Hidden Messages [Klance AU]

9: Lights Down Low

Lance sat in front of the ocean, enjoying the feel of warm sunlight on his skin. He wished he could have turned into a mer, but given as Keith was just inside, he couldn't risk it.

It had been a few days since the mer's arrival. He'd gotten a job, learned more about human customs, and eaten a lot more pancakes. He was getting around fine, for the most part. It was difficult to keep his being a mer secret, and Keith probably assumed something was up, but didn't seem to know enough to come to the proper conclusion.

"Lance!" Keith called from inside. Lance could see him looking through the large kitchen windows.

"Yeah?" Lance shouted back.

"Come on! We have to go! Pidge doesn't like waiting!" Lance didn't really know who Pidge was, just that they were a friend of Keith's. The mer jumped off of the rock he sat on, gently setting the bottle he held on the beach.

"Coming!"

~ ♆ ~

The two boys entered the dark bar. A few people were gathered there, but more would be sure to come once the sun set. Keith scanned the room for a familiar face, and Lance saw as his gaze lit up when he spotted them. He pulled Lance over to the bar, where a few people sat and he could see James serving drinks behind the counter. James smiled at the mer, but his smile soon disappeared as he went back to working.

"Hey," Lance said as he approached the counter.

'Hi," James responded, glancing up slightly then looking back down. He immediately looked up again, though, a shocked look on his face. He was looking at something behind Lance.

"James?" James' eyes grew cold and his lips formed a scowl. Lance felt someone beside him, turning to see Keith, a hand in the air as if he was about to tap Lance's shoulder, but stopped. The Korean boy now looked ahead of him, his face angry.

"Griffin."

"Kogane."

The two boys glared at each other, neither of them moving a muscle. Lance was left confused, glancing back and forth between them.

"O-kay, I don't know what's going on here, but Keith, didn't you say you needed to meet this 'Pidge' person?" Lance said, trying to get them out of this. Keith didn't move for another few moments, then huffed dramatically and turned on his heels. Lance sent a look to James, but he'd already gone back to working.

"What was that about?" The mer whispered to Keith while they walked.

"We just have a bad history. I don't really want to get into it." Keith shrugged it off. His face lit up when they approached a table in the corner of the room, but still close to the stage where live music played. There was a relatively short person who wore a long coat sitting at the table. They looked strangely suspicious, like they didn't quite belong or didn't go to a bar very often.

"Pidge!" Keith exclaimed when the person didn't look up as they approached. Oh, so that's Pidge. They looked up, smiling when they saw Keith.

"Hey. Who's your friend?" Pidge smiled wryly, pushing their glasses up so that their bangs covered the rim.

"This is Lance, my... roommate," Keith said, his face reddening a bit. Lance greeted Pidge, who happily greeted him back. Lance and Keith sat down at the table, ordering drinks and chatting with Pidge.

"Move it!" Someone shouted, loud enough so that you could hear it over the music. They approached the small table where Keith, Lance, and Pidge sat.

"Lance, my boy!" Alfor exclaimed, out of breath. "So glad you're here! We're extremely low on workers today, and it's busy. I hope it wouldn't trouble you to work a shift for a few hours?" Lance glanced towards Keith, who was chatting with Pidge about some sort of bird-person.