Friday, December 16th
10:07 A.M.
"You live on a farm ?"
Lance laughed like Keith was stupid. "Have you seen me try to dig with a shovel? Fuck no."
"You literally live in the middle of nowhere." Keith countered, observing the yellow fields that rolled past their window. They were driving on a farm road, an actual farm road lined with weeds, blackberry bushes and the occasional rusty sign. Keith didn't even think these things existed.
"Most of my neighbors are farmers, but we aren't. My parents own the local grocery store in Mesa del Caballo. We've got chickens though, and a goat."
"A goat," Keith muttered in disbelief, watching greenery pass by as the car rumbled down a very long gravel driveway aligned by trees. "Why the hell do you have a goat?"
"We milk her." Lance spoke matter of factly. "It's convenient. Plus Cinderella is super good with the kids."
Keith snickered. "You named your goat after a disney princess?"
"Correction; my sister named her. Cleo was going through a phase."
Finally, the house came into view. It was fairly large, obviously older than Keith, and reminded him of the house from Anne of Green Gables. He was already cringing, the chipped yellow paint and white trim already screaming of domesticity. Keith was used to apartments and townhouses that belonged to the foster families he lived with, not family homes with soccer balls lying in the lawn and bikes thrown across gravel.
They came cruising down the gravel driveway and into one of the empty spaces by the house. As Lance was putting the car into park, two small kids came sprinting from the open garage, a large boxer pounding out behind them.
"I thought you only had a goat and chickens!" Keith cried, watching in disbelief as a long line of slobber dripped from the dog's mouth.
Lance was beaming like it was already christmas, barely able to unhook his seatbelt with his shaking hands. He didn't even respond to Keith's question, instead wrenching the door open and practically tripping from the front seat.
The two kids, from what Keith could see from the car window, were probably around nine and five. Their ecstatic jumping and screaming only hyped the dog into pouncing the air.
"Lance!" The nine year old cried out gleefully. Her stringy brown hair and tan skin color were the same as Lance's, and Keith immediately put two and two together. She was Lance's youngest sister, Josephine. He'd given Keith a quick rundown earlier.
"Josie!" Lance screeched, leaning down to scoop his sister into a hug. She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed like a small monkey. The dog practically attacked Lance's feet with slobber, trying their hardest to gain attention.
Keith wasn't sure what it was, but a part of him felt like he was prying. He'd only been at the McClain household for a good three minutes, and already he felt out of place.
"It'll be okay," Keith whispered to himself, now looking away from the affection and instead at his hands. "It'll be okay."
Who was he kidding?
The McClain family was huge. Keith had never lived with more than two people at a time.
Swallowing down his pride and any common sense he had left, Keith left the passenger seat of the car. His shoes hit gravel, and the sun beat down on his forehead. It was December in Arizona, so it was almost 70 degrees out. Keith was already preparing for tasteless, desert tap water and dried lips.
Turning around to the other side of the car, Keith watched Lance now hold the other child in his arms. He was a small boy with a short buzzcut and a star wars bandaid stuck to his forehead.
"-And then, when I fell off my scooter, my head bonked on the rock and now I have a battle scar!" The five year old pointed with a chubby finger at the bandaid. "See!"
Lance chuckled and set the boy back down to the gravel. "That is one nasty battle scar," He agreed while finally giving the dog some love by letting her kiss his face profusely.
"Who's that?" The boy asked, pointing at Keith with the same finger.
Lance turned to look at Keith, and immediately the dog started barking again. The large boxer rammed into Keith's legs, almost toppling him over. Keith reluctantly patted the dog's head, hoping the friendly action would get her to leave him alone.
"This is Keith," Lance proudly announced, grabbing Keith's hand to save him from the dog. "My boyfriend!"
Lance's palms were sweaty against Keith's, and although it was strange, Keith didn't want him to let go. If Lance let go then Keith would be alone under the gaze of two children, and nothing was more terrifying than children.
The five year old's eyes widened at the small display of affection, his coffee colored irises growing in curious shock. "Boys can like boys?"
"Duh," Josie said with her hands at the waist of her pink shorts. "You can like anyone you want. That's what my mami says."
The boy was in complete awe. The new information was like an epiphany.
"I want a boyfriend," The boy whispered, his voice so quiet that Keith was surprised he ever heard him. Then, as if an idea had clicked, the boy demanded, "Uncle Lance, can I have your boyfriend?"
It was Lance's turn to have wide eyes. "Um, no?"
"Share your boyfriend with me!"
Keith must've been seeing things, but he swore there was a blush on Lance's cheeks. Instead of making a comment, Lance ruffled the boy's hair. "You're so silly, Mateo. I'm not sure what your Dad would think if you had a twenty-year-old boyfriend."
Mateo pouted, sticking his bottom lip out angrily. "But why not? Keith has cool hair! He can put it in a ponytail, and he looks like a samurai fighter guy."
Keith couldn't help it, he unconsciously reached for the hair tie that was pulling his longer hair together. He had tied it up during the car ride so he wouldn't sweat as much. Keith undid the ponytail and let his hair fall across his face, running a quick hand through to fix it.
"Oh, now you just look like a girl."
Keith scowled and reached to pull it back up, but Josie screeched instead and made both him and the dog jump.
"Jesus-" Keith cried, waving his hands away from his hair. The dog was barking again, and Keith really wished that the creature would be quiet.
"Leave it down!" Josie cried, anticipation flooding her face. "You're a disney prince! You look like a disney prince with your hair down! Lance!" She was squealing now, jumping up and down and exciting the dog even more. "You're dating a disney prince!"
Keith wasn't sure how to respond to that. Should he be offended or flattered? It was coming from a nine year old, and Keith was never trained on how to act with kids. He'd never had any siblings. So, instead of thanking her, Keith just gave Lance a deathly stare.
"Let's go inside," Mateo announced, grabbing for Keith and Lance's clasped hands. Keith had forgotten they'd been holding them for so long. Mateo broke them apart and lead them each by a hand. Josie raced ahead with the dog, probably off to find something more exciting.
The garage was exactly like Keith had imagined. There were bikes everywhere and shelves lined with canned food. A kayak hung from the back wall, random buckets of paint littered the floor, and an old tarp was flung in the corner. It was, to say the least, exactly what a garage for a family of eight looked like. Except with a lot more stains, muddy shoes, and large bags of dog food.
"Dad!" Mateo screamed once they'd entered the kitchen from the garage. "I have a boyfriend now!"
Of the two people in the kitchen, one man poked his head out from the refrigerator and looked highly concerned. From his facial features, Keith could tell that the man was Lance's oldest brother, except with a slight scruffy beard and a stronger build. He was hot , in a Dad sort of way.
"..Oh?" He pulled some milk out from the fridge and set it on the counter. "That is, um, exciting?" He was obviously concerned, though in a way that Keith couldn't identify as disgust.
Mateo tugged on Keith's arm hard, pulling him towards his dad. "Yes! He's Lance's boyfriend too. We are sharing."
"Just so you know," Lance began, raising his free hand up in defense. "I never agreed to this."
Lance's brother chuckled. "I'm just glad he's sharing, even if it is over a boy."
The other person in the kitchen, a teenage girl of about fourteen, raced to wrap her hands around Lance. Lance let go of Mateo's hand to squeeze the girl back, and Keith wondered how many times Lance was required to hug someone for his homecoming. Keith felt sorry for him, he'd hate to be hugged ten times in one day.
Keith must've jinxed it, because another Sanchez family member came pounding, actually pounding, down the stairs two at a time. It was a teenage boy, strangely in nothing but a towel at his waist, and looking at him made Keith give a double take. He looked exactly like Lance, down to the same haircut, hooked nose, skinny frame and bony structure. Except he was insanely smaller, hardly any muscle on his arm, and his ribs poked through his skin.
Lance tripped over his own feet getting to the boy. Lance had never seen his friend more excited, not even when he'd beat Keith at the kegster last year.
The two were screeching each other's names, and it reminded Keith of seagulls. The boy was named Benji, Keith couldn't forget his name now that he'd heard Lance scream it five times. The two embraced for a moment, still howling.
It wasn't until Benji almost dropped his towel that Keith remembered he was partially naked. Lance didn't seem to mind in the slightest, and he jerked away from the hug to pull his brother into a headlock. Keith looked away immediately, suddenly focused on the wall to his left that was decorated with family photographs.
"Benjamin!" The girl shrieked from behind the kitchen island. "Put some clothes on!" She didn't bother covering her eyes, and instead threw a damp towel from the sink at the two brothers. The two barely noticed, instead howling like animals.
Mateo was giggling at Keith's side, his small fingers still grasping tightly to Keith's hand. "Uncle Benji is naked," He notified Keith, as if he couldn't see the slipping towel with his own eyes.
Keith swallowed and forced himself to wear a smile. "I see that." God, the boy needed to put some pants on. He thanked the heavens there was a towel.
Watching Lance wrestle his brother was a surreal experience. Keith expected Lance to win, being the older brother, but Benji was able to slip from Lance's hold easily and switch positions. Benji was stronger despite the sickly lack of muscle in his skin, and Lance was suddenly lying with his back flat against the hardwood floor.
"I win!" Benji declared triumphantly, his fists pumping the air. The towel began to slip from his lack of hips and he squirmed to catch it.
Lance groaned from his place on the ground, and Keith noted that Lance was lame enough to be defeated by his own kid brother. He'd have to mention that to Pidge when he got back.
"Hey, who is this?" Benji questioned with his attention on Keith, not bothering to lean down and help Lance up.
"I'm-"
"That's Keith!" Somehow Lance had managed to launch himself from the floor and grab Keith's hand, again . Just as before the two clasped fingers, and Keith couldn't help but wonder if Lance enjoyed holding his hand.
"He's my boyfriend," Lance added, that cocky grin still displayed on his face. He squeezed Keith's palm and tightened their fingers together, sending a small shiver down Keith's spine. What did Lance think he was doing?
"He's my boyfriend too!" Mateo managed to interject.
Benji smirked, looking Keith up and down. "Wow, Lance actually managed to get a boyfriend? And a hot one no less? What a miracle."
Lance let go of Keith's hand to fold his arms over his chest in defense. "Actually, yes." He wore his signature shit eating grin, the one he tended to give Keith after an awful pun.
Benji clicked his tongue. "Damn, Keith, I'm sorry. I bet he's awful in bed."
Keith couldn't help but laugh, both at Benji's triumphant smile and the visible shock on Lance's face. Lance's older brother, who he now knew as Daniel, had decided it was that exact moment for him to leave the room with Mateo protesting at his arm.
"I'll have you know," Lance scoffed, now blushing. "That I am a beast in bed. Keith should know!" Lance peered over at Keith with what he could only identify as a scream for help. "Right, Keith?"
Keith's eyes widened. "Uh-"
"Don't answer that," Danny interjected, raising his hands up to stop. "I really don't wanna know, and my son is present."
"Thank you," Lance's sister, Cleo, commented with her hands arm deep in soapy water from the sink. "I really didn't want to hear about Lance's sex life."
None of them prepared for when an older woman entered the room, a laundry basket at her hip. She took one look at Benji's half naked stated, and suddenly she was whacking him with a towel from her basket. "¡Oye!¿Qué demonios está sucediendo? Benji, por qué estás desnudo! Volver a la ducha!" Keith peered at Lance for any explanation, but none ever came.
Benji lowered his head and sulked, turning to go back up the stairs. "Sí, mamá." As he moved to return to his shower, Keith caught Benji stealthily flipping Lance the bird behind his mother's gaze. Then he was sprinting up the stairs, clutching at his towel in the process.
After placing her basket on the ground, the woman pulled Lance into a big, squishy hug. Keith immediately recognized her from one of the photographs in Lance's dorm. She was round and had plump cheeks, with long black hair pulled into a tight bun on her head.
"Welcome home, mijo." Mrs. McClain reached up on her tiptoes to place a kiss at Lance's forehead.
Keith ached, physically felt his stomach lurch and twist inside his skin. It was the same feeling from before, a sense of displacement. He wasn't meant to be here, meant to watch such loving affairs happen between family members. This was someone else's family, someone else's intimate relation.
Keith looked away, attention back at the photograph wall. He counted four photographs, all of them family portraits from different points in time. The last photo was the oldest, and Keith could point out five year old Lance without hesitation. Young Lance had a his two front teeth missing, and Keith unconsciously smiled.
"Hello."
Keith jumped, turning his attention back to the woman in front of him. Mrs. McClain held out a hand, obviously introducing herself. "I'm Lance's mom, but you can call me Rosa or Mrs. McClain." Keith noted a spanish accent faded into her words, an accent he guessed had at one time been a lot stronger.
He smiled politely and shook her hand, keeping eye contact for a brief moment. "I'm Keith. Keith Kogane."
She beamed at him, presenting a smile that Keith felt displaced under. Why had she smiled at him like that? It was sweet, motherly, friendly, and he wasn't sure how to respond. Did he smile back? How did one act in this situation?
"Pleasure to meet you, Keith."
He swallowed, wanting so badly to do something with his hands. They felt strange and sweaty, so he stuffed them into his front pocket. "Thanks so much for letting me stay for Christmas. It means a lot."
Rosa waved away her hand. "Oh, don't mention it. I'm always-" She paused to give Lance a crooked smile. " Always happy when Lance brings home guests."
"Mamá -"
"And he's never brought anyone home before! You're the first, how exciting!"
Keith could tell from Mrs. McClain's tone of voice that she was teasing him.
"Oh?" Keith raised an eyebrow. "Wow! Lance, you didn't tell me this!" His face displayed a devilish grin, one that was reciprocated from Lance with a scowl.
"Y-Yeah." Lance swallowed. "Well, the formalities have been nice and all, but Keith and I need to get our stuff." In one sharp motion Lance had gripped Keith's arm and tugged him in the direction of the garage.
Lance made his quick escape out of the kitchen, Keith following close after. The moment Cleo and Rosa were out of sight, Lance's hand ripped from Keith's arms. "Jesus," Lance muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair unconsciously. "My Mom is so-"
"Nice?" Keith wondered aloud.
Lance huffed, though he was smiling. "She's a tease, that's what she is."
The two boys traveled to the car in silence, the only sound being the distant nickering of horses a field over and the crunch of gravel under their feet.
"So," Keith began while pulling his one and only suitcase from the trunk. "You're an awful wrestler."
Lance poked his head out from the front seat. "Huh?"
"Your younger brother won that little fight, and I don't know if you noticed, but he's probably ninety pounds."
Keith had expected to get a rile out of Keith over that, maybe a salty comment or a lame comeback. Instead Lance frowned, his tone turned serious and cold.
"I don't expect you to understand."
"Understand what?"
Lance huffed and slammed the door a little too harshly. He held onto the handle for a moment, staring at the window of the car without blinking.
"You're insufferable, you know that?"
"It's not like you're the most fun to be around either. Do you really think I want to be here?"
Lance looked away, tightening his grip on the phone charger. "No, probably not." He let out a shaky breath and turned his gaze back on Keith. "Whatever, it's not important."
"You're such a baby," Keith taunted. "Just tell me, what's the big issue?"
"Fuck you." Lance walked to the car's trunk and began pulling out his suitcase and pillows, not looking at Keith in any way.
"Come on, Lance."
Lance let out a heated huff, and suddenly he was staring at Keith with a look he'd never seen before. "I let him win."
"Oh bullshit-"
"I've always let him win. It's something I've always done, even when we were kids." Lance pulled out the last of the luggage and slammed the trunk closed. "Now drop it."
"But why?"
"I said, drop it ."
The two of them were silent while walking back inside the house, and Keith's mind couldn't help but wander. Lance was the most competitive person he knew. The two of them could compete for hours, and Lance was always confident that he could do things better than Keith. Everything with them was a competition; their grades, sports, the amount of beers they could drink in one sitting, the amount of pizza slices one could eat. It just didn't seem in Lance's personality to let someone win . Not unless he loved that person more than anyone in the world.
Maybe Benji was that person.
Lance lead Keith up the stairs and down a hallway lined with hardwood floors. Keith noted the bathroom at the end of the hallway, the door ajar to reveal leftover steam from Benji's shower.
Lance kicked the door to his bedroom open with his foot, revealing a medium sized room with a twin sized bed pushed into the corner. Keith cringed at the Bleach anime poster on the wall, followed by several Star Wars posters and a couple Naruto prints.
"What the-" Lance yelped, dropping his luggage so he could race into the room. "Where's the bunk bed?"
Benji randomly appeared at the door frame, leaning against it with one hip. He was now freshly showered, wearing a nike t-shirt and sweats. "Mom gave it to Josie."
Lance looked ready to scream, his jaw dropped open. "What!? But, why? It was our bunk bed! I thought-"
Benji sighed and slipped into the room so he could flop onto the mattress. "Our feet were always hanging off. We're too tall for it."
Lance looked personally offended. "But, but it was the bunk bed! We played pirates on that, and I fell off the top bunk and sprained my ankle when I was seven!" He looked ready to cry, and Keith buried his laughter into his sleeve.
"Dude, it's literally in the next room."
"Well, yeah! But now I don't have a cool bunk bed!"
"Lance, you're a college kid. You don't need a bunk bed." Benji shook his curly wet hair to wring it out. "Plus, now you can share a bed with Keith. Cuddling and gay stuff, right?"
That made Keith's laughing stop short. Cuddle? Share? As in, share a bed with Lance McClain? As in, sleeping next Lance? Keith felt his skin go pale and his palms get sweaty around the handle of his suitcase.
Benji chuckled. "Cut the crap, Lance. You know you're excited, now you guys can have sex and no one will bother you."
"BENJI!" Lance screamed, suddenly hitting his brother with the end of a pillow. "What the heck? You can't just say stuff like that casually! You're, like, twelve."
"I'm sixteen!" Benji countered.
"Get. Out." Lance grabbed Benji's arms and practically kicked him out of the room. "Get out, right now, leave us, leave-"
"Have fun!" Benji called before the door slammed in his face. "Use protection!"
It was quiet between the two of them, now that Benji was gone from the room. Lance stood with his ear against the closed door, eyebrows furrowing in concentration.
"Is he gone yet-"
"SHH."
Keith rolled his eyes and moved to the bed, dragging his suitcase behind him. "He's gone, Lance. You can chill."
After a moment, Lance finally moved away from the door. "You never know. Benji is a little shit." "Yeah," Keith agreed, flopping down on the bed and stretching out onto the pillow. "But you love him."
Keith wasn't sure what it was that had urged him to say that, but a part of him was glad he did. It was worth it just to see the content, serene look on Lance's face.
"Yeah," Lance agreed, eyes staring at nothing. "I really do."
Keith wasn't sure what it was, but he found himself asking a question that was, in a way, very un-Keith-like.
"Tell me about your siblings."
Lance's ears perked up, and he raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
Keith shrugged and stretched a bit more on the bed, his shirt riding up an inch to show pale skin. "Yeah. I mean, I'll be with them for two weeks. I wanna know what I'm getting into."
Lance took a seat on the bed next to Keith and began to untie his shoes. "Well you've met all of them but Sophia. We don't see her anymore."
"Really? I thought all your siblings loved you." Keith couldn't help the teasing hint in his voice.
"Oh, hell no. I used to fight with Daniel all the time. He's just matured since he got married and had a kid. And Cleo? Hell, I was awful to her as a kid. When she was a newborn and I was six, I bit her foot and made her bleed because my mom wasn't paying attention to me."
Keith laughed. That definitely sounded a like a Lance thing to do. "She doesn't seem to hate you now."
"Nah," Lance agreed. "We're older now. That rivalry is long gone."
"So," Keith toyed with the drawstring of his sweatpants, grey ones he'd worn for the long drive. "Why does Sophia hate you?"
Lance's face paled, and he bit his lip. "I don't really, I just. I don't know. Why are we even talking about this?"
Keith shrugged. "Um, because we're bonding?"
A huff escaped Lance's lips. "Whatever. Bonding moment is over." Lance launched himself from the bed and reached for his suitcase, signalling that the conversation was at a close.
Keith couldn't help but wonder if Lance was keeping stuff from him. Okay, scratch that, Keith knew for a fact that Lance was keeping away info. But did Lance really need to tell him anything at all? They were just pretending. This relationship was a fake one, and Keith only considered himself Lance's mutual friend, if that at all. They could keep their secrets, they could do whatever the hell they wanted.
Keith moved onto his side so he was facing the wall. "I'm gonna take a nap," He told Lance half heartedly. Lance responded with a lazy grunt, signalling that he'd heard.
After a few moments of silence between the two, Keith felt his eyelids grow heavy. He closed them fully, and slowly his breath evened out into sleep.