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“Gate 4A is boarding! Next flight boarding is Gate 4A!” the cheery pre-recorded voice announced over the airport’s loudspeakers.
“Shit!” Lance exclaimed, his head snapping up to look across the airport. Of course he was sitting by the food court, conveniently located by the C Gates. He sat up, shoved his phone in his pockets, and slung his backpack onto one shoulder. Dragging his rolling suitcase behind him, he practically sprinted across the moving walkways to get to his gate, accidentally shoving a few people in the process. Finally he reached his gate, sweaty and tired, and pulled out his ticket to show the flight attendant. She scanned it with a smile and pointed to the door leading to the plane. He nodded and strolled on forward through the long hallway, ultimately arriving at the plane’s doors and stepping inside.
“G2, G2…,” Lance muttered to himself, scanning the aisles for his seat. A few seconds later he spotted it. Unfortunately it was an aisle seat, and in the window seat sat a man with dark hair pulled into a short ponytail and all black clothes, save for a tacky red and white leather jacket. Lance noted that he looked annoyed and probably shouldn’t talk to him. But who was he kidding? Lance was, at least, self-aware enough to know that he can’t go two minutes without opening his mouth. He opened the hatch above their seats and tossed his suitcase into it haphazardly before sitting down and placing his backpack at his feet. The man looked over at him but didn’t say anything, looking annoyed. Of course Lance had to be sitting next to a moody asshole, that was just his luck. But, Lance being Lance, had to strike up a conversation despite the odds.
“Hey, I’m Lance. I figure if we’re gonna be on a plane for 4 hours we might as well introduce ourselves, right?,” he began, flashing his trademark grin. The man just stared at him, one of his dark eyebrows raising up under his bangs.
“Um… yeah, I guess. I’m Keith,” the man, Keith apparently, mumbled. Lance inwardly cheered at the fact that he’d gotten this pissy dude to talk. Six words, but still!
“So, why the trip to Texas?” Lance asked, stretching out his long legs as far as the tiny airplane seat let him. Keith looked down at his lap.
“I’ve supposedly got family there,” he stated. His mouth was a firm line.
“Supposedly?” Lance questioned, raising his eyebrows. What the hell did that mean?
“Yep.” Keith shrugged. Lance decided to leave it at that and not press the issue further.
“Me too. It’s time for the ol’ McClain-Fernández family reunion. Real fun,” Lance confessed with a dry laugh. Keith looked over at him and half-smiled, his hair falling into his face.
“Mm. Sounds like it.” Keith took out his ponytail and re-tied his hair into the elastic, trying and failing to wrangle his bangs back. It was… weirdly cute? And he appeared to have what seemed like a mullet? Lance bit his lip and told himself to stop thinking about that, he’d never see him again. The conversation slowed to a stop and Lance got the feeling that he had to do most of the talking if he wanted to move this along. Before he could start blabbering on about a different subject, a flight attendant came over with the food cart.
“Any food or drink, sir?,” she asked.
“Do you have those little cookie things? I’ll take a couple of those. And a Cherry Coke?” Lance requested with a huge grin on his face.
“Of course,” she said, setting the drink and cookies on his tray table. “And for you?” Keith was busy staring out the window so Lance nudged him lightly with his elbow.
“Huh?” He finally looked up to see Lance gesturing with his thumb to the food cart. “Oh, uh. I’ll just have a water. And… some of those cookies.”
“Good choice,” Lance said, holding up his own cookies. Keith smiled, actually smiled, at his comment, and Lance smiled back from ear to ear. A crackle was heard over the plane’s speakers as the pilot began his speech. Keith was intently listening, while Lance rummaged through his backpack to find something to do on the flight. Soon the spiel ended and the screens on the back of the plane’s seats lit up and began playing a video.
“ I got some safety tips that you got to know. And trust me it’s something that you want to hear, ” the video began.
“Dude, have you seen this video? It’s so good!” Lance asked excitedly. Keith shook his head.
“No. This is my first time flying, actually,” he confessed. “What’s so good about it?” Lance’s eyes widened at that, shocked that not everyone knew the genius of the Virgin America safety song.
“Well it’s basically what the pilot or flight attendant will tell you before a flight, but in song .” His words were punctuated by a flamboyant hand gesture, his fingers flitting in front of Keith’s face. Keith snorted and backed away from Lance’s hands.
“I don’t see how that’s so special.” Lance’s mouth fell open, his jaw going slack.
“How dare you say that?! Just… just watch it. It’s fucking gold,” Lance exclaimed. Keith shrugged but did as Lance suggested.
“ Turn your electrical devices off as fast as you can! And whatever you do, don’t make me ask you again .” the video continued. Keith glanced over to see that Lance was totally engrossed, his eyes practically twinkling. He stifled a laugh and kept watching; anything to make this weird guy smile was good with him.
“ So tonight, get ready to fly, cause we’re gonna live it on up in the sky! Virgin America knows all the places you wanna be, fly away with me, fly away with me, yeah! ” Keith quickly realized it wasn’t just the people in the video singing, but Lance, too… and badly. Oh, jesus christ, he was so into it. Keith slapped his palm to his face and sighed. Was this guy serious…? The secondhand embarrassment was too fucking much but he also couldn’t stop giggling into his hands. It was pretty damn endearing. He sang with the song like he had no cares in the world.
“ For the .001 percent of you who have never operated a seatbelt before. Really? I mean, it works like this, ” a sassy brunette flight attendant sang.
“She’s my favorite. So sassy,” Lance said. Keith, getting his composure back, nodded.
“Yeah, she’s kind of right. Hopefully everyone on this plane has used a seatbelt,” he replied. Lance nodded enthusiastically.
“I know, right? Unless you’re under the age of like, five, you should know these things,” he said with a laugh. “Otherwise you have no excuse!”
“Accurate.” For the rest of the safety video, Keith watched Lance’s face, a smile growing on his face until he was grinning from ear to ear. It was so unlike him but this boy was just… too much. Of everything. Too funny, too cute, too… Keith’s inner monologue trailed off as he watched Lance, not realizing he was staring like a complete weirdo. Even when it ended, he couldn’t ignore the confusing emotions he was feeling. His heart had seemed to jump into his throat and it was there to stay and his face was hot.
“Hey, uh… you okay?” Lance asked, unwrapping his cookies, and Keith was snapped out of his reverie.
“F-fine. Just,” Keith took a deep breath as he watched Lance take a bite of his snack. “Your dancing was just cute.” Suddenly Lance broke out into a coughing fit. Shit! Keith gingerly patted Lance on the back until he gathered his composure.
“Thanks,” Lance said, blushing fiercely and taking a sip of his drink so he could hide for a moment.
Keith cleared his throat and fiddled with his TV screen, scrolling through shitty movie after shitty movie until he decided on one he knew he liked.
“I’m gonna…” Keith trailed off, holding up his headphones. Lance looked over and nodded, holding up his own and popping them into his ears. Keith settled into his seat and propped his head on his chin, ready to endure the long flight with the help of one of his favorite movies. Moulin Rouge . The opening scene began and by the end of the first song, he had already forgotten all about his embarrassing accidental confession. He let his eyes drift to Lance’s screen, involuntarily snorting as he saw what was playing. Lance removed one of his earbuds and raised an eyebrow questioningly.
“Sorry, was my snort of disapproval too distracting?” Keith asked, mirroring Lance’s cocked eyebrow. Lance shook his head and put a hand on his chest, taken aback.
“Excuse me? Love Actually is probably the best romance movie ever made,” Lance shot back. Keith shrugged.
“If you say so. All the relationships are weirdly unhealthy and the plot makes no sense.”
“What?” Lance spluttered. “Says the guy watching Moulin Rouge !”
“It is a beautiful love story. End of discussion,” Keith said with a smirk, putting his headphone in and turning back to his movie. Lance huffed and did the same. He was feeling sleepy from his hectic day and relaxed in his chair; he could recite the movie word for word so he wasn’t missing anything important. He let his eyes close and he eventually drifted off into sleep. Unbeknownst to himself, he shifted in his sleep and his head landed right on Keith’s shoulder. Keith stiffened up and took an earbud out again, annoyed until he slowly turned his head to look at Lance. Was he… asleep? Must be, judging by the soft snores he was hearing. Even when he slept he wasn’t quiet. He gently wiggled his shoulder around, trying to rouse Lance. When he didn’t stir, Keith craned his neck and peered at Lance and was met with immediate regret. Lance looked adorable when he slept. Keith really didn’t want to disturb him, but he didn’t know if he could handle being laid on for the rest of the flight. He wiggled again, and instead of waking Lance up, he somehow encouraged him to scooch closer and rub his cheek into Keith’s arm. It was a bit cold on the plane, so maybe he was just looking for a source of warmth, but it was annoying nonetheless. After an awkward 20 or so minutes, he had accepted his fate, and the flight attendant passed by again.
“Sorry to bother you, but did you need anything? Another water, maybe?” She asked quietly.
“Um, could I get a blanket if you have it?” He requested.
“Of course. Anything for your boyfriend?” Keith felt his face reddening for about the tenth time in an hour.
“N-no, he’s okay,” he said, deciding not to correct her. A few minutes later, she was back and handed him a blanket. “Thanks.”
Trying his best not to move, Keith slowly unfolded the blanket and draped it over Lance’s lap. He was met with Lance snuggling into his arm again, a serene smile on his face.
For the rest of the flight, Keith tried to pay attention to his movie but couldn't. Tried to read a book but couldn’t. Tried to fall asleep like his seatmate, but couldn’t. His mind wouldn’t stop playing their conversations over in his mind. Did Lance have the same feelings he was having, or did he think Keith was a freak? Lance was the one to talk first so it was his fault that Keith was in this mess. He was so ridiculous, but cute, but… ugh.
“Shit,” Keith thought. “Why does this guy have to be so cute?”
Keith argued with his weaker, gayer self for what felt like minutes, but was apparently hours, because soon the overhead lights turned on and the pilot was announcing that they were about to land. Okay, now it was time to actually wake Lance up. But before that happened, he knew he needed to do something. Before he could change his mind, he rummaged in his carry-on for a notebook and pen and scrawled his phone number on a page. He took a deep breath and reached over to Lance’s backpack, unzipping the front pocket as stealthily as he could manage, and dropped the page in.
“Dude. Lance. We’re here,” Keith said, shaking Lance’s shoulder. It took a few seconds of totally not violent shaking to wake him. He sat up slowly, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.
“Really? Oh man. I can’t believe I fell asleep like that. Sorry if I snored,” Lance said with a lazy smile.
Keith’s heart pounded in his chest. “It’s okay. You did, but it was actually pretty quiet. I was surprised.”
“I’m glad I at least didn’t like, drool on myself or anything. Unless I did and you’re just not telling me,” Lance replied, a wide grin on his face.
“Nah. But I wouldn’t tell you if you did.”
“Dick!” Lance exclaimed, and lightly bumped Keith with his elbow. Soon the plane was landing, thankfully smoothly because Keith didn’t think he could handle any more butterflies in his stomach. The passengers all collected their bags and started milling out, but Keith hung back for a second. No turning back now.
“Hey, Lance. Make sure to check your backpack pockets. There’s my… it’s…” Keith took a deep breath. “It’s thanks for making this flight way less boring.”
Lance was puzzled but nodded. “Okay. Thanks to you, too. It was actually really nice to have someone cool to talk to.” He shrugged his backpack on and waited for Keith to do the same, and together they joined the line of people making their way off of the plane.
“ God, I hope this works,” Keith thought to himself.
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Keith was beginning to think his hopes were dashed as he rode in a bus away from the airport. It had taken a while to figure out the bus system, and he was already almost an hour into the ride before he heard his phone notification sound chime. He eagerly scrambled to fish his phone out of his jacket pocket and smiled as soon as he unlocked the screen.
“So you secretly fell for me, mullet?,” read the text from an unknown number. Keith immediately saved the number in his contacts.
“No, you actually fell for me when you fell asleep on my shoulder. Dork.”