Unhealthy obsession. {Klance au}

In this moment.

A/N:Important. I'd like you to keep in mind that I'm Australian so some words or smaller details may be a little different.

I.

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It's mid afternoon, twelve thirty two exactly and Hamper street is packed to the brim with rushing people. Trying desperately to beat the clock and get back to work before their lunch break ends. And although Keith despises crowds, he always loves the cover it gives him, he is easily keeping up with every step Lance takes. Swiftly moving between people, only occasionally brushing shoulders with some unknown stranger, he counts the steps in his head, over and over and over - until he stops.

Staring down at his wet shoes for just a moment longer, he peeks up from underneath his cardinal hoodie, he had counted his steps perfectly. Lance has gone into his usual place for lunch, cafe Dulce, like he does every Monday. Keith thinks it's the discounted coffee he gets from his friend, Hunk, who Keith has noted is always behind the counter at this time of day. Or maybe it's the cozy atmosphere that Lance likes, the one that makes you feel disconnected from the rest of the world, one that wouldn't make you think that it was pouring down so hard with rain that if you screamed, no one would hear you, even in the flood of oceans of people around you. Rain pounding into everyone's ears instead.

He decides that it's probably both. He knew Lance was on a budget being a college student, living at home with his parents made things easier on him but Lance was currently an unemployed job seeker through Centrelink. With parents who don't like spoiling their children once past high school. Things were liveable, but still tight at times, well, that's only what Keith has managed to know about him so far. He'd like to know more. He wants to know more. He wants to learn everything there is to know about Lance, from his first word, to what he was thinking about when he heard him masturbating in his room this morning.
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Keith pressed his trembling hands against the old brick wall in front of him, taking in a few deep breaths. He's in the alley way right next to the cafe, waiting and waiting until his mind will listen to his feet. You can do this. It's been fifteen minutes exactly, he won't know you followed him, he'll think it's accidental, go in, follow him. By this point he's scrapping his hands harshly on the bricked wall in front of him, rubbing until he felt his irritation subside enough to stop; and finally, he walked out from the alley.

His hands tremble as he gets close to the cafe door opening it up with a slow motion. He almost wants to cower back at the sound of the chime above the door, signalling his entrance while also gaining him a few highly unwanted stares. Making him bop his head down in retreat, shyly putting away his hands that were brimmed red in his hooded pockets.

Thankfully for Keith though, it wasn't as busy as usual today, he likes the cover of people that's here most of their visits. But he told himself that today was different. That today, he would talk to Lance. He's been thinking about it repeatedly for days on end, it buzzing in his head, jabbing and poking at his brain until it felt like it was bleeding, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Not that he wanted to.

He finally found himself in the centre of the cafe. A few people scattered around, stuffed in tightly taking shelter from the horrendous rain, low lighting set and soft music playing in the background to set a good atmosphere for everyone. He felt slightly more at ease. Though nothing could stop his trembling hands. He reluctantly pulls his hoodie down, walking to the counter he orders his usual casually, a large hazelnut latte with an extra shot.

Keith suddenly felt his ears ringing violently. The crimson that had covered his nose brightly no longer lingering, all colour fading slowly from his face.

"Feel free to take a seat anywhere you like!" Hunk says, almost overly happy, completely unaware that the boy in front of him was just thinking about his hands wrapped firmly around his neck. Keith snaps out of it when Hunk provides him a dry tea towel to dry himself off with, apologising that he couldn't give him anything else more practical.

Was I daydreaming, or dissociating. He could never really tell the difference.

Keith blindly sits in the closest seat near him, finding himself suddenly feeling incredibly numb. He doesn't give too much thought to his surroundings and wipes his face a little too roughly. Peaking out from under the cloth, his eyes meet another's these ones much lighter than his own. A light baby blue. He freezes for a second, reliving his situation in his head a few times before finally putting the tea towel on the table. He smiles kindly at the older lady he had made eye contact with, whose smile seemed almost forced and agile, her eyes clearly not meeting her smile.

In this moment, he stood up abruptly, making his way towards the older lady who had watched him the whole way over. Just about to open her mouth to say something, most likely something rude, but Keith didn't wait to hear what she had to say. Instead he grabbed a tight fistful of her long greying hair, pulling her head back hard he didn't even flinch as he felt some of it come out at his tight grip.

"See something you don't like, huh?" Keith muses, not even sounding angry, when he doesn't get a response just a tried fragile whimper; He goes to slam her face into the table, again and again and again-

"Your Lavender tea, ma'am." Keith almost jumped right out of his skin as Katie, also known as Pidge, another of Lance's close friends, sits a small pot of tea with a modern tea cup in front of the lady. Looking down at his own table, his arms casually leaning onto it.

"Your coffee will be right with you, sir," she says with a small nod to Keith when passing by him to get to the counter entry. Her fingers brushing the table as she passed.

Dissociating, definitely dissociating.
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