Hidden Messages [Klance AU]

8: New Discoveries

Finally the mer but the piece off the fork. The fluffy texture and sweet flavors filled his mouth. His eyes widened; he'd never tasted so much flavor before. In Altea they only really ate fish and other seafood, along with types of sea-plants sometimes to add flavor. But never anything like this. He happily ate the rest of the pancake within a minute.

"So I'm assuming you liked it?" Keith asked.

"Liked it?!" Lance exclaimed, "I loved it! ¡Son deliciosos!" Lance smiled, taking another pancake from off the stove. He squeaked a bit when he realized how hot it was, which led to Keith giving him the awkward, confused look he'd been getting a lot. Keith sighed before looking at Lance again, his eyes now serious.

"So, Lance..." he started, "Are you going to tell me what happened to you? Why you suddenly showed up in the middle of the night, why you don't have any clothes, and why you don't seem to know a single life skill?" Lance stayed quiet, not knowing how to answer that question without giving himself away. Keith was right; Lance knew next to nothing about being a human, so of course he didn't know of any excuses that would make sense in this situation. Keith seemed to get a message from Lance's silence.

"...Do you— do you not know why?" Keith questioned. Lance figured that could lead to a solid explanation, and he simply nodded yes. The black-haired boy was silent for a moment. "So, you have amnesia? Do you remember anything?" Lance thought of something to say. He didn't know what "amnesia" was, but figured it had something to do with Keith's following question, if he remembered anything. He decided to go off of what he knew about humans.

"I, uh..." Lance began, choosing his next words wisely. "I was... in a shipwreck— yeah. I found myself here after getting washed up on the beach, and couldn't remember anything from before that."

"You spoke Spanish. You remembered that?"

"Yeah, my whole family speaks Spanish," Lance commented, then realized his mistake, and gasped dramatically. "I remembered Spanish!"

Keith stared at Lance with no expression. "Okay... So, do you not remember anything else? Where you live, maybe where your family or someone you know could be?" Lance shook his head, nope. Huh, Keith thought, He remembers his name, and other specific things, but nothing else...

"Okay, I guess... if- if you really need a place to stay, I guess you could stay here, for a bit..."

Lance smiled and took Keith's hands in his, "I'd really like that. Thank you, Keith."

"N-no problem."

A moment later he cleared his throat and turned back to his pancakes. "W-well, I have to go to work today, so you should probably come with me," Keith told Lance. He didn't quite trust him yet, so he didn't want the strange boy wandering around his house alone. "Colleen probably won't mind," he added, mostly for himself.

Lance didn't know who "Colleen" was, but he was interested to find out what a human job was like. The two boys got dressed, and twenty minutes later they were ready to go. Lance walked out with a pair of shorts he found, along with a blue sleeveless top(he wore light clothes, as the mer wasn't quite used to clothes yet). They left the house in a silence that wasn't comfortable nor awkward, but somewhere in between.

"So," Keith started, looking down, "What's with that bandage on your leg? Last night I saw blood seeping through it, it looks bad..." He wasn't going to mention it, but he also saw the small cuts still present on Lance's legs.

"Oh, I- um, cut myself against a rock, after the crash. I somehow had bandages on me, so I used those to wrap it."

They continued in small talk, Keith asking Lance lots of questions, and Lance trying his best to come up with answers. The latter also found out more about human jobs, and agreed that he would look for one while Keith was at work. They split ways upon entering the town. Lance began to wander aimlessly, going from shop to shop, searching for a place that had an opening. After what seemed like hours of "sorry's," "we don't have an opening," and "no's," he stumbled across a place called Alfor's Liquor Bar. Being tired and bored of job-searching, he walked into the bar and ordered a drink. He sighed, collapsing over the counter, enjoying the sound of music in his ears.

"What's wrong, mate?" Lance heard someone say beside him. He looked up to see a dark-skinned man, with white hair that fell over his face along with a small tuft of a beard on his chin. Under his eyes were two faded v-shaped marks, that could have almost resembled an Altean's; but no, of course they weren't.

"I'm- uh- I'm just tired," Lance replied, taken aback by the sudden conversation.

"From what?"

"Just—" Lance sighed, "I've been looking for a job all day, with no success. It's hopeless." He groaned.

"Looking for a job, you say?" The man said, running a hand through his beard(if you could even call it that). "I happen to be in need of a bartender. Business has been busy lately, and James here has been working like crazy," he gestured to the man beside him, who smiled sheepishly, "We could use some help." Lance gave the man a strange look.

"Oh, right! I own this bar. My name is Alfor Altea." Lance froze. Altea? How could this man have the name of his home?

"Oh- ok. Uhm," Lance gathered his thoughts together, trying to ignore the ironic name the man carried, "You— you have a job open?"

"Can you make drinks and clean glasses?"

"I suppose so." Alfor smiled.

"Well then, you're hired!" Lance smiled, surprised on how easy this was. When they talked about it, Keith had made it seem like a long and slow process to get a job.

"Uh, Alfor, don't you have to interview someone before you hire them?" The bartender asked, his brown hair swaying in front of his face.

"Typically, yes. But this fellow seems pretty trustworthy, don't you think? And we do really need the help." The bartender served a drink to a customer, then turned to Lance.

"Okay then. What's your name, stranger? I've never seen you 'round here."

"I'm Lance. Lance McClain."

"Well then, welcome to the team, McClain. I'm James Griffin." He held out a hand, which Lance shook with both hands, earning a strange look from the former.

"Thanks," Lance replied happily.

"Okay," Alfor interrupted. "James, you'll show Lance what to do, yeah?" James nodded, "Good, thank you." The man turned away from them, heading off to who knows where. James handed Lance an apron and white name tag that he'd just written "Lance" on in blocky letters.

Lance smiled to himself as his new coworker showed him where things were, and what he would do during shifts. Maybe I've found a way to fit in here after all.

A/N:

Hey guys! So sorry this chapter took so long to get out, I was really busy, with school ending soon and everything. Either way, hope y'all enjoyed it! See you soon! <3

- Soni