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It was a brisk winter night at the smiling friends office, a chill in the air that Charlie Dompler knew all too well. He had clocked out 30 minutes ago, yet he still found himself unable to go home.
As he stood alone in the shadows of the back alley behind the office, he wondered what the point of any of it was. What was the point of making people smile if he had no reason to smile himself? Not… anymore.
He took a long drag of his cigarette, trying to will the thoughts away. As usual, it didn't work.
Suddenly, a guy in a bright red jacket stumbled upon him as he walked smoothly next to his hover bike. He stopped in front of Charlie, who frowned. Oh god, what am I going to have to deal with now? He thought to himself sourly.
"Hey, got a spare cig?" this new guy asked in a rough, but strangely smooth voice.
"Yeah," Charlie responded flatly while shuffling in his hoodie’s pocket for the cig box.
As he handed the new cigarette over to the guy with the strange mullet, he asked, "what's your name?"
"Keith,” the guy said coolly as Charlie passed his lighter to him. He lit his cigarette and took a long drag before returning the lighter.
"So, what's got you out here, Keith?" Charlie asked, pocketing the lighter.
"Just trying to figure out what to do with life after winning a millennia long space war… among other things, what about you?" he stumbled out the last bit like it had physically hurt him.
"Just trying to get over an ex, and enjoying this sorta deadbeat job."
"Ouch. Well, can I help at all?"
"I don’t know,” Charlie eyed Keith with a glimmer in his eyes, “Maybe a drink or two?" Keith eyed Charlie with the same sparkle, like an understanding. Without much of a word they were off to the closest bar down the street.
—--
The brisk air that made Charlie so depressed was suddenly a refreshing cool with this new man. Maybe all he needed was a new friend and something warm in his stomach. And maybe a warm embrace, too, he thought distractedly as he eyed the mullet-wearing man in the cold night. The street lamps glittered on his skin like fireflies, and suddenly Charlie didn't feel so alone anymore.
After a nice, quiet walk, he and Keith arrived at the bar. Its warm lights were both inviting and enticing. Snow began to fall, powdering Keith's hair and Charlie's hoodie.
"We better head inside. You're paying right?" Charlie asked.
“Of course, I’ve got a Garrison salary, and various winnings and congratulatories from many space fauna and flora.” Charlie had no idea what any of that meant, but nodded like he did.
Keith held the door open with a steady hand, and received a small thanks from Charlie who ducked inside. Finally out of the nipping cold, they found a secluded table. It was sticky and the seats were uncomfortable, but surprisingly that didn’t bother Charlie. The warm glow bounced off of Keith and made the whole world shine. However, the moment’s broken when Keith notices Charlie staring at him, forcing Charlie to look away, flustered.
Keith raises his voice among the chatter of the bar, “you’re staring at the scar, huh?”
Charlie didn’t even notice it at first, he was so distracted… but this is a great excuse for being weird, “uh.. Um, yeah totally. What’s it all about? Like, what’s your story?”
Keith chuckles to himself nervously, “From a fight with a clone of my adoptive brother… It's a long story.”
“Well, we have plenty of time.”
Keith continues on with stories of the war—good and bad. How he left after said brother’s disappearance and reappearance, his romance with a fellow paladin (Lance and Allura do not get together in this timeline, but she still gives Lance Altean power stuff at the end), the horrific return to earth, and the saving of the planet and the entire Universe known and unknown. During the story, the two order their drinks and some food.
“Damn,” Charlie says, slightly impressed, but trying to hide it, “I mean, that’s pretty cool huh? Like saving the universe and all of that– that’s pretty cool.”
“Thanks… I bet you’re so much more interesting, though. I mean, given your gnarly scar,” Keith realized his bluntness too late, embarrassed at pointing out the giant and poorly stitched scar on the yellow man’s nose. Oh, Charlie must think I’m a jerk now… he thought.
“Oh yeah, I mean yeah my life’s pretty cool. Lately, though? Sucks balls man, like seriously,” he sips from the small bottle of beer on the table as he looks away thinking about all of his regrets and the tears he’s shed this past week.
“You wanna talk about it?” Keith reaches his hand for Charlie’s on the table, but Charlie slips it away, “yeah it wouldn’t hurt.” Keith tries to ignore the small rejection and lends a listening ear, knowing where Charlie was coming from at the moment.
“It was this guy at work. He was cute as hell with his exposed nerve ending and uneven eyes. I thought we were end-game, but…” he began to choke his words as tears pricked his eyes, “he was a jerk.” The yellow man whimpered and sobbed in his seat, suddenly not caring he was in public among a stranger. He just needed to cry, after all he had been put through with Pim.
“I’m so sorry,” Keith said sympathetically, “I went through something similar.” Charlie perked a bit at this, somehow cheering up a bit at the fact someone could relate to him.
Nasally, Charlie spoke as he wiped his tears, “really?”
Keith was embarrassed now that he had made this about him, but Charlie stopped crying, and for some reason Keith liked seeing Charlie happy.
“I don’t want to talk about it too much, but believe me, he was a jerk just like your ex,” he looked into Charlie’s eyes and reached his hands out, “I know what you’re going through. So if you need someone to talk about this with, I’m here.” His voice softened so much Charlie only barely heard him among the loud bar, but he understood. He accepted Keith’s gentle hands and they looked into each other’s eyes for moments longer.
“I’m glad you’re here,” that was all Charlie could muster after small eternities later. It was like everything slowed down, and maybe it was the beer but he felt like he was floating. He felt like he could’ve been there forever if it weren’t for the waitress coming back to the table with food.
“Okay, I have your wings and Tonight’s Special. Eat up, boys!” The waitress walked off pleased with herself after she placed the hot food and “Tonight’s Special” on the table. They both separated, chuckling nervously to themselves as they dug in.
—--
“Tonight’s Special” was a round of vodka shots that were some kind of fruity flavor. They tasted disgusting, but after Charlie’s whirlwind display of emotions the two men took them with grace. Meaning, by the end of the night, they were sorely drunk walking to Charlie’s apartment after a night of clumsy dancing and slurred sweet nothings.
The bitter cold and snow around them meant nothing to their bodies full of warmth and swirling emotions. So when they found a nice alley, Keith took Charlie into his arms and kissed him in a soft embrace. Regardless of their own body heats, though, snow nipped their ears like bug bites, and so they drunkenly escaped into the closest building.
The closest building was Smiling Friend’s headquarters, which Charlie clumsily fiddled with his keys to get into. Keith’s hot breath pecked along Charlie’s cold neck, and the keys slipped from his fidgety hands again.
Keith giggled at the effect he had on Charlie, “here, I can help warm your hands,” and so the mullet-wearing space man took Charlie’s hands into his and began rubbing them for warmth. Charlie gulped at the innuendo, but finally found the correct key. They burst inside and finally escaped the cold. The heat was still on, much to Charlie’s relief, but Keith didn’t seem to care either way as he pinned the shorter yellow man to the nearby wall.
They spent the night in a tangled pile of steamy romance, and only in the morning did Charlie realized he had fucked The Keith Kogane.