Chapter Text
Keith was well aware of the consequences of divulging Lance’s attempts to rile him up. While for the most part, he could be cool and collected (which made his job as a high school teacher quite easy), Lance just had a way of getting a rise out of him that not even his own brother could achieve.
That’s probably how Shiro figured out his crush on Lance so quickly.
It happened while the siblings were taking their usual post-workout walk. The tradition started on accident. Keith made sure to always stay in relevant shape, having the unfortunate past of running from his foster homes. One day, Shiro caught up to him and started running with him, no words were exchanged between them. Until one day, Keith was the one to break the silence, feeling irritated by his lack of privacy. Yet while others would yell right back at Keith’s choice of words, Shiro simply gave an answer and kept walking. Slowly, this turned into a bonding experience and while Shiro left for college, he’d always keep the tradition when he came back home for his breaks.
It was then that Shiro dropped the bomb on him.
“Wow, Matt was right. You do have a crush on him.” Keith to stumble on his feet, taken by surprise by the sudden shift in subject. Thankfully, Shiro was able to grab him to keep him from truly falling.
“What are you talking about? I DON’T have a crush on Lance.” Shiro let him go but held him down with his stare.
“Oh really? You just spent the last 15 minutes complaining about how annoying he was during your group project.” Keith scoffed.
“That doesn’t prove anything, Shiro. Actually, it should prove the opposite! I was complaining about him!” Shiro’s look never subsided.
“Yeah, but when I absentmindedly agreed with a complaint, you’d point out something he did correctly in his defense.” Finding he didn’t have his own defense, a red-faced Keith just continued walking, a smug Shiro on his tail.
Keith could easily lie and say this occurrence of complaining/complimenting Lance wasn’t usual, but it would be just that: a lie. He talked so much about Lance that it might as well be a part of their walking tradition. So yeah, maybe Shiro was right and he had a crush. And unfortunately for him, Matt knew too. A fact he’d never be allowed to live down.
“Okay sure, but that doesn't prove I have a crush on him. How do you know I don’t just admire him.”
“Yeah, because that’s such a straight explanation.” Not satisfied with that, Shiro continued on. “You went to go watch IT with him.” That shut Keith up quickly.
Keith hates scary movies. Before his dad died, he would watch scary movies with him, curled up in his arms and hiding behind him when the truly scary bits occurred. And after his dad died, he didn’t have anyone to do that with so he gave them up. Having grown up and all, he didn’t watch them anymore out of sheer stubbornness. At least, that’s what Shiro believed.
But Lance hated scary movies even more than he did. He was susceptible to jump scares. Unfortunately for Lance though, he hated feeling left out whenever Pidge and Hunk talked about them more. And Keith was a sucker for anything Lance-related.
So that’s how Keith ended up offering to go with him to a midnight screening of IT. He hated almost every minute of it leading up to that little kid’s arm being eaten off. That was until Lance grabbed his arm and did the same thing he would do with his own dad and hide behind him. It wasn’t too bad of an experience in the end, At least until they got to the end and Lance turned to him to say “I can’t wait for the next part” and Keith knew he was definitely whipped. Because he was going to the next one, fears and his past be damned.
So while Lance was the best person at getting a rise out of him, he was the one that could get him to agree to things he usually wouldn’t. So Keith ran away from Shiro, unwilling to tell him anything that would embarrass him any more than he already felt.
Unknown to him, Lance actually loved scary movies and wanted an excuse to hold onto Keith. A fact that was revealed to him by Veronica once they got together.
“I’m so grateful he has you in his life now. He deserves someone good and you’re pretty alright.” Keith felt himself smile at that, knowing Lance’s sister approved of their relationship. “Also, after you came into his life, he’s stopped dragging me to see all those horror movies.”
“Oh, so it’s a family fear?” Keith’s family consisted mainly of Shiro, who didn’t necessarily care for the genre, less out of fear and more out of the lack of consistent plot (“that made no sense!”).
Veronica gave him a look. “Um, fear? Nah, only the little ones are still scared of those types of movies. Although it won’t be long now until Lance manages to convert them into horror movie fanatics like he is.” This time, it was Keith that gave Veronica a look.
“No, Lance hates horror movies. He made me watch Sinister with him because no one else would.” After a pause, it seemed to click in Veronica’s mind what occurred. Making a motion to follow her, she opened the bathroom door and shoved him in.
“Wait here.” With that, she closed the door and he heard her footsteps as she walked away. While confused, Keith thought it wise to listen to Veronica. After a few moments, he could hear two sets of footsteps approaching, a very obvious “Ronnie, what do you want?” Coming from his boyfriend.
“Sorry, there was just a lot of noise. I was wondering if you wanted to go watch that new IT movie coming out soon?” Goodness, Keith remembered having to sit through the trailer with Pidge (“Lance is gonna make you take him anyways, might as well know what it’s about”).
He didn’t get why Veronica asked Lance to go with her. Veronica hated those movies as much as Lance, according to him. Or so Keith thought. “Hell yeah, I would! I already roped Keith into coming. But you can’t tell him.”
“Uh, why?” While he couldn’t see Lance, Keith was able to picture the sheepish look he usually gave before saying something that was usually dumb.
“Before we started dating, I needed an excuse to get close to him. I remember Shiro mentioning Keith hating horror movies so I took that and ran with it. Now I’m in too deep with the lie to back peddle.” That caused Veronica to laugh. But Keith had a feeling it was less at what Lance said and more at the knowledge he admitted to it with his boyfriend less than 2 feet from him.
“So you’re saying you’ve been pretending to be scared of horror movies just so you could hold Keith’s hand for the past 3 years?” Lance didn’t have an audible response, but Keith was sure Lance just gave a shrug of defeat. “God, you were whipped. Go find your boy and text me when you and Keith are free to go to the movies.”
Footsteps, Lance’s he presumed, could be heard walking away again. This time he heard a knock at the door and Keith walked out to meet Veronica. “That’s your Casanova. A mischievous little guy since we were kids.” Before Keith could respond, she put her arm around him and led him towards the rest of the party.
So sure Lance was pretending to hate horror movies. And sure, that’s the reason he’s gone to see the last 53 horror movies that Lance wanted to experience but was too nervous to do on his own (allegedly!). But even with those initial restless nights following the late screenings of movies, he couldn’t make himself be mad at Lance, especially when those nights led to many cuddle sessions (and more, once they got together) between the pair.
So yeah, maybe a life of scary movies won’t be fun, but they’ll be better with Lance’s neck to hide in. So that ring Keith had hidden upstairs was still viable enough for him.
And the very fact that Lance could get him to agree to anything was how he ended up in this particular situation.
“Hello, Mr. Kogane.” The girl, who Keith recognized as Maria, was a student of Lance’s. While Lance had students coming in and out on random days during lunch, Maria was there every day, whether it be to talk to her teacher or in the corner while other students did.
“Hi Maria, what can I help you with?” The girl seemed nervous, so any iciness Keith usually held he made sure to cover up as much as he could.
“Um, Mr. McClain is out sick today,” a lie, as he was at home binge-watching the new season of Bridgerton, “and I was hoping I could eat lunch with you? Just for today! I just don’t like sitting in such a noisy place and all the people make me anxious. But if you’re busy or have a meeting, that’s totally cool too! Actually, never mind, it’s very selfish of me to expect you to acc-”
Keith had to interrupt her. He felt that if he didn’t, she’d start crying. “You’re okay, Maria. You can definitely eat lunch with me, I have no other plans.” He made sure of it. Lance had given him a heads up on Maria, so he cleared everything (which wasn’t much to begin with) on his schedule for this time anyways.
“Thank you.” She walked into the room and debated where to sit, opting for the desk nearest to him. While he didn’t necessarily feel inclined for conversation, Maria had other plans. “So, are you and Mr. McClain dating?” That caused him to pause, feeling this conversation come out of nowhere.
“Why do you ask?” While she may have been an anxious girl, she certainly wasn’t shy about her thoughts.
“Well, before Mr. McClain started working here, you were really reserved.” Mistaking Keith’s surprise with offense, Maria quickly tried to defend. “ Which isn’t a bad thing! I just mean, you would just do your job, well if I might add, but that was it. And while you’re entitled to your privacy and stuff, when Mr. McClain showed up, you started arguing and stuff. And you’re so funny now! I dunno, just a thought.” With that, as if she didn’t just drop a mini bombshell on Keith, Maria went back to her phone and her lunch.
And while Keith couldn’t necessarily argue with her due to her status as a student, he wouldn’t have been able to defend himself. Although he didn’t notice until she brought it up, he had been more inclined to his “emotional” outbursts, as Shiro use to call them. And knowing that, he knew the main cause of most of those outbursts has been the same since his freshman year of college.
“Alright, you got me there. But why would you think we were dating?” This seemed to make the girl blush a little, but she felt safe enough to share with him. After all, Mr. McClain said she could trust him and she trusted Mr. McClain.
“Well, I use to think Mr. McClain was really cute so I would… stare. And one day you came in and saw the way he starred at you and thought ‘oh, that must be why he bothers Mr. Kogane so much. He has a crush!’ But then, I saw how you stared back at him while he was helping a kid in the hallway this one day in between classes and was able to piece it together.” Keith felt his face heat up, remembering the day she was talking about clearly. While he knew and had seen Lance play with his own nieces and nephews, this was the first time he saw Lance with a kid he wasn’t related to. Keith always had the smallest of doubts that Lance would want to adopt a kid and love it the same way he would someone from his own blood. But that day helped erase any doubts he had. And that same night, Keith asked Lance about adoption. Yet, as most moments when you’re remembering something heartwarming in a school, teenagers seem to break the moment. “That and Ms. Pidge once yelled at y’all to stop making kissy faces in the school parking lot after school.” That caused Keith to click his tongue.
“Yeah, that sounds about right for Pidge.” Maria laughed at that, but Keith had a small doubt in mind. He did work with teenagers after all. “Can we keep this between us? While I have become more ‘outgoing,’” he put air quotes around outgoing, “I’d rather not inform the whole school of my private life.” Maria nodded, making the lips locked maneuver over her mouth.
“Promise.” And with that, the bell rang and she gathered her things together. And while Keith was already grabbing his phone to dial his husband, he called for her before she opened the door.
“And Maria? He is really cute.” With that, the young girl walked out the door laughing, but not before hearing a “Hey Lance, guess what?” from Mr. Kogane’s classroom.