Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Keith glared at the back of the head belonging to a specific girl named Allura. It's not that he had something against her — it's just that she was dating Lance.

The two together just didn't make sense. Allura and Lance? The pairing just seemed like she was desperate enough to give him a chance. In all honesty, Keith was dissapointed she actually agreed to date him. You can't blame him, if the person you were crushing on was sweeped by some girl. Sure, Allura was pretty. But not pretty enough for Lance. That might've been biased on Keith's part, considering he was a gay man. But either way, Lance should've been his.

While glaring intensely at the back of Allura's long white hair, Keith heard a shuffle and an atrocious scratching sqeak noise. His desk partner, Romelle, had pulled her chair back and sat down. She nodded at Keith, who nodded back, before returning to sulking and staring at the two sitting right in front of him.

Lance, his Lance, laughing and smiling at Allura, a girl way undeserving of him. Well, maybe that was a bit mean. Allura was capable of snagging anyone, but did it have to be Lance?

"You too?"

Keith's thoughts were interupted by his seatmate, and upon turning to glance at her was also staring at the couple in front of them.

"Excuse me?"

Keith raised an eyebrow. Was Romelle after Lance as well? Ugh.

Romelle sighed dramatically, her chin propped on the palm of her hand.

"Those two genuinely piss me off. Like, could Allura not have chosen anyone better?"

Keith frowned. No way this girl was insulting Lance. But wasn't she also in love with him? Maybe he misunderstood.

"So...You don't like Lance?"

Romelle turned to Keith, a look of confusion and slight disgust flashing across her face.

"No, ew. Were we not talking about Allura?"

The two stared at eachother for a few moments, before the info clicked. An "Ohhhh" from them both soon followed.

"..."

"...Really? Lance??"

Keith rolled his eyes, and went back to staring at Lance and glaring at Allura, while Romelle did the opposite. Oh how wonderful it would be if the two broke up...

AP physics is truely a boring subject. Keith was drawing away in his notebook, occasionally taking notes. First the red lion from a game he played, Voltron, a series of drawings of other things, before he caught himself sketching out Lance. Huh. Keith always ended up drawing Lance a lot, somehow without noticing until he was almost done.

"Oooh, drawing your loverboy?"

Keith jolted, quickly covering his page. Romelle snickered, peeking over at his notebook.

"You should draw Allura for me,"

Keith scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"No."

Romelle sent him a dirty look, before leaving him alone. The two didn't interact for the rest of the class, but both were thinking of the unfortunate couple sitting in front of them. Despite being nice people, Keith and Romelle wished on the downfall of their relationship.

Lance had no fucking idea how Allura ended up accepting his confession. He'd liked her for a while, even though he was sure she didn't like him back for the longest time. She even started dating that Lotor guy, who was a real bitchass. Come to think of it, Allura and him had broken up not long ago. Guess she figured out he was a jerk. Lance wasn't speaking out of spite, this guy was actually that bad. He manipulated her, used her, and dumped her when he was done. Can't expect much from some rich Galra boss's son.

When the two broke up and Lance confessed yet again, she actually said yes. It came as a surprise. But when he started actually dating her, his feelings didn't feel as strong. As if Allura was no longer at the center of Lance's heart, y'know?

It kinda seemed like he was using her, or leading her on. Lance felt incredibly bad about it, considering the state of her previous relationship with Lotor. He really wasn't, it just felt like he wasn't putting his all into dating her. He used to dream about kissing Allura's lips, but actually doing it as her boyfriend seemed...wrong. Not that they ever kissed.

Allura didn't seem to be putting much into their relationship either. Maybe it felt off to her too. Should he talk to her about it? No, he couldn't just break up with her after what happened with Lotor. But it didn't feel right dating her. Lance, what the fuck.

"Pst-! Hey,"

Allura paused her notetaking and turned to him, eyeing his empty page with a raised eyebrow.

"Whats up?"

"Can we..talk later? At lunch maybe?"

"Sure,"

There. Lance would tell her whats wrong at lunch, and they can stop dating and just be friends. He couldn't back down now.

bell noises idgaf

Lance stood awkwardly outside the cafeteria entrance, rocking on the balls of his feet as he waited for Allura. He spotted her in the swarm of people, waving her over. You got this, Lance. You can't go back now. Tell her the truth.

"Hey, Lance. What'd you need to talk about?"

"Heyy, Allura. So like, I've kinda stopped having feelings for you, not that I hate you, its just that I don't think I like you anymore — I still like you, you're cool and stuff, but I don't think I want to date you-? Well, I would, who wouldn't, y'know? But I just don't think I'm putting everything into being with you, and I think-"

"Lance,"

"..Yyyes?"

Allura sighed, smiling.

"Its alright. I know what you mean. Honestly, I don't think I'm putting everything into this relationship either. You're cool, don't worry. I know your intentions aren't like those of Lotor's."

Lance let out a relieved sigh, processing what Allura had said.

"Sooo...can we still be friends? It'd suck if we just stopped talking."

"Yes, of course you'll still be my friend. I also think I like girls, so maybe I'll stop trying to date men."

"...What. Oh. Cool, cool, okay,"

Lance hadn't expected the last part, but good for her. He sighed, the relief from getting all that off his chest escaping his lips.

...

Noooo, I'm single now what the fuck.

Lance shook the thought away. Its not like dating Allura brought much. They didn't do much couple things in the two weeks they were together. Just the title of boyfriend-girlfriend was there. Oh, how Lance craved the feeling of being held and cradled- whAt.

Either way, now that that was out of the way, he could have lunch. Lance was fucking starving, and he wanted food asap.

He and Allura bid farewell. Apparently she was going to sit with her other group of friends today, instead of with their shared friend group.

Lance inspected the cafeteria food blessed upon his tray. A suspicious looking egg sandwich, a pack of baby carrots, a lump of whatever that was, and a room temperature carton of milk. Deeelicious. He set the tray down on the table with a sigh, before taking note of the raised eyebrows from his friends.

His usual group of friends sat around him. Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, and Keith. Pidge mainly started the bond between them, considering they introduced them all. Shiro was the only senior in their group, and probably the only one with common sense, thus responsible for everything the five did. Pidge was a tech genius, and Lance didn't understand half the shit they said. Hunk was Hunk. And Hunk made the best fucking food, as shown by the container of delicious smelling shit in front of him. Last but not least, Keith. Lance had declared a sort of rivalry between the two, unknown by Keith. He always acted so blunt around him. Lance didn't know why Pidge invited him to their friendgroup. But he wasn't really complaining, he could be cool when he wanted to. Keith just apparently doesn't want to. Usually, Allura would hang out with them too, but not today. Considering they sorta just broke up.

Pidge spoke up first.

"Sooo, is Allura not joining us today?"

"Did you and her fight?"

Shiro spoke in a tone you'd expect your father to use. For some reason he always spoke like he was in his mid forties — acted like it too. This guy takes forever to type out messages.

"No, no, we didn't. We just sorta broke up though. It wasn't messy, don't worry, she's still our friend,"

Keith glanced up from his phone, an eyebrow raised.

"You and Allura broke up?"

"Yup. What, are you gonna rub it in?"

"No, no..Just a bit surprised."

Keith glanced over at Romelle, who was part of the group of girls Allura was also close with. He caught sight of her slightly shocked expression. It seems like Allura was telling them about their breakup as well. Romelle caught his gaze, tilting her head towards Lance. Keith nodded back at her, seemingly trying to say I know.

Keith looked back towards Lance, who was poking at the scoop of what looked vomit on his tray, otherwise lookinf unbothered. Apparently he was not as down bad for Allura as he made himself out to be.

Lance caught his gaze, narrowing his eyes at Keith.

"What."

"What what."

"Stop staring at me all creepy,"

"I'm not staring at you,"

"Were too,"

"Oh shut it, Lance."

"How cruel of you, I'm going through a breakup!"

"Stop being so dramatic, we all know its really not that deep."

"Oh fuck you too, Keith,"

Gosh, this guys so insufferable.

Chapter Text

bell noises i yet again dgaf

Finally. Days over. Keith could go home and relax. But no, his friends insist on taking up his after school hours. Pidge had suggested the five of them check out a new cafe. And Keith had no choice but to go.

Pidge led them out the school grounds, pulling out directions to the cafe. The rest of them followed them, trailing after Pidge as they led the way. After seven minutes of walking as Lance and Hunk discussed lasagna, they arrived.

It was a nice cafe. Cozy with fairy lights and light music. Keith glanced over the menu, before deciding on just ordering a plain cup of coffee. His friends however, took a bit to decide. After a while, they'd ordered and payed, settling down at one of the tables against the window.

Once the drinks were made and collected, Keith took a sip of his coffee. Not bad. He was about to take another when his cup was snatched out of his grasp. Keith groaned as Lance took a sip.

"Really."

"Hm. Mid."

Lance had made it a habit to taste test all his friends drinks whenever they went out. Same goes for food. Keith had been forced to get used to it.

"Now give it back?"

Lance shrugged, giving the coffee back to Keith, who sighed at him as he proceeded to take a sip of Shiro's.

Once his coffee was retreived, he took another sip, the much needed caffeine entering his body. He eventually started spacing out, the group's conversation going unheard. His mind was equally as empty as it was full. Eventually he just took a nap.

im lazy bro 🥀

Upon waking up, Keith took note of the darkening sky and light chatter. He looked up from his resting position, which was pretty much the poss you'd sleep in class with. Shiro glanced at him, pausing his conversation.

"Oh, Keith's awake."

Keith groaned, flopping his head back onto the table. Despite having drank a cup of coffee, he was still tired as fuck. He took a few seconds to recover, before sitting upright like a normal person, looking surprisingly awake.

Lance snickered, tapping Keith on the head.

"Ew, do not touch my hair with those hands of yours."

Lance scoffed, waving him off.

yet again im lazy

im like trying to fit as much of canon shit as i can so for the sake of my patience and story they live alone

Approximately ten minutes after Keith's awakening, the group exited the cafe and started towards the building they lived in. Despite technically not being old enough to legally live alone, they went to a boarding school, so they sorta had to.

The five parted ways, Keith heading to his own little confined space. Pushing open the red door, he immedietly recieved a text from his friends.

[paladins]

@loverboylance

guys

hey guys

which of you have my switch

why would we have your switch

@loverboylance

idk bruh i csjt find it

@pidgethesmidgeunderthebrooklynbridge

i dont have it

pidge wtf happened to your tag

@pidgethesmidgeunderthebrooklynbridge

the unfortunate

lance got ahold of mh phone and its on cd so i cant change it for two weeks

💀

Keith snickered, before turning off his phone. He glanced at the clock. 6:14. He walked over to the minifridge sitting in the corner of the kitchenette, and ended up grabbing microwaveble mac n cheese.

It tasted like shit.

But he ate it, because wasting food is not good. Once done, Keith discarded the 'biodegradable' container into the trash, because most of the time it was a lie.

Then came the hour's worth of doomscrolling. Keith had no motivation to do anything whatsoever. Mitski blasted in his ears as he went through his friends recent media posts. He was particularly grateful today was one of the groupchat's quiet days.

A specific post caught his eye. Allura was the poster, and had uploaded a picture with the caption 'hung out w the girls today <3'. Keith didn't give a fuck about that. What he did give a fuck about was the image, Allura's arm around the shoulders was none other than Romelle, his weird gay seatmate in AP physics. She must've enjoyed herself, being this close to Allura. There were two other girls in the picture, non of which Keith gave a fuck about. At least Romelle was getting somewhere.

Keith sighed, turning his phone off. It'd gotten late, so he might as well try sleeping early. He got up, placing his phone down, heading towards the bathroom to shower.

His phone vibrated from a few texts while he was away, the info going unacknowledged on his part due to his time away from the phone.

So imagine the surprise expressed upon Keith's face as he stepped out the bathroom to find Lance squatted in front of his minifridge at 9:42 pm.

"Lance what the fuck are you doing,"

Lance looked over his shoulder as he surveyed Keith's food.

"Oh hey Keith! I texted you I was coming,"

Keith blinked, gaping at the other.

"Well what made you think I saw them??"

"I mean you usually just don't reply either way so I just assumed you saw it,"

"No, get out of my house,"

Lance scoffed, still looking at the contents of Keith's pretty much empty fridge.

"Wheres half your food. I knew you were big but I didn't know you were that big,"

"What?"

"Are you deaf?? Where's your food, biggie,"

Keith scoffed offensively.

"First of all, you are definately the big one out of us. You broke in looking for food. And second, its not empty, I've got sustainable food."

That earned him a raised eyebrow.

"You have instant shit. That has got to taste like doo doo."

"Lance."

"Keith,"

"Get the fuck out of my house."