Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

---Keith’s P.O.V:

Uh… Did all of that just happen? Keith and Lance had just defeated Prometheus, but forget about that for a second. He and Lance kissed. Lance said he loved Keith, and then Lance kissed him. Then, after the fire was restored Keith kissed him again. Honestly, he didn’t even care much about defeating Prometheus and saving the world, bla bla bla, he and Lance actually kissed.

Those were just some of the things Keith was thinking as he and Lance were transported to Camp Half Blood. Hestia’s fires have connections, and she was sending the two through that, somehow. The journey probably lasted shorter than a second, but it felt like they were moving through molasses. It was hard to explain what Keith saw or felt as he traveled, but the closest metaphor he could think of was driving through a never ending tunnel. He looked to his left and saw a shadowy but recognizable figure of Lance. He looked just as in thought as Keith was.

He also looked like shit. Keith would be lying if he said that they came out of the battle unscathed. Keith had been thrown around the room a few times by prometheus, plus he obtained varying cuts of different depths from the two armies he had to face. Lance had a big, nasty bruise on the back of his neck, where prometheus had elbowed him. He also had a shallow stab wound in his shoulder. Both of them were covered in grime, dirt, and grease, just to put the icing on top of the cake. They were also tired beyond all belief. They had been fighting in those tunnels for a few hours and had used a lot of their powers. Not to mention their extremely tired mental state after having to fight the most important, world saving battle of their life. Oh, also Camp Half Blood, Lances home for the past four years and Keith's new, fresh start, was under attack and possibly already gone. That wasn’t the happiest thing to think about. So, in conclusion, they weren’t exactly the epitome of health in that moment, but it didn’t matter. They still had to suck it up for one more battle.

Keith wished he’d had a bit of warning, but in the span of a second he went from traveling through the molasses, car-traveling-through-a-tunnel like fire connection to standing in the middle of a battle. He and Lance appeared right next to the heart of the camp, which was luckily roaring with life again. Keith saw that the barriers of camp had been restored and no more monsters could get in, but there were still lots of monsters inside camp and not many people to fend them off.

It took the two boys a few second to digest their new surroundings and the situation it went along with. “Should we.. just jump into the battle?” Keith asked.

“Oh my gods!” Sounded a familiar voice. Allura was sprinting towards the two of them. She looked a bit battered up but not injured too bad. “You guys are okay! What happened?”

“It’s… a long story,” Lance said, glancing over at Keith. “We’re here now, though. How can we help?”

“I ordered around some people. Apollo kids are taking the injured out of the field and setting up an archery line. Aries and Athena kids are working together create some strategic flanks. Aphrodite cabin were setting up distractions and luring the monsters to the archery line last time i checked. Oh, and shiro just arrived with a group of demigods. Just find somewhere to help and start fighting.”

“Where’s Pidge and Hunk?” Lance asked.

“Pidge is helping with battle strategy and Hunk is setting up traps with the one remaining Hermes kid.”

“Alright,” Lance said. “Good job here, we’ll meet up later.”

“Good to have you two back,” she said before running off to join the battle again.

“Let’s go,” Keith said, ready to do the same.

The two of them ran off to the closest crowd of monsters. There was a young giant and a few monster groupies around him. Keith ran to the giant, activating his sword as he did so. He ran underneath his legs and slashed at his calves with his duel blades as he did so. The giant was about to swat at Keith but Lance charmspeaked him to sleep. He fell over and crushed a few of his monster groupies. Lance took out the rest.

“One group down, like thirty more to go,” Lance sighed.

“We should split up. You fight over there, me over here,” Keith proposed. Lance nodded and they seperated.

Keith vaulted, rolled and sliced at any monster in sight. It was strange how that adrenaline came right back. A few minutes ago, Keith was worn out and didn’t think he could go through another battle, but right when his sword hit that giant, the energy was back and he was ready for another battle. In Fact, he was fighting a bit better than usual. He felt faster, more agile. He was slightly aware of some campers watching him fight, but he ignore them.

Keith took a break to look at lance - and what the Hades? He was glowing. Not the type of ‘glowing’ you tell women they look like when they’re pregnant, but like, physically emitting light. There was a sort of copper aura around him, and he seemed to be a bit faster and stronger as well. Keith looked down at himself and saw that same aura around him as well. He was so distracted that a monster was able to hit Keith with it’s claws, but nothing happened. The monster just bounced off him, as if he was made of metal. That’s when he realised that this was Hestia's doing. She’s a peaceful goddess and wouldn’t join the fight, but she could help the two boys out. This was her blessing.

More confident now, Keith continued to fight. He embraced the power and sliced and jumped at monsters and saved campers that were overrun. Lance must’ve noticed the blessing as well and he was doing the same. After an unmeasured amount of time of fighting, He and Lance joined up. They had taken out a lot of monsters and the glow was now fading, the blessing wearing off. Though they had made a big dent in the enemy’s army, there were still a lot of monsters.

“Camp is majorly spread thin. We can’t win this unless we take a great deal of monsters out at once. Let me raise an army,” Keith said.

“No,” Lance replied immediately. “You’re too tired. You could really hurt yourself.”

“Then i’ll raise them and you can control them.”

“It’ll still take too much power! The amount of energy it would take to raise an army big enough to take out this army would be too much.”

“So? We need to save cam-”

“I’m not going to risk losing you right after we got through this quest!” Lance yelled, cutting him off. “Not after we just…” Lance trailed off, the end of that sentance not needing to be finished.

“I can do this,” Keith said. “I need to do this. I chose to save this camp once, and i’ll make that same choice again.” Lance still looked hesitant and a bit scared. Keith put his hand on the boys shoulder. “I can do this,” he repeated, looking into his eyes.

Lance looked at him for a few seconds, then kissed Keith’s check quickly and suddenly. “Yo, apollo kid,” he whistled over to a boy standing closeby. “Follow Keith. He’s gonna do something stupid, then he’ll pass out. Make sure you get him to safety when he does that.”

The apollo kid didn’t look very pleased with being a traveling nurse, especially since the person he was tasked to follow was a Hades kid, but he obliged anyway. Keith ran up to the hill where the last battle took place. The crack in the ground where he raised an army a week ago was still there, and reopening in would take less power than creating a new opening to the underworld.

Being atop the hill, he was able to see how many monsters were on the campgrounds, and it was a lot. Among those monsters, he saw campers laying on the ground, the apollo cabin struggling to quickly assess injuries. He also saw demigods being faced with large monsters they were not qualified to fight. Even after restoring hestia's fire and saving the world, Keith didn’t feel accomplished. This camp, it was his new world, it was his new home, and if they were too late to save it, in Keiths mind that was a failure. He told lance he could do this and not hurt himself, but he may have to go back on his word.

Keith pressed his feet into the grass, feeling the dirt under his shoes. He took all that he learned on the quest and put it towards this one thing. He’d learned not to fuel his powers on rage alone, to instead use the earth and his parentage. He had also learned what a healthy amount of anger and secrecy was, and in this case, using some anger to fuel him in addition to connecting to the earth, was needed. He used the anger of his still secreted past. He used the anger of how he was first treated at camp. He didn’t let the anger overwelm him, but he let it motivate him.

In only a few seconds, the crack in the ground reopened, though now doubling in size, and floods of spirits, skeletons and zombies came out. It was more than he’d ever summoned. Not only in number, but in power as well. His army was more syncranized and strong than any of his others had been. Though they were preocupied with thier own fights, some campers gave worried glances up the hill at Keith, as he’d later learned that he had been screaming as he summoned them. He fell to his knees but didn’t pass out, not yet. He extended the crack in the hill to travel all over camp, though not hitting any campers. He opened the cracks and more underworld creatures rosee, now all over camp. There were now demons and stronger creatures among his army, though they were under his control. This was the most power he’d ever used at once, and in his tired state he didn’t know how it would affect him in the long run, but the important thing is that he did what he had to. He helped camp.

Keith’s drooping eyes fell on Lance, who was down the hill. He looked proud, but also worried. Worried for Keith, who was starting to feel a weird fading, transitional feeling, like he was traveling quickly through a cold to warm climate. Shit, maybe he had used too much power. Lance would definitely be pissed at him. Didn’t matter, though, he wouldn’t stay mad for long.

As Keith looked out at his army, who had formed a strong, killing machine, he knew he couldn’t stay awake any longer. He toppled over and hoped that he would wake up after this. He hoped he’d be fine for lance, who was much cuter when he wasn’t worried or angry. But, again, he wouldn’t stay mad for long.

---Lance’s P.O.V:

Lance watched as Keith fell from his knees fully to the ground. The apollo kid that had been tasked with keeping him safe was hesitantly dragging him to the infirmary. Keith really didn’t look good. Still, Lance had a task; he couldn’t worry about that right now. He’d totally kill Keith if- when... When he woke up.

The many monsters Keith summoned were still fighting, but they were starting to look confused without their instructions. Now it was Lance's turn to use his powers. He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loud enough to hail a taxi a mile away. In the moment of silence that earned him, Lance took control.

“Underworld army! This is your chance to fight! You’ve been hauled up in the underworld for quite some time, if i’m correct. Get your opportunities worth and fight this fight! Kill any monsters but each other and the friendly ones. If you see a monster about to attack a demigod, take the monster out. Use your opportunity out of that literal hell hole and protect our camp!”

Lances charmspeak may have been a bit too powerful, as the demigods fighting seemed to get a new wave of motivation upon hearing his words. Lance watched as the army of demons, spirits, zombies, and skeletons spread all over camp, saving demigods and killing monsters. There was actually starting to be a dent in the enemy army.

Lance was feeling woozy and sick after charmspeaking so powerfully, but he kept going, urging on Keith’s army and making sure they were fighting strong and hard. Lance saw how many campers were unconscious at the infirmary, and it was troubling, but at least they were out of the field. Lance was worried about his friends, as he hadn’t seen them in a while. He saw Allura when they first arrived, and he had seen his other friends amongst the crowds as he was fighting.

It reached the point where Lance couldn’t charmspeak anymore. He had used way too much power, and he just couldn’t get the energy. As Keith's army jumped back into the underworld after not receiving any commands, Lance resulted to something that didn’t take up as much energy but he was still very good at: fighting. He rushed onto the battlefield with his sword and gun in hand and jumped right in.

He had to ignore the pain in his shoulder, neck, and… everywhere, as he went. Lance knew he was near collapsing, but he used his last bit of energy to do this. As he slashed at one monster he shot another one. As he lept off of giants’ heads he’s shoot in mid air to take out a whole cluster of enemies. He remembered what he thought about back at the underground system, about how these battles were what he was trained for. His whole life at camp, all those years, was getting him ready for this. He had wanted people to see him for more than an aphrodite child, and they were watching him now. But Lance wasn’t more than an Aphrodite child, because that’s what he was. A son of love, just one who’s good at fighting.

Lance turned around and stabbed a monster, it’s hissing body turning to dust. He was about to move onto the next one, but there weren’t any monsters left. They were all gone, all dead, and the entire camp, or the people still on their feet at least, we're looking at Lance. They were all quiet and looked a bit startruck. He saw that he had made his way to Half Blood Hill, where Keith had collapsed. It was a good place to make a little announcement.

“Me and Keith succeeded on our quest,” Lance announced, his voice steady and confident despite Lance actually being in pain and full of exhaustion. “We freed Hestia and she was able to start her fire again. I understand that you all are weary of Keith’s place in this camp, but he’s staying. He’s chosen time and time again to save this place at his own expense, even when you all have been nothing but disrespectful to him. You saw it now. This was the second time he’s saved Camp Half Blood… and he might have seriously injured himself in the process, so if any of you have a problem with him staying, you’ll need to get through me before kicking him out.”

“-saw him fucking kiss him. I knew he couldn’t do this quest without hooking up with someone,” a familiar and angering voice snickered. Mason, the Aries kid that wasn’t very fond of Lance, was amongst the crowd talking to his friend very non-descreely.

“Hey, Mason? How’s that cheek healing up?” Lance asked, indicating to the large cut on the side of his face, something Lance had given to him in a fist fight a week back. That one comment shut up the Aries son, putting a quite hilariously surprised look on his face.

“Camp is safe,” Lance continued on, putting his attention back to the whole crowd. “That’s thanks to the efforts of Keith and I. Camp is safe again. Our home is safe again.” The boy couldn’t help but smile. The quest was over, he was home.

Lances friends ran forward from the crowd and engulfed him in a big hug. Shiro was smiling up at him from down the hill. Chiron, who had a boy slung across his shoulder, gave a big nod up at Lance. The rest of the campers seemed to simultaneously let out a big smile and sigh, taking comfort in their restored safety. As his friends led him down the hill, their arms around his shoulders and all of them laughing and smiling, Lance took a big sigh as well. His home was back, and he was back home.

---Keith’s P.O.V:

Keith’s eyes started to open slowly, his vision blurry and his body tired. There was quiet, raspy talking between a few people in the room; the kind of talking that came with late nights. Keith looked at the ceiling, and knew just from the wood panels that he was in the big house. It was night out, as there was little light in the room but a few lanterns, emitting a comfortable warm glow. The whole atmosphere was very warm. There were a few people in the room. Pidge and Hunk were sitting next to each other on the bed to Keith’s right, Allura was sitting in a chair near the foot of Keith’s bed, and Lance was in a chair right next to Keith. He was close, one elbow propped on Keiths’ bed, just lightly touching his shoulder. All four of them talked in that quiet, tired, voice Keith heard when he woke up.

“The Aries cabin were being dicks,” Pidge said.

“Language,” Allura intervened.

“Well, they were,” Pidge responded. “They didn’t even help clean up camp. They’re supposed to be the manpower. Instead they left the demeter cabin to lug all the monster dust away.”

“Masons’ just pissed at me and is taking it out on camp,” Lance said. His voice was grovely and tired sounding. He had some bags under his eyes and would tiredly put his head in his hand every few seconds. “Doesn’t matter, though. He’s only cabin leader because Jeremy left after the first battle, but he called and said he’s coming back.”

“That’s good,” Allura said. “I never liked Mason.”

“I don’t think any one in camp likes him,” Hunk said, “Especially after you shut him up on the hill after the battle.”

“That was pretty badass,” Pidge said.

“Language,” Allura said. “... but yes, it was pretty badass.”

“Oh, please,” Lance smirked, “Everything I do is badass.”

“You? Badass?” Keith said, finally opening his mouth and alerting the bunch that he was awake. He felt similiar to his state after the first battle at camp, only a few days after he’d arived. He felt like every even small movement he made took up all the energy he had. Even talking took extreme effort. His voice sounded more tired and grovely than his friends’. “Don’t make me laugh.”

“You’re awake!” Allura said. Hunk and pidge took a few steps closer to Keith, smiles on their faces. Lance turned so he was facing Keith.

“How do you feel?” Lance asked.

“Like death,” Keith responded. “How long was i out?”

“Five days,” Lance replied, his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. “We couldn’t even feel your pulse for the first day. You were basically dead.”

“Oops,” Keith said.

Lance was looking at him with a few different emotions on his face. He of course looked happy and relieved that Keith was awake, but also looked like he wanted to punch him in the face. He also looked like he wanted to kiss him, which Keith would gladly welcome.

“What happened after i passed out?” Keith asked.

“Lance commanded your army for a while, which was super awesome,” Hunk said enthusiastically. “Then he went in and killed like half of the enemy himself. After that, he gave a big speech to the entire camp about how you were staying and how camps’ safe again.”

Keith thought for a few seconds. “Not to be a downer, but i’m in the big house, not the infirmary. That means they still don’t want me around, right?”

“Not in the slightest,” Lance said. “A few people with minor injuries actually offered to give their bed in the infirmary to you. We just wanted to give you star treatment, so Chiron let you stay here.”

“So… i can stay?” Keith asked, the idea of this place being his home still feeling unreal.

“You can stay,” Lance said with a warm smile. Keith looked up at the boy and smiled as well, their eyes meeting in that nothing-in-the-world-matters-except-us kind of way. It reminded Keith of their kiss in the underground cavern, the one surrounded by spiraling, warm fire.

Apparently, Keith wasn’t the only on in the room who got those vibes. “Hunk, Pidge, let’s go see if there’s anything around camp we can help clean up,” Allura said.

“It’s like three a.m,” Hunk said.

“I said ‘let’s go’,” Allura said again through gritted teeth.

“Jeez, fine,” Pidge said. “See ya around, Keith.”

The door closed as the three of them left Lance and Keith alone together. It was the first time since the big kiss that they were alone and had time to relax. They couldn’t let awkwardness come between them when they were fighting a battle, but now it was starting to creep in.

“So… what did you say in your big speech?” Keith asked.

“Hunk pretty much covered it all,” Lance responded. “I gave my whole spiel about how we succeeded on the quest and that camp will be fine. I also told them that without you, they’d be dead, and that that was the second time you saved them. Just wanted to remind them of that, and i think they remembered it as they’re being pretty welcoming.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, i did.”

“...Thank you,” Keith said, feeling warm at the fact that he had a person willing to stick up for him. That person being Lance made him feel even better.

“You’re a jerk, you know that?” Lance said. “You could of died. You said you’d take it easy.”

“I had to save camp,” Keith said. “How much would it have sucked to go through this whole quest only to fail in the end? There was a place and people worth saving here, so my health wasn’t really my priority. And i’m okay now, so why does it matter?”

“It just… wasn’t exactly fun to be sitting here for five days wondering if you were gonna die after all we’ve been through,” Lance said, his voice still raspy and his eyes distant.

“I know,” Keith said, flipping the situation and putting himself in Lance’s shoes, “I’m sorry, i’ll be more careful from now on.”

“Good,” Lance said smugly, a small smile on his lips.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, the sound of a crackling fireplace adding white noise to the background. Lance’s elbow was still right next to Keith, and neither of them seemed intent on moving away from each other.

“The prophecy worked out pretty interestingly, huh,” Keith said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah,” Lance agreed. “‘Despite the hardships, they’ll end the liar.’ I guess that turned out to be Lecto.”

“I didn’t expect that,” Keith said. “And, um, ‘their fears will spread and destroy the fire,’ turned out to be us, uh, admitting our fears and… moving past them, which destroyed hestia's’ bonds, which were made out of fire.”

“‘On this journey one thing will be crucial, it’s the meeting of the dark and the beautiful.’ That could mean a bunch of stuff,” Lance said. “Us using our combined power, or us… getting over our fears together.”

The two looked at eachother, their eyes locked and Keith now very aware of Lance’s elbow touching him. The warm glow of the fire and the lanterns framed Lance’s structured face and made his eyes look dark and intense.

“What… are we now?” Lance finally asked. “What’s next for us?”

“I really like you,” Keith half blurted out. “Sorry, that sounded aggressive and weird, i’m super tired right now. But, i do… really like you. I don’t think i could go back to just being friends with you. Now after what happened in the cavern.”

“Me neither,” Lance replied, smiling a bit, maybe out of relief. “Screw friendship.”

“Yeah, who needs it anyway?” Keith joked. The two laughed for a few seconds, but the atmosphere went right back to being filled with uncertainty. “So… are we, you know, dating or something?”

“Can we really be dating if we’ve never been on a date before?”

“The quest was basically one week long date,” Keith pointed out.

“Oh my gods, you’re right. I guess we’re dating. Or something.”

The two of them were silent for a few minutes, not really sure what to do or say. Finally, Keith broke. “Wanna make out?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

---Lance’s P.O.V:

Finally, some time to relax after a week long, emotionally and physically exhausting quest. NOT. Lance still had to deal with cleanup at camp, and his stabbed shoulder and bruised neck hurting like hell, oh, and the fact that his and Keith’s relationships was super weird and unclear, which was exactly what Lance had feared. Well, Lance had feared that Keith would spit in his face and tell Lance that he’s revolting and that he ruined their friendship… but this was still really annoying.

To add to that, Lances’ friends, especially Allura, were pestering him madly to get to the end of his and Keith’s relationship. Maybe Allura shared her Lance-has-a-crush-on-Keith scepticism with the rest of them, as all of them were giving him side eyes and asking what went on with them on the quest and if they were a couple now. But Lance doesn’t know! It was kind of established when Keith woke up, that the two of them were ‘dating,’ but what does that mean? What does that entail? Were they the kind of PDA dating, or like were they gonna go on a physical date kind of dating? If he and Keith were walking and Lance took his hand, would Keith freak out? Ugh, This was literally the worst thing ever.

Well, there was also the whole Keith-was-basically-dead thing, which was pretty bad. Nevermind, it was horrible. Lance stayed at his bedside for five straight days. Allura had to come and change the bandages on his shoulder right there. Lance didn’t even shower, and he slept only two or three hours a night. The worst day was the first, when Keith literally didn’t have a pulse. In any other case, he would’ve been declared dead, but Lance knew to hold on just a bit longer, holding onto hope that his dead state just a Hades thing. He was right in the end and Keith got his pulse back the next day, but it was scary; it was awful. After going on such a big, long journey with Keith, the thought of him just dying… Lance couldn’t bear it. Especially after they had just kissed and confessed their love and whatnot. Those five days were some of the worst in Lance’s life.

He woke up though, and he was talking and eating and he definitely could still work those lips, which was, uh, besides the point, but he was fine. Camp was fine, and Keith was fine, and the quest was completed. You know, maybe Lance did have some time to rela-

“What’re you doing?” Pidge asked Lance.

“Uh, walking back to my cabin so i can sleep?” Lance answered, his feet dragging in dirt as he took each tired step.

“Why?”

“Because in the past five days i’ve only slept like ten hours, tops.”

“Why?” Hunk asked

“Because- jesus, where did you come from?” Lance asked, swearing that Hunk was nowhere in sight a few seconds ago.

“Answer the question,” Hunk deadpanned.

“Because i was with Keith,” Lance exhaled angrily.

“Why?”

“Because he- because we’re-,” Lance stuttered out.

“You’re what?” Allura asked.

“Where do you all keep coming from!?” exclaimed Lance, keeping his eyes forward and his legs moving.

“Boyfriends? Friends? Brothers? Homies?”

Pidge smirked. “Fuck buddies?”

“Okay, stop!” Lance yelled, halting in place and nearly causing his friends, who were practically climbing on top of him, to fall over. “I clearly am not in the mood to talk about it! You know what we could talk about instead? Oh, i don’t know, maybe my awesome, world saving, epic quest that i just got back from. Hello!? I have a jacked up ankle that i broke on the quest! Do you not care how i got that on my adventures?!”

“Yeah Yeah, rabid furries gave it to you or something, you already told us. Now, these adventures, the adventures that you went on together with Keith, who is your…?”

“Goodnight!” Lance exclaimed, walking onto the porch of the Aphrodite cabin.

“It’s like six a.m,” Hunk pointed out.

“I said ‘goodnight’!” Without another word Lance entered his cabin and slammed the door shut. Forgetting that it was, in fact, six a.m, Lance woke up a cabin full of sleeping Aphrodite kids by accident. “... Oh, sorry guys.”

“Lance?” Adeline asked sleepily, her long black hair falling into her face as she sat up. “Where have you been? We’ve barely seen you since you got back.” Lances’ two other sisters and two brothers were starting to wake up as well.

“I’ve, uh, been with Keith. He woke up, he’s doing pretty good,” Lance said, getting ready for another chorus of ‘are you two together?’s.

“Oh, cool. Glad to hear it,” Adeline replied, surprisingly. “Anyway, tell us about the quest!”

Lance could have cried in relief. Finally, some people who were more concerned with the emotionally and physically exhausting quest he went on instead of his love life. And this was coming from the Aphrodite cabin, which was even more surprising. They must be happy to finally have one of their own go on a quest. Lance wasn’t the only one who was tired of the stereotyping and demeaning of the Aphrodite cabin, and they were just as thrilled as Lance was to have campers think of the cabin as more than a place to go to for makeup tips and dating advice.

Even though it was early and the Aphrodite cabin was full of yawns and eye rubs, Lance told them stories from the quest for an hour. He was loving all the reactions of “The snake had two heads?” and “You met mom?” and “Furries? And you charmspeaked them?” and lances personal favorite, “You killed a fucking hydra? And then drank it’s boiled head?”

He finally got to the end of the fight with Prometheus, which he hadn’t even told his friends about in full detail, despite their pestering. “Woah, plot twist,” Lisa said. “You told him you loved him?”

“Yeah, then we kissed… in a cave” Lance said. The cabin was full of excitement, as they were, afterall, Aphrodite kids. Lance smilled with them. “I mean, it worked. Those bonds, the fire the prophecy was talking about, broke and Hestia was free.” He told them the rest of the story, finishing it off with them getting back to camp, as the campers knew the rest of the story from then.

“Wow, i would never have been able to go on that quest,” Jamie confessed.

“Yeah, i guess i’m just that amazing,” Lance joked. “But honestly, it wasn’t as fun as it sounded. I was basically forced to confront my deepest, darkest fear that i’ve had for more than four years. I also got stabbed, and i broke my ankle, and i was hit in the spine by a titan.”

“I dunno, still sounds pretty cool.”

“So, what about you and Keith?” Lisa asked, though not in an intrusive way.

Lance sighed deeply. “I really don’t know. We kind of talked about it and agreed that we definitely had feelings beyond friendship.”

“Well, you both confessed your love and made out mid-battle, so i’d hope so.”

“You’ve got a point. I just...i don’t know. We’re ‘dating’ or whatever, but for some reason i haven't told my friends about any of this. I don’t know why, but if i don’t want to tell them doesn't that mean that… maybe me and Keith shouldn’t be dating?”

“Lance, you’re probably the smartest person in this cabin, but right now you’re being super dumb,” Adeline deadpanned.

“She’s right,” Jamie laughed.

“How?” Lance asked, slightly offended.

“It’s because of what Mason said. You’ve obviously gotten much more comfortable with mom and being an Aphrodite kid on your quest, which is great, but i think you’re still worrying about camp stereotypes. You want people to be proud of your quest and you want it to be the talk of camp, and you’re scared that if you and Keith publically date it’ll overshadow your glory and they’re be like ‘such an aphrodite kid, going on a quest and coming back with a boyfriend.’”

“Newsflash, idiot,” Lisa cut in, “Your quest was amazing and i still think you’re lying about some of the stuff you did because it was so cool. You having a boyfriend isn’t going to change people from thinking you’re hot shit. And by the way, you haven’t noticed, but people are talking about your quest. Your friends have been telling everyone the stories about it and people are talking about you and Keith like you’re gods. You two saved camp, of course people will talk about it.”

“Geez, when did you guys become therapists?” Lance asked.

“Our mother is basically the goddess of emotions, we were just born with it.”

“Where are you going?” Jamie asked Lance, who was climbing out of his bunk.

“You guys are totally right. I’ll be back later. Thank you, therapists!” He said, shutting the door to the cabin and making his way to the strawberry patch. Gods, he really wish he slept. Sleeping was literally the only reason he went to his cabin, and he was even more tired than when he first got there.

“Hey, Lance,” Hunk said, noticing him first. Allura and Pidge looked up at him. Pidge and Hunk were sitting on the table eating berries out of the bins that Allura was filling.

“We’re dating! Okay?!” Lance said, out of breath. He hadn’t run there, he was just not in the best physical shape. Gods, he needed a nap. “Me and Keith. We’re dating! We kissed like three times on the quest and made out for like a half n’ hour after you guys left. I didn’t want to tell you guys because i didn’t want anyone focusing on that instead of my big quest. You happy now?”

The four of them were blinking blankley at him, until pidge broke the silence. “Aw, look at Lance, telling us his feelings instead of resulting to passive aggression. That quest really did change you.”

“You’re impossible,” Lance nervously laughed out. He sat down in between Hunk and Pidge and plunged his hand into the berry bin.

“I’m not one to gloat,” Allura began, “but i was totally right.”

“Yeah, you were. Sorry for blowing up at you. That was old passive aggressive Lance,” Lance said.

“You’re not gonna apologize to the rest of us? You blew up at us like an hour ago,” Pidge said.

“Can you blame me? I just almost died like five times to save camp on my big, life changing quest, and the only thing that you all cared about was my dating life.”

“That’s because your ‘big, life changing quest’ is old news to us,” Hunk said. “We already know you’re a great fighter and that you’re capable of a lot, so we aren’t really surprised by your quest. It doesn’t mean that we don’t care, hell, i’ve been telling my cabin all about the stuff you and Keith fought-”

“Same here,” Pidge and Allura added.

“-but you shaking up with the brooding Hades kid that you absolutely hated a week ago, that’s new. Especially since before this quest you were always ‘oh bla bla bla dating is stupid just because i’m an aphrodite kid doesn’t mean i date all the time i just flirt for fun bla bla bla.’”

“Hunk, you are being very mean right now,” Lance joked.

“Just being honest, bro.”

“I guess you guys are right. Seriously, when did everyone in this camp become therapists? Did you guys take psychology classes when i was gone or something?”

--------------------

“Mason is still throwing a hissy fit. He tried to start some sort of riot against me at the dining pavilion and i was like ‘what are you hoping to accomplish. Do you want me to go and unsave camp or something?’” Lance told Keith, who was still stuck in bed at the big house. Lance was in a chair next to the boys bed, his back against Keith’s shoulder and his feet propped up on a nearby nightstand. Lance had been doing this the past few days: getting his work and chores done, then stopping in to hang with keith and bring him up to speed with what was happening around camp half blood.

“What’re you gonna do about him?” Keith asked, his voice a bit mumbled. He usually fell asleep about an hour into Lance’s visits.

“Nothing. I’ll just let him tire himself out. Nobody, not even some of his cabin members, have shown any interest in joining him.” Lance yawned. It was pretty late at night. “Besides, it’s pretty funny. Everytime he stands up to try and get people riled up, Pidge just shouts ‘shut up, mason,’ and he’s too flustered to say anything else.”

Keith laughed that one laugh that made his eyes crinkle at the sides, the one that Lance loved. “I wish i could see it.”

“There’s no reason you can’t,” Lance reminded him. “I could bring you out, you’re healthy enough to walk around for an hour or two.”

“Uh, no. I’ll wait a bit longer.” There it was. Everytime Lance mentioned Keith’s recovery he got all weird and shut out. It was like a time machine to early-quest Keith.

“Why?”

“I just… i’ll heal for a bit longer. Don’t wanna injure myself anymore, do i?”

“I guess not,” Lance said, deciding not to pry anymore. He changed the topic. “I think my mom appeared in my dream last night.”

“What? Why are you just bringing this up?”

“I wasn’t really anything substantial. I was dreaming of that beach again, the one in florida, only now it was all sunny and happy again, and on it was my mom. All she did was smile at me and nod, and then she was justs gone. I think she was telling me ‘good job’ or something.”

“That’s good,” Keith said. “You still on good terms with her?”

Lance turned around to face Keith. “Yeah… i think. I’m definitely on better terms with her than i was before this quest. Her turning up to speak to us and showing up in my dreams twice, that’s a lot more contact from my godly parent than most demigods here get. So, yeah, i think i’m cool with her.”

“I liked her,” Keith said. “She’s pretty caring, for a goddess.”

“At first i was all annoyed that she was trying to meddle in my love life or whatever, but she was the one who kinda slapped me across the face and said ‘get over your fear, bitch,’ and that saved the world, so… Also, it was kinda nice to have a mother to meddle in my love life. I felt like someone with… i don't know, normal parents.”

“Can’t relate to that,” Keith joked. “Talking about gods, have you heard anything from Hestia recently? Do you know if she’s alright?”

“Yeah, i’ve seen her a few times.”

“What?” Keith asked, suddenly having more energy.

“She’s always at camp. At night, go to the heart of the camp and if you focus enough you’ll see her sitting there. Why?”

“I just… have some questions i wanna ask her,” Keith said simply.

“Well, you know, if you wanna ask them you have to leave this house.”

There it was, that hesitant, uncomfortable look. “Maybe tomorrow night.”

“What do you wanna ask her?”

“Some stuff about my dad. Both Hades and my fake dad, or whoever that guy is,” he sighed.

“Where are you with the whole Hades thing?” Lance asked hesitantly. “Like, are you okay with it?”

Keith relaxed against his pillows and thought for a few seconds. “Am i okay with being a child of Hades? Yes. Do i like him, though? Definitely not.”

“That’s more than fair,” Lance commented. He leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet on top of Keiths lap. Keith casually rested his hand on Lance’s knee, as if this was an everyday thing they’d been doing for years.

“I just kinda wish he showed up in some shape or form during the quest. Like, ‘oh, my only son is on a deadly quest to save the world, maybe i should step in a bit. Nope, he seems fine, i’ll leave it alone.’”

Lance laughed slightly. “Not exactly the best father.”

“I think all the gods need a lesson on parenting. Maybe all of us hundreds or thousands of demigods should go to family therapy with them. Where could we find a room big enough?”

“Maybe olympus? It’s close by. It’s just right over the empire state building,” Lance mentioned.

“What? In New York City? You’re messing with me, right?”

“Nope. I’ve been there. Fun fact: after the titan war a few years back one of our own campers redesigned all of olympus.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. She also went through a bunch of trials and uncovered that huge ass statue of Athena. Oh, she also is one of two demigods to travel through all of Tartarus and survive. The other was her boyfriend, that Percy Jackson dude i’m sure you’ve heard of.”

“Damn,” Keith said after a yawn. “And all we did was make out in a cave.”

Lance didn’t know why, probably because both of them were extremely tired, but he started cracking up at that. And by cracking up, he meant the kind of cracking up where you’re crying and your stomach hurts. Soon, Keith joined in and the both of them were practically howling with laughter. “When-when you put it like that, it doesn’t sound very cool, does it,” Lance managed to say. “Ow ow ow, it hurts to laugh. I forgot i broke my rib,” he laughed out.

The door of the big house opened abruptly. “Are you guys dying? I can hear you all the way from the dining pavilion,” Shiro said, looking tired.

“Shiro? When did you get here?” Keith asked.

“I’ve been in and out the past few days,” Shiro said. “Chiron said i could stay here for a while, i just had to go tie up some loose ends.”

“You’re staying?”

“It’s what we agreed on, right?”

Keith smiled. “Yeah. Good to have you here.”

“I’ll be in the Hermes cabin if you need me. I’ll just… leave you two be,” He said, leaving and shutting the door behind him. Lance could swear Shiro winked at him.

“It’s cool that he’s here,” Lance told keith. “He usually just pops in every once in a while. It’ll be good to have him here a bit longer.”

“Mhm,” Keith said. “I do feel a bit bad, though. He’s done a lot for me and i feel like he’s changing around his whole life just for me.”

“You’re being a bit arrogant, bud,” Lance joked. “If he’s here, it’s because he wants to be here. This is his home as well, and i’m sure you being here influenced him a bit, but he likes it here as much as any of us do.”

“Yeah,” Keith exhaled. “You’re probably right.”

Lance laughed a bit, not being able to help himself. Keith raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “It’s just… i was talking to my friends earlier and pidge said ‘look at Lance, telling us his feelings instead of resulting to passive aggression,’ and then she told me how much the quest changed me. I think that applies to both of us. In this one conversation we’ve talked about our private feelings and resolved them like big boys when a week ago we’d both be all bruting and secretive.”

“We both were really pains in the ass, weren’t we?”

“You can say that again.” Neither of them spoke for a few seconds, resting in comfortable silence. “I should leave you to get some sleep. You can barely keep your eyes open, and honestly i can’t either.”

Lance stood up to leave, but Keith caught his hand. “You can… stay, if you want. Sleep here.”

Lance smiles slightly. He dropped Keith’s hand and slid the nearby bed next to Keith’s after moving the chair and nightstand out of the way. Once the lamps were blown out and windows were closed Lance plopped onto the bed with a dramatic grunt. “This feels like a throwback to the quest.”

“Except we aren’t in a car or tent and we both aren’t emotionally repressed.”

“True.”

The two began to drift off to sleep after that. Lance was on his stomach with his arm resting against Keith, who was lying on his back. The longer they stayed there, the more they started to lean on each other and touch, slowly getting used to having the other next to them. After a few minutes, Lances’ head was fully on Keith’s shoulder and he was wondering why he was ever afraid of awkwardness or overstepping in this new relationship.

---Keith’s P.O.V:

“Rise and shine!” a voice bellowed.

“Go away,” a different voice mumbled. Oh yeah, Lance was next to him.

“Lance, you have chores, and your cabin is wondering where you are.” Keith looked up to see Pidge leaning in the doorway.

“I’ll be up in five minutes,” Lance mumbled. He was face down in the pillow next to Keith’s with his arm around Keith’s waist.

“If you fall back asleep, i will not hesitate to jump on you.”

“Mkay,” Lance said, not even opening his eyes. Pidge rolled her eyes and shut the door on her way out. Lance rolled over to face the ceiling and groaned. “I don’t want to get uuuuuuup,” He moaned, his arm still around Keith.

“Go do your chores,” Keith yawned.

“Nah,” Lance replied simply, bringing his arm tighter around Keith, brining the two closer together.

Keith laughed a bit. “You can come back later.”

“Why don’t you just come with me? You can do chores with my cabin.”

Keith tensed up. “I think i’ll just go back to sleep for a bit longer.”

“Okay, i didn’t ask last night but now i’m tired and have no filter. Why don’t you want to leave the big house?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Keith lied.

“Man, just last night i praised you for not being all brooding anymore. Don’t go back to emo Keith. He’s not fun.”

“I’m… not going back to ‘emo-Keith’... i never was ‘emo-Keith.’”

“Yes, you were,” Lance said, finally kicking off his sheets and getting up. “I’ll come around and bring you some dinner later. Think about it, because something’s up, and you’ll get nowhere by refusing to talk about it.”

“It’s too early for this,” Keith groaned, rolling over in his bed.

“Hey, can i borrow a shirt of yours?” Lance asked.

“You’re gonna accuse me of being emo and then ask for my shirt?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, i slept in mine and it’s all dirty. I don’t have time to go to my cabin and get a new one.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “They put my laundry in that drawer over there. Take your pic.”

Lance pulled off his blue long sleeve shirt and put his arms through one of Keith’s old band t-shirts he got at a thrift shop. He sloppily pulled it over his head, messing up his hair, then put his sneakers on. He quickly kissed Keith on the forehead, said a quick “see ya,” and then he
was out the door.

“... Well, now what am i supposed to do all day?” Keith said. “I’m literally talking to myself right now.”

------------

“I think Lance is mad at me,” Keith told shiro. After Keith went back to sleep for a few hours, Shiro showed up to bring him lunch and chat for a bit. Keith had managed to get up and sit in the chair opposite his bed while Shiro sat at a chair nearby. “Not so much mad, but maybe disappointed? It’s annoying, and it’s making me feel bad. Gods, is this a relationship thing? Is this how all people in relationships feel?”

Shiro scoffed. “Why’s he ‘disappointed’?”

“He accused me of being all non-confrontational and ‘emo’ again, like i was before the quest.”

“Well, are you?”

“In general, no. About one specific thing, maybe a little…”

“Why?”

“I dunno. I guess it’s just kinda stupid, and Lance has already been taking care of me for a week and i don’t wanna push my problems on him,” Keith sighed.

“If it’s stupid, tell Lance about it so that he can tell you if it is or isn’t stupid and it’ll put your mind to rest. As for the second part, i’m not an expert but i can tell you this: If you are being all secretive and weird, Lance might think that it’s about him, like he did something wrong, especially if he directly asked you about it. He might think you’re not happy in the relationship or something. If you don’t wanna burden him with this, not telling him or being all secretive, is still burdening him, so i’d just tell him.”

“Yeah, you have some good points,” Keith admitted. “You’re always so spot on that it’s annoying.”

“Many people, including Lance, have told me that exact same thing,” Shiro said with a small laugh. “Are you gonna tell me what this mystery problem is?”

“Nah,” Keith said simply. “You wouldn’t get it.”

“Way to be bleak,” Shiro responded, though not looking offended in anyway.

For about an hour the two of them made casual chat, talking about things that had happened in the period they were apart and just talking about life in general. It felt like exactly what it was: two old friends catching up.

Having Shiro here at camp made Keith feel more at Home. It was simply because Shiro would always be his home.
-------------------

“You know, you’re supposed to scrape some of that into the fire,” Lance pointed out as he and Keith ate dinner together.

“I don’t care. What has my dad ever done for me?”

“Jesus, i don’t know how you’re still alive with that attitude towards the gods,” Lance laughed out, an impressed looking smile on his face.

“Didn’t you curse out your mom on the quest?” Keith pointed out with an eyebrow raised.

“... Not really. I just told her that she’d never be my mom and that she never once did anything good for me. We’re cool now, though.” Keith chuckled at that for a few seconds as Lance just looked at him, a fond emotion in his eyes.

“... You were right,” Keith brough up after a few minutes of eating, “I was being ‘emo’ about something. I… I don’t want to leave the big house because i think i’m still scared of the people at camp rejecting me.”

“That’s not gonna happen,” Lance said, moving a bit closer to Keith’s bed. “I told you, the people at camp are fine with you here. They actually even like you now.”

“I know, i know, but my whole big fear was of love, and more deeply, rejection. This whole situation is kinda set up for me to be rejected, and i think i’m trying to postpone even that possibility.” Keith sat up in his bed and sat on the edge of it. Lance moved and sat next to him on it, making the bed dip from his weight. A bit hesitant, he put his arm around Keith, and Keith leaned into the touch. He rested his head on Lance’s warm chest, weirdly feeling both vulnerable and protected at the same time.

“What Allura told you was true. People at camp were scared because their home was in danger. They needed someone to blame, and when you were claimed as the son of Hades that was a not historically adored event here, so people jumped on you to pour their fears out. It wasn’t right, and those people definitely should’ve thought about how you’d feel before they did that, but that’s all it was.” Lance’s chest vibrated as he talked, which was calming to keith, who felt ever breath and heartbeat. “I know you’re scared, and rightfully so, but you just have to rip the bandage off and get out there.”

“I know,” Keith sighed. “I think i just need a little push to get that bandage off.”

“Then i’ll be it. Let's go to the dining pavilion right now.”

“You being serious?”

“Mhm, i’ll sit at your table with you.”

“... Alright,” Keith said, smiling despite being a bit nervous. “What are you doing?” Lance was slicking Keith’s hair back and combing it through his fingers obsessively.

“You haven’t showered in a week. Don’t you want to look presentable?”

“Gods, you’re such an Aphrodite kid.”

A few minutes later and the two of them were out the door, Keith’s stomach churning in both anxiousness and nervousness. He felt physically okay for the most part, despite feeling dizzy every now and again. As they got closer and closer to the dining pavilion, laughing voices and plates clattering could be heard. It smelled of sweet smoke, the burnt offerings to the gods, and warm lights lit the dark night. Lance was making jokes and talking about his day to get Keith’s mind off the campers that hated him only a week ago, the campers he was about to face, and Keith appreciate that, but it wasn’t working very well.

They finally made it to the pavillion, and as Keith feared there were a lot of people staring at him. The talking shushed a bit and heads turned as Lance brought Keith over to his table. When Lance sat down at the lonely Hades table, Keith saw Chiron give him a glare. Lance made a few facial gestures back, to which Chiron loudly sighed at and then he turned his head away. Keith didn’t get their mental conversation but he was guessing chiron was making an acception on the sit-at-your-own-table rule.

“I told you,” Keith whispered. “They’re all staring.”

“That’s because you saved camp in a super cool way and have been in the healing for more than a week. They’re just surprised to see you, that’s all.” To Keith’s relief, talking started to pick up after a few seconds and heads began to look away.

“What, so death boy over here gets special treatment?” a voice said. Mason stood up, and now everyone was looking at him. “He’s allowed to sit with his little boyfriend because he summoned some monsters? The only thing he did was open a portal to the underworld right here in camp! They could probably come back through the opening he made, but we’re rewarding him? I say we sh-”

“Sit down, Mason,” Pidge's voice called from the Athena table.

“I- but- He’s-”

“Just sit down, buddy,” Lance smirked.

“You don’t get t-”

“Oh my gods, Mason, just shut up!” Pidge called again.

“You just- All of you…” and with that, his face red in anger, Mason slowly sunk back into his bench. A few snickers of laughter filled the pavilion until talking full on started again, as if nothing happened.

“I told you it’s funny when Pidge does that,” Lance told Keith.

“Okay, that was pretty funny,” Keith admitted, trying to hold back a smirk. Keith placed his hand atop of Lance’s on the table after a bit of hesitation.

“Careful, Keith. You’re showing physical affection in a public place,” Lance joked. “Isn’t that, like, against your morals? ”

“You know, you are literally the worst,” Keith laughed out, glad to have Lance with him.

“Hey, Keith,” A voice said. He looked up to see Damien, the Apollo cabin leader, standing at the Hades table. He placed a plate full of food in front of Keith. “Me and the rest of the Apollo cabin wanted to say… thanks. For, you know, saving camp like three times.”

“Thanks,” Keith said sincerely, surprised by the act of kindness.

“No problem. I’d give a plate to Lance, but he only saved camp two times,” Damien joked.

“Whatever,” Lance said. “I’ll totally beat your cabins’ ass at sword fighting tomorrow.” Damien laughed, said a quick ‘later,’ and went back to his table.

“See?” Lance asked. “You had nothing to worry about.”

----------------------------

“-and that’s how i killed the minotaur with only a paperclip and a subway gift card,” Lance finished his story on the way back from dinner.

“That’s the most bullshit thing i’ve ever-” Keith stopped short when he saw the person he’d been thinking of for a week. “I, uh, i’ll catch up with you later.”

Lance nodded, understanding the situation. “I’ll be in the Aphrodite cabin.” He gave Keith’s arm a slight rub and walked away as Keith walked towards the fire at the center of camp.

The air grew warmer and more comfortable as he took each step closer, a reflection of the hearth and what it stood for. It reminded him of the feeling he got when he held is old necklaces pendant, the necklace he didn’t have anymore.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Hestia said. She was sitting with her legs crossed next to her fire. She looked much better than she did the last time Keith saw her. The warmth and color was back to her complection, and so was her small, permanent smile.

“Sorry for the hold up,” Keith apologized, “but i’m here now.” He sat down alongside her.

“You came through for me. You and lance both, as i knew you would.”

“You know, you could have approached me in a better way about this. Popping in for a few seconds and saying ‘hey, i know you have a home for the first time in your life, but you need to find some trees and save me right now because your dad wants it,’ wasn’t very nice,” Keith said, finally speaking the words that had been piled up on him for the entirety of the quest.

“I know, and i’m sorry,” Hestia replied, looking genuine. “At that point i was already captured and i didn’t have much time to talk. I didn’t want to pull you away from your home, but i knew that this quest would be good for you. I knew you’d find a home here.”

“And my father?”

“I wasn’t lying. Your father knew you’d do this quest someday, and he told me early on to get you when the time was right.”

“But where is he now?!” Keith exclaimed. “And which of my fathers do you know? My godly one or the one who gave me up? You told me i’d find answers here, but it seems all i’ve gotten are new questions.”

“You’ll find out soon-”

“Well, i’ve been waiting long enough.”

“If you’d’ve waited three more seconds i’d tell you something you want to hear,” Hestia chuckled. “You really are impatient.”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you about your past, but i know how you can find out about it. There’s a woman who lives in New Mexico, her name is Nari. In due time, sometime soon, camp will need something from her. Get on that quest, and bring Lance. When you get what you need from her, she’ll also tell you about your past.”

“So, i have to go on a whole nother quest just to find this out?” Keith asked, an eyebrow raised and his heart racing.

“Are you telling me you didn’t like the quest you just went on?”

Keith thought back to it. He thought back to the break it was from fighting alone and scared. He thought of Lance, his new friend. The quest was certainly hard and emotionally it took a toll on him, but it was like a breath of fresh air, and he certainly got some good stories from it. “No, i’m not saying that.”

“Good,” Hestia said, “Because your journey isn’t over yet.”

“You gods just can’t give me a break, can you?”

“That would be uncharacteristic of us,” Hestia joked. “But know that you have gods on your side. Contrary to what you might think, a lot of us up there like you. You and Lance have been quite the talk of olympus.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Keith began, starting to get riled up again. “Where the hell were the rest of the gods while me and Lance were on that quest? The only god that even slightly intervened was Aphrodite, so where were the rest of them when the world was ending?”

“They didn’t want to get involved,” Hestia answered simply.

“‘Didn’t want to get involved’? The whole point of the quest was that Prometheus was trying to kill Camp Half Blood and the entire world just to get back at the gods! They were already pretty ‘involved’ to begin with.”

“If the gods had taken a roll in the fight against Prometheus, it would’ve angered the other Titans that are alive today. It could have sparked another titan war, like the one Percy Jackson had a destined role in. That war was devastating and they wanted to do everything they could to prevent another one.”

“You gods have some weird logic up there,” Keith scoffed. Thunder rumbled in the sky at that comment, making the campers still at the dining pavilion look up curiously.

“I think you angered Zeus.”

“Oh, you think?” Keith laughed.

The two of them didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Every once in a while Hestia would poke at her fire. “I’m sorry this all had to be so political and complicated,” Hestia said after a while. “I really am proud of you. You did a great job and you have more greatness to come.”

“Thank you,” Keith said back, taking that compliment deeply. “Sorry for yelling at you. You’re one of the only people who’ve stuck around for me, and i’m glad you’re okay.”

“You have more people to stick around for you now,” Hestia responded. “New friends, rejoiced old friends, and Lance certainly isn’t going anywhere.”

Keith nodded, thinking of the new beginning he had at camp. Hestia was right; Keith had friends here, ones that wouldn't be going anywhere. This was his home, and these were his people.

“That reminds me,” Hestia thought of. She held out her hand for Keith to see. In it was his old pendant with a new fire lit inside. Though the fire was new, everything else about the necklace was the same. The black metal around the orange flame was dented in all the right places, and the varying links in the chain keith had to repair through the years were still there. “This will work again, since i’m free and my fire is back.”

Keith looked at it for a few seconds, then put it around his neck to feel the familiar chain rub against his skin. The weight was familiar as well. Everything was so familiar, but something felt weird about it. He thought he’d be jumping with joy at getting the necklace back, but he wasn’t feeling happy about it. Then, he thought of something Chiron said back when they had first met, and he knew why the necklace felt so weird.

-----------------

After hesitating a few seconds, Keith knocked two times on the Aphrodite cabin door, which was made of a dark oak. The surrounding walls were light pink with matching wood window panels. It was a bit too preppy or Keith, but the cabin was pretty attractive compared to a lot of the other cabins.

The door swung open quickly and a lavender fragrant hit Keith like a slap to the face. “Yes?” a girl asked in a sweet, flirty voice. When she saw that it was Keith standing there a wide smile appeared, revealing very nice teeth. The girl had wavy, brown hair that fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were brown; the type of brown that becomes warm and lively in the sunlight. “Ooh, are you here for Lance?”

“Uh, yeah,” Keith said, a bit taken back by the girl in front of him. She was pretty in almost an intimidating way, just like Aphrodite was.

“You know, it’s pretty late. What are you two gonna do all by yourselves, in the dark?” She asked, that smile turning into a grin.

“I- we… uh…”

“Leave him alone, Lisa,” A familiar voice called from inside the cabin. Lance gripped the door lisa was clutching and forced it open a bit more so he could squeeze through. “I’ll be back later,” he told his cabin as he pulled his jacket on.

“Don’t stay out too long!” a different voice inside the cabin called out.

“Thanks, mom,” Lance joked before the door shut.

“Hi,” Keith said, the two of them being alone outside of the cabin. He was smiling a bit, as he found Lance’s family very entertaining.

Lance exhaled a bit. “Hey, sorry about that. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, but Hestia told me a lot of stuff, some of it concerning you. I didn’t want to wait till tomorrow to tell you.”

“Sounds good,” Lance said. “I know a place we can go.”

---Lance’s P.O.V:

“Your ‘place’ is a load of rocks?” Keith asked.

“Hey, don’t insult my rocks. And they’re boulders by the way. A very nice load of boulders,” Lance snapped back. By the camp lake there was an area that overlooked the water. It was, as Keith put, a load of rocks. They were very comfortable, though, and were very good to sit on. It was great because it was secluded, but there weren’t any nature nymphs around, as there weren’t many plants around, but they still had a good view of camp and the lake. Lance took off his jacket and laid it out on the boulders. He sat in one of the indents and indicated for keith to sit next to him.

Rolling his eyes, the boy complied. The rocks were pushing them together so that there shoulders were touching snuggly, which was warm in the cold spring air. “Hm, much more comfy than i first thought,” keith admitted.

“See? It’s a nice load of boulders.”

“That it is.”

It was dark outside, and Lance could only make out the details of Keith’s face but not much of their surroundings. “So, what did hestia say?”

“Oh, yeah,” Keith was reminded. “What do you want to hear first? The stuff about you or the stuff about me?”

“I’ll be selfish and say the stuff about me,” Lance said.

“Alright. Well, apparently our time together isn’t over. Quest wise, i mean. She said that we’ll need to get something to save camp sometime in the near future and that we need to be on the quest.”

Lance sighed, feeling a lot of different ways. “And here i thought i could have some time to relax.”

“I know,” Keith said, looking at the lake.

“Did she tell you anything else about it? What do we need to get? When is this quest? How will we know when we need to go?”

“I don’t know, man. All she said is that camp will need ‘something’ and i don’t know what that is or when we need to get it.”

“I know we just got back from our big quest and both of us, especially you, almost died during it…. But is it wrong of me to say that i’m kind of excited for another quest?” Lance asked, feeling a bit of adrenaline mixed in with that annoyed feeling at the gods.

“No, because i feel the same way,” Keith smirked.

“Aw, it’ll be our first quest as an official couple,” lance said, smashing his face next to Keith’s.

“You are such a nerd,” Keith laughed out, pushing Lance away playfully.

“Would that make it our honeymoon?”

“I guess. To our honeymoon!”

“To our honeymoon,” Lance repeated. The two laughed for a few more seconds, and Keith put an arm around Lance, who was now regretting taking off his coat because of the cold. “Oh, what did hestia say about you?”

“Well she wasn’t anymore specific,” Keith said. “She said she couldn’t tell me about my past, but that my father wanted/wants me to have a good life so he sent me on this quest or whatever. But i don’t even know which dad Hestia knew, and she wouldn’t tell me.”

“So, she basically just confused you more?”

“Mhm,” Keith said. “There was another thing, though. That quest we’re supposed to go on for camp, that’ll get me some answers to my past. The lady we’re supposed to go get the item from is named Nari and she lives in New Mexico. Those are the only details she gave me.”

“You have a new lead,” Lance said. “That’s good.”

“I mean, yeah, but look at how these other ‘leads’ turned out. Lecto was a dud, and even though i got a home and a boyfriend out of Camp Half Blood, it didn’t really give me the answers i was looking for,” Keith sighed. “I’m trying not to get my hopes up.”

“Well, you have me, and i’ll be with you to follow this lead, which is a real lead. It’ll work out.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t know, but i like to have an optimistic attitude.” The two sat in silence for a bit longer. Lance’s head was on Keith’s shoulder and buried into his neck a bit. This was one of those memories and settings that stick with you. Even if you break up, it’s one of those things you think of years from now and cherish. “I know this is really late, but i just want to point out that you called me your boyfriend.”

“We admitted our reciprocated love while almost dying in a cave in florida. I think we’re at that point,” Keith joked. Lance smiled wide, amused by that. It was kind of a funny concept. A week ago the two of them were dealing with life or death situations and worst fears, and now they were going through typical teen phases.

Deciding that the air was too cold and that they needed to share their warmth, Lance put his arm around Keith’s neck and pulled him down into a kiss. He ran his fingers through black, long hair as his lips moved with Keith’s. Sounds of crickets and wind were in the background of the moment, as if the world was roaring for them. Keith moved his hands to Lance’s waist, pulling him closer even though they were already nearly on top of eachother.

With the two having no time restraints and no obligations, they stayed like that for a while, kissing on and off while cuddling in comfortable warmth and silence. “There was another thing,” Keith brought up after so much silence. He reached his his hand into his pocket to bring out a familiar glowing pendant.

“Hestia fixed it for you?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, which is great,” Keith said. “But… this thing connects me to my past. It represents how scared and untrusting i used to be, and i don’t think i want that connection anymore. But i think you should have it.”

“... What?” Lance asked, thinking back to how protective Keith used to be of the necklace. Lance wasn’t sure he was even taking in what Keith was saying.

“Chiron told me that this necklace can only be passed down by love. It will only work if i give it to someone i love. And… I love you, Lance.”

Those words sent shocks down Lances spine. Keith hadn’t actually said those words straight out until now. The boy that kept running for seven years to avoid love was now admitting this.

“This necklace represents my past, but it can represent a new start for you,” Keith brought up. “Remember, this necklace will make it so monsters can’t track you down. You can go home, Lance. You can live with your family again.”

Out of all the emotion and words he had in his head, he didn’t expect to speak these before any others. “I don’t want to leave you, though,” he whispered.

“I’ll see you during the summer,” Keith pointed out. “And i can visit you and you can visit me. This camp is my new home, but you’ve been stuck here for too long.”

“But… you-”

“Lance, just take the necklace,” Keith said with nervous laughter.

Lance looked Keith in the eye. He was willing to give Lance his necklace, even if that meant Lance not being around for months. “I love you,” Lance said, hoping those words had as big an impact on Keith as they had done on Lance. From the look on keith’s now wide smiling face, they did.

Keith poured the necklace into Lance’s open palm. Lance put the chain around his own neck, and the pendant glowed bright red, then turned back to orange, showing that the hand down was accepted. Lance, who was still honestly at a loss of words, kissed Keith again.

As the world revolved around the two of them, the couple in love, Lance could only think one thing: how in the world was he so scared of this emotion?

-------------------

“Is that Keith’s necklace? Why are you wearing that?” Hunk asked. He, Lance, Allura, and Pidge stole breakfast from the pavilion and were eating it by the lake.

“It’s my necklace now,” Lance said.

“That sounds very ominous,” Hunk commented.

Pidge put her hand on Lance’s shoulder and had a fake serious look on her face. “Oh my Gods… Lance, did you kill Keith?”

“Uh, no. He gave it to me.”

“Oh, that’s less cool than killing him,” Pidge said.

“I think it’s cute,” Allura said. “You don’t seem too happy, though.”

“No, no, i am,” Lance reassured them. “Infact im still in denial about the fact that he actually gave me the necklace, which was basically his child for seven years, i’m just bummed at a choice i have to make because of it now.”

“Which is…” Hunk asked.

Lance sighed deeply. “The only reason Keith survived out there for seven years was because of this necklace. It has hestia's flame in it, so it protects him from monsters and it makes sure they can’t track you. Now that i have this, i can go back home. I can be a summer camper and actually live with my family again. But i feel like that would be betraying Keith. I don’t want to leave him alone here, and wouldn’t it be kind of rude to just be like ‘wow, thanks for this amazing gift, i’m going to use it to get away from you.’?”

“Jeez, dude,” Pidge said.

“I know. What should i do?”

“What does Keith think?” Hunk asked.

“One of the whole reasons he gave the necklace to me was so that i could go be with my family,” Lance told them, “Amongst other reasons.” He decided to leave out all the ‘i love you’s and kisses on rocks; that was a memory just for Lance and Keith.

“Then i say go,” Allura said. “You know you want to, and if Keith literally gave you the necklace and said ‘here, go see your family,’ i’d assume he’s okay with it.”

“Even if he’s okay with it, i still feel guilty,” Lance said. Allura was right, he wanted to see the people he loved more than anything, but he has a new person to love right here in camp.

“Well, don’t feel guilty,” Pidge said.

“Gee, thanks for that great advise,” Lance deadpanned. “I just don’t know if i should leave or not. Maybe i’ll talk to Keith about it some more.”

“Atta sport,” Pidge said.

“Now that that’s all cleared up, we gotta talk about you wearing Keith’s stuff. You wore his shirt the other day, and now you got his necklace. You’re not one of those weird people who adopt the personality of whoever you’re dating, right?”

“Nah, baby, i’m 100% Lance.”

“Technically, you’re 100% Cuban and some amount of Aphrodite,” Pidge said.

“Well that adds up to be 100% Lance.”

“More like 100% stupid,” Pidge said back. Hunk high fived her.

-------------------

“What do you think?” Lance asked Chiron. The two of them were in the Centaurs study in the Big house. Lance came to him to give him the rundown on what Hestia had told Keith.

“I honestly don’t know, Lance,” Chiron said. He put his head in his hand and rubbed his forehead with a big sigh. “I can’t think of any item we’ve ever needed here at camp except the golden fleece, but that’s still working strong.”

“Maybe it’s a weapon of some sort?” Lance proposed. “Maybe camp will be threatened.”

“It very well could be,” Chiron said. “Prometheus's attempt for power could have inspired his brethren. It’s possible that another Titan will plan an attack.”

Lance sighed and plopped down on the wood chair in the study. “Great,” he said. “More titans.”

“We don’t know if that’s what it is,” Chiron reminded him. “Only time will tell. We’ll just keep a close eye out. The second we get more information, we’ll send out a quest.”

“So, does that mean i should stay at camp and wait? What if i leave for… some reason… and you get information? Or something like that,” Lance said, trying not to reveal the real reason he was asking.

But, of course, this was Chiron. “You’re thinking of going back home, aren’t you?” he asked with a smile that looked both warm and sad.

“How’d yo-”

“I can see the necklace glowing from under your shirt, and i know what it does.”

Lance relaxed more in his chair and avoided eye contact. “What should i do? Stay or go?”

“You can’t ask me that,” Chiron said. “I have a bit of a biased opinion.”

“Cmon, Chiron. I need wisdom.”

The mentor smiled a bit and raised an eyebrow. “Okay, fine. I think there’s something else in the equation that you’re not admitting.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean there’s something other than Keith that’s keeping you from going home. You’ve been hestitant to talk to and see your family even before Keith was in the equasion.”

“If there is, I don’t know what’s keeping me. I do want to go home, but whenever i think of getting in a car and going home i just… i don’t know.”

“Then do this: picture yourself going home. Image yourself in a car and going to a city. Imagine driving to your old apartment. Image you knocking on the door. Imagine them opening the door and you all hug each other. At what point does this feel bad or wrong?”

Lance sighed, closing his eyes and picturing it. He went through the motions, doing as Chiron instructed. As he went he felt fine, exited at seeing his family, and then he got to the point where they opened the door. He couldn’t get to the hugging part.

“I… i think i’m scared they won’t want to see me,” Lance said, his voice filled with epitamy and sadness. “When i ran away, it was tough on them. Maybe they’ll still be mad or upset.”

“Lance, you know your family loves you,” Chiron said.

“I know, i know, but there’s this nagging feeling that they don’t want to see me,” Lance complained.

“Then why did they messange me three times while you were on your quest, asking if you were okay?”

“... They did?”

“They did,” Chiron confirmed. “You running away, it’s in the past, and they understand why you did it. They’ll be glad to have you back.”

“And if i go and camp starts showing signs of being threatened… You’ll call me?”

“Well, i wouldn’t let you miss out on a quest,” Chiron said. He took out a few golden drachmas out of his sachel and handed it over to Lance. “Here. Go Iris messange your family. Ask them to come home, you’ll see.”

Lance closed his fingers around the coins, feeling and hearing them rattle in his fist. He sighed deeply. “Thanks, chiron. And… even if i go, i’ll still be around, you know. I’ll swing around for the holidays and i’ll be here for summer.”

“I’ve had you for four years,” Chiron said. “It’s time someone else had a share.”

--Keith’s P.O.V:

Shiro and Keith walked through camp together right after dinner that evening. Shiro had heled Keith move his stuff to the Hades cabin and now they didn’t have much to do except walk and talk. Keith filled his friend in on everything hestia said plus Keith giving his necklace to Lance.

“You think i can go through a whole nother quest?” Keith asked. “Honestly, i don’t know if i can.”

“You can,” Shiro said. “You’re nothing if not ambitous.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see,” Keith said.

“What about Lance?” Shiro asked, kicking a stone as they walked past the archery station.

“What about him?”

“You good with him leaving?” Shiro asked, glancing over at Keith.

“I’m the one who basically told him to leave,” Keith said.

“That doesn’t mean you have to be happy about it.”

“It’s just… my whole biggest fear thing was that i was scared of love, but more specifically because i was scared of people leaving me so i’d push them away before they could get the change.”

“Yeah, i know,” Shiro said. “I experienced this first hand.”

“Well, what if me giving Lance the necklace was just me pushing him away? Maybe I didn’t want him to chose to leave me at some point, so i gave him an out now.” Keith picked a rock up off the path and chucked it into the lake they were passing.

“That’s bullshit,” Shiro said simply.

“That’s one of the only times i’ve ever heard you curse,” Keith said, mildly impressed.

“You guys got over your fears, or else you wouldn’t’ve been able to free Hestia. That stuff is in the past, so keep it in the past. You’re just phsyching yourself out because you’re sad that Lance is leaving and you don’t want to deal with it.”

Keith’s head felt like a mess. “The stuff doesn’t feel like it’s in the past, though. I’m worried i’m pushing him away or doing something wrong. I just… don’t know what i’m supposed to be doing with Lance.”

“Man, this is what relationshps feel like sometimes,” Shiro said. “But i think your problem is that you’re trying too hard to make it a relationship. You know Lance and you’re comftorabe around him. Stop thinking of him as your boyfriend and start thinking of him as just Lance, who you happen to be dating.”

“... You lost me.”

Shiro laughed. “What i’m saying is to forget about all the biggest fear stuff and just be with Lance. You guys are good together, and you know he cares about you and he knows you care about him, so don’t try so hard.”

“You should start a Doctor Phil type of show,” Keith said after thinking about how right Shiro was. “Get payed for all your life advise.”

“I’m already being payed with the wellbeing of my friends.”

“That was corny.”

Shiro took Keith in a headlock and gave him a loveable noogie, like a big brother would. “You bet it was.”

The two of them walked and talked for a bit more, mostly about how their weeks have been and about upcoming events at camp. Everyonce in a while Keith would pass a camper and they’d give him a small little smile instead of the passing glares he got before he left for his quest. It felt good.

In the distance, Keith saw Lance walking back from the Camp lake. He spoted Keith and Shiro and waved, a wide grin on his face. Keith used to hate that stupid looking grin, but now it was one of his favorite sights.

Keith looked up at shiro with an eyebrow raised. Shiro sighed. “Go on,” he said in a monotone voice.

“You’re the best!” Keith called back to him as he ran to Lance. “Hey,” Keith said, catching up to the boy.

“Hiyya,” Lance said back with that same grin. “You free to hang out?”

“Yeah, but i get to chose were this time.”

“Deal.”

Not too far away, the boys walked to half blood hill. Keith sat at the top and Lance followed. Thalias tree was close by, and the athena parthanos was in sight. Well, the entirety of camp was in sight. From that hill, you could see everything. The lake was in view, and so were the cabins. You could see people in the training area and eating dinner at the pavilion.

“Why here?” Lance asked, though not complainingly.

“A lot of stuff has happened to me here,” Keith explained. I got scratched by a gorgon over there. I passed out on this hill and you saved me-”

“Getting blood on my favorite cardigan in the process,” Lance added,

“That, too. I raised an arm of the dead here and every one hated me. And then i raised an even bigger army of the dead here, almost died in the process, and now everyone likes me. This hill just shows where i’ve been.”

“A suprisingly sweet and poetic explanation from Keith,” Lance joked.

“Hey, i can be poetic,” Keith said defensivley.

“When i reached deep into my heart and confesed my love to you, beautifly i may add, your response was litterally ‘me too’!” Lance laughed.

“Okay, but then i gave a whole monolouge on some rocks about how you’re a new chapter in my life and you pulled me out of my past bla bla bla.”

“Alright, i’ll give you that,” Lance said. The two laughed and sat quietly for a while, until lance spoke up again. “So, uh, i just iris messaged my family. They said they’d love to have me home again,” he said, a small smile on his face.

“That’s great,” keith said, genuinley happy for Lance. His heart did sink a bit, though, at the thought of him leaving.

Lance might have sensed that bit of sadness in keith, as he sat a bit closer to him. “I’m not leaving till september though, so we still have a good few months.”

“What?” Keith asked. “I thought you’d be leaving soon.”

“And ditch you like that? Believe it or not, i actually like you and hanging out with you. Besides, you promised to go swimming with me, remember? We can’t just break that promise. You trying to get rid of me or something?”

Keith smiled wide, looking at Lance’s face. Strange how far they’d come and how their relationship transformed so much, but thank the gods it did. “Not at all.” Keith put his arm around lances waist and pulled him even closer until their lips touched. The feeling Ketih got when they kissed, like some sort of mindblowing numbness, would never go away. At first, the kiss paralyzed him. He felt like he couldn’t move, but then his brain kicked in and they’d go in for more. Keith hadn’t kissed many people before, but he knew that that was what it was supposed to feel like. Correction: it was even better.

“You’ll still visit me?” Ketih asked.

“Of course,” Lance said. “Not that long of a car ride. We can iris message, too. Remember, i’ll still be here for summers. You might see too much of me, actually.”

“Don’t forget about that quest, as well,” Keith reminded him. “We’ll be spending lots of time together then. I’ll probably get sick of you,” He joked.

“I’m already sick of you,” Lance joked back.

The two of them lied down on the grass, their hand held inbetween them. They looked up at the sky, but Keith could still see Lances face. They talked about random things, and they could’ve talked all day. Keith then knew what Shiro meant. This was Lance, and Keith didn’t need to force himself into something, because he and Lance were good together.

Keith thought of the first time he saw Lance. He didn’t know what to think, but he knew he was different. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to pass him off like he did to most people. That felt like such a long time ago, but it was only less than a month ago. Less than a month ago a gorgon was raking her claws down keith’s back, which would weirdly be the start of something that would change Keith into an entirely differnet person. That was only less than a month ago.

Keith leaned formard slightly off the ground, so he was looking down at Lance. The boy bellow him lifted his head up to meet Keith, and then they were kissing again, infront of the camp that had come to give Keith love and a home. Because it gave him Lance.

“You know,” Lance said, looking Keith in the eye with the warmest smile ever plastered on his face, “Aphrodite told me that we’d be happy in the end. I know we have another big quest to go on, but to me this is the end. This is what she was talking about. We’re happy. Everything turned out okay, and we’re together.”

Keith smilled back down at Lance. They were gorgeus together. He leaned down for another kiss, and they’d stay on their hill like that until the dark hours of the night.

It wasn’t the end of their stories, but as long as they were together, they’d be happy. The end doesn’t matter.

Because they were together.

And together, they were happy.