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Keith and Lance left the motorcycle in the already packed parking field behind the carnival. From there, they could already smell the fair food and the musty scent of farm animals, a familiar smell that got stronger and stronger as they wove through the other cars in the lot to get to the entrance. Keith glanced at Lance from the corner of his eye. The brunette's eyes were as wide a dinner plates, his lips slightly parted in awe. Keith smiled to himself- he was really hoping that Lance was going to enjoy himself.

"Hey," Keith said suddenly, turning to Lance, "can I see your wallet for a second?"

Lance quirked an eyebrow. "My wallet? Why?"

Keith held out his hand, "Just trust me."

Warily, Lance retrieved his wallet from his fanny pack, handing it to Keith. The wallet was simple, just a few folds of leather, but it was well-worn and obviously pretty old, assumably having gone through some wear and tear from the state some of the seams were. Keith promptly slid Lance's wallet into his back pocket, smiling charmingly at Lance before continuing towards the fair.

Lance, bewildered, jogged to catch up. "Keith, what the... Gimme back my wallet!"

Keith just continued to smile and walk. "This is payback, weirdo." Lance wrinkled his nose at the name. 

"Payback for what?" he asked incredulously.

"For my coffee the other day," Keith replied without missing a beat. 

Lance groaned, glancing at his wallet (and Keith's ass, more importantly). "I'm not gonna let you pay for everything tonight," he informed Keith uselessly. 

Keith smirked. "And what are you gonna do about it, big man?" he asked silkily. 

Lance's mouth hung open. He wasn't used to the mulleted cutie being this forward. Was this what Keith was really like? If so... Lance definitely wasn't disappointed. 

Regardless, two could play this game and Lance was just dying to play. It'd been a while since he'd met anyone as interesting as Keith and he wanted to see how far he could go. 

Without warning, Lance turned towards Keith and, in one fluid movement, balled up Keith's sweatshirt in his fists and pushed him up against a truck they were passing. Keith's breath left his lungs and his eyes flashed to meet Lance's. He silently cursed- he was still shorter than Lance, even with his Air Forces. 

Lance's eyes were dark and captivating, a glossy, stormy blue framed by long, thick lashes. The brunette's expression was one of teasing sultriness. He leaned forward, his lips grazing Keith's ear and sending a shiver down his spine. "Give me my wallet, mullet," Lance whispered in a low, husky voice. 

Keith doubted he could move. He was enraptured by the sheer presence of Lance's body and didn't even know if he was breathing. Lance was so close, his breath hot on Keith's neck, his fists pressed firmly to Keith's chest. No one had ever acted like this toward him. He'd never felt like this before. He'd never felt anything close to this before. It was foreign but damn, did it feel good. 

Keith didn't even register Lance's words until he spoke again. "No? I'll do it for you, then," Lance purred, making Keith's eyes widen. His legs began to feel weak and he felt his knees begin to shake. Lance's right hand let go of Keith's sweatshirt, slowly sliding down Keith's chest, his abs, down further and further until-

Lance switched directions just as Keith's jaw went slack and his hand slid across Keith's toned stomach, around his waist to the small of his back before slipping down to retrieve his wallet from Keith's pocket. He returned the leather to his fanny pack and smiled sweetly, stepping back from Keith. "Let's go, mullet. I'm starving."

Holy shit.

Keith exhaled pushing himself off the truck and following Lance. "I'm still paying," he grumbled, still flustered.

It was 8:30 when the two boys made it to the fairground's entrance and the sun was just starting to set. This was why Keith had picked to go in the evening: with the sun setting in half an hour, the fairground was sure to be bathed in the sunset, Keith's favorite time of day. He hoped that it would live up to his expectations. 

The fairground itself was impressively sprawling and was divided into three different sections: the farm area, where the animals were, the vendor area, where game and food stalls were, and the ride area, where rollercoaster tracks and the seats of the Ferris Wheel stood taller than anything else, the cars on the coasters holding fast to their screaming passengers as they led them in whirling loop-de-loops through the sky. 

The weather was almost perfect, besides being a little cold due to the breeze. It was just before golden hour, the sun sinking lower and lower past the surrounding treeline, and the sky above was a deep, hazy indigo, the horizon interrupted periodically by towering cumulonimbus clouds that held the promise of rain and, more closely, streaks of amber and vermillion stratus clouds. 

After buying tickets and getting some candy apples to snack on as they explored, Lance spotted a ride on the far side of the park. His eyes lit up and Keith swooned a little- the boy was so pretty. Keith was smiling, that is, until he noticed the ride that had captivated Lance. The Zipper. 

"Keith, let's go on that one!" Lance said excitedly, pointing at the offensive ride. Keith winced. Please, no. Lance immediately noticed Keith's hesitation. "No?" he asked carefully. "Keith, did you take me on a date to a carnival... when you're scared of heights?"

Keith shook his head, trying to steel himself. "No. Absolutely not."

Lance tipped his head to the side before taking a bite of his candy apple. "How about this," he proposed, scanning the vendors around him until he spotted what he was looking for. "If you can beat me at that game," he pointed at a stall over Keith's shoulder, "then we don't have to go on it. But if I win, you have to go on it with me, okay?"

Keith turned to look at the game. It was one of those water gun games with the clown head, the objective being to fill the clown's balloon with the water gun. Keith nodded determinedly. "You're on, weirdo." Lance let the nickname slide, an easy smile sliding over his lips. 

"You promise?" Lance asked, holding out his pinky. "You can't break a pinky promise."

Keith chuckled. "Yeah, I promise." They linked pinkies.

Keith handed the vendor, a tall, long-limbed girl with straight blond hair and a nametag that read NYMA, 6 tickets, then readied himself behind one of the water gun, Lance standing beside him. Nyma counted down from 3 in a bored voice, then hit a large green button beside her, starting the water guns.

Keith struggled a little at first to find the correct angle at which to hit the target, but he was so focused on his own clown's water balloon that he couldn't tear his eyes away to look at how Lance was doing. When the buzzer stopped and the water ceased, Keith looked over at Lance's balloon and was floored to see that Lance's balloon was at least twice- no, three times as big as Keith's. Keith looked at Lance, impressed, but Lance was busy picking out his reward. Since he had done so well the first time, he was able to choose one of the larger prizes right off the bat. 

...And he ended up choosing a massive stuffed teddy bear. 

Lance happily paraded towards The Zipper, his bear in tow, a vibrant smile on his lips. He turned around, walking backward to observe Keith, who was obviously sulking. Lance rolled his eyes and took Keith's hand, leading him forward with a gentle laugh. "You promised!" he sang happily as if Keith didn't know. He sighed reluctantly, then put on a brave face for Lance, enjoying the feeling of Lance's hand in his too much to be upset about anything.

After exchanging tickets with the operator of the ride, Lance and Keith shoved themselves into the small caged seat of the zipper, Keith feeling a little claustrophobic as the operator slammed the door and locked it. He looked over at Lance and realized that the boy's face was a lot closer than he'd realized. 

Their eyes locked and Keith swallowed hard, blinking a few times. He felt Lance's light fingertips trail down his arm, down to his wrist, then his palm. Eyes still set on each other, Lance's fingers slipped down between Keith's, asking. Keith squeezed Lance's hand lightly to answer. 

Just then, the ride began, slowly beginning to lift the boys' caged compartment up off the ground. Lance grinned. "You ready, Mullet?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

As if triggered by his words, the ride roared to life, sending Keith and lance hurtling forward as it lurched towards the Earth, the compartment itself spinning dangerously on its axis. Lance whooped in exhilaration, laughing as they spiraled towards the ground. Around and around they went for what seemed like ages but was actually just a minute. Holding onto Lance's hand to tether himself and biting the inside of his cheeks to keep from screaming was all Keith could do as the ride mercilessly tossed him (and the contents of his stomach) about. 

And, of course, after they went clockwise for a minute, they had to go counterclockwise as well, flinging the compartments backward with reckless abandon as the passengers shrieked with terrified joy. 

When it was finally over, Keith wondered if he'd ever be able to walk again. 

"Mngh..." he collapsed to the ground next to Lance's teddy bear dramatically, eyes closed, "Lance, I might actually puke on you."

...

second update of the day bc i'm procrastinating studying for my ap exams!!

lol sorry for all the ariana music- i've literally been in love w her music for the past few weeks for some reason and i've just recently gotten really into glass animals too,, is there any music yall would like to see in a chapter? 

qotd: i've been think abt this for a while,, i've never really published any of the actual smut i've written but,, would yall want this fic to have smut in it? lol u get to choose- i'll only include it if u want it, but i'm happy to write it if yall want ((;

love u always!! <33 

-cal