Usually I post at about midnight. Last week I posted early because I felt like crap so I wanted to go to sleep already. Tonight it's lingering sickness but mostly just that I'm super tired after hosting a housewarming party today (yay, go me!) and I've got nice, active plans tomorrow. So you get the chapter like 30 minutes early. :P
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Chapter 10
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Lance was in the bookstore.
It took more self control than Keith thought he had to keep working as if nothing was happening. See, Lance wasn't just in the store today. Lance had been in the store almost every day for over a week – almost two. Hell, maybe more and Keith just hadn't noticed him at first.
The day he first noticed Lance was in the store, Lance had dropped a book. As far as Keith could tell, after the fact, Lance had picked the book up to read the back cover and then set it down wrong on the table and the book had slid off and onto the floor with a soft thud. When Lance had seen Keith looking, he'd snatched the book up and hurried away and out of sight.
And okay, Keith knew Lance was mad about the hoverbike race, but he'd seemed pretty over it when Keith adopted Red. So why had he run away when they'd made eye contact? Come to think of it, he'd run away the last time they'd met in the bookstore too. Was it the bookstore? Was it because Keith was working?
The next day, he'd spotted Lance in the café portion of the store with the largest sized coffee they offered. He wondered if Lance had gone with plain coffee or one of the specialty blends on offer for the season.
The day after that, he saw Lance using one of the computers. He'd seen Lance around lunch time, sitting at the café table closest to the rest of the store and eating various food products, multiple days. Other days, Lance was just wandering the stacks, or sitting around on the floor somewhere reading. Sometimes he had a drink from the café with him when he did this, sometimes not.
Whenever Lance wasn't reading, and every now and then when he was, Keith would swear that Lance was watching him. It would only be for a second or two, but he'd feel eyes on him. When he turned around, Lance would be there. By the time Keith looked, Lance was never still staring, but he was always there.
The only explanation Keith could think of for why Lance would be acting like this was if Pidge told Lance that Keith was PilotKogane. Lance was the obsessive type. If his Tumblr was anything to go by, he grabbed onto an idea and flew with it until he'd run it into the ground.
But if he knew, then why hadn't he posted about it? Why hadn't he approached Keith about it? Why was he just hanging out at the bookstore all the time?!
Finally Keith approached Tameca, who was Head Cashier and on shift most of the times that Keith had seen Lance around.
"Hey, Tameca," Keith started. When she turned her attention to him, he continued. "You see that guy standing by the discounted classics shelf?"
Her brown eyes looked and she nodded. "Yeah. Why?" She seemed overly interested, but that was likely due to the fact that Keith rarely initiated conversations.
Keith shrugged. "Just wondering. Has he…been buying stuff lately? I mean, does he buy stuff when he comes in?"
Tameca stared at Keith for a few moments, as if measuring him, and then turned her attention back to Lance. Lance had been glancing over at them but quickly looked away. Tameca's lips pulled up at the corners and her eyes sparkled.
"Maybe once, I suppose," she said. "But he's really cute. Do you know him?"
Keith decided not to react to her suggestive tone.
"Not really." Not in real life, anyway. "I've just seen him in the store a lot lately."
Tameca put her hands on the counter. "Well maybe he's interested in getting to know you," she said, the tone still there. She tilted her head sideways for just a moment, using it to vaguely motion toward where Lance was standing, now with his back to them. "You sure you don't know him?"
Lance lost a race to him and called him insane.
Lance sold him his cat.
Lance argued Marvel plots and details like they were court cases.
Lance was overly dramatic and easy to bait.
Lance loved flying, maybe as much as Keith did, but didn't have Keith's natural talent for it.
Lance was a fan of GIFs because he felt that only text couldn't properly express the things he felt.
Lance pretended he was allergic to beer so his coworkers couldn't make him go drinking with them.
Lance was funny.
Lance was stubborn.
Lance liked annoying Keith as much as Keith liked annoying Lance.
Keith shook his head. "Only a little. He's the friend of a friend but I've only met him twice."
Now Tameca looked pensive. "Well, he looks harmless enough and he's not bothering you. Right?"
Keith shook his head.
"Then we'll have to see what he does. If he talks to you, let me know what he says, alright? I bet it's either funny or downright adorable."
Oh right. Keith had forgotten. Tameca loved gossip. The rest of the store would probably know about Keith and Lance's supposed connection by tomorrow at the latest. Inwardly sighing, Keith turned and walked back to the shelves to wait for a customer to find him.
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PilotKogane
Why do you come to the store every day if you're not buying anything? Why are you there? What do you want?
#work #things I want to ask you but can't
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After posting that, Keith began to fiddle with his personal tumblr. Pidge had been messaging him – not using the chat feature – about how he could make his page better. When he'd asked what 'better' meant, she'd replied that the right theme and side bar could greatly affect the number of followers someone got. Such as: people with tiny, hard to read fonts or themes using all bright colors got less followers and visits to their page, whereas themes that showed suggested posts like the one the visitor was viewing got more hits on their pages.
Pidge had chosen which theme Keith would have. He had then been left to decide on the details. His background was a galaxy in space that looked, to some, like a flower. Other people just thought it looked like somewhat spiraled stars that contained more red than in other galaxies. There was a counter in the side bar that kept track of books he'd read recently, and another widget that showed where his blog's visitors were in the world on a slowly spinning, dark globe.
Keith then updated his 'About Me.' Now it read:
"24. Male.
Hoverbikes/history/sarcasm/reading/cats
I don't get people and I hate failing. I'm getting better though.
Seong-gonghada"
He wasn't sure about it. It mostly resembled what he'd seen on the profiles of other people. Still, it felt odd to have an About Me finally. And would having an About Me really do anything for his follower count? Keith figured he'd totally forget about it soon anyway.
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savethefood_savetheworld [reblogged] PilotKogane
PilotKogane
Why do you come to the store every day if you're not buying anything? Why are you there? What do you want?
This-is-Altea
Have there been any complaints about this person? Are they bothering you or someone else?
PilotKogane
No. They just wander around the store for awhile and then leave without buying anything. Day after day after day.
P1dg3N4t10n
Oh they're totally creeping on someone. ;3
SIRLancelot3000
Uh, or they're gathering intel. Don't be so judgy Pidge gosh.
PilotKogane
You can be creepy while gathering intel.
savethefood_savetheworld
Maybe they're trying to get up the courage to talk to someone at the store, or trying to make a good impression, or something.
Source: PilotKogane #flirting is hard #flirting is scary #especially when you've already been rejected once #don't give me that look Lance
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By the time Keith left work the next day, he had seen no sign of Lance anywhere in the store. He thought perhaps he just hadn't noticed when Lance came in or left because he'd been busy with customers. Still, he felt a bit off on the drive home that night.
Red made him feel better when she ran into a wall while chasing a laser pointer Keith had bought at work last week. Then she stared at him accusingly when he started to laugh. She forgave him when he scratched around her ears.
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Two more days passed and Keith still saw no sign of Lance at work. He even asked Tameca if she'd seen him. She'd teased him but eventually admitted that no, she'd not seen his mysterious cute man.
"Maybe he found what he was looking for, bought it online or something," she suggested, then sighed. "Curse you, Amazon, stealing cute guys from us hard working booksellers."
Keith grabbed a box of books that needed shelving and hid in the cookbook section of the store for the final hour of his shift.
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MechanicCoranic [reblogged] PilotKogane
PilotKogane
Sometimes I don't think you miss people until they aren't there anymore.
MechanicCoranic
Your mystery shopper is gone then, eh? Oh well. We aren't meant to learn all the secrets of the universe, I suppose.
#such is life
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tbc...
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End Notes:
'seong-gonghada' is a translation for 'fly higher' that was given to me by minimirai on tumblr who noticed my incorrect translation from before. It's literal translation means 'succeed' but it can also mean 'fly.'