Chapter 3: We Have History

September 1st, 2008

The day we met.

My first day of high school was dreadful. Teachers were mean, students were mean, everyone acted like someone shit in their cornflakes. I was just a young immigrant boy in a big city wanting a better education, nothing more, nothing less. It wasn't until the end of my first day did I start appreciating school more.

A pale boy with a mullet of black hair was spray painting a wall in the school yard. It was just a white wall used for kickball and was the only thing aside from the grass field out there. I heard rumors that the high school used to be an elementary school and there was still some remnants of four-square and basketball hoops left lying around.

I watched as the guy sprayed colors all around, curious as to what he was painting. I deadpanned when I saw the message "Mothman is REAL!"

"Can I help you?" He called out, not looking away from his masterpiece.

"Uh just watching..." I responded, "...What's a Mothman?"

He turned to me, fury written all over his face, "Just about the foulest mythological beast out there!" He started drawing on the wall, "He's half moth, half man, and very much real!" He was kind of a dork, but I thought it was cute of him to believe in this fantasy creature.

"Oh, okay..." And with that I was in love.

November 30th, 2008

The day we started dating.

Every other day, Keith and I would hang out at the white wall, vandalizing it to perfection. Keith would usually paint monsters like Bigfoot or some sort of aliens. I would just paint eyes because it was the only thing I thought I was good at drawing. Every time we went back to our wall, it would be painted white again because the school didn't want people to see our graffiti. That didn't stop us from spray painting it repeatedly.

"So..." Keith covered his mouth as he used a bottle of red, "You moved here from Cuba?"

"That's right." I told him almost everything about myself, "Where's your family?"

"Don't have one." He said, "I'm an orphan. They died when I was young."

I frowned looking down awkwardly, "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay." He said, "I think it's okay though... I've got you..."

I blushed pink, "Yeah, we're pretty good friends now, huh?"

"...I don't like that title very much anymore..."

"I don't follow." I was puzzled.

He looked at me straight in the eyes before diving down to kiss me. It was my first kiss, so my heart basically burst out of my chest and my head was buzzing with a million sensations. I was frozen with surprise when he pulled back. We stared at each other, faces flushed.

"A-are we going too fast?"

"No, this is fine." I took his hands in mine, "It's okay."

He kissed each knuckle on my fist, "Good because... I've liked you since forever..."

"Me too." I responded. Little did I know this was just the beginning of my trip down the rabbit hole.

July 25th, 2010

I run away from home.

As we grew older, we started doing worse than just wrecking a wall in the back of our school. We would smash windows of cars, trespass on private property, and even steal booze from liquor stores. I picked up smoking along the way, robbing my dad of cigarettes or using leftovers from the ashtray. My dad smoked a lot, and I started to also. I tried sharing my large cigars with Keith, but he stuck to pot. We never got arrested because my daddy would always get us out somehow.

"They're just kids." My mother would defend, "They don't know what they're doing."

But the truth is, we knew exactly what we were doing. We were young criminal minds, only looking for thrills.

Keith dropped out in our junior year of high school. He wanted me to flunk too and live with him, but I was forced to stay by my parents. They couldn't stop me from sluffing classes to go make out with Keith under our favorite overpass though. We probably fucked there at least three times. Nobody walked around there except a few homeless people, so free porn for them. We were desperate horny teens that couldn't have sex at my house unless it was empty, which was rare. But eventually, I started sneaking Keith into my bedroom at night.

Every Saturday night, Keith would toss pebbles at my bedroom window at the break of dawn and I would be flabbergasted as he climbed up to my windowsill like a knight in shining armor. He always kissed me passionately, like every kiss we shared could be our last. One night though, we got caught half naked by my dad and that's when he found out about the tattoo on the nape of my neck with "Keith" scrawled in lovely cursive.

"Why would you... How could you do this to your body?!" My father grabbed my arm, looking at the inspirational quotes and constellations printed on my shoulders.

"It's my body. I'll do what I want with it." I stuck out my tongue and that's when he found out about my piercing.

"Lance, where did you get that?!" My mama looked horrified.

"Keith's friend is a tattoo artist and knows how to do piercings. I'm thinking I'll get a navel piercing next. And a belly button one." I knew Keith loved kissing my belly, so I thought it would be cool to decorate a little.

My father looked cross, "I let you go too far... First you start wearing black eyeliner and red lipstick like some hoochie, and now you're getting your body pierced and tattooed to make yourself look like a damn prostitute!"

I'll admit, I often dressed like a stripper (Keith convinced me over time that I looked hot in skinny jeans and short shorts. Anything that would show off my glorious legs.), but my dad had no right to talk to me that way. This was my life and my body.

"Papi, I like the way I look!"

"Not even your sisters dress like that!"

"Well, I'm not them!" I screamed before standing up from the kitchen table, "I'm not a modest little girl. Hell, I'm not even a girl! I'm a boy! Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I lose any of my masculinity!" I run up to my room. Even though my dad told him to leave, Keith was still sitting on my bed.

After I locked the door, I started packing my stuff in a suitcase quickly.

"What's up?" Keith asked, handing me clothes.

"I don't wanna live here anymore." I zipped the bag shut, "I'm going with you."

August 1st, 2017

Keith joins our unit.

Shiro got access to Keith's clothes and had them dry cleaned before returning them to the convict. Keith had a weird sense of fashion now. Back when we were dating, he always wore black, but now he was taking the emo thing too far. He wore a red dress shirt, everything else was black. A black overcoat, black pants, and black combat boots. He looked more like a bounty hunter rather than a gang banger.

I on the other hand was required to stick by a certain dress code. I wore a dress shirt, blue tie, black or blue blazer, and black pants. A suit that was decent for a detective. The blue tie had to get approved by administration since it was too bright, but I got away with it.

Now Keith was included in our group meetings, describing things we didn't know about the Galra. I took notes hastily.

"There are four main people to watch out for. The big bosses of the group. There's Zarkon, the big guy who watches over everything and started the gang. Haggar, the woman who manages the drug trades. Sendak, he's basically Zarkon's right hand and security. Then there's Lotor. He's just some jackass that thinks he's tough shit, when really, he's not. He's Zarkon's son, so he still has an upper hand in things." Keith huffed after sharing.

I had no idea that there was more than just Zarkon in charge. Turns out a group must have multiple leaders to work.

"We have to infiltrate their gang somehow... Throw in an undercover spy." Hunk suggested.

"We already have one. Thace, remember?" Pidge added.

"We haven't heard from Thace since the explosion. He's presumed to be dead." Shiro said grimly.

"Then we need to have someone else go in on one of their weaker sides." Hunk said.

"What could possibly be their weakest point?" Pidge shook her head in dismay. 

"Sex trafficking." Keith said, "It's least important to them. They have an auction underneath a nightclub where they sell men and women to Galra gang members. Lotor tends to hang around there. If we get him, we get everyone else."

"So... How should we go about this..?" Hunk scratched his cheek.

"Sneak someone in to be sold." Keith shrugged.

Pidge looked mortified, "Well I'm not doing it just because I'm a girl!"

"I can't risk it, I'm the chief here." Shiro said.

"Don't think I'm attractive enough to be a prostitute..." Hunk chuckled awkwardly.

"Well I can't because they think I'm dead!" Keith growled, annoyed with the three for not volunteering.

Everyone looked at me.

"...Do I have to..?" I cringed.

Wearing my suit uniform now sounded ten times better than usual. Here I was in Hunk's bathroom, changing into something more 'suitable' for a prostitute. Allura did me a great solid in purchasing a bunch of lingerie in my size. I wasn't going to talk to her for a week. Just a few years ago, I was dressing like a slut every day, now I didn't even know what slutty was.

I was familiar with the brown foundation I was given, applying it carefully to my old battle scars and tattoos. I held a portable mirror behind my head, using my free hand to rub foundation into Keith's name on my neck. It was still there after all these years. It didn't even look withered like some of my other tattoos. I covered it up with makeup and looked at my naked body; It was like I'd never been touched. My skin was completely clear of blemishes and artwork.

I sighed as I put the diamond navel piercing in, along with a matching belly button one. I decided to put my tongue piercing on for good measure. Luckily there were still holes there because I liked putting toothpicks in my tongue and stomach like a weirdo. When I was done with that, I began decorating my face with eyeliner, mascara, lipstick, and a little blush.

Finally, the dreaded part came around. I started slipping on the white lingerie I liked best. The panties cupped the boys nice, a little too nice. The garter belts were too flowery for my taste, but the stockings were cute. I had a challenging time with the bra though, having no idea how to hook together. I should have learned about it from my sisters. As I struggled with the straps, I got a few unwanted guests barging in.

Keith and Hunk gaped at me through the now open door, tints of red brushing over their cheeks.

"Can I help you?" I ask quietly, slipping on my bathrobe. I felt insecure standing so scantily clad in front of the two hottest men I knew.

Hunk closed his mouth and Keith adverted his eyes, "We're ready to go when you are." Keith and Hunk were acting as my sellers.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." I patted down my hair a bit. I looked ridiculously feminine, and I secretly loved it.

I strapped on a pair of white stilettoes, walking out to the car with the two men.

"I didn't know you could walk in heels." Hunk said, his throat obviously dry from how dehydrated his voice sounded.

"My sisters would play dress up with me often, so I was practically trained to walk in them." I chuckled.

Keith knew for a fact that I could walk in heels. He knew a lot about my talents. His favorite one being how I could tie a cherry stem into a knot with my mouth. He liked my tongue much more than my dad did.

We drove in silence, occasionally hearing Shiro or Pidge on the walkie talkie acting as GPS. We turned off our communication devices when we stopped in front of a nightclub. Hunk and Keith put on their jackets, throwing their hoods over their heads. A bag was put over my head and I was handcuffed to a leash, making it seem like I really was a slave. I started walking as Hunk pulled me along. I reminded myself that my phone was tucked in my undies next to my dick in case I needed. It was the only place a little Nokia phone wouldn't look suspicious. I couldn't even bring my Iphone because it looked unnaturally big in my underwear.

I could hear dubstep music and saw vague colored lights from inside my flour sac hat. I hoped Keith knew where he was going, but a part of me was a little peeved he knew where this sex trafficking place was. Had he been here before?

After a second, everything became quieter and there were only a few murmurs I could decipher. Suddenly, I was pushed down to my knees.

"Ow, watch it!" I said between gritted teeth, my robe being ripped off me.

"Nice body." Someone spoke, "Let's see the face?"

The sack was pulled off my head and I looked up at the person before me. He was a tall man and his expression was hidden by a mask. He pulled me by my hair and examined my complexion, squishing my cheeks and checking my molars. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hunk's distressed look, like he wanted to save me. But Keith was holding a fixated glare at me, like I was his property and no one could touch me.

I gulped as I forced to stand up. The man groped my chest and then my tiny love handles. His hands were slimy, like he had touched so many people with them and never washed his hands.

"He's good." The man mumbled before handing Keith a wad of cash.

"We'll be watching the auction..." Hunk said in a deep voice. I watched in fear as the two left me behind. I was tense now that I didn't have my companions to protect me. What was I supposed to do if this guy's hands got too excited?

"Come." He pulled me along to a new room. He made me sit down in a chair as another man came over and wrote the auction number on my wrist. They uncuffed me and tied my hands behind my back with a red ribbon. Then a choker with a dog tag was wrapped around my neck.I waited a few minutes before I was dragged into the last room. They ordered me to stand still until my cue.

After a moment, I heard my auction number being called out and a set of curtains rose around me. I was inside a glass box with a small stage and pole in the center. I felt like an animal at the zoo as the audience wolf whistled and howled with excitement. I searched for Keith's eyes in the crowd, feeling panicked. When I caught his gaze, I relaxed. When the cue came, I started strutting the stage, presenting myself as I was told.

"You know you want me." I said, "I want you to want me." I was pretty sure they couldn't hear me, but it was something I wanted Keith to know. I wanted him to see what he was missing. After all these years, this is what beauty he left behind. Keith read my lips, but so did Hunk...

"You may send your bids now using the tablet on the sides of your chairs." The announcer said. There was a bunch of tinging sounds just then, like a hundred people had just bid on me.

I felt dirty, but at this point, I didn't mind. In fact, I was just getting comfortable. I swung my body around the pole, glaring seductively at Keith. Even if I was staring at one individual, the audience went wild like I had been looking right at them. I was feeling intoxicated from the attention, so I got worse. I pressed my ass up against the glass. Hunk was maroon and Keith just watched, an amused grin spread over his face.

"Want me..." I whispered, "Please somebody want me..." Tears were starting to build up in the corner of my eyes.

All at once, the ringing noises stopped and I fell back to my knees weakly. I was so caught up in a single moment, I had forgotten what was going on and where I was. I was pretending to be sold. I was an undercover cop, not an entertainer for the one I once loved.

I was going into a state of delusion, my vision blurring and hearing fading out. My breathing was hitched and I felt like puking. I was disgusting.

The curtains came down and someone grabbed me by the waist, carrying me out of the box. I didn't pry away, nor did I want to. I was just a rag doll now, waiting to be thrown out. When I came to my senses, I was being tossed into the back of someone's Mercedes, ropes being wrapped around my legs and a handkerchief being shoved into my mouth. I began breathing heavily as the trunk closed, feeling unusually sleepy. I passed out, knowing then I had been drugged.