The Grinning Blue Barista (Shance Modern Coffee Shop AU)

Chapter 10

I......, I have no excuses. Christmas holidays are busy.... I am so sorry to anyone who ever believed I would update in a timely manner, I have failed you. But here is the next part, please don't crucify me. Comment to remind me to continue and not to forget this exists. I get distracted easily. Anyways, enjoy.

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Lance was breathing heavily, sitting on a park bench, having taken a break from the walk home. The bags were heavy, and Lance was not buff by any stretch of the imagination. He was lithe, tall and thin like a stick.
Not wanting to leave Blue home alone for too long, Lance stood up with his bags and continued on his way.
After a few minutes, he felt his arms weighing down, he wanted nothing more than to sit down and relieve himself of the heavy bags cutting into his arms, able to put down the large bag of cat food that didn't fit well in his arms and made him feel ridiculous.
"Did you want help with that?"
"Jesus-" Lance would have dropped the bag had someone not caught it before it could hit the ground.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you like that. This stuff looked heavy, so I thought maybe you'd appreciate some help?"
Finally looking at the guy, Lance noticed three very important details.
One, the guy was buff. Yes, buff was the word, but softer. He seemed too nice for the word buff. Maybe... buft? boft? soft buff? He didn't know, but it was incredibly attractive.
Two, the guy had a scar running across his face, on the bridge of his nose, like a fucking anime character or something. Not to mention part of his hair was white. He was definitely the protagonist in something.
Three, he was a regular at the coffee shop, which was probably why he decided to help Lance out, if he recognized him as the barista there.
Lance suddenly realized that he'd been too busy observing the guy to answer him.
"Uh, yeah, um, sure. Mhmm," Jesus Christ, he was awkward. "Yeah, that would, uh, that would be great."
He couldn't help but notice the warm smile forming on the other man's face.
With the cat food now out of his hands, Lance was confident he could easily carry the rest home in no time.
"So, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor, do you have a name?" Lance started.
"Shiro. Takashi Shirogane."
Lance could not believe it. Even his name sounded like a shounen protagonist name.
"Well, Shiro, I'm Lance. Lance McClain. Thank you for helping me out, I guess I forgot to factor in my skinny arms when I went shopping."
Shiro lit up, a small laugh bubbling out of him. "Yeah, they're cute."
Lance didn't know if that was a compliment, cute arms? God, this guy was awkward. Lance's lips tugged at the corners, forcing his mouth into a smile. This guy seemed buff, but he was adorable.
Before Lance even realized, they were talking about anything and everything, laughing and walking down the road. Shiro turned out to be incredibly interesting, knowledgeable in everything from politics to anime.
Lance couldn't remember the last time he had had such a captivating conversation where he didn't feel pressured to sound smart. He could make jokes, give his honest opinion, and he listened to Shiro's thoughts closely. He was a huge sweetheart, a lot like Hunk, and Lance felt comfortable around him.
Suddenly, Lance stopped dead in his tracks. They'd arrived at his apartment building, but he didn't want to say goodbye to Shiro just yet.
"Help me carry the stuff up?" His eyes were hopeful.
"Sure, if you want me to." There was that smile again, warm and kind.
They headed up.