I forgot about the number and it came back to haunt me. Lotor walked into the living room with the napkin in one hand and my jacket in the other. "What's this?" He questioned with a soft tone, holding out the number for me to see. The digits were clear in the marker pen.

"Someone gave it to me and I forgot to throw it away." I answered honestly.

"You forgot?"

"Yeah- Yeah. He was insistent and I felt rude saying no. I thought I'd throw it away when I got home but completely forgot about it." I was rambling as I backed up into the wall. Lotor was so close to me that I could feel his warm breath against my face and, to say it was threatening would have been an understatement.

"Did you plan on cheating on me?"

"No, no. I love you a lot, Lotor. I just-" I let out a pathetic squeak as Lotor slapped me. I tensed up as his face got even closer to mine. I could just about make out the thin, wispy hairs on the bottom of his face.

"Do you need to be reminded of who you belong to?"

I knew what that meant all too well. I couldn't go through it again. "I swear it wasn't-"

"Answer my question, Lance." My wide, blue eyes were darting everywhere but my boyfriend's face because I couldn't bear seeing the intimidating looks.

"N-No."

"Well I think you do." Lotor wrapped his hand around my wrist and roughly pulled me upstairs. His grip was rough and was guaranteed to leave nasty bruises. "I'm sorry, Lance but I need to do this."

-

I laid in bed, fixated on the patterns spread out across the ceiling. My eyes were tracing the lines, desperately searching for something meaningful amongst the blandness. When I was a kid, I used to imagine wild shapes like lions or flowers but I was too old for that. I couldn't find anything. I rolled over to face the walls, realising I was completely alone on the bed. The covers were wrapped around me tightly and I never wanted to escape the warm cocoon but I was eventually going to have to.

I threw the blankets off of my body, instantaneously being hit with the chill of the air. I gritted my teeth and reached into my draws to find something warmer to put on. I settled on a thick hoodie and jeans before taking them into the bathroom. I dropped them onto the floor beneath the towel rack and turned the shower onto a setting that was probably a tad bit too hot but I didn't care. I stepped underneath the water, completely engulfed by the steam.

I felt so numb. Even with hot water stinging my body, I felt numb. It should have been painful but, instead, it created an unfamiliar sense of relief. I couldn't stop picturing Lotor as he ran his hands up my body and I just had to take it. I squeezed my eyes shut, pausing with massaging the shampoo into my scalp as I tried my hardest not to cry. It was my fault that Lotor had touched me like that. I had gotten some guy's number and forgot to get rid of it. Of course he wouldn't be happy. If anything, I got let off lightly: I mean, I only had one bruise that covered part of my cheek and a few bruises on my stomach. I wasn't exactly on my death bed.

I stepped back out onto the floor, wrapping a navy blue towel around me. I ran a hand through my messy hair with the hope of flattening it down a bit. I dried myself off as slowly as possible.

-

I slipped my hand into the pocket of one of Lotor's jackets in search for some coins but couldn't find anything apart from a couple of ten pence pieces. I pocketed them, even though they wouldn't even buy me a single marshmallow. We had a little tray of change on the side in the kitchen but I had drained it of most of the valuable coins for the hot chocolate earlier in the week. I sifted through it but it was mostly pennies. One pence. Two pence. I hit the jackpot when I found a single pound coin. I had already collected a handful of tens so I probably just about had enough money for a drink.

I glanced up at the clock on the wall. The hour hand was pointing to five and the minute to eleven. I still had around six hours until Lotor got home so I had plenty of time to go to the coffee shop.

-

As much as I was telling myself I didn't want to see Keith again, I couldn't deny how good the hot chocolate had been last time. That was how I ended up hearing the ding of the bell above me as I walked into the Lion Coffee shop again. The strong scent of coffee hit my nose and I inhaled gently, taking it all in. Shiro was behind the counter, preparing something for a customer. "Are you looking for Keith? His shift starts in about ten minutes." He asked. My cheeks heated up a little as I shook my head. "Okay. What would you like then?"

I decided to go for something different that time. "A scorpius's strawberry milkshake please."

"That will be £2.10." Shiro smiled widely as he held out his palm. I counted the coins myself until I had made the exact amount. "Coming right up." He turned around to prepare the milkshake. A couple of minutes later, he placed it down in front of me and it looked Amazing (capital letter intended). It was bright pink and the whipped cream was like a mountain on top with a striped straw through its middle. I took a long sip and it was ice cold as it travelled down my throat.

"It's really good."

"I don't like strawberry but it's Keith's favourite." I nodded, taking another sip. "So you and Keith? How'd you meet?"

"You don't want to know, trust me."

Shiro let out a loud laugh, throwing his head back as he did so. "Knowing Keith, it was probably in jail or something."

"Well it wasn't quite jail but it was still bad."

"Now you have to tell me! I'm so curious it might kill me."

I didn't respond whilst I drank some more. Shiro had leant forward a substantial amount, one eyebrow quirked upwards as he waited for my response. "We met at a bar."

"That's not so bad?"

"Oh it is when you're both absolutely hammered and one's hitting on the other."

"That's fantastic. How incredibly romantic."

"I know..." I stared into the whipped cream as if it was trying to speak to me or something. Of course it wasn't but it was a reasonable excuse to avoid Shiro's gaze. "You know we aren't together, right?"

"Oh," It was Shiro's turn to look in a different direction. "I thought- Keith made it seem-"

"We aren't. I have a boyfriend."

"My bad. I'm sorry for assuming."

"It's alright." We lapsed into an awkward quiet. I drummed the tips of my fingers against the counter just so it wasn't completely silent.

"You know he's seemed so down lately." I lifted my head up to discreetly ask him to elaborate without actually saying the words. "Apparently he gave you his number last time you saw each other and you never texted him or something? He thinks you hate him."

"I don't hate him..." I mumbled, letting out a heavy sigh. "I just don't have my phone right now."

"How come? Did you break it or something?"

"Yeah... something like that." Before Shiro could question me further, the bell above the door chimed. We both turned to watch Keith walk in, running a hand through his hair and wiping his boots on the doormat. Once he noticed me, his eyes widened and he looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

"Hey... sorry for not texting you. I haven't had my phone." Keith nodded in response, switching places with Shiro behind the counter. Shiro said his farewells before leaving Keith and I alone (with a couple of other customers).

"No worries." He flashed an attractive smile, his white teeth practically glowing in the light. I didn't understand how one person's teeth could be the colour of the purest white. Like an angel's wings. "How've you been?" I shrugged, fixing my gaze back to my cup. It wasn't even that interesting but my eyes picked into the fact that the whipped cream was beginning to melt and seep into the pink. "Talk to me, Lance. We're friends now and you can trust me, alright?"

"It's just my boyfriend," I kept my voice low, paranoid other people were listening to us. I knew it was more likely that no one around us even cared but there was still a chance someone would tell Lotor. Lotor really didn't like it when I talked about him behind his back. "He didn't react well to you giving me your number."

"I'm so sorry. What did he do?"

Hands everywhere. Rough. Pain. Words. I deserve it. I deserve it. I deserve it. Hands. Rough. Pain. Deserve it. Handsroughpaindeserveit.

"Lance?" Keith's voice snapped out of whatever trance I had fallen into. My breathing had picked up a noticeable amount but Keith's hand had found its way to my back, beginning to rub in slow circles.

"I should go." I could see the worry on Keith's face. How his blue eyes became cloudy and widened. How his eyebrows creased. How his lips pursed as if he was worried he'd say the wrong thing and scare me off.

"But you haven't finished your milkshake?" I felt too nauseated to drink the sugary beverage so I raced out of the coffee shop, abandoning half of it.