Chapter Text
"Are you serious, Lance?" Shiro asked over the phone, feeling a bit overjoyed.
Lance called him a few minutes ago, informing him that he had wonderful news to share. So they scheduled a perfect time when both of them were awake, considering there weren't even on the same continent. And indeed, Lance's news, for the lack of better word, was truly wonderful.
"Yep, buddy! I am serious!" Lance laughed at the other line. "I'm getting married! To the gorgeous Allura! Can you imagine? She actually said 'yes' to me and I can't get over it until now! Somebody pinch me, I feel like I'm still dreaming!"
Shiro laughed in delight. He was happy for them. After years of dating since college, Lance finally had to guts to ask Allura the BQ. Big Question. "Well, she's always had a soft spot for you ever since our college days."
"I know, right? She just couldn't keep away from the majestic me for too long. Not that I blame her, I mean," Lance snorted. "Look at me. She's the one who hit the jackpot here."
"Of course." Shiro rolled his eyes in amusement.
"So anyways, bring your boyfriend along. I've sent in two tickets to Cuba to your email, so you both just bring yourselves and pack a two week worth of clothes. No need to worry about suits, I got you covered." Lance added nonchalantly. "I want you to stay for two weeks because we need to catch up with the rest of the gang!"
"Wait, what--" Shiro blinked in confusion and surprise. Did he just hear what he thought Lance just told him?
Lance quickly cut him off, as if he didn't even hear Shiro at all. "Okay, good talk, man. Allura's asking me for help with the flowers." Lance groaned, clearly not liking how his future wife was asking him about stuff he wasn't an expert of. "I'll pick you up at the airport! See you tomorrow!"
After that, Lance ended the call, leaving Shiro staring at the white walls in front of him.
What just happened?
Also, tomorrow?!
Shiro was too shocked to process anything after his best friend dropped the "boyfriend" word. Technically, he didn't really have a boyfriend. He only said that so Lance would stop setting him up with ridiculous people, and every time Lance would ask him about it, he ended up describing his flatmate.
He didn't exactly have a lot of references and his flatmate--Keith--was in the room when it happened, so he didn't have a lot of choices. Not that Keith wasn't boyfriend material. He was. Shiro wasn't even sure if Keith had someone, they didn't really talk about that kind of stuff.
They were both busy with work, Shiro being a cardiologist and Keith being a speech therapist (formally called Speech-Language Pathologist or SLP). They both work at the same place, but they hardly see each other because of their different departments and schedule. While Shiro worked at the hospital all the time, Keith had to go to different places to do his job. Shiro admired him, really. His job wasn't easy and he worked hard that he'd stay up late at night to work on his reports.
Both of them earned more than what they needed, but when Shiro found his beautiful flat, he realized it was too big for one person and it felt too empty. That was when he decided to look for someone to be his flatmate. He asked people around the hospital, and a friend of his told him about the newly hired guy who needed a place to stay. They met up and talked, and, well, the rest was history.
He quickly opened his email on his phone to see if Lance was joking. He wasn't. Attached to an email from his best friend was a pdf of their ticket for two people to Cuba tomorrow. Shiro closed his eyes and restrained himself from groaning, hitting his forehead with his phone.
Why are you so spontaneous and impulsive, Lance?
The front door opened and a good looking guy with black hair came in wearing a simple black shirt and black pants. He wore a red leather jacket that looked too good on him, making him look more like a celebrity than a doctor.
He was aware that a lot of people at work had their eyes on Keith, his flatmate was just oblivious which was a bit of a shame. He could have anyone he wanted, but after years of living with Keith, not once did Shiro hear him talk about girlfriends or boyfriends.
"Oh, you're home early," Keith noted as he noticed Shiro's presence while he took off his boots by the door. He hanged his leather jacket on one of the hooks on the wall near their door, where the rest of their coats and jackets were hanged.
"Yeah," Shiro replied, eying his flatmate's every move. He was starting to get nervous and that was never a good sign.
Keith walked past him, giving him a small smile and went towards the kitchen. "Have you eaten dinner yet?" He called out.
"Not yet, no," Shiro answered.
"Okay. Dinner will be ready in an hour."
Looking around the house, Shiro took notice of a picture frame of Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Allura and him back in college. It was a selfie Lance took and distributed copies of it to the whole gang---already in white frames. He said it was to make sure they would actually display it. Shiro would still display if even if his friend didn't go out of his way to frame it. It was a beautiful picture of them. They were all smiling, way too happy after their finals week. In the corner said "SURVIVORS OF HELL WEEK, BABY!"
It brought a smile to his face. He loved his friends and he couldn't miss this big event in Lance's and Allura's lives. He took a deep breath and stared at the kitchen. He could see Keith's back from where he stood by the foyer.
Shiro needed to ask him.
Now.
Their flight was tomorrow for Pete's sake. If he didn't ask now, then there wouldn't be any better time. He wasn't even sure if Keith would agree, but if he didn't, at least Shiro tried. Lance would just have to deal with it himself, and he might need to come clean, too.
"Uh, Keith?" Shiro made his way to the kitchen, his voice tiny and sounding so hesitant.
"Yeah?" Keith was pulling out something from the cupboards. Tomato sauce and a pack of pasta. He turned to Shiro and asked, "Is spaghetti good?"
Shiro nodded mindlessly, giving Keith a small smile. "Keith..."
"Hmmm?" came the reply as his flatmate fished out a knife from one of the kitchen drawers.
"Are you free tomorrow?" Shiro asked. "And well, the rest of the following two weeks?" He added as he closed his eyes shut.
He could imagine Keith looking at him with an eyebrow raised. "Can't say I'm free all day, but I get off at 2pm tomorrow, depending if my kid progresses or not. I'm not sure about the following two weeks though. My schedule's not really all set up yet. I'm having a new kid added and--"
Nope. That won't do. It simply just wouldn't.
"Will you go to Cuba with me tomorrow for two weeks?" Shiro cut him off.
There was no use beating around the bush, Shiro wasn't a big fan of that at all. It just wasted a lot of time and right now his time was ticking.
Keith dropped the knife on the table with a cling. "What?!" His eyes were wide in shock, hand still in the air gripping an invisible knife.
"Umm," Shiro felt sweat forming around his temples. He looked around nervously, anywhere but Keith's eyes. He didn't exactly know how to go about the entire thing without it sounding romantic, but he had to tell Keith the whole truth.
"Shiro, why would you go to Cuba? Of all places?" Keith asked incredulously.
"Why? What's wrong with Cuba?" Shiro asked defensively.
Cuba seemed nice even though he hasn't been there exactly. He heard good things about the country and its beautiful tourist spots. If he had the luxury and time, he'd visit there himself, but he didn't. So.
The way Keith looked at him seemed very judgemental, he didn't like it one bit--it made him feel small (and he was the giant of the two). Keith had both of his arms crossed in front of him. "You have work at the hospital." He pointed out, as if it was too obvious all along. "This is a bit random even for you, and you know that. You have responsibilities and this isn't exactly a perfect time for you to go to a different country." Keith sighed as he picked up his knife. "Just help me cut the onions, they're in the fridge."
Shiro didn't move from his place by the door. He knew Keith wouldn't go with him, but even so, why did he feel so rejected?
Keith placed down the knife and looked at him. "Plus, why do I have to go with you?"
Shiro just stared at his him, feeling so unsure. Keith might even laugh at him at how ridiculous the situation was. Heck, it was truly ridiculous so he wouldn't even hold it against him.
"There's something you're not telling me," the younger man eyed him suspiciously. He shifted in his place, putting his weight now on his other leg, giving off that very intimidating look that could only say: Spit it out or else you'll be sorry.
"I need you to be my date for my best friend's wedding," Shiro blurted out. He hated it when Keith did that to him.
"What?!" Keith's purple eyes almost bulged out of his eye sockets. "Your date?"
Shiro nodded, tightening his grip on his phone.
Shit. Shit. Red bean looked mad.
"Shiro, we're not--"
"I know!" He sighed exasperatedly, hands in the air and he let them fall back to his sides as his shoulders sagged down in defeat. "I know we're not dating, Keith. I know that very well, believe me."
As if Shiro needed more reminder that he was single. Not that he minded living the single life, Keith made it bearable. But he didn't have to rub it in again and again. He knew they weren't together. He knew they were just friends. He knew that. But God, he needed help. And he was desperate.
"Then why are you asking me to be your date at this wedding?" Keith asked, not making any sense out of Shiro.
"I sort of told my best friend I had a boyfriend so he would stop setting me up with people I didn't like, and I sort of described you when he asked what my boyfriend looked like." He tried to smile innocently, hoping it was convincing enough.
Shiro studied Keith's expression and his flatmate's eyebrows were knitted together so he wasn't sure if Keith was angry or confused. Maybe even both.
Oh.
Not knowing what words to say, Shiro fished mouth for a while until he finally found his voice. He knew it was too much to ask from a friend, so he understood if Keith honestly didn't want to do it. "I...I'm sorry, Keith. I didn't mean to. And I would understand if you didn't want to go with me--"
"When's the wedding?" Keith asked quietly, cutting Shiro off. His fist was clenched on the table and Shiro wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. He was leaning on the latter one. He hadn't witness Keith getting mad and as much as possible he wouldn't like it to be the night he had to, especially when he was asking a huge favour.
"Lance, the one who's getting married, sent me two tickets to Cuba." They made eye contact and then he added, "...for tomorrow but the wedding's within two weeks. I don't specifically know the date. He hasn't mentioned it... yet. But we'll be there for those days."
"Shit," Keith whispered to himself.
"You don't have to do it. I understand you have your clients and it would be terrible to leave them especially at such a short notice."
"It is." Keith agreed.
Shiro frowned.
Keith released a huge sigh and looked at Shiro straight in the eyes. "Shiro, what exactly do you want from me?"
"I want you to pretend to be my boyfriend for two weeks?" Shiro smiled with a shrug.
"I'm going to pretend to be your boyfriend?"
Shiro nodded.
"For two weeks?"
He nodded again.
"In front of strangers?" Keith choked out the last word, as if they were venom to his mouth. He was never fond of strangers, so it wasn't much of a shock.
He nodded once more.
"In a different country?"
It was getting ridiculous. He walked to the kitchen island and placed both of his hands on the table. "Yes, Keith. Yes, to everything."
"Can't you just tell this Lance that you don't have a boyfriend after all?" Keith raised an eyebrow.
"But he's going to call me a liar," Shiro whined.
"You are a liar, Shiro." Keith fought himself to giggle at whining Shiro. He had always found it amusing. Shiro, however, did not.
"I know."
"How about you tell him we broke up then?" Keith tried once again, as he resumed his dinner preparations. He took out the onions from the fridge and placed them on the kitchen island. Then he opened the pack of pasta and went to prepare them to boil.
"Highly unlikely. I kinda gushed out about you just last night."
Keith turned and raised an eyebrow at Shiro, a smile playing on his face. "So you gush out about me."
"Shut up, you know what I mean," Shiro rolled his eyes.
Keith could be such a little shit sometimes.
"Well? What do you say?"
Keith rested both his hands on the sink and sighed, "I don't know, Shiro. This is kinda super, duper, extra short notice. You could've told me a few weeks before, so I could've scheduled a vacation leave."
"I know. I'm sorry. I found out about it just a few seconds before you came in actually."
"Wow, that is very recent," Keith chuckled as he covered his mouth.
"So?"
Keith turned around to face Shiro. He sighed deeply and stayed silent for a while, most likely thinking about declining. It was a ridiculous request, after all, Shiro knew that.
He was surprised, however, when Keith smiled at him weakly, "Well, we can't waste two tickets to Cuba now, can we?"
Shiro's smile must've reached his ears upon hearing Keith's reply. Did he really just hear that right? Did Keith just agree? Did he just agree to go to Cuba with him? Did he just agree to go to Cuba with him for two weeks?!
"Really? You'd really do it?!"
Keith rolled his eyes while smiling, "Yeah, yeah. Now go cut me those onions 'cause they're not going to cut themselves. I'm going to have to call a lot of parents that I won't be meeting their kids for two weeks."
"Oh God." Shiro laughed, he was still in disbelief. For sure he was so ready to be rejected and all that. Ready to just tell Lance he would be going alone. But no, Keith agreed. "Thank you!" He smiled happily at Keith as he approached the corner of kitchen island where he had to attend to his onions. If he ended up crying while chopping, then he wouldn't really mind. He was way too happy that Keith even agreed to go with him. For two weeks! So the onion tears would be ridiculously appropriate given the situation.
"And don't forget to call the hospital, Shiro." Keith pointed at him with his finger as he took out his phone from his pocket, ready to call his clients.
"I will, don't worry about it," He smirked. He'd have to call someone to take his shifts. It wasn't like every day someone needed a heart operation, so he believed it wouldn't be much trouble for the hospital. Besides, he hadn't taken any vacation leave for a year now. This was basically a perfect opportunity for him to relax and not worry about people dying of heart attacks.
Keith shook his head. "I don't even have a suit. Oh my god."
"It's okay, Lance got it all covered."
Keith raised an eyebrow as he placed his phone on his right ear. "He's loaded?"
"A bit, yeah," Shiro laughed. "He's also going to marry someone who's so..."
Keith rolled his eyes. "Damn rich people."
"Hey, that's my best friend you're talking about!" Shiro chuckled as he began cutting his onions.
"Mind my pasta, okay? I'm just going to make a few calls." Keith pointed at the pot that he set up a few moments ago.