" You don't understand! I did that! He isn't able to walk because of me! Do you know how awful that feels?!" Acxa shouted at Lotor. He was sitting in a recliner, relaxing as though nothing was amiss.
" If you ask me, it's better than what he deserves." He scoffed. " You're lucky I didn't turn you in just for flaking out on our deal."
" What you asked me to do could've killed him for God's sake! I may be a bad person, but I'm no murderer!" She raised her hands in a furious gesture.
" Please, I can't steal him away from Lance if he's dead." Lotor chuckled sadistically.
" I'm done. Watching him crutch around school today was torture! Everyone hates me because of what you made me do!" Acxa felt guilt weighing down her entire existence. It was like an elephant was sitting on her chest whenever she even tried to breathe.
" Oh boo hoo." He taunted her. " They're going to hate you even more after this."
" After what? Don't tell me you want me to hurt them?! I'm not doing it! Call the cops on me for all I care, but I'm not doing your dirty work anymore!" Acxa was finally unable to take her cousin's orders.
...
" This is creepy... way too creepy." Hunk told Pidge from the bushes.
" Oh, would you shush." She responded while peering in Lotor's window.
" Following her home makes us stalkers, but looking in the windows makes us criminals! I don't wanna go to jail! I'm too young! I have my whole life ahead of m-" Hunk was rambling and Pidge was honestly fed up. She covered his mouth.
It was true. They'd tailed Acxa after practice. She'd walked all the way over to what could only be Lotor's house. It was uppity to say the very least. The whole neighborhood seemed to be rich, and have way too much time on their hands. They were the type of people who had nothing better to do than sit around and water their front lawns all day.
" You're gonna stick some of your weed inside Lance's little football bag, and anonymously tip off the main office. Would be a shame if Lance lost his opportunity to get a scholarship, hm? After all, the scouts have been fighting over him for weeks already." Lotor's eyebrows angled upwards malevolently.
" You're sick! That would mess up his entire future!" Acxa nearly screamed at him.
Pidge and Hunk's heads spun around to look at each other.
" Not good." They said in unison.
" That's kind of the point. Why would Keith stay with Lance if he can't go to college, or have a decent career?" Lotor took a sip of his tea, which had been sitting on the coffee table untouched until then.
" Keith won't leave Lance because of that. I've paid attention, and let me just say, it's clear that their relationship is very strong." She got closer to his face, almost threateningly. " You have NO right to fuck that up!"
" I wanna leave, I wanna leave, they're gonna catch us!" Hunk whisper shouted in a panicky voice.
" Be quiet! The window is-" She paused, looking into the living room yet again. " open."
" And who's going to stop me? If you won't do it I'll do it myself. Or pay off one of your little pothead friends." Lotor set his tea aside, paying minimal attention to her not-so-typical combativeness.
" I'll tell Zarkon. Don't test me."
" My father doesn't give a rat's ass what I do. How many times has he bailed me out of jail now?" He seemed to be deep in thought.
" Too many! You need to stop being such a sadistic asshole. You treat omegas like fucking property and it's disgusting! Just because your dad can afford to pay off the cops doesn't mean that it won't catch up with you!" Acxa looked like she was about to slap him right across the face. " You try hurt those boys any more than you already have and I will make damn sure that you go to prison. And stay there." She growled before heading for the door and swinging her backpack over her shoulder.
" Duck!" Pidge and Hunk sunk down into the prickly bushes they'd been hiding out in. It was just in time, too, because Acxa was storming out the front door a couple seconds later.
" What the H-E double hockey sticks just happened?!" Hunk lowly asked.
" She's so being blackmailed." Pidge responded. It took all of her self control not to bust through the window and turn Lotor into a human punching bag.
" Not anymore, apparently."
" We have to warn Lance and Keith." Pidge said while army crawling out of the pokey leaves. The pair hadn't realized this bush had thorns when they began their spy session. Hunk cautiously followed her and they wasted no time in escaping into the house's backyard. There were stray thorns sticking out of both their sweatshirts.
" Wait, what?!" Hunk exclaimed. " Lance will blow a fuse! Do you know how strong that guy is? When he saw Acxa at school today, I had to hold him back from literally slaughtering her in the history wing! He almost did, too!" They kept running, and cut through many other yards.
" We can't just not tell him!"
...
" Lance..." Keith murmured against his alpha's lips. They both were on the couch, and conveniently home alone. The kiss had been way too light for way too long as far Keith was concerned.
Lance held his boyfriend's cheek close with a very delicate touch; he was barely dusting their lips together. He had been extremely careful with Keith ever since the incident went down. Even in spite of Keith begging him not to.
" Hm?" He hummed in response. And the omega pulled away irately.
" I know you want to kiss me, so how about you actually do it." Keith said sassily before meeting their lips more aggressively. It was almost completely one sided, however.
Lance was very very hesitant.
" Babe..." He pulled away.
" This is so dumb... you're not hurting my ankle by kissing my lips!" Keith exclaimed. That's when Lance's phone began ringing. " You should probably get that." The smaller male huffed, folding his arms.
The alpha rolled his eyes before seeing that his sister, Veronica, was calling. He had to take it.
" Hey, Ronny." Lance picked up.
" Can you please come home?" She asked from the other end. " I've had to watch these little gremlins for two hours now, and they won't listen to me." Ronny was only partially telling the truth. She may have been an antisocial, edgy, teenage girl, but she missed her big brother. It seemed like Lance was never home anymore.
" Sorry, I'm taking care of Keith. But maybe after Shiro gets home..." Lance felt guilty when he heard his sister's tone of voice.
" Lance, I'm fine. You should spend some time with your family." Keith told him. He wasn't even being salty when he said it.
" Are you sure?" The alpha didn't like the idea of Keith being home alone with all this stuff going on recently. With Shiro at the police station, it would be a while before anyone could get there to watch him.
" Yes, he's sure. Come home. I don't know how many more times I can bribe them with Animal Crackers." Veronica said from the other end, and there was a small crash in the back. It sounded like something glass just hit the floor and chattered.
" I don't want to leave you alone right now... I can't." Lance cupped the phone while he whispered to Keith.
" Then how about you go get the kids, and bring them here?" Keith sighed, only half serious. But the other male perked up.
" Wait, can I actually do that?" Lance asked. " That could work."
" I mean... sure?" Keith really didn't know what else to tell him. His house was relatively tidy, and there weren't many hazards for the twins to get into.
" Lance?! Are you still there?!" Ronny sounded annoyed.
" Yeah- yeah. Ronny, I'll be there in like ten minutes, and I'll walk you and the kids back here-" Lance was cut off when Pidge tried to call him at the same time. He denied it and stayed on with his sister.
" Back to Keith's?" Veronica asked.
" Yeah. And I'll take you guys home later once Shiro gets home, okay?" The alpha asked, looking at Keith while he spoke.
" Fine." The younger sister's eye roll was evident even through the phone. " Just get here soon." She hung up.
" Do you really think something will happen to me if you leave for a couple hours?" Keith raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend.
" Keith. I couldn't live with myself if Lotor or Acxa showed up here and hurt you. It's not all that impossible." Lance had a serious expression while staring into Keith's eyes.
" Nobody's going to break into my house. Please don't get paranoid." The omega didn't look very impressed.
" But what if they did." The taller male brushed Keith's bangs from his face. " I don't want to put you in danger."
" I don't need a bodyguard." He insisted. " Just get home before Marco and Luis burn the house down."
" I'll be back really soon. I promise." Lance told him. " But first..." He pulled Keith in closer by his chin.
" Lance-"
The alpha met their lips together for real that time. And even though Keith was irritated, he melted into the contact. It felt like he'd been deprived of Lance's touch for the past couple days, but this helped to ease the want for it.
They were both almost breathless by the time Lance broke the kiss.
" Better?" He had a small smirk as his thumb rested on Keith's chin. The omega could've spontaneously combusted from how flustered he felt.
" Yes..." Keith said quietly. " Now, go round up those rascals."
" Ten minutes! I'll be back by then!" Lance called while going out the door. He made triple sure the knob was locked before leaving.
Keith shook his head and sighed. He would never understand his boyfriend no matter how hard he tried.
The cheerleader could've jumped out of his skin when his phone began to ring beside his thigh. It was Pidge.
" Hello?" He picked up, and there was a practical explosion of words in his ear. " Woah, slow down."
" Keith! Put Lance on! He's with you, right?! Please tell me he's with you!"
" Lance is always with him!" Hunk's voice was heard as well.
" He just left. But he'll be right back. What's happening? Why are you guys yelling?" Keith was pretty startled from everyone raising their voices so suddenly. It felt like a megaphone in his ear, and his phone wasn't even on full volume.
" I didn't want to! It was wrong, but we followed Acxa and she went to Lotor's house and-" Hunk panted, trying to catch his breath after all the running.
" -And Acxa was being forced into this by Lotor! She wasn't working for him by her own will! And now she left, and Lotor is on his own and he's planning something else!" Pidge cut in.
" Wait, what?! What did you hear?!" Keith's eyes widened. This was definitely news to him. Acxa wasn't bad because she liked it?
" He was trying to get her to plant drugs in Lance's football bag to mess with his scholarship opportunities!" Hunk yelled into the phone.
" Are you kidding me?!" The omega's hand was shaking from outrage while he held the phone. Hurting him was one thing, but fucking with his boyfriend's future was way different. " Did he see you?!"
" No, we don't think so." Pidge finally paused to breathe. " We need you to tell Lance... but... be careful. Hunk says he almost got a hold of Acxa in the hall today."
" What, do you think I wouldn't do that either? I'll gut that bitch if she even looks at me." Keith hissed.
" She's not the problem. It looks like she's finally done, but Lotor isn't! She was defending you guys to him." Hunk said.
" Listen, you're Lance's omega. You can help calm him down if he freaks." Pidge said while adjusting her glasses.
" How am I supposed to do that when I'm freaking out?!" Keith exclaimed.
" Figure it out-" Pidge paused. There were engines sounding in the background. She spun around, seeing two police cars zooming down the road.
" Oh come on!" Hunk whined, but the two started following them. The cops were headed toward Lotor's house.
" What?" Keith asked. It was a couple minutes later before he got a response. There had just been shuffling and running on the other end until then.
The cops were searching Lotor's house soon enough, and some neighbors were gathering around nosily at the end of his driveway. Pidge and Hunk blended right in.
" It's not mine!!" Lotor was being led out of the house in handcuffs.
" That's what they all say." One of the burly police officers told him while walking him out. " I know a pothead when I see one."
" It's my cousin's! I don't do weed!" Lotor exclaimed.
" You can tell us all about it down at the station." The other cop said while loading him into the back of the police car.
" Keith, Keith, are you still there?" Pidge talked into the phone.
" Yes! Now tell me what the hell is happening over there!" The omega almost demanded.
" The cops found weed in Lotor's house- oh my God!" Pidge finally figured out what was going on. " Acxa must've left it on purpose and ratted him out! Talk about karma!"
Hunk high fived Pidge while eating a Twix Bar that had been chilling out in his pocket. Watching this was even sweeter than eating candy.
" Is he getting arrested???" Keith wanted to stand up and pace around his living room, but obviously, he couldn't.
" It looks like they're just taking him away and holding him." Pidge said in a triumphant way.
" I'm not telling Lance about the whole plan they had if Lotor can't carry it out anymore." Keith said. He felt a major sense of relief wash over him. Knowing Lotor wasn't a threat right then was a good ass feeling to have.
" But you should still mention it." Hunk cautioned. " He'll probably get bailed out soon."
...
There was a knock at the door a couple minutes later. Keith crutched over to see Lance and his brothers through the window. He unlocked the knob for them and swung the door open.
" Miss me?" Lance asked, and the boys didn't hesitate as they ran into Keith's house.
" Oh, you have no idea." Keith said sarcastically. He had a large smile on his face for a change. " Where's Ronny?" He questioned.
" She didn't want to run with us, so she's still back on the side walk." Lance turned around and looked over his shoulder. There was something moving down at the farther end of the cement. Keith squinted, but the stripe of colored hair was a definite indicator that it was, in fact, Veronica. It wasn't a red stripe this time, though. She'd switched it up since the last time he'd seen her. It was currently a vibrant, almost neon, shade of purple.
" That's actually me." Keith leaned on his crutches. He wasn't a big fan of running, either. Don't get him wrong, he could sprint like nobody's business. But not for very long distances.
" It's been a while since I've seen you smile." Lance noticed the grin on his boyfriend's face. He pinched Keith's cheek. " It looks good on you..." The alpha wondered what had Keith so happy, but he didn't feel like asking. It just warmed his heart to see him not sulking for the first time in days.
Keith blushed up a little and looked to the side. Lance leaned down to press a small kiss on his forehead.
They stayed in the doorway until Ronny came up to the door. She had her music up way too loud as it funneled through her earbuds. She was listening to Teenagers by MCR and Keith picked up on the lyrics right away.
Lance teasingly yanked out one of her earphones.
" Hi." He said in a loud voice.
" Hello." She greeted in a peeved way, but pulled out the other earbud when she saw Keith's crutches.
" Holy shit... I thought you were taking care of him in a different way." Ronny hadn't been briefed on what happened. Her brother hadn't told any of them what went down.
" Language!" Lance scolded.
" How else would he be taking care of Keith?" Luis asked curiously from the hall.
" There are no other ways, really!" Keith exclaimed. And he turned to Ronny. " We definitely weren't doing that if that's what you're thinking."
" We need to keep an eye on them." Lance peered around Keith and tried to get a view into the kitchen.
" There's not really anything breakable." The omega assured.
" You really don't have experience with kids, do you?" Lance chuckled and began walking into the other room. There were plenty of hazards in there. Kitchen appliances being a major concern.
" What gave it away?" Keith crutched after him.
(( The next chapter will be published soon! I'm really excited that this story has been getting so much support! Thank you to everyone who votes, comments, or just reads! It's all appreciated!))