Chapter Text
Keith awoke sore and sticky. Every muscle in his body ached like he'd run a marathon or gone ten rounds with a training bot. He tried to open his eyes and found them crusted shut. He raised one sore hand and tried to clear them, but somehow even his fingertips hurt. His entire body felt wrong, like his skin had shrunk around his muscles, leaving everything sore and ill-fitting.
He opened his eyes and recognized Lance's room in the low light of the night cycle, which explained the sound of steady, sleepy breaths from beside him. He looked to his side, smiling over at his sleeping boyfriend only to have his blood go cold.
He bolted upright, wincing at a sharp pain in his tailbone, but ignoring it to reach for the boy beside him.
“Oh god,” he gasped, hands stopping in midair for fear of touching Lance and hurting him. He was a mess of marks. His neck was nearly black with bruises. Dark hickeys covered his throat and puffy, red bite marks covered the sides. One shoulder had a similar bite, swollen and bruised. He received a flash of memory, a fleeting burst of sensation—
It made bile rise in his throat.
Warily, Keith grabbed the blanket— it was their movie night blanket— and slowly pulled it away, revealing Lance’s body inch by inch.
At some point Keith heard himself chanting ‘no’ under his breath. He climbed carefully out of the bed, staring in horror at Lance’s body, which was covered in dark bruises and angry red scratches. His wrists were both bruised dark like he’d been restrained and there were thick bruises wrapping up his legs. They were splayed, knees having fallen open in sleep and Keith could see bite marks and scratches trailing up the inside of Lance’s legs. Keith leaned forwards, throat tightening as he noticed the dark, splotchy bruises on the tops of Lance’s thighs, trailing inwards to—
Keith froze, noting with horror the wet spot beneath Lance’s rear. He turned on the lamp for extra light, but found that his eyes hadn’t deceived him. He swallowed against the urge to vomit.
“L-Lance?” Keith knelt by the bed, leaning close. “Lance, sweetheart, I need you- I need you to wake up now; I gotta check you over.” Hesitantly, he brushed his fingers through the curls on Lance’s forehead. “Baby, wake up,” he pleaded. “Lance, please, honey—” and then Lance’s eyelids fluttered. He blinked, once, again, opening his eyes slowly towards the ceiling. “There you are,” Keith sighed, a relieved smile gracing his face.
Lance turned to look at him slowly, neck obviously paining him as he turned his head towards Keith. Nevertheless, he smiled, raising a hand and reaching towards the other boy, fingertips brushing his cheek.
“You're okay,” Lance said with a smile. Keith clenched his jaw and nodded.
“I'm okay,” he affirmed, raising one shaking hand to take Lance’s. “I'm okay,” he whispered again, “but you…” he trailed off. He gently pulled Lance’s hand away from his face, looking down at the finger shaped bruises around his wrist. Lance's eyes followed Keith's gaze and he blanched, tugging his hand from Keith's grip.
“Don't worry about it,” he said shakily, pulling his hand back to his chest. He laid it against his collarbone, fingers trailing against the base of his neck. His eyes went wide, flicking back to Keith.
Keith said nothing. He simply watched, fists clenched in his lap as his eyes ran up and down Lance's battered form.
“K-Keith,” Lance whispered. Keith looked down at his lap. “Keith, look at me,” Lance pleaded. Keith obliged, jaw tight and eyes stormy with emotion. “I'm okay, and you're human again. Everything is fine.”
“Fine? Lance, how can you say that?” Keith said voice raising. “You are covered head to toe in marks and bruises and—” Keith jumped up suddenly, climbing onto the bed bedside Lance and kneeling by his hips.
“Keith?”
“Lance, honey, just let me check you over. It— I obviously wasn't easy on you last night and I could have done some real damage. Just—”
“Keith, why—”
“I hurt you, Lance. I hurt you like this. Do you know what that means?”
“You weren't yourself. And I didn't let you do anything I couldn't handle—”
“Lance, look at yourself!”
“You stopped when I told you to!”
“You shouldn't have to tell me to!” Keith snapped, voice cracking.
“You're not always going to be perfect, Keith.” Lance said, leaning up on his elbows. “No one is. Shit happens, but you didn't do anything bad to me.”
“Then why are you covered in bruises?” Keith nearly shouted. He leaned down, a hand at Lance's side as he loomed over him, gesticulating wildly with his other hand. “Why is there cum between your legs and scratches all over you?”
“Because I wanted it,” Lance said firmly, setting his jaw as his eyes flashed with defiance.
“Lance,” Keith scoffed, rolling his eyes with disbelief.
“I wanted to help you and it looked like this was how. I'm not sorry about that.”
“Lance, sex should not be an obligation—”
“We didn't have sex,” Lance stated. Keith froze.
“Really?” He asked, voice suddenly small, relief evident in his eyes. Lance’s eyebrows rose, before lowering as his mind caught up with Keith’s worried train of thought.
“Keith,” Lance sighed gently. He gingerly sat up, trying not to wince at the pain in his pelvis, and raised a hand to his partner. The other boy took it, softly caressing his knuckles, before squeezing Lance's hand, pulling it to his face and kissing his fingertips.
“I only want to take care of you,” he whispered.
“I know,” Lance said, voice equally soft. “If I let you look me over, can that be the end of this?” Keith clenched his jaw, saying nothing. “Keith,” Lance scolded.
“Can I look you over and then decide?”
Lance sighed, but laid back down against the pillows. Keith took a deep breath before reaching out with trembling hands. Lance stayed perfectly still as Keith brushed shaking fingers over the bite marks on his neck, gently passing over his scabs and the bruising. Keith exhaled shakily, moving to the bite on Lance's shoulder. This one didn't look as severe as the other, but Keith winced nonetheless.
“Lance, I’m so—”
“No apologies.”
“Lance—”
“My bedroom, my rules,” he said, giving Keith a firm look. Keith clenched his jaw, but nodded. Instead, he leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to the bruises around the bite mark.
The rest of the early hour continued the same way: Keith’s fingers ghosting over Lance’s marred skin, his lips dropping kisses in their trail. By the time Keith made it to Lance’s hips, he was shaking all over, ragged breaths escaping him as he cataloged the damage he’d wrought.
Lance tangled a hand in Keith’s hair, gripping tightly as the other boy pressed his forehead against his marred hipbones and took a shuddering breath. Lance stroked calming fingers through Keith’s hair. He kissed the thick scratch lines, running his palms down from Lance’s hips to his bruised thighs. There, he carefully examined the skin, sighing before nosing against the tender skin, barely daring to kiss the bruising he knew must be so painful.
Carefully, he pulled Lance’s legs apart, following the bruises down between his legs. While the bruising, largely, faded away, the soft skin of his inner thighs were riddled with bite marks and scratches. Lance said nothing, but swallowed and let out a shaky exhale. Keith pressed kisses to each of the marks, simply listening as Lance fidgeted above him. His nails scratched against the sheets but he kept still through Keith’s perusal, trying not to think too hard on the situation that, despite its origin, now felt more intimate than anything they’d ever done.
“Lance, I just wanna double check that I didn't… damage anything back there, ok?” Lance nodded silently, eyes flicking down to meet Keith's. Keith nodded back, pressing a reassuring kiss to Lance’s thigh before fitting a hand beneath one before lifting it carefully, pushing it until Lance lay open and vulnerable on the bed. Lance shivered, tugging the sheet around him to quell his goosebumps as Keith's hand tightened around his thigh and he swore.
“You didn't… go back there,” Lance said awkwardly, trying to explain away Keith’s sudden tension. “Didn't even try. Not that I remember—”
But before he finished, Keith was off the bed, walking back towards the bathroom.
Lance sat up quickly with a wince. “Keith? Keith what—”
“Stay there. I'll be right back.”
Lance carefully lowered himself back onto the covers, again trying to ignore the aches covering his body and counting his breaths until Keith returned. Keith knelt at Lance’s rear, scooting close and apologizing quietly before sliding his hands under Lance’s behind and lifting him onto his thighs.
“Keith,” Lance whined, shifting his legs nervously.
“Did that hurt?” Keith asked, freezing and leaning to look at Lance’s face.
“No, it just…” Lance trailed off, turning away. “This is embarrassing.”
Keith froze, looking at Lance’s red face and and smiling at how, with the emotional rollercoaster of this morning, Lance could somehow still be so much himself. Keith gently tugged one of Lance’s legs against his chest, kissing the side of his knee.
“Almost done, I promise. I’m just gonna clean you up,” he said, gently reopening Lance’s legs. He wiped him clean, swiping through the thick mess of half-dried cum and fighting not to sigh or think too hard on what the mess between Lance’s cheeks had almost meant. Instead, he focused on the boy on the bed, smoothing a hand up and down the side of his thigh as he used the warm washcloth to wipe Lance clean.
“Alright,” He finished, setting the washcloth aside and again gently kissing Lance’s knee. “Let’s get you down into a pod for an hour— Lance?”
Lance shook his head against the pillows, keeping his eyes clenched shut.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sorry. Just ignore it—”
“Babe, what’d I miss— oh.” Keith said, eyes tracking down Lance’s torso to where his groin was still in his lap. In the last few minutes, Lance’s body seemed to be showing additional interest.
“I’m sorry,” Lance said again, trying to close his legs and hide the beginnings of his erection. “This is the worst time and I, I don’t even know if I want to and I know you won’t want to I just— You were touching me and- and we’re both naked, and it… felt nice and— this entire morning has been so weird and so raw but I—” Lance looked at him. “I’m weirdly happy? I know that doesn’t make sense, but here you are, just still taking care of me even when you’ve gotta be feeling like shit but you’re just— Ugh. I can’t even put words together. Just- Just ignore me please—”
“Hey,” Keith said, leaning forwards between Lance’s legs. He steadied himself himself with a hand at Lance’s side and let the other smooth carefully through Lance’s hair. “I will always take care of you.” He kissed Lance gently, smoothing his tongue along the other boys swollen lips, smiling as Lance arched into it. He shivered beneath him, hands lifting and pressing against Keith’s chest, fingers spreading over Keith’s pecs. He smoothed them down Keith’s chest, pulling away with a sigh.
“I could kiss you all morning,” he said sleepily. Keith gave him a gentle look, brushing his knuckles down Lance’s cheek to the top of his neck.
“I should get you down to a pod,” he said reluctantly, leaning away. Lance stop him, gripping his arm as strong as he could in an attempt to stop him moving away. His fingers were weak around Keith’s bicep, but Keith paused nonetheless.
“It’s still the night cycle,” Lance said plaintively, tugging Keith towards him.
“Lance—”
“Just lay on me. You can put me in a pod in the morning.”
“I don’t wanna hurt you,” Keith said finally. Lance rolled his eyes.
“C’mere,” he said, tugging Keith down on top of him. He went slowly, wrapping his arms around Lance gently and tucking his head into the crook of the other boy's neck. He gently kissed his collarbones as he lowered his body, tangling their legs and relishing Lance’s little sigh as he was wrapped up in Keith's warmth. He wrapped his arms around Keith's back, splaying his hands over the muscles there and turning his face to bury his nose in Keith's hair. He took a shuddering breath, arms tightening around the other boy.
“You okay?”
Lance nodded, opening his eyes to stare up at the ceiling.
“Yeah,” he croaked.
“Am I too heavy?” Keith asked, pushing up off of him.
“No! No, please,” Lance said, clutching at him.
“Shh, it's ok. It's ok I'm not- I'm not going anywhere.” Keith threaded the fingers of one hand in Lance’s hair, reaching over with the other and turning off the lamp before bringing his hand back to other rub circles into Lance’s arm. He gently kissed his marred neck. “I'm right here, Lance.”
Lance only nodded, tightening his arms around Keith and breathing in his scent. They stayed like that for long minutes.
“I was just so scared,” Lance whispered finally. Keith stiffened in his arms.
“Lance—”
“I was so scared. What if you wouldn't be okay? What if— and you were you, I could see it, but then they took you away and when they separated us you- you sounded so in pain.” Lance’s hands slid up Keith's spine, one settling at the nape of his neck, fingers tangling in silky black hair. “I didn't know what to do. And I could see you under it all, you you but I—” he swallowed once, a hard task with how the urge to cry was choking him.
“Hey, I'm okay. We're both okay—”
“I'm sorry about last night. Please don't be mad. I wanted to help but I didn't know what to do and that just felt right but I probably shouldn't have and you were so upset—”
“Lance,” Keith said finally. He pulled out of their embrace enough to look his boyfriend in the eyes.
He swiped his thumb beneath Lance’s eye, brushing away a tear.
“You did nothing wrong,” Keith said, finishing his statement with a firm kiss. Lance returned it weakly, giving Keith a watery smile afterwards.
“Can we go back to sleep now?” he asked. Keith nodded, rolling them both onto their sides and hugging Lance to him. Lance tucked his face into Keith’s neck, letting the other boy hold him and rub circles into his back until he finally fell back asleep.