Taking A Chance

Opening Up

Once Shiro and Adam were gone, Lance and Keith joined the kids on the lawn.
‘Why is abuela being so mean?' asked Rachel.
‘She doesn't agree with me liking boys,' Lance said.
‘But we don't care,' said Rachel. ‘And we don't want you and Keith to go.'
‘I know,’ said Lance, ‘but it might be for the best because then the arguing will stop.'
‘It's not fair,’ Rachel cried. She jumped to her feet and ran inside, Leo and Luis ran after her.
Keith and Lance stood and went inside and back to the dinning room.
‘It is unhealthy to have this perversion in the house,’ Sophia said.
‘ENOUGH,’ yelled Jorge, slamming his fists on the table. They all looked at him in shock. It was rare for him to lose his temper. ‘Lance and Keith can stay here as long as they want. If anyone disagrees with that, they can leave. Now that's the end of it.' He turned his gaze to his mother. ‘You're not welcome here if you can't put aside your hate or hold your tounge, and Veronica you need to make a choice. If you stay, I want no complaints or grumbling from you, and if you can't do that you can leave.’
Sophia stood. ‘You will regret your decision. Veronica, come.'
Veronica looked around at her family her face full of pain. She stood and slowly walked around the table, her eyes on Lance. She suddenly ran to Lance and threw her arms around his neck started crying. After a second Lance returned her hug.
‘I'm sorry, I was scared of losing you again, and I thought if I pushed you away I wouldn't feel anything,’ Veronica said, quickly.
‘Let's get your bags from the car,' Lance said.
Veronica nodded.
She turned to Keith. ‘Sorry doesn't seem to be enough of an apology for how I've treated you,’ she said.
‘It's fine,’ said Keith. ‘How about if we just start over from now?'
‘That sounds good to me,' Veronica said.
Veronica took Lance's hand and dragged and they hurried out to the car where Sophia was already opening to boot to remove the bags.
Inside, Maria went and hugged Keith.
‘Thank you for saying that,’ she said. Maria pulled back and kissed his cheek, and he gave her a shy smile.
She found Keith an enigma. He fought with the power and confidence of a warrior, as if he were made for battle. When he was around Lance he became vulnerable, and Lance headed the relationship, but away from Lance he became shy and withdrawn.
Maria wanted to draw him out, wanted him to be comfortable around them, and to feel he could come to them as openly as their own children.
Her heart ached every time she thought about what his father did to him.
‘Um, before I forget, we're going to Shiro's parents tonight for dinner,' Keith said.
‘Wonderful,' said Maria. ‘It will be good for you to visit family.’ She began cleaning the plates from the table and Keith and Jorge helped her. ‘Are you looking forward to it?'
‘Mostly,' he said. ‘Shiro's sister May and her husband are coming over after dinner. Andy and I don't exactly get on. Actually, I punched him.’
‘Ooo, stories,’ said Lance, coming back in. ‘Why did you punch him?'
‘Because he's the universes biggest ass,' Keith said.
‘I thought that was my title,’ Lance said.
‘No, you're the most annoying,' Keith said.
Marco laughed.
‘True,' said Lance, as he began filling the sink with water. ‘So, what did he do?'
‘He was drunk and running off at the mouth,’ said Keith. ‘Unfortunately, it was his wedding day, and he ended up in hospital for the night.’
Lance turned and looked at Keith. ‘Seriously, on his wedding day, and how did the bride take that?’
‘May rang me and thanked me,’ said Keith. ‘Andy was so drunk, he spent all night vomiting. She was thankful she didn't have to clean it up.’
‘Only you could do something like that and get away with it,' said Lance. 'Now, Shiro's parents, they're Japanese?'
‘Yes,’ said Keith, ‘Amaya and Haru. They will probably throw lots of questions at you.’
'Should I be scared?’ asked Lance.
‘Maybe,' said Keith. ‘They've never liked anyone I've gone out with.’
‘Why's that?’ asked Jorge.
Keith's cheeks coloured. ‘They caught the having sex with a girl on my 15th birthday, she was a few years older than me. According to them, she lead me astray. They never really trusted anyone after that.’
Maria watched Keith absently rub his left wrist with the palm of his hand. When Lance saw, all the sparkle left his eyes. She went to Keith and took his hands and turned his wrists up and saw they were criss-crossed with scars.
Keith pulled his hands away and held them against him, and averted his eyes.
Maria's heart broke as she watched him withdraw into himself.
Lance was suddenly there, pulling Keith into a hug. ‘It's okay, baby,’ he said, softly. 'No-one here is judging you.'
‘Oh, sweetheart, no,' said Maria, ‘never think that. It's good for us to know, so if you feel that down again, you can come to us. We're your family now, and were here for you.’
'You okay?’ asked Lance.
Keith nodded.
Lance slowly stepped back, his hand lingering on Keith's arm before falling away.
Keith gingerly unfolded his arms, and held them out to Maria.
She took his hands and then ran her thumbs over his forearms. ‘How many times?’ she asked.
‘Um...since I was 9, 18 times,’ Keith said.
‘And the last time?' she asked.
‘A month or so after Allura shot me,’ said Keith, ‘Lance and Shiro found me.'
‘How can you still work with Allura?’ asked Maria, letting go of Keith's hands.
‘She was angry,’ said Keith. ‘The Galra had destroyed everything she knew, her home, her family. You see, Allura and I had a relationship before I went to the Blade. I broke it off before I left, and it was while I was with the Blade that I found out I was part Galran. It was difficult for her to accept she’d slept with a Galran.’
‘And you forgave her for what she did to you?' asked Jorge.
‘I believe her apology is sincere,' said Keith. ‘It will take time to fully trust her again, but I don't hate her. Besides, I still find it difficult to accept that side of myself.'
Maria moved back and sat at the table with Jorge and Marco as the two young men did the dishes.
‘There's nothing wrong with your Galran side,' said Lance, ‘it makes you who you are, who I fell in love with, and I wouldn't change one part of it.’
‘Don't say that,' Keith said.
Lance turned to Keith. ‘It's the truth,’ he said. ‘I'm not going to pretend your heat is not difficult, but I will tell you I wouldn't change that about you.’
‘What are you talking about?' asked Marco,
‘Sit,’ Lance told Keith, pointing to the table. ‘We need to discuss this anyway. We only have two to three months before it could happen again.’
The two of them sat at the table and explained Keith's heat the same as Coran had explained it to him. They had given Maria a very brief explanation of heat days earlier, and she hung on Lance's every word, as did the others.
‘When he goes into heat it would probably be best if no-one comes near us,’ said Lance. ‘We'll have to work out where to go because we can't stay in the house.'
‘Kosmo could take us to the Castle,’ Keith said.
‘Yes, excellent,’ said Lance. ‘We'll talk to Allura and Coran.’
‘You said Alpha's can potentally kill their parther,' said Marco. ‘Doesn't this worry you, Lance?’
Lance shook his head. ‘I trust Keith, and we have a safety word.’
‘And you've already been through this together?' asked Jorge.
‘Yes, once,’ said Lance. He looked at Keith a moment with a pained expression on his face, then turned back to his family. 'The reason I bring this up now is because…you see…when it's over I look a bit battered and bruised. Nothing serious, it's just…Keith feels like he…raped me the first time, which he didn't, I consented to everything we did.’
Keith stared down at the table, but didn't pull away when Lance laced his fingers with his.
‘So you think it may be every six months?' asked Maria.
‘Yes, but we can't be sure until the next one happens,’ Lance said.
Maria pulled out her phone, and with some back tracking they worked at an approximate date for Keith's next heat.