p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"1 year ago .../em/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""Katrina ~" "Griff ~" "R-right there!" A lusty moan came from the door./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Ryan Kinkade hesitantly came to his best friend's party that night. After snacking on some chips, he unintentionally wandered upstairs and picked up on the noise behind James Griffin's bedroom door. Sitting in front of the door, he remembered that one of his close pals, Keith Kogane, was dating James. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"That asshole /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;". /emRyan thought to himself. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Why /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"would he /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"do this to /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"Keith .../em The more he heard, the more Kinkade's heart clenched for Keith's sake. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"No one should keep let this happen for anybody. /em Ryan took out his phone, opened Voice Memos, and pressed record./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""I don't mind being a bottom this time," James slurred with his naturally raspy voice, "I like when-" A feminine giggle rang from inside the room, interrupting Keith's boyfriend with a familiarity. Like Kinkade heard this girl's voice before. "Griff? Do you think you can take off em style="box-sizing: border-box;"your/em pants now? I find it a little unfair when I'm wearing almost nothing and you're here, laying under me with-"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"With an ear and his phone carefully pressed the the birch wood, Ryan softly gasped at what sounded like a pair of pants being tossed onto the floor. "Thanks Griff ~ I just appreciate things being e-" A gasp escaped Katrina's lips and she paused. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""Wait." em style="box-sizing: border-box;" /emKinkade whispered into his phone, "I know who that is now ... Katrina Holendale, from the show choir." He gently positioned the device onto the door. "Whatever makes my kitten happy." James murmured nonchalantly./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Ryan, eager to not make a scene, stopped recording and stealthily headed for the door. He collected all the audio evidence he needed. Not bothering to say bye to anyone, Kinkade made a beeline for the exit and got into his car. When he got to his parents' apartment, Ryan sighed at his phone and sent the audio from James's party to Keith. With a heavy heart, Kinkade stared at the conversation and delivered the sincerest apology he could think of. A picture of his pet husky, Joel, wouldn't hurt either; considering Joel is his friend's favorite dog breed./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Keith wasn't the only one hurting that night./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222; text-align: center;"~~~/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"That Monday, Keith made sure he thoroughly confronted James about what happened before breaking up with him. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"He genuinely struggled to not burst into tears./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""Keith-" James mumbled with concern in his voice. "I know what you did." Keith snarled; blinking his eyes frequently. "What are you talking about?" His boyfriend span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"(at the time, don't worry ;))/span raised a brow. "Don't em style="box-sizing: border-box;"lie/em to me, James. You em style="box-sizing: border-box;"cheated/em on me. I opened my em style="box-sizing: border-box;"heart/em to you and you threw it away." The heartbroken Korean boy sniffled bitterly. "I don't care what you do to yourself from now on. We're span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"finished/span. Like the seasons of em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Hannah Montana/em on Disney Channel while it was still good." He seethed and punched James in the nose. Keith pushed his newly dubbed ex out of his way and headed to the counselor's office; satisfied enough with how he handled it./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"When Takashi Shirogane drove up to the campus, his little brother struggled to keep a straight face. "I got a call from the counselor's office-" He noticed Keith's eyes watering. As he put his backpack and red lunch tote with a moth pin on it in the trunk of Shiro's truck, Keith didn't intend on drawing attention to his older brother./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"He got in the passenger seat and put on his favorite alternative rock station for the radio. Shiro understood the struggles of junior year completely. So to give Keith something to look forward to, he let him choose the music he wanted to listen to on the way home. "You don't have to keep any secrets from me, alright?" The Garrison High alumni pouted sincerely. "I know." Keith sniffled as he let tears stream down his face. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"When the siblings pulled up on the driveway home, Shiro parked and locked the car once Keith got out and helped him bring his stuff in. "Hey, uh, what's wrong? Did someone say something mean or..." He asked sensitively; not wanting to make his brother feel worse. "Y-you remember James Griffin?" Keith stammered. "I drove you two to homecoming in October. We went to In-N-Out. The guy ordered animal fries and nothing else." Shiro answered. "R-Ryan sent me-me audio of him ch-cheating on me with a girl from the school show choir at that party on Saturday." He confessed, "I broke up with him at lunch, gave the jerk a-a decent speech." /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Usually there was no encouragement of fighting between the two of them but this situation was an exception. "Was there a bloody nose?" Takashi grinned supportively. "Y-yeah. I gave it to him before going to the counselor's office during my off roll." Keith explained bluntly. "I'm sorry you had to go through that." Shiro reeled his brother into a tight hug. "You always said people should be concerned if anyone goes to In-N-Out and only orders animal fries." The drained junior joked lightheartedly. "I'm gonna make sure that di-dummy never hurts you again." Shiro growled softly. "I left a towel for you in the bathroom, go ahead and take a nice shower. If you want to nap for a little while too, feel free. Taking care of yourself is more important than a bunch of papers." Keith beamed at his big brother before taking of his shoes and going upstairs, "Thanks Shiro." /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"The next day no one expected to see James sporting a black eye. Word of the breakup spread quickly, and Keith's feeling of betrayal every time he saw James stung harshly. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Present Time- Valentine's Day, lunch period/em/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;""/emAnd that's why I dread this holiday so much. I didn't mean to not tell you, but it never came up. People abandoning me happens so often. My own span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"mom/span before she came back to live with us, my foster parents before Shiro was old enough to take care of us as kids, then style="box-sizing: border-box;"" /emKeith's oddly colored purple eyes glimmered sadly. "That sucks." Lance McClain, his best friend, huffed openly. "It's not your fault, Lance. You didn't do anything wrong, you never have." Keith insisted sternly. His best friend pulled him in for a tight hug and tenderly whispered into his ear, "Still, we both know that's true as the chances of Ladybug and Chat Noir span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"(I hope I spelled that right, Miraculous fans!)/span recognizing each other from the real world." Lance made the shorter senior giggle at the thought. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"He took pride in remembering that Keith's favorite cartoon show, other than em style="box-sizing: border-box;"The Seven Deadly Sins/em, was em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Miraculous Ladybug/em. "Or you leaving the water polo team." His lunch buddy commented playfully. "Yeah, there's no way in hell I'm doing that." Lance agreed with a smirk. "Or...one sec Keith. Uh, can you close your eyes for me?" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"As Keith rolled his eyes and slowly obliged, Lance nervously took out his Valentine's Day gift for him. He put a lot of thought into the card and spent quite a bit on the My Chemical Romance bracelet set from Hot Topic, Keith's favorite store on the planet Earth. He also em style="box-sizing: border-box;"had/em to get him a Fall Out Boy t-shirt that matched his own in the clearance section. Of course the flirtatious Cuban boy was too shy to admit it. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222; text-align: center;""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Mijo/em, you've known each other since preschool. I'm sure he'll love it." /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Thinking back to his em style="box-sizing: border-box;"mamá'/ems approval returned all the confidence he needed. Lance took out a York chocolate from his lunch and put it in the gift bag too, since they were Keith's favorite candy. He took a deep breath, let it out, and hesitantly requested, "Okay bud, you can open your eyes now."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"When Keith opened his eyes, Lance suddenly had second thoughts but coerced them aside. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"We've known each other since preschool/em. He smiled brightly at his 'Mullet'. "This is for you, even if you don't want to be my valentine. I know that's kind of a childish question to ask but I-" Keith smiled back and gently took the gift bag from Lance's hands. "I hope that wasn't rude-" The brunette let out a lighthearted chuckle. "Of course not," He explained, "This em style="box-sizing: border-box;"is/em for you after all."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"The two blushed as Keith's deep purple eyes brimmed with happy tears. "Go on, open it." Lance encouraged him sweetly. "Okay, okay." Keith plucked the red tissue paper out of the bag. "My favorite color..." He mumbled shyly. "You know it." Lance sat beside him with an amusing wink. "I put a receipt in there if you want to return anything and there's also a-" His heart swelled with joy as Keith took everything out. He unwrapped the little York patty and stuffed it in his empty mouth. "My fawit span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"(fae-wit)/span!" Keith squealed with his mouth full. "I know, silly Mullet. There's more in there than just that York." He stared at the MCR bracelet set and scanned the price on the back of the holder. "Teh buhs!" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Lance giggled at how entertaining Keith sounded with the York still in his mouth. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"OMG He's so CUTE!/em The Cuban boy thought to himself. "Finish eating first, Mullet. I can wait." He teased playfully. There was a pause until the two could see that Keith finished the York. "How did you get it?!" Keith raised a brow in shock. "The York, or the bracelet set?" Lance replied casually. "The York, duh. I haven't seen one in so em style="box-sizing: border-box;"long/em, man! I go to Hot Topic almost all the time and I've seen the bracelet set before, I've just never gotten the chance to get one for myself. You know me so well!" Lance stood up, hands on his hips, with a smug smirk on his face./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""Again, there's more in there." He provoked Keith to keep inspecting the bag. "An FOB shirt too?! I've always wanted one, but they're almost never on sale!" Keith held the soft purple fabric close to his chest, ecstatic. "I used a gift card I got from there as a gag gift from my brother Luis to pay for it. I have one of my own too, so now we can match!" Lance rambled, "There's also a card in there too." He wrote it at a family friend's birthday party and ignored every time his oldest sister, Veronica, teased him about it. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Dear Keith, /spanbr style="box-sizing: border-box;" /em/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"I'm so grateful I had the chance to meet you and be your best friend and sharpshooter for so long. I am so lucky to have a kind, humble, loving badass and overall wonderful person in my life. I can't wait to shower you in more and more love as long as we're together [forever, I hope ;)]. You've taught me so much about so much and I couldn't be happier with everything about you sticking to me since preschool. You have no idea how excited I am to be your number one fan and be there for you through whatever life yeets at us next. Even if our lives change forever, I plan to always be there for you. Even if you don't want me to./em/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Love,/em/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Lancey-Lance 3 ;) ;)/em" Lance's heart almost stops as Keith gently takes out the photo from the envelope that also carried the card. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Keith remembered everything about the picture almost instantly. It was from their trip to Chuck-E-Cheese with Hunk and Pidge when the two of them were in seventh grade with Hunk and Pidge was fifth grade. When the picture was taken, younger Lance had braces with blue brackets and a few pimples scattered on his face. Younger Keith looked just as different from Keith now; sporting a couple of bandaids on his own face. Younger Keith had red streaks in his hair and wore a friendship necklace matching younger Lance's necklace. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""Katrina ~" "Griff ~" "R-right there!" A lusty moan came from the door./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Ryan Kinkade hesitantly came to his best friend's party that night. After snacking on some chips, he unintentionally wandered upstairs and picked up on the noise behind James Griffin's bedroom door. Sitting in front of the door, he remembered that one of his close pals, Keith Kogane, was dating James. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"That asshole /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;". /emRyan thought to himself. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Why /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"would he /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"do this to /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"Keith .../em The more he heard, the more Kinkade's heart clenched for Keith's sake. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"No one should keep let this happen for anybody. /em Ryan took out his phone, opened Voice Memos, and pressed record./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""I don't mind being a bottom this time," James slurred with his naturally raspy voice, "I like when-" A feminine giggle rang from inside the room, interrupting Keith's boyfriend with a familiarity. Like Kinkade heard this girl's voice before. "Griff? Do you think you can take off em style="box-sizing: border-box;"your/em pants now? I find it a little unfair when I'm wearing almost nothing and you're here, laying under me with-"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"With an ear and his phone carefully pressed the the birch wood, Ryan softly gasped at what sounded like a pair of pants being tossed onto the floor. "Thanks Griff ~ I just appreciate things being e-" A gasp escaped Katrina's lips and she paused. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""Wait." em style="box-sizing: border-box;" /emKinkade whispered into his phone, "I know who that is now ... Katrina Holendale, from the show choir." He gently positioned the device onto the door. "Whatever makes my kitten happy." James murmured nonchalantly./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Ryan, eager to not make a scene, stopped recording and stealthily headed for the door. He collected all the audio evidence he needed. Not bothering to say bye to anyone, Kinkade made a beeline for the exit and got into his car. When he got to his parents' apartment, Ryan sighed at his phone and sent the audio from James's party to Keith. With a heavy heart, Kinkade stared at the conversation and delivered the sincerest apology he could think of. A picture of his pet husky, Joel, wouldn't hurt either; considering Joel is his friend's favorite dog breed./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Keith wasn't the only one hurting that night./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222; text-align: center;"~~~/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"That Monday, Keith made sure he thoroughly confronted James about what happened before breaking up with him. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"He genuinely struggled to not burst into tears./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""Keith-" James mumbled with concern in his voice. "I know what you did." Keith snarled; blinking his eyes frequently. "What are you talking about?" His boyfriend span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"(at the time, don't worry ;))/span raised a brow. "Don't em style="box-sizing: border-box;"lie/em to me, James. You em style="box-sizing: border-box;"cheated/em on me. I opened my em style="box-sizing: border-box;"heart/em to you and you threw it away." The heartbroken Korean boy sniffled bitterly. "I don't care what you do to yourself from now on. We're span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"finished/span. Like the seasons of em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Hannah Montana/em on Disney Channel while it was still good." He seethed and punched James in the nose. Keith pushed his newly dubbed ex out of his way and headed to the counselor's office; satisfied enough with how he handled it./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"When Takashi Shirogane drove up to the campus, his little brother struggled to keep a straight face. "I got a call from the counselor's office-" He noticed Keith's eyes watering. As he put his backpack and red lunch tote with a moth pin on it in the trunk of Shiro's truck, Keith didn't intend on drawing attention to his older brother./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"He got in the passenger seat and put on his favorite alternative rock station for the radio. Shiro understood the struggles of junior year completely. So to give Keith something to look forward to, he let him choose the music he wanted to listen to on the way home. "You don't have to keep any secrets from me, alright?" The Garrison High alumni pouted sincerely. "I know." Keith sniffled as he let tears stream down his face. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"When the siblings pulled up on the driveway home, Shiro parked and locked the car once Keith got out and helped him bring his stuff in. "Hey, uh, what's wrong? Did someone say something mean or..." He asked sensitively; not wanting to make his brother feel worse. "Y-you remember James Griffin?" Keith stammered. "I drove you two to homecoming in October. We went to In-N-Out. The guy ordered animal fries and nothing else." Shiro answered. "R-Ryan sent me-me audio of him ch-cheating on me with a girl from the school show choir at that party on Saturday." He confessed, "I broke up with him at lunch, gave the jerk a-a decent speech." /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Usually there was no encouragement of fighting between the two of them but this situation was an exception. "Was there a bloody nose?" Takashi grinned supportively. "Y-yeah. I gave it to him before going to the counselor's office during my off roll." Keith explained bluntly. "I'm sorry you had to go through that." Shiro reeled his brother into a tight hug. "You always said people should be concerned if anyone goes to In-N-Out and only orders animal fries." The drained junior joked lightheartedly. "I'm gonna make sure that di-dummy never hurts you again." Shiro growled softly. "I left a towel for you in the bathroom, go ahead and take a nice shower. If you want to nap for a little while too, feel free. Taking care of yourself is more important than a bunch of papers." Keith beamed at his big brother before taking of his shoes and going upstairs, "Thanks Shiro." /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"The next day no one expected to see James sporting a black eye. Word of the breakup spread quickly, and Keith's feeling of betrayal every time he saw James stung harshly. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Present Time- Valentine's Day, lunch period/em/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;""/emAnd that's why I dread this holiday so much. I didn't mean to not tell you, but it never came up. People abandoning me happens so often. My own span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"mom/span before she came back to live with us, my foster parents before Shiro was old enough to take care of us as kids, then style="box-sizing: border-box;"" /emKeith's oddly colored purple eyes glimmered sadly. "That sucks." Lance McClain, his best friend, huffed openly. "It's not your fault, Lance. You didn't do anything wrong, you never have." Keith insisted sternly. His best friend pulled him in for a tight hug and tenderly whispered into his ear, "Still, we both know that's true as the chances of Ladybug and Chat Noir span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"(I hope I spelled that right, Miraculous fans!)/span recognizing each other from the real world." Lance made the shorter senior giggle at the thought. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"He took pride in remembering that Keith's favorite cartoon show, other than em style="box-sizing: border-box;"The Seven Deadly Sins/em, was em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Miraculous Ladybug/em. "Or you leaving the water polo team." His lunch buddy commented playfully. "Yeah, there's no way in hell I'm doing that." Lance agreed with a smirk. "Or...one sec Keith. Uh, can you close your eyes for me?" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"As Keith rolled his eyes and slowly obliged, Lance nervously took out his Valentine's Day gift for him. He put a lot of thought into the card and spent quite a bit on the My Chemical Romance bracelet set from Hot Topic, Keith's favorite store on the planet Earth. He also em style="box-sizing: border-box;"had/em to get him a Fall Out Boy t-shirt that matched his own in the clearance section. Of course the flirtatious Cuban boy was too shy to admit it. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222; text-align: center;""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Mijo/em, you've known each other since preschool. I'm sure he'll love it." /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Thinking back to his em style="box-sizing: border-box;"mamá'/ems approval returned all the confidence he needed. Lance took out a York chocolate from his lunch and put it in the gift bag too, since they were Keith's favorite candy. He took a deep breath, let it out, and hesitantly requested, "Okay bud, you can open your eyes now."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"When Keith opened his eyes, Lance suddenly had second thoughts but coerced them aside. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"We've known each other since preschool/em. He smiled brightly at his 'Mullet'. "This is for you, even if you don't want to be my valentine. I know that's kind of a childish question to ask but I-" Keith smiled back and gently took the gift bag from Lance's hands. "I hope that wasn't rude-" The brunette let out a lighthearted chuckle. "Of course not," He explained, "This em style="box-sizing: border-box;"is/em for you after all."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"The two blushed as Keith's deep purple eyes brimmed with happy tears. "Go on, open it." Lance encouraged him sweetly. "Okay, okay." Keith plucked the red tissue paper out of the bag. "My favorite color..." He mumbled shyly. "You know it." Lance sat beside him with an amusing wink. "I put a receipt in there if you want to return anything and there's also a-" His heart swelled with joy as Keith took everything out. He unwrapped the little York patty and stuffed it in his empty mouth. "My fawit span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"(fae-wit)/span!" Keith squealed with his mouth full. "I know, silly Mullet. There's more in there than just that York." He stared at the MCR bracelet set and scanned the price on the back of the holder. "Teh buhs!" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Lance giggled at how entertaining Keith sounded with the York still in his mouth. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"OMG He's so CUTE!/em The Cuban boy thought to himself. "Finish eating first, Mullet. I can wait." He teased playfully. There was a pause until the two could see that Keith finished the York. "How did you get it?!" Keith raised a brow in shock. "The York, or the bracelet set?" Lance replied casually. "The York, duh. I haven't seen one in so em style="box-sizing: border-box;"long/em, man! I go to Hot Topic almost all the time and I've seen the bracelet set before, I've just never gotten the chance to get one for myself. You know me so well!" Lance stood up, hands on his hips, with a smug smirk on his face./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""Again, there's more in there." He provoked Keith to keep inspecting the bag. "An FOB shirt too?! I've always wanted one, but they're almost never on sale!" Keith held the soft purple fabric close to his chest, ecstatic. "I used a gift card I got from there as a gag gift from my brother Luis to pay for it. I have one of my own too, so now we can match!" Lance rambled, "There's also a card in there too." He wrote it at a family friend's birthday party and ignored every time his oldest sister, Veronica, teased him about it. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Dear Keith, /spanbr style="box-sizing: border-box;" /em/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"I'm so grateful I had the chance to meet you and be your best friend and sharpshooter for so long. I am so lucky to have a kind, humble, loving badass and overall wonderful person in my life. I can't wait to shower you in more and more love as long as we're together [forever, I hope ;)]. You've taught me so much about so much and I couldn't be happier with everything about you sticking to me since preschool. You have no idea how excited I am to be your number one fan and be there for you through whatever life yeets at us next. Even if our lives change forever, I plan to always be there for you. Even if you don't want me to./em/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Love,/em/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Lancey-Lance 3 ;) ;)/em" Lance's heart almost stops as Keith gently takes out the photo from the envelope that also carried the card. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;"Keith remembered everything about the picture almost instantly. It was from their trip to Chuck-E-Cheese with Hunk and Pidge when the two of them were in seventh grade with Hunk and Pidge was fifth grade. When the picture was taken, younger Lance had braces with blue brackets and a few pimples scattered on his face. Younger Keith looked just as different from Keith now; sporting a couple of bandaids on his own face. Younger Keith had red streaks in his hair and wore a friendship necklace matching younger Lance's necklace. /p