Sunday, 22nd of February

~ Lance ~

"Lance!" Mom called from downstairs. I ignored her. Me, Pidge, her brother Matt and a bunch of other people we usually teamed up with were trying to defeat a boss monster and we were so, so, so close, closer than we'd ever been before. Whatever Mom wanted could wait.

"Matt, use a healing potion!" I yelled into my headset.

"But you can't buy those!"

"This is the third last boss of this game!"

"...but I only have 84 of them."

"Cottdamnit, Matt, just use the freaking healing potion!"

"Lance, I need you!" Mom called again.

"I'm busy!" I yelled back.

"Lance!"

"Go away!"

Come on, come on, come on, you got this, you're almost there...

My evil mother then stormed in and unplugged the TV.

I stared at her in horror before leaping up to my feet and ripping my headset off in outrage. "Mom!"

Her voice was calm but her arms were folded firmly. "Lance, I need you to go to the store for me and get-"

"Mom, what the hell, we were about to beat the boss monster!"

"You can beat the boss monster later-"

"You can't just beat a boss monster later! Plug it back in!"

She shook her head. "I need you to go and buy some condensed milk. We've got the whole family tonight and I realised we don't have enough-"

"Can't I do it later?!"

She thwacked me with a tea towel. "You were the one who wanted tres leches cakes and you aren't studying or doing anything productive with your time, so the job goes to you!"

"But Mooommmmmm," I whined. "It's wet outside."

"It's just drizzling."

"I could catch a cold and get really sick!"

"Take an umbrella then, you goof."

"It's cold out there and it's getting dark."

She smiled calmly and walked out of my room, heading downstairs. "I trust that you'll be safe."

I followed her, feeling outraged and offended. "I could get murdered or kidnapped or stabbed and you're saying you don't care?!"

She held out an umbrella. "You're being silly now and you know it. Now, head off, the sooner you leave, the sooner you'll be back."

I slumped my shoulders and grabbed the umbrella. "I hate you, you know."

She gave me that wise motherly smile. "But I will always love you." She then grinned. "Come on, out you go."

And that's how I ended up walking down the cold, wet, wet street in the early evening darkness. My sneakers were starting to get all wet and soggy and gross from walking on the damp ground and I wanted more than nothing to go home and steal a pair of my sister's fuzzy socks. Still, getting milk meant tres leches cakes. And by god, my mom made the best tres leches cakes. So, that was something at least.

I passed the empty children's playground. All the children must have been stuck inside and really bored with nowhere to run and nowhere to play. It was kinda sad to see that place so deserted. Like it was lonely and missed the lively chatter and kids running around and screaming.

I stopped suddenly.

The playground wasn't empty. There was person sitting alone on the swing set, rocking it back and forth slowly.

Keith.

What the heck was he doing here?

Huh...

Oh well, might as well annoy him while I was there.

I opened the gate of the playground and walked over towards him and put the umbrella above his head. He didn't notice me at first as he was staring down at his shoes but then he seemed to realise that it wasn't raining on him anymore because he blinked and looked up to see me.

"What're you doing here?" I asked, slightly baffled.

He lowered his head and looked back down at his shoes, once again swaying the swing slightly. "...nothing."

I looked at him. His hair was wet and dripping with droplets of water and that red jacket of his seemed to have also been damped by the rain.

"How long have you been out here?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Minutes. Hours. What time is it?"

"Hours?! You've been out here in the rain for hours?!"

He seemed to stiffen and when he replied, he sounded irritated. "I said, I don't know. Maybe."

He seemed really...tense.

"Are you...okay?"

"Yeah. Fine."

"Why are you here?"

"Don't have anywhere to go."

"What, you loose the key to your house or something? Got locked out?"

"Something like that."

I could have used that opportunity to make fun of him, to call him stupid and forgetful. But he seemed really, really down about something. I couldn't just make fun of him for being clumsy. Besides, wether I wanted him to be or not, Keith was an important part of my life now, just like Hunk and Pidge.

So, I smiled at him and held out my hand. "You wanna come over to mine?"

***

~ Keith ~

"Mo-m!" Lance yelled, kicking the door open and dragging me inside. "I brought something else home along with the milk!"

"I'm not a stray cat, you know," I muttered. "And you can let go of my hand."

He ignored me and pulled me into the kitchen. "Good evening, everybody! This is Keith. I found him sulking around and being all emo, so I brought him here!"

A small little girl stared up at me with huge eyes, her mouth hanging open. I didn't like it. It made me feel awkward and uncomfortable. I wasn't used to many people.

She then stared at Lance with her big eyes. "Uncle Lance, is that a boy or a girl?"

I choked and Lance snorted. "What makes you say that?"

"His hair is long like a girl's."

Did the whole McClain family just have some secret family grudge against my hair? What had it ever done to offend them?

"Hmm, what do you have to say to that, Keith?" Lance grinned, leaning on my shoulder.

I scowled and folded my arms, looking away. Why had I thought this was a good idea?

An old lady walked in, saw Lance and smiled before speaking to him in what I presumed was Spanish. I frowned, feeling confused. Huh? That was surprising enough but what was even more surprising was that Lance answered back in completely perfect Spanish. I stared at him. Did he know how to speak it too?

The old woman, probably his grandmother saw me and smiled before turning back to Lance. He gestured to me and heard him say my name so I guessed he was explaining who I was and what I was doing in here.

The grandmother walked off and Lance caught me staring at him and grinned, seemingly enjoying the shocked look on my face. "What?"

"You Spanish or something?"

He opened the fridge, still smiling. "Cuban. We used to live there until I was about four but then we moved here. We still do go to Cuba every summer though and Mom makes us speak speak Spanish around the house a lot so we don't loose it."

"So, you're completely fluent? Bilingual?"

"Yep. It's pretty handy I guess."

"Pretty surprising that the biggest idiot I know is fluent in two languages."

He threw an ice cube at me and I neatly dodged as he continued to rummage around in the fridge. "You want a juice?"

I shook my head. "I'm fine."

Someone suddenly pulled on the leg of my trousers. I looked down to see Lance's niece staring back at me.

"Are you a prince?"

Lance snorted in an attempt not to laugh as he opened a can of something. I glared at him furiously before speaking. "No. I am not a prince."

"But your hair is long like a prince's. If you were to get some water and push her hair back..." she mimed the action with her own brown hair. "You'd look just like a Disney prince."

"You want some water for that mop of yours, Mr. Disney Prince?" Lance giggled, taking a sip of his juice.

I was actually debating grabbing a scissors and chopping it all off to spare me the embarrassment.

But I obviously couldn't do that. So I just scowled.

"He's too angry to be a Disney prince!" The nephew piped up. "He's more like a vampire!"

"But I don't like vampires!" His sister protested. "They're scary!"

"And Keith isn't scary," Lance said solemnly, joining in as he threw his can in the bin.

"You must want a foot up your ass because you're really testing me," I snapped.

Lance shrieked and covered their ears frantically. "Keith! Not in front of the children!"

"Uncle Lance wants a foot up his ass!" The boy cheered.

"See?! Look at what you've done! Setting a bad example!"

"Who wants a foot up their ass?" A girl with short hair and glasses asked with a frown as she walked in.

"No one wants I foot up their ass!" Lance yelled frantically.

"Uncle Lance does!"

"No, I don't!"

"But your vampire friend said you do!"

"Yeah, he said you wanted a foot up your ass!" The girl piped up.

"You want a foot up your ass!"

Mrs. McClain suddenly burst into the kitchen. "Alright, which one of you taught them that?! Lance Charles McClain?!"

"Oooh, she used the full name, you're really in for it now," the short haired girl grinned mischievously.

Lance frantically stepped behind me, as if I was a shield. "It wasn't me!"

"I should hope not, teaching my grandchildren how to cuss!" Her eyes rested on me and her face softened. "Oh, who's this?"

"This is Keith," Lance piped up, eager for a change of subject. "He's new at school. He can stay for dinner, right?"

Mrs. McClain smiled warmly at me. "So long as your parents don't mind it's absolutely no problem. Any friend of Lance's is welcome in this house."

A friend...

Of Lance's?

No, no way in hell.

He seemed to be thinking along similar lines.

"Well, actually, we're not friends, he's just new at school and I found him sulking around-"

She ignored him and continued to smile at me. "Oh, don't mind him. Do your parents know you're staying for dinner? I wouldn't want to trouble them."

She was smiling at me with a gentle and kind look as if she was my own mother.

My own mother.

"Momma, Momma, look!"

"You're...you're always gonna catch me, right?"

"Come back...I'll be a good boy I promise..."

"Please, Momma...don't leave me all alone..."

I snapped out of it. No. This wasn't the time to be delving into my box of memories I'd worked so hard to keep shut. Not now. Not ever. Not today.

Especially not today.

I looked down at my shoes. "Y-Yeah, it's okay. This won't cause any trouble."

She smiled. "Okay, good to-"

Lance grabbed my wrist. "Okay, cool, we gotcha, Mother dear, now if you'll excuse us."

And with that he dragged me out of the kitchen. "Wanna go up to-"

"Uncle Lance, can we play with you?"

I looked down to see the little girl clinging to his leg and looking hopeful.

"Pleeeeeaseeeeee?"

He grinned and scooped her up, balancing her on his hip. He looked like such a mother.

"Absolutely."

"Can we play on the Wii in the basement? Slyvio never plays it with me when it's just me and him."

"That's because I beat you way too easily!" He spoke up.

"Okay, everyone just calm the ham. And yes, Nadia, we can play on Wii."

Nadia smiled. "Yay! Thank you, Uncle Lance!" She then looked at me before snuggling in closer to him and dropping her voice. "The vampire won't bite us, will he?"

Lance grinned at me. "Keith, do you promise not to bite my niece?"

I folded my arms and looked away with a scowl.

"That's a yes in vampire," Lance explained.

Oh, for god's sake. What was I even doing here? Why'd I go to his house of all places to hide from my problems?

But still, playing Mario Cart on the Wii with Lance and Slyvio and Nadia was surprisingly addictive. They all kept beating me and it was annoying but it gave me a reason to keep wanting to play. I so badly wanted to see the look on Lance's face when I won.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on...." I growled through gritted teeth, frantically turning the remote. "I got it this time, I swear..."

"No, you don't, you suck at this," Slyvio piped up.

"Yeah, and I'm going easy on you too, I'm not knocking you off the track," Lance added, casually and seemingly almost bored.

"Shut up. Yes, last lap, last lap, last lap-"

I went too fast and flew off the track, falling down the waterfall. I dropped the Wii remote and grabbed my hair.

"No!"

Lance burst out laughing, practically falling off the couch. "Oh my god," he wheezed. "And you were so sure of yourself...I can't..."

I thwacked him with a cushion. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

He simply grinned, still giggling and drove past the finish line. "And it looks like my little nephew wins with me in second place."

"Me and Uncle Lance are the champions!" Slyvio cheered.

Lance grinned and hoisted the little boy up onto his lap. "Yes, we are."

I scowled. "One more time!"

"Keith, if you suck at Mario Cart on your first fifty tries, you're not going to get any better."

"I said, we're going one more time!"

He obeyed continued to grin smugly. "This is like, the easiest game to play and you still can't get it right."

I grabbed the cushion and hit him again but for some reason, I couldn't stop myself from smiling. "Go easy on me."

"Never, Kogane. It's too much fun."

Nadia giggled and got up from her spot on the floor, climbing up onto the couch. "You're bad. I came sixth and I'm not as big as you!" Still gripping her Wii remote, she climbed onto my lap and sat there. "You're not really a vampire because if you were a vampire you'd be very good at everything because vampires are good at everything."

Lance looked intrigued. "Is that so?"

She nodded. "Yes. According to all the books."

Lance also nodded. "I see...thank you for your report, Doctor Nadia."

She giggled before bouncing up and down on my lap slightly. "Again, again! I wanna see if Keith gets any better."

I was stiffer than I'd ever been at that precise moment. Have I ever told you how scary I find little kids? If you say the wrong thing, they could start bawling, if you don't make them happy, they could start screaming and yelling and that's all very awkward. And here I was, stuck with a small child sitting on my lap.

I must've looked terrified because I heard muffled laughter and looked to my side to see Lance burying his face into a pillow in an attempt to stop his giggles. I gave him my death stare but it didn't have the same effect on him that it has in everyone else. He just laughed harder.

"Guys!" Someone yelled from upstairs. "Dinner!"

"Coming!" Lance yelled back before grinning at all of us. "Come along, my children, dinner is calling."

"You do realise that I'm almost a year older than you, right?" I said grumpily as Nadia scrambled off my lap, running for the door.

"Absolutely, shorty."

"Come on, dinner!" The small girl protested bossily, grabbing Lance's hand and pulling him out the door.

Dinner at the McClain household was very different to what I was used to. Everyone was passing food around and laughing and yelling and there was this nice family atmosphere in the room. Mrs. McClain chatted to me on end about school and how I was settling in, Lance made fun of all my answers and Slyvio and Nadia kept asking me questions. It was kind of annoying but kind of sweet. I still couldn't believe he was already an uncle. And they really did look up to him which was cute. Though I wished they'd shut up about my hair.

"Keith?"

Speak of the devil.

I looked up from my food to see Nadia looking at me inquisitively. "Yeah, what?"

"You know, if you grew your hair really, really, reeeeallyyyy long you could be a Disney princess."

I choked on my food. Lance tried to press his lips together to stop his laughter but completely failed and exploded into a laughing fit.

"Is that so, Nadia?" He giggled.

She nodded seriously. "Yes. It could be really, really long and then if he ever got locked up in a tower, he could put his hair out the window and a handsome prince could climb up it to save him."

Hiding my burning face behind my bangs, I mumbled a reply. "No, no thanks."

I could hear Lance's grinning as he spoke to me. "What, do you not want to be a princess or something?"

It took every fibre of my willpower not to strangle him right there and then.

Nadia spoke up again sounding excited. "And if you were a princess, you'd need a prince and if Uncle Lance had a horse, he could be the prince!"

It was Lance's turn to choke.

He spat out a mouthful of water.

Unfortunately, he was facing me.

"Lance, what the hell!" I yelled, frantically grabbing napkins to dry my shirt with.

He didn't notice because he was too busy coughing and spluttering. When he finally managed to speak, he inhaled and stared at his niece as if she was crazy. "I'm sorry, what?!"

"I said, you could-"

"You don't need to repeat it!" I yelled, burying my burning face into my hands. Please, please, tell me that no one could see how much I was blushing...

Mrs. McClain walked back over to the table holding a large bowl of salad. "Well, it's nice to see that we've all become friends."

"Yeah, we're getting along like a house on fire!" Marco exclaimed triumphantly. He grabbed me into a headlock and rubbed his knuckles against my head, grinning. "Just look at us!"

"You're...choking...me..." I shook out of his grip and rubbed my neck with a sigh. Lance gave me a look and shoved his face right into mine.

"What you sighing about, mullet?!"

"I just realised I probably shouldn't get involved with this family."

He swung his arm around my shoulder tightly. "Just look at that, everyone, we've gotten friendly enough to give each other a little sarcasm. Right?" But when most of them were distracted, he then looked at me from the corner of his eye, the look of death and hell inside them. "Don't upset my family, mullet-boi."

I kicked him from under the table. He kicked me back. I kicked back harder only his sister, Veronica, let out a yelp instead of him.

"Ow!" She exclaimed before glaring at Lance. "Why'd you kick me?!"

He put his hands in the air as if she had a gun. "That wasn't me!"

"Then who was it?!"

"Um...that was...Keith has...leg spasms."

"Leg what?"

Lance stomped on my foot, clearly begging for me to help him.

"Y-Yeah, my legs kind of just move on their own at times," I gabbled. "It's a medical condition but there's no known cure just yet so I don't know how long I'll have them for so, um, yeah."

She didn't look convinced. "Okay...and how did you get these legs spasms?"

"Well..." shoot, shoot, shoot. "Um..." I gave Lance a sideways glance. "Lance, how did I get these leg spasms again? Why don't you tell them?"

"N-No, it's your condition, you should really explain it."

"But talking about it makes me self conscious."

His voice was strained. "Does it?"

"It might make me cry because it was very traumatic."

There was a very long silence before he broke it.

"...acid."

Veronica cocked an eyebrow. "Acid? You got them by acid?"

"Yeah..."

She looked at me. She looked at her brother. She looked back at me. Then her brother.

She grinned and shook her head. "Oh, Lance, you dork."

She turned her head to ask her mother something and I kicked Lance as hard as I could making him wince. "Ow!"

I glared at him. "Sorry, that's the leg spasms talking."

***

~ Lance ~

"I'm just saying, a hot dog isn't really a sandwich if I've never seen one being sold in a sandwich bar."

"Okay, but why do you care about this topic so much?" Keith said with a roll of his eyes.

"What do you know, leg spasms boi?"

He gave me a look. "I can't believe you actually told your family that. They all probably think I'm some freaky leg child now."

"Nah, I wouldn't worry about it too much. They like you, trust me."

We were back on the couch in the basement only the kids weren't with us this time. They were in the kitchen licking the cake bowl or something. Abandoning us for food. The little traitors.

Keith's phone suddenly started vibrating. I expected him to answer but instead he hastily press the decline button. That was weird. Before I could speak though, he changed the subject.

"So, you wanna get another game ready while we wait for Slyvio and Nadia? I accept that I suck at Mario Cart, what else do you have?"

"Pick one of the Wii sports games, they're easy. Hopefully even you can play that."

Playing Wii sports resort was actually a very bad choice because I found out that Keith is actually very good at sword fighting on that. I'm was okay but I just couldn't win against him which made it ten times worse. I was swinging my remote madly, trying to knock him off and into the water while he stood next to me, simply casually flicking the remote and still managing to win. You have no idea of how annoying it was.

"Cottdamnit!" I yelled, hurling the remote onto the floor as he won yet again for the 1000th time. I gave him a look. "How the heck are you so good at this?"

He grinned. "Maybe I'm a swordsman in another reality."

I scoffed and flopped onto the couch, folding my arms. "Yeah, right. If you're a swordsman in another reality, I'm a farmer."

Still grinning, he plopped down next to me, our shoulders touching. "You just can't stand it that I'm better than you at yet another thing."

I turned my head to look at him, feeling grumpy. "I'm better than you at plenty of things!"

He leaned his smug face in closer. "Name five."

I was suddenly aware of how close we were to each other. Keith seemed to suddenly notice it too.

I felt myself flare up as he hastily turned his head away. Why was my heart pounding? What the what? Please no, please stop beating, please God no...

Keith clumsily stood up, his knees seemingly weak and wobbly. "S-S-So, y-you wanna-"

He slipped on the wooden floor and let out a yelp as he fell backwards. I frantically leapt to my feet in an attempt to catch him and his back bashed into me, knocking me back onto the couch. My head slammed against the wall, sending a shooting ache through my brain.

"Ow! Keith, you gotta be more careful!"

He didn't say anything.

He was breathing very heavily.

I suddenly noticed that my hands were wrapped around his waist and his warm back was still pressed up against my stomach.

He was...sitting on my lap.

The door opened. "Dessert's ready if you-"

Veronica stopped. She stared at us. We stared back, completely frozen.

She then closed the door. "Sorry for interrupting."

Keith snapped out of it and hurriedly scrambled off me and I jumped up. "You didn't interrupt anything because there was nothing to interrupt!"

"I-I-I should go," Keith gabbled, his face red and he shoved his shoes on. "Th-Thanks for having me, I guess."

He jogged up the stairs hurriedly, clearly wanting to get out of here. I couldn't blame him. That had been so, so, so, so embarrassing...

I then saw that his red jacket was still lying on the couch. I paused to think. He really liked that jacket, he always wore it. Besides, the sooner I faced him, the less embarrassing the next time I saw him would be.

So, I grabbed it, ran upstairs, yelled "I'll be back in a few minutes" before snatching the umbrella and running outside. Keith hadn't gotten very far at least. He was walking down the street, shivering slightly with the cold as he hugged himself. I heaved a sigh as I opened the umbrella and ran over to him. Idiot.

I put the umbrella over his head and he noticed it stopped raining on him and turned around. I held out his jacket.

"You forgot this."

There was a short silence before he swallowed and took it off me. "Th-Thanks," he mumbled, shrugging it on. He then stuffed his hands in his pockets and started walking off again. "See you at school tomorrow."

I jogged after him and we fell into step. "I-I'll walk you."

He gave me a look. "Why?"

Was his face still...red?

"Because it's late and dangerous to be out alone at night."

He scoffed. "What, you think I can't defend myself? You really don't know the half of it."

"Whatever, just shut up. I'm not letting you walk home alone."

"Fine. Wh...whatever."

So there we were. Walking in a kind of awkward silence. Both of us were staring in opposite directions, unable to look at each other in the eye.

I mean, it shouldn't have been such a big deal. We knew each other. We weren't friends but we knew each other. If that was with anyone else, I probably would've laughed it off.

But Keith...

Keith was...

Keith was different.

I didn't know if I liked that or not.

"So..." I said and then immediately regretted it because that made it even more awkward. What to say next? "The kids really liked you. They'll be sad that they never got to say goodbye."

He shrugged. "I guess."

I noticed something. "Hey, your shoulder's gettin wet!"

He shrugged again. "It's okay. It's just a little rain."

"A stitch in time saves nine, Keithy boy. Come on, step closer under the umbrella."

His cheeks went pink.

I instantly regretted saying that.

I felt my own face reddening and shoved the umbrella at him. "You know what, you take the umbrella, I like getting wet!"

I pressed the damn thing into his hand and ran on ahead, hopping into a puddle. I let out a giggle before hopping into the next and the next and the next. My sneakers would be ruined but I didn't care right then. It was all sort of thrilling in that sort of peaceful and nostalgic way. The sound of the cars passing with their lights flashing, the street lamps glowing in the darkness, the pitter pattering of the rain and the coolness of the rainwater which sparkled under those street lights.

"Honestly..." Keith muttered. "Get back here, you'll get yourself sick."

I put my hands on my hips and stuck my tongue out. "yOu'lL gEt yOuRseLf siCk," I mimicked. He gave me a glare.

"Stop acting like a five year old and get your ass back here."

Just to spite him, I walked back over to him before stomping my foot hard on a puddle, splashing him.

"Lance! What the hell?!"

"You said get back here and I did!"

He sighed irritatedly. "One minute you're lecturing me about getting wet and the next you're splashing me. I don't even care enough to question it anymore. You're just too exhausting."

I grinned and turned around, walking on the lines of the pavement, imagining them as a tightrope, my arms spread out. "Why, thank you."

"That's not a compliment."

"What matters is wether I chose to take it as a compliment or not."

"No, it doesn't."

I stepped back under the umbrella and lightly knocked him on the head with my fist. "Minor details."

He rolled his eyes and looked away when his phone started vibrating. And weirdly enough, he pretended not to hear it.

The ringing faded and I opened my mouth to ask Keith why he ignored it when it rang again. Once more, he just didn't even check the caller ID. I stared at him.

"What, you not gonna answer that?"

He shook his head. "No."

The ringing stopped. But then it started once again.

"Keith, I think someone really wants to talk to you."

"Just ignore it, Lance."

I let out a sigh. "Alright."

Ring.

Ring.

Screw it.

I made a grab for it, trying to snatch it out of his pocket. "Is it a girl?! Is she cute?! Is she single?! You don't have a girlfriend, do you?! You're not going out with anyone until they get my approval! Do you hear me, Keith?!"

He dropped the umbrella, trying to fight me off. "Lance, stop!"

"No, I need details! How well off is her family?! Does she look like she could bear children easily?! Blood type?!"

"Why would I know any of that?!"

"So, it is a girl!"

"I didn't say it was a girl, would you quit trying to steal my-"

"You little traitor! You didn't even tell me!"

"You're actually the last person I'd ever tell if I was in a relationship-"

I managed to grasp it and I yanked it out of his pocket. "Victory! Now, let's see..." I stopped, staring at the screen.

"Lance, give it back!"

I looked up from the screen. "Who the heck is Shiro?"

He tried to snatch his phone back. "No one, now give it back!

I stepped back lightly, holding it up high out of his reach, blessing god for my long legs before taking a look at his phone again. "Keith, you have like, twenty missed calls from this guy!"

"I know, now just-"

"Dude, you've got around fifty messages too, you know."

"Lance, don't read those, have some-"

Well, I was obviously going to read them now.

Waiting for you outside

You're a little late, was your bus delayed?

If you need me to I can pick you up, we'll be late but it'll be fine

Please Keith I know you're seeing these just reply

Keith I know you don't like to talk about it but it's mandatory that you do these check ups

And I was thinking now that you're older, maybe you could go see him with me when we're done

But only if you want to

I'll understand if you're not ready

Keith it's been hours, you don't even have to come for the appointment just please come home I checked and you weren't there

Keith please we're worried about you

Just call and let me know you're safe at the very least

I gave him a confused look. "Appointment? Check ups? See who?"

He finally managed to grab his phone back. "None of your business!" He snapped, shoving his phone into his pocket. "God, have some respect for my privacy! Don't just read through someone's texts like that!" He let out an irritated sigh before storming off. "I'm going home. Bye."

I blinked before picking up the fallen umbrella and running after him. "Let me walk-"

"No!" He snapped.

I stopped.

"I don't want you walking me, I don't want you to do this kind of stuff for me, I don't want you constantly at my side!"

"But I...I can't just leave you all alone like that!"

He whipped around to glare at me. "Well, you're gonna have to!"

Silence.

I stared at him with huge eyes. "K...Keith...

He clenched his fists and started walking away, shoes slapping against the wet ground leaving me standing by myself in the rain.

It didn't seem quite as magical now that he was gone.

_______________

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ALSO EVERYONE GO READ "I Hate That I Love You (Todoroki x OC)" BY MY SENPAI BECAUSE ITS BEAUTIFUL AND TOUCHING AND AMAZING AND ALSO FUNNY AND AHHHHHHHH READ IT RIGHT NOW I KNOW YOUVE SEEN MY HERO ACADEMIA BECAUSE WHO HASN'T AND IF YOU HAVENT YOU SHOULD TODOROKI AND KAMINARI AND BAKAHOE AND KIRISHIMA ARE ALL BEST BOIS

ALSO 800+ READS WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH IDEK HOW TO SAY THANK YOU I WAS HOPING FOR 200 I WANT TO HUG YOU IF YOURE READING THIS AHHHHHH💖🤗

THANK YOU SO MUCH I HOPE Y'ALL ENJOYED ILYYYYYYY 😝😝😝💖💖💖💖❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️