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The night was alive.
The crowd around them was breathing, moving, humming with life. The road was slick with rainwater underneath their feet. The blackened sky above them was paled by the harsh city lights of Tokyo.
Lance was frantic.
There had been a hand intertwined with his only a second ago, fingers fitting in between his perfectly, a boy with raven hair that put the midnight sky to shame and a soft grin that made Lance weak in the knees, a boy with somber eyes that seemed to sparkle, but dulled when he thought Lance wasn’t looking. But Lance had always been watching him; Keith had been all he could see.
He should have asked what was wrong. He shouldn’t have just bitten his tongue, shouldn’t have been afraid to ruin the moment.
“Keith!” Lance’s yell echoed in the empty air, his words swallowed by the busy sounds of traffic and people and the world. His breath hung heavy in front of him, his boots skidding against wet cement. The crowds around him pulsed, moving around him like the current, undeterred by the way he gasped out a single name into the silent air.
His eyes searched for raven hair, a slim build that he knew so well. For bright eyes and pale skin, for a grinning mouth he was familiar with.
“Keith!” he called out again, his heart lodged in his throat. His heart felt hollow in his chest as his eyes scanned every face walking past, brushing over foreign eyes as uninterested gazes.
Not a single one of them was Keith.
“I bet I could get that bunny thing right there.”
Keith frowned at Lance's comment, bending at the waist to stare down into the thick glass of the claw crane machine, the only bunny stuffy visible beneath a mountain of assorted toys, stitched smiles and googly eyes staring up at him.
“That one?” Keith scoffed, raising his eyebrows at Lance. The only response he got was a huff, a proud nod before putting the necessary yen into the machine, the claw humming to life.
One hand was on Keith’s hip as Lance controlled the claw, his shoulders hunched and his eyes narrowed in concentration. “I doubt you’re even going to get close to it,” Keith challenged.
“how dare you doubt my skill,” Lance said with a distracted hum, “that bunny is going to be yours in no time, just you wait. There’s no what in hell I’m letting you walk away without the cutest stuffed animal this world has ever seen.”
Keith gulped, a blush crawling up his neck at the sincere, focused affection in his voice. He rubbed the back of his neck, his bones feeling hollow and empty as he turned away, looking at his reflection in the glass of the arcade game beside them.
I shouldn’t be here.
“Oh!” Lance gasped, his teeth biting into his bottom lip. With a delicate flick of his wrist, the metal claw plunged downward, right above the stuffed animal that had caught his interest. Keith watched, his eyebrows raised as he saw it get closer and closer to the bunny–
“Yes!” Lance hollered, bouncing on his heels as the bunny’s thin, pinkish arm was caught in the claws of the machine. “Oooh, yeah baby!” He laughed, dragging ot towards the drop box.
He flicked his head around, a grin shining in his eyes so brightly Keith was taken back a bit, his face heating up. “See?” Lance hummed, his grin cocky. Keith couldn’t keep himself from smilng back. “I told you I could–”
With a loud clack, Lance and Keith jumped, looking into the machine to see that Lance had veered it right into the glass, the bunny stuffy falling limply on top of the other toys.
“No,” Lance gasped, sounding absolutely mortified. He pressed his face right up to the glass with a whine. “no, nonono, what…”
He blinked, dragging his eyes away from the machine and towards Keith, his rowdy, uncontrollable laughter taking Lance by surprise. He was holding his stomach with one hand, his other hovering over his mouth like that would hide the grin lighting up his whole face.
Lance felt his face warm, his heart filling, and he couldn’t help but laugh with him.
He wondered if this is what heaven felt like.
Keith couldn’t think properly any more.
Maybe it was the alcohol, or the dimmed lights of the bar, or maybe it was the soft, slow music pounding through the air. Or maybe. Just maybe, it was the boy sitting beside him.
Maybe it was the way he smiled at him, the grin that lit up his whole face. Maybe it was the light reflecting off of blue eyes that constantly trailed over Keith’s face, his nose, his lips, his reddened cheeks. Maybe it was the way he laughed, or how his words filled up the silence comfortably, or the light touches against Keith’s arm, or the foot hooked around Keith’s ankle.
Don’t take this too far, Keith’s thoughts pounded, screamed in his mind. Don’t take this any farther, don’t start something that will only end badly.
The drink in his hand was really making his thoughts muddled.
“What is it?” Lance’s voice spoke up, a slight slur to his words that was practically nonexistent. Keith blinked at what sounded like concern, realizing that he had been staring at Lance the whole time.
Keith choked down the pit in his throat, smiling along the rim of his glass. “just… looking at you,” He hummed, his voice soft, sultry. “what should we do after this?”
Lance’s smirk was sly, the hand on Keith’s thigh tightening ever so slightly.
“I think I have an idea.”
“Over there is the hotels,” Keith hummed, pointing one painted nail down the street, through the shifting crowds of people. His eyes scanned the buildings as Lance watched him out of the corner of his eye. “and there’s a few restaurants down that way, and a really good bar with awesome sake.”
Lance couldn’t get over the boy he was holding on to, the way lights danced in his eyes, the curve of his mouth, the lilt in his voice. He had only known him for half an hour at the most, had only learned his name a while ago.
He desperately wanted to know more, to know everything about him.
Lance looked away just as Keith turned to look his way with a frown, trying to pretend he was more interested in the lights and the busy buildings than the person he had his arm looped with.
He blinked when a brightly lit building caught his eye, the doors wide open, making Lance tug on Keith’s arm to slow him down.
“What’s that?” Lance asked, pointing across the road. Lance already knew the answer anyways.
He could practically feel Keith roll his eyes, hear the sarcasm in his voice. “it’s an arcade,” Keith huffed, “duh. Do you not have those in America or something?”
“Yeah, we definitely do,” Lance replied quickly, grinning back at Keith as he started to pull Keith along with him. “This tour is officially cancelled, or postponed, or what’re– c’mon, pretty boy! We’re going to destroy this arcade!”
“Wha–” Keith blinked, his face red as they weaved between groups of people. Hyper music was filtered through the air. “what happened to you being lost?”
“I think I’m more than okay with being lost,” Lance chuckled, “if I’m lost with you.”
Then Lance winked at him, Keith’s heart beating in his chest.
Don’t get attached, his thoughts hissed, his heart heavy.
Keith’s thoughts were incoherent. All he could do was feel.
He couldn’t figure out how they had gotten from the dark alley behind the bar to the motel across the road, but Keith could still feel the way the bricked wall of the bar dug into his back, Lance’s arms boxing him in, a single question making Keith feel weak; is this okay?
The way Lance’s fingers traced across his skin was intoxicating, burning paths along Keith’s jaw, his collarbone, his bare chest. Lance’s lips were warm, soothing soft as he peppered kisses along Keith’s neck.
His breath was shaky, his hands quivering as he tugged at the hem of Lance’s shirt, unable to will himself to pull away from Lance’s mouth for even a second.
Everything around them had faded away; the hotel was nothign but fog, the bed under them nonexistant, their clothes nothing but a nuisance.
Who they were wasn’t important. The parts of Keith Lance didn’t know had disappeared from his mind like mist.
“will you…” Lance breathed out, hot agaisnt Keith’s neck. One hand was in black hair, the other gripping his hip like Lance’s life depended on it. He didn’t move away an inch as he spoke against Keith’s skin. “Will you be here?”
“W-what?” Keith gulped, taking the chance to tug Lance’s shirt off and toss it into the neverending fog around them. Lance’s lips were on his collarbone, trailing down his chest the second Keith turned back to him.
“Will you be here in the morning?” Lance’s words made Keith gasp, the way he said it agaisnt his skin feeling like what he said would be imprinted inot his skin. Then his mouth was pressed against Keith.
“Tell me you’ll be here when I wake up.”
What he was doing came rushing back to Keith in a wave; who he was, what this all meant, how impossible this relationship was.
You shouldn’t be doing this.
But, god, Keith wanted it. More than anything. Even if it was only for one night.
“You’re talking like,” Keith hummed, Lance’s face in his hands, a smirk on his lips. “the night is over. It’s only, what, midnight?”
Lance’s eyes lit up, his arms wrapping around Keith’s waist, feverish kisses running along Keith’s face.
Lance laid him down on the bed, a sort of warm finality clouding Keith’s mind as he looked up at him through the dark.
Only one night.
He first saw him from across a busy subway.
He stood out among the locals, looking out of place with his dark skin and bright blue eyes.
It interested Keith.
The colour of his skin suggested something else, but the way he held himself, how he frowned down at a note he held in his hand, the obvious confusion by the buzz of unfamiliar languages made Keith think that he might be from America.
But then he was locking eyes with him, blinking and tilting his head to the side. Keith looked back for a second, just a second, before shyly looking away. But his gaze kept drawing bak to the stranger through the crowd.
A hand softly touching his arm didnt’ surprise him, neither did the bright blue eyes looking down at him, which Keith couldn’t but notice the depth to the them up close.
“u-uh,” He gulped, a blush creeping up his neck as he glanced down at the paper in his hand, then at Keith again. “do you… do you speak English?” His American accent made Keith smile softly.
“I’m pretty sure I do,” Keith drawled back, getting an apologetic and endearing, flustered grin. “Oh, sorry, uhm. Well, I’m kinda lost,” He held up the note for Keith to see, “do you know where this is.”
He tried to hid his laugh behind a frown. “Well, ahh, I sure do,” Keith paused at his small rejoiceful ‘yes!’ before continuing. “And I can tell you that you’re going in the complete opposite direction.”
The man’s whole face dropped, his smile completely gone. Keith couldn’t help but laugh at that as he groaned, holding his head on one hand. “oh, of course I am,” He mumbled into his hand.
There was a moment of awkward silence before he looked up again, the frown completely replaced by a wondering gaze. “hey, what’s your name?”
“You can call me Keith,” He answered simply. Lance nodded his head, “Well, the name’s Lance! So, you’re pretty familiar with this area?”
Keith around, easily hearing the suggestion in Lance’s voice. He bit into his lip, muttering out a yes under his breath. I think… I’ve got some time to waste.
“Would you like a tour?” Keith hummed as the subway rolled to a stop.
Keith could hear his name on the wind.
He could hear Lance’s concern, the frantic energy in his voice. But Keith kept walking.
He didn’t dare look back, didn’t dare hesitate as he stepped over puddles, across the street, out of sight. He didn’t dare let him look back at Lance again; he knew it would make him do something stupid.
But he could still feel traces of Lance’s touch on his skin; his fingers in his hair, his tongue lighting fire along his jaw, his teeth leaving marks, his lips left swollen from more kisses than Keith could count.
He could still feel the sting of nails digging into his back.
Lance was still buried in his bones, resonating in his heavy heart, even as he smoothed out his hair and pulled the collar of his jacket up to his chin to hide the marks Lance had left behind.
Lance had left a fire in his soul.
Only one night.
But Keith couldn’t stay any longer, he couldn’t hold Lance’s hand throughout the night, or wake up beside him.
Besides, he had a job to do the next morning. A relationship would only get in the way.
Don’t get attached.