Keith wheezed and sat forward, hitting his chest, trying to stop the coughing when he felt the cushions sink beside him and a hard hand slapping his back.

 “Whoa whoa! You okay? Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” Keith shook his head and looked up to find a worried expression printed on the boys beautiful face. What was he doing here? He held out a hand, signalling Lance to stop as his coughing subsided.

“I’m o-okay, its fine.” He said, looking up at Lance who was smiling widely in amusement. “What are you doing here?” Keith asked, his eyes skimming over the boy’s face. 

Lance chuckled and scratched his arm as he pulled back to stand up straight again. “Well, I was nearby and fancied a coffee. This place is good, I don’t come here often, but, when I do, I usually sit here.” Lance shrugged, motioning to the comfortable booth. “I saw you sitting, so I thought I’d come say hi, so…hi.” He smiled, waving awkwardly with a chuckle before pointing to the seat. “Mind if I sit down?"

Keith cleared his throat and sat up properly. “Actually, someone’s sitting there.” He said, his fingers coming up to twist in the strand of black hair that sat on his shoulders. He felt his cheeks heat up and swore at himself under his breath. Couldn’t he ever just control himself around the boy? Just once?

“Oh, well, I’ll just pull up a chair I guess.” Keith tried to think of another valid excuse as he watched Lance steal a chair from another table and pull it up, sitting down with a small grin. “There! All good! Now we can both sit.” He chuckled and threw his arm over the back of the chair with a smirk.

“Uh, right,” Keith whispered, pulling his hair tighter as he tried to look at anything other than the gorgeous boy in front of him. He really hoped Sam would come back soon. Maybe those two could just talk and Keith would be able to slip away.

“So, just meeting a friend for coffee?” Lance smiled, making Keith’s heart race in his chest.

“Working, actually.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“No way! You work here? That’s awesome, I’ve never seen you working before?” Why was Lance acting so happy? Wasn’t he still upset from yesterday? That would’ve made this so much easier… Keith just kept quiet, deciding to focus on the dents on the table instead. “You know, you always do that, when something’s bothering you.” Keith quickly looked up and noticed Lance staring at where his hair was wrapped around his index finger.

Keith narrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head as he hastily dropped his hand to his lap to fiddle with his fingers instead. “What?”

“You only play with your hair if something’s wrong, or you’re uncomfortable. I noticed it a while ago.” Lance said, leaning forward in his seat with a curious look. “You never use to do it when I was around. Now, it seems you’re always doing it. Am I…do I make you uncomfortable?”

Keith’s eyes widened comically at Lances words. He noticed that? He didn’t think anyone had noticed his little habit. “I, uh,” he stuttered, trying to think of the words to say as he looked at the boy opposite him. He looked, scared?

Lance bit his lip and leaned further over the table, stretching across, their faces growing closer with each movement. “Keith…I-”

“Lance! Keith didn’t tell me you were here too.” 

Keith was both relieved and disappointed when Sam came back, a large coffee in hand as he sat back down. What was Lance going to say? He glanced up at boy through his hair and felt his stomach churn as he noticed a sad, dejected look on his face.

Keith coughed and wiped the hair from his eyes before looking up properly. The hurt look seemed to have disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and was replaced by Lance’s signature cocky smirk. “I wasn’t really invited, just saw Keith sitting down and thought I’d come say hi, that’s all.” He shrugged, looking over at Keith with a strange, almost sad, expression.

“He was just leaving,” Keith said plainly, finishing his coffee and trying not to react to the silence that surrounded the table. He fiddled with anything he could, trying to keep himself distracted, feeling his chest clench as he heard the sound of Lance's chair scraping against the floor.

Lance sighed, shaking his head slightly as he stood up and placed the chair back by the other table. “Well, it was good to see you Keith, and you Sam.” Lance smiled politely before nodding goodbye and turning around.

“Thank god,” Keith murmured under his breath before the young Cuban boy turned back.

“Actually! I forgot to ask you, my friend, James? From school? Well, he’s having a party tonight, I thought maybe you’d like to come?” Lance asked as he rocked back on his heels, hands shoved into his pocket as he smiled nervously at Keith.

He acted like he was asking Keith out on a date, which just wasn’t possible and made the black-haired boy huff in annoyance. “No. Sorry, I’m busy.” Seriously, why couldn’t he just take a hint and leave him alone? He was making things so difficult without even realising it.

Sam looked at Keith sternly and gently nudged him, “Keith, don’t be rude.” He muttered under his breath, motioning to Lance.

The boy chuckled nervously before pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket and leaning over the table to steal Keith’s pen. He scribbled something down before handing it to Keith. “In case you change your mind, it starts at eight, here’s the address.” He smiled brightly at Keith who hesitated before taking the slip of paper. “It would be great if you could come.” Keith blushed and put the address in his pocket with a small nod of acknowledgement before Lance chuckled and waved. “Awesome! Maybe I’ll see you there.” He laughed before jogging out the shop, the doorbell ringing as he shut the door.

Fuck.

“Uh, care to explain what that was all about?” Sam asked, eyebrows raised as he looked over at Keith, amusement written all over his face.

“He came in, I choked on my coffee, he asked what I was up too, then you came back. Boom. That’s all, end of conversation.” He sat back against the pillows, arms crossed defensively and eyebrows furrowed as he tried to calm the raging thump in his chest and hide the red flush that had coated his face. “We’re not going to that party.”

Sam’s eyes widened at Keith’s outburst and put his hands up in a fake surrender. “Keith, it was just a question.” He chuckled nervously before shuffling closer to him. “I think we should Keith. It’ll be a good opportunity for you to talk to Lance and sort out whatever problem you’re both having-let me finish.” Sam said sternly, holding up his finger as he noticed Keith shuffle in his seat, preparing his argument. “Plus, when was the last time you got out the house for something other than school or work? It’ll be good for you Keith, you need to relax and have fun sometimes and this is a good time to do it.”

Keith bit his lip before shaking his head and putting his book back in his bag. “I’m sorry, but, no. I’m not going.” He said, his hands trembling as his mind filled with all the awful things that could go wrong if he went. “Look I better get back to work, it’s getting busy.” He grabbed his apron and tied it shakily around his waist before looking down at Sam. “I’ll catch up with you later okay. You go and have fun.”

Sam sighed and stood up, grabbing his jacket. “Think about it, you could use a night out of the house.” He walked up to Keith and gave him a quick hug, before pulling away and squeezing his shoulder gently. “I’ll message you later, have a good shift.” He smiled before walking past him, the bell ringing to signal his departure.

Keith ran a hand down his face and groaned loudly, ignoring the strange glances he was receiving from customers. He fixed his hair and washed his hands before he walked back behind the counter to start the second half of his shift with his ‘fake customer smile’ plastered on his face.

Sam was right, being able to get out the house would be amazing. He’d had enough Saturday’s dealing with his drunken father who came home and completely dismantled the place after a hard days cleaning. Plus, it had been a while since he’d had a drink and let his hair loose. But there were reasons for that. One, Keith had stopped been invited to parties since he cut things with popular boy Lance, and two, the football dicks were always there to make his night hell.

Keith scoffed and shook his head as he worked, frothing milk with an amused smirk on his face. Football jocks weren’t half of his worries. He wouldn’t go because of Lance. Lance, plus alcohol? Not a good idea. Keith was having a hard time controlling himself around the gorgeous Cuban boy whilst he was sober. He wasn’t willing to find out what he was capable of whilst he was drunk and vulnerable.

Before Keith realised, the milk began overflowing in the jug, burning his hands as it spilled over the edges. “Fuck!” Keith swore, quickly turning the steam wand off and dropping the jug on the counter with a thump. He rolled his eyes and shook his head before wiping his hands, which were turning a soft red. Fucking Lance. He couldn’t even do his job without thinking about him and hurting himself. He sighed and took a deep breath before trying again.

He was so fucked.