Citrus. Klance AU

Chapter 9

"Who was that you were with the other day?" Shiro asked as he placed a glass of water down in front of me. I tentatively stared into it, eyes settling on the messed up reflection of myself.

"My boyfriend." I muttered, hoping that the conversation would stop there. Of course it didn't.

"Why did you lie to him about how we knew each other?" I simply shrugged, hunching my shoulders over and leaning closer to the water. Shiro watched me closely, as if he was trying to figure the exact meaning of my shrug.

"Is Keith working today?"

"Yeah. He should get here any minute now. Is hanging out with me not good enough for you?"

I could tell he was joking but my heart still skipped a beat. In fact, it skipped so many beats that a heart monitor would have announced me dead. Hopefully, my stiffness went unnoticed. As if on cue, the bell above the door made a tiny 'ding' noise and Keith walked in. "Hey, Lance!" He exclaimed as he headed behind the counter and traded places with Shiro. "How are you on this fine Monday morning?"

"Absolutely perfect, you?"

"I'm living a dream, Lance," Keith took off his coat and hung it up on one of the pegs. "I'm joking. I cracked my phone screen this morning and I ran out of my favourite cereal."

"Oh wow, the world must be ending for you." I let out a soft laugh and Keith dramatically rolled his eyes.

"It is! You don't understand. That cereal basically fuels me all day. At this rate, I'm going to pass out before I even get my lunch break."

"How tragic." I reached for my glass and my sleeve slid up ever so slightly, revealing a mix of browns and purples. Keith's eyes fixed on them before I had enough time to pull the sleeve back down. His breath hitched.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"The bruises, Lance. How did you get those bruises?" His tone was demanding; serious. I swallowed thickly, fiddling with the glass in my hands. I refused to meet his gaze because I could already imagine the emotions they were holding. Worry. Sympathy. Sadness.

"I tripped and hit my wrist on a table. I'm really clumsy." I let out a very nervous laugh and Keith's mouth fell open as if he was about to say something but it soon shut again. He dropped the topic and moved on to something else, my wrist forgotten.

-

When Lotor left for work again the next day, I headed out. My pockets were empty of everything except my phone so I didn't have the money to buy a drink. I just planned on dropping in to talk to Keith. As long as that was okay with him.

It was snowing softly, the snowflakes disappearing as soon as they settled on the floor. When I knew no one was looking, I stuck my tongue out and caught one, smiling as it melted. It reminded me of when I was a kid and snow was something that excited me an absurd amount. As an adult, snow was nowhere near as exhilarating.

I had my fluffy gloves on my hands but they weren't helping keep me warm much at all. My scarf was wrapped around my neck and I had my hood thrown over my head so my hair didn't get ruined in the snow. I had just washed it that morning so wasn't prepared for it to go all fluffy again.

I pushed the door of the familiar coffee shop open and was hit with heat that reminded me of a hug. Keith was stood behind the counter with his back to the rest of the shop, humming a song as he prepared a drink. He looked adorable as he turned around and met my eyes, realising I had been listening to his beautiful rendition of Fall Out Boy. A tiny, pink blush enveloped his cheeks and it contrasted his usual tough demeanour.

He pushed a cup of what looked like a latte towards the waiting customer before waving at me. "What can I get you, Lance-y Lance?"

"Firstly," I took a seat on one of the stools, leaning on the counter. "Never call me that again. Second, nothing. I don't have any money."

"Then- not to be rude but- why are you here?"

"I don't know," I shifted my gaze down to my hands, suddenly embarrassed. "I guess I just wanted to talk to you." I should have come up with an excuse. I sounded so stupid saying that and I was sure Keith didn't want to talk to me. Why would he want to talk to me?

"The shop's kind of quiet if you want to sit down and chat?"

"Okay..." I threw him a smile as he exited the counter and sat down beside me on one of the stools. He immediately leaned towards me and balanced his head on one of his arms.

"How're you doing then?"

"Better," I took a shaky breath, "You?"

"I'm decent. You'd be happy to know I restocked my favourite cereal so got all the fuel I needed this morning."  I let out a small noise that was more an exhale of breath than an actual laugh.

Time passed quickly as we talked. I often found my eyes drifting down to his moving lips but I tore my gaze away as soon as I realised what I was doing. I had to convince myself that I wanted to be Keith's friend and nothing more. I enjoyed his company but I was with Lotor and wanted to stay with Lotor. Our conversation was brought to an abrupt close as my phone started ringing in my pocket.

I pulled it out to see a stupid picture of me and Lotor and his matching caller ID. I mouthed an apology to Keith as I slid my finger on the screen to answer the call. "He-" I started to greet but I was cut off all too soon by Lotor's loud voice.

"Where are you? I've been home for half an hour and I'm worried sick." His voice was so loud that I winced a bit and held the phone away from my ear. I stole a glance at Keith but he was busy staring off into space, a sign he couldn't hear Lotor.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't notice the time! I'll head home now."

"We'll talk punishment when you get here."

"O-Okay." Lotor hung up before I could even say goodbye. "I need to go. Thanks for the chat. It was... nice."

I turned to leave but Keith shouted something across the shop to stop me. "If you have your phone back, will you finally text me?"

My heart dropped to the floor as I harshly bit my lip. Hope flashed across Keith's facial expression, his eyes practically glowing as he waited for me to respond. Slowly, I shook my head and replied, "I can't. I'm sorry, Keith."

-

"Where were you that was more important than being here, huh?" Lotor was up in my face again. It was sad that I was almost used to it, my breathing remaining as shallow as ever. Lotor's usually pale face was bright red and he was fuming. If he was a cartoon character, smoke would be escaping his ears and filling the air.

"I was just walking through town and didn't notice the time." I murmured, maintaining eye contact to make me appear more truthful. My entire body was trembling but I tried to present myself as confidently as possible.

"Oh really? Why don't I believe you?"

"Because you don't trust me as much as you should. I- I'm telling the truth." I stiffened at the stutter but Lotor just smiled, realising my mistake.

"Were you with someone? Hunk? That Shaun guy?"

"His name's Shiro and no, I was alone."

"You must understand that I need to punish you, alright? I'm going to take your phone back."

"Okay." I shoved my hand into my pocket and handed my phone over. I had gotten used to being without a phone so could easily survive the punishment. I had taken much worse before.

"If this happens again... I'm going to do something worse, okay? Just so you know not to do it again." Numbly, I nodded. I had done something wrong and deserved to be punished.