Church | Klance

7

I'm sorry this is so late, my classes have started up again and so has my work so I haven't had as much free time to write. The next chapter will be up soon, I promise the wait won't be this long for the next one.

Trigger warning: This chapter deals with intense homophobia and arguments being caused because of it. It also talks about yelling and verbal abuse. If this offends you, please skip through until you see a line of bold stars like this

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They were caught, they both knew it. There was nothing they could do, there was no way to explain what Mr. Kogane had just heard. Lance looked down at the floor, he hadn't been stared at the way Keith's father was staring at him, he hadn't felt that much hatred from a single stare before. Keith, on the other hand, was staring his father right back in the eyes. He'd felt this shame before, it didn't affect him like it affected Lance.

"I expected something like this from you, Keith. But Lance, how can you be the same abomination that he is? How can you go against the Lord's words, especially in a place as holy as this with a family as holy as yours?"

"Leave him out of this, Dad." Keith stepped forward to confront him and also as a way to try to protect Lance.

"I will not. He's an abomination like you." He glared at his son, "I bet you turned him to sin, didn't you?"

Lance stepped forward, he didn't have time to think before he did, his body moved before his mind could realize that this was a bad idea.

"He didn't do anything, he didn't turn me to sin. I've always been like this, it's nothing you, or my family, or even God can change." Lance raised his voice to Mr. Kogane. He could see the shock in his and Keith's face as he spoke, neither of them had ever seen or heard of Lance raising his voice to someone.

"Don't you dare raise your voice to me, young man!" He yelled at Lance, their voices weren't in the tone of an argument anymore, they weren't simply raised, now they were yelling at each other. The attendants of the service could likely hear at least some of it.

"Don't yell at him." Keith put his hands on his dad's chest and shoved him, not enough to make him fall, but enough to make him stumble.

"Wait until your family hears about this? How will the Pastor feel about his own son sinning? Or your family, think of what you're doing to them, the shame that you'll put them through."

Mr. Kogane looked like he realized something, quickly he grabbed a wrist of both the boys and walked them to the doors of the church.

Lance tried to fight back, but Mr. Kogane's grip was too strong, he was sure he had a red hand-print around his wrist from how tight he was hanging on. Eventually, Lance gave up, Keith didn't though, he kept fighting until his father pushed open the doors to the service.

This got everyone's attention and they all turned to look at the three who were standing in the doorway. Even Lance's father, Joseph, stopped his preaching at the interruption.

Selene stood up when she saw that Mr. Kogane was holding onto Lance.

"Mr. Kogane, sir, what's the meaning of this interruption?" Joseph asked.

"I have an announcement, something important to say."

"Can't it wait until after the service?"

Mr. Kogane shook his head, "I'm sorry, but no. This is too important, I would be disobeying the wishes of God if I kept this to myself at such a holy time."

Lance bowed his head, he knew what was coming, he knew that his family would learn about his sexuality in the worst way possible. Not only that but everyone who attended church would know, soon it would be spread over the whole town.

"These two boys have sinned. They've gone against the word of the Lord in this very church." Whispers and murmurs were spread throughout the audience, "We've all known of my son's indecency, but now the McClain boy too."

"Sinned how?" Selene asked, walking away from her family and towards her husband at the front of the church.

"They're engaged in an unholy relationship, two men. I don't know the extent to the relationship nor if they have sinned by laying together, we may be lucky and able to stop it early."

Lance looked up from the ground towards his family, Veronica looked shocked, but she didn't look angry. His father shared a similar expression to Veronica, but his mother didn't show any emotion, she was stoic and no one knew what she was thinking. That, to Lance, was the most terrifying thing.

Selene walked down the aisle towards the three men at the doorway, she didn't look at Lance as she spoke, "I'll take Lance back home, we won't be in attendance for the ending of the service, please, continue on."

Mr. Kogane let go of Lance's wrist, his mother didn't need to grab ahold of it to convince Lance to follow her. He didn't want to shame her more than having the secret of his sexuality shown and having her need to leave service already had. He followed her without either of them saying anything.

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(If you skipped until now, Lance and Keith were outed in their relationship, Lance was outed to his family and he left the church with his mom before the end of the service)

The car ride home was silent, the whole time, Lance was thinking of Keith, he was worried about what his parents would do or say to him. Yes, they'd already known about his sexuality, but they didn't cope well with it.

Selene parked the car in front of their house, but she didn't unlock the doors, she pulled the key out oft he ignition and looked at Lance.

"How long have you known?"

Lance didn't look at her, he looked at his hands which were clasped together and resting in his lap, "Almost three years."

"How long have you been in a relationship with Keith?"

"It's complicated." He sighed, "A label was only put on it today, I didn't know Mr. Kogane was listening through the door."

Neither of them spoke for a bit, "We haven't sinned, Mamá. We haven't laid together, none of that." Lance felt tears at the back of his eyes, "I'm sorry."

"Mijo, don't apologize," She shook her head, "Don't apologize for something you can't change. You can't change you." She took a breath, "I never told you about my sister, your aunt."

Lance looked up at her, he had always thought his mom was an only child.

"She's like you, she's not straight. My mamá treated her terribly, I treated her terribly because religion said it was wrong. She moved away as soon as she could, I haven't talked to her since. I don't know where she lives, I have no way to contact her and how I treated her is my biggest regret." A tear rolled down her cheek, Lance could see another tear forming in her other eye, it was ready to fall too.

"Religion is not something to lose family over, I'm not going to lose you because of it."

Lance let a tear fall, he felt it hit his hands, "Does papá know about her?"

"He does. He also knows how much I regret it." Lance assumed that his father ended the service early since he saw his neighbour's car pull up to their house, they went to the same church. His dad and Veronica both got out of it. He and his mom had taken their car back with them. It was an oversight they didn't think of when they left.

Lance unlocked his door and got out of the car, Veronica ran over to him and hugged him, "You should have told me."

When she pulled away, Lance's dad was standing in front of Lance.

"We may not understand it, your mother and I were taught that it's a sin, we taught you and Veronica that it's one as well. It does say that in the bible, but the bible also talks about acceptance and love. We love you and we support you."

Lance felt another tear roll down his cheek.

"It may take time for us to get used to, but we support you and it's okay. It's okay." Lance bowed his head and started to cry, he wasn't sad, that's not why he was crying. He was crying because of the acceptance that he never thought he'd get. His shoulder shook with his sobs. Joseph stepped forward and hugged Lance, holding him tightly in the embrace.