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“Yes Veronica, your kids are fine. Nice to know you’re more worried about my team members then you are your own brother.” Lance said, as he looked around at his team as he sat on his desk at the precinct.
“Your sister knows class when she sees it.” Pidge teased from her seat across from Keith. Lance only glared at the girl
“Ok, I have to go. Take it easy ok? You’re still sore from that attack.” Lance said, seeing his teammates shoot him looks.
Lance always thought that when he finally got into the police academy, he’d be able to protect his family. After his father’s death when he was in high school, even though he was the youngest, he wanted to do the most. He wanted to make sure no one in his family ever cried again. He’d been through so much when he came down to Gangnam from being scammed with his apartment, to facing his first troubles as a police officer, being held hostage, realising that his on field partner was actually Akira, the kid who’d gone missing after his mother’s murder, a murder they were reopening for investigation.
But the one thing he hadn’t been expecting was wen his older sister Veronica would come visit him for the second time, back when he was still sleeping on the roof of the precinct, she’d gotten attacked by the daughter of a politician. Zarkon was once the police chief and it was like his daughter thought she was allowed to do whatever she wanted. Veronica was in the hospital with her injuries and Lance was determined to find the person who recorded the attack and get her to testify. The person didn’t but she did give Lance access to the online folder of the whole video that would give them the chance to arrest the daughter. But they lost that chance when Zarkon came and begged Veronica to forgive his daughter, she dropped the charges. His daughter walked free and Veronica didn’t get justice.
It was one of Lance’s biggest regrets. He cried his heart out on multiple occasions, trying to stay strong but still mad he couldn’t get his sister justice. His whole team, all the members and their squad leaders were determined to help him and they were just as upset when Zarkon took their chance of justice. Thankfully, they had stopped with the pitying looks in Lance’s direction. They were more focused on solving the murder of Akira or as they knew him Keith’s mother. Lance was going to focus on helping his on field partner get justice.
Part of Lance always felt guilty. He had insulted Keith’s mom after they were all dragged to the police station but Keith was never angry with him. He just explained what his mother had told him and gave him his umbrella. Lance just didn’t know the day would end with Keith’s mother being killed and a killer trying to kill Keith himself. Lance tried to help but nothing ever came out of it and the kid known as Akira just disappeared. Except he was Keith now, the sullen, brash guy but still had the same heart of gold. Lance was happy he got to know Keith again. He’d been there during his weak moments and offered the comfort he could. He could blame it on Veronica saying she’d never call Keith her son because she wanted him to date her brother, but Lance was sure he had slight feelings for Keith, but he wasn’t touching that one. There were more important things to worry about then crushes, though, Keith had kissed him once. He remembered Akira wearing glasses when he was younger so when he walked into the locker room and saw Keith wearing glasses, he’d seen Akira. Lance was poking, demanded an answer, so sure Keith was the same person and then, Keith kissed him. He later found out Shiro was walking in the room and Keith kissed him to shut him up. Still though, the feeling of Keith’s lips pressed against his, that was something he was sure he wouldn’t ever forget.
“Lance?” Shiro called from his desk
“Ah, yes sir?”
“Tell your sister we hope she feels better.”
Lance gave his squad leader a thankful smile. If it hadn’t been for Shiro, Veronica would have stayed locked in that motel, not listening to her brother’s begging to go with him to the hospital. He hadn’t let the thought of Zarkon being an opponent stop him from trying to gain justice for Veronica.
“Hear that Ronnie, my team leader is also telling you to get rest. Now I have to go, take a nap. Bye.” Lance hung up his cell phone and fell back further into his desk chair. “she sounds better. I guess she’d glad to be home.”
“What did she tell your mom about the bruises she still has?” Keith asked from the desk next to his.
“Got knocked over by a chicken delivery bike. We told her I took care of it and how I made her stay in the hospital for extra precautions.” Lance answered starting to feel drained. Having to remember what his sister went through was never easy.
“Hey,” Hunk said from his spot opposite Lance, an encouraging smile on his face, “we’ll get her next time. She can’t hide behind her dad forever.”
“Thanks.” Lance took a big breath and pulled himself back to his desk. “won’t have the chance to catch her if I don’t catch up with all this work.”
As they started back up on their work, the squad leader of another team came over to Shiro’s desk. “Shiro?”
“Yes?”
“Any chance your team can help us? We’re trying to find a gang member but he’s seen one of our members so we don’t trust that we can go to one of their spots to find him.”
“You kids want to get away from paperwork?” Shiro asked, getting a resounding yes from his team. “tell us where and when. We’ll help out as best as we can.”
“Right, um, quick thing though. Any of your members gay?”
Shiro furrowed his brow, “why?”
“This member has a younger brother who’s gay and he’s defended his brother many times, even from his own gang mates. I was hoping two of your team members would be comfortable acting as a couple so they’d be able to get closer. Not talk to them or anything, but they wouldn’t bother them so we can see if he’s there.”
“Well,” Shiro started, looking over to Keith and Lance. He knew their preferences but he wasn’t about to out them for the sake of a cover mission. He watched as the two looked at each other and then nodded over to him. Well, if they were ok with it. “I do, but I’d rather not release it to the whole precinct. As stupid as it is, we’ve got assholes in this precinct and my team’s already got enough eyes on them.”
“If anyone asks, I’ll just tell them I needed them to do it for the cover. I won’t ask who. As soon as we have info on the gang moving and where they’ll be, I’ll let you know.” The squad leader turned to the team, “make sure and have good outfits on hand to go out. They tend to frequent at a popular café so be ready to impress.”
“Yes sir.”
“Good. I’ll leave it to you then.” He said to Shiro before leaving back to his own team
Shiro looked over at Lance and Keith, “I can trust you with this job?” the two nodded, “alright. You two head home and get clothes. When you get back, Pidge and Hunk will go after.”
“I’d ask you to get my clothes for me, but our fashion sense is very different.” Pidge said as Keith and Lance got up.
“Keith, we need to go to the store room.” Lance said as he waited for Keith to grab his phone.
“Right.”
Lance was still living on the roof of the precinct building so majority was in one of the unused store rooms Shiro had gotten for him after he found out Lance lived on the roof. While Lance had a good selection of clothes with him on the roof, all his more outing clothes were in the store room. Keith kept watch to make sure their second head wasn’t lurking around. Iverson had an annoying habit of doing that.
“You done?” Keith asked from his spot.
“Give me a second. If I have to pretend to be your boyfriend I have to look the part, since you’ll no doubt be in that leather jacket of yours.”
Keith looked down at his leather jacket, “what’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing, just you wear it almost whenever we have to go out for covers. Oh, I forgot I had these!” Keith turned and controlled himself from seeing a pair of fishnet pants in Lance’s hands. “I’d wear these under my favourite ripped jeans. Do you think it’d be too much for a café?”
“Yes Lance! We’re not going to a club again.” Keith said, turning away, trying not to imagine the fishnet shaped around Lance’s long legs
“Alright, alright.” Keith heard him rummaging around the boxes again, more clothes being pulled out. “ok, I’m done.” He turned to see Lance come out with jeans and a blue jacket. “I’ve got the other stuff upstairs.”
“You go ahead and get your things, I can go to the apartment and get my things.”
“Wait, Keith we have to match!”
“Lance, I’m not wearing couples’ clothes with you.” Keith stated
“Not like that. Unless you want to. But have you ever been on a date? You need to dress so it looks like you wanted to impress your date. That time those fan girls took your picture didn’t count. They’re fangirls.” Lance said, reminding Keith of when two opposing groups of fangirls had been brought into the station after getting into a fight over their oppas. They had all been infatuated with the new group of rookies and Keith was quick to leave the room after a few pictures.
“Alright fine. Go throw those clothes up in your tent, I’ll go get one of the station cars.” Keith gave in. it wasn’t like Lance hadn’t been to their apartment. After they had been held hostage, he had come over with beer and chicken for them to celebrate. Then there was the first time Veronica came over and he lied to his sister, saying he was staying with the rest of the team. It was just both those times, he had been pushed even closer with Lance and that was making it hard not to fall for him. He hadn’t felt like this back when they were kids and he didn’t think he’d care when he realised that Lance was the same Lance he knew back then but something changed. Maybe it had been when Veronica had been attacked and he kept finding Lance when he’d break down. Seeing Lance, who could usually get him annoyed so easily break down like that, Keith hated that. He wanted to do whatever possible to keep Lance smiling. It was probably why he’d get so jealous when Hunk would attempt to flirt with Lance. And now he’d have to act like his boyfriend.
He sighed. “like my life isn’t complicated enough.”
“I’m here! Let’s go.” Lance said, throwing his arm around Keith and dragging them to the key check out.
The team was called in much quicker than they thought. The van pulled behind the bushes behind the café. Coran parked the car as Shiro turned to his team.
“Alright, this is the guy we’re looking for.” He said passing back a picture. “he’s part of a gang and has been linked to many thefts. His group like hanging out here and they’ve never caused any problems so they couldn’t report them. Because Griffin’s team was caught they know who to look for. If he’s there, text us and we know we can follow him to eventually arrest him. Keith, Lance, you two are a couple. Like was explained, he has a younger gay brother so he won’t try anything and if most of his gang members are like him, neither will they.”
“What about us?” Pidge asked
“Make sure Hunk doesn’t do something stupid and you’ll be fine.”
“Hey!” Hunk yelled insulted
“Hunk, you’ve been held hostage more than us. Like our first time out on the field.” Pidge said
“Then when we were actual hostages, you were held at knife point.” Lance added in.
“Then when you told us Pidge was a doctor at one point, you had also been held at knife point. We are dealing with gang members.” Keith said, making Hunk pout and flop back in his seat.
“You two ready?” Shiro asked Keith and Lance, who nodded at him, “good. You guys look good by the way.”
Lance pulled up the van door and climbed down, fixing the cuffs on his pants and pulling his white shirt down, Keith following him as he pulled his leather jacket on.
“You couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Lance asked
“Shut up. Let’s go.”
Lance held onto Keith’s arm as he put his hands into his jacket pocket. They let themselves drift closer together as they walked into the café. There were a few members in line, loudly making their orders, those picking them up going to the outdoor area. Lance let his free hand rest higher on Keith’s arm, letting himself lean against Keith. He caught the attention of one of the workers, who started to sneer at them. He also noticed one of the members look over their shoulder and Keith pulled the arm Lance was holding onto out of his pocket so he could grab Lance’s hand, Lance nuzzling his head on Keith’s shoulder.
“Oi! What’s with those looks your giving them? You got a problem with them?”
“No sir. So sorry.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Lance looked over at Keith, who shook his head slightly. Not their guy but at least his teachings seemed to affect his members.
“What can I get for you?”
“Can I get an iced mocha latte? He’ll have the same but with soy milk.” Lance ordered for them.
“I got it.” Keith said when they were told the price.
“You don’t have to.”
“Least I can do for my baby for being with me for 100 days.”
Wow, Keith was really selling it. 100 days together was big in Korea. It also reminded Lance of when they had to pretend to be a couple that time they were hostages. Lance was going to quit the team and Keith called him out on it which ended up in an argument to which Pidge handcuffed the two of them together to have them make up. It had been interesting, being handcuffed and having to pretend to be a couple just to stay close. Lance still remembered how close Keith had held him.
They got their drinks and went out to the outside area where most of the gang members were seated, talking loudly and enjoying their drinks. Lance sat with his back to them, so Keith could get a good look at everyone. Keith’s photographic memory hadn’t failed them yet and neither had his ability to spot their target.
Keith is looking for our guy. No problems so far, they seem to be accepting of gay couples, we did get defended by one of the members
Keith put his drink down, catching the attention of Lance from texting his team and he shook his head at him slightly. Not here.
He’s not here. I’m going to get Keith to take pictures of the other members here
Lance put his phone down and pulled out one of the stations hand held cameras from his pocket.
“Babe? Take my picture?” Lance asked
“Huh? Oh, sure.” Keith took the camera and waited until Lance was done moving over before lifting the camera. “alright, ready? 1, 2, 3.” He took many photos, hoping the gang didn’t noticed he was drifting away from Lance’s form to get the guys at the very end. “one more.” Lance flashed him a big smile and he couldn’t help getting that on camera.
As he put the camera down though, they were approached by the staff, one of which was holding a cake with number candles on it. Candles that spelt out 100. Lance and Keith jumped out from their seats as they started to sing congratulations.
“Please blow out the candles.” One of the workers said, a camera in her hand. They did hesitantly, but the two cops blew them out together, the awkward looks on their faces showing how they felt
“Hey, you should kiss your boy! 100 days and no problems, right?” one of the members called, starting off the chant for them to kiss.
The noise could be heard from the van, leaving those inside confused
“What’s going on? I can’t hear what they’re chanting.” Pidge said, trying to plaster her face to the glass like it would do anything.
Keith was filled with tension. This was not how he planned for things to go. He didn’t want to do this in front of everyone.
“Keith,” Lance called loud enough for him to hear over the chanting. He gestured to himself, “I’ll do it.” Do what? He watched Lance walk around the table until he was standing in front of him. He watched Lance take a few breaths and suddenly he got closer.
Keith never really kissed anyone that mattered. But the feeling of Lance’s lips on his was…different. Good different. When Lance pulled away, seeming embarrassed, he should have let Lance go but…he didn’t. he grabbed Lance’s arm and pulled him close, his other hand holding onto Lance’s face. He caught Lance off guard, he could tell, but slowly he started to kiss him back.
“Oh my god.” Pidge breathed in English. She turned to see Hunk looking heartbroken. Shiro and Coran were too busy looking surprised.
“That’s twice now.” Shiro muttered but it was still loud enough for the team to hear him
“Twice?! They’ve kissed twice?” Hunk asked, going back to looking at his two team members who had yet to separate themselves from each other, seeing how Lance’s hands were now on Keith’s shoulders as a way of holding him closer.
“I’m sorry Hunk.” Pidge said. “something tells me you didn’t have much of a chance. But it’s ok, you’ve still got me.”
Hunk gave her a blank stare, remembering how Pidge would tease him by pretending to flirt with him. “that wasn’t funny then and it’s not funny now.”
Pidge looked annoyed, “who said I was ever joking?”
“Huh? Wait what?”
Shiro sighed, slouching in his seat, “one kid is the son of a victim I couldn’t protect who got murder, another is a former long haired know it all, that one was a former doctor who suddenly decided she wanted to be a detective and the other one is a guy who crush is so obvious he can’t see anything else. What did I do to deserve a team like this?”
“Just lucky I guess.” Coran teased, seeing Keith and Lance pull away from each other. He’d seen the look on their faces before, the same one Shiro gave to Allura or the one he gave his own wife. Poor Hunk indeed, he didn’t stand a chance.