The next day, Shiro and Lance reported the stabbing, and Lance gave a short description of what the man looked like. After they were done, they both walked to the address written on a small sticky note with the nurse's phone address. They came to an apartment room smack in the middle of the city.

Keith opened the door once they knocked. He took one look at the boys, made a face, and slammed it shut.

"Keith, would you behave?" his mom said from somewhere behind the door.

"I don't want them! Especially not Lance! Could I just have Shiro instead?" Keith muttered.

"Too bad," she sang and then opened the door again. "Hey guys, thank you so much." She was wearing a crimson dress and high heels, and her black hair was curled exquisitely. Her pearl earrings stood out the most, however. Lance's jaw nearly hit the ground.

"Wow, it's getting late! Feel free to eat anything in the fridge, or watch TV. The remote is in the black box on the bookshelf," she said, and then bent down to kiss Keith's hair. "You be good."

Keith waved until his mom was out of sight and then narrowed his eyes at them. "You're in my house now."

The carpet led into a little living room with a coat hanger, and a coffee-colored couch, which was placed a few feet away from the TV. It was a fairly large television and was seated on a wooden stand. There was a bookshelf against the wall and a plant in the corner. To make the room look complete there was a big window with gleaming gold curtains.

Next to that room was the kitchen and a utility closet, and on the other side, there were two bedrooms and a blue beach-themed bathroom.

"So where's your hot girl?" Keith asked, leaning against the wall.

"She'll be here soon," Shiro replied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Good, I like her," Keith grinned. "Yeah, but for now you're stuck with us," Lance said.

"Ugh," Keith made a disgusted face at Lance and muttered something under his breath.

"Hey! That's offensive."

"If you boys excuse me, I've got a new Lion Guard episode to watch," Keith snatched the remote and switched on the TV.

Shiro and Lance shrugged and sank down on the couch, watching a few minutes of the show.

An idea came across Shiro's sharp mind. "Lance, today I'm going to ask Katie out," he whispered.

"Good, it will make up for yesterday," Lance said, his eyes glued to the screen.

"Yeah. The thing is, I still can't seem to get that guy's face out of my head. The one that was staring at Katie. You didn't see it, but... Do you think they might know each other? Either way, it was creepy and not normal," Shiro shivered in response.

"Wanna know what else was creepy and abnormal? Somebody stuck a knife in my body," Lance said flatly. Shiro closed his eyes briefly, before getting nudged. "Now how are you going to ask her, because I got some tips."

Keith snorted but still faced the TV. He was so close to the screen that they wondered how he wasn't blind.

"All right, how should I ask her?" Shiro questioned quietly.

"Well, you wanna go into it slowly, but not that slow," Lance said. "Make her feel like she's important."

Shiro nodded.

As he went on, Keith began to laugh. "Oh please, no wonder you have not had a girlfriend before," Keith stated, looking back at them.

"I don't suppose you have better ideas?" Lance turned to Keith.

Keith paused the remote and then turned around. He laid on his back, with his head resting on his crisscrossed hands. "I have some better ideas than you."

"First, play some romantic music, followed by some alone time," Keith smirked. "Or, we could watch a PG-13 horror movie, and she would be so scared she'd hug you. I've got some recommendations. No, don't ask if I'm allowed to watch them, just assume I am."

"Lame!" Lance rolled his eyes. "How would that get her to say yes?"

Shiro looked at them both uncomfortably. "I could just ask her."

"No!" they both hissed and glared at him sharply. "Are you kidding me, man? There's no way she would say yes then," Lance exclaimed. "Why not?" Shiro looked perplexed.

"Rules of the game," Keith shook his dark head. "How could you possibly know that? You're eight years old!" Lance threw his hands in the air.

"Because I am smart, at least smarter than you. And I bet two juice boxes on it."

"The note says no sugar," Shiro said, glancing at the note on the fridge.

"Whatever, I won't tell," Keith simpered. "Shiro, listen to me; do anything but what Lance says. He doesn't know what he's talking about. If you truly want to wow her, take the advice from me."

Lance looked like he was about to strangle the kid. "You're in THIRD GRADE and you have a MULLET! Shiro, everyone knows that mullets aren't trustworthy!"

"You know what? How about we play a game," Shiro gritted his teeth.

That seemed to get their attention. "Darts?" Keith piped.

"No, not darts," Shiro exhaled. That was the most dangerous option the child could have possibly suggested. "What about hide-and-go-seek? That's a fun one."

"Ooo!" Lance sat upright. "I'm good at that."

"I bet it's because you have to hide from girls," Keith taunted.

"Okay, that is enough," Shiro barked. He stood up, causing them to cower slightly. "Stop arguing, right now! It's extremely immature. We're going to play a game of hide-and-go-seek unless you have another suggestion that ISN'T DARTS."

They both instantly fell silent at his authoritative tone. He looked at them expectantly but they didn't say anything. He took a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders. "Keith, would you like to count first?"

Keith was about to say something when a mysterious glint appeared in his eye. He nodded mutely. Shiro didn't know what that meant, but as long as it kept the boy distracted.

"One, two..." Keith started slowly. Lance sprang up and ran towards Keith's mother's room. Shiro grabbed his collar. "Oh, no you don't."

"C'mon, Shiro, where else is there to hide? It's not like I'm going to search through her belongings."

"That's a lie and you know it. Here, there's the kitchen, the utility closet, behind the curtains, behind the trash can, the bathroom-" Shiro began listing.

Lance took off towards the bathroom. The other followed, suddenly nervous that Lance would break something, like the porcelain vase that was precariously perching on one of those cerulean shelves, or that large peppermint-scented candle that was burning sweetly. It was like he was babysitting two children instead of one.

Lance opened the bathroom cabinets that were below the sink. "Perfect." He clambered in and glanced back. "You coming?"

Shiro closed the bathroom door gently as to not make a sound and climbed in after his friend. "This is cramped."

"Nah, you're just tall."

They heard Keith announce "20! Ready or not, here I come!" and held still. The soft footsteps instantaneously pattered in their direction.

"I bet he was peeking. Dude, you shouldn't have closed the door, that made it obvious," Lance critiqued. "Shh," Shiro hissed. The footsteps stopped directly in front of the bathroom door. They cringed and waited for the boy to walk in.

Instead, they heard the clicking of a lock. Both boys froze in place.

"Ha, idiots! I got you!" Keith shouted. "You should have known not to hide in the same place by the evil glint in my eyes!"

They exchanged a look and flopped out of the cabinet. "Keith, what's going on?" Shiro tried to open the door. As it turns out, Keith actually had locked it, from the outside. "Wh-?" he searched the frame for a spare key, but there wasn't one.

They heard the boy laughing hysterically as he walked towards the fridge. "Oh no, he's getting sugar!"

"Really, that's what you're worried about?" Lance pushed Shiro out of the way and began pounding on the door. "LET US OUT RIGHT THIS INSTANT, YOU BRAT!" he hollered. Keith seemed to laugh harder.

They heard whipped cream spraying. Lots of it. Endless whipped cream.

"Well, this isn't going as planned," Shiro commented. He wasn't sure what to do. Call 911? Lance glowered at him. "Use your scary voice again."

"My scary voice?" Shiro blinked in confusion. "Yeah, the one you used on us like seven minutes ago," his friend affirmed. Shiro stared at him but then shrugged. "Sure."

As he was about to start yelling, they heard a simple knock. The apartment door creaked ajar, and the pleasantly welcome sound of Katie's voice floated to their ears.

"Hey, buddy! Where are Lance and Shiro?" Never were more wonderful words spoken.

"I locked them in the bathroom," Keith said casually. "What did Lance... I mean what did they do this time?" she sighed. They heard her walk in and drop something on the couch. "I outsmarted them," Keith continued, sounding smug.

"Mm, let's go let them out."

"Do we have to? I like you better, can't we leave them?"

"Eh, no, sorry."

The boys in the bathroom waited in anticipation for her to come to their rescue. She approached the door. "Having fun, boys?"

"Hey, Katie." Shiro sounded bashful.

"An eight-year-old outsmarted you?" she sounded way too amused. "Like I said, my offer still stands. Leave them in there and we can watch Lion Guard," Keith advertised hopefully.

"Please let us out," Shiro laughed breathlessly. They heard the lock click and scrambled to get out. Lance started dramatically gasping for air on the ground. "Thank you," the additional former captive articulated. He glimpsed at Keith, who was sat on the counter, eating a bowl of whipped cream and giving them the stink eye.

"What are we going to tell his mom?"

"I brought some macaroni," Katie offered. "We could make him some of that. It's," she checked her watch, "-about seven o'clock."

"Zoo animal shaped?" Keith dropped his spoon. "Yes. But you have to behave to get any," she reprimanded. "You are actually a lifesaver," Shiro said in awe. She just giggled and slid off her faded green jacket. "I know."

Soon the kitchen was filled with the satisfying sound of boiling water and the delicious aroma of cheesy noodles. Katie hummed as she cooked and occasionally peeked into the other room to make sure they had Keith under control.

"Hey Lance, those hyenas are just like you; they never learn when the Lion Guard kicks them out, and they never win," Keith pointed to the animated hyenas. "Not to mention stupid."

"That's not nice, I am sure they win sometimes," Lance said, trying to think more.

Keith snorted. "I bet you never watch quality shows. The bad guys never win."

"I'll show you something, you little brat," Lance lunged for Keith.

Keith laughed and dodged out of the way. Lance almost knocked the TV down. Keith ran into the kitchen and hugged Katie's legs tightly.

"What going on now?" Katie sighed.

"Lance is being mean to me, he called me a hyena," Keith said quickly.

Katie looked up at Lance, who slid into the kitchen looking for Keith. She placed her hands on her hips "Lance?"

He didn't listen to her tone, and dove straight at Keith, who let out a shriek.

The girl and child dodged out of the way, causing Lance to smack into the counter.

"Does someone need a time out?" Katie looked at Lance.

"Ha ha ha ha," Keith laughed at him. "You too, mister." Katie grabbed them both by the ear. "I told you that in order to get macaroni you had to behave!"

A few minutes later, she had Keith and Lance sitting back to back in chairs.

"Now think about what you both did," Katie said with a slight smirk.

Shiro came in and took the scene in. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Katie. "Eight minutes for both the food and them."

Shiro nodded, not even going to argue.

"He started it," Keith complained.

"You started it!" Lance hissed.

When it was finally done, she made all three boys a heaping plate and gave Shiro a cheeky thumbs up when he caught her eye.

After they ate, they passed the time by playing games. It was much easier to manage Keith now that Katie was here.

Mrs. Kogane arrived at the home around nine o'clock. She appeared to be in a particularly good mood, but she also seemed exhausted. She thanked them and then they left. Keith even waved!

"We did it," Katie cheered as they left the apartment and stepped into the cool night air. Shiro gave her a side grin. "Yes, we did."

"It was pretty fun, too," she proceeded. He started to walk with her, but Lance screeched behind them, "Wait! Don't leave me! What if Stabby McStabberson comes back again?!"

"That would be very unfortunate," Shiro called back, continuing to walk with Katie. He hadn't asked her out yet. Had Lance forgotten that? Or perhaps his friend wanted to be there when it happened. Either way, there was no way he was going to let Katie walk alone at night, even if she was fully capable of defending herself.

Katie rolled her eyes fondly, and they continued to walk. She didn't even question Shiro. They trod together for at least a mile, laughing and talking fervently until she saw her house come into view. "Oh, there it is."

They stopped under a street light. He turned to face her, with his heart beating so loudly he thought she might hear it.

"Yeah?" she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and raised an eyebrow. He hesitated and then took her hand. She looked down at it and then back up at him, her face turning a vivid shade of scarlet.

"I think you're spectacular. Would you like to go out with me?"

Her eyes widened, and she couldn't seem to form words, though her mouth opened a little. "Y... yes, I'd like that," she squeaked, her hand limp in his. He looked relieved. "Good. That's good."

"Yeah." They stood there looking into each other's eyes.

TBC please review