Chapter Text
Keith places his hands on his hips and carefully surveys his work. He didn’t have a whole lot to move into his dorm room, but his parents didn’t stick around to help once they unloaded all his belongings from the car. Keith is grateful they even went that far, really; he half expected them to hand him a bus ticket into the city. Even though he doubts he’ll be seeing them again, and definitely not any time soon, their goodbyes were not particularly long or remotely emotional.
The only reason he’s here instead of struggling to get a job with a measly high school diploma is because of a scholarship. He’s stuck in astrophysics now and needs to maintain a 3.5 GPA to keep the full-ride, but he’s still delighted. He’s pretty sure it’s what he wants to do (fingers crossed) and he knows as long as he stays focused he’ll be able to keep his grades up.
Already, though, he’s tempted to go out and meet people. There’s a buzz of chatter echoing through the halls. Even though the dorm room is cramped (despite it being one of the few singles) he already feels much more at home than he ever did growing up. It’s friendly here, and Keith’s window gives him a view of the river instead of an unkempt neighborhood.
He knows he can’t afford distractions, that he needs to stay focused on school instead of trying to make friends. But, classes don’t start for another few days, and Keith doesn’t have much to do yet except read ahead in textbooks and skim the few syllabi that are already available… Feeling quite rebellious, Keith cracks his door open just enough to look inviting. If someone wants to come talk to him, well, that’s not his fault.
He isn’t expecting the whirlwind that arrives when someone knocks on his door. He can’t even get to his feet before a skinny boy is bursting into his room. “Hey, I’m Lance!” he greets, sticking out his hand. “I’m down in 524.”
Keith nods like he has any idea where that is. His room is at the very beginning of one of the four wings and he hadn’t felt the need to explore any further down. “Keith,” he offers, shaking Lance’s hand. His grip is nice and firm, and his fingers are strong despite how thin they look. They’re a little colder than Keith’s.
“I know,” Lance laughs. “It’s on your door.” Keith flushes. “Guys, get in here! He’s normal,” he calls behind himself. Two more bodies shuffle through the door. Lance clears a space on Keith’s desk and hoists himself onto the edge.
“Make yourself at home,” Keith mumbles under his breath.
“Sorry about him,” the big one laughs. “I’m his roommate, Hunk. It’s nice to meet you.” Hunk’s size is intimidating, but his easy grin puts Keith at ease.
“I’m Pidge,” the little one says, pushing up their too-big glasses.
Lance starts swinging his feet, heels thumping against the drawers of Keith’s desk. “There aren’t a lot of people moved in yet and we’re bored, so we’re gonna order pizza and watch a movie if you wanna hang out.”
Keith smiles, and even he can tell it must look awkward on his face. “Okay.”
He follows the others out of his room and locks it behind him. Lance starts chattering about some movie he just knows Hunk will love, and Keith lets his eyes wander down Lance’s back. He’s not bad looking, Keith decides, but doesn’t let his mind travel any further down that route.
Lance puts in the movie once they’re all settled in his and Hunk’s room. It’s some godawful comedy, but he and Hunk eat it up. They’re in hysterics by the time the pizza arrives. Thankfully, Pidge is there to share confused glances with Keith. Keith grows even more perplexed when Lance starts shaking a tube of red pepper flakes onto his pizza like his life depended on it. He notices Keith’s raised eyebrow and flashes him a grin.
“What? Surprised by my wrist strength?” Lance laughs. His smirk turns coy. “My hands are practiced.”
Thankfully, Hunk smacks Lance in the arm. Keith hopes it distracts everyone enough to keep them from noticing the red blooming on his face.
---
Keith hates himself a little bit for it, but he’s unable to refuse an invitation from his new friends. Even once classes start, he’s with them more often than not. He meets Pidge’s roommate, Allura, who is serious and responsible and picks up too many shifts at the front desk. They stay up far too late, to the point where the floor’s RA has had to knock and tell them to quiet down more than once. Lance always mocks him once he’s gone, twirling his pretend moustache, and Keith acts like he doesn’t find it hilarious. He’s never had a group of friends like this before, people who genuinely seemed to want to spend time with him, and it’s nicer than he’d ever imagined. He forgives himself for allowing this luxury in his free time. Besides, once in a while they do actually buckle down and get work done together (even if the breaks are frequent and they can’t keep silent for more than ten minutes).
He slowly learns more about the four. Allura came from overseas a couple years ago to live with her father. She’s studying business management; Keith thinks it suits her bossy tendencies, but he’s too afraid to ever say that to her face. He’s pretty sure she comes from a well to do family, but she’s down to Earth enough and doesn’t ever bring it up. Hunk has been close friends with Lance since their freshman year of high school. He’s here to study engineering, though he’s not sure what kind yet. He’s great at cooking and steals bits and pieces from the dining hall (“Hey, we’re paying a lot for this!” he justifies) to make wonderful things even with just the little toaster oven he snuck into the dorm. Pidge is majoring in computer science and would rather go by “they,” thank you very much. They’re from out of state and are on a scholarship similar to Keith’s. It makes Keith feel better about socializing. If Pidge thinks they can pull it off, so can Keith.
And Lance. Lance is clingy, and loud, and argues with Keith about everything. He can talk until Keith thinks his ears might start bleeding. When he smiles and laughs, Keith gets a little lightheaded. He’s studying astrophysics along with Keith, and they find out they’re taking a couple of the same classes. Lance isn’t the best study partner, but Keith keeps going over notes with him anyway.
He won’t eat his pizza crusts. He’ll scarf down a whole pizza piled high in ridiculous toppings and then some, but he refuses to touch the edges.
“Are you five?” Keith asks the first time he notices. “What a waste.”
Lance manages to look offended even with his cheeks stuffed. He rushes to swallow his bite and almost chokes. “It’s boring!” he defends. “It’s just bread!”
“The crust makes the pizza! It’s the best part!”
“It’s the worst!”
Keith scowls and picks up one of the discarded pieces. “You’re a child,” he spits. He sets to work polishing off Lance’s leftovers.
It becomes a thing. Lance always sets his pizza box between them and tosses his crusts to Keith’s side when he’s done. Some part of Keith tells him he should find this gross, but most of him is pleased as punch to have a silly little routine with Lance. He’s done quite a poor job at fighting down his crush.
---
Everyone agrees that Friday nights should never be spent on schoolwork or studying unless absolutely mandatory. This is the night they usually go out to eat or curl up with a movie marathon instead of textbooks and laptops. So when Lance scampers into Keith’s room with his backpack, Keith is understandably confused. “Do you have a test coming up or something?”
Lance smirks and tosses his backpack to Keith. “Look inside.”
Keith unzips the bag and almost drops it to the floor when he gets a good look. “Lance!” he hisses. “If you get caught with this–”
“Loosen up,” Lance groans, flopping onto Keith’s bed. “It’s a Friday night, have some fun! We won’t get caught as long as we don’t make a scene.”
Keith pulls the bottle out of the otherwise empty backpack. It’s vodka, and from the looks of it, cheap stuff. He wrinkles his nose. “Are you planning on drinking this straight?”
“God, no!” Lance starts making himself perfectly comfortable, grabbing Keith’s pillows and blankets and getting a nice little nest started. “Hunk and Pidge are buying soda.”
“Where did you even get this?” He twirls the bottle around in his hands as if examining it will provide him with answers.
“My boyfriend is 21,” Lance says proudly. He beams and flashes Keith a peace sign. Keith’s stomach drops to his feet.
“You never talked about a boyfriend.”
He squirms, looking bashful. “Well. I didn’t know how you’d react.”
Keith hums and sets the bottle down onto his desk. “It’s cool. I’m gay.”
“Oh!” Keith can hear the smile in his voice without looking. “Are we actually twins, Keith? Dick-loving astrophysics majors!”
Keith flushes. “Don’t say that! Besides, I’m the one who got the scholarship, you’re just an inferior me.”
“Am not! I’m older!”
“So what? I’m better!”
“Are not!”
“Are too!”
“Guys!” Pidge snaps, throwing the door open. “We can hear you all the way down the hall.”
Keith crosses his arms over his chest and Hunk and Pidge set their cases of soda onto the floor. “It’s Lance’s fault.”
“It is not!”
“Are you serious?” Pidge groans, holding the bridge of their nose. Hunk rubs their shoulders. Keith and Lance both pout, but they settle down.
Hunk starts making drinks in an assortment of unmatched cups and water bottles. Lance leans forward into Keith’s personal space. “Your hair is stupid,” he whispers, but he’s smiling. Keith grins back. It's impossible not to be swept away by his charm.
In the morning, Keith wants to die for a hundred different reasons.
Actually, just a couple. First, he feels like shit. He’s not the most experienced drinker, and his competitive streak caused him to take a few too many shots with Lance. He’s not sure he had any water other than the few sips Hunk forced him to take before he dragged Lance back to bed. He also has a bruise the size of a half dollar on his shin that he doesn’t remember getting.
Second, Lance has a boyfriend.
Keith groans and rolls over. He wishes Lance would have told him sooner; maybe he could have avoided catching feelings. Honestly, he deserves this for allowing himself to get so distracted and swept away.
At least his feelings didn’t have a chance to get too intense. They’ve only known each other for a month or so, after all. And sure, Keith’s heart leaps to his throat whenever he hears Lance’s peals of laughter in the hall or sees Lance jogging towards him on the way home from class, but it’s not like he’s in love with him or anything.
Keith shoves his pillow over his face and tries to ignore the way it still smells like Lance’s stupid cologne.