Fireworks [Klance AU]

Nine

"What color would you like?" a lady asks. Keith has been scanning the wall for ten minutes, and still hasn't chosen a color.
"Do blue," Supreethi says.
"No! Go yellow," Ashton chuckles. Keith grabs a midnight blue and hands it to the lady.
"This one will be fine, thank you," Keith says, and the lady waved him back to one of the nail tables. Keith takes a seat and the lady has Supreethi take a seat on one side to get her nails done, and Ashton pulls up a chair at the end of the row to talk to the other two.
"Ashton, why don't you get yours done?" Supreethi asks as the nail lady walks over.
"My parents would think I'm a total weirdo," Ashton says and props his elbows up on Keith's table.
"That's fair, I guess. Have they ever said anything when Keith gets his done?" she asks and the lady had already turned on the dremel. A man came around to do Supreethi's, so Ashton tried to speak up.
"Well, no. They said something when he got a pedicure, though," Ashton says.
"Okay, that makes a lot of sense, actually," Supreethi says. They then all sit silent for a while before the door opens and the bell rings.
"What can I do for you two?" a lady asks.
"Acrylics?" a girl says.
"Whoa, dude, look," Ashton says and gestures towards the door. Keith turns and look.
"Holy fuck shits," Keith says and quickly turns his head back around. Lance had just walked in with his older sister and cousin, and Keith was praying he doesn't get noticed. A few kids from school have seen him get his nails done before, and he still hasn't lived it down.
"Nice choice of words," Ashton chuckles.
"Oh, quiet," Supreethi says. Keith can feel a slight sense of panic, but not like the other times.
"If he sees me, he sees me," Keith breaths, trying to relax.
"Wait, look," Ashton bugs. He watches as Lance pulls a yellow color off the shelf and then goes to the sparkly topcoat section.
"Dude! He's getting his done, too!" Keith feels a ping of relief hit his chest.
"Quit saying 'dude' so much," Supreethi scolds. She can tell that Keith has been put at ease.
Lance has been sat down a few rows behind Keith, with his cousin on one side and his sister on the other. He went with sunflower yellow and a halo topcoat. Him and his sister planned to go out today and shop, and his cousin just wanted to tag along, which his sister thought was a good idea.
"Keith, when we leave, say hi to him," Supreethi says, and Keith is watching the lady who is doing his nails.
"I might," Keith speaks, but he doesn't know if he actually will.
The three sit there and talk for about another twenty to thirty minutes, then Ashton is sent to pay for both of them. Keith sits there for a second to admire the woman's work.
"Happy with your cat claws?" Supreethi teases.
"Yes, very happy. Now I can scratch Ray's eyes out," Keith jokes. Supreethi rolls her eyes and they walks towards the front of the salon.
  "Keith," Supreethi says and nudges the Koreans shoulder as they approach Lance's row. Keith sighs and looks over at the family sitting in the row. As soon as he does, he had already caught Lance's eyes. Lance sends a smile his way, and Keith gives a wave. Both of their faces flood with crimson.
  "Nice job," Supreethi teases as they keep making their way to the front.
  "That was a bad idea," Keith says, and crosses his arms.
  "Why?" Supreethi asks.
  "I don't like people seeing me outside of school like this," Keith mutters. Supreethi sighs and they walk out the door, Ashton following behind.

"I just don't know what to do about this. I mean, he's going back to Florida after his surgery." Keith could feel a weight sitting on his chest.
  "He'll be coming back for checkups and stuff, so meet him when he comes back." Keith didn't like the feeling he had in his stomach. He hadn't had a crush on anyone since Bryant, and that one wasn't even this bad.
"I mean, I guess? But it's not the same. I don't know what I'll do once he gets his ears fixed. Like, what the fuck is wrong with me," Keith breaths.
"Quit complaining and do something about it. For Peet's sake, you could ask your cousin's boyfriend for advice," Supreethi says.
"That's true, but still. I haven't even met the dude, so why would he help me?" Keith asks.
"Well, you'll have to meet him at some point," Supreethi says. Keith can tell he's been making too many excuses and complaining too much, but he doesn't know what else to do. Then Keith's phone dings.
How about we go star gazing tomorrow night, and you can stay the night at my place, and we can get breakfast in the morning? Keith's heart stops for a split second and he can feel his stomach fill with butterflies. Supreethi snatched his phone before he can get a good grip on it and reads the text.
"Oh my God." Keith can feel his heart about to bust. He rolls onto his stomach and grabs his pillow and screams into it.
"What the Hell, Keith," Ashton asks as he sits at his desk drawing.
"Lance asked me to stay the night at his place," Keith says, popping his head up.
"Oh my god. The perks of being closeted," Ashton says, his eyebrows squinting together as he smiles.
"'Is that the truth..." Keith trails.
"Hey, Ash, weird question, but have you ever done something like this?" Supreethi asks.
"Yeah. My freshman year, I had a crush on this one boy, Karter Wood, and him and his twin Vergil invited me over to their birthday, and I stayed the night with them," Ashton says, trying to make it sound super casual.
"But isn't Karter bi?" Keith asks.
"Yeah," Ashton says, and turns back around to his desk.
"Lance is straight," Keith says, "There's a difference."
"No he's not," Supreethi says.
"Yes he is. I've never seen him show interest to any males," Keith says in the most you-should-know-this tone.
"No, he got his freaking nails done, Keith. No straight man on God's Earth would do that," Supreethi says.
"She's not wrong," Ashton says.
"Then what is he? And why would he even be allowed to have me over?" Keith asks.
"Closeted?" Ashton says, but it comes out like a question.
"No way, he got his nails done," Supreethi repeats.
"Selectively closeted?" Ashton asks.
"Possibly, but I doubt it if he went home with nails, his parents would question," Supreethi explains.
"You've got a point," Ashton sighs.
"I mean, I'm not complaining. I'm going to spend the night, but I'm just confused," Keith sighs and flips over on his back again. He looks at his popcorn ceiling with an intense stare.
"I don't know why me, of all people, he would invite. I'm weird, emo, obviously gay," Keith mutters.
"So? Maybe that doesn't bother him?" Supreethi says.
"That's true, I guess," Keith sighs. They continue their conversation until the clock strikes eight and Supreethi gets up to go home.
"I'll see you two later," she says, "Good luck tomorrow." She grabs her things and walks out of the room.
  "Might want to go and ask Mum and Dad if you can stay the night," Ashton says as he gets up and walks to their closet.
  "I will in the morning," Keith says and sits up.
  "Do you like his cousin?" Keith adds. Ashton is in the middle of pulling off his shirt, and turns to look at Keith.
  "Why?" Ashton asks and turns back towards the closet.
  "I guess I'm just curious," Keith says, and reaches for his phone.
  "Yeah," Ashton says and reaches for a new shirt in the closet.
  "Why don't you ask him?" Keith asks, scrolling through his contacts to find Lance.
  "He's straight," Ashton says, grabbing a fresh pair of boxers.
  "I bet you could turn him," Keith jokes.
  "Not like I haven't done it before," Ashton chuckles. Ashton switched a straight boy named Elliot to a bisexual man in the span of half a school year. He never meant to, but Elliot got caught up with Ashton too much and fell for him. Now Elliot is known as the bisexual theater kid in high school.
  "He's only a freshman, he knows nothing," Keith says.
  "You're a senior and still know nothing," Ashton teases.
  "Very observant," Keith says, accepting that Ashton is probably right. Keith then reads over Lance's texts a few more times before deciding his fate. He starts to type.
Sounds good to me. What time do I pick you up tomorrow?

-

(A/n: so I want to do a little side story. If you all are okay with that and want to read it, I'll hopefully have it up in a few. I'm going to start working on it once I upload this chapter to Amino.
Shameless self promo: go follow me on the Voltron Amino! Look for me under the name Trier McClain, (I'm the Lance of the group, lol).
-t)