"Hey, Lance?"

Rosalina looked up from her book. She was curled on the loveseat, Lance happily snuggling into her side as she read her book and ran her fingers through his hair. Keith stood just inside the hallway, rubbing his thumb back and forth over his finger. He was still in his pajamas.

"Hmm?" Lance replied sleepily. It was overcast and a little chilly outside, but warm and cozy in their little cocoon of blankets.

"Can you..." he started, pausing to bite his lip. "I was wondering if you could help me get ready. For my date. With Hunk."

"Heck yeah!" Lance jumped up, fully awake now. "Okay, what kind of look are you going for, dude?" he asked as he pushed Keith towards his room.

Rosalina put her book aside and stood, stretching and yawning as she made her way to her room. She paused at Keith's room—the boys had neglected to shut the door all the way. She couldn't see in, but she could hear them murmuring about what Keith should wear. It sounded like Lance was trying to convince him to wear his heels, "but not shorts because it's cold and you'll give Hunk a stroke or something."

Once in her room, she picked up the hippo with careful fingers. As she cradled it in her hands, she whispered a short prayer, asking for his date to go well. She kissed the snout and set it back between the shark and the dog. The boys had moved to Lance's room, door latched shut. She could hear their voices, but not what they were saying, as she paused beside the door to make sure everything was still alright. They hadn't asked for her help, yet, so she went back to the living room to continue her book.

Fifteen minutes before Hunk was supposed to come pick Keith up for lunch, the boys reemerged from Lance's room.

"I give you!" Lance called out, making a drumroll on his legs before stepping aside and throwing his hands out to present Keith. "One beautiful creature, if I do say so myself."

Lance had managed to convince Keith to wear the heels. His fingers and toes were painted a bright red for contrast. He was also wearing his black skinny jeans and a green pastel sweater Rosalina had knit for Lance a few years ago. His lips were bright red, eyeliner drawn in sharp wings, and his eyeshadow was a light grey. One half of his bangs had been braided back in a waterfall braid while the other half was just clipped back out of his face with a pastel green clip Nadia had probably left behind, if the cute little bow said anything. The gloves were nowhere to be seen.

"You look lovely, Keith."

"Thanks, mom," he replied bashfully. "Do you think Hunk...?"

"I told him that Hunk will think he's pretty flippin' cute," Lance huffed with a roll of his eyes.

"Do you have your phone?" Rosalina asked, ignoring Lance for the moment. After Christmas, Marcus had taken Keith after a day at the shop to get him a phone so he could keep in touch with Shiro and Adam without having to go through Rosalina. "And your wallet, just in case?"

Keith patted his front right pocket, then his back right. "Yup. I—"

A knock on the front door interrupted him. It was quiet for a long stretch as Keith stared, wide-eyed and pale, at Lance, then Rosalina. No one moved; Rosalina wasn't going to answer the door—she was comfy! Besides, Lance and Keith were closer.

The knock came again.

"Well?" Rosalina raised an eyebrow at Keith.

"He's early!"

"And?"

"I think I'm going to throw up."

Rosalina tried her hardest not to sigh or roll her eyes as he dashed to the bathroom. Lance opened the door to a nervous Hunk holding a bouquet of colorful daisies. He was dressed very nicely, of course. His cropped vest... thing was nowhere to be seen, thank goodness.

"Hey, buddy!" Lance gestured for Hunk to come in. "Keith is just finishing getting ready. I'll go get him."

Hunk stood by the door, giving her a nervous smile as Lance scampered off. "Hello, Rosalina."

"Hello, Hunk." Guess she needed to get up anyway.

But before she could move, Lance was pulling Keith back into the living room. Now this, she had to see. Keith still looked a little like he was going to be sick, but hadn't quite yet. Hunk, on the other hand, almost dropped his flowers. His jaw certainly dropped as he looked awestruck. Rosalina was so glad she was there to witness this.

"Keith... You—You look..." He struggled to come up with the word he wanted. Breathlessly, he finally decided on, "beautiful."

Keith flushed. "Shut up." He looked down at the flowers dangling precariously in Hunk's hand. "Are... those for me?"

"What?" Hunk shook himself out of his stupor. "Oh, these?" He held them up with a sheepish smile. "Yeah. They're for you. Do you... Do you like them?"

This was the single most awkward thing she had ever witnessed, and Rosalina was thriving. This was better than when Rachel and her boyfriend had gotten their braces caught together. This was better than when Lance had decided last summer to sunbathe naked when he thought he was home alone. This was even better than the time she had found a used condom in Luis' laundry and had confronted him about it.

As Lance would say, "My pores are clear and my crops are flourishing."

... Or however that saying went.

Keith nodded quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. Thanks." And he was smiling so sweetly. Standing next to Hunk, with his heels, he was almost as tall as the bigger boy. Huh. She hadn't thought Keith was that short.

Rosalina was quick to fetch a vase from the kitchen. She took the flowers from Keith, who had been shyly admiring them, and grinned at the boys. "Alright. Call if you need me. Hunk, please have him back here by ten."

"Yes ma'am," he saluted.

And then they were off, Keith grabbing his black coat and sticking his tongue out at Lance's protests that it will ruin his entire outfit, jerk!

Rosalina put water into the vase and set the flowers in Keith's room, on his empty dresser. It still looked so... plain. The flowers certainly made it looked more lived-in, but...

Nothing. The boy had only his books and his knife and now the flowers.

Once it was for sure that he was hers, she'd take him out to decorate his room.

Back in the living room, Lance was waiting for her, already curled up in a blanket looking quite dejected.

Of course he was.

Rosalina settled herself in and pulled him close. "What's wrong, Lancito?"

Lance took his time to get comfortable, snuggling into her side again before answering. "I'm happy for them," he started, sounding small. Rosalina ran her fingers through his hair to calm him. "Hunk is my best friend. Keith is my brother, or will be. But... Hunk is my best friend. And now they'll want to spend all their time together. And I know it's dumb—"

"You're not dumb, Lance."

"I know but—" Lance huffed. "It would be the same if Hunk dated anyone else. He'd want to spend time with them, too. And not with me. So I know I shouldn't be upset about it."

"You can be upset," Rosalina reminded him. "But don't think for a moment that you'll lose Hunk just because he's dating. He's still going to make time for you to be your best friend. Besides—just because he's dating doesn't mean he can't still hang out with both of you at the same time, right?"

"I guess..."

Rosalina dropped a kiss to his hair. "Cheer up, sweetheart. Things will be alright."

Hunk dropped Keith back off by nine-thirty. He even brought Keith to the door, and judging by the red lipstick print just slightly askew on his lips, Keith had granted him a good night kiss. "Night, Rosalina! Night, Lance!" Hunk called with a wave and a dopey smile, fingers brushing his lips as he stared after Keith.

"Night, Hunk!"

She joined Keith and Lance in the living room. They were both seated on the couch. Keith had a matching dopey smile and Lance was grinning.

"So?" Lance demanded once Rosalina sat in her loveseat. "How was it?"

"It was good." Keith reached down to take off his heels and rub at his sore feet. "We went to this little diner for lunch. Sal's, yanno? He knows the owner. And then we got ice cream and walked around the park. He, uhm, we held hands and he was really nice." There was a light blush on his cheeks as he recounted his date. "And then he took me to the space museum and we ate dinner at the Thai place and then here we are."

"Ate dinner pretty late, didn'tcha?" Lance teased with a lecherous grin.

Keith's blush darkened as he stammered. "No! I—We were at the—the museum for a while, okay? We ate late! Shut up!"

"I saw that lipstick you bestowed upon my friend!" Lance crowed, cackling maniacally at Keith's rising horror. "I know you smooched him!"

"Why are you being so gross?" Keith grumbled, pulling his legs up to hug them close. "Mom, make him stop."

"Lance," Rosalina warned. Lance, of course, pouted. "I'm glad you had fun, honey. Did anyone give you trouble?"

Keith shook his head. The clip threatened to fall out. "Not really. We got a few funny looks, but no one said anything to us. I think most of them thought I was a girl, anyway."

At least he seemed amused by it. Rosalina shook her head as Lance chuckled. "Well, I'm glad."

"Yeah," Keith said to his knees. "Uhm. So, uhm. Hunk might... be my boyfriend, now."

Lance, surprisingly, smiled and knocked Keith's hip with his foot. "Good on ya, buddy. Hunk is a good first boyfriend to have. He was my first kiss, yanno?"

"Yeah?" Keith set his chin on his knees, but at least he was smiling. "Did you two date, too?"

"Nah." Lance wiggled down until he could press both feet against Keith. "We were, like, thirteen and wanted to know what the fuss was about kissing. And Hunk was really nervous about it, so we decided to be each other's first kiss so it wasn't so scary."

Rosalina sat back with a smile, content to watch them talk.