It was hours later by the time Keith had the courage to knock on Lance's door. He needed to know... even if it was difficult to talk about. What had Lance done? How troubled was he if he'd ended up with the family? How did Shiro find him?

" You want sum fuck?" Lance joked while opening the door and chuckling. Keith snickered a little, but that wasn't the reason he was there. No, there were way more pressing matters at hand.

Keith looked around, making sure that there was nobody else in the hall to see him. He walked inside, having a slightly fond smile on his face from seeing Lance.

Lance gulped nervously while shutting the door. He figured that this was Keith coming to tell him what he'd decided. Upon looking back, Lance might've rushed into asking him to be his boyfriend, but he couldn't revoke the offer. Especially when he still wanted for it to become a reality.

" I need to talk to you..." Keith told him, sitting on the bed. It was rather dark in there. The only light was provided by Lance's TV, which had an episode of The Office playing. And the blue lights strung around his room had been turned on.

" Is this you coming to shoot me down?" Lance asked, looking a little scared while sitting beside Keith.

" No..." The smaller boy said, glancing downward. " I just... I need to ask you a couple questions..." He swallowed harshly, hoping that he wouldn't trigger Lance.

" Like what?" Lance laid back into the pillows, pausing the TV so it wouldn't serve as a distraction. Keith laid down as well, scooting closer to Lance. He didn't bother trying to keep his distance, because after all, it was inevitable. He couldn't stay away from him.

" Why are you here?" Keith asked with a gentle voice. Now was the worst possible time to be blunt, and thankfully Keith's feelings for Lance prevented him from being that. " How did Shiro find you?"

Lance's face sank. He raked his hand back through his hair, sighing and rubbing his eyes. It was clearly a stressful topic.

Keith grasped Lance's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

" I..." Lance stammered, and his blue eyes seemed to darken and sully with melancholy.

Keith stayed silent, waiting for him to explain. He felt like Lance had to prepare himself for what he was about to say, so he wasn't about to rush him. The topic must've been painful and trudge up memories that Lance had buried.

" I used to live in Cuba... it's where I grew up." Lance began, feeling like he could trust Keith. He rarely talked about this, mainly because it sent him spiraling into a pit of depression and unhealthy thoughts. " It was where the majority of my family was. I had two brothers, an older one named Marco, and my mom was pregnant with Luis. And I had a sister named Veronica. She was only a couple years younger than me." Lance's voice was strained and low.

Keith didn't know what to think. Oh no. Should he have never asked? Was it wrong of him to want to know? He couldn't exactly tell Lance to stop now that he was starting to open up, though.

" Marco was in a gang. There were plenty of them in Cuba... and a lot of the time people were peer pressured or blackmailed to join." Lance blinked a couple times, taking a couple deep breaths while trying to keep it together. " He... he must've done something bad. I never got to ask him what it was. One day we were all at home. My father had just gotten home from work, and my mom had dinner ready for everyone. But I was sick, so I was in my room. I-" Lance's voice began getting jittery. " That's when I heard the gunshots. It was so loud, and there were so many of them. I got so scared, and I hid under my bed and covered my ears. I'd gotten used to hearing them... it wasn't a very good neighborhood. But that was the first time I'd heard them from inside the house." Lance's lip quivered as he made eye contact with Keith, who looked completely distraught. " There was screaming and yelling... then it was just quiet, but I could hear a single set of footsteps going throughout the house. I could see feet from under my bed... but... they never found me. God! I wish they would've!" Lance exclaimed as tears rolled down his cheeks.

" Lance-" Keith tried to say.

" By the time I crawled out from under there everyone was dead! I couldn't even see the kitchen floor from under all the blood!" Lance laughed hysterically, seeming to lose his grip.

Keith's eyes widened. Lance's entire family had been murdered?!

He didn't know what else to do besides wrap his arms around Lance and pull him closer. Keith didn't dare to say another word. Lance cried into his chest while hugging him back.

The pain, the suffering, it was coming out in the form of Lance's tears that got all over the front of Keith's shirt.

Keith had lost both of his parents, but at least he still had Shiro. He couldn't even begin to imagine how much worse Lance had it.

" I was only thirteen!" Lance sobbed into the fabric of Keith's shirt. " Leaving me there was worse than actually shooting me f-full of bullets!"

Keith felt a few stray tears pooling in the corners of his eyes as he held Lance close. Nobody deserved that. Nobody should've ever had to go through what he went through. To think that Lance was even in a gang after that was unbelievable. He was so strong.

" I'm sorry for making you talk about that..." He murmured.

Lance sniveled and tried to stop crying. It took him a couple minutes to get his breathing close to being normal, to get the tears to stop flowing.

Lance pulled back a bit, sniffling quietly while looking to the side. He was so used to masking it, so used to just flirting with Keith. Opening up to him like that was an ultimate first. He hated feeling like he was weak, like he wasn't strong. Everyone had their sob story, and everyone was there for a reason. Lance didn't want attention, and he didn't want anyone to pity him.

" Don't be sorry..." He mumbled. " I'd wanna know who was trying to date me, too..."

Keith's eyes beaded, and he didn't even want to know how Shiro had found Lance anymore. He was an orphan, probably one who'd gotten into the U.S. illegally or because of very extended family.

" Shiro taught me how to be a good person..." Lance smiled a bit. His resilience was remarkable.

" I can't imagine what you went through... I lost my parents... but I was too young to understand it." Keith said.

Lance's eyes got bigger in a matter of only half a second. He immediately felt pity and hugged Keith closer.

" Come here, Baby..." The taller boy whispered, letting Keith rest in the crook of his neck. He shakily pressed a kiss to his forehead, feeling even closer to Keith after knowing that. They might've been practical opposites... but in a way... they were the same. Lance had already gotten so attached to Keith, already fallen for him, and somehow he had yet to notice it until that moment.

" I'm really okay." Keith told him.

Lance combed his fingers through Keith's mullet soothingly, hoping to comfort him.

" I'll always keep you safe... nobody is ever going to hurt you again. No matter what you are to me, I care about you too much to let anyone touch you again..." Lance said with certainty, holding Keith close to himself. Cuddling him wasn't awkward like it had been the first time he'd done it. It had begun to feel more natural.

When Shiro first assigned Lance to be Keith's bodyguard, he'd blown it off as a joke. Like, 'Yeah, okay, Shiro. Whatever you say.' But now Lance felt a sort of need to be there for Keith, to make sure Lotor's people kept their filthy hands off of him. Knowing that Keith had been kidnapped, tied up, even hit by them was enough to make his blood boil.

Keith blushed a bit, though it wasn't visible in the lowlight. He felt his cheeks heating up and his heart tripping over the beats as he stayed close to Lance.

" Yes." The smaller boy finally said.

" Yes?" Lance asked, confused at first.

" I'll be your boyfriend..." He murmured.

Lance felt like his emotions were on a roller coaster as he laid there. He could've jumped for joy. He smiled as Keith pulled his face back.

" Nothing could make me happier..." Lance told him affectionately. The feelings had come hard and fast, and Lance had been practically knocked off his feet by them. A wave of relief flushed over his body as he heard that Keith agreed to be with him. They could build a real relationship. They'd done it sort of backwards, but Lance didn't care.

Keith hadn't been expecting Lance to kiss him, but it soon happened. He felt emotions flowing from Lance right into himself as their lips melded together. He let his eyes close as Lance moved over him somewhat.

Lance smiled into the kiss a bit, and he cupped Keith's cheek while continuing to kiss him. He wasn't worried about what Shiro might've thought anymore. Hell, he wasn't worried about what anyone thought.

Keith was the only thing that mattered right then.

...

Matt knew that it wasn't fair of him to be pissed, but he couldn't help it. He was more than a little jealous of all the attention Shiro had been giving the new guy.

The look of annoyance was sprawled across his face as he walked back into his room. Pidge was playing Minecraft in there, but she immediately looked over at her brother once he came in.

" What's up?" She asked, noticing that Matt had a stank face.

" The new guy is gay... and probably has a crush on Shiro." He narrowed his eyes and folded his arms.

" Oh shit." Pidge cringed, knowing already that this would lead to all sorts of drama.

She'd known about Matt's feelings for Shiro for like... ever. But she never really teased him about it do to the fact that she'd sworn to never tell anyone. Though it was tempting at times, Pidge kept her mouth shut. The only time she ever poked fun at him was when they were alone, and weren't running the risk of having anyone else hear their conversations.

" I swear..." Matt looked down. " He can't just come in and start liking him like that..."

" What did you see?" She asked him, setting the video game controller aside.

" He was all blushy and everything..." Matt sighed, wishing that he would've had the guts to tell Shiro how he felt. " He doesn't even know Shiro... why should he even feel like that?"

" To be fair... you thought Shiro was hot when he saved us." Pidge raised an eyebrow at him.

" That was different..." Matt insisted. He immediately was bombarded with flashbacks.

...

Living on the street had been hard, but Matt and Pidge had stuck together through all of it. They'd been saving up, and almost had enough for a down payment on an apartment.

The last thing they'd expected was that a group of guys would decide to have their way with them. Well... try to.

" I like this one... he has pretty eyes." One of the men sneered, smirking at Matt while pinning him to the side of the building.

" Help!" Pidge called, squirming in the grip of another one of them.

" He's so tiny." The man who'd gotten a hold of her chuckled.

" I'm a girl!" Pidge exclaimed. She was instantly dropped. Clearly these thugs were only interested in males.

Matt didn't get off that easy. He was being felt up and touched in his private areas by a stranger that was easily twice his size. His mouth was covered as tears rushed to his eyes.

" Let him go!" Pidge screamed. She was held back by two guys, and she couldn't see the man who was coming up behind them all.

" What the hell is going on back here?" He asked, and Matt didn't know his name yet, but he seemed to be some sort of superhero.

" None of your business." One of the thugs spat.

It was Shiro. Perfect, completely perfect looking Shiro.

" I suggest you all scram." Shiro said, narrowing his eyes. Leave it to him to be the fixer again. It wasn't his problem. He was only walking to his car after a business meeting. But then he'd heard the screams from the alley.

" What are you gonna do?"

Shiro sighed and pulled the gun from his pocket. He didn't have to say anything after that. The guys immediately scrambled off and Matt could finally breathe as his mouth stopped being covered. Whoever this was had just prevented him from being gang raped.

Pidge ran to Matt and hugged him while crying.

" Are you okay?!" She sobbed, and Matt sniffled while nodding.

Shiro put away his glock.

" What are your names?" He asked.

" Matt and Katie." Matt answered in a shaky voice. And Shiro noticed that there was a practical camp set up in the alley, and they were probably living there.

Matt and Pidge were 19 and 16 then. But from then on out, Shiro was the one they looked up to. From then on, Matt felt nothing but fondness for Shiro.

...

" Shiro saved us..." Matt said. " He gave us a home pretty much became our dad."

" Are you saying you have a daddy kink for Shiro?" Pidge questioned.

Matt's face turned bright red.

" What?! No?! That's not what I was saying at all!" He exclaimed in a flustered way.

" I was kidding." Pidge chuckled, though she wondered if maybe her brother actually did judging from his reaction.

" Seriously, though..." Matt plopped on the bed and sighed.

" I think you just need to tell Shiro. I know that's not what you want to hear, but... I think you should." She spoke honestly.

" I can't. I'll stammer and probably ruin it." Matt said.

Pidge wasn't sure what kind of advice to give. If Matt didn't want to outright tell him, was there another way?

" How would you feel about dropping hints?" She smirked, raising a mischievous eyebrow at him.

" What kind of hints?" Matt cringed.

" I don't know... maybe you could catch his attention with a scandalous outfit or something?" She laughed.

Matt made a face, getting even redder.

" But I don't even know if he likes me or not..."

" Oh... after I plan you an outfit... he'll notice you." Pidge smirked while getting up and going for her brother's clothes. Luckily the closet was spacious because Matt was no longer crammed inside of it.

Matt didn't know whether to feel excited or terrified. His little sister had a way of getting... what was the word... overexcited? She could be over the top at times.

He got up and followed her.

" Hm..." Pidge hummed to herself while looking through the clothing hangers.

Matt was about to say something, but then there was a sound echoing through the wall. It was coming from down the hall.

" Ahhh! Lance~ Fuck! Mmm!" Could be heard.

Matt and Pidge glanced at each other, and he looked horrified. Pidge was the opposite, however. She smirked widely.

" Keith, shit!" Lance moaned from his room.

" Oh God..." Matt covered his ears.

Pidge only cackled like the fangirl she was.

(( Oof. Lance's backstory killed me.))