Three and a Half to Four (Voltron)

Chapter 2: Jealousy and Envy

After running track was the only part of his day that Keith looked forward to. He leaned on the side of the building next to the bubble tea shop him and Shiro loved to go to. He held a lit cigarette in between his right index and middle finger, held it up to his mouth, inhaled, removed it, and exhaled the smoke. Every few seconds he checked for Shiro's car, ready to step on the bud and kick it as far from him as possible at any given moment. Growing up in Japan, Shiro was accustomed to cigarette smoke and warned Keith countless times; If he knew how much Keith craved them, he'd throw a fit and make sure he got rid of the habit once and for all.

Thankfully, for Keith, he was able to finish, spray himself with body spray and go to the front of the tea shop before Shiro, Matt and Adam got there.

"Hey! Keith! Been here long?" Shiro jogged over and gave Keith a side hug with his arm around his shoulder. Keith automatically tensed up but forced himself to smile as Matt and Adam walked over.

Adam was the perfect, practical, boyfriend. Shiro and he had gone through middle school and high school together and now, they studied together in grad school. He wore dark brown rectangular glasses that Keith could only describe as nerdy and had the perfect tan and brown hair.

Once they caught up to Shiro, Adam's hand grazed Shiro's, indicating for him to take hold of it. The sight of it offended Keith to the highest degree.

"How was school, Keith?" Adam laughed and smiled happily.

Keith looked towards the cement, "It was whatever. I so ready to be out of there."

Shiro's eyebrows crinkled a bit and he smiled, "Don't be in such a rush, sure it's a pain in the ass but try to have some fun while you're doing it."

Matt looked around Keith and the rest of the vicinity. "Hey, Keith did you see Katie? She was supposed to meet us here too."

A rush of panic went through his spine, if she saw him smoking and told Matt, Matt would blab to Shiro in a matter of milliseconds.

"No, I haven't," He responded, slightly moving left to right. Then, a short figure moved out of the glass door.

"There she is!" Matt raised both of his arms happily.

Keith swung his body so he was facing the door and he saw a Katie's sliced off mop of hair. "Woah what the hell? You look just like Matt," he laughed. For as long as he'd known the two siblings, she had had long messy hair but it seemed she opted to finally cut it all off.

"Nice to see you again, Keith. I hear so much about you at school," She rolled her eyes behind her oversized glasses.

Shiro's eyebrows went up, "Really?"

As they started to file into the boba shop she continued, "Yeah, all the girls seem to think you're cool. I should tell all of them that you're just a big asshole." She laughed.

Keith shrugged his shoulders but Shiro was beaming.

"Maybe you should hang out with some of them one day," Shiro's teeth shined brightly as he smiled.

Keith looked straight in front of him at the menu, his eyes burned at the backlight of the screen but he had to avert his attention somewhere. He tried to grin, "I'm not into girls who are younger than me." Laughing nervously, he looked at the screen again but his whole body shook and ached. His stomach acid churned, he wanted to go to the bathroom and throw up but held it in. Lies were enough waste spewing from his mouth.

Shiro and Adam looked at each other in concern, they didn't say anything though. Adam patted Shiro's back. Shiro had spent a drunken evening speaking to him about how worried he was for Keith and his social life. Every day after school or work, Keith went directly to his room. He hardly ever went out with friends and when he did, he wouldn't come home till the next morning.