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“Cadet! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Iverson’s voice crackled over the speaker. Keith smirked and pushed violently down into the controllers. The ship shuddered and sped down the desert path, away from the shocked cargo pilots, raking up a cloud of dust in his wake. Keith gave out a whoop as he pulled the controllers to his chest, practically ripping them from their sockets as the ship flew up towards the sky and clouds, making a nearly 90-degree angle from the ground. Keith’s head was crushed against the leather chair. He smiled uncontrollably. The pilot quickly jerked the gear and smashed down the foot pedal. The ship floated in mid-air for a moment.
“Kogane! Answer me!”
Keith flushed, remembering the people watching him down below. Granted, this was all going according to plan, but sue him for getting a little nervous under the spotlight. Keith cleared his voice and grinned at the speaker.
“Just putting on a show for the cargo pilots, sir.”
Without waiting for another angry reply, Keith raced the ship forwards, looping around the clouds in an outrageously frivolous fashion. Keith laughed as the ship swirled around the sky. At least his last day at the Garrison would be his best.
A giant white cloud enveloped the ship, obscuring it completely from the crowd. Everyone below waited silently, squinting at the sky, searching for the rogue pilot. After a couple moments held in bated breath, a small dot of gray blossomed from the white. Someone shouted and pointed. Everyone stood on their tiptoes, trying to gain a better view. The speck soon grew in size, forming into the small, shitty plane. The small shitty plane that obviously did not deserve this sort of treatment. But there Kogane was, racing the ship towards the-
“HE’S GONNA CRASH!”
It was falling fast, like a drop of rain, one path, one mission. All of the cargo pilots panicked, racing away from the impending vehicle.
Well, all the cargo pilots except one.
Lance scoffed. Kogane doesn’t crash. Wasn’t his style. Crashing was Lance’s thing. And he’d be damned if Keith stole that from him.
Lance ignored the yells and shouts surrounding him, calling him to run, to get out of the way, to move, dammit! But Lance remained stationary, arms crossed, eyebrow raised, just daring Kogane to fuck up.
The ship continued speeding directly towards the ground, directly towards Lance… almost as if the ship was aiming for him. A game of chicken. Who would pussy out first? It damn well wasn’t going to be Lance. And it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Keith.
The ship rocketed from the sky, the air shifting and whirling around the cargo pilot. Just as he could feel the heat from the engine hit his face, just as the last-last second passed, just as Lance realized his mistake and squeezed his eyes shut, the ship pulled up and skidded to a halt.
The small, shitty plane sighed, dropping like dead weight to the ground next to Lance. Steam curled around its metal shell, hissing as the door to the pod wrecked open.
Wobbling, Keith fell out laughing, still high off the flight. Lance fought off the smile at the sight, his entire mind yelling ‘ Showoff! Showoff! He’s just a showoff!’, ignoring the small piece of him that quietly whispered back ‘ But wasn’t he just absolutely brilliant?’
Keith glanced up and smiled blearily at Lance, grinning as he processed just how stupidly fantastic that had been. Keith relived the last few moments of the flight over and over in his mind, the unspoken competition between the two pilots, each blindly testing their limits. Keith grinned stupidly. Only Lance would stand off a speeding aircraft, daring him, egging him on.
Lance just stared back, completely impassive, his only tell being the light pink hue dusting his cheeks. It was Keith’s last chance, and he still couldn’t tell if Lance was impressed. Dammit.
Their eyes met. There was a split second of absolute shock coursing through Keith, a small clench in his stomach before he could feel his face flush and his heartbeat against his ribcage. Lance swallowed, eyes wide staring back at Keith.
It was all worth it if he could keep Lance’s attention a moment longer.
Iverson yanked Keith back away from the dying machine and the gorgeous boy, whipping him back into reality, yelling about expulsion and so on. Just as he was about to be tugged out of sight, away from the cargo pilots, away from Lance, Keith looked back, searching the faces.
Lance was glaring at Iverson, his face flushed angry, fists clenched at his sides. Keith could feel his mouth tug back into a smirk. That settled it.
With a small last burst of confidence, Keith ripped himself out of Iverson’s grip. He ran back towards the crowd of pilots and waved the keys over his head.
“Round two?!” He shouted at the cadets… or really one cadet in particular.
Keith jumped back into the ship and started the engine, his mind racing with ideas.
If Lance wasn’t impressed with that last show, just wait till he saw this.