Lance could have talked to Keith for hours, but seriously, when was this guy going to get the hint? Pidge might as well have said "Hi, this is Lance, he is very bisexual and likes to talk about your butt when you aren't around."
Which, of course, was true.
"And then she said, 'Call me when you grow two inches!' I grew four inches that summer."
"Not fair! Seriously, Shiro got all the tall genes. I'm 5'7!"
"You're so small!"
"Well we can't all be 5'10 by 9th grade, Lance!"
They both laughed. Keith couldn't remember a time when he'd been happier with someone other than Shiro or Allura.
Pidge walked over to their table, carrying two entrees. "Sorry it took so long, Hunk's pretty busy,"
Keith and Lance were confused. "What do mean? It's been like, fifteen minutes!" Lance said. Keith looked at his watch. "Actually, it's been like an hour."
Pidge nodded, and put down their food. Keith got his quesadillas, but Lance had some kind of gumbo. "There isn't-"
"No, Lance. There's no shrimp." Pidge cut him off. "Are you allergic?" Keith asked. Lance opened his mouth to talk. Pidge put up her hands are turned to walk away. "I don't need to hear this again. Call if you need something!"
Lance rolled his eyes and started talking. "How much do you know about our fishing industry? I already know the answer, not much. The current fishing rates are so unsustainable! We can't fish like this much longer without completely ruining our ocean's ecological system for good. Did you know that every day, 1,000 dolphins, turtles, and small whales are pulled up in fishing nets? They're thrown back into the water, of course, but they're already dead by then."
Keith stared at him with a mouthful of quesadilla. "I was just wondering because I'm allergic to seafood anyway..."
Lance flushed. "Yes, of course. Totally. Not that I'm going to like, force people to be vegan or something, we just need to eat sustainable fish." He took a bite of gumbo. "This is nice!"
Keith swallowed and smiled. "Tell your mom that the recipe you stole is really good!"
Of course, Keith thought, he smiled that smile again. The one that made him feel all fuzzy and warm and wonder how soft Lance's hair was. Shut up, shut up! Nope, not the time to be gay. He told himself. You are on a platonic bro outing, chilling with your homie. Besides, Keith would be starting his junior year of college soon, and he needed to be focused. Shiro always told him, "Patience yields focus," and he was named a deputy faster then you can say 'police!' Nobody became a successful bio-med engineer by being mediocre and distracted.
Suddenly, Lance stopped eating. "Have you ever seen a baby seal?"
Keith shook his head. "I don't believe so."
Lance pulled out his phone and scrolled through his camera roll, looking for the perfect picture. "So this is Louise, the harbor seal that just had pups."
Damn was that seal cute, Keith thought.
"So usually mama seals only have one pup per pregnancy, but Louise had twins, which is super rare!" Lance said, and swiped to a picture of the mother seal with her babies. "Aren't they just the cutest?!" he asked, and Keith nodded. "What are their names?"
Lance pointed to the left seal pup, "Lily, and the other one is Luke." He did all of this while also shoving spoonfuls of gumbo into his mouth.
Later, Pidge came back to get their dirty dishes. "Give my regards to the chef!" Lance told her, with another toothy smile. Pidge rolled her eyes and turned back to the kitchen. "Hunk!"
A large, Hawaiian-looking man walked out of the kitchen holding two plates, wearing a white chef's apron and holding a very fancy dessert in each hand. Lance abruptly stood up and attempted to give him a hug. "Uh-uh, Lance, no! I love you, but you are not ruining this crème brûlée!"
He put down the plates, and then opened his arms, chuckling and inviting Lance to give him a hug. Lance let go of his friend, who turned to Keith. Keith put out his hand, "Hi, I'm Keith-" but the big man wrapped him up into a bear hug. "I'm Hunk! It's great to finally meet you Keith, I've heard so much about you!" Hunk was going to say more, but Lance shot him a look that he thought Keith didn't see.
Suddenly, Keith mentally slapped himself. Dammit! The bill!
"Um, Lance?"
"Yeah?"
"I uh, don't really have a lot of money on me-"
Hunk intergected. "Nah, don't worry about it! Lance finally decided to show up to my restaurant, and I'm treating. Sit down! I didn't make dessert for you two to look at!"
Pidge and Hunk each pulled up a chair. "Cheers!" Lance said, holding up his still-unused spoon. Keith clinked his spoon against Lance's, and they both broke the caramelized top of their crème brûlée. "Oh my good God," Keith said. Hunk looked worried. "Is something wrong with it?" "Not at all!" Keith said. "This is fantastic!"
Lance laughed. "Nobody makes a crème brûlée like Hunk, that's for sure!"
Keith stopped. "You've had this before?"
Lance nodded. "Hunk and I went out to dinner the when we each got our first paycheck. He ordered a crème brûlée and has been hell-bent on perfecting his own ever since."
"How long ago was that?"
"Five years ago. We were fifteen."
"How could it possibly get better than this?"
Hunk smiled. "It's really that good?" he asked, and Keith nodded fervently in response. "Um, yeah!"
You see, Keith and Shiro hadn't exactly had a champagne lifestyle. Allura, however, had never wanted for anything. Keith didn't know much about Allura's father or how he made his money. It had something to do with a large company, he believed. He'd died in a car crash when Allura was 18. After the accident, she'd moved to the United States. Once she became a part of Keith and Shiro's family, they had money too. Shiro and Keith protested, but Allura insisted that after she moved in, there would be no more ramen for dinner.
Keith stifled a yawn, he hadn't been able to sleep last night. "Are we boring you?" Lance asked, mockingly raising an eyebrow. "Oh, no, no of course not!" Keith said, unaware that Lance was clearly kidding. "Relax, man!" Lance told him. "You look exhausted."
"Well I couldn't sleep last night, so I tried to study and ended up staying up way later than I meant."
"Same, literally," Pidge said to him. Keith laughed into his crème brûlée. "Am I that relatable?"
"She shouldn't be talking," Lance said. "That little nugget is only in her first year of college!"
Pidge looked over at him. "I will remind you that this 'little nugget' got a full scholarship, Lance."
Lance walked through the parking lot, half dragging Keith along with him. It was late, later than Lance had planned to be home by. "Do you think," Keith began, "that snakes ever get sad that they don't have legs?"
Lance laughed. If he hadn't known better, he'd think Keith was drunk, or maybe high. But they'd been together, and the only thing Keith had to drink was ginger ale. Keith looked at him. "Well?" he asked. Lance thought for a moment. "I think that snakes don't mind not having legs," he said after a moment. "Because they love themselves unconditionally!"
They got into the car and Lance went to turn on the radio. "Wait!" Keith said. "Could you play Shakira?"
Now, Lance wasn't sure he'd heard Keith right. "Did you say Shakira?" he asked. Keith nodded. "Don't say anything to Shiro, but she's my favorite!"
Lance studied the dark circles under Keith's eyes. "Do I want to know how much you've slept lately?"
Keith shrugged, a dopey look on his face. "Probably not enough!" he said, grinning for no reason.
Man, Lance thought to himself. He's cute. "Well," he began. "Can I play Shakira? Hell yes I can!"
While Shakira sang about how her hips didn't lie, Keith opened the window, let the wind blow back his hair, and took a deep breathe. Moonlight hit his eyes, and they turned kaleidoscope purple.
