I groaned, the memories of last night still flying through my head. Last night was incredible. Truly, the best night ever. Allura was definitely a good choice. I'm really glad Allura introduced us to Lance. He is truly a perfect fit for Keith and I.

The way he looks, stunning and he knows it. He's confident yet also timid. The way he jokes, the way he stood up against Keith, even jokingly, was something to see. The way he felt, beautiful and tight and the way he tastes...perfect.

And don't even get me started on the way he sounds!

I snuggled closer to what I thought was Lance but I open my eyes when I notice the absence of warmth. Lance is gone. I look up, startled. His clothes are gone and the door is closed. He must have left while Keith and I were still asleep!

Anger washes through me, unbidden and uncontained. Where is he? Why did he leave? Did he not understand that his place was right here, in between me and Keith? Snarling, I shove Keith awake. He takes one look at my face before he sobers and looks around.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"He's gone." I say through clenched teeth.

"What?!" Keith cried. I see the anger in his eyes as he clenched the sheets into a ball in his fist. "Why would he leave?"

"I don't know," I say. I stand up and allow the possessiveness to roll through me. "But we're going to find him."

"And take back what belongs to us."

______________________________________

I press the call button and wait for her to pick up the phone. I don't have time to deal with this today. I just want to find Lance and ask him out properly. How strange, I've only met him one night. But it was enough.

Lance is perfect for us and I want him to stay with Keith and I.

I don't know what I'm going to do about the whole Don of the Mafia thing, but I suppose I'll play it by ear. But first, I just want to know where Lance is.

"Hello?" Allura asks.

"Allura," I say. "Where's Lance."

"He left."

"I know that," I say, fighting the urge to shoot something. Patience yields focus. "How do you know that?"

"Because he asked me to come pick him up," Allura answered. I snarled in rage.

"You shouldn't have done that," I say menacingly.

"Shiro, Lance means so much to me, He's like a brother to me. He reminds me so much of Alluran..." Allura trailed off and I felt slight guilt because Allura's baby brother was killed when Zarkon killed her father. They were really close. But that guilt was instantly washed away by the anger that consumed me. "And when he called....I don't know what you did but I never want to hear so much pain in his voice ever again!"

I blanched at that. Pain? But I went easy on him. I prepped him enough, I thought. Why was he in pain? "You guys didn't tell Lance that you were dating," Allura continues. "And now Lance thinks he's a homewrecker."

I sucked in a startled breath. Well that explains a lot. "Shiro," Allura said, reclaiming my attention. "Lance is very serious when it comes to boundaries. Just thinking he's a homewrecker, it pains him in ways you wouldn't understand because you don't know what he's been through."

"Allura, how do I make it right?" I asked.

Allura snickered. "Wow, who knew the Don of the Mafia could be so tender hearted. You're smitten."

"Allura..."

"For God's sake just talk to him Shiro! Damn!" Allura snapped. "Fix this. Because right now he's moping at the counter. I swear the customers are shocked and it's driving them away!"

"Don't worry Allura," I said, confidence shooting through my veins. "I will."

_____________________________

"That's why he left?" Keith cried, incredulous. I sighed heavily, forgetting that Keith doesn't exactly understand emotions very well. "That's ridiculous--"

"No it's not," I interjected. "Feeling as though you've ruined a relationship can make anyone feel horrible. We should've talked to him beforehand."

"He was drunk, Takashi," Keith huffed, pacing a hole in the very expensive rug. "He wouldn't have remembered that talk!"

"Well he seemed to remember last night just fine," I said with an edge in my voice. "The talk would've been a good idea."

"We just met him last night," Keith said. "Why would we explain to him that we wanted him to join our relationship when we have known him for only a day?!"

"He made a good first impression," I said, sitting down loudly in my chair. He did, the way his eyes sparkled with interest when we showed up. He had smiled flirtatiously but he still retained his dignity. And as the night wore on, my interest in him only grew. Finally we took him home to see how well he fit between us. It was a perfect fit.

"Oh that's real brilliant." Keith rolled his eyes and walked over, knocking on my head. "Hello? Shiro? Are you in there?" I batted his hand away with a snarl. "What's gotten into you? You've never behaved this way."

"It's just...him," I said and covered my face with my hands in exasperation. "Lance. I don't know. I've never met anyone like him. I actually smiled Keith. I never smile at anybody except you, and sometimes Allura. Not genuinely anyway." And that much was true.

The only times I smile is when I know I've gotten something. Like when my business is going the way I want it to. Or when I get what I want. But those are never true smiles, those are just crooked, creepy grins that strike fear into my enemies.

The only time I've ever smiled out of pure happiness is when I'm with Keith or Allura. But mostly Keith.

But last night I smiled when Lance danced with us. I smiled when he smiled. I laughed at his corny jokes. I had fun. For a moment I was able to forget who I was, Takashi Shirogane, Don of La Cosa Nostra. For that night I was just Shiro. And I loved it.

"And I saw it in you too," I continued. He looked at me, caught. "The way your eyes glinted whenever he spun you. You were taken too."

"That's besides the point," Keith huffed. "It's unrealistic to think that after one night we should get in a relationship with him."

"Fine, then let's not jump in right away," I said. "How about instead we just befriend him. Get to know him better. See if he's interested. We can't force this on him."

"Yeah," Keith agreed. "Besides that, he's just a civilian. He knows nothing about who we really are. What we really do."

"Yeah...I don't want him to get caught up in this mess." I said. "So we protect him. Send some soldiers to keep an eye on him."

"Really?" Keith asked, raising his eyebrow. "Do you really think our soldiers will be thrilled to be a babysitter?"

"They don't get a say in the matter," I said. "They work under me. They'll do what I say or I'll put a bullet in their brain. Simple."

"Fine," Keith relented. "Just don't get an ameteaur. That could just fuck things up."

"Great." I said with a grin.

Things were going my way.