Premium Seats [Klance] ✅

3 - His Brother

KEITH

The smell of freshly seasoned meat wafted in the air the moment the door closed behind him, greeted by the headache-inducing flickering lamp just above his head. Always the damned lamp. For someone who lived with two grown adults, both of whom had jobs with ample salaries, Keith saw no reason for either of them to pay no heed to one lamp.

For this reason, he eyed the umbrella stand next to the door with a great distaste, sitting innocently against the wall with its butterfly engravings near the lip, somehow mocking the lamp with its pathetic presence in the apartment. Shiro could've saved ten dollars to actually buy one bulb to fix the lamp – it was giving Keith excruciating migraines as of late, especially after coming home from a long day of school and work. At least, right now, he'd quit his job at the drug store so he could focus on school.

But Takashi Shirogane had a knack of buying things that appeared non-essential to Keith – the umbrella stand wasn't the first. But still, the thing that irked him the most was that none of them could be bothered to actually put any umbrella in there. They had long since given up on using umbrellas after losing them on multiple occasions (or – at least in Keith's case – had to lend it to two children at a convenience store and never getting it back). "Maybe Adam will come home with a brand new umbrella one day," Shiro had said when Keith expressed his complaint.

The clock mounted on the wall told him that he was home before curfew. 9:48 he noted. Curfews. Another one of Shiro's frivolous rules in the apartment. For one, Keith hardly had any reason to go out unless it was urgent (once Shiro made him run all the way to the nearest convenience store to buy cabbages). Second, even if he was out, he found it pointless to keep hanging around, considering he practically had no close friends to actually spend his time with.

Although, tonight might be different. He hadn't set any of it up, honestly. Sure, he'd heard of Allura and Lotor – nearly everyone in the town does. But if it hadn't been for Adam's growing concern on his lack of social interaction, backed up by the fact that Shiro was apparently very familiar with Allura – as in on a pals category rather than acquaintances – he'd still be in his room, brooding on the impending doom called Monday.

"Hey," greeted Adam when Keith entered the kitchen, just in time to turn off the stove and wiping his hand with a cloth. "You're home early."

"Earlier than Shiro, I'd expect,"

"Says he has an extra hour," Adam explained. "Urgent call, I think. A new report came in. Apparently, someone tried to infiltrate the government."

"I will never understand police language," Keith remarked, grabbing an apple from the counter and taking a bite. He scrunched up his nose at the taste.

"Just repeating what he's saying,"

Keith felt his phone buzz in his pocket. When he fished it out, he wasn't really surprised to see Allura's text, asking how he was doing. She could be such a mum sometimes.

Keith — Im okay. You just go ahead and have fun

Keith — Sorry for getting in the way of your date

Allura — You didn't.

Allura — We're all good, I promise :)

Keith — Lotor didnt look it tho

Allura — He just thought you were trying to hit on me

Keith snorted.

Allura — He's a bit protective sometimes, you know? Sometimes it's sweet, sometimes it's annoying.