Bodysnatchers

6

Keith goes home in the early hours of Saturday morning, a little after eight.

"I've gotta go," he whispers, gently shaking Lance's shoulder. Lance half opens his eyes and stares up at Keith, and it's obvious that his vision is bleary.

"What?" Lance mumbles.

"I've gotta be somewhere," Keith shrugs, he bites his lip. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay," says Lance. He sits up, rubbing his neck. "You coming out later?"

Keith hums in response. "Probably."

"Good."

"I'll text you?"

"Yeah," Lance smiles. "Do it."

He leans forward then, snaking his arms around Keith's neck and pulling him in for a deep kiss, his tongue tasting distinctly of smoke. Keith melts into the touch, but all he can think about is the night before, and his mouth around Lance's cock and falling asleep against Lance's bare chest, the room thick with smoke.

He can't help but blush. Lance pulls away, eventually, and Keith sends him a grin after giving him one final quick peck on the cheek.

The walk home is okay, quiet except for the early birds chirping from their places on the above head wires; though Keith has one headphone in his ear, so he can't really tell exactly how loud or quiet it is. He's playing good music from one of his favourite bands- tomorrows tulips- and he's just left from Lance's so he should be pretty damn calm, but his heart is beating pretty damn quickly. Because he's getting out of role. He's turning back into Keith Kogane, the little nerdy kid with a good conscience and he is wondering what the hell he was thinking doing all that stuff last night. Having a cigarette? Really? What the fuck was Keith thinking? He is going to be in so much trouble. God, he's probably going to get so much shit from Shiro.

He does.

When he reaches his house, Keith takes a deep breath and opens the door just a creak but Shiro apparently heard the click of the key turning and so he's in the hall in seconds, screaming bloody murder.

"Keith where have you been? I have been so worried! Where's your phone? How dare you-"

Keith murmurs apologies and squeaks that he is very sorry and it won't happen again, all while clutching his arm for some sort of support.

"I was at Matt and Pidge's, Shiro," he says meekly. "I fell asleep."

Shiro is still breathing heavily. "This isn't like you," he says, finally. "But- I'll let you off, this time. As it's pretty much only the one time you've ever broken a rule, and you're clearly safe, and we're somewhere you can handle."

"But I don't want this to happen again. Are we clear?"

"Yeah," Keith says. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"I was so scared Keith, fuck. You know the last time I went this long without seeing you was when mom and dad-"

"Yeah." And fuck Keith feels guilty.

He feels so damn guilty because it hadn't even crossed his mind that Shiro may think he was fucking dead in a ditch. Or that him ignoring texts and calls made Shiro think of their parents. He feels even more guilty though because he feels like he definitely just lied to Shiro. It probably will happen again, because Lance has him wrapped around his little finger and Keith is finding slipping into role far too easy.

—–

At 3:12, Keith approaches Shiro again.

"Hey," he says, his voice light and all goodie and 100% Keith. "Can I go over to Pidge and Matt's house for a few hours? We're partners for this Physics project and-"