Csilla: back with another chapter, I'm trying to stay ahead so that's why the slow updates ._.

¬ to mention, I have a lot I need to cover and I want to make sure I cover it :3

Trust Me

chapter two;; too long we've been denying

Over the next few weeks, Lance learned the 'ins&outs' of how things worked at his new job. Lending a helping hand outside of bar-tending, typically offering to stay late to finish paperwork. Ordering and restocking the bar, which required some haggling with the suppliers that The Five Lion uses, something Lance was not all that comfortable with.

"Please explain to me how 'Mr. Shy and Gloomy' ended up being able to haggle the price of 7 thousand dollars worth of alcohol down to barely 4?" Currently Lance was leaning back across the front part of the counter at the bar, his head peering up at Keith as the raven busied himself with checking over the stock.

According to him, Halloween was one of their biggest selling days -a night that was only a month away. A night that Lance spent every year being the fifth wheel in his group of friends, but not this year. Nope, this year he would drag Keith along so at least they could 'fifth wheel' together! He just had to find the right time to ask…

"Some of these idiots should feel blessed to have their mediocre liquor here,"

"So ya basically charged them for promoting their horse piss?"

"Exactly," The way Keith's violet eyes danced with flickers of pride and confidence when he spoke about anything related to his job never ceased to pull up things from Lance's past.

The way his eyes held that same flicker when he would chat about conspiracies, moth-man, or his motorcycle. Keith never was very outspoken when they went to school together unless it was about one of those previous topics. Or poking fun at Lance's dramatic antics, which at some point were done simply for Keith's reactions. A thing his high school self would vehemently deny, but now…

…now they're working together and if the past month was anything to go off of: they would spend even more time brushing up against one another. Lance had no one in his life to call his and he was embarrassed to admit to Hunk and Pidge's constant prodding that he spent more than enough time looking for any evidence that Keith had someone. There was no band on his finger, nor evidence that one was ever there. Keith stayed late almost every night to help Allura and Coran with paperwork – he wouldn't do that if he was with someone. Every morning that Lance saw Keith, he had a cup of coffee in his hands leading him to believe that the raven didn't spend a lot of time at home, which also meant no pets. A strong urge to pull Keith back into his life -outside of work- washed over as he continued to watch him work.

"Did you wanna join us for movie night?"

"Us?"

"Me, Hunk, and Pidge"

"Like old times, huh? Yeah, I'm sure its better than," he shook his head, it was something Lance noticed Keith did pretty often, before correcting himself: "Yeah, I'd love to but are you sure they would mind? I mean, I lost contact with them years ago… Do they even want to hang out with me?"

"Trust me, they miss ya. Especially the little gremlin," the term caused both of them to chuckle as a certain petite freckled-face girl with round glasses came to mind, "I'm sure she misses having someone talk to about her crazy conspiracies-"

"Lance, I'm 26… I'm not really as much of a conspiracy nut as I used to be,"

"No, but seriously… They've been asking me to invite you to join our movie nights,"

"Well then, I guess I'm going… When's the next one?"

"Tonight, I mean if that's okay… We usually hold them twice a week, each one has a sort of theme but we've been known to repeat themes whenever one of us really wants to"

Before the brunette could continue rambling, Keith glanced over with a smile playing his features: "I'll go… Did you want to meet up with them after work?" Neither Keith or Lance worked during the weekend, it was something Allura was stubborn about, stating that she had hired someone to work with her at the bar so the boys would be able to have a life outside of the job.

"Hell yeah! Did you want grab some extra clothes? I'd be lying if I said these things weren't the comfiest in pajamas"

"What are we 15 again?"

"Ah, I forgot you're the bartender with the stick up his ass" Lance jabbed as he straightened himself before plopping down in the nearest stool, but Keith's response came the moment he finished:

"At least I'm not the lazy one, who makes his coworker do everything while he sits on his ass"

"Yours is too long,"

"Since when is that a rule?"

"Now, I just made it up,"

"You ass,"

"Just flaunting what my mama gave me," Keith laughed at Lance's comment, shaking his head as he changed the topic back to the beginning.

"So pajamas, huh? Did you want to wait for me here and then drive to meet them? Or…?" As he trailed off, Keith seemed to realize that he didn't know about Lance's current living situation. Not that the brunette could blame him, he hadn't explained about his life much outside of work.

Violet meeting blue eyes, Lance was quick to make an alternate suggestion: "How about we just take your car so you can pick up something comfy to wear and then I'll let you know how to get to their place?"

"Alright, but what about your car?"

"Hunk needed the car for some deliveries so I got dropped off today,"

Not wanting to prod too much, Keith nodded that his suggestion was fine and in a few hours, they climbed into Keith's car and Lance wasted no time changing the radio onto another station, Spanish lyrics flitted through the speakers. Rolling his eyes at the familiar exchange, Keith pulled away from the bar and onto the main road. Aside from the upbeat tunes filling the space in the car, Lance's voice as he chatted about what he's been up to since high school was a pleasant distraction…

…until Keith pulled into his neighborhood. With each house he passed, he began to pray Lance wouldn't ask if he could come inside: he absolutely did not want to deal with that can of worms!

Unfortunately that particular fear came to a screeching halt, much like his mind, as his house came into view. As his driveway came into view. A very UNempty driveway.

"Just give me like a few minutes," was the only warning Keith gave as he pulled into the driveway and promptly exited his car. Any complaint Lance might have had were silenced with the slight slam of Keith's car door. Nimble fingers glided over the smooth black coat of his husband's jeep as he power-walked into his house, a thought turned over in his mind: maybe he could get in and out without his husband noticing.

Any chance of that happening went out the window when Keith opened the front door, just as someone -engrossed in a case file- padded out of their kitchen. His breath hitched in his throat as he stood there, front door slightly ajar. Keith wasn't used to seeing his husband… Awake?

"Keith…?" The baritone voice felt foreign in his ears as the raven straightened himself as he managed a weak, 'hey Shiro' while his husband shut the case file in his hands, appearing slightly off-kilter.

"What are you doing home so early?"

"Just grabbing a change of clothes… another late night with Allura and Coran,"

"I see," Shiro's fingers played with edge of the case file before adding, "is everything okay with the bar?" a tinge of stiffness in his tone.

Keith turned his body towards the staircase, "Yeah, everything… uh okay with… work?" he asked as he tried to remember the last time they had asked about each others' day. Back then, Shiro would talk about any cases he was working on, leaving out important details that he decided were 'better Keith didn't know about' and Keith would complain about the drunks at the bar. Or the mountain of paperwork.

"Yeah," With a vague motion of his hand, "well I won't keep you… from work, I mean. Uh… have fun, I guess" Shiro headed back into the kitchen, leaving Keith to ascend the steps with his own nagging thoughts.

Keith hadn't expected his husband to be home-

although normally I'm still at work, helping with paperwork or grabbing a quick drink with Allura and Coran before the bar gets busy

-but then again, what could he possibly know? He was never home when Shiro was awake and Keith could easily recall a few nights when he got home and his husband wasn't even there.

Shaking his head, Keith quickly stuffed some clothes to lounge into a small travel bag before descending the stairs, fumbling out a short 'I'm off' then just as he was shutting the door: he heard Shiro stammer back, "…bye Keith,"

Violet eyes swept over to his car, where Lance sat bobbing his head to whatever tunes were playing through his radio. A smile instantly melted away his nagging thoughts as he hurried over, denying any comment that he had seemed a little eager to be back in Lance's company.

They drove off down the road, Lance bouncing between giving directions and filling Keith's car with useless chatter that even the raven couldn't keep himself from joining. With his unexpected meeting with Shiro pushed to the far edge of his mind, Keith was determined to have fun – even if he still held worry that Hunk and Pidge might not be okay with his sudden appearance.

"Will you stop worrying, mullet? They're excited to see ya again,"

Following Lance's directions, the raven found himself pulling into a cul-de-sac -one his foolish mind added had been one they had considered when Shiro and Keith had first moved to town. Not parked for even a second, Lance was out of his car and already moving to drag him inside.

"C'mon mullet, would I lie to you?"

His question brought a smug smile to Keith's face as he effortlessly replied, "You mean how you said my hair looks awful tied back? Or how you told Pidge I had eaten-"

"I get it! I was an idiot teenager!" He whined, "but I'm not lying now… They're really excited to see you again," Lance's voice dropped, quivered and for a moment, Keith thought he was trying to make himself smaller.

Nudging him with his shoulder, Keith whispered: "I know you're not… I guess, I'm just… you know, frazzled? Nervous… I don't know,"

"Trust me, Keith… They're hyped, especially Pidgeon – she won't shut up about discussing conspiracies with you again," Lance words, spoken with such a comforting tone, dissolved any anxiety currently affecting the raven and caused warmth to blossom in his chest.

He never thought he would ever have the chance to talk with someone, aside from the immature morons he would occasionally chat with online, about conspiracies. Memories of him and his petite best friend staying up late, tossing several conspiracies of their own back and forth until the sun was rising. Memories of them roaming their high school hallways, zombified from a late night conspiracy conversation, while Lance berated them and Hunk looked after them like the mother hen he was.

By the time, Keith pulled himself away from his memories, Lance was drawing his hand up to promptly rasp it against the light wooden surface. Mild shock washed over the raven as he watched Lance, not even wait for someone to answer his knock and instead opened the door.

"Hey, I'm here and look who I brought," He hollered out as he stepped inside the threshold, kicking off his shoes before padding further inside, which left Keith standing awkwardly in the hall for a moment.

Swallowing the lump that had formed, Keith muttered: "Pardon the intrusion," before stepping inside and shutting the door behind him. He could hear voices from further inside, slipping off his shoes nicely, Keith padded towards the source: a cozy kitchen, where Lance stood with his back to him and just beyond him stood two familiar figures.

"Keith! Hey," was the only warning Keith got before the other figure whipped around Lance and launched herself at him, a grunt tumbled out of his mouth as the petite girl knocked the air from his lungs.

"That's what you get for not keeping in touch," Keith heard her mumble into his stomach as she tightened her arms around him. His eyes dropped to the sandy blond wrapped around his waist before it raised to meet knowing looks from both Lance and Hunk.

It was like a blast from the past, Hunk looked like he hadn't aged since graduation -sure Keith could see the stubble of a five o'clock shadow under the dim florescent lighting, but it was still Hunk, the mother hen of their little group.

"Hey Hunk," Filling his lungs with air, Keith's senses were assaulted with mouth-watering aromas and he could feel his body becoming heavy as emotions from his past cascaded over him.

God, he missed this! He had never thought he would miss the smell of Hunk's cooking! When had he forgotten how much he used to look forward to the food his friend would bring in for all of them to share? Swiping the last of the food whenever Lance wasn't looking, how could he have forgotten how much these three meant to his former self?

"You know if I weren't slightly enjoying watching you turn emo on us, I'd be damn jealous that you recognized these two quicker than me" Not even Lance's smug voice could distract him enough to stop him from wrapping his arms around the girl still holding him.

"Good to see, Pidge"

Csilla: as always leave reviews, they're amazing and keep my anxiety at bay ;w;