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“I’m sorry Lance.” She smiled sadly, her eyes quickly going down in guilt as she gripped tightly to the bag on her shoulder. “I know the lease isn’t up yet, and I’m leaving you in a bind but… I just can’t do this anymore.”
“Rosa, please I-“ Lance reached out, wrapping his fingers around the handle of the suitcase at her side.
“I’m sorry, Lance.” She pulled the bag away from him, stepping backwards towards the door. “I thought I was ready to be a mother when you asked me to move in with you. I thought we’d be one big happy family. But, she just doesn’t like me Lance. And I know you say to give it time but its been two months and she still wont even LOOK at me. I’m going to my mothers.”
She steps forward placing a soft kiss on Lance’s cheek before taking her bags and walking out of his life.
“Daddy?” A soft tug at his sleeve had Lance jerking upright swirling in his computer chair smacking his knee hard against the desk. With an internal curse he steadied his breathing and looked down at his daughter. She looked up at him with a frown, her small hands fisted on her hips as she glared with bright blue eyes behind the dark knotted curtain of her unruly bedhead. “You left me!”
Lance smiled softly, pushing his chair out this time before turning to face her holding his hands out in invitation. “You know I’d never leave you starshine.” Taking the invitation his daughter was pulled up onto his lap with a tight hug, snuggling into her for a moment before he let go to look into her eyes. “Daddy just came to check his email and must have fallen asleep.”
The girl frowned, looking down at her feet as she kicked them off the side of his lap. “Were you talking to people about living with us again?”
Lance sighed giving his daughter a sad look. “I know you want it to stay the two of us Estela but the only way Daddy can afford that is if I work more and then it’s pretty much be me living at work and you living at daycare! You don’t want that do you?” The girl shook her head slowly. “Good! Now how about we go make some blueberry muffins before going to the park?”
“YEAH!!” Estela grinned jumping off his lap and tugging on his hand. “Come on Daddy let’s go!!” Lance laughed, giving his computer one last look before following his daughter’s insistence to go make enough muffins to fill the eye-full tower.
Roommate needed, can move in after all checks pass.
Searching for a roommate to help pay rent after my last one unexpectedly left. Must be good with kids and cats. No drugs. Any alcohol must stay locked up away from curious hands and absolutely no smoking in the apartment.
For inquiries please email at [email protected]
Keith chewed on his lip ring, thumbs hovering over his phone as he looked down at the ad. He stared at it for at least five minutes as the song he was listening to finished and the one after it was nearing its end.
Sure he knows Shiro and Allura don’t mind him living with them, especially considering this was his home before Allura’s. But the two had just gotten married and the apartment was slowly becoming less of the bachelor pad he shared with his best friend and more of a family home. He just didn’t feel like it was his home anymore, and lord knew with how often he heard the two getting it on there would be a baby in the mix soon, so better to get out now before his room became a shared nursery.
With one final nod to himself he clicked the email and typed out a basic message.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Blue,
Hello. I saw your ad for an apartment and was hoping to talk about it. Hit me back with details and questions.
He sent the email, cursing himself when he realized he forgot to give his name. Thankfully his embarrassment was short lived as an email came back almost instantly.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Red,
Hi! The name’s Lance! I’m a single father of a 3 year old girl. We have a cat named Bluetiful and live near Starview Park. Our apartment is on the third floor, no balcony. It’s a 3 bed 1 bath. Your rent would be $500 a month, plus a portion of the utilities. My last roommate had to go back home and left me with 10 months still on our lease and it’s a strain for me to keep up the rent and daycare costs needed.
If you are interested please reply back with answers to these questions, as I will be running a small background check for safety reasons.
1) Full name?
2) Occupation?
3) Anything on your background you want to warn me about?
4) What is your experience with children?
5) Do you have any pets?
Smiling at the email Keith quickly hits reply and types out his response.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Lance,
Hello, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Keith Kogane i’m a professional artist. The only thing you’ll find on my records after I turned 18 is a handful of speeding tickets. I have no children myself but I teach an after school art class once a month at the local rec. center. I know the owner so you can call her with any questions too. I have a orange tabby named Dredful, but I just call her Red. My friend taught her to walk on a leash so we go for walks through parks all the time. We’ve even been to Starview, she likes watching people from the fountain there.
Keith regretted his overly chipper attitude after he sent the message before a loud knock at his door had him yanking off his headphones. Shoving his phone into his pocket he moved to answer the door raising a brow at the woman on the other side. Her white hair was a mess, sticking up every which way making it look even shorter than the chin length it currently was. She was wearing an oversized Metallica shirt that fell off one shoulder showing her lack of a bra, and Keith could probably guess there were no pants where he didn’t want his eyes to stray keeping them firmly trained on the blue of her eyes. “Allura?”
She grins, her face flushed as she unconsciously pushes the wrinkles out of the worn old shirt he knew he’d seen Shiro wearing a few hours before. “Hey, Keith. So… I burned dinner.” Looking to the side she scratched at the back of her head with an embarrassed chuckle.
Keith let out a snort of laughter, leaning his shoulder against the door frame. “Lost track of time again didn’t you?” Her blush grew deeper and he laughed more. “I know you don’t expect me to try and salvage it we both know everything I can cook comes from the freezer or a can.”
“Ah, no. I just wanted to let you know Shiro was out getting us a pizza. Hopefully he gets back before you have to leave for work.” She frowned for a minute as if the thought of him not eating troubled her.
“Well if that happens you’ll just have to bring it to me at Marmora.”
“Oh god if I do that i’ll have to feed all of you and you boys eat way too much. I may be well off but I’m not a billionaire Keith! You’ll eat me out of home!” She dramatically places a hand on her chest and they both burst out in laughter. After they calm down and she wipes a tear from her eyes she turns to leave.
“Oh, hey Allura?” She turns with a hum looking over at him. “If someone calls you asking about me can you make sure you make me sound good?” He looks nervously over at her, once again chewing on the ring in his lip. Feeling stupid for even bringing it up.
She smiles softly. “Of course Keith. I’d have to lie to tell them differently. But, why would someone be calling me? Are you looking for a new job? I thought you loved Kolivan’s place?”
Shaking his head he looked anywhere but at her. “It’s uh… actually for a new apartment.”
“What? Keith you know I’d never-“
“I know Allura. This is my home and no matter what it always will be. But, I was just thinking it might be nice to go one day without hearing you two christening every surface of the apartment I have to come into contact with.” He glanced over at her with the last part, grinning when he saw her turn a brilliant shade of red. “Besides, this just leaves you guys a room open for that kid you’re trying to have. So, good word?”
Allura nods. “Absolutely, Keith. Anything for you.”
He backed up back into his room shutting the door behind him and pulling his phone out of his pocket. He had two notifications: A text from Shiro apologizing for dinner and an email. Flipping open the email he grinned down at the words on his screen.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Keith,
You know Allura? She teaches my daughter’s dance classes. If she says you’re good you must be. A princess like her could never steer me wrong. I’ll ask her about you tomorrow when I see her. As long as everything checks out we can meet somewhere to see if we get along? Maybe bring the cats to make sure they won’t fight with each other? You can meet my daughter too. She’s very picky and ultimately has the final say in who we let move in after all. What do you think?
Lance.
Keith’s eyebrows raised in interest and he poked his head out of his room. “Hey, Allura?”
“Don’t yell across the apartment Keith, it’s rude.”
Pouting Keith shuffles out the door until he reaches the kitchen where he finds Allura scraping the burnt food into the trash can. “Better?”
“Much, now what can I help you with?” She gave a smug smile up at him before dropping the pan into a sink full of soapy bubbles.
“Do you know a man named Lance? You apparently teach his daughter dance lessons?” Keith fidgeted with the phone in his hand, pretending he didn’t notice the mischievous spark that crossed her features before she answered.
“Is this about that apartment?” He nodded and her grin only spread to something he knew he should be worried about. “Oh this is just perfect. I will make sure he likes you because you two will be just perfect together… living… living together.”
Keith frowned giving her a skeptical glare before sighing and typing in a reply to the email. Allura clearly likes this guy so what’s the worst that can happen?
Lance was nervous. He fidgeted with the leash in his hand as his leg bounced his eyes shifting from the playground where his daughter was playing over to the nearby parking lot. He should have ran the background check, shouldn’t have arranged a meeting yet. He was rushing into this just like he did with relationships. Maybe it wasn’t too late to cancel. But, Allura had spoken so highly of Keith, a glimmer in her eyes Lance had never seen before as she excitedly gushed about the man who was apparently roommates with her and her new husband. Lance had seen Allura’s husband, and if it were him he’d never keep his hands off that adonis of a man. So it’s no wonder Keith wants out. Must be awkward living with newlyweds. Yeah. Its cool. Allura said Keith is a good man and Lance believes her. No need to let anxiety freak him out. He’s got this.
A echoing rumble draws his mind back from his internal pep talk and he looks away from the playground again to the parking lot where someone had just stopped, settling a bright red motorcycle down on it’s kickstand before swinging his leg around to climb off. Lance frowns at the motorcycle then the man as he pulls his helmet off draping it over one of the handlebars. Lance swallowed hard taking in the long black hair, mussed from the helmet, and glints from what Lance assumed was multiple piercings he saw from the distance.
Please don’t be Keith.
The man reaches up to his red leather jacket, pulling on the zipper until something pops out, soon a large poof of a cat is hopping away from this man’s chest to sit on the motorcycle looking up at the man expectantly as he reaches out to unclasp the tiny helmet fitted to the cat’s head and carefully pull it away from it’s ears.
Oh no that’s cute.
With quick fingers the man yanked his hair up into a messy ponytail before scooping up the large ball of orange fluff settling it onto the grass with a quick scratch to its rear before standing up and looking around.
Oh god, please don’t be Keith. He looks like he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me if I said no.
Their eyes met and Lance felt the flush going up his neck as a bright smile split across the man’s face. He walked forward the cat walking proudly beside him on it’s glittery and bejeweled red leash. Lance forced his eyes away, trying to pretend he wasn’t staring as he looked up at the playground to watch Estela run over the bridge towards the biggest slide.
Please don’t be Keith. Please don’t be Keith. Plea-
“Well hello there beautiful.” Lance startled jumping up off the bench and turning to face the man who, unfortunately for Lance, was even cuter up close. From this distance Lance could easily make out the trail of piercings going up the man’s ear as well as the stud In his eyebrow and nose and the ring on the left side of his lip. He was kneeling down holding his hand out to Blue who sniffed at his fingers peeking out from fingerless gloves with interest. “It’s okay if I pet her, right?”
The man looked up, his violet eyes sparkling in the sunlight, his brows slowly furrowing the longer Lance stood without talking. Wishing he had a drink at that moment Lance nods, clearing his throat before forcing out a reply. “Yeah, yeah you can pet her. Blue is a lover not a biter.”
A smack against the back of his legs followed by a tug on his pants notified Lance of his curious daughter’s arrival, softly smiling back at her he reached around to pat her brown hair before looking back at the man who was cooing sweet words at the purring Blue as his cat simply sat at his side, curious brown eyes looking up at Lance. “Ah, so this is Blue. I was hoping I didn’t walk up to the wrong person. Strangers tend to not like tattooed motorcyclists waltzing up to them.” His head tilted down and to the side and the same soft face he had just been giving to Blue returned to his eyes as he looked at Estela. “Hey, my name’s Keith. I brought my cat Red here to hopefully play with yours. You see, she gets lonely and sometimes she just needs a friend. Is that okay with you?”
Oh!
Lance could feel the movement of his daughter’s slow nod against his leg as she shifted sightly more out from behind him. Keith beamed at Estela before sitting down fully in the grass scooping his cat up and placing it in front of Blue.
Estela you traitor. How am I supposed to say no if you like him?
Lance watched Keith as he nervously fidgeted with his sleeve, watching as the two cats stared each other down. Blue sniffed at Red with a look of interest as Red’s ears twitched back. Red raised a fluffy claw up and with a quick thwap smacked blue on the head. Blue’s ears pinned back and she lunged forward pinning the larger cat down. Both men jerked to stop them, freezing with their arms out when Blue started grooming Red and Red seemed to relax into it with defeat. Slowly the two men looked away from the cats, their eyes meeting before they both burst out into laughter.
When their laughter died down Lance noticed Estela had moved around his legs now her eyes shifting to glance at Keith then back at the two cats. Her fingers were tapping on her knees as she watched them before Keith spoke again. “You can pet her. She’s even softer than she looks.”
“No way!” Estela glared up at him, pointing a chubby finger in Red’s direction. “You’re a liar there’s no way she can be that soft!”
Keith waved a hand in the direction of the cats. “See for yourself.”
Estela crawled forward until she was directly in front of the cats and buried her fingers into the long orange fur. Her eyes lit up as Red looked at her with a soft purring meow. All the encouragement she seemed to need as she ran her hands along the tabby’s body. “She really is soft!!” Estela beamed looking first at Keith then over at Lance. “Daddy you gotta feel how soft this cat is!”
Lance flopped down in the grass, letting his daughter pull his hand into the soft fur of the cat in front of him. “Woah! It really is soft.”
“She likes baths, so it’s easy to make her fluffier.” Keith supplied watching them pet his cat. Nodding to himself Lance moved his hand away holding it out to Keith.
“Hi, I’m Lance. It’s nice to meet you.”
Keith’s eyes widen and he looks shocked at Lance’s hand before smiling up at him, taking his hand in his own. “Keith, and the pleasure is all mine.”
Before Lance can take in the light pink tint to Keith’s cheeks or the fact that they’re holding each other’s hands much longer than a polite hand shake should be Estela is jumping forward flinging her own tiny hand into Keith’s face. “I’m Estela Luna, I like your jewelry.”
Keith jumped as the tiny hand was jammed into his face, quickly looking away from the drowning blue of Lance’s eyes to the same somehow brighter blue of his daughter’s. Pulling his hand back from Lance’s with a little regret he chose not to think about he takes the small hand and lets the girl excitedly shake his whole arm. “Estela Luna, huh?” She hums her answer nodding quickly. “Do you like bats, Estela?” He glanced out of the corner of his eyes up at Lance, his heart melting at the flush blooming under the freckles on his cheeks.
Busted.
Estela yanked her hand back, nodding quickly as she flashed a toothy grin. “I love bats!! They’re like cute flying rats! Daddy wont let me have one as a pet but I’ll change his mind!”
Keith swallowed down his nerves and pulled his arms out of his coat, letting the wind brush over his bare skin. Holding his arm up he turned it wrist-up and out for Estela to see. “Look here, I like bats too. So much so that I have them drawn on me.” Estela lunged forward tiny fingers wrapping around his wrist to yank him forward, nearly toppling him on top of the two cats between them. She looked closely at the sleeve of ink on Keith’s arm, her eyes narrowed as she took in the tattoo. When she found the bats her eyes opened wide sparkling with excitement as she squealed yanking at his arm again.
“DADDY LOOK!!” Keith allowed the excited girl to yank his arm up into Lance’s face as she pressed her finger hard into the skin there. “HE’S GOT BATS ON HIS ARMS!!!” Nervous about being judged by his appearance Keith glanced over at Lance, watching as his eyes trailed up his arm until looking into his own.
Keith’s mouth felt dry. Lance’s face was flushed dark and it only made him more cute. I’m going to kill Allura. Keith felt his heart skip a beat as Lance smiled at him. Oh god this is a mistake. “So he does.” Lance’s eyes narrowed with the smile in a face that would haunt Keith’s dreams for the rest of his life. Oh god the things I’d do to see him look at me like that in private. “-ese crows?”
The press of a warm hand around his arm startled him out of his thoughts as a thumb brushed his skin. “I’m sorry. I zoned out for a minute there, what was that?”
Lance glanced up through the dark brown of his hair before looking back down at the arm in his hand, his thumb brushing over Keith’s skin again raising goosebumps. “I asked if these birds were crows.”
Keith watched the brush of Lance’s finger on his ink darkened skin. I’m going to die. “Uh no, I mean, kind of. They’re ravens. They’re like crows only… bigger?” He reached his other hand out to poke at the pictures on his arm. “There’s ravens, fruit bats, vampire bats, down here is a wolf but I like to think it’s a werewolf… um…” his description trailed off when he looked back up at Lance, confusion knitting his brows as he took in Lance’s wide eyes and open mouth. “Lance?”
“IS THAT A MERMAID????” Estela’s excited screech reminded Keith that the two men weren’t alone and were in fact in a very public park with a very excited… probably 4 year old between them. He turned a grin over to the girl who was staring with an expression nearly mirroring her father’s at Keith’s other arm.
“Yeah, yeah it is.” Keith pulled his arm away from Lance’s grip with only a small amount of sadness and moved to point at his oceanic arm. “See, there’s a mermaid, and a hippo, then down here is a lion fish, and over here is an octopus. There’s also a couple sharks and a bunch of rando-“
“You have sharks on your arm.” Lance’s expression still looked shocked as he looked down at Keith’s arm, he moved to point slowly naming them. “A hammerhead, this one is a sand tiger shark, this looks kind of like a frilled shark here, and down here I see a nurse shark and is this a chained catshark? How did you get all those details in such a small shark?”
“I uh…”Keith had never seen someone look so entranced by his tattoos, which made it even worse because Lance was also the most beautiful man he’d met in a long time. “Right uh. Kolivan is really good with putting details in tattoos. I guess that’s why he’s the leader of Marmora Tattoo and not me.” He laughs nervously trying and failing to look away from Lance’s face. “How did you know what types they all were?”
Estela shoved her way into the conversation with a proud grin. “Daddy is a shark shy en test.” She slowed down on the last part, brows coming together as she tried to remember how to pronounce it properly. “He works with the sharks at the aquarium!”
“Estela, you know Daddy is still in training. It’s an internship. I don’t even get paid.” Lance gives an apologetic look up at Keith. “I’m still technically working on my marine biology degree.”
“Color me impressed.” Keith grins. “I barely had the patience to graduate high school. Would have dropped out and just gotten my GED if not for Shiro and Allura keeping me in line.”
“DADDY I WANNA PLAY MERMAID!!” Both men jump this time looking down at the excitedly bouncing girl. “MERMAID MERMAID I WANNA PLAY MERMAID!”
“Okay honey, let’s play mermaid.” Lance stands up, brushing the grass and dirt from his jeans as Estela takes his hand.
“I’ll be the mermaid and you can be the evil shark! And Keith and the cats can be the inn-o-scent fish I have to save from you!!”
Keith raises a brow, pushing himself to his feet since he’s also been drug into their game. “What type of fish am I? So I can get into character, of course.”
Estela stops dragging her father towards the playground to think, tapping her finger against her chin. “You can be a kiss kiss fish!” Estela nods and points to the cats. “Blue will be a cuddle fish, and red can be a lobster!”
“Um… Starshine, maybe Keith can be a different fish?” Lance tries to reason with his daughter who only shakes her head with a whip of her long hair.
“Nope. He looks like Pout Pout when he’s frowning so that makes him a kiss kiss fish.” She turns to point at Keith giving him a stern child glare. “And I expect you to play the part well.” Keith looked down at the girl then back up to Lance, his eyes wide.
Today is the day I die.
Lance groaned, thumping his head against the tree he was hiding behind. This whole thing was going completely different than what he’d planned. He was supposed to be meeting with a nice boy and his normal cat to discuss normal apartment things. Not hiding behind a tree pretending to be a shark while his traitorous daughter runs around barely holding Blue up in her arms playing mermaid with a man Lance could previously only imagine in his wettest of dreams, a fluffy pampered cat perched on his shoulder like it’s nothing.
And he’s a kiss kiss fish.
Lance let out another frustrated groan, running his fingers through his hair and giving it a tug to try to refocus himself as he watched Keith scoop up Estela like she weighed nothing and plant a kiss on top of Blue’s head. “Okay Lance, no big deal he’s only kissing the cats. Its all good. You got this. You’re a big scary greater tiger shark. All the fish fear you, you are on the hunt for a delicious meal. God how delicious that meal would be… FOCUS! Okay! Shark time!”
With a quick slap to his cheeks Lance comes out from behind the tree, hunched over and arms in front of him ready to snatch his unsuspecting prey. He snuck closer quietly singing the jaws theme as he reached out to grab his excitable daughter. She squealed and scurried away with a shout “watch out everyone! It’s the evil shark wis-herd come to turn us into it’s fishy zombie slaves!!!”
Lance looked at Keith who had a brow raised at the new addition to Lance’s role. They both shrugged and Lance let out his most dramatic evil laugh. “Mwahahahahahah!! Soon mermaid princess you will be my slave!” He reached out to scoop up Blue giving her a quick boop to her nose before settling her down on the grass. “ONE DOWN! THREE TO GO!”
Estela squealed with excitement racing away to hide behind a bench as Lance reaches out to gently take Red from Keith’s shoulder and boop her nose. He gives the confused cat a few scratches behind it’s ear before settling it down on the lip of the nearby fountain. Keith turned from the cat giving his best evil grin as his eyes narrow in on his giggling child. With a wordless cry he rushes forward chasing the squealing girl through the park. Her squeals of delight only become more high pitched as he scoops her up into his arms with an exaggerated spin. “Noooo!!” She squeals as Lance’s finger draws closer to her tiny nose. “Kiss kiss!! Only you can save us now! Use your kisses to turn us good again!”
Lance boops his daughter’s nose before carefully placing the girl on his feet. Looking to Keith with challenge in his eyes. Keith smirks and Lance practically melts into a puddle in the grass. With his own look of challenge back Lance rushes for Keith startled when the man takes off at a quick speed easily reaching Red and planting a kiss on her head. Before Lance can even reach the fountain Keith has already scooped up Blue and smooched her cheek, now balancing both cats on his shoulders and barely slowing down as he moves in a wide arc towards Estela.
Lance lets out an exaggerated cry of no, falling to his knees and raising his hands in the air as Keith scoops up Estela softly placing a kiss on her chubby cheek. “You may have won this round Mermaid Princess!” Lance calls out to them. “But, next time I will have you under my evil power!”
“We can’t let the evil shark get away, Kiss Kiss! Hurry! Use your healing powers to make him good!” Both men freeze, wide eyes looking at Estela then each other. Lance can feel himself turning a dark shade of red.
Pushing himself to his feet Lance tried to reason with his daughtet. “Uh, Starshine. Maybe we should-“
“You’re right, Princess.” Keith’s voice was dripping promise that Lance should not be hearing in the middle of a public park in front of his three year old daughter. “Only I can save the evil shark.” He set Estela down softly on her feet patting her head before placing the two cats on either side of her. Lance swallowed hard as Keith turned his gaze to him.
“Quiznak.” He muttered before turning on his heels, slipping on the grass and scrambling away. He could hear Keith’s footprints coming up fast as he vaulted over a bench and wove through the trees, making sure to turn to run in a wide circle so he keeps Estela in his sight the whole time. He felt the brush of wind past his side and looked over in confusion as Keith runs past him, confident smirk on his face as he flashes Lance a wink and moves in front of him.
Before Lance can register what Keith was planning arms wrapped around his waist and lifted him easily off the ground easily shifting his startled weight to one side before settling Lance in a princess hold in his arms. Eyes wide and blush so deep he can feel it hot on his face Lance clings to Keith his heart beating rapidly as his breathing stops. Keith’s smile is soft but confident as he wags his brows once at Lance. “Hey there.”
Lance’s heart stutters his mouth going dry as he squeaks out “ H-hello.”
Estela squeals out an excited victory call and rushes over practically dragging the two cats behind her on their leashes. “NOW KISS HIM!”
The two men looked at each other, this close Lance could easily see the flush in Keith’s cheeks. “Sorry Mr. Shark. Gotta do what the princess asks.” After giving a quick wink Keith’s hold on Lance tightens and he pulls him closer. Going on instinct Lance leans forward, eyes drifting closed as soft lips press against the corner of his mouth. The kiss lingers for a moment before Keith pulls away setting Lance down on his feet and turning away. “There, now the shark will be our friend.”
“Good job Kiss Kiss! You’re my hero.”
“It was my pleasure to take such an important task from you princess.”
Lance scrubs as his face before turning to them. “Well! It’s getting late! We should head home for dinner.”
“Aww.” Estela pouts up at her father. “But daddy I like playing with Keith and Red!”
Lance smiles down at his daughter before looking up at Keith. “Yeah…” he says softly. “Me too.” He watches a smile spread slowly on Keith’s lips. “So it’s a good thing that he’ll be moving in with us soon! Right?”
Keith grins, looking down at Estela who looked hopeful up at him. “I’m off Thursday.”