Chapter 1 - meeting the band
Lance had friends (a lot of them) and he always had a busy schedule of meeting up, shopping trips and house parties. So, when he discovered he had a free Saturday night one weekend at the start of summer, it surprised both him and his best friend Hunk that he hadn't already been snatched up.
"Any idea what you want to do yet? My mom's game night offer is still on the cards y'know"
Lance let his head bend back over the arm of the sofa he was so graciously hogging as Hunk was sifting through games in the McClain's basement. "C'mon Hunky, isn't your mum fed up of me yet?" he smiled. Hunk and lance had been friends since they were eight- riding bikes down to the stream together, spending endless nights at each other's houses. Rosa McClain had enough trouble with Lance and his 4 siblings already but welcomed Hunk as one of their family (as Hunk's mom had done for Lance). They were truly inseparable.
"Dude, you already know she loves when you come around. To be honest I think she would prefer you to be her son"
"Dude she loves you more, Hunky Munky" Lance teased Hunk with his mom's chosen nickname.
"Really Lancey?"
Both boys had been subjected to Hunk's mom's nicknames since they became best friends, a truly unfortunate side effect in Hunk's eyes (in reality both boys loved it when she fawned over them, her cookies were the best)
"Look, do you remember Pidge? My friend from middle school?" Hunk stood up, as Lance caught interest and swiveled from his lounging position on the sofa.
"Yeah. Short with those huge glasses, right? I remember her…it's been a while" Lance replied, grabbing an M'n'M from the bowl on table, courtesy of Rosa and her impeccable candy taste.
"Well, she's a got few friends, they're in a band and they're practicing round hers tonight. She invited me round; after they play, we were just going to hang and have a couple drinks and chill. I told her that I'd probably be with you but if you want, I can ask if you can come too."
Lance jumped up and threw his hands above his head "Well why didn't you tell me about this sooner!" he grabbed a random game off the shelf and put it into the Xbox muttering about how they'd never play anything at the pace Hunk was going. He pulled Hunk down onto the sofa, smiling and handing him a game controller as he booted up the racing game. "So, who's in the band then? Any hot chicks? They any good?" Lance asked, flapping his right hand around as they waited through the loading screen.
"As far as I'm aware, Pidge is the only single girl there" Hunk scoffed playfully "Sorry loverboy, no girls to bring home tonight" He said, elbowing Lance as he started to chuckle. "From what she's told me it's her playing the bass, her brother Matt on drums, this dude Shiro that has the voice of a Greek god" he turned to Lance "Her words not mine... he sings and does whatever, oh and this dude Keith on guitar. Apparently, he's a whiz at it and they've already had a few gigs down at the bar; you missed the last one when you went to that party with Emma" He teased, driving his finger into Lance's side and laughing.
"Dude she was smoking hot! How could I not?" He screamed, laughing along until his player crashed into the course "C'mon man! You cheated! You made me crash!" he sank back into the sofa and put his controller next to him as Hunk picked up his phone, scrolling through recent messages and Lance couldn't help but spot the heart emoji under Shay's name and chuckled to himself. Knew it.
"So, is that a yes for meeting with Pidge and the others? We won't be the only non-band members their either, Shiro's girlfriend will be coming, along with Matt's friend Nyma" Hunk asked, opening their messages and beginning to type.
"Yeah, sure dude. It'll be more fun than moping around her with my demon siblings."
"Laaaaaaaaance" Both boys heard Lance's little brother Benji storm down the basement stairs screaming.
"Speak of the devil" Lance whined, throwing his head back before screaming back. "Whaaaaaaaat?"
"Mom says it's my turn on the Xbox, and that she has cinnamon rolls for you and Hunk upstairs" Benji said, out of breath from running what seemed the entire length of the house down to them. Before Lance could even argue he could hear his mother shout from the kitchen.
"It's his turn, mijo, learn to share! Bring Hunk up here before these rolls get cold!"
Lance turned and glared at his brother as Hunk got up and walked past him towards the stairs, fist-bumping Benji on his way past
"See you around Ben" He said walking upstairs with Lance following after him, sulking and death staring his little brother.
When Lance and Hunk appeared upstairs in the kitchen, Rosa was already there with a plate of cinnamon rolls and her signature motherly smile.
"Hola mama" Lance rushed to her side, arm outstretched and eyeing the plate. He almost grabbed one as Rosa spun around, watching as Lance fell forward and stumbled into the counter. "Mooooom!" he whined.
Rosa chuckled and held out the plate towards Hunk who was also laughing at Lance's misfortune. "You know Hunk gets first choice when in our house Lance, it's common courtesy" Hunk took the giant roll in the center that was obviously the one Lance was aiming for when he lunged towards his mother. Lance sent Hunk a death glare from across the kitchen before grabbing a roll of his own and sitting down to eat it.
"Hey mom, is it okay if I stay out tonight? Hunk and I are going to a friend's house for their band practice" Lance asked as he stuffed more of the cinnamon roll into his mouth.
"You now I'm always fine with you going out Lance, you have a booming social life and it's nice to know you have friends. I'm okay with it as long as you're back before 12 or if text me that you're staying at a friend's-as per usual." Rosa talked as she set down the plate and wiped down the counter and picked up a stray shoe from somewhere.
"Great, thanks mom!" Lance got up from his chair and pulled Hunk along with him. They walked up to Lance's room, a decently sized box room with a bed, closet, nightstand and desk. The walls were plastered in band posters, anime posters and splashed with spots of paint from Lance's escapades with his sister's paints when he was eight.
"Dude why are we coming to your room, your mom had more cinnamon rolls" Hunk protested, sitting down on Lance's bed and flicking through a science textbook that had been crudely thrown onto the covers when he arrived earlier.
"Better here than down there with my siblings" Lance remarked. He was sorting through the clothes stuffed in his closet, picking up his favorite jacket and grey t-shirt to replace the one he was currently wearing (that was covered in icing somehow). He slipped his dirty t-shirt off and put on the fresh grey one and threw his jacket onto the back of the chair. "So, what time are we meeting at Pidge's for their practice?" He asked Hunk sinking into his desk chair and playing on his phone.
Hunk checked his own phone and replied "About half an hour from now and it takes about 20 minutes to walk to Pidge's from here, so we'll leave in 10"
"Cool" Lance sat up in his seat and reached under his bed, grabbing two six-packs of beer that Hunk fully expected Lance to have "What?" he asked as Hunk stared him down "Can't turn up empty handed can we?" He smirked, placing the beer into the flowerpot outside the window for him to grab later when he had successfully escaped his mother. Hunk shrugged and continued stacking Lance's textbooks neatly. For a boy who could keep everything else in his life so organised, he sure had a messy room. However, Hunk had come to expect Lance's room to be a mess whenever he came round – basically growing up with each other meant there was no judgement when either one of them didn't want to clean up when the latter came around; they were used to each other's messes.
Twenty- five minutes passed, Lance and Hunk had successfully escaped Rosa's century-long hugs, grabbed the beers from the flowerpot under Lance's window and walked most of the way to Pidge and Matt's house.
"Yo Hunk, I don't remember ever meeting Matt when we went around Pidge's in middle school, have I even seen him?" Lance asked.
"Oh yeah, sorry, no we didn't meet him- he's like 2 years older than us and his parents sent him to this military school for high school when he got all rebellious" Hunk laughed "That's where he met Shiro"
Lance looked apprehensive "Military school? Are they like sticklers for the rules cause if I knew that I wouldn't have brought the beer" He laughed, awkwardly.
"Oh no, dude, they're chill. Shiro's like the dad of the group so he's always making sure everyone's ok and not too messed up but he's cool with it – they're not metalhead soldiers if that's what your thinking. Matt's actually a pretty cool guy, I can't wait for you to meet them!" Hunk smiled excitedly as they turned the corner into Pidge's neighborhood- they could see her garage already open wide and a car and motorbike parked out front. "Pidge!" Hunk shouted as the walked up the driveway, waving at the smaller girl in a green hoodie who was fiddling with an equally green bass and a speaker. She placed the bass in a stand and ran over to the front of the garage, right into Hunk's arms.
"Hey Hunk" she said, unlatching herself from the hug and high-fiving Hunk before turning to Lance with her hand still held up. "Hey Lance, long time no see, dude"
Lance slapped her open palm before answering. "Yeah, good job you haven't grown an inch since middle school, otherwise I would have recognized you" He laughed as Pidge stared grumpily at him.
"Good one, twigs-for-arms" She retorted as Hunk burst out laughing, causing them both to start laughing too as Pidge hugged Lance.
"Good to see you too Pidge" Lance hugged her back, smiling and started to walk further into the garage along side her. He lifted up his hand that carried the beers. "I brought drinks, any specific place you want them?" He asked.
"Thanks Lance! Yeah, just put them in the kitchen for now, my parents are out tonight so we're gonna bust into the liquor cabinet" She smirked and pointed at the door that connected the garage to the house-it was half open "Its just at the end of the hall, you can't miss it"
Lance nodded, making his way to the kitchen as he looked back at Hunk and Pidge laughing and smiling together, he almost made it to the kitchen before-
"Oof, arhg look where you're going shithead"
Lance turned his head around to meet a mop of black hair tucked into a beanie and thick furrowed eyebrows over big violet eyes. Violet, how could they be violet?
"Hey! Are you even listening?" the boy, who looked to be around his age and about an inch shorter than him, spat.
"Ugh, yeah, sorry about that. Are you ok?" Lance rubbed the back of his head, smiling weakly. The boy stepped around him and started walking towards the garage with an angry look on his face. "Hey! I asked if you're ok!" he shouted, the boy turned around to face him with his arms crossed and brows still furrowed.
"Better now that I don't have and idiot walking into me" he replied. Lance let his eyebrows raise before holding out his hand.
"My name's Lance, sorry about that I was zoned out." He paused, "Umm, so what's your name?"
"Keith" He replied, swatting Lance's hand away "I'd appreciate it if you don't get in my way again, there's enough people running round here as it is" he snarled, squinting his eyes menacingly.
And with that, Keith was turning around and heading back towards the garage. Lance swiveled on his own feet and walked towards the kitchen.
Four people were in the kitchen. One, who Lance assumed was Matt due to the colour of his hair and his lack of care for where he lounged, was sitting on the countertop- eating candy out of a bowl while talking to two girls (which must have been Nyma and Shiro's girlfriend) and another guy, obviously being the last guy and eliminating Keith (since he met him in the hallway) who must have been Shiro.
Once Pidge had made sure everyone way acquainted (in the form of a game of cards over snacks) they had all gathered in the garage, setting up instruments while the non-band-members sat in the corner on bean bags. Lance fell right into the group almost immediately, as he always did being a social butterfly and all. He had discovered that Shiro was the appointed 'dad' of the group, but was honestly chill with everything they did; Allura (Shiro's gorgeous girlfriend - honestly if she wasn't taken Lance would be flirting with her right then) was the 'mum' and also had a singing voice that would make angels jealous; Nyma was Matt's best friend since forever and had been coming to every practise since the start of their 'band' (Lance had already started to flirt with her, being promptly and politely turned away by being made aware of Nyma's boyfriend Rolo).
Keith...well he learnt that Keith wrote all their songs, could play every instrument in the room, sing and had a YouTube channel that he posted on regularly. He learnt that Keith was a foster kid that Shiro's family had adopted when he was 13 and had been attending the same military academy Shiro and Matt went to, he stuck to Shiro like glue and didn't really like to talk to anyone else (evident by the fact he had brushed off any form of communication when Lance had tried to get to know him a bit).
It had been a long time since Lance and seen Pidge and was surprised how much she'd changed from the shy nerd in middle school. She was still short with a fiery temper but now, she was overly smart and would actively talk with the group. He learned that Pidge was maybe a little more bad-ass than he expected after finding out about the parties she'd thrown, or the drinking contests she'd won and the fact that she, too, smoked weed. Lance was ecstatic that he had found another stoner other than Hunk (while still reassuring Hunk that he would still be his best bud in every way).
The band practiced for a couple hours, flicking through playing covers or original songs that Lance honestly thoroughly enjoyed. He saw how Keith would suddenly stop and change things, going round the room and playing each instrument's part to his liking as a demonstration to each band member before going back to his own. He enjoyed the atmosphere of it all, the good music and how everyone would laugh when Shiro would wink at Allura from the mic whenever any lyrics about love came up (which seemed to a be a lot- he wondered how Keith's love life was and what his inspiration was for most of his songs). He loved the fact that ever band member loved playing together and loved the music they were making, the smiles on their faces and giddy laughing confirming it to everyone in the room.
Once they had finished playing and putting instruments away, they had all moved to the lounge, all except Pidge and Keith, and Lance had a sneaking suspicion of what they were doing as he followed their route to the outside of the house.
"Sup" he said as he rounded the corner onto the back porch steps, finding Pidge with the lighter up to her face and joint in her mouth. Keith was on the other side of the steps leaning on the handrail and rolling his eyes as Lance appeared.
"Lance!" Pidge beamed, reaching for his jacket sleeve before pulling him down to sit on the steps. "Come to join our chill-out session?" she asked, bumping Lance's shoulder before taking a deep breath in and exhaling a cloud of smoke, the familiar scent welcoming Lance.
"Sure" he chuckled as Pidge handed him the lit joint, inhaling deeply before turning and passing it to Keith, who had stayed silent throughout the exchange. "Dude" he said, smoke escaping his mouth "You ever gonna talk, I mean, you cant still be holding a grudge from the hall earlier?"
Keith grunted, taking the blunt and taking a deep, slow breath.
"Don't even try Lance" Pidge scoffed "Keith will just sit and brood like the emo he is". She reached across Lance to jab Keith in the side.
A loud "Hey" came from Keith as he passed the joint back to Pidge. "I'm not emo" he protested.
"Dunno man, I mean just look at you" Lance leaned back, elbows on the platform behind him. "Have you even looked at yourself, the all black, fingerless gloves, the beanie" He teased, before leaning over before pulling on Keith's hair. "I don't know if the mullet counts though" he teased.
"It's not a mullet!" he shouted while pushing Lance's hand off him to shoot death glares at Pidge, who was now laughing uncontrollably. "Did you tell him to say that?"
"No. I. didn't" Pidge let out bestween gasps for air and loud laughs. as she calmed down she turned to Lance and explained. "We've been teasing about the mullet for ages-he hates when people call it one" She smiled.
Lance, Pidge and Keith returned to the others. Pidge and Lance were relaxed and laughing with each other while Keith trailed after them, brooding and looking slightly awkward. They happily accepted the drinks and snacks handed to them by Shiro and Hunk and settled down on the remaining sofa while Pidge took a space on the floor.
When it was finally time to leave everyone got up to say goodbyes, there was hugs from Pidge and fist-bumps from Matt as everyone got up and walked out the door (along with promises to come to the next practice).
Shiro had stayed sober through the night as he was driving and Lance and Hunk said another quick goodbye as he, Keith, Allura and Nyma got into the small black car in the driveway and drove off in the opposite direction to Lance and Hunk.
Lance and Hunk had walked home in sweet silence, taking in the sounds of distant cars and the smells of the cool summer night.