Taking A Chance

Wedding Plans

Upstairs Keith went through the motions of changing the kids and putting them to bed. Lance watched him in silence. He was terrified about what Keith might do now the news was out. How had he kept this secret for so long?
He followed Keith out of the kids room and back to their own.
Keith fiddled with the ring on his finger. ‘Do you hate me now you know?’ he asked.
‘Oh, baby no,’ said Lance. ‘You did nothing wrong.' He went and put his arms around Keith, relieve when he didn't pull away. ‘This is not your fault. God, you are one of the strongest and bravest people I know.’
‘Shiro was angry,’ Keith said.
‘He was upset that someone hurt you,’ said Lance, ‘that he couldn't protect you. I heard what May said. She shouldn't have asked you to keep this a secret from your parents.’
‘Are they still here?' asked Keith.
‘Yes. I doubt they're leaving until they see you,’ Lance said.
Keith pulled back and kissed Lance. He pushed his hand through the back of Lance's hair, pulling him closer, kissing him as if his entire existance depended on it.
When they finally pulled apart, Keith asked, 'Can I still have you tonight?'
‘You never have to ask that,’ said Lance. ‘I'm yours, now and forever.’
Lance followed Keith downstairs. When Shiro saw him, he shot to his feet. He looked surprised when Keith went over to him, put his arms around his chest, and hugged him, but soon he hugged him back. Adam stood and put his arms around both of them.
‘I don't want to talk about it,' said Keith. ‘I buried it a long time ago. Just know that I'm okay.’
Shiro held him tighter. ‘Only if we can randomly hug you when we need to.’
Keith gave a weak laugh. ‘Fine. Now, go home.’
It took 10 minutes to get the teary Adam out the door. In the end, Shiro had to drag him away.
Lance closed the front door and draped an arm over Keith's shoulders.
‘I don't envy, Shiro tonight,’ said Lance, ‘calming Adam down with be a chore. I didn't know Adam had such a good punch on him either. Andy was lucky I had Molly in my arms, I would've stopped him laughing.’
‘He's not worth the effort,’ Keith murmured.
‘No, but you are,’ said Lance. ‘He should have his dick ripped off and stuffed down his throat.’
They moved away from the window as Black took off.
‘You two have a sleep in tomorrow morning, and I'll look after the babies,’ said Maria. ‘I'm up early because the kids go back to school, Veronica has Uni, Marco and papa go back to work.'
‘I can help with lunches…' began Lance.
‘No, for once just get up when you want to, not because you have to,’ Maria said.
‘Thanks, mama,' Lance said.
Maria watched them go upstairs. ‘That pour boy has been through so much,' she said.
‘He's had a hard life,' said Jorge. ‘It makes any problems with our kids pale in comparison.'
They were lost in their own thoughts as they locked up and went to bed.
The next morning a dishevelled Lance made his way down stairs just before lunch in only his shorts, and found his mother in the kitchen.
‘Did you sleep well?' asked Maria.
‘Mhm, where's Keith?’
Maria frowned and turned to him. ‘I assumed he was still asleep with you,’ she said.
Lance's heart pounded in his chest. ‘He's not here?' All tiredness left his body. Had Keith done something to himself after last nights events?
Lance raced back upstairs and pulled on his clothes. He had to find Keith. What if he we're too late? He raced back downstairs only to stop at the bottom as Keith came through the front door, sweaty and puffing.
‘Where the hell were you?' demanded Lance.
Keith looked at his shocked. ‘I couldn't sleep and went for a run.'
‘What time did you leave?' asked Maria.
‘About 5am,’ said Keith. ‘When I got into town, I got a coffee…’
‘You ran all the way to town?’ asked Maria. ‘How long did that take?’
‘About three hours, I went through the forest rather than follow the road,' said Keith. ‘Did I do something wrong?’
‘Baby, you need to let someone know where your going,’ said Lance. ‘I woke up and you were gone, and mama hadn't seen you, and I panicked...’
‘I'm sorry,' said Keith, quickly. ‘I didn't think, but I took my datapad.’ He held up the orange phone like device.
‘Clearly, we over reacted,’ said Maria, calmly. ‘Lunch will be ready in twenty minutes, why don't you two go and shower.’
Keith followed Lance upstairs to their room.
‘Sorry,’ said Keith. ‘I didn't plan to be gone that long, I just got caught up in my thoughts. It's been so long since I've had the time to get things straight in my head that I lost track of time.’
‘I've been smothering you, haven't I,’ Lance said.
‘No, of course not' said Keith. ‘I've just always used excercise or training time, to organise my mind.’ He picked up two towels and handed one to Lance, and they made their way to the bathroom.
The McClain bathroom wasn't as big as the one's in the Castle, but it didn't bother them, and Keith enjoyed it when Lance washed his hair.
As Maria served lunch, they came downstairs and picked up the kids and sat at the table.
'Paella,' said Lance, enthusiastically. He served Keith and his mother, before himself.
‘We need to set a date for the wedding so we can start ordering thing's,’ Keith said. He pulled out his datapad and sat it on the table. ‘What date is this stupid ceremony?’
‘Next Friday,’ Lance said.
‘Okay,' said Keith. ‘The Saturday two weeks after that is 28 March, or three weeks is 4 April.'
‘28 March,’ Lance said.
Keith had a spoon of paella and his eyes widened. ‘Wow, this is so good.’
Jaya whined at him. Keith spooned a small amount into his mouth, and he made happy little sounds.
‘Um?' asked Molly.
‘Oops, sorry monkey,’ Lance said, giving her some.
‘How many guests?' asked Maria.
‘Including the family, only about 20,' Lance said.
‘Three weeks isn't long enough to get a cake made,' said Maria. ‘Catering might be hard as well.’
‘Hunk wants to make the cake,' said Lance. ‘He begged me the day he made those cakes for when I was going to propose to you. He said it wouldn't be a traditional wedding cake, but rather something that would represent us.’
‘He does make the best cakes,' Keith said.
‘Were you brought up on Japanese cuisine, Keith?’ asked Maria.
‘Amaya and Haru were a big part of my childhood,’ said Keith. ‘It was the first type of food I learnt to make.‘
‘So you know how to make gyoza, yakitori and the Japanese curry we had last night?' asked Lance, his eyes pleading for him to say yes.
‘I can,’ Keith said.
‘Why don't we make the food for the wedding,’ said Maria. ‘We have both Cuban and Japanese, something that represents both of you.'
‘Amaya would love to help,' Keith said.
‘Excellent,’ said Maria. ‘We start in the morning, be evering everything will be ready. Now all we need is a colour scheme for the tables.’
‘Purple,' Lance said.
Keith smiled. ‘The combination of red and blue. At the flower shop in town I saw a table centre piece made with various shades of purple flowers. I took a photo.‘ He brought the photo up and showed them.
‘I really like that,’ said Lance.
‘She said she needed a minimum of 2 weeks notice because she doesn't have any other functions on at the moment,' Keith said.
‘Okay,' said Lance, ‘you talk to Amaya, and I'll call the florist.‘