Valentine's Day. Chaos in its natural form, naturally. Lance had been freaking out about where he should take Plaxum ("I can't be cliché, mom!") and it was her turn to take Marcus out for a date this year. Instead of going out, though, she was going to kick Keith and Lance out to make Marcus' favorite dinner and so they could, ahem, Netflix and Chill, as the cool kids said nowadays.

The kids didn't need to know that, though.

Between school and dinner, though, the kids were planning to come home to get ready for their evening. Keith was planning to go to Pidge's house to watch cryptid videos. Rosalina hadn't been aware that that was what Keith and Pidge were into, but... okay. Apparently, Lance and Hunk were going to go on a double date to—well, she wasn't quite sure. The aquarium? The park? A café? Lance had said so many things that morning that she wasn't quite sure. But then Rosalina handed him a condom—in full view of everyone at the table as payback for scaring her so many times—and Lance had short circuited so badly that she wondered if she needed to knock him out to reboot him. Eventually, he found the brain power to throw the condom back at her with a screech as he scrambled to get away.

"You need to have safe sex!" Rosalina called after him. "You're not getting anyone pregnant until you're married, mister!"

"Shut up shut up shut up!"

Rosalina cackled.

"Mom?"

The front door shut and two sets of footsteps clomped around the house looking for her. She stepped from her room, almost running into Keith, who looked... confused? And somewhat shaken.

"What's wrong?" she asked, guiding them back to the kitchen.

Keith threw their bag into their room, clutching a bottle in their hands as they followed silently. Rosalina set out making some hot chocolate as Lance came stomping in, face set in an angry scowl. Okay... So, something had happened. But Keith and Lance seemed to be having a silent, angry disagreement through scowls and glares and eyebrow twitches.

"Will somebody tell me what's going on? One of you. I don't care which."

"So for Valentine's Day you can send your crush a Crush," Keith finally said, setting the glass bottle on the table. Strawberry, unopened, with a tag and a bag of candy attached at the top.

"And someone gave one to you?" Rosalina was having a hard time finding out what was so bad about that. Unless... it was done as a prank? Lance was protective enough to be angry about it, if that were the case.

"Not just someone," Lance spat, pulling the mug she set in front of him close. "Ryan Kinkade."

Was... that name supposed to ring a bell?

"I'm failing to see the issue here."

"Apparently," Keith spat back at Lance, pulling their own mug closer, "Ryan is a friend of James Griffin—the guy Lance got in a fight with last semester. The—The one who called me a tranny and emo whore."

Oh. Oh.

Rosalina plopped into her seat, watching the teens across from her. Lance was still angry—seething, really—and Keith still looked confused about the whole thing. Something wasn't adding up, though, but she wasn't sure what it was. Why wouldn't both be angry? Or both be confused? And why was Lance that angry? If anyone should have been angry, it should have been Keith.

"Is there more to the story?"

Keith blew out a breath that made their fringe fly up and flop back on their forehead. Lance sullenly drank from his mug. "I didn't know who Ryan was at first. I asked Lance, 'cause he knows everyone. Turns out I have physics and English with him. And Lance got mad and told me they were friends, and then Ryan showed up and tried to ask me on a date. And so I told him no and it was because of James and that I couldn't go on a date with someone who was friends with someone who was homophobic and transphobic and was okay with using slurs because that meant that they were okay with it, too, and that they might—you know—" Rosalina did know, and a shot of ice burst through her chest at the thought of Keith being murdered, eyes sightless, lying in a ditch somewhere— "and then he just said, 'I see,' and walked off."

"And then," Lance took over the story, still seething, "everyone could hear him yelling at James for being a dick and being a bad friend and bunch of other bullshit. But this was after school so not as many people were there."

Rosalina was still confused. "Okay...? So, it sounds like Ryan wasn't aware of James' actions and thoughts. Or what happened last semester."

"But what if he's just pretending," said Lance, venom dripping from his words, "and he was just trying to lull Keith into a false sense of security so he and James can beat them up or—or kill you." His voice wavered and broke, and he hid his face behind his mug. "I can't let that happen, Keith. You're my sibling."

Keith made him put his mug down so they could lean into his side. "I can take care of myself, Lance. You know this."

"But—" Lance sniffed. "But maybe you wouldn't be expecting it, and—and they catch you off guard."

"I..." Keith fingered the Crush bottle. "I think he was sincere." What was happening? Usually it was Lance who was too trusting and Keith who was reserved and guarded. But she kept quiet, sensing that they needed to work out this argument between themselves. "He told James they weren't friends anymore. And he didn't seem to care that I dress femme." As far as Rosalina knew, Keith wasn't out at school, unlike Pidge, but still didn't back down from dressing femme. "I mean, I look pretty girly today and he came right up and asked me on a date. And he can't think I'm a girl because Keith isn't a 'girl' name."

"I still don't think it's a good idea," Lance mumbled into his mug.

They all sipped silently from their mugs for several minutes. Keith looked contemplative.

"What if we went on a double date? Or a triple date, with Hunk and Shay?" Keith asked. "Then we'd have backup just in case?"

"You really want to go on a date with him?" Lance asked.

Huh. A light pink tint dusted Keith's cheeks. "He's—cute. And he seems nice, I guess. He's always helpful and nice in the classes I have him in. And he yelled at James and all that. So... surely that means he's not bad, right?"

Look at Keith, being the reasonable one for once.

"Fine," Lance grumbled.

Keith hesitated, then asked, "Would you go with me when I talk to him tomorrow?"

Lance seemed to perk up at that. "Yeah, I can."

The two gulped down the rest of their hot chocolate and rinsed out their mugs before going to get ready. Rosalina was just glad that the two could work together, at least.

"Mom!" The door slammed shut behind her teenagers as they tromped through the house looking for her. She looked up, unimpressed, from the frames she was working on as they tumbled into the kitchen. "Can we borrow your car tomorrow?"

Rosalina raised an eyebrow at the two.

"Please?" Keith added, elbowing Lance.

"What for?"

"We have a date!" Lance exclaimed, seeming much happier than yesterday about the whole ordeal. "Me and Plax, and then Keith and Ryan."

"Oh?" Rosalina grinned at Keith's blush. "So things worked out alright, then?"

"Oh yeah." Lance slid into his seat, diagonal from her, since she was taking up half the table. "So we found Ryan after school. And boy lemme tell ya, he and James are definitely not friends anymore. And James was glaring at Keith all day."

Keith rolled their eyes, setting down next to Lance to pull out their homework. "We talked with Ryan. Apparently James didn't know that Ryan was pansexual and James was tight-lipped about why he was suspended last semester and hadn't ever said anything homophobic or anything to Ryan. So they're no longer friends. And Ryan seemed pretty happy that I changed my mind."

"And he agreed to a double date with no protest," Lance added, shuffling through his homework. "So I guess that makes him okay."

"I'll let you use the car on one condition," she said with a glare between the two. "Lance drives."

Keith groaned. "That was one time!"

Rosalina cocked an eyebrow. "Shiro says otherwise."

"That traitor—"

Note: Sooo if you can't tell, I really don't like James lol.

The story is coming to an end sooner than you think. ): I can't see this going on much past thirty chapters. The last chapter is already written and it's super sad, but the epilogue will be super fluffy to make up for it!