Keith slipped his hands into his pocket as he walked. He knew that once he turned the corner he'd see Lance waiting for him by the stone wall that outlined the beach. A part of him felt strong nausea that came with him as he walked. He closed his eyes as he walked the corner.

"Hey, took you forever. I thought I was going to be the late one." Keith heard Lance's voice and opened his eyes. Lance was dressed, out of his lifeguard uniform and into more comfortable shorts and a button up anchor shirt.

"Sorry," Keith mumbled, he didn't want to admit that he had spent 10 minutes panicking over shirt styles.

"Nah it's okay," Lance stood up and looked up at the sky. "Perfect timing though. By the time we get back, it should be perfect campfire night." He gestured for Keith to come closer to him. "Are you coming?"

"Uh yeah," Keith walked closer so that he was standing next to him. He looked slightly in awe as Lance smiled at him.

"You look less pale than when you first came. Nice healthy California glow." Keith looked at his arm not noticing much of a color difference, but blushing at the compliment all the same.

"Thanks, you look..." He trailed off making Lance chuckle lightly. He pressed his arms against Keith's.

"I've got you beat," They both smiled and Keith moved his hand away.

"Only by a few shades."

"Yeah barely can tell the difference. It's like your egg whites and I'm eggshells." Lance moved his arm back to his body. "Brown egg shells that is." He laughed at his own joke and Keith smiled with him.

"So, are we going to that bakery you said?" He'd have preferred if Allurah hadn't suggested it as well but he would take what he could get.

"We'll go to that last. I want us to walk so you can see all the little beach shops. Then the last place we can head to is Linda's Bakery. The baked goods are so big there, that it'd take you the entire walk back to finish."

"Oh, well you're the guide. So it's your executive decision."

Lance nodded in agreement. "Well, we better start walking." Lance began walking forward, Keith walked closely next to him. Soon becoming aware of how many people there were exiting the beach. Lance guided them behind and next to cars until they reached the sidewalk area.

"There are people everywhere," Lance sighed he pressed his arm near Keith's. He tilted his head to the side of him. "Can I hold your hand?" Lance asked Keith blinked caught off guard.

"Er why?" Keith slipped his hands out of his pocket, feeling them tingle for a moment.

"I don't want to lose you. I should have figured that it would be busiest just after the beach closed. Keith managed a small okay and watched as Lance took Keith's hand in his own.

Keith blushed but didn't let go, he stared straight ahead letting Lance fully guide him. It bothered him to think that he wouldn't get away with doing that in Maine. Keith kept his body close to Lance, figuring it'd be harder to bump two people closely together rather than just one guy.

The sidewalks of the town where pretty large, leaving a lot of the roads one way. There was the repetitive sound of flip flops and sandals slapping sand covered paved roads and walkways.

"Won't the center of the town be even busier?" Keith asked Lance didn't turn to look at him. It seemed like he hadn't heard Keith. Keith didn't fault him, it felt like all sound was trapped in an endless cloud of noise. It was an accumulation of noisy children, people talking on phones, and cars trying to maneuver around beachgoers. Keith decided that it was better to just go with the following, and follow Lance.

They walked through the crowd, and soon it felt like it was behind them. The area that they arrived in had small shops squished right next to each other on either side of the street. Keith looked at Lance who had a wide smile on his face, he seemed to be in his element.

Keith took the time to finally get a true look around the town since he had arrived. He loved the soft washed away colors of the buildings, and how almost every available rooftop had some sort of bird sitting on top of it. There were even a few older store owners sweeping sand out of their stores. It made Keith smile and unconsciously squeeze Lance's hand.

"Hey, let's stop in here," Lance said suddenly, breaking the silence between them. Before Keith could respond Lance dodged them into an open store building. They stood at the front of the door soaking in the area.

It was pretty easy to tell that it was a surfboard shop. There were lines of them on the walls and a few lying horizontally above head. The few shelves in the center of the store were filled with various board cleaners and a few inflatable laugh vests.

"Easy to tell you're aboard nerd." Lance shrugged, he guided him to one of the walls. "You like the fast ones right?"

Keith nodded dumbly, he reached out and let his fingers lightly glide across the surface of the boards. The board itself was sleek and not colored. There was no doubt that it would cut through the water.

"Interested in buying a board?" An older looking man asked. Keith turned to face him. The man was permanently tanned from the sun and looked like he had smile lines permanently etched on his face. His eyebrows were bushy and raised, making him look always questioning.

"No-"

"We were looking for one." Lance cut in, he let go of Keith's hand.

"I have one." Keith crossed his arms loosely and looked at Lance.

"You're borrowing it, it's way too big for you, and it's not even a beginners board."

"Any board can be a beginners board if it's the board a beginner begins with." The man chuckled and stepped in front of him putting his hand on the surface of the surfboard that Keith was looking at.

"Yeah well, this board is easily the same weight as Keith. It might even be heavier. It's way too thick for someone with his size to control, and he's way too inexperienced to learn with it." Lance laid out simply.

Keith gave a Lance a dirty look and turned back to the owner. "I'm learning, but I'm fine."

"Maybe your friend, boyfriend? Is right, I'd trust Lance, he knows a thing or two about boards. You'll learn on that big board you got, but you'll learn a heck of a lot faster on one that's more your speed."

Keith bit the very corner of his lip, his eyes drifting towards the rack he was right next to. "Then what should I do?"

"Well, gimme your height and weight. And what you like on a board and for a fair price I'll whip something nice for you." Keith thought for a moment, his thumb rubbing small circles into the skin of his arm.

"I'll fill it out, and leave my number if that's okay. If you can estimate a price for me, then I'll see if I can afford it." Keith said slowly, being surprisingly polite. The shop owner nodded and reached on top of one of the shelves. There was a clipboard with a paper on top of it. He handed it over and patted Keith on the shoulder.

"Why don't you look around some more, see things you like add it in."

"I will thank you," Keith took the pen from the clipboard and clicked the top of his pen.

"I'm sure if you flash Lance a cute enough smile, he might help pay for the board." The older man elbowed Keith's side and laughed loudly. Keith flashed an uncomfortable smile and waited until he was fully turned around and had walked away before speaking to Lance.

"Does he think you're my boyfriend?"

"No, he thinks I'm your sugar daddy," Lance said, a smile creeping up the side of his face. Keith's face turned a new shade of red as he looked away from Keith.

"I doubt, you have enough money to be my sugar...whatever. But I will be paying for my board." He had ogled enough boards to know what he wanted in one. He began filling the question sheet as he walked behind Lance.

"Hey, look at this one." Lance pointed to a large surfboard that was painted to look like a tiki head. Its mouth was open and angry. "Take a picture of this." He pressed the top of his head to the board and pretended to look scared.

Keith bit back a smile and silently complied. He switched to the camera on his phone and trained it on Lance. For dramatic effect, Lance slapped his hand on either side of his cheek.

"You look incredibly fake," Keith mumbled, he switched to gallery and showed Lance the picture of himself. Lance smiled proudly of himself and stood up straight. He leaned an arm against the board.

"Real enough to me, send that to me." Lance crossed his leg over the other as he stood. He took a good look around the area. "Mr. Whiteson is a pretty chill guy, he might give you a discount if he thinks we're together."

"Really?" Keith had only seen that happen on screen, he couldn't actually imagine having a close enough bond with a store owner to get discounts for things.

"Yeah, but we would never abuse the harmless confusion of an older man to get an expensive board for a cheaper price."

Keith frowned, he didn't want to betray the trust of Mr. Whiteman. Especially if he was Lance's friend, not his. "You're right, maybe I'll put it somewhere at the top of the paper. Specify that we're not dating."

"No no don't doofus." Lance chuckled, he covered the top of the paper with his hand. "It doesn't matter if he thinks we're together or not. He'll probably forget anyway."

"Forget? How many people come through here a day?"

Lance moved his arm off of the tiki board surface, leaving it crooked. "A shit ton, he basically filters out all unnecessary things unless you're one of his customers. Like, he only remembers my birthday because my parents bought me a board from him on my birthday."

"Oh, so selective memory." Keith checked his phone for his number before writing it down on the paper. "That must have been useful in high school."

"Not necessarily, for me, I don't think any of that shit is important so I'd forget it all."

"You'd probably remember Allurah's shirt color," Keith mumbled under his breath, he turned his body away from Lance. Pretending to suddenly be interested in a plastic tub of board cleaner.

"Keith are you--" There was the airy sound of something falling, followed by a crash. Keith whipped around, immediately seeing three things. The large heavy board crashed into a nearby shelf, paint spilled on the board, and Lance flinching away with his eyes closed.

"What the hell?" Keith put down the board cleaner and squatted down next to mess.

"I barely touched it!" Lance said opening his eyes, he looked baffled at his own mess.

"Somehow I don't believe that." Keith grimaced and picked up the tub of paint to prevent it from spilling anymore than it already had. He placed his clipboard next to the fallen surfboard and tried to find something to clean up the paint on the ground. Lance grabbed the board and pulled it up, leaning it back against the wall.

"This is the fifth time today." Keith turned to the side to see the store owner with hands on the side of his hips. He approached them and stood above Keith. Keith shied away from him, giving a foot of room between them.

"So....are you saying this isn't my fault?" Lance asked hopefully.

"No, it's completely your fault. It only falls if people are careless around it, but I've had a lot of careless people in the store today." He looked towards Lance. "Thank you for at least owning up to it."

"Uh...yeah you're welcome." Lance awkwardly chuckled, proving that he hadn't entirely meant to out himself. "So...how much is the paint?"

"Don't worry about...if you were another one of those clueless tourists I might have made you pay for this entire thing. Maybe even the new scratches on the surfboard." Mr. Whiteman grunted and came to his knees. He took the paint bucket gently from Keith's hands. At Keith's surprised look he smiled. "No problem, I'll handle it. Don't let this ruin your date."

"Thanks so much, Mr. Whiteman! I promise I'll have Hunk come by with something delicious for you and the Mrs." Lance said, cutting into whatever Keith wanted to say.

"No problem, for you I'll forgive a lot of things. Now, no offense but get lost before you knock over anymore paint." Keith slowly stood fully and looked at Lance unsurely. Lance took the bend of Keith's arm and tugged him a little closer to him.

"We'll be on our way!" Lance smiled and began walking out of the small store dragging Keith with him.

When they were outside and Keith could smell the thick salty air, rather than the paint he flashed Lance a look. "Why do I feel like this happens a lot with you?"

"Because it does, I'm clumsy as shit. Now let's go to a store with less expensive shit that I can break." Lance continued walking, the hand on Keith's elbow lowered until they held hands again. Keith didn't mention how there were very few people on the sidewalk. There was a sense of a calm he got from holding Lance's hand, that he didn't fully understand.

"Where are we going exactly?" Keith asked, most of the shops looked the same until you actually looked inside of them. Keith peeked into a few as they went along. Glass shops, pottery shops, knick-knack shops, pawn shops, and many clothing shops.

"One of those sketchy tourist traps, with a bunch of useless junk for 2 dollars," Lance said as they stopped in front of a store. Keith didn't get to read the store title before he was tugged inside.

The first thing he saw inside was a skeleton in a chair, it had a purple, pink, and blue boa around its neck, and a pirate hat on. Keith immediately winced and let go of Lance's hand. He did a complete 36o to take in all of the room.

He couldn't deny that it still matched the beach aesthetic, except for the cracked tile flooring. There was a rack of sweatshirts and t-shirts that lined the walls. Keith could practically see the letters peeling off. The middle section of shelves was just an accumulation of candy and cheap beach toys that would only truly entertain children.

"Come on, this place is the best." Lance walked forward disappearing into one of the lines of shelves. Keith rolled his eyes and jogged after him.

The shelf that Lance had decided to begin with was stocked with off-brand candies. They looked similar enough to the original to be mistaken by a child, but there was undoubtedly a taste difference between them.

Keith reached forward grabbing a package of Oxygen Heads, he looked over at Lance with his eyebrow raised.

"Grab a bag! Load up, this stuff is actually pretty good and dirt cheap." Lance grabbed two paper blue bags off a dispenser on the wall of the shelf. He handed one to Keith who reluctantly took it from him.

"Aren't we already going out to eat?" Keith asked he opened the bag up slowly, Lance paused with his arms outstretched towards the shelf.

"Uh, save it for the campfire then? We can also just keep it stockpiled in the house." Keith thought for a moment and shrugged, he might as well except the full lifeguard culture.

He turned back to the shelves going for the fruity candy knockoffs first. He threw in Sunbursts, Skedaddles, Sizzlers, Oxygen Heads rainbow Cosmic Strands, and even threw in German Fish for good measure.

"Hey, the Skedaddle gum is amazing," Lance advised, he threw in a pack of gum into Keith's bag. Lance seemed to have a pretty good mix of most of the types of candy. Obviously more experienced than Keith.

When their bags were filled to the top, Lance grabbed one of the one-handed carriages. He placed both their bags next to each other and began walking off.

"Come on they have some pretty cool name thingies," Lance called, Keith took a pack of Butter Thumbs and followed after Lance.

There was an entire section of the store dedicated to cheesy keychains with peoples names on it. Lance went to a section with seashells and hunched over looking around the K section.

"Here! Keith," He took a blue dusty shell off the rack and showed Keith his find. Keith crossed his arms and inspected the shell. At a point in his looking his eyes drifted up to inspect Lance's face. There was a careless look in his eyes, as he

turned the shell over in his hands.

When Lance's eyes flicked his way, Keith immediately evaded eye contact focusing back on the shell. "I'm not buying it,"

"What? Why not?" Lance laid the shell flat on his palm.

"Because it's a dumb keychain, and if I live here I don't need to be reminded that I live here."

"But you should take advantage of this! My name never shows up anywhere, we should get this in honor of me."

"So this is a you thing?" Keith took the shell from Lance's hand. It was cheaply dusted with sparkly sand along the rim.

"Of course it is, let's get it. It's either this or a matching bracelet set." Keith looked away from the seashell and made direct eye contact with Lance. He was taken aback for a moment how creamy his eyes looked.

"Matching bracelet set? Like best friend set?"

"Sort of, but I don't see any in this section."

"Then what?" Keith set the seashell down. Lance held up a finger, then turned around. He combed through useless charm bracelets and lockets shaped like seashells and threw a seagull stuffed animal aside.

"Like this!" He took out a metal band bracelet. One of the adjustable ones where a person would have to squeeze or pull to make it smaller or larger. All it had on the surface was words inscribed, with seashells on either side of them.

Keith's only problem with the words where that it read I'm His on one band and I'm Her's on the other. Keith made eye contact with Lance again, ignoring how hopeful and soft they looked. "I'm not getting this."

"But why! It's simple, that's your style, right? It'll be fun, just two bros with matching bands."

"Why do you want matching bracelets with me? We're not even best friends. I've known you for like a month."

Lance thought for a moment and let out a long extremely drawn out sigh. "Well first of all because I've never had matching jewelry with anyone. And two because I want to be more than just two guys who sleep together, and sometimes talk when we're not glaring at each other."

Keith was taken aback for a moment, he hadn't really expected that from Lance. "Oh?" He didn't know what to say in return. He never had anyone actually care about what he was to them after the fact.

"Yeah. It's really not my style, but its cool if it's yours. I kind of want to see...where this goes? Like if we could function as something more. You know?"

Keith wasn't exactly sure what Lance what Lance wanted in particular. He assumed Lance was talking about a closer friendship than the already had. Which wasn't too hard to accomplish.

He wanted to say no again, stop any beginnings of anything that could get him hurt again. He bit his lip, his mistake was looking back at Lance. He had some sort of heartbreaking, overly cute, childish look on his face that made him both insanely attractive and pitiful.

"Fine...but I'm not I'm His," Keith said confidently, Lance smiled slyly.

"So you want to be the woman?"

Keith blushed and thought for a moment. "I mean I don't want to be the woman." He paused, "Because I'm a guy." He elaborated.

"Don't worry I figured. Well since our society isn't fully sexuality inclusive yet, I guess we'll just have to make do." Lance shrugged, about to put the bracelet in the basket.

"No wait, just do this." Keith picked up another pair of the bracelets. He wiggled them apart until he only had a, I'm His bracelets.

Lance raised both of his eyebrows and handed Keith the other I'm His bracelet. "Isn't this illegal?"

Keith thought for a moment and shrugged. "I mean they're probably used to shoplifters anyway, but we'll pay for them right?" He tied the two, I'm Her bracelets together. "There, now we made this section more sexuality inclusive."

Lance thought for a moment and shrugged. "Can't go wrong making the world gayer. Let's go pay for this."

Keith nodded and followed Lance towards the front counter. On his way, his eyes lingered on a rainbow fedora that made him smile. Lance turned back in time to catch Keith's short-lived smile.

"Wow, I actually saw your teeth. What did it?" Lance stopped walking, making Keith nearly bump into his back. Keith blushed and shrugged, his eyes drifted towards the rainbow fedora. Lance followed his gaze and smiled. He immediately went to the hanger and picked it off the rack.

"That's everything, and it now will be yours." He put it in their small cart. "You're one hundred percent gay right?"

"Uh, yeah I am." Lance smiled and stood back next to him as they continued walking.

"Good, I guess I only have to worry about one gender huh?"

Keith raised his eyebrow, he doubted many people would want to be his friend. "I mean I guess,"

He blushed when Lance flashed him a dazzling smile. Lance reached over and pushed a piece of Keith's hair out of his face. "You cover up your face too much."

Keith opened his mouth couldn't force more words to come out. His entire throat constricting as the pace of his heart drastically increased. He was saved by the cashier clearing his throat.

Keith and Lance both looked at him. He was a small Asian woman who was wearing a too large ocean button up. "How can I help you?"

Lance set down their basket of things and put them out one by one. "Just these things." The cashier nodded and quickly began scanning things through. He paused at the two bracelets. She looked at the two boys, then back at the bracelets. She just shook her head slightly like she had too long of a day to even question.

Lance smiled and elbowed Keith lightly in the side. He looked behind him his eyes falling on the skeleton. "Oh wait," Lance said suddenly, he looked back at the woman. "Is that boa for sale?"

"Yeah, it doesn't have a price so I'll give it to you for a dollar." She clicked a button on her cash register and looked back at Lance. "That'll be 15 dollars."

"I love cheap crap," Lance said happily, he took out his wallet and handed her a twenty. "You can keep the change." He said smiling, he glanced towards Keith with an eyebrow raised.

Keith had the vague sense that Lance was somehow trying to show off for him. The cashier shrugged and handed Lance the plastic bag full of things. Lance thanked her and took the bag, he reached for Keith's hand.

"Ready to go?" Lance asked, Keith, nodded and allowed Lance to intertwine their fingers. Lance grabbed the boa from the skeleton's neck and put it around his own. He fished out the rainbow fedora from their plastic bag and put it on Keith's head. "Great now we both represent gay and bi-culture."

"Do we now?"

"Yes, we're icons. And icons get to eat bomb baked goods, so let's go." Keith wouldn't disagree with him, instead following him down the almost endless street.

They finally reached a building that was significantly bigger than the rest of the small beach shops. It even had a small parking lot to the side of it. The lot was mostly filled with chained up bikes, and scooters. But it did had the occasional older car somewhere in the corner.

"It's actually called Linda's Bakery?" Keith asked, rereading the sign at the top of the building.

"Well yeah," Lance lead him through the front door. It was a completely different vibe inside. It felt more like a hipster cafe, then a beachside bakery. It was slightly cooler inside, and there were a decent amount of people sitting in overly tall chairs and sipping their drinks.

"Does Linda actually own this place?" Keith asked they headed towards the line. There were thin ropes that guided the path. At the beginning of the path were pamphlets with the different menu orders. Keith let go of Lance's hand and grabbed one, he opened it up and looked at the wide menu selection. He doubted that the bakery had all of the goodies, but one look at the elongated glass counter put his mind to ease.

"No, but her great-grandson Linda Junior does," Lance said casually, he had leaned over Keith's shoulder getting a peek at the menu.

"Linda Junior?" Keith looked up taken aback for a moment at how close their faces were. Lance glanced at Keith's lips then back at his eyes, he cleared his throat softly and took a step back.

"Uh yeah, he's trans. But there was a long line of naming the first born child Linda, and I guess in this family the first born child was always a girl."

"Why didn't he just change his name?"

"Because he said Linda was a badass name, and who was he to break tradition." Lance pointed at the maple frosted cinnamon bun. "That's absolute heaven, by the way, they periodically switch options out and around. But that always stays."

Keith looked at the picture, it alone made his mouth salivate. His eyes flickered to the side and he found his prey. "I was promised sea salt caramel brownies, and I think that's exactly what I'll get."

"Fair enough, I suggest getting a drink with that. The caramel is delicious but gets stuck to the top of your mouth." Keith nodded, he flipped to the drink section picking one out before getting to the front of the line.

"What can I get you two?" The barista asked. He had longish shaggy hair, it was brown and looked a bit knotty. Keith raised an eyebrow, he was in a semi dripping wetsuit with an apron on.

"Linda! Whats up dude. I thought you were diving down at the reefs for the rest of the summer." Lance held out his hand. Linda smiled and completed a strange handshake with him.

"Don't worry I'm still heading back, just needed to drop off some killer seashells that I found. Come by later and I'll show you a few."

"Actually we're having a campfire tonight, if you come by later tonight you can say hey to everyone. Allurah will be there." Lance said like he was practically waving a piece of candy in his face.

"Dude, you should have just led with that. I'll be there." Linda turned his head his eyes widening at Keith. "This the dude you've been talking to?"

"Yeah, his names Keith."

"I can speak for myself," Keith grumbled, he suddenly become hyper-aware of the rainbow fedora. His hand itched to take it off. "My name's Keith." He looked at Linda, who smiled back at him.

"Well Keith, I'm a bi guy myself but I don't always fuck with guys. I'd definitely fuck with you." Keith blushed at the obvious compliment and avoided eye contact.

"Thanks, I guess." He bit the corner of his lip.

"No probs, you've got that surfers bode. Do you surf?" Linda inquired.

"Dude, this is Cegull everyone surfs," Lance said quickly, Keith glanced over at him he was tapping his finger against the counter.

"Yeah, I'm learning," Keith answered for himself flashing Lance a look.

"Ah, well you should take lessons from me. I am amazing with the movement of the body. And we both know the sea, and surfing is all about the motion." Linda moved his lower half in a circle. Keith's eyes quickly glanced below the waist. He noticed a bulge that was presumably from a packer but probably wouldn't fail to seduce most.

"I'm great with that too, so that's why I'm teaching him. It's going really well, he's a great learner. And our orders are two sea salt caramel brownies with two milks. Keith why don't you find us a table." Keith opened his mouth slightly and looked between Linda and Lance. Two bisexuals who currently had very opposing emotions.

He mumbled an okay and picked walked to one of the high tables. He picked one close to a window, secluded in the corner. He looked back over to Linda and Lance who were still talking to each other as Linda fulfilled their order.

Keith couldn't make out what they were saying, but Lance looked annoyed while Linda looked minorly amused. He pat Lance on the shoulder, once and put the brown paper bag in front of him. Lance let out a sigh and took out his money to pay, but Linda shook his hand. The gestured to the area where Keith was and smiled. Lance gave him a weak smile and Keith could make out a thank you. Keith quickly looked away as Lance made his way over to him.

"Two brownies and two milks," Lance announced he set one of each on either side of the table and sat across from Keith.

"I thought you wanted a maple bun or whatever." Keith unwrapped his brownie and quirked his eyebrow at Lance.

"I decided to match with my bud." Lance set their plastic bag down and took out the two bracelets. He passed one to Keith and put on his. "We should have walked in with these," Lance mumbled to mostly himself.

"Would it have made a difference? I think if the fedora and the boa didn't do it, then he wouldn't have noticed bracelets." He tightened his around his wrist.

"Don't think anything of it, he likes Allurah anyway. We used to fight over who she'd go out with actually." Keith felt a soft burn off annoyance and opened his milk.

"What's the deal with her anyway? Why's everyone so in love with her?"

"Is that jealousy I hear?" Lance sang Keith's cheeks burned he looked down.

"Nevermind." He picked up his brownie.

"No no, sorry. The pot shouldn't be calling the kettle black. And she doesn't have a deal. She's just pretty, nice and really smart. Her Uncle owns the beach, and because he basically raised her she'll own the beach soon."

"That's why she's there so often?" Keith asked.

"Well yeah, it is. I had a major crush on her for a few years but it's gone now."

"Since when?" Keith asked, lifting the brownie to his mouth.

"A month ago." He made eye contact with Keith. Keith looked away bashful and took a small bite of the brownie. His eyes widened in amazement. He tasted caramel chocolate goodness, it was thick and rich. He let out an involuntary moan. Lance chuckled and took a bite of his own.

"Linda's food is legendary, even the milk somehow tastes magical. No offense to Linda's mom, Linda. But ever since Linda Junior took over the food as somehow just gotten better."

Keith had gotten confused with all the Linda's but he didn't care. The food was delicious and he didn't care which Linda made it for him.

"So what's your deal?" Lance asked he took a large bite of his brownie.

"What do you mean?" Keith asked he opened up his milk to help wash it down.

"Well..." Lance hummed thinking for a moment. "I don't know how to put it but you've been on edge since you got to Cegull. You don't sleep well alone, you seemed really distressed when you first got here, and your dad sounds like a huge douche. Not to mention, the whole you're a delinquent thing. The worst you've done so far is the shit with the bracelets."

Keith slowly put down his brownie. He knew this moment would happen eventually, and he was sort of glad Lance asked first. The turning in his stomach reminded how little he even wanted to think about it. "It's no big deal." He mumbled. "I mean it is, but it's not. It shouldn't be."

"It's okay if it is," Lance said softly.

"Um, well my foster parents they wanted me to become a doctor. So they wasted all this money on sending me to Ivy league college, and my entire life since high school has been just school related. I met this guy...and he was awesome and gay and I thought he liked me. He took me to parties and everything was great. I felt really normal. But I wanted to come out because I wanted to be a normal college kid. I thought I'd be okay with becoming a doctor and stuff if I was just allowed to be a normal guy, with a boyfriend and shit."

"Did he say no?"

"It was kind of worse...he said some shitty things. Told me I'd be the last guy he'd come out with, I mean he was drunk but it still hurt. So then he left me on the porch and walked out into the road, I think he wanted to say something dumb about rather dying. And then..." Keith trailed off for a while, until he found his breath. "The car came and he did...die."

Lance was quiet for awhile, they both knew that Keith needed the silence to collect himself. "Why would they call you a delinquent then?"

"Because I was at a party with alcohol, and I'm not 21. I didn't have to testify in court, and I guess the whole thing was a reality check. I was on my way here a few months after. Therapy and legal shit with schools took awhile."

"It's not your fault you know?" Keith shrugged in response he picked up his brownie a bit less enthused about eating it. Lance got up from his chair and made a show of dragging it until it was right next to Keith's.

"What are you doing?" Lance sat in the chair, his arm now firmly touching Keith's. He leaned in closed until their faces were close. Keith immediately felt his breath being stolen with every inhale from Lance. His heart beat so fast that he couldn't feel it anymore.

"Being normal," He pressed his lips firmly against Keith's. The feeling between them was so hot that the air surrounding Keith's face felt warm. He wasn't surprised when Lance didn't pull away from him. Instead, he put both hands on Lance's face and bringing him closer.

He ignored the annoying tickle of the boa around Lance's neck. They didn't stop kissing until they both ran out of air.

"That never gets old," Lance said as soon as their lips separated.

"No, it doesn't." Keith agreed, he resisted feeling his lips or kissing Lance again.

"Why don't we finish up, and then we can spend the rest of the afternoon being normal."

"How?" Keith had a few ideas that made his heart constrict and his stomach tickle.

"Anyway you want, even if it's making out to What Time Is it." Lance smiled and moved closer, he pressed a kiss on Keith's cheek.

"Will the others mind if we are a little late to the campfire."

"A fire is a fire, it can always wait and there will always be more. And frankly, I don't care if you don't."

"Oh, then I don't care." Keith smiled, he moved his hands away from Lance's face and took one of his hands in his own. "We're not feeding each other brownies by the way."

Lance pouted and reached for his own brownie. "Fine, I'll save that for part two." Keith rolled his eyes at his cuteness. He turned his head hiding a small smile, he really hoped there would be a part two.