Keith & Lance || klance au

Introducing: The shittiest gangster in the world.

"What's the deal with your parents anyway?"

"Nothing," Lance sighed, deciding to look out the window instead of meeting Keith's inquisitive glimpses. "It's just that," He shrugged. "You're different from all the other men I've ever met."

When Keith didn't comment anything about Lance's stupid excuse, the boy leaned forward turning the car radio's volume up. He chuckled at the song that rang and turned to Keith with a playful smile dancing on his lips. 

"You listen to Jedi Mind Tricks?"

Keith frowned, stealing a curious glance towards Lance. "You know Jedi Mind Tricks?"

Lance didn't reply and instead reached out to a stack of CD's that lay over the car's glove box. He smiled again, checking out each of the CD's he had at hand. "You still have CDs? Cool." 

"Where are we picking up your grandfather? At the retirement home?" 

Once more, Keith didn't answer but instead settled for stealing interested glances at the boy every once and again, still, never taking his eyes off the road for too long. 

-

An old man with white hair and a ragged shirt tucked into his pants, walked out of the City's Jail with a skip in every step. He made his way towards Keith with a smile, opening his eyes wide at the sight of the boy. 

"Wow, Keith! You've grown up one bulky kid." 

Keith seemed unamused throughout the whole scene until the old bloke noticed Lance standing a few feet behind them, waiting next to the car.

"Oh kid, I appreciate it but," He leaned forward, turning his voice into a mere whisper. "Just gettin' out of this place, I don't think I'm ready to just get it on like that -"

"Come on, grandpa. He's not a hooker." 

"Oh, is he your boyfriend?" He instantly raised his voice, looking Lance over. 

"No, he's just -"

"Fuck it, I get it." He laughed, dismissing his grandson with a shrug before walking over to Lance, who nervously observed the scene between the two. 

He approached Lance with a wide grin and offered his hand in a greeting, which the boy doubtfully took. "Hello, nice to meet you." Lance nodded. 

"Man, Keith. Ya boy's lookin' good." 

"Just shut the fuck up and get in the car, old man." 

Lance sat in the back seat behind Keith and silently watched as the men in the front bickered back and forth. He now knew that Keith's grandfather was a thief, not very good at what he did, called himself a gangster and his name was Kaz.

"Look at that." Kaz gestured to a group of dark-skinned people on the sidewalk, "What have things come to? It's like we're driving down Balsero's town or something." 

Keith sighed, "Grandpa you can't just say that." 

"Well then what do they call them now? Fairy, bitch?"

"Dunno, just call them immigrants." 

"I don't see any migrants here. Just illegals." 

Keith glanced nervously at the rearview mirror. Lance's expression said it all. He had to shut his grandpa up somehow, he was screwing it up with the dark-skinned boy sitting appalled at the backseat.  

"Look at this one right here." Kaz pointed at a man sitting on his bike next to them at the stop sign. He rolled the window down before laughing and calling out, "Hey, hey!" The guy didn't turn. "Bit shy, huh?"

"Shut up, man! Just shut the hell up." Keith's inside's fumed as he grabbed his grandpa by the collar and pulled his head inside the car again. "You're not pulling one of your stunts right now, are we clear about that? Leave people alone. You're gonna move in with us and find a job, you hear me?" 

"Wow, you've turned into a man, son." Kaz turned towards Lance, letting out a laugh. "I thought he'd be just some pussycat." 

Keith's eyebrow twitched and his hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. "And I'll tell you what, my best friend's Italian, yeah? So watch what you say or I'll punch you in the face, you hear me? Migrants!" 

"Violence solves nothing. Plus I already have a job." 

"- Excuse me." Lance tried to interfere, sick of the loud ruckus the men were causing.

"Oh, you have a job now?"

He was bluntly ignored.  

"Yeah. Every day, for the last four years, me and my brothers... we rapped!"

"..."

"..." 

"You did what?" Keith looked almost entertained as he asked that. 

"Yes, it's uh... Well, one of my mates said I could take that as a qualification because I'm very good." 

"You're not a rapper, man."

"But I am!"

"You don't have any brothers."

"I beat those so-called gangster rappers, tough."

"You're not a rapper, you're grandpa! So for once, start behaving like a normal grandpa, man!" Keith drove into the diner's parking lot, stopping the car in front of the entrance and turning to Lance with displeasure clear in his eyes. "And you," He stated, to which Lance shifted in his seat, reaching for the car's door. "I saw your profile. I know who you are, Lance McClain. Maybe you want a real tough, trashy guy cause all those rich softies are boring,"

Kaz looked over at the two, mouth agape, eyes wide and holding back a laugh. 

"But I only came cause I need €8,000 for my next fight. Do you get that? This is no date, mate. I wanted to fleece you and that's it. But honestly, I've had it with this shit. So please, go." 

Lance huffed and let out a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. "Okay." He sighed before opening the door and getting off the vehicle. "Bye." 

Keith breathed resting his head over the steering wheel, ignoring his grandpa's staring eyes for a few seconds until the old man chuckled. "Please tell me you're fucking him."

"Shut up." 

-

Nyma wouldn't have driven to the burger joint if it hadn't been because Lance had some tea to spill over the bizarre experience he had just had. She was a sucker for love stories. She just needed to know. Everything. So that was the reason why she currently sat a table, cradling a cup of pop between her hands as she listened to her friend ramble. 

"You know, they didn't get that they had the perfect chance to kidnap you and ask for a ransom." 

"For a second I was scared. It was real trashy. He has a CD player in his car."

"Really?" Nyma laughed. "That's like super vintage." 

Lance turned to attend to a customer, his focus back to Nyma once she spoke. "So this Keith really just admitted he wanted to fleece you? Did you tell him that you need him -"

"- Lance, get the fire extinguisher!" Acxa's yell echoed from the back, followed by Ezor's loud squeals. Nyma's cellphone was ready to record when Lance lashed out to the back of the kitchen with the fire extinguisher in hand. The fire was out in just a few seconds without causing any major damages, just the chips burnt to coal on the stove. 

His shift had finished and he'd been getting ready to head back home when a notification flashed from his cellphone. He picked it up from the counter with a frown, reading the text message. 

Hey, Lance. We've blocked your bank account and your credit cards. You're not getting a single cent until you've snapped out of it. Best of wishes, Mom and Dad.