#ketih

        Keith turns the volume for his phone on high. He sets it on the table next to him as he studies the blueprints in front of him. He shakes his head and corrects his mistakes and recalculates the building cost over for his model. He ends up deeming it a catastrophic failure and pulls it off his drafting table. 

 “Repurpose.” He mumbles, tucking it into one of his large folios with other scrapped ideas. He checks his phone for alerts. He’s got one from Pidge but it can wait. If they needed him badly they’d ping him relentlessly across all his platforms until he responded.

        He finally relaxes when he gets the message from Lance that lets him know he’s made it to the place in one piece. Keith sends him another good luck message. He grabs a new sheet of paper and pins it to his table. He loses himself in drafting a new project, designing the layout, researching the materials, and budgeting it all out.

        Keith remembers to eat little snacks here and there, even a half-assed lunch while he works. Eventually, though he gets a ping on his phone. Lance is on his way home and Keith makes sure the house is still in good order.

        Lance comes in, a shell-shocked look on his face and he sits heavily on the couch. Keith sits next to him, hand resting on his leg. Lance just stares dead ahead and says nothing.

 “Love?” Keith prompts. “Are you okay?”

 “No.”  

 “What happened?” He asks.

 “God.” Lance covers his face.

 “Did someone die? Did your phone go off? Bring a number three pencil?” 

 “I just… Fuck Keith. It’s like I studied for algebra and was given a test on quantum physics!” He runs his hand through his hair. “It was like a huge joke. No one else looked confused.”

 “Hey, relax. Do you know your score?”

 “No, but I bet I failed.”

 “How do you know?”

 “I just know I did.” He drags his hand down his face as he stares at the wall ahead of him. Keith knows this look, he’s been with Lance for three years now and has seen it plenty of times. It’s his ‘I’m going to be depressed for a week or more’ face. Only early intervention can reduce how long it’s for.

 “Hey, how about you go take a bath or a shower and get the funk off?” Keith suggests. 

 “Yeah. That sounds nice.” He sighs and gets up. Keith follows right behind him, making sure he gets to the bathroom. 

Lance pulls off his clothes while Keith runs the water, waiting for it to be what his boyfriend deems suitable.

 “Shower or bath?” Keith asks.

 “Bath.” Lance grunts. He nods, flipping the lever and letting the water fill the tub. He dries his hand off and pulls out one of the plastic containers from under the sink. He brings it over to Lance and pops it open. Lance glances over it and plucks one of the bath bombs out of it and Keith nods, closing the container and setting it back in place. 

        He turns off the water and gets out the second container under the sink, taking the lid off and balancing it on his hip. Lance shuffles over, finally naked and steps in. He holds the bath bomb in his hands under the water and Keith watches as it changes colors. He then sets the second container on the edge of the tub, carefully balancing it out.

        He steps out, grabs a portable speaker, and Lance’s phone. He sets the speaker on the bathroom sink, tapping in Lance’s code and scrolling through his music until he finds the appropriate playlist. He hits play and Lance slides further into the water.

 “I’ll check on you in twenty, okay?” Keith sets Lance’s phone aside. He nods his head in response and Keith leans down to press a kiss to his forehead.

        When he steps out of the bathroom, he sets a timer on his phone for nineteen minutes and then moves to the living room. He grabs one end of the couch and swings it around, opening up the floor for use. He grabs a few blankets from the hall closet, nabs the pillows from the guest bedroom, and tosses them on the floor. He arranges a simple pillow fort and then he digs around in the guest closet. 

        He pulls out an ancient VCR from when he was a kid, blowing the dust off it and hauling it to the living room. Plugging it into the TV is simple enough and he’s never been more thankful for his distrust in those smart TVs that no longer have the ports he needs. It’s another trip to the guest's closet to find his box of old tapes which he pulls out and sets next to the player.

        He checks on Lance when his timer goes off. Lance’s eyes are closed and he’s got a mask on his face. Keith leans against the doorframe and smiles fondly at the sight. 

 “How you holding up?” He asks.

 “Good.” Lance sighs softly.

 “I’m gonna order something to eat, anything you want in particular?”

 “...Greasy,” He pauses. “And crunch.”

 “Alright, I’ll be back after I order,” Keith tells him and steps back out. He grabs the menu from one of their local places that Lance loves and calls it in. When he goes to the bathroom Lance is peeling the mask off his face.

        He sits on the floor next to Lance, watching as he slowly works through the plastic container’s contents. Keith kisses his cheek when he gets back up. 

 “I’m going to go pick it up, I’ll be right back.” 

 “Okay.” Lance hums, rubbing a sweet-smelling lotion along his legs.

        Keith makes his trip as fast as legally possible and sets the takeout boxes on the counter. He peeks into the bedroom and finds Lance face-first and butt naked on their bed. He shakes his head and steps in. A check in the bathroom shows he’d drained and rinsed the tub out. 

 “I’m back.” He announces and pats Lance’s hip and thighs. “Come on, get up. Food isn’t allowed in here.” 

 “Ugh.” Lance looks up at him and pouts. 

 “Nope, we promised we wouldn’t after the ants remember?”

 “I know.” He sighs and pushes himself up. Keith is moving before he does, picking up a soft bathrobe from where it hangs in the closet and wrapping it around Lance. He takes his boyfriend by the hand and guides him out to the living room. 

        Lance gasps softly when he sees the pillow fort, immediately crawling into it. Keith brings him the food and dishes out some onto smaller plates the two eat off of. Maybe it’s more dishes for him to do later, but he knows Lance will appreciate it more than eating the whole carton.

 “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I think you’re giving yourself a hard time,” Keith says, nibbling on pork fried rice.

 “I’m telling you I hella failed that test.” 

 “And I think you should give yourself more credit. You have a brilliant mind and you know how to use it.”

 “If you think so.” Lance sighs.

 “I know so. I’ve never seen someone work as hard as you do and get so much done. I think it’s admirable that you’re going for your dream job regardless of how difficult everyone thinks it will be.”

 “I most definitely failed though.” 

 “And if you did? How many more shots do you get at it?”

 “...Two.” Lance admits.

 “Okay, you’ve already seen it once. If you really did fail, then you already know what the test is going to look like and what you need to study more of, right?” Keith nudges him.

 “Yeah. I just… I wanted to get it on the first try.” Lance chuckles.

 “Do I need to remind you how  I  didn’t even get my license the first try?”

 “Took you, what, three times I think you said?”

 “Exactly. And now I’m where I want to be.” He holds his arms out, careful of the pork he has pinched between his chopsticks. “You will be too, I  know  it.”

 “Yeah, huh?” Lance smiles fondly at him.

 “Definitely.” He gets up and packs away the leftovers and nudges the tape box over to Lance. 

 “Ooo, from the vault itself.” He chuckles. “Oh my god, I forget you have the OG Little Mermaid box. The penis always gets me.”

 “I only have it cause my dad was a sucker for them.”

 “Dicks?”

 “No!” Keith laughs and he’s glad to see a warm smile on Lance’s face. “Pick one already.” He gets them a drink from the fridge and sits with Lance. 

        He holds Lance through Treasure Planet and the Little Mermaid. 

 “Hey, thanks for all this, hun,” Lance tells him. “I know I get weird when I get in a funk.”

 “If nothing else, I’ve learned that as long as you keep moving you’re going to come out alright. It’s  me  who gets weird.”

 “Oh my god, yeah. I’ll find you glaring at your fucking ruler like it’s drowned your goldfish and then lit your house on fire while maxing out your credit cards.”

 “That’s… very specific?” Keith snickers.

 “Well, it’s true! And then I can’t touch you for at  least an hour before you’re okay again.”

 “I just don’t want you to be what I’m glaring at next,” Keith admits, holding Lance a little tighter.

 “I know, I know.” He pecks his cheek. “Just like I know that I should  probably  wait for my results to come in before I freak out over them.” He rests his head on Keith’s shoulder.

 “When do they come in?”

 “Two weeks from now.”