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Kickball day. One of Lance’s least favorite days in PE, actually, most PE days are awful but the whole choosing teams really puts him on edge. 8th grade is already awful enough, no one wanting to pick him for their team doesn’t help. None of them think he knows how to pull his own weight on a team but they don’t even give him a chance to prove himself. Always being picked last really does something to a kids confidence. They always kind of shoving him to the side while the rest of the team plans out their strategies, making him feel like he doesn’t matter to anyone. Why did he have to get put in a class he doesn’t have any friends in?
“Okay boys and girls, today our team captains are Shiro and Allura. Shiro, you can go ahead and start picking,” the PE teacher explains. She steps off to the side to give the two captains a good look at who they have to choose from.
Don’t get picked last, don’t get picked last, don’t get pic—
“Lance!” Shiro yells. “I want you on my side.”
Oh my god, I didn’t get picked last.
Lance blinks a few times and jogs to stand to Shiro. He doesn’t know what he was expecting out of today but it definitely wasn’t this. Out of all the times teams have been picked he was never picked first. He was almost always picked last and if he wasn’t picked last it was probably second to last. But first ? This is completely new. Lance decides not to question it too much right now. They still have a team a pick.
Once everyone is picked the game starts right up and Lance finally has a chance to prove himself. He runs as fast as he can, dodges the ball, and helps the team score more points than anyone else. He’s doing amazing, finally feeling like he belongs to the team instead of just being on the sideline the entire time. Winning feels amazing when the team actually includes you.
Lance grins to himself as everyone walks back inside the school. Not being last is pretty damn great. He can’t help but wonder why Shiro even picked him in the first place when all of the other kids would avoid him. He just figures its Shiro’s kind nature, when they were on the same team before Shiro would try to include Lance in the discussions but it never really worked. Maybe picking him first was his way of showing he cares.
“Lance!” Shiro shouts from behind.
He stops and turns back, waiting for the other boy to catch up to him.
“You were really great today, Lance.” He smiles brightly, probably brighter than the sun.
“Oh, uh, thanks… and thanks for picking me first too. It was nice not being picked last for once.”
Shiro rubs the back of his neck, a small hint of blush rises high on his cheeks. “I just don’t think its fair they always pick you last. You’re really cool and fast, you should join the track team or something. I knew you just needed a chance to show everyone what you can do.”
“Thanks again, it was really kind of you,” Lance says, getting ready to walk away.
Shiro grabs his hand before he has a chance to walk ahead, stopping them both in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Shiro?”
“I… there’s something else I wanted to ask you too.” Shiro’s blush has now spread across his face, the color darkening as the seconds pass.
Lance doesn’t know what to say or do so he just stands there, waiting for Shiro to continue.
“Do you want to go to the dance with me?” Shiro asks, eyes refusing to meet Lance’s gaze.
“Like as part of your group?”
“No… like as my date… if you want to? You can say no if you don’t want to, I’ll understand. But I would really like for you to go with me. My mom already said she’d drive us to dinner and then the dance,” Shiro rambles on, his eyes not quite meeting the other boys.
Holy shit, Takashi Shirogane just asked me to the dance. Be cool.
“Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun.” Cool enough.
“Really?” Shiro’s voice squeaks and he finally looks up at him, by now his face is looking pretty similar to a tomato.
Lance nods and leans forward to press a kiss to Shiro’s cheek. “I think it’ll be fun. We should probably catch up with the class though, they’re almost all inside now.”
Shiro nods and gives Lance’s hand a gentle squeeze. They walk hand-in-hand back to the gym, not caring about the eyes they catch.
As the day goes on Lance can’t get over the fact that he got picked first and asked to the dance all in one day. 8th grade doesn’t seem so bad anymore, especially if he has Shiro by his side for it.