Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Why do you always have to make us late Hunk?” Pidge asked she narrowed her eyes as their friend took another bite of his subway sandwich. He shrugged and offered the sandwich to her.

“Sorry I was hungry. Want a bite?” He offered her an apologetic smile. “Didn’t know they’d run out of mayonnaise.”

“Oh lay off him, it’s not like you didn’t want something there,” Lance said as he pulled out a piece of a paper. He stopped in front his room dorm room and slowly typed in numbers into the keypad.

“I just wanted a bottle of water.” She crossed her arms and peeked over his shoulder. “Do you really still not know your passcode yet?” Lance looked at her over his shoulder and scoffed.

“Uh no, I just like double checking duh.” The light on the door turned green and he opened it up. “Now get in before I lock you out.”

“You would never, I’m the only one who remembers the channel the show is on.” She walked in with her chin tilted up. Hunk and Lance shared a look, Lance rolled his eyes and walked inside.

“You hold on to that bit of leverage tightly don’t you Pidge?” Hunk asked, he took his bag off and placed it by Lance’s door. Lance stepped in after them and closed the door behind them. There was a click as it locked.

Pidge had already made herself comfortable on Lance’s bed. Hunk grabbed the remote off of the empty top bunk and threw it to her. She fumbled with it until it fell to the floor. She groaned and reached for it without putting any real effort in. Lance looked between her and the remote inches away from her.

“Really?” Lance sighed and bent down picking up the remote and handing it to her. She smiled and grabbed the remote pointing it towards the TV.

“Thank you.” She hummed as she began flipping through the channels. Hunk sat on the bed opposite from Pidge.

“Will there even be subtitles?” Lance asked and sat on the ground in the middle of the two beds. Hunk shrugged he had stopped asking that question a while ago.

“Probably not until tomorrow,” Pidge said casually, she found the channel and clicked on it. Lance watched as an older Asian man holding an octopus appeared on the screen. The image wasn’t actually moving and there were just Asian characters in big dramatic font next to him.

“So tell me again how we’re supposed to understand what’s happening. Not everyone reads Korean like you.” Lance looked at Pidge his eyes raised, he half expected her to pull out a headset language translator.

“Context clues,” Pidge said simply. The still image left the TV screen, now the same Asian man was standing next to three polls. There were was a girl and two boys standing behind the polls, they each had three octopi balanced on their heads.

“Uh, Lance. I don’t want to interrupt your TV viewing experience, but where’s the popcorn?” Hunk asked slowly, he had finished his sandwich and crumpled up the wrapper.

“Didn’t we eat it all last time?” Pidge asked they both looked at Lance.

“Yeah, we did.” Lance stood up and stretched his back out. “I don’t have another bag, I’ll have to run to the campus store and get one or...” He smirked and pushed back his hair with his hand. “I can hear next door, and see if Allurah would be interested in helping me out.” Pidge rolled her eyes and turned back to the television. Each contestant now held an oversized helmet and was staring intently at a pool of whipped cream.

“Whatever you need to do to get us whipped cream,” Pidge mumbled, she grabbed a pillow and rested her head on top of it.

“Do you mean popcorn?” Hunk asked, Pidge wasn’t paying attention and didn't answer back. Hunk turned back to Lance. “She means popcorn. Thanks, buddy.” He rested his back on the wall and continued watching the show.

Lance walked to the mirror scanning over himself to make sure everything was in place. He flattened his shirt and pushed back his hair. He practiced a few faces in the mirror landing on a charming smile.

“Why hello Allurah, fancy seeing you here.” He deepened his voice to try and sound as smooth as possible.

“Lance! Popcorn!” Pidge called, Lance jumped and glared in her direction. She wasn’t even looking at him.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” He grumbled and walked out of the room. He headed to the dorm room directly in front of his. He took a deep breath and tried to puff out his chest slightly. He knocked on the door twice, then slipped his hands into his pocket. “Caz, I am caz...” He cleared his throat once more. The door opened a crack, then opened fully.

“Keith! Lovely seeing you this time of day.” Allurah smiled at him, her white hair was tied back in a ponytail, showing off beautiful temporary face tattoos that she reapplied. There was classical music flowing out of her room.

“I--um.” He tried to compose himself, her face had caught him off guard. “Hello! I just wanted to know...if you had..popcorn?” He asked slowly. Allurah put her hand to her mouth hiding a small chuckle. Lance practically swooned.

“Yes, I believe I just bought a few bags. I’ll be right back.” She left her door room open as she disappeared inside. Lance only got a small peek inside, there were an art canvas and a few paintbrushes scattered on top of one of the beds. An idea dawned on him and he pulled out his phone. A few minutes later Allurah appeared back into the doorway with two large bags of popcorn.

“Will this suffice?”

“Yes! Of course, I was just wondering. Is this Beethoven's 7th Violin Concert or are my ears mistaking me?” He slipped his phone back into his pocket hoping he got the name right. Allurah giggled lightly and looked at Lance amused.

“I think you mean Concerto? And no actually this is just his 7th symphony.” She handed the bag over to him. “But lovely effort.”

“Damn phone app,” Lance mumbled as he took the bags over.

“What was that?”

“Nothing! Just this is a really good brand of popcorn. Thanks a ton.” He balanced the bags in his arm and gave Allurah a smile.

“Think nothing of it, have fun with your Korean show.” She slipped back into her room and shut the door. Lance sighed deeply, another failed attempt. He grumbled under his breath about stupid phone apps. He got to his door and realized he had forgotten his slip of paper.

“Damn it.” He sighed and knocked on the door with his knee.

“Lance is that you?” A very Pidge like voice asked from the other side of the door.

“Yes, and I have the popcorn now open up!”

“Why would I need to open the door if you already knew the passcode?” Lance was gearing up to take his popcorn and leave when Hunk opened the door. Lance huffed and entered, he slipped off his shoes and ignored the smug look on Pidges face.

“I reiterate, it’s almost two quarters of the year in and you still don’t know your passcode?” Pidge asked, at some point when Lance had left they had grabbed plastic bowls from the cupboard under Lance’s bed.

“It’s almost two quarters in and my roommate still hasn’t shown up.”

“I feel like those aren’t two fitting scenarios,” Pidge said, she sat up and extended her bowl forward.

“Fitting enough for me, I mean what rich kid doesn’t show up but keeps paying for a room?” Lance threw one popcorn bag on the ground and opened the other one. He poured Pidge a bowl then threw the rest of the bag to Hunk.

“You don’t want any Lance?” Hunk asked clutching the bag, he frowned and put down his bowl.

“No, not hungry.” He mumbled and sat criss-cross on the floor between the beds. He pulled out his phone exing out of the song identifier app. He clicked twitter and checked his notifications.

“Did you embarrass yourself at Allurah’s again?” Hunk asked carefully. Lance said nothing, he scrolled through his timeline.

“Let's take that as a yes,” Pidge said, she lowered the volume of the show. “Maybe you should give her up? I mean you’ve been crushing on her for like ever. You’re in college now time to--”

“I would love if you didn’t give me the ‘there are many fish in the sea’ speech. I think my parents mention that enough.” Lance mumbled still not looking up. The lights in his room where off, the TV and Lance’s phone were emitting the most amount of light. Pidge sighed and laid back on her stomach with her popcorn.

“Fine. Just know we’ll be there for you if you find a totally attractive person we’ll be there for you.” Hunk nodded his agreement and relaxed back against the wall.

Lance just nodded and drowned his misery in quoting tweets of celebrities and tweeting about how much of a loser he felt. He smiled a bit when some of his mutuals replied to him with hearts and ‘I love you sooo muches’. He sighed when after about 10 minutes he didn’t feel better he decided to re-do his layout. He used a picture of himself that he took the previous day. He was in front of a brick wall and had a crown of hearts. He found a header of a brick wall with the words ‘loverboy’ written on them in chalk. He smiled a bit and changed his username to ‘loverboy Lance’ in lowercase letters.

He let out a sigh or relief he was beginning to feel better already. He continued through his tl until he stopped at a picture, it was one of the sponsored commercials. It was an ad for some converse company. The model was sitting down, his knees were being hugged to his chest and his chin rested on top of his knees. He looked solemn but incredibly handsome like he was contemplating life. His converse where bright red and loosely untied.

“Hot damn,” Lance mumbled and clicked on the add. The tweet was expanded and showed the link to the models Instagram. The link took him to the models Instagram page. “Keith Kogane.” He said to himself, his words were muffled by Pidge and Hunks hysterical laughs. Lance glanced up to see an octopus wrapped around one of the very disgusted looking contestants.

He shook his head and continued scrolling through the mans Instagram. He was transfixed by every image, he did a couple commercials but a lot of the pictures seemed to just be of Keith. He admitted whoever was his photographer was doing an amazing job, but the light always seemed to light up Keith’s face in just the right way. Lance was already biting his lip by the time he got to a shirtless picture of him. He was caught off guard for a moment, he expected to see rippling abs like most of the Instagram models. Instead Keith’s stomach was flat with no abs and a V leading into his pants. He did look incredibly fit, but his body looked like it was too soft to have any sort of hard muscles like abs. Which was strange to think, in almost every photo he looked serious and or sullen. Incredibly handsome, but otherwise incredibly mysterious.

Lance took in a sharp breath nearly dropping his phone. His tan cheeks darkened with color. He cleared his throat and looked at the picture again. It was an advertisement he could see there was a link to the product. But the picture was so breathtaking Lance would love to see a couple more pictures like that. It was a close up of Keith’s face almost in an aerial position so that the camera approached his face. Keith was lightly blushing, he looked incredibly bashful and open. He had a pink makeup given to his lips. The color made his entire face pop, the effect was only exemplified by the pink daisies in his hair.

“Lance, you okay? You look like you’re burning up.” Hunk asked Lance didn’t turn to face him. He nodded his head in dismissal and continued scrolling. Now that he had come across that photo he realized that there were quite a few pictures of Keith in not typically masculine clothing. Never all out dresses or skirts, but enough femininity to make his mysteriousness look bashful and cute.

His hair was never too long more shaggy-looking but always tied up enough to look effortless. In one of the pictures, he had Minnie Mouse ears with the bow at the center of the scalp. He wasn’t smiling in that one but he looked his happiest. The more Lance looked the more captivated he became and the more certain that he had to talk to this guy.

He scrolled up to the top of the page nearly scoffing. The guy Keith had over a million followers already. He only follows one person in return. Lance rubbed the back of his head, doubting himself. If he couldn’t even start a conversation with a girl he’s known for years, and lives next door how was he supposed to start up a conversation with an incredibly attractive Instagram model? He took a huge breath and went to the DM’s. He closed his eyes and let his fingers do the talking.

[TheTailor: Hey sorry to bother you but I just wanted to inform you I’ve never wanted to buy a pair of a pair of converse more.]

He stared at the message for awhile he didn’t expect an immediate response or really a response at all but he felt like he had just taken an important step. He smiled and turned off his phone. He had no idea what was happening in the show but he felt a hundred times better about watching it. He wondered if Keith had a twitter or a Snapchat.

“Guys I think I’m in love,” Lance announced. Hunk and Pidge looked at him immediately.

“Did my speech really work?” Pidge said in awe, she had muted the TV and sat up immediately.

“With who!” Hunk asked e ate another handful of popcorn.

“This Instagram mo--” Pidge held up her hand cutting Lance off.

“Do you know them in real life?” She asked adjusting her glasses.

“No...but--”

“Lance then that’s the equivalent to falling in love with a youtuber, in other words it’s pretty sketchy.”

“How many followers?” Pidge asked, her voice was a bit hopeful.

“Something over a million. But guys!” Pidge and Hunk nearly spit out their popcorn.

“Lance forget about it, admire from afar.” Hunk advised replacing his nearly lost popcorn with a handful more.

“But...” Pidge and Hunk didn’t interrupt wanting to hear him out. “He’s really attractive...” Lance didn’t pick up on what he had just revealed but Pidge and Hunk shared eye contact.

“Lance...as much as we want to support the dawning of a new part of your sexuality...”

“It’s hopeless.” Hunk finished for pidge. Lance slumped, his little bit of hope nearly completely crushed.

“Thanks for the support guys.” He mumbled taking his phone out and putting it next to him.

“Just think best case scenario, it’s a long distance relationship. Worst case, doesn’t reply back. Just admire the pictures and wish you could meet him.” Pidge slipped off of the bed and put the extra blanket on his shoulders. She sat next to him nudging his side. “It’ll get better don’t worry, don’t rely on Instagram relationships for happiness. That’s what you have us for, and I guess some of your Twitter mutuals.” She patted his back as she comforted him. Hunk came down to the floor with them and put the popcorn bag in front of Lance.

“At least we have popcorn...” He said smiling sympathetically. Lance took a breath and looked between his two friends. He offered a small smile and reached into the popcorn bag.

“Friends and popcorn. What more could you need?” His voice trailed off but he tried forcing happiness into his voice. His friends hugged either side of him and Pidge turned the TV up again. 

Chapter Text

"Come on Keith livelier, you look like you're being held here against your will." Shiro tried moving around getting a different angle of Keith.

"I'm trying my best here." Keith shifted on the couch, he brought the cushion closer to his face and rested his chin on top. He tried to picture vulnerable so that his eyes would soften. Shiro sighed and took a picture, he moved his camera away from his face so that he could get a better look at Keith.

"Keith this is a cute shoot, be cute." Shiro specified, he stood up and adjusted the lights until he was satisfied.

"I'm being as cute as I can!" Keith took a deep breath trying not to let Shiro's words push him out of the zone. They had been at it for hours and if it wasn't for how nice the outfit felt, he would have left after the first hour.

"Right now all I'm getting from you is tired college student vibes." Shirt sighed and sat on the edge of the couch. He brought the camera screen to his face and flipped through the footage. He shook his head mumbling to himself.

"They can't all be that bad." Keith brought his feet up and leaned over trying to get a peek at the camera.

"Uh yeah, they can be. There are two major problems. One is that we're trying to show off the leggings, not how well you can hide behind every prop we have." He leaned the camera over and scrolled through some of the earlier pictures that they had taken.

Keith was wearing dark blue leggings with a crossed pattern, they were matched with a simple white top with a red V on the center. He tried his best to not cringe at every photo, he didn't like looking at pictures of himself on regular basis. Pictures of himself modeling badly just made him die inside. Keith pointed to a picture, and Shiro stopped scrolling. Keith was on his stomach, his legs were up and his left leg was almost touching his back. Most of Keith's face was covered by his arm, it looked like he was comfortable and ready for sleep.

"This one's not too bad." He looked up at Shiro who looked conflicted. Shiro enlarged the picture getting a close up of Keith's backside.

"It would have been perfect if you weren't contorting your hips away from the camera." Keith crossed his arms pushing down a blush.

"I didn't want my butt to be in the picture." He said as levelly as he could, he avoided looking at Shiro. Shiro took the camera away and gave him his best deadpan look.

"Keith, you're wearing leggings. Rule one of leggings is that you always show the ass. It's practically criminal not to. If not the ass, then show off the thighs. And we both know that getting a good thigh shot without camel toe for male models should always be left to professionals."

"I'm a professional," Keith protested, he had been doing this long enough to at least qualify for intermediate.

"Not right now you aren't." Shiro's eyes narrowed as he looked at Keith's face, his hand extended and he took Keith's chin. He moved his face left, right, up then down. "Shit, why didn't I notice before?"

"What? Do I have a pimple or something?"

"No no," Shiro took his hand off of Keith's face and sighed. "You have bags under your eyes, they're pretty pronounced too." Shiro began flipping through the pictures again, this time looking at close-ups of Keith's face. "Why didn't you wear concealer? You and your bags are in every shot." Keith bit his lip, he hadn't even thought to check the mirror before he came down for the shoot.

"I forgot..." He said quietly, he uncrossed his arms pressing his hands into the couch cushion. He could feel Shiro's gaze on him, then he heard the click as the camera was turned off. He knew Shiro was too much of a perfectionist to post any of the images. "We can redo them," He offered.

"It's fine, we've been at it too long. You're probably hungry, I know I am." Shiro stood up from the couch and went to turn off the surrounding lights. Keith looked up, he hated knowing he wasted both their time and footage.

"Sorry Shiro, I really did just completely forget."

"It's fine Keith, sorry I snapped at you. Why don't you take the leggings and the shirt off, and hang them up so they can air out and we can try again tomorrow." Keith nodded and stood up. He quickly walked to the hall finding the bathroom door and entering it.

He went to the bathroom mirror first and turned on the extra mini light. He checked under his eyes to see the tired bags still there. He sighed and shook his head. He was more annoyed with himself then Shiro was with him. He opened up the cold water than thought better of it. He slipped the shirt and leggings off, he put them back on the hanger they came from and hung them on one of the bathroom hooks. He re-dressed in sweatpants and a white t-shirt. He splashed water on his face and dried up with a towel.

He grabbed his red sweatshirt on the way out of the bathroom and slipped it on over his head. He could already hear the sizzling of oil when he entered the kitchen.

"What are you making?" He asked, he approached the kitchen island and sat on one of the stools. Shiro turned around with his pink apron already on.

"I was going to make some chicken, then have some kale chips on the side." He turned back around and grabbed a bag of fresh Kale.

"Sounds good." He rested his chin on his palm and looked at the window above Shiro's head. There were squirrels fighting on a tree branch, the branch shook aggressively and looked about to break. "So why do you look so tired today anyway. The term Beautyrest should actually mean something to you."

"I had to finish some math homework. It was taking a stupid amount of time, that damn textbook teaches fuck all." He grumbled, his face twisting up just thinking back to his frustrations the previous night. He had to watch two Ted Talks to figure it out.

"You know I have a tip that'll help you with all your homework." Keith took a deep breath.

"Yeah, what is it?" He could practically hear his voice before the words even left Shiro's mouth.

"Maybe if you actually went to class, then your professor could help teach you the subject. And then you could use the book as reinforcement in case you forget a step." Keith rolled his eyes and switched which hand his chin was resting on.

"I told you I'm doing fine. I turn my work in on time, I do my assignments. If I have questions about a project my professors are always one click away on my phone."

"Keith, we both know you'd fail a project before reaching out to your professors. You're just so..." Shiro made abstract hand movements. "Anxious!"

"How am I supposed to have any control over that?"

"I don't know Keith, but you only went to school for a few days. Then you stopped going entirely, and resorted to sneaking on campus to drop your work off."

"Shiro you're making it sound worse than it is."

"You wear all black, you bring your phone and call me every two minutes until you've infiltrated the classroom. You wait until there's literally no one else in the classroom then drop your work off." Keith opened his mouth to say something in his defense but Shiro turned around spatula in hand. "You have no friends, you constantly hang out with me. A man seven years older than you. If I'm not around you, you're in your room doing God knows what. Not to mention you are a model who hates looking at his own pictures."

"Okay, I have an excuse for hanging out with you. You're my brother, and we live together so there." Keith crossed his arms and smiled like he had won. Shiro shook his head and turned back around.

"Uh huh, sure Keith."

"And secondly, I don't need friends because I'm taking my career and school very seriously. And I don't need relationships distracting me." He took out his phone from his back pocket and turned it on. "And I can totally look at my pictures without cringing."

To prove his point he pulled up the Instagram app on his phone. He hadn't been on it in a long time. If he ever wanted to be on social media, in general, he went on Youtube or Twitter. Apps that didn't center around his face or other peoples bodies.

He was actually surprised by his profile, he didn't expect to have nearly the amount of followers as he actually did. He cringed inwardly at his profile picture. It was one of the rare moments Shiro snapped him with a fragment of a smile. His hair was too long in the image and he thought he looked too pale.

"I can't do this." He mumbled and clicked out of his profile. He didn't want to have to obsess over how many likes he got, or what the comments said. Or even how Shiro chose to caption the images. He played around with the app for a bit until he decided to check his DM's.

He knew Shiro would periodically answer some and empty the rest out, but Keith was overwhelmed with the number of people who wanted to talk to him just based off of images of his face. He bit his lip and decided that he was going to click on one, answer it and prove something to Shiro.

He bit his lip and looked at the top DM, the profile picture was pretty goofy. He brought the phone closer to his eyes so he could look at it without actually clicking on the DM. The man in the picture actually looked about his age, his skin was tanned and he looked pretty cute. Though it was hard to tell with oversized glasses covering most of his face and a top hat.

He could only read the first part message without opening it up. He gathered as much courage as he could and clicked on the message.

[TheTailor: Hey sorry to bother you but I just wanted to inform you I've never wanted to buy a pair of a pair of converse more.]

"What?" He paused trying to think about the message. He was positive he had never met this guy before. Then why was he referencing his shoes? "Oh!" He remembered an ad he had done with a converse company. They had let him keep the pair, he was hoping that was what The Tailor was referencing.

[KeithKogan: Um you're welcome. I'm glad the add did its job.]

[KeithKogan: *ad]

Keith groaned and put the phone down, of course, the one time he chose to reply to someone he made himself look like an idiot.

"Everything okay there?" Shiro called over his shoulder.

"I'm fine," Keith answered quickly. He sighed and flipped over his phone. He clicked on the small profile picture of The Tailor. It took him to the man's profile page. The name on the profile was Lance McClain, Keith said it aloud liking the way the name felt in his mouth.

He scrolled through the kid's pictures. There were none of the HD perfect quality pictures that Shiro ensured, most of the pictures where blurry, quickly shot, or just selfies with him and his friends.

The two people he noticed the most in his posts where a short female figure, and a taller larger male. He stopped at a picture, it was of Lance in his dorm room. He had either friend on the side of him, they were all smiling and looked genuinely happy. He read the caption; 'About to watch one of the dumbest shows ever made but at least we've got popcorn'. That put a warmth in Keith's chest.

He continued scrolling, Lance had an excessive amount of pictures for a guy who wasn't paid for anything he did. The more Keith scrolled through the more Keith wanted to keep scrolling, he found himself very attracted to not only his face but to the personality, Lance put out on the internet. He always seemed excited, and it was clear that he really cared about his friends. Even the selfies he took of himself doing homework Keith could still feel that there was something warm about the picture that made Keith's cheeks hot. He was inspecting a picture of Lance at the beach when he got a notification.

Before he could pull down the tab of the notification box his thumb slid up accidentally liking the shirtless beach picture. Keith's eyes nearly bulged out. The picture was a couple months old. It would be impossible unliking it, he was the only one who had liked it at all.

"Shit shit." He mumbled just staring at the now red heart, he willed it to become empty again but nothing changed. He sighed deeply and pulled the tab down. He bit his lip when he saw it was The Tailor again. He clicked on the notification and was brought back to the chat.

[TheTailor: Omg you actually replied to me]

Keith blinked caught off guard for a moment, he was surprised anyone would be excited to talk to him.

[KeithKogan: Yeah...I guess I did]

[TheTailor: Do that often or was I something special?]

[KeithKogan: This is actually my first time doing this. So...sorry if I suck]

[TheTailor: Now I feel bad lol. U probably should have replied to a more committed fan. I just saw u today.]

[KeithKogan: It's okay, I doubt that I actually have fans.]

[TheTailor: There has to be someone who aggressively looks at your pictures lol]

[KeithKogan: I doubt it, usually to have a fanbase you have to show some sort of personality. Like, have Youtube channels. I do a few live streams, but Shiro mostly talks in those.]

[TheTailor: Is Shiro your boyfriend?]

[KeithKogan: NO. He's my brother, well...adopted brother so I guess we could date. But that would be awkward and weird, and he's already 27 and will be turning 28 soon. He's seven years older.]

[TheTailor: Oh so you're 20? That's cool I'm 20 too. My bday was last month.]

[KeithKogan: Happy belated birthday, did you do anything interesting?]

[TheTailor: Thanks! And yeah I went to an on-campus party with a few of my friends.]

[KeithKogan: Hunk and Pidge?]

[TheTailor: Yeah...how did you know that?]

Keith nearly hit his head against the countertop, it hadn't occurred to him that it would be creepy knowing that.

[KeithKogan: I was on your Instagram, sorry that was super creepy.]

[TheTailor: Oh yeah! I got a notification, thanks for liking my picture lol]

Keith felt like he could die then and there. He wondered if Lance thought he was a creep, or an idiot, or possibly even a stalker for scrolling back that far.

[KeithKogan: Um you're welcome.]

[TheTailor: I liked a few of your pictures but I gave because all of them were awesome. You're attractive. And your face is so diverse, in some pictures, it's really hot, and then in others, you look so soft and cute.]

Keith put his hand on his chest. He couldn't say that he had never been complimented before, but it had never affected him so much. He blushed and quickly typed a reply back.

[KeithKogan: Uh thanks, I really like your face too. And I'm not just saying that I really think that...I'm just not great with words]

[TheTailor: I can tell lol. But I've gotta say. The picture of me that you liked wasn't just of my face ;) ]

[KeithKogan: You're right, there was water in the background too. The skyline was also really pretty.]

[TheTailor: Funny guy huh? Pretty, awkward yet funny. I like it.]

[KeithKogan: You do?]

[TheTailor: Yeah I do a lot, no offense your pictures are la bomba but I feel like you don't emote well.]

[KeithKogan: Yeah Shiro says I have to work on that.]

[TheTailor: Emote might not be the right word...but you have no personality. Your pictures, not you, I'm sure you have a shit load of personality. I...just can't tell at all.]

[KeithKogan: What do you mean?]

[TheTailor: Like you fake emotions well but I know nothing about you, even though you've posted hundreds of pictures. All I sort of know is that you pull off the shy but tough look really well.]

[KeithKogan: Why would you want to know about my personality?]

[TheTailor: Because I doubt someone as attractive as you could realistically have no personality.]

Keith blushed again, now he was smiling slightly. Within a few short texts Lance had already managed to make him feel more important then he had in a while.

[TheTailor: You've been on my profile so I'm guessing you know that my name is Lance. You can call me that instead of...whatever you've been calling me I guess lol]

[KeithKogan: You can call me Keith if you want. If you ever want to talk after this.]

[TheTailor: I do want to talk after this, in fact, do you have a SnapChat?]

[KeithKogan: Yeah I do, do you want it?]

[TheTailor: That'd be great! I mean talking to you is nice enough. Talking to you accompanied with unfiltered pictures of you? That's God tier right there.]

"You're smiling pretty wide for someone as exhausted as you," Shiro said, he approached Keith with two plates in his hands. "Whats up? You rarely smile under normal circumstances." Keith shrugged and made room in front of him for the plate.

"It's nothing, just saw a funny post." He quickly texted Lance his SnapChat and told him he could Snap later that night.

"Huh, funnier than my jokes?" Shiro set the plates down and took off his apron.

"Anything is funnier than your jokes, you basically just pirated them off of dad anyway." He took one of the Kale chips, they were salty but he liked it.

"Oh, whatever. Eat your food. And you better get to bed early, I will not deal with any bags tomorrow."

"My makeup skills are good enough to hide anything on my face, don't worry about it, Shiro." He put his phone down reluctantly and picked up his utensils. Shiro rolled his eyes and began cutting up his chicken.

"Speaking of that, do you want to do that more? You know obvious makeup posts? You got a crazy ton of likes that time you put on the pink lip tint. I even have a few makeup companies willing to sponsor you." Keith paused mid cut thinking about it.

"Don't you think I'll come off a little too...gay?"

"What do you mean? You are gay, and makeup doesn't dictate your sexuality."

"We don't know that I'm gay for sure, I've never actually been in a relationship." Shiro rolled his eyes and bit into a Kale chip.

"First of all, you have no interest in women. Secondly of all, 8th grade your obsession with that Russian pilot."

"I appreciated him from his talents as a pilot!"

"Remember, for your birthday mom and dad took us to see him live? You got to meet and take a picture with him, and when he asked what was your name you blurted out 'kiss me'?" Keith's face turned a deep red and he stabbed a piece of chicken.

"Whatever, I'll consider the makeup thing." He stuffed a piece of chicken in his mouth and turned away as he chewed. Remembering the mortification of that moment.

"Good, I'll tell them it's a probably," Shiro said finally digging into his meal. Keith turned to narrow his eyes at him but his annoyed look was lost on the eating man. He turned his phone over and looked at the lock screen, he had another message from Lance. As well as a SnapChat notification. He smiled a bit at himself and continued eating quicker. 

Chapter Text

Lance groaned and laid immobile on his bed. His morning clock had woken him up but he wanted nothing more but to go to bed. His eyes cracked open, for a moment he couldn't remember what he did last night that had him so exhausted.

"Oh yeah," He mumbled into the pillow. A tired smile found its place on Lance's face as he remembered his almost all-nighter with Keith the previous night. They had been messaging each other for a few weeks and had already fallen into a routine.

His hand searched underneath his pillow until he found the rectangle that was his phone. He slipped the phone out and propped his chin on his pillow so that he could actually see the screen. He opened up his phone and loaded up snapshat. When the camera popped up he took a picture of his messy bed head and forehead, there was just enough light to be seen.

[Lancing King: It's morning and I want to be back in bed]

After he captioned the picture he sent it to Keith. He yawned and rolled so that he was lying on his back. He rubbed the top of his hair.

"I need a haircut." He mumbled, he checked his twitter and replied to his group chats. His phone buzzed with a notification, he pulled it down and smiled. He clicked on the notification, it took him to Snapchat. "Little early for him to be up." Lance yawned.

The snapshot opened and he was blessed with a breathtaking photo of Keith. It was just his face but the sun was behind him and his cheeks were slightly flushed. He didn't look like he was trying to take a decent photo, the camera angle was in an awkward potion.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: Good morning. I like your hair.]

Lance smiled and resisted screenshotting. He sent another picture aimed just at his hair this time.

[Lancing King: I like your everything. 2 questions, why are you so hot in the morning. And why are you up so early.]

Keith sent him a picture in return. It was evident he was blushing and his eyes weren't looking at the camera.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: I had a photo shoot, and I'm not hot. It's just warm out.]

Lance rolled his eyes and sent a picture of just his forehead.

[Lancing King: Shut up you're the hottest person I've ever talked to. And what type of photoshoot.]

Keith sent a picture of a rock, it looked like it was on sand.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: Guess]

Lance thought for a moment, he rolled out of his bed and fell to the floor. On certain days it was just the best way to wake himself up. He crawled up and grabbed the curtain string, he adjusted it so that more light shone in the room. He took a picture of him squinting in the sun.

[Lancing King: Well I can already guess that you're going to look amazing, and there's sand. SO surfer dude?]

Keith's picture back was him with more hair on his face. It looked intentionally messy but it still looked like just a model posing.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: Actually no. It was a really interesting shoot...It's a little embarrassing. Check my Instagram.]

Lance smiled and took a picture of just his nose.

[Lancing King: Is that shameless self-promo I see???]

Keith sent a picture of him rolling his eyes, he looked like he snapped it just before he smiled.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: shut up, and your nose looks very nice. Snap me back when you see it.]

Lance left Keith on read and exited the app. He went on Instagram, there was already a notification that the person he followed posted a few new pictures. He went to Keith's profile and scrolled downward.

There were six pictures, Lance's jaw dropped and his inside restricted. He leaned against the wall and scrolled between them repeatedly. It was a gender swap of a traditional beach day. The model he was posing with was a girl, her hair was pinned up and she was wearing a pair of swimming trunks and no bra or shirt. In the picture of her with Keith, she had her chest either covered by her hand or, contorted her body in a way were her breasts weren't visible. She had no makeup on and in every photo, she looked overly relaxed and gorgeous. But to Lance's eyes, Keith stole the show.

Keith was in a female bathing suit, it wasn't a bikini but it definitely showed enough skin. It looked like a modernized 1940s female swimming suit, it had a piece of polka dotted cloth around his upper chest with thin spaghetti straps holding it up. His midsection was exposed and his bottoms were shaped like underwear but the top of it rose up to where his hips where. His hair was brushed and crimped in a way that turned his semi-mullet into a mop of straightened hair surrounding his face. There was even makeup on him, feminizing him more.

For the first time Lance fully appreciated the art that was modeling, even if the female wasn't his favorite in the picture, her modeling technique was beautiful. In almost every shot she pulled off the masculine look, always positioning her body in a way that hid her chest, and the curves that feminized her.

Keith's work took Lance's breath away and only made his feelings towards Keith stronger. Keith had managed the pull off the feminine look in every shot. There were more small smile's in this shoot then he had seen in any of Keith's works. Even Keith's chest was never a problem, his chest piece wasn't stuffed but the angle that Keith put his body in always pulled off the flat-chested look.

Lance favorite picture was the second to last. There was an upright surfboard and the female model had one arm leaning against it. She had her leg crossed and was leaning over Keith. Keith was sitting next to the surfboard, he had a small adorable smile and his head was tilted. He looked genuinely happy and even a little flirty. It was clear that the photographer wanted past the scene off as flirting. Lance saved the picture to his phone and replied to Keith with a picture of him pretending to cry.

[Lancing King: In case I haven't made it clear. YOU ARE F U C K I NG HOT. If you don't know that by now, I will remind you every day. Honestly wtf I was just slapped by your face and I'm saying thank you. You are honestly the best model that I will ever know, please marry me?]

Keith sent a picture of himself he was smiling and the spaces around his eyes were read.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: I'm not attractive but thank you. And of course, I will marry you, especially after practically serenading me every day.]

Lance sent a picture of his feet.

[Lancing King: You and that model have amazing chemistry are you two...]

Lance genuinely hoped that Keith wasn't involved with her. As selfish as an over the internet relationship would be, he knew he'd be disappointed if Keith ever moved on from him.

Keith scent of a blurry picture of a man with a white streak. He was far away and was talking to another person while holding a camera.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: I'm gay]

Lance blinked a few times at the snap, he felt a wide smile growing on his face. He was sent another snap before he could reply.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: Sorry that was sudden I just, Idk I've been struggling with if I am or not for a while. So I wanted to tell you that I'm 95% sure I'm gay]

Lance smiled wide and took a picture of himself playfully sticking out his tongue.

[Lancing King: What's the other 5%]

Keith's picture was blurry and quickly taken.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: I've never dated anyone so I don't know[

Lance went right to the Snapchat DM's, he was a bisexual on a mission now.

[Lancing King: How did a cutie like you get away with no relationships?]

[Kute Keith Kocaine: Having social anxiety helps]

[Lancing King: I mean yeah definitely, buuuut I think I have a solution to your 95% problem]

[Kute Keith Kocaine: You do?]

[Lancing King: Yes, it's called me. Now hold on a second before you're like blah blah internet relationships aren't as good as real ones. I'm just putting it out there that we've been messaging none stop for over a month. You already know I'm not a creepy old man. I already love and support you even if it's from afar and we can totally do cute relationship things over the internet. I'll call you, and we can video chat. And if you really don't feel it that's fine, I mean it's over the internet you can cheat on me I wouldn't know lol. Just so you can figure out your sexuality, I just...really care about you and I want to be there to help you figure out yourself. And being able to call you my boyfriend even for a little while will be totally awesome]

Lance rapid fire texted his message to Keith. He knew there were spelling errors and mistakes but if he gave himself a chance to look over it he would have never sent it.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: I was going to say yes. I really like you, Lance, I've interacted more than I have anyone I've gone to school with ever. I would love if you were my first boyfriend...even if it's just over the internet.]

Lance was wordless, Lance was breathless. He jumped in the air and started bouncing around like a madman. He stopped breathless and actually replied to him.

[Lancing King: As the first act as your boyfriend I'd like to say that you are the most beautiful being on Earth and I love everything about you <3]

He saw that Keith was typing and smiled. His phone buzzed with another notification. He scrolled out of the chat and saw a snap from Pidge. He pressed it.

"This is Pidge, Hunk and I are at your door to drag you to school. But we heard you screaming like a mad person so we just want to ask if you're okay, and to tell you to get outside right now." The phone pointed to Hunk who waved.

"I brought muffins." He wiggled a bag in his hand.

Lance swore and shot a video of himself.

"Sorry I'll be out soon, and I've got the fucking best news about my imaginary model friend."

He ended the recording and put his phone on his bedside table. He quickly stripped and thew on some coherent clothing. Five minutes later he had clothes on, his phone in his hand, a book bag on his back and a wide smile on his face.

He snapped one more picture of himself, making sure that his outfit and backpack were in the frame.

[Lancing King: Sorry, I'm off to class]

A minute later Keith had replied, he had a towel around his shoulders now.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: Okay, I won't bother you too much then. Maybe I'll swim a little]

Lance quickly snapped a picture of his feet, he could hear Pidge becoming more and more impatient as the seconds passed.

[Lancing King: Have fun, I'll message you between classes. But I'll call for a video chat around 6?]

He sent as many kissy face emoji as he could before pocketing his phone. He threw open the door, Pidge had crossed her arms and Hunk looked to be on his second muffin.

"Good Morning! It's a beautiful daytime to get to class, get this beautiful day going!" Lance stepped out of his room and took the muffin Hunk was offering him. He took a large bite taking in the chocolatey goodness.

"Are you high Lance?" Pidge asked she had to close his door for him.

"High on drugs? No of course not! High on life, definitely." He poked her nose and began merrily down the hallways. Pidge and Hunk looked at each other then followed him.

"So what's the news? What took you so long?" Hunk asked he finished the muffin and stuffed it back into the brown paper bag they came in.

"Fellas, I am now officially dating someone," Lance said proudly, he stopped walking for dramatic effect. Both Pidge and Hunk looked at him baffled.

"Dude! What the hell why didn't you tell us you were pursuing someone!" Pidge said too loudly, she was punching at his arm lightly.

"If you paid any attention to me at all, you'd know I was pursuing someone." Pidge and Hunk immediately looked more skeptical.

"Are you talking about the Instagram model?" Hunk asked slowly.

"Yes Hunk, I am. And his name is Keith," Lance began walking again refusing to let his friends skepticism bring him down.

"I thought you were going to keep that casual. Not...you know dating a stranger over the internet. You've known him for a month, Lance," Pidge said seriously. Lance frowned and shrugged.

"I've been texting him none stop. We know each other pretty well, he's really nice, and--"

"Attractive?" Hunk finished for him. "Are you only dating him because you like his pictures?" Lance narrowed his eyes at his friend.

"You know I'm not that shallow. Okay, I might think that he's an angel walking freely on the Earth. That doesn't mean I don't value him beyond that"

"What are his hobbies? Or interests? His favorite color? Do you know any of that stuff? What he likes to eat?" Pidge grilled him. They left the living areas and began the walk to the learning buildings.

"His hobbies are modeling, obviously. He also likes designing airplanes. His favorite color is red but like the deep almost scarlet red. And he doesn't know his overall favorite food but lately, he's been into Kale chips." Lance crossed his arms looking at Hunk and Pidge smugly. "Whenever he has to where rollers for a photo shoot he always buys the ones with squishy insides because they're softer to sleep on. The process he washes his hair in is shampoo, shampoo, conditioner, shampoo, conditioner, then coconut oil. Oh! And when he was younger he wanted to be a pilot, but when he applied for the school they said he didn't have enough social skills."

"Okay okay we get it, you're in love with the guy." Hunk said, he threw away his paper bag into the trash as they passed the park area. "Just...be careful, internet relationships can be hard. He's a model, he's probably partying having sex, doing...I don't know rich people things." Lance almost laughed out loud, he really needed to talk more about Keith to them.

"I highly doubt any of that will happen, and if it does...well then I'll deal with it. But I'm taking a risk because I really like this guy, and I want you guys to be supportive." Lance's voice softened towards the end. He stopped walking his feet made skidding sounds on the paved walkway.

"Hey, Lance we're your friends, of course, we'll support you." Hunk said and put an arm on Lance's shoulder.

"This just means if the guy breaks your heart we'll have every reason to fly down to whatever rich people beach he's living on and claw his eyes out," Pidge said confidently. Lance didn't appreciate the imagery of Pidge ripping Keith's eyes out, but he was thankful for the thought.

"Thanks, guys, I have a good feeling about this." Lance smiled at the two of them. Hunk and Pidge gave him thumbs up and they continued walking to class.

******

"Okay, we've got chips, red bulls, a pizza, pixie sticks, three game controllers, and three teenagers." Hunk listed with his fingers. He plopped down criss cross behind Lance and Pidge who already had controllers in their hands.

"Perfect! Let's get this show on the road." Pidge said she pressed start. A download screen popped up and she groaned. "Really Lance? Couldn't bother downloading this ahead of time."

"Oh shit, forgot it needed to be downloaded." He smiled weakly rubbing the back of his head. Pidge sighed and put down her controller letting the game load.

"Whatever, we've got all night anyway." She laid on her back and stretched out. "Why do you have your laptop?" She asked.

"I'm going to video call Keith soon," Lance said with a wide grin on his face. "He's always so cute this time of night, he'll probably be in his pajamas."

"I thought we would be playing video games?" Hunk asked popping the bag open.

"We will don't worry. But I'll also be video calling Keith." He checked the time, it was 5:59. After a second of watching the digital computer clock, he decided to risk the one minute and pressed the phone button on the video call.

"You're not the best at multitasking," Pidge reminded him. Lance waved his hand in dismissal and adjusted the laptop so that it was facing him. The caller picked up and Keith's face filled up the computer screen. His hair was down, now back to its regular mullet, and he was already in pajamas.

"Good evening." Lance started off, Keith smiled and adjusted his position on the bed. From Lance's angle, he looked like he was on his stomach.

"Good evening, it's fun seeing your face and hearing your voice all at once."

"We've video called before, this should be no surprise." Lance teased, he adjusted so that he was lying on his side. Blocking out Pidge and Hunk.

"I know, but we don't do it every day so it's still surprising." Keith brought a pillow closer to his face. He put it under his chin and tilted his head as he watched Lance.

"Maybe we should do it every day, then I can see your endless stream of pajamas." He smiled, Keith was wearing a dark blue set with ducks on the shirt. He assumed that the pants where matching. "Ducks?" Keith looked at his own shirt and shrugged.

"I base my pajamas off of comfortably, not fashionability."

"That's weird hearing a model say. I've been on your Instagram you've worn some pretty weird things." Keith sat back up, the laptop screen moved around as it was tilted back up towards his face. "Why do you always wear pajamas so early?"

"I don't know, I like being comfortable when I do my homework. Sometimes it takes all night." Lance tilted his head and rolled on his stomach, making sure his face was still aligned with the camera.

"Homework? I didn't know you went to college. Is it online or something?" Keith shook his head, he leaned over and pulled a notebook into his lap.

"No, I'm enrolled in an actual college. It's just the state one."

"Do you...actually go to any of your classes? Sometimes the times of day you take pictures is really weird."

"No...I mean yeah, I don't go to my classes. I just get assignments through emailing my professors, then I sneak on campus drop them off and go back home."

"Now I'm imagining you in all black, ninja sneaking on campus." Lance began laughing the imagery was stuck in his head. Keith smiled and shrugged, he was twiddling a pencil between his fingers.

"I practically do, I usually wear all black. Sometimes I'm afraid that I look like a shooter or something. I get there minutes before the class is over, hide in the bathroom until there's no one in the halls. Then I sneak out, deliver the papers or project and avoid conversation with professors. I usually tell them that I have to head out or something. Then I follow the flow of students out of the building." Lance began laughing even harder, he rolled on his back putting an arm over his eyes. He could hear Pidge and Hunk snickering behind him.

"Keith, no offense but I doubt you're popular enough to warrant getting mobbed at a college."

"Oh, I don't do it to avoid getting mobbed I just really don't like being in...classroom settings." Lance wiped his eyes and laid back on his side looking at the screen.

"You're one of the strangest people I know mullet boy," Lance said dreamily, he watched Keith fidget with his hair. "You must be pretty smart to not even have to go to classes."

"No, I'm average intelligence. It takes me forever to get through homework. I'll probably be here all night with this stupid math crap." Keith had a large book on his lap and looked frustrated just looking at it. Lance glanced at him, Hunk and Pidge were talking quietly and eating chips. He looked back at Keith with a wide smile.

"Well I've got a couple of geniuses behind me, they could probably help you out."

"Really? They wouldn't mind?" Keith's face dipped down and looked harder at the camera, trying to see Hunk or Pidge in the background.

"Yeah totally, I'll ask." Lance rolled on his back then rolled over to look at Hunk and Pidge. "Which one of you wants to help Keith with math work."

"What math is it?" Hunk asked eating a handful of popcorn. Lance turned back around to look at Keith.

"What math?" He asked Keith held up a Calculus book. Lance winced, even he needed help with that stuff. He rolled back over to Hunk and Pidge.

"It's calculus," He answered.

"Is it the graph stuff or just the equation stuff," Pidge asked, she ate one of the mini eclairs that Lance had bought. Lance rolled over again, Keith was erasing things on his paper.

"Graph stuff or equation stuff?" Keith looked down at his book, he looked confused. He held up a sheet of paper, it took Lance a bit but he recognized it. They had one that pretty much looked like it due on Monday. He sat up this time and looked at Hunk and Pidge.

"It's the graph stuff," Lance answered finally, he reached over and took a handful of popcorn.

"You're better at graphs and shapes then me, do your thing Hunk," Pidge said, Hunk nodded and crawled over to Lance's computer. Lance moved over and popped his head in front of the laptop, just enough for his face to be seen.

"This is Hunk, he's smarter than me and he'll help." Lance blew a surprised looking Keith a kiss and popped out of frame.

"Games downloaded, pick up that controller lets play Castle Crasher," Pidge said with a wicked smile. She sat up with the game controller in her hand and pressed play. Lance smiled and picked up his controller, he scooted closer to Pidge and pressed start. He looked over his shoulder at Hunk and Keith, they looked well situated. Hunks hands were already moving as he explained complex things that Lance barely had a concept of. He turned off his mind and turned back to his game, ready to mindlessly throw himself into it.

A few hours later Hunk had switched spots with Lance. He sat next to Pidge doing better then Lance was at keeping up with her skill. Lance was content lying next to the computer occasionally looking at Keith's face as he typed on his phone. There was a buzz from Lance's phone.

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Hey, your friend Hunk was really awesome for helping. It took a quarter of the time it would have>

<Me: Yeah Hunk is amazing, but don't go getting any ideas ;0>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Lol I'll try not to but he's pretty cute>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Next time remind me to get Pidge to help you she is thankfully very much female lol>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Okay I don't mind, maybe I'll find my 5% possible straightness>

<Me: Something tells me you probably won't lol. Hey why don't you just talk to me, we're literally video chatting>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Eh I don't want to ruin your friends focus, besides I'm happy with just looking up and seeing you>

They both looked at the computer at the same time. Keith gave Lance a shy smile, Lance winked back with a smile.

<Me: Yeah I can get behind that, but if you ever need help with any of your school work my friends and I are always there for you okay?>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: I'll...try to remember that but asking for help and I don't go hand in hand>

<Me: I've noticed lol don't worry every time you're doing homework I'll spam text you if you need any help>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Coming from you that's a promise huh?>

<Me: Bet your ass it is>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Hey I think I'm gonna go to bed soon>

<Me: Already? It's only 10 and a Friday>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: We're driving down to Arizona to do some rock shoots. And I may or may not be shooting an Ad>

<Me: YOU ARE??? HOW CAN YOU NOT BE SURE??>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Idk Shiro's been trying to hide it from me bc he knows I would say no. But if I'm already on set it'll be awkward if I flipped them off and left>

<Me: I'll take your place in a heartbeat>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: You're into acting?>

<Me: UM YEAH??? Acting and I are the shit. If I had a singing voice I'd totally be in all my school plays but unfortunately, I have the want but no talent :(>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Aw :( if I ever get to meet you I'll ask Shiro if we can film a mini Ad lol>

<Me: You're the best, can't wait. You sure you can't stay a couple more hours?>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Sorry my eyes are already closing and my brains dying. I need my ugly rest>

<Me: Don't you mean Beautyrest?>

<Pretty Boy With a Mullet: Nope goodnight :o>

Lance looked up at the screen and watched as Keith put his phone down. He waved to him and blew him a kiss before the computer screen went dark. A red cell phone flashed across the screen with the caption call ended.

<Me: KEITH! COME BACK I DIDN'T GET TO TELL YOU HOW BEAUTIFUL YOU ARE>

<Me: KEITH YOU RAT YOU'RE THE PRETTIEST PERSON I HAVE EVER MET>

<Me: Keith you bet your ass as soon as you wake up I will be serenading you with tales of how beautiful and perfect you are>

<Me: Expect a call, 8 am sharp from me telling you that you could replace the moon> 

<Me: Fine be that way. But go to sleep knowing that reflective surfaces beg to hold your image because it will be the time in their existence where they will hold the most beauty. Goodnight <3 >

Lance sat up pouting, he crawled over to the other side of Pidge and picked up the third controller.

"Keith went to bed?" Pidge asked not taking her eyes away from the screen.

"Yeah, and he won't accept how fucking hot he is."

"Wow, what a jerk," Pidge said holding back a chuckle.

"He really is!" Lance's phone buzzed again. He quickly opened it and clicked on the notification. It brought him to Snapchat. He opened up a Snap from Keith. It was a picture of him with a toothbrush in his mouth.

[Kute Keith Kocaine: Goodnight, thanks for making me feel really happy today <3 ps. Spam my Snapchat with how pretty you think I am and I'll block you]

Lance sent a quick goodnight snapback. Instead of sending another picture to him he took a quick picture of the side of Pidges head and captioned it.

[Lancing King: Btw guys Keith Kogane is a smoldering hot male Instagram model. Follow him on Instagram @KeithKogane, if you think he's hot DM me with a thumbs up]

Lance put it on his story then shut off his phone proud of himself. He picked up the third controller again and turned it on.

"Ready to get your asses beat by the tailor?" Lance asked his character beaming in.

"Prepare to get your needle bent Lance," Pidge smirked.

"Challenge accepted." Hunk smiled and took another handful of popcorn before looking serious. Lance pressed begin and prepared himself for battle. 

Chapter Text

"Shit," Keith swore as his head jerked to the side, away from the hot iron. He took a deep breath and gave the frustrated hairdresser a look.

"Can you sit still for five seconds?" Shiro asked, his eyes were on his camera and he was flipping through the pictures he had taken.

"I would love to if I wasn't being burned every five fucking seconds." He took a deep breath and willed himself to go back to his original position.

"You're almost done anyway, this shoot should be quick. We can go eat after."

"What about keeping my figure?" Keith asked sarcastically, he took out his phone pulling up his messenger.

"You went on a run this morning, you'll be fine." Shiro sat on a chair near him and switched to his phone.

"Why did you take pictures of the scenery if I'm the model?" He clicked on Lance's number and sent him a message.

<Me: I'm tired, hungry, and if this damn hairdresser burns me one more time I'll throw a classic model tantrum and walk out.>

"I have a personal Instagram, I like scenery pictures. This place is great for that type of shit." Keith was mildly interested in Shiro's personal Instagram, he never actually took the time to check it.

<My Loser BF: What does a classic model tantrum include? Sorry I'm behind on my America's next top model>

Despite how irritated Keith felt he smiled and quickly replied.

<Me: It's just tears, demanding to be treated like a human, make everyone feel bad by comparing yourself to pin up doll, then stomping out. And you should watch ATM it's really good>

<Me: *ANTP>

<My Loser BF: Lmao I thought you wanted to watch ATM like the machine that gave out money, I was so confused>

<Me: Nope just the show, I like the recent seasons bc they have male models>

<My Loser BF: Why don't we watch it the first time I meet you irl>

"Why are you always on your phone lately?" Shiro asked he peeked up from his phone to look at Keith. Keith looked away from his phone and gave Shiro a deadpanned look.

"I'm a college student, why are you surprised?"

"Well, I'm used to you glaring into the mirror for the hour that it takes to get you ready. Now you're smiling, and frankly, I'm pretty concerned." Shiro had a half smile, Keith could see the smallest bits of pride.

"Leave me alone, I'm looking at...cat videos and shit." He mumbled and focused on texting Lance to keep a blush away.

<Me: I thought we were going to play all of Outlast, beginning to end?>

<My Loser BF: We're doing that too>

<Me: And then you said we were going to get me a hamster so that I could feel the love of an animal>

<My Loser BF: Don't worry we'll do that too>

<Me: We also have a ton of other shit to do. So what do you want to do first.>

<My Loser BF: Kiss you>

Keith's cheeks reddened, he took a moment to compose himself before replying.

<My Loser BF: I'm guessing that made you blush?>

<Me: Maybe...>

<My Loser BF: Lol we've talked about it before>

<Me: IK it's just intense knowing someone wants to kiss me>

<My Loser BF: Well get used to that feeling all that time bc I'm not going to do anything but steal kisses from you. Ya know why?>

<Me: Not really?>

<My Loser BF: Bc you>

<My Loser BF: Are so>

<My Loser BF: Fucking>

<My Loser BF: PRETTY>

<Me: Ugh, blocked leave me alone>

"Okay, lemme see what you're doing. You look way too happy," Shiro looked like he was teasing but Keith hugged his phone to his chest regardless.

"Let me be happy in peace, it's the least you can do after letting me get poked and prodded all day for a five-minute shoot." He grumbled, Shiro rolled his eyes and checked his watch.

"Let's give your hair five more minutes, meet me at the shoot sight." He stood up and grabbed his camera, he put the neck piece on and left the dressing room.

<Me: Shiro is so fucking annoying>

<My Loser BF: What did he do to my pretty boy?>

<Me: 1st, shut up. And he wanted to know why I'm on my phone more>

<My Loser BF: Did you tell him it's because you're talking to your super stud boyfriend?>

<Me: Um no, he doesn't know about you>

<My Loser BF: Ummm excuse me? Why doesn't everyone in your life know about me?>

<My Loser BF: Lol I'm kidding but you said Shiro isn't homophobic. I hope you're not too embarrassed to have an internet boyfriend?>

<Me: No! It's nothing like that it's pretty dumb why...I don't want to prove him right>

<My Loser BF: About what?>

<Me: That I'm gay>

<My Loser BF: ...>

<My Loser BF: But you are. What's the issue?>

<Me: Idk it's dumb, I'll tell him eventually>

"Okay Keith, you're all set. I swear every time I doll you up, you get more fidgety." The woman turned off the curling iron and set it on the table. She popped the bubble she had begun to blow smearing her lipstick.

"Funny feels like you care less and less about the safety about my scalp every time we see each other." He looked into the mirror, as usual, he was surprised how decent he looked. He moved his head his new curls moving with him, his complexion also looked clearer than usual. He was wearing makeup, but not enough to register as anything. Just enough to make image correcting easier on Shiro.

"Well..." She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "I guess you complaining is better than before. You were so cute when we first met, you wouldn't have made a peep if I was scalping you. Now look, telling me off and everything."

"Glad to know you find my complaining cute."

<Me: My hair is done, I'm heading out for my shoot now>

<My Loser BF: Good luck, make sure you slay the camera ily>

<Me: Do you /really/ love me?>

<My Loser BF: Um yeah I do got an issue with that pretty boy?>

<Me: Hush, and nope. Just...>

<My Loser BF: Uh uh nope, no self-doubt before a shoot. You'll psyche your pretty head out. Now go before I start describing how utterly gorgeous you are.>

<My Loser BF: How I would move heaven and Earth just to sit next to you and hug you>

Keith shut off his phone before he could read any more of Lance's texts and blush any harder.

"Who's making you blush like that?" Keith's hairdresser drawled out her words making her Southern accent more pronounced.

"Just my boyfriend," Keith said carefully, letting the weighted words sit in his mouth. He looked up at Cathy trying not to look nervous. She looked slightly surprised but not much more of her mood changes.

"Uh, huh well tell him I said hi. Bring him around one of these days." She moved to the side so he could get out of his chair. He slipped his phone into his back pocket.

"What? So he can watch me suffer?" He smiled mischievously and slipped his hands into his suit pocket. He looked over his shoulder to see Cathy sticking her tongue out at him. He returned the gesture and walked out into the garden area outside.

He met Shiro, the female model, and her agent outside. Keith looked at them, he had an idea of what she looked like but hadn't seen her yet. She had deep purple hair, it was a strange contrast to the flowy yellow dress she wore. Keith's own suit was a shade of orange, he thought it looked ugly but Shiro insisted.

Her agent was much taller than even Shiro. He put his hand on her shoulder and eyed Keith carefully. Keith felt self-conscious about his outfit immediately. He reconciled himself by remembering that they had taken his measurements for this suit, and it hugged his body to perfection.

"Finally ready? You took longer than Tiffany took to get ready." He said gruffly, Keith narrowed his eyes but tried not to let too much of his annoyance show.

"It also helps that my hair didn't look like a rats nest when I walked in." Tiffney's once pretty face contorted as she laughed menacingly. Keith's stomach turned, he felt his body physically rejecting their presence. She extended her hand to him. "Tiffany Murphy, you're not too bad looking once you get cleaned up. Do well on this shoot and I'll let you take me out."

"Keith," He said plainly, he took away his hand making a show of wiping his hand on his pant leg. "Hopefully if I don't end up trying to drown myself by the end of this shoot, you'll let me leave." He turned away from her just as her pretty face turned into an ugly grimace. He kept a neutral look and walked by Shiro to the rock that was a few feet away from the small pond near him. He rested one on a smaller rock below him. "Coming?" He raised an eyebrow and gestured to the area around him.

She looked murderous for a moment, her agent's grip on her shoulder tightened. Like a spell had been cast, her face became serene and she looked like a professional once again.

****

The rest of the shoot seemed to flash by in a matter of seconds to Keith. He let his body do all the thinking. He understood that the shoot was supposed to be romantic and flirty, but he let himself build up the slight tension in the air. When he finished he knew the shoot looked more like a silent fight between lovers, more than a romance.

"And we got it, perfect. This looks really perfect guys." He smiled and flipped through his pictures. Keith let out a sigh of relief. If Shiro was happy that meant he'd never have to see Tiffney again. "I'll email these to the magazine, and hope they send us back a copy with a golden seal on it." Shiro stood up from his squat and looked at Tiffany's agent. He gave a thumbs up and slipped his hands back in the window. Keith found a hard time getting a read on the guy but he assumed he looked pleased.

Tiffney stood up from her spot on the ground and stood directly in front of Keith. She kept her hands behind back. Her face looked sweeter than it had when they first met. Keith almost complimented her on her versatility.

"Look, we're both adults. We can move past that ugly little meeting we had in the beginning. You're really cute and I want to get to know you, we'd make excellent...photo shoots." She smiled coyly, a question in her eyes. Keith's hairs stood on end, he just wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

He paused and decided that he could be versatile too. He stood up from his rock, they were relatively the same height. He thought of every sexy thing he knew of and smiled. He leaned in close to her, his hand fluttering just above her arm. He leaned in closer so he was facing the opposite way but his lips were by her ear.

"Just want to let you know, I don't offer this to many of the people I take photos with." She whispered quickly, he could already hear the triumph in her voice.

"Hm..." He hummed softly like he was thinking. "Too bad I'm gay." He said in a completely neutral tone, ruining the moment and the mood. He took two steps away from her to evaluate the damage. She looked shocked, red rising to her cheeks. Her fists clenched around her dressed.

"You fucking fa-"

"Well! It's been a pleasure working with the both of you, but we have many more shoots today. We better get a move on." Shiro put his hands on Keith's shoulders and began walking him away from the two of them. Keith blinked and didn't struggle. He figured she'd be pissed, but he didn't expect her to try and use homophobic slurs.

Once Shiro had walked them safely out of the garden area and back into the parking lot, Shiro let him go. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" Keith crossed his arms, trying not to look as shaken as he felt

"You couldn't have just politely declined her."

"She was a bitch to me," Keith said in his defense.

"You know being gay isn't a weapon." Keith shrugged in response. "Quite a way to come out huh?"

"It wasn't really coming out, you claimed to know."

"I was speculating, you could have been anything else. I just figured you liked men more than women."

"Well, you figured right. Now are we getting pizza or not?"

"Photoshoot, come out as gay and eat pizza. Do you have an agenda or something?" Shiro was chuckling by the time Keith began walking to the car. He walked next to him and took out the keys from his pocket.

"Maybe," Keith walked to the passenger side of the car and paused before opening the door. "Hey, Shiro?"

"Yeah?" Shiro unlocked the driver's side door and looked at him from across the car.

"Can you get me a few more shoots with...guys or something. It's not like I want to come out to the people who follow me on Instagram, because why the hell should they care? But I just want to show...I don't know..."

"A little more personality?" Shiro offered, Keith nodded and opened his door. He climbed inside and took out his phone. Shiro climbed into his car and they shut their doors at the same time.

"Texting your mystery person again?" Shiro asked, he buckled himself in and started the car.

"Maybe, maybe it's just a professor." He said as aloofly as possible.

<Me: I told this bitchy model Tiffany off and came out to my brother>

<My Loser BF: Woah big news huh? I thought Shiro already knew about you being gay>

<Me: He knew I liked men but not much else>

<My Loser BF: By men, I think you mean /a/ man. As in singular, as in me your one and only Lance>

<Me: You're really lame you know that? But I'm kinda excited about this shoot. It's not going straight to my Instagram bc Shiro is mailing it to this magazine company. And if they like any of them they'll sponsor me and I'll be in their next issue.>

<My Loser BF: I'd like to say I'm surprised but why should I be? You're literally the greatest model of our time there's no way you wouldn't be in a magazine. I'll be the first to buy your magazine issue bby>

<Me: Maybe the magazine is for Playgirl, you sure you don't mind buying risque magazines like that?>

<My Loser BF: Even better, and it's not like I don't anyway. I just have cheaper sources of sexual deviance>

<Me: Ew weirdo, don't make me think of that stuff I'm going to get pizza>

<My Loser BF: I didn't know you were asexual too, I don't mind though>

<Me: I'm not, just a virgin>

<My Loser BF: I don't know why I'm surprised. Anyway Mr. Pretty Mullet Boy Virgin Playgirl Pants, where are you going for pizza?>

<Me: Oh you wouldn't know the place, and I can't remember the name. Something weird>

He waited for Lance's usual immediate replies but he didn't receive one. He pouted slightly and crossed his legs. He decided to actually use his Instagram app for once. He opened up the app and went to his profile. He clicked on his following button and pressed the one person that was under the category.

He spent a good portion of the ride to the pizza place browsing Shiro's profile. He took the pictures of the strangest things but they were all oddly beautiful.

<Me: Do you think I should get a personal Instagram?>

<My Loser BF: Yeah totally, sorry I just got into class ugh biology is lame>

<Me: Yeah it is, my teacher always gives so much homework it's annoying>

<My Loser BF: Mine doesn't really give us all that much. And maybe you think it's sooo much bc your homework is also your classwork>

<Me: True true, but what do you do with personal Instagrams?>

<My Loser BF: Watch funny videos, take pictures of dumb shit, take pictures with friends, follow random people, look over your stream, post dumb selfies>

<Me: Oh okay maybe I'll make one when I get home>

<My Loser BF: If you do, make sure you do 2 things>

<Me: What?>

<My Loser BF: Follow me and all my friends, and don't take any selfies. I want your first selfie on your account to be of us>

Keith bit his lip, the thought of meeting Lance sent excited shivers down his back. He didn't want to feel cynical and think that he would never meet Lance. He held out hope for once.

<Me: Deal, hey I should let you biology. I'll send you a few snaps of the pizza to make you hungry though>

<My Loser BF: You're a jerk, leaving me bored in Bio and making me hungry>

<Me: I'm the worst bf sorry not sorry>

<My Loser BF: Better make up for this in kisses when we meet>

<Me: Maybe, maybe not. Bye>

He paused before quickly texting three letters, his heart in his ears.

<Me: ILY>

<My Loser BF: ily2 pretty boy <3 >

Keith smiled stupidly wide as he shut off his phone. He didn't care that Shiro was looking at him weird, and he didn't care that Lance had called him pretty. He didn't even care that there was still a possibility Lance was fucking with him. He couldn't have felt happier if he tried.

****

Keith adjusted the camera so that his face was back in view of the laptop camera. He rested his chin on his pillow again and placed his phone next to his bowl.

"What took you so long, I missed the sounds of your breathing," Lance said from Keith's computer screen. Keith looked at the screen and slipped a chip into his mouth.

"I couldn't find where Shiro hid the banana chips. I thought I'd have to buy more." He watched Lance grimace and place his pencil down on top of his textbooks.

"If my brother was trying to eat weird things like banana chips I'd try to hide them too." Keith shot him a dirty look and slipped two more chips into his mouth.

"They're really good and healthy, I'll make you eat some when we meet."

"Make sure you add that to the list."

"I'll add that and eating a triple cheese, steak, and green pepper pizza together, onto the list," Keith said, he actually pulled up his notes app and added them to an ongoing list. Keith closed his notes app and went back to Instagram to continue making his new profile.

"So how's account making going?"

"Um, it's okay." He was having a hard time picking a none taken username, especially since Keith Kogane had been taken.

"That sounds fake, I don't know what step you're on but stop panicking. If you really don't like it you can always go back and change it." Lance assure him, he blew him a kiss through the screen. Keith looked just in time to see it and nodded.

"Okay, I think I'm almost done." There were three knocks, Keith groaned and put down his phone. "Don't come in I'm in my underwear." He looked at Lance and put his finger to his lips. Lance nodded and made a zipping motion with his fingers, he went back to his biology homework.

"I've seen you in worse." Shiro cracked open the door and peeked in just in case. Once he saw that Keith was in fact in Pajamas he stepped in. He was holding an opened package. He resting his back against the wall and looked at Keith seriously.

"Hey, I wanted to talk. You mind sparing me five minutes?" Keith glanced at his computer screen for a moment, he debated putting him on silent microphone.

"Sure..."

"Today was pretty good, but seeing you interact with that model made me realize something." He took a deep breath. "I know I'm not your legal guardian, you're older than 18. But I'm older than you and I still feel like I have the right to give you advice and push you into things. You're not too old to learn, and you're not too old to learn social skills."

"I mean I guess so..." Keith was unsure where this was going, but he already felt uncomfortable.

"I don't think you can interact with people your own age. I don't think you're very good with people in general, now it's okay to be an introvert but I feel like you're the type to shut himself away completely. I don't want that for you, I think you should be out there. Having fun, going to college, having coffee with friends, maybe even dating. You're wasting away in here, eating banana chips."

"Hey!" Keith grumbled, the banana chips didn't deserve the disrespect and neither did he.

"I mean I just want you to be eating banana chips with somebody, anybody. I'm afraid you know so little about people that you'll either push them away entirely or trust the wrong ones."

"I'm not an idiot Shiro," Keith's words were soft, he was unsure even of himself.

"I know you're not, but you're naive. It's okay if you have social anxiety, it's okay if you need to talk to a counselor or a therapist. I'll help you with that, but there's going to be a new rule in this house. For as long as you live here, hopefully, you'll carry on doing it even if you don't." Shiro cleared his throat, Keith couldn't help but notice how easily he gave out orders and decrees. "Starting next week, you're going to your college classes. For more than half of your classes, then a few weeks after that all of your classes. I also want you to go out once a week, do anything you want. Just go out, minimum two hours."

"But..." Keith didn't even know where to begin, the whole thing felt overwhelming. He understood Shiro's logic and hated it at the same time. What he said was true but how true it was, didn't matter to how pissed Keith felt.

"But?"

"But I have no friends, and I don't want to go to class with strangers. Don't you prefer me staying home then getting into hardcore drugs?" He couldn't think of any non-drug related retaliation, but he couldn't take the new rules lying down.

"You'll make friends, and just don't make bad ones. Drugs are bad for acne, enjoy the rest of your antisocial week. Starting Monday I want to see a new Keith." He walked closer to his bed and dropped a package on Keith's bed. "You also have a package, I checked and it's not a bomb. Maybe you have a secret admirer or something." He left the room before Keith could figure out anything to say back.

"Ugh freaking Shiro!" He pushed the package off his bed and smashed his face into his pillow.

"Damn, he really brought down the gavel huh?" Keith looked up at the computer screen and nodded at Lance.

"The worst part is I don't even have anything valid to say. I just...I don't have anyone to hang out with or talk to, except you. People are annoying and if I got close to anyone they wouldn't like me anyway. So what's the point? I'm the biggest loser to ever hit the modeling scene." Keith shifted so his face wasn't fully in the frame of the camera.

"Hey hey," Lance's voice was soft and concerned, there was a shuffling of the microphone. Like Lance had tried to touch his the screen. "You're not lame, you're amazing. Shiro is just trying to help you so everyone else gets to know that." Keith looked at him from the corner of his eyes not sure what to say. "Keith he wasn't insulting you okay? From what I can tell you just have a little social anxiety, if I was there I'd walk you to all your classes. I'd be there to pick you up, I'd whisk you away in the middle of a lecture if you were feeling anxious. And I'd hold your hand every lunch break."

"I wish you were here," Keith whispered, he hated that they were on video call. Lance could hear the cracks in his voice and see the redness in his eyes. "I wish you were real." He sniffled his voice was even shakier and he wiped away tears. He knew this was probably killing Lance. Lance had voiced on many occasions that he hated not being there to comfort him.

"Baby it'll be okay, take it slow. You're psyching yourself out before you even tried." Keith rubbed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, do you want to leave video chat?"

"No, I want to be able to hear your voice. You can make the camera one sided so you can still see me. But can you do me a quick favor before you do that?" Keith paused his mouse hovering over the button to cancel his camera.

"What?" He used the edges of his pillowcase to rub at his eyes.

"Can you open up the package Shiro gave you?" Keith gave him an odd look then looked the fallen packaged box on the floor.

"Um, okay." He reached to the floor and slid the box on the bed. He sniffled and sat up, his torso and the box the only thing in frame. He pulled back the flaps and looked and saw a bunched up ball. "Oh?" he took out the ball and pushed the empty box to the floor. He unzipped the bag it was in and pulled out a chubby brown cat stuffed animal holding an ice cream. His eyes widened and he moved it around until he found a tag on its neck.

From your tailor, hope this can keep you smiling until we meet for real. XOXOXOXO

-Your loverboy, Lance

Keith gasped, he almost began crying again. He felt his eyes become watery, he brought the cat to his chest and shifted the laptop camera so his face was back in view.

"Lance! You didn't!" He hugged the cat tighter his eyes squeezed shut. Lance chuckled, Keith opened his eyes and gave Lance the most genuine smile he could manage.

"Sorry, but I did. I was out at a fair and was trying to win it as a prize. I was failing super hard, I couldn't hit a single target. But I realized why I wasn't winning."

"Why?" Keith properly wiped the remaining tears from his cheeks, he didn't' want a single drop on his new cat.

"I wasn't trying to win it for anyone. So, of course, I started trying to win it for you and got it on my second try. The only problem was, it smelled like popcorn and the fair."

"I wouldn't have minded," Keith assured him.

"But I would have, in hindsight I could have just thrown it in the wash," He rubbed the back of his head. "Instead I began sleeping with it, so it would smell like me. So that's two weeks of Lance smell, hope you're not too grossed out." Keith felt another surge of excitement, he immediately brought the cat to his nose and inhaled deeply. It smelled wonderful, like junk food, sweet things, lavender soap, and general guy smells. It smelt amazing, it smelt real, it smelt like him. Keith's heart began to hurt with all the love he felt for this boy.

"Lance?"

"Keith?" Lance raised his eyebrow his cheeks were as red as Keith's.

"I love you, a lot. A ton, a million time over." Lance smiled wide and got close to the camera.

"I love you too Pretty Mullet Boy."

"I'll send you stuff too, I promise. I'll send you banana chips, and kale chips, polaroid pictures. Anything, everything, constantly." Keith promised the cat was still near his face, he couldn't stop inhaling.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to keep following up." Lance relaxed on his bed tilting the camera down so his face was on the screen. "Feeling better?" Keith got back on his stomach with the cat to rest on instead of the pillow.

"A lot better, but I think I'll need a pep talk before I go to school on Tuesday."

"Don't you mean Monday?"

"I don't have any Monday classes, eternal three day weekends."

"Huh, smart. But I'll call you before and after every class, if you need me to."

"Promise?" Keith asked quietly.

"I promise." Lance put a cross over his heart and blew a kiss. Keith pretended to catch it and blew one back. Nerves were still fluttering in his chest, but love was there too.

Chapter Text

"Have you seen Keith's newest post?" Pidge asked from the floor, Lance looked down at her then quickly looked away.

"I got the notification for it, but I have to finish this math work. If I get on Keith's Instagram there's no chance I'll get off anytime soon." He adjusted himself on the bed and stuffed the pillow under his chin. Hunk looked at the two of them as he slowly opened the chip bag. Despite his efforts, the crunching of the bag caught Lance and Pidge attentions. Hunk smiled shyly and put the bag down.

"Since when do you keep tabs on Keith?" Hunk asked, he took out his phone and began typing.

"Since he made an account and followed me. Ever since then, I've gotten a chance to see that he's not as cool as I thought he was." Pidge put down her phone and took her glasses off. Lance looked over and gave her a look.

"He's plenty cool, I mean he is a model," Lance said in his defense. Pidge raised an eyebrow at him and began putting her hair in a ponytail.

"Yesterday, he posted a picture of his entire toe covered in nail polish."

"Accidents happen..." Lance was fully distracted and put his pencil down.

"And the day before there was just a minute video of him gushing over some new Jet." Pidge continued, with her hair successfully packed she slipped on her glasses and picked up her pencil.

"Planes are cool..."

"Oh, I saw that video. He knew the history, the model number, and the first person to fly it. I mean he sounds smart but he's also a total nerd." Hunk chuckled, he put down his phone and picked up the chip bag again.

"Okay fine, he's kind of a loser, but he's adorable. He's also my boyfriend so I can't complain. Keeps him in my league." Lance sat up and pushed off the bed until he was sitting upright. He reached underneath his pillow and pulled out his phone.

"What happened to having to complete your math?" Pidge asked Lance shrugged. He slipped down to the floor with them and pulled up Instagram.

"I would have given up eventually so there's no point in pretending to do any work." He went to Keith's public account and scrolled to the newest photo. He sucked in air and felt a blush on his cheek.

Keith wasn't wearing any designers that Lance could decipher, but what he did have was the cat Lance had gifted him. He was wearing regular clothes but held the cat in his lap. His eyes looked bigger and more innocent than usual, there was a small smile on his lips. In the first few pictures, he was relaxed on his home couch. Lance favorite picture was of Keith kissing the side of the cats head. The greatest part of each shot was the tag around the cat. It wasn't exactly the one Lance had put on the cat's neck but it looked very similar. The words from Lance were very prominent. The caption of the photo was a heart with a rainbow flag. It said enough for Lance, he wondered if Keith had actually posted this one himself.

"You look stupidly happy, did you see the photo shoot?" Pidge asked, already knowing the answer.

"I don't think there's a folder big enough to fit all my photos of Keith." Lance murmured saving all four of the new pictures. His heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. "He's so freaking amazing." As he looked at the pictures he could hear Hunk and Pidge snicker near him.

"Huh, cute cat. You won it at the carnival?" Hunk asked, he had his phone in his right hand and his left hand was in a bag of chips.

"Yeah, it was worth every spent dollar."

"You ended up technically paying 30 dollars for a 15 dollar stuffed animal."

"Hush, it felt good winning it. And it made Keith happy so that's all that matters to me." He began scrolling through the comments. He only indulged himself occasionally, he just liked to see how many people agreed with how beautiful he found his boyfriend.

"How did you even send it to him? I doubt he just gave out his address to you, internet boyfriend or not." Pidge asked, her phone was resting on the floor next to her open textbook.

"Yeah, I didn't bother asking. I didn't want to put him in that situation where he has to tell me no, they had a P.O box address on the top of his Instagram. I sent it there, and I assumed at some point they got it with the rest of Keith's fan mail."

"Was it in the state?" Hunk asked him. Lance shrugged unsurely, he scrolled through the comments faster.

"I didn't pay attention, I just gave them an address and a scribbled the P.O box number down. I didn't recognize the name but our state is pretty big." Pidge rolled her eyes and scooted closer to Hunk, she stole a few chips.

"Pennsylvania isn't that big, and this isn't our state. You're from Florida so I don't trust your location detecting skills." Despite the trash talk from Pidge Lance was too absorbed in reading the disgusting comments.

"Pidge listen to this piece of shit comment; who the fuck is Lance? You better not be bouncing on anyone else dicks slut." Lance felt a tight anger in his stomach.

"Aren't you his first relationship?" Hunk asked, Lance, looked up and nodded at him.

"It gets worse, he's called the F-word a couple times. Some freaks are asking who Lance is in a not so nice way, a couple people are surprised because they didn't think he was gay, some people are saying they're disappointed." Lance scoffed and gripped his phone tightly. "Disappointed? Do these fuckers know what Keith even does, he doesn't have time to cater to the needs of a couple of miserable bullies over Instagram a--"

"Woah, calm down Lance. Put the phone down, and do not reply to any comments." Hunk warned Lance contemplated his options for a moment. He put his phone down too harshly, deciding it was a better alternative than typing full-on essays about how amazing Keith was.

"Why do people even care? They don't even know if he's gay or not, he just posted a rainbow flag!" He looked between Pidge and Hunk, they both looked skeptical but sympathetic. "Okay so it's pretty clear what the flag meant, but why is it an issue? They should be talking about how thick is eyelashes are, or how nice his hair looks, or how pretty his eyes are."

"Not all of the comments were bad, I think your eyes are just filtering out all the good comments and are seeing just the bad." Hunk nodded in agreement with Pidge's statement. Lance crossed his arms and shrugged, his cheeks puffed.

"Doesn't make the jerks any less jerky," Lance grumbled, he threw his phone on his bed.

"Why don't you talk to your boyfriend and stop being grumpy." Pidge offered, she took a large handful of chips and tried stuffing them into her mouth. Instead, several chips fell from the side of her mouth. "Damn, Matt always manages to pull that off."

"Matt's also an expert," Hunk reminded her, "Even I haven't completely mastered that skill." His handful of chips was smaller than the amount Pidge attempted to eat.

"My boyfriends probably enjoying his last free day until the summer." Lance sighed and laid on his back. He stared up at the ceiling tiredly. He swore he could see division symbols floating in the air. There was a buzz from Lance's phone on the bed.

Lance sat up, his head nearly colliding with the edge of the bed frame. He scrambled up the bed and checked the screen. It was a messaging notification from his favorite person. He found himself adjusting his hair before opening the text.

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Good morning>

<Me: It's afternoon but you're up pretty earlier on your terms anyway lol>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: I did a quick morning shoot for Shiro then I went back to bed. But we're going out for pizza soon, I'm pretty sure we'll live stream it>

<Me: Oh? I get to hear words come out of your mouth in real time? What a treat.>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Oh you get to see me do that anyway lol we video chat every night. I'm pretty sure I'm burning out my laptop battery>

<Me: Good only means our relationship is amazing. Anyway speaking of shoots...>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Yes?>

<Me: Did I ever tell you that you were the most beautiful human being that I will ever have the pleasure of meeting.>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Yes you have actually>

<Me: Well have I told you that the moon reflects off of you and that reflections beg to hold your image?>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: mhm>

<Me: Gee I really need to step up my game. But the point still stands that was freaking amazing. You were genuinely so beautiful and radiant, and you were holding my present!>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: I posted it myself, I even added the rainbow flag. I didn't read the comments, but I assumed a lot of people think I'm gay rn>

<Me: Crazy that they'd think that especially seeing as you are gay.>

<Me: Btw don't read the comments they're shitty. If you do read them make sure you're on the phone with me so I can fill your head with only good things.>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Lol don't worry I'm not on that account enough anyway.>

<Me: Yeah U really seem into your private account>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: You see that?>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Oh yeah you'd see it on your dashboard, I'm idiot.>

<Me: Yeah lol, what's your thing with drag queens lately, You follow a ton of them>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Idk I like their aesthetic it's weird, should I not like them?>

<Me: No no go ahead like them if you want it's your account, don't worry you also like a lot of cool plane pictures so it makes up for it ;)>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Ok good I thought I was bothering you and your friends>

<Me: It's okay Pidge has a boner for young an upcoming Genius accounts.>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Yeah I see a lot of those on my dashboard lol>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Hey we're leaving soon and I guess we're streaming the car ride too.>

<Me: Aw can't you text and stream at the same time?>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: I barely talk on streams, l the least I can do is be present. Besides Shiro uses my phone to stream most of the time, better front camera.>

<Me: I guess I'll just have to sit in my room alone, with Pidge and Hunk, and watch your stream>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Poor you, but don't you have class in like ten minutes?>

<Me: SHIT I do, wait how did you know?>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: You always leave around this time on Mondays>

<Me: Oh you got me there lol, I'll watch your stream if I have enough time. Video chat tonight?>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: Of course bye>

<Me: Bye ily>

<Pretty Boy with a Mullet: <3 >

"Okay guys and gals we have to get a move on." Lance stressed, he stuffed his phone into his pocket and stood up. Pidge and Hunk looked at him strangely. Pidge looked at her phone clock and swore.

"Damn we've got to make it to economics." She knelt up and began stuffing her books into her backpack. Hunk looked equally as distressed, he grabbed his bag of chips and rolled it up. He stuffed it into the front pocket of his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"How did all three of us not look at the time. We were all on our phones." Lance grabbed the sweatshirt hanging off of his top bunk and slipped it on. He picked up his bag and hung it on one of his shoulders.

"I was reading an online book, so...that was my excuse." Hunk said in his defense. Lance went to the door and slipped on his sneakers without untying them.

"I don't know about the two of you but I was talking to the love of my life, so excuse me for being mentally absent." Pidge rolled her eyes and opened Lance's door.

"I was actually doing math work, I was using my phone as a graphing calculator," Pidge said stressing the word math, Lance cringed internally. He was still so far behind in his work.

They followed Pidge out the door, Lance carefully shut it. "Why am I always later to the classes I have with you two?" Pidge asked mostly to herself.

"Probably something to do with them being boys." Lance looked behind him to see Allurah with several containers of paint balanced on her hand. She was wearing a painters apron, with several paint splotches on them. Lance looked at her intently for a moment, he was able to safely say that she was beautiful. But mental images of Keith began floating around and he knew he didn't even have a crush on her anymore.

"You're probably right," Lance admitted. Pidge grabbed Lance's sleeve-tugging him forward.

"We're late for class, there is no time for flir-- talking to...other people come on." Pidge began speed walking at a breakneck speed. Hunk and Lance fought to keep up.

*****

Lance slowly slipped his earbuds out of his backpack. He glanced over at Hunk who sat next to him. Hunk was fighting to keep his eyes open, his face was leaning against the palm of his hand as he slowly scribbled down notes. Lance looked to his other side, Pidge wasn't giving the teacher a single thought. She was scribbling down complicated math equations with arrows pointing to a vague technical looking shape she had drawn.

Lance leaned even closer to her and dropped his voice. "Hey, are you recording what she's saying?" Pidge turned slightly to him, her hand still placing numbers and symbols on her page.

"Yeah," She tilted her head towards her laptop. "Audio, and visual." Lance smiled and opened up his phone.

"You're the best." He put an earbud in his ear and went onto Instagram. Pidge glanced at him only once then continued to work on her paper. Lance put the phone on the area of the table between Hunk and himself. He left one earbud available incase Hunk decided to tune in at any time.

The stream had already begun, the phone they were streaming from was propped up on something because both Keith and Shiro were in the frame. Shiro was scrolling on his phone, most likely looking at question suggestions. Keith sat rigidly, he looked like he was posing for a picture. Lance smiled, he could tell Keith was just nervous and that was just his resting on edge position.

"Ah here's an answerable question," Shiro said, he glanced at the phone that was recording. "Keith, do you enjoy wearing makeup?" Lance felt bad for his boyfriend, for a moment Keith looked uncomfortable and unsure. He looked at Shiro and took a breath.

"I..." He tilted his head to the camera but kept his eyes towards the table. "Yeah, it's pretty fun. I think it makes my most boring face interesting. I mean technically for shoots I wear foundation or concealer. But I do like adding a little something extra from time to time." His eyes flickered to the camera from time to time, he looked like he was fighting to keep a blush down.

Lance almost texted Keith to remind him of how beautiful he was but he saw the chat had it handled. There was a fast flowing stream of people supporting him and calling him beautiful. Hunk, tired of pretending to listen took the other open earbud and put it in his ear.

"The next question is..." Shiro looked down then back up. "Does Keith go to college. I can handle that one. He's been enrolled for a while, and he has kept up with the work. But he hasn't been attending any classes, tomorrow, however, will be his first day. I won't be disclosing any specifics, but he'll go to the college that's pretty close to here. Keith crossed his arms as he looked at Shiro. He looked back at the camera pushing back his hair.

"That's true, but I'll still post regularly. Next question." He said it more of an order than a request. Shiro smiled and complied with the command.

Shiro looked down at his phone again. "Do you resent when you have to be shot in more feminine roles?" Keith took a breath, he needed a shorter amount of time to think of an answer this time.

"I don't resent it. There's nothing wrong with femininity, in fact, I think everyone could benefit from it. I'm not saying that I'll start wearing skirts or dresses. But simple things like eyeshadow should be indulged in, I don't know just improve my mood sometimes." Shiro opened his mouth to ask another question but Keith continued to speak. "In fact Lance, sometimes he wears face masks when we video chat. He says it improves his skin health, and he told me the brand. I'm going to try it with him tonight."

Lance smiled proudly at the name drop. The chat's general consensus seemed to be asking who Lance was. Judging from the way Shiro looked at Keith, he wanted to know who he was too. He looked at his phone then back at Keith.

"Who is Lance, and why did he send you a stuffed animal?" Keith looked at Shiro, his eyes slightly narrowed. He looked uncomfortable but slowly began answering.

"He's my...friend." Lance's heart constricted a bit, he understood why Keith said what he said but it was still disappointing. "Boyfriend. Lance is my boyfriend." Keith said firmly. Lance and Hunk both looked at each than back at the phone. Shiro's face was so shocked that Lance took a screenshot of it. Keith had a dark blush on his cheek but continued on. "He won me the cat at a Carnival, he had to mail it to me because he doesn't live around here. He's really great, and supportive and I like him a lot."

The Instagram chat was going crazy, messages were being sent too quickly for Lance to read. He was able to catch a few all caps 'I knew its' but besides that words were a blur. Shiro looked both impressed and shocked.

"Keith I..."

"I love him actually, and the cat. I named it Coran, after the veteran Blue Angels pilot." Keith looked at Shiro the smallest of smiles on his face. "And I'm gay."

Lance felt like crying he was so proud of his boy. If there was a time he wished he could reach over and kiss him it would be right then and there. There was nothing he wanted more than to give Keith the biggest hug.

"Congrats, he's passed the Hunk test o-" Hunk frowned and looked at the screen closely. Keith was now pointing at something on the menu, while Shiro still looked shocked. "I know that Pizzaria...that's the one a few blocks from the school." Lance felt his heart slow to a complete stop before picking up dramatically.

"Wait are you kidding me? They're at Pizza Joes?" Despite asking the question Lance took another look at the phone. Suddenly the seats looked more familiar, and the menu looked just like the one they ordered from a couple nights ago.

"Are they visiting this town or something?" Hunk asked Lance had so many thoughts in his head that he felt like he couldn't decide on what to do.

"No, no a lot of his snapchats are from this place...oh fuck how didn't I..."

"I thought you sent him stuff in the mail!"

"I did! But I figured you wouldn't have a P.O box in the town you live in!" He shut off his phone and stuffed it into his pocket. He began shutting books like a wild man and stuffing them into his backpack.

"Why wouldn't you! Most have there P.O box at least in the same state!" Most of the class was paying attention to them now. Neither Hunk nor Lance had worried about voice control. Pidge looked up confused as Lance slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"Where are you going Lance, it's the middle of class!" Pidge asked, the teacher below looked five seconds away from throwing a ruler at Lance.

"Sorry for the disturbance everyone I'm about to meet the love of my life, if you have any questions please consult your local Hunk. I will see you all next week when I'm walking in with a complete babe." With that, Lance pushed out of his chair and descended down the staircase towards the exit of the classroom.

Everyone, too confused to stop Lance, let him go by. Lance picked up the pace going into a speedy jog, the weight of his backpack not slowing him down in the slightest. He ran out of the building and began running down the student pathway. He dodged walking couples, students carrying heavy stacks of books, and he almost collided right into Allurah.

"Woah!" She spun gracefully rebalancing the many flowers she was holding. Lance nearly fell again trying to stop himself. The momentum of his backpack almost brought him right to a tree.

"Sorry! I'm on a mission." He turned back and began quickly picking up stray fallen flowers. His hands shook as he did so, he placed them on the very top of her pile. Allurah laughed a bit, she had gotten most of the paint from earlier off of her face.

"It's okay, but tell me. Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"I'm going to hopefully meet my boyfriend." Allurah looked confused for a moment, but a look of realization overtook her features.

"Ah! I wasn't aware you had one."

"Yeah it was mostly over the internet, but I'm about to find him and hug the shit of him." Allurah smiled warmly, Lance figured she had no romantic feeling towards her but he didn't expect her to look so happy for him.

"Here, take some flowers." She offered gesturing to the pile of flowers in her hand with her head. Lance stopped his anxious pacing for a moment, he was genuinely touched.

"Really?" He reached his hand out gingerly.

"Yeah, these were just for my art teacher. She wanted me to buy a couple bouquets for our art class to paint from reference, but she gave me 100 dollars. So I took some financial liberties." Lance looked at the different bouquets carefully, they already looked like something out of a painting. He recognized some tulips and lilies but he hadn't seen any of the others. He just knew that they looked beautiful, and Keith would probably like any of them. "Just on one condition." Lance's hand hesitated in reaching for the flowers.

"What...is it?"

"I better get to meet him!" She said seriously, but there was a wide smile on her face.

"Deal, I'll probably spend the next month introducing him to everyone I know." He took the bouquet he knew had the most red. He liked the way it looked, fiery and beautiful, just like Keith. "I'll talk to you later, I need to hope he's still at the pizzeria!" He began running again, Allurah waved goodbye to him and continued on her way.

A few blocks more of running and Lance was off of the college campus. His chest felt like it was going to explode and he cursed himself for not exercising more. When he felt like slowing down he just visualized Keith's face and continued running harder.

Soon he was outside of the Joe's Pizzeria. He looked into the open window, his heart felt like it stopped for the second time that day. There he was, an actual real human being. He was wearing high waisted shorts and a shirt that said Space. He looked as real as Lance felt he was, everything was there. His mullet, his eyes, his nose, his lips. He drastically slowed as he reached the front door.

He grabbed the handle and pulled it open, the above head bell jingled. He felt like everything was in slow motion like they had reached the climax of a movie. He was so overcome with emotions he could barely call speak. He heard someone behind the counter say something to him but the words were filtered out. All of his senses were focused dead ahead. His favorite mullet-ed loser was sitting in a booth next to a man who looked exactly like Shiro. Lance's heart was beating a thousand times a second.

"Keith!" He yelled out, he felt like the entire Pizzaria went silent. The few people who were there turned around. He stood dumbly right next to the entrance staring so hard at Keith that he felt like he could burn a hole through him. He held the flowers tight in his hand, some of the thorns dug into his hand. 

Keith looked up at him confused at first. As he looked at Lance he dropped his menu, his eyes widened. Like in a trance, Keith stood up. Lance began taking slow deliberate steps towards him, he swore he could see Keith's eyes begin to get watery.

"Lance?" He choked out. Lance just nodded. He walked in front of him standing inches apart. He sniffled smiling stupidly wide.

"You're so short," Lance whispered, Keith choked out a laugh. Lance was sure of it now, there were a few tears trailing down the side of his face. Keith touched the side of Lance's cheek just keeping it there. Lance held the flowers between them, the petals resting underneath his chin. 

"You're so....real." More tears fell but Keith was smiling. Lance touched the hand that was on his cheek. He felt his own eyes become watery, but he was able to hold tears back.

"Can I?" He asked moving closer to Keith. Keith looked confused for a moment, then glanced to Lance's lips in realization. He nodded, it looked like he couldn't force any more words out. Lance took a deep breath, his lips tingled, his body knew how important this moment was.

He ducked down until his lips were millimeters away from Keith. He closed his eyes and pressed their lips together. Lance felt heat. It was burning, it was intense, it was filled with long distance messages, and late night wishes to hold Keith. The flowers fell out of his hands, forgotten. He put both of his hands on Keith's back and pulled him closer.

Keith bent his body against Lance's he let his lips dictate his movements. He let Lance lead, tears were soaking both of their cheeks. The kiss was everything they both needed it to be, filled with everything physical they had never done.

Lance was the one to pull away. He looked at Keith and smiled apologetically. They were both panting softly but Lance more so.

"Sorry, I ran here." There was a silent pause before Keith began laughing.

"Weren't you in class?"

"I was, now I'm here. Fuck it's so good to hear your voice, it's amazing." Keith blushed at the compliment and tried to dart his eyes away. "Oh God your blush is even cuter in real life, I want to see it every day of my life." He pressed a kiss to the side of Keith's cheek.

"I'm not that short..." Keith didn't bother to try and look pouty. He felt too much happiness, too much love.

"You're short to me, but it's okay. You're absolutely wonderful, and perfect, and...everything."

"I can't believe it..." They turned to look at Shiro. The phone was turned towards them, probably broadcasting their entire moment to all of Instagram. "I learn about you and meet you on the same day." Lance laughed and shrugged he hugged Keith closer to his chest.

"Nice to meet you, you do some mean photography work." Lance complimented. Shiro shrugged and rubbed the back of his head.

"And you do...well I guess I'll find out." Lance looked back at Keith, still blown away by how beautiful he was.

"So that means you go to my college." Lance smiled, Keith thought for a moment and nodded.

"I suppose I do."

"Which means I'll see you every day. And hopefully every day after that, and after that, and after that until hopefully forever. Sorry, do I sound creepy?" Lance laughed, he couldn't be bothered to put a filter on himself. Keith shook his head rested his head on Lance's chest.

"No it's okay, keep talking. You can talk forever okay? Let's...do you want to get a pizza?"

"Triple cheese, steak and green pepper?" Lance asked he smiled knowingly at Keith. Keith nodded and looked up at Lance.

"Of course, I hope this can be the first of many pizzas's."

"I can guarantee it will be," Lance smiled warmly and ducked his head down close to Keith. "I love you." He whispered softly, testing how it sounded in real life. Keith blushed again and closed his eyes.

"I love you too," He felt Lance's lips press against his own. Lance closed his eyes, savoring the moment, reminding himself that this would be the beginning of something that would last forever.