Chapter Text
"And starting today we will be spending the rest of the semester on a partner project. It is a research project on redox reactions and will be roughly thirty percent of your final grade," announced Mr. Mirunai.
Immediately, the class began to protest. Keith just rolled his eyes. Of course there was another project. They'd only had five so far. This quarter.
"Thirty percent?!"
"Oh no! I hate redox."
"Does this mean I have to make a works cited page?"
"Do we at least get to pick our partners?"
Mr. Mirunai waited for the chatter to dwindle before answering the relevant questions.
"First of all, you will absolutely not be allowed to choose your own partners, we all know how well that went last time." He shot a few pointed looks at some kids in the front row.
The whole class groaned.
"Secondly," he continued, "you will have to make an eight minute presentation, a works cited page and a four-page research paper. This should be in standard MLA format. Thirdly, this is thirty percent of your grade, which I know is a lot, but eight of you are failing right now and I would like to provide an opportunity to you to avoid getting kicked out of the Garrison for something as minuscule as academics."
Keith rolled his eyes and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. A partner project? Was he serious? And for what? All for the sake of a few students who couldn't pull their heads out of their ass for long enough to pay attention in class? Worse, he'd probably be expected to do all the work so some stupid schmuck could cling on to their spot at the school for another year. Didn't these people know how lucky they were? Why weren't they just trying harder?
At least the partners were assigned; Keith was glad he wouldn't have to deal with the embarrassment of no one wanting to partner with him.
Suddenly, the lights flicked off, tearing Keith out of his thoughts. The projector whirred to life, displaying a desktop picture of the teacher and his family. Keith found the photo a bit weird, mostly because the teacher was wearing a three piece suit. At the beach. And no one else in the photo was remotely dressed up. Teachers were so weird sometimes.
"Alright, now where did I write down your partner assignments…"
The class watched with increasing anticipation while he searched his computer for the document. Several minutes later, Mr. Mirunai announced that he couldn't find the correct document. Instead, they would be assigned partners randomly via a spin the wheel website. Hooray.
Keith knew it wouldn't matter. Whoever ended up with him as a partner would rope him into doing the whole thing solo and never speak to him again after they turned it in. He sighed, apparently too loudly for James Griffin, the guy sitting next to him, who let out an exaggerated, mocking huff.
"Ugh, dude, I get that you're emo, but seriously, please keep that melodramatic moody shit to yourself; it's distracting," James muttered just loud enough for Keith to hear.
"Oh, my apologies, Griffin, I'll try not to breathe around you anymore, I didn't realize your feeble concentration could be broken so easily," Keith responded, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Griffin just rolled his eyes.
Keith turned his attention back to the teacher, who had (finally!) typed all of their names into the website. Mr. Mirunai spun the wheel; the class quieted down.
The wheel ticked quietly over the speakers, eventually landing on James. The rest of the class watched with bated breath to see who would end up with the grade's resident popular kid. The wheel was spun once again, and of course it landed on Jordan Pierce, Griffin's best friend. Keith scoffed. The J's were inseparable even by fate, apparently.
The next pair revealed was Hunk Garret and Pidge Gunderson. The two exchanged smiles and high fived. A formidable force of brain power, Keith expected this project would be a breeze for them. The mutters around him seemed to agree.
Several more pairs were called before the wheel finally got to Keith. His classmates turned to look at him. He caught a few whispers, most along the lines of "who's going to get stuck with that prick."
Keith bit his tongue, not wanting to further alienate his future partner with a scathing remark. He held his breath as the wheel of fate turned once more, this time deciding his destiny. After what seemed like forever, it landed on a name.
Lance McClain.
Huh.
Wait, who was that?
Keith glanced around the room. Towards the front he spotted a boy staring him down. The boy had messy, medium brown hair and a sharp jawline similar to Keith's own. Keith offered a smile and made eye contact. The boy had eyes like an ocean trench, a deep startling blue. They were captivating. Drawing his attention like a bug to a streetlight. Keith figured this guy must be Lance.
Now that he thought about it, he thought he could recall overhearing people talk about someone called "Loverboy Lance" in the hallway once or twice. Thinking about those captivating eyes, Keith supposed it was probably an accurate title.
Lance turned his attention to the kid next to him, who seemed to be apologizing for something. Keith tried to listen to what he was saying, but in the midst of the chattery classroom, he was only able to discern a couple of words.
"… Stuck… Kogane… you wanted… Daisy, sorry."
He didn't need to hear any more to figure out what that meant. Clearly "Loverboy Lance" over here was more concerned with getting a girlfriend than a competent partner. No hate to Daisy or anything, but everyone knew she had an awful record with group projects and a reputation as the prettiest girl in the class.
Eventually, the last of the students were put into pairs and Mr. Mirunai gave everyone the last fifteen minutes of class to meet with their partners and talk things over.
He scanned the room for Lance and once again found himself lost in those gorgeous eyes. He shook himself and after a bit of gesturing incoherently at random desks, they eventually found themselves at a desk in the middle of the classroom. It was roughly the halfway point between their desks, so Keith supposed it worked well.
"First impressions matter," Shiro had said that to him during his first week at the Garrison, but he didn't know why that advice was coming back to him now.
Regardless, Keith plastered a smile on his face and stuck his hand out for a handshake.
"Hi, I'm Keith, I don't think we've met before."
"No we haven't. I'm Lance." Instead of shaking his hand Lance gave him a high five.
"So… The project?"
"Right, yeah. How do you want to split this up?"
Split this up? He didn't want Keith to do all the work?? This should have been a welcome change, but after the conversation about Daisy he'd overheard, he wasn't sure that Lance was very dedicated to good grades and teamwork. But, Keith didn't want his assumptions to jeopardize their project, so he pushed his concerns aside.
"I mean, I don't really care how we split it up as long as we both do work. Do you have any, um, preferences?"
Keith held back a grimace from his awkward wording. Why couldn't he string together a sentence? Thankfully, Lance's response wasn't very eloquent either.
"I'm kind of more of a collaborationist than anything else to be honest. Is that a word? 'Collaborationist'? Whatever, what I mean is, I'd rather work side by side on the whole thing than, like, split it up into individual assignments for us to do. Does that make sense?"
"Um, yeah, I guess that works for me. We should probably meet up after class to work on it sometimes."
"Yep, probably. Library work for you?"
"Library's great. What's your number? Just so we can keep in touch and all that. I'm not a stalker or anything."
Sweet fuck, why had he said that ?
Lance understandably shot him an odd look and the two exchanged numbers.
"So," Lance began, "How's it feel to be the school hotshot?"
"What?"
"Well, people say you're like, the prodigy of the decade or something. I saw a news article proclaiming you a better pilot cadet than Shirogane . Takashi fucking Shirogane."
Keith smirked, "They're idiots, I'll never be better than Shiro."
"But the rest?"
"What, are you jealous?"
"Absolutely not! You think I believe the rumors? I've seen you fly in person, unlike those idiot reporters. They're just going off of stats."
"Sure, you've seen me fly in person, which is why you know I'm the best damned pilot you've ever had the pleasure of meeting."
Keith leaned forward wearing a wide, teasing grin. Lance took a step closer, clearly not one to back down easily.
"I'll have you know I've met a better one. I've known him my entire life, actually."
Keith scoffed, "Oh yeah, who?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Lance was in his face now, they were almost nose to nose. "It's me."
"Oh, wow, you're so funny ."
"Trust me, you'll grow to love it."
"Sure I will."
Lance just grinned back at him.
"It is a word," Keith blurted out.
"What?"
"Collaborationist. It's a word."
"Oh. Oh, yeah, thanks!"
Then, the bell was ringing and the crowd whisked them into the bustling hallways.