Dirty Laundry by Gibslythe

Day 3 Ch. 15

And then Keith remembered how Lance had sobbed, how he buried his head into his sleeve so Keith wouldn't see, and how Keith had whispered, "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay to cry."

"But-" Lance had whispered, his lips red and chapped. "But it's not. It's not okay. I'm, I'm a twenty year old man, Keith."

Keith remembered how he'd pulled onto the side of the highway just so he could take his eyes off the road, just so he could stare at Lance and get his goddamn point across.

" Everyone. Fucking. Cries. "

"Y-Yes but-"

Keith had growled. "And you're a human. Crying is human. Crying is natural, crying is a part of God's bullshit circle of life. Are you an alien? Are you a cyborg? Are you some weird ass dude with no tear ducts from that anime shit you watch?"

Was this Keith's attempt at cheering Lance up while also proving a point, but like, simultaneously? Lance couldn't seem to decide the answer to that, or whether he should laugh or cry even harder. It just resulted in his tears stopping, and his jaw clenching shut.

"Well, no, but-"

Keith had thrown his hands up. "There. See? You've got no excuse then."

Lance hadn't been able to find a response to that, and when Keith drove back onto the highway their silence had continued.

And now? Now they were on the highway again, driving with no destination or plan intact.

After a moment, Keith finally spoke up. "Where do you want to go?"

Lance looked up and bit his lip, as if confused. "G-Go?"

Keith didn't dare move his eyes from the road. "Yeah, go. I'll take you anywhere. Do you wanna go home?"

Lance shook his head. "No, not yet. I don't want to worry my mom."

"Wait-" Keith's eyes widened. "So you're not going to tell your mom what your dad said?"

There was a pause, and for a moment Lance looked as if he was still debating. Then he finally shook his head. "No."

"Jesus Christ-" Keith's grip on the steering wheel tightened even harder, and his pale knuckles turned even whiter. "You need to talk about it with her. This can't go unnoticed. This needs to be resolved, resolved between you and your parents."

"I won't do it."

Keith huffed. "Don't be ridiculous! Hiding away your emotions isn't going to fix anything."

Lance turned his eyes towards Keith at a sharp angle, his voice growing increasingly more irritated. "I've hid my emotions my entire life, Keith. It'll be fine."

That wasn't good enough. Hiding your emotions only caused them to boil over and explode when a limit was reached; Keith had more than enough experience understanding that.

"Bullshit." Keith scowled. "You need to tell your mom, or I'll tell her for you."

From the edge in Lance's voice, Keith could tell that his friend was growing increasingly more irritated.

"I don't want her to know, okay? She doesn't need to know. She already deals with enough shit as it is, and my parents already fight over the issue, adding to it will just-"

"But, Lance, being a parent means that you're willing to deal with shit! Your mom-"

"Will you stop?"

Keith shook his head forcefully, making his hair sway. "No. Your mom will want to know! She's a good woman and-"

"WILL YOU STOP?" Lance repeated, banging his hands on the dashboard. "What do you know about parents? What do you know about my mom? You're an orphan, Keith! You don't have any parents!"