"So, you're telling me the reason why Bucky remembered that stuff about Steve is because they're in love?" Keith asked, he was given a conformation head nod from Lance. 

 "Yeah, I mean best friendship can only go so far. He has obviously been in love with Steve this entire time."

Keith frowned and pulled his blanket tighter around himself. "Well that's sad now...that means even if they were in love they couldn't be together because of the time period." He rubbed his messy hair, trying to wrap his mind around the fact.

"Exactly! Now, do you feel my pain?" Lance threw his hands up, the thick comforter once wrapped around him flew up as well. If Keith hadn't been thinking about Stucky, he might have admired how radiant Lance looked in the morning light.

"I really wish I didn't." He rubbed his eyes and turned off the TV stuck on the Netflix homepage. "And I really wish it wasn't almost time for us to go to work." He yawned and shivered a bit, he pulled the blanket tighter around himself. He had just been wearing shorts and one of Lance's sweatshirts.

"Eh, whatever. It's not like we haven't gone sleepless days before."

"Yeah but my reason was never because I was watching movies all night. I was usually studying," Keith's mind knew he had to move but the blankets felt too warm. Lance's body heat also helped, he was leant up against Keith. His head hovering close to Keith's shoulder but never resting there. "I feel like you've ruined my sleep schedule."

"Hey, we get sleep," Lance said defensively. He pulled the comforter back on his body and yawned.

"No, we got back from work, did stuff, had dinner, did stuff, and I passed out at some point." Keith gave Lance a pointed look, he smirked a bit and avoided his gaze. "We both woke up around 2, you suggested a morning snack. Then you asked me if I wanted to have my heart ripped out. And here we are now."

"That sounds like a pretty familiar schedule."

"Yeah, because all we've done is variations of that for like the past few days. I need rest, Lance."

"Take a nap after work today, or during. Doesn't matter, it's a Wednesday it'll be slow." Lance closed his eyes and smiled wistfully. "But to be honest, I don't mind this at all. I rather be sleep deprived than deal with the Keith death look."

Keith raised his eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, every time after we do it most times you fall asleep. And it's cute because you curl up, and you look so precious and soft."

"And then..."

Lance took the opportunity to rest his head on Keith's shoulder. Avoiding his eye contact and getting more comfortable. "And then you wake up, and if I so much as look at you before you take a shower you look like you'll claw my eyes out. The first few times I thought it was a race thing, but then we continued and I figured it's not. Right?"

"No, it's not a race thing." Keith scoffed, he took a deep breath and brought his knees closer to his chest. He knew he didn't exactly look happy in the morning, but he didn't think it classified as a death look.

"Phew, crossing that one off the list. Then I thought you just weren't a morning person. But after proper inspection, I can confirm you just look extra pissed waking up in bed with me."

"You sound like a scientist. I'm not that hard to figure out."

Lance scoffed, "You completely are! I even began wondering maybe these are your first experiences having sex and that's why you hated me."

"And?"

Lance chuckled a bit under his breath. "Well, we both figured that wasn't true." Keith blushed but said nothing. "So what is it? Why do you hate waking up with me?"

Keith pondered it for a moment, he didn't exactly have a clear answer. He figured Lance wouldn't care to hear about his shitty experiences, or about his internalized issues. "It's just awkward." Keith simplified. It didn't seem like the answer Lance was looking for, but nothing else was said.

The chiming sound of his ringtone began calling out. Keith looked behind him, he knew he left his cell phone n the kitchen. Kitchen meant that'd he'd need to walk to get it.

"Fuck me," Keith grumbled and moved to stand up, keeping the blanket firmly around himself. He knew it wasn't his, it smelt too much like Lance. At that point, he welcomed the smell.

"I do, it's great," Lance said casually, he had moved his hands behind his back.

"Shut up!" Keith was blushing a deep red, he turned away and walked to the kitchen. Lance's snickers in the background.

He picked up his cellphone from the table and answered it without checking the caller ID. "Hello? Keith Kogane speaking."

"Keith," One word and Keith's heartbeat had slowed, he stiffened and stood taller. Like the man on the phone was already in the room with him.

"Yes father," He said formally, even as he said it the words felt hollow.

"You haven't called as much as I'd like."

"Sorry, I've been busy with work."

"So you're really going to do it? You're choosing the unstable life of that crap beach town?"

"Father, it'll be better for m-"

"I know a thousand of little snot nosed kids like you who would have killed to have your position. Adoptive parents willing to pay for an ivy league college?"

"I'm sorry, but it really wasn't for me. I didn't want you to waste money on me going there. Especially, when I can go to school here and be something I enjoy."

"I hope you enjoy being homeless, because that's all I can see for you. For awhile your mother and I thought you would be a jailbird. I heard they particularly favor homosexuals in the prisons. They struggle less,"

Keith's entire body shook he felt like he was going to be sick. "You know I didn't do anything, I-I just couldn't handle going in front of a court. I made my statement,"

"Yes, yes whatever. You missed his funeral,"

"I know." Keith was clutching the phone too hard, the corner of it was digging into his skin.

"His family talked very distastefully of you."

"I figured they would," He knew there'd be no point in attending, he'd most likely have been shooed away.

"They think it's your fault, and I think so too. I hope you know that if you stuck in your lane, and did what we asked of you he'd still be here. Oh, did you see what I did there? Lane."

Keith screamed that he hated him a million times over in his head. "I'll be late for work. I'll inform you if I make it into the college, and will try to do a better job of communicating." He hung up the phone before his adoptive father could continue any longer.

"Ah, was that your daddy-o?" Lance asked Keith hadn't noticed that he was hovering in the doorway. Something about Lance made his entire body feel tight. Keith shot Lance a look and turned away from him.

"I'm taking a shower, go in after me. I'll head to work alone when I'm done.." Keith set the blanket he once wore on top of their little dining room table.

"Oh, okay." Keith heard Lance say quietly. Keith closed the bathroom door and stripped, turning the water on and letting it run until it reached the perfect temperature. Near boiling.

*****

Keith had both of his feet up to his chest as he sat on the Lifeguards chair. There was only a small group of teenagers in the water, and so far they had been respectful. He only wished that they had been rowdier, then he would have found it easier to stay awake.

"Hey! You really zoomed out of there huh? I cut my shower time in half to meet up with you." Keith turned to see Lance approaching his chair, coming from the meeting house direction. Keith shrugged and pulled down sunglasses over his eyes.

"We were already late, so I got what I needed to do and left."

"Why don't you take the 12 and underside today, usually on the calm days you'll get teenagers who somehow dragged themselves up in the morning, young mothers and fathers with kids, or grandparents with kids, and then really old people who just like sitting in the water." Lance leaned up against the chair Keith was sitting in and looked up at him expectantly.

Keith mulled it over for a second, he had been alternating between the 12 and under section, and the 12 and over section for a couple days but he always prefered the latter. "Fine," He climbed down from the chair and walked towards the other lifeguard chair.

"Hey," Lance grabbed him by the wrist, Keith stopped walking and turned to look at him. He was surprised how sympathetic Lance looked. "Are you okay? I don't want to get in your business but the guy on the other end of that phone sounded like douche."

Keith was silent for a moment, the care caught him off guard. He expected it from Shiro but not so much the other lifeguards. "That douche is my fos-father, and I'm fine. Thanks." He pulled his arm away and went to the second lifeguard chair. Happy that he had the sunglasses to cover his face.

The morning went by painfully slow. Lance had been right to assume that only a few families with some kids would show up. He had begun counting the number of sailboats when he heard a commotion from the other side of the beach.

"Come to me seagulls, accept my offering!" Lance yelled into the sky. Keith could only see a potion of him so he climbed down from the lifeguard post and side stepped until he could get a proper view.

Lance had made a large heart in the sand that had Keith's name in the middle of it, spelled out in driftwood. Lance had scattered pieces of leftover food in various places around the heart. He was standing in the center of it like an idiot his hands raised as an army of Seagulls began flying towards him.

"Lance! Are you insane?" Keith yelled, trying to carry his voice over the caws of the seagulls.

"Sorta!" He yelped as he narrowly avoided a seagull collision. He laughed as he was swarmed. Keith bit back a smile as Lance danced around the seagulls fighting over pieces of leftover food. "I am the seagull king!" He announced.

Around them, a few of the children that were there began to giggle. Lance even earned a few smiles from the parents and teenagers there.

"Lance get away from there before they peck your eyes out!" Keith yelled, he wasn't afraid of the seagulls but he was always wary of them.

"Chill out, they are accepting my of-" Lance made a sound of surprise as a seagull pulled on his pant leg. "Woah there buddy," He moved to the side and more seagulls tried following them. "Uh, Keith!"

Keith resisted laughing, he could feel Lance's panic but watching him dance away from seagulls washed away the urgency. "Try running through them!"

"Okay!" He began running around the heart, hoping to disrupt the birds. A few of them move out of the way, but more became interested in his shorts. "It's not working!" The cawing of the birds became louder.

"Run into the water!" Keith called hoping the snicker in his voice wasn't too obvious.

"Ah!" Lance yelled, he sounded well panicked. He leaped over Keith's wooden name and straight for the sea. He graciously ran into a spot away from the group of teenagers still swimming. The seagulls were tenacious and flew to try and keep up with him. Lance frantically dove under water.

Keith ran down the shore line to the spot where Lance ran into. The seagulls in that area hovered around the spot cawing. "Lance do you have food on you?" Keith yelled, he had walked ankle deep into the water.

He had to wait for a moment before Lance's head surfaced. Only his eyes, hair, and nose were visible. He looked up anxiously at the hovering birds. "Uh no, but I might smell like brownies."

"Brownies?"

"Yeah, Hunk baked some. He told me to offer you some but...I ate them all..." He ducked his head under water again as the seagull tried to swoop in for him.

"Maybe I'm not so inclined to save you now." Keith crossed his arms and waited for a reply. Bubbles floated to the top, from where Lance dove under. "What?"

There was a small splash and Lance surfaced his entire head. "I'm so sorry, I'll take you out today and buy you all the brownies you want if you save me!" He dove his under water again, some of the seagulls had decided to land in the water.

"Fine, but they better be amazing!" Keith yelled, unsure if Lance could even hear him underwater. He waded in the water, he took his shirt off and threw it far up the shore.

"Sea salt and caramel!" Lance yelled just his mouth above water before ducking back down.

Keith smiled a bit, and dove into the water. He began to swim as loudly and as obnoxious as he could. He figured he had about a 3 foot splash distance with the way he flailed his arms. He knew he probably looked like an idiot to the ten people who were still at the beach, but sea salt caramel brownies sounded too good to pass up. And saving Lance would have been a friendly perk.

The seagulls began cawing and flying away in danger of getting splashed. Keith looked up at the still hovering birds in the sky. He took a deep breath and let himself sink to the very bottom of the shallow end. He turned his head under water and could see Lance in a ball holding his breath close to the top of the waters edge. He squatted at the bottom and pushed himself up.

His body shot through the water like a rocket. He extended his arms and as soon as his hands broke water he created the biggest splash he could. A small wave was created just by him and splashed through to the shore, and all the seagulls attacking Lance swam away.

Lance's head popped above water and he took deep gasps of air "Are they gone? Did we do it?"

"We did nothing, I just saved you from seagulls," Keith said, a bit of pride in his voice. There was clapping from the shore line. Keith's eyes widened and he turned to look at the onlookers. It was Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, and the white-haired girl he had seen around the beach.

"Wonderful save, now bring him back in to complete the rescue," Shiro said, despite the humor in the situation, still looked proud.

"Wasn't much of a rescue..." Keith mumbled, he doubted anyone had heard him.

"Nah, it was awesome. Come on take me back." Lance put his own arm around Keith's neck and stuck his tongue out like he was exhausted. Keith blushed but began to swim Lance back.

He sort of understood what Shiro meant, even with Lance just acting like dead weight he was heavy to pull in the water. The cheering didn't stop and only increased when Keith finally dragged Lance to shore.

As soon as Keith felt land under his feet, he dropped Lance to the ground and stretched his back. "You weigh a brick wall." He grumbled, Lance made a small yelping sound as he fell to ground.

"Way to drop the victim." Lance brought himself up and stretched his own back. Shiro stepped forward and pat Keith firmly on the back.

"Nice save, your first one in fact." He smiled like he was Keith's older brother, it made Keith feel vaguely uncomfortable but strangely happy.

"Leave it to Lance to take all your firsts," Pidge said with a shake of her head. Keith blushed, he almost corrected her but figured it would be even more embarrassing to explain.

"Well, I had to make his first save special," Lance said as he wiped the sand off of his body.

"Like you planned getting attacked by seagulls." Hunk mumbled, he rolled his eyes but still seemed amused.

"I work in mysterious ways." Lance shrugged casually.

"Oh look at you poor dear, you've gotten your shirt wet." The white-haired girl said, she moved closer to Lance and inspected his clothing. He visibly straightened his back and gave her a charming smile.

"Ah, it's nothing Allurah. It was either a wet shirt or a missing eye." Keith resisted the urge to roll his eyes, he looked away.

"Oh! Forgive me for not introducing myself to you, I'm Allurah. My father owns this beach." It took Keith second to realize she was talking to him. He turned towards her his arms crossed.

"Keith." He paused realizing he had to elaborate. "Is my name. I just work here." He mumbled, she smiled politely and extended her hand towards him. It took another moment before he took it and quickly shook it before letting go.

"Awkward..." Hunk said from behind Shiro. Keith shot him a look and turned away again from Allurah.

"Well!" Alura clapped her hand together and smiled enthusiastically. "I should really go meet up with Coran, we are going on the boat and doing dives."

"Ooh, are you going to the reefs?" Pidge said excitedly, her diving suit already on. Allurah smiled and nodded.

"Of course we are, and you all are welcome to join us. Even you Keith. If you work on my father's beach there is no reason why we can't be friends." Keith hated how polite she was being, he had every intention to hate her guts.

"No thank you," Keith replied, he didn't owe her an explanation so he didn't give her one.

"I'm in," Hunk said casually, he still had his medical kit to his side.

"Of course, I wouldn't miss a diving trip for the world." Pidge moved so that she was standing close to Allurah. She linked arms with Allurah and looked ready to take on the sea.

"I might have to pass, I need to get the merchandising situation in order. I guess the local gift shops put our sweatshirts on backorder." Shiro said he shook his head like he was imagining all the mildly harsh things he'd say to the company.

"Oh that's too bad, next time for sure okay?" She smiled and looked to Lance. "I can always count on you to come, right?" Keith nearly rolled his eyes into the back of his head. He turned getting ready to walk back to his station.

"Sorry I can't, I've got a brownie date with Keith after work." Keith stopped walking and felt all five pairs of eyes staring at the back of his head. Keith blushed and slowly turned around.

"Oh...well have fun. I'm sure you're taking him to Linda's bakery." Lance scoffed at Allurah and waved his hand.

"Where else would I take him? I was thinking I'd show him around town a bit too," Lance made eye contact with Keith as he said the last parts.

"Have him back at a godly our, we're going to have a campfire tonight," Hunk said, he almost sounded like a parent.

"Oh shit, yeah almost forgot." Lance looked at Keith somehow sensing his confusion. "With every save, we have a campfire, indoor or outdoor. But it's not as cold out today, so I vote outdoor." There was a general consensus of outdoor, but they still looked to Keith.

Keith shrugged, uncomfortable with all the attention he looked away from them. "Yeah, outdoor is fine." They cheered again more ironically this time.

"Well, have fun with the rest of your shifts. I hope you have fun on your date." Shiro rubbed the top of Keith's head, making him shy away. "Bring him home safe Lance." Shiro hummed and walked back the way he came.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Hunk snickered and pat Lance's shoulder before following Shiro out.

"PDA is gross FYI, so I would suggest no public nudity." Pidge winked and dragged Allurah away.

"Have fun!" Allurah said before she was completely out of their view.

Keith and Lance were left alone awkwardly looking at each other. Keith clasped his hands together, and Lance smiled awkwardly.

"Did you mind me calling it a date?" Lance asked.

Keith shrugged and nudged his foot in the sand. "It depends..."

"On what?"

"Is it?" Keith glanced up briefly at Lance, in time to see his widening smile.

"Well yeah, it is," Lance said more confidently.

"Then, I'm not mad. But I'm changing before we leave." Keith turned around to walk back to his chair.

"Mind if I walk you back to the house after work?" Lance called after him.

"I'll think about it," Keith said over his shoulder, his cheeks were flushed, his heart was beating too fast, but there was a small smile on his face.