It was Thursday morning, around thee am. The week had been rough for the boys, Lance would have a nightmare and call Keith and after about a half hour of talking, they'd be able to get back to sleep. Tonight was different. Tonight the dream was worse.

Instead of only Marco being the one to die, Keith was with him. It was the same way when he had a panic attack and then a seizure.

He woke up with a gasp, blindly reaching for his phone. He dialed Keith's number, which he now had memorized because his parents had gone through and deleted most of his contacts. After a few rings, Keith picked up, his voice rough and laced with sleep.

"Hey." He said softly. Since there wasn't a whole lot Keith could do through the phone, most of the time Lance would just tell him about his dreams, leading Keith to find out about his brother.

When he just heard gasps and wheezes from the other line, Keith shot straight up. If Lance was having another panic attack, which he had been able to avoid over the course of the week, just being slightly shook up by the repetitive dreams, then he was at risk of another seizure. "Lance? Lance, are you okay? C'mon baby, talk to me." He said hurriedly through the phone. He was already out of bed throwing on a random hoodie and grabbing his keys. If Lance was having a panic attack, he was going to him. His parents could fuck off.

"Can't...breath...." Was all Lance could wheeze out as he tried desperately to get air into his lungs.

Keith cursed while he started his car and started the short drive to Lance's house. He whole heartedly blamed his parents. Not only did they fail to see how much their son was struggling, but they were subjecting him to oppressive bull shit that was doing anything but helping. Lance had been so stressed over the course of the week, Keith was just surprised it took him this long to snap.

He pulled up a little ways away from Lance's house, hoping that he wouldn't alert his parents. He didn't care if he woke Veronica, she was fully supportive, seeing as she was also hiding a girlfriend from their parents. Keith had a feeling she was close to snapping though.

"Lance, baby, I need you to unlock your window, okay? Can you do that?" Keith coaxed through the phone as he stood below Lance's window. Going through the front door was a death wish, he had to be a bit sneakier than that.

He didn't receive a verbal response, but the soft click from above him let Keith known that he had unlocked it. Lance had a back porch right below his window, so Keith just had to push himself onto that low hanging roof, and then he had easy excess to Lance's window.

"C'mere." Keith whispered as he noiselessly made it through Lance's window and walked into his small room. Lance was quick to jump into his arms, sobbing against his chest.

Keith led them over to the bed, laying down with Lance still on his chest. Over the two weeks he was living with Lance, he had quickly figured out how to get him to sleep after a nightmare. He just let him snuggle against his chest, running one hand through his hair and the other traced random shapes on his back, both moving slowly and calmly.

He had planned on getting Lance to sleep and then leaving back out his window. He didn't even notice when he, himself, drifted off into unconsciousness.

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A scream was what woke Keith and Lance the next morning. They were both disoriented and confused, until Keith saw Lance's mother standing in the door way and Lance saw that he was still laying on Keith's chest. Both boys quickly scrambled apart, watching in horror as Lance's father and sister ran to his room, thinking something happened to Lance.

"Why the hell are you in my house?!" His father's voice boomed.

Keith wasn't exactly sure what to so to that. He didn't know if he should be a little prick and fight with them, or if he should try and play innocent.

"Papa, calm down." Veronica said nervously, grabbing his arm, but she was shrugged off quickly.

"I will not calm down! Why were you in my son's bed?!" He yelled.

Keith wasn't really scared of the man. He was intimidating sure, but Keith had gotten into a lot of fights in his day. Shiro had been in the military and had taught him how to defend himself more than adequately. He could definitely take care of himself against Lance's dad.

"He had a panic attack last night, I was making sure he didn't have another seizure." Keith spat back, apparently deciding to take the little prick route.

Before he could react, Keith was yanked out of the bed by the front of his hoodie and was being held a few inches off the ground. Keith just let it happen, gritting his teeth. He was trying not to break the guy's jaw. He would probably get into a lot of trouble with the cops of he hit him, seeing as he did kind of sneak into the guy's house.

"Let him go!" Lance yelled as the rest of the room burst into chaos. Lance was trying to get his dad to drop Keith, his mother was trying to hold Lance back, and Veronica was yelling at her parents to stop being ridiculous.

A smack sounded through the room, causing everyone to go silent.

It took Keith all of two seconds to get out of Lance's father's hold and flip the bigger man onto his stomach, one arm resting in between his shoulder blades. "Touch him again, I break your arm." He growled before letting him go and quickly grabbing Lance, who was still holding his the left side of his face where his father had back handed him.

"Sorry, I should have done that earlier." Keith said, eyeing the other man as he slowly stood up with a scowl on his face.

"God, both of you are fucking idiots!" Veronica screamed, finally having enough of her parent's behavior.

Everyone stared at her in shock of her outburst. "Being gay isn't a big deal! It's not gross! It's not an abomination!" She continued. "You two are so hypocritical and homophobic, I bet God's just laughing in your face's right now."

"Because he gave you two gay kids!" She yelled with her eyes closed tightly as she outed herself.

"Veronica." Her father hissed in a warning tone.

"No, I'm a fucking lesbian! I have a girlfriend! Yeah, remember my 'best friend' Acxa? Been sleeping with her for like two years." She admitted, just wanting to rub it into her parent's faces.

Lance was close to tears, worried about her. Keith was trying not to laugh, finding the whole situation amusing. He wasn't worried because he had just proven that if their father tried to hit either of them, he'd break the fucker's arm. Both of the parents were mortified by the news.

"Lance, c'mon. There's no way in hell either of us are staying here anymore." Veronica said, grabbing her brother and pulling them both out of the room. Lance was still attached to his boyfriend, so Keith was dragged along as well.

They were at the front door before their parents snapped out of it and chased after them. "Where the hell do you think you're going?! You aren't allowed to leave." Lance's father yelled after them.

"I'm a legal adult jack ass, I can leave whenever the hell I want. And I think the bruise on Lance's face will be more than enough evidence to prove that he should be leaving as well." Veronica said, slipping on her shoes and pointing to Lance, who's face was already starting to bruise from the slap.

All of the young adults walked out of the house with no further protests. Lance and Veronica's mother tried to call after them or grab them, but she was held back by her seething husband.

"We can go back to my house, talk about what you two do from here." Keith offered, knowing that Shiro would be more than okay with Lance and Veronica stopping by. Hell, he was fairly certain he'd offer them both a place to stay.

"Sounds like a plan, send me the address." Veronica said, as she turned towards her own car, but before any of them got far, she turned back around. "Keith? Thanks for being there for my baby brother." She said with a smile.

Keith nodded in return, still holding Lance's hand as they both made their way to his jeep. He turned to look at his boyfriend once they were both in the car. "How're you feeling?" He asked softly.

Lance looked up at him, a bit spooked. "A bit numb honestly." He admitted. Keith nodded and they were off.

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"Keith! Where the hell have you been?! Why's Lance- What happened?" Shiro asked, cutting himself off when he saw that Lance's face was bruised and his sister was standing behind him.

"It's kind of a long story, is Adam up?" Keith asked, only wanting to tell the story once.

"Yup!" He called from the kitchen.

Keith let out a breath and lead the two siblings and Shiro into the kitchen. "Well.."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A loud knock on the door made Veronica go running. They had just finished telling Shiro and Adam what had happened, so they were all fairly certain the person at the door was Veronica's girlfriend.

The sound of squealing and the fact Veronica threw herself at whoever it was, let them know they were right.

"Hey Acxa." Lance said with a small wave at the purple haired girl. He had obviously met her multiple times before.

She winced at the mark on his face. "Did you hit him back?" She asked completely serious. Acxa could be a bit intense sometimes, especially when it came to Veronica and Lance. She was in love with the girl and saw Lance as a younger brother herself. "Because if you didn't I'll-"

"No, but Keith almost broke his arm." Lance said with a monotone voice and a shrug, nudging himself closer to his boyfriend. He wasn't lying when he said he felt numb earlier.

Acxa turned her gaze to Keith now. "Why didn't you do it?" She asked.

"I snuck into the guys house, I didn't need him pressing trespassing and assault chargers. That's the last thing I need right now." Keith explained, think back to all trouble he's gotten into over the last few years.

Acxa just nodded thoughtfully while holding Veronica protectively. She was slightly pissed she wasn't there to punch their dad herself. "Thanks for nearly doing it anyway." She finally said, nodding her head towards him, which he returned.

"Anytime."

"So what're you two gonna do?" Adam asked, looking between Lance and Veronica.

"They can stay with me." Acxa offered. Veronica had talked about her moving in already, so it wasn't a big deal. Besides, Lance would graduate soon and go off to college.

"Veronica can stay with you. Lance is staying here." Keith interjected, shifting his boyfriend so he could lean against his chest and put his head in the crook of his neck. Lance was half asleep as it was.

"Is that a-" Veronica spoke up, but Lance lazily lifted his head and cut her off.

"My nightmares are back, V. Keith is the only one who can actually get me to sleep." He explained, watching as his sister's eyes widened.

"Lance," She said. "How long have they been back? Why didn't you tell me?" She sounded slightly hurt that she hadn't known.

"Don't be to offended, the only person he actually told was Shiro. Allura found out on accident, I helped him through a panic attack after one and found out, and then Hunk and Pidge were told by Allura. He was trying to keep everyone from knowing." Keith said, trying to help a little.

Veronica just nodded, looking at her brother sleeping against his boyfriend, a little pained still. She knew how hard the nightmares were the first time, but to add on their parent's craziness on top of it? It must have been killing him.

"I guess it's settled then."