klancepride with cal

day 20- the movies

"We're all out of tickets for Beauty and the Beast," the bored movie theater employee monotoned.

Keith looked at Lance nervously. "What do you want to watch instead?"

Lance shrugged, bumping Keith's arm lightly with his own. "You choose. I'm not picky."

The raven-haired teen looked up at the movie listing and scanned through the titles, grinning a little before requesting, "Two for Hereditary, please."

Fuck. The scariest movie playing. Keith turned to look at Lance excitedly. "I've been wanting to see it for a while." His expression suddenly turned to one of concern. "Is that okay? Do you like horror movies?"

Lance swallowed hard. No. "Yeah, sure, that's fine."

The excited smile returned to Keith's lips and he slid the cashier a few bills, taking the two tickets in return. "Sweet."

The two teens walked into the movie theater together, stopping by the concession stand to grab a large bucket of popcorn and slushies. Keith slipped his hand gently into Lance's as they walked towards the assigned theater, making Lance's heart jump and cheeks heat up.

Keith's hand was a tether. An anchor. It meant that they were going into this shitshow together, that he wouldn't leave Lance to defend himself from the terror himself. Keith's palm was soft and warm and a little sweaty, but Lance wanted to hold it to his chest and kiss each of the knuckles of the pale hand he held.

You'll be okay. Just close your eyes if you get scared.

That strategy worked for the first 15 minutes of the movie and then failed when a particularly suspenseful scene ended in a jump scare and Lance squeezed Keith's hand so hard Keith winced.

"Sorry," Lance said guiltily, pulling his hand from Keith's to keep from hurting him again. He folded his hands neatly in his lap, then thought better of it and gripped the armrests instead. Keith had a different plan, though.

He carefully took one of Lance's hands in his own and kissed Lance's palm, making him make eye contact. "Is this too much for you?"

"No, it's fine, really."

"Don't lie to me, McClain- you bite your lip when you do."

Lance shook his head. "Really, it's okay. You wanted to see this movie."

"I wanted to see a movie with you."

"I'm here."

"You're not a horror person, eh?"

Lance turned away, trying to block out the creepy music coming from the movie. Slowly, sheepishly, he shook his head. "I'm sorry, I ruined the date, didn't I?"

Keith swiftly brought his hands up to cup Lance's cheeks. He kissed him softly, first on the nose, then on his slightly-parted lips. "Never say that again, McClain. You didn't ruin anything."

Lance wasn't even paying attention to the movie anymore.

"Let's go get tickets for another one, how's that?"

"Are you sure?" Lance asked, feeling guilty.

Keith kissed him again. "I'm sure."