A/N: please be aware this chapter features overthinking
The end of the semester was steadily approaching, which meant practice simulations had begun. The team, if one could even call it that, really did not work well together. Two of them were basically strangers to each other and everyone else, Hunk often got motion sick, and Lance was always trying to pick a fight with Keith. Although Lance was not in control of their vehicle, it didn't stop him from backseat driving.
"Keith, wh—what are you doing? Make a hard left! You're going to—" The vehicle was shaking heavily and, despite the fact he was wearing a seatbelt, Lance looked like he was trying really hard to not be flung across it. Behind them, Hunk began making retching noises, and warned that they would be 'wiping beef stroganoff out of all the little nooks and crannies in this thing' if the motion didn't stop. Pidge, ironically their Communications Specialist, remained silent, to no one's surprise.
"Just—can you stop talking for one moment, Lance? I've got this under control, and we wouldn't have had this issue if you weren't yelling at me the whole time. I know how to fly, and I am the pilot, so I don't need you telling me what to do. And Hunk, try not to puke in the main gearbox—again." Keith kept his eyes forward, but in his peripheral vision he saw Lance mutter something under his breath, turn his head away, and then spin his chair around. It left Keith curious, but he had to leave pondering for later, they were about to crash.
That botched simulation was another one added to their 'failed' list. So far they had no successes, they hadn't even come close. Commander Iverson, as per usual, made it a point to call them out in front of everyone.
"Once again, cadets, this team is a prime example of what not to do." His words raised a few snickers, but they were shut down by his glares. After meticulously and mercilessly pointing out each and every one of their mistakes to everyone, he faced them, and Keith noticed his teammates hang their heads. "If the four of you cannot get your acts together and work as a team, you will fail, and you will be forced to drop out."
Commander Iverson walked up to Keith so they were face-to-face, staring into each other's eyes. "Is that clear, Keith?" He then lowered his voice and spoke so that only Keith could hear, "we wouldn't want all that potential to be wasted, would we?"
Keith replied in the same volume, and tone. "Nobody tells me how to fly… nobody." He thought he saw the commander's eye twitch and fist clench, but then the man stepped back, dismissing the class. Keith turned around just before exiting the room and found Commander Iverson watching intently, causing anger to flare up inside of him. Keith knew that his instructor was dangerous, but it was getting more difficult to actively avoid falling into a trap.
Back at the dorm an obvious tension filled the air. Every failed simulation ended the same way, with everyone pissed. A silence always fell between them, unusual for Lance and Hunk, and no one ever attempted to break it.
What was broken, however, was their teamwork; but no one made an effort to fix that. Instead they stayed the way they currently were—full of miscommunications, fights, and sometimes, just silence.
Keith rarely participated in class discussions. Even though it wasn't working out he was still trying to stay hidden as much as possible, and the topics never interested him anyways. He usually zoned out, entertaining himself with his thoughts. Recently he spent a lot of his time theorising about his mother's dagger, and how he could get her to open up about it. Occasionally he would come to his senses and remind himself that he should be focusing on passing the semester at the Galaxy Garrison first, but after taking one look at his class he'd decide that perhaps it wouldn't be worth the effort.
This time, however, Keith found himself drawn to the conversation no matter how hard he tried otherwise. He had no clue what the broader topic was about, although he gathered it had something to do with teamwork and missions. Keith had been zoning in and out of the conversation, but was finally drawn in when someone exclaimed that a team had to stay together, no matter what. That intrigued Keith, to say the least. As he rarely had any companions growing up the whole concept of teamwork and the dependency members were supposed to have on each other was completely new to him; and it was a concept he did not particularly like. He believed that it was what led to the failure of a mission, or the downfall of a particular being. He continued listening to his classmates to get an idea of their stances and found that they were mostly in agreement. Anyone who wasn't completely on their side only needed a bit of convincing to change their mind. Soon, their instructor regained their attention.
"Is that it? Can we close the discussion?" There were nods all across the room, and normally Keith would not care for the results, but this time there were words at the back of his throat itching to get out.
"You should carry on with the mission no matter what." If Keith was still trying to remain under the radar, well, he had really done it now. Almost all the heads in his class turned to look at him, and there was a suspension of silence before the room erupted with shouts. At first they were all directed at Keith, asking him why, or what made him think that, and it was honestly overwhelming. Before he was forced to respond, however, some of his classmates began arguing with each other again. Some of them reverted to their old stance, using Keith's comment to fuel their new ideas.
Before long their instructor quietened them down again, then asked Keith to elaborate on what he had said. "Keith, it's nice to have you join in on the discussion for once. Would you care to go into a bit more detail? It's only fair, since everyone had agreed on a view until you spoke."
Everyone was watching him again, and Keith could feel himself heating up from the attention. His instructor had directly asked him a question though, so there was no way for him to escape.
"Um… if you think about it, sometimes a team just does not work well together, you know?" Keith was planning on being really general, saying as little as he could before getting away with it but as soon as the first words left his mouth it was like he had taken a truth serum. There was suddenly no filter, and something in him was no longer restricting his words. "If, say, you've been forced into a team you don't want to be a part of and there is no chemistry between the members will you really put their importance over the mission's?" That raised a few interjections, asking whether Keith would be so cruel and just let his team members die.
"No! No one has to die! I'm just saying, if you had to choose between continuing a mission—meaning you could gain valuable information—and pulling back with your team, because something went wrong or someone wasn't on top of their game, which would you pick?" Keith saw a few of his classmates nod in agreement, and was glad he wasn't the only one with this view. Someone even backed him up.
"You could even save someone or many people if you continue a mission! If you stayed with the team, they might've died!"
"That's an example of an extreme case though, generally they wouldn't be like that!"
"Okay, then generally speaking, I think you're wrong!"
The class went back to the heated debate and this time their instructor didn't stop them, wanting to hear the new arguments and points everyone had. Keith sat back, not wanting to engage any more than he already had. He also didn't really care about the discussion anymore, he heard what the other side had to say, and he was hearing plenty from his own side. Instead he glanced around the classroom, eyes falling on Lance, who was sitting across from him. When they made eye contact, Keith could tell Lance had already been watching him, yet he didn't tear his gaze away like anyone else would. They settled for glaring at each other, not really communicating but also not doing nothing. After taunting the other through their expressions for some time, Lance was called back into the conversation.
"Hey Lance, what do you have to say? You had some pretty strong opinions the first time."
"Well my viewpoint is still the same, if that's what you're asking. I believe that even if you're put in a team with people you don't know, you should still be making an effort. You can't get anything done, you can't complete missions, if the team members aren't working together. You're in it together now, whether you like it or not. You can't just go off doing things and deciding things on your own." Keith listened to what Lance said and although he wouldn't admit it aloud, he thought the boy made some strong points. And then Lance attacked him. "You hear that, Keith? We are stuck together. No matter how hard you try on your own we have to work together if you want to pass. Do you think you're better than everyone else or something? Is that why?"
Before Keith could reply, to defend himself, a classmate cut in and brought up the drama about his age. That subsequently started a new discussion, one Keith was very uncomfortable with. He looked over at the instructor, hoping he would put an end to all this, but he either wasn't listening or he just didn't care. That made Keith angry. It made Keith angry because he did not ask for attention, and he didn't know what he did to deserve such a reputation. He was irritated with Lance; he could not believe he had blamed him for the state of their team. Keith knew that their team did not work well together, but he had never thought to blame it on anyone, not even once. What Lance said implied Keith was the one pulling everyone back. He did not agree, and since Lance made it personal, he saw no reason why he shouldn't as well.
"This is about the practice simulations isn't it? Do you really think I am the issue here? Not Pidge, who won't even utter a word to us; not Hunk, who gets extremely motion sick way too easily; not you, who will not back off and just let me fly?"
Lance flinched, and then his surprised expression turned into one of fury. "Oh, you've really done it now, Mullet Head. Do you think I enjoy just sitting there doing nothing while you're leading the team, piloting, and living my dream?"
"That's not my fault!" Keith cut in, feeling slightly guilty. He remembered what Hunk told him ages ago and was beginning to wish he didn't heed Hunk's words and instead swapped roles with Lance. Keith honestly didn't like being a leader. He didn't like others relying on him, he didn't want that kind of responsibility.
"Doesn't matter! You're there now, and it can't be changed. Anyways, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I wouldn't have to be telling you what to do if you were doing things right! You're just doing what you want, without any consideration of the team. You want to know why Hunk ends up puking all the time? Because you're flying too harshly."
"Okay, but since I'm the one who is in charge, I think that means I can fly how I want."
"Not when you're with other people, not when you're in a team!"
The two of them went back and forth for a while, and at some point one of them accidentally cursed. The insults eventually became less classroom-friendly, and that was when their instructor interjected.
"What did I just hear come out of your mouths?" He directed the question at both of the boys, but neither of them answered. The entire classroom went silent, and every student in the room hung their heads. "This has gone on long enough, and I believe you two need some reminding that this kind of language is not appropriate here. I'm sticking you two on cafeteria cleaning duty for the rest of the day. I hope that you two learn to respect each other and get along, because I've just about had it with your attitudes."
After leaving the class in silence for a moment longer to allow the information to sink in, the instructor then continued with his class. There was little chatter for the remainder of the lesson which made it more difficult for Keith to get a control of his emotions. He didn't doubt others weren't feeling the same way he was, but it was like he was the only one who had been reprimanded. While his classmates returned to normal, albeit being more careful, Keith felt ashamed to the point where he could barely move. It was the first time he had been called out in front of class, in front of everyone, and suddenly he was hyperaware of everything going on around him. Although his instructor was barely sparing him a second glance, Keith felt like he was being watched, and had to be cautious of all his actions.
The irritation Keith felt towards Lance earlier was back, and its intensity was increasing. Multiple times now Lance had gotten Keith into trouble, or distracted him from the task at hand. Keith was also upset at himself for not being able to avoid Lance's antics, but he was more so just pissed off at Lance. So far every time something happened Keith stayed silent, but he didn't know how much longer he would be able to hold it in. The fact he was stuck with Lance on cleanup duty didn't help and, regardless of what the instructor said, he knew it would not solve the issue between them. He just hoped that he would be able to get by without snapping.
Cafeteria cleaning duty sucked. What made it worse was that Lance was there with him. Keith imagined that after what happened in the morning Lance would calm down, stop taking jabs at him, but he was wrong. Lance looked so carefree, and it seemed like he was speaking without a filter, exactly the opposite of what their instructor wanted. As the day went on, Lance got more relaxed, while Keith was finding it harder to hold his tongue.
Recess was right after their class, and that first cleanup went by smoothly. The two were still affected by what happened in class earlier, and the break was a short one, so there wasn't much time for anything besides wiping down tables and throwing rubbish away. While pushing chairs in and picking up what his schoolmates had left behind, Keith couldn't help but feel disgusted. He didn't understand how they could be so disrespectful and inconsiderate of others, leaving chairs strewn all over the place and packagings all around. Even though he was royalty and had others serving him, Keith always tried his best to clean up after himself, it felt rude otherwise. While tidying the cafeteria Keith realised that there would barely be a need for cleanup duties if everyone just picked up after themselves, which only irked him more.
Things started to go downhill after lunch. As it was a bigger mealtime, it meant there was a bigger mess. Keith and Lance swapped tasks, which meant Keith was responsible for mopping the floor and cleaning up anything on it, while Lance was responsible for the tables. After the first cleanup Keith decided that it wasn't so bad, if he got a rhythm going it really wasn't that difficult. What he didn't account for was that Lance would be talking. Keith didn't know whether he was talking to him or talking to himself, but either way it didn't seem to matter. Although he wasn't getting any response Lance continued on. At first he was recounting what happened in his classes, then about what he was going to do later in the day. It was distracting, but if Keith tried hard enough he could tune him out.
And then the talking stopped. Lance started singing instead, having made up a song that matched his actions. This threw Keith off, instead of sticking to his own rhythm he found himself moving to Lance's, even though he found the song really annoying. Keith kept alternating between the two rhythms, and it made cleaning up tiring again. He kept missing the pan when sweeping, and he missed the bucket of water with the mop, causing his shoes to get wet. All that time Keith spent after their class and during the first cleanup calming himself down had gone to waste. Very quickly he felt his anger resurfacing, and it was all directed towards Lance.
It wasn't obvious at first, but when Keith was working closer to Lance, he also noticed some suspicious behaviour. Initially he thought Lance's loudness just translated into his actions, which was why he made such grand gestures while wiping the tables, but then he saw things drop onto the floor. Keith did not want to think Lance was purposely pushing rubbish off the tables and onto the floor in order to create more work for Keith, so he wrote it off as a fluke. When he saw it happen again with a few other tables, Keith couldn't excuse it anymore. But even though he knew what Lance was doing, he couldn't accuse him of anything, he didn't have any proof. He had no choice but to stick through it, wiping and sweeping the floor more than he should've.
Just as Keith was almost done, Lance let out a loud whoop. Keith turned to look at him, and saw that he was putting the cleanup tools away. Keith went back to cleaning, not wanting to see Lance's gleeful face. When Lance went back to singing Keith found it odd as he wasn't doing anything anymore, but then he noticed the lyric change. Instead of singing about his cleanup tasks, Lance was singing about how he beat Keith. He sung about how he was better, faster, and the best. Normally Keith would've been unaffected but seeing as the only reason Lance finished earlier was because he made his own mess Keith's, he was feeling pretty pissed off. Still, remembering his mother's words, he tried his best to ignore it. Even when Lance called out to him before he exited the door to ask "what's taking you so long, Keith? Better pick up the pace, or you're going to be late for class" Keith bit his tongue and remained silent. When Lance finally left the room Keith began muttering to himself under his breath, letting some of his rage out.
"Well, if you hadn't been inconsiderate and pushed your rubbish onto the ground I wouldn't still be here. In fact, if you never attacked me during class we wouldn't be cleaning up the entire day today. You go around calling me out, portraying me as some bad guy but what does that make you? Hmph."
Dinner time cleanup had been the final straw. This time, Keith made them split the cafeteria in two, so they both had to clean the tables as well as the floor. Keith did not want another instance where Lance could get away with doing less work. Surprisingly, Lance didn't argue. But he did start taking jabs at Keith again. He didn't sing, much to Keith's delight, but he was directly insulting him. He brought up the topic of what happened earlier, something Keith had been trying to suppress.
"So, Keith… you never did answer my question. You dodged it and changed the topic. I would say that means the answer is yes. You do think you're better, don't you?" Lance had a cocky expression when he looked at Keith, but Keith didn't say anything, so he went back to wiping the table. "I can't really blame you though, I suppose. If I was the lead pilot I wouldn't want anyone under me ordering me around. But I definitely would listen to the other two. Especially Hunk. He shouldn't have to go through what he does every simulation, man."
That made Keith want to speak up. He wanted to say that he didn't mean to make Hunk sick all the time, he was actually probably closest to him out of anyone here, but it wasn't his fault that Hunk got motion sick so easily. Just as Keith opened his mouth to say as much, Lance spoke again.
"Anyways, it is pretty interesting to me how you're a fighter pilot, you know, considering your academic ability. Or rather, lack thereof. I guess flying isn't actually the hard part, but how do you get by with the other stuff? I'm struggling with some of our theory work, and I know that your academics are below me so…" Lance trailed off but at that point Keith furious to the point where he could barely hear what was going on around him. This entire time, Keith had tried to be respectful to everyone, and he tried to stay out of the way. For some reason, Lance would not leave him alone, and he had had enough.
The remainder of the cleanup went by somewhat smoothly. Keith was blocking everything else out and solely focused on his task. Lance was doing… whatever, Keith didn't know, nor care. They finished roughly at the same time, and Keith was a few steps behind Lance when heading back to their dorm room. When inside, their roommates glanced up at them. Pidge seemed to survey the two of them, looking up, down, and between them before going back to his device. Hunk gave Keith a small smile of understanding which he was grateful for, then turned to Lance to ask how cleanup duty was.
"Eh, it was okay. I was fine with it by the end but it's not something I would want to do again. I feel really dirty though, and boy, am I tired. I think—" Lance's words had been cut off by Keith pinning him against the wall. He held his arm against Lance's neck, and glared. He wasn't sure what made him suddenly launch at the boy, but he did it, and he didn't know what to do next.
Lance's eyes widened in shock and horror, and Hunk let out a yelp. All eyes were trained on him, even Pidge turned around to see what was happening. Keith wasn't sure how long he held Lance, but the room was in suspense until he dropped him, telling Lance to make sure he will "never do that again". The same tension that filled the air after failed simulations returned, but it increased tenfold. When Keith stormed out of the room, his teammates were still silent, dazed and unmoving, save for Lance's heavy breathing.
Keith immediately made a beeline for the roof. His day had been filled with negative emotions and he needed to let it out and properly calm down. Curfew wasn't until a while later, so there were still people roaming around, which put Keith off before he realised this actually made sneaking out easier. There were little to no patrollers out right now, and with the amount of people outside their dorms Keith could easily weave around them and go up to the roof. The only risk that remained were his teammates. If they decided to tell someone about what Keith did or that Keith left the dorm and wasn't back by curfew, he could be done for. Nevertheless, it was a risk Keith was willing to take.
Once he got to the roof, Keith found somewhere to lie down and watch the sky above. He was glad there was no cleanup for supper and that it wasn't a compulsory meal; at the moment he really did not want to be around or see anyone.
Keith wasn't actively thinking about anything, he just let his mind drift. Although most of his thoughts were about what happened during the day, the fresh air and light breeze helped Keith dull down the emotions that came with it. He was surprised with how he had acted with Lance, but he didn't entirely regret it. He needed to let the younger boy know that he could not do something like that again. If Lance did end up roping Keith into something again, however, he wasn't sure what he would do. He decided not to dwell on it, and just hoped Lance got the message.
As the sky got darker and the stars shone brighter, Keith found himself searching for constellations. Naturally, that led to him thinking about his mother. The thoughts started off positive—missing her, wondering how she was doing, whether she was overworking herself or not—but soon they turned sour. Like most other recent instances where Keith thought of his mother, he became angry. This time, his surroundings did nothing to calm him down.
Keith wanted to know how she thought he could ever get through this. She sent her only son, her heir, to a foreign planet where they didn't speak the same language. Keith understood that once General Zarkon commanded something nothing could be changed, but it didn't stop him from feeling upset. His thoughts then spiralled and soon he was overthinking. It was something that happened often out here, the vastness broke down all of Keith's walls without effort. He was vulnerable, open, and alone with his thoughts. It started off small, freaking out about some of his exams, formulas he had to memorise. Then it was about the bigger image. He ran through scenarios of how the practice simulation would go on the actual day—not good—and in turn, how he would be expelled.
Once he was expelled, Keith would have nowhere to go. He would have no way to communicate with anyone at home, and he had no connections to anyone on this planet. He probably wouldn't survive. Even though he had an idea of how things worked over here, theory was different to practice, and he didn't know how he would even get off the desert and to where the closest town or city was.
On the flipside, if a miracle occurred and they did pass, and Keith somehow made graduated from the Garrison Galaxy, what kind of state would he be in? Only half a year had passed since he arrived, and his emotions were already all over the place all of the time. Furthermore, would the druids even be able to supply him with Quintessence to last years? And after he graduated, how would he get home? Would someone know to be there to pick him up? How much had things changed back at home, what if it was entirely different? What if Zarkon had taken full control now, and Keith doesn't turn out to be as strong as he thought he was, unable to fight back? What if he becomes everything he vowed not to and ends up powerless, serving the one person he despises?
The future was daunting, and neither path seemed like a good one. Slowly, the pressures built up alongside the rough beating of his heart, and Keith felt like he was being suffocated under the weight of it. Finally, he let out a choked sob, flinging his right arm across his eyes before allowing the hot tears to fall and trickle down his face. The wind was cooling as it passed, but Keith's face still remained wet and almost burning, dried up tears immediately being replaced by new ones.
I can't do this… I won't get through this…
The one good thing that always occurred after Keith overwhelmed himself was that he wouldn't be in that state again any time soon. After pouring out emotions the previous day and letting them wash over him, he was able to shove them, along with the thoughts that came with, into the back of his head, repressing them temporarily. Keith then built his walls back up, not only keeping others away, but also keeping himself away. Everything was back to normal… Except for his dynamic with his teammates. It was now very, very, awkward between him and everyone else. If Keith had any hopes of getting close to them and working together before, they were gone now.
The most drastic change was with Lance. Keith guessed his message got across, but perhaps too far. It wasn't very obvious, but Keith soon noticed a silence. He realised Lance wasn't talking as much to him, or during class in general, which in turn meant that Keith was speaking less as well. Most of the time the only reason Lance spoke was because he was called on, whether it was by his classmates or by the instructor. Aside from it being in his speech, he also looked to be more on guard, timid. Whenever Keith walked near or past the boy, he seemed to be watching his every move, and once Keith thought he saw him flinch. Keith found it very weird, seeing his normally boisterous and bubbly teammate suddenly quieten down and become cautious. It was almost as if Lance had become some version of Keith, except a version that was always around people, and one that followed the rules a lot more.
When Keith had gone to ask Hunk for some help with homework one time, he immediately noted that the larger boy looked somewhat uncomfortable, as if he had been put in a position he really did not want to be in. Not wanting any hostility to arise between them, Keith brushed it off saying he could just ask someone else, even though they both knew that was a lie. Hunk stopped Keith from leaving, and said yes to helping with a sigh. In the middle of doing their exercises, and in an unfamiliar silence, Hunk turned to Keith and hesitated, before telling Keith that next time he won't be letting him do that to Lance. He then immediately turned back, pouring all of his attention into his work, with an expression on his face like he couldn't believe what he just did. The only response Keith gave was a simple nod, but he admired the fact Hunk stood up for his friend.
Pidge was the only one who didn't outwardly behave around Keith any differently. Like always, he was rarely present, and if he was then he wasn't paying attention to anyone around him. Recently though, Keith caught their shortest member glancing at him a lot, more than usual, anyways. On the occasions they made eye contact, neither of them would break it, and Keith felt like Pidge was trying to dig into him, find something out. Those glances were more frequent now, and Keith didn't really know why—he looked away as soon as Keith turned his head. The next time their eyes locked, Keith decided to glare at Pidge, but he did not back off. Instead, he shook his head and went back to whatever he was doing, looking disappointed. For some reason that made Keith feel ashamed and guilty, as if he had been scolded.
So yeah, Keith was really beginning to regret how harsh he came off that day. And to make matters worse, their current state threw off their basically non-existent teamwork, which Keith hadn't even imagined was possible. They weren't making any more progress with the practice simulations, and those dreadful feelings were creeping up once more.
It was an off day, and Lance and Hunk woke up to a room with no one else in it. They briefly discussed where their teammates could be—Hunk saw Keith leave moments earlier after spending a while in their bathroom and he probably went to go train somewhere, while Pidge hadn't been seen at all—before getting dressed and heading down to the cafeteria to eat.
Recently the two boys hadn't been as talkative with each other. They were still as close as ever, but neither of them seemed to want to make small talk. It was beginning to concern Lance. He didn't want their relationship to turn into the one like they had with their other teammates. So, after sitting down with their meals, Lance decided to talk to Hunk about it.
"Hey, uh, are we okay?" Even though nothing happened between the two of them that would make things different, Lance still felt nervous asking.
"Yeah, of course! Why wouldn't we be?" It was Hunk's turn to be nervous, he briefly set down his fork and stared intently at Lance.
"I don't know… I just feel like we haven't exactly been ourselves, you know? We aren't really talking much aside from when we need help or in order to make a decision."
"Mmh, I get what you mean. I've felt that way too, a bit. I think with what happened with Keith recently… that shook us up quite a bit. I, um, told him off for that though. Told him I wouldn't let him do that to you again." Hunk looked down at his plate sheepishly and missed the massive grin that grew on Lance's face.
"What! Really? That's crazy, man. How did you do it? I for sure wouldn't have been able to."
"Honestly I can't really believe I did it either. I was helping him with his work, and then suddenly I was telling him off. For the rest of the time afterwards I didn't—couldn't—look up, and I was sweating so much it was beginning to get hard to write." Hunk laughed at the memory, even though he had been terrified at the time. Lance chuckled too, and Hunk was glad to see his friend in a relaxed state again.
"No way! Thanks for that, though."
"Yeah, of course. You're my best friend, I'm going to stand up for you."
"Aw, come on. Now you've got me emotional! Bring it in." Lance opened his arms for a hug, which he obviously didn't plan very well, because they ended up hugging over the table, arms barely getting around each other.
They went back to eating, and things seemed to return to normal. Hunk made jokes, Lance laughed, and they almost got into trouble for throwing some food around. All was well again.
"Did you see the face of the staff member when I raised my arm with a fistful of food? It was golden." The two boys decided to roam the hallways after eating, and were looking back on their eventful mealtime. They didn't mean to cause any disruptions, but it was fun to rile up the staff members.
"I still can't believe you did that! Wh—wait, is that Pidge? And Iverson?" Lance turned his head to see where Hunk was looking and sure enough there Pidge was, face to face with Commander Iverson. Neither of them looked happy, they both had unpleasant expressions and their voices were steadily rising.
"We have to do something about this!" Lance took off in their direction leaving Hunk no choice but to follow closely behind.
When they got closer, they could hear more of what was going on. "This is a restricted area," Commander Iverson was saying, "I can get you expelled for this, you know?" Both boys flinched but didn't stop moving. As soon as they were in earshot Lance called out Pidge's name, wanting to end the conversation in any way possible. Pidge and Commander Iverson both turned to look at Lance and Hunk, but Lance didn't speak again until he was in front of the commander.
"I'm so sorry about this, we were playing hide-and-seek and I guess Pidge here got too into it. But it's over now! I've found him. Sorry again. Let's go now," Lance gave a salute then put his arm around Pidge's shoulder and turned them around. They then briskly walked away so Commander Iverson had no choice but to let them go.
Once they put a fair amount of distance between them and the commander, Lance dropped his arm and they stopped walking.
"Lance, what were you thinking! That could've gotten you expelled too!" Lance was surprised Hunk had kept calm the entire time, but apparently he was holding it in then and letting it out now. In lieu of replying to Hunk, Lance turned to Pidge and asked if he was okay.
"I—" Pidge seemed to be taken by surprise, "uh—yeah." There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. "Thanks for what you did back there, seriously. Who knows where I might be now if you hadn't stepped in."
Lance beamed, and it was like he was glowing. He then turned to Hunk and had a silent conversation with him, which resulted in them both looking at Pidge, expecting some kind of explanation for what had happened.
Pidge caught on, but didn't answer the way they would've liked. "I know you guys want an explanation for why I was in a restricted area and probably for why I'm so absent all the time, but I just can't provide one right now, sorry." Lance's face dropped and Hunk was about to tell Pidge it was okay when he was interrupted. "What I can do, however, is start participating. I understand I've been selfish, only pursuing my own endeavours and not helping out the team, but I promise I'll start now. I owe it to you guys."
This time, Hunk grinned with Lance. They may not have gotten what they wanted but what they did get was pretty much on par. They were glad it wouldn't just be them two working together now; they could really make some progress with the simulations. Pidge smiled too, and everything was great.
"Come on, now I'm in the mood for hide-and-seek. I'll seek first; you have a minute, go! Sixty, fifty-nine…" Lance turned and faced the wall, counting out loud while Pidge and Hunk ran off laughing.
A/N: hey hey hey! there are a few things I want to say: firstly, sorry for being away so long! this last school term was pretty intense but it's over! I'm on holidays now, which brings me to my next point.
unfortunately, I think it's going to be a while until I can update again. I've joined two bang thingies and I think I'll be putting priority on those over this. however! that doesn't mean I won't be working on this. what I might do is try and load up as much as I can for this fic, so when school starts and gets busy I'll be able to just post chapters and update somewhat frequently. (probably won't happen lmao but here's to hoping.)
lastly! I wanted to address the characterisation here. Lance may appear a bit OOC right now or like he's acting rashly but you have to consider the fact he's probably just trying to be playful (disguising his true feelings) but it doesn't come out that way and/or Keith just doesn't get it. not sure if it was just me seeing this but in case anyone else did too I hope this clears things up a bit.
to The Best Guesst, thanks for the review! I'm really glad you're enjoying it and I hoped you liked this chapter :))
okay that's it for today (that got long sorry lmao) but if you wanna ask anything or talk I made a sideblog for vld only stuff riskeith on tumblr, but my main is fandomtravellers