Chapter Text
“you ladies alright?” lance leant onto the wall of the maths-bloc entrance. he held a confident hand on his hip and bent his head forward in a way that was indented to be attractive. he smirked.
it took a few seconds, but the girls let out a loud laugh, eyeing each other between giggles. lance slumped on the wall.
“oh, lance, no.” one of the girls chimed when she caught her breath. she put a kind hand on lances shoulder, but it only felt like a weight. “that’s not the way to do it.”
”what is then? i have pick up lines?” he grinned again, but found himself feeling stupid.
”maybe.. save them for someone else.” the other girl smiled cautiously. “good try, though.”
they walked off with a pace slightly too fast to be normal. lance deflated against the wall, crossing his arms defensively, preparing for the lecture from his friends.
”maybe we should put you on a lead.” pidge said flatly. “so then you won’t harass people like a bad dog.”
”harass? bad dog!” lance huffed with mock-horror. “i’m not a bad dog, i’m a super cool, kind, and cool dog.”
”cool, kind, and cool?” hunk mumbled.
”well— yeah!” lance sighed.
there was a moment of silence.
”lance, why do you still try when you’ve gotten to the point where you have to ask girls out twice because you’ve been through everybody?” pidge raised an eyebrow.
”thats…” untrue? no. “totally not called for, thank you pidge.”
”it’s true, man,” hunk put a hand warmly on lances shoulder. the same one the girl did. “maybe you should like.. lay off a bit. or change up your tactics.”
”i’d like you two to stop being so ridiculous! i can— i can get any girl i want, thank you. anyone i want, for that matter. trust me. i just wasn’t trying then, but i can. oh— i can!” lance nodded self-assuredly.
“anyone?”
”anyone, pidge. you haven’t seen my real skill.”
”anyone..” she mumbled to herself, eyes lighting with an idea. a terrible idea, if lance knew to recognise the glimmer of evil in that eye. “even keith?”
lance gulped with a steady bob of his adam’s apple, “keith? like.. kinda weird, lonely and scary keith?”
”keith kogane is his name.” hunk added helpfully.
“yeah, him. you can pull him, right? i mean, you said any—“
”totally.” lance nodded, only this time it was lagged and janky, like he didn’t really mean it.
”you’re telling me,” pidge held her hands out in the way that people do when they’re trying to calm a situation down. here, it was a let me get this right. “lance mcclain thinks he can keith kogane to go out with him?” pidge asked.
lance nodded again, seeming unaware of any repercussions this belief could have. “totally. definitely. i’m out of his league, even.” lance claimed, making it worse for himself.
”wanna bet that?” pidge grinned.
”what?”
”if you can get keith to go on a date with you. just one date, i’ll give you $100.”
lance paled slightly, which was strange, because he was very tanned. “and if i don’t? get him to go on a date with me, i mean.”
”you give me double.”
lance thought about this for a moment. in all, it was incredibly stupid. for someone as confident and self-assured as lance, even he could admit this was a loosing game. keith, the guy who had spoken about 3 times this semester, would rather eat glass than go out with lance. and lance knows this.
thats why it was so horrifying when lance held out a tanned hand with a confident grin. “deal. how long have i got?”
”a month.”
and they shook hands. lance felt dread seep into his blood with each shake. where was he going to find $200?
if lance was even going to attempt to save his dignity, he needed to act fast. when the bell rung, signalling the start of the day, he knew every second counted. one month to convince keith to date him. easy, right?
lance searched for him everywhere. during lessons, in between breaks, throughout the halls. he even spent his whole lunch wandering the building aimlessly, searching for keith. the guy was no where when you needed him.
lance slumped at the gates of the garrison when he day was done. usually, after school, he’d wait for hunk to walk back with him. he turned left at the gates like lance did, whereas pidge turned right. today, hunk was late.
lance watched the students piling out of the school in hurry of freedom. there was a lot of people, and lance didn’t even recognise them all. he felt the weight of his bag on his bag and counted the seconds hunk wasn’t with him, wondering what could be stalling his friend.
when the last few people started emptying the building, lance grabbed his phone to question hunk truly. without missing a beat, he shoved the slick metal back into his back pocket when he laid eyes on something spectacular. a golden ticket. an opportunity.
”keith!” lance let out before he could think. “uhh— wait up!” lance tripped over himself and sped over to keith, who looked, ultimately, disgusted.
lance was a chatty guy, and actually in a few of keith’s classes, so the idea of lance taking to him wasn’t completely foreign, but not free from being totally weird. this opinion was plastered on keith’s face when lance was close enough to see. they paused together in the middle of grounds.
”hey, keith.” lance settled, hoping ideas would fall from his mouth.
keith opened his mouth, but shut it soon after, not wanting to endorse this new and unfamiliar behaviour.
“as you may have noticed, i wasn’t in last week for chem, and i know you’re in my class. tell me you’re kind and you want to send me your notes?”
keith hesitated. “i didn’t notice.”
”that’s all you picked out from that?” lance huffed, flapping a hand in the air dismissively. “regardless, can you?”
”can i.. what?”
”send me the notes, keith.”
keith waited a strangely long time before speaking, collecting all his thoughts before saying words he didn’t need to. “who are you?”
“lance. lance, the lovely lance in your chem class?”
”right.” keith nodded slowly. “you sit next to allura, don’t you?”
”yeah! yeah, you do know me!”
keith only nodded again, something clicking in his brain. something not all that nice, if the look on his face was anything to go by.
”don’t make me ask again, buddy.”
”notes? won’t allura give them to you? it’s a bit of a hassle.” at this point, keith was slowly heading toward the gates, out of lances aura of activity.
”i don’t like the way she writes. too much colour and design, less work. she’s smart so she can write like that, but i need something a little more, detailed.”
”then you’re asking the wrong guy.”
”well— simple’s fine! even, messy? anything. come on, please?” lance pleaded when he noticed keith was even looking at him anymore, only stepping away.
he stopped. “and if i send them you’ll leave me alone?”
“totally.” lance lied. “just a one-off.”
keith thought for a moment. “fine. do what you need to do.” keith rolled his eyes slightly, pulling out his phone and handing it to lance. he needed to send the notes, after all.
lance tried to hide his smile. his plan was working. he punched numbers into keith’s phone.
the super hot guy from chem
+44 07395 917488
”all done, take your time. i’m in no rush.”
”right.” keith snatched his phone back, physically reacting to the sight on his screen with a wince. he’d be changing that, his expression read. but that was fine with lance.
”thanks so much, keith! i’m eternally grateful!” lance cheered almost sarcastically to the back of keith’s head, who was far gone from lance’s area. he felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped with suprise.
“sorry i’m late man, iverson kept me back for a minute to talk about my project, but thanks for waiting.” hunk smiled as he came into view.
“all good, man.”
“i saw you.. uh.. talking to keith.” hunk said, pointing back and fourth at his phone.
lance winked. “like i said, anyone.” he grinned, almost lying. perhaps just withholding truth that would change hunks perception of the situation.
“you got his number?”
”of course i did, don’t look shocked.”
hunk nodded slowly. “okay.” he said, wondering how pidge would feel about that. “nice!”
all lance had to do was make his statements reality. which, if his past endeavours are anything to go by, is terribly difficult.
+44 07582 638299:
20:14 [IMAGE] There.
lance looked to the buzz from his phone absentmindedly, scribbling in his book tomorrow’s homework. he grinned when he registered the message.
You:
thanks sooo much keith you’re so totally the best.
Read 20:14
lance smiled with self-accomplishment. he was one-step closer to $100. with an established (very small and minor) connection to keith, he was ready to start chipping away until he was able to pop the big question.
lance placed his phone down after inspecting the photo keith had sent. his notes were neater than expected, but hurried and thin, like he wasn’t really listening. guess he didn’t really have to, lance thought suddenly, understanding that keith was naturally quite smart. there was about 10 lines of the page filled out, whereas lance usually would have filled out pages. it didn’t matter to him though, he’d already copied alluras notes (the ones he did actually find super helpful) and didn’t need keith’s. but now he had his number.
only 29 more days to go. he could do it.