It was just past four o’clock in the afternoon when Keith trudged through the house after work. He rubbed his tired eyes, yawning as he quietly shut the door behind him. He leaned back against the splintered wood and paused, holding his breath, making sure not to make any noise as he listened, trying to detect any sounds coming from within the house. 

Nothing.

Complete silence, which meant he was home alone. Good. He sighed in relief and dragged his sore feet across the creaking floorboards toward the staircase, grimacing as he looked round at all the mess. Of course it was going to be messy, he didn’t know why he was so surprised. 

Work really picked up after Sam – and Lance – left, he ended up staying back for a few extra hours which he didn’t object too – extra pay and all – but it had been a long day, and the walk home, although not that long, had been extremely tiring. He needed a hot shower, and a bed, but first, he needed to clean his dad’s shit up.

He dumped his things by the stairs and made a quick work of cleaning, making sure everything was neat and tidy, the dishes were done and the floors were swept. He didn’t want to give his father any reason to get angry with him when he got home. That was the last thing he wanted – and needed – to deal with right now.

When he had finished, he trudged upstairs and threw his bag onto his unmade bed before moving to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind him. He turned the shower on, listening to the pipes rattle in the walls as the water warmed up before pulling his dirty uniform off, discarding it in a pile on the floor. He tested the water with his hand and when he deemed it warm enough, he stepped under the stream with a loud, satisfying groan. There was nothing better than a hot shower after a long day.

Keith knew the water would soon turn cold so hurriedly grabbed the shampoo, not wasting any time. He washed his hair and scrubbed the coffee grinds from under his fingernails, making sure his skin was clean and free from coffee stains before he turned the squeaking taps off and climbed out. He shivered and hurriedly grabbed a towel from the rack. He ruffled his hair and dried his chest and stomach before tying the rough material loosely around his slim waist. He stared in the mirror and ran a hand through his slick hair before walking back to his bedroom where he flopped onto the mattress and sunk into the dishevelled sheets.

He stared up at the ceiling, breathing shallowing, his chest slowly rising and falling as he let his mind wander. Hunk’s party started in a few hours, Lance would be there, probably drinking. His hair would probably be styled nicely like it always was, and he’d probably be wearing those tight, tight jeans. He bit his lip, his body flushing hotly as he turned over, curling into a tight ball, pushing away such thoughts as he pressed his thighs tightly together and let his eyes flutter shut.

Lance. Alcohol. A hazing atmosphere, everyone too drunk to pay attention to them. Maybe if he went, they’d dance. Maybe if he went, something else would happen? He promptly shook the thoughts from his head. Not going to happen. He wasn’t going, it was stupid to even consider going. Keith bit his lip and took deep breaths as he felt sleep creep up on him, exhaustion finally taking over his body. He sighed and relaxed his tense body, sinking into the mattress as unconsciousness hit him.

--

Keith sniffed, his eyes bloodshot and sore from crying as he approached the entrance to the primary school he was still so unfamiliar with. It had been just over a week since his mother had disappeared, abandoned him and left him in the hands of his drunk and incapable father. It had been a week of crying hysterically and listening to his father’s screams of anguish and blame. It had been the worst week of Keith’s life.

The only reason he was at school was because his father couldn’t bear to be trapped in that small, empty house, alone with him and his depressive thoughts. It was one of the few times Keith had ever wanted to leave the house and be surrounded by people that weren’t family. He wanted to see Lance, his only friend in the whole world. It had been a little over a week since he had last saw the boy, and he missed him dearly.

Their first day together had been so much fun after those bullies had been scared away. They had played for the rest of lunch, using the playground to their full advantage as they spoke and shared stories. Keith had learnt a lot about Lance that day, like the fact that he was originally from Cuba - which explained why he was so tan. He learnt that him and his family – his mother, father and older siblings – had moved over a few months ago and although Lance missed his old home and friends, he loved been in the US.

Spanish was Lance’s mother tongue, but he had learnt English as he grew up from the help of his family which Keith thought was pretty cool. He wished he knew how to speak two different languages, though Lance did promise to teach him some Spanish soon; that excited him. He was so happy to call Lance his friend, and despite his sad manner, was ecstatic to see him again.

He rubbed his eyes once more before he stepped through the main gates to the school, watching as all the other students did the same, smiling, laughing with one another and accompanied by their parents. It almost made more tears slide down Keith’s chubby cheeks. He gripped the straps of his superhero backpack and kept his head down as he walked towards his classroom.

He was almost there, just a few more meters when he felt a sudden weight over his back. Keith gasped, spinning around quickly just in time to watch Lance wound his arms tightly around his waist and bury his face into his neck.

“Where have you been?!” The younger boy whined, “I thought you moved to a different school or something! N-None of the teachers knew where you were and I thought maybe you didn’t like me and wanted to leave!” Lance pulled back, a small frown etched on his face as he looked up at Keith, poking his small chest gently. "Don’t do that aga-wait.” He paused, his eyes scanning Keith’s small face with concern. “You’re crying. Why are you crying?” He pouted.

Keith felt his lip wobble uncontrollably and tried to stop it by biting down thoroughly, causing a small drop of blood to stain his tongue. He felt his small frame shake as fresh tears streaked down his chubby cheeks. “L-Lance!” He sobbed pitifully before he jumped into the boy’s arms, wrapping small hands around him as he cried into his neck.

He felt Lance tense under his palms, confused by his sudden actions. “Keith? Lo siento, I don’t hate you, lo prometo! I-It was just a joke, I’m not really angry.” He rambled back and forth between English and Spanish as the black-haired boy clung to him for dear life. “Keith?”

Small hiccups left Keith’s mouth as he pulled back, shaking his head as he used his long sleeve to scrub away his tears. “I-I’m not upset with you,” He stuttered, “my m-mummy, she’s g-gone, she l-left us Lance, and it’s a-all my f-fault.” He cried, his eyes growing red and painfully sore due to how hard he was rubbing them clean when arms enveloped him tightly.

They stayed like that for a little while, huddled together outside the classroom, Lance’s arms around Keith’s frail body, holding him close. His loud sobs began to subside and his tears stopped as they held each other. Lance’s presence just seemed to calm him down, the way he was holding him so delicately, and the soft hands that rubbed up and down Keith’s back was enough to soothe him, bringing his crying to a halt.

“It’s okay Keith. Please stop crying, I-I don’t want to see you cry anymore.” Lance whispered in his ear.

Keith nodded, sniffling softly. “O-Okay,” he whispered back.

Lance pulled back with a soft smile as he reached down and gripped Keith’s small hand, their nimble fingers interlocking with each other. “You’ll always have me Keith, I’m not going to leave you.” He said, squeezing Keith’s palm with a reassuring grip.

Keith didn’t know why, but he truly believed Lance in that moment. He believed that he would never leave, that they’d be together forever. He nodded his head confidently and smiled for the first time in over a week. His life certainly wasn’t perfect, was far from it, but, if he had Lance, Keith felt like everything would turn out okay in the end.

When they finally broke apart and waltzed into the classroom, the teacher was shocked to see the young black-haired boy and immediately started smothering him with questions. Where had he been last week? Was he alright? Was he sick? Why weren’t either of his parents returning the schools phone calls?

He felt Lance squeeze his hand in support and bit his lip. “I’m okay Miss,” he whispered in reply. “I was feeling sick, but I’m all better now.” He didn’t know why he lied, maybe if he had explained the situation, made someone aware of what was happening at home, something may have changed, but, he just knew that at that point in time, Lance was the only person he trusted.

For the rest of the day, Lance tried everything he could to ensure that Keith’s small smile stayed etched upon his face. He pulled funny faces at the teachers behind their backs, and during arts and crafts, he challenged himself to see how many pipe cleaners he could fit in his nose. Turns out it wasn’t many before he sneezed them all out. That made Keith giggle wholeheartedly.

Most importantly, he didn’t push for answers. He asked Keith exactly what had happened, and why he lied to the teachers about it, but when Keith remained quiet, unwilling to answer the question, Lance seemed to understand and immediately picked the pipe cleaners back up for a second attempt to hear Keith’s cute laugh.

At lunch, he made sure to show Keith his new hiding place that he had discovered the other week. ‘This is ours now! So you can’t tell anyone about it okay? It’s our secret place’ he had said, making Keith promise that he wouldn’t reveal it too anyone. And he wouldn’t. Why on earth would he reveal such an important secret?

After lunch, it was naptime, and throughout the whole duration, Lance made sure his hand never left Keith’s under the warm blanket. It made Keith’s heart do a weird jump that he didn’t quite understand and made his cheeks burst with a red tint, but he never left go, not once. Instead, he squeezed the boy’s hand gently and slept peacefully for the first time in a little while, smiling in pure content.

And just like that, weeks passed, then months flew by as Keith lived his life almost on repeat, his days consisting of the same routine. At home, his dad either ignored him or yelled after he had had one to many drinks. He hid in his room, stayed out of his father’s wrath until he grew too hungry and crept down to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. Sometimes he was lucky and managed to get in and out undetected, other times, his dad would catch him and scream until his voice grew hoarse and he passed out over the kitchen counter. Keith would then sprint back up to the safety of his small room and stay there until morning.

A few days after his mothers vanishing act, his father rampaged through the house and discarded anything that reminded him of her into the dumpster. That happened to be everything in Keith’s room short of his bed, his old dresser, his worn out clothes, teddy bear and of course, himself. Keith was one of the only things that hadn’t been thrown into the garbage – though he couldn’t honestly say whether or not his father would discard him soon enough as well. It was horrible and everyday was a struggle. But, as soon as he got to school, life seemed just a little bit better.

Him and Lance were inseparably, they spent every second of their day with one another, laughing and learning during class before running to their secret place during lunch where they talked and played. Life wasn’t perfect, but, with Lance around, it was much more bearable. He still thought about his mother every day, he missed her so much, but the blue-eyed boy was always there to calm him down and bring his smile back whenever it disappeared.