Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The breeze always smelled slightly like saltwater, the wind blowing in from the ocean and cooling the city marginally from its mid-day heat. Keith could feel the warm summer air brush against his face as he rode his bike through the streets. As he nears the street to the Laundromat he briefly considered if he should've waited until twilight reached the city, but the thought didn't deter him much, living here long enough to know even if he went into the city at 3am there would still be people moving about.

When Keith first started living in this city he found the amount of people out late into the night and shops that would stay up even later unusual. The night was once a time where the world felt truly dead, a time for him to feel like he was the only one alive, those points where the loneliness became more of a comfort because it felt like he was letting it happen.

Though, once he started living in a city that never truly sleeps with its joyus laughter, it was never quite the same as it was in his tiny desert house or the small old town he briefly stayed in. The night had always been quiet and empty in his life and It wasn't easy to adjust, even today he still feels like he's far out of his element, the city simply didn't match who he felt he was.

Nonetheless he's gotten used to how things work and his place living there, it was what Shiro asked of him to try when he agreed to live here. Nowadays he still escapes to the darkest area of the beach when he needs that time to himself, but the continuous life of the city at least doesn't leave him feeling a cold emptiness somewhere in his life.

Keith's bike slowed to a halt once he arrived. He dismounted the bike and led it into the bike rack, using his bike lock and securing it in place, he then got to work. Untying his laundry from the bike's shelf behind the seat, he hoisted the tall hamper off and into his arms, keeping it on his hip the best he could before walking into the laundromat.

The bell dinged from the doorway as the blast of cold air conditioning and the smell of washed and dried clothes hit him. He took a quick glance at the area, finding that no one was there except one guy. He headed towards his usual choice of laundry machine, the third one on the second row, it was his favorite one and as long as it wasnt being used he'd go for it, he walked over to it, absently noticing it was next to the other guy.

Keith set down his hamper with a grunt then opened up the machine's door, taking out piles of his clothes and throwing it into the washer. Once he put in the laundry detergent he grabbed his wallet, reaching in to grab a coin, having already gotten the money needed transferred into coins before showing up.

He placed each coin into its slot one by one, watching the small digital screen count out each quarter as it neared the final amount needed for a wash. When he put in the final coin he faltered when he found that the counter on the machine wasn't completed, still one quarter off. He opened his wallet again, searching for the missing coin, though unfortunately he realized he must have dropped one of the quarters earlier, somehow not noticing until now.

‘Do I really not have another quarter here?’ he thought, even if he knew it was true, nothing but cash and some stray pennies. He thumbed through the cash, intending on grabbing a five dollar bill, the smallest dollar amount he had to transfer it into quarters for the last missing coin.

Mentally he mused over the mild inconvenience but was stopped when a hand held out a quarter out to him. He looked over, seeing the man next to him holding it.

“Saw you were a coin short, i got a spare" he flashed him a smile

" Oh, thanks” Keith took the quarter and let it fall into its slot. The screen reached its needed amount and with a few presses of the buttons the machine whirred to life.

A few seconds passed as keith set his laundry detergent into the empty hamper and the man spoke up again

“Soo, Laundry huh?"

Keith lifted an eyebrow looking at the man, “Yeah?"

" Are you new around the area? I don't think I've seen you around and trust me I’d remember someone who looks like you”

“No, lived here for awhile, changed the day I do laundry”

“Ohh, cool cool. I was just asking because I tend to recognize the people who pop up here, the same people you know?”

“Yeah, I get it, not like I get out much anyway. I don't expect to be recognized”

" You've got a pretty unique look to you, at least for anyone around here.”

Keith was a bit confused by that, he always saw himself as kinda average, he didn't wear anything particularly outlandish, maybe besides the two piercings in both ears, but even then he didn't bother to wear earrings very often. “what makes you say that?”

The man scratched his cheek, seeming to take in Keith's appearance a little closer, "Probably that mullet you got”

“Mullet?"

“Yeah, you got that whole, midwest Emo thing going on"

“Emo?" Keith wrinkled his nose, then more confusion when he fully processed it “Wait, midwest??" He said bewildered

The man held his hands up in the non threatening position, “Hey I don't mean anything by it, you make it work!”

Keith tried his best to figure it out but he couldn't seem to get where he was getting that from. What about him screamed emo? Actually no, what about him screamed midwest? He's not even from there.
This guy was strange

“I'm from texas"

The man laughed, a nice soft chuckle, "alright southern emo then”

Keith was still a bit confused on how he could be considered emo, but whatever, if he didn't mean it as an insult he supposes theres nothing wrong with it, “I guess that's better." He then recalled his washing machine that he had lost attention of and turned to put in the final choices on its cycle, and pressed start, once he did he saw the man hold his hand out to him

“Im Lance by the way"

Keith shook his hand gently, “Keith"

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

Keith walked through his apartment door, grateful to be home and have a big hamper of clean folded laundry.

Just as he set the hamper next to his dresser to put the folded clothes in his respective drawers his phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and saw a message from shiro

Shiro: Hey, how's your day been going so far? :)

Keith's gotten used to his check in messages, they were nice, comforting. He'd also gotten used to saying the same things with only rare changes in routine, but today was a little different

Me: Good, i did some laundry, somebody talked to me at the Laundromat

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

It wasn't easy to get to the laundromat but he could say he was grateful he managed to drag himself to the building in town. His selection of clothes had begun to dwindle as his dirty laundry piled up over time and he was overdue to visit the laundromat.

Despite the fact he wanted nothing more than to just stay home after work he also knew his future self would thank him for not leaving laundry to be done on a day off. So after some time of tossing back and forth with his mind he dragged himself to get his dirty laundry and head out.

It's always getting there that's the hard part, once he's there though, he quickly falls into his routine, separating his colors so he could toss them in their washing machines. After some time his clothes were done, once he finished folding them he'd move on to washing his bedsheets. Because of how late into the evening he waited to arrive things were quiet, it was strange being the only person in though the buzzing of the lights and air conditioner easily filled the silence. At least until he heard the door's tiny bell ring.

He turned to glance at who stepped in, and-
Oh wow
Lance hasn't seen him around

He supposed it wasn’t unusual he didn't recognize him, even though he tended to spend plenty of time in the city. The amount of people who lived there combined with tourists and his terrible memory didn't mix well with remembering a random face.
Then again he'd become quite good at remembering those who came to the laundromat at least, and beyond that this man wasn't just a random face he was a random, pretty face, and he'd say he's good at remembering random, pretty faces.

Lance quickly darts his eyes back to his laundry, not wanting to be caught looking a second too long.

The man looks around and makes a beeline, straight towards Lance, and chooses a laundry machine quite close to him. Right next to him, actually.

‘He chose the one next to me?? Why??’ there were tons of other machines available, he could've chosen literally anywhere.

Lance watched him from his peripheral while he folded a few clean shirts.
His mind battled back and forth rapidly

Was he maybe trying to flirt?
No, no don't be ridiculous he's not even looking at you
Oh so he just decided to choose the laundry machine directly next to me?
Oh my god this is stupid
I wonder what his name is

He couldn't be certain about what he should do, eventually deciding that if he saw the chance he'd take it and strike up conversation, in the meantime, lance bit his tongue and kept tossing in clothes, though not long after he noticed from his peripheral as he seemed to dig through his wallet, thumbing through cash and looking in the smaller pockets inside.

Lance saw his opportunity in the shiny surface of the quarter sitting on his machine. He bit his lip softly, taking a deep breath and letting good old loverboy lance take control. He picked up the quarter, holding it out in the man's general direction.

“Saw you were a coin short, i got a spare" lance said with a smooth easygoing tone and one of his shining smiles

" Oh, thanks”

Lance waited a few seconds, curiously, slowly folding a shirt, hoping the man might continue to speak. After a long minute of waiting he realized the man didn't intend to continue talking anymore, though that didn't mean Lance wasn't.

He could easily carry a conversation, though if the guy gave the impression of someone completely uninterested in a conversation he'd leave him be, so far though the guy just seemed quiet. Mysterious, alluring even. Ok, maybe he's being a little dramatic about the guy, but whatever

“Soo, Laundry huh?" Lance cringed inwardly at the fumbling start

Keith lifted an eyebrow looking at the man, “Yeah?"

" Are you new around the area? I don't think I've seen you around and trust me I’d remember someone who looks like you” Lance slipped his tone to something more akin to velvet, something that brought the people he'd used it on in the past to smile a bit wider, or giggle or any other indication that his charm has worked

But this man-
“No, lived here for awhile, just decided to do laundry a bit later than usual in the today"
-he seemed to be a bit different

“Ohh, cool cool" Lance was thrown off by the very average response, not even a crack of a smile. Lance fumbled to continue speaking, switching subjects in a hopefully smooth way, "I was just asking because I tend to recognize the people who pop up here, the same people you know?”

“Yeah, I get it, not like I get out much anyway. I don't expect to be recognized”

"Mhm, you've got a pretty unique look to you, at least for anyone around here" The hair was certainly, a choice
Ok it wasn't terrible, as far as mullets go he's one of few Lance can confidently say it doesn't look bad on. It may be outdated but he's a firm believer that there's always at least one out there who can make something outdated or bad look good.

“What makes you say that?”

"Probably that mullet you got”

“Mullet?"

“Yeah, you got that whole, Midwest Emo thing going on"

He watched as the man scrunched his nose up, expressing his bewilderment in a tone far different than what he'd heard of so far

Lance hadn't expected that reaction, raising his hands up he parried his previous statement with a compliment, trying to ensure that he didn't mean any offense, “Hey I don't mean anything by it, you make it work!”

The man's expression settled into a look of firm confusion

“I'm from texas"

Good looking, and knows how to banter? What a gift he has gotten today. Lance chuckles a bit at the slightly serious tint to his tone, "alright southern emo then”

“I guess that's better" His eyebrows lifted softly, his lips pressing into a light pout, a softer expression than the furrowed eyebrows stuck to his face.

He seemed to recall what he'd been doing before and turns to press the final few buttons on the washing machine, by the time he's done Lance is holding out his hand with a hopefully very charming smile

“Im Lance by the way"

The handshake was reciprocated, the man saying simply “Keith"

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

Lance left the hamper of clean folded laundry by his bedroom door, he let himself fall onto the bed as he toed off his shoes, leaving them laying haphazardly on the floor.

He grabbed his phone from his pocket and opened up his messages, heading to the group chat he had most recently opened

The goof troop groupchat:

Me: Guys, the world has shaken
The life i experienced before is no more
I now live a life forever changed

Hunk: ???

Pidge: Did you just eat something really good or did you find a stray dog

Me: Neither, for the thing that has affected me is something far superior
Something unforeseen

Pidge: dork

Hunk: oh boy I'm curious now, what's got you acting like this?”

Me: Okok, So there's this guy, that i met at the Laundromat

Pidge: Ah, it's for a booty call should've figured

Hunk: PIDGE

Me: HEY
What do you mean should've figured??
Are you calling me a slut??

Pidge: yes

Hunk: PIDGE!

Pidge: Hunk

Me: (⁠눈⁠‸⁠눈⁠)

Pidge: now hurry up and tell us about this amazing guy you met

Me: he isn't AMAZING just pretty cool
Idek why tbh, just a vibe i get from him

Hunk: what's he look like?

Me: peachy skin, black shoulder length hair, around my height, resting bitch face

Hunk: You usually get interested by girls, this guy must be real special
Do you plan on asking him out sometime?

Me: well, i mean i don't even know if he likes guys so currently i don't got plans to
I'm more just looking to coast in the situation, see what happens, flirt a little, stuff like that
Im kinda hoping my interest in the guy will encourage me to go do laundry on a consistent schedule, based on what he told me his laundry day has changed to my weekday and time

Pidge: woahh, he just miraculously changed the time he does laundry to your exact day and time? Either a stalker or a soulmate

Hunk: good luck on your new crush loverboy Lance

Lance: im so glad that nickname has stuck now

Pidge: don't make me go back to remy

Lance: a mouse practically attacks me and this is the love I get ರ⁠╭⁠╮⁠ರ

Pidge: lol

Chapter Text

Lance had grown to love this new routine he's got going on, meeting keoth to do laundry for the past four weeks. He had learned in only the second week that Keith would wash a set of clothes on friday (previously thursday) of each week, at 2pm. The weekly laundry trips, be because he simply doesn't have a large closet of clothes, his clothes got dirty that quickly, or if it was one of those routines Keith simply had, Lance wasn't sure. Either way Lance was not ashamed to admit that he started being more consistent with his schedule.

Before he would often have weeks where he'd do laundry on some random day, despite his phone calander set to remind him to do laundry on fridays at 2pm, but now he saw more of an incentive to go on the same day each week. Maybe it was silly but he was interested and it just meant more time to talk to the guy.

Today was hotter than usual, not blazing but certainly too warm for any of his go to outfits. Lance wore a white tanktop, and while he kept his jacket on him, certain would grow chily in the laundromat, he tied it around his waist instead. He just about left his bedroom when he stuttered back, deciding last second to grab the braclet of orange and white woven fabric.

Keeping things of his friends around left a comfort, reminding him of them, even while a sea was between them, much like the sun leaving him warm when he returns indoors like a distant echo. The very braclet he grabbed was made by Hunk, one of many gifts he'd cherish from them. He tied it on his wrist, grabbed his stuff and carried it out with his bike. Once everything was tied and secured he made his way to the laundromat.

Keith was already there, though appeared to have not been long as he only just started tossing shirts into the washing machine. Lance smiled, giving a soft greeting which Keith returned with a nod. Within a few minutes both of their machines were filled and running. Keith took a seat on the row of plastic chairs while Lance went to the door, the bell jinging when he opened it.

“Uh hey, your clothes are still in the machine?"

Lance chuckled, “Yeah? I'm going to the vending machine outside"

“Oh, alright" Keith went back to leaning back against the chair, his arms crossed and his ankle resting on the opposite leg's knee. Lance took a second to admire the pose, framed in a way he felt should've looked like he was trying too hard to look natural, but like anything Keith seemed to do he didn't need to try hard to look cool at all.

‘the pinnacle of cool that guy’ Lance thought to himself half sarcasticly, a small breath of a laugh leaving him as he stepped outside. The difference in the air was potent as the door shut behind him, the laundromat was a bit chilly, fully air conditioned. Meanwhile outside was nice and warm, a soft breeze that always trailed the smell of the ocean or a bakery in the city depending on its direction.

Lance stepped over to the vending machines to his left. Looking at the options he scaled what he wanted, eventually settling on an orange soda. He took out his wallet, grabbing a dollar to pull it out when-

“Mew!"

A very tiny and familiar noise made him freeze in place. He paused, halting all thoughts on the soda as he looked around to make sure he heard what he thought he did.

" Mew!”

Yup, he definitely heard it, this time louder. Immediately Lance shut his wallet and stuffed it in his pocket. He immediately began to look around trying to decipher where it came from, he tried his best to make it meow again. “Heyhey I hear you little kitty,” he began to walk towards the corner of the building, looking at the ground, "where are you?.."

The kitten meows again and following the noise Lance arrived at the drain grate in the street. He quickly lowered himself to his knees, ignoring the bite of the concrete on his skin to look close at the slats of the metal grate. He saw it! A very tiny kitten, fur a shade of brown that helped it blend in closer to the shadowed surroundings, almost camouflaging it against the similar copper colored grate.

“Aww, how'd you get down there?" He said with a cooing tone. The kitten mewed again, crowding itself a little closer to the concrete wall.

Lance was about to say something else to it when he heard the door behind him swing open with a bell ring. “What are you doing on the ground?" Lance turned around to see a very confused looking keith staring at him.

“Keith! Come here, there's a cat in the drainage hole!" Keith strided over quickly, joining Lance where he was on his hands and knees looking in the grate.

"Look, see there?" Lance pointed
It took another second before Keith located the kitten, its bright green eyes likely helping discover it. Between the slits of the metal grate.

"Can you lift the grate?"

"It might try to run off if i do" The kitten already seemed quite skittish, it wasn't hissing and swiping at them but didn't seem too eager to be grabbed if it pressing itself against the concrete wall was any sign.

Keith moved from his position to kneel on the opposite side of the grate facing Lance, "lift the grate and I'll try to catch it."

Lance nodded, he grabbed the metal grate, and lifted it, starting slow but then quickly removing it so if it did dart off Keith could catch it in time. The plan worked, the kitten luckily not running, only nervously backing away before Keith scooped it up. The cat was returned to the surface world afer its short lived adventure in the caverns, meowing loudly all the way.

"Aw lemme see" Lance said excitedly, holding his hands out. Keith obliged and handed the kitten over. Lance cooed at it, gently petting its back before scratching under its chin. "Looks like operation kitty Catastrophe was a 100 percent success"

"Kitty Catastrophe?" Keith repeated, grabbing the grate Lance has left forgotten and setting it back in uts place

"Well yeah, the pun works, don't try to argue that it doesn't!"

Despite Lance's order Keith ignored it and got straight into tearing apart Lance's perfectly crafted joke, the monster, "I feel like catastrophe would work better for a really big emergency, like..a fire?"

"Alright smart guy, what would you call this operation then?"

Keith shrugged, "I dont know, You're the one who does those lame jokes"

Lance huffed, continuing to pet the cat, "Well, out of the two of us I'm the expert when it comes to my so called lame jokes, so next time, don't be so critical hm?" He lifted the kitten higher bringing it to eye level, "you're not a big joke critic are you? You thought it was funny didn't you?"

More of its meows reached his ears, taking that as a yes we smirked victoriously at Keith, "see?"

Keith rolled his eyes, letting Lance have his ill sought victory.

The kitten no longer squirmed as much in Lances hands but was quite vocal in its, distaste? Anger? Fear? Whichever emotion it was feeling at that moment it was saying it quite loudly in short yet repeated 'mews'. Despite the tiny shouts, Lance cooed at the creature, poking his lips out at it and making a few kissing sounds. "You're such a cutie, what're we gonna do with you huh?"

"We should probably clean and feed it, then get it to a vet at some point today," Keith mused. "I've got some stuff at my place we could use"

"You have a cat??"

"No, but my brother shiro does, still have the stuff I bought to catsit for a month. Food, shampoo, cat crate"

"Oh awesome!" Lance lifted the kitten higher again, bringing it level to his face, "Hear that? Keithy's gonna get you some stuff, that'll make you happy right?"

The same noises they've been hearing for the past few minutes were said in response. Keith started walking towards his bike, moving past Lance just quick enough for him to miss the small grin "Guess that's a yes"

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

When keith returned he had a large bag of supplies in tow, the aforementioned food, as well as some supplies to get the tiny one clean. Keith and Lance both took a seat on the ground Keith pulling out a large bowl, and began to fill it with a jug he had filled with water.

"Did you, grab that from your kitchen?"

"What? Its as good as a bucket or sink isn't it?" Keith said as he grabbed the bottle of soap for cats

Lance did know that was a good point, and he knew logostically it wasn't that bizzare, but nonetheless it felt comedically keith based on what he knows of him so far. Grabbing whatever works in that moment despite the fact thats not what its for, nor probably the most effective. Learning that keith cleaned dirt from under his nails with a pencil, and shrugging when Lance mentioned the graphite would get under his nails, learning that he opens cans with a knife rather than just buying an actual canopener, and Learning that Keith had cut his hair with a knife multiple times before(its a crime against humanity that his hair looks good in the slightest).

All details cluing into the type of person Keith is. And knowing even this small bit, he already knows Keith will simply wash the bowl after and use it for chips without any thought about how it was recently used to clean a stray kitten.

With the sound of cicadas in the distance the two of them cleaned the kitten thoughly, then dried it with the large towel brought along. It had became far quieter over the course of the drying, and once Keith opened and slid over a plate of wet food the cat fully fell silent outside of any chewing sounds from the food.

Keith then looked up towards the laundrymat next to them, opening his phone he checked the time, "Our laundry should be done, watch the cat I'll move our clothes to the drier." Lance didn't have argument for that, eyes glued to the kitten getting food all over its freshly cleaned fur.

Once the food was consumed the kitten was once again cleaned and placed inside the crate with some soft bedding inside. The kitten fell asleep quickly, full and content.

Lance stood up from where he was crouched checking inside the crate, then stepped to the vending machine, suddenly reminded he hadn't gotten that soda from before. "Want something?" Keith looked at him with an arched brow, not replying "you can consider it a small thanks for all the cat stuff"

Keith thought for a moment, peeking at the options available inside before coming to his decision, "chocolate bar?"

"Classic choice," Lance deposited his money and grabbed the treats, giving Keith his chocolate and twisting off the top of his soda with a hissing fizz. He took a sip from the bottle before pulling back and looking back at Keith, "I can take the cat to the vet, wouldn't want to put that bill on you for the checkup," his tone light, and relaxed, "I've got a friend who works there anyway so it'll be a good excuse to bug her at work" Lance gently nudged Lance with his elbow, sharing a laugh at his plans to be a bug a boo at any chance he can get.

Keith snickered then nodded, swallowing his bite of chocolate, "plan to keep it?"

Lance glanced down at the crate, then laughed, "Is it that obvious I love her already?"

"A little" giving Lance a teasing smirk, "You'll need some stuff for her then-" before he could finish his phone went off, the timer ringing. He pointed a thumb towards the door to the laundrymat. Lance picked up the cat crate and followed keith inside, goosebumps raising as he was reminded of the air conditioning which was a stark constrast to the toasted warmth from summer. Although it was a nice sensation against his skin that had soaked up the warmth from outside.

Together they removed their clothes from the driers, Lance contemplated just shoving everything into his basket and folding back at home, but seeing that keith was already getting to folding some shirts and placing them neatly in his basket, he decided he could go ahead and fold them while he was here.

In gentle silence of only the air conditioning thrumming and the smell of laundry sheets they folded and set everything in place. They stepped outside again together, Lance's cold kissed skin once again enjoying the constrast with the chill he'd gotten used to. They secured their respective basket and hampers to the backs on their bikes, ensuring it was tied snuggly in place with their ropes and that no clothes would go flying out or fall out during the ride. Lance double checked that the cat crate was secured to the bike safely, and mentally made a note to take the longer way home with less bumps and ensuring an easier ride for the cat.

Keith grabbed his backpack still packed with shampoo, and towels, "you can take this with you, you'll need it more than I do"

"Oh, thanks keith"

"Its nothing, i also have a whole pallete of that cat food at home so, I could make a trip to your place to drop it off?"

Lance nodded, he would definitely need it, "oh yeah that'd be awesome!" He reached into his pocket, grabbing a crumpled up piece of paper, a receipt from something he bought earlier that day, on the page he quickly scribbled down his address
1358 south fordwell Applebite appartments apt.#6

Lance handed the paper over and capped his pen, swinging the backpack over his shoulders he climbed on the bike, with one more look at Keith he grinned, "see you there, try not to be lost mullet" and Lance pedaled off, biking down the longer path home. Keith watching him leave until he lost sight of his around the corner he turned

Chapter Text

He should be home right now
Drinking tea, sleeping, anything with as little energy as possible. But instead he was pedaling as steadily as he could, forcing his brain to work past everything within him trying its hardest to make him turn around.

He's well aware this isn't doing him any favors, but at this point he just can't ignore it. He'd already been due to go down to the laundromat when he got sick as a dog, he already knew shivering under his blankets that he'd just have to rewear a few shirts and pants. He was sure he'd be fine to deal with skipping a week, he'd done it before. That was until a couple of incidents that occured

A couple of instances in which he accidentally spilled soup and noodles on himself, though that was mostly fine, he scrubbed the shirt and pants best he could in the sink. Did the fact the shirt didn't smell like his laundry detergent and that it wasn't soft when dried bug him? Of course it did but he could deal with it, he was gonna have to because he refused to bike anywhere in the state he was in

Though, then the second incident happened shortly after, in which waking up in the middle of the night to the immediate need to throw up led to an unfortunate mess on his pile of dirty laundry before he made it to the bathroom.

Gross, gross, gross, so gross, once again he tried to clean off everything in the pile that had gotten hit in the sink, but even adding laundry detergent and scrubbing as much as he could just didn't seem to do the trick, at least not for him. Sure he got it off on a surface level, but he couldn't get the smell out of his mind. Swore it was stuck to the clothes like glue, and if the smell was stuck there, it was easy for his brain to remind him of possible residue still in the fabrics. The thought was nearly enough to make him gag. He wanted to ignore it, but once it was in his head, it wouldn't leave, unable to stop thinking about the puke clothes waiting to be cleaned the way they should.

He needed to have them be cleaned properly, come out smelling like lavender and feeling soft. So he collected everything into his hamper, secured it to his bike, put on a face mask, and started off.

With a thankfully uneventful bike ride Keith trudged through the doors of the laundromat, now more than ever he was glad for the lack of people, not looking to worry about getting a bunch of people sick. Keith hoisted his laundry basket off the bike, but with a sudden wave of nausea, he made the smarter decision to set it on the ground, dragging the basket behind him and into the laundry mat. He arrived at the second machine on the third row and opened it up, beginning to throw in his clothes. Within only moments of putting a few shirts into the machine he heard the doors bell ring and a voice speak shortly after.

“keith?" Looking over, Lance stood in the doorway, carrying his own set of laundry. He quickly closed the distance between them and set his laundry on the floor before standing back up, his hands on his hips as he started speaking his rapid fire thoughts. “What have you been up to? You missed a week. Laundry was way more boring than usual without you around!” Keith cringed a bit behind his mask, learning just how easily Lance's louder tone of voice could make his headache crackle in his skull like angry pop rocks.

Lance’s eyebrow lifted, taking notice of what Keith wore on his face, “And what's with the facemask? You never wore that before”

Keith was grateful for the lowering of volume, “I’m sick" his voice sounding raw and strained

"Woah what?!” Keith failed to hold back a groan hearing Lance's exclamation, the volume rattling his brain and making him hold the side of his head. Lance quickly reeled back, looking apologetic before ensuring his words were at a lower volume, “My bad, but seriously what??"

"Why are you so surprised I'm sick?”

Lance made a face when he got a fuller dose of Keith’s voice “Dude you sound like a wrestler.." he whispered and before Keith could comment on the exaggeration, Lance moved on to his next concern, " No, I'm talking about the fact you're here? Like..at the laundromat? Did you bike here??”

"How else was I gonna get here?"

“Why- you- Keith you should be at home resting!”

"I know that!-” Keith’s voice raised a bit louder, realizing his mistake when he broke off into a set of coughs, “But I got a bunch of my clothes dirty and gross, I tried to wash them in the sink but they're not clean enough, I couldn't let them lie around until I was better!” Keith combated, crossing his arms in frustration. There was a brief silence, Keith could see the confusion on Lance’s face, and yeah he knew his reason sounded strange. Who the hell would go out feeling like they just got raised from the dead just to clean clothes that could wait a few more days?
Keith would, otherwise he wouldn't be here.

Lance still hadn't given another response, so Keith figured he should hirry and get it over with. He went to grab another shirt to throw in the wash before Lance grabbed it out if his hands. Keith groaned, reaching out to grab the shirt again, “Lance, I'm not in the mood for-"

Lance held up his hand to him, "Keith if i wash these clothes for you will you please go home and rest?"

Keith paused, staring up at him, “what?"

“What? Are your ears congested too? I'll do your laundry and when it's done I'll drop it off for you at home, alright?"

Keith stared in confusion, "Are you serious?"

Lance gently grabbed his shoulder, turning him and guiding him over to the section of seats in front of the large window of the building, "Yes Keith im serious, sit down before you die or something" he softly pushes keith down into one of the chairs.

Obediently he sat down, his head thankful for the fact it was no longer in charge of keeping him standing and upright. He allowed himself to relax into the plastic chair, his arms wrapping around himself, shivering. He watched with half open eyes as Lance put the rest of the clothes into the washer. Once it was done Lance poured in the detergent, shut the door, put in the quarters, and the washer was started.

Lance set both their laundry baskets on top of the running machines and walked over to Keith where he gently nudged his shoulder, “Alright, let's get you to bed.”

Keith nodded and strung himself up to his feet and with dragging steps. Although he wasn't all too happy about standing he sent reminders to himself that he just needed to ride home, and then he was scot free to not move an inch for as long as he could manage. Keith walked to his bike, and kicked off the standing mount when Lance spoke from behind him.

“what're you doing? You're not biking back"

Keith lifted an eyebrow as he looked back at him, a second passed as his mind gave him a plausible theory as to what Lance was thinking. "Are you-"

"About to drive you home, yes, yes i am" he said with his hands poised on his hips, an all too satisfied look to his face.

Lance walked over to his own bike, kicking it off its stand and wheeling closer to keith. He got onto the seat and looked at Keith expectantly.

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

Keith mentally tossled with himself, why did he have to have such little resolve? His face pressed against Lances back and held onto his waist he sat on the back portion of the bike used to hold cargo.

His pride wished he had argued more and insisted he could finish his laundry by himself, or at least bike home, but the bigger part of him longed for his bed, to lay down in his sheets while he ached and burned with fever under the blanket. The sick part of him longed for this exact scenerio, something to whisk him away back home while also getting to have his laundry taken care of magically, but rather than some mystical force or fairy of good will and health it was the guy from the laundrymat hes been seeing on the regular, which Keith now realizes must have been in a long winded spewl scolding Keith for going out while sick.

He wonders mentally how long he must've been going on for considering he was now midway through an empassioned story about one of his older siblings who refused to rest while sick and wound up staying sick for five weeks.

They arrived back at Keiths apartment complex, he was grateful to find he was almost home, a short walk (that he was grateful Lance actually let him make himself), and he got to the door. He quickly unlocked it and stepped inside. Keith sluggishly removing his shoes and tossing them to the side, mentally promising to grab them later, then callaposed into bed, cold and tired, wrapping himself in his blankets.

Peeking his head back out he saw Lance looking atound the room, peering at his bedside table and the top of his dresser.

"Where's your medicine?"

"Don't have any" he shut his eyes for a moment to bask in the soft embrace of his mattress. When he didn't hear anothrg response, he looked up, seeing Lance with his hand to his face, the purest form of disappointment.

Lance then composed himself and clapped his hands together, taking a breath, "Ok, what are your symptoms?"

"Whuh?"

Lance snorted, then cleared his throat, "your symptoms?"

Keith went through a checklist of his body, then began listing as he registered what was wrong, "fever, throwing up, achy? Tired, cold, headache.. I think that's it?"

"Alright then, I'm heading to the store then, see you in a bit"

Keith bundled the blankets tighter as more goosebumps raised over his body, listening to Lance leave, and too focused on the headache swirling through his skull to remember that he didn't give Lance any money

When Lance returned he had a few bags full of supplies. Lance set out a couple containers of liquid medicine, day and night on his bedside table. As well as some pain reliver. Outside of the medicine he was surprised to find Lance bought saltine crackers, as well as cans of soup. "I wasn't sure what you liked so i grabbed a couple of multiple, could always just return what you don't like" he says waving the receit.

"You didn't have to buy all this" keith said, holding the box of crackers in his hands, he kinda wished he had fought harder to get Lance not to buy anything, it feels like alot to buy just because he's sick

"No but i wanted to, you look miserable right now, you need to get better asap, no one likes being sick" he grabbed the empty plastic bags balling them up in his hand. "Besides, I don't wanna go much longer without my laundry buddy, its not nearly as enjoyable"

Keith felt his heart warm a little, both from everything bought and Lance's words, something about knowing he makes something as simple as laundry enjoyable, its sweet. "I'll pay you back"

"Nah, consider the supplies you gave me for Cappy the repayment." Keith reminded of everything he gave Lance for the cat he decided to keep

Keith could have reminded Lance that it was just lying around his apartment and wasn't really a strain on his wallet, but he was stopped before he could bother, because Lance is showcasing the bag of soups he bought, "which one do you want?" He supposed the reminder wouldn't have convinced Lance otherwise

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

Before Lance started naking the soup
Yep lance was making the soup for him as well, completely ignoring Keith saying it wasn't necessary, making him give up the fight rather quickly. Lance shoved the medicine into his hands, telling him to take a cap full of the liquid in the container. Keith obeyed, swallowing the disgusting liquid and sticking his tounge out at the taste

Before long lance was cooking up a pot full of cream of mushroom soup. Keith always hated the eating part of being sick, hated how he lacked appetite even for things he actually enjoyed, but nonetheless he stomached it, not only for his own health but out of pure gratefulness of Lance doing so much for him, bringing spoonful to spoonful of the food and forcing down some crackers.

By the time he ate half the bowl he was really starting to slow down, Lance stretched his arms above his head, "well, I should get back to the laundrymat, our clothes are probably close to done washing. Once everythings done I'll walk your clothes and bike over."

"Do you plan to walk both bikes over here?" He questioned, lance couldn't strap keith's bike to his, just sounds like a good way to take up space in the bike lane, or scratch it, so the best option would be Lance carefully walking each bike with the strapped in laundry to his apartment by his sides.

"Yup"

"Lance."

"Its not that long of a walk away calm downn" he said waving his hand at him "besides its a nice day, a little extra movement won't kill me"

Keith still felt unsure about everything but Lance seemed certain. So unbothered by going out of his way and being inconvenienced thanks to Keith's sickness. Lance bid him his goodby

Enough time had passed when Lance returned for Keith to have begun to doze off, eyes heavy and ready to fall into that delicious embrace of the sandman. Once he had begun to though he heard the sound of the door opening, hearing what sounded like Lance setting the bike next to the door, and then a small noise as he hoisted something up in his arms. Lance walked back through the apartment and into Keith's room, his hamper in his arms, folded and clean laundry set inside.

Lance set the hamper next to his dresser, then looked at keith, noticing he was still awake. "You better keep up with that medicine and food, otherwise im coming back here and forcing you to get better"

"Promise?" Keith said quietly from under his pile of blankets

Lance rolled his eyes and shook his head in amused disbelief, "get better soon keith"

He left the bedroom and soon the front door opened and was shut again, leaving Keith to his silence. He shut his eyes again, feeling sleep starting to lull him back in, incredibly thankful for the mystical force that was Lance that brought him back home with clean and folded laundry.

Chapter Text

Keith still wasn't used to whatever was going on

For a few weeks now Lance has become a constant part of his laundry routine. He was under the impression that their first time talking was nothing more than idle conversation with a man who felt it was necessary, but then Lance continued to pop up, continued to incite conversations and he couldn't say it was bad.

Lance was still as confusing as their first encounter, bringing up refrences to things he himself didn't know about, which never ceased to leave Lance absolutely appalled, and telling a plentiful bounty of stories.

Their clothes have been tossed into the washer and started running. Keith taking a seat on one of the chairs, mostly just staring off into the laundryomat, thinking about what he might have for dinner that night, or what he'll do when hes back home.

Keith tipped his head back in the seat, looking up at the ceiling

"Whatcha doing"

When keith tilted his head to look at him Lance had his hand propped on his palm, looking at him curiously.

"Nothing"

"Dont have anything to do except stare into space?" He teased

Keith shrugged "Phones dead, forgot to charge it" Lance silently mouthed oh, "anything to entertain me?" Keith asked half heartedly.

He paused for a moment before his eyes lit up, an idea hatching. He opened his satchel, reached inside and pulled out a book, holding it out to Keith, “You a reader?"

Keith took the book from his hand looking at the cover intently, "A little bit, didn't think you were though.”

“Oh haha, very funny" Lance deadpanned, reaching into his bag to grab the other book he brought along.

“Not like that" Lance looked back over at him, an eyebrow raised, Keith having paused in his careful study of the books cover to look at him “You're pretty energetic and sporadic, didn't think reading would be able to keep up with you”

Lance smiled lightly, “Alright, fair" crossing his arms and leaning back into the chair, "I'll admit I like reading but sometimes it's reallyy hard to finish one.” Lance shuddered to think about the books he had still not completed, some of which he's had on his shelf for years, waiting to be flipped to the last page.

“Hm"

Keith flipped the book to its back, looking at the synopsis. It looked to be some sci fi adventure, a group of friends on a pirate ship traveling to the vast cosmic trails of space to find a friend that was trapped in a far off planet, seems about right for Lance.

He flipped to the first page, he might as well give it a try.

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

Keith was knee deep into the book, barely putting it down long enough to transfer his clothes to the dryer when they were done washing. He felt like he hadn't gotten into a book in a long time, one of those things that just got away from him in his day to day life, but now he wondered if he should start heading to the bookstore a little more. The words on the pages shifted and turned to deep hues of purple and blue mixing like watercolors with glowing dots as the protagonists sailed on spacedust, but even better, was that the story itself wasn't its only charm.

Along the margins and emoty spaces of the pages were plenty of pieces of notes and commentary, mostly written in blue ink. On occation he'd come across a colorful slip of paper or a highlighted sentence. Small doodles littered about of the main characters, special objects, and antagonists in different parts of the story.

“Yoo, Keith wake up buddy" Lance waved a hand in front of Keith. He finally raised his head, his immersion broken. “The dryer's are done"

“Oh, right, let me just finish this page really quick” Lance smirked, keith suddenly felt like Lance could see right through him,“What?"

“Tell you what, you keep this and keep on reading, then next week you can give it back.” Lance stood up and set the strap of his satchel over his shoulder, Keith following in suit, holding the closed book in his hands. " Or yaknow, however long it takes you to finish it”

“You're just letting me borrow this?"

“Well yeah, how else are you gonna keep reading?"

“Aren't you worried about it getting lost, or something?"

Lance shrugs it off waving a hand at him dismissively already walking towards the dryers, “That's not my only copy, it's just my paperback version"

Lance opened up his dryer door, pulling out an arm full of clothes and setting it into his basket, grinning at keith an eyebrow raised, "The sooner you fold your clothes the sooner you get home to keep reading"

Keith hummed, slipping a bookmark in between the pages and setting it down, walking towards their dryers.

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

Lance looked at the lineup of books set up on its shelf, he had quite a few books he hadn't read or completed reading, all set up on the top shelf, though his eyes wandered lower, running over the other books he's collected. He was never gonna be tired of re reading books and he wouldn't be opposed to starting from the beginning or picking a few select chapters of one of his completed reads before bed.

His eyes stared at each book spine as his mind weighed the interest in each one. He considered grabbing one of the paperback copies he bought specifically for annotations, then his eyes found the copies of the book he'd let Keith borrow earlier, thinking about it made him grin at how easily Keith got the dreaded book fever, unable to set it down.

The recent event brought memories of scenes in the book in its wake, and with a renewed interest he reached for the second paperback copy he had available, the third copy of course being a hardcover. He grabbed the paperback from the shelf and walked towards his bed.

Usually Lance would only get one hardcover and one paperback, (at least for books he really enjoyed) and the paperback would be filled with annotations, analyses, doodles, and notes. Though with this specific book, he had gotten gifted the same one for his birthday a year back by Hunk and Pidge, and didn't see a problem with keeping both, at least for the funny memory. So he filled up the book he held with as many notes as he could fit and left the other one blank. He flipped to the first page and began to read in his head, ‘chapter o-’ his mind and body froze.

Didn't he write a note at the bottom of the first page?

Lance felt the rollercoaster in his body drop down that steep hill and he immediately flipped through the rest of the pages. He flipped again and again, hoping that for the love of everything good and loving he'd see slips of colored square papers, and notes scribbled in black or colored pen, but all he was given were black print text on solid white paper.

Nope, no, no, this could not be happening to him

There were two things on his mind that were leaving that rollercoaster of emotions settled firmly at the bottom of his stomach.

One, his annotations were important to him, he took a lot of time doing them, and some note taking would span over a long time frame, as he'd often catch new things to note about on re reads. The idea of the book getting damaged or lost or stolen was a nightmare
Two, and most importantly, a very cool, very attractive guy has them, and is going to read them.
“Oh goddd.." he groaned, head in his hands. He couldn't possibly remember everything he wrote in there, he couldn't imagine the amount of dumb side comments or jokes Keith will end up seeing

He silently curses his past self for completely forgetting he grabbed the annotated version of the book. If he didn't have a chance with Keith before, he definitely won't after he reads those notes.

He was already rolling in his pure embarassment when he nearly choked on air when he remembered that Keith was already reading while at the laundromat. He buries his face in his hands and falls back into the bed. ‘Why didn't he say anything?? He must think I meant for him to read it! Oh my goddd this is the worst, fuck everything..’

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Keith settled under his blanket, quickly grabbing the borrowed book from where he set it on his bedside table. Fresh from his shower his attention was allowed to be undivided from the book.

He was surprised when Lance told him had two different copies of a book, both with annotations, or did he mean that he simply had two of the same book? The latter sounded more likely (he couldn't imagine how long it'd take to copy each note into a second book), though that didn't explain how unbothered he was with lending him the book he held. He would've imagined he'd be more guarded about it, especially with only knowing Keith for a few weeks now.

Despite any of it though he wasn't going to let the book be damaged, even if Lance somehow had two annotated books he wouldn't be so careless with property lended to him. Keith made sure to set his drink just a bit farther from him on the table than he usually did.

Hours passed as he delved into the story the day, reaching closer and closer to night until a yellow glow shined past his half open blinds. Over the course of reading keith made a habit to read the pages first, then going back to read each annotation and note

'does..does winston have a praise kink or something?'

'oh my godd this entire time i was imagining Percy with curly red hair why is her hair black'

'when I'm in a don't piss off space sirens competition and my opponent is Nick, no seriously what the fuck was that nick??'

'nick you are literally the biggest moron I have ever seen why do I like you'

'not gonna lie thought Penny was gonna call him a whore for a second there'

'#letpennycallWinstonawhore'

'omg winston is so hot, they better never make a movie adaptation because my bisexuality will not handle it i will be insufferable'

Keith chuckled more than a few times at the commentary, but beyond the jokes and annoyed comments Lance could really get into the meat of the story, noting down parts he found interesting, and linking things to other parts of the story that keith wasn't sure he'd notice if the notes didn't tell him.

'i keep noticing apples showing up in some scenes, im almost certain that this'll mean something big in later chapters, I think it symbolizes incoming chaos or trouble'

'As much as nick can make dumb decisions his really ballsy decisions can be fun to read, especially in this scene where him making a reckless decision actually helps everyone'

'This water planet cannot be good news, somethings gotta go wrong i just know it'

'thats another apple this place is no good i know itt'

'I KNEW IT I WAS RIGHT SUCK ITTT IM A GENIUS, BUT ALSO OH NO'

'oh goddd that injury percy got, its the exact same as the woman she had to fight back in chapter 15'

His mind flicked back to the laundromat, that cat-like smirk Lance had when Keith wanted to finish one more page. He couldn't help it if the extra notes were entertaining. Lance smirked as if he could see into his mind like his skin and bone was made of glass. His ears burned, embarrassed at how Lance seemed to clearly tell he enjoyed reading his notes, Jeez, could he be anymore obvious.

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

Keith has returned to the Laundromat a week later, already at the washers ehen he heard the door open, the door jingling as it swung open.

"Heyyy keith" Lance called out to him from the door. Keith waved at him, Lance hurrying over with his basket. "So I-"

Keith grabbed the borrowd boom, holding it out to Lance, "Thanks for the book" lance blinked, then took it from him.

"You-you finished it already?"

"Yeah, it was great honestly," keith shut the washer of clothes, "Your notes were really good too, fun to read" keith's eyes stayed fixed to his laundry, unable to look at Lance in the eyes as he admitted the enjoyment he got from the read.

"Oh..." Lance set the book on top of the washer, "thanks"

Chapter Text

The goof troop groupchat:

Pidge: lance stop being chicken
Me: im not!!
Pidge: then get out there and ask him! You're not even asking him out yet
Me: Ó⁠╭⁠╮⁠Ò
Hunk: you can do it buddy!

Lance groaned where he laid on the bed, he was up and ready to head to the beach, he was in his swimtrunks, a tanktop, flipflops and a bag full of snacks, water, and other essentials he'd likely need. All that was missing was to ask the guy he'd gotten closer with to join him.

Lance was still arguing with himself in his head by the time he was biking away from his apartment and where he knew Keith lived. Would it be weird to just show up without notice? What if keith thought he was weird? Its not like he could call first he didn't even have Keith's number.

Lance walked towards Keith's apartment door, double checking his memory before knocking. Long seconds passed as he waited for the door to open. He shifted his weight from leg to leg, crossing his arms, then uncrossing them, then rubbing his palms together. Still no answer. Mentally the urge to tug himself away to the beach on his own felt far more tempting, he probably wasn't even home, probably at work. Lance resigned to himself that he had tried but it just didn't work out, that was until Keith spoke from his right.

"Lance?"

lance shrieked, "Oh my god! keith get a bell on you or something!!"

Keith stood wearing casual attire, in his right hand was a plastic bag full of items. "Sorry" he said not sounding apologetic in the slightest, "what're you doing here?"

"Oh! I uh-" Lance faultered, "I just, wanted to see if you were wanting to join me to go to the beach?" He flapped his hand up and down dissmisively, "but if you're busy or something its totally not a big deal, just thought I'd, offer..you..yeah"

Keith looked at his confused for a moment, he blinked a couple times, then seened to regain his bearings to actually answer, "Uh okay" keith walked towards his apartment door, unlocking it, "just let me get my stuff and we can go" Lance nodded, keith letting Lance into the apartment while he got ready. Lance looked at the minimalistic decor of the apartment, despite already seeing it when he helped out sick keith he took his time to look over everything. After a short time Keith returned wearing a loose white t shirt and red swim trunks, holding a pale tote bag filled with items.

He grabbed his bike from where it was propped against the wall, "Ready to go?"

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

Lance removed his surfboard from where he'd tied it to his bike, holding it under his arm as they walked towards the beach. Keith casted a glance at the board.

"Didn't know you surfed"

"Ah yeah, guess I never thought to bring it up. I do it from time to time"

"What's it like? Never done it before" keith let his beach bag drop to the sand, deciding the spot arrived was good enough to set up. Keith grabbed a towel and laid it out, and Lance set his own beach bag nearby.

"Dude its like super fun! Its pretty much the closest you can get to flying" lance pursed his lips softly "except airplanes i guess, and zip lining..and air gliding"

"And sky diving?"

"Nope, thats just falling with style" keith looked like he wanted to argue, but closed his mouth, as he realized he agreed.

As Lance held his surfboard under his arm, an idea for a question came to mind, holding back his wide grin and instead setting it into a soft, casual smile as he saw an opening to a question he wasn't sure how to ask for quite some time. "Besides, surfing can do wonders for getting people to take a look at you," He winked, "Girls, guys, anyone you're into" boom, bam, pow, perfect opening, he subtley looked at keith from the side of his eyes, trying to gauge his reaction.

Keith's expression didn't seem to change, still staring out at the waves. Lance nearly felt himself crumble thinking Keith wouldn't acknowledge or even give a differing facial expression for him to figure out when the great powers that be gave him some mercy, "don't really wanna catch any girls attention"

Fireworks and applauses went off in Lances head, his genius knows no bounds! He finally knew Keith liked guys! He already made a mental note to rub the victorious play in pidge's face when he got home.

"Won't it be kinda hard for us to surf on one board?"

"Eh, all you have to do is keep balance and follow my lead, I won't do any crazy tricks or anything, your balance can't be worse than pidge" Keith looked unsure, but nonetheless he must've been intrigued enough to continue despite it. "Come on, I'll give you a ride on old Blue" he said, gesturing towards his board. Lance excitedly guided him towards the water, the two of them wadding into the ocean.

The two of them got onto the surfboard once they were far enough into the water, Lance paddling them further out as a big enough wave neared them. The water was warm and filled Lance with excitement, ready for them to fly through the wave as the board gained speed. When they got to the right moment Lance quickly told Keith to stand, letting keith keep a hand on his arm as he stood. The board then begining to glide through the funnel of water.

The familiar spray of sea water flew over them as they went through the tunnel. Light shining through the dropplets and bringing a rainbow before them. Keith seemed a little stiff but overall did well at keeping his balance, preventing them from falling. Soon they exited the funnel successfully, managing to not tip over and get waterlogged by the waves.

"See? You're doing great!" Lance encouraged.

"Yeah" keith replied, his voice sounding brighter and lively. Lance lowered himself down, alongside keith, and began to paddle back, ready to get them to the next wave.

Together they continued to glide through waves, a few times keith had fallen off, sometimes bringing Lance with him, despite his first successful attempt that wouldn't steal away the opportunity to be eaten by the sea. Many surfing attempts both failed and succeeded later lance and keith were drifting along when something caught keiths eye. An opening inside of the large cliff that overlooked the water near the beach.
"Whats that place?"

"A little cavern area, you've never seen inside before?"

Keith shook his head

"Hmm, well then, lets see inside!" Lance began to paddle them both over to the entrance.

As they paddled closer the shadow from the cliff side cast over the water, and as they moved closer into the cave the water grew a bit colder, with the lack of sunlight it has casted inside

Inside the cavern were walls and ceilings covered in a sparkling expanse of beauty, shimmering like clusters of glitter and stars. While Lance couldn't see the look on his face sitting behind him on the board he enjoyed watching keith stare up at the cavern.

"It's kinda lucky this place isn't over run by tourists" Keith commented

"Oh definitely, lets hope it stays that way awhile" Lance chuckles.

Lance and keith stayed in the cavern for some time, simply enjoying the slight cold of the area with its shade, and looking up at the walls of glimmers and shines, resembling a nightsky quite closely. Though eventually the two of them departed from the cave, returning to the open water and making their way towards the shore.

"Hey whats that thing?" Keith pointed towards the shore. Kance looked around him, seeing a large disk shaped creature with a long tail dragging itself along the beach. Lance already had an idea of what it was but paddled them closer until they both stood up and walked the rest of the way from the water, keith walking a little faster, curious to see what it was.

In front of them was a beached sea creature, trotting along the shoreline with its long pointed tail and circular top. Lance cringed at it, "horseshoe crab"

Keith walked around it, standing behind it for a moment and staring down, before he grabbed its sides, holding it up and out towards Lance. Lance shrieked, jumping back as he got an eyeful of the giant scittering legs and its swinging spiney tail, "God- put that down keith."

"Not a fan of horseshoe crabs?" Keith smirked, watching how Lance was curled away from the animal.

"What do you think?"

"I think its kinda cute"

"You would think that wouldn't you" Lance said giving him a narrow eyed expression.

Keith shrugged, setting the crab back onto the sand, a little further in the water, letting it crawl its way back to the ocean properly.

Arriving back to the beach lance opened up his beach bag, grabbing one of his water bottles and gulping it down, not realizing how thirsty he had begun until he had the water in his hands. As he rifled through his bag for the ziplock bag of apple slices he packed himself he noticed Keith out the corner of his eye messing with the sand.

He bit an apple slice in half and looked over to keith, seeing as he began to put together a flat bed of sand.

"Sandcastles?"

"Mhm, i need to go grab wet sand though," keith reached into his bag and pulled out two plastic buckets, one red with a blue handle, the other blue with a red handle. He tossed the red one at lance and stood up already heading to where the water kissed the shore and left heaps of wet sand to scoop.

Lance was a little surprised, he had brought a volleyball along and while he didn't have a net a line in the sand could work fine, but instead Keith wanted to make sand castles? He wouldn't complain however, no matter how old he is its one of those activities that you just had to do at the beach, even if he hadn't actually done it since he last met with his family back home.

So with their bucket of sand they both settled down, working on their masterpieces like the masters of art they were.

As he worked along diligently he repeatedly had to reinforce areas of the sand structure, and with his patience lance was starting to feel proud of his creation, it wasn't a perfect square, a little rounded and fragile in areas but it was coming along.

By the time he'd turned his head to look back at keith his eyes bulged as he was smoothing out a tower, the structure resembling something out of a princess fairytale. Surrounding it were smaller pieces of architecture for a building, clear to Lance he was making an actual medieval sand castle.

Seeing that, the competitive side of his brain lights up and shines through him, getting an idea that at least somewhat doesn't put him to shame. Lance started over, smoothing out a steady base of sand so it was as flat as he could manage, then, scooping up piles of wet sand he ditifully began to sculpt his masterpiece.

Once it was completed Keith had constructed two smaller rectangular towers beside the tallest and a wall surrounding it. When Keith looked at him to check Lance's progress he saw him arms crossed and smiling proudly.

"What is that?"

Lance smiled harder, if that was even possible, and grabbed a tiny piece of a stick, placing it on top of the half sphere that was smooth and pretty even on all sides. "Its Patrick's house"

Lance knew it was a bit of a cheap play, but forgive him if he wants to be able to build something technically accurate

"The resemblance is uncanny" keith said flattly.

Lance jutted his lip out, crossing his arms, "Hey its accurate thats all I care about, You're the one showing off your architecture degree with sand"

Keith smirked at him, "you're real competitive aren't you?"

"I wouldn't say competitive, more like.. willing to challenge myself"

"Uh huh" Keith's tone sounding unconvinced "well how about we find something different to 'challenge' yourself on so its not so unfair, make a game of it"

Lance thought about it hard, thinking of what they could do against each other that doesn't leave the other in a severe disadvantage. Keith allowed him to think on it not rushing his thought process.

Finally, his mind struck an idea, "We could-" lance turns his head mid sentence and completely freezes, throat constricting and barely able to keep the sound of him choking on his breath from alerting keith, who was currently removing his shirt. Under the sun his skin had tanned lightly, but with his shirt removed it was a stark contrast, enough to send Lances unsuspecting mind and eyes into a blind panic he could barely contain. "-could go grab some shells!" He forced out, keith looking at him oddly as he realized he said that last part maybe a tad louder than he should have, his voice cracking.

Lance swallowed, resteadying himself and continuing, "We both take, lets say thirty minutes to look around for a seasell we think can win, and when we show each other the less cool seashell holder will buy the slushies at the cornerstore!"

"You sound eager"

"Of course, because this'll be-"

"Eager to lose" keith said cutting off Lance's sentence

Lance held his hand to his chest, gasping in offense, "Don't make me laugh!" Lance quickly pulled out his phone, setting a timer for thirty minutes, then turning to start jogging down the beach, shouting back, "Good Luck you're gonna need it!"

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

The two of them stepped outside, cold plastic cups in hand, they both walked to the side, out of the way from the entrance and sat on the curb of the cornerstore giving them a break from the sand of the beach.

Beside them sat two shells, one being a large conchshell, the other being an elongated spiral shaped shell, although significantly smaller, only about the suze of Lance's palm in length.

Lance took a slow long sip from his cup, having chosen the orange soda flavor "Ah, Victory sure is sweet" Lance said trying to rub the win in keiths face

"I also have a slushie, so you're not exactly making me jealous"

"Yeah but you don't have the delectable syrup of victory!"

"You're right, all I have is the delicious syrup of this slushie flavor" Keith punctuated his point with a sip from his straw

"Uh huh, keep coping" Lance puncuated his point with a hardy slurp from his straw, taking a far bigger portion from his cup into his mouth. His satisfaction at his comeback was halted however when a sudden piercing headache flew through his head, straining and painful, "ACK BRAINFREEZE"

He cringed holding his head as he tried to get it to subside, groaning at the frozen headache. Beside him Keith began to laugh, though nothing like any of the laughs lance had heard before. He always gave soft chuckles when Lance said something ridiculous, pushing out a breathy laugh if Lance said something particularly amusing, but this was fully joyous and unwrapped from the general quiet of Keith's demenor.

Lance looked beside him through squinted eyes, still cringing but wanting to catch a look at keith. His head was thrown back, his smile stretching wide across his face. His laugh wasn't necessarily booming, if anything he'd probably consider it a pretty average volume, but Keith never sounds like that. His voice never gets that quiet gasp in the middle when his breath has to be brought back for another long laugh, never sounds that cute, and the pain of the brainfreeze doesn't feel unrewarding.

*⁠´⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+

The goof troop groupchat:

me: SUCK IT PIDGE IM A GENIUS
Pidge: really now?
Me: I managed to figure out Keith's sexuality WITHOUT asking him directly
Hunk: Awesome Lance!! I get twenty dollars from pidge!
Pidge: whateverrr, literally would've been easier to ask him outright though
Me: but i still figured it out didn't i?(⁠｢⁠`⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠)⁠｢
Pidge: what did he say exactly?
Me: he said 'i dont really wanna catch any girls attention'
Hunk:...
Me: what?
Hunk: uh..not to rain on your parade buddy, but couldn't that also mean he just isn't interested in a relationship at the moment?
Me:WHAT NO??
pidge: i get twenty dollars from hunk
Me: NO YOU DON'T YOU DON'T KNOW IF THATS RIGHT

Chapter Text

Usually the laundromat was pretty reliable, but it seems some bad luck had struck as when they arrived at the building the place was closed. Outside at the doors the owner stood on the phone.

The two of them screeched to a halt on the asphalt, the owner greeting them, "Hey there, if you're looking to use the laundromat unfourtunately somethin' happened with our electricity, hell if I know why, but now the place is closed until the electrians can come down and fix it"

Lance nodded in understanding, "aw that sucks"

"Sorry you two had to bike all the way here, you could always head to the other laundromats further into the city, or feel free to come back later today maybe round eight?"

Keith nodded his head, "I'll come back by here later today, I dont mind the wait" he was used to the building by now, he didn't know if the other laundromats would be drastically different in how their machines were run, and besides he was a man of habit, he'd rather not break the habit he has. "You going to another Laundromat Lance?"

Lance shook his head, "Nah, I can wait too"

The owner grinned, "well nice to know I got such loyal customers" Lance chuckled at that, keith smiled and the two of them and turned back around, returning the way they came, keith hearing lance shout "see you at eight!" Before disappearing from view.

Hours passed them by, getting other things around their respective apartments done or passing time with some other activity of their own. Once it neared eight the sun could be seen inching closer to the horizon, getting close to golden hour. Keith and lance departed on their bikes, luck and similar minds bringing them to arrive back at the laundromat at very close intervals.

The owner stood nearby, smoking a cigarette and blowing it out to the air, noticing Lance and Keith arriving she waved to them walking a little closer before she began to speak, "Hey there, sorry but it's still probably another hour before the place gets fixed up" With the message was relayed she walked back near the front of the business, not wanting to get the cigarette smoke in their faces. The two of them rested a foot on the ground as they sat on their bikes, Lance asking a question

"So, you heading home again?"

"Probably not, might just hang around the area, don't really wanna bike back home for an hour wait"

"Maybe we could go out and do something? I could go for a snack or two. Any places you like?"

Keith thought for a moment then replied, "Uh, don't think the places I go are all that interesting"

"Aw come on" lance threw his arm around keiths shoulders, "surely there's someplace you like? Bakery?"

"I get my bread from the grocery store"

"Cat cafe?"

"Never seen it"

"Thrift store??" Lance said exasperated, surely Keith would have at least went to a thrift store a couple times

"No"

Lance looked at him bewildered

"Told you I dont get out much"

"Well yeah but I didn't think you meant it like that! How have you lived here for a year and not looked around?" Lance splayed his arms out in gesture to the, everything around them "we live in the city with some of the best bakeries and resturants! Seasonal festivals! Gorgeous city plantlife! Theres an amusement park keith!"

"There is?"

Lance slapped his hands over his face, dragging them down and looking at keith with an incredulous expression, "keith you're fucking joking"

Keith shrugged unbothered, he had what worked for him. When he started living here he scoped out the businesses he would likely need and once he found what he needed he stayed in his own little circle. A grocery store, clothing store, hardware store, his job, the beach, the laundromat, the corner store. He didn't need much and he was happy with his system.

"Alright, I can't allow this travesty to continue a day longer," he adjusted himself on the bike standing more upright rather than leaning to the side, "come on you shut-in we're going out on the town"

Keith followed his action, Lance starting to bike off slowly leading him to the shopping areas of the city, keith following near him

Keith didn't have anything better to do, and he supposed Lance's insistence on everything available made him a bit curious. He listened to lance ramble about different areas of the city closest to them when they arrived at a small store, smelling like baked goods, leaving their bikes out front and swinging the door open, stepping inside.

"Smells good in here" keith commented

"Right? That's because- say it with me," he gestured with his arms open "everything here is freshly made" He began to look around the glass cases, looking at various types of breads and pastries, all looking delicious. "Trust me, this is way different than simple store bought stuff"

"I'll take your word for it"

Keith followed Lance idly as he began to pick out some items, a few different bread options that keith felt was a little much, couldn't he just get a loaf of bread? But Lance insisted the different types would be amazing added to a good dinner. Keith wasn't even the one buying so he let Lance feel free, and if he was right he'd willingly admit he was wrong, even if Lance would whoop about his victory in his typical exagerated fashion.

Once they were done they had a big plastic bag filled with a fresh loaf of bread, bread rolls, and a pair of chocolate muffins, which keith had looked at and lance excitedly added them in.

They began to bike to the next part of the city Lance had planned, the city always had this calming air to it, quiet conversation mumbling as they walked by from people talking to friends and shop workers. A bike bell ringing nearby from another, if they were closer to the main roads they would likely also hear a few more motor bikes, but in this area it was mostly people on foot or bike, maybe the occational skateboard or rollerskates for those who could traverse the blocky road paving.

Something else that filled the quiet ambience of the city walk was Lance, of course he'd continue on his long rants, speaking in a long winded conversation that keith was happy to listen to, but occationally it would be interupted by Lance waving a hand and giving a greeting to someone who passed them by on foot. At first Keith wondered if he was just being friendly, but the people seemed to return his greeting kindly, and a few even mentioned his name within their greeting.

It started out as an off moment but continued along, it was kinda amazing. Keith really couldn't imagine that many people greeting him all in one fifteen minute bike ride to a store. He figured Lance was a social butterfly but this was certainly putting it in perspective, so many he knew it kinda surprised him that Lance was even hanging out with him at all, with so many other options, who would probably give better conversation than his hums and simple sentence responses.

They arrived at the next stop, before they went inside Lance insisted they try some of what they got really quick. Keith reached into the paper back, handing one over to Lance and grabbing one for himself and took a bite into the top of the muffin. The chocolate melted easily and flowed sweetly over his tastebuds, blessing his mouth with the soft texture, warm and inviting, tasting like summer. He hummed as he took another bite
Lance had that proud look on his face, staring at keith with stars in his eyes. Keith flushed and looked away as he took another bite.

Finishing their quick snack Keith looked up at the small shop, large glass windows with a pretty cursive logo in purple. "Here we are, my favorite fruit shop!" Lance raised a pointed finger at keith, "You might think its the same as a store but I promise this is better, ever since I've started going here I swear that the fruit is better, the owner has some land a little ways away, and whatever she does to grow this fruit she's doing it right"

The two of them stepped inside the store, as soon as they did a woman with long curly hair waved at them, setting down the magazine she had been reading on the counter. "Hey there Lance, who's this you got with you?"

"Friend of mine" lance said tilting his head in Keith's direction. Being openly expressed to be Lance's friend left a warm feeling across him, "he doesn't know about much in the city so I figured I'd show him my favorite places."

"Well you two enjoy looking around, I got some new stock" she pointed a finger over to the corner of the shop, where a large open crate held deep red pomegranates.

Lance gasped, bounding over and then grabbing one of the many fruit holding it in his hands, “Holy shit pomegranates?! I haven't had these in ages!"

"Yup, started getting to growing my own, it's probably not the absolute best since it's not in its peak growth season, but if ya wanna give it a try, feel free"

"Any fruit you grow I trust with my life" lance stated confidently

The woman laughed, "oh stop"

The exchange was nice but, left Keith feeling left to the sidelines, Lance spoke to her like he's known her for a long time now, he might have depending on how early into the two years of living here Lance had started buying from here.

"Anything you want Keith?" Lance questioned "if not lets just share this one here"

"Yeah thats fine" keith said with a nod

With one last shining smile Lance takes out his wallet, handing the money to the woman behind the counter. Lance grabs a few napkins from a napkin dispenser nearby and a couple of plastic cups. They both step outside, Lance leads him to a bench and tugs him to sit down.

"Man pomegranates are great, really wish they were more common"

"What do they taste like?" Keith questioned

"Well they-" lance was about to give a description, until he processed Keith's words fully which made his words freeze in their tracks “YOU'VE NEVER TRIED A POMEGRANATE?"

Keith lifted an eyebrow at his dramatic flare, “why do you always seem so appaled when you learn I haven't tried something?"

“Because every time you do i realize more and more how you're basically a walking corpse!"

“a corpse??"

“Because you haven't lived until you've tried one!" Lance looked at the fruit, holding it up as if it was made of gold, “Hand me your knife? I know you've got it on you” his hand making a grabby motion as he held it palm out towards him

Keith's lips pout a bit at Lance knowing him so easily, he knows he likes to keep things a certain way but Lance predicting him that well makes his embarrassment bubble. He reaches into his pocket taking out the pocket knife and handing it to him, “this is supposed to be used to defend myself you know" he mumbles

“Yeah, yeah, don't worry no ninja assassins will attack you while I cut some fruit open in our beachside city.” Lance began to cut into the top of the pomegranate in a really odd way, a six sided shape into its surface, certainly not the usual way he sees fruit getting cut open. At each corner of the shape lance slices the knife's blade down the sides of the pomegranate, he pulls each section apart like sections of an orange, revealing its inside. Something he'd seen before in pictures but actually having the fruit in front of him left him more curious to how it tasted.

Sets of bead sized ruby red arils were set in clusters, pressed against each other tightly in the rind. A thin white skin like material is set between each cut open section of the fruit. Lance pulled out a section, handing it to Keith on top of a tissue. “Be careful to not get the juice on your clothes, heard its a bitch to get out” Keith nodded, Lance took out his own section as well, taking a bite from the clusters and humming at its taste.

Keith turned his attention back to the fruit, taking a small bite and chewing, immediately he felt that was a bad decision as sets of seeds crunched unpleasantly in his mouth, Keith couldn't stop himself from spitting it out on the ground.

Next to him Lance sounded like he was laughing behind a mouthful of the fruit. When Keith turned he saw that he had his mouth covered as he tried to get himself under control, trying not to accidentally spit out any of the seeds while holding in his laugh. Once he did he grabbed the plastic cup he had, sitting out seeds into it. “Oh boy that was good"

Keith looked at him with narrowed eyes, looking thoroughly unamused

“Alright alright don't look so pouty, i should've told you before not to bite on the seeds, just suck the juice from it and eat around the seeds.”

Keith sighed, taking another bite, and crushing the arils to taste the juice, It was far better this time around. The fruit was a mix between tart and sweet, he might consider grabbing the fruit more often when he could.

He glanced over at lance again, the sun was low in the sky behind him, golden, a soft rim of gold bounced off the edges of his face. He didn't notice it before but now that he's taken a closer look, it's hard to stop looking. The tart taste left in his mouth seemed a twist a bit sweeter.

Keith ate the pomegranate a little faster than lance, getting closer to being left with the rind. Lance meanwhile seemed to take plenty of time taking as much as he could from each seed. "Thanks for this Lance"

"Its not a big deal, I still wanna take you to some cooler areas," lance rubbed the back of his neck with a grin, looking down at the concrete, "it wasn't fully selfless anyway, I kinda wanted a reason to hang out"

"Yeah well, you didn't have to pick me to hang out with," he shrugged "coulda picked anyone you're friends with, so thanks"

Lance was silent for a few seconds, his eyes focusing on the concrete harder, eventually turning his gaze to the fruit in his hands, looking at it with a contemplative look. "I wouldn't say I have many friends here"

"What? You say hi to every second person we walk past"

Keith's reponse proded a laugh from lance, "I know, I know, its ridiculous right? I do know alot of people, its nice but, I don't really know them, know them." He leaned back in the bench, "I just met them on simple instances, the closest person I have is Allura, the friend I told you works at the vet?" Keith nodded, recalling when she was mentioned.

Lance took another bite from the pomegranate, significantly smaller, allowing him to continue speaking without too much disturbsnce, "She's great but she's usually pretty busy and I cant take up all her off time just because im lonely."

Keith kept quiet, he and Lance had had many conversations but this is different. Keith being given a look at a different side of Lance, one he never even thought existed.

"I have hunk and pidge but, they don't live anywhere near here, we only stay in touch over phone" he chuckles softly at himself, "I know it seems silly but talking to them over phone just isn't the same as them being here."

"No I get it, trust me" Keith has missed shiro for some time now, he thought he would be fine with him being gone but after enough time of texting, calls, and videocalls his life became noticably more empty.

Lance looked at him, understanding in his expression, softness in his eyes, "Your brother right?"

"Yeah, hard not to miss him." He nudged his shoulder, "What about dates? You call yourself 'loverboy Lance' "

Lance shrugged, if keith looked close enough he might be able to notice a rosiness to his cheeks, though the sun is a little hotter today, could easily be the heat, "I've only had a few flings, nothing long lasting," his eyebrows furrowed as he finished his sentence. He stared at the fruit, a few beats of silence as Lance stopped speaking. Then sitting up a little straighter, plastering a smile to his face and flipping his hand with a flare, "Guess my charm is a little too much for people"

'not too much for me' keith thought, embarassment immediately screaming at him for the thought. He pressed his lips together

Lance kept looking down at the fruit in hand, tilting it slightly, keith watching alongside him as the light glinted off any juicy areas of the insides. Lance spit the seeds out into his plastic cup, "Not many people to hang out with"

Keith looked down at his half of the fruit, his thumb pressing against a small section just to watch the pieces squish, under a bit of pressure. What Lance said was a major surprise, how could someone so.. eccentric seem so lonely? And suddenly he was reminded of his feelings towards his own personality. He turned to look at Lance as he stared off, a breeze pulled his hair back before letting it drift forward again. He always felt that if he was a bit less rough, a bit better at making jokes, or just able to carry himself with a lighter frame maybe it wouldn't be so hard without shiro living here. Yet, here was Lance, in all his goofiness and silly mannerisms. Despite it all, so lonely.

"You're hanging out with me aren't you?"

Lance looked over at Keith, his expression melting into a fond look, "Yeah, you're right"

The distant sounds of bike bells and the occational loud laugh from somewhere further along filled the silence like the wind flying past the summer heat. They finished their fruit with a warm happiness within them in each others company

"So, what did you think of the fruit?"

If keith tried it any other day he might just say it felt like nothing special, sure he had never tried a pomegranate before but he highly doubted it could be that much more spectacular in comparison to big grocery stores to where he would feel the need to express that openly. But today the golden hour sun was turning Lance into a painting before his eyes, part of him wanted to touch the imaginary brush strokes on his face.

More so, that smile left a pleasant sense behind on his tounge. Like Lance himself had affected the flavor of the fruit. His first time trying a pomegranate couldn't have been more perfect
"It tastes amazing"