Hana

Purple Hyacinth

"Tilt your head to the left a little," Keith asked, motioning with the pencil in his hand.

Lance did as he was told, "Like this?"

"Yeah perfect." Keith returned to his drawing, glancing at Lance periodically.

Lance was sitting on his knees on the bed, hands behind his head. He wore a grey bathrobe, which draped off his shoulders. Keith sat in a chair across the room, sketching on his drawing pad. Lance had offered to model for his art project, which Keith happily accepted.

"This position is hard to hold," Lance stayed as still as possible, "I might need a break."

"Just a sec," Keith quickly sketched something, then set his pencil down. "Alright, you can relax."

Lance dropped his arms and pushed out a breath. He jumped down from the bed and slipped his clothes back on, then returned his cannula to his nose.

"We can finish it later," Keith set his supplies next to him on the floor, "Come here." He patted his lap.

Lance smirked and walked over to him, dragging his bag with him. Keith pulled his hips into his lap, legs by his sides in a straddle position. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Mm-hmm," Lance nodded and kissed his forehead. Keith's hair smelled of pencils and pine trees.

Keith brought his hand up to Lance's cheek, just grazing over his skin. He smiled sweetly and gazed into Lance's eyes, "I love you."

Lance's face flashed with confusion and surprise, and he held his tongue. He wasn't sure how to respond, and felt stupid that he didn't answer.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and made Lance jump. "Um-I will, I'll be right back." He untangled himself from Keith and stood up, smoothing his clothes.

He walked through the kitchen, "Coming!" When he got to the door, he opened it and his face immediately dropped.

A sandy blond man with a neck tattoo stood with his hand in his pocket. He had on a black jacket with a white shirt, and a shark tooth necklace swayed loosely across his chest. He was an inch shorter than Lance; thin, but bigger than him. His lips were full and his jawline was sharp and clean. With classy eyes and a wide smile, he greeted the speechless Lance. "Lance! How have you been?"

"Jace?" Lance breathed out, unable to form enough words to communicate.

"Yeah, man! I haven't seen you in forever! Can I come in?"

"Um," Lance hesitated.

"Hey," Keith said in a stern voice, walking up behind Lance.

"What's up man?" Jace said cheerfully and entered Lance's apartment.

Lance panicked, not knowing how to react, and shut the door.

"Who are you?" Keith crossed his arms and puffed his chest.

"Ah, my name's Jace. What about you, bro?"

"I'm Keith."

Lance finally got the courage to speak and turned to Keith, "This is a friend from my old town, we knew each other before I moved."

Keith eyed Jace, looking down on him, "What are you here for?"

Jace showed no reaction to Keith's stand-off-ish attitude, "I wanted to visit an old friend!" He playfully punched Lance's shoulder, "We haven't seen each other in forever, man!"

Lance laughed nervously, shooting a desperate look at Keith.

Jace wrapped a finger around Lance's cannula tube on his chest and lifted it up, "Yo, what's up with this? You got cancer or something?"