Work Text:
Lance wasn’t really one to believe in superstitions, but he had to admit that it’d been a really weird week.
Tuesday, October 24, 12:38 PM
“Yeah, I’m heading back now,” Lance said into the phone pressed against his ear as he locked his front door. “Did you get lunch yet? Do you want me to pick something up for you? I can stop by Lily’s if you—holy shit!”
The phone fell from Lance’s grasp as a black cat rounded the corner and darted past him through the hallway.
“The hell was that,” he muttered as he bent down to pick up his phone.
“Kuro, get back here!”
Lance looked up just in time to get a face full of someone’s knee.
“Oh shit! Are you ok? I didn’t see you there. Why are you on the floor in the middle of the hall? Jesus, I’m so sorry about that, but look I got to catch my cat so…” The voice trailed off and when Lance finally lifted his head, he only got a glimpse of a man with shoulder length black hair sprinting down the corridor.
Lance winced and gingerly touched his bruised nose. He was surprised it wasn’t bleeding. He muttered, “Of all the shitty things to happen today, I just had to get kneed in the face by some rude asshole with a mullet.”
He shook his head and put the phone back to his ear just in time to hear Hunk say, “Lance, if you don’t answer me right now, I’m going to call the police.”
“Relax, Hunk. I just ran into one of my neighbors. Literally ran into him. He wounded my beautiful face. And he barely even apologized. He even had the gall and audacity to ask me ‘Why are you on the floor?’ It was his stupid cat that startled me in the first place.”
Hunk breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh jeez, you really had me worried there for a second. Glad you’re alright though. Can you still get me a burrito?”
“Yeah, yeah. You got it.”
Wednesday, October 25, 3:11 PM
“Ugh, can this week be over already?”
Pidge briefly glanced up from the cup she was writing on and said, “More like can this whole year be over. It’s been a pumpkin spice bonanza in here for like two whole months and then it’ll be peppermint season right after.” She threw her hands up in exasperation. “Every day I go home smelling like a fucking scented candle.”
Hunk clicked his tongue sympathetically. “Aw, don’t worry Pidge. You can always count on us to order normal coffee.”
Lance interjected. “Actually, no she can’t. You know I’m a slut for eggnog lattes.”
Pidge rolled her eyes. “Great. So a green tea latte for my true friend and a cappuccino for the eggnog slut?”
Lance winked. “Got it in one, Pidgey.”
Lance and Hunk walked towards the pick-up counter to wait, when Lance suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
“Hunk, there he is.” Lance started slapping Hunk’s arm wildly.
“Ow, stop that. What are you talking about?”
“The guy with the cat and the sharpest knees on the planet! To the right by the door. The guy with the stupid cropped jacket reading a book.”
Hunk squinted. “How do you know it’s him?”
“I’d recognize that mullet anywhere,” Lance grumbled.
Hunk leaned back against the counter and assessed Lance’s neighbor. “Is that really a mullet?”
“Shut up, Hunk. It definitely is. His outdated taste in hairstyles suits his bad personality perfectly,” Lance hissed with a wave of his arm. Though now that he had a better look at the guy, Lance had to admit that he was actually pretty cute. His jawline was strong and his skin looked beautifully pale and soft. And the small purse of his lips coupled with the way his bangs gently brushed over the furrow of his eyebrows as he concentrated on his book was criminally adorable. Lance shook the thoughts out of his head.
“Oh c’mon, Lance. You don’t know he has a bad personality just because he ran into you. He was probably worried about his cat.”
“Hey, nerds. What’s Lance complaining about now?” Pidge asked as she brought them their drinks.
Lance huffed. “I am not complaining! I’m just showing Hunk the worst neighbor in the world.”
Hunk took both their cups. “Lance is just upset because this guy ran into him while trying to catch his cat.”
Lance snatched his coffee from Hunk. “Trying to catch his little black demon, you mean.”
Pidge grinned. “Ooh, a black cat? How spooky. Bad luck been following you around since then?”
Lance rolled his eyes. “You mean besides getting kneed in the face? Of course not. Don’t be stupid, Pidge.”
“Sure,” Pidge drawled. “You just keep telling yourself that, but just remember it’s almost Halloween. Oooooh.” Pidge waved her arms in small circles and Lance lightly shoved her.
“Alright, alright, back to work. We’ll catch you later.”
“Cool. Halloween movie night still happening at your place on Saturday?”
“For sure,” Lance said as he headed towards the exit.
Hunk waved. “Bye Pidge! Thanks for the coffee!”
Lance was taking a tentative first sip of his coffee as they approached the door when suddenly he heard, “Lance, watch out!”
A kid came charging into the door, slamming it into Lance’s face.
“Holy f—“
Disoriented, Lance lost his balance and staggered backwards onto a table, spilling his scalding hot coffee onto himself and knocking over an empty glass as he did so. A sharp clang of silverware echoed through the coffee shop as the table gave out under his weight and he came crashing down to the ground.
“Lance! Jesus, Lance! Are you ok?”
Blinking the stars out of his eyes, he realized he was looking up directly into the concerned faces of Hunk, Pidge, and… mullet man himself.
Of course it was him.
Lance grumbled a terse, “I’m fine,” before gratefully taking Hunk’s outstretched hand and standing back up again. He examined his drenched and uncomfortably warm shirt and sighed. No amount of scrubbing would be able to take out this stain.
A man came running up to them. “I am so sorry about that! My son was just too excited. Tyler, say you’re sorry to this poor man. You know how I told you to watch where you’re going.”
The kid was staring intently at his shoes as he whispered, “I’m really sorry, mister. I didn’t mean it.”
The way the kid’s voice wavered as he spoke erased any lingering traces of Lance’s anger. He bent down and said, “Hey, I know you didn’t mean it. It’s ok, Tyler. We all make mistakes. Just be more careful in the future.”
Tyler sniffled and said, “I will. Promise."
Lance ruffled the kid’s hair. “There we go. All better now.”
Tyler’s father looked at Lance gratefully. “That’s really too kind of you. Can we buy you another coffee? It’s the least I can do.”
Lance had to laugh at that. “Nah, I think I’m good for today. Thanks though.” Turning back to Pidge, he said. “Sorry about the mess, my dude.”
Pidge just shrugged. “Eh, it’s no problem. Just glad to see you’re ok.” Pidge glanced up at the mullet man next to her. “Are you ok, sir? Did you want another drink?”
Lance’s neighbor shook his head. “No, no. I didn’t get hurt at all and I’d already finished my drink, but thanks anyways.” Flicking his eyes up to Lance, he continued, “Does, uh, stuff like this happen to you a lot?"
Lance straightened up at this. “Wait, you remember me?”
The guy looked away. “Uh, yeah. I recognized your jacket. Sorry about before and sorry I didn’t really apologize before. I was kind of distracted,” he mumbled as he rubbed his neck.
Maybe it was from how ridiculous the whole situation was or maybe it was because mullet man didn’t look half bad when he was apologetic, his eyes full of concern, but Lance found himself in a forgiving mood. “Don’t worry about it. It was an accident. I’ve already forgotten about it.”
Hunk started to say, “That’s not what you—,“ but Lance elbowed him roughly.
“Let’s go, Hunk. I need a change of clothes ASAP.” Lance turned on his heel and Hunk followed him out.
As the door chimed, he heard a faint, “See you later” from behind them.
And despite everything, Lance found himself hoping he would.
Thursday, October 27, 8:29 AM.
Lance bolted out his door and took the stairs two at a time.
He was so fucking late.
Oversleeping as a kid, hell even as a teenager, had been acceptable, but as a teacher it was just goddamn embarrassing.
Hunk had tried to call him eight times this morning, but he hadn’t plugged his phone in all the way the night before, so it had died in the middle of the night. When he woke up this morning feeling well-rested, he immediately knew something was wrong.
His phone vibrated and he picked it up as he ran to his car.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Lance. Allura offered to sub for you until 11 so just take your time. I told Coran you had a rough day yesterday, so he’s not too pissed. Come in after lunch.”
“Hunk, you are the light of my life. The only one I need. Have I told you how much I love you?”
“Yeah, yeah. Sorry bro, already taken. I’ll meet up with you later for lunch, alright? And try not to get into any more of your bad luck shenanigans before then.”
“I’ll try. Thanks again, buddy.”
Lance hung up and took a deep breath. After the initial panic and crippling embarrassment subsided, this actually wasn’t too bad. He could take the morning off and go get some breakfast.
The sound of an engine revving made him turn around. A red motorcycle pulled into the parking lot and parked next to him. The rider pulled off his helmet and suddenly Lance was face to face with mystery mullet man again.
It’s like he had to show up whenever something bad happened to Lance.
“Hey, Lance, right?”
Lance nodded mutely. He was still taking in the fact that his neighbor looked distractingly good in a leather jacket, straddling a motorcycle.
“Off to work?”
Lance blushed a little. “Ah, yeah about that. I kind of overslept so I was given the morning off,” he admitted.
Mullet man chuckled. “You really are a clumsy person, aren’t you?"
“I am not!” Lance retorted. “I’m usually pretty on top of things, but ever since…” he paused. What was he going to say? Ever since I ran into you and your cat I’ve been having bad luck? He shook his head. “It’s just been a bad couple of days.”
The guy smirked and leaned over the top of his motorcycle. “Whatever you say. So what are you going to do now?”
Lance shrugged. “Get some breakfast maybe. Not sure. Haven’t really had a peaceful morning to myself for a while.”
At that, mullet man swung himself off his motorcycle and opened the seat. He grabbed a bag out of it and shoved it towards Lance.
“In that case, take this.”
Lance took the bag and opened it. A heavenly smell of melted butter and cheese drifted from the bag.
“Whoa, seriously? Isn’t this your breakfast?”
The other man waved his hand dismissively and pulled out two more bags. “Nah, my brother works at a bakery, so I get these for free. My apartment is full of leftovers. Those are cheese croissants and brioches, I think.”
Lance gaped at the bag open-mouthed before remembering his manners. “Wow, uh, thanks. Really, this is super nice of you.”
Mullet man laughed and said, “Think of it as an apology for smashing your face in.” He started to walk back to the apartment, when Lance realized he had been calling him mullet man for too long.
“Wait! What’s your name?”
His neighbor turned his head with an amused look on his face. “It’s Keith.”
Friday, October 28, 5:40 PM.
Lance grunted under the strain of the groceries in his hand. He really should have taken up Hunk’s offer to help him with the shopping, but he knew Hunk had a date with Shay that night and Lance would’ve felt bad asking him to push it back. So here he was lugging up his groceries, snacks for movie night, and enough candy and decorations to throw a Halloween party fit for a queen. Or 25 first-graders.
Of course, he could’ve done it in multiple trips, but Lance McClain was lazy. He also wasn’t a quitter. He already wasn’t looking forward to bringing this back to his car on Monday.
He was fumbling for his keys when he heard, “Need a hand?”
Lance glanced up from his pockets and promptly dropped all his groceries onto the floor. Onions and bags of candy spilled everywhere, but Lance couldn’t have cared less.
Keith was standing at the top of the stairs in nothing but basketball shorts and running shoes. His hair was tied up into a messy ponytail and his face was flushed red. He had clearly just gotten back from an evening run and it took every ounce of Lance’s willpower not to stare open-mouthed at his very defined six-pack glistening in sweat.
“Oh, hi Keith,” Lance said, his voice cracking slightly when he said Keith’s name.
Maybe he really was cursed with bad luck.
Keith was snickering into his hand. “You know, you say you’re not clumsy, but I’m having a hard time believing you. Here, let me help.”
Lance stood frozen in place as Keith made his way over to help him pick up the fallen groceries. As Keith bent down to pick up some of the stray onions, Lance got a full view of his wide, smooth back. Flushing deeply, Lance snapped out of his reverie and quickly crouched down to pick up the candy. Once, his hand brushed against Keith’s and he let out a soft squeak that he prayed only he could hear. Keith didn’t react, so he breathed a sigh of relief. When they had finally placed everything back into the bags, Lance opened his door and they brought the groceries inside.
Turning to Keith he said, “Thanks again. You keep catching me at bad times.”
“It’s really no problem.” Keith wiped sweat away from his brow with his arm and grinned. That is foul play, Lance screamed silently.
As Keith turned to go, Lance suddenly realized he didn’t really want him to leave quite yet. Before he could stop himself he said, “Do you want to stay for dinner?”
Keith paused and turned to look at Lance questioningly. “What?”
Lance backpedaled and stammered, “I mean, just as like thanks for breakfast yesterday and also for helping me with the groceries and probably also preemptive thanks for some time in the future when you’ll probably have to inevitably save my ass again. And we are neighbors and all so I thought you know, you could have dinner here. I cook a pretty bomb arroz con pollo.”
Keith was still staring at Lance, but his face broke out into a smile. “Well, I can’t say you’re not persuasive, but can you give me like twenty minutes?”
Lance furrowed his brow. “Oh yeah, of course. Why?”
Keith gestured to his torso. “Uh, I kind of need to take a shower.”
Lance blushed for the hundredth time that night. “Oh, right.”
Still grinning, Keith said, “Be back in a bit. I expect great things from you.”
Lance crumpled to the floor as the door clicked shut. This was really bad for his sanity.
Saturday, October 29, 8:58 PM
“Wait, so can you repeat all of that one more time.”
Lance put his head in his hands. “Pidge, I’ve already told you a thousand times. He came over for dinner. We talked. Well, I mostly talked. I invited him to movie night. That’s all!”
Pidge flopped over onto Lance. “No, no. It was way better the first time you told it, because you were so hung up on his muscles. Or maybe the fourth time was the best because you added in that part about him helping you wash the dishes after.”
Hunk chimed in, “I liked the seventh time when he described Keith’s laugh for five minutes.”
“Ooh, good one Hunk. Or what about the third time when Lance got all mushy talking about how Keith’s face scrunches up when he eats something spicy.” They laughed and collapsed further onto Lance.
Lance squirmed and attempted to push them away. “Alright, that’s enough you two. Seriously, it’s not that big of a deal.”
Pidge grabbed both sides of Lance’s face. “No, you listen to me, Lancey boy. This is a big deal. You’ve got the hots for your neighbor and in T-2 minutes he will be here. You can either make a blubbering fool out of yourself or you can actually do something about it. You will initiate contact. Do I make myself clear?”
“Perfectly,” Lance said through his squished cheeks.
Hunk pumped his fist. “Operation Black Cat is a go!”
Lance screeched, “Why are you calling it that?”
Hunk rolled his eyes. “Obviously, because that’s what started all of this and because you have a tendency to do stupid things around Keith.”
Lance was about to protest more, but a knock on the door interrupted his thought process. His palms were starting to feel kind of sweaty and he muttered, “Oh Jesus, he’s here.” Pidge and Hunk snickered as Lance got up to open the door.
“Hi Keith!” Lance said a bit too enthusiastically. Keith was wearing a tight black t-shirt and baggy red sweats. It really was unfair how hot he looked in pajamas.
“Hey! Sorry I’m late. God, It’s really pouring out there. I got soaked, but I wanted to get some of my brother’s Halloween cupcakes before he closed up shop.” Keith said as he nodded towards the box in his hands.
Lance heard Hunk faintly whisper, “Oh my god, tell Lance to marry him on the spot.”
Lance laughed a little too loudly to cover up Hunk’s commentary and said, “Wow thanks Keith! You—I mean, they look great!”
Keith frowned. “Lance, the box is closed you can’t see them.”
Still laughing awkwardly, Lance said, “Well, I’m sure they’re wonderful and the box is really pretty. Anyways, come in.”
He heard Keith say under his breath, “The box is white,” but he ignored it and Hunk and Pidge’s repressed giggles.
By the time he got the snacks and cupcakes laid out on the table, Pidge and Hunk had started Ghostbusters and were sharing a blanket on one side of the couch. Lance saw that they had purposefully left one blanket and a tiny space between Keith and Hunk.
He had the worst best friends.
Lifting the blanket and taking his seat, he tried his best not to encroach into Keith’s space too much, but he could feel Hunk subtly pushing him into Keith. If Keith minded having Lance press into him like this, he didn’t say anything about it.
The opening scene in the library had just finished when suddenly the TV and the kitchen lights clicked off and the room went completely dark.
“Really?” Pidge yelled into the darkness. “Lance, I swear, you are having the worst luck. Even your apartment is done with your shit."
“How is this my fault??”
“Whatever. C’mon Hunk, let’s go. I’m sure the two of us can find the circuit breaker and help Lance’s useless manager understand basic electrical engineering.” Hunk turned on the flashlight on his phone and the two of them headed towards the door.
Lance started to get up. “Do you need help? This is my apartment.”
Pidge held up her hand. “Oh please, like we need your help. You’ll just make it worse.”
“Hey, what do you—“
But Pidge just closed the door behind them and left Keith and Lance in the dark.
Lance didn’t know what to do after that, but luckily Keith asked, “Want a cupcake?”
Lance let out a short, amused breath. “Yeah, for sure.” Keith turned on his phone light and grabbed a cupcake from the table. Lance received it gratefully and admired the cute little ghost decoration. “I knew they looked great.”
Keith snorted into his cupcake as he took a bite. “Yeah, they taste amazing, too.”
“If they are anything like those croissants, I’m sure they are.” Lance took a generous bite out of his cupcake and nearly moaned. Luckily, it was muted by the sheer amount of cupcake in his mouth, but that didn’t stop him from immediately taking another bite.
“I told you so,” Keith teased. Lance licked frosting off his thumb and simply nodded before reaching for another cupcake.
“Your brother’s a genius.”
“Yeah, he’s always been the star of the family,” Keith said with admiration, but there was also a subtle tone of bitterness in his voice.
Lance tilted his head a bit. “What do you mean by that?”
Keith sighed. “Nothing. Forget about it.” He started to get up, but Lance grabbed his arm.
“No, really Keith. What is it?”
Keith sat back down and murmured, “He’s just always been the better kid, you know? I love him to death, but because I was kind of a troubled kid he started treating me like his child instead of like his brother. I feel like he doesn’t respect my decisions anymore. I mean, I know where he’s coming from, but I’m 26 for crying out loud. I think I can handle myself a bit better than when I was sixteen.”
The two of them sat in silence for a moment, before Lance said, “I don’t really know anything about your situation, but I have four siblings, so I’ve definitely experienced being the underappreciated child. Let’s just say, I had to get pretty good at communication to get any of my feelings noticed.”
Keith chuckled a little at that. “Is that why you can’t shut up sometimes?”
Lance made an offended noise. “Excuse me? What do you mean sometimes? I never shut up.” He tingled with pride when Keith laughed even more at that.
“So you’re telling me the key to solving my brother angst is talking like you?” Keith’s tone was light, but Lance sensed he expected a real answer.
He turned to look at Keith, whose face glowed from the light of his phone. “Nah, you don’t have to be as perfect as me, but don’t be afraid to tell him how you’re feeling. He probably doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. I know I can get overbearing with my younger siblings. It’s just habit and habits can be changed.”
Keith met Lance’s eyes and smiled. “Yeah. I know you’re right, but I guess I just needed to talk to someone about it first. So, uh thanks.”
“It’s no big deal. I have to help you out sometimes too,” Lance joked.
“Yeah, and maybe after we talk it out, you can meet him. He’s really cool and I think you’d get along,” Keith said as looked shyly back down at the ground. Lance’s heart pounded rapidly in his chest and, in a moment of unprecedented bravery, he moved his hand from Keith’s wrist and interlaced their fingers together.
“I’d love that,” Lance said, trying to keep his voice steady. He cleared his throat and tried again, “Actually, uh, I was thinking…”
If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?
Lance looked up as the movie resumed and the kitchen lights flickered. Now that they weren’t in the security of complete darkness anymore, he expected Keith to snatch his hand away, but to Lance’s surprise, Keith didn’t move a muscle. Lance felt a glimmer of hope and risked sneaking a glance down at Keith, whose cheeks were faintly dusted light pink.
The sight made Lance’s throat go dry and he attempted again by saying, “If you aren’t doing anything tomorrow, maybe—“
The door slammed open and Pidge and Hunk walked in triumphantly.
“Told you we would fix it!” Pidge said. “So did you kids have fun while we were gone?”
Lance almost groaned in exasperation, but when Keith’s hand squeezed his under the blanket, he simply grinned and said, “Yeah, we did.”
Sunday, October 30, 2:06 PM
Lance emerged from the car and said, “Thanks for the ride, Coran.”
“No problem. Thanks for helping out with the afternoon tutoring session. I have never seen those kids so interested in books, well, ever.”
Lance shot him a grin and said, “Everything’s better when it’s about space, Coran. And when you read in silly voices. Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, and Lance?” Lance stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at Coran. “Good luck with that boy.” Coran winked and Lance’s face burned a deep red.
He spluttered, “Has Hunk been gossiping with you and Allura behind my back again?!”
Coran pretended to zip his lips. “There is definitely not a secret group chat we all have titled ‘Shalalala Kiss da Girl’ and a running bet about when it will happen. Try to wait until after Halloween for my sake.”
“CORAN!”
“See you tomorrow Lance, my boy!”
Lance looked up to the sky in exasperation, but the thought of kissing Keith made him feel giddy all over. With renewed determination, he made up his mind to knock on Keith’s door and ask him out on a date as soon as he got upstairs. He started to climb up the stairs to the apartment entrance when he heard Keith’s voice in the parking lot. Leaning back a bit, he spotted Keith talking to someone sitting in a black sedan. He briefly debated calling out to him when he saw something that made his heart stopped.
Keith threw his head back and laughed with a pure and effortless joy that Lance had never thought he was capable of.
The more Lance watched the scene unfold, the more expressions Keith made from mock annoyance to a mischievous waggle of his eyebrows. Lance wanted to look away so badly, but he was rooted in place. He was entranced by the range of emotions Keith expressed, but the pang in his heart reminded him that someone else was making him show them.
Only when he saw someone’s toned arm reach out of the car window to pull Keith towards them, did Lance finally yank the door open and slam it behind him. Hundreds of different thoughts swirled around in his brain as he took a minute to collect himself.
Of course, he already had someone. Who were you kidding?
You thought holding hands meant something? Even your students know better than that and they’re first graders.
He’s already so happy. Why would he ever need you?
Taking a few shaky breaths, he let out a muted strangled scream of frustration before walking up the stairs. He’d only known Keith for less than a week. Why was he making such a big deal out of it? He’d been rejected by tons of people before. This was no different.
“Lance is that you?” Keith said as he opened the door.
At the sound of Keith’s voice, Lance realized that this was different. And of all people he could’ve fallen for, he had chosen someone who was already taken.
Ignoring Keith calling his name, he sprinted up the steps and didn’t stop running until he got to his door and had locked it securely behind him.
Talk about bad fucking luck.
Monday, October 31, 7:23 PM
“Hunk, I don’t want to talk about this.”
“I just think you must’ve jumped to conclusions. Keith was all over you. I saw you two on Saturday. You thought you could hide that hand holding? Or those blushes? Just talk to him.”
Lance squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Trust me, I know what I saw Hunk and we aren’t kids anymore. Hand holding doesn’t mean jack shit. We hold hands all the time.”
“Not like that we don’t.” Hunk sighed and said, “Fine. Don’t talk to him, but I’m still bringing you dinner. We had a long day. I’m pulling out of Lily’s as we speak.”
“You’re the best,” Lance said as he collapsed onto the couch with a beer in hand.
“Forever and always,” Hunk said before he hung up.
Lance lazily threw his phone on the table and stared at the ceiling. Hunk and Pidge had spent the greater part of the day trying to convince him to talk to Keith and try to ask him out anyways. They kept saying they had seen Lance ask people out on a whim on a near hourly basis, so why was he backing out of this one when it was so obvious to them that Keith liked him? Lance willed away the images of Keith’s loose and easy going smiles. They didn’t know anything. They hadn’t seen him like that.
In spite of himself, Lance couldn’t help remembering the way Keith’s shoulders had slumped in displeasure before perking up and cackling at something the driver of the black sedan had said. Lance tried to imagine what it’d be like if he could make Keith act like that. If he was the one… Well, it didn’t matter anyways. Taking a swig of his beer, he started to close his eyes when a knock startled him out of his daydreaming.
Lance frowned and got up to answer the door while saying, “What the hell, Hunk. Did you break the sound barrier trying to… Oh.”
Keith was standing in front of him holding a very disgruntled looking cat.
Before Lance could react, Keith had pushed his way into Lance's apartment. Lance debated running out of here and into the night, but the shock of having Keith in his apartment with his cat kept him from bailing.
Keith turned to face Lance. “I need to talk to you.”
“Is it about your cat, because I think we solved that one already,” Lance joked, but his heart wasn’t in it. He couldn’t even look Keith in the eye.
Keith shook his head. “No, it’s not about Kuro. He’s just here for moral support. And as my good luck charm.”
Lance scoffed. “I’ll have you know that cat has caused me nothing but bad luck since we met.”
Keith blurted out, “But ever since Kuro ran into you, I’ve been having nothing but good luck.”
Lance’s head snapped up at that and he saw that Keith’s face and neck had turned a striking shade of red.
“What do you—“
Keith continued, completely disregarding Lance. “I mean, that this week has been nothing but good things. You being in the hallway, you falling onto my coffee table, you missing work, you dropping your groceries, the blackout…” Keith paused and quickly looked at Lance who immediately looked away. “What I’m trying to say is it feels like fate has been fucking throwing you at my face non-stop for the past week and just when I started accepting that maybe this could… that you and I could maybe be something… Well, you started avoiding me yesterday! So I just, decided to take fate into my own hands. Literally.” He gestured to Kuro, who seemed very annoyed at his own role in this mess.
Lance didn’t know when his jaw had fallen open, but he closed it as Keith finished rambling. Still refusing to look at Keith properly, he muttered, “I don’t know what you want out of this Keith, but I can’t have this kind of closeness to someone who’s already dating.”
Kuro yowled as he was unceremoniously dropped onto the floor.
“Someone who is what?!” Keith yelled, his face screwed up in confusion.
“I saw you talking to that person in that car yesterday! I know you’re seeing someone!”
“The car yesterday…” Keith smacked his forehead. “You idiot, that was Shiro. He’s my brother! Not my boyfriend!”
Lance knew that he was supposed to be having a huge revelation right now, but he could only focus on one thing. “Wait, your brother’s name is Shiro and you named your cat Kuro? What kind of sick joke is that?!”
Keith gave him an incredulous look. “You know Japanese?”
“Of course not, but don't underestimate how much shitty anime I’ve watched in my lifetime.”
Keith buried his face in his hands and said, “We are getting off-topic here. Why would you just automatically assume that person was my boyfriend? You gave me advice about how to talk it out with my brother literally the day before! That’s what we were doing! Talking it out!”
Lance threw his hands in the air. “You just seemed so open with him and he pulled you into the car window and I thought he was kissing you.”
“Oh my god!” Keith stuck his tongue out in disgust. “He was just giving me a hug. What’s wrong with you?!”
“I’m sorry, okay? I get insecure about people I have gigantic crushes on.”
Keith froze and he stammered, “You—you what?”
Lance tried to think of ways he could salvage that, but he was already crashing and burning so might as well go the full mile. “Alright, fine! I have a huge, fat crush on you! You’re perfect! Your face is so infuriatingly adorable and even your mullet isn’t half bad. Are you happy now?”
Keith just stared at Lance open-mouthed before spluttering, “And you didn’t tell me?!”
“I didn’t think you liked me back!”
Keith threw his hands out in front of him. “I held your hand all night! I thought we had a bonding moment!”
Lance sighed. “We did, but—oh, I don’t know, I just thought you might be touchy feely kind of person.” At that, Keith folded his arms and arched an eyebrow.
“Lance, does any of me scream touchy feely to you?”
Well, Lance had to give that to him. “I was trying not to judge you by your scene kid haircut and your fingerless gloves, but ok I guess you’re right.”
Keith ignored the insults and rolled his eyes. “Of course I’m right. I only get like that with people I like and if you didn’t get it already, I like you! A lot! Get that through your thick skull!”
Keith was huffing short, frustrated breaths and gradually Lance realized that his wish had come true. He’s seen the whole fucking rainbow of Keith’s emotional spectrum. He laughed to himself as he began to understand that the only thing he wanted right now was to see more of it.
Keith grimaced. “What are you laughing about now? This is serious, Lance. I really do—Uh, what are you doing?“ Lance had slowly started making his way towards Keith until there was only half an inch of space between them now.
Lance wove his fingers into Keith’s hair and drank in the blush that crept up Keith’s face before saying, “Just appreciating the view.” When Keith frowned deeply and started to open his mouth to respond, Lance just giggled and pulled Keith towards him, closing that last bit of space between their lips.
Their kiss was made up of slow and tentative pecks at first, but then Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s neck and pushed himself deeper into the kiss. Lance flitted his tongue across Keith’s teeth and was rewarded with a small moan. Unable to help himself, Lance peeked at Keith through half-opened eyes and his knees buckled at the sight. He was sure the completely serene look of bliss on Keith’s face would be something he remembered for the rest of his life.
“Woah, guess you won’t be needing this pick-me-up burrito anymore, huh?”
Keith and Lance broke apart slightly to see Hunk standing in the hallway with a paper bag in his hand.
Lance smirked and said, “Nah, Hunk. The burrito’s still completely necessary.”
Kuro mewled in approval and rubbed against Hunk’s legs.
Hunk grinned as he held up the bag. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I bought three of them.”
Keith tucked his face into Lance’s chest and chuckled softly. “Well, isn’t that a stroke of good luck.”