Idol Love : After Hours

Chapter 10

Liliana follows her Tio's request and hops down the stairs to Keith. She nudges him slightly and quirks her head, messy dark brown hair falling over her shoulder, "What's going on?"

Keith shakes his head, "Nothing, Lily," He pauses to find the right words to tell the child, "Just adult things."

"What kind of 'adult' things?"

Keith sighs and walks down the stairs ignoring her. Liliana doesn't take too kindly to this and follows the man, "Tio Keith! Wait!"

Keith cringes hearing her call him that. In the situation, he's in, he'd rather not be referred to as a family member from his partner's family. He waves her off and pushes towards the closet downstairs bathroom to change. Lily tracks behind him pushing for answers like all kids do.

"Tio Keith, what's going on?"

Ignored.

"Are you and Uncle Lance fighting?"

"Lily, stop."

"But, I wanna know!"

"I'm not gonna-"

"Why not?"

Keith continues ignoring her as he reaches the bathroom. He reaches for the doorknob and gets stopped by the pleading and curious child. She tugs on his shirt and whines, "Tio Keith-"

"Can you please stop, Liliana?" Keith asks, as politely as he possibly can, while looking down at her. There was a hint of anger behind the words because he was so annoyed by this kid.

"But-"

"No buts-"

"Tio Keith, Why-"

"Stop calling me that." 

"Calling you what, Tio Keith?"

"That," He looks down, "I'm not your Uncle and probably won't be."

"But aren't you and Lance-?"

"No, Lily! We're not!" Keith snaps, clearly upset. He looks at Liliana for a moment and realizes what he did. Opening the bathroom door, he steps in fast and closes the door with greater speed. Locking it he turns his back to the door and leans against it. Staring up at the painted ceiling, he slowly slides down to the cold marble tiled floor. Tears well up in his eyes as he sets his clothes and charger aside. He grabs his phone off the stack and turns it on. As if the universe wasn't done messing with him, his lock screen is a picture of Lance performing on their last tour. He quickly types his password in and swipes over to messaging. Without having to scroll, he finds Shiro's name and clicks on their messaging tab. He sits there for a moment, debating whether he should text or call his older brother. Ultimately, he decides on calling him. He just wants to hear a familiar, more importantly, comforting voice right now. 

After a few rings, Shiro picks up, "Hey, Keith, what's up?"

"I-" Keith looks down to the marble and sniffles, "I just need to talk to someone right now."

"What happened?" Shiro asks mild concern coating his voice.

Keith feels the tears as he thinks of how to say his next few words. He wipes his eyes with his sleeve and explains, "I broke it off with Lance."

"You did what?!" Shiro almost snaps. In shock, he starts to ask many questions, "Why would you-? What did he-? What?"

"Shiro, I'm tired," The younger sibling pauses to ground himself, "I'm tired of being hurt and watching Lance hurt himself. I just want him to learn but he just won't. I love him but I- I can't do this anymore."