"Let's recap. I spent the last week following Keith around as much as physically possible." Lance said, his back to the power point presentation he had prepared. "Here's all we know." He moved to the first slide which showed Keith eating breakfast in the cafeteria. "Here we have our suspect eating at almost the same time every day. Now that isn't suspicious in and of itself, but I've never seen Keith eat alone that much. Usually Nathan is with him most days."
Lance knew he was stretching his conclusion, but he also had a gut feeling he was right about this. Following Keith around hadn't been hard, even if he got caught most of the time. He remembered earlier this morning when Keith had been eating across the hall from him, as far as physically possible, and Lance had taken the picture that was now on his slides. Hunk had been talking about that midterm that was coming up, but all Lance could focus on was Keith's extremely annoyed face. He had left only five minutes after arriving, eating his breakfast in record time.
He had followed him around on campus as well. This wasn't too hard because they had a bunch of classes in common. So basically Lance had tried to sit in a part of the room where he could observe Keith, which usually meant sitting in the back. Unfortunately, Keith had figured out his technique pretty early on and had sat on the farthest row for the rest of the week, making it impossible for Lance to see anything he was doing on his computer. He still turned his head towards him as much as he could, but Keith was pretty emotionless during class. Man was he boring to look at. If it weren't for his acceptable looks, I would have to clean my eyes with soap every night with how much I look at him.
All he could notice was that he seemed to take less notes than usual. Maybe that was just because Lance hadn't looked at Keith in class before, but when he did have a full view of his computer he realized his notes were rather sparse; at least compared to Lance's. He had then tried to follow him out of class, but Keith spent most of his time in his room or at the library, none of which brought anything interesting. Lance had tried to coax Nathan into helping his investigations, but he was met with a blunt refusal.
"Look, I know he looks a bit out of it, but that's just the shock, right? I don't see how it could be anything else. Besides, if he hasn't told me, then it's either not important, or he's just not ready to let it out." Nathan was usually a nice guy, and it didn't help Lance that he had had a slight crush on him the previous year. I mean, don't do to the gym everyday to swim and expect me not to have a crush. Nathan was slightly taller than Lance, Chinese from his mom's side and European from his dad's. Those genetics resulted in black hair and eyes, a defined jaw, and a tan look. Swimming had made his body lean and he was quite strong, contrarily to what Lance had first thought when he had met him.
"Can't you just, like, try to question him a little? Just to get a reaction? After all, he likes you more than he likes me, so I think he would open up to you more than he would to me." Lance said.
"He's my roommate, so I really don't want to upset him because then that'll fall back on me. You're on your own, mate!"
Hunk still thought he was nuts and Nathan had decided to not be of any help; so Lance had set out to capture as much as he could in photographs and illustrate Hunk his results on a power point presentation which he was now showing to his friend.
"Hunk, he hasn't said 'hi' to me all week! I even got a picture of him taking the stairs on purpose when we entered the building at the same time."
"He never says 'hi' to you, Lance. Can't you just get to the real evidence, you've been blabbing about for twenty minutes and I have stuff to do." Lance switched to the next slide which contained no pictures but instead a single word : shower.
"He hasn't complained about my singing in the shower. For a whole week. And I've been yelled at by pretty much everyone else."
"That's karma for you, but I do admit that Keith not publicly pointing out your immaturity and stupidity is surprising. Then again, he could just be having a tough week with classes or other stuff."
"What other stuff? It's common knowledge that Keith does his homework super early because he has no social life, and he's got no family that we know of so the problem can't come from there. Besides, he's always fought about my singing, even during finals; so your argument doesn't stand. There's definitely something fishy." And I'm going to prove it.
"What it looks like so far is that he's just been having a tough time. He's probably just really shocked by what happened to Allura. He was the one who found her, you remember? Wouldn't you be a little knocked off your feet if you saw a dead body before breakfast? I know I would." Hunk brought his hand to his mouth, his face growing suddenly pale. "I might be sick right now just thinking about it."
"It's been a week, Hunk. Even the most sensitive guy in the world would have grown out of it by now. Plus, it's not like Keith is . I don't think I've ever seen him express anything other than anger, disgust and contempt."
"Maybe to your face, but I've seen him smile a couple of times. I still don't get why you two just can't get along."
"I tried being nice, but he just laughed at me. And I don't trust a guy who wears a mullet, I mean, what kind of hairstyle is this? We are in the 21st century, it's time he moved on with everyone else." Lance didn't actually hate Keith, he just didn't believe they should be friends. In reality, he enjoyed his quarrels and competitions with the other boy, but he would die before he admitted it. Besides, their fights never got too out of hand and there was always Hunk or Shiro to break them up if need be.
"Whatever man, I think you're just wasting your breath here. You don't actually have any substantial evidence. And are you sure you know what a mullet is? Because Keith doesn't have one, his hair is just long."
"Keith's hairstyle is not really important right now, Hunk. And I will get evidence in phase two. Which starts now?"
"What was phase one? Because so far, you didn't seem to have much of a plan." Lance punched Hunk playfully in the shoulder, though he was slightly annoyed at his friend. He could always count on Hunk to bring him down to Earth when he became too obsessed with anything, but he was certain this time Keith was hiding something.
"Phase one was to convince you that I was right, and although you keep repeating to me that it failed, I will move on to phase two."
"Pray tell, Mr. Holmes, what your plan entails."
"We find a way to get Keith to confess."
"I'm sorry 'we'? I didn't agree to this."
"Yes you did, the moment you started listening to me. Now, I need your help coming up with a plan because so far I've got nothing." Lance continued to talk over Hunk's protests. "I thought I could offer to pay for his meals for a week, or maybe more. Or I could do a favor for him, but I've got my limits on this one. Like, if he asks me to stop singing in the shower for the rest of the term, I'm going to have to refuse. I may want to know what he is hiding, but not that desperately."
"You could always do his laundry for a month." Hunk proposed.
"Hell no! I don't want to look into what kind of underwear he has. They're probably all black anyway, I don't need to emotionally scar myself for this."
"Whatever floats your boat. You seem like you've got your ideas pretty figured out. I tried to help, you don't like my answer, and I have now fulfilled my duty. Please let me be."
Lance recognized Hunk when he started to use that tone and that meant he had had enough of Lance's shit for the day. He closed the power point on his computer and set out to find Keith. He had barely knocked on his door that it swung open and Nathan came out.
"Lance! What a peculiar sight, seeing you here! You're still not convinced Keith is hiding something, are you?"
"Are you denying he's acting weird? Has he told you?"
"Not weirder than usual, and no he hasn't talked much lately. Just give up man, this level of obsession isn't healthy." Lance discarded Nathan's advice and said:
"Is he in there? Can I talk to him?"
"No, he's gone out, and you can do whatever you want, I'm not his mother. But I wouldn't bother him if I were you; I don't think anyone on the floor wants the two of you to get into a fight so close to midterms. It's kind of a pain in the ass to have to study with you two yelling at three in the fucking morning." Nathan closed his door behind him and locked it. "See you around." He waved Lance goodbye and went to the elevator.
So no one else thinks this is suspicious? Am I just nuts or extra-perceptive? Probably the second one. Lance returned to his room, only to find Hunk deeply focused on math exercises. Better not bother him now, he'll be mad as hell. He checked his agenda and figured he still had a few more days of procrastination before he would need to really start studying. He fired up his computer and opened Facebook. Keith wasn't online, but that didn't come as surprise to him. (And yes they were Facebook friends, but in this day and age, who isn't ?) He opened a message window and typed out the following:
"I know you're hiding something, and I intend to find out. How about you tell me what's on your mind and I pay for your meals for a week?"
He hit send and waited for the answer. He opened another window and tried to do some practice questions for his biology class, but his mind was elsewhere. After twenty minutes of trying to learn the composition of a cell, he heard the familiar 'ding' that accompanied incoming messages. It was from Keith.
"I have no idea what you're talking about?"
"Maybe for two weeks then? Need a little more incentive?" Lance replied.
"Is that why you've been following me around? You think I have something to hide?"
"I don't hear a no…"
"No."
"No you don't have something to hide or no you won't accept two weeks of free meals in exchange for it."
"No to both, dipshit."
"No need to get violent, I'm just here to bargain."
"Fine, you want to bargain? How about you leave me alone in exchange for nothing."
"Ouch. Now I'm definitely sure you're hiding something. You've never tried this much to talk to me on social media."
Keith didn't reply, and a few seconds later he logged off Facebook. So much for trying to get information out of him. However, Lance wasn't discouraged. If Keith was on Facebook, it probably meant that he was back in his room. Lance rushed out to knock on Keith's door. A clear "fuck off!" was shouted from the other side.
"Come on, you can't ignore me forever."
"No, but you won't hold forever." Replied Keith's muffled voice. Lance hesitated to open the door and enter his room anyway, but he wasn't sure how Keith would react.
"At least let me in so we can have an adult conversation about this."
"You're about as much of an adult as a peach is a pear, Lance."
"Yeah well, you're about as stubborn as …. As…" Lance kicked the door, and received a loud "Can you just shut up!" from the room next to Keith's. Great comeback, Lance. "Just let me in, your neighbor's getting angry."
"If I open the door, you'll let me be?"
"Yes." Lance was prepared to do anything to not get his third strike with Shiro. They were friends, but that didn't mean much if your behavior annoyed everybody on the floor. The door to Keith's room swung open, and Lance didn't even wait for Keith to say anything to rush in and close it behind him.
"I didn't say you could come in!" Keith sat back on his bed, arms crossed over his chest. That was a lot easier than I thought.
"Yeah, but you don't seem too eager to kick me out either, so I'm going to take that as an invitation." Lance settled on Nathan's bed, scrutinizing Keith. "So, how about that secret?"
"What makes you think I have a secret anyway? I know you love to find any interesting tidbits about me and use them to humiliate me, but I don't see how this fits your regular pattern." Lance was a bit taken aback by Keith's calm tone.
"You've been acting strange all week, starting with Sunday. Everyone wants to make me believe you're just traumatized, but weirdly I don't see that happening."
"I'm glad to see you've got such a high esteem of my emotional maturity." Keith said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"I'm going to ignore your last comment. But come on, two weeks of free food!"
"I already said no. I don't have a secret, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you out of all people. Especially just for two mediocre weeks of free meals." Lance knew he should have probably ended the conversation now and left, but he was desperate.
"How about free laundry?" I can't believe I've sunk so low.
"And let you see my underwear? Are you nuts?"
"No, I'm Lance. Besides, I'm pretty sure they're all black." Keith suddenly rose from his bed and opened the door.
"Get out now, before I beat your fucking ass to the ground." Lance didn't want to argue so he got up and left, stepping out just in time for Keith to slam the door behind him. Well, that went terrible wrong.
He had nothing better to do now than actually try to get some work done, which proved harder than he had hoped for. His following attempts the next day were met with about the same responses from Keith. He thought he had reached the end of his wits, when he had one last idea on Tuesday night.
He had been singing in the shower when another person entered the shower area. Looking beneath his curtain, Lance recognized Keith's flip flops. He began to sing as loud and as obnoxiously as he could. After one full song and no response from the other, he asked:
"Why don't you complain about my singing anymore, Keith? Do you like it?" No answer came from the shower next to his, so he continued "I could go on for forever." Still no answer. "If you don't tell me your secret, I'll sing Lady Gaga all week." Finally an answer came:
"Do your worst."
Lance finished his shower soon after that, not even in the mood for a single tune. He reached his room with a single towel across his waist and found Hunk watching TV on his bed.
"Hunk, we have a code red!"
"What?" Hunk asked, removing his headphones.
"A code red! Keith didn't ask me to stop singing in the shower. He even said 'do your worst' when I threatened him with Lady Gaga! You have to admit he's up to something now."
"I won't admit anything, but this gives me an idea, so you can finally leave me alone with all this nonsense."
"Cut that nonsense crap and spit it out!"
"I don't think Keith said to do your worst because he didn't care. I think it was more of a challenge."
"Does it really matter? He's clearly guilty of something."
"Hear me out. What do you and Keith have in common?"
"We fight a lot? We complain about each other? We had a crush on the same guy last year? What are you getting at?"
"No, above all that, what is it that you and Keith can agree on?"
"Nothing. We can't even agree on who's the best at anyth…. Hunk, you big gassy genius! A competition!"
"If there's one thing you two can agree on, is that you love to one up the other. All the time. So I think the best way to get information out of Keith, if there is any to begin with, is to challenge him to a competition. Loser has to reveal his secret."
"But I don't have secrets to reveal!"
"Lance, did you not just hear me? If the plan works fine, Keith should be the one to confess."
"Ok then we have to pick something I know I can kick his ass at."
"Or not. Because if I were Keith and I had something to hide, I wouldn't risk it all on a game I knew I would probably lose on."
"Then how can I beat him at something he's best at? What is he even best at?"
"Don't you remember when he kicked your ass at Super Smash Bros the other week? You were pathetic, by the way."
"Hey! But I guess you're right. Also, there's no way I'm going to get good enough to be 100% sure I'll beat him."
"You might not be that sure you're going to win, but I can teach you how to get to a decent level where you at least stand a good enough chance. After all, I am the undefeated champion of the building." Lance rushed to hug his friend, forgetting for a moment that he was only clothed in a single towel that was slowly starting to slip from his waist. "Lance, can you get dressed before you thank me?"
"Sure thing, buddy. That's a genius idea, though!"
"Well I'm glad to say that at least one of us isn't completely stupid."
"Hey!" Lance said, changing into his pajamas as soon as Hunk had turned his back. "But you're right, I would have never come up with such an idea on my own. Now all there's left to do is convince mullet boy to do it."
"That might prove harder to do now since you've been annoying him for the past week and a half. And you have to stop saying he has a mullet."
"It's not my fault he's an unbreakable safe of emotions!" replied Lance, ignoring Hunk's comment.
"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night." Hunk put his headphones back on, signaling the conversation was over. "Training starts tomorrow and ends that day. I need to study after that."
