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Keith stood before his closet, groaning loudly in frustration. Shirts and jeans and sweatshirts littered the carpet by his feet, discarded outfits deemed 'too emo' or 'still too emo' or 'way too fucking emo'. He had never really thought about wanting to impress anyone before, or at least looking nice for someone, so he usually just picked comfortable, classic clothes, but this evaluation left him thinking how he had gone all this time thinking he had actually looked decent.

Shaking his head, Keith ran one hand through his hair. Who was he kidding? He liked his clothes! This was all Lance's fault, making him feel this way. For Keith, there was no such thing as 'way too fucking emo'. Glancing at the clock, Keith cursed loudly. 8:49. Allura had said she'd cover for Keith until he made it into the shop, but he might miss Lance if he spent any more time trying to find a suitable outfit. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad... maybe if he just avoided Lance, the crush (or whatever it was) would go away. 

"No, fuckhead, you're going to go see him," Keith scolded himself, raking his hair away from his face with shaking fingertips. "Fuck it," he murmured, pulling on loose ripped jeans and a baggy white tee. Not a hint of black, not a hint of 'Hi Lance! I'm emo!'. Barely pausing to pull his vans over his heels, Keith snatched his keys and phone from the counter and rushed out the apartment door. 

Cruising down the side streets (a shortcut to Hunk's), the late-morning traffic was light and Keith inhaled the sea-breeze as he rode by the beach, the air refreshing to his tired face. He checked his phone: 8:57. Shitshitshit. After carefully parking his bike on the street beside the cafe (he'd rather break his own arm rather than scratch it up with a bad parking job), Keith jumped off the seat and rushed into the cafe, running a hand through his hair to smooth it down. Smiling apologetically at the startled patrons, Keith scanned the shop for short brown hair and watery blue eyes.

His eyes found- Jesus fucking Christ himself, standing like an angel at the counter, slats of the orange morning sun illuminating his caramel skin. Keith froze, eyes glued, limbs stiff. Forcing what he knew was an awkward and probably mildly creepy smile onto his lips, Keith stepped up to the counter beside Lance, his voice tight and strained as he let out a gargled "Good morning" to Hunk, who was practically melting from smiling so sappily.

"KEITH!" Hunk announced more loudly than needed, "How's the FLOWER SHOP?" 

Keith "smiled" through gritted teeth, mumbling, "I'll tell you where to stick the fucking flower sh-"

"OKAY! What can I get for you on this positively lovely morning?" Keith was forever grateful that Lance's nose was buried in his Instagram feed. He very nearly prayed that Lance was deaf as well so that he wouldn't hear Hunk's uncontrollable giggles. Keith wanted to slam his face against the nearest solid surface.

"Large hot coffee, please," Keith ordered, digging into his pocket for his wallet despite Hunk's insistence that Keith's coffee was always on the house. Keith's fingers met empty fabric in his pocket. Oh, fuck. He checked his other pocket and then his front pockets for good measure, but felt nothing. "Hunk, I'm so sorry. I must have forgotten it this morning," Keith tried to explain. 

Hunk was already shaking his head. "I've already told you a billion times, man. It's on the house. You just give really big tips whenever you pay."

Suddenly, a voice piped up beside Keith. "Nonsense. Coffee this good, Hunk, should always be paid for in full." Keith turned to see Lance's sunny face as he leaned across Keith to place a few dollar bills on the counter. Lance turned to meet Keith's eyes and immediately did a double-take. 

"Flowershop guy!" Keith jumped slightly, then blushed as if he had no idea that Lance would be here today at this time what an absolute coincidence my goodness. "We keep on running into each other, cutie," Lance said without even the slightest pause at the pet name. Did he just call people that?

"Hey," Keith said as smoothly as possible. His voice was known to find ways to crack on even monosyllabic words. "Thanks for paying for me, seriously. You don't need to, though."

Lance shrugged, taking his coffee from the counter. "It's fine, just pay me back sometime. Coffee... lunch, brunch, linner, dinner... You choose."

Keith went braindead for a moment and he was able to breathe a short, "Ha..." as his heart went into overdrive. Trying to think of something (literally anything- he was desperate) to say, he ended up spouting, "Did you like the flowers?" He was a businessman and he was interested in customer reviews... right? Nope. He wanted to know if Lance had given them to anyone.

"They were great." Lance didn't elaborate. Keith was suspicious. And awkward.

"Good... good." The tension was climbing, and Keith was tempted to sprint out the door now and cry into his pillow until the day was over. "Ah, this is awkward," he admitted, and the tips of his ears heated up, probably turning pink. 

But Lance laughed and the tension dissolved and Lance leaned in close to Keith, a sunny smile on his lips. "Well, I need to go, but we should totally hang out sometime. Lunch, dinner, coffee, movies, my place, your place..." Lance trailed off, still wearing that adorable grin. 

"Sure!" Keith said a little too enthusiastically, then coughed, ducked his head and said again, calmer, "yeah, that'd be fun."

"Gimme your phone, I'll give you my number." Keith fumbled for his phone, which was an embarrassing flip-phone. Lance nearly burst out laughing, "That's adorable." Keith cursed his ugly phone and vowed to get a new one as soon as possible. 

Lance typed in his number, then handed it back to Keith, who looked a bit lost, a bit starstruck. "I gotta go, see ya cutie! Make sure to text me!" Keith nodded and swallowed.

"See you later." His words were clear, happy, and sweet. Winking, Lance sauntered out the door and crossed the street.

Hunk was still standing across the counter, grinning. He held out Keith's coffee with a smirk, "'See ya, cutie!'" he imitated, and Keith coughed loudly, blushing.

"I gotta go, man, you big lug of eavesdropping niceness." Keith tried to insult and thank Hunk in one sentence and his friend got the message.

"You're welcome!" Hunk called as Keith stepped outside onto the sidewalk. Keith waved over his shoulder just as his phone buzzed in his pocket. Half of him expected it to be Lance before he remembered that he was the one who had the brunette's number and not the other way around. 

Instead, it was a text from someone else. 

Gym @ 3?

Shiro. 

...

hey :)) so i'm not dead. i'm sorry for such a long time between updates, trust me i've been kicking myself to write every chance i've gotten. and i know that this chapter isn't very long either so i'm sorry about that too. 

i've been crazy busy with school, y'all won't even believe,,, along with drivers ed and social shit and all this stuff,, it's just a lot and i haven't had very many spare moments. i'm really really sorry guys. 

to try and make up for it, here's a poem i wrote for my advanced creative writing class lol

"skyline to" sounds better in the car

We lay on the horizon and

Just beyond the curve of your waist

Which is beneath my palm

Which is inside my sleeve

Is the jagged, ragged, broken skyline

Torn apart by its inhabitants

And beyond that is the place

I want to run away with you to

I didn't know that summer could feel like this.

I'm used to

hot and sweaty and suffocating

That's all gone now

Instead it is cool nights

Long road trips

The stars on my forehead and in my eyes

I don't know anyone here but moonlight

Longboard wheels on skateboard decks

Freckles that you paint on your cheeks

With my makeup

We are flicks of minnows

In shallow ocean water

Scattered

Never staying in one place

Tumbled in the tide

Fight or flight and I float

Later, we drive and

You're playing music you think is edgy and underground...

A sharp turn and my breath leaves my chest

The air in here is dead so I crank down the window

Hold my head out to the night

Ask someone to take its weight off my shoulders

I close my eyes to the stars and they laugh at me

I am naive and I agree with you

The wind is plastering my bangs back

It feels like my friends holding my hair

Kind fingertips on my shivering neck

As I puke into their bathtubs

Cold even in warm showers

Freezing even in summertime

My shoulders shake and I clutch the car door

I drink in the fresh air like I'm drowning in the pool again

Like everything is underwater

Gills gape and gulp, flesh stretches

Your hand finds mine and you pull me back down

Apologies leave my mouth like bubbles

My mother calls and I don't pick up

I have never been in love before

But you

And Frank Ocean's Blonde

Make me feel like this could be it

I wouldn't know

if you guys would want me to post my weekly workshop pieces in the a/ns, lemme know. i spend a lot of time on them and maybe it could show u guys what my writing looks like outside of wattpad. idk. lemme know. 

uhhhh ok qotd: how's school??? i wanna know. tell me. 

a: stressful!!

i love u i love u i love u i love u

also ps im really sorry, again