Citrus. Klance AU

Chapter 19

I think this is one of the best chapters. I redid it three times haha, it better be good :P

"Look outside..." Keith muttered one morning. I raised my eyebrows but complied, pulling the curtains apart to glance into the front garden. There was about two centimetres of snow covering the floor and there were snowflakes still dancing in the air. I didn't quite understand why Keith sounded so dejected. I was grinning like a child, ready to grab my trainers and winter gear to go out and play in it. "Are you coming to work with me today?" I glanced out into the front garden, watching a small boy gather up a ball of snow in his hands.

"Of course." As much as I wanted to go make snow angels and have snowball fights with other people, I liked to work with Keith. It made me feel a little less guilty about taking his money and staying in his house without paying rent. Keith had given me so much; the least I could do was offer something in return. It wasn't like I hated the job either: there was something calming about taking orders and giving out change to customers.

"You're going to need to wrap up then. We should really get you some gloves..." Keith was pulling his large coat over his shoulders and wrapping his scarf around his neck. I took my own coat and tugged it on. "You can have mine. I'll survive without."

"I can't take them... You'll freeze."

"It's honestly fine." I decided against arguing and slipped them on, my cold hands grateful of the soft warmth. "Come on then, Lance-y Lance." I smiled gently, stepping outside into the ice cold air. I let out a small breath, watching as it rose up into the air. I took Keith's hand into my own to warm it up but it was ineffective. Keith wasn't complaining though. With the hand that wasn't holding mine, Keith locked the door. We turned and walked down the path together, our boots making crunching noises against the snow as we did so.

I had always loved the crunch. I closed my eyes to focus on it and drive my mind away from the chill spreading right through the tips of my toes to the top of my head. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. "You know, if you keep your eyes shut, you're going to walk into somebody... or something."

"Sorry," I whispered, immediately jolting my eyes open. I watched as Keith's face fell and he squeezed my hand encouragingly. I couldn't help but notice his fingertips were bright red and probably on the verge of contracting frostbite.

"It's okay. You don't need to apologise." I know he said that but I couldn't believe him. I just couldn't. I remained silent the rest of the way to the coffee shop, assuming I had upset Keith by closing my eyes. It sounded petty but I couldn't risk it.

-

"You've been so quiet today. Is something wrong?" Keith questioned once the shop had gone quiet for the first time since they had arrived. Because of the cold weather, we had been relatively busy with orders of hot chocolates and other warm drinks. Most of the chairs were filled which was a rare occurrence, since the shop was just a backstreet cafe that not many people knew existed. Despite how hectic the floor was, there wasn't much of a queue. Personally, I didn't understand why it wasn't more popular because their drinks were to die for (not that I was biased at all).

"Nothing's wrong," I mumbled before remembering Lotor's words. They rang through my brain like a broken record that wasn't anything besides annoying, though you couldn't stop it. Liars get punished. My body tensed up at the thought as I refused to meet Keith's gaze. "Are you... going to punish me?" My voice was quiet; barely there.

"What?"

"Earlier, you told me off for having my eyes shut. Aren't you going to take away my privilege to go outside or something?"

"Why on earth would I do that?"

"So that I won't do it again." I was saying it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. It was to me. The idea of being punished for doing bad things had been nailed in my brain ever since I had started going out with Lotor. I was conditioned to respond in such a way. I didn't understand why Keith's rules differed so much from Lotor's.