Prom is right around the corner and I'm still single as a pringle :'D

But, tests is over and I'm THRIVIIINGGGG!

And um... thank you so freaking much for 5k readers???? Even when I can barely update regularly???? I'm????

*sends you all my uwu's* 💕💕💕❤️💕❤️💕❤️💕❤️💕❤️💕❤️💕💕❤️💕❤️💕❤️❤️❤️💕❤️💕❤️💕❤️💕❤️💕

So, to celebrate 5k readers, I now present you this chapter
(╭☞'ω')╭☞

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I gasped so hard that I inhaled a galloon of water, the liquid instantly traveling down to my lungs.

Keith's face disappeared behind the bubbles that where coming out of my mouth when I coughed, desperately trying to push out the water that were located in the wrong place of my body. Everything sounded so indistinct, so slippery and unbalanced, stuffing my ears like sharp cotton, slicing right through my oxygen. I hovered between two emotions, not being able to grasp any of them properly. There was one emotion; absolute fear. Dread for drowning again, drowning in the three words that left his mouth, that floated weightlessly in the water around us, like twirling smoke from a fire pit. Fear that I couldn't put my feet on solid ground, that his words had forever eliminated my chances of being grounded.

But then there was the other emotion; confusion. Bemused about what he was saying, what he was mouthing so clearly underwater, and despite it being completely inaudible, it was still ringing loudly in my head. Confused about what he meant, if he meant what he was implying, if it wasn't just the lack of sleep twisting my brain into disorientation - it was night after all, and not once had I managed to shut down to rest.

But none of these two emotions mattered at the moment, because I was currently choking on water, and I was too frantic to pull myself up, just like last time I had successfully made a complete fool out of myself and almost died in a lake. And just like last time, the same adamant pressure on my arm hoisted me upwards, so fast that I could almost feel my neck crack by the hard whiplash.
And just like an audio played on reverse, the muffled sound dispersed from my ears, as my head rose to the surface, the sharp and prickly feeling in both my face and chest more obvious than when I was submerged. I started coughing full on as soon as the top half of me was above water, my coughs wet and raucous, almost surprising myself. I had my eyes pinched closed all the time, so I had no idea how Keith must have looked right now, only that he must have been the one to push me backwards - through all the chaos that was happening in my throat, I could feel the water brushing faster against my sides - until I could feel something solid and tickly prod at my spine, which I assumed was the beginning of the grassy ground that surrounded the lake.

I doubled over, trying so hard to push out the unwelcomed liquid in my lungs, my coughs ringing louder than the lake further away from us. Through it all, I could feel hard pats on my back, striking rhythmically, making it easier to dislocate the water from my pipelines. By the time I had managed to shove a great amount of it out, I was exhausted, slumping forward in defeat, my face immediately hitting something solid, something warm against my damp cheek. I emitted a raspy groan, closing my eyes, taking a moment to let my heartbeats cool down, for my breathing to turn into something less fitful. My shoulders sank down when the last water had made it out of my throat, when the last drop of energy had been spilled from my body, and I felt like I could fall asleep just like this, with my face pressed softly against Keith's bare collar, his strong heartbeats thumping just under my ear. My ears clicked fully open, and I could hear his breaths over me, so close to me, and the waterfall roaring in the background. I sighed.

Just a little bit longer, just let me stay like this a little longer, before I can come down from my high and freak out for the real.

"Goddammit Lance", Keith growled above me, his voice thick with frustration and disquiet. The hand that had patted my back was now securely snaking around my waist, like a desperate embrace, making sure I wouldn't get into trouble again. With my chest being pressed even harder against his body, it was harder to breathe properly this way, but I really didn't mind it. The warmth he was transmitting over to me was all the compensation I needed. Breathing felt unnecessary when being this close to him. "You've gotta stop doing that. Gosh, I swear you will give me a heart attack eventually."

The worry was creeping up his voice again, but I couldn't help but to just let out a breathy chuckle against his skin, my eyes fluttering, trying hard to open, but my eyelids felt filled with stone, dropping down as if in water. Maybe the fatigue was catching up on me now, maybe it was too late to think clearly, to run over his words again in my head, having a reaction towards it. Maybe I wasn't breaking into a fit of screeching because his chest made a perfect pillow, and I could be lights out right here and now. I let my eyes flutter completely shut.

"...Lance?"

No, nope, no sleep now. I forced my eyelids open again, using the crane that was my will to pull the stones up. Something about the worriment that lazed his voice gave me the strength to, and it took everything in me to hold them open. Somewhere past the fog in my body, I could feel his arm gripping me harder, the mention of my name echoing in my head, sounding like he needed a confirmation I was still with him, that my silence wasn't anything serious.

With exertion, I pushed myself slightly backwards, trying to prevent my head from rolling backwards, lifting my gaze to look at his face, and it immediately sparked vitality within me, making me straighten my back, my mouth falling slack, because I was drowning again, in the infinite mauve that was his eyes, holding my breath.

All at once, realization and shock nudged at my senses, and I very fast put two and two together - fast, considering how sluggish my functions had been just now. I was drowning and holding onto his arm was the only support I could get. I should tear my eyes away from his but I couldn't, not when he was looking at me like that, not when the intensity in his gaze ignited me like this. Droplets of water glimmered on his cheeks and his hands retreated just slightly, settling for laying sprawled on the sides of my waist, his fingers softly pushing me backwards until my back was hitting the grassy edge again, and my mouth was caught around a gasp.

"S-say..." My voice was husky, rough from almost suffocating on water, but I pushed out the rest of the words, all the while Keith's eyes glowed in such a way that made my legs shudder under the cool water, my skin burning in every place he didn't touch me. "Say... say what you d-did underwater... a-again. Say it again, I w-want to hear it..."

His face was mere inches from mine, and I suddenly dissolved into the water around me, the liquid turning into a yearning so desperate that it tingled when I swallowed it. His eyelids fluttered and his lips parted, looking at me like he had the same burn in his throat, like he'd been drowning with me all this time, inhaling the feelings that made ones lungs burst. He looked at me like he could weave me in with his eyes and I would let him, would always let myself submerge in the neon of his eyes.

"How can I guarantee that you won't choke on air next?" he whispered, followed by a tight little chuckle that sounded terrified and so full of anticipation at the same time, his voice rough and uneven, looking at me like he was frightened over the capacity this moment held and I couldn't do anything but float between various realities, not sure which was the original one.

My lips quivered when I stuttered out: "D-depends on what you're going to s-sa..."

"I love you, Lance." Three words that slid out of his lips like the droplets that was sliding down his temples and my knees was almost giving out, almost making me sink down again. I gasped, because suddenly I was a jumble of electricity and my body crackled with shock, sparkled with all kinds of feelings until I was just a big tangle of wires, crackling violently when coming in contact with the water. "I love you", he said again and every word he uttered made one bone in my body wither away, until I was just a flabby mass in front of him. "I love you and I was craven for not realizing it sooner, for not acknowledging my feelings properly. I loved you since long ago and I used fate as my shield, because I was fighting on a battlefield I didn't recognize, wasn't familiar with." The water rippled over his stomach as he itched closer, his fingers quivering on my forearms. "I crave you, Lance. I crave you and I've always done it, needed you so bad it confused me, rumbled up my better judgments. I-" His voice cracked, and his breathing was shallow, hitting my face like a warm fan.

But then something changed, his eyes widened, and the fingers laying displayed on my skin was retreating so suddenly it left me whining, and he pushed himself backwards, the water splashing in multiple directions. I almost fell face first down, looking up at him with despair, perturbed over why he was pulling away. My heart was beating so fast I was confused as to why it was working in the first place, its wings fluttering ferociously in my chest, threatening to take off.

Keith's eyebrows sat low over his frantic eyes, twitching at the start. His mouth was caught in a growl so low it almost sounded like an outdrawn bass note, and his eyes was shifted downwards, refusing to meet mine. He let out a sound that went from a grunt to a wail, and then back again, like he couldn't decide on what feeling to feel.

"I'm sorry", he whispered, and I was beyond muddled now, facing the universe most hardest question to solve, the one where one needed to understand what the hell Keith was going on about. The confusion momentarily steered away my attention from the aching beating of my heart, from the warmth in my cheeks. "I'm so sorry", he pressed out and closed in on himself, pulling away from me. "It shouldn't me. It shouldn't be me in this moment..." His hands were balled into fists, and he turned his head to the side, still looking down. "Not a Galra, confessing such a big thing to you. I'm so sorry..." He squeezed his eyes shut, wrinkles forming around them, his eyebrows wiggling in the struggle against...what? What was he doing? What was happening, and why did my heart speed up in pace?

I got my answer shortly after, when he let out an agonized cry, doubling over in pain. I squeaked, trying to find what had hurt him, but realized directly after that it was something much more complicated than what I thought of it.

Because the skin on the side of Keith's cheek were very slowly turning in a pale beige, the light color spreading on the purple like watercolor on a canvas. I watched in horror as his ear twitched, and then slowly retracted into a small, round human ear, turning beige as well. Keith was panting, grunting at the torment, and I didn't know if the droplets on his forehead was just water, or sweat too. My lips quivered, trying to form into shout, yelling for him to stop whatever supernatural shit he was pulling, but my mouth was locked, out of commission for anything but gasping. I could only trail my eyes over the slowly growing beige, now reaching down to his throat as well, spreading further and further down. The one purple mark on his left cheek had faded away into the pale skin, but the other one had remained, since the creme colored skin hadn't reached that far yet. Keith whimpered through the pain, and it was finally now that his cries clicked in my head, made me realize what was happening, was the key to unlock my mouth into function again.

I straight up screamed.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! STOP I-IT! KEITH! JUST STOP IT!" My hands stirred to life as they flew up to grip his shoulders, digging my fingers into the hard flesh, as if that would somehow stop the painful transformation, and my touch must have done some wonders, because Keith's head shot up, the pale skin momentarily stopping in its track, very very slowly pulling back, the purple reappearing where the human skin left.
He opened his eyes, and one of them was human, looking glazed at me. Gone where the bright yellow - it had now been replaced with a shining white - and gone was the sharp, vivid purple iris - this purple was dark, almost black, and his iris was so much rounder, quivering from side to side when looking at me. His shoulder was heaving under my grip, forehead glistening under the moonlight.

"Please stop it...", I wailed, my throat sore and aching, and I had no idea if it was because of the incident under water, or just because of this very vibrant sentiment. My whole body was trembling, and I felt sick to my stomach.

Keith stared at me, unmoving, but at least his skin wasn't turning beige anymore. He looked like he was slowly coming down from whatever crazy state he was in, and the closer he got to reality, the more clear his eyes turned, like they had been behind fog all this time, but finally the smog was dispersing. My mouth was locked again, so I had to plead with my gaze, trying to display my worry on my face the best I could, and he must have seen it, because he whimpered again, but then let his shoulders fall down under my grip, exhaling.

I watched in relief as his skin turned normal again, the spots of beige finally retreating, his dark mark returning, his ear stretching out into the original shape again, staying like that. Turning back didn't seem to injure Keith as much, or he was just that drained of energy. It was only once he had turned completely normal that I could let the air out I was holding in so painfully, almost hiccuping in the aftermath of the fear. Once he was back to his fully Galran form, he slumped slightly forward, catching himself just in time before his forehead could smash into mine, but I had other plans, and collided our heads together so hard it gave me a minor concussion, and I held it there, letting our noses bump into each other, feeling the sharp breathing that left his nostrils and hit my lips, warm and thick. I gripped the sides of his face, digging my fingers into the skin there, afraid that I was hurting him, but I was acting on pure instinct, and couldn't pull away. But Keith didn't show any sign of being in pain, only pure debilitation, his eyes falling closed when I let my hands go slack, curling in on the long hair at his back.

"Y-you idiot..." I stammered, feeling how my throat was fluttering, like it was ready to cry anytime. I gripped his hair tighter, and it was hot all around me, my eyes stinging. "You quiznacking idiot. Damn you, ruining such a romantic moment. You oblivious, clueless quiznack. I can't believe I'm in love with a nitwit. You..."

The words tasted unfamiliar, but oh so sweet when I uttered them, so earnest, because yeah, that's what it was. Pure, sheer sincerity, resounding so clearly in my heart. Was this what it had been all along? Something I had fizzled to concede before, just like Keith, something that had been laying at the bottom, never reaching the exterior of my mind, not until now, when Keith admitted to his own feelings. His words hadn't sparked something new, only bringing up something that had been there perpetually, hidden somewhere among my denials.

"...You scared me...", I said, but much more softer, because this was safe, the atmosphere totally flipped around from just ticks ago. I let his hair tickle my fingertips, my lips parted, dangerously close to his, our breaths intertwining, and my lips toppled over a hiss. "You scared me so bad, you motherquiznacker."

Keith's lips were one breath away, his eyes devouring me all at once, and I turned into a puddle of limbs, because he smiled, just a little bit, but it shone so bright it dazzled me. I was seeing green spots when his hand appeared in my field of view, coming to caress my cheek, his thumb lightly touching my mark under my eye, and when I glanced down, I could see how his hand was illuminated by a faint blue, the light source coming directly from my marks themselves. He gave out a breathy, tired titter, and my heart packed its bag and left. But when he focused his gaze on me again, it held something profound, dropping down to my lips.

"Payback", he whispered.

And then he closed the remaining distance between us and kissed me.

Hard, thoroughly, with a frenetic and avid desire that made me light-headed, my eyes widening because I was tasting different colors and patterns I had never tasted before and it overwhelmed me in such a strong away that I was forced to fall backwards, until my back was pressed against the grass again and Keith dropped his hands down to my hips to slam them against the solid ground as well. I gasped into his mouth, my body buzzing with an electricity so sharp it made everything tingle around me, like I had touched an electrical wire that was Keith's shoulders when I could finally react, answering the feverish fervor by angling my head to the side, moving my lips in return. I was burning everywhere, my thoughts set aflame, any other thoughts than the one of his lips on mine burning to ashes in my head. He kissed me like I was oxygen and he needed to breathe.

I clung to his shoulder, letting my hands move along his collarbone in a frenzy of trying to stay alive when he kissed me like that, stole any sign of oxygen in my lungs, and my body was shaking in excitement and elation. Keith's hands were tugging the hair at the nape of my neck, cradling my neck so he could pull us closer, not even a strap of air separating us anymore. We had collided, melted in on each other, gobbling each others lips because there was no such thing as going slow in a moment like this, not when we had waited too many life spans for exactly this,

For the moment he sucked at my bottom lip and my knees were shaking, struggling to support my weigh. So I let Keith keep me upstanding instead, sighing into his mouth and letting my body turn fluid. He burned everywhere I touched him, became flames under my fingertips. Everything was hazy, I felt hands in multiple places on my body, but I could never pinpoint fully where. Only that he moved backwards, his fangs grazing my lips when his left mine, and when he had fully parted away, he caught his breath, chest moving fast, arms quivering against me. I was about to whine, but I repressed the sound when he moved again, burying his lips in my throat, unraveling me in one touch. His lips were like a sizzling stone against my skin, leaving burn marks everywhere they touched. I gripped his head and stared ahead of me as he moved his lips higher - slowly, for that part - sucking up along the side of my throat, up to my chin, diving back to my lips, and I gulped. He annihilated me with his hands, and we drowned in the water consisting of exhilaration. He drank my lips with his, and he tasted rain and sweet musk, filling my taste buds so pleasantly that I only wanted more, couldn't stand not getting more. His fangs teased by nipping at my lips again, not hard enough to draw out blood, but hard enough to make my knees buckle. For once, I didn't feel intimidated by them, and I was drunk on the feeling of kissing him, so woozy, any trace of diffidence gone from my body as I darted my tongue out to kiss the sharp teeth, Keith gasping and then grunting, sealing my lips shut with his, adding more intensity to his action, until everything melted into nothing, until ticks stumbled over years and time was turned into the infinity that was this moment that would abide for so long, and I thought that yes,

This moment is the only one I want to exist in.

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Ewwwwwwww, this was so cliche, I'm-

But aside from the very predictable event in this chapter, you got the Klance you all have been waiting for!!! 💜💜💜 In the most cringey, cliche form, but still! :D