Grinded Gears: A Klance/Shallura Fanfiction

Chapter 1

Once the pearly gates of high school graduation opened for him, Lance saw a land of opportunities. He could do or be anything he wanted. A doctor, a lawyer, an artist, a father, a lover, a legend. The path before him was unpaved and waiting for him to journey forth.

Lance knew from a young age what he wanted in life. Machines had always fascinated him. When his father would work on projects around the house or tinker with his car in the driveway, Lance was by his side and eager to help. It was only natural that, once his fourteen years of slaving at school was over, he would go on to pursue a career in engineering. His family was beyond pleased when he and his friends, Pidge and Hunk, were been accepted into a program at one of the most prestigious colleges in the area.

If there was one thing Lance was not, it was stupid. Did he have a tendency to let his feelings affect his actions? Sure. However, he was also one to let his emotions and ambitions drive him forward. He had known early on that he couldn't simply walk into life without a plan and expect to be handed a career on a silver platter. He just never expected--

"Lance. Earth to McClain? Dammit, Lance, pay attention!"

Lance snapped out of his trance with a start to find Pidge glowering at him from the floor. He hadn't realized he zoned out. Something must have happened while he was in his daze. Pidge and Hunk had been staring at him expectantly, and he had no idea what he missed.

The trio had been marathoning The Office, which was now paused on the television screen, for the last five and a half hours. They'd been celebrating their first weekend together as senior graduates and decided to do what any normal young adults would do: binge watch Netflix and eat pizza bites. Apparently he was too lost in his thoughts to realize the show had stopped.

Rolling her eyes, Pidge shoved another pizza bite into her mouth and grumbled while chewing, "I asked you if you put any more thought into our offer."

That. That was what he hadn't been expecting.

Pidge, Hunk, and Lance had been offered a job at one of Hunk's friend's auto shops. It wasn't a big place or anything. Their town in general was rather small, so the shop wasn't all that busy. Said friend, Shiro, told them they could gain some background experience working for him while they went to school. It was a really great offer, honestly. It would help them all out in the long run. There was just one issue.

Keith Kogane. Shiro's younger brother.

Lance had never met the guy personally, but he was all Pidge and Hunk would ever talk about when regarding the offer. It was always something along the lines of, "Oh, you should see how he gets a complete junker of a car running again as if it were brand new!" or "I hear he flunked out of high school and yet he's still a master!" Frankly, it made Lance sick. He could only hear about the guy so much before he wanted to blow his brains out.

That was the only real setback to the whole thing. He wasn't sure he'd be able to work alongside the annoyingly infamous "Keith" until he finally finished up his program. Even thinking about having to meet the guy was giving him a headache, but he didn't want to ruin the opportunity for his friends or himself.

"Lance!" Pidge snapped, waving her hand frantically in front of his face. "Stop spacing out every two seconds and answer my question!" Though she loved her friend dearly, she never could quite tell what was going through that boy's head.

"Sorry," Lance murmured as he shook his head. "I don't know. I'm still thinking about it."

Hunk frowned. "What could you still be thinking about? The whole thing sounds perfect! It's like a paid internship. Why are you still so hung up on this?"