IC INBOX

[businessinfront]

"This is Keith. Leave a message."


( text ⋆ voice ⋆ video )

Comments

[yablueit]

...Shiro leaving and then disappearing on the Kerberos mission messed with you, huh?

[ It's not hard to guess that that's what set things off to get Keith thrown out of the Garrison. It'd been hard not to overhear gossip about his escalating anger issues and insubordination after the news about the Kerberos mission.

He wonders, but doesn't ask, what this means for Keith when they leave here and go back to the Castle without Shiro. ]

[businessinfront]

[ For a minute it's like being caught in a vacuum with no air, no sound, just the question thudding inside his ribs like the beat of his heart. He doesn't like how it makes him feel — vulnerable and dissected. Lance hadn't even asked unkindly. That almost makes it worse. ]

... Yeah. It did.

[ He tries to steel his gaze, but there's no hiding the traces of fear there. Guiltily, he stares down at the carpet. ]

I had... problems. Even before. Everyone knew it. But I didn't see the point in trying to hold them back after that.

[ He isn't proud of it, but he doesn't think he was wrong, either. It was all he'd known how to do. ]

[yablueit]

[ Lance watches Keith's face, seeing everything all too plainly in his expression. That only makes him worry more, but he has to say something to that, right? ]

...Okay, so, I know this is gonna sound super weird coming from me, but, uh...

You know you can just ask if you need something, right? Help, or someone to talk to, or someone to help get your mind off stuff? Not just me, either, like, everyone. That's what a team is for, right?

[businessinfront]

[ Keith nods. Draws a breath. Tries to calm the rolling tension in his stomach. ]

Yeah.

I wouldn't know what to ask for. But thanks for saying all that anyway.

[yablueit]

[ Lance wants to do something more, offer something else to make it better somehow, but he doesn't have the first idea what or how. ]

Well, offer's open for whenever. Even if you don't know what to say.

[businessinfront]

[ Keith is silent for a moment, trying to resist the urge to dump his bowl in the kitchen and run out the door or back to his room or anywhere at all out of the reach of Lance's concern. But: that's what a team's for. A leader should be someone you can talk to. Even if he doesn't— doesn't want— ]

This, [ he says finally, with a vague, awkward wave of his hand between them, ] isn't bad.

[yablueit]

[ Lance offers a smile. That much, he can manage. ]

I can honestly say I've had worse hang outs.

[businessinfront]

I don't believe you.

[yablueit]

No, seriously. [ He laughs, spreading his hands wide as if by way to demonstrate something. ] I was hanging out with one of my cousins, the last time I was home, and he looked awful the whole time, and I kept telling him no, it's cool, we can hang out when you're feeling better, but he insisted he was fine. He so wasn't.

We went out for lunch and he forced down a burger, and then we got to the movie theater with these two girls he knows, and they're both totally hot. But like, right when the movie's getting good, the girl he's with leans over to put her head on his shoulder, because she was into him, and he looks over at her and then just, all of a sudden— [ Lance makes an exaggerated barfing noise. ]

Projectile. All over her, and all over her friend that I was totally into. At least Hunk has the decency not to barf on people.

[businessinfront]

Oh my god.

[ Keith looks dumbstruck for a moment, eyes and mouth wide in horror— ]

[businessinfront]

[ And then he lowers his face into his hand, shoulders shaking with quiet, disbelieving laughter. ]

Okay, okay, so there are worse things than being depressing.

[yablueit]

[ Lance is relieved to hear Keith laugh, no matter how quiet it is. ]

And anyway, I don't mind some real talk every now and then.

[businessinfront]

I'm guessing you didn't get a second date.

[ It's forced, but he'd rather tease Lance than dive immediately back into the topic they'd just been on. ]

[yablueit]

Not only did I not, but I'm pretty sure both girls blocked me and my cousin on Facebook, like, while they were in the bathroom crying and washing his burger off their clothes.

[businessinfront]

Well, I haven't figured out how to block you in real life, so you're safe.

[yablueit]

Luckily, if Pidge can't figure it out, you don't stand a chance.

[businessinfront]

You sure that's not why you're hanging out with me instead?

[yablueit]

I mean, she did hit me in the face with her video game controller and ban me from her room the other day...

[businessinfront]

She's smarter than all of us.

[ Keith flicks a leftover piece of alien SPAM equivalent at Lance. ]

[yablueit]

She sure is!

[ Lance, with his finely honed reflexes, tries to catch it out of the air with his mouth. It bounces off his face and onto the floor under the coffee table, though. ]

Aw, spam.

[businessinfront]

Better work on those reflexes.

[yablueit]

Snacks aren't training time!

[businessinfront]

That's what the Galra want you to think.

[yablueit]

Good thing the Galra aren't here!

[ Present company excluded, obviously, but Keith doesn't count anyway. ]

[businessinfront]

So we should take advantage of the opportunity.

[ There's a distinctly Shiro-esque quality to his cadence, like he's not-quite-intentionally mimicking his inflection. ]