Chapter Three

Keith felt a warmth, he was enveloped entirely in the feeling. He smiled a bit not sure where he was, and in his morning grogginess, he didn't care. He heard the murmurs of another human near his ear, his tired smile slowly was replaced by a yawn. He tried to adjust but felt trapped between arms.

"Wha..." He mumbled, he slowly opened his eyes. His eyes strained in the dim light of the room he was in. He touched the form in front of him, realizing he was lying against a chest. "No..." He prayed this wasn't who he assumed it was.

"What time is it?" Lance asked Keith could feel the vibration of the voice on the top of his head. Lance's chin was resting on top of Keith's hair. Keith mumbled an answer and pulled away from him. He laid completely on his back, he covered his eyes with his forearm. He could feel the familiar ache, he hated that it wasn't as sharp as the day before. His body was beginning to get accustomed to it. There was a shift in the bed next to him and Lance draped his arm over Keith's stomach.

"So warm," He mumbled, Lance's fingers found the side of his Keith's hips. Latching onto a spot of exposed skin. Keith felt a tingle radiating throughout his body and felt like melting into the very bed. Lance slowly tried to pull Keith closer to him, mumbling incoherent tired words. Keith bit his lip, he could just let this happen. It wasn't like his body didn't like Lance's touches. Or didn't appreciate his warmth, his smell, the hazy darkness of his room. It was so surreal, he could get used to it easily.

Keith sat up, forcing Lance's arm to drop into his lap. He couldn't allow himself to stay here, in this man's bed. He hadn't come here for this, he wanted to feel normal. Right now Keith didn't know what he felt.

He scooted off the bed and grabbed his fallen clothes off the ground. For a moment he brought his crumpled shirt near his privates. He realized the idiocracy, the only person who could have seen him naked in the house was falling back asleep behind him. Keith left Lance's room and closed the door. He rubbed his face ready to yell at something or anyone.

"Shower, I need a shower." He decided, he dropped his dirty clothes on the hallway floor and went inside the bathroom. Already naked, he got into the tub and closed the curtains.

He turned on the water and felt it as it slowly increased in heat. He turned the dial almost all the way to the end, he needed to feel the heat. He needed to feel like his skin was on fire so that he could ignore how confused he felt inside. He turned on the shower head and ducked his head, letting the angry hot droplets of water beat down on him.

As he stood there, the slight burning on his skin began to fade as the volume of his thoughts increased. His mind drifted back to the party. His brain was playing whack-a-mole with him. Every time he repressed the memory, moments with Lance would disrupt him. The heat he felt in his chest was rivaling the heat the water was causing. He put his fist to his chest and tried to stop the beating, he just wanted to feel normal in his own body.

"Keith, are you starting a sauna in here?" Lance yawned from the hallway. Keith blinked stepping out of his stupor. He quickly washed the rest of his body not answering Lance's question. "And you can't just leave your clothes on the ground!" Keith turned off the water when the last of the suds drifted off his body. He skin radiate heat, but he didn't mind. "You didn't even close the bathroom door!" Again Keith didn't answer, but he hesitated, not yet wanting to open the shower curtains.

Lance stepped into the bathroom, Keith kept his back firmly against the shower wall. He tried to follow the sounds of Lance's feet through the bathroom. "At least move the bathroom mat," Lance mumbled he drifted something towards the shower but didn't pull back the curtains. A blue towel was thrown over the side of the shower, hanging on the rod.

"Knock on my door when you're out of the bathroom." Keith could see Lance's shadowy figure step away from the curtains. Keith slowly slipped the towel down and clutched it close to himself.

"Thank you." He said in a hushed tone.

"You're welcome," Lance replied catching Keith off guard. He hadn't expected him to actually hear. The bathroom door closed and Keith stepped out onto the bathroom mat. He slowly began drying himself with his towel.

*****

"Ready for the first day on the job!" Lance said with an overabundance of pep in his voice. Keith rolled his eyes and slowly followed behind him, up the steps, and to the meeting room. He wished Lance had told him the night before that they would have work in the morning. Maybe he wouldn't have kept up with the routine that Lance and he had seemed to have fallen into.

"You're always so grumpy in the morning," Lance said putting a hand on the doorknob.

"And you're rough at night, so we're even." Keith's cheeks turned pink and he avoided looking at Lance who seemed unaffected.

"Who's the one who keeps coming back?"

"Shut up," Keith grumbled, Lance smirked and opened the door charging it.

"Lance and Keith have arrived, ready to start our first day back! The paladin lifeguards are back in actions. Wearing our signature colors blue, yellow, green, black, and now featuring r-"

"Lance it's way too early for you to be this annoying. Eat some cereal so Shiro can brief us." Pidge said, chewing aggressively on her cereal bar. Lance deflated but only slightly, he shrugged.

"I guess my positive attitude isn't for everyone." He pranced over to the kitchen and began rifling through the cupboards. Pidge rolled her eyes and looked at Keith.

"How on Earth can you room with that guy?" Keith shrugged and crossed his arms. When he thought about it, Lance was never nearly as bad as when it was just the two of them. Of course, they did share more of friends with benefits type relationship. But regardless, Lance never treated him differently.

"If you keep his mouth busy he can't talk as much." Lance looked over at them with a mischievous look in his eyes.

"I'd say that you keep your mouth pretty busy, and it just takes more of my interest than being annoying would take." Lance turned back to food hunting. Keith wasn't sure what he was getting at, it was very few times Keith ever did anything that interested Lance.

"He's talking about sex Keith," Hunk said from the other side of the room. He was polishing a large green board. Keith's cheeks reddened, he had gotten used to Hunk being his Lance translator. But it didn't make the translations any less mortifying. Lance burst out into laughter as Keith shot him a glare.

"Idiot." Keith was too flustered to think of an actual response. Lance just laughed harder, Keith clenched his fists and turned away. He went to sit at his designated spot at the table. Shiro walked out from the hallway and towards the meeting table.

"Good morning guys, I hope you all got a good night's rest. Even though I know not all of you did." Shiro looked pointedly at Keith for a short moment before sitting at the head of the table. Keith suppressed a blush, and subconsciously covered a section of his neck.

"Don't know what you mean Shiro. I've been sleeping like a rock lately." Lance smiled brightly at Shiro, only being returned with an amused look. He held two coffee cups and sat in the chair across from Keith's. It was as far away from Keith as possible, but Keith still felt hyper-aware of Lance's presence.

"Maybe it's the extra heat, it gets pretty cold by the coast," Pidge said aloofly. Lance smiled and shrugged, Keith avoided looking at the rest of the table. Even with the teasing being a constant since he arrived, it was still mortifying.

"Lance is lucky, I can never get my heater to go above 75." Hunk smiled and took a long sip of his fruit smoothie mixture.

"I know right, I heard it was completely free too." Pidge looked over at Lance and raised his eyebrow.

"Well, I'd be concerned if it wasn't free." Lance chuckled, he glided the coffee over to Keith. Keith stopped it from sliding off the table and looked over at him. He mumbled a small thank you and brought it to his lips. The coffee was a bit bitter, but it had enough sugar to make it bearable. He was surprised that Lance had consistently gotten his coffee preferences right.

"Well anyway," Shiro said loudly capturing everyone's attention. "Looks like it's going to be clear skies, high tide will be at 2 so be prepared for that. Pidge you're going out to the boating line with me, make sure people are being safe around there." Pidge smiled she already had her scuba suit on. It seemed to be her default outfit, that and her green one piece. "Hunk, you can stay at the medical bay slash missing kids area." Hunk smiled and nodded, Keith could already see a decent sized medical kit by his foot. Lance had his fist balled tightly around his coffee cup. Keith heard the repetitive thumping of his foot against the hardwood. "Lance, you handle the 12 and over line. Keith, you can do the 12 and underline." Lance groaned dramatically loudly and threw his head back.

"That's so uncool!" Lance fired, Keith shrugged and sipped his coffee, he didn't see any problem with his positions.

"I'm not going to make Keith deal with rowdy teenagers his first day on the job."

"That's blatant favoritism." Lance protested.

"No, it's called realism. Besides you're a stronger swimmer." Shiro said, Keith sat up straighter and scowled.

"No, he's not. I'm the better the swimmer." Shiro sighed and turned to Keith, making a show of it.

"I didn't say anything about better, I said stronger. You're a fast swimmer Keith, but you're not as strong as Lance. You're also the shortest male here, and a good push could take you under. You're better off swimming little kids away from the swim line before they can start screaming about not touching the ground."

"Yeah, Keith, one good push," Lance said smugly, not nearly as distressed as he was before.

"I would not go down with one strong push. I am incredibly resilient, and wouldn't stop until I saved whatever idiot who's thinks it's a good idea to drown!"

"I hardly think anyone thinks it's a good idea to drown," Pidge added, she was already pulling on her water shoes.

"Again, I said nothing about resilience. I have no doubt that you could be in the water for hours-"

"It's just that I could be in the water for hours longer," Lance added in, earning a warning look from Shiro.

"It's just that you might not be strong enough to handle a grown adult flailing violently because they're drowning. Now, stay safe all of you. Radio me if you need anything, come on let's go Pidge." Shiro stood up, not giving Keith an opportunity to argue back.

Pidge stood up and grabbed her marine bag off one of the hooks next to a surfboard. Keith fumed silently, he glared straight at Lance's face. He waited until he heard the front door close before speaking to him.

"I will be doing the 12 and over line, don't argue with me. Let's go." Keith stood up and flattened down the curling ends of his lifeguard shirt.

"Fine, a strong swimmer like me doesn't need to prove it." Keith could hear the smirk in Lance's voice.

"Let's just head to work." Hunk picked up his medical bag and headed to the door of the meeting room. Lance began walking to follow him, Keith walked faster beating him to the door. Lance glanced over at him with his eyebrow raised, Keith looked away.

Hunk opened the door, and Keith sped walked out. Lance was right next to him his hands moving aggressively side to side.

"What are you doing?" Keith asked he could only see Lance from his peripheral.

"I'm just going to work, same as you."

"Why are you walking so fast?" Keith asked he increased his speed trying to stay a step ahead of him. Lance extended his long legs and kept pace.

"Why are you walking so fast?"

"I'm trying to get to work on time." Keith glanced at their feet everytime he thought Lance was a step ahead of him he'd increase his speed. Which in turn made Lance increase his speed, never the same amount. Always slightly faster than Keith.

"Then why the hell are you jogging?" Lance asked, his breathing came out slower like he was trying to manage it for a run.

"I'm not jogging I just don't want to walk next to you." Lance increased his speed so that he was half a foot ahead. Keith broke into a jog to keep ahead of him. "I don't want to follow you either!"

"Well, I don't want to follow you!" Lance was the first to break out into an all-out run, catching Keith by surprise. "Look who's following who!" Lance yelled. Keith narrowed his eyes and ran as well. He was naturally faster than Lance and easily got up. He looked at Lance as he passed him and stuck his tongue out before gaining another burst of speed and racing to his lifeguard chair.

He nearly crashed into the tall white chair before he got himself to stop. His hands pressed against the solid structure and he let out a small laugh, the energy inside of him bubbling up. He looked behind him at Lance who was panting as he made his way to his own chair. He leaned against it for a moment, catching his breath.

"T-That didn't count." Lance painted out, he stretched and took a deep gulp of air then let it go.

"What do you mean it didn't count? I was clearly ahead of you, that means you were following me."

"But! You were so far ahead, that it wasn't following. I was just running behind you at a moderately close distance." Keith narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the information. He didn't have any defense against it, or for the notion.

"That's bullshit, and I won." He climbed on is lifeguard post and crossed his arm.

"I'll let you think that." Lance took a pair of sunglasses on his face and sat in his own lifeguard chair. Keith glanced over his arms crossed.

"Why are you wearing sunglasses? It's not that bright yet."

"It's all about the aesthetic Keith, all about the aesthetic." He smiled ahead of him, Keith rolled his eyes and looked behind them. He could see the first wave of people making their way over. He took a deep breath and braced himself.

*****

It was around 5 and Keith was positive he had yelled more than he had ever done in the past month. His legs also began to burn with the constant up and down of climbing off and on the chair. He didn't know what it was, he felt like no one was listening to him.

"Hey, away from the line!" Keith yelled for the fifth time to the same group of kids. Again they ignored him, so again he climbed off from atop his chair and began heading towards the water. He got ankle deep before the group of kids dispersed from the line, swimming away in a fit of giggles. He sighed and turned back from the water, each time he had to get a little farther into the water before they dared to leave.

Once back to the safety of his chair he leaned his back against it. He doubted the group of people was nearly the amount that they usually got, but it was only the first day back. His head drifted to the side watching Lance complete his duties. The 12 and underside was so easy that Lance had spent almost the entire day flirting with teenage girls.

Keith envied him, not because of the girls but most of the 12 and underside came with their own personal lifeguards. Moms and dads with their little kids never breaching past thigh-deep waters.

The group of girls currently by Lance was laughing especially loud. Keith glared, imagining how hard it'd be to get sand in their underwear. He swore to himself that he wasn't jealous, they were just disturbing the peace. Lance turned his head forward again.

The five little shits were back at the line one even dear to stick his arm over the line. Keith balled his fists, and let out a heated breath. He thought of every jab and insult he could throw at the pre-pubescent preteens and packed it tightly away in a hate-filled box inside his mind. He was fed up, finished.

He turned to Lance and began marching forward. He pushed between the small group of girls crowding him, ignoring their insulted yelps.

"Lance I fucking hate you, I'm done. I'm not dealing with that side, now or ever again. Deal with it, or I'll start drowning people." Keith seethed, he hoped that Lance could feel the anger fueled heat in his chest. Lance slipped off his sunglasses and raised one of his hands up in his defense.

"Calm down, you're just being too nice." Keith gave him a skeptical look. "No seriously, on the 12 and upside, you've got to play bad cop. Sunglasses, yelling and threatening to throw them out of the beach. Which is especially effective for kids without parents with them. Which I'm positive is the case with your gang of pre-teens. Here take my sunglasses." He took them off completely and offered them to Keith.

"I don't need them, and I don't need..." He glanced back over at the group of kids still taunting them. He wanted nothing more but to scare the shit out of them. He took the sunglasses and clutched them in his hand. He still glared at Lance and poked a finger in the middle of his chest. "Stop flirting on the job before a kindergartener drowns."

"Oh? So you don't like me flirting unless it's with you?" Lance smirked and tried holding Keith's hand. Keith quickly retracted and crossed his arms. "Don't be jealous, I spend all night with yo-"

"Shut up, shut up. I hope I never see you again." Keith turned around his face a dark red.

"I didn't know you were gay, I really wanted to give you my number." One of the girls whined.

"Oh don't worry, I'm bisexual. So guys and gals are my forte." Lance said with a voice sickeningly smooth.

"Yay! That's super progressive and totally hot. Hey, my friend goes to this cafe and I'm pretty sure there's a rainbow flag. We should totally go together." Another one of the girls quickly added. Keith quickly sped away, he had plenty of bad cop feelings to throw at the kids.

He slipped on the glasses and marched into the water. He didn't stop going in, not even when the group dispersed. Swimmers cleared a path for him, avoiding getting in between him. He scanned and chose his target, one of the kids who was wearing Rick and Morty swimming shorts.

"Hey, I've told you all damn day to stay away from the line. I've given you more warnings than you can properly count." He had corned the kid and was holding him by the shoulder. He couldn't be more than 13, whatever vibe Keith was sending, it had the kid shaking. "So now, I'm giving you and your chump friends one last warning. If I see any of you, anywhere near that line. I'll personally kick you so far off this beach you won't even be able to see it. And I will blacklist all of you."

"B-Blacklist?" The kid whimpered, Keith smirked.

"It means you'll never be able to come to this beach, or any other beach in this area again. It goes on your permanent record, and the police will have to get involved. If they're in a bad mood they'll put a tracker on you. So I'll say it again. Don't touch that freaking line." He let the kid go and turned around, heading back to the chair. He didn't want to be anywhere near the kid, in case he decided to lose control of his bladder.

Before climbing his chair he glanced towards Lance, almost smiling with his triumph. Lance was talking to another girl again, she had white hair and tan skin. She was always the one he talked to the most and talked about the most. Keith had never even spoken to her.

"She's probably a complete bitch." He mumbled, he brought his knees up in his white chair. Not caring if he looked at less intimidating. He'd just drown the next person who ticked him off, even if that was Lance.

*****

Keith took a deep breath, he didn't attempt to stand on the board just yet. He wanted to wait until he was completely relaxed before he raised his blood pressure in an attempt to surf. He was straddled on the red board again, not caring if it wasn't a beginners board or not. He swirled his legs in the water, it wasn't completely dark yet but it was getting there.

He knew Pidge, Shiro, and Hunk were all at the meeting house. Probably talking, and sharing stories. He knew they liked to have dinners up there. He hadn't seen Lance, he figured he had gone out with one of the hundred girls that seemed to love to flock to his side.

He sighed and leaned over the side of the board catching sight of his reflection. He looked stressed and sad, he glared at it and splashed it with the palm of his hand.

"Not gonna stop, not gonna stop 'till I get my shot!" A voice yelled from the shore. Keith frowned and turned looking right at a smiling Keith.

"What?" Keith spun the board so he was facing Lance. Lance had a wide smile on his face.

"That's who I am! That is my plan, will I end up on top? You can, bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on me!" Lance sounded like he was having trouble singing through his laughter.

"What are you doing Lance?"

"Come on, Bet on it? High School Musical 2? Troy Bolton, AKA my sexual awakening?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lance groaned loudly.

"Okay okay, maybe you repressed it because Troy Bolton was also your first man crush. I will gladly reenact it just for you." He cleared his throat, and Keith watched in horror as Lance began singing the entire song. Nothing clicked in his mind, but when Lance slapped the water and began prancing around on sure he nearly fell off his surfboard.

It was impossible not to laugh at him, impossible not to smile. Lance must have known at some point that he looked like a total idiot, but he smiled regardless. When Lance began clapping and yelling the lyrics Keith had to look away before he fell off his own board.

Lance ended the song by slow-motion running towards Keith through the water. He had to occasionally stop the song to catch his breath, but he sang the final line with his hand on Keith's arm.

"Ring any bells?" He panted, Keith bit his lip and shook his head.

"No, but I'll remember this in my nightmares." Lance shrugged and took his hand off.

"At least I accomplished something." He smiled and patted Keith's board.

"What are you doing out here? Besides sitting and staring angstily on a red surfboard?"

"I was just trying to calm down before I started surfing. Today really stressed me out." He admitted, he looked away from Lance and swung his feet in the water.

"Sorry for letting you take the harder position, but you actually did pretty well. Had a good control of things and was decently polite to the people who asked you questions." Keith shrugged, he doubted Lance had seen anything surrounded by a ring of girls. "And you looked totally hot sitting there with my sunglasses." Keith blushed and snuck a look at him. Lance poked a finger on a part of Keith's neck. "Especially with that hickey, left there by a certain bisexual gentleman."

"You're far from a gentleman," Keith mumbled and pushed his hand away. Lance scoffed like he had been scandalized.

"Well, would a gentleman be giving you surfing lessons right now?"

"He would, good thing you aren't giving me anyway. " Keith mumbled, he flashed Lance a look.

"Did you know you're cute when you do that thing with your eyes?"

"What thing?"

"Don't worry about it." Lance smiled and patted the surface of the board.

"First get on your stomach, I'm going to show you how to get on the board and stand. After you learn how to stand I'll push you around for awhile so you can balance. After that, we're going to our house and watching all 3 of the High School Musical movies. Twice,"

"Why twice?"

"The first time is for story purposes, the second time is so that we can sing the songs you recognize."

"I don't sing," Keith said definitely, Lance looked unamused.

"And Chad didn't dance, but look at him by the end of High School Musical 2."

"Did...he end up dancing?"

"Yes, you're amazing at predictions. Now I predict that you'll at least get soaring and flying stuck in your head. If we end up singing it together, I call Troy's part." Keith felt liked Lance was speaking in code. He wished Hunk was there to translate.

"Um okay, but I don't sing."

"I know you can!" Lance sang, Keith had never heard the song but it sounded offkey to him.

"Stop singing, I'm not getting your references."

"Soon you will! But first get on your stomach, if you want to ride the fastest board we have then you need to know how to balance."

"Do you really think I can ride this board?" Keith asked suddenly, he felt the top. It was sleek and newly polished.

"I never said I thought you could. I just know that it's either I teach you, or I have to use my strong swimming abilities to keep you from drowning. Either way, I'm a part of this experience. So I might as well be proactive." Lance put both hands on his hip and raised his eyebrow to Keith. "Now how many times do I have to say get on your stomach? You always get on your back so much faster." He grinned wickedly, Keith blushed and flicked his forehead.

"Shut up," He grumbled and brought his legs out of the water laying on his back.

"Sorry, now within my programming. Also, waffles sound good for dinner?" Keith thought for a moment, waffles, musicals, and Lance. It didn't sound as bad as he made it out to be.

"Yeah, they're fine." He brought his legs out of the water and looked at Lance. He hated how cute he looked, especially with his damp hair and stupid grin.

"Ready?" Keith nodded, he braced himself and Lance pushed him forward. 

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