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The day they met was cold which Keith liked, but Lance clearly did not. Keith spotted him from the car before his 아빠 [appa, dad] even opened the door, before he saw anyone else, because his eyes were pulled right to him.
Shivering in his blue coat, arms wrapped around himself. Big blue eyes, short brown curls. He was frowning, or maybe his mama would call that pouting. He looked… like someone stole his favorite cactus and smashed it on the ground.
Keith frowned, thinking hard. If someone did steal that kid's cactus, he would get it back, and definitely make sure they didn’t do it again! Especially if it was one of the ones that grew flowers. Those were special.
His door slid open, 아빠 leaning in to unbuckle his car seat, and Keith squirmed, trying to see around his dad’s big head. He had to keep an eye on that kid! He couldn’t let him walk away before Keith got there! What if he wasn’t in the same kindergarten class? 아빠 had told him earlier that there were a few different classrooms for kids his age!
But all his worrying was for nothing. As soon as he was out of the car, the other kid turned and looked right at him, one eyebrow raised. They each stood, eyeing each other uncertainly, until Keith’s dad nudged him in the side.
“Ya alright there, 애기?” [eggy, baby]
Keith looked up at his dad, fiddling with the red beanie he’d pulled off his head. 아빠 smoothed down his hair. “Yeah,” he said. “Can I go talk to him?” He pointed to the kid. He was still staring but his pout was slowly sliding off his face.
His dad glanced at him in surprise. “That kid in blue? Sure, kiddo. But why him?”
Why? How should Keith know? All he’d done was look and now he knew he had to talk to him. But he scrambled for an answer since he knew adults liked there to be reasons.
“He’s cold! And 엄마 [eomma, mom] says I’m always warm! So can I go?” He shifted from foot to foot, looking between the kid and his dad impatiently.
His dad smiled and nodded and Keith was off like a bullet. He had to show the kid he was fast and good enough to be his friend, and also he had to get to him before he wandered towards the rest of the people talking with Mr. Altea at the front of the school.
The kid's eyes widened as he got closer, and then his mouth dropped open as he got even closer, and then when he was super close, showing no sign of slowing down, he started yelling.
“No, no, no, no, no!” He shouted, waving his hands in front of him in a panic.
But Keith knew what he was doing! As the kid squeezed his eyes closed and braced for impact, Keith jumped to a sudden stop and crashed gently into him, slipping his red beanie onto the kid’s head and then wrapping his warm arms around the freezing kid's waist. He was just the right size for Keith to stick his face against his neck and shoulder. And he really was pretty cold, definitely not just being a baby about it.
For a moment they stood there kinda weirdly, Keith all wrapped around him while his hands stuck out. Then, he finally wrapped his arms around Keith‘s neck.
“Ah, ¡gracias a Dios! ¡Tenía frío!”
Keith didn’t know what that meant, except for gracias, but that was probably the only part he needed to know.
When he felt like the kid was properly warmed up, he pulled away a little, but kept his hands on him. “I’m Keith,” he declared, “and I’m your new best friend!”
“¿Ah, eres Keith? I’m Lance!”
“Lance, who’s this? Are you making new friends already?” A nice looking woman with the same darker skin as Lance stood above them, a girl who looked exactly like Lance but with longer hair clinging to her hip, sniffling with puffy red eyes. They both gazed down at them curiously. “Your first day, class hasn’t even started yet, and of course you already have a friend.” She smiled fondly.
“Mamá, this is Keith!” Lance shouted a little loudly. Lance pulled one hand away from Keith to gesture. “And Keith, this is mi mamá y mi sister Rachel!”
Keith gave a little wave, mostly unconcerned with them. He twisted around to find his dad, stood a few feet away with a smile. “아빠! 빨리 빨리! [appa, dad! Bally Bally, hurry hurry!] This is Lance! I love him,” he informed him in his most serious voice.
His dad gaped for a second, shocked, and then burst into laughter. Keith frowned and glanced back at Lance's mom. She was laughing too, quieter. But when he looked back to Lance, he was just smiling super wide. He latched onto Keith’s coat with his little hands and nodded super fast.
“¡Si! Mamá, Keith is my boyfriend now, bien?”
Lance’s mamá chuckled. “My darling boy, I don’t think you understand what that means.”
He frowned, and Keith frowned, too. He knew what if meant! Did… did Lance really not know?
“I do know!” Lance insisted. So he must’ve known. Keith felt better.
Rachel squirmed in her mamás grip and she set her down. She stood an inch of two shorter than Lance, right about Keith’s height, but she straightened as tall as she could and stomped her foot. “ I want Keith to be mi boyfriend, too! ”
Keith didn’t like that. He looked to his dad for help but he held up his hands and shook his head and he supposed he and Lance would have to handle this themselves.
Or, maybe just Lance, because Lance gasped so suddenly it startled Keith. His grip on Keith’s coat tightened and then he pushed Keith back and stood himself in front of him like a defender! “Rachel, no! Keith can only be tu amigo! No tu novio! Keith es mi novio!”
Oh, he knew the word amigo! Was he telling Rachel she could only be his friend? He hoped so. But the rest of it he didn’t know.
Rachel’s bottom lip wobbled dangerously and Lance pressed back into Keith. He held steady behind him. He had to be strong , especially since he had a boyfriend now. 엄마 [eomma, mom] always said boys had to be strong for their girlfriends and he guessed it was the same for boyfriends. Girls probably had to be strong for their girlfriends too.
It was a close call, but Lance’s mom stepped in right before Rachel burst. She was laughing as she calmed her down, and sharing weird looks with Keith’s 아빠, but he didn’t feel as angry about their laughing when Lance was looking at him like that. So he didn’t mind.
Lance ended up in his kindergarten class, and he held his hand for, like, almost the whole entire day! So his day was better than he thought it would be. And when he got home and told his mama all about his day she told him that yes, girls did have to be strong for their girlfriends, and their boyfriends, and everyone had to be strong for themselves too, and that made him feel much better about leaving Rachel without a boyfriend.
He couldn’t wait for the next day, and every day after that now that Lance was there, making class kinda fun.