Second Chance AU

Scared Together

After lunch, Lance popped his battery in his camera.

'You want to come for a walk?' he asked Keith.

'Where are you going?'

'Just up and down the street for now.'

'Can I meet you down there? I just want to prime my canvas, I have a plastic sheet to put down on the floor, and it won't take long,' Keith said.

'Okay,' Lance said and headed out with his camera.

Lance was halfway down the street when Keith joined him.

'You didn't get very far,' Keith teased.

'To busy trying out every setting,' Lance said, grinning.

'So, does it live up to expectations?' asked Keith.

'Even better,' said Lance. 'It's going to be great for my end of year assignment. Speaking of which, I've been wondering if you will help me with it?'

'Me, how?'

'Well, I have to write an article on someone, along with photos,' said Lance. 'I need to set it out in a magazine layout. I thought I could interview you as an up and coming artist, and I could take photos of you at work.'

'I don't know,' said Keith. 'Final assessment is handed in at the end of the year. That's six months away, I don't even know where I will be.'

'Here,' Lance said as if it were obvious.

'I can't live in your house for six months...' he began.

'Why not, mama said you can stay as long as you want,' Lance said.

'Think about it,' said Keith. 'I'm living in your room. You're going to want it back to yourself sooner or later.'

Lance looked down at his camera. 'I was kind of hoping you'd want to stay with me.' Keith went silent, and Lance looked up at him. 'I know you've only been here for one night, and that's under horrible circumstances, but it feels right.'

'And if it turns out to be wrong?' asked Keith. 'Where would we go from there? It's been 6 years, Lance. We’ve grown up, and we're not the kids we once were.'

'And maybe that's a good thing,' said Lance. He braced himself for what he was about to say next. He knew he had to be honest about his feelings and not pretend they didn't exist or he could lose Keith forever. 'We're both more mature, and we know what we want. I'm not saying we head back home and jump into bed together and go at it.' Keith laughed and shook his head. 'But I do know I have feelings for you, but if you don't feel the same, then...'

'I do...feel the same,' said Keith. 'I have done for a...very long time.'

'Can we try then, take it slow, and see where we end up?' asked Lance.

'I'm scared to,' Keith admitted.

'Then we can be scared together because this whole thing here frightens the shit out of me,' Lance said.

Keith gave a weak laugh. 'You're such an idiot.'

Rosa stood at the front window and watched the two young men talk, and she had a feeling she knew what that conversation was about. When she brought their lunch up before, she knew she had walked in on something. She just hoped they were jumping into something neither of them were ready for. Keith's emotional state was on the edge, and she hoped Lance was mature and strong enough to cope with it.

She moved away from the window as they headed back to the house, so they didn't know she'd been watching them.

'How was the camera?' she called when she heard the door close.

'Brilliant,' Lance said.

'The washing machine finished,' she said. 'When you're in there, can you put some towels on please.'

'Sure, mama,' Lance said.

Keith tried to help Lance hang out the washing, but stretching up hurt his side, and Lance told him to stop pushing himself so hard.

They went back upstairs, and Lance pulled out his laptop to download his photos, while Keith checked on his canvas.

Lance's phone beeped with a new message, and he picked his phone up.

'Seriously,' he said. 'Allura just said I better have something decent to wear for tonight that would match her outfit, and she's sent me a photo of her in her underwear.'

'Ask her if that's all she is wearing to the dinner,' Keith said.

'Ha ha, that will only give her ideas,' Lance said. He typed a message and sent it.

Seconds later his phone rang and he put it on speaker.

'Allura, we broke up,' said Lance. 'I'm not coming to dinner, now for the love of god, lose my number.'

'Get it through your thick head,' she snarled. 'You're coming, and you're going to play boyfriend tonight. I'm not having you embarrass me in front of my family.'

'I won't embarrass you because I WON'T BE THERE,' Lance said, very clearly and hung up. 'For fuck sake, how thick can she be.' His phone rang again.

'She's persistent,' Keith said.

'I'm going to have to block her number,' said Lance. 'Maybe she'll get the hint then.' He hung up and blocked her.

'It's a wonder we can't hear her screaming from here,' said Keith. 'You better make sure she doesn't stalk you.'

'She wouldn't do that,' he said, then looked at Keith. 'Would she?'

'She seems pretty upset,' said Keith. 'I wouldn't put anything past her.'

'Hopefully once tonight's party is done with, she will leave me alone,' Lance said.

Now that his phone was silent, Lance forgot about her and turned back to his laptop and sorted through the photos he took, as Keith placed his dried canvas on the bed. With a light pencil, he sketched out his design so he was ready to go when he picked up his brushes and paints from home.

While he did that, Lance got up and took some photos of Keith as he worked for his assignment.

'How long does your article have to be?' asked Keith.

'Six A4 pages, with two half page photos and four quarter page ones, including a picture of the person I'm interviewing,' he said, 'and a minimum of eight questions. The interview has to be recorded on tape, which is also handed in with the final article so that they can mark interview technique, and 50 photos of the subject and an explanation on why I chose the ones for the article I did.'

'That's a lot of work,' Keith said.

'It never feels like work when you enjoy doing it,' Lance said.

'True,' Keith said.