Chapter Text
Keith’s day was not going so well.
First and foremost, Keith was a barista at Starbucks and he was at work. In fact, he was at work two hours early because some stupid chick called out fifteen minutes before her shift started. They didn’t have anyone else so Keith decided to work a ten hour shift in order to keep the store from burning down. That in and of itself made it nearly impossible for Keith to twitch his mouth into a smile as he pulled into the parking lot and waved at his coworkers. That’s right, he wasn’t just coming in two hours early—he was coming in two hours early to open.
It was literally 4:45 am. They had just unlocked the door. They had a couple minutes before people started coming in at that ungodly hour. Pidge, the shift supervisor and definitely Keith’s best (only?) friend, was in the back speaking to Allura, the general store manager. Allura was probably the youngest store manager in the entire district. Which was probably why everyone liked her so much. Keith was by himself on the floor for that brief period; he was trying to relax before peak hit and he’d be busting his ass for two hours straight. He let his eyelids slide closed.
“Hey there, is your manager in? Is there any way I could talk to them? My name’s Lance, I filled out the online application and I’m just trying to see if you guys got it. Hello? Are you awake?” Keith’s eyes opened slowly, his peace disturbed, his tranquility shattered, his stability completely utterly ruined.
“…What?” was all Keith could manage.
“Oh. Hey. So you are conscious! I thought you were dead or something!” The guy laughs real hard, as if it weren’t still dark outside, as if the stars weren’t still out, as if it weren’t 5:00 am, and as if he and Keith had been friends for a long, long time. Keith noticed that his eyes were really blue and his teeth were really white and super shiny. Maybe it was his dreamlike, half alive state, but Keith thought his laugh sounded like waves crashing and cymbals colliding in an exploding crescendo of life.
Aaaaand then he realized that he was just staring open mouthed at the guy and he had stopped laughing like, over a minute ago. They had super awkward eye contact for a bit longer before Keith registered what he had previously asked about.
“Uhm. I’ll… Go get my… Manager? I’ll go. I’ll get her.” Keith fumbled over himself as he bolted into the back, suddenly more awake than he had been since he woke up. Allura and Pidge shot him a look of concern at the same exact second.
“Keith?” Allura raised a perfectly lavender eyebrow at him.
“Someone wants to talk to you out there. He applied.”
Allura, eyes still on Keith, clearly concerned, walked through the door leading to the front of house. When Keith faced Pidge, all she was doing was grinning like a wild man.
“Was he cute?”
“NO!”
“Are you sure? You’re pretty flustered and also a little, what is that I sense, annoyed? Isn’t that what you always do when you think a boy is attractive? Give him attitude?”
Keith rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Pidgey.”
“Let’s just get back onto the floor.” Pidge chuckled as she shrugged and followed.
Upon returning to the floor, Pidge jumped onto register, and Keith hurriedly began preparing his bar for flat out warfare. Every now and then he’d glance back up and look at the tall, tan guy as he sat and spoke with Allura. Surprisingly, he was making her laugh, which she didn’t do in front of everyone. She basically only laughed when she got drunk at the holiday parties each year.
Keith’s wide indigo eyes followed as their chitchat ended. It was 5:30 now. Allura stood, shook his hands firmly, and offered him a drink on the house. Naturally, he accepted and now Keith was left to make a drink for him. Pidge, of course, made a giant show of asking for the guy’s name when he approached the register, she gave Keith the sexy eyebrow shift. Keith snorted.
“An iced grande quad ristretto Americano with three pumps caramel, breve, and extra ice?” Keith was surprised. That guy really looked like he had a serious sweet tooth. He turned the cup over and saw “LANCE” written in giant obnoxious capital letters. Lance.
“What kind of name is that?” Keith thought as he began pulling the shots.
After crafting the drink, Keith went to set it on the hand off bar while calling out for Lance. However, the other was already standing there; Keith hadn’t even set the drink down yet before he realized that Lance was touching his hand, carefully taking the drink from his grip with a friendly grin upon his face. Keith saw sparks in his eyes and words on his lips, entranced.
“Thanks man! What was your name?” Lance eyeballed Keith’s apron with his name embroidered on it. “Keith? Awesome, hopefully we’ll end up being coworkers! Then it’ll be you and me, Lance and Keith, the dream team!” he smirked and waggled his eyebrows much the same way that Pidge had done hers not too long ago. With a final open mouth, all perfect teeth laugh, Lance waved goodbye and left the store. It was 5:45. As Keith watched him leave it was like he dropped the sunlight in his wake. The room seemingly got brighter, the rising sun beamed golden pillars through the open windows, and the sky was the most magical shade of ocean blue from where he was standing.
And suddenly, Keith’s day got a little bit better.
-
“What did you think of that boy Lance, Pidge?” Allura consulted Pidge, basically her right hand man, in the back after he had left.
“He was pretty alright I guess. He had a good personality for five in the morning, that’s for sure. He loved talking too.” Both ladies laughed lightly at that.
“I mean, he had the right attitude, you know? He was positive, upbeat, knew our mission statements by heart, and has had a few other quick service food jobs in the past. He said he’d work anytime we needed as well.” Allura skimmed his resume and entered his name into the background check.
Another girl, Nyma, walked into the back to put on her apron and clock in. She waved giddily at Allura and Pidge. Pidge told Nyma to tell Keith to take a ten when she got on.
When Keith stepped into the back, Pidge walked out and winked at her friend. Allura turned to Keith and asked him the same question she had asked Pidge.
“How did you like Lance?” She tilted her head, smiling, long ponytail swaying gracefully across her shoulders.
“He was”, Keith thought back to the Americano he had just made “…sweet. He was like suspiciously happy, but I still believe that that’s the real him.” Keith could still hear the sounds of cymbals and splashing waves and could almost smell the ocean. Allura’s voice pulled him back.
“I have to say I agree. Even Pidge liked him; she never likes anybody. I’m probably going to hire him.”
“It’s about time we paid someone to be Keith’s boyfriend.” Pidge’s voice sounded again, she grabbed two gallons of milk from the back fridge and went back onto the floor without another word. Allura laughed out loud and Keith sputtered where he stood, blushing furiously.
-
Walking out of the Starbucks had Lance feeling more confident than he ever had in his entire life. Things were looking like they were going to be shaping up really soon. He wanted that job so so so so badly. Then, as if it were Divine Intervention finally rewarding him for all of his virtue, there was not only a cute girl that worked there, but an even cuter guy! Not to mention that the guy was like, some sort of bar ninja or something. The drink Keith had made for Lance was absolutely irrefutably perfect.
That mullet haircut, which should have been totally ugly and unattractive, was actually amazing on Keith. It was shiny, plush looking, elegantly disheveled. Super cool. Plus. It was up in a tiny adorable ponytail to keep it out of the food and drinks. Wow. And on top of all that—those eyes were the most wonderful shade of indigo that Lance had ever seen. They reminded him of the ocean at night, when the waves were wildest under the rule of the moon.
Lance was daydreaming all the way back to his car about working with Keith when he heard the X-files theme playing from his back pocket. His phone. He grabbed it up right quick and answered without even looking at the caller ID.
“H-Hello?” his voice squeaked a bit at the height of the last syllable. His hands were itching and feet tapping with excitement. “Yes this is Lance. Is this Allura?”
“Yes, good morning Lance, I realize it’s still quite early but your experience and personality really left an impression on me and my team.” Her voice sounded even more ethereal from over the phone. “I’d like to hire you immediately, but since I already scheduled a hiring fair for tomorrow, I need to go through with the formality. Please arrive here tomorrow morning at 8:00 am wearing business casual attire and bring another copy of your resume and preferred availability. Thank you very much for coming in this morning!”
“T-Thank you, ma’am. I really, really appreciate this opportunity. I-uh, I… Thanks again! I will see you tomorrow.” Lance hung up the phone. He nearly threw it at his windshield and started dancing. He did it! This meant he had to go over to Hunk and Shiro’s to celebrate.
He pulled into the other boys’ driveway and went up to the front door before remembering that it was barely 6:00 am. Hunk probably wasn’t even awake yet and Shiro was probably awake and working out or something… But Lance had news and he had to share it soon, so he whipped out his phone once again and dialed his friend’s number.
Hunk, who is in every way good natured and a fiercely true friend, answered within two rings.
“Lance? Are you ok? It’s really early. Do you need help? Do you want me to pick you up from somewhere? What’s up?” Hunk went from dead asleep to Mom Friend in under two seconds.
“Hunk—you’re the best. Have I ever told you that? I’m ok though, except I’ve got a job now! Let me in and I’ll tell you the rest! I’m outside your door right now.”
“Oh wow, ok wow I’m coming. I’m really excited now. Like, too excited to be mad at you for waking me up at… 6am. Wow.”
They hung up and Lance waited, tapping his feet in uncontrollably happy, energetic anxiousness. Hunk opened the door not too long after and Lance rushed to join him inside. Hunk changed clothes and brushed his teeth as they awaited Shiro’s return from his morning run. Shiro and Hunk were roommates and also Lance’s best friends in the entire known universe. They had been since they could all remember. Hunk was a waiter at a little diner in the downtown Altea area. He was also attending university for environmental engineering. Shiro was a physical therapist in training. He specialized in helping amputees.
Shiro returned from his morning jog not too long after seeing Lance walk inside.
“Lance, what are you here so early for? You’re not in trouble are you?” Shiro asked with concern in his eyes, eyebrows furrowed.
“Why is it that you both always assume I’m in trouble?” Lance mock-whined, puffing out his bottom lip in an exaggerated pout.
The three boys laughed as Lance threw himself into a lounging position on the nearby sofa. Shiro seated himself at the chair beside the couch and Hunk went into the kitchen to brew coffee and start making food, which sounded pretty good at that moment.
That was when Lance began to discuss all that had taken place that morning in grueling detail. Except, he chose to omit one thing that he was too embarrassed to bring up— the cute guy Keith. He really wanted to mention him, but found himself way too flustered to even confirm his existence. Lance decided he’d get to know Keith before he rushed into a reckless crush with him.
“New job, new me.” He thought to himself.
The morning of Lance’s interview slash new hire paperwork session was exciting to say the least. He wore exactly what Allura had asked him to wear, business casual. Except, Lance had to do it with a twist because that was just who he was. He wore a light blue button up shirt with powdery pink dress pants. Accented of course with a dark blue pineapple tie. There were so many people inside the somewhat small Starbucks, all of them hopeful to land a job. Lance looked around until he saw Allura sitting at a table with what he could only assume were other managers. Each person had a clip board and big grins upon their faces. He could feel nerves creeping up his neck and back as he peered over each person’s face.
“You might want to sign in and wait until someone calls you up.” a voice from beside him spoke up. It was the same tiny girl from yesterday, but what was her name again? Lance checked for a nametag, Pidge?
“Oh! Sure, thanks, Pidge! Did I say that right?”
“Yep. You did. You already got the job right? Everybody was talking about you.” Pidge decided it was best to leave out the part where they were mostly teasing Keith because he had a crush on the new guy. They even had a cute ship name picked out—Klance.
“For real?! That’s crazy. It’s all good stuff right?” Lance was completely level-headed and confident until Pidge mentioned that. Lance’s self-esteem was only as high as the opinions of others. Maybe it was a personal flaw, but hey. He was a social entity, he needed outsider approval and validation to function. Both ironically and literally. Suddenly, his excited foot tap turned into a nervous and anxiety ridden foot tap.
“Oh yeah, all good! Don’t even worry about anything, Mr. Tall Dark and Skinny!” Pidge laughed awkwardly as she realized that she may have said too much due to the way Lance’s shoulders slumped visibly, and his eyes flickered with worry. Great, she had shot his confidence. “Can I get you a water while you wait? Do you wanna look at our coffee tasting manual?” Pidge raised her eyebrows with concern.
“Uhm, no. No thank you. I’ll be o-okay.” Pidge patted his back in a comforting way and returned to work. Lance grabbed an open two person table and sat nervously after scribbling his name in. It was near the back of house, on the opposite side of the room from where Allura and the managers were seated. She hadn’t seen him come in yet.
Lance knew he was having an anxiety attack. His head was swimming, his entire body felt drenched with sweat, and it seemed like everyone in the room was leering at him, waiting for him to screw up. He rested his head in his arms on the table and began trying to breathe. He pictured the beach, his true happy place. He pictured that he and Hunk and Shiro were laying out on the sand, sun beaming. He pictured a slightly smaller, lean, pale boy coming up to him with a wide smile, indigo eyes afire with mischief. Keith, from yesterday morning. Oh no, not now. He lifted his head from his visualization as he noticed the front door to the store open.
“Think of the devil.” Lance thought to himself as Keith walked into the store. His mullet was up in a small, fluffy bun on top of his head. He was wearing a form-fitting, black short sleeve turtleneck bodysuit with the tightest, high-waisted black jeans imaginable. He also had a pair of Lennon sunglasses on, completing his bewitching look.
Lance’s eyes shot open at that. Blush now profuse on his cheeks. Seriously!
Keith removed the glasses once inside the store and strode quickly and confidently to the employees only room, walking past Lance with a questioning gaze. Lance groaned and smacked his head against the table.
“I was just starting to calm down and now this! Great! He probably thinks I’m crazy!” Lance was a second away from banging his head against the table when he heard the stool across from him shift and a voice from above.
“Hey.”
Lance raised his head cautiously and found himself looking right into Keith’s beautiful glimmering eyes. There were swirls of anger in them, outlined in concern and something that Lance couldn’t quite place. He then moved on to what Keith had in front of him. There was a small cup of green tea, a plastic spoon, a cup with honey at the bottom, and a few squares of minty chocolate. Lance glanced from the items to Keith questioning what he was trying to ask of him.
“These will help you calm down. Start wherever you want and just go for it.” Keith said, however, he grabbed the green tea and took a slow, small sip before placing it back on the table. It was as if Keith was trying to tell him to start with the tea. Lance’s heart began soaring. He grabbed the tea himself, sipping exactly where Keith had, savoring the indirect kiss even though the tea wasn’t sweet at all.
Keith parted his lips in a tiny smile, dipping his pinky finger into the honey and innocently cleaning it off with his mouth. Lance grabbed the spoon and parroted, eyes on Keith the entire time. His face was still painfully flushed, but his heart wasn’t skipping so much and he found himself smiling back as Keith then grabbed a square of chocolate and placed it on his own tongue. Lance followed suit, nerves gone, body calm, smile wider than a river. Lance swore that magic warmth was radiating from the other’s smile. The two didn’t speak; they only looked at each other.
Keith then stood up, eyes still on Lance, and walked away into the back. Before Lance could even figure out what to say, Allura sat before him.
“It’s wonderful to see you, Lance! I’m glad you could make it today.” Allura offered a kind and warm smile. Although Lance could see she was puzzled as to what Keith was up to.
“Thank you for calling me to come back.” Lance watched Allura move the remaining items out of the way, replacing them with plain white paperwork.
“Are you and Keith friends? I saw you two chit chatting over here.” A small crease formed between her eyebrows as she worked her brain.
“Nah, we aren’t friends or anything. He was just talking to me while I waited.” Keith reappeared on the floor only a few moments later, apron on and not looking Lance’s direction anymore.
“Oh… well fortunately you’ll be able to get to know him quite soon. Once we get this paperwork and the computer training done, you’ll be able to train with him on the floor!”
“REALLY?”
“He’s our certified Barista Trainer as well as Coffee Master, he has extensive knowledge of latte art, health safety, beverage crafting, and being a team leader.” Allura seemed to puff out her proud momma bird feathers at being able to brag about Keith that way. Lance groaned and in the way he saw Keith smirk from the bar, knew that this would be the wildest job he had in his entire life.
However, his heart eagerly throbbed for more.
-
The first week of Lance’s training consisted of him sitting in the lobby of the store with Pidge going over the computer manual that talked about necessary (but incredibly boring) shit. Of course Lance understood that washing his hands was crucial, of course he knew never to make sexual comments to his coworkers, and of course he knew that stealing would get him fired and prosecuted. He constantly found his gaze wandering away from the computer screen. Most of the time, they wandered over to Keith, who was slowly becoming a weird constant in Lance’s life and dreams.
Keith, at that particular moment, was making whipped creams. He carefully pumped vanilla syrup into the steam pitchers and then slowly filled them with whipping cream. As he transported the mixture to the actual whipped cream canister and screwed the nitrogen capsule onto the cap, Lance was mesmerized. Then, as if Lance was cursed by a higher power, Keith began shaking the canister by his head and face. Back and forth, up and down. Lance felt as if he were swallowing cotton. At that exact moment, there was a sharp pinch on his side right above his ribs, Pidge. He yelped and whipped his head around before Keith could look him dead in the eyes in confusion. Instead, he faced Pidge, whose eyebrows were furrowed, lips puffed in annoyance, and arms crossed under her chest.
“Could you, maybe, one: not be gross and two: pay attention to this?” Pidge’s honey colored eyes flicked from the long abandoned laptop to Lance’s bewildered face. Was she seriously calling him out?
“I don’t know what you mean by gross, but sure, I’ll focus.” Playing dumb had always worked for Lance before. Pidge went back a little bit in the video guide they were watching, unimpressed by Lance’s feigned ignorance.
“Remarking on, talking about, or mimicking sexual gestures to fellow partners and customers is never acceptable. Please watch this example and see if you can identify what the partner in question has done wrong.” The lady in the video was speaking with an almost robotic, monotonous voice as Lance realized why Pidge had taken him back to this section. Pidge paused the video and shot him one last look. Lance’s face was bright, bright crimson, another new constant in his life was blushing profusely.
“That’s what I mean by gross. Got it? I wasn’t born yesterday. I know what you’re looking at and why. And I don’t really like what I’m seeing.”
“Okay, okay. Sorry. Won’t happen again, I swear on my grandmother’s heaven sent paella recipe.” Lance assured, crossing his heart for good measure.
“Good.” And with that, Lance’s painfully boring afternoon resumed.
-
Keith dreaded the day he had to work with Lance and train him on bar. This was not because he disliked Lance, no. Keith was just nervous around new people. Sure he had helped Lance calm down that one time and it felt like they had a nice moment; however, most often, people believe that he comes across as intimidating and perpetually angry once they “get to know him”. This was all because he had a serious case of “resting bitch face”, which he thought was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. It mostly sounded like something fuckboys made up to say to people when they don’t get their way.
Needless to say, when Keith walked into the back room and saw Lance’s name on the schedule to come in shortly after he started, he turned to Allura in a last ditch effort.
“Why can’t Shay help Lance train? She’s a lot nicer.”
“You are nice too, Keith. You just don’t know it yet. Plus, Shay is still trying to put together her Coffee Master presentation.”
“She’s still nicer than me.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be clocking in?”
Keith said no more as he ran onto the floor to avoid Allura’s wrath.
Pidge was off that Sunday afternoon, but Shay was waiting for Keith at the register, a large smile on her face.
“Hello Keith! It’s great to see you and even better getting to work with you! We never get to work together, so this should be fun.” She still smiled, and Keith felt the corners of his mouth turn up a little in response.
“Yeah, it’ll be great, Shay.”
Out of the corner of Keith’s eye, he saw the storefront door open and in waltzed Lance. Lance saw Keith and Shay and waved enthusiastically as he headed toward the back room. Keith sighed and grabbed the barista training materials that he would be using shortly. Shay noticed this and her face transformed from a sweet smile to an inquisitive one.
“You don’t like the new guy, Lance?” She asked, almost too interested in what she saw.
“It’s not that, don’t go telling him that. I’m just…not excited to be at work today. I’m tired from school.” Keith didn’t want to explain himself, but felt as if he had to. He didn’t know Shay too well, just that she was well liked among customers and partners alike. He wasn’t sure how much he could trust her with gossip.
“Hello Lance!” Shay greeted, smile as big as ever.
“Hey Shay!” Lance greeted back. He had worked a few shifts on register the entire time, and gotten to know most of the partners in that time.
Keith was pulled from his thoughts as Lance walked out into the bar and register area, face looking absolutely jubilant as he greeted the two. At the same time, however, Keith could easily see how wound up his nerves were at the sheer newness of everything. The two boys eyed each other awkwardly, sizing each other up and checking each out at that the same time. As their eyes met, they both smirked. Lance’s nerves melted away as they began to speak.
“Like what you—” they both began but stopped halfway, surprised to catch each other using the same line. They looked at each other with wide surprised eyes until Lance start cackling with laughter. Shay joined him soon after, she shook her head and grabbed a broom. Keith was left dumbfounded until they were done.
“You two play nice, I’m going to sweep the lobby.”
Keith felt a light flush kiss his cheeks as he whipped his gaze away from Lance. He muttered about getting started on the bar training as Lance walked over to the espresso machine where he was standing. Keith grabbed three cups: a tall iced cup, a venti iced cup, and a grande hot cup. He then began writing on the cups, creating hypothetical drink orders upon them. He could feel Lance’s eyes concentrated upon him and his confidence suddenly skyrocketed.
“Okay,” he turned to face Lance and they almost bumped heads, not making his blushing any less noticeable, when did he move so close anyway? “So these are our most commonly sold handcrafted beverages, I’m going to have you practice them one at a time. After you get the hang of that, we’ll start you on sequencing so you aren’t just making one drink at a time. Do you understand these drink codes? I know Allura worked on register and writing cups with you for a while. Do these all make sense to you?”
“Yeah, I think so. This one is a tall caramel Frappuccino,” Lance’s fingers touched Keith’s as he took the cup from his hand, Keith blushed again, hoping Lance wouldn’t look up from his concentrated gaze, “this one is a grande hot chai tea latte, and this one is a venti iced caramel macchiato.” He turned his strikingly sharp and perfectly shaped face toward Keith, who was now having A Moment™. Keith, voice remaining surprisingly calm, nodded his head, confirming the other’s answers.
“Great. You can read cups, that’s half the battle right there. Do you know the syrup proportions or measurements?”
“I don’t think so.”
Keith pointed to a handy chart that was laminated and taped to the espresso machine. It gave the basic recipes for both hot and iced espresso beverages.
“So,” he said, still trying not to fixate on how close Lance was standing to him, “this will tell you everything you need to know if you have a hard time or a weird memory collapse. For hot drinks, the proportion for espresso shots is one, two, two. That means that talls get one shot, grandes and ventis get two. There are exceptions, but we’ll get there when we get there. For iced, the proportion for espresso is one, two, three. That means tall still gets one shot, grandes still get two, but now ventis get three shots. Syrups work similarly, hot drinks go three, four, five. Iced goes three, four, six. The only difference between hot and cold, basically, is that iced ventis get one extra pump of syrup and one extra shot than hot ones. If you can remember this, you’re golden.”
“That’s… a lot.”
“It seems like it but you’ll get it in no time, I promise.” Keith offered a tiny smile for reassurance, and he noticed Lance’s face redden slightly at that.
“Also, the default milk, unless something is written in the box, is two percent. For Frappuccinos its whole milk. Why don’t you try making the caramel macchiato? Caramel macchiatos are also an exception, they get one less pump of syrup in them. Knowing this new information, what are the pump proportions for caramel macchiatos?”
“Uhh…it’d be…two, three, four for hot?” Keith nodded, eyes approving, “And iced would get two, three, five?”
“Yes! Great! Get to it!” Keith could feel himself getting too excited, unbeknownst to him this made Lance’s heart start breakdancing pretty much. Lance smiled again, and began crafting the beverage.
“You know caramel macchiatos go syrup, milk, ice, then shots, right?”
“Yup! I got it!” Lance pumped the syrup and pulled the shots, he added the milk and ice before the shots had pulled, the drink came together in moments, seemingly on its own.
“Wow… you’re pretty quick, for a new guy.” Keith smirked as Lance pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow at him. The challenge was on.
By the end of Lance’s shift that day, he and Keith ended up giving away about fifteen drinks that were for practice. Keith even let Lance make a few customer drinks. It only took Lance ten minutes of bickering to get permission to do so. When Lance was off, about an hour before close, Keith saw a calm and demure smile grow over the other’s face. Lance’s teeth were as sparklingly white as ever, framed perfectly by his thin lips and contrasting his deep tan colored skin. He waved and went to the back, thanking Keith and Shay for all the training. Keith couldn’t believe himself.
He had a crush on the new guy.