Dirty Laundry by Gibslythe

Day 7 Ch. 26

9:55 A.M.

Lance was fidgeting.

"Dammit, Lance, calm yourself," Keith commanded, poking at the boy's side while looking down at his phone. "Abuela's arrival isn't gonna kill you."

The two lounged across the living room couch, waiting impatiently for a certain seventy year old's entrance. Lance couldn't stop moving, the anxiety and tension of Abuela's doomed arrival only making him panic, shift, move, tick, and fidget. It was becoming unnervingly annoying, and Keith was suppressing the urge to fling a couch pillow at Lance's face.

"You don't know that!" Lance cried, blue eyes round and alert. The other couch cushion was squished in between his arms and chest, hugging the thing like it was keeping him sane. "You've never met my grandmother. She's batshit crazy ."

Keith rolled his eyes, currently texting the group chat (the day's conversation included dick jokes, game of thrones spoilers, and reasons why Hunk hated being a best man.) Once he sent his text he looked up at Lance, observing the boy cautiously. "Maybe she is, but I highly doubt she'll kill you. Don't be a baby."

Lance kicked at Keith's leg from the other side of the couch, earning a growl. "I am not a baby, Keith Gyeong. I am a smart, mature member of society."

"Let's hope Abuela thinks so." Keith snorted at that, going back to his phone.

It wasn't even two minutes later that the sounds of voices echoed outside the front door. They were loud, one of them widely more vibrant. Keith didn't recognise it in the slightest, though he had a hunch as to why. Slipping his phone into his pocket, Keith and Lance both sat up straighter in their couch cushions.

The door swung open and Keith gasped.

"Well, would you look at this place!"

Abuela.

"She's so…" Keith trailed off, whispering into Lance's ear as he watched the woman enter the room. "..not what I expected?"

Although Abuela Sanchez was still old and withered, there was no doubt she was different than your average grandma. First of all, she looked fit, walking with only the support of a medium sized cane. Second of all, she was tall, even despite the small hunch of her shoulders. Keith discovered that it was the Sanchez side, her side, that must've carried the tall gene to Jaime, moving on to Danny, Lance, and then Cleo. She had a sharp nose, though not as protruded as a witches nose, and her fingers were long and spindly. She wore a plain dress that adorned her thin body, and large pearls in her ears that shimmered under her hair.

Now, despite the physical descriptions that easily fit her grandmother persona, it was the way she carried herself that differentiated. If Keith could use any word to describe her, he'd say she was boisterous. Exuberant. Animated. Lively. Pompous. Arrogant. There were so many things to describe her aura, things that just oozed from every word she said.

"Rosa, I'm impressed! The house looks lovely. Far cleaner than last year." Her hands gripped the handle of the cane tightly, using it as leverage in her walk. Rosa walked next to her, helping as a physical support while Jaime carried in the luggage.

Abuela's voice boomed, and that was something Keith disliked from the very beginning. He didn't understand how a frail woman could have such a loud, dominating voice. It was thick with a spanish accent, though many syllables rolled from her tongue with ease. Keith could tell she was an intelligent woman, and had at one time been very powerful. Hell, she was still powerful, just one step into the room and she was the center of attention.

The woman inspected the room with large eyes, as if looking for any mistakes. And then she saw Lance, and a smile lit up her tight face. "Lance! Grandson, you are so big! I've missed you!"