The Bad Bad World [Klance AU] [DISCONTINUED]

One

     Another day of school comes and goes for Keith, classes no different an experience from any other time. He walks through the city, briefly noting that the dark clouds have yet to part. Keith slides past the automatic doors and into the Center Grocery, everyone's favorite place for food. Despite the slogan, it appears to be pretty empty. Keith sighs in relief. That could mean an easy evening for work.
     After a quick trip to the back, Keith appears at the register in his green apron and black name tag. Few customers need assistance. All that do seem to talk in nothing but a whisper, perhaps muted by the gloomy pressure of the heavy skies. Keith had been right. It had been a very easy evening for work.
     Not bothering to remove his uniform, Keith closes up, walking out on to the street and popping his umbrella open towards the moonless sky. Outside, it seems brighter than it does during the day. Bright street lamps light paths down the sidewalks. Blinding LED lights advertise restaurants and bars galore.  He could go two ways.  One would take longer to arrive back at his apartment, but it would take him through a richer part of the city that always makes him feel safer.  The other is quite the short cut, yet the broken street lights and the run down buildings make Keith feel kind of unnerved.  Ah, well, forget security.  He's too tired to worry about safe neighborhoods; getting home quickly is his priority.
     Keith takes a left out of his work place.  Almost immediately, he finds himself on the somewhat familiar dark street way.  Everything is black but the off-gold light illuminating sections of the sidewalk.  That in itself is a change from the usual monochrome, which adds to the unsettling feeling in Keith's stomach.  It's quiet besides the far off sound of ambulance and police sirens, which is nothing but background noise in a large city such as Keith's.  The near silence is what makes it all the more shocking when a voice shouts, "Nunca te ame, de todos modos!" 
     After recovering from just about jumping out of his skin, Keith turns to the direction of the uproar.  Just in time, too.  A Latino boy that looks just about his age crashes into him head on, causing Keith to stumble back and drop his umbrella.  The ever sprinkling rain begins to prick lightly at his porcelain skin.  "U-Um..." Keith barely manages to stutter out, somehow unable to turn away to reach for his umbrella.  He looks back at the boy, swallowing thickly at the sight.  The golden streetlight shines like a halo over the stranger's bronze skin and the bruises that pepper it.  The light reflects the drops of rain running down his skin, and if Keith isn't mistaken, he sees the same kind of light reflected in water flowing from his eyes.  The Latino runs his hands through his short brown hair, muttering foreign curses under his breath.  Only then does he look up and become aware of Keith's existence.
     "Oh, uh..."  The Latino manages to smirk smugly, a bizarre mood swing that causes Keith to gawk.  "Sorry"-he looks at the black name tag still pinned to Keith's uniform-"Keith."  With that, he shoves Keith out of the way and takes off.  Keith falls hard onto the road.  He rubs his head, looking up with just enough time to see the bright headlights of a car mere feet away, accompanied by a loud honk.  He curses loudly, pushing himself up and grabbing his umbrella as he runs off.  He doesn't stop running until he makes it back to his apartment building.
     Keith stands in the lobby of the apartment, taking a moment to catch his breath.  He struggles with his umbrella to get it closed, as it seems to have suffered a fair deal during his little adventure.  He tries to piece together what even happened, only to shake his head and decide that sleeping it off might be best.  Keith clambers up the stairs to his own little apartment room.  He peels off his clothes, realizing just how soaked he ended up getting.  Shivering, he hurries to throw on clothes that might resemble pajamas and climbs into bed.  Keith is quick to sleep.
     Yet another day of school comes and goes for Keith, classes no different an experience from any other time. He walks through the city, briefly noting that the dark clouds have still yet to part. Keith slides past the automatic doors and into the Center Grocery, everyone's favorite place for food.  After work, he closes up, heading out onto the street and lifting his umbrella to the sky.  He's more than ready to go home, and he could go two ways.  This time, he goes right. 
     The week carries on just as well.  Nothing particularly exciting happens, though Keith is very sure that nothing could live up to whatever had happened just a few days ago.  He'd be sorely wrong.  Keith prepares for his last work shift of the week, still tying on his green work apron as he makes his way towards his station at the cash register.  As he gets closer, he hears someone, a customer, arguing loudly in fast Spanish with his coworker.  His coworker Lex is the only other person there around the same time as Keith, and lucky he is, because Lex is the only one of the two who can manage to speak with customers of other languages. 
     Lex's dark black-brown eyes light up in relief when he sees Keith, but Keith is a bit too distracted by the other guy to really notice.  "Oh, Keith, thank god you're here!  This guy is driving me insane-"
     The customer turns to face Keith, a familiar Latino face that he could hardly ever forget.  "Oh, hey, it's my buddy, Keith!"
     Lex gawks.  "You could speak English this whole time?!"
     Keith ignores him.  "You...!" he directs at the customer.  He groans, rubbing his face angrily.  Where was Keith even going with that?  Whatever.  Doesn't matter.  The events of that night involving this Latino were too hectic for Keith to want to think about.  "Okay, yes.  What's the issue here?"
     Lex explains it with a frustrated sigh.  "He's trying to purchase alcohol without an ID."
     Lex's frustrations are immediately rubbed off on Keith, who groans agitatedly.  "Look, buddy, that's against the law.  We can't sell alcohol unless you can provide evidence that you're old enough."
     The customer huffs.  "Oh, c'mon, Keith.  I thought you'd have my back on this!"
     Keith sneers, weirded out by how much this guy keeps using his name.  "Sorry, but that's how it works."
     The guy throws his hands up in defeat.  "Fine!  Don't take my money!  I'll just go buy liquor from across the street!"
     "It's still illegal," Keith retorts.  The customer glares at him one last time before stomping out the door.
     "Who was that?" Keith and Lex both ask each other at the same time.  They'd probably laugh, had they not just been dealing with a difficult customer.
     "Just some guy I ran into on the street.  I have no clue how he got a hold of my name," Keith sighs, leaving out basically all of the details. 
     "Ah, well," Lex starts, crossing his arms over his chest.  "This same guy came here just a few days ago, immediately yelling at me in Spanish about booze and cigarettes.  Stupid me to assume that he only spoke Spanish, I guess.  He's come in a couple of times since then, but I can usually shoo him out of here before you get here."
     Keith sighs.  "Well, hopefully that'll be the last of him.  You just go ahead and get home.  I should have the rest under control."  Lex nods his thanks, gathering his things and taking his leave.  Only one other customer comes between then and closing time, and it's nowhere near as big a deal as his last customer.  After that, Keith quietly closes up shop.  For once, it's not raining, and he takes the long way home once more.  Knowing that the next day brings the weekend, Keith sleeps deeply again that night.

A/N: Thanks so much to all of you who've tuned in to this story!  School is starting up again, so good luck to everyone with that!  Anyways, I wanted to thank a close friend of mine for helping with the Spanish bits.  I'll always put translations at the end here, so that way, you're moreso in the same boat as Keith with not knowing what Lance is saying. 

Nunca te ame, de todos modos! = I never loved you, anyway!

Thanks again, and see you next time! ;)