Work Text:
The cold nipped at his face as he walked along the aisles, the shopping cart handle vibrated in his hand every push he took, and he kept his eyes on the prize—the ramen section.
It was the weekend, and he wanted to just lounge around all night and watch a few horror movies as a reward for getting through this week. The mechanic store he’d been working at had been slammed with people needing repairs after crashes, getting their tire pressure checked, their wheels rotated; that’s winter for you. He could name at least five clients at the top of his head who wanted everything to be fixed instantly and two who snapped at him for the shop giving them an appropriate quota for their expenses—even though he wasn’t even the one who handled the payment. Either way, he was done and just wanted to melt into his sofa and eat like shit.
He watched carefully as various people passed by him, caught up in their own shopping trip world, until he reached the ‘Asian’ section of the QFC. Various Panda Express and sauces that read ‘Asian zing’ met his eyes and he tried to keep a scoff and laugh in as he passed them. It didn’t take long before his observant eyes saw what he wanted--
2x Spicy Buldak Ramen with that familiar little chicken breathing fire and his mouth watered.
The aisle was empty, which was nice because he didn’t have to worry about people hogging the area and talking and then he’d have to stand there until he moved or pull out his phone and ask them to move. It was a whole thing, and he just didn’t want to deal with that today.
A smile spread across his face as he parked his cart flesh to the grocery packed wall and picked up his treat. He picked up a few cups and threw them into the cart, then his eyes caught a few more treats like canned bubble tea, hot wasabi peas, and indomie and felt a little greedy.
Happily, he grabbed each little treat and threw them to his side, thinking about how he was just going to stuff his face and Shiro couldn’t tell him off and then he’d watch shitty movies that he pirated and then--
A sudden warm hand was placed over his jacket, and he jumped, fumbling with the glass bottle in his hand that he luckily got his grip back on and set it in the cart. Still startled, he whipped around with furrowed brows and saw a man around his age in front of him.
The stranger was tall, easily taller than him. He had brown skin that was adorned with freckles that covered his face and short brunette hair that rested a top his head. His eyes were blue like the ocean, and his lips were a healthy red.
Honestly, he was really cute.
However, he couldn’t really take the time to focus on the fact that he was cute because the guy's mouth was running a mile a minute.
Keith furrowed his brows and tried to read his lips, but he didn’t bring his hearing aid to the store today because he didn’t think he’d need it since he’d just be in and out, but clearly this guy had other plans for him. The man was gesturing and speaking excitedly like they’d been friends forever, but Keith felt completely lost.
Did he have a question? Did they go to school together? Is he being mistaken for someone else?
Confusion was evident on his face, but the other didn’t seem to notice at all, and he kept yapping.
Eventually, Keith just shook his head and tapped the guy's shoulder, and he paused. But before he could even pull his phone out, the man gave an awkward laugh based on the huff of air and his shoulders shaking, then he fidgeted with his fingers and muttered something—he seemed dejected and trying to hide it behind a laugh for whatever reason.
Quickly, Keith shook his hands and did the ‘wait’ motion and the guy paused and looked at him puzzledly.
Reaching his hand into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and went to his notes app that was pre-installed into his phone, since he didn’t want an aesthetic app taking up space, and hastily typed to figure out what the fuck was going on.
‘I’m Deaf. You’re talking too fast. Speak at a normal pace.’ And presented it to the man.
The guy leaned in and put his hand on his chin while furrowing his brows, like he was analyzing something important, which was cute, before his eyes lit up in realization and his cheeks turned pink.
This was the part where Keith expected him to get uncomfortable and awkward with him being Deaf and hastily walking away before even trying to repeat what he said, mumbling an apology and looking like a miscommunication with him because he was Deaf was a worst-case scenario.
But to his surprise, he didn’t.
Instead, the guy had a light blush of embarrassment and said, this time in a readable pace, “I’m sorry. I talk a lot--” He pointed to Keith’s ears and commented, “I said that I liked your earrings! I just finished that anime, I’m rewatching it actually,” He didn’t speak too slow or too fast and he kept his eyes trained on Keith’s face, which was pleasantly surprising.
It was hard to understand everything still, but he could piece together what the stranger was saying with gestures and the words he did catch. Lipreading wasn't a magical solution that hearing people think it is.
Keith blinked and felt his earrings to remember which one’s he put on. His eyes lit up in realization when he felt the triangle shape and remembered the ‘A Sign of Affection’ earrings he just got. It was the most recent anime he watched that had actual Deaf rep and he really liked it (but don’t tell anyone he likes cheesy slice of life romcoms), and so he bought them on Etsy.
He quickly typed on his phone and then showed it to the guy, ‘Thank you. I just finished it a few months ago. It’s really good.’ He really wasn’t expecting for this conversation to go down the route of TV watching, but he wasn’t complaining. This was a lot nicer than a random question about what aisle to find something in that throws him off his business.
The guy nodded quickly and for a moment his mouth started going too fast. Keith was about to remind him to slow down when he already made a face of realization and said, “Sorry! It’s a habit.” With a sheepish expression before adding, “Also-- do you want me to type instead of talk?” He gestured to Keith’s phone.
Keith looked at him and paused. That was oddly considerate and thoughtful...
When hearing people realized Keith could lipread, they assumed it was easy and that he could do it forever. Which is completely wrong. It was tiring. Without hearing aids, it was exhausting and frustrating. He’s been lipreading for ten years and it's still hard and he’d rather avoid it.
It took a moment before he came back to his sense and nodded, gently handing his phone over.
The man grinned and typed quickly, his fingers going up and down rapidly and it made Keith wonder if he used his phone all the time or if he just didn’t care about grammar. Soon, his phone was handed back to him.
Okay, it was the latter.
‘i loce that animr!!! Whos ur faborite character???!’ He couldn’t help but smile at almost everything being spelt wrong. Seriously, it was bad, but it was kind of cute. Like, this guy was so excited he just didn’t care how he spelt. It matched his word vomiting earlier.
More accurately, he made a new paragraph and typed back. ‘I like Shin. He’s calm but also kind of stupid. I like Yuki too, but that might be out of bias.’ Yes, he loves the main character who’s Deaf, sue him. She’s relatable and cute and he likes things that are both of those things.
The other took the phone then typed, smiling widely. He seemed genuinely excited to just talk. He gave the phone back and Keith read the message, ‘I LOBE YUJI!! Also, my name is Lance :)’ He actually took time to introduce himself properly.
Lance was a cute name. But then again, everything this guy has done so far is kind of cute.
He nodded and took the phone back before typing and presenting it, ‘Nice name. I’m Keith.’
It felt odd to keep up conversation this long with a stranger, especially a hearing one. If it was another Deaf person, that made more sense since he lived in a small town and it was nice to see someone like him that wasn’t on his online discord server, but this is just a random guy at the store. Most hearing people interacted with him because they were curious, which was annoying when he was just trying to do everyday stuff, or sometimes they inserted themselves into his life to “help”, which was worst because he didn’t even ask or need the help.
But Lance just seemed like he really wanted to talk and socialize over something simple, which was honestly... really refreshing.
Lance read his name and gave a cheery thumbs up, flashing a wide smile that made Keith’s stomach do a small summersault. This guy seemed like the embodiment of sunshine. He watched as Lance dug into his pocket and opened his phone, doing something on there.
He waited patiently, looking around to make sure they weren’t in anyone’s way before turning back to him.
It wasn’t long before a phone screen with a set of numbers was in front of him and he instantly recognized it as a phone number.
At first, he didn’t even process the situation he was in—a cute guy was asking for his number because of some Etsy earrings he bought? Since when is socializing ever this easy?
He looked at the phone screen for a moment before hesitantly opening up a new contact in his phone. HIs eyes darted up and down to Lance’s phone screen and then his own before putting in the contact and sending a simple, ‘Hey’
Instantly, he got a reply of, ‘hi!! I just figured it’d be easier to text this way. Also, i dont have many friends to talk about my interests in shows with, so i kinda of took the opportunity here. Sorry if that came off as too strong’ That was something Keith could relate to.
The text made his heart do a flip and he looked up from his phone to see Lance peeking at him and a soft blush on his face. Despite his socialness, his eyebrows and body language screamed that he was nervous.
Most days he wouldn’t just give his number out like this. At all. Ever. But there was something about Lance that just made him feel comfortable. He shrugged and texted back, ‘It’s fine dw. I dont either. I have my older brother and his husband + friends, but they’d all tease me.’ He loved his family, but they sucked sometimes... But then again, he also teased them over everything too, so.
Lance laughed again and Keith paid attention to the way his eyes scrunched, and he felt his own lips tug into a smile.
They continued texting back and forth, just talking about shows that they watched, ones they plan to see, hot takes, etc. Keith found himself muffling a laugh and smiling at some things that Lance said, and Lance seemed to get excited over Keith sharing his opinion. Usually, he never clicked with someone like this and it took months to years for him to be this open, but he was going back and forth like they’ve been friends since forever.
It wasn’t until he saw his cart move in his peripheral vision. He paused and looked up to see a lady glaring at him and he realized he was in the way.
Quickly, he moved his cart and he saw her mutter something he couldn’t quite catch, and Lance made a sheepish expression and moved next to him.
It was then he realized: Oh yeah, I’m still shopping and in the middle of an aisle and that he should probably wrap this conversation up.
He felt his phone vibrate and looked down and saw Lance text, ‘She muttered something about kids not able to have conversations in person or something like that,’ Honestly, the fact they are texting in the middle of an aisle probably did look funny without context.
Smiling, he wrote back, ‘to be fair, we are in the store. I should probably ring my stuff up.’ But then looked up to see Lance look a bit sad which made something in his heart soften. Hastily, he added, ‘but we can text later if you’d like. I'm not opposed to making friends,’ which was partly true; usually he was, but... Lance seemed special.
The other’s eyes lit up and he replied with, ‘OKAY! Great! Ill text you later!’ Maybe Lance needed a few friends too.
Nodding, he waved a goodbye and grabbed his cart, reluctantly turning away. Honestly, a part of him didn’t want to go yet, but he also didn’t want to text in the middle of the store. With a bit of disappointment, he tossed one more glance to an equally disappointed looking Lance who was giving a sad wave back, but he gave him a lopsided smile.
Now he was back to where he started before: in the grocery store, feeling the vibrations of his shopping cart, walking past people, and ringing up his things with the intent to go home and gorge out.
But now, instead of just leaving with his junk food, he’s also leaving with something he didn’t expect.
A new friend.
Or maybe more.