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Keith’s mom was a military, so he could never be sure of long he would stay at one place. He had cried for days the last time they moved, because he wouldn’t see the friends he made there anymore. Soon enough, he managed to have new friends and was happy again. He even bonded with the neighbors’ son that was a little older than him.
That morning, he had prepared a bag of extra clothes because he would stay the weekend at his friend Lance’s place. He was super excited and impatient for the classes to come to an end. So excited they both almost got into trouble for not paying attention in class.
When the bell rang the end of school, they both were almost jumping up in joy. They walked to the entrance of the elementary school, where Lance’s big sisters waited for them. They all went home and both boys jumped on the bed while giggling. It was big enough for two 8 years old to sleep comfortably together.
“Mijos! Snacks are ready!” called Lance’s mom from downstairs.
They promptly went down, finding freshly baked cookies and milk at the table. They happily munched on the chocolate chips cookies, Rachel and Veronica facing them.
Mama McClain told them she hoped they would at least start their homeworks so they would have the next evenings completely free. With a loud sigh, they agreed and got to work once the snacks done. They took a good hour to make their brains fume over math and some other subjects before they were allowed to enjoy their evening.
Lance threw his textbooks and supplies in his school bag and ran to the small furniture where an old TV stood with a couple game stations plugged in.
“What do you wanna play?”
Keith was as quick to throw his school things away and looked at the small collection of games there. He took out one they loved to play together, a race game. Lance placed the CD in the console, gave Keith a controller and they spent the next hour playing, screaming in victory or outrage, laughing a lot and raging over a certain circuit in space where their carts would fall down.
Once tired of this game, Lance decided to change it for a game he wasn’t exactly supposed to play with. A horror game that had made him curious. Of course, being 8 and the game not recommended under 16, they scream at the first jumpscare. Veronica came to see what was going on and he looked at her with some fear. She saw the screen, and the game playing, and smirked at him.
“Need some help?”
He stretched his arm and the controller to her. She took it with that same smirk on her face, sat between them on the floor and started a new game. They were positively scared but so interested and curious. She talked while playing, making the atmosphere a little less scary. Every once in a while, something would make them jump and hide their face in the older girl’s arms or back. She laughed at them, reassuring them there was no need to be afraid.
She only played for about 20 minutes before she heard their father coming home and reminded Lance they would both be in trouble if he saw them playing that horror game. Quickly, he changed the CD for some platformer game.
The evening passed quickly after that. Lance fought with his sis for the controller, they were called for dinner, ate the delicious spanish food mama McClain had prepared, watched tv with Lance’s family then played just a little more of that race game. Until papa McClain told them it was time for bed. Reluctantly, they finished the race and turned the gaming station off and went to bed after brushing their teeth. They each got a kiss on the forehead from mama McClain and were expected to be good boys and got to sleep.
Of course not.
They whispered to each other for a long time, talking about school; the art teacher and his weird smelling breath, the girls crushing over Keith, their strategy for winning the next dodgeball match in PE and such.
“Maybe you can come back next week-end? Marco said he will get this new scary game and that we could watch if mama and papa are not home on friday night.” whispered Lance.
“I really want to! I’ll ask my dad.” he whispered back.
Only a little while later, during their planning for tomorrow, they fell asleep.
Saturday went on pretty quickly. They finished their homeworks and were allowed to play all afternoon. Between some other games of racing, taking their bikes to ride around the neighborhood, watching a DVD with Rachel and Luis, the afternoon was over before they could even realize it. Then, sunday came.
As they were eating breakfast, someone rang the doorbell. Luis was already standing, so he went to open the door. Keith saw Shiro with his parents at the door and wondered what was going on. Quickly, Shiro approached him and asked if he could go talk to him in private. They walked up to Lance’s room and Keith was a little afraid.
“What’s going on?”
Shiro’s face was like he never saw before. He looked sad, and serious in a bad way. The older boy put a knee down and took Keith’s shoulders with his hands.
“Keith… I’m very sorry but… your mom called us this morning. Something terrible happened.”
Keith’s world was about to crumble down. Shiro explained to him that last night, his dad had been on fireman duty. There was a fire, he tried to go back in to save a few last people. But he never came out of the burning building. The 14 years old told him, with tears in his eyes, that his dad was dead. He took Keith in his arms and hugged him tightly as the boy tried to deny it, started to scream and call for his dad.
At the dining table, everyone was silent. They had been filled in by Shiro’s parents. And Lance, tears coming in his eyes, dashed to his room before anyone could stop him. He stopped to spot Keith and Shiro, then ran to them and hugged Keith’s shoulders as well. Both boys cried loudly. How could they enjoy the rest of sunday when Keith had just lost his dad?
As if it wasn’t hard enough, Keith suddenly moved away. Without his father to look after him, he couldn’t stay there all alone. Krolia managed to find a little condo provided by her job and Keith moved to her current location only a month later. He was so shook that he barely talked. The moment to go had come, and Lance was hugging him like he would turn to dust if he let go.
“Promise you’ll never forget me! Because I’ll never forget you, Keith!”
“Never forget! I’ll never forget you, Lance!”
They cried some more before Keith climbed into the car taking him to his mom. He watched by the window until he couldn’t see Lance anymore, when the cuban boy couldn’t run after the car anymore. Keith looked at the notebook Lance had made for him, drawing them with lots of stars and small hearts under a sunny day. He wasn’t even out of the city yet, but he already missed Lance like it had been forever.
Krolia was driving, the streets slowly coming back in her memory; still the same for most, some changed direction, others expended and others got more traffic objects than should be necessary.
“Mom, could you hurry?”
As she came to a stop at a red light, she spared a look to Keith in the passenger seat.
“Relax, son. We’ll be there in 5 minutes at most.”
The light turned green, and she patiently waited for the cars in front of her to start. Keith groaned, his legs twitching again and again. He was so nervous, obviously.
“I really loved this city. I really wish we could have stayed here 4 years ago.”
“We didn’t…” he said in a sigh.
She used her blinker to turn right, making sure to have a look outside her window so no bicycle would surprise her.
“Do you think… he remembers me?”
Krolia patted her son’s head without looking away from the road, messing with his hair a little.
“Like Lance could forget about you! You were his best friend!”
“But we lost contact.”
Keith looked down, as far as Krolia’s peripheral vision could tell. She frowned a little. Lance’s number had been lost somewhere during the move, and however hard Keith had tried to remember, he never found the right number from memory. Keith had cried for days and stopped eating. As if the loss of his father wasn’t enough! And with his emotions all over the place, Keith got into trouble. She knew why. He felt lonely, away from everything he knew, in a place that he didn’t like. If she could have, she would have dropped everything to take him away, on some vacations, to brighten his mood. Thankfully, her camarades were great and made sure he had his head on his shoulders. She would forever thank Ulaz and Thace for making sure her boy was looked after. They were honorary uncles to Keith now.
Krolia heard the gasp when they entered the street. She slowed the car, watching with Keith the house they were passing. The one where he last saw his dad. The house that had been theirs. It was occupied by some other family, of course. She patted his shoulder and continue down the road. Two streets down, she turned right again and Keith started to drop down his seat.
“Straighten yourself. We’re almost there.”
She wasn’t surprised when he answered.
“I don’t wanna go anymore…”
Of course, he suddenly got second thoughts. Ulaz and Thace hyped him up before they left, but obviously, the nervousness came back. She stopped and parked just a few meters from the house they had planned to go to. She put her hands on the wheel and her chin on her hands.
“You tell me we drove for 2 hours for you to chicken out at the last second… I’m pretty sure you are braver than that.”
Keith groaned in annoyance. She laughed under her breath. He was like his dad, not a coward but a little nervous when things were serious. She clicked her safety belt open and looked at him. She smiled in encouragement and he clicked his belt as well. He sighed deeply and looked at his mom, panic slowly crawling in his eyes.
“What if he doesn’t want to see me?”
She kept a neutral expression. But inside, she feared it could happen. Keith would be broken again if Lance rejected him. She was tired of seeing her son sad, crying and incapable of dealing with his emotions. So, she smiled at him and bend over to hug him.
“You won’t know until you go there and ring the bell. I’ll stay in the car if you want.”
“N-no! Hum… you can come with me?”
She nodded and they got out of the car. A quick click on her car keys, securing their vehicule, and he was walking with her to the front door. She noticed how he held his arms, a way to give him courage. When he looked at her before ringing the bell, she hoped she would not have to get her crying son in the car. They heard voices inside and Keith stiffened.
The door opened, and Keith recognized Veronica. Her hair was longer but she had the same glasses and blue eyes he remembered. She gasped when she saw him and he dropped his head a little.
“H-hi, Veronica. Is… Is Lance there?”
Her mouth was wide opened for a few seconds, then she turned around and yelled in spanish. He heard Lance’s name and jerked a little. This was it!
Quick footsteps went down the stairs and once at the bottom, Lance noticed him. And stopped, dead in his tracks. His eyes widened at the sight of Keith. His hair had gotten a little bit longer, he had a few freckles on his nose and cheeks from his new tan and he looked just as much of a troublemaker as before. Keith himself had not changed much. His hair was longer, he was a bit taller but otherwise, he was still him.
Would Lance like that? Or was he the friend that left and that Lance wanted nothing to do with?
Lance mumbled something, his lips moving but no clear sound coming out. Until he called.
“K-Keith?”
The black haired felt his eyes sting. He nodded a couple of times. He just wanted an answer, right now. Because his heart was about to burst out.
Lance jerked, back and forth, then he dashed to the door and almost tackled Keith to the ground. He would have, if Krolia didn’t catch them in her arms. Lance was hugging Keith so tightly it almost hurt.
“Where have you been?! I was so worried about you!! Why didn’t you call?! I thought you hated me!!”
Keith moved his arms to hug back without even being conscious of it. He put his head on Lance’s shoulder, a sob coming from his mouth.
“I lost your number and couldn’t remember it… I wanted to call you, so many times!! But I… I… I thought you would hate me after so long… You’re my best friend!”
Krolia noticed they were both crying and hugged them tenderly. The noises had, of course, made the rest of the family gather at the door. She saw Lance’s mom with a hand on her heart, looking about to shed a tear herself.
“Do you want to come inside? It’s too hot today to stay in the sun.” asked Lance’s dad with a hand on his wife’s shoulder.
Krolia took the boys in her strong arms, making them gasp a little and the rest of Lance’s family laugh. Once they were a little settled with a cool glass of water, the parents got curious.
“It’s been 4 years since the last time we saw you.” commented Lance’s dad.
“Yeah, it has been too long. Especially for this one.” Krolia said while brushing some bangs out of Keith’s face.
“Are you staying for the weekend?” asked Mama McClain.
Krolia took a gulp of water and smiled happily.
“No. Not at all. We’re moving back here.”
Lance looked at her with huge eyes and an big open mouth.
“For real?!”
“Yes! We’ll be settled a little further than last time, but I’m sure you two won’t mind too much.”
She, of course, meant Lance and Keith. The brown haired gasped, long and loud, then he turned to Keith and hugged him again. Good thing that Keith’s glass was on the table and not in his hands. Lance then looked up at Krolia, something shining in his blue eyes.
“Say, ma’am? You and Keith are staying forever now, right?”
She made a grimace then a sorry smile.
“I can’t promise it’s forever, but I will try to keep us here.”
Both boys smiled widely, and Lance hugged Keith more.
“So can I be Keith’s fiancé now?”
The room fell silent, Lance looked worried and Keith blushed like mad. Krolia’s mouth opened on nothing, no sound nor words. She glanced at mama McClain, they exchanged a look.
“Lance… do you know what ‘fiancé’ means?”
“Yeah, of course! Luis got fianced to Lisa last winter and they are getting married in september!”
So he did understand… Krolia leaned her forearm on the table with a smirk.
“So, are you saying you want to marry Keith?”
“Yeah! Yeah, I wanna!”
And it took all her self-control to not just burst out in laughter at this moment. Because Lance looked so sure and determined, holding onto Keith like he would go away if he let go. Then again, he must think marrying Keith was the only way for them to be together forever.
“Lance, mijo, you are too young to marry anyone.” said his mama sweetly.
“I don’t care, I can wait!”
She looked back at Krolia with a worried expression. Luis got up and put a big hand on the boy’s head.
“Have you asked Keith if he wants to marry you? You can’t decide that for him.” he explained in a brotherly tone.
Lance gasped loudly and looked back at his friend. Keith was red like a tomato and avoided to look at his blue eyes. The brown haired unwrapped his arms from the other’s body and suddenly looked very unsure. Keith made a sound from his throat.
“I’m OK with it. I’ll marry Lance when we’re grown ups.”
The parents looked at little concerned, while the siblings started to laugh at full volume. Lance leaned to Keith and put a small peck on his cheek. It was so cute. Krolia looked at the McClain parents with a helpless expression, that they seemed to mirror.
Their 12 years old sons were basically engaged. What were parents to do in this situation?