I am so, so, SO sorry for how long this took to update. I don't have an excuse. I mean, I sort of do because I was trying to get Kinktober done on time, and then like halfway through writing this I decided I needed to add in an extra scene in this chapter so I did that, and, yeah, I know, not excusable. I'M SORRY! But now that it's November, I plan to update faster. At the very least, it hopefully won't be a 2 week wait between every chapter! Anyways, hope you enjoy and I hope it was worth the wait!
"Go down on it, just like that, fuck yeah! That's a good boy!"
The vulgar words slipping from the larger man's mouth were nothing new to Lance as he kneeled in between his legs, moving his head up and down his cock and burying his nose in the nest of brown pubic hair with each forward bob. His tongue expertly maneuvered against the shaft as it passed through his mouth, moaning around the length of it to stimulate vibrations.
"Fuck, service your master, you slut!" The man grabbed a hold of Lance's hair, pulling him up and down his length while thrusting forward. His fingers curled around the brown locks harder and harder to signify that he was getting closer to finishing, threatening to leave Lance with a bald spot the size of an apple as words like 'fuck' and 'slut' rolled off of his tongue like dice.
Lance simply keened to the rough treatment, curving his back so that the man could get a better view of him shaking his ass obediently.
"Get ready for it, you slut!" Lance's head was yanked back harshly, making him cry out with satisfaction. The man let his cock lay on top of Lance's face, gripping his own shaft and pumping a few times before cumming with a roar.
The hand in his hair tightened, but Lance hardly needed the instruction. He opened his mouth wide and let his tongue hang out, eyes shrinking until they were nearly shut but not quite, preparing for the shots of cum that began spraying onto his face accompanied by a messy cluster of dirty names from the man's mouth.
It was like getting blasts of hot glue to the face, sticky globs of white marking his cheek and mouth as he took the facial like the slut he was. This was more like it. This was how it should be. This was what time in a private room with Lance should be like - vulgar and dirty and detached. He was a worker and a tool for his customers, after all; he wasn't supposed to be treated like an equal human. He wasn't supposed to be treated the way Keith had treated him...
"There's your tip, you good whore." The man tossed money onto Lance's cum covered face as he stood and began zipping up his pants, leaving Lance to bend down and pick up the money in his mouth like an animal eating off the floor, still putting on a show for the man. Once he gathered the paper bills in his mouth, he looked up at his customer with a smile and fluttered his eyes.
"Thank you, sir," he said obediently, lowering his head as the man chuckled and leaned forward to cup his chin.
"Aww, you're always so good for me, baby. Come on, don't look down. I wanna see your face covered in my spunk. Mmm...wish I could take a picture, I'd make a fortune with that cute face."
"No photos in the Strip Club." Lance recited the club's rules immediately out of instinct, always having to do this for the drunk men who wanted to take pictures of his cum-covered face.
The man chuckled and slapped his cheek lightly before straightening his back again. "I know the Web's rules, babe. Next time, it'll be your ass, though. Ha!" He walked off with a laugh, leaving Lance kneeling on the floor naked.
Lance didn't mind. He was used to this, and honestly, he preferred it like this. He didn't know why he had started thinking about the way Keith treated him in the middle of servicing his customer, since Keith had only been like that because he was drunk. Hell, he didn't know why he was thinking about it at all. He would see Keith in just a few hours to have sex, after all. His mind was probably on the guy just because Lance didn't take escort jobs too often. There was no way he could reject Keith, though; the guy seemed like very easy money for Lance.
He opened a drawer in the private room, taking out a towel to wipe the cum from his face as he looked over the extra money the man had provided him for doing a good job. Tips were great - they were extra money and let him know he was still doing his job well. He couldn't live with himself if he ever started to slack off. After all, this was what he was here to do.
Once he was done cleaning up, he left the private room to continue his dancing and flirting for the day, running into plenty of men who wanted to visit the private room with him. He denied all requests for anal sex, though, sticking solely to blowjobs since he had an escort job soon. Sure, Lance was more than capable of taking it up the ass multiple times in one night, but he couldn't be sure how rough Keith was going to get with him since they would be having sex outside of the club, meaning there'd be no rules or limitations. Keith would be able to do whatever he wanted to Lance, so he had to make sure he could give it his everything. He always gave sex his everything.
The rest of the work night went by rather quickly since he was only offering mouth services, much to the displeasure of some of his regular customers. They always forgave Lance after a round of blowjobs from him, though; they always did. Lance knew he was good at what he did, and he intended to always be good at what he did, so he blocked out thoughts of Keith for the rest of the night and focused completely on his current customers.
He finished up earlier than usual, as was pretty standard for the rare times where he accepted escort jobs, and quickly put on extra clothing. The panties stayed on beneath his pants, though, since he knew Keith would like to see them once they got naked. He also grabbed a bottle of lube and some condoms on the way out, just in case Keith 'forgot' or tried to con him into letting him take him without protection. Lance may be a slut, but he wasn't about to risk getting sexual infections since he needed a body that could healthily partake in sex to make money.
Once he finished readying himself up in the employee's bathroom, he made for the door while checking his phone to see a text from Keith announcing his arrival. Sure enough, as soon as he exited the building, he saw Keith leaning against a sweet red sports car with his arms crossed, as if he was trying to look cool or something.
Lance couldn't help but giggle, putting his phone away and observing the scene. He wasn't an expert on cars, but Keith's vehicle was visually stunning, the metal a glistening shade of ruby red with lion-esque designs displayed on the body. As for the man himself, he was dressed very fancily, as in a full on black dress shirt that even came with a red tie and black pants. He was either trying way too hard, or he was just rich. Lance was normally very good at telling whether a customer had money or not, and his first impression of Keith hadn't been anything special, but maybe he was wrong. Whatever the case, Keith was probably one of the more attractive customers Lance had worked with, so that was a plus. He put on his sweetest smile and approached, finally getting Keith to notice him.
"Oh, hey! Didn't even see you there!" Keith greeted, face livening up at the sight of Lance.
"Here I am!" Lance stopped in front of him with a hand on his hip, looking him over again now that he was up close. "You look like an everyday high class businessman! I like it!"
Keith chuckled, looking down at himself. "Really? Well, I don't think I'm quite ready to handle Galra Pharmacies just yet, heh. You look amazing as always, yourself!"
Lance moved in closer to his customer, smile widening. "Aww, thanks! I do my best. I'm not sure if I can measure up to this beauty over here, though." He gestured towards Keith's car with a playful laugh.
"She's a beauty, isn't she...were you planning to drive yourself out? Or did you wanna come with me? I could take you for a spin in her." Keith winked at his car, and Lance was beginning to see that he was one of those guys - the type to obsess over cars and stuff like that. He wasn't going to judge or anything, since a customer was a customer; he was just taking note.
"Sounds perfect!" Lance agreed, having no qualms with hopping into the car of a stranger even though he had a car of his own nearby that he could take. Whenever he took a job, he went all the way, meaning his customer could do whatever they wanted with him. If Keith was demanding he get in his car, then he would get in his car. Anything to please him.
He began walking around the back of the car to the shotgun door, but Keith made it there first, clearing his throat and opening the door.
"Here you are!" he said, looking more smiley than normal.
Lance hesitated, looking on in uncertainty and confusion as Keith held the door open. Why was he...no, he was just eager for Lance to get in the car. Lance must've been taking too long and making him impatient. It made sense. Keith must be the type to prefer moving quickly. Lance would have to keep that in mind as he slid into the car seat and let Keith shut the door before he rushed to the driver's seat.
Lance was still just learning what type of person Keith was, but that still wasn't an excuse for already starting to make him impatient. He would have to make up for it when they had sex. Good thing he had made the decision to keep his ass completely untouched for the night all for Keith.
As soon as Keith was in, they pulled out from the club and hit the road. "What kind of music do you like? You can put on anything you want." He offered.
Lance rose an eyebrow at Keith, trying to read him. Music? Anything he wanted? What was...oh. Keith was trying to test him.
"I'm good, thanks," Lance said, adding extra sugar to his voice as he rested his hands in his lap. He was usually very good at determining a man's character, but Keith was surprisingly difficult to read. The first time they'd really spent time together, Keith had been drunk, but now that he was sober, Lance had to stay alert at all times to try and figure out the meaning behind his unpredictable words. The sooner they got to having sex, the better. That was what Lance was here for.
"If you're sure." Keith fiddled with his radio until jazz music started playing, and it looked more like he simply settled for it rather than actually wanting to listen to it.
Lance kept silent and let the music fill the quiet in the car, figuring this was a situation where he shouldn't speak unless spoken to. He just kept his eyes on the dark road ahead and leaned back into his seat, briefly wondering what kind of hotel they would be going to but not really caring. There was always the off chance that his customer could secretly be a serial killer when it came to these types of flings, since Lance didn't work with an escort agency, but he didn't spend time worrying about that usually. He was just concentrated on completing his job. Plus, he generally only took jobs for regular customers. Keith was an exception because, well, he seemed easy. Lance was confident he could make him into a regular.
Keith suddenly gasped and briefly glanced over at Lance before turning back to the road. "Oh my god! I didn't even ask you if you were okay with going where I had planned! Shit, sorry if I'm sorta bad at this, it's been a while...um, I was thinking of going to a restaurant? I know it's late, but you've probably been working all night without eating, so I thought it'd be nice. Does that sound alright with you?"
Confusion settled into Lance as he stared at Keith rambling on. A restaurant? Keith wanted to take him out to eat? This was most certainly not the direction Lance had been expecting the night to take. He wasn't an experienced escort, but he knew that these types of jobs often lumped together company with sex, so it just meant Keith wanted to eat together before going somewhere to fuck Lance. When working in the sex field like this, everything was about completing his customer's fantasies, and often times, those fantasies included just normal things like having company at a restaurant.
Lance just hadn't expected this type of thing since he normally just had sex and that was it...but this was fine, too. If the customer was looking for him to give company before they had sex, then that just meant Lance would get even more money, and he couldn't complain about that. Sure, Lance hated restaurants, and it was probably going to be awkward eating with Keith like this, but he could sweet talk his way through the night until it was time to have sex, which was where Lance could truly shine. Besides, it was what his customer wanted; Lance wasn't going to argue.
He took a moment to recompose himself before smiling. "Oh, if that's what you want! Sounds like you've planned for tonight to be even more fun than I thought!" He winked just for that extra charm.
Keith glanced at him again for confirmation. "If you say so. I uh...wanted to make it up to you for last time, so...that's what this is about. Just to clear things up."
Lance was stunned into confusion once again, but quickly caught on to what Keith meant. "Oh! You mean about the blowjob in the private room!" He couldn't help but giggle as Keith's face reddened. So the man was still hung up over not going further with Lance that night, after all, and was going to make up for it by fucking him tonight. "Well, if you really want to make up for it, I trust you're going to make it worth both of our whiles. Assuming you told the truth about not being a virgin," Lance teased.
Keith pursed his lips together, but kept his eyes on the road. "I'm not a virgin, I told you! That's not important, anyways!"
Lance just giggled more as Keith groaned. He wasn't being scolded for his teasing behavior, so he figured Keith liked him being a brat and would use it as a reason to punish Lance later when they were in the bedroom.
Keith let out a huff of air. "Moving on...I was thinking we could go to Garrett's Grill? It's pretty first rate as far as restaurants go, and it's open until pretty late, so I thought it'd be perfect. Are you okay with that?"
Lance's eyes widened a bit at the mention of Garrett's Grill, AKA Hunk's family restaurant. He knew Hunk usually worked pretty late shifts, so there was probably a good chance of running into him. That was fine. Hunk knew what Lance did, anyways, so it didn't matter to him if he was seen. Besides, it wasn't about to argue with Keith. He would go wherever the customer wanted.
"Of course I am! You don't need to keep asking me!" He giggled, finding it strange how Keith kept asking him for confirmation on where to go. There was a bit of adrenaline in him because of how unusual this situation was, but Lance was confident he could make it through the night. He just hoped the dinner portion of this job went by quickly so they could get to having sex.
The jazz music filled up most of the silence until they made it to the restaurant, pulling into the driveway and parking in front of the large, white building. In the front center at the very top, there was a sun-shaped sign with the words 'Garrett's Grill' written in fancy calligraphy. Lance didn't come here often since he didn't enjoy eating food that was too fatty, but he was familiar with it. Hunk and Pidge had dragged him here once or twice before, and of course he had only agreed so that they wouldn't stop putting up with him.
"Coming?" Keith's voice brought Lance's attention to his right, where his door had been opened for him. Apparently Keith had gotten out while he had been busy observing the building.
"Oh, yeah, apologies." He lowered his head a bit and quickly stepped out, remembering that Keith wasn't the type of person to condone slow behavior. He quickened his pace, keeping just behind Keith's shoulder. When he opened the restaurant door and stepped to the side, Lance stayed behind him until Keith spoke.
"...after you." He gestured with his hand that wasn't on the door, and Lance realized he was holding it open for him to go in.
"...you're so sweet." He poked Keith's chest playfully as he walked in, swinging his hips enticingly, but on the inside, he was wary. This whole situation was very strange.
Keith followed him in, and Lance paused to let him lead the way again, following just behind his shoulder as they stood in line and waited to be emitted and seated. As the distance between them and the host grew shorter, Lance could see Hunk behind the front counter. So he was working the front tonight, after all.
Hunk smiled politely at the people in front of them and got a waiter to show them to their table before his eyes met Lance's, and his face brightened. Lance's insides twisted a bit, because being here with Keith was already strange enough, but he put on his same sweet smile for the sake of appearances.
"Lance!" Hunk greeted, beaming as he and Keith walked up to the counter. "It's so good to see you! I wasn't expecting this!"
Lance laughed out of habit. "It's good to see you, too, Hunk! Nice to see you're running the front of the restaurant."
"Yeah, you know me, I always want to help make sure my mom doesn't have too much going on, even if being in the kitchen is what I love most about working here. Oh!" Hunk turned to Keith, as if only just noticing him. "Hello! My name's Hunk Garrett, friend of Lance's. Who're you?"
He held his hand out, and Keith wasted no time in shaking it, smiling politely. "I'm Keith, it's nice to meet you!"
After they shook hands, Hunk just stared at them for a while, eyes flickering back and forth from Lance to Keith with a huge smile. "So...I'm guessing table for two? I'm pretty sure we have an open one."
Keith nodded and thanked Hunk as a waiter came to show them to their seat. Hunk briefly stopped Lance before they left, whispering to him. "Sorry we can't talk much, but we probably shouldn't hold up the line. You have to fill me in on everything, though! Enjoy your night!"
Lance cringed on the inside, but nodded at Hunk before following Keith to their table. He was 1000% sure Hunk was misinterpreting the situation, but he could deal with that later. Right now, he had to focus on his job.
He and Keith sat opposite each other at a decently sized table, white fabric draped over the top with a glass in the middle that held peppermint candies. Keith was quick to open his menu, but Lance didn't bother. Having been here before, he knew there was only one thing for him to get that wouldn't have major consequences for his body shape. But of course, Keith didn't know that.
"You okay?" He looked up from his menu with a look that Lance couldn't quite name, but it made him feel smaller; it made him feel like curling in on himself.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine! I'm just waiting to order," he explained. They looked each other in the eyes for a bit before Keith nodded and went back to his own menu, giving Lance a chance to breathe. He wasn't sure why that look in Keith's eyes bothered him so much, but it did. It was...different. It was something he wasn't used to.
Their waiter came to take their orders just a minute or so later, bringing with her two glasses of water. Lance just requested the Garrett's Grill Salad, since he couldn't touch anything else from their menu, and once the waiter wrote everything down and left, it was just him and Keith again. Escort and Customer.
"So, you're friends with the guy up front?" Keith asked, taking a sip from his glass.
Lance tilted his head down in a brief nod. "Yeah. I know him." Calling us friends might be a bit far-fetched, though.
"He seemed nice. Maybe you could get us a discount." Keith laughed, and Lance joined in weakly, feeling very out of his element.
In the Web of Sins, Lance was very much the center of attention, the main attraction. If the club was an actual web then he was the spider, catching people and playing into their desires. He could handle his customers like a spider handles her prey.
Outside of the Web, though, things were different. Sure, he and Keith were eventually going to have sex, but that was later. Right now, he was treading in unfamiliar territory. The only times he ate out was with Pidge and Hunk, and he felt just as awkward being with them as he did right now. Of course, he also had some experience eating out from when he was there for Lance, but...that wasn't...that was during a different time in his life...
"...Lance?" Keith's voice snapped him out of his reverie, sweat collecting against his forehead from the brief memories he'd conjured.
He took a deep breath, calming himself down as the waiter returned with his salad. "Hunk informed the chefs ahead of time that you'd want this," she explained. Lance nodded with a small smile.
"Thank you." He lifted his glass of water to his lips, washing down the flashbacks that had briefly appeared in his head. He noticed Keith watching him with yet another unfamiliar expression. "...yes?"
"I was just wondering...do you remember last night, when I said I wanted to ask you something?" He asked.
Lance nodded, thinking back to when Keith asked him what working at the Web was like.
"Well...do you remember someone named Matt Holt? I believe he used to work with you at the Web?"
He nodded again, curious as to why Keith was bringing up Pidge's brother. "Yes, I remember him."
Keith's eyes lit up, as though Lance remembering Matt made things easier for him. "I bet he'd be happy to hear that, heh. I'm actually pretty good friends with him, and well, we were just talking the other day when he mentioned some stuff about you."
Lance raised an eyebrow, interested in where this was going. Matt didn't have any sensitive information on him, so he wasn't worried or anything. Nobody had any sensitive information on him, really. "I'm flattered you guys would be talking about me! So what'd he say? He didn't secretly have a crush on me, did he?" They chuckled together at that as Keith rose his glass of water back to his lips.
"No, nothing like that! He just, uh...he mentioned that you'd dropped out of school? If this is getting too personal, we can always change topics, I was just curious on whether or not what he was saying was true, I guess."
School. Lance didn't particularly like getting personal, but just this much was fine. Matt had probably overheard Lance mentioning it at some point. He'd gotten over it for the most part; he'd be fine as long as he kept the answer short.
"I'm sort of surprised he would remember anything about me, since we never really spoke, but yeah, he was telling you the truth! I dropped out of school during my first year of college."
Keith looked Lance over with that same strange expression combined with interest. "...why? That is, if you don't mind me asking...you can always just tell me if you don't want to talk about it."
Lance's brows furrowed a bit at Keith's passiveness towards, well, everything. He figured he should just ignore Keith's strange speaking pattern and take his words like he would any other order from a customer. Besides, again, Lance didn't have much of a problem if he only had to talk about this much, so if Keith wanted to know, he would deliver what the customer desired; although he didn't know why Keith wanted to know all this in the first place. It was probably just to kill time until they had sex, which Lance was fine with.
"School just wasn't for me. After my first year, I dropped out to be a cam boy, but that didn't last too long...I wanted a profession that I could be more open about, so with a little help, I got into stripping at the web. The stigma is still there, but saying I'm an exotic dancer is easier than saying I do cam work, so it's nice. Plus, I enjoy putting on the shows I do. I've been doing it for over two years now, after all, and I've become the most popular dancer there." He made eye contact with the pair of purple eyes across from him. "It's a hobby as much as it is work, now."
Keith seemed to really be mulling his words over, which didn't make much sense to Lance, since this was just the precursor to the real action coming later. "A hobby, huh." There was something in Keith's tone of voice that made Lance feel strange - uncomfortable, even.
The waiter came over with Keith's order, putting a break in their conversation that Lance was very much thankful for. If his customer wanted him to keep speaking then he would, but even if they were just talking about smaller things like why Lance enjoyed working at the Web, he still just didn't like talking about himself, period. At some strip clubs, humanizing yourself to the customer by talking about yourself was a common practice, because that was what some men liked...however, that wasn't the case with the Web, and certainly not with Lance. He didn't want to humanize himself, and others didn't want him to, either. He was there for the sex and to please his customer's needs. That was it. So, he figured he'd return the etiquette Keith had been exercising, in order to take the attention off of himself.
"Why don't you tell me something about yourself now, cutie?" He winked as the waiter set down Keith's plate and left them alone once more.
Keith looked happy to hear Lance ask about him, much to Lance's relief. "Oh, sure! Let's see...well, I don't really do much as far as work goes. I'm pretty wrapped up in my studies. In fact, some people say I'm too wrapped up…"
Studies. That's right. He's in school. Lance poked at his salad with no intention of eating it, keeping his gaze on Keith simply for etiquette's sake. He may have been over the whole dropping out thing, but he still couldn't help but feel just the slightest bit of envy...and interest; especially when he saw the way Keith's eyes lit up with such vivid passion as he spoke.
"I'm actually in my fourth and final year at Altea University, studying towards becoming a pediatrician! We're in the home stretch of the year now, since it's late April, so things have been pretty crazy lately."
Despite himself and his policy of not letting personal feelings affect his work, Lance could feel Keith's eager talk about school rubbing off on him as he leaned forward onto the table a bit. "Really? Your final year?"
Keith was beaming as he nodded, clearly able to see he had Lance's attention. "Yep! But, of course, after that is med school, and then I'll have to train under a residency and do a ton more work in order to earn my license, but it'll be so worth it in the end!"
Lance had stopped playing with his salad now, smiling as his hands clasped together beneath the table. "Wow...that sounds like a lot...man…!" He looked over Keith longingly, wondering what it was like to be able to work towards living out your dream. He'd never know, so he figured he might as well get it all out of Keith right now. "Is it fun? What are your classes like? What made you want to become a pediatrician?"
Keith looked taken aback by all the questions, but he was smiling just as much as Lance, counting off his answers on his fingers. "Well, it certainly can be a lot of fun, but also stressful at times. Calc is a major pain, but I enjoy bio...oh! My favorite class is definitely child psychology. Seriously, that class has opened my eyes to a lot of stuff...as for the reason I want to be a pediatrician, well...I guess...I want to help young people, you know? I don't trust myself to be a counselor or anything, so this is my way of contributing. I don't want young people to have to lose their way…" He trailed off, and his enthusiasm died down a bit, as if his thoughts were suddenly occupied by something else, but Lance was too hyped up to really take notice of it.
"Wow, that all sounds really neat…" He leaned back into his chair, falling deep into thought as Keith took a moment to cut into his plate of spicy barbecue grilled chicken. Everything about Keith's school life was so fascinating to Lance. It'd been a while since he last stopped to remember what education was like, and he appreciated thinking about it much more than he thought he would.
I wonder what it's like… He sighed, knowing that talking about it was probably nothing like the real thing. There was nothing that could be done, though. That was Keith's life, and this was his. He shouldn't get too invested in his customer's personal affairs, since there should be nothing personal when it came to Lance's interactions with his customers to begin with, other than satisfying their needs. He had to calm down and get back in his professional mentality.
He cleared his throat to break the silence before looking back at Keith again. "So, when we finally do get to the fun part of the night, do you want me to-" His flirtatious bravado was cut short the moment he saw the way Keith was looking at him. Just like all those other times earlier tonight...it was uncomfortable. "...is...everything okay?"
"Oh, yeah. I was just starting to worry, because, well, you haven't touched your food...do you not like it here? Should I have taken us somewhere else?" Keith's eyes went back and forth between Lance and his salad as Lance returned his gaze with a confused look.
Worry. That was it. That was the name of the strange emotion he kept seeing in Keith's eyes, the name of the strange emotion that made Lance feel so uncomfortable. What was the meaning behind it? He thought he made it pretty clear through his actions that formalities weren't needed to win him over. "...I'm fine." He poked at his salad and, against his better judgement, stuck a leaf in his mouth in hopes of satisfying Keith.
"...if you say so." Keith turned his attention back to his own plate, and another stretch of silence fell upon their table.
Lance was really just unable to read Keith. His actions confused him, and he did and said things that no one else ever said to Lance before. People were generally very easy for Lance to understand; all he had to do was satisfy their needs and submit to them. So long as he could do that, he felt like he was doing things right. In this case, however, he didn't know how to respond to anything Keith did. It was incredibly unsettling, and he really just wanted to get to the sex, because then he would be back in a familiar environment.
"...so!" Keith spoke suddenly, pulling Lance from his confused thoughts. "You got any cool hobbies?" He was clearly just trying to keep conversation going so that they weren't just sitting there in awkward silence, and while Lance also found it awkward to just stare at his food, casual talk wasn't necessarily much better; especially when it required talking about himself. Still, he had to keep up his professional front.
"Well, like I said, dancing is my hobby!"
"Okay, what about during your free time? You know, outside of work!"
Lance's brows furrowed, wondering why any of this was necessary information. Keith didn't need to know anything about him to fuck him, so why was he asking? Lance would much rather they discuss the boundaries of what would happen in the bedroom later tonight...but his customer had asked a question, so he'd do what he could to satisfy him. "Well...music is a big part of dancing, since you have to synchronize body movement with the song, so I like that. What about you?" The less Lance had to talk, the better.
Keith looked up thoughtfully. "Well, my favorite leisure activity is race car driving."
"Race car driving?" Lance didn't even realize he had repeated Keith until the words had already left his mouth. Obviously, he knew what racing was, but he had never actually met somebody who did something like that. Either that, or the people he did meet just never told him, since...he didn't talk about this type of stuff with people...
"That's right! There's a local track on the outskirts of town that I frequent! It's the best! You feel so free just booking it in your car at max speed, not to mention my baby's the sweetest ride out there." Keith got a fond look on his face at the mention of 'his baby', and Lance couldn't help but giggle - genuinely. It was weird, but it was funny.
Keith saw that he had Lance's attention and laughed along with him. "It's not just my sweet lion that's hot stuff, either-"
"Stop!" Lance burst into more laughter, clutching his stomach. "What did you just say? Your 'sweet lion'?" Lance had never heard anybody name their car before, nonetheless refer to it as a 'sweet lion'. He was having a difficult time getting himself under control as Keith's face reddened.
"Y-yeah, it's her name! She's the Red Lion!"
Nothing Keith was saying was helping Lance's fit of giggling, and he even gave a small snort on accident. He didn't even know he was capable of snorting while laughing!
Self-consciousness quickly overtook him, and he forced himself to go quiet as a slight blush crawled up his face. Shit. He usually maintained a bubbly and giggly persona so that he would come off as cute, but that had just been straight up mortifying. He was usually so good at staying in character while on the job, what happened? Why did he break character? Now Keith probably saw him as gross and he wouldn't get the money-
"Cute."
Lance's mind and body instantly froze up as he stared at Keith, who was just staring right back at him with a blush even worse than his own.
"Uh! I mean, I'm sorry, that just sorta came out…!" Keith apologized, moving his hands as he spoke. Lance couldn't help but feel a weird sort of warmth fill him from watching him. He didn't understand why Keith had said 'cute', since Lance had broken character and even snorted, but he found him to be strangely entertaining.
Keith cleared his throat and shifted slightly in his seat. "Anyways...as I was saying, my...car...isn't the only thing that's hot stuff. You see, I just so happen to be the top racer there!"
"Really now?" Lance smiled, curious as to how racing worked.
"Yep! Everyone hates me for it, but that's the burden of being the best, I suppose! Racing is a pretty competitive sport, so naturally, as the top guy there, as the alpha, the other guys all wanna take me down. So far, though, I'm still at the top!"
Lance was just imagining Keith in a red race car suit now, helmet tucked beneath his arm as he stood beside his car, or as he put it, his 'lion'. "Wow, sounds like you really are hot stuff." He chuckled.
Keith's face turned red all over again. "I mean, you know...speed is a talent of mine, I guess! Red and I - I mean, my car! My car and I are a dream team!" He clearly seemed flustered, but he was still trying to retain his tough-guy-racer attitude, and Lance couldn't help but find the whole act incredibly amusing.
"Well, I'm glad to hear speed is a talent of yours, you know what I mean?" He winked, but the implication went right over Keith's head as he just beamed wider.
"Oh, definitely! I mean, I practically own the track!" He gave Lance a grin that was...well, he had to admit, it was pretty hot. Getting to fuck hot customers was always a bonus for Lance.
He leaned back into his seat with another chuckle. "I'm sure you do. I wonder what it's like. Must be fun, especially when you're so good at it!" Lance rose his glass of water to his smirking lips. He could relate to enjoying something you were good at.
Keith suddenly gasped, a light bulb going off in his head. Lance could literally see the light bulb moment in his eyes.
"I know! Why don't I take you to the track some time! I could show you what it's like!"
Lance rose an eyebrow at him questioningly. "Oh, um, I didn't actually mean that...I was just thinking out loud." He muttered uncertainly. The weird thing was, it shouldn't matter whether he meant it or not. Sure, going racing sounded sort of fun, but that wasn't what Lance was here for. He was doing prostitution work, and while accompanying the customer was included in an escort's job description, Lance was in it to provide sexual relief. That was his description, plain and simple. Keith's offer made no sense. Still, he pressed Lance further.
"It'd be fun! You could sit shotgun while we race!"
The more he talked about it in that excited, passionate way, similarly to when he talked about school, the more drawn in Lance was, which didn't make sense to him. He could understand his interest when Keith was talking about school, but he had no reason to be interested in racing. "...I may not be open on a night that you go racing, so I'll have to decline. Thank you, though! You're very sweet." Lance batted his eyelashes at Keith charmingly. Usually he would do whatever a customer told him to, but in this case, the request didn't pertain to the current job, so he could decline it.
Keith seemed to deflate at that, which made Lance wonder if he'd had some sort of ulterior motive of having sex after taking Lance racing or something. Whatever the case, their conversation died down a bit, and Lance spent most of the rest of their time in the restaurant just trying to make it through the night.
"I'm sorry for just inviting you in my car, I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, obviously, it probably just came off as creepy, didn't it?"
Lance turned away from the window to look back at Keith as they drove through the empty, dark highway. They were literally the only car on the road since local highways weren't very busy around midnight, and it made for a much sexier atmosphere in his opinion. He just couldn't understand why Keith was apologizing.
"My car is at the club, so I could've just taken it, but I didn't," Lance said awkwardly, not sure why he even had to give reassurance. "Either way, it's fine."
Keith grumbled with uncertainty, but kept his eyes on the road and nodded. "If you say so…"
They sat in silence again, as seemed to be routine for them at this point. Lance just figured he shouldn't speak unless spoken to, and really, there was no reason for conversation. He just wanted them to go wherever they were going to go to have sex and then do what he was good at. Speaking of which, he couldn't help but wonder where Keith intended for them to go to have sex.
He was about to voice his question when suddenly, a loud honking sound blasted from behind them, and a pair of headlights appeared in the rearview mirror.
Keith squinted his eyes into the mirror, watching the car as it came up beside them, before clicking his tongue and groaning. "It's a compadre of mine, sorry. One sec." He rolled down the window to see that the man in the other car had done the same. Lance couldn't see him clearly, but he could make out a head with very bleached hair sitting in the driver's seat and a blonde girl sitting shotgun.
"Hey, loooook! The guy next to us is a total hoooottie!" The girl giggled. Lance had heard enough intoxicated people in his life to know that she was far gone.
Keith snarled, not at her, but at the guy driving, and when he spoke, his voice took on a much different tone than anything Lance had heard before. "What do you want, Rolo? It's not very cool of you to be honking me out at midnight, don't you think?"
The man named Rolo snickered. "Aw, don't be like that, pal! I was just picking up my friend Nyma, here, and I couldn't help but notice your car just up ahead. Yeah, I'd notice that obnoxious color anywhere on any road. That was when a thought occurred to me; I'll bet he's only good because he's mastered the main track! You and I both know you can't beat me in an improv race. So how 'bout it? You wanna go at it, right here, right now? Or are you too scared, little red riding hood?"
Lance wasn't even being addressed, but he could still feel adrenaline rushing into him from this situation. He'd never seen anything like this before! It seemed like something straight out of a movie! And the look on Keith's face right now was the most intense, sexy face Lance had ever seen.
"Red riding hood, huh? Looks like someone's got a lot more balls when he's around a pretty girl. Alright, Red and I will go ahead and teach you and 'Beezer' some respec-" Keith paused suddenly, glancing at Lance through his peripheral vision, and the badass side that he'd begun to show started to fade away. "...I...I mean, the next time we meet at the track…"
"What was that? You're backing out?" Rolo and Nyma both gave a mocking chuckle at them, making Lance narrow his eyes. When he'd heard Keith talking about it at the restaurant, the concept of racing had already started to interest him, and now that things had escalated the way they had, he was feeling pretty hyped. Plus, it was like Keith was holding back for his sake or something, which was crazy...nobody did things 'for his sake'.
Lance leaned forward to shout through Keith's window. "If you didn't hear him, he said, he's going to teach you respect!"
Keith turned to him with wide eyes as Lance grinned. He couldn't believe this was happening, and he couldn't believe what he was doing, but somehow, this just felt right. He didn't want to hold his customer back or be a burden, but it was more than that. His heart was thumping with genuine excitement at what was about to happen. Plus, Keith looked hot when he was competitive.
"...are you sure?" Keith asked, the same worry in his voice from the restaurant.
Lance wrinkled his nose, not understanding why Keith was so hesitant. "I'm sure." He confirmed.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Keith furrowed his brows together and turned back to Rolo. "You heard him, Rolo. It's on."
Nyma gave a drunken chortle of excitement as Rolo whistled. "Good. We'll race down to the exit. You takin' it?"
"Yeah, we're taking the next exit," Keith said.
"Alright, then I guess we'll just race to there, since Nyma lives straight ahead. Unfortunately I won't get to rub it in your face right away once I beat you since we'll be splitting up, so instead, winner gets bragging rights at the next meetup at the track. Oh, and of course, we get to brag to our 'partners'." Rolo winked.
Even in the dark, Lance could see red crawl up Keith's face as he momentarily glanced at Lance then back to Rolo. "Wha - 'partner'? We're not-"
"Ha! Let's gooo!" Rolo sped up ahead, leaving them behind in a trail of Nyma's obnoxiously loud giggles.
"Shit! Hang on!" Keith immediately stepped on the pedal, and their surroundings became a blur as they raced ahead. Wind was blowing in through Keith's window like a mini hurricane, and he was quick to close it.
Lance squealed and clutched onto his seat, eyes lighting up in pleasant surprise and excitement at the feeling of moving so fast in a car. He wasn't even really involved in the race, but he could feel the competitive fire in the air. "Are we gonna catch them?" He asked, briefly wondering if he was too into this.
Keith flashed him a smirk, a really fucking sexy smirk, before turning his attention forward again. "Don't worry. Even with a head start, he can't win. It's just a straight road up to the exit, which is the finish line, and my 'Red Lion' has way more natural speed than 'Beezer'. There!" He made a nodding gesture, and Lance tried to lean forward to take a look. Unfortunately, the speed made him feel like a paper puppet, and he flustered around a bit before quickly sinking back into his seat, not trusting himself to move. It was terrifying, but in the way that gave him a sense of exhilaration that he'd never felt before. Keith's words from earlier in the restaurant popped into his head.
'You feel so free just booking it in your car at max speed!'
'Free' wasn't something Lance ever really considered using to describe himself, but right now, he didn't know any other way to put it as he laughed heartily, still holding onto his seat for dear life. "I see them!" He exclaimed, squinting his eyes a bit as Rolo's car appeared just in front of them.
"See? Told you. Hang on, now!" Keith warned, picking up speed as he turned to get a diagonal angle on Rolo's car so that he could pass it. Rolo kept mimicking the movements of Keith's car, though, trying to stay directly in front of him so that he didn't have a chance to go around them.
Lance saw Nyma's hand appear from her window, flicking them off, and the sense of competition must've been rubbing off on him, because he suddenly felt the need to lower his window and return her insult.
He only managed to drop his window open an inch, though, before Keith immediately shut it from his side, speaking harshly while still keeping his eyes on the road.
"No. That's dangerous."
Lance raised an eyebrow at him before giggling and gesturing to the seat belt strapped around him. "Oh, come on, it's all in good fun! Besides, I'm perfectly safe!" He reached to open the window again, but Keith gave a threatening growl and risked a quick glance at him.
"I said, don't. It's not safe. Understood?"
His voice resembled that of a parent scolding a child, only it was much more tame, and it had that element of worry that Keith had been exhibiting all night long… It didn't make sense to Lance. What was the matter? Was Keith worrying about his safety? That couldn't be right…
"I said, 'understood'?" Keith reiterated, and suddenly the race had momentarily faded, and it was just Lance looking at someone who almost seemed to be genuinely concerned for him.
He gulped. "U-understood…" Agreeing to everything his customer told him to do was something he was used to, but this was different. Keith wasn't telling Lance to do something for him...he was telling Lance to do something for himself. It didn't make sense…
"Okay. Now hold on!" Keith's scolding voice turned back into a more playful one as he suddenly swerved right, breaking Lance out of his train of thought with a yelp. He was suddenly glad he didn't open his window as he twisted his body a bit to hug his seat from all the vehicle maneuvering going on. He'd never felt a car move like this before, but Keith looked like he was in perfect sync with his car.
They picked up speed again, and if his surroundings were a blur to him before, now they just seemed surreal, since everything that looked far away was suddenly flying past him within the blink of an eye. It was unbelievably thrilling, but terrifying all the same, and he couldn't help but shut his eyes in an attempt to just focus on the thrill of going fast.
Lance could hear the blood pounding in his ear and he could feel each pump of his heart as vibrations throughout his entire body, and he'd never been more aware of just how alive he was than he was in this moment.
A loud and triumphant shout from next to him convinced him to open his eyes again, and when he did, he saw that there was nobody in front of them. Instead, Rolo's car, which was apparently named 'Beezer', was just behind them in the mirror. He'd done it. Keith had somehow managed to pass him while Lance had been out of it.
A large, gleeful smile quickly spread across his face as he hugged his seat tighter, and he even bounced in it a bit. "We did it!" He exclaimed, barely aware of the sweat on his forehead from how invested he'd gotten. He couldn't believe Keith had somehow managed to get around them.
Keith chuckled at his excitement. "It isn't over just yet! A true pro doesn't celebrate until he's across the finish line! You know, it's the whole tortoise and the hare thing. Don't quit hanging on, yet!" They continued forward at a speed that was still above anything Lance had ever experienced prior to this night, creating an ever growing gap between them and Rolo.
Lance joined in with Keith's laughing, trying to calm his heart down, because he swore he'd never felt like this before in his entire life. He had no idea what Keith meant by 'tortoise and hare', but then again, he didn't understand a lot of what Keith said or did, so he just let it pass, still euphoric on adrenaline.
The exit road was just up ahead, and they secured their victory with a good ten seconds between them and Rolo's car. Lance slowly relaxed into his seat, clutching his chest and turning to look at Keith in triumph. He hadn't expected to see Keith staring back at him, mouth slightly agape as they slowed back down to a more normal level of speed.
They looked at each other for a good while before Keith turned his attention back to the road, gulping. "...told you he couldn't beat me."
Lance chuckled all over again at that, heaving out a deep sigh as his heart rate gradually returned to normal. He still couldn't believe what had just happened, and he was about to express his joy when Keith spoke up again.
"I uh, I'm sorry if that was uncalled for. I mean, I'm sorry if that was scary or something…I know you said you didn't want to go racing with me or anything, but-"
"Pfft, that was awesome!" Lance exclaimed, not waiting for him to finish. He didn't know why Keith was apologizing, but he wasn't interested in listening to it. He'd never thought of himself as being someone who wanted to have fun, since that just wasn't a part of his life. The most fun he allowed himself was having sex with others...but he was positive that the last half hour with Keith was some of the most fun he'd ever had. Ever. It was strange...he was conflicted about it. He couldn't decide if it was a good thing that he'd had fun or not…
Regardless of his thoughts, his excitement was still showing on the outside, and that made Keith smile again. "Yeah? I told you! Racing is great!"
Lance's smile weakened a bit now that he was really thinking about what had just happened, but he chuckled along with Keith nonetheless, turning to look out the window. "Yeah...that was great."
Lance was so busy questioning himself over having fun and trying to get himself back into his professional mindset that he didn't even notice they'd pulled into the Web's parking lot until the car stopped. He immediately straightened his back and looked around in surprise, making sure he wasn't just delirious after that race.
"Why are we-" He turned to question Keith, but he was already stepping out of the driver's seat and walking around the car to Lance's side.
Words couldn't describe Lance's confusion as Keith opened his door and stepped to the side with a smile, holding it open for him.
Lance didn't dare move a muscle, and the longer he stayed still, the more Keith began getting confused, until they were both just looking at each other wondering what on earth the other was doing.
"Uh...would you like to get out?" Keith asked uncertainly.
Lance was just as uncertain. "...aren't we going somewhere else to do it, though? Why would we stop here?"
Keith's eyes widened, and a light shade of red surfaced on his cheeks. "Oh! Did you want to hang out more, still?"
"Hang out?" Lance raised an eyebrow as he looked Keith over. "What are you talking about? Aren't we going to have sex, still? Isn't that the whole point?"
He expected Keith to say something, like he changed his mind and decided to just fuck him here in the Web. What he didn't expect was the look of shock and disgust that immediately wiped away Keith's blush.
"What?! What made you think that?"
For whatever reason, Lance couldn't meet Keith's gaze as he looked down. "I mean, you said you were making it up to me for not fucking me in the private room...remember?"
Keith was speechless for a few seconds, just staring at him in disbelief, before he finally deflated with a groan. "No...I meant I felt bad for just using you to get off, and I wanted to make it up to you somehow. At first I was just going to show up and talk and apologize, which was why I came back last night, but then you...wait, is that the reason you asked me out somewhere? For sex?"
Lance was just trying to follow along with the situation, trying to piece together Keith's confusion. "Of course it is! I mean, isn't that why we're here right now? Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Of course not!" Keith exclaimed, his voice quivering with an emotion that Lance couldn't name. That seemed to happen a lot with Keith. "I told you, I was just trying to make it up to you! I...that never even crossed my mind!"
Lance's eyes narrowed as he looked back up at Keith, trying to read him. "That doesn't make sense...why would you feel bad…?"
They both fell silent as Lance's gaze once again dropped to the ground, a headache starting to gnaw at him. He was too wrapped up in his confused thoughts to pay attention to how much time passed before Keith finally broke the silence.
"...just because others would do something like that to you, doesn't mean I would."
Lance scoffed and looked up, expecting to see a two-faced look of ridicule on Keith's face...what he saw instead was a determined look of sincerity. There was no humor in his eyes, no hint of amusement on his smileless face, and suddenly, Lance felt so, so small, like everything he thought he knew was just collapsing in on itself from just the look in Keith's eyes.
He was at a loss. For the first time in one year, there was a man standing in front of him that he couldn't read, someone that went against everything Lance was and everything Lance knew. He didn't know what to do...so, naturally, he did his best to play it off.
"...you're very strange." He giggled, and even though giggling was a part of the 'adorable persona' he usually put up, it felt strangely genuine. He got up out of the car and stood in front of Keith with his hands awkwardly placed behind his back.
Keith bit his lower lip. "Sorry if I misinterpreted what you were here for...or if I wasted your time, or something…"
"Not at all!" The words left Lance's mouth before he could stop them, because the thought of this night being a waste of his time was absurd...although, that was absurd in itself, because, this was a waste of his time, wasn't it? He had gone out with Keith to have sex and get paid, not to have fun and get confused. "...it wasn't a waste. I just...never mind." He didn't know where he was going with his words and didn't trust himself enough to speak, so he didn't.
Keith chuckled a bit at his stammering. "Well, as long as it's cleared up now, right?"
Lance gave a weak nod, fingers twiddling together behind his back. "Yeah." He was still trying to figure out what what they just did was, then...was it an escort? Or something else? Was he still supposed to demand money from Keith for spending time with him? How much would he demand if he did decide to? He wasn't an expert when it came to escort jobs, and he always had sex whenever he did do this kind of thing...what was he supposed to do when there hadn't even been any sex involved? Was he getting conned?
"Say…" Keith's voice snapped him out of his mental self-interrogation. "Uh...would you like to...go somewhere else some time?"
Just like that, Lance's train of thought stopped completely. His eyes were as wide as saucers as he took in Keith's words and looked for any sign of an ulterior motive, something that would explain to him what on earth was going on.
"...why? For...sex?" Lance muttered with uncertainty, unable to think of anything else.
Keith looked taken aback at that, hand moving off of his car door. "What? No! Just...you know, like today! For fun!"
Lance's brows furrowed together. Fun. Just hearing that word immediately made him remember the feeling of racing down the empty road at 100 miles per hour, like a star streaking across the night sky; able to feel like he had no restraints. He could imagine it more vividly now that he wasn't caught up in the thrill of it, could remember how his heart had pounded against his chest, still able to hear their laughter, still able to feel how alive he'd felt. Just thinking about what 'fun' meant gave him goosebumps.
Keith sighed, interpreting his silence as rejection. "Hey, it's okay. I was just asking. Maybe it was dumb for me to...yeah. Anyways-"
"No!" Lance shouted quickly, feeling a strange sense of panic spike through him that he wasn't at all used to. His sudden outburst made them both freeze, with Keith watching him expectantly...and hopefully.
Lance gulped, unsure why he was doing this. Why, after one whole year, was he now deciding to do something other than dance and have sex? Sure, he went out occasionally with Pidge and Hunk as distractions from life, but that didn't really mean anything. Not to him, anyways. But for some reason, this one night alone had him feeling strange...it had him feeling different.
"...my shift tomorrow starts late at night, so...I have a lot of free time during the day..."
Perhaps he was just trying to find more distractions; something else to take his mind off of things other than Pidge and Hunk. He wasn't sure if that was exactly what was going on here, but he would take the excuse.
Keith's face immediately brightened upon hearing him say that. "Really? Sweet! That works out great! Maybe sometime around 3 or 4 we could go somewhere?"
Hearing Keith get so excited about going somewhere with Lance without the promise of sex was easily the strangest thing to him, but somehow, he didn't mind it. In fact, it put a smile on his face as he listened to him. "Sure...whatever you want."
Keith shut the car door. "Awesome! Right. Okay. Sounds good! I'll, uh...text you!"
Lance giggled some more, swaying his body from side to side a bit. "If you say so!"
They stood in silence outside Keith's car, or as he put it, his 'Red Lion', just watching each other as the music from the club soaked through the walls and into the parking lot. It was techno again.
"...well, uh...I do have a test tomorrow morning, so...I should probably go."
The mention of a test immediately summoned Lance's memory of all their talk about school, and he felt a small sense of longing...just a little bit. "Alright. Until next time, then, cutie!" He winked and began to take a few steps back, waving with his fingers.
Keith snickered at his display of cuteness and mimicked his wave before walking back around to the driver's seat and disappearing into the car.
For some reason, Lance waited where he was, staying to watch Keith pull out of the parking lot and following his car down the road with his eyes. Why had he done that? Why had he agreed so easily to go somewhere with Keith again...for free? Was it to learn more about what college life was like from him? Or was it to experience more 'fun'?
...just the thought of that car race against Rolo had Lance's heart beating faster again, and he clutched his hand to his chest to calm himself. Maybe this was the reason he had agreed - so that he could understand what it meant for his heart to beat this fast. So that he could understand why Keith opened doors for him. So that he could understand why Keith asked him why he didn't touch his food, or why Keith had so sternly scolded him to not open his window while they were racing. Maybe that was the reason he was going to see Keith again...so that he could understand.
Whatever the reason, one thing was for certain; they weren't escort and customer anymore.
So then...what were they?
Thank you so much for reading! Looks like their relationship is starting to go somewhere, hm?
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That's right! Go to my profile, and there, you'll find the url link! You can ask me questions regarding this fanfic or about anything in general, and I would love to interact with all of you! Furthermore, if you follow me, you'll get regular teasers for the next chapter of this fic! Be like Keith and check it out!