Wow, I was LITERALLY upset with myself for not being able to complete this before Thawed Hearts chapter 7... and by some miracle I finished this today... Wow... Magic

I hope you guys like this update!

I put this in Thawed Hearts chapter 6 but ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm lacking serious motivation issues with Garrison Academy and am officially counting this fanfiction as a side project. Thawed Hearts will be my main priority. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Garrison Academy won't be stopped, but it will have slower updates. I will work on this when I get a block for Thawed Hearts or something, which means even slower updates. I hope you guys can forgive me, I just don't have the energy to work on them both at the same time. Thawed Hearts is way better received and WAY more popular and also BNHA is an active fandom whereas VLD is kind of dying. I might not be as proud of this than when I started it, but I don't want to abandon it without an ending! I'm not letting this become an abandoned fic like so many others on this account.

Thanks for reading so far, and I hope you guys continue to enjoy this despite slower updates!

Lance

Lance was in the library that evening working on a paper while his phone was frantically going off. At first thought he thought it was his family; so he made a habit to check it every time it went off. He glanced down at it to only find it was Hunk. He would have put his phone down and on silent to focus, but it had him a bit worried. Hunk never texted this frantically.

It was hard to decipher what his texts were about – something about Pidge running out of the room as soon as he got back to the dorm. If there was anything that Lance knew well, it was that Hunk was a worrier; he worried about almost everything. About his mom being happy in her life, about Shay when she had things going on, about Lance and his family situation, especially about going away and leaving his mom behind when he came here. If there was anything that was clear – it's that Hunk was worried about Pidge, and why exactly he left the room.

Lance had no idea why Pidge would just run out. Something really bad must have happened, but it wasn't his place to ask any more about the situation than what Hunk was telling him already. But his focus shouldn't be on Pidge right now; he should be focused on Hunk.

There was a slim chance of him picking up, but Lance thought he would give calling Hunk a try anyways.

The phone rang, then rang again. Then oddly, Lance got sent to voicemail before the ringing ended. He tried Hunk again, but the same thing happened again. Hunk must really not want to talk out loud about what happened. A lot of thoughts swirled around in Lance's head – and that made it hard to focus on what exactly he was working on beforehand. He was so worried about his friends that it was hard to even remember what he was doing. First his family and now his friends; at this moment for Lance school was the least of his worries. But he needed to struggle through this stupid paper.

Leaving his phone on a vibrate just in case Hunk tried to reach him again, Lance slipped his phone into his pocket before once again starting to type words. Staring at his computer screen, it was really difficult to come up with the right words to put out onto the paper. This was foreign to Lance, who was always so used to being the best one possible when it came to writing. He ran his hand through his hair, letting out a sigh. Looking around, he saw so many students dedicated to their work. Lance had never been the hardest of workers in school, but he still got fairly good grades. He greatly envied the people who could just go ahead and get stuff done. He was never like that.

It was then Lance decided instead, that he was going to distract himself. He hadn't been able to let himself loose and create separate imaginary worlds for a while now since he came up with a concept for his novel; so Lance decided instead of writing his paper he would write some stories to jog his brain. He could add these to the blog too, something extra to add as his part between posts from the others.

The blog has been really coming along lately. He wasn't sure who kept track of it after they posted something, but Lance likes to sometimes go on there just to scroll through and stall some time before doing other things. Pidge definitely seemed like a master of posting, it was almost like he had run some kind of blog before. He posted about some science-y space things, something that Pidge seemed to talk about a lot. Figures, since that was the type of stuff his brother was doing. They must be close. Besides him, there are a couple posts from Hunk about some weird skinny pig care (Lance didn't understand his fascination on skinny pigs, even if Hunk owned one once in his lifetime) and one or two posts from Keith which Lance was even surprised that he had even done anything.

Lance hadn't attempted to talk to Keith in actual weeks. Since he walked in on Lance dancing around the room, he has been avoiding any contact of his roommate due to his partial embarrassment. That was most of the reason that Lance was in the library, hiding away. Even though Keith didn't care for him at all, Lance was trying to figure out why he still wanted to make a good impression. He also still doesn't know why he cares so much about what Keith thinks about him. It's a mystery. He could probably write a book on himself at this point: "The Unsolved Mystery of the Mind of Lance McClain".

Coming up with stories was one of Lance's favorite things to do, but it was a bit boring when he had no one to tell them to. He enjoyed the times at home when all of his siblings sat around him with wide eyes as he told them how Cara and Antonio beat the bad villain Korack and in the process found out who they truly were meant to be. For some reason that story brought his youngest sibling, Charo, to tears.

Writing stories also reminded him of home. He missed his home greatly; his siblings, his mom. He's heard about some of the things that have been going on but he just wants to be there for them. A lone son wishing for a perfect family, and that he could be there for them; sounds like a story that anyone could create off the top of their head. He could write a story like that too, but the sad reality was that Lance was living in it.

After spending a couple of more hours on small little drabbles for the blog, Lance decided that it was time to head back to the dorm. His energy level was running low and he felt like there was no way that the essay he had to do would get done at this rate. What harm could putting the paper off even more do? With a sigh, he closed his computer and slipped it into his case, before heading out of the library while slipping his headphones in his ears.

Keith

It was a peaceful evening in the dorm room. Well – Lance was out doing who knows what and Keith was alone; which is what makes It truly peaceful. It lets Keith be able to do whatever he wants without the annoyance of another person in the room. Keith liked that.

Not that he had anything really exciting to do. Homework, though it was mainly doing some sketches, was still extremely lame. But it had to get done, and Keith decided it would be best to be on top of things. He knew procrastination all too well and was trying to avoid it as much as possible. Besides, his scholarship would be on the line if he flunked. The orphanage adults and Shiro were nice enough to help him financially; he wouldn't want them paying any more. It wouldn't be fair to them, since they're nice enough to even help him. Keith wasn't exactly the model child in the orphanage. Maybe they just helped him out of pity – besides he was the only one his age that didn't get adopted away.

Since Lance was gone, Keith decided that it would be nice to not use his headphones for a while. He might not like Lance, but he wasn't an asshole roommate who competes with volume. Keith liked staying in his element with headphones anyways when his roommate was here. It was a good excuse to keep his ears covered and his mouth closed. But once and a while, he guessed, it was okay to let loose. To accompany his homework, he decided to play some soft smooth jazz. At this moment, it was the most relaxed Keith had been in a while, he realized. All the socializing with Pidge and now becoming familiar with Hunk; it was nice, but it also left him a bit uptight. He hadn't gotten a chance like this to unwind in forever.

Even though Keith didn't care for Lance all that much, he wondered where he was. It wasn't unlike him to be out of the room, however. Keith assumed that as the social butterfly he is, Lance, if not in class, was probably with some friends. Why was he wondering about Lance anyways? He didn't care. He tried to tune out these thoughts as he turned his attention back to his sketchbook, trying to get some art assignments done before Lance was around to see. But a though lingered in his mind – what if he was unfairly judging his roommate and he really wasn't bad?

He forced his focus back to his assignments. Keith preferred to draw people – so drawing inanimate objects was quite boring in his eyes. Drawing people made him feel like he was involved in life, unlike these simple objects that don't have a whole lot of personality. A pencil is just a straight stick and a computer – just a keyboard and a screen. There wasn't even anything interesting in his room – Lance didn't have anything hanging up on his side and Keith only has that one painting he did in the opening first year festivities, so there wasn't anything he would enjoy doing for this.

As soon as he went to start, he heard keys getting inserted into the room. He rolled his eyes, sighing. Of course Lance would come back as soon as he got started. It was too late to stop now, so Keith spotted something quick to practice sketching. Hopefully Lance wouldn't want to be too nosey, he didn't want to be badgered for his drawings or for people to spread that he could draw. Imagine all the requests would come his way. Keith did not like that thought.

Lance trailed in the door, seeming to be a little not himself. Keith looked up, accidentally locking eyes with the other as he took his headphones out. "Hey, hey Keith." Lance started. Locking eyes was a bad idea, but Keith couldn't just look away. He convinced himself that he would not interact with Lance, no matter what he may say. "Ya like jazz?"

Despite the finger guns, Keith also convinced himself that it would be better to roll his eyes and glance down to his work, determined to finish it and not communicate with Lance. "Oh come on Keith, I just made a great reference to the holy Bee Movie!"

"Never seen it. Don't care. You're annoying?" Keith mentioned, not bringing his eyes up from his paper, hoping that this new attempt at conversation would go away and Lance would turn around and listen to his own music or something like he was before he walked into the door. He imagined that Lance was probably pouting at this point, but he didn't care. Being a recluse in his room is good enough for him. He's already well acquainted to Pidge and Hunk, he didn't need to completely get along with Lance too.

"That painting, above your bed. Did you paint that?" After a couple of minutes Lance brought that up. This made Keith glance up, raising one of his eyebrows. He didn't know Lance even noticed the painting.

"Yeah, and what about it?"

"It's good." Lance mentioned, shrugging. For a brief moment, he just seemed curious. Not the annoying Lance that Keith knew him to be. He also seemed to be oddly calm, which totally threw Lance off. "I wouldn't expect you to be much of the creative type."

That made Keith actually chuckle. Him, not being creative? Art was pretty much the only thing that stayed constant through his life. But Lance didn't have to know that. "Well, maybe if you started a normal conversation with me, you'd know that." The words that came out of his mouth were a bit cruel, and the more Keith thought about the way he said that the more he regretted that coming out of his mouth.

"I know high energy doesn't swing with you and that you don't like me. I just want to be okay with you Keith. We don't have to be friends. But at least familiar and comfortable with people."

"No. No Lance wait." Keith sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry that came out wrong. I guess… I've been pretty unfair. And rude. I'm not used to your energy and I guess you…" he lowered his voice low. "I guess you seem to be not that… that bad."

Lance gasped, his eyes getting wide. "Did I hear you correctly? Keith Kogane? Saying I might not be that bad?" He was like a puppy; easily excitable, wanting to be liked by everyone around him. Keith was pretty sure he just made Lance's day, no matter what happened before he walked into the room. "Can you say it another time?"

"Too much, Lance. Don't cross the barrier." Keith warned, before shrugging. Maybe, just maybe he really had been judging Lance McClain unfairly for weeks. He figured he could at least give him a small chance.

Maybe, just maybe he could get along with Lance after all.