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Keith Kogane had absolutely nothing to be proud of in his 20 years of life. To be honest, he couldn’t care less that he lived in his older brother’s basement and had no job. It bothered the hell out of his Shiro, his older brother, for some reason. He always went out of his way to bring up Keith not having a job in every single conversation. It was getting a little annoying, but that wasn’t the reason Keith was in his brother’s car going to his first day of work. At the library. The reason Keith was in his brother’s car on the way to the library (for his first day of work) was because he was bored. It was all his decision to get the job Shiro threatening to kick him out had absolutely nothing to do with it. “I’m not doing this to punish you Keith. You’re a grown man for goodness sake get a grip on reality,” Shiro said softly as he turned down the road the library was on. Keith had never actually been inside of Altea library. What was the point of a library if there’s internet? Keith gave the library two more years before it shut down at best. Shiro didn’t really appreciate that comment. “Then why are you doing it?” Keith asked messing around with the fancy buttons on the car door. If it was up to Keith he would just leave one button to move the window up and down. He could really wreck some shit with all these useless buttons. That was if he wanted to, of course. “Because you’re 20 years old and you haven’t worked a day in your life. It wouldn’t hurt to make a few friends either.” The car stopped abruptly and Keith avoided looking up at his brother. Shiro let out a long sigh and probably rubbed his eyes. “I have friends. It’s called the internet you should try it.” Keith unbuckled his seatbelt quickly and was about to open the door before the click of the lock sounded through the car. He hit his head on the window with a groan. It was time for a lecture… “Keith, I love you. I love you so much okay?” Shiro said it more like a question then a statement. “Matt works here you love Matt. Pidge hangs out here all the time too.” “Those are your friends.” “You can’t keep making friends on the internet. You need human conversation and contact. Living in my basement is fine I’ve told you that and I’ve been tolerating it because I know what happened to mom and dad is still-” “This has nothing to do with mom and dad. It never had anything to do with them. It’s not your fault either accept it I just don’t care. You care because you’re the older brother and you feel like since mom and dad are gone it’s your job to take care of me or something. Just stop pretending to be dad.”“Akira seriously that’s enough. You’re going to work here for at least two weeks. If you quit before that two weeks is up you’re out of the house and that’s that. If you want me to stop taking care of you fine. Walk to work these two weeks, make your own dinner, and pay me rent.” Shiro got out of the car before Keith could challenge him on anything. There was no way he was going to make it two weeks. When Keith finally exited the car he saw the library for the first time. It was practically falling apart. It was nothing Shiro said it was. The great library was honestly one of the trashiest things Keith had ever seen in his life. He really really didn’t want to work here. When he pushed passed the too heavy doors music filled his ear. Fucking Daddy Yankee blasting. Shiro was behind the front desk already typing something on the computer he looked up at Keith with a soft apologetic smile. “You’re going to be working upstairs in the children's section. The books are easy to sort you barely have to do anything ever so.” Shiro put on of his hands on Keith’s shoulder squeezing tightly for a second. “Ready?”“I don’t have a choice. We’ve already been through this.” Shiro sighed dramatically. There was a few seconds were neither said anything as Shiro let his brother scan the books. It was the most basic thing Keith had ever seen just rows of books a few couches and one large fireplace with chairs around it. “This is so boring.”“Okay loser this is the adult section of course it’s boring. Allura, Keith’s here!” Shiro yelled loudly. A few seconds later a girl with bright white hair and sparkling blue eyes came bustling over quickly going straight for Keith.“Keith!” She yelled pulling him into a hug. Keith felt his entire body tense up. When she finally peeled her body off of his she clasped her hands and started heading for the long staircase that lead to the second floor. Shiro followed along dragging Keith behind him. There was a mantra repeating don’t do it in Keith’s head, but as he made it to the top of the stairs and finally viewed the other part of the library he couldn’t help but be amazed. All the bookshelves were, of course, smaller height wise, but everything was so damn colorful. There were coloring pages taped all over the walls barely letting the chipped baby blue paint show through. Unlike the downstairs’ basic furniture the upstairs was covered in amazing places where the kids could read. On one end there was a huge castle with ladders and bridges running between two towers. The other side had a huge rocket ship with a swirly slide and fireman's pole. There was a large platform connected to the ship with a wooden fence closing it in. There was also people on that platform on computers. “Kids!” Shiro yelled. Four heads shot up. Keith was definitely not an expert on kids, but he knew for a fact that those four people were not kids. Two of them he knew to be Pidge and Matthew Holt he hadn’t seen them in years. Literal years. Keith tried to turn back to go down the stairs, but was stopped by Shiro who quickly caged him in with a hand on each shoulder. “Keith, oh my God!” Matt screamed excitedly jumping off the side of the tan platform landing perfectly on the ground. He practically ran over to the group pulling Keith into his second hug in the past fifteen minutes. This was horrible already. When Keith and Shiro were in high school Keith was a freshman was Shiro was a senior with Matt. Pidge, Matt’s younger sister was in eighth grade at the time having skipped a few grades. Shiro and Matt were best friends which by default left Keith and Pidge to become best friends because, trust Keith, Pidge was the best. They barely ever talked to each other. While Shiro and Matt were hanging out in Shiro’s room Keith and Pidge would be playing video games in the living room. There was no better arrangement. “Dude it’s been two years, where’ve ya been!”“In his basement obviously!” Pidge was suddenly there holding out her fist for a bump. Keith was glad Pidge hated physical contact as much as he did. “I’ve been keeping up with you’re webshow Keith keep up the good work.” Wow. Why wouldn’t Pidge know about his webshow. It was about cryptids and had years worth of cringy blackmail on it. “I’m the techy here so when you need to hack Shiro’s phone shoot me a text.” Keith grinned and punched her on the shoulder lightly. The two others on the platform still hadn’t moved when Keith looked up.“Lance! Hunk! Come on boys,” Allura called to the last two who both stood up slowly. Keith remembered Hunk from high school. He had been in one or two of his classes over the years and was best friends with Pidge. He looked super apologetic as he used the fireman's pole slowly hobbling over to where the group stood. The lankier kid had also used the fireman’s pole, but was going down unbelievably slow. “Seriously Lance.” So this was Lance. He was the only one Keith didn’t know. “Sorry Lance was showing me a video there was a few seconds left,” Hunk chuckled scratching the back of his neck with one hand while holding his other hand out for Keith to shake. Another hug avoided. Keith shook his hand and nodded his head.“It’s fine man. It’s good to see you.”“Yeah! Dude I missed you so much! I’m the barista here so whenever you need anything to eat or drink there’s like a Starbucks downstairs I’ll let you have five free drinks.” Hunk let go of his hand with a winkas Lance joined them. Lance had his arms crossed tightly across his chest, and made no effort to say hi to Keith. “This is my brother, Lance,” Allura spoke up softly. “You’re going to be working up here with him, so try to make nice with him. He’s easy to get along with just annoying.” Allura grinned as Lance finally let some sort of smile out.. “Hey, Keith my dude it’s been a hot second,” Lance finally held his hand out for Keith to take. He didn’t remember this kid for a second. Part of Keith actually thought that the other guy looked like he was still in high school. Keith took his hand to shake it firmly. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember you.” Lance pulled his hand back quickly his face flashing in pain for a second before he looked calm again. Pidge and Hunk looked at Lance quickly with a strange expression before looking to each other. “That’s fine we’re going to be working together now, so you’ll get to know me.” Lance winked placing his hands on his hips. Keith could feel his cheeks heating up slightly. “Okay team, this is Keith’s first day so lets try to keep it uneventful. We want him to come back tomorrow, don’t we?” Allura said clapping her hands loudly.They collectively said yes boss before splitting up. Shiro gave Keith one more soft smile before heading to the stairs. Finally the only people standing in their now non existent circle was Lance who retreated back to his arms crossed position. “We open in about ten minutes my dude so I’m going to go over the basic things. We’re not that busy at eight in the morning in November, but since it’s Monday we get to go through all of the books dropped on the weekend. This is a full time job, the people you met just now that’s all there is here. We don’t operate weekends so all the books dropped off on the weekends we sort before everyone comes on Monday. A lot of kids books.” Lance went through a lot quickly all while moving around the library to various baskets. “So how does the system work?” “Well, everything is color coded so the books with green on the side go in the green section. There’s really no more order then that unless it’s a series. If it’s a series I would try to put it all in order because then the moms get pissed. “That’s pretty simple.” “Yep!” Lance yelled loudly popping his p. “Here’s your first basket. Go loose.” He had seven baskets to complete by the end of the day. Lance had 12, but Keith didn’t say anything about it. They were doing the same job and getting paid the same why should he speak up? Lance, on the other hand, felt it was completely necessary to help Keith with whatever he may be struggling with. Keith understood that it was his first day and Lance had the right to worry about his precious books, but he was getting smothered. It was noon when Keith almost finally said something about the smothering. He was approaching Lance who was stacking away his fifth basket before a little kid came up and tugged on his shirt. He turned to look down at her with a smile. “How’s my little Sophie today?” Lance asked cradling the giggling girl in one arm while organizing books with the other. If Keith was a good nice worker he would’ve gone over there and offered to take the basket or at least stopped listening on their conversation. “Mama dropped me off a bit ago!” Sophie smiled widely. “I was hanging out with auntie, but she told me to come annoy you.” Keith really needed to stop listening in on the conversation. Obviously Keith realized she was probably a close friend of Lance’s. “Autie ‘Lurra is always right, and you’re always wrong. That’s what she taught me.” “Well Auntie Allura is a bitch. Never trust her Love.” “Thats a bad word uncle Lance.” Keith was trying not to focus on the two and ignored the rest of their conversation. Lance still worked as the girl stayed by his side. At first Keith believed Lance didn’t care only because the girl, Sophie, happened to be his niece, but as the day went on and more children flocked to Lance Keith realized it was just because he was Lance. When Lance was on his 12th and final basket he had 5 kids around him asking him thousands of questions. Keith was only on his fifth basket at three in the afternoon, and no kids were around him. He didn’t want any kids around him. “Hey, do you wanna sit and listen to the story with us?” Keith looked down to see Sophie looking up at him. She had brilliant blue eyes, and when Keith looked over to Lance he found the same blue eyes trained on him carefully. Lance must’ve asked Sophie to come over and ask Keith. It had to be a trick Keith still had so much work to do today. Lance totally asked his niece to come over here to make sure Keith kept kept working. “Um sorry maybe next time. I have a lot of work to do right now,” Keith muttered trying to be kind to the girl. Her face fell almost instantly as she looked back at Lance then to Keith. “He said maybe next time Soph come back over here I’ll let you pick out the first book.”---------- Seven couldn’t come faster. More kids arrived and left throughout the day, but as Lance continued to read more kids joined his little group. Some kids knew Lance screaming out hellos to both Lance and the kids who were already there. Others were obviously shy and sat on the outside of the carpet listening silently. Before long Lance would let the new kids pick out the next book and said hello to them. There were very few cases of new kids and by seven everyone was giving Lance hugs and saying goodbye. Even Sophie had left telling Lance she’d see him at home in a couple hours. “Why didn’t you want to come read stories with us today?” Lance asked when they were finally the last people upstairs. “I had work to do.” Lance laughed loudly throwing his head back. “What’s so funny?” “Keith, it’s work, yes you need to do your job and sort the books and tell kids where the red books are, but have fun. You work in the children's section in a small town library these kids will grow up in this town and stay in this town for the rest of their lives. Their own kids will come here one day and, trust me, it’s amazing when you meet a new generation.” Lance talked with his hands on his hips as he surveyed the library. “I’m just here because my brother wanted me to do something with my life. After these two weeks are up I’m never coming back through those old broken doors.” Keith didn’t look back at Lance before he started going down the stairs.“Excuse me?”“I said after these two weeks are up I’m never coming back through those old. Broken. Doors.” Keith still didn’t look back at Lance. How stupid was this kid? He really thought that this little town library was important. He tried to befriend the kids just because if the kids stay he could meet their kids. That was selfish and an unbelieve waste of time.“Listen here dickmuncher, I’ve tried to be nice to you today. After all we’ve been through Keith I thought you would get mad at me or like get somewhat sad seeing me, but no you’re just a stupid dickmuncher! You forgot about me! Or you could be pretending I don’t exist! If you remember who I am yell at me or something please so you can stop being a dickmuncher for no dickmunching reason!” Lance was following him down the stairs quickly.“You’re an actual psychopath,” Keith whispered when he finally reached the bottom of the stairs. He whipped around to look at Lance, and was completely blown away at the sight. Lance had tears running down his cheeks his body almost shaking with quiet sobs. “I don’t know you!”“There goes Keith Kogane again. All high and mighty you are. I knew you were a bad person back then, but now, God.” Out of his peripheral Keith saw Shiro stand up from his desk. He made no effort to come closer to the fighting boys, but he had stood up. If the fight continued he would intervene. “You ruined my fucking life.” With that Lance turned quickly to where Allura’s office was disappearing through the door which he slammed. Hard.“Keith you haven’t even finished your first day. What the fuck did you do to him?”----- After a lot, and I mean a lot of talking with Shiro they came to the conclusion that Lance had him and some other person mixed up. Keith tried to think back to high school and everything that had happened over the four years, but he couldn’t remember anything about a boy named Lance. If he really did ruin this guy's entire fucking life he would remember for sure. “I’ve never seen Lance get so heated up about anyone. Anything for that matter,” Shiro muttered when they finally pulled into the driveway. Shiro’s house wasn’t small, but it wasn’t big enough that Keith could avoid his brother. “Do you want me to call Allura and ask her to ask Lance what you did?” “Ew no, why would you do that?” “Obviously to help you sweet brother who loves me dearly. You’re going to be working there for the next couple weeks and it’s going to be easier to get along with Lance. You’re going to be alone with him for-” “Yeah, for the next couple weeks I get it. I don’t think I’m going in tomorrow. Kick me out of your house I don’t care. I can’t stand another day with that asshole.” Shiro locked the doors so Keith couldn’t get out for the second time that day. “You’re going back tomorrow. You’re going to figure out why the nicest young man I’ve ever met hates you. You’re going to work there for two fucking weeks Keith. Be an adult about something for once in your life!” Shiro not only barely yelled at Keith, but he never swore at his brother. The second Shiro unlocked the door Keith was out storming into the house. He didn’t even leave the door open, but slammed it closed as hard as he could. It was eight when Keith finally got to his basement. Eight at night. The whole day was wasted sorting books and he had to do it all over again day after day. He opened his laptop and connected his webcam. “You’ll never fucking believe what happened to me today guys,” Keith said to the camera. His set-up wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t trashy. Keith used a good old MacBook air that his parents bought him for high school graduation and a webcam he stole from the school junior year when someone on the yearbook committee pissed him off. He had a nice little desk with a comfortable spinning chair. It was about the fifth time Pidge came over when they stated Keith should start a little webshow. So he did. “I started work today actual work. It was the library where Shiro works. I work upstairs and let me tell you it’s the coolest library I’ve seen in my life it’s super beat up, but they have climbers inside!” Keith took a deep breath grabbing on of his fidget cubes to mess around with while he talked. “There’s just this guy there. He’s super annoying and he super hates me. I only have to work there two weeks then Shiro says I can quit.” Keith talked about other things mainly focusing on the library. He apologized for letting the stream be so short and happening so late promising that in two weeks he’ll do a celebratory all day stream of doing nothing. It would be great. As Keith closed out of the streaming tab he sat back and soaked in the quiet. All that could be heard in the house was the soft buzz of the T.V and Shiro walking from the kitchen to the living room. Keith normally joined him, but since Shiro yelled at him he decided it wouldn’t be the best idea. All that was left to do was sleep, but if he slept he would have to wake up and go back to the library. Fuck it. ----- “Hi I’m Leandro! You can call me Leo,” The boy said with a blinding smile holding out his hand for Keith to shake. This was the prettiest boy Keith had ever seen. Leo had a round face with square glasses framing sparking blue eyes. He had groups freckles across the bridge of his nose and around his dimpled cheeks. His caramel skin shined with a halo of curly dark chocolate hair. He was a fucking angel and Keith needed to be his best friend (or lover). Now “Hey, I’m Keith nice to meet you,” Keith replied his voice wavering. Leo just smiled at him widely. It was junior year and Keith was invited over to Hunk’s house with Pidge. When he got over there he was surprised to see Leandro, whom he had several classes with. It wasn’t until now that Keith had met him due to the fear Leo struck in his body. Leo always had kids flocking around him while Keith stood on the sidelines. “Okay losers, I think we should go to Six Flags,” Pidge commented bringing Keith out of his thoughts of Leo. “Or we could just stay home and play Overwatch for a few hours,” Leo laughed. Both Hunk and Pidge agreed with a hum then all eyes were on Keith. “Yeah, I love Overwatch,” Keith answered getting another hum from the others. Hunk booted up the Playstation as Keith found a spot in one of the two bean bag chairs in front of the T.V. “No no no. This is your first time here you don’t get the best seat in the house that’s where I live.” Pidge sat right on Keith’s lap pushing him out onto the floor. Hunk had already sat down in the other chair and was shooting Keith an apologetic look. “They’re horrible people aren’t they,” Leo started from the bed sticking his tongue out at Pidge and Hunk. “Join me up here!” Keith found himself in a conundrum he knew he was gay, but this boy made him gayer. It was horrible. He sat down on the edge of the bed stiffly before Leo pulled him back to lay down beside him. Keith let out a super manly squeal as he fell next to the other boy. “There we go.”“Gayyyyy.”“Okay, since we have to sit on the bed and you get the bean bags I think I, or Keith, should start.” Lance ignored the groan from Pidge as he took the controller Hunk handed him. “Thanks Boo Bear.”Keith never really had friends, but with these three he felt great. They had only been hanging out for three hours and Keith was joking with them. “I’m never going to play anyone else. McCree is literally my dad.”“Fucking Hanzo can fuck my ass so hard,” Leo muttered. Pidge lost it they were spitting up and choking on their mountain dew while Hunk looked absolutely appalled. Keith didn’t know what to say as defeat flashed across the screen. “What.”Suddenly it was senior year and the four of them were still close. “Okay Keith let me ask you something.”“What?” Keith replied. It was just Keith and Leo hanging out playing pokemon on Keith’s bed. During the summer they had gotten a lot closer to each other and hung out just the two of them several times. Keith found his crush on the other boy growing more and more every time they were around each other. Senior year was difficult for their friendship due to having no classes together, but they made it work.“How’d you know you were gay?” Keith put his DS down to look over at Leo who was still focused on his game a bright blush over his soft cheekbones. It may not have been the best idea at the time, but he did it. Leo’s lips were the softest thing Keith had ever felt. For a second Keith moved his lips against Leo’s, but got no reply. There was a thought that rushed through his head that consisted of the words ‘shit, shit, shit, shit’. That was until Leo grabbed his shirt and pulled him down so their lips were firmly slotted together. Kissing Leo was unlike anything Keith had ever experienced. Every small move Leo made was on instinct while Keith moved on second guessing and calculations. It was pure instinct when Leo discarded his game and moved on top of Keith gripping his shoulders like a life-line. It was perfectly calculated when Keith flipped them over so he was looming over Leo with his body in between the other’s thighs. It was all calculated when he began to grind his hips and kiss Leo’s arching neck as moans filled the room. It was all instinct when Leo started thrusting up to Keith’s hips. It was calculated when Keith pushed his hand up Leo’s shirt to tug and thumb at the other boy’s nipple. It was Leo’s instinct when he gave Keith a soft kiss when they were finished and gasping for breath.It was Keith’s instinct when he never texted Leo again.----- Keith woke up quickly gasping for breath. He knew Lance. Lance was Leo.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was two in the morning when Keith found himself in a panic. Lance was Leo. It wasn’t obvious until he actually thought about it. He never thought about Leo anymore so when he saw Lance it really wasn’t the first thing that came to mind, of course, It had only been two years since he last saw Leo, but Lance looked so fucking different then the boy he had fallen in love(?) with back in highschool. Lance had straight hair while Leo had curly. Leo had freckles while Lance had none. Leo was pudgy and the same height as Keith while Lance was lanky and tall. It made no sense whatsoever but also explained everything. There were so many questions running through Keith’s mind that it was impossible not to pick up the phone and call Pidge. So that’s what he did. Keith fumbled for his phone on the small wooden nightstand beside his twin bed rushing through the contacts till he got to Pidge. He’s had a few phones over the two years since he last spoke to Pidge, but he always kept their number. Just in case.“Keith what the fuck.”“Leo,” Keith whispered. The other end was silent except for tired breathing and an annoyed groan.“Yeah.”“Lance is Leo right. Why didn’t you say anything!”“Dude, Keith, Lance fucking flipped when you broke it off with him. I guess it wasn’t really breaking if off when you just like kissed him and dry humped him into his mattress, but still he took it hard.” Keith grimaced, of course Leo (shit, Lance) would tell Pidge everything that happened. “I’m sorry that Hunk and I didn’t really speak to you after that. It was a dick move that we didn’t see coming. Lance didn’t want us to stop talking with you, but you wrecked him. Bad.”“How is this even possible? Why is he still broken up about it?” Keith knew Pidge had all the answers the only real question was if they were going to give them to him or not.“Listen Keith do you really want to have this conversation at two?” Pidge asked waiting for a response that never came. “Wow, I guess it’s a yes. You had your sexuality figured out from day one. We all knew this and respected the hell out of you for just jumping into the deep gay end, but that’s not how it is for everybody. You were Lance’s, sorry, Leo’s first real boy crush and he was confused as heck. I know we were kids Keith, but when he asked you how you knew you were gay he wasn’t asking to have his wet dream played out he wanted some real damn answers. Then you never called him back. He thought it was something he did. I shouldn’t even be telling you any of this! You want to know so badly go ask Lance.”“Pidge please.”“Go ask Lance.”“Why did he change his nickname?”“He got hurt Keith he got hurt real bad. Not just from you, but something happened that next summer. Don’t ask me because I don’t know what is was, but he left home for Cuba a pudgy little freckled baby and came back a fucking mess.” Pidge hung up on him without another word.Keith fought sleep for a few more minutes trying to decide if he should go back the next day or not. There were so many ways this could go down. He could tell Lance and the other would cry, he could tell Lance and they could start a friendship, he could not tell Lance and try to figure out how to make the next two weeks bearable, or, finally, he could just never go back to the library. As Keith’s eyes drifted shut he realized there were only a few hours till he had to choose his fate.When Keith finally woke up he knew what he was going to do. Something about what Pidge had said bugged the shit out of him. They said that Keith had, of course, hurt Lance when he left, but they also said Lance went to Cuba that next summer and came back completely different. Knowing their history there was no way in hell Keith could tell Lance he remembered. If he was going to survive two weeks he wouldn’t tell Lance so that was his decision. He wanted to know what had happened in Cuba, and if Lance hadn’t told Pidge he hadn’t told Hunk. It was a guarded secret, and if Keith wanted to know it he had to befriend Lance. -----Keith threw off his sheet and pushed his body out of bed. Operation befriend Leo-Lance was on. He had done it once he could do it again. Keith stumbled around his dark room trying to find clothes that would be clean enough for the day he totally had to do laundry when he came home later. Shiro was walking around upstairs so Keith marched right on up.“I’m sorry for yesterday, I was being a huge dickmuncher!” Keith stated loudly from the top of the stairs. Shiro fumbled with the coffee machine obviously surprised by his brother. “I mean, you’re just trying to look out for me and I’m being difficult. These next two weeks will be no problem for me. I promise.”“There was better ways to say I’m sorry.”“Excuse me?”“I mean you could’ve started with ‘hey, Shiro’, but no you had to come screaming into my kitchen at seven,” Shiro muttered turning to lean on the counter. Keith was angry for a second that Shiro wasn’t going to take his apology, but then he saw the amused look on his brothers face.“I’m taking it back. You didn’t deserve my effort you asswipe.” Keith made his way over to the coffee machine ignoring Shiro’s laughter. “I know you’re trying your best to look out for me. I do get that. So, I’m saying thank you for everything. You know I’ve been in a funk since mom and dad. Bringing me to the library is your way of saying I need to get back up.” The two sat in silence for a second. Keith tried hard to focus on the coffee machine because if he looked up and saw Shiro was tearing up then he would tear up. They would be two grown men crying in a kitchen at seven in the morning.“I’m glad you understand Keith. I know I’m not dad I’m not trying to be dad. I just want to be your older brother and if that means I need to tell you what to do from time to time then you know I’m going to tell you.”“I know,” Keith groaned. When he finally looked back up at Shiro the older man had a soft smile on his face. “Don’t do that.”“What? Come on let’s go we’re late.” Shiro cut off quickly heading for the door. “You look like dad when you roll your eyes.”The car ride to the library today was a lot less of a hassle then the car ride the day before. They sat in comfortable silence until Shiro’s phone rang. Shiro took the call apologizing to Keith. Keith really didn’t care in the slightest he just nodded and went back to his phone. Pidge was texting him.Pigeon- what r u gonna do w/the Leo situation?”McCree- I’m not going to tell him.Pigeon- y notMcCree- I’m going to try and build a new friendship.Pigeon- or u could be nice and tell that sweet innocent bby the truthMcCree- He would never forgive me. I just need to last a few weeks Pidge. Don’t tell Lance.Pigeon- ur so dumb “Yeah yeah we just pulled in wait a second,” Shiro muttered on the phone. When Keith looked up he realized they had made it to the library, but the doors were still locked when Keith tried to get out. “Do you know why? Does Allura know anything? No.” Shiro hung up the phone, and looked towards Keith. “Can we please go in?” Keith asked as he continued to pull on the door. He was getting annoyed already he still had a few baskets from the previous day to sort. Shiro looked him over again slowly. “What?” “Did you punch Lance yesterday?” “You would know if I punched Lance,” Keith snorted leaning back down in the chair. Shiro’s eyes never left his. “Shiro stop, I didn’t punch Lance.” “I’m sorry for accusing you of that Matt just called saying Lance’s face is messed up. Lance claims it was just a fall, but the story is weird.” Shiro unlocked the doors finally, but Keith didn’t move. “Maybe he just fell weird you should ask him about it later today.” “I’m not going to ask him about anything,” Keith muttered pushing his way out of the car. “I’ll just leave him alone. He’s always been a clutz.” Keith muttered the last part to himself as he entered the library for his second day of work.----- “You fell?” Keith asked softly as he handed the ice pack to Leo. It was the middle of summer after junior year, and Keith had woken up to his friend shaking him lightly with held back sobs. Leo had always been a clutz getting injuries left and right. Some bruising on his leg, scraped knees, and more bruising on his wrists weren’t rare. After a while Keith stopped asking where the bruises were coming from because it was always the same answer “I fell”. “Yeah, I wasn’t watching where I was going and I fell down the stairs.” Leo avoided looking at Keith. It was hard to even see the other boy in the darkness of the room. Keith had immediately sat the crying boy down and retrieved an ice pack from somewhere in the house. “Why’d you come all the way over here?” None of Leo’s stories ever made sense. “I needed you.” Keith held his breath as the words left his friends mouth. Leo didn’t know Keith had a crush on him no one knew not even Pidge or Hunk. Shiro didn’t even know who Leo was. “I need you sometimes.” Keith didn’t even hesitate to wrap his arms around the shaking boy. Something was going on Keith didn’t want to pry, but no clutz could fall down that much. Leo thanked Keith for everything with a kiss on his cheek before moving out the open window.It was a week before Leo came back through the window. This time it was his knee. Blood was everywhere making Keith seriously worried that there would be a blood trail up his driveway to his window. “Hey.”“Sit down I’m going to go grab some band-aids.” Leo sat down obediently as Keith went to the bathroom. Keith didn’t really keep things from his parents and brother much it was the perk of having parents who let him do what he want as long as they knew where he was, but Leo was different. Leo felt like Keith’s private sunshine Shiro would never let him live it down if he realized Leo snuck in all the time. Keith rifled through the first-aid box a little too loud.“Hey kid, what’re ya doin.” Keith’s head whipped around to see Shiro standing by the bathroom door yawning in his boxers looking very confused.“Band-aid. I need a big band-aid,” Keith muttered as Shiro took the box from his hands picking out the size Keith was looking for in seconds.“What happened? Where are you bleeding?” Shiro went into full older brother mode looking over Keith’s body quickly for any signs of injury. Keith’s heart began to pound. This was it he would have to explain to Shiro why there was a half-dressed bleeding boy in his bedroom. Shiro found nothing and looked back to his brother’s eyes. Shiro’s brown eyes were glossed over with sleep and confusion. Keith could feel his own eyes were wide and frightened. “Akira what’s going on?”“They’re not for me,” Keith whispered, it was bad enough that Shiro was out of his room it would be horrible if mom and dad came out. “Who are they for.”“Takashi, I can’t tell you.” Shiro looked confused again as he re-assessed Keith. “Shiro you can’t tell mom or dad. I’ll owe you one. I’ll owe you the biggest one, but you can’t tell mom or dad no matter what.” Keith knew he looked fucking crazy standing in the dark bathroom rummaging through a first-aid box in the middle of the night. Poor Shiro had no idea what was happening.“Dude what the fuck.” Shiro’s voice softened as he moved closer to Keith to whisper. “Is there someone in your bedroom right now? Keith, is there a boy in your bedroom? Is he bleeding?” Shiro became more and more confused with every questioned he asked. Keith knew if they kept this up Leo was going to bleed out in his room or mom and dad were going to join their conversation. Neither of those outcomes sounded good in any way. Keith put his hands on his brother’s shoulders tightly.“Don’t tell mom or dad.”----- No one could be that fucking clumsy it was impossible. Keith knew Lance, well, Keith knew Leo. Leo was Lance and Keith had to stop pretending that the guy he was working with was a complete stranger while also pretending that this guy was a complete stranger. Two weeks. When Keith walked in Allura was by the front table making a stack of books look presentable on the front table all with Christmas titles. Her eyes looked bloodshot and were glossed over with lack of sleep. “Goodmorning Keith! I’m glad you came back today.” Allura smiled when she saw the boy walk into the library. The smile was forced as three books fell off the top of the tower. Keith couldn’t help but feel sorry for her as he headed for the stairs quickly. “Keith!” Keith turned back to look at Allura as she called for him. He was frozen half-way up the stairs. “He’s not that bad please give him a chance.” They both stared at each other for a second when Allura finished. She was blushing greatly when she realized Keith was showing no emotion to her sentence. Shiro walked in right at this moment looking back and forth between the two. “I understand Allura. I’ll try harder to have more patience with him.” With that Keith thundered up the remaining stairs to see the children's section empty. There was no music coming out of any of the speakers like yesterday and there was no Lance, Pidge, or Hunk in sight. Keith almost went back down the stairs before he heard a yelp of pain come from the bathroom followed by muffled words and a chuckle. Keith found himself drifting over to where the bathroom was. “Yo dickface.” Keith turned quickly to see Pidge sitting on the floor next to the stairs with her computer propped up on her legs. “Plop a squat right next to me my brother.” Pidge scooted over a little and patted the carpet square she cleared for him. “You scared me,” Keith muttered sitting down a little too quickly. Pidge’s eyebrows raised as they closed their laptop. “What the hell is going on up here?” “Lance got another little boo boo so Hunk and him are in the bathroom,” Pidge answered taking a pause as another yelp echoed through the library. “Lance is such a clutz.” “Everyone keeps saying that. I remember that too.” Keith didn’t know if it was such a good idea to bring up that he remembered, but there was no good time to really bring it up at this point. “Do you think something else is going on. Like, something has been going on for a while with him. Why is no one paying more attention to him?” Keith let his head back against the railing bars with a loud thunk. Pidge made a soft humming sound. They didn’t even look at him when they started to speak. “Keith, why didn’t you pay more attention to him? Why didn’t you look more into what was going on? I knew you had suspicion back in the day. I knew he went over to your house when things got bad even though you told him your parents couldn’t find out he existed.” Pidge rambled as Keith let his eyes shut. The next noise coming from the bathroom was the sound of the door opening. “What do you say Doc?” Pidge muttered as Hunk walked over to them. “I say he’s and idiot and should watch where he’s going,” Hunk boomed faking a serious doctor tone. He waved at Keith before sitting down across from the two other workers. “Hey dude Pidge told me you remembered. I can’t believe you forgot,” Hunk whisper screamed. “Pidge!” “You told me not to tell Lance. I didn’t tell Lance I told Hunk.” “Okay come on.” All three heads whipped up to see Lance standing in the door of the bathroom. “Stop whispering about me to the new guy he doesn’t need to know how big of a-” “Clutz you are. We know Lance.” Pidge cut Lance off with a smirk. “Now are you going to put some music on or what?” ----- They didn’t go to prom the group of four. Prom was for people who ran a hipster blog Pidge had said when they went out to grab their tuxes. All of them were wearing nice simple tuxedos making sure to color coordinate so Leo wouldn’t have a fit. As a joke Keith wrote ‘can i eat your ass at prom?’ to Leo who lost it in the middle of social studies, but said yes in the end. It was a joke the whole thing was a joke. Keith wasn’t seriously asking Leo out of the prom… “Okay, so we’re not going to prom obviously so where the hell do we go?” Leo asked at 7:00 on prom night. They were now chillin in Pidge’s basement in their tuxes. Leo’s suit was white while Keith’s was black because they were planning on getting married that night and the only way that could possibly happen was if one of them was the blushing bride. It was Leo. “We could have it right here?” Leo questioned looking up from his phone to look at Pidge for approval. They nodded before throwing more chips into their mouth. “Well then, I guess I can turn on some music. We already got snacks. Pidgey go raid your parents alcohol cabinet and tell your parents were having prom.” Keith didn’t move from his place on the floor he was comfortable staring up at the dark ceiling as Whitney Houston began to blare through the room. Pidge was gone when Keith looked over to their spot. The sound of the gremlin rocketing up the basement stairs echoed through the house. “Hunk how ya doin?” Keith muttered loudly looking over to his other friend who shot him a lazy thumbs up from where he was reclining in the leather chair. Leo was dancing around Keith’s body. “Keith it’s our wedding night and you’re laying on the floor!” Leo yelled over the music as he reached down to grab his friend’s (husband’s) hand. “Slow dance with me baby or I’m never letting you get a taste of this ass.” Leo whispered jokingly in his ear. Keith had to keep telling himself that this was all a joke. Everything sweet Leo had been saying that day and night was because Keith had made that note to him. It was a good note labeled after the group’s favorite vine. “Leo I can’t dance,” Keith muttered as Leo moved his friend’s hands to his waist placing his own on Keith’s shoulders. Leo began to sway lightly to I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Keith couldn’t move at all as he looked at Leo. The lighting in Pidge’s basement was soft and was modeled after Eric Foreman’s basement from That 70s’ Show (thanks Matt). It made Leo look more beautiful than ever before his blue eyes dancing behind his nicest pair of glasses. Keith didn’t hear the sound of Hunk’s camera going off in the background or the muffled laughter of Pidge as they came back. He was too focused on the boy in his arms. “You’re dancing right now sweetheart.” And Keith’s heart soared. The second day at the library was going to be the most important. At least that’s what Keith decided. This was gonna be the day he became best friends with Lance. Looking back to when they actually became friends Keith knew it was all Lance. The boy had pitied him, and felt it was his job to become his best friend. This situation was different Lance hated Keith now. “Do we just do the same things we did yesterday?” Keith asked softly after Hunk retreated to his spot downstairs and Pidge to her corner. “The sorting stuff and making kids happy?” Lance hadn’t told him what to do yet, but rather grabbed a box of books and started sorting. Keith felt a small wave of anger through his body he understood how Lance felt, but this was about the job not a petty argument they had years ago. “Uh,” Lance started looking up from his kneeling position on the floor. “Yeah dude that’s our job everyday. Just start sorting books and I’ll tell you what to do if anything changes. It should be less books then yesterday, but I know you, and I know you’re struggling, so if you have any questions ask. No question is too small.” As Lance talked he got quieter and quieter. By the end of the sentence Keith was straining to hear what the other boy was talking about. “Thank you Lance, I’ll keep that in mind.” Keith tried to smile at Lance before dashing off to get his first box of the day. Keith had absolutely no idea where he was going with his plan. It had two parts 1. Befriend Lance 2. Learn his secrets.