Work Text:
The speed at which Keith’s eyes narrow onto his phone the millisecond his brain registers the chirping notification is comical. (It’s just because he’s tired of homework. It is. It was nothing to do with a Pavlovian response to Lance’s ringtone. Seriously! Homework is boring! Shut the fuck up, Shiro-in-his-head, you don’t know jack about shit!)
star eyes 💙:
hey keithy kat can u help me with something
Keith resists the urge to respond with ‘anything’, ‘cause that’s gay. (Also very, very cheesy and he has a Reputation.)
me:
don’t call me that u goober
me:
but yeah what’s up
star eyes 💙:
yay!!!!!! thank u ily
At this point, he should no longer be shocked at the level of red his face gets at the words, but somehow he still is. Come on, now. He has some dignity left, regardless of what some people (Pidge) might say. And it’s not like Lance doesn’t throw out the L-word at every second! He told a bug that he loved it yesterday! Keith needs to get a hold on himself. This shit is humiliating.
star eyes 💙:
okay so remember how i’m catfishing that rich guy from connecticut
Keith snorts. Yeah, he remembers. When Lance had shown him the texts and direct deposits he’d been getting, Keith had laughed until he cried. He definitely respects the hustle, and is also very jealous. He wishes he’d thought to catfish a rich guy from Connecticut. (Although Keith won’t lie — he has definitely been benefiting from Lance’s sugar daddy. Lance’s Christmas and birthday gifts have always been amazing and thoughtful, but now that he has funds? It’s the best.)
me:
yes lol what about him
star eyes 💙:
he just sent me like $500!! i put most of it away for tuition but i want to spend a little bc i deserve it 😌
You deserve everything, Keith wants to send, but deletes that shit real fast.
Jesus Christ. Maybe Pidge is right. He is whipped.
me:
that’s dope good for you
me:
what are you getting?
star eyes 💙:
some clothes!!!
me:
… and you came to… me…?
star eyes 💙:
can i not want an outsiders perspective occasionally mr judgey!!!!!!!
me:
lance.
star eyes 💙:
yeah okay no one else is answering
me:
yeah that’s what i thought. geek ass.
God, Keith is disgusted with himself. If Pidge (or, heaven fucking forbid, Adam) ever caught wind of these texts, they would tease him until the end of time. GeEk AsS. What is he, a twelve year old boy desperately trying to get his crush’s attention but nothing is working so he’s resorted to name calling?
Holy shit. That’s exactly what he is, isn’t he?
Dear God.
star eyes 💙:
i come here!!
star eyes 💙:
to my closest and most badass of friends!!
star eyes 💙:
for advice that i treasure so deeply!! so close to my heart!!
star eyes 💙:
and i am SCORNED!!
star eyes 💙:
TURNED AWAY!!
star eyes 💙:
MOCKED!!
me:
please chill out
star eyes 💙:
UNLOVED!!!
me:
are you done
star eyes 💙:
I AM DESOLATE!! INCONSOLABLE!!
me:
putting that english lit degree to good use i see
star eyes 💙:
oh go fuck yourself
Keith smirks to himself. That one always works. He fully shoves his homework away — he does not care at all about art history today and is done kidding himself — and wraps his arms around his pillow, lying on his stomach on his shitty university-issued dorm bed. (His legs may or may not kick in the air. No one’s here to see, so it’s fine if he’s embarrassing in his own goddamn room for no one to witness.)
me:
are you going to show me what you need help with, or what?
star eyes 💙:
OH yes yes yes!!
The typing dots show up for a good amount of time, as they do when Lance gets excited about something. Keith sighs dreamily, and then shoves his face into his pillow and screams as loud as he can.
Lance is so cute.
He is going to die.
star eyes 💙:
okay so!!! i have been feeling a little shitty lately (dw i talked to my mom and my counsellor) AND also i decided to take ur advice from the last time i felt like this and talked to u!!! i went to allura yesterday and we painted our nails and i can’t keep mine on for long bc i don’t like the weight of it but it was fun anyway!! and she suggested that i maybe buy some clothes that make me feel nice and so i’m trying to do that but i also want clothes that are objectively funny and we have the same sense of humour so
me:
i’m glad you talked to someone, lance. i’m proud of you.
star eyes 💙:
thank u!! :D
me:
:)
me:
u wanna show me the options?
star eyes 💙:
yeah!! i’ll show u the one i saw first lol
Keith’s grin as he waits for Lance to send the photo is a little less smitten, and a little more fond. He meant what he said — he really is proud of Lance. He remembers vaguely those first years they met, all those years ago, when he was convinced that Lance was shallow and annoying and had never experienced a hardship in his life. He’s never been happier to be wrong, to have a chance to both be proven incorrect and prove Lance incorrect, because they were both dumb kids back then who were so scared of their similarities. Now, well — he doesn’t know what he’d do if he didn’t have Lance. All his internal moaning and groaning aside, he really is gonna tell Lance, someday, how he’s the sun in Keith’s sky. He deserves to know how much space he takes in Keith’s heart, how the very mention of his name makes Keith’s day brighten.
star eyes 💙:
okay the screenshot was buried under a million pictures of blue bc she was looking SO cute today but here it is!!
star eyes 💙:
like is this not like objectively the funniest shirt you’ve ever seen
Keith surprises himself with the volume of his sudden laughter, because holy shit, that genuinely is the funniest shirt in the world.
me:
oh my god you have to get that
me:
i think that’s a moral obligation, at this point
me:
who even came up with that?
star eyes 💙:
RIGHT???? i keep imagining hunk seeing the shirt and just like. sighing forlornly lmao. he loves me and he finds me funny (i know it) but he is Tired lmao
star eyes 💙:
OKAY NEXT!!!
me:
hit me
star eyes 💙:
okay this one teleported me directly into the wonderfully fashionable age of 2005 so i had to add it to the cart obviously
star eyes 💙:
thoughts??
Keith’s brain is immediately and intensely overwhelmed with images of Lance in this shirt and that black tennis skirt he sometimes wears, and his face goes so red he fears he might pass out. He goes so red, in fact, that for his own health (both mental and physical) he has to set the phone down, sit up properly, and take several deep breaths.
star eyes 💙:
keith?? u there??
me:
sorry my phone died
star eyes 💙:
oh okay i thought that one was too camp for you 😭
me:
no no i think you should get it!
I might die if you wear it in front of me, Keith thinks, but I will die a happy, happy man.
star eyes 💙:
okay thank you!!
star eyes 💙:
i have 2 more shirts i want to show u
me:
go for it
star eyes 💙:
kk!! this one is less funny and more just like. really pretty and i think it would make me feel like barbie fairytopia but hot
star eyes 💙:
the colours!!! the nuance!! the nostalgia!!! the strapless back!!! the SPARKLES!!!!
star eyes 💙:
i am in love
me:
honestly even if i didn’t like it (i do, though, it’s cute) i would say you should buy it anyway because you’re so excited about it
me:
i mean, barbie fairytopia. off all the mattel movies you have forced me to watch, that one was pretty decent
star eyes 💙:
‘pretty decent’, he says, as if it’s not one of the most magical movies of all time
star eyes 💙:
if someone bought me that butterfly necklace i would consider it a proposal and marry them on the spot
Keith’s not proud of the speed in which he grabbed his laptop and opened Amazon, typing that butterfly necklace into the search bar so fast his fingers blur a little. He actually knocked his head on his bed frame in his haste, which is humiliating and a secret he will be taking to his grave. There’s a replica of the necklace being sold for fifty-two dollars, which is outrageous. Keith adds the necklace to his cart.
me:
haha would you really
star eyes 💙:
yes literally in seconds
me:
that’s so funny lol. so crazy wow
Keith does not hesitate to punch in his credit card info and hit ‘purchase’. Thank God he finally decided to get his own Prime account last month and quit mooching off Shiro, because he’s not sure how he would explain this one.
me:
anyways. you said there was one more shirt?
star eyes 💙:
oh yeah!!
star eyes 💙:
i’ll be honest with u lol i was going to buy the other three anyways i just wanted to share them with someone but i actually need ur advice for this one
me:
is it offensive or something?
star eyes 💙:
i mean, yeah, if you’re an old white catholic lady
me:
lmfao yeah that sure narrows it down
star eyes 💙:
okay fair i guess i just have to show you lol
star eyes 💙:
i think this one is like technically borderline public indecency but like. i think it would be really funny if i wore it with my gamer girl booty shorts and went to the next video game club meeting lol
Keith drops his phone on his face.
That — Lance — the booty shorts — he’s —
He gives up on forming real thoughts, the image of Lance in that shirt (with the underboob, oh my God, holy shit) and the rest of that outfit burning holes in his brainwaves. He’s — he doesn’t even know his own name, at this point. He thinks if he saw that outfit on Lance in real life he might actually turn to smoke.
He must lie there, face positively steaming, thoughts an endless stream of holy shit holy shit holy shit for long enough that Lance gets worried, because the next thing he hears is Rick Astley’s jazzy voice (Lance has changed his own ringtone on April first as a prank two years ago, and he looked so delighted every time he saw Keith scowl about it that Keith didn’t have the heart to change it back. The things he does for pretty boys, yeesh).
“Hello,” he croaks.
“Keith? You good? You stopped answering for a while.”
“I’m fine,” he tries to assure, but his voice cracks so many times that he just sighs.
“I don’t have an excuse for you,” he admits.
“…Was the shirt that bad?”
“Um, just for the part of my brain that produces critical thought.”
“Why would it — oh.”
Keith hears the moment Lance gets it through the phone, and his face somehow goes redder.
“Sorry. I didn’t want — sorry you had to find out this way. It’s just —“ Keith swallows roughly. “You’re very pretty. I can’t always handle it.”
“Oh.” Lance suddenly sounds very shy, but — but not upset. In fact, Keith would say that Lance almost sounds pleased.
“You really — you really like me?”
Keith bites his lip. Is this seriously happening?
“For a long time. Long enough that I can’t remember when I didn’t.”
Lance snorts, but it only sounds fond. “Bullshit, Kogane. I can remember a time when we weren’t so close, and I know you can too.”
“I mean, I thought you were hot even when I hated you. It just made me want to strangle you more, honestly.”
Lance laughs, a breathy sound that always makes Keith’s chest flutter, and today is no exception. They’re quiet on the line for a few minutes, absorbing all this new information. Keith feels his face split into a grin, wider than he’s ever smiled in his life.
Lance likes him.
“You wanna come over?” he asks.
He can hear Lance’s grin over the phone. “If I wear the gamer shirt, will you kiss me?”
Keith’s heart pounds, but he manages to keep his brain intact, this time.
“You wear that shirt and I’ll do more than kiss you.”
He’s gratified to hear Lance’s breath hitch. He smirks. It’s nice to know he flusters Lance just as much as Lance flusters him.
“…Be there in ten.”