Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Keith, the backstory:

Keith sighed. Garrison Uni was not the great escape he thought it was. He had so much going on in his life. He chuckled, thinking about it all. Cancer, a gang he never wanted to be in, making sure he had good grades, and not letting his brother know about any of his other problems.

The single dorm was pretty roomy, and pricey, but his foster parents- Shiro’s biological parents- had paid. Keith had just started his freshman year three weeks ago, while Shiro had started his Sophomore year. Shiro was in the junior dorm building, which made everything much simpler, no Shiro or his girlfriend Allura, and that meant much less contact with his foster brother, save for texting and the occasional lunch together.

Keith was used to being alone, after all, his parents had been neglecting and abusive before they had died when Keith was eleven. And even now, years after they had died, they left behind more problems for him. They had left him to be the bride of the Galra heir, Lotor. Lotor wasn't as bad as his father, Zarkon, and other than the slightly sadistic streak he revealed during sex, he was honestly a good person. Keith had gotten dozens of tattoo's, including all over his arms and back. Because of that, and a few other things, Keith avoided wearing short sleeves or going swimming without long sleeved swimming shirts. Keith had been diagnosed with cancer at the young age of fifteen, and his chemo had gone on until he was almost eighteen. Even now, at the age of nineteen, Keith was not totally safe. His body and immune system was much weaker than regular humans, and he had a risk of the cancer coming back again, although it was fairly a low chance. Keith would have died if it weren't for Shiro had Shiro's parents he would never have been able to afford the chemo on his own, and he hadn't wanted to worry Lotor at the time. Keith had stopped talking to Lotor and had dissapeared off the grid when he had been diagnosed with cancer.

Keith knew how the gangs worked from a very young age, and knew how to disappear, too. And as long as he his his tattoo's and history, it wouldn't be too easy to find him. Lotor had legitimately liked Keith though, so Keith would not be surprised if Lotor had alerted members from all over the world to search for his "bride." Even though Keith had wanted to contact Lotor later, after regaining his life, Keith decided he didn't want to go back to the drugs.

It wasn't long until his emotions started getting to him, and he was constantly itching for the drugs he could once so easily obtain.

Lance, the backstory:

Lance was a happy person, he had grown up in Cuba, in a large family. He was in a shared dorm with two other people, at the bottom floor. The dorm buildings had a unique layout. All dorms were co-ed, but switches were allowed in between the students although the higher ups had to be notified.

on their specific floors. The bottom four floors had dorms shared between three to four students, the four floors above that had two student dorms, and the two floors above that were single dorms, only available to those with either rich parents, or genius athletes who got upgraded if the headmaster liked them enough.

Lance’s roommates were Hunk and Pidge, one of them studying to be a health and food expert or something and the other a tech master. Lance himself was aiming for the psychology field. He was ready to make his mother proud, and had already gotten a tutor. A junior named Shiro. Shiro and Lance had been meeting for lunch and sometimes after school for more than a week now, and sometimes Shiro’s girlfriend, Allura, joined them. Shiro seemed to have a western accent, and had tanned skin, black hair with some white at the front, and a prosthetic arm. It was a known fact among the school that Shiro had lost his arm saving brother, who apparently went to the Uni but no one knew of. Shiro was one of the Garrisons best football players, and popular among everyone, but kind. His girlfriend Allura, was tall and could not be missed in a crowd. She was from New York and showed it from her fearless and loud, yet kind and considerate, demeanor.

Lance was on the waiting list for a single room, since he had been recommended by Allura, a member of the uni council, for his good grades and participation in the Garrison volunteers club.

Chapter Text

This text means a text.

Shiro wanted to meet Keith during lunch. Keith did love Shiro as a brother, but he wasn’t a particularly emotionally attached person, and was not too eager to meet up with his brother, especially with the company that was to be present. Shiro had seen that Keith was alone far too often for his liking, being the social butterfly he was, and had wanted Keith to meet up with a few of his own freshmen acquaintances. Keith usually tried to stay far away from Shiro while they were at school because Keith would probably ruin Shiro’s reputation, but there were a few of Shiro’s friends that Keith did know.

Shiro and his family had adopted Keith when he was thirteen, and while Keith had been cold to everyone at first, he had soon found out that Shiro was a trustworthy companion and had opened up to him. Keith had told Shiro all his secrets, and Shiro was the one who had been by Keith’s side all throughout his cancer treatment, but when Shiro had left for the Garrison, Keith had closed up again and had gone through a few things, leading him to close up once again.

Shiro was now a senior and had a girlfriend named Allura. Allura didn’t really like Keith, as she had once accidently seen one of Keith’s tattoos. After some urging from shiro, both had worked things out, and Keith had discovered that Allura used to be a part of the Altea gang, which had disbanded long ago, when she was in high school. She had revealed a tattoo under her eye covered with makeup, and she apologized to Keith for judging him before she knew him. Keith understood though. It was Zarkon that had ended the Altea gang when Keith was ten, but even then, he was close enough to Lotor, Zarkon, and Haggar, Zarkon’s girlfriend, to have quite a bit of influence over the gang.

Keith got up from his couch, where he was lounging in a hoodie and jeans while watching some random scary stories video and slipped on his converse. It was half past twelve, and Shiro said that he wanted Keith to be at Encounters, a small cafe on campus, by 12:45. Keiths phone buzzed. A text message.

Takashi- You coming? I don’t want to drag you out here but…

Redkat- ya.

Takashi- Everyone else is already here, I’m gonna order, what do you want?

Redkat- just fried and chocolate cheesecake

Redkat- *fries

Takashi- a dr.pepper too, right?

Redkat- yea. Thx bro. I’ll be there soon

Takashi- it’s cool.

Redkat- k

Keith put his phone in his back pocket and pulled his hood up. He grabbed his keys off the keyholder, opened his door, and walked out. He checked to make sure it was locked even though he didn’t have anything of too much value in his dorm anyways. The hallway was empty, and Keith was planning to avoid people, so he took the stairs like he usually did. The stairs were rarely ever used, most people didn’t even know that they existed, but being a member of the top floor party, Keith had privileges others didn’t. His adoptive parents were one of Garrison’s biggest supporters as well as graduates from there, and his older brother was one of the top students, so that earned him extra brownie points. The walk from the tenth floor to the street was a long one, but Keith had time and music, so he plugged in his headphones, shuffled his playlist, and shoved his phone back into his pocket, and began the trek to the cafe.

Time skip to when Keith gets to the cafe

Keith took out his headphones and quickly surveyed his surroundings. Not too bad. Encounters was a casual cafe slash restaurant which was usually packed during the evening but not too crowded during noon. A saturday lunchtime like the current one usually only left the cafe with a few groups of students around, since most were sleeping or having fun outside campus on weekends. In the corner of the outdoor portion of the cafe was Shiro and his friends permanent table, and there his brother was, his girlfriend by his side, and random students surrounding him. Keith walked up to them and sat down between a tanned brunette guy and Pidge. Keith knew Pidge, as they had hung out with him a few times and they had gotten high together a few times before.

Pidge was a short, orange haired, speckled, sarcastic, gremlin. They were non binary and asexual but did not refuse a bit of platonic cuddling when wasted.

“Hey,” Keith greeted the table. Keith didn’t know who the guy beside him was or the who the dude on the other side of Allura was, but shiro solved that.

“Well, everyone, this is Keith, my brother. Pidge, you already know him, Allura, of course you know him, but Lance, Hunk, let me get y’all introduced. Keith, this is Lance, the freshman I told you I was tutoring, and this is Hunk, Lance’s roomate. And I know you know Pidge, but it turns out that they’re Matt’s younger sibling.” Shiro cheerily droned on.

“Cool,” Keith dryly remarked.

“I love the enthusiasm, kid, I really do.”

“Oh, shut up, Takashi, stop bullying the kid!” Allura playfully punched Shiro’s arm.

“The food should be here soon, so hold tight, I guess.” Shiro told Keith.

Lance finally looked up from his phone, where his eyes had been glued since before Keith had arrived, and his jaw dropped. “Y- You’re Shiro’s brother?! Holy fuck! Damn it, I never knew hot topic over here was related to you shiro!” Lance exclaimed.

“Awww, you think I’m hot,” Keith shot back.

Lance blushed. “Stop quoting Thomas Sanders, buddy. He’s cute, so he can get away with it, you’re not.”

Keith stared at Lance, analyzing him. He looked like he was from the south, near the equator maybe. Cuban or Spanish or something. He had dark blue eyes and perfectly maintained looking brown hair. He wore a brown jacket with a blue and grey shirt underneath.

Keith’s investigation into the brunettes appearance was interrupted by a waitress who hastily set their food down and scampered away. The whole squad didn’t wait to dig in, save for Keith, who had not eaten a single fry when everyone else was almost done. His cheesecake was also untouched, the drink was the only part of his meal he had consumed. Shiro, who had already finished, went up to pay, and when he came back, he glance at Keith.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”Shiro asked in concern, to which Keith shook his head. His brothers eyes narrowed and he addressed the rest of the table. “Well guys, I’m afraid that Keith has to leave, but i’m going to drop him off. Don’t worry- I won’t take long,” Shiro promised, throwing a kiss to Allura, who pretended to catch it. The group waved them off, and Shiro herded his smaller brother to his car, a small purple and black sport car from some japanese company that Keith did not know how to spell nor pronounce. Shiro and Keith sat in silence for the duration of the ride too teh residence complex, and it was only in the parking that shiro talked, after turning off the ignition and sighing loudly.

“Wrists,” Shiro demanded. Keith ignored him and sat still. “You need help Keith. I need to know if you’re cutting. You’re going to have to move back in with me and Allura. Show me your wrists, Keith,” he tried again, to no avail. “You’ve stopped eating again. I’m making you an appointment again. I’m also going to get you a roommate, it’s for your own good,” Shiro said. Keith deflated. “I-I… Keith, it’s hard for me to say this, but I love you, and you are a precious part of my family. I can’t let you succumb to the dark parts of your mind. Trust me, you’ll see that Lance is going to help. He’s basically raised his sibling and all that,” Shiro tried to make Keith understand.

“Shiro. I don’t need a babysitter” Keith protested.

“Show me your wrists,” Shiro repeated. Keith gave up. He held his wrists up, and Keith took hold of his left one, slid the sleeve down gently, and did the same to the other one, and stared in silence. Ugly, scabbed over, wounds overlapped scars form the past, which overlapped the purple tattoos of which origin he had tried to forget. Shiro stared in silence for a moment. “I’m disappointed, Keith,” he finally said. “I’ll text you the date of the appointment later.” They sat in a heavy silence for a few minutes before Keith ponede the cars door and got out, and walked away towards the stairwell, making sure not to look back.

It was only when he had gotten back to his apartment that he had pulled his phone out. Hands shaking, he dialed a number he had thought he would never dial again, a number burned into his memory.

Someone picked up on the second ring.

“Lotor…?”

There was a gasp of recognition from the other side.

“Keith?!”

“The usual place, tonight,” with that, Keith hung up the phone, knowing he could trust the person at the other end of the phone to be there.

Chapter Text

“Lotor,” Keith greeted the man that was his once boyfriend.  The man he greeted had long, platinum hair now that framed a pale face with purple flowers tattooed here and there. His irises were purple and the whites off his eyes yellow due to the special contacts he wore to protect his sensitive eyes. He wore a black and red jacket with blue jeans paired with high, black and blue boots. Lotor’s eyes widened.

“Well, you’ve certainly grown up to be beautiful,” Lotor whispered across the table they sat at. The usual place was a small late night cafe which at this time, after midnight, only had two customers other than him and Lotor. Keith tried his best not to look away as he felt his face begin to warm up. “It’s been a long time,” Lotor told him.

“I’m only here for business tonight,” Keith told Lotor cooly.

“It’s always business when it comes to you. Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure you’ll still have time for me, seeing you gave up your location to meet me,” Lotor told Keith with a smirk. Keith internally facepalmed. Of course Lotor had tracked his phone. It was dumb of Keith to text from his apartment anyways, knowing how influential Lotor was. He had tried so hard to hide his whereabouts and now- because of one text- all his attempts were wasted.

“You know what I want. Where is it?” Keith asked, now agitated.

“It’s at my place, I think you’re gonna have to come over to pick it up,” Lotor winked. Keith flushed.

“I am not going to play these games with you again, Lotor. I don’t want Zarkon to know that I’m still alive,” Keith whispered fiercely.

Lotors grin dropped and his eyes softened. “Zarkon didn’t hate you, he literally treated you better than he’s ever treated me. You were the ideal son for him- that's why he wanted you as a son in law so bad. Your mother was his best friend, man, and you were the best Galra. I bet you still have it in you, a fighter like you can’t lose your skill no matter what- scratch that- it’s not a skill, it’s a talent !” Lotor exclaimed passionately while trying to keep his voice down.

“But-” Keth stopped talking as a waitress set down a milkshake and a coffee, and don't resume talking when she left.

“I know you’re lactose intolerant so I didn’t get you anything with milk. I hope coffee’s alright, it was your favourite before,” Lotor told him, smiling, as Keith’s frozen heart thawed a bit.

“Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. You know how I used to struggle…” Keith trailed off.

“Yeah, your parents weren’t the best. Your step brother wasn’t any better. What was his name again?”

“Kuro,” Keith reminded Lotor glumly, wincing as old memories resurfaced.

“So… what'd ya say, bride O’mine, shall we go?” Lotor asked playfully.

“Sure,” Keith said, grabbing his drink and walking out the door, Lotor with his own milkshake following his lead. A black Porsche stood outside the restaurant, Lotor’s signature car. The pair got in, Lotor getting in the driver's seat after guiding Keith into the passenger seat. Lotor started the car and sped through the Garrison city and into the Galra Empire, the city named after the gang which once found it. Apartment buildings, housing complexes, and skyscrapers passed, but they finally got to the familiar mansion, a black and grey mansion with purple lights.

“Lotor! Are you crazy?! Zarkon is gonna know I’m with you!” Keith yelled. Keith knew that Lotor had his own properties all over the globe,s o why was it that the prince had brought Keith to the family mansion?

“Chill. Zarkon’s at another city or something, doing business. All his goonies are gone, too. We’re all alone- save for the guards, of course.” Lotor reassured the worried ravenette.

“You have the stuff though, right? I kind of really need it,”Keith quietly said.

Lotor smiled and got out of the car and waited for Keith to get out as well before putting an arm around the smaller male and walking him up to the main door of the mansion. When the door was opened, the vast mansion was revealed as empty.

“I thought the guards were home?” Keith asked.

“They know when to stay out of the way. They’ll only show themselves if there is danger, so you needn’t worry, darling,” Lotor smirked.

Lotor’s room was still in the wing it was before, the room that Lotor and Keith at a time had used to call the dark rooms fondly. There had been a lot that happened in Lotors room. They had gotten high for the first time ever, drunk for the first time, lost their virginity for the first time together, gotten their first piercings together, first tattoos together, and so on.

Keith’s mind flashed back to the time he and Lotor got his first piercings. It was one of his most intimate memories.

“So… you just use the little needle thing and stick it through?”Keith had asked with a concerned expression.

“Yes. But don’t worry about the pain, we’re gonna numb it.” Lotor smiled reassuringly.

“So… how are we doing it?” Keith asked.

“I was thinking… I bought some Charoite hoops. They’re small, and they won’t get damaged by water or anything. Umm… it’s the exact same one as the one I have… it’s the second half of the pair, actually. We’re supposed to get married to join the branches of the gang anyways. Marmora with the Galra, ya know, and since they still both use purple, it works- and when we join them again they’ll still work.

Lotor had then injected a small, cold, needle into the soft, sensitive, skin near Keith's left nipple, and then gotten the piercing gun ready. Lotor loaded a small hoop into a part of the gun and gave Keith a kiss. “Are you ready?” Lotor had asked concernedly, to which Keith nodded in reply.

Lotor brought the head of the small machine to Keiths niple, which he couldn’t feel anymore, and without warning, pressed a small button at the back of the device. Keith felt a small tug, and he looked down to see the small hoop made of the Charoite that Lotor was so fond of piercing his delicate nipple, with a bead of blood where it entered, which Lotor wiped away with a disinfectant wipe. “So...just give it ummm, a week, and it’ll be good,” Lotor reminded Keith, smiling. “I love you, you know that, right?”

Keith smiled up at the white haired beauty. “I… I love you too. And of course, I know you love me. You mean the most in the world to me,” Keith reassured the prince of the gang.

“I am so happy. I know how hard it is for you to reveal your emotions to others. My cold, stoic, little Galra bride,” Lotor grinned, holding Keith’s face. He leaned in to plant a kiss on his lips.

“I’m tired, wanna sleep?” Keith had asked, to which Lotor had nodded. Before joining Keith in bed, the prince went to put away the piercing equipment.

Keith had known back then, that he would have to treasure the memory. After all, he was planning to leave the gang back then anyways. It was only a few months after that night he got the piercing that Keith had packed and left, and then had been adopted by the Shirogane's.

Lotor set a red backpack down on the couch, snapping Keith out of his thoughts.

“You okay? You spaced out there,” Lotor asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Keith assured, and reached for the backpack, checking the contents. “Oh- that’s a lot of weed,” Keith said.

“Yeah, but it’s a new strain. Totally strong, fresh, and pure,” Lotor said, throwing a wink at the ravenette, who kept a cool expression, although fighting a grin.

“Let’s see… ecstasy, heroin, oooh-cocaine! Is it pure?” Keith asked.

“Totally, you didn’t have to ask. You know that everything from my branch is pure. The best of the best, you could say,” Lotor said, holding a small sealed bag of cocaine in his hand which he had dug out from his pocket and studying it before throwing it to Keith. “See? It’s diamond dust. Totally pure.”

“Chill. I believe you,” Keith threw a smirk at Lotor, who smiled back.

“I threw some adderall and ritalin int there, too, for old times sake,” Lotor informed Keith, reminding him of the first few times they had gotten high. A mix of the two had been on Keith’s list of prefered choice of drugs for a long time.

“Thanks.”

“Oh- and another thing,” Lotor began, face suddenly serious. “There’s a gun at the very bottom with some ammunition-just in case,” Lotor gravely informed Keith.

“I really appreciate it, man,” Keith smiled, trying to brighten up the taller male.

“So.. wanna stay the night?” Lotor asked, a glint in his eye.

Keith smirked seductively. “Only for you.”

Chapter Text

Lance pov

    Lance was okay in his dorm- it was crowded, but it was pretty cozy, and his closest friends shared the dorm with him opposed to random strangers- or worse, assholes like Rolo. Shiro was a good guy, after all, it only took about a week of begging to get him to tutor Lance, but little had he known that Shiro was the older brother of his rival, the mullet. Keith wasn’t that bad, it was just that his hairstyle was from the fucking eighties, and that shit needed an update fast. He wasn’t that bad- Pidge like him after all, and anyone Pidge liked couldn’t be bad, considering how few people Pidge actually voluntarily hung out with. Lance had learned a lot about Keith from Pidge, and he had learned to admire him from afar, as Keith never talked to anyone. Lance blushed as he thought more about Keith. He had learned from Pidge that Keith was pretty… gay, and that couldn’t have worked out better fro Lance, being bi. Lance had thought his crush on Keith would be like his previous crush on Nyma, whom he had never talked to. It didn’t matter anyways, because she had started dating Rolo anyways, and anyone who even tolerated that piece of junk was a jerk in Lance’s book.

    Lance was in a daze. He had come back to an empty dorm, since Hunk and Pidge were still at the convention. When Shiro had returned, he had told Allura that he needed to talk to Lance in private, and she had left, since she was late for work anyways. What Shiro had told him had more than surprised him. It was as if someone had been listening to his wishes and had granted one of them.

    “Lance,” he began in a serious tone. “I need a favor.” Lance nodded, so Shiro would continue on. “You remember how I told you a buddy of mine had some dorm space free? Well, that’s Keith.” Shiro waited for Lance to react.

    “Wait- what? Why?” Lance was confused. Was he hallucinating? Did Shiro just basically ask Lance to move in with Keith fucking Kogane?!

    “He has some… problems. I already told you that I needed you to take care of them since they weren’t taking care of themselves, and were being self destructive. Well, I was talking about Keith the entire time, so yeah, I’d really appreciate it. There’s a spare room in the dorm, and it has its own fridge and bathroom.” Shiro sat tensely, tensing his jaw.

    “Dude, don’t worry. You already know that I’m good with people, and my own room is like a huge fucking deal.” Lance reassured the older male.

    “That’s great. I can give you the keys right now, and you can move in whenever you want. But seriously, the sooner, the better,” shiro fished the keys out of his pocket and pushed the over to Lance.

    “Thanks, dude. Is tonight a good time to move in?” Lance asked.

    “The sooner, the better,” Shiro repeated. “Anyways, I gotta go, but remember that I’m tutoring you on Tuesday,” Shiro reminded Lance, who was now studying the key that unlocked his crush’s room.

    They both got up and headed their separate ways.

    And now Lance was here, in the room inside the apartment Keith inhabited. The room was separated from most of the other rooms of the apartment, and was pretty big, with a twin bed, nightstand, wardrobe, desk, and a small vanity. The kitchen had been totally empty, so Lance had stepped out for about an hour to get some groceries. Now that everything was all set, Lance was drained, but Keith still hadn’t made a sound or come out of his room. He checked his phone, and was surprised to find a text from Shiro.

Shiro- Is Keith alright?

Lance- Haven’t seen him, he might be in his room tho.

Shiro- Can you check?

Lance- yeah sure.

    Lance walked over to the door which he presumed belonged to Keith’s room. After all, it was the only one which was closed. “Keith? Buddy? You in there?”he got no reply, and after a few minutes of calling out for the mullet bearing male, Lance pulled out his phone again to text Shiro.

Lance- Hes no t here.

Shiro- What? Why?

Shiro- Check his room. It’s probably not locked.

Lance- K. but imma blame u tho.

Shiro- It wouldn’t kill you yo check your spelling.

    Lance tried the door. It was open, to his luck. “Ummm, Okay now. Keith buddy, I’m going to come in!” He yelled through the door just in case before opening it. It was empty. Not only was the room devoid of Keith, but there was scarcely any evidence of someone living in the room. Save for the rumpled bed sheets, everything was in place. The darkness just made everything seem much more… creepy.

Lance- nope

Lance- not in here

Shiro- Fuck

Shiro-I’m going to check with some people

Shiro- If he comes home let me know.

Lance- sure

    Time skip to morning

    Lance woke up to his room well lit. Sunday. Another beautiful day. He grabbed his phone and turned it on to see a number of texts. He went through his notifications quickly, and saw a text from Shiro that was sent two hours ago. It was currently 9:00am, so it was sent at seven.

Shiro- Remember to tell me if Keith comes home.

    Lance yawned. No matter how cute Keith was, his personal care came first, so Lance reluctantly got up and started his lengthy routine.

    It was only after his skin glowed and his hair was styled to his satisfaction that he approached the door to Keith’s room. He knocked on the door, and was surprised to hear a sudden thud and some more banging around, until the door opened and Keith stood there, shirtless, wearing only grey sweatpants. Lance’s eyes widened.

Keith’s hair was mussed up, his sweatpants hanging low, but that was not what surprised Lance. There were purple tattoos all along his torso, a purple nipple piercing, hickies, and worst of all- scars and cuts. His swollen lips and hugely dilated, red eyes just added to the horror.

“W-What the fuck? Keith. Keith, m’dude are you, are you like, okay?” Lance asked.

Keith scowled and slammed the door shut. Lance was in a daze. He walked over to the living room, collapsed on a couch, and calle Shiro, who picked up almost immediately. “Lance? Is he back yet? What’s wrong?” Shiro asked in a warm, concerned, tone.    

“Yeah, he’s back. But… well, umm. I think he’s high… and fucked up. Like,actually, he looks like he just got fucked. And the tattoos… he cuts himself, Shiro! He cuts himself!”

Shiro waited for Lance’s rambling to ve over until he spoke. “I’ll be right over. Is there somewhere you can stay for a few hours? Like, I’m sorry to basically kick you out, but this is like important,” Shiro explained.

“Nah, no worries. I needed to pick up a few things anyways,” Lance said, calming down.

“Great. Make sure he doesn’t leave,” Shiro told him before hanging up. Lance sighed and grabbed a granola bar and slumped back on the couch to get another picture for his instagram. His older sister, Maria, used to cut herself at a time. She was sixteen, and he was fourteen. It was after his parent had found out and had sent her to therapy that he had cornered his mother to ask her why his sister had done it. She had sat him down and explained to him why his sister did what she had done.

“Well, mijo. Your sister was in… a lot of pain. Her friends were being very mean to her. She started being mean to herself. She felt that others wanted to hurt her, so she hurt herself. A lot of people hurt themselves, sadly mi amor. I want you to never be someone that hurts others. Don’t be means, mijo, don’t make anyone feel bad about themselves.”

Lance sulked around until Shiro came.

“Good morning Lance, I’ll take it from here,” shiro said over his shoulder as he rushed into Keith’s room. Lance sighed and left, the last thing he heard was Shiro yelling.

He took the elevator down to the lobby, where he checked his mailbox. Nothing. He left the building to go to the small mall near campus. There were many small shops and vendors that made up the mall, and also some other major stores, such as his personal favourite, Sephora. He decided to go to a few grocers before hitting up the makeup store. He didn’t pick up too much, just a loaf of bread, some lettuce, spinach, carrots, salad dressing, and a lot of snacks and frozen pizza. It had only been an hour, and all he needed from sephora was some more concealer, so he decided to stop by the food court to grab a drink and a burger. After the cashier who looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks handed him a brown bag with the KFC’s logo on it, Lance took his food outside, to the small outdoor patio, rather than eating it in at the loud tables.

His burger tasted like sin. Lance knew how bad fast food was for his skin, yet he ate the burger, then the fries, and washed it down with his pepsi. As much as he hated bad skin, fast food was one of his guilty pleasures.

It was only when he got to Sephora that he really indulged in his pleasures though. He grabbed the concealer he needed, but also various cleansers and face masks. It was when he was checking out his items that he saw something that would maybe catch his new roommates eye. Matte black nail paint. Lance grabbed it, and then made up his mind to grab a few other things as well, those things being black eyeliner and matte black lipstick. The brunettes eyes were practically sparkling when he got to his old dorm in the late afternoon, where Hunk and Pidge were sitting with their laptops open and eyes glued on their screens.

“Guess what, losers!” Lance yelled when he walked in to get their attention. They didn’t look up at him, too engrossed in their own works. “Okay, I don’t care if you don’t acknowledge me, I’m still gonna talk, so just keep your ears open. Keith is in shit, he has piercings, tattoos, and is hot, and I bought him black makeup because I saw a MCR poster in his room.” His so called friends still didn’t look up. “I also got you guys coffee,” Lance finished. The effect was instant. Both looked up towards Lance instantly, waiting for him to pull out the coffee, which he did, getting a punch in the arm from the gremlin who couldn’t be named and a grin and hug form Hunk. “I also kinda bought my good ol’ roommate Keith some black makeup because he is so totally emo, but I have gotta admit that he is hot and totally has a bubble but, and I think that… I have a crush on him !” Lance squealed. He blushed as Hunk and Pidge stared at him.

“Whoah. Back that up and turn it around, m’dude! Start from the bottom like my man Drake did!” Pidge demanded, hyperfocused on Lance now. Hunk nodded silently, urging Lance to go on and tell him what in earth had possessed him to buy makeup for the most antisocial person on campus.

“Okay… so I’ve only been there one night, and last night Shiro was all like, ‘hey Lance call me when Keith comes home, it’s important’ and he didn’t come home until the morning. Then in the morning I told Shiro ‘hey buddy, your brother’s like, home’ so he was like ‘yeah dude, that’s great, can you like, gtfo so I can talk to my brogane’ and I was like ‘yeah sure, Imma go to the mall real quick.’” Lance gasped after his hyperspeeded speaking. “Okay, so I went to Sephora, and then I was like, ‘damn, that is gonna be soooooo HAWT on him!’ and now I came here and that’s where I am- but I got you your drinks right before that so you are welcome, my loves,” Lance finished with finger guns and a deep intake of breath, slightly winded after his rant.

“Buddy, why don’t you text Shiro and ask him if he’s done with the apartment. Like I would love to hang out, but Pidge and I both have tests, and we didn’t get to study last night so we’re gonna pull all nighters, but text me tomorrow afternoon, eh,” Hunk said, and then went back to typing, followed by Pidge, who started typing at an even faster pace. So Lance did just that, he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Shiro.

Lance- yo u done w the room?

    It took just a little while for Shiro to text back.

Shiro- Yeah. You can head back. Sorry for kinda kicking you out.

    “M’dudes! Shiro gave the green light that I can go back to the crib, so Imma go in a while, but I need Pidge’s help with installing some firewalls, so can you help me with that Pidgey? Pretty, pretty please? With a AI on top?” Lance pleaded.

    Pidge sighed, rolled her eyes, and reluctantly smiled. “Don’t call me Pidgey anymore and we’ll have a deal.”

    “Great,” Lance replied with finger guns. He pulled out his laptop and plopped right next to Pidge.

Chapter Text

Keith had opened his door to that kid from the previous, Lance, at the door. It had been a long night, and it had only been a few hours since Lotor had dropped him off at the apartment, and Keith desperately needed sleep. Desperately. Even though Keith did not want to, he would admit that the Cuban looked pretty HAWT. It wasn’t as if Keith was into Latino’s., but Lance looked pretty gorgeous, with his effortless looking looks yet perfect skin. Keith was not cursed with acne, but his skin was still slightly oily. The brunette looked dazed, staring at Keith, until he finally spoke, hesitantly.

“W-What the fuck? Keith. Keith, m’dude are you, are you like, okay?” Lance asked with a worried expression. Keith knew he was faking it, Lance would never give Keith the time of his day if it were not for Shiro tutoring him. Keith looked down at his chest, where Lance currently hands. About twenty minutes later, he heard the door open and some voices, muffled through the door, until finally, loud, frantic steps sounded towards his room. Keith froze for a second and then frantically got dressed and laid on the bed on his side, pretending to be on his phone. He looked towards the door and cursed, he hadn’t locked it! It was too late, though, for a tall, muscular figure came running into the room and stood there, glaring threateningly at Keith. His older brother, Shiro stood there.

“What D'ya want?” Keith mumbled, scrolling through his instagram feed. Of course, his page was anonymous, and although he followed everyone and everyone did so back, he didn’t reveal his identity to anyone. had his eyes glued, and it finally hit him that he was wearing no shirt! So he did the one thing that came to mind. He scowled and slammed the door right in Lance’s face. It wasn’t until a handful of minutes later that Keith finally heard his roommates footsteps signal that he was gone from the front of the door. Keith sighed and sat down at the edge of his bed, with his head in his

“So you’ve been fucking Lotor again, eh?” Shiro glowered, his gaze full of disappointment and anger.

Keith had had it. He was done with this. He stood up, fists clenched and eyes clouded with anger, and began yelling at Shiro. “What the hell is wrong with you?! You are not my real brother! I’m old enough to take care of myself, I don’t even know why you’re so involved in my life! Can’t you just stay out of it, like, do you have to be such a fucking cunt?! I have gone through SO much! I just got diagnosed with cancer again last month! Let me live Shiro! Let me live,” Keith trailed, his eyes now glazed over and a lone tear running down his cheek. Shiro stood, stunned, until he finally snapped back into reality and walked cautiously towards his younger brother, taking him into an embrace and sitting down on the edge of the bed with him, where Keith collapsed and started sobbing.

“How come you didn’t tell me?” Shiro asked, his voice full of concern.

“I don’t want to die. But just like before, I know how easy it is for me to die, Shiro. I haven’t been skipping school, I’ve been getting chemo. I was in debt, too, so Lotor’s helping me pay for my hospital bills and tuition. I can’t eat because I can’t keep it down, and it hurts, holy fuck, it hurts ,” Keith lapsed into a new round of sobbing, loud and messy. “And I’ve been cutting and doing drugs just to stop the pain. Sometimes, I wanna die, Shiro. They might heal me for now, but what about after? I might get cancer again and I won’t be able to recover, and it’ll hurt even more, and I can’t go through this again,” Keith ended with a gasp and buried his face in his hands, still crying. Shiro felt tears slide down his face as well as he tried to comfort his brother with reassuring words and whatnot. Keith had fallen silent only after hours of crying and telling shiro how scared he was until he fell asleep. Shiro tucked Keith in comfortably and quietly slipped out of the dorm. It was horrible that Keith had to go through this, and no matter how much his baby brother protested, Shiro would always be there to help him.

When Keith woke up late in the evening, he found that Shiro was gone, and from the clanking of pots and pans, that Lance had returned. Keith let a small smile crossed his face before getting his red backpack and making a line of cocaine before snorting it, and before leaving the room, popping a few pills. Being high always helped him separate his brain from his body. He looked into the mirror and decided to go to tie his hair, and use an antiseptic wipe on his face, and walked into the kitchen to get some ramen and a sprite. There was the brunette, stirring something in a pan and scrolling through his phone. Keith walked in and tried not to blush, Lance really was cute. Lotor was hot and violent, but Lance? Lance seemed like the soft, gentle boy that would take care of you, while Lotor was good only in small doses. Lance was prancing around in a blue shirt and grey sweatpants. He looked towards Keith with those gorgeous blue eyes of his when he noticed the said male.

“Hey,” Lance greeted him. Keith was going to confront Lance about the intrusion from earlier in the morning, but decided not to ruin the light, cheery, mood that Lance had brought into the usually dark, gloomy, apartment.

“What are you making?” Keith asked, trying to make some small talk.

“Oh nothing, I was just making a killer spanish omelet, just like my mama taught me,” Lance replied with a grin. “Oh, by the way, I got you a present!” Lance exclaimed, throwing a small bag off the counter at Keith. Keith caught it, surprised that he had gotten a gift, and it was from Sephora. He looked inside to find all sorts of makeup.

“Why?” Keith asked bluntly, to which Lance’s grin only widened.

“Glad you asked,” Lance replied. “I see that you neglect your skin a lot. Your bathroom had all in one face wash, shampoo, and body wash, for God’s sake! It’s a monstrosity. By the way, I threw it out and replaced it with some lovely proper products, which will actually do some good to your skin. I’m surprised you don’t have a face full of zits yet!”

“Thanks, I guess,” Keith shrugged.

“Well, do you want some om this omelet?” Lance asked. Keith shook his head no. “Dude, you have to, like, try it, though,” Lance urged him on.

“I hate eggs,” Keith simply stated. Lance stared at him for a moment, chuckled, and went right back to cooking and texting.

“By the way, Keith,” Lance started, still facing away from Keith. “If you ever need to talk about anything , I’m here for you. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but just keep it in mind, I’ve got  your back,” Lance said softly. Keith felt a rush of gratitude go through him, and he returned a quiet thanks, full of emotion.

Keith picked some liquid eyeliner out of the bag, and held it up, studying it with a confused expression. “What the hell is this?” he asked.

“Eyeliner, duh. I thought you would know what it is, Shiro has it on all the time,” Lance explained with a shrug.

“I never noticed.” Keith said, staring at the small container. “How the hell do you use it?”

“You literally user it to line your eyes. Watch some tutorials, or better yet… I heard there’s a huge party next week, since it’s the seventeenth anniversary of Quiznak day, so I could totally, like, do it for you,” Lance suggested, trying to act nonchalant.

“What the fuck in that?” Keith asked again.

“Do you live under a rock ?” Lance asked, looking offended. “Quiznak day! Well you know Shiro’s girlfriend Allura? Her uncle’s this dude named Coran who came here as an exchange student from Altea Uni, and at the last day of his stay, there was a huge part, and somehow, the next morning, there was ‘Quiznak’ written on everyone’s foreheads, everyone’s doors, just everywhere ! And everyone knew it was from this Coran guy, because he didn’t curse or swear, he just used this work, Quiznak, but he was gone and he became a fucking legend ! There’s a senior dorm with the original Quiznak on it, it was framed, and I’m saving up for it. That dude is my fucking- excuse me, I meant Quiznak-ing idol!” Lance eagerly explained to Keith, his eyes shining in admiration.

“Coran’s cool. He’s just a little weird. He has a mustache and he’s a very good doctor. He does a lot everything. He told me that he also builds and fixes cars and machines, he programs computers, and he cooks, too.”Keith told Lance, whose eyes got wider and wider with every word he heard from Keith.

“You know him?!” the brunette yelled. Suddenly, he sniffed the air. “Fuck, Keith. You distracted me, m’dude! Well looks like that omelette is charcoal now,” he threw the pan into the sink and turned the tap, letting water run over the pan, making it sizzle loudly. “Well, let’s get tacos then! My mom used to make great Tacos! Of course, no one will make Tacos like mi madre (my mother), but tacos are still tacos!” Lance beamed.

“ Por supuesto (of course),” Keith mumbled, his own spanish broken and unaccented.

Lance went back to his phone for a moment and after about two minutes of tapping and mumbling, he looked up with a smile. “First of all, the tacos are on their way, and second of all, you need to learn spanish. That was the whitest Por supuesto I have ever heard!” Lance barely got out, laughing too hard.

“I have a spanish movie, wanna watch it?” Keith asked bluntly, trying to act like he didn’t care while trying to hide a blush.

“What genre is it? Romance? I am such a hopeless romantic, I can’t even !” Lance exclaimed. Keith set the Sephora bag down on the dining table and walked to the living room, without an answer, where he started Thesis, a horror movie he had meant to watch for a while. He flopped onto the couch and was about to call Lance to watch the movie when the lanky Latino came in himself, with a heaping bowl of a mix of cheddar and caramel popcorn, two cokes, and a beautiful grin.

“So will I need to translate, or will there be subs?” Lance asked, flopping down beside Keith, the popcorn and drinks between them.

“Subs.” Keith picked up a coke and took a gulp, coughing a little as the carbon fizzed down his throat, and started the movies. Throughout the movie, Keith laughed as Lance shrieked, and about halfway through, there was a knock on the door, and Lance jumped, sending the empty popcorn bowl to the ground, and making Keith chuckle. “ los tacos estan aqui! (the tacos are here!)”Lance yelled happily, racing to the door. Keith paused the movie and waited for Lance to bring the food to the couch so they could resume the movie, this time with their tacos, Dr.Pepper, and churros. The rest of the movie went by with Lance overreacting to the cheesy plot and yelling with his mouth full, dropping churros to the floor, and yelling in Spanish while Keith tried not to laugh. The credits rolled by and Lance was looking at Keith in mock terror. “So you watch this shit alone ?”

“Yeah,” Keith answered.

“You’re so fucking weird ,” Lance commented.

“Cool. I’m gonna get hiiigh. Wanna join me?” Keith asked, to which Lance’s grin grew  wider. “I’m going to take that as a yes. I’ve got weed, it’s fresh and new, but I also have cocaine and the rest of the shit,” Keith explained, talking very seriously. Lance’s face grew serious as well as he spoke.

“Keith. It would mean a lot to me if you let me share with you your sacred pile of good stuff .” They both burst out laughing, and Lance put away the dishes while Keith disappeared into his room and came back moments later with a small black box.

“Weed and cocaine. No offence, but you seem like the guy who doesn’t unwind often, so don’t want you to get effed up, do we?” Keith asked distractedly as he fiddled with the lock on the box and open it open. “Get ready for a good time, Lance,” Keith told him with a smile.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time Skip to next morning

“Holy shit!” Lance woke up with a pale, mulleted, figure hovering over him. “What the actual flip are you doing , Keith?!” he yelled, waiting for an explanation.

“You’re in my bed,” Keith scowled, running a hand through that raven mullet. Lance looked around to see a dimly lit room flooded with textbooks and posters and clothes. His face went from his normal tan color to a fire hydrant red in a matter of seconds as he realized what could have happened.

“Holy shit, did we…” Lance trailed off, not daring to complete his question. Keith smiled slightly.

“Luckily, no. You ended up on my bed, and I was outside in the hall. I think we got really fucked up last night. I got McDonalds for breakfast, though, so let’s eat,” Keith told Lance, pointing towards the kitchen.

“So, dude, you’re gay, right?” Lance asked as casually as he could.

“How did you know? But yeah, I am,” Keith answered with a glance toward the brunettes direction.

“I saw the magazines on your floor,” Lance replied with a smirk. “Nice choice by the way. Wrestlers are hot.”

“Well, I’ve heard enough about you to know that you are bi and notorious for ‘sleeping around’,” Keith shot back as he settled into a chair and pulled out a hash brown from his bag.

“So you don’t have classes today, do you?” Lance asked, wincing as he felt a headache, probably from killing his brain cells, probably from a lack of sleep.

“They’re all this evening. I know you don’t have classes, so how about some more horror movies?” Keith suggested, staring intently into his hash brown.

“Sure, why not,” Lance hid his blush by looking into his own bag, smiling at himself.