I’ll Pay For Your Coffee (Klance)
Request: Cann you do a fluff au klance thing?? where lance has liked keith for a while and they like meet in college?
Sweet, first request on this account!
The class seemed to drone on and on; Keith was so tired of hearing about ancient civilizations that he resorted to simply staring out at the front of the classroom. Altea University could get really boring sometimes.
It was until he noticed the people sitting in front of packing up their things did he break out of his stupor. He wordlessly grabbed his messenger bag and threw it over his shoulder, shoving his binder inside. Praying for no homework, he glanced at the board at the front of the room.
Partner Projects: Due: Next Friday
Partner projects? Keith looked around, mouth open like a fish. He doesn’t know anyone in this class! Seeing everyone about to be gone, he nervously poked the shoulder in front of him. The boy with the kind of curly brown hair turned and cast Keith a curious glance over his shoulder. He stopped walking and asked, turning around completely seeing Keith’s nervous expression,
“Can I help you?”
“E-Excuse me, but I wasn’t really paying attention when he explained the project and I don’t know anyone in this class. Would you mind being my partner?” His palms were sweaty, he typically didn’t go that far out of his comfort zone and talk to a random stranger.
“Oh, sure, that’d be cool since I don’t know anyone in here either.” The boy smiled and laughed nervously as he extended a hand for Keith to shake.
“The name’s Lance.”
“Keith,” He replied as they shook hands. Lance gestured for Keith to walk beside him out of the room.
“Do you want to grab some lunch to talk over the project? I was actually on my way to meet up with some friends of mine.”
“Sure, that’d be cool.” They fell into an awkward yet slightly comfortable silence as they walked towards the diner that Lance swore was the best around and had the greatest garlic knots.
Once they got there, Lance opened the door and held it open for Keith. He smirked charmingly as he waved for Keith to go inside first. The shorter of the two merely rolled his eyes at Lance’s attempt at chivalry but did walk inside first.
“Pidge! Hunk!” Lance called out, immediately spotting his friends. He grabbed Keith’s wrist and tugged him towards the others. Keith felt sort of bad for intruding on their private lunch but he couldn’t risk failing the class.
Lance sat down first, across from a smiling boy who seemed to radiate happiness. Keith awkwardly sat down across from a girl with glasses, eyes focused on her phone screen but she did glance up to look at Keith with an eyebrow raised. He straightened up, trying not to look intimidated by his surroundings.
“Guys, this is Keith! He’s my partner in a project for history, told him he could join us for some good food. Keith, this is Hunk, my best friend and the world’s best chef. And, that’s Pidge, our little hacker buddy.”
“Nice to meet you, Keith.” Hunk replied, taking a sip of his drink.
“Sup,” Pidge said, phone now resting face down on the table.
“Have you guys ordered food yet?” Lance asked, knee bouncing in anticipation to eat.
“Not yet, just got some drinks,” Hunk said.
“Cool, definitely getting garlic knots.”
While waiting for the waitress to return, the group all started talking. About their majors, their families, their interests, their likes, their dislikes, the group really hit it off. Keith gave everyone his number and Lance decided to make them a group chat. Lance put Keith’s contact in as ‘Mullet’ and it caused him to pout.
It really hadn’t been that long from when Keith and Lance arrived to when the waitress came back, but it felt like a long time.
“What can I get you?” She asked, slipping a piece of blonde hair behind her ear.
Lance gave that same flirtatious smirk from earlier as he asked, “Your number?”
She rolled her eyes, and so did the others seated at the table, but giggled. Keith couldn’t help but feel a little pain in his chest from seeing Lance’s actions. Is he really a big flirt? Pidge and Hunk’s reaction makes it seem like he does that a lot.
“I have a girlfriend, so no number for you. Anything food wise that I could get you?”
Lance frowned at being turned on but understood. He enthusiastically called out,
“Your finest plate of garlic knots for me and my friends here. And, I’ll have...” He trailed off as he dug in his pocket to pull out his wallet. Setting a couple dollars down on the table for the food, he counted the leftover money in his wallet.
“I don’t think I have enough money for my usual latte,” Lance muttered, looking down at a couple of dollars in his hand.
“I’ll pay for your coffee,” Keith spoke up.
“You don’t have to do th-”
“I want to. I mean, you agreed to be my partner and that really saved my grades. So, it’s like pay-back.” Keith said, cutting Lance off. He was already fishing money out of his own wallet.
Lance sighed but let Keith get the money out for when they had to pay later and looked back up at the patient waitress, “I’ll have a latte, then.”
“And, I’ll have a cappuccino,” Keith added. The waitress wrote it all down in her notepad and cheerfully called out while leaving,
“Coming right up!”
“Thanks, Mullet,” Lance said while slapping his hand against Keith’s back. Pidge and Hunk shared a look seeing Keith’s flustered expression.
Pidge spoke with a grin, “So, Keith, are you seeing anyone? Girlfriend? Boyfriend?” Keith blinked at her question before responding,
“I’m single.”
“Another thing in common with Lance,” Hunk teased.
Lance hit Hunk’s arm with his fist from across the table, a dusting of red across his cheeks.
The waitress came back carrying a tray. She smiled politely at the group as she gave Lance and Keith their caffeine and while she set the garlic knots on the table.
“Well, we’re gonna get going,” Pidge announced, standing up from her seat.
“Oh, okay. Do you wanna talk later?” Lance asked.
“Totally, dude.” Hunk said, the two fist-bumped and he turned to look at Keith,
“It was really nice meeting you, Keith.”
“Yeah, it was pretty cool, you emo nerd,” Pidge said. Keith nodded and said the same to them, and soon it was just Lance and Keith left.
Keith pulled out his books and Lance finally had the time to explain the project now. They talked about it for what felt like hours but was really only a single hour. Lance let out a sigh having finished his second helping of garlic knots.
“Wanna talk about something else?” Keith asked seeing his boredom.
“Sure,” Lance said, suddenly brighter. Keith put his school supplies away, back in his bag, and turned to look at Lance more head-on. He didn’t realize how close they had been sitting before. Their noses were practically touching. They both locked eyes and turned to look at anything else.
“Can I confess something?” Lance asked quietly. He fiddled with the string of his hoodie and felt like he wanted to hide under the table. He wouldn’t look Keith in the eyes and Keith raised an eyebrow, confused as to why Lance was suddenly acting like this.
“Sure, are you okay though? You seem tense.”
“I-I’m fine. I just... There’s something I need to say. I’ve been wanting to say it for a while now. But, I always got too scared.”
“You can tell me anything.” Lance rested his hand on the table and Keith’s fingers were itching to touch his.
“Okay, so, today wasn’t the first day that I met you. I already knew your name when you asked to be my partner.”
“What?” Keith asked, eyes shimmering. He stared expectantly into blue eyes as Lance seemed to shrink farther into himself.
“That sounded a lot creepier than I meant it to. I just mean I met you at freshman orientation at the beginning of the year. I bumped into you and I fell, and you helped me up. You had a name tag. Anyways, you probably don’t remember. I mean you didn’t remember! So, um, I saw that we had a class together this year and I got really happy. And, I always catch you drawing or sleeping in that class and you get so into it and I really admire that. I see you around school sometimes too, outside of class. Like with Shiro and Adam? You’re probably surprised that I even know Shiro. He showed me around on the first day. I’m rambling, I’m sorry-”
“Lance.”
“You probably think I’m a total weirdo, I mean-”
“Lance.”
“I sound like such a-”
“Lance!” Keith smooshed Lance’s cheeks in between his hands to get him to stop freaking out.
“Keef.” Lance spoke, voice jumbled from the hands on his face.
“I like you too.” Keith released his hold on Lance’s face.
“Do you want to work on the project tomorrow on a date? I mean, do you want to go on a date? With me. Tomorrow. A study date. A date where we study. A da-” Lance rambled on.
Keith pressed a chaste kiss against Lance’s lips to shut him up. It caused Lance to hide his face behind his hands.
“I’m so glad that I didn’t pay attention in class,” Keith said, chuckling while he removed Lance’s hands from his face.
“Me too,” Lance said with a big smile on his face and a blush on his cheeks.
Maybe, Altea University wasn’t going to be super boring anymore for either of the boys.