Work Text:
June 2015
"Keith!!" Lance calls. It was early morning and Lance hurriedly paced into the bathroom, his blue flannel hanging open as he pulled up the fly to his jeans. His hair was a mess and doesn't have the time to do his morning face-care.
"Keith!?" Now thinking about it, he probably relies a little too much on Keith to wake him up nowadays. Lance frequently forgets to set an alarm, but mornings being woken up by Keith are usually the best ones in his opinion. Even if it's usually way too early for any normal human being and it's sometimes done with Lance ending up on the floor or a face full of shaving cream. So sometimes he may or may not set an alarm on purpose.
Lance tries to listen for Keith's footsteps, he can't really see why Keith wouldn't be there. It's Friday and both he and Keith only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Keith also only works at the garage in the late afternoons.
Lance starts buttoning up his shirt as he walks into the kitchen. He doesn't smell any coffee or any breakfast made, he is slightly disappointed for the lack of food and his missing lover. He then sees a bright red sticky note on the fridge, Lance smiles at the familiarity.
Lance had bought red and blue sticky notes for the both of them when they first moved in together. They were still getting used to the adjustment and Lance figured that leaving reminders for each other would help. Keith, of course, didn't quite see the point and only used one or two of them while Lance had used up all of his within the first month. But Lance knew that Keith had kept his inside the bottom drawer along with the knife his mother left him and other souvenirs from over the years. Which just warmed Lance’s heart to its fullest edge.
Lance walked up and grabbed the sticky note, glad that Keith did something to let him know.
Had to leave in rush, I'll explain later. See you later - Keith
Lance rolled his eyes, he now has more questions than answers; but just then he heard from the back in his room…
“I never knew just what it was, about this old coffee shop I love so much. All of the while I never knew.”
He honestly can't ever decide on one ringtone and frequently changes every week. Sometimes even multiple times a day. Hoping it might be Keith with some answers, Lance quickly ran back to his room and pulling his phone off its charger and answering.
"Hello?"
"Lance? Are you ready to go? You're gonna be late for your shift!" He heard Hunk's voice call.
"Hunk? How did you know that? Why are you calling me?" Lance says as he held his phone to his shoulder while he grabbed the nearest socks off the floor.
"Keith texted me, he said you needed a ride to work since he's out. What is he doing?" Hunk asks.
"I don't know! I just woke up, he usually tells me beforehand if he's going out." Lance sighs, "Are you already here?"
"Have been for the last five minutes. I should've called you sooner, knowing you." Hunk says smugly, Lance could hear the grin on his face.
"Hey! I resent that!!" Lance quickly, after getting some mismatched socks on, walks to the front door. "I was just... thrown off. I don't know, I feel like I'm forgetting something." He then slips on his black and white checkered Vans.
"Well, I don't know about you buddy. But maybe it's the fact that your shift starts in ten minutes." Hunk says. Lance sighs heavily in possible agreement.
"Whatever, I'm leaving now. I'll see you in less than a minute." He shuts off the lights and grabs his wallet and keys from the side table.
"Alright, see ya." He then hangs up as Lance closes the door behind him. Not forgetting (this time) to lock it.
He then marches up to the elevator, only to see a paper sign reading "Out of Order".
“Again?!” Lance rolls his eyes, this day couldn't get any worse for him.
"Man, you look like you got hit by a bus." Is the first thing he hears when he walks into the coffee shop. He looks to Pidge and without any remorse flips them the bird.
"That's what I said!" Hunk says from behind. Lance walks to the employee's entrance to the stand and grabs his normal apron and hat. Not offering any comebacks as he clocks in.
Lance comes out to the front to stand next to Pidge. After taking a glance around for anyone who might care, he slumps himself next to the register.
"Woah, seriously Lance. Are you alright?" Pidge asks.
Lance sits up and stretches, hearing his shoulders pop he relaxes just a little bit. "Yeah, just a late start. Keith wasn't around this morning and he isn't answering his phone. Did he stop by?" Lance asks with little hope in his voice.
Pidge scoffs, "You really think he ever comes in when you're not in? Unless he is meeting you here. The coffee is shit I’m afraid." Lance leans back again in disappointment.
“And he didn't say where he was when he called you?” Lance asks, already knowing the answer.
“I'm telling you man, the conversation lasted less than 30 seconds. Whatever he is doing, it sounded like he was in a rush.” Hunk shrugged as he took a seat closest to the register.
“Look, whatever it is. I'm sure he is fine.’ Pidge takes out the beaker of coffee and pours a cup. “You should know how he is.”
"Yeah, I guess." Lance then looks out the window seeing the unbusy street. It won't be busy until school gets out at least. His eye then catches easily on the rainbow flag hung next to the door. His face brightens into a smile. It isn't legal to get married in the state yet, but there's still hope. No matter the complaints, they've never removed it and Lance was glad. It was what drew him to the shop in the first place. And eventually led him to Keith.
August, 2012
It was Lance's second or third day and the pressure was already getting to him. He liked to think that he did well under pressure, but with two angry customers already. He already thought for sure that he was going to fried. It was his first Wednesday or otherwise known as "LGBT Night", which was a social night for local LGBT teens or young adults to come and get to meet others like them. Meaningless to say, it was packed.
Lance was already three hours in and just wanted this last hour to be over so he might be able to join in the festivities. He was sorta new in town and Hunk said he would introduce him to some friends of his.
After a long slew of people, Lance was ready to relax a little bit as he pulled out the beaker to get himself some well-deserved (albeit shitty) coffee.
"Hello! Welcome to Altean Coffee, wait... Keith! You actually came!!" He heard his new co-worker, Pidge, exclaim.
Lance then turned as he was pouring the coffee, only to pause as probably the most cutest guy he had ever seen had appeared. He looked about his age with longish black jet but slightly curly hair, wearing a worn leather jacket with a couple of patches with some bands he had never heard of, and a red shirt that had lettering on it but was mostly covered by the jacket. He looked as if he just came out of Lance's deep (-ily secretive) bad-boy daydreams. But what pulled it all together was how the guy's expression showed embarrassment with Pidge's greeting. However, he was doing his best to smile anyway.
Bad boy with a heart of gold. God, Lance was weak.
He then felt liquid spill over his hand and only two seconds later did it register as he quickly yelped. Drawing the attention of the two and probably many others as he almost dropped the coffee pot.
"Lance!" He didn't even realize he had his eyes closed until he felt Pidge's smaller hands take the pot from him.
"Are you alright?" He heard Cute-Guy Mc-Jesus ask. His eyes snapped open to meet his... purple eyes? Wow.
He was then felt himself being moved the away from most sight, Lance broke away eye contact with a blush as he was pushed to the sink on the left side. Pidge turned the water on cold and turned to him with a smirk.
"Man, I guess if you were going to get your first burn somehow. Gotta get it the gay way I guess." Pidge said with snark as Lance put his hands into the apparent freezing water.
Lance's face immediately lit up like flames at the words. "N-no! No way..." Lance bit his lip, he wasn't used to this. He was so used not being so open about his attraction to guys. Of course, his family was okay with it. But growing up in Cuba he never could express that.
Pidge then patted his shoulder, "It's alright, happens to the best of us. Keep your hands under there for the next half hour then your free to go."
"What? Are you sure?" Lance asked. He felt bad for having Pidge have to handle this for him.
"Lance, you aren't going to be able to hold anything while your hands are like that. Besides, Romelle should be here soon and she is a powerhouse." They laughed, then turned as something seemed to catch their eye.
"Oh, Keith." Lance stiffed. "You could have just waited over there. Lance is new, it happens."
Lance could've come back with a snarky comment, but with knowing that he, Keith, was right there. He held his tongue back.
"It's fine." Oh, his voice was smoother than Lance thought it would be. "I'll just have a black coffee, whatever is your smallest size."
"One black coffee," Pidge said with a grin as if there was some kind of reference they were making. After a second of understanding that neither Lance or Keith didn't get the joke they sighed and walked to brew a new pot.
Lance stood still facing the sink, feeling intense eyes on his back. The water was numbing his hands. To be honest Lance had no idea how much time has passed and how long until he could take his hands out. Go home. And forget this ever happened.
After a while, Lance let out a small cough to announce his awareness of Keith still standing right there. He turned his head as much as he could to see Keith.
Keith suddenly met his eyes, as if he wasn't aware he was caught until that moment. They both exchanged confused looks until Lance looked down as he finally braved his voice enough to say something.
"Um, sorry about that. I'm Lance. You're Pidge's friend right?" His words didn't feel right in his mouth and his accent made him sound like his English was more broken than fluent.
"Oh, I'm Keith. It's fine," Keith lifted his arms to lay crossed on the countertop in a way that wasn't attractive whatsoever.
"Ah, not really? It's just uh, numb now." Lance said awkwardly as he felt his cheeks slightly burn, he shifted his body so he could see Keith more clearly without hurting his neck. Keith nodded in understanding and they were back to sorta staring (but not really) at each other.
"Ah, um, are you here... for the LGBT night?" Lance asked in an unsure voice. Keith nodded again, starting to hide his face into his arms.
"Wow," Lance said in amazement, "this place is so different than what I'm used to." Lance gave a slight laugh.
Keith's head lifted with interest, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Really? How so?"
"Well..." And off they went. Lance, talked about Cuba and how he received a once-in-a-lifetime chance to come to America for school. Keith, asking any questions that could ever pop into his head. Honestly, Lance wasn't sure how they were able to keep going, Keith was tense like he wasn't sure what he was doing was right, it looked uncomfortable. But maybe it was the way that despite that, it seemed all Keith's attention was on him. That he took in every word he said, it caused a warm feeling well up in his chest.
Lance wasn't sure how long they had been talking until his shoulder was tapped gently. He turned to see Romelle standing there with a smile that looked a little knowingly but it was so slight, you probably couldn't have proved it.
"Lance, you can go now. It's been an hour, I'm sure your hands are fine. Do you need any aloe?" She asked. Lance then tested his hand by turning off the water and drying it off with a paper towel.
"I think I should be fine, thanks Romelle." He smiled charmingly, before remembering the cutest guy on the planet was right behind him. She laughed before patting his head like a child and going to help Pidge.
Lance turned full-on to back Keith, "Hey, I'm gonna clock out now, so you might still wanna talk some more?" Lance tried to pull out the same charming smile he gave Romelle, but he felt it become more awkward and jittery than anything else.
But nonetheless, it seemed to work. Keith gave a small smile that made Lance's legs want to turn to jelly, "I'd like that."
--
Lance sighs happily at the memory, as then he felt his phone vibrate (turned off sound before starting his shift) from his pocket.
Curious, Lance walks into the back and pulls out his phone, to see the contact name "Babe <3" along with a picture of Keith taken about two months ago. When their friends were playing Pictionary and Keith ended up pulling his hair into a small ponytail on top of his head so it wouldn't get in the way. He refused to let Lance take a picture, but he ended up getting one anyway while he was focusing on drawing. It's one of Lance's greatest (and cutest) achievements.
Without giving a second thought, Lance picks up and immediately is rambling. "Keith! What have you been doing all day? Where have you been? God. I was starting to worry! And-"
"Nevermind that Lance!" Keith's voice cuts him off. It sounds a bit jumbled and it seemed like he was out of breath. "Have you seen the news?"
"What? No. Keith, are you alright? Are you hurt?" Lance asks.
"No, no. I'm... just catching my breath. Go turn on the news. Now!"
"Okay, okay! Jesus." Lance then went to the front and grabbed the TV remote from next to the cash register. Pidge looks up from the table with Hunk.
"What are you doing?" They ask.
"I don't know, Keith told me to turn on the news." Lance tried to aim the control the right way that sometimes the sensor was super picky.
"Wait, is it... oh my God. Give it here." And without warning, Pidge snatched the remote away. Turning on the TV without any struggle. And quickly getting it to the closest news channel.
Lance's jaw dropped at the title of the breaking news.
SUPREME COURT RULES ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
"Turn it up," Lance whispers. Almost too afraid to speak, but they do so without question.
"-and this landmark ruling making same-sex marriage legal..."
"Oh my god," Lance says. His breath comes out choked.
"Lance?" he nearly forgets that he still has Keith on the phone pressed against his shoulder.
"Keith." He breathes out. He is already feeling tears well up in his eyes.
"Lance, I want you to come outside." He suddenly hears.
"W... What?"
"Come outside." Lance brings a hand to his face, already wiping away tears.
"You didn't…"
"Come on Lance, come outside so I can finally ask you to marry me." Lance chokes on his tears and lets out a laugh.
"I thought I was going to do it." Lance manages.
"You snooze you lose. Literally." Keith says with that smirk and he knows that smirk, it's the smirk he knows. That he loves. That he is going to own.
Without any hesitance, Lance runs out the door, out of the coffee shop where they met, where they fell in love, and where the end is now the beginning.