updates in five days lmao what am i even doing anymore) I can slow down if you want me too. It sounds selfish but... idk im just always so eager to see you guys enjoying the chapters. I want you to be able to enjoy them as soon as I finish writing them- I want to see your happiness I guess.

you guys mean the world to me, I want to make sure that you're happy with the content that's being produced.

so, here. if you have any feedback, questions, advice, anything, put it right here. I'll read and respond to everything. Yes, beat drop is my baby and what I'm most known for. Yes, swim with me is my second child and where I met a lot of you guys. but... HnH is where I'm able to depend on seeing you, i guess.

every comment that says 'I'm here!' or 'We love you too!' or whenever you guys show that you like the chapter... it just reminds me why I publish here on wattpad. you can't get that kind of community in other places.

am i babbling? probably. anyways, all in all, I love you guys n I hope that you're enjoying the content <3

qotd: favorite thanksgiving food?

aotd: marshmallow sweet potatoes yummmm