Work Text:
4:22 PM
“Lance! Ya esta la comida! Apurate!” ( “Lance! The food is ready! Hurry!” )
Lance let out a soft sigh, but offered his mother the brightest smile he could muster as he lifted his tray full of food and delivered it to the awaiting family. Today wasn’t particularly a terrible shift at his family’s restaurant. Sure, the teenagers in the corner booth were being noisy and borderline rude, and the party of ten left a huge mess and a lousy tip…but it was manageable. He’s seen worse, and he will see worse at La Playa.
However, when the familiar metallic clang rings out from entrance, Lance feels the last sliver of strength leave his body. It may not have been a terrible shift, but he had been on his feet for the last four and a half hours with no real break since his lunch. He could thank his inability to say no to his big brother for his extra shift today… Time to start pumping himself up for the next group he’d be serving.
“Shiro!” Lance whipped around at the sound of his mother’s broken English. His mother wasn’t exactly short for her size, averaging about five foot four inches, but in the embrace of the six foot man, she looked absolutely tiny. As the Cuban woman takes Shiro’s face in her hands to kiss him on each cheek, his black horn rimmed glasses tilt up to one side. After readjusting the lenses, his dark eyes flicker up and stare at Lance. When Shiro smiled and waved using his prosthetic arm, Lance had to remind himself how to breathe.
Shiro was a regular at La Playa and that gave Lance just enough time to develop the most pathetic crush on the guy. It started with Lance building up the courage to talk to him, and had now reached the status of a budding friendship, complete with frequent teasing and the occasional flirt. As their relationship grew, Lance decided that Takashi Shirogane had the most beautiful soul he had ever come across.
It seemed that despite the hardships life threw at him, Shiro never turned bitter or cruel. At times Lance wasn’t sure whether Shiro was the kindest person in the world, or if that title still belonged to his mother. Shiro took the time to listen to Lance when he needed to rant about his shift and could usually give him some sound advice. With each visit, Lance would notice more of the little things that made Shiro charming, and panicked when he realized he was head over heels for the young psychology student.
Lance shook his head, clearing the dreamy haze Shiro created in his mind, and strolled over to greet him.
“Hey there Hot Stuff,” Lance winked and pulled out the menu from the side of the counter. “The usual table for one?”
“Two, actually,” Shiro corrected sheepishly. “I uh…well, believe it or not, I’ve got a date tonight. They’re gonna meet me here.” And just like that, Lance’s spirits were crushed once again. He realized that he must have looked like a gaping fish when Shiro nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, crazy right? Someone actually wants to meet up and get to know me.”
‘I already know you and I love you!’ Lance wailed in his head. A gentle hand touched Lance’s arm. His mother smiled knowingly and gently took the menu from her son’s tight grip.
“We serve you,” she waved a pointed finger between herself and Lance.
“Muchas gracias!” Shiro thanked and followed the shorter woman to a booth against the wall. Lance trudged back to the kitchen window to busy himself and forget the disappointment scraping at his stomach.
oXoXoXoXoXoXo
4:51 PM
“Still waiting huh?” Lance questioned Shiro as he brought him another Dr. Pepper. Shiro smiled up at his waiter and shrugged.
“It’s rush hour time, so they’ll probably be late.” He lifted the red plastic cup, said “cheers,” and took a long drink. His Adam’s apple bobbed once for the first swallow, then bobbed again. Lowering the cup, a small dribble of the beverage slipped through the corner of Shiro’s mouth. Instead of taking a napkin from the silver dispenser on the table, Shiro found the back of his wrist to clean off the beverage better suited. And Lance wouldn’t dare disagree with his logic…
Lance retreated back to the kitchen when he caught himself ogling at the customer.
oXoXoXoXoXoXo
5:20 PM
Lance was busing the table at the back of the restaurant when his mother comes up to him, notepad in hand, and pen in the other.
“No se te olvide de limpiar el baño después,” She prodded her son with the pen. (“Don’t forget to clean the bathrooms afterwards.”) Lance groaned and received a light tap from the notepad. He stole a glance over to Shiro, then the door, and let out a sigh.
“Todavia esta esperando?” Lance muttered. (“He’s still waiting?”)
“Dice que no quiere ordenar hasta que vine,” she said. (“He said he doesn’t want to order until they come.”) With a small huff, Lance turned his attention to the next table in need of bussing.
“Yo no entiendo como la gente puede ser así Mamá,” Lance growled, throwing the dirty dishes into his bussing tub. “Como pueden decir que quieren salir en una cita pero llegar una hora tarde? Eso es malo educación! Yo nunca hiciera eso. O si tengo que llegar tarde, por lo menos aviso con tiempo! Si yo iba salir con Shiro, yo estuviera aquí media hora antes! Como puede hacer eso a alguien tan dulce, tan sincero, tan guapo como el?! No lo merece Mamá! No es justo y el—” (“I don’t understand how people can be like that Mom. How can they say they want to go out with someone but then show up an hour late? That’s poor etiquette! I would never do that. Or if I do have to get there late, at least I let them know ahead of time! If I was going to go out with Shiro, I would be here half an hour before! How could someone do that to someone so sweet, so sincere, so handsome like him?! He doesn’t deserve it Mom! It’s not fair and he—”)
“MIJO!”
Lance snapped back into reality when he felt his mother’s firm hand on his arm. She motioned with her head towards the restaurant and that’s when Lance noticed that many of the restaurant’s customers had their eyes on him. Including Shiro.
Lance wasn’t being that loud…was he? Shiro gave him a concerned smile.
Shit…
Lance lowered his head and waved at the customers, who immediately went back to their previous conversations before the small outburst. He felt that now would be a good time to bury himself under a rock… His mother took his hands in her own and kissed them.
“No worry!” Lance’s mother sang to him. “You happy!” Lance couldn’t help but laugh after that. It was something Lance always sang to her when she was feeling down or overwhelmed. He was sort of surprised to see how well it worked in brightening his spirits…but only slightly. Either way, he couldn’t help but be grateful for her attempt to make him feel better and trapped her into a tight hug.
“Gracias, Mamá. Love you!”
“I know Mijo. I know.” After another quick reminder about the bathroom cleaning, she strolled over to Shiro’s table. She held up the notepad and pen. “Ready?” Shiro opens his mouth to come up with another excuse to wait, when a low growl rumbles from his stomach.
“I…I want to keep waiting, but I guess my stomach is ready to order,” Shiro mumbles and picks up the menu to point out his order. Lance bites his bottom lip to keep himself from smiling at how cute Shiro looks when he blushes.
oXoXoXoXoXoXo
6:37 PM
“Mom says that you’re welcome to stay and wait for your date,” he informs Shiro as he picks up his empty plates. Shiro doesn’t answer, his chin resting on his interlocked hands, and his eyes fixated on the restaurant’s door. Lance stared at Shiro for a moment, then glanced at the door before turning back to Shiro. Lance lifted a hand to touch his shoulder, but drew back slightly. Was it really his place to act so concerned? His date could waltz through the door at any second, and he didn’t want them to get the impression that there was something going on.
Which…was stupid, because it was a simple touch, first off.
And second off, the date was in no position to be judging if they was this late.
“Hey,” Lance rested a hand on Shiro’s shoulder. Shiro jumped and blinked up at Lance. “Sorry! Uh… Mom says you can keep waiting here if you want.”
“Oh, thanks,” Shiro muttered, returning his gaze to the door.
“Any thing for our favorite customer,” Lance flashed him a grin, which went unseen. His face went back to concern as Shiro resumed his previous position. “Frown any more and you’ll get terrible wrinkles right here.” Lance lifted a finger to poke at Shiro’s face, and wasn’t surprised when Shiro pulled away. Hurt, maybe, but not surprised.
“Lance, I’m not in the mood,” Shiro mumbled and ran a hand through his hair.
“Hey, don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”
“Easy for you to say...you don’t have to worry about someone taking a look at you and changing their mind.” Shiro tucked his prosthetic arm under the table and let out a sigh. It took Lance a moment to decide whether he should read into the statement more than what was probably intended or not. He decided that he’d take the hidden compliment.
“That’s bull, and you know it,” Lance scoffed. “You’re a good looking guy. You’re date just majorly sucks at time management is all. They’ll be here any--”
A loud clang echoes out from the entrance. Shiro immediately perks up when a tall slender man looks around the restaurant, seeming to search for something. Lance’s frown deepened when he realized how gorgeous the man looked. Shoulder length hair neatly pulled back into a ponytail, a fitted blue button up and dark skinny jeans, topped off with black hiking boots.
So much for not having to worry about someone looking at him and then changing their mind. If this guy was what Lance had to compete with, then Lance didn’t stand a chance… Shiro deserved someone as handsome as him.
The man’s eyes fell onto Shiro’s direction and Lance saw the soft smile starting to spread on the psych major’s lips.
“Is this La Plage ? ” the man called out to Lance, unsure of himself. Lance let out a small groan and placed a hand on his hip. Do people even bother reading the sign on the door?
“No, they moved a year ago,” Lance jabbed his thumb to his left. “Down the street and to the left.”
“Oh ok!” The man laughed. “I was wondering why it didn’t look like a clothing store.” Lance waved the man off as there was another metallic clang from the door when the stranger left. He turned his attention back to Shiro shrugging.
“You’d think people would realize that s—” He cut himself off at the sight of Shiro. His face was covered completely by his hands and Lance swore he could hear a soft, “great.” Everything inside of Lance was telling him to start cracking jokes to lighten up the situation. But after his last attempt, he doubted Shiro was in a mood to be cheered up so soon after the bitter taste of disappointment. So Lance did the next best thing he thought of.
He crouched down so that he was eye level with Shiro, and gently placed a hand on his arm to get his attention. Shiro flinched, and looked at Lance.
“Are you ok?” Lance asked. Shiro’s dark eyes flickered between Lance’s blue eyes, and his arm. He was checking to see if it felt weird because of his prosthetic, but Lance couldn’t care less. It never bothered him and never would. What did bother him, was how crushed Shiro looked when the guy left. Finally realizing that Lance was ok, he surprised him by placing his other hand on top of Lance’s.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Shiro sighed, but smiled nonetheless. “Sorry for that, I was just… You know you’re right, they’re probably just really bad at time management. I’ll be ok, Lance. Thank you.” There was still some traces of sadness on his face, but his smile all but pushed them out of the way. Lance grinned back when Shiro gently squeezed his hand.
There he was again. Heart pounding against his chest and palms starting to sweat. This was the first time he had ever found himself so close to Shiro. He was close enough that he could smell the slightest hint of Old Spice deodorant and peppermint coming from his clothes. He could count the dust speck on his glasses and admire his dark lashes. If Lance really wanted to, he was close enough to kiss—
Lance straightened up immediately and snatched the empty plates on the table once again.
“GOOD! RIGHT!” Lance exclaimed, a bit too loudly. “ Okaaaaay! So I’m just gonna go take these back and stuff! You just, chill here until whenever. Oh, look! You need a refill! Dr. P? Comin’ right up! Mom will get that to you ASAP! Toodles!”
…Toodles? Lance mentally smacked himself for using such a stupid word. In the safety of the kitchen, and after nearly shoving the half full cup of soda into his mother’s hands, Lance took a well needed break.
oXoXoXoXoXoXo
8:25 PM
“Y que paso?” his mother asked when she returned to the kitchen with a tray full of empty dishes. She was of course referring to Shiro, who had his face hidden in his folded arms. (“What happened?”)
Lance growled slightly and shook his head, not taking his eyes off of the man through the serving window. There were only a handful of tables left with customers finishing up their meals when Lance went to go tell Shiro that La Playa would be closing in half an hour. That was when Shiro broke down a little and told Lance what happened. Afterwards, Lance had to excuse himself to the kitchen and fight the urge to punch something.
“Cambio los planes el hijo de puta,” Lance grumbled to his mother. He heard a shocked gasp from her, followed by a firm smack on his arm at the curse word, but he was too ticked to care. “Lo dejo esperando para cuatro horas, Mamá. Cuatro horas! Solo para decirle que ya no puede llegar pero que deben de ir a tomar café un día!” (“The son of a bitch changed plans. He left him waiting for four hours, Mom. Four hours! Just to then tell him that he can’t make it but that they should get coffee sometime.”)
“Ay pobrecito…” the woman placed a hand over her heart and looked to the lonely customer. (“Oh poor thing…”)
Lance hated seeing Shiro like that. He looked so small, so defeated, and just…sad. Lance wanted nothing more than to track down the jerk who stood him up and punch them square in the mouth. Teach them a lesson for hurting this beautiful soul. Lance pushed himself off the counter he was leaning against and rubbed his face in his hands. He just needed to punch something so badly right then and there. He settled for punching a sack of masa left out on the prep table.
“Lance?” his mother finally spoke up. Lance turned and saw she was holding a dish with a white, sponge-like square, covered with brown caramel sauce. She smiled and lifted the plate up a little higher. “Dale este pedazo de flan a Shiro, por favor.” (“Please give this piece of flan to Shiro.”) He blinked at his mother.
“Para que?” (“What for?”)
“Para que?” his mother scoffed and rolled her eyes a little. “No ves que esta triste?” (“Don’t you see he’s sad?”)
“Y usted no se lo puede dar?” (“And you can’t give it to him?”)
“Lance, hazme caso.” (“Lance, listen to me.”)
“Me sentiría mal…” (“I would feel bad…”)
“Y viéndolo triste no te hace sentír mal?” (“And seeing him sad doesn’t make you feel bad?”)
“Bueno si, pero me sentiría raro…” (“Well yeah, but I’d feel weird…”)
“Darselo, Lance.” (“Give it to him, Lance.”)
“P-pero Mamá—” (“B-but Mom—”)
“Ay, no me hagas decirlo otra vez!” (“Oh, don’t make me say it again!”)
Lance wasn’t usually one to fight his mother, but he still wasn’t quite over his last encounter with Shiro. He could still remember how nice he smelled and how good it felt to be so close to him. What his mother was asking him to do was harmless, but he didn’t trust himself to be close to him again like that.
“Lance,” his mother placed one hand on her hip and gave him “the look.” She meant business now. “Voy a contar a tres, y si no haces lo que te digo, ya vas a ver!” (“I’m going to count to three, and if you don’t do what I asked, you’ll see!”)
Oh boy.
“Mamá! Eso no es justo!” Lance protested. (“Mom! That’s not fair!”)
“Uno!” (“One!”)
“Mamá, por favor!” (“Mom, please!”)
“Dos!” (“Two!”)
Lance was an adult now. He had every right to refuse his mother’s request and walk away. If he didn’t want to be close to Shiro again because his heart still hadn’t gone back to it’s regular beating rhythm, then he didn’t have to.
Then again…Lance wasn’t sure if he would rather face Shiro again, or face whatever his mother had in store for him if she got to “three…”
“Y…!” (“And…!”)
Lance let out a small groan and took the dessert plate from his mother’s hands. It wasn’t until he crashed into Shiro’s table and Shiro snapped his head up that he realized he had practically sprinted over to him. They stared at each other for a long awkward minute. Shiro’s eyes were tinted pink and slightly damp. Lance nervously fidgeted with the small dish in his hands.
“Here!” Lance quickly placed the plate in front of Shiro. “Because you’re... flan -tastic.”
There was a small groan from the customer across the room when the pun was launched. Shiro blinked a few times, then, started laughing.
“ Flan -tastic?” he repeated through chuckles.
“It was the first thing that came to mind,” Lance shrugged. Then he added, with his most dashing smile, “Or would you prefer, ‘I must be in a flan-tasy world because you’re here’?” They were the worst puns Lance could have thought of, but if that meant it would have Shiro fighting a fit of giggles, then he’d be more than happy to make himself his personal jester.
“Oh man, that was bad!” Shiro said when he finally calmed himself. “Thank you, Lance…I needed this.”
“Don’t thank me,” Lance flicked his head to the direction of the kitchen. “Mom told me to Flan up and give this to you.”
“Oh God! Stop!” Shiro wiped a tear from his eye. Lance smiled as he watched Shiro’s face light up once again.
“Alright, alright, not everyone can appreciate good puns,” the waiter held his hands up in defense. “Anyways, it’s on the house. And I’ll cover your meal expenses too.”
“Oh! You don’t have to,” Shiro immediately sobered up and reached for his wallet. Lance playfully pat his head.
“It’s the least I can do since I made you suffer through three puns in a row.” Shiro muttered a small thank you and smiled up at Lance. When did Shiro have splashes of gray in his eyes? Lance let out a loud cough and dropped his hand from the top of Shiro’s head. “Welp! Hope you like it!” He started another pathetic retreat back to the kitchen.
“Wait, Lance?”
Lance froze immediately and slowly turned back. Shiro had stood up, almost as though he was about to run after his server. His hand was out stretched slightly, which he pulled back and then gestured at the dessert. “There’s, uh, enough to share…do you want share it?”
“…yeah,” Lance smiled. “I’d love to.”
oXoXoXoXoXoXo
“You’re kidding?!”
“My siblings never really got into Zelda, ok?!”
“Lance! You’re missing out on so much!”
“It’s just Link running around trying to save his sister, or girlfriend, or whatever, right?”
“Lance! No! There’s so much more depth! There are puzzles, and you get cool items that allow you to unlock new areas, and it's a classic! You can track most of video game history through Zelda games. That’s how classic this shit is. Link is what every kid wants to be. He's thrown into an epic adventure and gets to wield cool weapons and explore amazing spaces and wreck evil dudes, and as the player, so do you.”
“Sounds like Kingdom Hearts…but, with a little less Disney in it.”
“Try a lot less.”
The two boys started laughing again. This was a dream…it had to be. There was no way this living statue of David could be an actual dork and willing to talk about geek stuff with a nerd like Lance! Of course their conversation hadn’t solely been about Lance’s limited knowledge in the Nintendo classic. They started off with awkward small talk (their last encounter fresh in their minds), but as soon as they found out they had both studied astrophysics at one point in college, everything clicked. It was easy to tell Shiro how Lance felt overwhelmed at school and had to take a few semester off to gather himself again. And Shiro had no problem admitting that while he loved learning about the science of the universe, he was more drawn towards the science and function of the mind.
Sure, they didn’t agree or see eye-to-eye on all subjects (they had a lengthy discussion about whether Dungeons and Dragons was truly superior to Pathfinder or not), but it was fun. Probably one of the best conversations Lance had had in awhile. And yeah, it did kind of help that his conversation partner was really cute.
“Niños?” Lance and Shiro turned their attention to Lance’s mother. She looked exhausted but nevertheless offered a teasing smile as she tapped on her wrist. The two boys quickly pulled out their phones to check the time.
10:27 PM
Way past closing time.
“Shoot!” Shiro jumped up from his seat. “I have a paper due at midnight!”
“Oh right,” Lance chuckled and picked up the now empty dessert plate. “The forever debate between religious morality and…uh…”
“Secular morality, yeah. It’s a good thing I’m almost finished anyways. Just have to go and polish up a few sentences and rework the conclusion. You know, you reminded me of some quotes from Socrates that I can use and could help support my argument in this paper.”
“Socrates huh?” Lance smirked. “And to think, this is all coming from the guy who thought that Pathfinder was just a car.” Shiro grinned sheepishly and shrugged.
“Lava el plato y después nos vamos,” the shorter woman instructed her son. (“Wash the plate and then we’ll go.”)
“Ok Mamá,” Lance saluted and then smiled back at Shiro. “Good luck with your paper.”
“Thanks Lance…and thanks for sitting and talking with me. It was fun.”
“Yeah, it was.” They stood and grinned at each other for another moment before Lance’s mother cleared her throat. The two boys started scrambling to get back to their respective responsibilities. The metallic clang echoed out louder in the now empty restaurant when Shiro opened the door. He was about to take a step out, before he paused, and turned back to Lance.
“Hey…are you going to be here next week?” Shiro asked.
“I think so?” Lance quirked an eyebrow.
“Cool! I mean…I’m going to be busy with papers and studying for the next few days, but I think I have some free time next week if you…um, wanted to talk again?” Lance’s eyes widened a bit. Did he…did he just…? Lance quickly looked to his mother and asked about his work schedule.
“Oh! Ya!” his mother nodded excitedly to Shiro after the quick explanation. “You come and take Lance on date?”
“MAMÁ!” Lance yelped. Shiro laughed and Lance prayed that the earth would open up and eat him up.
“Sí, that was the flan,” Shiro said. Then paused when he realized what he said. “Plan! I meant plan!” It was Lance’s turn to laugh. “That’s your fault, not mine!”
“Sure, whatever you say,” Lance waved. “You have my number now, so…text me?”
“Of course,” Shiro grinned. With one final shy good-bye, Shiro excused himself and ran off to finish his assignment. Lance ran a hand through his hair and couldn’t stop grinning.
“Ya vistes?!” Lance’s mother gave him a tight hug from the side. “Ahora cuando te digo que hagas algo, vas a hacer caso?” (“You see?! Now when I tell you to do something, are you going to listen?”)
“Sí Mamá,” Lance gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “Love you!”
“I know Mijo. I know.”