~:~ Barely Human ~:~

~:~ Chapter 2 - Calm before the storm ~:~

~ Maybe this was going to be worse than Keith initially expected. In the end he'd spent most of the night contemplating whether he should've just taken the chance and slept with spiders in his mouth and ghosts at the end of his quilt cover. So maybe he'd actually get a few hours of shut eye on a bed not entirely made of wood, springs and pure discomfort. Sadly, here he was now sitting at the breakfast bar on a bare minimum of three hours sleep, sipping a mug of straight black coffee with a scowl on his face and his brother opposite him leaning against the counter smirking like the idiot he was.

"What are you looking at dipshit?" Keith says into his cup as he eyes his older brother down.

"Oi." His moms voice calls over his brothers figure. Keith rolls his eyes and Shiro's face only gets smugger.

"Did you stay up sexting him all night?" Shiro asks knowing damn well Keith will choke on his hot coffee. He does and proceeds to beat his chest wildly and down a glass of nearby water to cool his burning throat. Their mom looks up from her pan of eggs.

"Sexting? Who's sexting? Keith who are you sexting?" His mom bombards with the questions he knew were coming and Shiro's eyes go wide while he's biting his lips to suppress his laughter. Keith spits out the water in his mouth like the spray of a sprinkler all over his brother and Shiro's no longer smiling.

"Mom! I'm not... I'm not sexting anyone! Takashi!" Keith exclaims as he yanks his hood up over his head and pulls the drawstrings until only his nose peeks out. Shiro is laughing to himself as he wipes down his face and chest with a tea towel. He and his mother share a glance and Shiro innocently shrugs to her. Keith groans through all his embarrassment and pushes himself away from the counter. He stumbles his way to the front door and speaks through a muffled voice. "I'm going for a walk, where you two can't bother me."

"Uh, no you're not! We're going to school." Their mother calls out from the kitchen, a spatula in hand. The brothers stop, Keith blindly smashes head first into the door frame, his foot getting caught on his own leg and he goes falling into the fly screen. He disappears outside with a shout.

Shiro and his mom don't pay it any mind.

"Why? I thought we still had a week!" Keith says as he shuffles back inside unscathed and tugs his hood off his head. His mom hums to herself as she scrapes the eggs onto a plate.

"You do, but I called in because I want to get your school equipment organised beforehand so it's not such a hassle. We'll only be there a little while. Besides what kinds of plans could you have possibly made today?" His mother tells him and Keith furrows his brows. Shiro slides away giving Keith an 'I'm watching you' gesture just to mess with him and Keith's scrunching his face in disbelief.

"Fine. And for you're information I do have plans." Keith folds his arms. His mother looks at him from the corner of her eye and scoffs quietly. Keith's brows rise and he slumps back into his seat with a defeated huff.

-

"Here are your schedules, if you boys have any more questions then my door is always open. I'll see you two next week when you start." The principal says with a crinkled smile as she hands the two brothers each a sheet of paper with their class times on it. Keith gives it one look and scoffs quietly to himself, his mother smacks him hard on the knee under the desk. Shiro grins at the woman and nods his head.

"Thank you Ms Trigel. I'm sure they'll have a wonderful time here at your school." Keith's mom says with a lathered on smile, like she was trying to put herself out there as a role model mother. Keith rolls his eyes. The principal nods her head and the family get up to leave.

Shiro is all sparkly eyed as he scans his eyes over his new schedule. Keith doesn't understand why the guy still finds this sort of thing exciting. It's not like they're not used to it. Shiro looks between his phone and the piece of paper. "Yes! Nearly all my classes are with Allura."