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[ he rises to his feet belatedly, the motion more a mechanical than anything he actually put some thought into. ]

Yeah... I guess.

[ he still doesn't sound entirely convinced. his mind was clouded with his own second-guessings and doubts, even amidst the faint light of hope from keith's own quiet reassurances.

he sighs, gripping the other's hand a little tighter. ]

Are you off-duty? We should walk home together...

[ speaking as if heading home was his idea, tsk. ]

[There's probably nothing he can say to make it all better in one go, as much as he'd like to have that ability. He just provides a little squeeze, a slight tug.]

Yeah, let's go.

[Sans a correction, re: who came up with that idea first.]

Did you have anything to eat yet?

[ it's enough. more than, really, especially considering how low lance had been feeling just minutes prior. he starts to think he doesn't deserve it, but thankfully stops thinking at all when keith mentions food. ]

Oh... No, not yet. I was gonna pick us all up some take-out on the way home after work. [ but then things happened. ]

Did you?

[Just after that squeeze, he's suddenly releasing Lance's hand, opting to uh...slide..his arm around his middle. Slowly but surely, a full waist embrace.]

Not yet.

[And he wasn't having any such thoughtful thoughts, either...ah.]

Let's stop somewhere.

[This is probably one of the most bizarre things Keith's said in the past fifteen days.......he's learning how to no exclusively eat out of a can all the time (or the microwave for that matter) and also, sometimes, mingle at the same time.]

[ he has a half a second to mourn the loss of keith's hand before he suddenly feels the other boy tuck himself in against his side, somehow finding the perfect way to align their bodies so that lance's arm slips comfortably around the span of his shoulders, and they aren't knocking into each other as they walk. it's almost infuriating how good he was at it, and if the moment had been lighter, lance might have even taken the moment to be playfully petty about it. as it is, he can only be thankful that keith's unending list of natural talents seem to also encompass being a great human pillow. don't mind if he leans a little more against you than he probably should... ]

What're you in the mood for? Space soup? Space sushi?

[It's because they're perfectly aligned stringbeans. Keith's just a bean, while Lance is the whole thing. It makes sense, please shut up.

His fingers hook around his hip, settling, cozy against him. He really ought to be more of the support...here...but he lacks the height for that role?! Time to not focus on superficial bullshit.]

We could probably find a place with both.

[He bends his opposite arm, settling the hand over Lance's -- over the one draped over his shoulder. He's not trying to lace his fingers in-between, but he's happy to just..envelope his hand beneath his own.]

Was everything else alright? Today, I mean...with work.

[Ugh...it's like they're adults. Adults in love...nasty.]

[ gross...

but maybe what's more gross is how — comfortable this all is. lance had been so worried, when they first decided to see where this would lead (without so many words, tbh) that things would be weird. and it kind of is? but also kind of not. it's an exciting sort of weird that's both exhilarating and terrifying, like your first time in a rollercoaster and you're pretty sure you're gonna die but then you don't and instead you just had the greatest rush of your life.

he tips his head to the side, temple tickled by wisps of thick, mullet hair. ]

Same old, same old, yeah... [ till that hitch at the end of the day, everything was perfectly normal. ] Merleth had a new flavor of ice cream he let me try. It was kinda like if root beer and pretzels had a baby. He's pretty sure it's gonna be a big seller.

[ idly, his thumb finds the side of keith's hand, rubbing. ]

What about you?

[Salty...root beer? Keith's already not sure about how great it is, but they probably wont be visiting that stand tonight. Unless Lance decides he wants dessert...]

Can't he make you a cheeseball ice cream?

[Which, of course, sounds completely vile, but it may make Lance happy...so...]

Don't wanna talk about it.

[On the other hand, he doesn't know anyone in his district by name (minus Riza) and he doesn't care to. Most of what he ends up tangled up in (why do these women seem so intent on roping him into weird samples/diagram discussions/etc) aren't worth repeating for any reason.

It's a typical response, not at all prompted to elaborate by that tender bit of affection, hmph. His eyes have closed by this point, the temple-nuzzle-thing calming enough.

He's taking for granted he won't be lead into a pole. Character development.]

I dunno if he can achieve the optimum level of organgeness necessary for a cheeseball ice cream.

[ trufax there's such a thing as cheese ice cream though... it's good...

but anyway, lance is normally more than okay occupying the entirety of a conversation (and has, on multiple occasions), but they're, like. dating and stuff now. and part of dating is compromise and being equal and mutual reassurances and all that stuff, right? so while he's more than ready to keep talking about merleth and his wild and whacky dreams of an ice cream-filled future, he'll pause on that for now. ]

Why not? Something weird happen...?

Won't know unless you ask.

[That's fuckin' gross dude. Keith's just trying to be nice. As for something weird happening, Keith would've confirmed this a month or so back. Nothing out of the ordinary happened at all. He opens his eyes just slightly...]

Someone was trying t-- [Wait, he's never talked about anything remotely sexual with Lance before, or outloud? He's looking to make sure no one's really nearby; near enough to hear them.

It's...fine.]

They were giving away coupons for different. Uh. Toys. A lot of the merchandise people bother us to make sure we're on good terms, I guess.

[The vaguest, worst story ever told.]

Toys...?

[ lance shifts his head a little, just enough that he can glance down and see keith's half-lidded eyes and (typical) suspicious glance around. it doesn't really occur to him yet why keith would sound so stilted talking about free merch; he always thought the boy enjoyed being frugal like that, whereas lance would blow twelve silver on one face mask if the packaging was shiny enough, lbr.

oh wait. put the pieces together, lance... toys... red light district...

do the math... ]

Oh. Oh. You mean. Oh.

[ those kind of toys.

well now this is just awkward...............

mostly because now he can't stop thinking about it. ]

[Hey, at least he's thinking about something other than the dude getting murdered, huh? Buttplugs, anal beads...

He's glad he waited on elaborating. He...hm. It's hard, trying to...even recall the simplest of toys by name. None of it interests him, but a lingering glance usually costs him some dignity (even though he's the only one on the street who feels that way) and he gets roped in to some dumbass advertisement scheme. He can't help but to look, either, wild advertisements of any sort tend to be distracting.]

Yeah.

[Finally, with a sigh.]

They had a wheel thing out the other day. I guess they were trying to get rid of old inventory.

[Another vague story.]

They made me take these things that look like candy wrappers, but they're completely clear. They look like small ketchup packets.

[tmw the hookers hook you up with neatly-packaged lube.]

[ the extent of any sex talk lance has ever had with another human being outside of your general sex ed class was a wild night of fourteen-year-old lance and hunk looking things up online while being very careful not to click on anything too blatant and using phrases like you-know-what and you-know-where.

needless to say, he isn't any better off than keith when it comes to this, except maybe even a little worse, because he's getting all warm in the neck and red in the cheeks, and he's shifting against keith like there's suddenly an itch between his shoulderblades. ]

What, like... Edible stuff?

[ is there. is there edible stuff in the bedroom...

oh lord. the internet didn't prepare him well enough for this. curse you, safe search! ]

N...no? I don't think so.

[He didn't try to eat it; there's no logo involved, no ...nothing. Just a clear -- actually, there's tiny text in blue written on the side, but he decided pretty quickly that it wasn't meant to be consumed.

It could be jellowy? He...it just didn't occur to him to shove it into his mouth. Random things he receives from the RLD aren't synonymous with Mouthputting.]

Weren't we just talking about dinner?

[GET IT TOGETHER, LANCE.]

[ there's like ten million dirty jokes that could be made from all of that introspection but i will Resist.

anyway oh yeah. dinner. focus. ]

Th-That's why I asked! If it was edible, we could have had it with dinner!

[ s...mooth save there, enrique suave. ]

Hey, there's a restaurant right there! [ nyooom... ]

[This is why he doesn't talk about The Shit He Sees.]

We already talked about eating out...

[Eating out..lol. So much for their long romantic walk into the night. Lance is Nyoomin and he's following, just barely catching the name of the take outplace (and by barely, he kinda glanced at the obnoxious lights overhead).]

Have you been here before?!

[Quietly...just...worth knowing.]

No, but it looks alright.

[ look, it's not the red light district okay, so chances are whatever they get will be decent... and not accidentally a fetish toy.

they're still sort of wrapped up in each other as he leads them through the threshold and towards the counter, which is fine since el nysa is all about the bass (no treble). in fact, the waitress even looks delighted about it, and happily offers them the "lovers" package (complete with weeknight discount!) ]

Uh... yeah. We'll get two of those.

[ because between keith "i work out ten times a day" red lion and allura "my alien physiology is confusing" altea, it's usually better safe than sorry. ]

[Lance can go ahead and order; Keith's busy studying the innards of this place, even if they won't be staying. It's his thing. Studying mall maps, counting smoke detectors. Familiarizing himself.

It does smell good in here, at least.

Lovers package has him looking toward the...what is it, waitress? Cashier? The counter person, frowning in typical fashion, looking between she and Lance.]

Isn't that four entrees?

[ lance just shrugs. don't make him call you out in public, keith. he's trying to be a good boyfriend here...

anyway the hostess person says something about having healthy appetites and definitely winks because, ha ha, dirty joke get it. (no, probably not.)

lance does, though. because of course he would.

he coughs a little. swallowing thickly so his voice doesn't do that annoying thing where it pitches a little higher whenever he's nervous. ]

So, um. How much?

[ spoilers: it didn't work. ]

[Be nice. He doesn't know what's going on, and he also doesn't understand the reference? Maybe she had something in her eye.

Let's assume his BOM suit comes with secret pockets, because he's fishing some ca$h out from it at the mention of how much....regardless of how squeaky is came out.]

Don't get all worked up.

[Just because you ordered extra food. They'll just have plenty leftover for tomorrow...and so on.]

I'm not getting worked up??

[ the hostess just laughs, delighted by the very obvious lie. but trust keith not to realize just what lance is getting worked up about... dummy...

oh, but thanks for paying, keith. what a nice boyfriend. though where the heck are all these items coming from...

he actually brings it up once they're outside, walking back to the house. ]

How's that suit manage to fit so many things inside it anyway? Is that some secret alien technology?

[Overreaction..whoah....calm down big man. He's only paying since Lance has been lowkey (probably) paying Giovanni to be up his butt (nonliterally). The change finds some depth of his weird suit. He'll go ahead and handle carrying their 20lb dinnerfood too. You know. Since Lance is all weird now.

Shouldn't have brought up edible toys.]

I...guess?

[See, normally that would be an offensive thing, maybe? It's not such a touchy subject nowadays and there's no good way of answering that. Aliens built it...it probably has secret functions he's not even aware of yet.]

Does it bother you?

[ does it have a butt panel for when you need to poop. ]

No... I was just wondering.

[ he shrugs, glancing away. it definitely bothers him more than he's admitting, but probably not for the reasons keith might think. ]

It just looks really tight, that's all.

[ especially around your bum area. ]

[Don't be immature. When you're dressed like this, there's no time for poo breaks.]

Yeah, because it is.

[Did he perhaps, just notice his sick 8pk?]

I can move in it pretty easy. It's like a wet suit.

[But for land. Not that he really knows much about wet suits, but it's visually a similar thing?]

[ his mind stutters for a second. like when you accidentally trip on nothing, because your body miscalculated the fact you were walking on level ground this entire time. but it takes him a moment to wrap his mind around that.

keith. wet.

the last time keith was wet around him they— ]

Neat. [ oh hello voice crack. ] I mean. Cool. [ /baritone.

HONESTLY WHY IS HE FREAKING OUT? he's seen keith in his paladin armor loads of times before! and that's virtually the same thing! ]

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