"Lance are you sure you want to be left alone?" Keith asked for the seventh time this morning. "That was a really bad attack you had. I don't want you to relapse."
Lance just smiled. "Don't worry mullet, I'm fine. I swore I'd call you guys if I feel anything. Now go to work."
"Shiro.." Keith complained. Shiro just laughed.
"If Lance says he's fine then I believe him." Shiro said. Lance smiled gratefully at Shiro and pecked his boyfriends on each of their cheeks before shoving them out the door.
Blue jumped on top of Lance and licked his face. Lance laughed and rubbed the dogs stomach until she got off of him.
Lance got up and walked around the house that he lived in with his boyfriends. It was small but cozy, and Lance wouldn't trade it for the world. He pulled out a broom and began to sweep.
Before Shiro and Keith had rescued him, Lance would clean the house of his "family". After a while, cleaning became a form of release. Lance now stress cleaned.
Thankfully his boyfriends hadn't connected two and two together and found that Lance cleaned when he was stressed. If they found out he was cleaning then they'd ask what's wrong. How could Lance explain to them how paranoid he felt?
It wasn't fair to them. They had been trying so hard to fix Lance and make him happy. They thought he was getting better. That was far from true. If anything, Lance was getting worse.
He was having nightmares almost every night, resulting in him not sleeping. He's pretend to fall asleep for Shiro and Keith's sake, but then he's just leave the room and clean the already spotless house.
He was starting to have major panic attacks more often. Before it was just a few minor ones here and there, but now they were getting worse. Lance scratched at the bandage Keith had put on his head. He was even starting to harm himself again.
No, Lance wasn't cutting. He had promised Shiro and Keith he'd never do it again. He didn't want to hurt them. But now, he would scratch at himself until he started to bleed.
Lance switched from sweeping to bleaching the floor. He pulled out the chemicals and snapped on gloves so he wouldn't get burnt. He had to put Blue in the yard because he didn't want her to drink the bleach.
Blue was a blessing to Lance. She was always there whenever he was feeling scared. And that seemed to be more occurring.
Lance was always scared. He was terrified every time he heard the door unlock because he thought it was his father coming for him.
They never arrested him. They found Lance when his family was on a trip. They got Lance out of that house as quick as possible but Lance's family never returned so they never could arrest him.
Knowing that his father was still out there made Lance shudder. He put down the bleach brush and went to find his blanket.
Lance wrapped it around himself and continued cleaning, careful to keep the fleece blanket away from the harsh chemicals.
What if Lance's father found him? What if he took Lance away from Keith and Shiro? What if he killed them? What if he killed Lance?
Lance didn't realize he was shaking until his quivering hand had dropped he brush. Lance knew that it wasn't smart to be working with bleach in this state so he cleaned up the chemicals and opened the windows to rid the room of the smell.
Keith and Shiro had hidden all things in the house that Lance could hurt himself with. They didn't know that Lance had found them after a particularly stressful night. Lance had been organizing the closets when he came across them.
Lance put the bleach away and moved on to weeding the yard. He dug around in the garden for a little while too, being sure to dig up every sock that Blue had buried.
After a few hours out in the sun, Lance started to feel dizzy. He knew that he shouldn't stay out too long because he could get heat stroke, but he wasn't done with the yard.
Lance was covered in mud when Keith and Shiro got home. Shiro was surprised to see the house even cleaner than usual. Had Lance been cleaning after the attack? He was known to do that..Shiro pondered over the ideas when he opened the patio door.
Blue was playing around in the freshly mowed grass, Chasing a butterfly. Lance was in the garden, his face red and sweaty while he pulled out tiny weeds from the dirt.
Shiro walked over to him and kissed the top of his head. Lance pushed him away with a grin. "Shiro!" He whined. "I'm all sweaty!"
"So?" Shiro laughed and pulled him into a hug. "I'll kiss you if I wanna."
"Hey, let me in on that action!" Keith yelled, jumping into the hug. Lance laughed and hugged his boyfriends, a wide grin on his face.
"I love you guys," Lance said, placing kisses in the tops of their heads. They smiled and returned the favor and mumbled out contendly 'I love you too'. Lance got up then, and walked into the house, ignoring the protests from his boyfriends. "I need to clean the living room" he replied.
After he had gone inside Shiro turned to Keith. "You don't think he's stress cleaning, do you?" Keith's eyes widened at the idea.
"It would explain a lot." Keith recounted all the times Lance had cleaned after something stressful happened. "We should find him a healthier outlet. It looks like Lance has been cleaning all day..."
"Yeah.." Shiro said. He stopped when he heard the doorbell ring. "That's weird. Did you expect anyone?"
Keith shook his head. "Maybe it's the mailman." keith said. Shiro nodded and walked into the house, with Keith following close behind.
Then they heard a scream.
