Chapter Fifteen

Sven smiled when Amelia appeared across from him the booth Sunday morning, it was slow at Lena's. She held a mug, in her hands and she took a long sip. He tried to not to watch her too intensely, it was hard not to stare. He found her beautiful. She looked tired he thought, more tired than she usually did. She somehow managed to look engaging and human at these before noon hours of the day. It was so early still the sun felt too low in the sky for Sven, a part of him wanted to go back to the dorm and sleep. He'd only dream about Amelia though and the real thing was better than imagined one.

"Did Keith come home?" she asked.

"No," Sven said, shaking his head that she'd asked about Keith, again.

"With Lance?" she asked, her eyes brightening but not quite as much as usual.

"I think so," Sven said, drinking the last of his coffee and wishing he had more, but there was no way he was telling her he was out on her break. "He never called."

Amelia grinned. "I think it's amazing how close they are, how it all happened, how they were talking all that time on the radio..." she trailed off off. "It's all kind of romantic. Romance doesn't seem to really happen, you know? Like it does on television or in books. But those two, they are like a real novel."

Sven sighed. "I just hope McClain doesn't hurt him, cause if he does I'll have to break his bones."

Amelia laughed, her whole face lit up for a full moment and beautiful music flew from her throat. Sven felt delighted that his loyalty to Keith could create such a response, though it surprised him that the threat of violence would make one laugh.

"Would you really?" she asked, sipping her tea.

Sven nodded. "Ja, ja. Keith is a rare kind of person. I don't know much about Lance but I do know he's never stayed with one person very long. Keith's in love with him, I think."

Amelia nodded. "I think, and I can't really give you proof because I don't know him either. But I think Lance cares about him, Sven. A lot. He's different with Keith, than he's ever been with any woman I've heard about him dating."

Sven didn't know what to do with it, he rolled it around in his mind. "Do you think that means he's different than the other men?"

"I think so. I've seen him with guys at Riff's. It's nothing like he is with Keith. It's sex, lust, flirting to flirt to get to foreplay to get to nudity," she paused blushing for a moment.

Sven felt his stomach turn, he hoped she wasn't picturing Lance McClain naked, last thing he wanted her to be thinking about. Why wasn't she staring at him and undressing him with her eyes.

"He holds Keith's hand, he stares at him, he can't stop smiling around him. He looks like someone hit with the lovestick."

"Lovestick?"

"It's what my Gran would say. You've been hit with the lovestick, whenever I had a new crush in high school..." Amelia frowned, her pallor seemed to go ashen for a moment. She sighed. "To bad the lovestick whacked me about all the wrong boys," she muttered.

"I think there is a right, man, for you," Sven said, meaning him. He knew he was staring a bit intensely now at her but he wanted her to look at him, catch his gaze, see him.

Amelia's green eyes did meet his gaze, she held it for a long time and her cheeks flushed and then she averted her gaze down to her mug again. "I..." a timer went off on her watch. "I have to get back to work," she muttered but Sven didn't think that was what she was going to say at all. She picked up his mug as she left the booth. "I'll be right back with your refill."

Sven nodded his thanks, watched her walk away and wished he could get himself to ask her if she liked him at all, if they could be something in her eyes. He was afraid of the answer, and that meant he couldn't ask her because then he'd never be able to look her in the eye again. He'd miss her.

"Lovestick," he muttered under his breath and then pulled out his book on Drule Languages, and started to read and wondered how he was ever going to pass his next test in the class. He'd managed to learn English only because his parents had spoken both Norwegian and English in their household while he was growing up, he was sure of it. It was the only way he was bi-lingual, because otherwise he was a waste at languages a waste at them.

"You're worried about the next test, aren't you?" Amelia said, seeing him frowning at the book as she placed his mug back on the table.

He looked up, she was so much better than the rough language of the Drules. "Yes."

"I'll help you study after my shift, okay?" she smiled.

Sven grinned and his day got a lot brighter.

~~.~~

Lance woke up aching in all the best ways, smiling, with Keith using his chest as a pillow. Keith's nose was rubbing against his chin, and though it crossed his eyes Lance could look down the slope of his nose and study Keith's sleeping face. There was hair, across Keith's mouth and chin, Lance grinned as he perused the top of Keith's head and saw that it was spiked in a myriad of directions and looked more like a birds nest than even Pidge's unruly curly hair. Lance reached up, doing his best to be delicate to not wake up Keith, pulled some of the black strands off Keith's mouth. He wanted a clear view, he didn't get to simply stare at Keith often, not without Keith turning red, getting fidgety and then ordering to kiss him or stop with the staring already. Always so bossy, Lance thought, and he wondered at how much he loved it. He'd never thought he wanted to be the bitch in a relationship, he stifled his laughter at himself. It was what it was he thought. He didn't really feel like a bitch, especially since he pushed Keith's buttons to make the guy turn into a bossy, sexually aggressive fiend...

And damn was it worth it, Lance thought, staring at Keith's face.

Keith was gorgeous, perfect, he looked like he belonged in the movies or something. He could be the next Bruce Lee, Lance thought, a martial art guru for a new age of Earth. One with long dark lashes and nearly black eyes, chiseled cheekbones and a perfect mouth. Handsome, hot, beautiful Lance thought, Keith was beautiful... You couldn't say that about him, but you could about Keith, in more ways than one. Lance felt out of league, he wasn't some huge catch. He was a flirt, he was charming, he was hot - he knew it, in an intangible kind of way because he knew how people looked at him, he knew what people told him about himself when he tried to play modest. He wasn't always sure he believed it as much as his cocksure statements made it sound. He was skinny, he had too many damn freckles, his shoulders didn't fit him frame because they weren't meant to be on such a skinny body - freaking genetics were weird. And his damn eyes refused to pick a color.

So far he hadn't done anything stupid, or made an impulsive decision that scared off Keith, but it kept niggling at the back of his mind that he could, or rather would, do something someday to piss Keith off. It scared him, he didn't want Keith out of his life, out of his arms, he wanted to do this forever... That was a trip, it freaked him out more it wasn't freaking him out, that he wanted to commit. But it was what it was, he just knew, Keith was it for him.

It was like flying.

His granddad put him in a cockpit and put his hands on the controls, at five years old, and he had no other memories of that year of his life, or even really the year after but he remembered that moment with sharp vivid clarity. The second his grandfather took his own hands off the control and Lance was flying the plane; it was who he was, a flier.

He'd met Keith's eyes outside of Taylor's office, he'd kept side eyeing him the whole way to the med bay and it'd been lust, yeah, hell it'd been major lust but it'd felt different from any other time he'd asked anyone else out. Then when Keith got on the Kessel and his hands landed on Lance's hips, he knew he'd remember the moment, forever with the same vivid sharp colors from when he first flew on his own. Keith was right, he was Lance's. Lance was made for Keith.

Lance snorted, he was being way too serious for so early in the morning, and they had to check out and get back to the house, it was Garrett BBQ day, he had to help out, plus it was the last one with Katie and Dai in the house, before the wedding. Couldn't miss it, and he wanted Keith there, he wanted to show him off...make him blush, fidget and order Lance not to stare or show him off like he was a piece of meat for sale. Like Lance would ever sell him.

Now the question was how best to wake Keith up? Lance looked over at the clock on the nightstand, grinning at the empty condom wrappers tossed on and around it. Oh, yeah, best Saturday ever, he thought, another vivid sharp memory. They had two hours before checkout, which meant he could have his wicked way with Keith again...he turned toward the other nightstand, frowning as he picked up the lube and found the small tube to be empty, and then he remembered they'd used the last condom just before passing out last night.

"Eh, can still rock his world," Lance muttered, and he started to gently but not too gently slip out from under Keith.

"Hmm," Keith said, his hands coming up and slamming down on Lance's body. "Where are you going..."

"Gotta pee, want me to do it here?"

Keith's face screwed up in disgust and he shook his head. "No," he mumbled sleepily.

Lance grinned and slipped out, and watched as Keith instantly settled himself onto his stomach, putting his perfect ass on display. Lance grinned, just what he wanted to have happen. To bad he really did have to pee.

~~.~~

Keith felt cold hands press against his ass, it jolted him from half awake-half asleep state he'd been in since Lance had ruined the cozy warmth of the bed, taken away the heartbeat that had been a featured sound in all his dreams - which had been reenactments of the day before where they'd been both a lot bendier and faster to be ready to go again. They'd been both swiftly been ready to be with the other one all day and night Saturday that it was more so in Keith's dreams amazed him, he smiled but his thoughts were more on the current reality.

"Did you wash your hands in the cold water," he asked.

"No, I used warm water and soap."

"You're part lizard?" Keith asked.

"Yes. On my mother's side of the family, her great grandmother married a lizard man, hence I'm always a bit cold..." Lance's voice went muffled, as his tongue started to lick around Keith's anus. His hands were warming up, as he massaged as he pushed Keith's buttocks apart.

"Oh!" Keith cried out, gripping onto the sheets and he pushed his butt into Lance's face, wanting, needing, ready to beg for more if Lance wanted him too. "Fuck, Lance, best tongue..."

He felt Lance's laughter, but Lance didn't let up instead he curled his tongue and thrust it harder in and out of Keith. His hands going up to Keith's hips, gripping them tightly, probably to try to stop Keith from suffocating him, Keith thought but he couldn't stop himself from pushing back into every thrust of Lance's tongue. It felt too good, too perfect, and once again he was getting harder than he ever had before. Before Lance he'd thought he'd known the capacity of his penis' ability to be filled with blood, to rush up and curve hard against his stomach but he hadn't known. Lance got him harder and more needy than anything he'd ever known... with a touch, a look, a stupid word or a look.

He'd spent one flight class, harder than hell, with Lance egging him as usual in his ear, extra competitive because there was a surprise obstacle test of their speed and maneuverability skills. All because before Lance had hopped into his cockpit, he'd looked over at Keith and said. "Beating you," with a wink. The visuals that had swept through Keith's mind, he blushed now thinking about them, pushed his ass into Lance's face harder and groaned. He was so close.

"Gonna," he cried out.

"Yeah?" Lance asked, his voice slightly less muffled, his tongue teasing the outer rim of Keith's hole.

"Get your fucking tongue back in there, gonna... wanna..." Keith yelled.

"Wanna come with my tongue inside you and that's it, Keith. Just my tongue in you and my hands on your hips, huh?"

Shit, Lance wasn't even trying for dirty but it was, it was so dirty, Keith thought and moved up, glared at Lance who was teasing his asshole with his thumb now and lazily staring at him. Lance gave him a cocky smile as their eyes met. "Don't talk, do," Keith hissed.

"Yeah, going to thrust my tongue hard inside of your asshole, really hard, tasting you, and taking you pushing back at me, gripping your hips and putting bruises there in the shape of me hands and then you're going to come hard, messing up this frilly white lacy blanket..."

Keith whimpered and he nodded.

Lance grinned but he didn't move, he was waiting and Keith swore. "Please," he muttered and then he added. "Get fucking to it!"

Lance busted out laughing, but the next thing Keith knew his tongue was back, his hands where back, and they were definitely bruising him but Keith loved it and he blushed when he realized Lance knew it, knew that, and Lance was brutal with his rhythm.

~~.~~

Griffin woke up as his face hit his floor and he inhaled a family of dust bunnies, hacking he got up and made his way into his bathroom, turned on the cold water and sipped it straight from the faucet. His head was buzzing, with low grade psychic pain, but there wasn't a thing he could recall, not even an emotion, so he looked up planning to let the dream go but when he looked up, on his bathroom mirror, written in his black eyeliner in his messy scrawl were the words:

Lance, death, snakes, Keith, betrayal.

He felt sick, he felt sick and he turned and grabbed at his toilet paper roll, pulling out as much as he could, then ran it under the water and started to rub out the words Lance and Death, over and over, smudging the black onto the mirror, making a worse mess than anything but at least taking away the connection of death with Lance. His mind rationalizing, his mind coming up with excuses. Visisons weren't always exact, they could be metaphoric, they could be something different all together, death didn't equal death - Didn't matter that any other time he saw a death in his mind it had been true.

But he hadn't known what he'd seen, what it was... this was new, this wasn't about the other dreams he had about Lance. This wasn't about some far off future, where Griffin didn't have a place in his life. Where Keith was there... Griffin looked at the last two word, Keith, betrayal. Had he put them together out of wishful thinking, was their a connection?

He got more toilet paper, he smudged away all the words, he stared at the black smudged eyeliner marring his reflection and decided he didn't want to make a decision yet. He didn't want to know. He never asked to see any of the shit he saw...

~~.~~

Amelia felt like the most horrible person on the face of the earth. She'd always sort of known Sven liked her, but she'd been able to push it to the side and not think about it to remain his friend. She liked him well enough, he was nice and he was funny but he was Sven to her in a way that made him not Sven. Now though all she could see was the depth of his crush on her, which she'd somehow told herself was a guy liking a girl he found attractive, not something real, not something that was bigger than the size of her bra, as her grandmother would say. She'd tell Amelia, that boy's crush on you is the size of your bra, don't you go getting hit by no lovestick for him - she should have listened. It was Fargate after all. Stupid Fargate Gaskill, who could ruin her life, ruin her career in the Garrison.

She'd read through the manual of rules of the Academy and even the rules and regulations for after graduation. If Gaskill put that video of her online, if he made it go viral, it would ruin her career chances. Public nudity, even if it was against her will, because she could never prove that she hadn't known about the camera. Especially in her own room, it was just too much of a bad behavior, unbecoming an officer. It was illegal to do pornography, especially underage, and it looked like she had. Fargate had edited it all so he couldn't be shown as her partner, and now it all meant she had to hurt to Sven.

But not only Sven, because Fargate didn't care about Sven. He cared about Lance McClain. She was supposed to use Sven, to get closer to Keith, to spy on Lance and if he got to near the dorms, tell Fargate or his girlfriend Stella. She was supposed to spy, dig up any dirt she could find, anything so that Fargate could get Lance kicked out of the Academy. Fargate wanted revenge, it was all he cared about, it was about his pride, and he didn't care who he hurt to get it. Her, Sven, Keith, Lance...

She was a pawn. She knew it.

She hated herself but she had no choice, she just had to wait for her opening, and around two o'clock her opening came when Keith finally called Sven.

"Keith who?" Sven teased after answering his phone.

"Is he with Lance, still!" She asked, thankful her interest in them as a couple was sincere but now it felt dirty. She held back the guilty sigh and only smiled at Sven.

"Yes, that is Amelia," Sven said. "Uh, hmm I... Okay. What, uh... Hi, Lance. What? Um, I don't... I..." Sven handed her the phone.

"Hello?" she said, wondering why the world Keith would want to talk to her. She still felt he hadn't forgiven her for Clive.

"Hey, Amelia, it's Lance. Look, the Garrets are epic BBQers, you have to come with Sven to the BBQ tonight. It''ll be great, backyard right against the ocean, right? So if he doesn't ask, just tell him you're coming, okay?"

Amelia felt her throat tighten. This was it, her chance and she looked at Sven, to see him seething quietly as he looked out the window and blushing. He had never asked her out, she realized then and there he was afraid too. He sensed she wasn't interested, but yet he hoped and she was going to have to use that hope. She almost started to cry but she bit her cheek. "Sven and I will be at the BBQ," she announced. "Thanks for the invite, Lance."

"No problem. Sven's pretty hot, right?" Lance said.

"Hey," she heard Keith squawk in the background.

"Baby, no one is as hot you, I'm saying for a straight boy who likes blondes..."

Amelia found herself smiling despite her guilt, despite herself. "I'm hanging up," she said.

"Good, I have to appease my boyfriend I'm after his dorm mate, now..." Lance trailed off and the phone clicked.

"They are so cute," Amelia said because it was true.

Sven was looking at her, he shifted in his seat. "I don't know what, uh, McClain was thinking, you don't have to come to the BBQ..."

Amelia took a breath, she really didn't want to hurt him, she had to try to find a way to balance this. "I want too," she smiled. "It'll be fun, plus this way you can vet Lance out for Keith, and have me to help you be a little less biased. And I think it'd be fun to hang out for the night by the ocean, with good BBQ, with you," she added.

Sven's eyes widened a bit and then he nodded. "Oh, well, okay, then. We should uh go to the dorm then, get ready. I've had enough of this foul language for the day anyway," Sven said closing his Drule Languages text book.

Amelia walked out next to him, hoping that maybe after she got Fargate off her back she could explain everything to him, that he wouldn't hate her, that they could maybe still be friends. She didn't think it would happen though.