Chapter 1

Lance

My friends stood by me as we took our first steps through the gates leading to Garrison University. Keith, Pidge, and Hunk, to be exact. We had been through thick and thin together working our butts off night after night to get into this prestigious school together and it had all paid off. One of the best colleges on Earth and we were all going to it together. It was a dream come true! (That is, if a beautiful lady was also involved in it.)

"Lance? LANCE!" Hunk shouted, snapping me out of my beautiful woman daze. "Already taken a trip to wonderland? How about you do that after we get settled into our rooms."

Pidge adjusted her glasses, "Yeah. We can't lolly-gag around. We have class tomorrow and we aren't even set up yet!"

I looked over too Keith to see what he would say, but her just shrugged and looked off towards the school. Classic Keith.

"Don't worry! We'll be totally fine!" I told them, "Besides, it's just the first day and our classes don't start until around 10, so we'll have plenty of time in the morning."

Hunk sighed and said, "All I want is some grub. That was a long bus ride and now I'm hungry."

"Same here." Pidge agreed with our big friend, "We should drop everything off in our rooms and then go eat something."

Nodding, I said, "Alright. Keith, Hunk, and I are in the male dormitories, and Hunk and I are roommates, so we'll go get set up." I turned to Keith, "I'll text you once we're done so you can meet up with us. Sound cool?"

Keith shrugged again and closed his eyes, relaxed, "Yeah, sure, whatever."

"And Pidge," Hunk started, "I'll text you once we're done too."

"Sounds like a plan. I'm going to go now, since my short legs can't go as far as yours can." Pidge waved to us and made her way towards the girl's dormitory.

"Well, bye, I guess?" Keith tried to say, but Pidge had already gotten out of range. I was surprised Lance tried to say goodbye to her at all! He never talked much to anyone, even us, his best friends. Although I wouldn't consider him my best friend. Even "friend" was a stretch. He was so reclusive to us I didn't get to know him much, he just hung out with us senior year of high school and kind of stuck with us since then.

After an awkward silence Hunk decided we should probably head to the dorms, so Hunk pioneered ahead of us, leaving Keith and I next to each other following behind Hunk. Maybe now could be a good time for me to get to know Keith a bit more? Possibly, if Keith would even let me talk to him.

"So… How was your summer Keith?" I was being way too nice with that question. Keith just acted so… Carefree. It kind of sickened me. I needed to take it up a notch. "I bet you didn't do anything, since we're your only friends!"

Surprisingly, Keith wasn't mad at that sentence. Actually, he seemed happy! UGH! He infuriated me! "Wow. You're my friends?" Keith looked at me with shining eyes. In reality, he wasn't that infuriating. Actually, his cool brown eyes were nice to look at.

Did I just think that?

Oh God, now I'm staring at him…

Does he care if I am?

Of course he does! He's a… sane… person… and besides, no one likes another person staring at them!

"Uh… Lance? Are you okay? Is there… uh… something in my teeth?" Keith brought me back down to Earth.

I shook my head, "No, uh, it's nothing." I turned away, facing forward towards Hunk's back again. Why do I feel so hot? It's not uncomfortable talking to Keith usually. He makes the conversations awkward most of the time, so why did it feel so difficult to talk to him now?

Looking at Keith, I noticed he turned away from me and was looking off the other direction. There were tons of students sitting around and talking under trees and on benches. Big, low clouds hovered overhead and it was about noon. Good thing the clouds were there or else the sun would probably be unbearable, since it was a warm September day.

Like always, Keith was wearing his red jacket and a plain t-shirt underneath it. Today his pants were the same too. Jeans. Like always. Did he have a wardrobe consisting of the same outfit for everyday of the week or something? But to be honest I had the same outfit planned for every day of the week, so that wasn't much of a difference between us.

"That's pretty weird…" I accidently said out loud, not realizing it until Keith looked over at me with a questioning face.

"What is? You?" He replied.

Ooooo… That was a good one. What would I return with something as good as that? "No, um… I wasn't…" I tried to come up with something on the spot.

My fumbling with words caught Keith by surprise, making him smirk a little before hiding it after he realized he was smiling. "Whatever." He said before turning away from me again.

He… SMILED? Keith never did that! Not even at my best jokes! What did I say that made him act like that? Let's see… Was it really me skipping on my words that made him smile? That couldn't be it…

"Hey Lance?" Keith said. Oh God, what was he going to say? Did he finally figure out what was weird about my staring before? He continued, "Why do you wear the same clothes everyday? Do you wash them everyday or do you have other outfits?"

HE READ MY FLIPPING MIND. How could he… I found myself at a loss for words and staring at Keith yet again. "I… uh… could ask you the same thing! You wear the same stupid red jacket every single day!"

Looking forward, he plainly said, "I have a lot of the same outfits for every day of the week. It's not that strange."

Hunk stopped in front of us, right in front of the guy's dorms' door. There seemed to be three stories of rooms and people were bustling in and out with stuff for their rooms. Some of them even brought small furniture! I only packed my sets of clothes and some small knick-knacks I had from my place. Sharing a room with two other people didn't give me much space to put many things…

"We have made it!" Hunk shouted. Raising his hand in the air heroically like he was retelling a battle, he said, "After being stuck in high school, we have graduated to another world of torture and studying!" Getting quieter and leaning in to tell us something privately, he whispered, "That Pidge will hopefully help us with."

"Ha!" I laughed, "I never needed help with my homework!"

Keith scratched his head, "What? You always needed her help. I'm surprised you passed high school with a passing grade."

Infuriated, I wanted to shoot back at him, but Hunk ignored our slight side conversation entirely. "Better get settled in then! Since Lance and I are bunking together this semester, we'll be heading off to our room. Wish you luck with your roommate Keith!"

And I was yanked unexpectedly by Hunk and dragged into the Dorms, leaving Keith dumbfounded at what had just happened and standing by himself in front of the Dorms.

Sometimes Keith could be a little too… Blatant. But somehow… I kind of found it cool?

Hunk and I were located on the second floor, a few rooms away from the stairs, which gave us easy access to the campus grounds and main courtyard. The male dormitories were located next to the science building and the mess hall, which made Hunk believe it was a sign from God himself. (Hunk was maybe a little too crazy for food, but I didn't judge.)

The room was small, and two twin-sized beds beckoned for us to put our things on them. I didn't think too much of it, but as soon as Hunk stepped through the door he shouted, "OH MY GOSH THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!" and 'hunk'ered down on the bed. Get it? Eh? Eh? I know, you can't resist me, not many can.

"Well, it is a nice upgrade from sharing a room with two people. Now I only share it with one." And I flopped down my stuff onto the bed Hunk hadn't claimed.

"Yeah?" He responded whilst unpacking his stuff. "I suppose, since your family is, like, crazy big."

I nodded, "I already miss them a little. Is that weird?"

"Nah." He told me, turning around and placing a hand on my shoulder. "They probably are missing you too."

Giving him a smile, I turned back to my suitcase and emptied my things out. I took hangers from in the closet and hung my several jackets on the rack inside. There was also a shelf on the inside, so I put my bag of shampoo and soap on it. Needed that for the showers. I unpacked a family portrait as well, and then set on a small end table that sat next to my bed.

Taking the sheets I had in my bag out, I fitted my bed with them and heaved a sigh of relief. I was moving on up in the world, and being that I was training to work in space, I wouldn't be moving up in the world, but instead moving off of it.

Hunk and Pidge were going into the same field that I was, so we'd hopefully work side by side together in the future. Garrison University was known for its space training and science programs, so that was the main reason why we enrolled here. As for Keith… I didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. Something about Keith had always interested me, but I could never quite figure it out. That's why I wanted to get to know him better.

Well, not quite the only reason I wanted to learn more about him, I mean, Keith was an enigma to me! I barely knew anything about him! All I knew was he was a loner through most of high school before he met us, and even then he kept himself mostly separated from the three of us. He'd never really talked and we had to openly start a conversation with him to get anything out of him. He never carried a conversation though, and made everything awkward by giving quick one-line responses and seamlessly ending the conversation.

Maybe I could try talking to him more? Inviting him to hang out sometime? What did Keith even like to do? Gah! To learn what he liked, I would need to get to know him! This was a multi-step process and the steps were only growing!

This is why I stuck with my main three friends and didn't talk to many people. Too much friend building involved. And making friends needed tender care, like, twenty-four seven. Did I really just use 'tender care' in a sentence? Oh no, I can't be growing soft. Not like Keith! His mellowness is rubbing off on me now! I should just keep things the way they were, Keith not talking and me ignoring him. Simple enough, right?

"Alright!" Hunk interrupted my train of thought, "I think I'm done now. Wanna text Keith and tell him we're ready?"

I thought about the complications for a second, but then my suave managed to take over. Nothing would happen! Everything would stay perfectly fine and nothing would go wrong! "Sure." I replied, whipping out my phone and sending Keith a quick text.

Lance:We r done. Where do u wanna meet?

"We gotta wait for where Keith wants us to meet up first. Texting him now." I told Hunk. He replied with thumbs up and I returned to my phone as Keith's text tone played. It was literally just three low notes on a scale, like Keith's actual social standings. Low.

Keith: Right outside? My room wouldn't be much to look at.

I replied right away,

Lance: Ours isn't either. Just my jackets and shirts that r the same for every day of the week.

He came back pretty fast as well,

Keith: U wear the same outfits every day too? Cool. See u there.

I shut off my phone and told Hunk where we were meeting Keith. He approved of it and told Pidge to meet us there. She agreed it was a good place as well and we headed out to meet up with everybody.