Chapter Text
Shiro jumped a mile, the book he’d been reading tumbling out of his hands as his head snapped towards the entrance to the living room although that wasn’t where the ruckus was coming from.
The door slamming shut had to be Hunk and Lance’s.
“YOU ASSHOLE!”
Shiro sat still as feet stormed down the narrow hall and Lance appeared in the intersection between the bathroom, the entrance and the living room area.
The tan boy was red in the face, a grimace of pure fury contorting it as he stomped in place for a second before turning to look at whoever was coming running down the hall.
“Geez calm down.” It was Keith but Shiro could not see him. Who he did see instead were Hunk and Pidge coming out of the kitchen looking both alarmed and curious and Shiro only understood all too well.
In three months, they had never heard Lance shout like this, never had heard him cuss like this not even when he and Keith got into some sort of spat over who had actually or technically won that round of Mario Kart.
But Shiro could tell that this was different. The very air around their new roommate was static and hot and Shiro could feel ire that was not his seep in through his skin.
Lance was breathing heavily, hands balled into fists. His knuckles were beginning to turn white from it.
“You had no fucking right! Who even asked you!”
They all watched and waited, unable to guess what this was about. They’d been doing their own things on this lazy Saturday, one of the few where Lance did not have to work any shifts for once. But one look at him had sufficed to unanimously decide that pushing him to go out to town would be nothing short of cruel.
It also had left the air stale with frustration and worry.
“I don’t get it.” And Keith did indeed sound upset in the way he always did when he was having a hard time understanding what he was missing. “It’s not like they didn’t know already-“
“THAT’S THE FUCKING POINT!” Lance’s voice was shrill, painful to listen to and making them all wince. “THEY DIDN’T AND YOU JUST HAD TO RUN YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH AND-“
“Lance!”
Shiro didn’t know when he had gotten up suddenly but whatever this was about it had to stop soon. He could not think of Keith doing anything that warranted this amount of animosity.
Blue eyes turned to him, their anger not diminishing just because it was Shiro he was now facing. It occurred to him that the student had to be beyond reasoning at this point but he had to try anyway.
“Look” he began and already Lance rolled his eyes, glowering at the floorboards next to the rows of shoes, arms crossed and shoulders hunched “whatever this is about you have to calm down.”
It was the wrong thing to say.
“Shut up!”
He was taken aback by the sheer viciousness as was everybody else apparently.
“Woah, Lance calm down.” Hunk sounded reproachful, coming up beside Shiro with Pidge in tow, her face drawn into a frown.
Keith fast approached, grabbing Lance by the bicep, actually shaking him.
“Hey, if you’re angry with me, fine, but leave Shiro out of this.”
His advance had startled Lance but not long enough to make him forget about his anger, pushing at Keith, the black haired teen instantly letting go.
“You” and Lance sounded like he was ready to actually attack him “don’t get to act all high and mighty when you cannot mind your own goddamn business!”
“What’s going on with you two anyway?”
Pidge looked ready to fight and Shiro wanted to diffuse the situation as fast as possible.
Lance’s mouth snapped shut so fast that Shiro could hear his teeth click against each other.
It only now seemed to dawn on him that they had an audience. He shrank back, all of that anger and self-righteousness waning as if ripped away by a tidal wave, revealing something akin to shame .
They stared at him, not having expected that kind of reaction but Keith’s eyes narrowed.
“I get it now.”
His voice was low and Lance positively flinched, head turning so fast Shiro could feel his own muscles protest. His blue eyes were wide and wary.
“You never told your family you were studying while working two jobs.”
The way Lance’s shoulders stiffened, the way he glared at Keith, reminded Shiro of a cat with its fur bristled.
Keith gave a whistle and it was strange in so far as Shiro knew that it was what his little brother did when he was actually solving a puzzle and figuring something out.
“So that’s why-“
“Yeah, that’s why she fucking shouted at me! No shit Sherlock!”
In a flash, the anger was back, the Latino turning and grabbing his jacket and sneakers, ready to storm out of the door.
“Woah!”
He caught Lance’s elbow, the young man stilling but making no move whatsoever to turn around and face them.
Shiro did not even bother with nicety any longer, cutting right to the heart of the matter.
“Don’t you think you are being unfair?”
Under his hand, he could feel muscles and tendons shift as Lance balled his hand into a fist.
“They were not supposed to know.” The words came out pressed and hard; it was difficult to understand them but for some reason, Shiro always could somehow read between the lines with Lance. It had become a common joke within their circle of friends. But Shiro knew that it was mostly owed to the fact that, despite their many differences, he and Lance had a lot in common – more than Shiro would have liked.
“And how were we supposed to?” He knew Lance understood he was not referencing to his two jobs but to the fact that Lance had expected any of them to know he had lied to his family. Because that’s the picture Shiro was starting to piece together.
Lance jerked his arm out of his grasp, still refusing to look at them, lowering himself to slip on his sneakers wordlessly.
“Are you seriously running away?”
Shiro closed his eyes. He had no idea how his hands did not end up in a praying gesture. Lance’s glare was venomous as he looked back at Keith.
“So what!”
He stomped his feet, giving a frustrated growl as the cuff scrunched up in a way that looked uncomfortable.
“Well,” Hunk came forward; passing Shiro and the man was surprised at how displeased the usually easy-going engineer came off with his big arms crossed over his chest. Not even the pinkish apron did anything about diminishing his overall intimidating aura, “why don’t you man up and face your problems?”
It was completely unexpected, or at least it was to Lance: the challenging glare, the no-nonsense tone. If, secretly, Shiro weren’t agreeing with Hunk he might have felt sorry for Lance. But honestly, they were all starting to get to that point where enough was enough.
“What do you mean?” Lance’s voice was cautious, gauging their reactions carefully as he clutched harder at his jacket still dangling in his grasp. It did not seem like he would back down on his own stance without a fight, making Shiro all the more nervous about the argument that could be delayed no longer. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
That did not mean he had to like it.
Hunk unwound his arms so fast that he almost hit Shiro in the face, giving a very deep and drawn-out grunt filled with exasperation.
“You know, the whole point of this moving together was to actually help, remember?” Even as Lance looked away, his mouth tugged down into an unhappy frown, Hunk went on. “And I mean, yeah, you may no longer be looking like ‘death warmed over’ but that’s little less reassuring than ‘overworked zombie’.”
Lance’s nose scrunched up in anger thinly veiled distaste at the comment about his appearance, glowering at Hunk through his eyelashes. It was strange to see him so subdued with Hunk when he had had little qualms about screaming into Keith’s face.
“I have to do it. My family shouldn’t have to –“
“Bullshit!”
Despite her voice being nothing like Hunk’s in depth or intensity, Pidge’s shout was fierce and fearsome, making all of them take a step back. She stood ram-rod straight, shaking with her own brand of fury and this time Shiro did feel bad for Lance.
Pidge, when angered, could be a force of nature – unstoppable and devastating.
She went up to Lance jabbing her finger into his sternum so hard it made all of them wince, Lance’s hands coming up to protect his chest as she persisted.
“Let me guess? You promised your family you would concentrate on your studies, didn’t you? And don’t even try to deny it- I can see that you’re about to!”
Lance’s mouth shut before he had even really opened it, staring at Pidge with apprehension as she continued her rant.
“And, yeah I guess it’s pretty hard, but what fucking good will it do if you fail your classes because you’re struggling to get from one job to the next? You’re always on about how hard it is to keep up with homework and stuff, constantly complain about how much you hate working at that stupid coffee-shop and never stop bitching about how much of a hassle it’s to get from one part of town to the next, about how tired you always are. Well, newsflash! That won’t change as long as you don’t do something about it!”
Through it all, Shiro worried as Lance’s face took on a stony expression, making it impossible to know what he might be feeling or thinking. He had never seen him this impassive and it was scary. Pidge was starting to breathe hard but it was clear she had yet to run out of steam.
“And I hate it every time you raincheck any kind of activity we had planned. It’s been like this for weeks and it’s starting to get annoying especially when you start making promises about ‘next time’, scrambling to get everything done, only to be overworked and tired and excusing yourself and trying to get me or everyone else to put it off for another day, for another week, for another month for Pete’s sake!”
Finally, it seemed like she had reached her limit, her whole frame weighed down by something desolate. Her voice, so strong and heated mere seconds ago, suddenly turned to something much quieter.
“I just…”, she took a deep breath, sounding as tired as Lance actually looked, “Why are you doing this to yourself? I don’t get it. I understand you want to help your family but… is this really the only way? Can’t you quit that stupid barista job and just work more shifts at that pizza place if you have to? At least, Anita treats you like an actual human being.” The next words seemed to cause her physical pain as she pressed them out but they conveyed pretty well what all of them were feeling at this point. “I hate to see you always being on the brink of exhaustion. I hate how you never get to do anything that’s not related to work or college. Hate how you often come back from that Starcoffee place looking like you’re about to cry. And I hate how you always refuse our help. I hate it.”
Shiro was glad that Pidge allowed him to put an arm around her shoulders and let her lean into him, the rant having taken a lot out of her.
There was no indication whatsoever as to what Lance was thinking, not even the frown on his face could be safely pinned as a displeased or thoughtful one.
They stood, waiting and watching and hoping that Lance would say something, anything.
His lips drew into a thin line before he turned around and went out the door without another word, leaving them all standing in the hallway.
He wished Hunk didn’t point out that this had been a total disaster.