Working in emergency services usually did take a toll on both Keith and Lance from time to time. Because of that they always made it a point to work through the struggle before the other left for their next shift. But something about Lance’s mood made Keith think that whatever happened during his calls was not going to be figured out with a simple conversation.

Glancing back and forth between the news show playing on the television and Lance curled up and hugging a pillow on the other end of the couch, Keith decided that the irrelevant rants on the screen could wait till things were figured out. He turned off the television and turned to face Lance on the couch. The feeling of being stared out pulled Lance out of his blank stare and back to reality.

“Why did you turn off the TV?” Lance asked as he looked at Keith, a bit surprised to see him staring at him.

Now that he could really see him, Keith noticed that Lance’s mood made him ignore his usual beauty regiments too. His hair wasn’t brushed and still a bit wet from his shower, his bags were clearly not treated with eye cream, and his skin just didn’t have its usual after facial scrub glow. Lance looked tired and his eyes were obviously red from crying. Whatever happened really shook him to his core.

“I’m worried about you. Do you want to tell me what happened?” Keith tried to ease into the conversation, but his worries just wanted to hurry and get to the point.

Lance hugged the pillow more and looked away, burying his chin even deeper into the cushion. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” Keith deadpanned. “You’ve been off ever since you came home. You just got off a 24-hour shift so obviously you would be tired, but this is different. Scary different. Now tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Lance snapped back harshly. “I’m just tired just like you said. It was a weekend so there were a lot of calls full of idiots getting hurt. That’s all.”

Keith didn’t believe that for second. This wasn’t Lance’s first time dealing with drunks getting hurt after doing stupid things. And he was never this ‘tired’ after a shift like that. He was honestly more annoyed with how stupid people were than he was tired from the nonstop calls his station would receive from the bars around town.

“Get up,” Keith spoke up, his tone making it sound more as a command than a request, as he pushed himself off the couch.

Lance looked at him confused, “What?”

“Get up,” Keith repeated as he started to push their coffee table against one of the walls. Next was a side table and then the other. After taking care of a few minor pieces all Keith had left was the couch, which Lance was still sitting on, looking at him confused. “Come on, the pillow will be fine without you for a bit.” He pulled Lance on his feet and grabbed the pillow out from his hands and threw it on the couch before pushing it back against the wall behind it.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked feeling really confused and a bit uncomfortable to stand in their now cleared living room.

“You’ll see.” Keith pulled out his phone as he walked over to the entertainment center they had under the television, changing the sound system setting to Bluetooth. “You’re playlist or mine?”

“Tell me what you’re doing first,” Lance demanded as he crossed his arms.

“I’m trying to cheer you up and since you won’t talk to me, I’m forced to use Plan B. Now, you’re playlist or mine?”

“What do you mean Plan B? I’m fine, so you don’t need to do anything.”

“Random it is then,” Keith said to himself as he backtracked on his phone’s music folder to the main screen and pressed the shuffle button.

An upbeat strum of a guitar along with whistling started to play through the speakers. Lance instantly knew the song. It was ‘Simple’ by the country band Florida Georgia Line. He had downloaded it on Keith’s phone after hearing it at a bar to tease his boyfriend for being a closeted country fan and to introduce him to newer country music. And he also jokingly threated to dump Keith if he kept making him listen to the same old Garth Brooks, Kenny Rogers, and Johnny Cash songs each time they listened to his music. With the music now playing in their living room, Lance noticed Keith put his phone on the entertainment center and realized what Plan B was.

“Keith, I’m not in the mood.”

“Well, you won’t talk me, and this is all I can think of.” Keith walked up to Lance and held out his hand. “You can lead, since you always say I have two left feet.”

Lance looked at Keith’s hands and then at him, still looking unwilling to follow through with the plan. Just as the chorus started he caught Keith whispering the words to him.

“It’s like one, two, three, just as easy as can be,” he whispered in low tone. “Just the way you look at me, you make me smile.”

Lance knew that he was just singing along with the song, but he couldn’t help but smirk when Keith said the word smile. He really liked it when Keith sang along to music, it was so unlike him and that was what Lance loved about it. Reluctantly, he grabbed Keith’s hands as the second line was ending.

“Ok, but only one song.”

Lance, being the only one of the two with a dancing background, slowly set the pace of their steps to match the beat with the music. The moves were becoming quicker as the chorus picked back up a second time, Lance even let Keith spin him around at one point. Lance soon completely loosened up and was now laughing as he and Keith danced all over their living room, spinning each other now and then and even adding a rare dip when one of them felt brave enough to do it. A few songs had passed before they realized just how distracting the moment was for the both of them. Lance had his finger interlocked and resting on the small of Keith’s back as he rested his forehead on his shoulder. The two were slowly side stepping in the middle of the room, swaying to the peaceful sounds of the piano playing over their Bluetooth system.

“Thank you.” Lance turned his head to the side so he could look at his boyfriend without taking it off his shoulder.

Keith smiled softly, happy to see the stress and worry leave Lance’s blue eyes. “You’re welcome, but you should really thank my dad. Growing up I would see him clear a room and make my mom dance around whenever she was upset. It would cheer her up every time.”

Lance hugged Keith closer and hid his smile back in his shoulder. “Remind me to tell him thanks for teaching you good habits next time we go visit.”

Keith rested his head on Lance’s, enjoying the quiet and peace the moment gave them. “Hey Lance,” he spoke out, knowing that he had to address the elephant in the room. “I don’t know what really happened during your shift, but just know that you did all that you could. It sucks, but in our careers, we’re going to experience more bad days than good. It’s ok to be upset when you have the bad days, but don’t let it eat at you when you know you and your team did all you that you could to help.”

Lance’s grip around Keith’s waist tightened and the air around him seemed to change.

“I’m not saying we have to talk about what happened. We have all day tomorrow to do that if you want to. If not, we can just do whatever you want to do before I leave my shift.”

Lance was silent for a few moments, thinking about the option of telling Keith what happened. Talking might help him now that all the tension was gone, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to remember and retell what had happened. “Can we go see the new Mama Mia movie,” Lance said in a slightly small and defeated voice, choosing to focus on the lesser option.

“Sure.”

Lance picked up his head and stared at Keith, as if trying his hardest to read him. “And you promise you won’t complain the whole time? Even if I want to sing the songs on the way back?”

“I promise. We can even get concessions, it’ll be my treat.”

Lance smiled and swooped in to peck Keith’s cheek before hugging his neck. “I love you.”