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Lance wandered along the sea floor slowly, hand out to illuminate his path. His other hand carried a woven basket, and he was filling it with clams for dinner. Hunk was somewhere nearby- Lance could hear the echo of his happy humming through the water.

Lance had been feeling off since Keith had talked to him. He tried not to show it too much, but familiar self-doubt and confidence issues were resurfacing from a few years ago, and he was constantly reminding himself of his validation as if that would make up for the hole Keith had left in Lance's heart.

It didn't help that Lance's father was off in the war effort with Ulaz and Thace, accompanied by Alfor, so Lance had to provide more for his family. He now had to swim home with Sebastian and Carmen after their summer camp every day. He didn't really mind though, he loved his siblings.

Elena was pushy, though, and was pushing and prodding at Lance to open up about what was going on. To be honest, Lance was seriously considering going into the war himself. After all, it felt like the war with the Dark Kingdom was more important than some silly experiment on land.

But taking off like that could compromise Keith's safety- Alfor could turn his back on the agreement and have Keith killed. So Lance stayed put: Alfor wouldn't know if Lance stayed under for a few days so he surely couldn't punish Lance for a small break. Lance didn't want to go to the surface anyways.

As angry as Lance wanted to be at Keith, for being so insensitive and close-minded, he just felt sad. He really thought that he and Keith had had a chance, but now all of that was destroyed. Lance didn't even know if he wanted to stay in the house with Keith anymore.

Of course, he still wanted to hang out with Shiro and the Holts, but he didn't have to stay in the house with them just to interact with them. He could get an apartment or something (Shiro had said he had the means to) and hang out without Keith. How hard could it be?

Lance sighed, letting bubbles float up to the surface of the ocean, so far away. He didn't think he'd be able to leave Keith. Even if he'd been hurt. That cling, the need to be close to people, was what his father would call 'weak'.

Lance jerked slightly when he felt Hunk's hand on his shoulder. Hunk's eyes were dark underwater, but concerned even still. "You okay?" He asked.

Lance looked down at his basket- he had a good amount of clams. So did Hunk. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said slowly, "Let's drop these off at our homes and then go up to see Allura." Hunk nodded, then linked arms with Lance as they headed towards the residential area.

When the two then arrived at Allura's house (a series of large coves connected together to make rooms), it wasn't hard to find her. She was in the main room, humming to herself, twirling around. Her fan-like tail whisked through the water, illuminated and flowy.

Lance cleared his throat and Allura snapped to attention, realized who it was, and then broke down in giggles. Giggles. "What's up with you?" Lance asked, vaguely disturbed by how lovey-dovey Allura was acting. She raked her thick hair up into a giant bun and invited Lance and Hunk to sit on a curved stone bench.

"Shiro told me I was beautiful," she said dreamily. Her face lit up when she said it.

Lance sighed, amused, "Really, now?" He lounged back on the stone, feeling soft kelp at his back.

"You weren't here yesterday when Allura snuck out of her Politics lesson and went up to the surface to see Shiro," Hunk chimed in, flipping his tail gently through the currents that flowed into the caves.

Allura smiled guiltily, and Lance gaped at her, "You skipped out of Politics? You got away from Coran?"

Allura pressed her palms together, "Hey now, Coran means well. It's not his fault he's a little senile."

"He's a little senile for a fourty-year-old," Lance muttered.

Allura gushed over Shiro for a good 10 minutes and Lance interjected with little facts he knew himself about his friend, which only made Allura swoon more.

Lance's heart hurt a little less when he was with his friends, but as soon as he was alone again, swimming back to his home, did that crushing loneliness come back. He held it back.

...

Texas was warmer than California by a lot. It was humid, too, and it was supposed to thunderstorm later. Some of the citizens were racist and there was bad stigma about being gay and some families still had a patriarchy, but it was home. Because it was where Krolia and Nate and Yorak and their farmhouse were.

The family was politically active in their home state, so they were constantly fighting against the racists and homophobes and the president who wanted to separate immigrant families. Keith felt happy that they were so loud.

His father offered him a beer as they sat out on the porch, and Keith accepted it even though he wasn't really a fan of beer. Nate was, though, and Krolia too, so it was nice to share it. Nate smelled like the barbecue he'd worked over for an hour for their dinner, eventually presenting the best burgers Keith had ever tasted. Krolia was inside doing the dishes.

"So, son, how's it on the homefront?" Nate asked, patting Keith on the back.

Keith took a swig from his beer. "It's okay, Dad."

"Drawing? Surfing?" Nate guessed, and Keith nodded, looking at the scar over Nate's eyebrow.

"Same old, same old," Keith murmured. The sun was going down, unspectacular and without a flourish, and inky black night was beginning to spread from the East. Keith tried to clear his head.

A few minutes later, Krolia emerged and she sat down next to Keith, sandwiching him between his parents. She rubbed her thumb over her wedding band, something she did when she was thinking, and sighed, watching Yorak prance around the yard, trying to catch fireflies.

That day had been relaxed and calm- Keith had helped Krolia paint a table and assisted in washing Nate's car, an old convertible Saab that they both loved.

Keith hadn't talked much about himself, he tried to avoid it by talking about the Holt's and Shiro and how good the waves were. He didn't even mention Lance, he'd pretty sure the mer would kill him if anyone else knew the Secret.

He did bring up Allura and Hunk, playing them off as casual locals, and Krolia was pleased to hear that Shiro had found someone, finally. That inevitably brought up the subject of Keith's own relationship status, the one thing he was trying to avoid.

"When are you gonna bring home a nice girl, Keith? I want to meet her!" Nate said loudly, and Keith forced a laugh. He didn't look at Krolia- she could see through any lie.

"I dunno, Dad," Keith said, "Maybe next time. Shiro and I are gonna come down in August sometime, so maybe then."

Krolia didn't say anything.

The three talked for another half an hour before Keith decided to go up to bed. He was legitimately tired, and he missed his bed.

Keith's room had stayed the same since he was about 17, when he'd painted the walls light grey. Several band posters hung on his walls, Nirvana and Panic! and MCR and Green Day. His first skateboard (not the one he brought to college) was propped up against his wall, spray-painted red with a robotic lion emblem on the bottom. Keith had spent hours out on it when he was a teenager, and it'd contributed to his love of surfboarding.

His bed was high off the floor, and under it were drawers of clothes so he didn't have a dresser. His ceiling had stars painted on it in glow-in-the-dark paint, and he'd specifically asked for his father to paint the actual constellations on it when he was little.

Over in the closet he had more clothes and other gear from his mountain-climbing phase from middle school. He'd never had the heart to throw it out. His alarm clock- covered in stickers from random tourist shops and such- had the same 7:00 alarm it had remained with since Keith'd left for college.

Keith sat down on his bed, stretching out his legs as he sunk into the duvet. It smelled like his mother's laundry detergent, blooming around him. Almost immediately, he felt his lids drooping and he had to remind himself that he had to change and brush his teeth before he could go to bed.

But after that, he swore he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

...

Hey guys!! If you want, I'll do a lil gift for you guys in celebration of 20k :)) suggest something I could do in the comments^^ thank you thank you thank you~~

Sorry this was a bit of a filler chapter- I had a bit of trouble writing it because I didn't want to make it boring or anything. I hope I did alright.

Next chapter will definitely be more interesting, and have that mama Kogane advice you've been waiting for, I promise (sorry for letting you down this chapter ahhh)

I'm actually excited to write that scene and I'm gonna be working on it tonight and tomorrow so it should be out in two days at the latest. Sorry guys :(

Qotd: favorite song?

For me rn it's Location Unknown by Honne, I highly recommend it haha

Love you~~ 💕