Church | Klance

10

Lace took a hold of Keith's hand and walked to his house, he was holding Keith's hand since he thought he might need the support.

"You're moving, you don't have to live with them. They can't do anything." He explained to Keith, of course, Lance was nervous too but he tried not to let Keith see that.

"I move into the apartment in five days. I still have almost a week of living with them." Lance didn't speak, he knew Keith was right, but he also knew he didn't want Keith to go back to his house when his parents were treating him like this.

The boys got to Lance's front door which was unlocked but closed, his parents were likely speaking to Keith's about the situation. Of course, they didn't know that he was moving, but they knew about last night when Keith came to their doorway because he didn't feel safe.

Lance looked at Keith for reassurance that he could open the door, he wanted Keith to be ready.

As he opened the door, he heard his mother's voice, "That must be them." Footsteps followed and soon she was standing at the front door and greeting the boys. She smiled, but Lance could see she was uncomfortable in the situation.

She put her hand on Lance's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She looked at Keith after and her eyes gave an apology that she didn't speak.

Lance heard more footsteps and soon Keith's mom was standing beside his mother, "Keith, honey, you shouldn't have troubled these people last night." As she spoke she looked in between Keith and Lance with obvious disgust. She didn't try to hide it at all.

He saw Keith grimace when she called him honey obviously, that wasn't a normal name he was called.

"He really wasn't a bother." Lance's father spoke next, "He slept in our spare bedroom, it was nice to have someone occupy it."

"He could have let you rest rather than staying here, especially not after the scene he made at church. I apologize for that too, he pulled your poor son into his unholy thoughts."

Lance glared at Keith's mom as she spoke, he couldn't stay quiet anymore so he stepped forward in front of Keith and towards his mom, "He didn't pull me into anything. I chose to be in a relationship with him, my parents know that too so take your homophobic thoughts somewhere else."

Lance didn't normally snap at anyone, but he was tired of Keith's parents treating him horribly, especially when they said that he had basically forced Lance into a relationship which obviously wasn't true.

Mrs. Kogane narrowed her eyes and glared at Lance, she had given up her nice act, "You will not speak to me that way, young man."

Lance's mother stepped between them, "And you will not speak to my son in that way." The two women glared at each other. It was terrifying actually, they both looked like they were ready to kill at that moment. Everyone else had gone silent, possibly out of fear of what was going to happy, but mostly out of fear of what would happen if they did intrude on the murderous staring contest.

"I'm sure there's a calm and peaceful way we can solve this." Joseph broke the silence first, "Mr. and Mrs. Kogane, I can assure you that Keith didn't cause any trouble last night."

Mr. Kogane walked up to Keith and grabbed his arm, "We're leaving, Keith."

Keith pulled his arm back forcefully and glared at his dad. Now, Keith was staring at his dad and the two women still had a tense nature between them. "I'm not leaving. I'm not going back home. I got an apartment, I'm not living there anymore."

"Keith, we're not talking about this. We're going home." His mother turned and looked at him as she spoke.

Keith didn't back down, he stared right back at her, "That's not my home anymore."

His mom backed away from him and stepped over to his dad, "Fine. You're not living with us anymore, it's a burden off our shoulders. You're choosing a life where no one will love you, a life of sin and loneliness."

Lance walked beside Keith and grabbed his hand, he smiled at him supportingly and then turned to Keith's parents and his smile dropped quickly, "He's not choosing a life of loneliness or one where no one loves him because I'm here with him and I care about him."

Lance knew it was too early to say he loved Keith, he wasn't sure he did yet, but he knew his feelings were deep.

"He's never a burden, if you think that, then you're sorely mistaken and I feel bad for you."

Keith's parents didn't say anything but their glares at the others in the room said it all. All the hatred they'd stored up for years was showing through their eyes. They had a dark feeling to them, one of loss, but not in a sad way. This loss was the type you felt when you had lost to someone at something, it was the type of loss that was usually accompanied by anger.

Their glares continued as they headed for the door to leave. Mr. Kogane's shoulder his Lance's hard enough to make him stumble a bit, they both knew it wasn't an accident.

No one said a word as they left, Keith's parents didn't say anything to him nor did he to them. It was a silence that was soaking in many feelings, pride, hurt, loss, happiness, relief, anger, and every other emotion one could think of.

As the door closed Keith turned and embraced Lance, he felt his leg go week as he did, he wasn't usually one for public affection of any kind, especially not with parents or other adults around, but he didn't have control over himself. His emotions got the best of him and his shoulders shook with a broken sob. This confused him, he was glad to be out of his parent's house yet he was feeling sorrow. Maybe it was sorrow for the broken family he wanted to fix, or for the anger he saw and felt from his parent's eyes and words.

Lance wrapped his arms around Keith and held him tight, whispering soothingly, "It's alright, you're okay. You don't have to worry about them, we're here." Lance felt himself getting choked up, even though he wasn't directly affected, having that many emotions in the room and such a wide range, from anger, to fear, to worry, to happiness, it was too much to handle but what got to him was seeing how it affected Keith.

"I'm here. I'm with you."