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Lance had high hopes for his love life. He was a bit of a romantic but he didn’t go around falling for just anybody. He had a plan. He’d fall for someone in a respectable profession- someone with their life together. They’d have a career, a place to live, aspirations, and an okay sense of hygiene. They wouldn’t be his roommate and they wouldn’t be named Keith damn Kogane.
Sure the guy was attractive, but they were roommates and Lance had standards. Keith hardly met any of them and Lance wasn't the kind to live below his means ( if you know what he means.) But without his permission, things started to shift. Lance didn’t have any say in it but he was damn sure it was Keith orchestrating the whole thing. It was like he knew Lance was into him and he was trying to see how long Lance could stay sane!
He was almost one hundred percent sure that he hadn’t been into Keith before The Incident had taken place. Again, the guy was attractive but that didn’t mean Lance was into him. Keith didn’t even have a full-time job. He worked at a bar at night and God knows what he did in the daytime, but it probably wasn’t productive. He probably just laid around on that flat little ass of his. (And laying around probably made it flatter!!)
If Lance seemed a little bitter, or maybe even a little flustered, it wasn’t his fault.
Keith was the one acting weird. He was to blame. He was also the one who had kissed Lance a few nights ago, creating what Lance referred to in his head as The Incident . It wasn’t like Lance hadn’t thought about how it would be to kiss Keith before, but he also wasn’t the one who initiated the kiss in the first place. Hell, he didn’t even kiss back! (He did actually. Very passionately.)
Those high hopes he had…they sort of just got crushed that night.
*
Lance exited his room to go to the bathroom, leaving his girlfriend to lay in his bed. They were starting to get serious, doing more than just sleeping together. They were starting to act like a real couple. She called him babe, he invited her to hang-outs, and most importantly they did more than have sex. (Though the sex was great if he did say so himself.) He was putting some real emotion into it and was starting to get a little invested. It didn’t help that he was a hopeless romantic on all accounts, no matter what he said or how hard he tried to control who he fell for.
Right as Lance closed his bedroom door, being careful to do it softly, Keith left his room too. He was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and the plain black t-shirt that he always seemed to be wearing.
“Oh hey, Lance. I need to talk to you,” Keith said. His eyes lit up at the sight of Lance like he was remembering just what he needed to say.
“Yeah?” Lance asked, licking his lips. He could feel the air around them shift. For some reason, things between them felt a little more charged lately.
“Yeah,” Keith responded, taking a step closer to Lance.
He could have sworn he caught Keith giving him a once over, but it seemed to be all in his head because Keith just moved on to say what he had to say.
“I’m planning this event at the bar I work at this Friday, it’s called Guy’s Night. The manager said if it goes well he’ll let me take on some more responsibility around the bar,” Keith was looking right into Lance’s blue eyes as he spoke, and his arms were down by his sides instead of crossed over his chest.
“Mm?” Lance tilted his head to the side a little as he waited for Keith to continue. Keith taking responsibility at the bar. That was kind of cool…
“So are you gonna come?” Keith asked, eyes flickering down to his lips.
Oh god, Keith was going to kiss him, wasn’t he? Would that be so bad? Keith in his grey sweatpants, Lance in his nice pajamas…that would paint a pretty picture.
“Yeah, of course. I mean, that’s a huge step up. Congratulations, man,” Lance spoke. His Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed nervously.
“Alright, great.” Keith gave him an easy smile and Lance laughed nervously.
“Okay. Goodnight, Keith.” They weren’t going to kiss. The moment was ending.
“Goodnight, Lance.”
Lance turned back to his bedroom door. He’d forgotten all about the little trip he was about to the bathroom the moment Keith stepped into the hall with him. They weren’t going to kiss. Lance’s girlfriend was right there, just inside his room.
Keith’s arm darted out, grabbing Lance’s wrist and pulling him back. Instinctively Lance turned towards him again. Keith pulled him in closer and kissed him in an instant. Keith’s other hand landed right on Lance’s waist while Lance’s hand went right to Keith’s shoulder, and his other tangled in the dark hair that hung past the nape of Keith’s neck.
It was hot and passionate and…
Lance couldn’t get it out of his head.
In short, it was Keith’s fault he was in this mess of emotion. It was Keith’s fault he’d gotten dumped by his girlfriend after their kiss was brought up. (She was so pretty and blonde!! Why God, why?!?! ) And it was Keith’s fault that he was so irrevocably horny that he could hardly have a conversation with the other.
It was the weekend so Lance was planning to spend his day at the gym. He’d gotten a little caught up in his ex-girlfriend drama and hadn’t gone all week, so he was pretty sure he was going to implode if he didn’t try and work off some of his energy today. He didn’t go to the gym every single day, he wasn’t some kind of nut. He just liked to work his stress off. If he didn’t then he got a little pent up, and right now he was a lot pent up.
He walked into the kitchen (sporting his new workout clothes, yay) to grab a banana and fill up his water bottle before he left. It was late morning by now, so he was sure he was alone. His roommates were probably up to something (the silence clued him in) and he was planning to stay far away from whatever was going on there. He just needed a day to himself. Considering he hadn’t run into anybody yet it was off to a good start.
Lance opened the fridge to grab the pitcher of water they kept there. It was some weird high-tech water-filter thing. Keith had brought it into the house one day, and without fail Lance found himself using it every morning to fill up his water bottle. Plastic bottles were bad for the environment anyway.
Silently, Keith padded into the kitchen. He was on a mission to get some orange juice and to ask for a favor from Lance. His car had broken down and he’d need to get a part or two from the hardware store. Plus, he had a project he planned to set up before Guy’s Night later that day. It was supposed to be a surprise for his manager; he was hoping he’d impress them with a good idea on top of his already great idea (Guy’s Night.) He’d invited the guy he’s been hooking up with too, so he planned on a double good impression that night.
Lance shut the fridge door only to yelp once he noticed Keith, who had been hidden behind the door. Lance clutched at his heart with one hand while his other hand held onto their stupid pitcher so hard he thought it might break.
“Hey Lance,” Keith greeted suavely. At least, he seemed suave about it. In reality, he was more nonchalant than anything. He was dressed in his normal loungewear, that pair of sweats and that black t-shirt. He was wearing a jacket this time around too, that white and light red one that he seemed to love. Lance thought he looked good. He didn’t want to think that about Keith, though. To take some of that pressure off he reminded himself that Keith probably never washed his clothes. He was probably smelly. He probably came fresh out of the womb in that jacket.
So yeah, crisis averted. Keith didn’t look attractive. He was smelly and gross. Lance wasn't flustered at all, he didn’t even know what that word meant.
“Ha, that’s my name. What’s yours?” Lance stepped back from the fridge and set the pitcher down on the nearby counter. Laughing nervously, he didn’t even give Keith time to respond. “Just kidding. I know what your name is. It’s Keith.”
Keith raised an eyebrow and stepped closer, almost as if sensing Lance’s discomfort. He didn’t know what was wrong with Lance, but he seemed anxious about something. Was he starting to fidget?
“You okay?” Keith asked, opening the fridge. That’s what he had come to the kitchen for anyway. He grabbed their box of orange juice, closed the fridge, and then reached over Lance’s shoulder to grab a glass from the top cabinet. Like a deer in the headlights, Lance didn't move away. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to fill up his water bottle until Keith left the room either.
Lance squirmed away from Keith, who had set his glass down right on the counter next to Lance. He could have found his own counter space for that but instead chose to be obnoxious in Lance’s personal space. So Lance made his own space and shifted between his two feet nervously. “Mm, yeah.”
“You haven’t stopped moving since we started talking,” Keith observed. He poured his orange juice and put the box back into the fridge. After that, he leaned against the counter with his glass in hand, ready to give Lance his full attention. Quirking an eyebrow, he gave Lance a real once over. He was wearing a muscle tee and a pair of basketball shorts. They must have been new. Keith noticed that Lance bought new gym clothes all the time. (Otherwise, he wouldn’t be properly motivated to work out.) Regardless, the clothes fit him well, and Keith had no shame in admitting it. A guy could notice another guy’s outfit; it wasn’t weird. “Nice outfit. You look good in it.”
That was Lance’s breaking point. He spluttered out an “oh god, okay,” and pushed past Keith to head to his room. Water be damned, he just needed a second alone.
Keith’s mouth opened a little in shock, and he set his glass down on the counter. “Lance! Lance, wait!”
But Lance was fast, and he spent a lot of his childhood running away from his older siblings (he was a prankster, what can he say?) so he was long gone by the time Keith had even thought to run after him. Keith picked up his pace but the door to Lance’s room was already slamming shut once he entered the hallway.
Lance was wide-eyed as he closed his bedroom door. He leaned his back against it and heaved in a big breath. That conversation had been so weird, and Keith had been so weird, and they had been so close… Lance shouldn’t want Keith. That shouldn’t be a feeling he has to deal with.
“Lance! Would you please wait?” He called, starting to open the door to Lance’s room.
Lance went wide-eyed as he realized his door was moving. He tried to avoid being hit by it, but Keith opened the door all the way, which landed him smushed up against the wall by the door. (AKA, not a position he wanted to be in.)
Lance peeled himself off of the wall while Keith scanned the room, wondering where Lance could have possibly gone. Lance pushed the door back closed and his eyebrows set in irritation at the sight of Keith.
“Why were you behind the door?” Keith asked dumbfounded.
Lance glared at Keith but didn’t even try to explain.
“Anyways, you just walked off. I had a question for you,” Keith looked vaguely offended by the fact that Lance had just run away.
The last time Keith had something to say to him they had a really hot kiss. However, hot kisses lead to angry girlfriends and Lance crying while drinking a bottle of wine. (Look, he wasn’t proud of it, ok?)
“What’s the question?” Lance asked flatly. He needed to get a move on with his day, so as soon as he got rid of Keith he’d do just that.
“Could you give me a ride to the hardware store? I wanna put a punching bag in for Guy’s Night but my car isn’t working so I need a ride.”
“A punching bag? In a bar full of drunk guys?” Lance looked at Keith incredulously. Lance had spent a lot of time drinking in college and he knew that this plan wouldn’t turn out well, but he also knew that you couldn’t tell Keith crap.
“Yeah. Doesn’t it sound great?”
This was not the hill Lance wanted to die on so he just shrugged. “Sure, Keith. Good luck.”
“No, wait, can you give me a ride?” Keith asked again.
Dammit. Lance thought that if he just ignored the question Keith would just forget but apparently, that only happened to him. “Mm, no. I’ve got things to do, places to be.”
“I really need some stuff from there,” Keith said, pausing when he noticed something on Lance’s cheek. “Oh, wait, don’t move. You have an eyelash.”
He stepped forward to brush it off of Lance’s cheek while Lance stood frozen. He thought he might die then and there, with Keith’s fingertip brushing so softly across his face. He swallowed thickly, looking up at Keith. There wasn’t much of a height difference between them in normal circumstances (Keith was seriously only taller than him by an inch or so) but with Keith in such close proximity, he was forced to look up. “You,” Lance began to accuse.
It felt like Keith was playing games right now. He had to be doing this on purpose. However, Lance’s words died in his throat when Keith looked down at him. His eyelashes were so long, and his eyes were so dark, and he was looking at him so fondly. His accusation fell through, making way for a question this time around.
“ Why do you smell so good?”
“I did laundry,” Keith said with a small grin. He never did laundry from what Lance had observed, which was one of the reasons he was off-limits. “I smell like a baby in a damn meadow. And look at this,” he slid his pants down just far enough to show off his boxers, “my underwear.”
Lance shook his head while he narrowed his eyes at Keith. This was so stupid, and the fact that Keith had washed his outfit recently made this situation so much worse. He looked down at Keith’s underwear though, no matter how baffled he was. Just because Lance had shown his underwear to Keith one time didn’t mean Keith could do it to him! It was a nasty tradition they were starting here.
“They’re red,” Lance observed flatly. He was annoyed at his attraction to Keith.
“Yeah,” Keith shrugged, “I think it’s because I put colors in with my whites.”
Lance was updating his standards now. He’d only fall in love with people who knew how to do their own laundry. “Uh-huh,” he murmured. He wasn’t impressed.
“I’m still figuring it out. I’ve never had a washing machine before.”
Oh. Ohhh. Yeah, ok. Given Keith’s background…it made sense. So he was less of a man-child and more of a guy who came from unfortunate circumstances.
He’d faced a lot of hard things, but here he was taking control of his life. Being responsible. That was not hot. That was not hot.
Lance looked Keith over while the other pulled up his pants and retied the drawstring. Keith’s hair dipped into his face a little; it was getting longer. Lance couldn’t do it anymore, so he looked out the window.
Keith glanced up at Lance then. In the summertime, there were freckles dusted across Lance’s cheeks. It wasn’t Summer now but Keith was sure that if he looked hard enough he’d be able to make them out.
Lance bit his bottom lip as he tried in vain to focus his thoughts on anything but Keith. His day was ruined now. There was no way he’d be able to stop thinking about him.
“I’ll take you to the hardware store,” Lance sighed.
“Great. I’ll go get my list.”
Lance nearly facepalmed. This was going to be an all-day thing, wasn’t it? It almost always was with Keith. Just imagine when Hunk and Pidge got involved, then it was all day and all night. And Lance always managed to get roped in (when he wasn’t up to stuff himself). “Oh come on,” Lance murmured under his breath.
“We should probably stop to grab some food on the way too,” Keith added, hanging onto Lance’s doorway, now half in the room and half out. “My stomach is growling.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I wouldn’t lie to you, Lance.” Keith seemed almost sincere now, but Lance just seemed to get more grumpy.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t,” Lance grumbled absentmindedly. He was ready to get this show on the road.
Keith was sort of offended that Lance thought he was a liar, so he placed his hands on his stomach and tried to get closer to Lance to make him hear it. He was more sincere than anything. He wasn’t joking. “Come here.”
Lance, on the other hand, thought it was one of Keith’s weird attempts at being funny. He almost tripped trying to get out of Keith’s path and he had to stifle his laughter. “What are you doing? I said I believed you!”
“You didn’t sound like you meant it,” Keith argued back, raising his voice to match Lance’s. He realized Lance thought he was joking, so he went along with it.
This was the stupidest thing in the world, Lance decided. His standards were higher than this. He was not attracted to this man. “Oh my God! Shut up,” he laughed, grabbing his car keys and making a run for it.
“Are you telling my stomach to shut up? That’s rude, ” Keith called after him. He had to smother his smile before he chased after Lance. It was much more fond than it should have been, their current (stupid) conversation considered. Keith got his huge smile under control and finally followed after Lance, snagging his list on the way. He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets nonchalantly, like he hadn’t even been making weird jokes in the first place.
He didn’t know why he acted so immature around Lance. He could take care of himself and he could be serious, but he just really liked making Lance smile…
*
At the hardware store, Keith shed his jacket and busied himself with getting a chain to hang the punching bag with. He reached into the bucket full of chain and just went for it, grabbing a piece and trying to find the end of it. He started pulling and let the excess pile onto the floor next to him.
While Keith did all the hard work, Lance leaned against one of the shelves and contemplated his existence. (And Keith’s hot body.) Lance bit his lip. Maybe the solution to this whole thing was going to the gym with Keith. Judging by this whole chain display (which was undeniably attractive) he’d be good with the battling ropes. And maybe working off all that extra energy would stop Keith from trying to kiss Lance.
Yeah, yeah. He should get over it. Keith had apologized and stuff (but that didn’t mean it suddenly hadn’t happened!)
Keith’s muscles flexed as he continued pulling out the chain. It didn’t help that it was probably trapped underneath other chains, so he was having to work extra hard.
Lance bit his bottom lip a little harder as he watched Keith work. Mm, yank that chain. Ok, there was something seriously wrong with him.
“I feel like the Rock right now. He’s strong, I’m strong,” Keith admitted over his shoulder to Lance.
Lance scoffed at Keith’s comment. It was a little stupid, a little endearing, but mostly stupid. Keith could never be the Rock.
Finally, he reached the end of the chain and Lance straightened up. He was ready to go. If he had to stick around any longer and watch Keith be strong then Little Lance would be ready to go too. Regretfully so.
“Okay, we ready?” Lance asked.
“What? I still need tons of stuff,” Keith protested, holding up the list he had written on a piece of notebook paper.
“Like what?” Lance scoffed, holding out his hand for the piece of paper. He unfolded it and furrowed his eyebrows. “A long-shafted drive drill…?”
Keith nodded firmly.
“New nut wrench?”
Keith shrugged, “Our old nut wrench is bad.”
“Quick-hardening…caulk,” Lance looked up at Keith then and nibbled on his bottom lip nervously.
“Don’t want slow-hardening caulk, that’s for sure,” Keith chuckled.
“Lube for…drill shaft,” Lance murmured.
“Well yeah-”
Lance groaned and was already walking away. Little Lance was not a fan of all this teasing.
“Hey, add gummy sharks to the list,” Keith encouraged loudly. Contrary to popular belief, they were for Lance. He seemed way too high-strung for whatever reason.
Lance was already an aisle away. He pressed his face into his hands as if that would be the thing to knock some sense into him. He shouldn’t be here in a hardware store with Keith, getting turned on by drill shafts and nut wrenches. “Just remember... you caught him pleasuring himself to a mail-order steak catalog,” he said to himself.
“Hey Lance,” Keith shouted through the aisle that separated them. “Bring the cart around! I need it!”
Lance was still flustered and fidgety as he rounded the aisle Keith was in. He saw him at the very top of one of those wheeled ladders.
“Look at this huge pipe,” Keith showed off his big pipe from up high.
“Oh, uh-” Lance shuffled forward awkwardly, pushing the cart forward as he did so. He didn’t even look where he was pushing it, a little busy looking up at Keith. Yeah, Lance wanted to get a better look at Keith’s pipe, so what?
He just pushed the cart a little too hard. See the funny thing was…the cart had a huge plank of wood on it. And if you think about it, seesaws are just big planks of wood with handles on them.
Like a domino effect, the cart hit the bottom of the ladder Keith was standing on. Out of shock, he dropped the pipe. It landed on one end of the plank, causing the other side to fly up and hit Lance square in the jaw. And Lance? He dropped to the floor like he hadn’t even been standing in the first place.
Keith scrambled to the ground to see Lance sprawled out. Shit.
*
“Lance?” Keith called out, before opening up his bedroom door. He had taken Lance to the hospital immediately. Thankfully the doctors had prescribed something that wasn’t just ibuprofen. Lance was really annoying when he was in pain, so they probably just wanted him to shut up… but it worked out for the best.
By the time he’d taken some medicine and Keith had gotten him into bed, he seemed fine. A little loopy, but fine.
“I have hot soup,” Keith said, stepping fully into the room. He felt awful about the whole thing. If he hadn’t been showing off his (huge!!) pipe so proudly then Lance wouldn’t have even gotten hurt. So as an apology he made Lance soup. It was one of the only things that he knew how to make. And it turned out the can it came from was recyclable!
He set the bowl on Lance’s nightstand and looked down at his recently maimed roommate. “How do you feel?”
“I feel good. Lancey Lance feel good,” Lance slurred.
Keith hummed under his breath, looking Lance over. He wished he could fix this somehow. It was even worse seeing Lance so loopy and in bed like this. He was like somebody’s gross, sick grandma.
“My mouth likes talking,” Lance continued, moving to sit up. He was dressed in his annoyingly fancy pajamas- the silk ones he liked so much.
Keith smiled softly. He didn’t want Lance to hurt himself by talking, no matter how funny this situation might turn out. “You probably shouldn’t. You’re super bruised up and you should get some rest. You have some fun pain meds though, right?”
There was a bout of silence. If Keith hadn’t been looking right at him he would have thought Lance had fallen asleep.
“I like you,” Lance admitted.
Keith continued with his fond smile. Lance was really out of it.
“Yeah, I like you too, Lance.” He brushed Lance’s hair off of his forehead.
“I like your lil butt,” Lance continued, slurring away.
Keith chuckled at the absurdity. “That’s inappropriate.”
“It’s so flat. So flat.”
Keith raised his eyebrows. “Are you insulting me?”
“I want to have sex with you,” Lance admitted, hazy eyes searching Keith’s face for some kind of answer.
“Woah!” Keith exclaimed, recoiling. “Do you know what you’re saying?”
“Yeah, wanna have sex with you,” Lance went on, “You’re a beautiful man, you know.”
“You are so out of it,” Keith laughed nervously. “ So out of it.” He took a step back, but Lance tried to reach for him.
“You’re too drugged up for this,” Keith told him, but Lance tried to pull him in anyway. Keith flinched but Lance meant business. His thin fingers wrapped around Keith’s wrist and he was pulled right into bed with him.
Keith landed right on top of Lance, who seemed very pleased that they were in bed together. “Me an’ you an’ your big pipe.”
Keith wasn’t proud of what he did in the moment, but he did it. He yelped. He got on his hands and knees to crawl off the bed and tried to grab onto the nightstand for leverage. “You don’t know what you’re saying. You’ve never even seen my pipe,” he panted.
He just missed the nightstand slightly. Instead, his hand landed in the soup. The hot, hot soup. Keith yelped and jumped up, effectively escaping Lance’s grasp and landing on the floor.
“Shit,” Keith exclaimed, holding his soup-drenched hand to his chest. He cradled it like a baby before escaping the room with absolutely none of his dignity intact.
*
After the whole soup on his hand thing had worn off, Keith went into the living room in search of his other roommates. To put it kindly, they were being weird.
They were dressed in wetsuits? Keith didn’t want to know…
“Hey guys,” Keith sighed. His shoulders were slumped and he sort of resembled a kicked puppy.
“What’s wrong with you?” Pidge asked flatly. She was standing next to Hunk, and the difference between their sizes compared with the tightness of their wetsuits was almost comical. If Keith wasn’t freaking out about Lance wanting to have sex with him then he probably would have asked about their whole wetsuit thing. Were they learning how to surf or were they up to something?
“Theoretically…” Keith looked up to make sure he had both Hunk and Pidge’s attention, “if a guy was out of his mind on painkillers…and he said he wanted to have sex with you…”
“Please tell me we’re not talking about Lance,” Hunk pleaded.
“And you had no idea that’s how he felt,” Keith added, looking at Hunk in particular. He needed him to know that this hadn’t been some ploy to get Lance to like him.
In fact, he had a thing going on with some guy right now.
“Like no idea. You thought the door was closed. So closed that you went through another door, but had I known that the first door was open, that’s the door I wanted to walk through.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Pidge started.
“I would’ve walked through that door,” Keith added. “Do you see how I’m in a tough spot?”
“Can we stop calling it ‘walking through a door?’” Hunk asked, “Because for me I feel it’s more like driving a car. You start the car, you put it into gear, you head where you’re going and-“
Keith raised his eyebrow and shook his head quickly. He was ending that particular conversation. “If a guy on painkillers says that he wants to have sex with you…”
“Mmhm,” Hunk affirmed.
“Is that the drugs or is that real? And if so, how do I end things with that guy I’ve got before Lance finds out? Wait, I meant the door…”
Pidge waved her hand, trying to get Keith’s attention. “It’s Lance.”
Keith turned to face Lance, who had just entered the room. He looked more awake than he had been earlier, since he had been screaming about how he wanted to have sex with Keith… “Hey Lance, uh, how are you feeling?”
“Uh, fine,” Lance murmured. “My jaw’s fine. I can barely even feel it. S’like it didn’t even happen.”
“Like it didn’t even happen,” Keith echoed, turning to Hunk and Pidge and making a “help me” face.
“Bet I’m gonna scar though. The ladies will love that,” Lance winked.
Hunk frowned and shook his head. The sight of Lance’s dark purple jaw was not something he wanted to see often. “I’m not sure they will, buddy.”
Lance grabbed a banana out of the kitchen, finally, and turned to the group. “I’ll see you at Guy’s Night?”
“Oh,” Keith realized. His guy was coming to see him bartend. Now that he knew Lance wanted him, he wanted to end that whole thing with his guy. Well, he wasn’t his guy, he was a guy. A guy he was sleeping with. “No. You’re hurt now. You should stay here and rest.”
“Yeah,” Hunk added guiltily, “you could get even more hurt. There’s been a puncher on the loose at the bar.”
“A puncher…?” Lance asked. He scratched his head with the end of his banana while he thought. How many painkillers had he taken?
“Yeah, they’ve been going around…punching people…at the bar. You’d be such an easy target with that huge bruise. You should stay home.”
“Shouldn’t you call the police?” Lance asked.
“We have…they won’t do anything. Typical. Don’t worry about it, go back to bed,” Pidge encouraged.
And Lance must have been real out of it to not even try to fight back. He just went back to bed, banana in hand.
Keith turned back to Hunk and Pidge with wide eyes. That had been bad, but it hadn’t been a worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario would be Lance insisting on showing up to Guy’s Night.
*
The punching bag was unfortunately not happening, considering he’d had to take Lance to the hospital. He hadn’t even gotten those shark gummies for Lance, but sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. (Like Lance's face.) But despite his failed project, the bar was packed.
Keith opened up a beer for one of the customers and passed it their way. He started on the next drink he was making. He absentmindedly poured in the liquor, followed by juice and some grenadine. Mixed drinks weren’t his thing, but they were definitely Lance’s thing.
Keith passed the drink to the customer who had ordered it and was just about to get started on the next one when he caught sight of someone in the crowd.
“Lance,” Keith breathed out, shocked. Shit. Lance was here. His guy was supposed to be here any minute, and the place was so packed that Keith wasn’t sure he’d be able to see him coming.
It was Lance. Lance who still looked entirely bruised up. He was actually dressed now. Not in workout clothes or his pajamas, but actual clothes. He was wearing a form-fitting blue t-shirt and a pair of black jeans from what Keith could see.
“What are you doing here?” Keith asked, looking shocked. “You said you weren’t coming, that you were gonna rest.”
“I actually don’t remember earlier at all,” Lance admitted. He took a seat at the bar and propped his elbows up. “But I’m here for your Guy’s Night thing.”
“Well, uh, thanks,” Keith murmured. He opened another beer for the next customer and passed it out. “You’re like my biggest supporter,” he joked.
Lance laughed nervously, “Sure I am. You’re not used to having friends, are you?”
Keith’s eyebrow quirked and he looked at Lance for a minute. He wondered if the door was really open or not, or if it had only opened briefly because Lance was on painkillers. Looking at Lance, he realized he desperately wanted that door to be open.
“Earth to Keith?”
“Huh?”
“You were staring,” Lance shrugged. It wasn’t a big deal. Keith staring was no big deal. He didn’t want Keith…
Keith’s eyes had this sort of twinkle in them when he looked at Lance again. “So you don’t remember earlier at all?”
“Well, no, I think-”
“Hey babe,” Someone greeted, pushing their way into the conversation. Keith’s guy. Shit.
They were tall with dark hair, and suddenly in Lance’s field of vision. The guy leaned forward to try and kiss Keith on the cheek, but Keith only pulled back with a nervous laugh. “Customers can’t do that, ha,” Keith glanced at Lance, nervous he was catching on.
Lance was (weirdly enough) catching on.
The guy, Ryan, furrowed his eyebrows. “Didn’t you want to surprise me with something tonight?”
“Keith, what are you doing? You can talk to your boyfriend while I’m here, it’s fine.” Lance waved his hand like it was no big deal. It shouldn’t be a big deal but…he didn’t even know Keith wasn’t single. If he knew he’d been dating someone then he wouldn’t have let himself pine over Keith so badly.
“Oh, we’re not dating,” Ryan shrugged.
“Oh!” Lance was surprised but not displeased. Wow, he was getting worked up over nothing.
“Yeah, we’re just sleeping together,” he finished.
Lance’s mouth clamped shut. Right… He should probably go deal with his feelings somewhere less public. This was no biggie. This was no biggie. He shouldn’t have been so invested in Keith anyway. It wasn’t like Keith had been repeatedly giving him signals or anything.
Keith frowned as Lance stood up. “Where are you going? Sit down, I’ll get you a drink.”
Lance laughed despite it all and shook his head. “I can’t. I’m on painkillers.”
“Right,” Keith said. He knew that. He didn’t know why he offered. “Please. Stay.” He gestured back to the seat Lance was about to give up.
“No, look, I took another dose before I left the house. I should probably get back before it kicks in,” Lance said lamely.
“Lance,” Keith sighed.
“And you should probably get back to work before your manager gets mad. You’ve done so much to impress them, you don’t want to ruin it.” Lance told Keith. “You deserve more responsibility around here. You work hard.” And then Lance was gone.
“Who was that?” Ryan asked, ruining the silence.
Keith furrowed his eyebrows in irritation and his shoulders slumped.
*
Back at the apartment, Lance sighed. He should have just gone to the gym and then he wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. Of course, Keith had a guy. What was he thinking? Keith probably had like six guys.
He was just about to take a seat on the couch when he heard the front door click open. Keith walked through the door and his hair was a mess .
“Keith? What are you doing here? What about your guy?” Lance asked. “Wait, who’s at the bar?”
Keith stepped closer to Lance, shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It kind of does? You can’t just leave the bar unattended like that. What, did you just leave impulsively? Without thinking?” Lance asked, looking over Keith. He looked good, if not a little frazzled. At least Lance knew he was taken now. Maybe he’d protect his heart this time around.
“I ended things with Ryan and I had my manager take over the bar,” Keith said. He’d been impulsive, maybe, but he had put thought into his actions. He reached out, grabbing Lance’s hand. Lance couldn’t do anything but watch it happen.
“You’re not going to get the promotion,” Lance said dumbly, entirely too focused on how Keith was starting to close the space between them. Keith pulled Lance in closer by his hand. Lance blinked and Keith’s hands were on his waist now. He knew that Keith had all the power over him in the world.
“I don’t want the promotion.”
“What do you want?” Lance asked, looking up at Keith with the widest blue eyes he had ever seen. And Lance was starting to like how this was going. He knew what he wanted Keith to want but it was just a matter of Keith wanting him.
Keith watched with fascination as Lance started to tilt his head up for him. There was something about having Lance so eager for him to make a move… “I want to know if you want to have sex with me.”
“What?!” Lance spluttered, taking a step back. Moment over! “Take me out to dinner first, jeez.”
Keith made a ‘what’ motion with his hands, looking entirely caught off guard. He had absolutely no clue why Lance pulled away. It was a very real question, considering Lance had admitted it earlier! “What? No, not right now. Earlier when you were on those painkillers that’s what you said.”
“What?! No I did not!” Lance exclaimed.
“Yes you did,” Keith argued. “You said you wanted me and my big pipe.”
“You’re making this up,” Lance accused, but he wasn’t yelling anymore. It did kind of sound like him…
“Am I? You don’t want to have sex with me?” Keith asked. The space between them was closing again.
“I want more than sex,” Lance admitted, looking up at Keith. He could have sworn that in the light Keith’s eyes were a dark purple. “I don’t admit this often, but I’m sort of a romantic.”
“Lance, I know. I know you’re a romantic, which is why I left my job to chase after you.”
This was too sweet. Lance felt himself tearing up a little bit. “Ok well, now we can’t have sex. I’m gonna cry.”
Keith furrowed his eyebrows and cupped Lance’s face. “Don’t cry. I don’t- please don’t cry. I don’t know how to do this.”
“You already did it once,” Lance said softly. He wasn’t even really tearing up much, he was just impressed by how much Keith cared.
“Impulsively. I’m good at impulsive, not whatever this is.”
Lance’s eyes softened and he took the lead, resting his hands on Keith’s shoulder and back. Gently, he pressed their lips together. Keith kissed back, continuing to cup Lance’s face.
Slow wasn’t really Keith’s speed, but he decided that it fit at the moment. Lance pulled away from the kiss, looking at Keith with a knowing look in his eye. “Now kiss me like a man.”
“I am a man,” Keith murmured, focused on Lance’s lips. He dipped back in to get another taste but Lance pulled his head back.
“I know you’re a man. Kiss me hard is what I meant.”
“Why didn’t you lead with that?” Keith asked, leaning in to do that very thing. Their lips met and Keith was sure that he’d never want to kiss anyone but Lance again.
Lance let out a little ‘mm’ into the kiss and Keith smirked. He had no problem walking them back to the couch for a better position. Lance’s ankles hit the back of the couch and he let himself drop, tugging Keith along with him.
Oh, they could make this relationship work. All thanks to Keith and his big pipe. (And maybe a little thanks to Lance’s painkillers.)