A/N: I apologize for this being a week late. I just finished my college finals, so I've had a busy past few weeks. That has definitely made this chapter a bit shorter than I wanted, though while I hate to say it, school has to take priority over writing. Anyway, sorry for the wait, and I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

*TRIGGER WARNING FOR HEAVY DRINKING

Christmas day passed in a whirlwind at the Holt household. Extended family members arrived at Matt's house one after another, each one smiling and wrapped in heavy coats and scarves to fend off the frigid outside air. The house was full of infectious cheer that none could avoid as holiday songs hummed under the sounds of voices and laughter.

The youngest members of the Holt family unwrapped gifts as their older family members looked on, then burst into chaos as they started playing with their new toys. Adults scolded them for their rowdiness on occasion, but mostly left the children to do as they pleased while sidestepping around the screeching kids who came barreling in their direction.

As family members grouped up to chat, Matt slipped away and found an isolated area in the corner of the living room. He perched lazily on the arm of the couch with his hands wrapped around a mug of cocoa as his mind wandered.

"Too loud for you, too?"

Matt glanced to the side as Pidge dropped heavily on the couch next to him. She laid still for a moment, then wriggled around until she was laying across the width of the couch with her head propped up against the couch arm Matt sat on.

"A little bit," Matt admitted, his gaze scanning over the others in the room. Even away from everyone else, there was too much noise, but he didn't dare retreat to his room. He'd locked his door to protect the various pieces of disassembled technology within from the curious hands of his younger cousins. If he tried to go to his room, his cousins would want to go too, and they'd throw a fit if they weren't allowed in. That left Matt with little to do but tolerate the headache building in his temples until the party winded down and his family members started to leave.

Pidge said nothing in response, and the two lapsed into silence. Matt sipped his cocoa, looking lazily around the room.

"What's wrong?"

Matt paused with his mug of cocoa halfway to his lips, looking down at his younger sister. Pidge craned her neck so she could fix him with a knowing stare as she waited for his response.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit."

"Language. There are little kids here."

"They're too busy screaming and playing to hear me."

"Mom and dad will still yell at you."

"They've been drinking wine with our aunts and uncles for the past half hour. They're probably too buzzed to notice."

Matt shrugged.

Pidge sighed and rolled over onto her stomach, propping her chin on her hands as she continued watching her brother. "Seriously, though. Why do you look like you dropped your phone in the toilet?"

"Resting bitch face."

"It looks more like a resting sad face."

"It's because I'm too gay and beautiful for you to fathom."

"Alright, 'gay and beautiful'. Did your boyfriend dump you yesterday or something?"

Matt choked, nearly spilling his cocoa. "Shiro isn't my boyfriend!" he hissed.

Pidge snorted. "Yeah, yeah, right. What's up, though? You've looked weird ever since you got home last night."

Matt bit his lip, his grip tightening on his mug. "When I was out with Shiro yesterday, he seemed… off? He was a lot quieter than usual, and he kept spacing out a bunch. He was okay at first, I guess, but something must have come up because he started seeming really, I don't know… stressed, maybe? I don't know all the details, but… since the last week of the semester, he's just been…different."

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know, but I think it might have to do with his ex? After he found out that I was gay, he told me he had a boyfriend in high school. I was kinda curious, so I asked about them a little bit. Shiro was okay at first, but then he started spacing out and looking weird all the time when we talked about him. I stopped asking since I thought that was the thing, but he's only gotten worse."

"What did his ex do? Key his car? Take all his money and bail?"

"He died."

Pidge bolted upright, meeting Matt's gaze with wide eyes. "What?"

"They fought over their plans for the future, I guess, and broke up. Then Adam got into a car accident and died."

"Seriously?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah."

Pidge sighed, shaking her head as she flopped back down on the couch. "That's rough."

Matt nodded again. "I thought he was just upset about Adam, but yesterday he kept spacing out even though he was never brought up. I talked to some people sitting next to us for a bit and he didn't say a word the whole time."

"Did you talk to him after?"

"Not really."

Pidge frowned. She was silent for a moment, and Matt could almost see the thoughts swirling in her head behind her eyes.

"Hey," she began. "Do you remember when we were little, right after dad retired from the military, he wasn't always here? Like he was at the house, yeah, but like, he wasn't here. He would always get lost in his thoughts and stuff."

Matt's brow furrowed. "And mom always told us to go to our rooms for a little bit?"

Pidge nodded. "I didn't really know what was going on back then, so sometimes I would sneak into the hallway and listen to them," she admitted. "Mom would sit down near him and talk about something. She didn't usually ask what he was thinking about, but I'd hear her talking about work and the plants, just stuff like which ones weren't growing right and how the intern overwatered everything. By the time I went back to my room, dad was talking with her." She paused. "Maybe you should call Shiro."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Matt said with a shrug. "I just don't want to be nosy, y'know? He was always really patient whenever there was something about Quinn I didn't want to talk about. If something really is wrong, I want to help him, but… I don't want to mess it up."

Pidge sighed. "I can't help you there, Matt."

Matt let out an amused huff. "How many nerds does it take to understand people's feelings?"

"More than two, I think," Pidge replied. "Look. I don't really know what you should do, but after watching mom and dad, I don't think sitting back and waiting is a good idea. Besides, looking sad every time you think about him isn't going to do anything but make everyone think you got dumped."

"Why would anyone think that when I've always been single?"

Pidge stood. "Because you've been hanging out with the same guy all semester and barely talk about anything besides him and computers."

"I'm married to my job."

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Anyway, just call him or something, okay? You look so nervous that I thought you forgot to hide your weed."

Matt shot a glare at his sister. "I don't smoke weed!" he hissed.

Pidge laughed. "Yeah, well you finally don't look like you dropped your phone in the toilet anymore."

Before Matt could reply, Pidge made a beeline for the array of food set out in the kitchen. Matt watched her go, mulling over her advice in his head. It wouldn't hurt to call Shiro, would it? He could at least send a text. A text would probably be better. If he was celebrating the holidays with friends or family back home, Matt didn't want to interrupt.

Slipping his phone from his pocket, Matt searched for Shiro's contact and opened their conversation.

Matt: Hey shiro

Matt: Merry christmas

Matt raised his phone to snap a quick picture of his dog as she ran by.

Matt: Bae bae also says happy holidays

"Matt! Can you come help your aunt and uncle get your cousins into the car?"

Matt blinked at the sound of his name. "Just a second!" he replied. He dropped his phone back into his pocket, set down his cocoa on the end table at his side, then jogged off toward the front door.

When Matt returned, he greeted his phone with a frown when he saw no new notifications. Shiro hadn't gotten back to him.

"He must be busy with family or something," Matt decided. He switched his phone off again and picked up his cocoa, downing the rest of it when he felt the mug growing cold. 'I can always call him later when he's free.'

-000-

Two hours away, Keith Kogane was at the McClain household. Lance's mom had invited both him and Shiro over for their holiday party with their massive extended family since Shiro and Keith had no family to be with besides each other. There were at least two dozen people in the rather small house, if not more. Typically, Keith would avoid such a crowded place at all costs, though he could never refuse an offer from Lance's mother. She was kind, and she always welcomed Keith like he was her own child. Besides, being able to hear stupid stories about Lance as a child from his family members was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Shiro had sent Keith on his own, claiming he wasn't feeling good. It wasn't a lie, as Shiro had started to spend progressively more time sleeping, moved slowly around the house, and rarely ate a thing. His diet was slowly becoming more alcohol-heavy with each day to the point that Keith had started to wake up each morning dreading entering the living room where Shiro would inevitably be passed out drunk on the couch.

It wasn't Shiro that Keith was afraid of, rather he was afraid for Shiro. His brother wasn't an angry drunk, and even when he was upset about something, he had never once laid a harmful finger on Keith. The teen had no worry that Shiro might lash out at him, though he was afraid that Shiro would go too far with his drinking and hurt himself. Shiro had never gotten to the point of alcohol poisoning, not even in his worst days from years ago, but the threat always loomed above him when his mind turned against him as it was doing now.

While Keith kept his anxiety in check in the presence of Lance's family, he couldn't escape the eyes of someone who had known him too long and too well to be blind to what he refused to show.

"Keith, can you help me get some blankets from upstairs? The kids want some for watching movies." Lance leaned over the railing of the stairway as he shouted across the loud room for his friend, who nodded, stood, and followed him.

The pair made their way to the linen closet upstairs, which was stocked with more blankets than Keith could count. However, Lance didn't start pulling the blankets out immediately. Instead, he turned to Keith and narrowed his eyes.

"Keith."

"Hm?"

"What's wrong?"

Keith pushed past Lance and reached for the blankets in the closet. "Nothing." He strained to reach the top of the stack, but his fingers fell just short of his goal. Still, he tried to rise further on his tiptoes until a tan hand reached past his and grabbed the blanket. The sight made Keith huff as he grabbed the next blanket down.

Lance gave no response as he and Keith gathered blankets and closed the closet. They returned to the main floor without a word, set out the blankets for the younger kids, then Lance grabbed Keith's wrist and pulled him back up the stairs. They wound down the hallway, then Lance turned into his room and took Keith with him. He closed the door behind them, flipped on the light, released Keith's wrist, then leaned against the door with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

"What?" Keith asked.

"You didn't tell me what's bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me."

"I'm not dumb enough to buy that."

"You almost blew up your microwave because you left your fork on your plate last week."

Lance growled. "That's not important right now, okay?" He sighed, pushing away from the door and advancing on Keith. "You've been fidgeting all day, checking your phone every two minutes, and-" Lance reached out and poked the skin beneath Keith's eyes "-you look like you haven't slept in weeks."

"Okay, I'm tired. So? I've always been an insomniac."

"I know something's up, Keith. My mom even pulled me into the kitchen earlier and asked if you were okay. You said Shiro stayed home because he's sick, and she thought you caught what he had." Lance paused when Keith stiffened. "It's something with Shiro again, isn't it?" he asked, his tone suddenly softening.

Keith said nothing. He didn't trust his voice, not after Lance hit the nail on the head.

"What happened?"

Keith took a breath and clenched his hands into fists at his sides as he let his head droop and his gaze fall to the floor. He remained quiet.

Lance reached out and dropped a gentle hand on Keith's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "Hey, man," he said quietly.

Something in Keith snapped, and a heavy sighed escaped him as his shoulders drooped.

"He's drinking again," Keith admitted. "Shiro drinks a little bit sometimes, which is fine, but… I can't remember the last time I came home from work at night or woke up in the morning and didn't find him passed out drunk on the couch. He barely eats, barely talks, and spends most of the day sitting on the couch staring into space. When he gets up, he walks around so slow you'd think he's ninety."

Lance's eyebrows furrowed as Keith bit his lip. "I thought you said he was doing really good at school this year?" Lance asked.

Keith nodded. "He was. He rarely ever seemed upset when I called or texted him. The only time he seemed off was when his friend was dealing with some stuff. I didn't ask for details, so I don't know how bad it was, but even then Shiro seemed angry, not sad." He paused. "Yesterday, Shiro drove up to his college city. He met with his friend, that guy he met this semester. I thought it might help, since he had been okay while he was hanging around with him before. Actually, I hadn't seen Shiro as relaxed as he was during the semester since before everything happened with Adam and his team," Keith explained. "But when he came back yesterday, he was worse."

"Did you talk to anyone else about it yet?"

Keith shook his head.

Lance sighed. "Stay here tonight, okay? I'll talk to my mom, and we-"

"No." Keith shook his head again. "No, I don't want to bother your mom."

"Keith, she won't mind. She wants to help you two."

"It's okay," Keith insisted. "She does enough for us already. I don't need to bother her about this."

"Come on, Keith. You can't keep trying to deal with this yourself. It's not good for you, and we both know the last thing Shiro wants is for you to run yourself into the ground worrying about him."

"I know, but he's my brother, Lance. He's all I have left. I can't just not worry, but I don't want to drag anyone down with me," Keith explained. He took a deep breath to steady himself, then looked Lance in the eye. "I'm already bothering you with all this, and I'm sorry. I don't want to bother anyone else."

Lance sighed once again. "Fine. You should at least stay here tonight, though I won't say anything to anyone yet," he began, "but… Whatever happens, if Shiro doesn't start getting better soon, I'm not going to stand here and watch you kill yourself trying to help him yourself. I don't want to do nothing while Shiro's suffering, either. He's a super cool guy, and I don't want to see either of you guys getting hurt."

Keith nodded and took a step back, causing Lance's hand to slip from his shoulder. He turned away from Lance and wiped at the moisture that had pooled in his eyes, sniffing quietly as he composed himself. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Anytime."