Day Five: Haunted House
*
“And… there!” Lance sits back to admire his work. “Wow, you look really scary.”
The actor smiles at the makeup artist, thanking him before getting up to go get into costume. The Cuban smiles, dabbing his brush onto a cloth before sliding it into his makeup bag and zipping it shut. That had been his final actor. All of the people for the opening night of the haunted house were all made up and he was free to roam the park.
“It’s funny to me that you’ll do this, but you won’t watch Saw with me.”
Lance turns, looking over to see his boyfriend leaning on the doorframe of the dressing room. He smiles, looking over his beat up leather jacket and the braid Lance had managed to weave into his hair before his shift (with minimal grumbling, of course).
“There’s a difference between making people look like a monster and watching a movie about a psychopathic serial killer.” He quips.
“It’s still funny to me that you took a job at a haunted house. Of all places.” Keith snorts, pushing off the wall and walking over to help Lance with his bags. “You jump at shadows.”
“I’m creating these shadows. There’s a difference!”
“Uh huh,” Keith presses a kiss to his cheek. “Come on, let’s go. I lost a bet to Pidge and now she’s making me get my face painted.”
“I could do it.” Lance offers.
“Nah,” he shoulders the makeup bag. “She wants it to be embarrassing, and you’d make it pretty even if it was embarrassing.”
“This is true.” Lance laughs, taking Keith’s free hand and squeezing it. “Why do you have to get your face painted, anyway?”
The Korean’s cheeks heat up, his ears going slightly red. “You’ll laugh at me.”
“You lost a bet to Pidge, of course I’ll laugh at you.” He chuckles.
“Fair enough…” Keith grumbles. He chews on his lip for a moment before he huffs. “We went into the kids haunted house across the way, and… I got scared.”
“You… got scared?” Lance raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah, well… the deal was that we had to keep a straight face the whole time. And everything was fine! Until this kid bumped into me and I freaked out.”
The Cuban swallows a laugh. “And what was this kid dressed like?”
Keith deflates. “A puppy.”
“Sounds like you really deserve that face paint, babe.” Lance teases, swinging their arms. “C’mon, I wanna help pick what it is.”
“You guys are so mean to me!” Keith whines, trudging along beside him.
“Yeah, yeah.” He chuckles, leaning up and giving him a kiss. “You brought this on yourself. Let’s go.”
The two walk hand in hand toward their friends, the haunted house at their backs and Lance’s endless palettes of makeup and brushes clacking together in the bag. Keith grumbles about the injustice of unforeseen circumstances and backstabbing best friends. Lance tightens his fingers around Keith’s hand, smiling and shaking his head.
Oh man, if only Keith knew that Lance had taken this job so that Keith had an excuse to go to the scream park every night. He was pretty sure that his boyfriend might keel over from the sheer amount of joy. So Lance kept that little part to himself, simply enjoying Keith’s juvenile happiness at the proximity to his favorite holiday. It was well worth designing scary characters and painting them into existence every single night.
Klancetober Day Four: Rain
*
“Why?” Keith wails as he’s dragged from under the safe canopy and into the torrential downpour that had been tormenting his existence for the past two days.
“Because! It’s the cute couple thing to do when it rains for the first time and I for one am not going to be left out!” Lance trumpets, all too happy to yank his boyfriend into the mess that he had been trying to avoid.
Keith makes an indignant sort of whine, closing his eyes and hunching down into his shoulders. I love my boyfriend. I love my boyfriend. I love my boyfriend. This was the only thing that was going to get him through this; his unrelenting love for his boyfriend.
The things he did for this man.
Lance listens to his griping patiently, looking up at the sky and grinning when the water hit his cheeks. He looks over at Keith, who looked like the human equivalent of a drenched cat. Scowling, eyes narrowed to slits, metaphorical ears pinned flat to his head.
“Come on,” he pleads, flashing him a pout and puppy dog eyes. “Please? I’ve always wanted to be kissed in the rain.”
Keith gives him a torn, long suffering look before sighing and resigning himself to his fate. “Fiiiine.” He groans, taking Lance’s hand.
His boyfriend brightens, tugging him closer and pulling him into a kiss that was worthy of The Notebook or… whatever cheesy rom-com Lance liked to watch.
After a minute or so, Keith pulls away. “Can we go inside now?” He whines.
“Yes,” Lance laughs, letting himself be pulled back over to the safety of a building. Behind them, the rain picked up in speed, drenching everything thoroughly and increasing the amount of grump Keith was wallowing in. He was in for a long day.
Klancetober Day Three: Exploring Spooky Places
*
“It’ll be fun!” Keith had said.
“It isn’t even that scary!” Keith had said.
“I bet it isn’t even haunted.” Keith had said.
And then they had watched a scary movie about people getting killed in abandoned houses, and here they were! In an abandoned house that all the other kids in their high school claimed was haunted. Kids were dared to go here to “prove their strength” during the month of October. Keith hadn’t dragged him there for that - no, his boyfriend was one of the crazies who believed in that stuff. Keith was hoping to find a ghost.
It had been two hours and all they had found was a bullfrog (Lance had leapt into Keith’s arms with a screech of terror, much to his own chagrin) and a few tattered sheets that had given Lance heart palpitations upon seeing them.
“We should go upstairs.” Keith says, breaking their silence to look up at the stairs.
“No,” Lance shoots that down quick. There was no way in hell they were falling through the stairs or giving their lives over to the axe murderer that was likely lurking in the shadows up there. “No, we should not.”
Keith looks vaguely disappointed, getting up from the floor and brushing the dust from his jeans. “Well, I’m going upstairs.”
“Keith!” The Cuban scrambles to his feet.
“You don’t have to come,” his boyfriend gives him a confident, cheeky little smirk. “I’ll be back in a little while.”
With a kiss and a wink, Keith leaves Lance in his stunned, terrified silence. The stairs creak, but he takes them two at a time, leaving Lance in the suffocating darkness. Oh. Okay. This was fine. He clutches the flashlight to his chest. The only sound in the room was the sharp intake of his breath.
In all reality, the place wasn’t so bad. It was a beautiful home, Victorian style and still furnished. The whole place was boarded up and covered in a thick layer of dust. But there was something… unsettling about the atmosphere. Maybe it was just Lance’s paranoia and anxiety, but he felt like he was being watched.
With each second that passed, his panic grew and his throat felt tighter and tighter. Keith was not back yet. It had to have been an hour. He checks his phone. No, it had only been ten minutes. Maybe his phone was just… really, really slow. Yeah. That was it.
Not a second later, Keith bursts down the stairs, dust flying up around him and the slats of wood under his feet screeching their protest. “Go!” He shrieks, grabbing Lance’s hand and dragging him behind.
Panic spikes and he takes off after Keith, adrenaline coursing through his veins. The two race through the undisturbed sitting room, down the long entryway, and through the front door. They don’t stop until they’re back on the long country road and gasping for breath.
“What… was that?” Lance wheezes, looking up at his wild eyed, dust covered boyfriend. “What did you see?”
Keith leans over, putting his hands on his knees and breathing deeply. He straightens only when he catches his breath, looking up at him. “It… It was a bat.”
“A… bat?” Lance stares him in disbelief. “You got scared by… a bat.”
“I thought it was a ghost!” Keith huffs.
They stare at each other for a long moment before a hysterical laugh bubbles up in Lance throat and he doubles over, laughing hard without really knowing why. It seems the hysteria is infectious, because Keith follows suit not long after.
“Can we go home?” The Cuban asks once he’d calmed, lightheaded and tired from the amount of emotion he’d endured for the past few minutes. “I want a shower. And my bed.”
“God, yes.” Keith sighs, reaching over and taking his hand. “Please.”
“You’re an idiot.” Lance informs him, affectionate. “And if you ever drag me back there again, I’m locking you in to deal with the dust and the bats all night.”
“That’s fair.” Keith laughs. “Well, at least we know it isn’t haunted now.”
The Cuban looks back at the house, at the tall structure boarded up and aging and rotting down to the ground. “Who knows,” he hums. “Maybe it is.”
Before he turns away, Lance could swear he saw a person wave to them from the balcony of the house.
Klancetober Day Two: Autumn Leaves
So... I did fall behind. Midterms are coming up and I forgot about time management!
*
Keith steps back to survey his work, wiping a sleeved arm over his face to rid it of the sweat. He leans on his rake, smiling faintly at the massive pile of leaves he had managed to gather. It had taken him a couple hours, but the leaves were gathered and he could put them in the compost pile Lance was lovingly tending to, along with their garden.
“Cannonball!” Comes a happy shriek, moments before the pile of leaves he’d so carefully constructed went up with a puff of wind and a body falling heavily into the middle.
Keith stares at the leaves in disbelief, gaping. “Lance!” He whines, dropping the rake.
The perpetrator looks up at him with sparkling blue eyes, crumpled bits of leaves stuck to his hair and clothes, his grin mischievous and wide. “Oops,” he says.
“You- You did that on purpose!” Keith whines, stomping over and putting his hands on his hips to glower down at the Cuban.
“Did I?” He gasps, feigning surprise. “Oh, no, whatever will you do…”
“Now I have to start all over again!”
“Or…” Lance wiggles his eyebrows, reaching up and yanking on his hand, pulling him down. Keith falls with a yelp, landing on his boyfriend’s chest.
“You could stay here,” Lance finishes, pressing a sloppy kiss to his cheek and picking a leaf from his hair.
“But I just finished and now we’re ruining them…” He bemoans, closing his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah.” Lance grins, rolling over and pinning him in the leaves. Keith looked good like this; his ebony hair spilling over the red and gold and brown leaves, skin flushed from the cold, his lips holding the pout that his eyes matched with fond annoyance. “You really need to relax, babe.”
“But my leaves…”
“...Will be here all month.” He laughs, brushing his hair from his face and leaning down to give him a kiss. “Don’t worry,” he coos, “I’ll make it up to you later.”
Keith accepts the kiss with a huff, settling into his ruined pile of leaves to accept the affection given to him. “You better.” He mumbles, reaching up to brush bits of fallen leaves from Lance’s hair.
Lance ends up getting his way, and the two roll around the leaves, the wind picking them up and scattering them around the yard once more. Keith had the feeling his boyfriend was going to make a habit of this each time he pulled out the rake.
Oh well, he decides, it was a good way to lure Lance outside for some fresh air. If the fallen leaves were what it took, then he was happy for the chore.
Hello all! I’m participating in Klancetober, a klance-centric October prompt list. I’ll be posting at least one installment a day, but please have patience If I fall behind.
*
Day One: A Walk in the Park
It was finally cold enough to bundle up in warm clothes and drink warm pumpkin spice lattes and watch the leaves fall from the trees. It was finally, finally time to indulge in all the holiday feelings and the warm atmospheres. Even if that meant suffering through the Christmas section in every single store. Even if it was the first day of October.
Keith enjoyed the cooler weather. It was definitely better than the Arizona heat. He lived for the weather where all he needed was a light sweatshirt and jeans and beat up old sneakers. The heat was something he could permanently live without. But the cold? He would gladly live in the mountains, given the chance.
Lance, on the other hand… he had grown up in sunny, tropical Cuba. He hated the cold and took extra measures to keep himself bundled up and away from any semblance of chill. He bundled himself in scarves and fluffy coats and heavy boots and mittens. He looked like a colorful marshmallow in the winter, and Keith loved him for it.
Today, the first day with an overcast sky and the first day where it was ethically acceptable to put out orange fairy lights and spooky decorations in the front yard. Keith had watched fondly as Lance had wrapped himself in a hand-stitched scarf (courtesy of his mother; Keith had a matching one that Lance had pilfered for his own use) and a fluffy sweater.
“We’re only going to the park, you know.” Keith teases from his spot at the kitchen table, finishing off his cooling coffee.
Lance huffs, tying the scarf off into some sort of fashionable loop. “It’s cold! I don’t know how you’re only in jeans and a t-shirt.”
“I like it.” He chuckles, shaking his head. “Are you ready? You’re the one who wanted to go.”
“I know, I know.” The Cuban grumbles, sliding on his winter boots. “I’m ready. Let’s go see the leaves and stuff. Even if it is twenty below.”
“It’s sixty degrees, love.” Keith grins, getting up and sliding into his own shoes. “You won’t die of hypothermia just yet.”
“I’m gonna die,” Lance groans, reaching over and taking his boyfriend’s hand.
“You won’t.” Keith presses a kiss to his cheek. “Let’s go.”
The two walk out of the house, taking in the crisp, cold air and the sound of dried leaves scraping against the pavement as the breeze whisked them away. Keith swings their hands between them, smiling to himself.
If there was any sort of heaven to be had here on this earth, Keith was sure this was it. With a boyfriend bundled up in more layers than was necessary, holding his hand and listening to him chatter about the new fall related flavors his favorite cafe was introducing this week.
That, added with the serene calm of the autumn air, the clear path of the park by their house, and the leaves rustling in the breeze - this was heaven. Keith was sure of it.
“What’re you thinking about?” Lance asks, snapping him out of his reverie.
The Korean looks over at him with a smile, leaning over and kissing his cheek. “Just about how much I love you.”
His boyfriend flushes, smiling and tipping his head to the side. “Aww, babe. That’s gay.”
“I am so gay,” Keith laughs, tugging on his hand and kissing him.
“I love you.” Lance murmurs against his lips.
With a smile and a hand on his hip, he pulls back and looks up at his lovely boyfriend. “I love you, too.”