Chapter Text
>>LANCE<<
He hates me.. I know it.
I huffed, leaning my head against my hand as I glanced at the boy who sat next to me. His name is Keith Kogane, he's gay, he's emo, and he hates my guts. That's all I know about him. I want to know more, but that'll never happen.
I looked up at our Algebra teacher as she explained something boring. Something about how she had printed off our grades for us since it's the middle of the quarter, and she wants us to stay on track. Whatever. I check my grades every Friday. I know my standings.
She walked around and handed everyone a copy of their grades. I looked over at Keith again. He was wearing his usual faded red hoodie paired with a gray t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and red Vans. Can't forget his eyeliner, too, along with the gay pride pins on his black backpack.
He looked at me, "Can I help you?"
I shook my head, "Sorry, I was staring off." I looked down at my lap.
My outfit was the opposite of his. Jean shorts, a white tank top, a baby blue hoodie, and white Converse All-Stars. My backpack was as gay as his, though, blue and silver sequins with a cute as fuck bisexuwhale button.
I was snapped back to reality when Miss Harrison handed me and Keith our grades. I had all A's except a D in English. Last time I checked, it was a C. I didn't realize our midterms had been put in already.
Damn, that test really pulled me down..
I glanced over at Keith's grades, which were a lot like mine. All A's except for a C in Algebra.
"I can help you with math if you want?" I said, leaning over a bit.
He looked confused. "Why do you want to help me?"
I shrugged, "Because you don't have many friends, and I thought maybe this could open the door to us being friends."
He smiled just a tiny bit before glancing at my grades, "How did you manage a D in English?"
"It's not my first language. I'm Cuban, I speak Spanish at home," I sighed, "English is hard... I failed my last test. It was a lot of grammar."
He looked like he felt a bit sorry for me, "Let's make a deal. You tutor me in Algebra and I'll tutor you in English."
I was surprised. But I didn't make a big deal out of it.
Maybe he doesn't hate me...
I smiled and nodded, "Deal!"
We shook on it, "Want to come over to my house after school? Since I have minimal friends, my Friday nights are always free."
I nodded, "Yeah! I don't think I have any plans, I always forget what day I'm doing what." I laughed softly.
He laughed too and wrote down his phone number before giving it to me, "If you end up double booking your evening, then just text me. I'll understand. You're popular, you have friends."
"Yeah, not to mention cheer practice." I wrote down my phone number for him and gave it to him.
"Aren't you the cheer captain? And the only guy?" He asked as he put my number in his pocket.
I nodded, "Yeah. There was a controversy over it last year. Everyone thought it was sexist that the only boy got to be captain. But they're just stupid. I didn't nominate myself for it; Shay did. I nominated Allura. There was a vote after that, and the squad voted me in. It was a landslide vote, too. I'm captain because I'm good and the girls think I should have the position, not because I have a dick." I put his number in my backpack.
He snorted a bit, "People are dumb."
I nodded in agreement, "Yeah, very."
"You're not what I thought you'd be." He looked me in the eye.
I shrugged, "Well, I guess I do have the life of a cliché bitch. Cheer captain and dating the quarterback is just total bitch material."
He laughed a bit, "I misjudged you, McClain.. I just thought you'd be more like your asshole boyfriend."
I looked down, "He's not that much of an asshole..." I mumbled, "He's just... just.."
"An asshole." Keith finished my sentence, "Why is someone as smart and kind as you dating a dick like Lotor?"
I shrugged, "He can be really romantic sometimes.. He asked me out by having the choir serenade me as he gave me a big, what's the word... Bouquet! He got me a big bouquet of lilies and bluebells... And he did something big to ask me homecoming too."
Keith nodded, "You're a sucker for cliché romantic stuff, and he uses that to his advantage.. I get it...."
I looked over at him, "Why do you think he's such a jerk?"
"I dunno.. Maybe because he shoves me around all the time and once threatened me," He rolled his eyes.
My eyes widened, "He did that??" I tried not to shout.
He nodded, "Yeah.. Your boyfriend is a dick, Lance. I just hope he's not a dick to you, too... I'm really hoping you just haven't seen his bad side yet and you're not defending it."
I looked down, not knowing what to say next. But the bell saved me, "I-I'll see you after school. I'll text you so we can meet up..." I grabbed my bag and ran off for lunch.
"Uh, okay. Bye!" He called after me as he got his bag all packed.
That was close...
I quickly ran to the lunchroom and saw Lotor and Acxa, "Hey, guys!" I walked over with a giggle.
Lotor wrapped his arm around my waist before pulling me in for a kiss, "There's my baby~ Acxa brought us lunch today."
I smiled at her, "Wow, that was really nice of you!"
She shrugged, "I get free food from work. Might as well take advantage of it. I know you can't afford to buy your own," I was on the reduced lunch program for 'financially struggling' students.
Acxa worked at the pizzeria down the street from the school, so we got to eat there for a discount a lot. Not that we need it, they're both filthy rich. They just like free stuff. Acxa's also Lotor's twin sister. They used to be inseparable as kids. Now, as teenagers, they have separate lives but are still very close. She's a jock like us, but her sport is volleyball.
We all walked to our usual table by the window, and Acxa got out the food. Lotor kept his arm around my waist, rubbing up under my shirt a bit. Nothing new. Acxa gave us our food. Lotor got a meat lover's calzone, I got an antipasto salad, and she got chicken alfredo.
"I remember that you're still trying to lose five pounds, so I got you that salad you like." She smiled at me.
I nodded, "Thanks. God knows I need it after that trip to visit mi abuela. I probably ate my weight in cookies," I laughed a bit and started eating.
As we ate, I saw Lotor was checking out one of the art club girls. I pat his shoulder, "Lotor.." I pouted a bit.
He chuckled, "Nothing says I can't look."
"I do," I frowned, looking up at him.
He rolled his eyes, "You're not my mom."
"But I'm your boyfriend! You'd get mad at me if I were checking someone out like that!" I crossed my arms.
He stood up, "What's up your ass, Lance? I was just looking at her, I wasn't even flirting!"
I stood up too, "But I know you would've if I wasn't here. Allura told me you tried to get with her!"
"Well, the little slut shot me down, so no problem!" He rolled his eyes again.
I slapped him; I was just so angry. I knew he'd have cheated on me if she had said yes, but luckily, she's a friend. I knew he probably had cheated on me with someone else who didn't care that I was dating him. But I didn't dwell on it for too long because he grabbed my shirt and pushed me down. But I was against the window, so I hit my back on the windowsill really hard.
"Whatever, you little shit! Fucking slut! I'm dumping you like the piece of trash you are!" He stormed out of the room, Acxa following after him with their things.
I started crying, but I didn't want anyone else to see. So I grabbed my backpack and ran off where no one would find me.
>>KEITH<<
Near the end of the day, during my last class, I finally heard from Lance. Algebra was the only class we had together, and I ate lunch outside today, so I hadn't gotten to see him.
Unknown: hey meet me out front by the flag poll after school -lance
Keith: ok
I put my phone away and looked at the clock, counting the seconds until I got to see him again.
He's just so much sweeter than I ever imagined! I literally thought he'd be some sort of princess bitch! But he's super nice!
Then I got the idea to ask my only two friends about him. Pidge and Hunk. Those were only their nicknames. Those aren't their real names; they just hate their names. They're both in the LEGO robotics club. They're also in my homeroom and also don't have many friends. They've adopted me into their group.
Group Chat - FUCKING NERDS
Keith: hey you guys know that lance kid right?
Hunk: you mean the cheer captain?
Pidge: duh, we know him!
Pidge: who doesnt know him???
Keith: fair enough
Keith: what do you think of him?
Hunk: idk i dont really know him
Pidge: he seems nice i guess
Keith: hes coming over to my house to study today
Hunk: thats cool
Hunk: just be on the look out
Keith: why?
Pidge: because lotor is a dick and will probably beat you for even looking at his boyfriend
Hunk: yeah. and then he goes to flirt with every girl in school behind lances back
Keith: dude, thats fucked up. does lance know?
Pidge: no idea. probably does
Keith: that sucks. lance seems so sweet
Hunk: are you crushing on the cheer captain ;)
Keith: NO
Pidge: YOURE SO GAY
Hunk: GET THAT ASS
Hunk changed the group name to "GAYYY"
Pidge changed Keith's name to "Gayass"
Gayass: oh my god
Gayass: im going to kill myself
Gayass: gtg
I put my phone away as I heard the bell ring. I grabbed my bag and rushed to meet Lance by the flagpole. When I got there, I noticed everyone was staring at him and whispering. He looked really upset.
There's probably a bad rumor about him floating around. Ugh. This is exactly why I stay out of the spotlight.
I walked up to him, and he smiled the instant he saw me. "Ready to go?" He asked.
I nodded, "Yeah, I drove here so we can take my car."
He nodded, "I usually take the bus."
We started walking to my car, "My foster dad has two cars. He lets me use the old one that he couldn't sell. It's too rusted, so no one wanted it. But it works just fine."
He nodded, "I heard that you're a foster kid. I just never knew if it was true or not."
"Yeah, it's true. Well, technically not. I'm 18 now, so I've aged out. I never knew my mom and my dad died when I was 8. So I was in foster care for the past 9 years." I shrugged as we reached my rusty, old, red Chevy.
We threw our bags in the back before getting in, "That must suck.. Is your current foster dad any good?"
"Yeah, actually. He's really cool. He's really straightforward with me, too. He told me he wasn't going to adopt me because of my age, but he keeps letting me stay with him even though I aged out of the system. He wanted to adopt me, but I was going to age out before it would be finalized, so there was no point in it." I started to drive towards my house.
He nodded, "That's good. I'm glad you found a family. I know a lot of kids don't. They just age out and have nowhere to go..."
I sighed and nodded, "Yeah, unfortunately.. What about you? What's your family like?"
"Well, it's big. I have four siblings. I'm the middle child, actually. Daniel is the oldest; he's 26. He's moved out and is living with his fiancée. Veronica is the second oldest, she's 22. She stays at home to help out, taking night classes at UCBA. Then there's me, I'm 17. And the youngest are the twins, Maria and Michael. They're 4. They were a surprise, that's why there's such a large age gap. Papa definitely has his hands full between us and Mama. She's sick... Really sick. That's why Veronica stays home; she helps. Danny would come home too, but Mama won't let him. He's starting a family of his own, and she doesn't want to get in the way of that. He proposed to his fiancé a year ago, but they're waiting to get married because they want Mama to be at the wedding. Mama keeps telling him to get married without her." He sighed, getting a bit sad, "She always wants the best for us..."
I frowned, looking over at him, "I'm sorry, Lance.. It must be really hard for you.."
He shrugged before looking out the window again, "Oh, hey, this is my street. I liiiiiiveee... There!" He pointed to his little house. I saw two little kids playing tag in the yard, "That's Maria and Michael." He giggled a bit, all happy again now that he saw his siblings playing.
I smiled at him, "We live really close. I live just around the corner."
I turned the corner and stopped halfway down the street, outside my house. My dad's black car was in the driveway. "My foster dad is home early; you can meet him."
He nodded as we got our bags out of the back seat. Then we walked to the door and I let him inside, "SHIRO!!" I called out.
Shiro came walking into the room. "You don't have to shout like that." He rolled his eyes but then spotted Lance, "Oh, you brought home a friend."
I nodded, "Yeah, this is Lance. We're going to help each other study."
Shiro smiled and shook Lance's hand, "Nice to meet you, Lance. I'm Keith's foster dad, Takashi Shirogane. But everyone just calls me Shiro."
Lance smiled, "Nice to meet you too, Mr Shiro. I'm Lance McClain."
"Just Shiro is fine. You two go study. I can order you some pizza if you start to get hungry. I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow, so we're low on food right now." He chuckled a bit.
"Okay, thanks. Bye." I grabbed Lance's hand and pulled him upstairs to my room. Lance waved as I pulled him away.
I took him to my room and closed the door behind us. He looked around my room. I had band posters and maps of space on my walls. My bedspread was all black. Most of my decor was, really. The glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling caught his eye. "Your room is cool. I have to share a room with Michael, so I can't decorate the way I want." He sat down on my queen-size bed.
I laughed softly, "It's my first time having my own room. I took advantage of that." I sat next to him.
"I had my own room after Danny left for college. But then the twins were born. We only have three bedrooms. One for mama and papa, one for the girls, and one for the boys. Veronica was lucky enough to have her own room until she was 17. But once Maria came along, she had to share." He smiled still.
"You're family sounds really fun." I smiled back at him.
"Yeah, it is." He giggled happily.
After that, we got to work. His math notes were a little hard to read because most words were written in Spanish. Luckily, I aced Spanish. He said he loved math because it was universal, with no language barrier. It all looked the same. The only difference was the names for the symbols. After Algebra, I helped him with English. He took out the test he had flunked, and I explained to him where he went wrong. There were a lot of spelling errors, just like he predicted. And he got a lot wrong in the multiple-choice grammar section, too. I could tell it'd take more than one tutoring session for him to catch on, but that was okay. More time with him.
More hearing that adorable laugh that sounded like the voice of an angel...