Writing The Tides

Kairos (n.)

It was only Wednesday, and Keith was already done with the week.

Between swim lessons and college, life had been excessively busy- especially creative writing.

"Alright class, I'll have you know I've already graded half of your homework prompts. Most of them, were amazing. Others...took me by surprise..." Mr. Sennar glanced around the classroom. Keith tried to ignore the twist in his gut when they made eye contact.

Keith knew his piece wasn't perfect- far from it. It was barely 3 pages long, and he finished at two in the morning, not even bothering to check for any spelling or grammar errors he knew were there.

But it was raw.

Pure, unfiltered, raw emotion.

Something he hadn't written about in a long time.

Something he hadn't felt in a long time.

Keith decided, he was proud of the piece. Although he'd never admit it out loud, Keith had hit a rough patch. Although, undoubtedly, it was his greatest passion- it took a lot out of Keith to write. He felt his soul leave when he wrote. It was like he was tearing himself apart, swapping limbs for sentences, and organs for pages- anything to get something onto the page. His heart pumped ink, running words through his veins.

His heart hadn't worked for a long time.

'You know what...Fuck whatever anyone says, that piece was goddamn magnificent.'

The bell rang, the students scattered from their desks like bees leaving a hive; while Keith, staggered slowly, taking his time to put away his supplies.

"Keith, can we talk?"

Keith's eyes darted up to Mr. Sennar, who made no eye contact but instead stared down at a random story he was grading.

'Shitting fuck that piece was a fucking disaster what was I thinking'.

"Yes, sir?"

Keith slowly made his way to the front of the room, digging his nails into the hem of his black jeans as he walked past the empty desks.

Mr. Sennar tapped to the paper he had printed out and was currently marking. Keith glanced at it and gulped.

Keith Kogane.

Homework Prompt 1

He winced as the teacher slid the paper over to him.

A

Keith stared.

And stared.

And then stared some more.

Until after about 3 minutes of prolonged silence, Mr. Sennar cleared his throat.

"It's an amazing piece Keith. You really went outside of your comfort zone, and let me tell you- it paid off."

"My comfort zone?" Keith questioned, eyes still glued onto his paper.

"Keith, your writing in the past has been good, but this has passion. And, don't mind me saying this, but I was started to think you were losing yours."

Keith looked up now, his dark violet eyes meeting Mr. Sennar's hazel ones.

"For writers like us," he smiled softly, "writing is our lives. But, what we often forget, is we need to live to write."

Keith nodded softly, thanking his teacher, before turning around to rejoin the rest of the universe.

"So, you write, huh?" Lance was looking Keith up and down, while Keith was taking notes on Daisy, the aquarium's biggest Beluga whale, from a power point Lance had pulled up in his office. Keith sat on the chair in front of the computer while Lance, instead of walking through the notes with him, was sprawled across his couch, legs dangling in the air.

Keith shot Lance a look of confusion, "What? How did you know?"

"Well, you're pretty introverted, and everyone knows artists and writers are the most introverted people to inhabit the planet Earth..."

Keith scoffed.

"...but you don't have any paint marks or anything, so you're a writer. Right?" Lance grinned happily at his pun while Keith inwardly cringed.

"Yes. And I'm not that introverted, so shut up." Keith continued to write.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being introverted. Introverts are great." Keith clicked to the next slide, trying to ignore Lance's distinctive voice.

"How would you know? All your friends are party people."

Lance scoffed dramatically, before grinning.

"You're not a 'party people'. Aren't you my friend?"

Keith looked up, expecting to catch Lance with his classic Cheshire-grin, legs dangled over the sofa in his signature lounging pose, all complete with his blue eyes, latched onto Keith.

Keith wasn't prepared for the opposite.

The tan boy was sitting with his long legs to his chest, his arms gripping them from the side. He rocked back and forth slightly with a soft smile on his face. His lips pouted slightly into a kind, almost nervous, expression as he awaited his answer.

Keith didn't know how to react. In the short time he has known Lance, he had never seen him so...

Vulnerable.

"First of all- it's party person, it wouldn't be plural..."

Lance rolled his eyes, undoing his current position and laying back flat against his sofa.

"..and yeah, we're friends" Keith coughed.

Lance looked back up, smirking. "Well...then I, Lance Alejandro Rodríguez, humbly accept the position, of possibly your only friend...."

Keith rolled his eyes irritatingly.

"....And as your friend, it is now my soul duty to teach you how to LIVE."

"Excuse me?" Keith looked up, raising his eyebrows at the energetic boy across from him.

"YOU HEARD ME" Lance sprang up from the couch in declaration, yelling to his heart's content. Keith winced at how loud he was, but Lance either didn't notice or didn't care, as his rant continued.

"YOU ARE OFFICIALLY MY FRIEND AND I WILL MAKE SURE YOU HAVE FUN WITH ME AND HUNK AND THE REST OF MY FRIENDS AND WE'LL EXPLORE THIS WASHED UP TOWN AND THEN THE FRICKING UNIVERSE AND YOU'LL ENJOY IT GODDAMN IT."

"That entire speech was a run on sentence", Keith wore a both confused and concerned expression.

Lance laughed before turning off the laptop in front of Keith and crouching down to meet the pale boy at eye-level.

"Friday night. I'll meet you here at 7" Lance perked up, smiling wide with buoyant eyes.

"Umm..sure-okay..." Keith croaked out, having been caught off-guard by Lance's sudden disregard to personal space.

"Perfect! Your lesson's over by the way."

Lance got up again and opened the door for Keith who shoved all of his things into his bag hastily.

Keith was almost out of the door when the Cuban boy's voice broke through his thoughts for the millionth time.

"I'LL CALL YOU!!" he could practically hear Lance smiling.

Keith groaned.