As I choke rather unflatteringly on my spit, Pidge nervously say, "Hi, uh, I guess I'll order while he. . ." I look up at her to see her wince. "Yeah, anyway, I'll have. . ."

I frantically compose myself and pick up my menu with shaking hands. "And for you?" he asks.

I finally look up at him. "Uh, just a mint tea for me," I answer.

He smiles as he writes it down on his notepad, one hip jutted out to the side with the apron draped lazily over it. I lick my lips, trying my hardest to tame my emotions to not accidentally open our connection right beside each other. "Alright! I'll get these back out to you as soon as possible," he grins at each of us then sends me a wink that could bring world peace - I had to mentally convince myself it was even real.

I blush and nod, watching as he walks away. I find myself thankful his apron doesn't cover his backside.

"Wow, could you at least try to be less obvious? I can smell your arousal from here," Pidge grimaces.

I glare at her, "Hey, you forced me into this. Don't forget that."

She flips through the menu, "Are you controlling your emotions enough?"

"Yeah, but it's difficult. Not sure we should stay for dessert."

"It looks like you already got yours as he walked away," Pidge snickers.

After kicking her shin from underneath the table, I turn my attention to the menu as well. Soon, Lance comes back with two mugs - one with my tea and another with Pidge's hot chocolate. "Here you go," he chirps. "Good choice on the mint tea - I love the taste. Could I get you two anything to eat?"

I blush, knowing the reason he likes the taste is because of me. It's my favorite beverage and there was a time where I drank it everyday. So I was right, that is his sense. . .

Pidge orders a plate of chocolate chip pancakes before Lance turns to me expectantly. "Could I just have a side of fries?" I mutter as we hand him our menus.

"Sure thing, hot stuff. Want me to upgrade that to an order of cheesy fries? I'll give you a discount," he offers, winking at me again as he writes on his notepad.

My face warms up and I look away. "Really? Yeah, thanks," I respond, smiling shyly at him.

When he leaves again, I prop my elbows up on the table with my panicked face between my cold hands. "Pidge," I whine quietly.

"I'm not sure if I should be cheering or vomiting," she deadpans. I groan and drop my head on the table. "Just watch your emotions. We don't want all hell to break loose in the middle of the diner now, do we?"

"No," I mutter, sitting back up. "But his flirting is making it hard. I've seen Lance flirt aimlessly countless times, but I never expected to be on the receiving end. It actually kind of sucks because to him I'm just another person, you know?"

Pidge groans, "Dear lord, dude, he just met you. It's not like you are just going to marry him on the spot."

I glare at her and we banter back and forth until Lance returns with our food. "Enjoy your food. Wave me over when you're ready for the check," he smiles, handing us our plates.

"Thanks," I force out, smiling up at him. He tilts his head slightly in surprise before composing himself, nodding, and retreating back to the counter.

We eat, talking in between bites of food either about Lance - whenever he isn't nearby - or about the party. According to Pidge, the party is at a more upscale apartment building basically on the opposite side of the convenience store where Shiro works from my apartment. She advises to arrive later when more people will be there and it will be less awkward.

Anything she said about Lance, however, I tried to ignore to keep myself from blushing too much. By the time we finished eating, her ankles were bruised from the amount of times I had to kick her for making suggestive looks anytime Lance passed our table,

Eventually, Pidge waves him back over for the check. He drops it off with his trademark smile before being whisked away to another table. I marvel at how fluid he moves for only a moment before tearing my eyes away to help Pidge with the check. In the end, Pidge and I leave the diner without speaking to Lance besides bidding him goodbye - to which he wished us a beautiful night.

It's bittersweet as I make my way to my apartment alone. At first, I mentally gush about the whole encounter: seeing him in person, speaking to him, and, hell, him even flirting with me. Then, I begin to worry about where I go from here.

My mind races, frantically trying to come up with ideas. I could become a regular customer there and feign innocence when he finds out we're soulmates. I could march in there and be straightforward with him. I could move away, change my name, and start a new life.

Annoyed with the thoughts plaguing my mind, I take my earbuds out of my pocket and listen to some music on the rest of the way to drown them out.

At times like this, I stand by my belief of soulmates being stupid. So, I try to take my mind off of the whole situation by looking forward to the party tonight and texting Shiro the invitation.

Maybe for just one night I can feel normal.

I yawn behind the thick, red scarf around my neck. I found it while getting ready for the party in a box of belongings I don't normally use, but I can already tell this winter is going to be worse than the last few so I decided to resurrect it.

I'm glad I did, too, because Shiro is late and I'm stuck waiting outside in the cold.

He was supposed to meet me almost twenty minutes ago to go to the party. Usually, Shiro and I just go to a bar or stay in at his place on a Friday night so when I told him about the party, he was excited.

That along with not sleeping much last night are leaving me cranky to say the least, even after the events from lunch.

"Keith," I hear from behind me. I turn to see Shiro jogging up to me. "Sorry about that. Since Kolivan is on vacation, I had to close up the store," he explains.

I roll my eyes and turn around, "Let's just go, I'm freezing my ass off and it's still a few blocks away."

I feel a little guilty that I still haven't caught Shiro up on everything that has been going on with Lance, but I'm not in the mood to talk about it - especially not with him. I'd rather not start an hour long scolding in the mood I'm in right now. Since lunch, my energy and mood have been tanking. At this point, I just want to get drunk.

Clearly, Lance feels the same way. Our connection opens as we walk and I feel a thick bubbling in my torso. He's already drunk and I can't help but smirk at that - the night has just begun.

Finally, we find ourselves entering Balmera Apartments and using the elevator to get to the sixth floor as Pidge's directions instructed us to do. I knock on the door and we start unzipping our jackets. The music from inside shakes the door and I wonder if they will get a noise complaint.

The door opens and a tall girl opens it. "Hi, welcome! I'm Shay," she grins, opening the door for us. We smile politely and enter. After she quickly shows us where to put our coats and shoes, she returns to the party.

We follow her a moment later into the living room which is connected to both a dining room and the kitchen, all filled by about two dozen people. Shiro heads straight away to the kitchen for a drink and I begin to follow.

Suddenly, Pidge is stumbling up to me, anxious about something. "Keith! You're here. I need to tell you something quickly-" she starts, looking around us nervously.

"You okay, Piddle?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.

"You won't be," she laughs weakly. Her voice drops as she adds, "He's here."

My face falls and, as if on cue, Lance comes stumbling in from the bathroom, looking exactly as drunk as he felt earlier when our connection was over. "Shit," I whisper, horrified.

I watch as he drapes a lazy arm over someone's shoulders - I recognize him to be Lance's roommate. "The guy he's with, that's Hunk. He's the guy I've been studying with but trust me, I had no idea he was friends with Lance," she confesses.

And now my head is spinning. I groan, running a hand down my face. "I need a goddamn drink," I mutter, heading to the kitchen after Shiro, carefully avoiding Lance who hasn't seemed to notice me from the dining room.

I grab a bottle of beer and lean against a wall along the edge of the living room beside the hallway, only sometimes looking up to observe everyone. Lance bounces from room to room, talking animatedly to anyone who will listen. Shiro converses with a girl I almost don't recognize as the one who seated Pidge and I at the diner earlier and a tall, lanky man who is older with bright orange hair and a matching, thick mustache. Pidge is playing with a group of people on the living room floor an obscene card game I recognize. She often motions for me to join the game but I decline each time. For quite a while, I only move from that spot to kitchen for a new bottle of beer.

As I drink the last of my third bottle, I hear Lance exclaim excitedly about the song change. "I love this song," he gushes, turning the stereo up even more.
I choke on my drink when I see him dancing to the sensual yet upbeat song. He sways his hips back and forth so enticingly. I clear my throat and watch, feeling goosebumps rise up my back and down my arms.

My eyes zone in on his hips, entranced by the hypnotic movements. When my eyes finally make it back to his face, I'm startled to see he's staring right back at me with dark eyes that I'm positive reflect my own. I feel my cheeks grow warm as I notice he's slowly dancing towards me. After briefly surveying the room as I set the empty beer bottle down on a nearby table, I see nobody even realizes what is happening right now. Not even Shiro or Pidge. I press my back against the wall at the same pace Lance dances towards me.

"You were at the diner earlier," he breathes once there's only a foot of space separating us, his voice low and husky and so tantalizing.

I feel our connection beginning to open but I inwardly fight to keep it shut. "Yeah," is all I can pathetically make out.

"I don't know what it is about you, but I couldn't stop thinking of you all afternoon," he confesses, inching closer,

My heart beats dangerously fast in my chest. "Neither could I," I confess.

He leans over me, so close now that our shirts are grazing each other and his nose nuzzles into my cheekbone. "I want to kiss you but I have a soulmate," he whispers.

I feel heart clench in my chest at his blind loyalty towards me. My temptations wins me over when I blurt out, "How do you know I'm not your soulmate?"

Lance smirks, dropping his head to look me in the eyes. "I guess there's one way for me to find out," he responds. I lick my lips and for a split second neither of us do anything.

That is, until I find myself pushing him into the dark hallway beside us and up against the wall, out of sight from everyone else. I tilt my head up slightly and kiss him softly at first, forcing myself to take my time despite the desire rapidly building up in my chest.

Lance slides his hand from my jaw to the back of my head, kissing back immediately. Our connection finally snaps open, electrifying my entire body with excitement. Lance clearly feels it, too, because he takes control and pushes me into the wall behind me and picks up speed. I moan into his mouth, pulling his body closer to mine by his hips, digging my fingers into his skin.

"You are him, aren't you?" Lance slurs between kisses.

"Yes," I whisper huskily, looking at him nervously, but he goes back to kissing me.

I bite down softly on his bottom lip and nearly crumble in his arms at the sound he makes when I do. In response, he tugs on the hair behind my ear - an area that until now I hadn't realized was a sweet spot for me - which causes me to moan embarrassingly loud. Lance takes this opportunity with my lips parted to deepen our kiss, gliding his tongue against mine. I lick the roof of his mouth behind his teeth, causing him to shiver beneath my hands. I feel his fingers trail down my neck, chest, and stomach until I feel his cold touch against my stomach beneath my shirt.

At this point, my head is spinning, our connection is so intense I feel it throbbing in my veins, and Lance is pushing up my shirt. I remind myself there are dozens of people in the room right beside us and that we're both drunk and reluctantly shove his hands away.

"Lance," I try to say but it comes out as a moan, encouraging him as he moves to kiss my neck just below my jaw. "Lance," I say, clearer this time although still shaky. I push him away and his hazy eyes look at me, confused, as I continue, "We can't do this now. We're drunk, and. . ."

Lance pouts, reaching out for the bottom of my shirt again, "Do we have to?"

"I. . . I'm sorry," I shake my head, taking his hand off my shirt and holding it instead. "I don't want to mess this up." Lance's expression seems to sober up as he smiles at me.

But I could not have been more wrong as he passes out in my arms a second later.

"Really, Lance? You have to be fucking kidding me," I curse, laughing bitterly. Of course, my first kiss with my soulmate ends up with him passing out. I sigh, holding him up with my elbows hooked underneath his armpits. I try to shift him more comfortably so I can get him to the couch. Entering the living room, I'm surprised to see nobody too bothered by the fact I'm carrying around someone who's unconscious. I lay him down on the couch carefully - but not so gracefully - and run a hand down my face. I look to my right and see Pidge passed out, too, on the floor in a ball with a throw pillow tucked between her knees and her chest. Straight ahead of me, Shiro is still talking to the girl but now in the kitchen with her sitting on top of the counter and him standing in front of her.

Not wanting to interrupt Shiro, I shoot him a quick text to inform him I'm walking Pidge home before moving to wake her up. She finally wakes up after the sixth attempt and stands up groggily, agreeing to let me walk her home.

By the time we're in our coats and shoes and leaving the building, she has waken up a little more but is still being slow. Meanwhile, I'm still shaken up by what has happened in the past half hour. "Pidge, could you walk a little faster or do you want me to carry you? I'm freezing out here and I just want to go home," I speak up, quieting as I add the last part.

"Alright, alright, let me hitch a ride," she says, yawning.

"Just don't drool on me if you fall asleep," I grin half-heartedly, squatting slightly so she can jump on my back.

Thanks to the several drinks in my system, I nearly fall over at first but luckily regain my composure. "You good?" she asks from above my head.

I hook my elbows under her knees, thankful that Pidge's apartment isn't too far from here.. "Yeah, just a little more drunk than I thought."

"I mean with Lance."

Sighing, I continue the long walk and reply, "I don't know."

"Talk to me, Kellogg," she murmurs into my hair, resting her head on top of mine.

"Well, he was dancing. . . and I was staring. . . and then we were suddenly making out in the hallway," I wince as I tell her.

Pidge tenses, then sits up, "Wait, what?"

"I couldn't stop myself. He told me not to kiss him at first because he has a soulmate so I asked, 'What if I'm your soulmate?'. Then, he encouraged me to find out and so we just kissed! We were both hammered - why did I choose that as the time I come out to him as his soulmate?" I exclaim, regret pooling in my stomach as I fully recall the even out loud. "But then, he tried to pick things up. I told him we shouldn't while we were drunk and he literally passed out in my arms. God, what the hell, Pidge? What did I do? He's going to-"

"Don't even say he's going to hate you, we already went through this," Pidge scolds. "Yeah, what you did was incredibly stupid, but he's at fault, too, and at least you realize what you did was not the best thing in the world to do. All you can do for now is let this take its course, okay?"

"But, Pidge. . ."

"But nothing. If I were you, I'd contemplate what to say the next time you see him. And I know you tend to spiral in the midst of your emotions, so just focus on the good in all of this. I mean, you made out with your soulmate. That's amazing, " Pidge says, laughing at the end.

I laugh weakly, too. "Thanks, Porridge."

Her cheek rests against the top of my head again as she says, "And if you want, Hunk and I are having breakfast tomorrow at Olkari Cakes. After all, waffles are your hangover cure, are they not?"

"Your proposition is tempting. . ." I trail off, feigning contemplation. "Alright, I'll come."

"Awesome! It'll be at ten-ish. Maybe later if we're still asleep."

"Will, uh," I clear my throat, "Lance be there?"

"No. You should be safe for the next twelve hours," Pidge responds and I can practically hear her eyes rolling.

I walk the rest of the way to her building in silence. Along the way, I feel her tense every once in a while as if she's fading in and out of sleep. It wouldn't surprise me, though, with how quiet she is.

When I step inside her apartment building, the sting in my face from the cold turns into dull throbbing. In the elevator, Pidge stirs but only briefly. I knock on her apartment door softly, mentally hoping Matt is home so I don't have to wake Pidge up to unlock the door.

Thankfully, the door opens only a moment later. I put my finger to my lips and point at Pidge, a muted warning that she's asleep, and he nods in understanding.

"Thanks for bringing her back safely," Matt whispers, letting me inside..

I wave it off and find my way to her bedroom where I put her down on her bed.

Pidge wakes up slightly as she plops into her pile of pillows and blankets. "Eh? Matt?" she grumbles.

"No, it's me. See you tomorrow, gremlin," I whisper, flicking her forehead. She scrunches her nose at me with her eyes shut and buries her face in her pillow. I smirk and leave, only chatting with Matt briefly before seeing myself out.

Fortunately, because I'm drunk my thoughts don't bother me as much as they normally would for the rest of the night. However, when I am only a block away from my building, I feel the connection opening slowly.

I regret welcoming it with open arms because a moment later, I'm vomiting in a public trash can.

I curse, spitting the bile out of my mouth. Lance's strong nausea from his own vomiting opened our connection and it along with my own pushed me over the edge.

I impulsively look at a car window ahead of me, searching for Lance's image to make sure he's okay, but I frown when I remember I can't anymore. I suppose it's a good thing, though, because he can't taste the puke in my mouth either.

I close my eyes, reaching comfort out to him and he does the same. His, though, feels apologetic - I think he knows he made me throw up and feels guilty about it even though it would have happened sooner or later. I smile at his thoughtfulness as our connection ends.

I cough into the trash can, spit once more, then hurry into my apartment building. Before I go to pass out in bed, I make myself some mint tea for my stomach and to rid my mouth of the acidic taste. As I lay in bed sipping my tea in my coziest pajamas, I smile to myself in the dark at the memory of my moment with Lance. It leaves me so giddy that, once my tea is finished, I tug at the hair at the hair behind my ear just like Lance did to help myself fall asleep.