Block V-128, Earth

Strangers

He woke up with a jolt, his senses in high alert. It was a habit, really, and it took him a few seconds of almost having a panic attack to remember what was going on.

"Easy there, Lance. Calm down. It's ok, we're fine."

Hunk's voice was dulled out, though it probably had to do with the mild buzzing still in his ears, but it ended up working and calming him down. It also reminded him that they were out of the Cages. He felt like crying all over again.

"Hey there, Pukey McPukington. Welcome back to the land of the living, how are you feeling?"

Lance rubbed his face and looked back to find Pidge leaning in from the back seats.

"Like I got my ears exploded." he whined but smiled anyway.

"That's 'cause you probably did."

Lance glanced up at the angry looking avian who'd been with Shiro. He looked around their age and still had that scowl in his face, which made him consider the fact that it might be permanent. His wings looked slim, probably specialized in acrobatic and fast flying, with glossy black feathers. He also had a pretty rad mullet, which for some reason, he found really funny.

"Oh, Lance, this is Keith. Keith, Lance. Shiro introduced us a while ago, but you were out cold." Hunk explained, pointing to angry mullet.

"Hey Keith. Nice mullet. By the way, how long have I been out?" Lance asked, arching his neck back to see over Pidge's shoulder to find Shiro spread out in the back seat, asleep. This all felt so surreal.

"About a day." Hunk explained, shifting slightly, probably sore and tired from having carried him all of that time.

His first day of freedom and he'd spent it unconscious. Of course.

"How is Shiro?" he asked as he rubbed his temples gently. The throbbing pain in his head, which probably originated from his ruptured ears, was not made any easier by the constant rumbling of the car.

"Tired and bruised." Keith replied abruptly, one hand in the wheel and the other pulling slightly on his hair. Somehow, his scowl seemed deeper. How that was even possible, Lance didn't know.

"So you guys are block buddies or what's the deal here?" Lance asked, leaning back against the car door, careful to leave space so that Hunk could stretch out. He looked pretty tired and probably hadn't really been able to rest with an unconscious Lance draped over him.

"Block... buddies?" Keith asked, looking sideways at Lance for a moment.

"Yeah, you know, cage neighbors?" he tried elaborating, but mullet didn't seem to understand that either. "Forget it." Lance finally sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "I'll get it out of him when he wakes up."

Keith tensed up immediately. He didn't look nervous, per se, but uncomfortable. And tired.

"So, for how long have you been driving?" Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. Keith, seemingly a bit relieved by the change of topic, shrugged, leaning back into his seat. "Since we left."

"Nonstop?" Lance insisted.

Keith seemed to understand what he was implying, so he simply glanced sideways at him. And it kind of made Lance's blood boil. "I am not tired, if that's what you're insinuating. Besides, the only one who knows how to drive here, besides me, is Shiro. And his knee was practically busted in our escape. The only logical solution is for me to keep driving until we run out of gas. Then we'll figure out our options."

Lance was grinding his teeth halfway through Keith's 'logical conclusion' but Hunk had fallen asleep against his shoulder and he didn't want to wake him up. Besides, if he punched Keith, they were likely going to crash and he really didn't feel like dying. But he really hated how Keith talked and how he looked at him as if he was just a pebble stuck in his shoe.