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Lance knew that he was gay. He had known he was gay since he was thirteen (officially) but there were quite a few instances and stories for his younger years that he was gay. Lance now was twenty years old. He had had a few boyfriends (and a few girlfriends if he was being honest), but none of them were the one. Of course he was born into a world where he had a soulmate but was never able to find him... or her. He wished that some sort of thought went into soulmates and that he'd be with a guy but whatever. His sign was a little odd. A somewhat "V" but with tails. It was on his right forearm.
Since he had moved to New York for post-secondary two years ago, he had picked up a route for getting to and from his classes. Part of this routine was going to the campus' coffee shop. At the beginning of his current and third year, a woman started working there. She was shorter than Lance, just slightly. Her hair was black and at shoulder-length cut to be somewhat of a mullet. The woman usually had her hair in a half ponytail with the rest pinned out of the way. Her eyes were a vibrant violet. She wore a lot of red and black. The woman had a fairly flat chest, it almost didn't look like she had a chest at all... not that Lance was looking at her chest. Something that most people saw but probably no one but Lance noticed, was that her arms were always covered.
-~-
In the mid or late May of his fourth university semester, it was quite warm. 86°F to be exact. Lance that day wore a black tank top with a rainbow on it. He wore cargo print shorts that were fairly long. His soulmate sign was fully on display. He walked into the coffee shop and alas, the usual girl was there. Since she started working there, she had always made Lance's drink and she was good at it. That day was no difference. Sure he was a bit more tired than usual. But exams were actual hell and didn't end until early June.
He was in desperate need for coffee.
Lance walked into the coffee shop, it wasn't as busy. Most kids were in the library studying. Whereas he was on his study break. She was sitting behind the counter, on a stool, swiping on her phone. Lance looked at her for a few seconds before breaking his thoughts. He thought she looked kind of pretty. Her shirt was a red and black flannel with a black undershirt that showed her sports bra(?) underneath. It looked kind of tight to be a sports bra but whatever. She was wearing shorts that were mid thigh length and her hair was in a low ponytail, which was a nice change.
"Um... ex- excuse me?" Lance stammered. He didn't want to annoy her from her train of thought. As soon as he spoke she looked up, startled. She pushed the stool back under the counter and leaned against the counter.
"Oh hi Lance." The woman replied. Her name tag read Michelle. Lance hadn't noticed that until today when staring a little too intently at her.
"H-how... how do you know my name?" Lance asked quite surprised.
The woman rolled her eyes. "You told me your name for about two weeks when I started working for your order."
"Oh. Right."
"So same order as usual?" Michelle asked, beginning to get a warm drink cup. His usual was a medium latte. With chocolate syrup.
"Yeah, but iced, if that's okay?"
"That's perfectly fine." She laughed slightly. He payed for the drink and she got a cold drink cup and wrote his order on it.
Michelle turned around and washed her hands. After drying her hands, Michelle pushed her sleeves up for the first time ever. She didn't even react and just started on his drink.
The cold drink took slightly longer than a hot one. Lance just leaned against the counter on his phone and the two were in (almost) silence. About three minutes after ordering/paying it was done.
"Lance?" her voice was a bit scared, but Lance hadn't noticed the tone.
He looked up at her face. He didn't quite realize what was happening before looking down and getting his drink. Lance was about to get his drink but before he saw her right forearm.
"Oh. Shit." he muttered a little louder than comfort.
"Umm yeah. This isn't really how I imagined how our realization going either but... I couldn't do it with other people here." Michelle explained shakily.
"But. But you're a girl!" Lance shouted and Michelle winced at the final word. "And- and I'm gay. I just. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Why don't don't you sit down? I'm gonna make myself a drink and then we'll talk."
"O-okay."
With that Lance went to sit at a booth that was hidden away from windows and such. He was kind of freaking out and his breath was uneven. A few minutes later, Michelle came back with a medium hot chocolate. She sat across from Lance. They sat for a few minutes in complete silence drinking their drink.
"So. You're my soulmate." Lance said.
"Yes I am."
Lance took a sip from his coffee before continuing. "How long have you known?" Michelle cocked an eyebrow. "Obviously you didn't just notice today that we're soulmates."
"September. The first day you had your soulmate mark showing."
"Wow. Long time."
"Yeah. Well, I was scared because you weren't quiet about being gay and I-"
"A girl?" Lance cut her off.
"Well... not exactly?" Michelle bit her lip and looked down. Was she really ready to admit this to someone she just met?
Lance was confused. "What?"
Michelle rolled her eyes and looked up at him, "Lance, I'm transgender. I was female at birth, but I'm a guy."
"Okay? So your pronouns are..."
"He/him and I'm gay too, actually."
"What about your name though?" Lance was probably going to ask a lot of questions and the guy sitting across from him was ready to answer them.
"Ah yes, the name. I haven't legally changed my name yet so I have to have my dead name- the name my parents gave me when I was born- on my name tag." Michelle explained.
"So what is your name? Like the one you prefer?"
Michelle was surprised. He was never asked what he preferred. This guy was willing to put the effort on. "Keith- actually could we try this? Re-introduce ourselves."
"Sure." Lance said. "Hi. I'm Lance Charles McClain. And you are?" he smiled.
"Hi Lance. I'm Keith Kogane."
"No middle name?" Lance asked.
"No middle name." Michelle- Keith assured him.
The two sat in silence looking at each other. Every other minutes they'd sip at their drinks. This time, Lance was the first to break the silence.
"So what's with the tight sports bra?"
"It's a chest binder, makes me look like I have a flat chest."
"Oh. Cool."
Almost directly after, Keith spoke. "Can I kiss you?"
"I um... what?" Lance was once again, confused.
"Sorry that really forward. I shouldn't have asked."
Lance rolled his eyes. He leaned in and kissed Keith. The kiss was sweet and amazing and neither of them actually thought they'd get to that point with anyone.