Archive of Our Own ^beta

Great.

Just great.

He had forgotten to pay the electricity bill, leaving Keith with no internet, no power and a barely-started essay that was due in about three hours. Most importantly, this was the last assignment he had to turn in before Thanksgiving break.

His mind flashed back to a week ago when Shiro told him to not leave his assignments for the last minute.  Keith scoffed, he should probably start listening to his brother more.

He snapped his laptop shut and raked his hands through his hair. He could feel the bags under his eyes from the lack of sleep he’s had this past week.

He desperately needed sleep. Or coffee. Coffee is always better than sleep.

He checked the clock again and saw that it was already six in the morning. The cafe around the corner should be open.

He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. His hair was a wild mess, strands flying everywhere. His face, to put it shortly, looked dead. His skin is the palest it has ever been, his violet eyes looked dull and almost grey, and the pink dye on the tips of his hair was fading.

The pink hair dye started as a prank from Pidge while he was sleeping, but after having it in his hair for so long he started warming up to it and decided to keep it, doing touch-ups every couple of months.

He quickly washed his face and put his hair in a half-up bun. It looked decent enough, and it’s not like he cared enough at the moment. Then he threw on a pair of clean sweatpants and a hoodie.

He put his laptop and textbooks in his bag, put on his boots, grabbed his phone and left his apartment.

Once he left his apartment building, he realized his mistake.  Shit. It was raining and he hadn’t grabbed an umbrella.  He looked at the time again and decided that it wasn’t worth it. He pulled his hood on and headed towards the cafe.

Keith was instantly filled with warmth as he stepped into Voltron Cafe, shivering from the cold and the rain water seeping into his hoodie.

He looked around and saw that there only was another college student on one of the couches, probably doing an assignment on their laptop.

Soft acoustic music flowed out of the speakers (probably another one of those indie musicians that Allura had been into recently), and the smell of warm bread filled the shop, meaning that either Hunk or Shay were in the kitchen already.

He walked up to the counter and saw Shay and Rax making the treats for the day.  He took off his hood and waved as Shay made her way to the counter.

“Hey, Keith. What are you doing here so early?”

He smiled awkwardly. “I have a paper due at 9 and i forgot to pay the electricity bill, so the power went out.”

“Ah, understandable. So, would you like anything? Rax and I just finished the morning batch.”

“No, just a black coffee is fine.”

“Alright. That’ll be $1.85.”

Keith gave her the money and Shay started making his coffee.

“So,” Keith looked over at her as she spoke, “what is this paper on?”

Keith bit back a groan and rolled his eyes. “It’s on how surrealism art first began. I wasn’t expecting so many written papers when I signed up as an art major.”

Shay giggled and gave him his coffee. “Well, I’m not going to take any more of your time. Good luck with your paper.”

“Thanks.”

Keith took his coffee and decided to sit at one of the tables by the windows. He took out his stuff and opened the computer.  It was almost seven, which gave Keith a little bit of happiness.

Lance starts his shift in half an hour. Keith thought and he felt a small smile forming.  Keith was absolutely, disgusting smitten with Lance, as said by Pidge once.

Honestly, Keith didn’t blame her, but at the same how could he not? Lance was the most beautiful and caring person in the world, anyone who met him would be smitten.

Keith shook his head. He needed to stop thinking about Lance and start working on his assignment.  So he started working, going back and forth between looking up information online and checking his textbook and notes. Every once in a while he took a sip of his coffee, but other than that he kept working and didn’t stop, all background noises and distractions faded away.

At some point his mug was empty and he didn’t realize, too focused on his work.

Then everything came to a halt when he didn’t realize that there was a new mug placed next to him.  As he took a sip of the content he almost choked, not expecting the flavour but instantly recognizing it.

He stared at what used to be his favourite green tea chai latte that he now despised, and frowned.

“I didn’t order this,” he said to himself.

“True, but I did.”

Keith immediately tensed. The chilling, familiar voice reached his ears before a man sat down in front of him.

“Hello again, sweetheart.”

Keith stared at the computer screen, feeling his anger rise. What was he doing here? He was supposed to be gone.

“Well, love? Aren’t you going to say anything?” Keith could hear the sneer in the other man’s voice. The familiar accent made Keith sick.

Keith slowly released a deep breath and closed his computer. His assignment could wait.

He looked up at the man he once thought he used to love but now couldn’t stand. He looked relatively the same since the last time he saw him. Same platinum hair and the same harsh blue eyes that at some point, although really long ago, used to be warm and caring.

Keith kept his face blank. “What are you doing here Lotor?”

“Haven’t you missed me? It’s been too long since I’ve last seen you, love.”

Keith frowned, glaring at Lotor harshly. “Cut the shit Lotor. What are you doing here.”

Even Keith could hear the anger in his voice. It seemed like Lotor didn’t care, he just rested his head on the palm of his hand and flashed a sickly sweet smile.

“No need to be crude, love, I just wanted to see you. I missed you and I know you missed me too.”

Keith frowned harder. “If I remember correctly I dumped your sorry ass after what happened with Lance.”

Until last year, Keith used to be in a two-year relationship with Lotor. In the beginning, they used to be crazy for each other, and Keith would do anything for him, but after a year Lotor started to change.

Lotor started getting more possessive, always asking him where he’s been (which, personally, isn’t a problem but the tone he said it in and the look in his eyes always made him uneasy) and Keith had caught him looking through his phone multiple times.

Throughout the next months, they started getting into fights, Keith always calling Lotor out on his possessiveness, so Keith stopped spending as much time with him to hang out with his friends instead.  When Keith stopped being around Lotor as much, he realised how much he’s been putting off his friends to be with his “boyfriend”.

In between the fights and hanging out with his friend, Keith started realising his feelings for Lance.

It seemed that at some point Lotor realised this and the fighting got worse. One day, towards the end of their relationship, Lance knocked on his door, dripping wet from the rain outside with a black eye and a dark bruise forming on his cheek.

Keith quickly ushered Lance in, taking care of his bruise and eye as he demanded Lance to tell him what happened. Lance then proceeded to tell him that Lotor followed him on the way to Voltron cafe and assaulted him in the back alleyway, saying how he was stealing Keith away from him.

Keith felt the angriest he had been his whole life. At the time, Keith had stayed calm for the sake of Lance, but a few days later he went to Lotor’s apartment to confront him about it.

Keith didn’t remember much because of his anger, all he remembered was lots of yelling and at one point Lotor grabbed his wrist tightly and slammed him against the wall. Lotor started yelling obscene things at him and Keith punched him in the jaw and left.

He hasn’t heard or seen of him since.

At least until today.

Lotor’s gaze hardened at the mention of Lance’s name. A small part of Keith’s brain feels smug about his reaction.

Suddenly Keith felt his cheeks being grabbed by a freezing hand, and he finds himself looking into Lotor’s icy eyes.

Keith felt a shiver go down his spine when Lotor spoke. “You know, sweetheart, I never knew what you saw in that pathetic little slut. But then again, you are the most pathetic person I’ve ever met. Guess I wasn’t enough when we were together and you couldn’t keep it i-”

“HEY Keith….” Lotor was interrupted before he could continue.

Keith’s eyes looked over Lotor’s head to see Lance’s eyes glaring holes into Lotor’s head. Lance’s usually bright blue eyes now seemed darker, and colder. Keith tried to release himself from Lotor’s grip but his hand tightened.

Lance stalked towards them and gripped Lotor’s arm. He flashed Lotor a fakingly sweet smile.

“Hey Lotor, it’s been a while since I’ve seen your disgusting face.”

Keith quietly snickered. Lotor’s hand released Keith's face, but Lance’s grip didn’t falter.

Lotor turned towards Lance and sneered. “Lance, haven’t seen your pathetic face in a while.”

Keith could see Lance’s grip grow a little tighter. “You and I both know, Lotor, that if you don't leave right this second, I’m going to do something we’ll both regret.”

“Oh yeah? What are you going to do, cause if I remember what happened last time I’m pretty sure I gave that pathetic little face of yours a nice black eye. I know you went to hide at Keith’s after. What? Are you really that weak and useless that you can’t fight your own battles? That you have to rely on others that are better than you’ll ever be to protect you? Pathetic.”

Keith felt his blood boil. How dare this pathetic excuse of a man say those things about Lance. Lance is brave, smart, and had such a good and loving heart that sometimes Keith feels like he didn’t deserve him.

Keith looks over at Lance, and while at first, it seemed like Lance wasn’t affected by Lotor’s words, Keith knew Lance for too long now and he could see the hurt in the Cuban's eyes.

Lance’s grip still remained but it loosened.

Keith, at that moment, decided that enough was enough. He grabbed the collar of Lotor’s shirt and pulled it towards him, their faces only inches away.

“Listen here you piece of shit,” Lotor’s smile faded into a look of shock, “don’t you fucking dare say that ever again. Lance is an amazing and caring person, something that you never were and that you never will be. You were right, when we were together you weren’t enough, but that was because you were a piece of shit who was too insecure to lose his boyfriend, and instead of talking to him about it, you became a controlling creep. So I want you to listen, and listen closely because this is the last time I’ll ever say this again, if I ever see your face or even hear you threatening someone I care about again, I’ll make sure that you’ll disappear the hard way. Do you understand?”

Keith let go of his grip on Lotor’s shirt as he saw a small glint of fear in Lotor’s angered eyes. He had to admit, it kind of felt good to get this all off his chest.

Lotor opened his mouth as if he was about to argue back, but he just closed it again and wrenched his arm from Lance’s grip. He got up and stomped out of the cafe.

Keith looked back at Lance, as the Cuban sat down on the chair that Lotor previously occupied. He had a wide smile on his face, the previous hurt look now gone, instead replaced with a gleam of almost amusement.

“My, my mullet, did you just threaten a man just to defend my honour? Well geez, I might just swoon at any moment and then who will be able to defend your honour?”

The terrible southern accent Lance had was hilarious, and made Keith softly chuckle.

“But in all seriousness man, thanks, you didn’t have to.” The soft smile that Lance had made Keith’s heart flutter.

Out of impulse, like most things he did in his life, Keith grabbed Lance’s hand.

“You have nothing to thank me for. Everything I said and more is true, you deserve the world and Lotor is envious that he can’t be as amazing of a person as you are.”

He could see a faint blush on Lance’s cheeks.

As Lance stuttered out a response, Keith realised what he did and felt his face burn. He stared down at the table and tried to remove his hand but Lance just gripped it tighter and intertwined their fingers.

Keith peeked through his lashes and looked at the fond smile that grazed Lance’s face.

“I think the same about you, you didn’t deserve any of what happened, and Lotor is dead wrong about anything that he said about you.”

Keith and Lance gazed into each other's eyes, both slightly red on the cheeks and fond smiles on their faces.

Lance looked like he was about to say something, but he got interrupted by an amused voice.

“Lance, buddy, I know that you two are having a moment but you need to get your ass behind the counter, we’re about to open in 10 minutes.”

They quickly let their hands go and Lance shot out of his chair. They both looked at the front counter and saw Hunk leaning against it, looking amused.

“HUNK! My man! My dude! My bro! When did you get here?”

“I’ve been here for 10 minutes. Now get back here and get ready to work.”

“Be right there.”

Lance faced Keith again and smiled softly. He reached over and tucked one of the dyed strands behind Keith’s ear.

“I have to work now, but how about I join you during my break?”

Keith felt his breath hitch when Lance reached over at him and he blushed as he stuttered out a response.

“Uh ye-yeah, su-sure.”

Keep it together Kogane, it’s just Lance.

But then again, this was Lance .

Keith cleared his throat.

“I have an assignment to finish anyway, but I’ll stay.”

Lance nodded and made his way towards the counter, not before he grabbed the mug on Keith’s table and looked back at him.

“I’m guessing you don’t want this? Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll bring you your favourite. On the house.”

Keith felt something warm bloom in his chest. After the bad break-up with Lotor, green tea chai lattes didn’t taste the same. One day Lance made him this white chocolate mocha to cheer him up, and from that day it became his favourite drink and just a comfort food in general.

He thanked Lance and opened his computer again.

Only two more paragraphs left.