Outer space | klance au |

45: unearthly

"You're so boring," Lance took a sip from his blue Slurpee. Keith had surprised him when he came to pick him up, the drink was waiting for him in the cupholder. It wasn't lost on him that the other male picked up one of his favorite treats. He didn't mention it and Keith didn't say anything about it. That even though it wasn't a date—or they said it wasn't a date—Keith was still trying to impress him.

"Did you honestly think I was going to buy pink paint?" The radio was playing a slow song but the volume allowed pleasant conversation to flow over it. It was only every once in a while that Lance caught any lyrics coming from the speakers. It was soft and pretty and paired well with whatever he was currently feeling. Lance decided it was his favorite song. He wasn't even sure what the song was called but the stereo was connected to Keith's phone so it must have been something he listened to, all he had to do was ask.

"I'm not talking hot pink I'm saying a nice cherry blossom or even a pretty blush would look great in your bathroom!" Lance laughed. "I thought you were romanticizing pink the last time we talked," he teased.

"Actually," Keith began. "I told you I wanted to have a nice cream color the last time we talked." The statement made Lance roll his eyes. "And you've never seen my bathroom so you wouldn't know," he pointed out. Although it was a good argument Lance was sure that he could have convinced Keith to do anything at that point. Rip out his lung, commit a felony. It would be easy to make Keith buy pink paint. Maybe that scared him a little.

"Then what was the whole point in taking me shopping? You could have just bought the paint yourself." They stopped at a red light which allowed Keith to gaze at him. Lance rose an eyebrow at him expecting an answer but Keith just laughed. "What?"

"Nothing." There was an amused gleam in Keith's eyes. "I thought you would totally see through it and know that it was just an excuse to spend more time with you." Lance felt a familiar heat flare up in his cheeks and he had to look out the window to avoid further embarrassing himself. This was something that wasn't supposed to be romantic but now that he knew how Keith felt everything felt different. Was a simple look all it took to get his heart racing? Apparently, with Keith it was.

"I did not," he took a deep breath. "I guess I should thank you again for letting me help."

"Letting you help? It's like you said, I'm only interested in the free labor," Keith teased.

"That's not what you just said," Lance put his drink down to lean closer to Keith. "I thought it was all about spending time with me," he teased.

Keith let out a breath of air but kept his eyes focused on the road, "Don't distract that driver." Lance laughed at that. Flustering Keith made him feel better about being flustered himself.

"So I'm distracting," Lance leaned away and picked up his drink to take an exaggerated sip. "Not sure if you should let me help if I'm so distracting," the doctor to be rolled his eyes playfully.

"Well, I don't want to paint alone and it's gonna take forever to cover that bright green. So I could really use the help." Keith glanced at him as he turned and Lance felt something inside his chest flutter. He couldn't explain it—he was sure Keith could—but the words were lost on Lance. He just knew that he had never felt that way about anyone in his life before. Not Shiro. Not James. Keith just made Lance feel something unearthly. There was simply no combination of syllables that could be strung together to properly convey what exactly what he felt.

"I guess I'll help," he settled when his thoughts finally came to him. They seemed to be doing that lately. Running so fast that it took almost all his concentration to understand them himself. Lance would just get lost in his head and forget about the people around him. He felt awful. Romelle told him that was okay and would let him catch up with himself without getting frustrated. He really did adore her. "But only because I want to see this awful bathroom of yours." Keith laughed at that and it made Lance feel better.