Chapter Text
Lance
After a grueling long road trip from his home state of Florida to Arizona, Lance and his immediate family stepped out of their RV and into the sun. After a huge stretch and groan, Lance pulled off his sunglasses and smiled at his new home. The dorms loomed high in the sky and were pure white; not a single chip of stray paint was on the building. From beside him, a slightly shorter female whistled and gave Lance a pat on the back that nearly knocked him over.
Wow! I still can’t believe you’re enrolled in a nice looking college Lance!” she joked.
Lance gave her a gentle shove back, “It wasn’t easy y’know. I actually studied to get in.” In response, his sister stuck her tongue out. With his backpack hanging off of him, the brunette called out to his parents. “Mama, Papa, let’s go check in! I want to start moving in.” The two aforementioned parents nodded at their youngest child and followed him to the front desk of the residence life center while their two other children stayed with the RV.
After gaining his room key from the junior at the front desk (whom Lance automatically flirted with) Lance and his parents climbed to the second floor and found his room. With anticipation, Lance had a hop in his step as he put the key in the lock and opened the door. However, there was already someone in the room and before a moment was spared, Lance launched himself at the large male. “Hunk!” The other male was clearly surprised by the sudden attack, but wrapped his arms around the Cuban.
“Lance! Wow, you’re a lot scrawnier in person than on Skype,” Hunk joked. From beside him were an elderly couple who looked like Hunk. After the two boys released each other, the elderly man pulled Lance into a crushing hug.
“My grandson has spoken a lot about you. He’s really excited to room with you.” His wife gave Lance a hug, but said nothing. Her smile conveyed everything that she needed to say. As this happened, Lance’s parents hugged Hunk as well. Numerous family dinners were spent listening to their son talk about how excited he was to enter college with his friend whom he met online. At first they were afraid of the arrangement, but after talking to the Samoan, they quickly accepted him as part of the family and would send him gifts in the mail.
Once the hugs were over, the García family made numerous trips getting all of Lance’s possessions into the small room.
“Lance, are you sure you needed this?” His older brother frowned in response to a bag of seashells he unpacked. Annoyed by his brother’s nosiness, Lance forcefully grabbed the bag and put it in a drawer haphazardly.
“Don’t go through my things. I can handle it. Besides, I really like these shells. You never know when they might come in handy for a project.”
“You mean like these glow-in-the-dark stars?” His sister questioned. Lance groaned and pushed his siblings away from the boxes of miscellaneous items they brought in.
“I said don’t look at my stuff! Mama!” He cried to his mother who was busy hanging some of his clothing and she just called back, “Leave your brother’s things alone. We’re almost done.” The two siblings pouted and tried to argue back but stopped once their mother gave them the death glare, so they simply pulled Lance into a sibling-crushing hug.
“I’m gonna miss you…” His sister sighed, but as sisters are, something devilish came from her mouth immediately after. “Just know that your room will be in good condition as my walk-in closet.” Loud laughter filled the room with all García family members enjoying each other’s banter before one of the flock would be flying solo.
With the majority of boxes unpacked and crushed for the recycling units, the García family proudly looked at their youngest member. Although she was proud of her child’s accomplishments and getting accepted into his dream college, Lance’s mom was finding it hard to say goodbye. Her arms wrapped around Lance and she pecked his cheeks nearly a hundred times. By this point, both her and Lance were trying (and failing) not to cry. The bond between a mother and son was strong between these two and anybody that should happen upon this scene would’ve become emotional. “I’ll call you every week Mama.”
“No, two times a week. You’ll have a lot of chisme to tell me I’m sure,” she winked. The corners of Lance’s eyes crinkled and another loud laugh came out.
“You know me too well.” He hugged his father next, “Thank you for taking work off to help me unpack. It means a lot.” His father huffed and ruffled Lance’s hair, something he hasn’t done in a while.
“I’d do anything for you Lance. If you have any problems and need to come home, I’ll take off as many days needed and pick you up.”
“Thank you for everything! I’ll see you soon!” Lance waved at the front door while his family drove off in the RV back to Florida. Hunk put one large hand on Lance’s back in comfort.
“I love your family so much,” he sighed. Lance grinned at his roommate.
“Your grandparents are too pure man.”
“Ha, sure. My grandpa can totally kick your ass.”
“Ok, yeah you’re right. But I mean c’mon his muscles are huuuuuge. Didn’t you say he used to be a wrestler?”
“Yep. He kinda wanted me to follow that legacy, but you know how that ended up.” Lance nodded and looked at his new home once again.
“Yeah, you decided to come here and be my roommate.”
“You know I did!” Practicing online did not help the two at all with their secret handshake at first. The timing was perfect but the angles and precision they wanted was all wrong. “We’ll get the hang of this sometime.” Then the two went back into their room and Lance went back to unpacking his things. “I don’t mean to sound like I’m complaining, but is there a reason why you brought so much stuff?”
“I like my things a lot and I don’t trust Jaqui or Luis to keep their hands off my things.” There was a momentary pause while Lance put up a photo of his entire family on his desk, “I’ve also never been away from home. I hope I don’t get homesick so I tried bringing as much stuff that reminds me of home here. This is home now, after all.” Hunk smiled and laid on his bed, excitement for what the school year has yet to bring him and Lance evident on his face.
Keith
Keith had turned up the volume of his music up the second he heard talking in the room next to him. The Get Up Kids blasted directly into his ear, erasing the irritating babble coming from next door. He was positive that the entire floor could hear the obnoxiously loud family emitting from the room. Startling him from his relaxed state, a knock at Keith’s door forced him to sit up and get down from his bed. Keith opened the door.
“Hi, I’m your Resident Assistant, Shiro. I’ll be just down the hall and to the left if you ever need anything this year. You’re,” he checked his notes, “Keith, right?”
Keith responded simply with, “yeah.”
“So, I see you were lucky enough to get a single! Do you have more trips to take to finish bringing your stuff up?”
“No, this is everything.”
Shiro’s eyes widened slightly, but recovered and put on a friendly smile. “Well, I should keep visiting everyone. See you soon, Keith!” Shiro had that look that Keith hated to his core: pity.
Keith shut the door (a little bit too hard) and looked at his room. “I guess it is a little bare,” he thought. Because it was a single, the room was small and only had enough room for a twin bed, a desk, and a small closet without a door. Keith’s only additions were black sheets and a red bedspread, a few clothes hung up in the closet with toiletries on the floor, and a backpack resting against his desk. He shrugged, and rolled back onto his bed with earphones in, blocking out the world once again.
Lance
Hunk and Lance were busy playing Pokemon Sun and Moon against each other when a knock interrupted the battle. Lance quickly jumped off his bed and answered the door.
“Hey, just stopped by to let you two know the there’s a floor meeting in an hour. Meet us in the Lion’s Den down the hall,” Shiro said. Lance gave Shiro a giant smile and looked back to Hunk who joined in the small meeting.
“What’s the meeting about?” Questioned Hunk. Shiro gave no specifics but told them to be there or be square.
Keith
Another knock interrupted Keith’s precious brooding time. “Keith, everyone’s meeting in the Lion’s Den in an hour. It’s mandatory just so you know. I’ll know if you don’t show up!” Shiro pointed his finger at Keith and looked a little stern. Keith simply nodded and shut his door. He could hear Shiro sigh through the closed door.
An hour later, Keith tentatively stepped outside, watching as the stream of students on his floor made their way to the common room known as the Lion’s Den. He joined the flow and made his way toward it, keeping his head down and allowing his hair to fall into his eyes.
“Welcome, everyone!” Shiro said cheerfully. He continued by talking about how he was always available if anyone needed to talk, but Keith checked out and studied the room. Finding the furniture and walls to be overly bright and colorful, he vowed to only be in this room if absolutely necessary. Who the hell thinks black, red, green, blue, and yellow makes for a pleasing color scheme? Keith pays attention again when Shiro says, “So, I thought we could all play a game to get to know each other a little. You all probably know it, but just in case you don’t, I’ll tell you the rules. We’re going to play two truths and a lie. Basically, someone says two things that are true about themselves and one thing that a lie. Then, the group works together to detect what they think the lie is. To demonstrate, I’ll start.” Shiro tapped a finger to his chin, then said, “One, I love the color purple. Two, I’ve been attacked by a bear. And three, the idea of parallel universes terrifies me.”
Everyone began looking at each other. “Did he say he’s afraid of parallel universes?” Keith heard a girl standing in front of him say. She proceeded to raise her hand and proclaim, “the third one’s the lie.”
“Okay, let’s take a vote. Who agrees with Allura that the third one's a lie?” Shiro looked around expectantly.
No one knew what to think. It was quite obvious that Shiro had lost one of his arms; could it have been a bear attack that caused it? Eventually, everyone except Keith had raised their hand. It wasn’t that he necessarily disagreed with everyone, but he certainly didn’t want to participate.
Shiro revealed that he had not, in fact, been attacked by a bear due to the fact that he has lived in Arizona his whole life. “I actually lost my arm in a car accident, so there’s that out of the way. And, yes, parallel universes scare the shit out of me.” The group looked confused as to how they were supposed to respond to that. A few snickered, a few looked sad, and rest stared blankly. “That was my turn. Hey Keith, you go next,” Shiro said and pointed towards him.
“Fuck,” Keith whispered under his breath. “I really don’t want-”
“Don’t care. Two truths and a lie.”
Keith scrambled to come up with something. He decided to to hell with the dumbass game. “Red’s my favorite color,” he said while wearing a red jacket. “My hair is black naturally,” he said with black hair showing no signs of having been dyed. “And, I want to be here right now.”
The group looked around awkwardly, not quite sure how to respond.“I’m pretty sure the last one’s the lie,” Shiro said while maintaining that annoyingly perky mood. “So,” Shiro glanced at his clipboard, “would Lance like to go next?”
“Of course I’d like to go next. Lemme bring the atmosphere up since Edgelord over here decided to lower it.” Lance thought over his truths and lie previously so he automatically knew what to say. “I’m great at surfing, I’ve been to California, and I think all the girls on this floor are super cute,” he quickly shot his fingers up and clicked them in the finger gun pose with a smirk.
“Great, raise your hand if you think the first is a lie.” The majority of people raised their hands. “And the second?” A few people there. “Alright, Lance, is the group right? Which was the lie?”
Lance’s eyes showed surprise as they got it right. “Yeah. Great job guys!”
“How about Lance’s roommate Hunk goes next!” Shiro motioned to Hunk.
Hunk took a moment before he responded, “Hi, my name is Hunk, so, uh, I’m really good at cooking, I’ve had to go to the hospital for a jellyfish sting, and I live with my grandparents. Lance, you’re not allowed to answer.” At the mention of his name Lance stuck his tongue out.
“First one?” No one raised their hands. “Second?” A couple hands went up. “Third?” Easily the majority of people found this one to be correct. Keith continued to brood in the corner of the room, just waiting to be allowed to leave. He considered walking out, but he knew Shiro would just drag him back (and Shiro was ripped and tall).
“The lie was the second one. I knew a guy who was stung by a Box Jelly though. Uh, he’s ok, so there’s no need to worry about that,”Hunk said while rubbing the back of his head.
“I’m glad you weren’t hurt.” Shiro looked at his clipboard and asked Allura if she would like to go next.
“Of course. First of all, I am 20 years old. Second, I am an expert in hand to hand combat. Lastly, I am a transfer student from England,” she stated elegantly.
Lance sighed dreamily, “A girl after my own heart.” Keith felt bile threatening to force it’s way out of his throat and mouth.
“Wow, okay.” Shiro asked everyone’s opinion and the majority decided that Allura had not been trained in fighting due to her clear English accent and slim, although tall, frame. Keith almost doubted she would be able to pick up his backpack.
“Sorry everyone, but you have chosen incorrectly. Actually, I am not a transfer student. I am a Freshman here and have not attended university until this year.”
“Oooh that means we might have some classes together,” Lance winked.
Keith rolled his eyes, patiently waiting for the next person. Although he didn’t want to admit it, he was starting to enjoy this. Shiro called on someone named Katie to go next.
“Actually can you call me Pidge? I’ve been going by that nickname since high school.”
“Absolutely!” Shiro responded, nodding his head and writing it down on his clipboard.
Pidge gave a smirk and said, “I have solid evidence of extraterrestrial life, my favorite musical is High School Musical, and my brother lives in this dorm too.”
After some deliberation, the group decided that there was no way Pidge had found aliens. She looked smart, but no one’s that good. Keith, on the other hand, was at full attention. He has dedicated years of his life attempting to find evidence of alien contact. He stared expectantly at Pidge, waiting for her to say that she knows the secret to aliens.
Pidge flipped her ponytail to the back and grinned, “You guys are smarter than you look. Yeah I haven’t found ET. I don’t even think he’s out there if I’m honest.”
Furrowing his eyebrows, Keith went back to glaring at the ground. He decided two things in that moment. One he hated Pidge and could never trust her. Two, he might just drop out of this goddamned school.
One by one, everyone on the second floor presented themselves with Shiro’s ‘fun’ little game and were dismissed. Lance and Keith practically skipped back to their room. Hunk opened the door while Lance’s eyes followed everyone that remained in the hall, he specifically wanted to see who he lived beside. His face dropped as he saw the emo from earlier enter the room, followed by the sound of the door being slammed.
“We live next to Mullet Man!”