"So you uh, you like Justin Bieber?" Vincent asked from the front seat as he glanced at his rearview mirror to see Keith playing with Christian, the little boy giggled in excitement.

Keith shook his head and tickled Christian, "No, I think JB is for girls," he stated in one of those stupid voices people used for kids and animals.

Lance already knew that this was a catastrophic failure. As soon as Keith had gotten in the car, Vincent called him the devil's child in Spanish and began arguing with Lance about why Keith was coming home with him in the language Keith didn't understand. They had gone back and forth for about a minute before Keith started playing with Christian, making the little boy laugh gleefully, that alone made Vincent shut up since he didn't want to listen to the Lazy Town soundtrack on the way home just to keep his son happy.

Lance sat in the front seat next to his brother who was trying to find a song to fill the awkward silence whenever Keith and Christian weren't having any fun. "How about Ariana Grande?" Vincent pursed his lips and frowned as he focused on the road.

"Nah, I like stuff more like Fall Out Boy or Chainsmokers," Keith cooed.

Vincent frowned and whispered something about kids not liking the good music like the classics. "How about DragonForce? I mean, they're bloody amazing!" Vincent offered.

Lance prayed to the God looking down on him that Keith would agree to listen to some good classics before Vincent started shouting Spanish hexes on the poor boy. "Yeah, I love DragonForce, Through the Fire and Flames is such an amazing song, Definitely a classic!" Keith nodded eagerly as he smiled at Christian.

"Right," Vincent smiled before he put on a song and relaxed slightly in his seat even though he constantly checked to make sure Keith wasn't trying to do anything bad to his child.

It was clear that he was a bit wary after the whole jail ordeal when Keith tried to choke Lance out (which he tries a lot), and bringing the little emo into his car definitely didn't help him with trusting the boy. "Does your eye feel okay?" Vincent asked as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

Keith looked up in surprise before he nodded slowly and scooted away from Christian. "It's sore, but I'll live. How's," His voice got caught in his throat as he frowned and clenched his jaw. "How's Marcia?"

"Still a bitch," Vincent stated simply which made Lance reach over and punch his thigh, making the poor teacher wince in pain as he tried not to swerve.

"That's our sister, Vincent!" Lance exclaimed in anger.

Vincent shrugged and glanced over at his little brother before smacking the back of his head, "Exactly why I can call her a bitch, now don't hit the driver!" He stuck his tongue out at his little brother.

"Daddy, what's a bitch?" Christian asked making Keith wheeze in the back seat in laughter while Vincent looked absolutely horrified that his son picked up on what he said so quickly.

Lance placed his face in his hands and sighed in disappointment, "It's a bad word that your daddy shouldn't be saying and neither should you, Christian," he stated monotonously.

"Sorry!" The four year old squeaked as he grabbed for Keith's hand to hold.

It was oddly adorable and Lance couldn't help but smile slightly when he saw Keith smile at the little kid as Christian grabbed hold of his pointer finger and laughed happily. "You're fine sweetie," Vincent mumbled as he rubbed the scruff forming on his face from not shaving.

Suddenly Lance's phone chimed prompting him to look at the text expecting it to be his mother but it was something he wished he had never read. Ever.

Samurai: your brother is hot js

Lance's face dropped as he looked over his shoulder with so much disgust on his face that even Gordon Ramsay couldn't compare to Lance when he looked at a frozen lamb chop. Why would Keith say that to Lance? It was absolutely disgusting. Lance rolled his eyes as Keith smirked at him before he leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest before instantly regretting all of his life choices. The bruise on his body ached from when Lotor punched him so hard the day before, sometimes even moving around proved to be such a task for him, but he tried his best to not show any pain to the people around him. He didn't want them to think he was as weak as he looked. No one but Marcia knew about his abuse, but she never did anything for the sake of being in the popular circle.

Who could blame her though? Who would want to stick up for someone like him, a pathetic excuse of a human? He pinched the blue hoodie between his index and thumb fingers as he closed his eyes slightly. He was just a burden on everyone, wasn't he?

"Is that your house?" Keith asked as he popped his head between Vincent and Lance making the poor teen boy jump out of his skin and hit the top of his head on the roof of the car.

Lance rubbed the top of his head and glared at the very awestruck Keith who stared out the windshield with bright, sparkling eyes full of excitement. Lance looked over at his house as Vincent put the car into park and looked back at Keith, "It's literally like every other house in America? Why are you so amazed?" Lance questioned the stupid guy.

"It's so small!" Keith exclaimed yet again.

Lance and Vincent exchanged looks of 'seriously' as the two of them climbed out of the car and opened the two back doors for Keith to shove Lance out of the way on one side, while Christian crawled into his father's arms on the other side. "Seriously?" Lance growled as Keith shoved past him hitting his bruise by mistake.

"Sorry," Keith apologized as he gawked at the home, "I've just always wanted a small house is all. I've never been in one so I'm just really excited!" He stated and looked at Lance with big eyes.

Lance closed his door slowly as he looked at Keith. A famous kid who probably grew up with silver spoons, butlers, too much money, and even adoring fans wanted a small house? What kind of logic was that? Lance would kill to have Keith's life where girls swooned over him, where everyone loved him, and he'd be able to get anything he'd want. Why Keith was so excited now was a mystery.

"Wow," Lance raised an eyebrow and began walking towards his front door as Christian ran ahead of him. "You're easily impressed."

Lance was so not eager to go inside of his house; he could only imagine how his mother would act to Lance bringing a friend home for the first time since his second year of middle school. His mother was this innocent little woman who just enjoyed baking to her hearts content and smiling at her children, seeing Pete Wentz 2.0 would probably give her a heart attack since she'd probably mistake him as the devil like Vincent did.

Lance opened the front door carefully, he still hadn't made a proper excuse for Keith coming over so suddenly, his mother would be so mad at him he could practically sense her passive aggressiveness. Before he could fully swing the door open, his little sister tackled him nearly causing him to cry out in pain as her face slammed into his stomach.

"Lancey! Lancey is home!" Heidi exclaimed in excitement.

Lance grabbed onto the doorframe in order to keep himself standing upright. "Yup, sure am," He said in a strained voice as the pain pulsed through his body.

Keith raised an eyebrow as he peeked around Lance to see the little kid who was just too overjoyed to see her brother home. Christian squeezed past Lance and Heidi and went looking for Patrick hiding somewhere in their home. "Your house is a bit loud..." Keith pointed out as he eagerly stood on his tiptoes to get a closer look inside.

Heidi lifted her head up and looked at Keith as her smile dropped. Then, in one swift movement, she shoved her big brother out of the way and grabbed Keith's hand with excitement, "He's so pretty, will he give me a new niece?" She asked eagerly as she smiled at Keith with glossy brown eyes.

Keith blinked in confusion as he looked at Lance for context, "N-No Heidi, he will not give you that niece!" Lance said in embarrassment as he shooed the two into the house while Vincent whined about how he locked his keys in his car.

"I want a niece!" Heidi whined as she clamped her arms around Keith's waist making him give Lance a very concerned look. "He's so pretty, he'd give me a cute niece if the two of you married!"

"He's a man!" Lance exclaimed as he tried to pull his little sister off of Keith's body but she had a tight hold on the boy's waist. "I c-can't marry him!"

Keith gasped as he looked at Lance, "Are you saying you don't think I'm pretty?" He exclaimed in all seriousness.

"I never said you weren't but we can't have kids together you dimwit!" Lance argued with Keith as Heidi cried about never having a niece to play with.

"What in god's name is going on in here?" Lance's mother came into the front hall with a giant frown on her face carrying a tray full of cookies.

The three froze up; Keith and Heidi had an expression of hunger as they stared at the cookies like a bunch of famished beasts while Lance just stared at his mother with a smile on his face that practically screamed his unspoken apology for bringing Keith to the house. How did Mrs. McClain look? Oh, she was absolutely mortified to say the least; she dropped the tray of cookies on the floor as she made direct eye contact with the walking Hot Topic store across from Lance that Heidi held onto like her life depended on it.

Her thin brown eyebrow twitched slightly as she looked at Lance, "¿Qué coño ha pasado aquí?" She asked with a very worried look on her face.

Lance felt his smile drop as his mother swore in front of Heidi, "It's my fault ma-" before he could make an excuse Vincent came stumbling into the house on the verge of tears as he wrapped his arms around their mother.

"Mamá, I locked my keys in my car again!" He wept pitifully. This was a weekly occurrence and at most times Vincent would cry to their mother about how much of a failure he was since he can't even keep track of his own keys.

What would usually be a curse Lance would have to deal with as he talked to his brother about how him not locking his keys in the car was the reason his ex left him all the while Vincent held onto a wine bottle and cried about his life issues, was now a god send. Vincent's little breakdown gave Lance a chance to escape to his room with Keith before his mother could do anything embarrassing in front of the model.

"Bye Heidi!" Lance exclaimed as he dropped his little sisters legs and pulled her little arms from Keith's waist before grabbing hold of his hand and meeting his purple eyes full of shock. "We're going to my room, now."

Lance didn't wait for Keith to protest as he shuffled his way around his very confused mother, a screaming Heidi, and a very, very emotional Vincent who blamed the female teacher hitting on him at school for all his problems in life. Keith stumbled behind Lance with red cheeks as he tried not to trip over anything. It didn't really work out as he slipped on a stair and nearly brought Lance down with him if the Cuban hadn't had a firm grip on the rail that, thankfully, kept them standing. Lance looked back at Keith and noticed that the poor boy was wheezing as he managed to pull himself up the stairs to walk behind Lance.

'I was Timmy in that movie about the boy with asthma...' Lance remembered Keith's words from the church and mentally face palmed as he realized that the guy might actually have the condition in real life too. He guided a wheezing Keith to his room and closed the door behind them before he let go of the boys hand so that he could collapse on Lance's bed in a huff.

"You...you m-move fast," Keith laughed as he tried to catch his breath, those beautiful purple eyes of his sparkling brightly as he stared at the roof in curiosity.

Lance ran a hand through his hair and awkwardly swayed on his heels as he did a quick check over his room making sure that nothing embarrassing was left out. "When you live in this house, you've got to run away before you get pinned down by Heidi or Vincent," He mused before glancing at his mirror, passing by and mentally screamed when he realized how bad he looked. Allura totally noticed, god strike him dead now!

"What's up...what's up with all these clouds on your roof? And I don't mind the noise to be honest, it's better than my place," Keith sat up on the bed and bounced a little. He was just like a little kid in a candy store with twenty dollars to spend.

Lance let a tiny smile form on his lips as he looked at the very intrigued Keith. "That's a secret," He winked as he walked over to his dresser in order to grab Keith a sweater to replace the wet one he wore due to Heidi's crocodile tears she wept.

Keith rolled his eyes, "I told you about Timmy and the Alien, I think I'm entitled to a little secret like the one up above us," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Lance rolled his eyes and threw the blue sweater he had thought about wearing on Saturday last week at Keith and began to slide off his own hoodie. "Use my sweater until your sweatshirt is dry; if my mom comes up here and sees you with a wet shirt she'll probably judge you more than she already has."

"She seemed nice, like she actually pays attention to all of you," Keith smiled softly as he took off his sweatshirt and looked at the fluffy sweater in his hands.

"She's an angel, I've written so many essays about her in school it's ridiculous," Lance laughed in amusement as he leaned against his dresser forgetting to take off his hoodie. "I haven't a clue as to how she can handle my little brother and nephew though, they're devils when together."

"Christian and Heidi seem to love me, so your other younger sibling will probably love me as well," Keith boasted as he slid on the sweater and looked at the long sleeves bleakly.

"Patrick is going through his phase of sticking bugs in Heidi's hair and shooting people with nerf darts currently so no, he would not like you," Lance stated monotonously before he got back to taking off his hoodie. He was way too lazy to unzip it so he pulled it over his head and shivered as his red shirt got pulled up slightly with it.

He tossed his jacket to the floor and fixed his red shirt with a burrito on it before he noticed Keith standing up with wide eyes. "What was that?" Keith asked in a low voice.

Lance kept his hands hovering above his shirt as he raised an eyebrow, "What was what?" He asked in confusion.

"That," Keith pointed to Lance's stomach and approached him with genuine concern which creeped Lance out. "That thing under your shirt!" Before Lance could even react to what was happening, Keith managed to rush over and pin Lance against the dresser.

Lance looked at Keith in horror as the he felt an all too familiar presence of fear creep into his body. He'd only been pinned against things like this by Lotor before, so it just didn't register in Lance's mind that Keith wasn't going to hurt him as he lifted up his shirt carefully to expose the ugly bruise on his torso.

"K-Keith..." Lance closed his eyes in shame and tried to shrink away from the boy as his purple eyes focused on his body that he hated so much.

Not only his face was unattractive, but also his entire body. I mean who would think that a rib cage being visible was pretty or even eye catching? It looked disgusting just like the rest of him and now that Keith had seen his body and his punishment from Lotor, he wanted to hide in the bathroom and cry alone like he used to do when he first started losing weight.

"Who did this to you?" Keith whispered as he looked up at Lance and respectfully pulled his shirt back down. His was actually concerned, rule number three of the buddy system didn't have any sort of effect on him, this was pure worry he expressed for Lance's safety.

Lance opened his eyes hesitantly as Keith backed away from Lance and fiddled with the sleeves of the blue sweater he wore while his purple gaze stayed on Lance. "What?" Lance blinked in astonishment. Was Keith not going to mock or criticize him for having such a revolting body? Why not?

Keith clenched his jaw before he lowered his gaze finally, "Who's hurting you? Is it your family?"

"What? Hell no," Lance snapped out of his fearful state and jumped at the opportunity to defend his family, "No one would ever hurt me in this house. Not even Marcia," he then winced as he remembered her words from the other night, "not physically at least."

Keith stomped his foot on the floor and raised his eyebrows, "Then who?" He persisted.

Lance became embarrassed as he reached up and twirled a piece of his hair with his finger, "N-No one, no one important."

Truth is he felt like Keith would think of him as a loser if he told him the truth, but something inside of him told him it was okay to trust the boy standing in front of him who looked so perturbed by the problem. He took a deep breath and sighed when Keith didn't say anything but stare at him, "This guy named Lotor Colombo from school did it because he thinks I'm pathetic."

Keith stared at him silently before he stepped forward and pulled Lance into a gentle hug, he even stood on his tip toes to rest his chin on Lance's shoulder as he held the injured boy. Lance was absolutely shocked, it was as if Jesus had been reborn again or something, but entire situation was so bizarre! Who could imagine Keith Kogane, a boy possibly worth millions of dollars and also made it a thing to remind Lance how much he wanted to kill him, would comfort him in a time like this. Lance hesitantly placed his hand on Keith's back and relaxed in the boy's arms slowly once he realized he was safe there with Keith.

"Tell me about this douchebag," Keith demanded as he pulled away from Lance and led him over to the bed where they sat next to each other.

Lance couldn't believe everything that was happening, he was actually opening up to Keith about his problems at school with how much bullying he went through every day whether it be through physical or emotional abuse from his peers. At one point Keith held him in his arms as Lance tried not to cry talking about the most recent issue with Lotor. It was as if the two boys had completely forgotten their rivalry the moment Keith saw Lance's injury. It was a complete turn around and frankly, Lance loved being able to have a shoulder to cry on without burdening them like he would with his family.

Keith pulled out his phone the moment lance calmed down and regained his posture. He felt so relieved getting everything off his chest, he actually felt happy for the first time in a while. Keith raised his phone up to his face with the picture of Lotor's Instagram on it, "Is this the dick who's been messing with you?" He asked Lance with a serious face.

Lance pulled at his shirt and shrugged slightly, "I guess..." He mumbled in embarrassment. He was supposed to be this cocky and cool guy and yet he was being bullied by a douchebag in a snapback.

Keith turned his phone back to his face and mumbled something under his breath as he switched his profile to this different one that had a random face as the profile picture and a new name. "I'm going to fucking catfish this fuckboy," He proclaimed and followed the quarterback.

Lance screeched in fright as he tackled Keith for the phone, "Keith don't fucking do it, I'll just get hurt even more at school!" He whined as Keith held it just out of his reach.

"I'm fucking doing it!" Keith shouted as he slid into Lotor's direct message. "No one should be allowed to bully someone and get away with it!"

Lance and Keith wrestled on Lance's bed which made a lot of questionable noises that would concern his siblings and mother if they were even paying attention. "Keith- don't do it!" He begged the boy as he crawled on top of him to grab at his phone, ignoring the pain on his body.

Keith rolled right off the bed and hit the send button before Lance managed to snatch it from his hands to nearly scream in fear. "James Hart is already in those dm's!" Keith sang obnoxiously loud as Lance read the text.

James Hart: hey, I noticed that we had a few things in common like how we both like football and of course, video games. You seem really interesting so let's talk more 'Kay? ;)

Lance covered his face with his hands as he tried not to cry, "Why would you do that?" He whined.

Keith looked at him sympathetically before he locked his phone and dropped it onto the floor to kneel over Lance with a smile on his face. He gently pulled Lance's hands away from his face and wiped away his tears, "I'm catfishing him because he fucked with someone cool. I'm killing two birds with one stone since I'm taking care of a douchebag and helping someone out."

Lance sniffled as he ignored the weird intimacy between them, no one would be this close to a stranger they hadn't known for more than a week. No one. "I don't need your protection, we're not even friends," Lance stated rudely as he glared at Keith.

"Well, we're friends now."

Those words slammed into Lance's head like a piano had just been dropped on him. Friends? Him and Keith? What was this some sort of shitty fan fiction made by someone who had nothing better to do with their life? Lance would have never thought of befriending Keith through a weird situation like this and yet, it happened. It was almost like a lucid dream where everything felt so real, but it was just his imagination.

"Pinch me," Lance whispered as he stared at Keith.

Keith's face became screwed up as he frowned and cocked his head to the side, "Huh?"

"I said pinch me."

"Fine, but don't whine if I hurt you."

"Ouch!" Lance yelped as Keith pinched his arm harshly, probably payback for Lance dropping Keith earlier that day.

"I warned you!" Keith exclaimed as he stood up and held a hand out to Lance.

Lance rolled his eyes and took Keith's hand after a moment of hesitation. "Whatever," He mumbled before pointing to Keith's phone, "So what do we do now? With Lotor I mean."

Keith shrugged and sat back down on the bed, "Well the way he talks to you makes him sound like he's in the closet, so surely he could never resist a man as handsome as Jamsey boy here," Keith smirked smugly and showed his phone out for Lance to show a fake Instagram with at least a thousand followers and forty pictures. It looked real as hell and no one would ever be able to guess it was used to catfish jerks.

"Whoa, how many guys and girls have you tricked with this?" Lance sat down next to Keith and watched as Keith pulled up his block list and silently scrolled through it to show countless names. "So what do you do if he falls for the bait?"

Keith shrugged, "I butter him up with some sweet talk, I get a little spicy with my texts, then I set up a meeting, but instead of it being my place I'll send him to a Waffle House two hours away."

"Why a Waffle House?" Lance asked a valid question.

Keith shrugged once more, "I don't know, I just thought it'd be funny imagining him going to a Waffle House hoping to get a little something from James."

Lance laughed, "I think I may actually agree with you on this one," He stated before punching Keith's shoulder lightly, "Pal."

"Don't touch me, I will still punch you."

"Right."

-------------

Journal entry #1 by Lance McClain;

So this is a bit weird. Writing in this stupid journal about my feelings like I'm in elementary school again writing in my diary about my secret crush that I pined over every day.

You can't hear me right now, but I'm sighing in boredom because I don't know where to begin with all this. Today was one of the best days of my life. I made a friend and I managed to talk to someone about the problems I face at school...I never thought I would be able to.

So I have to relate this back to my condition, right? Well, ever since middle school when I was diagnosed with Bulimia, I started losing friends all because I was different. I mean who would want to be friends with that weird freak who threw up all his food right after lunch? No one. I lost everything I loved at school, even my sister; solely because I was...I was disgusting. Revolting, even.

Why does this matter? Well I'll tell you what Blue (since my journal is blue I'm naming you Blue. I love you Blue) it matters because today I made a friend. Crazy right? Like, someone actually cares enough about me to call me a friend? That's absurd. Well, Keith initiated it first which seems like some sort of lie, but I swear it wasn't. I never thought anyone would want to be my friend if they learned about me...all of me including my condition and the fact I'm a total outcast at school. Bulimia has filled my head with all these negative things and for the first time I actually felt like it wasn't in control of me.

This support group might not be a bad thing after all. Look out ladies, there's a new Lance McClain in town with more confidence and a little less crippling depression.

-Lancelot The Prince

----------------------

Journal entry #1 by a Kid Who Thinks This is Really Gay and a Waste of Time;

How do I relate today to cancer??? Um, I guess that Lotor Douche looked pretty cancerous to me. I mean what self-respecting person wears a snapback and has 'dope' in their bio? A closet gay that's who.

I don't really care about what happened today. Well, if I have to read this out loud that's what I would say, but since this will probably be private, I guess it can't hurt but to write in you, Red. Have I ever mentioned my favorite color was red? My journal is red so I decided to refer to it as Red. Original.

In actuality, I related Lance's abuse to my cancer which is probably why I cared so much...god this is so stupid and such a waste of my time. It isn't severe like Lance's abuse, but when I first got cancer all anyone knew me as was that star battling liver cancer whoopty do da. Wow, what a hero!!!!

People didn't care about the real me, but rather what I was and they showed their 'love' by making donations to charities they wouldn't have even looked at twice just to get on my good side, and it made me feel...I felt like I was... *incomprehensible scribbling* using words is so hard when I can't use my hands to express myself what the hell! It made me feel, I don't know, defined by my condition?? What is the stupid word I'm looking for?

I felt *scribbles*

I hate this journal. Screw this.

-Fuck this shit

Did you enjoy the chapter? I really like writing the journal entries and I have a special gift next chapter so be prepared for the new thing I'm introducing. How is the relationship between Lance and Keith currently? Do you have any critiques? Are the journal entries good and do they match the characters well enough? I'm anxious I'm sorry ;-;

-Anri

*Note*
The journal entries don't appear in the story after the next few that do due to a change in plot midway through