Bloody Texas

God, You Could Take a Knife to all this Sexual Tension.

"You want to what?"

Lance and Keith sat across from Lance's parents in their living room. Lance wore a pink sweater and shorts with white cat tights. He repeated himself—slower this time. "We are going on a road trip." He quickly brought up his hands in defense, jingling his Pandora bracelet. "But it's only gonna be for a little while. And we are going to be careful."

Lance's mother shook her head, "No—just—no. It's too dangerous, m'ijo!"

"Mama," he took a breath, "it won't be long."

"What if you get a crisis? What then?" She shot angry caramel glares at Keith.

"Then, we go to the hospital. Just like we do here."

She turned to Lance's father, "You see? He's filling my boy's head with dangerous ideas!"

Lance's father raised a hand to shush her, "Let them talk. Don't make assumptions."

"Thank you." Lance laced his fingers together and held onto his crossed legs. "Keith is taking me to some really cool places. We are going to have fun seeing a lot of cool stuff!" He tried to keep his voice upbeat.

"Where will you go?" Lance's mother didn't soften her voice.

"That's—" both Keith and Lance started to talk, then stopped. Lance continued, "That's a secret. It's a surprise for me."

Lance's father gave them a smile, "That sounds really fun."

The positive reaction energized Lance, "Yeah! I'm really excited, and I wanna go!" He talked with his hands as he explained, "We are gonna leave tomorrow. Tonight I'm staying at Keith's and we will leave from there."

"I do not like this, m'ijo." His mother dropped her intense gaze.

Lance knew she was trying to gain pity, and he was done with her attitude. "Mama, I'm an adult. I'm twenty years old and I'm going on the road trip."

She widened her eyes in anger and stood from the couch, "I am your mother!"

Lance stood up to look down on her, "And I'm your son! Don't you want me to be happy?"

She threw her hands up in frustration, "Do what you want, but I do not support this."

Lance watched her walk out with frustrated arm movements, "Mama!"

"M'ijo," Lance's father gained Lance's attention. "I hope you have fun." He gave him a smile and got up. "Don't worry about your mother, I will take care of it."

"Papi." Lance giggled and gave him a big hug. "Thank you!"

Lance said goodbye to his siblings and left a note for his mother. Andy was the only one that showed major apprehension to the trip. Lance assured him that he would be fine and would return soon. Shiro was working that night, and Keith had informed him about their plans a week prior. Lance stuffed his extra suitcase into Keith's car and joined him inside his house.

When he walked in the door, he heard Keith call to him from the kitchen. "Hey Lance! What do you want for dinner?"

Lance started toward the kitchen and muttered a giggle under his breath. "You." He slipped into view and hung on the doorframe. "Whatcha got?"

Keith motioned to his fridge and pantry, "Knock yourself out."

Lance popped his lips and opened his cabinets to search. Keith had a lot of choices, but Lance decided on mundane cereal. He jumped up to sit on the counter as he munched on his food. It was rare for him to have an appetite, but the excitement of the trip brought it back. He watched Keith cook himself something with a curious head tilt.

"Eggs?" Lance questioned his food choice with judgmental eyes.

"I think your cereal has put me in a breakfast mood." He pointed at him with an oily spatula, "This is your fault."

"Hmm, okay." Lance drank the rest of the milk from the bowl and jumped down from the counter to place it in the sink. After cleaning up, he decided to walk up to Keith and hug him from behind. There was always comforting warmth in his body and his dark clothes smelled like the sun they attracted.

"You enjoying yourself?" Keith laughed at his behavior without pushing him away.

Lance spoke into his sweater, "Yes."

"Well, I'm gonna eat this. Do you shower in the morning or at night?"

Lance leaned his cheek into his back, "In the morning."

Keith's chest resonated with his signature deep laugh, "Alright."

After he ate, Keith taught Lance to play his favorite video game in his room. It took a few tries to get it working. Keith sat on the floor as Lance lied on his bed next to him. Lance knew he was bad, but he won every time. After winning for the third time, he huffed and motioned to the screen. "You're letting me win!"

Keith sarcastically replied with a laugh, "No, of course not."

"Play me for real!"

"Nah."

"Nah?"

Keith eyed him with a silly smile, "Nah, you look like a baby."

"I'm not a baby! Try me!"

"Nah, I'm tired now." Keith set down his controller.

Lance hung his head upside down off the bed and mocked him, "Who's the baby now?" He stuck his tongue out at him as he put the game away.

After Keith set the controllers on their chargers, he gave Lance a quick kiss as he watched him. Lance laughed at his cute behavior and got off his bed. He stumbled out of dizziness when he stood up, bracing himself in Keith's arms. When it passed he realized the situation he was in. He slowly lifted his head to look up at Keith's eyes.

Keith furrowed his brows and watched Lance curiously. They stared at each other for a few moments of tense silence. Lance gradually felt his face grow hot and his chest thump. "Uh, um—!" he stood up on his own, "Thank you."

Keith rubbed the back of his neck and averted his gaze. "Yeah, no problem."

They stood in awkward silence for a few seconds. Lance raised his arms and dramatically talked with them, "Oh, it's really late. I guess I should, uh..." he trailed off.

Keith shifted his weight, "Yeah, yeah. That's—uh—right."

Lance let out an embarrassed laugh and started toward the door, "So I will, just, go to my spot." He stumbled over something on the floor, "On—uh—the couch."

Keith gave him a nod, his flushed cheeks glowed in the artificial light. "Yeah, goodnight."

Lance clicked his teeth and opened the door, "Yeah. Goodnight."

He scolded himself when he closed the door. "Oh my god, I'm such an idiot." He slapped his forehead and headed down the hall. "Oh yeah, Keith, I will just leave now," he mocked himself with his hands. He covered his blushing face, "So fucking stupid."