"I don't care"

"I've seen him around school recently and he's been more aggressive than usual"

"What does that have to do with me."

"Just be careful, okay?"

"I'm just going to get coffee with James, I'll be fine"

__

"I'm almost there, 10 minutes?"

"I'm surprised I beat you here, you're very enthusiastic about coffee"

"Ha. Ha. Axca stopped me on the way out"

"Everything good?"

"Just stupid.. Yeah"

James clicked his tongue and he heard him sigh through the phone.

"Okay then, just hurry up I'm supposed to be grounded"

Keith chuckled and ended the call. Red growled low in her throat. He stopped and cupped her face in his hands. She twisted away but pressed against his neck.

"Who was that. Your boyfriend."

He frowned and raised his hands slightly

"I don't have a boyfriend"

His collar was grabbed and he was shoved back and collided with a wall.

"Lotor you said this guy was one of those filthy trash"

"Don't lie Keith. You do. You always do. Because you can't handle youtself so you try find other males to fill the space."

"Wha- You don't know me. You know nothing about me."

"But we're friends."

He lowered his face to Keith's

"And friends should talk"

He could feel his breath on his lips, and could almost feel him smirk. He slammed his fist into Lotor's cheek and he stumbled back.

"We are not friends. Did you think I would just let you kiss me!"

He scrunched up his nose and shook his hand.

"Your breath stinks too"

A couple punches landed on his chest within moments of each other. And a fist sprung up and hit him in the face. "That's enough"

Keith coughed and he grabbed his chin.

"One day, Keith"

He pushed his knuckles against his cheek to turn his face away.

"Leave me alone"

Lotor chuckled and dropped his grip and his fingers lingered on his shoulder. Keith slapped it away.

"See you soon"

He heard the footsteps walk away and he pressed his palms into his eyes and sucked in a shakey breath. Keith leaned against the wall but winced and pulled away. He shook and staggered forward.

__

The door squeaked open and Keith slowly walked in. Axca called from another room.

"Oh! That was quick. I was expecting you to stay longer"

"Never made it"

"What? What do you mean?"

"I need to.. Don't."

He made his way to his bedroom and dropped to the floor. The impact caused one of his books to fall on the floor near him with a thud. He jumped, and leaned over for it. His finger traced across the leather cover and a sob escaped when he tried to laugh.

"I can't do anything right"

He rubbed his eyes and dropped his head to hit the book.

__

He knocked and got no response but slowly opened the door.

"What the hell? It looks like there's been a tornado in here"

James sat down next to Keith's curled up body and placed a hand on his shoulder. He flinched and shoved it away from him.

"Don't touch me"

"Sorry"

He scanned around the room again while he talked.

"It's me, James. You missed our coffee date"

"Sorry"

"No.. Just. What happened?"

He shook his head many times.

"Okay okay. Just the sketchbook then?"

He sucked in a breath

"I was angry and upset and all the bad emotions and when I sat down it fell. I got even more upset and started flicking through, smearing everything and there's nothing I can do that doesn't explode in my face."

"Okay.. That's.."

"If you're grounded you can go home"

"No my parents like you. I won't get in trouble"

"I need alcohol"

James hummed

"I'll get you water"

"Hey, delivery"

He stuck his hand out and James sighed and pushed the glass into his palm. He rested his chin on his arm.

"Your face.."

Keith reached up and touched his nose and winced.

"Yeah, punched some people, they punched back no big deal"

"Who was it?"

He waved his hand around

"You know, Lotor and gang"

James raked his hand through his hair.

"Fucking Lotor. I hope you punched him"

Keith chuckled

"Oh I did. Right after.."

His voice was barely a whisper

"He tried to kiss me"

James struggled to make a sound and placed and hand on Keith's back. He winced and he pulled it away.

"How hard were you hit?"

"Busted lip, bleeding nose and just generally sore. But I'm fine"

"Not if you can't move. And you just told me ways that you aren't."

He sighed

"Lift your face up. I need to see how bad your lip is"

Keith nodded and pulled his head from his baracade. He heard him inhale sharply.

"Okay. I'm going to get a wet cloth, and one of us needs to be able to hold your head still"

"I need to. You can't.. He.."

"It's fine, you don't need to justify it"

He gave a sad smile and James stood up.

__

"Okay done"

He let out a small breath

"Thanks"

His hand hovered to cup his face for a couple moments but he pulled away. Keith's eyelids fluttered and he struggled to keep them open.

"I can't do anything right"

He dropped his head onto his chest.

"That's not true"

"Name one thing-"

"Drums"

"That's not true"

"There's no 'Right' way to play the drums. You just play and have fun"

"But."

"Listen. What he does is not your fault, okay? Don't worry about him and just sleep"

He huffed and relaxed into him.

__

He woke up on his bed and groaned as he sat up. He made it halfway to the door before he realised there was no papers under his feet.

"Did you clean up my room?"

"James?"

He stumbled into the kitchen and poured himself a coffee. It was cold when he tasted it but couldn't be bothered to do anything about it.

"Hey sleeping beauty"

"Did you clean my room"

"With all the papers? Yeah"

"Can I have them back?"

He chuckled

"So they can be destroyed? No way, I like your drawings"

He raised an eyebrow

"All of them."

"Yeah they're good"

"I smudged charcoal over most of them yesterday"

James hummed

"Well that made some of them better"

Keith scoffed and punched his arm

"Hey."

James laughed 

He dropped an arm over his head and rested his chin on it.

"So tired.."

"Go back to sleep"

He chuckled

"You don't know me as well as you think you do"

"If you're tired enough you can knockout very quick"

He clicked his fingers

"Maybe a bad thing that I'm drinking coffee then"

"How's your ribs"

Keith grunted and dropped away his arm.

"Sore"

James laughed

"You're like an old man"

He scowled and jabbed a finger into his cheek.

"Shut up. I'm going back to bed but I don't know how successful I'll be at going back to sleep"

James tapped his cheek with his palm twice

"Good luck"

He lay flat on his back with an arm across his face. He shot up and choked before wincing.

"Fucking.. Axca was right."

He sighed and smushed his face against his fist.

His smile, 

his attitude, 

his comfort, 

his warmth, 

his laugh.

 

Oh fuck. He loved his laugh.

Keith chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. He thought for a second, before standing up too fast and he swayed as he gripped the dresser to steady himself. Once everything had stopped spinning he huffed and grabbed scissors on his way to the bathroom. He grabbed a clump of his hair and started sawing it off.

__

James was passing through the hallway but stopped and walked back to the bathroom. He froze and took in the state of the room. Keith was leaning on the sink with loose pieces of hair surrounding him on the floor and on the counter.

"Um.. What??"

"Oh, hey. Welcome"

His rested his hand on the counter and the scissors stayed locked to his fingers.

"What are you doing?"

He shrugged

"I don't know, felt like it"

"Wha- I.. You look like a mess"

"Yeah you look terrible too, hotshot"

James rolled his eyes and laughed.

"While 'because I felt like it' is a very legit reason for you to do anything, you just cut off your hair"

"You're acting like it's my kid or something"

"Well yeah, you treated it like it was"

He nodded and linked his fingers behind his neck.

"I panicked"

"You okay?"

He turned towards the wall

"Should be"

"Anything.. Important? Or just normal Keith things"

He huffed

"Yeah I would say pretty important"

"Okay, wait. I'm sorry but I can't focus on anything but your hair. Please left me fix it"

Keith laughed and pushed away from the counter nodding.

"It's that bad huh?"

"Mmm like you were in an explosion"

He tried to stifle his laugh in his fist and couldn't fight back his smirk.

"I'll get you the weapons"

He scoffed

"The weapons, you mean actual supplies for cutting hair? Like the shaver and proper scissors?"

"Yeah that's what I said"

He laughed

"Uh huh"

__

"I still want it to be me."

"Yeah I know"

"Just fix it up a little, I don't want it to change a lot"

He grabbed his shoulders and shook him a little

"Keith. I know."

He laughed

"Sorry"

"I know what I'm doing okay? Just trust me"

He closed his eyes and sighed

"I do"

"You say that like its a bad thing"

He shrugged

"Depends how you take it"

__

"Listen"

James hummed

His mouth opened but he couldn't get what he wanted out.

"Oh man, fuck."

He flicked his forehead

"Quit moving or it will look worse than it did before"

He clenched his eyes shut and pressed a fist to his head.

"I still like you"

Keith cringed at himself and pressed the fist to his mouth and rested his teeth on his knuckle.

James stilled but recovered quickly and turned off the shaver and placed it down.

"What the hell you're an idiot"

He clenched and turned away, biting down on his lip.

"Keith. You broke up with me."

He blinked while it set in and dropped his hand to steady himself.

"What? No, I thought it was a mutual dumping"

He sighed and Keith could imagine him rubbing at the back of his neck.

"What was I supposed to do? You felt like it was less of a relationship and more of a friendship."

"What. You- Don't agree with me! If you didn't feel the same way then don't agree"

Keith flinched and slackened his jaw. He pressed a hand to his mouth where it had started bleeding again. James sighed and pulled his arm away and placed a wet cloth in his hand.

"If I said I felt the opposite way, you'd feel guilty for leaving, or I'd feel guilty if you decided to stay"

Keith hands shook as he considered throwing the cloth at his face.

"I- But- Ugh!"

He dropped his head into his hands

"I didn't actually mean that when I said it. There was just.. So much going on and I couldn't do anything so I brought it up and when you agreed I tried forgetting it and shoving it down but it didn't work."

He scoffed and shook his head

"It never does."

All he could do was stare before he blinked and he jolted out of his shock.

"Oh man. This would be so much easier if I was single"

"Is Lance also a way to get over it?"

"What!?"

His head shot up and his eyes were wide

"No! No. I like you but I also like Lance okay? I don't know how it works but that's what I'm feeling. Me dating him has nothing to do with me trying to forget my feelings for you"

James sighed

"Okay. But you need to talk to him about it"

He nodded

"And about Lotor too"

His throat closed up and his mouth worked without sound. He crouched down and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him slightly.

"Look, it's important Keith. He's your boyfriend and needs to know these things."

Keith grabbed his wrists and pulled them away from him. James silently winced when he twitched and his nails dug into his arms slightly, but he let him hold them anyway.

"He needs to know that when you flinch if he brushes your shoulder or your face or anywhere Lotor touched you, it's not his fault okay? So that he doesn't spiral into self pity like you do because you didn't explain it  so he's lead to assume."

"I don't.."

He hummed

"It's not your fault either, and I know I already said that but I'll keep repeating it until you take it to heart"

He nodded and pulled his hands away, just realising that he was still gripping his arms. His shaking hands interlocked behind his head and ran backwards through his hair. He let out a surprised laugh

"There's a lot less hair than I remember"

James chuckled and gently pushed his finger into his face.

"You cut off a lot, I just tidied it up for you"

"Thanks.. For putting up with me"

He nudges his shoulder

"I don't have to put up with you, no one does. You're fun to be around, and when you get into something you can be quite energetic"

Keith hums but he can tell he doesn't believe it so he continues on.

"For example, I once saw you play drums nonstop for at least 2 hours. And even when you stopped, you were radiating energy for a while after that too."

Keith lets out a small laugh and rests his elbow on his knee and spreads his hand across his face to try and cover his smile. He fails. And it's contagious, soon James has the same dopey grin plastered on his face.

__

"Axca?"

She responds from another room but he calls again anyway. He calls again and she's quickly in the room and throws a pillow at his face. He shrieks and laughs before sitting up.

"What Keith. I'm busy"

"I need your phone to call Lance"

"You don't have his number yourself?"

"What good would that do, he'd text all the time"

She sighed, rolled her eyes and walked away. She comes back grumbling and places the phone into his outstretched hand with the call dialing and leaves him to it.

Lance picks up sounding slightly confused and tired.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lance"

"Keith! Hi!"

He hears him stumble, something crash, a faint curse and an apology. All within the span of a minute and he trys to stiffle his laugh. A chuckle squeezes through anyway.

"Everything good over there?"

"Everything is grrreat"

It's slightly high pitched and he drags it on for too long and Keith smiles.

"Uh huh"

"Anyway why did you... Why did you call?"

His face falters a bit and he sighs.

"Look, I don't if I'm going to be up for school tomorrow, and I don't know how long that will last but I need to talk to you. Can you come over?"

The silence probably lasts a couple seconds but with the static growing in his ears it stretches on. He sucks in a breath and words fall out in a hurry.

"Nevermind it's probably just stupid anyway and it wasn't that important-"

"No. No I can come over"

The relief in his sigh is obvious but he doesn't care.

"Thank you"

"I'll be there soon"

__

'Soon' is taking too long. He's moved to the couch and is plucking at the loose threads. Someone knocks at the door and his eyes shoot up but Axca is the one to move and opens it with a sigh.

"He's in the lounge"

"Thanks"

He slides on the carpet because he went too fast and sits next to Keith. He has an amused smirk on his face when he leans back against his arm.

"What?"

Keith exhales a laugh and shakes his head

"That is exactly what happened when I met Red. Just the opposite way"

Lance smiles

"Fun, I wish I could have seen that"

His head twists behind the couch and Axca grunts

"No, there's no video"

He sighed and turned back around

"Welp I tried my best"

He laughs and taps the top of his head with a finger.

"Nice hair"

Keith smiled and nodded.

"What happened to your lip ring?"

His face barely fell and he turned away.

"It's healing, slowly, but my lip was sore so I took it out"

Lance placed a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it with his thumb. He stilled and held his breath.

"You doing okay? What happened?"

He stood up and hooked his hands around his elbows, trying to suppress a shudder.

"Sorry, I'm just cold. I'm getting a hoodie"

"Okay"

He hurried to his room and furiously rubbed at his eyes, trying to stop the tears before they started. When the lump in his throat loosened enough to breathe again, he sucked in air. He stood like that for a couple minutes before remembering to look around for a clean hoodie.