Fly Away From Your Troubles (Klance AU)

9- Needed Advice

It was early the 22nd that Shiro and I boarded a plane to Arizona to go home for Christmas. We arrived around noon, and then drove out to the house we had lived at when we were young. It was an average cabin located outside of Phoenix, on a large spot of land in the desert, surrounded by only cacti, small trees, and another house here and there. I looked out the window from the passenger seat as we drove to the house. Something about the desert had always calmed me, made me feel at peace. Must have been something to do with the fact that I had grown up here.

    As we began to get closer, more and more memories of times long forgotten rushed into my head. As we drove up the street I had lived on, I remembered when I learned how to bike; all the times we had walked our dog, Kosmo; when he'd run around my ankles and almost trip me everytime. We finally drove up to the house; an average-sized wooden house, that had a porch and rocking chairs in the front. It also had a brick chimney; and a small wooden shack to the right of it. Surrounding the house was desert and cacti; there was a single tree which held a tire swing, old and falling apart. In the landscape all around were the orange-red hills and cliffs that I had grown up exploring. As we pulled up to the house, I opened the door and ran out of the car. Shiro parked and followed behind me, a wide smile on his face. We knocked on the door, and a few moments later I heard the pitter-patter of feet, and a single bark. Then, the door opened, and I was knocked down Kosmo.

"Hey, Kos!" I exclaimed as I hugged him and he licked my face. His fur was thick and long; as Kosmo was part wolf. We weren't sure what the other part was. He had a slick black coat, and his back had a layer of grayish-blue fur. He had a white V-shaped marking on his chest, and another marking on his face that went around his eyes. I finally stood up when Kosmo decided to greet Shiro the same way(except Shiro didn't fall over).

Our mother, Krolia, stood in the doorway, smiling. She had black hair that was in a style similar to mine(but without the mullet, she had her long hair done in a braid instead), and the bottom of her hair was 'dyed' a light purple.

"Keith! Shiro!" She said as she took me in her arms. "I've missed you two," she said after hugging both of us, a smile on her face.

"Yeah, I've missed you a lot too, Mom," I said. And I really did. Krolia was the only person who knew about my secret– so I could talk to her about things I definitely could never talk about with anyone else.

We entered the house, and the sweet smell of peppermint greeted us. Since she lived in Arizona, and there wasn't any snow around for Christmas, Krolia always decorated the house with a few thousand Christmas decorations, which included lots of peppermint, cinnamon, and pine scented candles. Above the fireplace in the main living room four stockings were already set up; one for Krolia, one for me, one for Shiro, and even one that said "Kosmo" on it. Next to that was also a large Christmas tree, which had not been decorated yet, since Krolia enjoyed doing that with Shiro and I. Although there were a lot of boxes by it that held ornaments.

"I was thinking you two would want to relax this afternoon? Since you woke up early and just got off a plane," Krolia said.

"We're not kids anymore," Shiro said, "We wake up early every day...Kind of. But yeah, I guess it would be nice to just hang out here for the day. Thanks, mom," He finished(clearly tired though). I was already on my way to set my luggage upstairs, Kosmo right behind me. As I got upstairs, I turned the corner and opened the door to my old bedroom. Surprising enough, over the years Krolia hadn't changed it a bit. There were still the band posters on the walls, the desk filled with old and used art supplies, even the pile of old books on the floor. Kosmo jumped on the bed and lay down, and I joined him. I stroked his soft fur while checking my phone, and watched some covers from a singer on Instagram I had recently found(and really liked; they were an amazing singer).