Yaaayyy, it's getting darker earlier now :D 

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"What?!" I exclaimed, and the word rang through the castle corridor. Some guards walking past us eyed me strangely, and I cleared my throat, leaning closer to my sister and lowering my voice. "What do you mean you can't play hide and seek?"

"I'm sorry Lance", Allura said, but I saw how she eyed me warily. "But right now I'm quite busy. Coran ordered another lesson in the control room. He wants to go over the functions of the control panel again, since I had some adversity last time."

I sighed dramatically, failing in hiding my disenchantment. Well, todays plans were officially blown, and the disappointment I felt was quickly replaced with anxiety; what would Keith think of my absence? Was he even waiting for me, and would he even feel something if I didn't show up? Maybe he couldn't care less about whether I showed up or not.

"What with the eagerness, anyways?" Allura asked, crossing her arms over her chest, but still she maintained a royal posture, which confused me.

"I was just beginning to get really good at hide and seek. I was eager to beat you again." The lie came out surprisingly easy, and I didn't know whether to be happy about it or not. 

The turquoise diamond in the middle of her crown glistened for a second under the artificial light when she turned her head slightly upwards, eyes looking down at me. "Maybe we can play after my lesson. But isn't it my turn to hide? I've been the one searching maybe three times in a row now."

"No no no!" I hastily said, a little bit too fast, and I shook my head. "Absolutely not. I've come to the conclusion that I like to hide. You do the searching. No changes."

Allura frowned in utter bewilderment.

I sighed again, massaging my temples. "Just... When do you think the lesson will end?"

She blinked, trying to shake the surprise off from her, and for a moment she looked lost. But then she said: "Oh... I don't know... It starts just after luncheon. So maybe like... two vargas, to a minimum..."

"Two vargas?!" I shouted, and a guard that was about to round the corner halted to a stop, throwing a questioning look over her shoulder at me. I gave her a reassuring smile, before looking at my sister in front of me, hissing: "Two vargas?!"

"A lot to go through", she said with a shrug.

I grimaced, bringing my hand to my face, biting down on my knuckle, looking to the side. "Okay... Just meet me in the garden when you're done."

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Never in my life had two vargas been that agonisingly slow. I had lost at least five hundred brain cells in only one dobash of waiting, and by the time Allura walked out of the castles backdoors, I had turned completely imbecile. I swear my brain had started to rot.

But I waisted no time when she showed up; As soon as the counting started, I ran. Faster than I had ever done in a while. Glancing up at the sky, I hated to see that the sun had moved slightly down, and that the sky was a darker shade of blue, turning slightly purple at the horizon. Why did luncheon have to be so late for us, and why did Coran order a two and a half vargas lesson just today? I ran faster.

Relief hit me like a big wave when I saw that the inside of the cave was faintly lit up with a yellow familiar light. I sprinted inside, heart fluttering in elation as I neared, body pumping so much adrenaline that it felt like my feet would leave the ground any second. 

"Keith!" I huffed as soon as I stopped, doubling over as I gasped for air, gobbling every drop oxygen like I was on the verge of dying. My lungs swelled with every intake of air, and my panting sounded too loud around us. I tried to straighten my back, but my chest still heaved and sank remarkably. "I'm... I'm, here..."

My throat was arid when I gulped hard, and I looked down. There he sat, like he hadn't moved an inch since yesterday, probably holding the same stick as he pocked the others with it. His face was unreadable, but not angry. He didn't look up at me, but after some seconds, the corner of his mouth twitched a tad upwards, barely noticeably.

"I was beginning to think that you wouldn't show up", he said monotonously, and I couldn't make out any emotion behind.

My eyebrows flew up. "I'm so sorry! Allura had some stupid castle lesson with our advisor, so she couldn't play hide and seek for two vargas! I ran as fast as I could as soon as she was free, I swear!"

Keith paused mid-action, slowly looking up at me, stick firmly clutched, yellow eyes gleaming, purple irises piercing. His eyebrows furrowed together in indisputable perplexity. 

"Don't apologize", he said, more like it was strange that I did, and not because he didn't want me to suffer. "You shouldn't even be here. There was no need to beat you up for showing up later, when you shouldn't have showed up at all." His gaze was flinty, his posture unmoveable.

I made a wry face, clenching the lower part of my tunic so hard my palms started to tickle in slight pain. Keith glanced at my hands but made no comment about it, instead just waiting for me to say something.

"You do realize that it's too late to try to get rid of me, right?" I snarled, my face still heated from the running, or maybe something else.

He stared at me intensely, but broke the eye contact shortly after, clutching the stick so hard it snapped in the middle. The sound made me flinch, and he threw the two wooden pieces back into the fire, watching as the flames devoured them, sparks flying in every direction until it calmed down again. He stretched out his fingers, his hand probably sore from holding onto the stick so hard. His jaw tightened.

"I do realize that, yes", he groused, mumbling something to himself after, too low for me to hear.

I crossed my arms with a offended snort, trying to maintain any virtue left by lifting my head high and looking down at the Galra boy on the cave floor. "You don't sound too happy about it. Am I that annoying?" Wow, self esteem really had a tendency to vanish out of nowhere on a daily basis.

Keith looked bothered, but for what reason wasn't so clear. He closed his hands, looking at his knuckles whilst mumbling something more incomprehensible to himself again. Then he shook his head vigorously, bangs swaying from side to side, glistening slightly. "No... No, it's not like that." He chewed on his lip, and it made me anxious that his fangs could easily dig into the very fragile skin. He shook his head again, even harder. "No... That's not it. I'm more angry at... myself, for not wanting you to leave, when I should be sending you off. It... frustrates me, that I want something that really isn't a wise option." His face was shadowed with a dark emotion, and he pinned me with a sharp look. "I guess it's both of our faults. You showing up, and me not being convincing enough to make you leave." He was quick to look away.

My jaw hung loose, but no words came out. What he said replayed in my head, flipping back and forth until the only thing that existed was those particular sentences, and his face when he said them, and the actual meaning intended.

I tried for a smile that wouldn't make me look that I had several bricks up my butthole. "Y-yeah. I guess we're both in too deep already."

Keith made a exhale mixed with a snicker kind of sound, and he bit his lip harder, making my dread increase by a hundred percent. "Hm. We're both as crazy."

I didn't say anything, just standing completely still and trying to reflect over the whole situation.

After a longlasting silence, he peeked up at me, raising a brow. "Aren't you going to sit down? If we're going to break the rules, you could at least make yourself comfortable."

The invitation made me overly happy, and I couldn't hide my broad grin that corrupted my face. Keith snorted upon seeing my smile, and I scurried towards my usual place and took a set, sitting cross-legged, beaming at him, happy that he didn't abhor my company. I could get used to this.

"Be my friend", I blurted out, too wrapped in the contentment to control the words that came out of my mouth. Keith's head shot up. "Please?"

I could see how he was momentarily caught of guard, but he quickly tried to cover it up by looking away with a small cough, bringing his knees up and resting his arms against them again, clutching his suit so hard that I feared that his bared hands would rip the fabric into shreds.

"I don't think befriending someone works like that", he muttered, face turning dark purple.

I straightened my back. "Of course it does! I'm asking you kindly, too."

He didn't say anything, and I wanted to know what he was thinking. He stared so intensively at the fire I began to think that his eyeballs would plopp out of their socket.

My smile faltered. "Don't you want to be my friend?"

He grunted, shaking his head. "That's not it."

"What is it then?"

A big part of me surmised that he wouldn't tell me - again, he didn't really have a reason to - but another part of me couldn't help but to anticipate for the opposite. Embarrassment could show up late, but right now I needed him to fully trust me, or at least put him on the right track.

"It's just..." He paused.

"Go on", I prodded, eager to hear what he wanted to say.

Keith sighed deeply and long, tapping his fingers against his forearms, face stiff from solemnity. I didn't know what to expect coming next from him; maybe he was going to lash out on me, or maybe he would pour water on the fire again and scream at me to leave. I glanced down. Phew, there was no canisters near him, and it would just be stupid to waste clean, drinkable water like that again.

But what I did not expect was what he said next: 

"I...I just... You...you would be my first... friend...."

His face was almost as purple as a verbena flower now, his underlip quivering and his fingers tapping his arms so fast it looked like a blur. Tap tap tap. His words kept pounding inside my head, and all kinds of sentences started to build up in my mouth, and I opened it slowly, hoping that the best words would jump out into the deep abyss of Keith's mind.

"Well... Then let me show you what a friend is like." I gave my most honest smile, ignoring the slight ache in my cheeks. He refused to look at me, trying to make his long hair hide as much of his blushing face as possible.

"Not today..." he mumbled, the littlest of regret in his voice. Probably regret over what he said earlier, and how overly bared it has left him. "Allura will suspect more now. You better hurry, before she jumps into conclusions."

I straight out whined, dropping my arms at my sides with a defeated sigh. "What? But it felt like only one dobash. Do I really have to go now? Like, now now?"

"Sixteen dobashes, Lance", Keith corrected, grinning just a little. "I've counted."

That statement made me raise my eyebrows, leaning back. "Wow, are you really that eager to get rid of me?" I made a pout at him.

His eyebrows instantly knit together in frustration, and he looked up at me with a grim gaze. 

"Haven't I already told you? I can't even make myself  believe that I want you to leave, but what I don't want is for you to get into trouble. So return before things get too serious." He added a smile that made my bones melt, and I was grateful that I was sitting down. "Besides, I'm not going anywhere. I know you'll come back soon. Then you can show me what a friend is."

His words was a momentarily distraction of what was really going on, but when I returned to reality, I grimaced, slowly standing up, wishing I could pause the outside world and stay here a little bit more. But reality was reality, after all, and sometimes it could be impossible to customize it the way you wanted it to be. To accept the situation was probably the only option here.

"Tomorrow", I insisted, while slowly backing away.

Keith chuckled, and my legs wobbled. "Probably not. Would Allura really agree on searching for you again? I suppose you haven't been the searcher for a while now."

I opened my mouth to gainsay, but closed it shut when no words formed. Quiznack, he was right.

He smiled in achievement. "Thought so. We'll meet soon, I'm certain. I don't doubt that you'll visit again as soon as you get the chance to."

I stuck my lip out, desperately wanting to stay, to reach out for the different, but time started to tick inside my mind, reminding me, and I continued to back away.

Keith smiled at me all the way, until I was out of the cave, and he was out of sight.

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Wow, I'm so unproductive.