Broken

Running Before I Get Caught

But now that he was truly lost in an unfamiliar town, it was... 

Scary.

Yes, he could fight, he could hold his own. Yes, he had his mother's switchblade if things got out of hand. But no one knew where he was, and he didn't know where everyone else was either.

Keith glanced down at his phone, noting that it was now well past nine. If he was out here past midnight, he'd be breaking curfew laws. A run-in with the police was the last thing he wanted at the moment. 

"Sorry, officer, my crush admitted that he likes me but I'm so out of touch with my emotions that I didn't know anything better to do than to run out of the house and get myself lost in this little town."

Not a great conversation to have.

He glanced around for a McDonalds, a Chick-Fil-A, anything. Just some place that was open late and had wi-fi so that he could get back home, or at least figure out where he was.

Home.

Was that what "Shiro's house" had become to him? A home, instead of just drywall and brick and a roof over his head? Were the people there waiting for him really his friends, his (dare he say it) family? 

Keith felt like they were. 

He took a deep breath, letting the air leave his lungs in a heavy sigh. Hugging himself (and cursing himself for not grabbing his jacket as he dashed out of the house), he walked on.

"Oooh, Pidge, you'd better be making some progress!" Pidge grit their teeth, glaring at her nervous friend.

"I'd be making more progress if you weren't hovering over my shoulder and asking about if every twelve seconds!" they snapped, round glasses slipping dangerously low on their nose. Hunk flinched back and Pidge gave one final glare, shoving their glasses back up violently before going back to work on Corey's laptop.

Shiro placed a calming hand on Pidge's shoulder, which was surprisingly not immediately shoved away. Instead, Pidge gave a deep sigh, running their hands down their face exasperatedly.

"I know this is stressful," Shiro began, "for all of us. But we're going to be fine. Keith is going to be fine. Pidge, you keep working on locating Keith's phone. You're doing great." He then shot a very communicative look at Allura, who was sitting by Lance. She nodded, giving a sort of half smile and then turning back to the boy next to her.

Hunk finally conceded, going over to the couch to wrap Lance in his warm arms. Lance promptly let out a tiny noise and buried himself deeper into his best friend, who rubbed circles into his back comfortingly.

Suddenly, Pidge shot upright, drawing in a sharp breath. Corey's hand was immediately on their shoulder, peering at the screen. All eyes flicked over to where Pidge was sitting.

"What?" Allura prompted.

Pidge looked up, grinning.

"Found him."

Keith had managed to come across a single McDonalds in the area. He pushed open the door, glancing around. At least he had wi-fi now, and it was significantly warmer than outside.

He stuck a hand in his pocket and dug around for a moment, pulling out a two bills and a few coins. He huffed quietly, then went up to the counter.

"Medium fountain drink," he muttered, then, realising that the tone was a bit rude, tacked a half-hearted "Please" to the end. The guy at the register nodded, pulling out a cup and taking the appropriate amount of money from the counter.