A Special Gift || Klance

Chapter 1

  "Alright guys, Christmas is right around the corner, and we all know what that means," Lance grinned as he revealed the cap he had been hiding behind his back. "It's time for secret Santa!"

  "This again Lance? Wasn't last year enough of a failure?" Keith let out a deep sigh. Secret Santa was something Lance had come up with last year, his way of keeping the holiday spirit alive while lightyears away from earth. As it turned out, finding a Target was surprisingly difficult in the vast infinity of space. Everyone had to recycle stuff or get creative. Keith had opted for recycling and gave Pidge the severed head of a galra sentinel bot, he figured she'd appreciate having some new tech to tinker with. Still, most of the gifts were pretty lame, and Keith wasn't feeling up to the struggle again.

  "Way to be a downer Keith, and I'd hardly call last year a failure," he turned quickly to Allura. "You loved the song I wrote for you, right princess?"

  "I definitely appreciated the sentiment Lance, but I have to agree with Keith. While I'm still unfamiliar with 'Christmas' I do know gifts are a big part of it, and the castle of lions is severely lacking in them," With that Allura gave him a sympathetic smile.

  "You're not wrong princess, but you forget we know the location of a fully stocked space mall, plenty of cool space junk there," he gestured to Keith. "They might even have something to fix Keith's mullet."

  "Ha ha Lance, very funny, it's nice to know you keep your material fresh," Lance shot Keith a glare and Keith glared right back. If Lance was going to continue insulting his hair he could take a few jabs too.

  "Knock it off you two, I think secret Santa is a great idea. It's important to have fun every once in a while, and what better time than at Christmas," Shiro interjected clapping Keith on the back. "What about you guys? Pidge? Hunk?"

  "I'm always down for free gifts, besides the space mall has some pretty good grub," Hunk nodded as he remembered the incredible food court.

  "Fine by me, although if we're going to the space mall I'm expecting something good, looking at you Keith," Pidge gave Keith the eyeball, he simply shrugged in reply. He'd had his heart in the right place last year at least.

  "Guess that settles it, operation secret Santa is in full effect! Everybody pull a name out of my lovely cap here," Lance shook the cap around a bit before holding it out before the group, Keith couldn't believe they were really doing this again. One by one every one pulled a thin strip of paper out of the old ball cap, soon the hat reached Keith and he pulled out one of the two strips left.

  "No way," he thought. "No no no," he really couldn't believe what he was reading. Right there on the crumpled strip of paper scrawled in Lance's poor handwriting was 'Lance'. "Of course I got Lance, of fucking course," Keith was completely dumbfounded. What the hell was he supposed to get Lance?

Lance snagged the last name out of the hat, he read whoever poor souls name was written, and seemed to falter a bit before speaking again. "Alright guys your victims have been chosen, remember to keep your name a secret, otherwise you're totally lame and ruining the fun," Lance ordered, doing his best to smile. Keith wasn't sure what had spoiled his mood but he was more concerned with Lance's gift than his mood swings to really give it much thought.

  "Alright crew, there are 7 days till Christmas, and we're going to the space mall on Christmas eve, that gives everyone 5 days to figure out what they're doing," Shiro gave each of them an encouraging look. "Use your time wisely." The group took that as their dismissal and began to file out of the lounge. Keith found it funny that despite not explicitly giving orders the group still took Shiros words as such. He couldn't help but wish Shiro had been the name he pulled out of the hat. Shiro was his brother, if he was going to have an easy time finding a gift it would have been for Shiro, plus he knew Shiro wouldn't have a fit if the gift wasn't exactly what he wanted. Lance on the other hand would probably mock him and make a big deal over whatever he ended up giving him. The thought drew a deep sigh from Keith, he really wasn't ready for this. He had just made his way out of the lounge when he was pulled from his thoughts. Lance had grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side. His hand lingered for a moment before letting go.

  "So listen man, I was wondering if uh, maybe you wanted to do a little training with me," Lance scratched the back of his head before continuing. "You know, if you're not busy of course," he gave Keith a weak smile before averting his eyes, suddenly taking great interest in the wall to his left.

  Keith simply stared at him, and when Lance didn't say anything else he chuckled. "Really Lance, you wanna train with me?" He couldn't help but shake his head. "I thought you didn't like training, something about natural talent right?"

  Lance shoved his hands into his pockets and pouted. "Is it a yes or a no Keith? My time is precious and I can't afford you wasting it," He seemed to plead with his eyes, Keith had never noticed how blue they were before.

  Keith really wasn't feeling up to Lance's endless insults or grandstanding, but if he was going to figure out what to get him he needed to get to know him better. Training seemed like a good start. "Alright Lance, you can train with me, but don't expect me to go easy on you."

Lance raised his eyebrow in response. "As if I need you to go easy on me, I'll be perfectly fine Keith," he ran a hand through his wavy hair and smirked. "I'll try not to mess up your pretty face." With that he started towards the training room.

  Keith couldn't help but blush at that, did Lance always have to be so confusing? He watched Lance swagger down the hall for a moment before starting after him. This was certainly going to be interesting.