Chapter Text
“Keith? Why do you have your hood up? It’s like 85 degrees.”
“I have sensitive skin,” the boy in question mumbles as he locks his door behind him. “You know that.”
Lance snorts in response. “Maybe you should start carrying a parasol instead.”
“I would, but you’d make fun of me.”
Lance just rolls his eyes and grabs for his boyfriend’s hand.
They walk the rest of the way to their destination—some greasy pizza place where they’re meeting with Hunk and Pidge—in relative silence, save for the times when Lance feels the need to point out a cute dog or squirrel he sees. Lance knows Keith isn’t the biggest fan of going out to eat, so he’s really happy when he gets his boyfriend to agree to do so.
When they arrive, their friends are already seated at a booth along the wall, and Pidge stands up and waves them over. They both slide into the open side of the booth, and Keith lowers the hood of his sweatshirt.
“Dude,” Hunk starts, staring at him incredulously, “aren’t you sweating?”
Pidge sips her soda through a straw and looks across the table at Keith. “Yeah, you don’t need to go so far to prove to us that you’re super emo. We get it. All black with no cloud cover? You’re gonna die.”
“What’s more goth than literally dying, though?” Hunk adds thoughtfully. This sparks a debate as to whether or not emo and goth are interchangeable and everybody forgets that they were criticizing Keith’s clothing choices.
Soon enough, the server (who happens to be Pidge’s older brother, Matt) stops by with a stack of menus and a request for Pidge to stop yelling at her friends. She flips him off, but Hunk thanks him. He gives a small two-finger salute before walking back into the kitchen.
Lance hums absentmindedly as he skims over the menu. Something catches his eye in the appetizers section.
“What, garlic knots? Hell yeah, can we get those?” He looks up at his friends, not seeming to notice Keith going stiff beside him.
“Not unless you want to kill your boyfriend?” Hunk says, giving Lance a weird look. “He’s like, super allergic to garlic?”
“Aw dunk. Sorry Keith, totally slipped my mind. I guess I do like you more than I like fun-shaped garlic bread…” He frowns at the menu, looking for something else. Keith relaxes, but continues to worry his bottom lip with his teeth.
Eventually they all decide what to order, after double-checking that nothing contains the aforementioned seasoning. They get through the meal with zero deadly reactions, allergic or otherwise.
Hunk leaves first, stating that he’s got a paper to write for his calculus class. (“What kind of professor assigns papers for a math class? That’s insane.”) Keith and Lance stick around to talk to Pidge for a bit longer before Lance decides he needs a nap and they leave as well. Keith asks Pidge if she wants to walk home with them, but she tells them she’s waiting for Matt to finish his shift and catching a ride with him.
They wave goodbye to her, and Keith pulls his hood back up over his head. Lance groans.
“You’re so extra. I’m embarrassed to be seen with you,” he complains as he pushes the door open and steps outside.
Keith huffs in indignation. “I’m extra? Me? I’m the one who’s extra?”
Lance just smiles and laces their fingers together again. Keith scowls. “You’re so annoying.”
“I love you too, babe.” Keith purses his lips and looks away.
The walk to Lance’s apartment is silent in the same way that the walk to the restaurant had been, except this time Lance points out a stray cat and a funny looking bird as well.
When they get to the apartment building, they take the elevator to the third floor because a certain Cuban boy is too sleepy to walk up the stairs and is not ashamed of it. He hums again as he pulls his keys from his pocket and sets to work on unlocking the door. He can never remember which way to turn the key. Keith watches his struggle fondly.
When the door is finally opened, Lance immediately goes and flops onto the couch. He’s toeing off his sneakers when he realizes Keith is still in the hallway. He raises an eyebrow. “Everything okay?”
Keith shifts his weight from foot to foot nervously, gnawing his lip and avoiding eye contact with Lance. “Yeah, I, just, uh. I mean… Could you…”
Realization registers on Lance’s face. “Oh, right. Sorry.” He finishes kicking his shoes off. “Please come inside.”
Keith relaxes and steps into the apartment, closing the door behind him. He bends down to unlace his boots and pull them off. “I’m sorry,” he mutters, still not looking at his boyfriend. “I know I’m annoying.”
Lance laughs from the couch. “If anything is annoying about you, that’s not it. Your haircut? Maybe. You putting your freakishly cold hands under my shirt? Definitely. But stuff like that? That’s not annoying.”
Keith nods, a little uncertainly. Lance smiles at him and scoots toward the back of the couch, as an invitation for Keith to join him. For this, Keith doesn’t need to be asked. He lays beside Lance, and the taller boy tangles their legs together and slings an arm around his waist.
Lance sighs happily and closes his eyes. Keith does too, just now realizing how tired he is. They fall asleep, feeling happy and warm and loved.
They both wake up to a shrill ringing noise, and Keith accidentally rolls off the couch.
“Change your fucking ringtone,” Lance groans, throwing an arm over his face.
Keith grumbles out something that doesn’t sound even remotely like actual words as he crawls toward the kitchen, where he left his phone on the counter. He pulls himself into a standing position and swipes to answer the phone without checking who’s calling.
“What.” He says, voice dripping with all the venom of a young adult who’s been woken from a nap.
Evidently, it’s Shiro calling. Keith answers all his questions with clipped, one- or two-word replies. “Yes. No. With Lance. Sleeping. Okay. Yes. Bye—No. Last week. Yeah. Okay. Bye.” He hangs up and runs a hand through his bedhead. Lance is looking at him curiously.
“That was my brother. He was wondering where I am.” He squints at his phone again. “We’ve been asleep for three hours.”
Lance barks out a laugh. “That explains why I feel like I’ve entered another plane of reality. Jeez. Do you have to leave?”
Keith sighs. “Yeah, I should. You know, one of these days I’d like to actually hang out while we’re both conscious.”
“I need to nap after I eat pizza, Keith. I’m only human.”