Cathect: To invest emotion or feeling in an idea, object, or other person

Keith pov

"Hey cutie" A voice to my left said.
It was Lance.
I felt a blush creep onto my face.
He sat down beside me on the risers.
I got to school early so I could try and get my locker open, no avail.
It was us two and about 7 other kids in the room.
"Hey" I replied.
"How are you?" Lance asked flashing a white toothed smile at me.
"I-I'm good" I said.
Fuck there goes my confidence for the day.
I make an attempt at sounding chill but I swallow hard and stammer, great. I cleared my throat.
"How are you?" I asked back.
"Eh I'm pretty good, A bit tired but that's nothing new" Lance chuckled.

He called me cute I cannot believe.

Lance pov

As soon as I saw that Keith was sitting alone in Drama I sped over to him and struck up a conversation.
I am 98% sure he's gay now.

I didn't think I could get any more attracted to Keith than I already am but boy was I ever wrong.
Today he's wearing leggings with different sized holes cut all over them and just a simple black t-shirt that says "I'll see you in hell" Written on it in white edgy font. I also noticed he had the shirt tied up so it sat on his waist. His leggings are high waisted so I guess I understand why he has it tied up but I could be wrong. Maybe the shirt is just too long on him, I have no idea. I don't care about the reason and all I know is that he looks great once again.

That class Me, Keith, Hunk, and Pidge started to go over our lines for an upcoming skit but us 3 kept going off course and talking to Keith and asking him stuff just to get to know him.
I found out a bit about him but the few that really stood out to me were:
1. He moved here from Texas
2. He has a motorcycle
3. His birthday is October 23rd which is a few weeks away
4. He has over 100 pairs of shoes and finally he got expelled from his last school because...get ready, you're not gonna believe it: He fucking lit a car on fire in his school's parking lot!!
That's insane!
I'm a little bit intimidated by him now just knowing he actually pulled something like that off.
When the second bell rang us 4 got up and shuffled over to the door.
I noticed Keith is significantly shorter than me. The top of his head comes up about to where my chin is.
That's adorable.
I wonder how tall he is? He seemed taller yesterday but he was wearing heels.
"You seem shorter" I said to him.
"I'm not wearing heels today" Keith laughed.
"How tall are you?" He asked me. "You're way up there"
"I'm six feet exactly" I said.
"Whoa okay holy shit" Keith chuckled. "That's tall"

Keith isn't in my second block class which is sad. He seems very mysterious.
I like it.
I forgot to mention that I had such a weird and realistic dream last night. It's not like my normal dreams because this felt real, I could feel heat and wind.
The dream was that me and Keith were at a ceremony together and we were wearing traditional voodoo outfits and we're having fun playing and dancing with the spirits. A wispy turquoise aura thing was connecting me and Keith. It looked like a swirl almost. If you were to drop a bit of food colouring into a glass of water; that's what it looked like.
I could feel the heat of the fire in front of us, the dirt under my bare feet. The spirits were telling me that he's my soulmate and we are connected. Spirits aren't always right though and it was just a dream. I just met Keith...So it was a little weird to say the least.
The dream sounds lame but it was so nice.

When lunch rolled around I met up with Hunk and Pidge as usual.
" I want to go find Keith" I announced. "Well hi to you too" Pidge scoffed. "Deadass didn't even say hi to us" Hunk added.
"Hello my amazing wonderful friends!" I said a bit over the top. Pidge crossed their arms and stuck their tongue out at me.
I immediately recognized Keith as he rushed past me amongst a crowd of other students. I sped up to him, pushing past people.
"Hey" I said putting my hand on his shoulder. He jumped a bit in surprise and turned around quickly.
"Oh it's just you" He sighed.
We were stopped in the middle of the hall.
"Move you dipshit!" Somebody yelled from behind me. I grabbed Keith's arm and pulled him to the side, out of the crowd.
"Do you wanna eat lunch with me, Pidge, and Hunk?" I asked him letting go of his arm.
"Yeah sure. I have nowhere else to go" He said.

Keith pov

Lance led me over to where I saw Hunk and Pidge standing.
"Keith's gonna eat lunch with us" Lance said.
"I need to wait here for Matt because he saved me muffins from his culinary class" Pidge said.
"Wow I wish Lucas would save me food from that class" Lance grumbled.
"Oh hey Pidge" I spoke up.
"My friend/roommate knows your brother. He was just talking about him last night " I said.
"What's your friends name?" Pidge asked.
"Takashi. Takashi Shirogane" I replied.
"Ohh yeah him. My brother Matt talked about him loads when he got home from a military camp thing" They said.

All of a sudden a guy looking just like a taller version of Pidge came jogging up to us.
I'm assuming that's the man Matt himself.
"Here's your shit" The guy said handing Pidge a ziplock bag with two muffins inside.
"Thanks man" Pidge said.
"I was just talking about you actually" They said.
"Matt this is Keith. He said you and his friend Shiro know each other" Pidge announced.
"Dude you know Shiro?" Matt said looking at me with wide hazel eyes. "Yeah I do, I've known him for years and years" I said.
"Oh you're Keith? He asked.
"Matt, I literally just told you his name" Pidge barked.
"Shiro told me lots about you at camp" Matt said.

Shiro has talked about me to him?

"Whoa he's talked about me?" I asked. "Hell yeah he has, The guy couldn't shut up about you and how much he missed you the first week of camp" Matt said sliding his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"I never knew that" I said.
"From what I've heard you sound like a really great guy" Matt smiled.
"I gotta head off, I'm meeting up your brother, Lance" Matt exclaimed.
"It was nice finally meeting you Keith" He added and began walking the opposite way he came.
"I'm so confused" Hunk said blinking a few times.
Pidge sighed audibly.
"My brother knows Keith's friend" Pidge said.
"Oohh" He said.
"All that sounded much more complex that it was" Hunk laughed.
"Uh hello I'm still here" Lance said waving a hand in Pidge's face.
"Oh shit Lance I totally forgot about you" They said sarcastically.
"Let's go" He said.

I followed the three up a flight of stairs and through a door, to another smaller flight of stairs then we went through another door and we were outside.
"We come up here every day" Hunk said. I followed them through the door, We were on the roof.
"Everyone thinks that door is locked so nobody comes up here but us and the horticulture class" Pidge said.
It was nice and sunny out.
The roof was flat and had long big rectangle concrete planters in the middle with concrete benches connected to them. They walked over to the closest one. I sat down on the end next to Pidge.
"Did you not bring a lunch?" Hunk asked me.
"Nah, I don't usually eat lunch" I replied.
"How do you not get hungry?" Pidge asked taking a bite of one of the muffins.
"I just don't I guess" I chuckled.
"What does your tongue ring say today" Lance asked leaning out from beside Hunk and Pidge so he could see me. "Oh...Uh" I stammered.

I'm really not in the mood to show people the ring. Yes I chose to wear it but...just...not now.

"It's a boring one don't worry about it" I lied. I felt my cheeks heat up from embarrassment.
"Your di-" Pidge started to read and I shut my mouth before they could finish. I made awkward eye contact with them.
"...Nice" They smiled winking at me.
"Yeah it's boring Lance don't worry about it" Pidge said trying to diverge the topic away from my piercing.
I listened to their conversations about just general school stuff. It then changed to them talking about weird buzzfeed quizzes.
"Okay I forced myself to take a "which celebrity is hotter" quiz the other day and my bi ass couldn't pick one or the other. I couldn't even get through one question!" Lance exclaimed.

He's bi.
Lance is bi.
Lance is bi!!
I'm trying not to scream right now.
Lance is fucking bi.
I knew he wasn't straight. I just knew it.
I clenched my fist in excitement and happiness.
This means I could actually have a chance with him!
But he's so hot though.

Lance pov

When lunch ended us 4 headed back downstairs.
"Wait hold on Lance" Pidge said grabbing my arm at the base of the first staircase.
Keith and Hunk were talking and didn't notice we stopped and kept walking. "You'll never guess what Keith's tongue ring said" Pidge said.
"What? I thought it was boring!?" I exclaimed.
"Oh buddy it's the polar opposite" Pidge purred.
"It said "your dick here" on it in lime green font" Pidge squealed.
"Whoa fuck really?" I asked. They smiled wide and nodded furiously. "How did you read it?" I asked.
"While he was saying "Oh it's boring don't worry about it" I snuck a peak after while his mouth hung ajar afterwords for a few seconds" Pidge explained.
"So he's obviously not straight?" I said. "Of course he's not straight! Why would a goddamn straight guy wear that!?" Pidge cried.
"Okay okay" I said.
"I gotta find out more" I said.

Keith pov

In science class we had a substitute. I mean it's my second day of school but it's almost a month and a half for everyone else.
Me and Lance were just generally getting to know each other.

"How long have you had your moterbike for?" Lance asked me.
"Uh a couple months, almost a year" I replied.
"I don't really know much about bikes but I know a bit. What model is yours?" He asked.
I chuckled.
"Um don't kill me...but I don't actually know" I laughed.
"Do you have pictures of it?" Lance asked.
"No I don't since I've have like no space on my phone" I said.
"After school I can bring you out to see it if you'd like" I offered.
"Awe what really?" Lance chirped.
"Yeah for sure!" I beamed.
"That'd be great" Lance exclaimed.
"So Matt said you have a brother?" I remarked.
"Yeah I do. His name is Lucas, He's 18 and is in the same grade as us" Lance replied.
"I've got a sister too. Her name is Lucia but she's graduated already. She's 19, Lucas is 18, And I'm 17 so I'm the youngest" Lance explained.
"Lucia, Lucas, And Lance. That's us" Lance laughed.
"That's funny" I laughed.
"Our parents were very original with our names" Lance remarked sarcastically.
"I like them. They're original" I said.
"What about you? Do you have any siblings?" Lance asked.
My face fell.
I'm offended but I really shouldn't be. He's just continuing with our conversation.
He dosen't know! I should calm down.
"Mm, I-Uh" I stammered.
I looked at the floor.
"Hey hey you don't have to tell me. It was just me being nosy" Lance said softly.
He cupped my face with his hand and lifted my head gently.
He looked at me sympathetically and rubbed my cheek with his thumb.
"It's fine, I can tell you you" I said.
"I might have siblings, but I don't know. I've lived with foster families most all of my life. I don't know my parents whereabouts" I said avoiding Lance's gaze.

He's not here to listen to your stupid sob story Keith.

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable. We can drop the subject" Lance said.
I looked at him again.
I shifted so Lance's hand disconnected with my cheek.
"The last thing I want is for you to be upset" Lance said and took my hand in his and kissed the top of it like the prince does to the princess in fairy tales.
I cautiously took my hand back and held it to my chest and smiled at him, slightly embarrassed but happily and very full of fondness.
Lance smiled back and I giggled.
There is no doubt in my mind that he is now 100% flirting with me now.
"You're cute" He laughed.
He's called me cute twice today!!
I need to step my game up if I want him to get a hint from me too.
I don't want Lance to know about my orientation just yet.
"You're not too bad yourself" I cooed.
"So" Lance started.
"What does your tongue ring say?" Lance asked.
A bit of my confidence has managed to crawl back since this morning.
I cockily raised an eyebrow at him.
"Do you really want to know?" I asked.
He nodded.
I stuck my tongue out at him so he could read.
Lance's eyes widened and he blushed a little.
I closed my mouth a few seconds later. It dosen't take long to read
"YOUR DICK HERE"
"I like it" Lance said.
"Thanks! Me too" I replied.
"Well it's the opposite of boring I can tell you that" Lance said.
"I just really didn't want to show everyone...obviously. I almost had a heart attack when Pidge started reading it" I said.
"Understandable" Lance replied.
"Okay please...So are you bi, or gay, or..." Lance asked.
Well guess I have to reveal that too now!
Lance could use this information against me...He dosen't seem like the type to spread rumours but I've only known him for a day and a half.
But I'm pretty proud of my sexuality though.
I really have no shame.
I like making subtle hints, Such as my tongue rings.
I still like to keep to myself but I'm not really showing that right now.
Whatever whatever. I'm proud of myself and I have pride and I need to show that.

"I'm gay" I said smiling at him.
Lance's face lit up.
He chuckled.
"I should of known"
"I try not to make it too obvious but I suck at that clearly" I said motioning to my entire body.
"I don't think it's too obvious, don't worry" Lance laughed.
"Since we're on the topic and so I'm not just putting you on the spot; I'm bisexual" Lance said.
Let's just pretend I didn't know that already.
"Oh really? Nice" I replied.
If I didn't know him I'd totally think he was straight.

"Maybe if I didn't see your tongue ring then I probably wouldn't of assumed"
"I mean hey I did get it for a reason"
Lance looked a bit caught of guard but looked at the ground briefly and smirked to himself.
That's so hot.

"I've got a few other piercings too" I said changing the subject away from my dick sucking tendencies.
I pushed my hair behind my ears.
"Oh whoa" Lance smiled.
"So I've got double on my lobes" I said pointing. "I'm stretching them but I don't want to go much bigger"
"I would love to stretch my ears but my mother would kill me and I'm scared" Lance giggled.
"It barely hurt. I bet you can handle it, Lance"
"I've got this bad boy" I said pointing to the industrial bar.
"Whoa I love seeing people with that piercing" Lance exclaimed moving to get a better view.
"It's technically two piercings" I laughed.
"And I've got these two" I said pointing to the two cartilage on my other ear. "That's all I got"
"You've got guts" Lance said.
I then fixed my hair.
"They all suit you. They really add character to your look" Lance said.
"Thank you" I said.

Me and Lance just talked more for the rest of that class. I found out that his brother is actually gay. That's really cool honestly. He said that he's Cuban and his parents moved here from all the way down there AND he's fluent in Spanish and made a joke about it.
"I'm two types of Bi: Bisexual and Bilingual" We were both mutually throwing a few flirty remarks at each other. We talked all English class as well.
Less about our personal lives and more about general things. Lance asked me how I like L.A so far and if the weather is different from Texas.
We talked about politics and our mutual hatred for the cheeto of a president.

The final bell rang and I scooped up my notebook and shoved it into my bag.
"You still want to come see my bike?" I asked.
"Yes of course!" Lance exclaimed.
"Hey can we stop at my locker before we go?" Lance asked.
"Yes of course" I replied.
"Follow me" He said.
I followed him out of the class and to the right of it. We were nearing the end of a hallway and Lance suddenly stopped. His locker was smack dab in the middle of a row of lockers. I got bumped into by a few people for stopping so suddenly.
"Watch where you're stopping, retard" Some tall blonde guy said as he shoved into me on purpose.
"Fuck you" I spat at the guy.
"Marilyn Manson called, He wants his outfit back!" The guy yelled after me.

"First week and I'm already making a great impression" I groaned.
"Don't worry about that son of a bitch. I went to middle school with him. He's nobody you need to be worrying about Keith" Lance said putting a hand on my shoulder. He put his backpack on and shut his locker.
"You're better than him" Lance said. "I'm probably not" I said and started walking back down the hall.
"I bet you goddamn are. He used to snap on girls bra straps and make fun of them for wearing anything he didn't like and now he has trouble finding girls because they all know how immature he is. He's a low person and I can tell that you aren't" Lance said. "Thanks"I mumbled.
"I mean that" He added.
"You're sweet" I smiled.

I navigated my way through the halls with Lance at my heels and went out the door I'd been exiting the school through. We walked down a row of cars and we got to my parking spot.
"Oh holy shit! It's gorgeous!" Lance exclaimed. I chuckled at his excitement.
"It looks brand new!" He said.
"The previous owner only had it for a year before selling it to me so it's pretty new" I replied.
"It's really really nice" Lance added.
I set my backpack down and took my black jean jacket out from inside and slipped it on then put my backpack on properly. I slid on my helmet and got into my bike.
"And you happen to look really nice on it" Lance remarked.
"I know you can't tell because I'm wearing a helmet but I'm blushing a lot right now" I said.
"Good" Lance laughed.
"I gotta go or my brother will leave without me" Lance said.
"Have a good night!" I called after him. "You too hot stuff!" Lance replied.
I started my bike and let it run for a minute as I put my fingerless gloves on. The kids who were getting into their vehicles next to me, stared at me like they'd never seen a motercycle before.
I revved the engine and slowly made my way out of the parking lot.
I passed Lance as he was walking and revved the engine again. He waved and  I waved back at him.

Lance pov

I can't stop thinking about Keith.
How is he so hot??
I've said that lots but HOW??
I now feel the need to take some risks in my wardrobe choices.
I have a pretty basic style.
Things that are cute but comfortable, Like t-shirts, jeans and hoodies.
Nothing too extreme. Sure I have some items of clothing I've bought as jokes, worn for pride parades or received as jokes/gifts, but I want to impress Keith. I really want to impress him.

Keith pov

I should tell you the set up the our apartment.
So you walk in the front door and right away the kitchen is to your right.
On the left is a closet where I keep all my shoes. They take up most of the space. That wall isn't very long and stops where the kitchen does.
Next to the kitchen also on the right is the Shiro's room, then the laundry room. This place came with appliances thank the God and goddess. There's a very small hallway with Shio's room and the laundry room right across from the kitchen. It's not even a hall.
The living room is straight in front of you as you walk in. The bathroom is toothe left when you walk in on the other side of that wall. There's a closet next to it then the next wall begins. That's where my room is and like I said the couch leans up against that wall.
But yeah the living room is really bare. Just the couch on one end and a coffee table in the middle of the room. There's boxes still scattered around. But yeah that's the layout for you.

I walked around the apartment for a bit. I realized I hadn't watered all my plants and had a small meltdown.
In my room I have a big plant with lots of long vines that go down to the floor that's hanging from the ceiling. I have some of the longer vines pinned up.
I have a few succulents on my windowsill next to my bed, they're my favourites. And I kid you not I have an entire shelf almost full of plants, There's some books and candles on there too. There's even a pictures of me and Shiro in cute little frames as well.

Now this isn't a small shelf, I'd say it's about 6 and a half feet off the ground and well...I'm rather short at only 5'6. That isn't too short but Shiro likes to tease me since he's 6'2 and a half. That's around a 8 inch height difference.
I like to tell myself that I'm not that small but compared to most guys my age, I'm tiny.
So when setting up my room, I struggled to get some plants on the top few shelves so I had to stand on a chair to reach. Shiro offered to help but I was in one of my moods and didn't want help.

Lance pov

"Where were you?" Lucas snapped as I got into the car.
"I was talking with the cute boy I was telling you about. He's got a motorbike and I went to go see it" I explained, buckling up my seatbelt.
"Ooh a bad boy huh?" Lucas teased pulling out of the school's parking lots. "I guess you could say that, He's pretty sweet though" I said.

I want to jump into this again and talk about the ceremonies and more about voodoo.
I don't mind ceremonies. Our family holds them a few times a month, but trying to get modern day teenagers to contribute to a voodoo ceremony is understandably hard for my parents. I'm the good child and I actually participate. Lucas and Lucia believe in the deities but aren't fully emerged in the religion like my parents and rest of my family. In voodoo its an option to make offerings to the spirits. My family has a very strong connection to most of the deities and we like to offer them things like: Wine, Food (Baked goods, fresh fruit, ect) Jewlery and just stuff like that. So I did lie a bit about saying we don't sacrifice animals...my family dosen't because that's just a big no in our eyes but yes there are aspects of voodoo that have to do with animal sacrifice.

I have the closest connection to the Erzulie loa. Loa is another name for spirits in voodoo.

There are many members of this family: Lady Erzulie is the vain and flirty goddess of love, Erzulie the Blessed represents maternal love and protects children from harm, Grandma Erzulie who represents the wisdom granted by experience and maturity and grandmotherly kindness and love, she is compared to the Christian Virgin Mary in a way. There are SO many members of this family and I'm not going to list all of them.

This entity supports and represents: Love, health, beauty, homosexuality, passion, prosperity, ect.

Erzulie can also be considered a single entity; A goddess.
She has all of the same aspects but this single goddess more prominently represents love and beauty. She has many different forms as well.
I personally like to think of Ezrulie as a single goddess.
Me and Lucas both have strong connections to her as we are both queer and very similar.
During ceremonies I always leave her offerings. She enjoys things such as perfume, jewellery, fresh fruit and desserts. I always bring her things like this. Voodoo is also a polytheistic religion which means belief in multiple deities.
It's kind of hard to grasp but I'm trying to explain the best I can.