[He looks confused for a moment, glancing at Keith like he just grew a second head, because yes he's wearing clothes, that's- OH. It hits him and he looks down at the pile next to himself.]

Oh, right. Yeah… those're yours.

[Did he bring a towel? Perhaps Sakura left one nearby, she'd think of something like that way before any of them. He looks around the area for one folded up and spots it a foot away, whoever put it there is a hero.

It's within his reach, so he grabs it and unfolds it enough to drape over Keith's shoulder, to yanno, get him started.]

I turned back like a couple hours ago… it gets easier. [Quicker than when waking up for the first time on the beach.]

[Lance looks down and to the side a bit awkwardly. He died after Keith, and part of him wonders if it was a bad idea to let him know. But he already said he turned back, too late now.]

Um, yeah. I was.

[He really doesn't know what else to say about it.]

[Lance's brows draw together and he looks over at Keith. His expression is sympathetic and heavy with sadness. But he firmly believes in what he says next, despite how well he understands how Keith feels and knows not much he can say will help.]

It's not your fault.

[Lance shakes his head and looks down at his hands where he starts picking at his fingernails. After a moment, he admits in a tight voice:]

I, um… did it to myself. [Then he shakes his head before Keith can ask.] I dunno how to explain it right now, but… even if Reckoning finished me off, it wouldn't've been your fault. You didn't deserve any of that.

So? [He frowns and his gaze sharpens a bit in conviction. He heaves a breath and shakes out his own tension before continuing.]

Pthumerians aren't exactly super great at nuance and they're total hypocrites. Reckoning looks at everything in black and white and just goes around killing people without a trial or even asking super important questions like 'why'. Nope, doesn't matter to her that your brain was being warped by the weird effects of her month. So who's gonna exact justice on her, huh? Isn't she just as responsible for bad things that happened in the month where she's supposed to have more power?

[He's frustrated and also painfully aware he's also a hypocrite for arguing this when he still blames himself for things everyone's told him was not his fault for a long time now. He lets out another breath and shakes his head.]

It's way more complicated than she wants you to think, man.

[Well, that… he can't argue with. He glances down and to the side uncomfortably as he knows this from personal experience. It's not something easy to talk about either, so he doesn't say so even if maybe he should. He's just… not in the right space.

He settles for heaving a breath and grabs another towel that was folded up with the other and places it on Keith's head. He then proceeds to unceremoniously just start helping him dry his hair. And this doesn't feel uncomfortable to him because he still doesn't really remember the nature of their past relationship. It's more like helpful locker room bro stuff to him, but there is some weird feeling in his chest he ignores since he doesn't know what it is or means.]

…I didn't say it should be easy to let it go. I said it's not that simple. And it's not your fault, even if you don't feel that way… and I'll keep saying it for as long as it takes for you to get it through your thick mullet.

[Lance lets out a soft scoff sound and rolls his eyes. For a moment, the drying motions on Keith's head get a little bit rough and then he lets go, deeming his head sufficiently dry and pulling the towel off to reveal his messy hair.]

Sure looks like one to- oh I dunno- anyone with eyes.

[If Keith wants to pivot to a subject easier to process, that's fine with him.]

[He lets out a light scoff and for some reason a memory of Keith pouting and huffing in a context he doesn't remember floats into the forefront of his mind. He goes quiet and distant, brows notching as he tries to place where the memory came from and what the deal is with the feelings attached to it…

A tightness forms in his throat when he gets too close and he mentally jerks back like he almost touched a hot stove. Then shakes his head and coughs into a fist. He can hear that Keith right now is not pouting and huffing, he literally just turned back to human after dying after hurting people and that's a lot, that's what he's gotta stay focused on.]

Uh, think again. When it comes to hair, I'm a certified genius.

[For a moment, there's a hopeful lift and a flutter of something else in his chest when Keith chuckles like that. But empathic ability and just basic ability to read how bad Keith still feels tamps that down. He has the oddest urge to wrap his arms around him from behind. But that's not what bros do. He reaches out and places a hand on the center of Keith's back, fingers brushing where his neck and shoulders meet and palm pressing a bit into his nape.

Despite how foggy his memory is since deerhood it's been gradually improving and there's no way he could fully forget when they were on the beach and he took his pain out on Mariana. How broken he was then and how helpless he knew Keith felt despite desperately wanting to help. And Lance knows there is very little he can do having been on both sides of this sort of situation. It makes him sick with roiling frustrated despair. But he swallows it down.]

I do say. Aaand tell you what, I'll give you one time only chance to get a nugget of hair wisdom from the master himself.

[He can tell how heavy Keith is still feeling underneath and for some reason when he turns to look at Lance like that, his heart skips and squeezes. It's an odd combination of an excited flutter and a pained vice at seeing him continue to hurt like that and knowing there is so little he can do to help.

He huffs a breath of a forced laugh and half-heartedly rolls his eyes.]

I wasn't gonna say that. [And he really wasn't. For some reason he… doesn't want him to cut it deep down.]

[He heaves a breath like he's bracing himself to cross a line, break an unspoken rule between them that could change their relationship forever…]

I was gonna say… that if anyone can pull off a mullet, it's you.

[A roundabout way of trying to get across that mullet doesn't necessarily have to be a negative term… /cough. He will never directly admit it, though. At least not any time soon.]