(( Shiro angst is way too underrated.))

While Keith and Lance commenced in their fucking session into the late night and early morning, other people in the mansion were up to other things.

Matt had tried to turn in around 1 AM, but found that fact blowing up in his face as he shot up in a cold sweat. His chest rose and fell as he heaved.

It had been so long since he'd had a nightmare, he didn't even know what to do. He didn't remember it, couldn't recall exactly what had went down in dreamland, but it was unsettling.

Matt pulled the blankets closer to himself and trembled, feeling his heart thumping and assaulting him. His eyes were watery as he sat there.

He didn't know what else to do. It was his first instinct to get up from bed, taking his blanket with him. He peeked out from his room, finding that the lights were all still on. That meant that Shiro was still up.

Matt walked to Shiro's room, placing a couple knocks on his door and looking down to his bare feet. He was only wearing boxers and a basic band t-shirt.

" Come in." Shiro said from the inside.

Matt turned the handle and stepped in the room. He saw the TV's light shining across the bed, illuminating Shiro and Adam. They were both sitting on the bed, and Shiro had an arm draped around Adam. It seemed as though they were watching a movie together.

" Sh-Shiro..." Matt stammered. He just needed a hug.

" Matt? Hey... what's wrong?" Shiro sat up, his face rippling in concern. Adam looked worried as well, and he snuggled closer to Shiro's side to help with it.

Matt shut the door and came in, pulling his blanket along with him. Since Adam was on Shiro's right side, Matt crawled on the bed and took his spot at Shiro's left. He sniffled, feeling like a baby and hating it. Everything felt ten times better once Shiro pulled him in supportively.

" I had a nightmare..." Matt told him under his breath, curling up by Shiro.

There was just something about being in Shiro's arms that made Matt feel safe. As long as he was in Shiro's presence, it was like nothing could get him.

Why did that make Shiro feel like a dad? Literally, Matt was only a few years younger than him, but he felt like such a caregiver. He didn't have a problem with it, either.

" Do you want to talk about it?" Shiro asked him quietly. Matt shook his head.

" I don't even remember what it was about..." He murmured.

Adam sat there, tucked against Shiro's side and being there however he could. He was very aware that Matt wasn't quite comfortable confiding in him yet, but they were taking baby steps.

" You can sleep here tonight..." Shiro told Matt, kissing the top of his head and holding him closer. Matt felt his heart skip a beat, blush overtaking his cheeks as he leaned on Shiro.

He didn't know it then, but he should've been savoring all the cuddles he could get for a while. Matt only fell back into slumber with him soon enough, as all three of them did a short time later.

...

Keith and Lance had both passed out after a couple heated rounds, and normally after something so exhausting, Keith didn't wake up. He'd showered before ultimately crashing, but he wasn't supposed to pop his eyes open before dawn.

It happened.

Keith felt an awful feeling clench in his chest. It wasn't a physical sensation, rather... an intuition. He shot up in bed, nearly having a panic attack on the spot. His heart rate was rabid like a wild animal, and his breathing was anything but regulated.

The bed seemed to be overtaken with waves for a moment, like Keith had disturbed it. And it wasn't the only thing that had been disturbed. Lance, too, had been awoken, but only because of his boyfriend spazzing out.

Keith looked around himself frantically, knowing that there was danger. He didn't know where, and he didn't know who, but he could tell that something had happened.

Keith untangled Lance from himself, got up from bed and limped toward the door.

" Keith, woah-" Lance rubbed his eyes, drowsily stumbling after him. " Hey, what's going on?" He stopped the shorter boy from walking out, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Keith respired rapidly.

" I-I..." He gulped. " Something is h-happening..." Keith shakily spoke.

" You're not making any sense." Lance yawned.

Keith pushed past to open the door handle. And Lance followed him, even though he was only wearing boxers and was half awake. Keith literally seemed crazy. Had he fucked him so hard that one of the shorter boy's screws had come loose? Nah. That couldn't have been it.

At the same time Keith was looking around the hallway, the couple saw Matt coming up the stairs, accompanied by Adam.

" What are you guys doing?" Lance asked them.

" Shiro's gone." Matt whimpered.

Keith's eyes bulged.

" What the hell do you mean?!" The little brother raised his voice, making them both jump back. Even Lance seemed taken off guard.

" W-We fell asleep with him... and we woke up and he was gone." Adam stammered, looking down in a distraught manner.

" We just checked the whole mansion top to bottom and we can't find him." Matt covered his mouth, and his eyes were teary as he thought about what could've happened.

Keith grit his teeth, sniffling as he pushed past all of them. He probably shouldn't have been running, but that didn't stop him from making a mad dash down the stairs.

" Shiro!" He desperately called out for his older brother. " Shiro! Where are you?!" Keith zipped around, ignoring his limp.

Lance clenched his jaw.

When people just disappeared like that, it was never good. And even worse, Shiro was the head of the family. That meant that Lance was left in charge.

" What should we do?" Matt asked him, trying to think positive. Nothing could've happened to Shiro? Right? He was strong, and big, and it would've taken a practical army to take him somewhere against his will. It would've been like trying to take a Lion for a walk on leash. It just wouldn't have worked.

Lance thought for a second, hearing Keith scream for his brother downstairs. It was painful to listen to.

" You're sure he's nowhere in this mansion?" Lance asked them, swallowing back his concern for Shiro. The absolute worst thing he could do was lose his cool.

" Positive." Adam told him anxiously. Matt was shaking from how nervous he was, and Adam put an arm around his shoulder. " It's going to be okay... I promise..." Adam assured him, and Matt nodded with a sniffle.

" Wake everyone up. I'm calling a family meeting." Lance ordered, rushing down the staircase to catch up with Keith. His boyfriend looked like he was fritzing out.

" Shiro!" Keith called. He ran toward the garage, wanting to see if his brother's car was still there. After throwing the door open, Keith's face sank and he trembled. It was.

That meant that Shiro hadn't gone anywhere on his own accord. He leaned on the doorframe heavily, feeling his knees buckle out from under him.

Keith and his brother might've had disagreements sometimes, but they loved each other very much. He could hardly shoulder the idea that something had happened to Shiro.

Lance came up behind Keith, who was holding himself back from full out crying. He seemed to be choking on the lump in his throat, and stray tears dribbled from his eyes.

" We'll find him." Lance hugged him, trying not to cry himself.

Keith nodded, turning around and burying in Lance's neck for a moment.

" Put on some damn clothes." The smaller boy mumbled, and Lance pulled back. He wiped his boyfriend's tears away with his thumb, seeming distraught.

" I will." Lance said. " I have to call a family meeting first."

It didn't take long for the news to spread through the entire mansion.

" What are you talking about?!" Pidge raised her voice. " He can't just be gone?!"

" I'm telling you! We can't find him anywhere!" Matt's voice cracked. Pidge rushed past them. " Where are you going?!" He shouted after her.

" To check the security cameras!" Pidge called.

Lance finally had on some clothes while emerging from his room. He didn't bother suiting up. He only wore jeans and a t-shirt. He'd called everyone else, and the whole family was going to convene.

Everyone besides Pidge and Keith was gathered outside Lance's room, waiting for his directions. Keith soon came out of his room with a knife, clenching it and ready to use it on whoever had taken his brother.

Before Lance could say anything, Adam's phone began ringing. Everyone looked at him, and he pulled it out of his sweatshirt pocket.

" Who is it? Is it Shiro?!" Matt exclaimed.

" N-no..." Adam stuttered from fear. It was blatant on his face that he was terrified. He turned the phone around, showing Lotor's contact.

They all listened to it ring once, and Adam was too scared to answer. Matt snatched it from him, angrily answering.

" What did you do to him?!" Matt yelled.

" You're not Adam." Lotor scoffed from the other side. " But no matter."

" Answer my question!" Matt hysterically shouted. " And why are you calling Adam?!"

Everyone watched seriously, and Matt put Lotor on speaker.

" Adam betrayed me... he was supposed to help me, but he never called back. I figured it out on my own." Lotor chuckled, and Keith's eyes darted over to Adam accusingly.

" What is he talking about?" Keith gripped his knife tighter. Lance watched his facial expression, wanting to see if Adam was about to lie.

" Lotor called me when I was with Shiro... it was a while back." Adam sighed. " Shiro told me to act like I was on Lotor's side so we could get dirt on him... but I never called Lotor back. I didn't betray you!" Adam growled. " I was never on your side in the first place!"

" That doesn't matter now." Lotor snickered. " You might want to start digging~"

" Digging?" Matt's voice wavered while asking.

Keith's face wore a look of terror while hearing that.

" Yeah." Lotor cackled. " Before he runs out of air."

" Did you bury him alive?! You sick fuck!" Keith went to try and take the phone, Lance held him back, not sure what his boyfriend was capable of right then.

" Maybe I did... maybe I didn't..." Lotor said smugly. " Good luck. Would be shame if he didn't make it... he's sort of right under your nose, after all."

The line went dead.

The phone slipped from Matt's hand as he began sobbing and nearly fell down. He couldn't handle knowing Shiro was trapped somewhere, probably screaming while nobody could hear him, fearing for his life. He wailed, feeling his gut wrench as he found himself unable to breathe.

" Guys!"

Pidge came rushing up to the group.

Keith was trembling, furious and crying as he stood there. He hurled his fist at the wall, crying out and slamming the drywall with punches.

" No!" He screamed. " No, no, no!"

" Babe! Stop!" Lance pulled him away, but Keith's knuckles were already bleeding. The shorter boy finally crumbled while sobbing into Lance's shirt.

" M-my brother... I-I can't- lose him! He-he's all I have!" Keith cried.

" Guys!" Pidge yelled to get their attention. " I got into the security cameras and Lotor was here!"

" Did you see where they took him?!" Lance asked her.

She looked down.

" They dragged him out the front door..." Pidge clenched her fists. " He was unconscious, but the cameras were black after that."

" Pidge... Lotor called us..." Hunk said. He was crying silently, trying to stay strong for Shay's sake. " Shiro is buried alive."

" What?!" She panicked, then saw that Matt was curled up and sobbing. Adam had his face in his hands, and tears were dripping from his cheeks.

Keith sniffled and gripped his knife while crying in Lance's chest. He hated crying. He hated showing others his tears like that.

The doorbell rang a short time later, and the other gang members came flooding in.

" Why are we wasting time with this?! We need to be looking for Shiro!" Matt tried to say.

" Where would we even look?" Adam stared down, wiping his tears away from under his glasses.

Keith couldn't stop crying as Lance ushered him into the conference room area. He was kept tucked into Lance's chest, hiding his tears from everyone.

" What reality is this?! Where is Shiro?!" Slav freaked out while running around the room like a broken toy. His arms flailed as well. " There's a 74% chance Lance just became the new head of the family!"

" Slav! Not helping!" Pidge yelled.

People were flipping out, and Lance was sweating from how much pressure he was under. Thace was next in the chain of command, but he was currently out of the country on vacation. And he couldn't possibly ask Keith anything with him in the state he was.

" I'm going to get him back..." Lance whispered to Keith seriously, and his boyfriend was completely in shock.

The whole room was a mess of emotions and ideas, and Lance was tasked with controlling all of them. Oh no. This was going to be one hell of a nightmare. Shiro was often the peacekeeper, the one who kept things from running off on different tangents. Shiro offered a different perspective, one that was an amalgamation of everyone's viewpoints. Lance wasn't nearly as good at that, but he was going to try.

" Hey! Pipe down!" He raised his voice, and people slowly started quieting down. " We don't have a lot of time here, so we need to figure out how to fix this."

" Fix it?!" Matt hysterically laughed. " He could be anywhere!"

" Wait-" Hunk sniffled, remembering back to what Lotor had said on the phone. " He said he's right under our nose... could that be a hint?"

" Is this some sort of twisted game to him?!" Matt hissed as more tears fell. Adam looked at him with wide, watering eyes. He'd never seen Matt that angry before. " Oh God!" Matt put a hand over his mouth. " What did he do to him?" He shakily uttered to himself.

" Does that mean he's under something?" Asked Nyma.

" Yeah, that's kind of what being buried alive is." Rolo cut in.

" He has to be on the property somewhere." Pidge held her head and tried her hardest to think.

Lance gasped in sudden realization.

" Fuck..." He grit his teeth.

Keith peeled his face back from Lance's shirt, wiping some of the tears from his face.

" What is it?" Keith asked him in a broken voice.

" I think I know where he is!" Lance exclaimed. " You all need to split up and search the front and back yards while we check! Also go in the greenhouse. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, you're coming with me."

People didn't have much time to argue as Lance tugged Keith out of the room. Pidge and Hunk followed them both, and the other members dispersed.

" Lance, where are we going?" Pidge asked, having to run to keep up.

" The root cellar." Lance weaved around a corner swiftly. " It's literally under the mansion."

" We have one of those?" Keith sniffled.

" Yeah. We don't really use it much." Hunk informed him. As the chef, of course he would know.

" Shiro wants to make it a panic room, but that hasn't happened yet." Lance told them as he swung a door open.

Keith was in a daze. Was this really happening? Was Shiro really buried somewhere? Was his brother seriously at risk of suffocating? He wanted to keep punching until his knuckles were all worn down to nothing. He stared down at his bloody fist, which was currently tingling.

Shiro.

Keith needed to get his brother back. The even worse part was that Shiro wasn't just a brother. Shiro was a boyfriend, a caregiver to many, a role model, a mentor... Shiro was family.

(( :,) hhhh.))