Chapter Eight

Keith kept dunking his tea bag, up and down, in his green tea. Up and down, up and down. As he did it he stared at the door to Lena's, watching as it opened and people who were not Lance walked in. They walked in and weren't Lance, that is all he knew, he didn't know if they were male, or female. He didn't note if they old or young, or pretty, or handsome. He didn't notice anyone who was leaving the casual eatery because they were going in the wrong direction. He dunked the tea bag up and down.

Suddenly Sven's hand slapped over his hand, shocking Keith and upending the mug, spilling the lukewarm tea and nearly causing the mug to roll off the table. Somehow Keith grabbed it by the handle just before it hit the floor. "What are you doing Sven!"

"Take a break from the dunking and the staring at the door," Sven said, looking unamused. "He had his roommate tell you he'd be here, so I think we can be sure he'll get here. So stop it. Just relax. Go get another tea."

Keith sat down. "Not thirsty," he muttered, his dark eyes going to the door.

Sven said something under his breath in his native tongue, Keith didn't care, he'd never felt so impatient in his life. He'd always prided himself on being a patient person. He didn't mind waiting, he had a clear mind, he lived in the moment. He was ready for anything, Lance had turned it all upside down. He should be enraged, he should be mad, but he didn't care at all. Keith just wanted to see him again, see that damn smirk, see his damn eyes. More than that he wanted to touch him. Touch him and see if everything that had happened on their date was still there.

Hot heat.

The door opened, the battered blue helmet was the first thing Keith saw, then a battered camouflaged backpack on his back, his bangs were in his eyes as he scanned the room from the wrong side first. Then he pushed them out of his eyes when he saw Keith, smiled and Keith grinned back. He stood up as Lance got closer.

They stood there, by Keith and Sven's table, grinning at each other until Sven cleared his throat. Keith noticed that Lance blushed as well as him, then Keith slid into the booth and Lance slid in next to him, stuck his helmet and bag on the floor under the table, and put his left hand on Keith's knee.

"Hi, Sven," Lance said.

"Lance," Sven said.

Then Lance turned to face Keith, Keith smiled and stared at him, he was a bit scruffy again, Keith noticed, he must go for that look. It was a good look, Keith thought. Lance leaned in and kissed him quickly on the lips and only backed away a whisper. "Hey."

"Hey."

Then they stared again. Keith moved his right hand on top of Lance's, he grinned. Lance's own grin widened. Sven made a weird gagging noise. Lance's right hand came up and gave him the finger. Sven laughed. "I'm going to go see if Amelia can take a break."

"Ask her out yet?"

Sven paled, glared at Keith his brown eyes turning a bit black. Keith shrugged. Sven didn't say anything else and walked over to the counter. Lance laughed. "I guess not."

"He says he only asks girls out when it's a sure thing."

"Amelia isn't?"

Keith shrugged. "How do you know?"

Lance looked at him for awhile. "I don't know, I just go in, and if they hem or haw, I cajole and charm until it's a yes."

"What if they say no?"

Lance winked at Keith. "Like that has ever happened."

Keith believed it, he couldn't see how anyone could say no to Lance. Keith looked down at their hands, they were holding hands now, Lance's palm felt hot against his, Keith wanted to kiss him. Really kiss him but they were in public, at a window booth, surrounded by people. He swallowed down the urge, and tried to think of something to say. "How did the arch building go?" he asked because he hadn't heard from Lance at all Sunday.

"Sunday sucked. I would have called you but Pidge woke up right after Hunk and I fell asleep with our cell phones. He wanted to see what would kill one faster, sinking it in hot water or cold water. Turns out hot water, which was my phone. Luckily it was new, still under warranty. Picking up a new one after my last class, same number and everything. So that was just the start of the day, waking up to a dead boiled phone."

Keith laughed.

"Yeah," Lance sighed. "He's acting out. Mostly at me, like it's going to be my fault I won't get to stay living with him and Hunk."

Keith frowned. "That's messed up, I mean not Pidge, that makes sense. But the living thing."

Lance sighed. "I might have a place to go, still kind of unsure about it. I don't know."

"What?"

"Griffin, offered me a room. A real room, no strings attached. I mean he's a good guy, just a friend. It's tempting but I don't know. He's says he's cleaned up his act, but I don't know if can risk it."

"Risk it?" Keith asked, not sure if he liked the sound of this at all. Not sure if he liked the idea of Lance casually talking about someone he'd been with as being a possible roommate at all, yet it was the words ITALIC risk it ITALIC that really made Keith's heart start thumping.

"See, you ask that, looking at me with that face. You've never been in trouble a day in your life have you?"

Keith felt like he'd just been insulted for some reason. "I've been in trouble, I got detention a few times in high school before I transferred here.."

"For?"

"Kicking a bully's butt," Keith said.

"Who were they bullying?"

"Either me or someone who couldn't fight back, but it would be me who got in trouble."

"You're Aunt and Uncle, they got that though right?"

Keith nodded.

"Yeah, you got in trouble for being the hero," Lance laughed.

"You did too," Keith pointed out.

"An asshole hero," Lance muttered. "Anyway, uh, Griffin used to sell drugs out of his apartment."

Keith's eyes widened.

"So I was there, still asleep, after..." Lance let the silence fill in the blanks, and Keith blushed and felt a surge of jealousy at the thought and shifted himself closer to Lance in the booth. "I was dozing in the bed, there were people there. There are always people there, in and out, I never thought about it really. Anyway suddenly the cops are busting down the door, arresting everyone in the place, including me."

"But," Keith felt panicked. "But if you got arrested you'd be tossed out, no warning, nothing, one arrest and your gone."

"Yeah. Riff she talked the lead cop out of bring in me and booking me."

"Riff? As in Riff's? Riff is a woman."

"Oh, yeah, she's one hell of a woman, she's...kind of scary sometimes. Cool too. Anyway, she opened her door, her place is across the hall. Griffin was talking a mile a minute to this one cop, Lieutenant Coffey about me. I could hear him, he just kept saying, 'Let the kid from my room go, he has nothing to do with this, you gotta let him go, Coffey, he's from the Academy let him go okay, he doesn't do drugs and he's dumb enough to sell him.' Over and over again, Coffey didn't seem to buy it. I was just trying to stay quiet, pray and figure out if I could make a break for it. They hadn't cuffed me or anything yet, just had us all against the hallway wall. Griffin saw Riff and he looked at her just said my name. Then suddenly Riff was telling Coffey to let me go. I didn't even know she knew my name. I'd seen her in his apartment, seen them talking, I think they're pretty good friends and stuff. Next thing I know, Coffey is walking me to the parking lot, when I get on my bike he tells me. 'You got lucky kid, that I know Riff don't lie.'"

Keith shook is head. "You do get yourself into some messes, don't you."

Lance smirked. "Yeah, think you can handle it?"

Keith nodded.

"Yeah, Griffin said he's not dealing anymore, I don't know. I heard through Katie that he's working at her dad's because he owes Riff more than he work off... I've got to talk to her. You going to be there Thursday, I've worked it out with Hunk, I can meet you there."

Keith grinned. "I can be there, if you're there."

Lance leaned in and kissed him, Keith found himself grabbing hold of Lance's shirt collar to keep the kiss going longer when he felt Lance pulling away, when he let go, Lance was staring at him, eyes wide, irises dark and with an amused half smile on his face. "You are bossy," Lance said.

~~.~~

Lance drove Keith back to campus on his Kessel, they hopped off it together in the parking lot and headed toward the building, they had classes in the same wing. They walked side by side, practically hip to hip, all the way into the building. Then inside the building the did the same thing, making people get out of their way and walk around them. A few did double takes seeing them together, seeing their heads together.

Just before they got to the classroom that was where Lance had to leave Keith, Lance grabbed Keith by his arm and tugged him into a supply closet. He pulled on the string that turned on the bare bulb light in the tiny room, shoved Keith against a wall and kissed him soundly. As he expected after the shock of the moment wore off, Keith grabbed onto him and started to make his play for control.

Lance fought him, for the fun of it, he pushed up Keith's shirt wanting to feel skin and deepening the kiss not leading Keith take it where he'd been aiming to go. Keith had started to kind of growl and then moaned. Lance smiled and Keith met his tongue, and started to push his hand underneath Lance's shirt as well, hands wrapping around his back and pulling Lance into him, so they were both almost plastered against the wall.

Then Lance heard the warning bell, somehow he heard it, he was amazed. He pulled back, winked at Keith. "See you later," he opened the door and walked out. He felt Keith on his heels, heard him fixing his clothes and felt a strong hand grab him by his jean's belt loops and pull him backward.

He laughed as he went, then he was staring into Keith's dark eyes and really wishing they could skip their classes. He was about to suggest it when Keith put his hand up and his finger against Lance's lips.

"I'm getting you back for that," he said in a voice that both threat and promise, and Lance now was going to have to hold his book on his lap the rest of his class because he'd gone from semi-hard to totally hard in that nano-second. The real problem was there wasn't a book for boxing class.

"Uh, already did," Lance called after Keith, as Keith went off down the hall toward his classroom.

Lance turned back toward the room where the boxing class was located and walked right into Fargate Gaskill. Who was in his boxing class, who Lance had gotten to punch out more than once under the guidance of an instructor more than once. Fargate though was looking at him now with a please smug smile on his face.

"Hi, Lance."

"Uh, Hi," Lance said pushing past him into the room.

"New girlfriend, I see."

Lance rolled his eyes. "That was Keith Kogane," he muttered.

"Oh right. With his hair and his preferences really whats' the difference?"

Lance swallowed the urge to punch him before class started, maybe he'd get lucky and get paired with him again. Then he could knock the homophonic douchebag to the ground. "He's definitely a man, trust me."

"I heard that Dai Garrett bought a house."

Lance dropped his bags, Fargate was good for one thing, erection gone. "How would you hear anything about Dai Garret?"

"My aunt is a real estate agent in town. She likes to do it in her spare time, when she isn't attending benefits with Uncle. You know the Governor."

Seriously, Lance thought, was he seriously stuck in this conversation? "Right, yeah, the vote went stupid last November didn't it."

Fargate's eyes flashed at him but then he gave Lance a weird smile. "She said he bought a nice two bedroom home, a starter house she called it. He said he was getting married. But I thought, but wait Lance and Hunk live with his brother, that is how they live off campus and take care of the the br-genius. How is Pidge? I only catch brief glimpses of him in hallways these days."

Protectiveness surged through Lance, stood to his full height, crossed his arms against his chest and glared at Fargate. "Stay away from him Gaskill. Don't think just because there is a chance he may move back to the dorms, it's open season on him again. Hunk will be with him. And I might not be in the dorm, but I'll be around." Lance then walked away to start taping up his hands.