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Lance

So, Keith couldn't swim. I would've laughed if he wasn't so embarrassed and pissed. It wasn't that I blamed him- he literally lived under a rock. I guess I just assumed that he had, like, magic swimming pools down there. I guess not.

Anyways, Keith didn't want to go any further than his waist, shivering as I chided him that he'd be less cold if he actually went underwater, but I wasn't going to waste my time on a hopeless case. I was too elated to be upset- I was finally in the ocean, however cold it was, and I was swimming like a seal.

Diving underwater, I opened my wings and caught the currents beneath them, angling the tips down to shoot beneath the waves and glide along the sand, trailing my fingers in the grains, the water sliding along my skin and feathers, bubbles bursting from my lips. It was perfect.

Was it selfish? Was the Arboretum not the real reason why we were here? Yes. Keith's real surprise was something this weekend, down in California. I just had to see the beach before we did his mission though- I needed it for myself.

Plus, Seattle was mellow enough for Keith before we plunged headfirst into California. In a way, I was taking baby steps with the devil. He would get overwhelmed if he was in such a crowded, loud area like Cali immediately. So Seattle was his warm-up and my cool-down. And man, was the ocean cold.

Surfacing, I turned back to face the beach, rolling my eyes at Keith, who stood, arms-crossed, waist-deep in the ocean. He looked sour, per usual.

"C'mon!" I shouted, waving my arms, "It's not that bad!"

"No way in hell!" Keith shouted back, scowling at me. I shrugged, quirking a half-smile at the devil. His loss.

Flopping onto my back, I floated on the freezing waves, gazing up at the cloudy sky, running my hands through the salty water, bliss rolling off me. There weren't going to be many moments to myself on this trip.

I smiled to myself, thinking about how I was basically the devil's babysitter. I wondered if Matt and Adam were looking down at me right now, talking in hushed voices about Kuron and Shiro, how the undead twins had broken their hearts.

I never really asked about what happened between the twins and my brothers- I didn't want to push it. I only glimpsed the four of them together once in a while, when I got the chance. I had been on an assignment from Mother back then, training my new siblings on how to perform angelic duties and whatnot.

I had been there when Matt and Adam had returned, though. Adam's face was stoic, hard like plaster, eyes dark and dead. Beside him, Matt was a mess, tears falling down his cheeks, shivering. Mother had swept them inside the house and talked with them for a long time, and she must have said something comforting because when they came back out, Adam was a little softer and Matt had stopped crying. I never asked what happened. Now that I was with Keith, I wasn't sure I even wanted to know.

Lifting a hand out of the water, I held my palm up toward the sky and sighed. Could they see me?

...

Keith buried his nose in the blooms he held, eyes closed in bliss. The vibrant red poppies and slim calla lilies were tied in a bouquet with red silk, and they smelled intoxicating. Allura beamed at Keith, eyes alight with pride.

It was almost ironic that Keith had chosen the poppy bouquet. I mean, considering what we were going to California for... I guess this just meant that I knew he'd enjoy the surprise I had in store for him.

Allura handed me a large white book, explaining that when the flowers began to die, we could preserve them by pressing them in the book. I flipped through the book's blank pages and smiled at her.

We said our goodbyes and Keith and I walked out of the shop, stopping just outside to decide what to do next. Keith refused to take his face out of the flowers until he started sneezing from the pollen.

...

"No matter how much product you put in your mullet, it's still not gonna look good!" I shouted at Keith. I heard him grunt indignantly from inside the bathroom, and then the sound of a hairdryer. It was early evening, and after a long day of sightseeing, shopping, movie-watching, and walking around Seattle, Keith and I had decided to stop back at the hotel to drop off our stuff before heading out to get dinner.

Keith stepped out of the bathroom, looking frustrated with his messy flop of hair. "Of course it looks good, Halohead."

I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling too big. "Here... just let me..." I reached forward to his hair, but he jerked back, shooting me an offended glare.

"I'm not gonna kill you," I explained to him slowly, holding my hands up in surrender, "I'm fixing it, dumbass."

Keith begrudgingly let me push his hair back. It was stiff from all the product he'd put in it, so I pushed a bit of Energy through his scalp to get rid of the chemicals. The devil's hair immediately became softer and I combed my fingers through it to get it to lay flat before securing a tiny ponytail in the back above his neck.

We both flinched when my fingers brushed the nape of his neck, his skin warm to my freezing fingers, but I didn't say anything until I'd finished. Stepping back, I smiled a little as Keith tentatively felt his head, looking at me in confusion.

"I just put it back so it wouldn't bother you."

"It feels weird."

"You can take it out if you want."

"I like it."

I had changed back into a masculine body again and I think that it had relaxed Keith a little- he seemed less tense when I was in my regular body, but I didn't know why. Maybe he was just really bad at talking to girls.

We wore casual jeans and sweatshirts from our shopping experience and I'd swapped my boots for some comfortable vans.

"Vamonos."

...

"Oh my god... KEITH! You're dripping-" I burst into giggles as a blob of cheese fell off of Keith's pizza slice onto his white sweatshirt. Keith's eyes went wide, chewing frantically. Still laughing, I waved my hand over the stain to get rid of it and handed Keith a few napkins, taking a bite out of my own pizza.

"It's not my fault!" Keith sputtered indignantly, "It's hard to eat!"

You've gotta fold it," I told him, showing him how I had folded my own slice.

"Look at you, Halohead, being all innovative," Keith replied sarcastically, but he folded his pizza too.

We were waiting in line at the Seattle Great Wheel- a giant Ferris wheel that shone with fluorescent lights, casting blue and purple tones over us as it spun slowly. I glanced out over the bay to the sun, watching it approach the horizon. If we were lucky, we'd be able to see the sunset from the gondola.

Keith and I finished our pizza quickly as we approached the man taking tickets. I pulled ours out of my bag and watched Keith out of the corner of my eye. I wondered how extreme Keith's fear of heights was.

Handing the attendant our tickets, we stepped into a small gondola, another attendant shutting the door behind us. Keith and I sat opposite each other, looking anywhere but each other's faces, trying not to make it awkward. It wasn't hot enough to have the aircons running in the gondolas- it was only early spring- so the air was comfortable.

With a jerk, the gondola began moving and I smiled softly, looking through the glass walls to watch us lift up from the pavement- higher and higher. Across Elliott Bay, the sun began to sink below the horizon, setting the sky in vibrant pink and orange.

I glanced at Keith and, while his face looked relaxed, his knuckles were white as he gripped the sides of his seat. We rose higher still and I felt my stomach in my throat as we peaked in our first revolution, the sunlight sweeping through the gondola in a flash of gold.

I felt Keith's anxiety and started to feel bad, wondering if this could've been a bad idea. He had seemed fine with it at first. I could stop the ride if I wanted to, even if it took a lot of Energy, if it made him feel safer.

We sat in silence as the gondola passed up and over another rotation. I looked at Keith again. His breath was coming faster and he was staring at the ground. Worried, I closed my eyes, tapping into the mechanics around me, carefully disconnecting a single wire, harmless enough. The wheel slowed to a stop.

I opened my eyes to be met with molten gold. We were at the top of the wheel on our third and last rotation, sitting precariously on the top of the wheel. It was in the exact spot where the sun's sinking rays cast through the gondola, coating us in light. Keith's skin glowed and his dark eyes went bright as the sun caught his irises.

He was staring at me anxiously, panicking. "What happened?" his voice was fragile. I leaned forward and gently pulled his hands from the sides of the bench he sat on, holding his pale hands inside mine. I kept eye contact, focusing everything I had into Keith's eyes. His hands were shaking. I held them tighter.

"You have nothing to be afraid of."

Time seemed to freeze and I was aware of Keith and Keith only, eyes locked, golden sun coating us in a swath of velvet warmth.

Keith's hands stilled, jaw slack. I reconnected the wire with a small push of Energy. The Ferris wheel resumed turning. 

...

guyyysss dfdksal;hfdsla i have so much plANNED for this fic ugh i just wanna write it already! good ! stuff ! is! coming ! soon !!!

also... the wonderful Mercy volunteered to proofread these chaps from now on, so y'all will hopefully see some better grammar from here on out lmao

if you've read my stuff before, you know how bad i am at editing lmao

qotd: if you could go anywhere in the world at this very second, where would you go and why

love u guys so much. thank you for the unending support you give me.