Dormmates -- Klance College AU

Chapter Two

"Keith, huh? I woulda thought your name would be like 'Edgy McMyChemicalRomance' or something." Lance said with a nonchalant wave of his hand, as if this was casual small talk.

Keith widened his eyes slightly in surprise before his brows furrowed and he stood his ground. "At least I don't insult someone right when I meet them." He retorted, his usual indifferent tone of voice making him sound bored despite his small shock from Lance's words.

Lance slapped a hand on his chest, mocking offense as he gasped at Keith. "Well I'm sorry it's true! Besides, it would either be that or just Mullet, because come on—who even has mullets these days??"

"People that really don't give a damn about your opinion." Keith deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at Lance.

Lance's eyes widened in exchange as he stared at him. Maybe this guy had more sass than he thought he did, but either way, it suited him in a sort-of-mean way, but there was no way in hell he was going to say that out loud to him.

He quickly pulled himself together as he noticed Keith raise an eyebrow at his silence. "Excuse you but my opinion is very important!" He quickly blurted out, and he could swear he saw the corner of Keith's lips twitch.

"Who, besides you, has ever said that?" Keith asked sarcastically, but of course Lance answered anyway.

"A lot of people, actually!" He rested his hands on his hips, cocking them slightly to the side and leaning forward toward Keith.

Keith still didn't move as he stood in the same spot, which, plus Lance leaning closer to him, put a very minimal amount of space between them as they continued looking at each other, neither of them wanting to be the first to break the untold glare-off.

They searched each other's eyes; Lance looking for something behind Keith's tough-seeming exterior for something softer and more vulnerable, and Keith looking for anything other than arrogance and overwhelming sass.

To strangers, the two boys looked as if they were having a small squabble and it would be resolved in no time at all, but to them, this meant something more than that. Although they were in seemingly uncomfortable silence, neither of the two noticed it as they wordlessly made a deal to stay how they were in this moment.

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A few hours had passed, it was now around 12pm to 1pm and the two boys had both just finished decorating both of their significant sides of the room. Keith was the first to look away from their stare-duel reluctantly as he noticed a small blush creep on Lance's freckle-covered cheeks and couldn't help but smirk, looking away out of impulse.

Although Lance had gotten to their room before Keith, he had more stuff with him, plus multiple distractions (ie: making fun of Keith's clothing style, changing his music every so often, complaining about how tired he was and enduring Keith's comments, etc), making the process longer. Keith barely paid any attention to the Cuban as he continued unpacking his things. He would put all of his items, or whatever fit, on his bed before he organized them all, putting up a few band posters as well.

"Maldito emo," Lance muttered under his breath in Spanish, and while Keith didn't understand a hint of Spanish, he still caught 'emo' and rolled his eyes, immediately registering it as an insult. But he didn't reply, focused on not letting Lance have the last laugh as he kept his eyes on his phone, the explore page on Instagram on his low-lit screen.

Lance took in his silence as ignoring him and felt a little hurt, but at the same time it gave him more time to think of insults for the raven-haired male as he flopped on his bed dramatically, his backhand on his forehead. Keith was sitting cross-legged on his bed, his back against the wall as he looked up at Lance on his bed, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Salmonete, estoy aburrido, entretenme." Lance whined, looking at the ceiling as he kicked his legs in the air.

"English, man." Keith said simply in response, earning a loud groan from his roommate as he looked back at his phone.

"'Mullet, I'm bored, entertain me', that's what I said." Lance said calmly, getting an insulted looking Keith in response.

"Just for the fact that you called me 'Mullet' I'm not going to do anything about your boredom." He said as he stared back down at his phone, now intent on making sure he doesn't look at Lance again.

Lance huffed before also going on his phone, pulling up Snapchat and taking a few selfies with the filters. For a while neither of them talked to each other and it was like heaven until Keith played a video on Instagram, expecting it to be quiet until it blasted through the speaker, making him yelp and immediately throw his phone out of instinct when he heard the loud noise.

Lance jumped and looked over at him, forgetting that he was recording himself, being Lance fucking McClain. "Dude what the hell??" He asked, looking between him and the phone that had been flung onto the floor beside his bed. It was face down on the floor so he picked it up and closed the video, making the audio stop altogether so that they were both in silence. He now completely disregarded his own phone, leaving it recording as he looked over at Keith, his black-and-red cased phone in Lance's hand.

Keith had pulled his knees to his chest and looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown as he hyperventilated, the deafening audio scaring him half to death. Lance's eyes widened as he immediately went over to Keith, sitting on his knees in front of him as he tried to calm him down from his current terrified state. 

"Hey, hey hey hey, it's alright. The noise is gone, calm your mierda." Lance said softly trying to brighten the mood, which didn't help at all. Keith was still hyperventilating and staring at nothing as white noise buzzed in his ears, drowning out Lance's voice completely. His eyes were brimming with tears of pure fear as Lance watched him in shock, not sure what to do. He then got an idea and quickly rushed off the bed to get him some water. He found a water bottle he had packed but hadn't drank out of as he uncapped it and held it in Keith's shaking hands.

Keith's eyes focused on Lance as a few tears slipped down his red cheeks, his hands shaking a little less from Lance's own hands steadying them as he took a small sip of water. His breathing slowed as the white noise ringing in his head started dissipating, which helped his heartbeat calm down. But the tears didn't stop as they came suddenly, for when he started he was unable to stop from all he would keep bottled up. He looked down in embarrassment as tears rolled down his face, his hands still wrapped around the bottle while also under Lance's.

Lance then slowly took the bottle from Keith's shaking hands, set it on a table, and hugged Keith. He didn't know what possessed him to take this action, but he thought it did good, as Keith hugged back, gripping at Lance's top as he cried into his shoulder, letting all his conserved emotions slide away for now. They stayed like that for a while, holding each other until Keith's breathing steadied and Lance heard a small mumble.

"I-If you tell anyone ab-bout this, I will murder y-you."

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*inhAL E*

i hate myself but not gonna lie writing this was kinda fun-

also this chapter was 1278 words dAMN I'M PROUD O' MYSELF

-sai