Willow|| Klance Single Dad AU

Chapter 19: Clarity From Communication

Surrounded in silence, warmly wrapped in a blanket, and face buried inside of soft pillows. Keith woke up comfortably, feeling a good night's rest slowly starting to catch up with him. His eyes quickly fluttered open and shut, arms reaching above his head in a big stretch. He took a deep breath, relaxing his body back into the bed.

Frowning his eyebrows together without opening his eyes, Keith finally realized something felt off. A familiar vanilla-musk scent filled his senses, but something was different about it, leading him to sit up a little with open eyes. Looking around, Keith found he was in Lance's room, in his bed. He lightly pulled at the blanket covering him, noticing he wasn't under the comforter or sheets. A yawn escaped his lips, Keith also taking note that he was in the room alone.

Keith sat up fully, rubbing his face with his palms and pushing his hair back. He tried to remember when he fell asleep in Lance's bed. Keith could have sworn that he waited up for Lance to get home, but his memory was so fuzzy. Keith was running off of fumes throughout yesterday. He wasn't complaining, but taking care of Willow from seven in the morning to ten at night drained his entire battery. Without a nap, or moments for himself Keith found himself run down by the end of the day, wondering how in the world Lance did it all the time.

After doing Willow's hair, Keith decided to keep her entertained for another hour with some unfinished Lego sets. Once she got bored of that, she dropped down for a nap. That gave Keith an hour and a half to prepare lunch, clean up, and call Lance. As expected, she woke up asking for food which Keith prided himself on having ready for her. After Willow was fed, Keith sat down to read some comic books with her before bundling her up for a small adventure. He brought her to the mall to look at the open Aquarium for a minute, finding their way into an ice cream parlor and then to a toy shop. Willow brought home a set of Marvel Lego figures to go with the one they previously put together. Once Willow got to complaining that she was bored they went back home to Lance's apartment.

For almost two hours Willow sat with her new legos in front of the TV, giving Keith space to make her dinner. After they finished up with dinner Keith sent her to put pajamas on so he could clean up a little. Later into the night, they settled into the coach for a movie and a hot chocolate. The movie definitely helped calm Willow down for the day, falling asleep toward the last few minutes of Madagascar. Around nine at night, Keith tucked her in bed, finding himself pacing around the house cleaning up things he forgot or things he saw needed to be done. Keith did that until Lance called him, which led him to sit down and talk to him for almost half an hour.

After that Keith found himself thinking about how much Lance does. Keith found himself sitting there on Lance's couch, staring at the pictures he had displayed on the TV stand. He realized the day he had wasn't even a sample of what Lance lived. He thought about how hard Lance must've had to work to afford his apartment, and all of the nice things he filled it with. Keith also thought about how hard Lance worked every day to keep that, to keep food in his fridge, clothes on his daughter's body, and all the other essentials he needs in this life. What Keith always circled back to was how hard Lance worked to keep his daughter happy, to keep everyone in his life happy. It made Keith question if Lance was even happy himself. He spent every day of his life working to make sure everyone around him was okay. Lance bent over backward and twisted himself sideways just to ensure that he could hold down everyone else. Keith didn't even know how long Lance had been doing it, but it made him wonder whenever Lance stopped to put himself first. It made Keith wonder if Lance was tired, or if he was happy doing this all.

Then Keith sent himself down another hole of thinking about if that is why Lance won't commit to him. Maybe Lance just can't afford to support another like that. Maybe Lance is worried that Keith won't be able to support him in the ways that he supports everyone else. Keith didn't know, and he was thinking about it for what felt like forever. He considered all the reasons why Lance didn't want to be with him like he didn't spend the last month doing that already. Keith ran himself in circles and circles trying to come up with an answer only Lance knew. Eventually, he realized he was spiraling a little and tried to distract himself with Instagram Reels till Lance came home.