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Lance put one foot in front of the other, dragging himself to the top of the path. He collapsed and landed in a heap.
“This is my life now. I have climbed this hill and now I will die upon it.”
“Shut up. We’ve only been hiking for twenty minutes,” Keith mumbled.
Lanced moaned and begrudgingly stood up. He was reconsidering his offer to go hiking in the woods with Keith, despite Shiro’s bribe to do so. Keith’s older brother knew that he was capable enough to keep himself alive in the wilderness, yet Shiro wanted to make sure that he didn’t kill anything or anyone. (Shiro may have also wanted to win the ongoing bet within their friend group on when Keith and Lance would realize their obvious love for each other, but don’t tell Lance that). He had promised to buy Lance Starbucks for every time he went hiking with Keith. It wasn’t like Lance wanted to spend more time with Keith or anything. No, why would he want that?
“How much longer do we have to go?”
“Lance. You were the one who asked to go hiking with me. Why are you complaining so much! We’re only hiking two miles to a creek and then going back. It won’t take too long.”
Keith looked back at Lance, who looked more miserable than the time Keith told him that Santa wasn’t real. Boy, that was an adventure.
“But if you really want to, you can turn around and go back. You can wait for me at the trailhead or call Allura or someone to come pick you up.”
Lance immediately started freaking out. He wasn’t the best at navigating woods, and he wasn’t really paying attention to where they had been going (it had been twenty minutes, come on Lance, you can’t pay attention to the path for twenty minutes?). He knew that he would have to continue on.
“Are you calling me weak? Well, for your information, I feel like I can run for at least ten more miles.”
“Humph. Fine then. Just shut up and follow me” Keith muttered.
The two boys hiked to the creek, with Lance sporadically asking questions and then going silent. He would frequently inhale to ask a question, but then quickly changed his mind. At the creek, they took a short break. They both sit at the rocks at the side of creek and watched the fish swimming upstream.
As much as I want to cash in on Shiro’s bribe, I don’t know if I can stand another one of these hikes. I keep on getting distracted by Keith. I need to either confess my feelings or just hide in my dorm for the rest of my days. I’m going crazy! Lance thought.
As they were hiking back, Keith looked to Lance and softly said, “Lance, are you ok?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be ok?”
“You’ve been unusually quiet and haven’t made fun of my hair in the past fifteen minutes. Are you mad at me?” Keith stopped in the middle of the path, and Lance bumped into him. He turned to face Lance and looked at him in the eyes, searching for some sort of emotion hidden there.
“Why would I be mad at you? Sure we fight a lot but we are still friends. I was just quiet because I have been hiking for almost four miles and I thought you had wanted silence.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense,” Keith said under his breath. He turned around and continued walking. Lance was surprised that Keith had even started a conversation with Lance, especially one that involves feelings. It was almost like he cared about Lance.
“Well, we made it back to my car” Keith interrupted Lance’s train of thought, “Thanks for hiking with me, I guess. It was nice to not be alone like I usually am.”
“Aw, no problem! I needed some exercise in my life anyway.”
They climbed into Keith's car, Panic! at the Disco blaring as soon as it was turned on.
As Keith and Lance drove back to their dorms, Shiro called Keith, cutting off Girls/Girls/Boys.
“Hey Keith! How was your hike? Did you tell Lance about your cru-”
Keith interrupted with an impressive screech, scaring Lance and surprising Shiro.
“Keith, what was that for. I’ve told you time and time again that you shouldn’t scream every time I mention Lance. Now how did the date go?”
Keith angrily stage-whispered, “Shiro, the phone’s on speaker and Lance is with me right now. And it wasn’t a date! Why did you say that!”
Shiro was silent for a couple of seconds. “Oops” he said and quickly hung up.
“Keith, do you have something to tell me?” Lance questioned, leaning over to turn the music that came back on when Shiro hung up off.
Keith looked for any possible escape from the impending conversation he was not prepared to have. He hesitated and then pulled over into the dorm parking lot.
Keith sighed, “Lance…. I kinda sorta have feelings for you” he said in one quick breath.
Now it was Lance's turn to screech. “WHAT? YOU WAITED THE ENTIRE HIKE TO TELL ME THAT? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”
Keith looked at Lance in surprise. “What are you talking about? Why are you yelling? If you really don’t like me back, you can just say no. I’ve already prepared myself for rejection, as long as we can still be friends”
“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND! I LIKE YOU TOO!” Lance yelled. He suddenly realized what he had just said.
“Oops. I didn’t mean to say that” he saw Keith’s face fall slightly “Wait wait wait, that’s not what I meant. I do like you. I was just too scared to tell you that. That’s why I was so quiet during the hike. I wanted to tell you but I was too scared.”
Keith looked confused for a moment, and then timidly smiled.
“Really? You’re not just teasing me?” he asked, blush quickly rushing to his face (the curse of pale skin).
Oh no I’ve fallen so badly for this guy Lance thought to himself.
“Of course I am telling the truth! Why would I tease you about something so serious as this? I can be mature sometimes”
Awkward silence filled the car as they sat in the car trying to comprehend what had just happened.
“Soo…. what do you want to do?” Lance said.
“Well, I was wondering… if you… you would like to go out with me. Like a date somewhere. Butdon’tfeellikeyoucan’tsaynoit’sokifyoudon’twantto” Keith quickly said.
Lance looked at Keith fondly.
“Of course, I would love to go on a date with you. Does tonight at 8 work for you?”
Keith nodded and looked very relieved.
“Well,” Lance abruptly cut the bonding moment short, “Shiro owes me Starbucks for hiking, so I gotta make sure he goes through with that.”
“Shiro WHAT?” Keith exclaimed, running after Lance to the dorms.