Chapter Text
The words were second nature by now.
“I don’t like coffee.”
Pidge raises her eyebrows at him, leaning forward and momentarily abandoning her laptop. “You mean to tell me, that you, Keith Kogane, don’t like coffee?”
“...Yeah?”
“What.”
“What?”
“...”
“It’s not that surprising, is it?”
Pidge squints at him from behind her glasses. “Yes. It is. Fuck you, you’re coming with me to get coffee.”
A familiar panic swells inside of him. “Pidge, no”
“Pidge, yes”
“ No. ”
“C’mon, it’s just a cup of coffee. When’s the last time you went outside of our dorm for anything other than classes?”
Keith glares at his roommate, trying to keep his eyes from darting down to his wrist. Where a set of words in his scratchy handwriting glare up at him.
The first words he will say to his soulmate. ‘I-uh… just a large coffee, please’, in innocent red.
It looks like blood. Like a death sentence, because he is not ready to meet his soulmate. To tie himself down to any one person, to worry about someone else. It was hard enough talking to his adopted brother, Shiro, and Pidge who was his roommate . He certainly did not need another relationship to tiptoe around and mess up.
Hell to the no.
But he wasn’t about to explain his deep fear of coffeeshops to Pidge when they were looking at him like that- wide eyed and swaying on their feet. He knew how they got when they didn’t drink coffee more than five times a day, and they’d been programming (hacking?) all night.
So against his better judgement he just sighs. “ Fine. Just this once.”
Because surely his soulmate wouldn’t be around here, of all places.
They squeal and wraps their arms around him. “Thanks, Keith!”
He groans and pushes them away. “Yeah, yeah, let’s just get it over with.”
He grabs a thick jacket and a scarf before slipping outside into the snowy horror that is his campus. It’s loud and busy, filled with cars and bicycles, buses and passerby. The snow drifts lazily from the sky, and everyone walks with their head down and noses flushed from the cold. The smart ones wear hats and gloves, and the others stuff frozen fingers into chilled pockets and huddle beneath their hair.
Pidge steps out beside him and takes a deep breath of air before violently coughing and spluttering curses. Keith winces sympathetically as he takes his own shallow breaths- careful to avoid the sharp intake of the cold air that would produce the exact reaction Pidge had.
“I hate the snow.” They hiss violently, scowling up at the sky as if they blamed it for everything.
“You don’t like anything except your computers.”
“I like Rover. And coffee.”
“Rover is a robot, Pidge. And i’m fairly sure you just tolerate the drink since it keeps you awake.”
They roll their eyes and walk forward- of course knowing the exact path to the little coffeeshop on the corner of Arusia Street.
The pair trudges through the snow, wary of ice, eyes focused on their destination.
They’ve barely been outside five minutes and they’re already freezing.
Pidge slams open the door and shouts into the store, 'Altean Galaxy Coffee', rattling the bell hard enough to break it.
“LANCE! HIT ME UP!”
There’s a light laugh that draws Keith’s attention, and- shit.
Ocean eyes stare back at him, belonging to a tan face and cocky grin. The bright-blue apron unfairly brings out flecks in the boy’s eyes, further accentuating that endless gaze. Brown hair sweeps across his forehead. Keith’s eyes travel down even farther, pausing on the undoubtedly soft lips before continuing to stare at the well-formed muscl- no enough of that.
By now Pidge has already slammed their cash on the counter, dramatically flopping into a barstool in front of the boy. He laughs again before shifting his gaze to Keith.
If he thought those eyes looking at Pidge were bad, they are way worse turned on him.
Lance’s face morphs into shock. “ Dude , are your eyes purple?”
He knows a deep flush rises in his cheeks, and he can barely nod. Pidge sweeps in to his rescue, piping up from behind Lance.
“Yes, Lance, his eyes are purple. Tone down the flirting for a second and make me my coffee! Keith can wait.” Did Keith say rescue? He meant toss underneath a bus.
Lance’s eyes brighten, and he looks at Keith with a newfound curiosity. “Ohh, so you’re the roomie Pidge complains about. Well, would you like anything?”
Keith panics. He can’t help it with those beautiful eyes on his. “‘I-uh… just a large coffee, please”
“Coming right up, darling.”
He hears Pidge starts to laugh and startles, staring at her. “I thought you didn’t like coffee, Keith.”
The words wake him up. A cold dread seeps into his stomach and he just stands there, paralyzed.
He didn’t even think about it, they just slipped out. He wasn’t ready for this- he couldn’t do this!
A loud yelp shook him to reality, but rather than bolting he just gaped at Lance- his quiznaking soulmate- as the boy spilled coffee all over the counter. But more surprising than that was the fact that those eyes whipped around and gawked at him. “YOU HAVE PURPLE EYES!” The boy shouted, leaning forward over the counter as if that would make them change.
“I- yeah?”
If he thought Pidge was laughing before, it was nothing compared to how they sounded now. Half crazed, gasping and wiping tears from their eyes. “Your faces oh my god. I should’ve recorded this.” They wheezed for another second before tapping the counter. “Lance, make me my coffee. ”
“Pidge.” The boy turned, stared her dead in the eye, and spoke. “Your coffee can wait.”
Now Keith would’ve been terrified if he tried to do that to Pidge, but something about the sincerity in Lance’s eyes made them blink and roll their eyes. “Go on then.”
The resulting smile dazzled the room. Coffee was still dripping from his blue sleeves, but he practically vaulted over the counter to stand in front of Keith.
The gaze’s intensity changed slightly, becoming softer. A more loving glow.
“The name’s Lance. Nice to meet ya, Keith.”