Chapter Eleven
Lance opened the door, pulled Keith inside and closed it, quickly locked it behind them and then dragged Keith downstairs. "I'll give you a tour in the morning."
"Morning?" Keith said, smiling, he liked the idea, of falling asleep with Lance again.
"Oh, yeah," Lance grinned, flipping a switch and a lone lamp turned on in a small square room, fitted with a couch, a chair, a small television and a stereo system. "This is the downstairs den, that door right there leads to a bathroom, there is no hot water in the sink, it refuses to work. And really if Hunk can't fix it, it's broken for life."
Keith laughed.
"Still want to leave here?"
"With you, yeah?"
"You can't afford it," Lance sighed, pushing Keith down onto the couch and then climbing over him pushing the other man into the corner of it, leaning over Keith with his hands on the arm of the couch right behind Keith's head and his other arm stuck between Keith and the cushions. Lance stopped short, just before kissing Keith, stopped to stare and memorize. Stopped to try wrap his brain his brain around the fact that this guy, this man, Keith Kogane had said he loved him and it was sincere. It was true because it couldn't be anything else out of Keith's mouth.
Everything Keith did and said was real and true. He was walking talking integrity. Sexy, hot, debauched integrity, Lance thought, licking his lips and laughing as Keith's hands grappled at Lance's own hips, maneuvered his own legs and Lance's body until they were flush against each with Keith pinned against the back the of the couch and Lance pinned by his Keith's thighs wrapped around him and his hands on his hips.
They had on too many clothes.
"Too many clothes," Keith whined, leaning forward and capturing Lance's mouth his.
If he wasn't busy kissing Keith back, Lance would rectify the too many clothes situation, really his plan had been to strip Keith naked as quickly as humanly possibly. He'd gotten distracted by the dark eyes staring at him so openly with all that lust and with that other emotion that was always there that Lance now knew he could label love. It was heady and it felt a little crazy, but he couldn't deny how much he liked it, how great it made him feel that it was Keith loving him. If it was someone else, anyone else, he wasn't sure he'd feel the way he did right now.
He'd probably have run from the person, or laughed in their face. Or felt sad and unsure how to let them down easy because he could never feel anything close to love for them. And if someone loved you, you needed to be able to feel it back, it was too important, Lance thought.
Watching his parents, be ghosts to each other when they weren't downright horrible to the other he'd always promised himself he'd never be in a relationship that didn't have real love behind. Like his school hood friend Benny's parents. Benny's parents were always with the embarrassing public displays of affection. Katie's parents and Hunk's parents were like that too, Lance wanted that. He dreamed of it, then tucked it away in the back of his head in the never going to happen pipe dream. Never even admit he had it, would never tell a soul.
He broke the kiss between him and Keith, Keith growled as he moved in for more, after taking in some air, his hips moving against Lance's; they were tormenting themselves thrusting against each other through their jeans.
"Keith," Lance said.
"Yeah."
"I..."
"Lance, good, you are home!" Came Pidge's voice from the top of the stairs, followed by the padding of his feet down the steps.
Lance sighed, closed his eyes and counted to five. Then he lifted up his head and looked over the back of the couch. Pidge stood there, with a towel wrapped around his middle, his head a birds nest and his glasses on his face at a slightly weird angle. "Uh, why are you in a towel?"
"I have no clean clothes."
Lance frowned. "What do you mean, it was Katie's turn to do laundry. It's done, right?"
Pidge shook his head.
"Why do you need clean clothes?" Lance asked, not wanting to know where this was going.
"I am sorry to interrupt your prelude to coitus with Cadet Kogane, but I wet the bed again. And there are no clean sheets to change the bed and there are no clean clothes for me to put on."
"Don't say 'coitus', freaks me out," Lance said and he saw his own freaked out feelings mirrored on Keith's face hearing a seven year old say that to you like it was talking about the weather. Lance rolled off of Keith, mouthing 'I'm sorry'.
"Are they all home?"
"Yes. I tried to wake Hunk, but he kept just snoring."
"Okay, go sleep in my bed, don't worry about anything," Lance said, ruffling Pidge's hair.
"Don't do that," Pidge moaned but then he suddenly hugged Lance, waved at Keith who had stood up too. "Thank you for the bed," he blurted out and ran back up the stairs.
Lance rolled his eyes, then he himself walked upstairs, he felt Keith behind him. "What you going to do?" Keith asked.
"Wake up Katie for one thing," Lance muttered. "Then probably wash the kids sheets and a uniform for him for tomorrow. It is probably some wedding thing that is why she forgot or didn't get to it, or whatever."
"Was he embarrassed, I couldn't tell?"
"Not about the bed wetting, he says many geniuses were known bedwetters at his age. He hates sleeping on the couch in the living room or downstairs, so he was hoping he could sleep in my bed, or Hunk's. He doesn't talk about why, but not being in actual bedroom bugs him."
"Uh, we all have our things, I guess," Keith said.
Lance opened a door. "You're going to want to wait here."
Keith nodded.
~~.~~
Keith leaned against the wall in the hallway, his heart had been hammering in his chest since he blurted out he loved Lance and it hadn't stopped. This night had not gone at all the way Keith had thought it would. The odd conversation with Griffin, realizing the man wanted Lance, Keith shuddered, the fear and insecurity that rolled through him at the thought. He wanted Lance to be wrong, for Lance to be too cynical and pessimistic about the chances of Keith being a roommate here to even think of it being a successful plan. It could maybe work, he'd just have to talk to the Changs. Then he'd talk to Sven...
Loud booming swearing in Japanese came blaring out of the room Lance had just walked into. Then a female voice was yelling. "What in the world, Lance, what are you doing pouring water on us!"
Keith started laughing, Lance poured water on them? He was insane, Keith thought then he thought it again only time a million when Lance backed out of the room, holding a huge beer mug followed by a giant. A giant still swearing in Japanese.
"You know what he's calling me don't you?"
Keith nodded.
"Anything good in there?"
"No."
"Didn't think so."
A woman came running out, in a robe, she barely came up to the giant's belly button, but she got between him and Lance anyway. "Dai, Dai, let the crazy man explain before you murder him."
Lance smirked as Dai settled down. "Whipped."
Dai started up again.
"Lance you aren't helping!"
Keith stared at Lance. "Don't poke the beast!"
"He's a teddy bear," Lance said, winking at Keith. "I woke you two up because Pidge wet his bed, only to wake up to change his sheets and pajamas to find that there was nothing clean to wear or put on his bed."
"What? Well who the hell was supposed to do the laundry then because it's their fault not ours," Dai shouted.
"Me," Katie said in a small voice. "I can't believe I forgot to do the laundry. He barely has any clothes, he needs it done every week, unlike the rest of us. Crap, where is he?"
"My bed," Lance said.
She hurried past Lance and opened a door. Dai groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Great, just great. Now she's going feel guilty for a week, just perfect. Who the hell is he?"
"This is Keith, my boyfriend," Lance said.
"Right. He coming to the wedding?"
"I hope so."
The hammering in Keith's ears, of his heart raised up in pitch again, as he stared at Lance as he said I hope so, inviting him to the wedding. Lance's plus one to a wedding, that felt definitely real and final. Serious. Really serious, Keith felt fully relaxed then for the first time he hadn't totally screwed up with the I love you, blurting. He knew Lance hadn't run, but he hadn't really reacted like anyone else in the world would either, but this was good. It was really good.
"Wouldn't miss it," Keith said, smiling.
Lance grinned and walked over to another door and opened it, walked inside but came back out quickly holding Pidge's Thunder Cat sheets. "Come on I'll show where our washer and dryer are, tell Katie I got this, if she'll get all the clothes on the floor together?"
Dai nodded. "My brother snoring through all of this?"
"Of course."
Keith shook his head, but he followed Lance downstairs again and through another door Lance hadn't pointed out before, that Keith hadn't seen that led to the garage. There was a big truck inside it and against one wall the washer and dryer.
Lance stuck the sheets in, started the water running and poured in the liquid detergent without measuring it, then slammed the lid. Then he turned around and faced Keith. "Sorry about the interruption."
Keith shook his head, he took a few steps forward so he was in Lance's space, smelling Lance's smells, breathing Lance's air. He grabbed Lance's hips, pulled him closer. "You were going to say something when suddenly I heard this little kid voice."
"Disconcerting, huh?" Lance asked, grabbing the fabric of Keith's shirt and pulling up, Keith let go of Lance only long enough to let him pull off his shirt.
"A little, you still have on a shirt," Keith whined, his hands moving from Lance's hips and underneath Lance's shirt.
"It's cold in here," Lance said with a smirk.
"Are you kidding me?" Keith said, "Because I don't think that's why you have goosebumps." he flicked his fingers over Lance's right nipple again.
"Oh," Lance laughed and then he caught Keith's mouth with his again.
This time it was female laughter, echoing off the garage walls that interrupted, Keith felt suddenly completely naked, and tried to reach for his shirt, only to be blocked by Lance, smirking at him. "You shouldn't be embarrassed I had abs like that I'd be walking around shirtless everywhere, everyWHERE."
"Really?" Katie said.
"Hell yeah," Lance said, spinning Keith around.
Keith cursed in Japanese and looked at his feet, he was going to kill Lance.
"Lance you're tormenting him, but I do have to say... Oh my!" Katie said as she dropped the laundry basket she was carrying down on the floor. Then she picked a book up she'd put on top of all the clothes. "Okay, I am this now, and I have my book to read. So you two can go back to the couch."
Before Keith really knew because he was trying not to combust from the dual combination of heat from the embarrassment, and the compliments; let alone the usual feeling of heat from just being around Lance, he was back in the den with Lance with Lance tugging on his jeans buttons.
Keith's eyes went wide and he grabbed Lance's hands. "Are you crazy, she's right out there!"
"And she isn't coming in here anytime soon," Lance said.
"Yeah, but...uh..." Keith stammered. "It, I... What if Dai comes down to see her?"
"Trust me he's asleep."
"Katie!" Dai yelled.
"Oh, fuck my life," Lance muttered. "Already in the garage."
"Oh. Sorry, leave you alone then," Dai yelled.
Keith though sat down his head in is hands as he tried to catch his breath and calm down his nerves. It was one thing when everyone had been asleep, and before anyone else had set foot down the stairs with them. They hadn't done anything but major making out, heavy petting, some thrusting always with to many clothes on except for the first night. Keith wanted more but now he was too nervous, now he was too aware of all the people.
"I'm sorry," he said, looking up expecting Lance to look ready to kill him, possibly dump him right there and then. Guys were supposed to be ready to do it at a drop of well anything, weren't there and here he was the last living virgin.
Lance though shook his head, pulled Keith's shirt out of his back pocket and handed it back to him. "Are you thirsty?"
"Am I?" Keith stammered it out, shocked, surprised. Sometimes he wondered at who this man was he'd fallen for so hard and fast. "Uh, yeah, I am, I think."
Lance nodded. "See, what you can find to watch," he said tossing a remote control Keith's way before bounding up the staircase.
Keith pulled on his shirt, turned on the television and told himself that someday he might be able to figure out how Lance's mind worked, he'd understand how it from point A to point Q the way other people went from A to B. Maybe. Keith smiled a bit as he wondered if he really wanted to do that at all. He flipped through a few channels until he landed on Star Wars, they were still on Tattooine and stopped. He heard Lance's steps on the stairs, then his voice. "Dude, Star Wars? Awesome." Lance then fell into place next to him, handed him a glass with soda in it, balanced a bowl of potato chips between them and as soon as he could swung a free arm around Keith's shoulders.
"Coke was fine right?"
"Yeah," Keith said.
"I think, I love you too. Oh yes, this isn't the stupid ass version Lucas messed with this is the real deal!"
Keith coughed a bit, choking on his soda as he was swallowing when Lance spoke, Lance glanced over at him, asked him if he was okay. Keith nodded, he settled himself more into the circle of Lance's arm and mentally shook his head. No, he wasn't going to understand Lance's brain anytime soon and no he didn't want too. Because if he wanted to sneak an I love you too in like that, Keith wasn't going to argue.