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“SHUT UP AND DANCE WITH M- Hey you're pretty, let’s dance!!” the stranger yelled as he launched himself at Keith. At contact, they both stumbled back a step.
“Uhh thanks..?” he said awkwardly as he tried to push the guy back onto his feet. Keith had seen him from a block away, but kept walking on the same side of the street after judging the beanpole to probably be harmless. Beanpole, however, didn’t see him until he was within launching distance, having just turned away from the brick wall he was serenading.
“You’re welcome! I’m Lance!”
“I’m Keith,” He responded after finally getting the guy - Lance - to lean on the wall instead of him, “Are you alright?”
“Pffff yeah..It’s just-” His expression started to shift towards something less cheerful, “-It’s just… I’m annoying! And I know it but I can’t help it, it’s a disorder Keith!” Lance stopped and looked into his eyes.
Keith was speechless, and very uncomfortable. Feelings were not his forte, especially with people he wasn’t particularly close to. Unfortunately for him, he was a do-gooder on the inside and seeing someone wallowing in pity by themselves struck a lot of chords for him.
After an uncomfortable pause, during which Lance sunk down against the bricks, probably shredding his clothes, Keith came up with a response: “That’s okay buddy.” Not his best work. “Did you go out alone? Where are your friends?” Lance just groaned. “Okay… Where do you live?” He flopped out his left hand hand and pointed the way Keith had been walking. “Well that’s a start I guess.”
With that, he stooped down and pulled the guy up. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lance immediately clung to him. Definitely surprisingly, Lance gave him a wet kiss on the cheek, thereby dazing Keith a second time. When he didn’t offer any kind of explanation or comment, Keith shrugged it off and shuffled them around into a better position, though it was still awkward on account of Keith being taller, and began to walk them forwards. Lance resumed his pitiful appeals.
“Like, I’m loud, and that’s prolly my fault, but it’s not alll my fault. I forgot to pick up Pidge, and I forgot to bring the cake, I forgot the cake Keith.”
“What happened?” His walking stick provided idle answers and reactions until they reached the next corner. “Is this your street? What’s your address? Lance?” Standing in one spot for a few seconds had apparently made hims start to fall asleep. Keith shook him a bit and lo and behold:
“2418 Marmora Street, 32B!”
They had a destination. Luckily, Keith knew where that would be and didn’t have to keep interrogating the poor guy. About 15 minutes and a lot of inane babble later, they were in the ancient elevator of Lance’s building, and Keith had a moment to observe his new friend. He was a mess, with hair pointing in every direction and like, a lot of sweat. But under all that, he was clearly very attractive, with smooth tan skin and still-bright blue eyes. He started to doze off again, leaving his face peaceful and kind of cute. Keith was literally jolted from his thoughts as the elevator shuttered into place on the fourth floor. He started out towards the apartments, but was yanked back by the sleeve with surprising strength. As he turned back, he noticed that Lance’s eyes were distinctly wet now.
“Keeeeith, no I don’t want to go back in, imma look stupid. They’re gonna be so mad at meee and Hunk is just gonna do that ‘disappointed but not mad’ thing and-” Keith kept his foot in the door to keep it from closing, but stepped up to Lance, who was once again leaning heavily on a wall.
This seems to be his favorite position, Keith thought, then immediately felt guilty since the poor guy was having such a bad time. He pushed on.
“Hey it’s okay… They’re your friends right?” He nodded weakly. “Then they’ll just be happy that you’re okay.” Lance looked at him with puppy-dog eyes and nodded again. “Alright. C’mon buddy.” They came up to 32B’s door and Keith knocked once before Lance just grabbed the handle and stumbled inside.