Chapter Text
A bell chimes as Lance opens the door. He inhales deeply, the lingering aroma of ground coffee beans inside the dimly lit cafe greeting him. Light chatter filled the room as he made a beeline for the counter.
"Hey, Lance." Hunk said from behind the counter with a small wave. "Here for your usual?"
Lance smiled up at him, leaning slightly on the counter, "You know it."
"You got it, man." Hunk replied as he disappeared behind the counter. It wasn’t long before he reappeared, a sugary concoction in his right hand and a chocolate muffin in his left.
"I seriously don't understand how you can drink this stuff, Lance." Hunk grimaced, sliding Lance his poor excuse of an order.
"You just don't know taste my lovely, Hunk." He handed over the money, having ordered it enough times to know the amount due. Hunk rolled his eyes, unimpressed as he took the money and put it into the register. Lance chose to ignore the deed, instead taking a sip of his drink and letting out a content sigh.
"So, here to do some homework?" Hunk asked, not-so-subtly eyeing Lance's laptop bag. Lance huffed, seemingly agitated as the loose grip on the strap of said bag tightened.
"Sadly, I have a major paper due in a few days." He muttered, practically pouting.
"Well make sure you actually work on it this time and not screw around on Tumblr or something." Hunk smirked. The other let out an offended gasp, gaining the attention of a few innocent bystanders in his act of over-exaggeration. Always the dramatic, this one.
"I have some self-control, Hunk!" Lance exclaimed as he walked away, taking a bite of his muffin. Hunk just so happened to be visible from the table Lance chose to sit at, making it easy to glare at him from his seat as he pulled out his laptop and other study materials to get to work. Hunk shook his head fondly, chuckling at Lance's antics.
After about an hour or two had passed Lance groaned, his coffee and muffin long gone. Head in hands, he frowned, suddenly drained from the sheer amount of time spent in concentrated loneliness. He felt a bit proud of himself for he had made a decent dent in the amount of work due, yet there was still so much to go. From the corner of his eye he could see something being placed beside him, causing him to look over. His favorite drink. He looked up to see who had placed it there.
"Hunk, you are truly a godsend, buddy." Lance cried as he eagerly took the drink and began drinking it greedily.
"Well, you looked like you really needed it." He patted Lance on the back to express his sympathy. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been there before. No, he too had his fair share of the classic all-nighter. "Keep up the good work." He called out as he left so that they could both get back to work.
Lance sighed as he glanced back down at the screen of his laptop. Not even a few minutes had passed before Lance decided enough was enough and finally gave in, opening up his browser to type Tumblr into the URL bar. Absentmindedly, he started scrolling through the site, reblogging random posts that caught his attention and giggling at a few posts he found mildly funny. After a short while, one particular photo really caught his attention. "Oooh, cute." He murmured to himself, pausing to take in all the little details of the art. He decided to check the artist out, clicking on their username to take him to their page. Looking over the profile it was rather cutesy, at least in his opinion. On the side, he saw that there was an intro so he skimmed it over. You can call me Red! 20 He/Him, please! This is my OCs blog, thanks for visiting!
Lance grinned, ‘Red? What a dorky nickname.’
A short time scrolling through Red's blog later, he discovered they had made their own comic. Excited, he rushed to find the first page and read his way up to the most recent update. Time continued to pass and Lance found himself falling in love with the quirky little characters that made their appearances throughout the blog. He pushed follow, enthusiastic about the thought of the comic’s next update, whenever that may be. There was a sudden clearing of a throat behind him causing him to jump slightly in his seat. It was no surprise as to who stood there. He slowly turned to look behind him, seeing Hunk looking particularly unamused, judging by his expression. A nervous smile found its way onto his lips.
"I was just taking a short break." He explained in haste. The last thing he wanted right now was the disapproval evident in his friend’s voice.
"Lance, it's been almost an hour." He blinked, eyebrows raised as he whipped around to check the clock. Seeing that Hunk was right he sighed.
"Oops." He smiled wearily, started packing up his things. "I really should be on my way home anyway."
"Uh, huh. Just run away from your problems." came the teasing reply, a soft chuckle following afterwards.
"You know it, babe." He gave Hunk a small peck on the cheek and proceeded to make his escape. "See you at home." he remarked before briskly making his way out the door, the bell chiming softly behind him as he made his exit.
At home, Lance lazed around on his couch, comfortable in his pajamas as his headphones played music that was probably too loud to be healthy. He preoccupied himself by chewing at his tablet pen before stopping suddenly, remembering that if he ruined it he couldn't exactly afford to have it replaced. He glared at his computer screen as if it has personally wronged him. Did it deserve it? Not really. But did it make Lance feel a bit better anyway? Hell yeah, it did. Sighing, he stretched out, deciding this was as good time as ever to take yet another break. He removed his laptop and tablet from his lap, placing them on the couch. He made his way to the fridge, shivering as his bare feet made contact with the tile flooring of the kitchen. He glanced through the fridge’s contents and smiled wide, seeing there was still leftovers from dinner last night.
He pulled out his phone to distract himself after placing his serving in the microwave.Scrolling a bit, he saw that there was a new update by Red. A little comic replying to a question someone had sent in. The microwave beeped behind him, pulling him out of his state of oblivion. He ignored it in favor of continuing to read the comic. In short, the comic was about Red's oc, Akira. The answer to the question mentioned another oc, Isamu, having told him ‘te amo’, but he hadn’t known what it meant. Lance chuckled, ‘(i)Wow this is seriously adorable.’ He bit his lip slightly, thinking about the fact that he really wanted to draw some fanart of the characters. The microwave beeped at him again, insisting on his attention for a second time.
"I get it, I get it." He replied as he pocketed his phone. He made his way over to the dining table and dug in, letting out a satisfied exhale. "I'm so lucky to be living with Hunk." Lance smiled to himself as he continued. Once he had finished he made his way back to his spot on the couch, settling in and grabbing his laptop and tablet once again.
Being as easily distracted as he was, it was difficult to stay on one subject for too long without finding something new to claim his interest. Finally making up his mind, he went to Red’s blog to grab a few reference photos of Akira and Isamu. To help him get in the mood a little he decided to play 'Te Amo’ by Rihanna and then got to work.
After about an hour or so of drawing and a few too many replays of ‘Te Amo’, Lance finished his first fanart of Red’s OCs. His mind wandered to the fact that he kinda wanted to share the art with Red, but was really unsure if fanart was welcomed in the first place. Lance chewed on his lower lip nervously, contemplating the predicament. He breathed in shakily, heading on to Red's page and clicking on the ask button. He typed out a message, ‘k so if someone so happened to draw your characters would you want to see said picture and if so what should we tag it as to make that happens?’ Although it was anonymous, sending the ask made Lance groan to himself. Without thought, he closed his laptop, feeling his stomach starting to act up due to nerves.
"God, I'm so pathetic." he whined as he buried his face in his hands in embarrassment.
"You ok, Lance?" came a voice.
Lance looked through the openings between his fingers at Hunk, who had just gotten home. Lance covered his eyes up again, crying out loudly.
"I sent an ask to an artist I like and I already regret it."
"What was the ask?"
"I asked if they would want to see any fanart drawn for them. And if the answer was yes, how it should be tagged."
"That doesn't sound too bad." Hunk replied comfortingly, eyebrow raised in confusion. He took this moment to walk over to the sulking Lance and sit next to him. Just in case he needed the extra support.
"I know. Just the process of sending an ask to an artist I like. Ugh, it made me nervous."
"You've interacted with artists you admire before."
"Doesn't really get any easier." Lance deadpanned, internally upset at the fact that his nerves had such a hold on him.
"True, but at least you didn't do anything all that embarrassing. Like, remember that one time you sorta proposed to that cosplayer you were basically in love with?" Hunk smirked, chuckling at the memory as Lance’s face reddened. He had pointedly decided to repressed the recollection until now.
"HUUUUNK!!" Lance hissed, glaring at the other, "We do not talk about those days." Hunk outright laughed at Lance's expression of outrage.
"Alright, alright. Well, I'm sure they'll respond with a yes, give you the tagging info, and then I bet they'll absolutely adore your fanart." Lance sighed, wrapping his arms around his legs and smiling over at Hunk.
"I'm sure you're right." He answered, mostly for his own sake.
"Of course I am. Now come on, let's make some brownies to take your mind off this." At the mention of this Lance practically leaped off the couch in his excitement.
"Man, Hunk you are seriously the best!"
"I know." Hunk said as he made his way to the kitchen, Lance in tow.