Archive of Our Own

It was one of those mornings where Hot Neighbor Guy was doing his dishes again.

Without a shirt on. Again.

And Keith was just sipping his morning coffee, sitting on his couch, watching him through the window because honestly, he couldn’t look away. This guy (yeah, Keith had never met him, so he had no idea what his name was) had been tormenting Keith ever since he moved into his new place and Keith had a love/hate relationship with him. Their windows were only several feet apart and Keith was pretty sure that if both of them had their windows open, they’d be able to have a conversation, albeit a bit of a loud one.

And yet they never did since Keith was pretty sure Hot Neighbor Guy didn’t know Keith existed.

Y’know, at first Keith didn’t have a problem with it because Hot Neighbor Guy only used to not wear shirts in the morning, but now Keith couldn’t pinpoint the exact hours anymore because they were completely random. It had come to the point where Keith would sometimes look out his window and come face-to-face with a beautiful bare back. Not his chest, because every time Keith would run the risk of getting eye-contact, he’d look away.

(But he had managed to get a few good looks of his chest and ended up banging his head against the wall for the sake of not being obvious and pretending that he’d been going the other way.)

(Totally worth it.)

Anyway, like seriously, did this guy not own any shirts?

It wasn’t like Keith minded that much because it was a nice view, but on the other hand, he didn’t wanna violate this guy with— his eyes. Keith ended up staring for at least a good ten seconds every time he spotted him before he’d go back to his life.

“Ugh.”

Grumbling under his breath, Keith took a sip of his coffee and leaned on his elbow, watching Hot Neighbor Guy dry his dishes. If he tilted his head slightly, Keith was able to spot a pair of rather cute blue boxer shorts with little stars on them, but Keith was not the type of guy to blatantly stare at someone’s… boxers because that’d be rude.

God. He was a creep, wasn’t he.

Well, it was time to go to class, which was the only excuse Keith had to stop staring and stop being a creep, so he began getting up.

Wait—

Oh, no.

Oh, help.

Hot Neighbor Guy turned around when Keith had pushed himself out of his chair and their eyes met.

Keith’s heart fluttered and he almost dropped his coffee, but he didn’t look away, because damn. Even through several layers of glass and the distance between them, the eye-contact felt rather intense and exposing and oh god, look away, look away, look away.

After five seconds or so, Hot Neighbor Guy was the one to break the eye-contact and go about his business, grabbing a towel from the cabinet and drying the freshly washed dishes. Keith felt like he’d just been yanked out of his sleep and followed his example, bringing his cup to the sink and leaving it for Future Keith to deal with.

That was weird.

But not awkward, right? It was only for a couple of seconds and-and-and they both just happened to catch each other’s gaze at the same time, right?

Right. Good.

Totally a coincidence.

Time to go to class and pretend that this never happened even though Keith would probably think about that for the rest of the day. And night.
 

Days went by. Hot Neighbor Guy would occasionally wear a shirt (and pants) and Keith would sometimes spare him a glance, but then went back to his essay. There was a lot of work to be done and Keith couldn’t afford not to hand in at least something.

Hm. Was Hot Neighbor Guy in college, too? Were they… going to the same university?

Well, they were pretty close to Keith’s campus and Hot Neighbor Guy seemed to be around his age, so why not? Then again, Keith had never seen this guy around, not even in the cafés or the library and Keith spent a good amount of his time there.

Then again, it wasn’t like Keith had ever gotten a good look at this guy’s face. The only things he knew was that he had brown hair and um.

Um.

Was toned.

And he had eyes.

And legs.

And… arms.

Yeah, that was pretty much it.

“Keith?”

“Hm?”

It was Shiro, his roommate/brother. Keith looked up from his tablet and blinked up at Shiro, hopefully not looking gay at all.

“Adam and I are gonna go to the grocery store. You need anything?” Shiro asked, holding the doorknob in a loose grip and smiling down at Keith.

Having a brother as a roommate was pretty handy sometimes. “Oh yeah, could you get me some more instant coffee? I’ve got some spare change, hold on.”

Keith got up from behind his desk and walked over to his bag, automatically looking up through the window and oh shit—

No, not again.

Hot Neighbor Guy, not wearing a shirt, staring right at him. Now, of all times. When Keith actually had things to do, like giving his brother some stupid money to buy some stupid coffee for him at the grocery store.

This time it was Keith who tore his gaze away because he didn’t wanna be too obviously gay panicky in front of Shiro, so he grabbed his wallet from his bag and handed Shiro the money.

“Look at you,” Shiro began and Keith was about to defend himself to the fullest and lie his way out of this when Shiro continued, “paying for your own groceries like an adult.”

Ugh.

“Shiro—”

“Going, going.”

Keith watched Shiro leave with a small pout on his face, not sure if Shiro had noticed anything just now or if he had no idea Keith was crushing on his stupid neighbor.

Who… had been staring at him? Keith’s jaw dropped as he realized what had happened.

Hot Neighbor Guy had been staring at him, right? Not the other way around as usual?

Damn, Keith quickly turned his back to the window to make sure no one would see the small stupid smile on his face.

Not that it meant anything. It could be a weird coincidence, but still, Keith had every right to feel giddy about this because for once, the roles had been reversed. This was a good thing, right? It could mean that there was a slight chance this guy was at least curious about him, right?

… Keith had issues.

The door swung open.

Without moving from his spot, Keith eyed Shiro with a tentative frown, not sure what to expect.

“By the way,” Shiro started and Keith’s eyes widened, raising a finger to deny everything— “you’ve got great taste in men.”

Before Keith could even utter an insult, Shiro closed the door and Keith could hear him laughing all the way down to the front door and it was annoying.

Ever since that day, there had been a tiny bit more eye-contact, but most of it seemed to be accidental still.

Ironically, though, it happened when Hot Neighbor Guy was wearing a shirt and Keith had been so taken aback by this fact that he’d been staring more than usual. Of course, Hot Neighbor Guy turned his head right when Keith had been standing in the middle of his studio, holding his book, obviously having no business staring right at him, but oh, there he was.

Neither of them moved. Again, it only lasted for a few seconds, but Keith was able to distinguish the guy’s haircut (turned out he had short bangs, which made him even cuter) and sort of the shape of his jaw. His facial features were rather blurry due to the distance and maybe that was for the best, because Keith didn’t need any more reasons to stare.

Or to be gay.

Seemed like Hot Neighbor Guy had friends over because he looked away from Keith and started talking to two other people there. It looked like they were having a good time, laughing and goofing around, and man, how Keith wished he was there right now.

There still wasn’t anything they knew about each other.

The only thing Keith knew was that he got up around eight every morning, washed the dishes, would sometimes work on his laptop in, and then disappear. And the curtains would be closed at night, so yeah, there was that.

So, either this guy had a really busy job or, like Keith, liked to live on campus because school was kicking his ass.

“Yo, Keith.”

It was Adam and this time, Keith was prepared: pretending to be engrossed in his book, studying for his finals rather than stalking some guy whose name he didn’t even know.

“Yeah?”

“Shiro and I are going to a movie. Wanna come with?”

Keith contemplated this for a while, looking down at his book with pursed lips before he looked back up with an apologizing smile. “No, I’m gonna study some more. Have fun.”

“Alright. Why don’t you open the window? ‘s pretty hot out,” Adam grinned and winked at him before he left.

Not sure why Adam had winked at him, but sure. Keith got up and went to open the window, pushing at the glass and… and noticing Hot Neighbor Guy doing the exact same thing, looking like a fucking Disney Prince opening his window with both hands to start singing to the birds. And Keith was a hopeless person in his captive audience, weak for his handsome features.

Wait—

Handsome.

Now that that they were facing each other without several layers of glass between them, Keith could get a good look and yes, he was handsome.

They weren’t close enough for Keith to distinguish his eye color, but it was close enough to spot the slightly upturned nose, sharp jawline, somewhat broad shoulders and um.

Protruding collarbone.

Poor Keith didn’t stand a chance and slowly let his hands slide down the windows as he watched Hot Neighbor Guy glance down at the street, then back up at him before going back to his friends.

Unfortunately, they lived in a noisy street and the distance between them was too great for Keith to hear their voices, but at least he’d gotten an update on this guy’s features. And it was enough for Keith’s crush to increase tenfold and it was a problem. Hot Neighbor Guy had just become ten times hotter, so maybe Keith had to come up with a new nickname?

Super Hot Neighbor Guy?

Way Out of My League Neighbor Guy?

Nah, too long.

Keith snapped out of it and glared down at his hands. He had better things to do than come up with nicknames for his stupidly handsome neighbor.

Oh, hey. Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy maybe?

“No. Nope, no. Stop,” Keith mumbled to himself and went back to studying like a good student.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Okay, where was this alarm coming from?

It was 4:15 and Keith had a deadline at 5. It was hot, so Keith had opened all his windows and the same, annoying alarm had been going off for the past five minutes. It wasn’t coming from his building, because it sounded kinda distant, so it must be coming from outside.

But it was loud enough to blare through his earbuds and Keith was starting to lose his patience.

His door was open and he heard Shiro rummaging around in his room on the other side of the hall. With a small grunt, Keith got up and walked across the hall, noticing that the alarm grew quieter as he poked his head into Shiro’s room.

“Do you know where it’s coming from?” he asked, tapping his fingers against the door as he watched Shiro make himself a sandwich.

“Nope,” was the dull reply and Shiro gave him an amused look. “Seems to be coming from your side, though.”

Keith clicked his tongue and turned on his heel to go back to his own room and look out the window. And of course Shiro followed him.

The alarm got even louder when Keith leaned over the small window seat to scan the area, trying to pinpoint the source, but it seemed impossible to do so. Funnily enough, he saw other people looking out their windows, probably doing the same thing as him, but having no luck either. There were other people roaming the street as well, appearing to be looking for something, others were standing in their doorframe, craning their neck just like Keith.

“Hey!” Keith tensed and quickly looked around before his eyes landed on a girl below his window who was waving her arms at him. He was pretty high up, but he recognized her.

It was one of Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy’s (apparently he’d finally picked a new nickname) friends from the other day.

“Yeah, you!”

This was not happening.

No.

“What is it?” Keith called back, doing his best to ignore Shiro staring at him even though they were standing right next to each other.

“I think that fire alarm’s coming from my friend’s place, but I can’t get a hold of him!” The girl yelled and pointed up to… Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy’s floor. “He’s not answering his phone and I don’t have the key. See if you can get his attention!” 

Interestingly, Keith hadn’t checked his window yet, having been too distracted by the alarm.

“You sure it’s him?” Shiro joined the conversation, leaning out of Keith’s other window and Keith awkwardly waited for his moment to be useful again.  

Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy’s friend nodded and Keith could almost distinguish a smile on her face. “Oh yeah, only he’s stupid enough to do something like this!”

… Right.

“He sounds like your type,” Shiro murmured and Keith was this close to pushing him out the window.

Whatever, there were more important things at hand. Like, getting Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy’s attention.

Keith looked directly at his window and saw said guy… doing the dishes, wearing big headphones. At least he was wearing a shirt, but that didn’t make the situation any less stupid. The window was closed and Keith already knew that he was gonna be fighting a losing battle.

“Hey!” he yelled, leaning more out the window with the hopes of his voice somehow overpowering the alarm and the headphones. Shit, Keith had no idea how he was supposed to do this, so he also started waving his arms like a maniac. “Heeey!”

“Over here!” Shiro joined in, his voice only slightly louder than Keith’s, but no luck, either.

His friend was furiously ringing his doorbell and Keith yelled as hard as his vocal chords would allow it, but it was useless and Keith was really starting to worry. What if there was a fire and the guy didn’t know anything about it because he happened to be wearing headphones?

Then again, those had to be some damn good headphones to block out this alarm.

Hm.

“I think we should call 911,” Shiro offered and Keith worried his lip, eyeing him. “He could be in danger.”

“Okay,” Keith agreed and Shiro reached for his phone to dial. Other people had gathered around Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy’s front door, banging on it and yelling at his window and honestly, this situation would’ve been hilarious if Keith wasn’t actually worried about his neighbor’s safety.

“Yeah, we’re not sure what’s going on and we can’t seem to get his attention.” Keith glanced over at Shiro who was pacing around in his room while he talked to the operator and Keith looked back at the window to see that—

Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy was gone.

Shit.

“Where’d he go?” Keith yelped and checked the other windows, but his neighbor had vanished into thin air, boosting his anxiety.

His heart began beating faster and Keith bit his nail, nervously glancing down at his friend who was waving at him again. “What?”

“He’s gone!” Keith yelled back and awkwardly motioned towards Shiro. “My brother’s calling the fire department!”

The poor girl’s eyes widened and Keith wasn’t sure what to say or do except for throwing rocks at his stupid neighbor’s window. Or maybe bricks because they had to grab this guy’s attention as soon as possible.

“Alright, they’ll be here in five minutes,” Shiro informed him and pocketed his phone, laying his other hand on Keith’s shoulder. “’s gonna be alright, Keith. We’ll get him out of there.”

And right at that moment, Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy reappeared, opened his window and waved at Keith with an awkward grin.

“Everything’s okay!”

What the fuck.

This is not how Keith had expected their first meeting to go. Or to hear this guy’s voice for the first time, but sure. And hey, Keith’s theory was true: they could actually converse like this. The part he hadn’t thought about was that they literally had to scream at each other.

Not very romantic.

Or practical.

“What’s going on?” Keith’s throat was starting to hurt, but whatever, they were talking and Keith liked him even more because of his voice.

‘Twas a cute voice despite the yelling.

(Don’t mind Keith having gay thoughts in the middle of a possibly dangerous situation.)

Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy gestured to the back of the room without taking his eyes off Keith. Cute. “It’s the fire alarm! It’s broken and I can’t fix it! I’m okay!”

… Oh, yeah. Shiro was right.

Yeah, he was definitely Keith’s type.

“Shiro.” Keith pulled back, but didn’t turn to Shiro, still staring at his neighbor.

“What.”

“He fucking broke his fire alarm.”

“… Oh.” Fidget, fidget. “Guess I’ll go and— call 911 again to, y’know, cancel our appointment with the fire fighters.”

Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy was still trying to communicate and of course, he had Keith’s full attention. “What were you guys trying to tell me?”

Keith leaned out the window as far as he could, the cold frame digging uncomfortably into his stomach. “We called 911!”

“What?” Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy followed Keith’s movements, cupping his ear and Keith almost rolled his eyes at the stupid yet cute behavior. But then he straightened back up and pointed down. Uh-oh. “Wait, wait, meet me at my front door!”

Before Keith could actually answer, Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy had already disappeared, leaving Keith high and dry. Or more like, with the biggest gay panic ever because did he just—

What was—

What.

“Turns out he broke his fire alarm, but we talked to him and he’s okay—”

“I’ll be right back, bye.” Keith zoomed past Shiro, not in the mood for one of his looks, and raced down the stairs, taking full advantage of the fact that his brother was on the phone and unable to stop him from making any irrational decisions.  

Like, for example, going downstairs to meet the guy he’s been crushing on for who knows how long.

What were they even gonna talk about? It was probably gonna be one of the shortest conversations Keith had ever had, but at least it was gonna be with a cute guy who he’d been eyeing for months now. Maybe he could even find out his name.

The fire alarm was still going off and was still loud, but Keith had sort of gotten used to it by now.  

“Oh, hey, it’s you,” his friend called once he was downstairs and had walked over to the guy’s front door. Most people had left, probably to go buy some earplugs, or had grown bored. “Did you manage to talk to him?”

“Yeah, he’s—”

There he was.

And Keith was not ready.

“Lance, what the hell are you doing?” The girl screeched at him and Keith’s eyes widened when she stomped over to him and kicked him in the shin.

Bare shin. He was wearing shorts.

How come Keith didn’t notice he’d been wearing shorts?

Keith really couldn’t have nice things, could he.

Oh, well. At least Keith got his name and a show.

Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy/Lance yelped in pain and glared down at her. Now that the distance between them was significantly smaller, Keith could finally see his face in high definition. His eyes were blue, his lips – yeah, of course his lips were one of the first things Keith looked at – were prettily shaped, his jawline looked sharp enough to cut right through Keith (which he wouldn’t mind at all, to be honest) and they seemed to be about the same height.

“I’m sorry, Pidge, my fire alarm broke out of nowhere and Hunk’s doing his best to fix it!” Apparently they still had to yell over the alarm, but at least Keith could actually hear what he was saying without having to put too much effort into it. “Hey, neighbor!”

Ah, he’s been spotted. Lance glanced up at him and Keith wanted to pretend he wasn’t there, but there was no backing out now.

Didn’t matter that Keith wanted to be anywhere but here because Lance took a few steps closer and woah, more details. Like the small amount of freckles around the bridge of Lance’s nose and his long eyelashes. And his bright teeth.

Not good.

“What were you trying to tell me up there?” His voice had gone down a bit because they were standing rather close now and Keith was pretty thankful for that. Or maybe not, seeing as he could really look at Lance now, which was not doing his heart any favors.

“We called 911,” Keith blurted out and Lance’s eyes widened comically. “But my brother’s taking care of it! He’s um, cancelling them.”

“Oh, good,” Lance sighed out of relief and hello, grabbed Keith’s shoulder as he doubled over in dramatic relief. Touching, touching.

Hand… warm. Keith… touch-starved. Brain… broken.

Anyway, beautiful blue eyes found his and Keith was nearly blinded by that smile. “Why’d you call 911, though?”

Keith frowned and saw Pidge snickering from the corner of his eyes. “We couldn’t get your attention and thought there… might be a fire ‘cause of the alarm. You were wearing headphones.”

Talking was hard, okay.  

“You’re so stupid sometimes,” Pidge added with a shake of her head and went to stand next to Lance, but she wore a small smile despite her words and hugged him around his waist. “You made me think that you’d set your kitchen on fire, or something.”  

Lance shifted his weight from one leg to the other and put his hands on his pockets, slightly dragging the shorts down and exposing a sliver of his waistband. Okay, maybe they still needed to call 911 because that was just mean, not to mention illegal.

“Sorry for making you worry,” he mumbled and right at that moment, the alarm stopped. The three of them simultaneously looked up at Lance’s window and Keith sighed in relief, glad he wouldn’t have to yell anymore. “Hey, Hunk fixed it!”

As if on cue, another guy walked up to them and Keith recognized him as Lance’s other friend. The three of them began babbling and Keith felt even more awkward since he technically didn’t know any of them and had no idea how to talk to them.

Help.

“Hey.” Lance to the rescue. He turned to Keith with another dashing grin and held out his hand. The other two stood beside him, appearing friendly and inviting. “Thanks for your help, man. I just realized that I never introduced myself. I’m Lance.”

Yeah, Keith figured. And would never forget. Yet he grabbed Lance’s hand, instantly noticing that his hands were so soft holy shit. “Keith.”

His hovering friends introduced themselves as Hunk and Pidge and Keith greeted all of them with the best smile he could muster, trying not to be too awkward and gay for their friend.

And then he remembered something very important.

“Wait, what time is it?”

His essay.

All three of them frowned at the random question, but at least Lance looked down at his wrist watch. “Uh, 4:45. Why?”

That he’d totally forgotten about.

Keith uttered a quick, “I gotta go!” and bolted towards his own place, leaving his chances of asking Lance out behind.

But at least he had a name now.

You know what would’ve been a good idea?

To ask Lance for his number.

But no, Keith had been too busy freaking out over Lance’s pretty face to even bring that up, so now they went back to the way they were.

The occasional eye-contact through their windows, except that it was sometimes accompanied by a wave and/or a smile, which was great development, but Keith felt like he had to do something other than wave back. It certainly didn’t help that Lance went back to not wearing a shirt.

Especially now that it was getting even hotter and Lance seemed to have burned all his shirts, or something.

Same for his pants. Nowadays, Lance was practically walking around in nothing but shorts and Keith was pretty sure that one day he’d somehow died on his way to school and that he’d ended up in gay hell. Lance was right there, in hindsight, and Keith was forced to watch him from behind bars.

“Did you know that there are these things called doorbells?” Shiro asked him once he caught Keith staring and Keith glared daggers at him for even bringing it up. “You should use them sometime. They could come in handy for when you wanna, y’know, ask people out?”

“Or,” Adam piped up and Keith slid down his seat, ready for the floor to swallow him. “you could play his game. See who cracks first.”

Both Shiro and Keith frowned up at him, equally confused. “Huh?”

Adam grinned and took a bite out of his chocolate bar, nodding towards Lance’s window. “Well, he walks around without a shirt on, right?”

Oh, no.

No.

No fucking way.

“I am not doing that,” Keith decided and went to the cupboard to grab a chocolate bar for himself out of spite. “There’s no way in hell I’m doing that. Besides, it’s not like he’s doing it for me, or for any other specific reason. I bet he’s just hot.”

Ha.

Haha.

Before either of them could go for that joke, Keith beat them to it. “Don’t.”  

Both of them snickered and Keith pouted, unsure of what he had to do. Adam had definitely planted a seed in his head now and well, it kinda seemed like a fun idea. There certainly had been times where Lance had been the one staring and maybe Keith could step up and turn their little staring game into something more.

It would definitely feel like a win if he’d somehow get Lance to ask him out rather than the other way around. Like, there was at least some level of attraction, right? Otherwise Lance wouldn’t have ended up staring at him a couple of times. Now that Keith thought about it, it was somewhat of a confidence boost and both his playful and competitive side wanted to test it out for a while.

On top of that, now that it was getting unbearably hot, this whole idea began to look more and more appealing in Keith’s eyes. 

Hm.

The more mature choice was to walk up to Lance’s door and follow Shiro’s advice or maybe stick a note to his window, but this was way more creative.

Not to mention complicated. And so unnecessary.

Eh, it couldn’t hurt to try.

Alright, so maybe Keith needed a little more encouragement to make a complete one-eighty.

His role in— whatever this was, had been fairly passive and now he had to switch to active. Even though this future active role merely involved taking off his shirt and walking around the room, but still.

Glancing over at Lance’s room, Keith saw him working on his laptop, wearing a tank top, and if Keith squinted, he could see the faint outline of a pair of glasses.

Huh. Cute.

Anyway.

Keith had fun studying Lance’s nice profile for a while before he actually went for it and undid the first few buttons of his shirt. Maybe he could start out small, keep his shirt on and simply walk around with it open. Maybe that was a little less obvious. His fingers kept going until they’d reached the last button and Keith stared down at his own torso as if he was seeing it for the first time.

At least Lance wasn’t the only one who had a workout routine.

“This is so stupid,” Keith sighed and got up from his couch to make himself his umpteenth cup of instant coffee since college life didn’t include sleep and he had another paper to finish.

Once he was done pouring in the hot water and stirring it up, Keith turned around, facing the window and lo and behold.

Lance was staring at him.

Okay, he hadn’t expected instant results, but there they were. What was he supposed to do? Wave? Smile? Or keep standing there like it was an everyday thing to get his coffee with all his buttons undone? Like this was just another Wednesday morning?

So, Keith stared right back, coffee in hand, his dignity left to rot in the sink.

And despite the distance, Keith saw it:

Blue eyes looking him up and down a few times. Pausing at his torso for approximately 1.5 seconds before they went back up.

Oh.

Oh.

Lance turned back to his laptop, seemingly pretending that the whole thing didn’t happen, but Keith saw.

Damn, apparently Adam knew what he was talking about.

Things just got very interesting.

So basically, this had turned into some kind of competition after all. Days of walking around with the first few buttons undone turned into weeks and yet, both of them were too stubborn to give in because—

Yeah, why actually?

It wasn’t like they knew each other, but Keith was starting to feel competitive even though he had no idea what he was trying to win.

Except that he did. Obviously he was trying to win Lance’s attention, maybe even his heart while he was at it. Even though there wasn’t anything romantic about what they were doing, it was more like, trying to get each other’s attention in the most stupid way possible.

One time Shiro had referred to it as the “Seduce your Neighbor” game even though Keith was sure there was hardly any actual seduction involved.

No, it was a matter of trying to get the other person to have as many gay panics as possible. And eventually maybe ask the other out. Have a drink. Hang out. Maybe make out a little bit.

That was what this was all about.

Shut up, Shiro.

Okay, so the plan wasn’t going as smoothly as Keith had possibly hoped. Not that there was a plan in the first place, but it still wasn’t working. It didn’t matter how many times Keith looked over at Lance, it always ended up with him feeling even gayer and sometimes slightly (read: overly) flustered.

Sometimes Lance would wave. Sometimes he’d grin. There were even these very few moments where Keith thought he’d seen Lance wink at him.

At this point, the attraction had to be mutual, there was no other way around it.

Still. He refused to drag his stupid ass over there and ask Lance out, because he simply didn’t know how to. Plus, he made a fool of himself last time and he refused to lose the last bit of pride he had.

… If he even had any left.

Fate had other plans in store for him, though.

Shiro, who was now a dead man, had ordered some stuff, but since no one was home at the time of delivery, the postman had chosen Lance as the alternative address.  

What were the odds exactly?

Exactly, Keith didn’t have the answer either.

To make matters worse, Shiro had asked Keith to go get it, because, “You can do your big brother a small favor, can’t you?”

Keith hated his life. There was no way he could say no to that, so on that dreaded morning, Keith went over to that familiar front door and rang the bell that had Lance’s name next to it. He hadn’t had the guts to even check if Lance was home, because the butterflies in his stomach would not allow him to. One part of him hoped that Lance wouldn’t be home and that he could send Shiro over to do it himself after all.

What if Lance was home, though. What if Keith said something really weird.

There were so many ways to mess this up.

It took a few seconds before he heard the thumping of what sounded like stairsteps (or maybe that was his heart, ha) and then—

“… Hey.”

Why could Lance pull off the just-out-of-bed look? That was rude.

Unnecessarily so.  

Of course Keith’s eyes betrayed him by checking Lance out. The fluffy socks, sweats that were hanging low on his hips, the loose shirt and even the messy hair, oh no that was cute.

Words. Words, Keith. Lance was looking at him with a semi-confused smile, probably wondering why Keith was just staring at him like a weirdo.  

“Hi, uh,” he began lamely and held up the small piece of paper the postman left them with Lance’s house number on it. “My brother’s package got delivered here, I think. I’m uh, here to pick it up.”

That wasn’t so hard, was it? Right.

Lance’s eyes lit up and his smiled widened a bit for some reason. “Oh yeah, that’s right! Here, one sec…” Lance disappeared behind the door and Keith had the annoying urge to take a step inside and watch where he’d gone (maybe catch a glimpse of his butt while he was at it) and then Lance reappeared with a medium-sized package in his arms. It was pretty small, but a little bit too big for their mail slots. “There you go.”

Right. Keith extended his arms and took it from Lance, once again noticing that Lance’s hands were incredibly soft. He also caught a whiff of his deodorant and Keith wanted to die because now he knew that Lance not only looked good but smelled good too.

Creep.  

“Thanks,” he mumbled and managed to smile, which Lance mirrored right away, causing Keith’s heart to flutter. Yep, he was a goner. “Did I wake you up?”

That seemed to catch Lance by surprise. “Oh. Uh, no, I was just…” Lance’s cheeks became a little flushed and Keith’s eyes widened as he witnessed his cute neighbor becoming flustered. “halfway through changing out of my pajamas. Had a free period this morning, so I slept in a bit.”

Free period, huh? Keith couldn’t help himself. “You go to Altea, too?”

Lance’s lips parted slightly and Keith tried not to look at them too much. He didn’t think he was the type of guy to find other people’s lips pretty, but— Lance’s lips were really pretty. And kissable.

“Yeah,” he breathed and gave Keith a lopsided grin, leaning against the doorframe and running a hand through his messy bangs in an attempt to comb them, which was unnecessarily cute. “You too, then? How come I’ve never seen you?”

This was happening. They were having an actual conversation and Keith couldn’t believe he was still standing there. With both feet on the ground. Holding Shiro’s stupid package that was the very reason they were now talking to each other.

“I mostly study at the library. Sometimes at home when it’s really busy there,” Keith replied meekly and shifted from one leg to the other, awkwardly holding Shiro’s package. “I don’t have a lot of classes, but I do have a lot of homework and essays.”

A small hum caught Keith’s attention and he eyed Lance curiously to find him tipping his head to one side, an indescribable look in his pretty blue eyes. “Hm, I like to study at the library, too,” he mused and Keith’s heart dropped to his stomach at the thought of Lance continuing that sentence. Their eyes met and both knew exactly where Lance was going with this.

“… You do?” Keith filled him in because Lance had left it at that. It was an opening. “Never seen you there.”

Keith was tiptoeing around that very opening, his heart hammering loudly against his chest, almost making him shake. Damn, he really liked this guy.

“No, I have my own little corner that no one seems to know about,” Lance grinned and did Keith mention how much he wanted to die? “It’s a small desk between several bookcases in the east wing.”

Was it a bad thing that Keith’s mind had started to wander? He couldn’t help but think that that would be a perfect spot to smooch each other in between breaks. In private. Maybe push Lance against one of the bookcases, hold his waist while they kissed for hours and hours with no end in sight? In private. Those would be the best types of breaks in Keith’s eyes.

Definitely enough serotine to keep him going.

Their eyes locked again.

Oh.

Lance blinked once or twice, the corner of his lip curling and Keith couldn’t believe that this guy was capable of flirting with just his eyes and lips. And that he, Keith, was falling for it.

“Sounds interesting,” he murmured because two could play at this game and Keith was not surprised to see Lance’s eyebrow twitch.

“Yeah?”

They both knew. It was only a matter of time for the first one to break, but Keith kinda liked this little game they had going on. It was like the game they’d played earlier through their windows and Keith hated to admit to himself that Lance made him feel competitive for some reason.

Was this how it was gonna be? Maybe Lance had some secret talent of turning every little thing into a competition and Keith was lowkey (highkey) into it.

“Mhm.”

Lance bit his lip, not breaking eye contact and Keith wondered if he’d won. When Lance shifted a little and leaned against the door with his hip… and his eyes twinkled just like that, Keith knew.

“Well,” Lance began and Keith couldn’t help but smirk, which Lance mirrored again. “then why don’t you ‘n I meet there to study tomorrow at, say, around eleven?”

And with that, Keith had officially won the first round.

(Maybe Keith was a teeny tiny bit nervous because he was finally going on a date with Stupidly Handsome Neighbor Guy, but we’re not gonna talk about that.)

The east wing of the library was, like Lance said, almost completely deserted. There were a few people here and there, either sitting behind one of the computers or hiding behind a pile of their books on the desks.

It wasn’t like they were gonna be alone in here, even though Keith had half-hoped they would be, but it was nice to see that there were actually a lot less people than Keith was used to.

Now to find that corner Lance had mentioned.

Luckily it wasn’t that hard to find, but it did look like a secret spot. Close to the wall, sheltered between endless rows of bookcases, away from the computers and other desks, and woah, Lance looked cute.

Keith had totally forgotten that Lance had glasses. Maybe he had lenses? Or maybe they were reading glasses. Didn’t matter, he had glasses. And they were cute.

Not the glasses. Lance wearing the glasses was cute.

Not that Lance wasn’t already cute without them, but—

Okay, why was Keith getting overly defensive and discussing his own gay panic in his own head?

Dude.  

His poor insides squirmed with excitement as he approached Lance quietly, the carpeted floor muffling his already soft footsteps. Lance seemed to be so absorbed in his work that he hadn’t noticed Keith’s presence yet, but when Keith came closer he saw that Lance was wearing wireless earbuds.

What to do, what to do…

Lay a hand on his shoulder?

Woah, nope. Probably too intimidating.

Wave a hand in front of his face?

Nah, too in your face. Literally.

Keith opted for dropping his bag next to Lance’s and taking the empty chair on the other end of the table, which made Lance twitch and look right at him.

Oops.

Lance was way too fucking cute with his glasses, baby blue button up shirt and his stupid freckles which were highlighted because of the direct sunlight. Even his skin looked good. It looked… dewy. It wouldn’t surprise him if Lance had a twenty-step skincare routine. Keith felt underdressed (and under…skinned, if that was a word) with his simple jeans and red hoodie, even though this was the library and not some fancy restaurant.

“Oh hey, you found it!” Lance whispered, grinning and taking out his earbuds. “Sorry, got here a bit earlier ‘cause I have a deadline this week.”

At least Keith hadn’t scared him, so that was good. And did Lance just apologize for being early?

Please help. This guy was way too cute and polite.

“Don’t worry about it,” Keith whispered back and got his laptop and notebook out of his bag, setting everything up. A little bit of small talk before their joined study session should be fine. “What’s your essay about?”

“The importance of detecting a specific set of prosodic features that are often associated with sarcastic utterances,” Lance chirped quietly and Keith stared at him for a couple of seconds.

“… A specific set of what.”

Apparently he’d made a mistake because Lance winked at him and Keith felt like Lance had lit him on fire. “Linguistics. I’ll explain during our coffee break, yeah?”

Okay, so Lance was a linguistics major. Sounded way more difficult than being a literature major and Keith almost felt intimidated by Lance because he seemed pretty smart. So, to set things right, Keith pulled out several printed out articles and the book he was currently reading, got his highlighter, pencil and earbuds ready and began to work.

Luckily he’d bought the book, so he could write, highlight and write in it. Shiro had called him barbaric, but at least Lance hadn’t said anything or looked at him in disgust, except for raising his perfect eyebrows for a few seconds, but then he quickly went back to highlighting his own articles.

Lance was a surprisingly chill study buddy. Over the course of about two hours, Keith had noticed Lance had his own personal habits. Probably subconscious, but they were still cute. Rubbing the tips of his fingers together, twirling his pen, pushing up his glasses, running his thumb over his bottom lip, staring off into space for a good minute or so before going back to work, and— hm.

Hm. The only thing he seemed to be studying on this study date was Lance.

Good one.

So after about two hours of getting absolutely no work done, Lance gently tapped Keith’s arm with his fingers.

Lance had really pretty hands, Keith noticed.

“Hey, wanna go get some coffee and a sandwich downstairs? Could definitely use a break.”

“Mhm, sounds good.”

Their arms brushed together as they went downstairs to the library café and Keith had a hard time focusing on anything Lance was saying until they were standing in front of the cashier and had to place their order. In his defense, Lance smelled really good and it was really distracting.

“Latte with a shot of caramel and a chicken sandwich, please,” Keith heard Lance order and he himself ordered the same sandwich but with a black coffee, not thinking too much about it, until Lance turned to him like he’d just been insulted. “Black?”

“… Yeah?”

“Thot.”

“Wh— hey!”

Lance simply grinned and walked over to the corner to wait for his coffee, hiding his smile, but Keith spotted it and it made his insides squirm. It was so simple yet so flirty that Keith couldn’t help but feel giddy. So very giddy that Lance was flirting with him on their date.

Once they had their coffee and sandwiches, they found a table near the window so they could people-watch and drink their coffee. Now that they actually had to talk to each other, Keith started to feel the pressure of having to come with— things to talk about. He didn’t think that he’d get this far, so it might be a problem.

Maybe Lance didn’t mind the silence as he was stirring his coffee around with a wooden stick, his glasses shoved back into his hairline to reveal his cute forehead (apparently it was possible to have a cute forehead. What.). Keith, however, was looking around, trying not to pay too much attention to the way Lance’s lips wrapped around the rim of the cup to take a careful sip.

He was still trying to come up with something to talk about. Lance’s essay? Too small-talky. His family? Too personal. His hobbies? Too cliché.

Luckily, Lance didn’t seem to have to think himself into despair. “But seriously, you don’t put anything in your coffee?”

Keith was so relieved that they had something to talk about that he didn’t even mind the blatantly obvious disapproval in Lance’s whole demeanor. “… No. I already eat chocolate bars and cereal, so why would I need to act extra milk and sugar to my coffee?”

“That’s— that’s not even a valid argument,” Lance snorted and Keith made a weird noise in surprise at that accusation. “So, just because you already eat sugar and drink milk, you don’t feel like adding it to your coffee?”

It was hilarious that Lance seemed to be taking this whole black coffee thing so seriously, as if Keith had personally attacked him. It made the corners of Keith’s lip tremble and before he could stop them, they had curled up. And Lance was smiling too, which Keith could barely handle. “Yes, exactly, I’m glad we understand each other.”

“Keith.” Lance went as far as bringing his hands up to his face, pressing them against his lips and closing his eyes, and Keith was already shaking with silent laughter. “My man… my dude… my boy, I have got to convert you. Drinking black coffee is a sin.”

Since Keith was already in gay hell, he didn’t think he could sink any lower than that, so.

“And how, pray tell, are you gonna do that?” Keith asked, unable to take his eyes off the entertainment show that was Lance. His date. His hot neighbor.

Without saying anything, Lance held the cup in front of Keith’s face and gave him a very serious look. “Like this. Try it.”

But—

But Lance had already taken a sip of his drink. Had touched the rim with those pretty lips and it was a problem.

Keith, probably looking like an absolute idiot, stared at the coffee as if it was gonna bite his nose off and Lance broke the silence by snickering. That didn’t really help since his laugh was way too cute and Keith wanted to die.

“Don’t worry, I don’t have a cold or anything,” he reassured Keith.

Yeah, Lance. Keith was so worried about getting sick. Not worried about drinking from his crush’s cup who’d already touched it with his lips, or anything. Not thinking about them sharing a cup and indirectly kissing each other’s lips.

Muh.

“Alright.” Keith took the cup from Lance’s hand, ignoring the fact that their fingers touched, and tasted the coffee.

Oh. No. Keith’s eyes darted around the café, trying to find a way out of this situation. He was a stubborn guy, okay, very stubborn. Up to the point where it would sometimes even annoy Shiro, the most patient man on earth.

There was absolutely no way that Keith was gonna admit that this coffee was good. Great even. It wasn’t too sweet or too foamy and Keith found himself looking at a whole new world of coffee, already wanting to take another sip to get that taste back.

And then his mind started to wander again. Wondering if he would be able to taste that sweet caramel on Lance’s lips.

Now he was thinking about kissing Lance again and honestly, that was better than realizing that he’d been wrong.

Still wasn’t gonna admit it, though. He wouldn’t be able to handle the smugness.

Like the smug grin Lance was wearing right now.

“’s good, huh? It’s written all over your pretty face.”

Lance was stupid. And so was his coffee.

“No.”

“It totally is. You can have it if you want. I’ll happily throw your black coffee in the trash, where it belongs.”

“Lance.”

But they were both smiling again and Keith felt butterflies, putting the cup back down on the table and letting Lance take it back.

Now that Lance had broken the ice, they fell into an easy conversation. Keith found that Lance was very easy to talk to and very entertaining to listen to. This guy had to have been a theatre kid, because the way he could make an entire one-man show about that one time he’d lost his wallet on the train was genuinely impressive.

“So, then, I started patting my pockets, y’know, like this.” Lance got up to demonstrate past Lance patting around invisible pockets all over his body, going as far as patting his neck and ears, and Keith was unsavable. “Thinking, ‘Huh? I definitely put it in my ass pocket!’ but it wasn’t there! My ass was empty!” Lance spread his arms for dramatic effect and Keith was actually gonna lose his mind, unable to stop himself from liking Lance more and more. “So I walked up to the help desk, hoping that my mom wouldn’t find out ‘cause ooohhh…” Lance laid his hands on the table and got real close to Keith, so close that he was able to see how blue Lance’s eyes were.

Lance didn’t continue the story and Keith figured that he was waiting for a reaction from his one-man audience.

“… How would your mom even know?”

“She can smell failure. And idiocy. And fear.”

Keith snorted and looked away for a second, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “Lance— kghh, your mom wasn’t even there!”

“I know, that’s the point!” Lance threw his hands up and Keith was trying so hard not to smile like an idiot and failing miserably. “Listen…” Lance held up an important finger. “my mom will always— know.”

“Well, if she does find out, can’t you just charm your way out of it?”

That had made Lance stop for a second and Keith couldn’t help but bite his lip in excitement. That was the first time he’d flirted on their date and Lance’s reaction was totally worth it.

Even in the dim lights of the café, Keith could see the hint of red on Lance’s cheeks. It was very satisfying and it gave him another nudge to start flirting with Lance more. “… That’s what I usually do, so I guess you already know me better than I thought.”

Oh, Keith bit his lip again and leaned back in his chair, comfortable. “Are you saying that being charming is part of your personality?”

Lance made a weird gurgling noise and Keith snickered, liking that Lance, that natural flirt, was unable to handle flirting when it was directed at him. “Keith— you— you interrupted my very interesting story!”

This was just too easy.

“Did I? So sorry about that, ‘m all ears,” Keith said calmly and raised his eyebrow, motioning for Lance to continue with his hand, his lips curling into a lopsided grin. “Do continue, I like listening to you talking about your empty ass. I’ll gladly listen to you talking about your ass all day, in whatever shape it may be in.”

Maybe Keith was having too much fun with this. Lance turned even redder, endlessly entertaining Keith, and he sat back down, narrowing his eyes at Keith as if he stepping into very dangerous territory. Keith was aware of this, but wasn’t about to back down.

“You’re not allowed to— to do that.”

“We’re on a date, though. A date usually includes a lot of flirting and you’re fun to flirt with.”

“I’ll do the flirting. You just—” Some weird hand motions and Keith pressed his lips together to keep his laughter at bay. “sit there and look cute.”

Keith laid his elbows on the table to get closer, wearing a very satisfied smirk, and Lance was holding up a warning finger, causing Keith to chuckle. “I didn’t even say anything, are you scared of what I’m gonna say next?”

Oh, he was definitely having way too much fun with this. Flustered Lance was everything he needed and more. It made his heart flutter in the best way, made the butterflies swarm around in his stomach and… made Keith like him even more.

“… No,” was the blatant lie.

Another opening and Keith took advantage of it. “Mhm. It’s written all over your pretty face.”

Lance’s eyes grew until they were twice their size and he flailed around in his chair, making a weird squawking noise that had Keith howling with laughter. “Using my own words against me— Keith!”

Keith: 2

Lance: 0

After spending the rest of the afternoon in the library, Keith did manage to get some work done after all, for which he was very grateful. It would’ve been very embarrassing if Lance somehow found out that Keith was still on the same page at the beginning of their date/study session; not to mention that Shiro would probably have the time of his life teasing him about it.

So, yes, Keith had managed to work on the outline for his essay after reading a handful of articles. It was definitely better than nothing.

Better than staring at Lance—

Nothing was better than staring at Lance, to be honest. The guy was cuter than Keith could handle and he needed to process it. Which needed time, so evidently, it was only reasonable for him to stare at Lance.

Duh.

“Hey, ‘s getting late, and I still need to make dinner. Let’s call it a day,” Lance spoke up after a while, laying his hand on Keith’s arm again and Keith felt like Lance set his whole sleeve on fire. Keith managed to nod after glancing at the clock in the corner and seeing that it was late in the evening. “But you could walk me home if you want to spend some more together.”

…

It took a few seconds before Keith got the joke and he narrowed his eyes at Lance who snorted and quickly covered his mouth.

“You— Lance.”

“Whaaaat, it’ll be fun!” Lance whisper-yelled and Keith resisted the urge to kiss that goofy smile off his face. “It’s not that far away from your place, is it? You can walk me aaaall the way to my front door and then you can turn around, cross the street, and bam! You’re there.”

“Lance, I will seriously—”

“Walk me home? Great.” Lance got up and began packing his stuff, but Keith could see him hiding his cheeky grin by turning away and Keith shook his head in amusement.

This guy.

Keith shoved everything in his bag and watched Lance take off his glasses to put them in a baby blue case, blinking furiously. “Meh, always have to get used to that,” he snickered and Keith almost melted at the sight.

It was so unfair that Lance was adorable without even trying to be.

Only getting more adorable by wrapping his fluffy scarf around him, putting on his jacket that was draped nicely over his shoulders and his dark blue beanie that matched his eyes.

Again, Keith felt underdressed with his simple red jacket, gloves and old scarf. What.  

They left the library, the cool autumn air feeling nice after spending so much time indoors. It was twilight and Keith felt the strange urge to stick close to Lance, despite the streetlights. It was getting dark, Keith had to make sure that they wouldn’t… lose each other.

Lance didn’t seem to mind and babbled on and on about his essay, very glad that he’d worked hard today and that he couldn’t wait to start on dinner. Turned out that Lance loved to cook ever since he was a kid, watching his mom prepare all sorts of dishes back at home.

It kinda made Keith wanna ask him if it was okay for him to come over and like, have dinner together, instead of having noodles. Again. Shiro had already told him off many times, telling him that he needed to put some effort into it, but after a day like this, Keith was often too lazy to cook.

“Hey, so what’re you gonna have for dinner?” Lance asked him out of the blue and for a second, Keith thought Lance was somehow able to read his mind. “You can come over if you want, I bought a huge sack of potatoes, so you’re more than welcome to help me eat them before they go bad.”

Marry me, Keith thought and then quickly shoved it to the back of his mind, realizing that this was real life.

“… Well, you see, I have these delicious instant noodles waiting for me,” Keith casually flirted and Lance chuckled in response, shaking his head. “There’s no way you can top that.”

Lance bumped their shoulders together and Keith was feeling beyond giddy that Lance was going out of his way to touch him. “Yes, you’re right, but if you’re not gonna do it for the food, you can do it to spend more time with me.”

“Hmmm…” Keith pretended to ponder, tapping his chin in fake thought and Lance snorted and tugged on his scarf to get his attention, making Keith laugh and move away.  

“Excuuuuuse me—”

They were on the sidewalk and Keith had enough room to create some space between them, but he grabbed Lance’s wrist instead and held it up in the air in a gentle grip. Lance stared at Keith for a few seconds, still a playful glint in those pretty eyes of his, and he wondered whether he’d gone too far.

That didn’t seem to be the case, though, as Lance didn’t try to move away. They were not moving anymore, standing behind one of the campus’ building, and Keith glanced around for a second, noting that they were pretty much the only ones there. Everyone else was probably at home, making dinner and enjoying the rest of their evening whereas Keith was standing there with his crush, holding his wrist and trying not to freak out too much.

“It’s very tempting,” Keith murmured and Lance bit his lip, the corners of his lips curling.

“Yeah? Is there any way I can convince you?”

Keith was already more than convinced, but decided to play along by tilting his head to the side and pursing his lips, causing Lance to huff in mock offense. “Humor me.”

“You’re the one who’s still holding on to me, though.”

A very good point.

Keith glanced at their hands again, watching as his gloved fingers slid over to Lance’s until he could easily intertwine them, but instead they lingered there, resting against Lance’s, not sure if that was okay.

“Seems like you do wanna spend more time with me,” Lance murmured and was the one who took the next step, linking their fingers together and dropped their joined hands down to their sides. “Good, ‘cause I’m havin’ fun and wanna spend more time together.”

The butterflies in Keith’s stomach were driving him insane and he didn’t know how to handle the fact that someone other than his family wanted to spend more time with him. Like, willingly spend more time with him.

And Keith wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the night with Lance. Enjoy his presence, lame humor and adorable personality some more.

Yes, please.

“… Me, too,” Keith said quietly, as if it were a secret, even though no one was around them, except for the occasional car driving by.

Lance smiled at him, which was annoyingly brighter than the streetlamps. “And I feel like I need to teach you some basic cooking skills because you can’t keep living off instant noodles, dude.”

“I am taking perfectly good care of myself, thank you.”

“Uhuh, you’re not gonna witty your way out of this one, pretty boy. C’mon.”

Before Keith could throw another sarcastic remark at him, Lance dragged him into their general direction and Keith was very much aware of the fact that they were still holding hands. In fact, Lance held on until they were at his front door, which was still kinda weird because when Keith looked over his shoulder, he was looking at his own front door.

Weird, right?

Weird that he was gonna be in that room he’d been staring at for the past few months. He had no idea what it would be like to stand there.

Lance fumbled with the keys, his fingers on his other hand red from the cold air, and Keith felt the urge to lay his warm hand over his, but Lance had already opened the door, holding it out for Keith.

They stepped into a long hallway, leading up to a small garden at the end, and there was a small door somewhere, which was probably a broom closet. “We’re gonna go upstairs,” Lance helped him and began climbing the stairs first, Keith looking around in fascination.

It was almost exactly like his place, which gave him an odd sense of déja vu. Keith was already untying his scarf and shoving his gloves into the pocket of his jacket, glancing around curiously.

“So, do you like, own the upper floor?”

“I have my own studio on one side and I share the hallway with Hunk, who has his own studio on the other,” Lance explained, kicking off his shoes once they reached the top of the stairs and unlocking the door to his studio. “Kinda like your place, isn’t it?”

Keith was looking over his shoulder to see a door on the other side of the hall with a cute handmade banner that read “Hunk’s Place” with a sun drawn at the end.

“Heh, how would you know? Been staring a lot?” Keith flirted out of the blue, looking back at Lance who quickly pushed the door open and went inside to avoid that question.

He was right though, it was kinda like his own studio, but with a few adjustments. Instead of having a built in kitchen and bathroom, Lance’s kitchen was right behind another door, along with his bathroom.

“Woah…” Keith mumbled, taking off his jacket and shoes as well, leaving them in the hallway and curiously looking around.

It was nice and cozy, with fairy lights scattered over the ceiling and walls, a few plants here and there, a TV with a small sofa in front of it that (Keith swallowed) was just big enough for two people to sit on, a beanbag in the corner that looked very comfy, a desk and laptop that Keith recognized and a table, which, again, was small enough for just two or three people. Finally, there was another set of stairs that led up to a loft where Lance’s bed probably was.

“It’s not much, but once I’ve graduated, I’ll look for something bigger,” Lance said, almost sounding embarrassed and Keith gave him an incredulous look. “… What?”

It’s cute and fits you, Keith wanted to say, but instead he glanced off to the side. “It’s nice.” Because that was way better.

Without thinking, Keith walked over to the windows and saw his own studio, grinning slightly. It was dark, so he couldn’t see much, but it was definitely recognizable. “So this has been your view for the past few months, huh?”

Lance went to stand right next to him, wearing the same grin. “Uhuh, I can see how dirty your windows are thanks to the reflection of the streetlights.”

Damn, Lance was right and Keith snorted, nudging him with his elbow. “Shut up, I don’t feel like cleaning them. I don’t feel like hanging out of my window like an idiot and giving you blackmail material.”

“What? Dude, you don’t have to turn into an acrobat, you have tools for that. First the noodles, now the windows. Oh man, I’m really gonna have to show you the ropes, huh?” Lance finished off his sentence with a small chuckle and Keith wanted to kiss him. “Wait, aren’t you older than me? I thought—”  

“Gonna show me the ropes, huh? On the first date? ‘s a little bit too kinky, don’t you think?”

It had the desired effect: Lance squawked and chucked one of the couch pillows at him, causing Keith to guffaw.

“Oh my god,” he screeched, his face bright red and Keith was honestly having the time of his life. “How old are you? I asked you a question, stop being so inappropriate in my house! I can’t believe I was gonna share my potatoes with you!”

Keith was officially dying of laughter, losing strength and falling back on to the couch, still holding the pillow to his chest and Lance was laughing along, shaking his head. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun, felt this much excitement to be hanging out with someone, having to not think about how to act, how to talk.

“Lannnnce,” he tried to talk through his laughter and looked up at Lance, tears of mirth in his eyes. “I’m so sorry—”

“Oh, you are definitely not,” Lance grinned and he was right, gently kicking Keith’s leg, making Keith snicker again. “You’re such a bad liar.”

It wasn’t until Lance gave him another kick that Keith almost rolled off the small couch with an embarrassingly loud scream, which instinctively caused him to try and hold on to something, which happened to be Lance’s arm.

And well, there they went. With a loud yelp, Lance ended up falling on top of Keith and now Keith was sorry, because…

Oh.

God.

No.

His hands had found Lance’s waist and Lance’s face was buried in Keith’s chest, his hands holding Keith’s biceps in an almost painful grip.

That was— nope, Keith was not mentally prepared for this. Nope. Absolutely not prepared to feel how warm Lance was, how good his hair smelled, how soft his skin was—

Wait.

Wait.

SKIN?

Keith then noticed that Lance’s shirt had ridden up and that his fingers were very much… touching Lance’s bare skin.

This was not okay.

So not okay, so Keith quickly pulled his hands away, tugged Lance’s shirt down and instead, uh, laid his hands on Lance’s— ribs? Nu-uh. Hips? No way.

Back. There we go. Safest option.

“… Okay, now I’m actually sorry,” he mumbled, guilt dripping off his words, but then he noticed that Lance was shaking.

For a split, terrifying second Keith feared the worst, and was willing to yeet himself out Lance’s window. There was no way he could ever forgive himself for making Lance, that cute ball of sunshine, cry.

“Kgghh…”

False alarm. That assbutt was laughing. And Keith couldn’t believe it.

“Lance.”

He was still shaking with silent laughter and Keith was seriously dying because this was just too cute and unfair.

“Lance.”

And that was when Lance rolled off him, onto the floor, laughing out loud and Keith melted right then and there. His goofy smile, his scrunched up nose, the way he was clutching his stomach, his flushed cheeks— all of it was almost too much for Keith to handle.

“What’s so funny?” Keith grinned and rolled on to his side to watch Lance, not wanting him to stop. Ever.

It was obvious that Lance was having a hard time answering through his laughter, but he managed to do it after a few deep breaths. “Heh, you,” he breathed and turned to his side as well, looking right into Keith’s eyes, almost knocking the air right out of Keith.

“… What. Why, what’d I do?”

“When you f-fell… you screamed,” Lance almost guffawed again, covering his mouth and rolling onto his back again, curling up. “It was— the best scream ever.”

Okay.

Should Keith be offended?

This was so unnecessarily rude.

But also adorable because Lance’s sense of humor was hilariously dumb and cute.

“Excuse me.”

“Pfff—”

“I can’t believe you’re making fun of my very serious scream.”

“Help...”

Lance was still snickering and Keith shook his head, simply watching him with a stupid smile. “If you don’t stop laughing at me…” he said, still grinning hopelessly, and crawled closer to Lance until he was hovering above him, laying his knee comfortably over Lance’s legs. “I will tickle you.”

It was so stupid. So dumb.

But Keith was too far gone at this point to care.

“Wait, wait! No!” Lance’s flushed cheeks became even darker and his eyes widened, holding his hand against Keith’s chest in a lame attempt to try and protect himself, and Keith’s heart actually skipped a beat from the touch. The corners of his lips were trembling, threatening to curl upward and Keith took that as a sign that Lance was still very much in a playful mood. “… That’s mean. You’re not mean, you’re nice. And you’re so pretty, you wouldn’t, right?”

It almost worked. Almost.

“You tryin’ to, what was it, charm your way out of this?” Keith smirked, taking the opportunity to cup Lance’s waist again. This time he had a reason (a very stupid reason, but it was a reason), and noticed how Lance already squirmed a bit in anticipation.

“Depends. Is it working?” He asked hopefully, casting a fearful look at Keith’s hands, his own hand holding onto Keith’s bicep and the other resting on Keith’s chest. Their position alone was sending Keith’s brain into overdrive.

“Too bad, I’ve already made up my mind.”

Keith went for it, squeezing Lance’s sides and wiggling his fingers against them, making sure to pin him down with his legs so he couldn’t get away.

And down Lance went. Bursting into helpless laughter, squealing whenever Keith hit a particularly sensitive spot and kicking his legs in a fruitless attempt to get away from the onslaught. He’d thrown his head back, pawing weakly at Keith’s arms as he started to giggle.  

That is when Keith realized that he’d just dug his own grave. Seriously, Lance was way too adorable for him to handle, and Keith was having an existential crisis right now. Sinking deeper and deeper, slipping his hands under Lance’s shirt to aim for his tummy, which caused Lance to shriek dramatically and Keith couldn’t help but laugh along with him.  

“Are you okay?” he snorted, even though he didn’t stop, his face hovering near Lance’s because he barely had the strength to hold himself up, able to feel Lance’s adorable laughter against his lips and cheeks.

“Do I look like—”

Honestly, Keith should’ve expected Lance to fucking quote a vine.

“Oh my god.”

It was obvious that Keith was fighting a losing battle, his fingers brushing over the soft skin, watching Lance’s adorably flushed face become more and more flustered, listening to the cute giggles and being so— close to him. So close that Keith could see the freckles on the bridge of Lance’s nose, how full his lips were, how thick his eyelashes were and help, Keith was dying along with Lance.

“Stop, ssstop! Please!” Lance pleaded, grabbing Keith’s lower arms since his hands were still under Lance’s shirt and Keith finally showed mercy.

They sat in silence for a while after that in which Lance was panting and Keith was staring. The good thing was that Lance was staring right back at him, his pretty blue eyes containing a playful yet innocent sparkle, his kissable lips still stretched into a lazy grin. It felt rather intimate, not awkward at all, and Keith was sure that he was under some sort of spell, unable to look or pull away.

His hands were still on Lance’s stomach, lingering there for no apparent reason other than… Keith being very gay right now. Lance’s skin was so soft that it was addictive to— very gently move his thumb over his navel.

“You called me pretty,” he blurted out, his words whispered against Lance’s lips since they were still pretty close.

“Well, you are,” Lance’s grin widened and his hands slid up Keith’s arms, over his shoulders until they finally settled on his back. “That wasn’t just me trying to talk my way out of something. You’re attractive, Keith.”

Sure Lance was flirting with him, but it felt heavier than that, and Keith felt his cheeks reddening. It wasn’t like he’d never been called attractive or handsome before, or that he was insecure about his looks, but to have someone as attractive and pretty as Lance tell him that?

Woah.

“Oh.”

“Mhm.”

“You’re…” Keith paused, knowing that he was gonna stumble over his words if he tried to talk some more, unable to figure out why he was having so much trouble talking again. Weren’t they just goofing around, flirting, teasing and joking? Why was it so hard now?

Lance’s hand roamed over his back and Keith could feel the warmth seeping through his clothes. “I’m what?” he murmured, his tone playfully flirty, his breath ghosting over Keith’s tingly lips.

A few more seconds of internal struggle until Keith finally fixed his brain. “Cute.”

That pretty grin widened and Lance tilted his head to the side, his hand finding its way to the back of Keith’s neck. “Cute, huh? That the best you can do?”

This guy.

“Are you fishing for compliments,” Keith deadpanned, his malfunction completely gone now and remembering why it was so easy to talk to Lance, his fingers playfully wriggling against Lance’s stomach again, causing Lance to jerk away.

“Ah! Keith, stop!” he yelped and kneed Keith in the butt, snickering and shaking his head while Keith’s hands slid back into their old position on Lance’s waist. “So what if I am?”

If Keith leaned any closer, their noses would be touching and he was way too aware of it. They were literally breathing in each other’s air, talking against each other’s lips, holding each other absently.

“That’s cute, too,” Keith smiled and watched Lance’s eyes light up, his heart soaring at the sight. “I thought you couldn’t handle flirting and compliments?”

Lance chewed his bottom lip and Keith’s eyes lingered on his mouth because of it, totally distracted now. “I can handle it when I’m mentally prepared. I will chuck that same pillow at you if you use this information against me.”

Keith snickered and felt Lance laughing quietly too. “Specifically that pillow?”

“Yeah, it’s got your name on it.”

“I’m flattered that you named one of your pillows after me.”

With a loud groan, Lance laid his head back against the floor and Keith laughed, laying his head on Lance’s shoulder and muffling his snickers into his neck. The hands on his back shifted and Keith smiled when he felt Lance’s hugging him, pressing their bodies together. 

It was getting late.

The kitchen was a mess, their plates were left forgotten on the dinner table, the movie was almost over and Lance was draped over Keith, his eyes growing heavier and heavier.

And Keith—

Yeah.

Keith was okay with it. His arm was wrapped around Lance’s middle, fingertips resting on his hip while Lance’s nose was pressed against the spot right below his ear. It had just… happened. Somewhere in the middle of the movie, Lance had complained that he wanted to cuddle and Keith wouldn’t dare decline, so here they were.

The blanket had slid off and was now awkwardly hanging off Keith’s legs, but he didn’t mind because he had his own personal blanket. Lance was a nice, soft furnace, and honestly, Keith preferred him.

After falling off the couch and having a near-death-experience from having Lance laying on top of him, Keith thought he was handling this pretty well. It was not as intimidating anymore, now he felt like it was much easier to touch Lance and stroke along his hipbone.

Lance, being one of the most chill people Keith had ever met, was so inviting that it made him feel less timid. There was hardly any reason to be hesitant, because Lance didn’t give him any reason to be, being so laid back and cool.

Like, seriously, Keith already couldn’t wait to go on another date with Lance and their current date hadn’t even ended yet.   

“You’re falling asleep.”

“Am not.”

“Liar.”

“Yeeahh. But you’re comfy.” Lance’s grip on Keith tightened as if Keith was planning on moving any time soon. “You’re warm and soft. Perfect pillow material.”

At this point Keith’s cheeks hurt from how much he’d been smiling all day as he glanced back down at Lance, patting his stomach. “Y’can’t fall asleep on me. I gotta go home when the movie’s over.”

Lance then glanced up at him, not paying any attention to said movie. “What, why?” he asked and it was so genuine that Keith almost didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was not at all prepared for a possible sleepover. “Are you leaving me already?”

“What do you mean ‘already’?” Keith snorted and glanced at the clock on Lance’s wall. “We’ve been hanging out for… more than twelve hours!”

Apparently Lance didn’t care about numbers and clung tighter to Keith and damn, Lance was a lot stronger than he looked. It made Keith wanna give his biceps a good squeeze, which he did, and he frowned in admiration, resisting the urge to challenge Lance to an arm-wrestling match now.

“You’re my pillow, you’re not allowed to leave,” Lance decided and Keith chuckled, liking Lance way too much.

It wasn’t like he wanted to leave. Not at all. He wouldn’t mind staying over so they could talk all night, but he was very tired so he wouldn’t mind sleeping either. It was just— Keith was not mentally prepared for Lance’s cute bedhead. And to possibly sleep in the same room with him. Possibly in the same bed.

Great, now Keith was thinking about cute, sleepy Lance in cute PJs and it was not helping.

“… Please don’t fall asleep on me, my neck and shoulders will kill me if I fall asleep like this,” Keith pleaded half-heartedly and he could feel Lance shaking with mirth again. “I mean it.”

“Shhh, pillows are not supposed to talk.”

“Lance.”

The movie was over and Lance reached for the remote with the loudest groan ever, too stubborn to let Keith help him, and turned the TV off, laying his head on Keith’s lap afterwards.

Ah yes, sweet merciful death. Here it was.

“Lance.” Keith moved his knee to make Lance’s head bob up and down. It was hilarious, especially because Lance tried to tighten his grip on Keith’s legs to try and stop him, but he kept bouncing him on his lap anyway. “Laaaance.”

But Lance was not having it, blindly reaching for Keith’s face as if that was gonna make a difference. It only left Keith with the odd desire to nip at Lance’s fingers, but he resisted once again. “Whaaat, people are trying to sleep here!”

This guy was unbelievable.

“D’you want me to carry you to bed? That it?” Keith joked but Lance glanced up at him with this look that made Keith realize he’d gotten himself into something very dangerous. Another mistake on his part. Woops. “Oh shit, you actually want me to carry you.”

Not that Keith would mind scooping Lance up in his arms.

No, really. He definitely wouldn’t mind.

Lance lifted a defensive finger, lips curled into an amused smirk. “Not until you said it.”

“Uhuh.”

“Listen.” Lance then sat up and ah, they were really close again. “I’m not saying you have to, but—”

“I thought I was your pillow. Make up your mind,” Keith teased and Lance snorted in response, falling back against his chest as his shoulders shook with laughter while Keith gladly hugged him close. “Hmm, or maybe I’ll just take you home with me. ‘s only like, ten steps, ‘f you don’t count the stairs.”

A warm hand found his and Keith pressed his lips together, glad Lance couldn’t see the flush on his cheeks from the simple touch. “I’d love to see your room, but I’m tiiiired ‘n wanna go to bed. Need to get up early for class tomorrow.”

Damn, that reminded Keith that the world was still turning and that there was actual life outside these walls. He’d been too distracted by Lance’s— everything that he forgot about school, life and homework.

“Your bed’s on the loft?”

“Yuh.”

Keith snorted at the lazy answer and squished Lance, unable to help himself, smiling brightly when he felt Lance hugging him back. “I have no idea how I’m gonna carry you up those stairs, Lance. You gotta help me out here.”

“Oh, dear.” Keith almost died at the random posh voice Lance had just used. “I guess that means we’ll have to stay here. On the couch. Just you ‘n me. Together. Whatever shall we doooooo.”

“That’s not even—”

But there was a finger on his lips and Keith felt like he was gonna sink through the floor. “Uh-bup-bup-bup!”

Mlem.

Lance pulled his finger back with a small shriek, wiped it off on Keith’s sleeve and they were both laughing again, leaning against each other and letting their weight get the best of them as they fell back on the couch. “In all seriousness, though,” he breathed and looked down at Keith, laying his hand on his chest, which made Keith feel stupidly warm. “You don’t have to sleep here ‘f you don’t want to. Totally up to you.”

His hands found Lance’s lower back and he smiled lazily up at him. “Like I said… you’re tempting.”

“Heh, I know,” Lance grinned and rubbed tiny circles on Keith’s chest. “But I get it if you’d rather sleep in your own bed. Mine’s probably softer, though. And, and, aaaand, I’ve been told that I’m an amazing cuddler.”

The innocence of this conversation only made Keith smile more. It felt light and sweet and Keith wanted to kiss Lance now more than ever.

“Cuddling on the first date? Hmm, very tempting. Keep going,” Keith flirted and laid his hand over Lance’s, intertwining their fingers again, feeling Lance squeeze his hand as he settled on top of Keith.

“I’ll even let you decide who gets to be the small spoon.”

Keith chuckled, nodding. “Ooh.”

“And I have fairy lights.”

“Mhm.”

“My pillows are to die for.”

“Mmmmmhhhhhm.”

Lance’s playful smile was so wide that his eyes were sparkling. “Have I convinced you yet?”

For some reason, Keith’s hand was holding the back of Lance’s neck, stroking idly along the small dimple there. Lance’s eyes fluttered and Keith grinned knowingly, his thumb caressing along his jawline, watching as Lance leaned into his touch like a cat.

A warm hand found his shoulder, squeezing it for support and Keith felt Lance pressing even closer, still watching Keith with those pretty eyes.

“… I didn’t need convincing at all, I just like listening to you,” Keith smiled, cupping Lance’s cheek and Lance huffed lightly through his nose in amusement, leaning a bit closer and Keith didn’t stop him. Their faces were really close again, so close that Keith could see all the small wrinkles on Lance’s lips.

“So, I’ll take that as a yes,” Lance concluded and Keith could feel the words against his skin.

Woah, very close.

It was almost impossible to not give in and kiss Lance until his lips were throbbing. His heart was beating faster because he was trying to work up the courage to ask and thinking about what it would be like to actually kiss Lance. How soft his lips would be, what type of kisser he was, how he would react and—

“Can I kiss you?” Keith finally caved and he felt Lance tense for a couple of a seconds, but then his thumb was on Keith’s jawline.

Lance was giving him an incredulous look, his lips parting until they curled into another pretty smile. “Yeah.”

Both leaned in at the same time and Keith tilted his head a bit to the side, his grip on Lance tightening instinctively. Their lips brushed together, shy and tentative for now, and Keith sighed softly through his nose, stroking along Lance’s back as he began to move his lips. Lance made a soft, excited noise and Keith’s heart fluttered in response, smiling into the kiss and listening to Lance’s quiet laughter.

It was the cutest thing ever. He’d never had someone laugh against his lips before and he could feel the butterflies swirling around in his stomach at the unfamiliar yet welcoming feeling.

And how right he’d been about Lance’s lips being soft.

Like, so soft.

“Mm…”

Keith dared to slip his hand under Lance’s shirt to squeeze his bare side and trace his spine while his other hand went back to Lance’s nape, his fingers slowly working their way up into his hair, causing Lance to kiss him harder and grip his shoulder. This was all so new and exciting and Keith was more than eager to follow, pressing his lips against Lance’s more firmly, moving faster and feeling his lips becoming more sensitive.

Must be the same for Lance because he let out shaky breath, which only made Keith hold on to him tighter, not wanting it to stop just yet. Kissing Lance was way too addictive and Keith didn’t care that he was getting sucked in, all he wanted was to keep kissing Lance over and over again until he was completely out of breath.

Luckily Lance didn’t stop, just moved closer, laying his hands on either side of Keith’s head and tipping his head to the other side to change the angle.

“You’re a good kisser,” he rasped and Keith grinned in response, rather grateful that Lance was stroking his ego right now.

“Mh, so’re you.”

It was true. Lance’s kisses were making Keith’s head spin for all the right reasons. It was easy to find a rhythm, it was so addictive, that Keith couldn’t help but suckle on Lance’s lower lip for a second just to have a taste.

Keith tugged on it gently with his teeth and pulled back, watching Lance’s lip bounce back into place and oh.

Disheveled Lance was…

Something.

His cheeks and lips were flushed, his hair was ruffled and he was giving Keith this look.

“Oh, man,” Lance brought out and even his voice was different.

Keith needed a moment.

“What?” he asked in amusement, brushing Lance’s bangs out of his face, his hand still splayed over his lower back.

“I’m so glad I seduced you.”

Pause. “… Huh? Into kissing you?” Keith asked, laying his head back against one of the couch pillows and looking up at Lance with a lopsided grin, just admiring his features. “Yeah, ‘m glad, too.”

But Lance was smirking and shaking his head and Keith did not like that. It gave him the feeling that something was lurking around the corner and he needed to prepare for it. 

“Hmm, I was talkin’ about something else,” he said slowly and Keith raised an eyebrow, not sure where this was going.

What else was there?

Hm.

Lance sat up and stretched, causing his shirt to ride up, which then resulted into Keith’s eyes darting down to casually take in the sight and—

Disc scratch.

Blink, blink.

Wait.

Wait.

“No way.”

Lance’s smirk widened. No. Fixed his shirt in the most careless way. Oh no. Keith was gonna lose his mind.

“No fucking way.”

Lance caged Keith between his arms and Keith wanted the floor— no, the earth to swallow him whole.

“Well, it sure took you long enough,” he murmured and Keith would bite back, but he was far too distracted to do anything. Ironically, it was because the collar of Lance’s shirt was hanging low thanks to gravity, but it still gave Keith a pretty nice view. “Heh, even now… I definitely got your attention by walking around shirtless, didn’t I?”

Keith couldn’t believe it.

Could not believe that—

“So it was on purpose.”

All those months.

All those gay panics.

All those stupid games.

“’Course it was,” was the annoying response and Keith narrowed his eyes, his brain unable to think, let alone help him form words. “Saw that you were hot, wanted to get your attention, see if you’d give in. And you did.”

To end his little evil speech, Lance leaned down to peck Keith on the lips, making Keith let out a small grumble.

And to think Keith thought this was some kind of game and that he was winning.

“I hate you.”

“Nah, you don’t,” Lance snickered and laid down next to Keith, nuzzling his cheek and Keith hated how Lance could just cute his way out of this. The couch was big enough for them to lay on it like this, but they were pretty squished together. Not that Keith minded. “You totally fell for me, we went on a date, you brought me home and we just made out, ‘cause you liiiiiike me.”

Keith couldn’t help but laugh at Lance’s words, smiling when he grabbed Keith’s hand to intertwine their fingers again. “Fine, I do,” he mumbled and Lance grinned in victory, laying his forehead against Keith’s.

Which was totally not making Keith melt into a puddle of gay or anything.  

“Wanted to go on a date with you and… get to know you,” Lance said in a much softer voice, his smile no longer cheeky, and Keith bit his lip as he listened. “And I’m really glad I did and that my plan worked (“Muh.”), ‘cause I like you and I wanna go on more dates with you.”

How Lance could go from Mr. Evil Shirtless Guy to Most-Adorable-I-want-you-as-my-boyfriend-Guy was beyond Keith. Then again, it wasn’t like Keith was mad at Lance walking around shirtless with the intention of seducing him.

It was… flattering. And funny. And very over the top.

And most importantly, worth it.

Keith only felt a tiny bit giddy that Lance had said he wanted to go on more dates. Ad had come up with a plan to seduce Keith.

Teeny tiny bit giddy.

“Yeah?” Keith asked and leaned more into Lance, closing his eyes because it was getting really late now. Guess he was staying over after all, since he didn’t feel like moving anymore.

“Yeah.” Lance was stroking the back of Keith’s hand with his thumb and whispering the words against his cheek. “Though I gotta admit, that whole fire alarm thing… not part of my plan, but it helped speed up the process.”

Keith snorted and opened his eyes, shaking his head in amusement and squishing Lance between him and the back of the couch. “Heh, am I supposed to believe you didn’t break the fire alarm just to get my attention?” he teased and felt Lance’s vibrating with giggles.

“Oooh, don’t flatter yourself.”

“Wh— you just admitted that you came up with a plan to seduce me!”

“And you tried to seduce me back, didn’t you?”

Well. True.

This was probably never gonna end and Keith realized that he and Lance were probably gonna end up bickering more.  

A lot more.

“I plead the fifth.”

“I’ll be your lawyer.” Lance bit his lip on a grin and Keith wanted to kiss him again. Wanted to kiss that adorable smile. Over and over. “Costs ten kisses an hour.”

“Deal.”

Keith ended up sleeping over.

Lance ended up being late for class.

And it was not because they ended up kissing until two in the morning.

(Okay, it was.)

(But don’t tell anyone.)

(Keith has a lawyer.)