Keith clutched his bag close to his chest, the bus slowly came to a stop. He could already smell the salt in the air, they were at his destination. He looked out the window, his cousin stood on the sidewalk close to the street.

He wore a black t-shirt, blue shorts, and held up a sign that read 'Keith Kogane'. He even had a stupid smile on his face, Keith cringed at the corniness. The bus stopped, it jerked almost throwing Keith forward into the seat in front of him.

"Fucking bus," He grumbled and righted himself. He pushed back his hair and stood up. The bus was surprisingly empty considering his stop. He shrugged and enjoyed the free aisles until he reached the front of the bus. "Thanks." He mumbled to the bus driver. He slotted money into the box.

The doors opened up, and Keith walked outside. The full force of the ocean smell hit him, he took a deep breath. For once he felt at peace like for a moment he could breathe without pressure on his chest.

"Keith!" Keith frowned, in a second his peace was broken. He sighed and turned to look at the disturbance. His cousin came bounding for him.

"Shiro..." He had gotten much taller since the last time he had seen him. He was sporting a new scar across his nose, and white highlights in his hair.

"Hey, long time no see. You look...different." Keith shrugged and looked away cooly.

"That's usually what happens after puberty." Shiro forced a chuckle and folded the paper he held up.

"Uh...yeah. Hey, I'll take you back. I didn't bother taking the car, I figured we could walk and catch up." Keith frowned, he would have been more content skipping all of the talking parts.

"Yeah, sure." He slung his bag over his shoulder. Shiro looked like he wanted to say something, he let out a breath and turned away from Keith.

"Come on, the beach shouldn't be too far away now." He began walking down the sidewalk. Keith followed close behind him. He looked to either side of himself.

Everything about the area screamed beach town. From the sand on the sidewalk to the small shops placed close together. There were already people walking around in bikinis, and bathing suits despite it only being the very beginning of May.

"Pretty awesome here huh?" Shiro asked he looked over his shoulder at Keith. Keith avoided looking directly at him.

"It's okay." He was careful to show his excitement before he even put his stuffed down anything could happen and he'd be gone again. Shiro scoffed.

"Okay my ass, you'll fall in love with this place. I'll give you a week." Keith shrugged again, he had no doubt. He couldn't wait to see the ocean, he just wanted to be close to the ocean again. "So how's Aunt and Uncle? Still, have a stick up their asses?"

"It's only gotten worse. They wanted to send me back to the orphanage." Keith said dimly, he looked up at Shiro. Shiro chuckled and rolled his eyes. "I'm not kidding." Shiro's smile fell immediately.

"Keith...sorry. That's shitty, I didn't think they wo-" Keith held up his hand to stop him from continuing.

"It's whatever, I'm here now. I could care less what they do. I'm eighteen anyway." Shiro frowned he slowed down enough so that he was walking next to Keith.

"Doesn't sound like you don't care." Keith resisted glaring at him, he hated the dad like tone Shiro was taking with him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Keith said firmly. "I don't want to talk about it." Keith refused to look at Shiro, he could feel Shiro's eyes trying to force a look. Shiro sighed and faced forward again, falling silent.

After half a mile of walking, Keith heard the first sign of water. Seagulls. He took a deep breath, the salty smell was much closer. He could practically feel the waves against his skin. He willed himself not to speed walk, or go anything above Shiro's pace. He reeled in his excitement and walked as calmly as he could.

"Look, the house is right down here." Shiro lead them off the sidewalk and onto the beach. He pointed ahead of them, there was a large beach house near the rocks, away from the coast. It was supported by thick wooden poles on the parts that weren't supported by the land underneath. To Keith, it looked like something out of an aesthetic. The sand was white, the house was a deep blue, there were seagulls overhead, and the ocean came up to the shore at just the right times.

"Is that one of the houses?" Keith asked softly, he couldn't hide his amazement especially not from Shiro. Shiro chuckled and shook his head.

"No, that's our base. The houses that you and the other guys stay at are going to be a lot smaller."

"Base?" Keith glanced up at Shiro, he didn't see why a group of lifeguards needed a base.

"Well yeah, we have our supplies there. There's actually a lot of work that goes into running this operation. We talk about weather patterns, suspected tide changes, predict the number of people, go over protocol, assign positions. And we have over fifty life vests." Shiro looked at Keith expecting him to ask more. Keith made a small sound of acknowledgment then was silent.

Shiro sighed and lead him the rest of the way to the base. As they walked up the steps Keith could hear sounds coming from inside the room. Shiro looked back at Keith and gave him an apologetic look. Keith wasn't sure what for until Shiro had opened the door.

A bowl of cheerios came hurtling out towards Keith. He quickly ducked and moved to the side. The bowl shattered as it made contact with the steps.

"What the hell?" Keith looked towards the door his body tense and ready for more projectiles.

"Lance are you insane!" A female voice yelled out. A girl in a green one-piece bathing suit peeked out the door frame. "You could have hit this guy!"

"How was I supposed to know there'd be a guy on the other side of the door!" A voice yelled from inside. "Wait, is he cute?" The guy who had spoken quickly walked towards the door and peeked out.

The boy was naturally tan, he looked possibly Latino. His hair was a dark brown, as he readied himself Keith could tell he was already going to be taller than him. Lance's eyes scanned over Keith's figure, a flirtatious smile crept over lips. He quirked an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe, he crossed his arms in an attempt to look as suave as possible.

"What's your name? I'm Lance." His voice had dropped a few octaves lower than his shrill yelling beforehand. Keith felt himself almost blush, he was able to reconcile himself with the fact that Lance was trying to flirt with him wearing a Lorax t-shirt, and turtle swimming shorts.

"Lance, do you mind cooling it? You just threw a bowl of cereal at him." Pidge sighed, her hair was cut short but it was a with strands falling all over her face. Lance narrowed his eyes at her, she ignored it and turned to Keith. "Sorry about that, I'm Pidge. And who might you be?"

"He's my cousin, you know the one I told you about?"

"The delinquent?" Lance unfolded his arms and his voice sounded normal again. Keith could feel heat building from the base of his neck, he turned to glare at Shiro. He raised his hands up in defense.

"Woah, I did not say delinquent I said trouble with authority in the past."

"To be fair to Lance, you were implying delinquent," Pidge said, she pushed up her glasses up her face. They looked splashed with water. "But to be fair to Shiro, you don't fucking call a delinquent a delinquent to their face!" Lance cringed away from Pidge.

"I'm not a delinquent." Keith gritted out, he didn't trust himself to say much more. He felt stupid about getting emotional about this.

"I heard delinquent, are we gossiping about Shiro's cousin again?" A fourth voice said behind Pidge and Lance. A tall guy stepped up behind them. He was holding a cereal box of Cheerios, a couple already in his hands. Pidge winced and Lance made a shaking motion with his hand and head. Hunk frowned and looked at them finally to Keith. "And...he's right there isn't he?"

"Hunk, this is my cousin." Shiro stepped closer to Keith and put a hand on his shoulder. Keith flinched and willed himself to stay rooted to his spot. "He is not a delinquent, and we can assure him that we do not gossip about him." The three teenagers nodded quickly, each of them flashing Keith awkward smiles.

Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. He was already over it, he had hoped he could have a fresh start. He hoped that they at least didn't know that he was an orphan.

"Uh, how about I show you inside? If you get accepted into the College then you'll be spending a lot of time here, and not just in the summertime." Shiro lifted his hand off of Keith's shoulder. Keith took that opportunity to sidestep away from him. Shiro gestured towards the door, the three teenagers parted and let him by. Keith followed Shiro without another look towards them.

If Keith hadn't been in a such a shit mood he might have taken the time to actually appreciate the base. It looked more like a clubhouse than a place of official business. To the left of Keith, there was a kitchen with dishes piling up. Towards the center of the room, there was an oval table that was covered with different charts and graphs. There were a dozen red and white lifesavers hung on the wall amongst other tacky sea-themed decors. Towards the wall, there was a sea green coach, in front of a surprisingly sophisticated TV.

There was a loud slam behind Keith, he quickly turned around and took a step back. Lance froze, his hands were near the wall and on the floor in front of him was a surfboard.

"Whoops..." He chuckled awkwardly. He bent down and slowly picked it up. Keith felt inward pain, especially seeing a surfboard-like that being handled carelessly.

"Lance if you break another surfboard you'll be on kiddie pool duty for the rest of your days," Shiro said, his voice boomed but it held no real weight. Hunk and Pidge stepped into the room, both equally unimpressed with Lance.

"I won't, this one is plastic anyway. Continue with your tour thingy!" Lance assured, he propped the surfboard back up against the wall. Keith let out a slow breath and turned back around, it was no relief that Lance would be one of the people working with him. Shiro's sigh mirrored Keith's, he gestured towards the table.

"Home base, this is where we meet during work days. We have a schedule laid out usually, and we get the days forecast." He walked to the head of the table, there was a tablet with a waterproof case on. "This is what you watch while drinking your morning coffee, or tea or whatever. It has the weather channel pre-downloaded and our friend Coran will have a birds-eye view of how things look. He'll send us an email, or message. "

"He's usually out on the ocean, or in his biplane before we even wake up. He's the owner of the beach." Pidge explained. Shiro nodded, he began talking again but Lance interrupted.

"I have a question." Shiro sighed and looked to the side of him towards Lance.

"Yes?"

"Will he have to take a swim test? We all had to take one before we came here. Also, has he taken proper lifeguard training? Because I had to take a shit ton and it was tedious and annoying. No offense, but he might drown someone"

"He's taken training, yes, I'll just have to give a test before beach season actually starts. Does that sound good to you?" Shiro asked with a tad bit of friendly sarcasm. Lance blushed very lightly.

"Yeah uh, makes sense. Sorry." Lance snuck away towards the kitchen. Keith looked away from Lance trying to keep himself from getting too pissed. All of them already knew about his past troubles, and it seemed like Lance thought he was going to drown people.

"Now-" A loud repetitive buzzing came from Shiro's pocket. "I don't get a break do I?" Shiro rhetorically as he slipped out his phone.

"Nope, you never do," Pidge said without a hint of sympathy in her voice. Shiro turned away from them and began talking to the person on the line with him. The teenagers were turned away from Keith as well, talking casually amongst themselves.

Keith watched them silently, he doubted there'd be any point in trying to make friends with them. They looked perfectly comfortable in their friend group already, that was excluding the fact they probably thought he was some low-life. He sighed, he assumed that they were in college. They looked about that age, it was harder to tell for Pidge but he guessed if she was here she was going to school.

Hunk's head turned towards him, he gave Keith a smile that threw him off guard. Keith found himself almost blushing. Hunk gestured towards Keith with the box of Cheerios.

"Want any?" He offered. Keith was surprised, but recovered and shook his head.

"No..." He paused a moment. "Thank you..." He added after another thought. Hunk shrugged and continuing eating the cheerios he had left. Pidge, who had been standing near him, reached into Hunk's box and pulled out a handful.

"Breakfast might have been a mess, but at least we have Cheerios." She let the cereal trickle into her mouth. Lance looked less pleased, he crossed his arms and almost looked pouty.

"Well I wanted a breakfast sandwich, so Cheerios did not live up to my expectations." Hunk and Pidge both rolled their eyes at Lance.
"You probably would have gotten some if you had woken up earlier." Hunk said, he sounded reasonable but Lance's irritation didn't seem to be phased.

"Oh give him a break, poor guy was probably painting his toenails," Pidge said her voice laced with sarcasm.

"You know I like adding a clear coat, it keeps them looking nice." Lance showed his fingers for effect. Pidge and Hunk began laughing at his expense. Lance crossed his arms, glaring at both of them.

"Pidge suit up, Coran says there's a problem by the coast," Shiro said, he clicked his phone off and shoved it into his pocket. Pidge immediately stopped laughing and looked serious.

"Another sea turtle?" She asked.

"Yeah, sounds like babies too. He wants you to bring the right tools, and you in your diving suit."

"Do you need any help? I know I'm not a diver but I'm good at keeping the big ones calm." Hunk said he put his Cheerio box on the kitchen counter. Shiro shook his head.

"No, you wouldn't be much help no offense. Why don't you and Lance finish giving Keith a tour, Lance he'll be in your room so behave." Shiro said seriously. He had turned to talk to Pidge but she had already disappeared into one of the rooms.

"Sorry for not showing you around, but you'll be fine. It's almost night time anyway, I'll see you in the morning." Shiro didn't wait for Keith's none existent response and quickly jogged down a hall.

Lance watched Shiro go then looked back at Keith. He flashed him a less awkward smile.

"You know you look a lot like him for a..." Keith narrowed his eyes and turned the full force of his glare on Lance.

"For a what?" Keith spat, Hunk visibly cringed. Lance immediately looked regretful.

"Uh let's continue with this tour huh guys?" He chuckled trying to clear the tension. Lance was ducking most of his body behind Hunk.

"Whatever." Keith murmured and crossed his arms. He calmed his outward anger sucking it back deep into himself.

"All you need to know about this place is come here in the morning and if there's anything you need food included it will be in here. Shiro keeps this entire place stocked pretty well, oh and don't get water on that TV. Pidge will kill you, dead." Hunk said seriously. Keith nodded slowly, feeling no fear.

"Why don't we show him the different stations?" Lance asked, peeking out from behind Hunk.

"Sure, but let's hurry before it gets dark. Don't want him falling into a water pool."

"Why? He said he can swim?" Lance earned another dirty look from Keith.

"Because he'd be wet and cold," Hunk rolled his eyes. He looked at Keith giving him another kind smile. "Don't worry Lance isn't usually so dumb, I think Cheerios got to him."

"Why were you guys eating Cheerios at 6 at night?" Keith asked he didn't look directly at him.

"Well we kind of pulled an all-nighter last night, so our clocks are pretty backward." Hunk chuckled, he slipped his hands into his pocket. "Come on, I'll make it quick then you can go unpack." Keith nodded and looked up to meet Hunk's eye, he suppressed a blush. He didn't understand why anyone would look happy to see him. He felt himself forgive Hunk for calling him a delinquent.

***

"And that's all of it, sorry that was a big unload." Hunk laughed, Keith found himself smiling a bit with him. They stopped walking just outside of the rising coast. Lance rubbed his goosebump-covered arms.

"Shit it's cold, can I give him the tour of the inside of a warm room?" Lance asked Hunk.

"I was thinking maybe I could make him a dinner, maybe some red mashed potatoes. Oh oh! Shish Kabobs, give him some island flair." Hunk licked his lips like he was already imagining the food in front of him. Lance looked unimpressed and looked over at Keith.

Keith could barely feel the cold, he had been blushing too much that evening. It was strange being around Hunk, it was like he was a natural magnet for happiness and good feelings. Keith could only remember his previous anger when Lance said something especially dumb.

"I thought you had a dinner date with Shay?" Lance said blandly, Hunk's eyes ripped open. He immediately looked guilty.

"Damn your right! I should already be changed by now, she'll be here way too soon." He looked towards Keith and flashed an apologetic smile.

"Sorry I gotta run, but I'm leaving you in cap-..." He looked towards Lance. "Hands." He laughed, he waved once more to Keith and jogged in the opposite direction.

"Who's Shay..." Keith asked slowly, he moved his bag off of his shoulders and clutched it close to his chest.

"Oh, just his girlfriend," Lance said casually, Keith immediately felt angry with himself. He had no idea why he had let himself, even begin to hope. He took a deep breath and glared angrily at the sand like it had been the problem.

"Let's go, I'm cold." Keith seethed. Lance nodded and began walking, Keith followed silently behind him.

Lance slowed so that he was in line with Keith. He tried to walk closer to him but Keith kept a healthy distance between them.

"You seem cold, do you want my jacket?" Lance asked he sounded sincere. Keith didn't trust himself to answer so he shrugged instead. Lance paused then unzipped his jacket. "Trade?" He gestured to Keith's bag. Keith looked down at his bag then back at Lance. He had no idea what Lance was playing at, but if he wanted to hold his heavy bag that was his choice.

'Thanks..." He mumbled and handed over the bag. Lance slung the bag over his shoulder and handed Keith the sweatshirt. Keith slipped it on and zipped it up, he immediately felt warmer. He looked over at Lance, he didn't look phased from the cold. Despite complaining about it a few minutes ago.

"You're welcome...and sorry for earlier. It was kind of an awful introduction, I wasn't thinking, and I was h-stupid."

"H-stupid?"

"Oh it's like h-angry but my brain decides to not work, and I, in turn, have no filter. It's not my place to judge you and I don't care that you're a foster kid." Keith wasn't sure what to say that it was a while before Keith could answer him properly.

"I just wanted a fresh start." He admitted, the same stupid emotions he felt before came flooding back. He refused to get any tears on Lance's sweatshirt, instead, he took deep breaths and closed his eyes.

"You'll get a fresh start!" Lance stopped walking and touched Keith's shoulder. "I'll completely erase what I knew before, my first impression of you will start right now." Keith stopped and opened his eyes to look at him. He prayed his eyes weren't red. He'd shoot himself if Lance's new first impression of him was a teary-eyed idiot, in his sweatshirt that was a size too big.

"Really?"' Lance made weird noises with his mouth, imitating a rewinding tape.

"Woah, who are you and why are you wearing my sweatshirt? By the way, my name is Lance." Lance extended his hand towards Keith. Keith bit his lip keeping a giggle from escaping. Keith took his hand and shook it.

"I'm Keith, and this sweatshirt is mine. Sorry, you must be thinking of a different sweatshirt."

"Oh, my bad." Lance laughed, he took his hand off of Keith's shoulder and began walking again. Keith followed after the smallest of smiles on his lips. "By the way, I know I don't know you but make sure Hunk isn't your favorite just because he offered you food."

"I never said he was my favorite." They neared a small house. It was about the size of a condo. It was safely on land not supported by any wooden beams. Lance looked at him hopefully.

"Does that mean that there is a vacant favorite spot open?"

"Well I don't know, I'd say maybe my cousin would be ahead of you but he was the one spreading rumors."

"Oh, it wasn't actually his fault...well kind of. He mentioned you, but after a few drinks he really mentioned you." Keith bit his lip and glanced at Lance.

"What did he say?"

"Not much...just about his Aunt and Uncle, you were forced to live your life however they wanted, you used to live by the ocean your first few foster homes, and told us about the party."

"Oh." Keith took deep breaths, trying to shoo away from the party. He needed to act like a normal functioning human being.

"Yeah...but I don't remember any of that stuff remember?" Keith offered Lance a small smile and nodded. They approached the house and walked up the steps together. "Oh but hey, if the college accepts you then you'll be going to the same college as us." Lance opened the door for him.

"Oh, you guys are in college?" Keith walked inside. The decor was surprisingly a lot cleaner than Keith had expected. It was very clean, the furniture was simple but modern feeling. Lance had managed to maximize the amount of space he had. Lance stepped in and closed the door.

"Yeah, this is our summer home. It's a lot cheaper to live here, then on campus over the summer." Keith nodded, he hoped that maybe next summer he'd be doing the same thing. "Oh uh, I'll show you your room."

"That'd be nice." Lance began walking down the hall he gestured for Keith to follow. He brought Keith to the last door on the right, it was across from another door.

"That's my room and this is yours." He took off Keith's bag and handed it over to him. "I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the layout, I'm all done with tours for the day." Lance laughed, and Keith smiled.

"Yeah, I should be okay." He put his hand on his door handle and clutched the strap of the bag tightly.

"Well if you need me, I'll be right next door." He smiled at Keith and turned opened his room door and disappearing inside.

Keith watched the door closed, he turned back to his room door. Slowly, he opened the door. It was dark inside, he felt around the wall by the door and flipped a switch. An overhead lamp turned on. The room was incredibly underwhelming. It was basically just a square with a bed in the center. There was another door, with an anchor on it. Keith assumed it led to his own bathroom.

He walked over to his new bed and put his bag down. He unzipped the bag and took his time taking items. He had unexpectedly not hated his roommate as much as he thought he would originally.

He changed into more comfortable clothing and sat on the bed. He folded up Lance's sweatshirt and hung it on the edge of the bed. He picked up his tattered old bear from a pile of folded clothes and hugged it against his chest. The fraying ends of its blue bow tickling his nose. The more he thought about Hunk the more he realized that it was just his sense of isolation forcing him to attach to strangers. It was most likely that Hunk was just a generally nice person, and Keith looked as sad and as pathetic as ever. Pidge seemed nice enough, a bit sassy bit he appreciated that in people.

Lance was a different story for him. He was positive that he would have hated him. But after talking to him alone, his feelings were confused. His mind led him to his first interaction with Lance. Lance had flirted with him. Keith sat up straighter, he bit his lip letting his mind wander.

Maybe, this was his chance. The chance he had to act like an 'average' college student. This time without all the people, and the loud music that made his head hurt. He put his bear down and stood back up. He was wearing sweatpants, and a baggy grey shirt, he looked like a mess but his new found libido didn't seem to care.

He opened his room door and stood in front of Lance's. He could hear foreign music on the other side, coupled with Lance's shrill singing voice. For a brief moment he wondered if this was taking being a college student to an extreme, he even considered that Lance had no real interest in him.

"I'm just lonely..." Keith whispered to himself, he almost turned around when the door clicked and the door was flung open.

"Despa-" Lance opened his eyes just before he ran into Keith. "Oh, hey sorry." He chuckled and took a step back. "Did you need something?" Keith turned fully to Lance, his brain was yelling at his body.

"I..." He took a deep breath, he leaned on his toes and connected his lips with Lances. Lance's eyes were wide for a moment he was stiff. Keith was moments away from complete panic when Lance's hand found its way on Keith's back. Lance relaxed completely and tipped his down.

The kiss was surprisingly warm, Lance felt hot. Hotter than anyone else Keith had kissed, he also seemed like he knew what he was doing. Lance's other arm wrapped around Keith's back until Lance had Keith completely in his clutches as they kissed.

Keith was the first one to break the kiss, taking short panting breaths. Lance separated but kept his face close. He looked confused, surprised, but just as turned on as Keith felt.

"Huh, wow, uh...well. Do you?" He pointed behind him back into his room. Keith nodded quickly, no matter how many breaths he took he felt like he'd never find his breath again. It was like Lance had taken it. "Great!" Lance began walking backward still holding onto Keith. Keith felt like he was floating and Lance was pulling him along. As the door closed behind him he let the scent of the sea and the music envelope. He felt okay for once.