~ Keith ~

"It's not that bad," Shiro said.

"He probably hates me now," I moaned. "I yelled at him and threw him against a wall."

"Alright, you've both said worse-"

"I told him I'd had enough of his bullshit. I swore at him. And this is a kids show."

"Okay, I get that you're upset about what you said but I still don't understand. Why did you two have an actually serious fight?"

I didn't move from my blanket burrito. "I...I said there was no reason," I mumbled. "We were arguing like normal and then it just escalated way too quickly."

Despite how worried I was, I couldn't just tell everyone about what I'd seen. That would make things worse and he'd never trust me again. At least that's what I'd thought.

If I had said something to Shiro, maybe Hunk or Pidge...

Would this story have ended in the same way?

I'm not sure. Part of me think fate would not have changed but there's always a what if.

What if I'd done something?

What if instead of loosing my temper, I'd just asked him to talk to me about how he was feeling?

What if I'd tried harder to solve it instead of sulking?

What if, what if, what if...

"But this isn't really like the other times," Shiro said. "You fight and you forget. So why is this bothering you so much?"

"I don't know, okay?!" I snapped. "I don't know!" I let out an angry breath of air and hid under the duvet. "Just leave me alone."

He sighed. "Come on, get up, you need to eat."

"I'm not leaving this room."

"Keith, just calm down and think about this," he said softly.

"No," I snapped from underneath the duvet. "I'm not leaving and you can't make me."

"Whose going to save the universe if you stay hiding your entire life?"

"You don't need me. Four is plenty. If two is a company and three is a crowd, then four must be an army. Four is plenty."

"You're being ridiculous and you know it."

"Maybe."

"How about coming out from under your duvet so we can talk about this properly?"

"No."

His voice sounded heavy yet gentle. "Are you sure you're not being overdramatic?"

There was some moving from underneath the duvet and I poked my head out. "I am not being overdramatic!"

"So, you're going to put your pride before the fate of the whole universe? Because that's not like you."

"Fine, I'll go fight when I have to and that's all I'll leave my room for." I hid under the duvet again, pulling it over me.

"What about training?"

"I don't need it," I replied, my voice a little muffled from underneath the blanket.

"What about food?"

"Someone can leave it outside my door."

"What about Hunk and Pidge and me?"

"You can all come visit."

"What about hygiene?.

"I'll smell bad for the rest of my life."

"Exercise?"

"Bring up a treadmill."

Shiro sighed and I could just feel his eyes staring staring at the big lump underneath the duvet that was me before before he lost it.

"Okay, that's it."

He grabbed a corner of the blanket and tried to tug it off me.

"Shiro!" I yelped. "Stop it!"

"I'm doing this to help you."

"Don't steal my sadness cave!"

"Keith, come out from under there and listen to me properly."

"No!"

"Just listen to me for one second, please."

I hesitated. But I did listen. Because I couldn't ignore the pleading tone in his voice. Because he's Shiro and at the end of the day, I love him. Though I'll never say those words out loud to ANYONE.

I mean...

What if they run away the second you admit that you care?

"The longer you wait and try ignore him, the harder it's gonna be later. Because like it or not, Lance is an important part of your life now, we all are. So, the smartest thing to do is to just talk to him and act normal before you don't know how to start."

I heard him open the door to leave.

"Just think about that for it."

~ Lance ~

"I'm just saying that it's possible," I argued back as me, Hunk and Pidge lay around the couches.

Hunk snorted. "No, it's not."

"What's not possible about it?"

"Say it again then," he giggled.

"I'm just saying that maybe drugs are illegal because the air we breath is actually drugs and drugs like weed are the cure and that when people are mad tripping they actually see the real world but the government didn't want that so they made them illegal."

"You're fucking retarded," Pidge said, sipping on her tea.

I puffed my chest out, all outraged, trying to ignore the stabbing feeling in it. Just what I get for trying to make conversation. I told myself I was overreacting. You shouldn't take anything Pidge says personally. She just says what she wants and forgets emotions are a thing, she never outright wants to hurt anyone.

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me."

Hunk grinned and hopped up. "Oh, I could use a snack. I'll be back in a bit."

I yawned and fell onto my side. "Take your time, buddy."

It was weird. I felt exhausted. I'd usually been good at this. Good at upping up my dork side and keeping a smile on my face. But why...

Why was that getting harder and harder to do each day?

Was it because of what had happened with him? Had what he'd said and did really had that much of an impact on me?

Keith...

"So, you two gaybies talked it out yet?"

I immediately sat bolt upright, eyes wide. "Huh?"

Pidge was smiling but it wasn't a smirk. It was a genuine smile, an old and wise one. "Have you spoken to Keith since that little scene where he got all mad at you?"

My jaw dropped. "You saw that?!"

She sighed tiredly and closed her eyes, folding her arms. "Yep. Quite a scene it was too. The sexual tension was real."

I couldn't form a sentence. I was too shocked. "But...n...no one...you...no...say..why didn't...I didn't...you...not..."

"Listen, you haven't spoken since, have you?"

I blinked at her before grumpily folding my arms and looking away. "So what if we haven't?"

"I'm just saying that he doesn't hate you. Trust me on that one, he doesn't. That was just Keith's funny little way of showing that he cares."

I stared at her and cocked my head to the side, baffled. "What? Him yelling at me is him caring? Yeah, I don't understand."

"I wouldn't worry too much if you don't understand. I bet Keith doesn't even understand himself. As much mature as he tries to act, he's probably the most lost of us."

I was just even more confused. "The most lost?"

"I mean, think about it. He's spent most of his life alone so it's only natural that he'll have trust issues and a bad grasp on how to react honestly when someone is all kind and nice to him. So that's why he goes and says and does the things he says and does. But of course he doesn't even know that about himself because he doesn't know anything about emotions. He's so lost and so trapped but he doesn't even know why."

"What are you on about?"

"Look, whenever Shiro or me or someone almost gets themselves killed, he's all "what were you thinking" or "that's so stupid, don't do that" and gets all unhinged. But that's really just Keith's way of expressing how much we mean to him. And when you two had your little scene...I'd never seen him so bothered about anything. Look, it mightn't be your preferred way of him letting you know that he cares. But that's the only way he knows how to handle his feelings."

I frowned. "Handle his feelings? Whaddya mean by that?"

She smiled, and despite her tiny height so looked like a wise old woman. "Love and hate are both feelings of passion. So when Keith doesn't want to feel those feelings of affection that he can't stop, he can't just turn them off. So the mushy mushy inside is replaced with festering hostility which causes him to lash out. In other words..." she beamed, her happy face positively glowing. "The angrier he gets at you, the more he wants to smash!"

How can someone who looks so cute and innocent be so annoying and filthy minded?

"Wh-What?!" I yelled, leaping to my feet. "N-No, you've got it all wrong, it's just because we're rivals, that's not it!"

"Okay, okay, okay, calm yourself! Jeez, dealing with one hot head is enough, I don't want another."

I scowled and stormed off. "That's not it at all. You don't know anything."

"Believe that if you want to. But Lance?"

I stopped and glared at her. "What now because if you make one more joke or something-"

"Just keep in mind what I said." Her face was serious now. "Because trust me, someday that might keep you from getting hurt. And I don't want that to happen." She let out a long breath and got to her feet. "Ugh, I don't even know if half of what I'm saying is true." She grinned at me, her eyebrows raised as she walked past. "After all, the tsundere is quite unpredictable."