"I swear… I'm quitting… tomorrow…" Keith panted as he followed Shiro. His legs and lungs were burning, and for once, it wasn't caused by his habit inhaling tobacco on a regular basis.

"Stop whining and leg it, Keith." Shiro called back, sprinting roughly three feet ahead of Keith, though the gap between them was growing. "We're already late!" They had arranged with Allura to meet up at her apartment near the park where they would take the photos that afternoon.

It was only two minutes until the time they had decided to meet up, and they were still roughly five minutes removed from the apartment complex. The usually punctual Shiro did not like that one bit. He was already late for his coffee date with Allura, he would bend the laws of space and time to not be late again. That was, if he could. So, for now, he resorted to just running as fast as he could.

"Jesus, this is why I hated you jock types back in high school." Keith managed to complain before painfully crashing into the man's torso. "The fuck, Shiro?"

"We're here." The man smiled, trying to not seem the least bit exhausted, but Keith knew better once he saw the sweat run down Shiro's neck. He was just as worn out as him.

"Well, go on. Ring the doorbell." Keith huffed, nudging the other.

"Well…"

"Shiro, you can't just chicken out now!"

"Ah, excuse me, boys?" A voice interrupted them. They looked towards the now open door of the apartment complex to find Allura standing in the opening. "Would you come in?"

To say that Allura was a little bit disappointed was an understatement. This Keith Shiro had brought along was pretty. Extremely pretty. According to his Instagram bio, gay, too. Shiro himself was beautiful as well. And they were close. So incredibly close. It only frustrated her more.

Allura hadn't taken Shiro for a gay man when she had first met him, nor had she considered the possibility when she fantasized about the possibility of dating him. And yet, here she was, pacing around her own living room, in front of the potential boyfriend of the man of her dreams, while the man himself was getting changed in her bedroom.

She bit her acrylic thumb nail as she considered her options. On one hand, she didn't want to be a homewrecker, but on the other hand, she really, really wanted to go out with Shiro. She had probably let this go too far already, she figured. This couldn't really be healthy. Maybe she should just give up.

"What are you so nervous for?" Keith asked bluntly.

Allura nearly jumped. "I… Well… I was just thinking about what you said earlier. About Shiro chickening out?" She lied through her teeth, sitting down on the couch, next to Keith.

"You're scared he won't do the shoot?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Allura nodded. "He mentioned that this is the first time he's doing something like this… I could just feel he's nervous about it."

Keith snorted. "Don't worry. It's not the shoot itself he's nervous about."

"Oh?"

"He's nervous about what you'll think of him. Look, Shiro has the biggest crush on you, and to tell you the truth, I actually have my fingers crossed that he'll man up and ask you out." Keith smiled. "He's been through a lot. He really deserves someone as nice and caring as you. If only he'd realize that himself."

Allura felt her cheeks heat up. "Wait, so you mean… You guys are not…?"

Keith laughed again, more heartily this time. "No. No, we're not. I know he's nice and hot and all, but he's really not my type. I'd say he's my 'straight best friend'."

"Oh my God." Allura giggled.

"Geez, what's taking him so long?"

The fact was, Shiro had finished changing ten minutes ago. He sighed as he looked in the mirror. Was he really doing this? What if this was all a big mistake? What if he wasn't what people wanted to see? What if he fucked up and it was his fault if this collection failed? He sighed as he traced his fingers over the raised scar on his face.

It was an eyesore to him. A reminder of a dumb mistake. He desperately wanted to hide it. He and Keith had tried everything they could, but no amount of foundation, concealer or youtube tutorials could ever effectively hide it.

He ran his hand through the tuft of prematurely graying hair on his forehead. Once upon a time, he had considered dying it, until Keith had somehow managed to convince him to keep it. He said it showed character, whatever that meant.

There was a knock on the door, and Shiro gasped as his train of thought was torn away from him.

"Shiro? Can we come in?" Allura asked.

"Ah, one second!" Shiro panicked, quickly picking a scarf off the bed and wrapping it around his neck to cover the lower half of his face. "Okay, you can come in!"

"Shiro..." Keith huffed, crossing his arms. There was a look on his face that told Shiro he saw right through him. That Keith knew exactly what he was doing. Hiding. Chickening out.

Shiro looked down, slightly hurt by Keith's look of disappointment. "I-I'm sorry, I just…"

"Actually, that was my fault." Allura spoke up. "I accidentally left my scarf out on the bed. But… it's true that it's not meant to be part of the ensemble…"

The man sighed as he took the scarf off, handing it to Allura. "It's just… the scar…" He mumbled.

"We've been over this a thousand times, Shiro. You look fine, scar or no scar." Keith sighed, crossing his arms.

"I agree." Allura smiled as she slung the scarf around her own neck.

"But… What if people don't like it? What if everyone hates it and the whole thing bombs?"

"I don't think that will happen. I have faith in the designers, and I have faith in you." Allura spoke softly, fixing the lapels of the navy jacket Shiro was wearing. "Do you trust my judgment?" She asked.

"Yes…" Shiro replied simply, blushing slightly as he watched Allura's nimble hands do their work.

"Good. Then you believe in yourself as much as I do." Allura said as she looked up to him, wearing a mischievous smile on her face. "And yes, some people won't like it, but if there's anything I've learned from my years on the internet, it's that you can't satisfy everybody. You just have to ignore the haters and do your thing."

Shiro only nodded, not sure what to say.

"Keith and I will help you. I promise. Now, shall we? The weather is still nice out."

"Yeah, let's go." Shiro smiled.