Idol Love : After Hours

Chapter 32

"So, there really is nothing going on between you and Axca, right?" Lance asks, shoving his hands in his pockets, disgruntled from the photos Honerva showed them.

"Lance," Keith reaches out and gently rubs the latter's arm, "Axca and I are just friends. Besides, neither of us would have a chance with each other." He earns a confused glance. "We're both gay, 여보."

"Wait Axca's," He does the hand movement popularized by Tiktok.

"Yeah," The Idol replies nonchalantly, hitting the down button on the elevator, "Isn't it obvious?"

"No!" The door slides open with a ding and they step in as Lance continues, "What about her is obvious?"

Keith makes a motion to his hair as he explains, "Well, for one she keeps her hair short, which if you haven't noticed, isn't really a popular hairstyle for 20 something women. Second, have you seen her nails?"

"Y'know the last time I saw her was like a year ago."

"True."

The door slides open with another ding, notifying them of the stop. They look up and are met with none other than their least favorite person in the world... Well, maybe just Keith's least favorite person in world. His dark purple-grey eyes meet soft purple as Lotor steps in. Keith promptly moves away, using Lance as a human shield.

Lotor gives the couple a smirk and looks to his phone, "Nice to see you're still employed after that stunt you just pulled."
Keith glares and tells himself to not dignify that with a response. Noticing this, Lotor continues, "Oh, I'm sorry. What a shame that we decided to get rid of such talent, your highness."

"That's not what happened," Keith blurts out.

Lotor almost mockingly presses, "It's not?"

"Nope."

"Hmm," He purses his lips, "From the way that my Father was speaking, I was sure you'd be out the door by the end of the day. Probably running off to America with-"

"So, you told them," Keith cuts him off, pushing Lance aside, "You were the one who-"

"Awe, how cute," Lotor gushes, reaching out and patting Keith's head, "The little idol finally grew a brain." He willingly let his hand be swatted away before he continues, "We all know what you're trying to do."

"And what am I trying to do exactly?"

"Leave the company to be with him," He motions to Lance, who makes a face, "We all know that's what you want... So, I decided to give you a little nudge; some help if you will."

"I don't need your help, Lotor," Keith snaps, "I never did."

"Oh really?" His smirk grows more devious, "Why do you think you're even here right now?" He waits a beat before explaining, "Because of me. I saw something in that broken little kid at auditions. I was the one that put in the recommendation. I was the one that made you popular."

"Hey, can you lay off-" Lance tries to shut this shit down but gets cut off.

"You're not apart of this, 치즈년."

"Hey!" Keith snaps, "Leave him out of this!"

"Fine," Lotor scoffs, "You always were an attention seeking slut," He doesn't let Keith get a word out from here on, "Oh, and you think my parents gave a damn about you?" He snickers. "You, a parentless and poor child, who, and I quote, 'Just wanted to save his Mommy'? I'm sorry to break it to ya' sweetheart, but you're just another sob story with a pretty face."

The door slides open as they reach the lobby, Lotor stepping out first. He looks back at the couple with a look of pity, "That's all you'll ever be, hun. Sorry."

The door begins to close but Lance hits the button to stop it. He leads Keith out, who is silent and a little shook up. Looking around for a more quiet spot, he ends up pulling his fiance behind a pillar before speaking.

"Hey, don't listen to him," He says, placing his hands on Keith's shoulders, "He's just trying to get under your skin."

"He's always trying to get under my skin!" Keith replies, seeming almost desperate to get the point across, "And he always does! Why can't he just leave me alone?! Why am I letting him bother me?!"

Lance notices Keith's breathing picking up, "Keith, breathe."

"Breathe?! Breathe?!" He snaps, "I am breathing!"

Lance furrows his brow, slightly annoyed, "Keith, just breathe with me, okay?"

"Okay! Fine! Whatever!"

They take a few measured breaths before Lance asks, "Better?"

"Fuck, I guess.. maybe," Keith replies, taking in another slow measured breath, "Yeah.."
They let silence fall on them for a moment before he continues, "Sorry, I just-"

"It's fine," Lance gives him a reassuring smile, "Let's just forget that he exists for now, okay?"

"Okay.."

~~~

They spend a good while after that interaction distracting themselves with another stressor; wedding planning. With them actually with eachother in person, it's much easier to figure out what they both like and dislike. It's also much easier for Lance to read Keith when he isn't on a computer screen. They've actually managed to make progress. Finally deciding on a theme was the hardest. Lance is a fan of a beach wedding but Keith is more into modern and nature themed weddings. So, they made a compromise, some sort of resort wedding. Something on the water but in a building is the agreement.
Great! So, what about decor? Well, they definitely decided there's gonna be vines and greenery, but that's it. Now, they're trying to tie in the beach theme side of it.

"Maybe add some seashells to the tables with like a flower or something?" Lance suggests as they scroll through the growing list.

"That could work," Keith agrees, "But are the table cloths going to be like a off-white cream color or just white?"

"Why can't they be like a dark blue or turquoise or something?"

"They can, but why?"

"Isn't all white boring to you?"

"Yeah, kind of."

"Exactly, so why don't we have like dark turquoise ones? It'd make sense since the colors we agreed on were blue and green."

"But would it be too much with the vines?"

Lance groans, "Maybe we should just call Nadia and Ina."

"Yeah.. We should," Keith checks the time, "But, we might be a little out of business hours."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like 9pm over there."

"That's not that late," He earns an eyebrow raise, "It's LA we're talking about."

"Fine," Keith shrugs, "It's your idea though, not mine."

Lance rolls his eyes and picks up his phone and calls Nadia. After a few rings she picks up, "N.A.I Wedding Planning, this Nadia Rizavi speaking."

"Hey Nadia, it's Lance-"

"Lance? Hey! Haven't heard from you in a minute! How's the planning going?"

"That's exactly why I called actually. Keith and I had time recently to sit down and talk about the wedding."

"Really? That's great! Have y'all come to a conclusion on the venue theme yet?"

"Yeah, actually..."