New friends
When he woke up, he still saw bright lights and he was confused. He blinked a few times and looked around.
Why the hell is he in a hospital?
”Keith?”
He looked where the voice was coming from and saw his dad.
”Shit—son, you scared me” He sighed and Keith frowned “What happened?”
He leaned back in the chair he was in “You just passed out—the doctors said because of adrenaline or something”
“How long?”
He shook his head “It’s been a few hours”
The door opened and a doctor walked in. She smiled when she saw Keith “Hey!”
She walked to the bed and kept smiling “How’re you feeling?”
He looked at her “Fine” she looks familiar.
”Great!” She started taking the iv out his arm—which he didn’t even realize was there.
”Before I leave, I just wanted to thank you”
He didn’t say anything, confused. She put her hands on his hand.
”Allura told me what happened, and I can’t be more thankful”
Then, out of nowhere, she squeezed his hand really tight and twisted his arm. Before he could speak, she moved his head to face him, squishing his cheeks hard “But if you try anything weird with my daughter, trust me, her father won’t be the only one holding the shotgun”
”Mom!”
She let go of him and he looked at his dad. He shrugged, smiling a little. He sat up, rubbing his face.
”I’m so sorry—she’s absolutely crazy!” He saw allura at the door and she still had the pink dress on. She walked over to the bed “I told you—nothing happened” she looked at keith.
“Are you okay? You just like, passed out!”
He shook his head, remembering everything “Uh—yeah, I’m fine”
”Ok good” She nodded and grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently. Weirdly, he felt like it meant something deeper than just worry.
”I’m going home now, we can talk tomorrow if you want” she was quiet and he nodded.
She smiled “Can you meet me at the park really early? I have piano lessons but I’d like to talk before”
He looked over at his dad and Alluras mom and saw they were talking so he nodded again “Yeah, what time”
“9?”
“Okay”
She nodded “Okay” She stood up but stopped “Bye—and thank you”
He just nodded again and she left with her mother, who had already given his dad the discharge papers.
”You ready to go?”
”Yeah” Keith got up and his dad looked ready to catch him if he fell again. But he felt a little better.
They left and when they got home, he went straight to bed. He doesn’t know how he slept so easily with what’s going to happen tomorrow.
For the first time in a while, he got up before his dad. He usually sleeps in during the weekends but he’s actually got something to do. He had to take a moment to wake up though.
He took the truck again, making sure to bring his license this time. He’s pretty sure she knew what park she was talking about so he went to the one closest to the school.
When he got there, he got out and looked around. Since it’s so early, no one is there, except for one car—which happened to be allura because she got out and started walking towards him.
His head was completely empty while he drove but now it’s racing. What does he say? Does he say he lied? He was joking? He—Should he tell the truth?
She stopped and looked at the ground, fidgeting with her bracelet “Um…” she took a deep breath “So……”
She laughed nervously and Keith felt his chest imploding. At least she’s as nervous as him? He crossed his arms and leaned against the truck. He doesn’t think he can talk so he’s just gonna wait for her.
”I’m trying to put this gently” She was still nervously laughing and Keith stared at her, scared shitless.
She looked at him “Are you really…uhm” she looked around, like she didn’t want anyone to hear her. It’s not surprising, who wouldn’t be ashamed to say it out loud?
He swallowed, still not able to talk. He’s never admitted it out loud. Except for last night. He looked away, giving her an answer.
They were both silent for what felt like the longest time. Keith probably shouldn’t have came—I mean, he shouldn’t have asked her to the dance in the first place. He thought about worst case scenarios but this scenario never came up in his mind. It’s worse than the worst.
”That’s alright”
He looked at her, confused.
”What?”
She was looking at him and smiling very sincerely “I know people can be weird about it so I didn’t want to ask directly—but it’s okay that you are”
He dropped his arms and the relief he felt was almost instant. He sighed and looked around, seeing another car pull in the lot.
”Can we talk in the truck?”
She nodded and walked to the other side to get in. Once they were both in, he sighed and rubbed his face.
”I’m sorry if you felt like you had to kiss me yesterday”
He looked at her, feeling a bit guilty “I’m sorry”
She smiled “You don’t have to be sorry”
Keith looked away, still feeling guilty. She spoke again “I’m glad you told me though”
He rubbed his eyes, still really tired “I didn’t really mean to”
She chuckled “I know—but still”
He glanced at her, not liking that she knows but being a little grateful it was her.
“Thank you for…not being weird about it”
”Thank you for stopping before we did something crazy” she laughed again, not helping his guilt “Sorry”
“I’m sure rumors are gonna start about us now” she laughed and he smiled, still just looking at the steering wheel.
”Yeah…”
“But if I’m rumored to be dating anyone I’d be fine with it being you”
”I thought I was already dating like 7 other girls” He hears a lot of rumors about him. She laughed. “Then I’ll be the secret 8th”
Keith rolled his eyes, not being able to hold back a small smile.
”Have you told anyone else?”
Keith shook his head “I’m not sure I ever will”
”Why not?”
”For obvious reasons”
She frowned “If your friends are really your friends, they shouldn’t care”
”I don’t have friends” that kind of just came out and he regret saying it.
“If you showed people how nice you were, you’d have a lot of friends—but I get the whole ‘leave his private personality up to the imagination’ type thing” she laughed.
He smiled a little, appreciating this whole situation. Yeah, it’s awful someone knows but he doubts
He doesn’t think she’ll say anything. And he doesn’t think she’s lying either and he’s pretty good at knowing when people are lying.
She looked at the time and looked back at him “I need to go—I’m teaching kids how to play the piano”
”Uh—Okay”
She opened the door and he spoke fast “Thank you” She smiled at him and got out but before she closed the door, she looked back “By the way, this definitely makes us friends”
Keith smiled “Okay”
She closed the door and left and Keith sat in his truck, processing everything that just happened. And he couldn’t help but feel like he was forgetting something.
Out of curiosity, he checked the time. 10:13.
He started the truck and started backing up—
Lance!
He got there early, hoping Keith would do the same—but he told himself not to be disappointed if he didn’t. It didn’t work.
Coran already gave him bacon and he was tiredly eating it as he waited. It’s kind of embarrassing, he’d look excitedly at every motorcycle noise he hears—hoping it’s him.
There have been 3 whole guys on a motorcycle and none of them were Keith. Why do so many people have to have motorcycles??
He looked at his old, stupid phone for the time or a text or anything but it was 10:27 and lance was hopeless. He sighed and laid his head down, bored.
Coran came back “He’s not here yet?”
He shook his head “I think he stood me up”
Coran looked sympathetic “Well, maybe you can read the book next weekend?”
He shrugged, trying to look really sad “Maybe”
“Do you want more bacon? Maybe something else?”
Lance frowned, pitifully “…Pancakes?”
Coran nodded and patted his shoulder before leaving. Lance feels dirty but hey, it worked.
He sat up and laid his chin down on the windowsill, looking out—he’s not looking for Keith anymore, he’s just looking at the people. He starts thinking about souls and how weird they are. Are people a certain way when they’re born or is it really the way they’re raised? Also how crowded is the earth with personalities? Every single person on earth has a personality, a life, family and friends that branch off into more personalities and lives. Maybe Keith’s parents stood people up and now that’s why he’s the way he is.
Before he could get more existential, Coran came back with pancakes. Lance gave him another sad look “Thank you”
He started eating and ended thinking more about the world. He’s gotta get more things to think about.
He got there and quickly got out. Since people are going to church and whatnot, the traffic was pretty bad. He probably should have texted him.
He walked in and was pretty much slapped in the face with a variety of smells. Good smells. Comfortable smells. He looked around and saw someone with short brown hair sitting at a booth and assumed it was lance so he walked up to them “Lance?”
He jumped and looked up at him—it was lance. And he looked genuinely terrified. He blinked before swallowing his food “Oh”
The terror in his face was replaced with……anger?
Oh, probably because he’s late.
He just sat down across from him, too tired to deal with this “Im sorry I’m late—I had to do something”
He just nodded, poking at his food with his fork. Keith sighed “Are we gonna read it or not?”
Lance pulled the book out of his bag and, quite angrily, tossed it towards Keith “I got to chapter 2–have fun”
Keith scoffed at the sudden attitude “Okay—what”
He shook his head and shrugged “Nothing, just a little upset you’re an hour late—you know, it’s really boring here”
“Okay, whatever” He opened the book and started reading it. Though he was really annoyed at lance. If they weren’t going to read it together, why is he even here?
As he was reading, someone came to their table “Oh! You came! Would you like anything to eat?”
Keith shook his head “No, thank you”
He looked at lance who handed the waiter his empty plate. He left and Keith continued reading.
Lance didn’t say anything while he read which was a little irritating. It didn’t take him that long to reach chapter two and when he finished, he saw lance was staring at him. “What?”
Lance didn’t look away “What happened?”
Keith forgot that his face was still a little bruised from yesterday. There’s no way in hell he’s telling lance so “Nothing”
”Nothing? It just appeared?”
Keith leaned back, even more annoyed “I’m at chapter two, are we reading together or are we alternating because that will take forever”
”Come on then—“ He got up and gestured towards the seat. Keith shook his head, not knowing what he wants him to do. Lance gestured more dramatically “I can’t read upside down?”
Oh—he got up, sighing, and sat down where Lance was sitting. Lance sat down next to him and Keith opened the book.
Lance scooted closer so they could read so Keith started reading. The silence was a little awkward but Keith ignored it. He wants to get this over with.
He went to turn the page but lance stopped him “I’m not done”
Keith sighed, knowing now he’s probably gonna have to wait every time for lance to be done. Lance looked at him “What?”
”Hurry up”
”I am hurrying”
He looked back and after a few more seconds turned the page. Keith read it and, once again, was done before lance. It’s hard to focus on what the book is even saying when he’s this irritated.
After a few more pages, Keith started to care less so he just let lance turn the page when he was done. And after a few more, he just started to read slower.
Soon, they finished the next chapter and started the next one, not stopping. As they read this one, Keith started to tune out all the noise in the diner. He’s completely focused on this book. He doesn’t even like it that much so far so he doesn’t know why.
But something about reading with someone is making him…nervous.
After a few more pages, it seemed like lance was reading even slower. Keith glanced at him and he looked stressed. If he wasn’t stressed himself, he would probably say something.
He just let him read really slowly until the waiter came back.
”Hey, just letting you know we’re closed but feel free to stay a little longer if you need to”
Lance looked at him and smiled “Thanks but—“ He closed the book, with a little bookmark that Keith thinks was Dora “I have to go now—I told my sister I’d let her practice her makeup on me”
Keith ignored the weird reasoning and got up with him.
“Alrighty then” the waiter nodded and they walked to the door.
”I’ll see you soon, coran”
They left and, extremely coincidentally, they were parked right next to each other. Lance stopped to look at his truck “I was looking out for a motorcycle”
Keith opened the door, not replying. He was too tired to care about it being rude.
Lance sighed “Ok—see you tomorrow I guess”
”Yep” He got in, not letting lance speak anymore. Reading has never been so exhausting for him.
Maybe just reading with lance is exhausting.
The next day, when Keith got to school, nyma was waiting for him again. She was smiling weirdly. In the back of his mind he was thinking she knows. Allura told everyone—she was lying.
”So? You two left and…what?”
He sighed “Nothing happened”
”Nothing? You expect me to believe that?”
He started walking to the door “Yeah”
”Nothing happened? Really?”
He nodded, hoping she’d give it up.
“Who goes away with a girl as pretty as her and does nothing?” She laughed “Unless you’re gay which—“
He scoffed, his heart beating a little faster “I’m no—She isn’t like that so nothing happened”
She smiled “If you say so”
He rolled his eyes, feeling like he made something worse. He doesn’t know what though. But it’s worse now.
”Whatever”
He opened his locker and put his bag in. Nyma did too, smiling “I didn’t do ‘nothing’ though. I really didn’t expect rolo to be so g—“
Not wanting to hear what she was about to say, he closed his locker, loudly “I have to go”
He walked away and she laughed “Jeez, sorry”
They still sat together in class, which wasn’t really Keith’s choice. But nothing interesting happened. Except for nyma bugging him the whole time about allura.
And in the next class, he sat in the same spot in the back of the class, hoping for nothing to happen.
But unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Lance, without even asking this time, sat down next to him. Keith is way too tired to argue though, so he didn’t say anything.
Fortunately, neither did lance.
For the whole class, lance just had nothing to say. He usually can’t shut up but right now, nothing is on his mind. But he doesn’t really know if he would even say anything if he did.
Something about Keith makes him feel weird so he doesn’t know how much he’d ramble if he spoke. I mean, he already said way too much about the great gatsby. Keith probably thinks he’s annoying—which a lot of people do, but he usually doesn’t care. Enough people like him to make up for it.
It’s probably the stupid bet with pidge. Speaking of Pidge—he didn’t see her this morning. That’s not too surprising because she was probably just talking to a teacher but, she still usually says hi.
But he wanted to tell her about yesterday and how confident he was with their bet. He’s not really, because Keith is kind of an asshole but so is Pidge so he can handle it. But he really doesn’t know if keith will able to handle him.
But who knows, maybe he’s completely different when you get to know him.
Turns out, he’ll never know. It’s been two weeks and he’s only spoken to him twice. He completely ignores him in the classroom and he’s almost mute while they’re reading in the diner—which is taking forever because lance is a slow reader and he can’t stop himself from talking too much when something comes in his mind.
But what’s really weird is that he and allura have gotten really close. Like, he sees them talking during lunch and laughing. He’s gotta say, he’s a little hurt with how much allura has been spending time with him over them.
It’s Thursday and once again, she’s eating lunch with him. Pidge chuckled “I can’t tell if you’re jealous of him of her”
He scoffed “Shut up”
”I’m just sayin, if you wanna win this bet, you’re gonna have to be more forward.”
”I am the most forward”
”Not with Keith—it’s like you’re scared of him or something”
”I’m not scared! It’s just—“ he groaned “I think he hates me”
”So do I but I’m still your friend”
Lance looked at her “No, like, he barely even looks at me”
”Then try harder”
”I only have one day to try to be his friend more but we spend it reading silently—and awkwardly—well, he’s the one who doesn’t speak, I speak too much.”
”Then…maybe force him to talk to you—he’s gotta crack at some point”
He thought for a moment. Lance knows how to be persistent. He is all the time. He’s gotta be, living with a million people.
”Ok—I think I have an idea”
”You should think about it more, your ideas always backfire”
Agreeing with her, he thought about it for the rest of lunch.
And for his next class too because he kinda needs to build up his courage before saying anything.
The bell rang and he got up fast so he could reach him before he left for his football stuff. He saw him at his locker and ran up to him.
”Hey!”
He didn’t turn around and lance stopped next to him. Keith looked at him and waited for him to talk. He didn’t say anything right away, catching his breath.
”Hey, I wanna ask you something”
Keith put his bag over his shoulder and shut his locker “What”
”Do you still have 30 minutes before practice?”
He looked confused “Why?”
Lance sighed “Reading in the diner is taking too long, we need to meet up more often”
”It’s fine we’ll finish it before the due date”
”Yeah, right before the due date”
”That’s fine, I’ll write the paper just tell me your opinion on the book”
”I don’t work like that”
”You might have to” He went to leave and lance told himself that he needs to be persistent.
”You had thirty minutes when we found the book, you can take thirty more to read it”
Keith turned around “No I can’t, I don’t have time”
”Then make some” He shrugged and Keith turned around to walk away and lance followed him.
Keith sighed “What are you doing”
”I’m not leaving until you make time”
He stopped and looked at him “You’re really annoying, you know that?”
Lance walked quicker to get in front of him “I can get a lot worse”
Keith sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose “Fine”
Lance smiled “Great! Come on!”
They walked to the library and as they sat down, lance pulled out the book. This wasn’t all he thought about though.
”I also had another idea—“ He pulled out two pieces of paper and put them on the table. “I thought maybe we could write down our feelings about the book after each chapter so the final paper will be easier.”
Keith looked at it and shook his head “That will take even longer—this is a waste of time”
Lance got a pencil out “Well, now that we’re gonna read for 30 minutes every day, it’ll be fine”
Reluctantly, he also got a pencil and lance smiled, a little condescendingly “You fighting me is the waste of time”
Keith glared at him and lance opened the book to where they stopped.
The next day was the fourth game of the season and Keith felt like shit. Like, more shitty than usual. And it’s all because of one person. Lance.
Not only does he have to deal with football, school, and the new friend he’s making (which isn’t that bad, it’s just new), he now has to deal with Lance.
Lance. The most annoying person he’s ever met—more so than nyma. Well—maybe he’s just upset that he’s forcing him to read this damn book with him but still. He feels shitty.
And now he’s here, with allura, and she’s gonna talk to him—and lance is probably gonna talk to him too. He wants to go home after the game but he has a new friend and her friend is lance.
He guesses he just has to deal with him until the project is done. But he doesn’t want to stop being friends with allura.
Anyway, it didn’t even matter, they still won. But now that it’s over and he has nothing to do, he feels worse.
Because he changed into regular clothes while everyone celebrated and now allura is walking up to him, smiling. And lance is with her.
”Good job! You totally kicked ass” Allura hugged him, another new thing he’s not used to. Lance looked happy and his face had black and red marks on it.
”Yeah, like every time” the way he said that, sounded a little annoyed. But he was still smiling
”Thanks”
”Do you want to go out to eat with us, we’re celebrating.” Allura motioned over to Hunk and Katie, who were talking. Seeing Katie reminded him of the tutoring that he hasn’t followed up with yet. He’s going to next week.
He looked back at lance and then allura. He shook his head “I’m just gonna go home—I’m tired”
She nodded “Yeah, yeah, of course—I can imagine”
He nodded back and Katie waved her hand, yelling “Hey, are we going now?!”
Lance looked back at them “Yeah! Hold on!”
”Well, we should go before they leave us” Allura laughed and Keith smiled a little, nodding again “Okay, uh—see you”
”See you too—good job!”
They left and Keith walked back to his bike, ready to go home. He’s been ready since he left this morning.
As he drove, he could only think about how even though they won, he did pretty badly. And he knows the coach is gonna give him shit for it.
Like he said, he feels shitty.
For the next few days, he kept feeling shittier and shittier. Especially since he’s been spending more time with lance. Because of his idea of writing down what they felt, he’s been forced to talk to him. And lance never. Stops. Talking.
Once he starts, he goes on and on. And because of it, he’s been late for practice every day. And today, it’s Thursday and tomorrow he has yet another game and he honestly feels like he’s going to lose. He’s gonna fuck it all up. Because he’s distracted. And he’s tired.
With allura, with lance, now with Katie, who he finally talked to. With everything.
And he’s upset that most of it he’s enjoyed more than any football. Even the tutoring. Katie is unfortunately a whole lot like Keith and it makes him uncomfortable. But the truth usually isn’t the most comfortable thing.
And what’s worse is that sometimes—sometimes—he doesn’t hate being around lance. Keith may not care about a lot of things but he’s stubborn as hell and he’s set on not liking him. He’s got enough people who like him, he doesn’t need Keith to.
”Hey!”
He jumped up—looking at lance, who very rudely just yelled at him.
”How long have you been asleep?”
Keith blinked, not even realizing he was asleep.
”What?”
”Ive gotten through like, 6 pages—have you not read them?”
He shook his head, rubbing his eyes “No—uh, yeah. I did”
He didn’t, but he didn’t want to go back 6 pages.
Lance looked unconvinced. He closed the book and Keith sighed “Seriously, I did”
”No, you didn’t” he smiled at him, this time not condescending. “Take a nap, I’ll wake you up whenever you have to go”
”No, just—“
Lance shook his head, putting the book back in his bag “You look really tired”
He looked at the time and, well, he has time…but he doesn’t know if he wants lance to wake him up. Maybe he can set an alarm or something.
But before he could say anything, his eyes were already closing and his head felt really heavy. So he just nodded, laying his head down.
Keith almost immediately fell asleep and lance couldn’t hold back his smile. But he stopped when he saw someone looking at him.
He sighed and looked at Keith again, who looked completely out. He must have been exhausted. Lance had a really sudden and weird impulse to touch his cheek or something. It looks soft. He looks like he would have soft skin. Lance has always had a thing for soft skin.
Not that he has a thing for Keith—no. No way. He just…appreciates…soft skin.
But lance is only impulsive when it comes to words—not touching people’s faces.
“Hey, watch’a doin’?” Suddenly, Pidge was there. She really does naturally sneak.
”Jesus—“ he sighed “I sang lullabies to Keith and sent him into an eternal slumber”
She looked over at Keith, who was still sound asleep.
”Oh shit—he must’ve been tired” She sat down across from them and looked at Keith “Aw, he’s all peaceful”
Lance smiled “Yeah, he went to sleep so fast—football must be really tiring”
”Or maybe it’s you”
Lance stuck his tongue out at her and she did it back. Then they started talking about random stuff like they usually do.
It was time to wake him up and honestly, lance didn’t want to. He just looks so peaceful. Which is a nice contrast to his cold, uninterested look.
But he doesn’t want to deal with how mad he’d be if he didn’t so he shook him, very gently “Hey……wake up”
He opened his eyes and looked up at lance. Then he sat up really quick and looked around “—Fuck”
He stood up and grabbed his bag and lance laughed “Good morning?”
”Uh—yeah, thanks” he left and lance sat there. Feeling all weird.
He got up too, also getting his bag and walking out. God, he feels so weird.
The fifth game, not surprisingly, went pretty well. Not because of him though, he was really off. And when he went into the locker room, his coach stopped him.
”What’s up with you?” He didn’t sound actually concerned.
”Nothing, I’m fine”
”You’re better than this—I know you are—we’ll talk more during practice”
He nodded, still just wanting to go home.
He left and Keith went in and changed, hoping no one would say anything to him. He really just wants to leave.
He went to the parking lot, hoping to avoid everyone. But unfortunately, someone called out for him.
”Keith!”
He turned around and saw allura, alone.
She stopped in front of him “Since it’s half the season, we were gonna go out to eat again—you should come”
He didn’t see them anywhere and looked at allura “Did you tell any of them?”
She shook her head “No, I wouldn’t say anything—it’s not for me to tell”
He felt relieved, that was something he was worried about. Since they’re friends, he thought maybe they’d tell each other things.
”I don’t—uh, I don’t really know them that well…”
She put her hands on her hips “You know Katie, you know lance, and you know hunk. You know all of them.”
Technically yeah, he knows them but he doesn’t know what they’re like not at school. And he doesn’t think he wants to know what lance is like.
Keith looked down and sighed “Well…I’m not their friend”
She smiled “You could be—just come with us and if you really hate it, you don’t have to do it again”
He stayed quiet for a second, thinking. Like shiro says ‘put yourself out there’.
”…Okay”
She perked up “Really! Awesome! Do you want to ride with us? We’re taking pid—katies van.”
”A van?”
She laughed and nodded “Yeah, it cooler than it sounds” she leaned in a whispered “It’s not”
He looked at his bike and she grabbed his arm “We’ll take you back to get it—don’t worry”
He nodded and just went with her to a very suspicious looking black van. She stopped and looked at him. “They’re good people, you have nothing to be worried about”
She opened the door and Keith was immediately hit with the smell of weed. Ok, he knows what kind of people they are now.
”Keith said yes!”
He heard someone cheering and then Katie poked her head out the door “That’s awesome!”
Allura got in and Keith followed her, now feeling super awkward. But weirdly, the inside of the van looked cool. Like a cool hang out space.
Katie spread her arms dramatically “Welcome—to the black mamba”
Keith frowned “The what”
”The van—that’s what she named it.” Allura looked unimpressed and closed the door. They sat down on the seat that went all around the back of the van.
Keith saw Hunk in the drivers seat, and he smiled at him “Hey! It’s awesome that you’re coming with us!”
”Hunk is our designated driver—“
”Cause you suck at driving” Lance said, laying down at the back end.
”Yeah, I only take her out when we do stuff”
Hunk started driving and allura smiled at Keith. He knows that she knows he’s nervous so it’s kind of relieving.
“So…are you two dating or what?” Katie said, very bluntly.
Lance sat up—but he hit his head on a pole that was hanging from the ceiling “Ah!—Shit!”
He held his head and fell back down. Keith felt himself about to laugh so he covered his mouth with his hand.
Lance scoffed, sitting up and throwing a crumbled straw wrapper at him “You’re laughing?!”
He blocked it, looking away, still smiling, trying not to laugh.
Lance rubbed his head “Why is there even a pole there??”
”It used to be a cargo van—we talked about this”
”You need to remove it!”
”You need to pay attention!”
”You both need to shut up—lance, are you okay?” Allura said, also laughing a little.
Lance looked at her, pouting “No, but a kiss might help”
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms “No”
”Fine, I guess I’ll have brain damage”
”You don’t already?” Katie added, making Keith smile more.
Lance looked at him “Forgive me for being bold but I hate you”
Keith kept smiling, thinking this is all very amusing.
”Oh yeah—I forgot to mention” Katie looked at Keith “—The smell, we can open a window if you want”
Keith shook his head “Uh, No, I don’t mind”
”Cool—I bet you’re used to way stronger stuff—I heard the football players are crazy”
Keith shrugged, shaking his head again “I don’t go to those parties—or do what they do”
”You don’t smoke?”
He nodded “no, I do—just not the other stuff”
“Cool, so do you mind if I smoke? I won’t if you’re uncomfortable”
”I don’t care”
She smiled, getting a small bag from a compartment underneath the seat.
”Im sorry about her, she’s crazy”
She went to light the joint she had now and squinted at allura “You’re crazy”
”Aren’t we going out to eat?” Allura crossed her legs and Katie shrugged “It makes the food taste better” she laid down and started smoking.
”That’s true” Lance added, reaching towards her. He was laying down too.
She handed it to him and he took a long drag before handing it back.
Keith has smoked a lot. Especially last year, when he tried going to the parties. They offered other stuff but he never took it. But every time he smoked he just felt calm.
”You wanna?”
She looked at Keith, who was inclined to refuse. This probably isn’t the way shiro wanted him to put himself out there but—fuck it. Maybe he’ll be less nervous. He grabbed it and they all alternated passing it around.
They talked about football and the parties that he doesn’t go to. And Katie mentioned that she likes to be called Pidge—apparently it’s just a childhood nickname.
And even allura smoked a little, which surprised him. She doesn’t seem like the type to.
Since hunk was driving, he didn’t. He also just said he doesn’t smoke because it makes him groggy.
Keith likes that it makes him groggy. Well, this one isn’t. The weed at the parties were probably bad anyway but he took what he could get.
Hunk had parked in an empty Wendy’s parking lot and went in to get food for everyone. Keith definitely calmed down and it’s absolutely because of the weed.
”Uuuughh my head huuurts”
Lance handed keith the joint again and Allura laughed “I’m not kissing it”
He got up and moved in front of her on the floor, putting his arms on her knees and sticking out his bottom lip “It’s just one little kiss” he smiled at her and she leaned forward “No”
Pidge also sat on the floor and watched them. Lance scooted closer, sitting in between her legs now “Please?” He kept pouting and allura shook her head “You’re getting nothing from me”
Lance turned around to look at Pidge—immediately Pidge shook her head “no”. Lance turned back around and pouted but he suddenly stopped and his eyes went to Keith and Keith frowned, hoping he wasn’t about to ask him. Lance frowned though “I would ask but I don’t think a kiss from you would help”
”How do you know?” Allura said, laughing
“Because he’s mean”
”I’m not mean”
”You are”
”Well, you’re loud”
”And hurt—specifically in my head which a kiss will heal but can’t get one”
The weed was fogging his judgement so it’s completely understandable that Keith leaned down and kissed lances forehead “There, now you can be quiet”
Allura looked at Keith, her mouth open in shock. Keith was too high to care. He leaned back, a little tired.
Then Pidge started laughing, making allura laugh, too.
Lance was still looking at Keith, shocked. Keith rolled his eyes “What? You want more?”
”Yeah” Lance started smiling and now it was Keith’s turn to be shocked. Lance got up and sat next to Keith, laughing.
”You’re so weird” Pidge was still laughing and lance laughed “I mean, it helped a lot more than I thought”
”Maybe you should be his girlfriend then” Pidge laughed and allura rolled her eyes, smiling.
”Yeah allura you better watch out—I might steal Keith from you” Lance scooted closer to him. Way too close.
Keith laughed, feeling strangely calm “You wish”
Lance opened his mouth, looking fake offended. “I could totally be your girlfriend!”
Keith looked at him, smiling. Also ignoring how close their faces were. “You…wish”
Lances eyes went down to his mouth for a second and he raised his eyebrows, smiling “Im basically the guy version of allura, if I was a girl you would totally date me”
“If you weren’t annoying I would date you”
Lance kept smiling, getting a little closer “If you weren’t such a jackass maybe I’d date you too”
Keith felt a quick, weird, feeling in his chest and it freaked him out but for some reason, he didn’t move.
But the door opened, startling both of them. Hunk got in, holding a few bags of food.
”I got a whole bunch of nuggets, a burger for lance, and four cokes” he looked at allura, smiling “And water”
”Thank you” He handed her the water and then put the bags on the floor, where Pidge was still sitting.
He closed the door and walked to the back to sit down—also on the floor.
They all started eating and Keith realized that food actually does taste better when you’re high.
They finished eating and hunk started to drive again. He ended up just bringing Keith home because he may be stupid enough to drive without a helmet but he’s not driving high.
He didn’t see his dads car, which was good because he doesn’t know what he’d do if he caught him like this.
They all said bye before leaving and he went inside, feeling good.
He went to his room and laid down, thinking about lance saying he would date him and how close their faces were. He knows he was joking and—well, high, but it made him feel weird.
He’s still stubborn so he doesn’t want to like him. And he’s convincing himself he doesn’t. Because it’s lance. It’s annoying, loud, kind of pretty, douche-y, Lance.
He ignored that one part and went to sleep.
He doesn’t want to think about Lance anymore. Bad or good—it’s just not worth it.
But unfortunately the dream he had seemed a little contradictory. But I’ll spare you the details.