Chapter Text
Fuck this.
Just fuck everything. He was just so done with everything.
What was the point of it all? What was the point of befriending these two people only to have them pull out of a contract because he had shit happen?
Keith groaned and raked his hands through his hair. His bed was too warm, but honestly? Working on homework right now was a no-go, he was too frustrated, and his engineering homework wasn’t due till Monday anyways. Plus, it was Thursday with only one class tomorrow. So he had tried to take a nap. Keyword tried. An hour later, full of angry groaning and muttered curses, he had not a wink of sleep.
Stuff happened at home, and money was tight. It wasn’t as bad before, Keith helping out as much as he could with his job on campus, but the limited amount of funds he was getting from home all but dried up. His sister just had to go and get into trouble. Hope she learned her lesson.
So because of that, he hasn’t been able to make rent for the past couple months, and their lease was almost up. He had already talked with his roommates about it all, and he thought they understood, but he guessed not. Keith rolled over and face-planted his pillow. Last night they told him that they and the landlord weren't comfortable with leasing with him anymore. Sure they were nice about it, but that was the general message, and at the end of the lease, Keith was to move out and find a new place to live. What sucked more, was that the university couldn't guarantee him a place to live either. Rooms had been scarce ever since they upped their acceptance rate, and now he was on a wait list. A fat lot of good that did him.
Qrow hopped onto his back, curling up into the dip just above his hips. The black cat set to purring like a small motor. A smile fought its way onto Keith’s face. Whatever this cat did to him, it was beyond him, but Qrow always seemed to know when he needed some comfort. Keith rolled his head to the side and looked into his room.
His desk was a mess of papers and prototypes, aeronautical engineering was kicking his ass, but in the long run, it was what he wanted to do. His laptop was open and the slideshow of pictures of his adventures with his family and friends from school faded in and out. Clothes were piled into one corner while his laundry basket was full of clothes that were still folded from the last time he did laundry. The walls were bare; he didn’t want to risk damage to the walls. It’d come out of his security deposit if there was any. Like, he knew this was a temporary thing. As soon as he graduated he was going to be shipped out west, probably Texas or Florida, for a job. He was never going to stay here for long. But he still had another year of school before that happened.
And now he was basically homeless.
Fucking great.
Keith sighed again and rearranged his arms so he was comfortable again. Qrow was still purring away on his back. He swore he was secretly a machine that Pidge built him so he wouldn’t be lonely, but he had Qrow since he was a kitten, so obviously, he grew. Oh well.
He relaxed into his bed, Qrow’s purrs washing away some of the tension in his body, just enough for him to fall asleep for a light nap.
Well, his week was up. Keith took the weekend to move everything that he couldn’t carry in a backpack to a storage unit. He seriously thought he could get away with living in one of those, but no running water or heating was something that he couldn’t just live without, especially for Qrow.
His ex-roommates didn’t seem too remorseful about his leaving, they literally only had to move their shit down the hallway. He dropped off his key to the landlord and left. Qrow was in a crate, bungee corded to the back of his bike. The poor guy was going to hate him for a bit, but he had to get to class. Then he’d sneak him into class, no way was he going to leave him on his bike like that.
Thankfully traffic wasn’t too bad and Keith was able to get a decent parking spot. Grabbing his back he slipped it onto his shoulders before reaching for Qrow.
“Okay bud, think you can stay quiet in my hood while we get to class?”
The cat blinked at him and remained quiet. Keith couldn’t tell if that was a good or a bad thing, but he picked him up and put him in the hood of his jacket. Qrow squirmed around a bit before settling, Keith could feel his whiskers on the back of his neck and his tail was draped over his shoulder. He flicked back into his hood and started walking to class.
Professor Coran was a lively instructor, liking to walk up and down the aisles between desks, checking to make sure everyone was taking notes. Keith purposefully sat in the back, a few seats away from everyone as more students trickled in. Coran was at the front of the room, pulling up his lecture slides and getting ready for the lecture in general. Keith pulled Qrow out of his hood and set on his lap, the desk covering him up. He pulled out his notebook and a pen with one hand, keeping the other on Qrow so he wouldn’t get the idea to jump down. The poor guy had to be feeling a little restless by now.
Keith ran his fingers through his fur, massaging him behind the ears, just the way he liked it. It calmed his little friend down some, enough to let him curl up in his lap and relax there. And just in time too, Coran started the lecture and Keith had to focus on taking notes.
But, like everything else Keith has had to deal with in life, nothing good lasts for long. He still had a hand on Qrow, but the cat had enough of being quiet. He meowed loudly, glaring at Keith with amber eyes.
Lecture stalled to halt and all eyes turned to him. Fucking hell, this couldn't be happening, he had no idea the what the contingency was about pets in the classrooms were. He couldn't get kicked out, could he? He was an honor roll student; they wouldn't just drop him for thing like this… would they?
“Everything okay back there Keith?” Coran asked. He was standing at the front of the room, chalk in hand has he was sketching out some scenarios for a design challenge.
“Perfect, Profes – ”
“Mrrooooww!”
Keith could feel the embarrassment radiating off his face in hot waves. Really Qrow, he had thirty minutes left of class, and the cat simply had to make his mind be known about being cooped up.
Coran gave him a long look before turning back to the board. “You can let it roam about the classroom as long as it doesn’t cause any trouble, Keith. But do see me after class, yes?”
“Yes, sir.” Keith lifted his hand from Qrow’s back and that climbed up onto his shoulder, peering around.
A couple girls closest to him aww’d once Qrow was comfy, and some other guys whispered about needing to get a cat now. Keith ducked his head and finished drawing out what Coran had on the board. The professor called their attention back to the front and continued to explain the design challenge that they were going to have due next week. Something about creating a quadcopter from an RC car. Keith had missed the point of the assignment when Qrow had started to wriggle around on his lap. His attempts to keep him quiet had been in vain clearly, but at least he had some ideas for the project that he could get started on in lab tomorrow.
Qrow hopped down and meandered his way through the room, people would reach down and pet him, boosting his ego when they called him a "pretty kitty". Eventually, he made his way to the front of the room. He jumped onto the lecture stand and faced the class, his amber eyes wide and curious about everything around him. Keith was just praying that wouldn't cause a mess.
His cat remained on the lecture stand till the class was over. Keith shoved his things into his bag and waited for the room to empty out before approaching his professor. Coran was typing with one hand while the other scratched Qrow under the chin. Guess everyone liked his cat then.
“Uh, Professor, I – I can explain…”
Coran looked up and smiled kindly. “Don’t worry, my boy, you’re not in trouble. I think the little tyke likes this class.”
Qrow gave a short mrrt in agreement, eyes closed and purring loudly. He was such a sucker for attention.
“Then… why…?”
“I just wanted to let you know that I do not mind you bringing your cat to lecture as long as it's well-behaved. Some other professors may not be so agreeable." Coran's hand moved to stroke Qrow’s back. “Consider this a fair warning for the rest of your classes today.”
Keith gathered Qrow in his arms and nodded. "Sure thing, Professor. Sorry about today. He's normally not this vocal."
“Not a problem, Keith! Class was a little livelier with him around, I think.” Coran smiled cheerily. “Now shoo, you have another class to get to, yes?”
He smiled back in return. “Yeah, see you.”
Keith turned and left the room, Qrow happily purring in his arms. The little traitor. He let his shoulders slump as he walked out of the building and made his way to his normal study spot. He maneuvered the cat back into his hood and thankfully now he was willing to stay put there.
The math building had a library on the same floor as his next class and that’s where he went. He found a table in the back corner, hopefully far enough away from everyone so they wouldn’t notice how his hood moved every once and awhile.
Hopefully, the rest of the day wasn't too catastrophic.
Either Keith was extremely lucky or his professors were taking pity on him. For the whole week, Qrow had accompanied him to his classes. Well, except for the labs. Then he dumped that cat on Pidge and made her deal with him for two hours. Thankfully, that was only twice a week, and again he was lucky that Pidge didn’t have any classes then.
His sleep schedule was shot, and showering at the gym was becoming a habit. He still hadn't found a place to live yet, the university still hadn't gotten back to him. Keith was cursing himself for choosing a college so far away from home because if he was closer, he would totally commute. His bike got good mileage and Qrow wouldn’t be so stressed about the constant moving around. And he knew his cat was getting tired of it all. More than once, he had been kicked out of libraries and the student union because they had to close the building down. Pidge was nice enough to let him crash on her futon one night, her roommate being over at her boyfriend’s place. So yeah, one uninterrupted night’s sleep was all he considered good this week.
Keith was walking out of the gym, Qrow sitting on his shoulder, when it finally, sort of, hit him that he was homeless. It took him a whole week to realize that, and the constant angry buzzing that he had in his head stalled out into silence. The realization made him feel so defeated, and he hadn’t talked to his advisor about potentially taking a semester off just to rake up enough cash to pay for an apartment, even a hotel room. They could do weekly rates, right?
Qrow nuzzled his cheek, sensing his stress. Keith kept walking. His bike was back in the parking garage, but he had that right permit to keep it there without getting a ticket. He silently thanked past him for doing that. He just had to keep moving, he didn’t really care where he wound up but he knew that if he stopped that he was going to break.
It was late out, the sun having gone down, and campus was fairly quiet. The occasional student walked by, but neither he or they made eye contact or stopped to make conversation. Keith was sure that he just looked so worn down. He avoided looking at himself in the mirror as much as he had to, the bags under his eyes were dark and bruised while his face was – hell, he couldn't even tell. He looked and felt like shit. There was still another couple of weeks left of school, but he didn't know he could make it. Not like this.
He found a bench and just sat. Qrow was quiet and he moved to sit in his lap. Cars passed, headlights painfully bright as he stared them as they went by. Fuck, what was he supposed to do?
At some point, his mom called, and he tried his best to sound okay, lying about his living situation. Yeah, he found a place, he’s living with a couple of friends. No, he was just walking back to class, so traffic is all the noise you’re hearing. Yes, he was doing fine, Qrow was good too. Eventually, his mom hung up and Keith just existed. He honestly didn't know what to do.
Keith just… disconnected. He felt so lost. He didn’t know what to do. It played over and over again in his head. What was he going to do? What was he going to do?
He doesn’t know how long he sat there till he heard a car door slam shut.
“Hey man, you okay?”
Keith blinked and looked up.
It was some guy with caramel skin and bright blue eyes. He looked concerned, and Keith just stared at him. Was he okay? Absolutely not. Could he tell this stranger that? Probably but it’s not like he wants to.
“Hey, dude, you seriously don’t look alright.”
Qrow meowed and blinked up at Keith. He still hadn’t moved. God, he just couldn’t bring himself to do anything.
The man put a gentle hand on his shoulder and bent down to his level. "Look, I'm not a creep or anything, but I've seen you slumming it around campus. I got an extra bed you crash on for a while."
The damn broke. Tears sprung spilled down his cheeks, no warning, no anything. Keith sobbed, choking on air. Qrow curled into him and the man looked shocked. It’s not like every time he came up to someone they just broke down.
He didn’t stand there and watch Keith cry. He grabbed his back and offered Keith a hand up. Qrow climbed onto his shoulder when Keith took his hand. The guy’s car was still running and he put Keith’s bag in the back seat before opening the passenger front seat. Keith ran on autopilot and just slipped in, Qrow keeping his balance on his shoulder till he sat down. The guy closed the door and ran around to the other side to climb into the driver’s seat. Keith was still crying, barely holding it together.
He just felt so broken.
They got to the guy's place, Keith's tears dried on his face and he was empty. Emotions weren't a thing; he was a shell of what he was before everything fell to shit. He barely remembered the car ride here. Did the guy even introduce himself?
Keith had Qrow in his arms as he essentially stumbled into the guy’s apartment. It was a nice place, something Keith would remember in the morning. Another cat meowed and jumped into the guys’ arms, a gray tabby with blue eyes. He gave it a quick nuzzle before setting it back on the ground and taking Keith’s arm.
“The bedroom you can stay in is back here, the bathroom is right across the hallway, so it’s kinda hard to get lost.” He led him through the place and into the room he was talking about. It had a futon and a couple gaming consoles hooked up to the TV. The room looked barely used.
The guy let go and set about flattening the futon out into a full-sized bed. He moved over to the closet and dug out a pillow and blanket. “Here, you can crash here for the night.”
“Why?” Keith croaked. His voice was hoarse from the crying and sounded like he should have been buried in the ground.
The guy looked over at him before looking away and rubbing the back of his neck. "I see you on campus a lot, like dude, you keep getting kicked out of places because of it being so late. Plus, Pidge would just randomly have your cat, and like no offense to her, but she wouldn't tell me shit when I asked why she had it."
“You know Pidge?”
“Yeah, you know her too?”
Keith nodded. Suddenly it felt like the world was a lot smaller. Pidge barely talked to anyone.
“Then you’re Keith, right?”
Another nod.
The guy smiled. In the morning, he would freak out about how nice that smile was, but now Keith just couldn’t muster anything.
"Cool, good to know I didn't pick some crackpot from the streets. Pidge doesn't shut up about you, so I'm kinda surprised she hasn’t brought you around yet.” Pidge’s friend planted his hands on his hips. “Right, well, you can stay as long as you need. Just get some sleep dude, I’ll let Pidge know you’re with me.”
He walked past Keith, giving him a small pat on the shoulder before closing the door behind him. Qrow jumped out of his arms and Keith stumbled to the bed. He collapsed face first into the pillow.
He didn’t remember falling asleep.
The guy knocked on the door in the morning, calling for breakfast, and Keith reluctantly got up and made his way to the kitchen. Qrow padded along behind him. The other’s cat came over to greet him, meowing happily. Keith caught his reflection in the mirror of the bathroom as he passed it. He had the worst case of bedhead ever. He gathered it up and tugged an elastic around it. There, now he was somewhat presentable.
The guy was humming along to some random song, flipping pancakes on the stove. Keith cleared his throat.
He looked over and smiled and damn, that was a bright smile. “Morning!” he chirped, “I told Pidge that you wouldn’t be making it to classes today, so she’s letting your professors know.”
“Oh, uh, thanks…”
“Lance, the name’s Lance.”
“Thanks, Lance.”
Keith stood there awkwardly, not really knowing what to. Lance continued to flip a couple more pancakes before stacking them on a plate and handing it to Keith. “Here, eat. Forks are already on the table.”
“…thanks.”
He walked over to the table and grabbed a fork. He sat down and tucked into the pancakes. A few minutes later, Lance was joining him at the table.
“Oh, by the way, I don’t know how much you remember last night because you dissociating pretty hard, but I’m serious about letting you stay as long as you want. My landlord is pretty nice. He’s taken in some homeless people – not that you’re homeless, more like temporarily displaced – but yeah he’s let people stay in some of the empty apartments here when it gets cold and stuff.”
Keith just nodded along. Boy, this guy was chatty in the morning.
“So yeah, you can stay as long as you need. And Blue seems to like your kitty. What’s its name by the way?”
“His name’s Qrow.”
“RWBY fan, huh? Man, I’ve been meaning to watch that, but Pidge said I need to watch Fullmetal something before that. Don’t know what the big deal it about it…”
Lance rambled on and on, and it was pleasant. Keith didn't really have this back at his old place. It made him feel welcome, and it was nice that Pidge knew the guy. He'd have to grill her about him later, but for now, he was content to eat pancakes and listen to him talk.