Work Text:
00:05:45…
Keith had just finished meeting up with his lab partner Romelle at her dorm to work on their group project, knowing he had left her to do the lion's share of the work and feeling endlessly guilty over it. She was the best lab partner though, because she understood—her timer was also close, but not as close as Keith's and he could hardly think of anything else.
Keith's focus was shot, not a single chance of getting anything done when it was so close to time.
00:04:50…
How could anyone expect him to focus when it was going to happen today; his zero day.
He was going to meet them... his soulmate.
Despite the tough facade he put on, Keith had spent a lot of time imagining who they might be. It's what he was doing as he was in the process of leaving Romelle's building, daydreaming about how he might meet his soulmate in the parking lot...Maybe some hot guy with an even hotter motorcycle, or a cute jogger passing through, and they’d bump into each other like in the romance novels Keith swore he didn’t read; (there definitely wasn’t a whole tub of them under his bed).
Keith would never admit it, but he'd always wanted a meet-cute moment, the sugary sweet kind.
He had just reached the ground level when he realized he had left his laptop charger behind in Romelle’s room, which was a problem because:
-
His soulmate timer was getting suspiciously near zero.
-
He was currently standing in the lobby of a girls' dorm.
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He was very, very gay.
Keith was considering jumping ship and just leaving without it when he groaned and decided to head back for it, glancing at the timer on the inside of his wrist as it ticked closer and closer to zero.
00:03:15…
The doors were sliding shut when a—very male, but pretty , as always—hand shot through the opening to stop the doors from closing.
To his absolute shock, it was Keith’s childhood rival, turned longtime crush, and suite-mate Lance of all people who got on the elevator.
Lance was dressed pristinely, in a blue button-down that made his eyes look ten times more ocean-like than they usually did, which was saying something. He had even pushed the sleeves up, showing off strong forearms, wrists bare where they were usually adorned with sting bracelets gifted by his niece and nephew. He looked beautiful and Keith couldn’t help but notice.
Without meaning to, he gasped out, “Lance,” as their eyes met and the door closed behind him.
Lance threw a bright grin his way, and Keith felt like his heart might just stop right then and there until he looked down and saw the roses Lance was currently clutching in one hand, and the oddness of it brought him back to the present.
“Keith! What are you doing here, man?” Lance happily bumped their shoulders together, grinning at Keith, all dimples and freckles, and Keith was so, so gay.
“Oh.” He eventually managed, blushing faintly at the attention. “I just… forgot my laptop cord in my lab partner’s room.”
"Oh yeah? Who's your lab partner?" Lance asked good naturedly.
"Uh, Romelle? Top floor." Keith said, nodding toward the elevator buttons so that Lance could push it for him.
"Wow no way! Small world! That's Allura's roommate, right? I'm on my way to see her now!" Lance gestured to his roses and smiled sheepishly.
"Oh, that's...that's nice," Keith managed. They must be dating then...which made sense. They were both beautiful and lively. They matched.
Lance gave a little huff of a laugh and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, and then very carefully pushed the elevator button for the floor they both needed.
Keith watched him curiously for a moment. He was just about to ask about the roses, was it their anniversary or just because? Allura didn't know how lucky she was to be with someone like Lance. Keith would know, he'd been pining over him for ages.
He was going to ask, but stopped abruptly when the elevator gave a sickening lurch, lights flickering before it groaned to a stop.
Lance gasped loudly, and hit his floor button again. And again, and once more, mumbling “No, no no no NO.
He was visibly distressed and still pressing the button when Keith grabbed his wrist to stop him from doing it again.
“Hey,” Keith said, eyebrows drawing together in concern for Lance, momentarily forgetting he was in a hurry too, actually, when Lance turned to him with wide, wet eyes.
“Keith, this can’t be happening! It's my zero day, and Allura texted me to meet her and the timing was so perfect, it has to be her! Her numbers were so similar!” Lance shook the roses for emphasis and they both watched with wide eyes as a bright red petal fell to land against the soft brown skin of Lance’s forearm; Lance's forearm with the sleeve rolled up, exposing the soulmate timer that they both watched with shocked expressions as it ticked out:
00:00:05…
00:00:04…
00:00:03…
00:00:02…
Cheeks flushed, they met each other’s eyes as Keith slowly brought his left arm up.
They both took in a hitched breath as they watched a matching 00:00:01… pulsing faintly there between them, before the numbers stopped, fading to a soft purple.
For the first time in their life, the numbers were completely still.
00:00:00
Breathless, Keith could hardly believe that Lance—the same Lance that sang loudly in their suite's shared bathroom shower, the Lance that cried when his family dropped him off freshman year, the Lance that had made being on his own here even slightly tolerable—that Lance could possibly be his soulmate?
“I guess these are for you.” Lance smiled shyly at Keith, handing him the roses as a pretty blush stained his cheeks.
“Yeah,” Keith breathed out, feeling soft and relaxed, but electrified all at once.
He held the flowers up to smell them, roses so red they probably matched the blush staining his cheeks.
Lance watched with a smile on his face, swaying closer when the elevator started to move again, although neither of them noticed.
When the doors opened on the top floor, Keith just pushed the 'close door' button and swayed right back into Lance. He could get his cord from Romelle later. He had better things to do right now.
"Lance?" He breathed, feeling kind of giddy.
"Yeah?" Lance answered, eyes just as bright.
"I'm glad it was you. I wanted it to be you," Keith confessed.
"I wanted it to be you too."