White Paladin

Exclusive Chapter: Halloween

Ah, finally, a few more days and then it would finally be Halloween.

"So what are you going to be?" Lance asked Hunk as he scribbled something into his homework, he couldn't wait to finally get home for the holiday, a change of scenery was much need for Lance.

"I don't know... I was thinking about astronaut but there's still a few days to decide" Hunk said with a small shrug, he seemed to be concentrating really hard, but he had no idea what it was.

'must be some engineering homework' Lance thought, he had managed to squeeze into the fighter pilot classes but since he had done it a bit late he barely knew what they were studying,

'No time for complaining' he thought to himself as he looked at the paper, writing some more things down and then leaning back.

"Maybe a sugar skeleton..." Lance mumbled, it seemed like a good idea,

" I got it!" Hunk exclaimed and Lance turned to him with a confused look, he raised an eyebrow,

"You got the question done?"

"No, I was thinking about what I was going to be"

"really?"

"duh"

Lance scoffed, he turned back and sighed, he didn't know what he was going to be but whatever, maybe a sugar skeleton? It seemed like a good idea but still, a few days gave Lance more than enough time to decide, besides, he didn't even know if he was going to go trick or treating, I mean he was getting a bit old, almost 18.
Lance jumped when someone knocked at the door and Hunk got up, opening the door, Pidge was standing there.
"Lance your secret admirer is a creep" Pidge panted as she peeked into the hall way and then went back in, closing the door.
"My what?" Lance said as he turned away from his homework and looked at Pidge in confusion,
"My secret admirer? Pidge have you gone crazy?" Lance scoffed and Pidge glared at him
"Its that guy... what's his name? He has a really bad haircut" Pidge mumbled as she sat down on one of the beds
"Well I mean a ton of people have bad haircuts in this school, There's Emily, Andrew, Abby, Denise, Keith, Abi-" Lance got cut off by Pidge,
"That guy!" She panted
"Andrew? Well he has semi normal hair cut, he just uses waaaayyy to much gel" Lance said and got a glare from Pidge
"Not Andrew, Keith, the guys name was Keith I think" Pidge said and straightened out.
"Keith! Pidge that guys as straight as spaghetti" Lance grumbled at her,
Both her and Hunk snickered, Lance knew the joke, and yet he didn't plan on satisfying them with his own embarrassment.
"Well whatever, I'm leaving and I'm not coming back till the both of you have calmed down" Lance said as he grabbed his sweater and went straight out the door, pulling on the sweater as he walked.
Without thinking he ended up on the roof, he sat on one side of the solar panels and stared out at the vast desert, he rested his head on his knees, he let out a sigh as he thought about the fact that Pidge just told him that his..... the guy he liked, liked him back? Ha... right, she was probably just fooling around with him, trying to pull his heartstrings and try and get him to confess... not that he would, he would probably never see Keith after the garrison anyway, they'd probably go to different troops and maybe pass each other in the hallways, he shook his head and got up but immediately sat down when he heard voices, praying to god that it wasn't Iverson, because to say it in short, the roof was off limits to students and he would get in major trouble if Iverson of all people caught him.
He held his breath as he listened the voices move forward.
"His friend literally sprinted away from me Shiro" One voice said...
Wait, was Takashi Shirogane here? Lance rested his head on the cold metal of the roof, he looked at the shoes and bit his lip, he raised his head a bit, Ya, Shiro was here... but then who was the other person?
"Well I mean of course he would, Keith you were asking personal questions about Lance, what would you expect?" Shiro said and Lance's heart froze, Keith Kogane was on the roof with Takashi Shirogane?
Lance shook his head, this wasn't happening, no just a random dream.
The voices stopped and the two left and after a few moment Lance sat up, Keith Kogane? The kid with anger issues and problem with authority, liked him?
Lance laid in his bed, he had told the nurse he wasn't feeling good so he could have a day off, luckily she believed him.
A week ago he had heard Keith and Shiro talking, and even though he had been trying to forget, he just couldn't.
Keith Kogane likes you, Keith Kogane likes you, Keith Kogane likes you, Keith Kogane likes you.
Those four words played on repeat in his head, he couldn't decide if he was happy or scared. He groaned and pushed his face into his pillow, maybe working on a costume would take his mind off Keith.
Lance pulled out a sketch book from under his mattress and pulled out a pencil, he flipped to a new page and made a tiny bullet list, the following things in his list,
Vampire
Sugar skull
Witch
Skeleton.
And now his brain shut off for ideas.
He made little doodles beside the list, a small doodle of what he imagined his Vampire costume was going to be like. He shook his head, maybe he was getting to old for trick or treating? Maybe this year he would juts hand out candy.
He laid down, and without realizing it he fell asleep, a few hours passed before the Cuban male woke up, he looked around and then down at his sketch book, in yellow was a check mark beside vampire and then a green circle was around the word and the doodle, a smile slipped onto his lips as he got what the yellow and green meant.
He stretched and looked over, a little light on his phone was blinking, either someone texted him or it was glitching, he grabbed his phone and opened it, there was a message, well email to the entire school, they had the choice of staying, and if they did they would be able to go around and find candy, and classes would be cancelled if they stayed? Well what shifted Iverson to be so nice?
He set the device down and sighed, as much as he wanted to go home, he knew Pidge was probably going to stay and Hunk was going to leave.
And -
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts,
"Come in!" He called and sat up, pushing the notebook under his pillow and sitting up, Hunk walked in, he looked tired, probably since they were trying to fit in as many classes in before Halloween.
Hunk gave Lance a weak smile and sat down,
"Tough day?" Lance asked and Hunk gave a small nod,
"Someone or people got in a fight and Iverson was all over us" Hunk said as he leaned back,
Lance gave a small laugh,
" Iverson is always waiting for someone to screw up" Lance said and Hunk mumbled an agreement,
"Oh and Pidge was talking to some guy called Shiro? Or was his name Takashi?" Hunk mumbled, Lance froze, wait, the same Takashi Shirogane from the roof? No no no!
"Why was he talking to a senior?" Lance asked,
Hunk gave a small shrug,
"I think one of Takashi's friends are staying back so he's going to stay as well" Hunk said before sitting up
"I was going to ask you, I don't think Pidge has anywhere to go for Halloween, wanna stay back? It'll be fun!" Hunk said, usually things were much different on holidays if you stayed, Lance had heard that there were less rules to follow.
"Well why not!" Lance said with a smile, though he was actually freaking out, they might have a chance to hang out with a senior? And Takashi Shirogane of all? Lance had heard that three different companies were offering him jobs after he finished at the Galaxy Garrison.
The last few days before Halloween seemed to stretch out forever, the trio working on their costumes after lights out and then finally, the day had come, the day of costumes and free candy.
The day was spent like usual, well not really.
Everyone only had three main classes they had to go to and now, at 6 pm, they were all getting ready for 'trick or treating'.
Lance had called his mother and told her that he was going to stay at the Garrison with a friend and though she sounded a bit upset she was also happy that he was looking after his friends and not leaving them by themselves.
"Okay you done yet?" Hunk groaned, he dressed up as zombie, his sfx makeup looking  pretty real.
"Almost Hunk! I just need to get the shoes on" Lance said as he pulled on his shoes, he stumbled against the wall and then stood up straight, he looked over himself in the mirror, fixing a few small things and then smiling as he crossed his arms.
"Done!" He called to Hunk and left the bathroom.
Hunk was half asleep and was startled by Lance.
"Alright, lets go grab Pidge and go" Hunk said grabbing his bag and tossing Lance his, they both left the room, walking towards Pidge's room, mumbling... well it was probably talking... whatever, they could already hear it from far away, Lance's heart picking up pace as they got closer and closer with every step.
"Hey! Lance and Hunk are here!" Pidge exclaimed, they were wearing a wizard costume and then Lance moved his eyes to look at the newcomers, Takashi Shirogane and Keith Kogane.
Lance smiled as he reached his hand out to shake with the older senior,
"Good evening sir" Lance said as he shook his hand, Takashi gave him a warm smile
"Shiro, you can call me Shiro, besides its much easier than saying Takashi every time" He chuckled, Lance looked over at Keith, giving him an awkward smile, He was dressed up as a Witch, or a wizard? it wasn't to clear but something to do with magic and Shiro was dressed up as another zombie, well this was good, its not like they all somehow managed to dress up as the same thing.
"Lets get going, I wanna get the prize before the others, its a robot, a romba and Im going to...." Pidge began rambling about how instead of actually using it she was going to hack into it and try and make something actually useful out of it, Lance's mind drifted off, looking at Keith and every time he noticed him turning his head back he would look at Pidge and just nod in agreement.
The whole night the group of five wandered around the Garrison, finding clues (and candy) which eventually lead them outside,
"Many things use me as a home, and I am one of many in this vast world" Pidge read from the piece of paper before crumpling it, tossing it away and sprinting towards a tumble weed that seemed to still, pidge pulled it away and underneath was a box, and as she slowly opened it was yet another paper, they all let out a groan, "Know what, everyone got the same clues, I'm taking this and I'm going to go find this stupid robot" She grumbled, Hunk still wanted to tinker with it so he followed her and Shiro stood there, he patted Keith on the back
"I have a project to finish up, you guys go and hang out" Shiro said and gave Keith a subtle wink but Lance noticed it and knew perfectly well what it meant.
"So I'm Lance McLain, second best fighter pilot" Lance said with a smile as they walked towards Keith's room, Keith smiled,
"I'm Keith Kogane, Best fighter Pilot" Keith laughed and Lance glared
"But not the fastest!"Lance said as he sprinted down the hall, Keith close behind, Lance actually had no idea where he was going but when he heard Keith slowing down he assumed it was his room, and soon enough they were both at the door panting,
"No fair, I had a robe on" Keith mumbled out as he leaned against the wall with one hand, taking in deep breaths.
"Whatever" Lance mumbled and watched as the shorter black haired male opened the door, the two of them going inside and sitting down on the bed, Maybe he could camp out here? Grab a pillow and sleep on the ground.
Keith leaned back and Lance scooted back and soon enough the both of them had fallen asleep, leaning against the cold metal wall.
Lance jolted awake, he was half leaning against the corner and to his surprise... Keith was half asleep in his lap, twiddling with the end of his costume but stopped when he felt eyes on him, Lance let a small smile slip onto his lips and he leaned down, he placed a gentle kiss on his forehead and smiled, he leaned back and closed his eyes.
"Night Night Samuri"