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Lance had explained the directions to the game in a simple way, his words coming out easy but occasionally interrupted by the high whistle of his front tooth missing. Lance had said the tooth would come in really quick, but in the meantime he showed Keith how to shove a green bean into his mouth through the hole and cut it with his bottom teeth.
"It's called a guillotine," Lance had said, that same whistle punctuating his s. He said the word hesitantly, the syllables heavy on his tongue but Keith repeated it the same (incorrect) way that Lance had said it.
The rules of the game were simple. Lance had told Keith to eat watermelon slices and spit out each seed into a bowl. Lance had grabbed this bowl from the kitchen cabinet, precariously perched upon the counter while his wild hands had reached for it. Keith had wanted to yell out in anxiety for him to get down because it was dangerous and ask his sister to get it for them, but he swallowed the words in the face of being brave.
Lance had also crouched down to grab them each a Paw Patrol napkin from the low cabinet. Lance almost hits his head when he pulls his head out of the cabinet, but he narrowly avoids it like he's been scolded for that before.
Once everything was set up, Lance had immediately grabbed a watermelon slice, biting down viciously on the triangle and sorting through the flesh with his tongue. Keith saw his eyes widen and he spit out the seed into the bowl.
"Come on Keith, hurry up!" Lance coaxed. That same missing tooth made the th in his name sound far more pronounced. Keith loved hearing Lance say his name, the simple sound of Lance acknowledging him bringing a smile to his face. Lance grabbed a watermelon slice and shoving it in Keith's hands. Keith immediately copied Lance, eating the watermelon far too fast for enjoyment and spitting out every seed he came across.
He'd swallowed one and told Lance of that fact, smiling at the fact that he was foolish enough to not feel it before swallowing and letting it into his stomach. Lance had gasped and screeched at Keith that he was going to have a plant grow in his stomach and up his throat.
Keith rolled his eyes and said that idea was stupid. Plants needed water to grow.
"Where do you think all the water you drink goes, stupid?" Lance giggled. Keith knew the name was mean, but somehow Lance had made it seem endearing.
They had both had a slice and a half before Lance said to stop and divide the seeds in half.
There were eleven seeds in total, and Lance claims the one extra. Keith had five on his Paw Patrol napkin and Lance had six. Keith took note of the fact that these were each of their ages respectively. It made perfect sense.
Lance told Keith exactly what to do– line each of the seeds up on his napkin, and name each one of them as someone he has a crush on. Keith doesn't even know how he's meant to name every one of them, he doesn't even have two crushes to begin with.
"An' right after you name them, you have to put them on your forehead and remember each of the names. And then whichever one that lasts the longest is your soulmate."
Lance had separated the word soulmate into two separate words, leaving a gap between each word like he wasn't quite sure how to say it in the first place. Keith didn't even know what the word meant. He'd said as much.
"It means the person you're in love for your whole life. Like the person you marry and stuff," Lance had explained. He seemed prideful at the fact that he knew a word Keith didn't. He knew a lot of words Keith didn't, he was far smarter in that way. Keith just didn't always tell him because he didn't want to seem stupid.
Keith began naming each of the seeds.
He named two based girls he saw in class. He guessed they're pretty, with how one of them always wore two perfect braids in her blonde hair. It made Keith want to pull on them, but not even in the mean way. The other had big boots that Keith envied and wanted to steal off her feet. If she was his soulmate, they could definitely trade shoes.
He named the third after Lance's older sister. She was two years older than Lance himself, and yet she looked exactly like him. She had longer hair, but the same big blue eyes. Keith liked the way her hair fell and he liked how smart she was.
Keith named the fourth after a girl from a cartoon both he and Lance liked. She wasn't real, sure, but that was fine. He liked her anyway.
When Keith reached the fifth seed, he was stuck on who to name it after. There were no other girls he liked. But if they were talking about people he liked then there was one other person. He didn't like Lance like a girl would, but he wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. He wanted them to be best friends forever. They didn't have to get married for them to be soulmates, right?
He named the fifth seed Lance privately, and quickly stuck all of them to his forehead.
They all stuck for a solid three seconds, but the fourth seed fell first. It hit and ricocheted on the floor, speeding across the hardwood before it hit its stop underneath the cabinets.
The second seed to fall was the one named after Lance's sister. It fell quickly after the first to fall, but this time scattered underneath the dining table. Keith could see it, it was gleaming black, basking in sun from where the window let golden light spill in.
The third seed to fall was the one named after the girl with blonde braids. It got caught on his cheek like a tear before it met the ground where the others lay.
The fourth and final seed to hit the ground was the one named after the girl with boots. It stuck on there for a while, but was no match for the fifth seed.
That left Lance, pressed into and stuck to his forehead. No matter how many seconds passed, it seemed to endlessly cling to his skin like a tick.
The real Lance, not the seed, looked up at Keith with gleaming and excited eyes. Lance's forehead was clear, all of his seeds must have fallen.
"Now you know your soulmate! What's her name, what's her name, tell me!" Lance was almost jumping up and down in excitement. Keith was scared for a moment. He couldn't tell Lance that he'd named a seed after him.
"I can't tell you otherwise it's gonna jinx it," Keith stuck out his tongue. Lance had pouted and rolled his eyes, but accepted the logic.
"Well what's yours?" Keith asked, trying not to let his prying curiosity show. If his soulmate was Lance, but Lance's was somebody else, that couldn't be good. That probably meant that he wanted to marry Lance but Lance was married to someone else.
"Well I can't tell you or it's gonna jinx it!" Lance exclaimed. Keith had pouted just the same, letting his eyebrows scrunch up in frustration. Only when this happened did his seed fall off of his forehead.
Keith bent down to pick the Lance seed up when Lance tells him to not bother picking up. Keith asked Lance if they should clean up, Lance just shrugged.
"The dog can eat it," Lance smiled with his teeth, showing off that same big gap in his top row. His teeth were slightly yellow, a result of childhood negligence and disgust at brushing teeth. Keith's, at the time, had the same hue.
"But won't a plant grow in his stomach?"
"Yes, and that means we can get a new dog," Lance said with excitement. Keith had looked at him in horror at the idea, he actually quite liked Lance's dog.
Even at Lance's insistence that Keith didn't have to clean up, he picked up the Lance seed and tucked it into his pocket as a good omen.
Maybe someday they would get married and spend the rest of their life together. Keith hoped it could be exactly like every summer they'd spent together now, when Keith would ask his mom if he could cross the street to Lance's house. Sometimes, Lance would come over to his place. They would occasionally play with Shiro or some of Lance's siblings, but Keith much preferred it when it was just him and Lance together. He liked it best when it was just them climbing trees, just them making forts or watching TV and playing games together.
Later, he swallowed the Lance seed with water like a pill and hoped a Lance plant would grow into his mind.