So season 8 came out when I was about 1k words in and I completely lost motivation for a few weeks. Now I have loads of ideas and determination to get stuff out (no clue how long that's gonna last).
Keith's fear faded fast and was replaced by anger. Allura on the other hand was cowering behind him. The source of Allura's initial scream stood on the other side of the door laughing his head off. He was bent over in his fit of laughter with a Halloween mask in his hand.
"Lotor," Keith growled. Lotor was a bartender for a rival bar and a complete jerk. He picked on everyone but tended to single Allura out presumably because, as Lance put it, he was infatuated by her beauty.
Lotor straightened himself. "I knew I could get Allura but really Keith? You're scared of a little costume?" he mocked, tossing the mask at Keith.
The black haired man caught the mask with ease and threw it back at him. "What are you doing here, Lotor?" Keith asked through his teeth.
"Why, I'm scaring you of course," Lotor replied, calming himself. He continued as Lance and Pidge came running through the back door. "Why else would I come to this dump of a neighborhood?"
"Lotor?!" Lance and Pidge yelled at the same time.
Lotor glance at them. "Ah yes. The flirt and the shorty."
The fake couple both clenched their fists at his comment but it was Keith who spoke. "I meant, what are you doing in Daytona?" he questioned, crossing his arms.
"Oh you know. The beach, the races, curiosity as to why the five of you would just pack up and take a vacation," he replied, flipping his hair over his shoulder.
The four inside glanced at eachother before Keith abruptly closed the door. "Hey!" Lotor yelled. "You can't close the door on me."
"Just did," Keith answered, turning to face his co-workers.
"Go home Lotor," Allura called, speaking for the first time.
"Your resistance will only make me stronger! I will-AH!"
Keith, Allura, and Lance looked at Pidge. The youngest of the four looked from the pad on the wall to her friends and back again. "I turned on the sprinklers."
"Who knew all it took was water to get him to leave," Lance stated. "I can't believe that jerk followed us down here. Completely ruins my plans."
"I don't even wanna know what your plans were," Pidge commented, raising an eyebrow at her fake boyfriend.
"Did his hair get better?" Came Allura's voice, slightly hesitant.
Pidge nodded in agreement. "Wonder how he does that." Both women stared questioningly at the door where Lotor had just been.
Lance and Keith gave the women skeptical looks to which they merely shrugged. It was at this point that Allura realised she was still clutching Keith's wrist. Keith apparently realised too. They locked eyes for half a nanosecond before Allura quickly retracted her hand.
The door was suddenly flung open and a soaked Hunk ran in, closing the door swiftly behind him. "I tell you what! The people here are insane! They actually like Cook Caeabatchi's food! The tourists are no better though! Nope, they go home and tell all their friends about this so called amazing food thus luring them to their doom," he huffed in annoyance and stomped toward the kitchen.
The other four watched him go, completely taken back. Allura looked to Pidge, trying to send a reminder via telepathy about their previous conversation. Pidge apparently understood and grabbed Allura's hand before going after Hunk.
The women entered the kitchen just as Hunk was pulling stuff from the cabinets and the fridge. "Why are we adding more drama to our lives right now?" Allura half whispered to Pidge while watching the chief.
"Because Hunk is our friend and there is clearly something going on with him," Pidge answered. The two watched for a second longer before Pidge interrupted Hunk's mumbling. "What is wrong with you, dude? You're acting strange?"
Hunk spared only a quick glance at Pidge and Allura but continued gathering ingredients. "Nothing. I'm just making some edible biscuts and gravy."
Allura and Pidge glanced worriedly at each other. "Hunk," Allura started, eyes turning back to the busybody in the kitchen. "You can tell us anything."
Even though their tones had been soft and thoughtful, the women received a small outburst from Hunk, which was unusual for him. "I don't have anything to tell you okay!" he exclaimed before squeezing his eyes shut and taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Please just...leave me alone so I can cook."
Allura and Pidge knew that if they pushed him, he'd probably push back, which was not the outcome they desired. So, with reluctance, the two backed off and headed to the living room. "When you do have something to say, my ears are always open," Pidge quickly offered before her petite figure disappeared.
Lance and Keith were in the living room setting up a game on the coffee table. Both looked up as the women entered. "Ready for your weekly beating in Risk?" Lance asked, patting a pillow on the ground next to him.
Pidge scoffed. "Oh please! You haven't beaten me in weeks." She moved to take a seat next to her fake boyfriend when Allura lightly grabbed her arm.
"I don't think I can sit by him," Allura informed quietly. Her eyes quickly darted to the man across from Lance who was pulling Risk pieces out of the box.
Pidge let out a sigh of annoyance that she didn't know she was holding in. "Allura, what is wrong with you? It was just one kiss!" she started, crossing her arms.
Allura's gaze shifted back to Pidge. "It's not just a kiss, Pidge. It was a kiss with Keith. That makes it way more important then any other kiss."
"Uuuuugggghhhh," Pidge groaned. "I get that but if you want things to be not awkward between you two then just act normal. Don't make a big deal about sitting next to him, don't start shaking every time he looks at you, and do concentrate on the game."
"I shake when he looks at me?!"
Pidge didn't dignify that with an answer. The professor just spun on her heal toward Lance and proceeded to make herself comfortable on the pillow next to him. Allura more hesitantly took a seat next to Keith as Hunk was called in for the game.
The only response they received was a disgruntled, jumble of words which they took as a "I can't play right now." As usual, Lance and Pidge played Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would get to go first and soon the game was in full swing. Keith took an early lead, taking Africa, but Pidge pushed him out within the next two rounds, gaining the crown for a short period of time. She was dethroned by Allura, whose lead only lasted one turn before Keith took out her troops in South America. Surprisingly, Lance was having a hard time taking the lead from his competitors. He resorted to saying Pidge was rigging the dice with her technical know-how. Which brings us to the present where Lance was making his case to the petite woman about her cheating ways. Pidge, of course, was fighting for her innocence just as hard. This left Keith and Allura with their eyes rolling.
The bickering and banter was all in good fun but for the on-lookers, it was exhausting. "I could've sworn they had this argument last time," Keith stated, shaking his head at the two across from him.
"I think they just enjoy debating," Allura commented, also watching Lance and Pidge.
Keith let out a huff as he looked again at the board. "In that case, their fake dating scheme isn't going to last long."
Allura looked to Keith with a small smile of amusement. "I give them three days."
"I give them one night," the bartender declared, looking at Allura. For a second, both seemed to have forgotten their panic and worry over the kiss they shared two nights prior. They had the sense of wonderment and curiosity in their eyes that they had had before their not-date.
Allura was suddenly brought back from her daze by a grandfather clock chiming. She glanced st the time and turned to Lance and Pidge. "What time are you supposed to meet Landon and Mandy?" she questioned the two.
Lance and Pidge were currently in a stare down which would apparently declare a victor in their debate and took little notice to Allura's question. "6:30," they replied in unison.
"How long does it take to get there, exactly?"
"Fifteen minutes," came the reply, once again in unison.
"I see," Allura stated, fake pondering her next words. Keith was slightly confused as to why Allura had interrupted their moment but he finally caught on as Allura continued. "So you need to leave by quarter after six?"
Pidge didn't take her eyes from the intense contest as she replied. "Yes."
Keith shook his head with more then a little amusement. "Guys, it's six o'clock."
"What?!" the fake couple exclaimed, both spinning to look at the clock.
"Why didn't you warn us!" Lance questioned Keith as he hurried to the stairs.
"Technically I just did so...," Keith called after him.
Pidge darted to the stairs in a panicked fashion, an uncommon occurance for the woman. "This is a fancy event Allura! Thanks for having my back!" She said the last part sarcastically but Allura laughed along with Keith nonetheless.
"Are we bad friends?" Allura questioned as the two regained their breath.
"It wasn't our job to watch the clock," Keith replied, pulling his phone out. He quickly snapped a picture of the board just in case it would get messed up before they continued.
"True," Allura agreed, watching Keith. Her mind didn't even have time to wonder before she pulled her eyes from her fellow bartender and moved to get up. "I better go see if Pidge needs help." Allura didn't want to let herself think too much about Keith right now.
"Why did you say that stuff to Pidge?" Keith blurted out, eyes still on his phone but attention on Allura.
The woman froze a foot away from where she had sat. 'Did he hear me talking about the kiss with Pidge?!' Allura squeezed her eyes shut before turning around and opening them. "Say what to Pidge?" she tried playing it confused.
"The kiss stuff. Don't act like you don't know what I mean."
Allura was at a loss for words. She was deffinately not ready to have this talk. Her emotions were still everywhere, no thanks to Pidge, and she was sure the kiss had been a caught-up-in-the-moment type of thing that Keith didn't really mean. I mean, he said sorry afterward for pete's sake. She just stood there, opening and closing her mouth with no words coming out.
Keith let out an almost inaudiable sigh before standing. "There's my answer," he half whispered before turning to leave the room, eyes never reaching Allura.
'Do something!' Allura screamed at herself. A soft Keith was the only thing that escaped her lips but it was enough to stop his exit. There was another moment of silence as Allura composed herself. She had to let him know that this wouldn't change their friendship and that she understood that he didn't intend for it to happen, even though she wished the opposite in both cases.
"Why did you say that stuff to Pidge?" he repeated, back still turned.
Allura took a breath. She couldn't let their friendship die, she had to save it. "I know the kiss wasn't planned. I know why you said sorry and then fled to your apartment. I regret that it has made this weird between us. But let's just forget about all that. I really do like hanging out with you Keith. Can we please keep being friends and not have any awkwardness between us?"
Keith pondered her words carefully in his head. Was she rejecting him? No. Was she saying she enjoyed the kiss? No. Was she saying the kiss was a bad thing? Also no. How did she know why he said sorry? And why is she reacting this way if she did know? So many questions flew through his mind, none of which Allura's statements seemed to clarify.
He finally turned back toward her. She was offering friendship. Sure, it wasn't the relationship he wanted, but it was better then nothing. "I'd like that," he replied.
Allura smiled widely, hopeful that maybe she can build on their friendship to one day become something more. This, in turn, caused Keith to smile a genuine little smile as well.
Their whole encounter was interrupted by a yell for Allura from Pidge. Allura sighed with a little irritation but moved once again to the stairs, leaving Keith alone with his thoughts. She pushed him from her mind as she took the stairs two at a time. She had a friend who was apparently in desperate need of some help.