The Boy Next Door

Fall of The Castle of Lions - Part 1

Lance nervously rolled the window up and down with his right hand, watching it move with a perturbed expression. He tapped his foot rapidly on the car floor, drumming his fingers on his thigh with his left hand. He watched them drive past the trees and houses, grunting as he saw them pass his own house.

"Lance, will you stop fidgeting?" Pidge demanded, glaring at her taller friend. "You're making me want to scream!"

"Well I'm sorry that I'm worried about staying alive!" Lance snapped, hitting the window button harshly, making the window slam shut. "I'm nervous!"

"Well so am I, but I'm not sliding a window up and down and fidgeting, am I?!"

"No, but you're rambling about something under your breath," Keith remarked, butting into the conversation. "The amount of times that I've heard you say 'ass' should concern me, but at this point, it really doesn't."

"Ass," she hissed. "Tonight is going to be ass."

Keith snorted. "Tonight is going to be shit, you mean, and it's because of your psychotic ex–"

She put a finger up to his lips, successfully cutting him off. "We're not doing that again."

"But it's true," Allura sullenly remarked, slouching in her seat. "We wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't started to fuck around with Lotor, but here we are now and we're all going to die." Her eyes suddenly widened and she clung onto Shiro's arm, burying her face into his shoulder. "I don't want to die yet."

"You're not going to," Shiro replied firmly, wrapping his left arm around her back. He looked up at Keith and Hunk, who looked taken aback by her sudden mood swing. He sheepishly smiled, shrugging. "Mood swings?"

Pidge only rolled her eyes, exchanging a knowing look with Matt, who was sitting next to her. He sighed in response, letting his shoulders sag.

"I can't believe we're all going to freaking die."

"Matt!"

"What? It's the truth!"

"Will you all stop complaining about dying?" Krolia interjected, letting out a breath of annoyance. "I've fought crime lords and I'm still alive, so fighting one crazy teenager using fake bombs isn't going to be much of a problem. Nobody is going to die."

"Yeah, because you've been trained to do stuff like that," Hunk retorted, crossing his arms across his chest. "No offense, but we can barely stay alive falling out of a treehouse, and we all saw what happened when Keith tried to fight one of Lotor's goons last time..."

"Hey!" Keith said indignantly, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means that you can't hold your own in a fight," Lance retorted, quirking a brow. "Not like there's much of a surprise there, if you ask me."

"At least I have some form of protecting myself," Keith flared back. "I have less of a chance of dying than you do because I actually put time into–"

"Into stabbing your tree?" Lance snorted, looking at Keith dully. "Yeah, I think I'd rather fight with my hands than stab someone and have to deal with the lawsuit."

Pidge rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Ladies, you're both under average fighters, so can you both just zip it? I'm trying to stay calm and your stupid arguing isn't helping!"

Krolia hummed. "Hm. Perhaps you two are right." She crossed her arms, nodding her head in Keith's direction. "Keith, I'll be your personal escort tonight."

"What?" Keith asked in disbelief, his mouth agape. "I do not need to be babysat! I'm eighteen; I'm legal!"

"Yeah, well, I'm more legal than you," Krolia retorted. "I've had experience with partners like you, and they always find a way to screw something up. We can't afford to lose this mission, so I'm just going to stay this loud and clear, okay? The mission comes first, not your feelings."