Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Coran

“So, you’re doing a documentary on paper, you say?” Coran switches back and forth from looking into the camera and into the eyes of the cameraman. Eventually, he realizes his dilemma and decides on watching the box in front of him.

“Well, you could not have picked a better place. Alfor Wimbleton is like the computer of the paper industry.”

The Workspace

The camera pans across the workplace, soon to meet everyone. At the reception desk, there were two men, one with a red shirt and a black tie, presumably the receptionist, and the other with a blue shirt and a black tie. The only thing that could be heard were whispers and giggles, with both of them pointing at the matching ties. A woman approaches and walks behind the desk to plant a kiss on the receptionist’s head. The man in the blue shirt ends up leaving soon after.

--

Lance McClain

“So, you guys are doing a documentary?” His eyes were locked onto the man behind the camera, who nodded yes.

“I don’t mean to diminish your work or anything, but,” Lance threw a look out to the office, “why here? A small paper company in Scranton?” The camera cuts past the explanation.

“Well, I’m Lance McClain. I’m a Leo. I enjoy long walks on the beach, and I will never live up to be the iconic salesman my desk mate, Pidge, is.” Lance quirked a smile, the light changing his eyes from the blue of a storm to the blue of mischievous wonder.

“I take it you’ve met Coran. He’s a bit, ah, eccentric. There in accounting is Hunk, who is my best friend. There is Lotor visiting Allura. They don’t seem to get along well. Next to my desk is Pidge. At reception, there is Axca visiting her fiance, Keith.” Lance stops talking for a moment. The camera pans to see Keith laughing with Axca.

--

Lotor

“Well, hello! Welcome to Alfor Wimbleton in its full glory. I’m Lotor. I work in H.R., as glorious as that sounds.” Lotor flirts with the cameraman before the cameraman reveals that he is in a relationship.

“Well, in any case, here’s my card.” The cameraman takes the card, and hopes no one notices his blush.

--

Allura

“I’m sorry, why are you here?” Her face is stiff and untrusting.

“In any case, maybe these people will start acting as a team since we’re going to be a documentary.” Allura spots Hunk eating the brownies from her desk and quickly rushes back to Accounting. The camera follows to see Allura launch herself onto Hunk, who does not go down without a fight. Such is the life in the savannah of the office.

--

Shiro

“I’m Takashi Shirogane, but everyone just calls me Shiro. I work in Accounting with Allura and Hunk. I feel like we’re kind of our own little family.”

The camera pans past Shiro to see Allura and Hunk still fighting over the brownies, with Hunk now charging like a bull for the break room with Allura still on his back. She hits the doorframe and is thrown off. She immediately continues pursuit.

“I mean, we just work so well as a team.”

--

Hunk

“I think it’s really cool that you guys want to watch us. It would be nice to have someone witness what goes on in here so my family will believe me when I go home and tell them about my day.” Seemingly finished speaking, Hunk pulls out a bowl of green jello. No one asks where it came from.

--

Pidge

“My name is Katie Holt. People call me Pidge because I declared war on the pigeons in the parking lot after they defecated on Coran’s car. I like to think that the nickname was given on account of the offices faith that I will win said war.” She tells the camera. No one can tell if she’s being serious or not. Pidge then explains her title as Assistant Regional Manager. Coran seems to hear this, and pokes his head into the office to correct her title as “Assistant to the regional manager.”

Pidge stares into the camera with a blank face.

--

Keith

“Well, uh, I’m Keith Kogane. I work at reception. I also stomach a majority of Coran’s jokes that no one else has to hear. Yes, it is a difficult job, thank you.”

“I am engaged to Axca, from the warehouse. We’ve been engaged for three years now. We do not have a wedding date picked out yet.” Keith trails off with downcast eyes. He suddenly perks up, as if he were remembering that he was on camera. “We just have a lot going on, but I’m really excited to spend my life with her.”

“Lance is probably my best friend in the office. He does pranks on Pidge when it’s slow, and now he tells me beforehand so I can watch.” The camera pans to Lance, who is glancing over to Keith. He turns away quickly when he sees the camera pointed at him.

--

The Workspace

“Coran, you have a fax from corporate.” Keith hands the fax to Coran. Coran sees the camera watching him and throws the fax away. He then leads the crew into his office to show off a mug that says BEST BOSS IN THE UNIVERSE that he gifted himself. The game of show and tell was interrupted by Keith.

“Coran, you have a visitor. It’s Addison Sandra.” Coran’s complexion visibly pales. He then throws a smile to the camera and waves Addison into his office.

During this time, Lance is back at reception, talking to Keith. He explains how he has been putting one penny a day into Pidge’s phone, and how he will soon take them all out so she will hit herself in the face when she picks her phone up. Keith guffaws and snorts, and Lance compliments the snort. Keith looks down, presumably to hide his blush. Allura is watching over the shelf, smirking at the two.

--

Addison stalks out of the office, not very pleased with how her meeting with Coran went. Coran steps into the workplace, and everyone turns to look at him. He opens his mouth to say a joke, but then forgets it before he can say it. “Quiznak.”

--

The following day, Coran offends Allura by calling her mice “dirty.” Apparently, there had been several complaints about Coran’s jokes and how uncomfortable he can make people feel. Corporate sends a sensitivity trainer to smooth over this problem. Things do not go as planned.

--

“Okay, I believe I can take it from here.” Coran pushes the trainer, Nyma, out of the way. “Hello, all. Today, we will watch my sensitivity video instead of listening to this heathen, okay? Okay!” Coran pops a VHS tape in and sits back to watch the audience watch himself.

The video is from ten years ago, and slightly corroded. It blacks out, skips, and drops audio. When asked what was said in the video, Coran responded with, “Use your imagination.”

--

In the office kitchen, Hunk pulls a red tupperware container out of the fridge. Keith’s name is written on top. The owner walks in and opens the fridge. His food no longer in there. He slowly turns towards Hunk.

“Excuse me. Did you take my food?” Keith asks. Hunk freezes, then quickly grabs the container and leaves the kitchen, mumbling about being late for a meeting. Keith lets out a sight, stalking out of the kitchen. He wanders over to Lance’s desk.

“Hey, uh, could I talk to you for a minute?” He asks quietly. Lance smiles up at him.

“Yeah! Yeah, sure. What’s up?” Keith looks down, focus seemingly on the floor.

“Hunk stole my food and I don’t have cash. Could I borrow a couple of dollars for the vending machine?” He whispers. Lance turns his chair towards Keith.

“You can have my food. It’s the blue one in the fridge. I think it’s leftover garlic knots.” Lance lazily rotated his seat left and right, his eyes never leaving Keith’s face. Keith’s eyes were staring at his shoes, wondering if he could take Lance’s lunch. Eventually, he made his decision and shook his head.

“I can’t do that, I’ll just get Axca to bring me a couple of bucks.” Keith returns to his desk to call his fiancee. Lance watches him go with a blank look on his face. He also notices when Keith doesn’t eat. Axca never shows up.

Lance dashes towards the breakroom a mere hour later, and approaches Keith with his garlic knots.

“Hey, so I kind of packed a lot today, and I’m watching my figure, so do you want some?” He smiles a lopsided smile.

Keith returns the smile, but it is tinged with sadness. “Well, I guess I should help you watch your figure. We need to get you a girlfriend.” Lance laughs nervously along with Keith, and offers him the knots. The camera pans to Hunk, whose eyes are visible over the shelf. When he sees the camera, he raises his head and smirks. Hunk returns to his desk and begins to eat Keith’s food.

Lance doesn’t eat any garlic knots. Keith enjoys them immensely. Axca enters, muttering an aggressive apology about how she was too busy with her job to wait on Keith. Keith immediately looks down and apologizes. Lance stares at Axca for a moment before returning to his desk.

--
Lance

“What do you mean? There’s nothing going on between Keith and I.” Lance states. The slight sadness in his eyes betrays him.

“I-I mean, Keith is really cool and all. I like him, but he’s engaged and I wouldn’t ruin that.” He says, eyes casting towards the floor. A sigh is heard from behind the camera. There’s a knock on the door and Keith peaks his head in.

“Hey, Lance. Your phone has been ringing for a few minutes. I think someone is really trying to get to you.” He inquires quickly. Keith smiles then returns to his desk. Lance looks back towards the camera.

“Duty calls,” He calls as he heads back to his desk.

--
The Workspace

“So, today, Coran went down to the warehouse and ended up challenging them in a basketball game.” Lance pushed through the door, heading towards Keith’s reception desk. “That’s why we have these.” He points at his sport bag before dropping it by Keith’s desk.

“Are you ready to watch me win today?” Lance chances a real smile, one that meets his hopeful eyes, at Keith.

“Don’t be too cocky. Axca was the best player on her team in high school.” Keith returns Lance’s smile, although Lance had noticeably dimmed.

“Oh please, show some work loyalty!” Lance chuckled and picked up his bag. He waited at his desk until it was time to play.

--

The warehouse wins the game. Lance walks with Keith out of the warehouse to their cars. Axca runs up behind the men and launches herself onto Keith’s back, talking about going out for a celebration dinner. Lance breaks off from the two to head towards his car.

“Hey, Lance!” Keith jogs to catch up to him. “Do you want to come with us?” Lance turns to look into Keith’s eyes and his flushed face from carrying his fiancee. Axca joins the two.

“Ah, nah man. I actually got to go visit my family. It’s my, uh, little sister’s birthday.” Lance immediately looks down as Axca smiles predatorily at him from behind Keith’s back.

“Oh, are you going to sing for them?” Keith knew of Lance’s family’s traditions more than most in the office.

“Uh, yeah, so I have to tune my guitar and everything to get ready for the birthday girl.” Lance can’t help but smile in pride due to Keith remembering his family’s traditions.

“Ah, what a shame man. Maybe next time. C’mon babe.” Axca tightened her grip on Keith’s arm, pulling him away from Lance.

“Yeah, for sure.” Lance averted his eyes down to his hands and fiddled with his keys. Axca and Keith began to walk away, with Axca throwing a cold glance over her shoulder.

--

A saleswoman by the name of Plaxum stopped by the office to sell purses and handbags. Coran immediately set his eyes and heart on the woman. Pidge had the same response.

“So, um, what purse do you think you would like?” Coran played with his mustache as he perused the variety of handbags. Plaxum seemed only mildly uncomfortable. Coran was doing well.

“Well, um, I would probably want something small and dark, you know. Something versatile.” On one hand, Plaxum could not accept an expensive gift from this man. Sure, she could accept a gift, just not an expensive one. On the other hand, if she was misunderstanding him and he wanted her opinion for a woman friend, she would definitely try to get the larger sale. For her own good. She decided on a medium priced bag that any woman would like.

“Interesting,” Coran eyed the camera before turning back to the woman. “And how much is it?” He began to pull out his checkbook, not having enough money on hand to flex on her at the moment.

“Two hundred,” Plaxum said with a small smile. Coran choked on his spit and used it as a diversion to leave.

“Hey, uh, Plaxum you said it was?” Pidge slid into the room like a small lesbian ninja, fingers running over the bags on the table. Plaxum hummed and nodded, happily more content with the presence of a small female than a tall elder ginger.

“So, which one do you think would work best with me?” Pidge began to have a “fashion show,” stalking up and down the length of the room, making Plaxum laugh and dance with her. The camera pans to see Lance watching the two with a surprised look on his face.

Lance

“I mean, who knew Pidge had such game? And that she liked girls? Amazing news, everyday.”

Work Space

“Hey, Pidge, can I ask you something?” Pidge had struck out with Plaxum when Pidge had asked how Plaxum felt about double modulating.

“Sure, Lance. If it’s how I’m the superior saleswoman, it’s because you lack charisma.” Pidge busied herself with making sure none of Lance’s files reached across her desk.

“Are you, uh, gay?” Lance swiveled his chair left and right, as if the movement somehow made it less personal.

“No, Lance.” Pidge turned to him with a straight face. “I’m pansexual.”

Lance nodded at his small associate. “Oh, that’s cool. Can I hit on her?” Pidge sighed and nodded. The camera focuses behind the two to see Keith frowning at the interaction.

Lance enters the conference room to hit on Plaxum. After a few minutes of Lance’s charm, she asks for his number before he could. The two agree to see each other again in a less professional setting.

Keith leaves before Lance to walk with Axca. Usually, the two walk out together, but Lance tries not to notice.

Chapter Text

The Workspace
“So, today is either the most awaited or the most loathed day of the work year. It’s the A-Dubs, or the Alfor-Wimblies.” Lance speaks into the camera, carefully checking over his shoulder to make sure Coran hasn’t emerged from his office. “Basically, Coran gives out awards that are only mildly offensive. It always really sucks for at least three people.”
--
Keith
“So, Coran has me going over past footage of the A-Dubs to get his best jokes for tonight.” The camera pans to see a large television on a cart, not unlike what your teacher would have you watch a movie on when they were too hungover to actually teach. The current footage is from last year, when Coran gives Axca and Keith the “Longest Engagement” award. Keith promises this is the last year that they will get this award, but Axca only laughs at him.
--
Coran
“This year will be the best,” Coran deadpans to the camera. “The awards, the jokes, the songs, and the food and drinks. It’s all going to be bigger and better.” Coran’s phone starts ringing and he glances down at it. He hesitates before picking it up.
“Alfor Wimbleton, Coran here.” He says and puts the phone on speaker.
“Coran? It’s Addison. You’re holding an award show for your employees?” She says, slight anger prominent in her voice.
“We do it every year. I do-” Coran manages before Addison cuts him off.
“Corporate only funds ONE party a year, Coran. We are not funding this. You’re on your own.” She says, preparing to hang up.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Coran gushes, “Addison can we just talk about this?”
The camera cuts to the employees in the office. A few are wide eyed and even more let out a sigh of relief. The beast has been slain.
Or, at least, it seemed.
--
Pidge
“So, upon the decision of Addison,” Pidge paused and rolled her eyes, “Coran and I called a local Chili’s, in which everyone pays for their own drinks and food. It’s going to be the best one so far.” Pidge folds her arms and leans back in her chair with gusto, until she slams the back of her head on the conference room window.
--
Coran
“Pidge somehow got me to agree to hold it at Chili’s. She says that she can DJ the party for my jokes and songs. I’m not sure how confident I am in her abilities.” Coran takes a sip of his mug, which is currently filled with milk.
“That’s what she said.”
--
Lance
“Every year, without fail, the Dundies are the epitome of fear in this office. This year will be no exception, but our wallets will fear how much our fear promotes our own alcoholism. I have no doubt that tonight will be iconic.” Lance smiles into the camera as Hunk waves from his desk.
-- The Workspace
“So, tonight we’re supposed to go to Chili’s instead of having it at the warehouse,” Lance whispers to Keith.
“I heard, now Axca isn’t going to be able to make it.” Keith pouts, but only for a second. Lance takes the chance to pump his fist and mouth “yes.”
“Oh yeah, that’s a shame. Well, I guess you’re stuck with me tonight!” Lance laughs nervously, but Keith just smiles and nods. Lance’s face flushes, but he quickly recovers before Keith can notice.
--
Chili’s
“Hi, welcome to-- oh. The party. Right over here.” The bored hostess lead the group to a branch of the restaurant where Pidge and Coran were all set up. Old songs played through the makeshift DJ booth. Lance sits down at one of the tables towards the front, ready to watch the scene fall apart from the front row. Keith and Axca pick a table behind Lance. More people begin to trickle in and find their seats. Pidge turns the music up slightly when Coran walks out, yelling something that no one really understands and doesn’t try too.
“Are we ready to get this party started?” He yells into the microphone. He receives a few mumbles and half hearted hollers back. Coran starts giving out the awards, most of them extremely inconsiderate and rude. Axca, who suddenly didn’t have plans when Lance offered Keith a ride to Chili’s, tugs on Keith’s sleeve and points at the door.
“Let’s get out of here. This dude is crazy.” She tells Keith. They pull their coats on. Lance looks back at Keith and gives him a questioning look. The black haired man mouths and apology before he is rushed out. Lance looks down at his drink, a saddened look in his eyes. The camera pans to the parking lot. Axca throws her hands up, obviously angry. Keith runs a hand through his hair, Axca still yelling at him. She storms towards the car throwing the door open and closed. Keith walks back towards the Chili’s, sighing. He sits back down at Lance’s table.
“I thought you guys were leaving.” Lance whispers to Keith. He offers a small, private smile to his clearly upset friend. Keith smiles back.
“I told Axca she could leave without me.” Keith responded in a hushed tone. He slid Lance’s drink in front of himself and took a drink. Lance looks into the camera with his eyebrows raised and shrugs his shoulders, not being one to question a good thing.
One at a time, people were called up for awards and speeches that would be cut off early. Honerva won the Busiest Beaver award, though the award held an unfortunate typo. Sven, the temp, got the Hottest in the Office award, followed by Allura with the Tight-Ass Award. Allura refused the award and stormed out of the Chili’s. Keith hijacks a drink from Zarkon, who was sitting behind him.
Nichole won the Spicy Curry award, based on the Curry Incident of ‘09. Hunk was awarded the Don’t Go in There After Me award. He was not embarrassed at all. Zarkon won the Fine Work award.
“I just didn’t know what else to give him,” Coran whispered to Pidge, not realizing her microphone was on. Keith continued sipping on other people’s drinks after Chili’s refused to serve him more.
It was the time that came every year, the time in which Keith got his award. Keith stood up and swayed slightly, waiting for his name to be called.
“And to give the award we depend on for comic relief, we now call up Keith,” Keith stumbles to the stage, his face red with alcohol and the beginnings of anger, “for the Whitest Sneakers award!” The group of workers applauded heavily, and Keith giggled at the reaction, just happy not to have his relationship thrown in his face. Keith jerked the microphone from Coran’s grasp and stumbled a yard away from him.
“I just want to thank Converse, for giving me white shoes in the first place. I’m happy to brighten up everyone’s day with my bright shoes!” Lance stood and continued to clap for his crush as Keith gave Coran back the mic and ran into Lance’s arms.
But, instead of giving his buddy a hug, Keith gave Lance a kiss.
A kiss that lasted one, two, three heartbeats.
A kiss that happened in front of the entire office.
Keith pulled away and turned to the crowd with his A-Dub in his raised hand, hooting one last time before sitting down and waiting for the ceremony to end.
After Marie won the Grace Under Fire award and Lance won his Lance McClain award, the office was free to disperse as they wished. Keith and Lance sat at the bar, talking to the camera. Lance told a joke and Keith laughed so hard he fell out of his seat. Coran took credit.
--
Coran’s friend Kolivan visits the office, and together the duo terrorize the office.
“Hey, hey Lance.” Kolivan tries to stop laughing long enough to choose his next victim.
“Uh, yeah I’m kind of working right now, sorry.” Lance doesn’t turn away from the computer, hoping that if he doesn’t give Kolivan any signal that he should continue speaking that he would then leave Lance alone.
“Hey, Lance, hey, are you gay?” Kolivan guffaws at his own joke, clapping Lance on the shoulder. The camera zooms in on Coran, who looks uncomfortable but still laughs along.
“Um, well…” Lance thinks for a moment before tapping his desk and standing up. “Can I have everyone’s attention, please? I’d like to make an announcement.” Once he was sure everyone was listening to him, Lance continued on.
“I would just like to publicly come out,” the camera zooms in to see Keith freeze with his hand on his chest, "against office homophobia. Your sexuality is not your co-workers business, but if you wish to share that, you should not be shamed because of it. That being said, I would also like to come out as bisexual. I like boys and girls, and I hope you all can accept that.” Lance nods to the office and sits down.
“I’m pansexual. I don’t care about your gender or your gender identity. I just love people who are worthy to be loved.” Pidge finishes her speech with a hard stare throughout the office, gazing maybe a moment too long at Allura.
Shiro stands up and identifies as homosexual. Lotor comes out of the annex to identify as bisexual. Coran quickly tells him to leave again. Hunk stands to say that he is heterosexual, but he supports his friends and is very proud of everyone. Kolivan sneaks out while Shiro talks about his boyfriend, Adam. Keith stares at Lance when he’s not looking. He looks confused.
--
Coran goes condo hunting with Pidge, and the office is thrown into a state of pure boredom. One by one, the workers take up small games to keep them busy. Lance and Keith see how many paperclips they can throw into Pidge’s mug. Hunk and Shiro play “Hate Ball,” named after how much Allura hates non-team sports. Suddenly, Lance has an idea.
Lance and Keith work on making the Alfor Wimbleton Olympics, complete with gold, silver, and bronze medals made from yogurt lids. Keith even makes origami doves to be released at the end of the day. Lance flits around the office to pick up small games the workers play. Allura is annoyed by everyone’s “looking out for number one,” strategy rather than team-building games.
The workers compete to see who can fit the most M&M’s in their mouth, and then the competitors head to the annex to play AlforBall, with Lotor there to explain the rules.
-
On the other side of town, Coran’s realtor, Luxia, assumes Pidge and Coran are together. Coran is excited about the condo up until he hears the price. He complains and demands it be dropped down.
“Look, Coran. This is a safe neighborhood and a warm home. This can be a great thing in your life. Even if you want to fix some things up, at least it will be yours. Also, you lose 7,000 if you walk.” Coran decides to stay.
“So, Pidge. I was thinking about what you mean to the company, and what you mean to me. You are my right-hand man at work, and maybe that can continue into our personal lives.” Either Pidge is excited at the possibility of a promotion, or she doesn’t hear how that could have been taken the wrong way. Either way, she nods him on with a glimmer in her eye. “So, for a small fee, I was thinking you could rent the third floor.” Coran bows his head, as if awaiting the praise and thanks of the small but deadly woman.
“Wow, Coran, thank you so much,” Coran makes a move to tell her that it’s no big deal at all, but, instead, is interrupted, “but I’m going to have to decline. I have a 64 acre blueberry farm. And what would Matt do if I left him there?” Pidge chuckles to herself and heads towards the car.
-
At the office, Honerva challenges Hunk to a Flonkerton race. During the time, the camera catches Keith standing by Allura.
“So, Allura, do you have any games you like to play?” Keith tries to get the older woman to open up, and maybe even get her to participate.
“Well, there is one. I call it Keith Kickball. I count how many times Lance bounces to your desk or you bounce to his.” Allura smiles at Keith menacingly, but she clearly thinks she did no wrong. No one tells her to work on social cues.
The workers begin a race to the elevator while Keith shows Lance a box of prizes to be given out at closing ceremonies. When Keith turns back to his desk, he sees Allura mark a tally on a board, presumably for Keith Kickball. Allura smiles.
-- Allura
“Maybe I should have given him a thumbs up.”
-- Workspace
Lotor and Shiro were in the middle of a race around the office. They gingerly made their way through stacks of boxes with full coffee cups in their hands.
“The time to beat is one minute,” Lance calls out, “Last lap!” Everyone in the office cheers them on but before they can cross the finish line, Coran and Pidge return from their house hunting extravaganza. Everyone rushes back to their desks, leaving Lance with nothing but the stopwatch in his hand and the sadness of the games coming to an abrupt end. Coran walks dejectedly into his office.
“What are you doing? Why do you have my stopwatch?” Pidge asks Lance.
“Well we were just-” Lance tries to clear up, but Pidge snatches her tiny timer back and shuffles to her desk.
“What a gremlin.” Lance announces quietly to Keith, who lets out a snort.
“Got something to say to my face?” A voice says from behind him. Lance lets out a very uncharacteristic screech and clutches his heart.
“You demon!” Lance says, affronted. Pidge slithers her way back to her desk, leaving Keith and Lance to stare in horror. The camera pans to Coran, who stares at the keys to his new home. He sighs then lays his head in his arms. The camera returns to the two office workers standing at the receptionist’s desk.
“I have 62 voicemails.” Keith tells the other man, his spirit falling. Lance smiles and taps his finger on the desk.
“Well, you could ignore them and do a favor for me.” Lance adds. Keith immediately throws the phone down and nods.
“Closing ceremony at five. Tell everyone.” Keith smiles and nods, quickly getting his email up.
Lance calls Coran out of his office for the ceremony. They give him gold, Pidge receives silver. Lance ends up with blue. They play the national anthem as Keith strings up the paper birds he made. Coran’s eyes well up with tears, moved by the notion. And that concludes the office games.

Chapter Text

The Workspace

The office is almost overwhelmingly quiet.  The snow fall softly outside, everyone is lulled into a false sense of security.  The office is almost gray-washed, a surreal landscape of the creativity-sucking environment people are paid to stay in.  Suddenly, Keith’s phone rings. He is almost too eager to pick it up.

“Alfor Wimbleton, this is Keith,” Keith starts with a smile, only for it to fade after a moment, “ah, yes, I’ll transfer you.”  After a few button presses, Lance’s phone rings.

--

Keith

“Oh, yeah, Lance and Plaxum have started seeing each other.”  Keith smiles a forced smile, his eyes downcast to the floor, only looking at the camera when he’s ready to speak again.  “You know, the girl who makes her living off of selling purses in other people’s offices.” Keith bites his lip. The camera pans to see Lance laughing at something Plaxum said before hanging up the phone.

“It’s fine.  I’m happy he found a girlfriend.”

--

Coran’s Office

“So, Sven, you have done a great job so far.”  Coran clicks through the checkpoint review the temp agency emailed him.  Sven smiled, happy to not be subjected to a rather uncomfortable conversation about how Coran and him were “bros.”

“Thank you, sir.  I hope I get to own a business like this of my own someday.”  Now, Sven clearly meant this only to show Coran that he has his own aspirations, and to also move the conversation along rather than sit in Coran’s office waiting to be dismissed.

That is not how Coran took it.

“So, what I’m hearing is that you want me to take you under my wing.”  Sven begins to shake his head and refuse profusely, but Coran only holds up a hand and waves him off.  “No, no, no. I accept.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I’m going to business school.”

“Sven, with all due respect, that’s completely different from running a business yourself.”

“Sir, with all due respect, you didn’t start this business, you just run a branch.”

“Sven, with all due respect, shut your mouth.  We’ll start with the ten rules of business, my boy!”

--

The Workspace

“Hey, uh, Lance?”  Keith calls from his desk.  Lance looks up and nods, a sign that he is listening.  “You know, I’ve just been so busy lately, if you could just give Plaxum your extension, that would make things a lot easier on me.”

Lance’s face falls, but he quickly recovers it and replaces it with a nonchalant nod and a “yeah, sure.”

At that moment is when the fire alarm chose to ring.  Coran bursts from his office, assuring everyone that this was not a drill.  Both Allura and Pidge try to take charge of the situation. Pidge may have been more of a “leader” than Allura, but due to her short stature, Allura was the one to wave everyone out of the office.

Outside is just as dreary as it felt inside, but at least six times more cold.  Everyone stays bundled and huddles into groups. A majority of the office is in one group while Coran, Pidge, and Sven group by themselves.  The first group begins to play games to keep morale up as Coran begins to teach Sven the ten rules of business. When Sven points out, once again, that he is going to business school at night, Coran waves it off.

“I’ve learned more about business working in fast-food than you will ever learn with your school.”

Pidge then begins to bully Sven, in a “tough love” sort of situation to show Coran that Pidge is still worthy of her title as Assistant to Regional Manager.  Her plan backfires as Coran scolds her and holds Sven’s head to his chest. Sven is becoming noticeably uncomfortable.

The previous group is taking turns naming off three movies they would take to a deserted island.  After Marie names Overboard , Keith and Lance both tease her for a moment before Keith admits he likes it too.

“What?  It’s a timeless classic.  Very romantic.”

“Yeah, okay, sure.”  Lance continues to tease both Keith and Marie.

Eventually, though, the game grows old, so the group moves to the game “Who Would You Do?”

Hunk instantly names Keith.  When he gets strange looks, he defends himself.

“What?  Keith is funny, smart, and pretty.  He also has a strange obsession with knives that I think makes him very interesting.”  Eventually several people in the group agree and everyone moves on.

“Hey, Lance.”  Keith calls Lance to the side and motions to Pidge, who is sitting in her car, listening to You’re No Good by Linda Ronstadt.  Keith only has to give Lance a glance before the two of them head over to the car.

After Pidge explains the situation, Lance is at a loss of words.  Keith, on the other hand, immediately tries his best to make Pidge feel better.

“You know, I think Sven would find it intimidating to know that you’re a volunteer sheriff’s deputy.”  Keith nods his head, establishing eye contact, looking completely solemn. An angel, if Lance had ever seen one.

“Or, you could quit.  That would show him.” Lance fakes a cough so he can hide his smile, but ultimately keeps a straight face.  Pidge scoffs and thanks the duo for their help, but asks to be left alone.

Lance, Keith, Sven, and even Axca join back into the game of “Who Would You Do?”  When it’s Axca’s turn, she answers with “that tight-ass annex dude.” The camera zooms in on Keith’s reaction.  He looks hurt, but he continues to smile, in case anybody looks for his reaction.

Lance did.

When it comes to Lance’s turn, he chooses Hunk, who says, “oh thanks, buddy!”  Coran chooses Sven. That is when Coran realized he left his phone in the office.  Pidge was lurking behind the group, contemplating joining in when she heard this. She immediately offered her services and rushed inside the office to get it.

A small group continues to play the game.  Honerva named Lance, which Marie agreed with, which Nichole “definitely, definitely” agreed with.  When it was Keith’s turn, he said “Shiro’s kind of cute. And Lotor is too.” This was met with groans at Lotor’s name, and a few supportive comments.  Keith hadn’t come out to the office as bisexual, but multiple people around the office knew. Lance was not one of them.

Coran asks Sven to call his phone to find it.  Sven politely refuses, not wanting Coran to have access to his number, but Coran insists.  When Sven finally gives in, the two suddenly hear Britney Spear’s Toxic coming from Coran’s pocket.  Coran retrieves his phone from his pocket and ignores the call.  Pidge emerges from the building, smoking and coughing.

“I found out who started the fire,” Pidge says, out of breath but with an evil grin, “it seems that our resident temp here,” she points to Sven, “put a cheese pita in the toaster oven and set it on ‘oven’ rather than ’toast!’”

The workers begin to laugh as Pidge sings a rendition of  We Didn’t Start the Fire , but sings “Sven started the fire!”

--

Earlier that day, Sven

“I don’t want to be here long.  This isn’t what I want my life to be.”  Sven gestures to the everyday people, milling about just on the other side of the glass.  “This is just a stepping stone. I don’t want to be here long enough to even have a nickname.  I don’t want to be ‘a guy’ here, you know?”

--

Later, the workspace

“Hey, look, it’s Fire Guy!”

--

Coran enters the office on this cool Halloween night to be informed that he missed a call from Addison Sanda.  His smile immediately drops along with his hopes for a nice day.

--

Coran’s office

“I’m supposed to let someone go at the end of the month.  Now, I realize it’s a little irresponsible to wait until the last day, but, in my defense, I thought someone would move!  Or quit! Or die.” Coran does not open his mouth to continue that statement. He fixes the camera with a blank stare until he gets an idea and bursts from his office.

--

The Workplace

“Hey, guys.”  Coran leans on Allura’s desk, commanding the attention of the three people that made up the Accounting Department.  “Is there any room in the budget for, I don’t know, 50,000 and benefits?”

Shiro turned to fix Coran with an incredulous look.  “You mean, like a salary and benefits?” Coran nodded and hummed, not realizing the vibe Shiro was clearly emanating.  “Uh, no. I don’t think so.”

Coran heavily sighed.  “Okay.” He sighed again before perking up and heading back to his office.

--

The Accounting Department

“Honestly, we know that we don’t need three people in Accounting,” Hunk waves his arms to gesture to the small corner of the office the three stay in.

“But,” says Shiro, “we aren’t going to tell Coran that.”

“If he wants to pay us for doing a fraction of the work that we should be doing, who are we to correct him?”  Allura straightens the papers on her desk with a smile.

--

Reception

“Pidge has managed to micromanage my last nerve.”  Lance digs the heels of his hands into his eyes and exhales a deep breath.  Keith raises his hand out to Lance, like he’s about to comfort him, but pulls his hand back.  He’s silent for a moment before he comes up with an idea to make Lance feel better.

“What if we post her resume on one of those career sites?”  Lance immediately perked up, running the situation through his mind, nodding once he decided that this was the best course of action that could come from the duo’s minds at the moment.  Keith giggled and pulled up some websites. Lance hesitated before joining Keith behind the desk, both of them smiling a small smile at the computer where the other couldn’t see.

--

Party Planning Committee

“Okay, so let’s lay out the food,” Honerva claps her hands together, trying to invoke a positive feeling in the room.  The Party Planning Committee tended to make emotions run high prior to the actual party.

“Keith?”  Allura calls for the young receptionist.  He joins Allura by her side. “Did you bring these brownies?”

“Oh, yeah, I got my mom’s recipe for it.”  Keith smiles, clearly pleased with how the brownies worked out.  They certainly did look delicious.

“You were supposed to bring chips and dip, were you not?”  Allura’s voice becomes threateningly hard, her mouth frozen into a thin line.  Keith quickly realizes what’s about to happen. Honerva lets out a whispered “oh, no” and exits the conference room.

“Well, it’s just brownies.  It’s Halloween, there’s going to be a lot of sweets anyway.”

“ Exactly .  It’s Halloween!  Now there’s too many sweets.  Zarkon has diabetes, you know.  And now the sweet-to-salty ratio, which was already heavily one sided, is practically nonexistent.  Congratulations, Keith. You ruined it.” Allura throws her dusting rag in a chair and leaves Keith standing in the conference room alone.

--

Reception

Keith waves Lance over to his desk.  “We got a hit on Pidge’s resume. It’s a company in Maryland, Cumberland Mills.  It actually has better pay than we have here. I’m amazed they want Pidge. They called to speak to Coran.”

“Put them on with me.”  Lance smiles a wide smile that Keith can’t help but reciprocate.  With a nod, Lance flies back to his desk, distracts Pidge to go to the break room, and lifts up the receiver.

“Coran Smythe, Alfor Wimbledon.”

--

After the party, at reception

“You know, if anyone, you should take the Cumberland Mills job.  It’s better pay and everything.” Keith talks absentmindedly, still thinking about how Pidge blew her chance at the job after she told her almost-new boss that he underestimated how lasers could be used in his everyday life.

Lance stiffened, and his eyes dropped to his hands.  He leaned away from the desk and bit his lip. “Oh, uh, yeah.  I guess so.” Lance left Keith before Keith could realize what he said and fix it.  Keith followed Lance back to his desk.

“I didn’t mean it like that.  Honestly, if you left, I’d probably blow my brains out.”  Keith chuckled and Lance cracked a smile, trying not to let on that he had been mildly hurt by Keith’s words.

--

Lance

“I wouldn’t ‘blow my brains out’ if Keith wasn’t here.”  Lance plays with his hands, picking at his fingernails. He looks up and gives the camera a lopsided smile.  “I would apply for the Cumberland Mills job.”

--

End of the day

Coran finally fires Antok at the end of the day, after unsuccessfully trying to fire Kolivan.  Antok leaves a smashed pumpkin on Coran’s car, and Lance and Keith have to physically restrain Pidge from attacking Antok.

--

The Office

Coran leaves with Ms. Sanda to take a potential client out for lunch.  While he is gone, the office is quiet. Too quiet. Keith finds a screenplay in Coran’s bottom desk drawer of an action movie.  Lance convinces the office to participate in a read-through of the screenplay. Everyone is happy to comply, until, that is, Pidge finds a problem with the screenplay.

“Wait, he misspelled his doofy sidekick’s name.  It’s supposed to be Ridge, but it’s, uh, it’s Pidge?”  Pidge frowns and tries to laugh it off. The office laughs uneasily, hoping Pidge won’t put two and two together.

She does.

“We’re not reading this anymore.  Shred the copies, I’m putting this back.”  Pidge grabs the original, marked with Coran’s writing, and throws it onto his desk.  The rest of the office shreds the copies with the same attitude of children who were caught playing with their sibling’s toys.

Pidge remembers the extensive collection of fireworks she has in her car for no named reason.  “Hey, let’s go outside.” When people groan and disagree, Pidge demands that everyone goes outside for fireworks.  Everyone goes, with the same attitude of children being dragged around the supermarket.

Lance grabs a bunch of snacks and drinks from the machine before heading outside.  The lights are gorgeous, so he sneaks his phone out of his pocket to cancel his plans.  Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Keith doing the same. He approaches the receptionist.

“You have plans?”  Keith glances at Lance and shakes his head, his eyes immediately dart back to the exploding light in the sky.  It was only there for a moment, but in that moment those lights were burning just as bright as stars. “In that case,” Lance nudges Keith’s arm, “how about dinner?”

The two sit on the roof, passing snacks back and forth, watching the lights, counting the booms , making jokes about the people down below, but, mostly, just existing.  Together. Neither of them knew they were being filmed, but neither of them could see the utter happiness that lit up their faces brighter than the fireworks.

When the two come down from the roof to go home, Lance has one earbud in, connected to his iPod.  He shuffles through his music until he finds a song to match the quietly sad night he had.

“What are you listening to?”  Keith shoulders Lance, in no hurry to go back to his car or his fiancee.  Lance responds by handing an earbud to Keith, who is only a little surprised.  The two rock back and forth to Ruth B.

If by chance it doesn’t work out with her, you’ll always have a chance with me in my world.

--

The following day

“That was a great ‘first date’ right?”  Lance smiles, stealing some candy off of Keith’s desk.  Keith almost chuckles, but stops himself.

“It wasn’t a date, Lance.”  Keith focuses on his computer, and Lance tries not to be hurt.

He fails.

“Yeah, I know.  But it’s still better than when Axca left you at that hockey game.”  Lance turns from Keith, not wanting to face him. Instead, Lance leans his back against the reception desk.  Keith scoffs and storms off to the break room. Lance pouts and goes to his desk.

--

After finding out that the emails would soon be closely monitored, some employees were a bit worried about what may come to light.

“Did you delete your emails?”  Allura talks under her breath, her back to Pidge.

“Of course I did.  Did you?” Pidge quickly fires back.

“Of course.  Are we still on for this weekend?”  Allura chances a look back to Pidge.

“You know we are, monkey,” Pidge says as she watches her shoes.  Allura nods and quickly leaves the room, a smile on her lips.

The camera pans to see Keith, just out of sight, covering his mouth in surprise.

The entirety of the office, except for Coran, was invited to a party at Lance’s house.  Lance convinces Pidge to keep the secret by saying it’s a party for Coran.

--Lance

“It’s not like I didn’t want Coran there,” he pauses, wondering if that was truly the reason, “it’s just that I want everyone to have a good time, and having the boss there can really put a damper on that.”  Lance watches the floor and bites his lip, lost in thought.

--The Workspace

When Coran finds out about the party, no one admits it to him, so he instead goes to his improv class.  Meanwhile, the party at Lance’s house is kicking off with a tour. Lance breaks away from the group to find Keith distractedly exploring Lance’s bedroom.  Lance approaches Keith as Keith flips through an old yearbook.

“You were pretty dorky,” Keith points to a picture of Lance that is more forehead than Lance.  The two giggle for a bit before returning to the party. Nichole doesn’t want to talk about work, Allura is mad that there’s no vegetarian food, and Coran crashes the party.

Keith pulls Honerva to the side, “Hey, Honerva, do you know of any, uh, offices romances?”  Honerva thinks for a minute and surveys the room.

“You mean you and Lance?”

Keith quickly retreats into the crowd.  Lance joins Coran for karaoke. They sing Halo by Beyonce.  It’s a hit with the crowd.

--

Coran rushes into the Party Planning Committee with Sven in tow.  He demands the Committee to double everything and he even wants liquor at the party.  Keith reminds him that they can’t do that.

“I got a 3,000 G bonus for coming under budget,” Coran whispers to the camera.

Pidge announces to the office that it’s time to put the Secret Santa presents under the tree.  Lotor got a picture of mice dressed as jazz musicians for Allura. Shiro didn’t know much about Slav, but he got him a shamrock keychain.  Hunk got himself for Secret Santa and didn’t tell anyone, but he still got himself a gift.

--Lance

“I got Keith, so I got him a teapot filled with little mementos from office jokes and stuff.  I also, uh,” Lance blushes a bit. “I got him this card. It tells him how I feel, because Christmas is the time you do that, I guess.”

--The Workspace

Coran repeatedly asks Lance who he has for Secret Santa.  When Lance doesn’t tell, Coran reveals that he got Sven.

The gift exchange starts off fine.  Shiro gets a shower radio from Nicole.  Lance gets an old shirt Slav pulled out of his closet last minute.  Sven gets a $400 iPod from Coran, who left the tag on. Coran brushes it off, calls himself a generous giver, but the rest of the employees are a bit concerned about the huge price difference between his gift and the others.  Lance gives Keith the teapot and is about to open the lid to show him what’s inside when Coran demands to see his gift. Honerva gives him a homemade oven mitt.

Coran decides to implement a Yankee Swap where people can steal each other’s gifts.  No one seems on board with that, since the gifts are made with certain people in mind.  For example, Zarkon got Nicole a decorated nameplate that says Nicole. It’s for Nicole.

The party quickly falls apart.  Keith’s teapot gets stolen, and he steals the iPod rather than getting it back.  Lance is a little hurt. Lance later bargains with Pidge to get it back and gifts it to Keith, showing the treasures it holds inside.  While Keith is distracted, Lance slyly takes the card back. When Axca comes to pick up Keith, Keith excitedly shows her the iPod.

“Good,” Axca says, “I was going to get you one but now I don’t.”

“Well, what will you get me now?” Keith asks excitedly.

“I don’t know, a sweater or something?”

The party ends at Poor Richard’s.

--

In the middle of January, Coran arranges a booze cruise field trip for the office.  People aren’t exactly excited about it, as it’s fucking January. Keith brings Axca and Lance brings Plaxum.  The four start talking, and it soon becomes clear that Axca and Plaxum enjoy each other’s company more than their respective partners, and so they leave Lance and Keith alone with palpable romantic tension.

After Coran says that the ship is sinking and causes a panic, Captain Jack handcuffs him to the railing outside, as to not cause anymore trouble.  Axca, motivated by booze and Captain Jack’s motivating speech, announces her and Keith’s wedding date, June 10th. Keith happily agrees. Lance breaks up with Plaxum, who is angry and upset.  He then joins Coran by the railing and admits his feelings for Keith.

“Huh.”

“What?”  Lance asks.

“No, I just thought I had a radar for that kind of thing.”

“I came out to the office like two months ago how did you not know-”

“No, like for romance!”

Lance sighs, seemingly deciding to give up on Keith.

“Hey,” Coran claps Lance on the shoulder.  “Engaged ain’t married.”

Chapter Text

Hello beautiful people! I have a bit of unfortunate news. It might be obvious but this fic has been discontinued. My lovely co- author and I decided this a while ago. A lot has gone on in both of our lives recently and we’ve moved on to bigger things. I am working on finishing school and moving over 2,000 miles away from my home, and Kallie has become a published author!! Thank you to the few people who have supported us and enjoyed our writing. We love you all!

Keep your love and imagination flowing!

Avery

p.s buy Divided We Fall by Kallie Traylor